Thou hast set my feet in a large room, (Psalm xxxi. 8.) He hath set my feet on a rock, (xl. 2.) He suffereth not our feet to be moved, (lxvi. 9.) As for me my feet were almost gone, (lxxiii. 2.) I turned my feet unto thy testimonies, (cxix. 59,) together with numberless other passages to the same purpose, all tending to prove that byfeet, when the term occurs in the sacred Scriptures, are not to be understood the bodily feet only, but those external natural principles, which are as feet to the mind. Accordingly, the GREAT REDEEMER is described in the Revelations as to His feet, which are said to be like unto fine brass, (chap. i. 15,) to denote the purity of His natural principle, when it was glorified, or made DI

VINE.

Q. But it is written that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the muimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see; and they glorified the God of Isruel- - what instruction do you learn from these words?

A. From the wondering of the multitude, I am instructed that nothing excites so much astonishment and adoration in the devout mind, as the contemplation of the operations of the ALMIGHTY, especially when those operations are exercised in the removal of man's spiritual disorders, and in his restoration thus to the order and life of heaven. This removal and restoration are signified by the dumb speaking, the maimed being whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, for under these four classes of infirmity and

disorder, and of recovery, are involved all the evils and errors to which the nature of man is exposed, and from which, through the divine mercy, he hopes for deliverance. It is therefore added, They glorified the GOD of ISRAEL, because by the GOD of ISRAEL, the same thing is understood as by the feet of the BLESSED JESUS, viz. His NATURAL HUMANITY, which is then said to be glorified, when it is devoutly approached as the only fountain of all spiritual life, virtue, power, and salvation. It is further to be observed concerning this appellation, The God of IsRAEL, that in the Old Testament it is assum¬ ed by JEHOVAH HIMSELF, who calls Himself The GoD of ISRAEL, as being the Saviour of those who are signified by Israel, viz. His spiritual church, and who could not have been saved, unless they could have approached their GoD as a MAN, and thus have attained conjunction with Him as a MAN. Such a MAN was the GREAT REDEEMER as to His NATURAL HUMANITY, which HUMANITY He successively glorified until it became one with His DIVINITY, and thus He gives to His spiritual children perpetual access to and conjunction with Himself, whilst they, in their turn, receiving from His DIVINE BODY a cure for all their spiritual disorders, glorify Him as the GOD of ISRAEL; and in so doing, acknowledge Him to be the same identical Being with the GREAT JEHOVAH.

Q. What then is the general instruction which you learn from the combination of miracles here recorded?

A. I learn that in the church in general, and in every individual member of the church in particular, there are numberless and nameless principles and persuasions, many of which are in a state of infirmity and disorder, answering to the four classes recorded in the above history, called the lame, the blind, the dumb, and the muimed. I learn further, that it is the wisdom of the church in general, and of every member of the church in particular, to lay these disorder ed principles and persuasions at the feet of the BLESSED JESUS; in other words, to submit them to the blessed influence and control of His DIVINE HUMANITY, as the only medium of their access to and conjunction with the SUPREME DIVINITY Who is one with it. Lastly, I learn that the BLESSED JESUS, in this His DIVINE HUMANITY, is ever near, and infinitely willing to ad minister a remedy from HIMSELF for every in firmity, disorder, evil, and error, to which the nature of man is subject, whether consisting in lameness, which is the want of genuine truth, or in blindness, which is the want of spiritual intelligence, or in dumbness, which is the want of spiritual utterance, or in being maimed, which is the want of genuine affection, and that the view of this His nearness and willingness, and of the blessed effects thereby produced, begets in the devout mind sentiments at once of astonishment and of adoration, I am resolved therefore from henceforth to imitate the multitudes above described, by looking attentively into the interiors of my own mind, and there discovering

all that is lame, biind, dumb, maimed, with every other infirmity and disorder, and by laying them, when discovered, at the feet of the BLESSED JESUS, and thus submitting them to the influence and control of His divine mercy, wisdom, and omnipotence, as manifested in His DIVINE HUMANITY. Thus may I humbly hope, like the wondering multitude of old, to be excited to astonishment at the redeeming power of my GOD and SAVIOUR, when I behold the dumb speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and thus too, with them, observing that all these blessed effects are derived from His DIVINE HUMANITY, I may be admitted to the honour and happiness of glorifying with them the GoD of ISRAEL. AMEN.

161

THE MIRACLE OF THE SEVEN LOAVES AND FISHES.

MATT. XV. 32 to the end.

Then JESUS called His disciples unto Him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way, &c. &c.

Q. IN speaking of the miracle of the five loaves recorded in the foregoing chapter, you have already explained the principal circumstances attending this miracle, particularly in regard to the compassion of the BLESSED JESUS, and also in regard to the loaves and fishes, and the baskets-full of fragments which were taken. up. Can you now tell me in what respects the present miracle differs from the former, and what is the ground of that difference?

A. The present miracle differs from the former in these four respects, first, that the number of loaves, in the present instance, was seven, whereas in the former case they were five; secondly, that on the present occasion the multude were commanded to sit down on the