his father's commandments. The former is the type of those who attain deep views of their own evil, remove it consequently from an interior ground, and hence come into the reception of interior states of heavenly blessing, and, even in their natural principle, to the inmost good of which that principle is susceptible, and of which the fatted calf is the emblem; the calf, like all other young animals, being an emblem of innocence, but of the innocence of the natural man, which he attains when he comes into the full acknowledgment that in himself he is nothing but evil, and thus learns to depend implicitly on the Lord. The elder son, on the contrary, is the type of those who never come to any deep conviction of their own evil, but yet live in the performance of good works, abstaining from evil in life and practice, and falling, as none can help doing who does not deeply feel evil in himself, into a notion that no small credit is due to them for the good which they do, thus taking to themselves merit on that account. With this statement of the general purport of our present text, it will not be necessary to dwell at large upon the signification of the various particulars; many of which also are the same as have been explained in our former discourses. It is first said, that the elder son was in the field; which is mentioned to indicate, that those whom the elder son represent are in an external state respectively; for houses, being the places in which men dwell, compared with the fields about them, in which they only walk or sojourn, represent the internal of the mind in respect to its external. Fields, also, relate to things of doctrine and of the understanding, and houses relate to the will, which is the home of a man's mind, to which all things of the understanding are respectively external. He came, however, near to the house, so as to hear the music and dancing, being the signs of the joy that was prevailing within; which denotes the communication of a perception to the minds of such as the elder brother represents, respecting the existence of that heavenly joy and delight which results from the attainment of conjunction with the Lord, in consequence of self-acknowledgment and the renunciation of evils. He calls one of the servants, and asks what these things meant; and he said unto him—"Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound." This implies inquiry, by such as are represented by the elder brother, of the truths of the Word, respecting the cause of such joy and delight; and information obtained, that it results from man's seeing his evils, repenting of and forsaking them, and so returning to the Lord, who communicates thereupon the good of innocence and charity in the natural man. Upon this "he was angry, and would not go in ;" which implies the indignation of those who are in external obedience, but not in the interior acknowledgment of their own evils, and in humiliation on that account, on learning that they who have fallen into actual evils, and whom they thence regard as inferior to themselves, are admitted to such heavenly beatitudes. The words also imply, the dissatisfaction which such persons feel on discovering that, to the enjoyment of interior states of heavenly good, there must be a heartfelt acknowledgment of ourselves as sinners, -a view of evil in oneself, and humiliation on account of it; which view such persons are not willing to take of themselves, nor, consequently, to make such acknowledgment. They would rather enter upon all the felicities of heaven as the reward of their own merits, which not being possible, they cannot enter into its interior joys. Yet the Divine love of the Lord wishes to gain them: He has a tender regard for them, as living in the practice of good, and observing, in exterior form, the Divine commandments, and this not in insincerity: He therefore is desirous to draw them into the genuine principle of charity; which is implied by its being said—“ Therefore came his father out and intreated him." But the obstinacy with which such refuse the gracious overtures, the persuasion they entertain of their own merits, and the manner in which they dwell upon and exaggerate the faults of those who attain to heavenly good and blessing on repentance, are all strongly expressed in his boastful, unkind, and envious reply-" And he answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandments: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." Here, in the statement, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandments; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends," we have a striking representation of the character of such persons as the elder son represents-of their keeping the Divine commandments, not from love, but as servants, looking to be rewarded for their toilsome labour, yet not attaining, with all their labour, to a state admissive of even the interior good and blessedness of faith accompanied with obedience. For a goat, in Scripture, is the emblem of the principle of truth or faith, either belonging to the spiritual or to the natural man; and a kid, which is the young of the goat, is the interior good, the innocence, of that principle; and none can attain to any degree of innocence who are not self-humbled, and who depend upon themselves more than upon the Lord. 66 Thus the state of such is far inferior to that of those who, though erring for a time, do sincerely the work of repentance, and who, coming into self-acknowledgment and self-distrust, learn to depend entirely upon the Lord, and so become receptive of the inmost principle of natural good or of the innocence of that good, which is love and charity, from a celestial origin, received in the natural man, and which is appropriately represented by the fatted calf, the perception of which inferiority is implied by the elder son's address-" But as soon as this thy son was come, which half devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." The father, however, still exhibiting the forbearance and unalterable tenderness of pure Divine Love, answers even this ungracious speech with mildness, and instructs his murmuring son, or those whom he represents, in the propriety of the Divine Economy in this respect" Son," he said unto him, "thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." When the father says, even to the murmurer-" Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine," the meaning is not, and obviously cannot be, that they whom the elder son represents receive all the fulness of Divine good and blessings which the Divine Love is ever ready to bestow, but that, living within the precincts of the Divine commandments, the Lord is desirous to impart all the treasures of His Divine mercy to them; and that, being in the reception of a portion, it is free to them to take it in all its communicable fulness. The Lord never offers to any one of the human race a portion only of the graces of love and truth and heavenly enjoyment, of which He is the author. In the Lord, all the Divine perfections are an indissoluble one, and it is not possible for Him to present a divided portion from this source to one person, and another to another. He presents to every one the whole; He desires to communicate to every one the whole; and most is He satisfied when His creatures take the greatest share that a finite nature can receive. To do so is free to all; yet every one takes for himself a definite portion, some more and some less. Yet they who take the least are thereby in communication with the Lord Himself in all His infinite fulness. What they take, however small the portion, is still a one with the infinite fulness which is in Him; it is not separated from the rest, but remains in union with it; and thus the Lord says, even to those who take no more than we see is represented by the elder son's conduct— Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." If such a one does not receive a kid to make merry with his friends, or to enter into heavenly consociation and joy, it is not because his Heavenly Father 66 withholds it, but because he himself has not acquired a state capable of receiving it. We see then, my brethren, from this slight view of the conduct of the elder brother, and of his father towards him, of what infinite moment it is that we should not cherish, on account of any fancied goodness in ourselves, or on account of any correctness of conduct from our youthif, happily, some of us have maintained such conduct-any self-conceit on that account, any persuasion of our own righteousness and merit, or any notion that we are more free than others from those hereditary defilements and evils which sin has introduced into the frame or spiritual constitution of every child of man. They who do so are necessarily excluded from the enjoyment of heavenly beatitudes, till they are brought to see the superiority of that state which results from sincere humility, self-acknowledgment, and repentance; and then they must begin with shame to take the lowest place. The blessedness resulting from the union of good with truth in the internal man, and thus from conjunction with the Lord and communion with angels, is only for those who are sensible that of themselves they are dead and lost; and it is only by that thorough turning to the Lord which is consequent upon repentance and self-abasement, that they can be restored to life and be found. This is the gracious, as well as wise, appointment of Divine order. This is the state of those who are regenerated as to the internal of the natural man, and who thus come into the principle of charity; and their being blessed with this state ought to be acquiesced in by those who are only regenerated as to the external of the natural man, and thus are only in the obedience of faith, as is taught by the Lord when He concludes with saying "It was meet that we should make merry and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found." RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, AND LITERATURE. No. X.-THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. THE only writer in this century, after Behmen, who endeavoured to reduce theosophy to a system, was Dr. Henry More, who wrote nearly at the same time with the authors last cited. He passed fifty-nine out of the seventy-three years which constituted the term of his life on earth, amidst the academic shades of Cambridge, of which university he was a fellow and an ornament. Deeply conversant with all the learning of his day, as well as with ancient philosophy-the Cabbala, and the then recently published works of Behmen-he was no less remarkable for the purity and benevolence of his life. In his Psychozoia, RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, AND LITERATURE. 281 or Immortality of the Soul, he essays to harmonise all that the ancient theosophists of Greece, Egypt, and the East, have uttered concerning the purification, illumination, and perfection of the soul, with the Christian doctrine of regeneration through the Logos. The following is an epitome of his system, delivered in quaint poetry, interspersed with many beautiful thoughts, the phraseology of which we shall sometimes retain, marking them with italics. Setting out, like Socrates, with the idea of the Good, which he terms the parent of amenity and the one, and which he identifies with the essential nature of God, he calls it the Archetypal Sun, "that doth its beams dilate through all the worlds, all lives, and beings." The natural sun is a type of the Eternal Light, called God, the Centre of Essences, whom by a bold figure he styles "the Apollo bright, round whom, stirred with gentle fire, all things dance . . . with joy at the world's harmony, dancing with fair flowers, from unseen roots crowned." Having from various examples shown the correspondence between this world's sun and "the centre of the morn, the radiant light of the deep Deity," he goes on to say, that "no other cause the creature brought to light but the First Good's pregnant fecundity." He adds these notable words :-"Harsh hearts! that feign in God a tyranny, Under pretence to increase His sovereign majesty." As nothing can accrue to Him who is infinitely happy, the end of creation must be to "show His flowing goodness." So the free "Sun doth light and liven every part. This is the measure of God's providence, Repudiating the notion that "will rules God, but good rules not God's will," he says of God "He His fair beams through all has freely sent; Purge but thy soul that thou mayest take them in." These two lines speak volumes; they contain the whole gist of the question concerning free grace and works in justification. Eternal life, like the solar influence, is perfectly free to all; but our coöperation is necessary, not to make it more free or present, but to render us receptive; and therefore our author says that " we live most when most we feed our central fire,”—and he makes a beautiful comparison between a soul stooping down "from high intellect to grovelling sense" and a torch dropped down from a high tower, which leaves all its light behind. "No hindrance to aught that doth arrive at the free camp of fair elysium," |