Apocalypse Revealed (Coulsons) n. 959

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959. In order that it may be known that by these words is not understood one who takes away from the words of this book as it has been written in the sense of the letter, but one who takes away from the truths of doctrine which are in the spiritual sense of it, I will state whence this is. The Word that was dictated by the Lord passed across the heavens of His celestial kingdom and the heavens of His spiritual kingdom, and thus came to the man by means of whom it was written; and therefore the Word in its first origin is purely Divine. This Word when it passed across the heavens of the Lord's celestial kingdom was the celestial Divine, and when it passed across the heavens of the Lord's spiritual kingdom was the spiritual Divine, and when it came to the man it became the natural Divine. As the result of this the natural sense of the Word contains in itself the spiritual sense, and this sense contains the celestial sense, and both of them the purely Divine sense which is not open to any man nor indeed to any angel. These things are adduced so that it can be seen what is understood in heaven by 'one shall not add nor take away' anything from the things written in the Apocalypse, [namely] that one shall not add nor take away anything from the truths of the doctrine concerning the Lord and concerning faith directed to Him. For it is this meaning, also that concerning a life 'in accordance with His precepts', from which the sense of the letter is derived, as has been said.


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