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270 SWEDENBORG’S CORRESPONDENCE. [Doc. 238.
Christian world, and hence also it is altogether unknown what
is meant by the consummation of the age, the Coming of the
Lord, the Last Judgment, and the New Jerusalem, on which
subjects many things are spoken and predicted in the Word
of each Testament, both Old and New. Without the unfold
ing and opening out of the literal sense of the Word by its
spiritual sense, how can any one know intellectually what is
signified by the things which the Lord predicted in Matthew xxiv,
and also in the Book of Revelation, and in like manner in
Daniel, and in the Prophets, in many passages? Make the
experiment yourself, if you be so disposed, and read those
passages of the prophetic Word which treat sometimes of wild
beasts and cattle, sometimes of pools and swamps, sometimes
of forests and brakes, sometimes of valleys and mountains,
sometimes of screech-owls, of ochim, tziim, satyrs, &c., &c,;
try whether you can perceive anything Divine therein, unless
you believe it to lie concealed interiorly, on account of its
being inspired by God, just as a precious stone lies concealed
in its matrix, as was said above. That the precious stones,
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, nos. 5
to 26 ; and in the same Doctrine it is further proved that the
literal sense is the basis, continent, and firmament of its
spiritual sense, nos. 27 to 36 ; also that Divine Truth in the
literal sense of the Word is in its fulness, in its sanctity, and
in its power, nos. 37 to 40 ; and, likewise, that the doctrine
of the church is to be drawn from the literal sense of the
Word, and to be confirmed thereby, nos. 50 to 61 ; and, finally,
that by the literal sense, through the medium of the spiritual
sense, there is effected conjunction with the Lord, and con
sociation with the angels, nos. 62 to 69.
To the above I will add something new from the spiritual
world : The rulers of the church who flock into that world
after death, are first taught concerning the Sacred Scripture,
that it contains a spiritual sense, which in the world was un
known to them ; and they are also told, that the angels of
heaven are in that sense, whilst man is in the sense of the
letter ; and further, that a translation or change of the latter
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