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WHY THE WICKED ARE PERMITTED TO BE BORN.

keep in mind the New Church view of it as a state of evil which the wicked choose for themselves, as the Scripture declares-"Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of this evil family."* I say, even for the wicked, existence is better than non-existence. In proof of this, we may adduce what our author teaches concerning profaners. He states that those who commit profanation by mixing good and evil together in themselves, which is done by reforming and leading a good life, and afterwards returning to evil again,—that such profaners after death lose their humanity, so that they are no longer called he or she, but IT. (D. P. 226-7.) And those who are in this state, he says, are in the deepest of the hells. (A. C. 10,287.) Thus the state which is nearest to annihilation, is pronounced to be the deepest hell; whence it would follow that annihilation or (what is the same thing) non-existence is worse than the deepest hell.

Now, then, we have the argument complete. God creates men: by necessity He leaves them free to choose good or evil. If they choose good, they are blessed for ever; if they choose evil, still their existence, miserable as it is, is better than non-existence, or than if they had not been created; and, at the same time, they are made of use to others. Thus the Lord's mercy appears in every case; and thus the question is answered, Why the wicked are permitted to be born. London.

O. P. H.

THE PRODIGAL SON.

No. II.

By the late Rev. S. NOBLE.

"And He said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living," &c.-LUKE xv. 11, to the end.

Of all the divinely engaging discourses of the Lord Jesus Christ when on earth, there is none that is more so than that recorded in the 15th chapter of Luke; and of all the interesting and affecting parables in which He conveyed the dictates of Divine Wisdom and Love, there is not any which is more universally and deeply felt to be of this character than that of the parable of the Prodigal Son. None, also, can be regarded as of greater interest and moment, considered in a doctrinal point of view; for in none are doctrines of more cardinal importance delivered, and that in the plainest manner. No doctrines and truths can possibly be of greater importance than those which discover to man the essential

* Jer. viii. 3.

nature of the Lord, and shew how the sinner is to proceed to obtain the restoration of the Divine grace and acceptance; and these most momentous and interesting of subjects are clearly exhibited on the very face of the Divine parable before us. On this account we made the instruction of this parable, as apparent in its literal sense, the subject of our last discourse. We then dwelt at some length on the delightful picture which it presents of the inexhaustible goodness and mercy of our Heavenly Father, of whom the father in our text, who had two sons, is so obviously a type.

But, as I observed on a former occasion, when considering the first parable of this chapter-that of the Lost Sheep, which, with that of the Lost Piece of Silver, precedes the parable of the Prodigal Son-the same general lesson, exhibiting the pure love and mercy of our Heavenly Father, and His readiness to receive the sinner on repentance, is taught by all the three parables which thus so remarkably follow each other; and as there can be nothing like mere tautology in the Word of God, it is evident that there must be some particular reason for the Lord's conduct in delivering three successive parables, from which the same lesson only is deducible in their literal sense.* The reason is to be sought in the spiritual sense which all the discourses of the Lord Jesus Christ-and, indeed, the whole of the Divine Word-necessarily contain in their bosom. In their spiritual sense, as I then also observed, these three parables refer specifically to the three distinct degrees which true theology and true metaphysics abundantly demonstrate to exist in the human mind—how little soever the existence of such a distinction of degrees may be recognised by the common theology and metaphysics of the day. The Lord Jesus Christ came, as He repeatedly assures us, to seek and to save that which was lost. It is in reference, then, to the saving of what was lost in the highest region of the human mind, which may be called the celestial mind-or rather, to the restoring of what man had lost by the closing of the celestial part of his mind-that the Lord delivers the parable of the Lost Sheep. It is in reference to the saving of what was lost in the middle region of the human mind, which may be called the spiritual mind-or rather, to the restoring of what man had lost by the closing of the spiritual part of his mind-that the Lord delivers the parable of the Lost Piece of Silver. And it is in reference to the saving of what was lost in the lowest region of the mind, which may be called the natural mind-or rather, to the restoring of what he had lost by the separating of the natural part of his mind from

* The Sermons on the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Piece of Silver, have already been published in a separate form, by Mr. Hodson.

the interiors, or of the external man from the internal-that the Lord delivers the parable of the Prodigal Son. And as it is the natural mind alone which is the seat of man's evils, and which alone is the subject of regeneration, therefore the parable of the Prodigal Son is narrated with many more particulars than the others, and in it we have a picture of what is experienced by every man, more or less fully, who becomes regenerate, and thus is restored to conjunction of life with his Heavenly Father.

That the natural mind of man consists also of two parts, one of which belongs to his will principle, and the other to his intellectual principle (whence, among the inhabitants of the first heaven, consisting of those who are regenerated as to the natural mind, or so as to open the interiors of the natural mind only, there are angels of two classes, who may be called celestial-natural and spiritual-natural respectively),-this is a truth clearly shown in the doctrines of our church; and to represent this we have various accounts in the Holy Word of pairs of brethren, as of Pharez and Zarah, the twin sons of Judah; and of Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac. No doubt a reference to this general truth is involved, when it is said in the parable that "a certain man had two sons." It is no less certain that in some individuals of mankind one of these principles is more prominently developed, and in others the other. We are to consider the two sons, therefore, as representing these two species of characters among mankind, the younger as the type of a general class of individuals of one specific character, and the elder as the type of a general class of individuals of another specific character.

The younger son, then, appears obviously as the type of those who, when they arrive at the age of reason, and are endowed with all the faculties and powers by the right use of which they may attain the true perfection of their nature, for a time abuse these faculties to purposes very different from those for which they were bestowed upon them, till, awakened to a sense of the wretched condition to which they are thus reduced, they exercise real repentance, turning away entirely from their evil course of life, and so returning into conjunction with their Divine and Heavenly Father. The younger son also represents those who, without going into the depths of criminality, are made sensible of the evils existing in their nature, by being let into temptations; from which they are enabled to appreciate, at something like their true value, the heavenly endowments of which the Lord is the author, and rise to communion with Him through that deep state of humiliation which results from a full reception of special graces. And, in reality, this is the most genuine sense of the parable; for, as I have often taken occasion

to show, they come most fully into the good of repentance, and receive most fully of every heavenly attainment, who come into the acknowledgment of their own evils, by nature and inheritance, without going far into them in actual practice.

"The younger of them said unto his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living." In these words we are presented with a description of the state of man when he arrives at the age of reason, and begins to think and act for himself. In the time of infancy and childhood, the mind of man is formed internally by the influence and operation of the Lord, and externally through the medium of instruction from others; and in this state there is nothing appertaining to the incipient man that can be regarded as altogether and properly his own, his ideas being rather those of others, imbibed from imitation or from authority, than the actual ideas of the young person himself. He thinks and acts from them, indeed; but so long as the faculty of rationality remains undeveloped, not being adopted under the view of his own reason, they are not such as he is altogether accountable for, and thus do not fully belong to him as his own. He thinks as others have taught him to think, and he acts according to the dictation of his elders. But when the faculty of reason unfolds itself, he begins to feel a sort of independence of mind, and desires to think and to act for himself. The arrival at this state, and the operation of the desire, are indicated by the younger son's saying to his father" Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." And that it is given to man accordingly, that from that time he is permitted to act from the dictates of his own mind, the furniture of which, being appropriated by his rational faculty, becomes thenceforward, in appearance at least, his own, is indicated by the statement that the father-who is the obvious type of the Heavenly Father, from whom man derives everything good that he possesses-"divided unto them his living." He not only gave a portion to the younger son, who asked for it, but also to the elder, who did not; which indicates that thus to appropriate the ideas and feelings which have been infused from a heavenly source into the mind, and to act from their own reason, is given to all-both to those who more particularly claim and desire it, and to those who are not so actively conscious of this change in the state of their minds, and who even continue, as many do, to act and think all their lives from principles received upon the authority of others. The change, however, takes place with all, whether they themselves reflect upon it or not, who live to the period of the development of the rational faculty, or who become adult human creatures. To all the

Heavenly Father divideth His living-or he endows them, as their own, with those powers and faculties, and with those principles of truth and goodness, received first through the medium of outward instructors, by which they may become His children indeed, by being spiritually bornthat is, born again of Him.

Now, my brethren, let us pause here, and reflect upon the provision thus mercifully made for our good by the Father of Mercies, and to enable us to realize the full benefit of which provision our Creator was pleased also to become our Redeemer.

Everything that we possess which is truly good, and directly conducive to our attaining the state of good and blessedness for which we were designed when we were created human beings, is a gift to us from our Heavenly Father, whatever may have been the inferior mediums through which it was presented to our minds. From infancy our faculties are gradually opened, apparently by instruction from without and by communication with others; but whatsoever is thus introduced to the mind owes its reception and actual introduction to an internal operation of the Lord, either immediately from Himself, or through the medium of angelic attendants. In this manner are first inseminated in the infant mind principles of love and charity, and thus of goodness in general, in the form of affection to parents, brothers and sisters, and other young companions. How admirably, for example, is this provided for in that disposition which parents universally, and most other persons who have the care of children, constantly exhibit, to lavish on infants all sorts of demonstrations of tenderness; in a manner, even, which, to an uninterested observer, may often seem trifling and ridiculous! But trifling and ridiculous as in themselves may appear many of the forms in which parents and others display love to young children, they proceed from a principle implanted in the human breast by Infinite Wisdom, no less than by Infinite Love. They compose a language which the infant soon learns to understand; which is the means of awakening a corresponding chord in its yet unfurnished but susceptible bosom, and through which, as a medium, a principle of love and goodness is inseminated from the Lord into its mind, to form part of that spiritual stock, called in our text, most expressively, "his living;" from which, when he attains the age of reason, he is to begin to love what is good as from himself, and to proceed in the work of his regeneration.

In the same manner are inseminated into the minds of children and youths, matters of knowledge respecting what is good and true, and respecting the Lord, all which are derived originally from the Word, and are implanted in the mind by being united with some affection,