4565. About the Word
A certain society was heard where they were talking among themselves, saying that there had been a conversation about the Word, and it had been said that there was nothing Divine in it. They also had opened the Books of the Bible, and wherever they then read, they found nothing except purely earthly matters and nowhere Divine ones, just as they had said. Therefore they were of opinion that the Word is not Divine but has been accepted as such and regarded as holy. But at this a certain one of them had replied (which I heard also) that there must be what is divine in it and some inner meaning that is unknown. And he also brought out some passages from the prophetic writings and said that there is something hidden there that does not appear to a person, because there must surely be some Divine Word in the world since people are born to come into the other life. He said that subsequently many things of the inner content of the Word had been opened to him and that the rest had mentally seen nothing.
4565. CONCERNING THE WORD.
A certain society was heard where they talked to one another, saying that there had been some conversation about the Word, and it was said that there is nothing Divine therein. They also opened a copy of the Bible, and, no matter where they then read, they found nothing else, as they said, than what was merely terrestrial, and nowhere anything Divine. Wherefore, they embraced the opinion that the Word is not Divine, but [only] received and regarded as holy. But a certain one of them, whom also I heard speaking, had then replied that it is indispensable that the Divine should be therein, and that there [should be], inwardly in the sense something which is not known. He had also extracted some things from the prophetic writings, and said there was concealed there what does not appear to man, for the reason that there must be some wholly Divine Word on earth, because man is born in order that he may come into another life. He said, afterwards, that many things had been opened to him which are in the interiors of the Word, and that the others apprehended nothing of them.
4565. De Verbo
Quaedam societas audita, ubi inter se loquebantur, dicentes quod loquela fuerit de Verbo, et dictum quod nihil Divinum inibi sit, et quoque aperuerunt Librum Bibliorum et ubicunque tunc legebant, non aliud invenerunt, sicut dixerunt, quam quae mere terrestria essent, et nullibi Divina, quapropter captarunt opinionem, quod Verbum non sit Divinum, sed acceptatum et pro sancto habitum; sed quidam eorum responderat tunc, quod etiam audivi [eum] dicentem, quod necessum sit ut Divinum inibi sit, et quod aliquid in sensu intus, quod non scitur, et quoque ex propheticis aliqua eduxerat, et quod reconditum ibi coram homine non appareat, ex causa quia omnino aliquod Divinum Verbum erit in tellure, quia homo natus est ut venturus in alteram vitam; dixit quod postea ei plura aperta fuerunt quae interiora Verbi, et quod reliqui nihil apperceperint.