isfy a mind that will not look at it, or that has no taste nor desire for things beyond the gift of this world. But, if even such a person were entirely unacquainted with the Chinese language, and should remove to China, and there learn to speak and write that language, so as to read their books and understand them, and should find that they contained a rational and consecutive chain of ideas and history of events, he would certainly be convinced that they had a language, and that he had learned it. It is precisely so with the language of analogy. It must be examined, and learned, and tested by reading analogical language before it can be understood.

"Now, let that same man come to the Sacred Scriptures, and look at the first eleven chapters of Genesis, the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, the tenth of Ezekiel, and the twenty-first of Revelation, and he will be as much at a loss to know their true meaning, as he was that of the Chinese language, when he went to that country. But let him learn the language of analogy, until his heart is warmed by the spirit of the Holy Word, and he can see a beautiful and consistent course of useful instruction, pervading the entire chapters mentioned; and, not only them, but also the whole Word, making it a new Book, most clear and instructive; and he will then be much more strongly convinced of the indisputable verity of this language, than he was, or could possibly be, of that of the Chinese.

"Now, we can say to such persons, that many are the human minds, of different nations of the earth, who are becoming thus convinced. Will not God's Holy Word, then, yet become known, as it is, and be universally received, loved, and regarded? Will it not become the

great law of the land, and restore universal 'Peace on earth and good will toward men'? It most surely will. That glorious shout of the angels, at the birth of our Lord, was not made in vain-Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people.'

Those who desire to investigate the doctrines of the Word and the science of correspondences presented in the following pages, may find the rationale of them, clearly and satisfactorily shown, in the voluminous works of EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, referred to in chapter xviii of this book. But we have made no quotations from those works, desiring rather to reach the public mind with facts and arguments drawn exclusively from the Word and works of God; to which the prejudices of men cannot reasonably object.

CHAPTER II.

THE SUBSTANCE, FORM, AND QUALITY OF THE DIVINE BEING.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."-JOHN I, 1.

This is the great question question is the answer to

WHAT is the Word of God? before us. The answer to this all Dr. Colenso's objections. Now, as the Word is declared in the text to be God, and as the Lord declares that the Words which He speaks to us, "they are spirit and they are life," and as "God is a Spirit" (John iv, 24), the first question before us is, What is God? Indeed, all true knowledge of God, His Word, or His works, must take its rise in a true idea of God Himself. For, according to the ideas men have of the qualities and character of the God they revere and love and worship, must be the character of their religion, and of their views of the theology of the Holy Word. Therefore, if we would successfully study God's Word and Works, we must commence with the study of God. But here we are asked, "Who, by searching, can find out God?" We are not to find Him out by our own wisdom. We are to humbly seek and receive Him as He has revealed Himself in His Word. There, we

are commanded to become like Him. This can be done only as we gain a knowledge and love of Him.

Now, His entire Word treats of Him. The Law and the Prophets constantly declare Him, and He is emphatically manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ, who says, "I and my Father are one." And the Word teaches that God is Infinite, Omniscient, and Omnipresent; Unchangeable and Eternal; the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. And the question at once arises, Can a finite mind have a rational thought of such a Being? We answer, Yes. Not an Infinite thought, but a rational one, in its degree. Now the first approach toward a real thought of God is an idea of spiritual substance, which is mental, and entirely discrete and distinct from matter, and which cannot be reached by the senses, of the natural body. If we do not entertain this idea of spiritual substance, we have no distinct thought of anything above gross matter; therefore no distinct thought of God, angel, spirit, or even of man; for the material body is not the man, but the tabernacle of clay in which he lives.

Having an idea of spiritual substance, the next step toward a true idea of the Lord is a proper thought of the quality of His substance; for we may know that we can have no real knowledge of anything but by its qualities. We have now before us an infinite, almighty, spiritual substance. What are its qualities? The Holy Word tells us that the Lord is Life, Love, Wisdom, Goodness, Truth, Righteousness; that He is Our Righteousness; that He giveth life, wisdom, goodness, truth, and righteousness to the people.

Having proceeded thus far, are we not now ready to define Him, from His own testimony, to be Substantial and Almighty Love and Wisdom, or Goodness and

Truth? What other, so high, ideas of excellence can enter the human mind? The thought can grasp at nothing else so high as Infinite and Almighty Goodness and Truth. But we are now asked if these are not mere attributes of a great Being and entirely passive in themselves, operating only when exercised by the will and understanding of that great Being? But why ask this question now? Has the interrogator so soon lost sight of mental substance? Let us ask him what other substance than Goodness and Truth can constitute the great Jehovah? Will he bring it forward within the reach of our thoughts? What other substance can be omnipresent? Goodness and Truth are not passive or dead principles. The life of Goodness is Love, and the life of Truth is Wisdom. Love and Wisdom are Goodness and Truth in action. What can give forth more Love than Infinite Goodness, or more Wisdom than Infinite Truth? What human mind without goodness has any genuine love, or without truth has any real wisdom? And where does he get these things? What else could God give to our wills that would make us so merciful and happy as would His goodness; or to our understandings that would make us so honest and just as would His truth?

But here we are told that, when the Lord regenerates a man, He makes him a good and true man, and that then He will be merciful and just. But does not the Lord, in this work, take away from him something evil and false, and give him something good and true? Is it man's own righteousness or the Lord's that dwells in him, that is kind and just, and does the good works? It is a mistaken philosophy which would teach that all the elements of the man are innate in the infant, and that all that is necessary is properly to call out and develop