1160. And thou shalt find them no more, signifies that they are destroyed forever. This is evident from the signification of "not finding them" (that is, things fat and splendid, which signify things good and thus satisfying and things true and thus grand), as being that they have been destroyed forever, for things found no more are destroyed forever.

(Continuation)

[2] One kind of profanation described above is meant by these words in Matthew:

When the unclean spirit goeth out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and finding it not. Then he saith, I will return to the house whence I went forth. When he cometh he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth away, and taketh to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in they dwell there; and the latter things of that man become worse than the first (Matthew 12:43-45).

This describes the conversion of a man by the departure of the unclean spirit from him; and his return to evils and the consequent profanation is described by the unclean spirit returning with seven spirits worse than himself.

[3] Likewise by these words in John:

Jesus said to him who was healed at the pool of Bethesda, Behold thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee (John 5:14).

Also by these words in the same:

He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and should convert themselves and I should heal them (John 12:40).

"Lest they should convert themselves and be healed" signifies lest they should become profane. Thus would it have been with the Jews (Matthew 12:45); and this is why they were forbidden to eat fat and blood (Leviticus 3:17; 7:23, 25), for this signified their profanation of what is holy in consequence of their being such. Moreover, the Lord by His Divine providence guards with the greatest care against this kind of profanation; and lest this exist, He separates the holy things with man from those that are not holy, and stores up the holy things in the interiors of his mind, and raises them up to Himself; while the things not holy He stores up in the exteriors, and turns them to the world. Thus holy things can be separated from the unholy, and thus man can be saved. But this cannot be done when goods and evils are mixed together. That those who continue in faith and love even unto death will have the crown of life, the Lord teaches in Revelation (Revelation 2:10, 26).

922. 'He took from every clean beast, and from every clean bird' means goods that stem from charity, and the truths of faith. This has been shown already; 'beast' means goods that stem from charity, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 'bird' the truths of faith, 40, 776. Burnt offerings were made from cattle, from lambs and goats, and from turtle doves and young pigeons, Leviticus 1:2-17; Numbers 15:2-15; 28:1-end. These were clean beasts, each one of them meaning some particular heavenly quality. And because they meant these things in the Ancient Church, and in subsequent Churches represented them, it is clear that burnt offerings and sacrifices were nothing else than representatives that go with internal worship, and that when they had been divorced from internal worship they became idolatrous. This any mentally normal person can see, for what is an altar but merely something made of stone? And what is a burnt offering and a sacrifice but the slaughtering of an animal? For worship to be Divine it has to represent some heavenly quality which the worshippers know and acknowledge and from which they worship the One they are representing.

[2] Nobody except the person who does not wish to understand anything at all about the Lord can be ignorant of the fact that these things were representatives of the Lord. It is the internal things, namely charity and faith deriving from charity, through which the One who is being represented has to be seen, acknowledged, and believed, as is quite clear in the Prophets, for example in Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings on to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. I did not speak with your fathers and I did not command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt on the matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. But this matter I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God. Jeremiah 7:21-23.

Hearing or obeying His voice is obeying the law, the whole of which focuses on the one command that men should love God above everything else and their neighbour as themselves, for on these depend the Law and the Prophets, Matthew 22:37-40; 7:12. In David,

O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifice You host not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. ¹ Psalms 40:6, 8.

[3] In Samuel, who said to Saul,

Has Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22.

What obeying His voice involves is apparent in Micah,

Shall I come before Jehovah with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement and the love of mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God. Micah 6:6-8.

These are the things that burnt offerings and sacrifices of clean beasts and birds mean. In Amos,

Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and gifts, I will not accept them, and the peace offering of your fatted ones I will not look upon. Let judgement flow like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:22, 24.

'Judgement' means truth, and 'righteousness' good. Both stem from charity and are the burnt offerings and sacrifices of the internal man. In Hosea,

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6.

From all these quotations the nature of sacrifices and burnt offerings when charity and faith are not present is clear. It is also clear from them that because 'clean beasts and clean birds' meant the goods that stem from charity and faith they also represented them.

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