The Establishment of a
Spiritual Life with Mankind - Part 4
By Rev. Paul Booth
Spiritual Life with Mankind - Part 4
By Rev. Paul Booth
Thus, it is that the Ancient or the Spiritual Church was begun. We can understand this as Noah and the sons of Noah going forth from the Ark. The story of them in the Ark all during the flood, as we have said, indicates the spiritual man's temptations, and in the end, his regeneration, as well as it meant the consummation of the Most Ancient Church. A Church of necessity must have an internal and an external, for man himself has both an internal and an external he is both spiritual and natural. Since, as we have shown, man, because he had rejected the Lord's love and looks to his proprium more than the Lord, has adhering within him falsities and evils and, so, with him there is only a corrupt Church. From the very beginning we see that there sprang a worship that had an external only, which, of course, is not really true worship, for there is no substance without an internal. We can see this in Ham and Canaan. This, being so, therefore, truth and falsity both were present in the doctrine of the Ancient Church. So, we see that the faith of this Church had come from the revelations and perceptions of the celestial Church, and as we have said, they were preserved for them. Just as we should have faith in the Word, they had faith in the doctrine that was preserved for them by the Most Ancient Church.
When you look at the Celestial Church you see there a garden in which man was put to learn truths and to know their affections. This garden can be said to signify the Church, for it speaks of its doctrine or of the Lord with man. Here, we see Noah, which signifies the Ancient Church, being established, as we see him planting a garden of grapes (a vineyard). Perhaps you have heard that by a person's fruits (works), a person is known. In other words, the grapes of the vine represent the works of charity. The works of charity of Noah are signified in his planting or doing good.
Now, from grapes there comes wine. If grapes signify the works of charity, then you may see that wine signifies the truths of faith. The idea being that the Celestial or the Most Ancient Church's doctrine was love to the Lord and the wine or faith of charity is the Spiritual Church's doctrine of charity or love to the neighbor. Let us take this analogy further. What is celestial with man is of the will and what is spiritual with man is of his understanding. Now, we shouldn't be too hard or strict on the man of the Ancient Church for falling into error that is, Noah's getting drunk on truths. After all, they didn't have perception, but had to learn what was good and true from the doctrinal things of faith that were collected and preserved from the perceptions of the Most Ancient Church, at that time there was no written Word available. We have already said that this was the Word with the Ancient Church before one was written. I think we can all understand how easy it is to fall into error when reading the Word and in trying to learn true doctrine from the Word of the Old and New and, even, from Word of the Third Testament.
Who is a Spiritual man or the man of the Ancient Church? We have already shown that such a man had an internal, which we see was represented by Shem, and an external, which was represented by Japheth, and also a corrupted external, which is seen as Ham and his son Canaan.
For there to be a Church in man at all, there must be an internal, where the Lord resides and where He can reign over man. There should be an external where the man presently lives while in the world so that the Lord can exist with man, that He is present with man in his natural state where he had turned from the Lord. So, we see, because of the man's state, he needs to be regenerated and led from his external, that is, led by the external where he lives in his senses and in natural affections to the internal when the Lord can truly lead him again. This is, of course, done through the Word and in the case before us, through the doctrine as it was preserved from the Celestial Church for this use in the Spiritual Church. Thus, when regenerated, then the things in the internal of a man terminate in external things and not the contrary, the external things terminating in the internal things or ruling over him.
All this can be seen in the Ancient church in the fact that the external things of worship were their sacrifices, libations and many other things that represented and that had reference to the Lord and regarded Him. The internal in the external made one Church. Today, the Church's externals are the sacraments, which replaced the sacrifices. So, you can see the internals of the spiritual Church do not differ from today's Christian Churches, only the externals do, for worship of the Lord from charity, which is spiritual or internal, can never differ.
The tenth chapter is very much like the fourth chapter of Genesis where the generations of the Most Ancient Church were listed. Here, the nativities of the son's of Noah are listed and, as said, are the Ancient Church's progeny. They are really the variations or distortions of the doctrine and the kinds of worship that they had. It is in this chapter of Genesis that we see evidence of a change in the style of writing in the Most Ancient Church into what became a style between made-up histories and true histories where Abram journeys are mentioned. So, Abram's name like Noah's and his sons Shem, Ham and Jeptheth and Canaan as regarding the most ancient Church's worship, must be seen abstractly. Which, we have said were as internal worship and their corresponding external worship, and the internal worship corrupted, and its corresponding external worship corrupted, which is separated from the internal.
There were no such persons as Shem, Ham, and Jeptheth; these are names of the different kinds of worship and different doctrines of the Ancient Church. Here, in the Tenth Chapter of Genesis, the names mentioned are just so many nations that go to made up the Ancient Church. The only difference being that the name Eber was the name of a real person; he was the father or leader of a nation, which became the Hebrew nation. It is Eber that signifies the second Ancient Church. Here, we learn that every Church has a true internal and a corresponding corrupt internal. And, it has a true external and a corrupt external. The first Ancient Church signified by Noah and his sons were scattered throughout many kingdoms Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistine, and even Tyre and Sidon, plus, of course, Canaan. Then, in Syria, a certain external worship began the worship of idols. This became the second Ancient Church where Eber had instituted such external worship, and became know as the Hebrew nation.
And, like all true Churches, this Church had an internal and an external worship, but its internal became closed and was only represented in the external, though the people did not know the significance of the things represented in their worship were only idols. You might wonder what happened to the first Ancient Church, they having being taught, as it were, from the mouth of the Most Ancient Church? The entire things taught that pointed to the Lord and His Kingdom they had turned into idolatrous things and, even, some of the nations turned their knowledge of worldly things to magic Egypt for instance. Thus, by the Lord permitting significative and representative worship to continue, the nation of Eber was raised up. Here, you can begin to understand that the Church on earth becoming purely a representative Church and consisted only in externals, having forgot what the various things had signified. From this, you can also see the priestly office being instituted and the different places where there was worship groves, mountain tops, pillars all taking on some importance, but now, not knowing what was signified by these, they became only external and representative in their worship and looked upon as holy. The internal worship and doctrine became unknown to them. The Churches Word that what was handed down from the Ancient Church was lost; all the perceptions recorded by the Church called 'Enoch' was forgotten. Instead, in their place there arose sacrifices as part of the worship. Though the true Ancient Church did not have sacrifices, except among the descendents of Ham and Canaan, who were idolatrous.
When you look at the Celestial Church you see there a garden in which man was put to learn truths and to know their affections. This garden can be said to signify the Church, for it speaks of its doctrine or of the Lord with man. Here, we see Noah, which signifies the Ancient Church, being established, as we see him planting a garden of grapes (a vineyard). Perhaps you have heard that by a person's fruits (works), a person is known. In other words, the grapes of the vine represent the works of charity. The works of charity of Noah are signified in his planting or doing good.
Now, from grapes there comes wine. If grapes signify the works of charity, then you may see that wine signifies the truths of faith. The idea being that the Celestial or the Most Ancient Church's doctrine was love to the Lord and the wine or faith of charity is the Spiritual Church's doctrine of charity or love to the neighbor. Let us take this analogy further. What is celestial with man is of the will and what is spiritual with man is of his understanding. Now, we shouldn't be too hard or strict on the man of the Ancient Church for falling into error that is, Noah's getting drunk on truths. After all, they didn't have perception, but had to learn what was good and true from the doctrinal things of faith that were collected and preserved from the perceptions of the Most Ancient Church, at that time there was no written Word available. We have already said that this was the Word with the Ancient Church before one was written. I think we can all understand how easy it is to fall into error when reading the Word and in trying to learn true doctrine from the Word of the Old and New and, even, from Word of the Third Testament.
Who is a Spiritual man or the man of the Ancient Church? We have already shown that such a man had an internal, which we see was represented by Shem, and an external, which was represented by Japheth, and also a corrupted external, which is seen as Ham and his son Canaan.
For there to be a Church in man at all, there must be an internal, where the Lord resides and where He can reign over man. There should be an external where the man presently lives while in the world so that the Lord can exist with man, that He is present with man in his natural state where he had turned from the Lord. So, we see, because of the man's state, he needs to be regenerated and led from his external, that is, led by the external where he lives in his senses and in natural affections to the internal when the Lord can truly lead him again. This is, of course, done through the Word and in the case before us, through the doctrine as it was preserved from the Celestial Church for this use in the Spiritual Church. Thus, when regenerated, then the things in the internal of a man terminate in external things and not the contrary, the external things terminating in the internal things or ruling over him.
All this can be seen in the Ancient church in the fact that the external things of worship were their sacrifices, libations and many other things that represented and that had reference to the Lord and regarded Him. The internal in the external made one Church. Today, the Church's externals are the sacraments, which replaced the sacrifices. So, you can see the internals of the spiritual Church do not differ from today's Christian Churches, only the externals do, for worship of the Lord from charity, which is spiritual or internal, can never differ.
The tenth chapter is very much like the fourth chapter of Genesis where the generations of the Most Ancient Church were listed. Here, the nativities of the son's of Noah are listed and, as said, are the Ancient Church's progeny. They are really the variations or distortions of the doctrine and the kinds of worship that they had. It is in this chapter of Genesis that we see evidence of a change in the style of writing in the Most Ancient Church into what became a style between made-up histories and true histories where Abram journeys are mentioned. So, Abram's name like Noah's and his sons Shem, Ham and Jeptheth and Canaan as regarding the most ancient Church's worship, must be seen abstractly. Which, we have said were as internal worship and their corresponding external worship, and the internal worship corrupted, and its corresponding external worship corrupted, which is separated from the internal.
There were no such persons as Shem, Ham, and Jeptheth; these are names of the different kinds of worship and different doctrines of the Ancient Church. Here, in the Tenth Chapter of Genesis, the names mentioned are just so many nations that go to made up the Ancient Church. The only difference being that the name Eber was the name of a real person; he was the father or leader of a nation, which became the Hebrew nation. It is Eber that signifies the second Ancient Church. Here, we learn that every Church has a true internal and a corresponding corrupt internal. And, it has a true external and a corrupt external. The first Ancient Church signified by Noah and his sons were scattered throughout many kingdoms Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistine, and even Tyre and Sidon, plus, of course, Canaan. Then, in Syria, a certain external worship began the worship of idols. This became the second Ancient Church where Eber had instituted such external worship, and became know as the Hebrew nation.
And, like all true Churches, this Church had an internal and an external worship, but its internal became closed and was only represented in the external, though the people did not know the significance of the things represented in their worship were only idols. You might wonder what happened to the first Ancient Church, they having being taught, as it were, from the mouth of the Most Ancient Church? The entire things taught that pointed to the Lord and His Kingdom they had turned into idolatrous things and, even, some of the nations turned their knowledge of worldly things to magic Egypt for instance. Thus, by the Lord permitting significative and representative worship to continue, the nation of Eber was raised up. Here, you can begin to understand that the Church on earth becoming purely a representative Church and consisted only in externals, having forgot what the various things had signified. From this, you can also see the priestly office being instituted and the different places where there was worship groves, mountain tops, pillars all taking on some importance, but now, not knowing what was signified by these, they became only external and representative in their worship and looked upon as holy. The internal worship and doctrine became unknown to them. The Churches Word that what was handed down from the Ancient Church was lost; all the perceptions recorded by the Church called 'Enoch' was forgotten. Instead, in their place there arose sacrifices as part of the worship. Though the true Ancient Church did not have sacrifices, except among the descendents of Ham and Canaan, who were idolatrous.