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?"

2. But he who reasons thus, does not reflect that Jehovah himself, who is God of heaven and earth, spake the Word by Moses and the prophets, and that consequently, it must be divine, inasmuch as what Jehovah himself speaks can be nothing else; nor does such a one consider that the Lord, who is the same with Jehovah, spake 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. Hence it is, as he himself declares, that in his words there is life, and that he is the light which enlightens, and that he is the truth. That Jehovah himself spake the Word by the prophets, has been shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord, n. 52, 53, That the words which the Lord himself spake in the writings of the evangelists are life, is declared in John "The words that 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 to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would give thee living water.Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John iv. 6, 10, 11, 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 water is signified the truth of the Word. "Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink; he that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, 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" (John 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, and 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 him was life,

and the life was the light of men" (John i. 1, 2, 3). 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 is from the Lord, and which is the Lord, is called "A fountain of living waters" (Jerem. ii. 13; xvii. 13; xxxi. 9); "A well of salvation" (Isaiah xii. 3); “A fountain" (Zech. xiii. 1); and “A river of water of life" (Rev. xxii. 1) and it is said, that "the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them into living fountains of waters" (Rev. vii. 17). Not to mention other passages, where the Word is also called the sanctuary, and the tabernacle, wherein the Lord dwells with man.

3. The natural man, however, cannot still be persuaded to believe, that the Word is divine truth itself, in which is divine wisdom and divine life, inasmuch as he judges of it by its style, in which no such things appear. Nevertheless, the style in which the Word is written, is a truly divine style, with which no other style, however sublime and excellent it may seem, is at all comparable, for it is as darkness compared to light. The style of the Word is of such a nature that the holy is in every sentence, 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, divine - love and divine wisdom, or what is the same, divine good and divine truth; for divine good is of divine love itself, and divine truth is of divine wisdom itself: and the Word, in its essence, is both of these; and inasmuch as it conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven, as just observed, therefore the Word fills the man who reads it under the Lord's influence, and not under the influence of his proprium or self, with the good of love and the truths of wisdom; his will with the good of love, and his understanding with the truths of wisdom. Hence man has life by and through the Word.

4. Lest therefore mankind should remain any longer in doubt concerning the divinity 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; wherefore 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,

HERETOFORE UNKNOWN.

This subject we will consider in the following order: 1. What the spiritual sense is. 2. That this sense is in all and every part of the Word. 3. That it is owing to this sense that the Word is divinely inspired, and holy in every syllable. 4. That this sense has heretofore been unknown. 5. That hereafter it will be made known to none but those who are principled in genuine truths from the Lord.

5. 1. What is the spiritual sense. The spiritual sense of the Word is not that which breaks forth as light out of the literal sense, whilst a person is studying and explaining the Word, with intent to establish some particular tenet of the church this sense may be called the literal 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, which act together as cause and effect. It is this sense, principally, which renders the Word spiritual, and by which it is adapted not only to the use of men, but also of angels; whence also, by means of that sense, the Word communicates with the heavens.

6. From the Lord proceed these principles, the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural, one after another. Whatsoever proceeds from his divine love is called celestial, and is divine good; whatsoever proceeds from his divine wisdom is called spiritual, and is divine truth: the 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 principle 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 principle which proceeds from the Lord that is called spiritual, for they are in the truths of wisdom from the Lord :* but men, who compose the Lord's church on earth, are in the divine-natural, which also proceeds from

*That there are two kingdoms of which the heavens consist, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, and the other the spiritual kingdom, may be seen in the treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 20-28.

the Lord. Hence it follows, that the divine principle proceeding from the Lord, in its progress to its ultimates, descends through three degrees, and is termed celestial, spiritual, and natural. The divine principle which proceeds from the Lord and descends to men, descends through those three degrees, and when it has descended, it contains those three degrees in itself. Such is the nature of every divine principle proceeding from the Lord; wherefore, when it is in its last degree, it is in its fulness. Such is the nature and quality of the Word; in its last sense it is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in its inmost sense it is celestial; and in each sense it is divine. That the Word is of such a nature and quality, does not appear in the sense of the letter, which is natural, by reason that man has heretofore been altogether unacquainted with the state of the heavens, and consequently with the nature of the spiritual principle, and the celestial, and of course with the distinction between them and the natural principle.

7. The distinction between these degrees cannot be known, except by the knowledge of correspondence: for these three degrees are altogether distinct from each other, like end, cause, and effect, or like what is prior, posterior, and postreme, but yet make one by correspondences; for the natural degree or principle corresponds with the spiritual, and also with the celestial. The nature and meaning of correspondence may be seen more fully explained in the treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, being there digested under these two articles, 1st. Concerning the correspondence of all things in heaven with all things in man, n. 87— 102; 2dly. Concerning the correspondence of all things in heaven with all things on earth, n. 103–115: and it will be further seen below by examples adduced from the Word.

8. Inasmuch as the Word in its interior is spiritual and celestial, therefore it is written by mere correspondences, and what is written by mere correspondences, in its ultimate sense is written in such a style as that of the prophets and evangelists, which, notwithstanding its apparent commonness, contains in it all divine and angelic wisdom.

9. 2. 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 right

eousness 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 which were 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, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together 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 sat 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, and captains, and others, which they should eat. The particular signification of all these expressions in their spiritual sense may be seen explained in the small treatise on the White Horse; wherefore it is needless to repeat the explanation. In that work it is shown, that, in the passage here quoted, the Lord is described as to the Word; and that by his eyes, which were like a flame of fire, and by the crowns which he wore on his head, and by the name which no one knew but himself, are meant the spiritual sense of the Word, 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