e of the
letter of the Word which is of this character, disputes, controversies
and dissensions were bound to arise over the understanding of the Word,
but not over the Word itself or the Divine itself of the Lord. For it is
acknowledged everywhere that the Word is holy and that the Lord possesses
the divine, and these two are essentials of the church. Those, therefore,
who deny the Divine of the Lord and 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 let me add a remarkable item about the Word from which one
may conclude that inwardly the Word is divine truth itself and inmostly
the Lord. When a spirit opens the Word and touches his face or dress with
it, just from the contact his face or garment shines as brightly as the
moon or a star, in the sight of all, too, whom he meets. It is evidence
that there is nothing holier in the world than the Word.

That the Word is written throughout in correspondences may be seen in
_Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 5-26; that
the church's doctrine is to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the
Word and confirmed thereby, nn. 50-61; that heresies can be wrested from
the sense of the letter of the Word, but that it is harmful to confirm
them, nn. 91-97; that the church is from the Word and is such as is its
understanding of the Word, nn. 76-79.

257. _The merely natural man confirms himself against divine providence
because in many kingdoms where the Christian religion is accepted there
are those who arrogate divine power to themselves, want to be worshiped
as gods, and also invoke dead men._ To be sure, they say that they have
not arrogated divine power to themselves and do not wish to be worshiped
as gods. Yet they say that they can open and close heaven, remit and
retain sins, and so save and condemn men, and this is what is divine
itself. Divine providence has no other purpose than reformation and hence
salvation; this is its unceasing activity with everyone. And salvation
can be effected only by acknowledgment of the divine of the Lord and by
confidence that He brings salvation as man lives according to His
commandments.

[2] Who cannot see that the usurpation of divine power is the Babylon
described in the Apocalypse and the Babel spoken of here and there in the
Prophets? It is also Lucifer in Isaiah 14, as is plain from verses 4 and
22 of th