Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1860-04-07

give birth from that union to the spiritual bios
SONS from which such odors flow.
And MS Gods wisdom and love are in beau
tiful colors and sweet odors, so they are also
in harmonious sounds. Every breath of nature
which charms the ear with its mellow sweet
ness tells us that God is there in his goodness
and truth. As the cheering song comes warb-
ling from the forest, il bears to the conscious
heart the melOdious expression of Gods wis
dom and love. Would We then, enjoy the de-
lights of heavenly music, would we have our
souls charmed with the harmony of angelic
voices, and would we join the celestial band in
praise to our heavenly Father we must hurt
not the oil and the wine, but must give to our
souls the full and free exercise of goodness and
truth, bringing all the thoughts and feelings
into harmonious union, as we, step by step,
put away all dscordant principles from our
hearts.
Thus everything that is lovely in nature, all
that is sweet and pleasant to the eye, the ear,
TIE taste, the smell; everything that regales
| and delights the s0nses,-receive all their ex-
cellence from the union of goodness and truth
What divine book, then, is Nature, when seen
in the light of correspondence How much
we there see to point us to heaven How
clear her demonstrations, and convincing her
arguments How forcibly they first meet the
senses, and then, by illustration, come home to
| the soul, arousing our inner consciousness, in
alteration, gratitude, and praise. TO our heaven
| ~ Father
All regenerations, all true delight, all heav-
emily peace are emphatically expressed in Ma
lures symbols, and all from the union of good
ness and truth We are therefore taught in
the most wonderful manner, by the spiritual
sense of the Word, through the use of these
Symbols that we cannot move single step to-
wards heaven, without the union of goodness
and truth in our souls. Therefore, to do any
thing whatever to prevent that union, is to
| hurt the oil and the wine; for it is only by
| union in us that we can receive spiritual life
from the Lord
| But do we clearly understandings the oil and
the wine or goodness and truth, can be sepa-
rated in us? Goodness and truth cannot be
separated in themselves: they are inseparable
One cannot exist without the other. Wemight
as well have the light of a candle without its
heat Still man can have one without the
other. He can have the truth in his under
standing without being good. The goodness
| is in the truth; but he does not feel it. 1t is
therefore not his. Those divine principles are
| therefore separated, so far as that man is con-
| cerned. He deals in truths alone; and, in do
ing this, he hurts the oil and the wine. The
truth, 10 him, is cold. He presents il cold to
his neighbor. He destroys its influence by
presenting il without its goodness, its life.--
Thus he hurts the oil and the wine. He uses
the truth as dead carcass, which renders
| both the goodness and the truth useless, by
| preventing their proper influence upon HIM
self and others. lie does not hurt the good
ness and truth as to themselves; they are di-
| vine and indestruetible: but he hurts them as
| to himself for he does not let them come to-
gether in his heart and life. He treats them
as though they were separated; and therefore
| they are separated as to him. He is trying to
| I,,,f a;t al hxs fui
or works: and therefore all is dead 10 him, and
he is dead himself lie hurts the oil and the
| wine.
| And even when we are being regenerated;
when we have, to some extent, both the good
ness and the truth of the Holy Word; when we
| have some goods and trnths which are seen
and felt to be in union in our minds,-some
truths which we love and obey,-still there
may be many other truths which we see, that
have not yet given birth in our hearts to the
goods which are in them They are to us only
| truths alone. They have not yet budded and
blossomed in the soil of the affections, and
given forth the fruits of righteousness to our
neighbor Now, we should be careful not to
hurt the oil and the wine in these precious
truths by keeping them back In the cold at
mosphere of the head. They should be placed
| in the warmth of the affections, where they
can feel the heat of the Sun of Righteousness,
|
| done by repenting of what they condemn, and
doing what they teach. This is the only pos
sible way of planting the seeds of truth, and
receiving the goods they contain. II we do
not do this, we hurt the oil and the wine.
We should know that every new truth comes
to show us something to repent OF, and some
thing to do; that it comes with rich present
in its bosom; but that it can never be ours till
we submit to its requirements; and then it not
49, 49,. hRuf
our counsellor and friend. 1t will keep us
from dangers and will never deceive US
But, if we do not follow its advice, II becomes
a witness against us, and we hurt the oil and
the wine.
Another way of hurting the oil and the wine
is by mixing up falses with the truths which
we have, and evils with the goods. Thus we
commit adultery. or aduterate things good and
true This hurts their influence. We should
give them to others as pure as God gives them
| to us.
But we must not understand that evils and
falses can be united with goods and truths so
as to become one substance. That is impos-
sible. They cannot harmonize. Truth cannot
fellowship with fashood, nor tolerate it. But
man, when he uses the truth, may suppress a
part of IL, or throw in falses with it, as clouds,
10 shade its glory, or discolor its light,o throw
its beams in awrong direction. Thus he hurts
the oil and the wine.
Truths are precious things; they are the jew
els of heaven; and they who truly possess them,
and hurt them not, are rich, and they will wear
these Jewels in the next life. The wealth of
them will be invaluable, and their beauty past
description. Would that the people now valu-
ed them as highly as they do the pearls and
diamonds of earth which correspond to them !
Then how would they labor and strive to OBJ
tain theml Every possible sacrifice would be
made for them; and, when obtained, how
careful would they be of thcm They would
suffer not breath OF deception or unkindness
to tarnish the purity of their lustre. And yet
how infinitely more valuable are the diamonds
of truth for the soul than those of earth for the
body All the precious treasures of the uni
verse could not purchase single one of those
| celestial gems, however small.
Now, the gems of earth, however rich and
lovely, can be worn but briet day, ere they
must be left to shine upon some other body OF
crumbling dust. But the souls diamonds are
our own, and go with us into the next world,
and are there put on, not for n brief moments
glitter upon mortal clay, but for an eternity
upon the imperishable soul, there to become
more and more beautiful forever Of such a
soul, the Lord says prophetically, through
Ezekiel "Thou hast been in Eden, the garden
of God Every precious stone was thy cover
ing: the sardious, topaz, and the diamond; the
beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; the sapphire,
the emerald, and the carbuncle; and gold.-
Thou vast the anointed cherub that covereth;
and have set thee so. Thou vast upon the
holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up
and down in the midst of the stones of fire."