The Spiritual Sense of The Word

Selection from De Verbo ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— The Word of the Lord from Experience —
Correspondences

Each and all things which are in nature, correspond to spiritual things; similarly each and all things which are in the human body, as may be seen in two articles in the work on Heaven and Hell. But it is not known at this day what correspondence is, but in the most ancient times the science of correspondences was the science of sciences, thus the universal science, so that the most ancient people wrote all their manuscripts and books by correspondences. The fables of the most ancient times and the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians are nothing else: the book of Job, which is a book of the Ancient Church, is full of correspondences.

All the ancient churches were churches representative of heavenly things; all their rites and also their statutes, according to which their worship was instituted, consisted of nothing but correspondences. Similarly the church with the sons of Jacob; the burnt offerings and sacrifices with all their particulars, were correspondences; likewise the tabernacle with the single things therein, as also their feasts, such as the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles, and the feast of first fruits, and also all their statutes and judgments; and because correspondences are such things as exist in the ultimates of nature, and because all things of nature correspond, and the things which correspond also signify, therefore the sense of the letter of the Word consists of nothing but correspondences. The Lord also, because He spoke from His Divine, and spoke the Word, spoke therefore also by correspondences. What is from the Divine, and in itself is Divine, in the ultimate falls into such things as correspond to Divine, celestial and spiritual things, thus such as in their bosom conceal and signify celestial and spiritual things. What, further, correspondences are, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, in which the correspondences which are in Genesis and in Exodus are explained. And again a collection of citations from that work concerning correspondences, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem and in the treatise on Heaven and Hell. The spiritual or internal sense of the Word is nothing else than the sense of the letter unfolded according to correspondences; for it teaches the spiritual which is perceived by angels in the heavens, while man in the world is thinking in a natural way of that which he reads in the Word.

I have heard and perceived from heaven that the men of the Most Ancient Church, who are those meant in the spiritual sense of the first chapters of Genesis by Adam and Eve, were so consociated with the angels of heaven, that they could speak with them by correspondences, and hence the state of their wisdom was such that whatever they saw on earth, they perceived at the same time spiritually, thus conjointly with the angels. It was told me that Enoch, of whom mention is made in Genesis (Chap. 5:21-24), with his associates, collected correspondences from the mouth of those people, and transmitted the knowledge of them to posterity. From this it came to pass, that the science of correspondences not only was known, but was also cultivated, in many kingdoms of Asia, and especially in Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and also in Canaan. From thence it was carried over to Greece, but was there turned into fables, as may be sufficiently evident from what is told of Olympus, Helicon and Pindus near Athens, and also of the winged horse called Pegasus, as, that with the hoof he broke open a fountain, by which the nine virgins [the Muses], established their seats. For a mountain, and thus Helicon, from correspondence signifies the higher heaven; the hill under the mountain, which was Pindus, signifies the heaven below it; the winged horse, or Pegasus, signifies the understanding enlightened by the spiritual; the fountain signifies intelligence and learning, and the nine virgins signify the knowledges of truth and the sciences. Similar were the rest of the things which are called fabulous, which were written by the most ancient writers in Greece, and which were collected together and described by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.

But when the representatives of the church in the course of time were turned into idolatries, then by the Divine Providence of the Lord that science was successively obliterated, and with the Israelitish and Jewish nation it was altogether destroyed and extinguished. The worship of that nation was indeed altogether representative, but still they did not know what any representative thing signified. For they were altogether natural men, and hence they were neither able nor willing to know anything about the spiritual man and about his faith and love, consequently nothing about correspondences.

That the idolatries of the nations in ancient times derived their origin from the science of correspondences amongst them, was because all things that appear upon the earth have a correspondence, as not only trees, but also cattle and birds of every kind, as well as fishes, and the rest. The ancients, who were in the science of correspondences, made themselves images, which corresponded to spiritual things, and they were delighted with those things, because they signified such things as are of heaven and thence of the church, they therefore not only placed them in their temples, but also in their houses, not for the purpose of adoration, but for the recollection of the heavenly thing that was signified, thence in Egypt there were set up calves, oxen, serpents, boys, old men, virgins, and many other things. For a calf signified the innocence of the natural man, oxen affections of the natural man, serpents the prudence of the sensual man, a boy innocence, old men wisdom, virgins affections for truth, and so on. After the science of correspondences was there lost, their posterity, who were ignorant what the images and likenesses set up by the ancients signified, began to worship them as holy, and finally as deities, because they were placed in and near the temples.

The Egyptian hieroglyphics are from the same origin. So was it also with other nations, as with the Philistines in Ashdod, where was Dagon, formed like a man above and like a fish below, which image was so contrived because a man signifies rational intelligence, and a fish natural knowledge. From similar origin was the worship of the ancients in gardens and groves according to the kinds of trees, as also their sacred worship upon mountains; for gardens and groves signified spiritual intelligence, and each tree something thereof, as the olive its good of love, the vine its truth of the doctrine of faith, the cedar its rational, and so on. A mountain signified heaven, and therefore the worship of the most ancient people was upon mountains. That the science of correspondences remained with many oriental nations until the coming of the Lord, may be evident from the wise men from the East, who came to the Lord when He was born.

Therefore a star went before them, and they brought with them gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It was also said to the shepherds, in order that they might know that it was the Lord Himself, that it should be a sign unto them, that they should see Him in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, because there was no place in the inn. "The star" which went before the wise men signified knowledge from heaven, for stars in the Word signify knowledges. "The gold" signified celestial good, "frankincense" spiritual good, and "myrrh" natural good; all worship being from these three. "The manger" in which the infant Lord was found by the shepherds, signifies spiritual nourishment, because horses, which are fed from a manger, signify intellectual things. "The inn" where there was no place signified the Jewish Church, in which at that time there was no spiritual nourishment, because everything of the Word and thence everything of worship with them, had then been adulterated and perverted. Hence it is said that this would be for a sign to them that it was the Lord (Luke 2:12).

Nevertheless, the science of correspondences was altogether none with the Israelitish and Jewish nation, although all things of their worship, and all the statutes and judgments given to them, and all things of the Word, were pure correspondences. The reason was that that nation was idolatrous in heart, and such that it did not even wish to know that anything of their worship signified anything celestial and spiritual. For they wished that all these things should be holy from themselves and with them in externals. Wherefore if spiritual and celestial things had been disclosed to them, they would not only have rejected, but would also have profaned them. For this reason heaven was closed to them so that they scarcely knew that they were to live after death. That this is so, is manifestly evident. They do not acknowledge the Lord, although the whole Sacred Scripture prophesied concerning Him, and predicted Him they rejected Him for this sole reason, that He taught them of the heavenly kingdom, and not concerning an earthly kingdom, for they wanted a Messiah who would exalt them above all nations in the whole world, and they did not wish any Messiah who would provide for their eternal salvation. Moreover, they say the Word contains in itself many arcana, which are called mystical, but they do not wish to know that these treat of the Lord and His Kingdom; but they do wish to know when it is said that they are concerning gold and alchemy.

That this science was not disclosed after those times, was because the Christians in the primitive church were very simple, that it could not be disclosed to them, for if disclosed, it would have been of no use to them, nor would it have been comprehended. After those times darkness arose over the entire Christian world, on account of the Papacy, which at length became Babylon, and they who are of Babel, and have confirmed themselves in its falsities, are for the most part natural, sensual men, and these are neither able nor willing to apprehend what is spiritual, thus what is the correspondence of natural things with spiritual.*

But after the Reformation, because they began to make a distinction between faith and charity, and to worship one God under three Persons, the three Gods, whom they only named one, heavenly truths were then concealed from them, lest if revealed they should falsify them and bend them to faith alone, and none of them to charity and love. If therefore the spiritual sense of the Word had then been revealed, they would have shut heaven to themselves even by the falsification of its truths.

For everyone is allowed to understand the sense of the letter of the Word in simplicity, provided he does not confirm the appearances of truth which are there, so far as to destroy genuine truth; for to interpret the Word as to its spiritual sense from falsities of doctrine, closes heaven, and does not open it; but to interpret the spiritual sense from truths of doctrine, opens heaven, because that is the sense in which the angels are, and so man by means of it thinks together with angels, and thus conjoins them to himself in his intellectual mind.

But if a man is in falsities of doctrine and wishes to explore the spiritual sense from some knowledge of correspondences, he falsifies it. It is otherwise if man is already in genuine truths; that sense agrees with truths and appears from them, because that sense is in the light of heaven. Cloud on the other hand agrees with falsities, and if anything of this truth should appear, instead of the light of heaven thick darkness would arise, for angels turn themselves away from him, and so close heaven to him. The spiritual sense of the Word is meant by the inner garment of the Lord, which was without seam, and which the soldiers were not permitted to divide; but the natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of its letter, is meant by His outer garments, which the soldiers divided. Garments in the Word signify truths, and the Lord's garments Divine truth, wherefore also the garments of the Lord, when He was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, appeared shining white, like light.

At this day the spiritual sense of the Word has been revealed from the Lord, because the doctrine of genuine truth has now been revealed, which doctrine is partly contained in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and now in the small works, which are being given to the public; and because that doctrine, and no other, agrees with the spiritual sense of the Word, therefore that sense, together with the science of correspondences, has now for the first time been disclosed. That sense is also signified by the Lord's appearing in the clouds of heaven with glory and power (Matt. 24:30, 31), in which chapter it treats of the consummation of the age, by which is meant the last time of the church.

By the cloud of heaven, there and elsewhere in the Word, is signified the Word in the letter, which there, in respect to the spiritual sense, is as a cloud. But by the glory there, as also elsewhere in the Word, is signified the Word in the spiritual sense, which also is the Divine truth in light; and by the power is signified its power in the Word. The revelation of the Word as to the spiritual sense was also promised in Revelation, where that sense is meant by the "White Horse" (Chapter 19:11 to 14), and by the great supper of God, to which all were invited and gathered together (Rev. 19:17). By many that sense will not be acknowledged for a long time. Those alone who are in the falsities of doctrine, especially in regard to the Lord, and who do not admit truths, will not acknowledge this is meant by the beast and by the kings of the earth, who make war with the one sitting upon the white horse (Rev. 19:19). By "the beast" are meant the Roman Catholics, as in Rev. 17:3, and by "the kings of the earth" are meant the Reformed who are in falsities of doctrine. The mystical things which some seek in the Word, are nothing else than the spiritual and celestial senses.

(De Verbo 7)

* [MARGINAL NOTE.] For thus they would be convinced that by Peter is not meant Peter, also that the Word even to its inmosts is Divine; and that a papal decree is of no account in comparison.

God is a Man in Actuality

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There is one God, who is the Creator of the universe and the Preserver of the universe, thus who is the God of heaven and the God of earth.

There are two things which make the life of heaven with man; the truth of faith, and the good of love. Man has this life from God, and nothing whatever of it from man; and therefore the chief thing of the church is to acknowledge God, to believe in God, and to love Him.

Those who have been born within the church ought to acknowledge the Lord, His Divine and His Human, and to believe in Him and love Him, because all salvation is of the Lord. This the Lord teaches in John:

He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth with him. (John 3:36)

This is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, may have eternal life; and I will raise him up in the last day. (John 6:40)

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he die, shall live; but everyone that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. (John 11:25, 26)

Wherefore those who within the church do not acknowledge the Lord and His Divine, cannot be conjoined with God, and thus cannot have any lot with the angels in heaven, for no one can be conjoined with God except by the Lord and in the Lord.

That no one can be conjoined with God except by the Lord, the Lord teaches in these passages:

No man hath ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:18).

Ye have never heard the voice of the Father, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

No one knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27).

I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me (John 14:6).

That no one can be conjoined with God except in the Lord, the Lord also teaches in John:

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, unless ye abide in Me; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:4-5).

That no one can be conjoined with God except in the Lord, because the Father is in Him, and They are one, as also He teaches in John:

He that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me; and ye have known My Father, and from henceforth ye have known Him; He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; Philip, 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 12:45; 14:7-11).

The Father and I are one; that ye may know, and believe, that I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John 10:30, 38).

As the Father is in the Lord, and the Father and the Lord are one, and as He must be believed in, and whoso believeth in Him hath eternal life, it is evident that the Lord is God. That the Lord is God is taught everywhere in the Word, as in these passages:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father (John 1:1, 3, 14).

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).

A virgin shall conceive, and bring forth, and His name shall be called God with us (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23).

Behold the days come when I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, who shall reign as king, and shall prosper; and this is His name whereby they shall call Him, JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15-16).

All those who are of the church, and are in light from heaven, see the Divine in the Lord, and this in His Human. But those who are not in light from heaven see nothing but the Human in the Lord, when yet the Human and the Divine in Him are so united that they are one, as the Lord taught in another passage in John:

Father, all things that are Mine are Thine, and all things that are Thine are Mine (John 17:10).

Those who in regard to the Divinity have an idea of three Persons, cannot have an idea of one God. If they say one with the mouth, they nevertheless think of three. But those who in regard to the Divinity have an idea of three in one Person, can have an idea of one God, and can say "one God," and also think "one God."

Men have the idea of three in one Person when they think that the Father is in the Lord, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Lord; and then the Trine in the Lord is the Divine Itself which is called the Father, the Divine Human which is called the Son, and the proceeding Divine which is called the Holy Spirit.

Every man has from his father his being of life, which is called his soul. The derivative manifestation [existere] of life is that which is called the body. Consequently the body is the likeness of its soul, because by means of it the soul pursues its life at its pleasure. From this it is that men are born into the likeness of their fathers, and that families are distinguished from each other. And from this it is evident what was the nature of the Lord's body or Human, namely, that it was like the Divine Itself, which was the Being of His life, or the Soul from the Father; and He therefore said:

He that seeth Me seeth the Father (John 14:9).

That the Divine and the Human of the Lord are one Person, is also in accordance with the faith received in the whole Christian world, which is to this effect: Although Christ is God and Man, nevertheless He is not two, but one Christ. Yea, He is altogether one and a single Person; for as the body and soul are one man, so also God and Man are one Christ. This is from the Athanasian Creed.

That the Lord was conceived of Jehovah the Father and thus was God from conception, is known in the church, and also that He rose again with His whole body, for He left nothing in the sepulchre. Of this He also afterward confirmed His disciples, saying, "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; feel Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have" (Luke 24:39). And although He was a man in respect to the flesh and bones, He nevertheless entered in through closed doors; and after He had manifested Himself He again became invisible (John 20:19, 26; Luke 24:31). It is different with every man, for a man rises again only as to the spirit, and not as to the body; and therefore when He said that He is not a spirit, He said that He is not like any other man. From this it is now evident that in the Lord the Human also is Divine.

Those who make the Human of the Lord like the human of any other man, do not think about His conception from the Divine Itself, nor about His resurrection with the whole body, nor about Him as seen when He was transfigured, in that His face shone as the sun. Neither do they know and apprehend that the body of everyone is a likeness or effigy of his soul, nor that the Lord is omnipresent even in respect to the Human, for from this is the belief in His omnipresence in the Holy Supper. Omnipresence is Divine (Matt. 28:20).

As all the Divine is in the Lord, He therefore has all power in the heavens and on earth, as also He Himself says in these passages:

The Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2).

All things have been delivered unto Me by the Father (Matt. 11:27).

All power hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18).

The Lord came into the world in order to save the human race, which otherwise would have perished in eternal death; and He saved it by this:

that He subjugated the hells which were infesting every man that came into the world and that went out of the world; and at the same time by this: that He glorified His Human, for in this way He can hold the hells in subjection to eternity.

The subjugation of the hells and the simultaneous glorification of His Human, were effected by means of temptations admitted into His Human, and by continual victories then. His passion on the cross was the last temptation and the full victory. That the Lord subjugated the hells, He Himself teaches in the following passages:

Jesus said, Now is My soul troubled, Father, rescue Me from this hour; but for this cause came I into the world. Father, glorify Thy name. There came forth a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Then Jesus said, Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:27, 28, 31).

Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

Who is this that cometh from Edom, marching in the multitude of his strength, great to save? Mine own arm performed salvation for Me; therefore He became their Savior (Isa. 63:1, 5, 8; also 59:16-21).

That He glorified His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation and the full victory through which He was glorified, He also teaches in these passages:

After Judas was gone out, Jesus said, Now hath the Son of man been glorified, and God shall glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him (John 13:31-32).

Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:1, 5).

Now is My soul troubled, Father, glorify Thy name; and there came forth a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again (John 12:27, 28).

Ought not the Christ to suffer this, and to enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26).

"To glorify" denotes to make Divine. From this it is now evident that unless the Lord had come into the world, and had become a Man, and had in this manner freed from hell all those who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal could have been saved. This is meant by its being said that without the Lord there is no salvation.

To love the Lord is to live according to His commandments. That this is to love the Lord, He Himself teaches in John:

If ye love Me, keep My commandments. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me. If a man love Me, he will keep My word; but he that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words (John 14:15, 21, 23, 24).

And that those are saved who receive the Lord, and believe in Him; but not those who are in evils and the derivative falsities, because these latter do not receive Him and believe in Him, He teaches in John:

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to be sons of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born, not from bloods, nor from the will of the flesh, nor from the will of man, but from God (John 1:12, 13).

"To be born from bloods, from the will of the flesh, and from the will of man," denotes to be in the evils of the love of self and of the world, and in the derivative falsities. "To be born from God" denotes to be regenerated.

When the Lord had fully glorified His Human, He then put off the human from the mother, and put on the Human from the Father; and therefore He was then no longer the son of Mary, but the Son of God, from Whom He came forth.

That there is a trine in the Lord, namely, the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the proceeding Divine, is a secret from heaven, and is for those who will be in the Holy Jerusalem.

(Arcana Coelestia 10815-10831)

Without the Lord, There is no salvation!

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Lord came into the world in order to save the human race, which otherwise would have perished in eternal death; and He saved it by this: that He subjugated the hells which were infesting every man that came into the world and that went out of the world; and at the same time by this: that He glorified His Human, for in this way He can hold the hells in subjection to eternity. The subjugation of the hells and the simultaneous glorification of His Human, were effected by means of temptations admitted into His Human, and by continual victories then. His passion on the cross was the last temptation and the full victory. That the Lord subjugated the hells, He Himself teaches in the following passages:

Jesus said, Now is My soul troubled, Father, rescue Me from this hour; but for this cause came I into the world. Father, glorify Thy name. There came forth a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Then Jesus said, Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:27, 28, 31).

Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

Who is this that cometh from Edom, marching in the multitude of his strength, great to save? Mine own arm performed salvation for Me; therefore He became their Savior (Isa. 63:1, 5, 8; also 59:16-21).

That He glorified His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation and the full victory through which He was glorified, He also teaches in these passages:

After Judas was gone out, Jesus said, Now hath the Son of man been glorified, and God shall glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him (John 13:31-32).

Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (John 17:1, 5).

Now is My soul troubled, Father, glorify Thy name; and there came forth a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again (John 12:27, 28).

Ought not the Christ to suffer this, and to enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26).

"To glorify" denotes to make Divine. From this it is now evident that unless the Lord had come into the world, and had become a Man, and had in this manner freed from hell all those who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal could have been saved. This is meant by its being said that without the Lord there is no salvation.

(Arcana Coelestia 10828)

Heaven in Ultimates

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Word in the letter consists of representatives of celestial and spiritual things, which are of heaven and the church, and therefore in the internal sense these are signified. Hence the Word of the Lord may be called as it were heaven in ultimates, for in the ultimates of heaven all things which are seen and heard are representatives of such things as angels in the higher heavens are speaking and thinking, all which bear relation to the truths of faith and to the goods of love.

That in the ultimates of heaven such things are representative, is because they who are in the ultimates of heaven do not apprehend the interior things of angelic wisdom, but only such things as represent them. It is also according to Divine order that when higher things fall down into lower, they are turned into such as are similar, and are thus presented before the external senses, thus accommodated to the apprehension of everyone.

From this it is that the Word in ultimates, that is, in the sense of the letter, is representative, and consequently significative, of celestial and spiritual things which are in the higher heavens, and is hereby presented in a form accommodated to the apprehension of men. In this way it is also of service to the heavens as a basis and foundation.

(from Arcana Coelestia 10126)

The OPENED Word

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

... as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when He had OPENED the book, He found the place where it was written ... (Luke 4:16, 17)

And a great stone was upon the well's mouth. That this signifies that the Word was closed, is evident without explication. The Word is said to be closed when it is understood solely as to the sense of the letter, and when all that is in this sense is taken for doctrine. And it is still more closed when those things are acknowledged as doctrinal things which favor the cupidities of the love of self and of the world; for these especially roll a great stone upon the mouth of the well, that is, close up the Word; and then mankind do not know, neither do they desire to know, that there is any interior sense in the Word, when yet they may see this from many passages where the sense of the letter is unfolded as to the interior sense; and also from the doctrinal things received in the church, to which by various explications they refer all the sense of the letter of the Word.

What is meant by the Word being closed may be seen especially from the Jews, who explain each and all things according to the letter, and thence believe that they are chosen in preference to all nations on the face of the earth, and that the Messiah will come to bring them into the land of Canaan and exalt them above all nations and peoples of the earth; for they are immersed in earthly corporeal loves, which are such that they altogether close up the Word as to interior things. Therefore also they do not yet know whether there is any heavenly kingdom, whether they shall live after death, what the internal man is, nor even that there is anything spiritual; still less do they know that the Messiah has come to save souls. That the Word is closed with them, may be sufficiently evident also from the fact that although they live among Christians, they do not receive the least of their doctrinal things-according to the following words in Isaiah:

Say to this people, Hearing, hear ye, and do not understand; and seeing, see ye, and do not perceive. Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes. And I said, Lord, how long? And He said, Until the cities be waste without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the ground be wasted to a solitude (Isa. 6:9-11; Matt. 13:14-15; John 12:40-41).

For insofar as a man is immersed in loves of self and of the world, and in the cupidities of these loves, so far the Word is closed to him; for these loves have self as their end, which end kindles a natural lumen, but extinguishes heavenly light, so that men sharply see the things of self and the world, but not at all those of the Lord and His kingdom; and when this is the case, they may indeed read the Word, but it is with the end of acquiring honors and riches, or for the sake of appearance, or from the love and consequent habit of it, or from piety, and yet not from a purpose of amending the life. To such persons the Word is in various ways closed; to some so much that by no means are they willing to know anything but what their doctrinal things dictate, whatever these may be.

For example: should anyone say that the power of opening and shutting heaven was not given to Peter, but to the faith of love, which faith is signified by Peter's keys, inasmuch as the love of self and of the world opposes this, they will by no means acknowledge it. And should anyone say that saints ought not to be worshiped, but the Lord alone, neither do they receive this. Or if anyone should say that by the bread and wine in the Holy Supper is meant the Lord's love toward the universal human race, and the reciprocal love of man to the Lord, this they do not believe. Or should anyone assert that faith is of no avail unless it is the good of faith, that is, charity, this they explain inversely; and so with everything else. They who are of this character cannot see one whit of the truth that is in the Word, nor are they willing to see it, but abide obstinately in their own dogma; and are not even willing to hear that there is an internal sense wherein is the sanctity and glory of the Word, and even when they are told that it is so, from their aversion thereto they loathe the bare mention of it. Thus has the Word been closed, when yet it is of such a nature as to lie open even into heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, and it is closed solely in relation to man, insofar as he is in the evils of the love of self and of the world in respect to his ends of life, and in the consequent principles of falsity. From this it is evident what is signified by a great stone being upon the well's mouth.

(Arcana Coelestia 3769)

Ends Effect the Arrangement

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The elevation of truths and of the affections of them
and their orderly arrangement in generals

The truths and the affections are elevated when the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom are set before those which belong to life in the body and to the kingdom of the world.

When a man acknowledges the former as the principal and primary, and the latter as the instrumental and secondary, then with him truths and the affections of them are elevated; for in the same proportion the man is carried away into the light of heaven, within which there are intelligence and wisdom; and in the same proportion the things which are of the light of the world become to him images and as it were mirrors in which he sees the things of the light of heaven.

The contrary happens when the man sets the things of the life of the body and of the kingdom of the world before those of eternal life and the Lord's kingdom; as when he believes that the latter have no existence because he does not see, them, and because no one has come from there and made them known; and also when he believes that if they do exist, nothing worse will happen to him than to others; and when he confirms himself in these ideas, and lives the life of the world, and utterly despises charity and faith. With such a man, truths and the affections of them are not elevated, but are either suffocated, or rejected, or perverted; for he is in natural light, into which nothing of heavenly light inflows.

From all this it is evident what is meant by the elevation of truths and of the affections of them.

As regards their orderly arrangement in generals, this is a necessary consequence; for insofar as a man sets heavenly things before worldly ones, so far are the things in his natural arranged in order according to the state of heaven, so that as before said they appear therein as images and mirrors of heavenly things, for they are corresponding representatives. It is the ends that effect the arrangement into order, that is, the Lord through the ends in the man. For there are three things that follow in order, namely, ends, causes, and effects. Ends produce causes, and through causes, effects. Such therefore as are the ends, such come forth the consequent causes, and such the consequent effects. Ends are the inmost things with man; causes are middle or mediates, and are called mediate ends; and effects are ultimates, and are called last or ultimate ends. Effects are also what are called generals.

From all this it is evident in what consists orderly arrangement in generals, namely, that when the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom are regarded as the end, all the middle ends or causes, and all the ultimate ends or effects, are arranged in order in accordance with the end itself; and this in the natural, because the effects are there; or what is the same, the generals are there.

Every man of adult age who possesses any judgment, and will give the matter any consideration, is able to know that he is in two kingdoms, namely, in a spiritual kingdom and in a natural kingdom; and also that the spiritual kingdom is interior, and the natural kingdom exterior; and consequently that he can set one before the other, that is, he can regard one as the end in preference to the other; and thus that the one which he regards as his end, or prefers, rules with him. If therefore he regards the spiritual kingdom as his end, and prefers it (that is, the things that belong to this kingdom), he then acknowledges as the principal and primary, love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, and consequently all things that confirm this love and charity, and are said to be of faith; for these belong to that kingdom; and in this case all things in his natural are arranged and set in order in accordance therewith, in order that they may be subservient and obedient.

But when a man has as his end and sets first the natural kingdom (that is, the things it contains), he then extinguishes all that is of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, and all that is of faith, insomuch that he makes them of no account whatever; but makes the love of the world and of self, and all that belongs thereto, to be everything. When this is the case, all things in his natural are arranged in order in accordance with these ends, thus in utter contrariety to the things of heaven; and in this way he makes hell in himself.

To regard as an end is to love, for every end is of the love, because whatever is loved is regarded as the end.

(from Arcana Coelestia 4104:3-5)

"What news from the earth?"

Selection from True Christian Relation ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— A Memorable Relation —

I was once taken up as to my spirit into the angelic heaven and into a society there; and some of the wise ones there came to me and asked, "What news from the earth?"

I answered, "The news is that the Lord has revealed mysteries, which in excellence surpass all the mysteries revealed from the beginning of the church even to the present time."

They asked "What are they?" I replied, "They are the following:

(i.) That in each thing and in all things in the Word there is a Spiritual Sense corresponding to the natural sense; that by means of that sense the Word conjoins the men of the church with the Lord, and also associates them with angels; and that the holiness of the Word resides in that sense.

(ii.) The Correspondences of which the spiritual sense consists are disclosed."

The angels asked, "Did not the inhabitants of the earth know about correspondences before this?"

I answered, "Nothing whatever; these have been hidden now for thousands of years, that is, since the time of Job; but among those who lived at that time and before it, the knowledge of correspondences was the knowledge of knowledges, from which they had wisdom, because thereby they had knowledge of the spiritual things pertaining to heaven and the church. But because that knowledge was changed into idolatrous ideas, it became, by the Lord's Divine Providence, so obliterated and lost that not the least sign of it remained visible. Nevertheless it is now disclosed by the Lord, in order that a conjunction of the men of the church with the Lord and their affiliation with the angels, may be effected, and this is done by means of the Word, wherein each thing and all things are correspondences."

The angels rejoiced exceedingly that it had pleased the Lord to reveal this great mystery, so deeply hidden for thousands of years; and they said that this was done in order that the Christian church, which is founded on the Word, and which is now at its end, may again revive and draw breath through heaven from the Lord. They asked whether the signification of baptism and of the holy supper, about which such different opinions have heretofore been held, is now disclosed by means of that knowledge.

I replied that it was.

(iii.) I said further that the Lord had at this time made a revelation respecting the life of men after death.

The angels said, "What about the life after death? Does not everyone know that man lives after death?"

I replied, "They know it and they do not know it. They say that man does not live after death, but only his soul, and that this lives as a spirit; and the idea they have of spirit is that it is like wind or ether; and they say that man does not live as a man until after the day of the last judgment, when the corporeal elements which he had left in the world, although eaten up by worms, mice, and fishes, would be collected together again, and again formed into a body, and that in this way men will rise again."

The angels said, "How is this? Does not everyone know that man lives a man after death, with the sole difference that he then lives a substantial man, not a material man, as before, and that the substantial man sees the substantial man, in the same way as the material man sees the material, and that men know no difference except that they are in a more perfect state."

(iv.) The angels asked, "What do they know about our world, and about heaven and hell?"

I answered, "They have known nothing; but at this day the nature of the world in which angels and spirits live, that is, the nature of heaven and of hell, has been disclosed by the Lord; also that angels and spirits are in conjunction with men, besides many wonderful things respecting them."

The angels rejoiced that it had pleased the Lord to disclose such things, so that man might no longer from ignorance be in doubt respecting his immortality.

(v.) I said further, "It has been revealed by the Lord at this time that there is in your world a sun different from that of our world; that the sun of your world is pure love, and the sun of our world pure fire; consequently all that goes forth from your sun, because it is pure love, partakes of life, while all that goes forth from our sun, because it is pure fire, partakes not at all of life; also that this is the nature of the difference between the spiritual and the natural, which difference, hitherto unknown, has also been disclosed. And all this has made clear the source of the light that enlightens the human understanding with wisdom, and of the heat which enkindles the human will with love.

(vi.) And still further, it has been disclosed that there are three degrees of life, and consequently three heavens; that the mind of man is divided into those degrees, and that man therefore corresponds to the three heavens."

The angels asked, "Did not men know this before?"

I answered that they knew about the degrees existing between more and less, but nothing about the degrees between the prior and the posterior.

(vii.) The angels asked whether anything further had been revealed.

I said that many other things had; in respect to the Last Judgment; the Lord, as being the God of heaven and earth; God, as being one both in Person and in Essence in whom is a Divine Trinity, and as being the Lord; a New Church to be established by Him; the Doctrine of that church; and the Holiness of the Sacred Scripture; that the Apocalypse had been unfolded; an account had been given of the Inhabitants of the Planets; also an account of the Earths in the Universe; with many other memorable and wonderful matters from the spiritual world, whereby much more pertaining to wisdom had been divulged from heaven.

After this I again talked with the angels, and told them that another matter still had been revealed in the world by the Lord.

They asked what.

I said, "Respecting love truly conjugial and its spiritual delights."

The angels said, "Who does not know that the delights of conjugial love surpass those of all other loves? And who cannot see that into some one love all kinds of blessedness, happiness, and delight that it is possible for the Lord to bestow may be gathered together, and that the recipient love of these is true conjugial love, since that love corresponds to the love of the Lord and the church, and is capable of receiving and perceiving a full sense of these joys?"

I replied, that men are ignorant of this, because they have not approached the Lord, and so have not shunned the lusts of the flesh, and therefore could not be regenerated; and love truly conjugial is from the Lord alone, and is given to those who are regenerated by Him; and these are they who are received into the Lord's New Church, which is meant in the Apocalypse by "the New Jerusalem."

And to this I added that I doubted whether those in the world at this day are willing to believe that this love is in itself spiritual, and therefore from religion, since they cherish a merely corporeal idea of it; and therefore are willing to believe that since it is in accord with religion, it is spiritual with the spiritual, natural with the natural, and merely carnal with adulterers.

The angels were exceedingly delighted with both of these conversations, but perceiving a sadness in me, they asked, "Why are you sad?"

I said, "Because these mysteries that are now revealed by the Lord, although they surpass in excellence and dignity all the knowledge hitherto divulged, are nevertheless regarded on the earth as of no value."

At this the angels were astonished, and besought the Lord to permit them to look down upon the world; and they looked down, and behold, mere darkness was there. And they were told to write these mysteries on paper and the paper would be let down to the earth, and they would see a strange sight. This was done, and behold, the paper on which these mysteries were written being let down from heaven, in its progress while it was still in the spiritual world shone like a star, but when it reached the natural world its light waned, and as it fell was darkened. And when it was let down by the angels into assemblies of learned and accomplished clergy and laymen a murmur of many voices was heard, in which were the words, "What is this? Is it anything? What matters it whether we know these things or not? Are they not mere progeny of the brain?" And the appearance was that some of them took the paper and folded it up and rolled and unrolled it with their fingers, and that others tore it to pieces and wished to trample it under foot. But they were withheld by the Lord from such an outrage, and the angels were directed to withdraw the paper and guard it. And because the angels were thereby saddened, and thought "How long shall this be?" it was said: For a time, and times, and half a time (Apoc. 12:14).

After this I heard a hostile murmur from the lower regions, and with it these words, "Work miracles and we will believe."

I answered, "Are not these things miracles?"

They replied, "They are not."

I asked, "What then, are miracles?"

They said, "Show and reveal future events, and we will have faith."

But I said, "Such things are not granted by the Lord, because so far as a man knows what is to come, his reason and understanding, with his prudence and wisdom sink into inertness and become torpid and collapse."

Again I asked, "What other miracles shall I work."

Then arose the cry, "Such as Moses wrought in Egypt."

And I replied, "Perhaps you would harden your hearts thereat, like Pharaoh and the Egyptians."

The answer was "No."

Again I said, "Assure me that you will not dance about a golden calf and worship it, as the posterity of Jacob did a single month after they had seen all Mount Sinai burning, and had heard Jehovah Himself speaking out of the fire, thus after the greatest of all miracles. ("A golden calf" means in the spiritual sense the pleasures of the flesh.)

An answer came from the lower regions, "We will not be like the posterity of Jacob."

At that moment I heard it said to them from heaven, "If you believe not Moses and the Prophets, that is, the Word of the Lord, you will not believe on account of miracles, any more than the posterity of Jacob did in the desert, or any more than they believed when with their own eyes they saw the miracles wrought by the Lord Himself when He was in the world."

After this I saw some persons ascending from the lower regions, from which these things had been heard; and addressing me in a grave tone, they said, "How is it that your Lord revealed the mysteries that you have just enumerated in a long series, to you who are a layman, and not to some one of the clergy?"

To this I replied, "Such was the good pleasure of the Lord, who prepared me for this office from my early youth. Nevertheless, I will ask you a question in return; Why did the Lord, when in the world, choose fishermen for His disciples, instead of some of the lawyers, scribes, priests, or rabbis? Discuss this question among yourselves, draw your conclusions from judgment, and you will discover the reason."

When they heard this, a murmur arose among them, and then they became silent.

I foresee that many who read the Memorable Relations annexed to the chapters in this work will believe them to be inventions of the imagination. But I affirm in truth that they are not inventions, but were truly seen and heard; not seen and heard in any sleeping state of mind, but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which will belong to His New Church, which is meant by "the New Jerusalem" in the Apocalypse. For this purpose He has opened the interiors of my mind or spirit, whereby I have been permitted to be in the spiritual world with angels, and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now during twenty-seven years.

Who in the Christian world could have known anything about Heaven and Hell, had it not pleased the Lord to open the sight of someone's spirit, and show and teach him? That such things as are described in the Memorable Relations do appear in the heavens is made clear by the like things seen and described by John in the Apocalypse, also in the Word of the Old Testament by the prophets.

In the Apocalypse are the following:

John saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven candlesticks; he saw in heaven the tabernacle, the temple, the ark, and the altar; he saw a book sealed with seven seals; he saw this opened, and horses going out of it; he saw four animals round about the throne; twelve thousand chosen out of each tribe; locusts ascending from the abyss a woman bringing forth a male child, and fleeing into the desert on account of the dragon; two beasts, one going up out of the sea and the other out of the earth; an angel flying in the midst of heaven having an eternal Gospel; a sea of glass mingled with fire; seven angels having the seven last plagues; bowls poured out by them on the earth, the sea, the rivers, the sun, the throne of the beast, the Euphrates, and the air; a woman sitting on a scarlet beast; the dragon cast into a lake of fire and brimstone; a white horse; a great supper; a new heaven and a new earth; the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, the gates, walls, and foundations of which he describes; also the river of the water of life, and trees of life bearing fruit every month; with many other things, all of which were seen by John, and seen when as to his spirit he was in the spiritual world and in heaven.

Add what was seen by the apostles after the Lord's resurrection, and later by Peter (Acts 11), and what was seen and heard by Paul; and still further what was seen by the prophets in the Old Testament, as by Ezekiel,

That he saw four living creatures, which were cherubs (Ezek. 1 and 10).

A new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring them (40-48).

He was carried away to Jerusalem and saw the abominations there, and also into Chaldea (8 and 11).

With Zechariah like things occurred:

He saw a man riding among myrtle trees (Zech. 1:8-11).

He saw four horns; and afterward a man with a measuring line in his hand (1 and 2).

He saw a flying roll and an ephah (5:1, 6).

He saw four chariots between two mountains, and horses (6:1-8).

Likewise with Daniel:

He saw four beasts coming up out of the sea (Dan. 7:1-8).

He saw the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, whose dominion shall not pass away, and whose kingdom shall not be destroyed (7:13, 14).

He saw the battles between the ram and the he-goat (8:1-27).

He saw the angel Gabriel, and he talked with him (9).

The servant of Elisha saw chariots and horses of fire round about Elisha, and saw them when his eyes were opened (2 Kings 6:17).

From these and many other passages in the Word it is evident that those things which exist in the spiritual world have appeared to many, both before and since the Lord's coming. What marvel, then, that they should be seen now also, when a New Church is commencing, or when the New Jerusalem is descending from heaven?

(Arcana Coelestia 846-851)