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218 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
private communication which he imparted to me, and
which I have above related, did himself derive from the
Word alone, under the instruction of the Lord, those
doctrines which are taught in heaven ; and if he does
understand them, and has the felicity to read also in
heaven that Word, which is there preserved, and which
corresponds with our Word as to every particular ( for cor
respondences are natural truths and speculums of celestial
things,) in the sense which is adapted to the celestial
spirits, (Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, 70-75, like
wise Last Judgment, 57.) can there be any apprehension,
but that he may assuredly be a true interpreter of the
Scriptures ? When you say you consider him as one who
is constantly advancing his visions, or rather memorable
relations, I do willingly admit it. But in the Arcana Cœ
lestia, 1967, and elsewhere, passages which deserve your
attention, give a satisfactory information of the difference
which subsists between a prophet and a visionary ; if you
please you may add to the above also 1806, 1786 ; from The
Divine Providence, 134 ; and from The Heaven and Hell,
76, 249. The inmost, or celestial meaning ofthe Word, is
itself the right doctrine of the church ; the Word yields
the doctrine, and the doctrine is the whole of the Word :
now this cannot be taught better, by any means, than
through a seer, forasmuch as it cannot be seen without
an especial illumination, which a seer enjoys above others,
his sight being opened bythe Lord into the light of
heaven.
" II. I do not know that any man ever treated the sub
ject of the literal sense of the Scriptures as of greater
holiness than the author in question ; we may, therefore,
directly and openly meet the accusation with which he is
attacked, as one who speaks meanly and slightly of the
literal meaning of the Scriptures, and, consequently, has
committed errors. In the Arcana Calestia, 7055, he
proves, in a masterly manner, that the very words of the
Scripture have been inspired In the Doctrine of the
New Jerusalem, concerning the Sacred Scriptures,
which is professedly a work devoted to this new inquiry,
he proves, with the most comprehensive and unshaken
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