and thus exist, just as a column does upon its pedestal ? How plain is it to see, that unless there was such a continuation and consequent conjunction, the things most external must be dissolved and melt to nothing, like bubbles in the air? Who can deny that the interior operations of God in man, are myriads of myriads, utterly unknown to man himself? And what signifies it, if they be unknown or not, provided only that what is extreme and most external be known, in which man, with his thought and will, is together with God? But let us illustrate this matter by an example: Is a man at all acquainted with the operations of his faculty of speech, as, how the lungs draw in the air, and thereby fill the vesicles, the bronchia, and the lobes; how they emit it into the trachea, and there convert it into sound; how the sound is modified in the glottis by the assistance of the larynx; and how the tongue afterwards articulates it, and the lips complete the articulation, in order to its becoming speech? Do not all these interior operations, of which man is altogether unconscious, exist for the sake of the last or most external, which is articulate discourse? If you remove or separate any one of those internal operations, so as to destroy its connexion with the last, or most external, would it not be as impossible for man to speak, as for a stock or a stone? Take another example; the two hands are the ultimate or extreme parts of the human body; but do not the interior, which are continued to them, descend from the head through the neck, and also through the breast, the shoulders, the arms, and the fore-arms? Are there not innumerable muscular textures, innumerable orders of moving fibres, innumerable collections of nerves and blood-vessels, with several bony articulation with their ligaments and membranes, of which man is utterly unconscious? And yet, are not all and every one of these unknown parts necessary to the operation of the hands? Supposing those interior parts to be reflected back to the right or left about the elbow-joint, and not to be continued below, would not the hand, in such case, necessarily fall from the joint, and putrify, like something inanimate that was separated from all connexion

with the source of life? Doubtless, under such circumstances, it would be with the hand, as it is with the body, when a man is beheaded. Just so would it be also with the human mind, and with its two lives, the will and the understanding, supposing the divine operations, which relate to faith and charity, should stop in the middle of their course, and not proceed by continued connexion to the man himself; in such case, man would be not only a brute-animal, but a rotten branch broken off from its parent stock. Thus far I have explained to you the dictates of reason, in regard to this subject; I shall now show you, if ye are disposed to hear me, that the Sacred Scripture inculcates the same doctrine; for does not the Lord say, 'Abide in me and I in you: I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit,' John vii. 4, 5. Does not fruit mean the good works, which the Lord operates by man; and which man operates of himself from the Lord? Again, the Lord says, 'Behold! I stand at the door and knock; if any man will open the door, I will come into him and sup with him, and he with me,' Rev. iii. 20. Does not the Lord give pounds and talents to the intent that men should trade with them and make profit of them, and in proportion to such profit should receive eternal life? Matt. xv. 14—34, Luke xix. 13—26. And again: Does not hé give to every one according to the work which he does in his vineyard? Matt. xx. 1—17. But these are only a few passages, selected out of many; for it would be easy to fill sheets with extracts from the Word, insisting that man ought to bear fruit like a tree; that he ought to work in obedience to the commandments; that he ought to love God and his neighbor, and the like. I am well aware, however, that your own intelligence, grounded in your proprium or selfhood, cannot have any thing in common with the contents of the Word, according to their true and proper sense, and, therefore, notwithstanding you can introduce such passages into your discourse, yet the ideas you attach to them are such as pervert them; and this is a necessary consequence of your removing all things that are of God from man, as to

communication and conjunction: what more can you reject, unless you also abandon all things belonging to worship?" After I had ended these words, the assembly appeared to me in the light of heaven, which detects and manifests the true nature and quality of every one; and then they no longer seemed floating aloft in a ship, as if exalted into heaven, nor clothed in purple, nor crowned with laurel wreaths, but in a sandy place, in tattered garments, having their loins girt about with nets like those used by fishermen, through which their nakedness appeared and then they sunk down to the society bordering on the Machiavelists.

CHAPTER X.

1. AND I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was over his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.

2. And he had in his hand a little book open. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth,

3. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth. And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

5. And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

6. And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein, that there should be time no longer :

7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished; as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

8. And the voice which I heard from heaven, spake unto me again, and said, Go, take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing upon the sea and upon the earth.

9. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

10. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate

it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.

THE CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER. The exploration and manifestation of those who are in the reformed churches is still treated of; in the present chapter, what their belief is concerning the Lord, as to his being the God of heaven and earth, as he himself taught in Matthew xxviii. 18; and as to his Humanity being divine; that these articles of belief are not received in those churches; and that it is no easy matter for them to be received, so long as a belief in justification by faith alone is so strongly fixed in their hearts.

THE CONTENTS OF EACH VERSE. "And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven," signifies, the Lord in divine majesty and power: "Clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head," signifies, his divine natural and his divine spiritual principles: "And his face was as it were the sun," signifies, divine love, and at the same time divine wisdom: "And his feet as pillars of fire," signifies, the Lord's divine natural principle, as to divine love, which sustains all things: "And he had in his hand a little book open," signifies, the Word as to this doctrinal point therein, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Humanity is divine: “And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth," signifies, that the Lord has the universal church under his auspices and dominion: "And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth," signifies, grievous lamentation by reason of the church being taken from him: "And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices," signifies, that the Lord revealed throughout the universal heaven what was in the little book: "And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not," signifies, that these things indeed are made manifest, but that they will not be received till after they who are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, are cast out of the world of spirits, because there would be danger were they to be received before: "And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever," signifies, the attestation and testification of the Lord by himself: "Who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and

the things that are therein,” signifies, who vivifies all that are in heaven and that are in the church, and every thing in general and in particular with them: "That there should be time no longer," signifies, that there cannot be any state of the church, or any church, except one God be acknowledged, and that the Lord is that God: "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound," signifies, the final exploration and manifestation of the state of the church which must perish, unless a new one be established by the Lord: "The mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets," signifies, that then it will appear, that it is foretold in the Word of both Testaments, but has hitherto been concealed, that after the last judgment is executed upon those who have devastated the church, the Lord's kingdom will come: "And the voice which I heard from heaven, spake unto me again, and said, Go, take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing upon the sea and upon the earth," signifies, a command from heaven, that they should admit that doctrine, but that it should be made manifest by John how it would be received in the church, before they who are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, are removed: "And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book," signifies, a motion, or inclination of the mind with many, to receive the doctrine: "And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey," signifies, that reception from the acknowledgment that the Lord is the Saviour and Redeemer, is grateful and pleasing, but that the acknowledgment that he alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Humanity is divine, is unpleasing and difficult to receive, by reason of falsifications: "And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it my belly was bitter," signifies, that so it came to pass, and was thus manifested: "And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings," signifies, that because it is so, the quality of those who are in faith alone must be further shown.

THE EXPLANATION.

464. In this and the following chapter the Lord is treated of as being the God of heaven and earth, and that as to his Humanity also he is God; consequently that he is Jehovah himself. That this is the subject treated of in these two chapters, may be seen from their contents, as understood in a spiritual sense, and from their conclusion, chap. xi. 15, 16, 17.