fellow man. The nature of the human soul, of heaven, of hell, of the life after death, is now, simultaneously with the spiritual sense of the Word, fully discovered. These spiritual discoveries will be found to be of as great importance to the mind and the spiritual states of man, as the discoveries already alluded to are to his body, and to his natural state in the world. The field of human intelligence and wisdom is thereby immensely extended, and is enriched with innumerable new and exalted ideas on every subject of eternal importance to man. Every doctrine of Christianity is now rendered to the rational perception of man "as clear as crystal," (Rev. xx.) because by virtue of the spiritual sense of Scripture, or the true understanding of the divine Word, all the clouds and obscurities of the letter, or of Truth, seen merely from a natural point of view, are removed. Now may, in the language of the apostle, "spiritual things be explained to spiritual men ;"* (1 Cor. ii. 13.) because "the things which are of the spirit of God, are spiritually discerned." (Ver. 14.) But how can the things in the Word of God be "spiritually discerned" without a knowledge of the spiritual sense? In fact, this knowledge has become the great thing needful for the age,the grand desideratum, without which it is impossible for the human mind to advance in spiritual intelligence and wisdom. The great field of internal things lies unexplored and unknown without a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word, and if internal things are unknown, man knows nothing certain of his own soul, of its relation to a higher state of being, and of the means by which its states of life, of love, of intelligence and wisdom, can be constantly improved and advanced. Nor can Christianity accomplish its divine mission to the world, unless its true internal nature be laid open and understood.

Nothing, therefore, is of greater importance than a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word, and, as a consequence, of those internal and spiritual things which such knowledge opens to man. The New Church will only increase on earth, as the true nature of God's Word is understood, and the true system of its interpretation is admitted and applied. Thus, the grand preliminary to a correct knowledge of all Truth, and especially of the doctrines of Christianity, is a true idea of God's Word, and of the proper system of its interpretation. This system is the "key of knowledge" which unlocks and displays the treasures of intelligence and wisdom revealed in the Scriptures. This key, which for so many ages has been lost, is now, through the Lord's mercy, happily restored. This key, whilst it opens the knowledge of * That this is the right interpretation of the passage, see Bishop Pearce and the best Commentators.-ED.

Truth to the mind, shuts out at the same time, all merely human vagaries, fancies, and ingenuities, in interpreting the Scriptures. The Christians of the early centuries of Christianity, even down to the Reformation, acknowledged a spiritual sense in the Scriptures, but not being possessed of the key of its true interpretation, the science of correspondences, shewing the relation between things natural and spiritual, they could acquire but faint glimpses of the spiritual signification of the Word.

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Now, as the primitive church, up to the time of Constantine, is considered by many to have existed in greater purity, both as to doctrine and life, than in after ages, we have considered it might be useful to present, in a condensed form, the views which Mosheim, in his celebrated work On the History of the Christian Church before Constantine the Great," up to about the first quarter of the fourth century, has given on the almost universal acknowledgment of the spiritual sense of Scripture, and also on the mode and manner in which the primitive fathers and preachers endeavoured to explain it from the divine Text. We are not aware that this portion of Mosheim's History has ever been translated. Some time ago an attempt was made to present it to the English reader, but the translator only proceeded to the end of the second century, † whereas the portion we now translate is in the third century, where the learned author is describing the life and labours of Origen.

Mosheim, as a Protestant of the Lutheran church, was himself not friendly to the spiritual, or as he sometimes calls it, to the mystical interpretation of Scripture; but his statement and testimony will, on this account, be the more impartial and satisfactory. The means of interpreting Scripture, according to the school of Mosheim, are the philological, grammatical, and archaiological, which, as they are the means of making us thoroughly acquainted with the literal sense, are by no means neglected by those who admit the spiritual sense, and who endeavour to interpret it according to the science of correspondences; for a perfect knowledge of the literal sense is indispensable to a right interpretation of Scripture. But to remain in the merely literal sense, when we ought, as the apostle says, (1 Cor. ii. 14; Col. i. 9.) to have a "spiritual discernment," and a "spiritual understanding" of Scripture, is not to come into the light of Truth, but to remain in the shade of merely natural ideas and sensual fallacies, which are of no profit to the

* De Rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum Magnum Commentaria.

+ The two first centuries of this work were translated by the Rev. Mr. Videl, and published in 1813.

soul; for the flesh, that is, the external or merely literal sense, profiteth nothing; it is the spirit which giveth life, for the words which the Lord spake are "spirit and life."

Mosheim's statement of the manner in which the School of Alexandria, and especially Origen, considered the allegorical or spiritual interpretation of Scripture.*

Origen's entire doctrines (says Mosheim) of allegorical or spiritual interpretation of Scripture, may be conveniently divided into two parts. One part explains his idea of the sense of the Sacred Word, and the other lays down certain laws, or rules, which are necessary for those who wish to understand how to distinguish the divers senses of Sacred Scripture, and how to ascertain in which passages the power of the words is necessarily conjoined with a mystical sense. The former part is comprehended in the following statements:

As

I. The Sacred Scripture (according to Origen) is like a man. Plato considered that man consists of three parts,-—of a rational soul, of a sentient [or animal] soul, and of a body; in like manner the Divine Word has a three-fold sense,-a body, that is, an historical and grammatical sense;—a soul, that is, a moral sense; and a spirit, that is, a mystical or spiritual sense. Thus Origen expressly states

“We have often said, that in the divine Scriptures there is found a three-fold mode of intelligence, or a three-fold sense,—the historical or literal, the moral, and the spiritual. Hence it is that we understand that there is in Scripture a body, a soul, and a spirit."-(See Origen's Homil. v. on Leviticus, sec. v. p. 209, tom. ii. Opp,)

And again, he says

"As man is said to consist of body, soul, and spirit, in like manner the Sacred Scripture, which, of Divine mercy, has been given to man for his salvation, consists of three senses."—(See De Princip. lib. iv. sec. ii. p. 168, tom. i. Opp.)

II.—As the lowest and vilest part of man is his flesh or body, so, in like manner, the merely literal sense of Scripture, which is like the body, is far inferior to its moral and spiritual or mystical sense, and of much less importance. And as the body, or the flesh, often allures even the pious and the good to sin, in like manner the merely literal sense of the Sacred Word may sometimes lead licentious and thoughtless readers into errors and vices. As to this point, Origen says,

"The histories recorded in Scripture do not much help those who understand it only as it is written, or who remain in the literal sense

* Translated from Mosheim's de Rebus Christianorum ante Const. Mag. p. 637.

only. For, who is not induced to tamper with licentiousness, and to consider fornication as of no account, when he reads about Judah entering into the house of a harlot, and of the patriarchs having several wives at the same time? Who might not be led to idolatry, if he considers that nothing more is involved in the slaughter of sheep and bullocks, that is, in the sacrifices of the Levitical law, than what we read in the letter? Very many have thought that heresies exist more from the carnal understanding of Scripture than from the works of our own carnal nature. We also learn invidiousness and drunkenness from the mere letter of the Word; for Noah, although he is represented as a righteous man, (Gen. vi. 9.) was nevertheless, after the flood, guilty of drunkenness. Wherefore, they who remain in the mere letter of Scripture, may occasion many evils both to themselves and to others, which if they practice, they can never approach the kingdom of God. Wherefore let us seek the spiritual sense of Scripture, by which we shall be enabled to acquire a more rational faith, and to have a more correct mode of life marked by temperance and every virtue."-(Stromat. lib. x. apud Hieronymum, lib. iii. Comm. in Galatas, cap. v. et tom. i. Opp. p. 41.)

"Some simple souls (says Origen again), who boast of themselves as belonging to the church, think such things as are entirely unworthy of God; for they think such things of Him as we ought not to think even of a most cruel and unjust man. But if we inquire how it is, that these simple souls think in this manner of God, entertaining such false and impious opinions of Him, we shall find that it is because they have only had a merely literal or a carnal understanding of Scripture, and have not understood the Divine Word according to its spiritual sense."-(De Principiis, lib. iv. sec. viii. ix. p. 165.)

Many things to this effect, shewing the debased and unworthy ideas which many entertain concerning God, from not understanding the Scriptures according to their spiritual sense, may be collected from the writings of Origen.

--

III. We must not, however, (continues Mosheim) conclude from this, that it was the opinion of Origen that the merely literal sense of Scripture was not useful to certain simple minds, and to children, in leading them on to acquire virtue and salvation. For Origen expressly says, "That the literal sense and exposition of Scripture may, of itself, be useful to certain simple minds, as is evident from many who have ingenuously and simply believed Scripture. For the clothing of spiritual things, that is, the body of Scripture, is in many points useful, and can render many, as far as they are susceptible of improvement, better men."-(De Princip. lib. iv. sec. xii. p. 169; sec. xiv. p. 175.)

IV.—But those who are wiser and more intelligent than the common people, should endeavour to search out the soul or spiritual sense of Sacred Scripture, having left the body, or its literal sense; which spiritual sense is the true moral sense, and to apply all things which they read to the amendment of their lives.

V. But those who wish to come to perfection, or to the highest degree of piety, must ascend still higher, and endeavour to explore, with all their might, the spirit of the divine Scriptures, or their spiritual and mystical sense. This is clearly evident from the following quotation from Origen:

"Wherefore, it is necessary to describe, in a three-fold sense, the intelligence which a man may have of the divine Scriptures; that is, 1st, the simple may be edified by what I would call the body of the Scripture, for by this term we denote the literal and the historical sense. But, 2nd, if any have begun to make farther progress, and can see more deeply into things, they are nourished and edified by what we would call the soul of Scripture. And, 3rd, those who are still more perfect can be instructed and edified by the pure spiritual sense, or by, as it were, the spirit of the Word."-(Lib. iv. Princip. sec. ii. p. 168.)

Origen, in his Homilies and Commentaries on the sacred books, faithfully adhered to his principles, as is evident from his works which still remain, and in which he either entirely passes by the historical and merely verbal sense, or only touches upon it, and passes off to the moral and spiritual sense.

VI.—The moral sense of Scripture, according to Origen, consists partly in doctrines concerning the changes of state which the soul of man, whether he be good or bad, undergoes, and partly in precepts by which the life, both internal and external, of a Christian man should be governed. I am not, however, aware (says Mosheim) that Origen has, in express terms, defined what he means by the moral sense; but innumerable examples demonstrate that the definition here given is correct. Moses informs us (Exodus i. 6-17.) that after Joseph's death, the number of the children of Israel was greatly increased. From this passage Origen elicits the following moral sense:

"If Joseph dies within thee, that is, if by Christ's doctrine of selfdenial thou mortifiest thy sinful members and propensities, then in thee will be multiplied the children of Israel; for the children of Israel signify the good and spiritual sensations and affections. If, therefore, the appetites or desires of the flesh are mortified, the spiritual affections increase daily; for in proportion as vicious propensities die out, the number of virtues increases."-(Homil. i. in Exod. sec. iv. p. 131, tom. ii. Opp.)