Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 9298

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9298. Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice upon what is fermented. That this signifies that the worship of the Lord from the truths of the church must not be commingled with falsities from evil, is evident from the signification of "sacrificing" and of "a sacrifice," as being the worship of the Lord (see n. 922, 923, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519, 6905, 8680, 8936); from the signification of "what is fermented," as being what is falsified, and falsity from evil (n. 2342, 7906, 8051, 8058); and from the signification of "blood," as being truth from good, thus the truth of the church (n. 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877, 9127). From this it is evident that by "thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice upon what is frequented," is signified that the worship of the Lord from the truths of the church must not be commingled with falsities from evil. (What falsity from evil is, and what falsity not from evil, see n. 1679, 2408, 4729, 6359, 7272, 8298, 9258.) [2] That truths from good, which are the truths of the church, must not be commingled with falsities from evil, is because they do not at all agree together; for they are opposites, and cause a conflict, whereby either the good will perish, or the evil will be dissipated; for good is from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; and evil is from hell. There are indeed truths with the evil, and also falsities with the good; but the truths with the evil are not commingled with falsities from evil in them so long as they are merely in the memory and serve as means for evil, for so long they are without life. But if the truths are falsified so as to favor evil, which is done by a wrong interpretation, they then are commingled, whence is profanation of truth. (The nature of this profanation may be seen above, n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 4289, 4601, 6348, 6959, 6960, 6963, 6971, 8394, 8943, 9188.) [3] That it was forbidden to sacrifice upon what was fermented is evident from the following law concerning the meat-offering which was offered upon the altar together with the sacrifice, of which in Moses:

No meat-offering which ye shall bring to Jehovah shall be made fermented; and there shall be no ferment, nor any honey, of which ye shall burn an offering made by fire to Jehovah (Lev. 2:2). From all this it is evident that the profanation of truth is signified by this law, and therefore it is said, "the blood of the sacrifice," and not "the sacrifice," because "blood" denotes truth from good.


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