256. 3. The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine Providence when he sees that the Christian religion is accepted only in a smaller part of the habitable globe, called Europe, and is in a state of division there. The Christian religion is accepted only in a smaller part of the habitable globe called Europe because it was not adapted to the genius of Orientals, like the Mohammedan religion, which is a mixed religion, as has just been shown above; and a religion that is not adapted is not received. For example, a religion which ordains that it is not lawful to marry more than one wife is not received, but is rejected by those who for ages past have been polygamists. The same is true of other things ordained by the Christian religion. [2] Nor does it matter whether a smaller or a greater part of the world has received that religion provided there are people with whom the Word is; for those still have light from it who are outside the Church and have not the Word. This is shown in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE (n. 104-113); and it is a wonderful thing that where the Word is read with reverence and the Lord is worshipped from the Word the Lord is present together with heaven. This is because the Lord is the Word, and the Word is Divine Truth which constitutes heaven; therefore the Lord says:
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matt. xviii. 20. This may be effected with the Word by Europeans in many parts of the habitable globe because their commerce extends over the whole world; and everywhere the Word is read by them or there is teaching from it. This appears like fiction, but still it is true. [3] The Christian religion is in a state of division because it is derived from the Word, which is written throughout wholly by correspondences; and correspondences are in great part appearances of truth enclosed within which, nevertheless, genuine truths lie concealed. As the doctrine of the Church is to be drawn from the sense of the Letter of the Word, and the nature of that sense has just been stated, there could not but arise in the Church disputes, controversies and dissensions, especially in regard to the understanding of the Word, but not in regard to the Word itself and the Divine itself of the Lord. For it is everywhere acknowledged that the Word is holy and that Divinity belongs to the Lord; and these two tenets are the essentials of the Church. Therefore also those who deny the Divinity of the Lord, who are called Socinians, have been excommunicated from the Church; and those who deny the holiness of the Word are not regarded as Christians. [4] To this I will add a noteworthy circumstance* concerning the Word, from which it may be concluded that the Word interiorly is the Divine Truth itself, and inmostly is the Lord. When any spirit opens the Word and rubs his face or his clothing with it, his face or his clothing shines, from the mere rubbing, as brightly as the moon or a star, and this in the sight of all whom he meets. This is a proof that there is nothing in the world more holy than the Word. That the Word is written throughout wholly by correspondences may be seen in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE (n. 5-26); that the doctrine of the Church is to be drawn from the sense of the Letter of the Word and confirmed by it (n. 50-61 of the same work); that heresies may be derived from the sense of the Letter of the Word, but that it is harmful to confirm them (n. 91-97); that the Church is from the Word, and its quality is according to its understanding of the Word (n. 76-79). * Memorabile, plural memorabilia. Swedenborg uses this term for the illustrative narratives he gives of thing seen and heard in the spiritual world.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church