people inquired, "Who is this Son of Man ?" the Lord's answer was, "Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upci you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light."

Here we have the testimony of the Lord himself, that the Son of Man is the Light; by which is evidently meant not natural, but spiritual light, or Divine Truth.

Again it is recorded in this same gospel, that Jesus saith, "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (xii. 46, 48.) And again we read: "And Jesus said, for judg ment I am come into this world; that they who see not might see, and that they who see might be made blind." (ix. 39.)

Now in one of these passages, we observe it is said that the Lord came for judgment; and in the other it is said that the Word shall judge men. Hence we deduce the unavoidable inference, that the Lord is the Word, or Divine Truth itself.

It is said also in other places that the Lord " came down from heaven," (John vi. 38): that "He who cometh from above is above all," &c. (iii. 31). And when the people, on one occasion, told Jesus that "bread from heaven," or "manna" was given to their fathers to eat in the desert, and asked Him, "What sign shewest thou then, that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work?" He saith to them among other things in reply, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever." (vi. 51, 59.) But the Jews understanding these words of the Lord in their strictly literal sense, "strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" And even the disciples, "when they heard it, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" Then the Lord tells them by way of explanation, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life." (v. 63.)

Here, then, we have divine testimony that the Lord's words are spirit and life, and are what is signified by the flesh and blood of the Son of Man; and also by the living bread which came down from heaven, which the Lord declares is himself.

But there are other texts which afford incontrovertible evidence that the Son of Man, so often mentioned in the New Testament, signifies the Word or Sacred Scriptures; or the Lord in respect to the principle of Divine Truth, which is the same thing.

Every one must know that Divine Truth is not, and, from its very nature, cannot be confined to time or place. In itself it is the same now that it always has been, and always must be; the same with the angels in heaven as with men on earth. It differs in different individuals, it is true, on account of the difference in their moral quality or state of reception; for it is well known that the same truth falling into different minds, will receive a different form and complexion, corresponding to the difference in the form or quality of those minds. But considered absolutely and in itself, Divine Truth is unchangeable the same every where and always; the same in heaven and on earth; the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now we read in the gospel of John, that "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven." (ii. 13.) These are the Lord's own words,

while he was upon earth. And can it therefore be supposed that the Son of Man here signifies that natural or material person which the Lord derived from the mother Mary Certainly not; for in respect to that, He had not previously been in heaven, and, of course, could not therefore have come down from heaven. Neither could it be said of Him, in this natural sense, that He was in heaven while pronouncing these words. But if we understand the Divine Truth to be here signified by the Son of Man, the interpretation of the passage becomes easy and intelligible; for Truth, as we have remarked, is not controlled by the limitations of time or space. It is the rule of life to angels and men, and is therefore at the same time in heaven and on earth.

Again the Son of Man is frequently spoken of in the Evangelists as coming to judge the world. To cite but a single passage of this kind: "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: And hath also given him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man." (John v. 22, 27.) Now in the same gospel we find written the following passage, which has been quoted once before, "He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (John, xii. 48.) Can any thing be more demonstrative than this? It is said in Chapter 5th, and often elsewhere in the New Testament, that the Son of Man shall judge the world; and here the Lord declares that it is his Word which shall judge men. Whence we necessarily conclude that the Son of Man is the Word, or the Divine Truth; and therefore signifies this when used in the Sacred Scriptures. Indeed this is distinctly affirmed by the Lord himself in one passage, where He says, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life." (John xiv. 6.)

We cannot leave this part of our subject, without directing the attention of the reader to one more text of Scripture which is found in Rev. xix. It is this: "I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat on him is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness doth He judge and make war. His eyes

were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And He had a name written which no man knew but He himself; and He was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood; and His name is called THE WORD OF GOD." Now it is a fact, which may seem somewhat remarkable to those who know nothing of the internal sense of the Word, that, in every passage where the Lord's second coming is spoken of, except this in the Revelation, He is called the Son of Man; and in this passage, He whom the Revelator saw sitting upon a white horse, is called THE WORD OF GOD. According to the Science of Correspondences which will be explained in a future lecture, to sit or ride upon a white horse when predicated of the Lord, signifies to illustrate the minds of men, or to impart to them a clear understanding of truth. This is done by means of the Word in its spiritual sense, which is now unfolded, and is what is signified by heaven being opened.

"By heaven being seen open," says Swedenborg, "is signified a revelation from the Lord and consequent manifestation, as will be seen presently; by a horse is meant the understanding of the word, and by a white horse the interior understanding or meaning of the Word; and as this is signified by a white horse, and as the spiritual sense is the interior meaning of the Word, therefore that sense is hereby signified by a white horse. The reason why this is the coming of the Lord, is, because by that sense it manifestly appears, that the Lord is the Word, and that the Word treats of Him alone, and that He is the God of heaven and earth, and that from Him alone the New Church has its existence. Every one who does not think beyond the sense of the letter, believes that, when the last judgment shall come to pass, the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven, with the angels and a sound of trumpets; still that this is not meant, but that He will appear in the Word, may be seen in the explanation above, n. 24, 692; and the Lord appears manifestly in the spiritual sense of the Word; from that sense, indeed, it is discovered not only that He is the Word, i. e. Divine Truth itself, but that He is the inmost of the Word, and thence

the all thereof, and also that He is the one God, in whom there is a trinity, consequently the only God of heaven and earth, and moreover that He came into the world to glorify his humanity, i. e. to make it divine." (Apocalypse Revealed, n. 820.)

I think it must, by this time, appear evident to every honest mind, that, by the Son of Man so often mentioned in the New Testament, is signified the Lord as to the Word, or Divine Truth. But genuine truth, or the true meaning of the Word, lies not in the letter but in the spirit; i. e. in the internal or spiritual sense. Consequently a coming of the Lord would signify a coming of this internal sense to the understandings of men; or a more luminous exhibition of Divine Truth to the church, than what appears in the literal sense of Scripture. It would signify a clearer and fuller unfolding of God's Word, which is Truth, than was given to the first Christian Church. A revelation therefore of the spiritual sense of the Word, by means of the Science of Correspondences not known to the first Christian Church of the laws of the spiritual world, and of truth concerning the great and fundamental doctrines of religion, which had become perverted by that churchsuch a revelation, indeed, as the writings of the New Church claim to be, would, according to the testimony of the Sacred Oracles, be a real coming of the Lord, or the Son of Man.

But we find it said in each of the gospels, where the second appearing of the Son of Man is spoken of, that He will be seen coming in the clouds, or in the clouds of heaven. Also in the Revelation—a book, which, in its spiritual sense, treats of the consummation of the first Christian Church, and of the Lord's second coming to establish a New Church, called the New Jerusalemwe read, "Behold He cometh with clouds." (i. 7.) And again in another chapter of the same book, "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud sat one like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." (xiv. 14, 16.) Now