IN THE WORD THERE IS A SPIRITUAL SENSE, HITHERTO

This subject shall be considered in the following order:

i. What the spiritual sense is. ii. This sense is in all things of the Word and in every single particular of it. iii. From this sense it is that the Word is Divinely inspired, and is holy in every word. iv. Hitherto this sense has been unknown. v. Henceforth it will be imparted solely to him who from the Lord is in genuine truths.

i. What the spiritual sense is. The spiritual sense of the Word is not that sense which shines forth from the sense of the letter while one is studying and unfolding the meaning of the Word with intent to confirm some tenet of the church. This is the literal sense of the Word. The spiritual sense does not appear in the sense of the letter, being within it as the soul in the body, as thought in the eyes, and as affection in the face, which act as a one, like cause and effect. It is this sense chiefly which renders the Word spiritual, not for men only, but for angels also; and therefore by means of this sense the Word gives communication with the heavens.