i

apostles, as the twelve tribes of Israel, represented all things of faith, and Peter represented the faith of the Church: hence it is that the Lord said to Peter, that in that night he should thrice deny him, and to the disciples, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night."

"Two in one bed"-by bed is signified doctrine: by two in one bed is signified two in one doctrine, but not in similar life: the ground and reason why bed signifies doctrine, is from correspondence, for as the body rests in it's bed, so doth the mind rest in it's doctrine; but by bed is signified the doctrine which every one acquires to himself, either from the Word, or from his proper intelligence, for therein the mind reposes, and sleeps as it were. Therefore it hath every appearance of rational truth to me, what E. S. says in the Apoc. Rev. n. 137, "That the beds that are lain in, in the spiritual world, are of no other origin; every one's bed there, is conformable to the quality of his science and intelligence; the wise have them magnificent, the foolish have mean ones, and the false speakers have filthy ones." That bed signifies doctrine, "Jesus saith 'unto the sick man, rise, take up thy bed and walk; and he took up his bed, and walked," John v. 8, 9. And in Mark ii. 5, 9, 11, 12. "Jesus saith to the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee; and he said unto the scribes, Whether is it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise, take up thy bed

and

and walk? then he said, Arise, take up thy bed and walk; and he took up his bed, and went forth from them." That here something is signified by bed, is evident, because Jesus said, Whether is it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, take up thy bed and walk. By carrying his bed and walking, is signified to meditate in doctrine. Doctrine is also signified by bed in Amos iii. 12, and vi. 4. also in Genesis xlvii, 31, and xlix. 33.

"The one shall be taken (or accepted) and the other shall be left"-The reason why one shall be accepted and the other shall be left, though both in one bed, (or doctrine) doth not originate in any predestinated purpose of the Lord towards the one for heaven more than the other; for all mankind are designed for heaven, and none for hell! the contrary is a wicked idea to attribute to the blessed loving Jehovah Jesus, by whom we are repeatedly told in his Word, that he is no respecter of persons. But the cause originates in their not being in similar life, for the subject treated of in these verses, as we have before hinted, is concerning the quality of the church state. when it is rejected, and the New Church established; therefore even in the Old Church, those who are in the good of life, though not in the truth of faith and doctrine, will be accepted of the Lord for it is the will faculty of man particularly, in which resides his life, and only in his understanding faculty so far as it is in agreement with the will, and whatever in the latter doth not make one with the former,

112

mer, is put off in the spiritual world, as is plain from the Lord's words in Matt. xxv. 28, 29. "Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him who hath ten talents; for unto every one that hath, shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath;" or as it reads in another of the gospels, "That which he seemeth to have." For every one after the death of the body will be reduced to his leading love, and all will be judged according to the purpose, intention, and end in view; thus all who have acted from a principle of good in the will, though they may have many falses with respect to doctrine in their understanding, will be accepted, for all the false will be removed, as making no part of their constitution or life, and such truths implanted as agree with the goods in the will, and then the soul is fit for some society in heaven; for no one can go either to heaven or hell in a divided state of mind; for either good with it's concomitant truth must be united, or evil with it's concomitant false must be united, therefore all who have acted from an evil principle in the will, though they may have, or be acquainted with many truths with respect to doctrine, all these will be removed as making no part of their constitution or life, and such falses implanted as agree with the evils in the will, and then the soul is fit for some society in hell.

Kingston upon Hull,

Feb. 13, 1801.

P. A.

[This correspondent has added a note, by way of apology respecting what was said in the Letter from Hull, page 305 of our first volume; but we think that if any apology were necessary, it must surely be from those who could so grossly mistake the Editors or their friends at Hull, as to suppose either of them meant to affirm, "that the writings of E. S. are a distinct Word in the letter, containing three senses."—What was and is still insisted upon is, that the sense or opening manifested by means of E. S. is that part of the Word by which the letter is rendered holy, consequently that it is the Internal Word, or the Word to angels and spirits, who are totally ignorant of any lower or literal meaning there of],

TO THE EDITORS.

GENTLEMEN,

PERMIT me, before the close of your useful publícation, to make a few observations on a subject of great importance to the rise and establishment of the New Church, which appears not to be sufficiently attended to by it's present members.

Many of the readers of those invaluable writings from whence the doctrines of the New Church are derived, have expressed a doubt whether this Church is ever to take an external form, and whether it is consistent with the adoption of these writings, which open

the Internal Word, and inculcate so much the doctrine of charity, to separate from the established form of the Old Church, and to adopt a new one, and with others, whether it is proper to support any external form of worship whatever.

But surely such doubts must be occasioned by the want of a proper attention to what is said in the Writings, respecting both the former churches and the New one; as it evidently appears therein, that there will not only be an external church, or external places and forms of worship; but that they will far exceed every thing of the kind that hath before appeared, as they will be in perfect correspondence with the purest and highest internal state that any church upon earth can ever arrive at.

churches, the first or celestial; the second,

With respect to the former Most Ancient, we are told was or Ancient, spiritual; the third, or Jewish, merely representative; and the fourth, or Christian, I presume, may justly be called natural.-None of these could stand because none of these was a True Church, or a Church in it's fulness. But the New Jerusalem, we are informed, is to be "the Crown of all Churches"-superior even to the Most Ancient, and will never have summation. Now as the first was an internal celestial Church, in which charity was the essential or life, in what can the New Church be superior, except by becoming a celestial one in it's fulness? The first was a

con

celestial