An ornate woodcut headpiece featuring a central figure of a gardener or laborer digging with a spade. He is flanked by two large cornucopias (horns of plenty) overflowing with fruits and foliage, set within a decorative frame of acanthus leaves and floral scrolls.

THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

I. That the Word of the Old Testament contains the secrets of heaven, and that all things collectively and individually refer to the Lord, His heaven, the Church, faith, and the matters pertaining to faith, no mortal can gather from the letter; for from the letter, or the sense of the letter, no one sees anything other than that they relate in a general way to the external aspects of the Jewish Church. Yet internally, everywhere, there are hidden things that are never apparent in the external forms, except for the very few that the Lord revealed and explained to the Apostles; such as that sacrifices signify the Lord; that the Land of Canaan and Jerusalem signify Heaven, which is why they are called the celestial Canaan and Jerusalem; and similarly for Paradise.

II. But that all things and each thing, even down to the smallest "iota" A term for the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, often used to mean the slightest detail., signify and involve spiritual and celestial matters, the Christian world is still profoundly ignorant, which is why it cares little for the Old Testament. From this single fact, however, they ought to know that the Word—because it is of the Lord and from the Lord—could never exist unless it contained internally such things as pertain to Heaven, the Church, and faith. Otherwise, it could not be called the Word of the Lord, nor could it be said that any life resides within it. For from where would life come, if not from those things that are of life? That is, unless all things collectively and individually refer to the Lord, who is life itself. Therefore, whatever does not internally look to Him does not live; indeed, any word in the Word that does not involve Him, or refer to Him in its own way, is not divine.