1069、“栽了一个葡萄园”表示由此而来的教会，“葡萄园”是指属灵教会，这从“葡萄园”的含义清楚可知。在圣言中，教会经常被描述为“园子”，以及“园中的树”，甚至被如此称呼。它们被如此描述是因为树所结的果子，果子表示属于爱或仁的事物。故经上说“凭果子就认出一个人来”（马太福音7:16；路加福音6:44）。将教会比作园子，树和果子，来源于天堂里的代表；在天堂，有时园子也会照着信的气场而显现，其美丽无法形容。这也是为何属天教会被描述为含有各种树的伊甸园。那园中的“树”表示属天教会的感知，“果子”表示各种爱之良善。然而，古教会因是属灵的，故由于其代表并表示仁爱行为的果子，即葡萄而被描述为“葡萄园”。这一点从圣言的许多经文很清楚地看出来，如以赛亚书：
我要为我亲爱的唱歌，是我所爱者的歌，论他的葡萄园。我亲爱的有葡萄园在肥沃的山冈上（或油之子的角上），他给园子扎上篱笆，围上石头，栽种上等的葡萄树，在园中间盖了一座塔，又在其中凿出一个榨酒池，指望它结葡萄，反倒结了野葡萄。耶路撒冷的居民和犹大人哪，请你们现今在我与我的葡萄园之间判断。万军之耶和华的葡萄园，就是以色列家。（以赛亚书5:1-3，7）
此处“葡萄园”表示古教会，因而表示属灵教会，经上明确说它是以色列的家；因为在圣言中，“以色列”表示属灵教会，“犹大”表示属天教会。耶利米书：
以色列的处女哪，我要建造你，你就被建造；你必再以手鼓为装饰，出去加入寻欢作乐者的舞蹈。又必在撒玛利亚的山上栽种葡萄园。（耶利米书31:4，5）
此处“葡萄园”表示属灵教会，因为主题是以色列，如前所述，以色列表示属灵教会。
以西结书：
我从万民中招聚以色列家的时候，他们要在这陆地上安然居住，他们要盖造房屋，栽种葡萄园。（以西结书28:25，26）
此处“葡萄园”是指属灵教会，也就是以色列；“栽种葡萄园”是指在信之真理和良善上接受教导。阿摩司书：
我以旱风、霉烂击打你们；蝗虫要吃光你们许多园子和你们的葡萄园、无花果树、橄榄树林。以色列啊，我必向你如此行。（阿摩司书4:9，12）
此处“园子”表示教会的事物；“葡萄园”表示教会的属灵事物，“无花果树”表示属世事物，“橄榄树林”表示属天事物；因此，“葡萄园”表示属灵教会或以色列的事物。同一先知书：
我必使我民以色列被掳的归回，他们必建造荒废的城邑，住在其中，栽种葡萄园，喝其所出的酒；修造果园，吃其果子。（阿摩司书9:14）
“栽种葡萄园”表示属灵教会的栽植；因此，“葡萄园”表示属灵教会或以色列。
正如“葡萄园”表示属灵教会，“葡萄树”也表示属灵教会，因为葡萄树是葡萄园的一部分。它们如同教会和教会成员，因而具有相同的含义。耶利米书：
以色列是奴仆吗？是家中生的仆人吗？为何成为猎物呢？我栽你像完全上好的葡萄树，是真理的种子。你怎么向我变为外邦葡萄树的坏枝子呢？（耶利米书2:14，21）
“葡萄树”表示属灵教会或以色列。以西结书：
你当为以色列的首领作起哀歌。你的母亲像一棵类似你的葡萄树，栽于水旁；因为水多，就多结果子，满了枝叶。（以西结书19:1，10）
此处“葡萄树”是指“母亲”所表示的古属灵教会（AncientspiritualChurch），因而是指以色列；因此经上说“类似你”。何西阿书：
以色列是一棵空虚的葡萄树，结出果子像自己一样。（何西阿书10:1）
“葡萄树”是指属灵教会或以色列，在此是指一个荒凉的教会。同一先知书：
以色列啊，你们要回到耶和华你的神那里。我必向以色列如甘露。那些曾住在祂荫下的必归回，他们要给五谷带来生命，开花如葡萄树，对它的记念如黎巴嫩的酒。（何西阿书14:1，5，7）
此处“葡萄树”表示属灵教会或以色列。摩西五经：
直等细罗来到；犹大把小驴拴在葡萄树上，把母驴驹拴在上好的葡萄树上。（创世记49:10-11）
这是关于主的一个预言；“葡萄树”和“上好的葡萄树”表示属灵教会。
主关于葡萄园雇工的比喻同样表示属灵教会（马太福音20:1-17；21:33-44；马可福音12:1-13；路加福音20:9-17）。由于“葡萄树”表示属灵教会，而属灵教会的首要事物是仁爱，主就存在于仁爱里面，通过仁爱与人结合，祂唯独通过仁爱运行一切良善，所以在约翰福音，主将自己比作葡萄树，并以这些话描述教会成员，也就是描述属灵教会：
我是真葡萄树，我父是修剪葡萄树的。凡在我里面不结果子的枝子，祂就剪去，凡结果子的，祂就修理干净，使枝子结果子更多。你们要住在我里面，我也住在你们里面。枝子若不住在葡萄树上，自己就不能结果子。你们若不住在我里面，也是这样。我是葡萄树，你们是枝子。住在我里面的，我也住在他里面，这人就多结果子，因为离了我，你们就不能做什么。你们要彼此相爱，像我爱你们一样，这就是我的诫命。（约翰福音15:1-5，12）
由此清楚可知何为属灵教会。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]1069. The fact that the words he planted a vineyard symbolize the church that results, and that the vineyard is a spiritual church, can be seen from the symbolism of a vineyard.
The Word frequently describes religions as gardens, and as trees in a garden too. It also directly calls them gardens and trees because of the fruit they produce, which symbolizes the effects of love, or of charity. (This is why we are said to be recognized by our fruit [Matthew 7:16; Luke 6:44].)
Comparisons of religious movements with gardens, trees, and fruit originate in the representations of heaven. In heaven, gardens that are indescribably beautiful sometimes appear in response to different auras of belief. That is why the heavenly church was portrayed [in Genesis] as a paradisal garden containing trees of every variety. The trees in the garden symbolized the perceptions of that church, while the fruits symbolized every kind of loving goodness.
The ancient church, on the other hand, because it was focused on spirit, is depicted by a vineyard, on account of its fruit — grapes — which represent and symbolize charitable endeavors. This is quite clear from many passages in the Word.
[2] In Isaiah, for example:
I will sing my beloved a song of my beloved, to his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a horn of the offspring of oil;{*1} and he fenced it in and circled it with stones and planted it with a choice grapevine and built a tower in the middle of it and also hollowed out a winepress in it. And he waited for it to produce grapes, and it produced wild grapes. And now, resident of Jerusalem and man of Judah, judge, please, between me and my vineyard. Jehovah Sabaoth's vineyard is the house of Israel. (Isaiah 5:1-2, 3, 7)
The vineyard symbolizes the ancient church (and so a spiritual church), and it says explicitly that the vineyard is the house of Israel, because Israel in the Word symbolizes a spiritual church, while Judah symbolizes a heavenly church. In Jeremiah:
I will build you again, and you will be rebuilt, virgin of Israel;{*2} you will decorate your tambourines again and go out into the dance of the merry. You will plant vineyards again on the mountains of Samaria. (Jeremiah 31:4-5)
The vineyard in this passage stands for a spiritual church. The subject is Israel, which, again, symbolizes a spiritual church.
[3] In Ezekiel:
When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples, they will live on the land in security and build houses and plant vineyards. (Ezekiel 28:25-26)
The vineyard stands for a spiritual church, or Israel. Planting vineyards stands for being supplied with the true ideas and good impulses of faith. In Amos:
I struck you with blight and mildew; your numerous gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive groves the caterpillar will devour. So will I do to you, Israel. (Amos 4:9, 12)
Gardens stand for different aspects of religion. Vineyards stand for spiritual aspects of religion, fig trees for earthly aspects, and olive groves for heavenly aspects; so they stand for different aspects of a spiritual religion, or of Israel. In the same author:
I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and settle down, and plant vineyards and drink wine from them, and make gardens and eat produce from them. (Amos 9:14)
Planting vineyards stands for the planting of a spiritual church, so a vineyard itself stands for the spiritual church, or in other words, Israel.
[4] Since a vineyard symbolizes a spiritual church, a grapevine does too, a grapevine being part of a vineyard. The relationship is like that between a church and a person in the church; so the two of them are the same thing. In Jeremiah:
Is Israel a slave? Is he a houseboy? Why has he become plunder? I had planted you as a choice grapevine through and through, the seed of truth, and how could you turn into the rebellious stems of a foreign grapevine before my eyes? (Jeremiah 2:14, 21)
The grapevine stands for a spiritual church, or Israel. In Ezekiel:
Raise a lament over the chieftains of Israel. Your mother was like a grapevine that resembled you, planted next to the water, fruitful, and leafy because of the many waters. (Ezekiel 19:1, 10)
The grapevine stands for the ancient spiritual church — which is the mother — and consequently for Israel, which is why it also says "that resembled you." In Hosea:
Israel is an empty grapevine; they make the fruit resemble themselves. (Hosea 10:1)
The grapevine stands for a spiritual church (Israel) — in this case, when in ruins. In the same author:
Return to Jehovah your God, Israel. I will be like dew to Israel. Those living in its shade will return. They will bring the grain to life and blossom like a grapevine; its memory will be like the wine of Lebanon. (Hosea 14:1, 5, 7)
The grapevine stands for a spiritual church, or Israel. In Moses:
... until Shiloh comes, tying his young animal to the grapevine and his jenny's foal to the choice vine. (Genesis 49:10-11)
This is a prophecy of the Lord. The grapevine and choice grapevine stand for spiritual religions.
[5] The Lord's parables of workers in vineyards, in Matthew 20:1-17; Mark 12:1-13; Luke 20:9-17; and Matthew 21:33-44, likewise symbolize spiritual religions.
In a spiritual religion the main focus is charity, in which the Lord is present, by means of which he binds himself to humanity, and through which he alone accomplishes everything good. Because of this, and because a grapevine symbolizes a spiritual religion, the Lord compares himself to a grapevine and describes the people of the church (or the spiritual church itself) by these words in John:
I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the vinedresser; every stem on me not bearing fruit he removes. But every one bearing fruit he will prune so that it will bear more fruit. Remain in me; I will also remain in you. Just as a stem cannot bear fruit on its own, if it does not remain on the vine, so you cannot either, if you do not remain in me. I am the grapevine; you are the stems. Those who remain in me and in whom I remain bear much fruit; because without me you cannot do anything. This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:1-2, 3, 4, 5, 12)
This clarifies what a spiritual religion is.
Footnotes:
{*1} In the phrase "a horn of the offspring of oil" — a literal translation of the Hebrew (קֶרֶן בֶּן-שֶׁמֶן [qeren ben-šemen]) — the horn is a hill and the "offspring of oil" indicates fertility. So in other words, the vineyard is planted on a fertile hill. In 9139:4, Swedenborg explains the symbolism of the literal images. [LHC]
{*2} On the word virgin, see note 4 in 54. [LHC]
Potts(1905-1910) 1069
1069. And he planted a vineyard. That this signifies a church therefrom, and that a "vineyard" is the spiritual church, is evident from the signification of a "vineyard." In the Word churches are frequently described as "gardens" and also as the "trees of a garden" and are even so named. This is from their fruits, which signify the things belonging to love and charity; and therefore it is said that a man is "known by his fruit." The comparing of churches to "gardens" "trees" and "fruits" originates from representations in heaven, where gardens of inexpressible beauty are sometimes presented to view, in accordance with the spheres of the faith. From the same origin the celestial church was described by the Paradisal Garden, in which were trees of every kind; and by the "trees" of that garden were signified the perceptions of that church, and by the "fruits" the goods of love of every kind. But the Ancient Church, being spiritual, is described by a "vineyard" from its fruits, which are grapes, and which represent and signify the works of charity. [2] This is clearly evident from many passages of the Word, as in Isaiah:
I will sing for My beloved a song of My beloved touching his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil; and he made a hedge about it, and fenced it with stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a wine-press therein and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes; and now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard: the vineyard of Jehovah of armies is the house of Israel (Isa. 5:1-3, 7). Here the "vineyard" signifies the Ancient Church, thus the spiritual church, and it is plainly said to he the house of Israel; for by "Israel" in the Word is signified the spiritual church, and by "Judah" the celestial church. In Jeremiah:
Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: again shalt thou deck thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dance of them that make merry again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria (Jer. 31:4, 5), where "vineyards" denote the spiritual church; and the subject is Israel, by whom is signified the spiritual church, as just said. [3] In Ezekiel:
When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples, they shall dwell upon the land in confidence, and they shall build houses, and plant vineyards (Ezek. 28:25, 26). Here a "vineyard" is the spiritual church, or "Israel;" and "to plant vineyards" is to be instructed in the truths and goods of faith. In Amos:
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-yards hath the palmer-worm devoured; thus will I do unto thee, O Israel (Amos 4:9, 12). "Gardens" here denote the things of the church, "vineyards" the spiritual things of the church, "fig-trees" the natural things, "olive-yards: the celestial things; thus "vineyards" denote the things of the spiritual church, or Israel. Again:
I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof, they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them (Amos 9:14). "Planting vineyards" denotes the planting of the spiritual church; thus a "vineyard" means the spiritual church, or Israel. [4] As a "vineyard" signifies the spiritual church, so also does a "vine;" for a vine is a part of a vineyard; so that they are as the church and a man of the church, and the signification is the same. In Jeremiah:
Is Israel a servant? if he was born of the house, why is he become a prey? I had planted thee a wholly noble vine, a seed of truth; how then art thou turned into the averted branches of a strange vine unto Me? (Amos 2:14, 21), where a "vine" denotes the spiritual church, or "Israel." In Ezekiel:
Take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel; thy mother was like a vine, in thy likeness, planted by the waters, fruitful and full of leaves by reason of many waters (Ezek.19:1, 10). A "vine" here denotes the Ancient Spiritual Church, which is the "mother;" thus "Israel" which is therefore said to be "in thy likeness." In Hosea:
Israel is an empty vine, which putteth forth fruit like himself (Hosea 10:1)." A "vine" denotes the spiritual church, or "Israel" here desolated. Again:
O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; I will be as the dew unto Israel; they that dwell in his shadow shall return; they shall revive the corn, and blossom as the vine; his memory shall be as the wine of Lebanon (Hos. 14:1, 5, 7), where the "vine" denotes the spiritual church, or "Israel." In Moses:
Until Shiloh come; binding His young ass to the vine, and His ass's colt unto the choice vine (Gen. 49:10-11). This is a prophecy of the Lord; the "vine" and the "choice vine" denote spiritual churches. [5] The Lord's parables of the laborers in the vineyards in like manner signified spiritual churches (Matt. 20:1-16; 21:33-44; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-16). Since the "vine" signifies the spiritual church, and the primary thing of the spiritual church is charity, in which the Lord is present, and by means of which He conjoins Himself with man, and Himself alone works every good, therefore the Lord compares Himself to a vine, and describes the man of the church, or the spiritual church, in these words, in John:
I am the true vine and My Father is the husbandman; every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He will prune it, that it may bear more fruit; abide in Me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me; I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing; this is My commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you (John 15:1-5, 12);
from these words it is evident what the spiritual church is.
Elliott(1983-1999) 1069
1069. That 'he planted a vineyard' means a Church resulting from this, 'vineyard' being the spiritual Church, is clear from the meaning of 'a vineyard'. In the Word Churches are frequently described as 'gardens' and also as 'the trees of a garden', and are actually named such as well. They are so described from the fruits which the trees bear, which mean the things belonging to love or charity. Hence the saying that a man is known by his fruit. Comparisons of Churches to gardens, trees, and fruits have their origins in the representations in heaven, where also gardens of indescribable beauty are sometimes manifested in accordance with the spheres of faith. This also why the celestial Church was described as a paradisal garden containing trees of every kind. 'The trees of the garden' meant the perceptions of that Church, and 'the fruit' of every kind the goods that stem from love. The Ancient Church however, being spiritual, is described as 'a vineyard' on account of its fruit, namely grapes, which represent and mean charitable works. This is quite clear from many places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
[2] I will sing for My beloved a song of My beloved concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill,a and He enclosed it, and surrounded it with stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it and also hewed out a winepress in it. And He looked for it to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard. The vineyard of Jehovah Zebaoth is the house of Israel. Isa 5:1-3, 7.
Here 'a vineyard' means the Ancient, and so the spiritual, Church, which is referred to explicitly as 'the house of Israel', for 'Israel' in the Word means the spiritual Church, whereas 'Judah' means the celestial Church. In Jeremiah,
Again I will build you, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel! Again you will adorn yourself with your timbrels and will go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. Jer 31:4, 5.
Here 'vineyard' stands for the spiritual Church, the subject being Israel, which, as stated, means the spiritual Church.
[3] In Ezekiel,
When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples, they will dwell securely upon the land, and they will build houses and plant vineyards. Ezek 28:15, 16.
Here 'vineyard' stands for the spiritual Church, which is Israel. 'Planting vineyards' stands for being furnished with truths and goods of faith. In Amos,
I smote you with blight and mildew; your very many gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig trees and your olive groves the locust will devour. Thus will I do to you, O Israel. Amos 4:9, 12.
'Gardens' stands for the things of the Church; 'vineyards' stands for the spiritual things of the Church, 'fig trees' for the natural things, 'olive groves' for the celestial things - and so for the things of the spiritual Church, which is Israel. In the same prophet,
I will bring again the captivity; of My people Israel, and they will build the ruined cities and inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they will make gardens and eat their fruit. Amos 9:14.
'Planting vineyards' stands for the planting of the spiritual Church, and so 'a vineyard' stands for the spiritual Church, which is Israel.
[4] As 'a vineyard' means the spiritual Church so also does 'the vine', for the vine is part of the vineyard. They are as Church and member of the Church, and therefore have the same meaning. In Jeremiah,
Is Israel a slave? Is he a home-born [servant]? Why has he become a prey? I had planted you, a wholly choice vine, a seed of truth. How have you turned from Me into the degraded branches of a strange vine? Jer 2:14, 21.
'Vine' stands for the spiritual Church, which is Israel. In Ezekiel,
Take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel Your mother was like a vine in your likeness, planted beside the waters, fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. Ezek 19:1, 10.
'Vine' stands for the Ancient spiritual Church, meant by 'mother', and so for Israel; hence also the expression 'in your likeness'. In Hosea,
Israel is an empty vine, it bears fruit like itself. Hosea 10:1.
'Vine' stands for the spiritual Church, or Israel, in this case a desolated Church. In the same prophet,
Return, O Israel, to Jehovah your God. I will be as the dew to Israel. Those dwelling under His shadow will return, they will give life to the grain, and they will blossom out as the vine, the memory of it will be as the wine of Lebanon. Hosea 14:1, 5, 7.
Here 'vine' stands for the spiritual Church, which is Israel. In Moses,
Until Shiloh comes . . . binding his colt to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to a choice vine. Gen 49:10, 11.
This is a prophecy concerning the Lord. 'Vine' and 'choice vine' stand for spiritual Churches.
[5] The Lord's parables about workers in vineyards similarly meant spiritual Churches, Matt 29:1-16; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 10:9-18; Matt 21:33-44.
Since 'the vine' means the spiritual Church, and the chief thing of the spiritual Church is charity within which the Lord is present, by means of which He joins Himself to man, and by means of which He alone works everything good, the Lord therefore compares Himself to the vine, and describes the member of the Church, that is, describes the spiritual Church, in the following way in John,
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, but every one that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you cannot do anything. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:1-5, 12.
From this it is clear what the spiritual Church is.
Latin(1748-1756) 1069
1069. Quod 'plantavit vineam' significet inde Ecclesiam, quodque 'vinea' sit Ecclesia spiritualis, constat ex significatione 'vineae': in Verbo Ecclesiae passim describuntur per 'hortos,' tum etiam per 'arbores horti,' et quoque nominantur ita, et hoc ex fructibus, qui significant illa quae sunt amoris seu charitatis, quare dicitur quod homo cognoscatur ex fructu: comparationes Ecclesiam cum hortis arboribus et fructibus, ex repraesentationibus in caelo oriuntur, ubi quoque horti pulchritudine inexpressibili quandoque sistuntur secundum sphaeras fidei; inde quoque Ecclesia caelestis descripta fuit per hortum paradisiacum in quo omnis generis arbores; et per 'arbores horti' significatae sunt perceptiones illius Ecclesiae; perque 'fructus omnis generis bona quae amoris: Ecclesia vero Antiqua quae quia spiritualis, describitur per 'vineam,' ex fructibus qui sunt 'uvae, quae opera charitatis repraesentant et significant; quod manifeste ex pluribus locis Verbi constat: [2] ut apud Esaiam, Cantabo dilecto Meo canticum dilecti Mei, vineae illius vinea fuit dilecto Meo in cornu filii olei; et circumsepsit illam: et lapidibus circumdedit illam, et plantavit illam vite nobili, et aedificavit turrim in medio illius, et etiam torcular excidit in illa; et exspectavit ut faceret uvas, et fecit labruscas: et jam habitator Hierosolymae, et virJehudae, judicate quaeso inter Me et inter vineam Meam.... vinea Jehovae Zebaoth est domus Israelis, v 1-3, 7;ibi 'vinea' significat Antiquam Ecclesiam, ita spiritualem, et manifeste dicitur quod sit 'domus Israelis,' nam per 'Israelem' in Verba significatur Ecclesia spiritualis, per 'Jehudam' autem Ecclesia caelestis: apud Jeremiam, Adhuc aedificabo te, et aedificaberis, virgo (x) Israelis, adhuc adornabis tympana tua, et exibis in chorum ludentium; adhuc plantabis vineas in montibus Samariae, xxxi 4, 5;
ubi 'vinea' pro Ecclesia spirituali; et agitur de 'Israele,' per quem significatur, ut dictum, Ecclesia spiritualis: [3] apud Ezechielem, Cum congregavero domum Israelis ex populis, habitabunt super terra in confidentia, et aedificabunt domos, et plantabunt vineas, xxviii 25, 26;
ibi 'vinea' pro Ecclesia spirituali seu Israele; 'plantare vineas' pro instrui in veris et bonis fidei: apud Amos, Percussi vos uredine et rubigine, plurimos hortos vestros, et vineas vestras, et ficus vestras, et oliveta vestra, comedet eruca;... sic faciam tibi Israel, iv 9, 12;
'horti' pro illis quae sunt Ecclesiae; 'vineae' pro spiritualibus Ecclesiae, 'ficus' pro naturalibus, 'oliveta' pro caelestibus, ita pro illis quae sunt Ecclesiae spiritualis, seu Israelis: apud eundem, Reducam captivitatem populi mei Israelis, et aedificabunt urbes desolatas, et inhabitabunt, et plantabunt vineas, et bibent vinum illarum, et facient hortos, et comedent fructum illorum, ix 14;
'plantare vineas, pro plantatione Ecclesiae spiritualis, ita 'vinea' pro Ecclesia spirituali seu Israele. [4] Sicut 'vinea' significat Ecclesiam spiritualem, ita etiam 'vitis,' nam vitis est vineae, quod se habet sicut Ecclesia et homo Ecclesiae, quare idem est; apud Jeremiam, Num servus Israel? num natus domi ille? quare factus est in praedam?... Ego plantaveram te vitem nobilem totam, semen veritatis, et quomodo conversa es Mihi in palmites aversos vitis alienae? ii 14, 21;
'vitis' pro Ecclesia spirituali seu Israele: apud Ezechielem, Tolle lamentum super principibus Israelis;... mater tua sicut vitis in similitudine tui, juxta aquas plantata, frugifera, et frondescens ab aquis multis, xix 1, 10;
'vitis' pro Ecclesia spirituali Antiqua, quae 'mater,' ita pro Israele, quare etiam dicitur 'in similitudine tui': apud Hosheam, Vitis vacua Israel, fructum facit similem sibi, x 1;
'vitis' pro Ecclesia spirituali seu Israele, hic pro desolata: apud eundem, Revertere Israel ad Jehovam Deum tuum,... ero sicut ros Israeli,... revertentur habitantes in umbra illius, vivificabunt frumentum, et efflorebunt sicut vitis, memoria illius sicut vinum Libani, xiv 2, 6, 8; [A.V. 1, 5, 7]:
ibi 'vitis' pro Ecclesia spirituali seu Israele: apud Mosen, Usque dum veniat Shiloh,... ligans ad vitem pullum suum, et ad vitem nobilem filium asinae suae, [Gen.] xlix 10, 11;
ibi de Domino prophetia; 'vitis et vitis nobilis' pro Ecclesiis spiritualibus. [5] Parabolae Domini de operariis in vineis similiter Ecclesias spirituales significabant, Matth. xx 1-17; Marc. xii 1-13; Luc. xx 9-17; Matth. xxi 33-44. Quia 'vitis' significat Ecclesiam spiritualem, et Ecclesiae spiritualis primarium est charitas, in qua Dominus praesens est et per quam Se conjungit homini et per quam Ipse solus operatur omne bonum, quare Dominus Se comparat viti, et hominem Ecclesiae seu Ecclesiam spiritualem describit his verbis, apud Johannem, Ego sum vitis vera, et Pater Meus vinitor, omnem palmitem in Me non ferentem fructum, tollit eum; omnem autem fructum ferentem putabit illum, ut plus fructus ferat. Manete in Me, etiam Ego in vobis; quemadmodum palmes non potest fructum ferre a se ipso, nisi manserit in vite, ita neque vos, nisi in Me manseritis. Ego sum vitis, vos palmites; qui manet in Me, et Ego in illo,hic fert fructum multum, quia sine Me non potestis facere quicquam.... Hoc mandatum Meum, ut ametis vos mutuo, sicut amavi vos, xv 1-5, 12;
inde constat quid Ecclesia spiritualis.