The Language of
PARABLE

A Key to the Bible

By William L. Worcester

First published in New York 1892

(pdf version)

Preface

This book, now issued in its ninth reprint edition, has become a standard introduction to the Swedenborgian concept of Bible symbolism or correspondences. Its original title was Lessons in Correspondence. Even though the text has remained essentially unchanged, subsequent editions have appeared as The Language of Parable: a Key to the Bible, a more appropriate title than the earlier one. In simple, nontechnical language, the author gives penetrating glimpses into a host of Bible passages by explaining the fundamental symbolism which characterizes the biblical narrative. The basic symbols are all here. The reader who masters the contents of this work will be well on the way toward gaining personal possession of the "key" to the inner and timeless meanings of the Sacred Scriptures.

The author, William L. Worcester, on the advice of his father (who also wrote several explanatory books on correspondence), enrolled in a science curriculum at Harvard majoring in botany under Professor Asa Gray. Specialization in science, his father John felt, was one of the best preparations for a New Church ministry.

Following his graduation in 1881, William furthered his knowledge of science and of the Bible lands through an extensive camping trip in the Nile valley and all through Palestine. He then entered the three-year course at the New Church Theological School, Cambridge, Mass., leading to ordination and his life work as a minister of the General Convention of the New Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgian).

During his ministry in Philadelphia in the late 1880's he met regularly with a class of high-school-age students to study the "language of parable," to help these young people gain insights into the Bible's spiritual message and its relevance to their lives. A direct outgrowth of this class was the first edition of this present work.

The Publishers

Works of Emanuel Swedenborg

• A. C. Arcana Coelestia.
• A. E. Apocalypse Explained.
• A. R. Apocalypse Revealed.
• C. L. Conjugial Love.
• Cont. L. J. Continuation of Last Judgment.
• Cor. Coronis.
• D. L. W. Divine Love and Wisdom.
• D. Life. Doctrine of Life.
• D. Lord. Doctrine of the Lord.
• D. P. Divine Providence.
• E. U. Earths in the Universe.
• H. H. Heaven and Hell.
• I. S. B. Intercourse between the Soul and Body.
• Inv. Invitation to the New Church.
• L. J. Last Judgment.
• N. J. H. D. The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine.
• P. P. Summary Exposition ot the Prophets and Psalms.
• S. D. Spiritual Diary.
• S. S. Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture.
• T. C. R. True Christian Religion.
• W. H. The White Horse.

1. Correspondences

The knowledge of correspondences is the key to the spiritual Chapters 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, Chapters 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! They would feel the relation of all things around them to the thoughts and feelings within themselves. The objects would embody and interpret to them the things of inner wisdom.

Or, suppose that we were children of the ancient Golden or Silvern 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.

Fortunately the perception of a relation between inward things and outward has not yet been wholly lost in the world, though it is dim and incomplete compared with the perception of the ancient days or of heaven. The perception still lingering in men's minds of a relation between natural things and spiritual gives a living basis for the study of correspondences. This almost instinctive perception is what we must awaken in the children, and develop and make more definite. Then they too can read the message of nature and the spiritual Chapters of the Bible. If we begin here we strike at once a vein of interest, and one which leads on into increasing enjoyment — an interest which is wholly lacking if we begin in an arbitrary, dictionary way to say, This corresponds to truth and this to love — a mere matter of authority and memory.

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? Does a child need to be told that one motion of the hand is an invitation to come, and another is a command to go? In a word, children perceive the correspondence of the expressions of the face, the gestures, and the tones of the voice with the feelings and thoughts of the mind.

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. It is almost as if in a wild, untrodden wood we came upon signs of human habitation. It is very favorable to our comfort and happiness in this world that this is so, that we find all earthly objects adapted to our physical wants, and also of a quality to touch responsive chords in our hearts and minds. This human quality of nature is not an accident, but of purpose. It is nothing less than the imprint of the Creator's Divine-human hand, modified into more and less perfect forms, and even perverted into evil forms, by the heavenly and the infernal channels through which spiritual forces reach this world of matter.

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. So we use the word hard — either a hard rock, or a hard saying; a tender leaf, or a tender feeling; a rough country, or rough people; a warm day, or a warm heart; a cold winter, or a cold reception. So we say that both plants and ideas grow; that both bear fruit.

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 word spirit has in common speech quite passed over from the thought of breath or wind to that of the inner world with its mental forces and phenomena. So also we would hardly speak of fundamental stones, though we do of fundamental principles. We do not to-day despise the prospect from a mountain, though we do look down upon it. A word used apparently with a spiritual meaning only, is really no exception to the rule, but always, in its root, gained its meaning from nature, and was borrowed to describe what is spiritual.

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. It is however most desirable in the study of correspondences to avoid the mistake of thinking that correspondence is artificial and arbitrary, and to learn to see the living relation between the natural and the spiritual objects which correspond to each other. We therefore appeal first to the almost instinctive perception that the object or phenomenon which we are studying has relation to some state or activity of the rnind, a relation to which common speech often bears witness. This perception we seek to make more full and exact, using as our guide the statements of Swedenborg of the correspondence of the natural object in question. Then we turn to the Word for illustration of the use of our newly-discovered symbol, and by its help draw beautiful and helpful spiritual Chapters, as many as we are able. (H. H. 89-91, 103-115; A. E. 1080-1082; T. C. R. 201-208.)

2. 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? Let the class do their best to tell the meaning of this familiar word. They will doubtless conclude that we mean by high, lifted above bodily and worldly things, nearer to what is heavenly and Divine. Low does not necessarily mean bad; but it does mean external and removed from what is Divine. (A. C. 4210.) Which is higher, the love of studying astronomy or the love of eating? Which are higher, thoughts about heaven and the Lord, or thoughts about my new clothes? We often speak of acting from high motives or from low motives. We may do our work from desire to serve the Lord, or from desire to be useful to our neighbors, or from hope of money, or for personal glory. The highest motive is that which regards the Lord most directly. Desire to be useful to others is a less high motive. The hope of gain is a low motive.

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; A. C. 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 Chapter 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; A. C. 796, 6435.) Does it tell something of the state in which we should come before the Lord? (A. E. 405; A. C. 795; A. R. 336.) Remember also how the Lord went into a mountain to pray. (matt. xiv. 23; A. C. 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? Remember the parable of the good Samaritan. "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves." (Luke x. 30; A. E. 444, 458; see Chapter xxxix.)

The commandments were given from Mount Sinai, while bounds were set about that the people should not come near nor touch the mount. (Exoo. 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. (A. C. 8797, 9422.) But when the Lord would open to His diciples 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 diciples 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. (A. E. 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. (A. C. 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; A. C. 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. Do you find both kinds of elevation in this verse? "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (luke xiv. 11; A. C. 6393.) What valleys are meant, and what mountains and hills, in this call to prepare for the coming of the Lord? " Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: . . . and the glory of the lord shall be revealed." (isa. xl. 4, 5; luke iii. 5.) Plainly the mountains of pride and self-love must be humbled, and the low, unworthy things of our life must be lifted up and made good. The valleys which are exalted suggest also those states of humility which can receive the Lord's blessing. (A. C. 1691, 4715; A. R. 336; A. E. 405.)

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. 21; A. E. 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; A. E. 405 end; A. C. 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. (A. C. 10438, 10608; C. L. 75; H. H. 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; A. E. 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; A. E. 405.)

3. 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. (D. L. W. 95; A. C. 934, 5215; H. H. 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; A. C. 9818; A. E. 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; 1 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." (1 kings xviii, 24; A. C. 10055 5 A. R. 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.) To John, "his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." (Rev. i. 14, 15.) Must not the fire in all such cases be an expression of the Divine love going forth from the Lord? (A. C. 5313, 6832; A. E. 68, 69, 504.)

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; A. C. 5071; A. R. 599; A. E. 825; H. H. 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; A. C. 1861, 6832; H. H. 570; A. R. 282; A. E. 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; A. C. 8481.) "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (matt. iii. 12; A. E. 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. (A. C. 739; A. E. 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." (P. P.) 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; 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 will try them as gold is tried." (zech. xiii. 9; A.C..1846; A. E. 532.) The Lord also said, referring to conflicts in men's hearts between the good love He brought and their natural evil loves, "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?" (luke xii. 49; A. E. 504.)

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. (A. C. 4175; H. H. 572.) The Lord predicted days when iniquity should abound, and "the love of many shall wax cold." (matt. xxiv. 12; L. J. 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? (A. E. 820.) Read in the Revelation (Rev. 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 lukewarm-ness is more dangerous than never to have known the good, for we are set more hopelessly against it. (A. R. 202; A. E. 233.)

4. 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. (D. L. W. 96; A. C. 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. (A. E. 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? (A.C. 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; A. C. 3863.) The Gospel also says of the Lord's coming,

"The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. . . . That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." (John i. 5, 9.) It teaches the same Chapter of the ignorance and falsity in men's minds, and the perfect wisdom of the Lord; and it tells us that all our light, all our ability to understand any truth, is given us by the Lord. (A. E. 294.) "In thy light shall we see light." (Ps. xxxvi. 9; A. E. 483; A. C. 353.) "I am the light of the world," the Lord Himself said. (john viii. 12; A. E. 864.) And the Lord said of those whom He taught and sent out to teach others, "Ye are the light of the world. . . . Let your light so shine before men." (Matt. v. 14, 16.) The disciples, or more abstractly, the messages of truth they carried, were to spread light from Him to all the world. (A. E. 223.)

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; A. E. 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; A. C. 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. (A. C. 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.) The weary toil of the night means the disciples' vain effort and our own, when our minds are in darkness because far from the Lord. The fourth watch, or the dawn, is when we perceive that the Lord is near. (A. E. 514.) "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Ps. xxx. 5; A. C. 10134.)

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? (A. C. 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; A. E. 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. (A. R. 940; A. E. 1343.) In heaven it is even outwardly true that there is no night, though there is twilight and rest; for in the spiritual world brightness without is inseparable from brightness within, and the minds of angels, though they rest from their intensest activity, are never dark. (H. H. 126-132, 155.)

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. (H. H. 347; A. E. 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, wnen 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. (A. C. 6752, 10691; A. E. 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; H.H. 129; A. E. 412.) Remember also that the Lord is seen by angels, clothed with the glory of the sun of heaven. (H. H. 118; D. L. W. 97.) "Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment," says the Psalm. (Ps. civ. 2; A. E. 283; A. C. 9433.) What Divine quality is it which becomes visible to spiritual sight as bright light surrounding the Lord? His Divine wisdom. The ancients knew that the Lord's wisdom appears to spiritual sight as light going forth from Him, and from this ancient knowledge the custom still remains with painters of encircling the head of the Lord with rays of light. (D. L. W. 94.)

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. 10; A. R. 527; A. E. 696.) There is no true faith where there is no charity. (T. C. R. 385.)

5. 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 "clearsighted" business man or statesman. One policy is "short-sighted" and another "far-sighted " or "far-seeing." And we all know what it is to be "blind" to our own interests, or to our faults. We may have our "eyes opened" to something to which we have been "blind;" or we may obstinately "close our eyes" to it. " None are so blind as they who will not see." So we could multiply phrases which refer to seeing with "the mind's eye."

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. (A. C. 4403-4420; D. L. W. 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. (A. C. 1806, 1954.) The understanding also returns through the eyes its sparkle of intelligence or its blank look of perplexity. (A. E. 37; A. C. 4407.) This close relation we describe in one word by saying that the eye corresponds to the understanding. Both the natural eye and the understanding, each on its plane, are meant in the words, "The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of right. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness." (matt. vi. 22, 23; A. E. 1081, 152.)

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. (A. E. 152; A. R. 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." (matt. xv. 14.) Did He mean that they were physically blind? or that, although they had the Word, they understood nothing of its real truth, but taught false rules of life, which were received by people no more intelligent than themselves? (A. E. 537; A. R. 914.) When the disciples presently asked Him the meaning of a parable, He said, "Are ye also without understanding?" (matt. xv. 16.) Long before it had been said, "His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; . . . they are shepherds that cannot understand." (isa. lvi. 10, 11; A. R. 210; A. E. 239.)

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. (A. C. 301-307; D. P. 231; H. H. 353; S. S. 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. (A. C. 6990; A. E. 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; A. E. 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 openeth the eyes of the blind." (Ps. cxlvi. 8; A. E. 239; A. C. 2383; A. R. 210.)

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; A. E. 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? Do we sometimes try with much excitement of feeling to set them right? And what effect has this excitement upon our own understanding? This or some other blinding evil is the beam which distorts our view far worse than the small error did our brother's, and destroys our ability to help him to see truly. (A. E. 746; A. C. 9051.)

"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 Chapters which these words contain, they are a warning to put out of our minds at once all thoughts that lead to what is wrong. (A. E. 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. (A. E. 556; A. C. 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? (A. R. 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.) "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us." (Ps. cxxiii. i, 2.) "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills." (Ps. cxxi. 1.) We lift our eyes spiritually when we lift our thought and direct it to heavenly subjects and to the Lord. (A. C. 2789.)

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. (A. E. 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. (A. C. 3869, 5077; A. E. 14; H. H. 271.)

One may convey a clear idea by a letter or a picture, but how much better his feeling is expressed in his voice!

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. (A. C. 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. (A.C. 2542; A. E. 365.) "Hear, O Israel," introduces the first of all commandments; " Hear, O Israel, and observe to do." (deut. vi. 4, 3; A. C. 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." (1 sam. Hi. 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; A. C. 3869.)

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.) It means that so far as we are able it is our duty to understand the Lord's message, and obey it. (A. C. 2542; A. E. 108; A. R. 87.)

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; A. C. 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. (A. E. 455; A. C. 9311.) Remember how on that last night in Gethsemane, Peter drew a sword and "smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear and healed him." (luke xxii. 50, 51.) It shows how ready we are to accuse and condemn those who do not obey the Lord; but the Lord does not condemn, He tries with loving kindness to teach men and to lead them to obedience. (A. C. 2799, 10-130)

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; A. C. 3869, 3954.)

6. 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 Chapter, of the spiritual faculties. (I. S. B. 11, 12; H. H. 432; A. C. 7850; D. L. W. 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? If parents spread the table, but did no more for their children, would the children become strong and healthy in mind as well as in body? Their bodies might grow, but their minds would starve and remain undeveloped for lack of food of another kind. Why do children want to know so many things, and ask so many questions, except because their minds are hungry? They need interesting "food for thought," as we say, and they need knowledge of what is good which will satisfy their affections. Instruction in such knowledge is the mind's food.

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-Chapter, 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. They examine it closely to see what it really is, before they accept it. This critical examination of what comes to the mind for acceptance is like the opening of food by the grinding teeth. The principles which we have established as fixed and sure, by which we make the examination, are like the teeth. Little children are without teeth spiritually as well as naturally. They gain spiritual teeth as they learn to set guards at the doors of their minds which permit nothing to pass till it is opened and explained. (A. E. 990; A. C. 4795, 5565.) 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 Chapter 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. To have this relation of instruction to our life pointed out, is like receiving with the food refreshing drink which makes the food easy to swallow. (Chapter xxviii.) Better still if we perceive for ourselves the relation of the instruction to our needs, as the mouth itself moistens the food.

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. (A. E. 242, 580; D. P. 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. That we may " increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man," we need also instruction from the Lord in regard to what He knows to be really good and true. "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Come ye, buy, and eat." (isa. lv. 2, 1.) We could of course apply the words to the persons we imagined above who thought only of providing natural food. Can we not apply them also to ourselves when we are content with merely worldly thoughts and interests? We eat that which is good, when we receive from the Lord instruction which feeds the soul and makes it grow strong and beautiful for heaven. (A. C. 680, 5576; A. E. 750.) It is this good food of which the Bible speaks. Let the class recall passages where hunger and food and eating are mentioned, and see that they tell of instruction in heavenly life from the Lord.

"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. (A. R. 323; A. E. 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.) The verse itself explains that the famine meant is a great lack of knowledge of what is good and true, such as the Lord's words can give. (A. E. 386.) The satisfying of such hunger is described in the verse, " Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me joy and rejoicing of my heart." jer. xv. 16; A. E. 617.) In contrast with the good food of His own instruction, remember how the Lord warned the disciples, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." At first they thought only of natural bread, but afterward they understood "how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." (matt. xvi. 6, 12; A. C. 7906.)

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. Still more difficult is it to make the truth really ours in life. (A. E. 617, 618; A. R. 481.) In the Psalm also we read, " How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Ps. cxix. 103), also telling of the first pleasure in being instructed from the Lord's Word. (A. E. 619.) " Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. . . . Whatsoever en-tereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart." (matt. xv. 11, 18, 19.) Natural food does not defile nor strengthen the spirit; no more does knowledge, so long as it lies only in the memory. It is still outside the man, as food in the stomach is outside the living tissues of the body, and not a part of them. What is good must still be chosen and worked into the character; and it is not too late to reject what is evil. (A. E. 580, 622.)

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.) So we go searching for natural food and knowledge which shall make us strong in worldly life, but forget that the Lord is strong with perfect knowledge of what is good and true, and that we "should have asked of him," and He would have given living food and drink. (A. C. 5293; see also john vi. 27; matt. iv. 4; A. C. 5915, 9003.)

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? (A. E. 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. (A. C. 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. . . . My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." (john vi. 48-58; A. C. 4735.) When we receive any good affection or true thought into our life and are strengthened by it, we ought to remember that the Lord is feeding us from His own life. As He gives us instruction of what He knows to be good and true, so He would have us share with others who are ignorant but desire to know, the knowledge in which we have found strength. "Is not this the fast which I have chosen? ... Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? ... If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul," etc. (ISA. lviii. 6-10; A. E. 386; A. C. 9050.)

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. That it is the Lord's feast, and that we eat at His table, means that He gives us of His own, and that in receiving we become united with Him. (A. E. 252, 617.) Can we see also why sacred feasts formed a part of the ancient representative worship? (A. C. 3596.) And also why the Lord welcomed publicans and sinners — by whom are represented those who see and confess their sins — to His table, to eat with Him?

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. (T. C. R. 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. (A. C. 7850.) While we are eating natural food, we are more open than at other times to receive and appropriate spiritual strength from those with whom we are eating. The knowledge of this fact led in the old time to the custom of eating with friends as a means of sharing with them good things of spiritual life. We still regard it as helpful to good understanding and friendship, to break bread with others, and to ask them to our table. In the same way we are especially open to receive and appropriate from the Lord knowledge of what is good and true, while we are partaking of His Holy Supper. (T. C. R. 433, 434, 727; N. J. H. D. 210-213.)

7. Speech

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. (A. C. 2271; A. E. 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? When we speak to very little children is it more important to articulate our words clearly or to speak in a kindly tone? We often say the same meaningless words over and over again, but the child hears our love in the pleasant tone. Animals understand little of the exact thought of our speech, but they do understand our feeling. Therefore the tone rather than the words is important in addressing them. Animals themselves make sounds, very expressive sounds, but do not articulate words. Why is it? Because they have feelings, but not distinct thoughts, to express. When we feel sudden suffering or joy or anger we do not wait to find words, but make simply a sound. The thought follows more slowly, and finds expression in words. (A. E. 1216.)

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. (A. E. 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. Are they the consonants or the vowels? The vowels give the tone, and therefore are the chief means of expressing feeling, but on the consonants depends the articulation which has most to do with expressing distinct thought. And among the vowel sounds there are some like oo, o, ah, which have a fuller tone than others such as a, e, i. You will notice that writers and speakers, especially poets, instinctively choose words with round, full vowels when the feeling to be expressed is deep and tender.

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; A. C. 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. (A. R. 29; T. C. R. 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. (H. H. 331; S. D. 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? (H. H. 241; T. C. R. 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. (T. C. R. 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 tothe physical, but even more complex and delicate. (D. P. 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. (A. C. 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. (A. E. 455; A. C. 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. (A. E. 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? (A. C. 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. (P. P.) 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. (A. C. 8261; A. E. 612; A. R. 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." (A. R. 279; A. E. 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. (C. L. 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. "The voice of the lord is powerful; the voice of the lord is full of majesty." (Ps. xxix. 4.) The natural idea is of spoken words, and the Lord's message has at times come down even into this natural form, but the spiritual idea is of the Divine thought or the Divine truth expressed in whatever way. (A. C. 9926, 10182; A. E. 261.) This helps us to understand more spiritually what is said of each step of the creation, that "God said," and it was (gen. i.); also what is said in John, "In the beginning was the Word. ... All things were made by him " john i. 1, 3); and again in the Psalm, "By the word of the lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." (Ps. xxxiii. 6.) The natural idea is that creation was accomplished by a spoken word. The spiritual and true idea is that it all is an expression of the Lord's Divine thought, the work of Divine truth. (A. C. 9926, 10182; A. E. 261.) Because a word is the embodiment of affection and thought, we call the book which contains and brings to us the Lord's Divine love and wisdom, His Word.

8. Hands and Feet

Do our hands labor 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. (A. C. 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 denied with blood, and your fingers with iniquity." (Isa. lix. 3.) The deeds are cruel and evil, especially the desire and thought which prompt them. (A. E. 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. (A. E. 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; P. P.) 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 ccme 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. (A. C. 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. He does not condemn us for the dust of the world which clings to us, but helps us to lay it aside and become clean. Perhaps we would rather that the Lord should look at our beliefs and our good resolutions than our actions; then we are like Peter who said, "Thou shalt never wash my feet. . . . Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." (John xiii. 8, 9.) But the Lord's answer (Ver. 10), "He that hath been bathed, needeth not save to wash his feet," means that when once one has entered upon the way of regeneration, then all he needs is, with the Lord's help, faithfully to make right the little steps of every-day life. Remember also the Lord's words, "I have given you an example." "Ye also ought to wash one another's feet." (John xiii. 15, 14.) We must, like Him, help others to do right. We must, like Him, judge kindly of them and delight to see and to help them to see that the wrong is not hopeless, but can be laid aside. (A. C. 3147, 7442.) Do we understand now the reason for the command given to the Jewish priests to wash their hands and feet? (Exod. xxx. 17-21.) Is it a natural washing of the hands and feet of the body that the Lord desires? (matt. xv. 2, 19, 20; A. C. 3147)

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? Surely not that they should make broad their phylacteries, but that the commandments should be the rule of their inmost affections and thoughts and of all their acts. (A. C. 9936.) Compare the mark of the beast in the right hand or in the forehead. (rev. xiii. 16.) Here the dominion of a false principle over the inmost affections and over their expression in thought and act, is meant. (A. R. 605; A. C. 10061.)

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. 1.) The Pharisees rebuked them, but the Lord defended them. What spiritual act did the eating represent? The reception of instruction. (T. C. R. 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 Chapter, 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. (A. C. 10061; A. E, 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. (T. C. R. 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. (A. E. 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. What is forbidden is, to stop to think how good the act appears and how it will benefit us, when our whole heart should be in its use to others. (A. E. 600.) Again, we are commanded, "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out. . . . And if thy right hand [or thy foot] offend thee, cut it off." (matt. v. 29, 30; mark ix. 45.) It is a command to give up promptly and summarily every thought and every habit of life or desire to do, which leads us to what is wrong. (A. E. 600.) Many more passages will come to mind, where the feet are symbols of the daily life in the world, and the hands represent the love and the thought in what we do.

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. (A. C. 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; A. C. 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 sympathy and 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. (A. C. 10130; A. R. 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. (A. E. 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. (A. C. 3147; A. R. 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. (A. E. 687; A. C. 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; A. R. 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. (A. E. 513; A. C. 1729, 10044.) When the Lord revealed Himself to John in the Revelation, "His feet were like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." (REV. i. 15.) The golden girdle, the snowy head, and eyes as a flame of fire, represent the Divine presence on higher planes of life, but the feet of glowing brass represent the Lord's Divine goodness present with men on earth. (A. R. 49; A. E. 69; See Chapter 37.)

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; A. E. 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; A. E. 294, 295.) "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." (Deut. xxxiii. 27; A. E. 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. 11; A. E. 687; deut. xxxiii. 12; A. C. 4592.)

9. 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. (D. P. 181; see Chapter 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. (A. C. 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; A. E. 962; A. C. 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; A. E. 239; A. C. 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"? Did He not heal the suffering bodies the more gladly as a sign of His power to give strength to men's souls when they should desire it? "That ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house." (Luke v. 24; A. C. 8364 end.)

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; A. C. 6502.) "Bless the Lord . . . who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases." (Ps. ciii. 2, 3; P. P.)

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. (A. E. 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 (Chapter v.), of dumbness (Chapter vii.), and of lameness and the withered hand. (Chapter 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; A. C. 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.) Peter in us is our out-spoken faith in the Lord. (See Chapter xliii.) When the Lord comes with this faith to its house — when he follows it back into the chambers of the heart — He finds the affection for living the literal truth disturbed and prostrated by the more spiritual teaching and unable to go forth in active service. The Lord's coming gives new life to the literal truth and to the affection for it, making this affection a strong and useful servant to the spiritual life. "She arose and ministered unto them."

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. But we know that they are not always so; sometimes they are unmeaning and dead. Even religious professions and ceremonies may be utterly dead. Is not this a condition of spiritual leprosy? A state of mind in which forms of worship and of religious life are angrily rejected, and one is sensitive and angry at the mere mention of them, is represented by the more grievous forms of leprosy. (A. C. 6963; D. P. 231.)

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. (A. C. 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. 11), 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 Chapter xxviii.) To bathe in the rivers of Damascus is to rule the conduct according to our own wisdom, from motives of worldly policy; this has no power to make the life sincere. But when we obey the Lord's commandments, the love of evil is taken away and life does become sincere. Are little children hypocritical or genuine in their words and acts? Naaman's "flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." (Ver. 14; A. E. 475.) After Naaman's healing, we read of the hypocrisy of Gehazi, Elisha's servant, and his dishonest use of his holy office for selfish benefit; and the prophet said, "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow." (2 kings v. 27.) It was not an arbitrary punishment, but an outward manifestation of his inward state, and of others who do like him.

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? (A. C. 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.) This, like all other Divine signs, is not arbitrary, but is an outward picture of a spiritual condition. It represents the state of a church which has its worship and its ceremonies, but has no sense of the presence of "the Lord God of their fathers" in them. Such were the Israelites if they accepted Moses only as a man, and not as the messenger of the Lord; such are Christians if they follow the Lord as a moral leader but do not recognize Him as God with us. Then the hand is leprous. What is the hand? The works, the acts of worship. How is it leprous? It is external only, dead and lifeless. The restoring of Moses' hand is to show that with a recognition of duty to the Lord in all things, worship and all religious acts become genuine. (A. C. 6963, 6968.)

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? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house." (luke v. 18-24.) The Lord's words seem to be addressed to the palsied state of mind of which this helpless body was a type. They are spoken to all who despair on account of their sinfulness; who seem to themselves past hope, and in their discouragement are unable to take up life's duties. The Lord assures us all, when we are thus spiritually paralyzed, that while we live on earth, He can forgive sins — can give us strength and courage to leave the sinful past, and to begin a new life.

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 (A. C. 8364, 5726), and physical disease exposes one to influences from hell. (A. C. 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. (H. H. 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. (A. C. 5713.)

10. Childhood, Youth and Old Age

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. "Their angels," the Lord said, "do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." (matt. xviii. 10; H. H. 295; A. C. 2303.) In these first years there is laid up in children's hearts a store of innocent and holy states, which, as they grow older, are a rebuke to evil when it awakens, and are a means of keeping them open to the influence of heaven. (A. C. 561, 5342.) If we choose one word to describe the quality of childhood, we cannot find a better word than innocence. We must think of innocence when childhood is mentioned in the Bible. (A. C. 430, 5608.)

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. (A. C. 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. (A. C. 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 1 say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." (mark x. 14-16.) The Lord showed not only His love for those little children and for all little children, but His love of innocence which is the beginning of His kingdom. (A. C. 5608.) Again they asked Him: " Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. . . . Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." (matt. xviii. 1-6, 10.) Innocence is the greatest thing in the kingdom of heaven, because it is the inmost, the central thing, and the root of all that is heavenly. (A. C. 5608, 4797, 1616.) "Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me." In receiving innocence, we are receiving the Lord. "Their angels do always behold the face of my Father," when applied to states of innocence in ourselves, means that such states are open to the Heavenly Father's love. (A. E. 412.) The danger to our spiritual life of wilfully destroying the states of innocence which the Lord has given us, is taught in the words, "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better . . . that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." (A. E. 1182; A. C. 9755.)

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. (A. C. 5608; H. H. 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! (A. C. 3183.) The children praising the Lord in the temple (matt. xxi. 16) were accepted as a fulfilment of the Psalm. They also represent the innocence in our hearts, which alone can acknowledge and receive the Lord, keeping us faithful to Him. (A. C. 5236.) "A little child shall lead them." (Isa. xi. 6.) How true that innocence leads us safely into all the blessedness of heaven! The coming of the Lord is especially meant, and that His Divine innocence made possible to man all things of heavenly life. The prophecy continues: "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 nor destroy in all my holy mountain." (isa. xi. 8, 9.) The safety of innocence against all harm is described; especially the safety which the presence of the Lord's Divine innocence among men brought to those in heaven and in His church, which are His holy mountain. (A. C. 5608, 10132.)

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; A. C. 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? A quick, active intelligence is developed, which delights to exercise itself in learning and in reasoning. (A. C. 3183, 7668, 10225.) Remember how our Lord at twelve years old, which with the Jews marked the end of childhood, questioned with the doctors in the temple, "and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." (Luke ii. 47; A. C. 1457; T. C. R. 89.) Contrast with the day, years after, when "all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth." (Luke iv. 22.) It is an intellectual strength and quickness which belong to youth, not the deep wisdom of experience; and our intellectual strength is at first natural, critical, and self-confident. (A. C. 1949, 2679.)

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. (A. E. 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. The renewing of our strength involves also the thought that the Lord will help us to employ our intelligence in useful work. (A. C. 3901; A. R. 244.) "It is good that a man should both hope and patiently wait for the salvation of the lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." (lam. iii. 26, 27.) How gently do these verses rebuke the impatience and self-confidence of youthful intelligence! They show the need of submitting to correction, and of turning the intelligence to useful service.

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. 16-22.) 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. (A. C. 4744 end; A. E. 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. The characteristic of true old age is wisdom. (A. C. 10225, 6524; A. E. 270.)

In the book of Job we read: "With aged men is wisdom; and in length of days understanding." (Job xii. 12, Revised Version; A. C. 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. (A. C. 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. (A. E. 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.) There are many such sad prophecies, but there are also joyful ones.

"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." (A. E. 727.) The boys and girls are the developments of innocence, both truth and goodness. (A. E. 863; A. C. 2348.)

John saw about the throne "four and twenty elders sitting." (Rev. iv. 4.) They represent the wisdom of the heavens (A. E. 270; A. C. 5313), especially the spiritual heaven which is most in the enjoyment of truth from the Lord. (A. E. 322, 462.) So also the elders of Israel, who were so often instructed by Moses, and who helped in leading the people (Exod. iii. 16, xvii. 5), represent the highest things of wisdom, most able to be instructed by the Lord. (A. C. 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. (A. C. 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? (A. C. 3703, 8898; A.E. 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. (A C. 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. (P. P.; A. C. 5236.)

11. Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral

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. (D. L. W. 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. Where, as the forces of life descend from the Lord to the plane of nature — where do they become perverted? Men pervert them, indulging hatred instead of love, and false thoughts instead of truth. And the Lord permits these perverse feelings and thoughts also to appear in nature, producing evil animals and plants, and all vile and cruel things. When men were good and innocent, nature was all good, reflecting their innocent life; but when evil life increased on earth and in hell, then it was said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake. . . . Thorns also and thistles shall it bring