5113. Behold, a vine was before me. That this signifies the intellectual part, is evident from the signification of a “vine,” as being the intellectual part in the spiritual church, of which hereafter. As by the “butler” is signified the sensuous subject to the intellectual part, and as the influx of the intellectual into the sensuous subordinate thereto is here treated of, therefore in the dream there appeared a vine with shoots, blossom, clusters, and grapes, by which is described influx and the rebirth of this sensuous. As regards the intellectual of the spiritual church, be it known that where this church is described in the Word, its intellectual part is everywhere treated of, for the reason that it is the intellectual part which in the man of this church is regenerated and becomes a church.

[2] For there are in general two churches, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial church is with the man who can be regenerated or become a church as to the will part; and the spiritual church is with the man who, as just said, can be regenerated only as to the intellectual part. The Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, was celestial, because with those who belonged to it there was some wholeness in the will part; but the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, was spiritual, because with those who belonged to it there was not anything whole in the will part, but only in the intellectual part. For this reason where the spiritual church is treated of in the Word, its intellectual part is chiefly treated of (on which subject see above, n. 640, 641, 765, 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2124, 2256, 2669, 4328, 4493). That with those who are of the spiritual church it is the intellectual part that is regenerated, may be seen also from the fact that the man of this church has no perception of truth from good, as had they who were of the celestial church; but must first learn the truth which is of faith, and become imbued with what is intellectual, and thus from truth learn what is good; and after he has thus learned it, he is able to think it, and then to will it, and at last to do it; and then a new will is formed in him by the Lord in the intellectual part. By this new will the spiritual man is elevated by the Lord into heaven, evil still remaining in the will that is proper to him; which will is then miraculously separated, and this by a higher force, whereby he is withheld from evil and kept in good.

[3] But the man of the celestial church was regenerated as to the will part, by being imbued from infancy with the good of charity; and when he had attained to a perception of this, he was led into the perception of love to the Lord, whereby all the truths of faith appeared to him in the intellect as in a mirror. The understanding and the will made in him a mind wholly one; for by the things in the understanding it was perceived what was in the will. In this consisted the wholeness of that first “man” by whom the celestial church is signified.

[4] That a “vine” is the intellectual part of the spiritual church is evident from many other passages in the Word; as in Jeremiah:

What hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? And yet I had planted thee a wholly noble vine, a seed of truth; how then art thou turned to Me into the degenerate shoots of a strange vine? (Jeremiah 2:18, 21);

speaking of Israel, by whom is signified the spiritual church (n. 3654, 4286). “Egypt” and “the waters of Shihor” denote memory-knowledges which pervert (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); “Assyria” and “the waters of the river” denote reasoning from these knowledges against the good of life and the truth of faith (n. 119, 1186); a “noble vine” denotes the man of the spiritual church, who is called a “vine” from the intellectual part; the “degenerate shoots of a strange vine” denote the man of the perverted church.

[5] In Ezekiel:

A riddle and a parable concerning the house of Israel. A great eagle took of the seed of the land, and placed it in a field of sowing; it budded and became a luxuriant vine of low stature, so that its shoots looked back toward her, and the roots thereof were under her; so it became a vine that made shoots, and sent forth sprigs to the eagle. This vine applied its roots, and sent its shoots toward her, in a good field by many waters. It was planted that it might make a branch, that it might be for a vine of magnificence (Ezekiel 17:2-3, 5-8).

The “eagle” denotes the rational (n. 3901); the “seed of the land” denotes the truth of the church (n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373); its “becoming a luxuriant vine” and a “vine of magnificence” denotes becoming a spiritual church, which is called a “vine” from the wine thence produced, which signifies spiritual good or the good of charity from whence comes the truth of faith, implanted in the intellectual part.

[6] In the same:

Thy mother was like a vine, in thy likeness, planted by the waters; a fruitful one, and made full of branches by reason of many waters; whence she had rods of strength for the scepter of them that bear rule; and its stature lifted itself above among the tangled boughs, and appeared in its height in the multitude of shoots (Ezekiel 19:10-11);

also said of Israel, by whom is signified the spiritual church, which is compared to a “vine” for a reason like that mentioned just above. In this passage are described its derivations in the natural man even to the last, namely, to memory-knowledges from the senses, which are the “tangled boughs” (n. 2831).

[7] In Hosea:

I will be as the dew to Israel; his branches shall go, and his honor shall be as the olive’s, and his odor as Lebanon’s. They that dwell in his shadow shall return; they shall vivify the corn, and blossom as the vine; his memory shall be as the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? (Hos. 14:5-8);

“Israel” denotes the spiritual church, whose blossoming is compared to a “vine,” and its memory to the “wine of Lebanon,” from the good of faith implanted in the intellectual part; “Ephraim” is the intellectual part in the spiritual church (n. 3969).

[8] In Zechariah:

The remains of the people; the seed of peace; the vine shall give her fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew (Zech. 8:11-12).

The “remains of the people” denote truths stored up by the Lord in the interior man (see n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284); the “seed of peace” denotes good there; the “vine,” the intellectual part.

[9] In Malachi:

I will rebuke for you him that consumeth, that he corrupt not for you the fruit of the land; neither shall the vine be bereaved for you in the field (Malachi 3:11).

The “vine” denotes the intellectual part; the vine is said “not to be bereaved” when the intellectual part is not deprived of the truths and goods of faith; on the other hand it is said to be “empty” when there are falsities therein and consequent evils; as in Hosea:

Israel is an empty vine, he maketh fruit like himself (Hos. 10:1).

[10] In Moses:

He shall bind his ass’s colt unto the vine, and the son of his ass unto the choice vine, after he hath washed his clothing in wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes (Genesis 49:11);

from the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel, about his twelve sons, here about Judah, by whom is represented the the Lord, (n. 3881). The “vine” here denotes the intellectual part in the spiritual church, and the “choice vine,” the intellectual part in the celestial church.

[11] In David:

Jehovah, Thou hast made to come forth a vine out of Egypt; Thou didst drive out the nations, and plantedst it. Thou didst cleanse before it, and didst cause its roots to be rooted so that it filled the land. The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the cedars of God with the boughs. Thou hast sent forth the shoots thereof even to the sea, and the little branches thereof to the Euphrates. The boar out of the forest trampleth it, and the wild beast of the field grazeth it down (Psalms 80:8-11, 13).

The “vine out of Egypt” in the supreme sense denotes the Lord, the glorification of His Human being described by it and its shoots. In the internal sense the “vine” here is the spiritual church, and also the man of this church, such as he is when made new or regenerated by the Lord as to the intellectual and will parts. The “boar in the forest” is the falsity, and the “wild beast of the fields” the evil, which destroy the church as to faith in the Lord.

[12] In Revelation:

The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and vintaged the vine of the earth; and cast it into the great winepress of the anger of God; the winepress was trodden outside the city, and there came forth blood out of the winepress even to the horses’ bridles (Revelation 14:19-20);

“to vintage the vine of the earth” denotes to destroy the intellectual part in the church; and because this is signified by the “vine,” it is also said that “there came forth blood out of the winepress even to the horses’ bridles;” for by “horses” are signified intellectual things (n. 2761, 2762, 3217).

In Isaiah:

It shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines for a thousand of silver, shall be for briars and brambles (Isaiah 7:23).

Again:

The inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and man shall be left rare; the new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish (Isaiah 24:6-7).

Again:

They shall beat themselves upon the paps for the fields of unmixed wine, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of My people come up thorn and briar (Isaiah 32:12-13).

In these passages the subject treated of is the vastation of the spiritual church as to the good and truth of faith, thus as to the intellectual part; for as before said the truth and good of faith are in the intellectual part of the man of this church. Everyone can see that by a “vine” here is not meant a vine, nor by the “earth” the earth; but that they mean something of the church.

[13] As in the genuine sense a “vine” signifies the good of the intellectual part; and a “fig tree” the good of the natural man, or what is the same, that a “vine” signifies the good of the interior man, and a “fig tree” the good of the exterior man, therefore a “fig tree” is often mentioned in the Word at the same time as a “vine”; as in the following passages:

Consuming I will consume them; no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf is fallen (Jeremiah 8:13).

I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, which shall eat up thy vine and thy fig tree (Jeremiah 5:15, 17).

In Hosea:

I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree (Hos. 2:12).

In Joel:

A nation is come up upon My land, it hath reduced My vine into a waste, and My fig tree into froth, stripping it hath stripped it, and cast it forth, the shoots thereof are made white; the vine is withered, and the fig tree languisheth (Joel 1:6-7, 12).

Be not afraid, ye beasts of My fields; for the dwelling places of the wilderness are become grassy; because the tree hath made its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine shall yield their strength (Joel 2:22).

In David:

He smote their vine and their fig tree, and brake the tree of their border (Psalms 105:33).

In Habakkuk:

The fig tree shall not blossom, and no produce is in the vines (Hab. 3:17).

In Micah:

Out of Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem; they shall sit everyone under his vine and under his fig tree, and none maketh afraid (Micah 4:2, 4).

In Zechariah:

In that day shall ye call a man to his fellow, under the vine and under the fig tree (Zech. 3:10).

In the first book of Kings:

In the time of Solomon there was peace from all the passes round about; and Judah and Israel dwelt in confidence, everyone under his vine and under his fig tree (1 Kings 4:24-25).

That a “fig tree” is the good of the natural or exterior man, may be seen above (n. 217).

[14] That a “vine” is the intellectual part made new or regenerated by good from truth and by truth from good, is evident from the Lord’s words to the disciples, after he had instituted the holy supper:

I say to you, I will not drink henceforth of this product of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom (Matthew 26:29);

good from truth and truth from good, by which the intellectual part is made new, or man is made spiritual, are signified by the “product of the vine” and the appropriation thereof by “drinking.” (That “to drink” is to appropriate, and that it is predicated of truth, may be seen above, n. 3168.) That this is not done fully except in the other life is signified by “until that day when I shall drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” That by the “product of the vine” is not meant must or wine, but something heavenly of the Lord’s kingdom is very manifest.

[15] As the intellectual part in the spiritual man is made new and regenerated by truth which is from the Lord alone, therefore the Lord compares Himself to a “vine” and those who are implanted in the truth which is from Him, and consequently in Him, He compares to the “shoots” and the good therefrom to the “fruit” in John:

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser; every shoot in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away; but every shoot that beareth fruit, He pruneth it, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the shoot cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the shoots; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing. This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you (John 15:1-2, 4-15:4-5, 12).

[16] As in the supreme sense a “vine” signifies the Lord as to Divine truth, and hence in the internal sense the man of the spiritual church, therefore a “vineyard” signifies the spiritual church itself (n. 1069, 3220). As the Nazirite represented the celestial man, who is regenerated through the good of love, and not through the truth of faith like the spiritual man, and who consequently is not regenerated as to the intellectual part, but as to the will part (as may be seen above), therefore the Nazirite was forbidden to eat anything which came forth from the vine, thus was not to drink wine (Numbers 6:3-4; Judges 13:14); from this also it is evident that by the “vine” is signified the intellectual part that belongs to the spiritual man, as already shown.

[17] (That the Nazirite represented the celestial man may be seen above, n. 3301.) Hence also it may be seen that it cannot possibly be known why the Nazirite was forbidden whatever came forth from the vine (not to mention many other things regarding him), unless it is known what the “vine” signifies in its own sense, and also unless it is known that there is a celestial church and a spiritual church, and that the man of the celestial church is regenerated in a manner different from the man of the spiritual church-the former by means of seed implanted in the will part, the latter by means of seed implanted in the intellectual part. Such are the arcana stored up in the internal sense of the Word.

2831. Behind, caught in a thicket. That this signifies entangled in natural knowledge, is evident from the signification of being “caught,” as here being entangled; and from the signification of a “thicket” or “tangle” as being memory-knowledge-explained in what follows. That the spiritual are held entangled in natural knowledge in regard to the truths of faith, is as follows. The spiritual have not perception of good and truth, as the celestial have, but instead of it conscience formed from the goods and truths of faith which they have imbibed from infancy from their parents and masters, and afterwards from the doctrine of faith into which they were born. They who have no perception of good and truth have to be confirmed by knowledges. Everyone forms for himself some idea respecting the things he has learned, and also respecting the goods and truths of faith; for without an idea, nothing remains in the memory otherwise than as an empty thing. Confirmatory things are added thereto, and fill up the idea of the thing, from other knowledges, even from memory-knowledges. The confirmation of the idea itself by many things causes not only that it sticks in the memory, so that it can be called forth into the thought, but also that faith can be insinuated into it.

[2] As regards perception in general, since few know what perception is, this must be declared. There is perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things; there is perception of what is just and equitable in civil life; and there is perception of what is honorable in moral life. As regards the perception of what is good and true in celestial and spiritual things, the interior angels have this perception from the Lord, the men of the Most Ancient Church had it, and the celestial, who are in love to the Lord, have it. These know at once, from a kind of internal observation, whether a thing is good and whether it is true; for this is insinuated by the Lord, because they are conjoined with Him by love. Spiritual men, however, have no such perception of good and truth in celestial and spiritual things, but instead of it have conscience which dictates; but as before said, this conscience is formed from the knowledges of good and truth which they have imbibed from their parents and masters, and afterwards from their own study in doctrine and in the Word; and in these, even though not entirely good and true, they put their faith. Hence it is that men can have conscience from any doctrine whatever; even the Gentiles have something not unlike conscience from their religion.

[3] That the spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith, but say and believe that to be true which they have learned and apprehended, is sufficiently evident from the fact that everyone says that his own dogma is true, heretics more than others; and that they are not able to see the truth itself, still less to acknowledge it, although thousands of things should declare it. Let everyone explore himself and see if he is able to perceive from any other source whether a thing is true; and if when a thing most true is made manifest to him he still does not fail to acknowledge it. As for example, one who makes faith the essential of salvation, and not love: even if all should be read before him which the Lord spoke concerning love and charity (see n. 2373), and if he should know from the Word that all the Law and the Prophets hang upon love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, he will nevertheless remain in the idea of faith, and will say that this alone saves. It is otherwise with those who are in celestial and spiritual perception.

[4] As regards the perception of what is just and equitable in civil life, however, those in the world who are rational have this, and also the perception of what is honorable in moral life. These two perceptions distinguish one man from another, but by no means do such men for this reason have the perception of the good and truth of faith, because this perception is higher or more internal, and flows in from the Lord through the inmost of the rational.

[5] The reason also why the spiritual have no perception of the good and truth of faith, is that good and truth are not implanted in their will part, as with celestial men, but in their intellectual part (see n. 863, 875, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256). Hence it is that the spiritual cannot arrive at the first degree of the light in which the celestial are (n. 2718), but have what is obscure in comparison (n. 1043, 2708 at the beginning, 2715). That the spiritual are entangled in natural memory-knowledge in respect to the truths of faith, follows from this.

[6] That a “thicket” or “tangle” in the internal sense signifies natural memory-knowledge, that is, that knowledge which sticks fast in the exterior memory, may also be seen from other passages in the Word.

In Ezekiel:

Behold, Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful foliage, and a shady grove, and lofty in height, and his branch was among the tangled boughs (Ezekiel 31:3); where Egypt, which is memory-knowledge, is treated of (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); “Asshur” denotes the rational (n. 119, 1186); which is also the “cedar,” and also “Lebanon,” in the Word; “among the tangled boughs” means among memory-knowledges, for the human rational is founded on its memory-knowledges.

[7] In the same:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Because thou art exalted in stature, and he hath set his branch among the tangled boughs, and his heart is lifted up in its height, strangers, the violent of the nations, shall cut him down, and cast him out (Ezekiel 31:10, 12); concerning Egypt; to “set the branch among the tangled boughs” denotes sticking fast in memory-knowledges, and regarding spiritual, celestial, and Divine things from them. In the same:

To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their branch among the tangled boughs, nor that all that drink waters stand over them in their height, for they shall all be delivered unto death, to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of man, to them that go down to the pit (Ezekiel 31:14);

here those are treated of who by reasonings from memory-knowledges desire to enter into the mysteries of faith (that they are made altogether blind, may be seen above, n. 215, 232, 233, 1072, 1911, 2196, 2203, 2568, 2588). To reason from memory-knowledges is to “set the branch among the tangled boughs.” In the same:

She had plants of strength for the scepters of them that bare rule, and her height was exalted among the tangled boughs (Ezekiel 19:11);

this has a similar meaning.

[8] In the same:

The slain of Israel shall be among their idols, round about their altars, and under every green tree, and under every tangled oak (Ezekiel 6:13);

this treats of the worship which those form to themselves who have faith in themselves, and thus in the things which they hatch out from their memory-knowledges; the “tangled oak” denotes the memory-knowledges in such a state. (That “oaks” are apperceptions from memory-knowledges may be seen above, n. 1442, 1443, 2144) The like is found elsewhere in the same Prophet:

They saw every high hill, and every tangled tree, and there they sacrificed their sacrifices (Ezekiel 20:28);

a “tangled tree” denotes the things which are dictated not by the Word, but by one’s own memory-knowledge. (That worship was performed in groves, and was significative according to the qualities of the trees, may be seen above, n. 2722.)

[9] In Isaiah:

Wickedness burneth as the fire; it devoureth the briars and thorns, and kindleth in the thickets of the forest (Isaiah 9:18).

The “briars and thorns” denote falsity and cupidity; the “thickets of the forest,” memory-knowledges. In the same:

Jehovah Zebaoth shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one (Isaiah 10:34).

The “thickets of the forest” denote memory-knowledges and “Lebanon,” things rational.

In Jeremiah:

Set up a standard toward Zion, for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction; a lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land a waste; thy cities shall be destroyed, without inhabitant (Jeremiah 4:6-7);

“from his thicket” denotes from memory-knowledge; and that which ascends into Divine arcana from this makes the “land a waste,” that is, lays waste the church.

[10] The reason why in the Word memory-knowledges are called “thickets,” is that they are comparatively of such a character, especially when the cupidities of the love of self and of the world, and the principles of falsity, seek for them. Celestial and spiritual love is that which disposes into order the knowledges which are of the exterior memory; and the love of self and of the world is that which perverts the order, and disturbs all things in it. These things the man does not take notice of, because he places order in perverted order, good in evil, and truth in falsity. On this account these things are in entanglement; and also on this, that the things of the exterior memory, where these knowledges are, compared with those in the interior memory, where rational things are, are as in a thicket, or as in a dark forest. How shady, opaque, and dark it is there in comparison, a man cannot know so long as he is living in the body; for he then supposes that all wisdom and intelligence are from this source; but he will know in the other life, when he comes into the things of his interior memory. That in the exterior memory, which is proper to man while he is living in the world, nothing is less to be found than the light of intelligence and wisdom; but that all is relatively dark, disorderly, and entangled there, may be seen above (n. 2469-2494).