xxi. 42; Ps. cxviii. 22.) For the same reason also He is called in Isaiah "a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation." (xxviii. 16.) And when Simon Peter acknowledged that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord's reply was, "and I say also unto thee that thou art PeterIons (Petros, i. e. a stone or rock,)-and upon this rock-roa (Petra)-I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. xvi. 18.) What rational mind cannot perceive that the Lord's church is built upon the eternal Rock of Divine Truth, and not upon any created being?

Peter here confesses that Christ is "the Son of the living God:" which, in the spiritual sense, signifies that He is the Divine Truth; by virtue of which confession Peter represented the Divine Truth from the Lord in the church. And inasmuch as the church, to be able to withstand the " gates of hell," or the assaults of wicked men and devils, must be built upon the Divine Truth from the Word "which was in the beginning with God and was God," therefore the Lord here says that He will build his church upon this Rock.

But to multiply quotations from Scriptnre in order to confirm the spiritual meaning of these words, would lead us too far astray from the object of the present lec

ture.

It must be obvious to every one, that when an individual falls into such a state that there is no genuine humility, meekness, self-renunciation, &c., in his worship-when he has so perverted and falsified the truths of the Word as to make them favor his natural inclinations and subserve the gratification of his evil loves, then the church in that individual is consummated. The buildings of God's holy temple are then destroyed in him, and the stones are all thrown down, so that "not one stone is left upon another." The same is also true of any number of individuals, or of the collective body' of the church. And because the Lord foresaw that the first Christian church would one day fall into this statethat the time would come when the truths of the Divine Word, as received and understood by the great

body of that church, would not be truths but falses, which must be overthrown by a new revelation, He therefore uses this language to describe its total vastation: "Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Mark, xiii. 2.) The wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes and other things which it is said should precede this "Consummation of the Age," denote corresponding spiritual calamities and changes which would take place in the church before its final consummation. Thus it was foreseen by the Lord that different religious sects in the first Christian church, whose doctrines would be very near akin to each other— as it were, of the same family and household--would bitterly hate, persecute, and endeavor to destroy each other; therefore it is said, "Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death." (Mark, xiii. 12.) Finally, it was foreseen, that, at the end of the church, the christian world, considered in respect to its religious doctrines, would be in just such a dark, chaotic state, as would this natural world, if the light of the sun and moon were extinguished, and the stars blotted from the sky.* Hence the use of that symbolic language which

* Those who desire to know the spiritual sense of this entire prophecy, are referred to the Arcana Coelestia, by Emanuel Swedenborg, vols. 4, 5, and 6, where it is explained at the beginning of each chapter. The follow ing, which is the commencement, is given as a specimen of Swedenborg's exposition:

"The greatest part of mankind believe, that when the last judgment comes, all things are to be destroyed which are in the visible world, that the earth will be consumed by fire, the sun and the moon will be dissipated, and the stars will vanish away; and that a new heaven and a new earth will afterwards spring forth; this opinion they have conceived from prophetic Revelations, wherein mention is made of such things coming to pass; but that the real case is otherwise, may appear from what was shewn above concerning the last judgment, n. 900, 931, 1850, 2117 to 2133. Hence it is evident, that the last judgment is nothing else but the end of the Church with one nation, and its beginning with another, which end and which beginning then have place, when there is no longer any acknowledgment of the Lord, or, what is the same thing, when there is no faith; and there is no acknowledgment of the Lord, and no faith, when there is no charity, for faith cannot possibly exist but with those who are in charity; that in such case there is an end of the Church, and a translation thereof to others, appears manifest from all those particulars, which the Lord Himself taught and foretold in the Evangelists, concerning that last day, or concerning the

we find in Matt. xxiv. 29. And immediately after. the fulfilment of all these things, it is said: "And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds, with great power and glory." (Mark, xii. 26.) In

Consummation of the Age, viz. in Matt. chapter xxiv,; in Mark, chapter xiii.; and in Luke, chapter xxi.: but inasmuch as these particulars cannot be comprehended by any one without a key, which is their internal sense, it is permitted to unfold them in the order in which they stand, according to that sense; we shall begin with these words in Matthew, "The disci ples came to Jesus, saying, tell us when shall these things be, and what is the sign of Thy coming, and of the Consummation of the Age: and Jesus answering said unto them, see that no one seduce you; for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ and shall seduce many: but ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not disturbed; for all these things must needs be, but the end is not yet. For nation shall be stirred up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes. But all these things are the beginning of sorrows,' xxiv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8; they who abide in the sense of the letter, cannot know whether these, and the particulars which follow in this chapter, were spoken concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish nation, or concerning the end of days, which is called the last judgment; but they who are in the internal sense, see clearly, that the subject here treated of is concerning the end of the Church, which end, in this and other passages, is what is called the coming of the Lord, and the Consummation of the Age: and inasmuch as this end is here understood, it may be known that all the above particulars signify things appertaining to the Church; but what they signify, may appear from each particular in the internal sense; as for example; when it is said Many shall come in My name, saying I am Christ and shall seduce many, by name here is not signified name, nor by Christ Christ, but name signifies that by which the Lord is worshipped, see n. 2724, 3006; and Christ signifies essential truth, n. 3009, 3010; thus it is signified, that there would come those who would assert, that this or that is an article of faith, or that this or that is true, when yet it is neither an article of faith, nor truc, but false by hearing of wars and rumors of wars is signified, that there would exist disputes and litigations concerning truths, which are wars in the spiritual sense: by nation being stirred up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, is signified, that evil would combat with evil and what is false with what is false; that nation denotes good, but in an opposite sense evil, may be seen, n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, and that kingdom denotes truth, but in an opposite sense what is false, n. 1672, 2547: and by their being famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places, signified that there would be no longer any knowledges of good and of truth, and thus that the state of the Church would be changed, which is an earthquake (motion of the earth.)

"From these particulars it is evident, what is meant by these words of the Lord, viz. that they denote the first state of the Church's perversion, which comes to pass, when men begin no longer to know what is good and what is true, but dispute with each other on such subjects, whence come falsities inasmuch as this is the first state, it is said, that the end is not yet, and that these things are the beginning of sorrows, and this state is called earthquakes in divers places, whereby is signified in the internal sense, a change of the state of the Church in part, or at first. By these things being said to the disciples, is signified, that they are said to all who are of the Church, for the twelve disciples represented all such, see n. 2089, 2129, 2130; wherefore it is said, see that no one seduce you; also, ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that ye be not disturbed."—Arcana Cœlestia, n. 3352, 3354.

Matthew, it is said that He would be seen coming "in the clouds of heaven." Now, what is the true Scriptural meaning of this text? This is the important subject of our present inquiry. Important-because upor the decision of this question must depend entirely our idea of the nature or manuer of the Lord's second appearing. And if, at the Lord's first advent, it was important that men should know and acknowledge Him, it surely cannot be deemed a matter of less moment that they should know and acknowledge Him at his second coming.

According to the writings of the New Church, the Son of Man* signifies the Lord in respect to the Word or the principle of Divine Truth, which proceeds from Him, and is Himself. The clouds, or clouds of heaven, signify the Sacred Scriptures in their literal sense; in which sense the genuine Divine Truth lies in great obscurity. Consequently the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven, denotes the coming to human minds-thus to the church-of genuine divine truth, which has not been understood by the former church, but has been concealed as it were in a cloud. In other words, it denotes the unfolding and revealing of the spiritual sense of the Word through the obscurity or cloud of the literal sense. And this is done by means

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* It is evident, from the manner in which son is often used in the Old Testament, that it is employed in the Scriptures to signify a relationship different from that of natural generation. Thus, for example, in Lam. iii. 13, arrows are called "sons of the quiver." And in I Sam. xiv. 52, a val iant man is called in the orginal Hebrew a son of strength." So also in the original of Job, v. 7, sparks are called "sons of the fire," or of the flame; and again, (chapter xli. 28,) an arrow is called in the original “ son of the bow.' Now, in each of these examples, it is to be observed, that the things which proceed from another, is, by virtue of that circumstance, called its son. Thus, sparks proceed from the fire, and hence are called its sons: the arrow proceeds or goes forth from the bow, and hence is called its son, &c.

Agreeably to this form of expression, the light which proceeds from heat would be called the son of heat: and truth which proceeds from love, would be called the son of love.

Now it is taught in the doctrines of the New Church that the Lord is a Divine man, whose Essence is Divine Love. From this Love, therefore, as spiritual heat, proceeds Divine Truth as spiritual light. And it is in this sense that the Son proceeded or came forth from the Father. By Fther, is signified the Lord as to Divine Love. These two terms, therefore, denote two distinct principles appertaining to one and the same Divine Person.

of the revealed Science of Correspondences, according to which the Sacred Scriptures are composed throughout. And because in the internal sense of the Word, truth is of a more clear, consistent, and luminous character, and consequently is more powerful and effective in its regenerating influence, (for the more clearly any truth is seen, the more it affects us,) therefore this coming is said to be "with power and great glory."

This is a summary exposition of the meaning of this text, according to the interpretation given of it in the theological writings of Swedenborg;-an interpretation, we observe, not natural or according to the letter, but purely spiritual. Is this the true interpretation? Or, in other words, is it one which is supported and confirmed by the Sacred Scriptures themselves? We appeal to the law and the testimony.

First then, it appears evident from the repeated declarations of this faithful and true witness, that the Lord is the Word, or Divine Truth. In the gospel of John it is thus written, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. In Him, [i. e., in the Word,] was life; and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not. [This] was the True Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." (i. 1, 4, 5.) It is also said that this Word or Light "was in the world, and the world knew Him not"; that "He became flesh and dwelt among men," &c.

Now we learn from the texts here cited, that God, who became clothed with humanity-who came into this natural world as the Lord Jesus Christ-is The Word; and also that He, or the Word, is the light of all men, yet shining in darkness; and that natural light and darkness are not here referred to by these terms, but spiritual, i. e., the light of truth which illus trates, and the darkness of error which obscures the human understanding must be obvious to every one.

In another passage of John's gospel, it is written that Jesus said, "As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." (ix. 5.) And again when the