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Doc. 238.] 269
SWEDENBORG TO ETINGER.
where they stay. If an opportunity offer, nine other copies
shall be forwarded, together with the treatise on the Planets.
I asked the porter by whom your letter was delivered, whether
his master knew of another opportunity; but he has not yet
returned to give me an answer ; should one occur, I will not
fail on my part to avail myself of it.
You suggest a doubt in respect to Christ’s having power
given Him over all flesh, when yet the angels and the in
habitants of heaven have not fleshy, but shining bodies. To
this be pleased to receive kindly the following reply: In the
above passage by all flesh are understood all men, wherefore
in the Word in various places mention is made of all flesh,
which signifies every man. With respect to the bodies of
angels they do not appear shining, but, as it were, fleshy ; for
they are substantial though not material, and substantial things
are not translucent before the angels. Everything material
is originally from what is substantial ; and into this every man
comes after he has laid aside his material coverings by death.
On this account man after death is a man, but purer than
before ; comparatively as what is substantial is purer than what
is material. That the Lord has power not only over all men, but
also over all angels, is evident from His own words in Matthew,
"All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth" (xxviii, 18).
As in your letter you speak of the natural and spiritual
sense of the Word, and lest it should be believed that I have
written anything contradictory to these senses, I add a separate
piece of paper on which these two senses of the Word are
described. I shall ever remain, most venerable and excellent Sir,
Your most faithful servant,
EM. SWEDENBORG.
Amsterdam, November 8, 1768.
THE NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD.
That in the Word there is an internal or spiritual sense,
in its external or natural sense, as a precious stone in its
matrix, or as a beautiful infant in its swaddling clothes, is a
truth which has heretofore been altogether unknown in the
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