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HIS LETTERS TO DR. OETINGER. 209
Concerning the Natural and Spiritual Sense of the
Word.
"That there is an internal or spiritual sense in the
Word, in its external or natural sense, as a diamond in
its matrix, or as a beautiful infant in its swaddling clothes,
is a truth which has heretofore been altogether unknown
in the Christian world, and hence also it is altogether un
known what is meant by the Consummation of the Age,
the Coming ofthe Lord, the Last Judgment, and by the
New Jerusalem, on which subjects many things are
spoken and predicted in the Word of each Testament,
both Old and New. Without the unfolding and un
swathing of the literal sense of the Word by its spiritual
sense, who cau know intellectually what is signified by
the things which the Lord predicted in Matt. xxiv., and
also in the Revelations, and in like manner in Daniel, and
in the Prophets, in many passages ? Make the experi
ment yourself, if you are so disposed, by reading those
passages of the prophetical Word, which treat sometimes
of wild beasts and cattle, sometimes of forests and brakes,
sometimes of valleys and mountains, sometimes of bats,
of ochim, tziim, satyrs, &c. &c.; try whether you can
perceive anything divine therein, unless you believe it to
lie concealed inwardly, inasmuch as it was inspired of
God, just as a diamond lies concealed in its matrix, as
was said above. That the diamonds, or treasures, which
lie concealed within, are those things which the internal
sense contains, is fully demonstrated in the doctrine of
the New Jerusalem, concerning the Sacred Scripture,
5-26 : and in the same doctrine it is further proved, that
the literal sense is the basis, continent, and firmament of
its spiritual sense, 27-36 ; also, that the divine truth in
the literal sense of the Word is in its fulness, in its
sanctity, and in its power, 37-49 ; and, likewise, that
the doctrine of the church is to be drawn from the literal
sense ofthe Word, and to be confirmed thereby, 50-61 ;
and, moreover, that by the literal sense of the Word,
through the medium of its spiritual sense, there is effected
conjunction with the Lord, and consociation with the
angels, 62-69.
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