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tion, and even a ravishment with the things of this world; why not, if the birds can sing so sweetly, and the animals hold such fetterless sport, and the whole brute creation ring with joy and resound with melody? Does not the lamb delight to skip and play, and the cow and the ox graze in luxurious comfort, and the shining snake, and every insect, enjoy to the full the measure of life which is allowed them? So does man, without one particle of the spiritual having as yet any exercise over him. And his natural has the advantage of being a human natural, with something of the natural-rational in it, upon a much higher plane than the beast's; why, then, should he not, in all the fulness of his unregenerate nature, find delight in the externals of his mind? This, indeed, is something of that poor enjoyment which is finally permitted to lost spirits who have signified their preference for the very lowest life; with much occasional restraint, indeed, and the terrible liabilities and discomfitures attendant upon such a nature. What must it be, when the highest is put for the lowest, and the lowest elevated to the supreme rule? So, also, it is in the world. And there may be very much apparent amiability and satisfaction with such a life; no thought for the past, no care nor anxiety for the future; an enjoyment, such as it is, and a life altogether in the present; passing their time as listlessly, so far as any real anxiety for their spiritual condition is concerned, as though this world were all, and the joys of sense the only reality. All their affections, except the hereditary good already named, are "of the earth, earthy." They know not what it is to be troubled with any other. These are they who are spoken of in the Scripture: "I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked; they are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men." (Psalm, 73: 3, 5.) In short, the secret of such persons' happiness is, that there is as yet no warfare and division felt in their minds; the natural, perverted as it is, is not only in the ascendant, but has the field entirely to itself; the Devil reigns in undisputed and

easy possession, and all the imps and emissaries of hell hold frequently high carnival in that man's mind. For a time, it may go comparatively well with him; especially if he avoids the grosser evils and more grievous crimes of the wicked. He knows no other life, he seeks no other. He is thoroughly alive to the life of nature, and thoroughly dead to all spiritual life. He has, therefore, that easy, contented, sometimes gentlemanly cast of mind, which so many enjoy who pass with the reputation of amiable and graceful characters; and if sickness comes not, and their outward affairs are tolerably prosperous, they are envied and honored by those who, like themselves, have no spiritual discernment.

Now, it is the object of Christ's mission to break up such a life. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household." (Matt. 10: 34-36.) This remarkable passage finds its explanation only in reference to the structure and condition of the human mind. And without going into needless particulars, it is sufficient to say that by the terms father, mother, son, daughter, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, etc., whenever they occur in the Word, are spiritually signified such things as pertain to the heavenly marriage and progeny of good and truth in the mind. These may occur in their true order, or in their opposites; and when any strife is occasioned, it is by some truth in conflict with some evil, or some falsity with some good, so that " man's foes are they of his own household,” that is, of his spiritual house or mind, which is frequently represented by a house with all its apartments. By a sword is signified truth combating. Hence it is said of the Lord, "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty! and in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness: and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things." (Psalm,

a

45: 3, 4.) Also in the Apocalypse, he that sat on the white horse, and was called the Word of God, "out of his mouth went a sharp sword." (Rev. 19: 15.) Now, by the truth which the Lord reveals in his Word, and the more abundant expositions of that truth which are unfolded in the latter ages, is this sword sent upon the earth. It is the sword of truth to the earth of the mind. And when it enters the mind for the first time, which was before dead in trespasses and sins, then it is that a spiritual warfare has commenced, which puts to flight all the peace and tranquillity of the merely natural man. It is a warfare such as none know who have not commenced in good earnest the regenerate life. It is this which is set forth so graphically, in the correspondential style, by all the wars of the Israelites, and it is this which our Lord himself first engaged in for the glorification of his natural humanity. It is not possible, as a general thing, to attain to the heavenly state, without much affliction, and much tribulation and conflict of spirit. It is different, indeed, with different individuals; the hereditary evils are lesser and greater with some; but in all, before regeneration, they are thoroughly spread through the whole natural man, and if we feel them not, it is just because the sleep of death is still upon us, and we are pleasing ourselves with the flattering testimonies of the heart of nature, and with a thousand amiabilities which have no depth and no root in any thing but hereditary good, or worse yet, in a secret and disguised selfishness which calls forth a thousand virtues to the eye, but leaves not one in the heart. Such truth, I know, is exceedingly hard to receive, for there is nothing which the natural mind is so averse to as the very truths which are levelled against it. But it is truth, and it should be understood. It is needed especially in this age of rationalizing, naturalizing, miscalled Christianity. The truth is, we have broken away in alienation from God. We have not known God, nor the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the pride of our fallen nature, we have dared to set up our own feeble and conceited intellects,

and to trust to our own natural and hereditary goodness, mixed with selfishness as it all is, and which can no more abide the day of the Lord's appearing, than the stubble that the wind bloweth and the fire consumeth. The truth is, also, we cannot know our evils till we feel them in this internal strife and combat. Even the literal sense of the Lord's words suggests something of the nature of it. To think of a family, bound together by the cords of consanguinity and the ties of love, where affection, and sympathy, and the dear delights of kith and kin, should enter into all and spread through all, making the interests of such a household a unity and a peace such as we might transfer in imagination to the very heavens, -to think of it as torn and rent with intestine commotion, - to see it in opposition

and contention,

-to hear the fierce wrangle of bitter words and contemptuous speeches, to see the father against the mother, and the mother against the father; and the son, and the daughter, and the daughter-in-law, and the little child, in a tumult of wild and angry passion, or so thoroughly divided as to settle away into the scorn and hatred of a sullen and mutual silence which has more of hell in it than heaven, nay, which is the very picture of hell, in some of its outbreaks and unquelled disorders!-if there is a sight on earth to make an angel weep, it is such a scene of family disturbance. For the very marriage principle is the highest and holiest of heaven's best thus outraged, and with it, all the dear connections and tender relationships which follow from it.

But it is the spiritual of that scene, and that, too, which dwells in each individual heart, which is referred to in the remarkable words before quoted. It is a warfare between good and evil, truth and falsity. And in a more tremendous sense than was ever seen by human eye in such a family, do the angels look in upon a man so situated, and behold the foes which are of his own household! But if nobly resisted, it is a warfare that they can witness with joy. Nay, they can take part in it. They do take part in it.

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These are temptations which the regenerating mind undergoes when it is thus subjected to this inward strife. soon as a man begins to receive the truth, and apply it to the eradication of his own evils, so soon is there let in upon him such evil spirits as feel disturbed by the work he has engaged in, and who take up arms against him. And the angels, on the other hand, defend him. This is permitted in order that he may be more speedily and thoroughly convinced of the evils. which are lurking within him, and also that those evils may be stirred up by the evil spirits who are attendant on the man, and thus that he may be aware of them and resist them. Regeneration cannot possibly take place without such combat, for the life of the old man resists; nor can the life of the new man be at all implanted until that which resists is taken away." And not by one temptation, but by many, and of various kinds, according to the evils which are in the man. For these evils are inlaid in the very substances of the soul, and inhere pertinaciously, being rooted in the parentage of many generations, and confirmed by actual evils of the man himself. Thus, then, the combat must necessarily be firm, and if at all thorough, many times grievous to be borne. And if a man has not felt it, let him beware of the peace which he so much prizeth. For he is in the very worst security, crying Peace! Peace! when there is no peace, but such as may lead him along in a winsome way to the very deeps of perdition. He should rejoice at the very first sign of disturbance. If it be on account of sin or evil, he should pray for the warfare to commence; and no matter if his soul sink almost within him, he must have these feelings; ah! did not our Lord have them in all their bitterness?

and what a cross was that which he bore through a long life of toil, temptation, and conflict! But because He triumphed, we may triumph. Yet never, till we have passed through this ordeal of dread and fiery trial.

We are not sufficiently aware of the nature of the conflict we are engaged in. We are not aware of the invisible hosts con