And we may go still further. There are numerous passages in the Word of God, which in the literal sense only, do not convey even _apparent_ truth. Among others the following, "Thou ridest through them with thine horses." "He rode upon a cherub and did fly; He came flying upon the wings of the wind." "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him;" "for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." "This (bread) is my body; this cup is the New Testament in my blood." "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee." "I am the Door of the sheep." "I am the true vine, and my Father is the Husbandman." In all these passages, and others which will occur to every reader of the Scripture, the literal sense conveys neither real nor apparent truth. The Lord does not really ride through the sea, nor does he even _appear_ to do so. The flesh of the Saviour was not to be _literally_ eaten. The bread which He held was not really his body, nor did it even _seem_ to be so. And as in these and similar instances, the outward letter of the Word conveys not its true meaning, it is to be sought for in the law of correspondence; or in that eternal connection which subsists between natural things and spiritual. And upon this law of correspondence or analogy I must make a few preliminary remarks. It is what the world in general terms _figure_, or _metaphor_; but the New Church makes a distinction, and I will add, a very just one, betwixt _figure_ (properly so called) and _correspondence_. Figurative language is that in which a comparison is drawn between one natural object and another; the analogy between which exists only in the imagination, and has, therefore, no _real_ existence: but correspondence is the representation of spiritual things by natural; and the resemblance is not merely imaginary but real, consisting in the proper dependence of the latter upon the former, as an effect upon its cause. If we compare a mighty empire in its rise, glory, and decline, to an oak springing up, flourishing for centuries, and then decaying, we use _figurative_ language; since both the empire and the oak are _natural_ objects, which have no _real_ connection with each other, and between which the resemblance is only imaginary. But when the Creator is likened to the sun, the language is no longer _figurative_ but _correspondent_. It is not the comparison of earthly things with earthly, but of spiritual things with natural. And the objects compared have a real connection with each other, since the material sun depends on its Creator as an effect upon its cause. Again, when the church is described as the Lord's body, the language is correspondent and the connection real; for the rise and prosperity of the church depended upon the assumption of humanity by the Saviour; and it still hangs upon it as the cause of its existence.