(Mr. Alcott here enlarged his emblem, and ended with asking,) Have any of you ever been in the pig-sty? (Some confessed.) ANDREW. The kingdom of heaven is a good nursery. The pig-sty is a place of punishment. MR. ALCOTT. The kingdom of heaven is not a place. The kingdom is in our spirits. JOSIAH. I should think Herod's palace was a place of punishment. CHARLES. The kingdom of heaven is in our spirits, if they are good. Spiritual MR. ALCOTT. What is meant by the words 66 Illumination. light is sprung up"? CHARLES. The light was Conscience. They were said to sit in shadow, because the darkness had not passed away. MR. ALCOTT. Is death a shadow? (Some thought so.) Of what? (No answer.) Of Life. Death is the absence of Life. Jesus brought "life and immortality to light," and chased away the darkness of death and fear. CONVERSATION XXXII. SPIRITUAL PURITY. HOLINESS. Interview between Jesus and the Woman of Samaria, from the Sacred Text. --Emblem of Holiness. Blindness of Sensualism. - Materialism of the Outward Senses. - Sensuality. Emblem of Spiritual Purity. of Sensuality. Fruits of Purity. Renewal. - Perpetuity of Holiness. Purity. Immortality. Mr. Alcott read the Emblem Spiritual Spiritual CONVERSATION OF JESUS WITH THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. JOHN iv. 1-15. 1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Vulgar Era, 27. Spirituality. Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and Julian Period, 4740. Samaria. baptized more disciples than John, 2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3 He left Judæa, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called * Gen. xxxiii. 19. Sychar, near to the parcel of ground * that Jacob gave to his and xlviii. 22. Josh. xxiv. 32. son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Je sus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a wo 70 Vulgar Æra, 27. man of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Julian Period, Samaritans. 4740. Samaria. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again : 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. MR. ALCOTT. What interested you most? JOSEPH. S. The living water. spiritual water. Emblem of MR. ALCOTT. What do you spiritual water? JOSEPH. I cannot express it - it is truth. It means mean by MR. ALCOTT. What is the use of common water? JOSEPH. It cleanses. JOSIAH. It makes you better. her he would give her truth. Blindness of Jesus meant to tell MR. ALCOTT. Did the woman understand that Jesus meant truth by water? FRANKLIN. No; she thought of water for the body. EDWARD J. You know she asked him what he was going to draw with; and that shows she thought it was some common stream that he spoke of. MR. ALCOTT. What part of her nature did she use in this conversation? EDWARD J. Her outward eyes. MR. ALCOTT. Do you ever use your outward eyes when you should use inward faculties; and misunderstand, like this woman, who was not spiritual ? CHARLES. He told her that if she knew who it was that was speaking to her, she would also know what he meant. MR. ALCOTT. How would she know? CHARLES. Because if she knew his nature she would know that he spoke in emblems. Materialism of the Outward Senses. MR. ALCOTT. Is it possible for an unspiritual person to understand emblems? CHARLES. Not without their being explained. MR. ALCOTT. Think now what boys and girls, in this school, find it most difficult to understand emblems:— are they the most passionate, the most devoted to their appetites? (There was no answer.) But there are exceptions to this rule. SAMUEL R. This woman did not understand. MR. ALCOTT. She was one of those material people who ask the eyes to settle every thing. NATHAN. Spiritual water will never go away. Sensuality. W. AUGUSTUS. He meant he could make her better. She did not understand, but I don't think it was wrong; for she had never been taught about figures of speech. MR. ALCOTT. these? Is it necessary to be taught about W. AUGUSTUS. Yes; when one has gone down into the passions. MR. ALCOTT. How does that happen in a man? W. AUGUSTUS. When he was a baby he was good; but was tempted and could not resist. MR. ALCOTT. Could not? W. AUGUSTUS. Emblem of Purity. Would not. MR. ALCOTT. And so it becomes necessary to lift him up out of a dry place, and refresh there are living springs, the water springs up and is never dry. Have you a living Spring? W. AUGUSTUS. In my spirit. MR. ALCOTT. Has it dried up at all? how has it? Emblem of MR. ALCOTT. You have seen a stagnant pool; a bad effluvia rises from it; a green substance collects on the surface; disagree able reptiles gather round it. Why is this? W. AUGUSTUS. Because no living water comes to it. MR. ALCOTT. What is such a place an emblem of? W. AUGUSTUS. A self-indulgent, bad person. EDWARD J. Beautiful flowers sometimes grow about stagnant waters. MR. ALCOTT. That is true; and bad people do good Some of the spirit and beautiful things sometimes. given them at first is not yet quenched. spirits impurity in them? (No one answered.) Have your Living water flows to purify from all evils, unless you love them. LEMUEL. Spiritual water means every thing that is good for the spirit. Fruits of Purity. MR. ALCOTT. Name some spiritual wa ters. LEMUEL. Love, Faith, Generosity, Hope, Truth. EDWARD J. Joy is spiritual water. |