Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

Michael and his angels overcame the dragon by any other means than by the divine truth of the Lord in the Word; indeed the angels in heaven cannot think of any blood, nor do they think of the Lord's passion, but of divine truth, and of His resurrection; so that when man thinks of the Lord's blood, the angels perceive the divine truth of His Word, and when man thinks of the Lord's passion, they have a perception of His glorification, and at the same time of his resurrection only: that this is the fact, it has been given to me to know by long experience. That blood signifies divine truth, is further evident from these words in David: "God shall preserve the souls of the needy, and precious shall their blood be in his sight; they shall live, and He shall give them of the gold of Sheba," Psalm lxxii. 13, 14, 15, 16: the blood of the needy that is precious in the sight of God, signifies the divine truth that is in them; and the gold of Sheba is the wisdom thence derived. So in Ezekiel: "Assemble yourselves to a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood, and ye shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth to intoxication; so will I set My glory among the nations," chap. xxxix. 17 to 21: the prophet here speaks of the church which the Lord was about to institute amongst the gentiles; and it has been shewn just above, that by blood in this passage cannot be meant blood, but divine truth derived from the Word, to be revealed to the gentiles.

707. That BREAD has the like signification as flesh, appears clearly from the Lord's words: "Jesus taking BREAD, brake it and gave it to them, saying, This is My body," Matt. xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke xxii. and again: "The BREAD which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world," John vi. 51: again He saith, "That He is the BREAD OF LIFE, and that whosoever eateth of this BREAD SHALL LIVE FOR EVER," John vi. 48, 51, 58. This bread also is what is meant by the sacrifices, which are

called bread in the following passages: "The priest shall burn it upon the altar, it is the BREAD OF THE OFFERING MADE BY FIRE unto Jehovah," Levit. iii. 11, 16: "The sons of Aaron shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God, for the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, and the BREAD OF THEIR GOD do they offer. Thou shalt sanctify him therefore, for he offereth the BREAD OF THY GOD, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the BREAD OF HIS GOD," Levit. xxi. 6, 8, 17, 21: "Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering and My BREAD FOR MY SACRIFICES MADE BY FIRE, FOR AN ODOUR OF REST, shall ye observe to offer unto Me in their due season," Numb. xxviii. 2: "The soul which hath touched any unclean thing, shall be unclean until the evening: he shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with water; afterwards he shall eat of the holy things, because Ir IS HIS BREAD," Levit. xxii. 6, 7: to eat of the holy things was to eat the flesh of the sacrifices, which is here also called bread; so also in Malachi, chap. i. 7. The same was signified by the MEAT OFFERINGS used in the sacrifices, which consisted of the flour of wheat, and consequently were bread, Levit. ii. 1 to 11, chap. vi. 6 to 14; and in other places; the same also by the BREAD laid on the table in the tabernacle, which was called the shew-bread, Exod. xxv. 30, chap. xl. 23, Levit. xxi. 5 to 10. That by bread is not meant natural bread, but heavenly bread, is plain from these words: "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehodah doth man live," Deut. viii. 3: "I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah," Amos viii. 11. Moreover all food in general is meant by bread, Levit. xxiv. 5 to 9, Exod. xxv. 30, chap. xl. 23, Numb. iv. 7. That it means also spiritual food, is evident from these words: "Labour

not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you," John vi. 27.

708. That by WINE the like is meant as by blood, is very clear from the Lord's words: "Jesus took the cup, saying, This is My blood," Matt. xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke xxii. and also from these: "He washeth His garments in WINE, and His clothes in the BLOOD OF GRAPES," Gen. xlix. 11; this was spoken of the Lord: "Jehovah of hosts shall make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of WINE on the lees," Isaiah xxv. 6; this was spoken of the sacrament of the holy supper which was to be instituted by the Lord. So again: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy WINE without money," Isaiah Iv. 1. By the JUICE OF THE VINE, which they should drink new in the kingdom of heaven, Matt. xxvi. 29, Mark xiv. 25, Luke xxii. 17, 18, nothing else is signified but the truth of the new heaven and the new church; for which reason the church in many parts of the Word is called a VINEYARD, as in Isaiah v. 1, 2, 4, Matt. xx. 1 to 13; and the Lord called Himself the TRUE VINE, and such as are ingrafted in Him the BRANCHES, John xv. 1, 5; not to mention several other passages.

709. From what has been said it may now plainly appear what is meant by the flesh and blood of the Lord, and by bread and wine, in their triple sense, natural, spiritual, and celestial. Every one who has been born in a Christian country, and educated under a sense of religion, may know, or if he does not know, may learn, that there are both natural nourishment and spiritual nourishment, and that natural nourishment is for the body, but that spiritual nourishment is for the soul; for Jehovah the Lord saith in the book of Moses, "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of

Jehovah doth man live," Deut. viii. 3: now as the body dies, and as it is the soul which lives after death, it follows, that spiritual nourishment is for eternal salvation. Who cannot hence discern, that these two kinds of nourishment ought not to be confounded together, for where this is the case a man can form to himself no other ideas of the flesh and blood of the Lord, and of the bread and wine, than such as are natural and sensual, which are material, corporeal, and carnal; and these must needs suffocate all spiritual ideas on this most holy sacrament. If however there be any one so simple that he cannot think of any thing with his understanding but what he sees with his eyes, I would advise him when he comes to the holy supper, and receives the bread and wine, and hears them called the body and blood of Christ, to think with himself, that it is the most holy act of worship, and then to reflect upon the sufferings of Christ, and His love for man's salvation; for He saith, "Do this in remembrance of Me," Luke xxii. 19; and again, "The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many," Matt. xx. 28, Mark x. 45; "I lay down My life for the sheep," John x. 15, 17.

710. This also may be illustrated by various comparisons. Who does not remember and love that person, who from the zeal of love to his country fights against its enemies, and by the loss of his own life rescues his fellow citizens from the yoke of slavery? And who does not remember and love that person, who seeing his fellow-citizens in extreme want, and reduced by famine to the brink of death, moved with compassion, brings forth all his silver and gold from his house, and freely distributes it among them? Who again does not remember and love that person, who from a principle of love and friendship, takes the one only lamb that he hath, and kills it, and sets it before his guests? not to mention other cases of a like description.

III. THAT BY UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAS BEEN SAID ABOVE, IT MAY CLEARLY BE COMPREHENDED, THAT THE HOLY SUPPER CONTAINS, BOTH UNIVERSALLY AND SINGULARLY, ALL THINGS OF THE CHURCH, AND ALL THINGS OF HEAVEN.

711. It was shewn in the foregoing article, that the Lord Himself is in the holy supper, and that the flesh and bread are Himself as to the divine good of love, and that the blood and wine are Himself as to the divine truth of wisdom; so that there are three principles involved in the holy supper, the Lord, His divine good, and His divine truth. Since then the holy supper includes and contains in it these three principles, it follows, that it also includes and contains the universals of heaven and of the church; and whereas all singulars depend on universals, as the contents depend on the things which contain them, it also follows, that the holy supper includes and contains all the singulars of heaven and of the church. Hence it now first appears, that as the divine good and divine truth, each from the Lord, and the Lord, are meant by His flesh and blood, and in like manner by the bread and wine, therefore the holy supper contains, both universally and singularly, all things of heaven and the church,

712. It is also known, that the essentials of the church are three, namely, God, charity, and faith, and that all things in the church have reference to these three as to their universals. This agrees with what has been just observed, for God in the holy supper is the Lord, charity is divine good, and faith is divine truth. What else is charity but the good which a man does from the Lord? and what else is faith but the truth which a man believes from the Lord? Hence it is, that there are in man, as to his internal, three constituents, the soul or mind, the will, and the understanding: these three are the respective receptacles of those three universals; the soul or mind is the receptacle of the Lord,

« ÎnapoiContinuă »