two commandments hang the law and the prophets.' The 'law and the prophets' signify the whole Word. Now, since love to God and love towards the neighbor are all things of the Word, and since the Decalogue, in the first table, contains in a summary all things of love to God, and in the second table all things of love towards the neighbor, it follows that it contains all things that pertain to doctrine and life."[1]
So extensive is the meaning of the Ten Commandments, when viewed in their whole scope, and in all their three senses, the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial. "The Word," says the New Church Doctrine, "contains, in every Part, besides the literal sense, two interior senses, one of which is called spiritual, and the other celestial: in these senses, Divine truth is in its light, and Divine goodness is in its heat. No one, unless he knows what the Word is, can conceive that there is infinity in every part of it; that is, that it contains innumerable things, which not even the angels can exhaust. Every thing there may be likened to a seed, which may grow up from the ground into a great tree, and then may produce innumerable seeds, from which again may proceed similar trees, and from these a garden; and from the seeds of this, other gardens; and so on, to infinity. Such is the Word of the Lord in every part, and especially in the Decalogue; for this, because it teaches love to God and love towards the neighbor, is a short summary of the whole Word. That there is such an infinity of spiritual seeds or truths in the
- ↑ T. C. R., n. 287.
