Let us now glance at the similitude between the earth and the mind. The highest symbol of God in any one thing, except the human mind-the highest symbol of Him in nature-is the sun; the heat denoting His love, the light, His wisdom, and their action, His power. And when we consider the sun as corresponding to God and the earth to man, we have a broad field for contemplation, and one which throws much light upon the understanding of the Holy Word. The first general division of the earth is into land and water; that of the mind, into will and understanding. The land denotes the good or evil ground of the will; and the water, the truth or falsity of the understanding. The land can produce nothing without water: nor can the will, without the understanding; goodness can do nothing without truth, nor evil, without falsity. But even the land and water together can produce nothing of themselves, alone. They must have the heat and light of the sun. So also must the will and understanding of man have the love and wisdom of God-the divine influx-or they can do nothing. The land and water of the earth denote the will and understanding of the external mind, or the natural good and truth which are in them. To be truly alive and productive in heavenly things, this natural will and understanding must receive spiritual goods and truths from the internal mind. This internal mind is represented by the natural heavens, with the sun, moon and stars: the sun denoting the Lord, the moon, faith in Him, and the stars, knowledges of His commandments. And how forcibly does the power of these divine principles, from our internal mind operating upon our external, correspond to the influence of those heavenly bodies upon the earth, without which it would be utterly unfruitful.

Thus the correspondence between the physical universe and the human mind is everywhere most perfect, not only in generals but in particulars. And it is necessarily so, because the elements of the human mind are the living elements of the universe, by regular influx. These are the glorious truths which will yet lift the veil from human hearts and minds, and bring the world together in wisdom and love. Then will the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and tears will be wiped from off all faces.

CHAPTER XIII.

NUMBERS.

NUMBERS, like everything else of the Word, always have a spiritual signification touching the soul or life, which is their essential meaning. Sometimes they mean. also what is numerically expressed in the literal sense, and sometimes they do not, but can only be understood in the spiritual sense. To number people or things is to ascertain their general qualities.

Now, in order to prepare our minds for looking into the spiritual signification of numbers, let us first throw our thoughts back to the primeval age, when everything seen, said, or done, meant and declared something mental or spiritual. We shall then see that numbers would naturally and necessarily be used to denote the qualities of thoughts, feelings, and principles.

And beginning with number One, it would of course mean God: He is First of all; First in quality and in quantity; the All in all. And this quality-signification of number one has never been wholly lost. Thus, we say of a person, he is the first man in town, or the first scholar in the class. He may have been the last man that moved into town, and the last that entered the class.

Moreover, when we leave individuals and come to principles or elements, Love is number One. It is the Life principle, the spring of all action. And next to Love is Wisdom. Wisdom is number Two. But it involves number One. We cannot have two things without having one. We cannot be truly wise without being good. Two, therefore, denotes the dual principle, and signifies marriage, or Love and Wisdom, or goodness and truth in union. Next to Love and Wisdom is Power. Power is number Three. But it involves the other two. We cannot have three things without the two. We cannot have power without having love and wisdom, or will and understanding, either in true or in inverted order. Power, therefore, involves everything that is in it. Consequently the number Three signifies all, fulness, perfection.

Very many passages can be cited from the Word to sustain these statements. As in John x, 30, "I and My Father are One." The Father is Love; the Son, or Word, is Truth. And in Deuteronomy vi, 4, "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is One Jehovah." Here the phrase Jehovah our God means the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, which are declared to be One. In all cases where God is mentioned by two names, His Love and Wisdom are meant. By knowing this, much light is seen. So the phrase Jesus Christ means the Divine Love and Wisdom, or Goodness and Truth. Again, in Psalm xxvii, 4, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple." Here the one thing desired involves three things, which it requires the union of will, understanding, and action to accomplish. It is the

same in Mark x, 21: "One thing thou lackest go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor. One thing involves the three. A volume could be cited to sustain this truth.

Four, being the square of two, denotes also union; and consequently the fulness of goods and truths, or evils and falsities, in the complex: as in Zechariah vi, 1, "And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains." Now this relates solely to things of the mind. It is a vision of the coming of the church into men. Chariots denote doctrines: four denotes fulness, and also conjunction of goodness and truth therein: a mountain denotes love; two mountains, love to God and the neighbor. By the chariots being drawn by horses is meant that the doctrines were in the understanding; coming from the mountains shows that they go forth from the heart. The whole vision is exceedingly beautiful, teaching the way of life; but we are now only upon numbers, and have not room to give further illustration.

The number Ten denotes all a man has. Something of its quality-signification may be seen in the fact of man's having ten fingers and ten toes. It suggested the origin and rule for counting by tens. Therefore, any number obtained by adding ciphers to ten, as 100, 1,000, and so forth, signifies the same as ten, only extending more into particulars. Thus the ten commandments inIclude the whole law-all. And a thousand commandments would mean not only what was in the ten, but would direct the thoughts to the particular commandments everywhere in the Word.

The number Five, the half of ten, sometimes signifies the same as ten, and sometimes a few, or much, or little,