"In regard to the Gentile nations of the present day, who are also acquainted with the existence of a Divine Being, and of a life after death, they have not derived this knowledge from the light of nature, but from the religion handed down to them from ancient times; and this was founded on such knowledge as had emanated in various ways from the church, where there was a Revelation ; and this was of the Divine Providence of the Lord."-A. C., 8944; T.C.R., 273–5.

Here we have very important information; we learn that all the religious light of the ancient world, equally as of the modern, was derived from Divine Revelation. Thus the wisdom of Socrates, so often adduced as an argument in favour of the light of nature, was not—so far as it related to the being of a God and the immortality of the souldrawn from his own meditations solely, but was based on knowledges handed down by tradition, and derived originally from a written Word. London. O. P. H.

(To be continued.)

THE CONNECTION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.

THE nearness of the two worlds and their connection is a truth of vast practical importance, and one which we are very prone to lose sight of in our daily life. But when, through the withdrawal of outward states of enjoyment, or from any providential dispensation, we are led to think more of the unseen world, the question will present itself before the awakened conscience, with all the force of "the hand writing upon the wall "-How does my present life correspond with an angelic one? Do my motives and pursuits originate in those affections which will secure an entrance into the kingdom of heaven, because they proceed from it? In making this inquiry, we shall do well to remember that, to be beneficial, it must be minute, searching not only into the words and actions, but into the affections and thoughts, the ruling motives and ends. By aid of that "light which does make manifest," it is seen with greater or less clearness, according to the earnestness of our self-examination, that never can the soul feel that heaven is its future home, until it is in the constant effort to bring down that heaven upon the earth of the external man, and thence upon all around us. For how, we may ask, can the covetous mind find happiness in that world where the love of giving not, as has been commonly held, a proof that a literal flood had once existed upon the earth, but only that a Scripture account of a flood had been widely circulated among men, which account, however, as we now know, is to be regarded as purely allegorical, and as describing a moral, not a material inundation.-See Josephus against Apion, n. 22, where he shows how many ideas the Grecian philosophers and other writers had derived from the Jews.

predominates over that of possessing, and where this latter love is only felt to be delightful as a means of gratifying the former? Where all are ministering spirits, and he that "will be the chiefest shall be servant of all," the domineering, self-seeking spirit can find no congenial association, nor can any interior love of ruling be hidden beneath the outward desire to serve, for "there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed." This love of serving others will, when cherished, effectually dispel all envy of the goods and honours of others, and give place to a humble rejoicing that there are diversities of gifts, and to every man his own gift, thus giving to each the power to bestow a happiness upon others which can be enjoyed by no other means. Nor can the spirit which would lead us to think uncharitably of others, find among the angels food for that activity which is at the root of all spiritual blessedness; for "the life of charity consists in man's thinking well of others and doing good to others, and perceiving joy in himself at the salvation of others." (A. C. 2284.) A proneness to anger and readiness to take offence is also incompatible with a preparation for a heavenly state. It is the good and truth proceeding from the Lord which constitutes heaven, and no anger or resentment can proceed from Him who says-"Fury is not in me," "Recompense to no man evil for evil, railing for railing." We must, then, cultivate a patient and forgiving spirit if we would enjoy heavenly delights.

But whilst the love of ruling is incompatible with an angelic state, equally so is that abject spirit which would lead us to bow down to the authority of our fellow-creatures in matters of religion, contrary to the dictates of our own conscience, which is instructed from the Word to acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ as the only God. This is, indeed, to break the first and great commandment, upon the keeping of which all the others depend. We must neither exalt the opinion of others, nor yet our own intelligence, above the truth of the Word, if we desire to dwell eternally with those who worship the Lord; for "Divine worship consists in the exaltation of the Lord, and in the humiliation of self;" (A. R. 8271.) and "all who come into another life have at first a worship like what they practised in the other world;" (E. W. 142.) "for in another life all man's states of life return." (D. P. 1618.)

Were we to reflect more deeply upon the spiritual origin of all the inward and outward states which go to make up our daily life and form our character, we should more readily perceive the connection between earth and heaven, and realise that this world is intended to be merely the basis or receptacle for heavenly operations, and that the Lord's Prayer is an embodiment of that heavenly state, when received into the

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heart: commencing with an acknowledgment of the Lord as our Father, seeking to be governed by Him and to do His will as dutiful children; -to have all our states of goodness and truth provided according to the order which flows from Him;-to exhibit the operation of His love and mercy in our purified and loving hearts;-to be delivered from evil, even though grievous temptation must be endured to accomplish that end; and ending with an ascription of praise to Him who is seen to be the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last-the Almighty. How earnestly, then, should we seek to be delivered from the delusion that a life of pride, vanity, sensuality, deceit, guile, hypocrisy, or uncharitableness, can form any of the texture of that wedding garment without which no entrance can be given to us into the kingdom of heaven, and which can only be formed by weaving into our daily life, with the Divine assistance, all the truths in which we have been instructed through the Holy Word.

M. B.

THE PRODIGAL SON.

No. VII.

By the late Rev. S. NOBLE.

"Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends; but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found."-LUKE XV. 25-32.

We now come to a part of this beautiful parable which presents very different subjects for our edification than those with which we have been hitherto engaged. In one respect, indeed, the scene presented is the same; and that is, in the exhibition which is given of the father of the two young men. The placability and tenderness with which he receives the younger son on his penitence, finds its exact counterpart in the condescension and forbearance with which he endeavours to overcome the envious churlishness of the elder. In both cases we see the genuine emblem of the divine love of the Lord, which ever seeks

to win man to its embraces, and to overcome the folly and obstinacy with which man cleaves to his own devices, and by shutting himself up in his own will, strives to defeat the generous efforts of his Saviour God in his behalf. In both cases, then, in the conduct of the father, we have a striking representation of the Lord's pure divine love as it is in itself, and as it ever burns in His infinitely expanded bosom, whether on the part of man it be received or not. But in the conduct of the two sons we see very different feelings operating indeed. One having foolishly left the paternal home, and returning a sincere penitent, has so profited by the humbling lesson resulting from his fall, as to appear in a light altogether amiable and engaging; in the sincerity and depth of his self-abasement, his fault is swallowed up and forgotten, and he appears on account of it more the object of pity than of abhorrence. The other, though, as he boasts, he had not at any time transgressed his father's commandment, abuses the grace of obedience into a ground of pride, whence he appears in a light which is altogether repulsive. By boasting of his obedience, he cancels the good of it; his unamiable virtue is forgotten, and he appears, on account of the spirit which it fosters in him, more an object of reprehension than of admiration. And how truly unamiable does his conduct appear! How destitute does he show himself of paternal affection! While the father behaves with all

a father's love, and receives in consequence the penitent as a son, instead of participating in his joy at the recovery of him that had been lost, and at seeing him alive who had been as dead, as would be the natural conduct of a brother, a paltry jealousy takes possession of his bosom, and he sees nothing in his regained brother but a favoured rival in his father's affections.

Now, what is the reason that these two brothers are represented in the parable in so strong a point of contrast, so that the sinner appears so much more amiable than he who had never at any time transgressed his father's commandments? Can the lesson intended to be inculcated be, that they who walk from their youth in the commandments of the Lord, are less excellent characters than they who wander entirely away from them, but afterwards return? This would be an extraordinary piece of instruction indeed. The commandments of the Lord are absolute, and are as much intended for observance in youth as at a later period of life. At no time, and under no circumstances, can man have a licence for living in the breach of them; and it would be a monstrous perversion of the Word of Divine Truth to construe any part of it as lending countenance to such a supposition. But, as the apostle says "The end of the commandment is love, out of a pure

(or purified) heart, and of faith unfeigned;" and where an external obedience is given to the Divine precepts without this end in view,— without cultivating in the heart the principle of charity, and thus seeking to improve in the internal graces of the Christian life, the benefit is comparatively small which a person derives from his obedience.

The purification of the internal part, and the implantation of the graces of the Lord's kingdom there, are the grand objects intended by all the Divine commandments, and by the obedience which man is required to give them; and this can only be acquired in proportion as man is convinced of his need of it, is sensible how far he is, in and of himself, from possessing anything truly good, how true it is that, in and of himself, he is nothing but evil; and when thence, in humility and self-renunciation, he looks to the Lord to have his inward evils removed, and the graces of heaven, all which refer to the love of the Lord and our neighbour, with corresponding states of intelligence and faith, implanted in their stead. A state, then, of humility, of real self-acknowledgment, and of obedience, from this ground, by whatever means produced, is far superior to any state of external obedience independently of such inward acknowledgment. There are various distinct degrees in the regenerate life, and of heavenly attainments in consequence; and the higher are entered into, in proportion as man sees the evils of his nature as well as those of his practice, and puts them away, in and from a deeper ground. Without obedience, there can be no heavenly acquirement at all; but the obedience is more full in proportion as it is more interior, and proceeds from deeper recesses of the human soul; and these are only opened by a sense of our own evils, and by humiliation on that account. There can be no entrance within the precincts of a state of salvation without removal of evils, so as that they do not prevail in the life; but they may be removed in the exterior region of the mind, and yet not more deeply, in which case, some state of good being acquired, interior evils are mercifully kept closed by the Lord, and not becoming active, man is, notwithstanding their remaining in his nature, qualified for an exterior situation in the heavenly kingdom; whereas they who have seen the deeper evils of their heart, have combatted against them in temptations, and so have obtained their removal also, and thus have become receptive of more pure and elevated states of good, are qualified for, and enjoy, the higher and more interior stations in the heavenly mansions.

This view, then, will explain the apparent anomaly, of the amiable light in which the repentant prodigal is exhibited in this parable, in comparison with the churlish elder brother, who had never transgressed