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Saviour will grant his assistance, do we sincerely, fervently, and humbly implore it. And as without him we cannot do anything, so in his strength, and by his provident aid, we shall be enabled not only to abstain from our evils, but be led to loathe them, and to abhor ourselves as in dust and ashes on account of them.

As our evils are thus put away and abstained from, the Lord flows in and replenishes with his goodness, by the medium of the divine truths, and thus we wash in the fountain that is opened for the house of David, and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and are cleansed from sin and from uncleanness.

The divine truth as it flows from the Lord, is always of a pure quality, because it flows from him, united with the divine good, yea, the divine truth is nothing but the divine good in form and existence. And however the apparent truths of the holy Word, which are adapted to the state of the vision of the natural man, may be received in an impure mind, this will not be the case with the divine truths of its literal sense, which are accordant with the great power and glory of the spiritual and celestial senses. These truths will not be received by any but pure minds, or the minds of those who sincerely desire to be pure, holy, and righteous.

Surely, beloved, this is agreeably to what we are further taught in this same chapter of the Revelation, verse 16, that into this holy city the New Jerusalem, "nothing enters that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." And whether we say that nothing thereinto enters that is thus impure, or that the divine truth upon which it is founded cannot have saving entrance into the mind where these impurities dwell and reign, it is one and the same, for the good loves the true, and the true the good, and they most cordially unite with each other as real conjugial partners.

Because this is the case with the reception of the divine truths upon which the New Jerusalem Church is founded, that, by reason of their own pure nature, they will have interior entrance into none other than the pure in heart, inasmuch as they inculcate purity of heart and life in every form, therefore the comparative description of the quality of this pure river of water of life, is, that it is "clear as crystal.'

Hereby we may understand in the first place, that the genuine truths of the Word exhibited in its literal sense, are translucent from the glory of the spiritual and celestial senses within. Hence, in the divine genuine truths in the literal sense, the cloud, the veil, is sufficiently removed for the lustre of the spiritual sense to manifest itself in the natural.

In the second place, we may understand that the genuine divine truths extant in the literal sense of the holy Word, are clear as crystal, because they manifest themselves to be truths, from the illustration they bring into the mind of the affectionate recipient. They so manifest themselves, because they are clear and distinct in the light of the human rational principle, when, by the Lord's providence, they fall into the good ground, then they require no argumentation to convince the mind into their propriety and fitness. In the third place, by this pure river of the water of life being clear as crystal, we may understand, that the divine truths of the holy Word are received by every one, according to the clearness and lucidity of the intellectual faculty. Crystals are not all of the same clearness. The clearness of the human understanding will, in a great measure, depend on the cultivation it has received by sciences and knowledges, true and good; but with the real recipients of the New Jerusalem verities, this clearness of the human understanding, will more especially depend on the state of the life. Hence we are taught by David, Psalm cxi. 10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do the commandments." We are also taught, by the Lord himself, that the perception of spiritual, heavenly, and divine knowledges keeps pace with the doing of his will.

But, in the last place, we have to note the source whence this river commences its flowing. "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb."

Here, beloved, it becomes us to be very cautious lest we give into the conception, that by the names, God, and the Lamb, we are to understand any other, than the one and only God of heaven and earth, in his divine humanity; otherwise to conceive, would be to undeify him, to rob him of his divinity. That Jesus Christ is meant by the Lamb, all Christians will agree; but unless we admit that he is also meant by the God, we make him to be inferior to God, as do the Arians and Socinians. The Lord is both God and the Lamb. He is called God, in the Word of the New Testament, in respect to the good of his divine love; and the Lamb in respect to the truth of his divine wisdom; hence he is called God as to his essential divinity, and the Lamb as to his divine humanity; both of which, as well the good of the divine love, and the truth of the divine wisdom, as also the essential divinity and the divine humanity, are included in the ever adorable person of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The term God evidently signifies the good of the divine love, and the essential divinity, in the commencement of the Gospel by John. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word." The Word signifies the truth of the divine wisdom, which was the proper quality and character of the incarnate Lord, when he came, as the Lamb of God, to take away the sins of the World. It is no unusual thing to meet, in the holy Word, with two names, applicable to the Lord, in the same connexion and series. In the Old Testament we have coupled together, in innumerable places, the Lord God, or, Jehovah Elohim; and in the New, Jesus and Christ; and as here before us, God and the Lamb. This arises from the inflowing life from the Lord, into our creaturely vessels, being accommodated to the twofold recipient forms thereof. And the name Lord, or Jehovah, in the Word of the Old Testament, and Jesus, and God, in the New, have reference to the good of the divine love; and Elohim, usually rendered God, in the Old Testament, and Christ, and the Lamb, in the New, have reference to the truth of the divine wisdom: the good being the essence of the divine beam of life, and the truth the formal existence of the same; the good also being adapted to the recipiency of the human will, and the truth to the recipieney of the human understanding, both of which flow from the Lord in union, but are capable of division in their entrance into the human creaturely vessels, for the sake of man's salvation. By the throne, therefore, of God and the Lamb, we understand the angelic heaven, formed of the divine good, and of the divine truth, inasmuch as these, flowing from the Lord, constitute all the heavens above, as well as his true church below.

Hence, beloved, we may now discern, something of the beauty and richness of the description of the divine truth, whence all the doctrines of the New Church are framed, and may be confirmed. It is compared to water, because all the doctrines of the church. ought to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word. This divine truth is water of life, because it flows from Him, who has life in himself; and is the blessed medium of giving spiritual life to every one who affectionately imbibes it. As a river, this divine truth is perpetually flowing from our heavenly Father. The quality of this river is pure, inasmuch as it is the form of good, and directly leads to purity of heart and life, and thus blesses with the divine goodness, every humble and affectionate recipient. This pure river of the water of life is also clear as crystal, because the genuine truth of the internal sense is translucent through the di

vine truth of the literal; it manifests itself to be truth to the prepared mind, in its own light, and is received according to the clearness of the intellectual principles. And, finally, it is of this rich, this super-eminent nature, because it proceeds from Him, who is both God and the Lamb, in his glorified and divine humanity, even Jehovah Jesus, our Lord, who purposely united the divinity and the humanity in his adorable person, that he might accommodate his influx of life and light, of goodness and truth, to the recipiency of the fallen human race.

And, surely, beloved, whosoever properly estimates the divine benefits, will be diligent to manifest his gratitude, by carefully reducing his knowledges derived from the Word, to practice, and thereby prepare himself to receive a larger portion of the flowing light and life from our Lord, in time, and to the countless ages of a glorious eternity. Now, &c.

SERMON xxxv.

NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE MIRACULOUS SIGNS OF FAITH.

BY THE REV. W. WOODMAN.

Matt. xvii. 20.

"Verily, I say unto you, If you have faith, as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you."

AMONG the gifts and privileges promised by the Lord to his sincere followers, none are more remarkable, and few have occasioned more perplexity to the Christian world, than that of working miracles, promised in the text and other parts of the gospels. Many have been the objections the enemies of revealed religion have drawn from this circumstance, numerous and various are also the answers to them; and yet the subjects remain in great obscurity. One thing is, however, certain, whatever is the nature and extent of the power delegated to the church, all claims to the exercise of it having long been relinquished by the protestant section of the Christian world, any one making pretensions to the possession of it would be justly regarded by the more sensible and reflecting portion of Christians as a rank enthusiast or gross impostor. Yet it cannot be denied that the promise implies no limitation, either of time or extent; and it seems that the primitive Christians regarded it (although it appears to have been confined to very few beyond the apostles) as the permanent privilege of some of the members of the church in all future ages. Some of the Lord's discourses might seem to imply that this gift was imparted to those disciples only who followed him in the flesh; but in the renewal of the promise after his resurrection the subject is placed beyond doubt. In Mark xvi., a miraculous power is not only stated as consequent upon, but also as the signs or evidence of a true faith: "These signs shall follow them that believe In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any

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