ualities and perfections of Christ became manifest
in the Christian community which Christ founded through sacrificing
Himself. When you look at the tree, you will realize that the perfections,
blessings, properties and beauty of the seed have become manifest in the
branches, twigs, blossoms and fruit; consequently, the seed has sacrificed
itself to the tree. Had it not done so, the tree would not have come into
existence. Christ, like unto the seed, sacrificed Himself for the tree of
Christianity. Therefore, His perfections, bounties, favors, lights and
graces became manifest in the Christian community, for the coming of which
He sacrificed Himself.

As to the fourth significance of sacrifice: It is the principle that a
reality sacrifices its own characteristics. Man must sever himself from
the influences of the world of matter, from the world of nature and its
laws; for the material world is the world of corruption and death. It is
the world of evil and darkness, of animalism and ferocity,
bloodthirstiness, ambition and avarice, of self-worship, egotism and
passion; it is the world of nature. Man must strip himself of all these
imperfections, must sacrifice these tendencies which are peculiar to the
outer and material world of existence.

On the other hand, man must acquire heavenly qualities and attain divine
attributes. He must become the image and likeness of God. He must seek the
bounty of the eternal, become the manifestor of the love of God, the light
of guidance, the tree of life and the depository of the bounties of God.
That is to say, man must sacrifice the qualities and attributes of the
world of nature for the qualities and attributes of the world of God. For
instance, consider the substance we call iron. Observe its qualities; it
is solid, black, cold. These are the characteristics of iron. When the
same iron absorbs heat from the fire, it sacrifices its attribute of
solidity for the attribute of fluidity. It sacrifices its attribute of
darkness for the attribute of light, which is a quality of the fire. It
sacrifices its attribute of coldness to the quality of heat which the fire
possesses so that in the iron there remains no solidity, darkness or cold.
It becomes illumined and transformed, having sacrificed its qualities to
the qualities and attributes of the fire.

Likewise, man, when separated and severed from the attributes of the world
of nature, sacrifices the qualities and exigencies of that mort