700. Such ideas about this most holy sacrament are cherished throughout Christendom at the present time, for the sole reason that they agree with the literal sense of the Word; and the spiritual sense has up to now been hidden, and has only been revealed at the present time, and it is only in this that the true benefit of the Holy Supper can be discerned. The reason why this sense has now been revealed for the first time is that Christianity did not before exist except in name, and in the case of some people as a kind of shadow of itself. For up to the present people have not approached directly and worshipped the Saviour Himself as the only God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, but have only approached Him indirectly. This is not approaching and worshipping, but only reverencing Him, as the cause on whose account man is saved, not the essential but an intermediate cause, which is below and outside the other.
But because real Christianity is now for the first time arising, the new church meant by the New Jerusalem in Revelation is now being established by the Lord; in this God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are acknowledged as one, because they are in one person. It has therefore pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, so that this church may reap the real benefit of the sacraments of baptism and the Holy Supper. This comes about when people see with the eyes of their spirit, that is, with the understanding, the holiness hidden within them, and grasp this holiness for themselves by the means which the Lord taught us to use in His Word.
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