mind, or spirit, it is the natural degree of the mind. This is Galilee, and the Holy Spirit must find or reach us here.

Mary conceived of the Holy Ghost in Galilee. She immediately hastened into Judea, and saluted the mother of John the Baptist. This Holy Thing belonged in Judea "in the City of David," and the mother hastens there, and there she salutes, loves, rejoices with, the mother of that which is to open a way in the hearts of men for the Holy Child to save the world. That is repentance; and this must proceed from the internal, outward or downward into the external, or natural. God looks down and comes down, for He is always the "Most High," the highest, or inmost. Man must look up and inward, for he must always be below the Lord, and outside of his own internal life. But this Holy Thing must have a natural body, for it is coming into a natural world; and so Mary went back to Galilee. But when this Holy, innocent babe was born, Mary was again in Judea, the place for Holiness and innocence. To grow into a youth and man He must be carried down into Galilee. He was as a human being in total or Egyptian darkness, and so was carried down into Egypt. But this Holy Child Jesus was to be the Man of the Church, and must become a man in the Holy Land, and because He was to be a man, He must begin in the lowest or external part of this land; so He was carried into Galilee. At twelve years of age this child began to reason. So He began to reason in Judea. While yet a boy of twelve He reasoned with the Doctors in the Temple. But he must go down to Galilee, or the natural plane, before He could lead men up. He lived among those He best understood, and reasoned with Himself, and perhaps with them, for a long time before He tried to lead them up to Judea, or even Samaria. He reasoned from His knowledge of things in Galilee, but the light which revealed to Him the things in Galilee came from Judea through Samaria. He began His great work in Galilee. Here He, "from that time," began to heal the sick, and to teach, and to preach.

He reasoned

with the Doctors in Judea when a boy, but He began to reason as a man in Galilee. He was in the world a man to lead men, in freedom and by their reason, up out of the degradation into which they had sunk, to a heavenly life on the earth. This great work which He was trying to perform in men's minds, and, through their spirits, for their bodies, took visible form in this world in many ways. One of these, and a very important and interesting one, may be seen in His beginning at Galilee, and proceeding through Samaria up to Judea, and from thence, back through Samaria, to Galilee. In Galilee He taught them plain, simple truths. He was looked upon as a good man, or a prophet, sent from God to do them good and make them happy in this life. This they could understand, and the well-disposed listened to Him gladly. Here He was the Son of Man. In Samaria, He reasoned with a woman, and remained there two days, reasoning about spiritual things - religion, worship, truth, and living water. He seemed not to care for their natural life. He said nothing about healing diseases. They could understand but little of this, and could not listen to Him as gladly as the Galileans. Here He was the Son of God. In Judea, He proclaimed Himself the very God. And here men would not receive Him, or listen to Him, but burned to destroy Him. Here He uttered fearful and terrible words to be treasured up for the comprehension of future generations. In Galilee, He told them to be kind one to another, to love and to help one another, and that to do for and help one another was spiritually and truly to love and help Him. "In as much as ye did it unto one of these ye did it unto Me." In Samaria, He told them to seek for and drink living water; and He told them what living water was. And He told them that God was a Spirit, not without a body, but that His real body was a spiritual one, and that God was a spiritual Being, and lived in a higher world. In Judea, He told them He was this Being - the Truth, the Life, the Light, the Bread of Life.

In Galilee, He did natural good, in Samaria, both spirit

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ual and natural good, and in Judea, all good. Here He was God-man, and so here He purified the Temple, gave them wine to drink, and bread to eat, and washed His disciples' feet, and healed their diseases. In going up to Jerusalem or down to Capernaum, He must needs go through Samaria. He never leads men but by means of their rea

son.

As He the third time journeyed from Galilee through Samaria, He entered into a certain village, and here "ten men that were lepers met Him." It is a little remarkable that they met Him in a village, for they were not allowed to associate with well people. But villages are outside of cities, and these men were outside of doctrines, and leprosy was an outside disease. They stood afar off. The civil law compelled them to stand afar off from well men, and there is a spiritual law which compels all spiritual lepers to stand afar off from the Lord and the angels. It is true that the Lord is near all men, for He is the inmost of life; but this wicked men do not know, and so He is to them always afar off. And in the other life, difference is distance. They cried to Him and He heard their cry, as He always hears every voice that is lifted up to Him. He gave them a very simple command, which was easy to understand, and easy for them to obey. They started to do as He bid themthey obeyed Him, and before they reached the priests, they were all cleansed.

He could cleanse and not make whole, but if He made them whole, they were cleansed.

"Ten men" signifies, not only these men, but all men in like states of mind. Ten signifies remains, and nine denotes conjunction, and in a good sense, conjunction of good and truth. When the Lord says "Where are the Nine?" we know He does not mean whereabouts, or in what locality, but in what state of mind. Neither does He use nine and ten without a particular meaning, and as He is talking of the state of these men, these numbers must have reference to their state.

The conjuncSo these num

Ten denotes that these men had some remains of good in their hearts; and nine, that they had begun to do what they knew, or were told by the Lord was right. tion of good and truth had begun in them. bers teach us positively, what we can dimly see from the whole account, that these were men who really desired to become good; to be cleansed and made whole, so far as they could then understand what it was to be cleansed and made whole. Nine of them could see nothing better than good physical health. They were directed to the priests that they might be led to worship. No man can be led out of evil until he worships the Lord in some degree, or in some way. Perhaps they were cleansed before they reached the priests, in order to show them that Jesus, and not the priests, healed them. They were cleansed, and that was all that nine of them desired, or lifted up their voices for. Only one of them even thanked Him; and this one fell down on his face and worshipped Him. "But where are the Nine?" Cleansed, but not made whole. They had received what they asked for what they most loved and valued — and they knew of nothing better. They could not be made whole until they lifted up their voices to Him, and cried, Jesus, Master, make us whole. And how was this one regenerated, or made whole? The answer is before us in the Lord's own words: "Thy faith," not faith, but "thy faith hath made thee whole." And what did his faith cause him to do? for faith is dead without works, or until it lives and moves. By faith, or through faith, he fell at the Lord's feet and worshipped Him. Not a great, infinite, unknown, incomprehensible, disembodied spirit, but Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Falling at His feet was prostrating, humbling all of self, ceasing to obey, love, or worship any other God, and then he could worship the Lord.

What is worship? It is to acknowledge, love, and adore an object that we can see, or know, or believe in. It is more than this, if possible; for it is to centre all our love, trust, faith and hope in an object, beyond which we have no de

sire or expectation. We are led by the Lord, by means of spirits and angels. Good spirits and angels do only the Lord's will; and His will is always to lead us out of hell and all evil, into heaven and all good. And they lead us to worship Him, because this will take us out of hell, and into heaven. When we truly worship Him, we are in a condition or state of mind where the angels and good spirits can come to us, and lead us out of evil, or cause us to keep and do the commandments, and to hate evil, because it is sin against the One who gives us life and all good. So did this man's faith make him whole; and so, and in no other way, will our faith ever make us whole.

But why cannot men be made whole who do not worship the Lord? Simply because in no other way can they come into a place or state of mind where the Lord can reach them through angels and good spirits, and lead them out of evil.

The first Christian Church worshipped the Lord as the Son or Sent of God. He could elevate them no higher at that time. But there have been men ever since in the world, who have in their hearts worshipped the Lord alone, whether in the light or shade of their doctrines. He has seemed to them, with more or less clearness, to be really God. This worship of the Lord, by good, honest, true men and women, has been the centre and heart of the Church. These have been the salt of the earth, without which human beings would perish, and disappear from this earth.

By the workings of the Lord's providence for eighteen hundred years, there are a few-here and there one, scattered all over Christendom for whom he has been able to open, not only their hearts, but also their understandings, to see that He is Jehovah. And these few all worship the Lord Jesus Christ; and if they fall down at His feet before they worship Him, then they will surely be made whole; for if they cast self down, and in that humility worship Him, He can say to them, "Arise, thy faith hath made thee whole." "Happy is that people whose God is the Lord." But where are the Nine? Are not nine-tenths of