What the Writings Testify
What the Writings Testify
CHAPTER 7
The theological Writings of Swedenborg contain and constitute the Doctrine
of the New Jerusalem, and thus reveal the Internal Sense of the Word.
"As to what especially concerns the Doctrine which now follows, this also is from
Heaven, because it is from the spiritual sense of the Word, and the spiritual sense of the
Word is the same with the Doctrine which is in Heaven...But I will proceed to the Doctrine
itself, which is for the New Church; which, because it has been revealed to me out of
Heaven, is called Heavenly Doctrine; for to give this Doctrine is the purpose of this
work."
- Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 7
"ARCANA COELESTIA (Heavenly Secrets) which are discovered (detecta) in the Sacred
Scripture or Word of the Lord, are contained in the Explication which is the Internal
Sense of the Word.."
- Subtitle of Arcana Coelestia
"The APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED according to the Spiritual Sense, wherein are revealed
arcana which are there predicted and have hitherto been hidden."
- Title of Apocalypse Explained
"The APOCALYPSE REVEALED, in which are disclosed the arcana which are there
predicted and hitherto have lain hidden."
- Title of Apocalypse Revealed
"That the Internal Sense is such as has been expounded, is evident from the
particulars which have been explained, and especially from this, that that sense has been
dictated to me out of heaven."
- Arcana Coelestia 6597
"This, now is the internal sense of the Word, its very essential life, which does
not at all appear from the sense of the Letter."
- Arcana Coelestia 64
The spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me.
- Invitation to the New Church 44
"The doctrine of the church is that this is the advent of the Lord and that thence
it is that arcana have been opened by the Lord respecting heaven and hell, man's life
after death, the Word, the last judgment-which have all been written out in Latin and sent
to all the archbishops and bishops of the kingdom [of Great Britain] and to the
nobility..."
- Concerning the Atlianasian Creed 2
"That at this day the spiritual sense of the Word has been revealed by the Lord,
is because the Doctrine of genuine Truth has now been revealed, which Doctrine is
contained in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and now in the [other] little works which
are being given to the public; and because that Doctrine, and no other, agrees with the
spiritual sense of the Word, therefore that sense, together with the science of
correspondences, has now for the first time been disclosed. This sense also is signified
by the appearance of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with glory and power, Matthew 24:30,
31..."
- De Verbo VII:7 (21)
Not even an iota [of the spiritual sense of the Word] could have been opened except by
the Lord alone. This surpasses all revelations which have hitherto been since the creation
of the world..."
- Invitation to the New Church 44
"The arcana of the internal sense are now revealed, because there is scarcely any
faith, since there is no charity; thus because it is the consummation of the age; and when
this is so they can be revealed without danger of profanation, because they are not
interiorly acknowledged."
- Arcana Coelestia 3398:4
"But since these arcana have been revealed, and lie open to those who are in good,
that is, who are angelic minds, therefore, however obscure they may appear to others,
these arcana are to be expounded, because they are in the internal sense."
- Arcana Coelestia 3128
"It has been granted me sometimes to be among the angels of the middle and of the
highest heaven, and to hear them conversing with one another; at which time I was in an
interior natural state..... I heard things ineffable and inexpressible..... Afterwards it
was given me to understand that I could not utter nor describe them by any spiritual and
celestial expression, but that nevertheless they could be described even to their rational
comprehension by words of natural language. And it was said that there are not any Divine
arcana which cannot be perceived and expressed also naturally, although in a more general
(communius) and imperfect way..."
- De Verbo 111:4 (6)
"'And she brought forth a male Son,' signifies the Doctrine of the New Church...
The Doctrine which is here meant is The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem (published at
London, 1758) ; as also The Doctrines concerning the Lord, the Sacred Scripture, and Life
according to the Precepts of the Decalogue (Amsterdam, 1763) ; for by the Doctrine all the
truths of Doctrine are meant, because the Doctrine is their complex...."
- Apocalypse Revealed 543
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