Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/56

52 the existence derived from that essence, or the form whereby the will renders itself visible and apparent.

These remarks, however, apply only to those, with whom the will is receptive of good, and the understanding receptive of truth. With all such the celestial marriage has place. But with those, whose will and understanding are under the influence of evil and falsehood, the infernal marriage is already formed; which will sooner or later be the case also with those who have a divided mind, or who receiving truth in their understanding, yet in their hearts continue in the delights of evil.

By nature indeed the will of every man inclines to evil, and his understanding to what is false. But he is so constituted, that his understanding is capable of being elevated above his will, and of perceiving truth, even while the affections of his will are immersed in evil. By this faculty or power, which is peculiar to man, and distinguishes him from the brute animals, he is enabled to see what is right, and just, and good; and if he then submit himself to the dictates of divine truth, and put a check to the disorderly appetites of his corrupt nature, he will gradually acquire a new will, together with a new understanding, and will thereby be prepared for the enjoyment of eternal happiness.

THE mind of man is both internal and external: by the internal he has communication with heaven and the spiritual world in general; and by the external, he has communication with the natural world. In addition to which internal and external of the mind, he is also furnished with a material body,