1. THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

A statement of faith, set out in both universal and particular terms, is placed at the beginning to serve as a preface to the book which follows, to be like a doorway leading into a church, and a summary presenting in a short compass what follows at more length. It is called the faith of the new heaven and the new church, because heaven, where the angels are, and the church among men form a single unit, just as the internal and external sides of the personality make up a single individual. This is why a member of the church who possesses the good of love which arises from the truths of faith, and possesses the truths of faith which arise from the good of love, is, so far as the interiors of his mind are concerned, an angel of heaven. Therefore too after dying he comes into heaven, and there enjoys happiness depending upon how far the good and truth are linked. It should be known that in the new heaven, which is at the present time being established by the Lord, this statement of faith serves as its preface, doorway and summary.

193. II. The Word contains a spiritual sense unknown up to the present.

Is there anyone who does not acknowledge and assent to the proposition that the Word, being Divine, is in its inmost spiritual? But who up to now has known what spiritual means, and where it is hidden in the Word? It will be shown in an experience recounted at the end of this chapter [280] what spiritual means; where it lies hidden in the Word will be revealed in the following paragraphs.

The reason why the Word is spiritual in its inmost is that it has come down from the Lord Jehovah and has passed through the heavens of the angels; and the actual divinity, which in itself is beyond expression and perception, has become as it came down adapted so as to permit angels, and finally men, to grasp it. Thus there is a spiritual sense, which is inside the natural sense like the soul in a person, or like the thinking of the understanding in speech, and the affection of the will in actions. If we may compare it with the kinds of things to be seen in the natural world, the spiritual sense is within the natural sense like the whole brain inside its membranes or integuments; or like the shoots of a tree within its bark and bast, or, rather, like everything needed to produce a chick inside the eggshell, and so on. But no one up to the present has guessed that the natural sense of the Word contains a spiritual sense of this kind. It is therefore necessary to make plain to the view of the understanding this secret, which is in itself far superior to all secrets disclosed so far. This can be achieved by expounding the matter in the following sequence:

(i) What the spiritual sense is.

(ii) This sense is present in every part and detail of the Word.

(iii) It is this which makes the Word divinely inspired and holy in every word.

(iv) This sense has up to the present been unknown.

(v) It will in future only be granted to those who are in possession of genuine truths from the Lord.

(vi) Remarkable effects produced by the Word from its spiritual sense.

These I shall now discuss one by one.