the

sun,

We have gone along with the subject of correspondence until we have learnt the meaning of the moon and the stars,—that is, we have learnt what the sun is in the spiritual world; and we have learnt at the same time what the sun, the moon and the stars correspond to in our own minds. And the Bible is written according to correspondence; that is, all the things mentioned in the Bible mean the things they correspond to. Let us now apply the knowledge we have gained to the Bible; let us see if we can use this knowledge in such a way as to help us to understand the Bible better than before.

You may notice that the sun, the moon and the stars are spoken of in the Bible in three different

ways.

In the first chapter of Genesis, in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth verses, it is said, "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he

made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good." And in the one hundred and forty-eighth Psalm, third verse," Praise ye him, sun and moon; praise ye him, all ye stars of light." Here, and in all similar passages, the sun, the moon and the stars are spoken of as they were when created by God, and when they are performing their highest uses. The sun is charity, the moon is faith, and the stars are knowledges. These are all from God. As our regeneration is advancing, He gives us charity, and it rules all our days, when every thing is bright and warm in our minds and in our hearts, and we feel happy in our love of God and of our neighbor; then there is sunshine in our souls, for it is day with us, and the spiritual sun is shining and ruling there.

And presently our spiritual nights come. The sun sets. Our love abates; selfishness prevails in us; we feel tempted to sin, to hate others, to exalt ourselves. Then, if we give way to these

feelings, it is evil with us.

But if our regenera

tion is still going on, we resist these dispositions; we are troubled by them; we are sad because we feel that we are disposed to be selfish and wicked. And the Lord gives us faith. We remember not only our sinfulness, but we remember also that God is good; that He is always near us; that He is ready to help us, and to save us from being sinful; and thus faith comforts us; it is stronger than the troubles which beset us; and therefore it rules over the night. And God made the stars also. That is, He gives us knowledges of Himself, of His Word, of our duty, and of heaven; and these, as we remember them, shine in the night which has come to us. And then we know the night will pass away, and the sun shine again upon us.

There is another way in which the sun, the moon and the stars are spoken of. Thus, in the second chapter of Joel, in the tenth verse, it is said, "The sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining." So, in the thirty-first verse, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great

You will

and terrible day of the Lord come." find similar language in the third chapter, thirtyfirst verse, of the same prophet; and in the twentyfourth chapter of Matthew, twenty-ninth verse, it is said, “Immediately after the tribulation of these days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven." And there are similar passages in Mark, thirteenth chapter and twenty-fourth verse, and Luke, twenty-third chapter and forty-fifth verse. These passages, and all of a similar character, describe the end and the desolation of a church. When there is charity among men, and faith, and knowledges of religious truths, then there is a church; because a true church is a society of men, who have charity, and faith, and knowledges, and who live accordingly. But when charity is lost, and in its stead selfishness prevails, and men have no faith in the Lord, and the knowledges of religious truth are lost and forgotten, then the church is desolate, for the "terrible day of the Lord" has come; then that happens which may be described by saying, the sun is darkened, the

moon withholds her light, and the stars are hidden from our sight. You know the stars cannot literally fall from heaven to earth.

They seem to us

But this is because

small shining specks of light. they are so far off; for they are suns and earths, and many of them are vastly greater than this earth. But the stars fall from heaven to earth spiritually, when the knowledges which we love best. and seek for most do not relate to the things of heaven and the way of being good, but are altogether about those things which belong to this earth and to the things which please us here. When this is the case our stars have fallen from heaven."

We have spoken of two ways in which the sun, the moon and the stars are mentioned.

yet a third way.

There is

In the book of Revelation, in the first verse of the twelfth chapter, it is said that there appeared in heaven "a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." The passages we last spoke of describe the end and desolation of a church; but this passage describes the establishment of a New