worship makes himself and his own proprium* the centre and fountain of his thoughts, instead of deriving them from the Lord out of heaven, may easily fall into error concerning the Word, and into contempt for it, and say within himself, while he reads it, "What is the meaning of this passage? What is the meaning of that? Is it possible this should be divine? Is it possible that God, whose wisdom is infinite, should speak in this manner? Where is its sanctity, or whence can it be derived, but from superstition and credulity?"

190. But he who reasons thus, does not reflect that Jehovan the Lord, who is God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word by Moses and the prophets, and that, consequently, it must be divine truth; for what Jehovah the Lord himself speaks can be nothing else; nor does such a one consider that the Lord the Saviour, who is the same with Jehovah, spoke the Word written by the evangelists, many parts from his own mouth, and the rest from the spirit of his mouth, which is the Holy Spirit, by his twelve apostles. Hence it is, as he himself declares, that in his words there are spirit and life, and that he is the light which enlightens, and that he is the truth; as is evident from the following passages: "Jesus said, The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John vi. 63). "Jesus said to the woman at Jacob's well, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest ask of him, and he would give thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of the water which I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life" (iv. 6, 10, 14). By Jacob's well is here signified the Word, as also in Deut. xxxiii. 28; for which reason the Lord, who is the Word, sat there; and conversed with the woman; and by living water is signified the truth of the Word. "Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Whosoever believeth on me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John vii. 37, 38). "Peter said unto Jesus, Thou hast the words of eternal life" (vi. 68). "Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Mark xiii. 31). The reason why the words of the Lord are truth and life is, because he is the truth and the life, as he teaches in John: "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (xiv. 6); and in another place: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In hini was life, and the life was the light of men" (i. 1-4). By the Word is meant the Lord with respect to divine truth, in which alone there is life and light. Hence it is, that the Word, which

* By proprium, as here applied to man, is meant all that he has of himself when separated from divine influence; and we retain the Latin word, as best adapted to convey the meaning designed by the author.

is from the Lord, and which is the Lord, is called "a fountain of living waters" (Jerem. ii. 13; xvii. 13; xxxi. 9); "a fountain of salvation" (Isaiah xii. 3); "a fountain" (Zech. xiii. 1); and

a river of living waters" (Rev. xxii. 1); and it is said that "the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, feeds them at the living fountains of waters" (vii. 17); not to mention other passages, where the Word is also called THE SANCTUARY AND THE TABERNACLE, wherein the Lord dwells with man.

191. The natural man, however, cannot still be persuaded to believe that the Word is divine truth itself, in which are divine wisdom and divine life; for he judges of it by its style, in which no such things appear. Nevertheless the style, wherein the Word is written, is a truly divine style, with which no other style, however sublime and excellent it may seem, can be com pared. The style of the Word is of such a nature as to contain what is holy in every verse, in every word, and in some cases in every letter; and hence the Word conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven. There are two things which proceed from the Lord, viz., divine love and divine wisdom, or what is the same, divine good and divine truth; and the Word, in its essence, is both; and since it conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven, as was observed, therefore the Word fills man with the goods of love and the truths of wisdom, his will with the goods of love, and his understanding with the truths of wisdom hence man receives life by the Word. But it is well to be observed, that those only receive life from the Word who read it with this end and design, viz., to draw divine truths from it, as from their proper fountain, and to apply such divine truths to the regulation of their lives; and that the very reverse happens to those who read the Word with no further end and design than to procure worldly riches and reputation.

192. Where men do not know that there is a certain spiritual sense contained in the Word, as the soul in the body, they must of necessity judge of the Word only from its literal sense, when nevertheless the literal sense is like a casket containing precious jewels, which jewels themselves belong to its spiritual sense. If therefore this internal sense be unknown, mankind cannot possibly judge of the divine sanctity of the Word but as they would judge of a precious stone by the matrix which covers and contains it, and which in many cases appears like an ordinary stone; or as they would judge of diamonds, rubies, sardonixes, oriental topazes, &c., by the outward cabinet of jasper, lapis lazuli, amianthus, or agate, in which they are contained, and arranged in order. While the contents of the cabinet are unknown, it is not to be wondered at, if the cabinet itself be estimated only according to the value of the visible materials of which it is made; and this is exactly the case with the Word as to its litera. sense. Lest, however, mankind should "emain any longer in

doubt concerning the divinity and most adorable sanctity of the Word, it has pleased the Lord to reveal to me its internal sense, which in its essence is spiritual, and which is, to the external sense, which is natural, what the soul is to the body. This internal sense is the spirit which gives life to the letter; therefore this sense will evince the divinity and sanctity of the Word, and may convince even the natural man, if he is in a disposition to be convinced.

II. THAT IN THE WORD THERE IS A SPIRITUAL SENSE, HERETO

FORE UNKNOWN.

193. Who does not acknowledge and assent to the proposition, that the Word, as being divine, is in its inmost contents spiritual? But heretofore who has known what the term "spiritual" means, and where that spirituality in the Word lies concealed? The meaning however of this term spiritual will be shown in one of the MEMORABLE RELATIONS at the conclusion of this chapter; and where the spirituality in the Word lies concealed, we will now proceed to inquire. That the Word in its bosom is spiritual, is a consequence of its descending from Jehovah the Lord, and passing through the angelic heavens; in which descent the Divine itself, which in itself is ineffable and imperceptible, was made adequate to the perception of angels, and lastly to the perception of men. Hence the Word has a spiritual sense, which is within the natural sense, just as the soul is within the body, or as the thought of the understanding is within the words of speech, or as the affection of the will is within the actions to which it gives birth; and, if we may be allowed to draw comparisons from the visible things of the natural world, we may say that the spiritual sense of the Word is within the natural sense, just as the universal brain is within its meninges or matres; or as the young shoots of a tree are within their inner and outer barks; or as all the parts belonging to the generation of a young chicken are within the shell of the egg; not to mention other similar instances. But that such a spiritual sense is contained within the natural sense of the Word, has never heretofore entered into the conception of any person on earth; it is necessary therefore that this arcanum, which in itself is superior to all that were ever before discovered, should be fully opened to the understanding, as will be best effected by considering it according to the following arrangement:-I. What the spiritual sense is. II. That this sense is in all and every part of the Word. III. That it is owing to this sense that the Word is divinely inspired, and holy in every syllable. IV. That this sense has heretofore been unknown. V. That hereafter it will be made known only to those who are in genuine truths from the Lord. VI. A relation of some wonderful phe nomena resulting from the spiritual sense of the Word. We will now proceed to a particular explanation of each article.

194. I. What the spiritual sense is.

The spiritual sense of the Word is not that which breaks forth as light out of the literal sense while a person is studying and explaining the Word, with a view to establish some partic ular tenet of the church; for this sense may be called the literal and ecclesiastical sense of the Word; but the spiritual sense does not appear in the literal sense, being within it, as the soul is in the body, or as the thought of the understanding is in the eye, or as the affection of love is in the countenance. It is this sense, principally, which renders the Word spiritual, and thus it is adapted to the use not only of men, but also of angels; whence also, by means of that sense, the Word communicates with the heavens. Since the Word is inwardly spiritual, therefore it is written by mere correspondences; and what is written by correspondences exhibits, in its last or ultimate sense, such a style as we meet with in the prophets, the evangelists, and the Revelation, which, although it appears ordinary, is nevertheless the repository of all divine and angelic wisdom. What is meant by correspondence, may be seen in the treatise concerning HEAVEN AND HELL, published at London in the year 1758, which treats on the correspondence of all things in heaven with all things in man, n. 87-102; and on the correspondence of all things in heaven with all things on earth, n. 103-115; and it will be further shown by examples from the Word, which wil be adduced presently.

195. From the Lord proceed THE DIVINE-CELESTIAL, THE DIVINE-SPIRITUAL, and THE DIVINE-NATURAL, one after another. Whatever proceeds from his divine love is called THE DIVINECELESTIAL, all which is good; whatever proceeds from his divine wisdom is called THE DIVINE SPIRITUAL, all which is truth. THE DIVINE-NATURAL partakes of both, and is their complex in ultimates. The angels of the celestial kingdom, who compose the third or highest heaven, are in that divine which proceeds from the Lord that is called celestial, for they are in the good of love from the Lord; the angels of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, who compose the second or middle heaven, are in that divine which proceeds from the Lord that is called spiritual, for they are in divine wisdom from the Lord; the angels of the Lord's natural kingdom, who compose the first or lowest heaven, are in that divine which proceeds froin the Lord that is called divine-natural, and are in the faith of charity from the Lord; but the members of the church on earth are in one or other of these kingdoms, according to their love, wisdom, and faith; and in whichever they are, to the same they are admitted after death. As heaven is, such also is the Word of the Lord; in its last sense it is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in its inmost sense it is celestial, and in all its senses it is divine; therefore it is accommodated to the angels of the three heavens, and also to men.

196. II. That the spiritual sense is in all and every part of the Word.

This cannot be better seen than by examples; as for instance, John says in the Revelation, "I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but, he himself; and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great" (xix. 11-18). What these words signify, cannot possibly be known but from the spiritual sense of the Word; and the spiritual sense of the Word cannot possibly be known but from the science of correspondences; for all the above words are correspondences, and there is not one without a meaning. The science of correspondences teaches what is signified by a white horse, what by him that sits upon him, what by his eyes which were as a flame of fire, what by the crowns which he wore on his head, what by his vesture dipped in blood, what by white linen with which the armies that followed him in heaven were clothed, what by the angel standing in the sun, what by the great supper to which they should come and gather themselves, what by the flesh of kings, captains, and others, which they should eat. The particular signification of all these expressions in their spiritual sense may be seen explained in the work entitled the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, from n. 820-838; and likewise in the small treatise on the WHITE HORSE; therefore it is needless to repeat the explanation. In those books it is shown, that in the passage here quoted the Lord is described as to the Word; that by his eyes, which were like a flame of fire, is meant the divine wisdom of his divine love; by the crowns which he wore on his head, and by the name which no one knew but himself, are meant the divine truths of the Word derived from him, and that no one knows what the Word is, in its spiritual sense, except the Lord, and those to whom he reveals it; also, that by his vesture dipped in blood is meant the natural sense of the Word, which is its literal sense, to which violence has been offered. That it is the Word which is thus described, is very evident from its being said, his name is called the Word of God;