Session Sixteen
On-Line Study of the Word
The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture applied to the Arcana Coelestia
By Rev. Paul Booth
On-Line Study of the Word
The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture applied to the Arcana Coelestia
By Rev. Paul Booth
A New Churchman accepts the Arcana Coelestia and other religious Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg as the Word of God just as he does the Old and New Testaments. He therefore should treat it the same as he does the Old and New Testaments. The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture taught in the Third Testament applies to the Arcana Coelestia and the other books just as it does to the books of Old and New Testaments. When a person first discovers the Third Testament and comes to accept it as the Word, his use of it is often as a sort of concordance to the Old and New Testaments, and this is perfectly understandable, for in the books Arcana Coelestia, the Apocalypse Explained, the Apocalypse Revealed, the Last Judgment, and the Continuation of the Last Judgment plus a few others all reveal the internal sense of Genesis, Exodus and Revelation, plus also other verses throughout the Old and New Testaments. Generally, the person, at first, does not consider that the Third Testament has and internal sense or he says that men are unable to know what its internal sense is. However, since the Word is revealed to those on earth in its natural sense, especially those of the Church and in its internal sense for those in the Spiritual world, especially to angels in the Heavens, then, since the religious writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are accepted as the Word, then it, too, must have both an internal and an external sense. Not only that, but since the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments can be seen through correspondences that are revealed in the Third Testament, then those same correspondences are to apply to the internal sense of the Third Testament.
In Genesis the story of the Noah after the flood is told and in it Jehovah tells Noah that He 'will not again curse the ground any more on man's account, because of the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done, during all the days of the earth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8: 21, 22). One can read the 8th Chapter of Arcana Coelestia and learn the internal sense of these verses and those of the 8th Chapter of Genesis. However, let us examine number 937th of the Arcana Coelestia, which ends that Chapter and see how these correspondences taught in it applies to it and not just to the Old and New Testaments.
The evidence referred to here is the words written in the Arcana Coelestia which explains the internal sense of Genesis, particularly those of the story of Noah worshiping, bringing sacrifice to God after the flood. The general words spoken of are those mentioned in Genesis taken from earthly things is the literal or external sense of the Word. Both the Arcana Coelestia and the book of Genesis are understood in the external or natural sense by men on earth, for how else can any natural man know and acknowledge what is said in either of these books of the Word except in its literal sense. Accept what is said in the Arcana Coelestia as explaining the literal sense of Genesis as true and you must of necessity accept what is said about angels understanding the internal sense of the same Word, and that the Ancient or Spiritual Church understood the internal sense of what those natural things represented. That being so, then, the internal sense of the Word was understood by the Ancient or Spiritual Church through correspondences taught in their Word. Now, this Church, the Ancient Church, did not have perception as did the Most Ancient Church, to whom God spoke immediately with and who spoke with angels. The Ancient or the Spiritual Church had been taught truth or doctrine. And, they were taught doctrine - the doctrine of charity - through the knowledge of the science of correspondences. Correspondences are today again revealed to man through the Arcana Coelesta and throughout the other religious writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, which has come to be called the Third Testament or the Latin Word. What is taught also is that for the Word to be the Word, it must have an internal - a celestial and spiritual sense - that the angels in Heaven understand. Thus far, it can be seen that the Most Ancient or Celestial Church understood the internal sense, even as had been said that they spoke with angels. The Ancient or the Spiritual Church had learned correspondences, and so, understood the internal sense of the Word taught to them as doctrine given from the Celestial Church, though in their natural understanding. We learn that eventually this knowledge was lost to mankind and men came only to understand in the naturally. Now, from the Lord in His Divine Human this knowledge is again revealed to some extent through the Arcana Coelestia, that is, the Third Testament, so that a man, today, can learn, at least, some of these correspondences if he is willing, and so come to understand the internal sense of the Word in his natural understanding.
Another criteria for the Word to be the Word is that it must reveal to man the Lord, His Kingdom, and a man's regeneration no matter in what style it is written - either in made-up histories as we see in the first 12 chapters of Genesis, or in true histories or prophecies and psalms. If these subjects are not present in the Word then the Arcana Coelestia or any other book of the Old and New Testaments, such as Genesis, is no more than any other worldly book with stories, histories, or religion. So, without an internal understanding the literal sense scarcely teaches anything of regeneration to men. Another criterion of the Word is that the external or natural and literal sense is the containent and the basis of the Word as to its fullness and power; it must be the means which the Lord, His Good and Truth, be manifested to the man on earth, the natural man, and have the power to redeem and regenerate him. Otherwise, the Word is dead and without life. Still, the Word is not the Word with man except according to its understanding, and it is understood only in appearances in the either natural, celestial, spiritual sense, depending upon a man's state.
Now through the Arcana Coelestia the literal sense of the Word of the Old and New Testaments can be understood spiritually in one's natural understanding through representatives and significations. In this way a man not only can understand the internal sense of these Testaments, but can affirm that it teaches truths about the Lord, about His Kingdom in Heaven and on earth, and about man's need of regeneration. This truth is revealed through appearances accommodated to a man's understanding. However, can it be confirmed that the Arcana Coelestia itself has an internal sense, and that it can be understood? First, what is required to show the internal sense of the Word Arcana Coelestia and the other religious books written by Emanuel Swedenborg? The answer is: the same correspondences that are accepted as revealing the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments written by its writers, the Prophets and Evangelist. There cannot be different correspondences for the Word and still be the Word of God, for in that case there would be different internals or spirituals and what comes from the Lord does not change, the Lord being one and what proceeds forth from the Lord is the same.
Nor is it needed that another 'Word' from God be given through another man in order to explain what the internal sense is of the Word Arcana Coelestia, for the same Divine Good and Truth proceeds forth from the Lord God of Heaven and earth. The Lord, in His Divine Human illuminates man's understanding and, so, it can be accepted that the Arcana Coelestia has revealed the internal sense to those who willingly accept truth from the Good, that is, from the Divine. Otherwise, a man cannot accept that it is the Word. Here, we must be warned that merely a knowledge of correspondences revealed in the works of Emanuel Swedenborg do not make the understanding of the internal with a man to be the Word, for it is in that case the man's own ability and not the Lord's with the man, that he understands; from man alone no good can come. The very words of our text - Arcana Coelestia 937 - understood by man literally through the natural sense reveals that words are vessels, for many things there are not understood by man in the natural sense. Example: what is meant by 'seed-time, harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night'? The angels who are in the spiritual world understand them spiritually and the man on earth understands them merely in the natural sense. In the literal understanding a man cannot see what they have to do with his regeneration, or anything about the Lord. He only knows that the angels understand in a more perfect way or in greater detail. However, in reading the Third Testament a man learns that the Word has an internal sense and, so, that there is in Heaven the same Word, but that it is understood spiritually rather than naturally. Now, if none of this is confirmed as the Word, then what is revealed appears to as any other book on religion that may be informative and is something that satisfies those who enjoy accumulating knowledge. Therefore, let us test (see) if what is taught about the Word in the Doctrine of Sacred Scriptures is also true of the Arcana Coelestia itself of the Third Testament, that there is an internal sense just as there is in the Old and New Testaments.
The internal sense of Arcana Coelestia 937:
cold and heat, &…; where there is no charity within faith and where love or charity unites with truth becomes the truth of faith within man,&…;
summer and winter, &…; his becoming the full state of the Church, and it's end state,&…;
and day and night, &…; the eternal, the continuance of good or charity from the Lord within and that the evil of man remains, though without power,... [The seeds of truth and good are implanted within a man's understanding and there remains dormant until they are warmed by good or charity. From their beginning to take root, so to speak, within, that is, within the spiritual where charity or love grows, thus, forming man's new faith, - the good and the truth of faith and becoming a new Church within man. His evils having been put aside, and thus, his regeneration and conjunction with Heaven is effected. Before the spiritual man, the celestial man perceived what was true, now a man, through his spirit must think, that is, he has to learn truths, and so depending upon his acceptance or rejection of the Word, he is regenerated or not regenerated.]
when yet all these things involve arcana of Heaven &…; things representative of Heaven, that is, they represent the love of the Lord and the love of the neighbor&…; [Heaven is the Divine flowing in the Divine as is taught in the Arcana Coelestia.]
as to be inexhaustible even as to one ten-thousandth part of it&…;. for truths and goods are eternal; they are successively joined with another and are all things innumerable, and so, are infinite wisdom and love, even though the understanding of man sees hardly anything.
The angels can see in illimitable verity &…; The (Angels) Church in Heaven, from the Lord within angels, is the truth and good understood in its internal sense, that is, in the spiritual sense or the celestial sense, each according to the angel's state... [This, thus signifies the whole process of regeneration - the truth and good of life and love - working within and through the celestial into the spiritual and into the natural, each formed to be the receptacle of Divine Love. The Holy Spirit, the Proceeding Lord, forms within vessels a place for His love and wisdom through the celestial, spiritual and in accumulating, becoming complete in the natural, making man to be a habitation, a dwelling place for the Lord in fullness and power, and increasing to eternity in Heaven as an angel.]
Such an explanation of the internal sense of the Arcana Coelestia, here, is but a drop of water compared to the oceans. Nevertheless, the internal truths found within the Arcana Coelestia confirm that it contains truths and goods that teach knowledges about the Lord, His Kingdom, and that lead man in his regeneration, that is if he shuns evils and lives accordingly. However, this discovery, when learned for other reasons than to know the Lord, and so, to be taught and led, would not be the Word within man anymore than if a man uses truths taught in the Old and New Testaments for selfish reasons, such as to gain wealth, honor, or prominence.
End.
In Genesis the story of the Noah after the flood is told and in it Jehovah tells Noah that He 'will not again curse the ground any more on man's account, because of the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done, during all the days of the earth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8: 21, 22). One can read the 8th Chapter of Arcana Coelestia and learn the internal sense of these verses and those of the 8th Chapter of Genesis. However, let us examine number 937th of the Arcana Coelestia, which ends that Chapter and see how these correspondences taught in it applies to it and not just to the Old and New Testaments.
- "From all this it is evident what the nature of the Lord's Word is in the internal sense. In the sense of the letter it appears so gross as to give no hint of anything being spoken of but seed-time, and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night, when yet all these things involve arcana of the Ancient, that is, of the Spiritual Church. The very words in the sense of the letter are of this character, thus are, so to speak, most general vessels, each one of which contains so many and such great arcana of Heaven as to be inexhaustible even as to one ten-thousandth part of it. For in these most general words, taken as they are from earthly things, the angels (from the Lord) can see, in illimitable verity, the whole process of regeneration, and the state of the man who is about to be regenerated and of the regenerate, while man can see scarcely anything."
The evidence referred to here is the words written in the Arcana Coelestia which explains the internal sense of Genesis, particularly those of the story of Noah worshiping, bringing sacrifice to God after the flood. The general words spoken of are those mentioned in Genesis taken from earthly things is the literal or external sense of the Word. Both the Arcana Coelestia and the book of Genesis are understood in the external or natural sense by men on earth, for how else can any natural man know and acknowledge what is said in either of these books of the Word except in its literal sense. Accept what is said in the Arcana Coelestia as explaining the literal sense of Genesis as true and you must of necessity accept what is said about angels understanding the internal sense of the same Word, and that the Ancient or Spiritual Church understood the internal sense of what those natural things represented. That being so, then, the internal sense of the Word was understood by the Ancient or Spiritual Church through correspondences taught in their Word. Now, this Church, the Ancient Church, did not have perception as did the Most Ancient Church, to whom God spoke immediately with and who spoke with angels. The Ancient or the Spiritual Church had been taught truth or doctrine. And, they were taught doctrine - the doctrine of charity - through the knowledge of the science of correspondences. Correspondences are today again revealed to man through the Arcana Coelesta and throughout the other religious writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, which has come to be called the Third Testament or the Latin Word. What is taught also is that for the Word to be the Word, it must have an internal - a celestial and spiritual sense - that the angels in Heaven understand. Thus far, it can be seen that the Most Ancient or Celestial Church understood the internal sense, even as had been said that they spoke with angels. The Ancient or the Spiritual Church had learned correspondences, and so, understood the internal sense of the Word taught to them as doctrine given from the Celestial Church, though in their natural understanding. We learn that eventually this knowledge was lost to mankind and men came only to understand in the naturally. Now, from the Lord in His Divine Human this knowledge is again revealed to some extent through the Arcana Coelestia, that is, the Third Testament, so that a man, today, can learn, at least, some of these correspondences if he is willing, and so come to understand the internal sense of the Word in his natural understanding.
Another criteria for the Word to be the Word is that it must reveal to man the Lord, His Kingdom, and a man's regeneration no matter in what style it is written - either in made-up histories as we see in the first 12 chapters of Genesis, or in true histories or prophecies and psalms. If these subjects are not present in the Word then the Arcana Coelestia or any other book of the Old and New Testaments, such as Genesis, is no more than any other worldly book with stories, histories, or religion. So, without an internal understanding the literal sense scarcely teaches anything of regeneration to men. Another criterion of the Word is that the external or natural and literal sense is the containent and the basis of the Word as to its fullness and power; it must be the means which the Lord, His Good and Truth, be manifested to the man on earth, the natural man, and have the power to redeem and regenerate him. Otherwise, the Word is dead and without life. Still, the Word is not the Word with man except according to its understanding, and it is understood only in appearances in the either natural, celestial, spiritual sense, depending upon a man's state.
Now through the Arcana Coelestia the literal sense of the Word of the Old and New Testaments can be understood spiritually in one's natural understanding through representatives and significations. In this way a man not only can understand the internal sense of these Testaments, but can affirm that it teaches truths about the Lord, about His Kingdom in Heaven and on earth, and about man's need of regeneration. This truth is revealed through appearances accommodated to a man's understanding. However, can it be confirmed that the Arcana Coelestia itself has an internal sense, and that it can be understood? First, what is required to show the internal sense of the Word Arcana Coelestia and the other religious books written by Emanuel Swedenborg? The answer is: the same correspondences that are accepted as revealing the internal sense of the Old and New Testaments written by its writers, the Prophets and Evangelist. There cannot be different correspondences for the Word and still be the Word of God, for in that case there would be different internals or spirituals and what comes from the Lord does not change, the Lord being one and what proceeds forth from the Lord is the same.
Nor is it needed that another 'Word' from God be given through another man in order to explain what the internal sense is of the Word Arcana Coelestia, for the same Divine Good and Truth proceeds forth from the Lord God of Heaven and earth. The Lord, in His Divine Human illuminates man's understanding and, so, it can be accepted that the Arcana Coelestia has revealed the internal sense to those who willingly accept truth from the Good, that is, from the Divine. Otherwise, a man cannot accept that it is the Word. Here, we must be warned that merely a knowledge of correspondences revealed in the works of Emanuel Swedenborg do not make the understanding of the internal with a man to be the Word, for it is in that case the man's own ability and not the Lord's with the man, that he understands; from man alone no good can come. The very words of our text - Arcana Coelestia 937 - understood by man literally through the natural sense reveals that words are vessels, for many things there are not understood by man in the natural sense. Example: what is meant by 'seed-time, harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night'? The angels who are in the spiritual world understand them spiritually and the man on earth understands them merely in the natural sense. In the literal understanding a man cannot see what they have to do with his regeneration, or anything about the Lord. He only knows that the angels understand in a more perfect way or in greater detail. However, in reading the Third Testament a man learns that the Word has an internal sense and, so, that there is in Heaven the same Word, but that it is understood spiritually rather than naturally. Now, if none of this is confirmed as the Word, then what is revealed appears to as any other book on religion that may be informative and is something that satisfies those who enjoy accumulating knowledge. Therefore, let us test (see) if what is taught about the Word in the Doctrine of Sacred Scriptures is also true of the Arcana Coelestia itself of the Third Testament, that there is an internal sense just as there is in the Old and New Testaments.
The internal sense of Arcana Coelestia 937:
- "From all this it is evident what the nature of the Lord's Word is in the internal sense." The (evidence) Arcana Coelestia reveals that the Lord's Love and Wisdom is within all nature, and that nature is the recipient of such, and that the Word in its natural sense would be unintelligible in many places, and would scarcely lead man in regeneration.
"In the sense of the letter it appears so gross as to give no hint of anything being spoken of&…; The external or natural appearances of the Word are very general truths revealed from the Lord, from His Love and Wisdom. These general truths concerning love and wisdom are the Lord, and though seen in the literal sense of the Word they are united to what is within and is the internal sense, &…; [As an example: A man is one, though he is formed of several parts within, (spiritual and celestial) but he appears as one externally. The external Word is written to accommodate a natural man's state, and the natural appears gross and it cannot be understood what is within or know its detail.]
cold and heat, &…; where there is no charity within faith and where love or charity unites with truth becomes the truth of faith within man,&…;
summer and winter, &…; his becoming the full state of the Church, and it's end state,&…;
and day and night, &…; the eternal, the continuance of good or charity from the Lord within and that the evil of man remains, though without power,... [The seeds of truth and good are implanted within a man's understanding and there remains dormant until they are warmed by good or charity. From their beginning to take root, so to speak, within, that is, within the spiritual where charity or love grows, thus, forming man's new faith, - the good and the truth of faith and becoming a new Church within man. His evils having been put aside, and thus, his regeneration and conjunction with Heaven is effected. Before the spiritual man, the celestial man perceived what was true, now a man, through his spirit must think, that is, he has to learn truths, and so depending upon his acceptance or rejection of the Word, he is regenerated or not regenerated.]
when yet all these things involve arcana of Heaven &…; things representative of Heaven, that is, they represent the love of the Lord and the love of the neighbor&…; [Heaven is the Divine flowing in the Divine as is taught in the Arcana Coelestia.]
as to be inexhaustible even as to one ten-thousandth part of it&…;. for truths and goods are eternal; they are successively joined with another and are all things innumerable, and so, are infinite wisdom and love, even though the understanding of man sees hardly anything.
- For in these most general words &…; For common things, that is, truth and good understood naturally &…;
taken as these are from earthly things &…; corresponds with internal, Heavenly truths, and that such things from doctrine, and which are representative of what is understood interiorly, is understood by the angels in detail &…;
- The very words in the sense of the letter are on this character &…; These things are internal truths of doctrine, and are called in general, the Word. [These generals are seen by man in his natural understanding in the state that he is in, and in which he can be led in regeneration.]
The angels can see in illimitable verity &…; The (Angels) Church in Heaven, from the Lord within angels, is the truth and good understood in its internal sense, that is, in the spiritual sense or the celestial sense, each according to the angel's state... [This, thus signifies the whole process of regeneration - the truth and good of life and love - working within and through the celestial into the spiritual and into the natural, each formed to be the receptacle of Divine Love. The Holy Spirit, the Proceeding Lord, forms within vessels a place for His love and wisdom through the celestial, spiritual and in accumulating, becoming complete in the natural, making man to be a habitation, a dwelling place for the Lord in fullness and power, and increasing to eternity in Heaven as an angel.]
- the state of the man who is about to be regenerated and of the regenerate &…; . the man's relationship to the Lord as in and through His Wisdom and Love receives an understanding of the internal sense of the Word interiorly. [He has affection for truth and good from the Lord. Though, it is 'as if' he himself has an affection and joy. The signification being the state of regeneration is in its fullness, that is, in the natural or literal sense, by which the intellectual and will are formed new within man.]
while a man can see scarcely anything. while the natural of man - his natural understanding - understands very little of the Lord and of the Word or of man's regeneration.
Such an explanation of the internal sense of the Arcana Coelestia, here, is but a drop of water compared to the oceans. Nevertheless, the internal truths found within the Arcana Coelestia confirm that it contains truths and goods that teach knowledges about the Lord, His Kingdom, and that lead man in his regeneration, that is if he shuns evils and lives accordingly. However, this discovery, when learned for other reasons than to know the Lord, and so, to be taught and led, would not be the Word within man anymore than if a man uses truths taught in the Old and New Testaments for selfish reasons, such as to gain wealth, honor, or prominence.
End.
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