the New Testament! The atonement or at-one-ment is there described as a work of reconciliation,-as effecting an important and essential spiritual change in man, his motives, his thoughts, and his words and works thence proceeding, but without implying any change whatever in the immutable Godhead. The apostle Paul, therefore, in writing to the Romans, says, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we [not God, WE] have now received the atonement" (v. 11). The Greek word [Karaλλay] translated here atonement, means reconciliation, and with its modifications is so translated wherever else it occurs in the New Testament. The Lord "bore our sins and carried our sorrows" (Isa. liii. 3) by taking upon Himself our depraved nature, with all its hereditary defilements, and, by removing these evils from his Humanity, He "consecrated it for evermore" (Heb. vii. 28), and thereby received power from the indwelling Divinity to remove, likewise, the evils of all those who look unto Him and put their trust in Him. For now "He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God [the indwelling Divinity] by Him [the glorified Humanity]” (Heb. vii. 25). "For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted" (Heb. ii. 18). Hence we further read, that "When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses" (Matt. viii. 16, 17). "To bear our sins," then, was to sustain temptation; and to put them away, signifies not only that He conquered all evil tendencies, and removed them from his Humanity, but also, that in the hour of severest spiritual trial and conflict He is both able and willing to stretch forth his gracious hand to save all from the inherent corruptions of their nature, as well as their actual sins,-thus to deliver from the bondage of sin, the fears of eternal death, and from the miseries of hell, all who acknowledge their transgressions, believe in Him, and keep his commandments. By the power and efficacy of divine truth, as "the Word made flesh," which is so often called "the blood of Christ," and "the blood of the New Covenant [or Testament], shed for the remission of sins" (Matt. xxvi. 28), man is cleansed from the impurities of his life and heart just in proportion as, by obedience thereto, he puts his evil away, and, by divine assistance, manfully endures the temptations and trials by which the work is accomplished; and of this process the grievous temptations which the Lord endured in the glorification of his Humanity were representative. Thus the apostle Paul writes to the Romans, "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism unto death: that like as Christ [the Lord's Humanity] was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father [or the indwelling Divinity], even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection : knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. . . . For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. vi. 4–11). ... The Lord Jesus Christ, then, offered a perfect sacrifice of obedience to his own divine law; "He consecrated a new and living way for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" (Heb. x. 20); He became our example (1 Pet. ii. 21). We are exhorted continually to approach Him without fear, to follow Him, to be like Him, who was made "perfect through sufferings" (Heb. ii. 10), and "learned obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him" (Heb. v. 8, 9). Like as the Lord gained a complete victory over hell, and accomplished his work of glorification by laying down his life and taking it again (John x. 18), so man, in humble and full dependence upon Him, must work out his own salvation (Phil. ii. 12); and the lifegiving blood of the New Covenant will supply every obedient believer with the means of victory over death and hell (Rev. xii. 11). We are, consequently, "to follow the Lord in the regeneration" (Matt. xix. 28), not by the observance of Jewish sacrifices, nor yet by looking upon the Lord as a piacular victim, who suffered death in our stead, but by obedience to the Divine will and wisdom, thus by shunning the evil which that wisdom condemns, and doing the good which that will approves; by a life of heavenly "charity or love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned" (1 Tim. i. 5). Such is the true, spiritual, and only acceptable worship of which the sacrifices of Abraham and the patriarchs, the ceremonial worship of the Israelites, and the life and ministry of our divine Redeemer were eminently representative. CHAPTER XX. THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS LITERALLY TRUE, BUT SIGNIFICATIVE AND REPRESENTATIVE IN EVERY PARTICULAR RECORDED.ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE LORD'S PARABLES AND MIRACLES, HIS TRANSFIGURATION, LIFE, MINISTRY, AND CRUCIFIXION. 162 N the parabolic instruction of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in the miracles which He wrought, and in the whole progress of his life and ministry on earth, as recorded in the four Gospels,' we have the most incontestable evidence, and the most positive assurances, that the entire literal sense was designed to convey a more interior signification. Hence He made a most remarkable distinction between understanding his speech, and hearing, or hearkening to his words; between what He said and what He spake (John viii. 43; xii. 49). The apparently irrelevant and ambiguous answers which the Lord so often gave to the queries of those by whom He was surrounded, are of themselves sufficient to prove that the meaning of all He said and did, could not be discovered in the letter, or from the outward form of the event. When He washed his disciples' feet, an act which represented the purification of the externals of the mind. and life, in which work we are privileged to help each other, the Lord did not explain the symbols He presented before them, but said to Peter, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter;" and, again, "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you" (John xiii. 4-17). When He reproved the disciples for ambition and the love of dominion, external pretensions to holiness, and vainglory, He set before them a little child,— whose engaging qualities of simplicity, innocence, honesty of purpose, humility of mind, and docility, correspond to the Christian character,--and he required them to imitate its artless conduct, to adopt its unpretending simplicity, and to practise its filial obedience. When the woman of Samaria was asked for water, the Lord directed her attention to Himself, as the fountain of “living water," "the Word 162 For the reasons why there were four Gospels, see Noble's Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures Asserted, etc., pp. 580-585. made flesh," the well-spring of eternal truth, of which, "Whosoever drinketh," He added, "shall never thirst" (John iv. 6-15). When He crossed the Lake of Tiberias with his disciples, and they had forgotten to provide themselves with bread, He said unto them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matt. xvi. 6); and because they interpreted what He said unto them as if it had relation to their neglect, He added, "How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (11, 12). When the Jews required from Him a sign from heaven, in attestation of his authority, He "answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John ii. 19). They immediately referred what He had said. to the erection of their temple, and deridingly replied, "Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?" No explanation was then given, but it is added that "He spake of the temple of his body. When therefore He was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that He had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said " (20-22). Many other similar instances might be adduced, but these are sufficient to prove most unquestionably that all which the Lord said, and what is said of Him, was significative, and that all his divine works were representative. If we read carefully the beautiful parables of our Saviour, we shall find them teeming with spiritual instruction, of which very little appears on the surface or in the letter. In them the Lord spake by pure correspondences, and each single expression is full of "spirit and life." Take, for example, the seven parables recorded in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. Of these, a learned, pious and intelligent writer has made the following truly interesting remarks: "The several parables contained in this chapter stand in a connected order as to their internal sense, and thus follow each other in a regular series expressive of the whole process of regeneration, commencing with the first reception of heavenly truth from the Word, and advancing through all gradations of its growth to the full maturity of heavenly love and life. Accordingly, the first parable of the sower describes the first insemination of truth, which is the first step towards the regenerate life. The second parable of the tares of the field describes the manifestation of evils and falses in consequence of such insemination, which is a second step, and an effect of the first. The third parable of the grain of mustard-seed describes the small increment of heavenly life, whilst man supposes that he doeth good from himself alone, and not from the Lord, which is a third state in the regeneration. The fourth parable of the leaven, etc., describes the temptations consequent on the reception of heavenly truth and good, which is a fourth state. The fifth parable of treasure hid in a field, describes the further effect of the reception of heavenly truth and good, in leading man to renounce his proprium or his own proper life, that he may appropriate the life of heaven, which is signified by selling all that he hath and buying the field, and which is a fifth state. The sixth parable of the merchant-man seeking beautiful pearls, describes the effect of heavenly truth in leading man to the acknowledgment of the Lord, as the alone source of all good and truth, and the consequent renunciation of self-love and its guidance, which is a sixth state. The seventh parable of a net cast into the sea, describes the last effect of the reception of heavenly truth and good, in accomplishing a full and final separation between goods and evils, and between truths and falses, so that goods and truths are brought into conjunction with heaven, whilst evils and falses are cast down into hell; and this is the seventh and last state of the regenerate life." 163 The miracles of our Lord were not only works of mercy actually done on behalf of a few individuals, or wrought in testimony of his exclusive divinity and sovereignty, but were, in every particular, representative and significative of what He is still doing, and will be forever doing, to promote the salvation of his creatures. Just as diseases, for instance, disorganize, afflict, and destroy the powers of the body, so sin and folly, the offspring of evil, disturb the order of life and destroy the spiritual faculties of the soul, rendering it incapable of receiving the vital influences of heaven, except in a perverted degree. Hence, He opened the eyes of the blind, to denote that the truth of his Word can unclose the darkened understanding and dissipate the mists of spiritual ignorance. He healed the sick, to signify that He only can restore the diseased and feeble mind to spiritual health and strength. He cleansed the lepers, to signify that He alone can deliver man from those filthy and contagious states of evil in 163 Gospel according to Matthew, translated| connected series."-Alexander Knox's Refrom the original Greek, and illustrated with mains, vol. i., p. 408. Extracts from the writings of Swedenborg, by the Rev. J. Clowes, M. A. See Notes to chap. xiii. "It is my persuasion that the [seven] parables in this chapter are not to be considered disjointedly, but to be taken together as a "Doubtless these seven [parables] have a certain unity, succeeding one another in natural order, and having a completeness in themselves."--Trench's Notes on the Parables, p. 142. |