Arcana Coelestia – Emmanuel Swedenborg

About the Work

Arcana Coelestia is a Latin work by Emanuel Swedenborg, originally published in London between 1749 and 1756 and issued in eight large quarto parts or volumes. Its title may be rendered “Heavenly Secrets” or “Arcana of Heaven,” and its subject is announced in its opening words: the internal sense of the Word, and specifically of the book of Genesis. Swedenborg writes as an expositor of Scripture, but the Scripture he expounds is not the literal narrative alone. Beneath the letter of Genesis he finds a continuous spiritual meaning, and it is this meaning—what he calls the internal sense—that the work exists to disclose.

“Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University.”

The book is therefore not a commentary in the ordinary sense. It proceeds by numbered sections, each taking up a verse or a fragment of a verse of Genesis, quoting it, and then unfolding its internal sense. But the exposition is repeatedly interrupted by long excursuses in which Swedenborg reports what he has seen and heard in the spiritual world: conversations with spirits and angels, the states of the dead after death, the nature of heaven and heavenly joy, the character of the hells, and the correspondence between natural things and spiritual things. These narratives are not digressions in his own understanding of the task; they are the evidence on which the exposition rests. The work thus combines three strands: the verse-by-verse interpretation of Genesis, the systematic doctrine of correspondences, and the record of Swedenborg’s own experience of the spiritual world.

The work was written in Latin and published in London, though Swedenborg was residing in Stockholm at the time, a circumstance that explains the numerous errata in the first edition, since he had no opportunity to revise proof sheets. At his own instance, the second part was translated into English and published in London simultaneously with the Latin part it translated. The first full English translation was made by the Rev. John Clowes, Rector of St. John’s, Manchester, and published in London in twelve octavo volumes between 1774 and 1806. The work was later translated into Swedish, French, and German, and appeared in English in numerous editions, mostly revisions of Clowes. A completely new translation by George Harrison of Longlands, near Kendal, was published in London in twelve octavo volumes between 1857 and 1860; though the work of an excellent Latin scholar, it was marred by editorial linguistic idiosyncrasies that impaired its usefulness, and its eleventh volume was retranslated by Dr. Rudolph Leonard Tafel and published in London in 1890. The first complete American edition was published in Boston between 1837 and 1847, in twelve octavo volumes, a revision based on Clowes. A second American edition appeared in New York between 1853 and 1857 in ten volumes, a reprint of the current English edition. A third American edition, known as the Rotch edition, was in course of publication in duodecimo, with fifteen volumes issued and four more to appear; the first nine volumes were published in New York and the remainder in Boston. The plates were prepared at the cost of the Rotch legacy, and the work was undertaken at the suggestion of the Rev. John Worcester and wholly under his direction, with rules prepared and volumes assigned to workers for revision or retranslation on the basis of the old Boston Revision. The revision or retranslation was chiefly the work of several named revisers, but as their work was subjected by the editors to careful and uncompromising revision, they cannot be held responsible for everything in the volumes. The fourth American edition, whose first volume stands before the reader of the notes, claims to be only a revision compiled from the best previous translations and revisions, with new translation where no satisfactory rendering existed.

Context

The notes from which this summary is drawn include a substantial prefatory discussion by the reviser, J. F. P. (John Faulkner Potts), concerning the translation of a group of Latin terms that recur throughout the work and whose English rendering determines how the reader understands some of its central doctrines. Swedenborg distinguishes carefully between scire, scientia, and scientifica on the one hand, and cognoscere and cognitio on the other. By scire, scientia, and scientifica he indicates mere memory-knowledge—knowledge stored in the external memory without application to life and practice. By cognoscere and cognitio he uses the stronger sense of actual and real knowledge, whether by experience or otherwise, as when we say, “I do not think so; I know it.” The reviser notes that the expression fides scientifica, rendered “scientific faith,” misleads the ordinary reader, and that scientia cognitionum, used in connection with the Philistines and usually rendered “science of knowledges,” fails to convey the author’s meaning, which is simply the memory-knowledge of knowledges—those represented by the Philistines store up knowledges from the Word in the memory but have no other knowledge of them than mere memory-knowledge, thus not the knowledge that comes from a life in accordance with them. The same applies to “Egypt,” whose signification is scientia or scientifica; rendering these “science” and “scientifics” leads readers to suppose that “Egypt” in the Word has to do with science as generally understood, losing the point of Divine instruction. The present revision therefore translates systematically: cognitio and cognitiones as “knowledge” and “knowledges”; scientia, except when it really means “science,” as “memory-knowledge”; and scientiae and scientifica as “memory-knowledges,” with Latin words given in parenthesis where called for.

This prefatory material situates the work within a long history of translation and revision, and it also signals one of the work’s persistent concerns: the difference between knowledge that remains in the memory and knowledge that enters the life. That distinction is not incidental to the Arcana but runs through its whole exposition, and the care the reviser takes over these terms is a measure of how much depends on them.

Structure of the Book

The work as it stands in these notes follows the order of Genesis, beginning with the first verse of the first chapter and proceeding through the early chapters of the book. The notes cover the exposition of Genesis 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, together with the excursuses that accompany them. The structure is therefore determined by the sequence of the biblical text, but the notes also reveal a larger architecture within that sequence.

The opening chapter treats of the creation of the heavens and the earth, and Swedenborg understands this not as a description of the physical universe but as the regeneration of the individual man and the formation of the Most Ancient Church. The six days of creation are the six states of man’s regeneration, from the first dawning of light in the external man to the full formation of the spiritual and then the celestial man. The second chapter treats of the celestial man, the Sabbath, and the rivers of Eden, and it introduces the distinction between the spiritual man, whose reformation begins from the external, and the celestial man, whose formation begins from the internal. The third chapter treats of the fall, the serpent, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the expulsion from the garden, and it is here that Swedenborg develops his doctrine of man’s “Own”—the proprium—as the source of all evil and falsity. The fourth chapter treats of Cain and Abel, the offering of Cain, the murder of Abel, and the line of Cain down to Lamech, and it is here that the doctrine of faith separated from charity receives its first full statement. The fifth chapter treats of the generations from Adam to Noah, the decline of the Most Ancient Church through successive posterities, and the preservation of doctrine in the church called Enoch. The sixth chapter treats of the corruption of the earth, the violence that filled it, and the beginning of the formation of the man called Noah, who signifies the Ancient Church.

Within this sequence, the notes show a recurring pattern. Swedenborg first quotes the verse, then explains the meaning of its several terms, then supports the explanation by citations from the Prophets and the Gospels, and then often passes to a related excursus. The excursuses are of several kinds. Some treat of the nature of spirits and the life after death, as in the chapter “Concerning Heaven and Heavenly Joy.” Some treat of the doctrine of remains, as in the exposition of the hundred and twenty years of Genesis 6:3. Some treat of the nature of perception in the Most Ancient Church, as in the exposition of the generations of Genesis 5. The work thus alternates between the exposition of a continuous text and the systematic treatment of themes that the text occasions.

The notes also show that the work is not arranged in parts or sections of the kind that a modern reader might expect. The divisions are the chapters and verses of Genesis, and the numbered sections of Swedenborg’s own text. The internal processing segments used in these notes are not the book’s divisions and should not be mistaken for them.

Inside the Book

The Text and Its Translators

The prefatory notes by the reviser, J. F. P. Potts, set out the publication history and translation principles of the Arcana Coelestia. Swedenborg published the work himself in London between 1749 and 1756, in eight large quarto parts written in Latin. Because he was residing in Stockholm, he had no chance to correct proof sheets, and the first edition carried numerous errata; Tafel, librarian at Tübingen, reprinted the Latin in thirteen octavo volumes between 1833 and 1842 and supplied a tabulated list of those errors. At Swedenborg’s own request, the second part was translated into English and published in London alongside the Latin it rendered. The first full translation was John Clowes’s, issued in twelve octavo volumes in London between 1774 and 1806, after which the work appeared in Swedish, French, and German, and in many English editions that were mostly revisions of Clowes. George Harrison produced a wholly new translation in twelve volumes (London, 1857–1860); a fine Latinist, he was nonetheless hampered by editorial idiosyncrasies that impaired its usefulness, and its eleventh volume was retranslated by Rudolph Leonard Tafel in 1890. The first complete American edition came out in Boston, 1837–1847, based on Clowes; a second appeared in New York, 1853–1857; and a third, the “Rotch” edition, was still in course of publication, with fifteen volumes issued and four more to come. That edition was undertaken at the suggestion of John Worcester and wholly under his direction, with rules prepared and volumes assigned to workers for revision or retranslation on the basis of the old Boston Revision, the whole to be harmonized by the Director as editor, assisted by his brother Benjamin. The labor fell chiefly to Warren, Worcester, Eby, Kip, and the two Wrights, though the editors’ uncompromising revision means the workers cannot be held responsible for everything in the volumes; the Director died during preparation of the thirteenth volume, and direction passed to the surviving editor. The fourth American edition, whose first volume stands before the reader, claims only to be a revision compiled from the best previous translations, with new translation where no satisfactory rendering existed. Potts then explains the difficulty of translating the group Cognoscere, Cognitio, Scire, Scientia, Scientificum, Scientificus, and the plural Scientifica: Scire, Scientia, and Scientifica denote mere memory-knowledge, held in the external memory without application to life and practice, whereas Cognoscere and Cognitio carry the stronger sense of actual and real knowledge, as when one says, “I do not think so; I know it.” The rendering “scientific faith” for fides scientifica misleads the ordinary reader, and Scientia cognitionum, used of the Philistines, means simply the “memory-knowledge of knowledges”—knowledges stored up from the Word in the memory but known only as memory-knowledge, not as the knowledge that comes from a life in accordance with them. The same holds for “Egypt,” whose signification is Scientia or Scientifica; rendering these “science” and “scientifics” loses the point of Divine instruction. The present Revision therefore translates systematically: Cognitio and Cognitiones as “knowledge” and “knowledges”; Scientia, except where it truly means “science,” as “memory-knowledge”; and Scientiae and Scientifica as “memory-knowledges,” giving the Latin in parenthesis where called for.

Will and Understanding, Faith and Love

The exposition proper opens with the two faculties of the human mind, will and understanding. When the understanding is governed by the will they form one mind and one life, so that what a man wills and does he also thinks and intends; when the understanding is at variance with the will—as with those who profess faith yet live contrary to it—the one mind divides into two, one part seeking heaven and the other tending to hell. Since the will is the doer in every act, the whole man would plunge headlong into hell were it not for the Lord’s mercy. Those who separate faith from love do not even know what faith is: some imagine it is mere thought, some that it is thought directed toward the Lord, few that it is the doctrine of faith. Faith is not only knowledge and acknowledgment of all things the doctrine of faith comprises, but especially obedience to all things it teaches, and its primary teaching, which men should obey, is love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; if a man is not in this, he is not in faith. The Lord teaches this plainly in Mark 12:29–31 and in Matthew 22:37–41, where He calls the former the first and great commandment and says all the law and the Prophets hang on these—the “law and the Prophets” being the universal doctrine of faith and the whole Word.

Signs, Seasons, Days, and Years

The words about the luminaries being “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years” contain more arcana than can presently be unfolded, though nothing of the kind appears in the literal sense. There are alternations of spiritual and celestial things, both general and particular, compared to the changes of days and years: days from morning to mid-day, to evening, through night to morning; years from spring to summer, to autumn, through winter to spring. Hence come the alternations of heat and light and of the earth’s productions. Life without such alternations and varieties would be uniform, consequently no life at all; good and truth would not be discerned, distinguished, or perceived. These alternations are called ordinances in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah 31:35–36 and 33:25, with fuller treatment promised at Genesis 8:22.

Day and Night, Light and Darkness

By “day” is meant good, by “night” evil; goods are works of the day, evils works of the night. By “light” is meant truth, by “darkness” falsity, as in John 3:19, 21. After the great luminaries are kindled and placed in the internal man, and the external receives light from them, man first begins to live; heretofore he can scarcely be said to have lived, since he supposed the good he did and the truth he spoke were from himself. Man of himself is dead and produces nothing but evil and false, so cannot from himself do good that in itself is good. That man cannot think, will, or do good except from the Lord is plain from the doctrine of faith; the Lord says in Matthew 13:37 that he who sows the good seed is the Son of man, and in Luke 18:19 that none is good save One, God. Nevertheless, when regenerating man, the Lord permits him at first to suppose he does good and speaks truth from himself, since he cannot otherwise be led to believe and then perceive that all good and truth are from the Lord alone. While thinking thus, his truths and goods are compared to tender grass, herb yielding seed, and the tree bearing fruit—all inanimate.

The Fig-Tree, the Vine, and the Voice in the Garden

The exposition presses on through the close of the third chapter of Genesis, where the loss of shame marks the death of all good, spiritual and natural alike. The depraved no longer blush for their wickedness but boast of it; the vine stands for spiritual good and the fig-tree for natural good, so that their withering is the withering of the church itself. When the man hears the voice of Jehovah God going to itself in the garden, this signifies an internal dictate causing fear — a residue of former perception still stirring. The “air” or breath of the day denotes a period when some remnant of perception survived, and the hiding from Jehovah’s face is the fear of that dictate, exactly what happens to those conscious of evil. The midst of the tree of the garden means natural good, for “midst” is what is inmost and “tree” is perception; because so little perception remained, the tree appears in the singular.

The voice of Jehovah, throughout the Word, designates the Word itself, the doctrine of faith, conscience or inward notice, and the reproof that flows from it; even thunders are called the voices of Jehovah. “Going to itself” means that little perception remained, alone and as it were unheard — confirmed by the next verse, where Jehovah must call to the man. The most ancient people compared the states of the church to times of day and night, so this state is the breath of the day because a remnant of perception still let them know they had fallen. To fear the dictate is to hide from Jehovah’s face, and that face is mercy, peace, and every good. Since the Lord’s face is mercy, He never averts His countenance; man in evil turns away his own. Mercy is the cause of the dictate in those with perception and, differently, in those with conscience, received according to each one’s state. This posterity stood in natural good, and those in natural good hide through fear and shame, while those destitute of it cannot blush at all.

Where Art Thou? — Perception, Combat, and the Blame

Jehovah cries, “Where art thou?” and the man answers that he heard the voice, was afraid because naked, and hid. It is common in the Word for man to be asked where he is and what he does, though the Lord knows all things, so that he may acknowledge and confess. The origin of perception is then laid bare: man is governed by the Lord through spirits and angels, and when evil spirits begin to rule, angels labor to avert evils and falsities, and hence comes combat, which man senses as perception, dictate, or conscience. By these combats and temptations a man might even see that spirits and angels are with him, were he not immersed in corporeal things. Swedenborg testifies that he felt such combats thousands of times, almost constantly for several years, knowing who caused them, when they came and departed, and conversing with them. Angels perceive exquisitely whether anything contrary to faith and love gains admission — a thousand times more perfectly than the man, who scarcely knows; the least thought in a man is more fully perceived by angels than the greatest is by himself.

When Jehovah asks who told him he was naked and whether he ate, the man blames the woman given by God, and the woman blames the serpent. The rational suffered itself to be deceived by its Own, the love of self, believing nothing but what it could see and feel. Jehovah did not speak to a serpent, nor was there a serpent.

Coats of Skin and the Way of the Tree of Lives

When men turn away from the face of the Lord they expire and return to the dust, condemned and infernal. The verses of the chapter follow in series: the sensuous part averting itself from the celestial; the Lord coming into the world to reunite them; combat arising because the external man averted itself; the misery that followed; condemnation; and at length hell. These succeeded one another in that church from the fourth posterity down to the flood. Then the man called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living; Jehovah God made coats of skin and clothed them; He said the man had become as one of us, knowing good and evil, and lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of lives and live to eternity, He sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken, and cast him out, making cherubim to dwell from the east toward the garden, with the flame of a sword turning itself, to keep the way of the tree of lives.

The Most Ancient Church, celestial and from the life of faith in the Lord, is called Eve and the mother of all living. Its first posterity had celestial spiritual good; the second and third had natural good, signified by the coat of skin; the fourth saw natural good begin to dissipate, and had they been created anew or instructed in celestial things of faith they would have perished — this is “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of lives.” The fifth posterity was deprived of all good and truth and reduced to its pre-regeneration state, sent forth to till the ground. The sixth and seventh were deprived of all memory-knowledge of good and true and left to their own filthy loves and persuasions, yet provided lest they profane holy things, signified by being driven out with cherubim and the flame of the sword.

By “man” is meant the celestial man of the Most Ancient Church, and by “wife” and “mother of all living” the church — mother as the first church, living from faith in the Lord, who is life itself. The Lord alone is Man, and from Him every celestial man is man; the church is frequently called mother in the Word, and the term applies especially to the Most Ancient Church because it was the first, the only celestial one, and most beloved. There cannot be more than one Life, and no life except through faith in the Lord. He alone is called Living, the Living Jehovah, He that liveth to eternity, the Fountain of living waters; heaven is the land of the living, those in faith are called living and written in the book of lives, while those not in faith are called dead, as are the Rephaim and the puffed up with love of self, and hell is called death. This verse describes the first time when the church was in the flower of her youth, representing the heavenly marriage, called Eve, from a word meaning life.

The coat of skin signifies that the Lord instructed them in spiritual and natural good — instructing expressed by “making” and “clothing,” and that good by the coat. It could never appear from the letter that these things are signified, for Jehovah God did not make a coat of skin; the meaning is evident only by revelation of the internal sense. The general term “skin” is used, but that of a kid, sheep, or ram is understood, animals that signify affections of good and charity, as in the sacrifices. Those endowed with the good of charity are called sheep, and the Lord the Shepherd of the sheep. The most ancient people were said to be naked on account of innocence; when they lost innocence they became conscious of evil, called nakedness, and are said to be clothed lest they should be naked.

Cain and Abel — Faith Separated from Charity

A tiller of the ground denotes one devoid of charity, however much he may be in faith separated from love, which is no faith.

The Modern Denial of Spirit

Swedenborg reports discoursing with spirits about the common modern opinion that spirit cannot be credited because it is not seen with the eyes nor grasped by scientific knowledge. Such people deny that spirit has extension and even that it is a substance, disputing what substance is; denying extension and disputing substance, they deny spirit is in any place, hence not in the human body—though the simplest person might know his soul or spirit is within his body. The simpler spirits marveled at men’s foolishness; hearing terms like “parts without parts,” they called them absurd, ridiculous, and farcical, since such terms close the way to intelligence.

A novitiate spirit, supposing himself a man, asked “What is a spirit?” Told that every man has a spirit, that in respect to life a man is a spirit, that the body merely enables life on earth, and that flesh and bones do not live or think, he was asked if he had heard of the soul; he replied he did not know what a soul is. Told he himself was now a soul or spirit—evidenced by his being over Swedenborg’s head, not standing on earth—he fled in terror, crying “I am a spirit! I am a spirit!” A certain Jew believed himself wholly in the body, scarcely persuadable otherwise; shown he was a spirit, he persisted he was a man because he could see and hear. Such are those devoted to the body. These examples confirm that it is the spirit in man, not the body, which exercises sensation.

Conversation with the Known Dead

Swedenborg conversed for months and years with many known to him in this life, in as clear a voice (though inward) as with friends on earth. They wondered exceedingly that during bodily life no one knows or believes he will so live after bodily life ends, when life continues—passing from obscure life into clear, and for those in faith in the Lord into ever clearer life. They asked him to tell their friends they are alive and write of their condition. He replied their friends would not believe, would call it delusion, scoff, and demand signs or miracles; he would merely expose himself to derision. Few will believe, for at heart men deny spirits, and even those who do not are unwilling to hear that anyone can speak with spirits. In ancient times there was no such state of belief; now men by crazy ratiocination try to find out what spirits are, depriving them of all senses by definitions and suppositions—the more so the more learned they wish to be.

Concerning Heaven and Heavenly Joy

Hitherto the nature of heaven and heavenly joy has been known to none; those who thought about them formed ideas so general and gross as scarcely to amount to any idea. Swedenborg learned the notions of newly arrived spirits left to themselves. Some seemingly pre-eminently enlightened in the Word supposed themselves in heaven when high up, imagining they could rule all things below, in self-glory and pre-eminence. Taken up on high and permitted to rule somewhat, they discovered with shame this was a heaven of phantasy; heaven is not being on high but wherever one is in love and charity, or in whom is the Lord’s kingdom; nor does it consist in desiring eminence, for that is hell.

A spirit who had held authority retained the desire to command; told he was now in an eternal kingdom, his earthly rule dead, that no one is esteemed except according to good, truth, and the Lord’s mercy, and that good and truth are wealth and the Lord’s mercy is favor with the sovereign; desiring command otherwise made him a rebel in the kingdom of Another. He was ashamed. Spirits supposing heaven consisted in being greatest were told that in heaven he is greatest who is least, since he who would be least has greatest happiness; heaven does not consist in wishing to be least in order to be greatest (that is still aspiring), but in wishing better for others than for oneself and serving others for no selfish end, from love. Some suppose heaven is mere admission through a door by doorkeepers. Some think heaven is ease served by others; told there is no happiness in rest as a means, else each would wish others’ happiness tributary to his own, and none would have happiness; such life would be idle, torpid. Angelic life consists in use and goods of charity: angels’ greatest happiness is teaching spirits arriving from the world, serving men by controlling evil spirits lest they pass bounds and inspiring good, raising the dead to eternal life, and introducing souls into heaven. Thus are they images of the Lord, loving the neighbor more than themselves; angelic happiness is in use, from use, and according to use. Those holding the ease-idea perceive such a life to be most sad, destructive of all joy, to be loathed. One most learned in the Word thought heavenly joy was a glorious golden light and ease; granted such light, he was delighted as if in heaven, but it gradually wearied him and became no joy. The best instructed said heavenly joy consists solely in praising and glorifying the Lord, a life destitute of doing goods of charity; told praising is not the active life meant but an effect of it—the Lord has no need of praises but wills goods of charity, according to which happiness comes.

The Most Ancient Church’s Perception

The perceptive faculty of the Most Ancient Church consisted not only in perceiving good and true but in the happiness and delight arising from well-doing; without such delight the perceptive faculty has no life. Life is given by the Lord from use, by use, and according to use; nothing useless has life, for whatever is useless is cast away. The most ancient people were likenesses of the Lord and became images of Him in perceptive powers. Perception consists in knowing good and true, but one in love delights not in knowing but in doing good and being useful.

Enosh, Kenan, and Mahalalel

Verses 10–11 record Enosh living 815 years after begetting Kenan, begetting sons and daughters, living 905 years, and dying. “Days,” numbers of “years,” “sons and daughters,” and “dying” signify the same as before. Enosh is a third church, less celestial and less perceptive than “Seth,” which was less so than the parent church “Man.” These three constitute the Most Ancient Church, which was as the kernel of fruits or seeds relative to succeeding churches, which are as the membranaceous parts. Kenan signifies a fourth church, Mahalalel a fifth. Kenan is not reckoned among the three more perfect churches, since perception began to become general. Its days and years have the same signification; “sons and daughters” signify truths and goods perceived more generally; “dying” signifies cessation of that state of perception. All things are determined by their relation to the state of the church. Mahalalel signifies a fifth church, Jared a sixth. As perceptive faculty decreased from distinct to general, so did the life of love or uses. From good to know truth is celestial; the church “Mahalalel” preferred delight from truths to delight from uses, as was shown by experience among their like in the other life.

Jared and Enoch

Jared signifies a sixth church, Enoch a seventh. Nothing is related of Jared; its character is known from Mahalalel before and Enoch after, between which it was intermediate. The ages of the antediluvians were not literally so great, as appears from Genesis 6:3, “

The Flood as Inundation of Evil and Falsity

The “flood” that destroys the antediluvians signifies an inundation of evil and falsity. The posterity of the Most Ancient Church had immersed the doctrinal things of faith in foul cupidities, and so had persuasions of falsity that extinguished all truth and good and closed the way for remains, so that they could not operate and could only destroy themselves. When the way for remains is closed, a man is no longer man, cannot be protected by angels, and is totally possessed by evil spirits whose sole study and desire is to extinguish him. Hence the death of the antediluvians is described by a flood or total inundation. The influx of phantasies and cupidities from evil spirits is like a flood, and is so called in various places in the Word.

“To destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of lives from under the heavens” signifies that the whole posterity of the Most Ancient Church would destroy themselves. They inherited from their parents in succession a genius by which they were more than others imbued with direful persuasions, especially because they immersed the doctrinal things of faith in their cupidities. It is otherwise with those who have no doctrinal things of faith but live in ignorance; these cannot so act, cannot profane holy things, cannot close the way for remains, and cannot drive away the Lord’s angels. Remains are all things of innocence, all yearnings of charity, all things of mercy, and all things of the truth of faith which a man from infancy has had from the Lord and learned; all are treasured up. Without them there could be nothing of innocence, charity, mercy, or good and truth in thought and action, so man would be worse than savage wild beasts. The same if he had such remains and closed the way by foul cupidities and direful persuasions of falsity. Such were the antediluvians who destroyed themselves, meant by “all flesh wherein is the breath of lives, under the heavens.” “Flesh” signifies every man in general, and the corporeal man in particular. The “breath of lives” signifies all life in general, properly the life of the regenerated — here the last posterity of the Most Ancient Church. Though no life of faith remained, they derived from their parents something of seed which they stifled; hence it is called the “breath of lives.” “Flesh under the heavens” signifies what is merely corporeal; the “heavens” are the things of the understanding that are of truth and the things of the will that are of good, on separation from which a man cannot live. What sustains man is conjunction with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord.

“Everything that is in the earth shall expire” signifies those of that church who had become of this quality. The “earth” does not mean the whole world but only those of the church; thus no deluge, still less a universal deluge, is meant, but the expiring or suffocation of those there when separated from remains, and thereby from the things of the understanding that are of truth and of the will that are of good, and therefore from the heavens. The “earth” signifies the region where the church is, and those who live there. The “earth” is distinguished from the “ground” as the man of the church from the church itself, or as love from faith.

The Covenant with Noah

“And I will set up My covenant with thee; and thou shalt enter into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” To “set up a covenant” signifies that he would be regenerated; that “he, and his sons, and his sons’ wives” should “come into the ark” signifies that he would be saved. “Sons” are truths; “wives” are goods. The preceding verse treated of those who destroyed themselves; here of those to be regenerated and thus saved, called “Noah.”

To “set up a covenant” signifies regeneration, since there can be no covenant between the Lord and man other than conjunction by love and faith; a “covenant” signifies conjunction. The heavenly marriage is the veriest covenant, and exists only with those being regenerated; so in the widest sense regeneration itself is signified by a “covenant.” The Lord enters into covenant with man when He regenerates him; among the ancients a covenant represented nothing else. The letter suggests the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with their descendants personally, whereas they could not be regenerated, making worship consist in external things and supposing externals holy without internals; therefore the covenants with them were only representatives of regeneration. It was the same with their rites, and with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who represented the things of love and faith. Likewise the high priests and priests, whatever their character, even wicked, could represent the heavenly and most holy priesthood. In representatives the person is not regarded but the thing represented. Thus all the kings of Israel and Judah, even the worst, represented the royalty of the Lord; and even Pharaoh, who set Joseph over the land of Egypt. Hence the covenants so often entered into with the sons of Jacob were only religious rites.

Entering the Ark: The Will and the Understanding

“Enter thou and all thy house into the ark” signifies the things of the will. The preceding chapter, treating things of the understanding, phrased it differently (“thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives”). A “house” signifies the will and what is of the will. The “house of Jehovah” signifies the church wherein love is principal; the “house of Judah” the celestial church; the “house of Israel” the spiritual church. To “enter into the ark” is to be prepared: previously as to truths of faith (understanding), here as to goods of charity (will). Unless furnished with truths and goods, no one can be regenerated or undergo temptations; evil spirits excite his falsities and evils, and without remains reserved by the Lord he succumbs.

“Righteous in this generation” signifies he had good whereby he might be regenerated. “Righteous” or “just” signifies the good of charity; “perfect” the truth of charity. “Generations” (plural) is used where things of the understanding are treated of; “generation” (singular) where things of the will are, because the will comprehends the understanding, not vice versa.

Clean and Unclean Beasts

“Every clean beast” signifies affections of good; “sevens,” that they are holy; “man and wife,” truths conjoined with goods. “Beast not clean” signifies evil affections; “two,” that they are relatively profane; “man and wife,” falsities conjoined with evils. Man in himself is nothing but a beast, having similar senses and affections; his being man consists in interior life — faith and love from the Lord — by which he lives after death. Even if a man lives as a wild beast, the Lord’s infinite mercy continually breathes His life into him through angels. The most ancient people acknowledged they were beasts, calling things of the will “beasts” and of the understanding “birds,” distinguishing good affections (lambs, sheep, oxen) from evil (wolves, bears, swine).

After the Flood: The First State of the Regenerate

The man of the new church, called Noah, now stands after temptation, and the Word follows his state through regeneration in exact order. “God remembered Noah” means the end of temptation and the beginning of renewal; the wind passing over the earth and the assuaging waters mean the disposal of all things into order. During temptation a man supposes the Lord is absent, troubled even to despair, yet the Lord is then more closely present than he can believe; when it ceases he receives consolation. God is named here rather than Jehovah because he is not yet regenerated—Jehovah is named only when faith is conjoined with charity, that is, when a man acts from charity. The “wild animal” has a twofold sense, living and dead, and here both are meant together, for after temptation the living and dead appear confounded. “Wind” signifies spirits, good and evil, since the original tongue uses one word for both; evil spirits cause the inundations of temptation, and when they are dispersed it is said to be by a wind, especially an east wind. Evil spirits band in troops and excite disturbances until dispersed by bands coming mostly from the right, from the eastern quarter, who strike such terror that the evil think only of flight. After dispersion comes serenity, the beginning of order—but first all things are reduced to a confused mass, as storms in the atmosphere or blood flowing into the heart, so that heterogeneous elements may separate.

The Ceasing of Temptation and Its Fluctuations

“The fountains of the deep and the cataracts of heaven were stopped” signifies that temptation ceased: the fountains are the evils of the will, the cataracts the falsities of the understanding, and the rain temptation in general. The will of man is influenced by hell, not so much the understanding unless it is immersed in cupidities; evils of the will condemn a man, not so much falsities unless conjoined with evils. Many in falsities are yet saved—Gentiles who lived in natural charity, Christians who believed in simplicity of heart—for their ignorance and simplicity excuse them, since innocence can dwell in these. Otherwise with those who have confirmed themselves in falsities and contracted a life of falsity that refuses all truth; that life must be vastated before truth and good can be inseminated. Worse still with those who confirmed falsities under cupidities, making one life of both; these plunge themselves into hell. The waters receding, going and returning, signify fluctuations between true and false after temptation, and the hundred and fifty days a termination.

The Second State: The Dove and the Olive Leaf

“He stayed yet other seven days” signifies the beginning of the second state of regeneration, “seven days” signifying what is holy because charity is now treated of. “Again he sent forth the dove” signifies a state of receiving the goods and truths of faith; the dove came back at eventide, meaning that little by little they began to appear, as in the twilight before morning. In her mouth an olive leaf plucked off signifies some little of the truth of faith—a leaf is truth, olive the good of charity, plucked off that the truth of faith is therefrom, in her mouth that it was shown. So Noah knew the waters were abated. In the first state truths of faith could not take root because falsities hindered; truths are first rooted when a man begins to acknowledge and believe, and rooting does not begin until he accepts the good of charity, as seed cast into ground in winter lies but does not root until the sun’s heat warms the earth. Three things in man concur: the Natural, the Spiritual, and the Celestial; the natural never receives life except from the spiritual, nor the spiritual except from the celestial, and the celestial from the Lord alone.

The Hand as Divine Power

“Hand” denotes Divine power, since power appears in verse 17 and hand in verse 21. Moses stretched forth his rod and hail rained on Egypt; he stretched out his hand over the sea, which became dry land. No right-thinking person can believe the hand or rod of Moses held such power; the lifting and stretching of the hand signified Divine power and so became a representative in the Jewish Church. Joshua stretched out his javelin toward Ai and did not draw back his hand until all were devoted. The Jews fell away from true understanding, making all worship consist in externals and even attributing power to the rod of Moses and the javelin of Joshua, when there was no more power in them than in wood; but because the Lord’s omnipotence was signified and understood in heaven, signs and miracles followed. Hence hands were laid on those being consecrated, that power might be given. Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark and died, for his hand represented man’s own power, which is profane; Jeroboam’s hand dried up when he put it forth from the altar, and was restored at the man of God’s entreaty. In the world of spirits a naked arm sometimes appears with strength enough to crush one’s bones.

Order, Correspondence, and the Little Heaven

“Fowl” signifies the things of the understanding, “beast” the things of the will—both of the internal man; “every creeping thing” the corresponding things of the external man, for the most ancient people called sensuous things and bodily pleasures “creeping things,” likening the body to the earth. In the regenerated man external things correspond to internal and do their bidding; before regeneration external things rule over internal, and man is an image of hell. Order consists in celestial things ruling over spiritual, through these over natural, and through these over corporeal; when this is inverted, order is destroyed. Every regenerated man is a little heaven, an image of the universal heaven, which is called the Grand Man. In the heavens, spirits constitute the external man, angelic spirits the interior, and angels the internal. The reverse holds for those who make life consist solely in corporeal things, delighting only in the love of self and the world; with such, corporeal and natural things rule over spiritual and celestial, and they cannot be other than images of hell.

Going Forth from the Ark

“Bring forth with thee” signifies a state of freedom, as “going forth from the ark” does; “that they may spread themselves over the earth” signifies the operation of the internal man on the external, “being fruitful” the increasings of good, “multiplying” the increasings of truth. Good is first made fruitful and truth multiplied when the external man has been reduced to obedience. “Noah and his sons” signify the man of the Ancient Church, “his wife and his sons’ wives” that church itself; the wild animal and creeping thing signify his goods, the fowl and creeping thing his truths. “According to their families” signifies pairs, for in the regenerated man goods and truths are related as by blood and marriage, as families from one stock. Noah did not constitute the Ancient Church, but his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth; three churches formed it, coming forth as offspring of one called Noah. The church is called spiritual when it acts from charity, never when it claims faith without charity—then it is not even a church. Those separating faith from charity are Cainites slaying Abel; they are like birds hovering about a carcass, forming a spurious conscience so they may live like devils and yet be saved.

The Fear and Terror of the Regenerate

The exposition turns to the spiritual sense of Genesis 9:2–5, beginning with a prophecy about a rebuilt city that is applied to the affections of truth and the truths of faith. “Confession, and the voice of them that make merry” denotes the affections of truth, while “being multiplied” and “sons” denote the truths of faith themselves. The command to “replenish the earth” signifies the external man, for “earth” is the external man. In the regenerate person, goods of charity and truths of faith are first implanted in the conscience through hearing the Word, and so reside at first in the memory, which belongs to the external man. After regeneration, when the internal man acts, fructification and multiplication follow: goods of charity put themselves forth in the affections of the external man, and truths of faith increase in his memory, as confirming things constantly accrue from the Word, from the rational man, and from knowledges. This is the effect of charity, the Lord alone doing the work through charity.

The “fear” and “terror” upon every beast, bird, creeping thing, and fish signify the dominion of the internal man over the external—”fear” referring to evils, “terror” to falsities. Before regeneration, cupidities and falsities of the external man predominate, and hence there is combat; after regeneration the internal man has dominion, and the man is in fear of evils and terror of falsities contrary to conscience. It is the external, not the internal man, that fears evils and dreads falsities. This fear appears as the man’s own, but arises because with every man there are at least two angels and two evil spirits. When the angels rule, the evil spirits dare not act contrary to good and truth, being in bonds; on attempting evil or falsity they are seized with infernal fear and terror, perceived in the man as fear and terror contrary to conscience. Spirits do not so much fear to do evils as to speak falsities, because man is born again and receives conscience through the truths of faith. The regenerate man’s conscience is formed of the truths of faith, so falsity is to him the very evil of life—unlike the man of the Most Ancient Church, who had perception.

“Beasts of the earth” signify the cupidities of the lower mind—gentle and clean beasts for affections of good, fierce and unclean ones for affections of evil. Those are in the greatest error who believe they can of themselves rule over evils; man is nothing but evil, a mass of evils, his will merely evil, as stated in chapter viii: “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” It was shown by living experience that a man, spirit, or even angel, in himself regarded, is but vilest excrement, breathing hatred, revenge, cruelty, and most foul adultery when left to himself. Wild animals never show such a nature; fierce ones injure only in self-defense and to allay hunger. Man can never of himself rule over evil—it is a contradiction for evil to rule over evil and over hell, for every man communicates through evil spirits with hell. The Lord alone rules over evil in man and over hell with him. Man is regenerated by the Lord and endowed with a new will, which is conscience, through which the Lord alone performs all good. “Birds of heaven” signify falsities of reasoning—gentle and beautiful ones intellectual truths, fierce and ugly ones intellectual falsities.

Blood, Hatred, and the Image of God

“Man’s blood in man” means man’s internal life, which is not in him but with him, since the Lord’s life is charity—not in man because he is filthy and profane, but with him. “Shedding blood” is inflicting violence on charity; in the literal sense it is killing, but in the internal sense it is bearing hatred against the neighbor, as the Lord teaches in Matthew: being angry with a brother without cause puts one in danger of judgment. Hatred contains actual murder: the hater desires nothing so much as the death of the one hated, and would kill him were he not withheld by outward restraints. The same holds with profanation: the profaner of the Word not only hates truth but extinguishes or kills it. Those in the other life who committed profanation, however upright and devout outwardly in the body, hold the Lord in deadly hatred, and all goods of love and truths of faith, because these oppose their inward hatred, robbery, and adultery, veiled with a show of holiness while adulterating goods and truths to favor themselves. That “blood” means profanation is evident from Leviticus, where sacrificing elsewhere than at the altar near the tabernacle represented profanation.

“His blood shall be shed” signifies condemnation. Literally the shedder of blood is punished with death; internally, he who hates the neighbor is thereby condemned to death, that is, to hell. When charity is extinguished, man is left to himself and his Own, ruled no longer by internal bonds of conscience but by external bonds of laws he makes for his own wealth and power; when these are relaxed, as in the other life, he rushes into the greatest cruelty and obscenity, thus into his own condemnation. The law of retaliation—blood for blood—was well known to the ancients, originating in the universal law not to do to another what one would not have done to oneself, and in the order universal in the other life that evil punishes itself. Because evil punishes itself, the ancients deduced the law of retaliation, signified here by “whoso sheddeth blood, his blood shall be shed.” The internal man is man in man; whoever extinguishes charity, which is of the internal man, condemns himself.

“For in the image of God made He man” signifies charity, which is the image of God. What the image of God is, hardly anyone knows today; they say it was lost in the first man, called Adam, and was a certain perfection of nature of which they are ignorant. There was indeed perfection: by “Adam,” or “Man,” is meant the Most Ancient Church, a celestial man having perception such as no church after it had, by reason of which it was a likeness of the Lord. A likeness of the Lord signifies love to Him. After this church perished, the Lord created a new church, not celestial but spiritual—not a likeness but an image of the Lord. An “image” signifies spiritual love, that is, love to the neighbor, or charity. That this church was, from spiritual love or charity, an image of the Lord, is evident from this verse. This is most clearly evident from the very essence of love or charity: nothing else than love and charity can make an image and likeness of anyone. It is the essence of love and charity to make of two as it were one. When one loves another as himself, and more than himself, he sees the other in himself and himself in the other.

The Bow in the Cloud

“Hand” signifies the will because it signifies power, and power belongs to the will; “frontlets between the eyes” signify the understanding. Thus the “sign” signifies remembrance of the chief commandment, or of the Law in sum, so that it may be continually in the will and thought—that is, that the presence of the Lord and of love may be in all the will and all the thought. Such is the presence of the Lord and of mutual love from Him with the angels. The verse “

Main Arguments

The central argument of the work is that the Word of God has an internal sense, and that this internal sense is everywhere spiritual and celestial, treating of the Lord, of His kingdom, and of the regeneration of man. The literal sense of Genesis, according to Swedenborg, is a vessel or container of this internal sense, and the internal sense cannot be known except by revelation. The work claims to provide that revelation, and it supports its interpretations by an immense apparatus of citation from the rest of Scripture, on the principle that the Word interprets itself and that the meaning of a term in one place is determined by its use in others.

A second argument, inseparable from the first, is that the things of the Word correspond to spiritual things. “Creeping things which the waters bring forth” signify memory-knowledges belonging to the external man; “birds” signify rational and intellectual things; “whales” signify general memory-knowledges; “fishes” signify memory-knowledges animated by faith from the Lord. “Day” means good and “night” means evil; “light” means truth and “darkness” means falsity. “Rain” and “mist” signify the tranquillity of peace when combat ceases. “A coat of skin” signifies spiritual and natural good. “A city” never means a literal city but always something doctrinal or heretical. The argument is not that these are arbitrary equivalences but that they are the fixed language of the Word, and that the same term carries the same meaning wherever it appears.

A third argument concerns the nature of man. Man has two faculties, will and understanding. When the understanding is governed by the will, they form one mind and one life; when the understanding is at variance with the will, the one mind divides into two, one part seeking heaven and the other tending to hell. Man of himself is dead and produces nothing but evil and false; he cannot think, will, or do good except from the Lord. Nevertheless, when regenerating man, the Lord permits him at first to suppose that he does good and speaks truth from himself, since he cannot otherwise be led to believe and then perceive that all good and truth are from the Lord alone. While he thinks thus, his truths and goods are compared to tender grass, herb yielding seed, and the tree bearing fruit—all inanimate. Once vivified by love and faith, believing that the Lord works all his good and truth, he is compared to creeping things of the water, fowls flying above the earth, and beasts—animate things called “living souls.”

A fourth argument concerns faith and love. Those who separate faith from love do not even know what faith is. Some imagine faith is mere thought, some that it is thought directed toward the Lord, few that it is the doctrine of faith. Faith is not only knowledge and acknowledgment of all things the doctrine of faith comprises, but especially obedience to all things it teaches. Its primary teaching, which men should obey, is love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; if a man is not in this, he is not in faith. The Lord teaches this plainly when He calls love to God and love to the neighbor the first and great commandment, and says that all the law and the Prophets hang on these. The “law and the Prophets” are the universal doctrine of faith and the whole Word.

A fifth argument concerns the “Own,” or proprium. Nothing evil and false is ever possible which is not man’s Own. The “rib” taken from the man and built into a woman signifies man’s Own; the “woman” signifies man’s Own vivified by the Lord. It was the woman who was deceived, and nothing deceives man but his Own, that is, love of self and the world. When man’s Own is presented in the world of spirits it appears deformed, but vivified Own appears beautiful—charity-endowed persons like beautiful boys and girls, the innocent like naked infants with garlands and diadems in a diamond-like aura. The words “a rib was built into a woman” conceal the heavenly marriage: the Own vivified by the Lord is called the bride and wife of the Lord.

A sixth argument concerns the decline and vastation of churches. A church in general departs from true faith until it is entirely destitute of faith, and then it is vastated. So it was with the Most Ancient Church among the Cainites, with the Ancient Church after the flood, and with the Jewish Church. At the Lord’s advent the Jewish Church was so vastated that it knew nothing of the Lord’s coming for salvation, and still less of faith in Him. So too the primitive Christian Church after the Lord’s advent is now so completely vastated that no faith remains. Yet some nucleus of a church always remains, unacknowledged by the vastated; thus a remnant of the Most Ancient Church remained until the flood and continued after, called Noah. When a church is so vastated that no faith remains, then and not before it begins anew.

A seventh argument concerns remains. Remains are those things of good and truth which the Lord has preserved in the internal man, and by which alone man can be regenerated. The hundred and twenty years of Genesis 6:3 signify that man ought to have remains of faith. “Ten” and “tenths” signify remains; “twelve” signifies faith, or all things of faith in one complex; and the compound number signifies the remains of faith. Remains are like a heavenly star: the smaller, the less light. All man’s charity comes by remains in the internal man, and because remains are of the Lord alone, tenths are called “holiness to Jehovah.”

Key Concepts

The concept of the internal sense is the foundation of the whole work. The internal sense is the spiritual and celestial meaning of the Word, contained within the literal sense as a kernel is contained within its shell. It treats of the Lord, of His kingdom, and of the regeneration of man, and it cannot be known except by revelation. The literal sense without the internal sense is like a body without a soul, and the work exists to disclose the soul.

The concept of correspondence is the means by which the internal sense is read. Every natural thing corresponds to a spiritual thing, and the language of the Word is built on this correspondence. “Earth” signifies the external man and “heaven” the internal; “ground” and “field” signify the external man when he becomes celestial; “tree” signifies perception; “midst” signifies what is inmost; “bone” signifies the less vivified Own and “flesh” the vivified; “skin” signifies spiritual and natural good; “fat” signifies the celestial, which is of love; “firstlings” signify what is of the Lord alone. The concept is not merely a theory of language but a theory of reality: the natural world is a theater of the spiritual, and the Word is written in the language of that theater.

The concept of the Own, or proprium, is the doctrine of man’s selfhood. Man’s Own is everything that is his own, and since man of himself is dead and produces nothing but evil and false, his Own is the source of all evil and falsity. Viewed from heaven, man’s Own appears wholly bony, inanimate, ugly, dead; vivified by the Lord it looks like flesh. Man is only an organ of life; the Lord alone has what is His Own, by which He redeemed and saves man. The state of man in his Own is compared to “deep sleep,” in which man seems to himself to live, think, speak, and act from himself. When he learns this is false, he is roused as from sleep.

The concept of remains is the doctrine of the preservation of good and truth in the internal man. Remains are those things of good and truth which the Lord has stored up in man from infancy, and by which alone he can be regenerated. They are called remains because they remain when the man himself is not conscious of them, and they are of the Lord alone. Without remains there would be no conjunction of heaven with mankind.

The concept of the celestial man and the spiritual man is the doctrine of the two degrees of regeneration. The spiritual man is reformed from the external, and while he is spiritual the external man is not yet willing to yield obedience to the internal, so there is combat. The celestial man is formed from the internal, and when he becomes celestial the external man begins to obey and serve the internal, so combat ceases and tranquillity ensues. The celestial man is the Sabbath, because in him the Lord alone has fought and created, formed, and made him.

The concept of the heavenly marriage is the doctrine of the union of the internal and the external in the regenerate man. The Own vivified by the Lord is called the bride and wife of the Lord; the internal being in the external, and the two being together there, is the heavenly marriage. The law of marriages—one husband, one wife—represents this celestial marriage.

The concept of vastation is the doctrine of the decline of churches. A church is vastated when it has departed from true faith until no faith remains. Vastation is not annihilation but the end of a state, after which a new church begins. The Most Ancient Church was vastated among the Cainites; the Ancient Church was vastated after the flood; the Jewish Church was vastated at the Lord’s advent; and the primitive Christian Church is now vastated.

The concept of perception is the doctrine of the immediate knowledge of good and true. The Most Ancient Church had perception, which consisted not only in perceiving good and true but in the happiness and delight arising from well-doing. Perception decreased from distinct to general as the church declined, and when it perished, doctrine was preserved for posterity. Knowing by perception differs from learning by doctrine as light from darkness.

Themes

The theme of regeneration as creation runs through the whole work. The six days of creation are the six states of man’s regeneration; the formation of the heavens and the earth is the formation of the celestial man; the garden of Eden is the state of the celestial man; the fall is the decline of the Most Ancient Church. The work reads Genesis as the story of the soul, and it reads the soul as a little Genesis. This is not an incidental allegory but the governing interpretation of the whole.

The theme of the two minds, or the division of the mind, is the psychological counterpart of the doctrine of regeneration. When the understanding is governed by the will, they form one mind and one life; when the understanding is at variance with the will, the one mind divides into two. This division is the root of the human predicament, and the work returns to it repeatedly. Those who profess faith yet live contrary to it have divided minds; those who separate faith from love do not even know what faith is.

The theme of the decline of churches is the historical counterpart of the doctrine of regeneration. The Most Ancient Church declined through successive posterities; the Ancient Church declined after the flood; the Jewish Church declined to the point of not knowing the Lord; the Christian Church has declined to the point of no faith. The work is written from within a sense of living in a vastated age, and its disclosure of the internal sense is presented as the means by which a new church may begin.

The theme of the spiritual world as the true reality is the experiential counterpart of the doctrine of correspondence. Swedenborg conversed for months and years with many known to him in this life, in as clear a voice, though inward, as with friends on earth. He was permitted for years to perceive that he could think nothing from himself, every idea flowing in. He felt combats with evil spirits thousands of times, almost constantly for several years, knowing who caused them, when they came and departed, and conversing with them. The work is not merely a system of interpretation but a report of experience, and its authority rests on that report.

The theme of heaven as use is the ethical counterpart of the doctrine of charity. Heaven does not consist in being on high but wherever one is in love and charity; nor does it consist in desiring eminence, for that is hell. He is greatest in heaven who is least, since he who would be least has greatest happiness; heaven does not consist in wishing to be least in order to be greatest, but in wishing better for others than for oneself and serving others for no selfish end, from love. Angelic life consists in use and goods of charity: angels’ greatest happiness is teaching spirits arriving from the world, serving men by controlling evil spirits lest they pass bounds and inspiring good, raising the dead to eternal life, and introducing souls into heaven. Angelic happiness is in use, from use, and according to use.

The theme of the innocence of the Most Ancient Church is the affective counterpart of the doctrine of perception. The most ancient people were said to be “naked” on account of innocence; when they lost innocence they became conscious of evil, called “nakedness.” They are said to be “clothed lest they should be naked.” The work looks back to the Most Ancient Church as the flower of the church’s youth, representing the heavenly marriage, and it presents the loss of innocence as the loss of perception, and the loss of perception as the loss of life.

The Author’s Conclusions

The work concludes, in the notes that stand at its end, with the exposition of Genesis 6 and the beginning of the formation of the man called Noah. The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. By “earth” is signified the race mentioned before; it is called “corrupt” on account of their dreadful persuasions, and “filled with violence” on account of their foul cupidities. Here and in the following verses it is said “God,” because there was now no church. “Corrupt” is predicated of the things of the understanding when desolated; “violence” of the things of the will when vastated; thus “to corrupt” of persuasions, “violence” of cupidities. In the Word one term is never taken for another, but the word that fitly expresses the thing is uniformly employed, so exactly that from the words alone the internal sense may be known.

The conclusion of the work, as far as these notes carry it, is therefore not a conclusion in the sense of a final summary but a transition. The Most Ancient Church has been vastated; the earth is corrupt and filled with violence; and the formation of the man called Noah, who signifies the Ancient Church, is about to begin. The work’s argument is that when a church is so vastated that no faith remains, then and not before it begins anew. The end of the notes is thus the beginning of a new church, and the work’s final movement is from the decline of the Most Ancient Church to the rise of the Ancient Church.

The author’s conclusions, gathered from the whole, may be stated as follows. The Word has an internal sense, and that sense is spiritual and celestial, treating of the Lord, of His kingdom, and of the regeneration of man. The natural world corresponds to the spiritual, and the language of the Word is built on that correspondence. Man has two faculties, will and understanding, and when they are at variance the mind divides. Man of himself is dead and produces nothing but evil and false; he cannot think, will, or do good except from the Lord. Faith is not mere thought but obedience to the doctrine of faith, and its primary teaching is love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor. Nothing evil and false is ever possible which is not man’s Own, and the Own vivified by the Lord is the heavenly marriage. Churches decline until they are vastated, and then a new church begins. Remains are preserved in the internal man, and by them alone man is regenerated. Heaven consists in use and goods of charity, and he is greatest in heaven who is least.

Significance

The significance of Arcana Coelestia lies first in its claim to disclose the internal sense of the Word. If that claim is granted, the work is not one commentary among many but the key to all Scripture. If it is not granted, the work remains a monument of religious thought, a systematic theology built on the doctrine of correspondence, and a record of spiritual experience without parallel in its detail. Either way, its influence has been considerable. It is the foundational work of the New Church, and the translations and revisions described in the prefatory notes are evidence of a continuous community of readers extending from the eighteenth century to the twentieth and beyond.

The work’s significance lies secondly in its doctrine of man. The distinction between will and understanding, the doctrine of the Own, the doctrine of remains, and the doctrine of the two degrees of regeneration together constitute a psychology of considerable subtlety. The work’s insistence that man is only an organ of life, and that the Lord alone has what is His Own, is a radical statement of dependence, and it is worked out with a consistency that few theological systems achieve.

The work’s significance lies thirdly in its doctrine of charity. The insistence that faith without charity is no faith, that the primary teaching of faith is love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, and that heaven consists in use and goods of charity, places the work in the tradition of practical religion.