Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 2.djvu/80

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loins, conjugial love; by the arms and hands, the power of truth; by the feet, the natural [principle]; by the eyes, understanding; by the nostrils, perception; by the ears, obedience; by the kidneys, the purification of truth; and so on.

Hence also it is usual, in common discourse, to say of an intelligent and wise man, that he has a head; of one who is in charity, that he is a bosom friend; of one who excels in perception, that he is quick-scented; of one who excels in intelligence, that he is sharp-sighted; of one in power, that he has long arms; and of one who purposes from love, that he does it from the heart. These and many other sayings in common use, are from correspondence; for such expressions are from the spiritual world, although man does not know it.

That there is such a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man, has been shown me by much experience—so much, indeed, that I am as sure of it as of any truth that is clear beyond a doubt. But it is needless to adduce here all this experience; nor can I, on account of its abundance. It may be seen in the Arcana Cœlestia, in the sections which treat of Correspondences, of Representations, of the Influx of the Spiritual World into the Natural, and of the Intercourse between the Soul and the Body.

But although all things of the human body correspond to all things of heaven, still man is not an image of heaven as to his external form, but as to his internal. For the interiors of man receive heaven, and his ex-