Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8936

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8936. 'And shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your eucharistic offerings' means worship in particular according to each person's state of spiritual life. This is clear from the meaning of 'burnt offerings and sacrifices' as all inward worship in general, and also all the varieties of it in keeping with the different kinds of celestial and spiritual realities that are involved, that is, the different forms of the good of love to the Lord and the different truths of faith in Him, 922, 923, 2165, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2930, 3519, 6405, thus in keeping with every state of spiritual life in particular This accounts for the institution of so many different kinds of sacrifices; that is, in addition to the daily sacrifices there were those offered on sabbath days, at feasts, new moons, inaugurations, and consecrations, as well as those for all guilt, sin, cleansing, healing, and childbirth. It also accounts for the use according to the occasion of different living creatures, such as oxen, young oxen, lambs, rams, she-goats, and he-goats, each of which meant a different kind of good that belongs to spiritual life, 1823, 2180, 3519.


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