But when they do, they name the things and hand them over to Conscience. LEMUEL. Where is Conscience? MR. ALCOTT. Conscience is the voice of the Spirit itself, and Conscience offers up what it accepts, to the Divinity. (He then went into the details of the allegory, speaking of the tricks of Fancy, the short-sightedness of Understanding, the inactivity of Reason, the illusions of Imagination; illustrating the disorders of the Soul.) Our Conversation has been long to-day, and we have run over great and deep subjects. We have been seeking to find out the Wisdom and Knowledge of Jesus. Knowledge of God is THEOLOGY. Knowledge of Nature is PHYSIOLOGY. These all are enfolded in the SOUL OF MAN. Life tempts them forth from the Soul. Synthesis of CONVERSATION XXVIII. RENOVATION OF SPIRIT. REGENERATION. Review. — Immortality. — Interview between Jesus and Nicodemus, from the Sacred Text. Idea of Nicodemus.- Faith and its Emblem. - Renewal by Faith. - Spiritual Birth. Renovation. - End of Human Life. -Renovation of Life. - Holiness of Infancy. - Prayer. - Fallen Spirits. - Perversion of Childhood. - Infancy an Emblem of Holiness. MR. ALCOTT. Review. What did we have last ? CHARLES. An allegory on the faculties. MR. ALCOTT. What faculty is most active in you — each? WILLIAM C., LUCIA, FREDERIC, and JOHN B. Imagination. WELLES. Reason. EDWARD J., ALEXANDER, and NATHAN. Fancy. FRANKLIN, AUGUSTINE, and GEORGE B. Fancy and Imagination. CHARLES. Reason and Conscience are on my left side, Imagination is on the right. SAMUEL R. All my faculties work more than Imagination. LEMUEL. Understanding in me. ANDREW. Imagination and Conscience. Once Imagination began first, now Conscience does. MR. ALCOTT. Have you no understanding; do you not wish to know about outward things? ANDREW. Yes; but I cannot, for my Imagination interrupts me. JOSEPH. I fist look for what is good, and then for what is true. MR. ALCOTT. A perfect man uses all these faculties. CHARLES. When he is dead, he may be called Sleeping Beauty. Immortality. MR. ALCOTT. No; rather Risen Beauty. (All rose, but did not speak.) Where did we leave Jesus ? SEVERAL. Driving the people out of the temple of Jerusalem. MR. ALCOTT. While he was at Jerusalem at the feast. Mr. Alcott then read the INTERVIEW BETWEEN JESUS AND NICODEMUS. JOHN iii. 1-21. 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Before the Vulgar Era, 27. Human Before the Vulgar Era, 27. 4740. Jerusalem. * Num. xxi. 9. † 1 John iv. 9. Ch. xii. 47. Idea of Nicodemus. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify shat we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven 14 * And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For Gol sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Mr. Alcott asked what interested them most. 2 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. JOSEPH. Jesus' saying he must be born again. That means that when the body dies the spirit is born again. The spirit is born first when the body is born; and then it is born again when the body dies. AUGUSTINE. Nicodemus coming at night. He did so because he did not wish the people to know that he inclined to believe on Jesus, lest they should take him out of office. It would have been better in him to go by day. CHARLES. Why, I thought to get up after he was gone to bed, showed great interest in Jesus - but perhaps Augustine's thought is right about his motive. I imagined Nicodemus in bed, thinking about Jesus, and at last getting up to go and be instructed. SAMUEL T. I was interested about the serpent's biting. GEORGE K. And I. The "Son of man's being lifted up " means that angels lift men when they die. Faith and its MR. ALCOTT. Are not men lifted up till they die? MR. ALCOTT. What are the names of the angels you spoke of? JOSIAH and OTHERS. Faith. Love. Peace. Truth. GEORGE K. Oh, I have another thought now. The Son's "being lifted up" means Jesus being made perfect by Love, and Peace; and people's looking at him, means that we are made better by faith in him. JOSIAH. Jesus likened this world to a wilderness, and his being in it, to the serpent's being lifted up. ANDREW. It was a sign of faith for the people to look at the serpent; but their faith cured the bites. MR. ALCOTT. So faith can cure the serpent bites. Renewal by Faith. ANDREW. Very deep faith could. MR. ALCOTT. Can you tell of any thing else of this kind that faith does? ANDREW. Why, in our Saviour's times, some came to life because they believed in Jesus. MR. ALCOTT. Is there no such faith now? ANDREW. No. MR ALCOTT. this faith? If you were sick, could you exercise |