ther, therefore, when they come into another World, and are forced to utter all their wild and extravagant Conceits, they are confidered as having loft their Senfes, and are expelled from all Societies, and at length are caft down into the bottomlefs Pit, mentioned in the Revelation, Chap. ix. 2, where they become corporeal Spirits, and appear like Egyptian Mummies; for the Interiors of their minds contract a hard callous Covering, by Reafon of the Limits with which they were circumfcribed in the World. There is an infernal Soeiety, confifting of fuch Spirits, in the Neighbourhood of the infernal Society of the Machiavelifts, and they are continually paffing from one to the other, but they do not stay long with each other, by Reafon of their Difference in Regard to fome religious Tenet concerning the Act of Juftification by Faith alone, embraced by the former, but rejected by the latter.

After I had feen these Spirits expelled from the Societies, and collected together in Örder to be caft down into the bottomless Pit, I obferved a Ship floating in the Air, having fey en Sails, and in it Pilots and Sailors, clad in purple Gar ments, with Caps adorned with Laurel, who exclaimed with a loud Voice, "Who in Heaven is like unto us? we are tru, ly Learned, diftinguished by our purple Robes, and our Laurel Wreaths, inafmuch as we are foremost on the Lift of wife Men, of all the Clergy in Christendom." I was won dering what this Scenery could mean, when I was informed that it arofe from the conceited Images, and ideal Fancies, called Phantafms, that exhaled from thofe, who had before appeared as Turtles, and who were now expelled from every Society, as Perfons out of their Senfes, and collected in a Body into one Place. Immediately I was feized with a Defire to converfe with them, and accordingly walked towards the Place where they were affembled, and payed my Respects to them, and faid," Are ye the People who have feparated the internal Things of Men from their Externals, and the Operation of the Holy Ghoft, acting as it were within Faith, from it's Co-operation with Man, acting without, or on the Outfide of Faith, whereby ye have removed God from Man? Have ye not thus not only feparated Charity and it's Works from Faith, as many other dignified Clergy have done, but alfo Faith itself, as to it's Manifeftation in the Sight of God, from Man? both Reafon and Holy Scripture are very expli

cit on this Subject, as I could fhew you, if ye were difpofed to hear me ;" and they faid, "Shew us first what are the Dictates of Reason on this Point;" and I faid, "Reason Dictates thus, How is it poffible for the Internal and External of Man to be feparated from each other? who doth not or might not fee plainly, by Virtue of a Perception common to all Men, that all the interior Things of Man proceed, and are continued to Things exterior, and even to what is most external, in Order to produce their Effects, and perform their Works? Do not internal Things exift for the Sake of external, that they may be terminated thereby, and fubfift therein, and thus exift, juft as a Column doth upon it's Pedestal? How plain is it to fee, that unless there was fuch a Continuation, and confequent Conjunction, the Things moft external must be diffolved, and burft in Pieces, like Bubbles in the Air? Who can deny that the interior Operations of God in Man are a Thousand Times Ten Thoufand in Number, utterly unknown to Man himself; and what fignifies it whether they be unknown, or not, provided only that what is ex treme and moft external be known, wherein Man is joined with God in Will and Thought? But let us illuftrate this Matter by an Example: Is a Man at all acquainted with the interior Operations of his Faculty of Speech, as, how the Lungs draw in the Air, and fill therewith the fmall Veffels, the Bronchias, and the Lobes; how they emit it into the Tranchea, and there convert it into Sound; how that Sound is modified in the Glotis by the Affiftance of the Larynx; and how the Tongue afterwards articulates it, and the Lips complete the Articulation, in Order to it's becoming Speech? Do not all those interior Operations, with which Man is altogether unacquainted, exift for the Sake of the last, or most external, which is articulate Difcourfe? If you remove or fe. parate any one of those internal Operations, fo as to destroy it's Connection with the laft, or moft external, it would be as impoffible for man to speak as a Stock, or a Stone. Take yet another Example; the two Hands are the ultimate or extreme Parts of the human Body, but do not the Interiors, which are continued thereto, defcend from the Head through the Neck, and alfo through the Breaft, the Shoulders, the Arms, and Elbows are there not innumerable muscular Textures, innumerable Orders of moving Fibres, innumerable Folds of Nerves

and Blood Veffels, with feveral Articulations of Bones, with their Ligaments and Membranes, with which Man is utterly unacquainted? and yet are not all and every one of these unknown Subftances neceffary, for the Operation of the Hands? Suppofing thofe interior Parts to be reflected back to the left or right, about the joints of the Hand, and not to be continued therein, would not the Hand in fuch Cafe neceffarily fall from the Elbow, and putrify like Something inanimate, that was feparated from all Connection with the Sourfe of it's Life? Doubtlefs, under fuch Circumftances, it would be with the Hand, as it is with the Bôdy, when a Man is beheaded. And juft fo would it be alfo with the human Mind, and with it's two Lives, the Will and the Understanding, fuppofing the Divine Operations, relative to Faith and Charity, fhould ftop in the Middle of their Courfe, and not proceed by a continued Connection to unite with Man; in fuch Cafe Man would not only have every Property of a Brute Beast, but he would also be like a rotten Branch broken off from it's Parent Stock. Thus far I have explained to you the Dictates of Reafon in Regard to this Subject; I fhall now fhew you, if ye are difpofed to hear me, that Holy Scripture, inculcateth the fame Doctrine; for doth not the Lord fay," Abide in Me, and I in you: I am the Vine, ye are the Branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the fame bringeth forth much Fruit," John xvi. 4, 5• Doth not Fruit mean good Works, which

the Lord worketh by Man, and which Man worketh of himfelf from the Lord? Again, the Lord faith, "Behold! I ftand at the Door, and knock; if any Man will open the Door, I will come in to him, and fup with him, and he with me,' Rev. iii. 20. Doth not the Lord give, "Pounds and Talents, to the Intent that Man mould trade with them, and make Profit of them, and in Proportion to fuch' Profit should receive eternal Life?" Matt. xxv. 14 to 34. Luke xix. 13 to 26. And again, "Doth not he give to every one according to the Work he doeth in his Vineyard? Matt. xx. I to 17. But thefe are only a few Paffages felected out of the infinite Number abounding in the Word, and all concurring in the fame Doctrine, that Man ought to bear Fruit like a Tree, that he ought to work in obedience to the Commandments, that he ought to love God and his Neighbour, with many other Duties of a like Nature. I am well aware, however, that your own Intelli

gence, grounded in your own Proprium, or Self-will, is incapable of any Connection with fuch Paffages from the Word, according to their true and proper Senfe, and therefore, notwithstanding ye can read and pronounce fuch Paflages, yet in your Ideas ye pervert them, which is a neceffary Confequence of removing the Things of God from Man, as to Communication and Conjunction; and what must be the Refult of fuch a Removal, but the Alienation alfo of all Things appertaining to true Worship?As I ended thefe Words, the Affembly appeared to me in the Light of Heaven, which difcovereth and manifefteth the true and real Nature of every one, and then they no longer feemed floating aloft in a Ship, as if exalted into Heaven, nor cloathed in Purple, or crowned with Laurel Wreaths, but in a fandy Place, in tattered Garments, having their Loins girt about, as it were, with Fishing Nets, through which their Nakednefs appeared; and immediately @they funk down to a Society bordering on the Machiavelifts,

OXXO

CHAP. VIII. (m)

On FREE-WILL.

463. BEFORE I proceed to deliver the Doctrines of the New Church concerning FREE-WILL, it may be neceflary to premise the Opinions and Tenets maintained by the prefent Church in Regard to that Subject; otherwife it might occur to all reafonable and religious Perfons, that it could answer no Purpose to advance any Thing new on a Point already fo well known and afcertained; for they might urge the general Acknowledgment of this Truth, that in Refpect to fpiritual Things every Man is endowed with Freedom of Will, and that to fuppofe the contrary, would be to overthrow all the End of Preaching and Teaching concerning a Belief in God, concerning Man's Converfion of himself to God, concerning a Life according to God's Commandments, concerning a Refistance against the Concupifcencies of the Flesh, and concerning the Formation of a new Creature, with many other Precepts of a like Nature; all fuch Injunctions, they muft. Q q

VOL. IL.

(m) The Contents of this Chapter are fingularly interefting, and have an efpecial Claim on the Reader's Attention. The Nature of Free-Will is a Subject which hath hitherto been little known or understood, and we will venture to affirm, was never before opened according to it's true fpiritual Ground and Origin. It's Importance however is most notorious, Nothing having a greater tendency to ftrengthen and establish the Soul in Godliness and Well-Doing, than a clear Apprehenfion of it's own native Freedom regarding fpiritual Things, and whence that Freedom is derived; and Nothing on the contrary tending fo to bewilder and deaden the Soul in it's fpiritual Progrefs, as the dark and mistaken Notions which generally prevail on this Subject. We do therefore earnestly recommend this Chapter to the Reader's particular Notice and Attention,