The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

"means of approach;" and you will find it quotes, as proof of that meaning:
"I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." But if when
we say, Christ is the door, we do not mean Christ is the symbol of the
door, neither can we mean, when we say the door is Christ, that the door is
the symbol of Christ. We mean in the one case, that Christ is really and
truly, not symbolically, the door--that is, He is the real means of
approaching God; and in the other, that the true and real means of
approach, the real door, is truly (not symbolizes) Christ. That is, the
predicate and subject are just the same in the second form of the sentence
as in the first. "Christ" is the subject, "door" the predicate, in both; but in
the second there is an inversion of the more common order, in which the
subject comes first. When I point to a particular door, and say, that door is
a symbol of Christ, the word door is literal, and means a door of wood; but
when I say the door is Christ, the word door is not taken literally, but the
word is must be so taken. Christ is the vine, the vine is Christ--Christ is not
a symbol of the vine, but is the true vine itself; the true vine is not a symbol
of Christ, but is Christ. We say that Washington was the pillar of his
country, or the pillar of our country was Washington; no more meaning
that the pillar was a symbol of Washington, than that Washington was the
symbol of a pillar; but meaning that Washington was the true pillar of our
country, and that the true pillar of our country was Washington; the word
pillar meaning in each case a support. We could not lay hold of a literal
pillar and say: Lean on this, trust in this; this is that General Washington
who fought for our country. We could not bring a man to a vine and say:
Attach yourself to this vine; this is Christ: or direct him to a particular door,
and say: Go through, enter in; this door is Christ.
Dreams.
There is no parallel in the interpretation of DREAMS. "The three
branches (are) three days." Gen. xl. 12. "The seven good kine (are) seven
years, and the seven good ears (are) seven years." Gen. xli. 16. "The seven
thin kine (are) seven years of famine." 1. There is no "are" in the original.
2. The "branches," "kine," and "ears" are not real branches,