800. 'Because by thy sorcery all the nations have been led astray' signifies their wicked arts and devices by means of which they have led the minds (animus) of all away from a holy worship of the Lord to a profane worship of men living and dead and of idols. By the 'sorcery' by which 'all the nations have been led astray' are signified the wicked arts and devices by means of which they have deluded and persuaded so that they might be worshipped and adored instead of the Lord, thus as the Lord; and because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth as He Himself teaches (Matt. xxviii 18), thus as gods. That they have transferred the Lord's Divine authority to themselves may be seen above (n. 798). And because these things are signified by those words it is also signified that by the wicked arts and devices they have led the minds (animus) of all away from a holy worship of the Lord to a profane worship of men living and dead and idols. That nevertheless these things are going to have an end, and have come to an end in the spiritual world, has been said and shown before. This is thus described in Isaiah:-
Continue its thine enchantments, O Babel, and in the multitude of thy tricks wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth. Perhaps they can be of use, perhaps thou mayest become terrible. Thou hast been wearied with the multitude of thy counsel. Let now the observers of the heavens, the star-gazers*, those making predictions in the months, stand up and save thee. Behold they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them up, they shall not snatch away the soul from the hand of the flame. Such have thy merchants become from youth, each one has wandered out of his own district, there is no one saving thee Isa. xlvii 12-15. * Reading stellas (stars) as in Hebrew, instead of terram (land).
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