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This week we do an overview of James' life. What we see is that James is concerned with "heart" issues, that is he wants us to have love in our heart for our fellow people. During the early part of his life we hear him say things that he doesn't understand God's kingdom, but by the end of his life he finally gets it, and shares the wisdom gained through experience.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 2135; James 1:19-20, 3:13-18, 4:1-3; Mark 10:35-45, 14:32-34; True Christian Religion 154)

9280. 'In order that your ox and your ass may rest' means the peace and serenity that external forms of good and truths enjoy at the same time. This is clear from the meaning of 'resting', when it refers to the seventh day or the sabbath, as peace and serenity, as immediately above in 9279; and from the meaning of 'ox' as external good, and of 'ass' as external truth, dealt with in 2781, 9135, 9255.

Beasts were signs of affections and inclinations such as the human being shares in common with them, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218, 3519, 5198, 5913, 8937, 9090, 9135.

Beasts were used in sacrifices in accordance with their spiritual meaning, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519.

All things existing in the world, in its three kingdoms, were representative of the spiritual and celestial realities of the Lord's kingdom, 1632, 1881, 2758, 2987-3003, 3213-3227, 3483, 3624-3649, 4939, 5116, 5427, 5428, 5477, 8211.

All things have a correspondence, 2987-3003, 3213-3226, 3337-3352, 3472-3485, 3624-3649, 3745-3750, 3883-3896, 4039-4055, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4420, 4523-4533, 4622-4634, 4652-4660, 4791-4806, 4931-4952, 5050-5062, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 8615.

[2] These references have been drawn together to enable it to be seen that not merely all beasts but also all objects in the world have a correspondence, and that in accordance with their correspondences they all represent and serve to mean spiritual and celestial realities, and in the highest sense Divine realities that are the Lord's. And from this the character of the ancient Churches, called representative Churches, may be seen. This character was such that each one of their sacred observances served to represent things that are the Lord's and belong to His kingdom, thus aspects of love to Him and belief in Him. In those times heaven was joined to a member of the Church by means of these observances, since internal aspects were presented in heaven. The Word of the Lord has also been given to the same end, for every detail in it, even to the smallest part of a letter, has a correspondence and spiritual meaning. Through the Word alone therefore is heaven linked to mankind.

[3] No one at the present day knows that this is so. Consequently when the natural man reads the Word and seeks to discover where its Divinity lies, but does not find it in the letter on account of its very ordinary style, he at first begins to disparage it and then to reject the idea that it has been dictated by God and sent down to mankind by way of heaven. The natural man does not know that the Word is Divine by virtue of its spiritual sense, which is not visible in the letter but is nevertheless present within the letter; nor does he know that this sense is presented in heaven when someone on earth reads it devoutly, and that the subject in that sense is the Lord and His kingdom. These are the Divine things which make the Word Divine and through which holiness flows from the Lord by way of heaven, even into the literal sense and into the actual letters. But as long as a person does not know what anything spiritual is he cannot know either what the spiritual sense is, nor thus what correspondence is. And as long as a person loves the world more than heaven, and self more than the Lord, he has no wish to know these things and understand them. Yet they were the source of all intelligence among the ancients, and they are also the source of wisdom among the angels. Hidden mysteries, which numerous diviners have vainly toiled to track down in the Word, lie in those things alone.

8615. 'Until the going down of the sun' means when that state was coming to an end, that is to say, the state of conflict with falsity arising from interior evil. This is clear from the consideration that the times of day from sunrise to sunset, and again to sunrise, mean the changes of state which those who are in the next life undergo. The end of that state is meant by the time when the sun is going down. So it is that 'until the going down of the sun' means when that state was coming to an end. For the meaning of the times of day from sunrise to sunset as states and changes of them, see 5672, 5962, 6110, 8426.

[2] Anyone who ponders over them can see that the matters recorded in these verses contain arcana which are not visible in the letter, such as that Moses was going to stand on the hill, having the rod in his hand; that Joshua was winning whenever Moses raised up his hands, and Amalek was winning whenever Moses let down his hands; that they put a stone under him, which he sat on, and Aaron and Hur supported his hands; and that this continued until the sun was going down. Unless every single one of these matters had corresponded to things in heaven they could not have contributed in any way at all to the battle against Amalek. Correspondences have absolute force, so great that what is done on earth in accordance with correspondences has force in heaven; for correspondences have their origin in the Divine.

[3] When people are governed by the good of love and faith, such correspondence exists with them. The Divine composes everything residing with them, for the Divine is the source of the good of love and the good of faith. All the miracles referred to in the Word were accomplished through correspondences. The Word has been written in such a way that all the details there, even the smallest, correspond to things in heaven. Consequently the Word has Divine force; it links together heaven and earth. For when the Word is read on earth the angels in heaven are stirred by the holiness contained in the internal sense. This happens because of the correspondences that all the details possess there.