What the Writings Testify concerning Themselves, subtitle : A compilation of Teachings from the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

2. What the Writings
Testify Concerning ThemseLves
A Compilation of Teachings
from the Theological Writings
of Emanuel Swedenborg
General Church Publication Committee
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
1961

3. "And it came to pass, when Jesus
had ended these sayings, the people were
astonished at His doctrine. For He taught
them as one having authority, and not as
the scribes."
Matthew 7 :28, 29

4. What the Writings Testify
Concerning Themselves
The following extracts from the theological
Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are mostly
selections used by the late Rev. C. Th. üdhner
in the pamphlet, "Swedenborg's Testimony con­
cerning His Writings", which was published in
1902 and revised by a committee of three editors
in 1920.
The object in the present compilation is to
present, simply and clearly, those teachings which
most directly describe the nature of the revela­
tions given through Swedenborg, who subscribed
himself "the Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ".
The passages quoted in the body of the text
are taken from the theological works written by
Swedenborg after 1748. Two excerpts from the
"Documents" have also been used. Repetition has
been avoided when possible, but sorne statements
have been used again under different headings.
Headings, foot-notes, and sorne revisions of the
translation. have been supplied by the compiler
who has also appended sorne NOTES to define the
1

5. relation of the internaI sense to the sense of the
letter of the Word, and to describe certain states
by which Swedenborg was prepared for his office.
It is obvious that no selection of extracts can
present the complete doctrine. The full meaning
of any one passage can be gained only when it is
read in its context. And the real testimQIlY to the
ivine origin and authQrity of the Writing.s is
the c1arity and power of their dock,inaJ message.
( The doctrine of the New Church, "by truths from
) the sense of the letter of the Word and at the
sam.e time by rational things from natural light",
(
'YUI convince even the natural man "if he is
willing to be convinced". (AR 544, compare SS 4)
-~
Hugo Lj. üdhner
Bryn Athyn
Pennsylvania
December 1, 1960
2

6. 1 Swedenborg received the Doctrine
of the New Church from the mouth
of the Lord alone.
" ... That the Lo@ mani~ed Himself...bef~e
~IDueC'ci~t, and sent me to this office, and
thât He afterwards opened the sight of my spirit,
and so has introduced me into the spiritual world,
and has granted me to behold the heavens and the
hells and to converse with angels and spirits, and
this now uninterruptedly for many years, l testify
in truth; likewise, that from the first day of that
call ! have not received anything that pertains to
the doctrines of the Ne hurch from any angel,
Qut from the Lord alone, while 1 read t e or."
---.. True Christian Religion 779
"Every one can see that the Apocalypse could
never have been explained except by the Lord
alone, for the several words there contain arcana
which could never be known without a singular
illustration and thus revelation; wherefore ij;
leased the Lord
and to teach. Do not believe, therefore, that 1
have taken anything herein from myself, or from
3

7. any angel, but f~e-,Lord_al2.Ue. The Lord
also said by the angel to John, 'Seal not the words
of the prophecy of this book', by which is meant
that they are to be manifested."
The Apocalypse Revealed, Preface
"1 have had discourse with spirits and with
angels now for many years; but neither has a
spirit dared, nor any angel wished, to tell me
anything, still less to instruct, concerning any­
thing in the Word, or concerning any doctrine
from the Word; but t e Lord alone has taught u
~ Who has been revealed 0 me an .as én­
19htened me."
Divine Providence 135
"It has been given me to see [the light of
heaven], and from it to perceive distinctly what
has come from the Lord, and what from the
angels. What has come from the Lord has been
written, and what has come from angels has not
been written."
The Apocalypse Explained 1183
"The things which l have learned in repre­
sentations, visions, and from speech with spirits
and angels are solely from the Lord.... Thus l
have been instructed, consequently by no spirit,
4

8. nor angel, but bl the Lord aloue from Whom is
everything true ana good.... " .
Spiritual Diary 1647
" ... It was evident that even the things which
1 have learned through evil spirits 1 have learned
. -
from the Lord alone, although the spirits spoke..."
Spiritual Diary 4034
"As regards myself, it has not been allowed
to take any thing from the mouth of any spirit,
nor from the mouth of any angel, but from the
mouth of the Lor,1LalQne."
• De Verbo XIII (29)
"In order that the true Christian religion
might be disclosed, it could not he otherwise than
that some one should he introduced into the spirit-
ual world, and from the mout.h,oLth~derive
the genuine truths out of the Word."
Invitation to the New Church 38
5

9. Swedenborg ascribed his theo-
2 logical Writings to the Lord.
"The Books which were written by the Lord
by means of me ({CD-!Wkino-per_?lJ;i) ' from the
beginning to the present day, should be enum-
erated." * Ecclesiastical History 3
"A certain Anglican bishop told how he es-
pecially had insulted the five works concerning
heaven and heIl and the rest which had been
presented to aIl [the bishopsJ and to aIl the Prot-
estant lords in the Parliament, vituperating and
blaspheming them... Then it was told him that
the work iUQ_t..mine but the Lord's, who desired
to reveal the nature of heaven and hell and the
quality of the life of man after death and con-
cerning the last judgment... And 1 also told him
that ~el&tioJJ.J is the male-chilil...w.ho~tbe
.21P-an brought forth and whom the dragon
wished to devour... " [Rev. 12J
Spiritual Diary 6101:2
* Recenseantur - reviewed, enumerated.
6

10. "That our Savior has .y.isib1~~ealed Himself
before me and commanded [me] to do what l
have done and what is yet to be done, and that
e thereupon allowed me to come into communion
[samtal] vdih..angels and spirits, l have declared
before the whole of Christendom.... That [the
Chancellery of Justice now] relates that they still
cannot believe it, l cannot take amiss, since l can-
not put my state of sight and speech into the heads
of others and so convince them, nor can l cause
angels and spirits to talk with them; nor is it
permitted that miracles should occur nowadays,
but reason itself shall find it [true] when with
refiection they read my writings in which much
1 is found such as never before has been discovered
nor can be discovered without actual sight and
conversation with those who are in the spiritual
worId... If there should he anx further doubt, l am
( ready to testify with the most salemn oath that
max be reguired of me. that ibis 1s [the] truth,
c..Q..mplete and actual, without the least fallacy.
I'UlM Qur Savior causes Ihis to happeu to me is
I-not at aIl for my sake, but from an urgency wliich
concerns the et~Wiii'ejf'U"e of aiiChristii"ns..."
Swedenborg's letter to the king, May 25,-1770 1
1 Docu. 245 X. Compare AR 962. and Docu. 252 E.
7

11. "Read, if you please, the things which have
been written in the latest published work, called
"The True Christian Religion", concerning the
arcana disclosed Wb.~ His 'ser ­
vant... and afterwards draw a conclusion, but
from reason, concerning my Revelation."
Swedenborg's letter to Cuno in 1770 *
3 Swedenborg enjoyed a
complete Divine inspiration.
"The Lord -fehovah derives and produces from
this New Heaven ~ .~w Church on the earth,
which is done by ~.$velation oLTruths from~lIis
own mouth or from His Word, and by Inspiration:­
- Coronis 18
"... When 1 think of what 1 am about to write,
and while 1 am writing, 1 enjoy a complete (full­
komlig) inspiration, for otherwise it would be my
.............
~~
own; but now 1 know for certain - .
............-OC"t ........... y ... ~ . that what 1 write
is the living trutn of God."
Swedenborg's testimony as reported by Gjorwell, Doc. II, p. 404
* New Church Life, 1912, page 197.
8

12. "... That the internaI sense is such as has been
set forth is plain from the singular things which
have been explained, and especially from this, that
this has been dictated to me* ouLoLhe~n."
Arcana Coelestia 6597
"T.he..llecond coming of the Lord is effected by
means ôf a man bef6re whom He has· mamfêS'fed
'rTimself in ~son: andwliom He has fil1ëd Wlth
His Spirit to teach the doctrines of the New
Church through the Word from Him."
True Christian Religion 779, heading
"That at this daX there exists such immediate
revelation, is because this is meant by the Advent
of the Lord."
..... - Heaven and HeU l
"Tt has pleased.the Lord t!Lprel2.are me
IDS. wlies.LXQJ,lth to perceive the Ward, ~d He
has introduced me inta the spiritual world, and
has enlightened me with the light af His Word
more proximately. From this it is manifest that
th~r.p,asses ~U miracles..."
Invitation to the New Church 55
If, "In place of miracles, there has, at this
taken placejLmanifestatian of the.LQt.dJliru.'>"ij­
* See the foUowing article, page 10.
9

13. alJ....UU;l;Qmission..into the spiritual world, and en­
lightenment there through immediâte liR'ht from
the Lor.d, in such things as are the interior t~
of tÎÎe church; but chiefly, the opening of the
spiritual sense in the Word, in which the Lord is
in His own Divine lïght." Coronis: Miracles IV
"That this (New] Church is not instituted and
established through miracles, but through the
re.velation of th.e spiritual sense, and th~ugh the
introduction of my ,§,Pirit, and at the. §sme time
1of JBY body, into the spiritual "";or!9-, so that l
might know there what heaven and hell are, and
in light might imbibe immediately from the Lord
_~_ _..... ~~ ±nr
the truths of faith whereby man is led to eternal
life." Invitation to the New Church, VII
The inspiration of Swedenborg differed
4 widely from that of the prophets. *
" ... It is given me to behold the marvels of
heaven, to be together with the angels as one of
them, and at the same time draw forth truths in
light, and thus to p~rceiye and teach them i con­
sequentlv to be led by the..Lg,rd."
Invitation to the New Church 52
* See the NOTES, pages 64·67.
10

14. l "The Most Ancient Church had immediate
lrevelation from the Lord by consort with spirits
fand angels and by visions and dreams, whereby
it was given them to have a general knowledge
of what is good and true; and after they had
[this], then these general principles were con­
firmed by innumerable things through percep­
tions..." Arcana Coelestia 597 **
"1 have been told how the Lord spoke with the
prophets, through whom the Word was given. He
did not speak to them as with the ancients, by an
influx into their interiors, but through spirits who
were sent to them, whom the Lord infilled with
His aspect, and thus inspired the words which
they dictated ta the prophets... The spirits them­
selves even called themselves Jehovah..."
Heaven and HeU 254
"AlI revelation [is] either from speech with
angels through whom the Lord speaks, or from
perception... It is to be known that they who
are in good and thence in truth, and especialIy
those who are in the good of love to the Lord, have
revelation from perception; whereas they who are
not in good and thence in truth, can indeed have
** Compare AC 2896 and Inv. 52.
Il

15. revelations, yet not from perception,but by a liv­
ing voice heard in them, and thus by angels from
the Lord. This revelation is external, but the
former is internaI. Angels, especially the celestial,
have revelation from perception, as also had the
men of the Most Ancient Church, and some also
of the Ancient Church, but scarce any one has at
this day; whereas very many, even those who
have not been in good, have had revelations from
speech without perception, and also by visions and
dreams. Such were most of the revelations of the
prophets in the J ewish Church. They heard a voice,
they saw a vision, and they dreamed a dream;
but as they had no perception, they were merely
verbal or visual revelations without perception of
what they signified. For genuine Dgçentio.n.ç;omes
through heaven from the Lord, and affects the
understanding spiritually, and leads it perceptive­
ly to think as the thing really is, with an internaI
assent, the source of which it is ignorant of. It
supposes that it is in itself, and that it fiows from
the connection of things; whereas it is a dictate
through heaven from the Lord, infiowing into the
interiors of the thought, concerning such things
as are above the natural and sensual, that is, con­
cerning such things as are of the spiritual world
or of heaven." Arcana Coelestia 5121
12

16. "The prophets of the ûld Testament. . . did
not have their understanding enlightened, but the
words which they were to say or write they re-
ceived merely by the hearing, and did not even
understand their interior sense, still less their
spiritual sense." Apocalypse Explained 624:15
"The prophets through whom the Word was
written... wrote as the spirit from the Divine
,dictated, for the very words which they wrote
were uttered in their ears. With them was the
truth which proceeds mediately from the Divine,
that is, through heaven, but not the truth which
proceeds immediately; for they had not a percep-
tion of what each thing signified..."
Arcana CoelesLia 7055:3 '"
"That the things which l learned from repre-
sentations, visions, and discourses with spirits
.
and angels were from the Lord alone.
-
"Whenever there was any representation,
vision, and discourse, l was kept interiorly and
intimately in refiection upon it, as to what thence
was useful and good, thus what l might learn
therefrom; which refiection was not thus attended
to by those who presented the representations and
visions, and who spoke; yea, sometimes they were
'" Compare AC 5121:3.
13

17. indignant when they found that I was reflecting.
Thus have I been instructed; consequently by no
spirit, nor by any angel, but by the Lord alone,
from Whom is all truth and good; yea, when they
wished to instruct me concerning various things,
there was scarcely anything but what was false:
wherefore I was prohibited from believing any­
thing that they said; nor was I permitted to infer
any such thing as was proper to them. Besides,
when they wished to persuade me, I perceived an
interior or intimate persuasion that the thing
was so and so, and not as they wished; which they
also wondered at. The perception was manifest,
but cannot easily be described to the apprehension
of men. -1748, March 22." Spiritual Diary 1647
The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem
5 is the same as~the Internal Sense of
the Word. 7 ~ >..~~ s . . . . .", -P-o
<;y--:...- t:::.-R (~c..~ 1~) .. ~ To.. t: 'tr­
"As for the ~ne_ in special which now
follows, it als<:>Js~!l1 heav~r!,> because it is from
the sPiritual sense ofthe-Wor"d';').nd the spiritual
sense of the or iS1he same with the Doctrine
which is in heaven... From these things it may
appear what is meant by this, that the holy city,
14

18. New Jerusalem, was seen to descend from God
out of heaven. But I will proceed to the Doctrine
itself which is for the New Church; which, be­
cause it is revealed to me out of heaven, is called
The Heavenly Doctrine. . ."
New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 7
". . . It has nQw pleased the Lord to reveal
many arcana of heaven, especially the internal
or<@iritual sense of the W~r"d':which heretofore
had been entir-elyunknown, and therewith He has
~~-----'-~~ ., ~
taught th -genuine truths of doct ine whi reve­
on is un erstood by "the A<4reIi.Lotlb.e...-L_llrd"
in Matthew xxiv. ; ." Apocalypse Explained 641
"r- .. To interpret thl(Spiritual sense, from
~s of doctrine(opens E~v~n, because that is
the sense in which the angels are; and so man
by means of it~t~tog~th_er }:'Tith a~gcls," and
thus conjoins them to himself in his intellectual
mind..." , De Verbo VII (20)
-T~ 'NI> JoiA '" (>-;?re> sJ ...:.-.. 5r··.:·;r::. -4 Co- ~,. r_ ­
"Thatthec§pirit~~ense,of the Word 'is at -to 0­
this ~ay tdiscloseq by the L~d, is because the
we Qf~euuine-~~o~&.~d, and this
doctrine-;-an1l-no-other, agrees with the(SPIrifiial
sellSe''Of the Word."
------ Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture 25
15

19. "The Divine truth in the Word and its quality
are described by the 'cherubs' in Ezekiel i, ix, and
x; and as no one can know what is signified by the
particulars in their description but one to whom
i
th~~ritual s~)has been opened, it has for that.
reason-been disclosed to me what is signified, in
brief, by all the things which are told concerning
the cherubs in the first chapter of Ezekiel. ..
These summaries have also been collated with the
Word in heaven, and are in conformity with it."
'-,. I .J'" '" Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture 97:5
vy (> ~l7 '-'-' 1"'..0 tS .. $ S.e.-c.........
"At this day ©le spiritual s~ of the
Word has been rev~eaonl1e-Lord, because
the doctrine of genuine truth has now been
revealed, which doctrine is partly contained in
The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and now in
the small works which are being given to the
public; and because that doctrine and no other
agrees with~ spiritual sense ofJhe WQi-Ct~there-
fore that sense~ together'"'with the science of
( ~orrespondences,~'has now forfu-eflrst time been
disclosed. . . By many that sense will not be
acknowledged for a long time." De Verbo VII (21)
-----
"The truth of the internal se --. . of the Word
is the same thing (idemr
as he genuine trutIDof
the Doctrine of faith of the C urch."
Arcana Coelestia 9034
16

20. C- e f"A.A--' ~"".
~ 0 ~ 11'"""o.? c; £.-a---s.-.­
"This explanation of that chapter CZech. 4J
as given me .by the Lord through heaven'"
Apocalypse Revealed 43e
"From this Doctrine, also{the internal se~~
of the Word is known, since the fnternalS;me
of the Word isC!.he Doetrme ItSclf of love to the
Lord and charity towards the neighbor. . ."
Arcana Coelestia 9409:3
"It is to be known that the internal sens?)of
the Word contains the~uine doctri""Iie) or-the
church." - -Arcana -Coe1estia 9424:3
"TIlt Doctrine of faith)is the same thing as
the understanding of £fleWord as to its interiors
or its internal sense."
-
Arcana Coelestia 2762:2
~
"The internal sense'is itself the genuine doc­
~..of
trine the church... They who understand the '.-­
Worq .according to the I~rnal sense, know the
true Doctrine itself of the CIiurch~because the in­
ternal sense contains it'(AC 9025, 9430, 10401)."
. ..::: White H!>rse 11 ~
lfr- 0..' n If'-- ->-- €l 'Y a s jJz;--.Y--­
"Those who remainl in the literal sense- of the 8 f :
Word alone and do not gather anything doctrinal ~
thence, ... are separate from the internal sens-e ;" "'J""
for the internal sense is the doctrinal itself."
Arcana Coelestia 9380
17
~ -.1" ... ~ ~r- '-- )..()P s~

21. "Th'-Doctrine itself the1nternal sense teach ­
_.-.- -- '----- - - ­
es, and he who knows this Doctrine, has the in­
ternal sense of the Word." Arcana Coelestia 10276
"The Doctrine which should be for a lamp is
that which thGnternal sens~ teaches, thus it is
the internal sen~e ·itseff,- whi~h in sQme measure
lies open to everyone . . . whoseClnternal mall
is open..." Arcana Coelestia 10400:3
"The internal sense is not only that sense
which lies concealed in the external sense . '. . but
J is also that which I:B.s.ults...-from...a.n!illlb.e.r_Qf-Pa.s­
sages rightly collated, and which is discerned by
t those who are enlightened by the Lord as to their
intellectual. .." Arcana Coelestia 7233:3
"... The literal sense of the Word is for man
while he is in thlworld,)whereas the internal
sense is for man whelrhe comes intc:(~~ven;':Bfit
it is to -bekDOwn that man while in the world is
at the same time in the internal sense of the Word
when he is in the genuine doctrine of the church
as to faith and as to life; for through that doctrine
the internal sense of the Word is then inscribed
both on his understanding and on his will. .."
Arcana Coelestia 9430
18

22. "That the Word in the sense of the letter is
signified by a "wall" (Rev. 21 :12), appears clear­
ly from the things which follow in this chapter
which treats much of the wall, its gates, founda­
tions, and measurement. The reason is because
the Doctrine of the New Church, which is meant
by 'the city', is solely (unice) out of the sense
of the letter of the Word," Apocalypse Revealed 898
" 'And the wall of the city had twelve founda­
tions' signifies that the Word in the sense of the
(lette~)contains all things of the(doctrine of the
New Church." Apocalypse Revealed 902 *
"The true Doctrine of the Church is what is
here called the internal sense; for in the internal
sense there are such truths as are with the angels
of heaven." Arcana Coelestia 9025
"It is said in the Apocalypse, 'a new heaven
and a new earth', and afterwards, 'Behold, I make
all things new'; by which nothing else is meant
than that in the church now to be established by
the Lord there will be a New Doctrine which was
not in the former church.... This same doctrine
was indeed before given in the Word; but because
the church not long after its first establishment
<. See NOTES, pages 61·63.
19

23. was turned into a Babylonia, and with others
later into a Philistia, therefore it could not be seen
from the Word. For a church does not see the
Word otherwise than from its principle of religion
and its doctrine." Doctrine Concerning the Lord, 65
t-~ )! <> k L - - 1J1....-- A~. rs f A'"I ~
~ cr-L """'e.-.., •
~
_ _ ___h
. l ).. .:) y"" S ) 0...$ f"
v J ~H ~ ~44...I'1'o.A::J~~'
~ '-'J r.-- fr- - vJ'...... .A J Lv -:../f""'- a...s ..,.,., v '"""'LJLot r -
J/ _ ,.,
6
0.-:..
The explanations !n the Writings of 1J,;f~
the~iritual sense are not written "1
in a sense merelY natural, but are
a natural sense from tb~-,spTriruar )
, - which is called theeernal Seh~
-
"'This is the mind that hath wisdom' [Rev.
17 :9-11J, ~ignifies the under~anding of these
a:
things in l)atural sense fro!.!!. ftb.e spirit~L .. In
a sense abstracted from person, 'having wisdom'
means the explanation of the thing represented,
in a natural sense from the spiritual, thus the
explanation of what 'the seven mountains' and
'the seven kings' are, which are signified by 'the
seven heads'. For the explanation made by the
angel ... is not an explanation in a natural sense
20

24. from the spiritual, but is an explanation in a sense
merely natural, in which a spiritual sense is con­
cealed, and this sense must be unfolded; and it is
unfolded when it is explained what is signified...
"... The angel did not explain the vision in a
natural sense from the spiritual, because the ex­
planation also makes the Word in the letter; and
the Word in the letter must be natural, in the
details of which a spiritual sense must be hidden.
Otherwise the Word would not serve t ~
as a aSIS nor [wou I serve e church for its
conJunc Ion WI " eavenJ-H-enee-tt is that also
e'iSewhere m the Word, as in David and the rest
of the prophets where angels explain visions, they
explain them in a sense merely natural, and not
at all in a natural sense from the spiritual. 'Ihe
natural sen§e from the spiritual is here (hie)
when it is explained what "the seven mountains",
then what "the seven kings", and what the other
{ things si&Wfy; namely, that 'mountains' signify
the goods of the Word, and 'seven mountains' those
profaned; and that 'kings' signify the truths of
the Word, and 'seven kings' those profaned. This
is the natural sense from the spiritual, which is
called the internal sense, as also the spiritual­
natural sense." Apocalypse Explained 1061
21

25. 7
7
"As to what especially concerns the Doctrine
which now follows, this also is from Heaven, be­
cause it is from the spiritual sense of the Word,
and the spiritual sense of the Word is the same
with the Doctrine which is in Heaven... But I will
proceed to the Doctrine itself, whicb is for the
New Church i which. because it ha~ been revealed
to me out of Heaven, is called Heavenly Doctrine;
for to give this Doctrine is the purpose of this
work." I Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 7
"ARCANA COELESTIA (Heavenly Secrets) which
are discovered (detecta) in the Sacred Scripture
or Word of the Lord, are contained in the Explica­
tion which is th;Internal Sense of the Word...."
Subtitle of Arcana Coelestia
"The ApOCALYPSE EXPLAINED according to the
Spiritual Sense, wherein are revealed arcana
which are there predicted and have hitherto been
hidden." Title of Apocalypse Explained
22

26. ... t;::. -.A J~ "j -rJ--. W..-vI (~'OD ~ )
)~~{ ! "'-> Ii ~ <P-", I -:­
~! f.Z. n-t ""-) l.J--1l_ "",-"
{-(k u., SS -)
"The ApOCALYPSE REVEALED, in which are dis­
closed the arcana which are there predicted and
hitherto have lain hidden."
Title of Apocalypse Revealed
"That the Internal Sense is such as has been
expounded, is evident from the particulars which
have been explained, and especially from this, that
that sense has been dictated to me out of heaven."
Arcana Coelestia 6597
"This, now is the internal sense of the Word,
its very essential life, which does not at all appear
from the sense of the Letter." Arcana Coelestia 64
".. fThe spiritual sens~"of the Word h iC? l!y;(!.1
disclosed by the Lord through me..."
F- _",,-, -__ ,.
Invitation to the New Church 44
"The doctrine of the church is that this* is
the advent of the LQId and that thence it 'is that
arcana have been opened by the Lord respecting
heaven and hell, man's Me after death, the Word,
the last judgment-which have all been written
out in Latin and sent to all the archbishops and
bishops of the kingdom [of Great Britain] and
to the nobility..." Concerning the Athanasian Creed 2
* /lle. The context refers to Matthew 24, and to the phrase
"immediate revelation" in Heaven and Hell, n. 1.
23

27. 8pl!it~s~....Jof the
the Lord, is because
{,!,. ...l.#!t:-"'~-t:lU.Uut:~Jq:utn as now been
. h
revealed, whicn Doctrine is contained in The
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and now in the
[other] little works which are being given to the
public; and because that Doctrine, and no other,
agrees with the spiritual sense of the Word,
therefore that sense, together with the science of
correspondence£, has now for the first time been
disclosed. This sense also is signified by the ap­
pearance of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with
I glory and power, Matthew 24 :30, 31. .."
De Verbo VII:7 (21)
"The arcana of the internal sense are now
revealed, because there is scarcely any faith, since
there is no charity; thus because it is the con­
,~
summation of the age; and when this is so they
can be revealed without danger of profanation,
because they are not interiorly acknowledged."
Arcana C6elestia 3398:4
24

28. "But since these arcana have been revealed,
and lie open to those who are in good, that is, who
are angelic minds, therefore, however obscure
they may appear to others, these arcana are to
be expounded, because they are in the internal
sense." Arcana Coelestia 3128
"It has been granted me sometimes to be
among the angels of the middle and of the highest
heaven, and to hear them conversing with one
another; at which time I was in an interior nat­
ural state. . . I heard things ineffable and in­
expressible. . . Afterwards it was given me to
understand that I could not utter nor describe
them by any spiritual and celestial expression,
but that nevertheless they could be described even
to their rational comprehension by words of nat­
ural langauge. And it was said that there. arej
not any Divine arcana which cannot be perceived
and expressed also naturally, although in a more
general (communius) and imperfect way..."
De Verbo III:4 (6)
/~
" 'And she brought forth{a male Son,' signifies
<. - --­
1Qe Doctrine of the New Chu.!£h... The DoctrIne
w~n iH.et'@ meant is The Dacm:n.g, of the New
Jj}J:JI.$c j hed at London, 1758) ; -as also
The Doctrines concerning the Lor , the Sacred
Scripture, and Life according to the Precepts of
25

29. the Decalogue (Amsterdam, 1763); for by the
Doctrine all the truths of Doctrine are meant,
because the Doctrine is their complex...."
Apocalypse Revealed 543
8 The Internal Sense is the Word Itself.
"That the internal sense is the Word itself,
is manifest from the many things which have
been revealed..." Arcana Coelestia 1540 *
"... Because the case is thus in regard to the
Word, viz., that its internal sense has become suc­
cessively obliterated, and this at the present day
to such an extent that its very existence is un­
known, - when yet this is the verimost W~d
(W...§,issirnurn V er~'!W!') in which the Divine is most
closely present,- therefore the successive states
in respect to it are described in this chapter."
Arcana Coelestia 3432
- H ••• Th.e-Lord
. Word, not only as
but also as to the
the literal sense.~.
is Doctrine itself, that is, the
-3 -­
to the supreme sense therein,
-----..,,­
internal'-sense, and also as to
." Arcana Coelestia 3393
" Sce NOTES, page 6l.
.... 26 ~"'- ~
/;:;;.. _
OY>~ <:l.-­
AO 'O-s? -:> )~,p;>d-

30. "The Word is Divine Truth, and the internal
or spiritual sense is interior Divine truth."
Apocalypse Explained 948
"By the Holy Spirit is meant the Lord as to
the Divine truth such as it is in the heavens, thus
the Word such as it is in the spiritual sense, for
this is the Divine truth in heaven..."
Apocalypse Explained 7n1:3
"What is the quality of the Word in the
heavens, this is known only from the internal
sense, for t,he internal sense- is the Word of the
Lord in the heavens." Arcana Coelestia 1887
"Moreover, these are the things which are
contained in the internal sense, and the internal
sense is the Word of the Lord in the heavens:
those who are in the heavens perceive it thus.
When a man is in the truth, that is, in the internal
sense, then he can make one as to thought with
those who are in heaven, even though the man
be respectively in a most general and obscure
idea..." Arcana Coelestia 2094·
* Compare AC 3316 :3.
27

31. -I~ '( vv/J""d /, ( >.; 00 ~ ) r re;- 1';-----: ~
A-C-~-t-. t;:lr-­
A!"j'.,
(~O~"<,) <>1f Iv w--":"{f~ I t:...4- r.f
(~If~'5 )
9 Every Divine revelation is
the Word of the Lord.
"In John we read: 'In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and God was
the Word' ... Few know what is here meant by ­
'the Word': That it is the Lord is evident from
the particulars involved. And the internal sense
teaches that the Lord as to the Divine Human is
) ~nt by the Wo.rd-:for it is said that the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we be­
held His glory. And because the Divine Human is
~, therefore by 'the WQJ"_d'-l§ underst~l
--
Divine truth which is concerning Him and from
) Him in his kingdom in the heavens and in His
chur~IL~h. Hence it is said that in Him was
life, and the life was the light of men, and the
light appeared in the d,arkness. And because truth)
is meant, therefore by the Word is meant every
Revelation, thus also-the-Wordftseif or the HOly
Scripture." Arcana Coelestia 2894
"Divine doctrine is Divine truth, and all Divine
truth is the Word of the Lord (Divinu1n Veru1n
est omne Verbum Domini). The Divine doctrine
itself is the Word in the supreme sense, in which
it treats of the Lord alone; thence the Divine Doc­
28

32. ..--. ~o..J"":;~---l
,...- l 7'-t At. .Sf ' "'r~ ~ ~s /1...'"t'"O>
... I::: J f'A" ....J'" (jJfc::~.'~
trine is the Word in the internal sense, in which
it treats of the Lord's kingdom in the heavens and
the earths; Divine doctrine is also the Word in the
literal sense, in which it treats of the things which
are in the world and on the earth ... For it is
known that the Lord is the Word, that is, all
~,
Divine truth..." Arcana Coelestia S712
"As regards the Word, the case is this: In the
lmost ancient time, when there was a~lest!il
church, there was not a Word, for the men or that
church had the Word inscribed' upon tneir hearts.
For the Lord taught them immed~tely through
heaven what was good and thence what was true,
and He gave them both to perceive from love and
charity and to know from revelation. To them
the Lord was the Word itself. After this church
another succeeded which was not c'elestial, but
spirituaL This, in the beginning, had no other
oiathan what had been collected from (ab) the
most ancient [people]. This was representative
of the Lord as well as significative of His king­
dom; thus to them the internal sense was the
Word itself. That they also had a written Word,
<.historical as well as <fi~phetic~which is no longer
extant, and that in it sImilarly there was an in­
ternal sense, ... may be seen above, n. 2686..."
Arcana Coelestia 3432
29

33. H ••• And the Lord is Doctrine itself, that is,
the Word, not only as to the SI,lJ?!"~Ine sense there,
but also as to the int~!:-I)al sense, yea, even as to
the literal sense..." Arcana Coelestia 3393
H ••@-D~;trut~ in general is called 'theJ
Word', and the Lord Himself, from Whom is all
Divine truth, is the Word in a supreme sense..." .
Arcana Coelestia 5075
H ••• In regard to 'this word' (Gen. 41 :28),
a thing (res) is called 'a word' in the original
tongue; thence also a Divine revelation is called
the Word, and even, in the supreme sense, the
Lord. And by the Word, when it is predicated
of the Lord and also of a revelation from (ab)
Him, in the proximate sense is meant the Divine
truth from which all things that are things (res)
have their existence..." Arcana Coelestia 5272
" 'And God spake all these words, saying,' that
this means Divine truths for those in heaven and
on earth, appears from the signification of
'the words which God spake,' as meaning Divine
truths, for the things which God speaks are noth­
ing but truths. Hence also the Divine truth is
called the Word, and the Word is the Lord...."
Arcana Coelestia 8861
30

34. " ... The Divine truth is the Lord Himself in
heaven. For what proceeds from Him is He Him­
self; from the Divine nothing else can proceed
than the Divine, and the Divine is one ... "
Arcana Coelestia 10646
"Because the Lord is the Word, He is also
Doctrine. For there is no other Doctrine which is
itself Divine ... " Arcana Coelestia 2533:3
"From love toward the human race the Lord
has made such revelations as will ... conduce to
man's salvation. What the Divine has revealed, is
with us the Word~ Arcana Coelestia 10320
There have been successive Divine
10 ( revelations, of which the Writings
a re the Iast a nd most excellent.
"
31

35. -,
"A~_t~ the Wor~, : .. it has existed at all times,
but not the Word which we have at this day. There
was another Word in the Most Ancient Church
/' which was before the Flood; another Word in the
<.
Ancient Church which was after the -_..
- - - Flood. But
in the Jewish Church there was the Word which
---._----­
was written through Moses and the Prophets; and,
<., finally, iI!.-_ th~ --!!.ew Tlblll'Ght-.!.he _Vi ord written
through the Evangelists ... " Arcana Coelestia 2895
- ~ II!J (tn ~ t:~) / ~~ &-( ," vv~L }A_ /~ lA!~
"The Word in the Most Ancient Church was
not a written Word, but was revealed to every
one who was from the Church, for th~re
celestiil men thus in t er e ti f the od
an e true, as the angels with whom they con­
sorted; so that they had the Word written in
their hearts ...
"Thence came the representatives and signifi­
catives which, when communication with angels
began to cease, were collected by those who are
meant by 'Enoch'...
"From this source was the Word in the Ancient
Church which was after the Flood ... They also
had a written Word, which consisted of histories
and prophecies, .like the Word of the Old Testa­
ment; but in process of time that Word was
lost ... " Arcana Coelestia ?896, 2897
32

36. " ... When the end of a church is at hand,
then the interiors of the Word, of the church, and
of worship, are revealed and taught. The reason is
that the good may be separated from the evil, for
the interiors,Jjf the Word. of the chm:ch..and.Qf
( worship, which are celestial and spiritual, a~­
I ceived tiY...t.ru<--good but are reje_cted by the evil.
Hence there is a separation. Moreover, th~mor
things of the Word, which are revealed at the end
of a church, are of service to the new 'ch;;;ch
,Vliich is also then established, for doctrine and
1 for life. That this is so is evident from the fact
that when the end of the Jewish Church was at
hand, the Lord Himself opened and taught the
interior things of the Word ...
"It has be in like manneraLthis da ;
fpr it -has no~ pleased the Lor to rev al man
arcana of heaven, espe...ctally tne internal or spirlt­
u~ s~!!.s~ Qf ~ Word, which hITherto has neen
wholly unknown, and with it He has taught the
genuine truths of doctrine; which revelation is
meant-by the ad.v~ent. oLthe Lord in Matthew
(24: 3, 30, 37)" . . . In both worlds there is a
church. and revela..tiQn takes place in both, and
'through this separation, as also the establisnment
of a new church ...
"If the successive states of the churches on our
!
earth are considered, it is plain that they were
~
33

37. lik&l the successive states of a man who is reformed
and regenerated; namely, that he may become a
spiritual man, he is at first conceived, then born,
then grows up, and afterwards iilid-further and
furthe:c into intelligence and wisWn. The church,
-
from most ancient times even to the end of the
Jewish church, increased as a man who is con­
ceived, is born, and grows up, and is then instruct­
ed and taught. But the sUCCfAAiye states of the
ctw~h after the end of the Jewish Church, or
from the time of the Lord even to the present day,
have been like a man who grows.jn intelligence
;;nd wisdom, or is regenerated. For this purpose
the interior things of the Word, of the church, and
of worship, were revealed by the Lord when _He
,was in the world; and now ag,a.in-~~re
~r ; and so far as interior things are reve~led,
so far man can become wiser, for to become
interior is to grow wiser, and to grow wiser is
to become interior." Apocmypse ['xplamed 64i
"At the end of a church, when there is no faith
because no charity, the interior things of the Word
are manifested, which are to be of service to the
t
new church for doctrine and life. This ';;'s d;;;;e
by the Lord Himself when the end of the Jewish
Church was at hand. The Lord Himself then came
into the world, and opened the interiors of the
34

38. Word, especially the things concerning Himself,
concerning love to Him and love towards the
neighbor, and concerning faith in Him, which
things formerly had lain hidden in the interiors
of the Word ... These....b :.llths wm:e interior
I
tmths..an<Lin..themSeIY~Sspirity.al, which after­
wards were to serve the new church for doctrine
and life . . . But still, these things were not
received at once, but after a considerable course
of time, as is known from ecclesiastical history.
The reason was that they could not be received
-
until all things in the spiritual world had been
reduced into order ...
"A similar thing occurred when the Most
Ancient Church, which was before the Flood, came
to its end. The representatives of the celestial
things which had been among the most ancients,
were then collected into a o~ Q)[ those who wete
called Enoch, and were preserved for the use of
'c e new church after the Flood ... With these the
same things took place, viz., that t~ese th}ng_s we~e
separated from the evil ones by -being 'taken up
(
into heaven,' and thus guarded, and this even until
the old churchhad cometo its last and when a
new Church was about to be established.
''A similar thing is taking place today. This
church, 'Yhich is called Christian. has at this day
come to its end; on which account t~D.a..At
35
'

39. 1
eaven and the church have now een reye~led
J) by the L~, to be of serVice to the New C~ch
~fch is meant in the Apocalypse by the New
Jerusalem, for a doctrine of life and faith. T~!s
Dg_ctrine, also, has been 'taken up into heaven,'
( lest: b~iore fhe estabfishment of theNew Church,
it should be hurt by the evil ... "
Apocalypse Explained 670
". . . That before the church is fully devas­
tated, the Word is interiorly revealed, Le., as to
the spiritual sense, is because then the New
Church is to be established, into which are invited
those who are of the formercnurCh, a-no Jor this
NeWCllurch -fne1Jiv--me-truth1s.Jntexiorl~­
-
vealed.... It is done in the same way now as it
w as done at the end of the Jewish Church. At its
end, which was when the Lord came into the
world, the Word was opened interiorly, for there
were revealed by the Lord, when He was in the
world, interior Divine truths which were to be
of service and also did serve the new church which
was established by Him. At the present day. al.§.o,
on account of similar causes, the Word has been
interiorly opened, and t~ence ther,e ha&e been re­
vE'JI.led Diyine.Jl~,~ths-still mm:g ~x_wllicli.are
to be of service for th~ New Church which is to
be called the New Jerusalem.
36

40. "The way of the Divine Providence, in reveal­
ing Divine truths, can be seen from the churches
which have been successively established ... In­
most Divine truths were revealed to those who
were of the Most Ancient Church; but exterior
Divine truths were revealed to those who were
of the Ancient Church, and most external, or
ultimate Divine truths to the Hebrew Church,
and finally to the Israelitish, in which at last all
Divine truth perished, for there was finally
nothing in the Word which had not been adulter ­
[ ated. But after the end of that church there were
revealed by the Lord interior Divine truths for the
~Ch h CGiqw truths stIli more in­
he..cDming Chuich. These iriteriOl­
truths are those which are' in the internal or
spiritual sense of the Word. Fror;:;:- these things
iCisman-ifest, that there has been a progression
r of the Divine truth from inmosts to ultimates,
thus fr:.om wisdom to mere ignorance, and that
~ there is taking place a progression of the
DIvine truth from ultimates to }nteri~s, thus
(
from ignorance again to wiscfom."
, Apocalypse Explained 948
"The Lord Jehovah from the New Heaven
derives and produces a New Church upon earth,
which is done by a Reyelation of Truths from His
37

41. n mouth, or from His Word, and by means of
Inspiration." Coronis 18
"In place of miracles, there has at this day
taken place a..manifestation of the Lord Himsclf,
an intromission into the spmfuaI world, and
enlightenment there by..,mea.ll.Saof.,.Y.2.e1;J-im!!@
~t....fJ;Otn .the Lo-W in such things as are -the
interior things of the church. But chiefly, the
opening of the spiritual sense in the Word, in
which the Lord is in His own Divine light.
Coronis, Mir. IV
"The manifestation of the Lord in Person,
and tmTJ4ntro'dtretftfu~'lieflord into -Hle
spiritual world, both as to sight and as to hearing
and speech, surpaSS!tU:.roiraCles; for we do not
read anywher~ III ~tory tnif-such intercourse
with angels and spirits nas been granted-from the
creation of the world. For I am daily ""Im angels
'there, even as Cam in the world with men; and
this now for twenty-seven years. Th.e.J;estimoni§s
[ oLthis interc,Qurse are the books which have been
published by me concerning heaven and hell, and
also the memorable relations thence in the last
work, called the True Christian Religion ... Tell
me, who ever before has known anything about
heaven and hell, about the state of man after
death, about spirits and angels, etc., etc.
38

42. "Besides these most evident testimonies [there
is the fact] that the BLiritual sense of the Word
has been disclosed ~he.4~e, which
has never before been reveale~since the Word was
.( written amoQg the sOIls of}_sr~ael~ ani.EP is 'l/;~
is the very Sanctuar f th rd: T-he Lord
l Himse IS in his [sense] witli~His Divine, a.nd in
the natural sense with His Human. This, even as
to an iota, cannot ~ opened ~1JlY the LQrd
Himself. This surpasses all the revelations which
.. aye been made,..s5n£© the creation of the world.
Through this revelation there is opened a com­
munication of men with the angels of heaven, and
a conjunction of the two worlds has been effected;
since when man is in the natural sense, the angels
are in the spiritual sense ... "
Invitation to the New Church 43,44
". . . To interpret the spiritual sense from
truths of doctrine opens heaven, because that is
t.he sense in which the angels are, and so man by
means of that- sense thinks together with angels
-
and thus conjoins them to himself in his intellect­
ual mind ... " De Verbo VII:6 (20) >I<
"... By 'the book' which the Lamb took from
Him that sat on the throne, and of which He
* Compare AC 2094:3, 3316 :3.
39

43. loosed the seven seals (Apoc. 5, 6), is meant the
Word. . . .Therefore by 'the little book' (Apoc.
10 :2) in the hand of the angel, who also is the
Lord ... nothing else is meant than the Word as
to some essential therein ... This is that doctrine
in the Word thatihe..Lm;d is the God of hea~en and
)~j'j;h and that His Human is Divine ... 'The little
ook' is said to be open because that doctrine
appears manifestly in the Word, and is evident to
everyone who reads it, if he attends . . . This
subject is the very essential of the New Church ...
"'And when he cried, seven thunders uttered
their voices', signifies that the Lord throuw.t
--
the elltir.e heaven disclosed whit was in the Ilttle
book ... But I will 0 en what was in the little
book. In it were those things w . iC aTe con allled
in The Doctrine 0 the New Jerusalem concerning
'& Lord, from beginning to en ..."
'Pocalypse Revealed 469, 472
" ... In order that the true Christian religion
might be disclosed, it could n.atJle otherwise than
that some one should be introduced into the
spiritual wo.rld, and that he shoula derive from the
mouth of the Lord the genuine truths from the
Word ...
"Such an intercourse, as far as I know, has
--
not been granted by the Lord Jo anyone before:
.
40

44. indications that this is on account of the New
JI'
~(ChUrCh which is the CrQwn of all the churches
and which is to endure to eternity ... "
Invitation to the New Church, 38, 39
"In the New Church ... it is lawful to enter
with the understanding and penetrate into all the
secrets [ of faith] and also !l?.. confirm them by the
~. The reason is that its doctrinals are con-
tinuous verities laid open by the Lord b means of
t e or , an con rma IOns of them by rational
things cause the understanding to be opened above
more a~e, and thus to be elevated into the
light in which the angels of heaven are ... "
True Christian Religion 508
" 'And it was given to her that she should be
arrayed in fine linen clean and bright,' signifies
that they who will be of the Lord's New Church
are instructed OX the Lord in genuine and pure
truths through the Word." Apocalypse Revealed 814
- - - - - a;::;
"The angels have told me , .. that when [they
are turned] to those things which are in my
thought from the heavenly doctrine, then they are
in greater clarity than in any other case."
Spiritual Diary 5610
41

45. 11 By reason of its revealed Doctrine,
the New Church is to become the
Crown of all the Churches.
"The [first Christian] Church kun~ nothing
whatever of this its consummatioD aDd end, nor
can it know anything of it, before the Divine
Truths vt;hich arttirom the ~rd in the work called
I' 'The True Christian Religion' are seen iri light and
acknowledged." Coronis, Sum. xlix
"That the New Church is the Crown of all the
Churches that have hitherto been upon the earth,
is because it will worship the one visible God, in
whom is the invisible God like the soul in the
body . . . That this Church is to succeed the
churches which have existed since the beginning
of the world; that it is to endure for a es of ages,
a 's thu e crown of al the churches
that have gone before it, was prophesied by
Daniel ... " True Christian Religion 787, 788
"Because we now have One God in the Church,
who is God Man and Man God, therefore this
[Church] is called the Crown of all the Churches."
Invitation to the New Church 53
42

46. fi );:,..
#:,. /lA.Sf ,. .<Ph.. -n I 7.01 /.-; f~ ...... ~
.> ~ lV'" ~ (>. ~'T-o"$) 5 J-/I~ 10'"'7
"That the four churches of this earth have
undergone these changes of state, will be shown
in what follows; and finally that the Church truly
hris.tian which today succeeds these four, ~
neyer unde.rgo consummation."
~. .~
Coronis 24
"That this New Church, truly Christian, which
is at this day being established by the Lord, is to
endure to eteJ:P,ity, confirmed from the Worn
both testaments-; and jP...2cLit_wasJ~r..~s"e~lLfr-mP
ithe creation,Qf th.e :wo~ld. That it~~~become the
rown of the four antecedent churches, because
[there will be] true i~ithand true charity.
"That in this New Church there will be ~Qirit­
ual peace, which is glory, a,nd internal ble~~s
..Qf life, also confirmed from the Word of both
testaments.
"That these things will be in this New Church,
or the sake of -conjunction,.;with th.e-.Lord and
through Him with God the Father."
Coronis, Sum. lii·liv
"The manifestation of the Lord and intro­
mission into the spiritual world, surWW'il all
~cl~s. ...1'..his..has,JJ,oLhee,.n.g.tall.te
inc.e.the c.r.eation as it has besen to me. The men
of the 'Golden Age indeed spoke withangels, but
it was not granted them to be in any other than
natural light; but to me it is granted to be in both
43

47. /'
~piritu.?-l
and natural l.ight at the same time. By
this means it has been granted me to see the
wonderful things of heaven, to be together with
the angels as one of them, and at the same time
to draw forth (haurire) truths in light and thus
to perceive and teach them; consequently .t2...12e
led by the ;Lord." Invitation to the New Church 52
12 The Revelation of the Doctrines of
the New Church constitutes' the
Second Advent of the Lord.
•
"The Coming of the Lord is not His coming
to destroy the visible heaven and the habitable
earth . . . " True Christian Religion 768
"Since His ascension into heaven (the Lord]
is in the glorified Human; and in this He cannot
appear to any man unless He first open the eyes
of his spirit....It is a vain thing to believe that
the Lord is to appearillflieClouds of neaven III
il) p~; but He is to .appe.ar in the Word, wh~h
(dJ }J is from H~m, thus is!IiJ:~~elf." .
True Christian Religion 777
44

48. 1 4 '­
I.-- "'- W;o N>'f (>. () re> ~ )
.....s r Q vJ~ tf--. / A~I' ~ t.!,-... ,
....-t..H~;, (~. /JA .Ss)
"[The coming of the Son of Man in the clouds
of heaven'" means] that when He comes to judg­
'
ment He will ap],:)£~thyens,e pf the.lettel'.,Qf
AP+>,S3 ([the Word.~ And because He now has come, He has
therefore appeared intheWorct1hrough this that
He has revealed that there is a s irit al sense in
every smgle thing of the sense of the letter of the
J Word; and that in it He alone is treated of, and
-=­ He alone is the God of heaven and earth.
that
I/These are the things meant by His advent in the
Jl clou as o'f heaven";. Apocalypse Revealed 642
.::'This Sec.Q.nd-Ady_euJ..-U.I_w..u
by means of a man before w-h.OIrL~ .nas maDl­
rested Hi:r;nselUn,YersQU aP..LYho.mJi~ has filled
:Vith His _Smrit, to teach the doctrines of the
~ew Church (hr.omili the:Woiil t¥onCBm.
i< • • • It follQWS that He is to do it.by"means
QLa_m~, who is able not only to receive the
doctrines of this Church with his understanding,
but also to publish them by the press. That the
Lord has manifested Hi.rrJ.§.e,li_befoLe."" me Hi"s
servant and sent me on this office, and that, af~r
t.!:lis" He QD-elled the §.ight of muviri['a"llil thus iet
me into the..spiritual world and gave me to see
* Matt. 16:27,24:30,26:64, Mark 14:61,62, Luke 21:27,22:69.
45

49. the heavens and the hells, and also to speak with
angels and spirits, and this now for many years,
testity...i!Lt~th; and also that from the first day
of that call, I have not received any thing which
pertains to the doctrines of that Church from any
angel, Q,1lU-ro m the I,o-tCLal<w..e»ile~eadC'"t!le
" True Christian Religion 779
" 'And they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and reat
gory, sIgnifies that then the or shall be re­
M,S'~JJ~as to its internal.. s~se, in which the Lord
is. The 'Son of Man' is the truth Divine which is
therein." Arcana Coelestia 4.Q60:7
1 ';The A<4;,ept of the Lord is the revelation of
"'truth Divine at the end of the church."
- Arcana Coelestia 9807.4
" ... It has now pleased the Lord to reveal
manLarcana or h~ven, esPEtciallL_t,h~int~E.~al
.0 t" s or spiritual sense of t~ WQrd, which hitherto has
heen entirely unknown; and therewith He has
taught th..Lg~!!..l!tne tru_th~
__of do~~rine; which
revelation is meant by the Adygnt of thg LQjdin
Matthew xxiv." Apocalypse Explained 641:3
j,. "That a new ecclesiastical history should be
IJIj I[ predictedbecause now is the XXIV... the Lord,
w!.!!kn, Advent of
in Matthew, chap.
•/IJ.
46
/JIJ., Sf! -tA..." viI) url r~;,")''" ,,) . . . .
ft-f7 ~ ( w_' jt............, ) Ac..<:.
~ l.v'" ,,'" 0' D 0<:>5) .-.". f' "

50. "'I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white
horse' (Rev. xix.H) signifies the spiritual seIk,>e
of the Wo&<1,..J:eyeale.d,.by the LOLd, and thereby
the interior _understanding oirtlleWord disclosed,
which is the advent of the Lord ... That tIi'iSis
QLtha Lord, is because by thaJ; sense -
it m~ni.fe~!y appears that the_ Lor~ is~_Word,
that~tll~ Word tr~ts of Him~e, that He is the 1
God of heaven and earth, and that the New
Churcli exists from Him alone.... The spiritual J
sens~ of~ Word is at this day revealed...."
Apocalypse Revealed 820
* One of these two copies-of the Summaria Expositio-has been
' found and is on display in the Royal British Museum. The in·
scription on the fly leaf reads: "Hie Liber est Adventus Domini,
scriptum ex mandato" (This Book is the Advent of the Lord,
( written by command). Four references are added in Sweden·
borg's hand: "2513, 4535, 6895, 8427, p. 19."
47
I....
t. c.. c ~J ) Go-, 1::' J,;j I J ".

51. presence in <the Wor.d, and revelation.... Hence
it is manifest that '-by these words of the Lord is
meant that at the end of the church, wE.~l1 J9_ve
and thence faith would be no more, the Lord
le
wow<ropen ~ WO,L<{:as to-itS-Internal sense, and
would revea he arcana of heaven. The arcana
.
revealed in the following pages are cQncerning
eayen and hell and at the same time cQn¥-erning
the life Qf man after death . . . That at this day
ttheI:e-exists such an immediat.e_revelation. is be­
) cause this is what is meant by the Advent Qf the
~." Heaven and Hell r
"The dQctrine Qf the church is that this* is the
Adyent Qf the Lord and that thence it is that
a'i=cana have been ~ ened by the Lord respecting
heaven and hell, man's 11 e after eath, the Word,
the last judgment-which have all heen written
Qut in Latin and sent to all the archbishops and
bishops of the kingdom [of Great Britain] and to
r the nobility. And still not a wQrd has been heard,
=- e Church, and that it is
ow the very end Qf the church and indeed that
he church nQ longer exists ... "
Conce:ning the Athanasian Creed 2
• [lie-The context refers to Matthew 24 and to the phrase
"jmmediate reyelation" in Heaven and Hell, n. 1.
48

52. " ... Without the advent of the Lord into the
world, no one could have been saved. It is similar
at ihis day: wherefore unless the Lord came again
t!Uto
( the world.in Pi¥ine trytg !Vji}~p ~s_th~ WoX d ,
not anyone can be saved." True Christian Religion 3
IlVL H,bE.YLVl,lUi+ llise
"That a revelation has been made by the Lord
concerning heaven and hell, concerning the last
--
judgment (which has been accomplished), and
I
-'
concerning the:spiritual sense of pie Word. Thus
the way to salvati,6h has been revealea~ and the
state of man after death; and this fully and
plainly, so that an:x;one ;wOO npdm;staMs the
(
Latin language can know ... " De Domino, Preface
52
49

53. In the Writiljlgs.,-.. . ","_'iD
13 His Sec I.·
........_"-~ t
in His Divine Human, as to
Divine Truth and Doctrine
Itself.
"To the end that the Lord might be constantly
present, He ha.s..diSg1;Qsed.tO.JUe thE(spiritual §ense
o~W~q, in which Divine truth is in itS light,
and m-this He is constantly Present; for His
presence in the Word is from nowhere else than
through the spiritual sense ...
True Christian Religion 780
" ... The spiritual sense of the Word Das been
disclosed by the Lord through me; whicnh;s
never before been revealed since the Word was
written among the sons of Israel; and this [sense]
is the very sanctuary of the Word; iheJ4rd Hjm­
$'elf is in thjs !;MPse] with His Divine and in the
natural sense with His Human ... "
Invitation to the New Church 44
"By the 'Comforter' (Paracletum) is meant
the Divine truth which the Lord was while in the
world, and which proceeds from the Lord after He
glorified His Human and went out of the world;
therefore He said that He would send the Com­
forter, and that He Himself would come. ;£0 'send
50

54. , =s tiLillust:rauLand.instmct_in the
gU_J"W:i U.!..J.¥Wi, and 'to come to them' is to lead
- -- Arcana Coelestia 9199
"Whether you say 'the Lord' or 'the Divine
truth,' it is the same, since all Divine truth is from
Him, and therefore He Himself is in it: whence
it is that iJw Lobd" is calle.d 'the...Word', for the
Word is Divine truth." Apocalypse Explained 411:4
"Whether you say 'the Lord's Divine Human'
or 'the Divine truth,' it is the same, since ~
Lord when He was in the world~ e 'vine
tru 1- se ,an w en e went out of the world
- C
He made Himself Divine good, from which is the
Divine truth." Arcana Coelestia 10258:4
"Nothing whatever of Doctrine can proceed]
~m the Divin~ itself ex~eDt thrQugh the n~~e ~
Human, that is, through the Word, which, in the ~A. ~
supreme sense, is the Divine truth from the Lord's
Divine Human." Arcana Coelestia 5321:2
51

55. "What proceeds from the Lord is the Lord ... >.
, Arcana Coelestia 9407:12
- ---
"The interl'l:a) sense ... is the soul of the Wora,
and is the Divine truth itself proceeding from the
Lord; thus it is th~LQrd..lI~elf." .
Arcana Coelestia 9349:2
"In order that it may be known how the case
is with the doctrine of faith, viz., that it is ~rityal
from a celestial or~n, it is to be observed that
l
th~ Doctrine is Divine truth from the Divine
good, consequently Divine throughout (in totum).
What is Divine is incomprehensible . . . b~ll
this Divine which is incomprehensible can inflow
into man's rational u the Divine Human
o e ord, and while it inflows into his rational
iriS received there according to the trut,hs which
are there. . . . As the Lord is the Divine good,
J so also He is the Divine truth; thus He is the
Doctrine itself."
-
Arcana Coelestfa. 2531
....c---::
J-:,nasrouch. as the_L,ord is ~ ord, He also
i~t~l?octrine, for there can be no other Doctrine
(
which is itself Divine." Arcana Coelestia 2533
ale SoUigpjfj~s
",vJ-:ww..J.,~h ... TheTIocfrine
-the N7w
(puorished in London, 1758) ; also the
52
--

56. D.od~(J.. the Lord, the Sacred Scrip­
tu're and Life (Amsterdam, 1763) .... For by 'the
Doctrine' are meant all the truths of the Doctrine,
because the Doctrine is their complex. When.th$WeJ
11 s~~.und
D..Qddnes.,w.ere being written, the Dragonists
me, and combined with all their fury
to devour, that is, to extinguish them...."
Apocalypse Revealed 543
"It was also told [the bishop] that the work is
21. minebut the-L~ Who wished to reveJI
the nature (quale) oflieaven and hell, [etc.] ...
And I also told him that t1,lis-V.evelatLQIl...].J.~e
J
, 'male child' whom the woman brought forth and
~hom the oragon wi~hed to devour." ,
Spiritual Diary 6101:2
"Hence also it is that as<'the Lord is the Wo";ct;
so also is He~~of the Church; for all
Doetfine is from the Word." Apocalypse Explained 19
53

57. ,J V1f'?~ ~ l )"Or8:~.J
'1- 0j";. "-I~J ~ H~"." 7
"It is said [in the title], 'The Doctrine of the
New Jerusalem', and what is meant there is the
Doctrine for the New Church which is at t is
!lliy to be instaurated by the Lor ; or the old
church has arrived at its end ... "
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, preface.
I
14 Divine authority belongs
to the Lord alone.
" ... It is the Divine which bears witness con-
cerning the Divine, and not man from him-
self ... " * Apocalypse Explained 635
"Lest man should be in doubt whether the
Word is Divine and most holy, its inte'rnal sense
~as be~)].. revealed to me by .thrLo~d . .: Thit
sense i~he s~ whic~ vivifie~ letter'; ~~e:e­
fore thatsen-se can testIfy concermng the DIvImty
and sanctity of the Word, and convince even the
natural man, if he is willing to be convinced".
True Christian Religion 192
"It is one thing to have faith in and believe in
the Lord, and another to have faith in and believe
any man. The difference shall be told below."
Doctrine of Faith 7
• In three places, the Writings give a list of those books in the
Bible which are the Word of God bec_aus~the1- c.~n a con-
Jj.tinuous internal sense inspired by TheLorCl. See AC 10325.
I
WH 10,- and HD 266:'
54

58. "The doctrinals of the church are to be learned,
and then exploration is to be made from the Word
as to whether they are true; for they Are not true
ecause the.hea.ds.Qf the.chuu:b ba:V:4saLd so and
their followers confirm it, inasmuch as thus the
doctrinals of all churches and religions would
have to be called true, merely according to country
and birth . . . " Arcana Coelestita 6047 ..
" . . . My friend, do not put trust in any
council, but have faith in the Word of the Lord
which is above councils." True Christian Religion 489
"The worldly and corporeal man says in his
heart, 'Unless I am instructed concerning faith
and everything relating to it, by sensual things, so
that I may see them, or by means of science, so
that I may understand them, I will not believe';
and he confirms hiI!lself in his incredulity by the
fact that natural things cannot be contrary to
spiritual things. Thus he desires to he jpstructed
in what is heavenly and Divine from wWt is
sensual,...Y{hic.b 1Y¥eJ:,th~~ihle fl~it
is for a cameJ.Jo go through the eye of a peedle;
for the more he desires to grow wise by such a
process, the more he blinds himself, till at lepR:1JJ
he comes to believe nothing, not even that there is
< -
.. Compare AC 5402, 6822, 5432:5.
55

59. any thing spiritual or an eternal life. This follows
from the principle which he lays down; and this
is to eat of the tree of the knowledge of goocfand .
evil, of which, the.mo-re heeats..t.h*=nNte-dead
he becomes. But he who desires tQ grow wise from
the Lord "and not from the world, ~ys in his heart
that the LOrd must he believed, that is, the things
wh!~jhE:l LorJ:tB?-~_~po~e~~~~~d!because
they are truths, and from this principle he thinks.
He confirms himself by rational considerations,
by science, and by sensual and natural things, and
those which are not confirmatory, he separates."
Arcana Coelestia 128
"There are two principles - one which leads
to all folly and madness, and another which
leads to all intelligence and wisdom. The former
principle is to deny all things, as when a man says
in his heart that he cannot believe such things
until he is convinced by what he can grasp or feel;
this principle is what leads to all foll~ and mad­
ness, and may be callAA..the negative principle.
The other principle is to affirm those thmgs
whicl1 ~.!.e ~doctrine from the Word? as when a
man thinks and believes that t~ true because
Ithe Lord has said so; this principle is what leads
to all intelligence and wisdom, and may be called
the affirmative princi12le ... " Arcana Coelestia 2568
56

60. "Those think . . . from the affirmative who
believe that things are true besause.the,LOl:d,.haS
said so in the Word, thus those who have faith in
'fiie Lord. They who deny that what is in the Word
is true, and who say in their hearts that they will
believe when they are persuaded by things rational
and scientific, are in such a state of mind that
the;y will never believe, - no, not even when con­
vinced by the bodily senses, as by the sight, the
hearing, and the touch; for they always frame
new reasonings against such convictions, so as to
finally altogether extinguish all faith, and at the
same time turn the light of the rational into dark­
ness, because into falses. But those who are in the
affirmative, that is, whg_heli~at tbingB..J!:re
e because the Lord bas...y'lj~o, are continually
being confirmed through rational, scientific and
even sensual things, and their ideas are enlight­
"1 ened, and tllfy are strengthened "MLith..:these,
1 doctrine 'lives' . " "
- "They who incline to a life of evil fall into the
$ative; but they who inclinetoal~eof g..90d are
.... ­
led into.Jhe affirmative . . .
"They who have ~blinded themselves by not be­
ing willing to believe anything which they do not
grasp by the senses, until at length they have come
r to believe nothing, were of old called 'serpents of
L the tree of knowledge' ...
57

61. "In the other life such are readily distinguished
from other spirits by this, that on every subject
relating to faith they reason whether it be so or
not, and, though it be shown to them a thousand
and thousand times to be so, still they raise
negative doubts in opposition to every confirma­
tion, and this to eternity. They are therefore
blinded to such a degree that they are bereft of
common sense- that is, they cannot comprehend
what is good and true ... "
Arcana Coelestia 2588 :2, 3, 9
"With those who are in the negative-that is,
those with whom the negative universally reigns­
doubts can in no wise be removed, for with them
one scruple avails more than a thousand confirma­
tions; for one scruple is as a grain of sand placed
close before the pupil of the eye, which, although
it is single and small, nevertheless takes away all
sight. But they who are in the affirmative-that
is, those with whom the affirmative universally
reigns-reject the scruples that arise from falla ­
cies which are contrary to truths; and if there are
any which they do not comprehend, they r..eject
them to th~s and say that they do not yet
understand them, and so they remain still in the
faith of truth." Arcana Coelestia 6479
58

62. "Those who start with a negative never be­
lieve, because the negative principle reigns uni­
versally [with them], and when it reigns univer­
sally, those scientifics which deny inflow and are
collected together, but not those which confirm;
those which confirm are thrown aside, or are
explained so as to favor the negative scientifics,
and thus the negative is confirmed."
Arcana Coelestia 6383
ths..spgkep ng the Lgr-d and concern­
ing the Lord, are to be believed even though we
are not able to penetrate them by reason. To
wish to deny because we cannot penetrate by the
reason, is therefQn~l jkg a desire to deny the
rocreatioV5 pf trees from seeds and of animals
from eggs ... Hence it may be seen what kind
of a faith a man has when he believes nothing
but what he sees, as is common at this day,
especially among the learned of the world."
Spiritual Diary 2727
"'And the prince of thy people thou shalt not
curse' (Exodus 22 :28). Hereby is signified that
neither ought the Doctrine of truth to be blas­
:Rhemed . . . Divine truth is the Word, and is
&trlne fr<!m~~ord. They who deny these
in""""heart, blaspheme, even though with the mouth
59

63. they praise the Word and preach it. In the denial
lies concealed the blasphemy ... Therefore, with
th.vnaILo! the,Chur.chJ;he.first of all principre';
is to believe the Word ... " Arcana; Coelestia 9222
t1 ~-~ vINo ,,01 /) ( ).. ~>-" S ) I
.....s f 5 <J
A> 0 e-t:::. 1~
r-:
r::: --p
I
0.. ~ 1'.. c.. er---­
[~ W~ f:::. __ ) '> ~ r-. .
J
~ ~ vJ',o~ ('>-. ~'yj) <:> )
Cc,", ff) 'vJ~H~
--t.h <f'"j
J.-. A......:. e:..-JZ.
[1: ~f'~d (
~
A--fJ.. ~ ~ • I e:t.. .fa.---" A <'IN.~_
4-- f--,."", L;oJ'r-::.~ _ ~ f:. /.... .....,
- _. --- J I1 ~L
b1-~J­
'00 ~'-'--) A
D 1; . ~:l I/.I~<---- J
60

64. NOTES
The Internal Sense and the Sense of the Letter
"The internal sense ~the Word _ its~
(AC 1540). Yet "the Divine truth is in its ful­
ness in the sense of the letter of our~".
(AElo-8'f:2, ~mpare SS 39) HenceitTSalso
taught that "the Word ... is not the Word until
) i~ is"'in the sense of the letter.'1 TEe ~ord notTn
t~t ultimate would be like a temp~e in ~ir
) and not on earth, or like a man havmg flesh but
without "bonesn: (AE 1087 :2, compare 1(j8~5,
TCR 214e, De Verbo 25) "It is from the spiritual
s~e that~-rdisD~~~n~IY inspired and holy
in every, sentence (voce)." (TCR 200) But "in
our natural Word are contained both the spiritual
JWord and the celestial Word", while "in the
spiritual and celestial Word the natural Word is
not contained; wherefore the Word in our world
1is most full of Divine wisdom, and thence is more
holy than the Words in the heavens". (De Verbo
35, compare 54, heading)
When viewed spiritually the doctrine of the
New Church presented in he Writings annot be
separated in thought from t e ord given in its
If liter.al sense in the Old and N~estaments; any
fL. more than the Tnte;;al sense can be separated
J
d­

65. .,.
'>~ W':1",-p( (>- .!j~~<:> S) s jop ~H
, • ~ w";:' ffA-­
<l.. ..../::;'.IP...."" 4'~ ----.
from the sense of the letter. "For the sense of
the letter is the basis into which the spiritual
ideas, which are with the angels, close, much the
same as words (voces) are the basis into which
the meaning of the thought falls and is communi­
cated to another" (AE 356 :5). The doctrine of
.
( the New Church "Is....solely from'" the s~~e
) letter of the Word", 'and "the Word in the sense
I of the }et~r contains all things of the doctrine of
the New Church". (AR 898, 902)
The statement that the doctrine is drawn
"from the sense of the letter" where it is also
"contained", does not contradict the further teach­
ings that it is "from the spiritual se~e" (HD 7),
that "the internal sense contains it", and that it is
)identical with the doctrine of genuine truth which
is the syiritual sense appearing in t~e literal sense.
(See WH 11 :3, AC 9030e, 7233 :3, 10400 :2-4,
9424, SS 25, et aI.)
A similar paradox is presented in the teach­
ings, a) "that the Lord is present with man and
.
enlightens him, and teaches him the truths of the
church", iI~ the sense of the letter of the Word ~
"and nowhere" else" (SS 53) ; b) that "elsewhere
than in the WOJZd the Lord does not reveal Him­
self, nor there otherwise than tbrough the internal
~~e" (AE 36). These ideas make one in the
light of the statements (in AC 7233:3) that
62

66. (
-b1uz- A. S~. So.. c.,r.....e..,.{ H~
I
.j~~~ 7
(doctrin_e should be_formed from the "internal ---------
sense";; for "ethe internal sense is not only that
~nse which lies concea]ed In the ~nal sense, ...
but is also that which results from a number of
passages of the sense of the letter rightly collated,
and which is discerned by those who are enlight-
ened by the Lord in respect to their intellectual".
$-5f.;., A~5''t
Swedenborg's States of Preparation
The citations in the preceding collection are
selected to illustrate the character of the Theo-
lQgical Writings of Swedenborg and show their
I status as works of Divine revelation. We have not
inCluded any statements whi'Ch Swedenborg made
about his states of inspiration during the years of
his preparatory studies of the Scripture, especially
during his writing of the "Ad-V~9cia", which
was not published until long after his death and
which is now known by the English title, "The
Word Explained". For in this interval (1745-
1747), before he began to write the Arcana
Coelestia,h~g~diI!.<:l~d feel states of inspiration,l
S but he also records states of .@~air when inspiI.:~­
l tion seemed to fail and he experienced uncertain-
ties and obscurities 2 • He was then annoyed by
l) WE 6884, 5587, 1409, 7006, 3323.
2) WE 2755 et seq.
63

67. spirits whp Gaused slips and errors 3 , so that truths
were ~ixed with·· things nottrue 4 • He showed
hesitancy as to whether to make changes in his
statements 5 •
States Experienced for the Sake of Instruction
For the sake of learning the manner in which
the Old Testament was "inspired as to every
letter", Swedenborg was also permitted to ex­
perience certain states like those of the prophets.
Thus spirits were occ~si_onany :Rermitted to di~te I
to him and even ~eemingly to lead his hand: .
"This[happened] ver~ely, and-.!2cly for the
s~of info~_mation that revelations are effected
in this way also. But these papers have been
J
destroyed (deletae 2 because G.?i Messiah was un­
(
willing tl)at it ;;bould_ he efte~t~~J~ this way. Nor
has it been permitted that anything should be
dictated viva voce . . . but while it was being
written, the [spirits] were silent. 6 These matters,
(God Messiah granting, will be spoken of more
) fully elsewhere, in ordErr.--that.:m.eD.--m.ay know how
l re~ons took place formerly ..." 7 (WE 7006,
written in 1746)
3) WE 2755, SD 2372.
4) WE 1526 notes, 1530, 475, 1711, 1712.
!LWE _61~~,-et alii!. ­
6) Compare SDm5e.
7) Compare WE 6884, 6885 and notes.
64

68. " . . . It was not allowed me to tell anything
here of what was dictated to me orally by any
one of them. When this was done, the writing
had to be obliterated, it being allowed me to tell
onl such things as flowed in from God Messiah
alone, both mediately t roug them, an a so Im,.
"i'nediately-which yet was manifest to me."
(WE 1892)8
"When I was writing and was in a certain
intermediate celestial perception, it was perceived
and said that each and all the words and syllables,
with their little curves, we!~ perceived b~e
, celestials, and as it were spoke to them. This is
effected from tl)e aff~~Eon in which the man
(
, then is, having been communicated to the hand,
1 or being in the hand; for~..,...beipgno.~,
I i§,.t!m ma,D himself. Hence it was evident in what
manner the Word has been inspired, that it is
so, as to every single jot and apex. Hence it is
that the handwriting is according to the affection
alliI"Obscurity of tEe animus with me."-rSt5482-0)
"[The spirits] who now spoke to me said that
the things which I had written are so crude and
gross, that they judged that nothing interior could
8) One crossed-off passage reads: "The above was written only by
my hand, not by my mind". (WE 1511 note, Compare WE
1526, 1530.)
65

69. be understood from those words or from the mere
sense of the words. I perceived also by a spiritual
I
idea that this was so, that they were indeed very
crude; wherefore it was given me to answer that
hey ar~lyvesselsTntowhich purer, 15efter, and
interlQr things can-be infused, as a literal s~e,
and that there are many such vessels, as it were,
of the senseof theletter fn the prophetical
books . .. (SD 2185)
"[The angels] especially observed what the
inspiration is of those things which are written
in the Word of the Lord. For now it has appeared
to them in what way, and in what an abundance,
there iDfi~Q. into those things which we.!],JVrit­
,ten by me; and thisnot only Intothe several
words and the ideas of the words; nay, it seemed
to them as if certain ones were holding my hand
and were writing, claiming that they were the
(
ones who were writing. It was also granted me
to perceive by a spiritual idea, nay, as it were to
feel beforehand, what was in the most minute
singulars of each little letter which was being
wr~. Hence IrIS as friclear light that the Word
(
of the Lord is inspired as to ever letter. 1748,
une O. 22 0; compare 557)
Swedenborg also was shown "by living ex­
perience" how the prophets of Israel had been
66

70. obsessed,9 and how they had experienced various
types of visions. 10 Yet the things ordinarily "seen
and heard" by Swedenborg in the other life were
not classed as "visions". He wrote, "I asseverate
that these things are not visions, but sights in
( complete wakefulness" (CLJ 35) or "in the high­
est wakefulness of the body" (AC 1885).
.. .com­ ,,~
preface, AR 962,
..... . 'I I i 1'1
9) SD 2272 - 2282.
10) AC 6212, SD 2283.
67

71. SD 438, CL 166) Thus he always retained full
use of his rational mind, acting as of himself
(DP 290), even when, on occasions, for the sake
of information, he was "obsessed" by spirits as
were the prophets. (SD 2659,2665,3963, compare
AC 6212)
He gained his information about the spiritual
world gradually and it increased with his ex­
periences, as is clearly revealed in his "Spiritual
Diary". And while every indication shows that
he was a regenerating man, who could on this
account be a companion of angels, the Divine in­
spiration which he enjoyed was not dependent on
the advancing states of his personal regeneration.
Angels were sometimes present who aided his
(
memory (CL 73e). Yet while wH'ip",4own the
doctrine of the New Church). ~o spirit dared nor
did any angel wish to introduce anything alien;
nOr djiSWedenhQJ:g take-iWyj;biDg7tOm hplf.
(AR, preface)
The Heavenly Doctrine in the Spiritual World
Since revelations take place in both worlds
(AE 641 :3), the Writings were often seen and
quoted by Swedenborg in the spiritual world
(CL 416, AR 716). The five books published in
1758 were presented to certain African spirits
68

72. (SD 5946, compare 4775, 4777 and CLJ 76).
Swedenborg's summaries of the internal sense
were compared with the Word as existing in a
heavenly society (SS 97). The heavenly doctrine
was seen in the spiritual world r.w..Qs~ a
cedar table, in the form of the "Angelic Wisdom
I Loveand
concerning t--,;;]jiv-;;e Wisdom" and
"~cernin!l. the Divine Providence" (AR 875:15,
also called "Celestial Arcana" in TCR 461e).
Swedenborg mentions the' existence of many
( cop-ies orthe-Brief Exposition in the other world.
(Eccl. Hist. 4, 8, compare SD 5908)
"When the heavenly doctrine concerning the
Lord is known on one earth, the rest are thus
( able to know it when they become spirits and
angels." (SD 4781, cp. 4780, EU 118)
69