mas, accommodated himself, or came into the very state laid down by Thomas. "And when he saw him, he had compassion" (on him)-This form of speaking as here applied to the Lord, who is the Samaritan, doth not at all involve that the Lord only sees persons, states and circumstances, by going from place to place, but is spoke according to appearance, and ariseth only from the state the man is at present in, and. thus in accommodation to the natural mind of man; for the Lord being always and every where present, seeth every person, state, and circumstance: but when the mind, laboring under distressing circumstances, gloomy and dark views, severe interior combats, is enabled through divine mercy to see the Lord by the light of his own Word, the soul then supposeth the Lord first seeth and taketh notice of it's state, Isa. xii. 1. "Had compassion" (on him)-this signifies love and mercy from the Lord, this is plain from what follows in this paragraph.

Verse 34. "And went to (him), and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."

"And went to (him), and bound up his wounds"signifies to provide, and apply a suitable remedy as will appear in what follows. Pouring in oil and wine"by oil and wine is signified good and truth; that by oil in the Word is pointed out the good of love as suited to

feed the will faculty of man, see Matt. xxv. 3, 4, 7, 8.

They that (were) foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps: and the foolish said unto the wise, give as of your oil, for our lamps are gone out" ́--by the wise virgins is signified those who are members of the true Church; but the foolish signify those who are members of the false professing church, and who make faith the only means of salvation. By oil is pointed out the good of love and charity; but by lamp is pointed out the truth of faith or doctrine, as suited to feed or nourish the understandsng faculty of inan. See John ii. 9, 10, where the Lord turned water into wine where water signifies truth natural, and respects man's natural rational principle; and wine made of water signifies truth spiritual, and respects man's natural rational principle made spiritually rational, by the truths of the Word.

"And set him on his own beast,"-by beast here in the natural sense, we understand is meant a horse; and by horse in the Word, according to correspondency, is represented the understanding, because as an horse carries his rider from place to place in the natural world, so the understanding faculty of man carries him from state to state in the spiritual world: hence by setting him on his own beast is signified, that the Samaritan restored the man to his own understanding, the life of

which

which had been almost destroyed, viz, with respect to the truths of his faith, see what is said on verse 30, page 182.

"And brought him to an inn, and took care of him

-an inn is a place where victuals and drink are to be had, which things in the Word point out goods and truths. John vi. 53 to 59, "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you; whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed: he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him."-By flesh in those verses, which the Lord says is meat indeed, as also by bread in the holy supper, is signified the good! of divine love: and by blood, as also by wine in the` holy supper, is signified the truth of divine wisdom; and to eat and drink of those signifies to appropriate: to one's self and make one's own in the will and the understanding: hence by bringing him to an inn, is signified that the good Samaritan (who is the Lord' with respect to the good of love) brought the man of the church where he might be further instructed in goods and truths, viz. more immediately into the church, from which, seemingly to himself, he had now. wandered and fallen among thieves; for, as was hinted on verse 30, page 182, the man here described, camefrom.

z 3

from a higher to a lower state, apparently to himself: because all the truths acquired in the state of reformation, must be tried by interior temptations from evil spirits, and all the former good and truth which the soul seemed to itself to be possessed of, appear to, be wasted even to despair, When the soul comes into this state of interior pain, it is led to reject evils and falses from interior principles, for then commences the state of regeneration, however it may appear to those who are in a state of reformation only, that they hate and reject evils and falses, yet be it known they never can hate and reject evils and falses from interior principles, until they experience interior temptations; for a natural man can shun evils as hurtful, but none but a christian can shun evils as sins; and it is only the latter of those who shun them in reality, whilst in the former they lay hid or concealed in the inmost principles of his life.

"And took care of him"-this signifies to provide every needful thing, as we shall find in what follows when we come to speak a little on the following part of this paragraph: For our good Lord has not only made full provision for his Church in general, but also for every member of his Church in particular; and thus the blessed Lord is continually leading those who are in good, to greater or higher degrees of good; and those who are in evils into lesser evils; and thus raising all to

a state

a state of happiness, by the knowledge of truth and good, as far as they are capable of being kept therein

unto their live's end,

(To be continued.)

Kingston upon Hull,

Nov. 8, 1800.

P. A.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE AURORA,

I AM induced to send you the following Anecdote

which I met with the other day in reading Park's Travels into the Interior of Africa, not only from a wish that the conduct of the amiable African might, through the medium of your Aurora, be more generally known, but from a conviction that it would be acceptable to many of the readers of the Writings of our enlightened Scribe, by whom the Africans are so repeatedly mentioned.

Your's, &c.

SEDDON HOWARD.

n

"Mr. Park having arrived on the banks of the Niger, was preparing to cross it to visit Sego See Korro, the capital of Banbarra, when information having been sent to Mansong, the king, that a white man was waiting for a passage, he directly sent over one of the chief men with a message, that he could not possibly see him until he knew what had brought him into the country; and that he must not presume to cross the river without his majesty's privilege, He therefore advised Mr. Park to lodge at a distant village for the

night;