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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiimis d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour §tre reproduit en un seui clichd, il est filmd A partir de i'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche h droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant ie nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA t>i^*^^^^^^^^^^^ AM0M44(I»44< ^^^^^^_^^^^.'^^^^^^^1ilt*1tl(>|. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE L'ONCERNINO THE NATURE OF THE SACRED SCRinURES ACCORDING TO THEIR COHERENT {SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATIOJN BY A BELIEVER IN THE WORD OF GOD. "And I saw, and bear record that tills Is the Son of God."— JOHN, 1:34. Published at the reqved oftJiose vho perceive the Internal Soiseofthe Word, before ivhom IhLi address was delivered. H U N 1' P: R , ROSE & C C) M ? A N Y, TORONTO, ONT., CANADA. 1882. \d V 6^ „.^ yf V fffyvfyfTyyyfVf????ffV??fy¥yyfy?yffffyff?ffyf?»fffy»y?fyfffTy y yi r ff f»yf »?»» :v^:-.^. -■. ;s»-a:J AiiiKvino', that //n'l/ /nice (irnni ;/'.''/ for a Cauddlan KdiHoii of n im/ /■• - iniirknhic huol, fnfit/eil THE FACE OF JESUS, uliirh ix iioii: Iiriiuj puUi-ihoA for iJic fir,f the Church on account of the apparent ihcousistencies in tiie rendering the Word from the letter.'' " 'I'o tliose who stand aloof from any and every form of religion, but who iit the same time are in the exercise of rational thought on the subject t)f life and death, this book will largely help them. The book will bo sure to be widely rea 1, both by the cleru'V anil laity of all denominations, and tiie Christian world will reap the benelit of the thoughtful views which the work cannot fail to elicit. " From a Mdhodid Critic. "Such is the order and catholicity of the wonderful unfolding of the Word of God in the pages of the ' Fack ok Jesi^s,' and the bread and water of life are dispensed in such love and cliarity,that to the distracted mind the thoughts seem like the gentle dews of heaven, refreshing and vivifj'ing the tree and vine, the plant and grass. This devout work appeirs at the opportune moment when it is most needed in this peculiar time of the Church. ' "■ The times in which we live are trying the Church of Christ as perhaps she was never tried before. Her ways are oasy, and her lap is full of treas- ures, Vmt her teachings are distrusted, and her voice falls softly on many deaf ears. According to the best information we can gather, there is a wide alienation from evangelical truth in many lands and among ditierent classes. The tendency to misa[)pi'elieud and depart from the divine ideal is a perpetual tendency, although the Grace and Pi-ovidence of God, will, we trust furnish such increasing light and security as will carry the chui-ch forward to higher and yet higher degrees of perfection. '^.Vrc//iu7i.s/ Mn'tjazine.. " Truly may we not hope that the * Light of the World ' as unfolded in the pages of tlie 'Faok of Jkslts ' may reveal the L )rd in His Divinity, Human- ity, and Holiness to many who are without the reach of the intluence of the • pre-valent dootrines of the Ciiurch, and yet long for glimpses of heavenly truth, and that they may see the ' sun of righteousness arise with healing in, his wings.' "' ' .. ,■,.'..' ^ !'''><''' '"^'d }>i(jii of curcr.] INTRODUCTORY LECTURE CONCERNING THE NATURE OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES ACCOUDING TO THEIR COHERENT SPIEITUAL INTERPRETATION BY A BELIEVER IN THE WORD OF GOD. "And I saw, and bear record that this Is the Son of God."— JOHN, 1:34. Published at the request of those ivho ijerceive the Internal Seme oftheWord^ before ivhom this address ivas delivered. k! I* HUNTER, ROSE & COMPANY, TORONTO, ONT.. CANADA. 1882. /OJ^f f ? i t t t 8l d o LECTURE I. -••♦■• THE NATURE OF THE WORD OF GOD. ' THE object of these successive lectures is to awaken an interest in the Word of God, the Fountain of Life, as viewed from its Internal Sense. The Internal Sense is declared to be a Revelation from the Lord alone, of the spiritual con- tents of the Word of Life, and neither adds to, nor takes away from its spiritual history and prophetic utterances, but re- veals the source of its inspiration, and thence its true Divinity, By the Internal Sense is meant the interior spiritual prin- ciple, or the Divine Life of the Lord which enters the affec- tions and thoughts of every man who reads the Word, and obeys its precepts of love to the Lord and the neighbor, by which spiritual life is created. This Divine Interior Principle in the Word is personified in the spiritual narrative of the Son of God, who is not to be thought of as a corporeal, physical Person outside of the Word, but as its Living Principle of Spiritual Life in the lives of regenerating men. When we first read the Heavenly Writings of the Internal Sense, we are so delighted with the coherent system of spiritual philosophy which is there presented, arid which opens the door for us to perceive the light which shines from the world be- yond, that we sometimes forget the true source of all this illuminating influence, although we see the Word of God men- tioned at every step, and when we turn to its time-worn pages, we sometimes fail to recognise the power of its spiritual con- tents, because our minds become filled with natural and ma- terial thoughts derived from its literal sense. * These thoughts were prepared for the minds of those who are somewhat familiar with tlic statements concerning Divine Truth, recorded in the Sacred Works edited by Emmanuel Swc- denborg, which reveal the source of the Divinity of the Word of Qod, independent of sectarian or dogmatic influence. We thus read it in an inverted manner, and the rational mind is led into such confiiction, that there are times when we are tempted to close the sacred pages. To those who obey the simple commandments of life, of love to the Lord and the neighbor, relying upon Him alone, and looking daily to the Word for instruction, the light will in due time shine with all the power that the mind is capable of bearing. The Word of Gcd, as it is given to us in the literal sense, exists entirely from the Internal Sense, which is the Word in the Spiritual World and the Heavens, and it appears to us in its literal form, by pure correspondences of natural things with spiritual principles, from the beginning to the end. Thus the names of persons, places, and things are to be thought of, not as they appear to the natural idea, but according to the spiritual principles represented by these names. In our inverted order of thought, we are apt to think that the Internal Sense of the Word is derived from the literal sense, when the contrary in- the true order, — that the literal sense is derived from the Internal Sense, by the correspondence of natural names with eternal principles. As the life which animates the corporeal frame of flesh and bones in which we live in this world exists from the spiritual body within, so the literal sense of the Word lives only from the Internal Sense. The Lord does not re- veal himself elsewhere in spiritual things than in the Word, nor otherwise there than by the Internal Sense, therefore we should give the most eaniest thoughts of our lives to these eternal principles of life in order that we may know the Lord. The most ancient people who lived upon this earth in the incomprehensible ages of the past, and who were called Adam,^ were so imbued with heavenly perceptions, and their lives were in such harmony with heavenl)'^ truths, that they lived as it were in heaven, although they dwelt their allotted days in the corporeal frame until they were translated into the spiritual world. They were so imbued with divine life that instead of being absorbed with the things of this world, each object be- came representative of heavenly principles, and led them to think of Hie Lord, and thus the hiws of Heaven were inscribed ujion their hearts, and the Word of God was written within tlieir minda. These people lived before the spiritual tiood which obscured heavenly perception, but the correspondences between natural and spiritual things were handed down to the ancient people called Noah, who had a written Word derived from the Internal Sense, and which was purely corresporidential. The books of these ancient people were written in che form of cor- respondential language, like the book of Job, which was one of their ancient stories, and it was common for them to intro- duce things as though discoursing together, as wisdom, intelli- gence, the sciences and the like. In the book of Proverbs we find wisdom personified as uttering truths by means of a voice, and this method of representation was the custom of the ancient people, even in their speech. From this origin were derived the fables and personifications of the gods and demi-gods of the ancient heathen, and also of the persons whom they feigned, in order that they might describe things under an historical form, and thus the ancient spiritual men described sacred things by representatives and significatives, or by figures and signs. The ancient church of Noah was initiated in these principles from the mouth or doctrine of the most ancient people who lived before the spiritual flood. Of the three heavens which exist, and through which all our thought descends from the Lord, the first or lowest heaven is filled with representatives and significatives of the spiritual and celestial principles of the second and third heavens ; and from these representatives and significatives, the Word which we have was written by corre- spondence in the style of historical and prophetic utterances. The peculiar characteristic of the Word above the writings of the people of old, and above all the books of men, consists in this divine circumstance, that all and each of the things con- tained in it in a continual series, represent the celestial and spiritual principles of the kingdom of the Lord, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself ; and that the forms of narra- tion are also thus representative ; and also that they are real 6 correspondences of principles which originate in the heavens, and tlierefore tlie literal utterancea do not originate with the mind of man. It is not known who wrote the Word, nor when it was given to mankind. The most learned scholars, who study the literal sense, disagree concerning tlie authorship of every book of the Bible, and every statement concerning the external or natural form of the Word is simply a matter of conjecture, and it will always remain enshrined in the cloud of mystery which now hangs over the human origin of its literal sense. The time has now arrived in the spiritual history of the world, when men will not remain satisfied with the statements of the literal sense alone. Scientific truth, which is also from the Lord, seems to be at variance with the literal statements> and thinking men are tempted to discard the Holy Bible as a book of "cunningly devised fables," used by the priesthood to obtain dominion over the minds of weak-brained men and women. The Internal Sense of the Word affords the strongest proof of its supernatural origin from this important fact, that the literal sense of the Word was written during successive epochs of spiritual history, by men who did not know the internal meaning of what they wrote. They wrote from appearances in the ultimate heavens, and thence their thoughts were ex- pressed in natural language by the correspondence of these appearances with the material things of this physical world. As they only saw the appearances, they were not aware, at the time of writing, of their internal meaning, and many of these literal utterances are incoherent, and seem like the mere sound of words linked together. The revealing of the Internal Sense by means of the science of correspondences, exhibits a coherent and systematic spiritual science, which treats only of the regeneration or re-creation of a man's spirit, and restoring him from a fallen condition of spiritual death to that heavenly state of life which was pos- .sessed by the most ancient people, which is described in the Internal Sense of the Fii*st ami Second Chapters of tie Book of OonCHis. This Revelation proves the Divine Ori<,'i.. jf the Word in its literal sense ; for men in various centuries of earthly his- tory, without personal communication with each other, and without a true knowk'd<^o of what was expressed in the writ- ings they indited, could not from their self-intelligence have framed words which the Revelation of the Internal Sense in these latter days would open to the rational mind, and show conclusively that the whole Word was written from those principles of Divine Order upon which hang the entire spiritual and material universe. In these successive lectures it is proposed to illustrate the co- herent Internal Sense of the Word from its own pages, abstract- ing the spiritual meaning from the literal sense, and showing that it treats only of spiri'ual science concerning the regenera- tion of man, and that it has nothing in common with earthly science or material things excepting by the laws of spiritual coiTCspondence by which the W^ord was written, and the literal sense will be used for the sake of the illustration of the spirit- ual principles contained within its natural expressions. All the thoughts which will be presented will be based upon the Revelation of the Internal Sense, and not from self-derived opinions, ivith the distinct understanding that the Literal Sense of the Word is not to he discarded, hut held as truly Divine and Holy, because it contains within it the Eternal principles of immortal life, and without the literal sense for the mind of man on earth, there could be no form for the Internal Sense to dwell in, so that man could be led from natural to spiritual life. It is by means of the Literal Sense of the Word that the power of Divine Truth enters the mind by natural thoughts. It is the literal sense of the Word by which man receives illustration from the Lord, and by whicih answers are made when instruction is desired. It is the literal sense ot the Word by which all true religious doctrine on fifirth is to be confirmed. It is the literal sense in which Divine Truth resides in its ful- 8 ness, for it is the Humanity or the Human principle of the Lord in which " dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Divine Truth is not received by any one unless it is accommo- dated to the comprehension of the human mind, which at first perceives only terrestrial and worldly things, and if the heavenly and spiritual principles of the Internal Sense should be exposed without their natural, earthly covering, they would be rejected by the majority of mankind as if they were nothing. " 7/ / have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things ? " (John iii. 12.) These lectures will be derived from no collateral work tinted with the idiosyncrasy of some peculiar enthusiastic tempera- ment, neither will any " ism " be allowed to enter which will lead the thoughts to a corporeal man, rather than to the Word of God, which is the only Source from which our spiritual life can be derived. They have been prepared with the hope that many will be led to study the Word both in its literal and In- ternal Sense, to prove its Divinity and its " power unto sal- vation" f.om sin. As far as possible, all matters of controversy will be avoided, and especially all atta'- iis upon religious sects ; but false prin- ciples which exist in our own natures will be exposed, as the Internal Sense of the Word reveals them. The application of the truths should be made to ourselves personally, by self-examination, and in no case should we en- deavor to look abroad upon some church or sect, or even our neighbor, and smile with complacency as the application seems a fit one for somebody else. When the word " church " is used, it will not mean some religious society, or sect, but it will mean one individual per- son who is endeavoring to attain a regenerate life ; for a church on earth is a regenerating man, militant, or fighting his own evils in the name of the Lord, but in Heaven he is a regen- erated man and has become a church triumphant. With this preliminary introduction, and acknowledging that all Divine Truth is from the Lord by means of the Word, we will take up the first verse of the first chapter of John, and pursue the thoughts that are developed by the Internal Sense of the Word in the consecuti%'e verses and parallel illustra- tions which will arise, hoping that all may unite in endeavoring to live according to the doctrines of love to the Lord and tiie neighbor in their inmost principles as revealed in the Internal Sense of the Word, independent of sect or dogma. ST. JOHN 1 : I. " In the heg inning was the Word, and the Word ivas with God, and the Word was God." Our first meditations upon the Word of God will be based upon the fact that it does not treat of earthly things, nor of phy- sical science in any form, butpurely of spiritual principles con- cerning the regeneration of man, or the re-creation of spiritual life. That this is the nature of the Word will in due time be proved from its own pages. Yet it is true that in the creation of all earthly things " in the beginning was the Word" or God, for no finite thing in heaven or earth can be the author of its own existence, and therefore it is literally true that " wi the begining God created the heaven and the earth." In the Internal Sense of the Word, the beginning refers to the beginning or dawn of spiritual life, and the state of life which precedes, in which the mind of man is prepared to re- ceive the seeds of Eternal Life from the Word. All men are born with a hereditary tendency to evil, in which they are ruled by the love of self. As all are crea- ted without their own volition, they are not responsible for the inclination to sin, but when the knowledge enters the mind that they are naturally sinful, they are accountable if they yield to temptation, and disobey the simple laws of the Word, which are written on the conscience of every man, even those who have not our written Word, but which soon become ob- scured by disobedience. 10 In order that we may see the utmost importance of there being a dawn of spiritual life, let us take a hasty glance at the evil nature which we are to be saved from, and which is not pleasant to look squarely in the face. However repulsive it may be, we must look within ourselves, and see the proof of the evil nature of self-love, in order that we may begin to un- derstand the Divine Nature of the Wc-d, and how it is the Saviour from sin, and recognise that Salvation from the state to which our sins lead, is of Eternal importance. The love of self is the origin of all evil, and all men are naturally inclined to believe in themselves and not in the Word, and in this state, before the awakening of our spiritual perceptions, we suppose that what we cannot acquire from with- out, by means of the senses, or from external things and prin- ciples derived therefrom, has no existence. (A. C. 210.) Thus we only believe in what we can physically see, hear, touch, smell or taste, not only in the natural world, but in the literal sense of the Word itself, and this is the natural state of the man who pos- sesses and reads the Word of God before he is awakened to the perception of its Internal Sense. "The love of self and the world are nothing but hatred, since in proportion as anyone loves him- self he hates his neighbor ; for he who loves himself in pre- ference to others, not only hates all who are not subservient to him, and shows no favor except to those men or principles, who become his slaves, but also, where he is left unrestrained, ex- alts himself even above God." (A. C. ] 047.) This is exactly op- posite to the state of the regenerating man who is ruled by the heavenly principles of the Word in loving the Lord and the neighbor, for he has no selfish end in view in his interior motives, and does not even desire to be his own property, but to belong to all whom he can spiritually serve, so that he i- willing to give all that seems to bekug to him to those who may be benefited by either his talents or pos.sessions. (A. C. 1419.) All those principles in the nature of man which belong to his individuality, and are proper to himself, in which the love of 11 self and the world hereditarily reign, are expressed in the Latin Revelation of the Internal Sense of the Word of God by the word proprium, which will be used in these lectures to express the unregenerated self-hood of man. In the Epistles, the nature of the proprium is expressed by the " carnal mind," " old man," " natural man," or " sinful flesh." During the progress of re- generation, the evil and false principles of the proprium are removed as rapidly as they are overcome, and this proprium is made divine and holy by the Lord by means of the Living Principles of the Word. Such is the nature of the hereditary proprium of every man, woman and child, of every spirit, and even of the highest angel in the heavens, even though regenerated and redeemed from sin, that if they are permitted to see their own proprium irom which they have been saved, it appears as most vile and filthy, and if the angels should be left to themselves without reliance upon the Lord, they would breathe nothing but hatred, revenge, cruelty, and the most filthy adulteries. This may appear to every person on reflecting that man, when first bom, on ac- count of his tendency to evil, is lower than the wild beasts ; and when he grows up, and is left to his own government, un- less he were prevented by external restraints, — such as the pen- alties of the law, and those obligations which he lays upon himself in order to grow great and rich, — he would rush head- long into all sorts of wickedness, and never rest until he had subdued all in the universe, and had amassed to himself their wealth, not sparing any but those who submitted to become his slaves. Such is the nature of every man, notwithstanding his ignorance of it, by reason of the impossibility of accomplishing his evil purposes, in consequence of his surroundings. But if all restraints should be removed, he would perpetrate all these evils to the utmost of his power. Wild beasts are violent in their self-protection, and kill and devour to appease the crav- ings of hunger, which, when satisfied, they cease to do harm. But with the proprium of man, it is so utterly evil, that he can never have dominion over evil in his own strength alone ; and 12 none l)ut the Lord can have dominion over the evil nature of man, or the hell which is within him. (A. C. 987.) In order that the influences from this hell, — which every moment are attempting to rush in upon and destroy him eternally, — may be subdued and overcome, — man is regenerated by the Lord by means of the Word, and there is implanted an enlightened con- science, by which the Lord alone operates all that is good and saves a man from his own evils. On this c^round we all stand upon the same level, and we have but to examine our interior motives to see whether we are governed by the love of self and the world, or look to the Lord and sincerely desire the spiritual welfare of others who may even be our enemies. Look- ing abroad over the daily life of the world, the newspaper gives a glimpse of crime and suffering which corroborates every statement concerning the proprium of man. This is the state of spiritual death from which man is to be re- suscitated, from which he is to be made a new creature and filled with the heavenly principle of love to the Lord and the neighbor, and there is no spiritual life or beginning until these two principles of the Word on which hang all the law and the prophets, enter the land of the natural mind and sub- due the enemies of spiritual life on their own soil. Let us look to the first utterance of the Word concerning the beginning, at the first verse of first chapter of Genesis. " In the BEGINNING God created the heaven and the earth." The mind of man is divided into two principles, the internal mind, and the external mind. These two divisions of the mind are called in this verse lieaven, or the internal mind, and earth, or the external mind. This is a correspondence between natural things and spiritual principles, according to which the Word is wi'itten from the beginning to the end. Thus, man lives on the external surface of this earth. His first ideas of thought are formed from things which he sees or perceives by means of the external senses of the mind, and in the first years of his ■earthly life, all his thoughts are of earthly things, even when he thinks of spiritual life, and when he reads the Word, his 13 •ere- and thoughts rest in the earthly things and ajiparent surrounding physical objects, without any perception that within all these utterances there is a coherent spiritual meaning, from which the literal form of words is derived. Earth also signifies the appear- ances of truth in the literal sense of the word, which is received by the external mind in its natural thought, and this is the earth into which the Lord wtis born, in the literal sense of the Word. As heaven, or the terrestrial heavens, are above the earth, so spiritual and heavenly principles are higher, or above natural principles. The internal mind of man, or heaven, does not begin to be opened until the work of regeneration is commenced. The earth, or external mind, is the residence of the proprium of man which is to be removed by the process of regeneration, through continual temptations and combats, until the heavenly principles from the internal mind, which is the residence of the Lord in man, have conquered and removed all evil, without destroying man's individuality or freedom. All our suffering and anxiety exists only in the External Mind, or earth. The Internal Mind never suffers, for there is no evil or falsity which can ever enter heaven, but all sin closes the door to the internal mind, so that its light cannot shine upon the earth. In order to confirm this correspondence of the word EARTH, with the external mind in which the propriam of man resides, let us turn to a few verses near at hand to prove this correspondence, bearing in mind that there are always two senses in which the word ' earth," or any other word is used, a good or evil sense, according to the surrounding subject matter. Looking at the second verse of Genesis, it reads, " and the earth VMS without forra and void." Before regeneration, the external mind has no form or mode of operation according to the laws of heavenly order from the internal mind, and it is void or empty of any spiritual principles of truth from the word, from which results a darkness, or obscurity and ignorance, concerning those truths of Eternal Life, which make a man " wise unto salva- tion." 14 There could not be a physical earth without fonn, for all material substances must have a form, which is self-evident without further argument, to prove that the word earth does not mean this terrestial globe. Before regeneration there exists no spiritual life, and consequently no image of the Divine Man from whom all men exist, although every man is created with the faculty of becoming an image and likeness of God. Bear- ing in mind that earth means the external mind of man, let u". turn to the sixth chapter of Genesis, at the fifth verse, where we read, " And Ood saw that the luickedness of man ivas great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," also at the eleventh and twelfth verses, " The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked wpon the earth, and, behold it was corrupt ; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth," which verifies the statement made concerning the nature of man's proprium. The entire work of regeneration takes place in the external mind, which is to be vivified by the holy principles of the Word which flow in from the Lord through heaven, or the internal mind, as evils are re- moved by resisting and overcoming them with Divine strength. This is not a work of self -righteousness, for the regenerating man constantly acknowledges the Lord, and sees the simplicity of the plain commandments of the Word, freed from the tra- ditions of men, and which are clearly defined in the tenth chapter of Deuteronomy, beginning at the twelfth verse, " And now, O Israel, ivhat doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his tvays. and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. To keep the commandments of the Lord, a^nd his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good ? Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, tvith all that therein is," where the earth signi- fies the regenerated external mind, for then the " earth is full of the goodness of the Lord" " Those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth." " Then shall the earth yield her 15 increase ; and God, even our own God, shall bless us." " The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice." " The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works." " Lord, the earth is full of thy riches." " For the earth shall he full of the hnoivledge of the Lord, as the 'waters cover the sea." By Heaven is also signified the Internal Sense of the Word, which is first perceived when the internal mind is opened by obedience to the literal sense. In thinking of heaven, the thoughts should not revert to some other material planet in the space and time of the terrestrial universe, but in our medi- tations we should consider the principles of love to the Lord and the neighbor from the Word, which when truly lived, will open the internal mind or heaven of the regenerating man, and heaven will never be found in any other place than in a life according to these principles of the Word. This is the heaven from which the Lord speaks to man. Turning to the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, at the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth verses will be found these words, " Unto thee it vms showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord, he is God ; there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice ^ that he might instruct thee : and upon earth he showed thee his great fire ; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire." Farther along in these lectures, it will be illustrated that the "great fire" is the Divine Love of the Lord which warms the whole spiritual life with affection for the truths of the Word when they are obeyed and become the governing principles of the earth or external mind. The "voice of the Lord out of heaven" is the Internal Sense of the Word by which he communicates His Divine Love and Wisdom to the mind of the regenerating man. No other audible voice is ever heard, or ever will be heard, excepting from the mouths of those who speak its Divine utterances. Those only truly hear the Word who obey its Divine Commands, and the Internal Sense can be revealed to no other persons. The Science of Correspondence in itself is not the Internal Sense, but is simply an earthly key by which the " Gate of I ! II .' IG Heaven," the WoiJ in it, lit„,.„i who have obeyed its .si^ f" "^'J^ ^ "'"-''«■ to those the Neighbor. " ne /dZdonlo/r I ™/° '^' -^'"■'' ''"'1 vau>n: neitUer skull tkyZ, if T^"' "<" -'"' obsc- '-«. ^/« Un,aom of Goa '^{JZ^"^' ,t" ' ^"'■' ^"- ihose who passively awaif n • , ^ "^^ ^^ • 20.) ^fluence. wilf not t^: ; eJe";: °f r"""»" "^ ^P'"'™' Word It eannot appear to nTlh^, ''™'" ®^"^'' »* 'h^' with all the strength given to „/ " ""' """^tantly strive most insidious inluen^ The ~t "^ '"^^ "^ -1^- itl vantage of bis neighbor, or thi ne! \ ^^"^ ""^ '-"^t ad- 2 -" " another, eanno sel anTli uV"''^'"' '" ^P^^'k" Sense of t„e Word. A n,„n !!^ ^ ^''' ^'"'n the Internal transactions of worldlylresl ^or^v""* '" ^"^ ^■'•^^^s rejo.ee in the death of anothe pe" H .'•"' """'^ ^''"''' means of increasing his own T ' P™"d,ng it would be a fts in speaking l.^Zl^CZT ^'^ P^^ -'- <>« that this wicked principle, or l^tt r'* ""« '"veof self Praved will, and thence Jarrfd K 1'" "'''""^^'^ "^ the de- -o"ld, if „„estrained. ki™peLn ' *'"''^''' '»"' ^P^^. kmd words are uttered. ■' wL^T\^^"^*' "^^""^ 'he un- "'"^'''9 '» '"-m .■■ (I John i 15 r'" ''"'* ^''*"»«^ Lifa From all the evil and f.i • "^ '■■ance to spiritual ht/:d Xh t^ "'''"'' "-'-^ ""> en- death, the Word is given in rt i, "' constitute a state of «on. The preparatC state ^T"^""" "' " '«« "^ ^egetra a state of reformation^of tumW?'''""^ '" -generation I •■epentance, but the "bJnnL"" • T ''^"' "-"etimes called the Word enter, the liff ^ ' ^'''" ""'^ '''^'™otion C % Reformation is inp«nf +i. j. from evil and selfish pSes wtT"/ ""' °'''^'- "^""e's life ■nan compels himselfjn f^m ''' *"'^'^^ P'^ee when a 'Inlrf " '"' """^ natura ■ "■''''' *^ ^"'« which he -J to those J^oi'tl ami ^th ohser- / for, he- 0.) spiritual 'e of the ly strive elfin its east ad- i speak- nternal lightest J would Id be a ho de- of seJf he de- peeeh, le un- >• 'is a I Life e en- teof lera- 5n is illed roni life n a he at vil 17 apparently in his own strength, but this is only an appearance, so that he will not be forced into a higher lite excepting as he seeks it by putting away evil, although it is the Lord who is moving upon the " face of the waters." Man must make the eflEbrt, by using the strength of will which is given him, and in spiritual things there is nothing obtained without effort on the part of man. His reformation takes place by his exerting him- self against the evils which are within him, and as he resists evil it will flee from him, and as fast as he strives against the evil he sees, the Led flows in with Divine Strength, until he is convinced that a good life will lead to heaven, and that an evil life will destroy him. In the first state of reformation a man does not believe that the Lord is reforming him, but that he is doing the work him- self, and that whatever he does that is good, and everything true which he thinks and speaks, he originates in himself, for if it should be told him in that state that he was merely acted upon, he would immediately wait for some special influx of spiritual power, and become like a machine without any powe • of self-determination, and he would cease to resist his evils. By striving with his own power he will in due time be led to acknowledge his helplessness and look to the Lord for strength, and thus the law which he is trying to keep in his own strength is the " schoolmaster which will bring him to Christ," or the Word. This state of self-righteousness is clearly indicated in the Epistles by the " works " or " deeds of the law by which no flesh shall be justified." In due time the soul of the self-confident man will be brought into desolation and despair, in which his own thoughts will be reduced to such ignorance, so as not to be able to know what truth is, and in his state of desperation he exclaims, " 0, wretched man that I am ! ivho shall deliver me from the body of this death," for when a man is brought into this condition he feels that he knows nothing, and he is ignorant of the source of instruction as the light of his self -intelligence is being extin- guished. This state of reformation is coherently described by 2 18 »K yi5 tho Internal Sonso in the seventh chapter of Isaiah, beginnin< with the eighteenth verse, and any intelligent man may per- ceive that the literal sense in itself alone, without any deeper meaning, is singularly obscure. "And itslmill come, to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria ; and they shall come, and rest all of tliem in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all hushes. " In the same day will the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, hy iliem beyond the river, by tJie king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet ; and it shall also consume tJie beard. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep ; and it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give, that he shall eat butter ; for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. " And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings it shall even be for briers and thorns. With arrows and ivith bows shall men come thither ; beca/use all the land shall become briers and thorns. And on all hills that shall he digged loith the mattock, tliere shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns ; but it shall he for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle" When the light of self-intelligence flickers and expires, he calls upon the Lord, " Turn Thee unto me, and have mercy upon me ; for I am. desolate and afflicted.^' " send out thy light and thy truth ; let them lead me, and lead me in the way everlasting." " Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily ; and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward," and this afflicted man ib led to see the Lord as the Word, and from this moment his regenerate life begins, for " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path." " Tlie entrance beginnin(r "lay pej-- fiy deeper 'Ord dhaU 'hey sJiaU d in the hushes. >r that is Assyria, consume t a man all come , that he eat that ''Ce shall 'erlings id tvith become ^d with ■rs and mdfor res, he ynercy ^ut thy 'G way ■ thine ? shall " and from I is a mnce 19 oj thy words (jiveth li(/ht; it yireth itiulerstandiiKj unto the simple" for " TJie Fear of the Lord is the heginniniily resist tho evil that appears. Wo cannot liinrinj^s its own penalty. Kvi>ry ninn will bo rewarded according to his works. The penalty of sin is spiritual death, for it cIosoh the entrance of heaven into the external mind, or enrth, and fills the whole being with the love of flolf, wllich is the state called hell. It is not piinislunont wV.ich men should fear, but the sin itself which closes the en- trance of the Word, which is the Saviour from sin. A man who fears the punishment of sin is in a state of self-love. " But liow is our past sin t« be forgiven i " Suppose that you have a little weak, sickly boy, whom you tenderly love, and one day in his hereditary tendency to evil, for which ho is not to blame until he is old enough to know better, ho asserts his own little will and disobeys you, and as soon as he sees that ho has done wrong, he timidly comes to you and looks up into your face and says pityingly, " Mamma, I was naughty yesterday, and I'm sorry that I did wrong, forgive me, mamma, and I will try to do better." And then the little fellow bursts into tears as his tender throbbing heart overflows with grief. Would you lift up your right hand, and in revengeful wrath dash that piteous little face to the floor ? There have been drunken brutes, who have thus abused their children, and have driven them into lives of misery. No ! you would clasp that dear little one to your bosom, and with a kiss of forgiveness, fold him in your arms, so that he would love to confide in you, and receive strength to battle with his next temptation. The Lord always forgives. " Like as a father pltleth his children, so the Lordpitieth them, that fear Him." "He that cometh unto me I ivill in no luise cast out." " Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities : who healeth all thy diseases." " Let the luicJced forsake his ivay, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return unto Hie Lord, and he ivill have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for he ivill abundantly pardon." (la Iv. 7.) 21 Tli<^ Fori^ivoiujHs of Sin iiiH)lio.s tlio .u'viii;^ up of sin on tin* part of man, Itnt evory person is responsiblo for, and must boar liis own sins, and cannot lay tliem upon another, for his own individuality alono nuist bear the sear of sin to eternity. These sins miist be remove«l to tlie outermost circumference of his firclo of life by being overcome and thrust out. The past can- not be undone, nor blotted out, and when a man is <"empted, oven in the other life, to think highly of himself, his past ini- (piitics will rise before his mental sight.and in humility he will acknowledge the Lord, or the Word, to be his Redeemer, and give Him all the glory and praise. The Beginning of a regenerate life is ettected by the Word which " 11X18 With God" The nature and form of the Word is such thai it enters the internal mind of the man who has 1)0- gun to be regenevated by its Divine truths, and as that is tho abode of the Lord Himself in man, the Divine Truth is tho power or Divine Proceeding which enters the external mind and re-creates it with spiritual life. A word between men is a communication of thought, or a manifestation of the life of one man to another, either in speech, writing or gesture. Thus the Word of God is a conununication of Divine Thoughts to the mind of man by means of the natu- ral form of language and natural things which are representa- tive of spiritual principles. No created principle has tho power to impart Eternal Life to a finite creature, and yet tho Word of God will save a man from sin, if he takes its Divine Principles into his daily life, and will raise him from death into Everlasting Life. This is the Scheme of Salvation which the Lord has given to man. On tho occasion of the laying of the corner stone of a public unsectarian edifice, ther'> maj'' sometimes be seen marching through the streets a procession of orderly and dignified men, wearing their regalia of membei'ship. Among them may bo seen their representative spiritual guide bearing before him a velvet cushion upon which rests an Open Book which is treated with reverence, and which in all their rites and cere- 22 III ' k monies in their place of stated meetin<,'s, — lays upon the altar which stands in the centre of their assemblies. If a meek and earnest man should be permitted to enter the pulpits of various churches, and holding in his hands this Sacred Volume which lies upon the table and shelves of every enlightened family of the Christian world, — and reverently proclaim that it is Jehovah God, or the Lord Jesus Christ de- scended into this world in such form that the natural thoughts may see Him personified in Living Divine Truths, which ir the minds and lives of obedient men will re-create them in His image and likeness, — would his simple utterances be ac- cepted as real and true, or would they be looked upon as purely metaphorical statements ? Yet the Literal Sense of the Word alone, in the simplest lan- guage which can express thought, plainly declares these autho- ritative words : — " And the Word was God.' May our minds be open to receive what the Lord may lead us to consider concerning this important subject in the next lecture, which ls it follows in the order of the chapter selected, will be : — " The Human Form of the Word of God, or the Per- sonification OF ITS Divinity." 1 the altaj 23 » enter the lands this s of every •everently Christ de- thougJits which iv them in :es be ac- is purely 'Jest lan- B autho- ay lead le next 'lected, E Per. Spiritual Truths derived from the Latin Revelation of the Internal Sense of the Word, ADOPTED BY THE LNTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE INSPIRED WORD OFFICE OF THE TORONTO SOCIETY,* 25 Wbllington Street West. The object of this Society is, First -.—To promulgate the Interior Revealed Truths of the Word of God in a rational and orderly manner. Second : —To protect those Revealed Truths from distortion, by pre- serving them in their Interior Meaning without perverting them to con- form to the "traditions of men," or being made subservient to confirm private opinion or metaphorical interpretation. I. The whole inspired Word of God is written by the correspond' ence of natural things with Spiritual Principles, which are representative and significative from the beginning to the end. II. The historical relations, without exception, are matters f)f true spiritual history in the lives of regenerating men, and the Word of God does not treat of physical earthly history, excepting by the correspondence of things natural with Spiritual Principles. III. The Word of God is of Supernatural origin, and is Divine Truth, treating only of Spiritual Science concerning the Regeneration of man. IV. The Word of God is the Divine Humanity which assumes the Hu- man Principle of the.Word in the world or earth of the external mind, and is the Son of God within the mind and life of the regenerating man. V. The giving of the Literal Sense of the Word to the natural mind in the history of man, was the Advent of the Lord upon the earth, and the Revelation of the Internal Sense is the Second Coming of the Lord to those who thus receive and live according to the Internal Truths of the Word. VI. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One Jehovah God, or the Word, in One Person from Eternity ; and the whole Word in the Internal Sense teaches only of Him in the lives of regenerating men. * Should a sufficient number of subscribers indicate that provision will be made for the ex- pense of publication, it is the itttention of this Society, in due time, to issue a monthly periodi- cal, to beeutitled Living Watrr. 24 :P^^'Z^J:'^;:^:/-^- - «.e DiWne Love, the Di .Se„se,,, the VV„d ly the m ne "^fe's ""T"'^" '" «- I^ on ^ V'l'- The birth of ,h, L„„| j„° ,3 c fj: *'? ?^ ""'y Spirit. o love ,.„a „b„ji3„^„ ^^ ^,_^_ I'iocepta of L W 1 ''"'''^' "'™'S" " «" '^o... ,.,„, ;h,„„:-';; :t^: «~ of We ,.„a th„„,ht fvo„ the «- Lite™, Truth::; r;: rior"//™,- •- =™ by „he„ie„ce .„ ;-.»t,„g evil and false p,,,^eMc !!? "j" ^'"■'' '"'O "■« "eighb" b Chnst alone t„ be the Savi^" . fe ' ""'"><'">»<'.'in« the Wcl IL„, ...to tho^w, fro- -.', by means of the Word ..eooived -^i. The Life of Reffenerifinn .i u -oj,eso,th„„,i„d, a;;drtt\krin ;:rr '"^ -''-' "-"«"'« »■' ^^::t:r:::r :r:h:'?-f -^^^^^ ^ -^^li. i»o Literal Sen <^P nf +1 it^ - '» be ohe,ed, booant con.ls °t '' '" "^ '■«="*<• - Sacred and con^^-rnn,, the Wovd, :x:[:t """ "■ '"-"'-' i>'vin: iC'et;:' entitled JLu^rl f"""' °' "'« ^^o'-^ " revealed in ,1 r ■ -;-; -.««. -.*« ./y;r^:r,^:;- -,;f ^'•«.-: fro;, the UWoTGJd'tTit''''" '""'"''' ">' "^ '""e a.ay anvth' >;bat al„,, bas been c„'„t i „ Sfis'" "" ^"«™™'»« ™. !. f ove, the Di, 1 the Literal >irit. the inind of trough a hfi. ^'ivo Him iu ht from tlio to tlie Two ^ediencc to -ighbor, by jord Jesus d received "ghts and should be fe, and to d of God. *>f God as the faith- '^^g upon 5red, and le, which iiself. 'd alone, velatioii n works tivelata ; ina Sa- 'intiana ythino nlone, ed by Fnnii <( CoiKji'Cfidtliiiiiilist I'mnl of ]'irir, " A carofnl examinntioji of tlio nnl)o\in'l slioets of tl;o work calh'd '• Tiii", Fack OF J Ksi;s " rev^-'iils a nuukeil feature in placing; the Word of Gud on tli(i higliest nio)jntain of holiness, and yet tlio word chnrcli does not appear once in any of its pa^'eg. It certainly touches the deepest principles of sjiiritnal life in a nianni'r so plain that no rellectiui,' man can say that it is not true. FK^ni the fact that it treats of the searchini,' princii)les of rej,'i'ner- ate life abstracted from the names of jiersons and places, it will be liable to much misinterpretation, and we hardly dare to recommend its i)erusid to any b-.it thon;^htful peisons of mature aart from scriptural names, no man, or fi/o, appears anywhere from bei^iu- ninii to end, but the whole aim of its teachings seems to lead the reader to the Word of God for sjiiritual light. There is such a wall of protection built before it in the Introduction, that iiitidelity and atheism cannot enter nor gain a foothold whereby the Divinity of the Word can be attacked. Herein liis its great strength, that it seems to bo from tin; Holy Uible in tin* UK'st humble spirit of reverence, and seems tilled with kindness toward all with a desire for their spiritual welfare. It seems founded on the corner stone of Eternal life, and yet it does not appear like the doctrines on which Congregationalism is built upon, although it honors the connuandments of God.'is highly iis any book which has ever been published. " it does not indicate a desire to build up a sectarian feeling, and does not advocate any principles which would lead a man to withdraw from religious Worship, but recognizes a sp'ritnal meaning in every form of worship where a man is inwardly sincere. While in the kindest spirit it pulls down many a cherished theory, it does not leave the mind without any foundation, but leads those who are able to bear this devastation of the pictures which the idtals of men have formed, to the Living Reality, in spiritual i)rinciples, of Him who gives Life to the Word, and who causes His face to shine so that the pure in heart may behold. It is a fascinating book for those whose rea- soning powers can ctnnprehend its elevating thoughts, for it exalts the Lord desus Ciirist above the highest human conception, and notwithstanding its nndenominational tendency, its positive assertions give no uncertain sound. ' From a Neir Jentsuhm licricir. "The advance sheets of the English editit)n oi the work on the ' Fack ok .J Ksi'ts ' were placed in our hands for perusal and contein|ilation. The reading of its pages was a work of pleasure mingled with the delights of wisdom, with which it is repleti'. We are led to confess, after giving the subject much thought that it is of the Loras doings, and it is marvellous in our eyes. " The truths unfolded are iiidet'd mdrrcllmis, in that there has never been a trurl: like unto it produced from the pages of the sacred ^^criptiires. It will no di'uht create a commotion in the theological world, and awaken many devout and thou<,'htful minds to the realization of the Divine natnre and chaiaeterof the Woidof (Jod. Every page is )eplete with wisdom 'over- shadowed from on High,' plainly revealing that 'a man can receive nothing except it be given him troiii heaveji.' '■ The jirinciples wliich are uncovered are so far in advance of the common a!)i)relu'nsion that tliey must be ' spiritually discerned ' by a life in harmony with the Divine laws of love to the Lord and the neighbor, or the life of Jesus within the heart. The work is remarkable from the fact that it is asnon- sectarian as the l>il)le itself, and it is nou-cmtroveisial, but it rests solely u[)ou the inteiior Divine pi'nici[)les of the Word of (Joil. it will prove truly use- ful as a nrs ionary in t .e mental world of religi