237# 属灵天使从圣言字义中汲出并唤起属灵之物，属天天使从其中汲出并唤起属天之物，乃因这些事物与他们的本性相合，并同质相应。此事如何发生，可由自然三界，即动物界、植物界、矿物界中的相似现象加以阐明。
在动物界中：食物成为乳糜之后，血管从中吸取并唤起自己的血液，神经纤维吸取并唤起自己的液汁，而作为纤维起源的实体则吸取并唤起自己的灵气。
在植物界中：树以其干、枝、叶、果立于其根上；又由土壤经根汲出并唤起较粗之汁液，以供树干、枝条与叶片；汲出较纯之汁液，以供果肉；汲出最纯之汁液，以供果实内的种子。
在矿物界中：地腹某些处所有蕴含金、银、铜、铁的矿藏；金从岩石的气息与流溢中吸取其自身之元素，银吸取其自身之元素，铜吸取其自身之元素，铁亦吸取其自身之元素；而水质之物则将这些元素环绕输运。
237# 属灵天使从圣言的字义中引出并汲取属灵意义，属天天使从中引出并汲取属天意义，因为这些意义与天使的性质同属一类，并与其和谐一致。这一事实可通过自然界的三个王国，即动物界、植物界和矿物界中的类似事物来说明。在动物界：血管从变成乳糜的食物中抽出并吸取它们所需的血液，神经纤维吸取它们的液体，作为纤维来源的物质则吸取它们的灵。在植物界：一棵树及其树干、树枝、叶子和果实都立于它的根上，或靠根支撑，并通过它的根从土壤中为树干、树枝、叶子抽出并吸取粗糙的汁液，为果肉吸取纯净的汁液，为果实里面的种子吸取最纯净的汁液。在矿物界：在地球的某些地方深藏着富含金、银、铜、铁的矿石；从岩石的呼气和臭气中，金、银、铜、铁各自吸取自己的元素，水元素则使这些元素循环起来。
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.