The Language of PARABLE A Key to the Bible By William L. Worcester First published in New York 1892 Contents Preface 5 Works of Emanuel Swedenborg 6 1. Correspondences 7 2. High and Low 11 3. Heat and Cold 14 4. Light and Darkness 18 5. Seeing and Hearing 21 6. Eating 26 7. Speech 31 8. Hands and Feet 35 9. Sickness and Healing 39 10. Childhood, Youth and Old Age 44 11. Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral 49 12. Sheep and Goats 54 13. Oxen 59 14. Horse and Ass 63 15. Swine 67 16. The Lion 69 17. Serpents 73 18. Birds 76 19. Fishes 80 20. Insects 84 21. Leaf, Flower and Fruit 88 22. The Olive 92 23. The Vine 95 24. The Fig Tree 98 25. The Palm 102 26. Grains 105 27. Timber-trees 109 28. Water 113 29. Clouds 118 30. Sun, Moon and Stars 121 31. The Quarters 125 32. Numbers 129 33. Rocks 135 34. Precious Stones 139 35. Ivory and Pearl 143 36. Gold and Silver 146 37. Copper and Iron 150 38. Representative Countries 153 39. Palestine 157 40. Houses and Cities 162 41. The Tabernacle and Temple 166 42. Garments 171 43. Representative Persons 175 Preface This book, now issued in its ninth reprint edition, has become a standard introduction to the Swedenborgian concept of Bible symbolism or correspondences. Its original title was Lessons in Correspondence. Even though the text has remained essentially unchanged, subsequent editions have appeared as The Language of Parable: a Key to the Bible, a more appropriate title than the earlier one. In simple, nontechnical language, the author gives penetrating glimpses into a host of Bible passages by explaining the fundamental symbolism which characterizes the biblical narrative. The basic symbols are all here. The reader who masters the contents of this work will be well on the way toward gaining personal possession of the "key" to the inner and timeless meanings of the Sacred Scriptures. The author, William L. Worcester, on the advice of his father (who also wrote several explanatory books on correspondence), enrolled in a science curriculum at Harvard majoring in botany under Professor Asa Gray. Specialization in science, his father John felt, was one of the best preparations for a New Church ministry. Following his graduation in 1881, William furthered his knowledge of science and of the Bible lands through an extensive camping trip in the Nile valley and all through Palestine. He then entered the three-year course at the New Church Theological School, Cambridge, Mass., leading to ordination and his life work as a minister of the General Convention of the New Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgian). During his ministry in Philadelphia in the late 1880's he met regularly with a class of high-school-age students to study the "language of parable," to help these young people gain insights into the Bible's spiritual message and its relevance to their lives. A direct outgrowth of this class was the first edition of this present work. The Publishers Works of Emanuel Swedenborg A. C. Arcana Coelestia. A. E. Apocalypse Explained. A. R. Apocalypse Revealed. C. L. Conjugial Love. Cont. L. J. Continuation of Last Judgment. Cor. Coronis. D. L. W. Divine Love and Wisdom. D. Life. Doctrine of Life. D. Lord. Doctrine of the Lord. D. P. Divine Providence. E. U. Earths in the Universe. H. H. Heaven and Hell. I. S. B. Intercourse between the Soul and Body. Inv. Invitation to the New Church. L. J. Last Judgment. N. J. H. D. The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine. P. P. Summary Exposition of the Prophets and Psalms. S. D. Spiritual Diary. S. S. Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture. T. C. R. True Christian Religion. W. H. The White Horse. 1. Correspondences The knowledge of correspondences is the key to the spiritual Chapters of the Bible. By its aid the parables and histories and strange prophecies of the Word are opened to disclose the heavenly and Divine truths which they contain. Surely nothing can be of greater importance than to gain ourselves, and to impart to our scholars, a clear, reasonable understanding of this science and a practical acquaintance with it which will enable us to see everywhere, as we read the Bible, Chapters of heavenly wisdom. How easy this study would be, how living and delightful, if we lived in heaven! if the children walked with their teacher in heavenly fields and needed but a word from him to interpret to them the thousand beautiful truths which would seem almost to shine forth from the sunlight and flowers and birds and precious gems! They would feel the relation of all things around them to the thoughts and feelings within themselves. The objects would embody and interpret to them the things of inner wisdom. Or, suppose that we were children of the ancient Golden or Silvern Age on earth. We should then walk amid the beauties of this world almost as angel children do in heaven, and should recognize them all as full almost to overflowing with spiritual life. We should see the message of the flower in the sparkling beauty almost bursting from its delicate folds. We should feel a heavenly affection echoed in the soft notes of the birds. All nature would seem to us but a veil concealing and at the same time revealing the presence of the Lord and heaven. We should delight to point out to one another what we saw and felt. We should, in our conversation with one another, delight to use the beautiful things around us as a language to convey thoughts of higher things which we all perceived them to contain. Then, when the Lord Himself spoke to us children of the ancient age a message of heavenly and Divine truth, it would delight us to receive it in the form of parables—the very language which we were so fond of speaking, and of reading in the objects of beauty and use around us. The study of correspondences would then be our highest pleasure; it would be a real and living experience. Fortunately the perception of a relation between inward things and outward has not yet been wholly lost in the world, though it is dim and incomplete compared with the perception of the ancient days or of heaven. The perception still lingering in men's minds of a relation between natural things and spiritual gives a living basis for the study of correspondences. This almost instinctive perception is what we must awaken in the children, and develop and make more definite. Then they too can read the message of nature and the spiritual Chapters of the Bible. If we begin here we strike at once a vein of interest, and one which leads on into increasing enjoyment—an interest which is wholly lacking if we begin in an arbitrary, dictionary way to say, This corresponds to truth and this to love—a mere matter of authority and memory. To illustrate the kind of perception upon which we have to build, take the varying expressions of the face and the movements of the hands. Do children need to be told that these are natural things, and that they are manifestations, expressions, correspondences of feelings and thoughts which are spiritual things? A child knows at a glance the feeling of pleasure which finds expression in a smile, or the sorrow which causes tears. And the tones of the voice: is an interpreter needed to tell us that one cry is expressive of pain, and another of joy? that a word spoken in a gentle, soothing tone is inspired by kindness, and a harsh tone by anger? Does a child need to be told that one motion of the hand is an invitation to come, and another is a command to go? In a word, children perceive the correspondence of the expressions of the face, the gestures, and the tones of the voice with the feelings and thoughts of the mind. There is a peculiar advantage in drawing our first illustrations of correspondence from the relations of the human body and mind, for here both the spiritual side and the natural are within ourselves, and it is distinctly perceived that they have relation to each other. Moreover, it is evident here that the spiritual is the cause of the natural, and not the reverse—a relation which always exists in correspondence, and which it is important to have from the first distinctly in mind. It is the feeling of sorrow which causes the tone of sadness in the voice, or the tearful eyes. It is the emotion of joy which finds expression in the cheerful voice and smile. Even if this is not stated in so many words, the children learn from such examples to regard correspondence as a relation of cause and effect. We may now pass on to objects outside of ourselves, for the influence of a man's character extends to all the objects which surround him, arranging and shaping them as far as it is able into accord with himself. Everyone can read something of another's character in his house and the order and decoration of his room. We perceive here a correspondence, not so perfect as exists between angels and their heavenly surroundings, where all outward objects are a manifestation and exact expression of the angels' states of feeling and thought, but what we see is enough to enable us to conceive of that more perfect correspondence. Nor does the common perception of relation between natural things and spiritual stop here with objects which bear directly the imprint of our hands.