man should keep the commandments of the Word; and this is the will alluded to in the text, where it is said "Thy will be done."
But we are now to inquire, in the second place, what is to be understood by the words "on earth, as it is in heaven." These words have two senses,—a general sense, referring to the whole world and all mankind, and a specific or particular sense, in which they refer to the individual man. Let us consider first the particular sense.
By the terms "heaven" and "earth," when used in reference to the individual man, are signified, in the internal sense of Scripture, the spiritual and the natural minds,—heaven, the spiritual mind, and earth, the natural mind. This is the signification of those terms in the first chapter of Genesis, which, in the spiritual sense, treats of the new creation or regeneration of man. By the "earth without form and void" (or, as it should be rendered, "empty and void"), is signified the natural mind of man before regeneration, when it is in its natural evil state, and devoid of goodness and truth. By "the firmament" or "expanse," afterwards mentioned, is signified the spiritual or internal mind, which in the process of man's regeneration is formed by the Lord, and filled with goodness and truth, and through which the earth or natural mind is afterwards brought into order and regenerated, also. The same is the signification of the terms "heaven" and "earth," in the command uttered by the Lord, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, but in heaven." The "treasures" here
