That is to say, there is a point on the rising scale of values at which a new factor enters and a new principle becomes operative which results in bringing something new into being. For example, all life is one, but not all that lives is human. There is life in plant and animal. Discrete degrees mark the distinction between the kingdoms of life and nature. Applying this to literature, Swedenborg observed that such a discrete degree divides sacred from secular literature.
Sacred literature is first of all purely religious.
But not all religious works are sacred scriptures. In order to qualify as such they must deal with spiritual matters and also possess a certain internal content. Consequently they deal exclusively with the deepest spiritual mysteries within the grasp of man. Summarizing the foregoing, we may say that literature which deals with spiritual life and is built around world Teachers and Saviors, and in addition thereto embodies an internal structure based on the mysteries, becomes by virtue of these several attributes and elements sacred scriptures. All other literature takes a lesser rating.