Doctrine of Holy Scripture - Swedenborg Foundation

DOCTRINE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 174of this day, whereby all understanding of truth perishes. The harlot signifiedfalsification; and the dead horse, no understanding of truth. 243The sense of the letter of the Word is the basis, the container, andthe support of its spiritual and celestial senses27. In every Divine work there is a first, a middle, and a last (orultimate); and the first passes through the middle to the last (orultimate), and so comes into manifest being and subsists. Hencethe last or ultimate is the basis. But the first is in the middle, andthrough the middle in the ultimate; so that the ultimate is thecontainer. And as the ultimate is the container and the basis, it isalso the support.28. The learned reader will comprehend that these three may becalled end, cause, and effect; also esse, fieri, and existere; 25 and thatthe end is the esse, the cause the fieri, and the effect the existere;consequently, that in every complete thing there is a trine, which iscalled first, middle, and ultimate; also end, cause, and effect; andalso esse, fieri, and existere. When these things are comprehended, it24. Quoted from the Spiritual Diary (n. 3605a), and De Verbo (n. 1); and repeatedin Apocalypse Revealed (n. 255), and in True Christian Religion (n. 277).[Translator]25. That is, “being,” “becoming,” and “coming forth.” The “being” of a thing iswhat we call its existence; and therefore it was said by the ancients that “in God welive, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Here our being means theinmost of our life (Arcana Coelestia, 5605e). The “becoming” of a thing is its beingtaking form. And the “coming forth” of a thing is the presentation ormanifestation of that thing as an actual reality. Thus the Latin word existere has avery different meaning from the English “exist,” and cannot be translated by itwithout causing a complete misconception in the mind of the English reader.[Translator]