TCR 189. It is on everyone's lips that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet it has not been known heretofore where in the Word its Divinity resides. For in its letter the Word appears like ordinary writing, foreign in style, neither lofty nor brilliant as the writings of the present time are in appearance. For this reason the man who worships nature instead of God or more than God, and whose thought therefore is from himself and his selfhood and not from the Lord out of heaven, may easily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, and when reading it may say to himself, What does this and that mean? Is this Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite speak thus? Wherein and wherefrom is its holiness, except from some religious notion and consequent persuasion?

TCR 190. But he who so thinks does not consider that Jehovah the Lord, who is the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and therefore it cannot be other than Divine truth, for what Jehovah the Lord Himself speaks must be such. Neither does he consider that the Lord the Saviour, who is the same with Jehovah, spoke the Word in the Gospels, much of it by His own mouth, and the rest of it by the breath of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit, through His twelve disciples; whence it is, as He says, that in His words there is spirit and there is life, and that He is the Light that enlightens, and that He is the Truth; as is evident from the following passages:--

"Jacob's well" signifying the Word. As also in (Deut. 33:28). Therefore the Lord, because He is the Word, sat there and talked with the woman. "Living water" signifies the truth of the Word:--

The Lord's words are Truth and Life because He is the Truth and the Life, as He teaches in John:--

and in the same:--

"The Word" means the Lord in respect to Divine truth, in whom alone there is life and there is light. For this reason the Word, which is from the Lord and which is the Lord, is called:--

and it is said that:--

with other things also in passages where the Word is also called "a sanctuary" and "a tabernacle," wherein the Lord dwells with man.

TCR 191. Nevertheless, all this does not convince the natural man that the Word is Divine truth itself, in which there is Divine wisdom and Divine life; for he estimates it by its style, in which these are not seen by him. Yet the style of the Word is the Divine style itself, with which no other style can be compared, however sublime and excellent it may seem. The style of the Word is such that there is a holiness in every sentence and in every word, and even in some places in the very letters, and thereby the Word conjoins man with the Lord and opens heaven. There are two things that go forth from the Lord, Divine love and Divine wisdom, or what is the same thing, Divine good and Divine truth. In its essence the Word is both of these; and because, as just said, it conjoins man with the Lord and opens heaven it fills man with the goods of love and the truths of wisdom-his will with the goods of love and his understanding with the truths of wisdom; thus by means of the Word man has life. But it must be clearly understood that those only have life from the Word who read it for the purpose of drawing from it Divine truths as from their proper fountain, and at the same time for the purpose of applying to the life the truths drawn therefrom; while with those who read the Word solely with a view to gaining worldly honors and riches the opposite effect follows.

TCR 192. Any man who does not know that there is a certain spiritual sense contained in the Word, like a soul in its body, must needs judge of it from the sense of its letter; when yet this sense is like an envelope enclosing precious things, which are its spiritual sense. Therefore when this internal sense is unknown the Divine holiness of the Word can be estimated only as when a precious stone is estimated from the matrix enclosing it, which often appears like an ordinary stone; or only as when from a casket made of jasper, lapis-lazuli, amianthus, or agate, one estimates the diamonds, rubies, sardonyxes, oriental topazes, and so on, lying in order within it. So long as its contents are unknown it is not strange that the casket is esteemed only according to the value of its material which is visible. The same is true of the Word in respect to the sense of its letter. That men, therefore, may not continue to doubt whether the Word is Divine and most holy, the Lord has revealed to me Its Internal sense, which in its essence is spiritual, and which is within the external sense, which is natural, as the soul is in the body. That sense is the spirit that gives life to the letter; consequently that sense can bear witness to the Divinity and holiness of the Word, and convince even the natural man, if he is willing to be convinced.

TCR 193. When it is asserted that inasmuch as the Word is Divine it is in its bosom spiritual, who does not acknowledge and assent to the statement? But who has known as yet what the spiritual is, and where in the Word it is stored up? What the spiritual is will be made clear in the Memorable Relation at the end of this chapter; and where it is hidden in the Word shall be shown in what now follows. The Word in its bosom is spiritual, because it descended from Jehovah the Lord, and passed through the angelic heavens; and in its descent the Divine itself, which in itself is ineffable and unperceivable, became adapted to the perception of angels, and finally to the perception of men. From this is the spiritual sense, which is inwardly in the natural, as the soul is in man, as the thought of the understanding is in speech, and as the will's affection is in action; and if it is permissible to compare it with such things as appear to the eye in the natural world, the spiritual sense is in the natural sense as the whole brain is within its meninges or matres, or as a tree's branches are within their barks and coats, or as all things needful for the production of a chick are within the shell of the egg, and so on. But that there is such a spiritual sense of the Word in its natural sense no one as yet has divined; and for that reason it is necessary that this arcanum (which in itself stands pre-eminent over all arcana hitherto disclosed) should be made clear to the understanding, as it will be when explained in the following order:-

1. What the spiritual sense is.

2. This sense is in each and every part of the Word.

3. It is because of this sense that the Word is Divinely inspired, and holy in every word.

4. Heretofore this sense has been unknown.

5. Henceforth it will be given only to such as are in genuine truths from the Lord.

6. Wonderful things respecting the Word, from its spiritual sense.

These propositions will now be unfolded separately.

TCR 194. (1) What the spiritual sense is. The spiritual sense is not the sense that shines forth from the sense of the letter of the Word when one is studying it and so construing it as to confirm some dogma of the church. That may be called the literal and ecclesiastical sense of the Word. The spiritual sense is not apparent in the sense of the letter; it is interiorly within it as the soul is in the body, as the thought of the understanding is in the eyes, or the love's affection in the face. It is that sense chiefly that makes the Word spiritual, not only for men but for angels also; and therefore by means of that sense the Word has communication with the heavens. As the Word is inwardly spiritual it was written purely by correspondences; and because it was written by correspondences in its outmost sense it was written in a style like that of the Prophets, the Gospels, and the Apocalypse, which, although commonplace in appearance, still conceals within it Divine wisdom and all angelic wisdom. What correspondence is can be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, (published in London, 1758), in the chapter on The Correspondence of all things of Heaven with all things in Man (HH n. 87-102); and on The Correspondence of all things of Heaven with all things on Earth (HH n. 103-115); and it will be further explained by examples from the Word cited below.

TCR 195. From the Lord the Divine Celestial, the Divine Spiritual, and the Divine Natural go forth one after the other. Whatever goes forth from the Lord's Divine love is called the Divine Celestial, everything of which is good; whatever goes forth from His Divine wisdom is called the Divine Spiritual, everything of which is truth; the Divine Natural is from both of these and is their complex in the outmost. The angels of the celestial kingdom, who constitute the third or highest heaven, are in that Divine going forth from the Lord which is called celestial, since they are in good of love from the Lord. The angels of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, who constitute the second or middle heaven, are in that Divine going forth from the Lord which is called spiritual, since they are in Divine wisdom from the Lord. The angels of the Lord's natural kingdom, who constitute the first or lowest heaven, are in that Divine going forth from the Lord which is called the Divine natural, and they are in the faith of charity from the Lord. Men of the church are in some one of these kingdoms according to their love, their wisdom, and their faith; and whichever one they are in, that they enter into after death. Such as heaven is such also is the Lord's Word; in its outmost sense it is natural, in its interior sense spiritual, and in its inmost sense celestial, and in each of these senses it is Divine. Thus is it adapted to the angels of the three heavens, and also to man.

TCR 196. (2) The spiritual sense is in each and even part of the Word. This can be best seen by example, as in the following. In the Apocalypse John says:--

What these words signify no one can see except from the spiritual sense of the Word; and no one can see the spiritual sense except from a knowledge of correspondences; for all these words are correspondences, and not one of them is void of meaning. The science of correspondences teaches the significance of "the white horse," of "Him who sat upon him," of "His eyes" which were "like a flame of fire," of "the diadems on His head," "the garment dyed in blood," "the white linen" with which those were clothed who belonged to His army in heaven, of "the angel standing in the sun," of "the great supper" to which the fowls of heaven " came and were gathered together" and of "the flesh of kings and commanders of thousands" and many others whose flesh they were to eat.

[2] But what each particular thing signifies in the spiritual sense can be seen explained in the Apocalypse Revealed (AR n. 820-838), and also in the little work on The White Horse; therefore further explanation of them is unnecessary. It is there shown that it is the Lord as to the Word who is described; and that by "His eyes which were like a flame of fire" the Divine wisdom of His Divine love is meant; and by "the diadems on His head" and " the name which no one but Himself knew" the Divine truths of the Word from Him are meant, and that the nature of the Word in its spiritual sense is seen by none but the Lord and him to whom He reveals it; also by "His garment dyed in blood" the natural sense of the Word is meant, which is the sense of the letter, to which violence has been done. It is very clear that it is the Word that is thus described, for it is said, "His name is called the Word of God." That it is the Lord who is meant is equally clear, for it is said that the name of the One sitting upon the white horse was, "King of kings and Lord of lords," the same as in (Apoc. 17:14), where it is said, "And the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords and King of kings."

[3] That the spiritual sense of the Word is to be opened at the end of the church is signified not only by what is said of the white horse and Him who sat upon it, but also by the great supper to which the angel standing in the sun invited all (the fowls of heaven) to come, and to eat the flesh of kings, of commanders of thousands, and so forth; by which is signified the appropriation of all goods from the Lord. All these expressions would be empty words, and without life and spirit, if there were no spiritual sense with in them like the soul in the body.

TCR 197. In the Apocalypse the New Jerusalem is thus described:--

That all this is to be understood spiritually can be seen from what is set forth in the Apocalypse Revealed (AR n. 880), that "the New Jerusalem" means a new church that is to be established by the Lord. And since "Jerusalem" here signifies the church it follows that everything said of it as a city, of its gates, its wall, the foundations of its wall, and also its dimensions contains a spiritual sense, for whatever relates to the church is spiritual. What these things signify has been shown in the Apocalypse Revealed (AR n. 896-925); therefore further explanation would be superfluous. It is sufficient to know from this that there is a spiritual sense in every particular of the above description, like the soul in the body, and without that sense nothing relating to the church could be seen in what is there written; as, that the city was of pure gold, its gates of pearls, its wall of jasper, the foundations of the wall of precious stones; that the wall was one hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel; that the city was twelve thousand furlongs in length, breadth, and height; and so on. But all this is understood by anyone who from a knowledge of correspondences is acquainted with the spiritual sense; as, that the wall and its foundations signify the doctrinals of that church drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word; also that the numbers twelve, one hundred and forty-four, and twelve thousand, signify all things of the church, that is, its truths and goods in one complex.

TCR 198. Where the Lord talks to His disciples about the end of the age, that is, the last time of the church, He says, at the close of His predictions respecting its successive changes of state:--

When understood spiritually this does not mean that the sun and moon would be darkened, that the stars would fall from heaven, and that the sign of the Lord was to appear in the heavens, and that they were to see Him in the clouds, and also angels with trumpets; but by each particular word here something spiritual pertaining to the church is meant, the state of the church at its end being here treated of. For in the spiritual sense "the sun" that shall be darkened means love to the Lord; "the moon" that shall not give her light means faith in the Lord; "the stars" that shall fall from heaven mean knowledges of what is true and good; "the sign of the Son of man in heaven" means the appearing of Divine truth in the Word from Him; that "the tribes of the earth shall wail" means a failing of all truth pertaining to faith, and of all good pertaining to love; "the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and glory" means the Lord's presence in the Word and revelation; "the clouds of heaven" signify the sense of the letter of the Word, and "glory" signifies its spiritual sense; "angels with the great sound of a trumpet" mean heaven from whence comes Divine truth; "the gathering together of the elect from the four winds, from the end of the heavens even to the end thereof" means a new heaven and a new church formed of those who have faith in the Lord and who live according to His commandments. That this does not mean the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars to the earth, is very clear from like statements in the prophets respecting the state of the church, when the Lord was about to come into the world; as in Isaiah:--

In Joel:--

In Ezekiel:--

By "the day of Jehovah" the coming of the Lord is meant, which took place when there no longer remained in the church any good of love or truth of faith, or any knowledge of the Lord; therefore it is called "a day of darkness and of thick darkness."

TCR 199. That the Lord when in the world spoke by correspondences, that is, when He spoke naturally He also spoke spiritually, can be seen from His parables, in each word of which there is a spiritual meaning. Take for example the parable of the ten virgins. He said:--

That in all these particulars there is a spiritual sense and therefore a Divine holiness, no one sees except he who knows that the Word has a spiritual sense and who knows what that sense is. In the spiritual sense "the kingdom of the heavens" means heaven and the church; "the bridegroom" means the Lord; "the wedding" means the marriage of the Lord with heaven and the church, through good of love and truth of faith; "the virgins" mean those who constitute the church; "ten" means all; "five" some portion; "lamps" things pertaining to faith; "oil" things pertaining to good of love; "to sleep" and "to arise" means man's life in the world which is natural, and his life after death which is spiritual; "to buy" means to procure for oneself; "going to those who sell and buying oil" means to procure for oneself good of love from others after death; and because good of love is then no longer to be procured, although they came to the door where the wedding feast was with their lamps and the oil they had bought, still the bridegroom said to them, "I know you not;" this is because man, after his life in the world, remains such as he had lived in the world. From all this it is clear that the Lord spoke solely by correspondences, and this because He spoke from the Divine that was in Him and was His. As "virgins" signify those who constitute the church, so the terms virgin and daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, of Judah, and of Israel, are frequently used in the prophetic Word. And because "oil" signifies good of love, all the sacred things of the church were anointed with oil. It is the same with the other parables, and with all the words spoken by the Lord. This is why the Lord says that His words are spirit and are life (John 6:63).

TCR 200. (3) It is because of its Spiritual Sense that the Word is Divinely inspired, and holy in every word. In the church it is said that the Word is holy for the reason that Jehovah the Lord spoke it; but inasmuch as its holiness is not apparent in the mere sense of the letter, whoever is once led on that account to doubt its holiness confirms his doubts when he subsequently reads the Word by many things therein; for he says to himself, Can this be holy? can this be Divine? Lest, therefore, such thoughts should enter the minds of many, and afterwards grow stronger, and in consequence the Word should be rejected as a worthless writing, and by this means the conjunction of the Lord with man be destroyed, it has pleased the Lord to reveal now its spiritual sense, that it may be known where in the Word the Divine holiness lies concealed. But let examples illustrate. The Word treats sometimes of Egypt, sometimes of Assyria, and again of Edom, of Moab, of the sons of Ammon, of the Philistines, of Tyre and Sidon, and of Gog. He who does not know that these names signify things pertaining to heaven and the church may be led into the error that the Word has much to say about peoples and nations and but little about heaven and the church, thus much about worldly things and but little about heavenly things. But when he knows what those nations and their names signify he may be led back from error to the truth.

[2] Likewise when he sees that gardens, groves, forests and their trees, as the olive, the vine, the cedar, the poplar, the oak, are so frequently mentioned in the Word, also the lamb, the sheep, the goat, the calf, the ox; also mountains, hills, and valleys, and their fountains, rivers, and Waters, and many other such things, one who knows nothing about the spiritual sense of the Word cannot but believe that these objects alone are meant; for he does not know that "a garden," "a grove," and "a forest," mean wisdom, intelligence and knowledge; that "the olive," "the vine," "the cedar," "the poplar," and "the oak," mean the good and truth of the church, celestial, spiritual, rational, natural and sensual; that "a lamb," "a sheep," "a goat," "a calf," and "an ox," mean innocence, charity, and natural affection; and that "mountains," "hills," and "valleys," mean the higher, the lower, and the lowest things of the church.

[3] Also he does not know that "Egypt" signifies the scientific, "Assyria" the rational, "Edom" the natural, "Moab" the adulteration of good, "the sons of Ammon" the adulteration of truth, "the Philistines" faith separate from charity, "Tyre and Sidon" knowledges of good and truth, and "Gog" external worship apart from internal. In general "Jacob" means in the Word the natural church, "Israel" the spiritual church, and "Judah" the celestial church. When man knows all this he is able to see that the Word treats of nothing but heavenly things, and that these worldly things are merely the subjects which contain the heavenly. Let this be illustrated by an example from the Word.

[4] We read in Isaiah:--

In the spiritual sense this means that at the time of the Lord's coming the scientific, the rational and the spiritual will make one, and that the scientific will then serve the rational, and both the spiritual; for, as said before, "Egypt" signifies the scientific, "Assyria" the rational, and "Israel" the spiritual. "That day" twice mentioned, means the first and the second coming of the Lord.

TCR 201. (4) Heretofore the spiritual sense of the Word has been unknown. That each thing and all things in nature correspond to spiritual things, and in like manner each and all things in the human body, has been shown in the work on Heaven and Hell (HH n. 87-105). But heretofore it has not been known what correspondence is; yet in most ancient times it was very well known; for to those who then lived, the knowledge of correspondences was the knowledge of knowledges, and was so universal that all their manuscripts and books were written by correspondences. The book of Job, which is a book of the Ancient Church, is full of correspondences. The hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, as well as the fables of most ancient times, were nothing, but correspondences. All the ancient churches were churches representative of spiritual things; their rites and the statutes according to which their worship was established, consisted of pure correspondences; as did all things of the church among the children of Israel. The burnt offerings, the sacrifices, the meat offerings, and the drink offerings, with all their particulars, were correspondences; likewise the tabernacle and all things in it; also their feast, as the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles, and the feast of the first-fruits; also the priesthood of Aaron and the Levites, and their garments or holiness. What the spiritual things are to which all these things corresponded has been shown in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London. Furthermore all the statutes and judgments relating to their worship and life were correspondences. Since then, Divine things present themselves in the world in correspondences, the Word was written by pure correspondences; and because the Lord spoke from the Divine He spoke by means of correspondences; for whatever is from the Divine falls into such things in nature as correspond to Divine things, and these then store up in their bosom Divine things, which are called celestial and spiritual.

TCR 202. I have been informed that the men of the Most Ancient Church which existed before the flood, were of a genius so celestial that they talked with the angels of heaven, and were able to talk with them by means of correspondences, and in consequence the state of their wisdom was such that whatever they saw on earth, they thought of not only naturally, but at the same time spiritually, thus conjointly with the angels of heaven. Furthermore, I have been informed that Enoch, who is mentioned in (Gen. 5:21-24) and those associated with him, collected correspondences from the lips of these men, and transmitted this knowledge to their posterity; and that from this it came to pass that in many of the kingdoms of Asia the knowledge of correspondences both existed and was cultivated, especially in the land of Canaan, in Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, Syria, Arabia, Tyre, Sidon, and Nineveh, and that it was thence carried into Greece; but was there turned into myths, as can be seen from the writings of the ancient Greeks.

TCR 203. To show that a knowledge of correspondences was long preserved among the nations of Asia, although among those called diviners and sages, and by some Magi, I will present one example from 1 Sam. 5 and 6. It is there recorded that the ark containing the two tables on which the Decalogue was written was captured by the Philistines and placed in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod, and that Dagon fell to the ground before it, and afterwards his head and the palms of his hands, severed from his body, lay upon the threshold of the temple; also that on account of the ark the men of Ashdod and Ekron were smitten by thousands with tumors and their land laid waste by mice, and that therefore the Philistines called together their lords and diviners; and to stay this destruction they determined to make five tumors of gold and five golden mice and a new cart, and upon the cart to place the ark, and beside it the golden tumors and mice; and by two cows, which lowed on the way before the cart, to send it back to the children of Israel, by whom the cows and the cart were offered in sacrifice; and thus the God of Israel was propitiated. That all these things studied out by the diviners of the Philistines were correspondences is evident from their signification, which is as follows: "The Philistines" themselves signified those who are in faith separate from charity; "Dagon" represented that religion; "the tumors" with which they were smitten, signified natural loves, which when separated from spiritual love are unclean; "the mice" signified the devastation of the church by falsifications of truth; "the new cart" signified natural doctrine of the church (as doctrine from spiritual truths is signified in the Word by "a chariot"); "the cows" signified good natural affections; "the golden tumors" signified natural loves purified and made good; "the golden mice" signified the vastation of the church removed by means of good ("gold" in the Word signifying good); "the lowing of the cows in the way" signified the difficult conversion of the natural man's lust of evil into good affections; the offering of the cows together with the cart as a burnt offering, signified that thus the God of Israel was propitiated. All these things which the Philistines did by the advice of their diviners were correspondences from which it is clear that that knowledge was long preserved among the nations.

TCR 204. Because the representative rites of the church, which were correspondences, in the course of time began to be turned into idolatries, and also into magic, that knowledge, by the Lord's Divine Providence, gradually perished, and with the Israelitish and Jewish nation was totally obliterated. The worship of that nation did indeed consist solely of correspondences, and was therefore representative of heavenly things, but not a single thing did they know the significance of, for they were wholly natural men, and consequently were neither willing nor able to know anything about things spiritual and celestial, nor therefore about correspondences; for correspondences are representations of things spiritual and celestial in things natural.

TCR 205. The idolatries of nations in ancient times originated in a knowledge of correspondences, since all things visible on earth correspond; thus not only trees, but all kind of beasts and birds, also fishes, and all other things. The ancients, who had a knowledge of correspondences, made for themselves images corresponding to heavenly things, and took delight in them because they signified such things as belong to heaven and the church; consequently they placed these images not only in their temples but also in their houses, not for worship but to call to mind the heavenly things they signified. So in Egypt and elsewhere there were images of calves, oxen, and serpents, also of boys, old men, and virgins; because calves and oxen signified the affections and powers of the natural man; serpents the prudence and the cunning of the sensual man; boys innocence and charity; old men wisdom, and virgins affections for truth; and so on. When the knowledge of correspondences had perished, their posterity, because these images and figures had been placed by the ancients in and near their temples, began to worship these as holy, and finally as deities. For the same reason the ancients worshiped in gardens and groves, according to the different kinds of trees in them; also on mountains and hills; for gardens and groves signified wisdom and intelligence, and each tree signified something pertaining thereto; thus the olive signified the good of love; the vine truth from that good; the cedar rational good and truth; a mountain the highest heaven; and a hill the heaven below it. That the knowledge of correspondences remained with many of the people of the East even until the advent of the Lord can be seen also in the coming of the wise men of the East to the Lord when He was born:--

for "the star" that went before signified knowledge from heaven; "gold" signified celestial good; "frankincense" spiritual good; and "myrrh" natural good; from which three all worship proceeds. Nevertheless, with the Israelitish and Jewish nation there was no knowledge whatever of correspondences, although everything pertaining to their worship, and all the statutes and judgments given them by Moses, and all things in the Word, were pure correspondences. This was because in heart the Jews were idolaters, and therefore such that they were not even willing to know that anything in their worship signified what is heavenly and spiritual; for they believed that all things of their worship were holy in themselves; and therefore if things heavenly and spiritual had been disclosed to them they would not only have rejected them but also have profaned them. For this reason heaven was so closed to them that they scarcely knew that there was any eternal life. The truth of this is plainly evident from the fact that they did not acknowledge the Lord, although the whole Sacred Scripture prophesied of Him and foretold His coming. They rejected Him solely for the reason that He taught them of a heavenly instead of an earthly kingdom; for they wanted a Messiah who would exalt them above all the nations in the whole world, and not a Messiah who would have regard to their eternal salvation.

TCR 206. After these times the knowledge of correspondences, whereby the spiritual sense of the Word is communicated, was not disclosed, for the reason that the Christians of the primitive church were too simple to have it disclosed to them, and if it had been it would neither have been of any use to them nor would have been understood. After those times darkness settled upon the whole Christian world, first because of the spread of many heresies, and soon after by the deliberations and decrees of the Council of Nice respecting three Divine persons from eternity, and respecting the person of Christ as being the Son of Mary and not the Son of Jehovah God. From this sprang the modern belief in justification, which teaches that three Gods are to be approached in their order, on which faith each and all things of the present church depend as the members of the body depend on the head. And because all things of the Word have been applied to confirm that erroneous belief, the spiritual sense could not be disclosed, for if it had been they would have applied that sense also to the same purpose, and thereby have profaned the very holiness of the Word, and thus have completely closed up heaven against themselves, and have separated the Lord from the church

TCR 207. The knowledge of correspondences, whereby the spiritual sense of the Word is communicated, has been at this day revealed because the Divine truths of the church are now being brought to light, and these are the truths of which the spiritual sense of the Word consists; and when these truths are in man the sense of the letter of the Word cannot be perverted. For the sense of the letter of the Word may be turned in any direction. If it is turned to what is false its internal holiness perishes, and with it its external holiness; but if turned to what is true its holiness remains. But of all this more shall be said in what follows. That the spiritual sense would be opened at this time is meant by John's seeing heaven opened, and then seeing a white horse; also by his seeing and hearing an angel standing in the sun calling all to the great supper, on which see (Apoc. 19:11-18). But that this sense would not for a long time be acknowledged is meant by the beast and the kings of the earth being about to make war with Him who sat upon the white horse (Apoc. 19:19); also by the dragon's persecuting the woman who brought forth the man-child, even to the wilderness, where he cast out of his mouth water as a flood, that he might overwhelm her (Apoc. 12:13-17).

TCR 208. (5) Henceforth the spiritual sense of the Word will be given only to such as are in genuine truths from the Lord. This is because the spiritual sense can be seen by no one except from the Lord alone, and unless he be in Divine truths from the Lord; for the spiritual sense of the Word treats of the Lord alone and His kingdom; and in that sense are His angels in heaven, for that sense is His Divine truth in heaven. That truth man can do violence to when he possesses a knowledge of correspondences, and by means of it seeks to explore the spiritual sense of the Word from his own intelligence; since by a few correspondences known to him he is able to pervert that sense, and wrest it to confirm even what is false; thus he would do violence to Divine truth, and also to heaven in which that truth resides. Therefore if anyone seeks to open that sense, not from the Lord but from himself, heaven is closed; and when heaven is closed man either sees nothing of truth or is spiritually insane. A further reason is that the Lord teaches everyone by means of the Word, and teaches from those knowledges that a man has, and does not pour in new knowledges directly. Unless, therefore, a man is in Divine truths, or if he is in a few truths only and at the same time in falsities, he may by these falsities falsify the truths, as is done by every heretic in respect to the sense of the letter of the Word. So, in order that no one may enter into the spiritual sense and pervert the genuine truth which belongs to that sense, guards are set by the Lord, which are meant in the Word by "cherubim."

TCR 209. (6) Wonderful things in regard to the Word arising from its spiritual sense. In the natural world no wonderful things arise from the Word, because the spiritual sense is not there apparent, and such as it is in itself is not inwardly perceived by man. But in the spiritual world wonderful thing from the Word appear, because all there are spiritual beings, and a spiritual man is affected by spiritual things as a natural man is by natural things. The wonderful things arising from the Word in the spiritual world are many, a few of which I will here mention. In the shrines of the temples there the Word itself shines before the eyes of the angels like a great star, sometimes like a sun; and also from the bright radiance round about it there are seen as it were most beautiful rainbows. This happens as soon as the shrine is opened.

[2] That each truth and all truths of the Word shine has been made evident to me by the fact that when any least sentence from it is written out upon paper, and this is thrown into the air, the very paper shines in the form in which it has been cut. Thus by means of the Word spirits can produce a variety of shining forms, also the forms of birds and fishes. Again, what is still more wonderful, when anyone rubs his face, his hands, or the clothing he has on, with the open Word, touching them with the writing, the face itself, the hands, and the clothing shine as though he were standing in a star encompassed by its light. This I have seen very often, and wondered at it. Thus it was made clear to me how it was that Moses' face shone when he brought the tables of the covenant down from Mount Sinai.

[3] Besides these there are many other wonderful things there which are from the Word; for instance, if anyone who is in falsities looks towards the Word as it lies in its holy place a darkness comes over his eyes, and in consequence the Word appears to him to be black, and sometimes as if covered with soot; and if he likewise touches the Word an explosion follows with a crash, and he is thrown to a corner of the room, and lies there for a brief hour as if dead. If something from the Word is written on a paper by one who is in falsities, and the paper is thrown up toward heaven, a like explosion follows in the air between his eyes and heaven, and the paper is torn to shreds and vanishes; the same thing happens if the paper is thrown towards an angel standing near. This I have often seen.

[4] It has thus been made clear to me that those who are in falsities of doctrine have no communication with heaven through the Word, but their reading of it is dissipated on the way and is lost, like gunpowder wrapped in paper when ignited and thrown into the air. The opposite occurs with those who are in truths of doctrine from the Lord through the Word; their reading of the Word penetrates even into heaven and effects conjunction with the angels there. The angels themselves, when they descend from heaven to discharge any duty below, appear surrounded with little stars, especially about the head; which is a sign that Divine truths from the Word are in them.

[5] Furthermore, in the spiritual world things exist similar to those on earth; but there each thing and all things are from a spiritual origin. Thus gold and silver exist there, and all kinds of precious stones, and the spiritual origin of these is the sense of the letter of the Word; and on this account in the Apocalypse the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem are described by twelve precious stones. The reason of this is that the foundations of its wall signify the doctrinals of the New Church, which are derived from the sense of the letter of the Word. For the same reason there were twelve precious stones called Urim and Thummim in Aaron's ephod, by means of which responses were given from heaven. There are many other wonderful things proceeding from the Word that have relation to the power of the truth within it. This power is so great that if described it would surpass all belief; for it is such that it overturns mountains and hills there, and removes them afar off, and hurls them into the sea; and many things besides. In short the power of the Lord proceeding from the Word is infinite.

TCR 210. In everything Divine there is a first, a middle, and a last, the first passing through the middle to the last, and so existing and subsisting; consequently the last is the Basis. Again, the first is in the middle, and through the middle in the last; thus the last is the Containant. And since the last is the Containant and the Basis, it is also the Support. The learned can understand that these three may be called end, cause, and effect; also being (esse), becoming (fieri) and standing forth (existere); and that the end is being, the cause is becoming, and the effect is standing forth; consequently that in every complete thing there is a trine, which is called the first, the middle, and the last, also end, cause, and effect. When this is understood, it can also be understood that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its last; also that the whole is in the last, because in it prior things are together.

TCR 211. This is why the number three in the Word means in the spiritual sense what is complete and perfect, also the whole together; and this being the signification of that number, it is used in the Word whenever any such thing is designated as in the following instances:--

besides many other passages where the number three is mentioned; and it is mentioned where a finished and perfect work is treated of, because this is what that number signifies.

TCR 212. There are three heavens; a highest, a middle, and a lowest. The highest heaven forms the Lord's celestial kingdom, the middle His spiritual kingdom, and the lowest heaven His natural kingdom. As there are three heavens so there are three senses of the Word, a celestial, a spiritual, and a natural; and this agrees with what has been said above (n. 210), namely, that the first is in the middle and through the middle in the last, precisely as the end is in the cause and through the cause in the effect. This makes clear the nature of the Word, namely, that in the sense of its letter, which is natural, there is an inner sense which is spiritual, and in this an inmost sense which is celestial; and thus that the outmost sense, which is natural and is called the sense of the letter, is the containant, and thus the basis and support of the two interior senses.

TCR 213. From this it follows that the Word without the sense of its letter would be like a palace without a foundation, and thus like a palace in the air instead of on the earth, which would be only the shadow of a palace that would vanish away; or again, that the Word without the sense of its letter would be like a temple containing many holy things, with a shrine in the center of it, but without roof or wall, which are its containants; and if these were lacking or were taken away, its holy things would be seized upon by thieves, would be desecrated by the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven, and would thus be dispersed. It would also be like the tabernacle of the sons of Israel in the wilderness (in the inmost part of which was the ark of the covenant, and in the middle the golden candlestick, the golden altar upon which was the incense, and the table with the bread of faces upon it) without its outmosts, which were curtains, veils, and pillars. In fact, the Word without the sense of its letter would be like the human body without its coverings which are called skins, and without its supports which are called bones. With both of these absent all its inner parts would fall asunder. Or again, it would be like the heart and lungs in the thorax without their covering which is called the pleura, and their supports which are called ribs. Or it would be like the brain without its coverings which are called the dura mater and pia mater, and without their common covering, containant, and support, which is called the cranium. So would it he with the Word without the sense of its letter; therefore it is said in Isaiah:--

TCR 214. In the sense of the letter the Word is in its fulness, its holiness, and its power, because the two prior or interior senses, which are called spiritual and celestial, exist simultaneously in the natural sense which is the sense of the letter (n. 210, 212). How they exist simultaneously shall be further explained. In heaven and in the world there is successive order and there is simultaneous order. In successive order one thing succeeds and follows another from the highest down to the lowest; but in simultaneous order one thing stands next to another from inmosts even to outermosts. Successive order is like a column arranged in steps from summit to base; while simultaneous order is like a work coherent with the circumferences from the center even to the outmost surface. I will now explain how successive order becomes simultaneous order in the outmost. It is done as follows: The highest things of successive order become the inmost things of simultaneous order; and the lowest things of successive order become the outermost things of simultaneous order; comparatively as a column arranged in steps when it subsides becomes a body coherent in a plane. Thus is the simultaneous formed from the successive, and this in each and all things both of the natural world and of the spiritual world; for there is everywhere a first, a middle, and a last, and the first tends and passes through the middle to its last. But it must be clearly understood that there are degrees of purity in accordance with which both of these orders are determined.

[2] Now in respect to the Word: the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural go forth from the Lord in successive order; and in the outmost they exist in simultaneous order; and thus the celestial and spiritual senses of the Word exist simultaneously in its natural sense. When this is comprehended it can be seen how the natural sense of the Word is the containant, the basis, and the support of its spiritual and celestial senses; also how the Divine good and truth are in the sense of the letter of the Word in their fulness, their holiness and their power. From all this it is clear that the Word is the real Word in the sense of the letter, for inwardly in this there is spirit and life. This is what the Lord says:--

for the words of the Lord were spoken in the natural sense. The celestial and spiritual senses separated from the natural sense are not the Word; for they are like spirit and life without a body, and are like a palace without a foundation (as said above, n. 213).

TCR 215. In part the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are not naked truths, but are appearances of truth, and are like similitudes and comparisons which are taken from such things as exist in nature, and are therefore accommodated and adapted to the capacity of the simple and also of children. But as these are at the same time correspondences they are receptacles and abodes of genuine truth, and are vessels containing it, as a crystal cup contains noble wine, or a silver dish good food; they are also like garments for clothing the body, as swaddling clothes for an infant, or becoming garments for a maiden; they are also like the knowledges of the natural man, which comprise within them the perceptions and affections of spiritual truth. The naked truths themselves, which are included, contained, clothed, and comprised, are in the spiritual sense of the Word, and the naked goods in its celestial sense. But this shall be illustrated from the Word.

[2] Jesus said:--

Here the Lord spoke by similitudes and comparisons that are also correspondences, using the terms "cup" and "platter," "cup" not only meaning but also signifying the truth of the Word, for by the "cup" wine is meant, and "wine" signifies truth. But by "platter" food is meant, and food signifies good; therefore "to cleanse the inside of the cup and platter" signifies to purify by means of the Word the interiors of the mind, which pertain to the will and thought. "That the outside may thus be clean" signifies that the exteriors, which are the things done and said, are thus purified; for these derive their essence from the former.

[3] Again Jesus said:--

Here, too, the Lord spoke by similitudes and comparisons that were correspondences and that contained spiritual things. The "rich man" means the Jewish nation, which is called "rich" because it had the Word, which contains spiritual riches; the "purple and fine linen" with which he was clothed, signify the good and truth of the Word, "purple" its good, and "fine linen" its truth; his "faring sumptuously every day" signifies their satisfaction in having the Word and in hearing many things from it in their temples and synagogues; "the beggar Lazarus" means the Gentiles, because they did not have the Word; that these were despised and rejected by the Jews is meant by his being "laid at the rich man's gate;" and his being "full of sores" signifies that owing to their ignorance of truth the Gentiles were in many falsities.

[4] The Gentiles were meant by Lazarus, because the Lord loved the Gentiles. As:--

and who is called the Lord's friend (John 11:11); and reclined at the table with the Lord (John 12:2). From the above two passages it is clear that the truths and goods of the sense of the letter of the Word are like vessels, or like clothing for the naked good and truth, both of which lie hidden in the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word.

[5] The Word in the sense of the letter being such, it follows that those who are in Divine truths, and in the belief that the Word inwardly in its bosom is the holy Divine and still more those who are in the belief that the Word is such because of its spiritual and celestial senses, when they read the Word in states of enlightenment from the Lord, see Divine truths in natural light. For the light of heaven, in which the spiritual sense is, flows into the natural light in which the sense of the letter of the Word is, and illuminates the intellectual faculty of man which is called his rational, causing it to see and acknowledge Divine truths, both where they stand forth and where they lie hidden. With some these truths flow in at the same time with the light of heaven, sometimes even when they are unconscious of it.

TCR 216. As the Word in its inmost depths, because of its celestial sense, is like a gentle flame that enkindles, and in its intermediate depths, because of its spiritual sense, is like a light that enlightens, so in its outmost because of its natural sense it is like a transparent object receiving both the flame and the light; and from the flame it is ruddy like purple, and from the light is white like snow. Thus it is comparatively like a ruby and a diamond, like a ruby from celestial flame, and like a diamond from spiritual light. The Word in the sense of the letter being such, in this sense it is meant:-

1. By the precious stones of which the foundations of the New Jerusalem consisted.

2. By the Urim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod.

3. And by the precious stones in the garden of Eden, where the King of Tyre is said to have been.

4. Also by the curtains, veils, and pillars of the tabernacle.

5. Likewise by the externals of the temple at Jerusalem.

6. The Word in its glory was represented in the Lord when He was transfigured.

7. The power of the Word in its outmosts was represented by the Nazarites.

8. The inexpressible power of the Word.

These statements shall be illustrated one by one.

TCR 217. (1) The truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are meant by the precious stones of which the foundations of the New Jerusalem consisted (Apoc. 21:17-21). It has been mentioned above (n. 209) that precious stones exist in the spiritual world, as well as in the natural world, and that their spiritual origin is the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word. This seems incredible and yet it is true. And this is why precious stones are so frequently mentioned in the Word; and why in the spiritual sense they mean truths. From this it follows that the "precious stones" of which the foundations of the wall around the city New Jerusalem are said to have been built signify the truths of doctrine of the New Church, because "the New Jerusalem" means the New Church in respect to doctrine from the Word; and therefore its "wall" and foundations" of the wall, can mean nothing else than the external of the Word, which is the sense of the letter; for it is from this sense that doctrine exists, and the church by means of doctrine; while the external of the Word is like a wall with its foundations, which encloses and protects a city. of the New Jerusalem and its foundations we read in the Apocalypse:--

The wall had twelve foundations formed of as many precious stones, because the number "twelve" signified all things of truth from good; so here all things of doctrine. But this and what precedes and follows in this chapter, may be seen explained in detail and confirmed by parallel passages from the prophetic Word, in our Apocalypse Revealed.

TCR 218. (2) The Goods and Truths of the Word in the sense of its letter are meant by the Urim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod. The Urim and Thummim were on Aaron's ephod, whose priesthood represented the Lord in respect to the Divine good and the work of salvation. The garments of the priesthood, or of its holiness, represented the Divine truths from the Lord; the ephod represented Divine truth in its outmost, and thus the Word in the sense of the letter, for that is Divine truth in its outmost. So the twelve precious stones, with the names of the two tribes of Israel, which composed the Urim and Thummim, represented Divine truths from Divine good in their whole complex. Concerning these we read in Moses as follows:--

What was represented by the garments of Aaron, his ephod, robe, broidered coat, miter, and girdle has been explained in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London, where this chapter is treated of. It is there shown that the ephod represented Divine truth in its outmost; the precious stones in the ephod represented truths translucent from good; the twelve arranged in four rows represented all those truths from first to last; the twelve tribes represented all things pertaining to the church; the breastplate Divine truth from Divine good in the universal sense; the Urim and Thummim the resplendency of Divine truth from Divine good in outmosts; for in angelic language Urim means shining fire, and Thummim means resplendence, and in the Hebrew integrity. It is also there shown that responses were given by variegations of lights and at the same time by tacit perception or by a living voice; besides other things. From all this it can be seen that these stones also signified truths from good in the outmost sense of the Word; and by no other means are responses given from heaven, for in that sense is the Divine going forth in its fulness.

TCR 219. (3) Like things are meant by, the precious stones in the garden of Eden, where the King of Tyre is said to have been. We read in Ezekiel:--

In the Word "Tyre" signifies the church in respect to knowledges of good and truth; "the king" signifies the truth of the church; "the garden of Eden" signifies wisdom and intelligence from the Word; "precious stones" signify truths translucent because of good, such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word: and this being the signification of these stones, they are called "his covering." That the sense of the letter is a covering to the interiors of the Word, may be seen above (n. 213).

TCR 220. (4) Truths and goods in outmosts, such as are contained in the sense of the letter of the Word, were represented by the curtains, veils, and pillars of the tabernacle. The tabernacle built by Moses in the wilderness represented heaven and the church, and therefore the form of it was shown by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. As a consequence, all things in that tabernacle, namely, the candlestick, the golden altar for incense, and the table on which was the bread of faces, represented and signified the holy things of heaven and the church; the holy of holies, where the ark of the covenant was kept, represented and thus signified the inmost of heaven and the church; the law itself written upon the two tables signified the Word; and the cherubs above the ark signified guards to protect the holy things of the Word from desecration. Since, then, externals derive their essence from internals, and both externals and internals derive their essence from the inmost, which here was the law, so all things belonging to the tabernacle represented and signified the holy things of the Word. From this it follows that the outmost parts of the tabernacle, its curtains, veils and pillars, which were coverings, containers, and supports, signified the outmost things of the Word, which are the truths and goods of the sense of its letter. Because this was what they signified:--

What was represented and signified by the tabernacle and by all things in it, both in general and in particular, has been explained in the Arcana Coelestia, where this chapter is treated of. It is there shown that the curtains and veils represented the externals of heaven and the church, and thus also the externals of the Word; and that the "linen" (xylinum seu byssinum) signified truth from a spiritual origin; "blue" truth from a celestial origin; "purple" celestial good; "scarlet double-dyed" spiritual good; and the "cherubs" guards of the interiors of the Word.

TCR 221. (5) Likewise by the externals of the temple at Jerusalem. This is because heaven and the church were represented by the temple as well as by the tabernacle, the temple representing the heaven in which spiritual angels dwell, and the tabernacle the heaven where celestial angels dwell. Spiritual angels are those who are in wisdom from the Word, celestial angels those who are in love from the Word. That the temple at Jerusalem signified, in the highest sense, the Lord's Divine Human, He teaches in John:--

and where the Lord is meant, the Word also is meant, because He is the Word. As then the interiors of the temple represented the interiors of heaven and the church, thus also of the Word, so its exteriors represented and signified the exteriors of heaven and the church, thus also of the Word, which belong to the sense of its letter. Of the exteriors of the temple we read:--

By all these things the externals of the Word, which are the holy things of the sense of its letter, are signified.

TCR 222. (6) The Word in its glory was represented in the Lord when He was transfigured. Of the Lord when transfigured before Peter, James and John we read:--

I have been told that the Lord then represented the Word. His "face" which "shone like the sun," represented the Divine good of His Divine love; His "garments" which "became as the light," represented the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom; "Moses and Elias" the historic and prophetic Word, "Moses" the Word written through him, and in general the historic Word, and "Elias" the whole prophetic Word; the "bright cloud" which "overshadowed the disciples" represented the Word in the sense of the letter; so from it a voice was heard, saying, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him," for no announcements or responses are ever made from heaven except through outmosts such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word, for they are made by the Lord in fulness.

TCR 223. (7) The power of the Word in its outmosts was represented by the Nazarites. In the book of Judges we read that Samson was a Nazarite from his mother's womb; and that his strength lay in his hair; moreover, "Nazarite" and "Nazariteship" mean the hair. That his strength lay in his hair, he himself showed, when he said:--

No one can know why the Nazariteship, which means the hair, was instituted, and why Samson's strength lay in his hair, unless he knows what is signified in the Word by the "head." The "head" signifies the intelligence that men and angels have from the Lord through Divine truth; and therefore the "hair" signifies intelligence from Divine truth in things outmost or last. Because of this signification of the "hair" there was a law for the Nazarites:--

therefore it was also a law,

Because the hair, on account of that signification, which is from correspondence, was so holy, the Son of Man, who is the Lord in respect to the Word, is described even as to the hair:--

Likewise as the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:9). Because the hair signifies truth in outmosts, thus the sense of the letter of the Word, those in the spiritual world who despise the Word become bald; and on the other hand, those who have held the Word in high esteem and have regarded it as holy appear with comely hair. It was because of this correspondence,

for "Elisha" represented the church in regard to doctrine from the Word, and "she-bears" signify the power of truth in outmosts. The power of Divine truth or of the Word is in the sense of its letter, because there the Word is in its fulness, and because the angels of both of the Lord's kingdoms and men are together in that sense.

TCR 224. (8) The inexpressible power of the Word. Hardly anyone at this day knows that there is any power in truths; for truth is supposed to be nothing more than a statement uttered by some one in authority, which ought for that reason to be obeyed; thus truth is supposed to be like a mere breath from the mouth or sound in the ear; and yet truth and good are the principles of all things in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural; also they are the means by which the universe was created, and through which the universe is preserved, and the means as well by which man was created; therefore these two are the all in all things. That the universe was created by Divine truth, is clearly declared in John:--

And in David:--

In both of these passages "The Word" means the Divine truth. As the universe was created by this truth, so also was the universe preserved by it; for as subsistence is perpetual existence, so preservation is perpetual creation.

[2] It was by means of Divine truth that man was made, because all things in man have relation to understanding and will, the understanding being the receptacle of Divine truth, and the will of Divine good; therefore, the human mind, which consists of those two principles, is nothing but a form of Divine good and Divine truth spiritually and naturally organized. The human brain is that form. And as the whole of man depends upon his mind, so all things of his body are appendages, which are moved by these two principles, and life from them.

[3] From all this it can now be seen why God came into the world as the Word, and became Man, namely, that the work of redemption might be accomplished; for God then, by means of His Human, which was Divine truth, put on all power, overthrew the hells (which had grown up even as far as to the heavens where the angels were), and subjugated them, and reduced them to obedience to Himself, and this was done not by a spoken word but by the Divine Word which is Divine truth. Afterward He opened a great gulf between the hells and the heavens, which no one from hell can cross; if anyone attempts it, at the first step he is tortured like a serpent laid on a sheet of hot iron, or on an ant hill. For at the first approach of the odor of Divine truth the devils and satans instantly cast themselves into the abyss and throw themselves into caves and stop them up so closely that not a crevice is visible. This is because the will of such is in evils, and the understanding in falsities, that is, in what is opposite to the Divine good and the Divine truth. And because the whole of man, as just said, consists of these two principles of life, they are thus from head to foot, completely and grievously overpowered in consequence of their sensation of the opposite.

[4] From all this it can be seen that the power of Divine truth is inexpressible. And as the Word which the Christian church possesses is the containant of Divine truth in three degrees, that Word is evidently what is meant in (John 1:1, 3, 10). That its power is inexpressible I could prove by many evidences of experience in the spiritual world; but as these evidences would surpass belief, or appear incredible, I omit presenting them; but some you will find recorded above (n. 209). The following will serve to keep these truths in remembrance: That a church that is in Divine truths from the Lord has power over the hells, and that the Lord's words to Peter refer to such a church:--

This the Lord said after Peter had confessed,

"Rock" here means such truth, for everywhere in the Word "rock" means the Lord in respect to Divine truth.

TCR 225. It was shown in the preceding section that the Word is in its fulness, in its holiness, and in its power in the sense of the letter; and since the Lord is the Word and is "the First and the Last" as He says in (Apocalypse 1:17), it follows that He is fully present in that sense, and that from it He teaches and enlightens man. But this shall be shown in the following order:-

1. Without doctrine the Word is not understood.

2. Doctrine should be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word.

3. But Divine truth, which is of doctrine, can be seen only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord.

TCR 226. (1) Without doctrine the Word is not understood. This is because the Word in the sense of the letter consists purely of correspondences, in order that it may at the same time include things spiritual and celestial, and each word may be a container and support of these. For this reason, in the sense of the letter Divine truths are rarely naked truths, but are truths clothed: and these are called appearances of truth, many of which are adapted to the understanding of the simple, who do not raise their thoughts above such things as they see before their eyes; others appear like contradictions, although when the Word is viewed in its spiritual light, there is no contradiction to be found in it; furthermore, in some portions of the prophets there are collections of the names of places and persons from which no sense can be elicited. As the Word is such in the sense of the letter it is clear that it cannot be understood without doctrine.

[2] This may be illustrated by examples. It is said,

It is also said,

Without doctrine these statements cannot be harmonized. It is said,

It is also said,

In the light of doctrine these statements do not conflict, but agree.

[3] Jesus said:--

Without doctrine it might be supposed that everyone is to receive whatever he asks; but from doctrine it is known that when man's asking is from the Lord whatever he asks is given him; and this the Lord also teaches:--

[4] The Lord says:--

Without doctrine this might be thought to teach that heaven is for the poor, and not for the rich; but doctrine teaches that the poor in spirit are meant; for the Lord says:--

[5] Again, the Lord says:--

Without doctrine one might be led to conclude from this that he ought not to judge a wicked man to be wicked; but according to doctrine, it is lawful to judge, but justly, for the Lord says:--

[6] Jesus says.:--

Without doctrine it would follow from this that no man ought to call another teacher or father or master; but from doctrine it is known that this is permissible in the natural sense, but not in the spiritual sense.

[7] Jesus said to His disciples:--

From these words one might conclude that the Lord's disciples are to judge, when in fact they are unable to judge anyone; and so this arcanum will be made clear by the doctrine that the Lord alone, who is omniscient and who knows the hearts of all, is to judge, and is able to judge, and that by His "twelve disciples" is meant the church in respect to all the truths and goods which it has from the Lord through the Word; thus doctrine shows that it is by these truths that everyone is to be judged, according to the Lord's words in (John 3:17, 18; 12:47, 48). There are many other like statements in the Word, which make it evident that without doctrine the Word is not understood.

TCR 227. By means of doctrine not only is the Word understood, it also shines in the understanding, since it then becomes like a candelabrum with its lamps lighted. Thus man sees in it more things than he saw before, and also understands things he did not understand before; and things obscure and discordant, he either passes over without seeing, or he so sees and explains them as to bring them into accord with doctrine. That the Word is looked at from doctrine and is explained according to it, the practice of the Christian world testifies. All the Reformed look at the Word from their own doctrine and explain it accordingly; likewise, the Papists from their doctrine, and even the Jews from theirs; consequently from false doctrines they see falsities and from true doctrine truths. All this makes clear that true doctrine is like a lamp in the dark, or a guidepost by the wayside.

TCR 228. From all this it can be seen, that those who read the Word without doctrine are in obscurity respecting all truth; and that their minds are wavering and uncertain; prone to error and open to heresies, which they embrace when favor or authority encourages and reputation is not endangered. To such the Word is like a candelabrum without light, and they see many things as if in shade, and in fact see scarcely anything, for doctrine is the only lamp. I have seen such examined by angels, and it was found that they could confirm from the Word anything they wished; and that they did confirm especially whatever belonged to their own love or to the love of those whom they favor. I have also seen them stripped of their garments, which was a sign that they were destitute of truths. In the spiritual world garments are truths.

TCR 229. (2) Doctrine should be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word and confirmed by it. This is because in it the Lord is present, and teaches and enlightens; for the Lord never operates except in fulness, and in the sense of the letter the Word is in its fulness, as has been shown above. This is why doctrine should be drawn from the sense of the letter. Moreover, the doctrine of genuine truth may be fully drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word; since the Word in that sense is like a man clothed, with his face bare and his hands bare; and all things pertaining to man's faith and life and thus his salvation are there naked; while the rest are clothed; but in many places where they are clothed, they show through, as objects are seen by a woman through a thin silk veil before her face. Furthermore, as the truths of the Word are multiplied, as it were, by love for them, and by this love are arranged in order, they more and more clearly shine forth and are seen.

TCR 230. It may be supposed that the doctrine of genuine truth can be acquired by means of the spiritual sense of the Word, which is given through a knowledge of correspondences; but doctrine is not acquired by means of that sense, but only illustrated and corroborated. For, as before said (n. 208), it is possible for a man, by means of some well-known correspondences to falsify the Word by bringing these together, and applying them to confirm what is established in his own mind by some principle already adopted. Moreover, it is by the Lord only that the spiritual sense is communicated to any man; and it is guarded by the Lord as He guards the angelic heaven, for heaven is in that sense.

TCR 231. (3) Genuine Truth, of which doctrine must consist, can be seen in the sense of the letter of the Word only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord. Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, and exists in those who love truths because they are truths, and who make truths uses of life. To no others is enlightenment in the Word possible. Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, because the Word is from Him, and consequently He is in it. Enlightenment is given to those who love truths because they are truths, and who make them uses of life, because such are in the Lord, and the Lord is in them; for the Lord is Truth itself (as shown in the chapter that treats of the Lord); and men love the Lord when they live in accordance with His Divine truths, that is, when from those truths they perform uses, as is taught in these words in John:--

Such as these are in enlightenment when they read the Word; and with such the Word is both luminous and translucent. With such the Word is both luminous and translucent because a spiritual sense and a celestial sense are contained in every particular of the Word, and these senses are in the light of heaven; and thus by means of these and the light of these the Lord inflows into the natural sense of the Word and into the light of that sense in man; and in consequence man acknowledges truth from an interior perception, and then sees it in his thought, and this as often as he is in an affection for truth for the sake of truth. For perception comes from affection, and thought from perception, and thus the acknowledgment, which is called faith, is produced.

TCR 232. The opposite occurs with those who from the doctrine of a false religion read the Word, and still more with those who confirm that doctrine by the Word, doing this with a view to their own glory and worldly possessions. With such the truths of the Word are as if in the dimness of night, and falsities are as if in the light of day. They read truths but see them not; and if they but see the shadow of them, they falsify them. These are they of whom the Lord says,

Consequently their light in respect to spiritual matters, which pertain to the church, is merely natural, and their mental vision like that of one who when he awakens in his bed sees phantoms, or like that of a sleepwalker, who thinks himself to be awake when he is asleep.

TCR 233. It has been granted me to talk with many after their death, who believed that they were to shine like stars in heaven, because, as they claimed, they had regarded the Word as holy, had often read it through, and had gathered from it many things by which they had confirmed the dogmas of their faith, and in consequence had become celebrated as learned men, for which reason they believed that they were to be Michaels and Raphaels. But many of them were examined in respect to the love from which they had studied the Word; and it was found that some of them had studied it from love of self, that they might be worshiped as leaders in the church, and some from love of the world, that they might gain riches; and when these had been examined in respect to their knowledge of the Word, it was found that they had learned from it nothing of genuine truth, but only such truth as may be called truth falsified, which in itself is putrid falsity for in heaven it has a putrid odor. To these it was said that this was the case with them because self and the world had been their ends when they read the Word, and not the truth of faith and good of life. And when self and the world are ends, the mind in reading the Word sticks fast in self and the world, and in consequence their thought is always from what is their own; and man's own is in darkness respecting everything that pertains to heaven and the church; and in such a state it is impossible for man to be lifted up by the Lord and raised into the light of heaven, and therefore to receive any influx from the Lord through heaven. I also saw these persons admitted into heaven, and when found to be destitute of the truths they were cast down, and still their pride in their own merit remained with them. It was otherwise with those who had studied the Word from an affection for knowing the truth because it is truth, and because it subserves the uses of life, not only their own but also the uses of the neighbor; these I have seen raised up into heaven, and thus into the light in which Divine truth there is; and I have seen them exalted at the same time into angelic wisdom, and into its happiness in which the angels of heaven are.

TCR 234. There is conjunction with the Lord by means of the Word because He is the Word, that is, the essential Divine truth and good therein. This conjunction is effected by means of the sense of the letter, because the Word in that sense is in its fulness, in its holiness, and in its power (as has been shown above in its own section). This conjunction is not apparent to man, but it exists in affection for truth and in the perception of truth. There is affiliation with the angels of heaven by means of the sense of the letter, because within that sense there is a spiritual and a celestial sense; and the angels are in these senses, the angels of the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the spiritual sense of the Word, and the angels of His celestial kingdom in its celestial sense. These two senses are evolved from the natural sense of the Word when it is read by a man who regards the Word as holy. The evolution is instantaneous; consequently the affiliation is also.

TCR 235. That the spiritual angels are in the spiritual sense of the Word, and the celestial angels in its celestial sense, has been made evident to me by much experience. It has been granted to me to perceive that when I read the Word in the sense of its letter a sharing with the heavens was effected, now with this society there and now with that; and the things that I understood according to the natural sense the spiritual angels understood according to the spiritual sense, and the celestial angels according to the celestial sense, and this instantly. Having perceived this sharing some thousands of times, I have not the least doubt about it remaining. Moreover, there are spirits who are below the heavens, who abuse this sharing by reciting certain passages from the sense of the letter of the Word, and immediately observing and noting the society with which the sharing is effected. This, too, I have often seen and heard. In this way it has been given me to know by a living experience, that the Word in the sense of its letter is the Divine medium of conjunction with the Lord and affiliation with the angels of heaven.

TCR 236. But how from the natural sense the spiritual angels perceive their sense, and the celestial angels theirs, when man is reading the Word, shall be illustrated by examples. Let four of the commandments of the Decalogue serve as examples.

The Fifth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill":--By this man understands not only killing but also cherishing hatred and longing for revenge even to murder. A spiritual angel understands "killing" to mean acting the devil and murdering a man's soul; while a celestial angel understands "killing" to mean hating the Lord and the Word.

[2] The Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery":--Man understands "committing adultery" to mean whoredom, obscene actions, lascivious conversation, and filthy thoughts. A spiritual angel understands "committing adultery" to mean adulterating the goods of the Word, and falsifying its truths; while a celestial angel understands "committing adultery" to mean denying the Divine of the Lord and profaning the Word.

[3] The Seventh Commandment, "Thou shalt not steal":--Man understands "stealing" to mean stealing, defrauding, and depriving the neighbor of his goods by any pretext. A spiritual angel understands "stealing" to mean depriving others of their truths and goods of faith by means of evils and falsities; while a celestial angel understands "stealing" to mean attributing to oneself what belongs to the Lord, and claiming for oneself the Lord's righteousness and merit.

[4] The Eighth Commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness":--Man understands "bearing false witness" to mean lying and defaming anyone; a spiritual angel understands "bearing false witness" to mean saying and persuading that falsity is truth and evil is good, and the converse; while a celestial angel understands "bearing false witness" to mean blaspheming the Lord and the Word.

[5] These examples show how what is spiritual and celestial is evolved and drawn forth from the natural sense of the Word, within which they are. And what is wonderful, the angels draw forth what belongs to them without knowing what the man is thinking; and yet the thoughts of angels and men make one by correspondences, like end, cause and effect. Moreover, ends actually reside in the celestial kingdom, causes in the spiritual kingdom, and effects in the natural kingdom. From this comes the affiliation of men with angels by means of the Word.

TCR 237. A spiritual angel draws out and calls forth from the sense of the letter of the Word what is spiritual, and a celestial angel what is celestial, because these meanings are in accord with the nature of the angel and are homogeneous therewith. The truth of this can be illustrated by like things in the three kingdoms of nature, the animal, the vegetable and the mineral. In the Animal Kingdom: From the food, when it has become chyle, the blood-vessels draw out and call forth their blood, the nervous fibers their juice, and the substances which are the origins of fibers, their spirit. In the Vegetable Kingdom: A tree with its trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit stands on its root, and out of the soil by means of its root it draws out and calls forth a grosser juice for the trunk, branches and leaves, a purer for the pulp of the fruit, and the purest for the seeds within the fruit. In the Mineral Kingdom: In certain places in the bosom of the earth there are veins impregnated with gold, silver, copper and iron; from the exhalations and effluvia out of the rocks, the gold, the silver, the copper, and the iron draw each its own element, the watery element conveying these round about.

TCR 238. The Word in the letter is like a casket, where precious stones, pearls, and diadems lie in order. The thoughts of a man's mind, who regards the Word as holy, and who reads it for the sake of the uses of life, may be compared to one holding such a casket in his hand, and throwing it toward heaven; and the casket opening in its ascent, the precious things in it are disclosed to the angels, who are deeply delighted in seeing and examining them. This delight of the angels is communicated to the man, and effects an affiliation and a sharing of perceptions. For the sake of this affiliation with angels, and at the same time conjunction with the Lord, the Holy Supper was instituted, the bread of which in heaven becomes Divine good, and the wine Divine truth, each from the Lord. Such correspondence exists by creation, to the end that the angelic heaven may make one with the church on earth, and in general the spiritual world may make one with the natural world, and the Lord may conjoin Himself with both at once.

TCR 239. The affiliation of man with angels is effected by the natural or literal sense of the Word for the further reason that in every man by creation there are three degrees of life, a celestial, a spiritual, and a natural; but so long as man is in the world he is in the natural degree; yet at the same time he is also in the angelic spiritual degree so far as he is in genuine truths, and he is in the celestial degree so far as he is in a life according to those truths. Nevertheless he does not enter the spiritual and celestial itself until after death, because these two are enclosed and stored up within his natural ideas; so when the natural passes away by death, the spiritual and celestial remain, and from these the ideas of his thoughts then come. All this makes clear that in the Word alone there is spirit and life, as the Lord says:--

TCR 240. It has not been known heretofore that the Word exists in the heavens, nor could it be made known so long as it was unknown in the church that angels and spirits are men in face and body wholly like men in our world; and that the things about them are in all respects like those about men, with the sole difference that the angels are spiritual, and that all thing about them are from a spiritual origin, while men in the world are natural, and all things about them are from a natural origin. So long as this remained unknown it could not be known that there is a Word also in the heavens, and that it is read by the angels there; and also by the spirits who are below the heavens. But that this might not remain forever unknown, it has been granted me to associate with angels and spirits, to talk with them, to see the things about them, and afterwards relate many things that I saw and heard, which has been done in a work on Heaven and Hell (London, 1758). It can be seen from that work that angels and spirits are men, and that there are with them in abundance all things that men have with them in the world. (That angels and spirits are men see that work, (HH n. 73-77, n. 453-456); that the things about them are like the things about men in the world, (HH n. 170-190); moreover, that they have among them Divine worship and preaching in churches, (HH n. 221-227); that they have writings and books, (HH n. 258-264); and the Sacred Scripture or the Word, (HH n. 259))

TCR 241. In respect to the Word in heaven, it is written in a spiritual style, which is wholly different from the natural style. This spiritual style consists of mere letters, each one of which involves some meaning; and there are lines, turns, and dots over and between the letters, and in them, which heighten the meaning. With the angels of the spiritual kingdom the letters are similar to those used in print in our world; among the angels of the celestial kingdom they are with some like the Arabic letters, and with some like the ancient Hebrew letters, but curved above and below, with marks over, between, and within them; with every particular of these also involving a complete sense.

[2] Such being the nature of their writing, with them the names of persons and places in the Word are expressed by signs, whereby the wise are enabled to understand the spiritual and celestial significance of each name, as by "Moses" the Word of God written through him, and in general the historic Word is meant; by "Elias" the prophetic Word; by "Abraham," "Isaac," and "Jacob," the Lord in respect to the celestial Divine, the spiritual Divine, and the natural Divine; by "Aaron" the Lord's priesthood; by "David" His royalty; by the names of Jacob's sons, or the twelve tribes of Israel the various constituents of heaven and the church, and like things by the names of the Lord's twelve disciples; by "Zion" and "Jerusalem," the church in respect to doctrine from the Word; by "the land of Canaan," the church itself; by places and cities there on either side of Jordan, various things pertaining to the church and its doctrine. It is the same with numbers; in the copies of the Word in heaven these are not found; but instead of them the things to which the numbers correspond. From all this it can be seen that the Word in heaven is in its literal sense similar to our Word, and at the same time corresponds to it; and that they are therefore one.

[3] It is a wonderful fact that the Word in the heavens is so written that the simple understand it simply, and the wise wisely; for the letters have over them many turns and markings, which, as before said, heighten the meaning; and to these the simple pay no attention and know nothing about them; but the wise give attention to them, each according to his own wisdom, even to the highest. A copy of the Word written by angels who are inspired by the Lord is kept by every larger society in its sacred repository, that the Word may not be changed elsewhere in the least point. The Word in our world is similar to the Word in heaven in this respect, that here, too, the simple understand it simply, and the wise wisely; but this takes place in a different way.

TCR 242. That the angels gain all their wisdom through the Word they themselves confess; for so far as they are in the understanding of the Word, so far they are in light. The light of heaven is the Divine wisdom, and this to angelic eyes is light. In the sacred repository where a copy of the Word is kept, the light is flame-like and brilliant, surpassing every degree of light in heaven outside of that repository. The wisdom of the celestial angels surpasses the wisdom of the spiritual angels almost as much as the wisdom of the latter surpasses that of men; and this because the celestial angels are in good of love from the Lord, and the spiritual angels are in truths of wisdom from the Lord; and where the good of love is there wisdom abides also; but where truths are, only so much of wisdom abides as there is also good of love. This is the reason why the Word in the Lord's celestial kingdom is written differently from the Word in His spiritual kingdom; for in the Word of the celestial kingdom goods of love are expressed, and the marks are affections of the love; while in the Word of the spiritual kingdom truths of wisdom are expressed, and the marks are interior perceptions of truth. From all this one may conclude what kind of wisdom lies concealed in the Word which is in the world; for in it all angelic wisdom, which is ineffable, is concealed; and the man, who from the Lord through the Word becomes an angel, enters into that wisdom after death.

TCR 243. That the church is from the Word no one can doubt, since it has been shown above, that the Word is Divine truth (n. 189-192); that the doctrine of the church is from the Word (n. 225-233); and that by means of the Word there is conjunction with the Lord (n. 234-239). But that the understanding of the Word constitutes the church, may be called in question; for there are those who believe themselves to be of the church by virtue of their having the Word and reading it, or hearing preaching from it, and knowing something of the sense of its letter. But how this or that in the Word is to be understood they do not know; and some do not regard it as of much importance. Therefore it shall now be established that it is not the Word that constitutes the church, but the understanding of it, and that the church is such as is the understanding of the Word with those who are in the church.

TCR 244. The church is in accordance with the understanding of the Word because it is in accordance with the truths of faith and the goods of charity, and these two are the universals which not only pervade the whole literal sense of the Word, but are also concealed within it like the precious things in a treasury. The things in the literal sense of the Word are apparent to every man because they present themselves directly to the eye; but the things that lie hidden in the spiritual sense are apparent only to those who love truths because they are truths, and do goods because they are goods. To them the treasure that the literal sense covers and guards lies open. These goods and truths are the essential constituents of the church.

TCR 245. It is known that the church is in accordance with its doctrine, and that doctrine is from the Word; nevertheless it is not doctrine but soundness and purity of doctrine, consequently the understanding of the Word, that establishes the church. Neither is it doctrine, but a faith and life in accordance with doctrine that establishes and constitutes the special church in the individual man. So too it is not the Word that establishes and constitutes the church in particular in man, but a faith according to the truths, and a life according to the goods, which man derives from the Word, and applies to himself. The Word is like a mine containing in its depths gold and silver in great abundance, and like a mine which at greater and greater depths conceals stones more and more precious; these mines are opened in the measure of man's understanding of the Word. The Word such as it is in itself, in its bosom, and in its depth, when not understood, would no more form a church in man than mines in Asia would make a European rich; although it would be otherwise if he were one of the owners and workers of the mine. The Word with those who search in it for truths of faith and goods of life, is like the treasuries of the king of Persia, or of the emperor of the Moguls or of China, and men of the church are like officers placed over them, who are permitted to take for their use as much as they please. But those who merely have possession of the Word and read it, but do not try to get from it genuine truths for their faith or genuine goods for their life, are like those who know by hearsay that there are such great treasures there, but do not receive a penny from them. Those who have the Word, but do not gain from it any understanding of genuine truth, or any will for genuine good, are like those who think themselves rich for having money borrowed from others, or like those who hold estates, houses, and merchandise belonging to others. This, as everyone can see, is mere hallucination. They are also like those who go about magnificently clothed, and are driven about in gilded carriages, with attendants behind and beside them, and couriers ahead, and yet none of this is their own property.

TCR 246. Such was the Jewish nation; and therefore, because it had the Word, it was likened by the Lord to a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, and yet did not gain enough truth and good from the Word to have pity upon poor Lazarus, who lay at his door full of sores. Not only did that nation appropriate no truths from the Word, it drew from it falsities in such abundance, that finally not a single truth could be seen by them; for through falsities truths are not merely covered, they are even obliterated and cast out. For this reason the Jews did not acknowledge the Messiah, although all the prophets had foretold His coming.

TCR 247. In many places in the prophets the church with the Israelitish and Jewish nation is described as wholly destroyed and reduced to nothing by their having falsified the meaning or understanding of the Word; for nothing else destroys a church. The understanding of the Word both true and false is described in the Prophets by "Ephraim," especially in Hosea; for in the Word "Ephraim" signifies the understanding of the Word in the church. As the understanding of the Word constitutes the church, Ephraim is called:--

and the sons of Ephraim are said to be,

for a bow signifies doctrine from the Word fighting against falsities. Therefore also,

and therefore, Ephraim, with his brother Manasseh, in the blessing of the sons of Israel by Moses, under the name of their father Joseph, was exalted above them all (Deut. 33:13-17).

[2] But what the church is when the understanding of the Word is destroyed, is also depicted in the Prophets by "Ephraim," especially in Hosea, as in the following passages:--

"The land of Jehovah" is the church; "Egypt" is the knowing faculty of the natural man; "Assyria" is reasoning therefrom; and these two together falsify the interior understanding of the Word; therefore it is said that "Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat what is unclean in Assyria."

[3] Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; he daily multiplieth lies and destruction; they make a covenant with Assyria and oil is carried into Egypt (Hos. 12:1). "To feed upon the wind," "to follow after the east wind," and "to multiply lies and destruction," is to falsify truths and thus destroy the church. "Ephraim's whoredom" has a like signification, since "whoredom" signifies falsification of the understanding of the Word, that is, of its genuine truth; as in the following:--

Israel is the church itself, and Ephraim is the understanding of the Word, from which and according to which is the church; therefore it is said "Ephraim hath committed whoredom, and Israel is defiled."

[4] As the church with the Israelitish and Jewish nation became wholly destroyed by falsifications of the Word, it is said of Ephraim:--

Since then the prophet Hosea, from the first chapter to the last, treats of the falsification of the genuine understanding of the Word, and the destruction of the church thereby; and since "whoredom" signifies falsification of truth therein; that prophet was commanded to represent this state of the church by,

and again by,

These passages are presented in order to show and prove from the Word, that the church is such as is the understanding of the Word in it; excellent and precious if the understanding of it is from genuine truths out of the Word; but destroyed and even filthy if from truths falsified.

TCR 248. That in every particular of the Word there is a marriage of the Lord and the church, and in consequence a marriage of good and truth, has not been seen heretofore; nor could it be seen because the spiritual sense of the Word has not been disclosed until now, and through that only can this marriage be seen. For there are two senses in the Word, concealed within the sense of its letter, which are called the spiritual sense and the celestial sense. These interior contents of the Word have relation in the spiritual sense chiefly to the church, and in the celestial sense chiefly to the Lord. Again these contents have relation in the spiritual sense to Divine truth, and in the celestial sense to Divine good. From this there is in the Word such a marriage. But this is manifest only to those who from the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word know the significations of the words and names; for some words and names are predicated of good, and some of truth, and some include both; therefore without a knowledge of their significance, that marriage in the particulars of the Word cannot be seen. This is why this arcanum has not been disclosed until now. Because there is such a marriage in every particular of the Word, there are very often two expressions in it that appear like repetitions of the same thing; and yet they are not repetitions, but one of them has relation to good and the other to truth; and the two taken together constitute their conjunction, and thus one thing. From this also is the Divine holiness of the Word; for in every Divine work there is good conjoined with truth, and truth conjoined with good.

TCR 249. There is said to be a marriage of the Lord and the church, and in consequence of good and truth, in every particular of the Word, because where there is a marriage of the Lord and the church there is also a marriage of good and truth, since the latter is from the former. For when the church, that is, the man of the church, is in truths, the Lord flows into his truths with good, and makes them alive; or what is the same thing, when the man of the church is in the understanding of truth the Lord flows into his understanding through the good of charity, and thus pours life into it. In every man there are two faculties of life called the understanding and will. The understanding is the receptacle of truth and thus of wisdom, and the will is the receptacle of good and thus of charity. That man may be a man of the church these two faculties must make one; and they make one when man forms his understanding out of genuine truths, which in appearance is done as if by himself, and when his will is filled with the good of love, which is done by the Lord. In consequence of this man has both a life of truth and a life of good, a life of truth in his understanding, and a life of good in his will, and when these are made one they constitute one life and not two. This is the marriage of the Lord and the church, and also the marriage of good and truth in man.

TCR 250. Readers of the Word who pay attention to it can see that there are dual expressions in the Word that seem like repetitions of the same thing; as for example, brother and companion, poor and needy, waste and wilderness, void and emptiness, foe and enemy, sin and iniquity, anger and wrath, nation and people, joy and gladness, mourning and weeping, justice and judgment, and so on; which expressions seem to be synonymous, and yet they are not; for brother, poor, waste, void, foe, sin, anger, nation, joy, mourning, and justice, are predicated of good, and in the opposite sense of evil; while companion, needy, wilderness, emptiness, enemy, iniquity, wrath, people, gladness, weeping, and judgment, are predicated of truth, and in the opposite sense of falsity. Nevertheless to a reader who is ignorant of this arcanum, poor and needy, waste and wilderness, void and emptiness, and so forth, seem to be one, and yet they are not one, but they become one by conjunction. Many other things in the Word are joined together, as fire and flame, gold and silver, brass and iron, wood and stone, bread and water, bread and wine, purple and fine linen, and so on; because fire, gold, brass, wood, bread, and purple, are predicated of good; while flame, silver, iron, stone, water, wine, and fine linen, are predicated of truth. Likewise it is said that man should love God "with his whole heart, and his whole soul;" also that God will create in man "a new heart and a new spirit;" because "heart" is predicated of good of love, and "soul" and "spirit" of the truths of faith. There are also words which, because they involve in their meaning both good and truth, are used alone, no others being joined with them. But these and many other things are manifest only to the angels, and to those who are in the spiritual sense as well as in the natural sense.

TCR 251. It would be tedious to show from the Word that there are such dual expressions in the Word, which seem like repetitions of the same thing, for to do so would fill many pages. But to remove doubt, I will cite some passages where "nation" and "people," and "joy" and "gladness," are mentioned together. "Nation" and "people" are mentioned in the following passages:--

and elsewhere. Nations and peoples are mentioned together, because by nations those are meant who are in good, and in the opposite sense those who are in evil; and by "peoples" those are meant who are in truths, and in the opposite sense those who are in falsities. Therefore those who are of the Lord's spiritual kingdom are called "peoples," and those who are of the Lord's celestial kingdom are called "nations;" for in the spiritual kingdom all are in truths, and in consequent intelligence, while in the celestial kingdom all are in goods, and in consequent wisdom.

TCR 252. It is the same with many other words; for example where "joy" is mentioned, "gladness" also is mentioned, as in the following passages:--

and elsewhere. Both joy and gladness are mentioned, because joy is predicated of good and gladness of truth, or joy of love and gladness of wisdom; for joy belongs to the heart and gladness to the spirit, or joy to the will and gladness to the understanding. That there is also a marriage of the Lord and the church in these words is evident from the expression:--

for the Lord is the Bridegroom, and the church is the bride. That the Lord is the Bridegroom may be seen, (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 35); that the church is the bride, (Apoc. 21:2, 9; 22:17). Therefore John the Baptist said of Jesus:--

TCR 253. Owing to the marriage of Divine good and Divine truth in every particular of the Word, the expression, Jehovah (and) God, Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel very frequently occur as if they were two, when yet they are one: for by "Jehovah" the Lord in respect to the Divine good of the Divine love is meant, while by "God" and the "Holy One of Israel," the Lord in respect to the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom is meant. That Jehovah and God, and also Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel, are mentioned in many places in the Word, and yet One only is meant, may be seen in the Doctrine respecting the Lord the Redeemer.

TCR 254. It has been shown above, that the Word cannot be understood without doctrine, and that doctrine is like a lamp to make genuine truths visible, and this because the Word is written by pure correspondences; consequently, many things in the Word are appearances of truth, and not naked truths; and many are written according to the understanding of the merely natural man, and yet are so written that the simple may understand them simply, the intelligent intelligently, and the wise wisely. Such being the nature of the Word, these appearances of truth, which are truths clothed, may be taken for naked truths; and when confirmed they become fallacies, which in essence are falsities. From this, that appearances of truth have been taken for genuine truths and confirmed, have sprung all the heresies that have existed and still exist in the Christian world. Heresies themselves do not condemn men. Men are condemned by their confirming from the Word, and by means of reasonings from the natural man, the falsities that are in heresy, and by living wickedly. For everyone is born into the religion of his country or parents and is initiated into that religion from infancy, and afterward he holds to it; and because of worldly business, and the weakness of his understanding in the investigation of truths of that kind, he is unable to withdraw himself from its falsities. But what condemns a man is living wickedly and confirming falsities to such an extent as to destroy genuine truths. For he who holds to his religion, who believes in God (or if within the Christian church believes in the Lord), who regards the Word as holy and from a religious motive lives according to the commandments of the Decalogue, does not commit himself to falsities, and therefore when he hears truths, and in his own way has a perception of them, he is able to embrace them, and thereby be delivered from falsities. But it is not so with one who has confirmed the falsities of his religion; since confirmed falsity is permanent and cannot he rooted out. For falsity after confirmation is as if one had sworn to it, especially when it adheres to his love of self or to the pride of his own intelligence.

TCR 255. I have talked with some in the spiritual world who lived many centuries ago and who had confirmed themselves in the falsities of their religion; and I found that they still continued steadfastly in them. I have also talked with some there who had been of the same religion and had thought in the same way, but had not confirmed in themselves its falsities; and I found that after having been taught by the angels they rejected the falsities and accepted truths; and that such were saved, while the former were not. everyone is instructed after death by angels, and those are received who see truths and from truths see falsities; but truths are seen only by those who have not confirmed themselves in falsities. Those who have confirmed themselves are unwilling to see truths, or if they see them they turn themselves away and either ridicule or falsify them. The real cause of this is that confirmation enters the will, and the will is the man himself and disposes the understanding at its pleasure. But bare knowledge enters the understanding only, and this has no authority over the will, but is in man only as one who stands in the hall or doorway and is not yet in the house.

TCR 256. But let this be illustrated by an example: In many places in the Word anger, wrath, and vengeance are attributed to God; and He is said to punish, to cast into hell, to tempt, and other like things. He who believes this in simplicity like a child, and in consequence fears God and avoids sinning against Him, is not condemned for that simple belief. But he who so far confirms these things in himself as to believe that anger, wrath, vengeance, and all like things that proceed from evil, are in God, and that God punishes man and casts him into hell from anger, wrath, and vengeance-he is condemned, because he has destroyed the genuine truth, which is, that God is Love itself, Mercy itself, and Good itself, and such a Being cannot be angry, wrathful, or vengeful. These things are attributed to God in the Word, because such is the appearance. These are appearances of truth.

TCR 257. That many things in the sense of the letter of the Word are appearances of truth, which conceal within them genuine truths, and that it is not hurtful to think in simplicity, and also to speak, according to appearances of truth, and yet it is hurtful to confirm them, since by such confirmation the Divine truth concealed within them is destroyed, may also be illustrated by an example in nature, which is presented because what is natural illustrates and teaches more clearly than what is spiritual. To the eye the sun appears to be borne around the earth daily, and also annually; and in consequence the sun is said to rise and set, causing morning, noon, evening, and night; and also spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and thus days and years. Nevertheless, the sun stands motionless, for it is a fiery ocean, and the earth revolves daily and is carried around it yearly. The man who thinks in simplicity and ignorance that the sun is carried about the earth does not destroy the natural truth, which is that the earth rotates upon its axis and is yearly borne along the ecliptic. But he who confirms this apparent motion of the sun by reasonings from the natural man, and still more he who does so by the Word, because the sun is there said to rise and set, weakens the truth and destroys it, and afterwards is hardly able to see it, even though ocular proof be given him that the whole starry heaven is daily and yearly carried about in appearance in like manner, and yet not a single star is moved from its fixed place relative to another. The apparent truth is that the sun moves, the real truth is that it does not move, and yet everyone speaks according to the apparent truth, saying that the sun rises and sets; and this permissible, for he cannot do otherwise; but to think according to that apparent truth after confirming it blunts and darkens the rational understanding.

TCR 258. The essential reason why it is hurtful to confirm the appearances of truth that are in the Word, which thereby become fallacies and thus the Divine truth concealed within the appearances is destroyed, is that each thing and all things of the sense of the letter of the Word, communicate with heaven. For it has been shown above that within each thing and all things of the sense of the letter there is a spiritual sense, and this sense is opened in passing from man to heaven. All things of the spiritual sense are genuine truths; so when man is in falsities and applies the sense of the letter to those falsities, the falsities enter into that sense, and when they enter truths are dissipated, which is done on the way from man to heaven. This may be compared to a shining bladder filled with gall which is thrown towards another, and which bursts in the air before reaching him, and the gall is scattered about; whereupon the other, when he smells the air infected with the gall, turns away, and shuts his mouth lest it should touch his tongue. Or it may be compared to a leather bottle girt with wicker-work of cedar and containing vinegar full of worms, and the bottle bursts on the way, and its stench is perceived by the other, who is nauseated by it and instantly fans it away that it may not enter his nostrils. It is also like an almond-shell, within which instead of an almond is a newly-born snake, and the shell being broken, the little serpent appears to be carried by the wind towards the eyes of another, who obviously would turn away to avoid it. It is the same when the Word is read by a man who is in falsities, and who adapts to his falsities something of the sense of the letter of the Word, in which case it is rejected on the way to heaven, lest any such thing should flow in and infest the angels. For when falsity touches truth, it is like the point of a needle touching the fibril of a nerve or the pupil of the eye; it is known that the fibril instantly coils itself up spirally and withdraws within itself and that the eye at the first touch covers itself with its lids. All this makes clear that truth falsified takes away communication with heaven and closes heaven. This is why it is hurtful to confirm any heretical falsity.

TCR 259. The Word is like a garden, and may be called a heavenly paradise, in which are delicacies and delights of every kind, delicacies in its fruits and delights in its flowers; and in the middle of the garden are the trees of life, and near them fountains of living waters, with forest trees round about the garden. The man who from doctrine is in Divine truths is in the center where the trees of life are, and is in the actual enjoyment of the delicacies and delights there; while the man who is in truths not from doctrine, but only from the sense of the letter, is in the parts round about, and sees only the forest. But he who is in the doctrine of a false religion, and has confirmed in himself its falsity, is not even in the forest, but is outside of it on a sandy plain, where there is not even grass. That this is the state of such after death, has been shown in the work on Heaven and Hell.

TCR 260. It must be understood, moreover, that the sense of the letter is a guard for the genuine truths concealed within it, that they may not be injured. It is a guard in this way, that it may be turned hither and thither, and explained according to each one's understanding of it, and yet without injury or violence to its internal. For no harm is done when one person understands the sense of the letter in one way, and another in another way; but the harm is done when falsities are brought in which are contrary to Divine truths, and this is done only by those who have confirmed themselves in falsities. In this way violence is done to the Word. This is what the sense of the letter guards against, and it does this for those who are in falsities from their religion, but do not confirm these falsities. The sense of the letter of the Word as such a guard is signified in the Word by "cherubs," and is there described in this way. This guard is signified by the cherubs that were placed at the entrance to the garden of Eden, after Adam and his wife had been expelled from it, about which we read as follows:--

[2] No one can see what this means, unless he knows what is signified by "cherubs" and by "the garden of Eden," and by "the tree of life" there, and finally by "the flame of a sword turning every way." These particulars are explained in the exposition of this chapter in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London, namely, that "cherubs" signify a guard; "the way of the tree of life" signifies entrance to the Lord, which man obtains through the truths of the spiritual sense of the Word; "the flame of a sword turning every way" signifies Divine truth in outmost things, like the Word in the sense of the letter, which sense may be so turned. The same is meant by:--

"the ark" signifying the Word, because the Decalogue, which it contained, was the primitive of the Word, and the "cherubs" signifying a guard. Therefore between the cherubs the Lord spake with Moses (Ex. 25:22; 37:9; Num. 7:89); and He spake in the natural sense, since the Lord does not speak with man except in fulness, and Divine truth is in its fulness in the sense of the letter (as may be seen above, n. 214-224). Nor is anything else signified,

for the curtains and veils of the tabernacle signified the outmost things of heaven and the church, and thus of the Word (n. 220). So again,

(n. 221). Likewise,

[3] Because "cherubs" signify a guard, that the Lord, heaven, and Divine truth such as it is interiorly in the Word, be not approached immediately, but mediately through outmosts, it is said of the king of Tyre:--

"Tyre" signifies the church as to knowledges of good and truth and therefore "the king of Tyre" signifies the Word, in which and from which those knowledges are; and here the Word in its outmost is evidently signified, and protection by "the cherub," for it is said, "Thou sealest up thy measure," "every precious stone was thy covering," "thou cherub, the spreading out of one that protects," also, "O protecting cherub." The "precious stones" there mentioned mean the things belonging to the sense of the letter (n. 217, 218). Because "cherubs" signify the Word in outmosts, and also a guard, it is said in David:--

"To ride upon cherubs" and "to sit upon them" means upon the outmost sense of the Word. Divine truth in the Word, and what it is, is described by the four animals that were also called cherubs (Ezek. 1:1; 9:1; 10:1); also by the four animals in the midst of the throne and round about the throne (Apoc. 4:6). See (AR n. 239, 275, 314).

TCR 261. That the Lord when in the world fulfilled all things of the Word, and thereby became Divine truth, or the Word, even in things last, is meant by these words in John:--

"To become flesh" is to become the Word in things last. What the Lord was as the Word in things last, He showed to His disciples when he was transfigured (Matt. 17:2; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28), where it is said that Moses and Elias appeared in glory, "Moses" meaning the Word written through him, and in general the historical Word, and "Elias" the prophetical Word. The Lord as the Word in things last was also represented before John in the (Apocalypse 1:13-16), where all things in the description of Him signify the outmosts of Divine truth, or of the Word. Before this the Lord was indeed the Word or Divine truth, but in things first, for it is said:--

but when the Word became flesh, the Lord also became the Word in things last. This is why He is called:--

TCR 262. That the Lord fulfilled all things of the Word is evident from the passages where the Law and the Scripture are said to have been fulfilled by Him, and all things finished, as in the following. Jesus said:--

That the whole Word was written concerning Him, and that He came into the world to fulfill it, He also taught His disciples before He went away, in these words:--

That the Lord when in the world fulfilled all things of the Word, even to the most minute particulars, is plain from His words:--

From all this it can now be clearly seen that the Lord's fulfilling all things of the law does not mean that He fulfilled all the commandments of the Decalogue, but all things of the Word. That all things of the Word are meant by the Law can be seen from these passages:--

This is written in the (Psalms, 82:6).

This is written in the (Psalms, 89:30, 37; 110:4; Dan. 7:14).

This is written in (Psalms 35:19).

By the law in this passage, as frequently elsewhere, the whole Sacred Scripture is meant.

TCR 263. Few understand how the Lord is the Word; for they think that although the Lord can enlighten and teach men through the Word, He cannot on this account be called the Word. But let it be understood that every man is his own will and his own understanding, each man being thus distinct from every other; and as the will is the receptacle of love, and thus of all the goods of that love, and the understanding is the receptacle of wisdom, and thus of all things of truth belonging to that wisdom, it follows, that each man is his own love and his own wisdom, or what is the same thing, his own good and his own truth. For no other reason is man a man, and nothing else than this in man is man. In respect to the Lord, He is love itself and wisdom itself, thus good itself and truth itself; and this He became by fulfilling all the good and all the truth in the Word. For he who thinks and speaks nothing but truth becomes that truth; and he who wills and does only what is good becomes that good; and as the Lord fulfilled all the Divine truth and Divine good contained in the Word, both in its natural sense and in its spiritual sense, He became good itself and truth itself, that is, the Word.

TCR 264. From what is told in the books of Moses it is manifest that worship by sacrifices was known, and that men prophesied from the mouth of Jehovah before the Word was given to the Israelitish nation through Moses and the prophets. That worship by sacrifices was known is evident from the following:--

All this shows that there existed among the nations a Divine worship, almost like that instituted by Moses in the Israelitish nation. That it also existed before the time of Abraham, is clear from the words in Moses (Deut. 32:7, 8), but conclusively from what is said of Melchizedek, king of Salem:--

also that Melchizedek represented the Lord, for he is called the priest of the Most High God (Gen. 14:18); and it is said of the Lord in David:--

It was for this reason that Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine as the most holy things of the church, as they are the holy things in the Holy Supper. These and many other things are clear proofs that before the Israelitish Word there was a Word from which such revelations as these were derived.

TCR 265. That there was a Word among the ancient people, is evident from Moses, who mentions it and took certain things from it (Num. 21:14, 15, 27-30); its historical parts were called "the Wars of Jehovah," and its prophetical parts "Enunciations." From the historical parts of that Word the following is quoted by Moses:--

By the wars of Jehovah in that Word, as in ours, the conflicts of the Lord with the hells, and His victories over them when He was about to come into the world are meant and described. The same conflicts are meant and described in many places in the historical portions of our Word, as in what is said of the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and the wars of the judges and the kings of Israel.

[2] From the prophetical portions of that Word the following passages were taken:--

Translators render this "composers of proverbs" (or "they that speak in proverbs"); but the rendering ought to be "Enunciators," or "Prophetic Enunciations," as can be seen from the signification of the word Meschalim in the Hebrew tongue, which means both proverbs and prophetic enunciations (Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15), where it is said that Balaam "uttered his enunciation," which was a prophecy that also referred to the Lord. This enunciation is called Maschal in the singular. Moreover, what Moses quotes therefrom is not a proverb but a prophecy.

[3] That this Word was in like manner Divinely inspired is evident from Jeremiah, where almost the same things are said:--

In addition to all this a prophetic book of the ancient Word, called the Book of Jasher or the book of the Upright, is mentioned by David and Joshua; by David as follows:--

And by Joshua:--

TCR 266. From all this it can be seen that there was in the world especially in Asia, an ancient Word before the Israelitish Word. It will be seen in the third Memorable Relation at the end of this chapter on the Sacred Scripture that this Word is preserved in heaven among the angels who lived in those times; and moreover, that it is still in existence at the present day among the nations of Great Tartary.

TCR 267. No conjunction with heaven is possible unless somewhere on the earth there is a church that has the Word, and by means of the Word the Lord is known; for the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and without Him there is no salvation. That conjunction with the Lord and affiliation with the angels is effected by means of the Word may be seen above (n. 234-239). It is sufficient that there be a church where the Word is; and although it consist of comparatively few, the Lord nevertheless is present by means of it throughout the whole world, since by means of it there is a conjunction of heaven with the human race.

TCR 268. But it shall be told how there is a presence and a conjunction of the Lord and heaven in all the earth by means of the Word. In the Lord's sight the whole angelic heaven is as a single man; so also is the church on earth. That these actually appear as a man may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (HH n. 59-86). In that man the church where the Word is read, and by means of it the Lord is known, is like the heart and lungs, the Lord's celestial kingdom like the heart, and His spiritual kingdom like the lungs. As from these two fountains of life in the human body all the remaining members, viscera, and organs, subsist and live, so from the conjunction of the Lord and heaven with the church by means of the Word, do all those subsist and live in all the earth who have a religion, and who worship one God and live well, and are thereby in that man, such having relation to the members and viscera outside of the thorax which contains the heart and lungs. For the Word in the Christian church is life from the Lord through heaven to the rest of the world, just as the life of the members and viscera of the whole body is from the heart and lungs; and there is a like communication; and this is why Christians, among whom the Word is read, constitute the breast of that man. Such are in the center of all, and round about them are the Papists, and around these the Mohammedans who acknowledge the Lord as the greatest prophet and the son of God. After these are the Africans, while the peoples and nations of Asia and the Indies form the outmost boundary.

TCR 269. That this is true of heaven as a whole may be concluded from what is similar in each society of heaven; for each society is a heaven in a less form, and is also like a man (that it is so, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (HH n. 41-87). In each society of heaven those who are at the center have a like relation to the heart and lungs, and with them there is the greatest light. The light itself with the consequent perception of truth spreads out from that center towards the circumference, in every direction, thus to all who are in the society, and constitutes their spiritual life. It has been shown that when those who were at the center and who constituted the province of the heart and lungs, and with whom there was the most light, were taken away, those who were round about them had their understandings obscured, and had so feeble a perception of truth that they were grieved; but as soon as the others returned light appeared, and their perception of truth was the same as before. This may be compared to the heat and light of the sun of the world, which causes trees and plants to vegetate, even those out of their direct rags or under clouds, provided the sun is above the horizon. So is it with the light and heat of heaven from the Lord as a sun there, that light being in its essence Divine truth, the source of all wisdom and intelligence to angels and men. It is therefore said of the Word:--

The Word here means the Lord in respect to Divine truth

TCR 270. From all this it can be seen that the Word which is in the possession of the Protestant and Reformed churches, enlightens by spiritual communication all nations and peoples; also that the Lord provides that there shall always be on earth a church where the Word is read, and thereby the Lord is made known. Therefore when the Papists had almost wholly rejected the Word, by the Lord's Divine Providence the Reformation took place, whereby the Word was drawn as it were from concealment and brought into use. So when the Word had been wholly falsified and adulterated by the Jewish nation, and, as it were, made of no effect, it pleased the Lord to descend from heaven, and to come as the Word, and fulfill it, and thereby to restore and re-establish it, and give light once more to the inhabitants of the earth, according to the words of the Lord:--

TCR 271. As it was foretold that again at the end of this church darkness would arise from not recognizing the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and from the separation of faith from charity, lest in consequence of this the genuine understanding of the Word and with it the church should perish, it has pleased the Lord to reveal at this time the spiritual sense of the Word, and to make manifest that the Word contains in that sense, and from that sense in the natural sense, things innumerable, by means of which the almost extinguished light of truth from the Word may be restored. That the light of truth would be almost extinguished at the end of this church, is foretold in many places in the Apocalypse. This is the meaning also of these words of the Lord:--

By "the sun" here the Lord in respect to love is meant; by "the moon" the Lord in respect to faith; by "the stars" the Lord in respect to knowledges of truth and good; by "the Son of man" the Lord in respect to the Word; by "a cloud" the sense of the letter of the Word; by "glory" the spiritual sense of the Word, and its shining through the sense of the letter, and by "power" its potency.

TCR 272. I have been permitted to learn through much experience, that man has communication with heaven through the Word. While reading the Word from the first chapter of Isaiah to the last of Malachi, and also the Psalms of David, and keeping my thought fixed upon the spiritual sense, a clear perception was given me that each verse communicated with some society of heaven, and thus the whole Word with the entire heaven; which showed clearly, that as the Lord is the Word, heaven is also the Word, since heaven is heaven from the Lord, and the Lord through the Word is the all in all thing of heaven.

TCR 273. As there are some who hold, and who have thoroughly convinced themselves, that man may know without the Word of the existence of God, and of heaven and hell, and of other things taught by the Word; such cannot properly be appealed to from the Word, but only from the light of natural reason, since they do not believe in the Word, but only in themselves. Inquire then, from the light of reason, and you will find that there are in man two faculties of life, which are called understanding and will, and that the understanding is subject to the will, but not the will to the understanding; for the understanding merely teaches and points out what ought to be done from the will; and for this reason many who are of an acute genius, and who understand better than others the moral principles of life, still do not live according to them; but if their will favored them it would be otherwise. Inquire further, and you will find that man's will is his selfhood (proprium) and that this is evil from birth, and that from this comes the falsity in the understanding. When you have found out these things, you will see that man of himself has no wish to understand anything except what is from the selfhood of his will, and if this were his only source of knowledge, he would have no wish from his will's selfhood to understand anything but what pertains to self and the world; and everything above this would be in thick darkness. For instance, in looking at the sun, moon, and stars, if he should think about their origin, he could not think otherwise than that they exist from themselves. Could he raise his thoughts higher than many of the learned in the world, who while knowing from the Word that all things were created by God, yet acknowledge nature? If these had known nothing from the Word what would they have thought? Do you suppose that the ancient wise men, such as Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and others, who wrote about God and the immortality of the soul, obtained this knowledge primarily from their own understanding? No; they obtained it from others by its having been handed down from those who first knew of it from the ancient Word, of which above. Neither do the writers on Natural Theology derive any such knowledge from themselves; they merely confirm by rational deductions what they knew from the church where the Word is, and possibly some among them confirm and yet do not believe.

TCR 274. It has been granted me to see people who were born on islands, and who were rational in civil matters, but knew nothing whatever about God. In the spiritual world these look like sphinxes; but as they were born men, and thus have a capacity to receive spiritual life, they are instructed by angels, and are made alive by knowledge about the Lord as a Man. What man is of himself is made clear from those who are in hell. Among these there are some leaders and learned men who are not willing even to hear about God, and therefore cannot even utter the word God. These I have seen, and I have talked with them. I have also talked with some who burned with anger and fury when they heard anyone speaking about the Lord. Consider then, what kind of man one would be who had never heard anything about God, when such is the character of some who have talked about God, written about God, and preached about God. Such they are from their will, which is evil, and which, as before said, leads the understanding, and takes away any truth there is in it from the Word. If man of himself had been able to know that there is a God and a life after death, why has he not known that man is a man after death? Why does he believe that his soul or spirit is like mere wind or ether, having no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no mouth to speak, until it is joined with and made one with its corpse and skeleton? Given therefore, a doctrine hatched solely from the light of reason, would it not teach that self should be worshiped? This has been done for ages, and is still done now by those who know from the Word that God alone ought to be worshiped. From the selfhood of man no other worship can spring, not even the worship of the sun and moon.

TCR 275. It was not from themselves nor from their own intelligence, but from the Ancient Word (n. 264-266), and afterwards from the Israelitish Word, that from the most ancient times religion has existed, and the inhabitants of the earth everywhere have had a knowledge of God, and some knowledge of a life after death. From these two Words religious systems spread into the Indies and their islands; through Egypt and Ethiopia into the kingdoms of Africa; from the maritime parts of Asia into Greece, and from Greece into Italy. But as the Word could be written only by representations, which are such things in the world as correspond to and thus signify heavenly things, the religions of these nations were turned into idolatries, and in Greece into fables; and the Divine attributes and properties were turned into as many gods, over whom one was made supreme, whom they called Jove, possibly from Jehovah. It is known that they had a knowledge of Paradise, of the flood, of the sacred fire, and of the four ages, from the first or golden age, to the last or iron age (Daniel 2:31-35).

TCR 276. Those who believe that a knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, and of the spiritual things pertaining to the church, can be gained from their own intelligence, do not know that a natural man, viewed in himself, is opposed to the spiritual, and therefore desires to extirpate the spiritual things that enter, or to involve them in fallacies, which are like the worms that consume the roots of herbs and grain. Such may be likened to men who dream that they are seated upon eagles and are borne up on high, or are mounted on Pegasus and are flying over Mount Parnassus to Helicon; while actually they are like the Lucifers in hell, who still call themselves there "sons of the morning" (Isa. 14:12). They are also like the men in the valley of the land of Shinar, who attempted to build a tower, the head of which should reach to heaven (Gen. 11:2-4); and like Goliath they trust to themselves, not foreseeing that like him they might be prostrated by a sling-stone buried in the forehead. I will tell what lot awaits such after death. At first they become as if drunk, then like fools, and at last they become stupid and dwell in darkness. Therefore let men beware of such madness.

TCR 277. To this I will add the following Memorable Relations First:-

One day I was wandering in the spirit through various places in the spiritual world, for the purpose of observing the representations of heavenly things that are there exhibited in many places; and in a certain house where there were angels, I saw large purses containing a great quantity of silver; and as the purses were open, it seemed as if anyone might draw forth the silver there stored, and even purloin it; but near the purses sat two youths, who were guards. The place where the purses were stored looked like the manger in a stable. In the next room modest virgins with a chaste wife were seen; and near that room stood two little children, and it was said that they were not to be played with in a childish way, but treated wisely. Afterwards a harlot appeared, and then a horse lying dead.

Having seen these things, I was taught that they represented the natural sense of the Word, within which is the spiritual sense. The large purses filled with silver signified knowledges of truth in great abundance; their being open and yet guarded by youths, signified that anyone may obtain knowledges of truth therefrom, and yet care must be taken that the spiritual sense, which contains pure truths, be not violated. The manger like that in a stable, signified spiritual nourishment for the understanding, a manger having this significance, because a horse, which eats from it, signifies the understanding. The modest virgins who were seen in the next room signified affections for truth, and the chaste wife, the conjunction of good and truth. The little children signified the innocence of wisdom, for the angels of the highest heaven, who are the wisest of angels, appear at a distance like little children because of their innocence. The harlot with the dead horse, signified the falsification of truth by many at the present day, whereby all understanding of truth perishes; a harlot signifying falsification, and a dead horse no understanding of truth.

TCR 278. Second Memorable Relation:-

There was once sent down to me from heaven a little paper with Hebrew letters inscribed on it, but written as with the ancients, with whom those letters which at the present are formed in part of straight lines were curved, with little horns turned upward; and the angels who were with me said that they recognized complete meanings in the very letters, perceiving them especially from the curves of the lines and apexes of the letters. They also explained what the letters signified both separately and conjointly, saying that the letter H, which was added to the names of Abram and Sarai, signified the infinite and eternal. They also explained to me the meaning of the Word in (Ps. 32:2), from the letters or syllables alone, saying that their meaning in brief is, That the Lord is merciful even to those who do evil. They told me that the writings in the third heaven consist of letters bent and variously curved, each one of which contains a certain meaning; and that the vowels there stand for the tone of the voice, which corresponds to affection; also that they are unable in that heaven to pronounce the vowels i and e, but use in their place y and eu; and that the vowels a, o, and u were in use among them, because they have a full sound. They also said that they pronounce none of the consonants roughly, but only softly, and that this is why some Hebrew letters have points within them as a sign that they are to be pronounced softly; adding that the rough sounds of letters are in use in the spiritual heaven, because there the angels are in truths; and truth admits roughness, but the good in which the angels of the Lord's celestial kingdom or of the third heaven are, does not. They said, moreover, that they have a Word among themselves written with curved letters with little horns and apexes that are significative. This makes clear what these words of the Lord signify:--

also of these:--

TCR 279. Third Memorable Relation:-

Seven years ago, when I was collecting what Moses wrote in the twenty-first chapter of Numbers from the two books called The Wars of Jehovah and Enunciations, some angels were present who told me that those books were the Ancient Word, the historical parts of which were called The Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetic, Enunciations; and they said that this Word is still preserved in heaven, and in use among the ancient people there who had this Word when they were in the world. These ancient people, among whom that Word is still in use in heaven, were in part from the land of Canaan and the neighboring countries, as Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, Sidon, Tyre, and Nineveh; the inhabitants of all of which kingdoms had representative worship and consequently a knowledge of correspondences. The wisdom of that time was from that knowledge, and by it men had interior perception, and communication with the heavens. Those who knew the correspondences of that Word were called wise and intelligent, and afterward diviners and Magi.

[2] But because that Word was full of such correspondences as remotely signified things celestial and spiritual, and consequently began to be falsified by many, in course of time by the Lord's Divine Providence it disappeared, and another Word was given, written by correspondences not so remote, and this through the prophets among the sons of Israel. In this Word many names of the places, both in the land of Canaan and round about in Asia, are retained, all of which signified things and states of the church; but the significations were from the ancient Word. For this reason Abram was commanded to go into that land, and his posterity through Jacob were led into it.

[3] Of that ancient Word which existed in Asia before the Israelitish Word, I am permitted to state this new thing, namely, that it is still preserved there among the people who dwell in Great Tartary. In the spiritual world I have talked with spirits and angels from that country, who said that they have a Word, and have had it from ancient times; and that they conduct their Divine worship according to this Word, and that it consists solely of correspondences. They said, that in it also is the Book of Jasher, which is mentioned in (Joshua 10:12, 13), and in (2 Samuel 1:17, 18); and that they have also among them the books called The Wars of Jehovah and Enunciations, which are mentioned by Moses (Num. 21:14, 15, 27-30); and when I read to them the words that Moses had quoted therefrom, they searched to see if they were there, and found them; from which it was evident to me that the ancient Word is still among that people. While talking with them they said that they worshiped Jehovah, some as an invisible God, and some as visible.

[4] They also told me that they do not permit foreigners to come among them, except the Chinese, with whom they cultivate peaceful relations, because the Chinese Emperor is from their country; also that the population is so great that they do not believe that any region in the whole world is more populous, which is indeed credible from the wall so many miles in length which the Chinese formerly built as a protection against invasion from these people. I have further heard from the angels, that the first chapters of Genesis which treat of creation, of Adam and Eve, the garden of Eden, their sons and their posterity down to the flood, and of Noah and his sons, are also contained in that Word, and thus were transcribed from it by Moses. The angels and spirits from Great Tartary are seen in the southern quarter on its eastern side, and are separated from others by dwelling in a higher expanse, and by their not permitting anyone to come to them from the Christian world, or, if any ascend, by guarding them to prevent their return. Their possessing a different Word is the cause of this separation.

TCR 280. Fourth Memorable Relation:-

I once saw at a distance walks between rows of trees, and groups of youths assembled there, forming as many companies discussing matters of wisdom. This was in the spiritual world. I went towards them, and as I drew near I saw one whom the rest venerated as their primate, because he excelled them in wisdom.

When he saw me he said, "I wondered when I saw you approaching, that at one time you came in sight and at another you dropped out of sight, or I could see you and then suddenly I could not. You are certainly not in the same state of life as we are."

Smiling at this I said, "I am not a stage-player, nor a Vertumnus, but I am alternately in your light and in your shade; thus here I am both a foreigner and a native."

At this the wise man gazed at me and said, "Your Words are strange and marvelous; tell me who you are."

And I said, "I am in the world in which you once were and from which you came, which is called the natural world; and I am also in the world in which you now are, which is called the spiritual world; consequently, I am at the same time in a natural state and in a spiritual state, in a natural state with men on earth, and in a spiritual state with you; and when I am in a natural state I am not seen by you, but when in a spiritual state, I am seen. That I am such is granted me by the Lord. To you who are enlightened it is known that a man of the natural world does not see a man of the spiritual world, nor the reverse; therefore when I had let my spirit down into my body I was not visible to you, but when I raised it out of the body I was visible. This comes from the distinction between the spiritual and the natural."

[2] When he heard the words, "the distinction between the spiritual and the natural," he said, "What is the distinction? Is it not like that between the purer and the less pure, that is, that the spiritual is simply a purer natural?"

I answered, "Such is not the distinction. By no subtilization can the natural so approximate the spiritual as to become the spiritual; for the distinction is like that between the prior and the posterior, between which there is no finite ratio. For the prior is in the posterior as a cause in its effect; and the posterior is from the prior as an effect is from its cause. Therefore the one is not visible to the other."

At this the wise man said, "I have meditated on this distinction, but thus far in vain; I wish I could perceive it." I replied, "You shall both perceive and see the distinction between the spiritual and the natural." And I then said, "You are in a spiritual state when you are with your associates, but in a natural state when with me; for with your associates you speak in a spiritual language, which is common to every spirit and angel; but with me you speak in my native tongue, for every spirit and angel when speaking to a man uses the man's own language; thus, French to a Frenchman, Greek to a Greek, Arabic to an Arabian, and so on.

[3] If therefore you would know the difference between the spiritual and the natural in regard to language, do this: go to your companions and there say something; retain the words, return with them in your memory, and utter them to me."

This he did, and returned to me with the words in his mouth, and uttered them; and they were words wholly strange and foreign, such as are not found in any language in the natural world. By this experiment several times repeated, it became clearly manifest that all in the spiritual world have a spiritual language that has nothing in common with any natural language, and that every man comes of himself into that language after death. I also found on one occasion that the very sound of spiritual language differs so much from the sound of natural language, that even a loud spiritual sound could not be heard at all by a natural man, nor a natural sound by a spiritual man.

[4] After this I asked the spirit and those standing about to go among their companions, and write some sentence upon paper, and then come out to me with the paper and read it. This they did, and returned with the paper in their hands; but when they came to read it, they could not, because the writing consisted solely of some alphabetical letters, with curves over them, each one of which meant something pertaining to the subject. Inasmuch as each letter of the alphabet there stands for some meaning, it is plain why the Lord is called "the Alpha and the Omega." When they had gone in again and again and had written and returned, they found that the writing involved and comprehended innumerable things which no natural writing could possibly express; and they were told that this is so because the spiritual man's thoughts are incomprehensible and ineffable to the natural man, and that they can be put into no other writing or language.

[5] Then as the bystanders had no wish to understand that spiritual thought so far exceeds natural thought as to be comparatively ineffable, I said to them, "Make an experiment; enter your spiritual society and think of some subject, retain it, and return and express it in my presence."

They entered, thought of a subject, retained it, and came out; and when they tried to give expression to it they could not; for they could find no idea of natural thought adequate to any idea of purely spiritual thought, and thus no words to express it; for the ideas of thought become words in speech. Afterwards they entered again, and returned; and became convinced that spiritual ideas are supernatural, inexpressible, ineffable and incomprehensible to a natural man; and they said that being so supereminent, spiritual ideas or thoughts in comparison with natural are ideas of ideas and thoughts of thoughts, and therefore by them the qualities of qualities and the affections of affections are expressed; consequently that spiritual thoughts are the beginnings and origins of natural thoughts; and from this it is evident that spiritual wisdom is the wisdom of wisdom, and is therefore inexpressible to any wise man in the natural world.

[6] Then it was said from the higher heaven that there is a still more interior or higher wisdom which is called celestial, the relation of which to spiritual wisdom is like the relation of this to natural wisdom, and that these inflow in order according to the heavens from the Lord's Divine wisdom, which is infinite.

Thereupon, the man speaking with me said, "This I see, because I perceive it, that one natural idea is the containant of many spiritual ideas; also that one spiritual idea is the containant of many celestial ideas. From this it follows as a consequence, that what is divided does not become more and more simple, but more and more manifold, because it approaches nearer and nearer to the infinite, which contains all things infinitely."

[7] After all this had taken place, I said to the bystanders, "From these three experimental proofs you see what kind of distinction there is between the spiritual and the natural, and also the reason why a natural man is not visible to a spiritual man, or a spiritual man to a natural man, although both are in a complete human form, and from that form it seems to each as though he might see the other. But the interiors which belong to the mind are what constitute that form; and the minds of spirits and angels are formed out of spiritual things, while the minds of men so long as they live in the world, are formed out of natural things."

After this a voice was heard from the higher heaven, saying to one who stood by, "Come up hither." He went up, and returned and said that the angels had not before known the differences between the spiritual and the natural, because the means of comparison had not previously been furnished in a man who was in both worlds at once, and without comparison and relation those differences are unknowable.

[8] Before we separated we talked again about this matter, and I said, "These distinctions come solely from this, that you in the spiritual world are substantial but not material, and substantial things are the beginnings of material things. What is matter but an aggregation of substances? You therefore are in principles and thus in the least particles, while we are in derivatives and compounds; you are in particulars, while we are in generals; and as generals cannot enter into particulars, so neither can natural things, which are material, enter into spiritual things, which are substantial; just as a ship's cable cannot enter or be drawn through the eye of a sewing needle, or a nerve cannot be drawn into one of the fibers of which it is composed. This then is why the natural man cannot think the thoughts of the spiritual man, and therefore cannot utter them. So what Paul heard from the third heaven he called ineffable.

[9] Add to this, that to think spiritually is to think apart from time and space, while to think naturally is to think in accord with time and space; for to every idea of natural thought there adheres something from time and space; but it is not so with any spiritual idea, and for the reason that the spiritual world is not in space and time, as the natural world is, but is in the appearance of these two. In the same way do the thoughts and perceptions of the two worlds differ. For this reason you are able to think of the essence and omnipotence of God from eternity, that is, to think of God before the creation of the world, because you think of the essence of God apart from time and of His omnipotence apart from space; and thus you can comprehend such things as transcend man's natural ideas."

[10] I then told them that I had once thought about the essence and omnipresence of God from eternity, that is, about God before the creation of the world; and because I was not then able to separate spaces and times from the ideas of my thought I became anxious, since the idea of nature in place of God pressed in. But it was said to me, "Separate the ideas of space and time and you will see;" and I was permitted to separate them, and I saw; and since then I have been able to think of God from eternity, but by no means of nature from eternity, because God is in all time apart from time, and in all space apart from space; but nature in all time is in time, and in all space is in space; and nature with its time and space must needs have beginning; but not God who is apart from time and space. Wherefore nature is not God from eternity, but is from God in time, in connection with its own time and space.

TCR 281. Fifth Memorable Relation:-

As it has been granted me by the Lord to be in the spiritual world and in the natural world at the same time, and thus to talk with angels the same as with men, and thereby to become acquainted with the states of those who after death pass into that hitherto unknown world (for I have spoken with all of my relatives and friends, and with kings and nobles and with learned men who have met their fate, and this now continually for twenty-seven years), I am able from living experience to describe the states of men after death, what the states are of those who have lived well and of those who have lived wickedly. But here I will only mention some things respecting the state of those who have confirmed themselves in falsities of doctrine from the Word, and especially those who have done this in support of justification by faith alone. The successive states of such are as follows:

(i.) After death and when they are reviving in spirit, which usually takes place on the third day after the heart has ceased to beat, they seem to themselves to be in a body so like that which they had in the world that they do not know but that they are still living in the former world, yet not in a material body, but in a body that is substantial and that appears to their senses to be material; but it is not.

[2] (ii.) After some days, they see that they are in a world where various societies are formed, which world is called the world of spirits, and is intermediate between heaven and hell. All the societies there, and they are innumerable, are wonderfully arranged in accordance with good and evil natural affections; the societies arranged in accordance with good natural affections communicating with heaven, and those arranged in accordance with evil affections communicating with hell.

[3] (iii.) The novitiate spirit or spiritual man is conducted and transferred into various societies, both good and evil, and is examined as to whether he is affected by what is good and true, and how, or by what is evil and false, and how.

[4] (iv.) If he is affected by what is good and true, he is led away from evil societies and is led into good societies, and into different ones until he comes into a society that is in correspondence with his natural affection, and there he enjoys the good that corresponds to that affection, and this until he has put off his natural affection and put on a spiritual affection, and then he is raised into heaven. This takes place with those who in the world had lived a life of charity, and thus a life of faith also, which is believing in the Lord and shunning evils as sins.

[5] (v.) But those who have confirmed themselves in falsities by means of reasonings, especially by means of the Word, and so have lived a merely natural and thus an evil life (for evils accompany falsities and adhere to falsities), inasmuch as they are not affected by what is good and true, but by what is evil and false, are led away from good societies and into evil societies and into different ones, until they come into some society corresponding to the lusts of their love.

[6] (vi.) But because these in the world had feigned good affections in externals, although in their internals there were only evil affections or lusts, they are kept by turns in their (good) externals. Those who in the world had presided over communities, are appointed over societies here and there in the world of spirits, either over a whole society or a part according to the extent of the offices they had filled in their former life. But as they have no love for what is true or what is just, and cannot be so far enlightened as to know what is true and just, after a few days they are deposed. I have seen such transferred from one society to another, and official authority everywhere given them, but always taken away after a short time.

[7] (vii.) After frequent dismissions some from weariness do not wish, and some from fear of losing their reputation do not dare, to seek office any more; and therefore they withdraw and sit in sadness and afterwards are led away into a desert, where there are huts into which they enter, and there some work is given them to do, and as they do it they receive food. If they do not do it, when they become hungry they receive no food and are thus compelled by necessity. The food there is similar to the food in our world, but is from a spiritual origin, and is given from heaven by the Lord to all according to the uses they perform. To the idle none is given because they are useless.

[8] (viii.) After a while they become disgusted with work and leave their huts. If they had been priests they wish to build; and immediately heaps of cut stone, bricks, beams, and boards appear, also piles of reeds and rushes, of clay, lime, and bitumen. When they see these a strong desire to build is kindled in them, and they begin to construct a house, taking now a stone, and then a stick, then a reed and then some mud, and placing one upon the other without order, but to their sight in regular order. But what they build during the day falls down at night; and the next day they gather up the material from the rubbish and build again; and this goes on until they grow tired of building. This takes place from correspondence. The correspondence is that they have heaped up texts from the Word to prove what is false in faith, and their falsities do not otherwise build the church.

[9] (ix.) Afterward from weariness they go away and sit solitary and idle; and as no food is given from heaven to the idle, as before said, they begin to grow hungry, and to think of nothing but how to get food and satisfy their hunger. While they are in this state persons come to them from whom they ask alms; but these say, "Why do you sit here idle? Come home with us, and we will give you work to do and will feed you." Then they rise up gladly and go home with them, and each one is there given his own task, and for doing it he receives food. But since none of those who have confirmed themselves in the falsities of faith are able to do works that have a good use, but are able to do only such works as have an evil use, and are unable to do these faithfully, but only fraudulently and also unwillingly, they abandon their work, caring only to visit, talk, walk about, and sleep. And as they can no longer be induced by their masters to work they are dismissed as useless.

[10] (x.) When they have been dismissed their eyes are opened and they see a road leading to a certain cavern. When they come to it a door is opened and they enter and ask if there is food there; and when told that there is they beg permission to remain there, and they are told that they may, and are introduced and the door is closed behind them. The overseer of the cavern then comes and says to them, "You can go out no more; you see your companions; they all labor, and according to their labor food is given them from heaven; I tell you this, that you may know." Their companions also say to them, "Our overseer knows for what work each one is fitted, and assigns such work to each one daily. The days you do this work, food is given you, and if you do not do it, neither food nor clothing is given. If anyone does harm to another, he is thrown into a corner of the cavern upon a bed made of accursed dust, where he is sorely tortured, and this until the overseer sees in him some sign of repentance, and then he is released and is ordered to do his work."

[11] He is also told that everyone, after his task is done, is permitted to walk about, to talk, and afterward to sleep. And he is conducted further into the cavern where there are harlots, and each one is allowed to select one of these, and to call her his woman; but promiscuous harlotry is forbidden with penalties. Of such caverns, which are nothing but eternal work-houses, hell consists. I was permitted to enter into and see some of them, in order that I might make the facts known. All who were there seemed degraded; not one of them knew who he had been or what his employment had been in the world. But the angel who was with me said to me, "This man was in the world a servant, this a soldier, this a general; this was a priest; this a man of rank, and this a man of wealth, and yet not one of them knows but that they had been, then as now, slaves and boon companions. This is because they had been inwardly alike, although outwardly unlike, and all in the spiritual world are affiliated according to their interiors."

[12] In regard to the hells in general, they consist solely of such caverns and work-houses; but those where satans are differ from those where devils are. Those are called satans who had been in falsities and consequently in evils; and they are called devils who had been in evils and consequently in falsities. Satans in the light of heaven appear livid like corpses, and some black like mummies; but devils in the light of heaven appear dusky and fiery, and some black like soot; while in features and bodily form they are all monstrous. But in their own light, which is like the light of burning charcoal, they do not look like monsters but like men. This is granted to render them capable of association.