Page:The Story of Joseph and His Brethren.djvu/86

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN.
83

His vesture was of one piece, without seam, woven from the top throughout. (John xix. 23.) Applied to the Word, we know that the inner garment represented the internal sense of the Word, which is wrought by infinite wisdom into one seamless vesture of perfect truth and loveliness. But the outer garment of the letter, though perfectly adapted to its purpose, is less perfect in itself, less perfect in unity; it is not seamless, but is made of pieces, yet exquisitely joined together so as to form one garment According to the figure already employed, the internal sense is like white light which includes all colours blended in one. God is said to be clothed with light as with a garment; and this is the seamless vesture with which the Lord is clothed. But the external sense of the Word is like the white light when it falls upon a cloud descending in drops of rain, where it is divided or broken into the many colours of the glorious arch that spans the heavens—the beautiful rainbow. The natural sense of the divine Word is indeed the pure light of the internal sense broken into its many colours, when it falls upon the cloud of