(Also the Excellence of the Style of Expression in the Word)

I once heard a serious argument between spirits who had been scholars in the world, some whose learning was from the Word, some whose learning was from natural sight only. The latter kept insisting that natural theology is enough, maintaining that a person can be taught and even enlightened by natural theology apart from the Word so as to clearly see that there is a God, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that souls have immortality and thus eternal life. The others kept saying, however, that only the Word teaches and enlightens with regard to such things. The spirits who were for natural theology alone began to vehemently assail those who sided with the Word, and this for several days, thinking in their hearts and finally saying that the Word is nothing special, that in place after place it was written in a style so simple and at the same time so unintelligible that no one could learn anything from it, still less be enlightened by it, and that the writings of learned men-such as the writings of Cicero, Seneca and some of today's scholars-were much superior. But the others replied that the style of expression in the Word excels that of all the learned men in the whole world, because there is not a sentence in it, nor even a word or letter, which does not have in it something relating to the Lord and so something relating to heaven and the church, inasmuch as the Word is from God and is therefore at its heart spiritual. Furthermore, they said, this Divine quality lies inwardly hidden in the Word as the soul is in the body, but when a person reads it with reverence, its Divinity is gradually unfolded before angels, who, on account of the spiritual things thus disclosed, are affected by the holiness in it, a sense of holiness that is communicated to the person. It is apparent from this, they concluded, that the style of expression in the Word, however simple it appears, is infinitely superior to every style of expression employed by the learned in the world, because no matter how polished and elegant and lofty their style may be, it still does not effect communication with heaven, so that in comparison to the style in the Word it is altogether inferior.

[2] The spirits who were championing natural theology heard these things, indeed, but still they rejected them, because in the world they had regarded the Word with complete disdain, and those who disdain the Word in the world and confirm their disdain with passages from the Word, after death continue to hold it in disdain forever. For every tenet adopted in the world respecting God and the Word, in which one then confirms himself, remains firmly implanted after death and cannot be rooted out. And because these spirits were therefore in communication not with heaven but with hell, they began to ally themselves with certain satanic spirits there, until at last they and the satanic spirits spoke with one voice and, gnashing their teeth, breathed words of murder against the life of those who stood by the Word. But still they could do nothing at all, for the Lord was on the side of those other spirits, whereas they had only satanic spirits on their side. Therefore those other spirits were taken up into heaven, while these were cast down into hell.

[3] Some angels afterward talked about natural theology, saying that it reveals nothing without the Word but supports only those things which are known in the doctrine of the church from the Word. Moreover, they said, when confirmations drawn from nature by means of rational sight corroborate spiritual truths, they do so for the reason that everyone has some natural idea of spiritual things by which he holds them in the memory and calls them forth from there into thought and rationally considers and expresses them. If, therefore, additional support is found in nature, truth is corroborated. But still, the angels said, one must take care not to seize on falsity instead of truth, since falsity can be defended just as well as truth by those who have the ingenuity. Consequently some deviation from the truth may be confirmed even to the destruction of the truth itself.

[4] The angels added that no one can enter from natural theology into spiritual theology, but that anyone might enter from spiritual theology into natural theology, because to do the latter is in accord with Divine order, while to do the former is contrary to Divine order. For everything natural is crude and full of impurities, whereas everything spiritual is fine and pure. It is not possible to enter from something crude and full of impurities into things that are fine and pure, but just the opposite. Angels can look down and see everything that is below them, but no one can see from below the things which are in the heavens. In fact, an angel can view a spirit cruder than himself without the spirit's being able to see the angel, who is purer. That is why, when spirits like this go up into heaven where the angels are-a frequent occurrence-they see no one, not even their houses, so that they go away saying that it is empty and uninhabited there.

[5] It is similar with the Word. Those who do not believe in the Word on the evidence of the Word cannot possibly believe anything Divine on the evidence of nature. As the Lord teaches:

They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.... If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:29, 31)

So it is with anyone who, rejecting the Word, tries to believe on the basis of nature alone. Some of the ancients wrote about the existence of God and the immortality of the soul even though they were pagans-men like Aristotle, Cicero and others-but what they wrote they did not know about in the first place from their own natural sight, but from the religion of ancient peoples, among whom there had been a Divine revelation which was gradually spread to gentiles.