blessed fruits of repentance, of faith in JESUS CHRIST, and of a holy life according to His divine precepts. I learn lastly to adore that DIVINE MERCY, which was pleased in the fulness of time to assume a body of flesh, and in that body to submit to all the assaults of the powers of darkness, for the purpose of subduing them, and thus removing them from man. I am resolved therefore from henceforth to take JESUS CHRIST for my ONLY GOD AND SAVIOUR, by believing that HE ALONE has power to deliver me from my natural evils, and thus from infernal association and usurpation. I am resolved also to venerate His HOLY WORD, by believing it to proceed from HIM, and to contain in its inmost bosom all the fulness of His love and wisdom, by virtue of which it is in continual close connexion with Him. Lastly, I am resolved to cherish this HOLY WORD in my heart, my understanding, and my life, from a full conviction that I can never attain any ascendancy over my own natural evils, and thus over the powers of darkness, only so far as the heavenly goods and truths of the ETERNAL WORD are implanted and bring forth their blessed fruits in my life and conversation.

AMEN.

43

THE WIND AND WAVES

REBUKED.

MATT. viii. 23 to 28.

And when He was entered into a ship, His disciples followed Him, &c. &c.

Q. WHAT do you understand here by Jesus entering into a ship, and His disciples following him?

A. By JESUS entering into a ship, and His disciples following him, is to be understood, according to the literal sense of the history, that He and his disciples entered into a natural ship, such as floats on the natural waters of the sea; but according to the spiritual idea, is to be understood that they entered into what is signified and represented by a ship, and this is nothing else but the knowledge of what is good and true, as derived from the HOLY WORD, since what a ship is as to its natural use and service, that the knowledge of what is good and true is as to its spiri Itual use and service.

Q. Can you prove to me, from the authority of the sacred scriptures, that ships have such a spi ritual meaning and signification?

E

A. Yes; it is said in the prophecy of Balaam, in reference to the gospel dispensation, that ships shall come from the coast of Shittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever, (Num. xxiv. 24.) where it must be evident to every considerate person, that by ships are not meant ships, but the knowledges of good and truth derived from the WORD OF GOD, which were to oppose and overturn the reasonings of the natural man, signified by Asshur and Eber. It is written again in the prophet Isaiah, where he is speaking in like manner of the Lord's Advent, and of its extraordinary effects, that the day of the Lord should be upon all the ships of Tarshish, (chap. ii. 16.) where it is again manifest that by ships cannot be meant ships, but the knowledges of good and truth, and in the opposite sense the knowledges of what is evil and false, which were to be supplanted at the appearing of the INCARNATE GOD. To the same purport it is written in the Revelations concerning the destruction of Babylon, or of the corrupt church signified by Babylon, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea, by reason of her costliness! (ch. xviii. 19.) from which words it is again plain, that by ships are not meant ships, but the doc trinals taught in that corrupt church.

Q. But it is said on this occasion, that there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves-what do you conceive to be meant by the tempest here spoken of, and by the ship being covered with the waves?

A. According to the sense of the letter, by the tempest is to be understood a natural tempest or storm, and by the ship being covered with waves is to be understood the natural effect of that tempest or storm, in covering the ship with the waters of the sea. But, according to the spiritual idea, by a tempest is to be understood a spiritual tempest, which is no other than the agitation and perturbation of the natural man, occasioned by the knowledges of good and truth derived from the WORD OF GOD, which are here treated of. For in regard to those knowledges, the case is this, that when they are first communicated to the natural man, they disturb him in his natural loves, and thus cause what is called spiritual trial, trouble, or temptation, here called a tempest: and by the ship being covered with the waves is therefore to be understood, that the knowledges of heavenly good and truth were obscured by the agitation and perturbation of the natural man, signified by the waves.

Q. And what do you understand by the words which follow, where it is written, that he was asleep?

A. The sleep here spoken of, according to the spiritual idea, has reference to the state of the natural man, under the agitation and perturbation which is here described. For when the na-" tural man is in such a state, then JESUS appears to be asleep; in other words, His Divine presence is not noted or attended to, being immersed in the distracted affections and thoughts of the na- ́ tural mind. Sleep therefore, in such case, is as

cribed to the BLESSED JESUS, in like manner as anger and wrath are ascribed to Him, when yet they are only appearances, arising from the evil and false principles which prevail in the mind of man, leading him to suppose that, because he is against God, therefore God is against him. Thus JESUS is said to be asleep, when in reality the sleep appertains only to man, who is pronounced to be asleep, when he thinks naturally, and not. spiritually, that is to say, when his understanding is immersed in the things of nature, and not awake to the perception and enjoyment of things spiritual and eternal.

Q. But it is added, that His disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, LORD, save us ; we perish- -what do you understand by these

words?

A. By the disciples coming to Him is to be understood that their affections were excited towards Him, because every man comes or goes, according to the state of his ruling affection. If therefore that affection be directed towards JESUS CHRIST, man is then said to come to that GREAT AND HOLY GOD, as on the other hand, he goes away from that GOD, whensoever his affection grows cold towards Him, by being fixed on inferior objects. And as by coming to JESUS CHRIST is thus to be understood a state of the ruling affection, so by awaking Him is to be further understood a state of the ruling thought, or a state of the understanding in its elevation upwards towards things spiritual and eternal, agreeable to what was just now observed con