I. The Holiness of the Word
It was said of old that the Word is
from God, Divinely inspired, and thus holy; and yet
it has not been known heretofore where in the Word
the Divine is. For the Word appears in the letter
like a common writing in a foreign style, and a style
not so sublime or so lucid as appears in the writings
of the present ages. For this reason a man who
worships nature more than God, or in place of God,
and thus thinks from himself and what is his own (proprium),
and not from the Lord out of heaven, can easily fall
into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for
it, saying in his heart when he reads it, What is
this, or what is that? Is this Divine?
Can God who has infinite wisdom speak in this manner?
Where is its holiness, and from what source, unless
from the religion whose ministers it serves? and other
like things. But that it may be known that the
Word is Divine, not only in every meaning but also
in every expression, its internal sense, which is
spiritual, and which is in its external sense, which
is natural, as a soul in its body, has now been revealed.
This sense can bear witness to the Divinity and consequent
holiness of the Word; and can convince even the natural
man that the Word is Divine if he is willing to be
convinced. (A.E., .)
In brief, the Word is Divine truth
itself, which gives wisdom to angels and enlightens
men. As Divine truth goes forth from the Lord,
and as what goes forth is Himself out of Himself,
the same as light and heat go forth from the sun and
are the sun, that is, are of the sun out of it, and
as the Word is Divine truth, it is therefore the Lord,
as it is called in John -3, 14). In as
much as Divine truth, which is the Word, in its descent
into the world from the Lord, has passed through the
three heavens, it has become accommodated to each heaven,
and lastly to men also in the world. This is
why there are in the Word four senses, one outside
of the other from the highest heaven down to the world,
or one within the other from the world up to the highest
heaven. These four senses are called the celestial,
the spiritual, the natural from the celestial and
spiritual, and the merely natural. This last
is for the world, the next for the lowest heaven,
the spiritual for the second heaven, and the celestial
for the third. These four senses differ so greatly
from one another that when one is exhibited beside
the other no connection can be recognized; and yet
they make one when one follows the other; for one
follows from the other as an effect from a cause,
or as what is posterior from what is prior; consequently
as an effect represents its cause and corresponds
to its cause, so the posterior sense corresponds to
the prior; and thus it is that all four senses make
one through correspondences.
From all this these truths follow.
The outmost sense of the Word, which is the sense
of the letter, and the fourth in order, contains in
itself the three interior senses, which are for the
three heavens. These three senses are unfolded
and exhibited in the heavens when a man on the earth
is reverently reading the Word. Therefore the
sense of the letter of the Word is that from which
and through which there is communication with the
heavens, also from which and through which man has
conjunction with the heavens. The sense of the
letter of the Word is the basis of Divine truth in
the heavens, and without such a basis Divine truth
would be like a house without a foundation; and without
such a basis the wisdom of the angels would be like
a house in the air. It is the sense of the letter
of the Word in which the power of Divine truth consists.
It is the sense of the letter of the Word through which
man is enlightened by the Lord, and through which
he receives answers when he wishes to be enlightened.
It is the sense of the letter of the Word by which
everything of doctrine on the earth must be established.
In the sense of the letter of the Word is Divine
truth in its fullness. In the sense of the letter
of the Word Divine truth is in its holiness. (A.E.,
.)
That the Word is Divine truth itself,
which gives wisdom to angels and enlightens men, can
be perceived or seen only by a man enlightened.
For to a worldly man, whose mind has not been raised
above the sensual sphere, the Word in the sense of
the letter appears so simple that scarcely anything
could be more simple; and yet Divine truth, such as
it is in the heavens and from which angels have their
wisdom, lies concealed in it as in its sanctuary.
For the Word in the letter is like the adytum [sanctum]
in the midst of a temple covered with a veil, within
which lie deposited mysteries of heavenly wisdom such
as no ear hath heard. For in the Word and in
every particular of it there is a spiritual sense,
and in that sense a Divine celestial sense, which
regarded in itself is Divine truth itself, which is
in the heavens and which gives wisdom to angels and
enlightenment to men.
The Divine truth that is in the heavens
is light going forth from the Lord as a Sun, which
is Divine love. And as the Divine truth that
goes forth from the Lord is the light of heaven, so
it is the Divine wisdom. It is this that illuminates
both the minds and the eyes of angels, and it is this
also that enlightens the minds of men, but not their
eyes, and that enables them to understand truth and
also to perceive good when man reads the Word from
the Lord and not from self; for he is then a participator
with angels, and has an inward perception like the
spiritual perception of angels; and that spiritual
perception which the angel-man has flows into his
natural perception which is his own while in the world
and enlightens it. Consequently the man who reads
the Word from an affection for truth has enlightenment
through heaven from the Lord. (A.E., .)
II. The Lord is the Word
Since the Word is Divine truth, and
this goes forth from the Lord’s Divine Esse
(being), as light from the sun, it follows that the
Lord is the Word because He is Divine truth.
The Lord is the Word, because He is Divine truth,
and this goes forth His Divine Esse (being), which
is Divine love, because the Divine love was in Him
when in the world as a soul is in its body; and as
Divine truth goes forth from Divine love as light
goes forth from the sun, as has been said, so the Lord’s
Human in the world was Divine truth going forth from
the Divine love that was in Him. That the Divine
itself, which is called “Jéhovah” and the
“Father,” and which is the Divine love,
was in the Lord from conception, is evident in the
Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In Matthew from these
words:
When Mary the mother of Jesus had
been betrothed to Joseph, “before they came
together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.”
And the angle said to Joseph in a dream, “Fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which
is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” .
. . This came to pass that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet:
. . . “Behold a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a son.” And Joseph
“knew her not until she had brought forth her
firstborn son; and he called His name Jesus”
-25).
And in Luke from these words:
The angel said to Mary, “Behold
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a
son, and shalt call His name Jesus; He shall be great,
and shall be called the Son of the Most High.”
. . . Then Mary said unto the angel, “How
shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” The
angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow
thee; wherefore also the Holy Thing that shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God”
-35).
It was because He was conceived of
Jéhovah that He is so frequently called in the Word
“the Son of God,” and Jéhovah is called
His “Father.” Jéhovah in respect
to His Esse (being) is Divine love, and in respect
to His Existere (outgo) He is Divine good united
to Divine truth.
From this it can be seen what is meant by:
The Word that was with God and that
was God, and also was the light that enlighteneth
every man (John -10), namely, that it was Divine
truth going forth from the Lord, thus the Lord in
respect to His Existere (outgo). That the
Lord in respect to His Existere was Divine truth,
and that this was His Divine Human, because this came
forth from His Divine Esse as a body from its
soul, these words in John clearly certify:
The Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only
begotten of the Father .
“The Word” is the Divine
truth, which also is “glory”; “flesh”
means the Divine Human; “the only begotten of
the Father” means the springing forth or going
forth from the Divine Esse in Him. (A.E., .)
But as the world does not know how
the words in John , 2, 14) that the Lord is the
Word, are to be understood, this shall be further
explained. It is known in the church that God
is good itself and truth itself, and thus that all
the good that an angel has and that a man has is from
God, and likewise all truth. Now since the Lord
is God He is also Divine good and Divine truth; and
this is what is meant by “the Word, that was
with God, and was God,” and also was “the
light that enlighteneth every man,” and that
also “became flesh,” that is, Man in the
world.
That when the Lord was in the world
He was the Divine truth, which is the Word, He Himself
teaches in many passages where He calls Himself “the
Light,” also where He calls Himself “the
Way, the Truth, and the Life”; and where He
says that “the Spirit of truth” goes forth
from Him. “The Spirit of truth” is
the Divine truth. When the Lord was transfigured
He represented the Word, “His face that shone
as the sun” represented its Divine good; and
His garments, which were “bright as the light”
and “white as snow,” represented its Divine
truth. “Moses and Elijah,” who then
talked with the Lord, also signified the Word, “Moses”
the historical Word and “Elijah” the prophetic
Word. Moreover, all things of the Lord’s
passion represented the kind of violence that the
Jewish nation offered to the Word. Again, the
Lord from Divine truth, which He is, is called “God,”
“King,” and “Angel,” and is
meant by “the rock in Horeb,” and “the
rock” where Peter is spoken of. All this
makes clear that the Lord is the Word, because He
is Divine truth. The Word in the letter, which
is with us, is the Divine truths in outmosts.
(A.E., .)
As it cannot but transcend the comprehension
that the Lord in relation to His Human in the world
was the Word, that is, Divine truth; according to
these words in John,
“And the Word became flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father” ,
it shall be explained, as far as possible, to the
comprehension. It can be said of every regenerate
man that he is his own truth and his own good, since
the thought which belongs to his understanding is from
truths, and the affection which belongs to his will
is from goods. Whether you say, therefore, that
a man is his own understanding and his own will, or
that a man is his own truth and his own good, it amounts
to the same thing. The body is mere obedience;
for it speaks that which man thinks from the understanding,
and does that which he wills from affection. Thus
these things and the body mutually correspond and
make one, like an effect and its effecting cause;
and these taken together constitute the human.
As it can be said of the regenerate
man that he is his own truth and his own good, so
it can be said of the Lord as Man, that He is truth
itself or Divine truth, and good itself or Divine
good. All this makes evident the truth that
the Lord in relation to His Human in the world was
Divine truth, that is the Word; and that everything
that He then said was Divine truth, which is the Word;
and that since the time when he went to the Father,
that is, became one with the Father, the Divine truth
going forth from Him is the Spirit of truth, which
goes out and goes forth from Him, and at the same
time from the Father in Him. (A.E., .)
III. The Lord’s Words Spirit and Life
That the Word is holy and Divine from
inmosts to outermosts is not evident to the man who
leads himself, but is evident to the man whom the
Lord leads. For the man who leads himself sees
only the external of the Word, and forms his opinion
of it from its style; but the man whom the Lord leads
forms his opinion of the external of the Word from
the holiness that is in it.
The Word is like a garden, that may
be called a heavenly paradise, in which are delicacies
and charms of every kind, delicacies from the fruits,
and charms from the flowers; and in the middle of it
trees of life, and near them fountains of living water,
and round about trees of the forest, and near them
rivers. The man who leads himself forms his
opinion of that paradise, which is the Word, from its
circumference, where the trees of the forest are;
but the man whom the Lord leads forms his opinion
of it from the middle of it, where the trees of life
are. The man whom the Lord leads is actually
in the middle of it, and looks to the Lord; but the
man who leads himself actually sits down at the circumference,
and looks away from it to the world.
Again, the Word is like fruit within
which there is a nutritious pulp, and in the middle
of it seed vessels, in which inmostly is a living germ
that germinates in good soil. Again, the Word
is also like a most beautiful infant, about which,
except the face, there are wrappings upon wrappings;
the infant itself is in the inmost heaven, the wrappings
are in the lower heavens, and the general covering
of the wrappings is on the earth. As the Word
is such it is holy and Divine from inmosts to outermosts.
(A.E., .)
The Word is such because in its origin
it is the Divine itself that goes forth from the Lord,
and is called Divine truth; and when this descended
to men in the world it passed through the heavens in
their order according to their degrees, which are
three; and in each heaven it was recorded in accommodation
to the wisdom and intelligence of the angels there.
Finally it was brought down from the Lord through
the heavens to men, and there it was recorded and
made known in adaptation to man’s understanding
and apprehension. This, therefore, is the sense
of its letter, and in this lies Divine truth such
as it is in the three heavens, stored up in distinct
order.
From this it is clear that the entire
wisdom of the angels in the three heavens has been
imparted by the Lord to our Word, and in its inmost
there is the wisdom of the angels of the third heaven,
which is incomprehensible and ineffable to man, because
full of mysteries and treasures of Divine verities.
These lie stored up in each particular and in all
the particulars of our Word. And as Divine truth
is the Lord in the heavens, so the Lord Himself is
present, and may be said to dwell in all the particulars
and each particular of His Word, as He does in His
heavens; and in the same way as He has said of the
ark of the covenant, in which were deposited only
the Ten Commandments written on the two tables, the
first-fruits of the Word, for He said that He would
speak there with Moses and Aaron, that He would be
present there, that He would dwell there, and that
it was His holy of holies, and His dwelling place
as in heaven. (A.E., n., 1073.)
As the Divine truth, in passing from
the Lord Himself through the three heavens down to
men in the world, is recorded and becomes the Word
in each heaven, so the Word is a bond of union of
the heavens with each other, and a bond of union of
the heavens with the church in the world. For
the Word is the same everywhere, differing only in
perfection of glory and wisdom according to the degrees
in which the heavens are; consequently the holy Divine
from the Lord flows in through the heavens into the
man in the world who acknowledges the Lord’s
Divine and the holiness of the Word whenever he reads
the Word; and so far as such a man loves wisdom he
can be instructed and can imbibe wisdom from the Word
as from the Lord Himself, or from heaven itself, and
can thus be nourished with the food with which the
angels themselves are nourished, and in which there
is life; according to these words of the Lord:
“The words that I speak unto
you are spirit and are life” (John v.
“The water that I will give you shall become
. . . a fountain of water springing up unto eternal
life” (John i. “Man doth not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God” (Matt. i.
“Work . . . for the meat that abideth unto eternal
life, which the Son of man shall give unto you”
(John v.
Such is the Word. (A.E., .)
It has been said that the Divine truth
goes forth from the Lord, and that the Word is from
that, and that through the Word angels and men have
wisdom. But so long as it is unknown how Divine
truth goes forth from the Lord, this may be said but
it cannot be understood. Divine truth, which
is the same as Divine wisdom, goes forth from the Lord
as light and heat do from the sun. The Lord
is Divine love itself, and love appears in the heavens
from correspondence as fire, and the Lord’s
Divine love as a sun, glowing and resplendent like
the sun of the world. From that sun, which is
high above the heavens where the angels are, and which
is Divine love, heat and light go forth; the heat therefrom
is Divine good, and the light therefrom is Divine
truth. The heat is Divine good, because all
heat of life going forth from love is felt as good,
for it is spiritual heat; and the light is Divine truth
because all light going forth from love is felt as
truth, for it is spiritual light; consequently it
is from that light that the understanding sees truths,
and it is from that heat that the will is sensible
of goods; and this is why in the Word love is meant
by heavenly fire and wisdom by heavenly light.
It is the same with a man and with
an angel. Every angel and man is his own love,
and a sphere flowing out from his love encompasses
every man and angel. That sphere consists of
the good of his love and of the truth of his love,
for love gives forth both, as fire gives forth both
heat and light; from the will of a man or angel it
gives forth good, and from his understanding it gives
forth truth. This sphere, when the man or angel
is good, has an extension into the heavens in every
direction according to the character and amount of
the love, and into the hells in every direction when
the man or angel is evil. But the sphere of the
love of a man or an angel has a finite extension into
a few societies only of heaven or hell, while the
sphere of the Lord’s love, being Divine, has
an infinite extension, and creates the heavens themselves.
(A.E., .)
The Word of the Lord is wonderful
in this respect, that in every particular of it there
is a reciprocal union of good and truth, which testifies
that the Word is the Divine that goes forth from the
Lord, which is Divine good and Divine truth reciprocally
united; and also testifies that in the Word there
is a marriage of the Lord with heaven and the church,
which also is reciprocal. There is a marriage
of good and truth, also of truth and good, in every
particular of the Word, in order that it may be a
source of wisdom to angels and of intelligence to
men, for from good alone no wisdom or intelligence
is born, neither from truth alone, but from their
marriage when the love is reciprocal. This reciprocal
love the Lord sets forth in John:
“He that eateth My flesh and
drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him”
(v.
In the same,
“In that day ye shall know,
that . . . ye are in Me and I in you. He that
hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that
loveth Me; . . . and I will love him” (xi, 21).
The reciprocality is that such are
in the Lord and the Lord is in them, also that whoever
loves the Lord, the Lord also will love him.
“To have His commandments” is to be in
truths, and “to do them” is to be in good.
Reciprocality is also described by
the Lord in His union with the Father, in these words,
“Philip, . . . How sayest
thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not
that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? . .
. Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the
Father in Me” (John xi-11).
From this reciprocal union of the
Divine and the Human in the Lord the reciprocal union
of Divine good and Divine truth goes forth; and this
goes forth from the Lord’s Divine love; and the
same is true of the Lord’s reciprocal union
with heaven and the church, and in general the reciprocal
union of good and truth in an angel of heaven and in
a man of the church. And as good is of charity
and truth is of faith, and as charity and faith make
the church, it follows that the church is in a man
when there is a reciprocal union of charity and faith
in him. Again, as good is of the will and truth
is of the understanding, and as the will and understanding
make man, it follows that a man is a man according
to the union of the will and all things belonging to
it with the understanding and all things belonging
to it, and this reciprocally. This union is what
is called marriage, which from creation is in every
particular of heaven and in every particular of the
world; and from this is the production and the generation
of all things. That in every particular of the
Word there is such a marriage that good loves truth
and truth loves good, thus mutually and in turn, is
disclosed in the spiritual sense of the Word; and
it is from this marriage that good and truth are one
and not two, and are one when good is of truth and
truth is of good. (A.E., .
The Word in the sense of the letter
appears very simple, and yet there is stored up in
it the wisdom of the three heavens, for each least
particular of it contains interior and more interior
senses; an interior sense such as exists in the first
heaven, a still more interior sense such as exists
in the second heaven, and an inmost sense such as exists
in the third heaven. These senses are in the
sense of the letter, one within the other, and are
evolved therefrom one after the other, each from its
own heaven, when the Word is read by a man who is led
by the Lord. These interior senses differ in
a degree of light and wisdom according to the heavens,
and yet they make one by influx, and thus by correspondences.
How they thus make one shall be told in what follows.
All this makes clear how the Word was inspired by the
Divine, and that it was written from an inspiration
to which nothing else in the world can in anywise
be compared. The mysteries of wisdom of the three
heavens contained in it are the mystical things of
which many have spoken. (A.E., .)
IV. Influx and Correspondence
It has been said that there is a Word
in each heaven and that these Words are in our Word
in their order, and that they thus make one by influx
and consequent correspondences. Here, therefore,
it shall be told what correspondence is and what influx
is; otherwise what the Word is inwardly in its bosom,
thus in respect to its life from the Lord, which is
its soul, cannot be understood.
But what correspondence is and what
influx is shall be illustrated by examples.
The changes of the face that are called expressions
correspond to the affections of the mind; consequently
the face changes in respect to its expressions just
as the affections of the mind change in respect to
their states. These changes in the face are
correspondences, as consequently the face itself is;
and the action of the mind into it, that the correspondences
may be exhibited, is called influx. The sight
of man’s thought, which is called the understanding,
corresponds to the sight of his eyes; and consequently
the quality of the thought from the understanding
is made evident by the light and flame of the eyes.
The sight of the eye is a correspondence, as consequently
the eye itself is; the action of the understanding
into the eye, by which the correspondence is exhibited,
is influx. Active thought, which belongs to
the understanding, corresponding to speech, which
belongs to the mouth. The speech is a correspondence,
likewise the mouth and everything belonging to it,
and the action of thought into speech and into the
organs of speech is influx. The perception of
the mind corresponds to the smell of the nostrils.
The smell and the nostrils are correspondences, and
the action is influx. For this reason a man
who has interior perception is said to have a keen
nose, and perceiving a thing is called scenting it
out. Hearkening, which means obedience, corresponds
to the hearing of the ears; consequently both the
hearing and the ears are correspondences, and the action
of obedience into the hearing, that a man may raise
his ears and attend, is influx; therefore hearkening
and hearing are both significative, hearkening and
giving ear to anyone meaning to obey, and hearkening
and hearing anyone meaning to hear with the ears.
The action of the body corresponds to the will, the
action of the heart corresponds to the life of the
love, the action of the lungs, which is called respiration,
corresponds to the life of the faith, and the whole
body in respect to all its members, viscera, and organs,
corresponds to the soul in respect to all the functions
and powers of its life.
From these few examples it can be
seen what correspondence is and what influx is; and
that when the spiritual, which belongs to the life
of man’s understanding and will, flows into
the acts which belong to his body, it exhibits itself
in a natural effigy, and there is correspondence;
also that thus the spiritual and the natural act as
one by correspondences, like interior and exterior,
or like prior and posterior, or like the effecting
cause and the effect, or like the principal cause
which belongs to man’s thought and will, and
the instrumental cause which belongs to his speech
and action. There is such a correspondence of
natural things and spiritual not only in each and
every thing of man, but also in each every thing of
the world; and the correspondences are produced by
an influx of the spiritual world and all things of
it into the natural world and all things of it.
From all this it can be seen in some measure how
our Word, as to the sense of the letter, which is
natural, makes one by influx and correspondences with
the Words in the heavens, the senses of which are spiritual.
(A.E., .)
What the Word is in respect to influx
and correspondences can now be shown. It is
said in John:
“He hath blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart, lest they should see with
their eyes and understand with their heart, and should
turn themselves and I should heal them” (xi.
The “eyes” that are blinded
signify the understanding of truth and belief in it;
the “heart” that is hardened signifies
the will and love of good; and “to be healed”
signifies to be reformed. They were not permitted
“to turn themselves and be healed” lest
they should commit profanation; for a wicked man who
is healed and who returns to his evil and falsity
commits profanation; and so it would have been with
the Jewish nation. In Matthew:
“Blessed are your eyes, for
they see; and your ears, for they hear” (xii.
Here, too, the “eyes”
signify the understanding of truth and belief in it;
so “to see” signifies to understand and
believe, and the “ears” signify obedience,
thus a life according to the truths of faith, and “to
hear” signifies to obey and live. For one
is blessed not because he sees and hears, but because
he understands, believes, obeys, and lives. In
the same,
“The lamp of the body is the
eye; if the eye be sound the whole body is light,
if the eye be evil the whole body is darkened.
If, therefore, the light . . . be darkness, how great
is the darkness” (v, 23).
Here, again, the “eye”
signifies the understanding of truth and belief in
it, which is called a lamp from the light of truth
that man has from understanding and belief.
And because a man becomes wise from understanding
and believing in truth, it is said “if the eye
be sound the whole body is light.” The
“body” means the man, and “to be
light” means to be wise. But it is the
reverse with the “evil eye,” that is,
understanding and believing in falsity. “Darkness”
means falsities, “if the light be darkness”
signifies if the truth be false or falsified, and
because truth falsified is worse than any other falsity,
it is said, “If the light be darkness, how great
is the darkness.”
These few examples make clear what
correspondence is and what influx is, namely, that
the eye is a correspondence of the understanding and
faith, the heart a correspondence of the will and
love, the ears a correspondence of obedience, the
lamp and light correspondences of truth, and darkness
a correspondence of falsity, and so on; and as the
one is spiritual and the other is natural, and the
spiritual acts into the natural and forms it to a
likeness of itself that it may appear before the eyes
or before the world, so that action is influx.
Such is the Word in each and every particular. (A.E.,
.)
The spiritual by influx presents what
is correspondent to itself in the natural, in order
that the end may become a cause, and the cause become
an effect, and thus the end through the cause may present
itself in the effect as visible and sensible.
This trine, namely, end, cause, and effect, exists
from creation in every heaven. The end is good
of love, the cause is truth from that good, and the
effect is use. The producing force is love,
and the product therefrom is of love from good by means
of truth. The final products, which are in our
world, are various, as numerous as the objects are
in its three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable,
and mineral. All products are correspondences.
As this trine, namely, end, cause, and effect, exists
in each heaven, there must be in each heaven products
that are correspondences, and that are like in form
and aspect the objects in the three kingdoms of our
earth; from which it is clear that each heaven is
like our earth in outward appearance, differing only
in excellence and beauty according to degrees.
Now in order that the Word may be full, that is, may
consist of effects in which are a cause and an end,
or may consist of uses in which truth is the cause
and good is the end and love is the producing force,
it must needs consist of correspondences; and from
this it follows that the Word in each heaven is like
the Word in our world, differing only in excellence
and beauty according to degrees. What this difference
is shall be told elsewhere. (A.E., .)
V. The Three Senses in the Word
As there is a trine, one within another,
in every last particular of the Word, and this trine
is like that of effect, cause, and end, it follows
that there are three senses in the Word, one within
another, namely, a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial;
a natural for the world, a spiritual for the heavens
of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, and a celestial
for the heavens of His celestial kingdom. (That the
entire heavens are divided into two kingdoms, the
spiritual and the celestial, may be seen in Heaven
and Hell, -28.) Now as there is one sense within
another, a first which is the sense of the letter for
the natural world, a second which is the internal
sense for the spiritual kingdom, and a third which
is the inmost for the celestial kingdom, it follows
that a natural man draws from it his sense, a spiritual
angel his sense, and a celestial angel his sense,
thus everyone what is analogous to and in agreement
with his own essence and nature. This takes place
whenever a man who is led by the Lord is reading the
Word.
But let this be illustrated by examples.
When this commandment of the Decalogue is read, “Thou
shalt honor thy father and thy mother,” a man
in the world understands by “father and mother”
a father and mother on the earth, and also all who
are or may be in the place of father or mother; and
by “honoring” he understands to hold such
in honor. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom
understands by “father” the Divine good,
and by “mother” the Divine truth, and by
“honoring” loving; while an angel of the
celestial kingdom understands by “father”
the Lord, and by “mother” heaven and the
church, and by “honoring” doing.
When the fifth commandment of the
Decalogue, “Thou shalt not steal,” is
read, by “stealing” a man understands stealing,
defrauding, and taking away under any pretense his
neighbor’s goods. But an angel of the
spiritual kingdom by “stealing” understands
depriving another of his truths and goods by means
of falsities and evils, while an angel of the celestial
kingdom by “not to steal” understands not
to attribute to himself the things that are the Lord’s,
as the good of love and the truth of faith; for thereby
good becomes not good, and truth not truth, because
they are from men.
When the sixth commandment, “Thou
shalt not commit adultery,” is read, a man by
“committing adultery” understands committing
adultery and whoredom, also thinking filthy thoughts,
speaking lasciviously, and doing obscene things.
But an angel of the spiritual kingdom by “committing
adultery” understands falsifying the truths of
the Word and adulterating its goods; while an angel
of the celestial kingdom by “committing adultery”
understands blaspheming against the Lord, heaven,
and the church.
When the seventh commandment, “Thou
shalt not kill,” is read, by “killing”
a man understands hating and desiring revenge, even
to murder. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom
by “killing” understands the killing of
a man’s soul by stumbling blocks to the life
and by reasonings, whereby a man is led into spiritual
death, while an angel of the celestial kingdom by
“killing” understands seducing a man into
believing that there is no God and no heaven and no
hell, for thus man’s eternal life is destroyed.
When the eighth commandment, “Thou
shalt not bear false witness,” is read, a man
by “false witness” understands lying and
defamation. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom
by “false witness” understands asserting,
proving, and persuading that falsity is truth and evil
is good, or on the other hand that truth is falsity
and good is evil, while an angel of the celestial
kingdom by “false witness” understands
every falsity against the Lord, and against heaven
in favor of hell.
All this makes clear how a man draws
and calls forth from the Word in the letter a natural
sense, a spiritual angel a spiritual sense, and a
celestial angel a celestial sense, much as the wood
of a tree draws its sap, the leaf its sap, and the
fruit its sap, from the same soil. And what
is wonderful, this is done instantly, without the angel’s
knowing what the man thinks, or the man what the angel
thinks, and yet their thoughts are one by correspondences,
as end, cause, and effect are one. Moreover,
ends are actually in the celestial kingdom, causes
in the spiritual kingdom, causes in the spiritual
kingdom, and effects in the natural world. (A.E.,
.)
VI. Conjunction by the Word
Since it is from creation that end,
cause, and effect shall together make one, so it is
from creation that the heavens shall make one with
the church on the earth, but by means of the Word,
when it is read by man from a love of truth and good.
For the Word was given by the Lord to this end, that
there might be a perpetual conjunction of the angels
of heaven with men on the earth, and a perpetual communication
according to conjunction. Without this medium
there would be no conjunction or communication with
heaven on this earth. The conjunction and communication
are instantaneous, and for the reason that all things
of the Word in the sense of the letter are as effects,
in which the cause and the end exist together, and
the effects, which are in the Word, are called uses,
their cause truths, and their ends goods; and the Divine
love, which is the Lord, unites these three together
in the man who is in an affection for uses from the
Word.
How a man draws and calls forth from
the Word in the letter the natural sense, a spiritual
angel the spiritual sense, and a celestial angel the
celestial sense, and this instantly, from which there
is a communication and a conjunction, shall be illustrated
by comparisons; first by something in the animal kingdom,
afterward by something in the vegetable kingdom, and
finally by something in the mineral kingdom.
From the Animal Kingdom:—From
the food, when it has been changed into chyle, the
vessels draw and call forth their blood, the fibers
of the nerves their fluid, and the substances that
are the origins of fibers their spirit, which is called
the animal spirit; and this is done through the vital
heat, which in its essence is love. The vessels,
the fibers, and the substances which are their origins,
are distinct from each other, and yet they act as
one throughout the body, and they act together and
on the instant.
From the Vegetable Kingdom:—The
tree, with its trunk and branches, leaves and fruits,
stands upon its root, and from the soil where its
root is draws and calls forth its sap, a coarser sap
for the trunk and branches, a purer for the leaves,
and a still purer and also nobler for the fruits and
for the seeds in them; and this is done by means of
heat from the sun. Here the branches, leaves,
and fruit are distinct, and yet they extract together
and instantly and from the same soil foods of such
different purity and nobleness.
From the Mineral Kingdom:—In
the bosom of the earth in certain places there are
minerals impregnated with gold, silver, copper, and
iron. From vapors stored up in the earth the
gold attracts its element, silver its element, copper
and iron theirs, distinctly, together, and on the
instant, and this by means of some power of unknown
heat.
As it is allowable to illustrate spiritual
things by means of comparisons drawn from natural
things, these will serve to illustrate how interior
things, which are spiritual and celestial, and by which
a man of the church has communication and conjunction
with the heavens, can be drawn and called forth and
extracted and eliminated from the Word in its outmosts,
that is, the sense of the letter. Comparisons
can be made with these, because all things in the
three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable, and mineral,
correspond to the spiritual things that are in the
three heavens, as the food of the body with which a
comparison has been made, corresponds to the food of
the soul, which is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom;
a tree, with which also a comparison has been made,
corresponds to man, the tree to man himself, the wood
to his good, the leaves to his truths, and the fruits
to his uses; so, too, gold, silver, copper, and iron,
correspond to goods and truths, gold to celestial
good, silver to spiritual truth, copper to natural
good, and iron to natural truth. Moreover, these
things have these significations in the Word.
And what is wonderful, the purer are contained in
the grosser and are drawn from them, as the animal
spirit and the nerve fluid are contained in blood
from which the original substances and nerve fibers
draw and extract their distinct portions. So,
again, fruits and leaves draw theirs from the gross
fluid that is brought up from the soil by the wood
and its bark, and so on. Thus comparatively,
as has been said, the purer senses of the Word are
drawn and called forth from the sense of the letter.
(A.E., .)
VII. The Sense of the Letter
As there are three senses in the Word,
a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial, and as its
natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, is
a containment of the two senses, the spiritual and
celestial, it follows that the sense of the letter
of the Word is the basis of those senses. And
as the angels of the three heavens receive their wisdom
from the Lord through the Word that they have, and
as their Words make one with our Word by correspondences,
it also follows that the sense of the letter of our
Word is the basis, support, and foundation of the
wisdom of the angels of heaven. For the heavens
rest upon the human race as a house rests upon its
foundation; so the wisdom of the angels of heaven
rests in like manner upon the knowledge, intelligence,
and wisdom of men from the sense of the letter of
the Word; for, as has been said above, communication
and conjunction with the heavens are effected through
the sense of the letter of the Word. For this
reason, as a result of the Lord’s Divine providence,
there has been no mutilation of the sense of the letter
of the Word from its first revelation, not even in
a word or letter in the original text; for each word,
and in some measure each letter, is a support.
From all this it is clear what a profanation
it is to falsify the truths and adulterate the goods
of the Word, and how infernal it is to deny or to
weaken its holiness. As soon as that is done,
for that man of the church heaven is closed.
The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which cannot
be forgiven, is the blasphemy of the Word by those
who deny its holiness. Since the Word is the
basis of the heavens, and since the Word was wholly
falsified and adulterated by the Jewish nation by
traditions and adaptation of the sense of the letter
to favor their evil loves, lest the heavens should
be endangered and the wisdom of the angels there should
become foolishness it pleased the Lord to come down
from heaven and to put on the Human and to become the
Word (as is evident from John , and thus to
restore the state of heaven. (A.E., .)
There is a successive order and there
is a simultaneous order. In successive order
things pure and perfect appear above, and those less
pure and perfect appear below. The three heavens
are in successive order, one above another; and in
the higher heavens all things are pure and perfect,
while in the lower they are less pure and perfect.
Simultaneous order exists in lower things, and fully
in the lowest; for higher things let themselves down
and place themselves in the order that is called simultaneous,
in which the pure and perfect things, which were the
higher, are in the middle or center, and the less pure
and perfect, which were the lower, are in the circumferences.
Therefore all things that have come forth in successive
order are together in outmosts in their order.
As all higher things place themselves
in what is lowest in simultaneous order, it follows
that in the outmosts of the Word, which constitute
the sense of its letter, are all things of Divine
truth and of Divine good, even from their firsts.
And as all things of Divine truth and Divine good
are together in their outmost, which is the sense of
the letter of the Word, there evidently is the power
of Divine truth, yea, the omnipotence of the Lord
in saving man. For when the Lord operates He
operates not from first things through mediates into
outmosts, but from first things through outmosts and
thus into mediates. This is why the Lord is
called in the Word the First and the Last; and this
is why the Lord assumed the Human, which in the world
was Divine truth or the Word, and glorified it even
to outmosts, which are the bones and flesh, in order
that He might operate from first things through outmosts,
and not as before from man, but from Himself.
This power in outmosts was represented
by the hair with the Nazirites, as with Samson, for
the hair with the Nazirites, as with Samson, for the
hair corresponds to the outmosts of Divine truth.
And for this reason, to produce baldness was regarded
in ancient times as disgraceful.
The boys who called Elisha “bald
head” were torn in pieces by bears, because
Elisha and Elijah represented the Word; and the Word
without the sense of the letter, which is like a head
without hair, is destitute of all power, and thus
is no longer the Word. “Bears” signify
those that have strength from the outmost of truth.
The power of the Word in the sense
of the letter is the power to open heaven, whereby
communication and conjunction are effected, and also
the power to fight against falsities and evils, thus
against the hells. A man who is in genuine truths
from the sense of the letter of the Word can disperse
and scatter the whole diabolical crew and their devices
in which they place their power, which are innumerable,
and this in a moment, merely by careful thought and
an effort of the will. In brief, in the spiritual
world nothing can resist genuine truths confirmed by
the sense of the letter of the Word (A.E., .)
Now since all interior things, that
is, the spiritual and celestial things that are in
the Words of the three heavens, are together in the
outmost sense of the Word, which is called the sense
of the letter (for in its inmosts there are the things
that are in the Word that the angels of the third
heaven have, and in its middle parts the things that
are in the Words belonging to the angels of the lower
heavens, and these are encompassed by such things
as exist in the nature of our world and are included
in these), so the sense of the letter of our Word is
from all these. From this it can be seen that
Divine truth is in its fullness in the sense of the
letter of our Word. That is said to be full which
contains in itself all things prior, even from the
first, or all things higher even from the highest;
the last is what includes these. The fullness
of the Word is like a general vessel of marble, in
which are countless lesser vessels of crystal, and
in these still more numerous vessels of precious stones,
in and about which are the most delightful things
of heaven which are for those who perform noble uses
according to the Word.
That the Word is such is not evident
to man while he is in the world; but it is evident
to him when he becomes an angel. Because the
Word is such in outmosts it follows that it is not
the Word until it is in that outmost, that is, until
it is in the sense of the letter. The Word not
in that outmost would be like a temple in the air and
not on the earth, or like a man having flesh but without
bones.
As Divine truth is in its fullness
and also in its power in its outmost, for when it
is in that it is in all things at once, so the Lord
never works except from first things through outmosts,
and thus in fullness. For He reforms and regenerates
man only through truths in outmosts, which are natural.
And this is why a man remains after his departure
out of the world to eternity such as he has been in
the world. For the same reason heaven and hell
are from the human race, and angels are not created
immediately such; for in the world a man is in his
fullness, consequently he can there be conceived and
born, and afterward be imbued with knowledge, intelligence,
and wisdom, and become an angel. To create angels
in any other way is impossible.
Because the Lord works all things
from things first through outmosts, and is in His
power and in His fullness in outmosts, so it pleased
the Lord to take upon Him the Human and to become
Divine truth, that is, the Word, and thus from Himself
to reduce to order all things of heaven and all things
of hell, that is, to execute a last judgment.
This the Lord could accomplish from the Divine in
Himself, which was in things first, through His Human
which was in outmosts, and not, as before, from His
presence or abode in the men of the church; for these
had wholly forsaken the truths and goods of the Word,
in which the Lord had previously had His dwelling-place
with men. This was the chief reason for the
Lord’s coming into the world, also for making
His Human Divine; for He thus put Himself into possession
of a power to hold all things of heaven and all things
of hell in order for ever. This is meant by
“Sitting at the right hand
of God” (Mark xv.
“The right hand of God”
means Divine omnipotence, and “to sit at the
right hand of God” means to be in that omnipotence
through the Human. That the Lord ascended into
heaven with His Human glorified even to outmosts He
testifies in Luke:
Jesus said to the disciples, “See
My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle
Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as
ye behold Me having” (xxi.
This the Lord said just after His
resurrection. “Flesh and bones” are
the outmosts of the human body, on which its strength
depends. (A.E., .)
Divine truth is what is called holy,
but only when it is in its outmost, and its outmost
is the Word in the sense of the letter; therefore the
Divine truth there is holy, and may be called a holy
place, and for the reason that that sense contains
and encloses all the holy things of heaven and the
church. The appearance is that Divine truths
in the heavens, which are called spiritual and celestial,
are more holy than the Divine truths in the sense
of the letter of the Word, which are natural; but
the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called
spiritual and celestial, are comparatively like the
lungs and heart in man, which form the chest only
when they are encompassed by ribs, and enclosed in
the pleura and diaphragm; for without these integuments,
and even unless connected with them by bonds, they
could not perform their vital functions. The
spiritual things of the Word are like the breathing
of the lungs, its celestial things are like the systole
and diastole of the heart, and its natural things
are like the pleura, the diaphragm, and the ribs,
with the moving fibers attached, by which the motions
are made reciprocal.
Again, the spiritual and celestial
things of the Word are comparatively like the holy
things of the tabernacle, which consisted of the table
upon which was the shew bread, the golden altar upon
which was the incense, the perfumes and the censor,
also the lampstand with the lamps, and still further
within, the cherubim, the mercy seat, and the ark.
All these were the holy things of the Jewish and Israelitish
church; nevertheless they could not be called holy
and a sanctuary until they had been covered by curtains
and veils, for without those coverings they would
have stood under the naked sky, exposed to showers
and storms, to the birds of heaven and the wild beasts
of the earth, and also to robbers that would violate,
plunder, and scatter them. So would it be with
the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called
spiritual and celestial, unless they were enclosed
in natural truths, like the truths of the sense of
the letter of the Word.
Natural truths, which are the truths
of the sense of the letter of the Word, are not the
very truths of heaven, but are appearances of them;
and appearances of truth encompass, enclose and contain
the truths of heaven, which are genuine truths, and
cause them to be in connection and order and to act
together, like the cardiac and pulmonary organs with
their coverings and ribs, as has been said above; and
when these truths are held in connection and in order
they are holy, and not till then. This the sense
of the letter of our Word does by means of the appearances
of truth of which its outmost consists; and this is
why that sense is the holy Divine itself and a sanctuary.
But he is greatly mistaken who separates
appearances of truth from genuine truths and calls
these appearances holy by themselves and of themselves,
and not the sense of the letter holy by these and from
these, and together with these. He separates
these who sees only the sense of the letter and does
not explore its meaning, as those do who do not read
the Word from doctrine. The “cherubim”
mean in the Word guard and protection that the holy
things of heaven be not violated, and that the Lord
be approached only through love; consequently these
signify the sense of the letter of the Word, because
that is what guards and protects. It guards
and protects in this manner that man can think and
speak according to appearances of truth so long as
he is well-disposed, simple, and as it were a child;
but he must take heed not to so confirm appearances
as to destroy the genuine truths in the heavens. (A.E.,
.)
It is an invariable truth that no
one can understand the Word without doctrine; for
he may be led away into any errors to which he may
be inclined from some love, or to which he may be
drawn from some principle, whereby his mind becomes
unsettled and uncertain, and at length as it were
destitute of truth. But he who reads the Word
from doctrine sees all things that confirm it, and
many things that are hidden from the eyes of others,
and does not permit himself to be drawn away into
strange things; and thus his mind becomes so settled
as to see with certainty.
Again, unless the Word is read from
doctrine it may be drawn away to confirm hérésies,
for the reason that the sense of its letter consists
of mere correspondences, and these are in great part
appearances of truth, and in part genuine truths,
and unless there be doctrine for a lamp these cannot
be seen and cannot be distinguished from each other.
And yet only from the Word can doctrine
be acquired, and it can be acquired only by those
who are in enlightenment from the Lord. Those
are in enlightenment who love truths because they are
truths and make them to be of their life. Moreover,
all things of doctrine must be confirmed by the sense
of the letter of the Word, because Divine truth is
in its fullness and in its power in that sense, and
through it man is in conjunction with the Lord and
in consociation with the angels. In brief, he
who loves truth because it is truth can inquire of
the Lord, as it were, in doubtful matters of faith,
and can receive answers from Him, but nowhere except
in the Word for the reason that the Lord is the Word.
(A.E., .)