from his external parts or senses to his soul; and that the soul, being furnished with such a body, would naturally be so well acquainted with geometry, mechanics, and the mundane system, as to be able to instruct herself without a master, from the simple contemplation of the phenomena of nature and the objects of sense? Such a man would be capable of taking his station as it were in the centre; and surveying from thence the whole circumference of his system at a glance, he would be able to make himself acquainted with things present, past, and future, from a knowledge of their causes, and of their contingents given or supposed.

ON THE INTERNAL SENSE OF THE WORD

From The Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures ›

Is on every one's lips that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and consequently holy; but still it has not hitherto been known where, in the Word, the Divine is. For in the letter the Word appears like an ordinary writing, in a foreign. style, neither sublime nor lucid, as the writings of the present age apparently are. Owing to this, a person who worships nature instead of God, or more than God, and who therefore thinks from himself and his proprium, and not from heaven and from the Lord, may easily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, saying within himself when he is reading it, "What is this? What is that? Is this Divine? Can God who has infinite wisdom speak so? Where is its holiness? and whence, unless from some religious system and persuasion from it ?"

But he who thinks in this manner does not consider that Jehovah himself, who is the God of heaven and earth, spake the Word through Moses and the prophets, and that it must therefore be the Divine Truth itself; for that which Jehovah himself speaks can be nothing else. Nor does he consider that the Lord, who is the same as Jehovah, spake the Word written by the Evangelists, many things from his own mouth, and the rest from the breath of his mouth, which is the Holy Spirit. It is for this reason that he says that in his words there is life, and that he himself is the Light which enlightens. and is the Truth.

But still the natural man cannot from these considerations be persuaded that the Word is the Divine Truth itself, in which are Divine Wisdom and Divine Life; for he looks at it from its style, in which he does not see those things. Yet the style of the Word is the Divine style itself, with which no other can be compared, however sublime and excellent it may seem; for any other is like thick darkness, in comparison with light. The style of the Word is such that holiness is in every sentence, and in every word; yes, in some places in the very letters: 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, which is the same, Divine Good and Divine Truth. The Word in its essence is both of these; and because it conjoins man with the Lord and opens heaven, as was said, therefore the Word fills the man who reads it from the Lord and not from himself alone, with the good of love and truths of wisdom; his will with the good of love, and his understanding with truths of wisdom. Hence man has life through the Word.

Lest therefore man should be in doubt whether the Word is such, its internal sense has been revealed to me by the Lord, which in its essence is spiritual, and is within the external sensewhich is natural-as the soul is in the body. That sense is the spirit which gives life to the letter; it can therefore bear witness to the Divinity and sanctity of the Word, and can convince even the natural man, if he is willing to be convinced.

The Divine, proceeding from the Lord to its lowest extreme, descends by three degrees, and is named Celestial, Spiritual, and Natural. The Divine which descends from the Lord to human beings descends through these three degrees; and when it has descended, it contains those three degrees in itself. Such is the case with everything Divine; therefore when it is in its lowest degree, it is in its fullness. Such is the Word: in its lowest sense it is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in the inmost it is celestial; and in every sense it is Divine. That the Word is such, is not apparent in the sense of its letter, which is natural, for the reason that man in the world has heretofore known nothing concerning the heavens, and so has not known what the spiritual is, nor what the celestial; and consequently he has not known the difference between them and the natural.

Nor can the difference of these degrees from one another be known without a knowledge of correspondence: for the three

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degrees are wholly distinct from each other, just as the end, the cause, and the effect are; or as the prior, the posterior, and the postreme: but they make a one by correspondence; for the natural corresponds to the spiritual, and also to the celestial. What correspondence is, may be seen in the work on 'Heaven and Hell,' where the 'Correspondence of all things in Heaven with all things of Man' is treated of (n. 87-102), and the 'Correspondence of Heaven with all things of the Earth' (n. 103-115). It will also be seen from examples to be adduced below, from the Word. Whereas the Word interiorly is spiritual and celestial, it is therefore written by mere correspondences; and that which is written by mere correspondences, in its ultimate sense is written in such a style as is found in the Prophets and in its Gospels. And although this sense appears common, still it stores up within itself Divine Wisdom and all Angelic Wisdom.

HOW BY THE WORD, HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE BROUGHT INTO ASSOCIATION

THE

From the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem'

HE Word, forasmuch as it is a revelation from the Divine, is Divine in all and every particular part; for what is from the Divine cannot be otherwise. What is from the Divine

descends through the heavens even to man; wherefore in the heavens it is accommodated to the wisdom of the angels who are there, and on earth it is accommodated to the apprehension of the men who are there. Wherefore in the Word there is an internal sense which is spiritual for the angels, and an external sense which is natural for men; hence it is that the conjunction of heaven with man is effected by means of the Word.

This may be illustrated by the following experience. There were African spirits with me, from Abyssinia. Their ears were once opened to hear the singing in some temple in the world, from a Psalm of David; by which they were affected with such enjoyment that they too sang with those whom they heard. But soon the ears were closed, so that they no longer heard anything from them. But they were then affected with enjoyment still greater, because it was spiritual; and they were at the same time filled with intelligence, because that Psalm treated of the

14251 Lord and of redemption. The cause of the increasing enjoyment was, that communication was given them with the society in heaven which was in conjunction with those who were singing that Psalm in the world. From this experience and much beside, it was made manifest that by the Word, communication is given. with the universal heaven. For this reason, by the Divine Providence of the Lord, there is a universal commerce of the kingdoms of Europe (and chiefly of those where the Word is read) with the nations out of the church.

Comparison may be made with the heat and light from the sun of the world, which give vegetation to trees and shrubs, even to those which are out of its direct rays and in the shade, provided the sun has risen and shown itself in the world. So with the light and heat of heaven, from the Lord as the Sun there; which light is Divine truth, from which is all the intelligence and wisdom of angels and of men. It is therefore said concerning the Word, "that it was with God and was God; that it enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world" (John i. 1, 9); "and that the light also shineth in darkness" (verse 5).

From this it may be evident that the Word which is in the church of the Reformed, enlightens all nations and peoples by spiritual communication; also that it is provided by the Lord that there should always be on the earth a church where the Word is read, and by it the Lord is known. Wherefore, when the Word was almost rejected by the Papists, from the Lord's Divine Providence the Reformation took place, whereby the Word was again received; and also that the Word is held holy by a noble nation among the Papists.

THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL

From the Divine Providence ›

ENCE it is of the Divine Providence that every man can be saved; and they are saved who acknowledge God and live well. That every man can be saved is manifest from what has been demonstrated above. Some are of the opinion that the Lord's church is only in the Christian world, because the Lord is known there only, and the Word is only there. But still there are many who believe that the church of God is general,

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or extended and scattered throughout the whole world, therefore among those also who are ignorant of the Lord and have not the Word; saying that this is not their fault, and that they have not the means of overcoming their ignorance, and that it is contrary to God's love and mercy that some should be born for hell, when yet they are men equally with others. Now as Christians (if not all of them, still many) have the belief that the church is general, which is also called a communion, it follows that there are most general principles of the church which enter into all religions, and make that communion. That these most general principles are the acknowledgment of God and the good of life, will be seen in the following order: 1. The acknowledgment of God makes conjunction of God with man and of man with God; and the denial of God makes disjunction. 2. Every one acknowledges God and is conjoined with him according to the good of his life. 3. Good of life, or to live well, is to shun evils because they are against religion, thus against God. 4. These are the general principles of all religions, by which every one can be saved.

THE ETHICS OF SWEDENBORG

(1) THE SPIRITUAL LIFE: HOW IT IS ACQUIRED

From 'Apocalypse Explained'

PIRITUAL life is acquired solely by a life according to the com

Smandments in the Word. These commandments are given

in a summary in the Decalogue; namely, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet the goods of others. These commandments are the commandments that are to be done; for when a man does these his works are good and his life is spiritual, and for the reason that so far as a man shuns evils and hates them, so far he wills and loves goods.

For there are two opposite spheres that surround man, one from hell, the other from heaven: from hell a sphere of evil and of falsity therefrom, from heaven a sphere of good and of truth therefrom; and these spheres do [not immediately] affect the body, but they affect the minds of men; for they are spiritual spheres, and thus are affections that belong to the love. In the