670. II. The washing called baptism means spiritual washing, which is purification from evils and falsities, and so regeneration.

Acts of washing were enjoined upon the Children of Israel, as is well known from the statutes laid down by Moses. For instance, that Aaron should wash himself before putting on his garments as minister (Leviticus 16:4, 24); and before approaching the altar to minister (Exodus 30:18-21; 40:30-32). The same was enjoined upon the Levites (Numbers 8:6-7); and also others who had become unclean through sins, and they were said to be sanctified by acts of washing (Exodus 29:1, 4; 40:12; Leviticus 8:6). Therefore the bronze sea and many basins were placed near the temple, so that they could wash themselves (1 Kings 7:23-39). They were instructed to wash the vessels and utensils, such as tables, benches, beds, plates and cups (Leviticus 11:32; 14:8-9; 15:5-12; 17:15-16; Matthew 23:25-26).

[2] But the reason why washing and similar acts were ordered and enjoined upon the Children of Israel was that the church established among them was a representative one, and had the character it did so as to prefigure the Christian church which was to come. When therefore the Lord came into the world, He abolished representative acts, all of which were external, and established a church which was in all respects internal. So the Lord banished the symbols and revealed the actual forms, as when someone lifts a curtain or opens a door, allowing what is inside not only to be seen but also approached. Out of all the previous representative acts the Lord retained only two, to contain everything the internal church has in a single pair; these are baptism to replace the acts of washing and the Holy Supper to replace the lamb which was sacrificed every day, and in full measure on the feast of the Passover.

375. (ii) Charity and faith are merely unstable mental concepts unless, when possible, they are realised in deeds and come into existence together in them.

Does not man possess a head and a body, which are linked by a neck? Does not the head contain a mind which wills and thinks, and the body a potentiality which performs and executes actions? So if a person merely had a good will, or thought from charity without doing good and performing useful deeds as a result of charity, would he not be like an isolated head or mind, which lacking a body could not continue in existence alone? Who from this can fail to see that charity and faith are not charity and faith, so long as they are only in the head and mind, and not in the body? Then they are like birds flying through the air without anywhere to rest upon the ground; and also like birds carrying eggs without nests to lay them in, so that their eggs would be discharged into the air or on a branch of a tree, and so would fall to the ground and be broken.

[2] There is nothing in the mind which does not have a corresponding part in the body, and this corresponding part can be called the embodiment of what is in the mind. Charity and faith therefore, so long as they are in the mind, have no embodiment in the person, and they can then be likened to an airy phantom, what is called a ghost, much as Fame was depicted by the ancients with a laurel wreath around her head and a horn of plenty in her hand. Since they are such ghosts, though still able to think, they cannot help being excited by fantastic ideas, a result also produced by reasoning from various sophistries; very much as reeds in marshes are shaken by the wind, while on the bottom below them lie shells and on the surface frogs croak. Can anyone fail to see that such are the results of merely knowing some things from the Word about charity and faith without practising them? The Lord also says:

Everyone who hears my words and acts upon them, I will compare to a prudent man, who built his house upon a rock; but everyone who hears my words and does not act upon them will be compared to a foolish man, who built his house upon sand or on ground without a foundation, Matthew 7:24, 26; Luke 6:47-49.

Charity and faith together with their invented ideas, when a person does not put them into practice, can also be compared with butterflies on the wing, which a sparrow on seeing swoops on and swallows. The Lord also says:

A sower went out to sow; and some seeds fell on the hard path, and the birds came and ate them up, Matthew 13:3-4.