ing, understanding, believing, willing, operating or coöperating any thing from his own powers in matters of a spiritual and divine nature; or of applying or accommodating himself to grace; but that his natural will is only for those things which are contrary to God, and displease him; therefore that man in spiritual things is like a stock, but that still he has a capacity, not active but passive, whereby he can be turned to good by the grace of God; that nevertheless there remains in man since the fall, the free-will and power either to hear or not to hear the Word of God, and that thus a spark of faith may be kindled in his heart, which embraces the remission of sins for Christ's sake, and imparts consolation. That nevertheless the human will enjoys the liberty of performing civil righteousness, and of making choice of such things as are within the province of reason. "X. ON THE CHURCH. That the church is the congregation and communion of saints, and that it is dispersed over the whole world among those who have the same Christ and the same Holy Spirit, and the same sacraments, whether they have similar or dissimilar traditions: and that it is principally a society of faith; and that this church alone is the body of Christ, and that the good are both really and nominally a church, but the wicked only nominally; that the wicked and hypocrites, because they are intermixed, are members of the church according to its external signs, provided they are not excommunicated, but that they are not members of the body of Christ. That ecclesiastical rites, which are called ceremonies, are matters of indifference (adiaphori), and that they are not the worship of God, nor a part of the worship of God; that therefore the church is at liberty to institute, change, and abrogate them, as, for instance, the distinctions of garments, times, days, meats, and the like; and that therefore one church ought not to condemn another on account of things of this nature."

These are the doctrines of the Reformed Church and Religion in the abstract; but those which are taught by the Schwengfeldians, Pelagians, Manichæans, Donatists, Anabaptists, Armenians, Cinglians, Antitrinitarians, Socinians, Arians, and, at this day, by the Quakers and Moravians, are passed over, because they are reprobated and rejected by the Reformed Church as heretical.

2*

THE APOCALYPSE.

CHAPTER I.

1. THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he signified [it] sending, by his angel, to his servant John,

2. Who bore witness of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatsoever things he saw.

3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear, the words of the prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand.

4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne;

5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first-begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood,

6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father: to him be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.

7. Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they [also] who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so; Amen.

8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

9. I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the island called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day; and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

11. Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the

Last: and, what thou seest, write in a book, and send [it] to the churches, which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

12. And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me: And, being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

13. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

14. And his head and his hairs were white as wool is white, like unto snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

15. And his feet were like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters.

16. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his face was as the sun shineth in his power.

17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon ine, saying unto me, fear not; I am the First and the Last;

18. And am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for ever and ever. Amen and I have the keys of hell and

of death.

19. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.

20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks, which thou sawest, are the seven churches.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.

THE CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER.

That this revelation is from the Lord alone, and that it will be received by those who will be in his new church, which is the New Jerusalem, and acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth; the Lord is also described as to the Word.

THE CONTENTS OF EACH VERSE. "The revelation of Jesus Christ," signifies, predictions from the Lord concerning himself and his church, what the latter will be in its end, and what it will be afterwards: "Which God gave unto him to show unto his servants," signifies, for the use of those who are in faith originating in charity: "Things which must shortly come to pass," signifies, that they will certainly be, lest the church perish: "And he signified [it], sending by his angel, to his servant John," signifies, the things which are revealed from the Lord through heaven to those who are in the good of life from charity and its faith : "Who bore witness of the Word of God, and of the testimony

of Jesus Christ," signifies, who from the heart, and so in the light, receive divine truth from the Word, and acknowledge the Lord's Humanity to be divine: "Whatsoever things he saw," signifies, their illustration in all the things which are in this revelation: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear, the words of the prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein," signifies, the communion of those with the angels of heaven, who live according to the doctrines of the New Jerusalem: "For the time is at hand," signifies, that the state of the church is such that it cannot endure any longer, so as to have conjunction with the Lord: "John to the seven churches," signifies, to all who are in the Christian world where the Word is, and by it the Lord is known, and who accede to the church: "Which are in Asia," signifies, to those who are in the light of truth from the Word: "Grace be unto you, and peace," signifies, divine salutation: "From Him who is, and who was, and who is to come," signifies, from the Lord who is eternal and infinite, and who is Jehovah: "And from the seven spirits which are before his throne," signifies, from the universal heaven, where the Lord is in his divine truth: "And from Jesus Christ," signifies, the Divine Humanity: "Who is the faithful witness," signifies, that he is Divine Truth itself: "The first-begotten from the dead," signifies, that he is Divine Goodness itself: "And the prince of the kings of the earth," signifies, from whom proceeds all truth originating in good in the church: "To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood," signifies, who out of love and mercy, reforms and regenerates men by his divine, truths from the Word: "And hath made us kings and priests," signifies, who gives those who are born of him, that is, regenerated, to be in wisdom from divine truths and in love from divine goods: "Unto God and his Father," signifies, and so images of his divine wisdom and of his divine love: "To him be glory and might for ever and ever,” signifies, to whom alone belongs divine majesty and divine omnipotence to eternity: "Amen," signifies, divine confirmation from the truth, thus from himself: "Behold, he cometh with clouds," signifies, that the Lord will reveal himself in the literal sense of the Word, and will open its spiritual sense at the end of the church: "And every eye shall see him," signifies, that all who are in the understanding of divine truth from affection will acknowledge him: "And they [also] who pierced him," signifies, that they also will see who are in falses in the church: "And all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of him," signifies, that this will be when there are no longer any goods and truths in the church: “Even so, Amen," signifies, divine confirmation that so it will be: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end," signifies, who is the self-subsisting and the only-subsisting from first principles to ultimates, from whom all things proceed; thus, who is the self-subsisting and only-subsisting love, the self-subsisting and only-subsisting wisdom, and the self-subsisting and only-sub