104. The Word Is the Means by Which Those Have Light Who Are Outside the Church and Do Not Have the Word

No conjunction with heaven is possible unless somewhere on earth there is a church which has the Word and where the Lord is consequently known, because the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and there is no salvation apart from the Lord.

It is enough for a church to exist that has the Word, even if it consists of relatively few people. The Lord is still everywhere present by means of the Word throughout the whole world; for by it heaven is conjoined with the human race. To be shown that the conjunction exists by means of the Word, see nos. 62-69 above.

Fowl signify spiritual truth; a bird, natural truth; and a winged thing, sensual truth. Fowl of heaven, as in Hosea 2:18, signify the affections of truth; and reptiles of the earth, the affection of the knowledges of truth and good. Fowl signify thoughts, and all that creeps on the ground, the sensual principle. Fowl signify intellectual things.

(सन्दर्भ: Arcana Coelestia 777; Hosea 2)