The Third Round: The Word Has to be Able to Meet Every State of the Human Mind

From the work, Arcana Coelestia 392

392. Verse 15. And Jehovah said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And Jehovah set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should smite him. By “vengeance being taken sevenfold on anyone who slays Cain” is signified that to do violence to faith even when thus separated would be a sacrilege; “Jehovah set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should smite him” signifies that the Lord distinguished faith in a particular manner, in order that it might be preserved.

From the work, Apocalypse Explained 427

[6] That Jehovah set a mark upon Cain lest he should be slain, signifies that he distinguished him from others, and preserved him, because saving faith cannot exist, unless historical faith precede, which is the knowledge of the things of the church and of heaven derived from others, in a word, the knowledge of such things as shall afterwards pertain to faith. For unless a man from his infancy received truths from the Word, from the doctrine of the church, or from preaching, he would possess none, and the Lord cannot act upon such a man, nor can he receive influx out of heaven from the Lord, for He operates and inflows by means of good into the truths which a man possesses and conjoins them, and thus makes charity and faith one. From these considerations it is evident what is signified by Jehovah setting a mark on Cain, lest any one should slay him, and by him that should slay him being avenged sevenfold. Besides, those who are only in historical faith, that is, in the knowledge of such things as belong to faith, – and such persons and faith are signified by Cain, – are also preserved, because they can teach others truths from the Word, for they teach from the memory.

From the work, True Christian Religion 260

260. Moreover it should be known that the sense of the Letter is a guard for the genuine truths lying within it, lest they should suffer injury. It is a guard in this respect that it may be turned this way and that, and interpreted according to one’s own apprehension, without its interior content being injured or violated. It does no harm that the sense of the Letter is understood differently by different persons; but harm results when falsities are introduced which are contrary to Divine truths. This, however, only happens in the case of those who have confirmed themselves in falsities. In this way violence is inflicted on the Word; and to prevent this, the sense of the Letter acts as a guard with those who are in falsities from their religion, but who do not confirm its falsities. The sense of the Letter of the Word as a guard is signified and also described in the Word by cherubim. This guard is signified by the cherubim which, after the expulsion of Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden, were placed at the entrance. Of these it is written, when JEHOVAH God drove out the man,

“He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Gen. iii. 23, 24.

[2] No one can know what these words signify unless he knows the signification of cherubim, the garden of Eden, the tree of life therein, and also the flaming sword which turned every way. These particulars are explained under this chapter in the work, “Arcana Caelestia,” published in London, as follows: cherubim signify a guard; the way of the tree of life signifies access to the Lord, which men obtain by means of the truths of the spiritual sense of the Word; and the flaming sword turning every way signifies Divine Truth in ultimates which, like the Word in the sense of the Letter, can be so turned.

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