ing, at the same time, for support the stars of divine. truth, prominent in the commandments, as fixed and eternal principles of knowledge, constantly beaming from the mental heaven. Then, should the Lord, the Sun of Righteousness, seem, for a season to be hid from our view, yet, true faith in Him would sustain us with the assurance that our Lord liveth just as the moon assures us, when the sun is out of sight, that he still shines. The moon, then, like true faith, is truly the evidence of something not seen.

"And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." The evening here is the state of shade and doubt respecting the internal mind; and the morning is the state of light which follows the illumination of the heaven. Here we have the fourth day or state of the true development of the mind, when the internal plane becomes opened to the reception of the spiritual sense of the Holy Word, whereby the natural man can be governed by higher and clearer truth, and purer love. Up to this time, or during the first three days, the natural mind or earth, only, has been developed; and that by natural sciences and natural truths of the Word.

The first day, or state of light, was when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, or excited the affection of the common knowledge of the mind, to see the literal truth of the commandments, causing light or day to be in the mind from God.

The second day or state was when man began to love the truth, and to distinguish between truth loved, and truth only seen: so that he could then divide the wa

ters or truths which were in the understanding from those in the will.

The third day or state was when he began to do the good works, from the union of this love and this truth; denoted by the earth or natural mind bringing forth grass, and herbs, and trees. Thus, the first three days have relation to the understanding, the will, and the action of the natural mind; or to faith, charity and works.

The first day, is the truth seen and acknowledged ; the second, is the truth yielded to and loved; the third, is truth obeyed from love, or through faith and charity. This brings the natural mind, or external man, into outward order, by means of natural faith, charity and works, through the literal truth of the Word. But it does not make him a spiritual man. Yet he never could become a spiritual man, till after he had passed through this process. "First that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual."

But the fourth day opens our heaven, or internal mind, to the reception of the glorious light of the internal sense of the Word, symbolized by the sun, moon and stars. This light is to come down from our heaven to our earth, to spiritualize the whole natural mind, filling everything with new light and higher life, making natural truth as spiritual; or turning the water into wine; causing our whole natural mind to act from spiritual influences. This change is what God means when he says, "Behold, I make all things new." And for this purpose, the history continues, "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving

creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." Thus the waters, the natural truths of the mind become illuminated and impregnated with spiritual life from the Lord, the spiritual Sun. And the history says they brough forth great whales and every living creature that moveth. That is they brought forth the great sciences of the spiritual doctrines of the Word, and the science of correspondences. And these are indeed great whales. They are the largest scientifics in the sea, or knowledge of the human mind. And thence the very thoughts become spiritually alive. These thoughts are signified by the birds that fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

"And the evening and the morning were the fifth day." The evening is the state of shade and doubt, which we first have in the natural mind, respecting the spiritual sense of the Word; and the morning is the state which follows the descent of spiritual light from the heaven of the mind into the natural plane. Here we have the fifth day, or state of development, when the natural mind becomes receptive of spiritual light from the kingdom of heaven within. We now give God the glory for every true thought, and for every scientific and rational principle of our mental earth.

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind and it was so.' Here by the aid of the sun of love, and the moon of faith, and the stars of knowledge, in the heaven of the mind, the natural man or earth is enabled to bring forth

beasts and birds, and creeping things which have life: or all good affections, true thoughts, and kind actions. Before the heavens were opened, when we had not the Sun of Righteousness in our heart, or did not truly love the Lord as spirit and life, our earthly mind brought forth nothing but grass, herbs and trees; or the fruits of natural obedience. But now, it brings forth spiritual things, living affections, and heavenly thoughts, signified by beasts, birds, cattle, and creeping things that have life. This is a glorious state of the church when we are filled with true light and life, with heavenly thoughts and feelings of every variety. As this propitious state is reached in the progress of regeneration, and man is about to be completed as far as the spiritual degree, God continues the history by saying, "Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness." That is Let us now complete the spiritual work, and bring man more fully up into our image, after our likeness. Let us give him what makes him more fully a man, which is "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." To have dominion over all these things is simply for man to have the government of himself; to control all his thoughts, feelings, affections, passions, and propensities. In this light only can this Scripture be understood. For what dominion has man over the eagle that flies above the mountain summit; or over the wild beast of the impenetrable forest, or the monsters of the unknown deep? But man was to have dominio, over every living creature. Has he got it?

Can he command the soaring vultures or voracious alligators to come down from their heights and up from their depths and stand submissive at his feet, and they He may shoot them; or entrap and encage

He may lead them by

obey him? them, but that is no dominion. their appetites, or ensnare them by stratagem; but dominion means more than this. He cannot call them out, at the fiat of his will, and march them forth at his command. He has no such dominion. Furthermore, he was to have dominion, not only over these creatures, but also over the earth itself. And what control has he over the earth upon which we stand? It rolls on its axis and pursues its annual round, regardless of the will of man. No: it is his mental earth over which he is to have dominion. He was to possess the government over his external or earthly mind and nature. But in order to do this each human mind is endowed with a will and an understanding which are the male and female elements of that mind. For all dominion, and even action; in any person is from the united power of these elements. The understanding is the male element; and the will, the female. When the will is filled with goodness and the understanding with truth, and they become thereby united, they are prepared to work for a dominion over all the principles of the external mind or earth; and even over the entire earthly mind itself. But this dominion is gained only as the mind, by means of this union, becomes fruitful and multiplies in goods and truths, and thereby replenishes the earth, or external mind, with those new goods and truths, as its evils and falses are removed or sub