Page:The New Church - What, How, Why .djvu/52

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THE • NEW • CHURCH—HOW

experience in life's battle against allurements and evils. The Hivites, Amorites, Hittites, and hostile tribes, stand for the specific evils and falsities in man which respectively dominated them. The wilderness is spiritual barrenness and discouragement, the failure of water and bread, is dearth of truth and love in the mind and heart. The Holy Land where David subdued the enemies of Israel, and Solomon reigned in glory, is our redemption when we have gained the victory over our spiritual enemies and are come into the glory of the promised kingdom of the Lord.

The Gospels tell us of the incarnation of God in Christ, the life of the Lord on earth, His subjugation of the hells, His glorification and unition with the Father. It is all literally true and real. But it is also a parable of grand spiritual facts and laws. For like the Lord every truth that comes to man is begotten of the Father, is conceived in virgin affection, is wrapped in the swaddling clothes of natural ideas,