De Verbo (Rogers) n. 1

1. THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR WORD OF THE LORD FROM EXPERIENCE

A Representation of the Literal Meaning of the Word, which has a Spiritual Meaning within

I was given to see large purses, looking like sacks, which had stored away in them a great deal of silver. Since they were open, it seemed as if anyone might help himself to the silver deposited in them, even to make off with it, but next to them two angels were sitting as guards. The place where the sacks rested looked like a manger in a stable. In the next room I saw modest maidens, together with a chaste wife. Near that room were two little children, and I heard it said they were not to be played with in a childish way, but wisely. Afterward a harlot appeared, then a horse lying dead.

I then perceived that this was a way of representing the literal meaning of the Word, which has a spiritual meaning within. The large purses full of silver symbolized concepts of truth there in great abundance. The sacks' being open and yet guarded by angels symbolized that anyone might acquire concepts of truth there, but that people should take care not to falsify the inner meaning, which contains only truths. The manger in the stable where the purses were sitting symbolized spiritual instruction for the intellect. (A manger has this symbolism, like the one where the newborn Lord lay, because a horse symbolizes the intellect, consequently a manger its nourishment.) The modest maidens I saw in the next room symbolized truths of the church, and the chaste wife the conjunction of truth and good that exists throughout the Word. The little children symbolized the innocence of the wisdom in it (they were angels from the third heaven, all of whom appear like little children). The harlot together with the dead horse symbolized the falsification of the Word by so many people today, by which all understanding of the truth has been lost. (A harlot symbolizes falsification, and a dead horse no understanding of truth.)
[Marginal Note]
what the foundation of the wall of Jerusalem is, and the twelve precious stones there, that they are the urim and thummim upon the ephod of Aaron

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 2

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 2

2. The Word is Inwardly Full of Life

When a person reads the Word and considers it holy, then its natural meaning becomes spiritual in the second heaven and celestial in the third. In this way its natural quality is progressively removed. This takes place because natural, spiritual and celestial things correspond to each other, and the Word was written solely in terms of things that correspond. The natural meaning of the Word is the sort found in the meaning of the letter, and everything of this becomes spiritual and then celestial in the heavens. When it becomes spiritual, it is then alive in that heaven from the light of truth there; and when it becomes celestial, it is alive from the flame of good there. The reason is that spiritual ideas among angels of the second heaven draw their life from the light in that heaven, which in its essence is Divine truth, while celestial ideas among angels of the third heaven draw their life from the flame of good, which in its essence is Divine good. For in the second heaven the light is bright white, and the angels there think from this; and in the third heaven the light is flaming, and the angels there think from that. The thoughts of angels are altogether different from the thoughts of people. Angels think by means of the kinds of light they have, bright white or flaming, and these are such that they cannot be described in natural terms.

It is apparent from this that the Word is inwardly full of life, consequently that it is not dead but alive in a person who reads it and thinks of it in a reverent way. Moreover, everything in the Word is made alive by the Lord, for with the Lord it becomes life, as the Lord also says in John:

The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. (John 6:63)

The life that flows in from the Lord through the Word is the light of truth that flows into the intellect and the love of good that flows into the will. This love and that light together make the life of heaven in a person, which is called eternal life. The Lord also teaches:

... the Word was God.... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1, 4)

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 3

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 3

3. The Difference in General between Natural, Spiritual and Celestial Things

There are three heavens: a lowest one, a middle one, and a highest. In the lowest heaven the people are natural, but their natural quality stems either from the spiritual quality that belongs to the middle heaven or from the celestial quality that belongs to the third heaven. In the second heaven the people are spiritual, and in the third heaven celestial. There are also some in between, who are called spiritual- celestial. Many of these are preachers in the highest heaven.

[2] The difference between natural, spiritual and celestial things is such that there is no proportional relation between them. Therefore natural things cannot in any way by any approximation approach in likeness spiritual things, nor spiritual things celestial things. That is why the heavens are distinct. I have been given to know this from much experience. Again and again I have been conveyed into the company of spiritual angels, and I then spoke with them in their spiritual way of speaking, and what I said I then made a point of remembering. When I returned into my natural state-the state every person in the world is in-I then tried to recall what I had said from my earlier remembrance and write it down, but I could not. It was impossible. No words were to be found and not even any mental concepts by which to express it. The spiritual mental concepts and words were so removed from natural mental concepts and words that there was not the least approximation. Surprisingly, when I was in that heaven and spoke with angels, I then knew no other than that I was speaking in the same way that I speak with people here. But afterward I found out that the thoughts and speech were so dissimilar that the one could not approximate the other, consequently that they have proportional relation.

[3] There is a similar difference between spiritual and celestial things. I have been told that there is a similar difference, and also that the difference is such that no proportional relation or approximation is possible. But I could not be given confirmation of this through personal experience without actually being an angel of the middle heaven. It was therefore granted some angels of the middle heaven to be together with angels of the third heaven, and while there to think and speak with them, and also to make a point of remembering what they thought and what they said, and afterward to return to their own heaven. And they told me then that they could not express any idea or any word from the earlier state, that it was impossible; and they said in conclusion that there is no proportional relation or approximation.

[4] For the same reason I have a number of times been given to be in the presence of angels of the middle and highest heaven, and to hear them talking together (whenever this happened I had been in an interior natural state, removed from worldly and bodily concerns specifically, upon first waking from sleep); and I heard indescribable and inexpressible things, as we read happened with Paul.* And sometimes I was let into a perception and understanding of the things they talked about. The things they said were full of secrets having to do with the Lord, redemption, regeneration, providence, and other like things; and afterward I was given to see that I could not express or record those things using any spiritual or celestial term-but that they could nevertheless still be described in words of natural language, even to rational comprehension. I was also told that there are not any Divine mysteries that cannot be perceived and expressed naturally also, even though more generally and less perfectly; and that those who perceive such things naturally with their rational understanding from an affection for truth, are able afterward to both perceive and express the same things spiritually when they become spirits, and in a celestial way when they become angels; but not so others. For one Divine truth perceived and loved naturally is like a crystal or porcelain goblet which is afterward filled with wine, the nature of the wine being such as the nature of the truth was, and the quality of its taste, so to speak, such as was the quality of the affection for the truth.

[5] That there is such a difference, which may be called an unlimited one, between natural, spiritual and celestial things, can be seen from the difference in the thoughts of people and angels, and from the difference in their speech and also in the things they do, and from the difference in their forms of writing. From these things, as from so many proofs, it will become apparent what the one and the other are like, and how the perfections of all things ascend and pass from the world into heaven, and from one heaven into another.

[6] Regarding thoughts: All the thoughts of people, including each single idea in them, involve conceptions drawn from space, time, person, or material-things that appear in natural light or the light of the world. For no one can think anything apart from light, just as nothing can be seen without light. And natural light or the light of the world is lifeless, being from the sun of the world, which is nothing but fire. Nevertheless, the light of heaven flows into that light everywhere and continually, giving it life and making possible the perception and understanding of things. The light of the world by itself cannot impart any perceptive or intellectual ability or confer any natural or rational sight, but it does so from the light of heaven, because the light of heaven comes from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord and so is life itself. The influx of the light of heaven into the light of the world is like the influx of a cause into its effect-the nature of which will be explained elsewhere. It is apparent from this what natural thought is like, or ideas of thought in people, namely, that they are inseparably bound up with notions of space, time, personality and material. Because of this, those thoughts or ideas of thought are very limited and restricted, and so are crude, and must be called material. The thoughts of angels of the middle heaven, on the other hand, are all without notions of space, time, personality and material, so that they are unlimited and unrestricted. The objects of their thoughts are, like the thoughts themselves, spiritual, so that they think about them spiritually and not naturally. As for angels of the highest heaven, they do not have thoughts, but they have perceptions of the things they hear and see. Instead of thoughts they have affections, and these keep varying with them, just as thoughts keep varying in the case of spiritual angels.

[7] Regarding forms of speech: The things people say and the way they say them are like the ideas of their thoughts, for ideas of thought become words when they go out into speech. Consequently the speech of people in every word has something to do with space, time, personality, or material. By the same token, however, the things angels of the middle heaven say and the way they say them are like the ideas of their thoughts, for these are what the words of their speech express. On the other hand, the things angels of the highest heaven say and the way they say them all come from changes in their affections-though when they speak with spiritual angels, they speak as the spiritual do; but not so among themselves.

Since that is what the speech of angels is like, and what the speech of people is like, therefore their forms of speech are so different that they have nothing in common. They are so different that a person cannot understand any word an angel says, nor an angel any word a person says. I have listened to angels speaking and memorized the words, and have afterward tried to see whether any of those words matches any word in the expressions or languages of people, and there was not one. (Spiritual speech is the same for all; it is innate in everyone, and a person comes into it as soon as he becomes a spirit.)

Regarding forms of writing, this is like their speech. The writing of spiritual angels in its letters is similar to the writing of people in the world, but every letter has a meaning. Consequently if you saw it in a natural state, you would say it consisted only of letters. On the other hand, instances of writing in the highest heaven are not similar in their letters. They have letters formed by various curved strokes, not unlike the letters of Hebrew, but always rounded, with no straight lines anywhere. Each letter also carries some meaning, which they have a perception of from affection and not from thought. Because of all this, one who is natural does not comprehend a thing from spiritual writing, nor one who is spiritual a thing from natural writing. Neither does one who is spiritual comprehend anything from celestial writing, or one who is celestial anything from spiritual writing-unless he is with someone spiritual.

[8] It is similar with the things they do, which are many, for everyone is engaged in some activity. How the spiritual do what they do cannot be described to one who is natural, nor can how the celestial do what they do be described to one who is spiritual. For these differ as much as their thoughts, speech and writing.

[9] It can be seen from this what a difference there is between natural, spiritual and celestial things-that the difference is such that they have no accordance at all except by correspondences. This, too, is the reason that people do not know they have an association with spirits, and spirits that they have an association with people, when in fact there is a constant association. For a person could not live one minute without being in the midst of spirits in respect to his thoughts and affections, nor could spirits and angels live a moment without being with people. The reason is that there is a continual connection extending from first things to last things, thus from the Lord to mankind; and from creation the connection was established by correspondences, one that flows in through angels and spirits. Everything celestial flows into something spiritual, and everything spiritual into something natural, and it terminates in the last of this, which is physical and material, and there abides. Without such a final abode for intermediates to flow into, there would be no other permanence than that of a house built in the air. The human race is therefore the base and foundation of the heavens.

[10] No angel knows that there is such a difference between natural, spiritual and celestial things. The reason is that an angel does not change his state or go from a spiritual state into a natural one so as to be able to explore the differences. I have spoken with them about this, and they said they do not know the differences. They believed they thought, spoke, wrote and did things in the same way as in the world. But they were shown the truth by their changing their states so that they thought alternately now in the one, now in the other, and so that they likewise spoke alternately in the one and the other, and also read what they wrote in a spiritual state and in a natural state, and similarly did things; and they then found that there is such a difference that it cannot be described. It has been possible for me to instruct even angels on this point, because I have been given to be in both worlds alternately and to explore the one from the perspective of the other; and they have all admitted afterward that it is the case.

[11] Nevertheless, there is a similarity between the natural, spiritual and celestial states in regard to the various kinds of things that present themselves as objects of sight, taste, smell and hearing, and of the sense of touch. For to the sight angels all took like people in the world. Their clothes took similar, and their houses, also their gardens and parks, and their fields, likewise their bodies of land and water, as well as their various kinds of food and drink. So, too, do the animals of the land, the birds of the air, and the fishes in the waters, all of various kinds in their various species. Their speech sounds as it did in the world, also the rhythms and melodies of their vocal and instrumental music. Flavor is similar, and also the way things smell. In a word, everything that appears or makes itself perceptible to any sense does so similarly. But still the things in the other world are from a spiritual origin, and the angels therefore think of them spiritually and give them spiritual names.

Despite what has been said, however, even all these things as they appear and are perceived in the middle and highest heavens-in the excellence of their forms and harmonies and in their perfections, which are of a superior and surpassing preeminence-can only be described imperfectly. They can be described only as being like the most perfect things in the world, which are nevertheless imperfect in comparison to the things that are in heaven.
* See 2 Corinthians 12:1-4.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 4

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 4

4. The Holiness of the Word in Every Syllable and Tip of a Stroke

I was once sent a little piece of paper from heaven with Hebrew letters on it, but letters written as they were among the most ancients. Today the letters are to some extent formed with straight lines, but among the most ancients they were then rounded and had little hornlike strokes projecting upward. An angel who was with me said he knew whole meanings from the letters alone, and that every letter had its own meaning. He also said that in heaven they knew the meaning from the curves of the lines in each letter, in addition to the idea they had from the individual letter itself He then explained to me the meaning of yodh ( ), aleph ( ), and he ( ), both what these letters signified separately, and what in combination. And he said that he ( ), which occurs in Yehowah ( ), and which was added to the names of Abraham and Sarah,* symbolized infinity and eternity.

He also said that the Word has been so written in many places that when a Jew or Christian reads it in the Hebrew text, it is known in the third heaven what the individual letters in these places signify. For angels of the third heaven have the Word written in letters like this, and they read it according to the letters. (They have said that in the meaning drawn from the letters, the Word has to do with the Lord alone.) The reason is that the curves in the letters take their origin from the flow of heaven, and the angels of the third heaven are in this flow more than the rest. Consequently those angels are skilled in that kind of writing instinctively, because they are in the order of heaven and live entirely according to it.

[2] Angels of the third heaven explained for me, moreover, the meaning of the Word in Psalm 32:2 from just the letters or syllables alone, and they said the gist of their meaning was that the Lord is merciful also to those who do evil. They added that the vowel points there serve to indicate the part of the pronunciation which corresponds to affection, and they said they cannot pronounce the vowels i and e, but instead of i say y or eu, and instead of e say eu. They said they do use the vowels a, o, and u, because these vowels have a full sound, whereas i and e are narrower. They also said they do not pronounce any of the consonants as hard, but softly, and that the hard consonants-such as daleth ( ) and qoph ( ) and the rest do not signify anything with them unless they are pronounced with a soft sound. This, they said, is the reason a number of the hard consonants when written also have a dot placed within them, to indicate [that they are pronounced as hard, but without a dot]** that they are pronounced with a soft sound. They added that hardness in consonants is employed in the spiritual heaven, because there they are concerned with truths and through truths are in a state of understanding, while in the celestial heaven all are concerned with the goodness of love and from this are in a state of wisdom. Truth allows hardness, whereas good does not.

It can be seen from this what is meant by the Lord's saying that not a yodh (jot) or tip of a stroke or hornlike projection (tittle) will pass from the Law (Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17). And it is apparent as well from this that it came about by the Lord's Divine providence that all the letters of the Word in the Hebrew text were counted by the Masoretes.
* See Genesis 17:5, 15.
** The bracketed words are taken from Spiritual Experiences (formerly Spiritual Diary), no. 5620. Otherwise this statement seems to be in error, a statement nevertheless repeated in The Sacred Scripture, no. 90, and in True Christian Religion, no. 278.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 5

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 5

5. The Spiritual Meaning of the Word and its Natural Meaning

I have spoken several times with spirits who did not want to know anything about the spiritual meaning of the Word, saying that the natural meaning is the Word's only meaning and that it is holy simply because it is from God. They said that if a spiritual meaning were to be accepted, the Word in its letter would become worthless.

Many of them kept insisting on this point, but they received a reply from heaven that without a spiritual meaning in it, the Word would not be Divine. It is because it has a spiritual meaning as its soul that the Word is Divine, and, in fact, living, for without that meaning the letter would be as though dead. The very holiness of the Word consists in its having a spiritual meaning. Thus the Word may be likened to a Divine Man, who is the Lord, in whom there is not only a Divinity on the natural plane, but a Divinity on the spiritual and celestial planes as well. It is because of this that the Lord calls Himself the Word. The angels said, moreover, that the real holiness of the Word resides in its literal meaning, and that the literal meaning is holier than the other meanings, which are internal, because it embraces and contains the others, being like a body alive from its soul. Thus the Word in its literal or natural meaning is in its fullness and also in its power, and by it a person has conjunction with the heavens, which without the literal meaning would be separated from mankind. Who does not know and acknowledge that the Word at its heart is spiritual? But where that spiritual nature lies hidden has so far gone undiscovered.

[2] But because the spirits who kept insisting on the literal meaning alone refused to be convinced by these arguments, the angels therefore presented many, many passages taken according to the natural meaning which could not possibly be understood apart from a spiritual meaning.

For example, the angels took passages in the Prophets where there are simply collections of names, where many kinds of animals are mentioned, such as lions, bears, bulls, calves, dogs, foxes, owls, iyyim,* dragons, and also mountains and forests, besides many other things, which would be meaningless apart from a spiritual sense.

The angels also asked, for instance, what was meant by the dragon, which is described as red, having seven heads and upon its heads seven jewels,** and what was meant by its drawing down a third part of the stars of heaven with its tail, by its wanting to devour the child which the woman was ready to deliver, and by the woman's being given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, where the dragon spewed water out of its mouth like a flood after her. The angels said further that without the spiritual meaning it would not be known what was meant by the dragon's two beasts-by the one that rose up out of the sea, which was like a leopard, whose feet were like the feet of a bear and its mouth like the mouth of a lion, or by its other beast, which came up out of the earth. (All of which is described in Revelation, chapters 12 and 13.)

Again the angels asked, what is meant by the statement that, when the Lamb opened the seals of the book, horses went forth, first a white one, then a red one, next a black one, and finally a pale one (as described in Revelation, chapter 6)-besides what is meant by everything else in the same book. Again, what is meant in Zechariah by the four horns and the four craftsmen (chapter 1), by the lampstand and the two olive trees beside it (chapter 4), by the four chariots coming from between two mountains, which had red, black, white and dappled horses (chapter 6)? Or again, what is meant by the ram and the he-goat, and by their horns with which they fought together, as described in Daniel (chapter 8)? And what about the four beasts that came up from the sea in the previous chapter (chapter 7)? So the angels went on, taking passage after passage like these in place after place. To convince the spirits even more, the angels cited in addition the things the Lord said to His disciples in Matthew concerning the end of the age and His coming (chapter 24), nothing of which would be understood by anyone apart from a spiritual meaning.

[3] That there is a spiritual meaning in every single thing in the Word the angels further supported by certain other things the Lord said, things which would not be understood unless interpreted spiritually-such as that no one should call his father on earth father, or anyone teacher or master, because one is their Father, Teacher and Master (Matthew 23:8-10). Or again, that they were not to judge, that they be not judged (Matthew 7:1, 2). Or that husband and wife are not two but one flesh (Matthew 19:5, 6)-when in fact they are in a natural sense not one flesh. Nor is anyone forbidden to make judgments about his fellow man or neighbor in regard to his natural life, as this is important to human society. But what is forbidden is to make judgments about another in regard to his spiritual life, for this is known to the Lord alone. The Lord also did not forbid anyone's calling his father father, or a teacher teacher, or a master master in a natural sense, but in a spiritual sense. It is in this sense that there is but one Father, Teacher and Master. So it is with everything else in the Word.

[4] By these arguments the spirits were convinced that there is a spiritual meaning in the natural meaning of the Word, and yet that the real holiness of the Word still resides in its literal meaning, because all the inner meanings of the Word are there in their fullness. Moreover, they were led to see that the literal meaning clearly presents as well everything that teaches the way to salvation, thus everything that teaches how one is to live and believe; also that the doctrine of the church in its entirely is to be drawn from the literal meaning of the Word and verified by it, and not simply by the spiritual meaning alone. For conjunction with heaven and through heaven With the Lord is effected not by the spiritual meaning alone, but by the meaning of the letter. The reason is that the Lord's Divine influx through the Word takes place from first things through last things.
* A Hebrew word appearing only three times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:22, 34:14; Jeremiah 50:39). The term seems to refer to howling or screeching creatures, perhaps bats (cf. Conjugial Love, no. 264:4), but the actual identity is unknown. It may not be a precise term.
** The Latin word here, as also the Greek one in Revelation, is diademata, which normally has the meaning of "crowns," but which the writer, from his usage of the term elsewhere, clearly took to mean jewels, gems, or precious stones.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 6

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 6

6. The Word and Natural Theology-That There Is No Natural Theology Apart from the Word and Without Being from it

(Also the Excellence of the Style of Expression in the Word)

I once heard a serious argument between spirits who had been scholars in the world, some whose learning was from the Word, some whose learning was from natural sight only. The latter kept insisting that natural theology is enough, maintaining that a person can be taught and even enlightened by natural theology apart from the Word so as to clearly see that there is a God, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that souls have immortality and thus eternal life. The others kept saying, however, that only the Word teaches and enlightens with regard to such things. The spirits who were for natural theology alone began to vehemently assail those who sided with the Word, and this for several days, thinking in their hearts and finally saying that the Word is nothing special, that in place after place it was written in a style so simple and at the same time so unintelligible that no one could learn anything from it, still less be enlightened by it, and that the writings of learned men-such as the writings of Cicero, Seneca and some of today's scholars-were much superior. But the others replied that the style of expression in the Word excels that of all the learned men in the whole world, because there is not a sentence in it, nor even a word or letter, which does not have in it something relating to the Lord and so something relating to heaven and the church, inasmuch as the Word is from God and is therefore at its heart spiritual. Furthermore, they said, this Divine quality lies inwardly hidden in the Word as the soul is in the body, but when a person reads it with reverence, its Divinity is gradually unfolded before angels, who, on account of the spiritual things thus disclosed, are affected by the holiness in it, a sense of holiness that is communicated to the person. It is apparent from this, they concluded, that the style of expression in the Word, however simple it appears, is infinitely superior to every style of expression employed by the learned in the world, because no matter how polished and elegant and lofty their style may be, it still does not effect communication with heaven, so that in comparison to the style in the Word it is altogether inferior.

[2] The spirits who were championing natural theology heard these things, indeed, but still they rejected them, because in the world they had regarded the Word with complete disdain, and those who disdain the Word in the world and confirm their disdain with passages from the Word, after death continue to hold it in disdain forever. For every tenet adopted in the world respecting God and the Word, in which one then confirms himself, remains firmly implanted after death and cannot be rooted out. And because these spirits were therefore in communication not with heaven but with hell, they began to ally themselves with certain satanic spirits there, until at last they and the satanic spirits spoke with one voice and, gnashing their teeth, breathed words of murder against the life of those who stood by the Word. But still they could do nothing at all, for the Lord was on the side of those other spirits, whereas they had only satanic spirits on their side. Therefore those other spirits were taken up into heaven, while these were cast down into hell.

[3] Some angels afterward talked about natural theology, saying that it reveals nothing without the Word but supports only those things which are known in the doctrine of the church from the Word. Moreover, they said, when confirmations drawn from nature by means of rational sight corroborate spiritual truths, they do so for the reason that everyone has some natural idea of spiritual things by which he holds them in the memory and calls them forth from there into thought and rationally considers and expresses them. If, therefore, additional support is found in nature, truth is corroborated. But still, the angels said, one must take care not to seize on falsity instead of truth, since falsity can be defended just as well as truth by those who have the ingenuity. Consequently some deviation from the truth may be confirmed even to the destruction of the truth itself.

[4] The angels added that no one can enter from natural theology into spiritual theology, but that anyone might enter from spiritual theology into natural theology, because to do the latter is in accord with Divine order, while to do the former is contrary to Divine order. For everything natural is crude and full of impurities, whereas everything spiritual is fine and pure. It is not possible to enter from something crude and full of impurities into things that are fine and pure, but just the opposite. Angels can look down and see everything that is below them, but no one can see from below the things which are in the heavens. In fact, an angel can view a spirit cruder than himself without the spirit's being able to see the angel, who is purer. That is why, when spirits like this go up into heaven where the angels are-a frequent occurrence-they see no one, not even their houses, so that they go away saying that it is empty and uninhabited there.

[5] It is similar with the Word. Those who do not believe in the Word on the evidence of the Word cannot possibly believe anything Divine on the evidence of nature. As the Lord teaches:

They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.... If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:29, 31)

So it is with anyone who, rejecting the Word, tries to believe on the basis of nature alone. Some of the ancients wrote about the existence of God and the immortality of the soul even though they were pagans-men like Aristotle, Cicero and others-but what they wrote they did not know about in the first place from their own natural sight, but from the religion of ancient peoples, among whom there had been a Divine revelation which was gradually spread to gentiles.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 7

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 7

7. The Spiritual Sense of the Word (and Correspondences)

Every single thing that exists in nature corresponds to something spiritual, just as every single thing in the human body does (as may be seen from what is shown in two articles in the book Heaven and Hell).* But it is not known today what correspondence is. By contrast, in very ancient times the study of correspondences was the study of studies, so universal that the most ancients wrote all their tablets and scrolls in terms of things that correspond. The legends of the distant past were of just this character, and so were the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. The book of Job-which is a book of the Ancient Church-is full of things that correspond.

[2] All the ancient churches were churches in which heavenly things were expressed representatively. All their rituals, and also the ordinances according to which their worship was established, consisted of nothing but correspondent things. So, too, in the church with the sons of Jacob. The burnt offerings and sacrifices, including every aspect of them, had a correspondence. So did the Tabernacle, with everything in it, and also the holy days, such as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of First Fruits, and likewise all the ordinances and decrees. And because things that correspond are the kinds of things that exist in the outmost phenomena of nature, and because all things of nature have a correspondence, and whatever has a correspondence also has a like symbolism, therefore the literal meaning of the Word consists of nothing but things that correspond.

Moreover, because the Lord spoke from His Divinity, and what He spoke was the Word, therefore He, too, spoke in terms of things that correspond. What is from a Divine origin and is in itself Divine ultimately descends into such things as correspond to Divine things in celestial and spiritual form. Thus it descends into such things as conceal celestial and spiritual things within them-things which they also symbolize.

What correspondences are may be further seen from Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), where the correspondences of things in Genesis and Exodus have been explained. And see, besides, the material on correspondences taken from that work and published in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, and in Heaven and Hell. The spiritual or internal meaning of the Word is simply the meaning of the letter unfolded according to correspondences, for this makes known the spiritual content that angels in the heavens perceive when a person in the world thinks naturally about what he reads in the Word.

[3] I have heard and perceived from heaven that the people of the Most Ancient Church-who are the ones meant in a spiritual sense by Adam and Eve in the first chapters of Genesis-were so affiliated with angels of heaven that they could speak with them by means of things that correspond. Consequently their state of wisdom was such that whatever they saw on earth, they perceived in a spiritual way as well, thus perceiving along with the angels. I have been told that Enoch-who is mentioned in Genesis, chapter 5**-together with his companions made from what the most ancients said a collection of correspondences and handed down a knowledge of them to their descendants. As a result, a knowledge of correspondences not only existed in many kingdoms in Asia, but was also further developed, especially in Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and the land of Canaan. From there it was carried into Greece-though in Greece it was turned into fables-as can be seen simply from stories about Olympus, Helicon and Pindus near Athens,*** and also from the story of the winged horse called Pegasus, which with its hoof broke open the spring around which the nine Muses made their home. For a mountain like Helicon by correspondence symbolizes a higher heaven, while a hill below a mountain, such as Pindus,**** symbolizes a heaven below it. The winged horse or Pegasus symbolizes an understanding enlightened by spiritual sight. A spring symbolizes intelligence and learning. And the nine Muses symbolize conceptions of truth and various kinds of knowledge. The rest of the stories composed by writers of the distant past in Greece, stories which are called myths, and which were gathered together and recorded by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, were of the same character.

[4] However, when in the course of time the representative features of the church were turned into objects of idolatrous worship, then in the Lord's Divine providence a knowledge of correspondences was gradually blotted out, and in the Israelite and Jewish nation it was entirely lost and extinguished. Indeed, the worship of that nation was completely representational, but still the people did not know what any of the representations signified; for they were altogether natural people, and therefore they were neither able nor willing to know anything about the spiritual person and his faith and love. As a consequence, neither did they know anything about correspondence.

[5] The idolatries of nations in ancient times arose from the study of correspondences among them for the reason that everything appearing on the earth has a correspondence-as, for instance, not only trees, but also animals and birds of every kind, as well as fish, and so on. The ancients, who had a knowledge of correspondences, made images for themselves that corresponded to spiritual things, and they took delight in them, because they symbolized such things as had to do with heaven and so with the church. They put images like this not only in their temples but also in their houses, not as objects of worship, but to remind them of the heavenly things which they symbolized. In Egypt they therefore set up images of calves, bulls, snakes, children, old people, and maidens, among other things, because a calf symbolized the innocence of the natural person, bulls the affections of the natural person, snakes the prudence of the sensual person, a child innocence, old people wisdom, maidens affections for truth, and so forth. After a knowledge of correspondences was there extinguished, their descendants-who did not know what these things symbolized-began to worship the images and figures set up by the ancients, first as holy objects, and finally as deities, because they were placed in and around temples.

The hieroglyphics of the Egyptians came from the same origin. So did other similar things in other nations-such as Dagon with the Philistines in Ashdod, whose upper half was like that of a man and its lower half like that of a fish. This image was invented because a man symbolizes rational intelligence and a fish natural knowledge. From the same origin arose also the worship of the ancients in gardens and in groves according to the kinds of trees growing there, as well as their sacred worship upon mountains. For gardens and groves symbolized spiritual intelligence, and each tree something relating to it. For example, an olive tree symbolized the goodness of the love in that intelligence, a vine the truth of its faith, a cedar its rationality, and so on. And a mountain symbolized heaven. It was because of this that the worship of the most ancients had been held on mountains.

It can be seen from the wise men from the east who came to see the Lord when He was born that a knowledge of correspondences remained with many eastern people even down to the time of the Lord's advent. That is why a star went before them, and they brought with them gold, frankincense and myrrh.***** And that 'Is why the shepherds****** were told, in order that they might know He was the Lord, that this would be a sign to them: that they would see Him in a manger, wrapped in swaddling cloths, because there was no room in the inn.******* For the star which went before symbolized knowledge from heaven, inasmuch as stars in the Word symbolize concepts. The gold symbolized celestial good, the frankincense spiritual good, and the myrrh natural good-the three kinds of good from which everything of worship originates. The manger where the shepherds found the infant Lord symbolized spiritual nourishment, because horses, which get their nourishment from mangers, symbolize things having to do with the understanding. The inn where there was no room symbolized the Jewish Church, in which there was no spiritual nourishment at that time, because everything of the Word, and so everything of worship with them, had by then been adulterated and perverted. Therefore it is said that this would be a sign to them that it was the Lord (Luke 2:12).

Nevertheless, a knowledge of correspondences was still completely nonexistent in the Israelite and Jewish nation, even though all of their worship, and all the ordinances and decrees they were given, and all the contents of their Word were nothing but correspondent forms. The reason was that that nation was idolatrous at heart, and the character of the people was such that they were not even willing to know that anything of their worship had any celestial or spiritual symbolism. For they wanted every one of those things to be holy of itself and to be so with them in its outward forms. Therefore, if spiritual and celestial things had been disclosed to them, they would not only have rejected them but also profaned them. Consequently heaven was so closed to them that they hardly knew they would live after death. The truth of this is clearly apparent from the fact that they did not accept the Lord, even though their Holy Scripture everywhere prophesied concerning Him and foretold His advent. They rejected Him for the sole reason that He taught them about a heavenly kingdom and not about an earthly kingdom. For they wanted a Messiah who would raise them up over all other nations in the entire world, and not a Messiah whose care was for their eternal salvation. Furthermore, they say that the Word contains many secrets in it, which they call mysteries, but they do not want to know that these have to do with the Lord and His kingdom. On the other hand, they do wish to know when it is said that the mysteries have to do with gold and alchemy.

[6] A knowledge of correspondences was not disclosed after that time for the reason that Christians in the early church were very simple, so that it could not be disclosed to them. If it had been disclosed, it would have been of no use to them, nor would they have understood it. In the following centuries darkness arose over the whole Christian world on account of the papist religion, which at last became a land of Babylon; and those who come from this Babylon and have confirmed themselves in its falsities are mostly natural, sensual people, who cannot and will not comprehend anything spiritual, thus neither what the correspondence of natural things to spiritual things is. For then they would also have to be convinced that Peter does not mean Peter, that the Word is Divine even to its inmost elements, and that a papal edict is of no consequence by comparison. After the Reformation, furthermore, people began to draw a distinction between faith and charity, and to worship one God in three persons, thus three Gods, whom they merely called one, and because of this heavenly truths were then kept hidden from them, to prevent them from falsifying them. For if heavenly truths had been disclosed, they would have falsified those truths and used them to support faith alone, and not one of them to support charity and love. Therefore, if the spiritual meaning of the Word had then been revealed, they would have closed heaven to themselves also by a falsification of those truths.

[7] To explain this, it should be known that everyone is permitted to understand the literal meaning of the Word in a simple way, provided he does not affirm the appearances of truth he finds there to the point that he does away with the real truth. For to interpret the Word in respect to its spiritual meaning according to falsities of doctrine closes heaven instead of opening it. It is otherwise if one interprets the spiritual meaning in accordance with truths of doctrine. This opens heaven, because that is the meaning which exists with angels, and through that meaning, therefore, a person thinks along with angels and thus joins them to him in his intellectual thought. But if a person is caught up in falsities of doctrine and tries to explore the spiritual meaning from some knowledge of correspondences, he falsifies that meaning. It is different if a person has first come into genuine truths, for the spiritual meaning agrees with truths and appears in the light of truths, because it exists in the light of heaven. But it agrees not one whit with falsities, and if anything of it were to appear to someone in falsities, darkness would result instead of the light of heaven. For angels turn away in that case, thus closing heaven to the person.

The Word's spiritual meaning is meant by the Lord's inner garment or tunic, which was without seam, and which the soldiers were not permitted to divide. The Word's natural meaning, on the other hand, or the meaning of its letter, is meant by the garments which the soldiers divided.******** Garments in the Word symbolize truths, and the Lord's garments Divine truths. That is also why the Lord's garments appeared as white as the light when He was transfigured before Peter, James and John.*********

[8] The Lord has revealed the spiritual meaning of the Word at this day because a doctrine of genuine truth has now been revealed. This doctrine is contained in part in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, and now in some shorter works which are in process of publication.********** And because this doctrine and no other agrees with the spiritual meaning of the Word, therefore that meaning has now for the first time been disclosed, along with a knowledge of correspondences. That meaning is also symbolized by the Lord's appearing in the clouds of heaven with glory and power (Matthew 24:30), in the chapter in Matthew which describes the end of the age, by which is meant the final period of the church. A cloud of heaven, there and elsewhere in the Word, symbolizes the Word in its letter, the Word in its letter being relatively like a cloud in comparison to its spiritual meaning. Glory, on the other hand, there as also elsewhere in the Word, symbolizes the Word in respect to its spiritual meaning, by which Divine truth is in light. And by power is meant its force.

A revelation of the Word in respect to its spiritual meaning was also promised in the book of Revelation. That meaning is there meant by the white horse, and likewise by the great supper of God to which all come and are gathered (Revelation 19:11-17). It was also foretold that for a long time many would not accept the spiritual meaning, as is the case only with those who are caught up in falsities of doctrine - especially concerning the Lord-and who do not acknowledge truths. This is what is meant by the beast and the kings of the earth who were going to make war against Him that sat on the white horse (Revelation 19:19). By the beast is meant Roman Catholics (as in chap. 17, ver. 3, in the same book) and by the kings of the earth are meant Protestants-those who are caught up in falsities of doctrine.

The mysteries which some look for in the Word are nothing else than its spiritual and celestial meanings.
* See Heaven and Hell, nos. 103-115, 87-102.
** See Genesis 5:21-24.
*** Sic.
**** The writer may have been thinking of a line from Ovid's Metamorphoses 7:225, ... both Pindus and, greater than Pindus, Olympus...."
***** See Matthew 2:1-11.
****** The writer first wrote "they," and afterward changed it to "the shepherds." Everything said here about the shepherds was entirely omitted in subsequent, parallel passages.
******* See Luke 2:6-12.
******** See John 19:23,24.
********* See Matthew 17:1, 2, Mark 9:2, 3, Luke 9:28,29.
**********The works referred to are almost certainly The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem in accordance with the Commandments of the Decalogue, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith, published in 1763.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 8

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 8

8. The Marriage of the Lord with the Church, which is the Marriage of Good and Truth in the Word

People know that in the Word the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband, and the church bride and wife. The reason the Lord and the church are so designated comes from the conjunction of good and truth in everyone who is in heaven, or who. is in the church and has the church within him. For the Lord flows into angels and people of the church from the goodness of their love and charity; and angels or people of the church receive the Lord-who is in the goodness of love and charity-in the truths of doctrine and faith that they have from the Word. A conjunction is thus formed, which is called the heavenly marriage. This marriage exists in every particular of the Word, and because it is in every particular, the Word itself may be called a heavenly marriage.

The existence of such a marriage in every particular of the Word has been shown many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), and also in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine where it deals with the Word.* That there is such a marriage in the Word can be seen solely from the studies of those who look for its internal or spiritual meaning. For everywhere in the Word, and clearly in the Prophets, two expressions for the same thing occur, one of which relates to good, thus to the Lord, and the other to truth, thus to the church. One who knows correspondences sees this plainly, for he finds phrases and words which correspond to goodness, and phrases and words which correspond to truths. This, now, is the reason there is a conjunction of the Lord with heaven and the church through the Word.

[2] Because there is such a marriage in the Word, therefore the Word has within It a spiritual meaning and a celestial meaning. The spiritual meaning is for those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, who make up all the lower heavens, and the celestial meaning is for those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, who make up all the higher heavens. Angels of the spiritual kingdom are concerned with the Word's truths, while angels of the celestial kingdom are concerned with its goodness. Consequently when a person reads the Word with reverence, spiritual angels perceive the truths in it, according to correspondences, and celestial angels perceive its goodness.

What is a secret, however, is that celestial angels do not perceive the goodness in the Word directly from a person, but indirectly through spiritual angels. The reason is that scarcely anyone in the Christian world today is concerned with the goodness of celestial love, but only some with truths. Consequently, the goodness of love cannot be transmitted directly from people to celestial angels, who make up the third heaven, but it is transmitted indirectly through spiritual angels, who make up the second heaven. In this way a marriage of the Lord with the church takes place also by means of the Word in the heavens. For the Word in its spiritual meaning has to do with the church, while in its celestial meaning it has to do with the Lord. Spiritual angels therefore apply everything to the church, whereas celestial angels apply everything to the Lord. That is why heaven is likened by the Lord to a marriage, and is also called a marriage;** and that is why the Word effects that marriage. However, this is a secret which can be perceived only dimly by people, but which is clearly perceived by an angel of heaven.

[3] Celestial angels are able to apply to the Lord everything that spiritual angels apply to the church, because the Lord is the all in all of the church.
* See The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, nos. 249-266.
** See Matthew 22:1-14, 25:1-13.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 9

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 9

9. No Genuine Truth is Seen or Found in the Word by Anyone Whose Objective is to Become Great and Obtain Honors in the World, and also in Heaven, or Whose Objective is Wealth and Material Gain in the World, or Whose Objective is, a Reputation for Learning

I have been given to speak with many in the spiritual world who believed they would shine like stars in heaven. They believed this, they said, because they held the Word holy, read it often, took many things from it, and defended the tenets of their faith by it. Consequently they were considered learned in the world, and they, with others, believed they would become Michaels or Raphaels.* A number of them were examined, however, to see what love prompted them to study the Word. And it was found that some did so out of self-love, in order to appear great in the world and to be worshiped as leaders of the church; others to gain a reputation for teaming and so be promoted to positions of honor; still others to acquire riches; and some to be able to preach in a learned fashion. Afterward they were examined to discover whether they had learned any genuine truth from the Word. And they were found to know only the obvious things which simply everyone sees in the literal meaning, but no genuine truth such as might serve them for doctrine on a deeper level. The reason for this was that their objectives were focused on themselves and the world, instead of on the Lord and heaven. And when anyone has self and the world as his focus, he then fastens his mind on them, and thinks continually in accord with his self-interest, which is in darkness regarding everything connected with heaven. For human self-interest is nothing but evil, with its resulting falsity. A person who regards himself in reading the Word, therefore-whether with an eye to honor or reputation, or to material gain-cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from his self-interest and so be raised into the light of heaven. Consequently, neither can he receive anything flowing in from the Lord through heaven.

[2] I have seen many spirits like this, and every one of them longed for heaven with all his might. They have also been let into heaven. But when they got there, they were examined to see whether they knew anything of the truth possessed by angels, and they knew no more than just the words of the literal text, without any idea at all of their deeper meaning. As a consequence, in the eyes of the angels they appeared stripped of their clothing and seemingly naked, and so were sent down below. Some of them in the light of heaven lost their intellectual sight, and then the sight of their eyes, and afterward were seized with intense pain of the heart, and thus were taken down below. Still, however, there remained in them the conceit that they were deserving.

This is the lot of those who study the Word with honor, reputation, or material gain as their objective. It is entirely different with those who study the Word out of an affection for truth, or who in reading the Word find delight in the truth because it is true. Such people have the love of God and love of the neighbor as their goal, and their focus is on life rather than on themselves. Because they love what is true, they all receive an influx from the Lord, and they see and discover genuine truths in the Word. For they are enlightened intellectually, and in their enlightenment they perceive these things as if of themselves, even though it is not of themselves. After death they are raised into heaven, where truth exists in its own light; and they become spiritual, and are angels.
* i.e., archangels.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 10

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 10

10. The Outmost Meaning of the Word-Which is Simply the Sense of the Letter-Corresponds to the Beard and Hair on the Head of a person who is an Angel

It may seem strange at first to read and be told that the hair of the head and the beard correspond to the Word in its outmost aspects. This correspondence, however, draws its origin from the fact that every element of the Word corresponds to an element of heaven, and every element of heaven to an element of the human form. For heaven as a whole is, in the Lord's sight, like a single person. (Concerning this correspondence, see the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 87-102.)

[2] I have been given to perceive that every element of the Word corresponds to an element of heaven from the discovery that individual chapters in the prophetic books of the Word correspond to individual societies of heaven. For once, when I ran through the prophetic books of the Word from Isaiah to Malachi, I was given to see that societies of heaven were stirred one by one in turn, and that they perceived the spiritual meaning corresponding to themselves. Consequently, on the basis of this and other evidence, it became apparent to me that there is a correspondence of the whole of heaven with the Word in its series. Now, because there is such a correspondence of the Word with heaven, and because heaven in whole and in part corresponds to the human form, therefore it comes to pass that the outmost aspect of the Word corresponds to the outmost features of a person. The outmost aspect of the Word is its literal meaning, and the outmost features of a person are the hairs of his head and beard.

[3] For this reason, people who have loved the Word even in respect to its outmost aspects, after death, when they become spirits, appear with attractive hair. So do angels. When these same people become angels, they also let their beards grow. On the other hand, all those who have held the literal meaning of the Word in disdain, after death, when they become spirits, appear bald. This is moreover a sign that they are lacking in truths. Consequently they also cover their heads with turbans, so as not to be a scandal to others.

[4] Inasmuch as hair and beards symbolize the outmost aspects of heaven and so also the outmost aspects of Divine truth or the Word, therefore the Ancient of Days is described in Daniel 7:9 as having the hair of His head like pure wool. Likewise the Son of Man, or the Lord in relation to the Word, in Revelation 1:14. For the same reason Samson's strength lay in his hair, on the cutting of which he became weak.* And the hair of a Nazirite was consecrated,** because a Nazirite represented the Lord in regard to His outmost aspects, thus also heaven in its outmost aspects. That was why the forty-two boys were torn apart by she-bears for calling Elisha a baldhead (2 Kings 2:23,24).

[5] Elisha, like Elijah and the rest of the prophets, represented the Lord in relation to the Word, and the Word is not the Word apart from its outmost meaning, which is the meaning of the letter. For the literal meaning of the Word is like a decanter filled with fine wine. If therefore the decanter is broken, all the wine is lost. Or the literal meaning of the Word is like the bones and skin of a person. If these are taken away, the whole person disintegrates. This is the reason that the integrity, indeed, the power of the whole Word lies in its outmost meaning, which is the meaning of the letter. For this meaning sustains and contains all the Divine truth within.

[6] Since baldness symbolizes a lack of truth, because its outmost form is missing, therefore those of the Jewish Church, when they left Jehovah and rejected the Word, are called bald. In Jeremiah, for example:

... every head shall be bald, and every beard shaved. (Jeremiah 48:37)

In Isaiah:

On ... their heads will be baldness, and (the) beard shaved. (Isaiah 15:2)

In Ezekiel:

(That he was to shave his head and beard with a razor.) (Ezekiel 5:1)

Also in Ezekiel:

Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)

Again in Ezekiel:

Every head was made bald.... (Ezekiel 29:18)

So also in other places, as in Amos 8:10, and Micah 1:16.

[7] Nevertheless, the meaning of the Word called the sense of the letter corresponds to the hair of the head only in its outmost aspects. In other respects it corresponds to various parts of the human body-such as the head, breast, loins, and feet. However, when such correspondent forms occur in the literal meaning, the Word is as if clothed, and the literal meaning then corresponds to the clothing of these parts. For garments in general symbolize truths, and also actually correspond to them. But still, many things in the literal meaning of the Word are naked, unclothed so to speak, and these correspond to a person's face, and also to his hands-parts that are bare. These things in the Word are serviceable for the doctrine of the church, because they are in themselves spiritual truths on a natural plane. Consequently it can be seen that there is nothing to prevent a person from finding and seeing naked truths even in the literal sense of the Word.
[Marginal Note]
That the outmost meaning of the Word, from the correspondence of natural things with spiritual things, is meant by the twelve precious stones of which the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem consisted....
* See Judges 16:16-19.
** See Numbers 6:5, 7, 9, 11, 18, 19; Judges 13:5.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 11

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 11

11. The Wisdom of the Angels of the Three Heavens Comes from the Lord through the Word, the Literal Meaning of the Word Serving as its Foundation and Base

I have heard from heaven that a direct revelation existed among the most ancient people on this earth, and that therefore they had no written Word. But after that time, when direct revelation could neither be given nor received without endangering people's souls-then, to keep the communication and conjunction of people with the heavens from being interrupted and destroyed, it pleased the Lord to reveal Divine truth by means of a written Word. This Word was written solely in terms of things that correspond, and it is therefore of such a character in its outmost sense that it includes within it the wisdom of the angels of the three heavens. That wisdom is not apparent in our Word, but still it is there. How it is there shall be briefly told:

There are three heavens, one below the other, with the world under them. In the highest heaven, angelic wisdom is in its highest degree, called celestial wisdom. In the middle heaven, angelic wisdom is in its middle degree, called spiritual wisdom. And in the lowest heaven, angelic wisdom is in its lowest degree, called spiritual-natural and celestial-natural wisdom. In the world, because it is below the heavens, wisdom is in its very lowest degree and is called natural.

All these degrees of wisdom are present in the Word that exists in the world, but in concurrent order, for sequential order in its descent becomes concurrent. Concurrent order therefore embraces all the sequential degrees descending into it. The highest degree in sequential order becomes the inmost in concurrent order. The middle degree becomes the intermediate, and the lowest becomes the outmost.

The Word in the world is an example of such a concurrence. In its inmost is the Lord, from whom Divine truth and Divine good radiate like fiery light from a sun, transmitting themselves through intermediate means all the way to outmost things. Next in that concurrent order are Divine things in celestial form, such as exist in the highest or third heaven, from which the angels in that heaven have their wisdom. Divine things in spiritual form then follow, of the sort found in the middle or second heaven, from which the angels of that heaven have their wisdom. After that come Divine things in spiritual-natural and celestial-natural form, such as exist in the lowest or first heaven, from which the angels there have their wisdom. The outmost circle of this concurrence is made up of Divine things in natural form, such as exist in the world, from which people have their wisdom. This outmost element surrounds, holds together, and so contains the things within, to keep them from drifting away. Thus it also serves as a foundation.

Such is the nature of our Word in its literal meaning, as a whole and likewise in every part. Consequently, when a person reads it with reverence, then its inward contents are unlocked and uncovered, and each heaven takes its own meaning from it. Spiritual angels take from it their Divine-spiritual meaning, and celestial angels their Divine-celestial meaning-these being, for them, the source of their wisdom.

I have not only heard it said from heaven that this is the character of our Word, but I have also been shown it and had it confirmed by much personal experience. Something Divine sent down from the Lord into the world could only have passed through the heavens in turn and have come forth in the world so formed that it returns through the heavens to the Lord, its origin, in the same order.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 12

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 12

12. Enlightenment by the Word

Every person who possesses a spiritual affection for truth, that is, who loves real truth because it is true, is enlightened by the Lord when he reads the Word. Not so, however, one who reads the Word solely out of a natural affection for truth, which is called curiosity. Such a person sees only what accords with his love, or with his philosophic opinions, either that he has conceived for himself, or that he has adopted from others through hearing and reading. It shall be briefly told, therefore, what sort of person receives enlightenment through the Word, and why.

The person who receives enlightenment is one who refrains from evils because they are sins, and because they are against the Lord and are endeavors opposed to His Divine laws. In such a one and in no other the spiritual mind opens, and in the measure that it opens, in the same measure the light of heaven enters (all enlightenment in the Word being from the light of heaven). The reason is that the person then has a will for good. When this will is directed to that useful end [namely, to reading the Word], it produces in the intellect first an affection for truth, then a perception of truth, afterward with the help of rational sight, thought of truth, consequently a determination and conclusion; and as soon as this enters from the intellect into the memory, it enters also into the life and so remains.

This is the way all enlightenment in the Word proceeds, and likewise a person's reformation and regeneration. But first there must be in the memory concepts of both spiritual and natural things; for these concepts are the receptacles into which the Lord operates through the light of heaven. The fuller they are and the freer of falsities that have been affirmed, the more enlightened the perception and the surer the conclusion. The Divine operation simply does not descend into an empty-headed and witless person. Take, for example, someone who does not know that the Lord is pure love and pure mercy, being goodness itself and truth itself, and that love itself and goodness itself by its very nature cannot do anyone any evil or be angry and take vengeance, and who does not know that the literal meaning of the Word in many places has been written in accordance with appearances. A person like that cannot be enlightened by the Word where it says that Jehovah becomes wrathful and angry, and attributes to Him fire and fury-as, for instance, in Deuteronomy, where it says that His anger burns to the lowest hell;* in Amos 3:6, that there is no evil in a city which Jehovah has not done; in Deuteronomy 28:63, that He rejoices to do evil as He rejoiced to do good; in the Lord's Prayer, that He leads into temptations;** and so on in other places.
* Deuteronomy 32:22.
** Matthew 6:13, Luke 11:4.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 13

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 13

13. How Much Better a Mediated Revelation Effected Through the Word is than a Direct Revelation Effected Through Spirits

People suppose they would be more enlightened and wiser if they had a direct revelation through speech with spirits and angels, but the opposite is the case. Enlightenment by means of the Word comes by an inner path, while enlightenment by direct revelation comes by a path from without. The inner path is through the will into the intellect. The outer path is through the hearing into the intellect. A person is enlightened by the Lord by means of the Word to the degree that his will is intent on good. Granted, a person may be instructed and seemingly enlightened through the hearing even if his will is intent on evil, yet instruction that enters the intellect of a person whose will is intent on evil is not within him but remains as something apart. It is a matter solely of the memory, and not of his life. And what remains apart from a person and is not a matter of his life, gradually fades away, after death if not before. For a will intent on evil either rejects the instruction, or stifles it, or falsifies and profanes, it.

The fact is that a person's will constitutes his life, and his will continually acts upon his intellect. Whatever enters the intellect from the memory, therefore, the will regards as alien. On the other hand, the intellect does not act upon the will, but only informs It how it should act. Consequently, if a person were to know from heaven everything that angels ever know, or if he were to know everything in the Word, and everything taught in the doctrines of the church, and in addition to this what the church fathers wrote and the councils pronounced-if he were to know all this and yet have a will intent on evil, after death he would still be regarded as one who knew nothing, because he would not will what he knew. And because evil hates truth, the person himself would then reject those things and in their stead adopt falsities in harmony with the evil of his will.

[2] Besides this, no spirit or angel is allowed to instruct anyone on this earth in Divine truths. Rather, the Lord Himself instructs everyone by means of the Word, and He instructs a person to the degree that the person receives goodness from the Lord in his will, which in turn depends on the degree to which he abstains from evils because they are sins.

Moreover, every person is in the company of spirits in respect to his affections and the thoughts resulting from those affections. He is in this company as a member of it. If spirits speak with a person, therefore, they do so on the basis of his affections and in accordance with them. Nor can a person speak with any others until the companies with which he is already associated are first removed. This does not happen except by a reformation of his will. Because everyone is in the company of spirits who are of the same religion as he is, therefore if spirits speak with him, they affirm everything that the person has made a matter of his own religion. Thus fanatic spirits support everything that is a part of a person's fanaticism, Quaker spirits everything that is a part of his Quakerism, Moravian spirits everything that is a part of his Moravianism, and so on. The result is confirmations of falsity that can never be eradicated.

It is apparent from this that a mediated revelation effected through the Word is better than a direct revelation effected through spirits. As for myself, I have not been permitted to take anything from the testimony of any spirit, nor from the testimony of any angel, but from the testimony of the Lord alone.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 14

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 14

14. The Word in Heaven

The Word exists in all the heavens, and it is read there and preached from as in the world. For it is the Divine truth from which angels have their intelligence and wisdom. Indeed, without the Word no one would know anything about the Lord, about love and faith, redemption, or any of the other secrets of heavenly wisdom. In fact, without the Word there would not be a heaven, just as in the world there would not be a church without the Word. Thus there would be no conjunction with the Lord.

We have already shown above that a natural theology is not possible apart from revelation, and in the Christian world apart from the Word.* If a natural theology is not possible in the world, neither would it be possible for anyone after death, since every person on becoming a spirit after death is in the same condition with respect to religion as he was with respect to his religion in the world. Nor does heaven consist of any class of angels created before the world or together with the world, but it consists entirely of people who were once people in the world and who inwardly then became angels. These come by means of the Word in heaven into spiritual wisdom, which is an interior wisdom, because the Word there is spiritual.

[2] The Word in the Lord's spiritual kingdom is not the same as the Word in the world. The Word in the world is natural, while in the spiritual kingdom it is spiritual. The difference is like that between the Word's natural meaning and its spiritual meaning. The nature of the spiritual meaning has been shown many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), where the entire contents of Genesis and Exodus have been expounded according to that meaning. The difference is such that not one expression is the same. Instead of names, the Word in the spiritual kingdom has concepts. So, too, in place of numbers. And instead of historical narratives it contains matters having to do with the church. But surprisingly, when an angel reads that Word, he does not know it is not the same as the Word he read in the world. The reason is that he no longer possesses any natural ideas, but spiritual ideas in their stead, and natural things and spiritual things by correspondence are so joined that, in a way, they constitute one and the same thing. As a result, when an angel comes from natural things into spiritual things, the spiritual things seem no different to him. In fact, an angel is not aware that he is wiser than he had been in the world, even though he has a wisdom so far superior to his former wisdom that it is indescribable in comparison. Nor can he know the difference, because in his spiritual state he knows nothing of his natural state, the state he was in in the world. And because he does not go back to that state, he cannot examine the two states together and see the differences and so make a comparison. Nevertheless, an angel is still continually being perfected in his wisdom-in heaven more so than in the world, because he has a purer spiritual affection for truth.

[3] In the Lord's celestial kingdom, moreover, the Word is much more excellent and full of wisdom than the Word in His spiritual kingdom. These two differ in the same measure as the natural Word in the world and the spiritual Word just described. For that Word has in it an inmost meaning, called celestial, and everything of the Word in that meaning has to do with the Lord alone. In place of "Jehovah" this Word says "the Lord"; and the Lord is named instead of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, also instead of David, and instead of Moses, Elijah, and the rest of the prophets. The particular Divine attribute of the Lord meant by each of these persons is specified by its own sign or mark. Instead of the names of the tribes of Israel-the twelve tribes-and also instead of the names of the apostles, the Word in the celestial kingdom refers to some aspect of the Lord in relation to the church. And so on in respect to everything else in it. It was apparent to me from this that the Holy Scripture from beginning to end in its inmost meaning has to do with the Lord alone.

The difference that exists between these two Words, the spiritual and the celestial, is like that between thoughts of the intellect and affections of the will. For angels of the celestial kingdom are motivated by love for the Lord and thus have an affection for good, while angels of the spiritual kingdom are motivated by faith in the Lord and thus have a perception of truth.

[4] The spiritual Word and the celestial Word differ as well in respect to their style of writing. The writing of the spiritual Word consists of letters similar to printed letters in our world, but every letter carries a meaning. Consequently, if you saw that writing, you would not understand a single word. For the letters are written one after another in an unbroken series, with little lines and points above and below. This is the style of writing, because it accords with spiritual speech, which has nothing in common with natural speech. The wiser angels are, the more interior the secrets which they see from their Word thus written-secrets more interior than simpler angels see. The secrets hidden there are clearly apparent to the eyes of the wise, but not to the eyes of the simple. It is the same-only more so-as in the case of our Word, in which the wise also see more than the simple.

The writing of the celestial Word, on the other hand, is composed of letters unknown in the world. They are, indeed, alphabetical letters, but each consists of curved lines with little hornlike projections above and below, and the letters have dots or points in them and also above and below them. I have been told that the most ancient people on this earth had writing like this. In certain respects it is like Hebrew writing, but only a little. This style of writing expresses affections which have to do with love, so that it involves more secrets than the angels themselves can put into words. Any secrets they perceive in their Word that they cannot put into words they express by means of representations. The wisdom that lies hidden in this Word exceeds a thousand times and more the wisdom hidden in the spiritual Word.

[5] In order to understand the difference between the three Words, natural, spiritual and celestial, take for example the first chapters of Genesis, containing the story of Adam, his wife, and the Garden of Eden. In the natural Word, the Word that exists in the world, these chapters describe the creation of the world, the first creation of man, and his earthly enjoyments and delights. By the names of the persons after him down to the Flood are meant his descendants, and by the numbers the ages of those descendants.

In the spiritual Word, however-the Word as it exists among angels in the spiritual kingdom-these things are not perceived. Instead, the first chapter describes the reformation and regeneration of the people of the Most Ancient Church, which is also called a new creation. By the Garden of Eden in the second chapter is described the intelligence of the people of that church. By Adam and his wife, the church itself. By their descendants then down to the Flood are described the changes in state of that church until it came to an end, and by the Flood, finally, its death.

In the celestial Word, on the other hand, or in the Word as it exists among angels in the Lord's celestial kingdom, the first chapter describes the glorification of the Lord's humanity. Instead of the Garden of Eden, His Divine wisdom is described. By Adam himself there is meant the Lord in respect to the Divine itself and at the same time in respect to His Divine Humanity. And by his wife is meant the church, called Eve from a word meaning "life," because the church has life from the Lord. So, too, Adam says of her that she was his bone and his flesh, and that they were one flesh, because the church is from the Lord and exists from Him and with Him as in a union. By the names listing the descendants of Adam are described in that Word the reception of the Lord and conjunction with Him by the people of that church in succeeding states, until finally there was no reception at all and thus no conjunction.

[6] As a result, when the first chapters of our Word are read by upright people, and especially by little boys and girls, and they are affected with joy over the state at the time of the creation of everything and over the Garden of Eden, then these other meanings are unfolded before the angels, and spiritual angels understand the things said in accordance with their Word, and celestial angels in accordance with theirs, without their being aware that a person or young child is reading it. For these meanings are unfolded in turn because they correspond, and the nature of correspondent things is such from creation. It is apparent from this what the character of the Word is within, namely, that it has three meanings. The first is an outmost one for people, which is natural, which for the most part deals with worldly matters; and even when it deals with Divine matters, It puts them in terms of the kinds of things found in the world. The second meaning is an intermediate one, which is spiritual, in which are described such matters as have to do with the church. And the third meaning is an inmost one, which is celestial, which contains things having to do with the Lord. For all of nature is a theater representative of the Lord's kingdom; and the Lord's kingdom, or heaven and the church, is a theater representative of the Lord Himself. Moreover, as the Lord glorified His humanity, so He also regenerates mankind; and as He regenerates mankind, so He also created them.

[7] It can be seen from this what the character of the Word is within. The natural Word as it exists in this world among Christians contains within it both a spiritual Word and a celestial Word. For the spiritual meaning of our Word is the Word in the heavens that make up the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and the celestial meaning of our Word-its inmost meaning-is the Word in the heavens that make up the Lord's celestial kingdom. Therefore our natural Word contains both the spiritual Word and the celestial Word, but the spiritual and celestial Words do not contain the natural Word. Consequently the Word in our world is the most full of Divine wisdom, and so is holier than the Words in the heavens.
* See no. 6.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 15

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 15

15. The Lost Ancient Word

Angels of the third heaven have told me that the ancients had a Word among them, written, like our Word, solely in terms of things that correspond, but which has since been lost. They also said that this Word is still preserved among them, and is used by the ancients in that heaven, for whom this was the Word when they lived in the world.

These ancients among whom this Word is still used in heaven came partly from the land of Canaan and its borders, also from certain kingdoms in Asia, such as Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldea and Assyria, and from Egypt, Sidon and Tyre. The inhabitants of all those kingdoms possessed a representational worship and therefore had a knowledge of correspondences. They acquired the wisdom of that age from that knowledge, since by it they had communication with the heavens and an interior perception. And by it many of them were able to speak with spirits.

But because that Word was filled with correspondent things that only remotely signified heavenly things, and because as a consequence many in the course of time began to falsify it, therefore in the Lord's Divine providence it gradually disappeared, and another Word was given, written in terms of things whose correspondences were not so remote. This was the Word given through the prophets to the children of Israel. Nevertheless, this latter Word retained the names of places located in the land of Canaan and round about in Asia, and these maintained the same symbolic meanings. For this reason, the descendants of Abraham through the line of Jacob were brought into the land of Canaan, and there the Word given to them was written, where those places existed whose names were to be used.

[2] The existence of such a Word among the ancients is also apparent in the writings of Moses, who refers to it and quotes something from it in Numbers 21, verses 14 and 27. Narrative portions of this Word written as history were called The Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetic portions were called Oracles. Moses quoted the following from the narratives of that Word:

Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah: "Waheb in Suphah, and the streams, the Amon, and the channel of the streams which went down to the dwelling place of Ar and stops at the border of Moab." (Numbers 21:14, 15)

The Wars of Jehovah in that book mean and describe the Lord's combats with the hells and His victories over them, which would take place when He came into the world. These same combats are also meant and described in many places in the historical portions of our Word-such as by the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and by the wars of the judges and kings, both the wars of David and those of the other kings.

[3] From the prophetic portion of the Ancient Word Moses quoted the following:

Therefore the prophetic Oracles say: "Go into Heshbon; the city of Sihon will be built and established. For a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon, which consumed Ar of Moab, the possessors of the heights of the Amon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and given his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. We finished them with arrows; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. And we laid them waste as far as Nophah, which (reaches) even to Medeba." (Numbers 21:27-30)

That these prophetic utterances were called Oracles, and not proverbs or "those who speak in proverbs" as translators render it, can be seen from the meaning of the word moshalim* in the original Hebrew, which means not only proverbs but also prophetic oracles - as can be seen in Numbers 23:18, 24:3, 15. In each of these verses Balaam is said to have put forth his oracle, which was a prophetic one (prophetic, in fact, of the Lord). His oracle each time is called mashal, in the singular. The words quoted by Moses in these verses are also prophecies, not proverbs.

[4] That the Ancient Word was similarly Divine or Divinely inspired as our Word is apparent from Jeremiah, where almost the same words occur as those quoted above, namely:

... a fire has gone out from Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, which consumed the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished! For your sons have been taken off into captivity, and your daughters into captivity. (Jeremiah 48:45, 46)

In addition to these references, a prophetic book also of that same Ancient Word, called the Book of Jashar or Book of the Upright, is cited by David (2 Samuel 1:18) and Joshua (Joshua 10:13). it is apparent from this that the story in Joshua about the sun and the moon was a prophecy from that book.

I further have been told that the first seven chapters of Genesis appear in the same Ancient Word so completely that not the least word is missing.

[5] The religious beliefs and practices of many nations were derived and transmitted from that Word. For instance, they were transmitted from the land of Canaan and from various places in Asia to Greece, and from Greece to Italy, and through Ethiopia and Egypt into several countries in Africa. But in Greece the people used correspondences to create fables, and they turned the attributes of God into so many deities, the greatest of which they called Jove, after Jehovah.
* Sic. The writer does not distinguish between moshelim (the utterers) and meshalim (the utterances), both here and elsewhere. Cf. The Sacred Scripture, no. 103; True Christian Religion, no. 265; Arcana Coelestia, nos. 2897, 2898. The Masoretic text in Numbers 21:27 reads moshelim, but which could be repointed to read meshalim.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 16

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 16

16. Of Nations and Peoples Outside the Church, Who Do Not Have the Word and Who Therefore Know Nothing of the Lord and Redemption

People who have the Word are few in comparison to those who do not have it. The Word exists only in Europe, among Christians who are called Protestants. Roman Catholics, indeed, have the Word, but do not read it, and there are kingdoms devoted to that faith, such as France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, more than half of Germany, more than half of Hungary, and Poland. The Word is also little read in Russia, although the people still believe it to be holy. Communication [with heaven] by means of the Word exists only in England, Holland, in certain principalities in Germany, and in Sweden and Denmark, where the Word is taught and preached. Elsewhere, among the nations in Asia, Africa and the Indies, the Word is unknown, and the inhabitants of those regions are more numerous than Protestant Christians

To keep the Word from being lost, however, the Lord provided for the continued survival of the Jewish people, and for their living scattered over much of the earth, among whom the Word of the Old Testament remains in its original language. Although as a people they deny that the Lord is the Messiah or Christ foretold by the prophets, and although they are an evil-hearted people, nevertheless their reading of the Word has communication with certain heavens, for the correspondent forms communicate, whatever the character of the person doing the reading, provided he acknowledges the Word as Divine. It is the same today as in the past. For when Jews venerate Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David, Elijah, and others named in the Word, regarding them as divinities, then instead of these the heavens perceive the Lord, unconscious of the person in the world from whom that worshipful reverence is coming. Such is the nature of the conjunction of heaven with mankind by means of the Word.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 17

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 17

17. But the fact of the matter is this: There cannot be any conjunction with heaven unless somewhere on earth a church exists which has the Word and where by it the Lord is known, because the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and apart from the Lord there is no salvation. It is sufficient that a church possessing the Word exist somewhere on earth, even if it consists of relatively few people. By means of it the Lord is still present throughout the whole world, and by it heaven is joined to the human race. For conjunction takes place by means of the Word, whereas without the Word somewhere in the world, there would be no conjunction with anyone.

The Lord's presence and the conjunction of heaven with people on earth is everywhere effected by means of the Word because in the Lord's sight all of heaven is like a single person, and so, too, is the church. Moreover, each also actually is a person, since the Lord is heaven, and the Lord is the church. In this person, the church where the Word is read and where the Lord is therefore known is like the heart and the lungs; and just as in the human body all the rest of the organs and parts draw their subsistence and life from these two wellsprings of life, so likewise do all they in the world who have any sort of religion in which one God is worshiped, and who form the organs and parts of that grand person which is heaven and the church. For these others have life from the Lord through heaven by means of the Word in the church, even if it exists with comparatively few, just as the organs and parts of the rest of the body draw their life from the heart and the lungs. There is also a similar communication.

This, too, is why Christians among whom the Word is read form the breast of that grand person. They are also at the center of all. Around them are Roman Catholics. Around these are Muslims, who acknowledge the Lord as the greatest prophet and as the son of God. After these, then, come Africans. And the outmost periphery is composed of nations and peoples from Asia and the Indies. All those who are in that person also face toward the middle. Moreover, the greatest light, too, is found in the middle, where, as said, are Christians who possess the Word, because the light in heaven is Divine truth emanating from the Lord as its sun. From there as from its center, the light radiates out to all the peripheral areas and gives them light. This is the source of the enlightenment of nations and peoples not in the church-which also comes by means of the Word. For all light of truth in a person comes from the Lord through heaven.

[2] What is true of heaven as a whole is also true of every society in heaven, for every society of heaven is a heaven in smaller form, and it likewise appears in the Lord's sight as a single person (on which subject, see the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 41-87). In each society, too, those who are at the center similarly resemble the heart and the lungs, and they possess the greatest light. This light, with a resulting perception of truth, radiates out from that center in all directions toward those on the peripheries and gives them their spiritual life. I have been shown, moreover, that when those who were in the middle, who formed the region of the heart and lungs and who therefore possessed the greatest light, were removed, those who lived round about were left in comparative darkness, and that they then had such a weak perception of truth as to have scarcely any. But as soon as the others returned, their light reappeared as before, and they recovered their former perception of truth.

[3] It can be seen from this that the Word as it exists in the church with Protestants gives light to all nations and peoples by a spiritual communication such as has been described. Also that the Lord provides that there always be on this earth a church where the Word is read. That is why, when the Word was almost cast aside by Roman Catholics, of the Lord's Divine providence the Reformation took place in which the Word was again received. At the same time it was also provided that the Word be held holy by a noble nation* among the Catholic countries.

[4] Since without the Word there is no concept of the Lord, consequently no salvation, therefore when the Word in possession of the Jewish nation was completely adulterated and falsified and thus virtually nullified, it pleased the Lord to come into the world and not only fulfill the Word, but also renew and restore it and so give light once again to the inhabitants of this earth-according to the Lord's words in John:

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. And the light appears in darkness.... He was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world. (John 1:1, 4, 5, 9)

Again in John:

(Jesus said,) "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (John 8:12)

And in Matthew:

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. Upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has arisen. (Matthew 4:16)

[5] It was foretold that at the end of the present church, darkness would again arise in consequence of its failure to recognize and acknowledge the Lord as God of heaven and earth, and in consequence of its separating faith from charity, by which a proper understanding of the Word perished. Because of this, it has therefore now pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual meaning of the Word, and to make known that the Word in its spiritual meaning speaks of the Lord and the church, indeed of the Lord and the church only, and to disclose many other things by which to restore the light of truth that was almost extinguished.

The extinction of the light of truth at the end of the present church is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then ... they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with ... glory and power. (Matthew 24:29, 30)

By the sun there is meant the Lord in respect to His Divine love, by the moon the Lord in relation to faith, by the stars the Lord in relation to concepts of good and truth, by the clouds the literal meaning of the Word, and by glory its spiritual meaning-the Son of Man referring to the Lord in relation to the Word.
* Almost certainly a reference to the French nation. See Divine Providence, no. 257:4, and elsewhere.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 18

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 18

18. The Conjunction of Heaven with People of the Church Through the Literal Meaning of the Word

I have been given to know from much personal experience that the Word opens heaven to a person. That is to say, when a person reads the Word or speaks from it, communication with heaven is effected. I once read through the prophetic Word from Isaiah to Malachi, and I was given to see that every chapter-indeed, every verse-was perceived in some heavenly society. And because the spiritual meaning is communicated, and not the literal meaning, therefore the angels in the society did not know their perceptions were coming from some person. It seemed to them as if they were thinking spontaneously, of themselves, about such things as are contained within the Word.

[2] Another time I had with me African spirits, from Ethiopia. One day their ears were opened so that they heard people singing one of the Psalms of David in a temple in this world. The spirits were moved with such delight by this that they began to sing along with them. But presently their ears were closed again and they no longer heard anything from there; and then they were affected with a still greater delight, because it was a spiritual delight. And at the same time they were filled with intelligence, because the Psalm in its spiritual meaning had to do with the Lord and redemption by Him. The increase in their delight and joy of heart occurred as a result of their communication with a certain heavenly society from the Christian world, and by that communication they came into a similar state. It was apparent from this that a communication with the whole of heaven takes place by means of the Word.

[3] I omit a thousand other experiences which have confirmed for me that the literal meaning of our Word produces this effect; indeed, that the spiritual meaning without its accompanying natural meaning does not communicate with heaven. 'The reason is that the Lord flows in from first things through last things, thus from Himself into the natural meaning of the Word; and then from this He draws forth or unfolds its spiritual and celestial meanings so as to enlighten, teach and lead the angels. That is why in the Word the Lord is called the first and the last.*

[4] It is apparent from the above that unless the doctrine of the church has been taken from and verified by the literal meaning of the Word, it is without power, because it does not communicate [with heaven]. It is otherwise in the case of doctrine taken from the literal meaning and coupled with it.
* See Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, 48:12; Revelation 1:11, 17, 2:8, 22:13.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 19

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 19

19. Truths and Goods Called Truths of Faith and Goods of Love are Indescribably Multiplied in the Internal Meanings [of the Word], Thus in the Heavens

(Also, What the Natural Meaning Would Be Like Without the Spiritual and Celestial Meanings, and Vice Versa)

The reason truths and goods are multiplied in the internal meanings of the Word is that natural things are effects from spiritual causes, and spiritual things are effects from celestial causes, and an effect consists of many things as causes which do not appear to the eye-so many, that the effect may be said to consist of an infinite number of them. An effect is relatively gross, and a cause enters into every aspect of the effect, organizing it as a general form of itself, in which there are particular and individual components altogether too deeply hidden to fall within the scope of visual sight.

[2] An effect is, by way of comparison, like a tree in full growth, whose branches, leaves and fruits are visible to the eye. These are all effects. But if you could examine the fibers inside one of its branches, or the filaments in one of its leaves, or all the individual components of its fruit that are otherwise invisible, and likewise the invisible constituents in one of its seeds-all of which go to make up a tree with its various characteristics-if you could examine these things, you would see how beyond number and also how indescribable the things are which lie hidden from ordinary view. A flower was once opened before angels in respect to its interior elements which are called spiritual, and when they saw it, they said there was virtually a whole paradise there, consisting of things indescribable.

[3] An effect is also by way of comparison like the human body with all of its organs and parts that are visible to the eye, in contrast to its interior constituents, where there are so many organic forms, held together by the purest secrets of all the sciences and constituting a single whole, that you would say that into its composition have been brought together the secrets of all the sciences, as of physics, chemistry, mechanics, geometry, acoustics, optics-secrets which can never be explored because they cannot be comprehended.

That is what internal things are like in comparison to external things, or spiritual things in comparison to natural things, and celestial things in comparison to spiritual things. Something natural regarded in itself is simply the external form, called an effect, of spiritual things; and something spiritual is the external form, called an effect, of celestial things. Spiritual things all take their origin from celestial things, therefore, and natural things all take their origin from spiritual things.

It is apparent from this how it is to be understood that truth is the form of good, and that good has its character in truths, because good receives its form from truths, and without form there is no character. It also makes apparent how it is to be understood that truth arises from good as from its vital cause, so that if you remove good from truths, it is like taking the nut out of an almond, making truth comparable to its empty shell, or like taking the flesh from a fruit and leaving only the skin. Truth without good is consequently turned into a kind of illusion, which outwardly appears the same, but inwardly is empty. So it is with natural things if spiritual things are removed, and so, too, with spiritual things if celestial things are removed.

[4] Since spiritual things contain indescribable things which do not appear in the natural realm, and celestial things a countless number of things [which do not appear in the spiritual realm], it is apparent what the meanings of the natural, spiritual and celestial Words are like, namely, that these Words are indescribable in relation to one another. They therefore follow in order, like knowledge, intelligence and wisdom. Angels on this account also call people on earth knowledgeable, because they are in natural light, whereas angels of the Lord's spiritual kingdom are called intelligent, and angels of the Lord's celestial kingdom wise.

[5] The Word in its literal meaning may be likened to a tree possessing a healthy and thriving bark or cortex enveloping it. And the spiritual meaning may be likened to the tree's nourishment by various juices and essences, partly arising from the soil, partly taken in from the air and atmosphere by means of the heat and light of the sun. If the literal meaning alone were to exist, and not at the same time the spiritual and celestial meanings, it would be like a tree without sap, in fact, like bark by itself without the wood. But with those other meanings it is like a tree in its perfect state. In such a tree, too, all the sap rises from the root through the bark or cortex. Therefore if the bark is taken away, the tree withers. So would it be with the spiritual meaning of the Word apart from its natural meaning.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 20

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 20

20. The Word*

That all the holiness of the Word resides in its literal sense, and that there is no holiness in its spiritual meaning apart from the literal sense.... That the spiritual meaning apart from the literal meaning would be like a house without a foundation, thus like a house in the air.... That it would be like the human body without skin, all of whose constituents would fall apart.... That as the interior parts of the body all have a connection with the peritoneum, pleura and skin, so does the spiritual meaning with the literal meaning.... That without the literal meaning the spiritual meaning would be like contents without a container, thus like wine without a vessel to contain it....

The case is the same with spiritual things apart from natural things, or with angels in heaven and their wisdom apart from the human race and the church here and its intelligence drawn from the literal meaning. The literal meaning of the Word in the minds of people forms that connection and that conjunction.

This, too, was the reason the Lord came into the world, for the Jews had falsified the literal meaning entirely, so that an outmost vessel no longer existed in minds of people. Therefore the Lord came into the world and put on a humanity, in order to become also the Word in its literal meaning, or Divine truth in outmost elements. That is why it is said that the Word was made flesh (John 1:14).

[2] The case is the same with respect to the power of Divine truth. Divine truth emanating from the Lord has all power in the spiritual world. What the power of Divine truth is like there can be illustrated by many examples from personal experience. (Cite a number of examples relating to this experience.) Moreover, the power of Divine truth rests entirely in the literal meaning of the Word. The spiritual meaning has no power in it apart from the literal meaning, but only in the literal meaning in which the spiritual meaning resides. Therefore when spirits present something from the literal meaning, a clear communication with heaven takes place, but not if they present something from the spiritual meaning apart from the literal meaning.

[3] That consequently all responses from heaven have been made and continue to be made through such things as are in the literal meaning.... Therefore the literal meaning was represented by the urim and thummim on the ephod of Aaron,** the ephod having been the outmost garment. Therefore in the book of Revelation the foundations of the New Jerusalem are described as having consisted of twelve precious stones, and its gates of pearls,*** which likewise symbolized the literal meaning. So, too, the cherubim over the mercy seat symbolized that meaning, which is why Moses and Aaron received responses from between the cherubim.****

[4] Concerning the order in which the interior degrees of Divine truth are arranged, from which angels have their wisdom , namely concurrent order.... Therefore the literal meaning is the containing vessel.

[5] On the need, therefore, to verify everything in the doctrine of the church by the literal meaning of the Word-and anything in the doctrine which is not verified from the literal meaning of the Word does not have any power. A doctrinal teaching whose genuine truth is verified by the literal meaning has power. An appearance of Divine truth also has power-but less so-to the degree that it can be harmonized with genuine truth. On the other hand, when the literal meaning of the Word is falsified, it has no power. It closes heaven rather than opening it.
* The remaining numbers, 20-26, were written later, partly in the form of notes. See Translator's Remarks.
** See Exodus 28:1-30, Leviticus 8:7-8.
*** Revelation 21:19-21.
**** See Exodus 25:17-22, Numbers 7:89. Cf. Exodus 37:6-9, 1 Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 6:2, 2 Kings 19:14-15, Psalms 80:1, 99:1, Isaiah 37:16.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 21

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 21

21. With respect to the spiritual sense of the Word, no one can see the spiritual meaning except in the light of a doctrine of genuine truth. From this one can see the spiritual meaning, when one has some knowledge of correspondences. But no one caught up in false doctrine can see anything of the spiritual meaning. Such a one takes any correspondences he may know and turns them to support the falsities of his doctrine, so that he is able to falsify the Word still more. Therefore the true spiritual meaning of the Word comes from the Lord alone. This is the reason that no one In either the natural world or the spiritual world is permitted to search out the spiritual meaning of the Word from its literal meaning unless he is guided entirely by a doctrine of genuine truth and is enlightened by the Lord. Consequently, the spiritual meaning can be seen in the light of a doctrine of Divine truth verified from the Word's literal meaning; but the doctrine can never be seen first from the spiritual meaning. He thinks falsely who says to himself, "I know many correspondences. Now I can know the doctrine of Divine truth. The spiritual sense will teach it to me." This cannot happen. Rather let him say to himself, as we indicated above, "I know the doctrine of Divine truth. Now I can see the spiritual meaning, provided I know correspondences." But even so, he must still be enlightened by the Lord, because the spiritual meaning is Divine truth itself appearing in its own light-the spiritual meaning being meant by glory in the Word, and the literal meaning by cloud, in those places in the Word where glory and cloud are spoken of.*

[2] (Support the existence of a spiritual meaning in the Word with ten passages from the prophetic Word, as well as from the Gospels, and also from the book of Revelation. Cite these passages and show that they would be meaningless without a spiritual sense.)
* As in Matthew 24:30, Mark 13:26, Luke 21:27.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 22

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 22

22. The Word*

In many places it is better for a person to understand the Word according to the letter. For example, in what the Lord says regarding certain cities, having to do with successive states of the church, in many passages in the Prophets, as in regard to the city Tyre; and concerning paradise in the book of Revelation.** The reason is that angels are then present with the person in a perception of the spiritual meaning.
* The remaining numbers, 20-26, were written later, partly in the form of notes. See Translator's Remarks.
** A reference, perhaps, to Revelation 22:1-5.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 23

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 23

23. The Word*

(1) On the marriage of good and truth in the Word (various points concerning it, and show it from passages in the Word).... (2) That there are chapters and expressions relating properly to good and others to truth.... (3) Also relating properly to celestial good and truth, as when the subject is Judah, and to spiritual good and truth, as when the subject is Israel .... (4) That every chapter relates variously to one or more societies .... (5) That in certain places a meaning is found simply from the letters (elaborate on this).... (6) That numbers and the names of persons and places are symbolic (use examples)....
* The remaining numbers, 20-26, were written later, partly in the form of notes. See Translator's Remarks.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 24

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 24

24. The Word*

Angels in the higher region of the spiritual kingdom have a Word so written that the intelligent can understand it in a continually more intelligent way, while the simple understand it in simplicity. It is a Word in which a more and more interior intelligence appears written. This circumstance is achieved by the use of various diacritical marks above the letters, the diacritical marks signifying affections. These diacritical marks in series express constantly more interior degrees of intelligence to the eyes of the more intelligent. I have seen something of this Word.

I have also seen something of the Word in the celestial kingdom. It has still more secrets indicated in it, but this by various curvatures and swirls above and within letters that are peculiar to the celestial kingdom. These secrets are of surpassing excellence. Nor can they be understood or even contemplated by an angel of the spiritual kingdom. Spiritual angels have therefore been told that they cannot approach the wisdom of angels of the celestial kingdom, even as those in a natural domain cannot approach the intelligence of angels of the spiritual kingdom. This intelligence completely transcends them, as I have discovered again and again.

I have had it proven to me from experience that the intelligence of angels of the spiritual kingdom is indescribable and incomprehensible to those in the natural kingdom, and that the wisdom of angels of the celestial kingdom is incomprehensible and indescribable to those in the spiritual kingdom.

But as regards the Lord's Divine wisdom, this so transcends all other wisdom that there is no relation. For all the intelligence and wisdom of angels is finite, while the Lord's Divine wisdom is infinite, and there is no proportional relation between the finite and the infinite. The intelligence and wisdom of angels is finite because angels are recipients, and all recipient things are created, thus finite.
* The remaining numbers, 20-26, were written later, partly in the form of notes. See Translator's Remarks.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 25

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 25

25. The Word*
* Number 25 is missing from the manuscript.

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 26

De Verbo (Rogers) n. 26

26. The Word*

I have examined the way spiritual angels frame the words of their speech, and I discovered that they frame them and utter them according to and in consequence of ideas having to do with the things they symbolize. For example, when they say or pronounce "horse and carriage," they then use an expression that carries the symbolic meanings of these things, such as using a word for horse that comes from ideas having to do with the intellect, and a word for carriage that comes from ideas having to do with doctrine from the Word. And so on with the rest of their expressions. Thus they speak according to the correspondence about the things they see, even as people do. In short, they give names to things in accordance with their correspondence.

[2] It has consequently now been revealed to these angels that they use correspondences in the words of their speech. This they did not know before, but they discovered it when they were in a natural state with me, by examining in that state the ideas they had of things in a spiritual state. In a word, the expressions of their speech or language are all formed in accordance with correspondences.

[3] I asked the angels how they would write "horses harnessed to a carriage." They said they would write simply l, and that this letter would express it. I then asked how they would write "understanding of doctrine." They said they would do so likewise by writing l, only then they would have a higher thought of it. This, too, made it apparent that the expressions of their language involve correspondences. But few of them had paid any attention to this, just as few in this world give any thought to spiritual light when the light of the intellect is referred to, or when enlightenment and seeing the light are mentioned, or as few give any thought to spiritual fire and heat when heavenly fire is alluded to as the fire that burns in the heart, not knowing that fire and its heat correspond to love in the heart, that is, in the will, and that light corresponds to truth in the intellect.
* The remaining numbers, 20-26, were written later, partly in the form of notes. See Translator's Remarks.