Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 86
trees are so often mentioned in the Word, and heaven, the
church, and man are compared to them; as the vine, the olive,
the cedar, and others, and the good works done by men are
compared to fruits. Also the food derived from trees, and more
especially from the grain harvests of the field, corresponds to
affections for good and truth, because these affections feed the
spiritual life, as the food of the earth does the natural life; 81
and
bread from grain, in a general sense, because it is the food that
specially sustains life, and because it stands for all food,
corresponds to an affection for all good. It is on account of this
correspondence that the Lord calls himself the bread of life;
and that loaves of bread had a holy use in the Israelitish
church, being placed on the table in the tabernacle and called
“the bread of faces”; also the Divine worship that was
performed by sacrifices and burnt offerings was called “bread.”
Moreover, because of this correspondence the most holy act of
worship in the Christian church is the Holy Supper, in which
bread is given, and wine. 82
From these few examples the nature
of correspondence can be seen.
112. How conjunction of heaven with the world is effected
by means of correspondences shall also be told in a few words.
The Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of ends, which are uses; or
what is the same thing, a kingdom of uses which are ends. For
this reason the universe has been so created and formed by the
Divine that uses may be everywhere clothed in such a way as to
be presented in act, or in effect, first in heaven and afterwards
in the world, thus by degrees and successively, down to the
81. From correspondence foods signify such things as nourish the
spiritual life (n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 4976, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410,
5426, 5576, 5582, 5588, 5655, 5915, 6277, 8562, 9003).
82. Bread signifies every good that nourishes the spiritual life of man (n.
2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 9323, 9545,
10686). Such was the signification of the loaves that were on the table in the
tabernacle (n. 3478, 9545). Sacrifices in general were called bread (n. 2165).
Bread includes all food (n. 2165). Thus it signifies all heavenly and spiritual
food (n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3478, 6118, 8410).