-
And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have an
holy convocation; you shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing of
trumpets to you.
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And when the state of faith with the man of the church is full and holy,
and love begins to he manifested, another rearrangement of truths takes place,
and another season of spiritual rest is experienced; for then there is further
revelation of Divine Truth from the Lord
[more]
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-
And you shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour to the
lord; one young bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year without
blemish:
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Then too, the Lord is acknowledged by worship from the holy principle of
love which is grateful and acceptable to Him, as to innocence in the natural
affections, in the spiritual affections, and in the celestial affections, which
are holy, which are embodied or expressed in truths, which are purified from
sin, and which are perfect according to the state;
[more]
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And their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts
for the bullock, two tenth parts for the ram,
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With the acknowledgement also that all spiritual good is derived from and
conjoined with celestial good, in the greatest degree when it affects the
natural man; in a less degree when it affects the spiritual man and the
celestial man only;
[more]
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And one tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs;
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And in the least degree when it only affects the celestial man;
[more]
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And one he-goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you:
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Accompanied by the increasing removal of evil by means of truths, and thus
by the closer conjunction of the external man with the internal,
[more]
|
-
Beside the burnt offering of the new moon, and the meal offering thereof,
and the continual burnt offering and the meal offering thereof, and their drink
offerings, according to their ordinance, for a sweet savour, an offering made
by fire to the lord.
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In addition to the sincere worship of the Lord from the previous new state
of faith, with its appropriate acknowledgement of the due reception of spiritual
good; and in addition to the perpetual worship of the Lord in every state of
brightness and obscurity, and of the reception of spiritual truths according to
Divine Order; all this being grateful and acceptable to the Lord on account of
reciprocation in worship from pure love.
[more]
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And on the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have an holy
convocation; and you shall afflict your souls; you shall do no manner of work:
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And further, when the state of faith with the man of the church is thus
full and holy, and when, consequently, remains are implanted, the rearrangement
of truths still continues, and there is complete purification from evil in the
course of temptation, followed by a renewed state of spiritual rest and peace;
[more]
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But you shall offer a burnt offering to the lord for a sweet
savour; one young bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year; they shall
be to you without blemish:
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And consequently a renewed state of the worship of the Lord from pure
love, involving again the reception of the good of innocence in the natural, in
the spiritual, and in the celestial degrees of the mind, and this too with
purification accordingly;
[more]
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And their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts
for the bullock, two tenth parts for the one ram,
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And also, the reception of spiritual good conjoined with celestial, in the
greatest proportion when the natural man co-operates; in less proportion when
only the spiritual and celestial co-operate;
[more]
|
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A several tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs:
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And in the lease proportion when only the celestial co-operates with the
Lord;
[more]
|
-
One he-goat for a sin offering; beside the sin offering of atonement, and
the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering thereof, and their drink
offerings.
|
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There being at the same time the acknowledgement that evil is removed by
the Lord, specifically as well as generally, and that all worship from pure love
is from the Lord, as well as the reception of all spiritual good conjoined with
celestial, and of all spiritual truth.
[more]
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And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have an holy convocation; you shall do no servile work, and you shall
keep a feast to the lord seven days:
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And again, when the state of the implantation of truth is completed, and the state of the implantation of good commences,
there is still another rearrangement of truths, a still more improved state of
spiritual rest and peace, and a still greater appropriation of good from the
Lord in all holiness and fullness;
[more]
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And you shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet
savour to the lord ; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, fourteen
he-lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:
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And consequently it is now most intensely acknowledged that all love and
all holy worship from pure love are from the Lord, and are grateful and
acceptable to Him, as to the natural affections, which in their first state are
fully opposed to the spiritual after states of instruction are completed; as to
the spiritual affections in which now truth and good are fully conjoined; and
as to the celestial affections in fullness and purified from evil, in which now
also truth and good are fully conjoined.
[more]
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And their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts
for every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth parts for each ram of the
two rams,
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And in this state also is the reception of spiritual good from celestial
manifested in the greatest degree, when it is with the good of innocence in the
natural man; in a less degree when with that good in the spiritual and celestial
man only:
[more]
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And a several tenth part for every lamb of the fourteen lambs:
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And in the least degree when it is in the celestial man only;
[more]
|
-
And one he-goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering,
the meal offering thereof, and the drink offering thereof.
|
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Besides which, evil is now more than ever fully removed; worship from
pure love is now more than ever powerful; and the reception of spiritual good
and truth in every state is now more than ever complete.
[more]
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And on the second day you shall offer twelve young bullocks, two
rams, fourteen he-lambs of the first year without blemish:
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But this perfect state involves not only all previous states of the
natural man, because it involves the first, but also each state in its order,
and therefore that, in the second state, the natural man had not so much power
against the spiritual man, because truths were full and efficient, and because
the conjunction of truth with good was potentially full in the spiritual and
celestial degrees;
[more]
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And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for
the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance:
|
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With the like reception of spiritual good and truth conjoined with
celestial in each degree of the mind according to its quality, and according to
Divine Law.
[more]
|
-
And one he-goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering,
and the meal offering thereof, and their drink offerings.
|
-
As well as with the like remission of evil according to the state, and
with the worship of the Lord from pure love in every state by the adequate
reception and acknowledgement of spiritual good and truth from the Lord.
[more]
|
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And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs of the
first year without blemish;
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This perfect state also involves that, in the third stage, the natural
man had still less power against the spiritual man because truths were more
powerful, not only in the internal of the natural degree, but also in its
external from a principle of obedience, and again because the conjunction of
truth with good was potentially full in the spiritual and celestial degrees;
[more]
|
-
And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number,
after the ordinance:
|
-
With the like reception of spiritual good and truth conjoined with celestial in each degree of the mind, according to its
quality, and according to Divine Law;
[more]
|
-
And one he-goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering,
and the meal offering thereof, and the drink offering thereof.
|
-
As well as with the like remission of evil according to the state, and
with the worship of the Lord from pure love, in every state, by the adequate
reception and acknowledgement of spiritual good and truth from the Lord.
[more]
|
-
And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs of the
first year without blemish:
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-
This perfect state also involves that, in the fourth stage of conflict,
the natural man had still less power against the spiritual, because then truths
were implanted in good there, and because the conjunction of truth with good was
again potentially full in the spiritual and celestial degrees;
[more]
|
-
Their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the
rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance:
|
-
With the like reception of spiritual good and truth conjoined with
celestial in each degree of the mind according to its quality, and according to
Divine Law;
[more]
|
-
And one he-goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering,
the meal offering thereof, and the drink offering thereof.
|
-
As well as with the like remission of evil according to the state, and
with the worship of the Lord from pure love in every state by the adequate
reception and acknowledgement of spiritual good and truth from the Lord.
[more]
|
-
And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs of the
first year without blemish:
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This perfect state also involves that, in the fifth stage of conflict,
the natural man had still less power against the spiritual, because then truths
were implanted in good, not only in the internal of the natural degree, but also in the external, from a sincere affection for truth,
and because the conjunction of truth with good was again potentially full in the
spiritual and celestial degrees;
[more]
|
-
And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for
the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance:
|
-
With the like reception of spiritual good and truth conjoined with
celestial in each degree of the mind, according to its quality and according to
Divine Law;
[more]
|
-
And one he-goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering,
and the meal offering thereof, and the drink offering thereof.
|
-
As well as with the like remission of evil according to the state, and
with the worship of the Lord from pure love in every state by the adequate
reception and acknowledgement of spiritual good and truth from the Lord.
[more]
|
-
And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs of the
first year without blemish:
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-
This perfect state also involves that, in the sixth stage of conflict,
the natural man had still less power against the spiritual, because then good
was implanted there, and because the conjunction of truth with good was again
potentially full in the spiritual and celestial degrees;
[more]
|
-
And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for
the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance:
|
-
With the like reception of spiritual good and truth conjoined with
celestial in each degree of the mind, according to its quality and according to
Divine Law;
[more]
|
-
And one he-goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering,
the meal offering thereof, and the drink offerings thereof.
|
-
As well as with the like remission of evil according to the state, and
with the worship of the Lord from pure love in every state, by the adequate
reception and acknowledgement of spiritual good and truth from the Lord.
[more]
|
-
And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs of the
first year without blemish:
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-
And this perfect state also involves that, in the seventh stage, when
conflict ceases, the natural man has no longer any power against the spiritual,
because it is now harmonious therewith, and a state of rest and peace is
established, not only in the internal of the natural degree, but also in its
external, from a sincere affection for good, and because the conjunction of
truth with good is now actually full in all the degrees of the mind;
[more]
|
-
And their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for
the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance:
|
-
With the like reception of spiritual good and truth conjoined with
celestial, in each degree of the mind, according to its quality and according to
Divine Law;
[more]
|
-
And one he-goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering,
the meal offering thereof, and the drink offering thereof.
|
-
As well as with the full remission of evil according to the state, and
with the worship of the Lord from pure love in every state, by the full
reception and acknowledgement of spiritual good and truth from the Lord in the
natural degree.
[more]
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-
On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly: you shall do no
servile work:
|
-
And in this new and perfect heavenly state there is complete arrangement
of truths, and the full appropriation of good, together with the cessation of
all spiritual conflict.
[more]
|
-
But you shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet
savour to the lord : one bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year without blemish:
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And the acknowledgement of the Lord, and worship thence from pure love is
full in every respect, and therefore grateful and acceptable in every respect,
on account of reciprocation, as to the natural affections, as to the spiritual affections,
and as to the celestial affections.
[more]
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-
Their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the
ram, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the ordinance
:
|
-
Also as to the reception of spiritual good and truth conjoined with
celestial in every degree of the mind, according to the heavenly quality of
good, and according to the perfection of Divine Truth.
[more]
|
-
And one he-goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering,
and the meal offering thereof, and the drink offering thereof.
|
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And also as to deliverance from evil through the operation of the truth,
besides genuine worship from pure love, in every state, and the reception of
spiritual good and truth in fullness in every state.
[more]
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These you shall offer to the lord in your set feasts, beside your
vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meal
offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.
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And this full acknowledgement, and worship, and reception of heavenly good
and truth, is continual, or eternal; in every general state and in every
particular state, and consequently, in every act of devotion to the Lord, in
every act of freedom in worship, in every act of worship from pure love, and in
every act of worship in which it is acknowledged that spiritual and celestial
good and truth are continually received from the Lord.
[more]
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And Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the lord
commanded Moses.
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And thus from the Lord through the heavens, by Divine Truth, there is
revelation to the man of the Spiritual Church in every state according to his
needs.
[more]
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As the first section of this chapter is concerning the, feast of trumpets, by
which is signified revelation from the Lord, the following quotation will be
found useful: "In regard to revelation being either from perception or from
speech with the angels through whom the Lord speaks, it is to be noted that
those who are in good and thence in truth, especially those who are in the good
of love to the Lord, have revelation from perception; whereas those who are not
in good and thence in truth may indeed have revelations, yet not from
perception, but by a living voice heard in them, thus by angels from the Lord;
this latter revelation is external, whereas the former is internal. The angels,
especially the celestial, have revelation from perception, so also had the men
of the Most Ancient Church, but hardly any one at the present day; whereas very
many, even those who have not been in good, have had revelations from speech
without perception, and also by visions and dreams. Such were most of the
revelations of the prophets in the Jewish Church; they heard a voice, they saw
a vision, and they dreamed a dream; but as they had no perception, they were
merely verbal or visual revelations, without any perception of what they
signified; for genuine perception exists through heaven from the Lord, and
affects the intellectual spiritually, and leads it perceptibly to think as the
thing really is, with an internal assent, the source of which it is ignorant of.
It supposes that it is in it, and that it flows from the connection of things;
whereas it is a dictate through heaven from the Lord, flowing into the interiors
of the thought, concerning such things as are above the Natural and Sensual,
that is, concerning such things as are of the spiritual world, or of heaven.
Hence it may be manifest what it meant by revelation from perception. But the
revelation from perception which the Lord had, Who is here represented by
Joseph, and which is here treated of in the internal sense, was from the Divine
in Himself, and thus was from Himself," 5121.
Now this clear statement shows that the revelation represented by the blowing
of the trumpets here spoken of is, in the spiritual sense, revelation from
perception, such, generally speaking, as all have who are grounded in good
through regeneration, from the Lord (John 7:17).
And now the particular points to be observed in connection with this feast
are that the sacrifices of it are described which are not mentioned in
Leviticus; and that they are the same exactly as those mentioned in the last
chapter, except that only one bullock was offered instead of two. What therefore
does this imply in the internal sense? It signifies that in states of revelation
from the Lord there may not be, necessarily, conjunction by good with Him in the
natural degree, because the offering of two young bullocks denotes conjunction
as to good natural affections, 10021, 5194, and therefore the offering of only
one will denote no conjunction by natural good, or only preparatory conjunction
thereby, since where there is good there is some conjunction.
The second section, however, carries our thoughts back not only to the
teaching, in the spiritual sense, of Lev. xxiii., but also to the specific
account of the ceremonies on the day of atonement, as described in Lev. xvi.;
and the reader will naturally therefore recur to those, in considering the.
account of the directions here given for the sacrifices, which are exactly the
same as for the festival of trumpets. But it is remarkable that there is no
account of any such burnt offering in Leviticus. And yet surely it must form an
important part of the ceremonials of that day; besides which, it is distinctly
said of this complex burnt offering, that it is to be offered beside the sin
offering of atonement, that is, beside the specified offerings in that chapter,
just as, in the case of the other festivals, the offerings of this and the last
chapter are additional to the ceremonials in Lev. xxiii. Now the question that
arises is, why was this addition, and what does it represent spiritually? And
the answer appears clearly to be, that these new burnt offerings, in all the
cases, are intended to denote the more genuine devotion of the heart to the Lord
in worship as regeneration advances. For example, we are to keep the feast of
the Passover and of Unleavened Bread, or to worship the Lord on account of our
deliverance from evil, all through our lives, as directed in Lev 23:8; but
when we pass from a state in which we are only under general instruction in
spiritual things, to a state of successful warfare against the "foes of our own
household," then our true worship of the Lord Becomes more decided, more
earnest, more pronounced, and more specific, and this is represented by a more
particular and detailed account of the burnt offering (Num 28:19-23); and
again when we have accomplished this warfare, and are fully entered into the
heavenly state, we shall be in a confirmed state of true worship on account of
deliverance from evil, because we shall be in our specific state of good
conjoined with truth, as described in Deut 16:1-8, which will occupy our
attention further on. For we may be sure we should not have had, in the Divine
Word, these repeated and varying descriptions of the same things without a deep
significance in the spiritual sense. And, moreover, we may here see also a
positive evidence of the continuity and order of the books of the Pentateuch,
showing that they were written as we now have them, that is, Leviticus after
Genesis and Exodus and before Numbers, with Deuteronomy following, since what is
contained in Exodus and in Leviticus is here referred to in Numbers, and
afterwards again commented upon in Deuteronomy; while we can scarcely imagine
that Genesis, which contains the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of
the immigration of their posterity into Egypt, should not have been written
prior to the account of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. But the reason
why, again, one bullock and not two constituted the part of the burnt offering
denoting natural good, is that in worship for the removal of evil there is not the full conjunction with the Lord that distinguishes,
for instance, full deliverance therefrom (chap 28:89); and also the reason
why the rest of the offering was the same is because the higher degrees of the
mind are potentially in full worship even when the natural degree is not so much
affected. We turn now, however, to the last section, and its several
subdivisions. This is concerning the feast of the ingathering of the harvest,
also called the feast of Tabernacles, which, as we have seen, represents the
state of the implantation of good, and thus the culmination of the life of man
when he realizes good not only in the internal man, but also in the external,
and when good therefore is fully appropriated (Lev 23:33-44).
And here again, in our chapter, we have a very particular account of the
burnt offerings, which are so arranged as to represent the successive states of
regeneration, and of the worship of the Lord therein, by means of which the
final state is reached. And we have to notice first that the offerings of each
day were the same, except in regard to the number of bullocks. That is, the
state of good with man is potentially the same in every state of regeneration,
although it is not realized all at once in the natural degree on account of the
opposition of evil. And what is meant by good being potentially the same is,
that pure love to the Lord and love to the neighbour, according to the state of
each person, with all the wisdom therein involved, are the things that have to
be realized. We must all in our final heavenly state love the Lord and the
neighbour in the highest degree possible to us; and we must attain to this state
successively. And it should not be with any of us a mere ambition, or the
thought of exceeding somebody else in our devotion to the Lord. For each of us
has a certain capacity for usefulness, in heaven, from the unselfish love of
use, and this is our capacity for loving the Lord and the neighbour. This is the
great object of our life, so to speak; in this respect we are all alike; and
when we have arrived at our journey's end we shall then be capable of developing
our life to all eternity. And thus there will be eternal progress, and yet a
fixed state. This then is the sense in which every person's worship of the Lord
finally, that is, when good is implanted in truth with him, will be the same as
that of every other person regenerated. We now therefore proceed to notice the
steps in the process.
And the first state, or the first day's offering, after a course of
instruction, is a feeling of opposition to the Divine life. Have we not all
experienced that? A man is not naturally disposed to love the Lord, but on the
contrary, he is opposed to such love. And, indeed, if any one does not know this
to begin with he cannot make any progress. But, then, how is he to be changed?
It can only be by the operation of the Lord by His Holy Spirit upon the truths
of the Word that he has learned; and this will bring him a little further, or
into another day, in which he begins to be influenced by his truths, so that now
there is a little less opposition on his part in his natural life. For truths
are abundant with the regenerating man, and there is a little affection for good
as well (ver. 17; John 3:5; Gen 1:6-8). And this leads the traveller on
another stage, or into another day of his spiritual life, when as to his natural
degree, he offers less opposition, also beginning actually to do the work of
repentance (ver. 20; Gen 1:9-13).
But still this repentance is, in a great measure, on selfish grounds, as we
all know from experience; and on account of this there must be a more decided
advance, or another day in which the truths that have been received must be
implanted in good, or in other words, in which the spiritual sun, which is Divine love, and the spiritual moon, which
is faith derived from love, with the stars, which mean a greater delight in
knowledge, now manifest themselves, and consequently the Internal of the natural
man is affected, and the opposition of the merely natural life is weaker still
(ver. 23; Gen 1:14-19). It will not do, however, for the religion of any one
to be unselfish internally, and yet to continue to be selfish externally; for no
person, at the same time in reality, can serve both God and Mammon. And
therefore this implantation of truth in good must become external as well as
internal, so that there may be still a less degree of opposition from merely
natural love, and a greater degree of activity in the cultivation of Divine
Truths, which constitutes further progress, or another day of more advanced
spiritual life, which is the fifth (ver. 26; Gen 1:20-23). Nor is this
sufficient. For the implantation of truth in good is one thing, and the
implantation of good in truth is another, since in the former a man does good
only because he loves the truth, while in the latter he does good because it is
good, and this is quite a different matter. But what is to make him do good for
the sake of good? He can only accomplish this by a conflict against evil. And
this is really the correspondential value of the number six. For it is written,
"Six days shall you labour and do all your work." That is, this conflict is not
confined to one state of the regenerate life, but belongs to them all, until the
victory is gained. The sixth day, therefore, specifically denotes the final
conflict; it is one stage more in the journey of life; and it overcomes the
opposition of the merely natural man entirely, so that there is the implantation
of good there, but to begin with, only as to the internal
thereof (ver. 29; Gen 1:24-31).
It follows now, therefore, that there is a further advance; for there must be
the implantation of good not only in the internal of the natural man, but also
in the external; and this constitutes the state in which all opposition from the
merely natural man ceases, and in which the new natural man is completely in
harmony with the spiritual or internal man. This, therefore, is the celestial or
heavenly state, and therein the inmost life of man is fully realized in his
words and actions. But still there is one more day in the series, in order to
denote the new state of heavenly life which is to endure for ever, and which
involves all previous states and makes them one by virtue of the ruling love;
and we may be sure that that is the reason why the burnt offering of that day
consisted of only one bullock and one ram, and not more, as in the previous
days; and because in this state there is now a perfect arrangement of good
conjoined with truths, even in ultimates, therefore the expression "solemn
assembly" is used, concerning which Lev 23:36 may be consulted with
advantage; for there its specific application clearly appears.