Doctrine of Holy Scripture - Swedenborg Foundation

DOCTRINE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 153and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, and small and great (Rev.19:11–18).What these things signify cannot be known except from thespiritual sense of the Word, and no one can know the spiritualsense except from a knowledge of correspondences, for all theabove words are correspondences, and not one word there iswithout meaning. The knowledge of correspondences teaches whatis signified by the white horse, what by him who sat thereon, whatby his eyes that were as a flame of fire, what by the crowns thatwere upon his head, what by his vesture dipped in blood, what bythe white linen in which they were clothed who were of his army inheaven, what by the angel standing in the sun, what by the greatsupper to which they should come and gather themselves, and whatby the flesh of kings, and captains, and others, which they shouldeat. The signification of each of these things in the spiritual sensemay be seen in White Horse, where they are explained, so that it isunnecessary to explain them further here. In that little work it hasbeen shown that the Lord in respect to the Word is here described;and that by his eyes which were as a flame of fire, and by thecrowns that were upon his head, and by the name that no oneknew but he himself, is meant the spiritual sense of the Word, andthat no one can know it but the Lord himself and he to whom hewills to reveal it; and also that by his vesture dipped in blood ismeant the natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of its letter,to which violence has been done. That it is the Word which is thusdescribed is very evident, for it is said “his name is called the Wordof God”; and that it is the Lord who is meant is equally clear, for itis said that the name of him who sat on the white horse waswritten, King of kings and Lord of lords.That at the end of the church the spiritual sense of the Word is tobe opened is signified not only by what is said of the white horseand of him who sat thereon, but also by the great supper to whichthe angel standing in the sun invited all to come, and to eat theflesh of kings and of captains, of mighty men, of horses, and ofthem that sat on them, and of all both free and bond. All theseexpressions would be empty words and devoid of spirit and life,unless there were what is spiritual within them, like soul in body.