his Obfervation; for he is as a Fountain whose Water is impure, by Reason of the Impurity of it's Source. His religious Exercises therefore are either merely the Effect of Habit, or they are meritorious, or they are hypocritical; they afcend indeed towards Heaven, but in their Way thither they receive another Direction, and fall down, like Smoak driven downwards by the Wind.

26. It hath been given me to fee and hear many after Death, who were enumerating their good Works, and Exercifes of Piety, such as are mentioned above, n. 24, 25, and still more than those: Amongst them I also faw fome who had Lamps and no Oil; and Inquiry was made whether they had fhunned Evils as Sins, and it was found that they had not; wherefore it was declared to them that they were evil; they were also feen afterwards to enter Caverns, where there were evil Spirits of a fimilar Kind.

27. III. The Reason why Man hath no Wifdom, unless he fhunneth Evils as Sins, notwithstanding his being very skilful and wife in many Things, is, because his Wifdom is from himself, and not from the Lord; as for Example; if he be skilful in Church-Doctrines, and hath a perfect Knowledge of whatever relates thereto; if he knoweth how to confirm fuch Doctrines by the Word of God, and by his own Reasonings; if he be verfed in the Doctrines of former Churches, and at the fame Time in the Decrees of all Councils; nay, if he even knoweth Truths, and also seeth and understandeth them, so as to be perfectly acquainted with the Nature of Faith, of Charity, of Piety, of Repentance and the Remiffion of Sins, of Regeneration, of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, of the Lord, and of Redemption and Salvation, ftill he is not wife, unless he fhunneth Evils as Sins, for until Evils are fo fhunned, Knowledges are without Life, as appertaining to the Understanding

only,

only, and not to the Will, in which Cafe they presently perish for a Reason spoken of above, n. 15; after Death also the Man himself cafts them off, because they do not agree with the Love-Principle of his Will. Still however Knowledges are most neceffary, because they teach how a Man ought to act, and when he bringeth them into Act, then they become alive in him, and not before.

28. All that has been faid above is taught in many Paffages of the Word, of which it may fuffice to adduce the following. The Word teaches that no one can be in Good and at the fame time in Evil, or, what is the fame Thing, that no one can, as to the Soul, be in Heaven and at the fame Time in Hell. This is taught in the following Paffages, "No one can ferve two Mafters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or he will cleave to the one and defpife the other; ye cannot ferve God and Mammon," Matt. vi. 24. "How can ye,

being evil, fpeak good Things? for out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaketh; a good Man out of the good Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth good Things, and an evil Man out of evil Treasure bringeth forth evil Things," Matt. xii. 34, 35. "A good Tree bringeth not forth evil Fruit, neither doth an evil Tree bring forth good Fruit: Every Tree is known by it's own proper Fruit; for Men do not gather Figs from Thorns, nor of a Bramble-Bush gather they Grapes," Luke vi. 43, 44.

29. The Word teaches alfo, that no one can do Good from himself, but from the Lord; "Jefus faid, I am the Vine, and my Father is the Vine-Dresser; every Branch in Me, which beareth not Fruit, he taketh away, but every one that beareth Fruit he wilt prune, that it may bear more Fruit. Abide in Me, and I alfo in you: As the Branch cannot bear Fruit from itfelf, unless it abide in the Vine, fo neither ye unlejs ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the Branches:

Branches; be that abideth in Me, and I in him, the fame beareth much Fruit; for without Me ye can do Nothing. If a Man abide not in Me, he is caft forth as a Branch, and wilbereth, and they gather him, and he is caft into the Fire, and is burned," John xv. I to 6.

30. The Word teaches alfo, that fo far as Man is not purified from Evils, his good Things are not good, nor are his pious Things pious, neither is he wife, and vice verfa; this is taught in the following Paffages, "Wo unto you Scribes and Pharifees, Hypocrites! For ye are like to whitened Sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful without, but within are full of the Bones of the Dead, and of all Uncleanness : fo alfo ye indeed appear outwardly righteous, but within ye are full of Hypocrify and Iniquity: Wo unto you, for ye cleanfe the outfide of the Cup and Platter, but within they are full of Extortion and Excefs! Thou blind Pharifee, cleanfe first the Infide of the Cup