reason of sin, and requiring satisfaction to His injured justice, before He can possibly receive the sinner again into favour. And as none could make a suitable satisfaction but the Son of God, therefore this second person in the Trinity, (as the Lord is commonly called,) offered Himself as a propitiatory sacrifice, submitted to be crucified and slain, and thus appeased wrath, satisfied justice, and redeemed men. This is the general idea which at this day prevails throughout all Christendom, concerning the nature of the redemption by the death of Christ. The simple-minded receive it as a mystery which they are forbidden to look into; and piety pardons their credulity, whilst she accepts their innocence.

Unbelievers of all ranks and denominations have taken advantage of this idea, to confirm themselves in their prejudices against the gospel dispensation; whilst men of sense and reason have been offended at the Deity being represented thus, as requiring the death of an innocent person to assuage His anger. They see an irreconcileable absurdity in supposing that one God, or one person in the Godhead, should suffer and die, merely to satisfy the justice of another God or person. They cannot conceive that sin is a thing of such a nature, as to admit of cleansing and propitiation by the mere arbitrary interference of an innocent victim, who should lay down His life for the sinner. Hence thousands of volumes have filled the world with wranglings and dispute on this subject; whilst the contending parties have only increased the darkness of the cloud with which the subject has been obscured, until the truths of the New Jerusalem dispensation have descended from God out of heaven, to open the eyes of the blind, to put an end to such vain disputations, to lead men out of the letter into the spirit of the Sacred Word, and to teach them the true nature of Gospel Redemption. Christians, therefore, are now taught the true name, nature, and character of the Redeemer, and the great ends and purposes for which He came into the world :-They are shewn the absolute necessity of an incarnate God, according to the establishment of Divine Order, to effect redemption, which consisted, not in the vicarious sacrifice of the Redeemer, but in the real subjugation of the powers of darkness;—in a restoration of order and government in the spiritual world;-in checking thereby the overgrown influence of wicked spirits on the souls of men, and opening a nearer and clearer communication with the heavenly and angelic powers;-in thus making salvation, that is, regeneration, again possible for all, who should believe on this incarnate God, and keep His commandments; for in and through this God, the visible Jehovah manifested in the flesh, whose name is Jesus Christ, heaven is kept con

tinually open, all are called to enter in, and all have power to enter, according to what is written, "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man; but of God."

Redemption, therefore, is a work originating purely in the inexpressible mercy and tender love of God to His creatures: There was no wrath hereby intended to be appeased, but what sin had begotten in the spirits of the disobedient; for God wished only to recover His kingdom in the souls of men-to expel thence the powers of sin and darkness, and to restore holiness, order, and peace to His people; which could only be done by opening again the communication with Himself and the blessed angelic powers of His own heaven; therefore redemption was a work purely Divine, effected according to the laws of Divine Order, which required the interference of Omnipotence,-the visible manifestation of the Holy One in the flesh, to check the progress of sin, and the powers of darkness, and thus to render salvation possible to all who should come unto Him, under this His most gracious manifestation, and keep His commandments.-The sufferings, therefore, which the Lord endured, were not those of a vicarious sacrifice; but they were internal sufferings occasioned by the assaults and temptations of the whole infernal host, who were permitted to assault Him with all their art, subtlety, and violence; and at the same time He endured from the people without, reproach, contempt, and scorn, with expressions of derision calculated to excite in Him internal states of anger and revenge; such as those of our text, with others of a similar But the Lord, as to the body and natural principle assumed, being even Himself a representative character, representing the state of the church and the progress of man's regeneration, those external expressions failed of their intended effect, and were received by the Lord as truths applicable to the state of the assumed human principle, which could only effect salvation by means of the Divinity within, and therefore instead of provoking Him to anger, increased His state of humility or exinanition, and thus promoted His glorification.

nature.

"He saved others, Himself He cannot save!" This was a truth acknowledged by the Lord: "The Son can do nothing of Himself, (saith the Lord) but what He seeth the Father do. I can of Mine own self do nothing, The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." Thus did the Lord, speaking from His Humanity, appropriate nothing to Himself; but referred all to the Divinity which dwelt within Him.

Thus did the Lord turn every sword of His enemies against themselves, and subdue them by their own weapons.

This then, my brethren, is the grand example we have to follow, and the principal object we wish to recommend, in selecting the present text. We must "follow the Lord in the regeneration," and therefore "drink of the same cup that He drank of." In our regenerative state of darkness and despair, when we are as it were hanging upon the cross, and appear to be forsaken of our God; when our trust in Providence is put to the last extremity, and the powers of hell seem to have full dominion over us; when in the intenseness of our spiritual thirst we have nothing given us to drink but vinegar mixed with wormwood and with gall; then will the evil spirits attack us with the same weapons which they did the Lord: Even the good, which, through the Divine Mercy, we have been able to do for others, will be brought in accusation, or at least in derision, against us: "You have been very forward in assisting others in their distress; but now, when you are in distress, who is so ready to assist you?-You have been very zealous to support the church; what support will the church afford you in your extremity? You could save others; but you cannot save yourself:-You could talk about dependence upon Divine Providence; but where is your trust, or how is the Divine Providence relieving you?" Thus by these base suggestions of evil spirits, we are brought to exclaim with the Lord, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" But, this is the final passion of that state with us. Therefore, when the infernals thus bring these accusations and scoffs against us, we should examine what truth there is in such suggestions: If we find that our motives for doing good to others, or our zeal for the church, has really not been so pure as could have been wished, we should be thankful even that our spiritual enemies have thus brought us to a knowledge of our true state, and we should humble ourselves in the dust before the Lord, and pray that He will purify our motives in future: But if we find that the evil spirits bring a false accusation against us, then let our trust in the Divine Providence be increased, and let us say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." And in either case, let us follow the Lord's example in patiently bearing the affliction necessary for our regeneration; His Divine Providence will not fail us in our extremity; and when we are enabled to cry out with Him "It is finished," then though we "bow our head and die," as to that particular state, yet shall we burst the bonds of death, and rise into a new state of life, of love, and of peace!

LIGHT AND SHADE; OR, DIVINE TRUTH VEILED
AND UNVEILED.

To the Editor of " The Observer, &c."

MY DEAR SIR,—I am much pleased to see among the " signs of the times," which appear in the miscellaneous department of the "Observer," those glimmerings of truth which are to be seen here and there shining amid the surrounding desolation and gloom which pervade the moral desert of the fallen church. And it is cheering to those of the New Church, while thus surrounded, and beholding occasionally such signs, to know that it is an indication, and a presumptive evidence, of a still better state of things to come. We, therefore, hail it as a precursor of the fulfilment of ancient prophecy, which says, "And it shall come to pass that at even time it shall be light." And who does not say with the wise king, "Truly the light is sweet; and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." Sometimes indeed, it is only to be seen through intercepting clouds: and when the greater luminary has withdrawn the "brightness of its shining," we appreciate the "lesser light that rules the night." Now, we know that the church, in all ages, has passed through its morning, its noon, its evening, and its night. As one church passed away, another was raised up; not from the ruins of the former, but from a reserved and preserved remains of such as could form the neucleus of a subsequent one; as it is written, "A remnant shall be saved." And again, "I have reserved unto me seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee unto Baal."

In taking a retrospective view also, from our stand point in the New Church, (which will never come to an end,) we rejoice to know that the Lord has never forsaken mankind even in their worst states, but has ever gone before them as the fiery and the cloudy pillar did before the Israelitish church of old.

The time was, when divine truths revealed from heaven were tacitly received by man, i. e. intuitively, previously to the written Word; and their beauty was perceived, in and from the inmost or interior ground of the mind. In that primeval state of rectitude, angels conversed with men, commissioned by Him who is the sender of angels. (Dan. iii. 28; Rev. i. 1; Chap. xxii. 16.) Then, it may truly be said that " man walked with God." Every thing around was then bright and fair; full of significance and instruction to them; because, all within the mind was pure and holy, and therefore, receptive of divine influences from above. But this summer-time and state of perennial

bliss at last declined, and the winter of human life and of spiritual death, set in; then darkness, coldness, and the dreariness of mental night, succeeded the brightness, the beauty, and the happiness of the past life and state of purity.

Man could no longer receive guidance from heaven in the former manner; therefore a revelation by a written Word was vouchsafed in its stead, adapted to his state, in which divine truths abounded for his instruction, intended as so many lights by which he may retrace his steps, and gradually ascend to that summit of finite perfection from whence he had fallen. Yes; these divine truths were as a galaxy of stars in the moral firmament, for the purpose of guiding him in his upward course. But as the circles of the heavens revolved, and age after age passed away, these stars of heavenly knowledge became dim, and were seen by subsequent ages as luminaries in a misty night.

Still, the lights were there: but man's iniquities obscured their clear shining. The Divine Being who says, "I am the Truth," has also said, "I change not ;" and truth, like its divine source, is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

What manner of persons ought those of the New Church to be, having received the light of the New Dispensation, and who enjoy it in seven-fold brightness compared with that of former ages, when the corruscations of truth were dimly seen here and there, under the corrosion of accumulated impurity!

"In every age the Lord was kind,

And to the church reveal'd his mind;
But we enjoy a wond'rous store

Of blessings never known before."

Let us, then, take a retrospective and cursory glance at the gentile or heathen world, and there we shall see the loving kindness of the Lord, who, in the fulness of time, came among men to be a light to enlighten the gentiles."

Until God became "manifested in the flesh," and declared himself to be "the light of the world;" even until that period, divine truths were seen but as in shade, among the heathen nations, yet as so many types and witnesses, proclaiming their "Great Original." The prevalent belief in the Christian world concerning the heathen, is, that they are all, without exception, in a state of condemnation, and that unless the Gospel is preached to them they cannot be saved. Hence the number of missionaries who are sent out at an enormous cost, who preach what each section of the Christian church designate the Gospel. They appear not to be aware, that there are good and bad, learned and