563. [verse 15] 'And the serpent cast forth after the woman out of his mouth water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the river' signifies reasonings derived from plentiful untruths for the purpose of destroying the Church. By 'the serpent', here as above, is signified the dragon leading astray; by 'the woman' the New Church (n. 533). Truths are signified by 'water', and in the opposite sense untruths (n. 50, 409); by 'a river' plentiful truths are signified, and in the opposite sense plentiful untruths (n. 409); by 'out of the serpent's mouth' reasonings are signified. Consequently then by 'cast forth water as a river' are signified reasonings derived from plentiful untruths. The reasonings of those who are understood by 'the dragon' are all derived from fallacies and appearances, which if confirmed appear from without like truths, but within they conceal plentiful untruths. I can place on record that those in the Church who from now on confirm faith alone with themselves are unable to recede from it except by earnest repentance. This is because they conjoin themselves with the dragonists who now are in the world of spirits and in great agitation, and there out of hatred against the New Church molest all whom they meet. And because they are conjoined with the men of the earth, as was said above, they do not suffer those who have once been taken in by their reasonings to recede from them, for they hold them as if bound in chains, and they then shut their eyes so that they can no longer see any truth in the light.