237.从圣言的字义，属灵天使能汲取属灵之义，而属天天使则能汲取属天之义。其原因在于，这些意义与天使的性质一致，与其同属一类。这一真理可通过自然界三个王国中的类似事实来说明，即动物王国、植物王国和矿物王国。在动物王国：血管从变成乳糜的食物中汲取它们所需的血液，神经纤维汲取它们的液体，作为纤维起源的物质则汲取它们的灵性。在植物王国：一棵树及其树干、枝、叶和果实都立于它的根上，并通过根从土壤为树干、枝、叶汲取浓厚的树液，为果肉汲取较纯净的树液，为果实里面的种子汲取最纯净的。在矿物王国：深藏于地下的某些地方富有金银铜铁的矿藏；从岩石的呼出和散发物，金、银、铜、铁各自汲取自己的元素，水元素则使这些元素循环起来。
237. 為何屬靈天人能從聖言的文字意義中汲引出屬靈之意, 而屬天天人汲引出屬天之意？因為這些意義在屬性上與天人是一致的, 與他們同類。這個事實可用自然界三個王國中的類似的事實來說明, 就是動物王國,植物王國和礦物王國。在動物王國中, 當食物成為乳糜, 血管從其中汲取獲得它們的需要的血液, 神經纖維從中汲取它們的汁液, 還有締造纖維的物質。在植物王國中, 一棵樹連同樹幹,枝,葉和果實都依賴於它的根, 並通過根從土壤中汲取所需:濃厚的樹液給樹幹樹枝和樹葉,較清純的樹液供給果肉, 而最清純的樹液則給果實之中的種子。在礦物王國中, 在地下深層某些特定之處藏有礦石,內含金銀銅鐵; 通過岩石的散發與排放, 金汲取它自己的元素, 銀取自己的元素, 銅鐵也是如此, 這些元素如溶液般在它們之間傳送。
237. A spiritual angel draws out and extracts spiritual things from the Word's literal meaning, and a heavenly angel draws out and extracts heavenly things, because these things agree with their nature and are compatible with it. To illustrate the truth of this, I can use similar situations in nature's three kingdoms - animal, plant, and mineral. In the animal kingdom, when food has become chyle, blood vessels draw out and extract their blood from it, nerve fibers derive their sap from it, and so do the structures from which the [nerve] fibers branch out. In the plant kingdom, a tree, including trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit, stands upon its root. Through the root it draws out of the ground and extracts a relatively crude sap for the trunk, branches, and leaves, a more refined sap for the flesh of the fruit, and a most refined sap for the seeds inside the fruit. In the mineral kingdom, here and there in the womb of the earth there are raw minerals pregnant with gold, silver, copper, and iron. As a result of exhaled gases and the flow of liquid from the rocky substance, gold extracts its own irreducible element, silver its own, copper its own, and iron its own; and a watery effluvium conveys them from one place to another.
237. The reason why a spiritual angel draws out and elicits spiritual meanings from the literal sense of the Word, and a celestial angel celestial meanings, is that such meanings are in harmony with their nature and are of the same type as they are. This fact can be illustrated by similar facts in the three kingdoms of nature, the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. In the animal kingdom, from food reduced to chyle the vessels of the body draw and extract the blood they need, the fibres of the nerves draw their liquid, and the substances from which the fibres originate draw their spirit. In the vegetable kingdom, a tree with its trunk, branches, leaves and fruits stands upon its root, and by means of the root draws out and extracts from the soil a thick sap for the trunk, the branches and leaves, a purer sap for the flesh of the fruits, and the purest for the seeds inside the fruits. In the mineral kingdom, there are in certain places hidden deep in the earth mineral ores rich in gold, silver, copper and iron; from exhalations and effluvia from the rocks gold attracts its own element, silver its, [copper its] 1 and iron its, and a solution circulates them.
Footnotes:
1. These two words are missing in the original edition, but are supplied in the author's copy.
237. A spiritual angel draws out and calls forth from the sense of the letter of the Word what is spiritual, and a celestial angel what is celestial, because these meanings are in accord with the nature of the angel and are homogeneous therewith. The truth of this can be illustrated by like things in the three kingdoms of nature, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral. In the Animal Kingdom: From the food, when it has become chyle, the blood-vessels draw out and call forth their blood, the nervous fibers their juice, and the substances which are the origins of fibers, their spirit. In the Vegetable Kingdom: A tree with its trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit stands on its root, and out of the soil by means of its root it draws out and calls forth a grosser juice for the trunk, branches, and leaves, a purer for the pulp of the fruit, and the purest for the seeds within the fruit. In the Mineral Kingdom: In certain places in the bosom of the earth there are veins impregnated with gold, silver, copper, and iron; from the exhalations and effluvia out of the rocks, the gold, the silver, the copper, and the iron draw each its own element, the watery element conveying these round about.
237. A spiritual angel from the sense of the Letter of the Word extracts and calls forth spiritual things, and a celestial angel, celestial things, because these things are in agreement with their natures, and are essentially the same. This may be illustrated by examples of a like process in the three kingdoms of nature, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral. In the animal kingdom, when food has been converted into chyle, the blood-vessels extract from it their blood, the nervous fibres their juices, and the substances which are the origins of those fibres, their spirit. In the vegetable kingdom, a tree with its trunk, branches, leaves and fruit, is supported by its roots, by which it draws from the ground a grosser sap for the trunk, branches and leaves, a purer for the fleshy part of the fruit, and the purest for the seeds within the fruit. In the mineral kingdom, in certain places in the bowels of the earth, there are mineral ores, impregnated with gold, silver, copper and iron; and from the exhalations and effluvia, from the rocks gold, silver and iron derive each its own element, while the watery element maintains them in circular motion.
237. Quod Angelus spiritualis ex Sensu literae Verbi extrahat et evocet spiritualia, et Angelus Coelestis coelestia, est quia illa naturae illorum concordant, et homogenea sunt; quod ita fiat, illustrari potest per similia in Tribus naturae Regnis, Animali, Vegetabili et Minerali. In REGNO ANIMALI; ex Cibo, cum factus est Chylus, hauriunt et evocant Vasa suum sanguinem, fibrae nerveae suum succum, ac substantiae quae sunt origines fibrarum, suum spiritum. In REGNO VEGETABILI; Arbor cum trunco, ramis, foliis, et fructibus stat super Radice sua, et ex humo per radicem extrahit et evocat succum crassiorem pro trunco, ramis et foliis, puriorem pro carne fructuum, et purissimum pro seminibus intra fructus. In REGNO MINERALI; in gremio terrae in quibusdam locis sunt Minerae impraegnatae auro, argento, cupro et ferro; ex halitibus et effluviis e petris, trahit aurum suum elementum, argentum suum, [cuprum suum,] 1 et ferrum suum, et aqueum vehit illa circum circa.
Footnotes:
1. Sic Worcester. Cf De Doctrina de Scriptura Sacra 66.