THE NATURE OF THE WRITINGS
By the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn
The Lord has established His covenant with the church under three types of revelation, written in three,
languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
The recognition and acknowledgment of the Divinity of these revelations has always been a gradual
process in that church which was most immediately concerned. The Jewish Church first recognized the
stone tables, written upon by the finger of God, as His Word. Shortly thereafter the Five Books of Moses
were acknowledged as Divinely inspired. It was not until the Lord declared the Divinity of what was
written by the Prophets that these books were acknowledged as equal to the Law of Moses; and this in
spite of the fact that nearly every one of the prophetical messages begins with the words, “Thus saith the
Lord,” or its equivalent.
In the New Testament we find far fewer statements as to its own Divinity than in either the Old
Testament or the Writings. The Lord did indeed say, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words
shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35); and in Revelation (22:18-20) we read, “If any man add unto these
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out
of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He that testifieth these things saith,
Surely I come quickly. Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus.” But, apart from these two statements, there is
little said in the New Testament concerning itself. Nevertheless, the Christian Church came to recognize
the New Testament as the Word of God, and as equal with the Old.
The testimony of the Writings concerning their own Divinity is far greater than that of either the Old or
the New Testament; as the following few quotations will illustrate:
Through an hour’s experience it was shown to me how all thoughts are ruled by the Lord. There was
an influx which flowed in from the Lord . . . which led the whole series of my thoughts,. . . insomuch
that I could not wander into other thoughts. (A.C. 1474.)
When I think of what I am about to write, and while I am in the act of writing, I enjoy a perfect
inspiration, otherwise it would be my own; but now I know for certain that what I write is the living
truth of God. (Docu. ii: 404.)
It has been granted me to perceive what came from the Lord and what came from the angels. That
which came from the Lord has been written, and that which came from the angels has not been
written. (A. E. 1183.)
The books which were written by the Lord by means of me must now be enumerated. [Here was to
follow a list of the Writings.] (Eccl. Hist.)
And it was told them that they are not my works, but the Lord’s, who desired to reveal the nature of
heaven and hell. (S. D. 6102.)
As regards myself, I have not been allowed to take anything from the mouth of any spirit, nor from
the mouth of any angel, but from the mouth of the Lord alone. (De Verbo 13.)
It has pleased the Lord now to reveal many arcana of heaven. . . . This revelation is meant by the
Second Coming of the Lord. (A. E. 641.)
By the Word is meant all Divine Truth from the Lord in His kingdom. . . . And because the truth is
meant, therefore by the Word is meant every revelation. (A. C. 2894.)
All Divine Truth is called the Word. (A. C. 5075.)
The spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me. . . . The Lord Himself is
in it with His own Divine, . . . and not a jot could have been opened except by the Lord alone. This
surpasses all revelations which have hitherto been since the creation of the world. By this revelation
there is opened a communication with the angels of heaven. (Inv. 43-44.)
This immediate revelation is the Advent of the Lord. (Ath. Creed 1.)
These are but a few of the statements of the Writings testifying to their own Divinity in most striking
terms. The Writings state far more explicitly and clearly that they are Divine, and are the Lord in His
Second Coming, than the New Testament states that the Christ is God Himself. And there are no
passages that might bring this teaching into doubt, as is the case in the New Testament where the Lord
said, “The Father is greater than I.”
The New Testament also corroborates the plain teaching of the Writings concerning themselves, in a
prophecy of the giving of the Writings, where the Lord said: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but
ye cannot bear them now ... The time cometh when I shall show you plainly of the Father.” (John 16:12,
25.)
II.
While the Writings most clearly manifest their own Divinity, they are not so explicit in revealing the
manner in which they veil the Divine, and thus the way in which they differ from the Old and New
Testaments. Still, the Writings give us certain doctrines which may enable us to understand something of
their nature.
The question arises: Are the Writings the Word of God, and have they a literal and an internal sense? If
the Writings are Divine, and are the Lord in His Second Coming, they must be His Word. Yet usually
when the Writings speak of the Word, and especially when they speak of its literal sense, they evidently
are referring to the Old and New Testaments; but this apparent difficulty need not deter us. When the
Lord spoke of the Law and the Prophets as teaching concerning Himself, or as depending upon the Two
Great Commandments, He obviously referred to the Old Testament; yet the understanding perceives that
we must include in this teaching the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets contained in the New
Testament. In the case of the Writings, the same rule applies. When they speak of the Word, they
commonly mean the Old and New Testaments; but in a broader sense these references include also the
fulfillment of those Testaments which is found in the Writings. To illustrate: The Writings tell us that all
doctrine is to be drawn from the letter of the Word, and confirmed by it. (S. S. 50.) All New Churchmen,
consciously or unconsciously, have applied this teaching to the Writings themselves, drawing their
doctrine from the statements contained in their pages, and confirming it by them.
If the Writings are the Word, it would necessarily seem to follow that they have an internal sense and a
literal sense. Surely “the crown of revelations,” the Word of God, the Lord Himself in His Second
Coming inmostly regarded, can treat of nothing but the Divine Human itself; yea, like the ancient
Scriptures, it must contain Divine Truth as it is above the heavens. This is the internal of the Writings.
Swedenborg several times mentions seeing the Writings in the spiritual world. For example, he tells us
that the words, “This book is the Advent of the Lord,” were written on every copy of the Brief
Exposition in that world. From what we are told about writing in heaven, it is clear that the books in that
world must have differed greatly from what they are in this world. In that world, there would be no
reference to time, place, person, or nation, though the Writings, as we have them, frequently refer to such
natural things. The Writings, as read in each heaven, must be discretely different in correspondence with
the nature of the three heavens. Thus the Writings in the natural heaven will be spiritual-natural, and will
treat of faith and obedience; in the spiritual heaven they will be spiritual, and will treat of love and
charity towards the neighbor; while in the celestial heaven they will be celestial, and will treat
throughout of the Lord and His Divine Human. Yet all these degrees must be contained in the Writings
as they are on earth.
In the hells, or in the mind of an evil man, the Writings would be an ultimate of falsity. To illustrate, let
us take the statement that “God is Love.” To an evil man, “love” has an evil association; he thinks of it
in ideas of his own love, which is evil; this is the only kind of love he knows. The word “God” means to
him one who is all powerful; but he knows no other power than the power of ruling, which has its origin
in the love of self. Wherefore, the words “God is Love,” in the sense in which he understands them, are a
dire falsity.
Here it must be noted that the living Word is not the mere book on a table; it is the Word in man’s mind;
and, in one sense, it is not the Word when in the mind of an evil man who does not acknowledge its
holiness. The Word is truly the Word only as it is vivified by the Lord in man. Likewise, a man who
knows the Writings, and yet has no belief in them, is not in the internal sense of the Word.
III.
Let us now consider in what ways the Writings are the same as the Old and New Testaments, and in
what ways they differ from them. First, as to the agreement.
The Letter of the Word is said to be written according to the appearances of the spiritual world. Certainly
this is also true of the Writings, a considerable part of which is actual description of things heard and
seen in that world. These appearances correspond to and represent interior things, the appearances
forming the letter or body which contains the spirit. But this quality of appearance belongs, not only to
the descriptions, but also to what we usually think of as purely doctrinal statements. For example, the
words higher, lower, internal, external, influx, form, degree, and even such words as infinite and
omnipresence, are all words that refer to space and spacial relations in their literal meaning, and as such
they cannot enter heaven.
That the Writings have a literal sense is confirmed by a statement in the Spiritual Diary, where we read:
Spirits said that those things which I have written are so crude and gross (rudia et crassa) that they
suppose nothing which is interior can be understood from those words or the mere sense of the
words. I also perceived by a spiritual idea that it was so, that my expressions were very rude;
wherefore it was given me to reply that [my words] are only vessels in which purer, better, and
interior things can be infused, like a literal sense; that such as it were vessels are many senses of the
letter of the Prophets, and that their expressions were not only rude, but even bordered on the mire,
the dunghill, and mud, and yet interior, clean, and sacred things can be infused in them; as, for
instance, that the Lord is angry, that He is full of wrath, that He kills. These expressions are so
roughly framed that it scarcely can be credited that aught of good can be infused therein; when yet
the prophets spake to the apprehension of the common people, and if they had spoken otherwise,
naught that is good could have been infused, because it would not have been understood.
2185.)
(S. D.
Swedenborg here compares his own Writings to the letter of the Word, and gives the reason for clothing
them in the words he used, namely, that truths may come to the apprehension of men.
In the Apocalypse Explained 641, we read: “The interior things of the Word, of the church, and of
worship, were revealed by the Lord when He was in the world; and now again, things still more interior
are revealed.” This passage shows that the fact that a revelation reveals the interior truths of the Word
does not necessarily preclude the idea that it may also have its own which contains an internal sense. The
New Testament was such a revelation, and there seems to be no good reason for denying this to the
Writings.
In Divine Providence 251, after speaking of the wars of the Children of Israel with the Amorites and the
Philistines, the number continues: “Like things are represented by wars at this day, wherever they occur;
for all things that take place in the natural world correspond to spiritual things in the spiritual world, and
all spiritual things concern the Church. It is not known in this world what kingdoms in Christendom
answer to the Moabites and Ammonites, what to the Syrians and Philistines, etc., but still there are those
who do correspond to them.” Who can doubt that, when the angels read in the Writings of the various
modern nations, they read them according to this correspondence? And that the same applies to the
various men mentioned, such as Luther, Calvin, and Charles the Twelfth?
IV.
So far we have considered the similarity between the Writings and the Old and New Testaments; let us
now mention some the differences. These differences are indeed great, for the former revelations were in
part a prophecy of the Lord, and in part a description of the Lord’s life on earth; while the Writings are a
manifestation of the Lord glorified and appearing in His Second Coming.
When the Lord glorified His Human, He did away with mere representatives. Everything, therefore, in
the Writings is true on every plane. To illustrate: Some of the laws given by Moses, as also some of the
rules of life given by the Lord while on earth, are to be obeyed literally, while others are not. There is no
rule of life given in the Writings which is not given to us to apply to our life, and this for the reason that
in them there is a perfect and full correspondence between the spiritual and the natural, in contrast with
many of the laws of Moses and some in the New Testament which are merely representative, and which
do not necessarily apply to life in the form given in the letter.
To illustrate this difference further: A man or a nation mentioned in the letter of the Word might, owing
to some external consideration, represent a spiritual quality totally unlike his own internal character. In
the Writings, the internal representation of a man or nation is in entire agreement with the internal state
of the man or nation which is treated of. The Writings, being in a rational form, and being a
manifestation of our glorified Lord, unlike other Divine Revelations, are true and applicable to life on
every plane, from the inmost Divine to the letter. We will further illustrate this by the work on Conjugial
Love. All the relations of man and woman described there correspond to the relations of good and truth
or their opposite; therefore, there is nothing said of the one that does not apply to the other. On the other
hand, as we have said, some of the laws given in the Old Testament merely represented spiritual
relationships, but did not fully correspond. All such laws were either abolished by the Lord when He
came on earth, or are now abolished in the Writings; as, for example, the law that a man should marry
his deceased brother’s wife.
The Writings make a further distinction between themselves and former revelations, stating that they are
an immediate revelation from the Lord, while the Old and New Testaments are a mediate revelation.
That is, in the case of Swedenborg, the Lord led him directly, by an internal dictate, while in the case of
the Old and New Testaments the intermediation of angels and spirits was used to direct the writers.
Another great difference, which is as plainly stated as it is obvious, is that the Writings are a rational
revelation, in contrast with the former revelations, which, as to their ultimates, are sensual or on the
plane of the imagination. The Old Testament, in its ultimate form, reveals sensual truth; the New
Testament, moral truth; and the Writings, in their ultimate, reveal rational truth.
V.
The Divine Truth, such as it is in itself, is above the apprehension of the angels of heaven. All truths
must be veiled, in order to come to men. These veilings are the letter of revelation. The veiling may be
dense, as in the case of the Old Testament; or it may be light, as in the case of the Writings, where the
splendor shines through; but in either case it is a veiling.
While all New Churchmen would admit that parts of the Memorable Relations are, in a sense, written
according to correspondences, it might be doubted as to whether this is true of the expository works such
as the Arcana Coelestia, the Apocalypse Revealed and the Apocalypse Explained.
We believe that it is possible to take too narrow a view of correspondence, thinking of it only as the
relation of some natural object to its spiritual correspondent. There is a correspondence on every plane of
both the physical and mental worlds. The fact that the larger part of the Writings is in the form of
abstract statement of doctrine does not take away the possibility of an internal sense. We read in the Old
Testament such passages as these: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength”; “There is one God, and there is no other than He”; “0 give
thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy is forever.” There is a spiritual sense contained in
these just as much as in those passages which have a letter of sensual imagery. In the case of the
passages quoted, the internal sense makes one with the literal sense. In such cases, the lower or higher
degrees of the internal sense are not in the statement, but in the understanding of the statement. The Jews
understood such passages carnally and sensually; they thought of God as a natural potentate much like
their own kings. Spiritual angels, in reading such passages would have a spiritual idea of God, and the
celestial angels would have a celestial idea.
In passages like those we have quoted the internal sense shines through. They are expressions of the
truth in the highest possible form in human language; yet one would not say that such expressions have
not an internal sense. The Writings, to a large extent, express truths in such a sublime manner that there
can be found no possible expression that is more interior; but this is no reason why their language may
not be read spiritually by the spiritual angels and celestially by the celestial angels.
If the Writings are part of the letter of the Word, in a broad sense, how is it that they call themselves the
internal and spiritual sense? With respect to this question we must note that the Writings frequently use
the same word with different significations, in different series. The internal sense is sometimes defined
as the soul of the Word, while the letter is its “body.” But the word “soul” is used with several different
meanings. In the highest sense, the soul means the influx of life from God; this life vivifies every degree
of the mind or body. The term “soul” is frequently used to indicate that which is in the spiritual world, as
over against that which is in the natural world. In another series it is defined as a higher degree in
relation to a lower degree, as that the rational mind is the soul of the natural mind, or the celestial mind
is the soul of the spiritual mind. The letter of the Writings is not the soul or internal sense of the Word, if
by this term we mean influx or life; on the other hand, if by the soul or internal sense we mean a higher
or more interior degree of formulated truth, then the Writings, even in their ultimate form, are the
internal sense and soul of the Old and New Testaments.
Again, if we use the term “internal sense” to designate the Word as it is in the spiritual world, we must
agree that the Writings are not that internal sense, although in the closest agreement with it. The
difference between the internal sense in the heavens and the internal sense as presented in the Writings is
shown to us in Arcana Coelestia, 1772, where Swedenborg says: “Of the Lord’s Divine mercy, it has
also been conceded me to see the Lord’s Word in its beauty in the internal sense, and this many times;
not as it is while the single expressions are being explained as to the internal sense, but all and single
things in one series, which may be said to be the seeing of a heavenly paradise from an earthy one.” (See
also numbers preceding this.) In the spiritual sense as it is in heaven each letter and each curve of a letter
has its signification.
If the Writings themselves have an internal sense it might seem necessary to have a further revelation to
expound it; but this is not the case, for the reason that we have been granted the knowledge of
correspondences, and the genuine doctrine of the church, as it is in heaven; and if we are worthy, we can
be granted the third requisite for understanding the Word, and even the Writings, interiorly, – namely,
illustration.
There is an interesting correlation between the life history of the individual and that of the race. An
infant has only sensual ideas, and can have no other truths; later in childhood he is instructed in moral
truths; and finally, as a youth, he learns spiritual-rational truths. On the other hand, a young infant is
surrounded with celestial angels, and is gifted with celestial remains; later in childhood he is surrounded
with spiritual angels, and is gifted with spiritual remains; and finally, in youth, angels of the natural
heavens are more closely present, with whose assistance he may be gifted with celestial-natural and
spiritual-natural remains. If man then regenerates, a reverse process takes place. The remains last
received are vivified first; then he is raised into the spiritual degree as the remains of childhood become
vivified; and at last he may be introduced into the celestial state, as the remains of infancy become
vivified. On the other hand, it is the rational which is first regenerated in manhood, later the natural, and
finally the sensual; the Lord alone perfected the ultimate of the sensual, – the body itself; wherefore, He
alone rose with this degree of His Human.
Turning to the history of the race, we find a similar progression. The first age was an age of celestial
perception and sensual imagery; of this the Old Testament in its letter is the external form and replica.
The age of the childhood of the race is one of spiritual perception within, and of moral instruction
outwardly; the New Testament would seem to answer to this state. The period of the young manhood of
the race is on the plane of the natural heaven internally, and externally it is the time of spiritual-rational
development; the Writings appear to answer to this state and age.
Following our analogy, the New Church will first come into the interior understanding of the Writings as
it becomes spiritual-natural; later it will come into the interior understanding of the New Testament; and
finally, as it becomes celestial, it will enter into a deeply internal understanding of the Old Testament.
Certainly it would seem probable that a perception of the signification of the Hebrew Old Testament, as
to the jots and tittles and the curvatures of the letters, will only be attained in the final stage of
development.
Let us note that with the celestial man all degrees of the mind are essentially celestial, and are really one.
So, we believe, it will be in the New Church in its Golden Age, when the three forms of Revelation will
be seen clearly as the three degrees of the Human of the Lord, all of which are Divine, and therefore,
inmostly regarded, are One Divine Word.