very particular of
the Word there is an internal sense which treats of things spiritual
and heavenly, not of things natural and worldly, such as are treated
of in the sense of the letter. And this is true not only of the
meaning of groups of words, it is true of each particular word.{3}
For the Word is written solely by correspondences,{4} to the end that
there may be an internal sense in every least particular of it. What
that sense is can be seen from all that has been said and shown about
it in the Arcana Coelestia; also from quotations gathered from that
work in the explanation of The White Horse spoken of in the
Apocalypse. It is according to that sense that what the Lord says in
the passage quoted above respecting His coming in the clouds of
heaven is to be understood. The "sun" there that is to be darkened
signifies the Lord in respect to love;{5} the "moon" the Lord in
respect to faith;{6} "stars" knowledges of good and truth, or of love
and faith;{7} "the sign of the Son of man in heaven" the
manifestation of Divine truth; "the tribes of the earth" that shall
mourn, all things relating to truth and good or to faith and love;{8}
"the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and glory"
His presence in the Word, and revelation,{9} "clouds" signifying the
sense of the letter of the Word,{10} and "glory" the internal sense
of the Word;{11} "the angels with a trumpet and great voice" signify
heaven as a source of Divine truth.{12} All this makes clear that
these words of the Lord mean that at the end of the church, when
there is no longer any love, and consequently no faith, the Lord will
open the internal meaning of the Word and reveal arcana of heaven.
The arcana revealed in the following pages relate to heaven and hell,
and also to the life of man after death. The man of the church at
this date knows scarcely anything about heaven and hell or about his
life after death, although all these matters are set forth and
described in the Word; and yet many of those born within the church
refuse to believe in them, saying in their hearts, "Who has come from
that world and told us?" Lest, therefore, such a spirit of denial,
which especially prevails with those who have much worldly wisdom,
should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and the simple in
faith, it has been granted me to associate with angels and to talk
with them as man with man, also to see what is in the heavens and
what is in the hells,