210. III. The literal sense of the Word is the basis, container and support of its spiritual and celestial senses.

Everything Divine contains a first, middle and last; the first passes through the middle to the last, and so it comes into and remains in existence; the last is consequently its basis. The first is also present in the middle term, and through this in the last. So the last is a container; and because it is a container and basis, it is also a support. An educated reader will grasp that those three terms can be named end, cause and effect; and also being, becoming and coming-into-being; the end is being, the cause is becoming and the effect is coming-into-being. Consequently everything contains a triad, called first, middle and last, or end, cause and effect. When this is grasped, it will also be grasped that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its last, and that the last contains everything, because the prior terms are simultaneously present in it.