433. 與義相關的消遣有午餐,晚餐和聚會
眾所周知, 社交的午餐與晚餐是各處的習俗, 舉行這些餐會的目的多樣。多數人用於建立友誼,促進關係以及用於慶祝, 有的為了享受,籌款, 還有的表達感謝。當用於拉幫結党時便起了腐敗的影響。爭權之人用它們來建立自己名譽, 宮廷則用於做秀。
然而, 與義相關的午餐和晚餐只會發生在那些彼此相愛,享有相同信仰的人們之中。在基督徒教會最早期, 這樣的午餐與晚餐被稱為"筵席", 就是為了這個緣故, 為了聯結與提升基督徒的心靈。共進晚餐代表人們在教會即將建立的第一個階段彼此連接交流, 因為晚餐進行的時間在傍晚, 傍晚表示教會建立的第一個階段。午餐的舉行, 代表人們在教會建立的第二個階段的共聚, 因為早晨與白天表示這個階段。
當他們在吃飯時, 一起交談關於家庭與社會的各樣話題, 不過最主要的話題是關於教會的事情。因為這些是愛筵, 所談的任何話題都滿有慈愛, 並且歡喜快樂相伴隨。愛主愛鄰舍的屬靈氣氛籠罩著整個筵席的始終。這樣的氣氛提升每個人的思想,柔和人的說話聲調, 由內到外充滿喜樂。
每一位都有屬靈的氣氛從他發出, 發自於他的情感, 以及那些情感所促發的想法, 這種氣氛內在地影響著與他一起的人, 特別是在筵席上。它會從人的臉面和呼吸中流露和發出。
午餐和晚餐或筵席代表著思想的如此交流, 這就是聖言中它們經常被提及的原因, 這也是進餐所表達的屬靈意義。以色列子民中的逾越節家宴, 以及其他節日的宴會, 它們的最高意義也在於此; 在會幕附近吃獻祭的東西也有如此含義。後來, 用掰餅與分餅, 並用同一個杯子傳遞著一個接一個地喝來代表人們彼此之間的聯結。
433. The Recreations Related to Goodwill Are Lunches, Dinners, and Parties
As we all know, social lunches and dinners are customary everywhere. They are planned for various reasons. For many people they serve to build friendship or promote family togetherness; they serve for enjoyment, for fundraising, and for showing gratitude. They are also a corrupting influence used for persuading people to join some faction. Those in power use them to build their own reputations. Courts of monarchs use them to put on a magnificent display.
The only lunches and dinners that relate to goodwill, however, are those that involve people who love each other because they share a common faith. In early times, Christians used to have social lunches and dinners for exactly this purpose. Called feasts, they were instituted to lift and unite Christians' hearts and spirits. The dinners they held stood for the associations and connections people formed when the church was first being established, because the evening when the dinners would occur has that meaning. The lunches they held, however, stood for people coming together in the second phase of the church's establishment, because that is what morning and daytime mean.
While they were at the table, they would have conversations on various subjects - both domestic and civic issues. In particular, they would discuss topics related to the church. Because the events were feasts of goodwill, the conversations would entail goodwill and its forms of joy and happiness. The spiritual atmosphere that prevailed during these feasts was an atmosphere of love for the Lord and for their neighbor. This atmosphere would lift their individual minds, soften their tones of voice, and allow a celebratory feeling from deep in their hearts to fill their senses.
We all have a spiritual atmosphere that emanates from the feelings derived from our love, and from the thinking prompted by those feelings. This atmosphere deeply affects other people, especially during feasts. It emanates from people's faces and their breathing.
The fact that lunches and dinners, or feasts, stood for such meetings of the mind is the reason they are named so many times in the Word. In the spiritual meaning this is exactly what these meals stood for. In the supreme sense this is what the Passover dinner among the children of Israel stood for; the same is true of the banquets during other Jewish festivals, as well as the meals from the sacrifices next to the tabernacle. In those instances, the bond between people was represented by breaking bread and sharing it, and by drinking from the same cup, which people passed around among them.
433. XI. Charitable recreations are lunches, dinners and parties.
It is well known that lunches and dinners are customary everywhere, and that they are given for various purposes; in many cases for the sake of friendship, on account of relationship or celebrations, to gain an advantage or to reward services. They are also a means of gaining favour corruptly, in the case of important people, to do them honour, in kings' courts for show. But charitable lunches and dinners are to be found only with those who in mutual love share a like belief. In the earliest Christian church there were lunches and dinners, called feasts, for precisely this reason, set up to give hearty pleasure and at the same time bring people together. Dinners in their times meant social gatherings and getting together at the first stage in the establishment of the church, that being the meaning of the evening, when they took place. Lunches had the same meaning at the second stage when the church was established, since that is the meaning of morning and day.
[2] At table various matters were discussed, both domestic and political, but the chief subject was matters of concern to the church. Because they were charitable feasts, the talk on any subject was full of charity, together with its joys and pleasures. The spiritual sphere dominant at those feasts was that of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, which made everyone's mind cheerful, softened his tone of voice and spread a joyful feeling from the heart to all the senses. Every person has a spiritual sphere radiating from him, which is the product of the affection of his love and so of his thought, and this inwardly affects his companions, especially at feasts. It is radiated both by the face and by the breathing. It is because such associations of minds were meant by lunches, dinners or feasts that they are so often mentioned in the Word; and such too is the meaning of these terms in its spiritual sense. The same is true in the highest sense of the Passover dinner among the Children of Israel, and by banquets at other festivals, as well as by feeding on the products of sacrifice beside the Tabernacle. The act of linking was then represented by breaking and distributing bread, and by drinking out of the same cup and passing it on to the next person.
433. XI. THE DIVERSIONS OF CHARITY ARE DINNERS, SUPPERS, AND SOCIAL GATHERINGS.
It is known that dinners and suppers are everywhere customary, and are given for various purposes, and that with most they are given for the sake of friendship, relationship, enjoyment, gain, and remuneration; also that they are employed for corrupting men and drawing them over to certain parties; and that among the great they are given for the sake of honor, and in kings' palaces for splendor. But dinners and suppers of charity are given only among those who are in mutual love from similarity of faith. With the Christians of the primitive church dinners and suppers had no other object; they were called Feasts, and were given both in order that they might heartily enjoy themselves, and at the same time be drawn together. In the first state of the establishment of the church suppers signified consociation and conjunction, because evening, when they took place, signified that state. But in the second state, when the church had been established, there were dinners, for morning and day signified that state. At table they conversed on various subjects, both domestic and civil, but especially on such as pertained to the church. And because they were feasts of charity, whatever subject they talked about, charity with its delights and joys was in their speech. The spiritual sphere that prevailed at those feasts was a sphere of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, which cheered the mind of everyone, softened the tone of every voice, and from the heart communicated festivity to all the senses. For there emanates from every man a spiritual sphere, which is a sphere of his love's affection and its thought therefrom, and this interiorly affects his associates, especially at feasts. This sphere emanates both through the face and through the respiration. It is because dinners and suppers, or feasts, signified such association of minds that they are so frequently mentioned in the Word, and nothing else is there meant by them in the spiritual sense; and the same is meant in the highest sense by the paschal supper among the children of Israel, also by their banquet at other festivities, and by their eating together of the sacrifices near the tabernacle. Conjunction itself was then represented by the breaking and distribution of bread, and by drinking from the same cup and handing it to another.
433. XI. THE RECREATIONS OF CHARITY ARE DINNERS, SUPPERS, AND SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.
It is widely known that dinners and suppers are given everywhere for various purposes. They are given by many for their friends and relations, for the promotion of joviality, with a view to bestowing bribes or receiving remuneration, or as inducements to join certain parties. Among the great they are given as marks of honor, and in the palaces of kings for the display of regal splendor. But dinners and suppers of charity are given only by those who are in mutual love grounded in a similar faith. This is why dinners and suppers were institutions among the Christians of the primitive Church. They were called by them feasts, and were held that they might meet together in cordial joy and friendly union. Their suppers were symbolic of association and union in the first state of the Church's establishment, for evening, when these were held, had this signification. Dinners on the other hand symbolized the same in the second state of the Church, for this state was signified by morning and day. At table they conversed on various subjects, domestic and civil, but especially on such as concerned the Church; and as these were feasts of charity their conversation, no matter on what subject, was infused with the joy and gladness of charity.
The spiritual sphere which prevailed on these occasions was one of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor. This cheered their mind, softened the tone of their speech, and spread among them a general feeling of cordiality. For from everyone there emanates a spiritual sphere arising from the affection of his love and its related thought, which inwardly affects those in his company, especially at feasts; this sphere emanates both from the face and the respiration. It is because dinners and suppers, or feasts, signified such association of minds that they are so often mentioned in the Word, as that is their meaning in the spiritual sense. This also in the supreme sense was meant by the paschal supper among the Children of Israel, and also by the feasts at their other festivals, and their eating together of the sacrifices at the tabernacle. Conjunction itself at that time was represented by breaking bread and distributing it, and by drinking from the same cup and handing it one to another.
433. Quod Diversoria Charitatis sint Prandia, Coenae, et Consortia.
Notum est, quod Prandia et Coenae ubivis in usu sint, et quod propter varios fines instituantur, et quod apud plures sint propter amicitias, propter affinitates, propter laetitias, propter lucrationes et remunerationes, et quod sint corruptelae ad trahendum in partes; et quod apud Magnates etiam propter honorem, et in Aulis Regum propter splendorem. Sed Prandia et Coenae Charitatis 1 sunt modo apud illos, qui in mutuo amore ex simili fide sunt. In Primitiva Ecclesia apud Christianos fuerunt Prandia et Coenae non propter alium finem, et vocata sunt CONVIVIA, instituta ut simul ex corde laetificarentur, et quoque conjungerentur: COENAE apud illos significabant Consociationes et conjunctiones in primo statu instaurationis Ecclesiae, nam Vespera, in qua fiebant, illum significabat; PRANDIA autem in secundo statu, quando Ecclesia instaurata est, nam Mane et Dies illum significabant.
[2] Super Mensis sermones habebantur de rebus variis, tam domesticis quam civilibus, imprimis autem de talibus quae Ecclesiae erant; et quia erant Convivia Charitatis, sermonibus de quacunque re inerat Charitas cum ejus gaudiis et laetitiis; sphaera spiritualis regnans in Conviviis illis fuit sphaera amoris in Dominum et amoris erga proximum, quae exhilarabat cujusvis animum, emolliebat cujusvis loquelae sonum, et festivum e corde induxit in omnes sensus; nam ex quovis homine emanat sphaera spiritualis, quae est affectionis amoris et inde cogitationis ejus, ac interius afficit consocios, imprimis in conviviis; emanat illa tam per faciem, quam per respirationem. Quoniam per Prandia et Coenas, seu per Convivia tales animorum consociationes significabantur, ideo toties in Verbo nominantur, et per illa ibi non aliud in sensu spirituali intelligitur, et in supremo sensu per Coenam Paschalem apud filios Israelis, et quoque per Epulas in Festis reliquis, ut et per Commessationes ex Sacrificiis juxta Tabernaculum; ipsa conjunctio tunc repraesentabatur per frangere panem et distribuere, et per bibere ex eodem poculo et tradere alteri.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: Charltatis.