nothing more or less than the principles and per suasions of spiritual thought. I learn further, that both the above kinds of dumbness are in connexion with disorderly spirits, and that they cannot be cured, only so far as those spirits are first cast out. I am yet further instructed, that the manifestation of divine power, as exhibited in the cure of both kinds of dumbness, has a double effect on different minds, exciting in the welldisposed, a sacred awe and adoration, and leading them to exclaim, It was never so seen in Israel; whilst with the ill-disposed it produces a contrary effect of calumny and misinterpretation, leading them to exclaim, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. Lastly, I learn, that in all the words of the BLESSED JESUS, there is a two-fold principle, which He Himself distinguishes by the names of spirit and life; and which is marked in the above history by the terms teaching and preaching, the former having relation to the divine wisdom or truth, and the latter to the divine love or goodness. In agreement with this distinction is that of the opposite principles, or of evil and error, one of which is therefore called sickness, whilst the other is called disease. I am resolved, therefore, henceforth to regard all my powers of speech, whether natural or spiritual, as gifts from the Almighty Dispenser of all good, and to employ them accordingly to His glory, the benefit of my fellow-crea tures, and the consequent promotion of my own salvation. Thus shall I ever, in the use of those powers, be struck with a sacred awe and adora

tion, which will lead me also to exclaim with the multitude of old, It was never so seen in Israel ; and thus too shall I escape the terrible misinterpretation and perversion of miraculous agency, by which the Pharisees of old were deceived, and instead of joining in their infernal cry, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils, I shall joyfully and gratefully ascribe the agency to the inexpressible mercy and omnipotence of the INCARNATE GOD, whose high and holy name is JESUS CHRIST. Lastly, I am resolved to regard all the words of JESUS CHRIST in their two-fold character of spirit and life; in other words, of wisdom and love, or of goodness and truth; and to take good heed to myself lest I ever separate those principles in my own mind, by receiving truth in my understanding without good in my will, or good in my will without truth in my understanding. To the same purpose, I am resolved to distinguish well in myself the opposite principles of evil and error, calling one sickness and the other disease, and to apply to the GREAT REDEEMER for the cure of both, under the full conviction that they never can be cured but by the joint reception of His love, or goodness in my will, and of His wisdom or truth in my understanding, and of both in my life and conversation. AMEN.

94

THE WITHERED HAND

RESTORED.

MATT. xii. 9 to 14.

And when He was departed thence, He went. into their synagogue; and behold, there was a man which had his hand withered, &c. &c. Q. WHAT do you conceive to be meant here by a withered hand?

A. According to the literal or natural idea, by a withered hand is to be understood the member of the body so called, deprived of its life and consequent use, for want of a free circulation of vital powers; but according to the spiritual idea, by a withered hand is to be understood a faculty or power of the human mind, deprived also of its life and energy for want of a free circulation of vital principles. For the hand of the body, as being created to execute the purposes of the soul, is a figure of power, or strength; and since all spiritual power and strength is of two kinds, viz. intellectual and voluntary; the one originating in the understanding, and the other in the will, or the one originating in truth, and the other in good; therefore every man has two

hands, in like manner as he has two eyes, and two ears, the one being intended to express the power of truth in the intellect, whilst the other is intended to express the power derived from good in the will. By the withered hand therefore, recorded in the above history, is spiritually figured the state of the Jewish church at that period, in that it was deprived of one of the above spiritual powers, so that its members were principled either in truth without good, or in good without truth; thus either in understanding without will, or in will without understanding; and this by reason of the want of circulation of the divine principles of heavenly love and wisdom in their minds and lives. Accordingly, in the original tongue, the term rendered withered is expressive of the idea of dryness, and therefore the withered hand might properly have been rendered a dry hand, to denote that the power of truth or of good was dried up, through a defect of the circulation of heavenly life in the interiors of the mind. It is remarkable also that JESUS CHRIST in speaking of the hand which offended, and was to be cut off and cast away, (Matt. v. 30,) confines his observation to the right hand, because the right hand, like the right eye, has respect to the will of man, as the left has respect to the understanding; and therefore JESUS CHRIST, by his injunction to cut off and cast away the offending right hand, meant to inculcate this edifying lesson, that man ought to pay more attention to the evil desires in his will, than to the erroneous persuasions in his

understanding, because all real offence comes from the former, and not at all from the latter, only so far as they are connected with and derived from the former.

Q. But it is written in the history, that the people present proposed this question to the BLESSED JESUS, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? that they might accuse Him: to which He replied, What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold of it, und lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep?- -what instruction do you learn from the above question, and the answer which was given to it?

A. The above question is grounded in a mistaken idea of that rest which is figured by the sabbath, and is involved in it, as if it implied an absolute cessation from all work or operation of the body; whereas it only implies a cessation from the work or labour of the mind, all which work or labour originates in man's evils, and their connexion with the powers of darkness, according as it is written, There is no peace [or rest, saith the LORD, for the wicked, (Isaiah xlviii. 22.) JESUS CHRIST accordingly, in his reply to the above question, confirms the above idea of the sabbath, as involving in it, not the mere rest of the body only, but the rest of the soul; in other words, a cessation from sin, which is the only true cause of what can properly be called labour, since the work of the body is not properly labour, only so far as it is done unwil