Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 3.pdf/214



HE natural and the spiritual body of man, mentioned by the apostle, plainly distinguishes between the body which is to perish and that which is to live for ever. "That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die," is precisely the same as saying that there is, within the seed, a germ of life analogous to the soul which exists within the body; and as the husk becomes decomposed and the germ springs forth, so the body of man dies, and the soul, the spiritual body, arises out of it.

Man is, in Scripture, likened to a principle of truth; and it is truth which shews the nature of the soul, and the end of its existence. Woman is representative of the affection of that truth; and it is this affection which manifests love or desire for truth. "The desire of the woman is to her husband."

Man, therefore, derives his spiritual body from the father, and his natural body from the mother, and only becomes a living soul by the influx which is perpetually flowing into him from the Lord; as it is written, "Thou sendest forth Thy spirit—they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth."

If we humbly reflect upon the Lord's body, do we not perceive that there is, there must be, an infinite distinction between His body and ours? For though to redeem us, it was necessary that that humanity