Arcana Coelestia volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 611therefore the Lord compares himself to a vine, and describes theman of the church, or the spiritual church, in these words in John:I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman; every branchin me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch thatbeareth fruit, he will prune it, that it may bear more fruit; abide in me,and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide inthe vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in me; I am the vine, ye arethe branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bearethmuch fruit; for without me ye can do nothing; this is mycommandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you (John15:1–5, 12);from these words it is evident what the spiritual church is.1070. Verse 21. And he drank of the wine and was drunken; andhe was uncovered in the midst of his tent. “And he drank of the wine”signifies that he desired to investigate the things which are of faith;“and was drunken” signifies that he thereby fell into errors; “and hewas uncovered in the midst of his tent” signifies the consequentperverted things; the “midst of a tent” is the principal of faith.1071. And he drank of the wine. That this signifies that he desiredto investigate the things which are of faith, is evident from thesignification of “wine.” The “vineyard,” or the “vine,” as has beenshown, is the spiritual church, or the man of the spiritual church;the “grape,” “bunches,” and “clusters” are its fruit, and signifycharity and what is of charity. But “wine” signifies the faith thencederived, and all things that belong to it. Thus the “grape” is thecelestial of that church, and the “wine” is the spiritual of thatchurch. The former, or the celestial, is of the will, as has been saidbefore; the latter, or the spiritual, is of the understanding. That his“drinking of the wine” signifies that he desired to investigate thethings of faith, and this by reasonings, is evident from his becomingdrunken, that is, fallen into errors. For the man of this church hadno perception, as had the man of the most ancient church, but hadto learn what was good and true from the doctrinal things of faithcollected and preserved from the perception of the most ancientchurch, which doctrinal things were the Word of the ancientchurch. Like the Word, the doctrinal things of faith were in many