Nor is it wrong that they should cherish such a wish. The Lord desires nothing more earnestly than to be understood by his creatures; he wishes them to know him and to love him, for he loves them, and desires to be loved in return. He himself invites them to the use of their reasoning powers: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord." He is no arbitrary sovereign, no despot: he wishes us to be able to give "a reason for all the hope that is in us."+ But, in order that man may be able to give such reason, he must have more light; and now it has come-it has come, by the opening of the Spiritual Sense of the Divine Word, as revealed through the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

SERMON VII.

THE NATURE OF HEAVEN AND HELL; WITH THE ORIGIN OF EVIL.

"Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."-LUKE xvii. 21.

MAN was created for heaven. The single end, which the good Creator had in view, in forming this grand and beautiful universe, and filling it with intelligent beings, was, that with these his creatures he might form a heaven, where they might be happy and blessed for ever. God is Love; and it is the nature of love, to wish to bless, and do good to, some being out of itself and distinct from itself. It is not satisfied with its own selfish enjoyment; indeed, it is not in its enjoyment, it is not in its essential happiness, but while it is looking out of itself, and seeing and making others happy. Such is the nature of love; and such, therefore, is the nature of God. And being such, God could not, without doing violence to his own nature, have refrained from using his Divine power in the creation of beings distinct from himself, whom he might

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bless and make happy. This was the end of creation; and the being created for this end was man. Such is the first great doctrine of the New Church, concerning God and his creation.

The being thus created, was endowed by his Maker with all the powers and capacities, which could fit him for the reception of the blessings which He intended to confer upon him. He was formed after his Maker's own image and likeness; that so, having in himself a nature analogous, in its finite degree, to the Divine Nature in its Infinity, he might be capable of receiving from his bountiful Creator the full stream of blessed

ness, which He was ready and longed to pour out upon him, from the ever flowing and exhaustless fountain of His own Divine love. The powers and faculties thus bestowed on man, were, indeed, indefinite in number and variety, but yet they were such as to be all comprehended under two general heads, in order to correspond to the two universal Principles, which constitute the Divine Nature itself. Those two Divine Principles are Love and Wisdom; and the two general faculties in man corresponding to those two Principles and receptive of them, are the will and the understanding; the will, to receive the Divine Love,—and the understanding, to receive the Divine Wisdom or Truth. Man, being endowed by his Maker with these powers and capacities, was now prepared to receive all the joy, delight, and happiness, which could be poured upon him from that inexhaustible fountain, the Divine Blessedness itself; and thus he was, indeed, to become the likeness of his Creator, not only by the

possession of faculties corresponding to those principles which constitute the Divine Nature, but also by having those faculties and capacities filled to the full with peace, joy, and inmost delight, resembling, in its finite degree, the Infinite Joy of God Himself. For the Love and Wisdom which are constituent of the Divine Being, have within them, and carry with them, all delight and happiness: whoever, therefore, receives into himself those two heavenly principles from God, receives also, and just in the same degree, happiness and blessedness. Man, therefore, being created with faculties expressly formed and adapted for a full reception of the Divine love and wisdom, was thus fitted for the reception of all happiness also. He had only to open his will, his heart, to receive the inflowing stream of love from God, and then to pour it out again, in the sweet exercise and delightful use of it, abroad upon his fellow-creatures, and back towards the Being who gave it, he had only to do this, and he would find that to love was to be happy. Again, he had only to lift up his understanding, and spread it out for the reception of the glorious light of Divine wisdom, ever poured on the mind of man, and then to use that light to guide him in the way of life, in the exercise of love, and in doing good,-and he would find that truth is sweet and pleasant in the understanding, when united with heavenly love in the will. Thus was man made ready and prepared for life and for happiness; and such life and happiness, lasting and increasing to eternity, is heaven. And thus was man made for heaven.

Such is the New Church view of the Creator, and of the end and object of creation. God created man that He might bless him and make him happy for ever; or, in other words, God created the human race, that with them and out of them he might form a heaven, where they might dwell in all happiness and blessedness to eternity. This, and no other, was the end of creation; and all things in the universe are but means to this one grand end. The globe on which we live, with all things of it, is but a great storehouse of means to this single end. The whole mineral kingdom, and the vegetable, and the animal, with their numberless particulars, are all intended to subserve this one purpose; and all, more or less directly, more or less remotely, are thus subservient to it. They are all made for the use of man, as man himself is made for heaven. The sun that gives us light by day, and the moon that is our lamp at night, were set in their places in the heavens, and perform their perpetual task, for this sole end. The changing seasons of the year, the budding spring, the glowing summer, the fruitful autumn,-and winter, that dull but not useless chrysalis state, as it were, in which the old year is turning into the new,-all these, with the wind and the rain, fire and water, earth, air, every thing— all, all exist but for the one grand purpose of preparing man for his eternal dwelling-place in heaven. The stars, also, that glitter in the sky at night, those other myriad suns that fill the universe around us— as they twinkle silently, each in its place-are all shining for the same end; pouring forth their light