2185. They said, for they are now speaking with me, that the things I have written are so crude, so coarse, that they consider nothing inward to be understandable from these words, or the mere meaning of the words. I also realized by a spiritual mental image that it was so, that they were very crude. So I was given to reply that they are only containers into which purer, better and more inward contents can be poured, as a literal sense or meaning.
And I said that just such containers are many of the meanings of the letter in the prophets, which are not only crude, but even made of mud and dung, and of scum, and yet inward, clean and holy things can be poured into them. Take such passages as that the Lord grows angry, rages, kills, which are so roughly composed that one can hardly believe anything good could be poured into them. The prophets, however, spoke to the grasp of the common people, and if they had not, nothing good could have been poured in, because it would not have been understood.
So I was given to add, that if they wanted to remain in the meanings of the letter, then they could form their knowledge from such filthy containers; and that those who form doctrine from them can be very much mistaken. 1748, 4 June.
2185. They said because they now speak with me, that those things which I have written are so rude and gross that they suppose nothing which is interior can be understood from those words or the mere sense of the words. I also perceived by a spiritual idea that it was so, that my expressions were very rude, wherefore it was given me to reply that my words are only vessels in which purer, better, and interior things can be infused, as if the literal sense [thereof]; that such vessels, as it were, are the many literal senses of the prophets, and that their expressions were not only rude, but even bordered on the mire, dunghill, and the mud, and yet therein were diffused interior, clean, and sacred things; as, for instance, that the Lord is angry, that He is full of wrath, that He kills. These expressions are so roughly framed that it can scarcely be credited that aught of good can be infused therein; when yet the prophets spoke to suit the apprehension of the vulgar, and had they spoken differently, naught that is good could have been infused, because it would not have been understood. So that it was granted to add if they desired to remain in the senses of the letter, then they would have formed their knowledge [scientia] from similar filthy things and vessels, and that such as derive their doctrine [therefrom] must be greatly deceived. - 1748, June 4.
2185. Dixerunt, quia loquuntur nunc mecum, quod ea quae scripsi, ita rudia sint et crassa, ut arbitrentur 1
, [quod] nihil ex verbis istis seu sensu mero verborum possit intelligi, quod interius; percepi etiam idea spirituali, quod ita esset, quod rudissima essent, quare dabatur mihi respondere, quod sint modo vasa, quibus puriora, meliora et interiora infundi queant, sicut sensus literalis, et 2
quod talia quasi vasa sint sensus literae plures apud prophetas, et quod sint non solum rudia, sed etiam ex fimo et sterquilineo, et ex luto, et quidem iis infundi queunt interiora munda et sancta; sicut quod Dominus irascatur, furat 3
, occidat, quae ita incondita sunt, ut vix credi possit, [quod] aliquid boni infundi possit, cum tamen ad captum vulgi loquuti, et si aliter non potuisset boni quid infundi, quia non intelligeretur; ita addere dabatur, si vellent manere in sensibus literae, tunc ex similibus spurcis vasis 4
potuissent formare suam scientiam, et qui doctrinam, valde possunt falli. 1748, 4 Junius.
Footnotes:
1. in J.F.I. Tafel's edition arbitrarentur
2. omissum a in J.F.I. Tafel's edition ut deletum
3. This is how it appears in J.F.I. Tafel's edition; ms furiat
4. The Manuscript has spurcis et vasis