teaching, and what I am enabled to impart in the way of conversation, you will, I hope, have a store of useful information. And as I am sure your master has not exhausted the interesting subject of Attraction, I hope to hear from you some further recital as the result of his earnest teaching."

LESSONS IN NATURE.-No. 2.

BY UNCLE EDWIN.

THE SUN.

"The Lord God is a Sun."-Psalm lxxxiv. 11.

IN our last paper was described the wondrous nature of the sun; the varied uses it performs to the inhabitants of the earth; the comforts and conveniences we enjoy by means of its heat and light; and the utter impossibility of our lives being supported were we deprived of its presence.

How much joy is afforded to the pious youth who rightly reflects upon the extent of these mercies. He well knows that not a single moment passes away without his having received some natural or spiritual gift. And in grateful remembrance of the lessons of piety taught him by his kind parents, he at once acknowledges the Divine Source from whence all blessings proceed, by bowing down in sincere humility, to worship the Father of Mercies for his great loving kindness.

For every well-taught child knows that though the sun is so mighty, so glorious, and so useful, yet of itself it is nothing-utterly nothing-incapable of emitting even a single ray of light, without the directing providence of the Most High to guide its operations.

And here let me warn you, in your reflections upon the sun, never-never to forget its Maker and Sustainer. For a constant remembrance of this glorious truth, will help you onwards in your journey to your heavenly home, by teaching you the greatness of His power, and the extent of His goodness; and thus enabling you to praise Him more and more, as you better understand and practise His love and His truth.

This you will more plainly see in our remarks upon the Correspondence of the Sun. The sun of this world is intended to be useful to us in a twofold manner: first, in conveying to our natural bodies such comforts and assistance as it is capable of bestowing; and second, in teaching us heavenly lessons concerning God-His mercy-His kindness-His tender compassion, and His adorable love. Thus, in the language of the New Church, the sun corresponds to the Divine Love of the Lord; that is, in the various natural and earthly blessings we daily, hourly, yea, even momentarily receive from the sun, we can trace a correspondence or resemblance to the

spiritual or heavenly blessings we constantly receive from the Sun of Righteousness in the heavenly kingdom.

The Lord appears in the heavens as a sun; and from this heavenly and spiritual sun the angels derive all their heat and light, in the same manner as we derive natural heat and light from the natural sun. The spiritual sun shines throughout the whole heavens, just as the natural sun shines on the face of this earth; but, in this more perfect degree, that while the natural sun only illuminates a portion of the earth at a time, the spiritual sun constantly illuminates the whole of the hea

vens.

Now, by knowing the proper meaning of the word sun, when mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, we have a safe guide to the spiritual meaning of numerous passages. Thus, in the account of the transfiguration of our blessed Lord before Peter, James, and John, upon a high mountain apart, it is said, "His face shone as the sun;" to shew us that the Divine Love is the grand means by which He draws His faithful creatures to Himself, and that, when, by living a good life, we are lifted up, as it were, into a holy and happy state, and have right views of our Lord, we shall then plainly see that, in His inmost principle, He is nothing else but pure divine love and good

ness.

When we are humble, and good, and kind to all around, we become more closely united to our Heavenly Father, and receive His Divine Love into our hearts; we then rise above the vanities of this world, and the Divine Love shines forth in us with renewed brightness, as we read in Matt. xiii. 43., "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

But if, on the other hand, we change, and become perverse, ill-tempered, and revengeful, the Sun of heaven, instead of shining within us, "will be darkened in his going forth;" our joy will be turned into sorrow, and we shall view God through our diseased sight as a God of anger and wrath, when in reality He is nothing else but Love!

You will remember it was said in our last lesson, that the sun appeared to move round the earth, when the real truth is that the earth turns from the sun. And the case is just the same with the spiritual sun. It is ever shining above, sending forth its beams of love into our hearts, with the intention of cleansing all our affections, and making us eternally happy. Yet, if we do not receive the blessing in a thankful spirit-if we are filled with pride, and a love for ourselves more than those around us-if we are more taken up with things around us than the everlasting glories of our Father's kingdom, the Sun of

Heaven will appear to move from us, for the less we are willing to receive its life-giving beams, the more distant it will appear. But, if in a spirit of true affection, we humbly desire its presence-if we pray to our Heavenly Father that His Divine Love may descend upon our hearts, it will be ever present with us, and will prove a blessing and comfort in every state of need.

Let us, then, learn an important lesson from the sun; and endeavour so to conduct ourselves, that when called to appear before our Maker to give an account of the manner in which we have used the talents entrusted to our care, we may be able to come forth with joy, and shew by the glorious light treasured up in our hearts, that we have become filled with the life-giving beams of the Sun of Righteousness.

THE POOL OF SILOAM.

It is very lovely around Jerusalem, though solitary; and quite different from the neighbourhood of any other famous city. The presence of Jesus is more easily felt here: these high hills and ancient tombs, these lonely footpaths and twisted olive trees, this fountain and bridge, remain pretty much the same as when He came down from the Hill of Moriah, where