The Covenant of Salt: As Based on the Significance and Symbolism of Salt in Primitive ThoughtTrumbull, H. Clay (Henry Clay)
Religion
The Covenant of Salt: As Based on the Significance and Symbolism of Salt in Primitive Thought
Trumbull, H. Clay (Henry Clay)
Covenants; Salt
As there is still a temptation to give a divided heart to God, so there
is still a temptation to seek the help of some visible representation
or symbol of God's presence in his worship. The Christian believer does
not bow down to an idol, but many a Christian believer thinks that his
mind can be helped upward in worship by looking at some representation
of his Saviour's face, or at some symbol of his Saviour's passion. But
just because God is infinitely above all material representations and
symbols, so God can best be apprehended and discerned spiritually.
Anything coming between man's spirit and God the Spirit is a hindrance
to worship, and not a help to it. Suppose a young man were watching
from a window for his absent mother's return, with a wish to catch the
first glimpse of her approaching face. Would he be wise, or foolish, in
putting up a photograph of his mother on the window-pane before him, as
a help to bearing her in mind as he looks for her coming? As there can
be no doubt about the answer to that question, so there can be no doubt
that we can best come into spiritual communion with God by closing our
eyes to everything that can be seen with the natural eye, and opening
the eyes of our spirit to the sight of God the Spirit. This, again, is
no arbitrary requirement of God; it is in the very nature of his being
and of our own.
The third requirement of this compact is, that there shall be no
insincerity on the part of God's covenant people in their claiming
and bearing his name, as the name of their covenanting God. This
requirement is not generally understood in this light; but all the
facts in the case go to show that this is its true light. In the
Oriental world, and in the primitive world everywhere, one's name
stands for one's personality; and the right to bear one's name or even
to call on one by his personal name, is a proof of intimate relation,
if not of actual union, with him. God was now covenanting with this
people to be his people, thereby authorizing them to bear his name, and
to be known as his representatives. In the very nature of things, this
laid upon them a peculiar obligation to bear his name reverently and in
all sincerity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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