atries, were in mere falses and evils, and the hells are from men ; thence it was, that, unless the Lord had come into the world, no man could have been saved. These combats of the Lord are much treated of in the Psalms of David and in the Prophets, and a little in the Evangelists. Those combats are what are meant by the temptations, which the Lord endured, the last of which was the passion of the cross. It is from them that the Lord is called Saviour, and Redeemer. This is so far known in the Church, that they say that the Lord conquered death, or the devil, that is, hell, and that He rose again victorious; as also, that without the Lord there is no salvation. That He also glorified his Human, and that thereby he became a Saviour, Redeemer, Reformer, and Regenerator, forever, will be seen in what follows."-D. L. n. 33..

The apostles also speak of the Lord's temptations while He was in the act of glorifying the Human, as being a pattern of our own while we are becoming regenerated. They tell us that “in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto his brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest :-For in that He himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that -are tempted." (Heb. ii. 17, 18.) They tell us, that He is "not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (ib. iv. 15.) By means of these temptations, He successively sanctified himself-removed from his assumed humanity all its hereditary evils, and filled it with his own Divinity. And this is what the Apostle evidently means by his dying unto sin. (See Rom. vi. 10.) And that it is necessary for us to do the same, or a similar thing, in becoming regenerated, he plainly teaches in these words: "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (v. 8.) And again: "If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." (v. 5, 6.)

It is thus, and only thus, that we can become regenerated and saved by enduring temptations as the Lord endured them; by becoming "dead with Christ from the elements of this world;" by being "planted together in the likeness of his death;" by dying unto sin as He died, that we may also live with Him unto righteousness; by fighting against hell as He fought; resisting and subduing the evils of our natural will, and thus losing our own proper life, that we may find true life from the Lord. In this manner (if

we acknowledge the Lord as our Regenerator and Saviour) our natural man is gradually and successively brought at-one with the spiritual man, as He brought his Human at-one with the Divine. And thus we "receive the at-one-ment." (Rom. v. 11.) And it is through Him that we receive it; for all this work of regeneration is effected in us through the mediating power and influence of the 'truth, which continually proceeds from his Divine Humanity to wash and purify our souls from sin; which truth, in its proceeding from the Glorified Human, was beautifully symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from his side after the crucifixion.

"Blood and water in this passage," says Swedenborg, "denote divine truth, spiritual and natural, thus the Word in the spiritual and natural sense; and to pierce the Lord's side is to destroy both by falses, as was also done by the Jews; for all things of the Lord's passion represented the state of the Jewish church as to the Word. The reason why piercing him, signifies to destroy the Word by falses, is, because this is said of Jesus Christ, who presently after is called the Son of Man; and by the Son of Man is meant the Lord as to the Word; therefore to pierce the Son of Man is to do the same to the Word."Ap. Ex. n. 26.

The divine truth, therefore, which proceeds from the Divine Humanity, is what is signified by the blood of Christ. It is this truth which reveals to us our evils, and is thus the means of cleansing our hearts of their impurities. "This is that blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matt. xxvi. 28.) This is that "blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth us from all sin"-(1 John 1, 7)—that blood whereby alone we are redeemed, regenerated, and saved. For it is written, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." (John vi. 53.)

From what has been said, we may also understand what is meant by our being reconciled and saved by the cross of Christ. For by his cross is denoted temptations, such as He endured when on earth. And in becoming regenerated, it is necessary for us to endure similar temptations. It is necessary that we should be assailed as He was by the powers of darkness, and that we should resist them through the strength that He imparts. Thus we must take up our cross and follow Him; for in no other way can the life of self-love be extinguished, and the loves of heaven be implanted within us. Hence the Lord saith: "If any man will come after ine, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find it." (Matt. xvi, 24, 25.)

It may also be seen, from what has been said, how the Lord bore our sins and carried our iniquities; for these are all evils from hell; and the Lord in glorifying the Human, bore the assaults of all the hells; and He bears their assaults now. He fights for us and in us against infernal spirits, as often as we look to Him, and

"That it is said of the Lord," says Swedenborg, " that He carried sins for the human race, is known in the Church; but still it is unknown what is understood by carrying iniquities and sins. It is believed by some that it denotes, that He took into Himself the sins of the human race, and suffered himself to be condemned even to the death of the cross, and that thus, because damnation for sins was cast upon Him, mortals are liberated from damnation ; also that damnation was taken away by the Lord through the fulfilling of the law, since the law would have damned every one who did not fulfill it. But by carrying iniquity are not meant those things, since every man's deeds remain with him after death, and then he is judged according to their quality either to life or to death; and therefore they cannot be taken away by transfer to another who carries them; hence it is evident that by carrying iniquities something else is meant. But what is meant may be manifest from the carrying itself of iniquities or of sins by the Lord; for the Lord carries those things when He fights for man against the hells, for man of himself cannot fight against them, but the Lord alone doeth this, also continually for every man, with a difference according to the reception of divine good and divine truth. The Lord when he was in the world fought against all the hells, and altogether subdued them; hence also He was made justice; thus He redeemed those from damnation, who receive divine good and truth from Himself. Unless this had been effected by the Lord, no flesh could have been saved; for the hells are continually with man, and have dominion over him, so far as the Lord doth not remove them; and He so far removes them, as man desists from evils. He who once conquers the hells, conquers them to eternity; and that this might be effected by the Lord, He made His Human Divine. He, therefore, who alone fights for man against the hells, or what is the same thing, against evils and falses, for these are from the hells, He is said to carry sins, for He alone sustains that burden. The reason why by carrying sins is also signified the removal of evils and falses from those who are in good, is, because this is a consequence; for so far as the hells are removed from man, so far evils and falses are removed; for the latter and the former, as was said, are from the hells; evils and falses are sins and iniquities."--A. C. n. 9937.

From what has been said in this lecture, it may be seen, not only that the doctrine of the New Church concerning the Atonement is in agreement with both reason and Scripture, but that it is also of the highest practical importance. It is the doctrine of the deification of the Lord's Human, and involves the whole doctrine of man's regeneration. It teaches us how the Human and the Divine were brought at-one in the Lord, and consequently how the natural and the spiritual man are to be brought at-one in us. It teaches how the Lord put off the creaturely Human derived from the mother, and put on a Divine Human from the Father; and thence how we are to "put off the old man with his deeds," and to "put on the new man which is renewed after the image of Him that created us." It teaches how Divine Love and Divine Wisdom were brought at-one in the Divine Humanity; and hence how the will and the understanding, or goodness and truth, are to be brought at-one in finite minds. It teaches how the Lord sanctified himself, and to what end-" that we also might be sanctified through the truth.” Thus it teaches that we become images and likenesses of the Lord, only in the degree that we follow Him in the regeneration ;-in the degree that we shun evils as sins, and thus have charity and faith united in our minds;-our natural brought at-one with our spiritual man, and our wills brought at-one with the will of the Lord; and that, so far as we love and love to do the truth, we "receive the at-one-ment," and thus are saved by the blood of Christ.

LECTURE X.

THE RESURRECTION

WITH A BRIEF VIEW OF THE SPIRITUAL
WORLD.

"There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."- 1 Cor. xv. 44.

Ir was said in the last lecture, that truth always receives a complexion, more or less strongly colored, from the character of the mind into which it falls. As a man must see natural objects with his own eyes, if he see them at all, so he must apprehend truth with his own understanding, if he apprehend it at all. And since, if the eye be diseased, it may see objects double, distorted, variously colored, or in great obscurity, so if the undestanding be perverted, it will either not see the truth at all, or see it very obscurely, or in a strangely colored and distorted form. Thus the appearance, to any one, of absolute truth, must ever depend on the character or state of his own mind. If spiritual truths fall into minds of a sordid mould, straightway they become materialized. Like the minds which receive them, the truths themselves become "of the earth, earthy."

Thus when the Lord said unto his disciples, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees," they supposed that He spake of the leaven of material bread, "and reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because we have taken no bread." When He spake to the woman of Samaria who came to draw water at Jacob's well, and said unto her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him and He would have given thee living water;" the woman, supposing that He referred to natural water, replied, "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?" (John iv. 10, 11, 12.) When He said to the Jewish ruler, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," Nicodemus supposed that He referred to natural birth, and re