Page:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.djvu/33

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judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself: and he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the Word of God."

It has been shown, in the first part of this discourse, that the Lord's name is, in general, all goodness and truth; for these flow from him, and constitute his quality or nature as received and perceived by man. But the good and truth, thus flowing from God and received by man, are, in fact, the Word—for the Word, as before said, is the essential Divine Proceeding, thus is the Lord dwelling with man, and communicating to him whatever good or truth he possesses. In the Word, in its various senses, natural, spiritual, and Divine, is contained all truth, and, joined with it, all good; for truth is but the form of good, and they are united as body and soul. Consequently, from the Word, as the great fountain, are derived all true doctrines of the Church, all the truths of religion; and as all truth points to goodness, and is the only basis and foundation of genuine goodness, so from the Word, too, comes all spiritual good: and this, because the Word is God, and God is the Word. When we read the Word in a spirit of humility and devotion, we perceive not only the mind enlightened, but the heart warmed and elevated; which shows that the Holy Word is both truth and goodness—the one affecting the understanding, while the other acts upon the will. Thus is the Word essential goodness and truth. If, then, goodness and truth constitute