Heaven and its Wonders and Hell by Emanuel Swedenborg
page 97 of 570 (17%)
page 97 of 570 (17%)
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respect to his spiritual or internal man to be conjoined with them.
That there might be such a conjunction of heaven with man the Word was written wholly by correspondences, each thing and all things in it being correspondent.{1} If man, therefore, had a knowledge of correspondences he would understand the spiritual sense of the Word, and from that it would be given him to know arcana of which he sees nothing in the sense of the letter. For there is a literal sense and there is a spiritual sense in the Word, the literal sense made up of such things as are in the world, and the spiritual sense of such things as are in heaven. And such a Word, in which everything down to the least jot is a correspondence, was given to men because the conjunction of heaven with the world is effected by means of correspondences.{2} {Footnote 1} The Word was written wholly by correspondences (n. 8615). By means, of the Word man has conjunction with heaven (n. 2899, 6943, 9396, 9400, 9401, 10375, 10452). {Footnote 2} Concerning the spiritual sense of the Word see the little work on The White Horse referred to in the Apocalypse. 115. I have been taught from heaven that the most ancient men on our earth, who were celestial men, thought from correspondences themselves, the natural things of the world before their eyes serving them as means of thinking in this way; and that they could be in fellowship with angels and talk with them because they so thought, and that thus through them heaven was conjoined to the world. For this reason that period was called the Golden Age, of which it is said by ancient writers that the inhabitants of heaven dwelt with men |
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