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The man who explores himself for the purpose of doing the work of repentance, must closely examine the thoughts and intentions of his will, and must thence infer what he would do, were he permitted, that is, if not restrained by the fear of the laws, and the loss of reputation, of honour, and of gain; for the evils of man reside in his thoughts and intentions, and from these proceed all the evil actions which he commits in the body. This is self-examination. But they who do not explore the evils of their thought and will, cannot do the work of repentance; for they both think and desire afterwards as they did before; and to will or desire evil is virtually to do it.

Repentance, which consists merely in words, and does not affect the life, is not repentance; neither are sins remitted by such repentance, but only by repentance of life. Sins are, indeed, continually remitted to man by the Lord, for the Lord is mercy itself; but still they adhere to man, however he may think they are remitted, nor are they removed from him but by a life according to the precepts of true faith. So far as man lives according to those precepts, so far his sins are removed; and so far as they are removed, so far they are remitted.

It is commonly supposed that, when sins are remitted, they are wiped away, or washed off, as filth is by water; but sins are not wiped away, but removed; that is, man is withheld from them when he is kept in good by the Lord; and when this is the case, it appears to him as if he were without his sins, thus as if they were wiped away. And so far as man is reformed, so far he is capable of being kept in good.

He who supposes that sins are remitted in any other way is

greatly deceived.

The evidences that accompany the remission, that is, the removal, of sins, are the following. They whose sins are remitted experience a delight in worshipping God for His own sake, and in serving the neighbour for the sake of the neighbour;-in doing good for the sake of good, and in speaking truth for the sake of truth. Such persons disclaim all merit in the exercise of their charity and faith; they are utterly averse to all evils, as enmity, hatred, revenge, adultery, and not only do they shun them, but they abhor the very thought of them connected with any intention. But the evidences that sins are not remitted, or removed, are these. They whose sins are not remitted do not worship God for His own sake, nor serve the neighbour for his own sake; thus they do not do good and speak truth for the sake of good and truth, but for the sake of themselves and the world. They claim merit

on account of their deeds: they perceive nothing undelightful in evils, such as enmity, hatred, revenge, and adultery; and inflamed with these lusts, they cherish the thought of them in all licentiousness.

The repentance which takes place in a state of freedom is effectual, but that which is produced in a state of compulsion is not so. A state of compulsion is that arising from sickness, or dejection of mind induced by misfortunes; from the expectation of imminent death; and, in short, from any state of fear which takes away the free use of reason. A wicked man, in a state of compulsion, may promise repentance, and perform good actions; but as soon as he regains a state of freedom, he returns to his former life of evil. With a good man the case is otherwise.

When a man has examined himself, acknowledged his sins, and done the work of repentance, he must continue steadfastly persevering in the practice of what is good, even to the end of his life. For should he afterwards relapse into his former evil life, and embrace it, he becomes guilty of profanation ; since he then conjoins evil with good, and his latter state becomes worse than the former; according to the words of the Lord: "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first" Matthew xii. 43, 44, 45. N. J. H.D. 159-169.

That sins, when they are remitted, are also removed, is an error of the present time, and in that error are they, who believe that their sins are remitted by the sacrament of the Supper, although they have not removed them from themselves by repentance. In the same error are those who believe they shall be saved by faith alone; also they, who believe they shall be saved by papal indulgences; for all such believe in immediate mercy, and instantaneous salvation. But when this belief is inverted, viz. when it is believed that on the removal of sins, they are also remitted, then the truth appears, for repentance must precede remission, and without repentance there is no remission; wherefore the Lord commanded the disciples that they should preach repentance for the remission of sins, Luke xxiv. 47; and John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, Luke iii. 3. The

Lord remits sins to all, neither accusing nor imputing, but still he cannot take them away except according to the laws of His divine Providence. D. P. 280.

Verse 4. The book of the words of Esaias.-That by the Book is understood the Word, may be seen in Psalms xl. 8; Ezek. ii. 8, 9; Luke iii. 4; xx. 42; A. R. 256.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness.-From many other passages it may be manifest what is signified by these words, viz., that the church at that time was altogether vastated, so that there was no longer any good, or any truth, which is very manifest from this consideration, that at that time no one knew that man had any internal principle, nor that there was any internal principle in the Word, thus neither that the Messiah or Christ was to come to save them to eternity. A. C. 2708. See also Exposition, chap. i. 80.

That the church, which acknowledges faith alone, has extinguished that essential truth (the Divinity of the Lord's Humanity) is a known thing; for who in such a church believes the Humanity of the Lord to be Divine? Is not such a proposition held in aversion? When yet it was believed in the ancient churches, that the Lord, Who was about to come into the world, was a Divine Man, and He likewise, when seen by them, was called Jehovah, as is evident fromseveral passages in the Word; suffice it for the time to adduce only this passage from Isaiah, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, and make plain in the desert a path for our God," xl. 3; that these words were spoken of the Lord, and that a way was prepared and a path made plain for Him by John the Baptist, is manifest from the Evangelists, Matt. iii. 3; Mark i. 3; Luke iii. 4; John i. 23; and besides from the Lord's words themselves, that He was "one with the Father, and the Father in Him, and He in the Father;" also that "all power was given unto Him in the heavens and in the earth;" and likewise "that judgment was committed to Him;" he who has only a slight knowledge concerning power on heaven and on earth, and concerning judgment, may know that they are nothing, unless the Lord Himself were Divine even as to His Humanity. A. C. 4727.

Verse 5. Every valley shall be filled, &c.—A valley denotes what is lowly; a mountain and hill what is elate; the crooked being made straight denotes the evil of ignorance turned into good, for length, and the things of length, are predicated of good; the rough ways being made smooth denote that the

falses of ignorance shall be turned into truths, for dicated of truth.

A. C. 3527.

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Verse 6. All flesh, &c.-In the Word the spirit is opposed to the flesh, since by the spirit is signified life from the Lord, and by the flesh life from man. Moreover in the Word throughout mention is made of all flesh, and by it is meant every man. A. C. 10,283.

Shall see the salvation of God.-See Exposition, chap. i. 35, 69, 71; ii. 11, 30.

Verse 7. He said to the multitudes that came to be baptized, &c.-John was the prophet who was sent to prepare a way for Jehovah-God about to descend into the world, and accomplish the work of redemption; and he prepared that way by baptism, and at the same time by proclaiming the Lord's advent; for without such preparation all who were then living would have been smitten with a curse, and would have perished. The reason why a way was prepared by the baptism of John, was, because it served to introduce mankind into the future church of the Lord, and to insert them in heaven amongst those who expected and desired the Messiah, so that they could be guarded by the angels, that the devils might not break forth from hell and destroy them; in reference to which it is written in Malachi, "Who may abide the day of His coming?" and, "I will send Elijah the prophet lest I come and smite the earth with a curse," iii. and iv; in like manner, in Is. xiii. 9, 13; xxii. 5, 12; not to mention other passages; from which it is evident that unless a way had been prepared for Jehovah, when descending into the world, by baptism, the effect of which, in heaven, was such as to occasion the closing up of the hells, and so to guard the Jews from total destruction, they must have perished before Him. John also preached Christ and His coming when he baptized, hence it is plain how he prepared the way.

The baptism of John represented the cleansing of the external man, whereas the baptism at this day administered amongst Christians, represents the cleansing of the internal man, which is regeneration. It is therefore written that John baptized with water, but that the Lord baptized with the Holy Spirit and with Fire, and hence the baptism of John is called the "baptism of repentance." The Jews who were

baptized were merely external men, and the external man cannot become internal without faith in Christ. That they who were baptized with the baptism of John became internal men by receiving faith in Christ, and were then baptized in the

name of Jesus, may be seen in the Acts of the Apostles, xix. 3-6. T. C. R. 688-690. See also Exposition. chap.

i. 17.

O generation of vipers.-All evil has its rise from the sensual principle and also from the scientific, which at first were signified by the serpent; wherefore now it signifies every kind of evil itself, and in particular self-love, or hatred against our neighbour, and against the Lord, which is the same thing with self-love. This evil or hatred, by reason of its being manifold, and consisting of various genera, and still more various species, is distinguished in the Word by different kinds of serpents, as by snakes, cockatrices, asps, hæmorrhoids, presters or fiery serpents, flying and creeping serpents, and by vipers, according to the differences of the poison, which is hatred; as in Isa. "Out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent" xiv. 12. The serpents' root means the sensual and scientific principle; the cockatrice means evil originating in the false principle thence derived; the fiery flying serpent means the Îust or concupiscence which is of self-love. The same things are described in other terms, Isa. lix. 5; "They hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper." This serpent, Gen. iii., is called in the Revelations, the great and red dragon and the old serpent, and also the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world, xii. 3, 9; xx. 2. In these and other passages, by the devil is not meant any particular devil or prince of the rest, but the whole crew of wicked spirits, and also evil itself. A. C. 251.

Vipers are they who are most deceitful. A. C. 5608.

Verse 8. Bring forth fruits.-Fruits denote works of charity, because the first of a tree is the fruit in which is the seed and the last of a tree is the fruit in which is the seed, and the intermediates are branches or leaves; the case is the same with the good of love and the truth of faith; the good of love is the first when man is being regenerated or planted, and is also the last; the intermediates are the truths of faith, which are derived from the good of love as from their seed, and continually respect the good of love as their last, in like manner as the intermediates of a tree respect their fruits in which is the seed. A. C. 7690. See also Exposition, chap. vi. 34, 44.

God is able of these stones, &c.—That by stones are signified ultimate truths upon which the interior truths of the Word are founded, may be seen in the A. C. n. 643, 1298, &c. Inasmuch as by stones, in the Word, are signified truths

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