8942. 'For if you move your chisel over it' means if a product of the proprium or self. This is clear from the meaning of 'chisel' as counterfeit truth, thus a product of the self. For a chisel is a piece of iron used to carve and shape figures out of stones, and therefore the human self is meant here since this shapes things which are to compose religion, to make them look like the truth. Instead of the word 'chisel' some places elsewhere have '[a piece of] iron', while others elsewhere have 'axe', as in Deuteronomy 27:5; Joshua 8:30-31; 1 Kings 6:7; Isaiah 44:10-12; Hosea 13:2; Jeremiah 10:3-4; and these tools mean such things as are implements of self-intelligence used for fabrication.

3472. CORRESPONDENCES AND REPRESENTATIONS - continued

ESPECIALLY THOSE CONTAINED IN THE WORD

Every single thing in the sense of the letter of the Word is representative of something spiritual or celestial belonging to the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and in the highest sense is representative of the Lord Himself. This becomes clear from what has been shown already, and in the Lord's Divine mercy from what has yet to be shown. But because people have distanced themselves so far away from heaven and have engrossed themselves in nature far below, indeed in what is earthly, they are utterly repelled when told that the Word conceals deeper things than those grasped from the letter. They are even more repelled when told that the Word contains things that are beyond man's mental grasp and that are suited only to the wisdom of the angels; and they are still more repelled when told that it contains Divine things themselves infinitely transcending the angels' power of understanding. The Christian world does indeed acknowledge that the Word is Divine; but the fact that it is so Divine the Christian world nevertheless denies in its heart if not with its lips. Nor is this surprising since the earthly-mindedness which exists in people at the present day does not allow them to grasp more exalted things; nor do they wish to.