new jerusalem church what the writings testify concerning themselves brynathyn 1961

8/14/2019 New Jerusalem Church WHAT THE WRITINGS TESTIFY CONCERNING THEMSELVES BrynAthyn 1961

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What the WritingsTestify Concerning ThemseLves

A Compilation of Teachingsfrom the Theological Writings

of Emanuel Swedenborg

General Church Publication CommitteeBryn Athyn, Pennsylvania

1961


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"And it came to pass, when Jesushad ended these sayings, the people wereastonished at His doctrine. For He taughtthem as one having authority, and not asthe scribes." Matthew 7:28, 29


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What the Writings TestifyConcerning Themselves

The following extracts from the theologicalWritings of Emanuel Swedenborg are mostlyselections used by the late Rev. C. Th. dhnerin the pamphlet, "Swedenborg's Testimony concerning His Writings", which was published in1902 and revised by a committee of three editorsin 1920.

The object in the present compilation is topresent, simply and clearly, those teachings whichmost directly describe the nature of the revelations given through Swedenborg, who subscribedhimself "the Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ".

The passages quoted in the body of the textare taken from the theological works written bySwedenborg after 1748. Two excerpts from the"Documents" have also been used. Repetition hasbeen avoided when possible, but sorne statementshave been used again under different headings.Headings, foot-notes, and sorne revisions of thetranslation. have been supplied by the compilerwho has also appended sorne NOTES to define the

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relation of the internaI sense to the sense of theletter of the Word, and to describe certain statesby which Swedenborg was prepared for his office.

It is obvious that no selection of extracts canpresent the complete doctrine. The full meaningof any one passage can be gained only when it isread in its context. And the real testimQIlY to theivine origin and authQrity of the Writing.s isthe c1arity and power of their dock,inaJ message.( The doctrine of the New Church, "by truths from) the sense of the letter of the Word and at thesam.e time by rational things from natural light" ,'YUI convince even the natural man "if he is( willing to be convinced". (AR 544, compare SS 4)-

Hugo Lj. dhnerBryn AthynPennsylvaniaDecember 1, 1960

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1 Swedenborg received the Doctrineof the New Church from the mouthof the Lord alone.

" . . . That the Lo@ m a n i ~ e d H i m s e l f . . . b e f ~ e ~ I D u e C ' c i ~ t , and sent me to this office, andtht He afterwards opened the sight of my spirit,and so has introduced me into the spiritual world,and has granted me to behold the heavens and thehells and to converse with angels and spirits, andthis now uninterruptedly for many years, l testifyin truth; likewise, that from the first day of thatcall ! have not received anything that pertains tothe doctrines of the Ne hurch from any angel,Qut from the Lord alone, while 1 read t e or ."

---.. True Christian Religion 779"Every one can see that the Apocalypse could

never have been explained except by the Lordalone, for the several words there contain arcanawhich could never be known without a singularillustration and thus revelation; wherefore ij;leased the Lordand to teach. Do not believe, therefore, that 1have taken anything herein from myself, or from3


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any angel, but f ~ e - , L o r d _ a l 2 . U e . The Lordalso said by the angel to John, 'Seal not the wordsof the prophecy of this book', by which is meantthat they are to be manifested."

The Apocalypse Revealed, Preface

"1 have had discourse with spirits and withangels now for many years; but neither has aspirit dared, nor any angel wished, to tell meanything, still less to instruct, concerning any-thing in the Word, or concerning any doctrinefrom the Word; but t e Lord alone has taught

u Who has been revealed 0 me an .as n-19htened me."Divine Providence 135

" I t has been given me to see [the light ofheaven], and from it to perceive distinctly whathas come from the Lord, and what from theangels. What has come from the Lord has beenwritten, and what has come from angels has notbeen written." The Apocalypse Explained 1183

"The things which l have learned in repre-sentations, visions, and from speech with spiritsand angels are solely from the Lord.... Thus lhave been instructed, consequently by no spirit,4


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nor angel, but bl the Lord aloue from Whom iseverything true ana good.... " .

Spiritual Diary 1647" . . . I t was evident that even the things which1 have learned through evil spirits 1 have learned

from the Lord alone, although the spirits spoke. . .". - Spiritual Diary 4034"As regards myself, it has not been allowedto take any thing from the mouth of any spirit,

nor from the mouth of any angel, but from themouth of the Lor,1LalQne." De Verbo XIII (29)

"In order that the true Christian religionmight be disclosed, it could not he otherwise thanthat some one should he introduced into the spirit-ual world, and from the m o u t . h , o L t h ~ derivethe genuine truths out of the Word."

Invitation to the New Church 38

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Swedenborg ascribed his theo2 logical Writings to the Lord."The Books which were written by the Lord

by means of me ({CD-!Wkino-per_?lJ;i) ' from thebeginning to the present day, should be enumerated." * Ecclesiastical History 3

"A certain Anglican bishop told how he especially had insulted the five works concerningheaven and heIl and the rest which had beenpresented to aIl [the bishopsJ and to aIl the Prot-estant lords in the Parliament, vituperating andblaspheming them... Then it was told him thatthe work iUQ_t..mine but the Lord's, who desiredto reveal the nature of heaven and hell and thequality of the life of man after death and concerning the last judgment. . . And 1 also told himthat ~ e l & t i o J J . J is the m a l e - c h i l i l . . . w . h o ~ t b e .21P-an brought forth and whom the dragonwished to devour... " [Rev. 12J

Spiritual Diary 6101:2

* Recenseantur - reviewed, enumerated.6


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"That our Savior has . y . i s i b 1 ~ ~ e a l e d Himselfbefore me and commanded [me] to do what lhave done and what is yet to be done, and that

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e thereupon allowed me to come into communion[samtal] vdih..angels and spirits, l have declaredbefore the whole of Christendom.... That [theChancellery of Justice now] relates that they stillcannot believe it, l cannot take amiss, since l cannot put my state of sight and speech into the headsof others and so convince them, nor can l causeangels and spirits to talk with them; nor is itpermitted that miracles should occur nowadays,but reason itself shall find it [true] when withrefiection they read my writings in which muchis found such as never before has been discoverednor can be discovered without actual sight andconversation with those who are in the spiritualworId . . . If there should he anx further doubt, l amready to testify with the most salemn oath that( max be reguired of me. that ibis 1s [the] truth,c..Q..mplete and actual, without the least fallacy.I'UlM Qur Savior causes Ihis to happeu to me isnot at aIl fo r my sake, but from an urgency wliichconcerns the e t ~ W i i i ' e j f ' U " e of aiiChristii"ns. . . "- Swedenborg's letter to the king, May 25,-1770 11 Docu. 245 X. Compare AR 962. and Docu. 252 E.

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"Read, if you please, the things which havebeen written in the latest published work, called"The True Christian Religion", concerning thearcana disclosed W b . ~ His 'ser-vant... and afterwards draw a conclusion, butfrom reason, concerning my Revelation."

Swedenborg's letter to Cuno in 1770 *

Swedenborg enjoyed acomplete Divine inspiration.

"The Lord -fehovah derives and produces fromthis New Heaven . ~ Church on the earth,which is done by ~ . $ v e l a t i o n oLTruths f r o m ~ l I i s own mouth or from His Word, and by Inspiration:-- Coronis 18

". . . When 1 think of what 1 am about to write,and while 1 am writing, 1 enjoy a complete (full-komlig) inspiration, for otherwise it would be my............. ~ own; but now 1 know for certain that what 1 write... .........-OC"t ........... y .. . .-.is the living trutn of God."

Swedenborg's testimony as reported by Gjorwell, Doc. II, p. 404

* New Church Life, 1912, page 197.8


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" . . . That the internaI sense is such as has beenset forth is plain from the singular things whichhave been explained, and especially from this, thatthis has been dictated to me* o u L o L h e ~ n . "

Arcana Coelestia 6597"T.he..llecond coming of the Lord is effected bymeans f a man bef6re whom He has mamfS'fed'rTimself in ~ s o n : andwliom He has fil1d Wlth

His Spirit to teach the doctrines of the NewChurch through the Word from Him."True Christian Religion 779, heading

"That at this daX there exists such immediaterevelation, is because this is meant by the Adventof the Lord."..... - Heaven and HeU l

"Tt has pleased.the Lord t!Lprel2.are meIDS. wlies.LXQJ,lth to perceive the Ward, ~ Hehas introduced me inta the spiritual world, andhas enlightened me with the light af His Wordmore proximately. From this it is manifest thatt h ~ r . p , a s s e s ~ miracles..."Invitation to the New Church 55If, "In place of miracles, there has, at thistaken placejLmanifestatian of the.LQt.dJliru.'>"ij-* See the foUowing article, page 10.

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alJ....UU;l;Qmission..into the spiritual world, and enlightenment there through immedite liR'ht fromthe Lor.d, in such things as are the interior t of te church; but chiefly, the opening of thespiritual sense in the Word, in which the Lord is\ in His own Divine lght." Coronis: Miracles IV

"That this (New] Church is not instituted andestablished through miracles, but through there.velation of th.e spiritual sense, and t h ~ u g h theintroduction of my ,,Pirit, and at the. sme timeof JBY body, into the spiritual "";or!9-, so that l1ight know there what heaven and hell are, andin light might imbibe immediately from the Lord_ __. . . . . ~ nrthe truths of faith whereby man is led to eternallife." Invitation to the New Church, VII

The inspiration of Swedenborg differed4 widely from that of the prophets. *"... I t is given me to behold the marvels of

heaven, to be together with the angels as one ofthem, and at the same time draw forth truths inlight, and thus to p ~ r c e i y e and teach them i consequentlv to be led by the..Lg,rd."Invitation to the New Church 52* See the NOTES, pages 6467.

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l "The Most Ancient Church had immediatelrevelation from the Lord by consort with spiritsfand angels and by visions and dreams, wherebyit was given them to have a general knowledgeof what is good and true; and after they had[this], then these general principles were con-firmed by innumerable things through percep-tions..." Arcana Coelestia 597 **

"1 have been told how the Lord spoke with theprophets, through whom the Word was given. Hedid not speak to them as with the ancients, by aninflux into their interiors, but through spirits whowere sent to them, whom the Lord infilled withHis aspect, and thus inspired the words whichthey dictated ta the prophets. . . The spirits them-selves even called themselves Jehovah..."

Heaven and HeU 254

"AlI revelation [is] either from speech withangels through whom the Lord speaks, or fromperception... It is to be known that they whoare in good and thence in truth, and especialIythose who are in the good of love to the Lord, haverevelation from perception; whereas they who arenot in good and thence in truth, can indeed have** Compare AC 2896 and Inv. 52.

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revelations, yet not from perception,but by a liv-ing voice heard in them, and thus by angels fromthe Lord. This revelation is external, but theformer is internaI. Angels, especially the celestial,have revelation from perception, as also had themen of the Most Ancient Church, and some alsoof the Ancient Church, but scarce any one has atthis day; whereas very many, even those whohave not been in good, have had revelations fromspeech without perception, and also by visions anddreams. Such were most of the revelations of theprophets in the Jewish Church. They heard a voice,they saw a vision, and they dreamed a dream;but as they had no perception, they were merelyverbal or visual revelations without perception ofwhat they signified. For genuine Dgentio.n.;omesthrough heaven from the Lord, and affects theunderstanding spiritually, and leads it perceptive-ly to think as the thing really is, with an internaIassent, the source of which it is ignorant of. Itsupposes that it is in itself, and that it fiows fromthe connection of things; whereas it is a dictatethrough heaven from the Lord, infiowing into theinteriors of the thought, concerning such thingsas are above the natural and sensual, that is, con-cerning such things as are of the spiritual worldor of heaven." Arcana Coelestia 5121

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"The prophets of the ld Testament... didnot have their understanding enlightened, but thewords which they were to say or write they re-ceived merely by the hearing, and did not evenunderstand their interior sense, still less theirspiritual sense." Apocalypse Explained 624:15

"The prophets through whom the Word waswritten... wrote as the spirit from the Divine,dictated, for the very words which they wrotewere uttered in their ears. With them was thetruth which proceeds mediately from the Divine,that is, through heaven, but not the truth whichproceeds immediately; for they had not a percep-tion of what each thing signified..."

Arcana CoelesLia 7055:3 '""That the things which l learned from repre-sentations, visions, and discourses with spirits

and angels were from the Lord alone.. -"Whenever there was any representation,vision, and discourse, l was kept interiorly andintimately in refiection upon it, as to what thencewas useful and good, thus what l might learntherefrom; which refiection was not thus attendedto by those who presented the representations andvisions, and who spoke; yea, sometimes they were'" Compare AC 5121:3.

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indignant when they found that I was reflecting.Thus have I been instructed; consequently by nospirit, nor by any angel, but by the Lord alone,from Whom is all truth and good; yea, when theywished to instruct me concerning various things,there was scarcely anything but what was false:wherefore I was prohibited from believing any-thing that they said; nor was I permitted to inferany such thing as was proper to them. Besides,when they wished to persuade me, I perceived an \interior or intimate persuasion that the thingwas so and so, and not as they wished; which theyalso wondered at. The perception was manifest,but cannot easily be described to the apprehensionof men. -1748, March 22." Spiritual Diary 1647

The Doctrine of the New Jerusalemis the same a s ~ t h e Internal Sense ofthe Word. 7 > . . ~ ~ s .........", -P-o


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New Jerusalem, was seen to descend from Godout of heaven. But I will proceed to the Doctrineitself which is for the New Church; which, because it is revealed to me out of heaven, is calledThe Heavenly Doctrine. . ."

New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 7

". . . I t has nQw pleased the Lord to revealmany arcana of heaven, especially the internalor-;?re> sJ ...:.-.. 5r.:;r::. -4 Co- ~ , r_ -"That t h e c p i r i t ~ ~ e n s e ,of the Word 'is at -to 0-this ~ a tdiscloseq by the L ~ d , is because thewe Q f ~ e u u i n e - ~ ~ o ~ & . ~ d , and thisdoctrine-;-an1l-no-other, agrees with the(SPIrifiialsellSe''Of the Word."- - - - - - Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture 25

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- - - - -

"The Divine truth in the Word and its qualityare described by the 'cherubs' in Ezekiel i, ix, andx; and as no one can know what is signified by theparticulars in their description but one to whomt h ~ ~ r i t u a l s ~ ) h a s been opened, it has for that.reason-been disclosed to me what is signified, inbrief, by all the things which are told concerningthe cherubs in the first chapter of Ezekiel. . .These summaries have also been collated with theWord in heaven, and are in conformity with it."

' - , . I . J ' " '" Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture 97:5vy (> ~ l 7 \ '-'-' 1"'..0 tS .. $ S.e.-c........."At this day le spiritual s of theWord has been r e v ~ e a o n l 1 e - L o r d , because

the doctrine of genuine truth has now beenrevealed, which doctrine is partly contained inThe Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and now inthe small works which are being given to thepublic; and because that doctrine and no otheragrees w i t h ~ spiritual sense ofJhe W Q i - C t ~ t h e r e -fore that s e n s e ~ together'"'with the science of~ o r r e s p o n d e n c e s , ~ ' h a s now forfu-eflrst time been( disclosed. . . By many that sense will not beacknowledged for a long time." De Verbo VII (21)

"The truth of the internal se --. . of the Wordis the same thing (idemr as he genuine trutIDofthe Doctrine of faith of the C urch."

Arcana Coelestia 903416

C- e f"\A.A--' ~ " " .


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0 11'"""o.? c; .-a---s.-.

"This explanation of that chapter CZech. 4Jas given me .by the Lord through heaven'"

Apocalypse Revealed 43e"From this Doctrine, also{the internal s e ~ ~

of the Word is known, since the fnternalS;meof the Word isC!.he Doetrme ItSclf of love to theLord and charity towards the neighbor. . ."

Arcana Coelestia 9409:3"It is to be known that the internal sens?)of

the Word contains t h e ~ u i n e doctri""Iie) or-thechurch." - -Arcana -Coe1estia 9424:3"TIlt Doctrine of faith)is the same thing as

the understanding of fleWord as to its interiorsor its internal sense." Arcana Coelestia 2762:2-"The internal sense'is itself the genuine doc '.-rine ..of the church... They who understand theWorq .according to the I ~ r n a l sense, know thetrue Doctrine itself of the C I i u r c h ~ b e c a u s e the internal sense contains it'(AC 9025, 9430, 10401)."

. ..::: White H!>rse 11 l fr- 0. . ' n I f ' - - ->-- l 'Y a s jJz;--.Y--"Those who remainl in the literal senseof the 8 f :Word alone and do not gather anything doctrinal thence, ... are separate from the internal sens-e ;" "'J""

for the internal sense is the doctrinal itself."Arcana Coelestia 9380

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"Th'-Doctrine itself the1nternal sense teach_ . - . - -- ' ----- - - es, and he who knows this Doctrine, has the in

ternal sense of the Word." Arcana Coelestia 10276"The Doctrine which should be for a lamp is

that which thGnternal s e n s ~ teaches, thus it isthe internal s e n ~ e itseff,- w h i ~ h in sQme measurelies open to everyone . . . whoseClnternal mallis open..." Arcana Coelestia 10400:3

"The internal sense is not only that sense\ which lies concealed in the external sense . '. . butJ is also that which I:B.s.ults...-from...a.n!illlb.e.r_Qf-Pa.s\ sages rightly collated, and which is discerned byt those who are enlightened by the Lord as to theirintellectual. . ." Arcana Coelestia 7233:3

". . . The literal sense of the Word is for manwhile he is in thlworld,)whereas the internalsense is for man whelrhe comes i n t c : ( ~ ~ v e n ; ' : B f i t it is to -bekDOwn that man while in the world isat the same time in the internal sense of the Wordwhen he is in the genuine doctrine of the churchas to faith and as to life; for through that doctrinethe internal sense of the Word is then inscribedboth on his understanding and on his will. . ."



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"That the Word in the sense of the letter issignified by a "wall" (Rev. 21 :12), appears clear-ly from the things which follow in this chapterwhich treats much of the wall, its gates, founda-tions, and measurement. The reason is becausethe Doctrine of the New Church, which is meantby 'the city', is solely (unice) out of the senseof the letter of the Word," Apocalypse Revealed 898

" 'And the wall of the city had twelve founda-tions' signifies that the Word in the sense of the( l e t t e ~ ) c o n t a i n s all things of the(doctrine of theNew Church." Apocalypse Revealed 902 *

"The true Doctrine of the Church is what ishere called the internal sense; for in the internalsense there are such truths as are with the angelsof heaven." Arcana Coelestia 9025

" I t is said in the Apocalypse, 'a new heavenand a new earth', and afterwards, 'Behold, I makeall things new'; by which nothing else is meantthan that in the church now to be established bythe Lord there will be a New Doctrine which wasnot in the former church.... This same doctrinewas indeed before given in the Word; but becausethe church not long after its first establishment


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from the spiritual, but is an explanation in a sensemerely natural, in which a spiritual sense is concealed, and this sense must be unfolded; and it isunfolded when it is explained what is signified...". . . The angel did not explain the vision in anatural sense from the spiritual, because the explanation also makes the Word in the letter; andthe Word in the letter must be natural, in thedetails of which a spiritual sense must be hidden.Otherwise the Word would not serve t as a aSIS nor [wou I serve e church for itsconJunc Ion WI " eavenJ-H-enee-tt is that alsoe'iSewhere m the Word, as in David and the restof the prophets where angels explain visions, theyexplain them in a sense merely natural, and notat all in a natural sense from the spiritual. 'Ihenatural sene from the spiritual is here (hie)when it is explained what "the seven mountains",then what "the seven kings", and what the other{ things si&Wfy; namely, that 'mountains' signifythe goods of the Word, and 'seven mountains' thoseprofaned; and that 'kings' signify the truths ofthe Word, and 'seven kings' those profaned. Thisis the natural sense from the spiritual, which iscalled the internal sense, as also the spiritualnatural sense." Apocalypse Explained 1061

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"As to what especially concerns the Doctrinewhich now follows, this also is from Heaven, be-cause it is from the spiritual sense of the Word,and the spiritual sense of the Word is the samewith the Doctrine which is in Heaven. . . But I willproceed to the Doctrine itself, whicb is for theNew Church i which. because it h a been revealedto me out of Heaven, is called Heavenly Doctrine;for to give this Doctrine is the purpose of thiswork." Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 7

"ARCANA COELESTIA (Heavenly Secrets) whichare discovered (detecta) in the Sacred Scriptureor Word of the Lord, are contained in the Explica-tion which is th;Internal Sense of the Word. . . ."Subtitle of Arcana Coelestia

"The ApOCALYPSE EXPLAINED according to theSpiritual Sense, wherein are revealed arcanawhich are there predicted and have hitherto beenhidden." Title of Apocalypse Explained

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... t;::. - .A J "j -rJ--. W..-vI\ ( ~ ' O D )


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) ~ ~ { ! "'-> Ii


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8 p l ! i t ~ s ~ . . . . J o f thethe Lord, is because

{,\!,. .. . l . # ! t : - " ' ~ - t : l U . U u t : ~ J q : u t nhas now beenrevealed, whicn Doctrine is contained in TheDoctrine of the New Jerusalem, and now in the[other] little works which are being given to thepublic; and because that Doctrine, and no other,agrees with the spiritual sense of the Word,therefore that sense, together with the science ofcorrespondence, has now for the first time beendisclosed. This sense also is signified by the ap-pearance of the Lord in the clouds of heaven withIglory and power, Matthew 24 :30, 31. . . "

De Verbo VII:7 (21)

"The arcana of the internal sense are nowrevealed, because there is scarcely any faith, sincethere is no charity; thus because it is the con-s u m m a t i o n of the age; and when this is so theycan be revealed without danger of profanation,, because they are not interiorly acknowledged."

Arcana C6elestia 3398:4

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the Decalogue (Amsterdam, 1763); for by theDoctrine all the truths of Doctrine are meant,because the Doctrine is their complex...."Apocalypse Revealed 543

The Internal Sense is the Word Itself."That the internal sense is the Word itself,is manifest from the many things which havebeen revealed..." Arcana Coelestia 1540 *". . . Because the case is thus in regard to theWord, viz., that its internal sense has become suc

cessively obliterated, and this at the present dayto such an extent that its very existence is unknown, - when yet this is the verimost W ~ (W...,issirnurn V e r ~ ' ! W ! ' ) in which the Divine is mostclosely present,- therefore the successive statesin respect to it are described in this chapter."

Arcana Coelestia 3432H Th.e-Lord is Doctrine itself, that is, the-3 -Word, not only as to the supreme sense therein,- -----..,,but also as to the internal'-sense, and also as to

the literal s e n s e . ~ . ." Arcana Coelestia 3393" Sce NOTES, page 6l .

.... 26 ~ " ' - /;:;;.. _O Y > ~


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- I '( vv/J""d /, ( >.; 00 ) r re;- 1';-----: A - C - ~ - t - . t;:lr-


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\ A ! " j ' \ . , ( ~ O ~ " < , ) 1f Iv w - - " : " { f ~ I t:...4- r.f( ~ I f ~ ' 5 )9

Every Divine revelation isthe Word of the Lord.

"In John we read: 'In the beginning was theWord, and the Word was with God, and God wasthe Word' ... Few know what is here meant by 'the Word': That it is the Lord is evident fromthe particulars involved. And the internal senseteaches that the Lord as to the Divine Human is) ~ n by the Wo.rd-:for it is said that the Word\was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. And because the Divine Human is~ therefore by 'the WQJ"_d'-l u n d e r s t ~ l Divine truth which is concerning Him and from) --im in his kingdom in the heavens and in Hisc h u r ~ I L ~ h . Hence it is said that in Him waslife, and the life was the light of men, and thelight appeared in the d,arkness. And because truth)is meant, therefore by the Word is meant everyRevelation, thus also-the-Wordftseif or the HOlyScripture." Arcana Coelestia 2894

"Divine doctrine is Divine truth, and all Divinetruth is the Word of the Lord (Divinu1n Veru1nest omne Verbum Domini). The Divine doctrineitself is the Word in the supreme sense, in whichit treats of the Lord alone; thence the Divine Doc

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, . . . - l 7 ' - t At. .S f " ' r ~ ~ /1...'"t'"O>... I::: J f'A" ....J'" ( j J f c : : ~ . ' ~ trine is the Word in the internal sense, in whichit treats of the Lord's kingdom in the heavens andthe earths; Divine doctrine is also the Word in theliteral sense, in which it treats of the things whichare in the world and on the earth ... For it isknown that the Lord is the Word, that is, allDivine truth..." Arcana Coelestia S712~ l "As regards the Word, the case is this: In themost ancient time, when there was a ~ l e s t ! i l church, there was not a Word, for the men or thatchurch had the Word inscribed' upon tneir hearts.

For the Lord taught them i m m e d ~ t e l y throughheaven what was good and thence what was true,\and He gave them both to perceive from love andcharity and to know from revelation. To themthe Lord was the Word itself. After this churchanother succeeded which was not c'elestial, butspirituaL This, in the beginning, had no other

oiathan what had been collected from (ab) themost ancient [people]. This was representativeof the Lord as well as significative of His king-dom; thus to them the internal sense was theWord itself. That they also had a written Word,


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H And the Lord is Doctrine itself, that is,the Word, not only as to the S I , l J ? ! " ~ I n e sense there,but also as to the i n t ~ ! : - I ) a l sense, yea, even as tothe literal sense. . . " Arcana Coelestia 3393

H @ - D ~ ; t r u t ~ in general is called 'theJ\Word', and the Lord Himself, from Whom is allDivine truth, is the Word in a supreme sense. . ." .Arcana Coelestia 5075

H In regard to 'this word' (Gen. 41 :28),a thing (res) is called 'a word' in the originaltongue; thence also a Divine revelation is calledthe Word, and even, in the supreme sense, theLord. And by the Word, when it is predicatedof the Lord and also of a revelation from (ab)Him, in the proximate sense is meant the Divinetruth from which all things that are things (res)have their existence..." Arcana Coelestia 5272

" 'And God spake all these words, saying,' thatthis means Divine truths fo r those in heaven andon earth, appears from the signification of'the words which God spake,' as meaning Divinetruths, for the things which God speaks are noth-ing but truths. Hence also the Divine truth iscalled the Word, and the Word is the Lord. . . . "



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" . . . The Divine truth is the Lord Himself inheaven. For what proceeds from Him is He Him-self; from the Divine nothing else can proceedthan the Divine, and the Divine is one . . . "

Arcana Coelestia 10646"Because the Lord is the Word, He is alsoDoctrine. For there is no other Doctrine which is

itself Divine ... " Arcana Coelestia 2533:3"From love toward the human race the Lordhas made such revelations as will ... conduce to

man's salvation. What the Divine has revealed, iswith us the W o r d ~ Arcana Coelestia 10320

There have been successive Divine10 (revelations, of which the Writingsa re the Iast and most excellent."

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-," A ~ _ t ~ the W o r ~ , : . . it has existed at all times,

but not the Word which we have at this day. Therewas another Word in the Most Ancient Church/' which was before the Flood; another Word in the


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" ... When the end of a church is at hand,then the interiors of the Word, of the church, andof worship, are revealed and taught. The reason isthat the good may be separated from the evil, forthe interiors,Jjf the Word. of the chm:ch. .and.Qf( worship, which are celestial and spiritual, a ~

I ceived tiY...t.ru


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lik&l the successive states of a man who is reformedand regenerated; namely, that he may become aspiritual man, he is at first conceived, then born,then grows up, and afterwards iilid-further andfurthe:c into intelligence and wisWn. The church,-from most ancient times even to the end of theJewish church, increased as a man who is con-ceived, is born, and grows up, and is then instructed and taught. But the sUCCfAAiye states of thec t w ~ h after the end of the Jewish Church, orfrom the time of the Lord even to the present day,have been like a man who grows.jn intelligence;;nd wisdom, or is regenerated. For this purposethe interior things of the Word, of the church, andof worship, were revealed by the Lord when _He,was in the world; and now a g , a . i n - ~ ~ r e ~ ; and so far as interior things are r e v e ~ l e d , so far man can become wiser, for to becomeinterior is to grow wiser, and to grow wiser isto become interior." Apocmypse ['xplamed 64i

t"At the end of a church, when there is no faith

because no charity, the interior things of the Wordare manifested, which are to be of service to thenew church for doctrine and life. This ';;'s d;;;;eby the Lord Himself when the end of the JewishChurch was at hand. The Lord Himself then cameinto the world, and opened the interiors of the34


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Word, especially the things concerning Himself,concerning love to Him and love towards theneighbor, and concerning faith in Him, whichthings formerly had lain hidden in the interiorsof the Word ... These....b:.llths wm:e interiort m t h s . . a n < L i n . . t h e m S e I Y ~ S spirity.al, which after-wards were to serve the new church for doctrineand life . . . But still, these things were not \received at once, but after a considerable courseof time, as is known from ecclesiastical history.The reason was that they could not be received

-until all things in the spiritual world had beenreduced into order . . ."A similar thing occurred when the MostAncient Church, which was before the Flood, came

to its end. The representatives of the celestialthings which had been among the most ancients,were then collected into a o Q)[ those who wetecalled Enoch, and were preserved for the use of'c e new church after the Flood . . . With these thesame things took place, viz., that t ~ e s e th}ng_s w e ~ e separated from the evil ones by -being 'taken up

( into heaven,' and thus guarded, and this even untilthe old churchhad cometo its last and when anew Church was about to be established.''A similar thing is taking place today. Thischurch, 'Yhich is called Christian. has at this daycome to its end; on which account t ~ D . a . . A t 35

'


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n mouth, or from His Word, and by means ofInspiration." Coronis 18

"In place of miracles, there has at this daytaken place a..manifestation of the Lord Himsclf,an intromission into the spmfuaI world, andenlightenment there by..,mea.ll.Saof.,.Y.2.e1;J-im!!@~ t . . . . f J ; O t n .the Lo-W in such things as are -theinterior things of the church. But chiefly, theopening of the spiritual sense in the Word, inwhich the Lord is in His own Divine light.

Coronis, Mir. IV"The manifestation of the Lord in Person,

and t m T J 4 n t r o ' d t r e t f t f u ~ ' l i e flord into -Hlespiritual world, both as to sight and as to hearingand speech, surpaSS!tU:.roiraCles; for we do notread a n y w h e r ~ II I ~ t o r y tnif-such intercoursewith angels and spirits nas been granted-from thecreation of the world. For I am daily ""Im angels'there, even as Cam in the world with men; andthis now fo r twenty-seven years. Th.e.J;estimonis

[ oLthis interc,Qurse are the books which have beenpublished by me concerning heaven and hell, andalso the memorable relations thence in the lastwork, called the True Christian Religion ... Tellme, who ever before has known anything aboutheaven and hell, about the state of man afterdeath, about spirits and angels, etc., etc.

38


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"Besides these most evident testimonies [thereis the fact] that the BLiritual sense of the Wordhas been disclosed ~ h e . 4 ~ e , whichhas never before been r e v e a l e ~ s i n c e the Word was(. written amoQg the sOIls o f } _ s r ~ a e l ~ ani.EPis ' l / ; ~ lis the very Sanctuar f th rd: T-he LordHimse IS in his [sense] w i t l i ~ H i s Divine, a.nd inthe natural sense with His Human. This, even asto an iota, cannot opened ~ 1 J l Y the LQrdHimself. This surpasses all the revelations which..aye been made,..s5n the creation of the world.Through this revelation there is opened a com-munication of men with the angels of heaven, anda conjunction of the two worlds has been effected;since when man is in the natural sense, the angelsare in the spiritual sense ... "Invitation to the New Church 43,44

". . . To interpret the spiritual sense fromtruths of doctrine opens heaven, because that- ist.he sense in which the angels are, and so man bymeans of that- sense thinks together with angelsand thus conjoins them to himself in his intellect-ual mind . . . " De Verbo VII:6 (20) >I. () re> )

.....s r Q v J t f - - . / A ~ I ' t.!,-... ,... . - t . . H ~ ; , ( ~ /JA .Ss)


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"[The coming of the Son of Man in the cloudsof heaven'" means] that when He comes to judg-\ 'ment He will a p ] , : ) ~ t h y e n s , e pf the.lettel'.,Qf

(AP+>,S3 [the W o r d . ~ And because He now has come, He hastherefore appeared intheWorct1hrough this thatHe has revealed that there is a s irit al sense inevery smgle thing of the sense of the letter of theWord; and that in it He alone is treated of, andJ -= that He alone is the God of heaven and earth.

I/These are the things meant by His advent in theJlclouas o'f heaven";. Apocalypse Revealed 642.::'This Sec.Q.nd-Ady_euJ..-U.I_w ..uby means of a man before w - h . O I r L ~ .nas maDl-rested Hi:r;nselUn,YersQU a P . . L \ Y h o . m J i ~ has filled

\:Vith His _Smrit, to teach the doctrines of the~ e Church (hr.omili the:Woiil tonCB\m.i< I t follQWS that He is to do it.by"means

Q L a _ m ~ , who is able not only to receive thedoctrines of this Church with his understanding,but also to publish them by the press. That theLord has manifested Hi.rrJ..e,li_befoLe."" me Hi"sservant and sent me on this office, and that, a f ~ r t.!:lis" He QD-elled the .ight of muviri['a"llil thus ietme into the..spiritual world and gave me to see* Matt. 16:27,24:30,26:64, Mark 14:61,62, Luke 21:27,22:69.

45


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heavens and hells, and also to speak withangels and spirits, and this now for many years,testity..i ! L t ~ t h ; and also that from the first day

of that call, I have not received any thing whichpertains to the doctrines of that Church from anyangel, Q,1lU-rom the I,o-tCLal


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" 'I saw heaven opened, and behold, a whitehorse' (Rev. xix.H) signifies the spiritual seIk,>eof the Wo&


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presence in


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" ... Without the advent of the Lord into theworld, no one could have been saved. I t is similarat ihis day: wherefore unless the Lord came again(!Uto the world.in Piine trytg ! V j i } ~ p ~ s _ t h ~ WoXd,not anyone can be saved." True Christian Religion 3

I l VL H,bE.YLVl,lUi+ llise

"That a revelation has been made by the Lordconcerning heaven and hell, concerning the lastjudgment (which has been I accomplished), and-- -'concerning the:spiritual sense of pie Word. Thusthe way to salvati,6h has been r e v e a l e a ~ and thestate of man after death; and this fully andplainly, so that an:x;one ;wOO npdm;staMs the( Latin language can know . . . " De Domino, Preface

52

49


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13 In the Writiljlgs.,-.. . ","_'iDHis Sec I . ........ _ " - ~ tin His Divine Human, as toDivine Truth and DoctrineItself."To the end that the Lord might be constantlypresent, He ha.s..diSg1;Qsed.tO.JUe thE(spiritual enseo W ~ q , in which Divine truth is in itS light,

and m-this He is constantly Present; for Hispresence in the Word is from nowhere else thanthrough the spiritual sense ...

True Christian Religion 780" . . . The spiritual sense of the Word Das beendisclosed by the Lord through me; whicnh;s

never before been revealed since the Word waswritten among the sons of Israel; and this [sense]is the very sanctuary of the Word; iheJ4rd Hjm-$'elf is in thjs !;MPse] with His Divine and in thenatural sense with His Human ... "

Invitation to the New Church 44"By the 'Comforter' (Paracletum) is meantthe Divine truth which the Lord was while in theworld, and which proceeds from the Lord after Heglorified His Human and went out of the world;

therefore He said that He would send the Com-forter, and that He Himself would come. ;0 'send

50


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, =s tiLillust:rauLand.instmct_in thegU_J"W:i U.!..J.Wi, and 'to come to them' is to lead

- -- Arcana Coelestia 9199

"Whether you say 'the Lord' or 'the Divinetruth,' it is the same, since all Divine truth is fromHim, and therefore He Himself is in it: whenceit is that iJw Lobd" is calle.d 'the...Word', for theWord is Divine truth." Apocalypse Explained 411:4

"Whether you say 'the Lord's Divine Human'or 'the Divine truth,' it is the same, since Lord when He was in the w o r l d ~ e 'vinetru 1- se C ,an w en e went out of the world-He made Himself Divine good, from which is theDivine truth." Arcana Coelestia 10258:4

"Nothing whatever of Doctrine can proceed]~ the D i v i n ~ itself e x ~ e D t thrQugh the n ~ ~ e Human, that is, through the Word, which, in the ~ A supreme sense, is the Divine truth from the Lord'sDivine Human." Arcana Coelestia 5321:251

"What proceeds from the Lord is the Lord . . . >.


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- ---

--

, Arcana Coelestia 9407:12

"The interl'l:a) sense . . . is the soul of the Wora,and is the Divine truth itself proceeding from theLord; thus it is t h ~ L Q r d . . l I ~ e l f . " .

Arcana Coelestia 9349:2"In order that it may be known how the caseis with the doctrine of faith, viz., that i t is ~ r i t y a l

from a celestial o r ~ n , it is to be observed thatt h Doctrine is Divine truth from the Divinegood, consequently Divine throughout (in totum).

JWhat is Divine is incomprehensible . . . b ~ l l this Divine which is incomprehensible can inflowinto man's rational u the Divine Humano e ord, and while it inflows into his rationaliriS received there according to the trut,hs whichare there. . . . As the Lord is the Divine good,so also He is the Divine truth; thus He is the\ Doctrine itself." Arcana Coelestfa. 2531- ....c---::J-:,nasrouch. as the_L,ord is ord, He alsoi ~ t ~ l ? o c t r i n e , for there can be no other Doctrine( which is itself Divine." Arcana Coelestia 2533

ale S o U i g p j f j ~ s " , v J - : w w . . J . , ~ h . . . TheTIocfrine

- t he N7w(puorished in London, 1758) ; also the

52

D . o d ~ ( J . . the Lord, the Sacred Scrip-


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tu're and Life (Amsterdam, 1763) . . . . For by 'theDoctrine' are meant all the truths of the Doctrine,because the Doctrine is their complex. When.th$WeJD..Qddnes.,w.ere being written, the Dragonists11 s ~ ~ . u n d me, and combined with all their furyto devour, that is, to extinguish them...."Apocalypse Revealed 543

" I t was also told [the bishop] that the work is21. mine but t h e - L ~ Who wished to reveJIthe nature (quale) oflieaven and hell, [etc.] ...And I also told him that t 1 , l i s - V . e v e l a t L Q I l . . . ] . J . ~ eJ\ 'male child' whom the woman brought forth and~ h o m the oragon w i ~ h e d to devour." ,

Spiritual Diary 6101:2

"Hence also it is that as


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I

New Jerusalem', and what is meant there is theDoctrine for the New Church which is at t is!lliy to be instaurated by the Lor ; or the oldchurch has arrived at its end ... "

Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, preface.Divine authority belongs14 to the Lord alone.

" . . . I t is the Divine which bears witness concerning the Divine, and not man from himself ... " * Apocalypse Explained 635"Lest man should be in doubt whether theWord is Divine and most holy, its inte'rnal sense

~ a b e ~ ) ] . . revealed to me by . t h r L o ~ d . .: Thitsense i ~ h e s w h i c ~ v i v i f i e ~ letter'; ~ ~ e : e fore thatsen-se can testIfy concermng the DIvImtyand sanctity of the Word, and convince even thenatural man, if he is willing to be convinced".

True Christian Religion 192" I t is one thing to have faith in and believe in

the Lord, and another to have faith in and believeany man. The difference shall be told below."Doctrine of Faith 7

In three places, the Writings give a list of those books in theBible which are the Word of God b e c _ a u s ~ t h e 1 - c . ~ n a conJj.tinuous internal sense inspired by TheLorCl. See AC 10325.WH 10,- and HD 266:' 54

"The doctrinals of the church are to be learned,


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and then exploration is to be made from the Wordas to whether they are true; for they Are not trueecause the.hea.ds.Qf the.chuu:b ba:V:4saLd so andtheir followers confirm it, inasmuch as thus thedoctrinals of all churches and religions wouldhave to be called true, merely according to countryand birth . . . " Arcana Coelestita 6047 ..

" . . . My friend, do not put trust in anycouncil, but have faith in the Word of the Lordwhich is above councils." True Christian Religion 489

"The worldly and corporeal man says in hisheart, 'Unless I am instructed concerning faithand everything relating to it , by sensual things, sothat I may see them, or by means of science, sothat I may understand them, I will not believe';and he confirms hiI!lself in his incredulity by thefact that natural things cannot be contrary tospiritual things. Thus he desires to he jpstructedin what is heavenly and Divine from wWt issensual,...Y{hic.b 1 Y \ e J : , t h ~ ~ i h l e f l ~ i t is for a cameJ.Jo go through the eye of a peedle;for the more he desires to grow wise by such aprocess, the more he blinds himself, till at lepR:1JJhe comes to believe nothing, not even that there is< -.. Compare AC 5402, 6822, 5432:5.

55

any thing spiritual or an eternal life. This follows


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from the principle which he lays down; and thisis to eat of the tree of the knowledge of goocfand .evil, of which, the.mo-re heeats..t.h*=nNte-deadhe becomes. But he who desires tQ grow wise fromthe Lord "and not from the world, ~ y in his heartthat the LOrd must he believed, that is, the thingsw h ! ~ j h E : l L o r J : t B ? - ~ _ ~ p o ~ e ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ d ! becausethey are truths, and from this principle he thinks.He confirms himself by rational considerations,by science, and by sensual and natural things, andthose which are not confirmatory, he separates."


\I

"There are two principles - one which leadsto all folly and madness, and another whichleads to all intelligence and wisdom. The formerprinciple is to deny all things, as when a man saysin his heart that he cannot believe such thingsuntil he is convinced by what he can grasp or feel;this principle is what leads to all f o l l ~ and madness, and may be callAA..the negative principle.The other principle is to affirm those thmgswhicl1 ~ . ! . e ~ d o c t r i n e from the Word? as when aman thinks and believes that t true becausethe Lord has said so; this principle is what leadsto all intelligence and wisdom, and may be calledthe affirmative princi12le ... " Arcana Coelestia 2568

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"Those think ... from the affirmative who


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believe that things are true besause.the,LOl:d,.haSsaid so in the Word, thus those who have faith in'fiie Lord. They who deny that what is in the Wordis true, and who say in their hearts that they willbelieve when they are persuaded by things rationaland scientific, are in such a state of mind thatthe;y will never believe, - no, not even when convinced by the bodily senses, as by the sight, thehearing, and the touch; for they always framenew reasonings against such convictions, so as tofinally altogether extinguish all faith, and at thesame time turn the light of the rational into dark-ness, because into falses. But those who are in theaffirmative, that is, w h g _ h e l i ~ a t tbingB..J!:ree because the Lord b a s . . . y ' l j ~ o , are continuallybeing confirmed through rational, scientific andeven sensual things, and their ideas are enlight

-

"1 ened, and tllfy are strengthened "MLith..:these,1 doctrine 'lives' . " ""They who incline to a life of evil fall into the$ative; but they who i n c l i n e t o a l ~ e o f g..90d are

led into.Jhe affirmative . . ..... -"They who have blinded themselves by not being willing to believe anything which they do notgrasp by the senses, until at length they have come

r to believe nothing, were of old called 'serpents ofLthe tree of knowledge' ...

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"In the other life such are readily distinguished


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from other spirits by this, that on every subjectrelating to faith they reason whether it be so ornot, and, though it be shown to them a thousandand thousand times to be so, still they raisenegative doubts in opposition to every confirma-tion, and this to eternity. They are thereforeblinded to such a degree that they are bereft ofcommon sense- that is, they cannot comprehendwhat is good and true . . . "Arcana Coelestia 2588 :2, 3, 9

"With those who are in the negative-that is,those with whom the negative universally reignsdoubts can in no wise be removed, for with themone scruple avails more than a thousand confirma-tions; fo r one scruple is as a grain of sand placedclose before the pupil of the eye, which, althoughit is single and small, nevertheless takes away allsight. But they who are in the affirmative-thatis, those with whom the affirmative universallyreigns-reject the scruples that arise from falla-cies which are contrary to truths; and if there areany which they do not comprehend, they r..ejectthem to t h ~ s and say that they do not yetunderstand them, and so they remain still in thefaith of truth." Arcana Coelestia 6479

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"Those who start with a negative never be-


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lieve, because the negative principle reigns uni-versally [with them], and when it reigns univer-sally, those scientifics which deny inflow and arecollected together, but not those which confirm;those which confirm are thrown aside, or areexplained so as to favor the negative scientifics,and thus the negative is confirmed."


ths..spgkep ng the Lgr-d and concern-ing the Lord, are to be believed even though weare not able to penetrate them by reason. Towish to deny because we cannot penetrate by thereason, is t h e r e f Q n ~ l jkg a desire to deny therocreatioV5 pf trees from seeds and of animalsfrom eggs ... Hence it may be seen what kindof a faith \a man has when he believes nothingbut what he sees, as is common at this day,especially among the learned of the world."

Spiritual Diary 2727

"'And the prince of thy people thou shalt notcurse' (Exodus 22 :28). Hereby is signified thatneither ought the Doctrine of truth to be blas-:Rhemed . . . Divine truth is the Word, and is&tr lne f r < ! m ~ ~ o r d . They who deny thesein""""heart, blaspheme, even though with the mouth

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they praise the Word and preach it. In the denial


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lies concealed the blasphemy ... Therefore, withth.vnaILo! the,Chur.chJ;he.first of all principre';is to believe the Word . . . " Arcana; Coelestia 9222

t1 ~ - vINo ,,01 /) ( ).. ~ > - " S ).....s f 0 e-t:::. 1 I

I

0 . . 1'.. c.. er---[ W f:::. __ ) '> r-. . J v J ' , o ~ ('>-. ~ ' y j ) )

Cc,", ff) ' v J ~ H ~ --t.h


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The Internal Sense and the Sense of the Letter"The internal sense ~ t h e Word _ i t s ~ (AC 1540). Yet "the Divine truth is in its ful-ness in the sense of the letter of o u r ~ " . (AElo-8'f:2, ~ m p a r e SS 39)Hencei tTSalsotaught that "the Word ... is not the Word until

) i is"'in the sense of the letter.'1TEe ~ o r d notTnt ~ ultimate would be like a t e m p ~ e in ~ i ) and not on earth, or like a man havmg flesh butwithout "bonesn: (AE 1087 :2, compare 1 ( j 8 ~ 5 , TCR 214e, De Verbo 25) "It is from the spirituals ~ t h a t ~ - r d \ i s D ~ ~ ~ n ~ I Y inspired and holyin every, sentence (voce)." (TCR 200) But "inour natural Word are contained both the spiritualJWord and the celestial Word", while "in the1

spiritual and celestial Word the natural Word isnot contained; wherefore the Word in our worldis most full of Divine wisdom, and thence is moreholy than the Words in the heavens". (De Verbo35, compare 54, heading)When viewed spiritually the doctrine of theNew Church presented in he Writings annot beseparated in thought from t e ord given in itsIf liter.al sense in the Old and N ~ e s t a m e n t s ; any

fL. more than the Tnte;;al sense can be separatedJ

d-

.,.' > W':1",-p( (>- . ! j ~ ~ < : > S ) s jop ~ , w";:' ffA-


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the letter is the basis into which the spiritualideas, which are with the angels, close, much thesame as words (voces) are the basis into whichthe meaning of the thought falls and is communicated to another" (AE 356 :5). The doctrine of. '"( the New Church "Is...solely from the s ~ ~ e ) letter of the Word", 'and "the Word in the senseI of the } e t ~ r contains all things of the doctrine ofthe New Church". (AR 898, 902)The statement that the doctrine is drawn"from the sense of the letter" where it is also"contained", does not contradict the further teachings that it is "from the spiritual s e ~ e " (HD 7),that "the internal sense contains it", and that it is)identical with the doctrine of genuine truth whichis the syiritual sense appearing in t ~ literal sense.(See WH 11 :3, AC 9030e, 7233 :3, 10400 :2-4,9424, SS 25, et aI.)A similar paradox is presented in the teachings, a) "that the Lord is present with man andenlightens him, and teaches him the truths of thechurch", i I the sense of the letter of the Word "and nowhere" else" (SS 53) ; b) that "elsewherethan in the WOJZd the Lord does not reveal Himself, nor there otherwise than tbrough the internal~ ~ e " (AE 36). These ideas make one in thelight of the statements (in AC 7233:3) that

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.

---------A. S ~ So.. c.,r.....e..,.{ H-b1uz- (. j ~ ~ ~ 7

(doctrin_e should be_formed from the "internal


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sense";; for "ethe internal sense is not only that~ n s e which lies concea]edIn the ~ n a l sense, . . . but is also that which results from a number ofpassages of the sense of the letter rightly collated,and which is discerned by those who are enlight-ened by the Lord in respect to their intellectual".

$-5f.;., A ~ 5 ' ' t Swedenborg's States of Preparation

The citations in the preceding collection areselected to illustrate the character of the Theo-lQgical Writings of Swedenborg and show theirI status as works of Divine revelation. We have notinCluded any statements whi'Ch Swedenborg madeabout his states of inspiration during the years ofhis preparatory studies of the Scripture, especiallyduring his writing of the " A d - V ~ 9 c i a " , whichwas not published until long after his death andwhich is now known by the English title, "TheWord Explained". For in this interval (1745-1747), before he began to write the ArcanaC o e l e s t i a , h ~ g ~ d i I ! . < : l ~ d feel states of inspiration,lSbut he also records states of . @ ~ a i r when i n s p i I . : ~ - l tion seemed to fail and he experienced uncertain-ties and obscurities2 He was then annoyed byl) WE 6884, 5587, 1409, 7006, 3323.2) WE 2755 et seq.

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spirits whp Gaused slips and errors3, so that truthswere ~ i x e d with things nottrue 4 He showed


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hesitancy as to whether to make changes in hisstatements5

States Experienced for the Sake of InstructionFor the sake of learning the manner in which

the Old Testament was "inspired as to everyletter", Swedenborg was also permitted to ex-perience certain states like those of the prophets.Thus spirits were o c c ~ s i _ o n a n y :Rermitted to d i ~ t e Ito him and even ~ e e m i n g l y to lead his hand: \.

"This[happened] v e r ~ e l y , and-.!2cly for thes ~ o f i n f o ~ _ m a t i o n that revelations are effected Jin this way also. But these papers have beendestroyed (deletae2because G.?i Messiah was un-

( willing tl)at it ;;bould_ he e f t e ~ t ~ ~ J ~ this way. Norhas it been permitted that anything should bedictated viva voce . . . but while it was beingwritten, the [spirits] were silent.6 These matters,

(God Messiah granting, will be spoken of more) fully elsewhere, in ordErr.--that.:m.eD.--m.ay know howl r e ~ o n s took place formerly . . . " 7 (WE 7006,written in 1746)

3) WE 2755, SD 2372.4) WE 1526 notes, 1530, 475, 1711, 1712.! L WE _ 6 1 ~ ~ , - e t alii!. -6) Compare SDm5e. 7) Compare WE 6884, 6885 and notes.64

" . . . I t was not allowed me to tell anything


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here of what was dictated to me orally by anyone of them. When this was done, the writinghad to be obliterated, it being allowed me to tellonl such things as flowed in from God Messiahalone, both mediately t roug them, an a so Im,.

"i'nediately-which yet was manifest to me."(WE 1892)8

"When I was writing and was in a certainintermediate celestial perception, it was perceivedand said that each and all the words and syllables,with their little curves, w e ! ~ perceived b ~ ,celestials, and as it were spoke to them. This iseffected from tl)e a f f ~ ~ E o n in which the man(, then is, having been communicated to the hand,1or being in the hand; f o r ~ . . , . . . b e i p g n o . ~ , I i,.t!m ma,D himself. Hence it was evident in what

manner the Word has been inspired, that it isso, as to every single jot and apex. Hence it isthat the handwriting is according to the affectionalliI"Obscurity of tEe animus with me."-rSt5482-0)

"[The spirits] who now spoke to me said thatthe things which I had written are so crude andgross, that they judged that nothing interior could8) One crossed-off passage reads: "The above was written only bymy hand, not by my mind". (WE 1511 note, Compare WE1526, 1530.)

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be understood from those words or from the meresense of the words. I perceived also by a spiritualI


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idea that this was so, that they were indeed verycrude; wherefore it was given me to answer thathey a r ~ l y v e s s e l s T n t o which purer, 15efter, andinterlQr things can-be infused, as a literal s ~ e , and that there are many such vessels, as it were,of the senseof theletter fn the propheticalbooks . .. (SD 2185)

"[The angels] especially observed what theinspiration is of those things which are writtenin the Word of the Lord. For now it has appearedto them in what way, and in what an abundance,there i D f i ~ Q . into those things which we.!],JVrit,ten by me; and thisnot only Intot h e severalwords and the ideas of the words; nay, it seemedto them as if certain ones were holding my handand were writing, claiming that they were the( ones who were writing. I t was also granted meto perceive by a spiritual idea, nay, as it were tofeel beforehand, what was in the most minutesingulars of each little letter which was being

( w r ~ . Hence I r IS as friclear light that the Wordof the Lord is inspired as to ever letter. 1748,une O. 22 0; compare 557)Swedenborg also was shown "by living experience" how the prophets of Israel had been

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obsessed,9 and how they had experienced varioustypes of visions. 10 Yet the things ordinarily "seen


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and heard" by Swedenborg in the other life werenot classed as "visions". He wrote, "I asseveratethat these things are not visions, but sights incomplete wakefulness" (CLJ 35) or "in the high( est wakefulness of the body" (AC 1885).

, , .. .com-preface, AR 962,

..... \. 'I I i 1' 1

9) SD 2272 - 2282.10 ) AC 6212, SD 2283.

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SD 438, CL 166) Thus he always retained fulluse of his rational mind, acting as of himself


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(DP 290), even when, on occasions, for the sakeof information, he was "obsessed" by spirits aswere the prophets. (SD 2659,2665,3963, compareAC 6212)

He gained his information about the spiritualworld gradually and it increased with his ex-periences, as is clearly revealed in his "SpiritualDiary". And while every indication shows thathe was a regenerating man, who could on thisaccount be a companion of angels, the Divine in-spiration which he enjoyed was not dependent onthe advancing states of his personal regeneration.Angels were sometimes present who aided his( memory (CL 73e). Yet while wH'ip",4own thedoctrine of the New Church). ~ spirit dared nordid any angel wish to introduce anything alien;nOr djiSWedenhQJ:g take-iWyj;biDg7tOm hplf.\ (AR, preface)

The Heavenly Doctrine in the Spiritual WorldSince revelations take place in both worlds(AE 641 :3), the Writings were often seen andquoted by Swedenborg in the spiritual world(CL 416, AR 716). The five books published in1758 were presented to certain African spirits

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