A Key to the Bible
BY
WILLIAM L. WORCESTER
SWEDENBORG PRESS
New York 1892
CONTENTS
I. Correspondences 7
II. High and low 16
III. Heat and Cold 23
IV. Light and Darkness 29
V. Seeing and Hearing 36
VI. Eating 46
VII. Speech 58
VIII. Hands and Feet 66
IX. Sickness and Healing 75
X. Childhood, Youth, and Old Age 85
XI. Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral 96
XII. Sheep and Goats 107
XIII. Oxen 118
XIV. The Horse and Ass 137
XV. Swine 136
XVI. The Lion 140
XVII. Serpents 150
XVIII. Birds 158
XIX. Fishes 168
XX. Insects 176
XXI. Leaf, Flower, and Fruit 184
XXII. The Olive 193
XXIII. The Vine 200
XXIV. The Fig-tree 207
XXV. The Palm 215
XXVI. Grains 222
XXVIII. Water 240
XXIX. Clouds 251
XXX. Sun, Moon, and Stars 258
XXXI. Quarters 268
XXXII. Numbers 277
XXXIII. Rocks 290
XXXIV. Precious Stones 298
XXXV. Ivory and Pearl 306
XXXVI Gold and Silver 313
XXXVII. Copper and Iron 322
XXXVIII. Representative Countries 330
XXXIX. Palestine 340
XL. Houses and Cities 351
XLI. The Tabernacle and Temple 362
XLII. Garments 372
XLIII. Representative Persons 382
AC Arcana Coelestia.
AE Apocalypse Explained.
AR Apocalypse Revealed.
CL Conjugial Love.
Cont. LJ Continuation of Last Judgment.
Cor. Coronis.
DLW Divine Love and Wisdom.
D Life Doctrine of Life.
D Lord Doctrine of the Lord.
DP Divine Providence.
EU Earths in the Universe.
HH Heaven and Hell.
ISB Intercourse between the Soul and Body.
Inv. Invitation to the New Church.
LJ Last Judgment.
NJHD The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine.
PP Summary Exposition of the Prophets and Psalms.
SD Spiritual Diary.
SS Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture.
TCR True Christian Religion.
WH The White Horse.
I.
CORRESPONDENCES.
The knowledge of correspondences is the key to the spiritual lessons of the Bible. By its aid the parables and histories and strange prophecies of the Word are opened to disclose the heavenly and Divine truths which they contain. Surely nothing can be of greater importance than to gain ourselves, and to impart to our scholars, a clear, reasonable understanding of this science and a practical acquaintance with it which will enable us to see everywhere, as we read the Bible, lessons of heavenly wisdom.
How easy this study would be, how living and delightful, if we lived in heaven! if the children walked with their teacher in heavenly fields and needed but a word from him to interpret to them the thousand beautiful truths which would seem almost to shine forth from the sunlight and flowers and birds and precious gems!
Or, suppose that we were children of the ancient Golden or Silver Age on earth. We should then walk amid the beauties of this world almost as angel children do in heaven, and should recognize them all as full almost to overflowing with spiritual life. We should see the message of the flower in the sparkling beauty almost bursting from its delicate folds. We should feel a heavenly affection echoed in the soft notes of the birds. All nature would seem to us but a veil concealing and at the same time revealing the presence of the Lord and heaven. We should delight to point out to one another what we saw and felt. We should, in our conversation with one another, delight to use the beautiful things around us as a language to convey thoughts of higher things which we all perceived them to contain. Then, when the Lord Himself spoke to us children of the ancient age a message of heavenly and Divine truth, it would delight us to receive it in the form of parables - the very language which we were so fond of speaking, and of reading in the objects of beauty and use around us. The study of correspondences would then be our highest pleasure; it would be a real and living experience.
To illustrate the kind of perception upon which we have to build, take the varying expressions of the face and the movements of the hands. Do children need to be told that these are natural things, and that they are manifestations, expressions, correspondences of feelings and thoughts which are spiritual things? A child knows at a glance the feeling of pleasure which finds expression in a smile, or the sorrow which causes tears. And the tones of the voice: is an interpreter needed to tell us that one cry is expressive of pain, and another of joy? that a word spoken in a gentle, soothing tone is inspired by kindness, and a harsh tone by anger?
There is a peculiar advantage in drawing our first illustrations of correspondence from the relations of the human body and mind, for here both the spiritual side and the natural are within ourselves, and it is distinctly perceived that they have relation to each other. Moreover, it is evident here that the spiritual is the cause of the natural, and not the reverse - a relation which always exists in correspondence, and which it is important to have from the first distinctly in mind. It is the feeling of sorrow which causes the tone of sadness in the voice, or the tearful eyes. It is the emotion of joy which finds expression in the cheerful voice and smile. Even if this is not stated in so many words, the children learn from such examples to regard correspondence as a relation of cause and effect.
We may now pass on to objects outside of ourselves, for the influence of a man's character extends to all the objects which surround him, arranging and shaping them as far as it is able into accord with himself.
Every one can read something of another's character in his house and the order and decoration of his room. We perceive here a correspondence, not so perfect as exists between angels and their heavenly surroundings, where all outward objects are a manifestation and exact expression of the angels' states of feeling and thought, but what we see is enough to enable us to conceive of that more perfect correspondence.
Nor does the common perception of relation between natural things and spiritual stop here with objects which bear directly the imprint of our hands. We look out upon a soft spring day, when everything is blossoming with beauty; and the sweet air and sunshine and bright colors and gay songs touch a chord of sympathy in our own hearts. They awaken a peaceful delight. There is some relation between this vernal beauty and human happiness. We express it by saying that the day, as well as we, is peaceful; that the colors and the songs are cheerful. Again, we look upon a storm and destructive torrents, and we call them fierce and cruel. In a word, we perceive a relation between these things of nature which we had no part in making, which in no direct way bear the imprint of our hand, and the feelings and thoughts of our own hearts.
This is a curious fact. How shall we account for it? We come into this natural world and find evidences of human presence before us.
Every object of nature, every phenomenon, is as a smile on nature's face, or a tear, or a tone of nature's voice which embodies to us feelings and thoughts within. Every one is an effect which invites us to trace it back to its cause in the world of human mind and originally in the Lord Himself.
The common perception of a relation between natural objects in the world about us and spiritual things within ourselves, the perception that they are indeed the same things on different planes of life, leads us every day to call natural and spiritual things by the same names, and to describe their qualities by the same terms. We speak, for example, of a lofty mountain, or a lofty ambition; a low place, or a low motive.
It is, to be noted in all such cases that the word is used first of natural things and natural qualities; that it gets its clear, definite meaning from what we see and hear and feel, and that it is afterwards borrowed to describe spiritual things and qualities which we perceive to be analogous to the natural. The fact is that all words used of mental things gained their definite meaning in application to natural objects, and were borrowed for the higher use. It amounts to saying that we gain from nature the impressions which give us our only distinct ideas of spiritual things. Could we not see and feel natural height and depth, we could not conceive of spiritual exaltation and depression. The idea of a spiritual quality is derived from nature, and the term used to describe it is borrowed from nature.
If we went far in this study of words we should find many which in their origin gained their meaning from nature, but are now losing, or have quite lost, that association, and are used only of spiritual and mental things. An example of a word in the state of transition is inspire. The Roman boy may have inspired his foot-ball, and even Pope and Shakespeare inspired their instruments of music; but we inspire chiefly things of feeling and thought.
The study of correspondences is of supreme importance, for as fast as we can learn to see in natural phenomena their spiritual cause and meaning we shall delight to turn to the parables of the Bible - for all its chapters are parables - and to read there, in this same language, of heaven and the Lord.
Our guide and authority in the interpretation of the Word by the knowledge of correspondences is the revelation of its spiritual meaning given by the Lord through the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. We find in these writings explicit instruction in regard to the spiritual meaning of certain books of the Word and of very many scattered passages, and a direct statement of the correspondence of many objects which is a guide to the spiritual meaning of all passages of the Word where those objects are named.
HIGH AND LOW.
The words high and low suggest familiar natural ideas, but almost as quickly they suggest spiritual ideas. When we hear the words, can we always tell whether they are used to mean natural or spiritual qualities? I say, "The site of the city is low." Evidently I speak naturally. "The moral tone of the city is low." Plainly I speak spiritually. "The mountain is high." "His hope is high." "He aims too high," I must tell you now whether I mean with his gun or with his ambition. "He started from a very low level, but climbed upward, rising at every step, till he reached the desired height, and from his elevated position he looked down on others less successful than himself." You really cannot say whether I mean a physical or a spiritual ascent. In any case it is plain that natural elevation is what gives us our idea of height and that the thought and the words are borrowed from the outward world to describe spiritual relations which we perceive to be analogous to the natural.
When we use the word high of natural things, we of course know what we mean. What do we mean when we use it of spiritual things?
Heaven, we say, is higher than the earth; do we mean it naturally or spiritually? If we are speaking not of the sky but of the heaven where angels dwell, we mean that it is higher in the spiritual sense, with no thought of natural place. The ways in which angels live are nobler than worldly ways; they are nearer to the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. lv. 9; AC 2148, 450.) Let us recall other passages from the Bible, if possible at the suggestion of the class, where we may be able to see under figure of natural height a lesson of spiritual elevation.
We often read of going up to Jerusalem to worship. "The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa. ii. 2, 3.) When Jesus was twelve years old, "they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast." (Luke ii. 42.) And we remember that it was customary with the ancients to worship on high places. (Gen. xii. 8, xxii. 2; AC 796, 6435.) Does it tell something of the state in which we should come before the Lord? (AE 405; AC 795; AR 336.) Remember also how the Lord went into a mountain to pray. (Matt. xiv. 23; AC 2708 end.) And we go down, when we turn from our worship to every-day affairs, from our Sunday resolutions to our week-day labors. The Lord "went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." (Luke ii. 51.) Do difficulties and dangers beset us when we try to bring down our good resolutions into daily practice?
The commandments were given from Mount Sinai, while bounds were set about that the people should not come near nor touch the mount. (Exod. xix.) This pictures the deeper truth that the heavenly and Divine spirit which the commandments contain and from which they came was far above the comprehension of the Jews, and is above the comprehension of all evil and natural minded people. They cannot approach to it. (AC 8797, 9422.) But when the Lord would open to His disciples the laws given to them of old time and reveal something of the heavenly and Divine love within them, He went up into a mountain and gathered the multitude about Him. (Matt. v.) What spiritual difference does this mark between the Jewish and Christian Churches? Does it tell us anything of the state into which the Lord was leading His disciples and into which He desires to lead us? His effort is to lift our hearts and our thoughts above all-absorbing worldly cares into a heavenly state of charity and of nearness to Himself. There we can see the heavenly spirit within the stern commands.
Into "a high mountain apart by themselves" the Lord led the three disciples. (Mark ix. 2) to see Him transfigured, His face shining as the sun and His raiment white as the light. So He would lift us into heavenly states to perceive His love and His wisdom as angels do. (AE 405.)
When by a few examples the idea of spiritual elevation is fixed in the mind, always afterward, as we read the Bible, going up suggests to us entering into the inner chambers of the soul nearer to the Lord and heaven. The Lord's charge to flee to the mountains in troubled times, and not to come down from the house-top (Matt. xxiv. 16, 17), suggests at once that safety is in nearness to the Lord, and in doing right. (AC 795 end, 2454, 3652, 3653.) The words to the blind man, "Rise, he calleth thee" (Mark x. 49), are spoken to us too. We must look up from false thoughts and from evil ways. We must say with the prodigal son, "I will arise and go to my father." (Luke xv. 18; AC 2401, 4881.)
Some passages doubtless come to mind where elevation, or a mountain, has quite a different meaning. In common speech we mean nothing good when we say that one is "haughty," or "set up." We mean that he is high in his own esteem, and thinks himself above his neighbors. So elevation, which in its noble sense means a state of nearness to the Lord and of love for Him, may express the opposite idea of a state of intense self-love.
Is it the mountain of heavenly or of selfish elevation of which the Lord promises, "If ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done "? (Matt. xxi. 2I; AE 405, 510.) And does it mean that the Lord came into a state of interior peace and fulness of Divine love, or that for a time all the inherited tendency to self-love was aroused, when "the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and saith unto him, all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me "? ( Matt. iv. 8, 9; AE 405 end; AC 1691.)
In the spiritual world all outward objects are expressions of the states of the inhabitants. Who in that world will dwell on lofty mountains, and who in deep caverns? We are taught that the most holy angels dwell on mountains, the evil spirits of hell in caverns, and that the intermediate world of spirits appears as a valley.(AC 10438, 10608; CL. 75; HH 582-586.)
Shall we think of natural elevations greater and less, or of heavenly states of love for the Lord and one another, when we read, "The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness"? (Ps. lxxii. 3; AE 365.) And is it the moving of natural mountains and hills or the joyful activity of these same heavenly affections that is described in the words, "The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs"? (Ps. cxiv. 4; AE 405.)
III.
HEAT AND COLD.
Is there a kind of warmth that does not depend on the outside sunshine nor on the fire? Do you know homes where you receive a "warm welcome " even in winter? Do friendships "grow cold " in summer? Could one "turn a cold shoulder " in July? We know that we may have a "warm heart " or a "cold heart " the year round, in the sunshine or the shade, for this kind of warmth does not come from the sun in the sky.
Let the class suggest other familiar words and phrases which refer to this spiritual heat or cold. We "warm up to our work " we are "fired with zeal or enthusiasm," or we are "lukewarm." A person may be "chilling " to our "ardor," and "throw cold water" upon us. We may "burn with anger or revenge" a discussion may become "heated." We may be in "a fever of excitement," and the "coolness" of a friend may be refreshing to us.
What is this warmth of the spirit, which even quickens the action of the heart till it touches the body with a glow of physical warmth? Kind feeling and zeal warm the spirit; fierce passion consumes it. Love, either good or bad, is the inward fire. (DLW 95; AC 934, 5215; HH 134.)
Whence do we receive the heavenly fire, the love of what is good? It is given to us by the Lord as we obediently do right. Therefore. John the Baptist said of the Lord, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me . . . shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Matt. iii. 11; AC 9818; AE 374, 504.) Do we see anything in the representative Jewish worship which pictures this descent of Divine love from the Lord kindling love in our own hearts as we serve Him? It is represented by the fire of the altar by which the offerings were burnt - fire which, in some cases, was seen to fall from heaven. (Lev. ix. 24; I Kings xviii.38.) It means that when we consecrate our good interests and abilities to the Lord, He gives a new and holier love for these good things. The Lord gives the love for good, and He alone. "The God that answereth by fire, let him be God." (I Kings xviii. 24; AC 10055; AR 395.)
What can be the meaning of the appearance of fire about the Lord or His angel, as seen by Moses, and the prophets, and John? "The angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush." (Exod. iii. 2.) "The Ancient of days did sit: . . . his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire." (Dan. vii. 9.)
There is also heat of another kind - the burning of evil loves. These consuming evil passions are the fires of hell. "The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." (Rev. xxi. 8; Matt. xiii. 42, v. 22; AC 5071; AR 599; AE 825; HH 566-575.) This is the fire meant in the words of the rich man in hell, "Have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." (Luke xvi. 24; AC 1861, 6832; HH 570; AR 282; AE 455.) If the fires of evil passion are fed and encouraged while we live here on earth, we shall not be willing to have them extinguished in the other world. "Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark ix. 44; AC 8481.) "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matt. iii. 12; AE 504.)
But read the divine promise, "Fear not: . . . when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." (Isa. xliii. 2.) "We went through fire and through water; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." (Ps. lxvi. 12.) Here are promises of the Lord's protection enabling us to pass unhurt through the falsity and evil excitement of the world. They are assurances that false thoughts and evil passions which kindle in our own hearts may be overcome in the Lord's strength and leave our souls unharmed. (AC 739; AE 355.) A grand picture of the Lord's presence protecting us from harm, though evil passions do their utmost to consume us, is contained in the third chapter of Daniel. Three men faithful to the Lord were cast into "the burning fiery furnace," "heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated." Yet upon them "the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them." (PP.) The devil ofttimes cast the child "into the fire and into the waters to destroy him," but the Lord cast him out. ( Mark ix. 22.)
Indeed, the conflict in us between the flames of evil passion and the fire of the Lord's love, if we are faithful in the temptation, will purify us of the evil. "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver;
The evil fire and the good fire are the very opposites of each other. The good fire is cold to those in evil states, and the evil fire is cold to those in good states. (AC 4175; HH 572.) The Lord predicted days when iniquity should abound, and "the love of many shall wax cold." (Matt. xxiv. 12; LJ. 35.) Remember the night when the Lord was brought before the priests and scribes. "The servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold; and they warmed themselves; and Peter stood with them and warmed himself." (John xviii. 18.) Does the fact that it was cold tell also something of the affection for the Lord in the heart of Peter and the rest? in the hearts of all of us when we deny and forsake the Lord? (AE 820.) Read in the Revelation (iii. 15, 16) the message to the church in Laodicea: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." It is a warning to us when we have learned to love the Lord and what is right, not to fall into evil of life, which would cool the love for the Lord. Such lukewarmness is more dangerous than never to have known the good, for we are set more hopelessly against it. (AR 202; AE 233.)
IV.
LIGHT AND DARKNESS.
Here are two more words which we every day borrow from their first, natural meaning, to describe states not of the outside world, but of people's minds. Let the class suggest phrases in which these and similar words are understood by everybody to refer to states of mind. I am wholly "in the dark" on this subject, one might say, when perhaps he is standing in the sunshine or by the lighted lamp. This news "throws some light" on the question. "The dark ages" - were they years when the sun did not shine? A "benighted" land - is it one where the sun has set? Is an "enlightened" nation one whose skies are bright? We say of people that they live according to their "lights." "Keep it dark." The game, "throwing light."
What does it mean, that we are "in the dark," or are "gaining light"? We are in the dark upon a subject of which we are wholly ignorant, or in regard to which we are misinformed. We gain light as we gain knowledge upon the subject, become intelligent, and finally wise. (DLW 96; AC 4403-4420.) Look again at the familiar phrases mentioned above and see if this is not the light and darkness they refer to.
The most serious kind of darkness is ignorance and false belief in regard to the Lord and heaven and good life; and the most precious light is knowledge, intelligence, wisdom in regard to these subjects. Such darkness in the minds of men angels lament; such light they rejoice to see. The Bible in its spiritual meaning tells us of this light and darkness. (AE 526, 527.) Let the class recall verses where darkness, light, day, night, and other such words occur, and perhaps they will be able in a simple way to suggest their spiritual meaning.
It is predicted of the time when the Lord should come, "Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people." (Isa. lx. 2.) Does it mean that there would be natural darkness, or that the darkness of ignorance and false beliefs would prevail? And of the Lord's coming we read, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. . . . And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." (Isa. lx, 1, 3.) Was it a brightness seen with the eyes? or was it the light of intelligence in heavenly things, which the Lord brought to men's minds? (AC 10574.) Again, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." (Isa. ix. 2; AC 3863.)
In what other way than by His own personal presence and by the presence of His disciples does the Lord send us the light of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom in heavenly things? By His Word. We can truly say, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. . . . The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." (Ps. cxix. 105, 130; AE 274.) What is the meaning of the prophet's warning, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness"? (Isa. v. 20; AC 1839.)
Remember also that where we read in the Gospels, or elsewhere in the Word, that events took place in the night or the darkness, this not only tells a natural fact, but also is representative of spiritual darkness. "There was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: . . . but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." (Exod. x. 22, 23.) Like all the plagues of Egypt this represented the state of the Egyptians' minds, and the state of every mind which clings to natural and evil life and refuses to obey the Lord. The Israelites had light, for they represent those who are seeking deliverance from bondage to natural and evil life. These are intelligent in spiritual things, but the others are densely stupid. (AC 7712, 7719.) "Egyptian darkness" has become a common phrase for a state utterly without intelligence.
At the Lord's birth, "There were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night." (Luke ii. 8.) What does it tell of the state of the world into which he came? There were a few who cared for innocence, and these were keeping watch in a night of ignorance and false belief. The disciples toiled all night and caught nothing. (Luke v. 5.) By night the Lord saw the disciples "toiling in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them; and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking on the sea." (Mark vi. 48.)
Were there times of spiritual darkness in the Lord's human life? He "continued all night in prayer." (Luke vi. 12.) The Lord was betrayed in the night, and forsaken by his disciples, and denied. When He said to the disciples, "All ye shall be offended because of Me this night" (Mark xiv. 27), and to those who took him, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke xxii. 53), did he mean merely the natural night? or did he rather mean the night of denial in men's minds? (AC 6000.) Does it tell us something of the mind of Judas at the Last Supper, and of our own minds when we betray the Lord, that "he went out, and it was night"? (John xiii. 30.) Was it true in any but a natural sense, that as the Lord hung upon the cross, "there was darkness over all the earth"? (Luke xxiii. 44; AE 401.) "There shall be no night" in the holy city; "and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light." (Rev. xxii. 5.) These words describe a church in which there will be no false faith, and where men will not be led by their own intelligence, but will be in spiritual light from the Lord. (AR 940; AE 1343.)
We say that a face "beams" with kindness, or that it "lights up" with intelligence. In heaven, interior intelligence or love of truth makes the faces of angels actually shine. (HH 347; AE 401.) Such shining of the face has also been seen by men on earth and is spoken of in the Bible. "It came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, . . . that the skin of his face shone. . . . And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face." (Exod. xxxiv. 29-35.) This was because Moses was the representative of the Lord's word in its letter. The shining of his face was a symbol of the inner wisdom of the Word shining through the letter, which must be veiled because the people were not able to receive it. (AC 6752, 10691; AE 937.)
Remember how the Lord was seen by the apostles on the mountain of transfiguration: "His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." (Matt. xvii. 2; HH 129; AE 412.) Remember also that the Lord is seen by angels, clothed with the glory of the sun of heaven. (HH 118; DLW 97.)
Heat and light are often found together; is this an accident, or is there some real relation between them? Heat a piece of iron in a forge, or a bit of lime in a blowpipe, or the particles of carbon with which burning-gas is charged, or a thread of carbon in the exhausted globe of an incandescent lamp, and what is the result? A bright light. Heat is the cause of light. Is there any such relation between love, the mental warmth, and wisdom, the mental light? Our interest in a subject makes it easy to understand it; love is quick to perceive. Wisdom in heavenly subjects comes not with great learning alone, but with the faithful effort to do right, that is, with an earnest heart. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments." (Ps. cxi.; AR 527; AE 696.) There is no true faith where there is no charity. (TCR 385.)
V.
SEEING AND HEARING.
"I don't see," I say, when perhaps it is broad daylight and my eyes are wide open. Some one by a word or action "throws light" on the subject - "Ah, now I see." "Let me see," I say, when I stop to consider. We speak of the "out-look" or the "prospect," without reference to the natural landscape. People "see in different lights;" they "look from different points of view." One person habitually "takes a dark view" of things; another "looks on the bright side." No two people have exactly the same "views." Explain some new thing to a variety of people - savages, children, and intelligent men: why do they not all see with equal quickness and clearness? Because their ability to see is not equal, and, as we say, every one must "see with his own eyes." Recognizing variety in people's mental eyes, we say of one that he is a "clear- sighted" business man or statesman. One policy is "short-sighted" and another "farsighted" or "far-seeing." And we all know what it is to be "blind" to our own interests, or to our faults.
Have we another name for this faculty of mental sight? "I don't see," means what? "I don't understand." The understanding is the spiritual eye. (AC 4403-4420; DLW 96.) When one is mentally "far-sighted," his understanding is clear and far-reaching; when "short-sighted," his understanding is limited and prefers a little temporary advantage to a greater final good. When one is in "a blind rage," his understanding is for the time obscured by his passion. The delicate structure of the eye, and the complex process by which we see, are the exact counterpart of the still more delicate spiritual activities which enable us to understand.
The understanding not only is like the natural eye, but is very closely connected with it. The understanding is always busy gathering in ideas which enable the mind to think. The natural eye is a kind of appendage of the understanding, given to the understanding as a means of extending its sight out into the material world, to gather in for the thought the beautiful natural images with which the Lord surrounds us. In itself the natural eye cannot see, any more than a pair of spectacles, but the understanding sees through it; it finds the eye an obedient servant, by whose help it gathers for the mind the wonderful images of nature. (AC 806, 1954)
The common perception of this correspondence shows us at once what people mean when they speak of the mind's eye. It also helps us to know the meaning of passages in the Bible which speak of seeing, or of blindness, or of the restoring of sight.
To see, spiritually, is to understand. The most precious sight is understanding of truth about the Lord and heaven and good life. The saddest kind of blindness is inability to see these truths. This sight and this blindness the Bible tells us of in its inner meaning. (AE 152; AR 48.)
The Lord said of the Pharisees, "They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." (Math. xv. 14.)
Another prediction the Lord applied to the Pharisees: "In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive; for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matt. xiii. 14, 15; Isa. vi. 9, 10.) Were there people who saw the Lord with their natural eyes, the Pharisees among them, who failed to recognize Him as the very God of heaven among men, and who understood almost nothing of the meaning of His parables? It was better that they should not understand, than that they should understand only to turn back and mix what was holy with evil. (AC 301-303; DP 231; HH 353; SS 60.)
What is the meaning of the prayer, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law"? (Ps. cxix. 18.) When a blind man stood before the Lord in Jericho, and in answer to His question, "What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?" said, "Lord, that I might receive my sight," what spiritual need of human minds did He typify? And when the Lord said to him, "Receive thy sight," what spiritual work did He show his power and His desire to do for men? (Luke xviii. 41, 42.) Does not this blind man picture those in the darkness of ignorance who yet desire to understand? The Lord delights to teach such and to give them the power to understand. (AC 6990; AE 239.) As we read carefully the beautiful account in John, of the Lord's healing of a blind man, we see that the Lord at the same time gave the man physical sight and opened his understanding to believe in him. "Why, herein is a marvellous thing," the poor man said to the Jews, "that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes." (John ix. 30; AE 239.) The Lord healed many who were blind, as a sign of His power and His desire to give men a true understanding of heavenly things. For the same reason it was said in prophecy of Him, that He should "open the blind eyes." (Isa. xlii. 7.) "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened." (Isa. xxxv. 5)
The Lord can give the power to understand heavenly things only to those who keep His commandments; for they are the true laws of life, and enable us to see all things in their true relations. "It shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes, . . . the Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness." (Deut. xxviii. 15, 28, 29; AE 239.) But, "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." (Ps. cxix. 97-100, 130.) "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." (Ps. xix. 8.)
"Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, and considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? . . . First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matt. vii. 3-5.) What can be meant by a mote in our brother's eye? Some fault of character, you say. But more exactly, what is his eye? His understanding. And a mote in his eye is some error in his understanding. Are we often critical of such errors?
"And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire." (Matt. xviii. 9, v. 29.) Besides other lessons which these words contain, they are a warning to put out of our minds at once all thoughts that lead to what is wrong. (AE 600, 152.) "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye." (Matt. v. 38; Exod. xxi. 24.) This law given to the Jews teaches the unchangable spiritual truth, that an attempt to distort another's understanding, reacts upon ourselves and destroys our own power to understand truly. (AE 556; AC 8223.) "Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way." (Deut. xxvii. 18; Lev. xix. 14.) Is it not a warning of the danger to ourselves if we wilfully mislead those who are ignorant and trust us for guidance? (AR 210.)
What is the meaning of looking to the Lord? or of lifting up the eyes to Him? "Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord." (Ps. xxv. 15.)
And when we read, "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous" (Ps. xxxiv. 15); "The Lord looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men" (Ps. xxxiii. 13); "His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men" (Ps. xi. 4); it means that the Lord's Divine thought is turned towards us, that He knows all our life and provides for every need. (AE 68, 152.)
Hearing is in many respects like seeing, and it corresponds to a spiritual faculty, closely related to the understanding. We shall be able however to see a difference between the two. It is interesting first to learn that while the eyes communicate directly with that part of the brain which is the seat of thought, the ears have also close connection with the part of the brain where feelings dwell, so that while sight is the servant of thought, sound touches directly both the thought and the feeling. (AC 3869, 5077; AE 14; HH 271.)
One may convey a clear idea by a letter or a picture, but how much better his feeling is expressed in his voice! so far as we are able it is our duty to understand the Lord's message, and obey it. (AC 2542; AE 108; AR 87.)
We recognize this fact when we tell a child to "listen" to his mother's instructions; for we mean not simply that he shall understand them, but that he shall take them to heart and obey them. (AC 4653.) So too the Lord bids us hearken to His voice and to His commandments. (Isa. xlviii. 18.) He means that we shall take them to heart and obey them. (AC 2542; AE 365.) "Hear, O Israel," introduces the first of all commandments; "Hear, O Israel, and observe to do." (Deut. vi. 4, 3; AC 396.) When the Lord gives us commandments, it is not enough to answer, I see; but we must say, "All that the Lord our God shall speak . . . we will hear and do." (Deut. v. 27.) "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." (I Sam. iii. 9.) I see, means that I understand in an intellectual way; I hear, means that I take it to heart and am resolved to obey. "The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back." (Isa. l. 5; AC 3869.) Many who heard the Lord's voice, in a deeper sense did not hear, for "their ears were dull of hearing, and their eyes they had closed." (Matt. xiii. 14-16; Isa. vi. 9, 10.) That their eyes were closed means, as we have seen, that they did not intellectually understand; but that their ears were dull of hearing, means that they did not take His words to heart with desire to obey them. (A. C. 3863, 9311.) How often the blind and the deaf are mentioned together! and always with this different shade of meaning. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." (Isa. xxxv. 5; AC 6989.)
Often when the Lord had been teaching, he said, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Matt. xiii. 43.) And in the Revelation the charge to each of the seven churches includes the words, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches." (Rev. ii. 7.)
Many who heard the Lord's voice, in a deeper sense did not hear, for "their ears were dull of hearing, and their eyes they had closed." (Matt. xiii. 14-16; Isa. vi. 9, 10.) That their eyes were closed means, as we have seen, that they did not intellectually understand; but that their ears were dull of hearing, means that they did not take His words to heart with desire to obey them. (AC 3863, 9311.) How often the blind and the deaf are mentioned together! And always with this different shade of meaning. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." (Isa. xxxv. 5; AC 6989.)
We see also what spiritual infirmity is typified by the deafness which the Lord healed. "And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech Him to put His hand upon him. . . . And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. . . . He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." (Mark vii. 32-37.) This deaf man represents those who do not obey because they have not been taught what to do. The healing shows the Lord's desire to teach such persons and inspire them with willingness to obey. (AE 455; AC 9311.)
We know now the difference between, I see, and, I hear. There is the same difference in meaning when we speak of the Lord as seeing us or as hearing us. We think of the Lord's knowledge of all our ways when we say that He sees us. We think also of his "love and pity "for us, when we say that He hears us. "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry." (Ps. xxxiv. 15; AC 3869, 3954.)
VI.
EATING.
As the natural eye is the servant of the understanding, which we have called the spiritual eye, extending the sight of that eye out into the natural world, and as the natural ear is, so to speak, an extension of the spiritual ear, just so the whole human body is but the garment which the spirit weaves for itself, that it may live in this natural world. All the organs of the body are in close relation with the spiritual organs; they are their natural agents, and they are, as it were, models of the spiritual organs; in a word, they correspond to them. In their number, their uses, and their mutual relations the organs of the body teach us, as in an object lesson, of the spiritual faculties. (ISB 11, 12; HH 432; AC 7850; DLW 377.) We are now to discover, if we can, the mental process which corresponds to eating.
Does the mind, as well as the body, need food that it may keep healthy and strong, and may grow? Suppose children are given plenty of bread and butter and good natural food, is this all they need that they may grow up to be useful men and women?
The reception of food into the body is a wonderful and most interesting process. Food is taken by the lips, its hard parts are crushed by the teeth, it is moistened with the saliva, tasted by the tongue, swallowed, digested in the stomach and intestines, and its good parts drawn up into the currents of the blood. This process, so wonderful in itself, is even more wonderful when we think of it as an object-lesson, teaching us how the spiritual food of instruction is received into the mind and made a part of it.
Little children receive simple instruction unquestioningly from their parents, as they take milk and other soft food. But presently they like to seek knowledge for themselves, and to examine into things a little, and at the same time they have some teeth to bite with. As they grow older they learn not to take everything on trust, nor even for what it pretends to be.
Natural food must now be moistened. If food is perfectly dry we cannot taste it, and cannot by any possibility swallow it. We speak of instruction sometimes as being "dry "; if it is very dry we cannot receive it at all. What do we mean by calling it "dry"? That it is uninteresting. And what makes a subject interesting or uninteresting? I can imagine a lesson about the details of travel in some foreign country, or about certain chemical or mechanical processes, or about a hundred other things, which would be to me so dry that I could not grasp and remember them at all. But if I was about starting on the foreign journey and had need of those particulars, they would not be dry. Instruction is always dry if we are not shown its application to our needs and circumstances. The perception of its relation to us, makes it possible to receive it.
But even when accepted, new knowledge does not become at once a living part of ourselves. Very much that we are taught and accept as true, lies long in the memory before it really becomes a part of our character. In fact, we usually need a little time to ponder a new bit of knowledge before we appropriate it as our own and find our thought made richer and our life made stronger by it. So the food must be digested in the stomach and intestines, before it can be drawn up into the blood and be built into the tissues of the body. (AE 242, 580; DP 80.) The reception of instruction and making it our own is a process which exactly corresponds with the natural process of eating. It is quite another thing from simply understanding another's idea; that is seeing. Spiritually as well as naturally I see a thousand things which I do not eat.
Is it possible that children might have abundance of natural food, and also new and interesting instruction about scientific and worldly things, and still their heavenly characters remain starved? The angel in us cannot live and grow strong on merely worldly knowledge.
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." (Matt. v. 6.) We are spiritually hungry when we earnestly desire to know what is good, and for the purpose of building it into our characters. (AR 323; AE 386.) In the prophet we read of "a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." (Amos viii. 11.)
Read, in the Revelation, of the little book which the angel gave to John, saying, "Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey." (Rev. x. 9.) The little book represents some instruction from the Lord, especially the truth that the Lord is the Saviour and Redeemer, which it is pleasant to hear and acknowledge; but it is very difficult to understand and acknowledge the Divine Human presence and power which make salvation possible, on account of confirmed false ideas about the Lord.
The disciples were one day gone into the city to buy meat, and returning to the Lord at Jacob's well, "prayed him, saying, Master eat. But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. . . . My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." (John iv. 31-34.)
The people who heard the Lord, and took His words into their lives, grew strong in spirit. Once, yes twice, when He had for many hours been teaching the people, He caused them to sit down on the grass, and fed their fainting bodies with loaves and fishes. (Matt. xiv. 19; xv. 36.) What spiritual work is pictured in this feeding of the multitudes? (AE 617.) Let us think of all the Lord's gifts of natural food as coming from the same hand which fed the multitudes; and they should, like that miracle, be reminders to us of His constant desire to give us the knowledge which will make us strong in spirit. Let us not forget the Lord's gift of natural food when we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matt. vi. 11), but think also of the "living bread " which strengthens the spirit. (AC 680.)
The Lord shares with us knowledge which is ever living in the currents of His own Divine mind. He feeds us with His very own; with Himself. "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven," the Lord declares in John. "If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. . . .
Can we see why the Lord so many times speaks of heaven as a feast? "A certain man made a great supper, and bade many." (Luke xiv. 16.) "And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." (Isa. xxv. 6.) "I appoint unto you a kingdom . . . that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom." (Luke xxii. 29, 30.) "Blessed are they that are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Rev. xix. 9.) Such words mean that heavenly life consists in receiving constantly from the Lord a knowledge of what is good and true, and in working it into our character as our very life, sharing it also with one another.
Finally, do we see why the Lord instituted the Holy Supper as the most sacred act of worship? "And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." (Luke xxii. 19, 20.) This eating with the Lord pictures our reception from Him of His own knowledge of what is good and true, and our conjunction with Him as we appropriate it into our lives. (TCR 702-710.) And does the sacrament merely picture this reception of spiritual food from the Lord? or does it actually promote that reception? It actually promotes it; and partly for the reason explained in the beginning of this chapter, that the physical organs and physical processes are in close relation with the corresponding spiritual processes. (AC 7850.)
VII.
Are our spoken words simply sounds, vibrations of the air? or is there something spiritual contained within these sounds? Our thoughts and feelings are within them. We wish to give these spiritual treasures to others, and we clothe them in words. Our friends hear the words, and opening them, almost as they tear open an envelope and unfold a letter, discover the thought and feeling we wished to communicate. The speech thus corresponds to the feelings and thoughts which it contains. (AC 2271; AE 817.)
There are these two things, feeling and thought, to be conveyed by speech. And there are two elements in speech, the tone, and the articulation which shapes the tone into words. What does the tone especially express? and what the articulation? Could you perhaps discover whether one's feeling was of anger or kindness, even if he spoke a strange language? The feeling would show itself in the tone of his voice; the distinct thought you could not learn till you understood the words. Suppose a mother's voice is too distant for you to hear more than the tone in which she speaks; can you perhaps judge whether she is scolding or soothing her child?
There is a kind of expression which is entirely by tone, without articulation - it is music. Is it adapted rather to express thought or feeling? Tender music touches our hearts, martial music stirs them with courage, but till words are joined with the tone, no distinct thought is communicated. (AE 323, 326)
Can we listen very closely to our speech and discover whether some letters among those that compose our words contribute more to their tone than other letters do? If so, they are the chief means of expressing feeling.
The importance of the very letters, on account of the thought and feeling they contain, is especially great in the Bible, where the message within the letters is one of Divine love and wisdom. "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of the law to fail." (Luke xvi. 17; AC 9349.) Two letters, alpha and omega, the first and last of the Greek alphabet, are even used as a name of the Lord. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord." (Rev. i. 8.) Does it not mean that all things of wisdom and of love which letters are capable of expressing are in the Lord and from Him? And the fact that both the letters are vowels emphasizes the thought that the Divine love of the Lord reaches from the highest to the lowest. (AR 29; TCR 19.)
The correspondence between spoken words and the thought and feeling they contain is still more perfect in the spiritual world. Speech in that world is an exact and spontaneous expression of feeling and thought. There is nothing that is arbitrary and artificial which must be laboriously learned. It is only needful there to gain distinct feelings and thoughts, and they, as it were, express themselves. (HH 331; SD 5668.) Can we see what general difference there must be between the speech of celestial angels, whose ruling characteristic is love, and the speech of spiritual angels, who are characterized by intelligence? With which must speech be more soft - with more of full, round vowels? (HH 241; TCR 278.) And singing in heaven; what holy, tender affections must breathe into the angels' hearts through that sweet music! It is as if affection itself sounded in their ears. (TCR 745 2, 746 end.)
Speech is double. Its outer part is tone and articulation; its inner part is the feeling and thought which they express. The process of speaking is also double. On the physical side we find the lungs pressing out the air through their little pipes, the larynx stretching its delicate vocal cords and tuning them to the shade of tone desired, the tongue and teeth and lips by their many forms and combinations articulating the words, and the chest and throat and nose by their sympathetic vibration giving richness to the voice. Within this is a spiritual process similar to the physical, but even more complex and delicate. (DP 279 end.)
The mind is "inspired" by wise perceptions. It cannot keep them to itself, but feels impelled to express them for others. This desire to express is like the pressure of the lungs. Still we must with careful effort determine the exact shade of affection which we will express, which is like the work of the larynx in tuning its vocal cords; and we must shape our inspiration into clear-cut and intelligible thoughts, which is like the careful articulation in the mouth. Notice that the same lips and teeth and tongue receive and examine our food and articulate our words; for the same faculties which discriminate wisely in receiving instruction also give clear definition to our expression of our own thoughts. (AC 4795.)
If the organs of speech are unable to produce intelligible sounds, one is physically dumb. But suppose the failure to speak intelligibly on any subject is from a mental cause - one has himself no perception of delightful truth which he feels impelled to express, or he has not the ability to put his perception into clear, intelligible form - then he is spiritually dumb. In the Bible one is called dumb who from ignorance is unable to confess the Lord and the genuine truths of the church. (AE 455; AC 6988.)
One of the joyful promises about the Lord's coming says, "The tongue of the dumb shall sing." (Isa. xxxv. 6.) Does it mean that men had not the power of physical speech till the Lord loosed their tongues? or that they were in such ignorance about the Lord and heavenly life that they could not confess. Him and teach His laws, till they learned from the Lord? Then the silent world broke forth in joyful confession and praise. (AE 518.) There were indeed some physically dumb who were brought to the Lord for healing. "They brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake." (Matt. ix. 32, 33, xii. 22.) What spiritual infirmity of mankind did this dumbness typify? and what spiritual benefit is represented by the healing? (AC 6988.) What spiritual meaning has the prayer, "O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise "? (Ps. li. 15.) It is a prayer that learning truly of the Lord we may make grateful confession of Him from an overflowing heart. (PP.) Remember how dumbness came upon Zacharias the father of John the Baptist, because he believed not the promise of the angel. (Luke i. 20, 64, 68.) It was an outward picture of his spiritual inability to receive the inspiring news and to thank the Lord. When with the fulfilment of the promise, the father's heart overflowed with a deep sense of Divine mercy, "his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God . . . saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel."
The Psalms call upon us to sing unto the Lord. "O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation." (Ps. xcv. 1, xcvi. 1, xcviii. 1) It is a call to let grateful affections go forth to the Lord with glad heart. (AC 8261; AE 612; AR 279.) We sing a "new song" when with a new sense of what the Lord has done for us our hearts overflow with new thanksgiving. Thus the "new song" sung by those about the throne (Rev. v. 9), means the joyful confession of the Lord in His Divine Humanity as God of heaven and earth. The church is only now learning to make this acknowledgment, and it is therefore called a "new song." (AR 279; AE 326.) "Sing unto the Lord," in its fullest meaning, is but the first great commandment in another form. It means to love the Lord with all the heart and soul and mind and strength. Love is the song; it finds expression not in the voice alone, but in obedience, and in every useful and kindly work. Such is the unending song of heaven. (CL. 9.)
The natural idea of speech is of spoken words; the spiritual idea is of the feeling and thought which the words express. We read in the Bible of the voice of the Lord.
Do our hands labour of their own accord, or is there something spiritual within us which prompts them to work and expresses itself through them? Our love of doing, or our desire to do, is what sets the hands in motion; and our knowledge of how to do, guides them in their work. We mean the spiritual ability, and not mere physical strength, when we speak of putting our affairs into the "hands" of another, when we put the burden on his "shoulders," and lean on his strong "arm." The hands mean spiritually all the desire and thought which we put into the deeds we do. (AC 10019.) In a word, the hands are the deeds, which, regarded spiritually, consist of the desire and thought which prompt them. Everybody knows what is meant by the words, "Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity." (Isa. lix. 3.) The deeds are cruel and evil, especially the desire and thought which prompt them. (AE 329.) And again, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." (Ps. xxiv. 3, 4.) That is, he whose deeds are good, inspired by heavenly feeling and thought. (AE 340.)
In a general way we may speak of the hands and feet together as representing the outward life. We ask that our steps may be guided, that our feet may not stray from the right path, and we are asking for help to do right. "Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not." (Ps. xvii. 5; PP.) The feet and the hands are both extremes of the body, and both are obedient to the inner desires and thoughts. They are however considerably different in their structure and use, and we can see some differences in their spiritual meaning. The feet are less noble than the hands and come into closer contact with the dust of the world; they are less responsive to the guidance of the will and thought; they are not so directly concerned in doing for others, but serve rather in bringing us where we can be of use, and holding us firmly while the hands do the work. When contrasted with the hands the feet represent rather the effort to determine the course of life toward good or evil, while the hands represent the more particular thought in regard to the service to be done to others. (AC 7442, 10241.)
Recall the touching scene when the Lord washed the disciples' feet. (John xiii. 5.) It shows us more plainly than words could do, His desire to help us to make our daily life right and good.
When the Lord charges His people to bind His laws for a sign upon their hands, and to let them be as frontlets between their eyes (Deut. vi. 8), what does He mean?
On a certain Sabbath the Lord "went through the corn-fields, and his disciples plucked the ears of corn and did eat, rubbing them in their hands." (Luke vi. i.) The Pharisees rebuked them, but the Lord defended them. What spiritual act did the eating represent? The reception of instruction. (TCR 301.) What kind of reception is represented by eating "rubbing in their hands"? A reception alive and eager with desire to search out the living meaning of the instruction to them, that they might put it into actual practice. The Pharisees called the rubbing of the ears unlawful on the Sabbath day, which represents the fact that they had separated from the Sabbath and from religion all care for useful work and good life. They therefore became like a man with his right hand withered, and as we read on in the chapter we find them so described. "On another Sabbath He entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered." (Luke vi. 6.) He was cured as he stretched forth his hand in obedience to the Lord. The love of doing comes with the doing.
The right hand was withered. We have not considered the meaning of right and left, although, in a former lesson, we found special mention of the right eye. Remember the two things which find expression in the hands, the love of doing and the knowledge how to do. Which hand usually responds more quickly to an impulsive desire? and which usually moves with more of careful thought? The right hand corresponds especially to the love and the left to the thought which we put into our work. There is always a similar difference in meaning between the right side and the left. (AC 1006; AE 600.) The man with the right hand withered represents, therefore, those who have no love of doing what they know; to have the hand "restored whole as the other," is to gain a love of doing, equal to one's knowledge. (TCR 301.)
The right hand and the left are strongly contrasted in the parable of the sheep and goats. "He shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." (Matt. xxv. 33.) Those on the right hand are evidently those who do as the Lord teaches them, and those on the left hand are those who learn but do not do. (AE 600.) The Lord charged the disciples, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." (Matt. vi. 3.) It cannot be that we are forbidden to put careful thought as well as love into our work.
Suppose we read of the Lord's hands; they will suggest the Divine love and Divine wisdom coming forth in Divine works for men. "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isa. lii. 10.) It is a grand picture of the power of the Divine love reaching down into the world in our Lord's human life, to save men. (AC 7205.) The arm suggests not so much the particulars of affection, which belong to the hand and fingers, but rather the omnipotence which prompts and sustains the whole work. Still more is power suggested by the shoulder. "The government shall be upon his shoulder." (Isa. ix. 6; AC 1085, 4933-4937.)
Many times in healing the sick the Lord put forth His hand and touched them; He laid His hand upon the little children with His blessing. The extended hand was an expression of His infinite sympatand desire to bless, and was the means of imparting the blessing. Our hands are the means of both giving and receiving influence. We lay the hand upon an aching head to give relief. Sensitive people are affected either pleasantly or unpleasantly by the influence received in shaking hands. This is but a suggestion of the Divine influence which came with our Lord's touch, showing us still more clearly how the Lord's hand and "outstretched arm" mean His loving power reaching forth to save and bless. (AC 10130; AR 55.)
When we read of the Lord's feet, we must think of His life on earth, and of His presence forever in His Divine Humanity. A prophecy of the Lord's coming said, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!" (Isa. lii. 7.) It means the Divine human life with men. (AE 69.) In Luke we read of the repentant woman who stood at the Lord's "feet behind him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment." (Luke vii. 38.) We do the same when we humbly draw near to the Lord in His Divine human life. As we compare our lives with His, repenting of what is not good, we wash His feet, for the beauty and purity of His life grows each day more plain. As we love the Lord's life, we kiss His feet and anoint them. (AC 3147; AR 49.)
Remember in the home in Bethany how Mary "sat at Jesus' feet, and heard His word" (Luke x. 39); and how the Gadarenes "found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind." (Luke viii. 35.) We sit at the Lord's feet when we draw near to Him in His Divine Humanity to be taught and protected by Him. The sitting emphasizes the permanence and the peaceful security of this nearness to the Lord. (AE 687; AC 3552, 9422.)
When the Lord was crucified and rose, the disciples and the faithful women feared that they should lose the Divine human presence which they had learned to love. Their anxious desire to keep the Lord's presence in the plane of this world's life was touchingly pictured on the Easter morning, when Jesus met the women hastening from the sepulchre, and "they came and held him by the feet." (Matt. xxviii. 9.; AR 49.) That He is still with us in this natural plane of life, the Lord taught us by showing to the disciples "his hands and his feet." (Luke xxiv. 39, 40.) "Handle me, and see," He says. Make trial in practical life, and we shall know that the Lord is still with us in His Divine Humanity with all power in earth as well as heaven. (AE 513; AC 1729, 10044.)
In the closing verses of Mark we read, "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." (Mark xvi. 19.) It means that the Lord by His glorification became omnipotent, the very embodiment of the Divine power among men. (D. Lord 35; AE 687, 1087.) How verses like the following grow in meaning as we learn when the Lord's hand and arm are mentioned to think of His omnipotence, His love and wisdom creating, protecting, and blessing men! "Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." (Ps. cxlv. 16; AE 294, 295.) "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." (Deut. xxxiii. 27; AE 594.) "My times are in thy hand." (Ps. xxxi. 15.) "Into thine hand I commit my spirit." (Ps. xxxi. 5.) "Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Ps. xvi. II; AE 687; Deut. xxxiii. 12; AC 4592.)
IX.
SICKNESS AND HEALING.
We have spiritual faculties corresponding to all our physical organs. In their structure and activities they are even more delicate and sensitive. (DP 181; see Lesson vi.) If the physical structures become disordered by irregular ways of life, causing pain and sickness, must not the still more delicate spiritual faculties become disordered by indulging feelings and thoughts which are not according to the Lord's laws of life? We often speak of a "healthy" or an "unhealthy" state of mind, and of influences of companionship or reading as "wholesome" or "unwholesome." We speak of "heart-aches" and "wounded feelings." The most serious sicknesses are of the spiritual kind, those which the Lord most of all desires to heal. Diseases of the spirit are often directly mentioned in the Bible, so plainly that we see at once that the spirit and not the body is meant. Physical diseases too are named, and they are at the same time types of spiritual disorders to which they correspond. (AC 8364, 9031.)
Is the physical or the spiritual state of the world described by these words of the prophet? "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." (Isa. i. 5, 6; AE 962; AC 431) Is it physical or spiritual strength which is promised in the joyful words, "Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. . . . Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing"? (Isa. xxxv. 3-6; AE 239; AC 2383, 6988, 6989.)
We remember how, as our Lord went about in Galilee, the sick were brought to Him for healing; how they were laid in the streets, that they might touch but the hem of His garment, "and as many as touched were made perfectly whole." (Matt. xiv. 36.) It was physical sickness for which the people asked healing - blindness, palsy, leprosy - and the Lord was moved with compassion towards them. (Matt. xx. 34; Mark i. 41.) But there were also about the Lord those who were sick and suffering in spirit. Must He not have felt still deeper pity for these? for the spiritually "lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others"?
He "healed all that were sick;" it is said, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." (Matt. viii. 16, 17.) Both the prophecy and the miracles of healing point to the far greater work which the Lord did in taking upon Himself the weakness and evil tendencies of perverse human nature, and overcoming them. The Lord spoke of the healing which He cares most to give, when He ate and drank with publicans and sinners, and answered the objecting Pharisees, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke v. 31, 32; AC 6502.) "Bless the Lord . . . who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases." (Ps. viii. 2, 3; PP.)
The Lord has told us to go and do like the good Samaritan, who went to the wounded man, and "bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine." (Luke x. 34, 37.) He means also that we should with kindness and wisdom heal the cruel wounds which false teaching and evil indulgence have inflicted on our brother in the dangerous journey of life. (AE 962.)
What particular diseases do you remember as mentioned in the Bible? Let us see if we can recognize the spiritual disorders to which they correspond. We have thought already of blindness and deafness (Lesson v.), of dumbness (Lesson vii.), and of lameness and the withered hand. (Lesson viii.) Among other diseases you will remember fever, leprosy, and palsy.
Do we sometimes speak of being in a "fever," not meaning a state of body, but of mind? "A fever of excitement" we often hear. A feverish state of mind is one heated and restless, or wholly prostrated, by the excitement of some disquiet feeling. A burning fever in the Bible is a type of the restless burning of evil desires. We read in Deuteronomy the curses which come upon those who do not keep the Lord's commandments. They are the unhappy things which inevitably result from the indulgence of evil. Among them is the restless burning of spiritual fever. "The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning." (Deut. xxviii. 22; AC 8364.) "When Jesus was come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose and ministered unto them." (Matt. viii. 14, 15.)
Leprosy is often mentioned in the Bible. The name probably includes several diseases of the skin, common in hot, dry climates, but not the more dreadful forms of elephantiasis called leprosy to-day. The skin and hair of a leper, either in spots or over the whole body, were dead, and white or discolored, and sometimes ulcerated. Lepers, according to the Jewish law, were driven from home as most unclean. (Lev. xiii. 46.) The skin, which is chiefly affected in leprosy, is given to be a living, sensitive covering for the body, clothing it becomingly and, by its delicate touch, adapting it nicely to varying circumstances. The skin plainly does not represent the deep and hidden motives of the heart, but rather the external ways and manners and little acts in which the inner life clothes itself. These should be a true, living expression of the heart.
There was a singular provision of the Jewish law, that if the leprosy extended over the whole body, the leper should be pronounced clean. (Lev. xiii. 13.) Such a leper represents one who does not acknowledge and believe deep spiritual truths, and who is not aware of the inconsistency between his outward life and his heart. In his ignorance such a one is innocent, while one who accepts truth deeply and is in part sincere but in part consciously a hypocrite is unclean. (AC 6963.)
Recall the story of Naaman. ( 2 Kings v.) A Syrian and captain of the host, but leprous in a part of his body (Ver. II ), Naaman represents a man of worldly wisdom who still feels that his life is not sincere. He was healed when he washed in Jordan seven times. To wash in Jordan is to make the life right in obedience to the Lord's commandments. (See Lesson xxviii.)
The Lord accepted the healing of Naaman by Elisha as a type of the spiritual work He Himself was doing and always desires to do, when He said, "Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but Naaman the Syrian." (Luke iv. 27.) The Lord said it to His own townsmen, who were less ready to hear Him than others. They were the lepers who did not care to be healed. Does it not reveal the fault into which the Jews had fallen, and into which the Lord's church too often falls, of being content with religious forms, caring even less than those without the church to make the life sincere? Are there not still many lepers in Israel? (AC 9198.)
By His miracles of healing also, the Lord showed His power and desire to help these spiritual lepers. "And it came to pass, when He was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy; who seeing Jesus fell on his face and besought Him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And He put forth His hand and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him." (Luke v. 12, 13. ) So the Lord's loving power is extended to us however loathsome we may be in our hypocrisy and our mixing of holy things with what is false and evil. This healing of the leper should give us courage humbly to ask and to receive His help, who alone can make our lives really good. But let us not be of those who, when the Lord has helped us to live sincere, good lives, forget to give Him thanks. (Luke xvii. 17.)
In Exodus we read that three signs were given to Moses by which he should convince the people that the Lord had really appeared unto him. The second sign: "And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh." (Exod. iv. 6, 7.)
Another disease which the Lord healed was palsy. It means paralysis, which destroys control over the movements of the body, sometimes leaving one utterly helpless, unable to move hand or foot. Apparently it was such a helpless person of whom we read: "Behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: . . . and they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when He saw their faith, He said unto him, (Son, be of good cheer (Matt. ix. 2;) thy sins are forgiven thee. . . . Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?
We have seen that physical diseases correspond to spiritual diseases. They are pictures of them. More than that, spiritual disease tends to produce physical disease (AC 8364, 5726), and physical disease exposes one to influences from hell. (AC 5713, 5715.) It would however be a mistake to suppose that in this world the physical body is an exact expression of the spiritual state. (HH 99.) The body grows old and decrepit, not at all because the spirit is becoming feeble; the body may be deformed or shapely, and the spirit be quite otherwise. The reason is that the body is subject to many other influences besides that of a man's own spirit; the forces which cause disease, and the Lord's healing power, reach the body by many channels, through the spirit and through natural means. (AC 5713.)
How does a little child differ from a young man, and a young man from an old man? Physically the young man is taller than the child and stronger, and the old man is becoming bowed and wrinkled. But are there no more important differences? Are there not spiritual qualities developed with each stage of life, which are even more characteristic than the physical? If the spiritual development does not take place, we say that one is still a child, even though he grows in body. If it advances faster than usual, we say that one is "old for his years." The spiritual qualities of each age are what concern us when we think spiritually. We must think of these if we would understand the inner meaning of Bible verses which speak of childhood, youth, and old age.
What spiritual qualities are characteristic of childhood? Children are not able to reason; they are not wise. These things belong to other times of life. But little children are innocent; they are gentle and trustful. Evil feelings which will awaken in after years are not yet aroused, but the children's hearts are open to the influence of good angels of the Lord.
We shall see that the shade of meaning varies as children of different ages are mentioned: sucklings, who are in simple innocence; babes, who are learning to love their parents; and boys and girls, who love one another. (AC 3183.) We shall see also that the innocence of little children is taken as a type of the still deeper innocence of those who are born again, and become spiritually as little children, learning to love their Heavenly Father above all things, and their neighbor as themselves. (AC 5236.)
The Lord called little children to Him, saying: "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
The Lord said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." (Matt. xi. 25.) Only an innocent heart, and one humbly conscious of its feebleness, has a perception of the truths of heavenly life. They cannot be received in a state of pride and self-confidence. (AC 5608; HH 353.) Solomon, in his vision, confessed, "I am but a little child;" and the Lord answered, "Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart." (1 Kings iii. 7, 12.)
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." (Ps. viii. 2.) How beautifully it tells of the precious store of innocence laid up in our childhood as a source of strength in the temptations of later years! (AC 3183.)
As in a good sense children represent innocence and the beginnings of heavenly life, so we can see they may sometimes stand for the beginnings of falsity and evil. Thus we read of Babylon, "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." (Ps. cxxxvii. 9; A. E. 411; AC 2348.)
As we grow from childhood to youth, much of the innocence disappears; and what new quality is developed characteristic of the new stage of life?
Of the destruction of Damascus we read: "How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day." (Jer. xlix. 25, 26.) And almost the same is said of Babylon. (Jer. 1. 30.) States of life are described when through evil all intelligence is destroyed. (AE 652.) "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." (Isa. xl. 30, 31.) It shows the feebleness of our natural intelligence till we trust in the Lord to guide us.
Remember the rich young man who came running to the Lord, and asked, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?' (Matt. xix. 1622.) You remember the young man's confidence, "All these [commandments] have I kept from my youth up; what lack I yet?" And the Lord's words: "There is none good but one, God. . . . Go sell that thou hast, and give to the poor." The young man's riches picture intellectual stores held self-confidently. The needful thing is to trust the Lord instead of one's self, and to employ the store of learning in humble usefulness. (AC 4744 end; AE 934.)
As we advance through the temptations and active labors of life to old age, there should come a softening and deepening of the character. Intelligence should be ripened by experience in practical usefulness into wisdom. Old age should be again like childhood, dependent and innocent; but the innocence is now wise, knowing the dangers of life, and the power of the Lord to protect from them.
In the book of Job we read: "With aged men is wisdom; and in length of days understanding." (Jos xii. 12, Revised Version; AC 6524.) And in the Psalm, "I understand more than the aged, because I have kept thy precepts." (Ps. cxix. 100, Revised Version.) Here the aged evidently mean the wise. (AC 6524.)
Many passages picture the decay of the church and the destruction of spiritual life under figure of the overthrow of Jerusalem and the slaughter of its inhabitants. "Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark." (Ezek. ix. 6.) The little children are innocence, the young men are intelligence, the old men are wisdom, which are lost. Where goodness is found in the intelligence, it is the saving mark. (AE 270, 315.) Again: "The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed and not pitied." (Lam. ii. 21.) Here also the old men represent wisdom, and the young men intelligence, which are destroyed. (A.E. 315.)
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof." (Zech. viii. 4, 5.) The old men are representatives of wisdom. Leaning upon the staff is a symbol of leaning upon the Lord, and the bowed feebleness of old age becomes a picture of humility and of the sense that we need the Divine support, which is characteristic of wisdom. "Every man with his staff in his hand for very age." (AE 727.) The boys and girls are the developments of innocence, both truth and goodness. (AE 863; AC 2348.)
John saw about the throne "four and twenty elders sitting." (Rev. iv. 4.) They represent the wisdom of the heavens (AE 270; AC 5313), especially the spiritual heaven which is most in the enjoyment of truth from the Lord. (AE 322, 462.) So also the elders of Israel, who were so often instructed by Moses, and who helped in leading the people (Exod. iii. 15, xvii. 5), represent the highest things of wisdom, most able to be instructed by the Lord. (AC 7062, 7912.)
The wisdom of old age, in a broad sense, involves all the weaning from the things of earth and the rounding out of heavenly character, which belong to that time of life. (AC 3016.) "Honor thy father and thy mother," we are commanded, "that thy days may be long upon the land." (Exod. xx. 12.) "Because He hath set his love upon me . . . with long life will I satisfy Him, and shew Him my salvation." (Ps. xci. 14, 16.) Do those who honor their parents and love the Lord necessarily live many years? Natural blessings were indeed given to the Jews, because they could appreciate no others; but, for us, is not the long life promised, rather a full development of heavenly character? (AC 3703, 8898; AE 304.) On the other hand, it is said, "Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days." (Ps. lv. 23.) Among the glad predictions for the church is this: "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner an hundred years old shall be accursed." (Isa. lxv. 20.) It is a promise that in the happy time, life shall reach full spiritual development; innocence shall grow to perfect wisdom. (AC 2636.)
The words, "But the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed," show that as little children sometimes represent the beginnings of evil life, so old age may mean states of evil filled full and confirmed. (A.C. 2348.)
"Both young men and maidens, old men and children; let them praise the name of the Lord." (Ps. cxlviii. 12, 13.) For every development of heavenly life we should thank the Lord. And each development of life can praise Him by serving the use for which He gives it. (PP.; A.C. 5236.)
The subjects which we have last considered have been wholly within ourselves. We have studied some member or some condition of the physical body, and then have looked more deeply, to discover the corresponding spiritual faculty or condition. Now we look out into the world, and see it filled with objects which, though not a part of us, still have some relation to us, either useful or hurtful. The human quality of natural objects is so evident that we instinctively feel sympathy with them. In fact, they present in visible form affections and thoughts which exist within ourselves. Thus they interpret our hearts to us; they help us to know ourselves.
How could it be otherwise? for natural objects all are works of the Lord, and must therefore every one embody something of His love and wisdom, the same which He gives to men. The world around us is from the same source as the world within us; it shows the same forces brought down to a lower plane. (DLW 319-326.)
Some one may ask how it is, if natural things are embodiments of the Lord's love and wisdom, that there are cruel and evil things in nature.
And why does the Lord permit the creative power to flow into nature through the channels of human life, through heaven and through hell, producing many evil and unheavenly forms to mar the world about us? He does it that nature may teach us truly of our own character; that nature may serve as a mirror showing us both the beauty of innocence and the hatefulness of evil passions. The world around us is both an inspiration and a warning. It is important to learn to read the book of nature, seeing to what thing in ourselves each object of nature corresponds.
As we study the correspondence between the objects of nature and the spiritual things within ourselves, we are helped much by common speech, which often uses the name of an animal to describe a human quality, or borrows a term descriptive of a plant or mineral to apply to some spiritual possession. Thus a man is called a "lion," a "fox," a "bear," with the perception that his courage, or cunning, or roughness is accurately pictured in the animal whose name is chosen to describe him. We say that an idea "grows" and "bears fruit," recognizing that its development is like that of a plant. But with such a general use of natural terms to describe spiritual things, common speech is content. If we would learn more accurately to what thing in the world within us each object in the natural world corresponds, we must examine the natural object, note its qualities, and especially its use. Then we must turn to the inner world and see what fills the corresponding place.
In this study of the correspondence of natural objects, it is necessary at the outset to establish some general principles, some plan of classification and arrangement, so that each particular may find its place without confusion. For instance, if we could learn in general the great dividing lines which group the objects of our mental world into classes answering to the three kingdoms of nature, it would be one great step towards giving each thing its right place.
Let us compare the three kingdoms of nature, noting the distinguishing characteristics of each, and let us see whether the objects of the inner world fall into corresponding groups. Animals as a class are warm, active, sensitive. They feel both pleasure and pain. Plants, too, are living; they grow, but they are not conscious of suffering or of pleasure. The mineral kingdom is fixed and hard; it makes the basis from which plants grow and on which animals stand.
Is there in the mind a class of objects which is sensitive to pleasure or pain? Can I hurt you without touching your body? What do I hurt? Your feelings? Are these same feelings capable of enjoyment? Are they warm? Are they active? The feelings, or affections, are the animals of the mind. (HH 110; AC 3218, 5198; AE 650.)
Besides these feelings, are there still other things in the mind which are alive and grow, but which are not sensitive? How about knowledge or thought on one subject or another? It certainly grows from day to day. It is often most beautiful, and if it relates to some useful work, in time it bears fruit.
Animals, as a rule, move easily from place to place, but plants are rooted in the ground. There is a like difference between our affections and our knowledge. Suppose I have grown up among certain circumstances, and have enjoyed my use and become intelligent and skilful in doing it. I move to a new place and find the circumstances changed. My affection for being useful goes with me, like an animal it moves easily to new surroundings; but my knowledge of how to be useful was rooted in the old circumstances and conditions and is with difficulty transplanted to new.
The foundation from which our mental plants spring, is the ground of the mind. The facts which are accepted as fixed and unchanging are its rocks; the store of experience in thinking and doing, which deepens with each day we live, is its fertile mould. When we share with others the same knowledge and like experience we stand on "common ground." (HH 488; AC 1940.)
The animals of the mind are its warm, sensitive affections; the plants are its growing intelligence on many subjects; the ground is the fixed basis of fact and experience.
Let us give a little closer thought to the animals and to the corresponding affections. How various the forms of animal life are! The elephant and the little humming insect! The fierce tiger and the gentle lamb! The soaring eagle and the serpent on the ground! The affections in our hearts are no less various. There are affections good and bad, gentle and cruel, useful and harmful, noble and base. Before we study particular animals and discover the affections to which they correspond, recall a few verses from the Bible to see how even this general thought - that animals correspond to human affections - will help us to understand the spiritual lessons of the Word.
It is said of man, "Thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." (Ps. viii. 6-8.) It means that the Lord is king over all, and that He makes man king over the little world of his own heart. Especially it means that He has given him control over his affections; they are not to be his masters, but his servants. The beasts of the field, or of the earth, do not stand necessarily for evil affections, but for the more natural and external ones, including physical desires and appetites. If one lives only to indulge natural affections he is a "beast," and he is truly a man as he exercises his human right by the Lord's help to control them. (AE 650; AC 10610; see also Gen. i. 25, 26; AC 52.)
Later on in the story we read of the preservation of animals, clean and not clean, in the ark. "Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the earth, there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark." (Gen. vii. 8, 9.) It tells of the transmission of affections and appetites, both good and not good, from the people of the first church to their descendants who formed the second church. (AE 650; AC 714, 715, 719.) "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar." (Gen. viii. 20; Lev. i.)
We can understand also why clean animals were permitted to the Israelites for food, and unclean beasts were forbidden. "Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean." (Lev. xx. 25; xi.) Plainly the Lord desires our souls to grow strong with good, noble affections, but not to be defiled by evil ones. (AE 650.)
We see now the sad warning contained in the many passages which tell of destruction by wild beasts. "The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it." (Ps. lxxx. 13.) "The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth." (Ps. lxxix. 2.) Such words are a warning that evil passions and appetites arising from selfish and worldly love, if indulged, destroy all spiritual life. (AE 650; A. C. 9335) We see also the meaning of the joyful prediction: "No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there." (Isa. xxxv. 9; AE 650; AC 9335.)
Perhaps we can now see the spiritual reason why the Israelites were often commanded to destroy animals belonging to wicked nations. "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." (I Sam. xv. 3.) As the infant and suckling here mean the beginnings of evil, so the animals represent the evil affections which their owners indulged. These were not to be adopted, but destroyed. (AE 650.)
"I will not drive them [the nations of Canaan] out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
Do not let us dwell too long on the passages which speak of evil beasts. Read in the Psalm: "He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. . . . He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man. . . . Thou makest darkness and it is night; wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth," etc. (Ps. civ. 10-30.) The Lord provides food for the beasts, He also satisfies good affections of every kind with instruction from His Word. (AE 650, 483, 278; AC 2702.)
Finally, as a remarkable and perhaps unexpected example of the meaning of animals in the Holy Word, read in the Revelation: "In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts. . . . And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." (Rev. iv. 6-9.) They are a symbol of the affection of the angels; especially of the celestial heaven, the heaven of affection, nearest to the Lord. (AE 322, 462.)
We postpone the study of passages which mention plants and minerals, to think first of individual members of the animal kingdom and to discover the special affections to which they correspond.
Let the children tell all they can about sheep. If any have had lambs as pets let them describe not only their physical characteristics, but especially their disposition. All know that sheep and lambs are useful; they give us food, and wool for clothing. They are harmless and very gentle, never quarrelling among themselves. They are fond of one another, feeding together in a flock, their noses almost touching as they nibble the grass, and lying close together in the shade. Besides being fond of one another, sheep become strongly attached to their shepherd, or to one who takes care of them. In the East, shepherds live with their flocks in the fields, leading them about from pasture to pasture, as the season grows dry finding for them the streams and springs where there still is water and greenness, and at night protecting them from harm. The shepherd goes before, and the sheep follow, knowing his voice and often answering to their names. (John x. 4.)
We have said that a man is sometimes called a "lion," or a "fox," or a "bear"; have we ever seen a person who seemed like a lamb? (HH 110.)
And may we ever see similar innocence and trustfulness in older people? Who is their shepherd? We know that the truest innocence is given when we are born again and become as little children of our Heavenly Father. The innocent affection of little children and of those who become spiritually little children is pictured to us in the innocent lambs. (AE 314; AC 10132, 2179, 294.) It is easy to see that there is a difference between lambs and sheep, similar to that between very little babies and older children (Lesson x.); the innocence of the lambs and of babies having in it more of utter dependence, and the innocence of sheep and of older children having more of affection for one another. (AE 314.)
How many times in the Bible, sheep and their shepherds are spoken of, so plainly meaning men and their relation to the Lord! "Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey. . . . And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God." (Eezek. xxxiv. 22, 31; AE 280; AC 4287." The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
In all these passages the Lord's church is called a flock. In other places it is called a vineyard. (Isa. v. 7.) In general, what is the difference? What aspect of the church is made prominent in one case, and what in the other?
The following passages picture the helplessness and panic of a trustful heart, when it is without the sense of Divine support. "I am gone astray like a lost sheep." (Ps. cxix. 176.) "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." (Isa. liii. 6.) The Lord saw the multitudes "scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." (Matt. ix. 36; AE 1154.)
There are so many familiar passages in the Bible where sheep and lambs are mentioned, that the class will enjoy recalling them and seeing that they tell us of the spiritual flock of innocent, gentle affections, of love for the Lord and for one another. For example: "Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even." (Exod. xxix. 38, 39.) It means that in the beginning and end of each day, and of each state and each new undertaking, we should come to the Lord with innocent trustfulness. (AC 3994, 10132; AE 314.) In thinking of the use of lambs in the Jewish worship, remember especially the lamb of the passover. "They shall take to them every man a lamb . . . a lamb for an house (or for two little households) . . . your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats.
"And He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? . . . I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." (Luke xv. 3 - 7.) The Lord intrusted to our keeping the sheep of gentle, innocent affections when we were little children; but have none of them been lost?
A beautiful prophecy of the Lord's coming says, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." (Isa. xi. 6.) The gentle animals mean the gentle, innocent affections which the Lord's coming brought to men. And what are the fierce animals? But the Lord defends from them, and innocence is safe from all harm. (AE 314; AC 3519, 3994, 10132.) When the Lord sent out His apostles, He said, "Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves." (Luke x. 3; AE 314; AC 10132.)
At the Lord's coming, "there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night." (Luke ii. 8.) There were a few people in that time of darkness who still cared for innocence. These are the ones to whom angels can draw near, and lead them to see the Divine innocence of the Lord.
After the Lord's resurrection, as He stood with some of the disciples by the sea of Galilee, three times He gave to Peter a solemn charge: "Feed my lambs"; "Feed my sheep"; "Feed my sheep." (John xxi. 15-17.)
Why is the Lord Himself many times called the Lamb? At other times He is called the Lion, to tell us of His Divine courage. What Divine quality is especially suggested when He is called the Lamb? The Divine innocence of His human life, the gentleness, the patience. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." (John i. 29.) It means that the Lord is innocence itself and that all innocence comes from Him. (AE 314; AC 10132; TCR 144; HH 282.) "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." (Isa. liii. 7.) The Lord's innocence, and the patience and silence with which He bore temptations, are set before us in this picture. (AC 10132, 9937.) "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." (Rev. v. 13.) He that sitteth upon the throne is the Lord; and by the Lamb is meant His Divine human nature, with special reference to its Divine innocence. (AE 314, 343.)
Give a thought to the wool which is the sheep's clothing, and which is so useful in making warm clothing for us. What does the Lord mean by the warning, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves"? (Matt. vii. 15.) He describes selfish, cruel, deceitful persons, or such motives in ourselves, hiding behind the kindly words and ways which belong to an innocent heart. (AE 195; LJ. 59.) Pure, gentle, affectionate words and manners are the proper clothing of innocent, lamb-like affections; they are the wool of the spiritual sheep. And they make good clothing for us all.
The whiteness of the wool is an important characteristic, and suggests the purity of the acts and words which spring from an innocent heart. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa. i. 18.) It means that through repentance, by the Lord's help, evil ways may be overcome and the life be made pure and innocent. (AE 1042; AC 4922.) When the Lord was seen by John in the Revelation, "His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow." (Rev. i. 14.) Plainly the hairs are emblems of the external things of life - its little acts and words. Here they are emblems of the acts of the Lord's perfect life, and of His words in their simple, literal meaning. They are compared to wool to suggest their perfect innocence and goodness, and to snow to suggest their rightness. (AE 67; AR 47; AC 9470.)
We see that the whiteness of wool suggests the purity of thoughts and ways which spring from innocence. Why is it that some sheep are black? Common speech has used "black sheep" as types of evil persons among the good. But the Bible gives them a better meaning. They are types not of what is really evil, but of the sense that nothing good is one's own, but that all is from the Lord, which is characteristic of the deepest and truest innocence. Remember how Jacob when tending flocks for Laban, chose for his own "every black one among the sheep." (Gen. xxx. 32, Revised Version; AC 3994.)
Goats in many ways are like sheep. They feed in flocks; the little kids are innocent and gentle, indeed they were accepted as offerings like the lambs. "Your lamb shall be without blemish. . . . Ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats." (Exod. xii. 5.) But those who have kept goats know that they are more active than sheep, rougher in their ways, and content with coarser food. They are very inquisitive, nibbling whatever comes within their reach. The goat's coat is less soft than the sheep's, the short wool being hidden by long hairs.
Sheep and goats are so much alike that we may presume that they both correspond to innocence, but with a difference.
But turn to the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, and read from the twenty-first verse to the end.
Oxen are, in general, very much like sheep and goats. They chew their cud like sheep and goats, and have similar hoofs and horns; they are useful in the same way for their flesh and skins and milk, and evidently are nearly related to them; much more nearly, for example, than horses are. But compare the oxen with sheep and point out some of the differences. How do they compare in size and general build? The oxen are much larger and coarser-grained. They are stronger, which makes them able to work.
And how do they compare in disposition? First, in their relation toward their master. Those who have tended cattle or have had calves as pets know that they are very much rougher than sheep. They do not follow so gently, but are easily driven and are obedient. Towards one another they are good natured, though they have not so tender an affection as sheep; a cow's attachment for her herd is very evident when she has lost sight of them and runs wildly about, lowing piteously. Her love for her calf is also very strong, and she will follow wherever the calf is led.
We began with the idea that oxen are much like sheep and goats, and have then noticed the differences. Let us do the same spiritually. The sheep represent a most innocent, tender love for the goodness of the Lord and for one another. Goats represent a hardly less innocent, but more intellectual affection, which loves the Lord for His wisdom, and is less tender in its expression towards one another. The cows and oxen represent a similar noble affection brought down to a still lower level, towards the Lord taking the form of obedience, and towards one another the form of patient usefulness. The sheep, the goats, and the cattle represent our affection for the Lord and for one another, of a celestial, a spiritual, and a natural kind. (AE 314.)
We shall find the cattle used in the Bible to stand for a strong love of natural usefulness and for contentment with good natural things - a noble affection in its right place. (AC 2179, 2180, 2566.) For example, in the Psalm, describing abundant life of every kind from the Lord, it is said: "When our garners are full . . . and our sheep bring
We remember that the lambs and kids were brought as offerings, representing the innocent affections with which we should come before the Lord. And now we find bullocks also appointed for sacrifice. (Exod. xxix. l, 10, 36.) It must mean that the Lord would have us bring to Him not only our inner thoughts and feelings, but all our natural interests and abilities, our worldly business and pleasures. We must consecrate them all to Him and have them purified and kindled by His holy fire. (AC 9391.) How plain it is that the offerings of animals represented the consecration of the affections of our hearts, both interior and external! "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? . . . He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do judgment and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah vi. 6-8.) " For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the
Remember also the bronze laver in the court of the temple: "It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them." (1 Kings vii. 25.) Plainly the inner chambers of the temple represent the chambers of a heart in which the Lord can dwell. (Lesson xli.) The court represents the outward life, and its laver where the hands and the feet of the priests were washed represents the cleansing of the outward life. It rested on the oxen to show that this cleansing must be done with all the power of obedient natural affection. (AC 10235.)
There are many practical commands concerning oxen in the Jewish law. Can we see now how they apply spiritually to ourselves? "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." (Exod. xx. 17.) Plainly, besides its literal meaning, the command speaks of our neighbor's spiritual qualities, including his affection and ability for natural usefulness. These we are not to covet, and not in any way to desire to injure. (AC 8912.) In this and in many other passages the ox and the ass are named together, the ox standing for natural affection, and the ass
Recall the time when the ark was captive in Philistia, and the kine brought it home. (1 Sam. vi.) The ark in that land represents
Remember the return of the prodigal son, and how the father said, "Bring hither the fatted calf and kill it;" but how the elder son was angry and said, "Thou never gavest me a kid . . . but thou has killed for him the fatted calf." (Luke xv. 23, 30.) The fatted calf means the earnest love of useful life, and for learning the ways of useful life, which is given to those who humbly repent of evil ways; while those who think themselves righteous have not even an intellectual interest in things of heaven. (AC 9391; AE 279; AR 242.)
We have seen that the spiritual ox, the love of natural usefulness and of natural good things, is intended by the Lord to be a helpful servant. "Thou hast put all things under His feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field." (Ps. viii. 6, 7; AC 10609.) How may it ever become an evil
In Egypt sacred bulls were worshipped. You can walk today through the underground gallery at Sakarah, and see the great sarcophagi in which their bodies were laid. This worship was in keeping with the character of the Egyptians. They delighted in natural good things and in natural learning. Their religion was not at all spiritual, but consisted of great temples and pomp and symbolic rites. Their sole regard for natural good things and natural learning, and for external forms of religion, is pictured in their making the cattle objects of worship. (AC 9391; AR 242.) The Lord tries always to lead us out of bondage to merely natural things and external forms, into spiritual life and worship. But, like the Israelites, we turn back to natural aims and set up a calf to worship. The calf at Horeb was an expression of the truth that the Israelites' affections
Cars we distinguish spiritually between the ox and the cow and the calf? The ox is especially the strong, patient love of practical helpfulness; the cow is especially the affection for introducing others into ways of practical usefulness and instructing them. And the calf? The calf is especially the innocent affection for learning ways of helpfulness. (AR 242.)
If the cow is the love of teaching useful ways, and the calf is the love of learning them, what is the milk? Surely, the instruction in regard to practical usefulness. (AC 2184, 1824.) Milk is chiefly water, but made rich and nourishing by the addition of other substances, especially cheese and butter and sugar. Instruction is for the most part truth which is communicated, but we are not content to give the bare information, which would be simply water. (Lesson xxviii.) We try, especially with children, to make the instruction pleasant; this is the sugar. (AC 5620.) We also put our heart into it, that it may touch our hearers' hearts; this love in the instruction is the oil or butter. (AC 2184; see Lesson xxii.) And we try to inspire something of our own earnest
XIV.
THE HORSE AND ASS.
For what are horses and asses useful? What do they do better than all other animals? They carry people and loads on their backs and in wagons. They are wonderfully adapted for this work, and when wisely and kindly cared for they enjoy doing it. A good horse enters into the spirit of a morning canter or even of a race quite as heartily as his rider does. The sheep and goats are valuable for what they are and for what they give us of themselves; oxen, both for what they are and what they do; but the horse and ass are useful chiefly for what they do. One class corresponds to our love of being innocent or being useful; the other corresponds to our enjoyment in doing mental work.
And what mental work can I do? Can I sit at the table without moving a finger and still be hard at work? Suppose I am working out a problem in geometry or reasoning out some question connected with business, or a question of right and wrong; am I not doing real work? The mental work is thinking or reasoning. If it goes well, there is a real enjoyment in it; it is quite exhilarating.
In many ways we can see the likeness between the animals which do physical labor, and this enjoyment in thinking and reasoning. We speak of "advancing" in our reasoning "step by step," and of being "led" to such and such conclusions.
Have you noticed how ready a horse is to go in a familiar road, and to turn his head towards home? In passing over a road a second time, a horse knows the way perfectly, and wants to make each turn and stop for water and rest exactly as he did before. Do not our minds run over familiar lines of thought more easily than over new ones? Do we not find ourselves saying and thinking the same things in the same old ways? going over the same line of reasoning and reaching the same conclusion?
The mental labor also has uses corresponding to those which the animals perform in carrying their riders, and in carrying burdens. Carrying a rider swiftly from place to place is like the service of the understanding in enabling one to see things comprehensively in their right relations and proportions. And as beasts of burden carry things from where they are produced to where they are wanted, so the thought picks up a fact here and a bit of experience there and brings them together into useful relations. These animals that enjoy work represent our affection for intellectual labor, for thinking, understanding, reasoning. (AC 2781, 2761, 2762.)
So far the horse and ass are alike; let us now notice the differences between them, and between the kinds of thinking to which they correspond. The horse is larger than the ass and stronger. He is at the same time more delicate and sensitive, needing better food and better care. The ass is more surefooted on a rough path, and more enduring. Perhaps the most important difference is that the horse gives all attention to his rider or driver, listening for the slightest sound of his voice, and easily trained to obey the least touch upon the neck. This quality of attention to the master's will is wonderfully shown in our crowded city streets. It is still more beautifully shown in countries where men almost live in the saddle, and the horse becomes almost a part of his master. The ass on the contrary pays little attention to his rider. His attention is given almost wholly to the road, and not a stone escapes his notice. He makes his own plan where he will step and if his master's wish differs from his, he is very reluctant to change. In a word, the horse looks up to his master for guidance; the ass looks down to the ground.
Are there some kinds of thought and reasoning which are nobler than others? I may follow step by step the reasoning of a problem in geometry; I may carefully consider and decide in some matter of business. Or I may delight to think about the Lord, and
It will be remembered that many passages which mention the ox, join with him ass. We now see more clearly that it is because the ass is a symbol of the natural understanding, which is the companion of the natural affection represented by the ox. For example: "If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him" (Exod. xxiii. 4, 5; AC 2781.) "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again." (Deut. xxii. 4; AC 2781.) "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." (Exod. xx. 17; AC 8912.) "Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightaway pull him out on the sabbath day?" (Luke xiv. 5.)
In the old time it was the custom for judges and their sons to ride on asses, and for kings and their sons to ride on mules. (Judges v. 10, x. 3, 4, xii. 14; I Kings i. 3345; 2 Sam. xiii. 29.) The custom came from very ancient days, when the correspondence of the ass was known. For it was a judge's or a king's duty to listen to the details of natural questions and to decide them wisely. We remember also the prophecy concerning the Lord: "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." (Matt. xxi. 5; Zech. ix. 9.) And we remember how the prophecy was fulfilled when the disciples "brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon." (Matt. xxi. 7.) It was a sign that the Lord had come down to meet men on the plane of the natural understanding; to loose that faculty from its bondage to falsity, and to teach men true natural precepts. (AC 2781.)
Read the story of Balaam's ass. The angel said to Balaam, "And the ass saw me,
The wild ass is a distinct species from the domestic ass, and cannot be tamed. It often stands in the Word for the first natural reason, which has no regard to use, but is critical and perverse. Of Ishmael, who represents this first-developed intellectual power, it is said: "He shall be a wild-ass man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him." (Gen. xvi. 12; AC 1949.)
The horse, we remember, corresponds to the spiritual understanding, or to the affection for thinking and reasoning clearly on spiritual subjects. It is the faculty which understands and enjoys the spiritual meaning of the Word. In the Revelation we read of
"When the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven . . . there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." (2 Kings ii. 11, 12.) Again, when encompassed by the Syrians,
In these and many other passages, chariots are mentioned with the horses. They make the horses more effective in fighting; and carriages and wagons serve a like use in travelling, and exchanging goods. As the horses correspond to the spiritual understanding, the carriages represent principles or "doctrines" concerning the need of communication and the useful ways of effecting it, which facilitate the exchange of intellectual treasures, and help to bring the truth to bear where it is needed. (AC 8215; AE 355; AR 437.)
Noble as the faculty of understanding is, should we ever trust to our intelligence and think that we do not need to depend upon the Lord?
We see that while in the best sense the horse stands for a true spiritual understanding of the Word, horses and chariots in the armies of Israel's enemies must stand for the false reasonings and doctrines with which evil of various kinds attempts to overpower good. So the horses of Egypt, and of Assyria, and of Babylon. (AC 8146, 5321; AE 355; see Lesson xxxviii.)
The ancients, who delighted to perceive the correspondence of natural objects with spiritual, accepted the horse as a symbol of intelligence. Many traces of this ancient wisdom are preserved in Greek mythology. They told of a winged horse, Pegasus, which struck the rock, and the fountain of the Muses broke forth. In this fable they pictured the birth of the sciences from the application of spiritual intelligence to the facts of nature. (AC 2762, 4966, 7729; White Horse 4; TCR 693.) The story of the wooden horse by which Troy was taken, is also a fable, meaning that the Greeks prevailed by greater intelligence and craft. (AC 2762; White Horse 4.)
XV.
SWINE.
Greediness and uncleanness are characteristic of swine. They eat far more than they need, not refusing even the vilest food. What they do not eat they trample in the mud and filth in which they love to wallow. If a person is called a "pig" or a "hog," or is said to be "swinish," we understand that he is unclean and that he wants to get and keep everything for himself. Have we ever seen this disposition in children who have something good to eat? What shall we think of a child who picks all the flowers his hands will hold and tramples on the rest so that no one else shall get them? Are there older people who scrape together money and hoard it up for no useful purpose, enjoying the sense of power it gives them? Swine correspond to this greed for getting and possessing, and to a delight in defiling good things. (AC 4751, 939; AE 659, 1044.)
We are not surprised to find swine among the animals forbidden to the Jews. "And the swine . . . he is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you."
The greed of possessing, especially of possessing money, is by nature strong with the Jews; and because of the correspondence of this love with swine, the people often fell into the sin of keeping swine and eating their flesh. They are called "a people that provoketh me to anger; . . . which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels." (Isa. lxv. 3, 4, lxvi. 17.) Remaining among the graves points to their fondness for unclean ways, in which was no spiritual life. Eating swine's flesh suggests the spiritual wrong of cherishing unclean affections, and the greedy love of possessing for no good use. (AE 659.)
In the Gospels we read how the Lord, once casting out devils in the country of the Gadarenes, suffered them to go into a herd of swine. "And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when He went forth to land, there met Him out of the city a certain man which
Remember the parable of the prodigal son. "The younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." (Matt. vii. 6.) Dogs and swine are here named together, representing appetites and filthy loves. In other places nobler qualities of dogs are recognized, and they represent humble, faithful affections. The verse before us describes the contemptuous rejection of the holy affections and the precious truths of heaven, by those who are in filthy loves. They not merely reject them, but do so with abusive contempt. (AE 1044.) A further meaning of this verse will be seen when we study the pearl. (Lesson xxxv.)
XVI.
THE LION.
The lion has wonderful strength. The muscles of his legs and neck are very large and almost as firm as iron. A lion can strike down an ox, and carry him away in his mouth. The lion is of the same family as our cat. He lives upon other creatures which he kills. His teeth and claws are formidable weapons, and while the cat's tongue is only rough, the lion's is armed with strong, sharp points. The lion's roar strikes all animals with terror. It will be well to read more about lions in the natural history, and to learn from the anecdotes something about their disposition.
Does it appear that lions are cowardly? On the contrary they are remarkable for courage. While they do not, as a rule, attack men, it is not from cowardice, as plainly appears when they are attacked or when the lioness must defend her young. They seem not to know what fear is. Do you think that lions are cruel? They do not deserve to be called so, for they kill only what they need to eat, and do it quickly. They do not kill for the sake of killing, as some creatures do; nor do they, like cats, torture their prey.
There are many stories of lions' faithfulness to their masters, and their gratitude for kindness. We read of lions which have refused to kill small animals given them for food, but have treated them with kindness and made companions of them. The lion is above the mean, deceitful, cruel ways of many members of the cat tribe; there is a generosity and dignity about him which command our respect, and which no less than his strength and courage make him deserving of his title "the king of beasts."
We sometimes compare a man to a lion. "As strong as a lion," we say: or "as brave as a lion." What do we mean when we call one "lion-hearted"? And what is the noblest kind of strength and courage? That which meets physical danger? or that which can speak the truth and boldly fight with evil desires and overcome them? This spiritual strength and courage are called a lion in the Bible. Who has the most perfect strength and courage of all? The Lord. And we have this heavenly strength only as we trust in Him and use His Word as our defence. The power of the Lord's love fighting for us and in us, especially through His Word, is the lion in the best sense. (AE 278; AR 241; AC 6367.)
Can any one remember a passage where the Lord is called a lion, or is compared to a lion? Here is one. "Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a
When we remember what the roaring means, there is a wonderful pathos in these verses of the Revelation. "And the rest of the men ... repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. . . . And he cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth." (Rev. ix. 20, 21, x. 1-3.) It was the Lord who so appeared to John, and the roaring expresses
Once more in the Revelation: "No man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. . . . And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book." (Rev. v. 3, 5.) As we read on we see that the Lion of the tribe of Judah is the same with the Lamb, which we know is the Lord. The opening of the book means the bringing out of the true meaning and the Divine power in the Word, that the real state of all might be revealed by it, that evil might be resisted, and that all things might be reduced to order. The Lord only can do this. He did it at the time of the last judgment, which the Revelation especially describes, and He does it as often as we use the Word to subdue evil in our own hearts. The Lord fights for us from His Word with Divine courage and power. This is meant by His being called the Lion opening the book. (AR 256-267; AE 305-311.) We shall learn by and by that
This helps us to understand the blessing of Judah spoken by Jacob; "Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?" (Gen. xlix. 9; Numb. xxiv. 9.)
It tells of the power of love, especially of the power against evil which belongs to a heart which innocently loves the Lord. Heaven and the Lord are with such a heart, and give it the strength of a lion. (AC 6367-6370; AE 278.) Remember also David's lament for Saul and Jonathan: "They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions." (2 Sam. i. 23.) Saul, the first king of Israel, and Jonathan his son, represent the first principles of Divine truth which rule in a young man's life, and fight against the evil dispositions which are his deadly enemies. These truths give strength and courage because they are from the Lord, and the Lord is in them. This is meant by the words, Saul and Jonathan were stronger than lions. (AE 278, 281.)
Read of the throne of ivory and gold built by king Solomon.
But you have found other passages where lions are spoken of as evil beasts; there they plainly represent not the power and courage of those who love the Lord, but the strength
What lesson do we learn from the story of Daniel in the lions' den? Daniel for his faithfulness to the Lord was cast by king Darius into the den of lions. "Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me." (Dan. vi.) The lions here are an expression of the fierce rage of the men of Babylon against Daniel, or rather, against faithful service of the Lord which refused to bow down to them. Many times in the history of the church, and many times in our own hearts, the spirit of Babylon, which is self-love, has raged with the fury of a lion against the spirit of faithful service of the Lord; but the Lord will always shut the lions' mouths that they shall not harm those that keep themselves innocent and trust in Him. (PP.; AC 10412.)
Recall also the story of Samson, and how when he once went down to Timnath "a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid. . . . And after a time he returned . . . and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and behold there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion." (Judges xiv. 5-9.) We see at once that the lion represents some fierce evil of self-love, which still we may completely overcome
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." (Ps. xxxiv. 10.) The natural lions may go hungry, and so will self-confident courage which relies on its own strength; but love for the Lord and the strength it brings shall never fail. (AC 6367; AE 386.) "Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening." (Ps. civ. 20-23.) As we read these words we think first of the fierce and evil affections which creep forth in times of spiritual darkness.
But the young lions have a better meaning. The roaring of the lions represents the intense desire of angels and of all good hearts, when in their darker, less active states, for a return of the fuller life and strength from the Lord, when the truly human faculties will be called into joyful exercise. (AC 9335, 6367; AE 278.)
SERPENTS.
How are serpents unlike other animals? They have no feet, or perhaps we may say they are all foot, and lie full length upon the ground. Not all serpents are dangerous, though there are some with very violent poison, which is numbing to their victims, and often fatal, and some which are dangerous from their habit of coiling about their prey. Even the harmless snakes are exceeding cautious, and with their gliding, insinuating motion are peculiarly repulsive. Snakes have also the power to fascinate or charm their prey, so that while they terrify, escape is almost impossible.
Serpents are members of the animal kingdom. They therefore correspond to affections of some kind. Does the fact that they lie full length upon the ground suggest that they correspond to high and spiritual affections? Rather it suggests external affections, those which are in closest contact with the body and the world. And what are these most external affections? The enjoyments of the senses. The enjoyment of pleasant taste, and smell, and sound, and sight, and touch - these enjoyments are the spiritual serpents. (AE 581; AC 196, 195.)
Is the enjoyment of pleasant taste, and of other pleasant sensations, necessarily an evil thing? The Lord gave these sensations, with their pleasures, to be useful to us, to help us to adapt ourselves wisely to conditions and circumstances. The sense of feeling warns us to avoid extreme heat and cold and other dangers, and to preserve healthful conditions. The sense of taste when unperverted and wisely educated is a guide in choosing wholesome food. The senses are our point of contact with the world, and their enjoyments enable us to live wisely in the world. These enjoyments are the good serpent, prudent and circumspect. (AE 714.)
And may we in a little deeper sense "feel our way"? If we have a request to make or an opinion to suggest may we approach the subject cautiously, noticing the first sign of favor or disfavor, if need be withdrawing the subject unobserved? Sensitiveness to the attitude of others, enabling one to adapt himself wisely to the situation, we call "tact"; it also is the serpent in a good sense. Even in religious matters is there need of this sensitiveness and caution? for example, in speaking of spiritual subjects with persons whom we wish to interest in them? There is especial need of this prudence here. Was it not this which the Lord meant when He charged the disciples as He sent them forth, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves"? (Matt. x 16; AC 197; AE 581.)
Is there any danger connected with the enjoyments of the senses? May the affection for pleasant tastes and sounds become an evil thing? We know that it may. How such an affection - the appetite for some pleasant but hurtful food or drink, for example - how such an appetite creeps in silently and unobserved, till before we are aware, it holds us in its coils, and can with the greatest difficulty be shaken off! It comes unnoticed. Even when we perceive its presence and are terrified, still it fascinates us till escape seems impossible. It numbs our conscience, our sense of right and wrong, and our perception of spiritual things. We are then its prey. No temptation is more insinuating than this of pleasant sensation. "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." (Gen. iii.; AE 581, 544; AR 455; AC 194-197.)
The poisonous serpents also correspond to the power of the senses to mislead the understanding, when they are not corrected and interpreted by a higher intelligence. How persuasive their arguments are, and apparently how convincing; and yet how false! (AC 195, 6400.) This meaning is plain in the prophecy: "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." (Gen. xlix. 17.) An external state of mind is here described, which takes life in a very natural and superficial way.
Can we now understand in a simple way the story of the temptation in Eden, and the first disobedience? "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. . . . And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. . . . The woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. . . . And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Gen. iii. 1-15.) It was the enjoyment of pleasant things of sense which beguiled men from their innocence, and made them assume to judge for themselves of good and evil instead of listening obediently to the Lord. They began to indulge in what seemed pleasant, to judge by mere outward appearances, and to think that they knew best.
The curse upon the serpent is a revelation of the character of the sensual nature, now that it has become self-indulgent and misleading, and of its relation to the spiritual life. "Upon thy belly shalt thou go," means that the senses and their enjoyments have turned away from the higher life and turned downward to the world and evil. It is not necessary to conclude that serpents originally were raised above the earth, though there is scientific evidence that they did once have legs like lizards. Before men turned to evil, the serpent's contact with the ground symbolized the external nature of good sensual pleasures; it became now a symbol of their aversion from heavenly life and their proneness to evil. Their sole regard for external gratification is described in the words, "Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." There is perpetual warfare between this self-indulgence, with the tribe of evils which spring from it, and the developments of spiritual life. There is enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. (AC 229-249; Cor. 30.)
And what power can conquer for us these most deceitful and deadly tempters? The Lord alone can give us power to overcome.
Nearly the same spiritual lesson is taught in one chapter of the story of the desert journey. "Our soul loatheth this light bread," the people complained, remembering the plenty of Egypt. "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. . . . And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." (Numb. xxi. 5-9.) Plainly it tells of the turning back with longing from the interior satisfactions of a spiritual life, to the indulgences of sensual pleasure. The love of such pleasures bites us with its inflaming poison, and without some help our spiritual life must perish. The only help is to look up to the Lord who has overcome the temptations of the senses, and can give us strength. The raising of the serpent of brass upon a pole represents the Lord's lifting up of the sensual nature in His own humanity, making it good, yes, Divine.
Remember the signs given to Moses by which to prove that the Lord had appeared to him. "The Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. . . . And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand." (Exod. iv. 2-5.) So is our lower, sensual nature if we deny the presence of the Lord with us, and cast it on the ground to do as it will; it is a serpent. But when in the Lord's strength we take this serpent in hand, it is no longer dangerous, but a staff to support our spiritual life. Our helplessness without the Lord to control our appetites, and the change when we accept His help, are proof that the Lord is with us even in our most external life. (AC 6946-6956.) The Lord promised the same sign in His farewell words to the disciples. "And these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name they shall cast out devils; . . . they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them." (Mark xvi. 17, 18; Luke x. 19; A. C. 9013; A. E. 581.)
"And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt not destroy in all my holy mountain." (Isa. xi. 8, 9.) The Lord will protect from the deceitful and deadly allurements of sensual pleasures, and from the influences of hell which inspire them, all who are children in heart - who are innocent in their lives and put their trust in Him. (AC 9013; AE 410, 314, 581.)
How are birds peculiar among animals? Their arms are wings, enabling them to rise above the ground and to fly quickly through the air. Birds also have very quick, sharp sight. An eagle or a hawk as he circles about, high in the air, is watching the little objects on the ground far below. How quick a little bird's sight must be, to fly safely through the woods, in and out among the branches! And we must not forget the sweet songs of some birds and the bright colors of others, which are their means of sharing with us the delights of their happy life.
Being members of the animal kingdom, birds correspond to affections of some sort. Do you think they picture affections for passive enjoyment? No, evidently affections for intense mental activity of some kind. How quickly, almost nervously, birds move, hardly resting long enough to be distinctly seen! They suggest at once the thoughts which "flit" incessantly through the mind; the mental pictures and conceptions - ideas, we call them - which chase one another in rapid succession. The birds with their quick flight and their sharp eyes are much like the affections for forming and enjoying these mental pictures. (AC 3219, 5149; AE 282, 1100; TCR 42.)
When we remember that the birds are the noblest of flying creatures, and that their sight is wonderfully penetrating, we must conclude that they correspond to our enjoyment in mental pictures of the noblest kind. The mental birds enjoy not mere natural scenes, but pictures of human life, which have a living, spiritual interest. (TCR 69; AC 8764.)
Give a thought to the bird's wonderful power of flight, which enables his bright eyes to enjoy such broad and such quickly changing views. To some people, and to some states of mind in us all, nothing seems real and sure but the things of the earth which we can see and feel. But we may learn the substantial reality of spiritual things; states of affection and thought and spiritual influences become as real to us as our natural surroundings, and much more important. We can think of them as of real things; the thought finds in them a substantial support, and delights to look at life from that spiritual point of view. So the mental bird rises from the ground into the air.
Thought which looks at life from the spiritual side, understanding something of spiritual causes and general principles, can take a broad and comprehensive view, seeing many things at a glance and in their true relations.
It seems strange to caution you not to mistake a bird for a horse; yet perhaps it is necessary, our sight of spiritual objects is so dim. The difference is that between gaining an idea of some state of life, and actually coming into it. The horse is the affection for carrying you step by step, by laborious reasoning, into a new state, or of bringing some new element into your life. The bird does not attempt this, but simply gives you a picture, an idea, of another state. You may gain an idea even of the life of heaven, where love to the Lord and the neighbor rule; but to bring your own mind into that heavenly state is another matter and much more laborious.
The sense of the reality of spiritual things, and the power to rest the thought upon them, is as various as the power of flight in different birds. (TCR 42.) See a great eagle soaring without effort high in air, or circling with undazzled eyes towards the sun! A noble bird with such powers of flight and of sight pictures an affection for spiritual thought of the strongest, most searching kind, which rises highest above superficial appearances, and takes the most comprehensive views of life, the most in accord with the Divine wisdom.
In Isaiah we read, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles." (Isa. xl. 31.), They shall become strong in will for what is good, and shall rise into spiritual intelligence. (AC 3901; AE 281; AR 244.) We can now understand more completely the lament for Saul and Jonathan: "They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions." (2 Sam. i. 23.) It tells of the spiritual intelligence and the strength which come with the first principles of Divine truth which are adopted to rule the life. (AE 278, 281.) Again, "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself." (Exod. xix. 4.) Power to grasp intellectually spiritual truth, is the means of lifting us up from natural obscurity into heavenly light. (AC 8764; AE 281.) Of the Lord's care for His people it is said: "He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him." (Deut. xxxii. 10-12.) It tells of the Lord's effort to lift men up to understand spiritual truth in heavenly light, imparting to them of His own Divine intelligence. (AE 281, 283.)
It is easy to see how the eagle, which represents the most spiritual and penetrating power of human thought, may in a supreme sense be a type of the Lord's omniscience and His ever watchful care. What a beautiful symbol of Divine watchfulness - the stately bird soaring above the earth, observing all that goes on below! John saw four animals in the midst of and about the throne. "The fourth beast was like a flying eagle." (Rev. iv. 7.) In this way was expressed the Divine intelligence and guard and providence. (AE 281; AR 245; AC 3901.)
When, in other places, "eagles" are spoken of as evil birds - "Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together" (Luke xvii. 37.) - vultures are usually meant, representing affections for filthy and evil thoughts. Such thoughts abound when spiritual life is dead. (AC 3900, 3901; AE 281.)
In contrast with the eagles, there are multitudes of birds which make comparatively short flights, resting often, and never rising high above the ground. They also correspond to affections for thinking about states of human life, but not profoundly, not abstractly, not rising far above the forms in which spiritual qualities manifest themselves in social and domestic life. In these concrete forms the little birds of the mind enjoy the quickly passing pictures of human life. (TCR 42.)
Some of the little birds have bright plumage, and some delight our ears with song. So they express their gladness. And are happy thoughts content to remain unexpressed? The faculty which delights to see the happy things of human life in the world around us must surely express its delight to the minds and hearts of others. The sweet songs of birds and their bright colors, are but suggestions of the happy thoughts of home and friendship and use and recreation which should find expression in our conversation and our song. (AE 323.)
The Lord's care for the sparrows - and "sparrows" in the Bible is usually a general name for all little birds - suggests His knowledge of all our passing thoughts and His care for them. "Not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father." (Matt. x. 2931.) "Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God." (Ps. lxxxiv. 3.) It is the cry of exiles, perhaps in Babylon, whose thoughts have flown like birds to the beloved courts of the Lord. (AE 282 end.) So our thoughts may delight to dwell upon the life of heaven, and may rise even to the Lord in worship, while still we are far away. (AE 391.)
Instances will occur to every one where birds have a bad meaning. In the parable of the sower, for example: "Some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up. . . . When any one heareth the word and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart." (Matt. xiii. 4, 19.) The fowls here are plainly the enjoyments in untrue and distracting thoughts, which are inspired by evil and cause the Lord's words to be forgotten and without fruit. (AC 778, 5149; AR 757.)
One bird we must especially remember, the dove. We all know its gentle loving nature. It is among birds what the lamb is among animals. And to what affection does the lamb correspond? To innocent love for the Lord and for one another. The dove then corresponds to the affection for thinking innocent thoughts of trust in the Lord and of love for one another. (AE 282; AC 10132.) The likeness of the dove and the lamb is shown in the permission of the Jewish law: "If she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons." (Lev. xii. 8; Luke ii. 24. See also Lev. v. 7 and xiv. 21, 22.)
It means that if we are not as yet able to bring to the Lord the innocent, trustful affection which He desires, we shall at least bring thoughts of trust and innocence, and these are acceptable to the Lord till we are stronger. (AE 314; AC 10132.) "Oh that I had wings like a dove!
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him." (Matt. iii. 16.) The baptism represented the laying aside from our Lord's humanity what was from men. After each such effort there descended upon Him some new gift of Divine innocence, with the happy perception of new possibilities of innocent life among men.
Another bird several times mentioned in the Bible is the raven. The name brings to mind no bright plumage and no sweet songs; it suggests blackness, for this is the raven's color. He is also a clumsy bird, without music in his voice, and somewhat harmful through his habit of preying upon small and feeble animals. These qualities do not suggest an affection for wise, interior thought as the spiritual raven. His blackness suggests ignorance. He is a picture of the ignorant thought of those who have had no, opportunity to learn, or of those who prefer ignorance. (AE 650; AC 4967.)
You remember that Noah, before he sent the dove, "sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth." (Gen. viii. 7.) It is a type of the false thoughts which still are active till the season of temptation is past. (AC 864-868.) But remember how Elijah, when he fled from Ahab, "went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening." (1 Kings xvii. 5, 6.) Elijah, who spoke the Lord's Word so boldly, stands as a type of that Word in its plain, literal form.
FISHES.
The swimming of fishes reminds us of the flying of birds; but their home is in the cold, heavy water instead of the sunshiny air. Fishes themselves are cold creatures; their senses are dull compared with birds; they are voracious feeders; they have no cheerful songs.
Their likeness to birds suggests that fishes correspond to affections for intellectual activity. And what does the fact that they live in the water instead of the air show in regard to the kind of thoughts to which they have relation? Plainly the fishes of the mind enjoy a lower, less spiritual kind of thought than the birds. The water, which is their home, corresponds, as we shall by and by see, to truth of a natural kind - truth of natural science, of worldly industries, of the letter of the Word, and of practical right and wrong. (Lesson xxviii.) This is the atmosphere of thought which the fishes of the mind enjoy. (AR 238, 290.) They do not rise to spiritual things, and to look at life from the spiritual side. (AE 513, 342 AR 405.)
Boys and girls know the interest in gathering facts of natural science.
The noblest of sea creatures are the whales and others of their family, large, warm- blooded, coming to the air to breathe, ranging through the seas and absorbing vast multitudes of little creatures. They picture a very comprehensive interest in scientific knowledge, which enjoys the air and sunshine of spiritual thought, and delights to gather from all departments of natural knowledge evidences of the Lord's love and revelations of His wisdom. (AC 42, 991.)
We have spoken of the interest in natural science as an example of the spiritual fish. The interest in knowledge of worldly affairs is also a spiritual fish, which feeds with eager appetite upon our observations of the world, and may in turn contribute to a noble interest in tracing the Lord's providence in worldly affairs.
Who remembers a passage in the Bible, where fishes are mentioned? Perhaps we can get a glimpse of its spiritual meaning.
We remember, of course, in the story of creation how "God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl, after his kind: and God saw that it was good." (Gen. i. 20, 21.) It is interesting to see how closely the fishes are here associated with the birds, meaning God's gift to men of the affections for gathering natural knowledge and for perceiving spiritual truth. (AC 40, 42.) We remember also the words of the Psalm:
A less familiar passage, but very beautiful and very plain in its lesson, is found in Ezekiel, in his vision of the temple. "Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward. . . . Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither. . . . Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many." (Ezek. xlvii. 1 to 10.) The natural picture is of the healing waters flowing from the temple at Jerusalem, down through the wilderness of Judaea into the Dead Sea, making it fresh and causing it to abound in fish.
Can we also understand what is meant in several places by the water becoming bad, causing the fish to die? "And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died." (Exod. vii. 20, 21; Ps. cv. 29.) The plagues of Egypt were simply outward manifestations of the state of the people. The turning of the water to blood shows that truth in their minds had become falsity; and the death of the fish shows that the affections for gathering knowledge had therefore lost all spiritual life. (AE 513; AC 73167318.) Much the same spiritual condition is described in the Revelation. "The third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died." (Rev. viii. 8, 9; AR 404, 405; AE 513.)
The Lord said in a parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world." (Matt. xiii. 47-492) It tells how we are lifted up by death, out of the atmosphere of natural thought and life, where good and evil appear much alike, into the spiritual world where the real character of each is plainly seen, and separation is possible. (AE 513; LJ. 70.) "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matt. iv. 18, 19; Luke v. 3-11; John i. xxi - 13.) The disciples were fishermen, catching fish from the sea to be food for men. The Lord would enable them to be spiritual fishermen; and spiritual fishermen are those who teach natural truths of science or of the letter of the Word, with the purpose of strengthening the spiritual life. (AC 3309, 10582; AE 600.) The disciples would also be fishers in a sense a little less abstract, for it would be their duty and privilege to lift men up from the atmosphere of natural worldly life into the air and sunshine of spiritual life. (AE 513; AR 405.)
They came to Peter, asking for the tribute to the temple; and the Lord said, "Lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee." (Matt. xvii. 27.) The kings of the earth take tribute of strangers; which implies that the kingdom of heaven in us should be ministered to by those things which are strange or foreign to it. But what is there in a disciple of the Lord, and especially what was there in the Lord Himself, which was a stranger and must pay tribute to the higher life? Nothing which was from above, but the plane of natural life which was from the world, with its affections - for example, its affection for learning, especially from the letter of the Word. The true position of this natural affection, as a servant to the spiritual life, the Lord represented by providing that the tribute should come neither from Peter nor from Himself, but from the fish. (A. E. 513; A. C. 6394.)
Once when the Lord had been teaching the people on the shore of Galilee, He bade the disciples to make them sit down by companies upon the green grass. "And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all." (Mark vi. 5.)
When the Lord appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, and showed them His hands and His feet to prove that He was still present with them in their natural, worldly life, He also asked them, "Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them." (Luke xxiv. 41-43.) This was still another sign that the Lord shares with us all the things of our natural life. Eating the fish shows that He shares with us the things of natural knowledge, and taking the honey shows that He is present in the pleasure of good natural affections. Especially it means that the Lord is with us as in a simple way we gather knowledge from His Word and find it delightful. (AE 513; AC 5620.)
A great variety of little creatures come to mind, crawling, flying, buzzing. There are caterpillars which eat the green leaves so greedily, which afterward hide away in chrysalis or cocoon, and by and by fly about as bright butterflies or moths, sipping sweetness from the flowers. There are the hungry locusts and grasshoppers which have less beauty, and which in some countries come in clouds devouring every green thing. There are the industrious bees which fly about with their busy hum gathering honey for their hives. There are flies which are attracted in swarms to any sweetness or to any unclean thing. There are stinging and biting creatures too, which annoy us and exhaust our patience.
The most highly developed insects, in their mature state, have wings and remind us of the birds as they flit about among the flowers. But they are much less noble creatures than birds; they are feeble things and not highly organized; they seldom fly high, but are attracted from one object to another, and are much at the mercy of the winds.
In a general way it is easy to classify these insect thoughts. Some of them delight in beauty. They love to see and recall the beauties of nature or of art, or beauties of speech and manner. They delight to picture even the outward beauties of heaven. Such affections for thinking of beauty are lovely mental insects. They seem like butterflies and moths which in their colors express such pure delight.
You know that most insects go through stages of development before they gain their wings, often beginning life under water or in the ground. Even the butterfly at first was only a caterpillar. Then he could not fly, but was busy eating and growing, preparing for his more free and happy state. So if we wish to enjoy the highest beauties in painting or music or nature, or of any kind, a season of patient study and usually also a season of rest and silent growth, very like the hungry caterpillar and the quiet chrysalis, must come first. The change from the caterpillar to the butterfly is to every one a symbol of resurrection. Strictly, it pictures the change from the stage when from desire to enjoy beauty or grace of some kind we diligently study and practise it, to the stage when the enjoyment of it is spontaneous. The grandest example of this change is in our going from earth to heaven. (TCR 106, 12.)
It is interesting to remember that silk, the beautiful material which we use for clothing, is supplied us by one of these little creatures which represent our enjoyment in thoughts about grace and beauty. Our enjoyment in thoughts of what is naturally beautiful and graceful finds its highest use in furnishing lovely clothing for the spiritual life. (AE 619, 1144; AR 773; AC 7601.)
Think next of bees. "Busy bees" we call them, humming about from flower to flower, loading themselves with pollen and honey and flying in a "bee line" for the hive, there to leave their burden and return for more. They show their abhorrence of idleness by stinging to death the drones. They show a wonderful instinct for system and order in the regularity of their combs, and in the government of their hives. (TCR 12.) Contrasted with the butterflies, the bees are built for work, while the butterflies are formed for beauty. The bees picture the enjoyment not in thoughts of beauty but in thoughts of order and of practical usefulness. Flowers are signs of approaching fruits, which represent good works. (Lesson xxi.) In these the mental bee finds sweetness. He is impatient with disorder and indolence, and has a sting ready for every drone or for any one who interferes with his business. (AE 619.)
You will at once think of other insects - wasps and hornets which are less noble than bees, and seem really to enjoy giving pain with their stings.
Then there are the flies, which linger so persistently about sweetness, and gather also about everything unclean! Plainly they picture the enjoyment of the thought in hovering about some pleasant scene, till perhaps it interferes sadly with our usefulness; or in dwelling upon some evil and unclean thing in spite of our persistent efforts to drive it away. (AC 7441.)
There are locusts too, large brown grasshoppers we should call them, which in some countries are so destructive. When their army is devouring, it is said that the sound of their jaws can be heard a long way off. Locusts have not the beauty of butterflies; they have not the order and busy usefulness of bees, but enjoy eating every growing thing, almost, it seems, for the sake of destroying. They are however used as an article of food by the poorer people in the countries where they are plenty. These hungry creatures picture the enjoyment of seeing and hearing all that is going on - an enjoyment innocently active in children and becoming almost a passion with some people. The thoughts formed from these hastily gathered impressions are very superficial and are usually untrue, but the mental locust is content, for he has no real desire for truth.
Locusts and grasshoppers are many times mentioned in the Bible, and they always correspond to affections for thinking in a superficial way, from the mere appearance of things, sometimes with a good purpose, but more often for the sake of perverting the real truth. (AE 543; AC 7643; AR 424.)
In Isaiah, contrasting men with the Lord, it is said: "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers." (Isa. xl. 22.) It is especially the littleness and superficialness of man's thoughts which is contrasted with the Lord's perfect wisdom. (AE 543.)
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left." (Exod. x. 12-15.) Remember that the plague's of Egypt were but outward expressions of the spiritual state of people who care only for natural knowledge and natural pleasures. The locusts, which darkened the land and devoured every green thing, picture the affection for thinking from mere impressions of the senses, which destroys all real intelligence. (AE 543; AC 7643; AR 424, 430; TCR 635.) Much the same is meant by locusts in the Revelation.
Smoke was seen arising from the bottomless pit; "and there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power." (Rev. ix. 2-7.)
We read of John the Baptist, that "his meat was locusts and wild honey." (Matt. iii. 4.) John, we know, taught the plain rules of right and wrong from the letter of the Word. The locusts which were his food represent the affection for learning and thinking these external, superficial truths of heavenly life. Here we have the locusts in their best sense. (AE 543, 619; AC 9372, 7643)
The wild honey takes us back to the bees, which are affections for simple thoughts of busy, orderly, economical usefulness. The honey which John ate represents the sweetness of the thoughts of usefulness from the letter of the Word. Honey is very often mentioned in the Bible; and it means the pleasantness of simple thoughts in regard to usefulness. (AC 5620; AE 619.) "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Ps. cxix. 103.) The words of the Lord are compared to honey because they afford such abundance of sweet thoughts of use. (AE 619.) The land of Canaan is called "a land flowing with milk and honey." (Exod. iii. 8.)
XXI.
LEAF, FLOWER, AND FRUIT.
In an earlier lesson (Lesson xi.) we took a general view of the three kingdoms of nature, and we found three classes of mental objects to which they correspond. The animals - warm, sensitive, active - correspond, as we saw, to the warm, sensitive feelings or affections of the heart. And what is there in the mind, alive and growing, but not sensitive like the feelings? Our intelligence or knowledge on many subjects. This is the mind's vegetable kingdom; and the fixed facts and principles on which all things rest are the solid rocks. Ever since we took this general view we have been studying the animals, and in every case, when we asked, To what does this animal correspond? we could answer at once, To some affection.
Now we come to the plants, which all correspond to our knowledge or intelligence or wisdom upon various subjects. (HH 111; AC 3220.) Can we recall a few passages from the Bible where plants in general are mentioned?
Remember what is said of the offerings brought by Cain and Abel - for the animal and vegetable kingdoms are there brought into contrast.
"The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. . . . And out of the ground, made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." (Gen. ii. 8, 9.) The whole picture is descriptive of the spiritual state of those early people. And what in particular do the trees of Eden represent? Their knowledge of many kinds. And with those innocent people knowledge was not laboriously acquired; but they enjoyed perceptions of truth from the Lord. This is suggested by what is said of the trees, that the Lord God planted the garden and made the trees to grow. Trees "good for food," or fruit-trees, evidently correspond to knowledge of how to do useful works.
Before we study particular kinds of plants, suppose we take a typical plant and observe its steps of development from seed through stem and leaf to flower and fruit. Let us choose a fruit-tree as the most complete plant for our study. And the mental fruit-tree is our knowledge in regard to some kind of good use. (AE 739; AC 102.)
The Seed and Root.
Where does the natural tree come from? It grows from a seed. And the seed is from some older tree. How does a tree of knowledge of some good use begin? From a suggestion from some one who already has knowledge of this use. This suggestion is the seed.
The natural seed must settle into the ground and must send out little roots which take firm hold, and which also draw in food for the plant.
The Stem and Leaf.
When a seed has taken root, what is the next step towards bearing fruit? It must send up a stem, perhaps with many branches, and clothe them with green leaves. These leaves are like lungs to the plant. (AC 10185.) They receive the air through little mouths, and in the sunlight take from it food which the plant needs. With this they enrich the sap, and move it around and around in the sunshine till it is ready to become a part of the organic structure of the plant.
Our tree of knowledge sends up its stem and reaches out branches as it makes a plan for doing use. If the use is one which applies in many ways to various relations of life, the plant has many and spreading branches.
Next, we must do a work like that of the leaves. We must consider carefully the information we have gathered; must ponder it well in the best light we have, till it takes its right place as an organic part of our tree of knowledge.
The Flower and Fruit.
The fruit is what the tree lives and grows for, and it corresponds to the use to which our tree of knowledge leads.
But between the leaves and the fruit come the flowers. The parts of a flower, the bright petals and even the stamens and pistils, are modified leaves. They do a work not wholly unlike the leaves, but more delicate; they distil the finer juices for the fruit; and while the leaves were working in a general way for the whole plant and the whole crop of fruit, each flower is working for its own particular fruit. Are there also special thoughts preparing for each useful work as the opportunity draws near? There are; and they are the blossoms of the tree of knowledge. These are happy thoughts, not from mere intellectual delight, but from the more heavenly delight of doing the good use. The bright colors of flowers and their fragrance and honey, picture the happiness of these thoughts made glad by the immediate prospect of accomplishing the use. (AC 5116, 1519.)
Then the fruit, which, as we saw, is the use at last accomplished. Fruit is food for men; and the doing of good uses is real satisfaction to the spiritual life. In the fruit are many seeds; and each use we do shows us many more to do, and gives the suggestion to others to do like uses. (AE 1339; AR 936; AC 10185; TCR 106.)
You will notice that the steps of progress of the tree from the seed to the fruit are in reality the steps of a man's regeneration: first the reception of instruction; next, the intellectual enjoyment in knowledge; and finally the heavenly enjoyment and satisfaction in the good use to which knowledge leads. In the Bible passages which now come to mind, telling of the growth of plants from seed to fruit, the growth of knowledge is described, and, in a broader sense, a man's regeneration. (TCR 106; AC 5115, 5116.)
What spiritual planting is, is very plain in the parable of the sower. "Behold, there went out a sower to sow: and it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, . . . some fell on stony ground, . . . some fell among thorns, . . . and other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased. . . . The sower soweth the word." (Mark. iv. 3-20.) The Lord's words are so many suggestions of duties and good uses which He wishes men to cultivate in their lives.
We read in the Gospel of a tree which bore leaves but no fruit. "And when He saw a fig-tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig-tree withered away." (Matt. xxi. 19.) Do we ever get so far as to think about doing good, and still, even when we have opportunity, not do it? Do we sometimes enjoy knowledge intellectually, but have none of the heavenly satisfaction in doing? Was this true of the Jewish Church when the Lord came to it seeking fruit? (AC 9337; AE 403; TCR 106.)
Can we all see what is meant by fruits in these passages? John the Baptist said: "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. . . . And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." (Luke iii. 8, 9.) The fruits are evidently good works; and it is surely true that knowledge which does not come to works is taken from us, in the other world if not in this. (AC 7690.) Our Lord said of false prophets: "Ye shall know them by their fruits. . . . Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. . . . Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matt. vii. 15 - 20.) Does it mean more than that people are to be judged by their works? A prophet of the Lord was a mouth-piece of the Lord's truth. Impersonally, the truth itself was the prophet. A false teaching is a false prophet. How are we to distinguish between true teachings and false? (TCR 435; AC 5117; AE 403, 212.) "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." (John xv. 5; AC 9258.)
There are beautiful passages which show how unconsciously to us the change goes on from the reception of instruction, through the stage of intellectual interest, to the delight and heavenly satisfaction of doing good.
XXII.
THE OLIVE.
The trees and plants mentioned in the Bible are not all familiar to us who live in another climate; as the olive, the fig, the palm, the cedar of Lebanon. But they have marked characteristics which are easily learned and which show the kind of knowledge to which each corresponds.
The olive is easily cultivated in Palestine, as on all the Mediterranean shores. It is today perhaps the most plentiful tree in the land, and was in the old time so abundant that the country was called "a land of oil-olive." (Deut. viii. 8.) The trees have to our eyes a homelike look. In size and shape they are not unlike apple-trees. The trunk is gnarly and twisted, and in old age often splits up into several stems. The roots live on indefinitely, for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. The wood is of a golden brown color, beautifully grained. The leaves are shaped like willow leaves; they are evergreen, dark olive above but when turned by the winds showing a silvery under side. The flowers are small and white, and are very abundant. And most important of all, the fruit.
"Ye shall know them by their fruits." If we can see what spiritual thing is represented by the olive oil, we shall know that the olive-tree corresponds to the knowledge of this thing, and of how to bring it forth in useful works. First, to what does oil in general correspond?
We know what it is to have "friction" between people who live or work together. What is needed to remove this friction and to make things go easily and smoothly? Is not kindness the oil which must be dropped between, wherever people come in contact? Is this same kindness useful to soften callous hearts, and to heal wounded feelings? Oil also burns with warm, bright light. Does kindly sympathy warm the heart? and does it open our eyes to see how we may be helpful?
There are many sorts of oil which do these things, and are therefore like kindness. But the olive oil, besides serving in these humbler ways, was appointed for use in sacred ceremonies. It was burned in the sacred lamp (Exod. xxvii. 20); it was a part of many offerings (Numb. vii. 13-79); mixed with fragrant spices it formed the ointment used in consecrating the tabernacle and its implements to the service of the Lord (Exod. xxx. 22-30), and in anointing men to be kings and priests, representing the Lord and filled with His spirit. (Lev. viii. 10-12; 1 Sam. xvi.13.) This sacred oil represents more than human kindness; it represents the loving-kindness of the Lord. The tree which bears it is our knowledge of the Lord's infinite kindness and of how to receive of that kindness and bring it forth in works of neighborly love. (AC 10261; AE 375, 638; AR 779.)
The Lord Himself was the Anointed, the Messiah in Hebrew, and the Christ in Greek, because He was perfect love and revealed that love to men in His works and words of infinite kindness. Remember the day in the synagogue in Nazareth when the Lord read, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted. . . . And all bear Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth." (Luke iv. 1822.) How plain it is that the Divine loving-kindness was the oil with which He was anointed! (AC 9954; AE 375.)
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments." (Ps. cxxxiii. 1, 2.) Unity among brethren is like precious oil, for it depends so much on the presence of kindness among them. It is like the anointing oil, for the Lord's loving-kindness must touch the inmost soul, and from Him flow down into the outward things of life, making them kind and good. (AE 375; AC 9806.) Notice how another Psalm uses the words kindness and oil as if they were almost the same thing. "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let Him reprove me: it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head." (Ps. cxli. 5.) If when we read of oil we think of the oil of loving-kindness with its happiness, there is new beauty in many familiar verses. "The oil of joy for mourning." (Isa. lxi. 3.) "And oil to make his face to shine." (Ps. civ. 15.) How kindness shines even through the natural features and makes them radiant! (AE 375; AC 9954.)
Remember the women who came with precious ointment and, as a sign of grateful love, poured it upon the Lord's feet. (Luke vii. 36-47; John xii. 1-8.)
The Lord in a parable likens the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins with their lamps, waiting to join the bridal procession and to go in to the marriage. "And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." (Matt. xxv. 1-12.) Plainly it is the oil of good, kind love which is needed if we would be able to share the life of heaven. The forms of faith and worship - the empty lamps - are not heavenly, nor do they give any light of heavenly intelligence, unless they are filled with this oil of goodness and kindness. If we do not gain this in our life here, we shall not be able to receive it from others hereafter.
You remember what the dove brought in to Noah as a sign that the waters of the flood were abating. "And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive-leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth." (Gen. viii. 11.) The olive-leaf is an emblem of some element of the life of the first innocent days which was handed down to the church which followed. It is a knowledge of the goodness of the Lord, which had been so fully perceived by the innocent people of the Golden Age. (AC 879, 886; AE 638.) The olive-leaf suggests also the first perception of the Lord's loving kindness which gives new hope after a season of temptation.
Finally, let us remember the Mount of Olives which stood guard over Jerusalem; both in its position and in its name an emblem of the Lord's loving care for His people. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever." (Ps. cxxv. 2.) "And in the day time He was teaching in the temple; and at night He went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives." (Luke xxi. 37.)
"I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever." (Ps. lii. 8; AE 638; TCR 468.)
XXIII.
THE VINE.
The vine cannot stand alone, but attaches itself by strong tendrils to a tree or other support that it may rise off the ground into the air and sunshine where it can bear its fruit. The leaves are large; the flowers are small and inconspicuous. The grapes are borne in clusters, each grape being a little sack full of sweet juice which may be easily pressed out as wine. The wine is very unlike the oil which olives yield; it is more like water, but made sweet and spirited in the vine by circulation in the sunshine. It seems like water with sunshine in it.
When we studied the fishes, we thought that the water in which they live is like an atmosphere of merely natural, worldly thought, while the sunny air which the birds love is like an atmosphere of spiritual thought, in which one looks from a more interior point of view and with a recognition of the Lord's providence in all things. In the vine, we find the water drawn up and circulated in the air and sunshine till it becomes infused with life and spirit. Is it possible for the natural truth of science, or of history, or of right and wrong to undergo in us a similar change?
A beautiful example of such transformation is given us in the Lord's sermon on the mount, where the Lord took the plain, literal precepts to them of old time, and presented them in new forms which revealed their heavenly spirit. The stern command, "Thou shalt not kill," becomes "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." "Thou shalt not commit adultery," becomes "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." In raising the natural truths into heavenly light, revealing the heavenly spirit in them, the Lord was "the true vine." In the miracle at Cana also, when the Lord turned the water into wine, He showed His desire and power to turn the commandments into blessings in us as we study and practise them. (John. ii. 1-10; AE 376.)
We called the olive the tree of knowledge of the Lord's goodness; the ability to perceive His goodness and to bring forth something of it in works of neighborly kindness.
Do we see why the vine cannot stand alone, but must attach itself to other objects to rise into the air and bear its fruit? The ability to see and enjoy the Lord's wisdom takes direction and shape from the thing to which it is applied, and bears its best fruit when guided upward from the earth in association with what is elevated and noble. (Compare water, which takes its form and color from that which holds it. Lesson xxviii.)
As we turn to the Bible, we find a man or the church many times compared to a vine. What element in the church or in man's character is especially meant in such comparisons? The spiritual intelligence; the ability to see the Lord's wisdom in natural truths and to bring it forth with delight in works of charity. (AC 5113, 9139.)
"Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. . . . Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it." (Ps. lxxx. 8-16.)
"Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill (literally, in the horn of the son of oil): and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. . . . What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? . . . For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." (Isa. v. 1-7.) This beautiful song of the vineyard is in reality a song of the house of Israel, that is, of the Lord's church. Especially it is the story of the Lord's care for the spiritual intelligence of the church; for its ability to perceive His wisdom and bring it forth in works of charity.
In almost the same words the Lord in the Gospel describes His church. "Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. . . . And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they perceived that He spake of them." (Matt. xxi. 33-45; AE 922; AC 9139.)
Spiritual intelligence was especially characteristic of the Ancient Church, which followed the childlike innocence of Eden and is represented by Noah and his descendants. In the story we read, "And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard." (Gen. ix. 20.) In these few words is described the ability of that church to perceive in natural truths the Lord's spiritual wisdom, and to bring it forth in works of charity. (AC 69.)
To learn what spiritual drunkenness is, turn again to the parable of the vineyard: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!" (Isa. v. 20-23; AE 376; AC 1073; AR 721.) "The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." (Rev. xvii. 2.) These are the words used in the Revelation to describe the terrible falsifications of truth due to the love of ruling over others, especially in the Roman Catholic Church. (AE 1035; AR 721.)
Many times olive oil and wine are named together in the Word: what two elements of the church or of character do they represent? "Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over." (Ps. xxiii. 5; AC 5120; AE 727.) "Wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine." (Ps. civ. 15; AE 375.) The good Samaritan bound up the wounds of him that fell among thieves, "pouring in oil and wine." (Luke x. 34; AC 9057; AE 375, 376, 962; NJHD 87.)
"I am the vine," our Lord says, "ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John xv. 5.) These words have always shown us our need of dependence on the Lord. We see now that they especially teach that all spiritual intelligence is from the Lord, and all ability to do works which are really wise and good. (AC 69, 5113, 9139.) Can we see also why the Lord, in instituting the Holy Supper, "took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood"? (Matt. xxvi. 27, 28.) Of what spiritual gift from Him is the wine a symbol? And it is more than a symbol; it is actually a means of communicating to us the spiritual gift. The wine represents and helps us to receive a perception of the Wise ways of life and of their delightfulness. It is the Lord's blood because we receive from the current of His Divine thought. (TCR 706, 730; AE 376; NJHD 211-213.)
XXIV.
THE FIG-TREE.
The fig is a modest tree, low and spreading, with irregular, ungraceful branches. The leaves are large, dark-green, deeply lobed. A marked peculiarity of the tree is that it bears fruit without visible flowers. A little flower-stalk appears, but instead of blossoming at its tip, it is hollow and bears the little flowers on the inside of its tube. The stem swells, grows soft, and becomes a fig. The fig-tree not only bears fruit without visible blossoms, but begins to form its first crop of figs before the leaves appear. The fruit is sweet and nourishing, very full of seeds, and possessing soothing, healing powers. (2 Kings xx. 7; Isa. xxxviii. 21; AE 403.)
The fig-tree evidently corresponds to a knowledge of good, sweet works of kindness. But contrasted with the olive, the fig is the less noble tree. It is not so large, nor evergreen like the olive, nor so long-lived, nor are its fruits useful in so many ways. The olive represents the knowledge of the Lord's goodness and of how to bring forth His love in good works. The fig represents a knowledge of natural kindness, which not rising to the noble character of the olive, still obediently bears abundant fruits of sweet benevolence. (AC 4231; AE 403.)
What is the meaning of the fact that the figs are borne without visible blossoms, and even before the leaves? Leaves are the intelligent thought preparatory to the use which is represented by the fruit. Flowers are the special thoughts connected with each good work, including the happiest of all thoughts, that we are helping to accomplish some purpose of the Lord's love and wisdom. The natural kind works which the figs represent are done without these leaves and flowers, with little forethought or discretion; they are impulsive and unintelligent; moreover they seem to be one's own and are without the happy sense of serving the Lord.
Once more, contrasting the fig with the olive, why has the olive one large seed and the fig many little seeds? The many seeds suggest the contagiousness of natural kindness; one kind work calls forth a thousand more. But does not the single seed point to the single principle that God is good, from which the spiritual olive grows, while the many seeds of the fig suggest the thousand forms in which the duty of natural kindness appeals to us in the varied relations of life?
Before we turn to see how the fig is used in the parables of the Word, let us notice a relation between the olive, the vine, and the fig.
Canaan was called "a land of wheat and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey." (Deut. viii. 8.) The knowledge of external goodness and kindness, the spiritual intelligence, and the knowledge of the Lord's goodness, which belong to the heavenly life, are represented by the three trees which we have studied. (AE 619, 403.) "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat." (Habakkuk iii. 17.) It pictures a time when spiritual life languishes; when there is a lack of good life in each of its three forms. "Yet will I rejoice in the Lord." (AE 403; AC 9277.)
Read Jotham's parable: "The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive-tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive-tree said, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?
"Beware of false prophets . . . ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" (Matt. vii. 15, 16.) We remember that "prophets," in an impersonal sense, are truths, or what claim to be truths; and we are to judge them by the life to which they lead. Can selfish scheming lead to works of wise, heavenly charity? or to works full of sweet natural kindness? Such works can never grow from false and selfish principles with their spiteful, cruel thoughts. (AE 403; AC 5117.)
Of the peaceful days of Solomon it is said that "Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree." (I Kings iv. 25.) And again, "In the last days . . . they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid." (Micah iv. 1, 4.) These are beautiful pictures of peace and domestic happiness. They tell also of a state of spiritual peace, when temptations shall cease, when the mind shall be busy with plans for works of spiritual wisdom and of natural kindness, and shall find in these protection against the intrusion of evil feelings and false thoughts. (AE 403; AC 5113.) The Lord said of Nathanael, who was to become one of the apostles, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto Him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee." (John i. 47, 48.)
"He spake also this parable: A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it clown; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." (Luke xiii. 6-9.) Already we have found the vineyard used as representative of the Lord's church, especially of its spiritual intelligence. Here we read of "a fig-tree planted in the vineyard." It means the church's knowledge of what is kind and good in outward life, which the Lord desires should bear fruits of natural kindness. How often does the Lord come seeking this fruit, but finds none! How little such fruit there was in the Jewish Church at His coming! The pleading of the dresser of the vineyard to give the tree another chance, pictures the Lord's own solicitude that His church, and every one, be given every possible opportunity to bear the fruit of good, kind works. (AE 403. Compare Abraham's entreaty for Sodom. Gen. xviii. 23-33.)
As the Lord with His disciples passed over the Mount of Olives from Bethany to Jerusalem, "he was hungry: and seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He might find any thing thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. . . And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig-tree dried up from the roots." (Mark xi. 12-14, 20.) Once more the fig-tree is a type of the church or of each man's heart. What is meant by its bearing leaves but no fruit? It means that there is abundant knowledge of what is good and kind; that we perhaps go so far as to think about doing kind works, but do not do them. How barren was the Jewish Church of good, kind works, in spite of the sacred law of which they were proud! How little of such fruit the Lord finds today, in spite of still fuller teaching of good life! Take warning! Knowledge which is held in this idle way, sooner or later - in the other world if not in this - will wither away and the ability to enjoy doing works of kindness will be gone forever. That "the time of figs was not yet," suggests that a time is at hand when good, kind works will abound. (AE 386, 403, 109; AC 885.)
"And He spake to them a parable; Behold the fig-tree and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand." (Luke xxi. 29-31.) The budding of the trees, especially of the fig-tree, is promised as a sign of the Lord's second coming. Is not the promise fulfilled today in the wonderful growth of useful knowledge of every kind? and especially in the great development of natural charity and benevolence? (AE 403.)
XXV.
THE PALM
The date palm is the one always meant in the Bible; it is the most common and the most useful of the large family of palms. The tree has one single stem which never branches, but rises like a straight, slender column to a great height, and bears at its top a crown of very large and graceful feather-shaped leaves. The old leaves gradually drop off below and new ones grow from the centre, keeping the crown always full and green. The flowers are borne in large clusters of many thousands, which hang from among the leaves. The staminate and pistillate flowers are on separate trees, and the Arabs are accustomed to cut the pollen-bearing clusters and tie them in the fertile trees that the fruit may be full and good. The dates are the main dependence of the people in countries where they grow, eaten fresh and preserved in many ways. Other parts of the tree are also useful, especially the large, strong leaves with their tough fibre.
The palm is remarkable for growing in the deserts. It seems to enjoy the greatest heat if only there is water for its roots.
The remarkable shape of the palm gives us a hint of the kind of knowledge to which it corresponds. The low, wide-spreading branches of the fig seemed appropriate to a knowledge of natural kindness which reaches out on every side in lowly uses. But the palm has no branches, and its tall stem points straight up towards heaven. The knowledge to which it corresponds must relate to one single exalted theme, and the one supreme subject of knowledge is the Lord.
A second help we find in the fact that the palm is the tree of the desert. There are deserts in our lives, and what kind of states are they? Barren states, when there is little that makes life happy. The children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan, representing the states of privation and trial when we are giving up natural and evil pleasures and have not yet learned the blessedness of a heavenly life. The Lord was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, the wilderness representing the state of conflict and distress before good had gained possession and become fruitful in His life.
"The victor's palm," we say; we "yield the palm" to one who excels; and from very ancient days a palm-leaf has been an emblem of victory. The Greek goddess of victory was represented with a palm-leaf in her hand. It is a relic of the ancient perception that the palm-tree corresponds to a knowledge of the truest kind of victory; a knowledge of the power of the Lord's commandments to conquer in spiritual conflict.
Two passages in the Bible make the meaning of the palm very plain. "On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." (John xii. 12, 13.) "Branches of palm-trees" are the great spreading leaves. The meaning of the palms is explained by the people's cry: "Hosanna (save now): Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." The palms are grateful and joyful acknowledgments of the Lord's saving power; of the power of His commandments to conquer in temptation, and to lead into all that is good.
The children of Israel as they journeyed from Egypt, after some days in the desert, "came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees: and they camped there by the waters." (Exod. xv. 27.) A state of peace is described after a season of temptation, an oasis in the journey of life, when the Lord's words come with abundant refreshment, and there springs up a grateful sense of the power of His truth to save. (AC 8366-8370; AE 458.) At length the desert journey was ended, and the people crossed the Jordan into the promised land. This stream at the entrance of the land, where afterward John baptized and preached repentance, represents the Lord's commandments in their power to cleanse the life from wrong. Crossing the Jordan, is entering the heavenly life by full acceptance of the commandments as the laws of life.
For a similar reason palm-trees were carved on the walls and doors of the temple. "He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, within and without (both the most holy and the holy chambers). . . . The two doors (the two leaves of the door between the chambers) were of olive-tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm-trees. . . . And the two (outer) doors were of fir- tree . . . and he carved thereon cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work." (1 Kings vi. 29-35; Ezek. xli. 18-20) The temple was so built that it represents every true dwelling-place of the Lord. (Lesson xli.) It represents heaven, and a heavenly state in every heart, much the same as the promised land.
"The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree." (Ps. xcii. 12.) Plainly it is a promise that those who try to do right shall have an increasing knowledge of the power of the Lord's commandments to defend from evil and to lead to good. The whole Psalm is a grateful confession of this saving power. (AR 367; AE 458; AC 8369.)
XXVI.
GRAINS.
The trees we have studied bear their fruit year after year, at the same time adding to their strength and the spread of their branches. The grains are very different. They are small, slight plants which must grow together in great numbers to thrive or to be of use. They also are short-lived, growing quickly to their full size, bearing their fruit, and dying; needing to be sown again for another crop. There is a similar difference between the kinds of useful knowledge to which the fruit-trees and the grains correspond. The good works which fruits represent are done from time to time as there is opportunity, the knowledge in regard to them growing stronger and more far-reaching year by year. The grains correspond to no such long-lived and comprehensive knowledge, but to little plans for use which would be trifling if they stood alone, but which coming together in great numbers make up a day. The grain itself in comparison with the fruits, is hard and dry and less attractive, but still is more important than the fruits as food. The fruits are delicious and refreshing, but the grains are the main support of life.
It matters little what the work is that falls to us to do; the satisfaction we find in it, the support to our spiritual life, depends upon the motive in which we do it. Duties may be done from a great variety of motives. They may be done from necessity, or for the money they bring, or because it is right to do them, or from real enjoyment in being useful to others, or, best of all, they may be done for the Lord, in the effort to serve Him, following His example and His commandments. Duties done from lower motives may serve as well in supplying external needs; only the nobler motives are strengthening to the spiritual life, the real man. So the coarser grains are food for animals, but the noblest grains are more nourishing to human beings.
Name some of the different grains. What is the noblest of them all? Wheat is the grain best suited for food for men. It bears generously, but is more tender than some other grains, and needs good, rich soil. Another grain often mentioned in the Bible together with wheat, is barley. It is much like wheat, but is a smaller plant, more hardy, the heads protected by long, conspicuous beard.
What is the noble motive of duty to which wheat corresponds, which thrives only in the soil of "an honest and good heart," but which makes the daily uses the greatest possible strength and satisfaction to the spiritual life? Wheat surely corresponds to duty done for the Lord. And to what does the humbler companion, barley, correspond? To the doing of duties as of ourselves, yet with pleasure in increasing the comfort of others. This principle of duty grows more easily than the nobler motive, and although good, is not so nourishing to the spiritual life. (AC 7602-7605; AE 374; AR 315.)
To what do the stalk and blade of the grain correspond? To the plan and thought preparatory to the doing of duties. "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." (Mark iv. 28; AC 3518, 10669.) Grasses belong to the same family with grains, but they are useful only for their stems and blades, producing no edible seed. What do they represent? Knowledge and thought about duties with no immediate intention of doing them; for example, children's interest in learning about, and imitating in their play, things which are serious duties to older people.
We have thought of grains nobler and humbler, and of grass which bears no edible seed; what shall we say of tares? They are a troublesome weed among the grain, the blade hardly distinguishable from the blade of wheat. The head is thin, but the seeds are heavy and with difficulty separated from the good grain; they are also somewhat poisonous. This evil plant, so like the good grain, suggests duties done to all appearance from the best of motives, but really with a selfish purpose which is hurtful to the spiritual life. In this world duties done in this spirit are not surely to be distinguished from those done for the Lord and the neighbor, but in the other world the real character of the work is plain. "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn. . . . The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels." (Matt. xiii. 30, 38, 39; AE 911, 374, 426; CLJ. 10; TCR 784.)
Many passages from the Bible come to mind; in some, wheat and barley are mentioned; many times bread is named; "corn," we must remember, is used in the general sense of grain, especially wheat.
Recall the description of the promised land: "A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey." (Deut. viii.8.) We have now studied all but one of these promised blessings. (For pomegranates see AC 9552.) The wheat and barley are the genuine satisfaction, in the heavenly state of life, in doing the little duties in the service of the Lord and of one another. (AC 3941, 7602; AE 374.) Why was the blessing of abundant harvests with the Israelites so dependent on their strict obedience to the Lord? Because the harvests represented the spiritual satisfactions which are found only in serving Him. "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command thee this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land . . . that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full." (Deut. xi. 13-15.)
Remember the years of plenty and of famine in the land of Egypt. "And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. . . . And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea. . . . And all countries came into Egypt to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands." (Gen. xli. 48-57.) The years of famine picture a time when plans for usefulness do not flourish and there is little satisfaction felt in doing good. At such times we must rely upon our memory of what we have learned is right and good in happier times. And we all have such a store laid up from the days when as children we learned the satisfaction of doing our duty well. (AC 5342.)
We have seen how earnestly the Lord desires to teach men the right ways of doing life's duties, that they may find in them the fullest satisfaction.
On two occasions the Lord not only compared His instruction to grain, but He actually gave bread from His hand and fed the multitude. "Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the (barley) loaves; and when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would." (John vi. 10, 11.) Why did He feed them with barley loaves and not with "the finest of the wheat"?
This same purpose in His coming into the world - to teach us to do life's duties from heavenly motives, and to find in them strength and satisfaction for our souls - the Lord emphasizes when He says, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (John vi. 51; AC 3813, 9412; TCR 707; AE 617.) The Lord still is with us in His Holy Supper to give us this same help.
TIMBER-TREES.
Fruit-trees correspond, as we have seen, to growing knowledge in regard to good uses of many kinds. The good work itself is the fruit; the trunk and branches and leaves are the planning and thinking with intellectual pleasure, which prepare for the good works. And as the trunk grows larger and stronger year by year, so the understanding of the principles relating to any use, and the ability to do the use, grow stronger with experience.
Are there some trees which are useful, but not for their fruit? The oaks and pines and spruces and many more bear fruit of little value, but still are among the most useful of trees, for their trunks give us timber, good especially for building houses to protect us from the weather. What must such trees represent? Not knowledge which leads to some useful work, but knowledge - intelligent understanding of one kind or another - which is useful in itself in helping us to live in safe and orderly ways. It is interesting to notice that many of the timber-trees are evergreen; for while the thought about useful works may be active for a season and then rest, there are some principles which regulate and protect our daily lives which cannot be allowed wholly to rest for a single day. (AC 102; AE 739.)
The oak is a tree far more useful for its wood than its fruit. Like many Bible words, the name "oak" is used in a somewhat general way, including other trees of similar character and appearance. The oak is a sturdy tree, with very deep and spreading roots, strong, wide-reaching branches, and wood which in a remarkable degree combines the qualities of strength, hardness, toughness, and durability. The oak stands in common speech as a type of strength and toughness. If we remember that all trees picture the human understanding, the oak suggests a mind not intent upon the most heavenly uses, not the most graceful nor orderly in its arrangement, but characterized by a firm and tenacious grasp, unyielding even in trifling details, almost to the point of obstinacy. This is not the quality of an interior perception of spiritual principles, which becomes yielding in external and unimportant details, but it is the quality of the grasp of the simpler, more natural principles of right in the mind of a child or of one in the first step of regeneration. In the Bible we find the oak used as a symbol of such a knowledge of simple, natural principles of right, held not with great intelligence, but with firmness. (AC 4552; AE 504, 514; CL. 78.)
When Abram journeyed at the Lord's command from his eastern home, "they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the oak of Moreh." (Gen. xii. 5, 6.) This journey describes childhood's advance from a natural life to a spiritual life; and this oak, which marked the first camping place in the land, represents the first grasp of the principles of heavenly life, not yet with much intelligence, but with firm resolution. (AC 1442, 1443) Presently Abram journeying southward, "moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron." (Gen. xiii. 18.) This tells of advance into a fuller and truer, but no less resolute, perception of the principles of heavenly life. (AC 1616.) It will not surprise us to find the oak mentioned sometimes with words of rebuke; for how easily the first and natural understanding is deceived or becomes self-confident! (Isa. i. 29, 30, ii. 13; AC 4552; AE 410, 504, 514.)
The noblest of the timber-trees mentioned in the Bible is the cedar of Lebanon, which still is found in groves in the ravines of the mountains from which it takes its name, but is not now so plenty nor does it grow so large as in the old time. The cedar of Lebanon is a fine evergreen tree with light but fragrant and enduring wood.
A tree so majestic as the cedar, growing on the lofty mountains and used in building the temple of the Lord, must correspond to some power of understanding of a very noble kind. We have thought of the palm with its lofty, unbranched stem as picturing a knowledge which relates to the Lord alone; the spreading branches of the fig and the oak have suggested kinds of knowledge which reach out into the many relations of natural life. Here is a tree which is lofty and at the same time wide-spreading, but which is orderly in its arrangement, spreading its branches in distinct and separate planes one above another. It suggests an understanding which rises to the highest things and which clearly distinguishes the lower from the higher; which sees the distinctness and the true relation between natural things and spiritual, and the relation of all things to the Lord. "By Asshur, the cedar in Lebanon (Ezek. xxxi. 3-8), is signified the rational mind, which is formed from natural knowledge on the one part, and from the influx of spiritual truth on the other." (AE 650, 654; AR 875; Lesson xxxviii.)
It is briefly stated by Swedenborg that the cedar of Lebanon signifies "a spiritual rational church, such as was the church among the ancients after the flood." (AE 1100.) We know that it was the delight of those people to see the relation of natural things and spiritual; to read in nature lessons of heavenly life, and to express spiritual truths in allegory and fable. (CL. 76; AC 4288.) This is a beautiful example of the knowledge which the cedar of Lebanon represents. We are ourselves, in our attempt to understand the correspondence between natural things and spiritual, planting and cultivating the cedar.
Recall a few of the many passages in which cedars of Lebanon are mentioned in the Bible, and think of the trees as types of a noble, rational faculty. "The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." (Ps. xcii. 12.) It is a promise to those who do right, of increase in knowledge of the Lord's saving power, and of rational understanding of spiritual subjects. (AE 458; AC 8369.) "I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon." (Hos. xiv. 5, 6.) The gradual development of rational powers under the gentle influence of the Lord's truth is described, till the wise perception of truth is attained which is suggested by "the smell of Lebanon." (AE 638.)
We all associate the cedars of Lebanon with the building of Solomon's temple. Solomon directed Hiram: "Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar-trees out of Lebanon. . . . So Hiram gave Solomon cedar-trees and fir-trees according to all his desire. . . . And he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. . . . And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar." (1 Kings v. 6, 10, vi. 9, 15.) We may think of the temple as a Divinely given picture of states of worship and religious life in which the Lord can dwell with us. How useful in ordering wisely a religious life and in establishing it securely, is a strong rational understanding of spiritual things and of their relation to nature on the one hand and to the Lord on the other! Beams and planks of cedar seem peculiarly appropriate as walls, helping to show the true relation between what is external in religion and worship, and the holy states within. (AC 7918, 8369.)
Sometimes, as in the case of the oak, the cedar "high and lifted up" is mentioned with words of warning and rebuke; for this rational power is easily abused, making one proud and self-confident. (AE 514, 410.)
The cypress and some other humbler evergreens are probably included in the general name ,"fir," a wood used with the cedar in the building of the temple. The cypress rises in a slender, tapering spire of close, dark, evergreen foliage. Its wood is one of the most enduring, and even when exposed to the weather lasts for hundreds of years. The cypress has to us a sombre, funereal look. But it was not a feeling of sadness which caused men in ancient times to plant cypress-trees in cemeteries. The upward-pointing spires led the thought to heaven and immortal life. The tree was an emblem of knowledge of immortality. Its straight and single aim, together with this ancient association of the tree with thoughts of immortality, suggests that it corresponds to a knowledge of eternal life. May not this tree well have been among those used for the floor and outer doors of the temple? "He covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. . . . And the two doors (the two leaves of the outer door) were of fir-tree." (1 Kings vi. 15, 34.) How many of us enter into states of real worship and of nearness to the Lord, through learning of the eternal life when friends pass to the other world! Are we not entering into the temple by doors of "fir-tree," and standing upon the floor of "fir"? (AC 1443; AE 654, 730; CL. 77.)
One other tree let us briefly consider, the "shittim wood" of the desert. It is an acacia, very thorny, and with close-grained, very enduring wood. From its branches gum-arabic is gathered. The shittah-tree, like the palm, is a tree of the desert; which suggests that it corresponds to some kind of knowledge which grows in times of temptation and spiritual distress. The thorns which cover the tree are another indication of its meaning. Thorns, where we look for leafy twigs and blossoms, in a bad sense correspond to thoughts not busy in preparing for kindly uses, but sharp and cruel, which wound and annoy. But thorns have a use in protecting a plant from harm. Such thorns are like thoughts in regard to protection and self-defence. This thorn-tree of the desert, sacred from association with the ark and tabernacle, corresponds to a knowledge of the Divine protection on which we must rely in seasons of temptation. It is a humbler knowledge than the palm, which is the exultant sense of salvation when through the Lord's power comes victory and a season of consolation. (AC 97 I 5, 9486, 10178, 6832; AE 375.)
It was a small species of this thorn-tree of the desert in which the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire. (Exod. iii. 2.) And so, as we learn from experience how the Lord fights for us and protects us from evil, and as we learn to use His Word as a practical defence, our eyes are opened to perceive the greatness of the love from which He fights for us and which lies concealed within His Word. This is the holy flame in the thorny bush. (AC 6832-6834.)
The walls of the tabernacle were made of this same wood (Exod. xxxvi. 20-34), as also the ark for the commandments and other articles of sacred furniture, being covered with gold or brass. (Exod. xxxvii. 1, 2.) So our knowledge of the Lord's power continually protecting us from evil makes possible the holy states of life and worship which the tabernacle and its furniture represent. (AC 9486, 9490, 9634, 9635.) Even when the desert journey was long passed and in Solomon's peaceful reign the temple was built - even then, when the simple planks of the tabernacle walls gave place to stone, and to fir and cedar and olive, still the little ark of desert thorn-tree was set in the inmost shrine, containing the tables of the commandments. (1 Kings viii. 4-9.) So it will always be. However glorious and happy life may become in this world or in heaven, still that knowledge of the Lord's protection which we gained in hours of temptation will ever lie nearest to the Lord and guard His presence in our inmost soul.
XXVIII.
WATER.
In what two ways is water useful to us personally? It is useful for washing and for drinking. Water cleanses because it has the power of penetrating between the body and dirt which stains it, and so loosens it and carries it away. Water which we drink, besides being cleansing, has also the use of softening and dissolving food which will be nourishing to the body, and circulating it through the currents of the body to the parts which need it.
Water circulates through the great world around us much as it does through the little world of our own body. It falls as rain and snow, runs through the springs into the brooks, and so into the rivers and at length to the sea. There it still sweeps on in great ocean currents, and ebbs and flows with the tide, till it is drawn up into the clouds, and by and by falls again as rain. And wherever it comes it cleanses the air and the earth. Also it sets useful things in motion. Gradually it wears away the rocks and forms fertile meadows; it dissolves from the earth nourishment for the plants and carries it up by their roots and branches into the leaves and fruit.
First, the use for washing. Suppose we find a child who has been playing in the city street, and is stained with dust and dirt. Suppose the child has also met bad company and come in contact with bad influences, and has become spiritually unclean and stained. What shall we do for this child? To clean his body, we shall take water and wash away the dirt. To help him spiritually, we shall begin kindly to teach him that some things are wrong, and to show him the difference between wrong and right. And this does for him spiritually just what the washing did for him naturally; it distinguishes and so separates between the child's real life and the unclean things which cling to him, and helps him to throw them aside. What is the spiritual water which has done this cleansing for his character? It is the plain instruction, or truth, to use a shorter word, in regard to right and wrong. (AR 378; AE 475 .)
Second, the use for drinking. Have you ever tried to listen to a lesson or to learn one from a book, and given up in despair because it was so dry that you could not relish it?
Again, suppose we are in a fever of excitement. We are in danger, are dreading some misfortune, are anxious, and feel utterly helpless. If now some one comes to us who is perfectly cool, and in a calm, practical way points out to us what of the dangers can be avoided, and what can and should be done, the advice cools our excitement and anxiety and sets the currents of our paralyzed thought in motion. Here also it is the plain, practical advice, or truth, showing what can be done under the circumstances, which comes to us with the refreshment of cooling water. (AC 8568; AE 71.)
We have sometimes, when enthusiastic in some enterprise, had our ardor "dampened" by practical advice - too cruelly practical, perhaps. We say that "cold water" is thrown upon our project.
Water falls from, the sky as rain. Does practical truth of life ever come into the world in a corresponding way? It comes as rain when it comes from the Lord in His Holy Word, or as a gentle perception from within, showing what is right and wise. (AC 3579; AE 644.)
Water runs through the streams into the salt sea. What becomes of practical truth which we learn? It is active for a time in our minds, or in the public mind, and is perhaps the moving power of "current events." Then is it lost and forgotten? No, but it is laid away in the storehouse of memory and history, colored and flavored by the applications which have been made of it. (AE 275; AC 28, 9755.)
Water sometimes falls as snow, or takes the form of ice. It is the same water but takes these forms when the weather is cold. Are we spiritually sometimes in warm and sometimes in cooler states? (Lesson iv.) The cool states are when our affections are not active. If we then hear truth from the Lord's Word or elsewhere, we receive it with intellectual enjoyment in its beauty, but with no desire to put it into immediate use. It lies in idle drifts, or as hard facts.
So many beautiful passages from the Bible come to mind, that you can easily find them for yourselves. We will suggest just a few which will help to make clear the correspondence of water with plain truth of right and wrong, and of what is practicable to do.
"Wash you, make you clean," the Lord commands by the prophet Isaiah. We know it is a command to remove from our lives what is not good, even before we read the words which follow: "Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well." (Isa. i. 16, 17; TCR 670-673.) Frequent washings were required of the Jews (Lev. xxii. 6, etc.), especially of the priests, at the laver in the tabernacle or temple court. (Exod. xxx. 17-21.) The Pharisees kept these laws in a literal way. "For the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not." (Mark vii. 2-4.) But the laws had an inner meaning which they did not keep. The external washings were representative of cleansing of the heart from "evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man." (Matt. xv. 19, 20.) The water itself by which the spiritual washing is done, is the Lord's plain teaching of right and wrong, especially His ten commandments. (AR 378; AE 475; AC 3147, 10243, 10244.)
Why did John the Baptist baptize those who listened to his message? Was that natural washing a picture of some spiritual work which he was doing at the same time? Read Luke iii. 3-17, and show me the spiritual water which John was applying to those who came to hear him. (AE 475, 724; TCR 690.) We still use water in the sacrament of Baptism to represent the cleansing of our lives from evil, by the guidance and power of the Lord's commandments. The sacrament gives real help in doing this spiritual work. (TCR 670673; AC 10386-10392; AE 475; NJHD 202.)
When the Lord sent two disciples to prepare the passover, He said, "Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in." (Luke xxii. 10.) What does this teach us must be our guide, if we would prepare for union with the Lord? (TCR 722.)
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord . . . . they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." (Amos. viii. 1, 12.) The passage explains itself.
"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." (Deut. xxxii. 1, 2.) These beautiful verses say distinctly that the Lord's teaching and speech are the rain and dew of the soul. As the rain falls with gentle, cooling refreshment to the tender plants, so the Lord's teaching encourages and quickens our growing knowledge even of humble and simple kinds. (AC 3579; AE 644.) "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isa. lv. 10, 11.)
Your Father in heaven "maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. v. 45.) The shining sun pictures His love, and the rain His truth, which He sends continually to all, even to the unthankful and the evil. (AE 644; DP 173, 292; AE 401.)
Remember what is said of the promised land; that it is "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." (Deut. viii. 7.) "For the land whither ye go to possess it is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land whither ye go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven." (Deut. xi. 10, 11.)
What is meant spiritually by these words of the Lord: "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward"? (Matt. x. 42.) We give a cup of water when we give some true instruction, encouraging to innocent, childlike affection; or when we embody something of the truth we know in a good act, however small. We do it in the name of a disciple when we give not as if the truth were our own, but acknowledging that it is received by us from the Lord. (DP 230; AE 624, 695.)
As we are lifting our thoughts from natural water to the spiritual water of plain truth of life, with its corresponding uses, remember the Lord at Jacob's well, and His words to the woman of Samaria:
Through many such passages we become accustomed to water as the symbol of truth in regard to what is right and wise; in its best sense, truth received from the Lord in His Word, but in its plain, natural form, applicable to practical daily life. What does water mean in the Psalm where we read: "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: . . . then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul; then the proud waters had gone over our soul"? (Ps. cxxiv. 2-5.) Plainly it means teaching that is false and thoughts that are not true, against which we need the Lord's protection. (AE 518; AR 409.)
What two dangers into which evil leads us and from which the Lord saves us, are suggested by fire and water in passages like these? "Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: and ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water." (Matt. xvii. 15.) "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." (Isa. xliii. 2; AC 739; AE 504, 518.)
XXIX.
CLOUDS.
The same water which makes the streams and seas, also forms the clouds of the sky. Sometimes the clouds are dark, shutting out the sunshine; at other times they are piles of snowy whiteness, multiplying the light; and again they reflect the morning and evening sunbeams, and glow with tints of red and gold. Clouds are the source of rain, and they also temper for us the sun's heat and light.
We have already read: "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." (Deut. xxxii. 2.) "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, . . . so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth." (Isa. lv. 10, 11.), Water on the earth is like truth about life in the world; water in the sky is like truth about the Lord and heaven, and about our own thoughts and feelings which form the heaven of our little world. The truths about the Lord and heaven, and the universal principles of life as they come to us in the letter of the Word, are like clouds; and these clouds descend as rain when we receive the truths and apply them to our life in the world.
Does the letter of the Word serve another use, corresponding to the use of clouds in shielding us from the heat and brightness of the sun? Plainly the simple truths of the Word in regard to heaven and the Lord are such a protection from the heat of evil passions; and this is evidently meant in the prophet where we read: "Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat. . . . Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud." (Isa. xxv. 4, 5; AE 481; AR 382.)
But in another way the simple truths of the Word in regard to heaven and the Lord are like sheltering clouds which transmit the heat and light of the sun to us, but accommodated to our feeble eyes.
When the commandments were given to the children of Israel from Mount Sinai, we read: "It came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled." (Exod. xix. 16.) What does the thick cloud show in regard to the openness of the people to the Lord, and their ability to receive His truth? It shows that their knowledge of Him was very obscure, and that His truth could be received only as stern, literal commandments which inspired fear and wholly concealed from them the Lord's tender love. (AC 8814; AE 594.) Remember also that as the people journeyed "the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light; to go by day and by night."
We read in the Gospel that the apostles were "sore afraid " on account of the glory of the Lord on the mountain of transfiguration. "And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves." (Mark ix. 7, 8.) The Lord's face shining as the sun, and His raiment white as the light, revealed something of the glory of His Divine love and wisdom, more than the disciples were able to bear. The cloud - a bright cloud, it is called in Matthew - represented the simple forms of truth in which the Lord accommodated His love and wisdom to their feeble comprehension. (AC 8106; AE 64, 594; SS. 48.) In the Revelation we read: "And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: . . . and his face was as it were the sun." (Rev. x. l.) It was the Lord who so appeared in angel form, and the cloud represents the means by which He accommodates His Divine presence to men, especially the letter of His Word. (AR 466; AE 594.)
And now you do not need to be told the meaning of the Lord's prediction, "They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. xxiv. 30; xxvi. 64); nor of these words in the Revelation: "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." (Rev. i. 7.) The clouds are those of the letter of the Word which have brought the Lord to men, but very obscurely. These clouds are opened as the spiritual sense of the Word is revealed, everywhere teaching us truly and plainly of the Lord. (AC 4060, 10574; SS. 112; TCR 271; EU. 171.)
In a glorious chapter predicting the Lord's coming we read: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come. . . .
"And God said, I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and I will remember My covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh." (Gen. ix. 14, 5.) The rainbow with its lovely colors is made by the shining of the sunlight through falling rain, seen usually against dark clouds.
SUN, MOON, AND STARS.
We have come very near to our present subject in studying heat and light. (Lessons iii. and iv.) Both heat and light are from the sun. Its enormous mass is clothed with flames which give forth heat to its family of earths, and the intense heat gives rise to dazzling light. The moon has nothing of its own to give, but reflects to us from the sun a cool white light, with very little warmth. The stars give us light, but very little. Even the brightest of the fixed stars to the most powerful telescope shows no disc at all, only a beam of light, just enough to reveal the fact that a sun is there. The fixed stars are distant suns; the planets, like little moons, reflect our sun's light.
Remind me what spiritual warmth and light are. The heart grows warm with kind affection, and the mind is enlightened by intelligence. We do not originate these blessings, but the Lord gives them to us, sharing with us something of His love and wisdom. When our hearts are open to receive pure affection from the Lord, and our minds enjoy the clear perception which pure affection brings, we are in heavenly sunshine.
And what state of mind is like moonlight? A state less open to affection from the Lord and therefore without perception. In this state the light of truth is received in a cool, intellectual way, but intelligently, from those who have perception of it. This is the character of the spiritual angels, and to them the Lord appears as a moon. (HH 118; AE 401.)
Starlight pictures the state of mind in the least degree of spiritual light. It is able to receive little of the Lord's love or wisdom, but is cheered and guided by knowledge about these things, which is learned and remembered with little intelligence. This is the character of angels in the natural heaven, and of many persons in the world of spirits, who are guided by societies of heaven in greater love and light. We are taught that to those beneath heaven, the societies of angels often appear as stars in the sky. (TCR 160; AR 65; AC 5377, 7988.)
To sum up these thoughts: the sun is an expression of the Lord's love imparting to angels and men good affections with the clear perception which good affections bring. (AR 53; AE 40; DLW 98; AC 5704.)
Can we understand now why the Lord is called "a sun and shield " (Ps. lxxxiv. 11)? and why it is said, "Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings "? (Mal. iv. 2.) What Divine quality is made prominent when the Lord is called a sun? His Divine love. (AE 401, 279, 283.) "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain." (2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4.) The reference is plainly to the Lord and His coming; to the clear perception of His loving presence when His truth, though only obscurely understood, has been received and applied to life. (AE 401, 422, 644.) Will not this thought give new beauty to the morning sunshine glistening in the raindrops on the grass?
In other places we read that the Lord appeared as the sun. When transfigured before the disciples, "His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." (Matt. xvii. 2.) To John in the Revelation, "His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength." .(Rev. i. 16, x. 1.) What Divine quality is revealed by this shining as the sun? The Divine love. (AC 32, 3195; AE 74, 596, 401; AR 53, 467.)
In the story of creation it is said: "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also." (Gen. i. 16.) We think of the stage in the creation of the earth, when for the first time the heavy vapors parted and revealed the sky with the sun and moon and stars. This pictures the gift to men, of the ability to perceive the Lord's love, and to receive intelligence from Him, and knowledge of goodness and truth. (AC 32, 3235; AR 414; AE 527.) The Lord is spoken of in the Psalm as He "that made great lights: . . . the sun to rule by day: . . . the moon and the stars to rule by night." (Ps. cxxxvi. 7-9; Jer. xxxi. 35.) There are brighter states when we feel the Lord's goodness, and love what is good, and there are darker times when we must be ruled by our understanding and knowledge of what is true and good. These are the moon and stars given to rule the night. (AC 37, 4697; AE 275, 401, 527.)
Remember that it was a star which led the wise men to the Lord. (Matt. ii. 1 -10) What star have we to lead us to Him? Our knowledge of what is good and true. The wise men of the East preserved much ancient knowledge, especially the knowledge that the Lord should come. It was this in particular which the star represented. (AE 422; SS. 23; TCR 205.) What Divine quality is revealed by these words describing the appearance of the Lord to John: "And He had in his right hand seven stars"? (Rev. i. 16.) They mean that He possesses all knowledges of goodness and truth, which He gives to His church, and especially to the angels of heaven who are associated with His church on earth. "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches." (AR 51, 65; AE 72, 90.)
We see now more plainly than before why the Lord's leading forth the army of the stars in their wonderful order was a token to the wise ancients of His infinite wisdom. "He is wise in heart and mighty in strength; . . . which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. . . . Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." (Job ix. 4, 7, 9, xxxviii. 7; AC 9643; AE 502.) "He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite." (Ps. cxlvii. 4, 5.)
In prophecy of the Lord's kingdom we read: "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." (Isa. xxx. 26.) Is it not a promise of advance from the obscure and intellectual reception of the Lord to a full and loving reception? And to those who already know His love the sense of it will be made full and perfect. (AE 401; TCR 641; AR 51; also DLW 233; HH 159.)
In the Revelation the church is described as "a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." (Rev. xii. 1.) What qualities of the church are represented by the sun, moon, and stars? Its love from the Lord, its intelligence, and its knowledges of goodness and truth. (AR 533, 534; AE 707-709.) Remember the Lord's words in explaining the parable of the tares: "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matt. xiii. 43) The love which pervades the angels' life is so described; and it does actually make their faces shine. (AE 401; HH 348; AC 9263.) In Daniel we read: "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." (Dan. xii. 3.) The first phrase applies to those who are in the clear light of intelligence; the second to those who shine with love, but in a remote and humble way, since they are likened to stars. (HH 346-348; AR 51; AE 72; AC 9263.)
"His seed shall endure forever, and His throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." (Ps. lxxxix. 36, 37.) "They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations." (Ps. lxxii. 5.) The words seem to speak of David's kingdom, but they are true only of the Lord's kingdom, which David's represented.
"Praise ye the Lord. . . . Praise ye Him, sun and moon: praise Him all ye stars of light." (Ps. cxlviii. 1, 3.) Is it not an appeal to everything of good affection and of intelligence and of knowledge of heavenly things, to worship and serve the Lord? (AE 401, 573; AC 7988.)
Can we now see the meaning of our Lord's prophecy concerning the days of His second coming, "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken"? (Matt. xxiv. 29; see also Joel ii. 10, iii. 15, and Rev. vi. 12, 13.) All such verses describe a state of men's minds; a state where there is no longer any love for the Lord nor sense of His love; there is no spiritual intelligence; and even knowledges of goodness and truth are lost. (AE 401-403; AR 332-334, 27; HH 1, 119; T. C. R. 198; SS. 14; AC 1808, 2441, 2495.)
In the ancient days when men saw in the sun an emblem of the Lord's love, and in the moon an emblem of intelligence from Him, and in the stars emblems of knowledges of goodness and truth, they turned towards them in their worship, thinking of the Lord whom they represented.
Does the sun have a good or a bad meaning in the parable of the sower, where we read, "Some fell upon stony places . . . and when the sun was up, they were scorched"? (Matt. xiii. 5, 6.) Plainly it is the love of self and its excitements which scorch the Lord's Word beginning to grow in the mind. (AE 401.) And what is the meaning of the familiar words: "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall perserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul"? (Ps. cxxi. 6, 7.) Are they not a promise of the Lord's protection from the excitements of selfish love and from our own intelligence which leads astray? (A. E. 298, 401.)
XXXI.
THE QUARTERS.
The four quarters, north, south, east, and west, are often mentioned in the Bible, and sometimes in a way to show that they have an important spiritual meaning. Notice, for example, the importance given to the quarters in the arrangement of the tabernacle, in the order of march and encampment of the Israelites, in descriptions of the land of Canaan, and in the description of the holy city. (AC 3708.) With many ancient people the quarters were regarded as significant in religious ceremonies. The east was believed to be the most sacred, and they turned to that quarter in worship. A relic of this ancient practice still remains in the custom of building churches so that the worshippers shall face the east. (DLW 123; AC 9642.)
The association of spiritual qualities with the quarters, like the knowledge of the significance of all natural things, dates from the days when men had frequent communication with angels and learned in heaven the relation of all outward things to states of human life. In heaven all the angels' desires and thoughts turn towards the Lord; they keep Him and His will in view in all they do.
The east in heaven is where the Lord appears as the heavenly sun before the angels; the west is therefore at their back, the south at their right, and the north at their left. They also associate with each quarter certain states and qualities; for persons of certain character have their homes in each quarter, according to their relation to the Lord. In the east are those who are nearest to the Lord and most open to receive His love; among them are the angels who take care of little children in heaven. In the west are those more remote from the Lord, who receive His love in more external ways. In the south are those who are in clear light of intelligence. In the north are those who receive the light of intelligence more obscurely. (HH 148-150, 332; AE 417, 422; AR 901; CL. 3, 132.)
We in this world speak of the different quarters, meaning not simply the points of compass, but the people who live in those quarters, with their peculiar traits of character. We say "the East," meaning Asia and its peoples. In the United States we speak of the South and the North, of the East and the West, with little thought of direction, but rather of people and states of human thought and feeling. This helps us to understand how the quarters mean to angels the qualities of those who dwell in the several quarters of heaven. The ancients, also, knew this heavenly meaning of the quarters. We must learn to understand them so when we read in the Bible of east and west and north and south. East will suggest nearness to the Lord, and interior heavenly affections. West will suggest remoteness from the Lord, and more external good affections; or even sometimes evil affections. South means the clear light of intelligence, and north, obscure light. (DLW 121; AE 422; AC 3708.)
We can now see a deeper meaning in passages like these: "I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back." (Isa. xliii. 5, 6.) "And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." (Luke xiii. 29; Matt. viii.)
Other passages emphasize even more the mercy of the Lord in leading to His kingdom those in states of obscure understanding and feeble affection. "Behold, these shall come from far: and lo, these from the north and from the west." (Isa. xlix. 12; AC 3708; AE 1133; PP.) So also the Psalm which begins, "0 give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south." (Ps. cvii. 1-3; AC 3708; AE 422.)
"The Lord said unto Abram, . . . Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." (Gen. xiii. 14, 15.) And to Jacob in his vision the Lord said, "Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. xxviii. 14.) These promises are not for the Jews as a family or nation, but for the Lord's church. They tell of the infinite varieties of good affection and of intelligence which the Lord has brought within the reach of men. They assure us that men will receive them from Him, and find blessedness in them. (AC 1605, 3708; AE 340.)
If we remember now the instructions given to the Israelites for their marching and their camping, and for the building of the tabernacle and the placing of its furniture, we see new meaning in the arrangement of all things according to the quarters. Notice especially that the tabernacle opened towards the east; reminding us that angels look to the Lord in that quarter, and that innocent affection, the quality associated with the east, is what keeps heaven or any single heart open to the Lord. (AC 101, 3708, 9668.) In Ezekiel's vision of the temple we read:
In the Revelation we read: "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice, . . . Hurt not, . . . till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." (Rev. vii. 2, 3.) And as we read on in the chapter we find that the sealing means the bringing out of heavenly character and separation from the evil. The angel ascending from the east and crying with a loud voice, represents the Lord's Divine love protecting, and saving all who are willing to be saved. (AE 422; AR 344.) "As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. xxiv. 27.) Enlightenment of the understanding is promised. It comes from the Lord and His Divine love, whose presence is the angels' east; and it is received by those who love what is good, according to the quality and degree of their affection. (AC 9807; AE 422.)
Remembering that the east in heaven is the quarter of childlike innocence and of openness to the Lord's Divine love, what beauty there is in this simple statement about the first church on earth! "The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed." (Gen. ii. 8.) What does it tell us of the character of those early people? And remember that a garden of fruitful and lovely trees represents intelligence of all heavenly kinds, developing under the Lord's loving care. (AC 98-101; AE 739.)
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him." (Matt. ii. 1, 2.) Wise men from the east, mean spiritually those whose love for goodness keeps their minds open to heavenly truths. The wise men who came to worship the Lord were remnants of an early race whose innocence was the means of preserving to them some heavenly wisdom. They retained, chief of all, the knowledge that the Lord should come, which was especially represented by the guiding star. The wise men from the east represent all innocent souls who suffer their knowledge of Divine and heavenly things to lead them to the Lord. (AC 3762; AE 422.)
Abram came "unto a mountain on the east of Bethel. . . . And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south." (Gen. xii. 8, 9.) This seems a trifling incident to be a part of the Lord's Word, but it becomes important when we know that Abram's story tells, as in a parable, the history of a regenerating life in its beginning, and in the highest sense of the Lord's own inner life as a child. This camp upon the mountain eastward, tells of a state of interior openness to the Divine love. The journeying on toward the south, tells of progress into states of intelligence. (AC 1449-1458.) We are taught that as children grow to the age of knowledge and understanding, they are withdrawn from the influence of the loving angels of the east in which they were in infancy, and come under the influence of wise angels of the southern quarter. (TCR 476; HH 295.)
In a beautiful Psalm of forgiveness we read, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." (Ps. ciii. 12.) The words contrast the Lord's infinitely tender love with our state so remote from Him; and they teach us that transgressions are removed in proportion as we do right and receive the love for goodness, from the Lord. (PP.)
XXXII.
NUMBERS.
Do we ever speak of "weighing" or "measuring" anything spiritual? We "weigh" one's reasons or arguments. We "take a man's measure" when we form our estimate of his character and abilities. The thought of spiritual weighing and measuring is always involved where the words are used in the Bible. So also "to number" in the Bible involves the spiritual idea of perceiving the quality of a thing, and arranging it in order. The psalmist prays, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Ps. xc. 12.) The prayer is not merely that the Lord will help us to realize the shortness of earthly life in comparison with the eternal life, but that He will help us to see the nature and the purpose of the states through which we are passing, that we may use them wisely. (AE 453; AC 10217.) Remember the words written by the hand on the wall of Belshazzar's palace. "This is the writing that was written, Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Tekel; thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Peres; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." (Dan. 5. 25-28.)
Remember the words of the Psalm: "He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite (or without number)." (Ps. cxlvii. 4, 5.) We have already quoted the explanation: "Here, by telling the number of the stars, and calling them all by their names, is signified to know all goods and truths, and, according to their quality, to dispose them in heaven and the church." (AE 453; AC 10217; PP.) "The Lord spake unto Moses saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them." (Exod. xxx. 11, 12.)
To number spiritually is to know the quality of a thing. We can go farther. We are taught that every number involves the idea of some special quality. (AC 648, 493, 10217; AR 348; AE 1253.) We are taught that angels so clearly perceive the relation of numbers to human qualities that they can express thoughts in numbers, and that they have a kind of writing which consists of numbers alone. (HH 263; AE 429; AC 4495, 5265.) The wise ancients also knew the spiritual ideas involved in numbers, and expressed by numbers the changing states of the church. (AC 487, 6175)
In the Bible, numbers are used in accordance with this ancient and heavenly wisdom, every number involving some idea of human quality.
We must think of a few numbers, to learn in a simple and most general way what qualities they correspond to, and to see, if we can, that the correspondence is not arbitrary, but that the numbers are by ancient association and even by their very nature related to the qualities for which they stand as symbols in the Bible.
Take the number two. Does it convey any idea besides mere number? Does it not suggest that the two objects form a pair, related to each other as right and left, or as good and truth, or as husband and wife?
There is a doubleness throughout the universe, originating in the two elements, love and wisdom, which exist infinitely in the Lord, and from Him in all that He has made. In heaven there are the two kingdoms, celestial and spiritual, the one more open to the Lord's love, the other to His wisdom. (HH 20-27.) In every mind there are the faculties of will and understanding, formed to receive love and wisdom from the Lord. (NJHD 28-33.) The same two-fold character extends into natural things, causing the members of the body to exist in pairs (DLW 127, 409), and producing a certain image of marriage throughout nature. (CL. 84-87; NJHD 11-13.) The number two suggests the celestial and spiritual kingdoms of heaven; the union of affection and thought in our own minds, of charity and faith in religion; and it suggests the union of the Divine love on the Lord's part, with His truth as it is lived by men, which is the marriage of the Lord with His church. (AC 5194.)
There are two Great Commandments and two tables of the Ten Commandments. The second table contains the truth which men must live, and as they do so the Lord gives the love required by the first table. The two tables are therefore an expression and token of the union between the Lord and men. (TCR 456, 285; AC 9416.)
Keep this thought in mind, that two means the union of love with understanding, when you read of the widow's two mites (Luke xxi. 2); of the good Samaritan's two pence (Luke x. 35; AE 444); of the two little fishes with which the Lord fed the people (John vi. 9; AC 5291; AE 430); of the two talents which increased for heaven while the one did not. (Matt. xxv. 14-25; AC 7770; DP 16, 17.)
The number three carries with it a quite different thought. It reminds us of the three heavens - the inmost, the middle, and the lowest. (HH 29-39.) There are three plane of affection and thought in every mind, more interior and more external. (DLW 236-241; AC 3691.) There are also three degrees of structure in all things of the natural creation. For example, there are three atmospheres - the aura, the ether, and the air (DLW 184); the small fibres of muscle or nerve are gathered into bundles, and these again are gathered into the common protecting sheath. (DLW 190.) The number three suggests those degrees of structure, and therefore carries the idea of perfection or of completeness. (TCR 211; AE 532; AC 2788, 9825; SS. 29.)
The tabernacle and temple were built with three parts - the most holy chamber, the holy chamber, and the court - to represent the three heavens and the three degrees of heavenly life in a man. (AC 9457, 9741; Lesson xli.) It was commanded the Israelites, "Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year." (Exod. xxiii. 14.) The three feasts represent the remembrance of the Lord at all times. (AC 2788.) So Daniel "kneeled upon his knees three times a day." (Dan. vi. 10.) It represents complete and continual dependence upon the Lord. (AC 2788.)
Four is two times two, and it contains the same idea of the union of truth and goodness, but in greater fulness; for all composite numbers retain the quality of the numbers which compose them. (AC 9103, 1856, 6175; AE 384.) Four expresses the full working out of truth into goodness of life, till the character is four square, the length as large as the breadth; "the measure of a man, that is, of an angel." (AE 1314-1317; AR 905-908; AC 9717.)
This symmetry of character is gained, this full union of good and truth in life, only through temptations; and so it comes about that four, or more usually forty, is in the Bible associated with temptations, as means to the full development of heavenly character. Thus forty means a state of temptation where we read of the flood, that "the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights " (Gen. vii. 12); where we read of the forty years' wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness (Deut. viii. 2-4); and where we read in the Gospel: "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungered." (Matt. iv. 1, 2; AC 730, 8098; AE 633.)
The number seven brings a quite different thought. It suggests the Sabbath, the day of rest after the labors of the week. Six is associated with states of labor and effort in living a heavenly life, and seven with the state of peace, when to do right is easy and delightful. Seven, from its meaning of finished labor, conveys an idea of completeness similar to that expressed by three, but it has also as its most characteristic quality a sense of the holiness of the Sabbath and heaven. (AC 716, 2044, 10360; AE 20, 257; AR 505 end.)
The number ten we regard as a full, round number. Probably it has been so regarded from the days when people counted their fingers till one and then both hands were full. Ten has in the Bible the idea of all and an abundance. It has also special reference to the store of heavenly states laid up in every heart especially in childhood. Possibly the fact that these heavenly states belong chiefly to the first ten years of life has helped to give the number ten this beautiful meaning. (AC 575, 576; AE 675; AR 101.) There are ten commandments and ten blessings, meaning that they contain all truth relating to that innocence which the Lord stores up in the soul. (AE 675, 1024; TCR 286; AC 576.) Read Abraham's entreaty for Sodom. (Gen. xviii. 23-33.) It expresses the Lord's solicitude that every one in whom is anything of heaven shall be saved. After naming larger numbers which represent fuller developments of heavenly character, Abraham asked, "Peradventure ten shall be found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake." While something of childhood's innocence remains in the soul, it is the means of 'salvation. (AC 2284.) "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." (Zech. viii. 23.)
Five is half of ten, the fingers of one hand. It conveys the idea of fewness, but also, like ten, the idea of completeness and enough. (AE 548; AC 5291.) Typical examples of the use of five are David's "five smooth stones out of the brook," with which he met Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 40), like the Divine unchanging truths which we take from the letter of the Word, which though few are enough for our defence; the five sparrows, so trifling compared with man, and yet objects of the Lord's care (Luke xii. 6, 7; AE 548); the five barley loaves with which the Lord fed the multitude, so little, yet enough and to spare, representing the little and simple spiritual nourishment which the people were able to receive, and yet with the Lord's blessing enough to strengthen them for heaven. (John vi. 9-11; AE 548,430.)
Let us give a thought to one other number, twelve. It is the product of four and three.
XXXIII.
ROCKS.
What do we mean when we compare a person to a rock? when, for example, we say that a man stands like a rock? We mean that he is firm, immovable. This is the most marked characteristic of rocks, and the one which makes them useful for building and especially for foundations.
Is this firmness in a man merely a physical quality, or is there something in his mind fixed and unchanging, which makes him like a rock? What mental possessions have we, useful from their very hardness and fixedness? Warm, sensitive, active affections are not like rocks; intelligence, growing and ever reaching out new branches, is not like a rock. But there are things in our minds, fixed and settled and not liable to change. There is a saying that "facts are stubborn things," and of these we have a store. The fact that two times two is four; that the earth attracts bodies to itself, or that the sun gives light and heat; that Columbus discovered America in 1492; the fact that there is a life after death; that there is a God, and that He is good; that God created men, and that He came into the world to save them - these and many more facts lie in our minds sure and unchanging.
Who knows whether rocks have always been rocks as we now find them, or whether some rocks have been gradually formed, and perhaps still are forming? The deposited or stratified rocks, as they are called, are formed in the course of years by the settling of little particles to the ocean bottom, which afterward become solidified. And are there facts existing today which were not facts yesterday? and this year which were not facts last year? The facts of history gather in this way a new layer with each day and year. But the accumulated facts of history may undergo a change when, by and by, they are looked at as a whole.
The Bible treats not of worldly, but of spiritual life. When it speaks of rocks it means especially the settled facts in regard to the Lord and heaven and salvation. We are like rocks in the Bible sense when we have a firm grasp of these eternal truths, and found our habits of thought and of life securely upon them. But whose thought grasps, we must rather say, whose thought is, the whole, the absolute and eternal truth?
You remember that the Lord speaks of a rock on which He will build His church. "He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered . . . Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. xv1. 15-18.) The rock is the truth, established with firm conviction in the hearts of His disciples, that Jesus is the Son of God, which means that He is God in His Humanity. This is the fundamental truth of Christianity on which all else rests. The Lord's words read as if Peter were the rock, yet not Peter personally, but as the embodiment of this firm faith in the Lord. (Read verses 22 and 23 of the same chapter.) Because Peter was chosen by the Lord to represent this element in the church, He named him Cephas or Peter, which means a stone. (John i. 42; AR 768, 798; TCR 342, 379; LJ. 57; AC Preface to Chapter xxii. of Gen.; AE 411, 820.)
"Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. . . . And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they perceived that He spake if them." (Matt. xxi. 42-45.) The priests and Pharisees were the builders of the church for the time; what cornerstone were they rejecting? The Divine truth of the Lord's Word; especially the foundation truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. But the Lord's eternal truth will surely prevail, and our opposition to it, in spiritual matters as in physical, can lead only to our own hurt. (AE 417)
Remember the parable of the house built upon a rock. "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." (Matt. vii. 24-27.) One's spiritual house is the state of mind and life in which he feels safe and at home. The storm which tests its strength is temptation with its tempest of false thoughts.
We read of the stones used in building the temple: "And the house, when it was building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was building." (I Kings vi. 7.) And in another place we read: "And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it." (Exod. xx. 25.) It means that our religious faith and our worship must be formed from genuine truths as we receive them from the Lord in His Word, and we must not distort and fashion them to suit ourselves. (AR 457, 847; AE 585; AC 1298, 8941.)
Remember how in the desert "Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and water came out abundantly." (Numb. xx. ii.) Again we read: "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways . . . with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." (Ps. lxxxi. 16.) The rock is the unchanging truth of the Lord's Word, in appearance stern and severe; the water and the honey are the refreshment and the sweetness which it has in store for us. (AE 411, 619, 374; AC 8581, 8582, 5620.)
In the parable of the sower we read that some seed fell on stony ground, and the Lord explains: "He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended." (Matt. xiii. 20, 21.) Stones here suggest something less heavenly. A hard, unaffectionate state of mind is pictured, which has only an intellectual interest in the Lord's Word, receives its teachings as mere facts, and has no love for it to give strength in time of temptation. (AE 401, 411; AC 3310; HH 488.)
And still again, we find this verse: "Is not My word like a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jer. xxiii. 29.) Can it be the rock of Divine truth which the Lord's Word breaks in pieces? Surely not. But we may have accepted falsities and supposed them to be truths and built on them as if they were the solid rocks. Before the Lord's Word, they fall to pieces. Rocks in this verse mean such falsities, as is very plain from the verses which precede. (PP.; AE 411; Inv. 35.) This helps us to understand the meaning of the statement in the Revelation, that men "hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne." (Rev. vi. 15, 16.)
You remember that the Jewish law commanded that for certain crimes persons should be stoned. (Exod. xxi. 28, 29; Lev. xxiv. 16; John viii. 5.) Punishments, like all other things in the Jewish Church were representative. They were pictures of the inevitable spiritual consequences of various forms of wrong-doing. Stoning represented the extinction of the spiritual understanding by the indulgence of false thoughts, and the crimes which received this punishment were those which represented the spiritual crime of falsifying truth. (AC 7456, 8799; AE 240, 655.) Stoning also suggests the removal of falsity by the stern application of truth. (AC 7456.) We find both thoughts involved in the words of the captives' Psalm: "Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." (Ps. cxxxvii. 8, 9.) The beginnings of innocent life have been destroyed by falsity; happy is he who destroys the beginnings of evil by the power of the Lord's Word. (AE 411.)
XXXIV.
PRECIOUS STONES.
There are common stones, of no special beauty, but useful in building; and there are precious stones. These have lovely colors. Many of them are exceedingly hard, taking a brilliant polish. They are also transparent to the sunlight and refract it to our eyes with rainbow tints.
Are there also among our mental stones of fixed, unchanging fact, both common and precious ones? The fact that Columbus discovered America in 1492; is it a precious or a common stone? It is sure and hard, but it has no special beauty. The fact that "the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all his works;" this is a fact even surer than the other; it is a crystal too (Lesson xxxiii.), and it is transparent to the heavenly sunshine; it reveals to us something of the Lord's love and wisdom. Hard, literal facts from the Lord's Word, which transmit the love and wisdom of heaven, are the precious stones; they are to the dull, opaque stones of common fact as the rainbow to the dark cloud. (AE 717; AC 9407.) "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations of sapphires.
Other equally beautiful passages come to mind; but let us first notice that the colors of the gems are an indication of the kind of holy truth which each represents. Can anyone tell the color of the precious stone used as our first example: "The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works"? It is a warm color, you say, perhaps red; for it is glowing with the Divine love which it reveals. (AC 9865.) Or that stone on which the Lord builds His church, for that is a holy truth," a tried precious stone": "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." It is certainly a cooler stone, but hard and brilliant. (AC 9872.)
Swedenborg tells us many beautiful things about colors and their various blendings. All colors are derived from red and white, sometimes with black. Blue is a blending of white with black.
You may have been taught to regard red, yellow, and blue as the colors from which all others are made. You need not reject that idea, but think that yellow is itself composed of red and white, and blue of white and black.
Thinking now of the meaning of these colors: red, warm and fiery, always speaks to us of lore; white, with its cool brightness, is the clear light of wisdom; while black is the humble sense of our own ignorance and nothingness. All the lovely colors of the rainbow and of the precious stones, if our eyes were open to read their message, would speak to us of the Lord's love and wisdom in their infinite combinations. Blue tells of infinite wisdom made more lovely by the sense of our own ignorance. Blue is the color which arches over us as we look up to heaven and the Lord.
We shall not attempt here to learn the correspondence of particular gems, and partly for the reason that the names by which the precious stones are called in the Bible are in many cases uncertain, and often we do not surely know what stone is meant. But so much we can know, that the ruby and other fiery stones represent holy truths revealing to us the Lord's Divine love (AC 9865; AE 401); a white, transparent stone, and the blue sapphire, with their cooler beauty are holy truths revealing the Divine wisdom (AC 9407, 9868, 9873; AR 897); the emerald is a holy truth revealing wisdom in a humbler form, but applicable to use. (AE 269; AR 232.)
In the Proverbs we find evidence that the wise ancients knew that precious stones are emblems of holy truths. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
How beautiful are these words addressed to the king of Tyre, when we know that Tyre with its commerce in a good sense represents the understanding searching the realms of knowledge for things serviceable to the spiritual life! (Lesson xxxviii.) Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the ruby, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold." (Ezek. xxviii. 12, 13.)
Among the sacred things made by Divine commandment for use in the representative Jewish worship, was the breastplate to be worn by Aaron, the high priest, when he went in to inquire of the Lord. "And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work. . . . And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a ruby, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.
Turn now to the Revelation and read of the wall of the holy city. "And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
Ivory and pearl seem to belong among the stones and jewels, but they are both from the animal kingdom. Ivory is from the tusks of the elephant, and pearl is found in the shell of an oyster. We must give a thought to the animals which produce them.
The elephant is the largest and strongest of the land animals now living. It has other marked physical peculiarities; do you think of one? The curious trunk which serves the elephant in place of hands. But strictly, what is the trunk? It is the elephant's nose which is so wonderfully developed. Do you think of another peculiarity? The tusks. And what are they? They are two teeth from the elephant's upper jaw, which grow so large and strong that they become very formidable weapons. We find further that elephants are wonderfully intelligent, having a quick perception quite equal to any animal, and they are easily trained to do useful work. Their patience sometimes is exhausted, and then they become furious and can hardly be restrained. They seem to have a remarkable memory of wrongs done to them, and there are many stories told of their revenge for injustice which they have received.
Animals as a class correspond to what? To the warm, sensitive affections of our own hearts, some of them good, some bad. The elephant then corresponds to some affection, and evidently a strong one; one which is useful and which yet is liable to be aroused even to fury. What can this affection be? The wonderful development of the elephant's nose and teeth may help us to decide.
What spiritual faculty corresponds to the nose? Quick perception of the quality of people and things. (AC 4403, 4624-4633.) And the teeth? The opening of our food by the teeth corresponds to critical examination of what is offered us for belief and acceptance, to see what its real inwardness is, and to discover anything amiss which may lie concealed in it. The teeth by which we make this critical examination are our well-established principles of right and justice by which we judge. (Lesson vi.) The tusks of the elephant represent such knowledge of justice; far more than is needed to examine the spiritual food offered for our own acceptance, but reaching out to explore the affairs of life around us to discover their true quality. The elephant therefore corresponds to an affection with remarkable perception of the quality of people and things, and with very strong and firmly established knowledge of right and justice with which to lay open and explore them. Do not these qualities accord well with the elephant's keen sense of justice, and his indignation at being imposed upon?
We must conclude that the elephant corresponds to a strong love of justice, which is quick to detect and expose fraud, and which is easily aroused to indignation. The tusks are the knowledge of what is just and right, by which judgment is made and injustice exposed. This fixed knowledge of right and justice is beautifully pictured by the firm, white ivory. It has almost the fixity of those facts to which stones correspond. But as the tusk is a part of an animal, and in its core contains a sensitive nerve, so this knowledge of justice is a living thing which not only knows but keenly feels what is unjust. (AE 253, 1146; AR 774; AC 1172, 6188.)
We read of the days of Solomon, that "once in three years came the navy of Tar- shish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks." (1 Kings x. 22.) "Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. . . . There was not the like made in any kingdom." (18-20.) No doubt the workmanship was like the gold and ivory work of the Greeks, in which the gold adorned but only partly concealed the ivory. The gold served also to join the pieces of ivory together. The throne is evidently a symbol of the king's rule; and what elements or qualities of his rule are represented by the ivory and the gold? The ivory suggests the fixed principles of right, and the gold the kindness which both adorns them an unites them in a common purpose of judgement from love.
Pearl is from the oyster. To what kingdom does the oyster belong? Animal. Then it corresponds to some affection. Is it good bad? Good; it is harmless and useful. But it is not a highly organized creature, and it lives in the sea; which suggest that the affection to which the oyster correspond is not a very interior and spiritual one, but comparatively low and external, allied to the mental fishes, which are affections for worldly life and for gathering natural knowledge. (Lesson xix.) It is, then, some natural affection, and rather a low one at that, which is the spiritual oyster.
Is it an affection for doing some active use? What does the oyster love to do? To lie still and feel safe in its strong shell. It seems an embodiment of passive enjoyment in ease and safety.
Is there in us any such enjoyment? Among the many enjoyments in activity, is there a pleasure in lying still and feeling safe? Is it not somewhat like the feeling with which we draw up to the fireside on a stormy night and enjoy the thought of a good, tight roof between us and the weather? And we know a nobler satisfaction of a similar kind: a peaceful sense of protection from the annoyances of evil, through the power of the Lord. This is the oyster in its best sense. The pearl is the fact or knowledge of the Lord's saving power, which grows in strength and beauty day by day. (AR 727, 916; AE 1044, 1325; HH 307; NJHD1)
Does not this knowledge deserve to be ranked with the noblest wisdom, as the pearl takes its place among the gems? "No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies." (Job xxviii. 18; AE 717.) And yet this knowledge has a tender quality which does not belong to the sparkling jewels. It is the product of life; it has been learned through the painful consciousness of evil, and the suffering of temptation.
In a parable the Lord said: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." (Matt. xiii. 45, 46.) This is one of a series of parables which liken the kingdom of heaven to many different things. Each parable points out some special quality of heaven. And what quality of heaven does this parable reveal? Its peaceful security from all things that offend; the consciousness of our own weakness, but of the power of the Lord to save. This surely is one element in the blessedness of heaven. (AR 727, 916; AE 444, 840, 863, 1044, 1325.)
In the description of the holy city, it is said: "And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl." (Rev. xxi. 21.) The twelve gates are the knowledge gained in many different ways, of the Lord's power to save. The gate is of one pearl, because this knowledge includes all, and is the sum of all. In keeping the Lord's commandments we feel and know His power to save; we pass the gate of pearl. "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Is the knowledge that we are safe and comfortable liable to abuse? May it be made to minister to a spirit of indolence and self-indulgence? Would not this be the forbidden casting of pearls before swine? (Matt. vii. 6; AE 1044; AR 727.) Yes, even the fact of safety in the Lord's salvation, the precious pearl of heaven's gate, is trampled under the feet of swine when it is scornfully rejected or when it is made to excuse an evil and indulgent life.
Metals are in the same general class with rocks; they all are minerals and have in common the qualities of hardness and endurance. But metals have one quality unlike rocks, which adds greatly to their usefulness. What quality do I mean? Their ability to be moulded and wrought into various forms.
Do you remember what the spiritual rocks are? The fixed facts, settled and sure, on which all our industries and all our habits of life and thought are based. (Lesson xxxiii.) Are there among these facts some which possess the peculiar quality of the metals, that while they are firm and sure, still they take various forms according to the circumstances? How about this fact: If you break the laws of order you will suffer for it? It is a sure fact; but how many different forms it takes according to the circumstances! As many forms as there are kinds of transgression and unhappy consequences. But the principle or the law - for so we usually call a fact of this sort - is the same, whatever the special form.
You can imagine a household or a community which is kept in order by the application everywhere of the principle suggested above. The people fear to do wrong because of the punishment it brings. Can you think of other principles which might rule, nobler perhaps than this? Here is one: It is for the good of all, that we should be obedient. This law also may take as many forms as there are opportunities for obedience and benefits resulting from them.
May we be guided by a still better principle? May we enter intelligently into the ways of the Lord's order as we see them revealed in His works and in His Word, and do right not because we are compelled to by outward force, nor yet for the sake of the natural benefits which follow obedience, but because we see that the Lord's order is wise and brings the genuine happiness of serving one another? We may state this principle briefly: Living intelligently in the ways of order brings a pure and happy spiritual life.
Is there still another principle of life more precious even than the last? May a little child do right from a motive higher than the fear of punishment; higher than the desire to get on comfortably; higher even than the pleasure of being useful to others? May he do right because he loves his father and mother and feels that his doing right makes them happy and brings him nearer to their love? And may not the same principle lead us to serve our Heavenly Father? Keep the Lord's commandments for His sake, and the Lord's love will be in all your life. It is vain to look for a deeper or purer motive.
Do you know the two most precious metals, to which these heavenly principles correspond? Silver and gold. These noble metals are very enduring, not liable to the rust which destroys baser metals. So the heavenly principles are free from corroding selfishness which so easily injures less heavenly motives. Gold and silver too while so enduring are soft and yielding, for these heavenly principles are gladly and easily applied as each opportunity arises to serve the neighbor or the Lord, and do not need, like the less heavenly motives, to be cast into hard, arbitrary rules. Gold and silver also are not used like baser metals to make tools and machinery to cut and pound and compel things to our service, but they are chiefly used for coins with which to reward faithful labor, and for ornaments. So these heavenly principles do not sternly compel us, but win us by their beauty and preciousness.
Now to distinguish between the two metals, silver and gold. In many respects they are nearly alike, but gold is more rare and precious than silver; and gold has the warm, fiery color of sunshine, while the cool whiteness of silver is rather like the moon. Can we doubt that gold corresponds to that most holy law: Do good for the Lord's sake, and you will feel His love of good? and silver to that law only second in holiness: Live intelligently in the ways of the Lord's wisdom, and you will know the delight of serving one another? One law has the preciousness and warm glow of gold; the other the more intellectual beauty of silver. (AC 5658, 9832; AE 242; AR 211.)
You have heard of the Golden Age. It is described in the Bible by the beautiful parable of the garden of Eden. Do you know why that age was called golden? Was it from the abundance of natural gold? or because spiritual gold was the ruling principle of those innocent people? because, like good children, they loved the Lord and in doing right for His sake felt the goodness of it from Him? This was the quality of those celestial people, and on that account their age was rightly called golden. (AC 5658; AE 70; HH 115; CL. 75.) And what is meant in the description of Eden, where we read of the first branch of the watering stream "That is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good"? (Gen. ii. 11, 12.)
There was also a Silver Age, which came after the age of gold. It was a time when men were wise in learning the Lord's ways of order from nature and from the Ancient Word, and found in them the happiness of serving one another. Was it from abundance of natural silver or for some deeper reason that this was called the Silver Age? (AC 5658; AE 70; HH 115; CL 76.)
There are many proofs in the Proverbs and in Job, that the wise ancients knew that gold and silver correspond to precious heavenly principles. We have already quoted: "Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? . . . It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence then cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding?" (Job xxviii. 12-20; AE 717; AC 9865, 9881)
Now please suggest passages from the Bible where gold and silver are named; but let us reserve passages which mention also copper and iron for our next lesson.
"The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold." (Ps. xix. 9, 10.)" The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." (Ps. cxix. 72; AE 619.) The Lord's words are compared to gold and silver because they teach everywhere the two heavenly principles of love to the Lord and intelligent service of one another, which are gold and silver. These are the substance of the Two Great Commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets. They are the substance of the "Golden Rule," which also is the law and the prophets. (Matt. vii. 12, xxii. 40; AC 9832, 9881.)
We read in the prophets that the Lord refines men as gold and silver. "I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." (Isa. xlviii. 10.) "I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and try them as gold is tried." (Zech. xiii. 9; Mal. iii. 3.)
In the tabernacle gold was used as covering for the sacred furniture and the walls, while the bases in which the planks of the walls rested were of silver. (Exod. xxv. xxvi.) Does this tell us something of the qualities which make human hearts dwelling-places of the Lord? Knowledge of His goodness is the gold next about His presence, and understanding of His truth is the silver basis on which this rests. (AC 9484, 9506, 9643, 9667, 2576; AE 242 end.) Why is gold the first-named gift presented by the wise men to the infant Lord? (Matt. ii. 11.) It represents the loving acknowledgment of the Lord's goodness, the gift He most desires. (AC 9293, 10252; AR 277; AE 242, 491.)
What state of life is represented by the reign of Solomon when there was such abundance of gold? "All king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon." (1 Kings x. 21.)
What can be the meaning of the Lord's charge in sending out the apostles: "Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses"? (Matt. x. 9.) That they must not trust their own sense of what is good, nor their own intelligence, but must be poor in spirit and let Him teach them what is good and true. (AE 242; AC 4677, 9942.)
We learned that the sun and moon sometimes represented self-love and self-intelligence, especially when they became objects of idolatrous worship. So also the gold and silver, especially when made into idols, may represent our acceptance of evil as the (Isa. xl, 19; Rev. ix. 20; AE 587; AR 459; AC 8932.)
We remember that there was a Golden Age when love for the Lord showed men what was good, and a Silver Age when their delight was to learn and live in His ways of charity. What is the meaning of these words of lament? "How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed!" (Lam. iv. i.) And again, "Thy silver is become dross." (Isa. i. 22.)
COPPER AND IRON.
Here are two metals very useful in their way, but much less precious than gold and silver. Copper looks like gold, and iron has a cool gray color more like silver; but they have not the endurance of the precious metals, notwithstanding the greater hardness of iron, for they quickly tarnish and rust.
We remember that metals correspond to a class of facts which we call principles or laws, which are fixed and sure in substance, but which take form according to the circumstances to which they are applied. (Lesson xxxvi.) Are the golden and silvern principles of the Two Great Commandments the ruling principles today in homes and society, in factories and stores, in politics? We are controlled oftener by less heavenly principles. The law that obedience leads to natural happiness and prosperity has some influence; a principle which answers well to copper. Copper resembles gold in color and softness; it is also used for money. So does the natural motive bear some likeness to the heavenly one; but while the golden reward is to share the Lord's pure love of goodness, the baser motive regards only natural benefits.
But is there still another principle which at present has a larger part in restraining men from crime and in keeping them busy in useful work? The law of necessity. Do right because you must; if you break the laws of order you suffer for it. Government based on this principle is "an iron rule"; if the requirements and penalties are very stern and inflexible, we may call them "cast-iron." Iron is the metal of today for building and machinery and railroads and a thousand other things; and does not the stern logic of necessity at the present time shape men's modes of life and impel and give direction to their industries? Men require today the proof of natural logic; they are not led by perception, nor by spiritual intelligence, nor by authority. This is iron-like. (AC 425, 426; AE 176; AR 148.)
The copper principle, like the golden, appeals rather to the feelings; this iron principle, like the silver, appeals to the intelligence, but now of a low, natural kind. When we are tempted to do wrong or to neglect our useful work, the iron by its stern truth rouse us to reason. (AR 148.) It is interesting to notice that the law that we should do to others as we would have them do to us, which in that form is silvern, becomes, in an evil and natural state of life, the iron law of retaliation:
Does this thought help you to understand the meaning of the promise, "For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron "? (Isa. lx. 17.) Copper, in our translations of the Bible, seems to be somewhat confused with brass which is an alloy of copper with zinc, and bronze which is an alloy of copper mainly with tin, but for our present purpose, they all are practically the same. Is not the prophecy of gold for brass and silver for iron a promise of advance from a natural state where we labor for natural benefits and from natural necessity, to a spiritual state where we shall labor in love for the Lord and with intelligent delight in serving one another? Plainly the wood and stone here mean goodness and truth as judged by the lowest standards, those of bodily sense. Instead is to be given regard for what is naturally useful and reasonable. (PP.; AC 425, 643, 1551; AR 775; AE 70, 176.) With a similar meaning the promised land, which is a type of the spiritual life, is described as a "land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass." (Deut. viii. 9; AC 425.)
We learned of the Golden Age and the Silver Age, so named from the principles which ruled in those heavenly times. Remembering what we found the ruling principle to be today, what shall we call the present age? Iron? That was already its quality when the stern, literal commands were given to the Israelites. (AE 70, 176; DP 328; HH 115; CL 78.)
Before men sank so low and became so external, there was a time when they treasured up rules of life handed down from the Golden Age and obeyed them because they made happy homes and happy tribes. This was the Copper Age. (CL 77.)
King Nebuchadnezzar in his dream saw a great image. "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." (Dan. ii. 31-33.) The interpretation given through Daniel applies the dream to Nebuchadnezzar himself and the kingdoms to come after.
Once more recalling our last lesson we remember that gold was used for the furniture and walls of the tabernacle, as a type of the heartfelt acknowledgment of the Lord's goodness which should surround His presence in our hearts.
We read in the Revelation, of the appearance of the Lord to John, that "his feet were like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." (Rev. i. 15.) We have learned that the feet represent the natural, external plane of life, in contact with the world, and that the Lord's feet represent the Divine presence with men in their natural life. (Lesson viii.) Brass is the principle which leads to natural goodness, and in its highest sense is an emblem of the Divine goodness on this natural plane. (AR 49; AE 70.)
A similar lesson is taught in the story of the brazen serpent, which the Lord applied to Himself. "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. . . . And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." (Numb xxi. 6, 9.) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John iii. 14, 15.)
Many times we read of ruling the nations with a rod of iron." (Rev. ii. 27, xii. 5, xix. 15.) In all these places "the nations" mean various kinds of evil. In what form must the Lord's law come to check evil? In the form of commands and penalties, and of stern, hard truths appealing to the natural reason. In the Psalm we read: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron." (Ps. ii. 8, 9.) Is it not a promise that the Lord will enable us to subdue the natural, rebellious plane of our own nature by the power of His stern, literal truth? (AR 148; AE 176; AC 426, 4876.)
Is it possible that our principles of life may become perverted, so utterly perverted, that they defend and justify evil in our hearts? Then we need the Lord's help to set us free. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder." (Ps. cvii. 16; Isa. xlv. 2; AC 9496.)
XXXVIII.
REPRESENTATIVE COUNTRIES.
When we hear the names of countries, France, Brazil, China, Africa, do we think of anything besides the mountains and plains and rivers and other geographical features of the countries? A botanist thinks of the flowers, an entomologist thinks of the insects which are found there; most of us think rather of the people and of the kind of domestic and social life which exists in each country. Suppose countries should be named to angels, on what would their thought rest? On the kind of belief in the Lord which is found there, and the kind of good life which the people live. (AC 10568.) So when we read the Bible to learn its spiritual lessons, the names of countries will suggest the spiritual qualities which have been characteristic of the inhabitants of those countries. (AC 7278; AE 21; AR 11.) Further than this, we shall in some cases see that the natural features of Bible lands were so formed as to be representative of the states of their inhabitants. (AC 1585.)
Suppose we should select a country, among those of Bible times, to stand as a type of a genuine spiritual, heavenly life; what country would it be?
Do you know something of the character of the ancient Egyptians? Their country was the great storehouse of knowledge, especially of knowledge of correspondences, which formed the basis of their hieroglyphics. The Egyptians were not people of spiritual perception, but, like a great memory for the world, they stored up the knowledge handed down from wiser days. Egypt, in the Bible, means especially this knowledge of spiritual things, not intelligently perceived, but laid away as matters of memory. (AC 4964, 10437; AE 650, 654; AR 503.) A familiar verse in Deuteronomy points to this quality of Egypt, and also shows how even the natural features of the country are representative.
You remember that Egypt was the storehouse for grain to which Palestine looked in times of famine. Abraham went down into Egypt when the famine was grievous in Palestine. (Gen. xii. 10.) And later, "All countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands." (Gen. xli. 57.) So in times of spiritual drought and famine, when there is little perception of truth and little satisfaction in good life, we must depend on what we have learned and have laid away in memory.
In many places in the Bible we know that Egypt has a less good meaning. The learning of Egypt became in time perverted into idolatry and magic, and ministered to all kinds of natural evil indulgence.
"Woe unto them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord. . . . Now the Egyptians are men, and not God." (Isa. xxxi. 1, 3, xxxvi. 6.) How feeble a stay in temptation are learning and one's own natural intelligence! (D. Life 30; AC 9818; AE 355, 654; AR 298.)
"Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it." (Ps. lxxx. 8.) This Psalm recalls the story of the Exodus, and it tells also of our deliverance. It reminds us too that we, and even the Lord in His human life, must advance from natural knowledge into spiritual intelligence. (AR 503; AC 1462, 3142, 5113; AE 405, 654.)
Another country often named with Egypt and Israel is Assyria, whose capital was Nineveh on the Tigris, and which in the height of its power conquered and ruled a large part of south-western Asia. Assyria, we are taught, represents the rational understanding. (AC 1186; AE 654; AR 444.)
We know from History hardly enough of the character of the Assyrians to see their fitness to represent this faculty, but we find a hint of it in the careful system of satraps and officers of special departments of government, by which they ruled their large and widely scattered dominions. Assyria is said to have been the first nation to consolidate its provinces into one empire. This is one manifestation of the rational faculty which delights to see the true relation of things and their logical connection. No doubt as we learn more of the Assyrians we shall find other evidences of rational development.
Do you remember the correspondence of the cedar of Lebanon? (Lesson xxvii.) If so, you will see the meaning of this comparison: "Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature: I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him." (Ezek. xxxi. 3-9; AC 119, 9489.)
But we are not surprised to find Assyria sometimes an enemy to the Lord's people; and it was the nation which finally led into captivity the northern kingdom, Israel; for the rational faculty may become self-confident and may use its reason to make the false appear true.
We find both Egypt and Assyria restored to their orderly place, in the prophecy: "In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." (Isa. xix. 23-25.) Knowledge and reason shall serve spiritual intelligence which shall fill them both with blessing. (AC 119, 1186, 2588, 6047; HH 307; TCR 200; PP; AE 313, 340, 585.)
Babylon, or Babel, is mentioned early in Genesis (x.) where also the names Nineveh and Asshur (Assyria) are found, and Mizraim, which is the ancient name of Egypt. Still earlier, in the description of Eden, we read of Ethiopia and Assyria. (Gen. ii. 13, 14.)
What element of character is represented by Babylon? We may form an idea from the glimpse of Babylon given by the prophet Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar "walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?" (Dan. iv. 29, 30.) And later, king Darius issued a decree that whosoever should ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of the king, he should be cast into the den of lions. (Dan. vi. 7.) These passages show supreme and haughty self-love, a desire to rule others, body and soul. Chapter v., describing Belshazzar's feast, adds to this the abuse of sacred things to minister to selfish gratification. In a "proverb against the king of Babylon," it is written: "Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. . . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." (Isa. xiv. 13, 14.)
We read in Genesis: "And they said one to another, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name." And the city was called Babel. (Gen. xi. 4, 9.) In these words we are told of the beginning of self-love with its ambition to be great in earth and heaven. And it was self-love which made men's interests clash and their views conflict, which is meant by the confusion of tongues. (AC 1307, 1326; AR 717.)
Babylon was the enemy which carried Judah captive, as Assyria had taken Israel. (2 Kings xxv. 1-7.) Do we see the meaning of this fact when we know that Israel represents the spiritual intelligence and Judah the celestial affection of the heavenly life? (Lesson xxxix.) Just as the perverted reason is the enemy of intelligence, so is self-love with its desires for rule and indulgence the enemy which, if it can, overpowers the heavenly affections. (AE 811, 1029.) Think of this spiritual bondage in a state of life far away from that which the Lord would have us enjoy, when you read the sad Psalm of the exiles: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion."
XXXIX.
PALESTINE.
If I speak of our journeying to the heavenly Canaan, every one understands me to mean our progress towards a spiritual, heavenly state of life; for we all accept the Holy Land as a type of that life. (AR 285; AC 1413, 1585, 3686, 4447) We have already seen how the, idea of heavenly life became associated with the land of Canaan. It was the home of heavenly people of the Golden and Silver Ages. Even the physical features of the land were formed to be representative of spiritual states, and were so understood by the wise people of those innocent ages, and by the angels. Palestine afterwards became the home of the children of Israel; for their story was to be a grand parable of spiritual life, and it was necessary that every name of mountain, or river, or town, which entered into that story should be full of heavenly meaning. This also was a reason why the land became the Lord's own home, that all names in the Gospels might be representative of heavenly things. (AC 5136, 6516, 10559.)
The holiness of the land centres about one place, Jerusalem; the place which the Lord chose out of all the tribes, to put His name there; the place where the temple was built and towards which all the people looked in prayer. Jerusalem with the stronghold of Zion, and the temple, and the Mount of Olives standing guard above it, represents a state of peculiar nearness to the Lord. (AC 2534 end.) "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from hence-forth even forever." (Ps. cxxv. 1, 2; AE 405, 449, 629; AC 1585.) The Bible often speaks of going up to Jerusalem and going down from Jerusalem. The words remind us that Jerusalem is one of the mountain towns upon the crest of land which forms the central mass of Palestine; but is there some deeper reason of this phrase, "going up to Jerusalem"? (AC 3084, 4539.)
From Jerusalem the ground slopes westward to the sea-shore plain of Philistia, and eastward breaks abruptly down into the deep valley of the Jordan, sunk far below the level of the sea. Should we expect to find that these low-lying districts bordering the sea and river represent states of life as interior as Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives?
We read, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves." (Luke x. 30).
In this plain of Jordan, at the very lowest point in the land, the children of Israel entered when they came from Egypt, and from that low level climbed up into the hills which were to be their home. (Josh. iii. 16.) It shows that our conquest must begin by making right the external things which are within our reach; these open the way to more interior victories. (AE 700; AC 1585, 9325.) In this same region John the Baptist called the people to reform their outward life in preparation for the Lord who should lead them into interior things of heaven. (Matt. iii.; TCR 677; AC 4255)
The sea-coast of Palestine was occupied by the Phoenicians whose home was Tyre and Sidon, and the Philistines who were a branch of the same people. The Phoenicians were sailors and traders. They brought home treasures from distant countries, and they served a good use in extending learning and other influences of civilization. (Ezek. xxvii.) Here is another low-lying region on the extreme border of Canaan, one which was never really conquered.
We read of Tyre: "Behold thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee; with thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures; by thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches." (Ezek. xxviii. 3-5; AC 2967; AR 759 AE 236, 840.) We think of this faculty of gathering knowledge in its right place as a servant of the spiritual life, when we read of the friendly treatment of Abraham by the Philistines (Gen. xx.; AC 9340, 2504), and of Hiram's help to Solomon, in bringing treasure from distant countries, and in furnishing stones and cedars for the temple of the Lord. (1 Kings v., ix. 26-28; AE 514.)
But Tyre and Sidon afterward used their gains to enrich the temples of their idols, and the Philistines were among the most persistent enemies of the Israelites. This reminds us how easily we are made proud by learning, and forget to value it only as a help in good life. Read on in the passage from Ezekiel which we were quoting. "By thy great wisom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches" (Ezek. xxviii. 5), and much more in the same chapter. This self-confident intellectual power opposing the spiritual life and defying the Lord, is typified by Goliath. (1 Sam. xvii.; AE 242, 817; AC 2967.)
We have looked from Jerusalem to the eastern and western borders of the Holy Land. We must think a little about the heart of the land and its divisions. Take a map which shows you the allotment of the land to the tribes, and consider the tribes in the order of the birth of Jacob's sons. (Gen. xxix. 32, to xxx. 24, xxxv. 16-18.) The twelve sons, considered in the order of their birth, represent the successive developments of heavenly life. (AC 3860-3862, 3939; AE 431; AR 349.) First come childlike states, then states of maturer strength, and last of all the truly spiritual states.
After the first group of sons which represent the first, childlike steps in heavenly life, follow others which represent maturer states states of rational development, of conflict, of victory, of joyful usefulness. There is Dan (the judge), a knowledge of the letter of the law. You find this tribe's final home in the extreme north of the land. Naphtali (strife), is next in order, suggesting states of spiritual strife, temptation. Then Gad (a troop), suggesting the youthful sense of power in our first labors; a self-confident not very humble sense, as is suggested by the allotment to Gad beyond the border of the land. Next come Asher (happiness), and Issachar (reward); and as you trace the allotment of the tribes on the map you notice that Issachar received the rich plain of Esdraelon, the garden of the land. Then Zebulon (union), which suggests fulness of character resulting from the union of truth with good in faithful life. All these tribes which represent the maturer rational states of life have their homes together in the north. We must associate this part of the land with these states, as we associated the southern part with the innocent, childlike affection. (AC 3920-3961, 3971; AE 432-450; AR 349-359.)
Two more sons remain, Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of Jacob's old age and his favorite children. They represent the truly spiritual state which is last attained - Joseph the love for the Lord which makes that state wise, and Benjamin the wisdom which gives that love expression. (AC 3969, 5469; AE 448, 449; AR 360, 361.) We look on the map to find the homes of these tribes. Joseph is represented by his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, the latter with a double inheritance on both sides of Jordan. Ephraim and Manasseh represent the two elements of practical intelligence and practical goodness, to which spiritual love for the Lord gives rise as it descends into life. (AC 6275, 6295.) Manasseh on both sides of the river suggests that external goodness is pleasing to the Lord when it comes from a spiritual origin and is the companion of goodness within. (AE 440.) But notice where the lots of Joseph and Benjamin fall. They fill the space between the northern group and the southern, till Benjamin comes back to the very border of Judah. Does it not remind us how a regenerating life after its strife and victory returns again to the innocent love of childhood, now made wise by experience? (AC 5411, 4585, 4592 AE 449.)
And here in the lot of Benjamin, which means the wisdom and expression of spiritual love, is Jerusalem, where from the assembled people the united voice of prayer and praise ascended to the Lord. But as this state is not reached except through conflict, so Jerusalem did not become the centre of government and worship till the victories of David were won. (AC 4592, 2909; AE 449; AR 361.)
Now, with the map still before you, let me ask two questions. After the days of Solomon the land was divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. If we draw a line across the map just above Jerusalem, we have Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Remembering the spiritual states associated with the different parts of the land, what spiritual separation does this division of the kingdoms seem to represent? On the one side are the states of innocent childlike affection, together with that wise innocence which has become again as a little child; on the other side are the maturer states of rational power, of conflict and victory, and finally, practical intelligence and goodness from a spiritual origin. The line across the map perhaps suggests disagreement between childhood's innocence and the life of mature years. It suggests also the distinctness and the frequent conflict between the faculties of love and understanding in ourselves. In a broad sense the two kingdoms Israel and Judah represent the spiritual kingdoms of heaven. (AC 4292, 4750; AE 433; AR 96.)
Still with the map before you, recall the places where the Lord made His earthly home. Where was the Lord born? "In Bethlehem of Judaea." (Matt. ii. 5, 6.) We have already learned to associate this part of the land with childhood's innocent love. Does the place of the Lord's birth tell us of the state in which He was born? (AC 4592, 4594; AE 449.) We have thought of the journey into Egypt, as teaching us that the Lord as a child must learn in external ways, especially from the letter of the Word. (Lesson xxxviii.) Afterward, for nearly thirty years, His home was Nazareth, in the tribe of Zebulon. This tribe tells of the union of truth with good in, life. Does not the Lord's home in Nazareth through these quiet years, tell us that He was faithfully living the commandments and in so doing was bringing down into the world the Divine love of good? "By Zebulon in the highest sense is signified the union of the Divine itself and the Divine Humanity in the Lord." (AE 447; AR 359.) "And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim." (Matt. iv. 13, 14.) The coming down from the retired mountain home to the busy seashore, fitly expresses the change from silent, interior labour to outward manifestations of Divine Power in miracles and in teaching.
Are there certain states of mind which have become habitual to you, in which you love to "dwell," and in which you feel "at home"? They form your spiritual house. They may be dark chambers, gloomy and unwholesome; they may be large upper rooms; perhaps there is a house-top raised into the bright air and sunshine of heaven. Your house may be substantial and beautiful, or it may be insecure and vile. Your house takes its form and quality from the use in which your love finds its delight; it is furnished and adorned with the thoughts and feelings which accompany and surround you in your work. We say that one's home is where his use is, and if we wish to make one feel at home we show him where and how he can be useful. (AC 710, 9150; AE 208.)
We are taught that in heaven there are houses of great variety and of inconceivable beauty, and that each house is exactly adapted in general and in every particular to the use in which its occupants find their life and delight. Even in this world we adapt a building so far as we can to some use which is to be done in it.
The Lord has said: "In my Father's house are many mansions. . . . I go to prepare a place for you." (John xiv. 2.) We think of the angel homes in the great household of heaven. But each one's home is essentially some heavenly use which he has learned to enjoy, with the delightful affections and thoughts which surround him in doing it. The love of some heavenly use with its delights is the mansion which the Lord prepares for every one on earth and in heaven. (AC 9305; AE 731; HH 51.)
"And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit." (Isa. lxv. 21, 22.) How much more the blessing means when we see in it the promise of learning the good uses of heaven and of abiding in them! To build for another to inhabit means here to acquire only to lose again through falsity and evil. (AE 617.) "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." (Ps. cxxvii. 1.) We cannot acquire for ourselves the enjoyment in a heavenly use, which is a heavenly house; it is from the Lord alone. (PP.)
We have already thought of the houses built upon the sand and upon the rock. (Luke vi. 47-49.) We may fancy that we dwell secure in enjoyments of our own devising, based upon mere appearances of what is right and good. But unless our enjoyments are real uses which rest upon the Lord's commandments, and bring us into living relation with the Lord who is the Rock, we have no strength, and in trial and temptation our chosen enjoyment, seemingly so secure, is swept away. (AE 411; AR 915.)
"And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." (Mark x. 29, 30.) The house which the disciples of the Lord must leave is the selfish state of mind, peopled by evil affections and thoughts, in which we naturally are at home. A heavenly enjoyment in some good use will even now be given by the Lord, freer, happier, with good affections and thoughts in abundance; and this heavenly house death does not take away, it is "eternal life." (AE 724; AC 4843.)
"When the unclean spirit is: gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first." (Matt. xii. 43-45) How plainly the house in which the evil spirit dwells is the man's own mind, the state of affection and thought which he makes habitual in his daily occupation! Do we not often shut the doors to heaven and admit evil spirits as our guests? But by the Lord's help we may drive them out. When that is done, these verses show us the danger of leaving our minds idle, and empty of good thoughts and affections. If we leave them so, the evil from which we thought ourselves freed will return with fatal power. (AC 4744, 8394; AE 1160; DP 231.)
If evil spirits may come into our house, making gloomy and vile the motives and thoughts in which we live and labor, why may we not have heavenly visitors with bright, helpful influence? The Lord Himself says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Rev. iii. 20.)
We have been thinking of our spiritual houses as the habitual states of affection and thought, in which we work and live and feel at home. Each one's house is especially his affection for his peculiar use, and is different from every other house as his use and his way of doing it are different from others. But while each one has his own special use, is it possible that these may form parts of larger, more general uses? And while each has his own way of working, still many persons may work upon the same general principles. Such a large, comprehensive use with its general principles upon which many work together, is like a city busy in a common industry, built upon a common foundation, and defended by a common wall.
In the ancient time the members of each family of a nation lived together and formed what was called a city. Living thus apart from others, each family developed its own kind of life based upon its own understanding of the laws of life. When the inhabitants of a city were mentioned in those days, the spiritual thought was of a special development of character and use, while the city itself suggested the principles on which that life was based and by which it was defended. (AC 2451, 4478; AR 194, 712.)
In heaven also the angels live in societies according to the varieties of their reception of Divine truth and their application of it in uses. These societies are like so many states and cities. A city therefore means to the angels, as it meant to the wise ancients, the principles of truth which give stability and form to some heavenly use. (AE 223, 652; HH 50, 184; CL. 17.) If we now recall passages from the Bible where cities are mentioned, you will see that they stand for true principles or doctrines which support and defend good life and uses, or false doctrines which excuse evil life.
When we read of the Israelites destroying the cities of their enemies, we shall think of the overthrow of false principles by the power of Divine truth. "O Lord, thou art my God; . . . thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. For thou hast made of a city a heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city, it shall never be built.
In that beautiful Psalm of the redeemed we read: "They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. . . And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." (Ps. cvii. 4, 7.) To find no city is to be without true doctrine by which to live; we receive it from the Lord. (AE 223, 730.) "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." (Ps. cxxvii. 1.) We saw in the first clause a lesson of our inability to gain for ourselves the love of heavenly use; we are equally unable without the Lord to preserve our understanding of true principles of life. (PP.) Remember the parable of the talents, and how their lord gave to the faithful servants authority over ten cities and five cities. (Luke xix. 12-19.)
We can now read with still greater pleasure other verses about "the city of God" (Ps. xlvi. 4), seeing still more clearly that it is a symbol of the doctrines of a true church from the Lord's Word, guiding and defending the Lord's people in good life. "Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth." (Zech. viii. 3; PP.) "Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together." (Ps. cxxii. 3; AR 880; D. Lord 64; TCR 782.) "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. . . . Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell (or number) the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following." (Ps. xlviii. 2, 12, 13.) It is an appeal to love the interior truths of the church, and the external truths which defend it from falsities; for they will endure to eternity. (AE 453, 850.)
And now we do not need to be told the meaning of the holy city seen by John. "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. . . . And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates. . . . And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. . . . And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: . . . and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass." (Rev. xxi. 10-27.) It is a promise of a new church founded upon true doctrines from the Word, safe in the knowledge of the Divine protection, and living in golden ways of love. (AR 194, 879-925; AE 223, 1305-1334; NJHD 1; TCR 781-784; AC 8988.)
XLI.
THE TABERNACLE AND TEMPLE.
A house with its furnishings is an expression of the use which is done in it. Is there a special use expressed by a church with its kneeling cushions, its pulpit, its baptismal font, and communion table? Does not the church suggest worship with its humble prayer, its instruction, its repentance, and reception of strength from the Lord? Which, in the Lord's sight, is the church, the material building, or the holy states of worship which it expresses and promotes? "Will God, indeed, dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" (1 Kings viii. 27; AC 9457.)
In the spiritual world every house and building much more fully and perfectly expresses the use that is done in it, than buildings do on earth. Suppose there should be seen in that world an unlovely church, weakly built and vile. Would it not express worship from untrue thoughts and impure affections? (AR 926.) And what could be meant by a magnificent temple, with walls of crystal and gates of pearl? Would it not mean a church full of light and resting secure on eternal truths? (TCR 508.)
The tabernacle of the desert, the temple afterwards built by Solomon at Jerusalem, and the still later temple of Herod, both on the same general plan as the tabernacle, were all representative of heavenly worship, including in a broad sense all holy states of life, which form a dwelling for the Lord, whether in an individual, or in the church, or in heaven. (Exod. xxv. 8, 9, 40; AC 9457, 9481, 9577; AE 799; AR 585.)
What a holy interest attaches to the building of the tabernacle and temple, according to the plan revealed from heaven, when we see in it the history of the formation of holy states of worship! (Exod. xl. 34; 1 Kings viii. 10.) What pathos there is in the lament: "Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire" (Isa. lxiv. 11.)
Already, in other lessons, we have learned the meaning of some of the materials of which the sacred buildings were made. The shittim-wood, and the gold and silver and copper of the tabernacle; the gold and copper, the olive, cedar, and fir of the temple, and the stones made ready before they were brought thither. Let us also notice in general the plan of the buildings and its meaning.
There was an inmost chamber, the most holy place within the dividing vail, where in the tabernacle and in Solomon's temple the ark with the commandments stood, covered by the golden lid, the mercy-seat, with its protecting cherubim. The most holy chamber was rarely entered, but from between the cherubim of the mercy-seat came the Divine voice of answer to Moses or the priest standing by the altar of incense without the vail. Here was a larger chamber, the holy place. The golden altar of incense stood before the vail; on the north was the table of show-bread, and on the south was the branching lamp shining with the flame of its beaten olive oil.
The plan is three-fold: an inmost chamber, most holy with the immediate Divine presence, a second chamber bright with cheerful light, and an open court. Is the temple of a heavenly life correspondingly three-fold? We answer by a quotation.
"The inmost, most holy place - where the Ark of the Covenant dwells, and the golden cherubim, and the voice of the Lord - is in an individual his inmost consciousness, where if he were in the order of heaven the law of God would be written in his heart. There would be the springs of his life from the Lord, rising in the golden forms of love to the Lord and love to the neighbor; and from thence would be heard the voice of conscience, or better, of perception of agreement or disagreement with the love of the Lord in the heart, by which the spiritual life might be instructed and guided.
"The region of the mind without the vail, distinct from this inmost chamber, is the domain of thought, reason, and determination. The golden lamps here, burning always with the warm light of pure oil of olives, are in an orderly mind the light of love in which the mind looks upon human life seeing its possibilities of good, putting kindly interpretation upon its weaknesses and failures, but seeing clearly and separating every evil.
"The court of this spiritual tabernacle is the domain of practical life. The altar of burnt-offering there is the desire for the love of the Lord in the life; and the laver is purification from worldly thoughts and feelings." (Lectures on Genesis and Exodus, John Worcester, pp. 175, 176; AC 9455-10249.) The offerings upon the altar we have seen are innocent, useful affections which receive a new and holier life by consecration to the Lord. (Lessons xii. and xiii.)
The plan of the sacred buildings in all detail is descriptive of an individual life which is in true order. Does it also reveal to us something of the divisions and the arrangement of heaven? There is an inmost, celestial heaven where the Lord's laws are written on angels' hearts, and appear in forms of love for the Lord and for one another. This is the most holy place. There is a middle, spiritual heaven, where the clear light of heavenly intelligence guides the angels in worship and in life.
"How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. . . . Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. . . . For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." (Ps. lxxxiv.; AC 9549, 9741; AR 487; AE 630.) And again: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm- tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that he planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." (Ps. xcii. 12, 13; AE 458, 630; AR 487.)
The meaning of the tabernacle and temple is so nearly the same that we have considered them together, but there is a difference between them which it is interesting to notice and remember. The tabernacle is associated with primitive tent life, the temple with city life. This suggests that the tabernacle represents relatively simple, childlike states; and the temple, states of greater intellectual development. The tabernacle was built of wood with curtains of linen covered with goat's-hair and skins, while the temple's walls were of cedar and stone.
We have read of the sacred tent, "altogether according to the description of the tabernacle," seen among loving angels of the Golden Age (CL 75); while with the wise angels of the Silver Age were seen "temples of a precious stone of the color of sapphire and lapis lazuli." (CL 76.) We are taught elsewhere that the temples appear as of wood in the celestial kingdom, and are without magnificence, but in the spiritual kingdom they appear as of stone, and of greater or less magnificence. (HH 223.) This further illustrates the different shades of meaning of the tabernacle and the temple.
The holy states of affection, thought, and life which the tabernacle and temple represent have been perfectly realized, not in any man, nor in the church, nor even in heaven, but only in the Divine human life of our Lord; in their supreme sense the tabernacle and temple represent the Lord's Divine Humanity; the tabernacle especially His Divine love, and the temple His Divine wisdom. (AE 629, 1291; AR 585; AC 414, 3207.) The Lord Himself said to the Jews, "In this place is one greater than the temple." (Matt. xii. 6.)
Do you now see new meaning in the familiar words: "The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him"? (Hab. ii. 20.) They are an acknowledgement of the Lord's presence in His Divine Humanity. (PP. 220.) Remember how the Lord at twelve years old tarried in the temple, and said, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke ii. 46, 49.) His action and His words both show that He was advancing into the heavenly and Divine states which the temple represented. (AE 430.) Again: "Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting; and when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and over-threw the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise;
"Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, their God." (Rev. xxi. 3.) The words declare the full presence of the Lord in His Divine Humanity. (AE 1291; AR 882.) The holy city was shown to John, and he "saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." (Rev. xxi. 22; AE 1327; AR 918.)
GARMENTS.
"A wolf in sheep's clothing." He is a cruel, selfish person disguised by kind and gentle words and manners such as are the true expression of innocent affection. (Lesson xii.) The affection is the man, and that which expresses the affection truly (or disguises it, if one is a hypocrite) is the clothing. Words and manners are a part of this clothing; but in a broad sense it includes the whole department of intelligence which forms the affection into words and actions. This all is as a garment clothing the affection. Sometimes it clothes the affection becomingly, and sometimes, influenced by fashion, presents it in conventional and formal guise. (AC 1073, 9212; AE 195; AR 166.)
Does natural clothing serve another use? It protects us from hurt, especially from cold. Does the intelligence which shows the fitting ways of expressing our affections serve such a use? Think how it is with little children; do they clothe their affections elaborately, or do their feelings come forth in nakedness, exposed sometimes to hurt and ridicule? We protect their tender affections from hurt, when we teach the children appropriate and useful ways of expressing them in words and actions.
Little children are naked in their innocence and are clothed as their intelligence develops and they learn to express their affection in fitting ways and perhaps to disguise feelings which are not good; and so it was with the race in its childhood in Eden. (Gen. ii. 25, iii. 7, 21; AC 165, 216, 292-295, 9960.)
This is a good place to think of garments in the spiritual world. Should we expect to find pure and beautiful garments among angels or evil spirits? Should we expect to learn that the loving celestial angels or the intelligent spiritual angels are more elaborately and magnificently clothed? Be careful how you answer. The elaborate clothing belongs to the intellectual character, while the celestial angels, who impart immediately their pure affection, like little children are simply clothed, and those of the inmost heaven in their perfect innocence appear naked. We are prepared to learn further that the flaming brightness, or the shining light, or the simple whiteness of angels' garments is expressive of the degree of their intelligence.
Do you remember places where the Bible tells us of angels and angels' garments? As the women stood sad and perplexed at the sepulchre of the Lord, "Behold two men stood by them in shining garments; . . . . and they said, . . . He is not here, but He is risen." (Luke xxiv. 4-6.) The shining garments are emblems of the angels' bright thoughts and of the message of truth they brought. (AR 166; AE 195, 196.) In the Revelation, John saw a great multitude "clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." And he was told, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. vii. 9-14.) The Lamb is the Lord; the blood is the current of His Divine thought; our robes are washed in it when by His truth we become intelligent and our speech and conduct are made right and true. (AE 457, 475, 476; AR 378, 379.) So in another chapter: "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment." (Rev. iii. 4, 5.)
Remember the rich garments made for Aaron according to Divine instructions. They were among the sacred things of the Jewish worship which were all representative of spiritual life. "And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office." (Exod. xxviii.) Aaron as the priest, was the representative of the Lord in His Divine goodness. The precious garments are representative of all the lovely forms of Divine truth in which the Lord's love is clothed to men. (AC 9805-9966; AE 195 end, 717.) Put with this the familiar words of the Psalm: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments."
Now let us think of other passages about garments, as they come to mind, reserving till the last those which speak of the Lord's own garments. "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." (Luke xvi. 19.) The rich man in the parable is the Jewish Church, and the garments of purple and fine linen are the abundant knowledges of good and truth which the Jews had from the Word, which gave them the appearance of possessing "the righteousness of saints." (AC 9467; AE 118, 717, 1143; TCR 215.) Again, the Lord said of the scribes and Pharisees, "But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments." (Matt. xxiii. 5.) "These things the scribes and Pharisees literally did, but still, by their doing so, was represented and signified that they spoke many things from the ultimates of the Word, and applied them to life, and to their traditions, in order that they might appear holy and learned." The phylacteries on the head and hands suggest outward display of goodness.
We read in the Gospel, of our Lord's birth on earth: "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger: because there was no room for them in the inn." (Luke ii. 7.) This was also a sign to the shepherds, by which they should know the Lord. (Ver. 12.)
When the three disciples in the mountain saw the Lord transfigured, "His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." (Matt. xvii. 2.) "His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." (Mark ix. 3.) The disciples' eyes were opened to see something of the glory in which the Lord appears to angels.
XLIII.
REPRESENTATIVE PERSONS.
We wonder sometimes that the Bible in its letter tells of such trifling things: sparrows, and flowers of the field, fishes, stones, mustard-seed, houses, garments. But we have learned how all these things, trifling in themselves, represent elements of spiritual life, and Divine qualities in the Lord Himself. On this account alone they deserve a place in the Sacred Scriptures. And sometimes we wonder that the Bible is so largely composed of the history of certain people not very great nor very good - that it tells so much about Abraham, and Joseph, and Moses, and Samson, and David, and Solomon, and Elijah, and the apostles. How can the history of these men form a part of the Holy Word? Is it possible that they like the natural objects which seemed so trifling, are representative of elements of human and Divine character?
Recall the parables in which the Lord taught of heavenly life. He used the birds and flowers as types of spiritual things; did He also use men to represent human qualities, and even to represent Himself?
Remember how the Lord said, "Search the scriptures: ... they are they which testify of me." (John v. 39.) The Gospels were not yet written; it was the Old Testament of which He spoke. Again He said: "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me." (John v. 46.) As the Lord walked with the two disciples to Emmaus, after His resurrection, "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself." (Luke xxiv. 27.) He came also to the eleven disciples. "And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me." (Luke xxiv. 44.) Again we read, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. xix. 10.)
Can you name a person in the Old Testament history who is evidently representative of the Lord? Is it true of David? In a prophecy spoken long after David lived and died, it is still promised: "I will set up one shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even my servant David. . . . And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them." (Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24.) "David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall have one shepherd. . . . My servant David shall be their prince forever." (Ezek. xxxvii. 24, 25; Hosea iii. 5.) Plainly it is the Lord who is here meant by David. (Luke i. 32; Mark xi. I 0; Rev. xxii. 16; AC 1888; AE 205; D. Lord 43; TCR 171 end.)
David was a king and a man of war. What in the Lord's life is represented by David's wars, and by his strong rule? The Lord's conflicts were with evil, for He fought with all the powers of hell, and overcame them. These were the battles and victories which David's wars represented.
These words teach us that it is by means of His truth that the Lord conquers and is king. In His own temptations He met the tempter with Divine words of condemnation: "It is written, Thou shalt not." (Matt. iv. 1-11.) And we feel His power to conquer in our temptations, and His gift of strength to rule ourselves, as we repeat His commandments and read His Word.
The Divine truth exposes every evil and condemns it, and establishes and guides a good life. The Lord in His Divine truth does this kingly work. In this aspect, especially, He is represented by David. (AE 205; D. Lord, 43, 44.)
Remember this when we read how David was called from the care of sheep in Bethlehem, to be king.
This thought, that David means the Lord and His Divine truth battling with evil, conquering and ruling, gives a wonderful sacredness and interest to the Psalms, of which the sweet Psalmist himself said, "The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue." (2 Sam. xxiii. 2.) Look through the book of Psalms, and see how those ascribed to David are Psalms of conflict or of triumph. Read them as the expression of the Lord's own heart in the conflicts and Divine triumphs of His life; and of our hearts as we permit His truth to conquer and to rule in us. For example: "A Psalm of David. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord." (lxx.) "A Psalm of David. Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before Him." (lxviii.) "A Psalm of David. Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight." (cxliv.)
After faithful conflict comes peace. The state in which truth is the defence and guide, gives place to one in which love joins with truth and makes it easy and delightful to do good. After every temptation and victory of our Lord, the Divine love was received more fully, with its peace. How are these states of peaceful strength represented in the Bible parable, as the states of conflict are represented by David? By Solomon and his glorious and peaceful rule. His very name means the Peaceful. Read of the abundant gold in the time of Solomon; read of his wisdom, and how he built the temple of the Lord. "And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine, and under his fig- tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon." (1 Kings iv. 25.) Read this story of peaceful strength, and see in it all a representative picture of a peaceful, heavenly state when the enemies of the soul are overcome, and a dwelling for the Lord is prepared. See in it a picture of the Lord's glorification. Therefore the Lord said of Himself, "Behold a greater than Solomon is here." (Matt. xii. 42. AC 3048, 5113; AE 654.)
We found that the Psalms ascribed to David are Divine songs of conflict and triumph. It is of interest to notice the character of the two Psalms which bear the heading, "A Psalm of [or for] Solomon." "The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness. . . . In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace till the moon be no more." (lxxii. 3, 7; PP; AE 242, 365.) "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so He giveth to His beloved in sleep." (cxxvii. 1, 2; PP; AC 3696.) Read these Psalms as expressions of a heart which has gained a victory and is at peace. Especially read them as expressions of the Divine peace which followed conflict in our Lord.
But there are many states which must be passed through before the victories of David can be gained and the peace of Solomon enjoyed. We must look for a representative account of these in the story of the first innocent people of Eden, and in the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to king David.
First, the story of Adam and Eve in Eden. How like the Gospel parable of the householder who made ready his vineyard and let it out to husbandmen!
We read on in the history of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob and his sons, and find it all a parable, telling of the successive developments of heavenly life in ourselves and especially in the Lord. Briefly, Abraham represents the heavenly will, Isaac the heavenly understanding, and Jacob and his sons the heavenly life in all its various forms. (AC 1025, 1409; Lesson xxxix.)
Reading in this spiritual way we can understand the promise made to Abram and repeated to Jacob: "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. xii. 3, xxviii. 14.) We lose sight of Abram and Jacob as men, and think of the heavenly will and heavenly life which are represented, and of the blessing which attends them. We think of the Lord, and of his Divine love brought down into human life to multiply good affections and true thoughts with their blessings in the lives of men. (AC 1424, 3709; AE 340.)
So when we read in the parable, that the beggar Lazarus "died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." (Luke xvi. 22.) It is the Lord who receives in His great love those who are poor in spirit. (AC 3305, 6960; AE 118.)
We must not now stop upon the history of bondage in Egypt, the exodus, and the conquest of the promised land. We know that it is more than the history of Israel. "I will open my mouth in a parable," says the Psalm; "I will utter dark sayings of old." (Ps. lxxviii. 2.) And as we read on we find that the parable is this very history of deliverance, and desert wandering, and conquest. It is a universal story of regeneration. It is the history of deliverance from bondage to external evils, and of victory in deeper temptations, in our Lord's human life, and through Him in us.
There are also the prophets, who are, as it were, personifications of the Lord's Word which they spoke. Their history teaches us, as in object lessons, of the relation of the Word and of the Lord Himself to the world and to our own hearts. "Elijah the prophet" must come before the Lord; yet not the man Elijah, but the literal Divine truth of right and wrong for which he stood, whether heard by the Jews from the mouth of John the Baptist, or learned by us from the Bible. (Mal. iv. 5; Luke i. 17; Matt. xi. 14; AC 5620; AE 19, 619, 724.) The Lord was rejected at Nazareth, but He points us to the history of Elijah and Elisha to learn more fully how He and His words are dispised by a dead and formal church, and are welcomed only by Gentile hearts. (Luke iv. 24-27; AC 9198, 4844)
In thinking of Elijah and John the Baptist we have already been led across from the Old Testament to the Gospel, and we find that here also persons are representative of elements of human character and of the Lord. (AE 19, 724.) Think especially of the twelve whom the Lord chose to be with Him, and to go forth to preach.
We might go farther, as we have already done in our study of the tribes (Lesson xxxix.), and learn what element of heavenly character each apostle represents. This would be especially easy in the case of Peter, James, and John, the three most prominent apostles, who were often chosen to be with the Lord, as representing the twelve. (Mark v. 37, ix. 2, xiv. 33.)
John is "the disciple whom Jesus loved." This means that he most loved the Lord, and felt most deeply the Lord's love for him. The Gospel written by John's hand is full of tender perception of the Lord's goodness. (John xiii. to xvii.) John also wrote in an Epistle: "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." (1 John iv. 7, 8.) Love for the Lord, and a life inspired by this love, is what John represents. (AR 879.)
The apostle James we do not know so well; but from his close association with his brother John and with Peter, we are prepared to learn that he represents neighborly love, which is like unto the love for the Lord, and which is intermediate between true faith and that deepest love. There is an Epistle of James, which if not the writing of this apostle, is at least by one of like character, as is implied by the common name. The Epistle is full of precepts of neighborly wisdom and kindness. This is the element of heavenly character which we are taught is represented by James, the companion of Peter and John. (AC preface to Genesis xviii.; AE 444, 600.) Remember the request of James and John: "Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy kingdom." (Mark x. 37.) The Lord did not promise to the two apostles, personally, the natural power they desired; but it is true that the two loves, for the Lord and for the neighbor, which James and John represent, do prepare men to share the Lord's strength for every heavenly use.
Turn now to the Revelation. Still we find the familiar names of the tribes of Israel and of the twelve apostles. All thought of the men who bore the names has been lost, and we think only of the elements of heavenly character which the persons represent. "I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of (each tribe) were sealed twelve thousand." (Rev. vii. 4-8.) The sealed from every tribe represent all who are prepared for heaven by a genuinely good life in any of its varied forms. (SS 11; AE 39, 430, 452; AR 348, 363.) The holy city, New Jerusalem, "had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. . . . And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." (Rev. xxi. 12, 14.) The names of the apostles are on the city's foundations, for it pictures a heavenly state resting secure on the Divine truth in all its adaptations to human needs. The names of the tribes are upon the gates, because entrance to this heavenly state is found by all who live the Lord's truth faithfully, according to their several ability. (NJHD 1; AE 1309, 1312; AR 900, 903.)