12. THE WORD IS WRITTEN BY CORRESPONDENCES AND THUS BY REPRESENTATIVES. As to the sense of the letter the Word is written by nothing but correspondences, and so by such things as represent and signify the spiritual things of heaven and the church, (n. 1404, 1408, 1409, 1540, 1619, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2179, 2763, 2899). This was done on account of the internal sense in every particular, (n. 2899). Thus it was for the sake of heaven, since they who are in heaven do not understand the Word according to the sense of its letter, which is natural, but according to the internal sense, which is spiritual, (n. 2899). Because He spoke from the Divine, the Lord spoke by correspondences, representatives and significatives, (n. 9049, 9063, 9086, 10126, 10728). The Lord thus spoke in His own person to the world and to heaven at the same time, (n. 2533, 4807, 9049, 9063, 9086). The things spoken by the Lord reached to the entire heaven, (n. 4637). The historical parts of the Word are representative and the words significative, (n. 1540, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2686). The Word could not have been written in any other style in order that there might be communication and conjunction with the heavens by means of it, (n. 2899, 6943, 9481). They are greatly mistaken who make little of the Word on account of its apparently simple and rough style, and who believe that, had it been written in a different style, they would have accepted the Word, (n. 8783). The most ancient people's manner and style of writing was also by correspondences and representatives, (n. 605, 1756, 9942). The wise people of ancient times were delighted with the Word because of the representatives and significatives therein (from experience, n. 2592, 2593). If a man of the Most Ancient Church had read the Word, he would have seen those things clearly which are in the internal sense, but obscurely those which are in the external sense, (n. 4493). The sons of Jacob were led forth into the land of Canaan because, from the most ancient times, all places in that land were made representative, (n. 1585, 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516), and so that a Word might be written there, in which places were to be named on account of the internal sense, (n. 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516). On account of that nation, however, the Word as to the external sense was entirely altered but not as to the internal sense, (n. 10453, 10461, 10603, 10604). Many passages concerning that nation are quoted from the Word, which must be understood, however, according to the internal sense, and so in a different way than according to the letter, (n. 7051). Since that nation represented the Church, and because the Word was written among them and about them, therefore Divine heavenly things were signified by their names; as, for example, by Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Ephraim, Joseph and the rest. And, by Judah, in the internal sense is signified the Lord as to celestial love and also His celestial kingdom, (n. 3654, 3881, 5583, 5782, 6362-6381). So that it may be known what correspondences are, their quality, and the quality of representatives in the Word, something shall also be said about them. All things which correspond also represent, and hence signify, so that correspondences and representatives are one, (n. 2896, 2897, 2973, 2987, 2989, 2990, 3002, 3225). What correspondences and representatives are, shown from experience and by examples, (n. 2763, 2987-3002, 3213-3226, 3337-3352, 3472-3485, 4218-4228, 9280). Among the ancients the science of correspondences and representations was the pre-eminent science, (n. 3021-3419, 4280, 4748, 4844, 4964, 4966, 6004, 7729, 10252), and principally among the people of the east, (n. 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10252, 10407); and in Egypt more than in other places, (n. 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10407); and also among the Gentiles, as in Greece and elsewhere, (n. 2762, 7729). But at the present time, especially in Europe, it is among the lost sciences, (n. 2894, 2895, 2995, 3630, 3632, 3747, 3748, 3749, 4581, 4966, 10252). Yet this science is the most excellent of all sciences, since without it the Word is not understood, nor the significance of the rites of the Jewish Church of which we read in the Word; neither is heaven's quality known, nor what is spiritual, nor how there is an influx of the spiritual into the natural, nor the manner of the influx of the soul into the body, besides many other things, (n. 4180, and in passages cited above). All things which appear among angels and spirits are representatives according to correspondences, (n. 1971, 3213-3226, 3475, 3485, 9457, 9481, 9576, 9577). The heavens are full of representatives, (n. 1521, 1532, 1619). Representatives are so far more beautiful and more perfect as they are more interiorly in the heavens, (n. 3475). Representatives therein are real appearances since they are from the light of heaven, which is Divine Truth, and this itself is the essential of all things that come into existence, (n. 3485). The reason why each and all of those things which are in the spiritual world are represented in the natural world, is that the internal clothes itself with concordant forms in the external, by means of which it renders itself visible and is seen, (n. 6275, 6284, 6299). Thus the end adopts a suitable guise, that it may present itself as the cause in a lower sphere, and then that it may present itself as the effect in a sphere still lower. And when the end, by means of the cause, becomes the effect, it then becomes visible or appears before the eyes, (n. 5711). This may be illustrated by the influx of the soul into the body, namely, that the soul is clothed with such things in the body by means of which all that it thinks and wills can be expressed and manifest in a visible form. Wherefore, when thought flows down into the body, it is represented by such gestures and actions as correspond to it, (n. 2988). The affections of the mind are plainly represented in the face by means of its various expressions to such an extent that they may be observed there, (n. 4791-4805, 5695). Hence it is plain that in each and all things of nature there is interiorly concealed a cause and an end from the spiritual world, (n. 3562, 5711), since the things which are in nature are ultimate effects, within which are things prior, (n. 4240, 4939, 5051, 6275, 6284, 6299, 9216). Internal things are what are represented, and external things are what represent, (n. 4292). What correspondences and representations are may be further seen in the work on HEAVEN AND HELL, wherein it treats of the correspondence of all things of heaven, with all things of man, (n. 87-102); the correspondence of heaven with all things of earth, (n. 103-115); and representatives and appearances in heaven, (n. 170-176). Since all things in nature are representative of spiritual and celestial things, therefore in ancient times there were Churches in which all the externals, which were rituals, were representative. Those Churches were therefore called representative Churches, (n. 519, 521, 2896). The Church established among the sons of Israel was a representative Church, (n. 1003, 2179, 10149). Therein all the rituals were externals, which represented the internal things which are of heaven and the Church, (n. 4288, 4874). The representatives of the Church and of worship came to an end when the Lord came into the world and manifested Himself, because the Lord revealed the internals of the Church, and because all things of that Church, in a supreme sense, looked to Him, (n. 4835).