Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 2.djvu/85

 church,—and sacrifices and burnt-offerings were made of them; for in that use they correspond to things spiritual which were understood in heaven according to correspondence.

Animals, also, according to their genera and species are affections, because they live; for everything has life from no other source than from affection and according to it. Hence every animal has innate knowledge according to the affection of its life. Man, too, is similar to animals as to his natural man, and therefore is compared to them in common discourse. If he be of a gentle disposition, he is called a sheep or a lamb; if of a savage temper, he is called a bear or a wolf; if cunning, he is called a fox or a serpent; and so on.

There is a like correspondence with the things in the vegetable kingdom. A garden in general corresponds to heaven as to intelligence and wisdom; on which account heaven is called in the Word the garden of God and paradise; and also by man, the heavenly paradise. Trees according to their species correspond to the perceptions and knowledges of good and truth, from which come intelligence and wisdom. Therefore the ancients, who were versed in the knowledge of correspondences, held their sacred worship in groves. Hence it is that in the Word trees are so often mentioned; and that heaven, the church and man are compared to them, as