come to nought; will in the course of gradual contest, be conquered here; and be reserved for destruction hereafter.

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away;" (Matt. xxiv. 35,) it shall create a new heaven and a new earth. This word was our Lord's declaration immediately after he had described the shaking in the heavens. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."-(Matt. xxiv. 29-35.) Stars shall fall, i. e., great powers, of spiritual rule; the Jewish system: and powers of heaven shaken ;-the feeble light or night of Gentile superstition and philosophy. "This is the sign of the Son of man in heaven," the destruction of Jerusalem and progress of the gospel, silencing heathen oracles, is the signal that the Son of man is in the heavens; that he is in the ascendant: and a proof that he will come finally to judge the world.

This accounts for the apparent confusion of imagery in mixing up the destruction of Jerusalem with the final judgment of mankind: only a very careful attention and deep insight will enable us to understand fully the imagery and statements respecting these two events, as recorded for instance in Matt. xxiv. and xxv., where we have the coming of Christ in his "gospel preached in all the world," (Matt. xxiv. 14,) and the coincident destruction of Jerusalem, (v. 15,) and the confusions and tribulations of those days from this general calamity, (vs. 16-40;) this is followed by our personal responsibility and individual judgment, in the coming of the Lord to reckon with us at death, (vs. 42-51;) whilst (chap. xxv.) we rise in the scale to a third gradation of sublimity to the general judg ment, in which the imagery employed is the same (v. 31) as is employed in the previous chapter respecting "the sign of the Son of man in heaven," (xxiv. 30,) judging the Jewish nation, by his retributive provi

dence.

To the thoughtful mind this explains the reason, why the imagery employed to describe the coming of Christ to overthrow Jerusalem, is transferred to his coming to judge the world; namely, BECAUSE, THE DESTRUCTION OF THAT SYSTEM, WAS HIS ASCENT TO POWER,-APPEARING IN THE HEAVENS, and, therefore a pledge or proof that all judgment, even the final one, was committed to the Son.

This suggestion is capable of great enlargement, and will serve to remove much confusion respecting some references in the epistles, wherein the two events have been blended, the destruction of Jerusalem being employed as a historical and prophetical emblem of a greater and more

solemn event; and that whereas some have regarded the apostles as expecting the end of the world, those statements, are, perhaps, to be explained, as referring to the ending of Judaism, as an event close at hand, and then expanded, so as to transcend this purpose and embrace the end of all earthly things. But it is beside our purpose, to carry out this point further, we leave it to the more matured reflexion of the reader, and may resume the topic on a separate occasion. It is very probable, that the earlier parts of the Revelations refer to the same event, the destruction of the Jewish polity: thus the sixth and seventh chapters, may refer mainly and primarily to the famine, pestilence, and war, by which the doomed city was ravaged, and the escape of the Christians as a body from the fearful visitation.

Compare the two following passages, in proof of this general view of the subject, our Lord's coming in clouds, appearing in the heavens, to destroy those who, being in power, were symbolically in the heavens; the effect is the same in both cases.

Luke xxiii. 27-30. "And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us."

Rev. vi. 13-17.

"And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and every island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves

in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand ?"

Here the stars fall from heaven, because the sun is risen, Christ ascends, they descend; he must increase, they must decrease: and the angel sware, "that there should be time no longer," or rather, that there should be no further delay, "but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,the time to which this angel referred, the mystery of God [i.e. the gospel] should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." -(Rev. x. 6, 7.) This time was then at hand, Christ was coming quickly to assume the reigns of government, as the constitutional and crowned king of mankind: "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are be

come the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned." -(Rev. xi. 15-17.)

Thus Christ did come in the heavens, in a high and conspicuous manner, being elevated above all principalities and powers; but the Jews, in their carnal conceptions, looked for a literal coming, and Satan tempted our Lord to accommodate himself to their prejudices, and so TO GAIN FOLLOWERS BY A COMPROMISE and trick of imitating what they igno rantly looked for, by casting himself down from a pinnacle of the temple. This conclusion will also in part suggest to us the principle involved in the second scene, namely, CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD, not trusting to an honest course of consistency, and waiting for the influence of the pure truth, but mixing it with vulgar errors, striking a truce and accommodation, as nearly all reforms have been injured by a compromise.

Enough has been said to shew from this part of the machinery of the Temptation, that it was SUITED TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES of the Redeemer, and grew out of the times in which he lived, as arising out of the prejudices of the Jews, skilfully employed by the enemy of souls; and this important feature is another proof of the historical reality of these trials; which were in dress and form local and national, such as would naturally be employed against a Messiah to the Jews: still they are in principle applicable to all mankind; and the whole is, therefore, not only a real history, having all the marks of genuineness stamped on it, but also in its essential features applicable to all men in all times. And as the former is a mark of a genuine history, the latter is a mark of a genuine worldwide religion; co-extensive with the trials and duties of humanity.

The suitableness of this form of temptation, (cast thyself down from a pinnacle of the temple,) to the circumstances of our Saviour, is sufficiently obvious then, in the fact, that the Jews expected a Messiah in the clouds, descending visibly from the firmament: the origin of that expectation has also been shown, and the nature of the mistake involved in it, namely, looking for the sign instead of the thing signfied,—a throne high and lifted up, as belonging to him whose supremacy is described as sitting in the heavens.

There was every opportunity for the Jews to understand this kind of imagery, as the prophets spoke of shaking the earth and the heavens; and as the apostles taught that we have now a kingdom that cannot be moved, a final and universal dispensation.

The prophetic description of the overthrow of Satan, the downfall of the God of this world, from his lofty pre-eminence, is of the same kind— "behold, I saw Satan fall as lightning from the heavens ;"-plainly descend from his vantage ground of power and dominion; is a figure of the like nature, and as much suited to the Jewish language, as the temptation in question was to the condition of the Redeemer. It was because our Lord assumed this kind of figure to himself, that he should come in power, ascending his throne to judge Jerusalem, rule the world, and

finally try mankind, that he was accused of blasphemy:-"And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see

the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now we have heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death."—(Matt. xxvi. 63-66.)

Had the Saviour attempted to take the Jews captive by a pretended conformity to this literal idea, he would have escaped the charges of blasphemy, and gained followers at the expense of his cause; or, in case of failure, would have been more obviously defeated.

And since his temptations are such as arose from his actual condition (giving historical fidelity to the narrative) so our temptation is not something strange and extraordinary, to be separated from our real circumstances, and resolved into Satan's exclusive, direct, and supernatural work; but it is through our passions and circumstances that we are tempted, from which no metaphysical theory will free us, by any denial of Satan's personality for the dangers are real and the same, however we may regard

them.

And this view agrees with what the Apostle James declares, "every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed."(James i. 14.) It also coincides with the teaching of the Apostle Paul, "be ye angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the Devil."-(Eph. iv. 26-27.) Hence to give place to the Devil, is to cherish and cultivate some evil thought or principle, of which he may lay hold, and by which we may be ruined: as a man in anger or rashness, may commit irretrievable mistakes or terrible crimes; our own passions, principles, and circumstances, are the occasions of our temptations, as in the instance of our Exemplar.

We may sum up in few words, the truths suggested by this inquiry into the machinery of the second scene. 1. The temptations of the Redeemer, were natural, arising out of his condition, and the opinions of the Jews. 2. This proves the truthfulness of the narrative. 3. It teaches that our temptations arise from occasions of our feelings and condition. 4. We learn, that the Jews expected a Divine Messiah since it was regarded as blasphemy (or taking God's place) to apply to himself the imagery connected with the Messiahship, appearing at the right hand of power in the heavens. 5. That the same temptation in principle applies to our case, to conform to men's expectations instead of to the Divine will. 6. It shews that this is suitable to a universal religion, because it conveys a lesson adapted to all men in all times. This application will be the topic of our next chapter.

II.

PRIESTS' RELIGION.

HUMAN AUTHORITY AND INVENTION versus CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE.

The Scriptures are the only standard of Christian faith and practice: every one is at liberty to examine them; but no one is at liberty to decline this examination: and though we may receive the help of others, we may not rest on their authority, (which is Man-worship ;) nor receive as religion, what is not in the Scriptures, (which is Willworship.)

THE SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCES;

OR,

SWEDENBORGIAN METHODS OF INTERPRETING THE SCRIPTURES.

NEXT to the Divine origin of the Bible, it is important to understand the proper methods of interpretation: we propose, therefore, by way of an approach towards the true method, to point out some mistaken principles; and commence with what seems the most imposing and extravagant. After examining Swenborgian, Socinian, and other methods, we shall endeavour to exemplify the true mode in an enquiry into the leading doctrines of the Bible.

In attempting this, we pretend not to enlarge the boundaries of the science of Hermeneutics, as "professed" by its acknowledged students: nor to instruct those further in the truths of religion, who rest in the undisturbed simplicity of their faith: but to exemplify the natural and common sense method to be adopted by honest enquirers into the meaning of this Divine Revelation.

Among the other doctrines to be enquired into, is the nature of Revelation or Inspiration, as asserted in the Bible itself, and as mystified or expounded by human theories.

If there be no instruction in the system itself we propose first to examine, there may be some amusement, though naturally allied to melancholy, as we behold the systematized vagaries of men, in cheating themselves out of the grammatical meaning and spiritual purpose of the Scriptures; and turning plain histories and doctrines into legends and enigmas.

If the "science of correspondencies," be the true method of interpreting the Bible, then it is a very different book to what it would be, if (as we naturally suppose) it is written in ordinary human language.