WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH Volume 1 p. 1

A SERIAL

CONTROLLED BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

VOLUME I.

PHILADELPHIA

PUBLISHED FOR THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT and CO.

1879.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

I. THE ADVENT OF THE LORD.

SECTION PAGE

I. PROPHECIES OF THE ADVENT 5
II THE SUCCESSIVE DISPENSATIONS 9
II THE END OF THE AGE 13
IV THE MISSION OF SWEDENBORG 17
V. NECESSITY OF THE NEW REVELATIONS 20
VI. DIVINE ORDER IN THE NEW REVELATION 22
VII. NUNC LICET 24
VIII. ADVENT IN THE LORD IN THE NEW REVELATIONS 26
IX. OUTLINE OF THE DOCTRINES 29
X. THE LORD THE ONLY REVEALER 38
XI. THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE WRITINGS 41
XII. THE MEMORABILIA 43
XIII. THE NATURE OF THE NEW CHURCH 50
XIV. CONJUGIAL LOVE IN THE NEW CHURCH 54
I.
APPENDIX A. HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA NOV ECCLESI 57

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH 58
APPENDIX B. THE ISSUE 60

THE OLD ISSUE AGAIN 61
NOTES. THE OLD DOCTRINE 63

DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND COMING IN THE
PRIMITIVE CHURCH 65

INSPIRATION OF SWEDENBORG 66

AUTHORITY IN THE NEW CHURCH 67

THE PAN-PRESBYTERIAN COUNCIL 70

THE CONFERENCE AND THE CONVENTION 70

MESSENGERS TO THE ENGLISH CONFERENCE 72

II.
STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.
Section Page

I. PRELIMINARY 77
II. SIGNS OF THE TIMES 80
III. MISCONCEPTIONS EXPLAINED 87
IV THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD 95
V. THE CAUSES OF THE DECLINE AND END OF THE CHURCH 97
VI. THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN ON THE STATE OF CHRISTENDOM 99
VII. CONTRAST OF THE CHRISTIANS WITH THE GENTILES 101
VIII. INCREASE OF THE NEW CHURCH IN THE FUTURE 103
IX. WHY THESE REVELATIONS WERE NOT MADE SOONER 105
X. THE NEW CHURCH TO EXIST CHIEFLY AMONG GENTILES 106
XI. FIVE SPECIAL POINTS 114
XII. CONFIRMATORY OUTLOOK 123
XIII. ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF THE NEW CHURCH IN CHRISTIAN LANDS 127

SWEDENBORG AS A TRANSLATOR 130
THE RENDERING OF THE WORD 143
THE GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEK IN GREAT BRITAIN 145
A CONVERSAZIONE DURING CONFERENCE WEEK 149
NOTES.--THE WRITINGS AND THE ISSUE 151
BOOK NOTICES 156

III.

THE NEW CHURCH.

I. THE PROPHECY 165
II. THE HISTORICAL VIEW 168
III. POINTS OF CONTRAST IN THE FIRST AND SECOND COMING 172
IV. ANALOGY BETWEEN THE INCARNATION AND THE SECOND ADVENT 175
I. PERMANENCE OF THE NEW CHURCH 182
II. THE NEW CHURCH CONJOINED WITH THE LORD 189
III. THE CROWNING CHURCH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL 197
IV. THE PRIESTHOOD IN THE NEW CHURCH 207
V. THE SACRAMENT IN THE NEW CHURCH 210
VI. PIETY AND CHARITY IN THE NEW CHURCH 214
VII. WHERE IS THE NEW CHURCH? 219
VIII. THE NEW CHURCH CELESTIAL, SPIRITUAL, AND NATURAL 223
IX. HERESIES IN THE NEW CHURCH 226
X. NEW THINGS FOR THE NEW CHURCH 232
XI. SCIENCE IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH 237
NOTES THE TRANSLATION OF THE WORD 252
THE MAGAZINE ON AUTHORITY IN THE CHURCH 258
WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH REVIEWED 264
BOOK NOTICES 272

IV.
SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
PART I.

I. INTRODUCTORY 281
II. IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE NEW CHURCH 283
III. CHARACTER OF THE INHABITANTS OF THIS EARTH 286
IV. NATURAL SCIENCE CONSIDERED INTRINSICALLY 288
V. NATURAL SCIENCES THE MEANS FOR AN ULTERIOR END 290
VI. NATURAL SCIENCE AND REVELATION 295
VII. TWOFOLD METHOD OF VIEWING NATURE 301
VIII. NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL SCIENTISTS 304
IX. MODERN SCIENCE IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH 309
X. METAPHYSICS IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH 318
APPENDED NOTE 329
THE NEW HERESY 331
NOTES THE TRUE NATURE OF AUTHORITY IN THE CHURCH 349
STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD 351
THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 361
BOOK NOTICES 363

V.
SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
PART II.
XI. ANALYSIS OF NATURAL SCIENCE 373
XII. GENESIS OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN GENERAL 385

XIII. SCIENCE IN THE MOST ANCIENT CHURCH 400
XIV. NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT CHURCH 408
XV. NATURAL SCIENCE DURING THE PREVALENCE OF THE
HEBREW AND ISRAELITISH CHURCHES 421
XVI. THE INCARNATION AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH 435
NOTES. TOTAL ABSTINENCE 447
AUTHORITY 453
THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS 457
THE WRITINGS AND THE INTERNAL SENSE OF THE WORD 463
THE WRITINGS OF SWEDENBORG, 1799 470
BOOKS RECEIVED 472

VI.
SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
PART III.
XVII. SYNTHETIC AND ANALYTIC SCIENCE 477
XVIII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYTIC SCIENCE 484
XIX. SWEDENBORG THE ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHER AND THE
MASTER OF ANALYTIC SCIENCE 493
XX. SYNTHETIC SCIENCE IN THE CHURCH OF THE NEW
JERUSALEM 521
XXI. USES OF ANALYTIC AND SYNTHETIC SCIENCE IN THE NEW CHURCH 542
XXII. CONCLUSION 567
AN APPENDED EXTRACT FROM DR. WILKINSON 569
NOTES RSUM OF THE ISSUE 571
THE GENERAL CONFERENCE 572
GENERAL CONVENTION 574
BOOK NOTICES 578

INDEX OF QUOTATIONS.

The Writings of Swedenborg from which quotations are made, in the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, are indicated by the usual abbreviations. Thus: A. C. stands for Arcana Coelestia; A. R. Apocalypse Revealed; A. E. Apocalypse Explained; H. H. Heaven and Hell; T. C. R. True Christian Religion; D. L. W. Divine Love and Wisdom; D. P. Divine Providence; C. L. Conjugial Love; D. L. Divine Love; S. S. Sacred Scripture; H. D. Heavenly Doctrine; S. D. Spiritual Diary; D. M. Diarium Minus; Adv. Adversaria; Cor. Coronis; L. J. Last Judgment; E. U. Earths in the Universe; B. E. Brief Exposition; S. E. Summary Exposition; A. K. Animal Kingdom; E. A. K. Economy of the Animal Kingdom; I. N. C. Invitation to the New Church; A. Cr. Athanasian Creed.

In this index the figures in the first column refer to the number or section of the work named; and those in the second column refer to the page of the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH.

A. C. Page
1-5.... 45
64.... 336
67.... 45

128.... 298
129.... 297
129.... 300
206.... 307
241.... 404
241.... 407
310.... 401
362.... 277
407.... 95
409.... 353
410.... 354
410.... 104
501.... 422
530.... 392
530.... 104
560.... 392
597.... 401
608.... 418
609.... 413
640.... 408
641.... 408
911.... 296
920.... 404
920.... 414
920.... 407
927.... 407
927.... 408
1068... 413
1070... 450
1072... 300
1083... 199
1121... 401
1238... 424
1241... 420
1241... 423
1337... 424
1409... 404
1472... 291
1476....296
1487....200
1487....563
1589....387
1600....392
1618....218
1664....209
1728....207
1783....200
1806....403
1807....403
1834....441
1850....403
1850....106
1850....204
1850....357
1850....424
1871... 253
1885-6. 99
1898....216
1901....384
1904....394
1906....392
1914....418
1919.... 68
2015....207
2143....406
2243....425
2243....441
2513....28
2553...543
2557...387
2565...271
2565...298
2577... 385
2577... 489
2722... 405
2776....391
2831....388
2831....397
2897....413

2910...116
2910....98
2910....352
2910....353
2086....353
2986....354
2095....412
3020....379
3052....493
3052....352
3138....396
3138....485
3138....456
3310... 382
3348... 246
3388... 554
3488.... 96
3489... 100
3508... 546
3652... 96
3603....490
3624.... 68
3653....223
3670....209
3679....397
3898....355
3898....357
3898....106
3898....105
3998.... 90
4009....378
4038....578
4156....391
4156....307
4156....293
4167...418
4288....425
4288....426
4328....409
4345....378
4423....115
4423....120
4448....401
4472....442
4493....405
4503....116
4535.... 96
4658....318
4738....97
4738.... 30
4750....122
4760....555
4844....414
4844....431
4899....426
4939....281
4964....414
4966....432
4066....238
5006....102
5089....308
5119....386
5126....393
5127....391
5141....513
5141....396
5165....406
5201....523
5217....292
5223....497
5344....393
5373....282
5428....202
547.... 390
5450....292
5702....115
5703.... 68
5774....352
5774....485
5714....645
5936....544
6004....415
6047....297
6284....198
6209....199
6310....486
6316....491
6451....200
6474.... 49
6474....464
6597.... 48
6507....265
6597....337
6865....301
6865....556
6876....119
6880....152
6917....285
6917....293
7923....522
8252....214
8253....214
8254....214
8257... 214
8408....421
8447....343
8505....522
8506....523
8513.... 68
9192.... 90
9216281
9256... 354
9300... 399
9300... 540
9300... 543
9350... 455
9351... 455
9355... 465
9800... 209
10030..440
10156..296
10156..306
10324..220
10755..440
10622.. 97
10785..207
10795..200
10799..209

A. R. Page
Pref.... 43
Pref.... 337
Pref.... 268
60.... 225
13.... 225
76.... 79
137.... 364
359.... 380
380.... 191
398.... 538
557.... 356
626....2511
641.... 20
710.... 42
744.... 223
775... 183
796.... 268
813.... 537
814.... 537
831.... 35
879.... 180
870.... 36
881.... 100
913.... 183
932.... 187
932.... 467
953....338
954.... 36
955.... 37
956.... 37
960.... 37
960.... 339

A. E. Page
2.... 838
44.... 184
103.... 364
233.... 92
356.... 221
503.... 153
593.... 189
593.... 343
641.... 29
764.... 356
808.... 119
S70.... 25
948.... 536
948.... 444
948.... 430
948.... 102
1074... 224
1087....490

H. H. Page
1... 19
1.... 462
130.... 525
239.... 345
254.... 459
258.... 345
351.... 393
351.... 288
352.... 553
352.... 404
353.... 548
353.... 306
356.... 309
468.... 560
468.... 566

T.C.R. Pg.
55.... 213
55.... 218
123.... 179
126.... 176
190.... 456
200....537
215.... 451
231.... 252
368.... 192
369.... 192
372.... 193
373.... 193
508.... 24
605.... 348
505.... 189
521.... 122
595.... 197
567.... 443
624.... 459
661.... 207
670.... 202
700.... 212
735....151
746.... 506
760... 10
760.... 186
761.... 360
762.... 169
762... 11
771... 21
772...13
773....15
776... 16
779....41
779.... 532
779.... 349
780.... 14
784.... 535
787.... 268
787.... 195
788.... 184
820.... 451
846.... 44
851.... 22
P.S.... 27

Cor. Page.
21.... 180
43.... 421
51.... 451
68.... 112
vi.18.... 66
P. 68....282
P. 69 ...182
lix.... 97
lix... 539

Lord Page
11... 173

Faith Page
4... 269

Char. Page
62-70.. 209

Life Page
64... 121

D. L. Page
xiii.... 494

S.S. Page
6.... 340
24... 445
25... 467
27.... 2
33....341
37.... 347
37.... 467
77.... 220
99... 173
99.... 442
100... 174

Dom. Page
47... 118

E. U. Page
62.... 294
62.... 548
113... 455
122... 287
170... 35
171... 34

C. L. Page
14.. 451
115... 458
130... 559
130... 311
130... 423
308... 209
342... 416
532... 233

L. J. Page
41... 352
41... 78
73... 87
74... 88
74... 108
28... 34

Word. Page
344
455
4... 461
4... 646
49

B. E. Page
40... 433
102... 229

S. E. page
51

H. D. Page
7...19
202-7...210
310-4...211
311-4...208
316...208
318-9...209
341-5...219

A.Cr.Page
6..118
107...237

D.L.W. Pg.
11... 40

66... 376
153... 313
157... 313
165.... 313
184.... 251
188... 251
223... 198
237... 380
238... 381
2990... 313
303... 240
324... 314
330... 564
340... 314
341... 315
342... 248
404... 388
404... 389
404... 390

D. P. Page
91... 268

135... 266
135... 22
135... 258
135 266
181... 198
199... 199

I.N.C.Page
38... 39
38... 48
44... 27
444. 346
45... 452
55... 525

E.H. page
27
57
58
3... 41

S. D. Page
192.... 530
226.... 318
249... 309
250.... 317
341.... 321
591.... 321
649.... 321
767... 245
768.... 549
866.... 323
1469....321
1531....542
1531....288
1602....326
1647.... 47
1641....461
1967... 310
1968.... 542
1970...310
2203... 323
2264... 325
2301... 299
2301... 556
2301....554
2480....310
2480....313
2550....317
2510... 501
2523....294
2523... 554
2634... 289
2736... 288
2999.. 290
2999... 552
3852... 554
3852... 55
397.... 553
4627....489
4627....490
4627....488
4621....435
4636....401
4663....287
4711....409
4758....554
4750....108
4772....109
4774....109
4774....111
4783.... 38
5705....458
5709....312
5709....284
5710....297
5742.... 34
5743.... 31
5807....112
5978....100
Vol. iv.,
P.138.... 32
Vol. iv.,
P.53.... 34
Index...190
Pt. vii.,

P. 85.... 245

D. M. Page
4578....324
4578....549
4635....401
4714....409

To those who receive this Number of the SERIAL:

With great pleasure we lay before you the First Number of our SERIAL entitled Words for the New Church, believing that you will duly appreciate the themes set forth, as well also as the manner in which they are handled, and the style and completeness with which the work is published.

The principal paper in this Number is a Monograph on that wonderful event of the last century.

THE ADVENT OF THE LORD.

As the New Church had its origin in the Second Coming of the LORD, its Heavenly Doctrines being revealed by the LORD at His coming in the Writings then given for the use of the Church; it follows that a true knowledge of the nature of this event, and a comprehension of its relations and bearings, are of the greatest moment to all New Churchmen. We have endeavored, therefore, in the present Number to answer the question.

What do the Writings say on this momentous theme?
The other great leading principles of the New Church, as they are unfolded in the Heavenly Doctrines, will be duly considered in the succeeding Numbers of the SERIAL.

And, as we must depend chiefly upon New Churchmen, for co-operation in disseminating these principles, with confidence we appeal to you to aid in the work, by inclosing to the Publishers, if you are so disposed, the price of this Number, or a subscription for the First Volume of the SERIAL.

The first volume will consist of about 500 pages, and will be furnished to subscribers for $3.00. The numbers separately will be furnished at 50 cents each.

Money may be sent either in Post-office Orders or in Postage Stamps.
All matters relating to the editorial content of the SERIAL must be addressed to the Editor of Words for the New Church, care of Messrs. J. B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia, and all business letters relating to the SERIAL must be addressed to Messrs. J. B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia.

The Second Number of the SERIAL is in the hands of the Publishers, and will shortly appear. The leading paper in it is a Monograph on The State of the Christian World.

Each Part will be mailed to subscribers as issued, or single Parts will be mailed on the receipt of the price by the Publishers. The Editor.

WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH Volume 1 p. 2

WORDS

FOR

THE NEW CHURCH

A SERIAL

CONTROLLED BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

THE ADVENT OF THE LORD

PHILADELPHIA

PUBLISHED FOR THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT and CO.

1877.

WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH Volume 1 p. 3

PROLOGUE.

THE Heavenly Doctrines as unfolded in the Writings of Swedenborg we joyously take as our guide in conducting the SERIAL. Indeed as we come into a more searching culture of these Writings, we discover more and more the vastness of their scope. They find us every whole. And these Doctrines being themselves Divine are the measure of all else. They are the Tabernacle of GOD with men; the LORD HIMSELF in His Advent making all things new. What more therefore can we have? What more than these grand disclosures which are the final analysis of all that has respect to GOD, and to Man, and to the relation between the two?

Well therefore may we devote ourselves to the development in ourselves and others of a familiar knowledge of this system of Divine Truth,--to an actual internal propaganda of the faith,--to the bringing of our own lives, and of all that is dearest to us, under the influences of these wonderful disclosures through the Word, made by the Lord in His Second Advent.

Divine revelation throws light upon Science,--answering its questions, and solving its mysteries; and to these earnest workers and experimenters, the scientists, we owe a duty, for we have a blessing in store for them. The New Church has no conflict with true Science; for all Truth is harmonious; and the marvelous developments on the scientific plane of life which characterize the present age, will in the end stand forth us the orderly basis of the true Church which is coming down from GOD out of heaven. Finally, therefore, there can be no conflict.

Literature presents a singular phase in the present day, by opening the long lost Sacred Books of the East. China, India, Persia, and Egypt come with Books claiming Divine Inspiration, and a marvelously high antiquity. The revelations made for the New Church solve the mysteries of these Ancient Books, showing their use under the Divine Providence, and giving them their place in history. Why not then, help those who cannot explain the mystery of these religions, by unfolding the teachings of the Heavenly Doctrines in their bearings upon these unsolved problems?

A more thorough culture of the disclosures made for the New Church would in many respects relieve the Church from its entanglements. This more thorough culture we seek to promote. The duties of the day ought to be better understood. In the Church, the Minister, the People, and all things that relate to life, worship, and Church extension, which, partially unfolded in our literature, are only unfolded in part. We must therefore consider more in detail Education in the New Church in general and in particular; and most especially the education of goring men for the Ministry, and their proper qualification for the sacred office.

In all that concerns the Church, Divine Revelation is the formulary of faith and the basis of action,and not preconceived opinion, self-will, or the conceits of self-intelligence. In the end we must all come to the Writings of the Church; the Divine Doctrines that are given by the LORD through the Word, in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH Volume 1 p. 4

Adventus Domini.

SWEDENBORG IN HIS OUTLINE OF AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH, DISCOVERED AMONG HIS MSS., AND NOW REPRODUCED BY PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHY, SAYS:

A New Ecclesiastical History must be written because now is the ADVENT OF THE LORD which was predicted in Matthew xxv.

The Books which were written by the LORD through me, from the beginning to the present day, must be enumerated.

The writing therein is such that it gives light before those who believe in the LORD and in the New Revelation but is obscure and of no moment to those who deny these things, and who for various external reasons are not in favor of them.

When the Summaria Expositio (Brief Exposition) was published, the angelic heaven from the east to the west and from the south to the north, appeared purple, with most beautiful flowers; this was before me and before the Danish Kings and others. At another time it appeared beautifully flamy.

On the Books was written the ADVENT OF THE LORD: on all in the Spiritual World. By command I wrote the same on two copies in Holland.

One of these copies was lately discovered bearing an inscription, a fac-simile of which we give below. The title of the work is Summaria Expositio Doctrinae Novae Ecclesiae, and the inscription is upon the original wrapper of it.

Summaria Expositio

[Latin handwriting:] Hic Liber est Adventus Domini (2513)

scriptum ex mandato (4535)

(6895)

(8427 p. 19)

WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH Volume 1 p. 5

OUTLINE.

THE Second Coming of the LORD is promised in the Word. This coming expected by the Apostles and all Christians. Previous to the Second Coming of the LORD the First Christian Church to be vastated and consummated.

End of that Church by departure from the LORD: Judgment upon it and its rejection: the good in that Church saved at the Last Judgment: the wicked condemned. The New Heaven formed from the good: the wicked cast into hell.

The Coming of the LORD, and the establishment of the New Church. His Coming not in person, but in the Word. This Coming consists in revealing the Internal Sense of the Word: separating genuine truths from appearances of truth in the external sense of the Word: teaching from the Word the Doctrines of the New Church: Revealing from the Spiritual World the nature of the life after death, Heaven and Hell, the Last Judgment: Revealing the origin and purpose of the natural universe, and teaching the primary concepts and essential laws of natural science.

This Second Coming of the LORD effected by means of a man, Emanuel Swedenborg:-- Swedenborg chosen, prepared from infancy, called to the office, intromitted into the Spiritual World, illuminated, and guided in his work from beginning to end.

The leading Doctrines of the New Church: Enumeration of the Books of the New Church.

Nature of the New Church .... its distinguishing characteristics; its eminent uses; blessedness of life in the New Church.

The New Church the crown of all the Churches and to endure to eternity.

Conjugial Love and its spiritual delights, lost since the ancient times, and restored in the New Church.

WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH Volume 1 p. 6

THE ADVENT OF THE LORD.

PROPHECIES OF THE ADVENT.

THE ADVENT OF THE LORD is often promised in the Word of both Testaments.

THE SON OF MAN is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and then He shall render to every one according to his deeds.--Matt. xvi. 27.

FOR as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the Coming of the Son of Man be.Matt. xxiv. 27.

AND He led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. And it came to pass that while He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.Luke xxiv. 50, 51.

AND in the Acts it is written: While the disciples beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly to heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same JESUS, who is taken from you into heaven, shall come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.--Acts i. 9, 10, 11.

AFTER His Ascension the LORD appeared to John, and said: Seal not the words of the prophecy of this Book: for the time is near. And, behold, I come quickly: and my reward is with me, to render to every one as his work shall be.

WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH Volume 1 p. 7

He that testifieth these things saith: Surely, I come quickly: Amen. Even so, come, LORD JESUS.--Rev. xxiii. 10, 12, 20.

From these prophecies and many others of similar import, the Apostles and Primitive Christians earnestly looked for the appearing of the LORD during their time. To them, the Second Advent was the very pole-star of the church. When, in their conflicts and struggles, they wavered and faltered, this glorious hope gave them strength, and resolution, and determination.

JOHN said: We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him: for are shall see Him as He is. And every one that hath this hope in Him, purifieth himself as He is pure.-- John iii. 2, 3.

JAMES said: Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the Coming of the LORD. Be ye also patient, confirm your hearts, for the Coming of the LORD hath drawn nigh.--James v. 7, 8.

PAUL said: We that are alive and remain until the Coming of the LORD, shall not anticipate them that are asleep.--Thess. iv. 15.

IN Hebrews it is written: Unto them that look for Him, shall He appear the second time, without sill unto salvation. Heb. ix. 28,

BUT the prophecies concerning the Second Coming of the LORD could not be fully understood until after their fulfillment. Indeed, the best Biblical interpreters have discovered that the manner in which prophecies are to be fulfilled cannot be known in advance of the events themselves which are foretold: a provision that secures the spiritual freedom of the man of the church.

WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH Volume 1 p. 8

AND yet with wonderful fullness the Sacred Scriptures announce the Second Coming of the LORD, to execute the Last Judgment, and to establish the New Jerusalem, which is a New Dispensation, and a New Church. It is written:

I saw in visions of the night, and behold, with the clouds of the heavens, He came like the Son of Man: and He came unto the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given to Him dominion, and glory; and a kingdom: and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall adore Him: His dominion is a dominion of ages, which shall not pass away,--and His kingdom which shall not be destroyed.--Daniel vii. 13, 14.

AND JESUS departing went out from the Temple: and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the Temple. But Jesus said to them: See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you: There shall not be left here a stone upon a stone which shall not be thrown down.

IMMEDIATELY after the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth wail, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and much glory. And He shall send His angels with a great voice of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four minds, from the ends of the heavens to the ends of them.--Matt. xxiv. 29-31.

AND I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth mere passed away; and the sea was no more. And I, John, saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying:

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Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and He Himself, the God, will be with them, their God. And God will wipe away all teen from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither mourning, nor crying, nor shall labor be any more: for the former things are passed sway.

AND He that sat open the throne said: Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me: Write: for these words are true and faithful.--Rev. xxi. 1-10.

AND JEHOVAH my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee. And it shall come to pass in that day that there shall not be light, splendor, and brilliancy. And it shall be one day which shall be known to JEHOVAH, not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light.

IN that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO JEHOVAH.--Zech. xiv. 5, 6, 7, 20.

AWAKE, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, thou city of holiness! For no more shall enter into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

THEREFORE my people shall know my name; that I am He that doth speak: Behold, it is I. The voice of thy watchmen, they lift up the voice together, they sing aloud when they see eye to eye, that JEHOVAH is returned to Zion. Break forth, sing aloud together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for JEHOVAH hath comforted His people; He hath redeemed Jerusalem. JEHOVAH hath made bare the arm of His holiness, in the eyes of all the nations: and in the extremities of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

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AND the ransomed of JEHOVAH shall return, and come to Zion with singing and everlasting gladness upon their heads: They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow end sighing shall flee away.--Isa. xxxv. 10.

THESE prophecies have their fulfillment in the Second Coming of the LORD, as we shall see in the sequel, when we come to treat this subject more in detail. At present we must view the subject in its relations to the history of the Divine Providence in respect to the several Dispensations, or churches, which have existed on the earth.

II.

THE SUCCESSIVE DISPENSATIONS.

THE Advent of the LORD is so related to the entire course of history, and to the condition of the whole human race on the earth, that, apart from this extended view, it cannot be understood. Before the LORD, the whole movement from the beginning to the end is a unit. The Church, which is the kingdom of the LORD on the earth, began with the dawn of the human race, it has come down through the ages of the past, and, according to Sacred Scripture, it is destined to continue with the earth itself, as the Seminary of Heaven in a world without end.

THE Sacred Books of the Ancient times, the Monumental remains of churches and nations which have long since fallen away, and the traditions preserved in the imperishable human memory, and often inwoven like golden threads into the beautiful texture of the classics, give to the disclosures of the Sacred Scripture respecting the course of history, a series of most remarkable illustrations and confirmations. But at present we shall not treat of these, but of the Divine Revelation itself.

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We must view the several Dispensations in the course of History from the beginning to the present day, that we may see our own place in history and the import of the Second Advent and of the Crowning Church which at this, His Second Coming, the LORD has established From the internal Arcana of the Word now disclosed, the whole subject may be most clearly seen. The following description of the several Dispensations is from the True Christian Religion:

THIS last time of the Christian Church is the very night in which former Churches have come to their end. Since the creation, there have been four Churches, in general, on this earth, one succeeding the other, as may appear from the historical as well as the prophetical Word; especially from Daniel, where these four Churches are described by the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream, Dan. ii.: and afterward by the four beasts ascending out of the sea.. Dan. vii.

The First Church, which is called the Most Ancient, was before the flood, and its consummation, or end, is described by the flood. The Second Church, which is called the Ancient, was in Asia, and partly in Africa, and this was consummated by idolatries. The Third Church was the Israelitish; it began at the promulgation of the Decalogue on Mount Sinai, and continued, by the Word written by Moses and the Prophets, and was consummated, or ended, by the profanation of the Word, the fullness of which was at the time when the LORD came into the world; therefore they crucified Him, who was the Word. The Fourth Church is the Christian, which the LORD established by the evangelists and apostles. This Church had two epochs: One from the time of the LORD till the Council of Nice: and the other from that Council to the present clay. But this Church, in its progress, was divided into three parts: The Greek, the Roman Catholic, and the Reformed. Nevertheless, all these are called Christian. Besides, within every general church there have been several particular ones, which, notwithstanding their separation, have still retained the general name; as with the heresies in the Christian Church. T. C. R., 760.

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That there have been four Churches on this earth since the creation of the world, is according to Divine order, which is that there should be a beginning and its end, before a new beginning arises. Hence every day begins with the morning; it advances, and closes is the night, and after that, begins anew. So likewise every year commences with spring, advances through summer to autumn, and closes in winter, and after that, commences again. To produce these, the sun rises in the east, thence proceeds through the south to the west, and sets in the north, from which he rises again.

It is similar with Churches: The First of them which was the Most Ancient, was as the morning, the spring, and the east: The Second or the Ancient, was as the day, the summer, and the south: The Third was as the evening, the autumn, and the west: And the Fourth was as the night, the winter, and the north. From these progressions, according to order, the wise ancients concluded that there were four ages of the world, the first of which they called Golden; the second Silver; the third Copper; and the fourth Iron; by which metals also the churches themselves were represented, in the image of Nebuchadnezzar. Before the LORD, also, the Church appears as one man, and this Grand Man must pass through his ages, like the individual man, that is, from infancy to youth, through youth to manhood, and at length to old age, and then, when he dies, he rises again. The LORD says: Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit.--John xii. 24. T. C. R., 762.

CONCERNING the Last Judgments, at the close of the several Churches in the past, we learn from the Arcana that,

ACCORDING to the internal sense, the Last Judgment means the last time of the Church: the heaven and earth which are to perish mean the Church, as to its internal and external worship, for the Church ceases when there is no charity.

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THE Last Judgment of the Most Ancient Church took place when all charity and faith ceased, and when there was no perception; which came to pass immediately before the flood. The flood, itself, was the Last Judgment of that Church, when heaven and earth, that is, the Church, perished, and a new heaven and a new earth mere created, that is, a New Church.

THIS is called the Ancient Church; which also has been treated of. This Church, likewise, had its last time, namely, when all charity grew cold, and all faith was darkened; which was about the time of Eber: this time was the Last Judgment of that Church, which was the heaven and earth that perished.

THE new heaven and new earth, that succeeded, was the Hebrew Church. This also had its last time, or Last. Judgment, when it became idolatrous: wherefore, a New Church was raised up, amongst the posterity of Jacob. This is called the Jewish Church, which was no other than a Church representative of charity and faith. In that Church, or amongst the posterity of Jacob, there was no charity and faith, consequently there was no Church, but only the representative of a Church: and inasmuch as there could be no immediate communication of the LORDS kingdom in the heavens, with any true Church on earth, therefore a mediate communication was effected by a representative Church. The last time, or Last Judgment, of this so-called Church, was when the LORD Came into the world: for then, representatives ceased, namely, sacrifices and similar rites: and that they might cease, the Jews were cast out of the land of Canaan.

AFTER this a new heaven and a new earth were created, that is, a New Church, which may be called the Primitive Church, was begun by the LORD, and afterward successively confirmed: and this Church was at first in charity and faith. The destruction of this Church is foretold by the LORD in the Evangelists and by John in the Revelation, and is called the Last Judgment: not that heaven and earth are now to perish, but that a New Church will be raised up in some region of the earth, while the former still continues in its external worship, as the Jews do in theirs, in whose worship, it is well known, there is nothing of charity and faith, that is, nothing of a Church.--A. C., 1850.

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III.

THE END OF THE AGE.

THUS far in respect to the successive Dispensations. In this general view we may rest, while we consider more in detail the Advent of the LORD, the end of the First Christian Church, represented in the Scriptures which we quoted, as The end of the world, Matt. xxiv. 3. [Scanner unable to insert sentence.] literally: The Consummation of the Age. The Advent of the LORD is predicted even in the literal sense of the Word, with such fullness of detail, that, as has been observed, the Christians have been expecting it from the very beginning of the Church. The subject, cleared of the fallacies which have generally been held in connection with it, is must lucidly presented in the True Christian Religion, as follows:

THIS, which is the Second Coming of the LORD, is for the sake of separating the evil from the good, that those who have believed and who do believe in Him may be saved, and that there may be formed of them a New Angelic Heaven, and a New Church on earth; and without this no flesh could be saved.Matt. xxiv. 22.

This Second Coming of the LORD is not for the destruction of the visible heaven and the habitable earth, as was shown in the foregoing article. It is not to destroy anything, but to build up, consequently not to judge, but to save those who have believed on Him since His first coming, and who shall hereafter believe on Him, is plain from the LORDS words: God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved: he that believeth on Him is not judged;

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but he that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God, John iii. 17, 18; and in another place: If any one hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.--John xii. 47. T. C. R., 772.

This Second Coming of the LORD is effected through a. man, before whom He has manifested Himself in Person, and whom he filled with His Spirit, to teach from Him the doctrines of the New Church through the Word.

Since the LORD cannot manifest Himself in Person, as has been shown just above, and yet He has foretold, that He would come and establish a New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will effect this through a man, who is able not only to receive the doctrines of this Church in the understanding, but also to publish them by the press. That the LORD manifested Himself before me His servant, that He sent me on this office, and afterward opened the sight of my spirit and thus intromitted me into the spiritual world, and gave me to see the heavens and the bells, and also to converse with angels and spirits, and this now continually for many years, I attest in truth: likewise that from the first day of this call, I have never received anything relating to the Doctrine of this Church from any angel, but from the LORD alone while I was reading the Word. T. C. R., 779.

To the end that the LORD could be constantly present, He disclosed to me the spiritual sense of His Word, in which Divine Truth is in its light, and in this He is continually present; for His presence in the Word is only through the spiritual sense, through the light of which He passes into the shade, in which is the sense of the letter, comparatively as with the light of the sun in the daytime through a cloud interposed.. That the literal sense of the Word is as a cloud and the spiritual sense glory, and the LORD Himself the Sun from which the light is, and that thus the LORD is the Word, was proved above. That the glory in which He is to come, Matt. xxiv. 30, signifies Divine Truth in its light in which is the spiritual sense of the Word, clearly appears by the following passages:

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The voice of him that crieth in the desert: Prepare ye the way of JEHOVAH. And the glory of JEHOVAH shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see. Isa. xl. 3, 5. Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of JEHOVAH is risen upon thee. Isa. lx. 1, to the end. I will give thee for s covenant of the people, for a light of the nations, and my glory will I not give to another. Isa. xlii. 6, 8, xlviii. 11. Thy light shall break forth as the dawn, the glory of JEHOVAH shall gather thee up. Isa. lviii. 8. The whole earth shall be filled with the glory of JEHOVAH. Isa. vi. 3, lxvi. 18. In the beginning was the Word; in Him was Life, end the Life was the Light of men: He was the true Light: and the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. John i. 1, 4, 9, 14. The heavens are telling the glory of God. Psalm xix. 1. The glory of God shall lighten the Holy Jerusalem, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations which are saved shall walk in His light. Rev. xxi. 23, 24, besides many other passages. Glory signifies Divine truth in its fullness, because everything magnificent in heaven is from the light which proceeds from the Lord, and the light proceeding from Him as the Sun is in its essence Divine Truth.T. C. R., 780.

The Coming of the LORD is to form a new heaven of those who have believed on Him, and to establish a New Church of those who shall hereafter believe on Him, because these two purposes are the end of His Coming. The very end of the creation of the universe was that an angelic heaven might be formed from men, where all who believe in God might live in eternal blessedness; for the Divine Love which is in God, and which essentially is God, can intend nothing else: and the Divine Wisdom, which is also in God, and is God, can produce nothing else. Since then the creation of the universe had for its end an angelic heaven from the human race and at the same time a Church on earth, for through this man passes into heaven, and since the salvation of men, which is effected upon men that are born in the world, is thus a continuation of creation, therefore in the Word it is often said:

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To create, which means, to form for heaven; as in the following passages: Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a firm spirit within me. Psalm lx. 10. Thou openest the hand, they are filled with good; Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created. Ps. civ. 28, 30. T. C. R., 773.

This Second Coming of the LORD is not in person, but in the Word, which is from Him, and is Himself.

We read in many places that the LORD will come in the clouds of heaven, as Matt. xvii. 5; xxiv. 30; xxvi. 64; Mark xiv. 62; Luke ix. 34, 35; xxi. 27; Rev. i. 7; xiv. 14; Dan. vii. 13. But no one has hitherto known what is meant by the clouds of heaven; they have believed that He will appear in them in Person. But it remained undiscovered to this day, that the clouds of heaven mean the Word in its literal sense; and that the power and glory mean the spiritual sense of the Word in which also He is then to come. Matt. xxiv. 30. No one until this time has even conjectured that there is in the Word any spiritual sense, such as it is in itself. Now since the spiritual sense of the Word has been opened to me by the LORD, and it is granted me to be with angels and spirits in their world as one of themselves, it has been revealed to me that the clouds of heaven signify the Word in its natural sense, and the glory the Word in its spiritual sense, and power the effectual operation of the LORD through the Word. That the clouds of heaven signify this, may be seen from the following passages in the Word: Not like the God of Jeshurun, riding in heaven, and in magnificence upon the clouds. Deut. xxxiii. 26. Sing unto God, praise His name, extol Him that rideth upon the clouds. Psalm lxviii. 4. JEHOVAH riding upon a swift cloud. Isa. xix. 1. To ride signifies to instruct in Divine Truths from the Word; for a horse signifies the understanding of the Word, see Apocalypse Revealed n. 298. Who does not see that God does not ride upon the clouds? Again: God rode upon the cherubim; His pavilion round about Him were thick clouds of the heavens. Psalm xviii. 10-13. Cherubim also signify the Word, see Apocalypse Revealed n. 239, 672.

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JEHOVAH bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds: He spreadeth His cloud upon His throne. Jog xxvi. 8, 9. Give strength unto JEHOVAH, His strength is in the clouds. Psalm lxviii. 34. JEHOVAH hath created upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion a cloud by day; and upon all glory shall be a covering. Isa. iv. 5. The Word in the sense of the letter was also represented by the cloud in which JEHOVAH descended on Mount Sinai, when he promulgated the Law. The things of the law, which were at that time promulgated were the first fruits of the Word.--T. C. R., 776.

IV.

THE MISSION OF SWEDENBORG.

So far this general statement as to the nature of the Second Coming of the LORD, and the means by which He accomplished His great work. But to give greater fullness and completeness to the view, something further, in detail, must be given respecting the Mission of SWEDENBORG, his instrumentality in the work, the crisis which had come, and the New Revelations that were made by the LORD through him, by disclosing the internal arcana of the Word, and the innumerable wonders of the Spiritual World. Of these things, therefore, we shall now treat.

AND first, concerning the Mission of Swedenborg: In the following we have Swedenborgs own declaration of his call by the LORD to his sacred office: In his letter to the King of Sweden he says:

I have already informed Your Majesty that the LORD our Savior manifested Himself to me in a sensible, personal appearance: that He has commanded me to write what has already been done, and what I have still to do: that afterward He was graciously pleased to endow me with the privilege of conversing with angels and spirits, and of being in fellowship with them.Hobarts Life, p. 130.

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IN his letter to Dr. Oetinger, Stockholm, September 23, 1766, after saying that the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem cannot shine in their splendor, and give light to others except from the LORD, and cannot be published to the world, except by one to whom the needful revelation is made, Swedenborg says:

I can most solemnly declare, that I have seen the LORD Himself, and that He has sent me to do what I am doing, and for this purpose He has opened and enlightened the interiors of my spirit, so that I can see what is in the spiritual world and those who are therein, and this privilege has now been continued to me for twenty-two years. But in the present state of infidelity, can the most solemn oath make such a thing credible or to be believed by any a yet such as have received true Christian light and understanding, will be convinced of the truth contained in my writings, which are particularly evident in the Book of the APOCALYPSE REVEALED. Who, indeed, has hitherto proved anything of the true spiritual sense and meaning of the Word of God, the spiritual world, or of heaven and hell; the nature of the life of man, and the state of souls after the decease of the body? Is it to be supposed that these and other things of a like importance are to be eternally hidden from Christians? That many very important particulars relating to them are at this day revealed for the first time, is done for the sake of the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem, Rev. xxi., because the members thereof are able to apprehend them, which others might also do were it not for their weak unbelief of the possibility of such things being made known to any, and by them to the world. These my writings are not to be termed predictions, but revelations.Hobarts Life, p. 133.

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SWEDENBORG in his writings often declares that at the end of the First Christian Church there must be New Revelations of Divine Truth from the Word, and he also declares his own office in the Advent of the LORD as the instrument through whom these revelations mere made.

IN the work on Heaven and Hell, he says:

The Arcana which are revealed in what now follows, are about heaven and hell, and at the same time the life of man after death. The man of the church at this day knows scarcely anything about Heaven and Hell, and his life after death, although they all stand forth described in the Word. Yea, also, many who were born within the church deny these things, saying in their heart: Who has come thence and told us? Lest therefore this denial, which reigns especially with those who have much of the wisdom of the world, should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and the simple in faith, it has been given to me to be together with the angels, and to speak with them as man with man, end also to see the things which are in the heavens and the things which are in the hells, and this during thirteen years; and thus now to describe them from things seen and heard, hoping that thus ignorance may be enlightened and incredulity dissipated. Such immediate revelation is made at this day, because this is meant by the Coming of the LORD. No. 1.

SIMILAR in import are Swedenborgs words in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrines:

As to what particularly concerns the doctrine which now follows, it also is from heaven, because it is from the spiritual sense of the Word; and the spiritual sense of the Word is the same with the doctrine which is in heaven. For there is a church in heaven as well as on earth; for the Word is in heaven, and doctrine from the Word; there are also temples, and preaching in them; for them there tire both ecclesiastical and civil governments: in a word, there is no other difference between the things which are in the heavens, and the things which are on earth, except that all things in the heavens are in a more perfect state;

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inasmuch as all who dwell there are spiritual, and things that are spiritual immensely excel in perfection those that are natural. That such things are in the heavens may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell throughout, particularly in the article on governments in heaven, n. 213 to 220, and also in the article on Divine worship in heaven, n. 221 to 227. Hence it may appear what is meant by the holy city, New Jerusalem, being seen to descend from God out of heaven. But I proceed to the doctrine itself, which is for the New Church, and which is called HEAVENLY DOCTRINE, because it was revealed to me out of heaven; for to deliver this doctrine is the design of this work.--No. 7

NECESSITY OF THE NEW REVELATIONS.

IN the Treatise on the Sacred Scripture we have the reason why the spiritual sense is now revealed:

The spiritual sense of the Word is at this day made known ivy the LORD, because the doctrine of genuine truth is now revealed; and this doctrine, and no other, agrees with the spiritual sense of the Word. This sense is likewise signified by the LORDS appearing in the clouds with glory and power, Matt. xxiv. 30, 31: which treats of the consummation of the age, by which is meant the last time of the church. The opening of the Word as to its spiritual sense was also promised in the Apocalypse, and this sense is there meant by the white horse, and by the great supper to which all are invited, Rev. xix. 11-18. That the spiritual sense for a long time will not be acknowledged, and that this will be solely owing to the influence of those who are principles in falsities of doctrine, particularly concerning the LORD, and therefore do not admit truths, is meant in the Apocalypse by the beast, and by the kings of the earth, who would make war with him that sat on the white horse, (chap. xix. 19:) by the beast are meant the Roman Catholics, (as chap. xvii.3:) and by the kings of the earth are meant the Reformed, who are in falsities of doctrine.--S. S., 25.

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In the True Christian Religion the necessity of the New Revelation is more fully declared:

That the Word, in the letter, is written by appearances and correspondences, and that thus there is a spiritual sense contained in every single thing of it, in which sense truth appears in its light, and the sense of the letter is in shade, was shown in the chamber on the Sacred Scripture. Lest therefore the man of the New Church should wonder, like the man of the Old Church, in the shade in which is the sense of the letter of the Word, particularly about heaven and hell, and about a life after death, and here concerning the Coming of the LORD, it has pleased the LORD to open the sight of my spirit, and thus to intromit me into the spiritual world, permitting me not only to converse with spirits and angels, and with my relations and friends, and also with kings and princes, who have departed out of the natural world, but also to behold the stupendous things of heaven, and the miserable things of hell, and thus to see that a, man does not live after death in any unknown region of the earth [Pu], or flit about blind and dumb in the air, or in emptiness, but that he lives as a man in a substantial body, and in a mud; more perfect state, if he goes among the blessed, than when he lived before in a material body.

Lest therefore man should plunge deeper into the opinion concerning the destruction of the visible heavens, and the habitable earth, and thus concerning the Spiritual World from ignorance out of which the naturalism, and at the same time the atheism which at this may begins to take root among the erudite in the interior rational mind, should like a mortification in the flesh spread itself around more widely into mans external mind, from which he speaks, I have been charged by the LORD to promulgate (injunction a Domino mihi est) some of the various things from those seen and heard, both concerning Heaven and Hell and the Last Judgment, and also to explain the Apocalypse in which the ADVENT OF THE LORD, the former Heaven, and the New Heaven, and also the Holy Jerusalem are treated of.

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From these things read and understood, ally one may see what is therein meant by the Advent of the LORD, by the New Heaven, and by the New Jerusalem.--T. C. R., 771.

SWEDENBORG often declares, that neither angel nor spirit taught him the things which he has given to us in the Writings, but the LORD alone through the Word. In the work on the Divine Providence he says:

The LORD alone teaches man, but mediately through the Word in illumination, which will be spoken of presently. That this is so, has been made known to me by my own experience. I have discoursed with spirits and angels for a number of years; neither has ally spirit dared nor any angel wished to say anything to me, much less to instruct me, about anything in the Word, or any doctrinal from the Word; but the LORD, alone, who was revealed to me, and afterward continually did appear and does appear before my eyes as the Sun in which He is, even as He appears to the angels, has taught me and He has illuminated me.--D. P., 135.

VI.

DIVINE ORDER IN THE NEW REVELATIONS.

It now remains to be shown from the Word, that it is according to Divine Order that revelations should be made of things seen and heard in the Spiritual World. We quote again from the True Christian Religion:

I FORESEE that many who read the Memorabilia, after the chapters, will believe them to be the fictions of the imagination; but I protest in truth they are not actions, but were really seen and heard; not seen and heard in any state of the mind in sleep, but in a state of full wakefulness; for it has pleased the LORD to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which will belong to His New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation.

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For this purpose, He has opened the interiors of my mind or spirit, by which I have been permitted to be with angels in the spiritual world, and with men in the natural world at the same time, and this now for twenty-seven years.

WHO in the Christian world would have known anything of HEAVEN AND HELL, unless it had pleased the LORD to open within some one the sight of his spirit, and to show and teach him? That such things as are described in the MEMORABILIA do appear in the heavens, is manifest from similar things seen and described by JOHN in the APOCALYPSE, and also from t hose seen and described by the PROPHETS in the Word of the Old Testament.

IN the APOCALYPSE are these: That John saw the SON OF MAN in the midst of the seven candlesticks; that he saw a tabernacle, a temple, an ark, and an altar in heaven; a book scaled with seven seals; the book opened and horses going forth thence; four animals around the throne; twelve thousand chosen out of each tribe; locusts ascending from the Abyss; a woman bringing forth a son, a male, and flying into the desert on account of the dragon; two beasts, one flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel; a sea of glass mingled with fire; seven angels having the seven last plagues; vials poured out by them on the earth, beast, on Euphrates, and on the air; a woman sitting on a scarlet beast; the dragon cast out into a lake of fire and brimstone; a white horse; a great supper; a new heaven and a new earth; the Holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven, described as to the gates, the wall, and its foundations; also a river of the water of life, and trees of life bearing fruit every month; with many other things, which were all seen by JOHN, and seen while as to his spirit he was in the spiritual world and in heaven; besides the things seen by the apostles after the Resurrection of the LORD, and those seen afterward by PETER (Acts xi.), and those seen and heard by PAUL, and also by the PROPHETS in the Old Testament, as by EZEKIEL, DANIEL, ZECHARIAH, and others.

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From these things and many others it is evident that the things which exist in the spiritual world have appeared to many, both before and after the Coming of the LORD; what wonder then that such things have now appeared from the Word, at the commencement of a Church, or when the New Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven? T. C. R., 851.

VII.

NUNC LICET.

THE Second Coming of the LORD not only brings light to the world, but it also establishes the full rationality and freedom of the man of the Church. Heretofore the intellect was held in bondage under a blind faith. But in the New Church the intellect is free and rational. This opening of the Rational Mind in the light of heaven was represented to Swedenborg by the vision of a Magnificent Temple in Heaven, of which we have the following Relation:

ONE day there appeared to me a magnificent temple, of a square form, the roof of which was like a crown, arched above and elevated round about. The walls of it were continuous windows of crystals, the gate of pearly substance; within, on the south side, toward the west, there was a pulpit, on which, at the right, lay the Word open, girded with a sphere of light, the splendor of which surrounded and illuminated the whole pulpit. In the middle of the temple was the inmost sanctuary, before which was a veil, but now lifted up, where stood a cherub of gold with a sword in his hand, vibrating hither and thither.

WHEN I had viewed these things, it flowed into my meditation, what each of them signified; namely, that that temple signified the New Church; the gate of pearly substance, entrance into it; the windows of crystals, the truths which illustrate it; the pulpit, the priesthood and preachings; the Word upon it open, and illuminating the higher part of the pulpit, the internal sense of it, which is spiritual, revealed;

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the inmost sanctuary in the middle of the temple, the conjunction of that church with the angelic heaven; the cherub of gold in it, the Word in the sense of the letter; the sword vibrating in his hand, signified that this sense may be turned hither and thither, provided this is done in application to some truth; that the veil before the cherub was removed, signified that now the Word is laid open. Afterward, when I came up nearer, I saw these words written on the gate, NOW IT IS ALLOWABLE; which signified, that now it is allowable to enter intellectually into the Arcana of faith. The dogmas at this day in the Christian Churches are devised, not from the Word, but from mans own intelligence, and thence from falsities, and also from something confirmed from the Word: therefore with the Roman Catholics, by the Divine Providence of the: LORD, the Word was taken from the laity; and with the Protestants it is open, but still closed up by the common saying of their mouth, that the understanding is to be kept bound under obedience to their faith. But in the New Church it is reversed; in this it is: allowed to enter by the understanding and to penetrate into all its secrets, and likewise to confirm them by the Word, because its doctrinals are truths continuous, disclosed by the LORD through the Word; and thus confirmations by rationals cause the understanding to be opened more and more upward, and thus it is elevated into the light in which the angels of heaven are, and this light in its essence is truth, and in this light the acknowledgment of the LORD as GOD of heaven and. earth, shines in its glory. This is meant by the inscription over the gate of the temple: Not it is allowable: and also by the veil being removed from before the cherub is the most sacred place; for it is a canon of the New Church, that falsities close the understanding and truths open it. After this I saw as it were an infant overhead, holding a paper in his hand, who as he approached me grew to the stature of a middle-sized man. He was an angel from the third heaven, where, at a distance, all appear like infants. When he was come near he presented me the paper; but as it was written with letters of a rounded form, such as are in that heaven, I returned it to him, and requested, that they themselves should explain the sense of the words in terms adapted to the ideas of my thought.

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Then he replied: This is written there: Enter hereafter into the mysteries of the Word, hitherto closed up; for all of its truths are so many mirrors of the LORD.--T. C. R., 508.

VIII.

ADVENT OF THE LORD IN THE NEW REVELATIONS.

THE Coming of the LORDin the Divine Truth of the Writings, must now be considered.

THERE are many who at first find it difficult to comprehend the precise nature of the LORDS Second Coming, and the teaching of the Heavenly Doctrines on this subject. We learn, first, that He could not appear in the natural world in Person after His resurrection, T. C. R. 777 and 779: second, that He made His Advent through the instrumentality of a man before whose spiritual sight he prepared, and whom He filled with His Spirit to teach from Him Divine Truths from the Word: and, third, that this man was SWEDENBORG.

BUT still the question remains,--how, even in this way, did the LORD effect His Second. Coming?

We answer: He came in the Divine Truths evolved from the Word, and given by the LORD Himself is the Theological writings of Swedenborg, as is often affirmed in the Writings themselves.

In our frontispiece, ADVENTUS DOMINI, this Doctrine is set forth with wonderful clearness. This sketch of an Ecclesiastical History of the New Church we present in full in another place.* As bearing directly upon the point in question, the following extract from it will far the present suffice.

* See Appendix A.

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Swedenborg says:

A New Ecclesiastical History must be written because now is the ADVENT OF THE LORD which was predicted in Matthew xxv.

The Books which were written by the LORD through me, from the beginning to the present day, must be enumerated.

The writing therein is such that it gives light before those who believe in the LORD and in the New Revelation, but is obscure and of no moment to those who deny these things, and who for various external reasons are not in favor of them.

When the Summaria Exposition (Brief Exposition) was published, the angelic heaven from the east to the west, and from the south to the north, appeared purple, with most beautiful flowers: this was before me and before the Danish Kings and others. At another time it appeared beautifully flamy.

On the Books was written THE ADVENT OF THE LORD: on all in the Spiritual World. By command I wrote the same on two copies in Holland.

In a Postscript to the True Christian Religion Swedenborg says:

READ an account of the Arcana revealed by the LORD through me His servant, as given in my last work entitled True Christian Religion, n. 846 to 861; and after that draw a conclusion, yet under the direction of reason, on the subject of my revelations.

In the Invitation to the New Church it is written:

THE Spiritual Sense of the Word has been laid open by the LORD through me; or, the LORD disclosed the Spiritual Sense of the Word by me, which was never before done since the Word was revealed in the Israelitish Scriptures, and the spiritual sense is the very sanctuary of the Word, the LORD Himself is in that sense with His Divinity, and in the natural sense with His Humanity; and not an iota of this could be opened but by the LORD alone;

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this exceeds all the revelations which have been hitherto made since the foundation of the world. No. 44.

Elsewhere in the Writings, the advent of the LORD, is explained, as follows:

And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the Everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth: signifies the annunciation of the Advent of the LORD, and of the New Church about to come down out of heaven from Him. An angel, in the supreme sense means the LORD, and thence also heaven. Another angel signifies something new from the LORD; flying in the midst of heaven, is to look down, to explore, and to foresee; and here is meant something new in the Church from the LORD out of heaven. The Everlasting Gospel signifies the annunciation of the Coming of the LORD, and of His Kingdom. Those that dwell on the earth, signify the men of the Church to whom the annunciation will be made.A. C., 626.

In the following also the New Revelations now made are declared to be the Advent of the LORD:

THE Advent of the LORD, foretold in Matt. xxiv. 3 and in John xxi. 22, does not mean His advent in Person but the revelation of Himself in the Word: That He is JEHOVAH, the LORD of heaven and of earth, and that He alone is to be adored by all who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. For this end also He has now opened the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, in which sense the LORD is everywhere treated of. This also is understood by His coming in the clouds of heaven with glory: Matt. xxiv. 30: The clouds of heaven signify the Word in the letter: glory signifies its spiritual sense. Inasmuch as He, Himself is the Word, as He is called in John i. 1, 2, 14, therefore the Revelation of Himself in the Word is His Advent.A. E. 870.

THE Coming of God signifies to perceive:

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for perception is nothing else but the Divine Advent, or influx into the intellectual faculty.A. C., 2513.

IT has now pleased the LORD to reveal the various Arcana of heaven, especially the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, which was hitherto entirely unknown, and with this He has taught the genuine truths of doctrine. The Advent of the LORD, in Matt. xxiv. 3, 30, 37, means this Revelation. The reason of this revelation in the end of the Church is, that the good may be separated from the evil: likewise that the New Church may be established, and this not only in the natural world where men are, but also in the spiritual world where spirits and angels are: for the Church is in both worlds, and in both there is this Revelation, and by it, separation and also the establishment of the New Church. A. E., 641.

IX.

OUTLINE OF THE DOCTRINES.

THESE Divine Testimonies show how essential to the welfare of Man is the Second Coming of the LORD. The results of this Advent therefore must be most extensive in their relations and bearings. The new Doctrines are of paramount importance, for they penetrate everything of human life and hold all things in form and order. At present we need only specify the Leading Doctrines.

First of all is the DOCTRINE OF THE LORD, of the Word from Him, and of Heaven and the Church from the LORD by means of the Word: and of Salvation by coming to the LORD in His Word, and living a life of obedience to Him.

Then, the decline and ultimate vastation and consummation of the First Christian Church, by evils of life and falsities of doctrine:

Then, the Last Judgment executed in the Spiritual World on the men of that church in the year 1757:

Then, the doctrine concerning the Descent of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, from God out of Heaven.

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And finally, the New Christian Church established by the LORD at His Advent, its nature, its Heavenly Doctrines, and its eternal duration.

I. FIRST of all, then, is the Doctrine of the LORD, which in brief is this:

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS JEHOVAH GOD in His Humanity; and His Humanity is Divine. He is the God of the universe, the Creator and Upholder of all things. He gave the Word, which is Divine Truth itself, proceeding from Him, and accommodated to angels and to men. He is the Redeemer, Regenerator and Savior. Consequently He is the One only object of love and adoration in the Church and in Heaven: And we tire to be saved by faith in Him and by a life according to the precepts of His Word.

THE primitive Christians believed in the LORD JESUS CHRIST alone, in whom is the Father, and who is one with the Father, and from whom proceeds the Holy Spirit. And when they named GOD the Father distinctly, they meant the Father in the LORD, the invisible GOD in the Visible, who is one with Him, and not any Divinity out of the LORD, or apart from Him.--T. C. R., 137, 175, 335, 637, 638. A.C., 4738. A. E., 315, 316, 325. A. R., 59.

THIS Doctrine of the LORD, revealed and held in simplicity, in the Apostolic Church, was die very chief of all the stones in the Temple of Christian Theology represented, in the spiritual sense, by the temple in Jerusalem so memorable in Matt. xxiv. 1, 2. It was the very Door into the Christian Temple, the Gate of entrance into the Christian Fold; and it is the Chief Essential of Doctrine, without which, there can be no Christian Church, nor Christian Heaven.

THIS Headstone has, indeed, shared the fate of all the other stones of the Temple in the fulfillment of the prophecy:

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There shall not be left here, a stone upon a stone that shall not be thrown down. For the First Christian Church has totally rejected the LORD and denied the Divinity of His Humanity.

BUT in the New Church this Essential Doctrine is again revealed and held, not in simplicity merely, but in immense fullness and clearness. This is the LORDS doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

II. As a Doctrine that has respect to the course of history, we must consider the gradual vastation and ultimate consummation of the First Christian Church; the adulteration of the good and the falsification of the truth revealed to that Church, by which it has reached its end, and has been judged and rejected.

THE beginning of this decline was not, as is often supposed, the growth of falsity and the loss of truth, but a turning away of the heart from the LORD, to the evils of self-love, and love of the world, and thence an inward delight in evil lusts and concupiscences springing from these loves.

THE delight of evil was the impulse that carried that Church so madly through the various steps of its decline even to its total consummation.

UNDER the blinding influence of those evils and their delights, the men of the Second Era of that Church. (T. C. R. 760) first began to lose knowledge of what was good and true, and to dispute about good and truth, whence falsities originated. As evils successively increased, in still subsequent ages, good and truth were despised and rejected, till, in the end, all true faith in the LORD, and charity toward the neighbor, were totally extinguished, except with a few, called the elect, who may be saved, and who are known to the LORD alone, and with whom the New Church may be commenced in Christian lands.

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WHEN the Church reached this state it entered that ever enduring Night in which evil and falsity rule supreme. This state in the Word is designated Abomination of Desolation, the Consummation of the Age, and the Fullness of Time;--that ever enduring Night in which the Sun of Heaven is so obscured (Matt. xxiv. 29), that there can be

No knowledge of GOD, but what is erroneous:
No knowledge of Divine Omnipotence:
No knowledge of the LORD:
No knowledge of His Divine Humanity:
No knowledge of the Holy Spirit: hence
No knowledge of the Divine Trinity:
No knowledge of the Sanctity of the Word:
No knowledge of Redemption:
No knowledge of Faith:
No knowledge of Charity:
No knowledge of free-will:
No knowledge of repentance:
No knowledge of the remission of sills:
No knowledge of conversion:
No knowledge of reformation:
No knowledge of regeneration;
No knowledge of imputation: and hence
No knowledge of Judgment:
No knowledge of Heaven and Hell:
No knowledge of the state of man after death:
No knowledge of salvation and eternal life:
No knowledge of Baptism:
No knowledge of the Holy Supper:
No knowledge of the Law but what is erroneous:
No knowledge of the Gospel but what is erroneous.
Hence it follows that there is no Religion, no Church, no Worship, no Ministry.

See addition to T. C. R., issued by A. S. P. and P. Society; also S. Diary, vol. iv. p. 138; also T. C. R., 632 to 636.

III. The General Judgment executed in the spiritual world in the year 1757 is next to be considered:

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IN John ix. 39, the LORD says: For judgment am I come into this world. And thus He executed a judgment, during His abode in the world. In His Second Advent He also executed a judgment upon the consummated Church. In this He separated the good from the evil, and elevated the good into the New Christian Heaven, and removed the evil into hell.

THE LORD, at His Coming executed Judgment upon the vast multitudes who from age to age had been collected in the World of Spirits, and also by the New Truth then revealed for the establishment of a New Church upon the earth, He continues to unveil, disclose and judge the intentions of men in this world also: and in the new light He abides with the good, but the evil withdraw themselves and reject Him.

NEVERTHELESS it must be remembered that only a part of those born since the commencement of the Christian Era remained in the world of spirits between heaven and hell till the General Judgment in 1757: and of this pert there were two classes.

In the one class, were those who at heart were evil end irreligious, but who were outwardly pious, professing faith in the LORD and in the Word, and observing the rites of the Church. These formed religious societies in title intermediate state, similar to the societies to which they had belonged in the world, and professing the same faith.

In the other class, were those who at heart were good, acknowledging the LORD end His Word, observing the rites of the Church, and leading a life according to the commandments. For providential reasons these two classes continued in association till the time of the Last Judgment, when they were separated, and the good were elevated to Heaven, and the evil were cast into Hell.

THE other part of those born under the Christian Dispensation, after their departure from this world were in a short time after death removed either to Heaven, or to Hell.

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The evil of this portion were openly irreligious, denying the faith of the Church, rejecting the LORD and His Word, and contemning all pious observances. Among them were the professed infidels and naturalists.

BUT those whose blessed lot it was to be elevated into Heaven were not only inwardly good, but they were also principled in truths: truths which they had learned either while they lived in the world, or by angelic instruction after death: and thus they were prepared for the societies of Heaven. Of these the New Christian Heaven was formed from the Incarnation of the LORD even to the day of the Last Judgment: into this Heaven also all infants were received by the LORD.

SWEDENBORG describes the Last Judgment more in detail as follows:

I SAW the LORD in a bright cloud with angels, and I heard the sound as of trumpets from it: and this sign represented the protection of the angels of heaven by the LORD, and the gathering of the good from every quarter. For the LORD does not bring destruction upon any; but only protects His own, and draws them away from communication with the wicked; whereupon the wicked come into their own concupiscences, which impel them into every kind of abomination. Then all who were about to perish I saw together in the likeness of a great dragon, with its tail extended in a curve, and elevated toward heaven, bending itself about, on high, in various directions, as though it would destroy heaven, and drawn it down; but the attempt was vain, for the tail was cast down, and the dragon, which also appeared elevated, sunk beneath. I was permitted to see this representation, that I might know and make known who are understood by the dragon in the Apocalypse;

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namely, that the dragon means all who read the Word, hear sermons, and perform the rites of the Church, making no account of the concupiscences of evil which beset them, and inwardly mediating thefts, frauds, adulteries, obscenities, hatred and revenge, lies and blasphemies; and who thus live like devils in spirit, and like angels in body. These constituted the body of the dragon; but the tail was composed of those, who, when in the world, lived in faith separated from charity, and were like the former in thoughts and intentions.

THEN I saw some of the rocks they inhabited sinking down to the lowest depths; some were carried away to a great distance; some were cleft in the middle, and those who were on them cast down through the openings; and others inundated as with a deluge.... This is a general description of their destruction; the particulars I saw, are too numerous to be here described.

AFTER the Last Judgment was accomplished, there was then joy in heaven, and also light in the world of spirits, such as was not before. The kind of joy there was in heaven, after the dragon was cast down, is described in the Apocalypse, xii. 10, 11, 12; and there was light in the world of spirits, because the infernal societies, which were removed, had been interposed, like clouds which darken the earth. A similar light also arose with men in the world, giving them new enlightenment.See Continuation Last Judgment, Nos. 28, 29, 30; E. U.; 170, 171; S. D., 5742, 5743; also S. D., vol. iv., pp. 53, 54; A. R., 831.

IV. WE shall now consider briefly the Descent of the New Jerusalem:

THE Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem descend from the LORD through the New Christian Heaven; and the New Church is established on the earth by means of these Doctrines. The New Church therefore is the descent of the New Christian Heaven into the world: so that the New Church is the New Christian Heaven upon the earth: while the New Heaven is the New Church among the angels.

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THE New Jerusalem signifies the New Christian Church because the Holy City descending out of heaven from GOD is the Bride, the wife of the Lamb, and the Lamb is the LORD as to His Divine Humanity. The Doctrine of this Church and the Church itself, descend from the New Christian Heaven, as we learn from the Writings:

THE New Church will be established by the LORD at the end of the former Church, which will be consociated with the New Heaven in Divine Truths as to Doctrine and as to life.... This New Church descends from the LORD through the New Christian Heaven; for the Church upon earth is formed by the LORD through heaven, that the Church and Heaven may act as one and be consociated.A. R., 879.

THE descent of the New Church is of the LORD and from the LORD, and effected by the LORD, because it consists solely of His own Divine Truths disclosed by Himself from His Word, and by Him presented to us in the Books of the New Church. These Books are therefore the Advent of the LORD, that is, the LORD in His Second Coming.

From the Apocalypse Revealed we have a confirmation of these things, and a further unfolding of the origin, the mode of descent, and the nature of the Heavenly Doctrines:

I, JESUS, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches: signifies, a testification by the LORD, before the whole Christian world, that it is true that the LORD alone manifested the things which are described in this book as also the things which are now laid open. The LORD here names Himself Jesus, in order that all in the Christian world, may know that the LORD Himself, who was in the world, manifested the things which are described in this book, as also the things which are now laid open.A. R., 953.

I AM the Root and Offspring of David the Bright and Morning Star:

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signifies, that it is the LORD Himself who was born in the world, and was then the light, and who will come with new light, which will spring up before His New Church, which is the Holy Jerusalem. I am the Root and Offspring of David: signifies that He is the very LORD Himself who was born in the world, thus the LORD in His Divine Humanity;. He is called the bright Star from the light which will rise up before His New Church, which is the Holy Jerusalem. Morning signifies His Advent, and then, a New Church.A. R., 954.

AND the Spirit and the Bride say, Come: signifies that Heaven and the Church desire the Advent of the LORD.--A. R., 955.

And let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that thirsteth Come, and whosoever will let him take of the Water of life freely: signifies that he who knows anything of the LORDS coming and of the New Heaven and New Church, consequently of the LORDS kingdom, should pray that it may come, and that he who desires truths should pray that the LORD would come with light; and that he who loves truths will then receive them from the LORD without ally labor of his own.A. R.,956.

HE that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, LORD, JESUS: signifies the LORD who revealed the Apocalypse, and has now opened it, testifying these glad tidings, that in His Divine Humanity, which He took upon Him, in the world, and glorified, He comes as a Bridegroom and Husband, and that the Church desires Him as a Bride and Wife.

I, JESUS, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches: signifies a testification by the LORD before the whole Christian world, that it is true that the LORD alone manifested the things which are written in this book, and which are now laid open. It means testifying this gospel or these glad tidings, because He here declares His advent, His kingdom, and His spiritual marriage with the Church, for He says, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, LORD JESUS.A. R., 960.

ALL revelation is Divine; and all such revelation is a Coming of the LORD.

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Every such Coming is but an accommodate Manifestation and thus a presentation of the Infinite Divine Love and Wisdom of the LORD Himself, of His essential Divine Truth with Divine Good in it, in a manner adopted to the states and needs of angels and of men and hence it secures the very Presence of the LORD Himself in heaven among angels, and on earth among men, and is therefore, a perfectly Divine Work, whether effected by oral dictation of angels and angelic spirits as now is Africa and Asia., L. J. 76, T. C. R. 540, S. D. 4774-4777, and 4783, or, by means of a man before whom the LORD manifested Himself in Person, and whom He filled with His Spirit, to receive, write, and publish by the press, the Doctrines of the New Church from Him by the Word. T. C. R., 779.

THE LORD THE ONLY REVELATOR.

THE LORD was the Revealer of whatever was revealed in His Second Advent. In respect to the Word there are two things:

First, giving the Word by the LORD through the Prophets and Apostles; and

Second, opening and expounding the Word by the LORD, in His Second Advent, and drawing from it the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. And neither the first nor the last could be entrusted to the finite fallible minds of the men who were employed as the instruments through whom the work was done.*

* Appendix B.

The LORD was as really the Expounder of His Word, as He was the original Giver of it. To give the Word and to open its seals are both alike Divine works.

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And as the Written Word is the LORD as to the Word in the world, so also the Books given for the New Church are the LORD as to the Divine Truth in the world. There is this difference between the WORD and the WRITINGS:

The Word is written by mere correspondences; the Writings are a rational unfolding of the arcana involved in the correspondences. And if the LORD, as to His Divine Truth could come into the world in external written correspondences, so that His Truth is present in the form of such Divine Writings in His Word: may He not also come in the form of Divine Doctrines, disclosing from Him the spiritual truths of the internal sense, and the natural truths of the external sense of the Word? If the Word as infallible Divine Truth involved in correspondences could be given by the LORD through the Prophets; may not also infallible Divine Truth be disclosed by the LORD through a man prepared by Him, and intromitted into the spiritual world and continually guided and overruled by the LORD in his work? T. C. R., 779. Invitation to the New Church, n. 38.

THE LORD manifests Himself in the world in three ways: First, by giving His Word; Second, in Person at His incarnation, as when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; Third, by opening His Word and disclosing its power and glory.

IN giving the Word the LORD came as internal and essential Divine Truth clothed in historicals, representatives, correspondences, and with appearances and fallacies: and with some genuine truths shining through the unclothed face and hands of the Word.

He came in Person clothed at first with what was finite and frail, assumed from the virgin; but He disclosed and brought down His Divine Life and Glory, and put off the imperfections and limitations assumed, retaining, however, the Human Form in which after His Glorification were the infinite things of His Divine Love and Wisdom.

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In His glorified Humanity He is an object of sight and of thought both to angels and men, when their interior vision is opened. The infinity of the Divine Humanity does not consist in the infinite extension of the Human Form, but in the infinite things which are in it.--D. L. W., 11, 12.

THE LORD has at this day opened the infinite Fountain of His Word from which He sends forth living waters to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Zech. xiii. 1: that is, to His Church: and the living waters are truths in an adapted form, and in general in a higher sense than the sense of the letter.

THE Word itself, as it stands, is like inexhaustible mines of gold, and silver, and copper, and iron, and precious stones. The New Church truths are brought forth by exposition and by formulation into doctrine, and so are like the same gold and silver, and copper and iron and precious stones and common stone brought forth from the mine, purified, moulded, wrought and made into ornaments, utensils, coin, and other useful forms.

And because the LORD; in purifying, and formulating these precious principles, has used a human instrument, is it therefore any less the LORDS doing?

Science, and all knowledge treasured in the memory of Swedenborg, were it Divinely provided store, ready for the LORDS use as vessels to contain and present the Divine and Eternal truths of the Word and of nature from the Wold, to be set forth for the use of His Church.

THE LORD, by His Infinite Love and Infinite Wisdom, with a view to the salvation of man, did fully bring the human instrument of His Second Advent, into such a state, and securely keep him in it, that He Himself, and not the instrument, should completely dictate, and undeviatingly guide, in general and in special, universally and particularly, the sense and substance of all that was published by the press, so that what was promulgated, was, throughout, absolutely the same in meaning, as He would have taught, had He come and taught personally, instead of teaching by means of a man. Hence we read:

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This Second Coming of the LORD is effected by means of a man before whom He has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit to teach the Doctrines of the New Church, through the Word from Him; and since the LORD [in His Glorified Human in which He now is] cannot manifest Himself in Person, and yet, has foretold that He would come again into the world and establish a New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, Con. Cor. T. C. R., 56-62, it follows that HE WILL DO IT by means of a MAN, etc., to the end.--T. C. R., 779.

XI.

THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE WRITINGS.

THE Book, then, in which the LORD is in His Second Coming, and by which that Divine Coming and Presence are effected from the Word, were written by Him, and not by man. Hence, we read: The Books are to be enumerated which have been written BY THE LORD through me, from the beginning to the present day (1770).--Sketch Ecc. Hist., Section 3.

Being thus drawn out of His own Word, presented by the LORD Himself and written by His command, they are necessarily His Books, and not mans! Hence we read again, that Swedenborg speaking in the spiritual world with a certain English Bishop, concerning Five Books, which were Heaven and Hell and four other works, sent to all the Archbishops and Bishops, and to all the Protestant Lords of Parliament in England, said to him:

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THEY are not my works but the LORDS works, who willed to reveal to men the nature of Heaven and Hell, of the life after death, of the Last Judgment, and also that theological subjects do not transcend the human understanding; and that this is the male child, whom the woman brought forth, whom the dragon willed to devour, and on account of whom he persecuted the woman.A. R., 716. S. D. (Latin), vol. ii., p. 204.

AND still more: These Books embody an entire summary of Universal Principles and of General Doctrines, with innumerable specific truths drawn out of the Divine Word, and formulated anew, by which the LORD Himself becomes present a Second time in the world. He has come in a new and accommodate form, to establish and maintain from Himself, His New and Second Christian Church, which is the New Jerusalem.

FROM the sketch of the Ecclesiastical History of the New Church, which we present elsewhere, we learn that the Theological works of Swedenborg were written by the LORD through him, and that these Books are the Advent of the LORD.

The following is a Catalogue of these Books with the date of their first publication:

ARCANA COELESTIA, 1749-1756.
HEAVEN AND HELL, 1758.
LAST JUDGMENT, 1758.
HEAVENLY DOCTRINES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, 1758.
EARTHS IN THE UNIVERSE, 1758.
WHITE HORSE, 1758.
DOCTRINE OF THE LORD, l768.
DOCTRINE OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, 1763.
DOCTRINE OF FAITH, 1763.
DOCTRINE OF LIFE, 1763.

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DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, 1763.
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 1764.
APOCALYPSE REVEALED, 1766.
CONJUGIAL LOVE, 1765.
BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH, 1769.
INFLUX, 1769.
TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 1771.

The following are among his Posthumous Works:

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED, written from 1755-1762.
SPIRITUAL DIARY, 1747-1765.
CONCERNING THE LORD AND THE ATHANASIAN CREED, 1759.
CONCERNING MARRIAGE.
THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY.
DICTA PROBANTIA.
CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH.
ANSWERS TO NINE QUESTIONS.
CORONIS TO TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
CONTINUATION OF THE SAME.
CONCERNING JUSTIFICATION.
SUMMARY EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHETS AND PSALMS.
INDEX TO THE ARCANA COELESTIA.
CONCERNING THE WORD.
ADVERSARIA, four volumes, 1745-1747.
INVITATION TO THE NEW CHURCH, 1771.

INDEX BIBLICUS.

XII.

THE MEMORABILIA.

FROM the general tenor of the Writings as well as from many specific showings we learn that the Memorabilia are as really of Divine Revelation as the Spiritual sense of the Word, and the Heavenly Doctrines. This will appear from the following descriptions of things seen and heard.

EVERY one can see that the Apocalypse can by no means be explained, but by the LORD alone: for each word therein contains arcana which could in no wise be known without a particular enlightenment, and thus revelation, on which account it has pleased the LORD to open the sight of my spirit and to teach me.

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Do not believe therefore that I have taken anything herein from myself, nor from any angel, but from the LORD alone. The LORD also said to John through the angel: Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, Rev. xxii. 10, by which is meant, that they are to be made manifest.Preface to the Apocalypse Revealed.

I WAS once raised up as to my spirit into the angelic heaven, and there introduced to a certain society; and immediately some of the wise of the society came to me and said, WHAT IS THERE NEW FROM THE EARTH? This is new, I replied, that the LORD has revealed arcana which in excellence surpass all the arcana revealed from the beginning of the Church till now. What arcana? they asked. I answered, The following:--1. In all and every part of the Word there is a SPIRITUAL SENSE corresponding with the natural sense, and the Word by that sense is the conjunction of the man of the Church with the LORD, and also consociation with the angels, and the holiness of the Word resides in that sense. 2. The CORRESPONDENCES, of which the spiritual sense of the Word consists, are disclosed. The angels greatly rejoiced to hear that it had pleased the LORD to reveal this great arcanum, which had lain so deeply hidden for thousands of years. It was done, they said, with this view, that the Christian Church, which is founded on the Word, and is now at its end, may again revive, and derive its spirit through heaven from the LORD. The angels then inquired whether anything more had been revealed. I answered: That there was more: as concerning the LAST JUDGMENT; concerning the LORD, that He is the GOD of heaven and earth; that GOD is one both in person and essence, in whom there is a Divine Trinity, and that this is the LORD; also concerning the NEW CHURCH that is to be established by Him, and concerning the DOCTRINE of that Church; concerning the HOLINESS OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURE; that the APOCALYPSE also is revealed: and moreover, concerning the INHABITANTS OF THE PLANETS, and the EARTHS in the universe; besides many Memorabilia and wonderful things disclosed from the spiritual world, by which many things which are of wisdom, have been disclosed from heaven.T. C. R., 846.

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THE reader ought to observe that the Mission of Swedenborg and the Memorabilia precede; and that the Spiritual Sense of the Word and Doctrine from the Word follow. For the explanation of the Word, and the revelation of doctrine, are conditioned on the Divine Mission, and on the Memorabilia and their verity; this appears conspicuously throughout the Writings and notably so in the very beginning of the published works.In the Arcana Coelestia, first volume, we read thus:

THAT the Word contains the Arcana of heaven, treating of the LORD, His heaven, and the church, no mortal could know from the Letter. Of the particulars of these things in the Word, the Christian world has been hitherto profoundly ignorant. That the Word contains such arcana will is not a single syllable which does not represent signify and involve what is spiritual and Divine.

BUT that this is so no mortal can know except from the LORD. Wherefore it must be premised that of the LORDS mercy, it has been granted me now for a number of years to be constantly and uninterruptedly in consort with spirits and angels, to hear them speak and in turn to speak with them. Hence it has been granted me to hear and see the astonishing things of another life which have never come to the knowledge or entered into the idea of any man. I have thus been instructed concerning different kinds of spirits, about the state of souls after death, about hell and heaven, and especially about the faith prevailing in the universal heaven.A. C., 1-5.

INASMUCH as, by the Divine Mercy of the LORD, it has been granted me to know the internal sense of the Word, and the deepest arcana contained in it heretofore unknown to any one; neither could they be comprehended, without knowing how things are in another life, for most things which are in the internal sense of the Word, have respect to these things, recount them, and involve them. Therefore I am allowed to lay open those things which I have heard and seen now for a number of years, in the communication given me with angels and spirits.--A. C., 67.

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AND in this strain, he speaks throughout the Writings.

FROM these things, therefore we learn that the Mission of Swedenborg and the Memorabilia precede; and that the Spiritual Sense of the Word and the Doctrines thence derived follow. The logical sequence demands this order:

First, The Word exists and its sense is unknown and unknowable, but by a Divine opening.

Second, To open the Word, a Man must be commissioned by the LORD.

Third, No one can understand the Spiritual Sense, till he sees and hears and learns from things seen and heard, hence the Memorabilia.

Fourth, There must he illustration from perception inflowing into the knowledges of the Memorabilia, whence the Word is understood, and thence the doctrine is drawn forth from it.

The order then is: the LORD called Swedenborg: then He intromitted him into the spiritual world; for without this, the work could not be commenced, nor could it be the LORDS work. Then the Memorabilia. Then the Spiritual Sense, which has the Memorabilia as subjects of application. And finally, Doctrine from the foregoing and concerning them, and concerning all other matters seen in their light.

IF the Mission and Memorabilia are not Divinely authorized and absolutely true, in general and in particular, then neither the Internal Sense, nor the Doctrines of the Church could have any Divine authority whatever, nor could we have any rational faith in the Advent of the LORD, and in the New Church which at His coming He has established.

Then again, these NEW REVELATIONS establish the Word, and prove its Divinity, and that it is spiritual and celestial;

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they show that the Words which the LORD spoke are spirit and life, and they lay the Word open and make it accessible to man. But the Word is not thus established by the literal sense alone, without these New Revelations. For although these New things were in the Word it required Divine Revelation to show this, and to make them available. Consequently the LORD, by these New Revelations, re-inaugurates the Word and re-establishes it.

To the man of the New Church who knows these Writings to be Divine revelations, they are the sole criterion of the intent and meaning of the Word of God.

To ascribe authority to the Word and not to the Writings is the position of the old church, and it is also similar to the position of the Jews who adhere to their own interpretation of the Old Testament and reject the interpretation of the Christian. But we must be grounded in the affirmative principle implanted by the LORD in the innocence of infancy and childhood, in order that we may be able to accept the authority of the Writings, or the authority of the Word, or the authority of the LORD Himself. The affirmative principle is, to admit what is contained in the Word and in doctrine thence, because the LORD so says; and the essential of the affirmative principle is to be led by the LORD and not by self. This principle leads to all intelligence and wisdom; while its opposite, the negative principle, leads to all folly and insanity.A. C., 2568, 2558.

It is as preposterous to withhold an affirmation of the authority of the Revelation and Doctrine of the LORD, at this His Second Advent as at His First.

In respect to the things seen and heard Swedenborg says:

The things which I learned from Representations, Visions, and Discourses with Spirits and angels, were from the LORD alone.

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Whenever there was any representation, vision and discourse, I was kept intensely and intimately in reflection upon it, as to what thence was useful and good, thus what I might learn therefrom; which reflection was not thus attended to by those who presented the representations and visions and who spake; yea, sometimes they were indignant when they perceived that I was reflecting. Thus have I been instructed; consequently by no angel or spirit, but by the LORD alone, from whom is all truth and good; yea, when they wished to instruct me concerning various things, there was scarcely anything but what was false; wherefore I was prohibited from believing anything that they spake; nor was I permitted to infer any such thing as was proper to them (or akin to their proprium). Besides, when they wished to persuade me, I perceived an interior or intimate persuasion that the thing was so and so, and not as they wished; which, also, they wondered at; the perception was manifest, but cannot be easily described to the apprehension of men. March 22d, 1748.--S. D., 1647.

And as we learn even at this day: It is as impossible to see a single genuine truth from the Word, but what is obscured and defiled by falsities and cohering with falsities, as it is to sail to the Pleiades. Wherefore in order that the True Christian Religion might be opened, it was absolutely necessary that some one should be introduced into the Spiritual World, and receive from the mouth of the LORD, genuine truths from the Word.--Invitation to the New Church 38.

From the following, we learn that we are to receive the spiritual sense of the Word as Divine Truth because this sense was dictated to Swedenborg from heaven.

That the internal sense given in my Writings, is such as has been expounded, is evident from the particulars which have been explained and especially from this: That that sense was dictated to me from heaven.A. C., 6597.

In his intercourse with spirits and angels Swedenborg was endowed with a most perfect discrimination between what was from the LORD, in what they said and thought, and what was from themselves, and he wrote only what was from the LORD, and never what was from them.

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Otherwise, what he wrote would not be the LORDS revelation, nor His Coming, but that of spirits or angels. A. E., 1183.

And not only must this Divine Guardianship, and powerful control (A. C., 6474) have been maintained over him in regard to everything spiritual published by him, but also over anything natural employed for illustration and confirmation. For Swedenborg was called not only to teach spiritual truth, but also such natural truths as are essential to be known, and could not otherwise be learned; as the origin of the Natural Universe (T. C. R., 76) and about the inhabitants of other earths; and moreover, to illustrate and confirm spiritual truths by natural truths, whereby spiritual truths are inrooted, and they also give light. He says:

It was not allowed me to take anything from the dictate of any spirit, or the dictate of any angel, but from the LORD alone.--Posthumous Tract, De Verbo, 4.

It was shown me by experience during the space of an hour, how all the thoughts are ruled by the LORD; there was an influx like a most gentle and imperceptible stream, the vein of which does not appear, but still leads and draws; that which flowed in from the LORD, thus led all my thoughts into consequences, and although gently, still powerfully, insomuch that I could not in anywise wander into other thoughts, which was even allowed me to attempt, but it was to no purpose.A. C., 6474.

It has been given me to perceive distinctly what comes from the LORD and what from the angels; whet has come from the LORD has been written, and what from the angels has not been written.--A. E., 1183.

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XIII.

NATURE OF THE NEW CHURCH.

THUS has the New Jerusalem descended from GOD out of Heaven, and thus has the LORD fulfilled His prediction and promise to come again into the world, and to establish the New Christian Church.

THE nature of this glorious and ever-enduring Church, we come sow to describe:

It is the Christian Church: Christian in internals and Christian in externals. It is eminently the Christian Church, because it has descended from our LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, and leads its members to Him alone as the only GOD of the Universe; the Incarnate GOD, who is JEHOVAH in HIS Divine Humanity, from whom alone proceeds the HOLT SPIRIT. Herein is fulfilled the announcement--I, JESUS, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and mooting Star. Rev. xxii. 16. And that this same JESUS is JEHOVAH Himself, manifested in the flesh, is evident from the following: These sayings are faithful and true; and the LORD God of the Holy prophets sent His angel to whom unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.Rev. xxii. 6, 12, 13.

IN the former Church, the LORD went forth, indeed, bearing precious seed, but, weeping: in this He comes again rejoicing, and bringing His sheaves with Him.

In the New Church are restored not only the faith and life of the Apostolic era, of the former Church, as already indicated, but also those of the Ancient Church, and even of the Most Ancient; but under a new state and form.

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THIS Church has, therefore, in its possibilities, though, as yet, mostly to be developed, every principle, state, grace, and virtue of even the Golden Ago itself; and the LORD will not rest till His Church again becomes Golden; but, unlike the most ancient Church, not golden only, but silver also, and copper and brass, and iron. The most ancient humility, and deep interior life will return, return with their attendant innocence and peace, their confidence and love, wisdom and intelligence, and contentment and internal blessedness; but characterized by the peculiar genius of this Church in which there is something NEW from the LORD.Sum. Ex. of P. and P. Isa. iv.

THIS new principle is, in part, the natural rational, regenerated and brought down into a full state of corporeal and sensual knowledges of varied kinds, yet under the domain of the celestial and spiritual states of the internal mind. Thus clad, the Church becomes not only like the Most Ancient, innocent as the dove, but more than that, wise as the serpent, also. By this ultimate knowledge and thence prudence, even in things literal and material, but, from an inmost end, the church is clad with a complete defense against the utmost cunning of that serpent which deceived the men of the primeval age. And, moreover, in the far future of this New Church by long courses of regenerated ancestry, hereditary evil will become so broken and destroyed that posterity will be born natural indeed, but with celestial and spiritual instincts, so that the necessity of the separation of the will and understanding will be removed; and then the understanding will not, as now, say to its neighbor, the will, know ye the LORD; for the voluntary principles of the whole man shall then know Him, from the least even unto the greatest.

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And without taint of evil, with heart and soul conjoined from nativity, the youth of this Church will spontaneously receive the genuine truths of the Church and commit them immediately to the life.

THUS the men of the New Church will ultimately rise into a more exalted state than the men of the Most Ancient Church; and by external worship and natural science which that Church had not, the men of the New Church will be able to maintain forever, these lofty heights.

THIS New Church is therefore an imperishable summary of the principles and virtues of all the former Churches: and the varied and blissful states and affections of supreme love to the LORD and charity toward the neighbor, will be developed with ever increasing purity and perfection.

MOREOVER, this Church is the Crown as well as the summary of all the Churches which have previously existed. It is the Crown of all, because it acknowledges and worships the Son of GOD in whom is the Father, the One Visible Con, in whom is the Invisible, as the soul is in the body. This gives the Church a purity, wisdom, strength of perception, and glory, not otherwise attainable.

THIS great essential, constituting the chief and crowning glory of the New Jerusalem, marks also the most important feature of the difference between this and the ancient Churches, and secures and perpetuates its unapproachable supereminence over all.

HAD not the LORD by Incarnation made Himself visible in His own Divine Person, mankind, and even the heavens, would have been destroyed by evils and falsities, consuming, as it were, all the good and truth of the natural or external mind, and thus undermining the higher, which, having then no foundation, would have perished also.

BEFORE the Incarnation there was no absolutely Divine sensual and corporeal to flow immediately and mediately into the natural of man in the world, and defend him from the assaults of hell.

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The Incarnation beside supplying the needful power to conquer the hells, and banish them from the sensual and corporeal planes of the human mind, and thus preserve man and angel, rendered at the same time the invisible GOD, visible, in His own Divine Person, an object of human thought and faith, and thus of conjunction.

THE Churches before the Incarnation could not worship a GOD, visible in His own Person thus not actually and directly visible, for before the Assumption, GOD could not be seen in His own Divine Person, but only as represented by the person of an angel. And such vision affords no direct light from GOD Himself nor, consequently, any direct and immediate thought, worship, or conjunction, but only indirect and representative. I no more affords an actual sight of God Himself than a sight of the sun reflected by the moon affords a sight of the sun itself. And the like applies to the beams of heat from the sun, and thus, also, to those of love proceeding from the LORD. Hence it appears why the unseen GOD made Himself visible by the Assumption and Glorification of the Humanity; it was that the direct beams of His love and light might react and affect man; and thus with new and added power, impart a fullness and quality to mans reception and appropriation before unknown. The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun; end the light of the sun seven-fold as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of His people and healeth the stroke of their wound.--Is. xxx. 26.

Thus all the churches before the LORDS Incarnation had, as it were, only the light of the moon. Whereas upon the New Church has arisen the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings, beaming directly and immediately from the countenance of GOD Himself, in His own Divine Person; and this is the chief reason why this Church is the crown of the Churches which were before the Incarnation.

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BUT this New Church is the crown of the First Christian Church also, which was after the Incarnation; that Church might, indeed, have worshiped the visible God, and in its primitive epoch did worship Him, else it would not have been Christian; and this worship Lingered, though declining till the end of that Church, blessing a goodly number in every age. And even now in the period of her complete consummation, it lends a faint but direct my to the hearts of the few good yet remaining there.

BUT the first Church, in the main, soon turned away from Him to a spurious faith in some fancied god out of Him; and so through all the weary centuries of its second and declining epoch, from the Council of Nice to the Last Judgment, it did, in general, actually worship an unseen god. And when a member of the Christian Church, after God had made Himself visible as the LORD JESUS CHRIST, proffered worship to an invisible deity, it was to some merely imaginary entity, for there is no GOD apart from the LORD. The majority did, indeed, profess the LORD with their lips. But when man does not acknowledge GOD in heart, the lips speak falsely in their profession of Him.

XIV.

CONJUGIAL LOVE IN THE NEW CHURCH.

AMONG the blessings in store for those who worthily receive the LORD in this His second coming, there is one, which, because of its supereminent excellence, deserves most especial mention: it is the sacred principle of true conjugial love, with its heavenly delights.

This love, with its delights, is solely from the LORD. It is received by those only who adore Him alone as the GOD of heaven and earth, who acknowledge His Humanity to be Divine, and who love Him with the whole heart and soul, and keep His commandments by shunning evil as sin, and doing good from Him.

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This love flows from the LORD into heaven and the church, by virtue of their conjunction of life With Him.

FROM this conjunction of the LORD with the church, arises the marriage of good and truth in the regenerate men of the church.

FROM this marriage of good and truth in the individual, flows the stream of Conjugial Love. And in this are collected, perceived, and felt, all the blessedness, satisfaction, and delight, possible for the LORD to bestow upon man. It is therefore the most precious jewel of human life. It is the store-house of all the virtues, graces, and joys of the Christian Religion.

In proportion as man departs from this love, he becomes inwardly sad and miserable, and approaches the nature of a beast.

LONG lost, and almost entirely forgotten, since the Golden and Silver Ages, Conjugial Love is now by Divine Mercy restored, and is chief among the blessings imparted by the LORD to the men of the New Church.

THEREFORE; Let him that hath an ear, hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches; concerning the nature of LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL AND ITS HEAVENLY DELIGHTS.

From its origin and correspondence, this love is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, above every other love, bestowed by the LORD upon the angels of heaven, and the men of the Church. It is also the foundation love of all celestial and spiritual loves, and thence of all natural loves. Into it, are gathered all true joys and delights, from first to last.

None, however, receive this love, but those who approach the LORD, love the truths of the Church, and practice its goods.

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APPENDIX A.

HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA NOV ECCLESI.

1. Quod nova Historia Ecclesiastios describenda sit, quia nune eat adventus Domini prdictus apud Matthaeum, cap. xxv.

2. Quod alia, Ecclesia fuerit ante concilium Nicaenum, quando erat symbolum Apostolicum, quod exscribetur.

Quod alia post concilium Nicnum, ac porro postquam symbolum Athanasium conscriptum est.

Quod cardo Ecclesi versus sit de Deo Triuno, et de DOMINO, imprimis, de tribus personis ab Ecterno.

3. Recenseantur Libri a DOMINO per me scripti ab initio usquc ad hodie.

4. Quod talis ibi scriptura sit, ut luceat coram illis, qui credunt in DOMINUM, et novam nevelationem, at quod obscura sit et nullius momenti illis, qui ills negant, ac qui non in favore illorum aunt propter varias causes externas.

Experientis quod talis scriptura sit:

(1). Ex censoribus librorum Hollandi convocatis in mundo spirituali, quorunt unus dixit cum legerat, quod sint dignissimi prae omni Libro alio praeter Verbum.

(2). Et alius qui dixif quod nihil videat in illis nisi talia qu futilia, nova phatastica, et sic ut nullius (momenti et) rejicienda.

(3). In Anglia similiter, qu missa ad Academias, quia ordo Ecclesiesticus illa rejecit, et ab illis in Gothoburgo, Beijer et Rosen, et aliis; tum quoque quidam viderunt magnalia Dei, quidam vero nihil viderunt nisi deli, nihil quicquam.

(4). In Suecia a Filenio, aliter ab aliis, qui forte nominentur.

(5). Quod cum certus legeret scripta, typis impressa, apparuerint sicut futilia, id dum argus et sinister adstiterunt, aliter cum alii.

(6). Quod simile evenit in Suecia, apud illum, qui Historiam literarum acribit; prleter alibi.

5. De Oetinger in WÃ¼rtemberg, ex ejus epistola.

6. De Gttingen.

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7. Quod cum edita est Summaria Expositio, apparuerit clum Angelhcum ab oriente ad occidentem, a meridie in septentrionem purpureum cum pulcherrimis floribus, hoc coran me et coram regibus (Danibus) et aliis.

Alia vice sicut flammeum, pulchre

8. Quod inscriptum libris: Adentus Domini, omnibus in mundo spirituali, item ex mandato duobus exemplaribus in Hollandia idem inscripisi.Photolithograph of Swedenborgs Mss. Vol. viii. p. 1.

[TRANSLATION]

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

1. A new Ecclesiastical History must be written, because now is the Advent of the LORD which was predicted in Matthew xxv.

2. The Church was different before the Council of Nice, as long as they had the Apostolic creed which might [here] be written out.

It was different after the Council of Nice, and still more so, after the Athanasian creed was written.

The cardinal (doctrine) concerning the Triune GOD, and concerning the LORD, has been changed; especially concerning three Persons from eternity.

3. The books which were written by the LORD through me, from the beginning to the present day must be enumerated.

4. That the writing is such that it gives light before those who believe in the LORD and the new Revelation, but that it is obscure and of no moment to those who deny these things, and are not in favor of them for various external reasons.

Proofs from experience that their writing is such.

(1). From the Hollandish censors of books called together in the spiritual world; one of whom said, after reading them, that they were of the greatest importance, more than any other books with the exception of the Word.

(2). Another who said that he saw nothing in them but foolish, new and fanciful things, and that they ought to be rejected as worthless.

(3). In England, likewise, they were sent to the Academies, because the Ecclesiastical order rejected them; also of those in Gothoborg, Beijer and RosÃ©n and others; that some also saw in them the great things of God, others saw nothing in them but cunning; nothing at all.

(4). In Sweden they were received in one may by Filenius, and differently by others who may perhaps be named.

(5). That while a certain man read my printed works they appeared to him as foolish things, while the astute and the sinister mere present, and differently when others were present.

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(6). That a similar thing happened in Sweden with him who is writing a history of literature. Besides elsewhere.

5. Concerning Oetinger in WÃ¼rtemberg, from his letter.

6. Concerning Gttingen.

7. When the Summaria Expositio (Brief Exposition) was published the Angelic heaven from the east to the west, and from the south to the north, appeared purple, with most beautiful flowers; this was before me and before the (Danish) kings and others.

At another time it appeared as it were flamy, beautifully.

8. On the books was written: THE ADVENT OF THE LORD; on all in the spiritual world. By command I also wrote the same on two copies in Holland.

As we have said elsewhere, one of these copies was lately discovered bearing an inscription, a fac-simile of which we give below. The title of the work is Summaria Expositio Doctrinae Novae Ecclesiae, and the inscription is upon the original wrapper of it.

Summaria Expositio

[Handwriting:] Hic Liber est Adventus Domini, (2513)
Scriptum ex mandato. (4535)

(6859)
(A. h. 626.) (8427 p. 19)

THIS BOOK IS THE ADVENT OF THE LORD:
Written by command.

NOTE.--Since publishing the first edition of the SERIAL, No. I., several errata have been discovered in the foregoing sketch, which in the present edition are corrected. These emendations do not, however, in any wise affect the special doctrine of the sketch, for the sake of which we have published it in the SERIAL.

For the emendations in the transcript of the original MS. and the translation of the same, we are indebted to the Rev. Samuel H. Worcester and the Rev. L. H. Tafel.

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APPENDIX B.

The Issue.

THE Second Coming of the LORD is either an accomplished fact, or it still remains a prophecy. The LORD has either made His Second Advent, or He has not. Swedenborg was either the divinely appointed means to this end, or he was not. Consequently Swedenborg was either a Revelator, or he was not: and the Theological works of Swedenborg, known as THE WRITINGS of the New Church, are either Divine Revelations or they are not. Such is the issue.

Our leading article in this number of THE SERIAL is most emphatic and affirmative on this subject, showing with a grand accumulation of evidence that the Second Advent is a fact accomplished, that Swedenborg is the man through whom the LORD has come; consequently, that the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem are Divine Revelations given from the Word by the LORD through Swedenborg.

We are affirmative, therefore, and not negative. We would not stave off the issue if we could; we could not if we would. The New Jerusalem coming down from GOD out of Heaven, the Tabernacle of GOD with men is a new departure in the Universe; it is the glorification of the Divine Natural of the LORD, the glorification of the Word, by disclosing its Arcana, and opening its Infinite Treasures as never before, in the presence of angels and of men; so that henceforth the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun sevenfold, as the light of seven days.

In respect to his Mission, Swedenborg is so affirmative, that the negative ground taken by some New Church men, must seem very singular.

Swedenborg affirms in many places and in many ways that the LORD called him to his office, prepared him for it from infancy, filled him with His Spirit to teach the doctrines of the New Church by the Word from Himself; opened the sight of his spirit, and thus intromitted him into the Spiritual World, that he might be with angels and spirits in their world as one with them; defended him from error in his perceptions and thoughts, and held him in the Truth.

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He also declares that the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem unfolded in his Writings are Divine Truth, that the Writings themselves are the LORDS: and that the BOOKS thus given are the Advent of the LORD: and further that the Arcana, thus disclosed by the LORD in these Writings are Divine Truths never before made known, and surpassing in excellence all former Revelations.

These claims are truly extraordinary. But in the popular literature of the New Church, we find often expressed a most lamentable reluctance to admit their force, and even a seeming denial of their validity.

Swedenborg not a Revelator is the title of an article in the Messenger of March 14th, in which it is said: Swedenborgs writings are not a Revelation in ally such sense [that is--as the Word].... They are not the Word, not the living Divine Truth thus clothed and adapted. No, infinitely far from it. This would make them Sacred Scripture, would make them GODS writings, which they are not.... No further Revelation seems necessary.

Of a similar character too much has been published. In the Messenger of April 11th, the editor says: Swedenborgs great and essential mission did not consist in giving ultimate expression to Truths which had never been expressed before, but in directing men to the Word which they already had in their hands, and in showing them how it was written, and how it was to be interpreted, how to get truth out of it.

Swedenborg makes no such disclaimers. He never denies his own inspiration; he never says that he is not a revealer from the LORD of things new, and never known before, and surpassing in excellence all Revelations ever made. But he often most emphatically claims all these things. T. C. R., 153, 154, at the end, 779. Conj. Love, 532.

The old Issue again

HISTORY often repeats itself. So of the fallacies of faith, and the errors of doctrine. And so we have it in the progress of the New Church. In the very beginning of the Church, questions arose as to the Divine authority of the Writings, and the inspiration of Swedenborg. And then, as now, these questions were met, and, seemingly settled. Nevertheless, there was at first a want of clearness in respect to the issue: certain points were left out of view, the analysis was somewhat incomplete, and therefore the issue was not closed.

From the periodicals published at the close of the last century, we learn how these questions were then considered and disposed of. In defense of what was then held as sound doctrine, touching the nature of the Writings and the Mission of Swedenborg, Mr. John Augustus Tulk a leading New Churchman of Kensington England in 1799 collated a remarkable array of passages from the Writings, add then commented upon them as follows:--

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From these passages taken collectively, and from many others on the same subject, which there is not room here to adduce, it appears, that the revelation contained in the above Writings, is an opening of the spiritual or internal sense of the Word, and of the heavenly secrets therein contained, together with the genuine doctrine of the Word; which are now revealed from the LORD for the purpose of establishing His New Church; and that by this revelation is to be understood the second coming of the LORD.

That Emanuel Swedenborg was especially prepared and appointed by the LORD from his youth to this office: that he disclaims having taken anything with regard to the spiritual sense, or the doctrine, from Himself, or even from any angel, but from the LORD alone whilst he was reading the Word; consequently that he is to be looked upon as a mere instrument, and in no respect to be regarded personally in the revelation, any more than are the Prophets and Apostles, who wrote the Word in its ultimates by inspiration or dictation.

That the spiritual or internal sense of the Holy Word and its genuine doctrine thus revealed by illumination from the LORD alone through His Word, is to be regarded as the soul of the Word, and the literal or external sense as its body; and that to consider this revelation of the LORDS Word for the use of His New Church in any other point of view than what is displayed in the New Revelation itself, of to consider it in any comparative point of view which might tend to elevate or depreciate the external or literal sense at the expense of the internal or spiritual sense, or vice verse, would be inconsistent with a just view, and with truth, and would, as it were, be separating the soul from the body in its intimate connexion, and thus to destroy the man. In short, the internal or spiritual sense, and the external or natural sense of the Word exist in indissoluble union; they may indeed be separated in idea) but cannot in reality) any more then the LORD, who is the life of the Word, can be separated from His Word, which, as to the Divine Truth it contains, is the LORD Himself: or in other words, the Divine Truth now given and contained in the spiritual sense of the Ward is from the LORD alone, and respects and manifests Him alone and the things of His kingdom, and as to its Divine Truth is also the LORD Himself; and this internal sense rests in or dwells in the literal sense of the Word, which for the same reason is also the LORD himself, consequently both senses are holy and Divine as proceeding solely from Him, though through the instrumentality of men, and can in no wise be separated or divided in themselves, without doing injury to and depreciating the Word itself, and thus destroying its integrity.

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NOTES.

The Old Doctrine.

THE Books of Theology in the Old Churches, their Creeds and Confessions of Faith show us something of what is held in respect to the Second Advent of the LORD. But there is no uniformity of faith anywhere outside of the New Church, on this subject. With some, all true faith in the Second Advent is virtually dead: with others, the event is pushed so far into the unknown future as to be practically inoperative: with others still, there reigns, in regard to the whole subject the most supreme indifference.

In the Westminster Confession of Faith the doctrine is fairly set forth in connection with the doctrine of the Resurrection, as the average belief of the one million or more Presbyterians in this country.

We quote from the Larger Catechism:

What are we to believe concerning the resurrection?

We are to believe that at the last day, there shall be a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. When they that are then found alive shall in a moment be changed; and the selfsame bodies of the dead which were laid in the grave being then again united to their souls forever shall be raised up by the power of Christ. The bodies of the just, by the Spirit of Christ, and by virtue of His resurrection as their head, shall be raised in power, spiritual and incorruptible, and made like to His glorious body: and the bodies of the wicked shall be raised up in dishonor by Him as an offended judge.

What shall immediately follow after the resurrection?

Immediately after the resurrection shall follow the general and final judgment of angels and men; the day and hour whereof no man knoweth, that all may watch and pray and be ever ready for the Coming of the LORD.

At the day of judgment the wicked shall be set on Christs left hand and upon clear evidence and full conviction of their own consciences shell have the fearful but just sentence of condemnation pronounced against them; and thereupon shall be cast out from the favorable presence of GOD and the glorious fellowship with Christ, His saints, and all His holy angels into hell to be punished with unspeakable torment both of body and soul, with the death and his angels forever.

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At the day of judgment the righteous being caught up to Christ in the clouds, shall be set on His right hand and there openly acknowledged and acquitted shall join with Him in the judging of reprobate angels and men: and shall be received into heaven where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin and misery: filled with inconceivable joys: made perfectly holy and happy both in body and soul, in the company of innumerable saints and angels, but especially in the immediate vision and fruition of GOD the FATHER, Of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, and of the HOLY SPIRIT to all eternity.

In full harmony with this view are certain popular Hymns often sung,--giving perhaps more truly the faith of the people who sing them, than their formal creeds, and Confessions.

The following is from Dr. Watts:

The LORD, the Judge, before His throne,
Bids the whole earth draw nigh;
The nations near the rising sun,
And near the western sky.

Thrond on a cloud our God shall come,
Bright flames prepare His way;
Thunder and darkness, fire and storm

Lead on the dreadful day.

Heaven from above His call shall hear,
Attending angels come;
And earth and hell shall know and fear
His justice and their doom.

The following is from Luther:

Great God! What do I see and hear?--
The end of things created!
Behold the Judge of man appear,
On clouds of glory seated!
The trumpet sounds, the graves restore
The dead which they contained before!--
Prepare, my soul I to meet Him.

The dead in Christ shall first arise,
At the last trumpets sounding,
Caught up to meet Him in the skies,
With joy their LORD surrounding:
No gloomy fears their souls dismay,
His presence sheds eternal day
On those prepared to meet Him.

The following is from Bp. Heber:

The LORD shall come, the earth shall quake,
The mountains to their centre shake:

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And, withering from the vault of night,
The stars shall pale their feeble light.
The LORD shall come, but not the same,
As once, in lowliness, He came,
A silent LAMB before His foes
A weary man, and full of woes.

The Lone shall come, a dreadful form,
With rainbow-wreath, and robes of storm,
On cherub wings and wings of wind,
Appointed Judge of all mankind.

Doctrine of the Second Advent in the Primitive Church.

THE apostles and Primitive Christians expected the Second coming of the LORD, and this belief in its various forms has continued in the Christian Churches. The following from Dr. Shedds History of Christian Doctrine faithfully shows the belief of the Church from A.D. 150 to 250.

The period between the year 150 and 250 is the blooming age of Millenarianism. Irenaeus and Tertullian give glowing descriptions of the Millennial reign. Anti-Christ together with all the nations that side with him will be destroyed. All earthly empires, and the Roman in particular, will be overthrown. Christ will again appear, and will reign a thousand years, in corporeal presence on earth, in Jerusalem, which will be rebuilt and made the capital of his kingdom. The patriarchs, prophets, and all the pious will be raised from the dead, and share in the felicity of this kingdom. The New Jerusalem is depictured in the most splendid colors. The metaphors of Isaiah liv. 11, 12, are treated as proper terms. Irenaeus describes the foundations of the rebuilt Jerusalem as literally carbuncle and sapphire, and its bulwarks crystal; and regards it as actually let down from heaven according to Rev. xxi. 2. Tertullian puts the same interpretation with Irenaeus upon this text, and for confirmation refers to the report that, in the Parthian war, in Judea a city was observed to be lowered down from the sky every morning, and to disappear as the day advanced.

The earth was to become wonderfully fertile.

Ireneus cites with approbation from Papias the statement that there would be vines, having ten thousand branches and each branch ten thousand boughs and each bough tan thousand shoots, and each shoot tea thousand clusters and each cluster ten thousand berries and each berry would yield twenty-five measures of wine!

The Millenarian tendency became stronger as the Church began, in the last half of the second century, to feel the persecuting hand of the government laid upon it.

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The distressed condition of the people of GOD led them to desire and pray for an advent of the Head of the Church that would extinguish all his enemies. It was natural that the doctrine of the personal reign of Christ should be the most prevalent when the earthly condition of the Church was the most intolerable. So general had the tenet become in the last half of the second century, that Justin Martyr declares that it was the belief of all but the Gnostics.

Inspiration of Swedenborg.

NEW CHURCHMEN often say, perhaps thoughtlessly, that Swedenborg was not inspired. He was illuminated but not inspired. The same in substance is also often written and printed in our collateral works and periodicals. But in the Writings of Swedenborg we do not find these disclaimers, but on the contrary the opposite,--as appears abundantly elsewhere in this Number of THE SERIAL.

Among the Books of some notoriety we find the following in Deus Homo by Prof. Parsons:

Let me take this opportunity to illustrate what I consider the character and function of Swedenborg, not by comparison but by contrast with that of the inspired writers of the Word. He would have disclaimed nothing more earnestly than his own inspiration. p. 20.

Still Swedenborg did not disclaim his own inspiration. On the contrary we find him making the following general statement to GjÃ¶rwell, the Royal Librarian in Stockholm in 1765:--

When I think of what I am to write, and while I am writing, I am gifted with a perfect inspiration; formerly this would have been my own, but now I know for certain that what I write is the living truth of God. (Anmrkningar i Svenska Historien, vol. i. p. 223.) Authority in the N. C. p. 133.)

Then we learn from the True Christian Religion (779) that the LORD manifested Himself in Person before Swedenborg and filled him with His Spirit to teach from Him the Doctrines of the New Church through the Word. Is not this inspiration?

In the Coronis (vi. 18) we learn That from this New Heaven the LORD JEHOVIH derives and produces a New Church on earth which is done by a revelation of Truths from His own mouth, or from His Word, and by inspiration.

And still in the presence of these doctrines and much more of similar import in the Writings, we find Prof. Parsons in his Outlines of Philosophy saying:

This new revelation is indeed imperfect in many respects.

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It is given to mans reason, and to reason in its freedom: and, that this freedom may be more perfect, it is not given by inspiration. No intelligent receiver of the truths taught by Swedenborg regards him as inspired, or considers his writings as superseding or equal to the Bible. His very unusual faculties were cultivated by the most varied and thorough education possible to him, that he might be thus prepared to receive intelligently truths taught him in a most unusual way, and to profit to the utmost, by this instruction. This was all. His words mere not GODS words but his own; full as we believe of truth and wisdom, but limited in their scope and liable to error. p. 31.

Why, may we ask, these repeated disclaimers of the inspiration of Swedenborg, and the authority of the Writings? Does the objection lie against the word inspiration, or is the doctrine involved the offence?

We know that the state of Swedenborg was far different from the state of the Prophets, that he was illuminated, while they were not: that he had a full perception of the import of what he wrote, while they had not. Another distinction was, that the Prophets wrote as the LORD dictated to them through spirits whom He filled with His Holy Spirit; while Swedenborg received his revelation immediately from the LORD Himself who dictated to him what to write by influx into his internal thought. Swedenborg therefore wrote by internal dictation from the LORD Himself and not by external dictation through spirits.*

* Authority p. 132.

But still, all this only shows that. Swedenborg was more truly inspired than mere the Prophets, and therefore that we cannot disclaim his inspiration without a confusion of terms, and a manifest falling into fallacies.

Authority in the New Church.

FREEDOM of Thought is so essentially the boon of the New Churchman, that Authority in the Church, and implicit obedience to it, seem to us almost paradoxical. And yet this is only an appearance. The reality is far otherwise. For in truth, authority is involved in the order, coordination, and subordination of all finite life,--of all existence. Heaven, as unfolded to view, in the Writings of Swedenborg, is the most complete exemplification of absolute authority, implicit obedience to it, and of the consequent order, co-ordination, and subordination of all things in it.

Authority in the New Church, by the Rev. R. L. Tafel, A. M., Ph. D., Minister of the New Jerusalem Church, Camden Road, London. Published for the General Convention of the New Jerusalem, by the Board of Publication, 20 Cooper Union, New York, 1877, 12mo. pp. 272.

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And yet the freedom of Heaven is unbounded; nor do the angels feel the pressure of authority, as an external and undelightful restraint. There is nothing of this. In their plenary conjunction with the LORD, as the Author of life and blessedness, the angels have the Authority for all that they know, and will, and do.

Thus, with the Angels of heaven all authority is resolved into Divine Order and Divine Order into the methods of the Divine Life itself, and, therefore, Divine Authority has its source and its form in the LORD Himself, with whom the Angels are in conjunction. Thus we read:

Every thing which is done according to Divine Order is inwardly open even to the LORD, and thus has heaven in it: while everything which is not done according to Divine Order is inwardly closed, and thus has not heaven in it. Divine Order, therefore, is that the LORD flows in through the interiors of man into his exteriors, thus through the will of man into his nothing: this is done when man is in good, that is, when he is in the affection of doing good for the sake of good, and not for the sake of himself: when man does it for the sake of himself and not for the sake of good, then the interiors are closed, and he cannot be led by the LORD through heaven, but is led of himself.--A. C., 8513.

Again in respect to the order which prevails in the heavens we learn, that after the LORDS Human Essence was united with His Divine, and became at the same time JEHOVAH, the LORD was above that which is called perception, because He was above the order which prevails in heaven, and thence in the earth.

Order is derived from JEHOVIH, hence it may be said that JEHOVAH is order itself: for from Himself He rules over order, not in the universal alone, as is generally supposed, but in the most minute particulars.A. C., 1919. Again

Where order is, there the LORD is present, and where the LORD is present there is Order.A. C., 5703.

Elsewhere in the Heavenly Doctrines we learn

That the universal heaven is so formed as to correspond with the LORD, His Divine Human: and that man is so formed as to correspond with heaven in regard to each and every particular in him, and through heaven with the LORD.--A. C., 3624.

Such then is the source of Authority in the New Church. The authority is Divine, it rests in the harmonious and beautiful order of the Divine Life; and from the LORD as a universal influx it flows down into the heavens, and through the heavens to the man of the Church. There is in it nothing arbitrary, nothing personal, nothing of man. It is all the LORDS.

And so we have it set forth in the work of Dr. R. L. Tafel under this title Authority in the New Church. His point of departure is the Divine Order and, in fact, the LORD who is order itself. In his opening chapter, the Doctor sets forth this point with his accustomed clearness and force:

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The principle of authority, therefore, is a heavenly and Divine principle, and is inherent in the very order according to which the universe has been created; and upon this principle the welfare of the LORDS kingdom in heaven and on earth, and thus the welfare of the Church upon earth, and notably the welfare of the LORDS New Church upon earth, depend.

As in heaven there is one Head, one Source of authority, to which all the parts of heaven, i.e. all angels bow, so also in the Church upon earth there must be one authority to which all the members of the Church must bow; and in proportion as they bow to the one authority, they are in a state of order, and the LORD can be with them, and strengthen and establish the Church by their means.pp. 2, 3.

The question now arises: Where is the law which both the clergy and the laity in the Church of the New Jerusalem ought to be willing to acknowledge?

The answer to this question is: The laws of the Church of the New Jerusalem in respect to the LORD, in respect to the neighbor, and in respect to the ceremonies of the Church, are the Doctrines of the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture, which have been revealed by the LORD, at His Second Coming for the benefit of this Church, and which are contained in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

This is the law which the Church of the New Jerusalem, as an outward organization must acknowledge, and before which all those in authority must bow.p. 13.

The author then devotes himself throughout his extended treatise, to unfolding his theme in its relations to this fundamental doctrine. We have space only to indicate the topics considered in the several chapters.

Thus after his treatment of authority in general, the author proceeds to show that, the Doctrines of the New Church are not human but Divine: the Doctrines are then considered in their relation to the Word, to human reason, and to natural science. The nature of Swedenborgs inspiration is then considered,and then his translations of the Scripture. A chapter follows on the Doctrines of the New Church in their relation to human freedom: another showing the twofold nature of Doctrine, that it is of GOD and of men: and another on the use of reason in matters of the Church.

The greater part of this work was read by the author from the MS. before the American Conference of New Church Ministers in Philadelphia in 1876. There was a general call for its publication: and the Board of Publications have responded to the call, by arranging with Dr. Tafel, for the simultaneous appearance of the work in this country and in England.

The Book comes in a handsome and artistic dress, and it makes a most valuable addition to the literature of the New Church.

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The Pan-Presbyterian Council.

CAN this Council of earnest Presbyterian Theologians in session in Edinburgh, and the Westminster Confession of Faith? They are expected to try this task. But can they do it? Or can they arrange a Commission that will do this work at a future time? we doubt the possibility of any such result from such a Council. A part of the Council may separate, and make a new Confession of Faith, and form a new sect. But the unification of the forty odd branches of what may be called the Pan-Presbyterian Church, by so modifying their Confession of Faith, that it will fairly express the beliefs of all parties is quite impossible.

More than thirty years ago the leading body of Presbyterians in this country divided on certain doctrinal questions, and were for many years known as Old School, and New School Presbyterians. Neither school seemed convinced by the long continued controversy. A few years ago the two branches again united. But the union was upon the old platform. And although the schism consisted originally of the renunciation, by the New School, of some of the doctrines, yet no modification whatever was made in the Standards, and without apology, the New School returned into the fellowship and the embrace of the Old School.

The difficulty of changing and modifying Books of the kind is not apprehended until the trial is made. One man can make changes to suit himself, but the second and third man would have it some other may. So that when millions of people are to be consulted, such modifications of the old Symbols become next to impossible.

Leaving the Confession of Faith as it is, some alliance of the several Presbyterian bodies, one with another, may possibly be devised, by this Edinburgh Council; some friendly relations may be established, and perhaps another Council may be appointed: but we doubt whether any successful attempt will be made to change and modify the Westminster Confession.

The Conference and the Convention.

THE recent meetings of these bodies of the New Church manifested I something over the average amount of prosperity in the Church. The various practical working bodies in the Church are becoming better defined as to their specific uses, the division of labor is more generally regarded than formerly, and the work done has an aspect more healthful and permanent.

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In both bodies, discussions on points of difference were more free and open than formerly, showing a willingness, in good fellowship, to throw off as a worthless sham the appearance of unanimity of sentiment, when it is only an appearance, and is not a reality. The true unity of the Church must be from an internal harmony of genuine variety in unity, and not from restrained external uniformity and conformity.

Both the Conference and the Convention mere handsomely and hospitably entertained by the cordial generosity of our brethren respectively in Urbana and Cincinnati, The Conference had the full average number of members present: the Convention had not.

The American Conference of New Church Ministers was organized in Boston in 1562; and sixteen annual meetings have been held. The Conference was designed to include all ministers, Licentiates, and Divinity Students of the New Church, in America, and to be a school of practical culture, in which the members would mutually aid each other in acquiring a thorough knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines, and in their preparation for the arduous duties and uses of the ministerial office. Those who have faithfully attended its sessions have found in them all the help in this may that could be expected. From year to year subjects of great practical importance have been considered. Elaborate papers have been prepared, submitted, and discussed in the light of the Heavenly Doctrines, and thus, whatever the several members had on these subjects, was freely communicated to all.

It is to be regretted that so fem of the ministers have attended the meetings of the Conference, that so few have labored in its several classes, and entered into its uses. For although about one hundred are entitled to membership in the Conference only about one-half of this number have ever attended its meetings; and of these again only about one-half have, with any degree of uniformity, attended its meetings. The average attendance for the sixteen years is less than twenty-four, and only two meetings have reported over thirty members present. At the recent meeting in Urbana twenty-five were present, and the session throughout was one of unusual interest.

At this meeting an extended Report on the Translations of the Word was read, embodying two principal papers, one by the Rev. John Worcester, and the other by the Rev. L. H. Tafel. Mr. Worcesters paper favored a translation of the Scripture like the common version, somewhat euphemistic and Paraphrastic, even at the expense of departures from the original text. Mr. Tafel on the other hand demonstrated the mischievous errors in the common English version, and maintained the importance of a strictly truthful and literal rendering of the original text. Both papers mere subsequently read before the General Convention, and mere ordered to be printed in the Journal, and 2000 extra copies are to be struck off for the use of the Church.

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Other matters of interest mere also considered, and elaborate papers presented and read. Among them was a paper by the Rev. Frank Sewall, on the Holy Supper. Then also the office and Mission of Swedenborg were reported upon and duly considered; and an earnest protest was pronounced against the disclaimers which have lately appeared in the Messenger, and elsewhere, in respect to the inspiration of Swedenborg, and the Divine authority of the Writings.

In the convention the attendance was comparatively meagre, only ten or twelve being present from New England and New York, fire or six from Illinois and Missouri. Only Ohio and Pennsylvania, were well represented. And yet its various interests, and its practical working Boards were well represented. And as the continuance of these Boards, together with the delightful social re-unions brought about by the Convention are among its most important uses, the Convention was sufficiently full for the accomplishment of its work.

One of the most useful measures adopted in the Convention for many years was the arrangement made with the Rev. J. n. Hibbard, D. D., to take the general superintendence of the New Church Missions of the country, and to devote himself exclusively to this work. The Convention was remarkably unanimous in respect to the measure, and it is the confident expectation of all concerned, that great good to the Church will be the result.

Messengers to the English Conference.

In the interest of International Fellowship in the New Church, the General Convention appointed. the Rev. W. H. Benade and Mr. John Pitcairn, Jr., who were about to visit the old world, and the Rev. W. B. Hayden, already in England, Messengers from the General Convention of this Country, to the Conference of the New Church in England.

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WORDS

FOR

THE NEW CHURCH

A SERIAL

CONTROLLED BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

II.

STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD

PHILADELPHIA

PUBLISHED FOR THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT and CO.

1877.

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STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD

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OUTLINE.

THE interior or spiritual state of the Christian World alone considered. This state known only from Divine Revelation. Appearances and professions often deceptive, and thus insufficient grounds of judgment. Causes, significance and advantages of the modern changes and improvements in religious matters.

The true Signs of the Times internal and spiritual, and known only from Divine Revelation. The stab of the Christian World to be known only from Writings of the New Church. Misapprehensions corrected. The Teachings of the Writings.

Consummation or End of the First Christian Church. Prophecies of the Word. The meaning of these prophecies as unfolded in the Writings. The Judgment in 1767. State of the Christian World since that time.

Concerning those who in the Christian World, sooner or later, in this world or the next, will receive the Truth and be saved. All such will receive the Heavenly Doctrines, and become members of the New Church. All are invited by the LORD to the New Church.

Why the New Doctrines were not sooner revealed. In the Christian World but few are in good and are willing to receive these Doctrines.

The New Church transferred, and to exist chiefly among the Gentiles. Revelations through angels and angelic spirits in Asia and Africa. The Church. in those countries.

Ratio of the good in the Christian World. State of the interiors of men as disclosed in the Writings. Direful falsities from evil--loathing of the genuine good and truth of the Word--Growth of falsity and evil--Inherited evil continued in posterityNo acknowledgment of God as Man, and of the Lone JESUS CHRIST as God.

Growth of the New Church in Europe and America. How the New Church is propagated in these continents; and its final success.

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STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.

PRELIMINARY.

IN the Writings of the New Church we have an interior view of all things, a view, which penetrating beyond external guises, unfolds the most recondite realities of life. These writings throw the light of Heaven upon collective bodies of men, as well as upon individuals; upon the organizations of men constituting the Church, as well as the individual man of the Church. Under this light of Heaven, which in other phrase, is the light of the Divine Truth, myriads of things are revealed, never conceived of before, fallacious appearances are stripped off, and the reality is brought to light, so that all things appear, less according to their seemings and as man sees them, and more as they really are, and as the LORD sees them.

The Christian World analyzed under this light of Heaven, will, in many respects be found in a most deplorable condition, its life fraught with the most direful evils, and its principles of life most lamentably fallacious. The Church in its multiform aspect; Society at large, its manners and customs; and the State, with its interminable intrigues and frauds, will tell the tale. The condition of these, is the State of the Christian World.

The Christian World consists of the nations of Europe, and their colonies and descendants in other lands; and the State of the Christian World is the state of the Men of those nations, whether churchmen or infidels;

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for the Christian World includes as well the skeptic and atheist as the professed members of the Church, and the Church includes the Creek, the Roman Catholic, and the Protestant.--A. C. 1032. D. P. 330. S. D. 459, 4761, 4777, 5518.

We shall not treat merely of the moral state of men, and of their outward religious conduct, but also of their interior spiritual states, the inner life of the will, and the inner thought of the understanding. When these interiors are good, man is conjoined with the LORD, and consociated with the angels, and enters heaven after death; but when these interiors are evil, he is disjoined from heaven, and after death enters into hell.

These interior states of men can be known only from Divine Revelation. Opinions formed from observation alone are of no value: and this for the reason that mans true spiritual state during his abode in the world is often, if not generally, concealed from open view, and known only to the LORD, and through the Revelations which He is pleased to give. Our absolute dependence upon Divine Revelation, for all true knowledge of mens spiritual state, and consequently of the state of the Church, is most vividly portrayed in the Writings as follows:

The quality of the LORDS Church in the countries of the earth cannot be seen by any man so long as he lives in the world; still less, how the Church, in the process of time, has turned away from good to evil. The reason is, that man, while living in the world, is in externals, and sees only those things which lie open before his natural man: but the quality of the Church as to the spiritual things which are its internals, does not appear in the world; yet it does appear in heaven as in clear day; for the angels are in spiritual thought, and also in spiritual sight, and hence they see none other than spiritual things.L. J. 41.

But how often are these principles disregarded! And how often are judgments formed of the inner life of men from observation alone!

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Disregarding the voice of Divine Revelation, trusting solely to outward appearances, and to the shifting phases of the present religious world, erroneously regarded as the signs of the times, how often do men unhesitatingly attempt to declare things known only to the LORD, and to the Church only so far as He reveals them.

Even the LORDS words, By their fruits ye shall know them, do not imply that we can determine the interior states of men from their external lives in the world. For the Doctrines teach us, that we must not judge the quality of any ones spiritual state, and thence what his lot will be after death, for this is known to the LORD alone; neither does the LORD reveal this, till after the persons decease.--C. L. 523.

The Writings show us why we cannot judge the interior states of men, and why the LORD alone is the Judge. Thus we read in the Apocalypse Revealed:

He sees all the interiors and exteriors of men at once. Works are often mentioned in the Apocalypse, but few know what is meant by works. This is known: That ten men may do works which appear alike in externals, but which are still unlike with them all, because they proceed from a different end and from a different cause; and the end and the cause make the works to be either good or evil. For every work is the work of the mind; hence such as the mind is, such is the work. If the mind is charity, the work becomes charity; if the mind is not charity, the work does not become charity: still both may appear alike in externals. Works appear to men in their external form, but to angels in their internal, and to the LORD, such as they are from their inmosts to their outmosts.A. R. 76.

Elsewhere in the same book, we learn, that to judge the dead from the things written in the hooks according to their Works, signifies that all are judged according to their internal life in externals. The things Written in the books, are the interiors of the mind: and the works are the internal life of every one in externals. (See A. R. 868.) And, as we have seen above, the LORD alone knows the whole scope of the life from the internal to the external: and therefore, He alone can judge.

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II.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

SINCE the time of the Last Judgment in 1757, there have been developments throughout Christendom in science, art, mechanics, and literature, immeasurably great, and without a parallel in the past. Even the brief mention of the things done, of the changes made for the better, the improvements end discoveries, would fill many pages. And to these wonderful developments on the natural and scientific plane, must be added the enlargement of civil and religious liberty, and the greater freedom of thought with the man of the Church, with the growing distaste for the irrational dogmas of the churches, and, in fact, of all creeds: then, also there is the establishment of public charities, humane associations, evangelical alliances, and so forth.

Many regard these things as evidences of an improved state of heart and of life in the Christian World, of an actual infusion of the Spirit of the New Age into the masses of society, of a preparation for the reception of the New Doctrines, and in fact for the diffusion of the New Church, and at no distant day its final establishment in the various branches of the former Church: for it is held, that, as the fallacies of the old faith fall away, and die out, there will follow at once, the general reception of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

But well may we ask: How do these conclusions follow the premises? A civilization vastly improved in many ways, is most fully granted: but the inference, that therefore, the interiors of the Peoples in Christian lands, are, in a corresponding degree averted from the old Church and turned toward the New, is not granted, except with those who have consciously embraced the New Doctrines, and have entered upon a life according to them;

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and also with a certain remnant known only to the LORD who are in good, and who are thus in a state to receive the Truth when presented to them.

As to the rest, it remains to be seen whether their improved external condition, the opulence of many, the culture and refinement of others, improved food, clothing, and shelter, and the innumerable appliances of comfort and luxury, abounding now in the Christian World, as never before, demonstrate, in the Spiritual State of these Peoples, a reception of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, or even an approach toward such reception. This is the question at issue: and the signs of the times cannot be understood aright without lifting the veil that conceals the interior life of men, and viewing that life as it is disclosed in the light of Heaven. This work is already done for us in the Revelations which the LORD has made from the internal and Spiritual World, for the use of the New Church.

From these Revelations we learn that the true signs of the times are internal and not external, only so far as external indications coincide with the internal. The genuine import, therefore, of the outward signs, the manifestations, changes, discoveries, and improvements, to which we have referred, can be rightly interpreted only by surveying the external in the light of the internal, the material in the light of the spiritual, the things of this world in the light of heaven. And in all this, no proofs will avail but the explicit dicta of the Writings, and the legitimate inferences from them. The state of the exteriors may so differ from the state of the interiors, as entirely to misrepresent them or completely to conceal them. The external may indeed in some individuals correspond with the internal, and thus represent it; but whether it does or not, cannot be certainly known. And as with individuals, so with churches, communities, and nations; for in respect to all of these the Writings explicitly teach, that their externals are often altogether different from their internals, and conceal them from observation.

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We are in danger of judging according to appearances, and not according to the internal realities. Therefore the LORDS words in the Gospels:

Judge not according to appearance, but judge just judgment.--John vii. 24. Woe unto you hypocrites I for ye make clean the outside of the cup, and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Ye are like whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of deed bones and all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear just unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Matt. xxiii. 25-28.

We cannot, therefore determine the interior states of men by the outward appearance. But if we would know the Truth, end thus form a true judgment of the state of the Christian World, we must resort to the Divine Revelations in the Writings of the New Church.

The three essentials of the Church are:

1. The acknowledgment of the Divinity of the LORD.

2. The acknowledgment of the Holiness of the Word.

3. The life which is called Charity. D. P. 259.

Is the Christian world coming into the acknowledgment of these principles? Are the great nations and churches in Christian lands, even in outward appearance, to say nothing of the inner life, any nearer the first and second of these essentials of the New Church now, than they were a century ago?

Do the churches, communities, or nations, of the present day any more than did their ancestors, acknowledge the Divinity of the LORD, or the Holiness of the Word?

As to the first essential, instead of an increasing faith in the Divinity of the LORD, is there not on the contrary, a wide-spread and augmenting denial of His Divinity, which is sapping the very life of the churches, whether the so-called orthodox, or the heterodox?

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As to the second essential, instead of an increasing faith in the Holiness of the Word, is there not an ever increasing prevalence of skepticism, and rationalism, which like a deluge is sweeping over Europe and America, submerging the minds of millions, and destroying all faith in the Holiness of the Word? The wide-spread promulgation of the writings of Strauss, Renan, Matthew Arnold, Colenso, Parker and others, will show the trend of Christian theology.

The only claim, then, of an actual improvement in the spiritual life of the peoples of Christendom must rest upon the third essential. As we have seen, it is often claimed that, notwithstanding their fallacies of faith, and errors of doctrine, the men of Christian lands have practically come into better spiritual lives, that they are more deeply imbued with love to God, and Charity toward the neighbor, in the present day, than before the Judgment in 1757.

But as before observed, outward appearances are deceptive, and may lead us into false estimates in respect to these things. The men of Christendom may be better than they seem to be, or they may be worse. But according to these very outward appearances, that are so often set forth in proof of the position, even according to these, are we justified in the belief that the men of Christian lands are spiritually better than were their ancestors, a century ago? Let well-known facts answer the question.

Look at the array of the direful evils committed in Christian lands day unto day, as chronicled in the press. Day unto day, the tale is told, of the lamentable prevalence of avarice, dishonesty, forgery, theft and robbery; of rapine, violence, cruelty, murder, and war; of adultery, foeticide, and infanticide. And do not these and similar enormities abound, in our day, to an extent unknown in the annals of crime a hundred years ago?

There is always in the vastated church a remnant of the good.

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Where these are, the LORD alone knows. Of these we do not speak. Neither do we speak of those who have embraced the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem; nor of those who are endeavoring to come into these Doctrines, and into a life according to them. But beyond these, there are the great bodies of the old Church, and of these we speak; and in these do we: find any more acknowledgment now, than a century ago, of the three essentials of the Church, mentioned above?

True, the power of the first Christian Church is waning, its doctrines have fallen into chaos and confusion. There is the general prevalence of natural science, and of civil and religious freedom. Millions begin to care nothing about their creeds. They scarcely know the doctrines of their own sect. If they know the doctrines, they do not believe them. Or if they believe them they give them a milder construction than heretofore. They manifest greater liberality toward those who differ from them; saying, it matters little what a mans doctrine is, since all doctrine is obscure and uncertain; only let him live a moral life, be sincere in his professions, and faithful to himself and to his own nature. But in all this, while there is doubt, skepticism and denial, is there proof of any approach toward the pure and genuine truth and life of the New Jerusalem?

Here, we have two things which are often confounded, but which are totally distinct. The one is the disbelief of the Old Doctrines, the other is the belief in the New Doctrines. They are manifestly not one and the same thing; nor are they related to each other as cause and effect. And although the Old must be removed, before the New is received, still the old creeds may be discarded from other grounds than from that genuine love of Spiritual Truth that will result in the reception of the New Doctrines. Without the real love of Spiritual Truth, infidels abandon all creeds, even all faith in Divine Revelation, and deity alike the True Doctrines of the New Church, and the false doctrines of the Old;

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preferring a belief in Nature as a Goddess, to faith in the Divine Revelation, and in the God of Revelation. Multitudes also reject some of the falsities of the consummated Church, who do not receive the genuine Truths of the New Church; and multitudes are even more ready to embrace the most false and irrational dogma, than the Divine Truth itself. For thus it is written:

And this is the judgment, that the Light is come into the world, and that men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil.

Protestants reject many of the tenets of the Roman Catholics and still hold their false doctrines in respect to the Trinity, the Atonement, the material resurrection, and so forth. Then, also, the Quakers, Unitarians, Universalists, and Deists reject many of the tenets of orthodoxy, and still hold with great tenacity dogmas that are utterly fallacious. Then, again, many of the Scientists expect, in the end, the extinction of all faith in the super-natural, and the final overthrow of all Biblical Theology, and all Divine Revelation. They have doubtless been led into these expectations from the discoveries promulgated in the works on Natural Science: and especially from the studies of Geology and Astronomy, which have led many to discredit the literal sense of Genesis.

Creeds may continue to crumble away. Sectarianism, bigotry, and religious intolerance may die down; but in all this, there may be no increase of faith in the LORD as the only God, or in the Divinity of His Humanity, or in the Holiness of His Word; there may be no increased spiritual life by conjunction with the LORD, and consociation with heaven. Indeed, with all this, there may be a growing indifference toward spiritual and Divine things, and even the denial of all Heavenly Doctrine and of the LORD Himself in His Divine Humanity.

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With the increase of civil and religious liberty in our day, comes the rejection of the old forms of orthodoxy, and, with many, of the Bible itself and of all revealed religion. Since the Divine Providence has brought men into these circumstances favoring the free expression of thought in respect to the things of nature and of science, it is altogether natural that they should use the same freedom of thought and of speech in respect to the things of religion; and especially so, when they can do this without fear.

But why this increase of civil and religious liberty, in our day? And why the improved condition of society? What are the ends of the Divine Providence in the new civilizations in the Christian world since the Last Judgment?

We answer that all this is for the sake of the New Church, that it may be established and built up, that its Doctrines may be disseminated and received, without distress or molestation, that its institutions may be founded in tranquillity and peace; and that families may be formed, and children born and trained up for Heaven.

So far we have considered the signs of the times, and the general external condition of the Christian World. We shall presently show what the Writings of the Church say in respect to the interior spiritual state of Christendom, this being the principal object of this paper. But before proceeding further in this work we must endeavor to correct some misconceptions of certain passages in the Writings.

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III.

MISCONCEPTIONS EXPLAINED.

IN setting forth the effects of the Last Judgment on the state of the world and of the Church, Swedenborg says:

The State of the World hereafter will be quite similar to what it has been heretofore: for the great change which has been effected in the Spiritual World, does not induce any change in the natural world as regards the outward form: so that the affairs of States, peace, treaties, and wars, with all other things which belong to the societies of men, in general, and in particular, will exist in the future, as they have existed in the past....

But as for the State of the Church, this will be dissimilar hereafter; it will indeed be similar in its outward form, but dissimilar in the inward. To outward appearance divided Churches will exist as heretofore, their doctrines will be taught as heretofore, and the same religions, as now, will exist among the Gentiles. But henceforth the man of the Church will be in a more free state of thinking on matters of faith, that is, on the spiritual things which relate to heaven, because spiritual liberty has been restored to him. For all things in the heavens and in the bells are now reduced into order; and all thinking which either favors Divine things, or opposes them, flows in thence: from the heavens, all that is in harmony with Divine things, and from the hells, all that is opposed to them.... Since Spiritual liberty has been restored to man, the Spiritual Sense of the Word is how unveiled, and interior Divine Truths are revealed by means of it; for man in his former state would not have understood them, and he who should have understood them, would have profaned them.--L. J. 73.

I have often conversed with the angels about the State of the Church hereafter. They said that they do not know things to come, for the knowledge of things to come belongs to the LORD alone: but that they do know that the slavery and captivity in which the man of the Church was formerly, is removed; and that now, from restored liberty, he can better perceive interior truths, if he wills to perceive them; and thus he can be made more internal, if he wills it: but that they have slender hope of the men of the Christian World, but much of a certain nation far distant from the Christian World, and therefore removed from infesters; which nation is such that it can receive spiritual light, and be made a celestial spiritual man. They also said, that, at this day, interior Divine Truths are repealed in that nation, and are also received in spiritual faith, that is, in life and heart, and that that nation worships the LORD.--L. J. 74.

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From the former part of the last quotation some infer, that the Christian Church is inwardly improved, and that the relative number of the good is increasing, and will continue to increase. This is a supposed result of the removal of the imaginary heavens from the world of spirits, so that influx from heaven can reach man without its former perversion; giving man a free state of thought on matters of faith, thus removing his former state of slavery and captivity, so that he can better perceive internal truths if he will, and thus be made more internal. But the question remains: Will the man of the old Church do this? He can if he will, but will he?

The heavenly influx is not perverted in the World of Spirits, as formerly; and spiritual freedom is restored. But in order to form a true idea, of the effect of this new condition, we must recall a universal law of influx, which is: That influx is according to the recipient form in this world, as well as the next. Under this law, how can influx into a consummated Church increase the number of the good remaining in it? Influx works according to the state of the recipient, taking into account also his surroundings in both worlds. Good flowing in, is changed into its opposite, with the wicked. The consummated Church perverts influx, just as the spurious or imaginary heavens formerly did, and as the bells still do. Where the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together; and these eagles will not, and thus as it were, cannot, receive influx in an orderly manner, so as to be reformed and regenerated by it.T. C. R. 848. C. L. 533. A. C. 2123.

And as with such, there is no interior will of good, but only of evil, it follows that influx, be it ever so clear and warm and strong, is changed into its opposite, as in evil plants and animals.

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Not that men, like animals and plants, are without freedom: but they will not rightly use it. They have forsaken the LORD, and closed their natural mind upward against heaven, and opened it downward toward hell, and so have confirmed themselves in a state of inverted order; consequently, they, and their posterity, change the influent good into evil, and pervert or deny the truth they hear or read in the Word of God, or in the Writings of the Church.

What good then, it is asked, results from this purer influx, and from this restored liberty? We answer: Much good results, in many ways. And first, the New Church is established in Christian lands; and has its growth from the good of the Old Church, as well as from births in its own borders. Then second, the remnant is preserved; and these, although they may not be brought into the New Church on earth, will yet be saved in heaven, after death. And further, under these improved conditions, according to Divine order, the LORD can transfer the Church, and establish it among the Gentiles. To these benefits arising from the influx and the freedom of the New Age, we may add the civil order, and varied worldly comforts now so largely enhanced. The LORD is merciful to all in the fallen Church, and, in every possible way, assuages their griefs, and increases their joys. As, to the ancient Israel, so, now, to the modern Israel, He says:

How oft would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her young under her wings, and ye would not.Matt. xxiii. 37. Why will ye die, oh house of Israel; for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth; wherefore turn ye and live.Ez. xviii. 31, 32.

And in Isaiah it is written: Watchman, what of the night? The Watchman said: The Morning cometh, and also the night.Is. xxi. 11, 12. And this means, that though the men of the New Church hare illumination, yet those of the Old Church have night.A. C. 10,134.

Then from the Arcana Coelestia we learn that the Word is opened by the LORD at this day because the Church is so devoid of faith and of love.

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Thus it is written:

The interiors of the Word are now opened because the Church at this day is so vastated, that is, so devoid of faith and love, that although men know and understand, still they do not acknowledge, still less believe, except the few who are in the life of good, and are called the Elect, who may now be instructed, and among whom the New Church is about to be established: but where these are the LORD alone knows. There will be few within the Church; the New Churches established in former times, were established among the Gentiles.A. C: 3898.

These statements are supposed by some to conflict with the following passages in the Writings, which we, therefore, lay before the reader, and proceed to consider:

There are some who are in genuine truths, some who are in truths not genuine, and some who are in falsities: and yet those who are in genuine truths are often damned, and those who are in truths not genuine, and those who are in falsities, are often saved. To many this seems to be a paradox, but still it is a truth. Experience itself has confirmed it. For those were seen in hell, who beyond others were learned in truths from the Word, and in the doctrine of their Church, as well dignitaries as others: and on the other hand, those mere seen in heaven who were not in truths, also those who mere in falsities, as well Christians as Gentiles. The former were in hell because although they indeed were in truths, as to doctrine, they were in evils, as to life: and the latter were in heaven, because they indeed mere not in truths as to doctrine, but still were in the good of life. Some spirits recently deceased with whom I spoke, wondered that those who, beyond others, mere learned in the Word and in the doctrines of their Church, should be among the damned, whom, nevertheless, they had believed would become luminaries in heaven, according to Daniel xii. 3.

Falsities from evil, are evils in form: for evil when it shows itself in light, and forms itself is called falsity. Hence it is that those who are in evil as to life, although in truths as to doctrine, are still in the falsities of their own evil. That this is so, manifests itself clearly in the other life. They when left to themselves, think from evil against the truths which they knew and professed, thus they think falsities. The same act similarly in the world, when they are left to themselves, and think. For then they either pervert truths, or deny truths, to patronize the evils of their life. But those who are in good, and still not in truths, yea, those who are in falsities from ignorance, as many are within the Church, and many also out of the Church who are called Gentiles, these indeed see their falsities as truths:

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but because these falsities come forth from good, they bend them to good, therefore there it; in them nothing of evil, as there is in the falsities which are from evil. And because the falsities thence are mild and flexible, they have the faculty or receiving truths: and also they do receive them when instructed by the angels.A. C. 9192.

There is in reality no conflict whatever between these statements. The general view of the vastated Church in the two cases is in full harmony. The apparent disagreement is only between terms which are necessarily indefinite. These terms do not relate to the character of those described, for in this the two statements accord fully. The seeming conflict relates to the comparative number in the two classes. In the first extract it is said: In the consummated Church, although men know and understand, yet they do not acknowledge, still less believe, except the few who are in the life of good.

In the second it is said: Those who are in goods, and still not in truths, yea, those who are in falsities from ignorance, as many are within the Church, have the faculty of receiving truths, and also do receive them when they are instructed.

Here we have in contrast, but not in conflict, the few who are in the good of life, and the many who are in good and not in truths, and who tire not condemned on account of the falsities which, from ignorance, they hold.

The harmony of the two statements is complete, when we take the terms few and many as indefinite and relative; and, by the few understand a few, in comparison with the whole: and, by the many, understand that the good taken collectively are indeed many, while, in comparison with the whole, they are few.

Similar in their bearing on the State of the Christian World is the following from the Apocalypse Explained:

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There are two states of faith and thence of the life, or of life, and thence of the faith of men who are in the Church; one is from doctrine, the other is from the Word, and from preaching from the Word. That there are these two states, scarcely any one knows: nevertheless that they are, and that with some they act as one, and with many not as one, is given me to see and to know, by living experience with spirits recently from the world, inasmuch as they carry with them all the states of their life.

It shall therefore first be told what is the state of thought, of faith, and of life, from doctrine. The doctrine of the Churches in the Christian World, at this bay, teaches, that faith alone saves, and that the life of love does nothing: also, that when a man receives faith, he is justified, and when thus justified that nothing of evil is imputed to him; consequently, that every man is saved, even a wicked man, if only he has faith, or receives faith, although it should be in the last hour of life. Those, therefore, who thus think and live from doctrine, omit good works, because they believe these do not affect man, or effect his salvation.... These things are said of the state of faith, and thence of life, from doctrine, of the men within the Church.

We shall now tell the state of faith, and thence of life, of the men of the Church, when their faith and life are from the Word.

Those who are born within the Churches, when the doctrine of faith alone and of justification by it, is received, for the most part, do not know what faith alone is, nor what is meant by justification. When, therefore, they hear these things from preaching, they think that a life according to the precepts of God in the Word, is meant; for this, they believe to be faith and also justification, entering no deeper into the mysteries of doctrine. They also, when instructed concerning faith alone, and justification, believe no otherwise than that faith alone, is to think of God, and of Salvation, and how they must live: and that justification is to live before God. All within the Church who are saved, are held by the LORD in this state of thought and of faith: and also after their departure from this world, they are instructed in truths, for they can receive instruction. But those who have lived from the doctrine of faith alone, and of justification by it, are blinded; because faith alone is no faith, and thence justification by faith alone is a nonentity.

But it must be known that there are few who thus live from doctrine, although it is believed by the preachers, that all do thus live who hear their preachings. It is of the Divine Providence of the LORD that there are few.--A. E. 233.

This passage is often quoted thus far, without going further, and giving what is, in fact, the clue to the whole.

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The subject treated of is the fate in the other life of the lukewarm,--those who are neither cold nor hot: and these are they who live according to the doctrine of faith alone, and justification by faith alone. The conclusion of the passage describes their terrible condition in the future life:

It is from the Divine Providence of the LORD that the lukewarm are few indeed, because the fate of the lukewarm is not unlike the fate of profaners; and the fate of profaners is, that after their life in the world, all that they knew in the world is taken from them, and then they are left to the thought and to the love of their own spirit. And when the thought which they had from the Word is taken away, they become the most stupid of all: the appear in the light of heaven like burnt SKELETONS, covered with some skin.--A. E. 233.

Such is the fate in the future life of those who live according to the doctrine of faith alone; and it is of the Divine mercy of the LORD, that only a few fall into this direful hell. But although it is said, all who are saved are held in the idea that the doctrine of faith alone, and justification by it, means that they must live according to the commandments, still it is not said, nor implied, that all who are held in this idea are saved. Millions may be held is this idea, who, nevertheless do not live according to the commandments, and who, consequently, are not saved. But, by having this idea, instead of the idea, of their preachers, they are kept front profanation which would sink them into a hell worse than the common hells. The passage in question does indeed say: Few live according to their preachers idea, of faith alone; but it does not say, that all the rest keep the commandments and are saved! This would be flatly to contradict every prediction of the Word, and the whole tenor of the Writings on this subject.

There are two classes, as we have seen, which comprise all who are of that Church. One class consists of those, and only those, who learn the real mysteries of faith alone, and of justification and salvation by it, as distinguished from the idea of salvation by a life according to the commandments;

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and who, not only learn and know these mysteries, but also actually live from them, and according to them. This class, by the merciful over-ruling of the Divine Providence, is relatively very small. A vast and overwhelming majority of the laymen are kept from it. Neither do all the clergy belong to it.

The other class embraces all, except those who are neither cold nor hot. But of this large class, comprising nearly all adults in Protestant communities, some are evil and will be lost; while others are good and will be saved. But as to the relative proportion of the evil and of the good in this class, the passage in the Apocalypse Explained (233) is altogether silent.

The considerations above offered will also sufficiently explain to the thoughtful render, the statements in the Divine Providence 258. The reader is also referred to D. P. 257, A. C. 10,040, Doctrine of Life 64, and S. D. 6059

The Doctrines show the providential guards against lukewarmness, and the consequent profanation. And, this is paralleled, by the change of thought, both among Catholics and Protestants, effected by the Divine Providence, when they are at the Holy Supper. For then, their doctrine of the material flesh and blood of the LORD, is shut out from their thought, lest they should more deeply profane. But, it does not follow from this, that they are good, and consequently saved; but only, that so far as may be, they are kept from that profanation.

Thus far this notice of the passages so often misunderstood, and the views of those who hold that the Spirit of the New Church, and even the Heavenly Doctrines are becoming infused into the Churches of Christendom, transforming the men of these Churches into genuine New Churchmen.

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IV.

THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.

THE State of the Christian World since the Last Judgment is the state of a vastated and consummated Church: that is, of the Church at its end, and after its end. The Church although vastated and spiritually dead, still continues, in external form, and in worship.

As we have seen, in the first number of our SERIAL, the End of the Church was foretold by the LORD, in the Gospels and in the Apocalypse. It is written:

And Jesus departing went out from the temple: and His disciples came to Him to show Him the building of the temple. But JESUS said to them: See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you: There shall not be left here a stone upon a stone which shall not be thrown down.

And His disciples came unto Him, saying: What shall be the sign of Thy Coming and of the Consummation of the Age?Matt. xxiv. 1-3.

Seal not the words of the prophecy of this Book: for the time is near. And, behold, I come quickly: and my reward is with me, to render to every one as his work shall be. He that testified these things saith: Surely, I come quickly: Amen. Even so, come, LORD JESUS.Rev. Xxii. 10, 12, 20.

The Writings show that the First Christian Church came to an end and was consummated more than a century ago: this is admitted by all New Churchmen. That then is involved in the consummation and end of the Church? What is the prevailing state of Christian nations? What, in general, will their state continue to be? and What are the exceptions to the general state? Whence will the New Church in Christian lands derive its numerical increase?

Concerning the Consummation of the Age, or End of the Church, we read:

The State of the Church in general is this: In process of time, it departs from the true faith, till it ends, at length, in no faith. When there is no faith, it is said to be vastated.

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This was the case with the Most Ancient Church, among those who were called Cainites: so likewise it was with the Ancient Church, which was after the flood: so likewise it was with the Jewish Church, which was so vastated, at the time of the Coming of the LORD, that they knew nothing of the LORD, that He was about to come to save them; much less, did they know anything of faith in Him: so likewise it was with the Primitive Church, which was after the Coming of the LORD, which, at this day, is so vastated that there is not any faith in it. Nevertheless, there always remains some nucleus of the Church, which those, who are vastated as to faith, do not acknowledge; even as a residuum remained from the Most Ancient Church until the flood, and was continued after the flood, which residuum was called Noah.A. C. 407.

The consummation of the Church comes to pass when no Divine Truth remains, except what is falsified or rejected: and when there is no genuine truth, there can be no genuine good, because all the duality of good is formed by truths. For good is the essence of truth, and truth is the form of good; and without a form there is no quality. Good and truth can no more be separated, than the will and the understanding. Wherefore, when the truth in the Church is consummated, then, also, its good is consummated. When this comes to pass, then, the Church is at an end, that is, there is the consummation of it.--T. C. R. 753.

For when men are in the false and tie evil, they no longer know what is true and what is good; they then believe the false to be true, and the evil to be good, and vice versa. When the Church is in this state, then will the end come.--A. C. 3488.

When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation: signifies the vastation of the Church which then takes place, when the LORD is no longer acknowledged, consequently where there is no love and no faith in Him; also where there is no longer any charity toward the neighbor, and consequently when there is no faith of good and truth. When this is the case in the Church, or rather in the region where the Word is, that is, when men are such in the thoughts of the heart, although not such in the doctrine of the mouth, then there is desolation, and the things mentioned are its abomination.--A. C. 3552.

The consummation of the Church is when there is no more charity in it, and thence faith.... In this Church which is called Christian, there is scarcely anything of charity and thence of faith remaining, thus the Consummation of its Age is now at hand.--A. C. 4535.

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In many places in the Word, the Consummation of the Age is spoken of, and by it, in the general sense, is meant the End of the Church, when there is no longer either charity or faith; because the Church then turns itself altogether away from the LORD, and is no longer in any good, but in evil.--A. C. 10,622.

Those who would more fully consider the Consummation of the Age are referred to A. C. 1857, 4738, 9141: H. H. 551-556, 576-581: A. R. 658, 691: L. J. 34-39: T. C. R. 378, 658, 755: Coronis of T. C. R. 5, 7, 8, 9, 22, 32, 33, 57: Continuation of the Coronis LVII.

When the Church comes into this state, then follows the Judgment; and after that the New Church, in which the LORD is acknowledged and loved, and with which He is conjoined. We shall now briefly consider.

THE CAUSES OF THE DECLINE AND END OF THE CHURCH.

THE principal causes of the Consummation and End of the Church, are the two evil loves: The love of self and the love of the world. This will appear from the following:

The Church is consummated by various things, especially by such as make the false appear as the truth: and when the false appears true, then the good which in itself is good, and is called spiritual good, no longer exists. The good which is then believed to be good is merely the natural good which a moral life produces. Truth, and together with it, good are consummated, principally because of the two natural loves, which are called the love of self, and the love of the world, and these are diametrically opposite to the two spiritual loves. The love of self, when it rules, is opposed to the love toward God; and the love of the world, when it rules, is opposed to the love toward the neighbor. The love of self is to wish well to ones self alone, and to no other except for the sake of self; so likewise, the love of the world; and these loves when they corrode, spread themselves, like a mortification through the body, and successively consume the whole of it.--T. C. R. 754.

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The subject is further elucidated in the Arcana Coelestia 2910, from which we collate the following:

The Church is at an end, when there is no longer any charity. This subject is frequently treated of in the Word, especially by the Prophets, and by John in the Revelation. The LORD, also describes the End of the Church in many passages in the Evangelists, and calls it, the Consummation of the Age, and also, Night. For it is so with the churches: In the beginning charity is fundamental: each one loves another as a brother, and is affected by good not toward self; but toward his neighbor, for the general good, for the kingdom of the LORD, and above all, for the LORD Himself. But, in time, charity gradually grows cold, and becomes extinct. Afterward, arises hatred of one toward another. And though this hatred, because of the restraints from civil laws, the hope of gain, and reputation, does not appear in externals, yet, under these, it conceals itself, and is of such a nature that it wishes to rule over all, and gain the goods of all. When these loves are opposed, those who are in them despise their neighbors and breathe revenge, and feel delight in the ruin of others; yea, they are cruel toward them go far as they dare.

Such is the result of the loss of charity in the Church, when the Church is at an end. In such case there is no faith, for when charity is extinct, there is no faith.

The first Christian Church called the Church of the Gentiles, was at first an internal Church (compared with the Jewish) inasmuch as internal truths were revealed to them from the LORD: but this Church is now at its end, because there is no charity, and not only so, but even hatred instead, which, although not apparent externally, still reigns inwardly, and breaks out when possibility allows, that is, when external bonds do not prevent. (See A. C. 2910.)

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VI.

THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN ON THE STATE OF CHRISTENDOM.

WONDERFUL indeed will be the disclosures of character in the future life! and, wise indeed are those, who, is the present life, seek the LORD with all the heart, and walk in the Light that He has revealed for their guidance! From the Writings of the New Church we learn the state of Christendom, as unfolded in the world to come. The following is from the Arcana Coelestia:

Those who came into the other life from the Christian World, are the worst of all: hating the neighbor, hating the faith, and denying the LORD; for, in the other life, hearts speak, and not mouths. Besides, more than the rest, they are given to adultery.Preface to A. C. 1886.

None can deny the enormities committed, in this life, by those living in Christian lands. But these evils are often supposed to be chargeable only to those who are nominally out of the churches, and not to those who are nominally in the churches, and of them. But from the revelations of the inner life, made in the Writings, we learn that the churches are also involved in the general wickedness of Christendom.

We quote again from the Arcana Coelestia:

It does not appear to those in the Church, that the Church is such: Namely, that they contemn all things which are of good and truth, and that they are averse to them, and bear enmities against them, and especially against the LORD Himself: for they frequent temples, they hear preachings, they are in something of holiness while there; they go to the Sacred Supper, and occasionally converse becomingly among themselves about these things. The bad do this, as well as the good. They also live among themselves in civil charity or friendship; hence it is that in the sight of men no contempt is visible, much less aversion, and least of all, enmity against the goods and truths of faith, nor thus against the LORD.

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But these things are only external forms by which one seduces another; whereas the internal forms of the men of the Church are altogether unlike their external forms, and even altogether contrary to them. The internal forms are here described, and such they are.

Their quality appears to the life in the heavens; for the angels attend only to things internal, that is, to ends or intentions, and to volitions and thoughts thence. How far these differ from what is external, may be manifest from those who come from the Christian World into the other life. For in the other life are the internals alone according to which those there think and speak: for the externals are left with the body. There it is manifest that although they appeared so peaceable in the world, they, nevertheless, held one another in hatred, and held all things which are of faith in hatred, and, especially, the LORD; for when the LORD is only named before them in the other life, a sphere not only of contempt, but also of aversion and enmity, manifestly exhales from them, and is diffused, even from those who in appearance spoke piously of Him, as also those who had preached. So likewise when charity and faith are named. Such are they in the internal form, which is manifested there, that if, while they lived in the world, external restraints had been removed, that is, had they not then feared for life, and feared the laws, and especially had they not feared for reputation with a view to the honors which they sought and affected, and to the wealth which they coveted and desired, they would have rushed one upon another, from intestine hatred according to efforts and thoughts, and, without any conscience, would have seized the goods of others, and, also, without confidence, would have murdered, most especially the innocent. Such are Christians at this day as to their interiors, except a few whom they do not know: whence it may be evident what is the quality of the Church.--A. C. 3489.

The Spiritual Diary has a remarkable article concerning the LORD, that He is almost rejected in the Christian World, where it is written:

I heard spirits making tumults, in which were those who, in the world had frequented Temples, and had heard preachings every Sabbath, so that I could scarcely believe that such things could be. I inquired what the tumult was, and I perceived that with fury they were inquiring where the LORD was: and wherever it was thought He was thither they rushed. And any spirit whom they believed to be the LORD, they dragged out thence, endeavoring to handle him miserably, and wishing with all their might to murder him. This they did with fury, and for a long time.

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Afterward they inquired where any one was who acknowledged the LORD, and who said that he did so, him they wished to murder. So they went on from one place to another. Thus it was proved that the Christians at this day are worse than the Jews were.S. D. 5978.

This passage is remarkable for several reasons:

First: It forcibly describes the moral contempt that burns is the heart of the so-called Christian World toward the LORD Himself in whom true Christianity originated, and from whom it has its very name. The same vengeful animus is indeed described in the passage quoted above from the Arcana (A. C. 3489), but without a narration of such malignant atrocities.

Second: It shows that this contempt of the LORD, although variously covered and concealed in the world, yet breaks out fiercely after death, when the externals are removed. There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Luke xii. 2.

Third: It proves that the Christians reject the LORD, with even greater bitterness than the Jews.

VII.

CONTRAST OF THE CHRISTIANS WITH THE GENTILES.

THESE disclosures concerning the interior life of the men of Christendom, lead us to contrast the Christians with the Gentiles outside of the Church. The Writings reveal the amazing fact that the Gentiles, in the future life, more readily than the Christians, come into the true acknowledgment of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, as the only God of the Universe.

Is the work on the Divine Providence it is written:

Those mho are outside of the Church, more than the Christians, have an idea of God as Man:

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and those who have the idea of God as Man, and live well, are accepted by the LORD. They also acknowledge God to be One in Person and in Essence; but not so do the Christians. They also think concerning God in their life, for they make evils sins against God, and those who do this think of God in their life. Christians indeed have from the Word the precepts of religion, but few draw thence any precept of life.... There are few indeed in the Christian world, who place religion in the life. D. P. 330.

Bearing upon the contrast of the Christians with the Gentiles, we have the following in the Arcana Coelestia:

The LORD says of the widow of Sarepta: That no prophet is accepted in his own country. (Luke iv. 25.) This signifies that the LORD, and the Divine Truth which is from Him, is less received and loved in heart, within the Church than out of it. He spake to the Jews with whom the Church was at that time: that the LORD was less received there than among the nations who were out of the Church, is known. It is similar in the Church at this day which from Him is called Christian: in this, indeed the LORD is received in doctrine, but still by few with the acknowledgment of the heart, and by still fewer from the affection of love.A. C. 9198.

There were spirits present from the Christian World, and they mere remitted into that state in which they were in the world. In this state they were not only affected with sadness at the thought of spiritual good and truth, but were also seized with such loathing arising from aversion, that they said they had a feeling in themselves, like that which in the world excites vomiting But it was given me to tell them, that it comes from this, that their affections were only interrestrial, corporeal and worldly things. For when man is in these alone he must needs nunceate the things which are of heaven. They also had frequented temples where the Word was preached, not from any desire of knowing the things which are in heaven, but from another cupidity imbibed from the time of infancy. Hence was shown me the quality of the Christian world at this day.--A. C. 5006.

In the Apocalypse Explained we have the following:

Religion with man consists in a life according to the Divine precepts which are summarily contained in the Decalogue. With him who does not live according to these precepts there cannot be any religion, because he does not fear God, still less does he love Him; nor does he fear man, still less does ire love him. Can he who steals, commits adultery, kills, bears false witness, fear either God or man?

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... Most nations know these precepts, and also make them part of their religion, and live according to them because God so wills and commands. By this they have communication with heaven and conjunction with God, wherefore also they are saved. But most in the Christian World at this day, do not make them part of their religion, but of their civil and moral life. They do not indeed, in the external form, so as to appear, act fraudulently, gain unlawfully, commit adulteries, manifestly persecute others from deadly hatred and revenge, nor bear false witness. But they do net refrain from these things because they are sins, and against God; but because they are afraid for their life, for their fame, for their function, for their business, for their possession, for their honor and gain, and for their pleasure. Wherefore if these bonds did not restrain them, they would do these things. Such therefore inasmuch as they have formed for themselves no communication with heaven, or conjunction with the LORD, but only with the world and with themselves, cannot be saved.A. E. 948.

VIII.

INCREASE OF THE NEW CHURCH IN THE FUTURE.

IN the future as in the past there will be few in the vastated Church who will be in the life of good. Scattered throughout Christendom, and known only to the LORD, these few are the good ground which receives the seed of truth now sown by the LORD at His Second Coming. Only among such has the New Church hitherto existed in Christian lands, and from such alone can it hereafter increase. The New Church has already commenced in Gentile lands, and in all coming time, there, mostly will it flourish. And the Church is thus transferred for no other reason than simply because the Christians will not receive its Heavenly Doctrines. The Light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds are evil.--John iii. 19. Thus it was at the LORDS First Advent, and so it is at His Second Advent.

Among the men of every Church when consummated there were but few in the life of good, as heretofore shown;

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so likewise it was with the posterity of these churches. The Writings say:

The Church decreases till there remains nothing of the good and truth of faith, and then the Church is called in the Word vastated. But still remains are always preserved, or some with whom the good and truth of faith remains, although they are few.A. C. 530.

When such vastation occurs the Church is transferred to the Gentiles who are ignorant of the truths of revelation, as we read: The Church rarely if ever remains with those who, when vastated, have truths with themselves, but it is transferred to those who do not at all know them. (A. C. 409.) That is, the Church remains and is rebuilt with only a few of the former Church, but is mostly established, and thereafter exists, with the Gentiles. So it has been with every fallen Church: nor does it appear that their posterity has in any instance recovered, nor that the relative number of the good among them ever increased.

This subject will receive further illustration from a knowledge of the nature and progress of vastation, in the declining churches. The two kinds of vastation are described in the Writings as follows:

The first is of those who know, and do not wish to know, or who see, and do not wish to see; as it was with the Jews; and as it is with the Christians at this day. The second is of those who, because they are ignorant, neither know nor see: they are such as the Gentiles have been, and also as the Gentiles are at this day. When the last time of vastation comes with those who know and do not wish to know, or who see and do not wish to see, then the Church arises anew, not with these, but with those who are called Gentiles. So it was done with the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood: so with the Ancient Church which was after the flood: so with the Jewish Church. New Light then first shines forth because, as has been said, they can no longer profane those things which are revealed, for they do not acknowledge and believe that they are true.A. C. 410.

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IX.

WHY THESE REVELATIONS WERE NOT MADE SOONER.

WE now pass to some particulars concerning the First Christian Church, which will show why the Doctrines of the New Church were not sooner revealed, and that but few of the Christian Church will receive the LORD in His Second Coming. The New Church was not sooner revealed because while the former Church was in its decline, and not wholly vastated many might receive the truth, but could not be kept in it, and would thus profane it: which would render their state worse than if they had. not acknowledged it. So the LORD, in mercy, delayed His Coming till all, except a few good, became such that they would not; at all receive Him. In the Arcana it is written:

The Doctrines of the New Church are now revealed, since at this day there is scarcely any faith because no charity, for it is the Consummation of the Age, and when this occurs, the hidden truths of the Word may be disclosed without danger of profanation, because they are not interiorly acknowledged.A. C. 3398.

The interiors of the Word are now opened, because the Church is so destitute of faith or love, that, though men may know and understand, yet they do not acknowledge, still less believe, except a few who are in the life of good, and are called the elect who may now be instructed, and among whom the New Church is to be established: but where these are the LORD alone knows: there will be few within the Church.

The New Churches established in former times, were established among the Gentile.--A. C. 3898.

That it will be the same with this Church, which is called the New Jerusalem, is here implied, and is abundantly affirmed in other passages already quoted.

From what precedes we have these Five Principles:

First: The doctrines of a New Church are never revealed until the men of the former Church reach a state in which they will not acknowledge them.

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Second: When a former Church is consummated, the Church is transferred to the Gentiles.

Third: Only a few of the former Church then remain in the life of good.

Fourth: The posterity of a vastated Church, by accumulation of hereditary evil, becomes more confirmed in evil than their ancestry.

Fifth: The men of a vastated Church acknowledge no truth and good by which they may be regenerated, and by which the increasing force of ancestral evil may be broken.

In the light of these Principles, read the following from the Arcana:

The destruction of the First Christian Church was foretold by the LORD in the Gospels, and by John in the Apocalypse.

The New or Second Christian Church will be raised up in some region of the earth while the present Church abides in its worship as the Jews do in theirs, in whose worship there is nothing of charity and faith; that is, nothing of the Church.A. C. 1850.

THE NEW CHURCH TO EXIST CHIEFLY AMONG GENTILES.

THE facts and truths we now adduce more fully disclose the fallen and comparatively hopeless condition of the Christian World, and show, that while there is sadness at the desolation in Christendom, there is joy at the prospect in other lands.

That a remnant will exist in Christian lands from which the New Church will increase has already been shown from the Arcana. (A. C. 3898.) From this and other passages we also learn that only a lesser part of the entire New Church on earth will exist among Christian nations, and the larger part among others.

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Where the New Church does now exist and where it will mostly flourish, may be further known from the extracts and references given in the sequel.

In the Summary Exposition of the Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms; Swedenborg says:

The LORD is now instituting the New Church called the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, to which the works, that are at this day published through me, will be serviceable. The New Church is also being instituted elsewhere.

The original Latin of this is as follows:

Nova Ecclesia, quae Nova Hierosolyma in Apocalypse vocatur, nunc a DOMINO instituitur, cui hace qua: hodie per me vulgantur insurvitura sunt: instituitur et alibe.

The New Church in Christian countries will continue to be instructed by the works of Swedenborg. The Gentiles are to be instructed by the LORD through other means, by oral dictation of angels and angelic spirit, and through various Books suited to their genius, and when so ordered in the Divine Providence, by the Word, and the Writings of the Church.

From the True Christian Religion, and other works, we learn that New Revelations are made by the LORD through heaven, to the inhabitants of the interior of Africa. Gentiles are distinguished according to their genius, and their capacity of receiving light from the LORD through heaven. Some are interior and wise, others are external and simple. These differences arise from climate, from ancestry, from education, and from religion.

The Gentiles have no false principles arrayed against the truths of faith, much less, scandals against the LORD, as the Christians have, who think of Him only as a common man. And when the Gentiles hear that God became Man, manifesting Himself in the world as GOD WITH US, they immediately acknowledge this, and adore Him.

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The Africans are more interior than the other Gentiles, excelling them all in clearness of perception, and judgment. And when matters of the deepest wisdom are propounded, they are greatly delighted with them, acknowledging them from innocence and humility.

They affirm that God must surely have come down and presented Himself in the Human Form, before the very eyes of men; and this, because He is their Creator, Protector, and Leader, and the Human race is His, and He loves them.

They insist that man must live according to religion, that is, he must shun evils, outwardly and inwardly, as sins, and acknowledge God; and that otherwise he becomes stupid and wicked; ingenious wickedness they call stupidity; and they say that unless a man live according to religion, he can receive nothing from heaven.

Africans being such in this world, they have at this day a Revelation from heaven, beginning centrally in their continent, and spreading around, but yet not to their coasts. The Truths now published in the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem concerning the LORD, the Word, and Life are orally dictated to the inhabitants there by angelic spirits.

The angels rejoice at this Revelation, since, by it, a way is opened for them to the human rational, hitherto closed up among Christians, by the dogma that the intellect is to be held under the blind faith of the ecclesiastics. See T. C. R. 835-841; L. J. 74; continuation of the L. J. 73-78; H. H. 318-328; A. C. 2589-2604.

Concerning the transfer of the Church from Christian countries, and its inauguration and future existence in Gentile lands, we gather the following particulars from the Spiritual Diary:

After referring to the vast multitude of atheists in the Church in Europe, it was said, in the spiritual world, that there was an announcement, that somewhere among the Gentiles, a Revelation from heaven had commenced, and that spirits and angels speak with Gentiles, and teach them Heavenly Doctrine, by means of which a New Church from heaven is arising among them.--S. D. 4770.

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This occurred in Asia, near to Africa. Then appeared from thee quarter many spirits, who spoke with the angels, and who are instructed through heaven from the LORD concerning the doctrines of heaven, and then they teach that doctrine, to the men of their own nation.

Afterward the angels conversed among themselves on the subject of the state of the men of the Church, that they are of a depraved nature and disposition, so that they will have it, that God is invisible, that He cannot be apprehended by thought, and that no idea can be formed of Him, and that with Him they cannot be conjoined by sensual thoughts and affections. Such are Christians. Wherefore they do not acknowledge the LORD for God, because He was a Man, and appeared in the Human Form.

To worship God in the Human Form is inscribed (from heaven) upon the nature of the nations out of Europe, and upon some individuals in Europe, wherefore they wish to adore God under some form. And when these hear that God was seen by men in the world, thus when they hear concerning the LORD, they accede, believe, and accept the doctrine, saying that if He (the LORD) is God, He ought to appear to men, and under no other form than the Human. This is grafted in their nature, because from heaven; but it is eradicated as it mere from the hearts of Christians, except from the hearts of some simple ones.S. D. 4772.

After I passed through certain regions in the spiritual world (sags Swedenborg), I was conducted to a great palace (similar to the palace in Stockholm), and there into an ample court, from one part to the opposite part, which is by the sea. When at length I came farther toward the sea, some spirits there said that a Revelation had been promised them, and that they had long expected it, and that now they could hardly wait for it any longer. And then, suddenly, something luminous appeared, whence they divined that the Revelation was about to come. And when I drew near, I heard them say that they expected Revelation concerning Christ, whom by name they called the Only Man; and then an angel from the LORD spoke with them, and instructed them concerning the LORD, saying that there is one God, and He is the LORD, and that the Father Himself the Creator, when He appeared in the Human Form, was called, and may be called the Son of God; hence they may know that the Son of God is from eternity, and that He is the same with the Father, but in Human Form. They said that they understood and perceived this; but that He was born a Man, this they did not apprehend: wherefore they yet were instructed by the angel how this was, and at length they confessed that this they also comprehend, and that this was for the sake of the salvation of the human race.

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Afterward they related that for a long time they had certain Revelations from heaven, and that hence was their religion; and also that it had been promised that more things should be revealed to them.

To the above Swedenborg adds: It was perceived that those on earth with whom were communication and influx thence, were about the region of Africa, partly also in Asia, near to the Indian Sea (Indian Ocean), but not upon the shores.S. D. 4774.

I was led from these to the right, where I also heard certain ones talking and expecting Revelations. With these the angels converse, and instruct them concerning the LORD, and inform them that they are to receive the entire doctrine of the Church from heaven: and also that they are to receive BOOKS, BUT NEW BOOKS, FROM THE LORD. I heard them saying that it could not be otherwise than that God, the Creator of the Universe, should appear in the world before men, because He created them and loves them, and there is a life after death, and thus He wills to save them to eternity, and that this appearance ought to be made even to the ocular vision in Human Form.

Then the spirits spoke among themselves concerning Him, to the effect that those who are in the Christian World at this day are altogether of another opinion, especially the learned, viz.: That the LORD, because He was born a Man, and appeared a Man, could not, as to His Human, be the God of the Universe, much less the Creator of all things. And that this is a sign that their nature is perverted; for, with those in whom is anything sound in the intellectual part, and especially in the will, it is inborn from heaven to believe that the God of the Universe ought by all means to appear as a Man. And then they spoke among themselves, and wondered that in the region where the Church is, few of the learned are willing to acknowledge the LORD as God, simply because He was a Man; and that anything human can be made Divine, they do not at all comprehend. It was perceived that those with whom the above conversation was held concerning doctrine from heaven, and concerning the Books, were a little to the right of the former and in the entrance to Africa.--S. D. 4775-6.

Afterward I was shown in an obscure vision the course this Heavenly Doctrine would take in Africa, viz., thence toward the interior parts of Africa, but still not to the middle, and then turn toward those inhabitants in Africa, nearer the Mediterranean Sea, and in that direction it would proceed a long may, yet not to the shores; thence after a time it would turn back through the interior region toward Egypt, and also thence to some in Asia under the rule of the Turks, also in Asia, roundabout, because I was afterward led to where there were spirits from the regions of the northern part of Asia, and, it was perceived that they were of such a genius from their life in the world, that they could receive the Heavenly Doctrine.--S. D. 4779.

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The angels rejoiced at this, because the Advent of the LORD was now at hand, and that the Church, which is now perishing in Europe, may be reestablished in Africa, and that this is done by the LORD alone through Revelations, and not by missionaries from the Christians.

They were also admonished by the angels not to receive any doctrine from Christian missionaries; that they might hear them, indeed, but they must not believe them. On which account, also, this Heavenly Doctrine is not disclosed to those dwelling near the shores; for thither come Christians who introduce scandals, for they, above all others, believe nothing, and live impiously.

From these things was manifest what is meant by the Words of the LORD concerning the Last Judgment, that it is called His Advent and the Consummation of the Age, when the temple should be destroyed.Matt. xxiv. 1-3. The angels then spoke concerning the Advent of the Lone: that a New Church had been established as often as the LORD Himself had come and taught, as in the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches; especially when the Jewish was established, then the LORD appeared in a cloud to Moses, at Mount Sinai, and also through the prophets, through whom was the Word which is from Him: thus also now among those, with whom the New-Church is to be established, whom the LORD Himself teaches through angels.

The Africans, above all others in this earth, are receptive of Heavenly Doctrine, which was made human from spirits thence, these receive freely the doctrine concerning the LORD from angels; they have it implanted in them, above all others, that God should. by all means appear as a Man, and that it cannot be otherwise. They are in the faculty of receiving, not only the truths of faith, but especially its goods, and are of a celestial genius.--S. D. 4774-9 and 4783.

In a word, the Africans referred to live according to their religion and its laws, which they love, and therefore they are more interior.--S. D 6518, 6518-1/2.

The wiser from the Gentiles of those in Africa think in a becoming manner of the Divine Humanity of the LORD. They are the wise ones. And they also have a BOOK which is to them THE WORD; but not like ours. It is written in a similar manner by correspondences, and was written by enlightened men; they are in Africa.

It was said to me that among the Mahomedans there is a Book which is in their hands and is common there, in which there are some pages which in their hands and is common there, in which there are some pages which are written by correspondences.

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From these pages there shines a certain light in the heavens.--S. D. 5809.

The heading of number 5807 of the Spiritual Diary is somewhat remarkable in its bearing on the subject before us; it is as follows:

Concerning the separation of Christians and Gentiles: That the LORD will remove Himself to the Gentiles.

From these various declarations in the Writings, we learn that the New Church is already so thoroughly founded by the LORD among the Gentiles, that the angels rejoice over it, furnishing to them, as it does, the means of access to the human rational mind, and to the angelic heavens, their requisite foundation in the human race!

We are informed that this New Church was foreseen and provided for by the LORD, from the very beginning of creation. In the Coronis to T. C. R. we read:

This New and True Christian Church which the LORD is now establishing, will exist to all eternity, and will be the Crown of all the Churches before it: and it has been foreseen from the creation of the world.Continuation of the Coronis 58.

Doubtless it was mainly for this Church that the earth was created and will be perpetuated.

The earth has indeed but just commenced existence: for, however long it may have hitherto endured, this is nothing in comparison with the endless future. For even from the letter of the Word, we learn that:

His dominion is the dominion of eternity which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not perish. And the kingdom, and dominion, and the majesty of the kingdoms, under all the heavens shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is the kingdom of eternity: and all dominions shall worship Him, and obey Him.--vii. 27.

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How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is a kingdom of eternity and His dominion is from generation and generation.Dan, iv. 3.

And He shall speak peace unto the nations: and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.Zach. ix. 10.

Reverting now to our last extract from the Arcana, 1850, and considering it in the light of the quotations set forth just above, we can have but slender hope of an increasing ratio of good men among the posterity of the consummated church, a people in general so averted from the LORD and His kingdom, that there remains in them nothing of the Church; therefore no available means by which the LORD can restore them to spiritual life: not from an unwillingness in the LORD, but from an irreclaimable aversion in them.

Behold the LORDS arm is not shortened that He cannot save, nor His ear heavy that He cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.

The wicked of the consummated Church being thus irreclaimable, and their posterity unimprovable, all that the LORD can do for them is to save them from profanation, and render their outward life as orderly as possible, leading them, at the same time, by their self-love, and love of gain to perform the uses of life: while on the other hand He preserves the remnant among them in a salvable state till He can reach them with the light of His New Church, if not in this world, then in the other, and instruct them, and thus more fully reform them, and afterward regenerate, and finally save them in heaven forever. So that to the consummated Church and its posterity, the LORD can only say: How oft would I have gathered you, but ye would not! While to the remnant among them His salutary admonition is: Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins. (Rev. xviii. 4.)

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And His merciful invitation to them is: If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. (John vii. 37.) Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the Great God which is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. (Rev. xix. 9, 17.) Behold I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatlings are sacrificed, and all things are ready: Come to the marriage. Matt. xxii. 4.)

XI.

FIVE SPECIAL POINTS.

THOUGH involved in what precedes, these Five Points, because of their conclusive force, are still to be presented separately, as follows:

First: The Interiors of Christians are, as it were inundated in a black cloud of direful falsities from evil, separating them from heaven.

Second: Christians abominate the genuine goods and truths of the Church and of the Word.

Third: In the Church once perverted, there is a continued growth of evils and falsities.

Fourth: The evils of the consummated Church are inherited and confirmed by posterity.

Fifth: The disposition to acknowledge GOD as Man and the LORD as GOD, is destroyed among Christians, except among the few who are in simple good.

We now proceed to consider these points.

1. Interiors of Christians inundated in direful falsities.

From the Arcana we learn:

That all of the Old Church excepting the remnant called the Elect, are removed from heaven and in a sort of inundation of their interiors, which rises even above the head.

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Though invisible in the world, this inundation appears in the other life, like a black cloud encompassing Christians and separating them from heaven. The cloud consists of direful falsities from evil.

Those who are in these direful falsities cannot in the least see what is the truth of faith, and still less what is the good of faith, for the light of heaven cannot penetrate that black cloud.Al. C. 4423.

Such is the state of all in the consummated Church, except the few, good, called the elect. Hence no light from the Word as explained by the Doctrines of the New Church, nor from the Word unexplained, can so penetrate that Church as to evoke acknowledgment.

The light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not.--John i. 3.

2. Christians abominate the genuine goods and truths of the Church.

We learn from the Arcana that those who are in inverted order, that is in evil and thence in falsity, become at length so averse to the genuine goods sad truths of Heaven and the Church, that they abominate them, and loathe them; and that this aversion and loathing is augmented as the goods and truths of Heaven and of the Church are more and more interior.

Swedenborg says:

This was said and shown to me when I wondered why the Christian World does not receive these interiors of the Word. There appeared spirits from the Christian World, who being compelled to hear the interiors of the Word, were seized with such nausea that they said they felt in themselves, as it were, an inclination to vomit, and it was said, that such is the Christian World, at this day, almost everywhere.

They are such because they have no affection of truth for the sake of truth, and still less, any affection of good from good. That they think and speak anything from the Word, or from their doctrinal, is from their habit from infancy and established ritual; thus, it is an external without an internal.A. C. 5702.

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3. continued growth of evils and falsities in the Church once perverted.

When the men of the Church, through the abuse of freewill, destroy the good and truth of the Church given to them, the good and truth, though extinct as such, are not annihilated, but they are changed into the opposite evil and falsity. And when the men of the Church once pervert its good and truth, and come fully into the opposite evil and falsity, these continue and grow with their posterity.

In the Arcana it is written:

The common principles of faith and charity represented by the sons of Jacob, become by perversion evils and falsities of that genus, when once the good and truth of the Church are extinguished: and then falsities and evils are superadded; for falsities and evils grow continually in the Church once perverted and extinct.A. C. 4503.

4. Evils of the Consummated Church inherited by posterity.

We again quote from the Arcana:

The Churches decrease and destroy themselves for numerous reasons: One is that parents accumulate evils, and from frequent use, and at length from habit, implant them in their nature, and so transcribe them hereditarily into their offspring. For that which parents from actual life imbibe by frequent use, becomes inrooted in their nature, and is transferred hereditarily into their offspring, which, unless they are reformed or regenerated, is continued into successive generations, and then always increases. Hence the will becomes more prone to evils and falsities. But when the Church is consummated and perishes, then the LORD always raises up a new Church somewhere, but rarely, if ever, from the men of the former Church, but from the Gentiles who were in ignorance.A. C. 2910.

Guided by this general law of the Divine Providence, in respect to the succession of the Churches of the past, we can have but slender hope that the New Church will be built up largely from the lineal posterity of the Consummated Church of the Christian World. Scattered abroad there is the remnant, (Is. i. 8, 9,) and these are to be called, initiated, and instructed.

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5. The disposition to acknowledge God as Man, and the LORD as God, destroyed among the Christians, except with the few who are in simple good.

We learn from the Apocalypse Explained (1079,) and from the Writings is many other places, that the idea of God as Man, or what is the same, God in the Human Form, is implanted by the LORD, by influx from heaven, in every nation upon earth. When this idea is not destroyed in a nation or people, they have inwardly a disposition enabling them, when instructed, to acknowledge the LORD as the only God of the universe, the Creator of all. For this reason the true Christian religion can be established among the Gentiles and heartily received by them.

This disposition is engrafted primarily upon file Spiritual, or Internal mind, and flows thence into the Natural or External mind, in which it operates while man is in the world, but is obliterated from the natural or external mind, when this is brought under the sway of the evils of selfish and worldly love. These evils induce upon the natural mind a state of inverted order, and they close the spiritual mind, and prevent or pervert all orderly influx thence into the natural mind. These evils controlling the natural mind favor only the fallacies from sensual appearances: and thought from these, especially from the ideas of space, can never admit the LORD to be God, because He was born, and appeared a Man. And besides while a man thinks only from the external senses, his idea of man is simply the idea of a material organism limited and located in natural space. He cannot admit the thought of a Divine Human--a Humanity of essential love and wisdom, a Humanity anterior to space and above it, and yet present in all space by emanation from Himself, which emanation is not through space, but in all space, and is an activity of the Divine, tempering the forces of love and wisdom, to the subjects of their creation.

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Hence, if such a natural man be an infidel, and free to speak as he thinks, he openly asserts nature a goddess; but if a churchman, he in heart still thinks the same, although he may not openly declare it: while other churchmen, being also merely natural men, although equally far from an acknowledgment of the LORD as God may, from the heat of false religious zeal in their externals and from habits of spurious piety, be unconscious of their inward infidelity.

Such doubtless is the source of the almost universal non-acknowledgment in the Christian world, at this day, of the LORD as the One God, sad of the Divinity of His Humanity.

The following extracts from the Writings set the matter is a clear light:

The idea of God as a Man is engrafted from heaven in every nation on the globe; but what I lament, it is destroyed in Christendom.A. E. 1097; Athanasian Creed 6.

The idea of the Divine Human of the LORD is altogether destroyed in the Christian Churches; especially with the learned there; only something of it remaining with the simple. So that when they think of the LORD, they do not think of Him as Divine, but as a man like themselves. With this idea of Divinity no one can enter heaven, but is repelled as he first touches the threshold of the way leading thither.A. E. 808.

The idea of the Divine Humanity of God, is in every earth in the Universe, and also among the Gentiles on our earth, especially among the Africans; but this idea is destroyed among the Christians, especially among the intelligent.--De Domino p. 47.

Christians are interiorly so depraved in disposition and nature, that they will have it that God is invisible! Wherefore they do not inwardly acknowledge the LORD as God, because He was a Man. But to acknowledge God under the Human Form is engrafted from heaven in the nature of the nations out of Europe, also upon some in Europe.S. D. 4772.

In the Index of the Spiritual Diary under the word DOMINUS (the LORD), referring to numbers 4775, 4779, we have the following:

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That God is in the Human Form, is inborn with every one throughout the whole world; but this which was engrafted is extirpated in the Christian World.

In the True Christian Religion we learn that the angels said to certain spirits:

In heaven the idea of God is the idea of the LORD the Savior. He is the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself taught. Let your idea be like ours, and we shall be consociated.--T. C. R 621.

These passages of the Writings show us that the loves of self and of the world, so universal among the nations of Europe, and among their colonies and descendants in other lands, have so closed and withered their interiors, so inverted and defiled their exteriors, as to annihilate the heaven-engrafted disposition to acknowledge God as Man. And they disclose the deep ground of the Divine affirmation that:

Were JEHOVAH now to appear in the old Church as a. Man, men would be offended; and they would think that He could not be the Creator and LORD of the Universe.A. C. 6876.

Herein lies the significance of the question:

When the Son of Man cometh shall He find faith upon the earth?

The opened Word in which He hex now come, teaches that He, the LORD, is JEHOVAH, the God of the Universe in the Human Form, and that His Human is Divine. This doctrine offends them. From a heart-rejection of the LORD as God alone, and of His Human as Divine, they cannot but deny the essential truths which teach it. Only by a remnant can these truths be received as Divine. Hence these truths now revealed by the LORD from His opened Word, are almost universally thought to be the opinions of a man.

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And just as millions in Christendom, who from inward aversion will not acknowledge the LORD as God, yet speak well of Him on human grounds, so may they land the New Church Writings for various human excellencies, without ever admitting their Divinity.

When the Christian World destroyed the Church of the LORD established among them, they passed into the ever-enduring night of evil: not mainly outward and apparent evil, but inward and often unconscious evil:--evil covered and concealed by civil, moral, and religious habits and usages: and unconscious, because they did not hold it essential to examine themselves, and shun evils as sins.

The LORD, being thus abandoned, departed to others, is Gentile lands; and Christians thereafter, except the few, lived like pagans without religion.* Inasmuch then as there is in the Church once consummated a continued growth of interior evils, these evils descending unabated to successive generations, how can the disposition to acknowledge the LORD as God, be re-engrafted in the posterity of the Christian World?

* A. R. 150; T. C. R. 761; A. C. 4535, 4423.

A. C. 4603; 10,134.

1. Can it be done by the power of heaven, when mens minds are so closed as either to prevent the influx thence, or instantly to pervert what they receive; the men thus removing themselves from heaven, and heaven from themselves?

This removal of heaven, and consequently of the LORD from the vastated Church is affirmed in passages already quoted above, especially in the A. C. 4423, where it is shown that when the Church no longer has any good of faith, it is vastated and perishes as to its interiors. Heaven then being removed, and consequently the LORD, the LORD transfers Himself to others, who are accepted.

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The men of the old Church are then in a sort of inundation rising even above the head. During their abode in the world they do not perceive this inundation, but in the other life it is manifested to them, like a black cloud encompassing them and separating them from heaven. Those who are in that cloud cannot in the least see the truth of faith, and still less the good of faith. For the light of heaven cannot penetrate that cloud. The light of heaven on entering that cloud suffers instant perversion.T. C. R. 484.

2. Neither can the disposition to acknowledge God as Man and the LORD as God, be restored by general religious instruction from the Word and books of piety. For as we have shown, the LORD is not internally acknowledged; and external instruction without internal acknowledgment avails nothing; it is like the seed described in the parable, that fell not on good ground.Mark iv.

3. Nor can this disposition be restored by old churchmen teaching their children the Decalogue. For the parents themselves, and their children when they become adult, swayed by the loves of self and of the world, and thence by affection for the evils forbidden, adopt the notion that they are not tender the law, nor able to keep it on religious grounds. This we know from the Doctrines in general, and in particular, from the following statement in the Doctrine of Life:

It is a universal maxim in the whole Christian world, that the Decalogue must be taught, and that by it children must be introduced into the Christian Religion. For the Decalogue is put into the hands of all young children; they are also taught by their parents and masters, that to do the evils forbidden in the Decalogue is to sin against God; yea, parents and masters, while instructing their children, are convinced of this!

How surprising then, that these same parents and masters, and the children also when grown up, should adopt the notion that they are not under the law, and that they cannot do the things therein prescribed! And can there be any other reason for this, than that they love the evils forbidden, and so the falsities favoring them?Doctrine of Life 64.

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4. Nor, finally, can the disposition to acknowledge the LORD as God, be effectually inserted by remains implanted in childhood; for these, in manhood, are first enfeebled, then vitiated, and at length consumed. This results from the overwhelming mass of inward and outward evils, falsities, and fallacies of sense, accumulated and confirmed, filling and tainting the whole atmosphere as with a fatal contagion, spreading secretly and openly, corrupting the fountains and currents of affection end thought, exciting, enticing, and powerfully bearing away the young who yield a willing acquiescence, and who thus in heart and thought, if not in overt act, confirm inwardly in themselves the enormous perversity and wickedness of their hereditary nature. Against such forces, leagued as they are with the hells, how can the remains of childhood stand and prevail? With the children of the by-gone churches after their consummation, did remains ever avail anything? Take the case of the Jews. They have had the Word and have read it: they have learned the Decalogue: they have stood under the angelic heaven, that they might receive influx if they would, and their children have been gifted with such remains as the Divine Providence could implant. But have the remains availed anything? On the contrary concerning that nation we learn from the True Christian Religion, that:

Hereditary evil has so increased with them that they cannot with a faith of the heart embrace the Christian Religion. We say cannot, because their interior will is averse to it: and this will causes the inability.--T. C. R. 521.

And from the Arcana we learn concerning them:

That the same evil disposition to love self and hate all others, and to love the world and covet the wealth of others, which ruled in them anciently, still continues in their posterity, but because they lead a life of sufferance in foreign lands, they conceal this disposition within themselves.--A. C. 4750.

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It is therefore manifest that the disposition to acknowledge the LORD as God once obliterated from a nation, cannot be restored in its posterity either by Influx from heaven, or by instruction of adults, or by enjoining the Decalogue upon the young, or by remains of childhood. How, then, can it be re-implanted in the Christian World?

The Word, in the light of the New Church, confirms the doctrine that this acknowledgment cannot be re-implanted. Thus it is written:--

A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house.Matt. xiii. 57.

And seeing a fig-tree in the may, He came to it and found nothing thereon but leaves only, and saith to it: Let no fruit grow from thee for the age; and instantly the fig-tree withered away.Matt. xxi. 19.

He will miserably destroy those evil ones, and will lee out the vineyard to other husbandmen who will render Him the fruits in their season. Therefore I say unto you: That the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.--Matt. xxi. 41, 43.

I am with you all the days until the Consummation of the Age.Matt. xxviii. 28.

Still the remnant from the Christian World will ever be watching: watching for the morning, and in the time appointed in the Divine Providence, will see the light, and be gathered into the New Church on earth, or in heaven!

XII.

CONFIRMATORY OUTLOOK.

THE great majority of people in Christian lands are non-church-goers. Some who have looked up the statistics say that not over one-tenth of the people generally go to church; and of those who go, many are unbelievers and skeptics. And this class is manifestly on the increase. And many of the popular churches of the day are constituted mainly of those who call themselves liberal.

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They doubt and deny very much, and believe very little. The Bible is roughly handled by many of them; it is losing its hold on most of them; and societies are multiplying that discard it entirely.

Roman Catholicism as a means of spiritual culture, life, and salvation is dead, thrice dead, in Rome, in Paris, in Vienna, and in Madrid. Greek Catholicism may be giving a more vigorous civilization in St. Petersburg and Moscow, but as a spiritual cultus, it is perhaps equally worthless. Protestantism is also dead in all its great German centres: and the British and American centres of learning and influence are not far behind the German in their rationalism and infidelity. If any one doubts this let him ask the great biblical scholars and Theologians of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Where do they stand on the Divine Inspiration and Infallibility of the Sacred Scripture? Where do they stand on the Supreme Divinity of the LORD? Where do they stand on the nature of a good and heavenly life? Has there not been, during the present century, a most manifest and rapid falling away into doubt, denial, and skepticism, touching the fundamental principles of Christianity, and an actual lapsing into a real, though covert infidelity?

The end we can neither predict nor see, only as it is set forth in the Writings, viz.: that the fallen Church will continue its downward course until the prevalence of ignorance, indifference, and blindness, in respect to spiritual and Divine things, becomes openly manifest to all.

From the increasing disintegration and dissolution of the old, are we to expect the evolution of the New Church? Is not the process of disintegration and dissolution likely to go on in the Christian World until it reaches the ultimate condition of general infidelity? What are the indications in the experience of the past?

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Which way do the dissolving and disintegrating masses move? Which way do they face? Toward the New Church, or away from it? Will the descending New Jerusalem overshadow these dissolving forms, take spiritual possession of them, and build upon them the enduring structure of the New Church?

Are the Roman Catholics coming toward the New Church? Does not the idolatrous decree of papal infallibility promulgated a few years ago, show, on the contrary, a still further insane: rejection of the LORD? And do not the schisms, which are arising among the Catholics, rather swell the ranks of infidelity, than open, at present, a door for the New Church?

Of the Greek Catholics less is known: but nothing that shows any visible rejection of the old doctrines; or any approach toward the New doctrines.

The so-called orthodox Protestant sects as we have said are in many respects changing; disintegrating; and dissolving. And although they have some knowledge of the New Church, they do not seem to favor the New Doctrines now, any more than formerly. The posterity of these various sects while gradually passing out from under the control of the Churches, as a rule, do not come into the New Church, even when they know something of it, and when the opportunity is afforded. The experience of sixty or seventy years in Great Britain, and in this country sufficiently establishes this fact.

Then what shall we say of the so-called liberal Christians? In the rapid strides that they take away from their orthodox ancestry, are they approaching the New Church? We shall see, when we offer, as test questions, those that have respect to the LORD, and to the Divinity of His Humanity, and to the Holiness of the Word. The infidelity that prevails, in the Churches known as liberal, in respect to these great bulwarks of the true Christian religion, will show how they are related to the reception of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

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Scattered among all of these sects and Churches, there are as the Writings say, and as we have already shown, the remains of good, the Elect; and these, sooner or later, as before observed, will come into the New Church, and will be built up in the faith and life of the New Doctrines. And while in this New Age, all movements are accelerated, and in many cases the disintegrations of old forms are rapid, still the indications are, that, as in former Dispensations, the Churches continued for a lung time after they were vastated, so it will be with the vastated Churches of the Christian World. They may, for a long time, continue in their forms and in their worship, as the Jews do in theirs,although there is in them, neither charity nor faith.

It is supposed indeed by some in the Church that the Christians are generally tending to a state of Gentilism, in which they, like other Gentiles, will be ready to receive the Doctrines of the New Church. But when the Writings speak of Christian Gentilism they do not refer to the state of Christians generally, but only to the state in which the Roman Catholics were at the Last Judgment and for many centuries before. This will appear from the passages themselves:

Christian Gentilism is where the idols of sanctified men are exposed for adoration before which they bend the knees and prostrate themselves.A. C. 9020.

Where saints and their idols are adored, there is Christian Gentilism.--A. C. 3447.

In these passages the prospective state of Christendom is not spoken of, but a state then existing; neither can we suppose that Protestants are tending to this state;

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but rather into a state of manifest indifference in respect to spiritual things, and indeed into open skepticism and infidelity.

But in addition to these, there is another class of Christians who are called Gentiles. These are mentioned in the explanation of the words addressed to the Church of Pergamos: I know thy works and where thou dwellest, where Satans throne is. It is here stated that:

The Gentiles are those who are in good works but not in any truths, because they have not known the LORD, nor do they have the Word. Quite similar to them are those in the Christian world who are in works alone and in no truths of doctrine, on which account they cannot be called anything else than Gentiles. They indeed know the LORD, but still they do not go to Him; and they have the Word, but still they do not search in it for truths. A. R. 130.

Such indeed is the state of the class in Christian lands herein described. But we have no intimation that all Christians are of this class. Neither does it follow from this, nor from the teachings of the Writings elsewhere that Christendom generally is tending toward a state of Gentilism.

XIII.

ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF THE NEW CHURCH IN CHRISTIAN LANDS.

ALTHOUGH deep spiritual night broods chill and sad over the future of the consummated Church, yet is there unspeakable joy in the Divine promise, and the distant but sure prospect of the New Church even in Europe and America.

This increase of the New Church, as already observed, will arise from the few who are in the life of good and are called the Elect, so long as these shall exist in surrounding communities: and also from births among her own members:

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men also of genius and culture, and scientists, may come into the New Church, drawn by the intrinsic beauty and perfection of the Doctrines, and the harmony in them of all truth: but the enduring hope of the New Church, especially is the far future, lies necessarily in her own children.

As the New Church increases, room will be provided: doubtless the number of those who are unwilling, and thus as it were unable, to receive the principles of the New Church, will, under a permissive Providence, sooner or later begin to diminish. This diminution may be caused by a decrease of births, by a greater mortality of the young, and by various other providential means, till at length, they become few indeed, if not, in the end, extinct.

As room and the preparation are made, the New Church will advance and cover the land. For the use of the New Church which is to endure to eternity, and which was foreseen from the creation of the world, the earth was formed, and for this it will be preserved. And the will of the LORD is that the Christian countries, as well as the Gentile, should be given to the New Church and thus to Heaven.

For all these changes end all these works of the Divine Providence, let only the requisite time be granted, which at the longest will be brief indeed compared with the endless future, and the Divine Providence will secure the result.

If this view of the future of the New Church in Europe and America accords with the Will and the Wisdom of the Divine Providence, then these regions also will be given to a good and happy people, whose God is the LORD, a people springing from the remnant of the undestroyed good, saved from the ruin of the First Christian Church.

In the accomplishment of this work, if this be the mode of the Divine Providence, the work of the LORD may be slow, but His work will nevertheless be sure and eternal.

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But whatever may be the mode of the Divine Providence, for peopling these continents with New Churchmen, and with good and salvable Gentiles, then as the ceaseless ages roll on, ever more and mole shall it be realized upon earth, why the LORD created, and why He sustains the earth!--realized in the enjoyment of love and wisdom, and of innocence and peace.

Amen: Even so, Come, LORD JESUS.

REFERENCES TO THE WRITINGS.

Those who would examine more fully the State of the Christian World, are referred to the following passages:--

Arcana Coelestia, 231, 233, 407, 489, 468, 900, 931, 1799, 1844, 1850, 1857, 2009, near end read with 1850, 2597, 2682, 2913, 2915, 2936, 2955, 2986, 3398, 3898, 4231, 4423, 4503, 4535, 4689, 5702, 6269, 6272, 6666, 6876, 9256, 10,134, 10,497:

Apocalypse Explained, 50, 52, 231, 232, 732, 817, 825, 879, 939 (compare with Doctrine of Life), 981, 1008, 1029, 1097, vol. vi. p. 329, London Edition:

Apocalypse Revealed, 82, 263, 494, 504, 506, 536, 537, 571, 584, 595, 645, 646, 650, 551, 658, 675, 692, 705, 711, 711, see reference to it in the index under the word Church, 716, 750, 825:

True Christian Religion, 4, 7, 15, 83, 94, 132, 133, 172, 173, 174, 175,176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 184, 356, 378, 380, compare 384, 389, 561, 562, 581, 619, 634, 635, 638, 639, 666, 700, chapter xiv. entire, especially 753 to 761:

Coronis of the True Christian Religion, 22:

Continuation of the Coronis, 20:

Heaven and Hell, 534:

Divine Providence, 250:

Divine Love and Wisdom, 13:

De Domino, pp. 10, 29, 34, 59, 60, 61, 63:

Spiritual Diary, 480, 590, 1558, 2480, 21182, 2565, 2575, 2801, 3595, 3595, 4401, 4422, 4628, 4769, to 4783, 5400, 5669, 5678, 5752, 5807, 5809, 5850, 5855, 5884, 5931, 5978, 6054.

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TRANSACTIONS.

Swedenborg as a Translator of Scripture.

UNDER this title a review of Swedenborgs Latin version of the Word, as given in his theological Writings, appeared in the New Jerusalem Magazine for May last. The investigation seems fair and candid, and a number of facts are collected which may be of use in the elucidation of the subject. Several of the conclusions however seem to have been hastily formed and not to be borne out by the premises.

We pass over some minor points, and come to the statement on page 59 of the Magazine, that in his later works Swedenborg comes back to an evident use of Schmidius. This as we shall show from a consideration of the passages cited in proof of the assertion is so erroneous statement in so far as it refers to any change in his principle of translation

More strange however is the conclusion the writer derives from this statement, namely that: It does not seem to follow from the example of Swedenborg that a strictly literal translation is indispensable except when the Word is quoted for the sake of interpretation. More unjust yet however is the slur case on the masterly translation of Schmidius in the writers conclusion, that: His (Swedenborgs) continued use of the Schmidius version shows that he did not regard an exact translation as essential for purposes of confirmation of doctrine. The writer in the Magazine seems here to take it for granted, that the Schmidius version is not an exact translation. We would say that the critic of the Magazine is probably alone in this opinion. By linguistic scholars the Schmidius version is generally acknowledged to be perhaps the most faithful, exact, and literal translation in existence. The only excuse that we can in charity make for the critics unsupported attack on it, exactness is want of acquaintance with the subject, and we are sure that if the critic will consult those who are in a position to know the merits of the Schmidius version, he will soon reject his ungrounded prejudice.

The utter departure from the version of Schmidius that the writer of that article discovers in the translation of the Word as found in the Arcana, does not seem to amount to much.

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That Swedenborg carefully amended the Schmidius version in his new translation in order to make it perfect, is very evident. This appears most openly in Swedenborgs rendering the simple ve or and of the Hebrew by the Latin et, for which Schmidius uses quite a variety of conjunctions, making, as it seems, a special effort to use every time a conjunction differing from the one in the verse preceding. Yet the similarity of the translations is such that there are many chapters where a number of verses are the same verbatim et literatim, while a greater number are the same with the exception of the conjunctions used. In a comparison of the two translations it is manifest that Schmidius had a number of peculiarities at the outset, which he laid aside more and more as he proceeded. Swedenborg agrees with him almost everywhere except where Schmidius introduced some of these peculiarities. In such cases he regularly departs from Schmidius.

It is an interesting study to observe the agreements and disagreements of the two versions. It seems that it took some time for Schmidius to lay aside his peculiarities of style, and to confine himself strictly to the older of the construction in the Hebrew. While there is everywhere a very general agreement of the verbs and nouns which make the body of the translation, there is always more or less difference preserved in the conjunctions, the prepositions, and the pronouns. The agreement between the translations increases as we take later chapters. Thus while we find hardly a verse which agrees entirely in all particulars in the first chapter of Genesis, we find 12 out of 20 verses in tire 50th chapter of Genesis agreeing in all but the conjunctions. In the 40th chapter of Exodus again there are 11 verses the same, excepting the conjunctions, and two others the same in every letter. A similar agreement, and a similar disagreement, we find in the passages in which the critic asserts that Swedenborg closely followed Schmidius; it will be seen that while there is the same general agreement in verbs and nouns that is found in the Arcana, Swedenborg differs from Schmidius in the conjunctions, and also frequently in the pronouns, and so likewise in the tense and mood of the verbs used, and sometimes in the order of the words. The following quotations from the translations of Swedenborg and Schmidius are laid before the reader in parallel columns, and in juxtaposition, so that the two versions may be the more easily compared. The words that differ are given in italics.

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Swedenborg.

De Divino Amore et de Divinia Sapientia, 38.
1. Justitia et Judicium fulcrum Throni tui, Ps. lxxxix.
2. JEHOVAH educet sicut lucem Justitiam et Judicium sicut meridiem, Ps. xxxvii 6.
3. Desponsabo Me tibi ternum in Justitia et Judicio. Hos. ii. 19 (21).
4. Suscitabo Davidi germen justum, qui regnabit Rev. et faciet Judicum et Justitiam in terra, Jer. xxiii 6.
5. Sedebit super throno Davidis, et super regno ejus, ad stabiliendum illud in Judicio et in Justitia, Is. ix. 6.
6. Exaltetur JEHOVAH, quia implevit terram, Judicio et Justitia, Is. xxxiii. 5
7. Cum didicero Judicia Justiti tu, septies in die laudo Te super Judiciis Justiti tu, Ps. cxix. 7, 164.
8. In Ipso Vita erat, et Vita erat Lux hominum, John i. 4.
9. JESUS dixit, verba qu Ego loquor vobis Spiritus et Vita sunt, John vi. 63.
De Divino Amore et de Divina Sapitentia, 233.
10. In die illo erit lux Lun sicut lux Solis, et lux Solis erit septupla, sicut lux septem dierum, Is. xxx. 26.
11. Visa est facies Filii hominis sicut Sol fulget in sua potentia, Apoc. I. 16.
12. Florebit in die Ipsius justus, et multa pax usque dum non Luna, Ps. lxxii. 7.
De Divino Amore et de Divina Sapientia, 383.
13. Amaturus sis DOMINUM Deum tuum ex toto Corde tuo et ex tota Anima tua, Matt. xxii. 37.
14. Quod Deus daturus sit novum Cor et novum Spiritum, Ez. Xxxvi. 26; Ps. li. 12, 13.
15. (Quod) DOMINUS spiraverit in discipulos et dixerit accipe Spiritum Sanctum, John xx. 22.
16. (Quod) JEHOVAH inspiraverit in nares Adami animam vitarum, et factus est in animam viventem, Gen. ii. 7.

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17. Propheta super spiritu, et dic ad ventum, a quatuor ventis veni spiritus, et inspira in occisos hos ut vivant, Ex. Xxxvii. 9.
18. (Quod) impletus sit spiritu sapienti, Ex. Xxxi. 3.
19. Quod impletus sit spiritu sapienti, Deut. xxiv. 9.
20. (Quod) spiritus excellens, scienti, Dan. V. 11, 12, 14.
21. Sciant errantes spiritu intelligentiam, Is. xxix,. 24.
De Divina Providentia, 18.
22. Novi opera tua, quod neque frigidus sis, neque fervidus; utinam frigidus esses, vel fervidus: sed quia tepidus es, et neque frigidus neque fervidus, exsputurus sum te ex ore meo, Apoc. Iii. 15, 16.
23. Nemo potest duobus dominis servire, nam vel unum odio habebit et alterum amabit, aut uni adhebit et alterum negliget, Matt. vi. 24.
De Divina Providentia, 100.
24. Inter nos et vos hiatus ingens firmatus est, ut qui volunt transcendere abhinc ad vos, non possint, neque qui ibi, ad nos transire, Luc. Xvi. 26.
De Divina Providentia, 230.
25. Quisquis suscipit Prophetam in nomine prophet mercedem prophet accipiet, quisquis suscipit justum in nomine justi, mercedem justi accipiet: et quisquis potaverit unum parvorum horum potu frigid tantum in nomine discipuli non perdet mercedem, matt. x. (14,) 41, 42.
26. Qui ingreditur per januam, pastor est ovium, huic ostiarius aperit, et oves vocem illius audiunt, et proprias oves vocat nomine tenus, et educit illas, John x. 2, 3.
27. Ego sum jauna, per me si quis introiverit, salvabitur, John x. 9.

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Divine Providence, 257.
28. Enunties hanc parabolam de Rege Babelis, Is. xiv. 4.
29. Exscindam Babeli nomen et resduum, Is. xiv. 22.
30. Quomodo cecidisti de Clo Lucifer, filisu auror: atqui tu dixisti in corde tuo, Clos ascendam; supra stellas Dei exaltabo thronum meum, et sedebo in monte conventus, in lateribus septentrionis; ascendam supra excelsa nubis, similis fiam Altissimo, Is. xiv. 12, 13, 14.
Apocalypsis Revelata, 33.
31. In summatione scculi tradent vos in Afflictionem, et occident vos. Erit afflictio magna, qualis non fuit ab initio Mundi, nec erit. Post afflictionem dierum istorum Sol obscurabitur, et Luna non dabit lumen suum, et Stell cadent de Clo, Matt. xxiv. 9, 21, 29.
32. Ecce dies venient, cum suscitabo Davidi germen justum, et hoc Nomen Ipsius, quod vocabunt Ipsum, Jehovah Justitia Nostra, Jer. xxiii. 5, 6; xxxiii. 15, 16.
33. Non Pater judicat quemquam, sed judicium omne dedit Filio, potestatem dedit Judicium facere, quia Filius hominis est, John v. 22, 27.
34. Non veni ut judicem mundum, sed ut salvem mundum, Verbum, quod loquutus sum, illud judicabit illum extremo die, John xii. 47, 48.
35. Jesus dixit ad Discipulos, vos qui sequuti estis Me, quum sederit Filius Hominis super Throno glori su, sedebitis etiam vos super duodecim thronis judicantes duodecim tribus Israelis, Matt. xix. 38; Luc. Xxii. 30.
36. JEHOVAH in judicum veniet cum Senioribus popli sui, Esa. Iii. 14.
37. Hierosolyma dificat est, et eo ascendunt Tribus, et ibi sedent Throni ad judicium, Ps. cxxii. 3, 4, 5.
38. Vidi Thronos, et consederunt super illis, et Judicium datum est illis, Apoc. xx. 4.

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Apocalypsis Revelata, 322.
39. Est enim testimonium Jesu spiritus propheti, apoc. Xix. 10.
40. Dixit JEHOVAH Deus, pasce oves Occisionis, quas possessores earum occidunt; et pavi oves occisionis propter vos., miseri gregis, Sach. Xi. 4, 5, 7.
41. Venturos radicabit Jacobus, num juxta cdem Occisorum ejus occisus est, Esa. Xxvii. 6, 7.
42. Venturos radicabit Jacobus, num juxta caedem Occisorum ejus occisus est, Esa. Xxvii. 6, 7.
43. Audivi vocem filiae Sionis, vae mihi, delassata est anima mea ab Occisoribus, Jer. iv. 31.
44. Tradent vos in afflictionem et Occident vos, et eritis odio habiti propter Nomen meum, matt. xxiv. 9; John. Xvi. 23.
Apocalypsis Revelata, 506.
45. JEHOVAH dixit de illis, mortibus aegris morientur, non plangentur neque Sepelientur, in stercus super faciebus terrae erunt, et erit cadaver eorum in cibum avibus caelorum et bestiae terrae, Jer. xvi. 3, 4.
46. Prophetae prophetantes mendacium erunt abjecti in plateis Heirosolymae, nec Sepeliens, Jer. xiv. 16.
47. In die illo extrahent ossa Regum Jehudae, ossa principum ejus, et ossa sacerdotum, et ossa prophetarum e sepulchris eorum, non Colligentur, neque Sepelientur, in stercus super faciebus terrae erunt, Jer. viii. 1, 2.
48. Quod Jesabelem comederent canes in agro, nec sepeliens, 1 Reg. Ix. 10.
49. Tu projectus es e sepulchro tuo sicut surculus abominabilis, sicut cadaver conculcatum, Es. Xiv. 19, 20.
Apocalypsis Revelata, 662.
50. Nathanael dixit, quem scripsit Moses in lege et prophetae, invenimus Jesum, Joh. i. 45.
51. In lege Moses praecepit tales lapidare, Joh. viii. 5.

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52. Impleti sunt dies purificationis eorum juxta Legem Mosis, Luc. Ii. 22.
53. Opportet omni impleri quae scripta sunt in lege Mosis et Prophetis de Me, Luc. Xxiv. 27, 44.
54. Nonne Moses Dedit Vobis Legem: Moses dedit circumcisionem, ut non solvatur Lex Mosis, John vii. 19, 22, 23.
55. Dixit Abraham diviti in inferno, habent Mosen et Prophetas, audiunto illos; si non Mosen et Prophetas audiunt, nec si quis ex mortuis resurrexerit, persuadebuntur, Luc. Xvi. 29, 31.
56. Defluxit super nos maledictio et juramentum, quod scriptum est in Lege Mosis servi Dei: sicut scriptum in Lege Mosis, omne malum venit super nos, Dan. Ix. 11, 12 [13].
57. Mementote Legis Mosis servi mei, quam praecepi illi, Mal. iii. 22.
58. Dixit JEHOVAH ad Mosen, ecce Ego veniam ad te in nebula nubis, ut audiat populus, quando loquutus fuero ad te, etiamque in Te Credant in aeternum, Ex. Xix. 9.
59. Moses dixit, honora patrem tuum et matrem tuam, Marc. Vii. 10.
60. Et Joschua scripsit copiam Legis Mosis super lapidibus Altaris, Josch. Viii. 3.
Apocalypsis Revelata, 880.
61. Propter Zioem non tacebo, et propter Heirosolymam non quiescam, usque dum exeat sicut splenor Justitia ejus, et Salus ejus sicut lampas ardeat: tunc videbunt Gentes Justitam [tuam] et omnes Reges gloriam tuam: et vocabitur tibi Nomen novum, quod os JEHOVAE enuntiabit, et eris corono decoris in manu Dei tui: beneplacebit Jehovah in te, et terra tua maritabitur. Ecce salus tua veniet, ecce merces Ipsius cum Ipso: et vocabunt illos, Populus sanctitatis, Redempti Jehovae, et tu vocaberis quaesita urbs, non deserta, Esa. Lxii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12.

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62. Ecco Ego creans Caelum Novum et Terram novam, non commemorabuntur priora: laetamini et exultate in aeternitates, quae Ego creans. Ecce Ego creaturus Hierosolymam exultationem, et populum ejus laetitiam, ut exultem super Hierosolyma, et laeter super populo meo. Tunc lupus et agnus pascent simul: non malum facient in toto monte sanctitatis meae, Esa. Lxv. 17, 18, 19, 25.
63. Excitare, excitare, indue robur tuum Zion, indue vestes decoris tui, Heiroslyma, Urbs sanctiatis; quia non addet ut in te veniat amplius praeputiatus et immundus: excute te e pulvere, surge, sede Hierosolyma. Cotnoscet ppulpus Nomen meum in die illo, nam Ego Ille, Qui loquor, ecce Me: consolatus est JEHOVAH populum suum, redemit Hierosolymam, Esa. Liii. 1, 2, 6, 9.
64. Jubila filia Zionis, laetare ex omni corde filia Hierosolymae; Rex Israelis in medio tui, ne time malum amplius; laetabitur super te cum gaudio, acquiescot in amore tuo, exultabit super te cum jubilo; dabo vos in nomen et laudem omnibus populis terrae, Zeph. iii. 14, 15, 16, 17, 20.
65. Sic dixit JEHOVAH Redemptor tuus et Formator tuus, dicens Heirosolymae, habitaberis, et uribus Jehudae, aedificabimini, Esa. Xliv. 24, 26.
66. Scito et percipito ab exitu Verbi usque ad restituendum et ad aedificandum Hierosolymam, usque ad Messiam Principem, Septimanae septem, Dan. X. (9,) 25.
67. Sic dixit Jehovah, revertar ad Zionem, et habitabo in medio Hierosolymae; unde vocabitur Hierosolyma, Urbs veritatis et Mons JEHOVAE Zebaoth Mons sanctitatis, Sach. Viii. 3, 20-23.
68. Tunc cognoscetis quod Ego JEHOVAH Deus vester, habitans in Zione, Monte sanctitatis, et erit Hierosolyma sanctitas; et fiet in die illo, stillabunt montes mustum, et colles fluent lacte, et Hierosolyma sedebit in generationem et generationem, Joel iv. 17-21.

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69. In die illo erit german JEHOVAE in decus et in gloriam; et fiet, relictus in Zione, et residuus in Hierosolyma, sanctus dicetur; omnis scriptus ad vitam in Hierosolyma, Esa. Iv. 2, 3.
70. In extremitate dierum erit Mons domus Jehovae constitutus in caput montium; nam e Zione exibit doctrina, et Verbum JEHOVAE ex Hierosolyma; ad te veniet Regnum prius Regnum filiae Hierosolymae, Mich. Iv. 1, 2, 8.
71. In tempore illo vocabunt Hierosolymam Thronum JEHOVAE, et congregabuntur omnes gentes ob Nomen JOHOVAE Hierosolymam, neque ibunt amplius post confirmationem cordis sui mali, Jer. iii. 17.
72. Specta Zionem Urbem festi stati nostri; occuli tui videant Hierosolymam, Habitaculum tranquillum, Tabernaculum quod non dissipabitur; non removebuntur clavi ejus in perpetuum, et omnes funes ejus non avellentur, Esa., xxxiii, 20.
De Amore Conjugiali, 9.
73. In hoc glorificatur Pater Meus, ut fructum multum feratis et reddamini discipuli mei, John xv. 8.
De Amore Conjugiali, 21.
74. Hi sunt, qui cum mulieribus non inquinati sunt, Virgines enim sunt, et sequuntur Agnum quocunque vadit, Apoc. Xiv. 4.
75. DOMINUS assimilavit Ecclesiam decem Virginbus invitatis ad nuptias, Matt. xxv. 1, seq.
76. Regina ad Dextram Tuam in auro opimo ophiris, de implexis auri vestis ejus, in Acupictis adducetur Regi, Virgines post illam amicae ejus venient in palatium Regis, Ps. xlv. 10-16.

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De Amore Conjugiali, 156.
77. JEHOVAH Deus aedificavit Costam, quam sumserat de homine, in Mulierem; et adduxit eam ad hominen; et dixit homo; haec vice hac, Os de ossibus meis et Caro de carne mea; huic vocabitur nomen Ischah, quia de Isch, Viro, sumpta est haec: propterea derelinquet vir patrem suum et matrem suam, et adhaerbit uxori suae, et erunt in carnem unum, Gen. ii. 22, 23, 24.
78. Annon legistis, quod Ille qui fecit abinitio Masculum et Foeminam, dixit, propterea desert homo patrem et matrem et adhaerbit uxori suae, et erunt duo in carnem unam, quare non amplius duo sunt, sed una caro, Matt. xix. 4, 5.
De Amore Conjugiali, 315.
79. JEHOVAH Deus inspiravit in nares hominis Animam Vitarum, et factus est Homo in Animam Viventem, Gen. ii. 7.
De Amore Conjugiali, 494.
80. Dictum est a veteribus, non maechaberis; Ego vero dico vobis, quod si quis aspexerit mulierem alterius, ita ut concupiscat illam, jam adulterium cum ill commiserit in corde, Matt. v. 27, 28.
Summaria Expositio, 32.
81. Dixit JESUS, euntes discipulos facite omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in Nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Matt. xxviii. 19.
82. Cum baptizatus est JESUS, ecce aperti sunt Ipsi Coeli, et vidit Spiritum Sanctum descendentum ut columbam, et venientem super Ipsum et ecce vox e Coelo, Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in Quo complacuit Mihi, Matt. iii. 16, 17.
83. Data est Mihi omnis potestas in Coelo et in Terra, Matt. xxviii. 18.
84 Ecce Ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad Consummationem saeculi, ibid., 20.

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85. Nondum erat Spiritus Sanctus, quia JESUS nondum glorificatus erat, Joh. vii. 39.
Summaria Expositio, 71.
86. Acesserunt Discipuli ad JESUM, et ostenderunt Ipsi structuras Templi; et dixit illis JESUS, amen dico vobis, non relinquetur hic lapis super lapide, qui non dissolvetur. Et dixerunt Ipsi Discipuli, dic nobis quando illa erunt, imprimis quodnam signum Tui Adventus et Consummationis Saeculi, Matt. xxiv. 1, 2, 3.
87. Ego Jesus sum Radix et Gensus Davidis, Stella splendida et matutina; et Spiritus et Sponsa dicunt, veni; et audiens dicat veni; et sitiens veniat; etima venio cito, amen, etiam veni DOMINE JESU, Apoc. xxii. 17, 20.
Summaria Expositio, 100.
88. Postea Septimanis sexaginta et duabus restituetur, et aedificabitur platea et fossa, sed angustia temporum, Dan. Ix. 25.
89. Tandem super Avem abominationum desolatio, et usque ad consummationem et decisum stillabit super devastationem, Dan. Ix. 27.
90. Cum videritis abominationem desolations praedictam a Daniele Propheta, stantem in loco sancto, qui legit, probe notet, Matt. xxiv. 15.

Schmidius.

Justitia et judicium fulcrum throni Tui.
Educet enim sicut lucem justiiam tuam, et judicium tuum sicut meridiem.
Et desponsabo te Mihi in ternum in justitia et in judicio.
Suscitabo Davidi germen justum, qui regnet Rex, faciatque judicium et justitiam in terra.

Super throno Davidis, et super regno ejus; ad stabiliendum illud in judicio et jusitia.
Exaltatus est JEHOVAH, quia ... implevit Zijonem judicio et justitia.
Quum didicero judicia justiti Tu. Septies in die laudo Te super judiciis justiti Tu.

In ipso vita erat, et vita erat Lux hominum.

Verba, qu Ego loquor vobis, spiritus sunt, et vita sunt.

Erit namque lux lun, sicut lux solis, et lux solis erit septupla, sicut lux septem dierum.

Et aspectus Ejus sicut Sol, luccens in virtute sua.
Florebit in diebus ejus justus, et multa pax, usque dum non Luna.

Diliges DOMINUM Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo et in tota anima tua.

Daboque vobis cor novum et spiritum novum.

Inspiravit et dicit illis, accipite Spiritum Sanctum.

Et inspiravit in nares ejus animam vitarum et factus est homo in animam viventem.

Propheta super spiritu ... et dic ad ventum ... a quatuor ventis veni spiritus, et inspira in occisos hos ut vivant.
Implevi eum spiritu Dei; quoad sapientiam et quoad intelligentiam et quoad scientiam.
Impletus est ... spirtu sapienti.

Spiritus excellens et scienti et intelligenti sapientia.
Scient namque errantes spiritu intelligentiam.

Novi tua opera, quod neque frigidus sis, neque fervidus. Utinam frigidus esses, aut fervidus. Sic, quia tepidus es, et neque frigidus neque fervidus, exsputurus sum to ex ore Meo.
Nemo potest duobus dominis servie, Nam aut unum odio habebit, et alterum diliget, aut uni adhrebit, et alterum negliget.

Inter nos et vos hiatus ingens firmatus est, ut qui volunt transcender hinc ad vos, non possint; neque qui ibi, ad nos transire.

Quisquis Prophetam sucipit in nomen Prophet mercedem Prophet accipiet. Et quisquis suscipit justum in nomen justi, mercedem justi accipiet. Imo quisquis potaverit unum parvorum horum potu frigid tantum in nomen discipuli ... non perdet mercedem suam.
Qui vero ingrediens est per januam, pastor est ovium. Huic ostiarius aperit, et oves vocem illius audiunt; et proprias oves vocat nomine tenus, et educit illas.
Ego sum ostium: per Me si quia introiverit, salvabitur.

Ut enunties hanc parabolam de Rege Babelis.
Exscindam Babeli nomen et residuum.

Quomodo cecidisti de coelo, Lucifer, fili Aurorae? Atqui tu dixisti in corde tuo in coelos ascendam, supra stellas caeli exaltabo thronum meum; et sedebo in monte conventus in lateribus septetrionis. Ascendam supra excelsa numbis; similis flam Altissimo.

Tunc tradent vos in afflictionem et occident vos. Erit enim tunc afflictio magna, qualis non fuit ab initio mundi, nec erit. Post afflictionem dierum istorum, sol obscurabitur, et luna non dabit lumen suum, et stellae cadent de coelo.

Ecce dies venientes, quum suscitabo Davidi germen justum, et hoc Nomen Ejus, quod vocabunt Eum, Jehovah justia nostra.

Neque enim Pater judicat quenquam, sed judicium omne dedit Filio. Et postestadem dedit judicium faciendi, quia Filius Hominis est.
Non enim veni, ut judicem mundum; sed ut salvem mundun. Verbum, quod loctus sum, illud judicabit illum, in extremo die.

Jesus vero dixit illis, vos, qui secuti estis Me, quando sedebit Filius hominis super throno gloriae suae, sedebitis etiam vos super duodecim thronis judicantes duodecim tribus Israelis, Matt. xix. 28.
JEHOVAH in judicium veniet cum Seniorbus populi sui.
Hierosolyma aedificata: Eo enim ascendunt tribus, Quia ibi sedent throni ad judicium.

Vidi porro thronos, consederuntque super iis, et judicium datum est illis.

Testimonium enim Jesu est Spiritus prophetiae.
Dixit JEHOVAH Deus meus; pasce oves occisionis, quas possessores carum occidunt: Pavi ergo oves occisionis; propter vos, o miseri gregis.
Occisi, sumus omni die, reputati sumus sicut grex mactationis, ne desere in perpetuum.

Venturos radicabit Jacobus, num juxta caedem occisorum ejus occisus est?

Audivi ... vocem filiae Zijonis; Vae jam mihi, quia delassata est anima mea occisoribus.
Tradent vos in afflictionem et occident vos, et eritis odio habiti ... propter Nomen Meum.

Dixit JHHOVA super filiis ... Mortibus morborum morientur; non plangentur, neque sepelientur; in stercus super faciebus terrae erunt; fietque cadaver eroum in cibum avibus coelorum et bestiae terrae.
Illi prophetantes erunt abjecti in plateis Hieroslymae, nec sepeliens iis.

In tempore isto extrahent ossa Regum Judae et ossa Principum ejus, et ossa Sacerdotrum, et ossa Prophetarum ... e sepulchris eorum, ... non colligentur, neque sepelientur; in stercus super faciebus terrae erunt.

Isebelem autem comedant canes in agro, nec sepeliens.
Tu autem projectus es e sepulcro tuo; sicut surculus abominabilis ... sicut cadaver conculcatum.

Philippus dicit: Quem scripsit Moses in lege et Prophetae in venimus, Jesum.

In lege Moses praecepit tales lapidare.

Impleti sunt dies purificationis illorum, juxta legem Mosis.
Opporteret impleri omni, quae scripta sunt in lege Mosis et prophetis ... de Me.

Nonne Moses dedit vobis legem? Moses dedit circumcisionem, ut non solvatur lex Mosis.
Dicit illi Abraham: Habent Mosen et Prophetas; audiunto illos. Si Mosen et Prophetas non audiunt neque si quis ex mortuis resurrexerit, persuadebuntur.

Defluxit super nos maeldictio et juramentum, quod scriptum est i nlege Mois servi Dei. Sicut scriptum est in lege Mosis, omne malum hoc venit super nos.

Mementote legis Mois, servi Mei, quam praecepi illi.
Dixit JEHOVAH ad Mosen; ecce Ego veniam ad te in nebula nubis; ut audiat populus; quando locutus fuero ad te, etiamque in te credant in aeternum.

Moses nanque dixit; honora patrem tuum et matrem tuam.
Deinde scripsit bi super lapiede copiam legis Mosis.

Propter Zijonem non tacebo, et propter Hierosolumam non quiescam; usque dum exeat sicut splendor justitia ejus, et salus ejus sicut lampas ardet. Tum videbunt gentes jusitiam tuam, et omnes reges gloriam tuam: vocabiturque tibi nomen novum, quod os JEHOVAH enuntiabit. Erisque corono decoris in manu Dei tui. Beneplacebit Jehovae in te, et terra tua maritabitur. Ecce salus tua venit! Ecce merces Ejus cum Illo. Vocabunt ergo illos, populus sanctitatis, redemti Jehovae: te autem vocabunt Quaesita, urbs, non descrta.

Scce ego creans caelos novos et terram novam: ideo ne commemorentur priora. Laetamini et exultate, in aeternitates, quae Ego creans. Ecce enim Ego creaturus Hierosolymam exultationem et populum ejus laetitam: Ut exultem super Hierosolyma, ut laeter super populo meo. Lupus et agnus pascent simul ... non malum facient in toto monte sanctitatis Meae.

Excitare, excitare, indue robur tuum; o Zijon: indue vestes decoris tui, o Hicrosolyma, urbs sanctitatis; quia non addet, veniat in te amplius prae putiatus et immundus. Excute te e pulvere, surge, sede, o Hierosolyma. Cognoscet populus meus Nomen Meum in die, inquam, illo, Ego Ille, Qui loquens; Ecce Me. Consolatus est JEHOVAH populum Suum, redemit Hierosolymam.
Jubilia, filia Zijonis, laetare ex omni corde, filia Hierosolymae. Rex Jisraelis in medio tui; ne time malum amplius; laetabitur super te cum gaudio, acquiscet in amore suo, exultabit super te cum jubilo. Dabo vos in nomen et in laudem in omnibus populis terrae.
Sic dixit JEHOVAH, Redemptor tuus et Formator tuus; dicens Hierosolymae, habitaberis; et urbibus Jehudae, aedificabimini.
Scito ergo et percipito, ab exitu verbi ad usque restituendum et aedificandum Hierosolymam, usque ad Messiam Principem, septimanae septem.

Sic dixit Jehovah; Revertar ad Zijonem, et habitabo in medio Heirosolymae unde vocabitur Hierosolyma urbs veritatis; et mons JEHOVAE Zebaoth, mons sanctitatis.

Tum cognoscetis quod Ego JEHOVAH, Deus vester, habitans in Zijone, in monte sanctiatis Meae; sitque Hierosolyma sanctitas. Fiet itaque in die isto; stillabunt montes mustum et colles fluent lacte; et Hierosolyma in generationem et generationem.

In die illa erit germen JEHOVAE in decus et in gloriam. Fietque: relictus in Zijone, et residuus in Hierosolyma sanctus dicetur: omnis scriptus ad vitam in Heirosolyma.

Erit tamen in extremitate dierum: erit mons domus Jehovae constitutus in caput montium. Nam e Zijone exibit doctrina, et verbum, JEHOVAE ex Hierosolyma. Ad te veniet regnum prius, regnum filiae Hierosolymae.

In tempore illo vocabunt Hierosolymam, Thronum JEHOVAE, et congregabuntur omnes gentes ob Nomen JEHOVAE Hierosolymam: neque ibunt amplius post obfirmationem cordis sui mali.
Specta Zijonem, urbem festi stati nostri; occuli tui videant Hierosolymam, habitaculum tranquillum, tabernaculum quod non dissipabitur; non removebuntur clavi ejus in perpetuum; et omnes funes ejus non avellentur.

In Hoc glorificatus esti pater Meus, et fructum multum feratis et reddamini discipuli Mei.

Hi sunt, qui cum mulieribus non polluti sunt, Virgines enim sunt; Hi sunt qui sequunter Agnum quo vadit.

Simileflet regum coelorum decem virginibus.

Regina ad dextram Tuam in quro optimo Ophiris, de implexis auri vestis ejus, In acupictis adducetur Regi, virgines post illam amicae ejus, venient in palatium Regis.

Aedificavitque JEHOVAH Deus costam, quam sumserat de homine, in mulierem; et adduxit eam ad hominem. Dixit vero homo; haec, vice hac est os de ossibus meis et caro de carne mean, huic vocabitur (nomen) Ischah quia de Isch (viro) sumpta es haec. Properea derlinquet vir patrem suum et matrem suam: et adhaerbit uxori suae: et erunt in carnem unum.

Annon legistis, quod is, qui fecit ab initio masculum et foeminam ... dixit, Propterea deseret homo patrem et matrem et adhaerebit uxori suae, et erunt duo in carnem unam. Quare non amplius sunt duo, sed, una carao.

JEHOVAH Deus inspiravit in nares ejus animam vitarum, et factus est homo in animam viventem.

Postea Septimanis sexaginta et duabus restituetur et adeificabitur platea et fossa sed in angustia temporum.

Tandem super avem abominationum desolatio, et usque ad consummationem et decisum, stillabit super devastationem.

Cum itaque videritis abominationem desolationis, praedictam a Danjele Propheta, stantem in loco sancto, qui legit, probe notat.

Veteribus dictum sit: Non maecheris. Ego vero dico vobis quod si quis aspexerit mulierem alienam ita ut concupiscat eam, jam adulterium cum illa commiserit in corde.

Euntes ergo, discipulos facite omnes gentes, baptizantes eos in Nomen Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.

Baptizatus vero JESUS; ecce aperti sunt Ipsi coeli, viditque Spiritum De descendentem sicut columbam et venientem super Ipsum. Et, ecce, vox e coelo, dicens; Hic est filius Meus dillectus, in quo complacuit Mihi.

Data est mihi omnis potestas in coelo et in terra.
Ecce, Ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus, usque ad consummationem seculi, 20.

Nondum enim erat Spiritus Sanctus; quia JESUS nondum glorificatus erat.

Accesserunt discipuli Psius ad ostendendum Ipsi structuras templi, JESUS vero dixit illis, Amen, dico vobis non relinquetur hic lapis super lapide, qui non dissolvetur ... Discipuli dicentes, Dic nobis quando isa fient, inprimis quodnam signum Tui adventus, et consummationis seculi.

Ego sum radix et genus Davidis, stella splendida et matutina. Spiritus autem et sponsa dicunt, veni; et qui audit, dicito, veni; et qui sitit, venito; nae venio cito. Amen, nae veni, DOMINE JESU.

Postea Septimanis sexaginta et duabus restituetur et aedificabitur platea et fossa sed in angustia temporum.

Tandem super avem abominationum desolation, et usque ad consummationem et decisum, stillabit super devastationem.

Cum itaque videritis abominationem desolationis, praedictam a Danjele Propheta, stantem in loco sancto, qui legit, probe notat.

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If we apply this test to the 90 passages given above, we find that Schmidius uses the conjunctions: que, enim, namque, ut, imo, atqui, quum, ergo, que (in neque), autem, deinde, tum, ideo, itaque, tamen, vero, sed, tandam; while Swedenborg, on the other hand, nearly always confines himself to et; so that it can by no means be said that he in these translations more closely follows Schmidius, or uses Schmidius instead of making his own rendering. This is shown more clearly get by this, that in several cases the arrangement of words does not coincide with that made by Schmidius, though as both these writers closely follow the order of the words in Hebrew and in Greek, these differences chiefly occur where Schmidius deviates from the Hebrew or Greek order. In the 90 passages cited above the differences in sense are as frequent or as rare as in the Arcana: for examples of such difference see Nos. 3, 6, 11, 12, 18, 22, 30, 47, 71, 80. Different expressions to embody the same idea are found in Nos. 13, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 35, 45, 60, 61, 62, 63, 68, 73, 74, 81, 85, 86, 87. Words added by Schmidius which are not in the test in Nos. 30, 40, 43, 63. It can by no means be assumed that wherever Swedenborg and Schmidius agree even verbatim, the passage was not translated from the original. In many passages, both Swedenborg and Schmidius agree with the Catholic Vulgata, and yet no sensible scholar would maintain that therefore they copied from that version. The fact is, where scholars only endeavor to translate faithfully and literally it is more difficult to disagree continually, than to continually agree in essentials, differing only in minor points, as is the case with the two translations before us. The similarity is necessarily much increased from Swedenborgs having used from the very beginning the excellent version of Schmidius. This alone is sufficient to explain why Swedenborg so much more frequently coincides with Schmidius than with the Vulgata, even in those numberless cases where both faithfully and literally render the original.

From a critical survey of the above translations, the render will no doubt see that the writer in the Magazine is not justified in asserting (p. 50) that Swedenborg in the work on Divine Love and Wisdom closely follows Schmidius, and likewise in the work on the Divine Providence, and also in the quotations in the Apocalypse Revealed, in the Conjugial Love, and the Summary Exposition; for in that case we would needs have to end not only
the usual agreement of nouns and verbs, but also an agreement in the conjunctions and pronouns used, which as may be seen from the passages quoted, is not the case. Nor is he justified in the statement, on p. 60, that the True Christian Religion takes its motto from the Schmidius version, as the following comparison shows:

From this synopsis of the passages it may be seen that there are but few in which there is an entire coincidence in the two versions. One of the chief differences between the translations of Swedenborg and those of Schmidius (as stated, N. J. Mag., page 59), is that Swedenborg always translates the single Hebrew connective by et, for which Schmidius uses various particles. If we apply this test to the 90 passages given above, we find that Schmidius uses the conjunctions: que, enim, namque, ut, imo, atqui, quum, ergo, que (in neque), autem, deinde, tum, ideo, itaque, tamen, vero, sed, tandam; while Swedenborg, on the other hand, nearly always confines himself to et; so that it can by no means be said that he in these translations more closely follows Schmidius, or uses Schmidius instead of making his own rendering. This is shown more clearly get by this, that in several cases the arrangement of words does not coincide with that made by Schmidius, though as both these writers closely follow the order of the words in Hebrew and in Greek, these differences chiefly occur where Schmidius deviates from the Hebrew or Greek order. In the 90 passages cited above the differences in sense are as frequent or as rare as in the Arcana: for examples of such difference see Nos. 3, 6, 11, 12, 18, 22, 30, 47, 71, 80. Different expressions to embody the same idea are found in Nos. 13, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 35, 45, 60, 61, 62, 63, 68, 73, 74, 81, 85, 86, 87. Words added by Schmidius which are not in the test in Nos. 30, 40, 43, 63. It can by no means be assumed that wherever Swedenborg and Schmidius agree even verbatim, the passage was not translated from the original. In many passages, both Swedenborg and Schmidius agree with the Catholic Vulgata, and yet no sensible scholar would maintain that therefore they copied from that version. The fact is, where scholars only endeavor to translate faithfully and literally it is more difficult to disagree continually, than to continually agree in essentials, differing only in minor points, as is the case with the two translations before us. The similarity is necessarily much increased from Swedenborgs having used from the very beginning the excellent version of Schmidius. This alone is sufficient to explain why Swedenborg so much more frequently coincides with Schmidius than with the Vulgata, even in those numberless cases where both faithfully and literally render the original.

From a critical survey of the above translations, the render will no doubt see that the writer in the Magazine is not justified in asserting (p. 50) that Swedenborg in the work on Divine Love and Wisdom closely follows Schmidius, and likewise in the work on the Divine Providence, and also in the quotations in the Apocalypse Revealed, in the Conjugial Love, and the Summary Exposition; for in that case we would needs have to end not only the usual agreement of nouns and verbs, but also an agreement in the conjunctions and pronouns used, which as may be seen from the passages quoted, is not the case. Nor is he justified in the statement, on p. 60, that the True Christian Religion takes its motto from the Schmidius version, as the following comparison shows:

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Swedenborg.

Videns fui in visionibus noctis, et ecce cum nubibus coelorum sicut FILIUS HOMINIS veniens fuit: Et Huic datum est Dominium, et Gloria et Regnum, et omnes populi, gentes, et linguae Ipsum colent: Dominium Ejus Dominium saeculi, quod non transibit, et Regnum Ejus quod non peribit, Dan. Vii. 13, 14.

Schmidius.

Videns fui in visionibus noctis et ecce cum nubibus coelorum sicut Filius hominis veniens fuit; huicque datum est dominium et gloria et regnum, ut omnes populi, gentes, et linguae Ipsum colerent: dominium Ejus dominius seculi, quod non trnasibit, et regnum Ejus, quod non peribit.

An attentive critic would at once point out the huic-que and ut which serve to translate the simple Chaldee connective as differing from the Swedenborg, and these accordingly we find changed in the motto; we also find the additional difference of colent and colerent, which three variations are quite sufficient to show that Swedenborg had the original before him when he wrote the motto. More evident still is this in that part of the motto taken from the New Testament:

Swedenborg.

Ego Johannes vidi Caelum Novum et Terram Novam: et vidi Urbem sanctam Hierosolymam novam, descendentem a Deo e Caelo, paratam sicut Sponsam ornatam Marito suo. Et Angelus loquutus est mecum, dicens, veni ostendam tibi SPONSAM AGNI UXOREM; et abstulit me in spiritu super montem magnum et altum, et ostendit mihi Urbem magnam sanctam Hierosolymam descendentem e Caelo a Deo.

Sedens super Throno dixit, ecce NOVA OMNI FACIO; et dixit mihi, scribe, quia haec verba vera et fida sunt, Apoc. Xxi. 1, 2, 5, 9, 10.

Schmidius.

Deinde vidi coelum novum et terram novam. Insuper ego Ioannes vidi urbem sanctam Jerusalem novam descendentem a Deo e coelo, paratam sicut sponsam ornatam marito suo. Et locutus est mecum, dicens: veni, ostendam tibi Sponsam Agni uxorem. Abstulit ergo me in spiritu super montem magnum et altum, et ostendit mihi urbem magnam, sanctam Jerusalem, descendentem e coelo a DEO.

Dixit vero sedens super throno; Ecce, nova omni facio. Dixit etiam mihi; scribe, quia haec verba vera et fidelia sunt.

We incline to think that there will be few who will agree with the critic in the Magazine, that one of these translations was copied from the other, the more especially as no reason can be given why a great scholar, who has been familiar with Greek for over 60 years, should quote from any but the original of the New Testament, especially in selecting a motto for so great a work. A comparison of the translations at once shows numerous points of difference between the two versions. There are no cumbersome conjunctions such as deinde, insuper, ergo, vero or etiam used to supply the simple et of the Word; and the other differences are so many that it is strange one should ever have been taken to be the transcript of the other.

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Thus we find that the passages cited to uphold the view that Swedenborg in his later works grave up making his own translation and followed Schmidius, only show that the view is utterly groundless, and that the translation of Swedenborg stands out distinctly from that of Schmidius as being without peculiarities, without any thing of the proprium; and that whenever there is a difference between the two, the translation of Swedenborg is with hardly an exception the more literal one.

From a careful and critical examination of Swedenborgs version, and a comparison of it with that of others, its great excellence and fitness as a vehicle for the glory of the Second Advent becomes ever more apparent; and those who would pollute its transparent purity by substituting for it anything originating in self-intelligence, or brought over from the old church, can not be considered otherwise than as violating and defiling the temple of the LORD, and as breaking down the wall of jasper of the Holy Jerusalem that has come down from God out of heaven.

The Rendering of the Word.

THE sub committee of Seven, submitted to the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs, at their meeting in Urbana, Ohio, May 29, 1877, two reports on the question of a new translation of the Scriptures. One of these was prepared by the Rev. L. H. Tafel in favor of such a translation, the other in opposition to it, by the Rev. John Worcester. It is to one point in the latter that we would call attention.

It is said that a difficulty appeals in the figures of the Hebrew language, by which the Hebrews expressed familiarly ideas which would not be suggested by the words to foreign ears. For example it is said in Isaiah v:1, My beloved hath a vineyard in a horn: a son of oil: which certainly is quite unintelligible to English-speaking children. But when we know that a conical hill was sometimes called a horn, and that it is according to common Hebrew forms of speech to can a fruitful thing a son of fatness (which is a legitimate rendering of the Word for oil) we gather at once the idea of a vineyard in a very fruitful hill which is the expression in our English Bible. We believe that this meaning was gathered from the words as a matter of course by the Jewish children, and that it is the part of the Divine meaning which we should present to our children; though the Hebrew idiom also is valuable to those who can use it.--(Journal of Convention p. 54.)

(1) It is evident here that this passage and several others which are quoted in the report are considered primarily in the light of Hebrew idioms. To a New Churchman, looking at the Word as the voice of the LORD; and at its letter as the basis, containant and firmament of the holy Divine dwelling in it, such an idea seems most strange.

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In the Word of the LORD there is and can be nothing which is only an idiom adapted to the understanding of Jewish children. Everything therein is holy; all of it has a spiritual sense, and the grammar, phraseology, words, are all subordinated to this sense The very idiom or peculiarity of the Hebrew makes it the one language best fitted for conveying to the mind this natural sense; and we must have this peculiarity brought out to understand the hidden meaning. We cannot but think such comparisons and limitations derogatory to that which in the beginning was with God.

(2) The exact translation of the passage is:I will sing now to my Beloved a songr of my Beloved about his vineyard:--a vineyard was to my Beloved in a horn of a son of oil (Keren ben-Shamen). In the report to which we allude it is said that a conical hill is sometimes called a horn--but we have failed to find any such instance in the Bible. To give it this meaning in this passage is a simple assumption. In all the other places in which it occurs we find it in its primary meaning as the horn of an animal; in every case where it has a figurative meaning, the figure has distinct reference to this. Thus when it is used as an emblem of power or strength, it is because this part of the body of an animal has this quality. When as in 1. Sam. 16: 1 a horn of oil is mentioned, a horn filled with oil is evidently meant. We must therefore decidedly object to this style of interpretation of the words of the Word. The business of the translator is to tell what the LORD Said; not to make Him intelligrrible: if we fail of understanding the letter, the fault is in us, and not in the vehicle the LORD has chosen for conveying His truth.

(3) A most important truth is revealed to us in those words, and had we to choose esptessions the best possible for conveying this truth we would not know where to find them but in this very passaxre. For note the fullness of the sense of the spirit in these unintelligible words. A vineyard is the true spiritual Church; a Church which the LORD will fill with the truths and goods of His Word, and established by Him for this purpose. A horn is the power of truth grounded in good, and oil is the good of love; thus the Divine Good of Divine Love. This horn is the son of oil, because a son signifies truth, and also because it represents on the natural plane, that which is derived from something. Hence the horn of a son of oil, the Keren ben-Shamen is the power of the truth established in good and derived from, and existing by, the Divine Good of Love, Here, and here only is the LORDS spiritual Church. Here is the vineyard of the Beloved; and the more our truths are thus completely drawn from the Good of the LORD and the more we feel that all their strenrrth is thus derived, the nearer we are, as individuals, and as a Church, to that true and only Church of the LORD which He fills with His own Divine Truth and Love.

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But how is this expressed by the statement My Beloved hath a vineyard in a, very fruitful hill? And how much of the strength and beauty of the passage is lose by this unwarrantable paraphrasing of the Word of the LORD!

Other matters in this report deserve comment--particularly the passage next in order to the one to which we have referred where the expressions man of my peace son of a year things of holiness are called idiomatic phrases. Such they may be to the old Church; to the New Churchman they are, or should be, the best forms for expressing the Divine meaning, and remarkable for pointing out so clearly one glnnd point in the philosophy of the New Church; that many things the world would call adjectives, are really substantial articles. We pay there is abundant room for comment on these and other points--but the subject is too large, and besides, it is in the proper hands for its full investigation. We can but regret that this work of a true translation of the Word, which shall tell us exactly what the LORD has said, should meet with such opposition from those who are supposed to be the proper custodians of the Word. Must we not fear that by such a course, the LORD, who is The Word, is mounded in the house of His friends?

The General Conference in Great Britain.

[From the Intellectual Repository for September.]

SINCE our last issue, the Annual Meeting of the Conference has been held in the new and beautiful church recently erected by the Birmingham Society, and though the session has not been distinguished by the discussion of any measure of unusual interest, we are glad of the opportunity of calling the attention of our readers to the proceedings. In another place we have given an extended report of the session, and propose here simply to make a few remarks of a more general character on some of its more prominent incidents. To begin with, it should never be forgotten that we have no cause to be discouraged by the apparently slow growth of the external Church: and to conceal from ourselves that the growth is slow would be equally injudicious. The stages of development in the growth of institutions are not dissimilar to those of the human body; excessive manifestations of energy in one direction are often a sign of waste or attrition in others; and we are happy to be able to state that while general and steady progress is observed, it is to be noted in nearly every department of the Conference work. The Conference is now a comparatively rich body, and if some of the special funds are not so well supported as might be desired, not as indeed they would be probably if the Church generally mere better acquainted with the work they support, it is surely a hopeful sign that the endowments are applied to so many different and such varied uses.

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Not the least interesting feature of the late session of Conference was the formal reception of the representatives of the American Convention, Rev. W. H. Benade, Rev. W. B. Hayden, and Mr. Pitcairn. In any case, the appearance of gentlemen so well known and so much honored would have increased the interest of the proceedings, but Mr. Benades address was for many reasons a notable incident. There are not too many opportunities during the sittings of Conference for the introduction of subjects directly bearing on questions of interest to the Church generally, and Mr. Benade, in referring to the relations between the two countries, and to the opportunities for joint action which occasionally arise, gave an account of a scheme for a new translation of the Word, which he advocated with great force and eloquence. The writing of the address from the Convention to the Conference was another useful and attractive contribution to the business. Up to this time the two bodies have generally restricted themselves to messages of congratulation and encouragement; but it is not improbable that the now frequent and almost constant visits of American representatives to the Conference--to be followed ere long, let us hope, by visits as frequent from members of Conference to the Convention--may lead us on both sides to examine more closely the method and manner of Church work in the other country, with the view of adopting what may possibly afford benefit and improvement. There is no fear of anything like unwarrantable or impertinent interference arising; but we may surely on both sides take greater advantage than we have hitherto done of the experience of our friends. We at least are willing both to give and to take, and we have no doubt that our American friends would say the same.

The Repository adds the following concerning the proceedings of the Conference:

The Rev. Dr. Bayley, on the invitation of the President, then proposed a resolution cordially welcoming among them the Revs. W. H. Benade (Pittsburgh, Penn.), and W. B. Hayden (Portland, Maine), together with Mr. Pitcairn (Pittsburgh), the representatives of the Convention of the New Church in the United States. In doing so, he said that he felt he was expressing only the feeling of the Conference in stating the very great pleasure he had in the communication between the New Church in America and the Church in England on the present occasion. They began to feel as if the power of heaven to the world was becoming more and more manifest. This was especially the case in the United States of America. . . .

Mr. Broadfield, in seconding the proposition, said he was sure that the Conference was anxious to express the general feeling of congratulation to their visitors.

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They had not forgotten the pleasure that they experienced in former Conferences, in seeing and hearing Mr. Reed, Dr. Hibbard, Mr. Seward, Mr. Giles, and others. Now they had Mr. Benade, Mr. Hayden, and Mr. Pitcairn....

The resolution was very cordially received and carried by a rising vote.

In replying, the Rev. W. H. Benade thanked the members present for the kind manner in which his colleagues and himself had been received in England, as messengers from the New Church Convention in America, and assured them that their kindly feelings were warmly reciprocated in the New World. He could not at the present time speak very loudly for his own country;--it had not recently made great progress, but still it had made some. He had been instructed to say something to the brethren in England about the translation of The Word. The subject had been before the English Church for some time, but he understood that very little had been done beyond the collection of funds for that purpose.

In America, they had taken hold of the matter in a more practical manner. They had brought the subject before the Convention, which had referred it to the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs having charge of all matters of that character. Tao years ago, the Session at Philadelphia, appointed a sub-committee of seven to take the matter into consideration. The plan, as proposed, was not quite in accordance with the views of some members of the Committee, and there arose some discussion as to whether it should be translated literally or paraphrastically. One portion of the Committee found that they could not deal with it otherwise than literally, as they felt that they could no more change any expression contained in The Word than take out a stone from the Temple reared by the LORD Himself, and substitute a brick of their own making. Another portion of the Committee thought the proper way was to translate it so that it might be intelligible to the people,--to put their understanding of The Word in place of the literal sense. A twofold report was accordingly made to the Convention, after the reading of which the subject was referred to the Committee on Ecclesiastical Affairs, with instructions to keep the matter under consideration, and to proceed--and as far as it was possible, in common--in the preliminary work.

A part of that preliminary work was to obtain the co-operation of the English Conference. It had been said that there might be matters in which they could act in common, as they had already in the accomplishment of a most important use, viz. the procuring from Sweden the full copies of the manuscripts of Swedenborg. The Committee which was appointed to obtain the writings of Swedenborg was still in existence and engaged in a search for the remaining MSS. which had not yet been found, but which he believed mere still in existence. He now asked their co-operation in a work which was of the very highest importance to the New Church, and to the whole world--the translation of the Word in such a form as that it might at last be given to the people as the Word of the LORD, and not as the conceit of man.

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As they had put their hand to the work, they would go on with it; and he believed it would be eventually finished. Every member of the Church could help in accomplishing that great work; and they might depend upon it that a literal translation of the Word would do a thousand-fold more for the dissemination of the Divine truth of the LORD, made known through Swedenborg to the Church, than all they were now doing, for everything should rest upon the Word as a basis. He was extremely desirous to enlist their sympathies in the work; which they ought to do in common, as they collected the MSS. of Swedenborg. Let them do this--not for the present time merely, but for the future of the whole world, and for the common good of humanity.

The Americans also desired the co-operation of the English Conference in taking measures for instructing children and others in the Hebrew language, believing that by so doing they would obtain for the future of the Church that which they could obtain in no other may. He desired to express the wish of their brethren in America, that there should be complete harmony and co-operation among all the members of the Church. For the Church was one, knowing no land, nor nation, nor people. It was the LORDS Church, and was to be His kingdom, and His kingdom was one.

The Rev. W. B. Hayden also replied, reciprocating the feelings of his colleagues as to the necessity of co-operation between the two branches of the New Church, and urged the importance of the step taken by the American Convention in reference to a new translation of the Word. That the present moment was a most propitious one for this undertaking was evidenced by the fact that the Old Church was now engaged on a revision of the present authorized version.

Mr. Pitcairn also briefly replied, and in doing so called attention to a new Serial (the first number of which he held in his hand), entitled Words for the New Church, issued by the Academy of the New Church in America. The first number contained a leading article on the Second Advent of the LORD, and the subject was perhaps never before in the collateral writings of the New Church set forth in a manner so masterly and thorough. Even New Churchmen would be astonished at the magnitude and importance of the theme, and at the disclosures in reference to it contained in the writings of Swedenborg. Many of the passages presented in this article mere never before translated into English. Copies might be obtained in the usual way, from Mr. James Speirs.

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A Conversazione during Conference Week.

ON Wednesday evening, a conversazione was held in the Masonic Hall, New Street, under the auspices of the Birmingham Society. Rev. R. R. Rodgers in opening the proceedings, said--I have the honour, the privilege, and the very great pleasure of offering to the Conference, the visitors, and friends generally, the cordial greeting of the Birmingham Society; and I hope that every one present will spend an evening to be remembered with pleasant feelings in connection with the meeting of Conference this year in Birmingham.

Original Works and Manuscripts of Swedenborg.

A most important feature of the entertainment was a magnificent exhibition of Swedenborgs philosophical, scientific, and theological works. The original editions mere chiefly in Latin, with some few in Swedish, and a more complete collection was never before gathered together. An interesting item in the exhibition was a Greek-Latin lexicon which Swedenborg used in his studies, and which contained the signature, Emanuel Swedberg, 1700. One case was occupied by his poetical, philosophical, and scientific works, commencing with Ludus Helikonious, 1714, and its several editions, followed by the Camena Borea, Ddelus, his works on The tides in the ancient world, an Algebra (the first work on that subject printed in Swedish), and concluding with three magnificent tomes of the work Philosophica et Mineralia. The next group consisted of the first editions of his theological works, numbering about thirty volumes. Another case contained a large number of original letters and MSS. of Swedenborg, beginning with the date 1727. There was also shown the letter of Queen Ulrica, conferring upon Swedenborg his patent of nobility in 1715. It is curious to note that the envelope containing this letter is similar in fashion to that in use at the present time. The MSS. chiefly related to the history of the New Church, and amongst the letters were several from the members of the Swedenborg family now living. In another pert of the room was shown a wonderful reproduction in photo-lithography, in 12 folio volumes, of the whole of Swedenborgs MSS. as existing in the library of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. Near at hand mere exhibited many books from Swedenborgs own library, and also the first English editions of many of his theological works.

In a Sketch of the New Church, included in the reproduction of the MSS. of Swedenborg, he says:-- Upon all my books in the spiritual world was written, The LORDS Advent (Adventus Domini).

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The same I also inscribed, by command, on two copies in Holland. One of these copies has lately been discovered bearing the inscription:

Hic liber est Adventus Domini; Scriptum ex Mandato.

The book, which is the property of Mr. James Speirs, was exhibited by the Rev. n. L. Tafel, and was the source of great interest.

In another case were many of Swedenborgs interesting early works, the earliest English and German collateral literature being illustrated by Stephen Penny and Detinger, each bearing the date 1765. In the same case, too, mere specimens of Swedenborgs theological works printed in English, French, German, Welsh, Icelandic, Latin, Italian, Russian, Polish, Swedish, and Danish. The remarkable exhibition was further supplemented by a trio of portraits in oil of Swedenborg--one, looking much the worse for wear, being stated to be the only portrait from the life existing in this country, and dated 1770-72. It is attributed to Philip de Loutherbourg, R. A., an intimate friend of Swedenborg, and is further stated to have filled up a window recess in a London attic for nearly 100 years. The other portraits are excellently painted by Mr. Munns and Mr. Whitehouse respectively. In conclusion, we may mention that the principal portion of the collection was lent by Mr. John Bragg, of this town, the other contributors being Dr. R. L. Tafel, Messrs. W. Bragge, J. Speirs, and J. Rabone, and the Swedenborg Society, British and Foreign.Intellectual Repository, September, 1877.

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NOTES.

The Writings and the Issue.

IS there an issue in the New Church in respect to the Writings of Swedenborg, their inspiration and authority, and the Advent of the LORD?

The Messenger says there is no issue. The Magazine seems to acknowledge that there is an issue. The question is a vital one. For if there is an issue, then, well may we ask, what is the matter? How can the discords be harmonized, and the issue closed?

If the Editor of the Messenger really thinks there is no issue, why in the very number of that paper in which he says so, does he publish an article in which, in its most glaring forms, the very issue is made? Does the Editor know what he is publishing in his paper? Of this number, Oct. 31, we shall speak presently.

But to cry peace, peace, when there is no peace, to say that there is no difference of view, at the bottom, when the difference may be heaven-wide, seems to us the height of presumption and folly. It seems like the folly of pouring oil on dilapidated machinery, in which the cogs are worn out and broken, and the pinions out of centre, and saying, it mill surely run smoothly, when it is well oiled!

But however deplorable it may be, still we fear that the issue is so vital that it cannot be closed by opening others foreign to it, nor by diving into glittering generalities, nor by the claim that it would disappear if only we understood each other better. For the understanding of the fallacies into which the Church is drifting, has opened the issue; nor can it be closed pimply by a better understanding of these fallacies. Rather should we hope that the issue will disappear by the diligent study and acknowledgment of the Heavenly Doctrines, by renouncing the evils and falsities which the Doctrines condemn, and by the humble and devout acknowledgment of the LORD in his Second Coming. For, indeed, this acknowledgment of the LORD is vital and fundamental in the New Church.

To the question, has the LORD made His Second Advent? All New Churchmen of every degree of faith will answer, Yes.

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And as the LORD could not come into the world in Person, and as He must do this through a man, then, to the question, has He made His Advent through Swedenborg? All New Churchmen mill again answer, Yes.

To the question, has the LORD, through Swedenborg opened the Word, and revealed the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem? All again will answer, Yes.

So far the general agreement of New Churchmen seems complete; all is harmony and concord; and so far it is well. But when we proceed further, descending somewhat into particulars, the harmony ends, and the issue opens. For while all will say that the Heavenly Doctrines mere given by the LORD through Swedenborg,--when we ask:

Are these Doctrines Divine Truth?--Some say one thing, and some another; we, unhesitatingly, answer the question in the affirmative. For we hold that the Writings are not only concerning the Truth, but they are the Truth; not merely about the internal sense of the Word, but the disclosure of the internal sense itself; not merely a description of genuine Divine Truths, but the actual embodiment and presentation of Divine Truths. Right here, then, is the momentous issue. The Messenger says: These Writings are indeed concerning Divine truth, but they are not this truth itself.

The Editor, in the Messenger of November 7, makes a number of extracts from the Arcana that have respect to the Holy Spirit, and to the Divine truth, by which all things were created; (A. C. 6880) and which is the veriest essential (A. C. 8200), and c., and then says:

From these extracts it seems evident to us that there is a sense, and an essential one, in which Swedenborgs Writings are not Divine truth.

But in his search in the Writings to maintain his conclusion that there is an essential sense in which the Writings of Swedenborg, are not Divine Truth, why could not the editor find some plain declaration to this effect, somewhere, in the Writings themselves? And why can he not see that his illustrations and conclusions hold equally against the written Word in the letter? Will the editor say of this, that it is the Holy Spirit, the veriest reality, the only substantiality, the source of all things, the substance from which all things mere created? Or having answered this question in the negative, will he come to the conclusion that there is an essential sense in which the Written Word is not Divine Truth? But is not the Written Word in the letter, the Divine Truth, whether the things mentioned above are predicable of it or not? and may not the Writings disclosing the Word as to its internal sense, be Divine Truth, whether the above things are predicable of them or not?

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Does not the editor of the Messenger betray a certain confusion of thought on this subject from the manifest lack of comprehending the various degrees of Divine Truth, as they are described in the Writings? In many places these degrees are described. Beginning in its ineffable forms in the LORD the essential Word, the Divine Truth descends through the heavens to man and from the beginning to the end, its degrees are described. In the Arcana, it is written:

Divine Truth is not of one degree, but of several. Divine Truth in the first degree, and also in the second, is what immediately proceeds from the LORD, this is above angelic understanding. But Divine Truth in the third degree is such as is in the inmost or third heaven this is such that it cannot in the least be apprehended by man. Divine Truth in the fourth degree is such as is in the middle or second heaven, neither is this intelligible to man. But Divine Truth in the fifth degree is such as it is in the ultimate or first heaven; this may be perceived in some small treasure by man, if illustrated, but still it is such that considerable part of it cannot be uttered by human expressions, and when it falls into ideas; it produces a faculty of perceiving, and also of believing that it is so. But Divine Truth in the sixth degree is such as pertains to man, accommodated to his perception; thus it is the sense of the letter of the Word. This sense or this truth is represented by a cloud, and the interior truths by glory in the cloud.A. C. 8443.

And from the Apocalypse Explained, we learn that:

The Divine itself, which is in the Word from the LORD, when it descends to the inmost or third heaven, becomes Divine celestial; when it thence descends to the middle or second heaven, it becomes Divine spiritual; and when from this heaven it descends to the ultimate or first, it becomes Divine celestial or Divine spiritual-natural, and lastly, when it thence descends into the world, it becomes the Divine natural Word, such as it is with us in the letter. A. E. 693.

These utterances of the Writings give us an analysis of the whole subject, and enable us to see something of what is meant by the Divine Truth. We may also clearly comprehend the field occupied by revelations made in the Writings of Swedenborg. The extremes of the series are the ineffable Divine which is with the LORD alone above the highest heavens, on the one hand; and the Word in the literal sense, on the other. In the first term of the series is the source of all things, the substance from which all things were created, the veriest reality and so forth: in the last term of the series, the Word in the letter as we have it. And the Writings are not the first term in this series, for they cannot be the ineffable essential Divine of the LORD which is above all angelic comprehension; nor are they in the last term of the series, an addition to our Sacred Scripture in the literal sense; but they are Divine Truth, revealed by the LORD from the intermediate terms, together with genuine Divine Truth from the literal sense of the Word.

But between these extremes, the Word is apprehensible in the heavens:

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and is, to the Angels, the Divine source of their wisdom. The angels are in the interior senses of the Word, and the Divine Wisdom which they have from this source, is comprehensible by finite minds, in the several planes of life in which the angels live: and the Doctrines in these senses, embodying the Divine wisdom with the angels, maybe formulated, when the Lord so determines, and promulgated in the heavens, as the Divine Truth,--and from the heavens may be brought down and revealed for the use of the Church. That is, the Word may be opened in the heavens, and its internal sense formulated into a body of Divine Doctrine given from the mouth of the LORD Himself. And this, as we hold, is precisely what we have in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. They are Divine Doctrines, unfolded and formulated in heaven by the LORD, and given to Swedenborg to be promulgated for the use of the Church.

The issue is also most manifest, when we say that Swedenborg was inspired by the LORD to teach from Him the Doctrines of the New Church through the Word, and, therefore, that the Doctrines come to us with the imprimatur of the LORD upon them, and, that being the Divine Truth itself they are infallible.

For maintaining this Doctrine our contemporaries take issue with us. They pronounce Dr. Tafels Book on Authority in the New Church, which is masterly defense of this doctrine, a very mischievous book. So says the Magazine of November. And the Messenger, in the same number in which the Editor claims that there is no issue, publishes, without dissent, the words of a clerical correspondent who says:

But for one I do not adopt the principle that Swedenborg was infallibly guided, both as to his mind and body, while writing his theological works. In the exercise of his faculties as a man, he was, like other men, liable to err.

Elsewhere in the same article this writer, speaking of Swedenborgs arrangement of the Decalogue, inquires:

Is this of sufficient authority to settle the matter for the New Church for all time? It certainly would be, if we adopt the principle that Swedenborg was, in any particular, infallibly inspired by the LORD, as some of our Pennsylvania friends claim that he was.

Here the issue is clearly defined, and it is not because we do not understand this writer, that we take issue with him, in his most lamentable estimate of Swedenborg, in which be repudiates utterly the Doctrine the Swedenborg was in any particular infallibly inspired by the LORD. We can easily understand him; his words are plain. But we take issue with him because. he takes issue with Swedenborg, who says:

When I think of what I am to write, and while I am writing, I am gifted with a perfect inspiration.

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And we have it from the Writings, that the LORD filled Swedenborg with His Spirit to teach from Him the Doctrines of the New Church through the Word; and that he received from the mouth of the LORD genuine truths out of the Word.

And yet the idea of the infallibility of the Writings, is treated with no Word of approval, but rather with contempt, by the Magazine, in its notice of Dr. Tafels Book.

And finally, there is a still further acknowledgment of the LORD in His Coming, in which the issue, although hitherto not clearly pronounced, must ultimately become manifest. And this has respect to the Writings, as constituting the Advent of the LORD. In the first number of our SERIAL we unfolded in detail this aspect of the subject. But this wonderful fact cannot be too fully borne in mind, namely, that the Books and the Writings are the Advent of the LORD. If then these Writings are the LORDS method of coming, His method of opening the Word, and disclosing its spiritual and celestial senses, must it not be, that the LORD has impressed upon them His very Divine Presence, and that they are His Writings, and His Doctrines promulgated throughout the world, and given by Himself for the use of His Church? Could He therefore have done otherwise than fill them with His Spirit, and formulate, in them, the very Divine Truth itself?

When the LORD was establishing the representation of a Church with the Israelites, He came down in flaming fire amidst the smoke and thunders of Mount Sinai, and with His own linger wrote the Law upon the two Tables of Stone. And afterward, to Moses and the Prophets, He dictated the Word by the Angel of His Presence.

When He was establishing the First Christian Church, He came in Person, as the Divine Truth and was GOD WITH US, the Word made flesh, the Way and the Truth and the Life. How stupendous thus mere His Advents into the world, to establish dispensations which were only provisional and temporary!

And now, when He has come to establish His Dominion of ages, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom which shall not be destroyed; and to found His New Church which is the New Jerusalem, the Crown of all the Churches; and when He makes His Advent in Books and Writings through a man whom He has called into His presence, and prepared for the work, filling him with His Spirit and sending him on this office,--can these Books and Writings be other than the LORDS Books and Writings, embodying therefore the genuine Divine Truths of the Word?

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BOOK NOTICES.

ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. From the Latin of Emanuel Swedenborg. Rotch edition. 422 pages, uniform in size with the Rotch edition of Apocalypse Revealed. Price $1.60. Sent post paid. J. B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia.

Here we are presented with a New Edition of the moth on the Divine Providence, and a New Translation. This was needed. The translation is carefully made, and is a decided improvement we think on the previous translations. It seems to be a movement in the right direction. The plain and forcible style of the original Latin is in many cases presented with singular directness in the English equivalents. We are glad to see the paraphrastic method of translating abandoned, and to see the original presented so very literally. We have marked some passages in which the rendering is exceedingly excellent, the original standing forth in its power in the English dress: and some other passages where this perfection of utterance is yet wanting. The translator has ventured to give us the familiar term cognition, as the rendering, or rather the transferring and anglicizing of the Latin term cognitio. This enables him to transfer into English the distinction which in the original is marked by the use of the two words cognitio and scientia, both of which have heretofore been rendered by our word knowledge.

The book is handsomely printed in the best style of the Messrs. J. B. Lippincott and Co.: and is enriched by the addition of a copious Analytical Index, which in former editions was a desideratum.

DOCUMENTS CONCERNING THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, COLLECTED, TRANSLATED, AND ANNOTATED. BY R. L. TAFEL, A. M., PH.D. Vol. II. Parts I. and II. Swedenborg Society, British and Foreign, 36 Bloomsburg Street, London, 1877.

We have just received the second volume of the Documents concerning Swedenborg, by Dr. R. L. Tafel, of London. Instead of about 600, as promised, the volume has grown to 1382 pages, and it is published in two parts or volumes. Yet the student of the Writings cannot but rejoice at the present completeness of the work, for it is now a perfect summary of all that is known concerning Swedenborg. The work contains much new matter that has not before been accessible, and altogether it is so exhaustive that without it no New Church library can be considered as complete. No work has ever before been published that gives us such a deep and clear insight into the unfolding of Swedenborgs character, and that traces his preparation for his high function with such care and fidelity.

The church is under great obligations to Dr. Tafel for his zeal and indefatigable industry;

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and also to the Swedenborg Society of London for the elegant style in which the work is published.

Our space in this number of the SERIAL will not permit us to enter into a detailed account of this great work, bat we hope to do so at an early date.

The New York Sun of Nov. 18th in an extended notice of the work says:

In it the compiler has gathered together with patient industry every fact that he could find recorded of the career of the Swedish sage, and has thus furnished the materials for a life of him, which just as they stand, are more valuable than any professed biography could be. He makes no secret it is true of his faith in Swedenborg as a divinely commissioned teacher and labors zealously to defend his reputation: but he states the case fairly, and, so far as we can judge, neither invents nor suppresses testimony. The book will doubtless be an authority on the subject, and as such has an interest for the world at large, independent of its immediate use to Swedenborgs followers.

The price of each separate part is five dollars, making fifteen dollars for the whole work. Orders may be addressed to E. H. Swinney, 20 Cooper Union, New York.

QUESTIONS AWAKENED BY THE BIBLE. I, ARE SOULS IMMORTAL? II. WAS CHRIST IN ADAM? III. IS GOD A TRINITY? BY REV. JOHN MILLER, Princeton, N. J. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co., 1877.

This handsome book consists of three distinct parts, or Monographs, each one complete in itself: the first of 178 pages 12mo; the second of 97 pages; and the third of 152 pages.

Coming as it does from a Presbyterian Minister under the shadow of the celebrated orthodox Theological School of Princeton, the book is truly remarkable.

Nor can we wonder that the author has been called to a reckoning before his Presbytery, for his manifest and bold departures from the standards of the Presbyterian Church. For it really seems remarkable that Mr. Miller after his thorough training for many years in the most strict school of Presbyterianism should boldly deny the immortality of the soul, and the existence of a Trinity of Persons in God. The Confession of Faith is most explicit in declaring both of the doctrines. But according to Mr. Millers book, when a man dies, his soul and body both die, and remain dead until the end of time and the general resurrection, when the soul and body are both raised to life. And what is wonderful Mr. Miller has come to this conclusion from a diligent search of the Scriptures.

His doctrine of Christ in Adam, the imputation of Adams guilt to the Christ, and the necessity thence arising for this guilt to be taken away by the atoning sacrifice of Christ Himself, are ideas of most singular absurdity. But the doctrine is deduced by a process of subtle reasoning from one of the old fundamental principles of Calvinism, the doctrine of imputation, the imputation of Adams sin to all his posterity,and then the imputation of Christs righteousness to all the elect, and therefore is not so much a matter of surprise to find in this authors Monograph.

But Mr. Miller deals a stunning blow at the whole system of Calvinism in his denial of the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead. He justly concludes that there can be but one God, and but one Divine Person. The LORD JESUS CHRIST he considers the only God of the universe,--the only Creator Redeemer Savior.

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And yet he holds this doctrine in such absurd connections with other doctrines,--the Atonement for example, that in the end Ire comes near losing it. Nor does Mr. Miller seem to have ally adequate idea of the assumption of the Humanity by the LORD, His glorification of the Humanity, and the subjugation of the hells, as constituting the work of redemption

The book before us is another most striking illustration of the truth so often set forth in the Writings, that heresies of all sorts may be confirmed from the Word; for while the book shows much scholarly attainment, and much patient research, and while it contains many things that are abundantly true, and that are well and handsomely said,--it nevertheless abounds with vagaries and personal conceits, and even absurd heresies. The only safe course is to receive from the LORD the Genuine Divine Truths of which the spiritual sense of the Word consists, and by means of these come to the Word to find the Doctrines of heaven and the way of life.

Although this clever writer turns toward the Writings of the New Church a cold and repellent sphere, yet he does not scruple to adopt, to a certain extent our great lending doctrine, that the LORD JESUS CHRIST is the only God of the universe,attempting nevertheless, as we have said, to hold this golden truth in connection with the dress and miry clay of Nebuchadnezzars celebrated image. For while he seems to have in his system the head of gold, he still attempts to incorporate into it, the false doctrines of the fallen church represented by the feet, part of iron and part of miry clay.

Mr. Miller speaks of his belief in the LORD JESUS CHRIST as follows.--

Now, to be a great deal more precise. All that Dr. Alexander and Francis Turretin would impute of Deity to Christ, I do, and perhaps more. That is I put the whole Godhead in him. I make the Father, as he himself seems to do (Jo. v:19, 26, 36; vi:57; x:29, 30, 36), his Godhead. My gospel, therefore, is safe: my redemption, perfect. Jehovah, among the Old Jews, was Christ moving about without his incarnation; and, if you ask me what that means, I would say: It was God, under whatever name, administering in the name of Emmanuel: pardoning on the base of his obedience: cresting on the faith of his advent; and intending, in the fullness of time, to unite himself with him as one person, and to be, as plenary God, what we have imagined as being the Eternally Begotten.

I wish only to say, that God eternally, and before his Incarnation, is, to me, One Person; that God eternally, after his incarnation, is, as God, One Person; that Spirit, Word, and Jehovah, he is but describing himself as the glorious Almighty; and that, when I pray for the Spirit; or reverence the Son, or worship the Father,--I am thinking of the One Personal God: and that it would have been infinitely better never to load the faith with the Platonic Trinity. pp. 12, 13.

FRAGMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY; OR ESSAYS ON LIFE, HEALTH, HYGIENE, DISEASE, AND CURE OF DISEASE. BY ABRAHAM T. LOWE, M. D. Henry A. Young and Co., 13 Bromfield Street, Boston.

This book comes with the general commendation of the Press, and of the leading men in the New Church who have had the pleasure of reading it. Its style is clear and simple, and by means of it physiology is for the time lifted out of the college and brought home into the family: and given to us in a series of familiar table-talks. For these Fragments, so thoughtfully preserved, and laid before us in forms so attractive, we ought all to be grateful to Dr. Lowe.

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WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH.

Among the commendatory notices of the Spirit which we have received is one in the Bote der Neuen Kirche, edited by the Rev. A. O. Brickman. After commenting favorably on the style in which the work is published, he says:

The first number treats of the Advent of the LORD, and assigns the true place and operation in the Second Coming to the LORD, to His Word, and to His chosen servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, whom he filled with His Spirit.

The intention underlying the publication of the SERIAL is to give to the members of the New Church the unadulterated, pure truth of the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrines, to introduce them more deeply and faithfully into the sanctuary of the great God, to establish them in it, to give hands the Divine means whereby they may guard themselves against error and superficiality.

An earnest, devout, solemn and conscientious tone sounds through, and pervades the whole. We find here men, who have devoted their life to the knowledge and study of the doctrines, and to whom the doctrines and life of the Church, as well as their promulgation and development in the right spirit is a sincere and sacred duty. For a number of years much that is superficial has been trumpeted about by preachers and laymen as the doctrine of the New Church, so that it is high time that an end be made to the dangers of falsifying the truth as well as to the dallying with the spirits of the dragon. What these men strive for, is: to teach to guard the pure truth in the light of heaven.

AUTHORITY IN THE NEW CHURCH.

In the first number of the SERIAL we gave a brief notice of this excellent book. In the further explanation of its nature and purpose, and as sufficiently answering the cavils we have heard against it, we lay before our readers, the following extract from it:

Authority is a necessary, yea, an indispensable consequence of order; for order is an harmonious arrangement of parts, of which those that are like are associated together or co-ordinated, and those which are lower are placed under or subordinated to those which are higher.

The question now arises: Where is the law which both the clergy and the laity in the Church of the New Jerusalem ought to be willing to acknowledge?

The answer to this question is: The law of the Church of the New Jerusalem in respect to the LORD, in respect to the neighbor, and in respect to the ceremonies of the Church, are the doctrines of the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture, which have been revealed by the LORD at His Second Coming for the special benefit of this Church, and which are contained in the theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

This is the law which the Church of the New Jerusalem as an outward organization must acknowledge, and before which all those in authority must bow.

Let us be thankful that we have a law in our Church, a law to which we can go for light as to our duties toward God and toward our neighbor, and a law to which we can go for instruction in everything concerning the external worship or the ceremonies of the Church; for in revealing this law for the New Church the LORD was mindful of every want of His people, and whoever seeks will surely find there what he needs.

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The Academy of the New Church.

The Academy of the New Church is constituted of New Churchmen residing in America and England, and is incorporated under the statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania--the Charter conferring upon the ACADEMY all the rights, privileges, and immunities common to the Scientific Academies, Colleges, and Universities of this country.

The object of the ACADEMY is to promote the knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and the acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Coming in the Revelations given by Him in the Writings of Swedenborg; and by every available means to further the establishment of the New Church, as the LORDS Kingdom on the earth.

To this end it is the purpose of the Academy, as the Divine Providence opens the way, to establish a university for the elementary and academic education of the youth of the Church, in the Doctrines and Principles of the New Church, in the Languages, Ancient and Modern, and in the Sciences:

To collect, publish, and preserve the MSS, and the Original Editions of those Writings which constitute the Second Advent of the LORD:

To prepare and publish works treating more particularly of the Spiritual Doctrines revealed by the LORD, and having for their end the building up of the Church in an ever more rational reception of its Heavenly Truths, and leading to an ever more interior love of the LORD and the Neighbor.

A beginning has already been made:--the beginning of a Library of the original Editions and MSS. of the Writings and other works: also a beginning in the way of publications, the Academy having made provision for the issuing of a SERIAL, in the interest of the New Church, of which the present is the Second Number.

The Academy has also opened in the City of Philadelphia a Divinity School for the instruction and preparation of young men for the Ministry. A curriculum is arranged providing for instruction in the systematic study of Doctrine; in the study of the Languages-Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, Syriac, Greek, Latin, French, German, Spanish and Italian; in the study of English Literature, Rhetoric, Criticism and Homiletics; also in the study of Anatomy and Physiology; and of the Mathematics.

Young men other than those preparing for the Ministry can arrange to join any of the classes.

Inquiries in respect to the Divinity School may be addressed to the Rev. L. H. Tafel, No. 104 Freedlander Street, Philadelphia.

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WORDS

FOR

THE NEW CHURCH

A SERIAL
CONTROLLED BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

III.

THE NEW CHURCH

PHILADELPHIA
PUBLISHED FOR THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT and CO.
1878.

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III.

THE NEW CHURCH.

1. THE PROPHECY 165
2. THE HISTORICAL VIEW 168
3. POINTS OF CONTRAST IN THE FIRST AND SECOND COMING 172
4. ANALOGY BETWEEN THE INCARNATION AND THE SECOND ADVENT 175
1. PERMANENCE OF THE NEW CHURCH 182
2. THE NEW CHURCH CONJOINED WITH THE LORD 189
3. THE CROWNING CHURCH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL 197
4. THE PRIESTHOOD IN THE NEW CHURCH 207
5. THE SACRAMENT IN THE NEW CHURCH 210
6. PIETY AND CHARITY IN THE NEW CHURCH 214
7. WHERE IS THE NEW CHURCH? 219
8. THE NEW CHURCH CELESTIAL, SPIRITUAL, AND NATURAL 223
9. HERESIES IN THE NEW CHURCH 226
10. NEW THINGS FOR THE NEW CHURCH 232
11. SCIENCE IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH 237
NOTES THE TRANSLATION OF THE WORD 252
THE MAGAZINE ON AUTHORITY IN THE CHURCH 258
WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH REVIEWED 264
BOOK NOTICES 272

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THE NEW CHURCH.

THE New Church is represented by the New Jerusalem the holy city coming down from God oat of Heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband. Coming down from God out of Heaven this Church is full of the Divine Love and Wisdom, and Heavenly in essence and in form. The Holy City of matchless splendor represents a body of Divine Doctrines of ineffable symmetry and beauty. The Bride adorned for her Husband represents the conjunction of the LORD and His Church; for the LORD, is the Bridegroom and the Husband and the Church is the Bride and the Wife. The New Jerusalem, therefore, descending from Heaven to earth is the culmination of prophecy, the Desire of the nations, the Tabernacle of God with men, and consequently the final dispensation of Divine Truth, on the earth, and the CROWNING CHURCH.

THE PROPHECY.

THE SACRED SCRIPTURE abounds with prophecies of a coming dispensation destined to eclipse with its splendors all that have gone before. These prophecies would fill many pages; they are glowing pictures of the latter day glory; and the devout readers of the Scripture in all ages have delighted to dwell upon them.

In the Apocalypse the Prophecy is very remarkable:

And I heard a great voice from heaven saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and He Himself the God shall be with them, their God.

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And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall mourning, nor crying, nor labor be any more; for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said: Behold, I make all things new.--Apoc. xxi. 3, 4, 6.

In Isaiah the words are similar:

For, behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come upon the heart. But rejoice ye and exult forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem an exultation, and her people a joy; and I will exult in Jerusalem, and rejoice in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.Isa. lxv. 17, 18, 19.

And the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing and everlasting gladness upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.Isa. xxxv. 10.

In Zechariah the prophecy is so full that its doctrine shines through, illuminating the literal sense:

And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark: but the day shall be one which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern see, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter it shall be. And the LORD shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD and His Dame One.... In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.--Zech. xiv. 6, 7, 8, 9, 20.

In Daniel the universality, unity, and permanence of the Coming Church as the LORDS kingdom on the earth is the burden of the prophecy:

I saw in visions of the night, and behold, with the clouds of the heavens, he came like the Son of Man: and He came unto the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given to Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall worship Him: His dominion is a dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom which shall not be destroyed.Dan. vii. 13, 14.

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The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and shall possess the kingdom for an age, and for an age of ages.--vii. 18.

And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is a kingdom of eternity, and all dominions shall serve nod obey Him.--vii. 27.

In the Apocalypse the final triumph of the LORDS kingdom is proclaimed in many places. We quote the following:

And the seventh angel sounded: and there mere great voices in heaven saying: The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ages of ages.--Apoc. xi. 15.

The illustration of the New Church from the LORD in His Word, and the abundance of Divine Truth from this Source, and the resulting celestial tranquillity and peace in the man of the Church are represented in most memorable symbols in the Apocalypse:

And I saw no temple therein: for the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY is the Temple of it, and the Lamb. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the grates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, or worketh abomination, and a lie: but they that are written in the Lambs book of life.--Apoc. xxi. 22-27.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and of the river on this side, and on that, is the tree of life bearing twelve fruits, and yielding her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse. And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it: and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face: and His name shall: be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there: and they need no candle, neither light of the sun: for the LORD GOD giveth them light: and, they shall reign for ages of ages.Apoc. xxii. 1-5.

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These prophecies, and many others in the Word of a similar import, although varied in form and structure pour forth by their representative imagery a flood of light on the Church. Their rays converging on this shine as refulgent beams: and Zion the City of our God, and the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven are revealed in glowing light as representing the LORDS New Church on the earth, the crowning work of His Divine Providence. To this then we are led even by the literal sense of the Word.

But in the internal sense disclosed in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem the light is vastly augmented, and the Truths unfolded are special, particular, and most minute, and the future Church stands revealed in transcendent beauty and grandeur; the horizon is cleared of darkness and clouds, and there appears the dawn and the opening splendors of an eternal day.

II.

THE HISTORICAL VIEW.

THE progression of the Ages brings us at last into that which from the beginning was foreshadowed and provided for. The LORD is continually unfolding the ends of His Divine Love and Wisdom, and from first to last the plan is a unit. In the development of the human race on our planet all movements are but parts of one grand movement; all manifested ends, but partial unfoldings of one universal end. From the beginning the Ages have descended in order from one another, like succeeding generations. So with the Dispensations and the Churches. And so really, are they the parts of one complete structure, that, when seen from on high, as they were in the vision of Daniel, they may be represented as one grand image in the human form.

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The Writings give the Historical view of the Ages with great fullness of illustration. As in the following:

That there have been four Churches on this earth since the creation of the world, is according to Divine order, which is that there should be a beginning and its end, before a new beginning arises. Hence every day begins with the morning; it advances, and closes in the night, and after that, begins anew. So likewise every year commences with spring, advances through summer to autumn, and closes in winter, and after that, commences again.

It is similar with the Churches: The First of them, which was the Most Ancient, was as the morning, the spring, and the east: The Second or the Ancient, was as the day, the summer, and the south: The Third was as the evening, the autumn, and the west: And the Fourth was as the night, the winter, and the north. From these progressions, according to order, the wise ancients concluded that there were four Ages of the World: The first of which they called Golden; the second Silver; the third Copper; and the fourth Iron; by which metals also the Churches themselves mere represented, in the image of Nebuchadnezzar. Before the LORD, also, the Church appears as one man, and this Grand Man must pass through his ages, like the individual man, that is, from infancy to youth, through youth to manhood, and at length to old age, and then, when he dies, he rises again. The LORD says: Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit.--John xii. 24. T. C. R. 762.

That there have been four Churches on this earth since the day of its creation; the first of which may be called the Adamic; the second, the Noachian; the third, the Israelitish; and the fourth, the Christian, manifestly appears in Daniel from the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream; of which we read as follows:

Daniel said: Thou O king didst see, and behold a great statue, and the form thereof was excellent, standing before thee, and the aspect thereof was formidable. The head of the statue was of pure gold; its breast end arms of silver; its belly and thighs of brass; its legs of iron; and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Thou didst see while a stone was cut out, not by hands, and smote the statue upon its feet, which were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, were broken to pieces together, and they became like chaff from the summer threshing-floors; so that the mind carried them away, and no place was found for them;

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but the stone which smote the statue became a great rock, and filled the whole earth. In these days the God of the heavens shall cause to rise up a kingdom, which shall not be destroyed for ages; and His kingdom shall not be entrusted to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, but it shall stand for ages.--Dan. ii. 31-44.

That this dream did not signify four political kingdoms on this earth, but four Churches, which should succeed each other, is plain from the following considerations:

1. Such kingdoms, one after another, have not existed on the earth. 2. The Divine Word in its interior recesses does not treat of the kingdoms of this world, but of Churches which constitute Gods kingdom on the earth. 3. Because it is also said: That the God of the heavens shall cause to rise up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed for ages, and that a stone cut out not by hands became a great rock which filled the whole earth. 4. And since the LORD our Savior JESUS CHRIST, in the Word of both Testaments, is called a Stone and a Rock, it is evident that His kingdom is there meant by the latter part of the description. Moreover, in innumerable passages of the Word, gold, silver, brass, and iron describe states of the Church: gold describing its spiritual state as to the good of love: silver, its spiritual state as to the truth of wisdom: brass, its natural state as to the good of charity: and iron, its natural state as to the truth of faith.

For this reason the wise men in the first ages, who knew the signification of metals, compared the successive ages from the first to the last, with these four metals: calling the first the Golden age, the second the Silver age, the third the Copper age, and the fourth the Iron age. And thus they described them according to goods and truths; and as genuine goods and truths are from no other origin than from the God of heaven, they described the ages according to the states of the Church with men; for all the civil states of kingdoms in respect to justice and judgment, have their existence, their vigor, and their life, from the states of the Church and according to it.--Coronis 2.

This view of the successive ages extends only to the consummation of the Christian Church. A further view is presented in the True Christian Religion including the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem, and showing why this Church is the Crown of all the Churches that have hitherto existed on the earth.

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We read as follows:

That four Churches in general have existed on this earth from the beginning, one before the flood, another after it, the Israelitish the third, and that called Christian the fourth, was shown above. And as all Churches depend on the knowledge and acknowledgment of one God with whom the man of the Church may be conjoined, and as all the four Churches have not been in this truth, it follows that a Church is to succeed the four which will be in the knowledge and acknowledgment of one God. Gods Divine Love had no other end when He created the world, than to conjoin man with Himself and Himself with man, and so to dwell with man. The former Churches were not in this truth: because the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, worshiped the invisible God, with whom there can be no conjunction; so also did the Ancient Church, which was after the flood. The Israelitish Church worshiped JEHOVAH, who in Himself is the invisible God, (Ex. xxxiii. 18-23), but under 3 human form which JEHOVAH GOD put on by means of an angel, and in which He appeared to Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua, and sometimes to the prophets. And this human form was representative of the LORD who was to come; and because this was representative, therefore the things of their Church were one and all made representative. It is well known that the sacrifices and all else that belonged to their worship represented the LORD who was to come, and that when He came they were abrogated.

The fourth Church, however, which was called the Christian, did indeed acknowledge one God with the mouth, but in three persons, each one of whom singly by himself was God; and so a divided trinity, and not a Trinity united in one Person. Hence the idea of three Gods adhered to the mind, although the expression One God was on their lips. Besides, the Doctors of the Church from that doctrine of theirs which they concocted after the Nicene Council, teach that men must believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all invisible, because existing in a like Divine essence before the world was (and yet, as was said above, with an invisible God there can be no conjunction); not knowing that the one God who is invisible came into the world and assumed the Human, not only that He might redeem men, but also that He might become visible, and thus capable of conjunction. For we read:--

The Word was with God and the WORD WAS GOD, AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH (John i. 1, 14). And in Isaiah: And us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name shall be called GOD, THE MIGHTY, FATHER OF ETERNITY (ix. 6).

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It is also frequently stated in the prophets that JEHOVAH Himself would come into the world and would be the Redeemer, and this He also became in the Human which he assumed.

The New Church then is the Crown of all the Churches that have hitherto existed on the earth, because it will worship one visible God in whom is the invisible, like the soul in the body.--T. C. R. 786, 787.

III.

POINTS OF CONTRAST IN THE FIRST AND SECOND COMING.

IN His First Advent, the LORD descended as the Divine Truth and assumed the Human in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He glorified. The Human, making it Divine by His temptation-combats, in which He triumphed, subjugated the hells end made them obedient to His Divine Omnipotence. During these combats the LORD fulfilled the Letter of the Word giving it new life and power in its influence on men and angels, and in the end founding His Church upon it. For the Word is the Divine Truth and it was of this in the ultimate degree that the LORD spoke when He said to Peter: Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt. xvi. 18.) And it is remarkable that the LORD conquered in His combats with the hells by the Word, for this was from Him and was Himself (John i. 1.) This canon which we learn from the Writings may be confirmed by the Word, for in His temptations in the wilderness, the LORD dissolved their force by the power of the Word. When in His hunger the Devil tempted Him to command these stones to be made bread, He said: It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. When tempted to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple presuming on the miraculous protection of the angels, He said: It is written: Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God.

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When tempted with tie kingdoms of the world and the glory of them to worship the Devil, He said: Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written: Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.Matt. iv. 3-10.

Then in many ways during His abode in the world were the Scriptures fulfilled, and His discourses as well as the transactions of His life were a further promulgation of the Word. Even His final cries upon the cross were from the Scriptures: As for example His words of ultimate despair:

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me!

And also His word of final resignation, and conjunction with the Divine:

Father, into Thy hands I commit my Spirit!

And in many passages it is said that the Scripture was fulfilled, and these statements mean that He fulfilled all the contents of the Word, for He in fact is the Word, and the Word is from Him, it is filled with His Spirit, and His Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. This we learn in the Writings which say:

That the whole of the Word treats of the LORD and that He came into the world to fulfil it, He also taught His disciples before His departure in these words:

Jesus said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

And further: JESUS said unto His disciples: These are the words that I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.Luke xxiv. 25-27, 44. Doctrine of the Lord, 11.

The change produced in the man of the Church on earth by the Incarnation of the Divine,--the LORD becoming the very Word in the ultimate degree of life, is described in the Writings as follows:

By reason, also, of the LORDS becoming the Word in its ultimates; the state of the Church was entirely changed.

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All the Churches which were before His Advent, were representative Churches, which could not see Divine Truth but as it were in the shade; but after the Advent of the LORD into the world, a Church was instituted by Him, which saw Divine Truth in the light. The difference between the Churches is similar to evening and morning. The state of the Church, previous to the LORDS Coming, is also called evening; and the state of the Church after His Coming is called morning. The LORD, previous to His Coming into the world, was indeed present with the men of the Church, but it was mediately through heaven; but since His Advent in the world, He is immediately present with the men of the Church. For in the world He put on also the Divine Natural, in which He is present with men. The glorification of the LORD is the glorification of His Human, which He took in the world; and the Human of the LORD glorified, is the Divine Natural.

Few people understand in what sense the LORD is the Word; for it is generally thought, that the LORD, by means of the Word, may enlighten and teach mankind, and yet that this is no reason why He should be called the Word. But let it be known, that every individual man is his own particular love, and thence his own particular good and his own particular truth. Man is man only by virtue of these his constituent parts, and nothing else in his constitution can be called man. On the same ground that man is his own particular good and his own particular truth, angels and spirits are men; for all goodness and truth proceeding from the LORD, is, in its own particular form, man. But the LORD is essential Divine Good, and essential Divine Truth; also is He the Essential Man, from whom every man receives what constitutes him a man.--Doctrine S. S. 99, 100.

So far in respect to the First Coming of the LORD. As to His Second Advent, the Incarnation of the Divine, and the glorification of the Human do not, as in the first Coming, enter into it as its primary factors. But in the Second Advent, the LORD comes in the power and glory of the Word, bringing down the Divine Truth by the Revelation of the Internal Sense of the Word.

As in the first Coming there was a Judgment and a work of Redemption, so in the second. The LORD Himself was personally and visibly present in the first Advent achieving His great work of Redemption by the Human which He assumed and glorified.

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In His Second Advent He was present in His Word which He opened and revealed as to its Internal Sense in the Writings of His Servant EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. In the spiritual power and glory of its internal sense, the LORD is present in the spiritual world and in His Church on earth, as the Spirit of Truth,--the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,and being thus omnipresent by means of the Genuine Truths of His Divine Human, He has accomplished in His Second Advent His Divine works of Judgment and Redemption.

IV.

ANALOGY BETWEEN THE INCARNATION AND THE SECOND ADVENT.

THE Disciples gathered around the LORD in a private place and inquired, saying: Tell us when shall these things be: and what shall be the sign of Thy Coming and of the End of the Age.

[Greek.]--Matt. xxiv. 3.

The Coming of the LORD is expressed in the original Greek not by a word derived from the Greek verb (scanner unable to insert word) signifying to come but the original word is (scanner unable to insert word) (scanner unable to insert word) a word from (scanner unable to insert word), and signifying Presence. Thus in Matt. xxiv. this word occurs four times in the passages:

What shall be the sign of Thy Coming (Parousia). v. 3.

So shall also the Coming of the Son of Man be. v. 27. The same word occurs in verses 37 and 30. And the same word in the original occurs in the Epistles where the Coming of the LORD is described in all cares but one, namely 1 Cor. i. 7, where we have the word (Greek), the apocalypse of the LORD, rendered the Coming,--where the Corinthians are commended because they were behind in no gift, waiting for the (Greek) Coming of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

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The Coming of the LORD into the world is the most momentous event in history. The Divine Providence in preparing the way for the Advent foreshadowed it, and Prophecy foretold the august event and culminated in it. The Heavens were waiting for the Incarnation; they seemed to feel the want of it, and when the LORD was born they broke forth in that rapturous chorus:

Glory to God in the highest:

And on earth, Peace, good will to men.

So it was in the Coming of the LORD into the world when He assumed our nature, glorified His Human, redeemed the world, and ascended to the Divine, with the Divine Humanity. As to the work which He had done, the Writings tell us that:

Redemption itself was the subjugation of the hells, and the establishment of order in the Heavens and by these works the preparation for a New Spiritual Church.--T. C. R. 115.

There are two things for which the LORD came into the world, and by which He saved men and angels, namely: Redemption, and the Glorification of His Human. These two are distinct from each other, but yet they make one with respect to salvation.... Redemption was a battle with the hells, the subjugation of them, and afterward the arrangement of the Heavens in order. But Glorification is the uniting of the Human of the LORD with the Divine of His Father. This was done successively, and was fully completed by the passion of the Cross; so every man ought, on his part, to approach to God, and in proportion as man approaches, God on His part enters.--T. C. R. 126.

The Writings often explain the work of Redemption accomplished by the Lord during His Incarnation by reference to the work of Redemption at His Second Advent. There is an analogy between them but also a contrast. The two Advents are in a certain way grouped together, and similar things are predicted of both. They are both historical and objective, while certain subjective states in man are also predicated of both.

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Both at His first, and at His Second Advent, the LORD executed a general Judgment in the spiritual world, reduced Heaven to order, and Hell under subjection to Himself, and wrought out a Redemption, without which no flesh could have been saved. For, previous to both the First and the Second Advent, a universal damnation and destruction of the Human rice were at the door and threatened. In The True Christian Religion it is written:

Redemption itself was the subjugation of the Hells, and the establishment of order in the Heavens, and by these the preparation for a New Spiritual Church. I can declare with all certainty that these three things are Redemption, since the LORD is also at this day performing a Redemption which began in the year 1757, together with the LAST JUDGMENT which was then performed. From that time this Redemption has continued even until now; because now is the SECOND ADVENT OF THE LORD; and the New Church is to be instituted, which can not be instituted unless there be first the subjugation of the Hells, and the establishment of order in the Heavens. And because it was granted me to see all, I can describe how the Hells were subjugated and how the New Heaven was ordered and established; but this would need a whole work. But how the Last Judgment was performed I have made known in a small volume published in London in the year 1758. The subjugation of the Hells, the establishment of order in the Heavens, and the establishment of the New Church, were Redemption, because without these no man could have been saved. They follow also in order. For, first the Hells must be subjugated before a New Angelic Heaven can be formed; and this must first be formed, before the New Church upon the earth can be instituted; for men in the world are so conjoined with Angels of Heaven and spirits of Hell, that, in the interiors of the mind on both sides they make one.--T. C. R. 115.

The solidarity of the whole spiritual universe, the mutual dependence of one sphere of life upon another, the bearings of one Heaven upon another, and of all the Heavens upon the Church on the earth are so often set forth in the Writings that the following brief extracts will sufficiently fix the subject in the mind of the reader, and establish the wonderful analogy in the Work of Redemption accomplished in the First and Second Advent of the LORD.

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The Angels could not have continued to exist in a state of integrity unless Redemption had been performed by the LORD because the Universal Angelic Heaven, together with the Church on earth is before the LORD as one Man, whose Internal the Angelic Heaven constitutes, while the Church constitutes his External: or more specially, the Supreme Heaven constitutes his head, the second and ultimate Heaven, his breast and the middle region of his body, and the Church on earth, his loins and feet; and the LORD Himself is the Soul and Life of this whole man: wherefore unless the LORD had wrought Redemption this Man would have been destroyed: as to the feet and loins, by the falling away of the Church on earth; as to the gastric region, by the falling away of the ultimate Heaven; as to the breast, by the falling away of the second Heaven; and then the head, having no correspondence with the body, falls into a swoon.--T. C. R. 119.

The LORDS work of redeeming not only men but also angels is farther described in the Writings as follows:

At the time of the First Coming of the LORD the Hells had grown up to such a height that they filled all the world of Spirits, which is in the midst between Heaven and Hell, and thus confused not only the Heaven which is called the ultimate, but also assaulted the middle Heaven, which they infested in a thousand ways, and which would have gone to destruction unless the LORD had protected it...

How this was done is described in the treatise on the LAST JUDGMENT, published in London in the year 1755. This was accomplished by the LORD when He was in the world. The like, also, has been done by the LORD at this day, since as was said above, at this day is His Second Coming, which was predicted in the Apocalypse in various places; and in Matt. xxiv. 3, 30; in Mark xiii. 26; in Luke xxi. 27; and in the Acts of the Apostles i. 11; and in other places.

The difference is that, at His First Coming the Hells had grown to this degree from the multitude of idolaters, magicians, and falsifies of the Word: but at this Second Coming, from Christians, so called, both such as are imbued with naturalism, and also such as have falsified the Word, by confirmation of their fabulous faith concerning three Divine Persons from eternity, and concerning the passion of the LORD, that it was Redemption itself; for these are they who are meant by the Dragon and his two beasts in the Apocalypse xii. and xiii.--T. C. R. 121.

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Again, in showing that Redemption is a purely Divine work, Swedenborg declares that, as at His First Coming so at His Second Coming, the LORD wrought a work of Redemption: He says:

He who knows what Hell is, and what was its height and inundation over all the World of Spirits at the time of the LORDS Coming, and also with what power the LORD cast demo and dispersed Hell, and afterwards reduced it together with Heaven into order cannot but be amazed, and exclaim that all these things were a work purely Divine.

First, as to what Hell is: It consists of myriads of myriads, for it consists of all those, who from the creation of the world, have alienated themselves from God, by evils of life and falsities of faith.

Second, as to the height and inundation of Hell over all the World of Spirits, at the time of the LORDS Coming: Something has been stated in the preceding articles. What it was at the time of the First Coming, was not made known to any one, for it is not revealed in the literal sense of the Word. But what it was at the time of His Second Coming, was granted me to see with my eyes; from which there may be conclusions concerning the former, and this is described in the treatise on the LAST JUDGMENT.... In that work, I have described with what power the LORD cast down and dispersed that Hell.... Every one who reads tills treatise may clearly see that this was the work of God Almighty.

Third, how the LORD afterward reduced into order all things both in Heaven and in Hell, I have not yet described, because the arrangement in order of the Heavens and the Hells has continued in progress from the day of the Last Judgment to the present time, and still continues: but after this Book is published, if it is desired, it shall he given to the public. As to myself, I have seen, and, every day, do see the Divine Omnipotence of the LORD in this thing, as in the face. This last work belongs properly to Redemption, but the former belongs properly to the Last Judgment.--T. C. R. 123.

The further unfolding of this wonderful doctrine, that at His Second Advent the LORD accomplished a work of Redemption we have, in outline, in the Coronis to the True Christian Religion. The following propositions show conclusively the place given to the New Church in the grand movements of the Divine Providence.

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It is declared that the First Christian Church established by the LORD during His abode in the world was preliminary and provisional, it was transient and that it soon fell away. Therefore when the LORD foresaw its consummation, then in order that man might be saved, He promised that He would come again into the world, and accomplish Redemption, and establish a New Church, which should be the True Christian Church.

But we proceed to the outline:

1. Liberation from enemies is in the Word called Redemption.

2. Consequently, Redemption is liberation from evils and falsities which, being from Hell, are spiritual enemies; for they kill souls, as natural enemies kill bodies.

3. Hence it is evident, that the first act of Redemption accomplished by the LORD was the separation of the evil from the good, and the elevation of the good to Himself into Heaven, and the removal of the evil from Himself into Hell, the good being thus liberated from the evil: this first act of Redemption was the Last Judgment.

4. The second act of Redemption was the co-ordination of all in the Heavens, and the subordination of all in Hell, the good being in this way still more distinctly separated and liberated from the evil; and this is the New Heaven and the New Hell.

5. The third act of Redemption was the Revelation of Truths from the New Heaven, and by these the raising up and establishment of The New Church on earth, by which means the good were further separated and liberated from the evil, and hereafter are separated and liberated.

6. The final cause of Redemption was the possibility of the LORD, by His Divine Omnipotence, regenerating, and thereby saving man; for unless men be regenerated they cannot be saved.John iii. 3.

7. The regeneration of a man being a separation and liberation from evils and falsities, is a particular Redemption by the LORD, existing from His general Redemption.

8. In those who are regenerated, evils are first of all separated from goods, and this resembles a Judgment; afterward goods are collected together into one, and arranged in a heavenly form, and this resembles a New Heaven; and lastly when a New Church is implanted and produced in this may the internal of which Church is Heaven, and the external of which is from the internal, the internal and external of this when one in man, is then called the Church.

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9. All are redeemed, since all that reject the falsities of the former Church, and receive the truths of the New Church, are capable of being regenerated; but still, properly speaking, the regenerate are the redeemed.

10. The goal of Redemption, and the prize of the redeemed, is spiritual peace.

11. A Redemption has also been accomplished by the LORD at this day, because now is His Second Advent according to prediction; in consequence of which, having been an eye-witness of it, I am fully assured of the truth of the preceding Arcana.-- Coronis 21.

More in detail the work of Redemption accomplished by the LORD, both during His abode in the world, and at His Second Coming, is set forth in these outlines as follows:

The first act of Redemption was the total subjugation of the Hells.

The second act of Redemption was the separation of the evil from the good, and the casting of the evil into Hell, and the raising of the good into Heaven.

Then followed the reduction to order of all in Hell, and the reduction to order of all in Heaven.

With these things there was instruction concerning the truths which will belong to faith, and the goods which will belong to charity; and thus the establishment of the New Church.

The final and efficient cause of Redemption is the Regeneration of Man, and by this his Salvation. And as the LORD alone is the Redeemer, He also is alone the Regenerator, and therefore the Savior.Coronis, page 68.

Then to disclose more fully the Divine purpose of the LORD in His Second Advent and of His Second Work of Redemption, as well also as the Mission of the New Church, these outlines declare that:

The LORD by His First Advent, and by the Redemption then effected, could not form a New Heaven, and from that Heaven a New Church of Christians, because then there were no Christians: but men became Christians successively by the preaching and the writings of the Apostles.

Neither could this be done afterward, because from the beginning so many heresies broke into the Church, that scarcely any doctrine of faith and charity appeared in its own light.

And in process of time the Apostolic Doctrine was shaken, torn, and adulterated by detestable and wicked heresies.

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When therefore the LORD foresaw these things, that man might be saved, He promised that He would come again into the world, and accomplish Redemption, and establish a New Church which should be The True Christian Church.

This Second Redemption was effected in the same manner as the first, of which we have spoken above.

The LORD, Himself foretold His Second Coming; and the Apostles often prophesied of it; and plainly, John in the Apocalypse; and in like manner, of the New Church signified in the Apocalypse by the New Jerusalem.Coronis pp. 68, 69.

PERMANENCE OF THE NEW CHURCH.

FROM the Historical View presented above we learn that the, Ages or Churches followed one another in regular order. In the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, we have the outline of the whole course of time. It is written:

The head of this image was of fine gold: his breast and arms of silver: his belly and thighs of brass: his legs of iron: his feet part of iron, and part of clay.... A stone was cut out without hands which smote the image upon his feet of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces; then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, and the mind carried them away, and no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great Rock and filed the whole earth.--Dan. ii. 32-35.

In Daniel the interpretation given extends and completes the correspondence of the letter of the Word, and we are presented with a succession of kingdoms, and at the lapsing of these the representation is extended into a kingdom and dominion to endure for ages, and for an age of ages. It is written:

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand for ages.Dan. ii. 44.

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In the Writings we learn that these kings, or kingdoms represent the successive Dispensations or Churches.

The statue represented the successive states of the Church, which the Ancients called The Ages,--the golden, the silver, the brazen, and the iron.A. R. 775.

These things signify the successive states of the Church in this world, from the Most Ancient times down to this day. The state of the Church at this day is described thus:

That thou sawest iron mixed with the miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of man, but they shall not cohere the one with the other, is iron is not mixed with clay.Dan. ii. 43.

Iron signifies the truth of faith, as was said; but when there is no truth of faith, but faith without truth, then the iron is mixed with miry clay, and these do not cohere. The seed of man, with which they should mingle themselves, signifies the truth of the Word. This is the state of the Church at this day. What it is to be hereafter is described in a few words in verse 45; but more fully in Dan. vii. 13-15, 27.--A. R. 913.

In the passage of Daniel here referred to, the universality and perpetuity of the New Church are described. In Dan. ii. 45 it is written:

That the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold. In Dan. vii. 14-15, 27 it is written:

And there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and tongues should serve Him. His dominion is a dominion of an age which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.... The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for an age, and for an age of ages.... And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High whose kingdom is the kingdom of an age, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.

From the Writings we learn that the image signifies the state of the Church as to good and truth, from its first time to its last time, when the LORD came into the world. (See A. E. 70.)

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The stone cut out of the mountain without hands smiting the image upon his feet, signifies the LORD by Divine Truth destroying the falsities not cohering with the Truths from the Word. (See A. E. 176.)

The stone which smote the image means the Divine Truth from the LORD. It became a great Rock and filled the whole earth, and this signifies that the LORD by the Divine Truth was about to rule over Heaven and the Church; for the earth is the Church and also Heaven, therefore it is afterward said that this kingdom shall stand forever. The kingdom signifies the Church and Heaven, for these are the kingdom of God.A. R. 44.

In the True Christian Religion we learn that the Church established by the LORD in His Second advent was represented by the stone cut out of the mountain without hands which smote the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar, and which became a great Rock and filled the whole world.

That this Church is to succeed the Churches which have existed since the beginning of the world, and that it is to endure for ages of ages, and that thus it is to he the Crown of all the Churches that have been before, was prophesied by Daniel, when he told and explained to Nebuchadnezzar his dream concerning the four kingdoms, which mean the four Churches, represented by the statue which he saw. He said: In the days of these kings, the God of the heavens shall cause to arise a kingdom, which shall not perish for ages; and it shall consume all those kingdoms, but it shall stand for ages; and that it should be done by the stone, which became a great Rock, filling the whole earth. A Rock in the word means the LORD as to Divine Truth. And the same prophet elsewhere says: I was seeing in the visions of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven as it were, the Son of Man. To Him was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all people, nations and tongues shall worship Him. His dominion is the dominion of an age which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one which will not perish. vii. 13, 14. And this he says after he has seen the four beasts coming up out of the sea, which also represented the four former Churches. That these things were prophesied by Daniel concerning this time is evident from his words xxi. 4, and also from the words of the LORD Matt. xxiv. 15, 30.

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The like is said in the Revelation: The seventh angel sounded; then there came great voices from heaven, saying: The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ages of ages. xi. 15.--T. C. R. 788.

Neither Jews nor Christians have ever held to the permanence of their dispensation. In respect to both Jews and Christians the promise of a new age of light and of love has lingered on the dying lips of all their Prophets. The Jews have had this Prophecy from the first, in the joyous promise of the coming Messiah who should restore all things to order, and establish the kingdom of Heaven on the earth. The Christians have had it from the first, in the glorious hope of the Second Coming of the LORD, to establish the Church anew, to give it permanence as the kingdom of the
LORD.

The Ages or Churches, as we have seen, are related to each other as the parts only of one grand movement. Like the succession of times in the day or the year, that succeed each other from morning till night, or from spring till winter, so it is with the Ages. The Most ancient Church was as the morning the spring and the east; the Ancient Church was as the day the summer and the south; the third dispensation or Church was as the evening the autumn and the west; and the fourth was as the night the winter and the north.

The Churches, therefore, from the first, to the coming of the LORD in the Incarnation, may be considered a series of involutions, a descending series from the highest to the lowest; from the head of gold, to the feet of iron and of clay: as the ancients expressed it,--the Ages of Gold, of Silver, of Brass, and of Iron. The whole movement, therefore,--diverse as these ages are,--is a unit: a unit, as the clay, with its morning, noon, evening and night, and as the year with its spring, summer, autumn and winter.

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So this series of ages. And as the day ends in night, and the year is winter, so the Churches, previous to the New Church, with their downward trend terminate in spiritual night and winter. They began in the heat and light of the Celestial Church, and they end in the cold and darkness of the Consummated Christian Church, of which the Writings say,--

The last time of the Christian Church is the very night into which the former Church have gone down.T. C. R. 760.

The dawn of a new day comes with the New Church. The morning, noon, evening and night of the former Churches terminate is iron and clay, and in cold and darkness. Such is the prophecy, and such the actual history. But not so with the New Church. Its permanence is promised with oft repeated confirmations. The former Churches have gone down into an ever enduring night; the New Church comes in the morning of an eternal day. Founded by the LORD on the Divine Truth revealed from the Word and resting in the letter of the Word, where it is in its fullness, its sanctity, and its power, nothing further can be given. The bottom is reached,--the very letter itself of the Word,and from it is evolved by the LORD Himself the Divine Truths and Goods of the Word in their adaptation to angels and to men in every sphere of life from the lowest form of the natural, to the highest unfolding of the celestial. And the Divine Truths disclosed are in infinite abundance: for they are represented in the Apocalypse as the River of the Water of Life: and elsewhere as waters that could not be measured. And the pure River of the water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb is the Apocalypse now opened and explained as to its spiritual sense, where Divine Truths in abundance are revealed by the LORD for those who will be of His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. (A. R. 932.)

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And so likewise the Word throughout is opened, and its internal Arcana, revealed.

How enduring the forms of Divine Revelation now compared to those which were employed in the former dispensations! In the New Church all things are scientific and exact. Genuine Truths are revealed,--the Word is opened in the light of heaven, and its correspondences and representations are explained by the LORD Himself in His Advent in the Writings given to the New Church. There may therefore be, in the man of the New Church as he is thus conjoined with the LORD in the Word, peace, satisfaction and eternal repose.

In contrast with this Divine inheritance of the New Church the Writings tell us how those of the former Churches were informed concerning Divine and heavenly things:

In the most ancient times, men were informed concerning heavenly things, or those which relate to eternal life, by immediate intercourse with the angels of heaven; for heaven then acted as one with the man of the Church inasmuch as it flowed in through the internal man into their external, whence they had not only illustration and perception, but also discourse with the angels.

Afterward information concerning heavenly things and concerning those which relate to eternal life, was effected by such things as are called correspondences and representations, the science of which was derived from the most ancient men who had immediate intercourse mid the angels of heaven. Into those (correspondences and representations) at that time, heaven flowed in with men and illustrated, for correspondences and representations are the external forms of heavenly things: and, in proportion, as men, at that time, were in the good of love and charity, in the same proportion, they were illustrated: for all Divine influx out of heaven is into the good with man and by goods into truths.

But when the science of correspondences and representations was turned into magic that Church perished, and a third succeeded in which indeed all worship was effected almost by similar things but still it was unknown what they signified: this Church was instituted with the Israelitish and Judaic nation.

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But, whereas, information concerning heavenly things or concerning those things which relate to eternal life, could not be effected with the man of that Church, by influx into their interiors and thus by illustration, therefore, angels from heaven spake by a living voice with some of them and instructed them concerning external things and little concerning internal things, because the latter they could not comprehend: they who were in natural good received those things holily.

But when not even natural good remained with the man of the Church, the LORD came into the world and reduced all things in the heavens and in the hells into order, to the end that man may receive influx from Him out of heaven and be illustrated, and that the hells might not be any hindrance and let in thick darkness: then a fourth Church commenced which is called Christian. In this Church information concerning heavenly things or concerning things which relate to eternal life is effected solely by the Word, whereby man has influx and illustration, for the word was written both by mere correspondences and by were representatives which signify heavenly things: into which heavenly things, the angels of heaven come when man reads the Word: hence by the Word is effected the conjunction of heaven with the Church or of the angels of heaven with the men of the Church but only with those there who are in the good of love and of charity. But whereas the man of this Church has extinguished also this good, therefore neither can he be informed by any influx and by illustration thence only concerning some truths, which yet do not cohere with good.

From this it may be manifest in what manner revelations have succeeded from the most ancient ages to the present: and that at this day revelation is only given by the Word: but genuine revelation with those who are in the love of truth for the sake of truth and not with those who are in the love of truth for the sake of honors and gains as ends.A. C. 10,354.

The descent of Divine Truth from the LORD through the heavens until it reaches the earth and is embodied in the Word is set forth in the Writings as follows:

The Divine itself, which is in the Word from the LORD, when it descends to the inmost or third heaven becomes Divine celestial; when it thence descends to the middle or second Heaven, it becomes Divine spiritual; and when from this heaven it descends to the ultimate or first, it becomes Divine celestial or Divine spiritual-natural; and lastly, when it thence descends into the world, it becomes the Divine natural Word, such as it is with us in the letter.A. E. 593.

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Then the unfolding of the Divine Natural Word in the Revelations given for the New Church is a work purely Divine, and is done by the LORD Himself through his servant Emanuel Swedenborg. In this way He has opened the Word in the light of Heaven, has formulated its internal sense into a body of Divine Doctrine, and has given the same from His own mouth: and this Divine Revelation we have in the Writings of Swedenborg. And the Doctrines thus revealed as we learn are Continuous Truths laid open by the LORD by means of the Word; and these Truths are so many mirrors of the LORD.T. C. R. 508.

In the internal sense of the Word as unfolded in the Writings of Swedenborg the characteristic principles and doctrines of the New Church are set forth with great fullness both in general and in particular. Some of the more remarkable of these we shall now lay before our readers:

VI.

THE NEW CHURCH CONJOINED WITH THE LORD.

THE New Church is conjoined with the LORD by means of the Word. The LORD by means of the Word consociates the Church with the heavens and conjoins the Church and the Heavens with Himself. This is because the Church is the LORDS Kingdom on the earth, as the Heavens are His Kingdom of Angels and Spirits, and the LORD in Himself is the same in all whether in Heaven, earth or hell. His Love in the heavens and His Love on the earth is the same Divine Love. His Wisdom in the Heavens and His Wisdom on the earth is the same Divine Wisdom. The Divine of the LORD is the same every where, for it is the Divine Truth, and this is the Divine Human, omnipresent and filling the heavens, constituting the angels what they are, and ever present in the Church universal as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter.

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And as the Word is the LORD, even the Divine Truth, and the Divine Human, the presence of the Word is the presence of the LORD, the revelation of the Word is the revelation of the LORD, and the opening of the Word, as by the unfolding of its internal senses, is the Coming of the LORD. The Word, consequently is the LORDS means of conjoining the Church and the Heavens with Himself.

In the Apocalypse it is written:

And I John saw the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband.xxi. 2.

The spiritual sense of these words is unfolded in the Apocalypse Revealed as follows:

These words signify that the New Church to be established by the LORD at the end of the former will be consociated with the New Heaven in Divine Truths as to Doctrine and as to Life: and will be in the good of love to the LORD and thence in the good of life.

John saw the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, and here he saw that City prepared as a Bride for her Husband; from which it is also manifest that Jerusalem means the Church. He saw it first as a City, and afterward as a Virgin Bride; as a city representatively, and as a Virgin Bride spiritually; thus in a double idea, the one within or above the other; just as the angels do, who, when they see or hear or read in the Word of a city, perceive a city in the idea of their lower thought; but in the idea of their higher thought, they perceive the Church as to doctrine; and this, if they desire it, and pray to the LORD, they see as a Virgin in beauty and apparel according to the quality of the Church. It has likewise been granted me to see the Church thus.

Being prepared signifies to be attired for betrothal; and the Church is no otherwise girded for betrothal, and afterward for conjunction or marriage, than by the Word; for this is the only means of conjunction or marriage, because the Word is from the LORD and concerning the LORD, and thus is the LORD; consequently it is also exiled a covenant, and a covenant signifies spiritual conjunction. The Word also was given for this end.--A. R. 879, 881.

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From these teachings of the Writings, therefore, we learn that the true Church must be conjoined with the LORD by means of the Word; for in this way alone can the man of the Church dwell in the LORD, and the LORD in the man of the Church; in this may alone can the prophecy be fulfilled which says:

Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself, the God, will be with them their God.Apoc. xxi. 3.

It is therefore a question of momentous interest: What is involved in the conjunction of the Church with the LORD; the conjunction of the LORD with man, and of man with the LORD?

The Writings abound with illustrations of this subject, and we turn to them for the answer to the question. In the Apocalypse Revealed it is written:

The LORD is the Good itself of Love, and He gives to the Church to be truth from that Good: and dwelling together is effected when the man of the Church receives Good from the LORD in Truths. There is accomplished in man the marriage of Good and Truth, which is the Church itself, and constitutes Heaven.A. R. 359.

Here this arcanum is to be disclosed: That the marriage of the LORD with the Church consists in this:

That the LORD flows into angels and men with the Good of Love, and that the angels and men receive Him in His Good of Love in Truths: that in this way a marriage of Good and Truth is effected, which marriage is the Church itself and becomes Heaven with them. Inasmuch as the LORDS influx and the reception of Him are such, the LORD looks upon angels and men in the forehead, and they in turn look upon the LORD through the eyes: for the forehead corresponds with the Good of Love, and the eyes correspond with Truths from that Good, which thus by conjunction become Truths of Good. But the influx of the LORD with Truths into angels and men is not like the influx of Good with them: for it is mediate, flowing forth from Good as light from fire, and is received by them in the understanding, and in the will so far as they do the Truths.

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This therefore is the marriage of Love and Wisdom, or of Good and Truth, from the LORD, with them that receive it in the heavens, and on the earth. This arcanum is disclosed that it may be known how it is to be understood that the LORD continually fills their Truths with Goods.A. R. 380.

In the True Christian Religion, we have a further unfolding of the manner in which conjunction with the LORD is effected, and we learn that the conjunction is reciprocal, and that it implies in man the life of charity and faith. Thus it is written:

The LORD is Charity and Faith in Man, and Man is Charity and Faith in the LORD. It is evident from the following passages in the Word that the man of the Church is in the LORD, and the LORD in him: Jesus said: Abide in me and I in you: I am the Vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit (John xv. 4, 5). He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him (vi. 56). But man himself cannot be in the LORD, but the Charity and Faith which are with him from the LORD, from which two, man is essentially man, [these can be in the LORD].T. C. R. 368.

By conjunction with God man has Salvation and eternal life. Man was created that he may be conjoined with God: for he was created a native of heaven, and also of the world; and so far as he is a native of heaven he is spiritual, while so far as he is a native of the world he is natural; and the spiritual man can think of God and perceive such things as are of God; he can also love God, and be affected with those things which are from God; from which it follows that be can be conjoined with God.--T. C. R. 369.

Conjunction with God the Father is not possible, but conjunction with the LORD, and through Him with God the Father [is possible]. This the Scripture teaches and reason sees.... The LORD our Savior is JEHOVAH the Father Himself, in the Human form: for JEHOVAH descended and became Man, that He might be able to draw near to man and man to Him, and so that conjunction might be effected, and that by conjunction man should hare salvation and eternal life. For when God became Man, and thus also became Man-God, being then accommodated to man, He could draw near to him and be conjoined with him as God-Man and Man-God.--T. C. R. 570.

Conjunction with the LORD is reciprocal, that is, the LORD is in man, and man is in the LORD. That conjunction is reciprocal, the Scripture teaches, and reason also sees....

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And because it is reciprocal, it necessarily follows that man ought to conjoin himself with the LORD, that the LORD may conjoin Himself with man: and that otherwise conjunction is not effected, but withdrawal, and consequently a separation, yet this not on the LORDS part but on mans. That there may be this reciprocal conjunction, free choice is given to man, from which he can walk in the way to heaven, or in the may to hell. From this freedom that is given to man, flows his power of reciprocation which, enables him to conjoin himself with the LORD, or to conjoin himself with the devil.T. C. R. 351.

This reciprocal conjunction of the LORD and Man is effected by Charity and Faith. It is known at this day that the Church constitutes the Body of Christ, and that every one in whom the Church is, is in some member of that Body, according to Paul (Eph. i. 93; 1 Cor. xii. 27; Rom. xii. 4, 5). But what is the Body of Christ, but Divine Good and Divine Truth? This is meant by the LORDS words in John: He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in Him (vi. 56). The LORDS flesh and also the bread mean the Divine Good; and His blood as also the wine mean the Divine Truth. Consequently, as far as Man is in the Goods of Charity, and in the Truths of Faith, he is in the LORD, and the LORD is in Him: for conjunction with the LORD is spiritual conjunction, and spiritual conjunction is effected solely by Charity and Faith. Hence now it follows:

That the LORD is Charity and Faith in Man, and that Man is Charity and Faith in the LORD; for the LORD is Spiritual Charity and Faith in the natural charity and faith of man; and man is natural charity and faith from the Spiritual of the LORD; which conjoined make a spiritual-natural charity and faith.T. C. R. 372.

As we descend into the ultimates of life we enter the arena in which the conjunction of the LORD with man may become plenary and absolute. For the Charity and Faith in which the LORD is with man, in good works, come into their fullness, sanctity and power. When the LORD, charity and faith are in the internal man, then every work which proceeds from him is good. For as we learn:

Charity is to will well, and good works are to do well from willing well. Charity and Faith are only mental and perishable things, unless they are determined to works and coexist in them, when possible. But Charity alone does not produce good works, and still less Faith alone, but charity and faith together [do produce good works: for in Good Works, Charity and Faith co-exist, and are in ultimates].T. C. R. 373.

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The conjunction of the Crowning Church with the LORD involves as a, consequence the consociation of the Church with the Heavens. And the New Church which is the New Jerusalem so far forth as it has descended from God out of Heaven, and has become the Tabernacle of God with men, is necessarily, from the very nature of the Dispensation and the Church which characterizes it, thus in conjunction with the LORD and in communion with the angels, and all things that can be predicated of the New Church as results of this integral organization of its essence, form, and condition in the spiritual universe, are its indubitable inheritance.

Involved in this plenary conjunction with the LORD and consociation with the Heavens is the Influx of the LORD by His Divine Human, and through all the Heavens into the Church, coming into all possible forms of reception in the Church, and modified in the Heavens by its transflux through the infinitely varied forms of good and truth, and affection and thought in the Heavens. The New Church consequently will comprehend within its scope every possible form of heavenly life from the highest to the lowest,--transcending the heights of the celestial state in the Most Ancient Church, and descending below the lowest salvable Natural state of the Primitive Christian Church. So that the Crowning Church will be at once Celestial, Spiritual, and Natural, and neither one, to the exclusion of the others.

This characteristic is in consequence of the New Church knowing and acknowledging the Visible God in whom is the Invisible. The idea of an invisible God, invisible in se, if indeed it may be called an idea, is in fact the idea of a God without body, parts, or passions, precisely as the schoolmen had it; for they spoke of God as an infinitely diffused Essence,--a Being whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere. Without body, without parts,--an invisible infinity of inorganic essence is the God that the Churches have worshiped previous to the New Church.

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The idea is purely simplistic, thoroughly non-complex, and therefore excluding to a great extent the conception of variety in unity. In the Ancient Church the variety of their cultus was indeed very great, but their unity was without integrality and strength; for the LORD in Himself was invisible, and only became visible through the Angel of JEHOVAH, and hence the manifestation to each one was according to his state.

Any earnest soul in his strivings against evil, knows how bewildering to the mind are the confused and indefinite ideas of God, that so generally prevail. Indeed it is most obvious that true knowledge with clear and well formed ideas concerning God give light on all things else. Truth here opens the may to truth elsewhere. For, in fact, the LORD is the Truth, Truth emanates from Him, centres in Him, and leads to Him. So that if the LORD is invisible to the eyes of the mind, inorganic, incomprehensible, and evenly diffused throughout the Universe, or, in other words, if this is our idea of Him, then all truth in respect to Him is necessarily confused and vague: He is unknown, and unknowable;--and our love and devotion to Him is the worship of an unknown God. But how changed all this when we come to Visible God in whom is the Invisible: to the LORD JESUS CHRIST,--who is JEHOVAH GOD in the Divine Human,--and therefore the Visible Divinity in whom is the Invisible.

How momentous this manifestation of the Invisible JEHOVAH GOD in the Incarnation, and the Glorification of His Human, in which He will forever be visible to all who come to Him, is graphically illustrated in many places in The Writings! We quote the following:

This New Church is the crown of all the Churches that have hitherto existed on the earth because it will worship One Visible God in whom is the Invisible, like the soul in the body.

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Thus, and not otherwise can there be the conjunction of God with man, because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally, and the conjunction must be in his thought, and thus in the affection of his love, and this is so when he thinks of God as Man.

Conjunction with an Invisible God is like the conjunction of the vision of the eye with the expanse of the universe, of which it sees no end; it is also like vision in mid-ocean, which falls upon the air and sea and is lost. But the other hand, conjunction with a Visible God is like seeing a man in the air or on the sea, spreading forth his hands and inviting to his arms. For all conjunction of God with man, must also be a reciprocal conjunction of man with God, and there cannot be this reciprocation on the other part except with a Visible God.

The LORD Himself teaches in John, that before the assumption of the Human God was not visible: Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen his shape. John v. 37. And in Moses it is written that: No one can see God and live. Exodus xxxiii. 20. But that He is visible in His Human we are taught in John: No one hath seen God at my time, the Only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. John i. 18. And in the same: Jesus said: I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one cometh to the Father but by me. He that knoweth me, knoweth the Father; and he that seeth me seeth the Father. John xiv. 6, 7, 9. He Himself teaches in the following passages that there is conjunction with the Invisible God, through Himself the Visible, that is the LORD:

Jesus said: Abide in me, and I in you; he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. John xv. ii, 5. In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. John xvi. 20.... Then also we learn that He and the Father are one, and that in order to have eternal life one must believe in Him. We have frequently shown above that Salvation depends on conjunction with God.-- T. C. R. 787.

From these teachings of the Writings we learn that the New Church in the knowledge and acknowledgment of the Visible God in whom is the Invisible has conjunction with the LORD and by conjunction Salvation. Then also the LORD in coming from the Invisible Divine Essence into the Visible, assumed the Human, and glorified it and thus became God-with-us in the Divine Human, so that in the realization of this marvelous fact we may be brought into conscious and plenary conjunction with the Divine of the LORD, which is the element of heavenly life end consequently into the very ends of the Divine Providence of the LORD in establishing the Church as His kingdom on the earth.

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VII.

THE CROWNING CHURCH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL.

MAN is both Internal and External, Spiritual and Natural, of Heaven and of Earth. The terms internal and external are sometimes predicated simply of the man of the Church describing the affections and thoughts of the mind, on the one hand, and, on the other, the manifested conduct of life, in words and deeds. At other times the terms are used in the Writings to describe, respectively, the genuine life and character of the Church, and the forms, ceremonies, and ritual of the same: In this last sense when the Church is described as a visible body instituted by the LORD, as the Conservator of His Word, and of the Heavenly Doctrines of its Internal sense, and the Divinely appointed means for the redemption and salvation of the world. Then the terms are often used in other senses, having an application to other things more or less general or specific.

In the Writings of the Church we are so often reminded of the existence of the internal and the external in every thing that there would seem to be in it the Divine purpose of establishing the principle in its relation not only to the conduct of life in general, but also, in its relation to the Church as an instituted and organic body. As a universal law of life this principle is declared in the True Christian Religion as follows:

In every created thing in the world, whether living or dead, there is an internal and an external; one of these is not given without the other, as there is no effect without a cause;

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and every created thing is esteemed according to its internal goodness, and is regarded as without worth from its internal goodness, as is the external goodness within which is internal baseness. Every wise man in the world and every angel in heaven so judges.--

From the Divine Love and Wisdom we learn that

The angels affirm that there is nothing so minute but there are degrees in it of both kinds: for example that there is not the least thin in any animal, vegetable or mineral, or in ether and air in which there are not these degrees: and as ether and air are receptacles of heat and light, that there is not the least of heat and light, and as spiritual heat and light are receptacles of love and wisdom, that there is not the least of these in which there are not degrees of both kinds. They also affirm that the least of affection and the least of thought yea, the least of an idea of thought consists of degrees of both kinds, and that a least not consisting of such degrees is nothing for it has no form, and therefore no quality or state which can be changed and varied and thereby exist. (223 D. L. W.)

In the Arcana, treating of the man of the Church and the progress of regeneration, it is written:

The internal and the external are indeed distinct from each other, but in the natural, where they are together, the internal is as in its form adequate to itself, which form does nothing from itself, but from the internal which is in it, thus it is only acted upon.... It is similar with good and truth in the natural with man, which are born from the internal: for the internal clothes itself with such things as are of the natural, that being in them, it may be there and live there; but the things with which it clothes itself are only coverings which do nothing at all from themselves.A. C. 6275.

Internal good and truth must be in external good and truth, that these may be good and truth, for the external is nothing except something formed so that the internal may be in it, and live there according to the influx into it from the LORD. Nor indeed is the internal any thing respectively to the Supreme, that is the LORD from whom is all life: and the things that are beneath are only forms recipient of life through degrees, in their order, even to the last which is the body.A. C. 6284.

In the Divine Providence the relation of the internal to the external is further unfolded:

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It is the same in the spiritual things of the mind as in the natural things of the body, because all things of the mind correspond with all things of the body: therefore also, the mind moves the body in externals, and, in general, altogether at its pleasure. It moves the eyes to see, the cats to hear, the mouth and tongue to eat and drink, and also to speak, the hands to work, the feet externals to these actions, but the internals also in every series: the ultimates from the inmosts, and the inmosts from the ultimates.... As man disposes the externals, the LORD disposes the internals: thus in one way, if man disposes the externals from himself, and in another way, if he disposes the externals from the LORD and at the same time as from himself.--

The vital importance of the things that are arranged in the ultimates of life is elsewhere set forth showing the LORDS imminent presence in them. Thus again in the Divine Providence it is written:

Mans soul is really the love of his will, and the love of his understanding. As this love is, so is the whole man; and the duality is determined by the arrangement in externals in which man is together with the LORD.--D. P. 199.

But not only in man in general, and in the man of the Church is there this union of the internal and the external, but also in the Church in the aggregate. Thus in the Arcana it is written:

Wherever the Church is, it must necessarily be internal and external; for man who is the Church is internal and external. Before he becomes the Church, that is, before he is regenerated, he is in externals; and while being regenerated, he is led from externals, yea, by externals to internals. And afterward when regenerated, then all things which are of the internal man are terminated in externals: thus every Church must necessarily be internal and external: such was the Ancient Church; and such the Christian Church at this day.--A. C. 1083.

That an internal may be the internal of the Church, it must necessarily be in its external, for the external is in the place of a foundation, on which the internal may stand, and it is a receptacle into which the internal may inflow; consequently the natural, which is external, must necessarily be regenerated;

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for unless it is regenerated, the internal has neither a foundation, nor a receptacle; and if it has neither a foundation nor a receptacle it must altogether perish.A. C. 6299.

How the inmost and the outermost are united by the Divine Influx of life pervading the whole is set forth in the Arcana as follows:

There is an inmost, there are interiors under the inmost, and there are exteriors in man: all these are most exactly distinct amongst themselves, they succeed in order, thus from the inmost even to the outermost: according to the order, thus from the inmost even to the outermost: according to the order in which they succeed, they flow in. Hence it is that life flows in through the inmost into the interiors, and through the interiors into the exteriors, thus according to the order in which they succeed, and that it does not rest but in the ultimate of order, where it stops. And because interiors flow in according to order, even to the ultimate, and there stop, it is evident, that interiors are together in the ultimate; but in this order: the inmost which flowed in keeps the centre there; the interiors which are beneath the inmost encompass the centre; and the exteriors constitute the circumference, and this not only in the general but also in the single particulars.A. C. 6451.

Inasmuch then as the New Church is both internal and external this distinction descends into its worship, its forms, ceremonies and ritual,--the life of Charity represented in these constituting the internal of worship, and the forms themselves the external. The forms and ceremonies of the New Church must, therefore, have respect to the life of Charity, must represent the goods and truths of the Word, inspiring the good of life and leading into it, and consequently they must rest in the correspondences and representatives of the Word as their ultimate basis. The externals of worship in order to be permanent in the Church must be according to correspondences and representatives. Representatives therefore remain in the Church, and are as enduring as the Church itself. For we have the Sacraments, which are purely representative and the Priesthood which forever endures as representing the LORDS entire work of Redemption.

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Then there are the forms and ceremonials of worship which so far as they are in true order are representative and correspondential. We learn from the Writings that the LORD in His Coming when He assumed the Human abrogated the representatives involved in the Old Testament for the most part implying, of course that there remained in the Church correspondences and representatives that were not abrogated.

In the words of another: The New Church is an internal, spiritual Church, of which Israel was the external representative. It is not, however, an internal Church without an external; but in internal Church in its own corresponding external; a full, complete, and true Church, in which the internal appears in its external, and is represented therein. The true things contained in the representative things of the Jewish Church, are the Divine Laws of Order for the New Church, and these are to be clothed in their corresponding external, and representative modes and forms of appearance. For it is of course not to be inferred from the preceding, that the mere representatives of the Jewish Church are to be transferred to the New Church, but that the spiritual things contained in them are to be known and perceived from them; and that when thus known and perceived, they are to be applied to the internals of this Church, and are thence to proceed to its externals, and are there to appear as the true representatives of the truths and goods which the LORD has opened out of the Word for the use of His New Church. And from this follows a conclusion, which undeniably formulates itself into this universal rule of practice and observance: That all things of the external order, worship, and government of the New Church, whatever may be the varieties of its reception and development, must and will be representative of the internal things of the Divine Law and Order, given to it in the Heavenly Doctrine, which is the spiritual sense of the Word.

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In no other way can be fulfilled, in this latter day, that prophetical representative of the true Church of the LORD, which is presented to view in the historical portion of the Word of the Old Testament; and in no other way can a true internal Church become also a true external Church; for, in no other way can a correspondence exist between the internal and the external of the Church.

But it may be objected that this conclusion is in conflict with those teachings of the Church, which declare that at the Coming of the LORD into the world, all representatives were abolished. As there is an apparent ground for this objection, it is our duty to give it a careful consideration.

In the True Christian Religion, and elsewhere, to a like purport, we read:

Washings, and other ordinances of a like nature, were enjoined and commanded the sons of Israel, because the Church established among them was a representative Church, and this was of such a nature as to prefigure the Christian Church that was to come; on which account, when the LORD came into the world, He abrogated the representatives, which were all external, and substituted a Church, of which all things were to be internal; thus the LORD put away figures, and revealed the antetypes themselves; just as when a person removes a veil, or opens a door, and thus affords the means, not only of seeing the things within, but also of approaching them. Of all those representatives the LORD retained but two, which were to contain in one complex all things of the internal Church. These two were Baptism instead of washings, and the Holy Supper instead of the lamb which was sacrificed every day, and particularly at the Feast of the Passover.--T. C. R. 670.

But this abrogation of representatives extended not to representatives which exist in the nature of things; as for example to true correspondences which are defined in the Arcana to be the appearance of the internal in the external, and its representation therein (A. C. 5423); but to those representatives which were adopted on account of the state of the Jewish nation, as for example their worship by sacrifices which they held most sacred.

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In the Arcana it is written:

Hence, it is evident, that indeed the external rituals of the Church, which represented the LORD, and the internal things of heaven and the Church, which are from the LORD, and which are treated of in the Word of the Old Testament, have been for the most part repealed, but that still the Word in its Divine sanctity remains, since, as has been said, each and every thing therein still involves Holy Divine things, which are perceived in heaven whilst the Word is being read; for, in every thing there is an internal holy principle, which is the internal sense of the Word, or the celestial and Divine sense; this tense is the soul of the Word, and is the Divine Truth itself proceeding from the LORD; thus it is the LORD Himself. From these considerations it may be manifest how it is with the laws, the judgments, and the statutes which were promulgated by the LORD, from Mount Sinai: namely, that each and every thing therein is holy, because in the internal form it is holy; but that still some of them are repealed as to use at this day, where the Church is, which is an internal Church: but some of them are of such a nature that they may serve for use, if (the Church) be so disposed; and some of them are altogether to be observed and done, nevertheless those which are repealed as to use where the Church is, and those which may serve for use, if the Church be so disposed, and also those which are altogether to be observed and done, are alike holy in the internal holy principle, for the Word throughout is in its bosom Divine. The holy internal is what the internal sense teaches, and is the same thing with the internals of the Christian Church, which the doctrine of charity and faith teaches.A. C. 9349.

In the language of the writer already quoted: There were in the Jewish Church Representatives from Correspondences, and Representatives from Adoption.

A representative from correspondence is such by virtue of influx from the LORD; and is as permanent as the Divine principle in the LORD, from which it proceeds, and of which it is the external appearance. It is self-evident that these representatives could not have been abrogated at the LORDS Coming into the world, without an abrogation of the entire Word in the letter, and of the whole natural universe, or, rather, without a setting aside of the Divine law of influx, by which the Heavens and the Earth exist and subsist.

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Were the objection we are considering valid, it would follow, inevitably, that when the LORD came into the world to fulfill every jot and tittle of the Word, this fulfillment must have resulted in the dissolution of the Universe of spirit and matter, or, was, in fact, a Divine nullification of the very end and purpose of His Coming, and, indeed, of that very work itself; in other words, a nullification of that fulfillment!

The Representatives from adoption, however, were of a totally different character. They could be abrogated. For, unlike the former, they were not internal, but merely external representatives. They did not exist in the Word and the Church by virtue of their correspondence with the Divine principles of Truth and Good; but by virtue of a Divine act of accommodation to the state of the people of Israel, to the end that they might be in holy externals, and from these externals might have communication with the heavens. But when the reason for this accommodation ceased to exist, these representatives also, and of necessity, ceased to exist. That is to say, when the Jewish Church was consummated, in consequence of its special use coming to an end, then were these representatives abolished as to use; which was possible, because they were merely external, and adapted to merely external and temporary conditions. There was in them, as things of practice, no internal principle of coherence with the life of heaven and of the Church. Such representatives from adoption, were sacrifices, washings, and the like, and that these are the representatives which were abrogated at the LORDS Coming into the world, is placed beyond doubt and question by explicit teaching on the subject. In the Arcana we are instructed:

The New Heaven and New Earth (after the Ancient Church), was the Hebrew Church. This also had its last time, or last Judgment, when it became idolatrous; wherefore a New Church was raised up, and this among the posterity of Jacob, which was called the Jewish Church, which was no other than a Church representative of charity and faith.

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In this Church, or among the posterity of Jacob, there was no charity and faith, consequently not any Church, but only the Representatives of a Church; the reason was, that immediate communication of the Kingdom of the LORD in the heavens could not (then) be given with any true Church on Earth, wherefore a mediate communication was opened by representatives. Of this so-called Church, the last time, or last Judgment, was when the LORD came into the World, for then representatives ceased,namely, sacrifices and similar rites; and in order that they might cease, they (the Jews) were cast out of the land of Canaan.--A. C. 1850.

Is the light of this explanation, therefore, as to the class or kind of representatives which ceased when the Christian Church was established, the appearance of a contradiction of statement in the Doctrines of the Church, before adverted to, is entirely removed; and it becomes evident that the passage in the True Christian Religion referred to should be understood in this wise: When the LORD came into the world, He abrogated the representatives, which were all (altogether) external, and instituted a New Church, in which all things were to be internal.

That a change, and a, great change, was effected in the Jewish representatives, by the LORDS coming into the world, may not be questioned. What the nature of this change was, we can learn, in some measure, from what we are taught concerning the Word and its use in the Israelitish and Christian dispensations. In the former, the were letter of the Sacred Scripture, by virtue of its representative character, performed the use of keeping men on earth in connection with the heavens, and thus with the LORD;

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but when the Word and its representatives were presented visibly in the LORD, and in His life on earth, then was this use of connecting man with the heavens, performed in the Christian Church by means of the internal natural sense, contained within and made known from the letter of the Sacred Scripture. And now, in this day of the LORDS Second Coming into the world, the same use, though in a far higher and more interior degree, is performed by the true internal, or spiritual sense, which is opened out of the natural and merely representative senses of the Word. The former senses, in which men understood and received the Word, are not at this time abolished, so absolutely, so that they no longer exist; but they are, so to speak, removed to their proper places in the externals of the human mind and understanding, whilst the true sense is brought forward, to the end that men may see, and know, and receive genuine Truth, which is spiritual, which is the LORD Himself coming in the spirit and in the life of His morels. The vail has been removed from before the Word, but it has not been torn down; the door has been opened, but it has not been lifted from its fastenings. And hence it is, that, although the interiors of the Word have been laid open, they are not visible to all men; for many the vail is still drawn down, and the door is still closed. The Word, which is Divine Truth, remains in the ultimate literal form in which it wax originally clothed; but, by revelation of the true meaning of that form, it now appears, or, the LORD who is the Word, now appears in a new, more interior light, shining out of the letter into the understandings of those who are prepared to acknowledge and receive Him in His real appearance.Report on the Priesthood, Gen. Con. Documents 1875.

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VIII.

THE PRIESTHOOD IN THE NEW CHURCH.

INASMUCH as the New Church comes most visibly into exteriors in the Priesthood, and in the Sacraments, we shall present more in detail the teachings of the Heavenly Doctrines in respect to these. And first concerning the Priesthood, from the many things set forth in the Writings, the following brief extracts must suffice:

The LORD as a King governs all things in the Universe, as to every particular, by virtue: of Divine Truth, and as a Priest by virtue of Divine Good. Divine Truth is the absolute order of His universal kingdom, all the laws of which are truths, or eternal verities. Divine Good is the absolute essential of order, all things of which are of mercy. Each is attributed to the LORD. If only Divine Truth could be attributed to Him, no mortal could be saved, for truths condemn every one to hell; but Divine Good, which is of mercy, elevates from hell to heaven. These are the things which were represented by kings and priests in the Jewish Church; and which also Melchizedek represented, as King of Salem and Priest of the most High God.--A. C. 1728.

All the laws of order, by which the LORD governs the universe as king, are truths; but all the laws by which the LORD governs the universe as Priest, and by which He also rules truths themselves, are goods.A. C. 2015.

Priests and kings belong to the Divine administration of the LORD in the heavens, as we learn from the Memorabilia:

After I had seen these sad and dreadful things I looked round and saw two angels standing not far from me, and conversing. One was clad in a woolen robe brilliant from a flamy purple glow, and a tunic of shining linen under it; the other in similar garments of a scarlet color, with a mitre, on the right side of which were set some sparkling stones. I went toward them and with a salutation of pence, I reverently asked them: Why are you here below? And they replied: We have come down hither from heaven at the LORDS command to speak with you of the blessed lot of those who desire to rule from the love of uses. We are worshipers of the LORD.

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I am the Prince of a society; tills one is the High Priest there (summus sacerdos). The Prince also said that he was a servant of the society, because he served it by performing uses; and the other said that he was a minister of the Church there, because in serving them he ministered holy things for the uses of their souls; also that they both are in perpetual joys from the eternal happiness which is in them from the LORD; and that all things in that society are splendid and magnificent,--splendid from gold and precious stones, and magnificent from palaces and paradises. It was also said: This is because our love of ruling is not from the love of self, but from the love of uses; and because the love of uses is from the LORD, all good uses in the heavens are resplendent and refulgent; and because all in out society are in this love, then the atmosphere appears golden, front the light there which has its derivation from the flamy [clement] of the Sun, and this corresponds with that love.T. C. R. 601.

In the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, when treating of Ecclesiastical and Civil Governments, it is written:

There are two things among men which ought to be in order; namely, the things which are of Heaven, and the things which are of the World. The things which are of Heaven are called Ecclesiastical, and those which are of the world are called Civil.H. D. 311; A. C. 10759.

Order cannot be maintained in the World without Governors (absque Prfectis), who are to observe all things that are done according to order, and all things that are done contrary to order; and who are to reward those who live according to order, and to punish those who live contrary to order, and c.H. D. 312; A. C. 10790.

There must therefore be governors, to keep the assemblages of men in order, who are skilled in the laws, wise, and who fear God. Among the Governors there must be order, lest any one, from caprice or ignorance, should permit evils which are contrary to order, and thereby destroy it; which is guarded against when there are superior and inferior governors, amongst whom there is subordination.H. D. 313; A. G. 10792.

Governors over those things among men that relate to Heaven are called Priests (Sacerdotes), and their office is called the Priesthood (Sacordotium). But Governors over those things among men that relate to the World, or over civil affairs, are called magistrates, and their Chief, when such is the form of government, is called a King.H. D. 314; A. C. 10793.

Priests ought not to claim to themselves any power over the souls of men, inasmuch as they cannot discern the real state of the interiors, or of the heart;

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much less ought they to claim the power of opening and shutting heaven, because that power belongs to the LORD alone.H. D. 316; A. C. 10795.

He who believes otherwise than the priest, and makes no disturbance, ought to be left in pence; but he who makes disturbance, must be separated, for this also is agreeable to the order, for the sake of which the Priesthood is established.H. D. 318; A. C. 10795.

Priests are appointed to administer those things which belong to the Divine Law and Worship.H. D. 319; A. C. 10799.

Elsewhere it is written:

All kings represent the LORD as to divine truth, and, in like manner, all priests represent the LORD as to divine good.A. C.3670, 1664, 9809, 9959, 10152, 10279, and c.

The priesthood is a representative of the LORD as to all the work of Salvation.--A. C. 9509, 10017.

The common good exists from the goods of use performed by individuals, and the goods of use performed by individuals subsist from the common good.

The common good consists of these things,--that in a society or kingdom, there be,

1. What is Divine among the people.

2. That there be Justice among them.

3. That there be Morality.

What is Divine exists there through the Ministry; Justice through the Magistrates and Judges; and Morality through what is Divine, and what is just.

By ministries are meant priestly offices, and the duties annexed to them.

They who belong to the ministry provide for the existence of things Divine.Doctrine of Charity, 62-70.

As the Ecclesiastical Order, on Earth, minister those things which appertain to the LORDS Priestly Office, that is, which are of His Love, thus also those things which are of benediction, it is proper that marriages be consecrated by His Ministers; as on this occasion, also, they are the principal witnesses, that the consent to the covenant may be heard, accepted, confirmed, and thus established by them.--C. L. 305.

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IX.

THE SACRAMENT IN THE NEW CHURCH.

BUT the Church comes into the ultimates of Divine order in the representative Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper. In these we are brought fully into things natural and corporeal, into nature, in fact, on the lowest plane. For we touch and taste the correspondential elements,--the Water of Baptism, and the Bread and Wine of the Holy Supper.

That we may learn what these Sacraments are in the Crowning Church we come to the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem where it is written

CONCERNING BAPTISM.

Baptism was instituted for a sign that the man belongs to the Church, and for a memorial that he is to be regenerated; for the washing of baptism signifies nothing else than spiritual washing, which is regeneration.

All regeneration is effected by the LORD, by means of the truths of faith and of a life according to them; therefore baptism testifies that the man is of the Church, and that he is capable of being regenerated; for in the Church, the LORD, who regenerates, is acknowledged, and therein is the Word, which contains the truths of faith, by means of which regeneration is effected.

This the LORD teaches in John, Except a man be begotten of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, iii. 5; water, in the spiritual sense, is the truth of faith from the Word; the spirit is a life according to it, and to be begotten is to be regenerated thereby.

Forasmuch as every one who is regenerated also undergoes temptations, which are spiritual combats against evils and falses, therefore by the waters of baptism those temptations are also signified.

Since baptism is for a sign and for a memorial of those things, therefore a man may be baptized when an infant, and if he be not baptized then, he may be baptized when he is an adult.

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Let it be known therefore to those who are baptized, that baptism itself gives neither faith nor salvation, but that it testifies that they will receive faith, and that they will be saved, if they are regenerated.H. D. 202-207.

CONCERNING THE HOLY SUPPER.

The Holy Supper was instituted by the LORD, that by means thereof there may be a conjunction of the Church with heaven, thus with the LORD; it is therefore the most holy thing of worship.

But in what manner conjunction is effected by it is not apprehended by those who do not know any thing concerning the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, for they do not think beyond the external sense, which is the sense of the letter. From the internal or spiritual sense of the Word it is known what the body and blood signify, and what the bread and mine, also what eating signifies.

In that sense, the body or flesh of the LORD is the good of love, as is the bread likewise; and the blood of the LORD is the good of faith, as is the wine likewise; and eating is appropriation and conjunction. The angels, who are attendant on man when he receives the sacrament of the Supper, understand these things in no other manner; for they perceive all things spiritually. Hence it is that a holy principle of love and a holy principle of faith then flows in with man from the angels, thus through heaven from the LORD; hence there is conjunction.

From these considerations it is evident, that when man takes the bread, which is the body, he is conjoined with the LORD by means of the, good of love to Him from Him; and when he takes the wine, which is the blood, he is conjoined with the LORD by means of the good of faith in Him from Him. But it is to be noted that conjunction with the LORD by means of the sacrament of the Supper is effected solely with those who are in the good of love to, and faith in, the LORD from the LORD; with these there is conjunction by means of the Holy Supper; with others there is presence, but not conjunction.

Besides, the Holy Supper includes and comprehends all the Divine worship instituted in the Israelitish Church; for the burnt-offerings and sacrifices, in which the worship of that Church principally consisted, were called, in a single word, bread; hence also the Holy Supper is its completion.H. D. 210-214.

Some, even of those wile read the Writings of the New Church, have been led to think that as this Church is internal, taking hold of the very essentials of the life, that therefore the externals of Worship may be laid aside, and thus that even the Sacraments are rather for the Old Church than for the New.

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But these views are fallacious. For as the internal life of the men of the Church is illustrated by the very presence of the Divine of the LORD, all things of the external life also are baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire; their sanctity is immeasurably enhanced, and their use augmented. As in all sthetic culture, regard for external forms increases with its progress, so from the nature of the case it must be in the Church. Those of limited spiritual culture and those who are indifferent to spiritual and Divine things, are at the same time indifferent to the forms and ceremonies of religion: but with the loss of the internal sanctities of the soul the external forms representative of the same disappear. Then, on the other hand, as the culture of spiritual things advances, as the soul is imbued with love to the LORD and charity toward the neighbor, and as the Word of the LORD is cherished and taken to the heart as the guide of the life,--the external amenities of piety begin to assume their due importance in the conduct of life, nor can they be laid aside, or lightly esteemed.

The Sacraments are the most external things of the Church, and yet, as containing all else, they are the most holy. The unfolding of the internal sense of the Word for the use of the New Church, has given them a sanctity and fullness unknown before. The Writings say that

This sense is now first disclosed, because there has hitherto been Christianity only in name, and with some persons, some shadow of it: for men have not hitherto approached and worshiped the Savior Himself immediately as the one only God in whom is the Divine Trinity but only mediately: which is not to approach and worship, but merely to venerate Him as the cause for the sake of which man has salvation: and this is not the essential, but the mediate cause, which is beneath and exterior to the essential. But inasmuch as real Christianity is nom beginning to dawn and the LORD is nom establishing the New Church meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, wherein God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are acknowledged as one because in one Person, it has pleased the LORD to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, in order that this Church may come into the very use and benefit of the Sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper:

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and this is done when men see with the eyes of their spirit, that is with the understanding, the holiness concealed therein, and apply it to themselves by the means which the LORD has taught in His Word.T. C. R. 700.

More in detail the Uses of Baptism are described as follows:

Baptism has three uses:

Its first use is introduction into the Christian Church, and insertion, at the same time, among the Christians of the spiritual world.

The second use of Baptism is that the Christian may know and acknowledge the LORD JESUS CHRIST his Redeemer and Savior, and may follow him: and

The third use of Baptism is that he may be regenerated.

These three uses follow each other in order, and join with each other in the ultimate use, and thus cohere together, in unity.T. C. R. Chapter on Baptism.

And as already observed the HOLY SUPPER, was instituted that it may he a means of conjoining the Church with heaven, and through heaven with the LORD; and consequently it is the most holy solemnity of Divine worship. Then the further uses of the Sacraments and the other external things of worship are set forth in the following statement in respect to Divine order in the Church.

The order according to which God has established His Church is this: That He should be all in all, both generally and particularly therein; and that the laws of order should be practiced by every man toward his neighbor. The laws of this order are as many and various as the truths contained in the Word; the laws which relate to God forming the head of the Church, those relating to a mans neighbor forming the body, and ceremonial laws forming the dress; for unless these latter contained and preserved the former in their order, it would be as if the body were stripped naked, and exposed to the summers heat, and the winters cold; or as if a. temple were bared of its mans and roof, so as to expose the altar, pulpit, and other holy parts within to the violence of every storm and tempest.T. C. R. 55.

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PIETY AND CHARITY IN THE NEW CHURCH.

IN the Arcana the true relation of Piety and Charity is often unfolded from the internal Word, and the following is given as the rsum of the subject.

In the man of the Church there must be the life of Piety, and there must be the life of Charity: the two must be conjoined. The life of piety without the life of charity conduces to nothing, but this with that, to all things.

The life of piety is to think piously, and to speak piously, to devote much time to prayers, to behave then with humility, to frequent temples, and then to hear the preachings devoutly, and often every year to take the Sacrament of the Supper, and similarly to observe the remaining things of Worship, according to the statutes of the Church. But the life of charity is to will well and to do well to the neighbor, in every work to act from justice and equity, and from good and truth, in like manner in every function: in a word, charity consists in performing uses.

The very worship itself of the LORD consists in the life of charity, but not in the life of piety without it. The life of piety without the life of charity is to will to consult ones self alone, not the neighbor; but the life of piety with the life of charity is to will to consult oneself for the sake of the neighbor: that life is from love toward self, but this is from love toward the neighbor.

The Life by which the LORD is principally worshiped means a life according to His precepts in the Word, for by these man knows what faith is and what charity is. This life is the Christian life, and is called spiritual life. But a life according to the laws of what is just and honest, without spiritual life, is a civil and moral life: this life makes man to be a citizen of the world, but that, to be a citizen of heaven.A. C. 8259, 8263, 8254, 8257.

The Heavenly Doctrines reveal to us the end of Divine Worship as we have it in the forms and ceremonies, the rites and sacraments of the Church; and they show us how fallacious are the ideas in respect to this subject that prevail in the Old Church. For, according to these ideas Piety is the principal thing in the life of religion, and Charity is subordinate; and in fact quite another matter.

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Indeed, it is believed that Piety is specifically the service of God, and hence it is called Divine Service; while Charity, or the life of work in the world is in a great measure our own business in which we serve our own special interests, and do our own pleasure. But in the New Doctrines these fallacies are removed, and the ideas as to the end of Religion utterly inverted, and Divine Worship, as all things else, so analyzed that we at once find in it, the internal and the external,--the internal essence, and the external form. Religion becomes a new thing, namely a life, instead of a ceremony. In other words, Charity is defined to be a life of good works from good motives; end charity is as at the same time made the primary thing of true worship.

The world is full of work to be done. The LORD in His Divine Providence gives to every one of us some may to work, some work to do, some service, public or private, to perform. And these uses of life are enlarged and multiplied as society rises from low and abject conditions into circumstances of comfort and refinement. But these occupations in society all have respect to the life of charity. For charity, as has been observed, is a life in the world, a life of faithful, useful work, a life of love to God and love to man. Here then are the two elements of a religious life; and in distinguishing them aright, we break away from the errors of the past, which have been ruinous to the Church, and plant ourselves in the new position of the present, as defined in the Doctrine of the New Church.

There are as many forms of piety as there are churches. Every church has its own ritual. The Most Ancient Church worshiped in one way, the Ancient Church in another, the Jewish in another, and the Christian in another. The Catholics have their piety in one way, the Protestants theirs in another.

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And the several denominations differ from each other. But still what they call their worship in all cases belongs to the life of piety, and not to the life of charity. For charity is the conduct of life is the world; and worship is always performed in a certain seclusion from the world. If therefore charity is the internal life of religion, and piety its external form, it necessarily follows that charity is the internal, while piety is the external.

Nor can it be otherwise in the New Church. For as all religion has relation to the life, and a life of religion is to do good, it follows that however great the value of piety, still it is only piety; it is not charity; it is external and not internal, it is form and not essence. We may arrange our worship by the most faultless methods, and perform it with all due devoutness; we may even feel when we open the Word and dwell in humble reverence upon its untold wonders, that the LORD is with us, and that the place is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven, and still all this is piety, end not charity; it is external worship and not internal. Nor can we by any new analysis of doctrine, nor by any force of logic, however cogent, make it otherwise. Piety will remain piety, perfect it as you will, and charity will remain charity; and. charity is the internal of worship, and of religion, while piety is the external of the same. Piety is as the clothing of the body, while charity is the body itself. Consequently, our doctrines say that the laws which have respect to God are the head of the church; the laws which have respect to the neighbor are its body; and the ceremonies are the dress. (T. C. R. 55.) And as the dress of the body can never be so perfected as to be anything more than dress; so our life of piety can never be anything more than piety; and hence it must forever remain external worship.

But the life of charity is internal, and leads directly to regeneration; for as we do the works of charity we shall find out our own evils, and our weakness.

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The common tenor of our thoughts will show us how far we are away from the beauty of holiness and the glorious life of the LORD; how lean and empty we are; how given to anger and malice, ambition and self seeking, contempt of others, deceit and covetousness. The uses of life, the offices which we fill, the services which we perform, the difficulties often of our position, and our contact with others who are perhaps men of like passions, and who are struggling with similar evils, these things, we say, reveal to us ourselves; they show us how frail we are, how full of evil, how far we fall short of the possibilities of our lives, and how much we need the guiding hand, as well as the mercy and love, of our Father in the Heavens.

In resisting the evils of life which we discover during our life in the world, and in shunning these evils as sins, and looking to the LORD for help we are regenerated, redeemed and conjoined with the LORD. But this could not be done were we withdrawn from the world, and given up to a life of piety, a life of praying and reading devotional books in the cloister, or the monastery. For then our evils would lie hid; nor would we deplore them before the LORD, resist them, and have them removed. And beyond this the good which we might do, in the great kingdom of user, would be left undone; the blessings which the LORD would dispense to others through us would remain undispensed, and our own spirits within us, would become dwarfed, deranged and undone. Nevertheless piety is of inestimable value. Nor can we dispense with the forms of worship simply because they are external and not internal; for we live in an external world; and we require many external things; we must have clothing and shelter, as well as meat and drink.

Conjunction with the LORD and communion with the angels of heaven, is an end, and as such implies the requisite means of entering into it.

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These means we have in the life of piety. In the Church we learn the way of life; what to do and what to leave undone; we learn how to feel, what to believe, and how to act. When we read the Word, or hear it read, its Divine Truths explore our states and show us what we are, and what we ought to be. We become conscious of the Divine Presence; our evils stand forth in the light, and we are enabled to confess them before the LORD, and pray Him for deliverance from them. The duties of life also are opened to us in the sermon, and we find out the possibilities of good to us. Then our affections are lifted up by the songs of praise; and the evils of hell are driven back as we utter from the heart these thrilling strains of adoration and thanksgiving; and as we humble ourselves before the LORD in prayer.

The Writings say that

Man is in worship always when he is in the life of love and charity; external worship being only an effect proceeding from this.... Man, however, during his abode in the world, ought not to omit the practice of external worship; for by external worship things internal are excited; and by external worship things external are kept in a state of sanctity; so that internal things can enter by influx. Moreover, man is thereby initiated into knowledges, and prepared to receive things celestial. He is also gifted with states of sanctity, though he be ignorant thereof; which states are preserved by the LORD for his use in eternal life; for in the other life all mans states of life return.--See A. C. 1618.

The acts of piety are mementos in the life of charity. They give guidance to the conduct of life. They are signs and testimonials. By them we are committed in a certain way to lead a good life; and if we do not, our piety rebukes us for our want of charity. There is every reason, consequently, why we should enter most heartily into the life of piety. Piety is the open door which no one can shut. Entering into these forms of the life of religion, we can compel ourselves thus far, and we gain light and motive to enter more earnestly into the life of charity.

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And for this end our forms of piety ought to be without spot or blemish; our Temples ought to be gems of art; and our Ritual so charming and faultless that all may enter into it, rendering it with the spirit and the understanding also.

XI.

WHERE IS THE NEW CHURCH?

THE Writings are explicit in their definition of the Church, and in telling us where we may find it. We quote the following:

That which constitutes Heaven with man, also constitutes the Church; for as love and faith constitute Heaven, so also love and faith constitute the Church. Hence, from what has before been said of Heaven, it is evident what the Church is.

Where the LORD is acknowledged, and where the Word is, the Church is said to be; for the essentials of the Church are love to the LORD, and faith in Him, from the LORD; and the Word teaches how man is to live, in order that he may receive love and faith from the LORD.

In order that there may be a Church, there must be doctrine from the Word, since without doctrine the Word is not understood. But doctrine alone does not constitute the Church with man, but a life according to it; whence it follows that faith alone does not constitute the Church, but the life of faith, which is charity. Genuine doctrine is the doctrine of charity end of faith together, and not the doctrine of faith without that of charity; for the doctrine of charity and of faith together, is the doctrine of life, but not the doctrine of faith without the doctrine of charity.

They who are without the Church, and still acknowledge one God, and live according to their religious principles in a certain charity toward their neighbor, are in communion with those who are of the Church, for no one, who believes in God and lives well, is damned. Hence it is evident that the Church of the LORD is every where in the universal globe, although it is specifically where the LORD is acknowledged, and where there is the Word.

Every one with whom the Church is, is saved, hut every one with whom the Church is not, is condemned.--N. J. V. ii. 241-245.

The Church is so dependent on true Doctrine from the Word that it is a ruined Church when the genuine Truths of the Word are falsified.

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In the work on the Sacred Scripture it is written:

The Word is properly the Word, according to the understanding of it with men, that is, as it is understood; if it is not understood, it indeed is called the Word, but in reality it is not such with man. The Word is truth, according to the understanding of it; for the Word may be not the truth, inasmuch as it may be falsified. The Word is spirit and life according as it is understood; for the mere letter, without the understanding of it, is dead. Since, therefore, man has truth and life according to his understanding of the Word, so also he has faith and love according to it; for truth has relation to faith, and love to life. Now because it is by faith and love, and according to them, that the Church exists, it follows, that by the understanding of the Word, and according to it, the Church is a Church;--a noble Church if grounded in genuine truths, an ignoble one if not in genuine truths, and a ruined one if in falsified truths.

Moreover, the LORD is present and in conjunction with man through the Word, seeing that the LORD is the Word, and, as it were, converses in it with man, because the LORD is Divine Truth itself, and the Word is Divine Truth also. From this it plainly appears, that the LORD is present with man, and in conjunction with him, according to his understanding of the Word: for according to it man has truth, and from thence faith, and also love, and thence life. The LORD is also present with man through the reading of the Word; but He is conjoined with him through the understanding of truth derived from the Word, and according to it; and in proportion as the LORD is conjoined with man, so much of the Church is in man. The Church is properly in man; the Church without him is the Church with many others in whom the Church is. This is meant by the LORDS answer to the Pharisees, on their inquiring when the kingdom of God should come: The kingdom of God is within you, (Luke xvii. 21:) the kingdom of God here means the LORD, and the Church from Him.--S. S. 77, 78.

In the Arcana it is written:

The Word in the letter cannot be apprehended except by doctrine derived from the Word by one who is illustrated: for the sense of the letter is accommodated to the apprehension of men, even the simple; wherefore doctrine from the Word must be to them for a lamp.A. C. 10,324.

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In the Apocalypse Explained, the following propositions are demonstrated with great fullness:

1. No one can understand the Word without Doctrine.

2. No one can combat against evils and falsities and dissipate them without Doctrine from the Word.

3. No one can become spiritual without Doctrine from the Word within the Church where the Word is.

4. Doctrine cannot be deduced from any other source than from the Word; and by no others than by those who are enlightened by the LORD.

5. All things of Doctrine must be confirmed by the literal sense of the Word.--A. E. 356.

We may read the Word without doctrine, or with false doctrine, or with true doctrine. When we read it without doctrine, we confirm our state of life whether good or bad: when we read it with false doctrine, we confirm the same, and also the evils of life with which the false doctrine accords: when we read the Word with true doctrine, this also is confirmed. Thus when the merely natural man, or the skeptic, or infidel reads the Word many things are found confirming the states of life, leading into better states, when there is a willingness to be led heaven-ward; or leading further into self conceit and self love, if such is the bias of the life. Then, as is well known, those holding false doctrines go to the Word for proofs and confirmations of the same. And in this way doctrines the most absurd and ridiculous come to us often with a certain sanction of overpowering strength;and hence the prevalence of the damaging evils and falsities that devastate the Old Church. Heretics having determined, in advance, what they will believe and teach, go to the Word for confirmations of their theories, and for weapons of warfare in their strife with others: and they find in the Word what they seek after. For in the Word in the letter, there are appearances of truth that favor even the most fallacious dogmas, as well as genuine truths, and the confirmer of a false doctrine, without apprehending the reality, may revel in these were appearances.

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But true doctrine has confirmation from the Word vastly more comprehensive than any thing that is false can have. For indeed the Word from beginning to end is in the interest of the Truth, it is the clothing and representation of the Truth, and in its essence it is the truth itself.

In contrasting therefore the Old Church with the New, two opposite movements in respect to the Word are manifested: the one away from it, and the other to it, and into it. Ministers of the Old Church often confess that they do not know what to do with the Word. Much of it in the letter is enigmatical, paradoxical, and incomprehensible. Explanations, apologies, and defenses are demanded where none can be given. Rationalism (falsely so called) is making inroads into the sacred test, cutting away this, and modifying that, until the integrity of the Word is broken up, and its perfection marred. And all this from the fruitless attempt to read the Word without the illustration of true doctrine.

But in the New Church the study of the Word, and the culture that is founded in it, and that is formulated by it, is becoming more and more undivided and intense, as the Church is further enlarged and established. The Writings which not only open and reveal the internal senses of the Word, but which also, at the same time, determine and consolidate the literal sense in which the Word is in its fullness, its holiness, and its power,--fire becoming more and more the delight of the New Churchman. And in these Writings, the word is very nigh unto us, that we may hear it and do it. Indeed, these Heavenly doctrines are the enduring Presence of the LORD in His Church, they are the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, in the life of the man of the Church. See A. E.778; A. R. 87, 237; A. C. 9199, 9407, 9424.

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XII.

THE NEW CHURCH CELESTIAL, SPIRITUAL AND NATURAL.

INASMUCH as the Crowning Church is conjoined with the LORD as the Bride the Lambs Wife, it must be so universal as to include all forms of good, from the lowest to the highest. Included therefore in it are the Celestial, the Spiritual and the Natural;--nor these in any restricted sense but in the broadest possible sense. In the Natural degree, this Church will descend with its saving influences below all that was possible in the former Christian Church, and on the other hand, will ascend into the Celestial degree above all that was possible in the Most Ancient Church. That is, degrees of conscious life will be opened in this Crowning Church more interior than those opened in the Most Ancient Church: and at the same time the Influx of the Divine will descend deeper into the ultimate plane of life, bringing down the sweet influences of heaven, and reducing into the order of holiness, innumerable uses, offices, and functions that have hitherto been ruled out as profane and unholy. All this is involved in the regular succession of the previous dispensations and the descent of the Divine of the LORD from inmosts to ultimates, and the final evolution of the inmost from the outmost,--the highest from the lowest.

The Writings allow a threefold classification of the Church, in many places. Thus in the Arcana:

There are three kinds of men in the Church, namely: Those who are in love to the LORD; those who are in Charity toward their neighbor; and those who are in the affection of Truth.A. C. 3653.

And in the Apocalypse Revealed it is written:

Those who approach and worship the LORD alone come into heaven, they who are in the externals of the Church, as well as they that are in its internals, and its inmost.

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The called, the chosen, and the faithful signify those who are in the externals, the internals, and inmosts of the Church; who, because they are in the LORD, come into heaven.... These are in the externals, the internals, and the inmost, of the Church, because the LORDS Church is distinguished, like heaven, into three degrees. In the lowest degree are those who are in its externals, in the second degree are those who are in its internals, and in the third degree are those who are in its inmosts.A. R. 744.

And in the Apocalypse Explained we read:

And they who are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful. These words signify that they who are in love to the LORD, in love toward the neighbor, and in the faith of charity, are in truth concerning the Divine power of the LORD, and the Divine sanctity of the Word. This appears from the signification of the called by the LORD, that is those who are in love to the LORD; and from the signification of the chosen, or the elect, that is, those who are in love toward the neighbor; and from the signification of the faithful, that is those who are in the faith of charity: that these are understood by the called, chosen, and faithful, is evident from other parts of the Word, where they are mentioned; and from this consideration, that the angels of the third heaven, who are in love toward the LORD, are denominated the called, the angels of the second heaven, who are in lore toward the neighbor, the chosen or elect, and the angels of the first heaven, who are in the faith of charity, the faithful. In the Church of the LORD in the earth there are those who are of the third, of the second, and of the first heaven, and wile therefore after death become angels of those heavens.A. E. 1074.

The New Church is at once firm and unwavering in its principles of faith and life, end at the same time broad and catholic. What can surpass the breadth and catholicity of the two essentials of the New Church,--namely:

Acknowledgment of the LORD, and the conduct of life conformed to the Commandments of the Word. With these essentials of faith all things of the Church and of Heaven flow in and follow,without them there can be nothing either of Heaven or of the Church.

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The three essentials given is the work on the Divine Providence (No. 259), are really the same. From the explanation of the two witnesses given in the Apocalypse Revealed, 490 and 491, we learn that the New Church consists of those wile confess and acknowledge from the heart that the LORD is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, and Who are conjoined with Him by a life according to the Precepts of the Decalogue. For, in fact, it is only in the Word that we have these Precepts, and it is only in keeping them, and looking to the LORD for deliverance from the evils forbidden in them, that we practically acknowledge the Divinity of the LORD, and the Holiness of the Word. And as this again is the same as coming to the LORD alone, and repeating of evil deeds, therefore, is the Apocalypse Revealed it is written:

The Seven Churches treated of [in the Apocalypse] describe all those in the Christian Church who have religion, and from whom the New Church which is called the New Jerusalem, can be formed; and it is formed from those who approach the LORD alone and at the same time repent of their evil works. The rest who do not approach the LORD alone from the confirmed denial that His Human is Divine, and who do not repent of their evil works, are indeed in the Church but have not anything of the Church in them.A. R. 69.

Then the complex variety of the Coming Church as represented by these Churches of Asia is set forth as follows:

The Seven Churches do not mean seven Churches but the Church in the whole complex: which in itself is one, but which varies according to reception: and these varieties may be compared with the various members and organs in a perfect body which yet make one: indeed, they may be compared with the various jewels in a kings crown: and it is from this that the UNIVERSAL NEW CHURCH, with its varieties, is described by the Seven Churches in what now follows.A. R. 73.

The reader is referred to the second and third chapters of the Apocalypse as now opened in the Apocalypse Revealed for the full significance of the Seven Churches. The outline is as follows:

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To the Churches in the Christian Word:

To those there who primarily regard truths of doctrine and not goods of life: who are meant by the Ephesian Church.

To those there who are in goods as to life and in falsities as to doctrine: who are meant by the Church in Smyrna.

To those there who place the all of the Church in good works and not anything in truths: who are meant by the Church in Pergamos.

And to those there who are in faith from charity, as also to them who are in faith separated from charity: who are meant by the Church in Thyatira.

Those in the Christian world are treated of who are in dead worship which is without charity and faith: who are described by the Church in Sardis.

Those who are in truths from goods from the LORD: who are described by the Church in Philadelphia.

Those who alternately believe from themselves and from the Word and so profane holy things: who are described by the Church in Laodicea. All of these are called to the New Church of the LORD.

XIII.

HERESIES IN THE NEW CHURCH.

HERESIES have infested the Church in all ages. Opinions are promulgated contrary to the obvious doctrines which characterize the Church, and, in a certain sense constitute it; these promote divisions, and are heresies. And as one has well said:

New opinions

Divers and dangerous, which are heresies,

And not reformed, may prove pernicious.

Heresies began in the Most Ancient Church in the promulgation of the doctrine of Faith called Cain. We learn from the Arcana Coelestia that

The Doctrine of Faith which is called Cain, because it separated faith from love, also separated it from charity which is the offspring of love. Heresies exist wherever there is any Church, from this source, that they think upon one article of faith which they make the principal thing.

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For such is mans thought that if he dwells upon any one thing, this he will prefer to another, especially when his imagination claims it as his own discovery; and when the love of self and of the world conspire, then there is nothing that does not seemingly consent and confirm, even to the extent that they would smear that it is so, even when it is false.A. C. 362.

The Primitive Christian Church was infested with heresies almost from the beginning. Even before the direful defection of that Church at the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, various heresies had broken out, threatening the life of the Church. Indeed, the seeds of the Arian heresy were sown long before the days of Arius himself. But leaving these things we turn to our own times, that we may mention the heresies which from its beginning have infested the New Church.

History repeats itself in the recurrence of things similar and analogous. The same things cannot return, for the whole universe has moved onward. But similar things may return and do return. It is so in the Church, so in the state, so in life. The Doctrines of the New Church being the Spiritual Sense of the Word drawn from its literal sense and confirmed by it, hold a place above and within the Doctrines of the Old Church made up from the letter of the Word, and without reference to its internal sense. The heresies therefore that will infest the New Church must be more interior and insidious than those which have infested the Old Church. Space is allowed in this paper only for a brief mention of some of the more striking of these heresies.

Inasmuch as most heresies arise from the negative principle as defined in the Writings, it follows that they begin in doubting and denying some Doctrine of the Church. Then as this denial is confirmed the heretical dogma is evolved, and as the mind dwells upon it, the heresy in the end becomes seemingly affirmative, and is embraced with heart and promulgated with zeal.

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So it was with a noted heresy of the Gnostics in the Primitive Christian Church, in which certain of the Gnostics rejected the Divinity and authority of the Old Testament, and afterward they proceeded to pervert the New Testament. Then they denied the Humanity of the LORD, holding that His Human body was a mere phantom, and that He did not actually suffer and die.

Analogous to this is the heresy of Tulkism in the New Church. The disciples of this school dwell so much in the contemplation of the subjective realities of life that in the end they are led to deny or neglect its objective realities, holding to the things represented by the LORDS life in the world, and finally denying the reality of the representative facts. They seem not to realize the amazing power of the LORD in ultimates, and the truth of the Doctrines which teach that from inmost principles the LORD rules and governs intermediates by means of ultimates. See A. E. 41, 726 (III.) 1086. T. C. R. 153, 154.

In the Primitive Christian Church there were even from the beginning, non separatists, that is those who clung to the synagogues of the Jews, and attempted to infuse the Christian Religion into them. These Judaizing Christians continued their efforts in that direction until by the fiery mar tramp of Vespasian, the Jewish nation was destroyed, the Temple laid in ashes, and Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles.

We have in the New Church the analogous heresy of those who cling to the denominations of the Old Church with the hope of infusing the spirit of the New Church into the forms of the old. The experience of the past shows how fruitless are these efforts. The New wine does not agree with the old bottles. The Writings show that the New and the Old cannot dwell together in unity. Either the old forms are disintegrated and dissolved, or the men of the New Church by the attempted alliance are dwarfed in their development, and humiliated and balked in their efforts.

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The Writings say:

That the Faith of the New Church cannot by any means be together with the Faith of the former Church, and that in case they are together such a collision and conflict will ensue as to destroy everything relating to the Church in man.Brief Exposition, 102.

Analogous to the Arian heresy which infested the Primitive Christian Church is the denial of the Divinity of the Writings in which the LORD has made His Second Advent, and by which He is establishing the New Church.

The Arians and so likewise the Unitarians of the present day find much in the LORD JESUS CHRIST to admire. His character in their estimation is in a great measure faultless; and His influence in the world greater than that of Moses or any of the Prophets. But still His Divinity in any unqualified sense of the term is denied; and much more the doctrine that He is JEHOVAH GOD manifested in the flesh,--that He is the only God of heaven and earth and that His Human is Divine.

The denial of the Divinity of the Writings and the inspiration of the man through whom the LORD has effected His Second Coming, and has given these Heavenly Doctrines to His Church, is in many respects analogous to the Arian heresy. Swedenborg is spoken of as a most remarkable man, most highly illuminated, and unsurpassed as a mental Philosopher, and a Biblical expositor; and still they say that he was not Divinely inspired, nor are his Writings to be received as from the LORD, nor tire they infallibly true.

The letter of the Word may properly and truly be said to be Divine Truth.... This is really the only clear and fairly intelligible sense in which anything expressed in human language can be said to be Divine Truth. And I suppose it is admitted by all that the Writings of Swedenborg are not Divine Truth in this sense.

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The letter of the Word, and this alone, is this Truth.--So says this writer in the Messenger of April 10, doubting, qualifying, and seemingly explaining away the plain statements of the Writings, that the Word in the letter, and the internal sense evolved from the letter are alike the gift of the LORD Himself from whom the Word is, and who is the Word. See Preface to the Apocalypse Revealed, and A. R. 949, 953, 957, 958, 959, 909.

The difference is, as all New Churchmen know, that the Word in the letter is Divine Truth clothed in correspondences, significatives, and representatives, whereas the internal sense as revealed by the LORD in the Writings of Swedenborg, is Divine Truth unclothed of the drapery of correspondences, and presented in language doctrinal and abstract, and coming to us under the Divine auspices of the LORD dictated by Him, and divinely formulated as the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem: and it is evident that if the LORD had not known that Divine Truth could be revealed in this way, He would not have attempted it.

As far back as 1799 the Divinity of the Writings was denied by prominent New Churchmen in England as we learn from their books and periodicals. The following is an official manifesto of the Manchester Society of the New Church published in the Aurora, vol. i. page 297:

In this view we conceive even the Arcana Coelestia, themselves, ought to be regarded, not as you term it the LORDS own Word, opened and exhibited in its internal sense, but rather as the doctrine of that Word, containing such expositions of its internal sense, as may lead the well disposed mind to an acknowledgment, a reception, and perception, of that sense in itself. For the Arcana Coelestia, according to our idea of the blessed work, unfolds merely the doctrine of correspondences, and its application, according to which doctrine the Sacred Scriptures are declared to be written, and the unfolding and application of which are conducive and necessary to lead to the apprehension of the light and glory of the Holy Word. But we conceive that you exalt too highly this doctrine and its application when you any that it is the light and glory of the Holy Word shining in superior splendor:

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whereas we would rather say, it is instrumental, and was therefore given for the purpose of preparing the mind to admit and behold that light and glory, which the LORD Himself alone reveals to all such well-disposed intellects as read His Word under a serious apprehension of its interior spiritual contents and of the law of correspondences according to which it is written.

The editors of the Aurora combat the heresy of those who deny the Divinity of the Writings in extended remarks. We extract the following:

We are not afraid to assert and are at any time willing to demonstrate, that the most prejudiced and critical reader of Swedenborgs Theological Writings cannot bring to view any one essential mistake or real contradiction throughout the whole of his voluminous publications: which is at lease a very strong presumptive proof that he was, in a peculiar manner, taught of God and directed by Him to write what he hath written. We receive his Writings upon no other ground than his being instructed to write them by the LORD Himself, and that they are no less than the unfolding and bringing to light of the interior and spiritual meaning of His own Holy Word, the Sacred Scriptures: which are the alone source--the eternal fountain of all Divine truth and heavenly wisdom.Aurora, vol. i. page 157.

A writer in the Aurora treats of this subject quite exhaustively. The following is only a postscript to his communication:

I would beg leave by way of a general reply to the letter in your last Aurora signed S. M. to state that in agreement with many friends, I consider the Arcana to be the very Word in its internal sense revealed to Swedenborg by the LORD alone, and the doctrines of that very Word dictated by the LORD, and the memorabilia to be faithful narratives of facts that relate to discoveries and correspondences in the spiritual world written by command from the Lord, agreeable to the repeated declarations of Swedenborg.

Where Swedenborg considered an expositor, all minds would be attracted toward him, as a wonderful author: and other expositors might continually pour in upon us with new lights, in little agreement with the: internal sense of the infallible Word, which in itself contains an infinitum, such as eternity cannot unfold, but still in the regular and connected order of its own series--Aurora, vol. i. pages 331, 332; London, 1799.

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XIV.

NEW THINGS FOR THE NEW CHURCH.

THE Doctrines of the New Church are new both in form and essence. Words are employed in the Writings and forms of speech altogether unusual in the Theological Books of the Old Church. The terminology in common previous to the publication of the Arcana was found inadequate to the full expression of the New Doctrines, consequently it was provided by the LORD that new expressions should be introduced, and that terms already in use should be clearly defined, and employed with an exactitude of meaning unusual and unknown.

In our already extended Paper on the New Church, space only remains for a brief mention of the new things revealed for the New Church, and among these things, the New Forms of Speech used in defining and expressing the New Doctrines deserve more than a passing notice. Many have complained of this seemingly new language, and have blamed the translators with it, and have resorted to various expedients to amend, or even to abolish it; yet still we should be most sadly at a loss without those very expressions which at first seem like stumbling-blocks.

The Divine Human, and the Human Divine, or the Divine Humanity, and the Human Divinity are expressions which rarely if ever occurred previous to their introduction by Swedenborg. And for the reason, no doubt, that the ideas which the words express had no place in the Theology of the Old Church.

Previous to the revelations made for the New Church, the Spiritual World was seldom if ever spoken of. Heaven and hell were known to exist even from the most ancient times; but they were not revealed as existing in an actual world illuminated with the Spiritual Sun, the radiant sphere of the LORD.

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Much less was the nature of that world comprehended in the Churches. The doctrine, therefore, of the Spiritual Universe constituted of spiritual substance, and inhabited by spiritual beings is among the new things revealed for the New Church.

Then the descriptions given of the form and order of the Heavens, showing that they are according to the form of the LORD, that is, the Divine Human form, and that there are innumerable societies there, each with its own special function and delight, and all subordinated to the Divine Life of the LORD, are new revelations, the doctrines revealed are new, and the language is new. And the same is true of the descriptions of the hells.

Then the doctrine of degrees and correspondences, and the influx of the one Divine Life of the LORD into all forms throughout the universe, is a new doctrine, and the forms of speech which embody and express it are unusual, and they cannot but; strike the Old Churchman as strange and unwelcome. And we might mention many other things. But we shall conclude this notice of the new things revealed for the New Church by quoting from the Memorabilia things that are chronicled in the very Heavens as New Things revealed by the LORD at His Second Coming. In the Conjugial Love Swedenborg says:

Once as to my spirit I was raised into the angelic heaven and into one of its societies: and then some of the wise ones there came to me and said, What is there new from the earth? I said to them, this is new: That the LORD has revealed Arcana, which in excellence exceed the Arcana hitherto revealed from the beginning of the Church: They asked, what are they? I said, they are these:

I. That in the Word, in all things and in each particular of it, there is a spiritual sense corresponding with the natural sense, and that by means of this sense there is conjunction of the men of the Church with the LORD and consociation with the angels, and that the holiness of the Word resides therein.

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II. That the correspondences, of which the spiritual sense of the Word consists, are revealed. The angels asked, did not the inhabitants of the world know before concerning correspondences? I said that they knew nothing at all, and that these correspondences had lain concealed now for some thousands of years, namely, ever since the time of Job: and that with those who lived at that time and before it, the science of correspondences was the Science of sciences, from which they had wisdom, because they had knowledge of the spiritual things which are of Heaven, and thence of the Church: but that this science, because it was turned into an idolatrous science, was by the Divine Providence of the LORD so obliterated and lost, that no one saw any sign of it: but that still it is now revealed by the LORD in order that there may be effected a conjunction of the men of the Church with Him and consociation with the angels: and this is effected by means of the Word in which all things and each particular are correspondences. The angels rejoiced greatly that it had pleased the LORD to reveal this great Arcanum so deeply concealed during some thousands of years: and they said it was for the end that the Christian Church, which is founded upon this Word and is now at its end, may again revive and draw breath through heaven from the LORD. They asked whether by that science it is at this day disclosed what Baptism and what the Holy Supper signify about which they have hitherto thought so variously, and I answered that it was disclosed.

III. I said further that at this day it is revealed by the LORD about the life of man after death: the angels said, what of the life after death? Who does not know that man lives after death? I answered, they know and do not know: they say that it is not man that thus lives but his soul, and that this lives a spirit, and of a spirit, they cherish an idea as of wind or ether, and that it does not live a man until after the day of the Last Judgment, and that then the corporeal things which they had left in the world, although eaten up by worms, mice and fishes, will again be collected and again fitted together into a body, and that men are thus to rise again. The angels said, what is this? Who does not know that a man lives a man after death, with the difference alone that he then lives a spiritual man, and that they do not know one distinction, except that they are in a more perfect state?

IV. The angels asked, what do they know of our world, and of heaven and hell? I said that they knew nothing; but that at this day the LORD has revealed the nature of the world in which the angels and spirits live, thus the nature of heaven and of hell: as also that angels and spirits are in conjunction with men: besides many wonderful things concerning them.

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The angels were glad that it had pleased the LORD to disclose such things, that man from ignorance may no longer be in uncertainty respecting his immortality.

V. I said further, that at this day the LORD has revealed that in your world there is another sun than ours, and that the sun of your world is pure lore, and that the sun of our world is pure fire: and that on this account all that which proceeds from your sun, because it is pure love, partakes of life, and all which proceeds from ours, because it is pure ire, partakes nothing of life: and that hence is the difference between the spiritual and natural, which difference, hitherto unknown, is also revealed. From which it has become known, whence the light is which illuminates the human understanding with wisdom, and whence the heat is which kindles the human will with love.

VI. That it is furthermore revealed that there are three degrees of life, and that thence there are three heavens, and that the human mind is distinguished into these degrees, and that thence man correspond with the three heavens. The angels said, did they not know this before? I answered that they knew concerning the degrees between more and less, but nothing of the degrees between prior and posterior.

VII. The angels asked whether any thing more beside these are revealed: I said that there were more, which are concerning the Last Judgment: concerning the LORD, that He is the God of heaven and earth; that God is one both in Person and Essence in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that He is the LORD: also concerning the New Church to be re-established (instauranda) by Him, and concerning the doctrine of that Church: concerning the holiness of the Sacred Scripture: that the Apocalypse also is revealed, which could not have been revealed, even as to a single little verse, except by the LORD: moreover concerning the inhabitants of the planets and concerning the earths in the universe: beside many memorable and wonderful things from the spiritual world, by means of which very many things which are of wisdom are revealed from heaven.

The angels from having heard this rejoiced greatly, but they perceived sadness in me and asked, whence is your sadness? I said that those Arcana at this day revealed by the LORD although in excellence and worth (dignitate) they exceed the knowledges hitherto made known, still on earth are reputed as of no value. At this the angels wondered, and entreated of the LORD, that they might be permitted to look down into the world: and they looked down, and beheld were darkness there: and it was said to them that those Arcana, should be written upon paper, and that the paper be let down upon earth, and they would see a prodigy: and it was done so: and behold, the paper on which those Arcana were written was lee down from heaven and in its progress, while it was yet in the spiritual world, it shone as a star, but when it descended into the natural world, the light disappeared, and in the same degree as it fell I was covered with darkness.

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And when it was let down by the angels into companies where were the learned and erudite from the clergy and the laity, there was heard a murmur from many in which were these expressions: What is this? Is it anything? What does it concern us, whether we know them or do not know them? Are they not the productions (ftus) of the brain? And it appeared as if some took the paper and folded it, rolled and unrolled it with their fingers in order that they might obliterate the writing: and it appeared as if some tore it in pieces, and some as if they wanted to trample upon it with their feet: but they were withheld by the LORD from that enormity, and it was commanded the angels to draw it back and guard it: and because the angels became sad and thought how long it would be thus, it was said: Until (usque ad) a time and times and half a time.--Rev. xii. 14.

After this, speaking with the angels, I said that something further is revealed in the .world by the LORD: they asked what this was: I said:

Concerning love truly conjugial and its heavenly delights (delitiis). The angels said: Who does not know that the delights of conjugial love exceed the delights of all loves? and who cannot see that into some love are brought together all the blessedness, satisfactions and delights (incuditates) which can ever be conferred by the LORD, and that this receptacle of them is love truly conjugial which is able to receive and perceive them to a full sense (ad plenum sensum)? I answered that they do not know this, because they have not come to the LORD and lived according to His precepts, by shunning evils as sins and by doing goods: and that love truly conjugial with its delights is solely from the LORD and is given to those who live according to His precepts; thus that it is given to those who are received into the New Church of the LORD which in the Apocalypse is meant by the New Jerusalem.--C. L. 532, 533, 534.

See Apocalypse Explained, No. 641, which we present in an appended note, page 275, and from which it will he seen that the Church is established in both worlds, both the Natural and the Spiritual, and that there is Divine Revelation in both.

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XV.

SCIENCE IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

THE New Church has no conflict with true Science but is in full harmony with it and rests upon it. Much of the Science of the present day however is so filled with Naturalism that; it does not acknowledge Divine Revelation, and comes into direct conflict with it. We must therefore distinguish between true Science and that which is false. False Science is flooding the old Church and the World with its theories and leading away from the LORD and the Word, and into Naturalism.

The Writings describe the state of Naturalists in the other life in many places. We quote the following:

Every man who has become a naturalist by means of thought derived from nature, remains such also after death, calling all the objects that he sees in the spiritual world, natural, because they are similar to those in the natural world. Men of this kind are however enlightened and taught by the angels that these objects are not natural, but that they are the appearances of natural things and they are convinced so far as to affirm that this is so. Still they relapse and worship nature, as they had done in the world, until, at length, separating themselves from the angels, they fall into hell and cannot be rescued from it to eternity. The reason of this is that their soul is not spiritual but natural, like that of the beasts, with the faculty still of thinking and speaking, because they were born men. The hells, at this day, more than at any former period, are filled with men of this class. At the present day, naturalism has almost deluged the Church, and can only be dispersed by means of rational arguments, which will enable man to see that this is so. (See Athanasian Creed, 107.)

Such are the naturalists and such the prevalent condition of the scientific world to-day. Thinking from nature and from space and time, which belong to it, the majority of scientific men reject the spiritual and the LORD, who is the source of all life.

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In the Writings, the simple minded, who can with difficulty remove the ideas of space, and time from their thought, are advised to avoid thinking of lofty spiritual subjects, as omnipresence, omniscience, etc., from any reasoning of the understanding, but simply to believe them from religion; or to acknowledge that they exist, because they are attributes of God, God being everywhere and infinite, and because the Word also teaches this. (See Athan. Creed, 107.) In this may, to some extent, the simple may be preserved from in materialism.

There are many who delight in the study of Science. There is a peculiar charm in prying into natures secrets and discovering her governing laws. But the difficulties of this work are all but overwhelming. We live in a world of appearances, and if we reason altogether from the plane of the senses, we are continually led into erroneous conclusions. The Writings say that

With the Ancients it was altogether different. With them scientifics treated of the correspondences of things in the natural world with things in the spiritual world. The scientifics which are now called philosophical, such as are those of Aristotle, were unknown to them.... The scientifics which succeeded the above, and which are properly called philosophical, rather withdraw the mind from the knowledge of spiritual and celestial things, because they may also be applied to confirm falsities, and they likewise tend to obscure the mind when truths are confirmed by them, inasmuch as most of them were expressions, whereby confirmations are effected, which are apprehended by few, and concerning which even those few dispute.A. C. 4966.

The tendency toward naturalism must increase, rather than diminish, because scientific education more and more drifts in that direction; and because naturalism quite consistently belongs to the fallen church, which has turned from the LORD and consequently from truth and good. (See T. C. R. 173, 339.) The Ancients were not as subject to error as we are. They cultivated the Science of Correspondences.

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They saw the spiritual in the natural and were in wisdom accordingly. But as man withdrew farther and farther from the LORD and consequently sank deeper and deeper into evil, he immersed himself in materialism. To-day, such is the construction of the Human mind, and so far has it degenerated, that even what he calls truth is susceptible of diverse and even opposite applications, an that he may confirm with it either truth or falsity.

How essential, then, is a new Revelation, which shall instruct man how to distinguish the true from the false, that he may rise out of his deplorable condition into a higher state, in which he may gratify his laudable desire for knowledge with the hope of temporal and eternal profit.

In working out this much needed reformation, the first step necessary is an earnest desire to know the truth--not for any selfish purpose, but simply from a love of the truth, as from and of the LORD.

The understanding conferred upon man, may be elevated into the interior light of heaven, provided only he desires, from a principle of love to know the truth.Athan. Creed, 107.

It is useless to investigate the philosophy offered by the Church, without this primal love of truth. Its precepts will not be comprehended nor will its beauty and grandeur appear. Certain of its: statements may please for the moment and even win eulogiums, but their acceptance will be but superficial and ephemeral. When, from a sincere desire to learn the truth, man permits himself to be taught of the LORD, by means of His Revelation, he, for the first time, understands real causes and views all natural phenomena, as effects. The facts he had learned before remain just as true, but are now vivified and arranged in an orderly manner. New facts are added, both spiritual and natural. His method of thought is inverted.

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He looks from within out, from above down and finds that he is approaching an entirely new philosophy. He begins to appreciate something of the order of thought and of creation. He feels the full force of the passage in the Writings which reads: those who do not conceive the creation of the universe and all things therein by continual mediations from the First, cannot but build unconnected hypotheses, disjointed from their causes, which, when examined by a mind that looks interiorly into things, appear not like houses, but like heaps of rubbish.D. L. W. 303.

Viewed in interior light, what is the state of the science of to-day? Do we find consistency, order harmony, unity? Is it like a beautiful picture with the LORD as the centre and all around arranged with light and shade into bold relief?

True science, the science which the Church teaches, is harmonious and consistent. It penetrates deeper than the plane of the senses and unfolds infinitely more than natural thought can suggest or merely natural reason expound. Science is the knowledge of nature, and its philosophy gives us an insight into the orderly arrangement of all things. So far from being in conflict with the Church, it is a part of it. Knowledges of facts are instruments to serve the internal man in his regeneration (Sec A. C. 6057.) They are the initials of thought and render rationality possible. How dangerous, then, is their perversion. How fatal to regeneration is the naturalism which inverts true order and elevates material things above spiritual, or substitutes matter for spirit. The servant is not greater than his LORD.

The New Church promises here, as everywhere else, to make all things new. First, as the crowning truth of all, and from which all proceed, will it be acknowledged that the LORD JESUS CHRIST is the Creator of the universe; that He, as Very-Man, and. because He it; Very-Man, created the universe from Himself.

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It will be seen that there proceed from Him, as the Spiritual Sun, Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. These are not volatile, ethereal, nothings; but Substance and Form, self-subsisting and sole-subsisting. They are the all of life throughout all creation from highest to lowest. They flow from within into every object and form. In their manifestation, they proceed as the Divine of love by heat, the Divine of wisdom by light and the Divine of use by atmospheres. In ultimates they from earths, in which they terminate in simultaneous order. Inmostly, is love, or like itself, the force of acting; mediately, is the force of creating; and next that of forming. These lie hidden in everything in the universe, and constitute the continuous presence of the LORD.

Natural forms derive their origin from the spiritual contained within, which is the universal sphere of the Divine. From the spiritual Sun comes the natural; from this proceed atmospheres, and from these the earths are formed. Natural forms are, of themselves, dead. All their activity is derived from the spiritual.

Mans love is his life, derived from the universal sphere in its various degrees. His affections are the continuations and derivations of love, flowing like streams from the fountain, producing uses in forms and therein advancing, from first principles to last. These forms are effects, which are the effigies of uses, and in these, uses advance to the outmost fibre of the body. Thus mans organs are all and each of them forms of uses. And to comprehend human physiology, one must bear in mind, not only the form and structure of the various parts of the body, but also their functions as determined from their several uses. This can only be known accurately by a careful study of the Writings, particularly where correspondences with the Grand Man, are given. Thus instructed, the investigator is better qualified to rationally interpret the various bodily functions in their order and workings.

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Life, it must be remembered, applies itself to man, only all the uses in which he is employed. Hence is conjunction. These uses are arranged in man in a series, and the Divine life applies itself to these in all their gradations. Hence is the soul. This is true of all men collectively, of nations, cities, families, as well as or the individual.

All things in the world tend to the human form, for all are forms of uses which are subservient to main. All things were made for man, and by him have communication with the other world. (See A. C. 3702.)

If the philosopher thoroughly understands the correspondences of the organism of man with Heaven, or the Grand Man, he will be better prepared to explore nature outside of man; for man, as to his body, is a little world, a microcosm, and all without him corresponds with all within him.

Natural things do not live of themselves, but only by influx. The beat and light from over sun act from their spiritual correspondence, and then they only operate in opening the extreme parts of the body, that internal heat may flow in. Physiology has no right to claim that vital heat comes from combustion in the animal economy, or is simply a resultant of activity. This is merely an appearance, and is itself dependent on interior causes. Love is the origin of vital heat. Love proceeds as heat from the spiritual sun, where the LORD is, and is so felt by the angels. Spiritual heat, which in its essence is love, flows by correspondence into the heart and blood, and gives it heat, and at the same time vivifies it. (See D. L. W. 379.)

In the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, forms are produced and maintained by the lowest degree of the universal influx merely. Animals are correspondent forms of natural affections.

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Vegetables derive their forms from the atmospheres, in which there is such a creative endeavor from the determination of spiritual forces. These latter continually tend toward the human form and so impress every terrestrial thing. Thus there is in every particle of matter an endeavor to shape itself into form, which more and more resembles the human as we rise in the order of creation. Crystallize a salt, and it figures a pigmy forest of plants; examine a. tree, and its growth of leaf, circulation of sap, blossom and fruit, present more than a fanciful resemblance to animal life.

Creation, then, is a panorama, imaging the LORD as very man. But what of its blemishes? What of venomous animal, noxious plant and poisonous mineral? What of devastating storm, destructive earthquake? What of sorrow, suffering, disease, untimely death? If delight and happiness flow into uses constituting their reward, according to their degree, whence come evil uses with consequent wretchedness and misery? Neither from the LORD nor from heaven. Neither from natures sun, nor from earth itself. But from hell.

Everything spiritual endeavors to clothe itself with a material body. The lowest or natural degree of man, is no longer controlled by influx direct from heaves. Its order is inverted. In origin it is still the LORDS, in reception, it bears embosomed the venom of hell. Like the suns ray poured into the poisonous plant, it is distorted unto death. Evil uses, then, flow from hell and clothe themselves with whatever of filth they can find, in the stagnant pool, the savage beast, the unregenerated mind.

From this brief outline, embracing some leading points in true Science, it becomes apparent how far man has wandered from a just conception of creation and of matter, its laws and relations. The primal cause of this confusion, is plainly the lack of the conception of God as a man; for, although the idea of His unity and Humanity is implanted by the LORD in every one, it fades away in the life of evil and in the mind obscured by false doctrines.

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This primal conception lost, all else is confused. Man gropes about in spiritual darkness and finally thinks and acts in the treacherous light of nature. The heavenly windows of His mind are closed and he revolves in a perpetual whirl of appearances. His ingenuity contrives all sorts of theories, which flourish for a while and finally sink into oblivion before some never and more subtle invention. Setting out from the impressions of the senses, his science soon takes these impressions for truth and reasons from them accordingly.

But the view is not all so dark and gloomy. Some there are, who have sought after knowledge, submitting self to the Word and to the LORDS manifold working is nature. Their horizon is narrow, perhaps, but what they have discovered, because true, will never perish. And even others, though actuated by nothing higher than a love of being called wise, have brought minds to the work well adapted to it and have discovered thousands of invaluable facts.

These facts will not be rejected, but will be examined in the light of the New Church. By means of the doctrine of correspondences, as expounded in the Writings, man is enabled to discriminate between cause and effect, between spiritual and natural, between true wisdom which reasons from interior light and that false reasoning, which is founded only in the impressions of the senses. Thus will be developed a philosophy, which will be enduring, because orderly; true, because from the LORD; and therefore both comprehensive and satisfactory.

It may not be unprofitable to briefly examine some of the false theories of present science the better to comprehend the reformation required.

One of the first steps necessary, is the renovation of Psychology.

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Such a labor is essential before materialism will release its hold on philosophy and permit the axiomatic acknowledgment of the LORD as the Cause and Sustainer of the universe. But Philosophy is not advanced by the nominal acknowledgment of a Divine Being, when this is placed infinitely distant, or diffused through space as the first Source of things. Nor does the conception of God as three Persons add one iota of strength; for, Creation is an image representative of God-Man, and this image cannot be seen by him who denies that the LORD is a Man; nor can it be seen by him who denies that God is One.

In the Spiritual Diary and elsewhere are recorded frequent conversations between Swedenborg and eminent philosophers and scientists, whose teachings still exert a powerful influence in the learned World. In every instance the lesson is to disabuse these teachings of their falsities and to present them in their true light. His denunciations of Aristotle and his followers apply more to the materialistic abuse of logic, than to logic itself. (See S. D. 39470-55, 3959-61. A. C. 4446-7; 4658.) His conversations with Newton were but to correct errors in science, some of them taught by Newton himself and others introduced by his followers. (See S. D. 6064, and S. D. Part vii. p. 85.) The latter reference ends with these remarkable words, which clearly explain the use and importance of this permitted meeting with this philosopher, Now I know that colors are modifications of light in objects, in the forms of which they make common planes, above which light is variegated according to the forms of the parts; hence are colors. These are the words of Newton himself, which he wishes that I should communicate.

Speaking of the philosophy and science of to-day Swedenborg says:

Philosophy in its every department has had no other effect than to darken mens minds, and thus to shut the way to a view of interior and universal things;

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for it consists of were terms and in disputes concerning them; besides, so-called rational philosophy so confines the ideas, that the mind cleaves only to particular and thus to the dust; besides, it not only obstructs the way to interior things, but also blinds the mind and utterly banishes faith, so that in the other life, a philosopher who has dwelt much on or indulged in such studies, becomes stupid and beyond all others, ignorant. As to mechanical science, when one indulges too much in mechanical praxis, he forms his mind so as to believe that not only nature, but even spiritual and celestial things consists of nothing but what is mechanical; and if he cannot reduce them to mechanical principles, and their forces, he believes nothing, and thus becomes corporeal and earthly. Geometry and the like also concentrate the mind and impede it from advancing into universals; besides, it supposes nothing to exist but what is geometrical or mechanical, whereas geometry extends not beyond terrestrial and corporeal forms.

No knowledges are injurious provided a man does not place everything in them, but regards an ulterior end. Knowledges are spiritual riches, on which the understanding of things can be founded. (See S. D. 767 to 773. A. C. 3345.)

Hence it may be seen that to escape from materialism, the man of science must constantly look to uses as ends and especially must he look to the LORD and continually elevate his thoughts above merely earthly things. (See S. D. 866, 4578, 4655.)

True intelligence consists in seeing and perceiving what is true and good, and thence what is false and evil. Mans interiors, are formed in heaven, his exteriors, in the world. True intelligence demands that these interiors shall flow into the exteriors and so give perception. (See H. H. 346 to 356 with the numerous references.)

Psychology legitimately expounded, physiologists will have seed to thoroughly remodel their theories of the brain and derivative nervous systems, and, in fact, of the whole organism. Nowhere but in the Writings, can be found the genuine definition of thought, idea, sensation and emotion, of nerve-force, vital-farce, and function.

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New Church philosophy is not satisfied with the chemical theories of the origin of animal heat, of the digestion of food, and of the blood-metamorphoses, any more than it is with the theory, which affirms thought to be the result of chemical changes in brain-tissue. Nor can it tolerate the prevailing theory of protoplasm, as the parent of all things. The sea yields from its deaths a, homogeneous, quivering substance, which is called, bioplasm, or life-forming substance. With avidity explorers bottle this bioplasm, study its microscopic structure, analyze it, and conclude that it is the long sought for prima causa vit. Hereafter every seed, every animal, every man, is reduced, at least theoretically, to a mass of quivering jelly, formless, organless, having only the capacity of moving, amboid-like, and here philosophy points to the origin of life!

Next, Natural History will receive a remodeling. The present classification of animals, including man, is imperfect. Man, monkey, horse, bat and whale, because they all suckle their young and have warm blood, the huddled together into one class. In genuine science, man will be acknowledged as immeasurably above all the rest of creation. He has the capacity of being conjoined forever with the LORD by will end understanding. The were animal is but a form of some affection, born into unchangeable desires and the consequent instinctive science and it perishes with, its natural life.

Use is the essential characteristic, not form only. Swedenborg calls the whale a fish, because of its correspondence, and consequently of its use.

The same error, that is classifying according to form instead of use, externals also, to the science of Botany. Noxious and edible plants are grouped in one family, because of certain external similarities, despite their internal and utilitarian incompatibleness. This is one of the many illustrations showing the damaging influence of the consummated Church upon Science.

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These errors, arise not so much from mistake of judgment, as from the life which rejects charity and buries use with it. Let the Botanist in classifying plants, consult use and he will not associate the paralyzing lathyrus with the nourishing bean.

Spontaneous generation is another fact in nature, which to-day finds scarcely one to defend it. Swedenborg however says, after describing the origin of noxious things, whether such things exist from eggs carried thither, either by the air, or by rain, or by the living of water, or whether they exist from humors and stenches is a question. That such noxious animalcules and insects as are mentioned above are hatched from eggs carried thither or lying hid from creation everywhere in the earth, is not supported by general experience, because worms exist in seeds, in nuts, in woods, in stones, yea from leaves; also upon plants and in them, lice and moths, which accord with them; flies also appear in houses, fields and woods, in summer, produced in great abundance not from any oviform matter; as is likewise the case with those animalcules that devour meadows and lawns and in some hot places fill and infest the air, besides those which swim and fly invisible in fetid waters, sour wines and pestilential air. These facts favor the opinion of those who say that smells, effluvia, and exhalations themselves, rising from plants, earths and ponds, also give origin to such animalcules. That afterwards when they are produced they are propagated either by eggs or spawn, does not disprove their immediate origin.D. L. W. 342.

Indeed, generation itself, as explained by science, will demand an entire renovation. It is falsely expounded in plant-life and imperfectly studied in animals. Not only is the spiritual presentation of the subject neglected or erroneously presented, but also the physical phenomena are lamentably misunderstood and defectively expressed.

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Physiology stumbles at the very initiament of foundation and Botany introduces the fallacy that plants are male and female, possessing organs, which are compared to the generative parts of animals of both sexes. Swedenborg, presenting us with the true state of things, teaches that plants are all male, the earth only, being female. (See T. C. R. 585.)

What a destructive warfare will the Church wage against an arrogant physiology and a falsely systematized botany!

Physicists inform us that the suns ray is composed of seven or more colors, and that these may be reduced to three primary colors, red, blue and yellow. From these all combinations, new colors and shades arise.

True science, however, teaches that all colors are reducible to two, red and white; and that their modifications ground of dark, give rise to every possible variation.

Much of the confusion which prevails in Physics, arises from the notions entertained concerning Force. Reluctant to consider it as spiritual, theorists regard it as an inherent property of matter; or, disregarding any conception of its nature, confine themselves to the investigation of its effects. But how can these effects be explained or systematized with their cause undetermined or treated of, upon purely hypothetical grounds? Illogical conclusions and faulty classification must result. (Sec D. L. W. 185.) Take, by way of example, the theory of best and light as radiations flow the sun, differing in wave length only. Radiant heat is said to be identical with light, differing from red light, for instance, as red from blue, merely in the length of its waves.

A ball of lime is gradually heated. At first, it gives off only rays of heat; as its temperature increases, it adds a low red light. With a further rise of temperature, it gives off yellow, blue, etc., until finally when incandescent, its light is white as that of the sun, thus containing all the colors of sunlight.

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When the Solar Spectrum is formed by means of a prism of rock-salt, the thermo-electric pile proves the existence of heat in all the colored spaces, increasing, however, down to the red, and attaining its maximum beyond the visible light, just as if heat were (as it must be) light with longer waves. (See Chamberss Encyclopedia, vol. v. last edition.)

But heat is not light. What are called Forces in nature, are not material, nor are they inherent in matter. They are manifestations of activity, which proceeds from the LORD alone. And they are varied in their reception by matter. Thus there are several emanations from the sun: aura; ether and atmosphere. These are perfectly distinct, the purer occupying the interstices of the lower and coarser. Activity in one of these spheres is manifested as magnetism, in another as heat, in another as sound, and so on. (Compare D. L. W. 176 and S. D. 222.) When in experimentation, one force, as magnetism, for instance, seems converted into another, as heat, it is merely this force manifested is a different medium. For, as was said, these solar emanations, are intimately associated in all things in the earth. Force, manifested as magnetism, arranges particles into certain orders, and heat changes the state of matter and arouses it into activity. The atmospheres hold substances in their proper form. The external of form, as the surface of the body, is maintained by the aerial atmosphere; the internals, as the viscera, are maintained in their form by an aethereal atmosphere.

To bring Science and Philosophy out of its chaos, then, we must appeal to the Revelations for the New church, which will afford us all needed assistanceby the Science of Correspondences, by the doctrines of forms, of cause and effect, by supplying facts corrective and supplementary to what of science we already know; and also, by the Doctrine of Degrees.

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The knowledge or degrees is, as it were, the key to open the causes of things and to enter into them; without it scarcely anything of cause can be known; for without it, the objects and subjects of both worlds appear so general as to seem to have nothing in them but what is seen with the eye. The interior things which lie hid, can by no means be discovered, unless degrees are understood.... Nothing, so far as I am aware, has hitherto been known of Discrete Degrees.... I can declare, that the angels are in sadness on account of the darkness that prevails upon earth. They say that light is scarcely anywhere to be seen, and that men seize on and confirm fallacies and thereby multiply falsities upon falsities; and to confirm them, devise by reasonings grounded in falses and in truths falsified, such figments as cannot be dispelled, so great is the darkness that prevails concerning causes and the ignorance concerning truths. (See D. L. W. 181 and 185.)

May the glorious clay soon come, when man will rise out of the darkness of self-derived intelligence and appeal to the Open Word of God for all that concerns his life, its moral government, its civil and political instruction, its philosophy, its science, its everything.

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NOTES.

THINGS PERSONAL AND OTHERWISE.The allusions to persons in the first edition of WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, NO. III., we have as far as possible removed in issuing a second edition. We regret that we were drawn aside from our usual course in this particular, as it is not our purpose to deal with persons in the SERIAL, but only with principles.

The Translation of the Word.

IN a report to the Ecclesiastical Committee of the General Convention, June 1877, the writer opposes a new translation of the Word to be made by the New Church for its use, advising the LORDS Church to look to the vastate church for any improvement in the present version.

We would here examine a few of the reasons given, why the old church translation should be retained despite its many mistakes, and why we should wait until the old church should make a better rendering, a rendering which shall be accurate enough for deriving therefrom the internal sense, although that church denies the existence of such a sense. Naturally enough the writer does not mention the fact that the internal sense is liable to be mutilated and destroyed by mistranslations, and yet this is plainly affirmed in the Writings where we read: Because every word there signifies some spiritual thing, therefore not a word can be wanting, without the series of the internal sense thereby suffering a change.L. J. 41.

Nor let it be thought that this mutilation of the internal sense affects only those who study the internal sense while it is of no importance to little children and to the simple minded, for each verse of the Word communicates with some particular society of heaven (T. C. R. 231); therefore if a Word of it is wanting or a wrong one substituted the heavenly influx from that society is checked or diverted, and when this occurs frequently, the whole of heaven has no more a firm foundation in the minds of men, nor are the minds of men connected in a full measure with heaven and with the LORD. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

One of the main ideas of the report is that no one can understand the LORD perfectly, and the LORD does not speak with the expectation of being perfectly understood, though on the other hand it is said that the LORD speaks to all His children in language and ideas perfectly suited them. The word perfect is here evidently used to cover a good deal of loose thought. If the writer meant to say, that the inmost Divine Sense of the Word cannot be understood, he would of course be right, but he evidently means something else.

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The context shows that the statement refers not to the Divine Sense, but to the angelic and even to the natural sense; else indeed it would have no relevance to the subject under consideration. This part of the argument might be summed up in the words: We cannot translate the Word perfectly, therefore it is not worth while to make any improvement in the translation. Even if we should see 10,000 or more mistakes, it is not worth while to correct them, because even then the work will not be perfect. It is hardly necessary to say how destructive of progress such a course would be. We might as well say that because we cannot lead a perfect life, therefore it is not worth while to lay aside the many faults we may discover in ourselves. That this would not show a love of perfection, but a reprehensible disregard of it must be apparent to all.

One of the main objects according to this writer seems to be to present a translation easily intelligible to little children; these seem to be the main persons he has in view in his translation or rather opposition to a new translation by the Church. The question whether the version will give the Divine Word with exactness seems to be considered of secondary importance, if only the translation be elegant and pleasing to the natural man.

The passage quoted in the report from A. C. 1571 seems however hardly to favor giving the chief importance to such external elegance, for we read there.

In the literal sense scarce anything appears but a something without order, nevertheless when it is read by man, particularly by a little boy or girl, it becomes by degrees as it ascends, more beautiful and delightful, and at length is presented before the LORD as the image of a man.

But the translations favored in the report would do away with this something without order, and substitute some order devised by man for the Word as the LORD gave it.

The writer goes on to state that the unfolding of the interior senses is an unfolding of the ideas conveyed by the letter to the mind of the hearers. Even granting this supposition, this would be sufficient to refute the writers position, for it would necessarily follow that as soon as other ideas are substituted in the letter for those given by the LORD, the internal sense cannot be correctly evolved. That this is really the case may be experimentally proved by any one who endeavors to evolve the spiritual sense from the present authorized version. He will find on consulting the original that his explanation of the Internal Sense will generally need revision and important modification.

The writer urges repeatedly that the translation should be adapted to the little children, and he seems chiefly solicitous for their welfare; this is very proper; but a good translation should have in view not only the little children but also the adults.

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In truth however, the view advocated by the writer of the report injures the little children just as much as it does the adults; for both are injured by withholding from them the Word of the LORD, and giving them in its stead the ideas of men. Little children are least apt to be offended at an unusual expression, especially if they are told that this is such as the Infinite Wisdom of an all-loving Father has provided for them, and even if the literal sense should in some or even in many cases appear as a something without order, still the internal heavenly and divine truths and goods contained therein, will be present in it, and in it alone. The writer does not seem to consider that the prophetic books, where most of the obscurity of the letter appears, are but little read by little children, to whom the LORD has more especially adapted the historicals of the Word. If the writer should however desire to remove from the prophetical books all that little children would find difficulty in understanding, he would leave but little remaining, and the comparatively few so-called idioms that the writer has been able to collect from the whole Word could add but little to the difficulties of the case. Truly such an endeavor would seem to be straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.

But the writer seems here as before to take it for granted that a paraphrastic and a false translation is more easily understood by little children than a literal and a true one. This shows however but little confidence in the Infinite Love and Wisdom of our Heavenly Father. It seems to contain the assumption that the writer and the old church translators have more love for the little children and more of a desire to adapt the truth to their need than their omniscient Father.

The writer again begs the question in implying (p. 21) that a true literal version cannot be understood by the simple in simplicity and by the wise according to their wisdom. It seems to us to show some arrogance to suppose that anything which a were man may substitute for the Word of the LORD or any expression in it, should be better adapted to the understanding of men, and more fitted to convey to them the Divine Presence than the words chosen by the Omniscient Himself.

The writer gives a description of the difficulties to be encountered in translating the Word, all of which however weigh equally against the old translation as against any subsequent one which may be made. Some of these we must confess strike us as without any force whatever, as e.g. that a translation will not have the same letters as the Hebrew; another that the order of the words cannot be exactly the same as in the Hebrew. We venture to say that no one ever before has thought of these matters as great difficulties.

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The very word translation implies that the version shall be rendered in different letters and also implies that the words follow in a slightly different order. How slight is the change generally required in the order of the Hebrew words may appear by comparing the translation of Gen. i. 6, 7, 8, set forth in the report with one in which the words are placed in the English order.

Rendering in the report.

And spake Gods, Let be expanse in midst the waters, and let be dividing writers to meters. And made Gods the expanse, and divided between the meters which from beneath to expanse and between If the waters which from above to expanse; and it was so.

And Gods called to expanse heavens and was evening, and was morning, day second.

The English order of the words.

Ad God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and lot it divide between waters and waters. And God made the expanse, and divided between the waters which were beneath the expanse and between the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

And God called the expanse heaven. And it was evening and it was morning: the second day.

The few changes necessary to change this broken English into good English are such as any ordinary acquaintance with Hebrew grammar and Hebrew usage would suggest, and it will be found that there need be no word added to the original that would add to the internal sense, nor any word omitted or changed which has an internal sense, in order to make good current English. So this sample of a literal translation can only serve as a word for word version and somewhat unnecessarily crude at that, and not as a real translation of the original. For a faithful and exact version translates words not merely as independent posers, but has regard also to the relation they bear to each other in the sentence. What needs to be avoided in a faithful and exact translation is merely the insertion of new words having an internal sense, or the omission of such a word in the original, or the substitution for a word which has an internal sense of another word having a different internal sense. In the arrangement of words what is needed is chiefly that wherever there is a series of objects in the original, we should carefully maintain the order of their sequence in the translation.

Having thus seen the slightness of two of the four difficulties which stand in the way of a perfect rendering of the Hebrew Bible into English, we will briefly examine the two remaining ones. The first is that some Hebrew words have several meanings. This difficulty is not a serious one, it is found in nearly all languages, without its ever having been thought to preclude the feasibility of a true and accurate rendering from those tongues; but when the Authorized Version uses 70 and even 82 different words to render one Hebrew word in different passages, the difficulty evidently lies not so much in the language as in the carelessness of the translators.

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The same remark applies with equal force to the cases where one English word is used to translate 50 or even 53 different Hebrew words. In a few cases it may happen that 2 or even more different words may be needed to render the various meanings of one Hebrew word, and in a few cases also it maybe necessary to translate typo or even more Hebrew words with one English word; but as the Hebrew vocabulary is comparatively very limited while that of the English language is immense, these latter cases must be very rare exceptions indeed.

The 4th and last difficulty is that of the figures in the Hebrew language. By figures we are told the Hebrews expressed familiarly ideas which would not be suggested by the words to foreign ears. The first example he gives, is the well-known one from Is. v. 1: My beloved had a vineyard in the horn of a son of oil. The writer then asserts: When we know that a conical hill was sometimes called a horn--, here we might beg leave to ask but if we dont know? Strange to say, this assertion has not the slightest foundation in fact. Neither a conical nor any other sort of hill is ever celled a horn in the Bible (Words for the New Church, p. 144), and therefore the whole argument based on this false foundation falls. This assumption is followed by another equally groundless: and that it is according to a common Hebrew form of speech to call a fruitful thing a son of fatness etc. From this statement any one not acquainted with Biblical literature might suppose that a son of oil [scanner unable to insert word] is an expression of common occurrence in the Word or a fruitful thing, but it occurs nowhere else but in this passage. The only similar expression is [scanner unable to insert word] in Zech. iv. 14. King Jamess translators do not seem to have had any knowledge of the common Hebrew form of speech, for instead of translating the sons of oil in this passage with fruitful ones, they translate it anointed ones. Both these passages are erroneously rendered, and the one error disproves the other, as also the assertion, that son of oil according to a common Hebrew form of expression means a fruitful thing.

The fact of the case seems to be that some ingenious rabbi torturing the text to find out some natural meaning in the letter where there is none, hit upon this somewhat plausible explanation. There seems to be no reason however why the New Church should follow this ingenious Jew in distorting and perverting the letter, and thereby destroying its internal sense.

How Jewish children understood this text the writer has not shown, nor is it likely that the prophets were much read by them, as they are surely not, even in these days of cheap Bibles; but as it is proved that horn never means hill in the Hebrew Scriptures and son of oil never means fruitful, would not be there seems to be no reason to believe that the figure was perverted in their mind.

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Coming to another so-called idiom a child or a lamb of a year old is called the son of a year. Cannot the writer see that the elements in son and old are perfectly distinct, and that the basis of the spiritual sense is perverted and destroyed by substituting for son the adjective old? We cannot substitute for son another word containing another spiritual sense without doing violence to the Word, and to the LORD, who is the Word even in its ultimates.

That Mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted is in the Hebrew: the man of my peace in whom I trusted, will surely surprise many, but it is only another example of the violence done to the Word by the old Church, and another proof that we need a revision, so that we may get what the LORD said, instead of the ingenious perversions of men, who knew not that they were thus impiously doing violence to the LORD Himself.

The writer again continues to beg the question when he says, that the Hebrew idioms do not suggest to others than Hebrew scholars the familiar natural sense. Taking his first example the horn of a, son of oil we have here nothing but simple natural images, every one of which can easily be comprehended by a child, though it may not he able to get a complete literal sense out of it; yet it will get as much of a literal sense as any Jewish child, and as for that any Jewish adult, derived from it; unless they had before heard of the perversion into fruitful hill, which expression wantonly destroys all the figures employed in this passage by the LORD.

Quite a number of Hebrew idioms have been transferred in the Authorized Version into English and have been so incorporated into English thought, that now it is difficult to recognize them. The same would no doubt bane taken place with the comparatively few idioms that have been elided by the translators if they had transferred them instead of paraphrasing them. These also would soon have been incorporated and received into English thought, because they are correspondences and as such contain great truths, aye, they are tabernacles of the Most High God. The new expressions used in the Writings of the Church have already become a, part of the language and life of the members of the Church, and the same will no doubt soon occur with the few Hebrew idioms which are nom destroyed in the authorized version, and with which 3, faithful and accurate translation will make us acquainted.

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The Magazine on Authority in the Church.

THE New Jerusalem Magazine for March 1878 contains another notice of the work Authority in the Church. The notice can hardly be numbered among the friendly criticisms, but seems more like an attack upon Dr. R. L. Tafel and his work.

One of the chief complaints made seems to be that Dr. Tafel in his 197 or more citations from the Writings does not generally quote the whole number but only those parts referring to the subject discussed. Common sense would we think acknowledge the necessity of such a course if the work is not to be loaded down with irrelevant matter. The critic however seems to have a contrary view. The quotation chiefly complained of is the well known one from Divine Providence, 135:

I have been in conversation with spirits and angels now for many years, nor did any spirit dare, nor any angel wish, to tell me anything and still less to instruct me in anything in the Word, or in any point of doctrine drawn from the Word; but the LORD alone taught me, who revealed Himself to me, and afterward appeared and still appears, before my eyes like the Sun, in which He Himself is, such as He appears to the angels and illustrated me.

All that Dr. Tafel has said about this passage, so far as we have seen, is found on page 79 of his work where he introduces it with these words: The nature of his intercourse with the angels of heaven, and at the same time the quality of the light which he enjoyed there he describes thus, and then follows the passage cited. This would seem a very natural straightforward application of the passage, but the critic thinks that he discovers in the anterior part of the number something which shows that this explanation of the passage is altogether inadmissible, for he affirms that Swedenborg teaches one thing and Dr. Tafel by citing only half of what he says, represents him as meaning the very opposite of what he does say (N. J. Mag. P. 567). We eagerly scan therefore the part of the passage not cited by Dr. Tafel to see how it supports so startling an assertion. This part of the passage reads as follows:

Yet speaking with spirits, but rarely with the angels of heaven, is still given and has been given for many years back; but when it is given, they speak with man in his mother tongue, yet only a few words: but they who speak from permission of the LORD, never speak anything which takes away freedom of reason nor teach; for the LORD alone teaches man, but mediately through the Word in illustration; which is treated of in what follows; that it is so, has been given me to know from my own experience.

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After these words follows the citation 39 given by Dr. Tafel. The reader will be surprised after the emphatic statement of the critic to find no shadow of a support for his serious charge. He finds that notwithstanding his denial, the words quoted by Dr, Tafel nevertheless do describe as he says the nature of Swedenborgs intercourse with the angels of heaven, and at the same time the quality of light he enjoyed there.

The critic has not invalidated the plain deduction made by Dr. Tafel from this passage, in fact as far as his article would show, he does not know the use made of the passage.

His attack is made on the general ground, that certainly Swedenborg would not appeal to his own experience in proof or illustration of a general rule, unless in respect to this rule his experience was that of other men however exceptional his state and condition might be. In fact every mans spiritual state and condition differ from those of every other man; and Swedenborgs obvious purpose in this number was to set forth general laws, applicable to himself and to other men. (N. J. Mag. p. 567.)

The writer here kindly admits that Swedenborg appeals to his own experience, and this indeed no sane man can deny after reading the citation, and this, as we have seen, is all Dr. Tafel declares of this passage. But the writer goes on to state that Swedenborg would not appeal to his own experience etc. unless in respect to this rule his experience was that of other men. The writer evidently confuses things by introducing that very matter which Dr. Tafel with his clear and logical sequence left out, as not bearing on the subject under consideration. The general law given is, that spirits and angels who speak from permission of the LORD, never speak anything which takes away the freedom of reason, nor teach, for the LORD alone teaches man, but mediately through the Word in illustration.

This much is a general law and one which applies to Swedenborg and to all men; this great truth may be cited whenever the illustration of men by the LORD is spoken of as Dr. Tafel however was not treating of the state of men in general, he could not introduce that part of the passage without introducing irrelevant matter; but it is false reasoning to suppose that because the experience of Swedenborg on certain points coincides with that of men in general, and is thus an illustration of it, therefore it must be so in all the particulars he cites. In fact we know that it is not. Who would be so ignorant as to affirm, that with every one the LORD alone teaches him, after having revealed Himself to him, and appearing to him continually, as a sun in which He is, as He appears to angels, illustrating him. Surely the writer of the criticism must have been under a cloud and confused when he intimates this, for this would be almost as irrational as to suppose that The LORD manifests Himself in person before every one and fills Him with His Spirit to teach the Doctrines of the New Church from Him (see T. C. R. 779.)

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And yet Dr. Tafel because he does not follow or rather precede the critic in this absurd hallucination is censured in the most unmeasured terms in the denunciation: Swedenborg teaches one thing, and Dr. Tafel, by citing only half of what he says, represents him as moaning the very the very opposite of what he does mean.

But the critic is not content even with this one unjust presentation, but bases on it a general gratuitous accusation in the following morels: It may suggest to readers of Dr. Tafels book the care which is necessary in leading his citations. Should any one fired with self-conceit and zeal thus attack one of the foremost scholars and teaches in the LORDS Church who had differed from him it would not on the whole be very astonishing; but that the Editors of the Magazine should publish such an article without an apology and immediate refutation shows a lamentable prevalence of party spirit and unchristian animosity. This must strike the reader the more when the Editors themselves join in, and instead of opposing to Dr. Tafels calm and argumentative presentation an equally dignified rejoinder, appeal to nativistic prejudice against one who has committed the heinous crime of being born a German!

The course of argument followed by the Editors in their position toward Dr. Tafels work is only another illustration of the fact that where arguments are unanswerable, personal vituperation or sinister insinuations are at last restored to. We had hoped, however, that this questionable practice would have been left to the arena of politics, and would not find any encouragement in the LORDS Church.

Having shown his incompetence and unfairness in the one direction, the writer goes on to show it in another, in criticizing Dr. Tafels translation of the phrase Recenseantur Libri a Domini per me scripti. Those books are to be enumerated which were written by the LORD through me. This the critic thinks should be rendered written from the LORD by me; for he continues, in the Latin classics we find a few--and but a few--cases in which the preposition a should or might be translated by. And we here found one instance in Swedenborgs work, Heaven and Hell, no. 266, in which we think it should be so rendered. We would venture to suggest that this critic has evidently lead little, very little, of classic Latin, and even less of Swedenborgs Latin, or if he has done so, he has certainly done so with hut little, very little, care, and with but poor profit to himself. And we think that he had better return to first principles and study his Latin Grammar. Here he will find (see Andrews and Stoddards Latin Grammar, 248) that The voluntary agent of a verb in the passive voice is put in the ablative with a or ab.

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And right here we would ask the critic whether the Romans had any other way of expressing the idea written by the LORD than by the phrase: Scriptum a Domino, if he knows of any other way, Latin scholars would no doubt thank him for the discovery.

The critic has no doubt either not noticed that the preposition a hero accompanies a verb in the passive voice, or else he did not know that this made any difference. The ignorance of Latin here displayed was so glaring that S. H. W., a well-known Latin scholar and translator of Swedenborg, felt himself called upon to recall the critic to his Latin Grammar. Still the Editors, though acknowledging that their critic had gone too far, had not the manliness to retract their innuendoes against Dr. Tafel. In commenting on the strictures of S. H. W. the Editors admit that Dr. Tafels translation is admissible, but still insist that their rendering is allowable, and blame Dr. Tafel for making any use of the passage, simply because they are not sufficiently acquainted with Latin to be sure how to translate it properly!!! The critic having noticed that the preposition a very frequently denotes from, forthwith concludes that this must be its meaning in every connection.

The critic, in his zeal, had evidently forgotten the special rule applying to the verb in the passive voice with a. When it is preceded by a verb in the passive voice the rule is to translate with by, and it is a very rare exception that any other preposition is needed or that it will even give the sense correctly. The Grammars, as we have seen, cover the case in question by a special rule, which decides that Dr. Tafel is correct in making the LORD the voluntary agent in writing the books of His Church; but the critic alludes to Swedenborgs usage, and affirms that he has found one instance in Swedenborgs work on Heaven and Hell where it should be so rendered, evidently leaving it to be inferred that it is quite doubtful whether there be any other case. S. H. W. has indeed answered this point in part, but we think it useful to follow it somewhat further. We take for this purpose the first dozen pages of several of the works of Swedenborg and enumerate all the passages where we find a verb in the passive voice with the preposition a or ab and its translation; we find the following in the first volume of the Arcana Coelestia:

describitur a Domino per Jeremiam, is described by the LORD through (in) Jeremiah, no. 17.

ducitur a Domino per ea, is led by (of) the LORD by means of them, no. 24.

ducatur et flectatur a Domino, is led and inclined by (of) the LORD, no. 24.

producitur a Domino, is called forth by the LORD, no. 27.

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interrogatus a pharisis, being asked by the Pharisees, no. 29.

When we pass to the True Christian Religion we find the following:

instauratur a Dominio is established by the LORD or the LORD is establishing, no. 1.

a Domino per illos instaurata, established by the LORD through them, no. 4.

videri ab ullo creato, be seen by any creature, no. 6.

dictata a Deo, dictated by God, no. 8.

homo a Deo elevatur, man is elevated by God, no. 9.

hauriuntur ab intellectu per sensus corporis, by the understanding through, no. 11.

actuantur a cerebris, actuated by the brain, no. 12.

Turning to Conjugial Love we find:

Introducti sunt ab angelo, introduced by the angel, no. 2.

a Domino permiss, permitted by the LORD, no. 6.

Renteni a custodibus, detained by the keepers, no. 6.

Ministrandi sunt ab angelis, are to be ministered unto by angels, no. 7.

Turning to Heaven and Hell we find the following:

Locupletari et perfici ab illis, of being enriched and perfected by them, No. 18.

docti a JEHOVAH sunt qui docti a Domino, the taught by (of) JEHOVAH are they who are taught by (of) the LORD, no. 25.

In the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture we find the following:

Revelatus mihi a Domino, revealed to me by the LORD, no. 4.

Instauranda est a Domino, it is to be established by the LORD, no. 10.

Agnosci a Domino, to be acknowledged by the LORD, no. 11.

A malis seduci, to be seduced by evils, no. 15.

In the Apocalypse Revealed we find the following:

Explicari a. Domino, explained by the LORD.--Pref. to A. R.

Negari a nemine, denied by no one.--n. n. 1.

a Domino revelata, revealed by the LORD.A. R. 1, 5.

revelata per clum a Domino, revealed through heaven by the LORD.--A. R. 5, three times.

a nemine intelligi, understood by no one.--A. R. 8.

instauranda a Domino, the (re-) establishing by the LORD.--A. R. 8.

Intelliguntur ab angelis, understood by the angels.A. R. 8.

a multis creditum, believed by many.--A. R. 17.

We see therefore after examining the first twelve pages of the Arcana, True Christian Religion, Conjugial Love, Heaven and Hell, The Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture, and the Apocalypse Revealed, which we have taken at random, that every case where the passive verb is used with a is without exception translated by, or with of in the sense of by.

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What the critic of the Magazine calls an unusual translation is proved by the above citations to be the unvarying rule with the various translators of the Writings, and we stand against at the unblushing ignorance and venom of an attack on an eminent scholar and a minister of irreproachable character, who is accused of wresting the Writings because he has simply followed the rules of Latin Grammar and the unvarying rule of all the translators of Swedenborg. From the above citations it will also be seen that the Editors of the New Jerusalem Magazine are by no means justified in translating the passage written from the Lord by me, but that this is a very unusual translation. Compare the passages as cited above from the translation of eminent scholars:

describitur a Domino per Jeremiam, described by the LORD through (in) Jeremiah.A. C. 17.

Ecclesia a Domino per illos instaurata, the Church established by the LORD through them. (S. Convention Edition.)

Revelata per clum a Domino, revealed through heaven by the LORD.--A. R. 5, three times. (See Translation by Rev. T. B. Hayward, revised by Rev. John Worcester.)

Compare also the words, Verbum quod dictatum est a Domino transivit Clos Regni clestis et clos Regni spiritualis Ipsius et sic venit ad hominem, per quem scriptum est. The Word which was dictated by (a) the LORD passed through the Heavens of his celestial Kingdom and the Heavens of His spiritual Kingdom and so came to the man through (by) (per) whom it was written.A. R. 959. Here as in other passages where a and per are used with the verb in the passive voice, the voluntary agent is expressed by a or ab and the instrument by per.

It may seem superfluous to add a word more, but as the unfairness of the Boston critic is so apparent, it may be well to add here, that the writer is well aware that the passive verb is used in a few instances in the 72 pages above cited without meaning by, and we would here five the instances together with the rules of grammar which show that this is done in accordance with rules which have no application to the passage we have been considering. Verbs signifying to deprive, to free, to drive away, to remove, are more or less frequently followed by a, ab, etc. (cf. Andrews and Stoddards Latin Grammar, 251, and Remark 1). Under this rule we find a in the following passages:

Separantur ab illis, they are separated from them.A. C. no. 17.

excommunicatus ab Ecclesia, excommunicated from the Church.--T. C. R. 5.

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educantur ab illis, they are led out from them.--C. L. 4.

abducantur ab illis, they are withdrawn from them.C. L. 6.

abstractus a persona, abstracted from person.A. R. 3.

separatus a clo, separate from heaven.A. R. 5.

As to a sermocinationibus defatigati, weary with discoursing after de in composition, see the same Lat. G., 242, Remark 1.

Then we have also the passage:

vocatum a Jehovah, called from Jehovah.--T. C. R. 9.

This in another context, and in fact generally, would have to be rendered called by Jehovah, but the meaning in this passage is that the word Jove is perhaps derived from the word Jehovah. Jehovah therefore is not in this case the voluntary agent, because the word Jehovah is here meant as such, and not JEHOVAH Himself.

Two more examples complete the number of instances of the verbs in the passive voice used with a in the 72 pages examined:

videbitur ab exemplis, it will be seen from (by) examples.--S. S. 7.

videri a Contentis, seen from the Contents.--A. R. 2.

As neither examples nor Contents are persons, they cannot of course come under the rule of voluntary agents, but a here retains the meaning it has usually without the passive verb; that the passive voice has nothing to do with the use of a here, may appear from the fact that the active voice would here have required the same preposition as videt ab exemplis, videre a Contentis.

We have here entered somewhat exhaustively on the proper translation of the passage in question, not on account of its difficulty, but because the Magazine has founded on the correct translation of it such baseless charges of incorrect translation and of an unfair use of the passage, which as we see fall back entirely on the Magazine itself. We would recommend to the Magazine to employ some critic who is a master of the languages, and who will not be driven by his blind zeal into positions whither justice and reason decline to follow.

Words for the New Church reviewed.

THE New CHURCH INDEPENDENT, in a series of Papers, controverts and denies the doctrines set forth in our SERIAL on the Divinity of the Writings, and the inspiration of Swedenborg. These papers have now extended through seven or eight numbers of the Independent, and the Reviewer or still continues his review.

The writer begins with a philological criticism, and, as much that he subsequently says is founded upon what he has offered in the outset, we shall begin our brief notice of his review by examining his point of departure.

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The proper translation of an important passage in the Writings is the question at issue. We have followed the usual translation as found in the editions of the Arcana published in this country and in England. A new translation is offered, and by means of it the writer attempts the overthrow of the doctrines which we hold in respect to the Divinity of the Writings.

The following is the passage in question:

That the internal senses given in my writings is such as has been expounded, is evident from the particulars which have been explained, and especially from this: that that sense was dictated to me from heaven.A. C. 6597.

That that sense was dictated to me from heaven, does seem to favor the doctrine of inspiration, pays this writer; and then he seeks to controvert our position by a philological argument. He quotes the original, and claims a mistranslation of the part in italics; viz.--quod ille e coelo mihi dictatus fuerit. Of which he says, the following is a correct translation: ... in and especially from this, that it has often been told me from heaven, thus upsetting at a stroke the theory of our Academicians.

The writer then continues, by saying, not that this sense or the words that convey it had been dictated to him from heaven. This would have made him a mere amanuensis, writing down the words which the LORD uttered viva voce. And then the words would, indeed, have been, not his but the Lords; and the composition would have been divinely inspired, because the writer was.

At this point, the critic consulted his Latin dictionary and found as the first meaning of dicto,--to say frequently; and forthwith concluded thee any other translation of it must be false. He did not notice that dicto in the sense of to say often is very rare even with classic writers; (see White and Riddles Latin-English Dictionary;) and that in mediaeval Latin, especially in philosophical writings, it is scarcely ever so used; and that the common form forto say often is dictito. We would advise critics wire set about correcting the translation of inconvenient passages, that the presumption is always-at least in New Church translations which have already been revised--that the translation gives the sense correctly; and if it need amendment they ought to consult a critical Latin scholar. A critic muse not only understand the words of a language but he must also be familiar with its usage; and in order that he may speak with authority he must also particularly examine the usage of the writer whom he translates. Swedenborg uses the verb dicto in a number of cases; and so far as we have found, always in the sense of dictate,--and never in the sense of to say frequently:A. C. 189S, 4658, 3039, 7055. H. H. 264, 259. C. L. J. 76. T. C. R. 85, 815.

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But that the critics translation is altogether erroneous and inadmissible in this passage, any Latin scholar would have informed him. If his translation were correct, the subject of dictatus fuerit would be the neuter pronoun illud,--and not the masculine ille as we have it; for the passage reads:quod ille e coelo mihi dictatus fuerit. By no stretch of usage can ille be made to refer to any other antecedent noun or phrase than sensus internus,--the internal sense.

We see, therefore, that this writer is wrong, and that the English translators-not Academicians--as well as Beyer (see Beyers Index, vol. ii. p. 83) are right. He seems in some degree to understand these facts, as he quotes another passage in the same number without protest, in which the same word dictatus is translated dictated.

We dwell upon this point, not because it is of so much importance in itself, but because the consideration of it reveals the quality and temper of his whole review. Is it true, then, that the fact of the Words having an internal sense was declared to him hundreds of times? If so, by whom? by the LORD? That would have been dictation. By the angels? No spirit has dared, nor any angel desired, to say anything to me, still less to instruct me, about anything in the Word, or about anything of doctrine drawn from the Word.--D. P. 135. That the above is a doctrine drawn from the Word, appears from the second proposition in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture in T. C. R., which says: In the Word there is a spiritual sense hitherto unknown.

Vagueness of method in handling his subject is conspicuous throughout this writers review. His first two articles are headed:--Inspiration and Illumination. The reader, not having seen the SERIAL, would suppose that the writer was reviewing the whole of No. I. of WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, and that the subject under consideration was inspiration and illumination. Hence, after quoting the mistranslated passage, and as if to show a fatal weakness in the argument of the first number, he says: Now this is the only passage from Swedenborg in the long article of fifty pages, which even seems to favor these New Church Academicians idea of Swedenborgs inspiration. What are the facts? That long article is entitled:--THE ADVENT OF THE LORD. It is divided into fourteen chapters; the headings of which make not the slightest allusion to Swedenborgs inspiration, or illumination. Nor is that subject professedly treated of at all in the leading article of the SERIAL; and it is alluded to only incidentally.

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Consequently, if there had not been even one passage in that article in support of Swedenborgs inspiration, it would not have been very wonderful. And yet we find more than eight columns in the New Church Independent filled with the review of a subject not treated of in the No. of the SERIAL under review, except in an article of less than a page and a half, found among the Notes, in the Appendix.

In that article of No. I. of the SERIAL are the following passages from the Writings:--The Books which were written by the LORD through me, from the beginning to the present day, must be enumerated. p. 27. They are not my works but the LORDS works, who milled to reveal to men, etc. p. 12. It has been given me to perceive distinctly what comes from the LORD and what from the angels; what comes from the LORD has been written, and what from the angels has not been written. p. 49. How can any one who has read these passages say they do not seem to favor the idea, of Swedenborgs inspiration?

With these evidences before us of the character and temper of this reviewer, we are tempted to apply his own words to himself, and to say that his review shows what a loose and careless, not to say culpably extravagant way, some people of lofty pretensions have of speaking and writing.

It is eminently proper here to state briefly the Academicians view of Swedenborgs inspiration. We may not do better than to quote from the SERIAL, p. 40:

The LORD, by His Infinite Love and Infinite Wisdom, with a view to the salvation of man, did fully briny the human instrument of His Second Advent, into such a state, and securely keep him in it, that He Himself, and not the installment, should completely dictate, and undeviatingly guide, in general and in special, universally and particularly, the sense and the substance of all that was published by the press, so that what was promulgated, was throughout, absolutely the same in meaning, as He would have taught, had He come and taught personally, instead of teaching by means of a man.

Swedenborg was so guided by the LORD in what he was to write, that the Writings present to us the temple of the LORD, the perfections of which the combined wisdom of all finite beings; could not compass. Thus, while they do not express all of infinite Truth, they are a portion of it, and unmixed with error. And this portion, in its kind and in its extent is adequate to the needs of all men that will ever be bent upon this earth.

To maintain that this view is not supported by the Writings is surely preposterous. Can there be a direct revelation of Divine Truth by the LORD, and the man through whom the revelation is made be not inspired? If Swedenborg was not filled with the Spirit of the LORD, that is not inspired, the communication must partake of the proprium of the medium, and is not therefore from the LORD.

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But no declaration is oftener made throughout the Writings than that they are revelations from the LORD. Pages might be filled with quotations in proof of this, but let the following suffice; than which, if there were no other, nothing is needed to substantiate this position:

Any one may see that the Apocalypse could nohow be explained but by the Lord alone, since every word of it contains arcana, which could never be known without some special illumination and consequent revelation; wherefore it has pleased the LORD to open the sight of my spirit, and to teach me. It must not therefore be supposed that I have given any explication of my own, nor that even of any angel, but only what I have had communicated to me from the LORD alone.Preface to the A. R.

Why this disbelief in Swedenborgs inspiration? Why this persistent denial, on their part, of this vital doctrine of the New Church,--the Advent, or Second Coming of the Lord?

Let any one read the declarations made upon this subject in the Review, and we much mistake if he will find anything like the enunciation of the grand truth, that now is the beginning of the New Church, the Crown of all the previous churches, and this, because it will worship one visible God in whom is the invisible like the soul in the body; thus, and not otherwise, a union of God with man is possible.T. C. R. 787.

Let us quote this writers idea of the Advent of the LORD, ... it is the breaking of a new Day for our terrestrial humanity; it is as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west; for so, the pen of inspiration declares, shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. He believes that it is a new influx of light and life from the LORD out of Heaven into the minds and hearts of all who are prepared to receive it; and that this is one of the normal and necessary consequences of the Last Judgment which was accomplished in the world of spirits in 1757. p. 92.

The only Advent of the LORD which this writer seems to recognize, is His coming to each individual soul who enters upon a life of regeneration. This plainly appears by referring to his quotations from the Writings in support of his views. The two following are fair examples:--There is an acknowledgment of the LORD from wisdom, and an acknowledgment of Him from love. The acknowledgment of Him from wisdom exists from doctrine; while the acknowledgement of Him from love exists from a life according to doctrine. The latter effects conjunction [His real advent], but the former, presence.D. P. 91.

... The acknowledgment and worship of the LORD and the rending of the Word constitute His presence; but these two, together with a life according to His precepts, constitute conjunction with Him [consequently His Advent].A. R. 796.

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In a similar manner he confounds the Church as a dispensation,--the Lords kingdom on the earth,--with the church in the individual. See p. 94.

Is this all that is meant by THE SECOND ADVENT OF THE LORD which Swedenborg describes? What are we to say of the Last Judgment in 1757, what of the new Christian Heavens, and what of the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven?

It is according to Divine Order, that, what is common, or general, should precede the particulars: because particulars are to be insinuated into what is general, and thus justly arranged and conjoined in affinity, and made homogeneous.Apocalypse Explained, 904. Compare also, Arcana Coelestia, 920, 4429, 4316, 5208, 6089, 4383, 7131, 918, 1040, 1316, 6159, 7648, 8067, 8853-57, 8865.

There must be a general in order that there may be any particular; and what is particular can in no wise exist and subsist without what is general: and everything particular is circumstanced according to the quality and according tot he state of what is general.Arcana Coelestia, 5336. See also, Universal Theology, 715.

Can this writer so strenuously deny Swedenborgs inspiration if he accepts the doctrine of the Second Coming of the LORD? All New Churchmen are agreed that the LORD has effected His Second Coming, and this through His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg if through him, then through the Doctrines he taught from the LORD, that is through his Writings. If the Writings did effect the Coming of the LORD they must be Divine. If they are Divine, the writer must have been inspired. A denial of Swedenborgs Inspiration implies also the practical denial of the Second Advent.

Our critic continues:The view of these New Church Academicians is not a whit less mischievous in its tendency, than it is erroneous in itself. p. 76.

Exactly. And in as much as they are not erroneous, they are not mischievous. This New Dispensation is a dispensation of rational truth; and only those are to be reckoned as properly belonging to it, or as really the children of it, who receive truth rationally, not persuasively--that is, not because it has been declared true by another, even though he were an angel from heaven. p. 76. True for once. And yet the writers obvious inference that the Academicians must receive truth persuasively, is not true. This is a grave misapprehension though quite prevalent.

Let us inquire how the angels regard the Word. While it is the source of all their wisdom, there is ever an infinity of truths in it which they do not appropriate because they do not understand them, yet they never doubt them,--because they know that whatever comes from the LORD, can contain no error. But when called upon to accept a truth not understood, they refuse, saying: Cause me to see it. Doct. Of Faith, p. 4.

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(This part of the passage is much relied upon by this writer and others in opposing the doctrine of acknowledgment of authority. But they fill to present the rest of it: Dost thou think thyself a God that I am to believe thee?)

Similar are the feelings of the loyal New Churchman toward the Writings;--an affirmative state toward whatever he does not understand in them, willing to abide his time when he may have a clearer perception.

Again he says:--They [the N. C. Academicians] have nothing to say about the healthy exercise of our own faculties, fidelity to each ones own convictions, or the reception of truth on no other authority than that of its own testimony manifest to each individual soul. p. 77. But in all this we may inquire how far an implicit reliance on the LORD in His Advent implies the renunciation of the healthy exercise of our own faculties, of fidelity to each ones own convictions, or the reception of truth on any other authority than that of its own testimony manifest to each individual soul?

We need not be astonished that our critic finds in the Academicians position the old Romish doctrine of authority and infallibility openly proclaimed in the name of the New Church. Nay, the most repulsive form of it! a new Jesuitism. We cannot stop to entertain this idea, although in a mood to be amused. Doubtless we may be excused from the difficult task of proving a negative. The soul of our critic may also now repose in serenest satisfaction. These many years has he seen a Popedom in the Convention! Now here is a, second Popedom! With two Popedoms in the Church, Jesuitism will surely make matters interesting.

Again, he labors to make it appear that the Academicians peculiar views are made to rest solely upon unauthorized manuscript writings only recently brought to light. He says:--They have gone outside of the authorized and published documents, and found these assertions in some of the authors stray notes, memoranda, and fragmentary manuscripts discovered by Dr. R. L. Tafel in Sweden a few years ago! p. 92. Again, Here, then, is the authority, and the whole of it (hic Liber est, and c.) for the assertion that Swedenborgs book were written by the LORD through him, and are themselves the Advent of the LORD.

The truth is, (and our critic must have known it,) that these very views were believed and strongly advocated by these and other men many years before those documents were known to exist. And they are now merely brought forward as curious and wonderful confirmations of these views.

Here is another characteristic item. He quotes from one of those manuscripts as follows: A new Ecclesiastical History must be written, because now is the Advent of the LORD, which was predicted in Matt. xxv.

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A mistake in the outset, for His Advent was not predicted in Matt. xxv., but xxiv. p. 93. It is quite possible that an I stood originally between the X and V. 13e that as it may, it hardly authorized him to state that His Advent was not predicted in chapter xxv. In verse 31 we read: When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.

But we must bid farewell to the Reviewer. The most pleasant tasks at length become wearisome. But to expose the misapprehensions and perversions of a writer so voluminous, is not altogether pleasant. He has already filled more than seventeen quarto pages of the New Church Independent upon this heresy of the New Church Academicians. And he promises more; but we may not think it worth while to follow him through all his devious paths.

We conclude our notice by the following presentation from the Writings of the negative and the affirmative principles:

There are two principles, one which leads to all folly and madness, another which leads to all intelligence and wisdom; the former principle is to deny all things, as when a man says in his heart that he cannot believe such things, until he is convinced of their truth by what he can comprehend or be sensible of; this principle is what leads to all folly and madness, and may be called the negative principle; the other principle is to affirm the things appertaining to doctrine derived from the Word, as when a man thinks and believes with himself that they are true because the LORD has said so; this principle is what leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and may be called the affirmative principle: they who think from the negative principle, the more they consult things rational, scientific, and philosophical, do but so much the more plunge themselves into darkness, till at length they come to deny all things....--A. C. 2565.

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BOOK NOTICES.

THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, CONTAINING THE UNIVERSAL THEOLOGY OF THE NEW CHURCH, FORETOLD BY THE LORD IN DANIEL vii. 13, 14, AND IN REVELATION xxii. 1, 2. By EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, servant of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. In two volumes, 8 vo. J. B. Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia, 1878. Rotch Edition

In this elegant edition of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION is a new translation, and a vast improvement in this respect upon former editions. The English is concise and classic,--the paraphrastic style which prevails too largely in some of the former translations is to a great extent laid aside: and in this version we are brought into rapport with the original Latin of Swedenborg. This is well,and for the thoroughness with which he has done his work the translator deserves the thanks of the Church.

The redundant heavenly or celestial in rendering the Latin coelestis mars some of the pages, and this we cannot but regret. Those beautiful and telling categories of the Writings celestial, spiritual, and natural; scientific, sensual, and corporeal; scientific, rational, and intellectual, etc., etc., ought not, we think, in any case to be broken up, or marred. When therefore our translator is constrained by the committee in charge of the work, or in some other way, to mar one of these categories by intruding two words in one of its terms, and saying continually heavenly [celestial], spiritual, and natural, instead of celestial, spiritual, and natural, we regret the necessity of this departure from good taste, and long established usage in the Church.

THE NEW VIEW OF HELL. SHOWING ITS NATURE, WHEREABOUTS, DURATION, AND HOW TO ESCAPE IT. By B. F. BARRETT, author of lectures on the New Dispensation, The Golden Reed, Letters to Beecher on the Divine Trinity, etc., etc. Third Edition. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1873.

We cannot explain the design of this volume better than by quoting the following from the preface,--

The aim of the present work is to unfold and present the New View of Hell as set forth in the theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg: to show that it is at once rational and Scriptural, in harmony with perfect love and wisdom of God, as well as with the teachings of human experience and the profoundest spiritual philosophy: and that its practical influence upon the character of believers cannot be otherwise than beneficent.

This volume of 215 pages 12mo comes in a handsome dress, and its contents seem well selected and arranged.

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The New View of Hell is contrasted with old in descriptions that are truly graphic. At the time Swedenborg wrote, says Mr. Barrett,--

It was believed and taught for Christian verity that hell is literally a lake of lire and brimstone,--a place created by the LORD at the beginning for the express purpose of inflicting upon all who die in their sins as much suffering as infinite ingenuity could possibly devise. It was held that sinners, after death were cast alive into this burning lake by order of the Supreme Judge of the Universe, as criminals on earth are cast into prison by order of the judges of criminal courts. And that they were always to remain there perfectly conscious, indeed with the most exquisite sensibility to pain, forever burning yet never consumed, writhing and groaning in eternal agony. pp. 29, 30.

The New View of Hell is set in hold contrast with these revolting doctrines of the former Church. After explaining the great law of spiritual affinity which tends to bring those of a like character together, the writer proceeds as follows:

Every evil spirit, therefore, as soon as his interior character is fully developed, gravitates with unfailing certainty toward those who are most like himself.... He seeks their society in perfect freedom, because he finds it congenial; because he prefers it to the society of the good and the wise; and he prefers it, because they are like himself.

The writer considers the question its to the eternity of the hells, and shows the reasons why the bells are eternal; and why even this fact is grounded in the Divine benignity of the LORD. In respect to the claims of Swedenborg and the Divine authority of the Writings, Mr. Barrett affirms and denies, and seems to be on this side of the issue and on that: but in his work under review he is mainly affirmative. And after writing the following paragraph we are at a loss to know how he can consistently call in question the absolute Divine authority of the Writings; for they in fact treat only of the subjects which Mr. B. has catalogued, and of these he says that the LORD Himself teaches the things set forth in the Writings.

But an admission of this mans claim, or the belief that the Writings are a new dispensation of spiritual truth to men, does involve the belief, that, upon all important doctrines--upon all questions which have hitherto engaged the attention of Christians, and in which they are likely to feel a deep interest he has spoken with authority, because he wrote under an extraordinary divine illumination. It involves the admission that what he wrote and published concerning the LORD, the Sacred Scripture, Redemption, Regeneration, Salvation, the Resurrection, the Judgment, the Nature and Duration of Heaven and Hell, and all the great facts and laws of the Spiritual world, he has not given us his opinion merely, but the truth which God was pleased to reveal through him. It involves the belief that upon such momentous themes he was illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and has taught only what the LORD authorized and directed him to teach. So that what his Writings contain on such subjects is not his own opinions and conclusions merely, but is what the LORD Himself teaches or is trying to teach mankind through him. pp. 18, 19.

THE DIVINE ORDER OF DEGREES IN MAN, EXEMPLIFIED IN THE ORDER OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. Boston: Alfred Mudge and Son, Printers, 34 School Street, 1877.

This little volume of 70 pages is an attempt to harmonize the Four Gospels, by showing their relation to the structure of the human mind, and the work of human regeneration.

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According to our fair authoress, Matthew and John are the two will principles, in which external and internal love dwells; and Mark and Luke are the exterior and interior understanding into which truth is received. p. 22. Some singular and striking illustrations are given favoring this classification; and the gospel records by this means are often presented in a new light. The study we think is well worthy the fuller and more exhaustive treatment which the authoress promises to give it; and we shall look with interest for the further unfolding of the novel and ingenious attempt at harmonizing the Gospels.

THE IDEAL LIFE. By ELLA F. MOSDY.

This work is divided into three sections, The individual life, Ideals and Myths of the races, and The artistic life. Amongst the many points of interest in the first section, we note especially the chapter on the human body, a subject which in its depths of wonder and significance can never be fairly entered into except by the light of the New Church. We quote a passage on the hand:

The hands are always true to the life and change with its growth and quality and decay. What a difference there is between the little innocent baby fingers, rosy and clinging,--the quick, eager hands of the child, the dainty palm of the women with its fluttering pulsations, or the firm hand of the man, strong to hold or strike,--the wasted, groping fingers of the aged, and last of all, the cold white hands, folded to rest. They are all full of significance, for the daily life has incarnated itself in them.

The first section of the work treating of the ideal in the individual life, leads naturally to the second section, which, under the heading of Ideals and Myths of the races, shows how the history of the different races, their morals, literature and art, social and domestic relations, are colored by their myths and ideals. In the primitive life of man, says the authoress, there are three events which are characteristic,--the journey, the feast, and the battle, all of which illustrate principles in his nature. Of these three she treats, under the heading of The Hebraic spirit of pilgrimage, The Greek Ideal or the feast, and The Germanic spirit of conflict.

The chapter on pictures and the painter shows a fineness of taste, perception, and observation that are remarkable. In speaking of colors we have the following faithful description:

There are also the translucent water tints of landscapes reflected from surrounding shores or islands which the lake or the river hold within their hearts. You know how different is the verdure of the one from the wavering, ineffable verdure of the other, with the shimmering veil of moving waters drawn between.

In the chapter on landscapes we find the following:

There are very close associations between a river and our life. In its swift passing, its windings, its fretting against obstacles, and its repose, man sees an image of his flowing days.... If you live near the river, you will not forget it. You will think of it at night with the crescent moon and the stars on its swaying breast and the cool, dark shadows along its banks. The noise of its rapids will interweave themselves with the whole underflowing consciousness of your life, till you feel the loveliness and significance of the vision,--in the midst of it a river.

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We see in this passage (as we do throughout the book) that the writer possesses what she describes in her chapter on the uses of art as a development of spiritual slight and hearing, in which there is nothing,not a cool spot of verdure, not a stirring of wind in the boughs, not a flush of rose at dawn that does not speak of eternal truths.

Nothing is more noticeable in the book than a constant and earnest recognition of the spiritual world and a sense of its nearness and reality,--a feature without which the most highly polished, the most subtly intellectual book would he little more than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

THE NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, published by the Massachusetts New Church Union, No. 2 Hamilton Place, Boston.

The May No. of the Magazine comes with its usual variety of topics set forth by its various scholarly writers. Seemingly the most exhaustive article is a review of the leading Monograph of our SERIAL No. II. on the State of the Christian World. As we are at issue to some extent with the writer of this review on the point in hand, we had expected in our present No. to review this review, but our space does not suffice, therefore we defer the subject to a future time. We nevertheless commend the spirit that pervades the Magazine article as conservative and conciliatory.

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Appended Note.

IN the Apocalypse Explained, when treating of the end of the Church and of Divine Revelation, and the establishment of the New Church in both worlds, it is written:

When the end of the Church is at hand then the interiors of the Word, of the Church and of worship are revealed and taught in order that the good may be separated from the evil; for the interiors of the Word, of the Church and of worship, which are celestial and spiritual things, are received by the good but rejected by the evil, whence comes separation.

That it is so appears from this, that when the end of the Jewish Church was at hand, the LORD Himself appeared and taught the interiors of the Word, and revealed especially those things which had been foretold of Him in the Word. When these things were opened and revealed, the externals of the Church were abrogated; which consisted especially in sacrifices and in rites and statutes, which foreshadowed Him, and represented and thence signified the interiors of the Church which were revealed by Him. That this should thus come to pass was predicted in various places in the Prophets. It is similar at this day: for it has now pleased the LORD to reveal many Arcana of Heaven, especially the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, which has hitherto been altogether unknown, and with this He has taught genuine truths of doctrine; this revelation is meant by the Coming of the LORD in Matt. xxiv. 3, 30, 37. The cause of the revelation at the end of the Church is as was said, namely, that by it there should be effected the separation of the good from the evil, then also the establishment of the New Church, and this not only in the natural world, where men are, but also in the spiritual world, where the spirits and Angels are for the Church is in both worlds, and revelation is made in both, and by it, separation, as also the establishment of the New Church.A. E. 641.

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Announcement of the Academy of the New Church.

The Academy of the New Church is constituted of New Churchmen residing in America and England, and is incorporated under the statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,--the Charter conferring upon the ACADEMY all the rights, privileges, and immunities common to the Scientific Academies, Colleges, and Universities of this country.

The object of the ACADEMY is to promote the acknowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and the acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Coming in the Revelations given by Him in the Writings of Swedenborg; and by every available means to further the establishment of the New Church, as the LORDS Kingdom on the earth.

To this end it is the purpose of the Academy, as the Divine Providence opens the way, to establish a University for the Elementary and Collegiate education of the youth of the Church, in the Doctrines and Principles of the New Church, in the Languages, Ancient and Modern, and in the Sciences:

To collect, publish, and preserve the Manuscripts and the Original Editions of those Writings which constitute the Second Advent of the LORD:

In the furtherance of these ends we are establishing, in the City of Philadelphia, a College and a Divinity School, in which our youth may receive a Collegiate and Theological education under the auspices of the New Church. We have provided in every department the most thorough instruction according to the best methods; and in many respects we offer facilities of culture to the youth of the New Church superior to anything offered heretofore.

Situated as we are in the heart of a great city renowned for its extensive Public Libraries, its Art Galleries, its Laboratories, its Scientific Apparatus and Lectures, all accessible at a trifling cost, our Students have extraordinary means of culture in Science, Literature, and Art, as well also as in the common amenities of life.

It is proper to add, that our Students, in their social life in the city, are surrounded as far as may be with the sphere of the New Church; also that in arranging the Collegiate Course, we have introduced into it from the beginning to the end, the Systematic Study of the Heavenly Doctrines. By these studies the grand principles of the Heavenly Kingdom are kept before the mind of the Student, and he is impressed with the true end of all good education, which is to purify, perfect, and ennoble the life and the character, and to establish in the mind the Kingdom of Heaven.

PHILADELPHIA, May 14, 1878.

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WORDS

FOR

THE NEW CHURCH

A SERIAL
CONTROLLED BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

IV.
SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

PHILADELPHIA
PUBLISHED FOR THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT and CO.
1879.

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CONTENTS

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SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

INTRODUCTORY.

NATURAL SCIENCE deals primarily with spiritual things; the Church deals primarily with spiritual things. The spiritual world rests upon the natural world, and hence the things of the spiritual world rest upon the things of the natural world. Peace also the truths of the spiritual world rest upon the truths of the natural world; and consequently the truths of the Church rest upon the truths of natural science.

This is shown by the following course of reasoning from the Writings of the Church:

Nature is that wherein those things which are of the spiritual world, and which are of heaven, terminate: thence it is, that Universal Nature is a theatre representative of the LORDS Kingdom.A. C. 4939.

The ultimate contains all interior things, and is their general [principle]; for they terminate in it and rest upon it. As for instance: the skin is the ultimate covering of the body, the interior things of the body terminate in it, because it contains them, hence also they rest upon it. Within the body, rise, it is the same with respect to the peritoneum which contains the viscera of the abdomen, upon which they rest, and with which they have a common connection. It is the same likewise with the pleura in respect to the viscera of the thorax. It is similar also with all things which are of the life of man; namely those things which relate to the understanding, and those which relate to the will; these also succeed in order from the interiors to the exteriors. Exterior things are scientifics with their amenities; and the outermost are the sensual things which communicate with the world by sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch: upon these the interior things rest, for in them they terminate.A. C. 9216.

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Scientifics which are in the natural mind are the ultimates of order. Prior things must be in ultimates in order that they may exist, and appear in that sphere; and, besides, all prior things tend to ultimates, as to their boundaries or limits, and there they exist together, as causes in their effects, or as higher things in lower things as in their vessels. Scientifics which are in the natural mind are such ultimates, and hence the spiritual world terminates in mans natural mind, in which these things which are of the spiritual world are presented representatively; and unless spiritual things were thus representatively presented in the natural by such things as are in the world, they could by no means be comprehended.A. C. 5373.

Hence also we read elsewhere:

Nothing ever exists with man in his thought, even as to the most hidden thing of faith, which has not some natural and sensual idea with it, although man for the most part does not know it.A. C. 3310.

The knowledge, therefore, revealed from God out of heaven cannot be held in the mind intact from the ideas of space and time, and thus intact from the facts of nature, and independent of natural science, because our thoughts, even on the most hidden things of faith, are all based on natural and sensuous ideas, in which they are representatively presented;

This then not only proves the great importance of natural science, or of natural scientifics, for the New Church, but it also shows that it is essential for the prosperity of the New Church to have clear and exact ideas in respect to the nature of true or genuine science, and the specific uses of this science in the New Church. This will also lead us to consider the nature of false and spurious science, and its effect on the human mind; and likewise to define the attitude of modern science so-called, to the New Church and its Heavenly Doctrines.

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II.

IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE NEW CHURCH.

THE great importance of natural science in the distinctive New Church is taught even in the letter of the Word, where we read:

And the woman brought forth a man-child who will feed [as a shepherd] all nations with a rod of iron.Apoc. xii. 6.

The woman here referred to who was clothed with the sun and had the moon under her feet, signifies the LORDS New Church in the heavens which is the New Heaven, and the LORDS New Church which will be on earth, which is the New Jerusalem. The man-child which the woman brought forth, signifies the Doctrine of the New Church, and more especially the doctrine in the works called the Four Primary Doctrines. But the man-child feeding all nations with a rod of iron, as we learn, signifies that the doctrine of the New Church, and hence the doctrine of the New Church in the minds of New Churchmen, by truths out of the literal sense of the Word, and at the same time by rational truths from the light of nature, will convince all those who are in dead worship from faith separate from charity who are willing to be convinced. The rod of iron signifies natural truth, consequently the natural sense of the Word, and at the same time the natural lumen of man, in which two the power of truth consists.See A. R. 148, 544.

By this is meant no more, and no less, than that the New Church will become a power in this world, and will be able to convince all those who are willing to be convinced, just in proportion as it brings its purely spiritual doctrines within the radius of vision of men in this world, by preaching them in the first place immediately out of the letter of the Word;

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and in the second place by bringing down the doctrines into the knowledges of the natural world, and thus within the sphere of natural light, and hence of natural science.

To preach the Doctrines of the New Church simply from the letter of the Word is not sufficient; for in this case we should be able to reach only those who have already a belief in the Divinity of the Sacred Scripture. But the Doctrines of the New Church are also for those who have intellectually separated themselves from the foundations of Christianity, and whose minds are absorbed in the study of the natural sciences. That these also are to be saved by the Doctrines of the New Church is taught (Rev. xxii. 2), where we read: And the leaves of the tree of life in the midst of the street of the New Jerusalem, which are able to heal those who are in evil sand hence in falsities, and who cannot be healed by the Word, because they do not read it.See A. R. 936.

That there are two foundations for the truth of the Church, one in the Word, and the other in the truths of nature, is plainly taught in the following passage:

There are two foundations of truth; one from the Word, and the other from nature or the truths of nature. The foundation from the Word is for the universal heaven, consequently for those who are in the light of heaven; but the foundation from nature is for those who are natural and in the natural lumen, thus for those who have so confirmed themselves in things not true, and even in falsities from the literal sense of the Word, as to be convinced of them; for such can no longer be convinced from the Word.

Nevertheless, truth harmonizes, the one with the other, as was proved to me by intuition from some passages of the Word; and inasmuch as the sciences have closed the understanding the sciences must open it again, and it is opened in the degree in which men are in good. It was also made known to me that all things of heaven have their foundation in the laws of the order of nature in the world and in man;

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which foundation remains continually fixed as the body, and the things of the body and its senses in reference to the interiors which are of the will and of the understanding. And still as falsities have closed the understanding and as all ideas of thought are founded on natural things, therefore these things also serve as a foundation to those men with whom there are false ideas.--S. D. 5709.

Here we learn that the things of nature, and hence the natural sciences may be used to confirm either the truths of the Word of God, or the false ideas of men. If, therefore, the things of nature, and hence the natural sciences have been forged by atheists and infidels into tools against revealed truth, and against a belief in the existence of God, and of the spiritual world, the fault is not in the things of nature, and hence not in the knowledge of these things intrinsically; but the fault is in men, and in their listening to the insinuations of their own loves of self and of the world, and in their taking the fallacies and appearances of nature as genuine truths.

So we also read in the Arcana:

Scientifics, in themselves, are neither true, nor false; but they become true with those who are in truths, and false with those who are in falsities. Their application and use does this. Scientifics with man are like riches and wealth with him. Riches and wealth with those who are in evil are pernicious, because they apply them to evil uses. But riches and wealth with those who are in good are useful, because they apply them to good uses. If therefore riches and wealth: which are with the wicked, are transferred to the good, they become good. So also with scientifics.A. C. 6917.

This is the spiritual signification of the fact recorded in Exodus that the children of Israel on departing out of Egypt borrowed and took with them the vessels of silver of the Egyptians, and thus spoiled the Egyptians.

The Egyptians in the letter of the Word signify those who are in the love of natural science, and amass a large stock of natural science. This science they use in forging arguments against revealed truth, and against the personal Creator of the universe who revealed Himself to men in the person of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

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The modern Egyptians also use their knowledge of natural things in declaring the independence of matter from spirit, and in denying mans immortality. Yet the fact that the modern scientists make such a perverted use of the natural sciences, is no reason why the Church should turn its back on science and why it should declare the cultivation of the natural sciences unnecessary and injurious. The Church ought not to reject and condemn natural science, but it ought to despoil the modern Egyptians, and thus make the vessels of natural science, vessels of truth, instead of falsity.

But when a Church has perverted and lost all its spiritual truth, when its sun has been darkened, when its moon no longer gives her light, and when its stars have fallen from heaven, then indeed it is at the mercy of the modern Egyptians, and is utterly unable to despoil them of their vessels of silver and of gold.

This however is no reason why the New Church, the city of Jerusalem descended from God out of Heaven, should follow the example of the Old Church, and condemn natural science indiscriminately. The New Jerusalem, the LORDS New Church, needs the vessels of the Egyptians for her own use and adornment, and in order that she may arise in all her glory and power, and therefore she must go and borrow them.

III.

CHARACTER OF THE INHABITANTS OF THIS EARTH.

THE LORDS Church is differently constituted in the several earths in the universe. In this world therefore the Church differs from the Church in other worlds. This difference is due to the inhabitants of this globe, being distinguished in character and genius from the inhabitants of all other globes.

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We learn that

The inhabitants and spirits of our earth, in the Grand Man of heaven, relate to natural and external sense, which is the ultimate wherein the interiors of life terminate, and where they rest on their common basis.E. U. 122.

On account of their correspondence in the Grand Man of heaven, and hence on account of their distinctive character they are in the love of science and in the inclination to cultivate it. We read further, that

From the earliest time they had a desire for natural science, and the arts now cultivated by men. This desire also was represented by the tree of knowledge in the paradise; and because they tasted of this tree, they can be healed now only by the sciences, and by faith communicated to them in the form of scientifics.S. D. 4663.

But because the inhabitants of this world begin low, it by no means follows that they are to remain low forever in the other world. On the contrary, on this subject we receive the following comforting assurance in the Writings of our Church:

The inhabitants and spirits of our earth correspond with the external sense, and are corporeal, and for this reason approximate more to the nature of the beast, than to the human. Nevertheless, it does not follow that they occupy a low position in the other world. On the contrary, although the men of our earth are such, they have still the knowledges of the truths of faith which serve as a kind of ground in which the spiritual and celestial truths of faith may be inseminated, and without such a ground they are not easily inseminated; and the truths of faith grow in this manner. On this account the inhabitants of this world come more easily into the interior and inmost heaven, after their exteriors are once vastated; and because they derive something from the life of the body, they also serve as ministers in instructing others who have no such knowledges from revelation; wherefore the LORD loved our earth more than others, For, that order may be perfect, celestial and spiritual truths must be rooted in natural truths. It must be observed, however, that the knowledges and ideas of the angels are indefinitely more profound than the ideas of men, but yet they are rooted in natural truths.

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Truths thus mutually succeed to, and correspond with one another.S. D. 1531.

We see, therefore, that the LORDS Church in this earth, in order to have a footing in the minds of men, and not merely in their feelings and sentiments, and thus in order to become a power in this world, where the minds of men are given to the study of nature, and of the natural sciences, must not turn its back on natural science, but must make the cultivation of it one of its special uses. For we learn that

In order that a man may become intelligent and wise, he must learn many things not only those which are of heaven, but also those which are of the world; those which are of heaven he must learn from the Word, and from the Church; and those which are of the world from the sciences. As far as man learns, and applies his learning to life, so far he becomes intelligent and wise; for so far his interior sight which is that of his understanding, and his interior affection which is that of his will, are perfected.H. H. 351.

IV.

NATURAL SCIENCE CONSIDERED INTRINSICALLY.

INTRINSICALLY the sciences of this world are dead and of the earth earthy; and cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. On this subject we find the following pertinent remarks in the Writings:

The sciences contribute nothing to salvation, but only the knowledges of truths from the LORDS Word. This may be compared with the knowledge of the human body; the anatomical knowledge respecting the composition of the blood, and the remaining parts of the body, contributes nothing to the preservation of the health; since he who understands nothing concerning them, is able to live in the same state of health as he who during his whole life has busied himself with such studies. It is similar with a mans intellectual health;which may be better with those who know nothing respecting the intellect and its faculties, than with those who have studied them all their lives, and who confuse [the mind] with hypotheses, an scholastic terms.S. D. 2736.

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Natural sciences also have no inherent light in them, and even when perfectly true they often darken and extinguish the light of spiritual truths. On this subject we read as follows:

The learned in this world can with difficulty understand that the natural sciences and human philosophy not only obscure, but also altogether cover up and thus extinguish the light of spiritual truths, when yet there are truths in them; and that their only use is to confirm, and, as it were, to illustrate spiritual truths. The spirits with whom I was speaking could not understand this they represented natural truths as transparent, through which spiritual truths might shine. The learned of the world also think so; nor does any one conceive otherwise on this subject unless the LORD has taught him.

I was permitted to reply, and also to represent to them that these truths in themselves are darkness, and thick darkness, but that when enlightened by spiritual truths which are from the LORD, they become as it were transparent; because there is light in the spiritual truths of the LORD, and this causes natural truths to appear lucid, but sever vice versa. For it is against order and also against all reason, that what in itself is dead and thick darkness should give life and light to those things which are of life and light.

Even spiritual things cannot shine through except from celestial things; nor are celestial things celestial, except from the LORD.

Very many think that by human philosophy they can see that spiritual truths are such. Yet they do not believe unless they see, and therefore they doubt the truths which are from the LORD.--S. D. 2634-2636.

Because truths of a lower degree in respect to those of a higher degree are intrinsically opaque and dark, therefore also true natural sciences, by which spiritual truths may be confirmed, are not always an unmixed good. On this subject we read:

Celestial truths have no need of confirmations, when one is in them; as there is no need for philosophical things in order to think analytically. All these things they possess from the LORD, Confirmations may be tolerated in the world, because men are of such a nature that truths with them are confirmed by the sciences; yet if they are unable thus to confirm truths, they must still believe them. Besides, with some, the sciences obscure the human understanding; with others, they cause doubts; and with still others, denial.--S. D. 2990.

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The sciences exert such an effect on the human understanding, when they are studied, believed, or trusted immoderately or exclusively; that is, they darken the human mind just in proportion as natural things are cultivated to the exclusion of spiritual things; as appears from the following:

When a person regards human wisdom or science as everything, then heavenly wisdom appeals to him as an obscure nothing; but when any one is in heavenly wisdom, then human wisdom appears to him as some general obscure principle, which would be as thick darkness, unless there were within it rays of heavenly light.A. C. 1783.

NATURAL SCIENCES THE MEANS FOR AN ULTERIOR END.

SO far natural science, considered intrinsically. We shall now consider the influence exerted upon it in the human mind by the loves, ends, or motives of the life.

The sciences, like scientifics in general, are means, and not ends, and consequently they are qualified by the ends for the sake of which they are acquired.

That they are means and not ends, follows from this simple consideration, that they are received in the external man, and belong to the external man; and, as we learn from the following, everything of the external man is of use, and thus of service to the internal man:

All things whatsoever of the external man are nothing else than things of service. Hence also, all scientifics are nothing else than things of the external man; for they are procured from terrestrial and worldly things by sensual things, in order that they may serve the interior or rational man, this the spiritual, the spiritual the celestial man, and this the LORD. In this wise they are mutually subordinate to one another; and as exterior things are subordinate to interior things in their order, so all and every thing is subordinate to the LORD, according to order.

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Scientifics, therefore, are tire ultimate and outermost things, in which interior things are terminated in their order, which, because they are the last and outermost, are things of service more than the rest. Every one may know, for what purposes scientifics may serve, if he reflects or inquires respecting their use. When he thus reflects on their use, he may also comprehend the nature of their use.

Every scientific ought to be for the sake of some use, and this is its service.A. C. 1456.

Those scientifics which belong to the Church, and have reference to good and truth, can be raised out of the external into the internal man, and can there become principles of life; and in proportion as they are thus raised, they are elevated out of natural into spiritual light, and they lay aside the character of scientifics, and put on that of truths (A. C. 5781, 5874). The scientifics which have reference to a mans life in society and is the state, and also those which have reference to natural science and to the arts of this world, being natural, remain in the natural or external man, where they may be of service or use to the spiritual man.

Whether the natural sciences become useful to the spiritual man or not depends on the love or the end for which they are studied. If they are acquired for the sake of performing uses to society and to the Church, then they are opened, and are receptive of spiritual light; but when they are regarded as ends and not as means; and when man in acquiring them is animated by the mere delight of knowing, then they are closed, and cannot be enlightened by spiritual light, as appears from what follows:

When man begins to take delight in knowing alone, he is carried away by corporeal lust; and in proportion as he is thus carried away or takes delight in mere knowing, in the same proportion he removes himself from what is celestial, and his scientifics close themselves toward the LORD and become material.

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But, in proportion as scientifics are learned for the sake of use, as for the sake of human society, for the sake of the LORDS Church on earth, for the sake of the LORDS kingdom in the heavens, and still more for the sake of the LORD, so much the more are they opened toward the LORD and become spiritual.A. C. 1472. See also A. C. 1600.

Scientifics, however, or matters of science, when learned for a selfish or worldly end, become utterly useless, as is shown in what follows:

Those scientifics which have no other end than glory and pleasure are useless; these ends are profitless because they are of no use to ones neighbor.A. C. 5214.

It appears, therefore, that all scientifics, and hence all matters of natural science in the human mind are qualified by the end or object for which they ore studied; and that this end or object is the love or the affection by which man is animated while prosecuting his studies. That every scientific in mans mind is thus qualified by some love, some end, which causes it to become either useful or useless; and that without being conjoined with some love or affection, and hence with some end or object, no scientific can ever enter the mind, appears clearly from the following passage:

The scientifics which enter into the memory, are always introduced by some affection. Those which ale not introduced by some affection; do not remain there, but pass away; for in affection there is life, but not in scientifics except through affection.

It is plain, therefore, that scientifics have always conjoined with them such things as are of affection; or what is the same, which are of some love, and consequently some good; for everything which is of love is called good, whether it be good, or only supposed to be good. Scientifics, therefore, form as it were a marriage with those goods.

When, therefore, that good is excited, the scientific also with which it is conjoined, is instantly aroused; and vice versa, when a scientific is called up, the good conjoined with it is likewise reproduced. This every one may see by experience himself, if he so choose.

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It hence follows that with the unregenerate who have rejected the good of charity, those scientifics which are truths of the Church have adjoined to them such things are of self-love and the love of the world, and thus evils, which, from the delight which is in them, they call goods, and by a sinister interpretation pass them off as goods. These scientifics come forth in apparent elegance, when those loves universally reign, and indeed according to the degree in which they reign.

But with the regenerate the scientifics which are truths of the Church have such things adjoined to them, as belong to the love of the neighbor, and love to God, and hence genuine goods. These goods are stored up by the LORD in the truths of the Church with all those who are regenerate. When, therefore, the LORD in such persons insinuates a zeal for the good, then these truths come forth in their order; and when He insinuates a zeal for the truth, then that good is present, and kindles it.A. C. 5489.

What is here said in respect to the conjunction of the marriage of the scientifics of the Church with some affection or love, applies also to all other scientifics, and thus likewise to the natural sciences in the minds of men. They are always qualified by some good or some evil love, and as far as the student himself is concerned, are made thereby either useful or useless, and are either opened or closed against heaven, and they thus become a means for making man either intelligent and wise, or stupid and insane.

These points are further unfolded in the following passages from the Writings:

1. Scientifics or matters of science in human minds are qualified by a mans love or his ends:

Scientifics are indeed the means of becoming wise, but they are likewise the means of becoming insane. To those who are in the life of good, scientifics are the means of becoming wise; but to those who are in the life of evil, they are the means of becoming insane: for by scientifics they confirm not only the life of evil, but also the principles of the false, and indeed arrogantly and with persuasion, because they consider themselves wiser than others, and thus they destroy their rational.A. C. 4156.

Scientifics in themselves are neither true nor false; but they become true with those who are in truths, and false with those who are in falsities. Their application and use effects this. Scientifics with man are like riches and wealth with him.

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Riches and wealth with those who are in evil are pernicious, because they apply them to evil uses. But riches and wealth with those who are in good are useful, because they apply them to good uses. As for instance, among the Egyptians many things remained from the representatives of the Ancient Church, as is proved by their hieroglyphics. But as they applied them to magic, and thus made a bad use of them, they became with them not true, but false scientifics. These very same things, however, in the Ancient Church were true scientifics, because they applied them rightly to Divine worship.A. C. 6917.

2. Scientifics, and hence the natural sciences, are means of making man either wise or insane.

On our earth the sciences are means of opening the sight of the understanding, which sight is in the light of heaven; but as such things as are of the merely natural and sensual life rule, therefore the sciences to the men of our earth are means of becoming insane, that is, of confirming them in favor of nature against the Divine, and in favor of the world, and against heaven.E. U. 65.

No knowledges are hurtful or injurious, provided man does not regard them as everything, but looks to another end. They are spiritual riches on which the understanding of things may be founded; they are like riches or wealth, and powers, which, if esteemed for their own sakes only, render him in the other life most perverse. If, however, they are esteemed only for the sake of ulterior ends, so that they are only means; and are thus considered as of no value, separated from their end, they are injurious to no one.--S. D. 773.

3. Scientifics, or the natural sciences, are like riches or wealth.

The sciences in themselves are spiritual riches, and they who possess them are like those who possess worldly riches they are also means by which a man may perform uses to himself, his neighbor, and to his country, they are also a means of doing mischief. Besides, they are like dress which serves for use and ornament, and also for nourishing pride, as with those who would be honored for that alone.--E. U. 62. See also above, A. C. 6917.

4. The natural sciences ought not to be rejected because they may be abused.

The sciences ought not to be rejected on account of their making a man insane when from them he wishes to be wise in spiritual and celestial things, and because they then pervert and blind.

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For when truths are confirmed by them, then a man is illuminated by being in the sciences. Neither ought the pleasures of the lower mind and of the body to be rejected, because they destroy man, and make him blind; but he is allowed to enjoy them for use as before if only they are applied to uses, for pleasures are the life of the body, wherefore they are also subservient to uses.S. D. 2523.

VI.

NATURAL SCIENCE AND REVELATION.

WE have thus far established from the Writings of the Church the following points in respect to natural science:

1. Natural science is the ultimate of order in the human mind.

2. In itself it is neither true nor false; but in proportion as it is cultivated to the exclusion of spiritual truth, it darkens the understanding.

3. The natural sciences are means for an ulterior end, and they are rendered either good or evil, useful or useless, as they are subordinated either to a good or evil end, that is, to a good or evil love.

The next point to be considered is the relation of natural science to revelation, or of natural truth discovered by man to spiritual truth revealed from God out of heaven. This involves mans relation to his Maker. For in proportion as man acknowledges the personal Creator of the universe as He has revealed Himself in the Sacred Scripture, in the same proportion he places revealed above natural truth, Divine above human wisdom; but in proportion as he denies the personal Creator of the universe, and the Divinity of the Sacred Scripture, in the same proportion he places natural above spiritual truth, human wisdom above the wisdom of the LORD.

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In order to place this subject clearly before our eyes, it will be necessary first of all to define the Divine order in the creation of man, so far as this concerns the relation of natural to spiritual truth.

The Divine aim in the creation of man is stated in the Arcana as follows:

Man is so created that his internal is formed into an image of heaven, and his external into an image of the world; in order that heaven and the world may be conjoined in him, and that thus the LORD through him may flow out of heaven into the world, and rule it, in particular with every individual man, and in general with all men; and thus that He may conjoin the two, and thereby cause an image of heaven to be also in the world.A. C. 10,156.

Man, therefore, is the connecting link between heaven and the world; and natural science or the wisdom of the world in his mind is the means by which the LORD through man can conjoin the two, and thereby cause an image of heaven to be also in the world.

But in order that natural science may serve this important use, it is necessary that it should be in full accordance with Divine Truth; yea, it is necessary that it should be the natural exponent and representative of spiritual, and thus of Divine Truth.

Natural science, however, can become the natural exponent and representative of spiritual truth, when man in its development observes the Divine law of influx of spiritual into natural things, as this is laid down in the Writings:

Order requires that celestial things should rule spiritual things, and by them natural things, and lastly corporeal things; but when corporeal and natural things rule over spiritual and celestial things order is destroyed.

And again:

Order consists in this that the celestial should flow into the spiritual, the spiritual into the rational, and the rational into the scientific [or into the things belonging to science].

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When this order prevails then the spiritual is adapted by the celestial, the rational by the spiritual, and the scientific [or the things belonging to science] by the rational. The scientific then becomes in general an ultimate vessel; or what is the same thing scientifics specifically and particularly become ultimate vessels which correspond with rational things, these with spiritual, and spiritual with celestial things.A. C. 1476.

It hence follows that in order that heaven and the world may be conjoined in man, and thus that the LORD through man may flow out of heaven into the world and rule it, natural truth or the truth of natural science must be made subservient to spiritual, and hence to revealed truth.

This then brings us to the relation of natural science to revelation, on which subject we have the following clear and definite teaching in our doctrines:

As a general thing nothing can be founded on scientifics unless it be first founded on the Word; this must be the first thing, the other is simply a confirmation from mans scientifics.S. D. 5710.

The beginning must not be from scientifics or matters of science, nor ought man to enter by them into the truths of faith; for scientifics with man take their origin from sensual things and thus from the world, from which arise innumerable fallacies; but the beginning must be made from the truths of faith.A. C. 6047.

Man is never forbidden to learn the sciences, since they are both useful to life and delightful; nor is he who is in faith prohibited from thinking and speaking as the learned of the world; he must do so, however, from this principle, that the Word of God ought to be believed, and that spiritual and celestial truths ought to be confirmed as far as possible by natural truths, in terms familiar to the learned world. Wherefore a mans beginning must be from the LORD, and not from himself. The former is life, but the latter death.A. C. 129.

Those who violate the Divine order in the cultivation of natural science, and who make their beginning from man and nature, and not from the LORD and His revealed Word, and who from the facts of nature wish to enter into a knowledge of spiritual and heavenly things, are said to eat of the three of knowledge of good and evil, according to the following passage:

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A man who is worldly or corporeal at heart says: Unless I am instructed concerning faith, and the things which are of faith by the things of the senses, that I may see, or by scientifics that I may understand, I will not believe; and h confirms himself by this, that natural things cannot be contrary to spiritual things. He, therefore, wishes to be instructed in celestial and Divine things from the things of the senses, which yet is as impossible as for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. The more he wishes to be wise from such things, the more he blinds himself, even so far that he believes nothing, not even that there is anything spiritual and an eternal life. This flows from the principle or the beginning which he has chosen. This is meant by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the more he eats of this tree, the more he becomes dead.

But he who does not wish to be wise from the world, but from the LORD, says at heart: That the LORD must be believed, that is, those things which the LORD has spoken in the Word, because they are truths; and the thinks from this as a starting point. He confirms himself by things rational, scientific, sensual, and natural, and he separates those things which do not confirm.A. C. 128.

The sciences, or the things of the world may therefore be studied either from God and His revealed Word, as a starting point, or from man and the senses of the body. Of these two principles, or starting points, the first tends to all intelligence and wisdom, and the second to all insanity and stupidity. The Writings say:

There are therefore two principles, of which one leads to all stupidity and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The first principle consists in denying everything, or in saying at heart that one cannot believe the Word and doctrine thence before being convinced by such things as may be comprehended or felt.

This principle leads to all folly and insanity, and is to be called the negative principle. The other principle consists in affirming those things which are of doctrine from the Word, or in thinking or believing that they are true, because the LORD has said them. This principle leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and is to be called the affirmative principle.

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Those who think from the negative principle, the more they consult rational, scientific and philosophical things, do but so much the more plunge themselves into darkness, until they finally deny all things; and this is because no one and still less Divine things, for they transcend all understanding; and, moreover, each single thing from its source is then mixed with negative things. But on the other hand, those who think from an affirmative principle may confirm themselves by everything rational and everything scientific,--yea, as far as they can by philosophical things; for all these are to them confirmations, and give to them a fuller idea.A. C. 2568.

Corroborating passages showing that it is against order, and forbidden, to investigate spiritual things from natural things, or from natural things to decide such things as belong to God and the spiritual world, are as follows:

To believe nothing, or to acknowledge no spiritual truth; thus neither heaven nor angels, nor spirits, nor the life after death, besides many other things, unless a man can see and perceive them by natural philosophy, or as they say, unless they are demonstrated to their senses, this is altogether forbidden. Those who have begun to penetrate in this manner, become such that they desire to see spiritual and celestial things from natural things, which is impossible. How can what is composite enter and penetrate, as it were, into its own component parts? This is against all possibility; wherefore should any one attempt this, he would either be broken to pieces, and thus perish, or he would be blinded, so as not to see anything at all. But from spiritual things, as from component parts, what is composite may be seen, and thoroughly discerned.S. D. 2301.

To explore the mysteries of faith by scientifics is as impossible, as for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle; and as for a rib to rule the purest fibrils of the chest and heart. So gross, and still grosser is the sensual and scientific in respect to the spiritual and celestial. When any one wishes to investigate only the hidden things of nature, which are innumerable, he scarcely discovers one, and during his investigations, as is well known, he falls into falsities. How much more so if he wishes to investigate the hidden things of spiritual and celestial life, where myriads of things stand for one thing of those which are invisible in nature.... Those therefore who consult sensual and scientific things in matters of faith, not only rush into doubts, but even into denial, that is, into darkness, and when they rush into darkness, then also into all lusts. For when they believe what is false, they also do what is false; and when they do not believe that there is anything spiritual and celestial, they believe that there is only what is corporeal and worldly, and thus they love whatever is of themselves and of the world, and hence from falsity they love lusts and evils.A. C. 233.

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The more any one consults natural scientifics, and clings to them with his exterior and interior minds while studying the truths of faith, the more he loses the light of truth, and with the light, the life of truth. Every one if he attends and reflects, may now this from experience, from the case of those who say that they cannot believe, unless by sensual and scientific things they comprehend that a thing is so. If you explore them as to their quality, you will find that they believe nothing, and further that nothing appears wiser to them than to attribute each and everything to nature. There are also many who say that they believe, although they do not comprehend, and who nevertheless in secret with themselves, just like the others, reason from sensual and scientific things concerning the truths of faith whether they be so. These have either a certain inflated principle from the love of self and of the world, or they believe nothing at all. Their quality appears from their life.A. C. 2832.

Those are called drunken who believe nothing but what they comprehend, and who therefore investigate the mysteries of faith; and as this, according to the quality of the man, is done either from sensual, scientific, or philosophic things, it cannot be otherwise than that he should these fall into errors. Mans thought is but earthly, corporeal, and material, because it is derived from earthly, corporeal, and material things, which constantly adhere, and upon which the ideas of his thought are founded, and in which they terminate. Wherefore, when he thinks and reasons on Divine things from them, he is born into errors and perversions, and it is as impossible to acquire faith thence, as for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. The error and insanity thence arising are to the Word called drunkenness.A. C. 1072.

From all this it follows, according to A. C. 129, that True order consists in a mans being in a state of knowledge or wisdom from the LORD, that is, from His Word; for then all things succeed in proper order, and then he is also illustrated in rational and scientific things.

In order, therefore, that natural science may be a means for making man wise, and in order that it may strengthen and support the LORDS Church on earth, it is absolutely necessary that it should be duly subordinated to spiritual truth; even as the earth is subordinated to heaven, the body to the soul, the effect to the cause, the finite to the infinite, and thus everything human and angelic to the Divine.

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From this, however, it follows that natural science is two-fold: according as it is viewed either in the light of spiritual or revealed truth, or in the light of mans bodily senses; and, further, that spiritual truth can exist and appear in the sphere of nature, and thus can be presented representatively in natural things only by means of that natural science which starts with the principles of spiritual truth, as revealed in the written Word.

VII.

TWOFOLD METHOD OF VIEWING NATURE.

FROM what precedes it follows that there is a twofold method of examining nature and the things of nature, and hence those facts which constitute the basis of natural scienceaccording as the man of science in his inductions starts either with the principles of Divine Truth revealed in the written Word of God, or with the information furnished by the senses of his body.

This twofold method of examining nature is clearly described in what follows:

Scientifics are most general vessels which sometimes appear contrary to truths, before truths are instilled into them, making them translucent, and thus they are not apperceived. And, besides, scientifics are full of the fallacies of the senses which cannot be dispersed by those who are solely in the knowledges from doctrine, and not in the perception of truth from good; and especially because with them the light of the world predominates, which appears clear, as long as the light of heaven does not flow into it; but as soon as the light of heaven beams down upon it, there arises obscurity. Hence it is that these persons are enlightened and ingenious in the things of the world, but obscure and dull in the things of heaven....

Those, on the other hand, who are in the light of heaven are in illustration from the LORD, and before confirmation they apperceive by an intuition of the scientifics which are below, and are there arranged into order, whether a truth is confirmable or not.

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These persons therefore have an interior intuition which is above the scientifics, and hence distinct from them; but the former have an inferior intuition which is among the scientifics, and therefore a perplexed intuition.A. C. 6865.

This twofold method of looking at scientifics, or on the things which have entered through the natural senses into the memory, exists also with those men who devote themselves to a cultivation of the natural sciences. Every man of science, therefore, looks upon the facts of nature either with an interior intuition in the light of heaven, or with as exterior intuition in the light of heaven, which is the light of the world of nature. There is no intermediate point of view. There are those, it is true, who confine themselves to scientific formulae and experiments, and who thus endeavor to limit themselves altogether to the mere facts of nature. Of this description are generally the modern text-books of science prepared for the uses of the schools. Their authors endeavor to give in words a description of an object, or of a power of nature, as it appears to the senses, and they strive as much as possible to eliminate out of their description any fallacy arising from the imperfection of the senses, and they strive as much as possible to eliminate out of their description any fallacy arising from the imperfection of the senses. Yet the text-books of science abound with fallacies of the senses; for the point of view of the senses represents only a certain angle of vision; and this angel of vision which is equivalent to a subjective quality in the observers, is not eliminated either by the microscope or telescope. The angle of vision in both these cases is enlarged, but not done away with; wherefore no man by his natural senses is ever able to see an object of nature as it is in itself. On this account, therefore, there is a source of error in all merely sensuous observations of men.

Still, granted that the facts of science, as contained in most text-books of natural science, are of that intermediate or natural character, which may be described as neither true nor false, yet how few are the scientific men who limit themselves to the consideration merely of the facts of nature.

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They are not satisfied with the examination of effects only, but aspire to the investigation of causes. They, therefore, make the facts of nature the basis of an induction; and here the twofold point of view from which nature may be examined, comes into play: for nature may be regarded, on the one hand, from the interior point of intuition furnished by spiritual truths seen in the light of heaven, which is above the facts of science; or it may be examined from the exterior point of intuition which is among the facts of science themselves, and which considers them in the light of nature or of the world.

Those who examine nature in the light of heaven start with a knowledge of the world of causes, of which universal nature is a representative theatre, thus they start with the spiritual truths of the Word, and the causes therein involved, and revealed, and these causes they confirm by the facts of nature extant in the world of effects; and when these facts are illuminated by their corresponding spiritual truths, then the facts themselves become transparent by spiritual light, and thus they become natural truths.

Those who examine the causes of the facts of nature in the light of nature, start what they call hypotheses. When a hypothesis squares with the facts of nature, so far as they are then known, this hypothesis assumes the temporary name of a scientific truth, until some new facts are discovered which no longer square with it, when a new hypothesis is started to take its place.

With those scientific men, therefore, who believe only in the light of nature there are hypotheses confirmed by their temporary knowledge of the facts of nature,hypotheses which still wait for further confirmation by additional facts.

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But the new facts may lead to the rejection of the hypothesis before assumed, and make way for another. Hypotheses therefore are not ultimate Truths: and even when, to a great extent confirmed by facts, they fall short of showing us the primary causes of things. They are still in the world of effects, not of causes. And by the course of reasoning thus given us by the Philosophers, we still remain perplexed and confused within nature, and fail to rise above it.

VIII.

NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL SCIENTISTS.

AS there are two methods of studying nature, one in the light of heaven and of revealed truth, and the other in the light of nature and of mans own finite intelligence, it follows that there are two classes of scientific men as, in their deduction of causes from the facts of nature, they pursue the one or the other method. The first class of scientific men acknowledge a personal God of creation who has revealed Himself to men in the written Word, and thus they can be enlightened by the light of heaven which is the light of Divine Truth, and they can promulgate the genuine principles of natural science. The second class deny the personal God of Scripture and the possibility of revealed truth, and thus their minds are closed against the influences, and thus against the light, of heaven, and are therefore ruled by the influences of hell. For man is either under the influence of heaven, or of hell; and if he denies the personal God of the universe, and refuses to be enlightened by revealed truth, he cannot be under the influence of heaven, and therefore must be under the influence of hell. These men give birth to a false science which separates man from the LORD, and makes him the slave of his bodily senses;

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and this false science leads man to hell, whence it emanated in the first place, and there it finally reduces its devotees to a state of stupidity and insanity. That there is no permanent middle ground between a true and a false science, and hence between a natural and a spiritual scientist; just as there is no permanent middle ground between heaven and hell, appears from what follows:

Man is born natural, but becomes spiritual by regeneration, and if he does not become spiritual, he is in hell. For the science of the natural, that is, of the unregenerate, man is in the light of the world. But the intelligence of the spiritual, that is, of the regenerate, man is in the light of heaven. And as long as man is only in the light of the world, he is in hell. But when he is at the same time in the light of heaven, he is in heaven.

Those who are only in natural science, and hence in no other light than in the light of the world, can by no means believe those thing which of heaven. And even if they wish to enter into these things by their lumen; which is called natural lumen, something of dense darkness obstructs them which blinds them and causes what is heavenly to be nothing. For what in the mind appears as dense darkness, is equal to nothing. Hence it is that the merely natural man, however he may consider himself as in light above others, denies at heart Divine and heavenly things. For this reason so many of the learned by their sciences bring themselves into such insanity; much more than the simple, do they deny the things which are of the faith of the Church and of heaven.

It is different with those who allow themselves to be elevated by the LORD into the light of heaven. For these are first elevated above the scientifics which are of the natural man, and then from the light of heaven they see those things which are in the natural man which are called scientifics, and they well discern them, adopting those which they apprehend and which are congruous, and rejecting, or laying aside, those which they do not comprehend, and which are incongruous. In a word, it is with them as follows:

So long as man is merely natural, so long his interiors which see from the light of heaven, are closed; and the exteriors, which see from the light of the world, are open, and then man looks downward, that is, into the world and toward himself; for thither all the things of his will and of his thought tend; and whither man looks, thither also his heart turns itself, that is, his will and his love.

But when man becomes spiritual, then his interiors, which see in the light of heaven, are opened, and man looks upward, which is effected by an elevation from the LORD;

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and thus he looks into heaven and toward the LORD. Thither also are elevated all the things which are of his will and of his thought, and hence also his heart, and thus his love. For man is so created that his internal is formed into an image of heaven, and his external into an image of the world; in order that heaven and the world may be conjoined in man, and that thus the LORD through him may flow out of heaven into the world, and rule it, in particular with every individual man, and in general with all men; and thus that He may conjoin the two, and thereby cause an image of heaven to be also in the world.

When man however, cares only for the world, then heaven is closed in him; but when he suffers himself to be elevated by the LORD, heaven is opened within him, and the world subjected to it. And when this is done, hell is separated and removed from him. Then, also, for the first time, man knows what is good, and what is evil; but not before. This is what is called Gods image with man.--Gen. i. 27, 25. A. C. 10,156.

How different therefore the aspect of the world when seen in the light of heaven, from its aspect when seen in the light of nature! Science itself shines with a new and resplendent light when enlightened by the light of heaven which is the light of truth. How different then the results of every examination into nature! Nature herself seems transformed, when viewed under the light of heaven, and all things seem new.

Let us now trace the effect which the cultivation of a false natural science has on the human mind:

The erudition of those men who are sensual, that is, whose minds are enlightened merely by natural light, does not ascend beyond such things as appear in the world before the eyes, and which they hold in their memories. These things they contemplate and examine almost in a material manner, although these very same sciences are of use to the truly intelligent in the formation of their understandings.

Sensual men, nevertheless, can reason; some more cleverly and astutely than others; get they reason from the fallacies of the senses confirmed by their scientifics. And as they can thus reason, they consider themselves wiser than others.

The fire which with its affection kindles their reasonings, is the fire of the loves of self and of the world.

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These are in false intelligence, and in false wisdom, and are meant by the LORD in Matt. xi. 26, 26: Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

All intelligence and wisdom is false which is without the acknowledgment of what is Divine; for all those who do not acknowledge the Divine, but nature instead of the Divine, think from their sensual, corporeal principle, and are merely sensual, however learned and scholarly they may appear in the world.H. H. 353.

Those who are in scientifics alone, and hence have acquired the reputation of being learned, believe that in proportion as man possesses knowledge, that is, in proportion to his science, he is in wisdom. But that this is altogether different appeared to me from those in the other life who during their life in the world were in were scientifics, and thence derived the fame and reputation of being learned; for these frequently are much mole stupid than those who were not skilled in any of the sciences. The reason of this was also discovered, namely: that scientifics are indeed the means of becoming wise, but also of becoming insane. To those who are in the life of good, scientifics are the means of becoming wise; but to those who are in the life of evil, they are the means of becoming insane; for by scientifics they may confirm not only the life of evil, but also the principles of the false, and this arrogantly, and with persuasion, because they believe themselves wiser than others; and thus they destroy their rational faculty. For he does not possess the rational faculty, who can reason from scientifics, and occasionally to appearance more sublimely than others, a merely fatuous light imparting to him this ability. But he is strong in the rational faculty, who is able to discern that good is good, and truth truth; consequently that evil is evil, and falsity false. But he who regards good as evil, and evil as good, truth as false, and the false as truth, can in no wise be called rational, but rather irrational; howsoever he may be able to reason.A. C. 4156.

Who are more persuaded that their eyes are open, and that like God they know what is good and true, than those who love themselves, and at the same time are learned from the world? And yet who is more blind? Consult them only, and you will see that they do not know, and still less believe that there is spirit. Of spiritual and celestial life they are altogether ignorant. Eternal life they do not acknowledge, for they believe that they will die like the brutes. They do not at all acknowledge the LORD, but they worship themselves and nature. Those who wish to speak cautiously, say what a certain Supreme Being, of whose nature they know nothing, rules everything. These are their principles which they confirm with themselves by many sensual and scientific things; if they dared they would do it before the whole world.

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Such persons, although they wish to be acknowledged as gods, and as the wisest among men, nevertheless if they were asked whether they know what it is to be without proprium, would reply that this would be non-existence, because if they were deprived of their proprium they would be nothing. Were they asked, what it is to live from the LORD, they would conceive it to be a phantasy. If they were interrogated whether they know what conscience is, they would say that it is something merely imaginary, which may be of service in keeping the vulgar under bonds. Were they asked whether they know what perception is, they would do nothing but laugh, calling it something enthusiastic. Such is their wisdom, such open eyes have they, and such gods are they! From such principles, which they consider clearer than daylight, they start and proceed; and thus they reason about the mysteries of faith. What else can be the result of all this, than an abyss of gross darkness? And these more than others are the serpents that seduce the world.A. C. 206.

Unless mans thought can be elevated above things of sense, so that they may be regarded as below, he can by no means perceive anything interior in the Word, and still less those things that are of heaven abstracted from those things which are of the world; for the things of the senses absorb and suffocate them. Hence it is that those who are sensual, and who have studied the things belonging to the sciences, rarely comprehend any of those things which are of heaven. For they have immersed their thoughts in such things as are of the world, that is, in terms and distinctions derived thence, and thus in the things of the senses, from which they cannot any more be elevated, and thus be kept in no intuition above them. Thus their thought can no longer range in freedom over the whole field of their memory, and choose there those things which agree, and reject those which disagree, and apply those things which are in some connection; for the thought is kept closed and immersed in terms, as said above, and thus in the things of sense, so that it is unable to look around. For this reason the learned believe less than the simple; yea also they are less wise in the things of heaven: for the simple can view things above terms and scientifics, thus above the things of sense, but not the learned, who look upon things from terms and scientifics, because their mind is in these things, and thus is bound as in a cell or in a prison.A. C. 5089.

Such is the effect on the human mind of a false science which begins from man, and not from the LORD. Quite different is the effect of true science, concerning which we read:

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To those, on the other hand, who by knowledges and the sciences have acquired intelligence and wisdom, and these are all they who have applied all things to the uses of life, and at the same time acknowledge the Divine, have loved the Word, and lived a spiritual, moral life; to those, the sciences serve as a means for growing wise; and also of confirming those which are of faith.H. H. 356.

How the sciences serve them as means for growing wise, we learn in what follows:

Mans interior mind views the things of the natural memory, and those things there which confirm, it sublimates, as it were, by the fire of celestial love; and it takes them up, and purifies them into spiritual ideas. That this takes place, man does not know as long as he lives in the body, because while there he thinks both spiritually and naturally; those things, however, which he then thinks spiritually he does not perceive; but only those of which he thinks naturally. But when he comes into the spiritual world, he then perceives, not in a natural, but in a spiritual manner, those things which he had thought in the world. Thus the state changes.

From this it appears, that man is made spiritual by knowledges and sciences; and that they are means for growing wise; but only with those who acknowledge the Divine in faith and in life.

These also are accepted in heaven above others, and there they are among those who are in the centre, because they are in light above the rest. These are the intelligent and the wise ones in heaven who are resplendent as with the splendor of the expanse, and who shine like stars.H. H. 356.

IX.

MODERN SCIENCE IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

THAT judgment of the New Church on the condition of natural science in general at the present day is summed up in the following passage:

The science, or the wisdom of the present day is such that it cannot serve as a plane for spiritual truths, much less for celestial truths; but it is like the ultimate heaven [that is, the former heaven which passed away during the Last Judgment in 1757] which perverts into the opposite the truths that descend into it out of heaven. For, at the present day, whatever is taught by the sciences respecting the natural causes of phenomena, as of those which occur in the human body in connection with the senses and similar things;

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and likewise whatever is deduced respecting the knowledge of the soul and of other like things, is full of false hypotheses, in which not a single truth comes to sight; yea by them the way is even closed up in such a manner, that it is impossible for the thoughts of men to extend beyond the grossest parts of nature, wherefore spiritual and celestial things regarded as nothing. While the plane into which spiritual truths descend is such, they are of a necessity kept back, and do not penetrate; for no natural truth receives and continues, and thus confirms them, but either altogether repels them or perverts them into the opposite. Hence may be concluded the use of scientific truths, or such as are deduced from the sciences.S. D. 249.

In what follows it is shown that the scientific men at the present day, as a general rule, are opposed to the truth, and unwilling to see and acknowledge it:

It was sufficiently manifest to me that no truth, not even a natural truth, could ever come forth into light, without being at once rejected; and, indeed, most of all by the learned of the world: while on the other hand falsities are willingly accepted by them. So it is with natural truths, and still more with spiritual and celestial truths. It was granted me to know this by much experience: for the spirits who are around man are of such a nature, that as soon as any truth is presented, although they do not know that it is a truth, they at once feel a repugnance, and opposition to it; and, indeed from their natural disposition, which is contrary to the truth.--S. D. 2480.

Again we read:

I conversed with spirits respecting natural truths, that men at the present day care little for truths, but only for experiments, from which they are unable to elicit causes. and indeed for very many reasons; farther, that they do not at all acknowledge the truths which are thence deduced, because they are hidden from those who are in outermost corporeal and merely sensual ideas, and who are lather in favor of hypotheses and falsities.--S. D. 1967.

They are also unable to comprehend truths, wherefore they relegate them among were hypotheses.

Take only one instance: Scarcely any one is willing to believe, although it is a natural truth, that the least thing of thought and affection, affects all the organic beginnings of the brain, which are prefixed to the least fibres, namely, the cortical substances;

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and that, since they affect the beginnings, they also affect everything of the fibres which originate from the beginnings, of which there are myriads of myriads; and thus that they affect the whole body. And also that not a single one of all these myriads, or not a single cortical substance, or a single fibre, or a single point of a fibre is exactly like another; but that there is a continual variety, and that thus the universal brain, and the whole body, with so many innumerable varieties, constitutes but one most subtle moment of thought, which we consider to be of infinite subtlety; when yet it consists of innumerable varieties of persuasion and affection in each least point of thought. Who would believe this? When yet it is a merely natural truth, and demonstrable not only from the philosophy which is known, but also by experience.S. D. 1970.

Such then is modern science when viewed in the light of the doctrines of the New Church; whence it appears that it cannot serve as a plane for spiritual, and still less for celestial truth. From the judgment which is here passed on modern science it also appears that the abomination of desolation spoken of in Daniel ix. 27, in connection with the Christian Church, has likewise overtaken natural science; and has spread over it according to the principle by which natural science which is in the circumference or in the exterior, constitutes the final basis of the things of the Church.C. L. 130.

The desolation of modern science is visible not so much in the text-books of the sciences which are used in the schools, and which for the most part consist of a mere digest of natural facts and phenomena accommodated to the understanding of youth; but the poison lies in the theories which the modern men of science have hatched out of these facts, all of which, as we shall presently see, lead to the denial of God and the deification of nature.

A parallel case to this is furnished by the Church itself. For in the Church the letter of the Word, and thus the literal sense is made to furnish the ground whence are derived all the doctrines of the Church in respect to the LORD and His kingdom in heaven and on earth.

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But it is not the letter of the Word that has been desolated or devastated, but the doctrine which the Church derived thence, and hence the understanding of the Word of God which prevails in the Church. In a like manner it is the doctrine, the interior understanding of which the scientific men of the modern times have foisted upon the facts and phenomena of nature, which has been desolated and devastated, and not the facts of nature themselves; although the facts of nature, like the letter of the Word of God, have in this manner been falsified and perverted.

As both true and false doctrine may be derived from the letter of the Word of God, so also both a true and a false science may be deduced from the facts and phenomena of nature. Yet as true doctrine can be drawn out of the letter of the Word only by the LORD, and not by man; so also true science can be derived from the facts of nature only in the light of heaven, or in the light of the genuine doctrine of the Word, and not in the light of nature independent of the light of genuine doctrine revealed from God out of heaven. True natural science therefore can be cultivated only by those whose understandings are enlightened by the genuine doctrine of the Word by the facts of natural science: while all that natural science is false which confirms the mere hypotheses and false notions of men: and all notions of men are false which are repugnant and antagonistic to the principles of Divine Truth which are taught by the true doctrine of the Word.

That modern science so far as it deals merely in the principles deduced from the facts of nature, is utterly repugnant and antagonistic to the principles of Divine Truth as contained is the internal sense of the Word, which principles have been revealed by the LORD at His Second Coming in the Writings of the New Jerusalem, shall now be proved.

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This discussion will also allow the truth of the following statement:

It was sufficiently manifest to me that no Truth, not even a natural truth, could be brought forth in the light, without being at once rejected; and indeed chiefly by the learned of the world; while falsities on the other hand are most willingly accepted by them.--S. D. 2480.

It is a truth revealed from God out of heaven, 1. that the LORD from eternity or Jehovah produced from Himself the sun of the spiritual world, and from it created the universe and all things therein (D. L. W. 290); 2. that the sun of the natural world was created to serve in a subordinate capacity (Ibid. 153); 3. that this sun is pure fire and therefore dead (Ibid. 157); 4. That it was created to the end that all things may be fixed, settled and constant, and that hence there may be permanent and enduring existences (Ibid. 165).

From this it follows that the true order of creation progresses from the centre to the circumference; that the centre of creation is self-existent, and is an inexhaustible source of life and hence of force, and that from the centre is created the circumference.

The hypotheses of modern science are opposite to this Divine order. According to the nebular theory propounded by the elder Herschel and La Place, which has not yet been given up by modern science, our solar system owes its origin to an atmospheric fluid of vast extent which by successive condensations gave rise to the planets an the sun.

Again, the tendency to deduce the centre from the circumference has also produced the hypothesis universally maintained by modern science that the sun, like the planets, is a solid body, with this difference only that the planets have cooled off, while the sun is still in a state of incandescence, at least on its circumference.

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This hypothesis requires the fire of the sun to be maintained by fuel furnished from the circumference; hence the modern scientists are taxing their ingenuity to account for the fuel of the sun.*

* There are some of the scientists who have the opposite view.

This same principle that the centre is created and preserved from the circumference, is also held by the modern anatomists and physiologists. While therefore true science in accordance with the principles of revealed truth in the Writings of the New Church maintains, that the brain is the central organ of the body, determining all its sensation and also and motion, and hence also the motion of the heart and of the lungs, modern physiology maintains that the animatory motion of the brain is the result of the pulsatory motion of the heart, and especially of the respiratory motion of the lungs.

Again, while revealed truth teaches that man was created by God into His image and according to His likeness, and that there is nothing in the created universe which has not a correspondence with something of man (D. L. W. 324); or which does not bear a more or less remote likeness to man (Ibid. 61); and while revealed truth therefore teaches that God-Man is the centre of creation, and that from Him the likeness of man in a decreasing ratio is continued to the circumference of creation; modern science under the lead of Darwin pecks to construct and create man by a successive process of evolution from the lowest stages of creation; thus evolving the centre from the circumference.

Revealed truth in the Writings of the New Church, again, teaches that there is a continual influx from the spiritual into the natural world, and that this influx which derives in origin from the sun where the LORD is, and proceeds to the ultimates of nature, produces the forms of vegetables and animals ... in places where such things are as correspond, which forms as long as they exist receive the means of propagation (D. L. W. 340, 351).

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Whence it follows that revealed truth is in favor of spontaneous generation, which is persistently denied by the great bulk of modern scientists.

Again, Divine Revelation speaks of a golden age of mankind when God spake with men, and by an immediate revelation from Himself imparted to them all knowledge respecting Himself and the world to come. The existence of the golden age is denied by the scientific men of the present day, and on the strength of geological excavations in the western part of Europe, ignoring those which were made in Egypt, Palestine, and Assyria in the East, they declare that the first state of mankind was that of savages who gradually emerged out of the age of stone implements, into the ages of iron and bronze implements; and so forth.

The Church which resides interiorly in the minds of men, always impresses its own character on the sciences which are underneath, and so also the faith alone state of the Church at the present day has put its stamp on the systems of classification now in vogue. Form, the philosophical and scientific equivalent of faith, and when insisted upon to the exclusion of the principle of substance and use, the equivalent of faith alone,--form, in scientific classification nowadays is everything, and substance and use nothing. What, indeed, is the only principle taken into consideration by botanists, zoologists and mineralogists in their systems of classification? Do they not put useful and poisonous plants; or domestic and ferocious animals pell-mell into one scientific genus and class, provided they agree in those principles of form which they hold to be distinctive?

The worst change against modern science, however, and that whereby its negative character is most clearly established is this:

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That scientific men at the present day by common consent have agreed that the effects of nature are due to natural causes alone, and not at all to spiritual causes. Spiritual causes because they are not subject to the evidence of the bodily senses, they regard as unscientific.

Modern science, therefore, in investigating the causes of natural effects moves in a circle, and refuses to acknowledge the agency of supernatural powers in nature. The inevitable result of this is, that it totally ignores the relations existing between end, cause, and effect, and thus the doctrine of discrete degrees, which is the distinctive doctrine of the philosophy of the New Church; and hence science embraces exclusively the doctrine of continuous degrees. In the eyes of modern science therefore there is no discrete degree between spirit and matter: spirit in its eyes being a mere attenuation of matter. In a similar manner it denies that god has anything whatever to do with nature. It is surprising how very carefully modern science wipes out every trace and every approach to the doctrine of discrete degrees in the facts and powers of nature. So in natural philosophy heat, light, sound, electricity, magnetism, and energy are all defined as powers moving on one and the same level, and as homogeneous members in the problem of the correlation of forces. In astronomy the existence of the ether as the medium which conveys light to this world is universally admitted, yet it is not supposed to be discretely separated from the common air, but to differ from it simply in respect to rarity and attenuation. In geometry again there is a discrete degree between angular forms and circles; and again between a circle and the curves produced by the conic sections. Modern science ignores, and even falsifies these distinctions; for it declares a circle to be a polygon consisting of an infinite number of sides; while an ellipse is defined simply as an oblong circle!

Before the doctrine of discrete degrees is even fairly enunciated in the ears of modern scientists

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and it is a doctrine which leads to the acknowledgment of an infinite central causethey are at once inimically arrayed against it, like the spirits concerning whom we read in the Spiritual Diary, 2480: the spirits who are around man are of such a nature, that as soon as any truth is brought forward, although they do not know that it is a truth, they at once feel a repugnance, and opposition to it; and, indeed, from their natural disposition which is contrary to the truth.

By this cursory view of modern science as it appears in the light of the doctrines of the New Church it is made very plain that it cannot serve as a plane for spiritual, and still less for celestial truth; and further that one of the duties of the New Church in future will consist in wresting the facts of nature from the hands of the modern Egyptians, and in instilling into the sciences the genuine principles of revealed truth. That this work remains to be done by the New Church is clearly stated in the conclusion of the following passage:

Since the world at the present day is such that it desires to be called learned, and is not willing to believe anything but what it can comprehend, therefore with such what is spiritual can scarcely operate, unless that false and mendacious plane [formed by modern science] be shaken utterly to pieces and perish, or unless it be changed into a plane of natural truths.S. D. 250.

That this work, however, is one of paramount importance to the New Church, and that its success among mankind as a Church is involved in it, appears from this consideration, that inasmuch as the understanding has been closed by the sciences, it must also be opened again by means of the sciences.S. D. 5709.

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METAPHYSICS IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

CONCERNING the origin of Philosophy we read in the Writings of the Church as follows:

Man draws philosophical knowledge from himself, and from the operation of his mind; and when he has learned this, and reduced it into rules, he does not know that all this has been drawn out of himself, and that it is in himself, and indeed in an indefinitely greater perfection.S. D. 226.

Where in man philosophy resides, and how it is drawn out of him, Swedenborg states in the Arcana, as follows:

A little boy speaks philosophically, analytically, and logically more in half an hour, than a philosopher can describe in several volumes. This is because all things of human thought, and hence of speech are analytical; and the laws of analysis are from the spiritual world. He who would think artificially in accordance with the terms of logic, is not unlike a dancer, who would learn to dance from the science of the motive fibres and muscles. If his mind while he is dancing, is directed to this science, he could hardly move a foot; when yet, without that science he moves all the motive fibres which are scattered over the whole body, and he moves in accordance therewith the lungs, the diaphragm, the sides, the arms, the neck, and the remaining parts; for a description of which several volumes would not suffice. So it is with those who would think from terms.A. C. 4658.

Swedenborg explained this subject in his scientific work on the Animal Kingdom, in which he says:

It is beyond all doubt that the rational mind of man is in its very nature philosophical, and has the ability to arrange and distribute ideas in an analytic form, and to revolve and sum them up so as to form a certain conclusion; for all our philosophy and logic is derived from no other fountain, or collected from no other streams than from the operations of the rational mind, which not only herald with their light, but even instruct us, their subjects, in the matter of philosophy and the manner of philosophizing, which shows that we cherish and possess in ourselves the very master of philosophy, to whose utterances the most learned among us must listen in humble dependence;

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and so much is this the case, that the philosopher may derive innumerable materials deserving to be inserted in his code from the common herd of the unlearned. The boy and the youth in their simple speech sometimes though more axioms of philosophy and logic, through more categories and series of consequences, than the prince of philosophers can distinctly set forth in his pages. Each copula or connection of words contains some philosophical will only bestow a little attention upon particular cases. The mind does not derive those predicates from its body, but from a higher essence, in which the above faculty is innatein fact, from the soul, which lives immediately under the auspices of the Superior Mind. Philosophy is a kind of anatomy of the human mind; for as we are ignorant of what lies hidden in the body, and of how the organic fabrics set upon each other, until the viscera are opened and examined, so, also, without investigation we are ignorant of what lies hidden in the mind. The grand philosopher is he who scrutinizes these subjects with the greatest depth and distinctness.A. K. vol. 11. p. 356, Engl. edit.

The relation of the true philosophy of the mind to revelation Swedenborg states thus: Philosophy in itself, which is true philosophy, agrees with the things in the Divine Word; just as external things agree with internal things, or as nature in itself with heaven; for nature is so constituted that there complete concordance. The philosophy of the human mind ought to be such that spiritual and celestial things may be seen from it; and such a philosophy is possible, because such is philosophy in itself. When there is such a philosophy, then there is acquired by means of it an intellectual faith, to which the human mind may have recourse when there arise doubts about the things to be believed.Adv. i. 914.

Again we read:

It is very evident that philosophy, such as it is in itself, can never contrary to the things in the Divine Word; for natural and heavenly things agree; as in man his natural and spiritual nature agree when ire is a true man, for nature is formed by the Supreme creator, so that it is perfectly obedient to spiritual things; the world itself, with its nature, being created for this very purpose, that it might yield obedience to the things ordered by heaven, just as the body of man, with its nature, is so constituted that it may obey the spiritual mind in everything it intends and views as an end;

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so that in nature there may be effects, but in heaven causes and beginnings, as is the case in the human body.Adv. i. 911.

With those who accept as a foundation or as principles those things which God Messiah revealed concerning spiritual and celestial things, and which are eternal truths, and who from them enter into natural knowledges,with these, spiritual things are instilled into natural things, so that they constitute as it were one body; like as the soul enters into its own body.Adv. ii. 1287.

Faith must act on scientifics and acquire scientifics, that they may serve it as it were for a body, and hence may act as a fulcrum for the understanding; for, except from the objects of the memory man can scarcely comprehend anything. But when the philosophy acts the part of the soul, and the faith of truth the part of the body, so that faith is formed philosophy as from the body, when yet it ought to be formed from the soul,then order is necessarily inverted, and thus all things are perverted.Adv. iv. p. 206.

There is thus true philosophy, and there may be also false philosophy. True philosophy is drawn from a human mind which acknowledges God and revelation, and which by philosophical considerations confirms those principles of truth which are revealed from God out of heaven. False philosophy, however, is drawn from a human mind which denies God and revelation, and regards human reason as fully competent to derive true philosophical principles by the analysis of the human mind.

Respecting the origin of this false philosophy we read as follows:

Philosophy or human erudition judges and concludes spiritual from natural things; and as the natural man since the fall, is of such a nature as to be entirely opposed to the spiritual man, and to fight continually against him, therefore the philosophy which is drawn out of man, that is, out of his rational mind, is such that it destroys the things derived from the Divine Word. Wherefore it is not philosophy itself, regarded in itself, which is at fault; but the human mind itself which has become such since the fall, and from which mind philosophy is drawn.Adv. i. 911.

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The opposite nature of these two kinds of philosophy is described in the following:

Those who assume truths from the LORDS Word as theses, and confirm them by philosophical considerations or by arguments sought from nature, these are not molested, provided they do not do so from the love of self. But those who do so from their own intelligence, and who assume certain theses, and thence wish to deduce spiritual and celestial truths, or confirm them thereby,--these, because order is inverted, are molested thereby.--S. D. 1469.

While true philosophy therefore corroborates the truths of the Divine Word, false philosophy destroys them; and this is due in the first place to a tendency of the human mind to declare against revealed truth, as soon as it succeeds in explaining the cause of anything satisfactorily to itself. This tendency of the mind is described in the following passage:

I have sometimes noticed that faith perishes, as soon as men know the cause, or think that they know it. Some could not help acknowledging this; who immediately began to doubt the power of God Messiah, when they are a certain cause, as for instance, that anything is done by means of angels, or by means of heaven; wherefore it was shown to them that this could be done without them as means, because God Messiah is all in all, and is omnipotent. Nevertheless, when men have once or twice perceived causes, it remains impressed upon their minds that there is still a mediating cause which is hidden, and thus filth polishes with them. This also is the reason why men reject all faith, as soon as they think that they have elicited the cause of something. On this account also faith is destroyed by human philosophy, because the philosophers desire to investigate the cause of everything in their own way and by their philosophy.--S. D. 341.

Human philosophy also constantly errs in the practical application of those principles of truth, which it really has. So we read:

That human philosophy has discovered a number of truths may appear from this, that the philosophers know that the acting force nets as one with the instrumental force.

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But there arises hence with them this fallacy, that man who is an instrumental force or an instrument, is supposed to be the acting force, because the efficient cause proceeds from him; and thence the fallacy of sense, that he who is an instrument attributes to himself what is the LORDS, who is the only agent.... Man knows a number of truths, but when man comes to their application, he knows nothing; for the instrument still imagines himself to be the very acting force; wherefore there arises hence a perverted order of life, and thence phantasies which so much distort their minds.--S. D. 649.

True principles are therefore obscured and falsified, when they are submitted to the light of nature, or when a man who is willing to regard them only in the light of nature, falsely applies them to the object of his thought.

Another source of error is this: When men without being enlightened by revealed truth, attempt to arrive at a knowledge of spiritual things by a mere abstraction of natural things. This mode of philosophizing is described in what follows:

The way in which men philosophize is this: In describing spirit, soul, and similar things which are invisible, they remove or abstract all things to which human ideas are attached, thus space, parts, figure, and the like, so that no idea, and consequently no form, is left them for expressing those things which have respect to spirit and the like, and which they call immaterial. In this wise they involve these things in terms, and finally in hidden qualities; the result of which is that they at last doubt whether there is anything at all within those things which the senses seize, and this most of them deny, at least interiorly within themselves. They thus deny spirit, spiritual and celestial things, and they therefore believe that they will die like other animals, from which they cannot distinguish themselves, although they would be called learned. Besides, they concatenate terms; and when these terms are unraveled they exhibit a plain simple meaning, which can easily be expressed.S. D. 591.

From all this it appears that false philosophy arises by extinguishing true spiritual principles in natural light; and again by endeavoring to compass spiritual things by ideas drawn from objects seem in natural light, which is an impossibility;

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and finally it arises by a desire on mans part to put himself in the place of his Maker, and thus to make himself a god.

The result of all this is that human philosophy is on the one hand, reduced to a mere heap of words, and on the other, that it gives birth to a system of logic, which is a mere engine for making white appear black, and black white.

That such is the nature of modern philosophy appears from what follows:

I conversed with the spirits respecting the philosophy of this world in which men place their wisdom, namely, that it is a mere vocabulary; for it treats of qualities, accidents, forces, substances, and the like, as well as of spirits and other similar things; and the philosophers care for nothing else than to know what these terms signify; thus what accidents, substances, and many other things mean. They also dispute respecting the signification of these terms, as if there was something real in them, when yet they are mere words. So also when a meaning is discovered they dispute whether what is signified may be comprehended by one word, and thus by one idea. Those who do this have a number of truths, because they are able to see them from experience in themselves and in the world; but as they dispute concerning them, all things become confused with them, and are turned into dust; and these things, and consequently material and corporeal things, they study, but nothing else is caused thereby except a mere darkening of the light of truth.S. D. 2263.

A similar judgment is passed on modern philosophy in the following passages:

Philosophical studies, from their very first ages, thus for some thousands of years, have consisted merely in terms and syllogisms; and since it is only terms that the philosophers care about, as what form is, what accidents are, what modes are, and the like, it cannot be otherwise than that the mind should remain in ideas only, without any life, because without light. For they do not apply their philosophy to things rational; or what they do apply are were terms; from which if they dispute, they are like those who learn the words of a language, not indeed for expressing any meaning thereby, but only for the sake of talking; and since they concentrate and contract all the powers of the mind upon that in which there is no life, thus upon material things only, they consequently form in their minds a callous substance, so dark that no light can pass through it.

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Similar, also, is syllogistic, or logical philosophy, which so confines the ideas of the mind, that there is almost no opening for the light. Wherefore, such wise men as these are much more blind, yea stupid in spiritual and celestial things than the most insignificant among the crowd, or than any rustic.S. D. 866.

We further read:

As concerns philosophy, every one of its parts has thus far done nothing else than darken the mind, and thus close the way to the intuition of interior, and at the same time, also, of universal things; for it stops short in mere terms, and in disputes concerning them.... Besides it thus not only obstructs the way to interior things, but, also, blinds the mind, and utterly banishes faith; so that in the other life a philosopher who has dwelt much on such things, or has included in them, becomes stupid and beyond all others ignorant.S. D. 767.

There are some studies by which mans faculty of thinking, and his rational mind is entirely destroyed. Among these are philosophical studies, when through a series of conclusions a result is drawn from the definitions of terms and the conclusions thence. As these series, when linked together, represent such things as cannot be understood by anybody, and among which no connection can be seen, they then take away all reason while nevertheless, they involve nothing but what may be explained so simply that it can be understood by everybody. To these studies belongs also logic, which groups truths together and renders them doubtful; especially when from many things one thing is evolved, which thereby becomes involved; and frequently the conclusion is such that it may be understood without any syllogism. These things are also like geometry and algebra, when by them demonstrated simple truths; and when through angular, circular, and curved figures something intricate is so expressed, and explained as thus to become quite unintelligible. Such sciences and their application cause man to lose his common sense and to become insane.Diarium Minus, 4578.

The effect on the mind of such a merely human philosophy, and its use in obtaining a knowledge of spiritual and heavenly subjects, is further described in what follows:

If men by the philosophy of this world wish to enter into spiritual and celestial things, they cast themselves into were shades, as when dust enters into clear light; for then the light of the mind is darkened as it were by a fog, by a cloud, by obscurity and darkness, in which men then place light and wisdom;

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wherefore their wisdom is a mere darkening of light; and thus they blind themselves, and no mortal is less wise than those who proceed in this manner, and who, from a philosophy which is mere dust, wish to enter into spiritual things. So, for instance, they define spirit as a substance to which no modes are to be ascribed, and then they dispute concerning substance and modeswhat they are. What else can result thence than mere darkness, and hence errors, and consequently negations?S. D. 2264.

Again we read:

It is a grievous thing that mortals from the mere study of philosophy live in such blindness in respect to their own soul, that they scarcely know how to distinguish it from the rational mind, and from the souls of the beasts; nay, not even from the souls of the lowest insects, nor finally from the soul of inanimate things and of plants, because they see in these things a similar prolification. It is a grievous matter that at the present day, when they think they live in so great a light as to intellectual things, they are yet in so dense a shade that nothing can be more dense; wherefore, as soon as they in the least consult philosophy, they fall into the worship of nature and fall backward; and order itself is perverted thereby, and there is no faith. They also can scarcely be reformed, unless the whole of their philosophy is first shaken out of their minds; for faith is against the very state of their minds; nor can it there exist, because knowledge must precede faith. But it must be known that what is to be believed is such that it may be believed; for without such knowledge faith does not exist; since this would be believing without understanding and reason, which is not human.Adv. ii. 1076.

Who doubts more in respect to spiritual and celestial things, than those who study philosophy? Indeed they are the ones who altogether fall backward, and become worshipers of nature; they even reject all faith in God Messiah, hence their worship of nature, and their favor of those things which are corporeal and natural. Thence also the very philosophy of the Egyptians was turned into magic.Adv. ii. 1253.

In conclusion we read:

If the mind has recourse to philosophy at the present time, then faith is at once destroyed, for the philosophy of the present day is of such a nature that it expels faith, and thus extinguishes the very light of truth, and induces such shades that the mind can hardly be illustrated except by a miracle, as when an altogether different state is induced upon the mind, which can only be brought about by misfortunes, sickness, and thus by anxieties, and finally by what are called pangs of conscience;

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consequently by an indefinite variety of modes adapted to the state of each ones mind. It is evident, however, that this is much more difficult with such as are imbued with the philosophy of the present day, than with the more simple.Adv. i. 914.

Such then is modern philosophy as it appears in the light of the New Church; yet it does not follow thence that philosophy and its terminology are altogether useless. Its uses in the Church appear from the following:

Some spirits were of the opinion that everything which is called philosophical ought to be altogether rejected; and because philosophy or human wisdom is condemned, that therefore also all terms which savor of philosophy ought to be condemned; and in order to show me how much they detested philosophy, they represented a wild boar with its back all spattered with blood, and they gave me to understand that I was of such a nature, because I employed some philosophical

But they were informed that. my philosophical expressions were nothing else than certain ideas in simpler terms; as, for instance, when I speak of subject and predicate, I mean that the predicates or the things predicated ought to be applied to what is signified by the subject; as in treating on the prophets, these terms may be applied to a certain article of faith, to faith in general, to mans almost mind, then again to interior things, to the Church, and to heaven. Thus that which is treated of, or understood, is called the subject, and the remaining things which are said, and are to be applied are called predicates, so that it may be said that the predicates are to be applied to the subject. The same may also be expressed differently without such terms, and be understood in a similar manner, and afterward, be repented; wherefore they are nothing else than true ideas, which are comprehended by such formulae or terms. There arises thus a certain philosophical language more concise than the common language; for without it the same thing must be expressed in a circuitous way, as is usually done by those who do not know these terms, and even more clearly, unless the common terms flow from the things. It is similar with other things; as in speaking of form, quality, and the like which are merely ideas of truths, of use to those who wish to express more concisely interior and inmost things.

But it is an abuse, when philosophers remain in the terms, and dispute about them without coming to an agreement;

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thus all idea of the thing perishes, and mans power of comprehension is so limited, that afterward he knows nothing except these terms, they merely collect such terms, and thus so obscure their subject, that they cannot understand anything at all, and their natural lumen is blinded. The unlearned man has thus much more extensive ideas, and sees what is true much better than the philosopher; the latter remains in the mire like a hog, wherefore such a boar was represented to me. Such a philosopher becomes also like a wild beast in the woods, and like a wild beast wanders about among truths which he tears to pieces and kills.S. D. 1602-1604.

From this it follows that Philosophy is a mere handmaid of Revelation, and that it is able to present in an orderly and rational manner the truths that are handed to it by revelation; even as the human mind where it originates is able simply to receive truth, but is not able to originate and generate any truth. Again, as in the human mind the facts of nature may be raised out of the sensual, into the natural, and thence into the rational mind; and as the facts of nature as they are thus raised out of mans sensual into his rational sphere, are rendered more exact and precise, and divested of fallacies; so also philosophy by extracting from the human mind those principles according to which it thinks and judges, is able to furnish to natural science those rules and categories, by which it can reduce the facts of nature into rational order. Philosophy, also, by deducing from the human mind the laws of thought, is a means whereby man may analyze and dissect a statement of truth which he hears, and by which he may test whether there is a contradiction in the terms of the statement itself, or whether there arises a contradiction when it is exposed to the light of higher and more interior truths. Yet there is no inherent light in philosophy itself, and it cannot dispense with the concrete truths of revelation on the one hand, nor with the concrete facts of nature on the other.

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There is therefore only a formal, and not a substantial or material element in philosophy; and independent of the substance of revealed truth, and also of the concrete facts of nature, it is absolutely nothing. The mistake of the philosophers has risen in their supposing that their merely formal discipline or science renders them independent of revelation, and at the same time of the solid facts of nature; and that they can evolve a spiritual and a natural universe out of the depths of their own finite consciousness. The possibility of a true philosophy being drawn out of the human mind, is, however, entirely due to the fact that man, and thus the human mind is created into a likeness and image of his Maker; but when this image is destroyed in man, by a denial of God and His revealed Truth, then only a false philosophy can be drawn out of the human mind. The love which underlies this desire of producing a philosophy which is essentially false, and which has also produced those abortive systems of philosophy which like meteors have ascended the mental horizon of humanity, and which like meteors have also disappeared thence,this love is the love of self which desires to rule over the whole world, and which by a strange infatuation has mistaken the finite vessel for the Infinite Creator.

That philosophy is a mere formal discipline and the handmaid of revealed truth, is clearly taught in the following passage:

In addition to the truths from the Divine Word, there are also other truths, which are mere ministering means for discovering these former truths. Such ministering means are philosophical, mathematical and other similar truths. These truths, however, are like those sciences which are called indeterminate, and which are simply instrumental in furnishing rules and laws, and also terms, by means of which the truths of the Divine Word may be explored; for they are without any use, unless they are applied to those things, the truths of which are to be investigated. Such ministering truths in philosophy are qualities, quantities, accidents, modes, and in geometry the quality of figures, forms, proportions and the like.--Adv. i. 937.

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The judgment of the New Church in respect to the importance of philosophy, and of its use, is summed up in what follows:

PHILOSOPHY may therefore be present, if it is a servant, and likewise the experience of the senses; yet it is of use in enlightening only those who are unwilling to believe anything except what is philosophically true, and who wish to comprehend things by their senses.S. D. 650.

(To be continued.)

APPENDED NOTE.

DR. JAMES JOHN GARTH WILKINSON most forcibly demonstrates that Spiritual Science implies Spiritual revelation of its God and its world, as follows:

Science must have real objects at both ends of its field. It is commonly said that science proceeds from the known to the unknown, the object being of course to make the unknown again into the known. This is true in knowledge, but must not without a complete reservation be carried over into reality. Were it so, nature and spirit would be the bubbles and playthings of science and not its limits and nurses. To put the matter in another way, and avoid abstract propositions, the field of inquiry must be given, or there is no object to investigate. Then, from the part seen and understood, science proceeds with its mind to the part seen and not understood. But both parts must be equally seen. The object of science must always be given, and be sensible and fact, or science proceeds from the known to the unknown, in the sense of losing itself in the unknown, and hurling its process from beginning to end into nonentity....

This is what theism and atheism do actually, so far as experience, knowledge, science, intelligence, and the wisdom applicable to all these faculties, are concerned. They occupy themselves with an attempt to pass from known fact to unknown fact, instead of from known fact understood to known fact not understood, but subject to understanding. These remarks do not apply to affectional, but to scientific and intellectual things.

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The corollary to be drawn is, that if God is not given in experience, since has no end, but the always unknown: which amounts to saying, that science with all its strides walks toward incurable ignorance, or to its own annihilation....

Swedenborg has enabled us to reverse the process: and by the statement of divine truths concerning the incarnation and the reasons of the LORDS life on earth, he has abolished the unknown from fact, and placed a perfectly known and seen God in the front of His universe. This is the only possible salvation of science, as well as of the human race. That God, the source of all good, and of all truth, should be knowable for what He is as nature and man are knowable. And the first question for the natural man inevitably is: Who is God? in other words, has He shown Himself personally in a history? This given, in the gospels for the wise and the simple, is the intellectual and scientific mind, by a complete theory, which culminates in the truth, that He who was Jesus Christ in His suffering combatant humanity, is the LORD JEHOVAH Himself. Every eye hath seen Him, and they also who pierced Him: every heart knows Him either by acceptance or rejection. There is no claimant for the throne of our allegiance but Himself. In His divine humanity, God can be known more perfectly than man can be known in his consciousness, his origin, his history, or his hopes. The reason is that He is good, which man is not: and good is calculable and consistent, and true throughout: a firm basis of inquiry and knowledge, helping the knower and the inquirer to be better as he proceeds: so that at last it will be true that the knowledge of the LORD shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea. The sea is scientifics generally: the knowledge of the LORD is divine truth, governing all subordinate fields, and leading to regeneration and final salvation. The Word is the firmament and world of this truth. Consequently, the natural world, known and seen, is the end corresponding to the beginning. Its spiritual and celestial senses within the letter are the movements of the LORD through the heavens in our minds, which they will, if we please, re-create until even mundane science itself will be gifted by them to understand whatever is spiritually useful and necessary respecting the conditions of creation: beyond which no honest orderly science can desire to go.Human Science and Divine Revelation, pp. 250-253.

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THE NEW HERESY.

Swedenborgs Writings are not in themselves the internal sense of the Word.

THE Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem disclosed in the Writings of Swedenborg are fundamental in the New Church, they are its Doctrines, its institutes, and its only authentication. From these Writings under the Divine auspices of the LORD the New Church has arise; upon the Word as unfolded in them the Church is founded; and without them it is nothing. Remove these Writings from the world, and the memory of them from the human mind, and how could the New Church continue to exist: or the Divine order established in the spiritual universe, at the last Judgment be maintained? The nature and origin, consequently, of the Heavenly Doctrines is a subject of momentous import in the Church, and, in fact, the estimate of these Divine disclosures of the Word has a most wonderful reflex influence on the man of the New Church. It is the old question over again, put to each one of us: What think ye of Christ, whose Son is He?Matt. Xxii. 42.

In the New Jerusalem Magazine for August and September we find a brief article on this subject, under the head A New Heresy; and although the Magazine falls lamentably short, in our opinion, of comprehending the nature of Swedenborgs Writings, and notices unfavorably the Doctrines on this subject which we have promulgated in WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, yet a certain use may be promoted by the article. Possibly the article may arouse some New Churchmen from their lethargy in respect to the nature of the Writings, and the Writings themselves may be consulted more than heretofore for the answer to the questions at issue.

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For surely these wonderful Writings given under the Divine auspices of the LORD, in Swedenborgs Theological Works, ought to be consulted, and their voice ought to be heard, on all questions touching their own nature and origin.

The article in the Magazine referred to, after quoting from a chapter in the SERIAL on Heresies in the New Church, says:

As our readers well know we have more than once expressed our regret on account of the extreme opinions to which the editors of Words for the New Church have committed themselves. Nothing seems to us more objectionable or more contrary to all the teachings of Swedenborg than to liken his Writings to the Word of the LORD. The difference between the two is that between Divine and human....

Swedenborgs Writings are not, in themselves, the internal sense of the Word. But they tell us many things in relation to that sense. They give us a wonderful insight into it. To a certain limited sense they translate it into our poor human language. Swedenborg, being elevated into its light, conveys as much of it as he can through the media at his command.... The most that he asks us to believe is, that the truth which he is permitted to unfold is really drawn from the infinite storehouse of the Word of God, the book of life to angels and men. This we freely and gladly do, seeing, also, in his Writings the proof of the Second Coming of the LORD, whose humble and willing servant he was.

If, in refusing to give his works a higher place than this, we fall under the ban of heresy, we cannot help it. We feel sure that we are in good company, and that the vast majority of New Churchmen are heretics with us.

In these paragraphs the Magazine tells us plainly that the Writings of Swedenborg are not the internal sense of the Word, that they differ from the Word as Divine differs from human, that while they are not the internal sense they tell us many things in relation to that sense, give us a wonderful insight into it, and to a certain limited extent, translate it into our poor human language. The positions of the article are mainly negative,its affirmative positions being little else than commonplace observations in which most men would agree, whether of the New Church, or of the Old.

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We have likened the denial of the Divinity of the Writings in which the LORD has made His Second Advent, and by which He is to be continually present in His New Church, to the denial of His Divinity and the Divinity of His Human in the First Advent; and we think that the analogy holds good, and that it is instructive to the man of the New Church in the present day.

Many in the Old Church deny the Divinity of the LORD, holding, it may be, that in a certain sense He was Divine, as according to this heresy, all men are Divine more or less, some more, others less; but denying the supreme and sole Divinity of the LORD, and much more the Divinity of His Human.

The Divinity of the Writings in a manner quite analogous is denied by the Magazine. Contrasting the Writings with the Word the Magazine says:

The difference between the two is that between Divine and human. To say this is not saying that Swedenborgs Writings are false and erroneous, or that they are not full of truth that is most precious, yea, Divine. All truth is, in its essence and origin, Divine, that revealed through Swedenborg as much as any other. But the truth of the Word is Divine in its form and much as any other. But the truth of the Word is Divine in its form and structure as well as in its essence. Its very language is the LORDS and His structure as well as in its essence. Its very language is the LORDS and His only. This is something which cannot be said of any other earthly writing.

Thus the Magazine speaks of the Divinity of the Writings much as the Unitarians speak of the Divinity of the LORD. All men as any man! All truth is Divine in its essence and origin, that revealed through Swedenborg as much as any other!

The claim advanced that the Magazine has a vast majority of New Churchmen with it in its estimate of the Writings, strikes us as rather facetious; but if designed in sober earnest as bearing on the issue, it would be ruled out by the old-fashioned logicians as the argumentum ad captandum vulgus. For really if a vast majority of New Churchmen hold with the Magazine, and the Magazine should be wrong, it would only be so much the worse for the majority.

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Majorities are not always right, they are sometimes wrong. We remember many notable cases out of the Church, and some few within it, in which the Truth was with the minority, and against the majority. Neither is it a sure warranty that we are in good company when we are with the majority. It may be so, or it may not be so. Majorities are sometimes bad company.

But is the Magazine quite sure that the vast majority of New Churchmen are with it, in its estimate of the Writings? Possibly a majority of the Massachusetts Association of the New Jerusalem under whose auspices it is published may hold with the Magazine on this subject. But we seriously doubt whether the General Convention could be induced to indorse the Magazines estimate to the Writings.

The issue has respect to the nature of Swedenborgs Writings, and the Second Coming of the LORD, and consequently to the nature and origin of the New Church. These subjects are of vital moment in the Church, nor can they be turned aside in a trivial manner without damaging results.

For either the Writings of Swedenborg unfolding the Internal Sense of the Word are the Second Advent of the LORD, or they are not.

Either the Arcana Coelestia, the Apocalypse Revealed, and the Apocalypse Explained, as far as these works go, give us the Internal Sense of the Word in which the LORD has come, or they do not.

Either the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem are given by the LORD and therefore holy and Divine, or they are not.

Either Swedenborg was divinely inspired, called, and commissioned by the LORD, and therefore the man by whom He made His Second Advent, or he was not.

The issue is no trivial affair, no small matter, infinitesimal and discernible only with the microscope;

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but one that is fundamental and vital; in which are involved the foundations of the Holy City, yea, the Holy City itself.

For does not our faith in the New Church as the final and crowning Church, the Bride, the Lambs Wife, rest solely on the LORD, as He is revealed in His Second Coming in the Writings of Swedenborg? According to Swedenborg he was called by the LORD and filled with the Spirit of the LORD that he might do this work: and the Writings themselves are given to us as the Internal Sense of the Word, and the Coming of the LORD.

The Magazine is decided in its denial of certain Doctrines that we have considered settled beyond dispute. We must notice the following:

Swedenborgs Writings are not in themselves the internal sense of the Word.

Many New Churchmen when reading the Arcana and the Apocalypse of Swedenborg firmly believe that they are really reading the internal sense of the Word; not that they are reading about the internal sense, but that they are reading the internal sense itself: precisely as when they read their Bible, they firmly believe they are reading the Word itself, and not simply some treatise about the Word. But the Magazine comes with a new doctrine, to enlighten those holding this truth in simplicity, and to show them that they are not reading the internal sense, but only something about it, for Swedenborgs Writings are not in themselves the internal sense of the Word! Still the Writings must tell their own tale, and from them alone we must determine what they claim to be, and what they are.

In respect to the Arcana and the Apocalypse, the very titles of these works, to say nothing of their contents, show that they claim to be disclosures of the internal sense of the Word. For what else can the words of the Title mean? which say:

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THE ARCANA COELESTIA DISCLOSED WHICH ARE IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR WORD OF THE LORD.

Can the Arcana Coelestia be disclosed to be anything else than the internal sense of the Word? Then the opening sentence in the Arcana says:

The Arcana Coelestia which are disclosed in the Sacred Scripture or Word of the LORD, are contained in the Explication which is the INTERNAL SENSE of the Word.

Indeed over the Explication of every chapter in the Arcana Swedenborg wrote the words:

THE INTERNAL SENSE

Ninety times these headings occur, showing that Swedenborg called the Explications of Genesis and Exodus, the Internal Sense.

Then at the close of the first chapter of Genesis, that we might be assured that the infinite store-house of the internal sense had been opened and that he was setting forth its treasures, Swedenborg says:

This now is the Internal Sense of the Word, its very life (ipissima illius vita), which never appears in the sense of the letter: but the Arcana are so many that volumes would not suffice for their explication. Here only a very few are told, and such things as may demonstrate that Regeneration is here treated of, and that this proceeds from the external man to the internal.A. C. 64.

This abundance of Divine Truth in the internal sense of the Word reminds us of the abundance of Divine Truth in the letter, spoken of by John in the Gospel:

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.--John xxi. 26.

At the close of his Exposition of Genesis, Swedenborg says:

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It has now been treated concerning the internal sense of the thing contained in the Book of Genesis.... It can scarcely appear that what has been expounded is the internal sense.... because the internal sense differs altogether from the literal sense, inasmuch as the former trends of things spiritual and celestial, and the latter of things worldly and terrestrial. But that the internal sense is as has been expounded, is evident from each of the things which have been explained, and especially from this, that it was dictated to me from heaven.A. C. 6597.

So far therefore as the Arcana is concerned we need to no further evidence that the Writings of Swedenborg are the internal sense of the Word, the declarations of the Magazine to the contrary notwithstanding.

In the two works on the Apocalypse the Titles are no less remarkable; thus:

THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED WHEREIN ARE DISCLOSED THE ARCANA THERE FORETOLD, WHICH HAVE HITHERTO REMAINED CONCEALED. And

THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED ACCORDING TO THE SPIRITUAL SENSE, WHERE ARE REVEALED THE ARCANA THERE PREDICTED, AND WHICH HAVE HITHERTO REMAINED CONCEALED.

In the Preface to the Apocalypse Revealed, Swedenborg says:

There are many who have toiled in the explanation of the Apocalypse; but as the Spiritual Sense of the Word had been hitherto unknown, they were unable to see the Arcana which lie stored up in it, for these the Spiritual Sense alone discloses....

Every one can see that the Apocalypse can by no means be explained but by the LORD alone; for each word therein contains Arcana, which would in no wise be known without a particular enlightenment, and thus a revelation: on which account it has pleased the LORD to open the sight of my spirit, and to teach me. Do not believe, therefore, that I have taken anything herein from myself, nor from any angel, but from the LORD alone.

Then in the first number of the work itself, Swedenborg says:

What the Spiritual Sense is has hitherto been unknown....

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That interiorly the Word is Spiritual, because it is Divine, no one can deny. But as the Spiritual does not appear in the sense of the letter which is natural, the Spiritual Sense has for this reason been hitherto unknown: nor could it be made known until genuine Truths were revealed by the LORD, for in these that sense consists. For this reason the Apocalypse has not hitherto been understood.A. R. 1.

In the opening numbers of the Apocalypse Explained it is written:

The Apocalypse, as well as the prophetical parts of the Old Testament, cannot possibly be understood, nor anything in them, unless the Spiritual Sense be known, and above all unless there is a revelation from heaven where the whole Word is understood according to that sense.A. E. 2

From all this are we not led directly to these Writings with the confident hope that we are to find in them the Internal Sense of the Word? On what ground, therefore, does the Magazine deny that the Writings are the internal sense? What new light has this journal discovered, leading to a denial so portentous in its consequences? Can a single passage be shown in the whole of the Writings justifying the position? Or can it be shown wherein Swedenborg is justified according to these views in his oft-repeated promise that these arcana hitherto unknown are now to be revealed in this Writings? What can be the import of the contrast so often and so forcibly presented: Hitherto concealed; Now opened: The Spiritual Sense, hitherto unknown, but, now revealed? In many places the things of the Spiritual Sense are spoken of as now laid open. The following are instances:

I, JESUS, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches: signifies, a testification by the LORD, before the whole Christian world, that it is true that the LORD alone manifested the things which are described in this Book, as also, the things which are now laid open. The LORD here names Himself JESUS, in order that all the Christian world, may know that the LORD Himself, who was in the world, manifested the things which are described in this Book, as also the things which are now laid open.A. R. 953.

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And in the last number of the Apocalypse Revealed it is written:

He that testifieth these things saith: Surely I come quickly, Amen: Yea, come, LORD JESUS: signifies the LORD who revealed the Apocalypse, and has now opened it, testifying this Gospel, that in His Divine Human which He took to Himself in the world and glorified, He comes as the Bridegroom and Husband, and that the Church, as Bride and Wife, desires Him.... These words signify a testification by the LORD before the whole Christian world, that it is true that the LORD alone manifested the things which are written in this Book, and which is now opened. Hence it is manifest that He who tesifieth these things saith: signifies that the LORD is testifying, who revealed the Apocalypse, and has now opened it.A. R. 960.

To open the Apocalypse is most evidently to reveal its Arcana, or its internal sense. And if this work is not actually done, we cannot see how the promises made in the Preface and in the body of the work itself are fulfilled. What else are the vast disclosures of these great works, than the evolving from the sublime imagery of the literal sense, the true signification of these things,or in other words the Internal Sense?

Our estimate of the Writings we have given in the previous numbers of the SERIAL. For the convenience of our readers that we may be well understood we give once more a brief summary of this estimate:

We hold that the Writings are a body of Divine Doctrines, namely, the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem; that Swedenborg was divinely inspired and illuminated by the LORD to receive these Doctrines is his understanding, and to publish them by the press; that the Doctrines are free from error and infallibly true; and that they constitute the Second Coming of the LORD, and are His perpetual Presence in His Church, and that being evolved by the LORD Himself from the Word they are inseparable from it, constituting its Divine Sanctity and its very life.

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The Word in its arcana is infinite. Divine truth is infinite, and can never be fully expressed either in heaven or on earth. As the human mind ascends toward the Divine of the LORD things that are ineffable are multiplied ad infinitum. But the Divinity of the Truth given by the LORD is the same in every plane of life. By the Spiritual Sense, now opened, the Word is adapted not only to the use of men but also of angels, by this sense also the Word communicates with the heavens.

In the Treatise on the Sacred Scripture it is written:

From the LORD proceed these principles; the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural, one after another. Whatsoever proceeds from His Divine Love is called celestial, and is Divine Good; whatsoever proceeds from His Divine Wisdom is called spiritual, and is Divine Truth: the natural partakes of both, and is their complex in ultimates. The angels of the celestial kingdom, who compose the third or highest heaven, are in that Divine Principle which proceeds from the LORD that is called celestial, for they are in the good of love from the LORD; the angels of the LORDS spiritual kingdom, who compose the second or middle heaven, are in that Divine Principle which proceeds from the LORD that is called spiritual, for they are in the truths of wisdom from the LORD: but men, who compose the LORDS Church on earth, are in the Divine-natural, which also proceeds from the LORD. Hence it follows, that the Divine Principle proceeding from the LORD, in its progress to its ultimates, descends through three degrees, and is termed celestial, spiritual, and natural. The Divine Principle which proceeds from the LORD and descends to men, descends through those three degrees, and when it has descended, it contains those three degrees in itself. Such is the nature of every Divine Principle proceeding from the LORD; wherefore, when it is in its last degree, it is in its fulness. Such is the nature and quality of the Word; in its last sense it is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in its inmost sense it is celestial; and in each sense it is Divine.S. S. 6.

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Then the relation of the literal sense of the Word to the Spiritual and Celestial senses, and how essential to the very existence of the Word itself is the literal sense, we learn from the following:

The literal sense of the Word is the basis, the containant, and the firmament, of its spiritual and celestial senses. In every Divine work there is a first, a middle, and a last, and the first passes through the middle to the last, and thereby exists and subsists; hence the last is the basis. The first also is in the middle, and by means of the middle ill the last; and thus the last is the containant and because the last is the containant and the basis, it is also the firmament.S. S. 27.

In the literal sense of the Word, Divine Truth is in its fullness, in its sanctity, and in its power. The Word, in its literal sense, is in its fullness, in its sanctity, and in its power, because the two prior or interior senses which ale called the spiritual and celestial senses, are simultaneously contained in the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter.--S. S. 37.

The Word, without its literal sense, would be like a palace without a foundation; that is, like a palace in the air and not on the ground, which could only be the shadow of a palace, and must vanish away; also, the Word, without its literal sense, would be like a temple in which there are many holy things, and in the midst thereof the holy of holies, without a roof and mans to form the containants thereof; in which case its holy things. would be plundered by thieves, or be violated by the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven, and thus be dissipated. In the same manner, it would be like the tabernacle, in the inmost place whereof was the ark of the covenant, and in the middle part the golden candlestick, the golden altar for incense, and also the table for show-bread, which were its holy things, without its ultimates, which were the curtains and veils. Yea, the Word without its literal sense would be like the human body without its coverings, which are called skins, and without its supporters, which are called bones, of which supposing it to be deprived, its inner parts must of necessity be dispersed and perish. It would also be like the heart and the lungs in the thorax, deprived of their covering, which is called the pleura, and their supporters, which are called the ribs; or like the brain without its coverings, which are called the dura mater and pia mater, and without its common covering, containant, and firmament, which is called the skull. Such would be the state of the Word without its literal sense; wherefore it is said in Isaiah, that the LORD will create upon all the glory a covering (iv. 5).--S. S. 33.

But while dwelling upon the incomparable excellencies of the letter of the Word, we must not forget the glory of the LORD that is above the cloud and within it.

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For, behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him. Nor must we ever forget the distinction between the clouds representing the Word in the letter, and the glory of the LORD above the clouds, representing the internal sense of the Word, now disclosed in the Writings of Swedenborg.

In the first number of the SERIAL we defined this distinction between the WORD and the WRITINGS in terms so explicit that we then supposed nothing further would be needed. We said the difference is this:

The Word is written by were correspondences; the Writings are a rational unfolding of the arcana involved in these correspondences and if the LORD, as to His Divine Truth could come into the world in external written correspondences, so that His Truth is present in the form of such Divine Writings in His word: may He not also come in the form of Divine Doctrines, disclosing from Him the spiritual truths of the internal sense, and the natural truths of the external sense of the word? If the Word as infallible Divine Truth involved in correspondences could be given by the LORD through the Prophets; may not also infallible Divine Truth be disclosed by the LORD through a man prepared by Him, and intromitted into the spiritual world and continually guided and overruled by the LORD in his work?T. C. R. 779. Words for the New Church, p. 39.

And in the article quoted by the Magazine from the third number of WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH this distinction is defined as follows:

The difference is, as all New Churchmen know, that the Word in the letter is Divine Truth clothed in correspondences, significatives, and representatives, whereas the internal sense as revealed by the LORD in the Writings of Swedenborg, is Divine Truth unclothed of the drapery of correspondences, and presented in language doctrine and abstract, and coming to us under the Divine auspices of the LORD dictated by Him, and divinely formulated as the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem: and it is evident that if the LORD had not known that Divine Truth could be revealed in this way, He would not have attempted it.Words for the New Church, p. 230.

And in the second number of our SERIAL we set forth from the Writings themselves the distinction between the Word in the letter and the Internal Sense.

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We said:

Beginning in its ineffable forms in the LORD, the essential Word, the Divine Truth descends through the heavens to man, and from the beginning to the end, its degrees are described.

In the ARCANA the several degrees of Divine Truth are classified, from the ineffable essential Word with the LORD alone to the Word in the sense of the letter, as we have it:

Divine Truth is not of one degree, but of several. Divine Truth in the first degree, and also in the second, is what immediately proceeds from the LORD, that is above angelic understanding; but Divine Truth in the third degree is such as is in the inmost or third heaven; that is such that it cannot in the least be apprehended by man. Divine Truth in the fourth degree is such as is in the middle or second heaven, neither is this intelligible to man. But Divine Truth in the fifth degree is such as it is in the ultimate or first heaven; this may be perceived in some small measure by man, if illustrated, but still it is such that a considerable part of it cannot be uttered by human expressions, and when it falls into ideas, it produces a faculty of perceiving, and also of believing that it is so. But Divine Truth in the sixth degree is such as pertains to man, accommodated to his perception; thus it is the sense of the letter of the Word. This sense or this truth is represented by a cloud, and the interior truths by glory in the cloud.A. C. 8443.

And from the Apocalypse Explained, we learn that:

The Divine itself, which is in the Word from the LORD, when it descends to the inmost or third heaven, becomes Divine celestial; when it thence descends to the middle or second heaven, it becomes Divine spiritual; and when from this heaven it descends to the ultimate or first, it becomes Divine celestial or Divine spiritual-natural; and lastly, when it then descends into the world, it becomes the Divine natural Word, such as it is with us in the letter.A. E. 593.

These utterances of the Writings give us an analysis of the whole subject, and enable us to see something of what is meant by the Divine Truth.

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We may also clearly comprehend the field occupied by the revelations made in the Writings of Swedenborg. The extremes of the series are the ineffable Divine which is with the LORD alone above the highest heavens, on the one hand; and on the other hand, the Word in the literal sense.

But between these extremes, the Word is apprehensible in the heavens: and is, to the Angels, the Divine source of their wisdom. The Angels are in the interior senses of the Word, and the Divine Wisdom which they have from this source, is comprehensible by finite minds, in the several planes of life in which the angels live: and the Doctrines in these senses, embodying the Divine Wisdom with the angels, may be formulated, when the LORD so determines, and promulgated in the heavens, as the Divine Truth,and from the heavens may be brought down and revealed for the use of the Church. That is, the word may be opened in the heavens, and its internal sense formulated into a body of Divine Doctrine given from the mouth of the LORD Himself. And this, as we hold, is precisely what we have in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. They are Divine Doctrines, unfolded and formulated in heaven by the LORD, and given to Swedenborg to be promulgated for the use of the Church.Words for the New Church, pp. 153, 154.

The power of natural language, and its adaptation to the expression of spiritual and celestial ideas, Swedenborg most forcibly declared in the following passage from the treatise De Verbo:

It has been sometimes granted me to be among the angels of the middle and highest heaven and to hear them conversing with one another ... and sometimes I was admitted into the perception and understanding of the subjects they were concerning upon. The subjects they conversed upon were full of mysteries concerning the LORD, Redemption, Regeneration, Providence, and other similar things: after which it was given me to understand that I could not describe those mysteries by any spiritual, or celestial expression, but nevertheless they might be described, even to a natural capacity, by words of natural language, and it was told me that there are no Divine Arcana existing which may not be perceived and even expressed naturally, although in a general and imperfect manner.

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The subject is further elucidated in the disclosures made concerning the nature of angelic speech and angelic writings, showing how these things are perfected as we ascend from one heaven to another. In the work on Heaven and Hell it is written:

The speech of the angels is also full of wisdom, because it proceeds from their interior thought, and their interior thought is wisdom, as their interior affection is love; thus love and wisdom conjoin themselves in their speech: thence it is so full of wisdom that they can express by one word what man cannot express by a thousand words; and also the ideas of their thought comprehend such things as man cannot conceive still less utter. Hence it is that the things which have been heard and seen in heaven are said to be ineffable, and such as ear has never heard nor eye seen. That it is so has been given me to know by experience.H. H. 239.

Then concerning writings in heaven, we learn that

Because the angels have speech, and their speech is a speech of words, therefore also they have writings, and by writings they express the sentiments of their mind as well as by speech.

That there should be writings in heaven, was provided by the LORD for the sake of the Word, for this in its essence is Divine Truth, from which is all heavenly wisdom both with men and with angels; for it was dictated by the LORD, and what is dictated by the LORD, passes through all the heavens in order and terminates with man: hence it is accommodated as well to the wisdom in which angels are, as to the intelligence in which men are. From this it is that angels also have the word, and that they read it equally as men on earth: from it also are their doctrinals, and from it they preach. The Word is the same, but its natural sense which with us is the sense of the letter, is not in heaven, but the Spiritual Sense which is its internal sense.H. H. 258, 259.

Thus we learn that the Word which the angels have is the same as the Word which we have unclothed of the natural sense which is the sense of the letter.

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The correspondences and representatives, therefore, with which the internal sense of the Word is clothed and presented to us, do not rise into the heavens, nor are they seen by the angels, but instead, they have the things represented and signified by this Divine imagery, that is, they have the internal or the Spiritual Sense of the Word. And this sense is revealed to us in the Writings so far as it can ever be comprehended by the man of the Church on earth, and be serviceable to him, under the Divine auspices of the LORD, in promoting his redemption and salvation.

Is the Word in the letter which was dictated by the LORD, Divine, and the internal sense of the word also dictated by the LORD, only human? The Magazine says that the difference between the Word and Writings is the same as that between Divine and human. But why is the Word in the letter divine, and the Word as to its spiritual sense undivine and only human?

In the Invitation to the New Church Swedenborg says:

The Spiritual Sense of the Word has been laid open by the LORD through me; [or, the LORD disclosed the Spiritual Sense of the Word by me,] which was never before done since the Word was revealed in the Israelitish Scriptures, and the spiritual sense is the very sanctuary of the Word, the LORD Himself is in that sense with His Divinity, and in the natural sense with His Humanity; and not an iota of this could be opened but by the LORD alone; this exceeds all the revelations which have been hitherto made since the foundation of the world.No. 44.

In the New Church we have learned that the LORD, is Divinity itself, and that whatever proceeds from Him is Divine, that the Word is Divine because it is from the LORD and is the LORD, that the Spiritual Sense of the Word is Divine became it is the very life of the Word in which the LORD is immediately present as in His Sanctuary, thus that the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem are also Divine, inasmuch as Swedenborg was filled with the Spirit of the LORD, and inasmuch as he received them from the LORD Himself while reading the Word.

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But the Divine style of the Word is not repeated, nor is it imitated in the Writings. The Word is the LORD as to the Divine Truth in the very ultimates of nature, speaking to us in parables, representatives, and correspondences. But the style of the Writings, as we have often expressed it, is doctrinal, didactic, and philosophic.

The Word in the literal sense is as a Parable, facing every way, and with an indefinite number of applications. The Writings give the Divine Truth involved is the Parable, and its application in some specific way. The Writings, as all New Churchmen know, are not an addition to the Word, or an extension of it, in the letter; they are not an enlargement of the volume of parables, types, and correspondences,--nor are they in the style of these; but they are the evolving by the LORD through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg, of some of the Divine Truths which through the Prophets He had caused to be involved and folded away in the Divine focus of the Word in the letter.

The Word and the Writings then are not alike, nor are the Writings equal to the Sacred Scriptures: the very style is different, and indeed not on the same plane of utterance. Thus, for example, we have the Writings Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love, and the Divine Wisdom, which as the title indicates is the Divine Truth touching these subjects as known and promulgated among the angels. In the Word we have the same Divine Love, and Divine Wisdom embodied in correspondences and representatives, and as it were concealed in these types and shadows. Again, in the Writings we have Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, while in the Word we have the Divine Providence itself represented before us in the Histories of nations and peoples, as well as of individual men.

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Again, while in the Arcana Coelestia we have that sublime superstructure of Divine Truth known as the HEAVENLY DOCTRINES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, in the Word in the letter, we have the ever enduring basis of the same in the correspondences and representatives which descend to the very ultimate of creation.

In determining all questions respecting the nature and origin of the Writings of Swedenborg, we are wholly dependent for light on the Writings themselves. The Word in its literal sense tells us nothing about it. We deem it unwise, therefore, to go beyond the obvious teachings of the Writings, and rational deductions from them, in determining what the Writings are. Much light is thrown upon this subject by the revelations made concerning the form of heaven, and the form of speech in the heavenly societies. See A. C. 4041, 1648, 1649.

The forms of speech employed by Swedenborg in the Writings are so extraordinary, and so marvelously befitting their appointed use, that we should not be astonished to discover that these very forms are of heavenly origin. Especially as it is so explicitly declared of the heavenly doctrines that they are continuous truths laid open by the LORD by means of the Word: and that hereafter we may enter into the mysteries of the Word, for all its truths are so many mirrors of the LORD.T. C. R. 508.

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NOTES.

The True Nature of Authority in the Church.

UNDER this heading we find a brief article in the July number of the New Jerusalem Magazine. The article, though able in its way, fails to contribute much toward the elucidation of this much discussed subject, because it fails to present the position of its opponents correctly amusing itself instead by demolishing an authority which is not to our knowledge advocated by any one in the Church.

The article first compares the doctrine of the Divine authority of the Writings with the authority in the Romish Church. In making this comparison the total difference between the Romish authority, which is that delegated to popes and councils, and the authority of the LORD Himself, at His Second Coming, is left out of sight; and because the term authority is used in both cases it is taken for granted that the same thing is signified. In the New Church, however, the authority is never spoken of as one delegated, but is always ascribed to the LORD alone; for in ascribing Divine authority to the Writings no one who teaches this doctrine has assumed that the authority was delegated or transferred in any way to Swedenborg as a pope, but it is maintained that the books are authoritative because they are the LORDS books, Books written by the LORD through me, as stated in the Sketch on Ecclesiastical History. The authority is therefore in no way delegated to Swedenborg but remains with the LORD, who manifested Himself in person before Swedenborg, and filled him with His spirit to teach the doctrines of the New Church from the LORD through the Word. (T. C. R. 759.) Authority is ascribed to the LORD at His Second Coming because when the LORD, teaches, He teaches with authority and not as the scribes (Mark i. 22). No one in the New Church has ever complained of the infallible authority which is ascribed to the letter of the Word, but this authority is, on the contrary, received with gladness, as giving us a firm foundation to rest upon; why should then the infallible authority of the Word in its internal sense, as disclosed by the LORD at His Second Coming, find so much opposition?

And yet it is the burden of complaint in the above-mentioned article that the reception of the doctrine of the Divine authority of the Writings tends to do away with all rational reflection on religious themes.

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The doctrine of the authority will not, however, be found to be no adversary in the way to those who humbly approach the LORD at His Second Advent and on every subject come first to Him to be taught concerning it, and then having been enlightened by Him proceed in the way there pointed out. To them the Writings are a strong help to the rational comprehension of every subject, the very presence of the LORD Himself more specifically guiding and helping them on their way. This doctrine way, however, be a hard saying which they cannot hear who may be fond of evolving truth from their own self-derived intelligence, and who would only afterward go to the letter of the Word and to the Writings to confirm their self-made doctrine, by whatever means seem to agree with it there. Should such men be met by the believers in the Divine authority of the Writings with the doctrine drawn from the Writings themselves through a careful collection of the truths there found bearing on the subject, they would be apt to become irritated and vexed, especially as they would soon see that the thinking men of the Church, when the question is plainly put before them: Whom will you believe, the Writings or the self-derived intelligence of men? always prefer the teaching of the LORD to the teaching of men. The complaint therefore that the acknowledgment of the Divine authority of the Writings will put an end to all rational reflection on religious themes is utterly groundless. On the contrary, the doctrine of authority will tend to put an end to all notions and doctrines derived from the proprium, thus to all heresies in the Church:--this as we doubt not is the blessed tendency of this doctrine. For when the LORD at His Second Coming, as made in the Writings of the Church, is acknowledged as the one authority to whom all within the Church must bow, there will be found in this a source of unity and strength in the Church, and an intimate conjunction with the LORD, for the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, and thus the Church will be preserved from heresies and schisms.

The article in the Magazine makes another mistake in supposing that it is taught that men should receive authority first and doctrine afterward. This has not been taught to our knowledge; and although in the case of children it may be well to introduce to them the doctrines as being the teachings of the LORD, and to be believed on that account; in the case of adults it has, we believe, never been taught that they must receive the doctrine of authority, or what is essentially the same, the doctrine of the Second Coming, before the other doctrines. Teachers will in this as in every other case proceed according to their ideas of fitness and use. It is evident that no one can rationally bow to the Divine authority of the Writings before rationally seeing that the LORD has in them made His Second Advent.

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But if the LORD has made His Second Advent in the Writings, it must be evident that they must be the LORDS books, a Divine work, and therefore speaking with Divine authority. For if they are indeed books written by the LORD through me (Swedenborg), then it would be unreasonable to put our fallible human intelligence against the Divine Truth, even as it would be irrational to deny Divine authority to Him who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

The main question always resolves itself into this: Are the Writings the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, come down from God out of heaven, or are they merely human thoughts concerning them? When our brothers in the Church shall clearly understand this one point, we believe that the question of authority will be easily solved; for if the Writings of the Church are merely human works, they have no more authority than the genius and learning of the human author impart to them; but if they are the LORDS works, then through them He has come again and speaks in them with His own Divine authority.

State of the Christian World.

THE NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE for May, 1878, has a review of our article on the State of the Christian World which appeared in the Second Number of WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH. The Magazine dissents from the doctrine which we set forth in respect to the state of Christendom, and especially to what we said of the relative number of the good within the consummated Church.

We are pleased with the courtesy and fairness of the review. We notice but one incorrect presentation of our sentiments; it is the statement (on page 76, at the bottom) that we hold that the New Church will almost exclusively prevail in Gentile lands. We said that it will mostly prevail in Gentile lands. On the next page, we are quoted thusThe New Church has already commenced in Gentile lands, there mostly will it flourish!by which we mean that a far greater number of converts than from Old Church Christians. Those who in the great future will be brought out of the Christian world into the New Church will aggregate a very large number, from whose posterity the New Church in Christendom will become immense, and largely, if not wholly, cover the land.

Nor do we hold, as the reader of the Magazine, page 96, would be led to think, that New Churchmen are the sole representatives of heaven, or that they are the only good men in the Christian world.

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A careful reading of our article will show that the idea that this is our doctrine is wholly erroneous.

Our view does indeed present the Christian world under an aspect sombre and sorrowful. And yet the true state of the case ought to be known. This is a question, not of human speculation, nor what has been erroneously called charitable judgment, but of Divine Revelation. What say the Word and Writings?--is our first concern. In our judgment it is not useful to ourselves, or to others, to close our eyes against the painful truths of Divine Revelation, more than against its pleasant and hopeful ones. Nor do we suppose that those who think better of the Old Church than we do, are for that reason more disposed to advance the true interests of the Church, and thus do more good in the world than others, or that they are better prepared for this work. Nor does our view cause opposition or even difference toward missionary labor and the spread of the Writings. We are decidedly and zealously in favor of these good works. They are among the means of reaching such as are, and will be in the future, disposed to receive the light of the New Jerusalem, and who, as we believe, will aggregate a very large number.

Precisely what proportion of the whole is meant in the Writings by the few good (A. C. 3489 and 3898), we know not. There are several passages which seem to throw light on this point, and which the reader can consult, if he desires; we will refer here to only two,Divine Wisdom 1, and A. C. 3812.

The chief point maintained in the review is that in the Christian world there will be a gradually increasing ratio of the grand, from age to age, among whom the New Church will be established; and that in this respect the consummated Christian Church differs from all former consummated Churches.

For the support of this opinion the reviewer has resort to certain passages from the Arcana, as appears in the following extracts from his article:

At the end of each of the former dispensations, a New Church has been raised up among Gentiles.... Such, undoubtedly, has been the course of Providence in the past.... It cannot well be doubted that the Writings indicate ... that the New Church which is now being established will first prevail somewhere outside the bounds of Christendom. At first this seems to be indicated rather than expressed,and not very certainlyin an analogy drawn by Swedenborg from other Churches. In A. C. 409, he says, as if a little in doubt: Rarely, if ever, does the church remain with those who have truths among them while they are being vastated. It is as if he did not then, at least, feel quite sure that because it had been so with all preceding Churches, therefore it would be so with the New Church, then about to be established.... In A. C. 2910, Swedenborg saysWhen a Church is consummated and perishes, the LORD always raises up a New Church somewhere; yet, rarely, if ever, from the men of the former Church, but from Gentiles who were in ignorance. It had always been so before; the doubt then must have been with respect to what was about to be. (See pages 74 and 75 of the Magazine.)

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Were the sense of these passages what the writer conceives it to be, they would indeed lend support to his view. But we think he mistakes their meaning.

He thinks the words Rarely, if ever, does the LORD, establish a New Church among the men of the Old, but among Gentiles (A. C. 409 and (2910)), were intended to express a doubt whether the New Jerusalem was to be transferred to Gentiles as other Churches has been. Or, what is equivalent, a doubt whether different from the other and former Churches, the New Church might not be built up from the good men from among the communities of the Christian world.

But do the Writings here speak doubtfully? In our judgment, they do not, but that here, as elsewhere, they speak positively on the points involved. They here clearly and unequivocally teach that a New Church can be established with only a few of the men of the former Church, but will be built up mainly among Gentiles. A truth as applicable to the New Jerusalem as to any other Church.

The clause rarely, if ever, does the establishment and existence of a New Church have place among the men of the Old, means, that the men of that Church will receive the New only in rare instances; or in other words, that the numbers will be few or rare who will receive the New.

Rarely, if ever, is a manner of speech, employed for the forcible expression of the truth that but few of the men of an Old Church will ever vitally receive the doctrines of a New. Or, in other words, it is rare to find among the Old those who will receive the New.

The true meaning of the phrase rarely, if ever, will be sufficiently clear by viewing it as it occurs in the Arcana. From this also it will be seen that the New Jerusalem will be built up with only a few of the former Church (who will come out of that Church into the New), and that no expression of doubt as to any one Church is intended as supposed in the review. The passage referred to is the following:

When my Church becomes no Church, that is, when charity perishes, and a New Church is established by the LORD, this rarely, if ever, takes place with those among whom the Old Church existed, but with those among whom there was heretofore no Church, that is, among the Gentiles. It was so when the most Ancient Church perished; a new one, which was called Noah, or the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, was then established among the Gentiles, that is, with those among whom there before existed no Church. In like manner when this latter Church perished, then somewhat resembling a Church was established among the posterity of Abraham from Jacob, thus again among the Gentiles.

After this resemblance of a Church was consummated, then the Primitive Church was established from the Gentiles, the Jews being rejected. It will be the same with this Church, which is called Christian.A. C. 2986.

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Here it is said when any Church has become no Church (aliqua ecclesia fit nulla); thus at the end of each Church the new is rarely raised up among the men of the Old. The meaning is that the men are rare among the Old who will receive the New. And it is also explicitly stated that what is affirmed of the end and the establishment of former Churches will be true of the old Christian Church, and hence by necessary implication that the New Jerusalem will be mostly transferred to the Gentiles, and that but few of the Christians will ever come into it.

In the Arcana, 9256, we read:

A New Church is always established among the nations out of the Church (see No. 2986); ... Hence the Church was translated from the Jews to the Gentiles, and also the Church at this day is now being transferred to the Gentiles.... Neither can a New Church be built up among others.

Fatal to the meaning assigned, by the review, to the clause--rarely, if ever as excluding the Christian Church from the rule; but conclusive in proof of our view of it, is the following passage:

Vastation is of two kinds,--one is of those who know and do not wish to know, or who see and do not wish to see; this is the case with Christians at this day. When the last time of vastation comes upon such, then the Church arises anew, not among them but among those whom they call Gentiles.A. C. 410

Only the previous Churches are cited in exemplification of the law in the above number, because they are the only ones that were then historic. But the Christian Church is prospectively included in the law, as appears from the first part of the passage, where it is expressly mentioned.

But the Writings show that in the consummation of a Church there is always a remnant called the elect, and described as the few, in comparison with the whole Church. These form the nucleus of the coming Church; and are the exception to the general law so fully set forth in the Writings which we have quoted, and in which the statements occur:--A New Church is always established among the Gentiles: The Church at this day is also now being transferred to the Gentiles: It will be the same with this Church which is called Christian (A. C. 9256, 2986): and so of other similar passages. Similar also is the interpretation of the passage which says: When the Church is consummated and perishes, then the LORD always raises up a New Church somewhere, but rarely, if ever, from the men of the former Church, but from Gentiles. In all such cases the meaning is obviously, that there is a remnant from the former Church that goes into the New Church.

The clause in A. C. 3898, where the few good are the LORD alone knows, does not mean, as the review supposes, that Swedenborg did not know whether those among whom the New Church was to be established, were among Christians, or Gentiles (see Mag., p. 75).

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The meaning simply is that those few good Christians were especially known to the LORD alone. That such is the meaning is further confirmed by the clause Such are Christians at this day, as to their interiors, except a few who are not known (A. C. 3489). A clue to the meaning of their being unknown, and their being known to the LORD alone, may perhaps be found in A. C. 3900.

It would seem that all must see that only Christians are meant by the few--the elect, known to the LORD alone, in No. 3898, A. C. This will appear from an inspection of the passage itself, which is as follows:

The interior contents of the Word are now opened, because the Church at this day is vastated to such a degree, that is, is so void of faith and love, that although men know and understand, still they do not acknowledge, and still less believe, except the few, who are in the life of good, and are called the elect, who now may be instructed, and among whom a new Church is about to be established; but where these are the LORD alone knows; there will be few within the Church; the new Churches established in former times have been established among Gentiles.

We do not understand, as the review seems to, that Swedenborg in A. C. 409 is endeavoring to ascertain from analogy with other Churches, how it will be with the New Church. The facts indeed in respect to other Churches he does state; but not that he would argue from them as the Magazine supposes, namely: because it had been so with other Churches, therefore it would be so with the New Church then about to be established (Mag., p. 74). One Church is not transferred because another had been, but all are transferred because in the order of Providence it among be otherwise; Neither can a Church be built up among any but Gentiles. 9256 A. C., save, always, among a few.

The chief argument of the review is based on the uncertainty ascribed to the words Rarely, if ever. This clause may be used by writers as expressive of doubt; but whether so used must be determined by the context. So in the Writings; this phrase, in these passages, must be so construed as to harmonize with its context and with every other passage related to the subject. Thus we must compare A. C. 409 and 2910 with 2986, 9256, 407 and 410. This comparison not only shows the true sense of rarely, if ever, to be what we here give it, and which is the same as we gave in our article (WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, p. 104), but proves that with the sense ascribed to that clause by the review, number 2956 of the Arcana could not have been written.

We now come to consider the passages which relate to the Church in the Wilderness, or, the New Church in Christendom, while increasing from a few to a larger number, the summary of which we now give:

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It is of the LORDS Divine Providence that at first the Church should be among a few, and should gradually increase among a larger number, because the falsities of the former Church must first be removed.A. R. 547. See also A. R. 546.

Again:

The New Jerusalem will abide among those who are in the doctrine of faith separate [from charity] while it is increasing to fullness, even till it is provided for among a larger number. But in that Church are dragons.... The rest, however, in the same Church, who live the life of faith, which is charity, are not dragons though among them. The Church consisting of those who are not dragons is meant by the earth which helped the woman, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.... By these the New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem, is helped, and also increases.A. E. 764. See also A. E. 732.

In these passages it is not said nor implied that there will ever be an increase in the ratio of good men among the posterity of the consummated Church. The increase treated of in these numbers, is, by no means, all increase of the relative number of the good in the vastate Church, but an increase of the membership of the New Church, to be drawn from such of the few good as can, from age to age, be reached by the light of the New Doctrines. This is perfectly clear from a careful unbiased reading of the passages. This increase is effected by a wider circulation of the books of the Church throughout the countries of Europe and America, the extension of missionary labor, and other Providential means, as time rolls on in the far-reaching future.

The clause in one of these numbers (A. R. 547), That falsities of the former Church must first be removed, does not mean that falsities (that is, false principles, and sensual fallacies, not simply false creeds) will be removed from the Old Church, generally, but from the few good, when the light of the New shall be brought to them; but this can be done only gradually and increasingly from one generation to another; and in this may the number of New Churchmen may increase without any increase of the number of good in the Old Church.

The fact that there hare been more converts from the Old Church, in the last twenty-five years, than in the previous twenty-five years, does not at all show that there has been an increasing number of good in the Old, but this arises from the increased means of reaching such good as existed. Not that at any time means have been sufficient to reach all the good of the Old with light of the New Church, or that the means will be sufficient in the present life for thousands of gents to come. Yet we doubt whether during the last quarter of a century the ratio of those who have received the doctrines is greater in proportion to the means employed, and the number reached, than during the preceding quarter.

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The opinion of the review that only the state of the Old Church in 1757, or, about the time of the Last Judgment, is meant in the Writings, we think wholly inadmissible. While speaking of the fallen state of the Old Church and the establishment of the New, the Writings say:

The Church at this day is so vastated of faith and love that though men know and understand, they do not acknowledge and still less believe, except a few who are in the life of good, called the elect, who may now be instructed, and among whom a new Church is about to be established; but where [in Christendom] these are, the LORD alone knows; there will be few within the Church.A. C. 3898.

Of this the review says: The author here employed the future tense, but he could not speak otherwise; the New Church was not then, but about to be established. But why could he not speak otherwise? Why could he not use the present tense? Certainly if he meant only the good of his own time he would have saidThere are but from within the Church; for just above he said: Where these are, the LORD alone knows. But if he was referring to the good of all subsequent generations, as well as of the generation of his own time, he would say precisely what he did say, There will be few within the [Old] Church, among whom the New Church will be established. And this leaches on into the future, so long as there are any good in the Old to be gathered thence into the New.

In the Arcana we read:

The New Church will he raised up in some region of the earth, while the present Church abides in its external worship, as the Jews do in theirs, in whose worship it is well known there is nothing of charity and faith, that is, nothing of a Church.A. C. 1850.

This, says the review, gives no information whether there will be as the ages roll on, an increasing number of good men in the Old Church. This assertion seems gratuitous, and strikes us strangely; it removes the very pith of the parallel between the Jewish and Christian Churches; for this pith is not the idea that the Old Church will remain in external form; but in its destitution of Charity and Faith. And how can a Church emptied of its vital contents, a Church from which the LORD and heaven are removed, as we learn in A. C. 4423, 4535; T. C. R. 761; and A. R. 750,how can such a Church produce an increasing ratio of good? How can there be an increasing ratio of good as time rolls on from a Church, which in Isaiah is described as follows:

Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

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Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with file: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.Is. i. 6-9.

It is suggested in the review, p. 78, that the rejected Church will become more and more Gentilized;--and so more and more prepared for the reception of the New Church. This statement in the present connection is misleading. It means that the relative proportion of the good will be continually increasing in the Christian world. The Writings do not teach that the consummated Church will become more and more Gentilized. Those in the Christian world spoken of in A. R. 110, who like Gentiles are in works alone, and in no truths, and who cannot be called anything but Gentiles, are only a part of the few good mentioned in A. C. 3898, and signified by the established. But nothing is said here or elsewhere in the Writings concerning an increasing ratio of such good Gentiles.

Although the descendants of a consummated Church may, in become Gentiles, that is, may become skeptical and indifferent to the theological falsities of their ancestors, or even oblivious of them, yet they never become Gentiles in the good sense--in the sense of being willing to receive, in heart and life the genuine truths of Divine revelation, so as to become members of a true and living Church, as will be shown below; bur Gentiles of a bad and fallen type, in heart like the wicked men of the consummated Church. But the New Church can be transferred only to the truly good Gentiles.

The review often refers to the first establishment of the Church. But the Writings in the passages referred to are not speaking merely of the first establishment, but of its continued building up.

There is repeated allusion in the review to the peculiar nature and circumstances of the New Church, as if these were such as to insure the more successful implantation of the New among the members of the consummated Church than was the case with the previous Churches. What these characteristics of the New Church in relation to the former Church may be, we know not.

The review, on page 80, points out what is regarded as an important modification of the law of hereditary descent. The modification is as follows. Hereditary evil descends unless broken by regeneration in the posterity (A. C. 2910), a passage which is treating of hereditary descent in a Church while undergoing vastation. But there is no allusion to this modification in A. C. 4503, where hereditary descent in a Church once wholly vastated, is described as follows:

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there is a continual growth of evils and falsities in the Church once perverted and extinct.

If Omnipotence could not render this modification available to prevent the invasion and capture of the Old Church by evils and falsities in its early ages, nor to check their desolating progress, through the subsequent centuries to its complete consummation, while that Church was yet partially in a good state, and only beginning to lapse, how can it avail to turn back the tide of ancestral evil with an increasing number, and thus, in time, with the entire posterity of that Church, after the total extinction of charity and faith (except with the few), and when the evils and falsities of hell have complete possession of their interiors,heaven and the LORD being removed?

This argument may be confirmed by the case of the Jews. Among them, according to the Writings, there is still a remnanta few who are in the life of good (see a. C. 3479), and who may become a New Churchman in this life or in the next. Will the Magazine tell usWhy there has not arisen among the Jews an increasing ratio of good men? That there will not be is inferable from the Writings, where we read:

Hereditary evil has so increased with them [the Jews] that they cannot with a faith of the heart embrace the Christian religion. We say cannot because their interior will is averse to it: and this will causes the inability.T. C. R. 521. See also A. C. 4750.

Why have not more of them become genuine Christians? Why have not more of them become New Churchmen? Some have. They have had equal advantages and privileges with the Christians; the LORD mercifully cares for them; He implants remains in their children; spiritual freedom is restored to them; they stand under the new heaven, and live amid the influences of the New Age.

Does the Magazine expect an increasing ratio of interiorly good men among them in the future? If not--why not? The underlying principles here have an important bearing on the question under consideration. Parallel to the futility of expecting that the hereditary descent and growth of evil in the posterity of a Church once vastated (A. C. 4503) will be broken by an ever-increasing frequency of regeneration, is the futility of expecting that the remains of childhood, will avail to insure each regeneration. Consider the Scripture: Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever; and instantly the fig-tree withered away (Matt. xxi. 19). No vastate Church any more than a vastate man can ever recover (A. C. 10,134). The unused remains are taken awry from those who are vastated. Takes therefore the talent from him, etc. (Matt. xxv. 28). So all that can be done for a consummated Church is to take from it the few good which are properly not of it, and give them to the New Church.

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But the great body of the consummated Church will go on in its ruling evil loves, never imbibing and therefore never producing an increasing number of good men. The entire Jewish people from their beginning as a Church are, in the sight of the LORD, one complex Jewish man, so long as they endure. So the nations of the Christian Church together constitute one vast Christian man. When this Christian man became so completely vastated that it was no Church, (A. C. 2986), but only the shell of a Church, or the Carcass of one (Matt. xxiv.), then all that could be done was to gather out of it into the New Church, here or hereafter as the centuries roll on, its few good, who are but the unconsumed remains of the good and truth of its pristine age.

On the 88th page of the review we find the passage.

The light of the New Age shines upon the darkness (of the former age) and makes it more apparentThe morning cometh and also the night. But as the morning advances into day the darkness vanishes and the night finally disappears.

On the first reading this passage we took the review to interpret the clause from the Word: The morning cometh and also the night, to mean that the darkness of the Old Church vanishes and finally disappears. Others also so understood it. Still we are in doubt as to the writers meaning, and therefore will only say, if such is the meaning intended, it is a different explanation of the test from any we ever gathered from the Writings. The meaning, unless we mistake the import of what the Writings say, is, that while there will be light within the New Church--good and truth with them--there will be darkness with the Old Church--evil and falsity with them (A. C. 10,134); a sense which, like all other passages of the Word and of the Writings, as we understand, confirms our view of the enduring night into which the Old Church has entered.

From the Writings we have seen that the posterity of the Churches before the Christian dispensation continued in evil after those Churches were consummated, and that it will be so with the Old Christian Church. This also only be confirmed by the Word in many places. We quote only the following:

The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.Matt. xxi. 43. Lo! I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the Age.Matt. xxviii, 20. At the consummation of the Age the LORD departs from thence to the New Church. See T. C. R. 761.

We have confined our strictures to those points in the review which relate to the teachings of the Writings and the Word. We have not remarked upon external observation of the changing face of society.

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All outward observation is misleading unless seen in a light to confirm the truths, facts, and deductions from Divine Revelation. We only notice a remark on page 73 of the review, as follows:

We see around us more and more who manifest a willingness to see the light of the New Jerusalem.

If this means a willingness to receive the light, we reply, we are not aware of any such increase in proportion to the means employed to instruct them in the Doctrines, and the number reached. The indications on close and intelligent inspection, seem to us rather the reverse. The means have been very largely increased, especially in America and England, but so far as we are informed, there is no corresponding increase of reception.

[From the Morning Light, London.]

The Academy of the New Church.

THE body which bears the above name has during its brief existence been so widely referred to, and has been so freely criticized, chiefly in an unfavorable manner, that a natural desire has been created to learn more respecting it. The propose, therefore, to say a few words and state a few facts concerning it. It originated, as all such bodies should originate, in a want deeply felt by a number of the ministers and laymen belonging to the New Church in America. As those who bad long felt this want could, they thought, when combined, supply it, and support the organization it would require, the Academy became at length an accomplished fact.

The basis of union is the very simple one of the acceptable of the Writings of Swedenborg as the means by which the LORD has effected His Second Coming. It may appear singular to many that on such a basis a new organization should have been necessary; for Swedenborgs teachings are so important, his claims are so great, that it has been justly felt that they stand on a distinct plane from ordinary literature, and must be accepted or rejected as a whole--that, in fact, his works are the very soul of Scripture as it exists in the heavens brought down to the apprehension of men. As the Word became flesh with the LORDS First Coming, so the LORDS Second Coming was effected by its becoming spirit; and by His coming not less divinely, not less authoritatively than He did at His first appearing. So much in exposition of the central bond of union in this new body. That this view of the position which Swedenborgs Writings should hold among New Churchmen is not a general one, still less a universal one, is plain from the opinions which have been expressed in New Church periodicals upon the first number of the serial issued by the Academy, where The Advent of the LORD was treated of in the sense above indicated.

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The first outcome of the organization was the formation of a Collegiate and Theological School in which New Church youth might receive a collegiate and theological education under the auspices of the New Church. In every department most thorough instruction according to the best methods has been provided. It began nearly a year ago with nine students for the ministry, a surprisingly large number compared with any other New Church Theological Seminary, either in England or America.

The Academy has not overlooked the value of a good library. It has already perhaps the best and most complete collection of original editions of Swedenborgs Writings that exist outside of the Royal Library in Stockholm. In collateral writings much has been done, and more may be expected from the kind assistance of friends, some of whom have already given much, and may be expected to give still more. In works of science and general literature, and especially in works in all languages relating to the antiquities and ancient religions of Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land, a most important collection has been made. The collection of antiquities illustrating the manners and customs of Bible lands and scientific models has been begun. These will help to educate the students in a manner description alone can never accomplish.

Our of the works of the Academy, in addition to the serial entitled Words for the New Church, of which three numbers have appeared, is A Liturgy for the New Church, in which the Scripture passages throughout are literally translated. It is a suggestive work and affords an opportunity of judging, by a comparison with the authorized version, as to the desirability of a literal translation, not only as the continent of the spiritual, celestial, and Divine senses, but for the sake of its own inherent beauty and power.

The Morning Light of Oct. 26 has a further favorable notice of the ACADEMY, and the Gymnasium of the Theological students:

The Academy of the New Church has reopened its Theological School after the long vacation with ten students. The students, we learn, have a gymnasium, the name being taken from the gymnasia in the spiritual world described in the T. C. R. 136. It is intended not for the development of the muscles of the body, but for the exercise and development of the mind in matters of wisdom. The students discuss in it, often with great ability, spiritual, historical, and literary questions. On September 27, for instance, they had a discussion which it was delightful for all who were privileged to be present to hear. It was on the end of the world, taking the much-discussed paragraph, A. C. 931, as a starting-point. It was shown pretty conclusively that Swedenborg does not mean in that paragraph to teach that the globe would perish. This was done by a critical examination of that and the two following numbers. The discussion was conducted in a most interesting manner, and was one in which all the students took part.

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BOOK NOTICES.

SWEDENBORG AND THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD. By the Rev. R. L. TAFEL, A. M., Ph. D. Published by Jas. Speirs, London.

This pamphlet of 54 pages is in part a reprint from the Intellectual Repository, being an answer to a series of articles by the editor of that periodical. It forms a valuable contribution to the exposition of the doctrine concerning the Second Advent of the LORD. Several ideas there presented strike us as new and yet they seem to be well supported by the evidence, and they offer the best solution yet given of several difficulties which the student of the Writings has to encounter. One of these new ideas which seems especially worthy of consideration we find on page 33:

Whenever Swedenborg in the prosecution of his work needed parallel passages, he at once referred to his Biblical Concordance or Index Biblicus, whence he quoted his Bible passages in the Latin version of Schmidius.... In this he was still directed by the LORD, but in a more general way, his illumination being sufficient to enable him to transfer those parallel passages according to the LORDS good pleasure. But whenever Swedenborg found it necessary to give the internal sense of any of these parallel passages, the state of his illumination increased, so that he was at last enabled to receive from the LORD the revelation of their internal sense. Then also the letter of the Word was so illuminated before him, that he clearly saw when the literal sense resulting from it was not a fit vessel of the spiritual sense.

While we are not yet without more extended investigation ready to assent to this statement, it certainly seems plausible, and seems to explain satisfactorily those slight discrepancies found in the citations from Scripture in different passages of the Writings.

Quite suggestive, however, is the statement (p. 33):

In this state of illumination he was not only able to rectify any errors which had crept into his Index Biblicus, but he was also able to correct the original Hebrew text of Scripture itself.

The writer then gives a few cases in which the rendering of Swedenborg differs from the original Hebrew, being mainly the substitution of the word Jehovah for justice (Is. xxxii. 17) and for Judah (Is. ix. 21). The explanation in the pamphlet is that Swedenborg is right, and that some ancient transcriber had made a mistake in copying these passages. This suggestion is worthy of consideration.

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No one who believes that the LORD has made His Second Advent in the Writings of the New Jerusalem would hesitate to giant the possibility of such emendations at His Second Coming. The question is simply whether there was here such an intention of amending the Sacred Text or not. One point against this supposition lies in the fact, that it is not stated anywhere that such an emendation has taken place in these passages. Still, this argument is by no means conclusive, as it is also nowhere stated that Swedenborg made a new translation of those passages of Scripture of which he gives the internal sense, and yet we see that this is the case. Before accepting the suggestion offered above, it might be considered whether there is no possibility of a lapsus penuae, in these few cases. It is certainly peculiar that Jehovah, Judah, and justice are terms so nearly akin in their internal sense, for Judah in the inmost sense signifies the LORD or JEHOVAH, and we also read: this is His name, Jehovah, our justice (Jer. Xxiii. 6). The three terms are all celestial; the same may be said of the interchange of king and God, both being spiritual terms, and which we find in a passage quoted in the True Christian Religion. The question might be entertained whether in passing from the internal sense into the external we may not grant as a possibility, that a term similar in internal meaning has in this case been substituted.

A variation somewhat different from that mentioned above is found in the translation of Zephaniah iii. 17, which is quoted four times in the Writings, every time with the same translation, but differing slightly from Schmidius, from the Index Biblicus, and from the Hebrew test. Instead of The LORD thy God will rest in His love, we read in the Writings: The LORD thy God will rest in thy love. In this ease it would almost seem that the change was intentional and significative in this, that now when the nuptials of the LAMB are come, the LORD will not only rest in His love, but this love will from be returned, and the LORD will find His rest in the love of His Church toward Him. Still, we would rather consider this an open question, and an explanation generally satisfactory will probably only be reached when all the facts bearing on this subject have been carefully collated and compared.

Among other interesting statements we find in the pamphlet some very pertinent remarks on the passage super verticem lecti (Gen. xlix. 26). The important fact is here stated, that the internal sense of this passage in A. E. 163 is not as some suppose given erroneously, referring it to lectus, bed, instead of lectus, chosen; but though it is introduced as it were out of its proper connection, still Swedenborg saw its true meaning as soon as he started to give its internal sense; and as he had found in this explanation that it did not really belong into this connection, he afterward omitted it in A. R. 137, where the other passages only are quoted.

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We have not here the space to enter fully on all the important points brought up in the pamphlet, but we would recommend it to the earnest attention of all those who are interested in rightly understanding the Second Coming of the LORD as effected through the instrumentality of Emanuel Swedenborg.

ANALYTIC MANUAL FOR LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND, SPEAK, AND WRITE THE LATIN LANGUAGE. By DR. LEONARD TAFEL. New York: published four the author, by Boericke and Tafel, 145 Grand Street, 1878. Royal octavo, 100 pages.

This handsome volume presents Dr. Tafels celebrated method of instruction in the Latin Language. It is a practical working Manual, and is all that the beginner wants in the way of Grammar, Text-Book, and Lexicon.

In the work there is, I. A Latin Reader, admirably selected from the Classics. II. A Logical Grammar. III. A Literal Translation of the Reader. The Reader is printed in double columns, the one Latin, the other a free translation of the Latin Text into English: a literal translation, word by word being given, in the third division of the volume, and referred to by figures, thus constituting a complete dictionary of the Latin Text.

The Reader itself begins with Dialogues and Fables, then there are Dialogues and Letters, and then Biographies. By following this course the learner is carried along, and becomes, almost before he is aware of it, at home in the Latin, the colloquial expressions of the language becoming familiar like household words. Thus the analytic method of Dr. Tafel proves to be the natural method, in which the language is first to a great extent acquired, and the grammar of the language afterward.

The Preface to this Latin Manual sets forth in a brief compass a practical description of the method unfolded in the book itself, and its advantages. As the resume of a life devoted to linguistic studies and teaching by one of our greatest linguists, the Preface itself is a most valuable contribution to the science of teaching, and may therefore be reed with profit by all who are Professors or Teachers of Language.

As to the Manual itself, we most gladly recommend it to teachers and learners as the most complete work of the kind of which we have any knowledge.

A HINDU GENTLEMANS REFLECTIONS RESPECTING THE WORKS OF SWEDENBORG AND THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. Printed by James Speirs, London, 1878.

This neat little brochure of 90 pages comprises a letter addressed by a Hindu, Dadoba. Pandurung, to the Swedenborg Society of London. It is dated, Bombay, March 10, 1878.

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The letter, after introducing its author, relates the circumstances in which he first became acquainted with the New Church, and then gives, at some length, his reflections on the doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

The article is a remarkable production, not on account of its more or less clear presentation of the truths of the Church, but because it appealed in a Gentile or heathen land. Born and nurtured in Brahmanism, one would suppose that the writer would scarcely com to study a work like Heaven and Hell, and still less to accept its teachings. True, he was early instructed in the creeds of the first Christian Church and had often read the Holy Scriptures. And no doubt his diligent study of the Bible prepared the way for the subsequent reception of the New Church doctrines. But that he did not clearly understand the Bible he himself states; hence he was confused, rather than helped by the Christian missionaries, who obscured the plainest teachings of the Word. This fact is apparent in his telling contrasts between the false dogmas of the consummated Church and the true doctrines of the New Church. And just here rises a thought which is a most important suggestion. That the so-called heathen lauds will receive the Doctrines of the New Dispensation is a matter of revelation. How the work will be effected will be unfolded in the workings of Divine Providence. But the insuperable difficulties in the way of the Old Church missionary are not in the way of the New Church. The doctrines and teachings of the New Church, while they dispute the falsities of Brahmanism, are not entirely foreign to the method of thought peculiar to the Hindu religion. In Christian lands, the idea of man being withdrawn from the body and present in the spiritual world is hooted at as absurd and impossible. And yet Pandurung states that in corroboration of this point he can quote innumerable examples from the writings of Hindu mystics and paints in all as well as of Mussulman Oulias and Sufis, peculiarly illustrative of such a divinely gifted state of the human mind. [See page 25.] While we might question their genuineness, we could not doubt the spiritualistic tendency of thought which they exhibit.

So, farther on, he quotes from Brahmanic works to prove that the Hindus have always taught the existence of degrees of heavens and their division into societies. [See p. 26.] Concerning human respiration, he quotes the following from Vishnu Purana: Thanksgiving is due to that most exalted and glorious God whose worship is a cause of approximation [to him] and gratitude to whom is an increase of blessings. Each breath inhaled is a prolonger of life, and when it is again breathed out, it becomes an exhilartor of our existence.

So in several instances he traces a similarity between his readings of Swedenborg and those of his Indian sages.

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We know, of course, that his national religions are but lifeless relies of the grand days of the Ancient Church; yet these very forms have moulded the Hindu mind, and the New Church missionary in imparting his instructions must remember this fact. From his vast store of information, especially from his knowledge of correspondences, he may give the true interpretation of many things connected with Brahmanism, and so lead his listener into the truth more certainly and more speedily than in any other way.

The absurd teachings of the Old Church are so foreign to the genius of the Hindu mind that they make but little lasting impression. Thus the doctrines of the Trinity, atonement, etc., seemed incomprehensible to Pandurung. I could more easily believe, writes he, on p. 11, in the Hindu Trimutri of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, goodness, passion, and darkness, the forms of the three, the creating, preserving, and destroying gods--the personifications of the three qualities in the energy of one godthan I could in the existence of three distinct persons in the one Godhead.

The hope for the New Church in India, then, lies in the preparation of competent missionaries, who will be grounded in the doctrines of the LORDS Second Coming, who will revere the revelations through Swedenborg as from the LORD and hence supremely authoritative, and who will be thoroughly read in the religious literature of the Brahmanists--keen in discussion, quick in comparison and illustration, and ever ready to meet the opposition of a country proud of its antiquity and of its ancient wise men--and abounding with Brahmanists and Buddhists of extraordinary culture in literature, philosophy, and art.

DOCTRINA NOVAE HIEROSOLYMAE DE CHARITATE. OPUS POSTHUMUM EMANUELIS SWEDENBORGII: EX EXEMPLARI ARTE PHOTOLITHOGRAPHICA CONFECTO, NUNC PRIMUM INTEGRUM TYPIS EXCLUSUM. New York: American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, 20 Cooper Union, MDCCCLXXVIII. Royal octave, pp. 64.

The original Latin of the Treatise of CHARITY was never before published. Carefully edited by Dr. Samuel II, Worcester, and handsomely printed on toned paper, it is now laid before the public by the Am. P. and P. Society of New York. The Editor has done his work with remarkable care and skill: and so far as we can judge, there is nothing more that the Publishers could have done to make the little work an acceptable and pleasing addition to the libraries of New Churchmen.

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Ministers Conference.

THE AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF NEW CHURCH MINISTERS had its session this year in Bridgewater, Mass., from the 22d to the 28th of May.

The most useful and interesting days work was probably on the 23d, when the Class In the Test of Swedenborg reported. A list of all the alleged Errors or Contradictions in the Writings so far as they were obtainable had been referred to this Class at the last meeting in Urbana. There were twenty-eight items given, and papers had been prepared covering nearly every and giving clear and lucid solutions of the various difficulties raised: three of these items were left on the calendar for the next year, one referring to the Sex of Plants, the other two to the explanation of A. E. 288; the lack of time only had prevented the consideration of these items. It must be quite satisfactory to every well wisher of the Church to see the Writings in which the LORD has made His Second Advent thus freed from every imputation of error.

Many other subjects of interest were discussed at length, and pleasant social gatherings in the evenings served to enliven and gladden the useful meeting.

General Convention.

IT has been sometimes complained that the General Convention is so vacillating and lacking in any fixed purpose and policy. The cause, however, of such vacillation and inconstancy is easily discovered when we examine somewhat critically how the Conventions are made up. In most cases the Association in whose bounds the session is held naturally furnishes a greater proportion of each Convention than those which are more remote; thus the Convention, though it has about forty members who attend nearly every meeting, is made up as to The remaining part of very varying material; thus the Convention is a different body in Chicago from what it is in Boston; different again in Cincinnati, in Philadelphia, and in New York; e. g., the Pennsylvania Association in 1876, though not counting one-twelfth of the members of the Convention within its forty-three. The Ohio Association, though little more than one-eighth of the Convention in 1877, cast one-third of the votes, twenty-six out of seventy. The last Convention in Boston, however, capped the climax, for though the Massachusetts Association forms only between one-fourth and one-fifth of the General Convention, it cast one and a half times as many votes as all the rest together,i.e ninety-six votes to sixty-four from the other ten associations. That the vote of Massachusetts should suddenly swell from seven in 1877 to ninety-six in 1878 certainly shows a lack of balance in the Convention, and no continuous work can be well carried on by a body so uncertain in its composition.

This is illustrated by the conduct of missionary affairs. At the last Convention in Cincinnati the missionary cause was taken up with great zeal and a general missionary appointed, who labored assiduously for a year, and, we may well say, with unparalleled success. This year another majority abolished the office of general missionary, and the work so prosperously begun is left to languish.

Such a local majority as exists in the Convention is also apt to abuse its powers and even to net unjustly; e.g., in the lust Convention, when the Pennsylvania Association was deprived of its representation on the Executive Committee. This transaction is the more unjustifiable inasmuch as a member who had not been nominated at nit nor even mentioned was by the majority in balloting silently substituted for the regular nominee.

We believe that only a total change of representation, respecting the local majorities, can secure continuity and equity of administration.

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WORDS

FOR

THE NEW CHURCH

A SERIAL
CONTROLLED BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

V.
SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
PART II.

PHILADELPHIA
PUBLISHED FOR THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT and CO.
1879.

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CONTENTS

XI. ANALYSIS OF NATURAL SCIENCE 373
XII. GENESIS OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN GENERAL 385
XIII. SCIENCE IN THE MOST ANCIENT CHURCH 400
XIV. NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT CHURCH 408
XV. NATURAL SCIENCE DURING THE PREVALENCE OF THE HEBREW AND ISRAELITISH CHURCHES 421
XVI. THE INCARNATION AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 435
NOTES. TOTAL ABSTINENCE 447

AUTHORITY 453

THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS 457

THE WRITINGS AND THE INTERNAL SENSE OF THE WORD 463

THE WRITINGS OF SWEDENBORG, 1799 470
BOOKS RECEIVED 472

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SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

PART II.

XI.

ANALYSIS OF NATURAL SCIENCE.

IN PART I. the general principles of NATURAL SCIENCE were treated of, and its importance in the New Church was shown; and it was proved from the Writings of the Church that science in itself, is true or false, according to the light in which it is viewed.

True science comes from heaven and agrees with revelation; false science comes from hell and disagrees with revelation. The truth or falsity of science does not, however, extend to the facts of nature themselves, but only to the theories which are derived from these facts or which are attached to them by the men of science. And by virtue of the theories which have been forced upon natural science, and which in modern times it has been made to confirm, the abomination of desolation which reigns at present in the Church, has also overtaken science. Wherefore in order to bring natural science into harmony with revealed truth, the false and mendacious plane which it has constructed in the minds of men, must be entirely broken in pieces.

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How far this abomination of desolation in natural science extends, and how far, and in what senses, science must be remodeled by the New Church, will now be shown. The distinction between the theories of natural science, and the facts of nature will also be explained. We shall also show how far a study of the facts of nature and of the genuine theories of natural science may be of actual use in developing the human mind, and in preparing it in some measure for the reception of spiritual truths.

The actual use of these studies is often declared in the Writings, from which we learn that scientific truths, or such as are hatched out by the sciences, are of use in respect to men who are unwilling to believe any thing without them: they are also of use in schools where they are taught by Philosophers, and by those who are about to fill the office of the priesthood; and where they constitute the exercises of youth, inasmuch as these scientific truths favor their natural desires: then also they have this use, that by them spiritual things are let down from heaven in such a way as neither to be perverted or to blind the mind or to lead insensibly into doubt and unbelief.--See S. D. 250.

Besides, Swedenborg says, concerning himself:

I was first introduced by the LORD into the natural sciences, and thus prepared. This happened from the year 1710 to 1744 when heaven was opened to me; for every one is led by natural to spiritual things. For man is born natural; he is educated so as to become moral; and finally is generated by the LORD so as to become spiritual.Letter to tinger, Document 232; see Document concerning Swedenborg. Vol. ii. p. 257.

Again he says:

The Divine Providence ruled and directed the acts of my life in such a manner that by means of the knowledges of natural things I was enabled to reach a state of intelligence, and thus by the Divine mercy of God Messiah to serve as so instrument for opening those things which are bidden interiorly in the Word of God Messiah.Adv. ii. 839.

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If Swedenborg, therefore, by means of the knowledges of natural things was led into a state of intelligence, and was enabled to serve as an instrument for the opening of the interior things of the Divine Word,--it follows that we also, and thus mankind at large are likewise to be led into a state of intelligence by the knowledges of natural things, and are to be prepared thereby for a rational reception of the doctrines of the New Church.

Let us therefore inquire how the knowledges of natural things, and thus the study of the natural sciences, lead man into a state of intelligence, enabling him to receive spiritual and celestial truths.

In order to do this we must briefly analyze the natural sciences.

The natural sciences are formed in the human mind, and independent of the mind they have no existence. They are, or ought to be, a rational digest of the collective information which man acquires from the natural world by means of his senses.

In order, therefore, to analyze natural science, we must analyze the human mind, since natural science exists in the mind, and when it appears outside of it, is cast into the categories of that mind, or in other words, it is permeated by that philosophy, concerning which we saw in Section X., that it is drawn out of the human mind.

Consequently in any true analysis of science, the mind itself must be known. Mind in any analysis of the mind, we must understand the degrees of life in the mind; and as the interior degrees in the mind are above the common consciousness of man in this life, and are made known only by Divine revelation respecting them, we are wholly dependent on Revelation for a. full and comprehensive knowledge of the Human Mind in its various degrees of ascent from the external to the internal.

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We therefore lay before our readers the following passage from the Divine Love and Wisdom, in which we have a compendious sketch of the degrees in the human mind, and the means by which they are opened:

(1) There are three degrees of ascent in the natural, and three degrees of ascent in the spiritual world. All animals are recipients of life; the more perfect animals are recipients of the life of the three degrees of the natural world; the less perfect are recipients of the life of two degrees of that world, and the imperfect animals are recipients of one of its degrees. Man alone is the recipient not only of the three degrees of life of the natural world, but also of the three degrees of the spiritual world. Hence it is that man may be elevated above nature, altogether differently from any animal; that he may think analytically and rationally concerning the civil and moral things which are within nature, and also concerning the spiritual and celestial things that are above nature; yea, that he may be so elevated into wisdom as to see God. By these six degrees the uses of all created things or beings ascend in their order even to God their Creator.

It shall be stated also briefly in what manner man from the lowest degree ascends, that is, is elevated to the highest. He is born in the ultimate degree of the natural world, is thence elevated by sciences [or matters of knowledge, sciestias] into the second degree; and in proportion as he perfects his understanding by such science, he is: elevated into the third degree, and then becomes rational. The three degrees of ascent in the spiritual world are in man above the three natural degrees, nor do they appear before man lays aside his earthly body. When he lays this aside, then the first spiritual degree is opened with him, afterward the second, and finally the third; but only with those who become angels of the third heaven: these are they who see God. Those become angels of the second and the last heavens with whom the second and the last degrees can be opened. Each spiritual degree is opened with man according to the reception of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom from the LORD. Those who receive some of it, come into the first or ultimate spiritual degree; those who receive more, into the second or middle; and those who receive much, into the third or highest degree. Those, however, who receive nothing of them remain in the natural degrees, and do not derive any more from the spiritual degrees than that they can think and thence speak, and will and thence act, but not intelligently.--D. L. W. 66, 67.

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Diagram I., illustrating No. (1).
Degree 3 = Spiritual world.
Degree 2 = Spiritual world.
Degree 1 = Spiritual world.
Degree 3 = Natural world.
Degree 2 = Natural world.
Degree 1 = Natural world.

There are thus three degrees of ascent of the natural world and three degrees of ascent of the spiritual world in man, as represented in the accompanying Diagram I. How much each one of these degrees, whether natural or spiritual, contributes to the generation of natural science with man will appear from a further analysis of the degrees in the human mind.

We read:

(2) With man there are in general three parts: The corporeal, the natural, and the rational

The corporeal is outermost, the natural intermediate, and the rational interior. In proportion as one of these parts prevails with man, he is said to be either corporeal, natural, or rational.

These three parts of man communicate in a wonderful manner, namely: the corporeal with the natural, and the natural with the rational.... The corporeal communicates with the natural by sensual things, and this distinctly by those things belonging to the understanding, and those belonging to the will; for both are to be perfected with man in order that he may be a man. The sensual things of sight and hearing especially perfect the intellectual faculty; and the things belonging to the three remaining senses have respect chiefly to the will. Mans corporeal part by these things of the senses communicates with his natural part, which, as said above, is intermediate.

The things which enter by means of the things of the senses repose in the natural, as in a certain receptacle: this receptacle is the memory.

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The delight, the pleasure, and the cupidity there belong to the will, and they are called natural goods! but the scientifics there belong to the understanding, and are called natural truths.

Mans natural, by means of the things just spoken of, communicates with the rational, which, as said above, is the interior part. The things which elevate themselves thence toward the rational, likewise repose there in a certain receptacle: this receptacle is the interior memory. The happiness and felicity which are there belong to the will, and are rational good; but the interior intuitions of things and the perceptions there belong to the understanding, and the things belonging thereto are called rational truths.

These three constitute man.

Between these three there are communications. By the external sensual things mans corporeal communicates with his natural. And by the interior sensual thing mans natural communicates with his rational.A. C. 4038.

Elsewhere in the Arcana we learn that

(3) Mans natural communicates, on the one hand, with the things of the senses which are of the body; and, on the other hand, with the rational thing which are of the rational mind.A. C. 4009.

Mans corporeal or his body constitutes the outermost or the most general degree of his spiritual organization, as appears from what follows:

(4) The body itself, and those things which are of the body, as those things which are called external senses and actions, are respectively most general.

The natural mind, and the things of this mind, are less general, because they are interior, and they are called respectively particulars.

The rational mind, and the things of this mind, are still more interior, and are respectively singulars.

This appears to the life when man is stripped of his body, and becomes a spirit; for then it appears thee his corporeal things were nothing but the most general things belonging to his spirit; and also that the corporeal things existed and subsisted from the things which are of his spirit, and consequently that the things of the spirit are respectively particulars.A. C. 4345.

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The relations and qualities of the natural and rational minds are further exhibited in what follows:

(5) The natural man in respect to the rational man, or what is the same the external man in respect to the internal man, is like the steward in a house. All the things in man are like one house, that if, like one family, where there is one who fills the office of the father in the house, and others who fill the office of servants. The rational mind itself arranges everything like the father in the house, and arranges them in order by influx into the natural mind, but it is the natural mind which serves and administers.

For the natural mind is distinct from the rational mind, and in a degree below it; it also has a certain ability of its own, and is called respectively the elder servant of the house, and one which administers in all things therein, as may appear from the things which are there, and also from its offices. The kind; in a word, each and every thing belonging to the external or corporeal memory. To the natural mind belongs likewise everything imaginative, which is the interior sensual with man, and which is especially active between youth and early manhood (apud pueros et in aetate primae adolescientiae). To it belong also all natural affections which man has in common with brute animals; thence it is evident what are its offices.

The rational mind is interior; the matters of knowledge (cognitiva) which are there, do not appear before man, but are imperceptible while he lives in the body. They consist of each and every thing of the interior memory. To this mind also belongs the whole thinking principle which is perceptive of what is right and just, as well as of what, is true and good; likewise all spiritual affections which are properly human, and by which man is distinguished from brute animals. The rational mind from these things flows into the natural mind, and excites the things which are therein, it gazes upon them with a certain sight, and thus judges and draws conclusions.

That these two minds are distinct appears manifestly from this: that with many the natural mind rules over the rational mind or what is the same thing the external over the internal man, and that only with those who are in the good of charity, that is, who suffer themselves to be led by the LORD, it does not rule, but serves.A. C. 3020.

In the following diagrams are represented the degrees described in Nos. (2) to (5), and they are compared with the diagram illustrating No. (1):

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I. II. III
Diagram of No. (1). Diagram of No. (2). Diagram of Nos. (4) and (5).
Spiritual world 3. Rational 3.  Rational Mind 3.
Spiritual world 2. Rational 2.  Rational Mind 2.
Spiritual world 1.  Rational 1. Rational Internal.

Mind 1 = Memory.
Natural world 3 Natural 2. Natural Imagination

Mind 2.
Natural world 2. Natural 1. Natural External

Mind 1 = Memory.
Natural world 1. Corporeal. Body = Senses.

From what has thus far been advanced respecting the degrees in the human mind, we learn that the body constitutes the lowest, and the natural mind the two higher degrees of the natural world within men (see D. L. W. 66 and 67, quoted above), while the rational mind occupies the three degrees of his spiritual world; and that in common with the animals, man has the bodily or corporeal degree, and the two degrees of the natural mind, while the three degrees of the rational mind are peculiar to man. Further, that the three rational degrees which correspond with the natural, spiritual, and celestial heavens, do not appear until man lays aside his natural body.

Nevertheless, it does not follow that the interior spiritual degrees in mans mind may not be developed during his life upon earth. On the contrary, we learn that

The spiritual degree in man is opened by the spiritual love of uses which is the love toward the neighbor, and that it increases by the knowledges of good and truth, or by spiritual truths; and that the celestial degree is opened by the celestial love of uses or the love of the LORD.--D. L. W. 237.

And further:

Man during his life in the world does not know anything of the opening of these degrees in himself, because he is then in the natural degree, which is the last, and he then thinks, wills, speaks, and acts from this degree;

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and because the spiritual degree which is interior does not communicate with the natural by continuity, but by correspondences, and communication by correspondences is not felt. But when man lays aside the natural degree, which takes place when he dies, he then comes into that degree which was opened with him in the world; into the spiritual degree, if this degree had been opened in him, into the celestial degree, if this degree had been opened.--D. L. W. 238.

By the opening of the interior spiritual degrees, mans external or natural man is more and more illuminated by the light of heaven, which continually increases in brightness and clearness; and although this is caused by the opening and perfection in man of the discrete degrees of the spiritual world in him, yet the man himself is conscious only of an increase of light in him by continuity. Or as it is expressed in the Divine Love and Wisdom:

(6) There is, indeed, an illumination by mans interior from the light of the superior degrees, yet the natural degree which encompasses and surrounds receives by continuity this illustration, which according to the ascent becomes more luminous and more pure; that is, the natural degree is illustrated in a discrete manner by the interior from the light of the superior degrees, but in itself it is illustrated continuously. From this it appears that man, as long as he lives in the world, and thereby is in the natural degree, cannot be elevated into wisdom itself as it is among the angels, but only into superior light even to the angels, and receive illustration from their light which flows in from the interior and illuminates.--D. L. W. 256.

Thus far we have spoken only in a general way of the three degrees of the external man, and of their development in man; that is, we did not distinguish between the development in the external man of the intellectual and of the voluntary parts. But as natural science is formed in mans intellectual part, (and is, indeed, an outward presentation of the contents of mans understanding, so far as they concern the facts or the effects of the natural world,) we must now present the three degrees of the external man in respect to the understanding.

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We meet now with a change of terminology; for the intellectual contents of the exterior degree of the natural mind or man, are called sensual impressions or sensual scientifics; those of the intermediate degree of the natural man, scientifics proper; and those of the interior natural or rational degree, doctrinals or truths. The relations between these three degrees are as follows:

(7) Sensual scientifics are those in which youths (pueri) are; the same youths as they grow up are in scientifics; for no one can be in scientific truths, before he is in sensual truths, for the ideas of scientifics are acquired from them. From these may be learned and comprehended truths still more interior which are called doctrinal.A. C. 3309.

Again we read:

(8) The first truths with man are sensual, the second scientific, and the third doctrinal. The last of these are founded on scientific truths; for without scientifics, a man can neither have, nor retain, any idea, notion, or conception of them. Scientific truths, however, are founded on sensual truths; for scientifics cannot be comprehended by man without these sensual truths.--A. C. 3310.

Scientifics and doctrinals are distinct from each other in this, that doctrinals are derived from scientifics; and have respect to use, and by reflection are procured from scientifics.A. C. 3052.

Instead of doctrinals the term truth is used in the following passage:

(9) Sensual things [that is, the impressions of the senses] are one thing, scientifics another, and truths still another. They mutually succeed one another; for from the things of the senses exist the scientifics, and from scientifics truths.

The things which enter by the senses, are stored up in the memory. Hence man concludes the scientific, or from them he perceives the scientific which he learns. From scientifics, finally, he concludes truths, or from them he perceives the truth which he learns. Thus also every man advances from his youth [pueritia] as he grows to maturity. As a youth he thinks and comprehends things from sensuals [or from the impressions of the senses];

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as he advances in age he thinks and comprehends things from scientifics, and afterward from truths. This is the way toward judgment, into which a man grows by age.

Hence it is manifest that sensuals, scientifics, and truths are distinct; yea, that they also remain distinct to such a degree that a man is sometimes in sensual things [or in those of the senses]; as when he thinks nothing but what strikes the senses. Sometimes he is in scientifics, as when he elevates himself above the things of the senses, and thinks interiorly. And sometimes he is in the truths which are concluded from scientifics, as when he thinks still more interiorly. These things every one who reflects may know of himself.

Man can also bring down truths into scientifics, and view the former in the latter. He can likewise bring down scientifics into things sensuous, and contemplate the former in the latter, and vice versa.A. C. 5774.

In the following diagrams a comparison is made between the degrees in the external man in general, and those in its intellectual part, where human science is generated:

I. V. VI.
Diagram of the natural mind. Diagram of the same. Diagram of Nos. (7), (8), and (9).
Internal Natural Man when in goods and Doctrinals = Truths.
= Israel. truths = rational.

Intermediate or Middle From 20th year upward Scientifics.
Natural = Jacob. = interior natural.

External Natural From 5th to 20th year Sensual Scientifics.
= Dan. = exterior natural = = Sensuous Impressions.

sensual.

Corporeal Degree
= Body.

Diagrams IV. and V. represent the degrees in the external man in general, Diagram VI., the degrees in its intellectual part.

From this analysis of the human mind we are enabled to draw the following inductions in respect to natural science:

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1. As all knowledge which enters into mans mind by the gates of the senses, is first sensual or sensuous, then becomes scientific, and finally doctrinal or rational; so also the material of natural science which enters into mans mind through the bodily senses, becomes in him either sensual, scientific, or doctrinal, that is, rational. And from this again it follows that in genuine natural science as it is organized outside of man there are three degrees or phases: 1. the sensual phase, 2. the scientific phase, and 3. the rational or doctrinal phase.

2. As from the things which enter by the senses, and which are stored up in the memory, man concludes scientifics, and from these, finally, he concludes doctrinals or truths, it follows: that front the sensual phase of science which consists of the impressions received by the senses, by a process of abstraction and elimination arises the scientific phase; and from this finally, by a similar process of abstraction and elimination, there follows the doctrinal or rational phase of natural science.

3. As the sensual phase of science reposes in the exterior natural, the scientific phase in the interior natural, and the rational or doctrinal phase in the inmost of the natural; as therefore the relation between these three phases of science is like what is exterior compared with what is interior; and as the exterior, interior, and inmost, in accordance with No. (4) (A. C.4345), are related like what is general, particular, and what is least particular or singular, it follows that the sensual phase of science in the human mind consists of the general impressions which are received from the world through the medium of the bodily senses; the scientific phase of the particular facts of nature which in the mind are instilled into the general impressions of the senses, whereby these general impressions or these general facts are more precisely defined, and errors and fallacies of the senses are removed; and the doctrinal or rational phase of science, of the least particulars of the facts of nature as they appear in the mind when illuminated by the light of heaven, which is the light of truth.

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4. From Nos. (7) to (9) (A. C. 3309, 5126, and 5497) we learn that the sensual phase of science is developed in man from infancy to advanced youth, that is, from the fifth to the twentieth year; the scientific phase from advanced youth, that is, from the twentieth year upward; and further that during manhood, in proportion as man imbibes goods by truths, that is, in proportion as he does the truths which he learns, the rational phase is entered upon and developed.

XII.

GENESIS OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN GENERAL.

THE development of the three degrees of the external man corresponding with the three degrees of natural science, shall now be considered. This development assumes an altogether different aspect when viewed from without or in the light of nature, and when examined in the light of heaven or in that of revelation. Viewed in the light of nature man actually seems to rise from the sensual phase, of natural science into the scientific phase, and thence into the doctrinal or rational phase. But when viewed in the light of heaven it becomes evident that the LORD, through the interior degrees of man, flows into the exterior and develops them, first the external of the natural, then the middle or intermediate, and finally the internal of the natural or the rational; and that in proportion as these degrees in man are thus developed, the LORD raises the man to Himself. The law of influx in this respect is described in what follows:

According to the order of influx, scientific and sensual truths are from rational truths;

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for interior how into exterior things, or what is the same thing, superior into inferior things, but not vice versa. The appearance, indeed, is different, namely, that man by sensual and scientific things becomes rational; but this is a fallacy. Good from the LORD through mans rational faculty constantly flows in, meets, and adopts to itself scientifics; and in proportion to the quantity thereof which it can adopt, and arrange in true order, man becomes rational.A. C. 2577.

Again we read:

The exterior natural does not how into the interior, because this is impossible; for exterior cannot now into interior things, or what is the same inferior or posterior into superior and prior things; but the rational calls forth the thing which are in the interior natural, and by this the things which are in the exterior: not that the very things which are therein are called forth, but those which are thence concluded or extracted.

It appears as if the things which are in the world flowed in through the things of the senses toward the interiors; but this is a fallacy of the senses. For there is an influx from the interiors into the exteriors, and by this influx there is apperception, [that is, the power of viewing things].A. C. 6119.

From the interiors there is an influx into the exteriors of the human mind of spiritual light or of wisdom, and of spiritual best or of love, and by their combined influence natural science is generated in the mind, and by means of the mind.

The first moving power in the generation of natural science is love or spiritual heat, and the character of the science which man is instrumental in bringing forth, is according to the quality of his love. If, therefore, the love of the LORD and of His kingdom be the fundamental love of the man of science, then his science will be affirmative, that is, by means of his science he will confirm and illustrate spiritual truth, or the truth of revelation. But if his fundamental or ruling love is the love of self and of the world, his science will be negative, and by means of it he will seek to destroy and annihilate spiritual truth.

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The effect of love or affection on the character of the human understanding, in general, and on the three degrees of the natural man, in particular, is described in what follows:

There are three things which constitute the external man, namely, the rational, the scientific, and the external sensual. The rational is interior, the scientific exterior, and the sensual outermost. By the rational the internal man is conjoined with the external. The conjunction is according to the quality of the rational. The external sensual here is of the sight and hearing.

The rational, however, in itself is nothing, unless affection flows into it, makes it active, and gives it life: whence it follows that the rational is according to the quality of the affection. When the affection of good flows in, then the affection of good in the rational becomes the affection of truth. It is the reverse when the affection of evil flows in.

As the scientific applies itself to the rational, and is its instrumental, it follows that affection flows also into the scientific and arranges it; for nothing ever lives in the external man except affection: because the affection of good descends from the celestial, that is, from celestial love, which vivifies everything into which it flows, yea, it even vivifies the affections of evil, or the lusts.A. C. 1589.

The influence of love on the contents of the natural memory, and on the manner in which the things entering into it by the senses are there disposed and arranged, is clearly described in what follows:

It is known that man is born neither into any science, nor into any thing rational, but only into the power of receiving these things; also, that he learns and imbibes all things by degrees, and chiefly by the sensual things of the sight and healing; and, further, that in proportion as he learns and imbibes, he becomes rational. It is evident that these things are effected by the way of the body, that is, by an external way, because they are effected by hearing and seeing. But what man does not know, because he does not reflect upon it, is, that something is continually flowing in from the interior which receives those things that thus enter and are instilled, and arranges them in order. That which thus flows in, receives, and arranges, is celestial Divine good which is from the LORD; hence is their life, hence their order, and hence the affinities and relationships among them.--A. C. 2557. See also A. C. 5288.

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Again we read:

It is celestial and spiritual love which arranges in order the scientifics which are of the exterior memory; whereas the love of self and the love of the world pervert order, and confuse all things in the exterior memory.A. C. 2831.

The particular features of the love flowing in from within are presented to view, when we consider the character which this love assumes in. the various degrees of the external or natural man. It appears then that during childhood and youth, or up to the twentieth year, while the exterior degree of the natural mind is being developed, love from within produces in the understanding the affection of knowing or of accumulating knowledge; that after the twentieth year, when the intermediate degree of the natural mind is stirred into life, it causes there the affection of truth, and with it the affection of reasoning and of drawing conclusions; which in time gives rise to the affection of understanding and leads man into the perception of truth.

The succession of these various affections in man is clearly shown in what follows:

Mans first state is one of were ignorance; there is then in him no thought of the understanding, but only an obscure affection belonging to his love or will.

That in mans second state, which is that of his youth (pueritia) [namely, up to his twentieth year], he is in the affection of knowing, is known. By this affection the child (infans puer) learns to talk, and to read; and afterward he learns successively those things which are of the understanding. Nor can it be doubted that love which is of the will, effects this; for unless love or the will were acting, this would not be done. Every one who from reason consults experience acknowledges that every man after birth must have the affection of knowing, and that by this he learns those things by which the understanding is gradually formed, increases, and is perfected.

That from the affection of knowing arises the affection of truth, is also manifest; for when a man by the affection of knowing is made intelligent, his affection then does not impel him so much to acquire knowledge, as to reason and to draw conclusions in respect to the things of his love, whether they be economical, civil, or moral.

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When this affection is raised to spiritual things, it becomes the affection of spiritual truth. That its first beginning is the affection of knowing, may be seen from this, that the affection of truth is an exalted affection of knowing; for to be affected with truths is, from affection to will to know them, and after finding them, from the delight of the affection to imbibe them.

From a rational contemplation it appears, that the affection of truth and the perception of truth are two distinct faculties of the understanding, which with some meet in one, and with others do not. They meet in one with those who wish to perceive truths with the understanding, but not with those who only wish. to know truths. It is evident also that every one is in the perception of truth in proportion as he is in the affection of understanding. Take away the affection of understanding the truth, and there will be no perception of the truth; but give the affection of understanding the truth, there will be its perception, according to the degree of the affection; for a man whose reason is sound never lacks the perception of truth, as long as he has the affection of understanding the truth. Every man has the faculty of understanding the truth which is called rationality or reason.

A man is in manifest thought when his spirit thinks within his body: and this takes place especially when he is in company with others. But when he is in the affection of understanding, and by this comes into the perception of the truth, he is then in the thought of his spirit, which is meditation; this falls, indeed, into the thought of the body, but into tacit thought; because it is above it, and as underneath itself looks down upon those things which are of the thought from the memory; for from these things it either draws conclusions or confirmations.--D. L. W. 404.

Such is the effect of love on the mind before the understanding and the will are conjoined, and thus while man is being prepared for regeneration; but after the will and the understanding are more or less conjoined, then the order of influx is as follows:

These three, the affection of truth, the perception of truth, and thought succeed one another in due order from love, and they exist nowhere else than in the understanding; for when love enters into the understanding, which takes place when the conjunction [of the will and the understanding] is established, then first it produces the affection of truth, afterward the affection of understanding what it knows; and finally the affection of seeing in the thought of the body that which it understands; for thought is nothing else than internal sight.

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Thought certainly exists at first, because it is of the natural mind; but thought from the perception of truth which is from the affection of truth exists last; this latter thought is the thought of wisdom, but the former is thought from the memory by the sight of the natural mind.--D. L. W. 404.

From what precedes it follows that mans thought is twofold; that he is in one kind of thought in the beginning, before he is animated by the affection of spiritual truth, which thought is thought from the [external] memory by the sight of the natural mind; but that he is in an altogether different state when by regeneration his will and his understanding are conjoined in his interiors; for then his thought is from the perception of truth which is from the affection of truth.

The former thought also is in the body from the sight of the natural mind, which sees in the light of the world; but the latter is in the body from the sight of the rational mind or of a mans spirit, which sees in the light of heaven.

A man when under the influence of the loves of self and of the world is in the former thought; but he is in the latter thought when animated by the love of the LORD and of the neighbor.

From the former thought, finally, arises a merely sensual science which is false; but from the latter thought a rational science which is true.

In this manner, then, love or spiritual heat which flows into mans mind from within is the first factor in the genesis of natural science. The second factor is spiritual light or the wisdom which proceeds from the LORD, and illustrates the interiors of mans mind from within. On this subject we read:

The man who is not regenerated is altogether ignorant of the fact that there is spiritual light; yea, that in heaven there is a light which has nothing in common with the light of the world;

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and still less does he know that it is that light which illustrates the ideas and objects which are from the light of the world, and that it gives man the ability to think, to conclude, and to reflect: This spiritual light communicates such ability, because the light is the wisdom itself which proceeds from the LORD, and which is presented as light before the sight of the angels of heaven. From this light appear all the things which are beneath, or which are from natural light with man, but not vice versa, unless the man be regenerate, in which case those things which are of heaven, that is, which are of good and truth, by illustration from spiritual light appear in the natural, as in a representative mirror.A. C. 5477.

Again we read:

With him who sees clearly that good is good, and that truth is truth, and on the other hand that evil is evil, and falsity false, light flows in from heaven and enlightens his intellectual faculty, causing the reasons which he sees in his understanding to be so many rays of light. The same light also illuminates the scientifics so that they confirm, and, besides, it arranges them into order and into a celestial form.--A. C. 4156.

But in order that light from heaven may operate in man, it must be received by him. On this subject we read:

The light of heaven from the LORDS Divine Human can come only to those who live in the good of faith, that is, in charity, or what is the same thing, who have conscience. The very plane itself on which this light can operate, or the receptacle of this light, is the good of faith or charity, consequently conscience.A. C. 2776.

Concerning the presence of this light with the wicked we read:

The faculty or ability of understanding is always preserved to man by the LORD; but it is most obscure with those who are in falsities and evils, and is always clearer as the falsities and evils are laid asleep. The Divine of the LORD continually flows in with man, and illustrates him; but where there are falsities and evils, that is, where there are things contrary to truths and goods, there the Divine light is either reflected, or suffocated, or perverted; and only so much of it is received, as it were, through chinks, that man may have the faculty of thinking and speaking from the things of the senses, and also concerning spiritual things from formulae impressed on the natural or corporeal memory.A. C. 5127.

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The first receptacle in man of spiritual heat and light, or of love and wisdom from the LORD, are the remains of good and truth which are instilled into man by the LORD during infancy and childhood, and which are carefully stored up in his internal and interior man. The influx of spiritual life into men, and. Hence the extent of his rational, and thus of his thinking power, is entirely in accordance with the quantity and quality of the remains which are stored up within him. The following passages show this:

The fewer the remains with any particular man, the less his rational and scientific things can be illustrated; for the life of good and truth flows in from the LORD by the remains; if there were no remains with man, he would not be a man, but much viler than a brute. Tire fewer remains there are, the less he is a man; and the more remains there are, the more he is a man. The remains are like some heavenly constellation; the smaller it is, the less light thence, and the larger it is, the more light thence.A. C. 530.

Again we read:

By remains from the LORD man is able to be a man, to know what is good and true, to reflect on every thing, and thence to think and reason.--A. C. 560.

By the remains of truth which are born in man by an influx of spiritual things from the LORD, man has the power of thinking, and also of understanding what the good and truth of civil and moral life are; and likewise of receiving spiritual truth or the truth of faith; but of this he is incapable except by the remains of good which he has received in infancy.A. C. 1906.

Concerning the remains of good, we read that they are stored up in the interior rational man (A. C. 1908), and thus in the internal man.

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Through them the LORD reduces into order the things which enter into mans mind from early infancy, as appears from what follows:

By the external innocence [of infancy] the LORD reduces into order those things which enter by the things of the senses. Without the influx of innocence from the LORD in this first age, there would never be a foundation on which the intellectual or rational plane which is proper to man could be built.--A. C. 5126.

The remains of truth, on the other hand, are stored up in the interior man (A. C. 1906), that is, in the rational or internal degree of the external man. Concerning their arrangement in man we read as follows:

The interior things of the interior natural degree are those things there which ore called spiritual. And the spiritual things there are those which are from the light of heaven; and by this light are illuminated those things which are there from the light of the world, and which are properly called natural. In the spiritual things in that degree are stored up truths adjoined to good [that is, the remains of truth].

The spiritual things there are such as correspond with the angelic societies of the second heaven; with that heaven man communicates by remains. It is this heaven which is opened when a man is regenerated; and it is this heaven which is closed, when a man does not suffer himself to be regenerated. For remains, as truths and good stored up in the interiors, are simply correspondences with societies of this heaven.--A. C. 5344.

The general effect of the remains with man is illustrated by the state of the interiors of those who in the Writings of the New Church are called simple-minded or the simple good. Concerning these we read:

Those are said to be simple-minded whose interiors are opened, but not developed by spiritual, moral, civil, and natural truths. These perceive truths when they hear them, but they do not sec them in themselves.H. H. 351.

The use of remains, according to the preceding doctrine, consists, therefore, in this, that they enable a man to perceive a truth when, he hears it, and that by them the LORD reduces into order those things which enter into the memory by the bodily senses from without.

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From remains also man is able to know what is good and true, to reflect on every thing, and especially to think and reason. The remains of goodness and truth, therefore, are the chief means by which the LORD generates natural science in the minds of men from within.

The light of truth, however, enters into mans mind both immediately from the LORD, and also mediately from the LORD through heaven. The highest truth which enters into mans mind through heaven, or the Grand Man of heaven, is called intellectual truth, and it abides in the internal man with the remains of goodness which are there. Concerning this we read:

Intellectual truth is the spiritual itself which flows in through heaven, and thus by an internal way, and indeed with every man; and it constantly goes to meet the knowledges which are instilled by sensual things, and are implanted in the memory. Of this man is ignorant, because the principle is too pure to be perceived by a general idea. It is like a certain light which enlightens and imparts the faculty of knowing, thinking, and understanding. The rational in man cannot exist except by an influx of intellectual truth.--A. C. 1901.

Again we read:

Intellectual truth is internal, rational truth intermediate, and scientific truth external.

With every man intellectual truth, which is his internal or his inmost, is not mans but the LORDS in him. Thence the LORD flows into the rational [degree or mind] where truth first appears as mans; and through the rational into the scientific. From which it is evident that man is never able to think, as of himself from truth intellectual, but only from truth rational and scientific, because these appear to be his.A. C. 1904.

From this we learn that intellectual truth, whence man derives the faculty of knowing, thinking, and understanding, is caused by the LORDS mediate influx into mans understanding through the heavens;

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while the life of mans will which by influx into his understanding causes there the affections of knowing, of understanding, and of seeing the truth, is caused by the LORDS immediate influx into mans will or into his good (A. C. 7056). By the former influx is used mans rationality or reason (A. C. 5688), and by the latter his liberty or his freedom of will (D. L. W. 264).

Such then are the spiritual forces acting upon man from within in the generation of natural science. We shall now examine those influences which are brought to bear upon him in his external man, and by which he reacts upon these internal agencies.

The influences which act upon mans external man are also of two kinds, namely,--

1. Natural light which is imbued either with the fatuous lumen of hell, or with the light of heaven, and

2. The influx of evil from hell.

Natural light, or the light of the natural sun, is the means through which man receives impressions from the natural world through the eye. Sight, however, in the natural world is caused by an influx of spiritual into natural light during the act of seeing.

There are various planes of sight pertaining to the body and the external man: 1. the corporeal plane of sight, which consists of the objects by which man is surrounded in the natural world; 2. the sensual plane in the exterior degree of the natural mind, which is constituted by the external portion of the natural or corporeal memory; 3. the scientific plane, which is in the interior degree of the natural mind, and is formed of the interior portion of the natural memory; and 4. the rational or doctrinal plane in the inmost or rational degree of the external man, where it constitutes the internal or spiritual memory.

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The three planes of sight; or of apperception in the external man, are clearly exhibited in the following passage:

There is actually apperception from the sensual or exterior natural, apperception from the interior natural, and apperception from the rational.

For when a man is in interior thought from affection, and withdraws his mind from the things of the senses and from the body, he is then in rational apperception; because then the things which are below, or which are of the external man, are at rest, and the man is then almost in his spirit.

But when a man is in exterior thought from causes which exist in the world, then his apperception is from the interior natural; the rational, indeed, flows in, but not with any life of affection.

But when a man is in pleasures, and in the delights of the love of the world, and also of the love of self, then his apperception is from the sensual degree. His life then is in externals or in the body, and admits no more from interior things than may suffice to moderate and check his outbursts into things dishonorable and indecorous.

But the more external apperception is, so much the more obscure is it; for exterior things are respectively general, since innumerable interior things appear as one in the exterior.A. C. 5141.

Each of these planes of vision or apperception has its own peculiar light, by which the objects contained in it are illuminated (see Section XVIII.). This light is a combination of spiritual and natural light; spiritual light preponderating in the higher, and natural light in the lower degrees of the external man.

The conditions causing a preponderance either of natural or of spiritual light are explained in what follows:

The internal man has its vision and understanding from the light of heaven, but the external man from the light of the world. The influx of the light of heaven into those things which are of the light of the world causes illustration, and at the same time apperception; if there be correspondence, the apperception of truth, and if there be not correspondence, the apperception of what is false instead of truth. But illustration and apperception cannot be Given, unless there be affection or love which is spiritual heat, and gives life to those things which are illustrated by light; comparatively, as the light of the sun does not give life to the plants, but the heat which is in the light, as is evident from the seasons of the year.--A. C. 3138.

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Whether natural or spiritual light prevail in the various degrees of the external man, depends therefore first, on the quality of the love by which the external man is animated, and secondly, on the condition of the external man, whether it be ill a state of correspondence, or not.

The influence which the quality of a mans love exercises upon the natural science generated from his external man, is identical with that which his love exercises upon the contents of his memory.

This is briefly stated in these words: It is celestial and spiritual love which arranges in order the scientifics which are of the exterior memory; whereas self-love and the love of the world pervert order, and confuse all things in the exterior memory.--A. C. 2831.

What is meant by the external or natural man being either in a state of correspondence, or not, is explained in what follows:

With thought the case is this: So long as man is in the body, he thinks from the rational in the natural mind; but with a difference according as the natural corresponds with the rational mind, or not.

When the natural mind corresponds, then the man is rational, and thinks spiritually; but when the natural does not correspond, then the man is not rational, and cannot think spiritually. For where the natural mind corresponds with the rational mind, communication is opened, so that the light of heaven from the LORD can from in through the rational into the natural mind, and enlighten it with intelligence and wisdom. Hence the man becomes rational, and thinks spiritually. But when the natural mind does not correspond with the rational man, then communication is closed: and there only flows in somewhat of light in general round about and by chinks into the natural through the rational mind; hence the man is not rational, and does not think spiritually; for according as a man has influx of the light of heaven, so he thinks. From this it is made evident that every man thinks according to the state of correspondence between his natural and rational minds, in respect to good and truth.A. C. 3670.

From this it follows also that the quality of the natural science which is generated in a human mind is according to the correspondence which exists between the natural and rational degrees of that mind.

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And it follows further that according to the state of correspondence between the contents of the natural and rational minds, and according to the affection or love which prevails in the natural mind, a different kind of natural science will be generated in it and evolved from it.

Correspondence between the natural and rational minds may be either of the will or of the understanding, or of both. The prevailing love in the rational mind, by virtue of the remains of good and truth which are implanted there, is love to the LORD and His kingdom; while the inborn loves of the natural mind, or of man, are the loves of self and of the world. In proportion as the loves of the rational mind flow into the natural mind, and stimulate it to action, in the same proportion that mind is in a state of correspondence as to its will part, and is capable of being illustrated by the light of heaven in respect to what is just and right, while the man is performing his every-day duties; but in proportion as the loves of the natural man, namely, the loves of self and of the world, have rule in a man, in the same proportion that mind is in a state of non-correspondence, and is not capable of being illuminated by the light of heaven, while the man is performing his every-day duties.

Again, when the whole natural world is looked upon as a theatre representative of the LORDS kingdom; when, therefore, every natural object is regarded as a correspondential image of a principle of the spiritual world, and when this correspondence is known and understood, then the natural mind is in a state of correspondence also in respect to the things of the understanding; and when a man is at the same time in the love of the LORD and of His kingdom, then the natural mind is capable of being illustrated by the light of heaven in the examination and exploration of the phenomena of the natural world, and in the discovery of their genuine causes.

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But if, on the other hand, a man denies the existence of God and of His kingdom, or if he declares that the LORD has no influence at all on the creation and preservation of the natural universe, then there is no correspondence between the spiritual principles which are instilled out of heaven into his rational mind and the contents of his memory in the natural mind, and then the man is not illustrated by spiritual light in the examination of the phenomena of the natural world, and the discovery of their genuine causes.

Another result of the correspondence of the rational and natural minds in respect to the things of the understanding is this, that the man in whom there is such a correspondence by means of ideas drawn from space and time is able to think justly and correctly of the things of heaven which are independent of space and time. This is taught in what follows:

All things of faith and love have with them an idea from such things as a man knows; for without an idea from knowable and sensuous things a man cannot think with himself. But when from correspondence a man thinks even of those things which are of faith and love, he then thinks justly of them. For correspondences are natural truths in which, as in mirrors, are represented spiritual truths. Wherefore, in proportion as ideas of thought concerning spiritual things are formed without respect to correspondences, in the same proportion they are formed either from the fallacies of the senses, or from things incongruous.a. C. 9300.

We shall now present the various systems of natural science which have been drawn out of the minds of men in this world in the various ages of humanity, according as their natural minds have either been more or less in a state of correspondence with their rational minds, or in a state of non-correspondence.

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XIII.

SCIENCE IN THE MOST ANCIENT CHURCH.

THE Most Ancient people in the strict sense had no natural science. Spiritual and celestial things were then as much ultimated in natural things as they are now; they had an external man and a body, as we have; and likewise a natural memory and organs of sense, so that impressions from the natural world, through the senses, would pour into their natural memory.

But while their external man received sensuous impressions through their bodily senses, their internal man received spiritual or rather celestial truths from within, and these celestial truths formed a plane of perception in their interior rational mind, where we in this day have the celestial remains of good. These truths did not then constitute separate objects of thought, as they do now, but they entered into their minds at the same time with good from the LORD; so that these truths were the appearances which were assumed in their understanding, by the good with which the LORD blessed them from within. Truth in their minds, therefore, was multiplied by influx from the LORD through their will from within, while with us all increase of truth is from without through the understanding. Yet the increase of truth with them from within was not altogether independent of the increase of truth from without; for in order to receive influx of truth from within, they had first to be instructed in the general truths of doctrine from without; wherefore they received by instruction from without the generals of doctrine, while the particulars of doctrine were inseminated into these generals from within.

The plane of consciousness or perception with the men of the Most Ancient Church was in their interior rational mind (A. C. 1914);

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and from this interior plane they regarded the objects which entered into their memory by the senses from without.

That such was the state of the Most Ancient people in respect to their interior plane of consciousness or of perception is shown in what follows:

Their first parents who constituted the Most Ancient Church were celestial, so that in them celestial seeds were implanted, whence their posterity had seed in themselves from a celestial origin. Seed from a celestial origin is such that love rules the whole mind, and makes it one.... From love or from good they perceived whatever was of faith or of truth, consequently they had one mind.A. C. 310.

I was instructed by the sons of the Most Ancient Church respecting the state of their perception, namely, that they had a perception of all things which are of faith, almost like the angels with whom they had communication; for their interior man or their spirit, even by means of internal respiration, was conjoined with heaven; and love to the LORD and love toward the neighbor has this with itself, for thus man is conjoined with the angels, by their veriest life which consists in such love. They said that they had the Law inscribed upon themselves, because they were in love to the LORD and in love toward the neighbor; for whatever the laws dictate was then in conformity with their perception, but whatever the laws forbid was contrary to their perception.A. C. 1121.

As the Most Ancient Church was celestial, it was in the good of love to the LORD, and hence in the perception of all truth; for the men of that Church were almost like the angels. They also communicated with them hence their perception. On this account also they never reasoned about any truth of faith, but said that it was so, because they perceived it from heaven; and, indeed, to such a degree, that they were unwilling to pronounce faith, and said charity instead.A. C. 4448.

If man were without hereditary evil, he would then be born into Divine order itself, namely, into love to the LORD and into love to the neighbor, into which in that case everything of faith would be implanted. Just as animals which are born into their order are born into affections natural to them, and then everything belonging to their life is in these affections. But it is different with those born contrary to order.

The sons of the Most Ancient Church were born almost thus, namely, into the affections of good and the affections of truth; wherefore in the very affections with them there was everything of good and truth which the doctrine of faith teaches.

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Nevertheless, in the course of time by instruction, experience, inspiration, and revelation it was given them to know all things of faith, to which they immediately assented interiorly, so as to have a perception of these things because they agreed with their affection.Diarium Minus, 4635, 4636.

The Most Ancient Church had immediate revelation by consort with spirits and angels, and also by visions and dreams, from the LORD, by which it was given them in a general way to know what is good and true; and after they knew it in a general way, then these general principles, as it were confirmed by innumerable things through perceptions. These innumerable things were the particulars and least particulars of the generals to which they had reference. These general principles were, as it were, corroborated every day. Whatever did not agree with the generals they perceived not to be so, and whatever agreed, they perceived to be so. Such a state also is that of the celestial angels. The general principles of the Most Ancient Church were, as it were, heavenly and external truths; as for instance, that the LORD reigns the universe; that everything good and true is from Him; that all life is from the LORD; that a mans proprium is only evil, and that it is dead in itself, besides other similar things. The perception of the innumerable things which confirmed and agreed with them, they had from the LORD. Love with them was the principal thing of faith; by love it was given to them by the LORD to perceive everything of faith; thus faith with them was love.A. C. 59. See also A. C. 895.

Such was the condition in which the interior plane of perception, corresponding with heaven, was developed with the men of the Most Ancient Church. Yet this was not the only place of consciousness active in them; for as heaven always rests on the natural world, and the internal on the external man, so also their interior celestial or rational perception rested on the external sensuous perception of their natural mind in this world. But as their natural mind was in a, state of completest correspondence with their rational mind, both as to its intellectual and as to its will-part, therefore the light of heaven which caused the interior perception of their rational mind, streamed also into their natural mind and illuminated every impression which entered into their natural memory from the world without.

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In this manner the sight of their spirit was continued into the sight of their natural bodies and brought forth in it. This operation is described in what follows:

Whenever a man sees anything with his eyes, and as it were does not see the thing which he sees, but from them sees or thinks of those things which are of the church or of heaven, then his interior sight or that of his spirit or his soul is brought forth without. The eye itself is properly nothing else than the sight of the spirit itself brought forth without; and, indeed, chiefly for this and that a man from things external may sec internal things, that is, that from the objects in this world he may continually reflect on those objects which are in the other life; for it is for the sake of that life that he lives in this world. Such was the sight of the Most Ancient Church; such also is the sight of the LORD.--A. C. 1800.

He who looks at internal from external things, when he views the sky, does not think at all of the starry heaven, but of the angelic heaven and when he beholds the sun, he does not think of the sun, but of the LORD who is the Sun of heaven; so also when he beholds the moon, and the stars. Yea, when he beholds the immensity of heaven, he does not think of its immensity, but of the immense and infinite power of the LORD; so with the rest; for there is nothing which is not representative. In like manner he regards the things on earth; when he beholds the dawn of the day, he does not think of the day-dawn, but of the origin of all things from the LORD, and of the progression into the full day of wisdom. Again, when he sees gardens, orchards, and flower-beds, his eye does not dwell on any tree, its blossom, foliage, and fruit, but upon the heavenly things which they represent; nor upon any flower, its beauty and amenity, but upon those things which they represent in the other life; for there is nothing beautiful and delightful, either in the sky or on the earth, which is not representative of the kingdom of the LORD.A. C. 1807.

Thus when mans natural mind was in full correspondence with his rational mind, both in respect to the will and the understanding, his external bodily vision of the things of the natural universe was the genuine human vision, yea, it was mankind in the Golden Age, at the present day is utterly gone.

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Yet may we not indulge as a bright hope of the future, that in the Church of the New Jerusalem it will, in some measure be restored? Bearing on the question we quote the following:

The Most Ancient people who were celestial, were of such a nature that whatever they saw in the world and on earth, they saw indeed, but they thought of the heavenly and Divine things which these things signified or represented; their sight was only something instrumental, and hence their language was of a similar nature. Every one from his own experience may know how this was; for whoever pays attention to the meaning of the words of a speaker, hears, indeed, his words, but as it were he does not hear them, hut only grasps their meaning; and if any one thinks still more deeply, he does not pay attention to the meaning of the words, but to the more universal things of this meaning.A. C. 241.

The men of the Most Ancient Church, being angelic, internal men, were indeed sensible of the external things which were of the body and of the world, but they did not care for them. In the individual objects of the senses they perceived something Divine and heavenly, as for example: when they saw some high mountain, they did not perceive the idea of a mountain, but of height, and from height they perceived heaven and the LORD; whence it came to pass that the LORD was said to dwell in the highest, and was also called the Most High and the Most Exalted; and that afterward worship was held on high mountains; and so with the rest. When they perceived the morning, they did not perceive the morning of the day itself, but the celestial, which is like the morning and the day-dawn in the mind; hence the LORD was called the Morning, the East, and the Day-spring. It was similar with the tree, its fruit and leaves; for these they cared nothing, but in them they saw, as it were, man represented: in the fruit, love and wisdom, and in the leaves, faith; hence also the man of the Church was not only compared to a tree, as well as to a paradise, and the things with him to fruit and leaves, but he was also called so. Such are those who are in the heavenly and angelic idea.A. C. 920.

The Most Ancient Church which was celestial, regarded all terrestrial and worldly things, and also all bodily things which ever became an object of the senses, merely, as things dead; but because each and every thing in the natural world presents some idea of the LORDS kingdom, and thus of celestial and spiritual things; therefore when they saw, or apprehended them by any sense, they did not think of them, but of celestial and spiritual things; and, indeed, they did not think of them, but by them [as means].

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Thus dead things with them become alive.A. C. 1409.

The Most Ancient people, in each and every thing, as in mountains, in hills, in open fields, in valleys, in gardens, groves and forests, in rivers and waters, in tilled grounds and fields covered with grain, in trees of every kind, in animals of every kind, in the luminaries of heaven, saw something representative and significative of the LORDS kingdom; but they never dwelt with their eyes, and still less with their minds, on the objects, which wore with them the means of thinking of the celestial and spiritual things of the LORDS kingdom; and this to such a degree that there was nothing in universal nature but served them as such means.A. C. 2722.

The knowledge which the Most Ancient people had of the correspondences between natural and spiritual things came to them spontaneously by an influx from within; for they beheld natural things in the light of heaven, and the light of heaven, which is the light of truth, illuminates the objects of the senses not only externally, but also internally; that is, it imparts at the same time a knowledge of their interior spiritual meaning.

For we learn that

The man of the Most Ancient Church, if he had read the historical or prophetical Word, would, without any previous instruction, and without any explanation, have seen its internal meaning, and even to such an extent, that the celestial and spiritual things of the internal sense would have come up at once, and scarcely anything of the literal sense: the internal sense would thus have been in clearness, and the sense of the letter in obscurity. It would be like one who hears another speaking, lays to heart only his meaning, and does not attend to the words of the speaker.A. C. 4493.

The men of the Most Ancient Church perceived the spiritual meaning of the objects of nature, so long as their natural mind was in a state of correspondence, that is, so long as good from the interior rational or celestial mind could uninterruptedly flow into the affections and thereby into the thoughts of the exterior natural mind; and thus so long as that mind reflected, as in a mirror, the interior things of the celestial mind.

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The use of the exterior natural mind in this respect is described in what follows:

In the things of the senses which are of the exterior natural mind, a man sees interior things almost as he sees affections in the face, and still more inward affections in the eyes. Without such an interior surface, or without such a plane, a man in the body can by no means think of those things which are above the things of the senses; for he sees them there, as when a man, not attending to the face itself, sees affections and thoughts in anothers face, and also, as when he hears another speaking, not attending to his expressions but to the meaning of his speech, the language itself of words is the plane in which this meaning is. So also, unless the exterior natural degree served as a plane for interior things, in which these interior things might behold themselves as in a mirror, a man would not be able to think at all; wherefore this plane is first formed, even from infancy.A. C. 5165.

The only agency by which the natural mind can be kept in a state of correspondence is good in which is innocence (A. C. 5168), and thus good flowing from the love of the LORD, and from mutual love. And from this it follows that as soon as ever man would love the things of the natural world more than the things of heaven, or in proportion as he would dwell on the former things by preference in his thoughts, his natural mind would no longer be in a state of correspondence, and hence would more or less lose the power of perceiving spiritual in natural things. This is confirmed by what follows:

I have been informed by the Most Ancient people that the more they were in scientifics derived from such things as were objects of hearing and sight, in the same degree their perceptions were inferior; but the more they were raised from these to the heavenly things of charity and lore, the more interior their perceptions became, because they were then nearer to the LORD.--A. C. 2145.

It follows from this that the Most Ancient people declined in wisdom just in proportion as the loves of their natural minds domineered over those of their spiritual minds, and thus in proportion as their love of natural things increased, and their love of heavenly and spiritual things decreased.

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This decline is described in what follows:

The posterities of the Most Ancient people were not like their fathers. Upon beholding worldly and terrestrial things, they dwelt upon them in their minds, because they loved them; they also thought about them, and from them of heavenly and Divine things. Thus with them the sensual degree began to be the principal, and not the instrumental, as with their fathers. And when what is worldly and terrestrial becomes principal, then men reason from them about heavenly things, and blind themselves. Every one may know also from his own experience how this is: for if a man attends not to the meaning of the words of a speaker, but to the expressions themselves, then he grasps only little of the meaning, and still less of its universal bearing; sometimes also he judges by one expression, or by one grammatical form, of all those things which any one speaks.A. C. 241.

When the Most Ancient Church declined, as it did among its posterity, and when their perception, or their communication with heaven, began to perish, then they no longer perceived what was heavenly in the objects of the senses, as heretofore, but what was worldly; and the more so the less perception they had remaining with them. Finally in the last posterity, which was just before the flood, they did not apprehend anything else in the objects of the senses, but what was worldly, bodily and terrestrial. Thus heaven became separated from man and communicated with him only in a very remote manner. Communication was then established between man and hell, and thence arose the general idea. from which all particular ideas were derived. Whenever then any heavenly idea occurred, it became a nullity with them, so that at first they were unwilling to acknowledge that there is anything spiritual and celestial.A. C. 950.

As the men of the Most Ancient Church were of a celestial genius, the perversion of the affections of their natural mind was totally destructive of all spiritual life in that mind, as is shown in what follows:

The man of the Most Ancient Church was such that the will and the understanding with him constituted one mind, or, again, love with him was implanted in his will-part, and so at the same time faith, which filled the other or the intellectual part of his mind. Their posterity by their hereditary genius were so constituted that their will and their understanding formed a one; when, therefore, the love of self and insane lusts thence began to occupy their will-part, where formerly love to the LORD and charity toward the neighbor had resided, then not only the will-part or the will became entirely perverted;

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but also at the same time their intellectual part or their understanding, and this so much the more when the last posterity immersed truths in lusts, and thus became Nephilim. Hence they acquired such a nature that they could no longer be restored, because both parts of their mind, or their whole mind, was destroyed.--A. C.927. See also 580.

And, further:

Inasmuch as all this was foreseen by the LORD, therefore it was also provided that man should be built up again; and, indeed, that this should be done by making man capable of being reformed and regenerated as to the other or intellectual part of his mind, and of having a new will implanted in him which is conscience, by which the LORD might operate the good of love or charity, and the truth of filth. Thus man by the Divine Mercy of the LORD was again restored.A. C. 927.

XIV.

NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

THE first step in the restoration of mankind after the downfall of the Most Ancient Church, consisted in the separation of the perverted will from the understanding. This is described in a general way in what follows:

The Most Ancient Church from love knew everything of faith, or what is the same, from the will of good they had the understanding of truth. But their posterity, by hereditary disposition, had acquired such a nature that the lusts which were of the will ruled in them, and into these lusts they also immersed the doctrinals of faith; whence they became Nephilim. When, therefore, the LORD foresaw that man if he remained in this nature, would perish eternally, it was provided by Him that the things of the will should be separated from the things of the understanding, and that man should no longer be formed, as heretofore, by the will of good, but that by the understanding of truth he should be endowed with charity which appears as the will of good.A. C. 640.

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And inasmuch as the man and this Church must be reformed as to that part which is called the understanding before he can be reformed as to that other pare which is called the will, it will here be described in what manner the thing of the will were separated from those of the understanding, and, as it were, covered up and guarded, lest anything might touch them; for if anything of the will, that is, of lust, had been excited, man would have perished.A. C. 641.

The internal state of the man of the Most Ancient Church in respect to that of the man of the Ancient Church, after the flood, is described by the following representative:

It was shown me how it is in general with the things of mans will and with those of his intellect:

The Most Ancient people who constituted the LORDS celestial church, had a will-faculty in which there was good, and an intellectual faculty in which there was truth thence; these two with them made one. But with the Ancients who formed the LORDS spiritual Church the will-part was entirely destroyed, but their intellectual part was in a state of integrity; in this the LORD by regeneration formed a new will-principle, and by this also a new intellectual principle.A. C. 4328.

How the good of the celestial church was conditioned was shown to me by a column descending out of heaven. This column was of a blue color, and on its left side there was a shining appearance, shining like the flame of the sun. This represented its first state; the blue color representing the good of their will-faculty, and the shining and flaming appearance their intellectual principle. Afterward the blue color of the column passed over into an obscure flamy appearance, whereby was represented its second state, and likewise that the two lives, namely, that of the will and that of the understanding, still acted as one, but more obscurely as to good from the will; for blue signifies good, and the shining and flamy appearance truth from good.

Afterward this column became altogether black, and around the column there was a shining appearance, which was variegated by a certain brightness and presented colors. The states of the spiritual Church were represented thereby. The black column signified that their will-part was altogether destroyed, and was nothing but evil; the shining appearance variegated by a certain brightness, represented their intellectual part, in which there was a new will-principle from the LORD; for the intellectual principle in heaven is represented by a shining appearance.Diarium Minus, 4711-4713.

The practical means by which in the Ancient Church the LORD separated their will-part from their understanding, is described in what follows:

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As to the manner in which the will-part was separated from the understanding, it was perceived that there are spirits who have reference to general sensation (sensum communem), and whose position is under the occiput. There the wicked are entirely separated from those who are in the good of the will-principle; and after they are separated there is no influx from the will-part into the understanding; for then there is nothing excited there from the will-principle. The wicked belong to the province of the cerebellum, the others to the province of the cerebrum. The spirits of these two provinces are, in a miraculous manner, entirely separated from one another on account of the spiritual; when get they would otherwise make one; as in man also the cerebellum is separated from the cerebrum. But they nevertheless communicate in man, as well in a general way, as in the medulla oblongata, then also in the single fibres and nerves; so that there is not a single fibre which does not derive something from the cerebrum and from the cerebellum, thus from the voluntary principle and from the involuntary; and unless this was the case, man would perish in a moment. By the involuntary principle mans voluntary principle is governed in miraculous manner.Diarium Minus, 4714.

By preventing mans perverted will-part from being excited by the influx of evil spirits, an opportunity is offered for the influx of celestial innocence to penetrate from the internal into the external man, and for the LORD in this way to superintend the formation and development of mans understanding by external channels. As we have already seen in Section XII., the influx of heavenly love out of the internal into the external man causes there, first the affection of truth, and finally the affection of understanding by the influx of heavenly innocence also hereditary evil in the external man is kept more or less under restraint during the whole season of infancy to advanced youth. But when man, reaches his age of maturity, and when his understanding is supposed to be fully provided with truths from the Word of God and strengthened by them, then the hold on hereditary evil or on the perverted will-part is relaxed, and it is permitted to exert its influence on mans rational understanding and to infest and tempt the truths of which it is composed.

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Then also hereditary evil is allowed to flow in, and to arouse all the actual evil which man during his childhood and youth has inscribed on his book of life, that is, on his memory. The form in which mans hereditary evil, or his proprium appears, is the love of self and of the world. These loves by flowing into mans understanding produce falsities thence, by which they seek to impugn the truths of the Church in the interior rational degree of man, and these falsities they seek to confirm by the appearances and fallacies of the senses.

Such is the state of the spiritual man in the beginning of his regeneration, and the work of his regeneration consists in the implantation of the truths of the Word in the celestial good of infancy, in the rational or spiritual-natural degree of the external man, and in the subsequent new generation of the natural man, whereby this is reduced into a state of harmony end correspondence with the interior rational degree. The regeneration of the natural mind consists in the generation of a new interior natural or scientific degree in that mind; but the exterior natural or sensual degree is not regenerated at the present day, although it is reduced into a state of correspondence and harmony as far as its intellectual part is concerned. The regenerated spiritual man by the Divine Mercy of the LORD is kept above the exterior natural or sensual degree, and whenever the man lets himself down into that degree, he comes into a state of temptation. But in the case of the LORD, the regeneration, or rather the glorification of His Human was carried down into the very sensual and corporeal degrees of that Humanity.

In the spiritual man, is short, during regeneration, a plane of conscience is established in the inmost or rational degree of the external man, and by means of this conscience, which is organized of goods and truths, and constitutes his interior man, the LORD reforms and regenerates his natural man to the extent specified above.

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Such is the mental organization of the spiritual man as he was formed by the LORD in this world, after the downfall of the celestial or Most Ancient Church; and such was the character in general not only of the man of the Ancient, but also of the men of the Israelitish and Christian Churches; the difference between them consisting in this, that the members of the Ancient Church were spiritual in a higher or interior degree, and the members of the Israelitish and Christian Churches in a more external and lower degree.

From all this it appears that the state of the members of the Ancient Church as to their internals was completely changed from what it had been with the members of the Most Ancient Church; the external man of the Ancient Church as far as their will-faculty was concerned, being in a state of absolute non-correspondence; wherefore heaven or the spiritual world in their case was separated from their natural world, and thus spiritual from natural things. This is clearly stated in what follows:

The men of the Most Ancient Church inasmuch as in everything of nature they saw something spiritual and celestial, so that natural things served them merely as objects of thinking about spiritual and celestial things, therefore they could converse with the angels and be with them in the LORDS kingdom which is in the heavens, at the same time they were in His Kingdom on the earth or in the Church. With them natural and spiritual things were conjoined, and corresponded completely.

But it was different after these times, when evil and falsity began to reign, or when after the golden age the iron age began; then, because there was no longer correspondence, heaven was closed, so that they were scarcely willing to know the existence of spirit; yea, at last they were unwilling to know that there is a heaven and a hell, and a life after death.A. C. 2995.

But as the understanding in the Ancient Church was mercifully separated from their perverted will-faculty, a partial correspondence between the external and internal man could be established by means of the doctrinals of good and truth which by external channels were implanted in their understanding.

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Concerning these doctrinals we read:

By the LORDS Providence the doctrinals of faith with some revelations of the Most Ancient Church were preserved for the use of this posterity. These doctrinals were first collected by Cain, and laid up lest they should be lost; wherefore it is said that a sign was put on Cain, lest any one should kill him (Gen. iv. 15). Afterward they were reduced into doctrine by Enoch, of which doctrine, because it was of no use at that time, but was for posterity, it is said that GOD took it (Gen. v. 24). These doctrinals of faith were those which were preserved by the LORD for this posterity or Church.A. C. 609.

These doctrinals constituted the Word in the Ancient Church, as we learn from what follows:

The doctrinals which the man of the Ancient Church had, were from those things which had been preserved from the revelations sad perceptions of the Most Ancient Church. In these they had faith, as we have it at the present day in the Word. These doctrinals were their Word.A. C. 1068.

Concerning the Word in the Ancient Church we read further:

The Word of the Ancient Church arose from the representatives and significatives of the Most Ancient Church which were collected by those who are meant by Enoch. As the man of the Ancient Church was spiritual, and not celestial, he knew what representatives and significatives involved, but he did not perceive it; and because they involved Divine things, the men of that Church made use of them, and applied them in their Divine worship; and, indeed, for this purpose, that they might have communication with heaven; for, as said above, all things in the world represent and signify such things as are in heaven. They had also a written Word which consisted of historical and prophetical parts, like the Word of the Old Testament, but in the course of time this Word was lost.--A. C. 2897. Concerning the Word of the Ancient Church, see further T. C. R. 265, 266, 279; S. S. 102, 103; A. R. 11.

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The doctrinals of the Ancient Church were drawn by its members from their Word; and these doctrinals treated of love to God and charity toward the neighbor; but the scientifics or sciences of that Church treated of correspondences, and by their means they were instructed in the internal meaning of their Word, and of the rituals which they employed in worship by them also they were enabled to see spiritual things in the objects of nature. Yet all this knowledge they acquired a posteriori, by means of their bodily senses, and not a priori, by immediate revelation from the LORD from within, as had been the case in the Most Ancient Church.

The nature of the doctrinals and scientifics of the Ancient Church is explained more fully in what follows:

The doctrinals of the Ancient Church consisted only of significatives, and thus, as it were, of enigmatical things; for they taught the significations of the things on earth; for instance, of mountains, that they signify celestial things and the LORD; of morning and of the east, that they also signify celestial things and the LORD; of the trees of different kinds and their fruits, that they signify man and his celestial things, and so forth. Of such things their doctrinals consisted which were collected from the significatives of the Most Ancient Church. Their writings were therefore likewise of a similar kind.A. C. 950.

In this passage the term doctrinals includes also scientifics; in the following passages a. distinction is made between the two:

In the Ancient Church there were doctrinals and scientifics. The doctrinals treated of love to God and of charity toward the neighbor; but the scientifics treated of the correspondences of the natural world with the spiritual world, and of the representatives of spiritual and celestial things in thing natural and terrestrial. Such were the scientifics of those in the Ancient Church, ... and these scientifics were subservient to the doctrinals of the Church, and especially for understanding those things which were stated in their Word.--A. C. 4964.

The doctrinals of the Ancient Church were those of love and charity, which contained innumerable things that are at this day entirely obliterated.

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From these doctrinals they knew what charity they were to exercise, or their duty toward the neighbor, whom they called widows, fatherless, sojourners, and so forth.

Their knowledges of truth and their scientifics consisted in knowing and in being acquainted with what the rituals of their Church represented and signified; and the learned among them knew what the things in the earth and in the world represented; for they knew that universal nature is a theatre representative of the heavenly kingdom. Such things elevated their minds to heavenly things, while their doctrinals led them to life.--A. C. 4844.

Again we read:

The scientifics of the Ancient Church were the representative and significative things of their rituals; for all rituals of the Church were of such things. There were also scientifics at that time which subserved the doctrinals of charity which were among them. From these scientifics they knew what was meant by the poor, the needy, the miserable, the afflicted, the oppressed, the widows, orphans, sojourners, the bound in prison, the naked, the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, the halt, the blind, the deaf, the maimed, and several others, into which classes they distinguished the neighbor, and thus taught how charity was to be exercised. Of that nature were the scientifics se that time. Such scientifics flourished in Egypt.--A. C. 6004.

Such, then, were the doctrinals and scientifics in the Ancient Church. These were the external channels by which the intellectual faculty of the men of that Church was organized and developed, and by which their natural mind was reduced into a state of correspondence with their rational mind, at least so far as the understanding was concerned.

In order that they might constantly bear in mind the spiritual signification of natural objects, they carved and painted images of natural objects which in their eyes were significative and representative.

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These images were set up in their houses and in their places of worship, as we learn from the following passages:

Among the Ancients the science of correspondences, which is also that of representatives, was the science of the wise ones; it was especially cultivated by the Egyptians, whence arose their hieroglyphics. From that science they knew the signification of all kinds of animals, and also of all kinds of trees; they knew also the correspondence of mountains, hills, rivers, fountains; as also what the sun, moon, and stars signify. By this science they also and a knowledge of spiritual things, because the things which were represented, and which were things of spiritual wisdom among the angels, were origins (origines). As their whole worship was representative, consisting of were correspondences, therefore they worshiped on mountains and hills, and also in groves and gardens; for this reason fountains were holy with them; and in praying they turned their faces toward the rising sun. Moreover, they made images of horses, oxen, calves, lambs, yea, of birds, fishes, and serpents, and placed them in their houses, and elsewhere, in an order according to the spiritual things of the Church, with which they corresponded, or which they represented; they also placed similar things in their temples, that they might call into remembrance the holy things of worship which they signified.-- C. L. 342.

Such carved images Swedenborg saw in the other world on approaching a society of angels from the Ancient Church. His description is as follows:

We descended the hill to cross a valley; and there along the sides, here and there we saw pieces of wood and stone carved into the images of human being, and of various beasts, birds, and fishes. I asked the angel whether these were not idols. He said, by no means; they are representative figures of various moral virtues and spiritual truths. The peoples of that age had the science of correspondences; and because a man, a beast, a bird, and a fish correspond with some quality, therefore each graven image represents something of a virtue or a truth; and several together represent and signify a virtue or a truth in some general, extended form. They are such things as in Egypt were called hieroglyphics.-- Coronis, 44. See also C. L. 76.

The state of spiritual excellence of the members of the Ancient Church, and into which they came by means of their doctrinals and scientific, was described to Swedenborg by one of the angels of the Ancient Church in these words:

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The study of our age was the study of truths, by which we acquired intelligence. This study was the study of our soul and our mind; but the study of the senses of our bodies were the representations of truths in natural forms, and the science of correspondences conjoined the sensual things of our bodies with the perceptions of our minds, thus natural and corporeal were conjoined with spiritual and celestial things; it also was instrumental in procuring to us a communication with the angels of heaven.--Cor. 44.

The soul here means the love of their soul, and the mind the rational degree of their external man. This degree we learn they opened and cultivated by a study of truths. But truths here mean the doctrinals of their Church, which by a process of reflection, and at the same time by an application to life, they raised out of their external into their internal memory, or out of their natural into their spiritual man. There these truths were conjoined with the good of remains, which was stored up in their internal man, and by this conjunction the LORD formed conscience in them. By being raised out of the external into the internal memory, and by being conjoined there with good, the truths of doctrine with the men of the Ancient Church were raised out of natural into spiritual light, and were thus illustrated by the LORD; and between these doctrinal truths which shone in their minds in spiritual light, and the representations of these truths in natural things which entered into their external memory or into their natural man in the form of scientifics, a conjunction was established by the science of correspondences. The things of their spiritual mind thus mirrored or reflected themselves in the things of their natural mind; and in this wise a relation of correspondence was established between their spiritual and natural minds, by which they had communication with the angels of heaven.

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Such was the state of the men of the Ancient Church in the acme of their existence. They differed then from the men of the Most Ancient Church. For the minds of these were opened even to the celestial degree; while the minds of the men of the Ancient Church were opened only as far as the rational or internal natural degree of the external man. That such was the difference between the men of the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches, is also shown in the following passage:

The fathers of the Most Ancient Church, who had perception, thought from the interior rational degree; but the fathers of the Ancient Church who had not perception, but conscience, thought from the exterior or natural rational degree.A. C. 1014.

But conscience with the members of the Ancient Church was interior, and not exterior, as in the Christian Church, as we learn from what follows:

In the place of perception the men of the Ancient Church had some other dictate which may be called conscience; for it was similar to conscience, although it was an intermediate between perception and that conscience which is known to some at the present day.A. C. 608.

The difference between the interior conscience of the Ancient Church, and the exterior conscience in the Churches which succeeded that Church, is clearly pointed out in what follows:

There are in man two planes, on which are founded the celestial and spiritual things which come from the LORD. The one plane is interior, the other exterior. The planes themselves are nothing else than conscience. Without planes, that is, without conscience, it is impossible for anything celestial and spiritual from the LORD to be fixed, but it flows through as water through a sieve; wherefore those who are without such a plane, or without conscience, do not know what conscience is, yea, neither are they willing to believe the existence of anything spiritual or celestial.

The interior plane or interior conscience, in the genuine sense, is where good and truth dwell; for good and truth flowing in from the LORD constitute its active principle.

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But the exterior plane is the exterior conscience, and this is where, in the proper sense, there is what is just and what is equitable; for that which is just and equitable, moral and civil, and which likewise flows in, constitutes its active principle.... In the natural degree that is properly called just and equitable, which in the spiritual degree is called good and true....

By the interior plane, or by the conscience of spiritual good and truth, the LORD rules those who are regenerated; by the exterior plane, however, or by the conscience of what is just and equitable,--that is, by the conscience of moral and civil good and truth, the LORD rules those who are not yet regenerated, but who are capable of being regenerated, and who are also regenerated in the other life, if not in the life of the body....

The first plane, or the conscience of spiritual good and truth, is in mans rational degree; but the second, or the conscience of moral and civil good and truth, that is, of what is just and equitable, is in his natural degree.--A. C. 4167. See also A. C. 5145.

If now we ask the question: What was the character of the natural science which was generated in the minds of the members of the Ancient Church? we arrive at the conclusion, that in the strict sense of the word the Ancient Church, like the Most Ancient Church, had no natural science. They had a science, but that science was not natural science, because it did not examine the objects of nature in the light of nature, but only in the light of heaven, and thus in spiritual light; consequently science, in the Ancient Church, was spiritual, and not natural. The science which they cultivated was in fact the science of correspondences; which they denominated the Science of sciences, because it led them to a knowledge of the spiritual causes of all natural things. The science of correspondences was cultivated in the Most Ancient Church just as it was in the Ancient Church; but in the Most Ancient Church they were instructed in that science by an immediate influx from the LORD into their interiors; while in the Ancient Church they cultivated that science in the same way, as men nowadays study the natural sciences generally, that is, through the medium of their natural senses.

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The range of the science of correspondences in the Ancient Church was therefore limited to what they learned respecting it in the writings of their Church which were handed down to them from the Most Ancient Church, while in the Most Ancient Church the range of Correspondences was as unlimited as were the natural and spiritual universes. But as the science of correspondences is a heavenly science, in order to cultivate it successfully men must be in a heavenly state, that is, they must be in heavenly love and thus in heavenly light; wherefore, as we have seen, in proportion as the study of truths ceased to be the study of the souls and minds of the men of the Ancient Church, and in proportion as they became enamored with the things of nature for their own sake, and not because they were the representations of truths in natural forms; in the same proportion from the meridian state of their Church they sunk down into its evening and night, and lost the ability of understanding, and. thus of cultivating the science of correspondences. The decline of the Ancient Church is described in what follows:

The first Ancient Church which was spread far over the globe, and especially over Asia, became degenerated in the course of time, as is usual with all churches everywhere, and was adulterated by innovators both as to its external and as to its internal worship, and indeed in many places. This was principally because all signifcatives and representatives which the Ancient Church had from the mouth of the Most Ancient Church, and all of which had reference to the LORD and His kingdom were turned into idolatries, and among some nations into things magical.A. C. 1241.

In another place we read:

The Ancient Church had its last time, when all charity grew cold, and all faith was darkened. This was about the time of Eber; then also was the time of its Last Judgment.A. C. 1850.

And in what follows we learn how the significatives and representatives of the Ancient Church were turned into idolatry and magic:

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In the Ancient Church all spiritual things which were of heaven and the Church were prevented before them in visible and tangible forms, as has been mentioned above. These forms were taken from the three kingdoms of nature, the animal, vegetable, and mineral, and thereby such things were represented as belong to the kingdom of heaven. These typical or representative forms they placed in their sanctuaries, in the sanctums of their houses, in their market-places and streets, and arranged them there according to their significations. But in the succeeding age, after the science of correspondences was obliterated, and the knowledge of their signification lost, they began to look upon, and to acknowledge, these things as so many Divine and holy things; and then, before some of these objects, they bowed their knees, others they kissed with their lips; others again they ornamented and decorated with wreaths, caskets, and ribbons, as children dress their dolls, and papists their images; yea, of some they made household gods, of some tutelary demi-gods, and of some Pythons. Some also in miniature forms, they bore in their hands, others they hid in their bosoms; they stroked them, and whispered players to them, and so forth. In this manner they turned heavenly into infernal representatives, and the Divine things of heaven and the Church into idols.--Coronis, 43.

But as the LORD never permits a Church to fall into utter decay without providing at the same time for its restoration in another form among another people; so also upon the downfall of the Ancient or Noahtic Church, Be provided for the restoration of the Church first among the descendants of Eber, and afterward among those of Jacob.

XV.

NATURAL SCIENCE DURING THE PREVALENCE OF THE HEBREW AND ISRAELITISH CHURCHES.

THE LORDS Church, after having been internal, becomes successively more and more external, until it finally expires.A. C. 8405. So it is with the individual Church, and so with the Church universal.

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Hitherto this law has been universal in the development of the Churches, as we learn from the Writings.

The Churches which in course of time succeed one another, and of which one is said to be born of another, are like fruits, or their seeds; for in their middle or in their inmost parts there are as it were the fruits of fruits, or the seeds of seeds, and from these, as it were, in their order the succeeding parts live; for the remoter the parts are toward the circumference, the fewer are the essences of the fruit or of the seed, until at last they become were skills or coverings, in which the fruits or the seeds terminate.A. C. 501.

So it is with the various generations of one and the same Church; and so likewise it was with the various Churches which preceded the LORDS first coming into the world. We accordingly find that the Most Ancient Church was established in the interior rational degree of humanity; the Ancient Church in the exterior rational degree; and now we shall find that the Hebrew and Israelitish Churches which succeeded the Ancient Church, were established by the LORD respectively in the interior and exterior degrees of the natural mind, and thus bore a natural and sensual character. On this account also the Most Ancient Church was called the golden, the Ancient Church the silver, and the Hebrew and Israelitish Churches the brazen or copper age; for gold corresponds with celestial good, silver with spiritual good, and brass or copper with natural good.

According as the LORDS Church was established either in the interior or exterior rational degrees of humanity, or in its interior and exterior natural degrees, so also was the point of view from which the members of these Churches regarded the objects of the natural world, and of such a character therefore was the natural science elaborated in the minds of the members of each of these Churches.

This follows from the consideration that theological matters reside in human minds above all other things, and that what is highest, because it is also inmost, constitutes the essence of everything that follows;

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the essence like a soul forming all these things, as its body, into its likeness.--Brief Exposition, 40.

But that theological matters or the things of the Church reside in the mind above the things of science, is clearly set forth in the work on Conjugial Love, where we learn that

Those things which are of the Church and are called spiritual things reside in mans inmost parts; those which are of the state have a place below them; and those which belong to science, experience, and are, and are called natural things, constitute their final basis.--C L. 130.

Science, therefore, in the Most Ancient Church was celestial, in the Ancient Church spiritual, and during the prevalence of the Hebrew and Israelitish Churches, as we shall presently see, it became natural; for science always partakes of the character of the prevailing Church.

When the First Ancient Church became degenerated, and, as we have seen, was adulterated by innovators both as to its external and internal worship, then it was provided by the LORD that another Church should be raised up. This was the Hebrew, or Second Ancient Church. The rise of this Church is described as follows:

Lest the universal Church might go to ruin, it was permitted by the LORD that a significative and representative worship should somewhere be restored. This was done by Eber. This worship consisted chiefly of external things. The externals of worship were high places, groves, statues, anointing, and, besides, priestly offices and the things of the priestly offices; likewise several other things which were called statutes. The internals of worship were doctrinals from the antediluvian period, especially from those who were called Enoch, who collected the thing obtained by perception in the Most Ancient Church, and framed doctrinals thence. This was their Word. Of both these consisted the worship of that Church which was instituted by Eber, but with additions and alterations. They began especially to prefer to any other rituals sacrifices, which were unknown in the true Ancient Church, and existed only among some of the posterity of Ham and Canaan who were idolaters, to whom they were permitted to prevent their sacrificing their sons and daughters.A. C. 1241.

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The extent of this Church was very great, so that, as we learn in the course of time it spread far around, and, indeed, through many countries, and especially through Canaan.--A. C. 1235.

Respecting the internal or spiritual character of the Hebrew Church, we learn that the internal of that Church was not conjoined with its representatives in the same degree in which it had been with the representatives of the Ancient Church (A. C. 4874); and, further, that the internal worship of that Church was nothing else than a sort of scientific, thus a certain kind of love which may be called the love of truth; for when that Church began, there was scarcely tiny charity remaining, nor consequently any faith which is of charity alone.A. C. 1337.

From this, however, it follows that the mind of humanity, during the prevalence of the Hebrew Church, was open as far as the interior or intermediate degree of the external man; the internal natural or rational degree of the external man having been closed, for in the intermediate natural degree are contained scientifics, and this same degree also is animated by the love or affection of truth.

Concerning the decline of the Hebrew Church, and the establishment of the Israelitish Church among the descendants of Jacob, we read as follows:

The Hebrew Church also had its last time or its Last Judgment, when it became idolatrous; wherefore a new Church was raised up, and this among the posterity of Jacob. This was called the Jewish Church, but it was no other than a Church representative of charity and faith. In that Church, or among the posterity of Jacob, there was no charity and faith, and therefore no Church, but only the representative of a Church; and inasmuch as there could be no immediate communication of the LORDS kingdom in the heavens with any true Church on earth, therefore a mediate communication was established by representatives.A. C. 1850.

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Again we read:

The Hebrew Church succeeded the Ancient Church, and was still less celestial and spiritual, since it placed a sort of holy worship in external rites; this Church in the course of time became deformed in a variety of ways, and its external worship was changed into idolatry; and then was its consummation. The fourth Church was then established, among the posterity of Jacob. That Church had nothing celestial and spiritual, but only its representative; wherefore that Church was a Church representative of celestial and spiritual things, for they did not know what the rites represented and signified. This Church was instituted that there might still be some collection between man and heaven, such as there is between the representatives of good and truth, and between good and truth themselves.A. C. 2243.

The difference between the representative Church, such as were the First and Second Ancient Churches, and the mere representative of a Church, which existed among the sons of Jacob, is described in what follows:

A representative Church is, when there is internal worship in the external; but the representative of a Church is, when there is no internal worship, yet nevertheless external.

The external rituals are almost alike in both cases. Thus there are similar statutes, laws, and precepts. But in a representative Church the external corresponds with the internal, so as to make one; whereas in the representative of a Church there is no correspondence, because externals are either without internals, or at variance with them.

In a representative Church celestial and spiritual love is principal; whereas in the representative of a Church corporeal and worldly love is principal. Celestial and spiritual love is the very internal itself, but where there is no celestial and spiritual love, but only corporeal and worldly love, the external is without an internal.

The Ancient Church which was after the flood was a representative Church; but that which was established among the posterity of Jacob was merely the representative of a Church.--A. C. 4288.

From this it follows that the Jews, among whom the Church was restored upon its downfall among the Hebrews, were a merely worldly and corporeal people; and that the representative of a church which was established among them, was an external without an internal.

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And from this it follows again, that in the Jewish nation the interior natural degree which had been open in the Hebrew Church was closed, and that they sank down into the exterior natural or sensual degree, where the representative of a Church was established among them.

As far as the Jews themselves are concerned, their merely external worship was not productive of salvation to themselves, although it was instrumental in keeping up a connection between mankind and heaven, as is further stated in what follows:

Those who were of the representative Church communicated with the three heavens as to their interiors, to which they served in the piece of an external plane; but those who were in the representative of a Church, did not communicate with the heavens as to their interiors, but still their exteriors, in which they were kept, could serve as a plane; and, indeed, miraculously by the Providence of the LORD, in order that there might be some communication by a certain image of the Church between heaven and man; for without a communication of heaven with man by something of the Church the human race would perish.A. C. 4288.

And further we learn that

In respect to the Jewish nation there was nothing internal in the external; but that in respect to the statutes and laws, independent of the nation, there was.--A. C. 4509.

Such is the history of the Church after the downfall of the Ancient Church; but this view does not embrace the history of humanity outside the narrow precinct of the external Church as it existed among the Hebrews and Israelites. The rest of humanity, indeed, shared the fate of the Hebrew and Israelitish Churches in this respect, that the spiritual or exterior rational degree of their minds, represented by Israel, was closed, and that the interior and exterior degrees of their natural minds remained open: but otherwise, particularly in the cultivation of natural science, they followed a different course, especially in Egypt.

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The state of Egypt and the Egyptians upon the downfall of the Ancient Church is described in what follows:

Egypt was among those kingdoms where the representative Ancient Church existed. But in Egypt the scientifics of that Church were chiefly cultivated, which treated of correspondences, representatives, and significatives; and by which those things were explained which were written in the books of the Church, and which were applied in their holy worship. Thence it was that Egypt, and also its King Pharaoh signified in general, scientifics.

The chief men among them who sere skilled in these scientifics and taught them, were called magi and wise men. Those who were skilled in mystic scientifics, and taught them, were called magi, and those who were skilled in the non-mystic scientifics, and taught them, were called wise men. The magi, therefore, cultivated the interior scientifics, and the wise men the exterior scientifics. Hence it is that they signify such things in the Word. But after they began to abuse the interior scientifics of the Church, and to turn them into magic, then Egypt also began to signify that scientific principle which perverts; the magi of Egypt and its wise men then also had a similar signification.

The magi of that time knew those things which are of the spiritual world. They learned them from the correspondences and representatives of the Church, wherefore many of them also communicated with spirits, and from them learned those illusory arts whereby they wrought magical miracles. But those who were called wise men did not care for such things, but they solved enigmas, and taught the causes of natural things. Therein consisted chiefly the wisdom of that time; and the ability to do such things was called wisdom.

Hence it is evident what was called wisdom at that time, and who were called wise men, not only in Egypt, but also elsewhere, as in Syria, Arabia, and Babylon.--A. C. 5223.

This is an interesting and important passage on account of the light which it throws on the generation of modern natural science. Hitherto, that is, during the prevalence of the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches, independent of the Church, there was no science; for all natural things were looked upon as correspondences and representatives of spiritual things; wherefore in those times they studied spiritual in natural things.

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In the Hebrew and Jewish Churches also there was no science independent of the Church; for their scientifics were those of the Church, and treated of the proper observance of representative rites, and their whole minds were absorbed in matters connected with their external worship. They practiced the arts of every-day life; but we have no evidence that the sons of Jacob ever cultivated natural science in the sense in which this was done in Egypt.

But in Egypt there were those who cultivated the interior or mystic scientifics, that is, correspondences and representatives, and who by means of these communicated with spirits, and learned from them those illusory arts whereby they wrought magical miracles. Correspondences and representatives were, however, scientifics of the Church, and these scientifics the Egyptian magi perverted.

Yet in addition to the magi, there were in Egypt also wise men who cultivated the non-mystical or external scientifics. These wise men solved enigmas, and thus cultivated the art of interpreting dreams and the like, and they also taught the causes of natural things. These studies were called non-mystical and exterior scientifics, because they treated of natural objects in the light of nature only, independent of the Church.

In Egypt, therefore, and probably also in Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Chaldea, where the Ancient Church had prevailed, there arose secular natural science and philosophy, which seek to elicit the causes of natural things without the application of correspondences, and thus without assistance from the Church; and, from these countries, spread science and philosophy to the Indo-European or Aryan nations which began to pour into Europe. This may appear from what follows:

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In reference to the Ancients who knew that there must be The Divine, and that this Divine must be worshiped, and also that man, as to his soul, is immortal, ... it must be observed that they did not know these things from the light of their nature, but from revelation, which flowed from the Church down to them; for the LORDS Church from the most ancient times was in the land of Canaan; and hence the things relating to Divine worship were diffused from them to the nations round about, and likewise to the neighboring Greeks; and from these to the Italians or Romans; hence, these nations had a knowledge of the Supreme Deity, and of the immortality of the soul, on which subject their learned men have written.A. C. 5944.

Elsewhere in the Writings it is distinctly stated that the ancient sophi, and Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and others who wrote concerning God and the immortality of the soul, did not acquire this knowledge first from their own thought, but from others, who derived this knowledge from those who knew it from the Word. (See Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures, 115.) Besides, history records that the leaders and founders of the Greek philosophy, Thales, Pherecydes, and Pythagroras, derived their philosophy from the Egyptians either at first hand, by traveling and sojourning in Egypt, and becoming initiated there into the mysteries of their wisdom and science,* or by serving an apprenticeship with such as had been there.

* Concerning Thales, who was born about 640 before Christ, his biographers distinctly state that in advanced life he is said to have undertaken several journeys to Egypt; to have computed there the height of the pyramids, and to have enjoyed the instruction of the priests of that country.

Concerning Pherecydes, the teacher of Pythagoras, says Suidas that he collected the poems of Orpheus, and that on the basis of Orphian ideas he philosophized in a mythical manner. Of Orpheus, however, says Eusebius, on the authority of Artapanus, that he was a disciple of Moses.

Of Pythagoras, says Diogenes Lartius that he came from Samos to Lesbos, where he was recommended by his uncle to Pherecydes. He also prepared three goblets of silver, which he took along as presents for each of the Egyptian priests.... Being still young, and filled with a desire for learning, he undertook journeys abroad, and was initiated into all the Greek and Oriental mysteries. In this manner he came to Egypt, where Polyerates recommended him to Amasis. According to Antiphon he also acquired their language. He even journeyed to the Chaldeans and Magi.

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Thales was a contemporary with the Jewish Kings Josiah and Jehoiakim, and with the prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah; and during Iris time Judah was carried off captive. Pherecycles and Iris disciple Pythagoras flourished during the Jewish captivity.

Thales was succeeded by Anaximander; he by Anaximenes; and this philosopher by Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras, however, was the teacher of Socrates, Socrates of Plato, and Plato, of Aristole. Plato, on the other hand, was largely influenced by the doctrines of Pythagoras,* so that in him both streams of Greek philosophy met, which is their turn had been drawn from Egyptian sources. For, according to Diogenes Lartius, Philosophy had two beginnings, one from Anaximander, who was a disciple of Thales, and the other from Pythagoras, who was a disciple of Pherecydes; wherefore the former philosophy was called the Ionian, because Thales was an Ionian, and the latter the Italian, because Pythagoras spent most of his time in Italy.

* Concerning Plato, says Dionysius Lartius that he paid one hundred min for three works on Pythagoras doctrine which had been published by the Pythagorean Philolas.

Thus the Grecian Philosophy took its rise on the decline of the Jewish Church, and when that Church reached its lowest ebb, and before the Incarnation of the LORD, this Philosophy was transferred from the Semitic race, to which the Jews and Hebrews belonged, to the Aryan or Indo-European race; and in this race the Christian Church which succeeded the Jewish was in time established.

The Semitic and Aryan races differ remarkably in genius. Concerning the Semitic nation among which the Ancient Church existed, we learn that the only doctrinals which they knew, taught them such things as related to charity and the neighbor,... which doctrinals are at present entirely obliterated, and, indeed, to such a degree, that it is not known that they ever existed.

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This genius, namely, that of performing works of charity, they also transmitted to the Hebrew and Jewish people, by whom they were succeeded, wherefore we read concerning them:

After the science of correspondences and representatives was turned into magic, the Ancient Church perished, and a third Church arose, in which indeed all worship was performed by thing almost the same, but still it was unknown what they signified. This Church was instituted among the Israelitish and Jewish nation. But as information about heavenly things, or about those which concern eternal life, could not be conveyed to them by influx into their interiors, and thus by illustration, therefore angels out of heaven spoke viva voce with some of them, and instructed them about external, and little about internal things, because they could not comprehend internal things. Those who were in natural good received these things in a holy manner; wherefore also these times were called brazen; for brass signifies such good.A. C. 10,355.

The Jews could therefore come into a state of natural good, and thus into a kind of good similar to that in which the Hebrew Church was before them; wherefore also the Jewish Church seems to include here the Hebrew, and both together are said to constitute the brazen age, during which natural good prevailed among mankind.

From this, however, it follows that the Hebrews and Jews, like the Semitic peoples in general, were of a relatively celestial genius, while the Aryan rice, in which, after the LORDS glorification, the Church was to be restored, bore an altogether spiritual character. Concerning the LORDS Church among the Aryan nations we read as follows:

In the place of the doctrinals of the Ancient Church which taught such things as related to charity and the neighbor, succeeded the doctrinals of faith, which, if they be widowed and separated from the doctrinals of charity; teach almost nothing; for the doctrinals of charity teach what good is, and the doctrinals of faith what truth is, and to teach truth without good is to walk as one who is blind, because good teaches and leads, and truth is taught and led. Between these two doctrinals the difference is as great as between light and darkness; unless the darkness be illustrated by light, that is, unless truth be illustrated by good, or faith by charity, there is nothing but darkness.

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Hence it is that no one [nowadays] knows from intuition, consequently neither from perception, whether truth be truth; but only from doctrine imbibed in childhood and confirmed in adult age; hence also it is that the churches [at the present day] so much disagree; and that one calls that true which another calls false, and that they in no wise accord with one another.--A. C. 4844.

Here is described the difference between the Church in the brazen or copper age and the Church in the iron ages, and there is foreshadowed the downfall of the Church in the age of iron. But before the Church could be restored among the Aryan nations, it was necessary that the Aryan mind should be prepared for its reception; and this preparation was made by the cultivation of Philosophy and the natural sciences. Meanwhile, Philosophy and Science had been divorced from the Church and from revelation, and in this way had become completely secularized. This process of the secularization of science took place among the Greeks, and was continued among the Romans.

At first philosophy was born among the Greeks from the remnants of revealed truth which its sophi had derived from the Egyptians and Chaldeans; and, in the end, philosophy gave birth to secularized natural science in the writings of Aristotle and his disciples. Concerning the science of Aristotle which has been continued and developed more and more to the present time, and concerning the difference between it and the science of the Ancients, we read as follows:

It is to be observed that the scientifics of the Ancients were altogether different from those at the present day. The scientifics of the Ancients treated of the correspondences of things in the natural world with things in the spiritual world. The scientifics which at this day are called philosophical, such as are those of Aristotle and the like, were unknown to them; this is also evident from the books of the Ancients, many of which are written by such things as signify and represent interior things, and correspond with them. This may be proved by the few things that follow, without mentioning others:

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Helicon they established on a mountain, by which they understood heaven. Parnassus they placed on a hill beneath, and by it they understood science. The flying horse which they called Pegasus, they declared broke open with his hoof a fountain there. The sciences they called virgins, and so forth. For they knew from correspondences and representatives that a mountain signifies heaven; a hill that heaven which is beneath, or with man; a horse the intellectual faculty, the wings with which the horse flew, spiritual things, and his hoof the natural mind; a fountain intelligence, and the three virgins who were called charites the affections of good; and those virgins which were called the virgins of Helicon and of Parnassus, the affections of truth. In like manner they assigned to the sun horses, whose food they called ambrosia, and their drink nectar; for they knew that the sun signified celestial love, horses the intellectual things thence, food celestial things, and drink, spiritual.

From the Ancients also the custom still remains that kings, at their coronation, should sit upon a silver throne, should wear a robe of royal purple, should be anointed with oil, should bear on their heads a crown and in their hands a sceptre, a sword, and keys, should ride in state on a white horse, under whose feet should be hoofs of silver; and that they should be waited on at table by the most honorable personages of the kingdom, besides other ceremonies. For they knew that a king represented the Divine Truth from the Divine Good, and hence they knew the signification of a silver throne, a robe of royal purple, anointing oil, a crown, a sceptre, a sword, keys, a white horse, hoofs of silver, and what is meant by being waited upon by the most honorable personages.

Who at this day knows these things; and where are the scientifics which teach them? Such thing ale called emblematical, from a total ignorance of everything relating to correspondence and representation.

Hence appears the quality of the scientifics of the Ancients, and that these things led them to a knowledge of things spiritual and celestial; the very existence of which is scarcely known at the present day.

The scientifics which took the place of the above, and which are properly called philosophical, rather withdraw the mind from the knowledge of such things, because they may also be applied to the confirmation of falsities; they likewise lead the mind into darkness when truths are confirmed thereby; since most of these philosophical things are bare expressions, whence result confirmations which are understood by only a few, and concerning which even these few dispute. Hence it appears how far humanity has receded from the learning of the Ancients, by which they were led to wisdom.

Those Gentiles [viz. the Greeks and Romans] derived these scientifics from the Ancient Church, whose external worship consisted of representatives and significatives, and their internal worship of the things represented and signified.A. C. 4966.

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The categories of the natural science of Aristotle were the results of his philosophy; wherefore it may be maintained that his philosophy was continued into his natural science. This imparted to his science a. quasi synthetical character. And as the philosophy of Aristotle was lineally descended from the learning and wisdom of the ancient Egyptians, though divested of all mythical, that is, correspondential additions; and as the Egyptians had derived all their knowledge from the doctrines and scientifics which had been handed down by the Most Ancient to the Ancient Church, we are justified in assuming that all philosophy and science, previous to the LORDS incarnation, originated in revealed truth.

But inasmuch as Grecian philosophy and science had been divorced from the Church, and thus from heavenly things, only the sensual and scientific degrees of the human mind which are within the natural world, could by these means be opened and developed; and, indeed, only so far as knowledge derived exclusively from the natural world is able to open and develop them. The Greeks, indeed, had a religion in addition to their philosophy and science; but it was polytheistic and idolatrous; they also had precepts of lift which were embodied in their laws. But so far as their religious ideas and practices were concerned, they appealed entirely to the sensual degree of their souls. Indeed, the same was also true of those ideas and practices which prevailed at that time in the LORDS Church, namely, among the Jews.

Nevertheless, the ancient sophi of Greece had a knowledge or a presentiment of a higher degree or region in the human soul which lay above the common sphere of consciousness of men in this world, even as we read:

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The ancient sophi among the Gentiles knew a light which was above the light which prevails in the sensual and interior or middle of the natural; and they said, as may be seen from their writings, that if the lower mind (animus) were led away from the things of the senses, it would come into superior light and beatitude.S. D. 4627.

XVI.

THE INCARNATION AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

BY means of the Jewish Church, as we have seen, there was a miraculous influx into the sensual degree of humanity; and in this way heaven was conjoined with mankind. This, indeed, was the provisional use of the Jewish Church. But by the downfall of that Church this ultimate basis of influx was gradually dying out, the conjunction of heaven with mankind was on the verge of dissolution, and the human race was rushing headlong toward the brink of extinction and annihilation.

When mankind had sunk to the lowest state of this degradation, then the LORD Himself interposed and brought salvation to mankind.

From the internal history of mankind as sketched in the preceding sections of our dissertation, we find that from the beginning the LORD prepared is the minds of men two receptacles of the life which poured forth from Himself with the fire of love He flowed into their will, and with the light of wisdom into their understanding. Yet is order to receive the life of the Divine Love and of the Divine Wisdom the receptacles of this life in the minds of men had to be in a state of correspondence. They were in that condition in the most ancient times; wherefore the LORD was then the life and light of men. The LORDS life was then received in the will of men, and from their will it flowed into their understanding, where it put on the quality of light.

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On the downfall of the Most Ancient Church the receptive forms in the will and understanding of men were entirely perverted, and therefore the LORDS love was then turned into hatred, and His wisdom into insanity. This resulted in the flood, which was a, deluge of evils and falsities.

The LORD then instituted a new Church, the Ancient Church, among the descendants of Noah. He separated their will-faculty from their understanding, and provided that the men of that Church should be regenerated by means of truth received by external channels in their understanding. Hence the origin of the written Word of God.

Among the men of the Most Ancient Church the Word of God was written in their hearts, for, both their will and their understanding being in a state of correspondence, they were able to receive the life and light of the LORD in their purity. With the men of the Ancient Church their will and understanding were in a state of non-correspondence, wherefore they could not be instructed by the influx of the LORDS life and light into the interiors of their minds; but by the implantation in their minds, by external channels, of the written Word which consists of mere correspondences, an element of correspondence was introduced into their understanding. Into the truths which they drew out of the written Word, the LORD could flow in mediately through heaven, and thereby effect their regeneration.

In the Ancient Church they were acquainted with the doctrines of the internal sense of the Word, and by means of the science of correspondences which flourished among them, they could see the spiritual sense of the Word in its letter. The truths of the written Word could thus be raised with them into the external rational or spiritual degree of their minds, which corresponded with the second or spiritual heaven;

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and these truths were raised into that degree with all those who applied these truths to their life, and who were led thereby to the good of charity.

On the downfall of the Ancient Church the knowledge of correspondences was lost, and with it the knowledge of the internal sense of the Word, wherefore the understanding of the Word among the members of the Second Ancient or Hebrew Church which the LORD raised up in place of the First Ancient Church, did not rise above that of the interior natural or interior historical sense of the Word; and even of that they had only a most vague and general idea. In that Church, therefore, by means of the truths of the written Word a basis of correspondence was prepared in the interior natural or scientific degree of their minds; and in that degree the LORD was mediately present by the angels of heaven, leading those who obeyed His truth to natural good.

In the Jewish Church, finally, a basis of correspondence was established in the exterior natural or sensual degree of their minds, the perverted interiors of their natural mind being miraculously closed up, so that they could be kept in a holy state as to their exteriors. The basis of correspondence in their external sensual mind was prepared by the reading of the letter of the Old Testament, and by the external observance of those statutes and judgments is the Books of Moses, which they were commanded to observe. But even this basis of correspondence was destroyed, when they adulterated by the traditions of the elders the statutes and judgments contained in the Old Testament, and when they fell into idolatry, and desecrated their worship in the temple of God.

In this wise the saving and regenerating power of the written Word was so thoroughly impaired among men, that it could no longer afford a plane of correspondence in their understanding.

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It was then that the LORD assumed the human in this world, and Himself established anew the power of written Word among men. He first received the written Word in the sensual degree of His humanity, whence the written Word in the sensual degree of His humanity, whence He raised it into the interior regions of that humanity.

After fulfilling the Word as to every jot and tittle in the superior regions of His internal man, and acquiring for it omnipotent power by conjoining it there with the Divine Good of the Father, He regenerated by means of it His external or natural man; first its interior degrees, and afterward the external sensual or corporeal degree. By doing so He fulfilled the Word or the Law also in the various degrees of His external man, and thus acquired omnipotent power vindicating the power of the written Word or of the Law in all the degrees of His humanity, the LORD, also established its power in all the corresponding degrees of the spiritual world, and hence of mankind in general. By thus fulfilling the written Word, and glorifying it in Himself, the LORD can now be present in man with the full power of His Divine Truth; and by His presence in man not only in good, but also in truth, He enables man, if he so chooses, to ascend again to the same degree of spiritual excellence from which he has fallen.

That the object of the incarnation was to acquire omnipotent power for the Divine Truth in the written Word in order that thereby He might be present among men and save them, is clearly stated in what follows:

As the LORD operates all things from first through last, and in last things is in His power and in His fullness, therefore it pleased the LORD to assume the Human, and to become the Divine Truth, that is, the Word; and thus, from Himself, to reduce into order all things of heaven and hell, that is, to perform a Last Judgment.

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This the LORD could accomplish from the Divine is Himself which was in first principles, by His Human, which was in ultimates, and not from His presence or His dwelling-place in the men of the Church, as formerly; for these had altogether fallen away from the truths and goods of the Word, in which the LORDS dwelling-place with men had been formerly. This was the primary cause of the LORDS advent into the world, and also why He made His Human Divine; for thereby He put Himself into the power of keeping forever in order all things of heaven, and all things of hell.A. E. 1087.

The progression of Divine Truth among men, that it first descends from inmost to last things, and that, since the incarnation, it ascends again from last to interior things, is taught in what follows:

On our earth have been several Churches, one after the other. There was the Most Ancient which was before the flood, the Ancient which was after the flood; then the Hebrew, afterward the Israelitish; after this there was the Christian, and now begins the New Church.

Inmost Divine truths were revealed to those who were of the Most Ancient Church; exterior Divine truths to those of the Ancient Church; but extreme or outermost Divine truths to the Hebrew, and finally to the Israelitish Church. With that Church, finally, all Divine Truth perished; for at last nothing remained in the Word that was not adulterated. But at the and of the Jewish Church, interior Divine truths were revealed by the LORD for the Christian Church; and now still more interior truths are revealed for the Church which is about to come. These interior truths are those which are contained in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word.

It appears hence that the progression of Divine Truth was from things inmost to ultimates; and thus from wisdom to were ignorance; and that now a progression takes place from ultimates to interior things, and thus from ignorance again toward wisdom.A. E. 948.

Here we learn that the LORD at the end of the Jewish Church revealed interior truths for the Christian Church. These interior truths are contained in the four gospels of the New Testament, and they appealed to a higher faculty of the human mind than the external ritualistic observances, and the Mosaic statutes and judgments. Concerning the institution of the Christian Church, and its relation to the Churches which preceded it, we obtain the following additional particulars:

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When not even natural good was left with the man of the Church, the LORD came into the world, and reduced into order all things in heaven and in hell, so that man might receive influx from the LORD out of heaven, and might be illustrated, that the hells might not be able to prevent it, and to inject dense darkness. Then began the Fourth Church which is called the Christian. In this Church information is given about heavenly things or those things which concern eternal life, exclusively by the Word. Man has influx and illustration by the Word; for this was written by mere correspondences and were representatives which signify heavenly things. Into these things the angels of heaven come, when the man of the Church reads the Word. By means of the Word there is thus a conjunction effected between heaven and the Church, or between the angels of heaven and the men of the Church, but only with those in the Church who are in the good of love and of charity.

But as the man of this Church has also extinguished that good [namely natural good], therefore neither can he be instructed by any influx and by illustration thence, only respecting some truths, which, however, do not cohere with good. On this account these times are called iron; for iron is truth in the ultimate of order. But when truth is of that description [namely, that it does not cohere with good], then it is such as it is described in Daniel ii. 43: And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of man: but they shall not cohere one with the other, even as iron is not mingled with clay)A C. 10,355.

Again we read, in connection with the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel ii.:

And as the fourth state was truth of faith, it is said that the legs of the statue were of iron; and as the last state was truth, which is called truth of faith, without good, it is said that the feet of the statue were partly iron and partly clay.A. C. 10,030.

From these passages it appears that in the first state of the Christian Church the truth of faith was conjoined with the good of life, and that then its state is represented by iron; but that in its second state the truth which was said to be of faith was without good, and that then its state was represented by iron mixed with clay.

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That the Christian Church was at first in the good of faith, but subsequently declined into faith LORD, appears also from the following passages: Then the LORD carne into the world, and by uniting the Divine Essence with the Human in Himself, conjoined heaven and earth, and at the same time instituted a new Church, which is called the Christian Church. This Church was at first in the good of faith, and its members lived with one another in charity, like brothers. But in the course of time it went astray in various ways, and at the present day it has become such, that its members scarcely know that the fundamental principle of faith is love to the LORD and charity toward the neighbor.A. C. 2243.

In the Primitive Church, after the LORDS advent, all the members of the Church lived among one another as brothers; they also called each other brothers, and mutually loved each other; but in the process of time charity decreased, and vanished away. And as charity vanished away evils succeeded, and with evils also falsities insinuated themselves, whence arose schisms and heresies.A. C. 1834.

If now we compare the character of the First Christian Church with that of the preceding Churches, it appears at first sight as if it stood lower is the scale of spiritual development, because the spiritual quality of the Hebrew and Israelitish churches is represented by brass, and that of the Christian Church by iron. Besides, in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar the belly and thighs were of brass, and the legs of iron; thus showing that the iron age occupied spiritually a lower position than the brazen age.

There is no doubt that the Churches before the LORDS coming cultivated the doctrinals of charity more than those of faith (see A. C. 4844); that, therefore, they laid more stress on the celestial than on the spiritual principle of the Church; on which account also the externals of worship were made very prominent among them.

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Still the specific character of the spiritual Church, namely, that it is to be led to good by truth, was much more clearly brought out in the Christian Church after the LORDS coming; on which account also the state of the Churches before the LORDS coming is compared to the evening, and that of the Church after the LORDS coming to the morning, as appears from what follows:

By reason, also, of the LORDS becoming the Word in ultimates, the state of the Church was entirely changed. All the Churches which were before His Advent, were representative Churches, which could not see Divine Truth but as it were in the shade; but after the Advent of the LORD into the world, a Church was instituted by Him, which saw Divine Truth in the light. The difference between the Churches is as between evening and morning. The state of the Church, previous to the LORDS Coming, is also called evening; and the state of the Church after His Coming is called morning. The LORD, previous to His Coming into the world, was indeed present with the men of the Church, but mediately through heaven; but since His Advent in the world, He is immediately present with the men of the Church. For in the world He put on also the Divine Natural, in which He is present with men. The glorification of the LORD is the glorification of His Human, which He put on in the world; and the Human of the LORD glorified, is the Divine Natural.S. S. 99. See also T. C. R. 109.

From this it follows that after the LORDS coming the Divine Truth shone into the minds of men with a tenfold lustre, and hence also with a tenfold power. This necessarily had its effect also on the natural science which was cultivated in the Christian Church.

As to the specific difference between the Christian and the Jewish Churches we read as follows:

The Christian Church is one with the Church which was instituted among the Jews; but it is internal, whereas the latter was external; so that when the Church which was instituted among the Jews is divested of its externals, and laid bare, the Christian Church appears.--A. C. 4772.

The Christian Church, then, is internal, compared with the Jewish Church, which was external. The question now arises: To what extent was the Christian Church an internal Church?

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In the First Christian Church they did not know the doctrines of the spiritual sense of the Sacred Scripture, neither did they know correspondences; wherefore their minds could not be opened so as to receive the spiritual intelligence of the angels of the second heaven.

The first Christian Church, therefore, was an internal natural Church, and its members while in this world, by applying to their lives the truths of their Church, were able to arrive at the good of faith which prevails in the first or natural heaven. To that degree also, and no farther, could they prosecute the study of the natural sciences.

But in the course of time, and indeed, as early as the fourth century after Christ, the Christian Church declined into evils and falsities, so that ever since the Nicene Council it has not been in truths, as is proved by the following passage:

The Church has not hitherto been in truths. No one is in truths, unless he goes to the LORD immediately, and rejects the former faith, and embraces the new. Hence it is that no one has been in spiritual temptations since the ages counting from that age, when the Nicene Council introduced the faith of three gods; for if any one had been admitted into temptations he would have succumbed at once, and plunged himself more deeply into hell.--T. C. R. 597.

But in the year 1757, as we are taught, the First Christian Church was consummated, and a great Judgment was held over it in the World of Spirits. Then also the LORD effected His Second Coming, and revealed to mankind the doctrines of the interior sense of the Sacred Scripture, and discovered to them anew the science of correspondences. This He did in the Writings of the New Church, which He promulgated through the instrumentality of Emanuel Swedenborg. This constitutes the revelation of the still more interior truth for the Church of the New Jerusalem, which is about to come; which is adverted to above in A. E. 948.

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As the Church of the New Jerusalem is a Church in the ascending line, even as the first Christian Church was a Church in the ascending line, counting from the Jewish or Israelitish Church, therefore a special preparation for each of these Churches had to be made in the mind of humanity. This preparation in either case was by the cultivation of natural science and philosophy. In the case of the First Christian Church this preparation was: merle in Greece, where philosophy and natural science were cultivated by the ancient sophi and their disciples.

Under the influence of these disciplines men were taught to think in a rational manner, and by exercising their thought on natural and secular objects, their minds were prepared to grasp rationally the transcendental objects of religion and the Church. Yet philosophy and science alone enable no one to receive the interior truths of religion, wherefore also the Lent, employed untutored and unskilled fishermen of Galilee to act as apostles in the establishment of the First Christian Church. Still the interior truths of that Church which are contained in the New Testament, were communicated is the language of Greece; and that language was mainly spoken by those communities where the doctrines of Christianity were first preached; though before long it soon spread also in those communities where the Latin language was spoken.

These two languages, however, the Latin and Greek, were the languages of science and philosophy at that time, and where these languages were spoken, science and philosophy were cultivated more or less. In Greece and Rome also, for many centuries, free governments had been instituted, and they had enjoyed the blessings of free thought and free speech; and this, in a great measure, had prepared the communities of Greece and Italy for tin independent reception of the doctrines of Christianity.

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The flower of the Christian Church falls entirely into that period when it existed in communities of the Greek and Latin tongue. When the doctrines of Christianity were preached to nations of Celtic and Germanic origin, and when they took firm hold in Gaul, Britain, and Germany, they had already lost their pristine purity, and the iron was already beginning to be mixed with clay; for the Nicene Council, where the doctrine of three gods was introduced, had then already been held.

Natural science and philosophy are like a two-edged sword; they serve the cause of religion and the Church; and, on the other hand, again they furnish the means by which the Church and religion are destroyed. Neoplatonism and gnosticism were among the causes that led to the Council of Nice.

The doctrines of the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture could not he revealed to mankind at the LORDS First Coming, this revelation being reserved for the LORDS Second Coming. One of the reasons given is the Writings for this fact is the following:

The Christians in the Primitive Church were extremely simple, so that the spiritual sense could not be disclosed to them; and if disclosed, it would not have been of any use to them, nor would they bare understood it.--S. S. 24.

This shows that education at that time was not yet generally diffused, and that philosophy and science in order to prepare mankind for the reception of the doctrines of the internal sense of Scripture, required to pass through an additional stage of their development. At the time of the LORDS First Coming both: science and philosophy partook yet too much of a synthetic character, and the subjective ideas of the philosophers were yet too much wised up with the science and philosophy generated from their minds;

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and it was only when the subjective character of individual men was removed out of the sciences, and philosophy; and when analysis took the place of synthesis, that humanity was prepared for the reception of the interior spiritual truths of the Sacred Scripture.

And yet synthesis had to precede in order that analysis might have its birth; for unless a philosopher in childhood and early youth collects a large amount of information synthetically as it were, and without questioning its truth, he can never become a useful, analytic philosopher. In order to make inductions of causes, there is required the knowledge of a vast number of facts or effects. Philosophy and natural science, therefore, had to pass through a synthetic stage, before they could enter upon their analytic stage; and yet analysis alone, and not synthesis, opens the way from the lower to the interior or higher regions of the human mind. Science and philosophy, therefore, had first to descend out of heaven to man--though they did so in a fragmentary and incomplete form--before man by their aid could again climb from the earth toward heaven. Wherefore mankind was prepared to receive the interior spiritual doctrines of the Church of the New Jerusalem, only after men had begun to study the sciences and philosophy analytically.

To be concluded in our next Number.

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NOTES.

Total Abstinence.

TOTAL Abstinence and the substitution of unfermented grape juice for pure wine at the Holy Supper have lately formed the subject of several communications in the Intellectual Repository; but strange to say neither the revelations of Divine Truth in the letter of the Word nor in the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem have with the defenders of total abstinence been at all consulted, at least we find no reference either to the letter of the Word or to the Writings in the two articles on abstinence in the January number of the Repository. The inquiry seems to be prosecuted altogether from an external point of view, and by reasonings from external appearances. The rational and spiritual method is, first to inquire what the LORD has taught us in His revelations, and afterward to confirm this by experience and reasonings from sensual, scientific, and philosophic things, (A. C. 4741, 7012.)

There is with many members of the LORDS New Church a tendency to look for direction in the natural affairs of life to the effete church and to be guided by its dicta. The fact that every other religious body is taking up the movement of total abstinence ought not to a New Churchman to be prima facie evidence, but rather the reverse, that the movement is from the LORD and that it is heavenly; for we are taught in the Writings that the LORD has left the old church and passed over to the New (T. C. R. 761), and we read that the old church has immersed itself in falsities so great, that no truth is left remaining, Invit. To the New Church, 40. We are told in the Writings that: It was of the Divine Providence of the LORD that the Catholics in the Holy Supper receive the bread which is the Flesh, and not the Wine, which is the Blood, when yet it is the Blood which vivifies the Flesh as the Wine the Bread A. C. 10,040. A similar ultimation seems to be taking place among the Protestants at this day, in the attempt that is made to substitute unfermented grape-juice for wine; thus throwing out the correspondent of Divine Truth (T. C. R. 711) and substituting the correspondent of natural truth (A. C. 5580) or of love to the world (T. C. R. 404). But that the New Church with its knowledge of correspondence should take part in this desecration seems almost incredible.

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Even in the old Church it is difficult to explain how they fell into the error of condemning the use of mine, when it is so often mentioned in the letter of the Word as one of the blessings of the LORD. We see it thus mentioned in many passages (Deut. vii. 13; xi. 14; xii. 17; xiv. 23; Jer. xxxi. 12; Hos. ii. 8, 9, 22; Joel ii. 19, 24); so we see that Canaan is described as a land of corn and wine (Deut. xxxiii. 28); and the Word speaks of wine which cheereth God and man, Judges ix. 13.

The term used in these passages is [Hebrew] teerosh, which is frequently translated new wine to distinguish it from [Hebrew] yahyin, the old wine. Yet it is generally conceded by scholars that the new wine as well as the wine signifies fermented wine, as it is known that in those warm countries fermentation sets is in a very short time after the grape-juice is pressed out. Even in this country fermentation begins in six hours. So we find that Gesenius in his Hebrew lexicon derives teerosh from [Hebrew] yahrash because it takes hold of the brain, causing drunkenness (see Gesen. under teerosh). In this derivation Gesenius is followed by Frst and others. That teerosh is fermented wine may also be seen from the letter of the Word (Judges ix 13; Zech. ix. 17; Hos. iv. 11). See also Smiths Dictionary of the Bible in explanation of the latter passage.

The [Hebrew] yahyin or old wine we find used in the Word in a similar manner. Passing by Noah, as he is not a historic personage, we find that Melchizedek, King of Salem, Priest of the Most High God, brought forth bread and wine to refresh Abraham and his men. It is also said of Judah, who represents the Celestial Church and the LORD as to the Divine Celestial (A. C. 6363) He washed his garments in mine ... His eyes shall be red with mine, Gen. xlix. 11, 13. So also drink-offerings of wine were commanded to be offered to the LORD (Ex. xxix. 40; Numb. xv. 5, 7, 10; xxviii. 14; Deut. xxxii. 35); and it is described as mine that maketh glad the heart of man (Ps. civ. 75). So also the Church is exhorted: Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. The curse of the vastated church on the other hand is expressed in the words: They shall not drink mine with a song, Is. xxiv. 9; There is a crying for mine in the streets, Is. xxiv. 11. Where is corn and wine? Lam. ii. l2. They shall not offer mine to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing to Him, Hos. ix. 4. Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but Se shall not drink wine of them, Am. v. 11. See Zeph. i. 13. Thou shalt tread sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine, Mic. vi. 15. While on the other hand of the redeemed of the LORD it is said: I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel ... and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof, Amos ix. 14.

The Church of the LORD is described in many places as a vineyard and also as a vineyard with a wine-press in it (Is. v.; Matt. xxi. 23), from which we see that the acknowledged use of the vineyard was the production of wine, as appears also in the beautiful passage in Isaiah:

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In that day sing ye unto her: A vineyard of red wine. I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.Is. xxvii. 2.

That wine like the Divine Truth with which it corresponds is liable to be abused in a vastated church appears from the passages where the fallen church is spoken of and its perverted truth is compared with wine, and they that drink of it with drunkards. That drunkenness is a great vice, and one which like other vices ought to be checked by legal punishments, all sensible men will acknowledge. Such laws are easily enacted and are also sustained by an enlightened public opinion wherever temperance movements take the place of total abstinence movements, and where use and abuse are not confounded.

The old church defenders of total abstinence generally quote with great unction the saying of Solomon: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Prov. xx. 1. Who hath wo? who has sorrow? who has contentions? ... They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wines. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Prov. xxiii. 29, 30, 31, 32. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgments of any of the afflicted, Prov. xxxi. 4, 5. Judging from such passages the defender of total abstinence would point to Solomon as his advocate; and we might expect from these sayings that Solomon would have opposed the production of wins and with a strong hand put an end to it. Quite to the contrary, however, the production of wine must have been enormous during his reign; for besides the fact that it was in common use in Canaan itself, we find that Solomon during every year thee king Hiram helped him in building the temple grave to him 20,000 baths of wine, that is more than 800,000 gallons, or according to other calculations more than 1,600,000 gallons of wine a year. Solomon was evidently not opposed to the use but only to the abuse of mine. Therefore we also read: Drink thy wine with a merry heart, Eccl. ix. 7. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more, Prov. xxxi. 6, 7.

We find therefore that the Old Testament teaches, that wine is a blessing of the LORD which, like other blessings, may indeed be abused, but which belong pre-eminently to the Church of the LORD. Indeed from history we see that wherever the climate permitted, the country where the Church flourished was essentially a land of corn and of wine.

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But since every other religious body is taking up the movement of total abstinence we might suppose that the LORD had in the New Testament annulled the teachings of the Old, But examination will show the contrary. The issue was indeed at that time clearly made: John came neither eating bread, nor drinking wine, the very ideal of our teetotalers. Now how did the LORD act in this matter? We read: The son of Man came eating and drinking: and ye say an eater and a wine-drinker [scanner unable to insert words], Luke vii. 33, 34. And so no doubt the Pharisees of the present day would judge of the LORD should He come again drinking wine. In fact their condemnation of the use of wine and of wine-drinkers contains in it, whether they see it or not, an irreverent not to say impious condemnation of the conduct of their LORD and Master. If he indeed came to set us an example of a Divine life, can the opponents of the use of wine not see that if the LORD is right, they must be wrong? This condemnation of wine is in striking contrast to the command of the LORD, who at the last supper with His disciples gave them the cup saying: Drink ye all of it, and thus instituted the Holy Supper, the holiest act of worship. That the wine at the Paschal Supper of the LORD was fermented wine is not called in question by any one familiar with Jewish customs, and with the fact that the Passover took place some seven months after the vintage. But some may say: Grant that fermented wine ought to be used at the Holy Supper, is it not dangerous and wrong to use it for other purposes? The answer of the Word to this question is plainly in the negative: The LORD and His disciples not only drank wine at the marriage of Cana, but He even changed water into wine that they might have it in greater abundance.

So we see that the Word in the letter gives a plain and emphatic rebuke to those that condemn wine-drinking and wine-drinkers. But the LORD at His Second Coming comes with new truths never before revealed, and by the internal sense now opened to us throws light over the letter. To the heavenly doctrines therefore the devout man of the New Church looks for guidance and instruction in everything. Now what do the Writings teach on this subject? In referring to them, we shall end that they treat but little directly of such external subjects, but still there is in them a sufficiency of indirect teaching for our guidance. First the internal quality of everything is laid open to us by correspondence and is connected with its spiritual cause in heaven or in hell, and we can thence determine whether anything is a good or an evil use, is heavenly or infernal, D. L. W. 336. Now the, correspondence of wine is one of the very highest. It is given as faith, A. C. 1070; as spiritual good, A. C. 2187, 2343, 3513, 3506; as love to the neighbor, A. C. 3316; as truth from good, A. C. 3570, and in the supreme sense, as Divine Truth out of the Divine Good of the LORD, A. C. 6377.

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Thus we see that wine has a very high and heavenly correspondence, and as the spiritual correspondent is conjoined with that with which it corresponds (A. C. 7850), wine necessarily must in its proper place perform a high use.

In consequence we also see mine used in heaven. In a description of a banquet at a royal court in heaven we read:

On the table there was a golden pyramid; ... and through the middle of the pyramid there issued as it were a bubbling fountain of nectarous wine, the stream of which failing from the summit of the pyramid separated into different channels and filled the cups.--C. L. 14, T. C. R. 742.

So likewise at a marriage ceremony in the same society, each guest received a loaf and a cup of wine, and they ate and drank (C. L. 20, of Roman Catholics converted to the true faith in the other world, we read: they are invited to banquets, and generous wine is given them to drink from crystalline goblets. T. C. R. 820. Also that: In heaven there are feasts and banquets, T. C. R. 735, C. L. 6. So also a vinous odor is perceived in heaven from those who are in friendship, A. C. 1517, S. D. 1047. The delight of love in the Christian heavens when perceived as odor is sometimes fragrant as in gardens and vineyards;... elsewhere as in wine-presses and wine-cellars, T. C. R. 831.

The best and purest gifts of God are compared with wine, and this is very instructive, because the comparisons in the Writings are generally if not always in accordance with correspondences. Thus we read:

Genuine representative worship is like as when man perceives the odor of the grape and the taste of wine, and enjoys both of them in their sweetness, Coronis 51.

Conjugial love also is compared with wine (C. L. 475). This correspondence is farther given in the Song of Solomon (i. 2, 4; ii. 4; iv. 10; v. 1; vii. 9). This book according to the Writings is written in accordance with correspondence. The internal of the Word is also compared to noble wine.--T. C. R. 215.

But some champions of total abstinence may claim, that the wine here meant is unfermented grape-juice, but a critical examination of the passages adduced will not be found to support this view. But this is further seen from correspondence, for new wine (mustum) signifies natural truth, and mine the spiritual truth, A. C. 5380. So we see that wherever spiritual truth is signified, old fermented wine is meant. But that both new wine and wine are fermented, may also appear from the fact that when Swedenborg means the unfermented wine he speaks of it particularly as the must of unfermented wine (mustum vini infermentati).-- T. C. R. 404.

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That any New Churchman should in the face of all this teaching both in the letter of the Word and in the heavenly doctrines, put wine in the category of evil uses, comparing it with poisonous plants and reptiles (Intell. Repos. P. 84) must appear very extraordinary, and can be explained only from the tendency in the New Church mentioned above, of looking to the dead church for light, instead of resting on the LORD alone in the revelation of His truth.

This mistake would not be so important if it referred only to a matter of diet, but when this false doctrine is applied to a holy sacrament, it becomes dangerous and deadly. When the endeavor is made to set aside the ultimate provided by the LORD to effect His conjunction with the church, and to substitute another, we cannot but deplore the infatuation. It shows a distrust in the wisdom of God in instituting the Holy Supper, and is an arrogant claim that human prudence is more clear-sighted than Divine Omniscience. Wine as we have seen is the correspondent of Divine Truth, new wine of natural truth, but unfermented must of wine is even compared with love of the world, which tastes sweet but infests the stomach. (T. C. R. 404.) Surely those who would thus destroy the ultimate representation of Divine Truth in the Holy Supper cannot see that by this Holy Sacrament which they would thus desecrate the conjunction of heaven with the Church is effected. For we read:

The correspondences by which the Word is written as to the whole and as to every particular, possess such power and virtue, that it may be called the power and virtue of the Divine Omnipotence; for through them the natural acts conjointly with the spiritual, and the spiritual with the natural; thus all of heaven with all of the world; thence it is that the two Sacraments are correspondences of spiritual with natural things; thence is their virtue and power.Invit. To the N. W. 46.

External things have life in them only in so far as the things of the world conjoin themselves adequately and correspondingly with the things of heaven. (A. C. 3485.) If therefore the correspondence is destroyed, the influx of life ceases; thus if there is no correspondence there is disjunction. (A. C. 8610.) Correspondences have all power, even so that what is done on earth according to correspondences, avails in heaven; for correspondences are from the Divine. (A. C. 5615.) Thus it may be seen how presumptuous and sacrilegious it is to substitute for correspondences, which are from the Divine, any contrivance of human prudence; and that to substitute anything else for those correspondences which are from the Divine, produces disjunction instead of conjunction. It may thence be seen how mistaken is the view of those who think that the service may be at least as devout and as efficacious with unfermented is with fermented wine. (Intell. Repos. p. 84.) If this reasoning were once admitted, there is no reason why we might not substitute, as has been done by teetotalers in Pennsylvania, milk instead of wine at the communion.

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The agitation of this question may prove useful in the end if it will have the effect of causing a deeper and more rational investigation of this question in the light of revelation; thereby increasing our respect and reverence for those symbols which it has pleased the LORD to create and choose as the perfect correspondences of His choicest blessings. Then only shall we be able to understand and love the Divine words:

I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing.

Authority.

THE New Jerusalem Magazine for January favors its readers with an extended monograph on Authority. We have read the paper with care, thinking we might receive from it some light on the views of the Magazine touching the authority of the Heavenly Doctrines unfolded to us in the Writings of Swedenborg. We confess to a certain disappointment in the result.

The article before us begins with a series of negations, of which the following are examples:

Authority is not in man; because man changes.... Ho is once a man, and twice a child.

As there are none that do the absolute good, so there are none that speak the infallible truth.

There is no authority in things, whether natural or artificial. For these also change. Ask a piece of carbon of its character, and it must confess itself to be tasteless, hard, and black. Again the carbon stands up as a tree, ... or flits as a bird in the air.

All forms of matter are unstable.... The fickle mobile Proteus of the physical world ... only mocks us when we ask it for authority, etc.

Authority is not in words; for these also change.... Like all common carriers, they care not what damages they do, either to consignees or consignors. They accept goods only at the risk of the sender, and the receiver must do the best we can with the ever-damaged packages.... Words have no rights of their own which any race is ever bound to respect.

Authority is not in the separate atomic meanings of words; for the meanings change.

The truth which Swedenborg demonstrated, it would have been impossible for him to conceal. All he was impelled to tell, future knowledge may yet establish. Authority is not in creeds, nor in doctrines howsoever drawn.

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So for these negations: but what can be the logical conclusions,what the pith of the whole matter, if it be not, that whatever is changeable is without authority? Men, things and their forms, words and their atomic meanings, are changeable; therefore they have no authority.

Again, dues it not inevitably follow, that all creeds, and all doctrines or other enunciations of truth, when expressed in words, are without authority? And inasmuch as the doctrines of the New Church are expressed in words, they also are without authority. Is this then the formidable conclusion to which we are here led?

The Magazine makes its own position secure, in appearance, by acknowledging that there is authority in Divine Truth; and when known to be such, all must yield, to it plenary allegiance.

But how can we know of a certainty whether in any given case there be Divine Truth or not? The only vehicle by which the LORD has vouchsafed to transmit His truth to us is human language; and this is made up of words; and in words, according to the Magazine, there is no authority. And indeed if we understand it, the Magazine assumes that the Divine Truths contained in the Writings of the New Church have been consigned to words which are common carriers, who care not what damages they do to consignees or consignors. Who accept goods only at the risk of the sender, and the receiver must do the best he can with the ever-damaged packages.

But who is the sender of these ever-damaged packages of Divine Truth? And who are the receivers of the same? And where, according to this view, is the River of the water of life clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb signifying the Apocalypse now opened and explained as to its spiritual sense, where Divine Truths in abundance are revealed by the LORD for those who will be in His New Church?--A. R. 932.

Indeed, according to this view of the case the New Church itself is without authority either in the Writings of Swedenborg or in the Word. And the annunciation of the Second Coming of the LORD and the establishment of the New Church must be regarded as an idle tale unauthenticated either in heaven or on earth.

But we are by no means prepared to accept these disparaging views of human language. For all the changes in language which the vicissitudes of time and the wants of men have wrought are comparatively as insignificant as the spots upon the sun. If in the literal sense of the Word the Divine Truth is in its fullness, in its holiness and in its power, in what other form than human language is it therein presented? We know of no other. Then the most stupendous event in history since the Incarnation, is the Second Coming of the LORD and the establishment of the New Church. This Coming of the LORD was in the Word, unfolding from the literal sense the spiritual sense, and this crown of all the Churches could be established only by revealing the Divine truths of the Word in its Writings.

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Could the Divine Wisdom have entrusted things so divinely sacred to a casket so frail and unreliable as language is represented to be by the Magazine.

The paramount importance of language, and the words of language, of writing and of printing, of books and of these ultimate forms as the ever-enduring basis of the Word, Swedenborg declares, when showing why the LORD was incarnated on this earth and not elsewhere. He says:

There are many reasons why it pleased the LORD to be born and to assume the human on our earth, and not on another; of these reasons I was informed from heaven. The principal reason was because of the Word, that this might be written on our earth; and when written be afterwards published throughout the whole earth; and when once published be preserved to all posterity; and that thus it might be made manifest even to all in the other life, that God was made man.--A. C. 9360, 9351, E. U. 113.

In order therefore that those even in the other life might be taught one of the most stupendous truths ever revealed to finite beings, it was necessary that the Word should be written in Human Language.

Wherefore it pleased the LORD to be born here, and to make this manifest by the Word [that God was made Man] that it might be made known not only in this globe, but that also it might be made manifest thereby, to all in the universe, who come into heaven from any earth whatsoever.--A. C. 9365.

Having once listened to the angels conversing upon subjects full of mysteries, Swedenborg says:

After which it was given me to understand that I could not describe those mysteries by any spiritual or celestial expression, but nevertheless they might be described, even to a natural capacity, by words of natural language, and it was told me that there are no Divine Arcana existing which why not be perceived and even expressed naturally, although in a general and imperfect manner.--De Verbo.

Besides, it is known that the Word of the Old Testament has been preserved to every jot and tittle for thousands of years in the Hebrew language. And as if it required the Divine sanction, the Word says:--The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. And Simon Peter said: Thou hast the words of eternal life.--John vi. 63, 68.

Another statement already quoted requites a further notice:

The truth which Swedenborg demonstrated, it would have been impossible for him to conceal. All he was impelled to tell, future knowledge may yet establish.

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Authority is not in creeds, nor in doctrines howsoever drawn; but in the truth contained in the doctrines.

But can the Magazine tell us what the doctrines would be, with the truth left out? And suppose Swedenborg could not conceal what be demonstrated (rather a facetious truism), what then comes of it? And what does this mean? All he was impelled to tell, future knowledge may yet establish. Does not this imply that it may never be thus established? Do we then owe it no allegiance until it is thus established by future knowledge? Again the Magazine says:

There is authority for us in the Writings of Swedenborg so far as the truth taught therein is known to us. The same may be said of the doctrine of any pope, or of the truth of the Gospel itself. But the people who know nothing of the Gospel cannot be bound by it.

Granted that those who know not the Gospel are not bound by it; how does this apply to Christians, who know the Gospel and acknowledge an allegiance to it? Are they at liberty to set aside as of no authority whatever they do not comprehend?

Again, on p. 438, we read:

The Saviour certainly had authority. He spake as never man spake. He taught as one having authority; but only for one reason. He spake truth. It was not tree because he spoke it; but he spoke it because it was true.

But is it not self-evident that the LORD being Divine Truth Itself, could not by any possibility speak anything that is not true? What greater guaranty can the wisest angels have that a thing is true than that it was spoken by the LORD? But on this point again happily, we are not left in doubt. The Writings are clear and explicit. We read as follows:

But he who thinks in this manner does not consider that JEHOVAH the LORD, Who is God of heaven and earth, spake the Word through Moses and the Prophets, that it must therefore be the Divine Truth itself; for that which JEHOVAH Himself speaks can be nothing else. Nor does he consider that the LORD the Saviour, who is the same as JEHOVAH, spake the Word in the Evangelists, many things from His own mouth, and the rest from the Breath of His Mouth, which is the Holy Spirit, through His twelve Apostles.--T. C. R. 100.

To say therefore that what the LORD spoke was not true because He spoke it, but that He spoke it because it was true, while in point-blank conflict with the Heavenly Doctrines, is also much the same as saying: The light of the sun is not sun light because it emanates from the sun, but it emanates from the sun because it is sun light?

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The Memorable Relations.

THE variations in Swedenborgs Memorabilia are carefully collected and commented upon in the Magazine for January. The instances in which the relations are repeated are compared and the differences noted. The study of the variations indicated is suggestive and curious withal. But the inferences drawn by the Magazine, and especially the place indicated as the true place of the relations, presents a view which in our opinion is not only of questionable utility and soundness, but is also decidedly erroneous and mischievous.

The Magazine in a most summary manner disposes of this subject precisely as though there could be no alternative; and as though it were a foregone conclusion that there is a radical difference between the Relations and the Doctrinal parts of the Writings. The Magazine says:

Of course, it is understood that the relations differ radically from the doctrinal portions of Swedenborgs works. The latter admit of comparison with the Word, in reading which he had received from the LORD the doctrines contained therein.

But the relations are of a different character, confirmatory and illustrative of the doctrines, but not themselves derived, like the doctrines, from the Word directly. On the other hand, they are simply statements of occurrences in the spiritual world, and Swedenborg says, at the close of one, that a spirit told him these things (T. C. R. 380). Again he says: I assert in truth that they (the relations) were not invented, but wore? truly seen and heard; not seen and heard in any state of the sleeping mind, but in a stale of full wakefulness.T. C. R. 851.

Contrast this with the statement made in T. C. R. 779: I have not received anything which pertains to the doctrines of the Church from any angel, but from the LORD alone, while I have reed the Word.

Again of the Memorabilia the Magazine says:

Thus there is no mistake, except as regards the agreement between the relations, a lack of agreement affecting nothing except the point of fallibility in the witness, and affecting this in a way which seems very useful as a warning to those who need it if such there be.

Of the Doctrinal part of the Writings the Magazine says:

As the LORDS servant in the other and higher part of his work, the promulgation as doctrines, of the truths of the New Era, he wrought in the same spirit, and from time to time, as he was prepared and directed, published the parts of a System of Bible interpretation, and of spiritual truth which has no fault, but is the river clear as crystal.Magazine, pp. 447, 445, 453.

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The variations in the Memorabilia are classified under six heads; in four of the classes the variations are only changes of phraseology, and amount to nothing. But in two of the classes there are, according to the Magazine, actual changes of meaning amounting to more than simply changes of phraseology.

But even with these there is in fact no difficulty, as we shall presently show. Much less do they form any basis, in the criticisms of the Magazine article, for the sweeping deductions of that paper; namely that the fallibility of the witness is established; and that there is a distinction in the Writings in respect to their infallibility between the doctrinal portions, which are pronounced without fault, and the relations which required alteration and amendment from time to time in the later works. Indeed, in respect to this very portion, is it not remarkable that the variations in the statements of doctrines are far more numerous and striking than the variations in the relations of things seen and heard?

And whether in respect to the relations, or the doctrinal portions of the Writings, we are at a loss to see upon what grounds the Magazine claims that the differences enumerated show that Swedenborg revised sad corrected even at the cost of being regarded as a fallible man. Often throughout the Writings Swedenborg employed such similar words as love and will, affection, and love interchangeably, and yet the Magazine seems to think that the substitution in a later work of will for love or of love for affection, indicates revision and improvement. Without doubt there is a difference between love and will, and between affection and love. Love may apply to the fountain and affection to a stream thence, as in the cases given in the Apocalypse Explained, and yet in other cases the two words may be employed with the same meaning. Let the reader but consult the variety of uses given to such words as interior, exterior, spiritual, natural, etc., and he will soon see how hasty is the conclusion drawn in the Magazine.

If it is asked why did Swedenborg make any changes in his Memorabilia, we may answer for the same reason that the doctrinal statements are so often varied when reiterated. And may not the reason be that by presenting truths in a different light they may be made more instructive and delightful? If in the reiteration of a relation, new facts or doctrines should be substituted, and especially if this should be shown to be the usual method of Swedenborg, then the case would be different. But in no instance quoted was this done. So that the expression in the Magazine, that single words were changed whenever better came into use, loses its force, especially as no new words had come into use.

Take, for example, the following, which is from the list in the Magazine. In the Conjugial Love, it is written that the Sacred Scripture proceeded immediately from the LORD (C. L. 115).

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In the relation as altered in the True Christian Religion, 624, it is written, was dictated by the LORD. And this is termed an improvement, a revision. But in A. C. 7055, it is recorded that the prophets wrote as the spirit from the Divine dictated. Now, since the Arcana antedates the Conjugial Love by at least a dozen years, why did Swedenborg omit this knowledge of the dictation in the latter work, if indeed, it is an improvement over the phrase proceeded immediately from the LORD? Did his memory fail him as the Magazine suggests, and was it quickened again when he came to write the True Christian Religion? In the Memorabilia referred to, the manifest teaching is that since the Scriptures came from the LORD, they must be the marriage of good and truth, and this teaching is apparent whether we read proceeded from the LORD, or dictated by Him. The difference is only a varied presentation, which adds to the value of the relations, rather than detracts from it. In the passage in the Arcana, however, it was necessary to be more explicit and to describe how this dictation occurred, not simply that it did occur. In the other works, the things to be revealed was not so much how the Word reached mankind, as that it really came from the Divine.

In the work on Heaven and Hell, the manner in which the Word is given, and the terms inspired and dictated are both employed. These terms are also defined.

I have been informed how the LORD spoke with the Prophets through whom the Word was given. He did not speak with them us with the Ancients, by an influx into their interiors, but by spirits who were sent to them, whom the LORD filled with His aspect, and thus inspired the words, which they dictated to the Prophets: so that it was not influx but dictation. And because the words came forth immediately from the LORD, therefore every one of them was filled with the Divine, and contains in itself an internal sense, which is such that the angels of heaven perceive the words in a celestial and spiritual sense, while men perceive them in a natural sense; thus the LORD has conjoined heaven and the world by the Word. In what manner spirits are filled with the Divine from the LORD by aspect has also been shown me. The spirit filled with the Divine from the LORD does not know but that he is the LORD and that it is the Divine that speaks, and this even until he has done speaking; afterward he perceives and acknowledges that he is a spirit and that he did not speak from himself, but from the LORD. Because this was the state of the spirits who spoke with the Prophets, therefore also it is said by them that JEHOVAH spoke: the spirits also culled themselves JEHOVAH, as may be manifest not only from the prophetical, but also from the historical parts of the Word.H. H. 254.

Under headings V. and VI. in the Magazine are the supposed contradictions when the Memorabilia are repeated. The variations are so happily disposed of in the New Church Magazine for November, 1873, that we lay before our readers the view therein presented.

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The question then had respect to the seeming conflict, and the real harmony between the Apocalypse Revealed, 962, and the True Christian Religion, 188:

The Holy Spirit proceeds out of the LORD from the Father, is only a more definite expression of the truth so often penned by Swedenborg in something like these words, The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Divinity in the LORD through His Humanity.

That the same is meant by one expression as by the other, is clear from many passages in the Writings; for example, A. C. 3061, 4180, 4724, 6788, 7931, 9303, 9310.

From the words, The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Divinity in the LORD through His Humanity, no reasonable idea can be drawn unless it be that it proceeds out of the Humanity from the Divinity: certainly no other idea will agree with the tenor of their context in the passages where they occur, especially since in several of these passages it is expressly affirmed that the Spirit proceeds out of the Divine Humanity, with the implication that it is from the Divinity. That the same is meant by each appears from the Canons, p. 30, where both expressions occur only nine lines apart.* In this very number (A. R. 962), Swedenborg speaks of the LORD sending the Holy Spirit from the Father. That they are but two expressions of one truth should be concluded from their being reports of what the angel said in the Memorable Relation. Observe, too, Swedenborg quotes identical passages or the Word to support each form, thus also interprets the passages us teaching the one truth that the Spirit proceeds out of the LORD from the Father, in whatever form he writes it.

* We need not therefore recur to Swedenborgs advancing regeneration and illumination as an explanation of the difference in the two statements. The five years of progress of the Magazine could not have intervened during the writing of these nine lines!

It may be asked, what then does he deny when he says, The Holy Spirit does not proceed from God the Father through the LORD? We reply, us we understand him, he only denies the old church idea that the Father, as a separate Divinity, sends the Holy Spirit as another Divine person, through the Son, as still another. This, we think, is clear from 163 and 164 and 188 T. C. R., and the numbers above referred to in A. C. Note the close in T. C. R. 163: Hence it is easy to see the error prevalent in the Christian Orb, that God the Father sends the Spirit and the error of the Greek Church.

Now let the reader peruse attentively each number we have referred to in T. C. R. and in A. R., as well as the pertinent parts of those in the A. C., and, we trust, he will see no confliction of meaning, but only a verbal difference between them.

To return to the Memorabilia: Does it follow that because they are not derived directly from the Word while Swedenborg was reading it, they are therefore any the less Divinely true?

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Given by Swedenborg as part of the Writings which constitute the Second Coming of the LORD, are they not as really of Divine revelation as any other part of the Writings? Without these accounts of things seen and heard in the other world, could we possibly comprehend the internal sense of the Word, the nature of man as a spiritual being, the nature of spirits and angels, or of heaven and hell? And does not the Spiritual Sense of the Word have respect to these things, recount them and involve them? (A. C. 67.) Does Divine Truth, as given in the Word, lose any of its genuineness when presented in living activity in the other world? And must not therefore the relations of things seen and heard partake of the same character as the other parts of the Writings?

The Magazine quotes from T. C. R. 389 to prove that Swedenborg received certain information from a spirit, the implied inference being that it is therefore subject to revision. But in the tract De Verbo Swedenborg says:

It was not allowed me to take anything from the dictate of any spirit or the dictate of any angel, but from the LORD alone. (No. 4.)

Now that this anything refers also to other than the doctrines, is made evident by the following:

The things which I learned from Representations, Visions, and Discourses with spirits and angels, were from the LORD alone.--S. D. 1647.

Consequently, when in T. C. R. 389, Swedenborg says that a spirit told him these things, he simply describes the means which the LORD employed to acquaint him with these things. For elsewhere Swedenborg shows that what came from the LORD, he wrote, what from the spirit, he was not permitted to write. See A. E. 1183.

The same disparity between the doctrines and the relations is implied in the Magazine article, by contrasting the quotations from T. C. R. 851 and 779, respectively, which we have presented above, and in which Swedenborg says of the relations that they were not invented, but were truly seen and heard: and of the doctrines of the Church, that he had not received anything pertaining to them from any angel, but from the LORD alone, while he was reading the Word. But the Writings sanction no disparity, much less the idea that the doctrines are from the LORD alone, while the relations are not from the LORD alone.

In the Spiritual Diary Swedenborg says:

Whenever there was any representation, vision, and discourse, I was kept intensely and intimately in reflection upon it, as to what thence was useful and good, thus what I might learn therefrom; which reflection was not thus attended to by those who presented the representations and visions and who spake; yea they were sometimes indignant when they perceived that I was reflecting.

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Thus have I been inducted; consequently by no angel or spirit, but by the LORD alone.--S. D. 1647.

To the Second Coming of the LORD the revelation of these Memorabilia is as essential as any other portion of the Writings. For in the Spiritual Diary Swedenborg says:

There were certain spirits who did not wish that anything should be said about the things revealed (to me), but it was said to them that they are in the place of miracles, and that without them men would not know the character of the book, nor would they buy it, or read it, or understand it, or be affected by it, or believe it; in a word, they would remain ignorant, nor would they wish to hear anything about the interiors of the Word, which things they regard as mere phantasies.S. D. 4123.

And again, in the work on Heaven and Hell, we learn that the members of the Church know scarcely anything concerning the other life. Consequently Swedenborg was permitted to converse with the angels and to see things existing in heaven and hell.

This immediate revelation is made at this day because this is what is meant by the Coming of the LORD.H. H. 1.

The remaining parts of the Magazine article are an attempt to show that the relations are improved when repeated in one or other of the works. As Swedenborg advanced in knowledge he is supposed to have altered and corrected the previous statements, whenever occasion demanded their repetition.

But who shall tell us precisely where the doctrinal parts end, and the relations of things seen and heard begin?

Let any one open a volume of the Arcana, and attempt to make the division supposed, and, while the distinction is boldly marked in respect to of the unfoldings of the internal sense, are so Far removed from any visible exegetical connexion with the text that we may not fathom the connexion. In the light of heaven no doubt the connexion is plainly visible, and therefore these gems of Divine Truth, which constitute one of the peculiar charms of the Arcana, are interspersed in this way, and fill the niches where we find them. But do these paragraphs lose their doctrinal status because we cannot trace their confirmations to the Word; and would the Magazine place them among the relations? See A. C. 3074.

Then there are whole works among the Writings, that are so far removed in many of their principal teachings from any direct exegetical connexion with the Word, that we may not this side of heaven see the connexion, except in a most general way.

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We refer especially to such works as Heaven and Hell; The Divine Love and Wisdom; The Divine Providence; The Last Judgment; and the Conjugial Love. How can we discriminate in these works,between the relations of things seen and heard, and therefore, as the Magazine would have it, mingled with the fallibility of the witness; and the doctrinal portions which are without fault, or in other words infallible? To attempt any such discrimination we should regard an undertaking both hopeless and hazardous.

View it as we may, the charge of fallibility in the witness is a most serious charge. The witness is SWEDENBORG, the man through whom the LORD made His Second Advent (T. C. R. 779). Swedenborg was called to witness those very things which he saw and heard in the spiritual world, that he might publish them throughout the universe. He was called to receive the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and the internal sense of the Word, and to publish the same for the use of the New Church.

To impugn, therefore, the testimony of this Servant of the LORD is, as it seems to us, to impugn the whole system from first to last; nor can the affront be atoned for by acknowledging the infallibility of the witness in respect to those things which he has derived directly from the literal sense of the Word, while in the Memorabilia he has a fallibility so marked that it may be a very useful warning to those who need it!

The Writings and the Internal Sense of the Word.

OUR Paper on The New Heresy is noticed among the monthly notes and comments of the New Jerusalem Magazine for January. The Magazine says (p. 479):

And we are happy to attest our agreement with very much that the essay contains. In fact, if it be understood that Swedenborg was in the full exercise of his freedom and rationality, we know of no better statement of our general belief than the following. The italics are ours. The Writings, as all New Churchmen know, are not an addition to the Word, or an extension of it, in the letter; they are not an enlargement of. the volume of parables, types, told correspondences,--nor are they in the style of these; but they are the evolving by the LORD through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg, of some of the Divine Truths which through the Prophets He had caused to be involved and folded away is the divine forms of the Word in the letter.Words for the New Church, p. 349.

The hypothetical clause, if it be understood that Swedenborg was in the full exercise of his freedom and rationality, in the above seems to us quite unnecessary.

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For how can any New Churchman believe otherwise? who ever imagined that the LORD having chosen a man through whom He should make His Second Advent and having prepared him from infancy for this sacred office, should suspend his reason and take away his freedom, when that man was entering upon his work? On the contrary, the freedom and rationality of Swedenborg were incomparably enlarged and exalted as he entered upon his mission. The angels who are nearest the LORD are in the most unbounded freedom and rationality, and so it was with Swedenborg. For when he was lifted up into the light of heaven, and into the manifest presence of the LORD, that he might receive the Heavenly Doctrines and publish them, he also was in a state of rationality and freedom unbounded and without a parallel in the experience of other men. Most surely, while filled with the Spirit of the LORD, and receiving Divine Truth from the mouth of the LORD, and publishing the same, Swedenborg must have been in the full exercise of his freedom and his reason. But, it does not follow from this that he was left to fall into error. On the contrary, he was defended from error and kept in the truth, as we endeavored to show in the first number of our SERIAL, pp. 40, 41, as follows:

The LORD, by His Infinite Love and Infinite Wisdom, with a view to the salvation of man, did fully bring the human instrument of His Second Advent into each a state, and securely keep him in it, that He Himself, and not the instrument, should completely dictate, and undeviatingly guide, in general and in special, universally and particularly, the sense and substance of all that was published by the press, so that what was promulgated, was, throughout, absolutely the same in meaning, as He would have taught, had He come and taught personally, instead of teaching by means of a man.

Swedenborg declares in many places that he was thus defended from error and kept in the truth; he also shows how this was done. We quote the following:

It was not allowed me to take anything from the dictate of any spirit, or the dictate of any angel, but from the LORD alone.--De Verbo, 4.

It was shown me by experience during the space of an hour, how all the thoughts are ruled by the LORD; there was an influx like a most gentle and imperceptible stream, the vein of which does not appear, but still lends and draws; that which flowed in from the LORD, thus led all my thoughts into consequences, and although gently, still powerfully, insomuch that I could not in anywise wander into other thoughts, which was even allowed me to attempt, bat it was to no purpose.--A. C. 6474.

It has been given me to perceive distinctly what comes from the LORD and what from the angels; what has come from the LORD has been written, and what from the angels has not been written.A. E. 1183.

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We turn to another point. In the little article we are noticing we are most strangely misrepresented. Speaking of our paper on The New Heresy the Magazine says:

So far as that article adheres to the theory that Swedenborgs Writings were verbally dictated to him by the LORD and are therefore infallible, we must utterly dissent from it. p. 479.

And elsewhere on the same page:

We have no grounds for believing that what he wrote was verbally dictated by the LORD.

In the extracts we italicize the word verbally because it is a word we have never used in the connexion in which it is here employed. We have said that Swedenborg was inspired by the LORD, that he was filled with the Spirit of the LORD that he might receive from Him the Doctrines of the New Church, that the Internal Sense of the Word was dictated to Him from heaven, and so forth.

We have said these and similar things in the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH from the first, because Swedenborg in the Writings speaks in this way; but we have never promulgated the theory which the Magazine ascribes to us, that Swedenborgs Writings were verbally dictated to him by the LORD. Still we care not to dispute about questions of fact. There are the back numbers of our SERIAL, They will speak for themselves.

We regret that the Magazine was led into a further misapprehension of our meaning in the last paragraph of The New Heresy. The following is the sentence which seems to have led to the mistake:

The forms of speech used by Swedenborg are indeed very extraordinary, many of them seldom, if ever, occurring in human language previous to his day. These forms also are used with an exactitude that is not surpassed in the demonstrations of the mathematics. In these forms of speech, in order to give greater fullness and variety to the expression, the words are changed and varied from time to time and from place to place, but not so with the involved ideas. Of these wonderful forms of speech we had never before spoken in the SERIAL, although for many years we have observed them. Now in saying, that we should not be astonished to discover that these very forms are of heavenly origin, we had no reference to verbal dictation, nor indeed to anything else that had been promulgated in the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, but to something further.

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Therefore the Magazines discovery of a little wavering on this point, that is, on the theory of verbal dictation, a theory we have never promulgated, and a matter about which we were not then speaking, is, at best, only an imaginary discovery.

We come to another point, and in respect to this we cannot conceal our amazement, that the Magazine should continue the groundless charge upon us of placing the Writings on the same level with the Word. Its words are the following:

It seems to us a most injurious practice, and one totally unauthorized by Swedenborg himself, to place his Writings on the same level with the Sacred Scriptures.

From the context we are not left in doubt that this most injurious practice is charged upon the conduct of the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH. And yet the paragraph which on the same page is quoted with approval, when closely examined allows conclusively that we do not place the Writings on the same level with the Word. This appears very conclusively from the sentence of the paragraph omitted by the Magazine. For the convenience of the reader we present below the paragraph from which the extract is taken, giving in italics the sentence omitted, as well also as a brief paragraph which immediately precedes, and one which follows.

But the Divine style of the Word is not repented, nor is it imitated in the Writings. The Word is the LORD as to the Divine Truth in the very ultimates of nature, speaking to us in parables, representatives, and correspondences. But the style of the Writings, as we have often expressed it, is doctrinal, didactic, and philosophic

The Word in the literal sense is as a parable, facing every way, and with an indefinite number of applications. The Writings give the Divine Truth involved in the parable, and its application in some specific way. The Writings, as all New Churchmen know, are not an addition to the Word, or an extension of it, in the letter; they are not an enlargement of the volume of parables, types, and correspondences,nor are they in the style of these; but they are the evolving by the LORD through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg, of some of the Divine Truths which through the Prophets He had caused to be involved and folded away in the Divine forms of the Word in the letter.

The Word and the Writings then are not alike, nor are the Writings equal to the Sacred Scriptures: the very style is different, and indeed not on the same plane of utterance.Words for the New Church, p. 347.

But notwithstanding this difference of style and of structure, nevertheless the Writings constitute the Second Advent of the LORD, and are His very Divine Presence in His Church.

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They are continuous Divine Truths laid open by the LORD by means of the Word, and have upon them the Divine Imprimatur as really as the Word in its literal sense.--See A. C. 6597, 10,400; T. C. R. 508, 779, 780.

We must refer to another point in the notice. The issue opened in the Magazine by teaching that the Writings of Swedenborg are not in themselves the Internal Sense of the Word, cannot be closed, by moving upon another ground and saying that the sense intended is that Swedenborgs Writings cannot be regarded as an exact transcription of the Scriptures as these exist in the heavens. We have to do with the Word as it exists on the earth. The Internal Sense of this Word is what is given in the Writings. In the Divine Truths thus evolved the LORD has made His Second Advent; and these again are involved in the Writings given by the LORD through His Servant Emanuel Swedenborg.

Of course, the Word throughout the universe is a unit, for the Word is the LORD. But its unfoldings and revelations are as multiform as the universal Human race, and the universal Heavens. When treating therefore of the Writings which Swedenborg has declared to be the Internal Sense of the Word, does it not seem like a change of the issue in the Magazine to say that, the internal sense of the Word is the Word in the heavens? And that Swedenborgs Writings, however much they may reveal from and concerning it, are not, in themselves, that Word? pp. 478, 479.

True enough, we have not in the, Writings any thing that claims to be a transcription of the Word as it exists in either of the heavens, but we have the Internal Sense of the Word as it exists in this world, and in the literal sense of which Divine Truth is in its fullness, its sanctity, and its power.--S. S. 37. And this for all practical purposes is enough. Nor is it indeed so smell a thing as the Magazine would have us believe. Nor can we agree with that journal in saying of the Writings of Swedenborg that all he has given us is but an infinitesimal part of that internal sense which we shall see and know hereafter.

Swedenborg never claimed to five us the infinity of the Internal Sense; this would be impossible. Nevertheless the Internal Sense of the Word, given in the Writings, comes in no infinitesimal portions, but in an overflowing abundance that can be represented only by the river of the water of life clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.Apoc. Xxii. And this signifies the Apocalypse now opened and explained as to its spiritual sense, where Divine Truths in abundance are revealed by the LORD, for those who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.A. R. 932.

Swedenborgs Writings form that stupendous structure of Divine Truth revealed from the Word with which the LORD clothed Himself in power and great glory, in His Advent, and which, in fact, constitutes His Second Coming and His perpetual Presence in His Church.

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The Writings give us more than we can ever comprehend this side heaven: and in them, and by means of them, we are placed en rapport with the Divine of the LORD which constitutes Heaven and fills it, thus with the Word in the Heavens universal. And this in other phrase is the Presence (Hapovaia) of the very LORD flowing into our soul with His Life, into our will with His Love, into our understanding with His Wisdom, and reaching out His Influences in all possible ways to redeem and save up. To stand therefore on the banks of this River of the water of Life and talk of its infinitesimal dimensions in proportion to that internal sense which we shall see and know hereafter, is, to say the least, disparaging the Divine glories with which the LORD has come, and which, as the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and the Internal Sense of the Word, He has given as the eternal inheritance of His New Church.

The Second Coming of the LORD must be held as the grand central fact in the Church determining all things else. The basis of all that is claimed for the New Church as the Crown of all the Churches hitherto established, we have in the fact that the LORD has made His Second Advent through His Servant Emanuel Swedenborg; that is, by the works written through Swedenborg; and what are these but the Divine Truths of the Internal Sense of the Word which Swedenborg received from the LORD Himself and published by the Press? Granted the Second Advent of the LORD through Swedenborg, what else than these Writings remain to us as the tangible and permanent results of His Coming?

The wonderful analogy between the First and Second Advent of the LORD we have heretofore treated of in the SERIAL. Suffice it now to say that both Advents consisted not only in a universal influx of Divine Love and Wisdom with corresponding heat and light, moving and quickening all, but also in certain external historical facts, known and acknowledged at the time in heaven and on earth. Of these more especially we now speak.

In the First Advent there was the Incarnation of the Divine, the descent of JEHOVAH GOD as Divine Truth in the Word made fled; thus the fulfilling of the Word in the letter to the very ultimates; the glorification of the Human; the subjugation of the hells; and the redemption of man; and the whole work was infinitely full and complete. Among the means to these ends, the LORD opened the Word of the Old Testament, revealing Divine Truths previously unknown; for beginning at Moses and the prophets He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, Luke xxiv. 27; and He provided that there should be added to the volume of Scripture the New Testament Word.

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The LORD also established a New Church with His Apostles and Disciples.

In His Second Advent the LORD came in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, that is, in the Word in the letter, evolving from it during His Advent its Internal Sense and the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem: and these are now given to the world in the Writings of Swedenborg. During the time occupied in disclosing through Swedenborg the Divine Truths involved in the Word, the LORD accomplished the Last Judgment, reduced all things to order in Heaven, the Intermediate State, and Hell, formed the New Heaven, and established the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem, and this whole work also was infinitely full and complete. And among the means to the accomplishment of His ends, the LORD opened the Word, unlocking the infinite treasures of the Internal Sense of the Word of both Testaments, and revealing myriads of Truths unknown before. Not that these new revelations were added to the volume of Scripture as the New Testament was adjoined to the Old; they are, on the contrary, the unfolding in the light of heaven of the Arcana of the Word, and evolving therefrom by the LORD Himself that sublime system of genuine Truth in which He made His Advent, and which is set forth before us as the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

Forgetful of the momentous fact revealed to us in the Writings, that the LORD has come through Swedenborg, there are those of the New Church who let their mind rest on the instrumental cause instead of looking up to the Cause Itself, the LORD alone the Fountain of Life, and the Author and Revealer of this Divine Truth. Hence they fall into absurd negations in respect to the infallibility of the utterances of the LORD made in the Writings of Swedenborg.

In the Writings we have continually before us as a basis of rational faith in respect to the New Church, and the Doctrines given for its use, the following:

1. The LORD who is the Word.

2. Swedenborg the Servant of the LORD through whom He made His Second Advent; and

3. The Writings setting forth the Heavenly Doctrines and the Internal Sense of the Word revealed by the LORD at His Second Coming.

We can see neither fault nor chasm in the system, no place where the continuous chain of truth is broken; nor indeed can we see where the difficulty begins in respect to the infallibility of these revelations, derived as they are from the Word itself where Divine Truth is in its fullness, its sanctity, and its power.

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We can see no place for error in this system of Truth, for all of it comes from the LORD, who has now at His Second Coming, glorified His Word by revealing the heavenly mysteries of its Internal Sense; of which He says in Isaiah: I will beautify the place of my Sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.Isa. lx. 13.

To be the man through whom this wonderful work should be accomplished Swedenborg was prepared from his infancy; and entering upon it at the appointed time, he was filled with the Spirit of the LORD, that he might receive from Him the Internal Sense of the Word and the Heavenly Doctrines, and publish them by the Press. His Writings consequently were prepared in the light of heaven, and under the Divine Afflatus, and they come to us as we have said with the Imprimatur of the LORD.

If this be granted, then the issue is closed in respect to the infallibility of the Heavenly Doctrines; for, the Writings are the Coming of the LORD; the Doctrines are His Doctrines; the Books are His Books; and in these Divine revelations, the LORD is perpetually present in His Church.

The Writings of Swedenborg, 1799.

IT may be interesting to our readers to know that the view taken of the Writings in the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH is by no means a new one. From the first promulgation of the Heavenly Doctrines, there have been some who estimated the Writings at their true value, while others have looked upon them as merely human productions. And while we do not endorse in all respects these writers which we are now to quote, we cannot but admire the vigor and freshness with which they declare their heart-felt convictions.

We copy from the Aurora, a New Church periodical published in LORD on in 1799, extracts from a correspondence on the Writing between Roger Bernet, John A. Tulk, and others, and the Editors of the Aurora. Roger Bernet in a letter published in the Aurora, Vol. I. No. 6, says:

In my journeyings from place to place, I have met with two very different classes of renders of Hon. Baron Swedenborgs merits. One class holding it as a fixed principle that the Barons Writings are really trio Word of the LORD, as positively as the writings of any of the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, as also St. John in his Revelation, and they seem to be exceedingly offended when any one seems to depart from this their idea. The other class readily allow the Baron to be a person highly illuminated by the LORD, and that his Writings are highly useful in opening the spiritual sense of the Word and thereby the true nature of the New Jerusalem state; but still they cannot allow his Writings to be upon an equal footing with the Word itself; for, say they, this would be rating the Baron and his Writings rather above their proper place, for none can be the Word but the LORD alone. . . .

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I cannot help desiring you in the present instance, and that also in the most earnest manner, to declare which class of the above-mentioned readers it is you conceive to be most agreeable to truth.

The Answer to this query is quoted in fall:

The Editors and several of their respectable correspondents, conceive that Emanuel Swedenborg as to his Theological Writings, is no more an author than Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John; but that as they were, so is he, a scribe of the LORD and has written down that which he received, was ordered, and appointed to write.

We do not pretend to say the whole of his Theological Writings are the Word of the LORD equally with those of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We say, That what he hath written is strictly true--his relations real facts, that there is no error or mistake in them, that he was under the peculiar direction of the LORD throughout the whole, and that his Arcana, in particular, is no other than the LORDS own Word, opened and exhibited in its spiritual sense, its true spiritual meaning, and therefore is infallible truth. It is the light and glory of the holy Word, shining in superior splendor. The more we consider the Writings in this light, the less is Swedenborg exalted, for he is nothing at all but a mere scribe, or medium; but if he be considered in a lower light, as an expositor of the Scriptures only, then the man is exalted, his own power and abilities are looked at, and he may be idolized as a great and wonderful man whereas in the other case Swedenborg is nothing, the LORD is all, and to him alone is given the praise.

In this Editorial answer to Mr. Bernet there is a seeming discrimination in the Writings in favor of the Arcana, to which we cannot agree. The Arcana comes with Divinely Imprimatur upon it no mole than the other Theological works published by Swedenborg. The Editors received various letters as rejoinders, setting forth opposite sentiments, three of the letters they published, thus showing their impartiality, as Editors; and introductory to those letters they say:

Indeed, according to Dr. Johnsons definition Swedenborg may be said to be an Expositor, for he defines the word explainer, expounder, interpreter; but this does by no means give an adequate idea of the light in which the Writings are to be considered. Dr. Johnsons expositor may write and interpret from his own proprium; or further, he may write as Paul did without knowing whether he has the Spirit of Illumination or not, but although Swedenborg was prepared of the LORD, even from his infancy, for the high office whereunto he was called, yet he explained nothing of or from himself, nor anything doubtfully; but as the LORD HIMSELF dictated to him: therefore the Arcana Coelestia, is not to be considered as his Exposition or Interpretation of the Holy Word; but it is the Word Itself in its Internal Sense, opened by the LORD HIMSELF, dictated to, and through the instrumentality of Swedenborg, who is no other than a Scribe, or Amanuensis.*

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This is repeatedly declared throughout the Writings; but as we wish not to give our opinion more than is necessary, we shall conclude by inserting those letters which have been received from our correspondent on this subject.

* The term Amanuensis as defining the office of Swedenborg, although often used, strikes us as defective and faulty. Indeed, no attribute of the kind meets the case, nothing in fact that does not imply that Swedenborgs rational, or internal mind was lifted up and open even to the LORD while he was receiving and writing the Heavenly Doctrines.Editors Words for the New Church.

There follows then a letter in the name of the Society of Manchester signed S. M. taking ground against the view of the Editors. A second letter comes from John Augustus Tulk, which we quoted in part in WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, pp. 61, 62, and in which he sets forth substantially the same view which we take. And a third one which is also given partly in extract, as follows:

As we whose names are hereunto subscribed are of the first-mentioned class of the renders of the Hon. Emanuel Swedenborgs Writings, we esteem them really as the Word of the LORD itself, particularly his Arcana alluded to in your answer. That the process of the LORDS glorification, and the regeneration of the human soul, which is the sum and substance of revelation, being thus clearly seen and act forth in superior splendor and thus the mysteries of heaven (hid for ages) unfolded and thereby the man of the Church instructed in the way to heavenly happiness, ...

To this letter are appended the signatures of fifteen gentlemen, and it is dated: Kingston upon Hull, October 24, l799.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The following Books have been received, bat for the want of space the notice of them must go over to the next Number of the Serial:

SWEDENBORG AND CHANNING. By B. F. BARRETT.

SOCIETY THE REDEEMED FORM OF MAN. By HENRY JAMES.

THE MYSTERY OF LIFE. By THEOPHILUS PARSONS.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHEOL., HADES, AND GEHENNA, AND THE MEANING OF INFERNUS, OR INFERNUM. By G. FIELD.

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WORDS
FOR
THE NEW CHURCH

A SERIAL
CONTROLLED BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

VI.
SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
PART III.

PHILADELPHIA
PUBLISHED FOR THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT and CO.
1879.

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CONTENTS

XVII. SYNTHETIC AND ANALYTIC SCIENCE 477
XVIII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYTIC SCIENCE 484
XIX. SWEDENBORG THE ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHER AND THE

MASTER OF ANALYTIC SCIENCE 493
XX. SYNTHETIC SCIENCE IN THE CHURCH OF THE NEW

JERUSALEM 521
XXI. USES OF ANALYTIC AND SYNTHETIC SCIENCE IN THE NEW

CHURCH 542
XXII. CONCLUSION 567
APPENDED NOTE 569
NOTES 571
BOOK NOTICES 578

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[Blank page]

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SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

PART III.

XVII.

SYNTHETIC AND ANALYTIC SCIENCE.

IN the work on the Worship and Love of God, the Synthetic and Analytic methods are treated of as follows:

There are two methods of teaching and learning; one is called synthetic, and the other analytic.

The first or synthetic method begins, or enters upon, the view of things from inmost principles, and proceeds thence in order to outermost things; or, again, it starts from the very ends, or the beginnings of causes, and descends thence to effects, and at last to ultimate effects; or, what is the same thing in the common language of men, it proceeds a priori to posterior things, or from reason by the philosophy of the mind to those things which are confirmed by the experience of the senses.

The second or analytic method is the reverse of the former; for it sets out from the outermost things, and traces its way backward or inward toward interior things; that is, from effects, according to the order which is natural to us, it ascends to causes, and thus finally to beginnings, and to the very ends, and, indeed, by that way which is commonly called the a posteriori way to prior things, or that which rises from the experience of the senses, through the philosophy of the mind, even to first causes and reasons.

All spiritual minds proceed by the synthetic method, or from ends, and thus from beginnings to causes and to effects; for they are in the very first and highest things, and they regard, as it mere, below themselves those things which succeed in their order to ultimate things.

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According to this order also all formation progresses, as that of the plants from their seeds; for the seed from its beginnings sets out and unfolds itself to the outermost effect, and thence it afterward returns to its prior principles, or to the seeds. According to the same order also the soul constructs its body; consequently, according to this order it formed and instructed the rational or intellectual mind of the first-born of men; in the same order, finally, the world was created by the Divine or Supreme Mind.

It appears hence that the intellectual mind of Adam [or of the man of the Most Ancient Church] while all things mere being harmoniously excited in him from the highest to posterior thingswas instructed by the synthetic method, that is, first by the soul, and afterward by the senses. It was different in his posterity [or with mankind after the flood], with whom the rational mind, which is absolutely none in infancy, is first to be built up, as it were, by the senses, or opened, before it can be instructed; for in the course of years the rational mind is perfected by the aid of experience, first by the experience of the senses, and afterward by that of the sciences which have been collected and formed by the experience of the senses; and in a like manner the soul by degrees draws near to the rational mind with its spiritual light, and imparts to it the power of thinking, judging., choosing, and willing; which is a manifest sign of our state of imperfection.-- Worship and Love of God, Note to No. 52.

From this it appear; that the celestial man who sees truth from good, and who by love is led to wisdom, is instructed according to the synthetic method; while the spiritual man who is led from truth to good, and whose understanding cannot be instructed by the influx of love from within, must be taught by the analytic method.

The celestial man is instructed in this manner by the synthetic method not only in the things of the spiritual world, but also in those of the natural world; wherefore also the science of natural things with the celestial man is synthetic; and by synthetic science in his case is meant that he is able to see spiritual in natural things, and thus to contemplate the things of nature in the light of heaven.

The spiritual man too has received all revelation by the synthetic process; although it is accommodated to his state of reception in the letter of the Word of God; but he prides himself that his science, at the present day, is emancipated from all synthetic influences, and is entirely analytic.

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But analysis can never emancipate itself from synthesis; for analysis, indeed, strives to reach the centre from the circumference; but unless the centre be previously known, it can never be reached at random from the circumference. Wherefore, analysis needs principles or theories which have been obtained in the first place from revelation, in order to guide it from the facts of the circumference to the causes and ends which lie in and around the centre.

Besides, pure analytic science, was not born until within the last two or three centuries. Before that time science had always been more or less synthetic: wherefore synthetic science has given birth to analytic science, and had not synthetic science and philosophy been handed down from ancient to modern times, modern science end philosophy as we have them would never have existed. For in order to develop analytic science, the analytic powers of the mind are required; and these powers must be applied not unconsciously, as they are by the child and youth, but consciously in the form of rules and laws of thought, as they are deduced from the rational mind by philosophy.

Philosophy, however, as we have seen, is the child of revelation, and hence also science; for science is merely a practical application of the philosophical powers of the mind.

Again, synthesis may be either true or false. It is true, when its principles are the out birth of the love of the LORD and of the neighbor, and when it is the light of the life which the LORD pours into the mind of the celestial man. But synthesis is false, when its principles and theories originate in the pride of mans own intelligence.

The principles of philosophy and science which the ancient sophi derived from the revelations of the Ancient Church were true, and by their means Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle laid a foundation for genuine philosophy, and hence for genuine science.

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But these true principles in the course of time were very much alloyed, and even totally supplanted by the progeny of a false synthesis, which arose from the subjective ideas of men, and not from the true principles of revelation. Concerning this false synthesis we read:

Synthesis, which begins its thread of reasons from causes and principles, and evolves and unwinds it until it reaches the effects of the causes, assumes some particular principle familiar and favorable to the intellect, as formed by previous ideas; and however susceptible this principle may be of doubt and controversy, synthesis seizes it as a truth, and lays it down; and thus presumed, defines and disengages it, and confirms it, first rationally, next empirically. Should anything adverse appear, synthesis polishes away, represses and removes it, until at length the truth can come upon the stage, naked at first, but afterward bedecked and ornamented; exactly in imitation of the inverse method of analysis, which is celled also the regula falsi, or rule of false position. And synthesis, in reality, is nothing but a poor, precocious, and vague analysis; it gives out nothing more than what has crept into the intellect, and among the intellectual ideas, by way of the senses, from a few phenomena of experience, without any general bond to connect them; and for the most part in the first impetuosity of the judgment. The hasty conceptions thus formed at the minds first glance are termed opinions, conjectures, hypotheses; whence come systems.

This has been the received and established method for ages past, from the very infancy of philosophy, through its later and maturer development; and now also it endures and flourishes by the favor of our contemporaries, being adopted exclusively even at the present day in reasonings on the causes of things, which are naturally abstruse and profound. It is also pleasing, and wonderfully accommodated and in a manner akin to human minds; it enables each mind to indulge its own tastes, to favor its own state, and to assent to an order, whose laws are proclaimed as truths. And we are very easily impelled and carried away into ideal games of this kind, inasmuch as they are races of our thoughts from assumed starting-places to the very goals we desire to reach. This also pampers self-love and self-glory, for as nothing properly belongs to us but the produce of our own minds, when these have conceived anything, and supported it by plausibilities, we suppose we have divined the pure reality, opened the true Delphos or heaven itself, unlocked oracles which the genius of our predecessors never penetrated, and, in a word, earned an indisputable palm of victory.Animal Kingdom, Nos. 7, 8.

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Again we read:

While the will is directed to the false, it is constantly detained in those things also that confirm it, or are conformable to it. Hence the presumption becomes more and more confirmed by plausible arrangements, until at lost it has the same power of persuasion as the truth itself. For whenever affirmative reasoning is applied to a preconception, an infinity of particulars, all voting the same way, fly to its assistance: both the decrees of ratiocinative philosophy, and the phenomena of the world, laid hold of in the fallacious light of the senses as this. Indeed, there is nothing but may form a constituent part in different series of reasoning, if not directly, at least obliquely; as a single particle of salt may form an ingredient in an infinity of savours, and a single color in an infinity of pictures; and one thing may be ingrafted on another, as branch upon branch; thus the legitimate upon the spurious: so that falsehood assumes the form of truth, and the dimension of the fiction increases by meditation. At length, when the phantom is led forth upon the theatre of what is called the learned world, multitudes run to it, passionately admire it, favor and applaud it; yea, numerous connoisseurs embellish it with paint and new decorations, so that it looks like a phantom no longer, but like a beautiful Venus, or a Delphian virgin. Whatever is now poured from its mouth, you are to regard as the voice of destiny, or the response of an oracle. But all things have their day; among the rest, the produce of the human faculties, particularly those misshapen offspring, the monsters of hypothesis. They are conceived, they are born, they grow to maturity, they grow old, at last they die. But from the ashes of each new ones arise; and every hydra-head that is chopped off by the youthful Hercules produces hundreds of others: whence spectres of similar brood prevail for ages, and, like enchantresses, distract the human mind perennially. Hence errors, mental obscurity, fallacies, and strife; civil wars between the soul and the body; scholastic contentious about straws and trifles; the flight and exile of truths; and stupor and thick darkness in those very thing where the light is most brilliant: and this to such an extent, that the very altars and their sacred fire are contaminated; which is the reason why the philosophy of the human mind is solemnly proscribed in the Divine records. All these things flow from that single source,--we mean, from the habit and the propensity of reasoning synthetically.--Animal Kingdom, No. 9.

The only antidote against a false synthesis is a rigorous and consistent analysis. Concerning such an analysis we read:

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Analysis commences its web of ratiocination from the facts, effects, and phenomena. which have entered through the bodily senses, and mounts to causes, and causes of causes; that is, to the simple principles of the mind; and thus unwinds the thread of the web. In the first place it searches for certain and evident materials, and collecting them from all quarters, heaps them together, and again selecting them from the heap, reduces them skillfully into order. Furthermore, it imbibes all the sciences wherewith nature has assisted the human mind, and this not only in memory, but in heart, and learns them for the sake of their application, enriched with as it were these treasures, and aided thereby the mind girds herself to her task, and begins to work and to build. If the monument she is essaying to construct may be compared with a palace, a mansion, or a pyramid, she may be said now to lay the foundation first, then to raise the walls, and surrounding the edifice with ladders and scaffolds, gradually to carry it to the roof or summit. Whatever is now wanting to complete the fitness and coherence of the whole, as posts, rails, gates, tiles, and the like, is superadded afterward. Thus the mind, keeping along the path of analysis, founds and rears her palace, not in the air or in an atmosphere too high for her, which is not her element, and where there is no support, still less any foundation, but on the solid ground.

This is the only way to principles and truths, to high and almost heavenly things; and no other appears to be open to us earthborn men.Animal Kingdom, No. 11.

For full twelve hundred years after the birth of our LORD science and philosophy continued synthetic, and hence full of the arbitrary and subjective notions of men; and after the Church had given birth to the dogma of three Divine persons, which is equivalent to three gods, and had hatched out the dogma of justification by faith alone; and, therefore, had lost the true light of the gospel of the LORD, it was utterly impotent to furnish to philosophy and science principles of a true and pure synthesis. Consequently, in order to be prepared for a revelation of the more interior truths of the Sacred Scripture which was promised at the LORDS Second Coming, mankind had to be prepared for its reception by a study of genuine analytical science.

In the thirteenth century, therefore, we find that an opposition was made to the false synthetic philosophy and science of the Middle Ages by men like Albertus the Great and Roger Bacon;

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although in their writings the principles of a true analytic science are still struggling with the outbirths of a false, synthetic science which had become venerable by age. Thus, these men were still seeking after the philosophers stone, astrology still took with them the place of astronomy, and alchemy the place of chemistry.

The revival of classical literature, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, finally opened the eyes of many of the learned with respect to the true character of synthetic science, and the principle of induction and analysis was laid down as the only principle capable of generating a genuine natural science. This principle, in the course of time, found a clear utterance in the writings of Baron, Locke, and others; and as early as the beginning of the seventeenth century was boldly acted upon by Copernicus, Galilee, and Kepler.

During the whole of the seventeenth century we accordingly find many of the learned busily engaged in collecting facts for a future analytic science which was to be entirely free from the shortcomings and failings of a merely synthetic science. The material which had thus been collected by the combined energy of the learned, and which heel been marshaled into scientific order by the labors of Leibnitz, Newton, and other kindred minds, at last had become so plentiful and superabundant that Swedenborg, in 1743, burst out in the following words:

The proper time [for attempting the analytic method] has come; for a rich store of experience is at hand; an accumulated heap sufficient to enable us to build a palace; a luxuriant field where our sickles may reap an abundant harvest; a table where we may enjoy the most sumptuous banquets. Nor do I think we ought to wait any longer, lest haply experimental knowledge should be overtaken by age, night, and oblivion; and the arts and sciences be carried to the tomb.Animal Kingdom, No. 14.

Again he says:

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The time is at hand when we may quit the harbor and sail for the open see. The materials are ready: shall we not build the edifice? The harvest is waiting: shall we not put in the sickle? The produce of the garden is rife and ripe: shall we fail to collect it for use? Let us enjoy the provided banquet, that is to say, from the experience with which we are enriched let us elicit wisdom. Had such a store as we possess been set before the sages of antiquity, there is reason to presume that they would have advanced the sciences to the heights not only of Pindus, but of Helicon. Nor will there be wanting men at this day, with this splendid inheritance of knowledge; who provided they devote their minds to the object from their earliest years, and with their full native powers, and do not suffer themselves to be carried away by the sensual pleasures and dissipations of the age--will carry the same sciences beyond the Pindus of the Ancients.Economy of Animal Kingdom, I., No. 26.

XVIII.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANBLYTIC SCIENCE.

AS we have seen in Section XI., there are three stages in the development of natural or rather analytical science, namely, 1. the sensual, 2. the scientific, and 3. the rational or doctrinal stage.

The first or sensual stage is that in which sensual impressions pour through the gates of the senses into the sensual mind, or into that part of the natural or corporeal memory which lies nearest to the body. During the second stage these sensual impressions by the influx of the dawning reason or rational mind are reduced into somewhat of a scientific order; by the same agency also these sensual impressions are more accurately defined, and in the form of scientific ideas are raised into the higher or interior part of the natural memory which lies nearer to the rational mind, and is further removed from the body. Its third or rational stage analytic science reaches, when the scientific ideas in the interior part of--the natural memory are enlightened by the light of heaven or the light of truth, and when under the guidance of positive principles derived from revelation, truths are extracted from these scientific ideas, and implanted in the rational mind, and thereby in the interior or spiritual memory.

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This process is briefly described in the following passage quoted in Section XI., p. 382:

Sensuals or the impressions of the senses are one thing scientifics another, and truths still another. They mutually succeed one another; for from the things of the senses exist scientifics, and from scientifics truths. The things which enter by the senses, are stored in the memory. Hence man concludes the scientific, or from them he perceives the scientific which he learns. From scientifics, finally, he concludes truths, or from them he perceives the truth which he learn.A. C. 5774.

The exterior and interior degrees of the natural mind or memory, in which the sensual and scientific development of analytical science takes place, belong to the natural world, and are enlightened by natural light (compare Diagrams iv. and v. in Section XI.), wherefore these two stages of analytic science may to some extent be cultivated by the scientific men in general, even by such as do not believe in spiritual causes and in a spiritual world, and by such as deny a personal Creator of the universe. But the rational mind, and hence also those truths which are extracted from scientific ideas and are deposited in the internal or spiritual memory, belong to the spiritual world, and are enlightened by spiritual light,--wherefore no one is able to labor in this stage of analytic science except one whole mind is enlightened by spiritual light, and who by revelation is endowed with a knowledge of those spiritual principles which alone enable a man to extract truths from the scientifics which repose in the interior degree of the natural mind or memory.

Concerning the influx of spiritual and natural light into the mind of man, we learn in Section XII., p. 396, that the internal man has its vision and understanding from the light of heaven, but the external man from the light of the world.

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The influx of the light of heaven into those things which are of the light of the world causes illustration, and at the same time apperception; if there be correspondence, the apperception of truth, and if there be not correspondence, the apperception of what is false instead of truth. (A. C. 3138.) From this it follows that by the natural light which enlightens those degrees in mans mind which are active in the sensual and scientific stages of analytic science, is meant the light of the natural world animated by spiritual light; we learn also that this light is qualified by the character of these degrees, whether they he in a state of correspondence or non-correspondence. The state of correspondence or non-correspondence of the natural mind, however, is determined in a great measure by the character of the prevailing love in these degrees, wherefore we further read in the above passage, as quoted in Section XII., that Illustration and apperception cannot be given, unless there be affection or love which is spiritual heat, and gives life to those things which are illustrated by light; just as, comparatively speaking, the light of the sun does not give life to the plants, but the heat which is in the light; as is evident from the seasons of the year. (A. C. 3138.)

From this it follows that a peculiar spiritual light, and also a peculiar love prevail in each of those degrees of the human mind where analytic science is generated; these different kinds of light, together with the general condition of those degrees of the human mind which they enlighten, are described in what follows:

Mans interiors are distinct from one another according to degrees by derivations; lights also are according to these degrees. The internal sensual, which is nearest to the sensuals of the body, has a most gross light (lumen). It was granted me to distinguish this lumen by much experience; I also noticed that whenever I lapsed into this lumen, falsities and evils of many kinds obtruded themselves, yea, also scandals against heavenly and Divine things, and moreover, what was filthy and defiled.

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The reason is that this lumen reins in hell, and chiefly by means of it the hells flow into man. When man is in this lumen, his thought is in a lumen very similar to that of his external sight, and is then almost in the body. Men who are in this lumen must be called sensual; for they do not think beyond the sensual things of the body; the things which lie beyond these they neither perceive nor believe; they believe only what they see and touch. In this lumen are those who have not at all cultivated things interior, living in a neglect and contempt of all those things which are rational and spiritual. In this lumen, especially are the avaricious and adulterers, and also those who have lived in mere pleasures, and in disgraceful idleness. Hence it is that such persons think filthy things, and concerning the holy things of the Church, they often think scandalous things. In this lumen are the hells; there are also in it some who are not so wicked; namely, those who were neither avaricious, adulterous, or voluptuaries, but who have become such because they did not cultivate their rational faculty. It was granted me to sec these spirits in a certain twilight....

When man is elevated toward the interiors, he comes out of the gross sensual lumen into a milder lumen; and then at the same time he is withdrawn from the influx of scandalous and filthy things, and is led nearer to those things which are of justice and equity (justum et aequum), because he is brought nearer to the angels who are with him, and they nearer to the light (lux) of heaven. This elevation from the things of the senses was known to the Ancients, also to the Gentiles [namely, the Greeks and Romans]; wherefore their sophi declared, that when the mind (animus) is withdrawn from the things of the senses, he then comes into an interior light, and at the same time into a tranquil state, and into a certain heavenly blessedness. Thence also they formed their conclusions in respect to the immorality of the soul.

Man may also be elevated into a still more interior degree and the more interiorly he is elevated, so much the clearer is the light into which he comes; and at last he comes into the light of heaven, which light is nothing else than wisdom and intelligence from the LORD.A. C 6310-6313.

As the powers which are active in a man during the formation of analytic science are the life and light, or the love and wisdom which pour into him out of heaven; as, therefore, it is of the utmost importance for us to know the precise nature of that life and that light which prevail in each of those degrees of the human mind where analytic science is developed,--we add the following passages in which the various degrees of light in a mans soul are still more minutely defined:

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Every division of mans interiors has its own distinct lumen, and its own heat distinct from the others.

The sensual degree has a respectively gross lumen. This lumen it was granted me to distinguish by much experience from the more interior species of lumen; and it was observed that whenever I was let down into that lumen, filthy and scandalous thing flowed in from the hells; so that this lumen is pernicious. This is because terrestrial, corporeal, and worldly things are in this lumen. This lumen is presented, when such things occur to the thought, as were perceived by men through the senses of sight, hearing, and touch; so that when he sees, hears, and feels these things interiorly in himself, thus the scandalous things which he had seen and also heard, there occur to him obscene words, and other things which he then feels interiorly in himself altogether in the same may as when he first felt and perceived them exteriorly by the senses.

But when man is elevated from this lumen so that he is drawn or led sway a little from the things of the senses, he then comes into an interior lumen which is not sensual, but is of the interior of the natural, when man is in this light, he is in a better state; he is then in apperception concerning the things that have entered by the senses, concerning their quality and their causes.

If he can think still more interiorly, he is then in a still more interior lumen, namely, in that of the spiritual-natural. This light is partly from the light of heaven in the natural light. The ancient sophi among the Gentiles knew this light, and they said, as may be seen from their writings, that if the lower mind (animus) were led away from the things of the senses, it would come into superior light and beatitude.--S. D. 4657.

Concerning the sensual light or lumen, or that which illuminates the exterior or lowest degree of the natural mind, we read further:

In general it is so that sensual lumen appears as spiritual lumen to the ignorant; as when they do not know whether a statement is made [by another] from the memory or from the understanding. Besides, sensual lumen, because it is in the world, is more resplendent [there] than interior light. Those in particular who are in evil are in sensual light, and they are much more cunning than others; wherefore by the Ancients they mere called serpents, because they excel the rest in the art of reasoning.--S. D. 5705.

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Again,

He who is in the gross sensual lumen is also in the pleasures of the body and of the senses which convey to him the first things in this life; he is also in such scientifics as contribute to these things. When a man from this lumen thinks of the truths of faith, of heaven, and of Divine things, he considers them of no account, and rejects them as things of which one may indeed speak, but which have no existence, because he cannot see and touch them. He believes only his senses. Such sensual men are now in the world in great number.

The sensual lumen is of this quality, because all those who out of hell are in the world of spirits, are in such lumen; and when a man is in such a lumen, he is in consort with the infernal crew who are there.S. D. 4627.

These passages throw much light on the quality of that part of a mans mind which is receptive of the material from the natural world, out of which in the course of time, under the influence of the synthetic principles received by the soul out of heaven, Analytic Science formed.

That analytic science is not the product of a mans natural senses, nor of his sensual mind, but of the higher powers of the soul acting on the contents of the natural mind, is clearly shown in Section XII., where we read:

According to the order of influx scientific and sensual truths are from rational truths; for interior flow into exterior things, or what is the same thing, superior into inferior things, but not vice versa. The appearance, indeed, is different, namely, that man by sensual and scientific things becomes rational; but this is a fallacy. Good from the LORD through mans rational faculty constantly flows in, meets, and adopts to itself scientifics; and in proportion to the quality thereof which it can adopt and arrange in true order, man becomes rational.A. C. 2577.

From this, however, it follows that the progress of analytic science is entirely in proportion to the opening and development of the interior degrees in a mans mind, namely, the scientific and rational. The opening of these degrees in a man is first determined by his age; for as we learn when he is a youth (puer, that is, up to his twentieth year), he thinks and comprehends things from sensuals; as he advances in age, he thinks and comprehends things from scientifics, and afterward from truths.A. C. 5774.

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But the transition from the sensual into the scientific stage by the opening of the interior natural degree in a man, is caused by a change in his love, as he approaches the age of maturity. This change is described in Section XII. in these words:

Every man after birth has the affection of knowing, and by this he learns those things by which the understanding is gradually formed, increases and is perfected. That from the affection of knowing arises the affection of truth is manifest; for when a man by the affection of knowing is made intelligent, his affection then does not impel him so much to acquire [additional] knowledge, as to reason and to draw inferences in respect to the things of his love, whether they be economical, civil, or moral.--D. L. W. 404.

From this it follows that as a man approaches the age of maturity, his indiscriminate love of acquiring knowledge decreases, and is succeeded by the love of truth. Under the stimulating influence of this love, scientific ideas are extracted from the mass of sensual impressions which was stored up in his memory during his childhood and youth. The nature of this love of truth is described in what follows:

In his second age, as a man advances in years, he is no longer content with storing up in the memory the things contained in the Word and in doctrinals, but he then begins to reflect upon them from his own thought; and so much as be adds from his own thought, pleases him. Here he is in the love of truth, from a certain worldly love; which is also a means of his learning more things which otherwise would have been neglected.A. C. 3603.

Under the influence of this love of truth, if the man so wills it, he is then also raised out of the gross lumen which prevails in his sensual mind into an interior light or lumen which is not sensual, but belongs to the interior or middle of the natural. He is then in a state in which he can make observations on the things that have entered by the senses--concerning their quality and their causes (S. D. 46217).

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In this light or lumen, therefore, are natural philosophers and men of science, when from the impressions of the senses they establish the facts of science, clearing them from the appearances and the inaccuracies of the senses. In this lumen, also, they are when they seek to establish the natural connection between the facts and phenomena of nature, and when they endeavor to elicit thence what is understood by natural causes. The representative work of this stage of analytic science is the Cosmos of A. von Humboldt; wherein its author limits himself to a survey of the actual facts and phenomena, of the natural universe, pointing out their natural connections, and assigning to them their natural causes.

Yet man is so constituted that he is not willing to remain in the knowledge of middle or mediate causes; but in the end feels irresistibly drawn to investigate and fathom the first causes and ends of all things.

Two courses are here open before him: for he may undertake this final investigate either under the guidance of revealed truth, or he may venture upon it unaided by revelation, and in opposition to its revealed principles. If he follows the first course, his mind will be opened to the reception of a still more interior, spiritual light, under the influence of which he will be able to see the ends of creation in its causes and effects. But if he enters upon the second course, his mind will be closed against the influx of spiritual light, and from the interior natural degree where he was in the beginning of his scientific career, he will sink down into the sensual degree, from which he started in life; and then the following words of our doctrines apply to him:

You will wonder that the learned, in great part, are sensual. This is because they have learned the sciences merely for the sake of fame, in order that they may be promoted to honors, and thus reap emoluments; and not for the sake of becoming wise.

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For all the sciences which are in the learned world are means of becoming wise, and also they are the means of becoming insane. When the learned are exalted to honors, they live more sensual than the simple; and then they believe it to be of simplicity to attribute anything to the Divine, and not to prudence and nature, and the rest to chance.--A. C. 6316.

The attempt of the learned to compass spiritual by natural things has plunged modern science into that state of desolation which has been exhibited in Sections VI.-IX.

The rational height, however, to which analytic science may attain, is always determined by the state of the Church, as is proved in Section XV. On this account also analytic science, during the era of the First Christian Church, could not be pushed beyond its scientific stage; end simply for this reason, because the Divine Word in that Church was not opened beyond the interior natural degree, represented by Jacob (see Diagram, in Section XI.)

And yet in order that the interior spiritual truths of the Divine Word, the revelation of which was promised at the LORDS Second Coming, might be received by mankind, analytic science had to be pushed to its rational or doctrinal stage, in order that by means of it the rational degree of the human mind might be opened, and thereby be made receptive of the doctrines of the internal sense.

A necessary preparation on the part of humanity, therefore, for the reception of the doctrines of the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture consisted in the development of the third or rational stage of analytic science. This was done by Emanuel Swedenborg, under the Divine auspices of the LORD, from 1710 to 1744, as he declares in the following passage:

I was first introduced by the LORD into natural science and thus prepared. This happened from the year 1710 to 1744, when heaven was opened to me; for every one is led by natural to spiritual things.

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Man is born natural; he is educated so as to become moral; and finally is generated by the LORD so as to become spiritual. Besides, the LORD granted me to love truths in a spiritual manner, that is, not on account of honor or gain, but on account of the truths themselves; for he who loves truths for the sake of truths, sees them from the LORD, because the LORD is the Way and the Truth (John xiv. 6); but he who loves them on account of honor and gain, sees them from himself; and seeing from oneself is identical with seeing falsities. (Documents concerning Swedenborg, Vol. II. p. 257.)

XIX.

SWEDENBORG, THE ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHER, AND THE MASTER OF ANALYTIC SCIENCE.

LOVE or affection is the motive power by which the various degrees in the human mind are opened, and by which man is raised out of a lower into a higher and more refined spiritual light. This we have shown in the preceding section. The love of acquiring knowledge prevails in the lowest or sensual degree, the love or affection of truth in the scientific or interior natural degree, and the love of uses in the rational degree or mind. Nevertheless, love or affection alone is not able to organize and form the rational mind. For this purpose truths or doctrinals must be extracted from the scientifics of the natural mind; yet these must have use for an end. On this subject we read:

Scientifics and doctrinals are distinct from each other in this, that doctrinals are derived from scientifics; doctrinals having respect to use, and being procured from scientifics by reflection.A. C. 3052.

Doctrinals have respect to rational things; because the rational mind receives and acknowledges them (A. C. 3365). The influence of the love or the life of use in the formation of the rational mind is clearly stated in what follows:

The rational [degree or mind] can never be conceived and born, or formed without scientifics and knowledges.

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But scientifics and knowledges must have use for an end; and when use is their end, life also is their end; for all life is of uses, because of ends. Unless they are learned for the life of uses, they are of no moment, because of no use.

But when they have use for their end, then they receive life from uses, yet a life such as the uses are. Those who learn knowledges in order to be perfected in the faith of love, for true and essential faith is love to the LORD and toward the neighbor, these are in the use of all uses, and receive a spiritual and celestial light from the LORD; and when in that life, they are in the faculty of perceiving all things which are of the LORDS Kingdom.--A. C. 1964.

But the love of uses, which is the prevailing love in the rational mind, as indicated above, is the same as the love of the LORD and. of the neighbor. This is clearly taught in what follows:

so far as a man is in the love of use, he is in the love of the LORD, so far also he loves the LORD and his neighbor, and is a man.Divine Love, XIII.

This love of uses must be the ruling love in the mind of the philosopher, if he would develop a true system of philosophy, which harmonizes with religion and the Church on the one hand, and with natural science on the other; for to those who desire truth from a spiritual use, the LORD will give from Himself by the Word all things profitable for this use.--A. R. 889.

But in order that any one may be in the love of the LORD, and thus in the love of spiritual uses, he must believe in the LORD and in revealed truth, and must allow himself to be guided by the principles of revealed truth. This is stated by Swedenborg in strong language in the following passage:

All intelligence and wisdom is false which is without the acknowledgment of what is Divine; for those who do not acknowledge the Divine, but nature instead of the Divine, all these think from their sensual corporeal, and are merely sensual, however learned and scholarly they may appear in the world.H. H. 353.

This principle was clearly seen and acknowledged by Swedenborg even during his scientific and philosophic career, as appears from what follows:

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True philosophy and contempt for the Deity are two opposites. Veneration for the Infinite Being can never be separated from philosophy; for he who fancies himself wise, whilst his wisdom does not teach him to acknowledge a Divine and Infinite Being, that is, he who thinks he can have any wisdom without a knowledge and veneration of the Deity, has not particle of wisdom.Principia, Chap, I., 4.

Again, according to Swedenborg, philosophers, like poets and musicians, are born, not made, and consequently it is not every one who has the faculty of becoming a philosopher, and thus of cultivating the rational stage of analytic science. This he teaches in the following passage, where he gives a glowing picture of the true philosopher:

To find out the causes of things from the study of given phenomena, certainly requires a talent of a peculiar mind. It is not every one that can confine his attention to one thing, and evolve with distinctness all that lies in it; it is not every one that can think profoundly, or, as Cicero says, that can cast up all his reasons, and state the sum of his thoughts, or, as in another place, that can recall the mind from the senses, fix upon the real truth in everything, and see and combine with exactness the reasons that led to his conclusions. This is a peculiar endowment, into which the brain must be initiated from its very rudiments, and which must afterward, by a gradual process, be made to acquire permanence by means of habit and cultivation. It is a common remark, that poets, musicians, singers, painters, architects, and sculptors are born such; and we know that every species of animal is born with that peculiar character which distinguishes it so completely from every other species. We see that some men come into the world as prodigies, endowed with superhuman powers of memory; others with an extraordinary activity of the whole faculty, amounting to a peculiar strength of imagination and intuitive perception, by virtue of which no sooner do they set the external mind in motion on any subject, than they excite the rationality of the corresponding rational mind; they arrange their philosophical topics into a suitable form, and afterward engage in thought till they see clearly whether their opinions are consonant with the decisions of a sound judgment, when, if any element of an obscure character embarrasses the subject, by a happy gift of nature, they separate the obscure from the clear, and in its place insert some other element more conformable to the general idea, so as to make all parts aptly cohere.

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With a natural faculty, they distribute their thoughts into classes, and separate mixed topics into appropriate divisions, and skillfully subordinate series thus perspicuously divided, one under the other; that is, the particular under the general, and the general under the universal. Thus are they never overwhelmed by the multiplicity of things, but are continually enlightened more and more, and, by the help of arrangement and general notions, recall to mind, whenever they please, such parts of the subject as had become effaced from their notice, and unfold such as are complicated or perplexed.

Those who are born with this felicity of talent, and afterward proceed in due order to its development, the more profoundly they penetrate into the depths of science, the less do they trust to their imagination, and the more cautious are they not to extend their reasoning beyond the strict limit justified by facts; or, if they indulge in conjecture at all, they treat it as mere surmise and hypothesis until experience bespeaks its correctness. They avoid as a hydra any premature attachment to opinions, or implicit credence in them, unless there are circumstances duly to support them. Even if they retain them in their memory, they do not admit them as links in any chain of reasoning, but, while conducting their argument, in a manner banish them from thought, and keep the attention fixed on data and facts alone. The fictitious depresses them, the obscure pains them, but they are exhilarated by the truth; and in the presence of everything that is clear, they too are clear or serene. When, after a long course of reasoning, they make a discovery of the truth, straightway there is a cheering light, and joyful confirmatory brightness, that plays around the sphere of their mind, and a kind of mysterious radiation--I know not whence it proceeds--that darts through some sacred temple in the brain. Thus, a sort of rational instinct displays itself, and in a manner gives notice that the soul is called into a state of more inward communion, and has returned at that moment into the golden age of its intellectual perfections. The mind that has known this pleasure (for no desire attaches to the unknown) is carried away wholly in pursuit of it, and in the kindling flame of its love despises, in comparison as external pastimes, all merely corporeal pleasures, and although it recognizes them as means for exciting the lower mind and de purer blood, it on no account follows them as ends. Persons of this cast consider the arts and sciences only as aids to wisdom, and learn them as helps to its attainment, not that they may be reputed wise for possessing them. They modestly restrain all tendency to inflated ideas of themselves, knowing that the sciences are an ocean, of which they can catch but a few drops. They look on no one with a scornful brow or a supercilious air, nor arrogate any praise to themselves.

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They ascribe all to the Deity, and regard Him as the source from whom all true wisdom descends. In the promotion of His glory, they place the end and object of their own.Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Part I., No. 19.

The true philosopher must have the spirit here described; and such must be the spirit of those who would successfully cultivate the rational stage of analytic science; their fundamental love must be the love of uses, which is identical with the love of good. They must be in the love of the highest use or of the highest good, and thus in the love of God; and then again they must be in the love of the neighbor; for by loving the neighbor, or by loving the good of the neighbor, they love the LORD.

The love of the LORD and the love of the neighbor also are the very opposites of the loves of self and of the world; and when any one is in the love of uses, or in the love of the LORD and of the neighbor, he has overcome, and is raised above the loves of self and of the world. The effect which these last loves exercise on the mind of the philosopher is graphically described by Swedenborg in what follows:

As the natural gift which we have mentioned above--or the faculty by which the understanding sees acutely and distinctly into the series of things--is to be perfected by the use of means, so, even where this faculty is by nature excellent, there are many thing that retard its advancement, diminish its energy, and enfeeble its efforts. Such, for instance, are the desires of the natural mind and the pleasures of the body, which render the rational mind, when too compliant to them, unable any longer to pursue its high investigations; for then it is, as it were, in bonds, and forced to go wherever lust will have it. This faculty is impaired and destroyed also by the cares and anxieties arising from domestic circumstances and the considerations of worldly prospects, for these determine the mind to low and outward things, and never raise it to the high and inward. Nothing superinduces more darkness on the human mind than the interference of its own fancied providence in matters that properly belong to the Divine Providence.

But this faculty is chiefly impaired by the thirst for glory and the love of self. I know not what darkness overspreads the rational faculties when the mind begins to swell with pride, or when our intuition of objects calls up in the objects themselves the image and glory of our own selfhood.

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It is like pouring a liquor upon some exquisite mine, which throws it into a froth, sullies its purity, and clouds its translucence. It is as if the animal spirits mere stirred into waves, and a tempest drove the grosser blood into insurgent motion, by which the organs of internal sensation or perception becoming swollen, the powers of thought are dulled, and the whole scene of action in their theatre changed. In those who experience these disorderly states, the rational faculty is crippled and brought to a stand-still, or rather its movements become retrograde instead of progressive. A limit is put to its operations, which its possessor imagines to be the limit of all human capacity because he himself is unable to overstep it. He sees little or nothing in the most studied researches of others, but everything--oh, how vainglorious!--in his own; nor can he return to correct conceptions until his elated thoughts hare subsided to their proper level. There are many, says Seneca, who might have attained to wisdom, had they not fancied they had attained it already. The Muses love a tranquil mind; and there is nothing but humility, a contempt of self, and a simple love of the truth, that can prevent or remedy the evils we have described.Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Part I., Nos. 21, 22.

The state of the will or of the love has a controlling influence in shaping the philosophy and the science which are derived from the minds of philosophers and men of science. This is further stated by Swedenborg in these words:

Although we may be surpassingly rich in experience, and accomplished in the sciences, and gifted besides with a faculty of thinking with the greatest distinctness, yet it by no means follows that we shall therefore be able to rid ourselves of the mists that are involved in the fallacies of the senses, and in the fallacies of sensual origin, of the rational ideas, and to enjoy an insight into real truths, in simple clothing, or naked loveliness. Those are only counterfeits and appearances of truth that the lower faculties of: the body present to the higher faculty. For certain misleading and as it were phosphoric fires, form an alliance of companionship with corporeal ideas, and mimic the real lights of life. These fires belong to the body, to the natural mind, and even to the rational mind itself. The fires of the body are the pleasures of the bodily senses. The fires of the animal [or external natural] mind are lusts or cupidities, whose name is legion. The fires of the rational [or interior natural] mind are the ambitions and desires of ends, that converge to the love of self, as the ultimate centre, and terminate in it.

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These heats are powers deriving their ground of activity from the body, which operating in the rational [or interior natural] mind, extinguish there the holy fire and purely spiritual altar flame. A light still remains, warm in relation to the body, but cold in relation to the soul and the higher mind. In this case, although we revolve and combine ideas with distinctness, and perspicuously contemplate analyses framed of reasons, yet these are only spectres and impure phantoms of truths, which see ultimate ends in ourselves, and in the love of self, and which powerfully and confidently persuade us that they are Delphian virgins and graces; and lead us to think, that if we ourselves applaud them, the whole Parnassian band will applaud them as well: but they are far indeed from being truths, for they differ from them as much as the phantasms of the body and the mockeries of the world differ from the essences and forms of heaven. Thus if we mid to invite real truths, whether natural, of moral, or spiritual, (for they all make common cause by means of correspondence and representation,) into the sphere of our rational minds, it is necessary that we extinguish the impute files of the body, and thereby our own delusive lights, and submit and allow our minds, unmolested by the influences of the body, to be illuminated by the rays of the spiritual power: then for the first time truths flow in; for they all emanate from that power as their peculiar fountain.Animal Kingdom, 463, Eng. edit.

The first effect which the predominant loves of self and of the world exert on philosophers and men of science is that these loves close their minds against the light of heaven, and render them unwilling any longer to hear the voice of revelation. The second effect is that they completely hide from their view the end of good, or the use-principle in creation, causing them to embrace the principle of form, or the equivalent of form instead.

In the Church the dominion of the loves of self and of the world has engendered the dogma of faith done, ostracizing charity which is the soul of religion and of the Church. In philosophy the prevalence of the same spirit has had an analogous effect, and has produced the dictum of Des Cartes: Cogito ergo sum; which, when translated into plain English, means that thought is everything, and love and affection nothing; that is, so far as the speculations of the philosophers are concerned.

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In science the thirst for glory and the love of self have in like manner banished the love of good, or the love of spiritual uses from the mind of the men of science, causing them to concentrate their endeavors on the investigation of the outward form and the constituent particles of the objects of nature, and to lope sight of their uses, and thus the ends of their creation. This is the cause of the anti-religious tendency of modern science, and its hostile attitude to the Church and to Divine revelation. This also is the reason why it has been utterly unable to eater upon the cultivation of the rational stage of analytic science, and why it is constantly becoming more and more grossly sensual and corporeal. The denial of the personal God of Scripture and of Divine revelation, and the deification of the human intellect and of mans own self, ties the men of science down to the sensual region of his mind, and prevents him from having any faith in rational principles and inductions.

Wherefore modern science instead of being analytic, is synthetic in the worst sense of that word. For instead of appealing to the rational mind, enlightened by revelation, for guidance in its inductions, it takes counsel of the fitful, fallacious and fatuous light of nature as it is reflected upon the sensual mind of its votaries. Sensuous experiments are made and the hypotheses suggested by their sensual minds are confirmed by these experiments, and then the hypotheses are adopted as scientific truths.

Swedenborg, in order to scale the rational heights of analytic science, proceeded in a manner altogether different. He first armed himself with a sincere faith in the LORD and His Divine Word, in order that he might by this means keep at bay the deceitful loves of self and of the world; and secondly, instead of fixing and concentrating his gaze upon the outward form of the objects of nature, he directed it to the good or the use which they perform.

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This is a fundamental principle in his scientific works, and was clearly enunciated by him in Chapter I. of his Animal Kingdom in these words:

The use or effect which carries out the end must be the first object of analytical inquiry. The nature and quality of a member or organ [of the human body] is known from the use. The use determines what a thing is in itself, or in its own form; what it is, in series with other things which are contiguous to it or surround it, and which in continuity precede, and in continuity follow it; it determines also what it is, in order, with those which are above and below, or prior and posterior to it. All these and their uses indicate the nature and quality of the thing under investigation. The use and end also are the first things which manifest themselves; for the end is in a manner all in all in every stage of the progress, from first to last, the very soul of the thing. Thus all things that belong to the body, and that flow forth into act from the body, manifest to the life the quality of the soul.A. K. 312.

This same principle Swedenborg declared more emphatically in the following passage:

Each and everything in the world is for the sake of use, and the uses of all things in the world reveal the Creator. Everything organic in man and everything corporeal in him, as well as everything corporeal in the kingdoms, both animal and vegetable, is formed for use, and according to use so that it is use, as it were, that formed them. Wherefore, whoever from use investigates organic things, can then see the connection of the parts; it is otherwise when from the parts he speculates concerning the use.

Besides, in the vegetable kingdom there is nothing but what is formed for use, and indeed for a manifold one, and thus by use; namely, for the nutrition of animals and of the human race, indeed for the nutrition of every one of them, even so that there is never any want. While I was thus keeping my mind directed upon the use of plants, namely, that they were created for the use of animals and of man, so that every one by much experience may know to which animal they are of use, and further what use each plant affords in respect to nutrition, and also in respect to its odor and likewise in medicine; while I was thus in contemplation of the whole series of uses, it was given me to see in the spiritual idea, which is the same as the angelic idea, that there cannot be anything material in use, when yet use forms all thing in general and particular, because they are formed according to use.

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As there is nothing material in use, by which yet all things, as it were, are formed, it became evident to me from the spiritual idea that it is the Divine which forms them, and that it is absurd to think that what is natural has done so, since the natural cannot be distinguished from the material, as for example, heat, moisture, dew, rain, which are natural; of use, however, it cannot be conceived that it is either natural or material.---S. D. 2510, 2512.

From this it appears that the idea of use is a spiritual idea which appears only in the light of heaven, and not in the light of the world. And as the rational stage of analytic science treats pre-eminently of the uses of things, it follows that no one can labor in this stage of analytic science, except he be in the love of uses or in the love of the LORD and of the neighbor, and thereby in spiritual light. From this it follows also that the science originating in the rational mind of a man who is imbued with the love of uses is spiritual and no longer natural; and it follows further that science and revelation can be reconciled only as the facts of science are investigated, classified, and reduced into a scientific order from use as s starting-point.

The rational man of science, however, who is imbued with the love of uses, and who from this end regards the facts of science, does not on this account neglect the study of the form of the objects of nature and of their parts; but he studies their form from their use; wherefore, with him in the classification of these objects use is the primary consideration, and form the secondary.

The idea of use also furnishes him with those synthetic principles which he needs in order to unravel, to arrange and classify, and hence to obtain an interior view of the objects and forces of nature. For instance, the organs of the human body in his eyes are the exponents of uses or functions, and he notices that these functions are related to one another like what is prior end posterior, and also like what is higher and lower, or what is interior and exterior. As forms are the exponents of uses, in order to obtain an understanding of these forms, he applies to them the same categories which he discovered by an analysis of their uses.

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By analyzing use he is therefore enabled to analyze form; and by establishing clearly all the categories of use, he is able to unlock and to solve the mystery of the forms of nature.

This Swedenborg has done both with respect to the organic and the inorganic forms of nature; and hence before he attempted from the circumference to reach the centre, he laid down invisible threads from the centre to the circumference, by which he was assisted and directed in tracing his course from the circumference to the centre. These invisible threads are those principles or theories which he learned by an analysis of the uses of organic and inorganic nature.

Swedenborg speaks as follows of the synthetic principles which guided him in his analysis of the human body, and by which from the material organism of the body he was led to a knowledge of the soul:

Since it is impossible to climb or leap from the organic, physical, and material world, I mean, the body, immediately to the soul, of which neither matter, nor any of the adjuncts of matter are predicated, (for spirit is above the comprehensible modes of nature, and is in that region where the significations of physical things perish); it was necessary to lay down new ways by which I might be led to her, and thus gain access to her palace; in other words, to discover, disengage, and bring forth, by the most intense application and study, certain new doctrines for my guidance, which are the doctrines of forms, of order and degrees, of series and society, of communication and influx, of correspondence and representation, and of modification.*--A. K. 17.

* The view here expressed concerning spirit cannot be taken in its whole extent without contradicting the doctrine concerning spirit in the theological writings of our author. We must, therefore, limit the statement that spirit is above the comprehensible modes of nature merely to signify that certain adjuncts of matter, such as gravity, inertia, etc., are inapplicable to spirit.

Again he says:

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Whereas the soul has her residence in a place so sublime and eminent, that we cannot ascend to her, and attain to the knowledge of her, except by a particular and general investigation of the lower and accessible things of her kingdom or whereas she lives withdrawn so far within, that she cannot be exposed to view until the coverings under which she is hidden are unfolded and removed in order; it hence becomes necessary that we ascend to her by the same steps or degrees, and the same ladder, by which her nature, in the formation of the things of her kingdom, descends into her body.

I will therefore precise the Doctrine of Series and Degrees,* the design of which is, to teach the nature of order and its rules as observed and prescribed in the succession of things; for the rational mind, in its analytical enquiry into causes from effects, nowhere discovers them, except in the subordination of things, and the coordination of subordinates; wherefore if we would advance from the sphere of effects to that of causes, we must proceed by Orders and Degrees; agreeable to what rational analysis itself both approves and advises. The rational mind also, by means of this doctrine carefully investigated and established, will see opened to its view a broad and even path leading to the beginnings of causes, and will behold the dissipation of those occult dualities, which, like the shadows of a thicket, deepen at every step so as to shut out all further prospect and progress; for as often as nature betakes herself upward from visible phenomena, or, in other words, withdraws herself inward, she instantly as it were disappears, while no one knows what is become of her, or whither she is gone, so that it is necessary to take science as a guide to attend us in pursuing her steps.--E. A. K., Part I., No. 579.

* The doctrines of order and degrees, of series and society, are treated of by Swedenborg in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Part I., Nos. 680-682. The doctrine of Forms is discussed in OEconomia Regni Animalis, Transactio III., edited by J. J. Garth Wilkinson, Nos. 260-273. The doctrine of correspondence and representation, however, is contained in the Hieroglyphic Key, of which an English translation, prepared by Dr. Wilkinson, was published in 1847.

As an analytic philosopher, Swedenborg differed from Bacon* and others in this, that in his analyses of nature in general, and of man in particular, he was guided by the certain and fixed doctrines which he had deduced by an analysis: of the uses of nature.

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Impelled as he was by the genuine love of uses, and interiorly inspired by the love of the LORD and of the neighbor, he was able to deduce these doctrines. He was kept by the LORD Himself in the spiritual love of uses, because the LORD deigned to employ him as an instrument through whom he would reveal to men the doctrines of the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture. For this purpose, the LORD introduced him first into the natural sciences and prepared him, as he declares, granting to him besides to love truths is a spiritual manner, that is to love them, not for the sake of honor, nor for the sake of gain, but for the sake of the truths themselves; and of him who loves the truth for the sake of truths, he says that he sees them from the LORD, because the LORD is the Way and the Truth.Documents concerning Swedenborg, Doc. 232.

* On this subject, Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson in his Introduction to the English translation of the OEconomia Regni Animalis, says:
Bacon desires, unassisted by philosophical doctrines to scale the heights of nature, hoping that one correct induction piled upon another, will enable him at length to arrive at the apex of the pyramid; meanwhile he disallows the mind so greatly, that its intuitions are affronted, and its proper experience undervalued; so that though he indeed aims at principles, yet he has negatived the faculty which alone can receive and apprehend them. Aristotle, on the other hand, accepts the experience of the mind, and draws it out into logical explanations, but he has not determined it by matter, and he has therefore but a slight hold on nature, compared with what is at present necessary for marshaling the sciences. Swedenborg embraces the merits and avoids the imperfections of these writers, and he alone has propounded a science constituted of principles which as it mere spontaneously are physical in the physical universe and philosophical in the mind of man, and by which we may pass and repass from the one into the other, so as to contemplate the end of creation in connection with the means, and vice versa. The ascending method of Bacon, and the descending one of Aristotle, are in fact both realized by Swedenborg, and being connected with each other at either end, they form a legitimate and widening spiral, revolving from the senses to the mind, and from the mind to the senses.

We believe, therefore, that Swedenborg was providentially led by the LORD into those synthetic principles which guided him in his analytic inductions. These principles successively dawned upon him in his scientific career, as they were required by him. Of the doctrine of degrees he became conscious as early as 1717, while writing a paper entitled De causis rerum, contained in Volume I. of his Photolithographed MSS.;

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and this same principle was applied by him in all its clearness in the first larger anatomical transaction which he wrote in 1719, under the title Anatomy of our most subtle nature showing that our moving and living force consists of tremulations, and which is likewise contained in the volume of his MSS. mentioned above.

The doctrine of forms, which is closely connected with that of degrees, the doctrine of modification, and also the doctrine of communication and of influx, he developed first in his Principia, which he published in 1734, and in the preparatory treatises to that work which he wrote between 1720 and 1734. The doctrine of series and society, however, he brought out first fully in those published and unpublished writings which he wrote between 1734 and 1744 in connection with his great work entitled Regnum Animal. Finally, the doctrine of correspondence and representation, the crowning doctrine of his analytic career, he elaborated in 1741; the elements of this doctrine are contained in Section XIII. of Volume III. of his Photolithographed MSS.

These principles or doctrines which are eternal truths mere revealed to Swedenborg from God out of heaven, we hold, directed him in laying out, and in organizing the rational stage of analytic science, so far as this treats; 1. of the imponderable forces of nature, and of the natural universe in general, and 2. of the organization of man.

But the love of spiritual uses, and a knowledge of those principles and doctrines which Swedenborg derived by an intuition of the ends or uses in nature, were not of themselves sufficient to make him an analytic philosopher. Something further was required that he might be able to work his way from the circumference toward the centre, from the facts of nature to the truths of nature. Of this he speaks as follows:

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There are three causes which lend us to intelligence; namely, ministering causes, mediate causes, and efficient causes. Experience is the first or ministering cause; the sciences are the second or mediate causes; the faculty of thinking distinctly is the third or efficient cause.

With respect to the first division, or EXPERIENCE, it is this that supplies the objects of rational analyses, and the individual links of the chain, and as it were, the materials for building the edifice. For nature and the visible world flow with these as their treasures, first into the organs of the senses, and through their open doors to the general sensorium, and at length present them for adaptation into analytic series as so many rational ideas and quantities. Each sense brings its gifts and its treasures, and submits them to a kind of vision, not dissimilar to ocular vision, and thus carries them to the memory, into the little cells or receptacles thereof, from the gathered stores of which, the rational mind chooses whatever suits its purposes, and takes it out and mingles it with reasons. Hence in proportion as the memory is enriched and provided with these materials, in the same proportion the rational mind, if backed by a happy genius, will be able skillfully, felicitously, and approximately, and agreeable to the truth, to distribute its analyses into series, to adjust and conclude them, of many analytic conclusions again to form new analyses, and in the end to evolve its ultimate analyses. But to explore causes from effects by this way, end from means, consequences from premises, or those things that are hidden from those that are apparent to the senses, is an arduous and vast undertaking. The experience of mans five senses, although he should outlive the years of Nestor, is slender and poor indeed. We need accumulations of effects and phenomena, collected by numerous laborers in the field, and during successive lifetimes, and even centuries; for we must be instructed by all things of one thing, if we are to know that one thing thoroughly. Each contributes in some degree, and brings as it were its particular store, to build this edifice that truths can inhabit. It is the province of the builder to fit everything in its proper place, so that all the materials shall be beautifully coherent, and harmonious in their tendency. Hence the learned world, and mediately the other branches of society, are furnished with the appliances and means of attaining knowledge and wisdom, in proportion as they are rich in the stores of experience. Of these stores memory is the treasurer.A. K. Engl. Ed., 1., Nos. 458, 460.

Again Swedenborg says:

We possess a considerable body of experiments, illustrative of the elements of ether, air, fire, and mater, and also of the magnet; and if we reckon also those which have been made in metallurgry and chemistry, where nearly all the elements are called forth, and employed for the solution and condensation of bodies, we cannot for a moment doubt that the world is at this day supplied with sufficient means to enable us to pursue our purpose.

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Indeed, it does not appear that there is any occasion for that infinite variety of phenomena which some deem necessary, in order to acquire a knowledge of natural things: we have need only of the more important; of such as bear directly and proximately upon the point, and do not diverge too obliquely and remotely from the series of our mechanical world and its powers.Pincipia, Engl. Edit., Vol. I., p. 4, 5.

In respect to his own course in gathering the facts from which he made his inductions, Swedenborg says:

Assisted by the studies and writings of the illustrious men, mentioned above, and fortified by their authority, I have resolved to commence and complete my design, namely, to open some part of those things which it is generally supposed that nature has involved in obscurity. Here and there I have taken the liberty to throw in the results of my own experience; but this only sparingly; for on deeply considering the matter, I deemed it best to make use of the facts supplied by others. Indeed there are some that seem born for experimental observation, and endowed with a sharper insight than others, as if they possessed naturally a finer acumen; such are Eustachius, Ruysch, Leeuwenhoek, Lancisi, etc. There are others again who enjoy a natural faculty for contemplating facts already discovered, and eliciting their causes. Both are peculiar gifts and are seldom united in the same person. Besides I found when intently occupied in exploring the secrets of the human body, that as soon as I discovered anything that had not been observed before, I began (seduced probably by self-love) to grow blind to the most acute lucubrations and researches of others, and to originate the whole series of inductive arguments from my particular discovery alone; and consequently to be incapacitated to view and comprehend, as accurately as the subject required, the idea of universals in least particulars, and of least particulars under universals. Nay, when I essayed to form principles from these discoveries, I thought I could detect in various other phenomena much to confirm their truth, although in reality they were fairly susceptible of no construction of the kind. I therefore laid aside my instruments, and restraining my desire for making observations, determined rather to rely on the researches of others than to trust to my own.E. A. K., Part I., No. 18.

On the subject of mediate causes or sciences, Swedenborg expresses himself as follows:

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With respect to the SCIENCES, or the methods and arts that constitute the mediate or mediant cause, they are the mistresses which teach us to reduce the accumulations of experience to order, to select what is fitting, to insert it in the becoming place, and as architects to construct the edifice, so that all things shall be put together according to rule. Then again the sciences examine with their compasses and levels, and ascertain whether the building that has been constructed be graceful and regular in its result. It is utterly impossible by the help of experience alone, apart from the sciences, as patrons of genius, to climb to that Helicon where simple truths reside, and where causes take precedence of effects. For the sciences bring vague and scattered ideas together, under a few heads, and place them before the minds eye in a simpler and more connected form, and thereby give boundaries to the rational sight, and concentrate it more closely upon the essences of things: they also reduce those [ideas] to formulas or words, and circumscribe and define these words by terms, that they may fall the more easily and rapidly under the comprehension of the master and the scholar; thus they give a comparatively clear representation of those things that result from the composition of a number of ideas into one, and in the end, from a number of such compound ideas, as conclusions; for these ideas are already products, and as it were, children conceived and brought forth by means of experience from the human faculties. But since in the nature of the world, and in the world of nature, and its three kingdoms, there are infinite varieties, hence infinite genera of these varieties, and species of these genera, therefore each genus is presided over by its tutelar muse, or its peculiar science, who keeps several other sciences under her general auspices, as a mistress having many hand-maids; and each ancillary science of this genus has in like manner many others under her, as domestic servants; and these in their turn have their subordinates: for there is not the smallest part of a science, but is of such vast extent, that it has almost no bounds, and contains things so infinite, that it is sufficient of itself, as a particular science, to occupy the entire sphere of one understanding. But still there is a connection of all the sciences, and finally a concentration into one, the universal of all, from which superior beings and powers contemplate and govern all lower things, as placed in the circumferences. To them it is given to descend by the path of synthesis, or from the prior to the posterior sphere, and through the veriest beginnings, and thus through the mysteries of our human sciences. Thus does the soul descend, under the auspices of the supreme mind, while it is constructing the body, and exciting it to act in conformity with its structure; and hence there is nothing, how deeply soever and intimately it be hidden in the bosom of our sciences, in geometry, mechanics, physics, chemistry, optics, acoustics, pneumatics, logic, psychology, etc. which the soul does not call forth in order, and determine into act, according to the end in view in the effect, or according to use.A. K., Engl. Edit., No. 461.

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Here we learn that before Swedenborg could ascend to the rational stage of analytic science, he had first to acquire the material of science by taking a thorough view of the experimental part of the sciences, and afterward he had to rise to the scientific stage, by studying carefully and acquiring intellectually the treasures which are laid down in the writings of the foremost scientists and philosophers of his age.

To what extent he carried these preparatory studies, appears from the letters which he wrote between 1709 and 1724, as contained in Section III. of the Swedenborg Documents, and likewise from the books and scientific papers which he composed during the same period, and which are minutely discussed in the Chronological Account of his writings contained in Section XII. of the same work.

From these documents it appears that he first laid a solid foundation for his future cosmical studies by an intimate acquaintance with all the branches of mathematics, from algebra to the differential and integral calculus, and again from plane and solid geometry to all the heights arid intricacies of analytical geometry. Geometry, together with logic and rational philosophy he regarded as the backbone of all the sciences, without a thorough knowledge of which it is utterly impossible to unlock or reveal the arcana of invisible nature. On this subject he says:

The second medium leading to wisdom, by which the arcana of invisible nature maybe unlocked or revealed, is geometry and rational philosophy; by means of which we are enabled to compare our experiments, to digest them analytically, to reduce them to laws, rules, and analogies, and thence to arrive at some more remote principle or fact which before was unknown.--Principia, Engl. Edit., Vol. I., p. 14.

The mathematics are closely related to astronomy and mechanics;

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wherefore we soon find Swedenborg engaged in astronomical end mechanical problems, and establishing friendly relations with the foremost astronomers and mechanicians of his age. Witness Halley and Flamsteed in England, De la Hire and Varignon is France, and Polhem in Sweden.

The next subjects which Swedenborg took into hand were mineralogy, metallurgy, and chemistry on the one hand; and hydraulics, hydrostatics, electricity, magnetism, and the theory of fire on the other; which studies he alternated with minute investigations into the problem of life in the human body. The results of these studies are contained in his Opera Philosophica et Mineralia, published in 1734, the Specimens of a Work on Chemistry, published in 1721, and in an anatomical paper of some length, which in 1719 he submitted to the Sundhets Collegium in Stockholm.

The latter period of his scientific career, from 1734-1744, was devoted entirely to anatomy, physiology, microscopy, and other cognate branches of the natural sciences; the works which he wrote during that period furnishing abundant evidence of the thoroughness with which he studied and analyzed the larger and smaller works of all European scholars treating on these subjects.

Swedenborg divided the sciences into empirical and theoretical, and is the latter he included logic, psychology, and philosophy, as appears from the following passages:

The empirical sciences yield nothing more than materials and instruments, but the theoretical sciences give the laws and rules according to which we are to work. The latter are in a manner architectonic, and teach us to arrange the materials of experience in suitable order. There is, however, no science, either practical or theoretic, that must not have derived its elements from visible nature and the world: the sciences are only descriptions and as it were types thereof; for instance, those which teach the laws of motion, the rules of fluxions, or other harmonies and proportions, are either deduced from nature itself immediately, or by the aid of conclusions from other sciences.A. K., Engl. Edit., No. 461, Note m.

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From the mere anatomy of the animal body, we gather nothing more, than that the organic parts in any viscus have such and such a situation, consistence and shape; but in order to bring out the use from the parts, and to carry on the chain until at length we arrive at the ultimate use, we must necessarily consult the sciences, and learn from them the nature of the case with respect to the connections of things, and what they prove. Geometry, by its lines, as well as by its proportions and analogies, teaches what such connection involves, and how one thing is related to another, and what series and equation result at last, when all are summed up analytically; from which result a conclusion may be formed respecting the ultimate effect and use. Philosophy on the other hand informs us, not merely that motions, forms, modes and qualities, are accidents, but also that substances are the subjects of all accidents; hence that motions, fluxions, forces, modes, effects and uses, are determined by means of substances; and since geometry has substances for its objects, and demonstrates their figures and forms, it follows that forces and all accidents whatever are similarly circumstanced; wherefore philosophy founded upon geometrical principles, affords us conclusive instruction respecting the effects of things.A. K., Engl. Edit., No. 461, Note n.

Swedenborg affirms definitely in the following passage that the sciences are the creations of mans rational faculty out of the material furnished him both by the senses and the natural mind; he likewise describes the modus operandi in which this is done:

It is the province of the rational mind to form one compound idea out of many ideas, and of many such compounds again to form another idea, and to advance in this manner by a continual progression, or successive elevation, to higher powers. But whatever is brought out and concluded by such means, is immediately registered among the ideas laid up in the memory; as for instance, the laws of motion, and many other things. Thus whatever is learned either by observation, or analytic inductions, is retained under the form of an idea, without further rational investigation. Words themselves are but ideal types.A. K., No. 461, Note p.

Thus far we have spoken of the experience and the science, the ministering and mediate causes which must be at the disposal of the analytic philosopher, in order that he may come into a state of intelligence in everything that concerns the range of human science;

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we shall now discuss the third or efficient cause, without which he is utterly unable to labor in the rational stage of analytic science. This cause is the faculty of thinking distinctly.

Swedenborg had this faculty most pre-eminently. For this faculty, coupled with the spiritual love of uses in which he was principled, enabled him by the most intense application and study to discover, disengage, and bring forth those rational doctrines or synthetic principles by which he was guided in his analytic discoveries. This special faculty dwells in the rational or inmost degree of the natural mind, which in Section XI., Diagram VI., is represented by Israel, and which is intermediate between the lower degrees of the natural mind where mans experience and science are stored up, and those interior degrees of his spirit which are in the light of heaven, and which receive immediately the life and light which are diffused from our Infinite Father in heaven.

The light which prevails in this degree of the human mind is derived immediately from the light of heaven. The power of perception which he enjoys who is elevated into this light by the opening of the rational degree of his spirit, is described in what follows:

When a man is in interior thought from affection, and withdraws his mind from the things of the senses and from the body, he is then in rational apperception; because then the things which are below, or which are of the external man, are at rest, and the man is almost in his spirit.A. C., 5141.

Swedenborg was in this state as an analytic philosopher while he was engaged in tracing out the ultimate causes of nature in his Principia and in his Regnum Animale. The fundamental condition in which he was enabled in these works to lay out the rational stage of analytic science, and to enjoy rational apperception, was the love of uses; yet the faculty of thinking distinctly, and hence rational apperception, is dependent also upon a mans hereditary disposition, and upon the education which he receives, as Swedenborg states in what follows:

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THE FACULTY OF THINKING DISTINCTLY, or of taking a clear view of the ideas raised up to the ken of the rational mind, of combining them, framing them analytically, and lastly of bringing together the results of the reasons in one equation in which the mind perspicuously contemplates the cause of its effect, and the progress of the means to the end,--this faculty is the efficient cause, and the highest natural gift. Experience and science, apart from this faculty, are administering and instrumental causes without their principal; and like forces without living power, which forces are dead. This faculty arises either from primary conditions, or from secondary, that is, use and education, but the best form of it is that which results from both. It arises from primary conditions in those whose fortunate lot it is to have the organs that take up, convey, and ultimately imbibe ideas conformed to the rule and standard of nature, gifted with a liberal sphere of action, and with a power of disentangling multitudinous particulars, and arranging all things according to the present state of objects: also, to have a, happy memory, that will appropriate objects accurately, distinctly assign to each series its proper chambers, and supply therefrom in due order those particulars which the mind decrees, desires, or is enjoined, to fit in, either as antecedents to conclusions, or as means to an advancing end. But without the secondary conditions of use and education, we do but stop on the threshold, and scarcely survey anything more than the courts of nature, and not her magnificent interior recesses; wherefore the experiences, with the abundance of which at this day the coffers of the learned are overflowing, and with them the doctrines and arts that have grown in elaboration and completeness from the earliest ages down to the present time, must be invited into the memory, which is the treasurer of such things, must be acquired for use, and laid up as pledges. To these requisites we must superadd cultivation, or an assiduous awakening of our faculties, and a constant exercise of the gift itself, until it becomes a part of our nature. Above all things we must aim by education to become thoroughly imbued with the power of recalling the rational mind from the senses and the lower natural mind; in short, from cares, from the lusts of the body, the allurements of the world, and thus as it mere from our lower selves,--while we are dwelling in its higher sphere; and this, in order that the sensoria of the body may be deprived of their light, so long as the sensorium nearest to the soul is lightened and illuminated with its light.

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By these means we mount to our higher mind, or to the soul, which then becomes accessible, and infuses power. For in proportion as we ascend upon these wings, in the same proportion this higher mind descends to meet us, and enfolds and embraces our wings in her winged sandals, and teaches us to convert our ideas into reasons, and reasons into analyses; for this is not a corporeal act, and therefore we cannot derive it from the senses, but from a power that flows into one sphere from the sphere above it. That this is no property of ours, but is made [to appear] as ours by a supernatural means of union,--of this we may be perfectly convinced by reflecting upon the operations of our rational minds; for from the mind as their fountain, we derive our sciences and arts; from the mind we take the laws and axioms, of which, when digested in becoming order, we build our doctrines, particularly our philosophic doctrines, which are the mere operations of the mind, explored by processes of intuition and reflection upon its modes of acting. Thus the principle that acts dwells altogether above us; and below it, the principle that becomes conscious, and that is in some slight degree instructed respecting the manner in which the action takes place. But these are mere drops that we drink from this immense lake of knowledge and wisdom, and that we communicate to our lower powers by literary exercitations.A. K., Engl. Edit., No. 462.

In laying down here, and in the foregoing parts of this section, these requirements of the analytic philosopher, we believe that Swedenborg delineated faithfully those attributes and qualities which he saw that he himself needed in the prosecution of his work: nor can we doubt that he himself possessed all these requirements, because otherwise he could not so clearly have seen and described them. All these faculties of his mind also we believe were fully engaged and on the stretch while he was making those investigations, the results of which are contained in his scientific and philosophic writings. As by the elaboration of these works his own rational mind was to be prepared for the perception of the doctrines of the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture, and ax by a rational perception of the ends and causes of the natural universe he was to be prepared for the perception of the ends and causes by which the spiritual or immaterial universe, and thus heaven and hell, are governed,--therefore we further believe that in the construction of his great works, and especially those entitled the Principia, the OEconomia Regni Animalis, and the Regnum Animale, he was guided by the LORD JESUS CHRIST Himself, and that by the elaboration of these works the LORD prepared him to serve as an instrument for effecting His Second Coming.

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We would not, however, here affirm the correctness of every fact given in these scientific works, but we believe that the later and more exact data generally serve as well, and often even better, as the basis of those principles he has evolved. That Swedenborg during his career as an analytic philosopher was governed by the LORD Himself, he expressly states in the following words:

What the acts of my life involved, I could not distinguish at the time they happened, but by the Divine mercy of God Messiah I was afterward informed with regard to some, even to many, particulars. From these I was at last able to see that the Divine Providence governed the acts of my life uninterruptedly from my very youth, and directed them in such a manner, that by means of the knowledge of natural things I was enabled to reach a state of intelligence.Adversaria, Part II., No. 839.

That in his analytic inductions also he was led by the LORD, and that he was able to tell whether the result at which he arrived was true or not, appears from the following passage, where he describes the state of the analytic philosopher from his own experience:

When, after a long course of reasoning, they [i.e., the analytic philosophers] make a discovery of the truth, straightway there is a cheering light, and joyful confirmatory brightness, that plays around the sphere of their mind, and a kind of mysterious radiation--I know not whence it proceeds--that darts through some sacred temple in the brain.-- A. K., Part I., No. 19.

This mark of confirmation or approbation which Swedenborg received from the LORD while he was engaged in his analytic inductions, is described more minutely in what follows:

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Flames signify confirmation; such a flame has, by the Divine mercy of God Messiah, appeared to me many times, and indeed of various sizes, and of different colors and lustre; so that while I was writing a certain little work, scarcely a day passed, for several months, without a flame appearing to me as bright as a chimney-fire; this was at the time a sign of approbation, and it was before the time when spirits began to speak with me in an audible voice.Adversaria, III., No. 7012.

An allusion to this sign of approbation may be found in the photo lithographic edition of Swedenborgs MSS., Vol. VI., page 318, where he treats in a compendious form of the Corpuscular Philosophy, and where, at the bottom of the page, he asserts the truth of his article in this form: These things are true, because I have [received] the sign (Haec ver sunt, quia signum habeo).

In conclusion, we must slate that Swedenborg during his career as an analytic Philosopher was guided very much by the truth, that there is a relation of correspondence between man and the world around him; that is, man in his eyes was a recipient vessel of the forces of nature which are active around him. So the ear, according to him, is created according to the vibrations of the common air which are productive of sound, and the eye is created as a most perfect receptive vessel of the modifications of the ether which are productive of light.

At first he had only a most general knowledge of this relation of correspondence, and he does not seem to have made a very great use of it in his inductions. Still, it exercised this effect upon him that it caused an alternation in his studies, so that at one time he studied what the ancients called the macrocosm; while at another time he was fully taken up with the study of the microcosm, or of the bodily constitution of man.

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Mathematics, astronomy, and mechanics engrossed his attention until 1718, when all at once he appeared in his Daedalus Hyperboreus, with a paper in which he investigated the nature of sensation; and this paper he expanded in 1719 into a large disquisition on the manner in which the senses report their sensations to the brain. Soon after he returned to his macrocosmical studies, which in 1734 culminated in the publication of the Principia, which work contains the results of the investigation of the inorganic part of the universe: then in the same year he published another microcosmic treatise, entitled The Mechanism of the Operation of Soul and Body.

After the publication of the Principia, in 1734, he gave up his macrocosmic studies, and devoted himself exclusively to the examination of the structure of man. In the Regnum Animale, Part III., which he published in 1745, he stated the relations between the macrocosm and microcosm thus:

It was a saying and belief among the Ancients, that man, as well as every individual living subject, is a microcosm, or a little world movable, acting and living in the great world or macrocosm. For, indeed, he is furnished and endowed with his own proper powers and forces, or essential conditions; with his own propel efforts and determinations; and with his own proper laws derived from his own order; so that he is complete in himself, or has all his circumstances with him, and rules them by the auspices and will of his mind, and thus, as being animated, is self-dependent in those things that concern himself. But he derives the possibility whereby he exists and subsists in this state, from the great circumambient world, and from the terraqueous globe which he inhabits.A. K., Engl. Edit., No. 484.

This same subject is continued in the next paragraph, where the author specified minutely the various effects which the macrocosm exerts on the microcosm.

The perception of this truth belongs to the crowning stage of his analytic career, and was the result of an immediate revelation from the LORD, as is proved by his work entitled De Sensu Communi (Regnum Animale, Part IV., edit. Im. Tafel), which is a forerunner of the Regnum Animale, Part III. (published in 1745).

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In this work Swedenborg says:

It is to be observed that in agreement with a nocturnal admonition (secundum admonitionem noct.) I must go back to my philosophic principles, and consider the lightness, heaviness, and mode of action which are there described in sundry places; it was told me that thus it would be granted me to speed wherever I please.--p. 82.

He then continues:

The sensations can never be explored without examining also the atmospheres; for the one subject is most intimately conjoined with the other.

After mentioning the different atmospheres and their modifications, he adds:

These things have been discussed in my Philosophic Principia, where the forms of the particles of each atmosphere are treated of and delineated. 1. Those things mere written for our present purpose [viz., for the analysis of the mechanism of the eye]. 2. Now comes the application. I do not give the drawings here, because they may be found there.--pp. 82, 83.

On page 88 he makes this statement:

The animal system is composed altogether in accordance with the modifications of the atmospheres.

In these statements Swedenborg declares that a feeling of solidarity runs through all his labors as an analytic philosopher, that his Principia was written for the sake of his Regnum Animale, and that his macrocosmic investigations were for the sake of his microcosmic studies. But his ostensible object in writing his Regnum Animale, and hence also his object in his career as an analytic philosopher, was to arrive at a knowledge of the human soul, as he states clearly and definitely in the following passage:

The end I propose to myself in the [present] work [namely, the Regnum Animale], is a knowledge of the soul; since this knowledge will constitute the crown of my studies.

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This then my labors intend, and thither they aim. For the soul resides and acts in the beginnings, not of the body only, but also of the universal world; inasmuch as it is the supreme essence, form, substance, and force of the microcosm; and appoints, establishes, and governs the order thereof, of itself and by its own nature; consequently, it is in the sphere of truths.... In order to follow up the investigation, and to solve the difficulty, I have chosen to approach by the analytic way; and I think I am the first who has taken this course professedly. To accomplish this grand end I enter the arena, designing to consider and examine thoroughly the whole world or microcosm which the soul inhabits.A. K. Eng. Edit., Nos. 15, 16.

As his Principia, however, as Swedenborg stated above, was written for the sake of exploring the mechanism of the senses of the human body in the Regnum Animale, therefore his inmost purpose, though he did not seem to be conscious of it in the beginning, was to press from the body to the soul, from the earth to heaven; and thus to lead the natural sciences back to their allegiance to God and revelation.

The labors on his Regnum Animale were concluded in 1744, although Part III. of this work bears the imprint of 1745; and after finishing that work he knew perhaps as much concerning the human soul as could be learned respecting it a posteriori, or by the analytic method.

In that year also he finished his labors in the rational stage of analytic science, having successfully compassed the macrocosm, or inorganic nature, in his Principia, and in those works which were preparatory thereto; and the microcosm, or the human system, in his Regnum Animale, and in the various published and unpublished works which he had originally intended to be parts of this great work, among which are especially his three treatises on the Human Brain.

Having finished this work his labors as an analytic philosopher cease, and he is prepared to be introduced by the LORD into a new sphere of usefulness.

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XX.

SYNTHETIC SCIENCE IN THE CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

WHEN the mountain-top, is reached the traveler may turn around, and examine from above the around, and examine from above the ground which he has traveled over. He then notices the various roads which lead up to the summit, and is able to survey their tortuous windings. He can also distinguish the paths which lead upward from those which have a downward tendency. He then perceives likewise the dangers which he has escaped, and the precipices which obstructed his path. And if now from the mountain-top he should descend to the plain below, he is able to do so by the shortest and most direct route, as he sees it traced out before him.

And so the analytic philosopher, after reaching the centre whither he was aiming, can invert his course, and by the synthetic method proceed from the centre to the circumference. This is stated in what follows:

When at length under the conduct of such an analysis we have been carried up to the beginnings of things, we may then properly for the first time start, or rather turn back from the beginnings, and put them forth, as of sufficient authority, by a clear and intelligible definition; for the mind now, as from a mirror, looks around the whole world, and contemplates every particular thing in a universal manner. Ladders are constructed, and steps interposed, whereby we may equally descend and ascend. These ladders are so many concatenated series of truths, by which we are enabled to steer our course, or to go and return, whithersoever it pleases us.A. K., No. 13.

This same principle is more definitely stated in the following passage:

The first intellectual operation consists in exploring truths, and out of several to conclude one general truth; and then again from several truths to conclude such as are still more general; and so on until the infinite is reached, where the mind by all means must stand still and acquiesce;

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for the rational mind cannot proceed outside of its own sphere, and thus exceed its limits, and hence also it cannot pass above its sphere. From the form which is thus obtained results a quality, and when this is perfect, there shines out from it that perfection, which is called goodness; and from goodness affection results. Truths, therefore, are determinations of a form in which is goodness. In this wise we progress by the analytic way from the body even to the soul. After goodness is received, or after judgment is passed upon it, it reigns as a soul, and prepares determinations for itself, which are its truths; and thus it constructs and weaves together for itself a body or system. All these determinations have respect to the good that has been received, as to their beginning, or as to their soul. It is then that the mind proceeds by the synthetic way, and as it were creates anew system; so that the mind is engaged in a certain perpetual creation, in order that what the soul intends may be attained.De Sensu Communi, or Regnum Animale, Part IV., edit. Dr. Im. Tafel, p. 216.

This same principle is expressed in the Arcana Coelestia as follows:

Before regeneration man acts from truth, and by it acquires good. For when truth becomes of the will, and thus of the life, it then becomes good with him. But after regeneration he gets from good, and by it truths are acquired.--A. C. 8505.

Again we read:

To look at good from truth, is to look at the internal from the external; but to look at truth from good, is to look at the external from the internal; for good is interior, but truth exterior. To look at truth from good is according to order; for all Divine influx is through the interiors to the exteriors; but to look at good from truth is not according to order; wherefore, during mans regeneration, the order is inverted, and good and charity are regarded in the first place, and truth and faith in the second.A. C. 7923.

It appears hence that during the first or analytic state, and thus while a man is making his way from the sensual to the rational degree, his external or natural man, at least at the present day, is perverted and thus in a state of non-correspondence;

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and, further, that while he is thus pursuing his way from the circumference to the centre, or from truth to good, his natural man is becoming regenerated, and reduced into a state of order and correspondence. This is confirmed by what follows:

While good is acquired by truth, in that state there is labor and struggle; for then a man is immitted into temptations which are struggles with the evils and falsities in him. The LORD then struggles for man, and also with him. But after this state comes a state of conjunction of good and truth, and thus of rest for the LORD ... for when good is conjoined with truth, the man is in the LORD, and he is led by the LORD without labor and struggle.--A. C. 8506.

When a man after finishing his analytic course, returns by the synthetic method from the centre to the circumference, and thus when from good he perceives truth, he then finds the whole tract of his natural mind, from its sensual to its rational degree, reduced into a state of correspondence, and then the interior rational truths from which he now proceeds, he sees reflected, as in a mirror, in the lower natural and sensual scientifics, as is shown in what follows:

Scientifics are means, and as it were mirrors in which an image of the interiors presents itself; and in this image again, as in a mirror, are made visible and represented the truths and goods of faith; consequently those things which ale of heaven, and are called spiritual. But this image, because it is interior, does not appear to any except those who are in faith from charity.A. C. 5201.

Such, then, is the state of him who by truth has arrived at a state of good; or such is the state of the analytic philosopher, who by the love of uses has been led from the form of things to their uses, and hence out of the experimental and scientific stages of science into its doctrinal and rational stage. And, finally, this was the state of Swedenborg after he had accomplished, in 1744, his work entitled Regnum Animale.

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Out of the comparative darkness in which his mind had been shrouded, while he laboriously made his way from the circumference to the centre, he now stepped into a state of light; yet as he, on reaching the goal of his analytic career, inverted his course, and took a first end trembling view of the scene which he had traveled over, his gaze at first was still bewildered, and he seemed uncertain where to go.

The whole of this interesting period when analysis and synthesis were struggling in his mind for the mastery, is most graphically described in his Private Diary for 1744. That then he had actually arrived at the close of his analytic, and the beginning of his synthetic career, he stated on May 1, in these words:

Henceforth speculation which has hitherto been a posteriori will change into a priori.Documents concerning Swedenborg, Doc. 209, No. 135.

The state of uncertainty in which he was about that time, is manifested in the following words which he wrote two days before:

All this represents that I must employ my remaining time upon higher subjects, and not upon worldly things which are far below; indeed, that I must write about what concerns the very centre of all, and what concerns Christ. May God be so gracious as to enlighten me respecting my duty; for I am still in some obscurity as to the direction whither I am to turn.--Documents, No. 126.

Swedenborg knew well that now as from a mirror he would be able to look around the whole world, and contemplate every particular thing in a universal manner. He knew also that now he would be able to see spiritual in natural things; for the doctrine of correspondence and representation had already dawned upon him.

The state of uncertainty, however, in which he was, arose from the fact that the LORD had not simply intended him to take a synthetic view of the world of nature, and of man as he exists in the world;

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but His object was to reveal to mankind, through the instrumentality of Swedenborg, the internal glories of His Word, and the nature of the spiritual world which we are to inhabit to eternity.

While Swedenborg, therefore, on the one hand was prepared to take a synthetic view of nature, or of the macrocosm and microcosm, so far as he had explored them during his analytic career, he still, for some time to come, had to pursue an analytic course in respect to the Sacred Scripture, and also in respect to the spiritual world, into which he was then, as to the interiors of his spirit, introduced by the LORD.

That the mission for which the LORD had been preparing Swedenborg from his earliest youth, required the opening of his spiritual sight, and his introduction into the spiritual world, he states clearly in the following passage:

In order to teach the may to heaven, and likewise the truths of the Church from the Word, the LORD was pleased to prepare me for the perception of the Word from my earliest youth. He introduced me into the spiritual world, and illuminated me with the light of His Word [His Truth Veri?] more proximately.Invitatio ad Novam Ecclesiam, No. 55.

Title opening of Swedenborgs internal sight, and hence his illumination by the light of heaven, was most gradual, according to his owe statement:

I was elevated into the light of heaven interiorly by degrees, and in proportion as I was elevated, my understanding was elevated, so that I was finally enabled to perceive things which at first I did not perceive, and, finally, such things as it had been impossible for me to comprehend.H. H. 130.

The opening of his spiritual sight began in October, 1743, after he had arrived in Holland for the purpose of printing there his Regnum Animale. At that time, according to his Private Diary for 1744 (No. 91), he began to have a preternatural sleep. During this preternatural sleep which he experienced during the remainder of 1743 and 1744, he had remarkable dreams; and he also learned something of their real nature (Adversaria, II., No. 183).

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What he learned from these dreams consists in part of hints respecting the things on which he was writing (S. D. 2961); and in part he enriched thereby his knowledge of correspondences, the means whereby he was to be enabled to see the glory of the Word of God.

The idea which he had of the doctrine of correspondences in 1741, and which he then obtained by a classification of the correspondences used in the Sacred Scripture (see Photolithographed MSS., Vol. III., pp. 183-191), is as follows:

There is a certain correspondence and harmony of all things, or of natural and spiritual things, and vice versa; or, again, in universal nature, there is nothing but what is a type, image, and likeness of some object among spiritual things, which are exemplars or anti-types; otherwise no spiritual intelligence could ever take cognizance of the things which are below it; and, nevertheless, it does take cognizance of them from itself, and in itself.

The Egyptians also seem to have cultivated this doctrine, and to have expressed these correspondences by the most varied hieroglyphic characters, in order that they might express thereby not only natural things, but also spiritual things at the same time. Aristotle wrote an entire book concerning that science as it existed among them.Clavis Hieroglyphica, pp. 19, 20.

By means of the doctrine of correspondences Swedenborg, even during his career as an analytic philosopher, elicited many spiritual truths which are contained in his little work entitled The Hieroglyphic Key, which he wrote in 1741.

This knowledge of correspondences he applied in 1744 to the explanation of some of his remarkable dreams. He was then undergoing the change from an analytic to a synthetic philosopher. His spirit was then rising up into the light of heaven, and therefore he was able continually to add to his knowledge of correspondences. The additional correspondences, the knowledge of which dawned upon him while he was engaged in the explanation of his dreams, he summed up in the following passage, which he wrote at the close of 1744:

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The fables of the Ancients respecting Pallas, the Muses, the spring of Parnassus, the flying horse or Pegasus, and other things, are were representations of things signified. The human understanding is represented by horses, which are harnessed and caparisoned according to their various qualities; the sciences and intelligences by nymphs, and their supreme science by a queen or Pallas; experiences by men, to whom the nymphs are married; the leading experiences by Apollo; the clearness of the understanding by water, especially spring-water; its obscurity and various difficulties and turbidities arising thence, by muddy water; thoughts by birds of various kinds, colors, and beauty; wherefore the Parnassian muses are often said to have been changed into birds, and vice versa; hence they were also called Pierian, without mentioning many other correspondences. From this we may conclude that the fables of the Ancients were mere representatives derived from heaven, consequently that their minds were nearer to heaven than our minds, which are utterly ignorant of such representations, and still more of their signification. (Love and Worship of God, Chap. II., Sect. III., Note 9.)

Concerning the mission for which the LORD had intended him in his synthetic period, he said on April 22, 1744, I perceived that I had received a talent for the promotion of Gods glory; I saw that all had conspired together to this end, and that the Spirit had been with me from my youth for this very purpose.Swedenborg Documents, Doc. 209, No. 110. And on September 30, he wrote: This signified that what I had written there [in the chapter on Organic Forms in Regnum Animale, II.] with Gods help, was of such a nature, that it would lead me on still farther, and that I should see things still more glorious.Documents, No. 176

The nature also of the work, for which the LORD had intended him, is foreshadowed in a dream which he had, June 30, and of which he gives the following explanation:

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The previous day I had been thinking of the woman and the dragon in the Book of Revelation [chap xii.], and I wished I could be instrumental in killing the dragon; when yet nothing is in my power, but only in the LORDS.--Documents, No. 161.

His unwillingness to change his analytic for a synthetic state, was represented to him in a dream on April 15, of which he gives the following explanation: This signified that I would rather be in philosophic than in spiritual studies.Documents, No. 85.

Swedenborgs analytic works ended with his Regnum Animale, his synthetic works began with the Worship and Love of God. Between these two works, of which the first represents his analytic, and the second his synthetic state, there was a conflict in his mind during the month of October in 1744. Since August 1, 1744, he had been preparing Part III. of the Regnum Animale for the press; on October 7 he wrote respecting the work with which his synthetic career was to begin:

I was further informed respecting my book upon the Worship and Love of God, which was said to be a Divine Book. I believe it was to contain also something about spirits, etc.--Documents, No 182.

October 10 he writes of the conflict in his mind between these two books: Afterwards there was signified to me by representation that on the previous day I had been engaged with my work [Worship and Love of God], which is entirely different from the other [Regnum Animale], and [proceeds from] an entirely different love; and [I was in doubt] whether the former work should prevail, and whether it should not rather be regarded as mere talk and at plaything only, when compared with the other [Regnum Animale]. On awaking I fully made up my mind to abandon the former work [Worship and Love of God].Documents, No. 191.

October 27 he writes that it was foretold to him that the twenty-seventh of October would come again when he would enter upon The Worship and Love of God.

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On the same day he had a representation concerning which he says: By this is signified the whole of that work upon which I am now entering in Gods name; in front, before me, is the part on The Worship of God, at the sides that treating on The Love. There is also signified thereby that I must not take of the articles manufactured by others, but use my own.... May God lead me in the right way!--Documents, No. 203.

On entering upon this new work Swedenborg turned his back upon his former analytic studies, and more in the style of a seer and poet he described the creation of the universe, and of the first-born among men. In inspired, glowing terms he descanted upon the sojourn of the first-born in paradise, detailing the gradual unfolding of his mind. Afterward he treated of the creation of woman, of the wooing of the first-born, and of their married life. All is filled with the fervent, exuberant life of first creation; yet his rhapsody goes over ground which had been carefully surveyed and measured out by his rational thought. His flight is that of an eagle, but it is determined and directed by the principles and results at which he had arrived by his previous analytic studies.

While he was applying the find touches to his Regnum Animale, and when he began to interchange his analytic inductions with synthetic speculations, the veil was lifted more and more from his spiritual sight, until finally he began to perceive sensibly the approach and departure of the spirits. The world of spirit, and the inhabitants of the spiritual world, began to assume a fixed reality before his eyes. The quality of the spiritual sight which he then enjoyed, he described under the date of August 31, 1747, thus:

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For nearly three years [from about the middle of 1744] I have been allowed to perceive and notice the operation of spirits, not by a sort of internal sight, but by a sensation which is associated with a sort of obscure sight, whereby I noticed their presence, which was various; their approach and departure, besides many other things.S. D. 102.

Two Parts of the Worship and Love of God, he published in LORD on under the date of 1745; but Part III., which treats of the married life of the first human pair, he left incomplete.

The object for which Swedenborg was directed to write this work seems to have been this: to thoroughly wean him of his analytic state, and to accustom him to look not from the circumference toward the centre, but from the centre toward the circumference.

At the same time, by severe temptations and violent mental struggles, the power of the loves of self and of the world was to be entirely broken in him, and he was to be reduced into the condition of an humble and willing instrument in the hands of the LORD, thoroughly prepared and delighted to do His will and not his own.

These terrible temptation combats he described minutely in his Private Diary for 1744, from beginning to end. That the object of these temptations was to remove everything of his own from his will and understanding, and to make of him a willing instrument in the LORDS hands, he states in the following passages:

This signifies the assistance I receive in my work from a higher hand, so that I am employed simply as an instrument.Swedenborg Documents, Doc. 209, No. 167.

Many things then occurred to me which I left to Gods good pleasure, since I am an instrument with which He may do what He pleases.Documents, No. 177.

Again he declares:

This was a prediction that the LORD Himself will instruct me, as soon as I have attained that state in which I shall know nothing, and in which all my preconceived notions will be removed from me;

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which is the first state of learning: or, in other words, that I must first become a child, and that then I shall be able to be nurtured in knowledge, and this is the case with me now.Documents, No. 195.

That the ambition of Swedenborgs heart in his synthetic state was to be the LORDS only, is shown by the motto which he adopted:

I have for my motto:

GODS WILL BE DONE; I AM THINE, AND NOT MINE; AS THEREFORE I HAVE GIVEN MYSELF FROM MYSELF TO THE LORD, HE MAY DISPOSE OF ME AFTER HIS OWN PLEASURE.Documents, No. 69.

In the middle of April, 1745, he experienced an additional opening of his spiritual sight. It was then that the LORD appeared to him in person, and declared to him the nature of the mission for which He had prepared him from his earliest youth. This appearance of the LORD Swedenborg described to his friend Robsahm in these words:

He said that He was the LORD God, the Creator of the world, and Redeemer, and that He had chosen me to explain to men the spiritual sense of the Scripture, and that He Himself would explain to me what I should write on this subject; that same night also mere opened to me (so that I became thoroughly convinced of their reality) the world of spirits, heaven and hell, and I recognized there many acquaintances of every rank in life. From that day I gave up the study of all worldly science, and labored in spiritual things, according as the LORD had commanded me to write. Afterward the LORD opened daily, very often, my bodily (lekamlig) eyes, so that, in the middle of the day I could see into the other world, and in a state of perfect wakefulness converse with angels and spirits.Documents concerning Swedenborg, Vol. I., p. 36.

From this date Swedenborg entered upon a new analytic state, in which, as of himself, and yet aided in everything by the LORD, he explored the spiritual world, and he was gradually led from the circumference of the Divine Word, that is, from its literal sense, to its spiritual and celestial senses, that is, toward its centre.

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This Swedenborg did from the middle of April, 1745, to August 7, 1747, when, as he informs us, there was a change of state in him, and that he was introduced into the celestial kingdom, in an image, which. was an indication that then the interior degrees of his rational mind had been fully opened, and that the LORD was able to make His Second Advent through his instrumentality, by filling him with His Spirit to teach the Doctrines of the New Church by the Word from Himself.--T. C. R. 779.

Like the men of the Most Ancient Church, Swedenborg by his knowledge of correspondence, was now able to see spiritual in natural things, and also to see the spiritual and celestial senses of the Divine Word in the sense of the letter. He was thus able to reveal to humanity from the LORD, not only all the principles of the science of correspondences which had been lost ever since the time of Eber and Abraham, but also the doctrines which are contained in the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture, and which are seen in the Divine Word by the angels of the LORDS spiritual and celestial kingdoms.

In Swedenborg, therefore, was fulfilled the LORDS promise in Isa. xix. 23, 24, where it is written:

In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria; and the Assyrian shall come unto Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land.

In this prophecy Egypt represents the sensual scientific stage of natural science, in which the man continues to his twentieth year, and which in Diagram IV., in Section XI., is represented by Dan. Ashur or Assyria represents the philosophical stage of natural science, or that of scientifics proper, which in the same Diagram is represented by Jacob.

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Both these degrees, as observed in Section XI, are still within the natural world, and thus are illuminated by natural light. Israel represents the rational or doctrinal stage of natural science, which is developed in that degree of the human mind which in the same Diagram is represented by Israel, and which can only be cultivated by those who are imbued with the spiritual love of uses. This same love of uses also enables them from the LORD to perceive the doctrines of the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture.

That the highway between Egypt, Assyria, and Israel is constructed at the LORDS Coming, both at His First, and at His Second Coming, is declared in the following passage:

These words [Isa. xix. 23-25], in the spiritual sense, signify that at the time of the LORDS Coming the scientific, the rational, and the spiritual principles will make one, and that then the scientific will serve the rational, and both together the spiritual: for as said above Egypt signifies the scientific, Ashur the rational) and Israel the spiritual principle. In that day is named twice, and by this is meant the LORDS first and second Advent.--T. C. R. 200.

From this it follows that the preparations both for the first and the second Advent of the LORD consisted in establishing a highway between the sensual scientific, the rational or philosophic, and the spiritual degrees of humanity. At His First Coming the LORD established this highway in the Humanity which He Himself had put on by His incarnation; and after it had become thoroughly established there, He went forth in His thirtieth year, and preached the Gospel of salvation to mankind.

Concerning His Second Advent we learn that As the LORD cannot [now] manifest Himself in person, and yet had foretold that He would come again, and establish a New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He would do this by a man, who could not only receive the doctrines of this Church in His understanding, but also publish them by the press.

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And then Swedenborg continues, I testify in truth that the LORD manifested Himself before me, His servant; that He commissioned me to do this work, and afterward opened the sight of my spirit, and so let me into the spiritual world, permitting me to set: the heavens and the hells, and also to converse with angels and spirits, and this now continually for many years; and, likewise, that from the first day of my call to this office, I have never received anything relating to the doctrines of this Church from any angel, but from the LORD alone while I was reading the
Word.--T. C. R. 779.

Swedenborg repented this same statement in the superscription to the above passage in these words: The LORDS manifested Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit to teach the doctrines of the New Church by the Word from Himself.

If now we read this statement in connection with that quoted above from T. C. R. 200, it follows that, as the LORD made His Second Advent by a man, even Emanuel Swedenborg, the highway which He declares in Isa. xix. 24, was to be made at His Second Coming between Egypt, Assyria, and Israel, was made in the humanity of Swedenborg; which is confirmed by Swedenborgs statement to tinger, where he says that he was first introduced by the LORD into natural science, and thus prepared, and where he further declares that this happened from the year 1710 to 1744, when heaven was opened to him.

The construction of the highway between Egypt and Assyria, between the sensual scientific and the rational or philosophic stages of analytic science, was accordingly accomplished in 1744, when Swedenborg finished his labors on the Regnum Animale.

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Yet this is to be so understood that while Swedenborg was cultivating the fields of Egypt and Assyria, Israel was ever the third with Egypt and with Assyria. And it must be borne in mind that Israel here represents those synthetic principles or those new doctrines, concerning which Swedenborg tells us that he discovered, disengaged, and brought them forth by the most intense application and study, and which consist of the doctrines of forms, of order and degrees, of series and society, of communication and influx, of correspondence and of modification.A. K. 17.

By the elaboration of these doctrines by Swedenborg there was in very deed opened also a highway between Assyria and Israel, between the natural and the spiritual worlds; and by the application of these doctrines to the examination of the Sacred Scripture and of the spiritual world, into which he was now intromitted by the LORD, the tract of Israel in his mind, which includes a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Sacred Scripture, was being developed and organized in him from 1744 to 1747; until on August 7 of that year the opening of the interiors of his mind had been extended to the exteriors of his celestial mind represented by Benjamin and Joseph; for under that date we read that there was a change of state in him into the celestial kingdom, in an image (see last page in Vol. X. of Photo-lithographed MSS.).

After August, 1747, Swedenborg began preparing for the press those books which were written by the LORD through him (see Documents concerning Swedenborg, Doc. 301, No. 3), and on all of which was inscribed in the spiritual world The Advent of the LORD (Ibid., No. 8). The same inscription Swedenborg declares he wrote by command on two copies in Holland (Ibid., No. 8); of which one copy has been discovered lately.

From all of this it follows that the LORD effected His Second Coming by means of those books which Swedenborg wrote from 1747 to the end of his earthly career in 1772.

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In those works, consequently, which he wrote from 1710 to 1744, the highway was opened between Egypt and Assyria, even to Israel; by those which he completed between 1744 and 1747, and which include the Worship and Love of God, the so-called Adversaria, and the Index Biblicus, the spiritual degree of his mind represented by Israel was developed, and the opening of the highway was continued from Israel to Benjamin and Joseph; while from 1747 to 1772 Swedenborg wrote those books on which is inscribed The Advent of the LORD, and which are understood in Isa. xix. 24, by Israel, the spiritual truth contained in the interiors of the Divine Word, being a blessing in the midst of the land.

A minute description of all those works, in and by which the LORD effected His Second Coming, is given in the Chronological Account of Swedenborgs Writings which is contained in Section XII. of the Documents concerning Swedenborg.

The relation which the doctrines contained in these Writings hold to the establishment of the Church of the New Jerusalem among men, is indicated in the following passage:

Before the Church is fully devastated the interior Word is revealed, that is, according to the spiritual sense; because then a New Church will be instituted, into which those of the former Church are invited, and for the New Church interior Divine Truth is revealed, which could not be revealed before. The same has taken place now as took place at the end of the Jewish Church; for at its end, which was when the LORD came into the world, the Word was interiorly opened; for interior Divine Truths were revealed by the LORD while He was in the world, which were to be of service to the New Church then about to be established by Him, and which also did such service. At the present day, for similar reasons, the interior Word has been opened, and Divine Truths of a still more interior nature have been thence revealed, which are to be of service to the New Church, which will be called the New Jerusalem.A. E. 948.

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How the interior truths revealed by the LORD at His. Second Coming through the instrumentality of Swedenborg, are to be of service to the New Church, is taught in Apoc. xix. 7, where we read: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. These words are explained in A. R. 813, thus: And His wife hath made herself ready, signifies that they who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, are to be gathered together, inaugurated, and instructed; and in A. R. 814, we read further, that they who will be of the LORDS New Church will be instructed through the Word from the LORD in genuine and pure truths.

From this then we learn that the first state of the Church of the New Jerusalem will be one of inauguration, by instruction in the truths of the internal or spiritual sense of the Divine Word, which are revealed by the LORD at His Second Coming through the medium of Emanuel Swedenborg; and which truths in the sequel of the chapter are represented by the White Horse, on which the LORD makes His Second Advent, and by which is meant the understanding of the Word from the LORD for them. (A. R. 813.)

These truths, which prevail in the LORDS New Heaven, out of which the New Jerusalem comes down on earth, are first received by instruction in the minds of those who will be of the LORDS New Church; and with all those who are willing to apply them to their lives, they are raised out of their natural memories into their interior rational minds, where they are conjoined with good, and constitute the new heaven in their spirits. That heaven is connected with the LORDS New Heaven in the other world, and by the grand New Heaven bearing upon the heaven in their spirits, the New Jerusalem descends out of their heaven, or out of their internal man into their earth, or into their external man.

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That such is the nature of the descent of the New Jerusalem, of the New Church, into this world, is declared in what follows:

That the New Heaven is formed before the New Church on earth, is according to the Divine order. For there is an internal and an external Church, and the internal Church makes one with the Church in heaven, and thus with heaven. And the internal must be formed before the external; and afterward the external by the internal. That such is the case is known to the clergy.

In proportion as this New Heaven, which causes the internal of the Church with man, increases, in the same proportion the New Jerusalem, that is, the New Church, descends out of that heaven. Wherefore this cannot be done in a moment, but in proportion as the falsities of the former Church are removed. For the new cannot enter where falsities were previously inborn, unless these are eradicated; which must take place with the clergy, and thus with the laity.T. C. R. 784.

From this it follows also that the Church of the New Jerusalem will be established in this world by means of the clergy, that is, by such of them as have interiorly studied the doctrinals of the Church, and confirmed them by the Word. (A. R. 398.)

That the Church of the New Jerusalem is to be established on earth, in this way, is evident from the references to the Arcana Coelestia, to which Swedenborg has called attention in the inscription which he wrote on the wrapper of one of his theological works in Holland, namely, Nos. 2513, 4535, 6895, 8427. These references are discussed in the Appendix to Authority in the New Church, by Dr. R. L. Tafel, pp. 257-259, to which we refer the reader.

The relation which the Church of the New Jerusalem holds to the preceding Churches in this world, is expressed in a few words in the heading of one of the chapters in the True Christian Religion, where we read: The New Church is the Crown of all the Churches that have hitherto existed in this world.

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This thesis is unfolded in Nos. 786-790, in the above work. See also Continuation to the Coronis, LIX.

The position of the Church of the New Jerusalem in respect to natural science and philosophy, appears from the preceding sections; whence we have seen that in the New Church natural science and philosophy are reconciled with revelation; for in this Church a highway is opened from Egypt to Assyria, and from Assyria to Israel; science being represented by Egypt, rational philosophy by Assyria, and revealed truth by Israel.

The new truths and doctrines of the New Jerusalem are taught in the internal sense of the Sacred Scripture, and hence are drawn out of the Word of God, as is expressly declared by Swedenborg, where he says that he received them from the LORD alone, while he was reading the Word (T. C. R. 779); consequently the letter of the Word of God is the basis of the Church of the New Jerusalem.

The Church of the New Jerusalem therefore has the doctrines of the internal sense; its members also can see the internal sense in the letter of the Word, by means of the science of correspondences.

The genuine principles of this science are taught in the synthetic or theological writings of the New Church. This science, however, is not only a means of seeing the spiritual in the natural sense of the Divine Word, but also of beholding spiritual things is the things of nature; wherefore the Church of the New Jerusalem by means of this science may reach again that high state of spiritual intelligence which was enjoyed by the members of the Ancient Church; yea more, they may even reach the state of the celestial people in the Most Ancient Church. For we read that in the LORDS New Church there will not only be such as are of a spiritual, but also such as are of a celestial character (see A. R. 382).

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Science, therefore, in the Church of the New Jerusalem will be synthetic, as it was in the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches; for by the knowledge of correspondences they will be able to see again spiritual in natural things, and hence spiritual causes in natural effects. The science of correspondence also will enable them to think correctly, as we learn in what follows:

Correspondences are natural truths in which, as in mirrors, are represented spiritual truths. Wherefore, in proportion as ideas of thought concerning spiritual things are formed independent of correspondences, in the same proportion they are formed either from the fallacies of the senses, or from incongruous things.A. C. 9300.

Yet science in the New Church will not only be synthetic, but also analytic; and herein the New Church is immensely superior to every preceding Church. The Ancient and Most Ancient Churches had acknowledge of spiritual things from correspondences; and the Ancient Church by the correspondences which were contained in their written Word: but these Churches had no analytic science.

After the Ancient Church science became secularized and divorced from the Church, and it has remained so ever since; and it is only since the time of Swedenborg, who in his scientific and philosophic writings supplied the missing link between analytic science and revelation, that natural science, and at the same time, philosophy have been brought back to their allegiance to the Church.

The importance of the scientific and philosophic writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, has not yet been sufficiently recognized by New Churchmen. For, as the knowledge of correspondences is the means by which the believers in the letter of the Sacred Scripture are led from the clouds of the letter to the glory of the internal sense; so the philosophic and scientific writings of Swedenborg are, the means by which the votaries of science who do not believe in the letter of the Word, may be led to a knowledge of the doctrines of the internal sense, and thereby to a belief in the Divinity of the letter.

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This is what is meant by the leaves of the tree of life in the midst of the street of the New Jerusalem being for the healing of the nations (Apoc. xxii. 2). The nations who did not read the Word of God, could not be healed before the descent of the New Jerusalem; but they can be healed now, by an acknowledgment of those theoretic principles by which Swedenborg in his analytic career was led from the circumference to the centre. These principles, among which is the doctrine of discrete decrees, are of universal application both in the natural and in the spiritual universe; and they are able to lead the scientific man from the scientific and philosophic writings of Swedenborg to his theological and spiritual works.

These scientific and philosophic writings also are meant in part by the rod of iron, concerning which in Apoc. xii. 5, it is written, that the man-child brought forth by the woman, shall pasture or feed the nations with a rod of iron; for by the rod of iron, as we have seen in Section II., is meant on the one hand the natural sense of the Word, and on the other the natural light or lumen of man, and hence the light of natural science,in which two the power of truth consists.

Wherefore the Church of the New Jerusalem will grow in power in this world, only in the proportion in which it cultivates not merely the theological, but also the scientific and philosophical writings of the inspired Swedenborg.

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XXI.

USES OF ANALYTIC AND SYNTHETIC SCIENCE IN THE NEW CHURCH.

THE uses of analytic and synthetic science in the New Church are fourfold: first, natural science, or rather true natural scientifics serve as a basis for spiritual truths, and are vessels to contain them; secondly, sciences are means for forming the rational faculty; and thirdly, by means of natural science or natural scientifics a man is confirmed in spiritual truth, or in faith; fourthly, natural science enables a man to accomplish uses or useful works in the natural world.

The first of these uses genuine natural science performs on this ground, that what is spiritual needs corresponding natural means, in order to manifest and ultimate itself in the natural world. This use of natural things is set forth in the following passage:

To the intent that order may be perfect, celestial and spiritual truths ought to be inrooted in natural truths. Thus, it must be observed, that the knowledges and ideas of angels, although indefinitely more profound than the ideas of man, are, nevertheless, grounded in natural truths; truths thus mutually succeed one another and correspond with each other.S. D. 1531.

Again we read:

Natural truths are vessels in which spiritual truths may be contained; for unless vessels or instrumental causes conspire, the principal causes cannot be applied to them, as may be proved from many things, as for example, from the containing vessels of the whole body, where, unless the blood-vessels with their membranes agree perfectly with the nature of the blood which is contained within them, the blood could not be in them, and still less could it act, or be acted upon in accordance with its nature and inherent quality.

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Again, unless the blood-particles mere such as they are, the animal spirits, and the life of the animal spirits could not be in them, in accordance with their nature and inherent quality, and thus live; and so it is with the rest in the threefold kingdom, and in the world. So also the heart is a vessel of the blood and its operations, in accordance with the whole nature and the inherent qualities of its forces; and the viscera of the body also, which are nothing but vessels, are adapted entirely to the nature of their operations and uses, and thus of their ends.S. D. 1908, 1909.

Then the uses of natural things, and thus of natural scientifics in manifesting and ultimating spiritual things, are declared in the following passage:

All thoughts of man terminate in the natural things which are of his sensuous impressions; whatever is not spoken from these, and in accordance with them, is not comprehended, but perishes like undetermined sight in some ocean or universe. If, therefore, things of doctrine were explained before a man in a different may, they would in no wise be received, thus no respect would be had for them; which is proved sufficiently by everything in the Word, where things purely Divine are expounded in a natural, yea, in a sensuous manner, as that JEHOVAH has ears, eyes, a, face, and affections like those of man.--A. C. 2553.

This principle applies to every spiritual truth which is contained in the internal sense of the Word. All these truths require to be clothed in sensuous ideas and words, in order that men in this world may comprehend and seize them. Still in order that a man may think of them correctly, he must think of them from correspondences, as is shown in the following passage:

All things of faith and love have with them an idea from such things as a man knows; for without an idea from knowable and sensuous things a man cannot think with himself; and when a man thinks from correspondences, he then thinks justly even of those things which are of faith and of love. For correspondences are natural truths in which, as in mirrors, are represented spiritual truths. Wherefore, in proportion as ideas of thought concerning spiritual things are formed without respect to correspondences, in the same proportion they are formed either from the fallacies of the senses, or from things incongruous.A. C. 9300.

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The science of correspondences enables a man to see spiritual in natural things, and this, as we have said, is the first use of natural science. The science of correspondences is synthetic. The material of it is contained in the Sacred Scripture, and is extracted from it, and revealed in the doctrines of the spiritual sense, which. are the doctrines of the New Jerusalem. The truths of the spiritual sense are implanted in the correspondences of the literal sense, and also in the correspondences of the things of nature, the signification of which the science of correspondences also unfolds. In this wise then the synthetic natural science of the New Church selves as a basis for spiritual truths, for which also it furnishes containing vessels, and this is its first use.

II.

Natural science serves as a means of forming a mans rational faculty. This is its second use.

By the rational faculty here we mean the thinking faculty; but as this faculty is formed by natural science in conjunction with scientifics: generally, that is, all knowledge which from without enters into the human mind through the ministry of the senses, we must first of all define the position of natural science among scientifics in general. On this subject we read:

In the natural [mind or degree] are scientifics of various kinds. There scientifics about earthly, bodily, and worldly things [viz., those of natural science], which are lowest; for they are immediately from the external of sense or of the body. There are also scientifics treating of the civil state, of its government, statutes, and laws, which are a little more interior. Again, there are scientifics which treat of the things of moral life which are still more interior. But the scientifics which regard spiritual life are more interior than all these; these are the truths of the Church, and as long as they are with a man simply from doctrine, they are merely scientifics; but when they are from the good of love, then they rise above scientifics; for then they are in spiritual light, from which they behold the scientifics below them in their order.

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By such degrees of scientifics man rises into intelligence; for by these degrees scientifics open the mind, is order that light from the spiritual world may enter.A. C. 5934.

Here we learn that the scientifics in the natural memory are arranged so that those of the Church are inmost, and those of natural science outermost; while those which have reference to moral and civil life are intermediate. But scientifics may either remain in the memory or they may be exalted into truths, by being applied to the life, and after being thus exalted into truths, they become uses, and enter into the composition of the various degrees of the external man from the lowest to the highest. But scientifics are exalted into truths only in proportion as the rational power of the man which resides in his interior man, and which is communicated to it by an influx of the light of heaven, is brought to bear upon them. This takes place after the man has reached his twentieth year, when the affection of acquiring knowledge or scientifics is replaced by the affection of truth, that is, by the affection of inquiring whether the scientifics which have been accumulated during childhood and youth are really true. Under the impulsive force of this affection the sensual scientifics in a mans memory, or those which have entered immediately through the senses, are changed first into scientifics proper, and finally into truths, as has been shown in No. 9 (A. C. 5774), Section XI., whence we quote as follows:

Sensual things [that is, the impressions of the senses] are one thing, scientifics another, and truths still another. They mutually succeed one another; for from the things of the senses exist the scientifics, and from scientifics truths.

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As a youth he thinks and comprehends things from sensuals [or from the impressions of the senses]; as he advances in age he thinks and comprehends things from scientifics, and afterward from truths. This is the way toward judgment, into which a man grows by age.

A mans thought or his rational faculty is caused by the influx of heavenly and spiritual light into his thought; so that all thoughts which are of faith or truth, are described as variegations of that celestial and spiritual light which is from the LORD, whence comes intelligences.A. C. 3862.

But illustration, and hence the reception of spiritual light, is according to the state of vessels in the human understanding, and thus according to the state of scientifics in a mans mind, as appears from A. C. 3508, 1802, T. C. R. 205, A. E. 525. The quality of illustration also is determined by the quality of the scientifics in a mans mind. If these scientifics are stored up simply in the exterior natural mind, the illustration will be of an exterior quality; but if the scientifics are stored up in the interior natural mind, they become knowledges or cognitions, and are receptive of a higher spiritual light.

The process by which sensual scientifics are turned into scientifics proper is briefly as follows:

During the second age of a mans life, namely, from his fifth to his twentieth year, sensual or experimental scientifics, scientifics propel, and truths are stored up promiscuously in his external or corporeal memory. When he enters upon his age of maturity, and comes under the influence of the affection of truth which prevails in the interior degree of the natural mind, represented by Jacob (see Diagram V., Section XI.), a separation takes place between the sensual scientifics and the scientifics proper, which are stored up in the natural memory.

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The former of these consist of the crude, undigested impressions of the senses, while the latter are these same scientifics in the form in which they are treated upon in the various text-books of natural science and of speculative philosophy. In his second age the man acquires these scientifics proper from others; in his third age he makes them his own by his own rational reflection. When a man by the use of his own rational reflection makes these scientifics proper his own, he raises them thereby out of the first into the second story of his natural mind, and thereby organizes the scientific or philosophical phase of natural science in his natural mind. Then, also, in proportion as the man in this wise organizes the scientific or philosophical phase of natural science in his mind, he at the same time organizes the scientific or the interior natural degree of his external man, that is, so far as its intellectual part is concerned.

After the mind has in this wise exercised its thought on the subject of natural science, and has distinguished between its sensual scientifics and its scientifics proper, it is prepared to carry out this distinction also in respect to the scientifics concerning civil, moral, and spiritual life which repose in the memory. The sensuous portion of these scientifics it leaves in the external memory, or in that portion of the external man which is represented by Dan, but the scientifics proper it raises into the rational light of the interior natural degree of the external man, represented by Jacob (compare Diagram VI., Section XI.).

The human-mind carries out this distinction first in respect to the scientifics belonging to natural science, because these scientifics, as we have seen above, are most exterior, and lie nearest to the external natural world in which the man lives with the senses of his natural body. On this account the man can compass these scientifics with a more external and ultimate thought, and can draw more sharply and clearly the distinction between the merely sensuous scientifics and the scientifics proper of natural science; or, in other words, it can mark more clearly the difference between the sensuous and the scientific or philosophical phases of human knowledge.

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It is in this wise that the natural sciences contribute to the formation of a mans rational faculty; and this use of natural science is clearly recognized in the following passages of the Writings:

The scientifics which constitute the erudition of the learned are of use to the truly intelligent in the formation of their understanding.H. H. 353.

On our earth the sciences are means of opening the intellectual sight, which sight is in the light of heaven.E. U. 62.

Sciences in general are nothing else than means of becoming wise or of forming a mans rational faculty, just as the languages are means of bringing forth thought.Diarium Minus, 4578.

A definition of the sciences proper which contribute to the formation of the understanding with the truly intelligent, is given in the following passage.

By the sciences are understood experimental branches of knowledge of various kinds: physics, astronomy, chemistry, mechanics, geometry, anatomy, psychology, philosophy, universal history, history of literature, criticism, languages.H. H. 353.

In another place Swedenborg gives the following list of the sciences by which a man may become rational:

Useful sciences are physics, optics, chemistry, pharmaceutics, anatomy, mathematics, astronomy, architecture, botany, mineralogy, history, political economy, and other like studies. Through all these, as by means, a man may become rational.Diarium Minus, 4578.

But the rational faculty may be impaired or destroyed by certain sciences. These are described as follows:

There are also some sciences or studies which entirely destroy the faculty of thinking, and corrupt the rational. Such are: Scholastics, by which a thing clear and intelligible to almost every one is described by many scholastic terms until at length no one understands it.

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Philosophy, when through a series of conclusions a result is drawn from the definition of terms and the conclusions thence; inasmuch as these series, when strung together, represent such things as cannot be understood by anybody, and among which no connexion can be seen, and they then take away all reason whilst, nevertheless, they involve nothing else, but what may be explained in a manner so simple as to be understood by every body. Logic, which concatenates truths and renders them doubtful; and, especially, when from many things one thing is evolved which is then involved; and the conclusion itself is often such that it may be understood without any syllogism. Logic is in this respect like Geometry and Algebra, when by them simple truths are demonstrated, and then through angles, circles, and curves something so intricate is expressed and explained according to such methods, as to be intelligible to no one. Such sciences and the application of such sciences cause a man to lose his common sense and to become insane.Diarium Minus, 4578.

But whether a science be instrumental in forming the rational faculty depends, in a great measure, on the purpose for which it is studied, and upon the method in which it is acquired, as appears from the following passages:

Celestial and spiritual love arranges in order the scientifics which were of the exterior memory; whereas self-lore, and the love of the world pervert order, and confuse all things in the exterior memory.A. C. 2831.

Again we read:

When any one indulges too much in the practice of mechanics, he then so forms his mind as to believe that not only all nature, but also all spiritual and celestial things consist of nothing but what is mechanical; and, unless he can reduce these to mechanical principles and to their powers, he believes nothing, and thus becomes corporeal and earthly.

Geometry and similar studies also, as it were, contract the mind, and impede it from advancing into universals, and, besides, it supposes that nothing exists but what is geometrical or mechanical; whereas geometry does not extend beyond terrestrial and corporeal forms.S. D. 768, 769.

As a general thing the sciences are not instrumental in forming the rational power of a-man, when they are simply learned by rote, or are committed to the memory, as appears from what follows:

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In respect to history it does no harm; provided it is not made a mere matter of the memory.

The man who indulges the memory only, or who cultivates such studies as exercise simply the memory, or who studies other subjects only for the sake of the memory, in the other life understands but very little in respect to spiritual truth, and still less in respect to celestial truth; he remains in his merely natural ideas, which form a kind of callosity, by which his brain is enclosed as though with a boxy substance or skull, and which callosity must be shaken off before the truth can penetrate, and before spiritual and celestial knowledges can have any place with the man. Such a callosity is dissipated with difficulty, and indeed with pain; and if it can haply be dissipated in any other manner, it must, through a long period as it were, become soft.S. D. 770, 771.

This throws some light on the methods of instruction; for if sciences in general are nothing else than means of forming a mans rational faculty, these same sciences miss their volition altogether, when they are simply learned by rote, and are not used as a means of developing the thinking power; or in other words, when simply the facts or the effects of a science are studied, and the induction of their causes is neglected.

Again, in order that the sciences may contribute to the formation of the rational faculty, they must be studied analytically, and not synthetically; the scholar must always be made acquainted first with the facts of a science, before being set down to the study of its causes. For the course from childhood toward manhood is analytical, since the child begins at the circumference of his own being, and of nature, and progresses thence toward the centre; wherefore he must not first be taught synthetically, that is, he must not first study the causes, theories, and systems of things, and afterward their effects and phenomena.

The study of causes, theories, and systems with a child, and also with a youth, when it precedes the study of effects and phenomena, is always a mere matter of the memory, even suppose the facts and phenomena, be added afterward;

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for the information is communicated in the inverse order to that which the child is pursuing naturally when left to himself. But when children and youths, on the contrary, are first taught the facts of the natural sciences, and from the facts are led to the investigation of their causes, and of the systems to which they give rise, then the thinking faculty of the children and youths is developed during their work. Men, therefore, after their rational faculty is developed, may be taught synthetically; but children and youths, whose rational faculty is only in the process of formation, must be instructed analytically.

Still, by means of the natural sciences, as taught at the present day in our schools, only the first step of rationality is reached; that is, the man is made intelligent in the things of the natural world, but by no means in those of the spiritual world. Besides, natural science then is totally unconnected with the field of theology, and is even opposed to it, since it clears exclusively with things as they appear in natural light.

The rationality also which is reached by a mere study of the sciences and of scientifics generally, is bony and harsh, and is of the nature described in the following passage:

Of scientifics and knowledges alone, without the life of uses, arises a rationality which is like a wild ass, morose, pugnacious, having a parched and dry life, from a certain liking or affection of truth defiled with self-love.--A. C. 1964.

In the New Church a mans rationality may be advanced one degree further, because, as shown in Section XIX., analytical science has been advanced in it to its rational or doctrinal phase. This phase of science is in spiritual, and not in natural light, and men the able to press into it and to cultivate it, by looking upon the objects of nature primarily from their use or function, and only secondarily from their form;

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and likewise by laboring in the field of science impelled by the love of uses, and no longer by the abstract love of science or truth. Besides, in order to cultivate the rational or spiritual phase of science, science must be duly subordinated under spiritual or revealed truth; even as the natural universe is entirely subordinated under the spiritual or immaterial universe, and ruled by it.

Influx from the spiritual into the natural world takes place into the functions of the objects of nature; wherefore by advancing from the form into the functions of the objects of nature, we approach the spiritual correspondences of natural objects, and from natural we rise into spiritual light. Thus by the cultivation of the rational or doctrinal phase of science, the highest degree of the external man, which is represented by Israel (see Diagram IV., Section XI.), is opened, and men through the avenue of science are led to a perception of the interior doctrines of the Sacred Scripture.

Such, then, is the second use of analytic science in the New Church.

III.

The third use of the natural sciences is this, that by means of them and scientifics generally a man is confirmed in spiritual truth or in faith.

Intrinsically in themselves spiritual truths have no need of confirmation; nor does the men need them when he is in the order of heaven, as appears from the following passage:

In heaven they have no need of confirming proofs in order that they may be confirmed in heavenly truths; since they are in these truths; just as there is no need of philosophical things in order that a man may think analytically, nor of the knowledge of the muscles in order that he may produce actions; but in heaven they have all things from the LORD.--S. D. 2999.

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But confirmations are of use in the world; although the same confirmations affect different minds differently, as appears from a continuation of the above passage:

As regards confirmations or confirming proofs, they may be tolerated in the world, because men are of such a nature that truths with them must be confirmed by the sciences; yet when no confirming proofs may be had, truths must still be believed. Besides, with some they obscure the human understanding; others they cause to doubt about truths, and with still others they cause a denial.--S. D. 2999.

As a, general thing truths require confirmations with a man in this world, before they are confirmed in the life, and thus before they are conjoined with good; but after they are conjoined with good, and the man has received conscience from the LORD, then these truths shine in the mind with their own inherent light, wherefore they have no longer any need of confirmations. This is taught in the following passage:

It was perceived that the knowledges of faith must first be confirmed by sensuous and natural truths; because a man cannot believe without confirmations. But after these knowledges are confirmed, the LORD endows him with conscience, so that he may believe without confirmations. He then rejects all reasonings. This is the angelic sphere in which evil spirits cannot be. As long as a man, however, is in the state of confirmation about these things, and as long as he reasons concerning them, in order to convince others of these truths, such spirits can be present. It is almost the same with him who is in principles, since he rejects all reasonings against principles, and is even indignant when any one disputes them.S. D. 3977.

Confirmations, however, are of use to a man before he is able to see truths in a state of illustration from the LORD, because whenever anything is confirmed it puts on the appearance of truth, as is shown in what follows:

Everything that is confirmed puts on the appearance of truth; and there is nothing which may not be confirmed.H. H. 352.

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In this way, then, are to be understood the following sages, which demonstrate the use of the natural sciences and of natural scientifics generally in confirming spiritual truths in the human mind:

It is not sufficient for a man to know that a thing is so, but he also desires to know what it is, and what is its duality, so that some confirmations may accrue thence to his understanding, and may be reflected back from it. Unless this be the case, a thing may indeed be introduced into the memory, but it remains there as a dead thing, or as a mere sound, and unless some confirming proofs infix it, from whatever source they may be derived, it is dissipated like the remembrance of a mere thing.A. C. 3852.

Natural things serve for the confirmation of spiritual things, especially with such as are in corporeal things, men as well as spirits; abstractly from them they perceive nothing, because the planes of their thoughts are natural and corporeal, and because order terminates in material things. If a certain kind of spirits are deprived of these, they seem to themselves as if they had nothing to stand upon, and as if they were losing their feet.--S. D. 3852.

Those who have faith from revelation, may confirm themselves by many things in nature, and thus strengthen their faith. The reason is that man has still a natural idea about all heavenly things; and that without some idea there is no comprehension, no memory, nor any faith of anything. The quality of these ideas appears manifestly in the other life, and they were also shown to me; they are all natural; wherefore when such things as are of faith are confirmed by the natural truths of the sciences, faith is strengthened.--S. D. 4755.

It is not at all forbidden to confirm the truths of faith and spiritual things by the things which are in nature, because there is a correspondence in all things. In this case, namely, truth governs, and the natural truths serve to confirm it. The human minds are such that they thus acknowledge spiritual things better; for no one can have any idea of purely spiritual things, except by such things as are in the world; even the ideas of those words by which their meaning is expressed, are material. For then the LORD who is Truth itself leads the man and flows in; and thus the LORD enlightens the mind by confirmations.S. D. 2301.

When truths are confirmed by the sciences, then a man is enlightened by being in the sciences.--S. D. 2523.

Supposing then iris thought desirable to advance natural confirmations in proof of spiritual truths, the question now arises: What, in this case, is the proper course to pursue?

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The answer is: Spiritual truths can be confirmed in this manner only by such as are in an affirmative state in respect to these truths, and not by such as are in a negative state, or in a state of doubt respecting them and those are in an affirmative state who first believe spiritual truth, because it has been revealed by the LORD, and who from this truth contemplate the things of nature below; and who, further, whenever there is a seeming discrepancy between revealed truth and natural science, unhesitatingly declare in favor of the former and against the latter. Those, on the other hand, are in a negative state who judge of spiritual from natural things, and who place the evidence of the natural senses, in spiritual things, above revelation. Besides, it is important that any one who desires to confirm spiritual by natural things, should be thoroughly versed in spiritual truths, and that he should be in a state of illustration from the LORD. This is declared in what follows:

To consult scientifics concerning Divine Truths is to see from them whether they are so. But this is done in one way by those who are in the affirmative, that a truth is true; and in another wry by those who are in the negative principle. When the former consult scientifics they confirm the truth by them, and thus corroborate faith. But when those who are in a negative state consult scientifics they cast themselves more into falsities; for with them the negative reigns, but with the former the affirmative principle. Besides, this is according to the intellectual power with every man. Those who have not superior, that is, an interior intuition, when they consult scientifics, do not see the confirmation of truth in them, wherefore they are carried away by scientifics into a negative state. But those who have superior, that is, interior intuition, see confirmations, and if not otherwise, still by correspondences.--A. C. 4760.

Scientifics are most general vessels which sometimes appear contrary to truths before truths are instilled into them, and they are made transparent thereby, so as not to appear. And besides, scientifics are full of the fallacies of the senses which cannot be dispersed by those who are in mere knowledges from doctrine, and are not in the perception of truth from good; and especially for this reason that the light of the world prevails with them, which appears clear, as long as the light of heaven does not flow into it; but as on as the light of heaven beams down upon it, instead of light it becomes darkness.

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Hence it is that persons of this description are enlightened and skillful in the things of the world, but obscure and dull in the things of heaven. But those who are in the light of heaven are in illustration from the LORD, and before confirmation they apperceive by intuition into the scientifics which are below, and arranged there in order, whether a truth may be confirmed or not. It hence appears that the latter have an interior intuition which is above the scientifics, and thus distinct; but the others an external intuition which is among the scientifics, and thus confused or perplexed.A. C. 6865.

When natural things are considered from their use or function, and thus from the life which is in them, spiritual truths may then be confirmed by them; and in this case natural things or scientifics are made transparent by the spiritual truths shining through them. But natural things remain opaque and inert when viewed simply from their form, or from that point of view which enables them to be photographed by the aid of natural light. Use and function constitute the organic principle in nature, and are spiritual, wherefore they are descried only by a mind illuminated by spiritual light; but form engages the bodily sense, and hence the natural understanding, and therefore is prominent with those who regard nature from a merely natural point of view, and desire to compass spiritual from natural things. But that this is an undertaking altogether vain is plainly stated in what follows:

Those who desire to see spiritual and celestial from natural things undertake what is impossible. For how can what is composite, so to say, enter into and penetrate its component parts! This is against all possibility. Wherefore, if any one should do this, he would either be dashed to pieces and thus destroyed, or he would be blinded, so as no longer to enjoy the faculty of seeing anything. But from spiritual things, as from component parts, composite things may be seen and thoroughly distinguished.S. D. 2301.

This same principle of confirmation also underlies the formation or organization of natural science; for natural science, regarded as a whole, is and ought to be nothing else than a vast natural confirmation of the truths of the spiritual world or of revelation.

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Wherefore natural science is true, and capable of performing its use of developing the rational faculty, just in proportion as it serves on a large scale to confirm spiritual truths and spiritual principles; in the same proportion also natural science is imbued with an affirmative principle. But the reverse is the case, when the men who have taken the organization of natural science into their charge, ignore spiritual principles, and when they regard the material of natural science as thoroughly independent of spiritual causes, and hence also of the truths of revelation. Such a science may make a man learned in the things of nature, but it cannot enable him to comprehend the spiritual truths of the Word of God, and thus to become truly rational.

IV.

A fourth use natural science performs by enabling a, man to accomplish uses in the natural world

Many in the natural world acknowledge this as the only use of natural science; those are of this class who are imbued by what is usually called the utilitarian spirit, and who are opposed to their children learning anything at school that may not readily be turned into money. This spirit also determines too much the character of the studies which are cultivated in our schools, and the methods of teaching. For as the utilitarian spirit desires to obtain the largest return by the least outlay of money, so in the schools they endeavor to cram the greatest amount of useful knowledge into the brains of children with the least expense of time; because, as they say, time is money. Hence it is that the genuine use of the natural sciences, namely, their use in the formation of a mans rational faculty, in too many, if not in most of our modern schools, is almost entirely disregarded; the instruction is almost entirely administered by the synthetic, and not by the analytic method;

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and those studies, the chief use of which is educational, and not practical, are more and more banished from the schools. Accumulation of knowledge, therefore, and not the acquisition of intelligence, nor the formation of the rational or thinking faculty, is the aim which most teachers nowadays have in view in their schools. And yet this is a most short-sighted policy; for the more intelligent the student is, that is, the more his power of thinking and reasoning correctly is developed, the greater will be his actual progress in his studies.

Still, it is well that the natural sciences are of practical use is every-day life, because otherwise but little time would be allotted to their study in our modern schools, and the schools themselves would gradually degenerate into mere industrial or technological institutions, where the hand is educated at the expense of the head.

The natural sciences, therefore, in connection with the scientifics of civil, moral, and spiritual life, are not only a means for the development of a mans thinking power; and hence do not simply contribute to the formation of the intellectual portion of the rational mind, but they are of use also in the formation of its will-part; for, whenever a truth is applied to the life, or whenever it is practiced, it then exerts an influence on or mans will as well.

But in this respect there is a difference between the various kinds of scientifics which the stored up in a mans memory; for the scientifics which belong to the natural sciences enable a man to perform external uses; those which belong to civil life prepare him for more interior uses; those which belong to moral life for more interior uses still, and those which belong to spiritual life for inmost or highest uses; the uses to which scientifics lead a man being proportioned to the place which these scientifics occupy in the human understanding.

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On this subject we have seen above in A. C. 5034, that the scientifics treating about earthy, bodily, and worldly things, namely, those belonging to natural science, are lowest; that those which. concern the civil state, its government, statutes, and laws, are a little more interior; that those pertaining to moral life are more interior still; and, finally, that the scientifics belonging to spiritual life and which are truths of the Church, are more interior than all these. That such is the position of these scientifics in respect to one another, appears also from the following passage:

Those things which are of the Church and are called spiritual, reside in the inmost with man; those which are of the state and are called civil, hold a place underneath them; but those things which belong to science, experience, and art, and which are called natural, form their resting-place. The things of the Church which are called spiritual, reside in the inmost with man, on account of their conjoining themselves with heaven, and by heaven with the LORD; for no other things enter with man from the LORD by heaven. Those things, however, which belong to the state and are called civil, hold a place underneath the spiritual things, because they conjoin themselves with the world; for they are statutes, laws, and rules, by which men are bound together, so as to form a settled and well-organized society and state. The things, finally, belonging to science, experience, and art, and which are called natural, form their basis and resting-place, because they conjoin themselves with the senses of the body and these are the ultimate or last things, on which the interior things which ore of the mind, and the inmost which are of the soul, as it were, repose.C. L. 130.

The scientifics of the Church, therefore, are inmost, sad the scientifics which are taught by the natural sciences outermost, and between these two are the scientifics which have reference to the state and to morel life. All of these scientifics intrinsically are truths, and by these the man ought to be led to good or to use; or in other words scientifics ought to be implanted in the understanding, yet with a view of their being applied in the performance of use, and also of thus becoming thereby matters of the will.

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The uses of the natural sciences in the arts of every-day life are various and manifold, and are for the most part well known; for instance, the use of astronomy and of the mathematics generally in the art of navigation; the use of mechanics and mathematics in architecture and civil engineering, and in furnishing the machines and tools for the various mechanical trades; further, the uses of chemistry in metallurgy, dyeing, brewing and distilling. Again the uses of botany in the healing art and in horticulture, are self-evident, and the uses which farming derives from organic and inorganic chemistry are well known. Still as the natural sciences deal simply with the ultimate material things of nature, therefore also the good or the uses which they are able to accomplish, have reference to the ultimate or lowest parts of man, and thus to his body.

The uses or the good to which a man is led by the scientifics which belong to civil, moral, end spiritual life are of an order altogether higher, and therefore they are means for developing the genuine rational principle or degree in man as is shown in what follows:

How the rational principle may be developed shall also be told in a few words. The genuine rational principle consists of truths, and not of falsities; what is from falsities is not rational. Truths are of three kinds: civil, moral, and spiritual. Civil truths have reference to those things which are of judgment and which are of the government in kingdoms; in general they have reference to what is just and equitable (justum et aequum). Moral truths refer to those things which are of a mans life in respect to societies and companies; in general to what is sincere and right (sincerum et rectum), and specifically to the virtues of every kind. But spiritual truths refer to those things which are of heaven and the Church; in general to the good which is of love, and to the truth which is of faith. There are three degrees of life in every man. The rational principle is opened to the first degree by civil truths; to the second degree by moral truths; and to the third degree by spiritual truths. But it is to be observed that the rational principle is not formed and opened from these truths, simply by a mans knowing them, but by a mans living according to them; and by his living according to them is meant to love them from a spiritual affection:

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and to love them from a spiritual affection is to love what is just and equitable because it is just and equitable; to love what is sincere and right because it is sincere and right; and to love what is good and true because it is good and true. But to live according to them, and to love them from a bodily or corporeal affection, is to love them for the sake of oneself, ones reputation, honor, or gain. Wherefore so far as a man from a corporeal affection loves these truths, so far he does not become rational; for he does not love them, but himself, whom truths serve as servants serve a waster; and when truths become matters of service, then they do not enter the man, nor do they open any degree of his life, not even the first; but they repose simply in the memory, like scientifics or matters of knowledge under a material form, and there they conjoin themselves with the love of self, which is a corporeal love. It hence may appear how a men becomes rational, namely, that he becomes rational to the third degree by the spiritual love of the good and the true which are of heaven and the Church; to the second degree by the love of what is sincere and right; and to the first degree by the love of what is just and equitable: these two latter loves become also spiritual from the spiritual love of the brood and the true because this flows into them, and conjoins itself with them, and forms in them, as it were, its own countenances.H. H. 468.

The rational principle is here used in a larger sense in which it embraces all the degrees in the mind of man above that which he has in common with irrational animals, viz., above the corporeal or bodily degree. The degrees which are obtained here in conjunction with those described in C. L. 130, are represented in Diagram VII. compared with Diagrams I. and IV. of Section XI.:

I. IV. VII.
Diagram representing Diagram combining Diagram combining
D. L. W. 66. A. C. 4570 and D. S. 4640. C. L. 130 and H. H. 468.

Spiritual World, Internal Natural Good and True
Degree 1. = Israel. = Spiritual Life.

Natural World, Intermediate or Middle Sincere and Right
Degree 3. Natural = Jacob. = Moral Life.

Natural World, External Natural Just and Equitable
Degree 2. = Dan = Civil Life.

Natural World, Corporeal Degree Natural Science
Degree 1. = Body. = Bodily Life.

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We shall next endeavor to show in what manner the development of the rational principle by the performance of uses, differs from its development by the aid of the natural sciences, as described in subdivision II. of the present Section.

The difference is, that by the performance of uses the rational principle is developed as to its: will-part, and by the aid of the natural sciences in connection with scientifics generally as to its intellectual part; or, in other words, the former is a practical and the latter a theoretical means for the development of the rational principle.

The development of the rational principle in its fullness and integrity requires a combination of both means, the theoretical as well as the practical; for a man can be made truly rational only by the combination of the two, of the understanding as well as of the will, of truth as well as of good or use.

This is rendered evident by a more minute investigation of the teaching of the above passage, namely, H. H. 468; for we read there that the rational principle consists of truths, and that truths are of three kinds, namely, civil, moral, and spiritual; and afterward we lead that the rational principle is opened to the first degree by civil truths; to the second degree by moral truths; and to the third degree by spiritual truths. And finally we learn that the rational principle is not formed and opened simply by a mans knowing these truths, but also by his living according to them.

The point to which we would call attention here, is this, that throughout the whole of this passage mention is made constantly of truths, and not of scientifics; and from this it follows that in order that the rational principle may be formed and opened either to the first, second, or third degree, the scientifics pertaining respectively to civil, moral, and spiritual life must already have been raised from the power of scientifics into the power of truths.

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And in A. C. 5774, we learn that this is done in this wise that the things which enter by the senses [namely, sensual scientifics] are stored up in the memory; and that thence the man concludes the scientifics proper, and from scientifics truths.

We see, therefore, that scientifics, in order to be rendered fit for the performance of uses, by the application of a mans rational or thinking power, so far as the understanding is concerned, must be raised from the lower into the higher degrees of the external man, or at least the man must view the scientifics in the lower degrees from the light of truth which prevails in the higher degrees. This process is further described in what follows:

Scientifics are acquired in youth for no other purpose than that of knowing. These scientifics are of a great many kinds; but they are arranged by the LORD into order, so as to be subservient for use; first that the man may be enabled to think afterward that they may be of use! by thought; and; finally, that the man may become such, namely, that his life may consist of use, and be a life of uses. Such are the uses of the scientifics which a man collects during his youth (pueritia), [that is, up to his twentieth year]; and without them his external man can never be conjoined with his internal man, and become together with it a form of use.A. C. 1487.

When a truth is applied to the life, and thus the good and the truth are conjoined, then, provided the man loves the truth from a spiritual affection, the effect upon his mind is this: the truth in his mind is illustrated by spiritual light; or, in other words, the man can have a rational view of this truth in all its parts. Indeed, the combination of theory with practice, even on the plane of natural science, has this effect; wherefore it is a common saying that in order to see whether a thing is true, it must be set to work. Consequently, men who are usefully employed, that is, who perform uses from a spiritual affection either on the bodily, civil, moral, or spiritual plane, are under the full influence of the Grand Man of heaven, and receive illustration in the special work in which they are engaged.

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By this illustration the truths and knowledges in their minds are illuminated by their own inherent light, so that men under the influence of this light are able to make new discoveries and new inventions.

Theoretical men, unless at the same time they are practical, never make new inventions. This shows the necessity of combining a theoretical with a practical education. A theoretical education is: concerned with the implantation of scientifics; but a practical education teaches the performance of good works, and watches over the formation of good habits.

A summary statement of the uses which the man is able to perform by the scientifics which have reference to the natural sciences, and by those referring to civil, moral, and spiritual life, is contained in the following passages from the Divine Love and Wisdom:

A man consists of a body, a rational, and a spiritual principle, for the sake of conjunction with the LORD; for the man cannot be conjoined with the LORD unless he is spiritual; nor can he be spiritual unless he is rational; nor can he be rational unless his body is in a state of soundness. These three are just like a house; the body is like the foundation, the rational principle like the house reared upon it, the spiritual principle like those things which are in the house, and conjunction with the LORD is like dwelling in it.

The uses for the sustenance of the body have reference to its nutrition, clothing, habitation, recreation, and delight, to its protection and the preservation of its state. Uses created for the nutrition of the body are all things of the vegetable kingdom which serve for eating and drinking, such as grapes, seeds, greens, and herbs; further all things of the animal kingdom which serve for food, such as oxen, cows, calves, stags, sheep, kids, goats, lambs, and the milk from these animals; likewise birds and fishes of many kinds. Uses created for the clothing of the body are also many things from these two kingdoms; likewise uses for habitation, and likewise for recreation, delight, protection, and the preservation of state, which we shall not enumerate because they are well known, and because the mere mention of them would fill pages.

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There are, indeed, many things which are not of any actual use to man; still superfluity does not detract from the uses, but causes them to endure. There is also an abuse of uses; but an abuse does not abolish uses, just as a falsification of the truth does not abolish the truth, except in those by whom this is perpetrated.

Uses for perfecting the rational principle are all those things which teach those uses that have just been enumerated, and which consist of the sciences and studies which have reference to natural things, household things, to civil and moral things, and which are derived either from parents or teachers, or from books, or from intercourse with others, or from oneself by reflection on these things. These things perfect the rational principle in the same proportion in which they are in a superior degree of use, and they endure in proportion as they are applied to the life. It would be tedious to enumerate these uses, both on account of their great number, and of their various respect to the common good.

Uses for the reception of a spiritual principle from the LORD are all things which concern religion and worship, and consequently those things which teach the acknowledgment and the knowledge of God, and the knowledge and acknowledgment of good and truth, and thus eternal life. Like the sciences, these are derived from parents, teachers, from preaching and books, and especially by leading a life in agreement therewith. In the Christian world this is done by teachings and preachings from the Word, and by the Word from the LORD. These uses in their extent may also be described by similar things, as the uses of the body, as by nutrition, clothing, habitation, recreation, and delight, by protection and the preservation of state; only these things must be applied to the soul, nutrition to the goods of love, clothing to the truths of wisdom, habitation to heaven; recreation and delight to the blessedness of life and heavenly joy, protection to the infestation of evils, and the preservation of state to eternal life. All these are given by the LORD according to the acknowledgment that all those things which are of the body, are likewise from the LORD, and that the man is only like a servant and a steward placed over these goods of the LORD.--D. L. W. 330-333.

The uses for sustaining the body are taught by the natural sciences. Those uses which perfect the rational principle are accomplished by means of the natural sciences, in conjunction with civil and moral truths. In those uses, however, which concern the reception of a spiritual principle from the LORD, the man is instructed by the truths which are drawn from the Word of God.

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But in order that the rational principle may be formed and opened by the agency of the natural sciences, and by means of civil, moral, and spiritual truths, it is further necessary, as shown in H. H. 468, that these latter truths, and indeed also the truths taught by the natural sciences, should be loved from a spiritual affection; thus that what is just and equitable on the civil plane should be loved from what is just and equitable; further, that what is sincere and right on the moral plane should he loved from what is sincere and right; and, finally, that what is good and true on the spiritual plane, should be loved from what is good and true. And on the other hand we learn that when a man lives according to these truths, and loves them from a corporeal affection, that is, from self-love, he does not become rational. In this case also the above truths are not truths so far as the man is concerned, but they repose simply in the memory like scientifics, under a material form, and their conjoin themselves with the love of self, which is corporeal.

The nature of the spiritual affection, however, by which the man must be imbued, in order that his rational principle as to its will-part may be formed and opened by the performance of uses, is more clearly explained in what follows:

To live for others is to do uses. Uses are the bonds of society, and there are as many of these bonds as there are good uses; and uses are infinite in number. There are spiritual uses, which are those of love to the LORD, and of love toward the neighbor; there are moral and civil uses, which are of the love of the society and the community in which a man lives; and of the acquaintances and fellow-citizens among whom he lives. There are also natural uses, which are of the love of the world and its necessities; and there are corporeal uses, which are of the love of preserving oneself on account of higher uses. All these uses are inscribed on man, and follow in order one after another; and when they are together, one is within the other.

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Those who are in the first uses, and are spiritual, are also in those that follow, and are wise. But those who are not in the first uses, but still in the second and in those that follow, are not so wise, but only appear to be so from their external morality and civility. Those who are not in the first and second, but in the third and fourth uses, are anything but wise; for they are satans, because they love only the world, and themselves from the world. But those who are only in the fourth uses, are the least wise; for they are devils, because they live for themselves alone, and if for others, it is solely for the sake of self.--T. C. R. 746.

It hence appears that when a man is in the first or spiritual uses, the quality of these uses is imparted to all those that succeed in order, even to those which the man is able to produce on the plane of the world, and of the body by virtue of his knowledge of natural things or of the natural sciences. And it is in this wise that the natural sciences, by the works or the uses to which they lead the man on the plane of nature and of the body, are instrumental in establishing the LORDS kingdom as it is in heaven, so also upon the earth.

In conclusion, we have to state that some of the natural sciences are more theoretical and others more practical. The practical sciences deal with art in all its branches, and are immediately concerned in the performance of uses for the sustenance of the body; while the uses of the purely. theoretical sciences concern the development of the thinking or rational faculty, and hence above are meant by uses for the perfection of the rational principle.

XXII.

CONCLUSION.

FROM a brief review of the ground over which we have passed, we think that the paramount importance of the study of the natural sciences for the development of the LORDS New Church on earth is clearly shown from the Writings of the Church.

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But in order that science, and also philosophy, may become handmaids in the building up of the LORDS New Church on earth; or in order that, in the language of Scripture, there may be a highway out of Egypt and Assyria into Israel, both science and philosophy must be cultivated and organized, or rather they must be newly created by the New Church; and by being newly created from a New Church point of view is meant, not only that they must be cultivated in an affirmative spirit, but also that out of the merely scientific or philosophical stage, they must be advanced and the doctrinal or spiritual stage. When this is effectually done, as it has been done in Swedenborgs philosophical Writings, it will become apparent to every one who is well versed in the principles of his theological writings, that the fundamental principles enunciated and established by Swedenborg in his philosophical writings are identical with those which are at the basis of the doctrines of the internal sense of the Sacred Scriptures. These doctrinal principles dawned upon Swedenborg during his career as an analytic philosopher, and these principles accompanied him when the LORD opened before him the wonders of the spiritual world, and the glories of the internal sense of the Divine Word. Wherefore the principles of analytic science taught in Swedenborgs philosophical works reconcile the science of nature with the revelation of God and the spiritual world; and they constitute that intellectual quantity in Swedenborgs mind which underwent no change when from a Philosopher he became a Seer. These principles which, under the Divine Providence, he discovered, disengaged, and brought forth by the most intense application and study, and which are embodied in his philosophical writings, he carried with him, and they helped him after he had left the domains of nature to thread the labyrinth of the spiritual world and to unlock the various senses of the Sacred Scripture.

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These principles which consist of the doctrines of forms, of order, of degrees, of series and society, of communication and influx, of correspondence and of modification, enable him who is imbued with the spiritual love of uses, to ascend from the body to the soul, from earth to heaven; and they also enable him again to descend out of the world of spirit or of causes, into the world of nature or of effects, and to trace there the operation of spiritual causes, in the phenomena and effects of nature. These principles, finally, which. are taught in the philosophical, as well as in the theological writings of Swedenborg, enable man to obtain a rational insight, not only into the causes of the universe, but also to discern in a rational manner the spirit of the Word of God in its letter.

Wherefore in the New Church science is first sublimated into spiritual truth, sad again spiritual truth flows out of heaven into the science of the natural world; yet only in proportion as the man of science, as well as the man of the Church, are imbued with the spiritual love of uses, that is, in proportion as their hearts are filled with the genuine love of the LORD and of the neighbor.

APPENDED NOTE.

DR. JAMES JOHN GARTH WILKINSON speaks as follows of the conceits of scientism and the social chaos therefrom:

In scientific men the faculties are as much broken short as they are in churchmen; the method of correlation accuses the scientific also of blind faith and lack of investigation. If they are not imprisoned in 39 articles, it is only because they have not thought fit so to declare them. They are imprisoned in the dogma of action that can successfully explore nature and take no heed to God. Also that you can break life and love open, and have life and love before you. Also that space and time are infinite, and nature eternal.

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Also that you come everywhere to the unknown. Also that one creature by self-evolution changes into another, whereby a great part of the mental space of science is filled with missing links, and the mind, which never has found and never will and one of them, is fatigued and devastated. Also that atheism is established, and political selfishness is moral. Also that the greater selfhoods of corporations are better than the little ones of individuals. With many other conclusions utterly broken away from all astronomy, geology, physiology, chemistry, mechanics, and other real sciences. These positions correspond with, and correlate with, nothing. True science has never struck them, and they have in them none of the force, light or heat by which exact knowledge below, received into reason, would present a plane on which higher knowledge coming down from above could preparedly represent itself.

The truth is that the scientific mind, and necessarily therefore science itself, is full of lusts and falsities, and the positions recorded above are the signs of these terrible interpolations of non-faculties into the field of knowledge and what happens with ideas, happens to men. The agents and abettors of the false 39 articles of modern science have a supreme delight in being out of their own proper places. They break between their fitness and their assumed functions. Some eminent man who is great in natural experiment undertakes to illuminate the British Association with the, to him, probable material nature of the Godhead. Obviously his opinions on this subject are not led by his genius or his vocation.

Another eminent person towers from the pulpit of his protoplasm, and pronounces for the ferment of the slime of nature, and the goal of the unknown, leaving aside the Almighty as of no consequence to his thoughts. He resolves nature into a pabulum, which by mystery evolves stomachs, and these produce men and women....

This aspiration, to be above ones own mind, and this insurrection of men against the uses they could fulfil admirably, this pushing into some other place and station than ones own,...: would be only ridiculous if they had no audiences, and if holy things were not involved. But they deride the LORD; and when there are masses of men and women under them, listening to their words, and ignorantly believing that a professor great in heat and light, or in physiology, when he is annually voted to the throne of science in these realms, becomes oracular on every subject upon which he opens his mouth.... Thence the spread of wrong places, in other words, of ignorant arrogance, all through society. Thence a papacy in science, a voted infallibility in its little intellect; and practical deeds of devils on the maxim that science can do nothing wrong.Science and Revelation, pp. 255-257.

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NOTES.

Resume of the Issue.

IN the first Volume of WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH closing with the present number, we have pointed out in many ways the fallacies and heresies into which the New Church was drifting, and which from time to time have been promulgated through our Periodicals, Books and Tracts. When we began the SERIAL a number of these heresies were already rife in the Church, nor would our Periodicals in their columns correct these errors or publish corrections so abundantly found in the Writings of Swedenborg. In the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, we have endeavored to explain these fallacies, to point out the danger to the Church, and to lift up the standard of Divine Truth as given to us in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

The issue opened in the Church by these departures from the Heavenly Doctrines revealed by the LORD for the use of those who are of the New Church has respect chiefly to the following points:

1. The Divine Authority of the Writings, which we affirm, while others doubt or deny.

2. The Second Advent of the LORD in the Writings, and consequently their infallibility and Divinity, we affirm these things, while others deny them either wholly or in part.

3. The New Church the Crown of all the Churches, and so distinct from them that it can neither be evolved from them or infused into them. That the Doctrines of the New Church, and the form and order of its Priesthood, and of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper are most explicitly and fully set forth in the Heavenly Doctrines, and that we can neither modify or amend these Divine Principles revealed for the use of the Church. We believe and affirm these things, while others doubt or deny them; hence the issue.

In the discussions relating to these subjects we have passed over much ground and considered many points. Those differing from us have lamented that we differ from them, but not so much that they differ from the teachings of the Heavenly Doctrines.

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Our multiplied quotations from these, we fear they either do not fully appreciate or do not fully comprehend.

And still we do not complain at the results. We confide in the Divine Providence of the LORD, nor can se doubt that the plaid and oft repeated asseverations of the LORD, in the Writings which we have collated and laid before our readers, will in the end do their appointed work. For the Writings tell their own tare, they are the LORDS presence in His Church, and as they contain the spiritual sense of the Word, their influence is Divine and Infinite. Or His Word the LORD says: It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in that to which I sent it.Isa. lv. 11.

Indeed we cannot close our eyes to the fact that in the periodicals and other publications of the Church in this country there is less than formerly of these disclaimers and negatives in respect to the infallibility and Divine authority of the Writings. When we began there was much outspoken denial of these things. At present there is less. Whether from rational conviction of the truth, or from other causes, we do not know; we hope for the best. And whatever may be the course of those who are now known as New Churchmen, the New Church in Christendom, we most firmly believe, will be saved from lapsing into the old, and that the spirit of open and secret denial of all Divine Revelation which has taken possession of the old Church, although it may infest, will not be permitted to destroy the faith of the New Church in the Sanctity of the Word, and the Divinity of the Writings.

The General Conference.

THE General Conference of New Church Ministers, at its late meeting, was most hospitably entertained by the New Church people in Brooklyn, and the session was held at the Temple of the New Church in that city.

The Rev. Joseph Pettee, President of the Conference, opened the session by a paper on the Laws of Charity as applied to the Meetings of the Conference. The paper seemed well timed and to the point, and quite sufficient for the occasion. But a prolonged discussion followed, in which many of the members took part, homily after homily being given on charitable behavior within the Conference, and forcibly impressing upon us the thought that doing more in our Conferences in the way of charitable conduct, and saying less, would improve the character of our meetings.

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The annual concio ad Clerum was given by the Rev. John Worcester, on the Humanity of the Word. His attempt was to trace in the Word the history and the various phases of human life.

During the five days of the Conference, more than the usual number of papers were presented and considered. Some of them were exhaustive, and were characterized with much ability and patient research in their preparation; others were more brief and simple.

We can do but little more than catalogue the following, which deserve much more than this brief mention:

The Equilibrium between Good and Evil, by the Rev. L. H. Tafel: a Paper answering the questions often asked: Are the hells and their continued enlargement necessary provisions in the progress of the spiritual universe?

The Christian Year, by the Rev. Frank Sewall. In this Paper Mr. Sewall enumerated the Festivals which have been celebrated by Christians from the time of the Primitive Church. Of these the principal ones are known as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. The history of the Church in respect to these festivals was carefully traced, and the use and abuse of the festivals in the old church considered. Their more exalted use in the New Church was considered at some length, showing that as with the Sabbath, so with these other special days, the proper observance of them may confirm the life of charity in the Church, and strengthen the life of piety.

Education, by the Rev. W. P. Pendleton. In this Paper the present state of popular education was unfolded, showing how lamentably defective it appears when viewed in the light of heaven. In the New Church, as all things are to be made new, we cannot adopt the old methods of education, but we must seek new methods in harmony with the light of the New Dispensation. In our popular systems of education it was shown that the intellect of our youth is unduly developed and that the impulses of the will which are developed tend almost exclusively to the increase of self-love, ambition, covetousness and dishonesty.

The New Church and the Old, by the Rev. George Field.

Pastoral Visiting, by the Rev. T. P. Wright.

The Apocalypse, by the Rev. A. F. Frost. This Paper was an extended view of the Apocalypse, showing first, bow the Church in all ages has been puzzled with this sacred book and how they have treated it; and second unfolding the Book in the light of the New Church in its bearings upon the history of the old church to the time of its full consummation; and then its relations to the Coming of the LORD and the establishment of the New Church.

Power in Ultimates, by the Rev. G. Nelson Smith.

Establishment of the New Church, by the Rev. J. P. Stuart.

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This last Paper suggested as injurious to the New Church the wide-spread indifference to true Doctrine as the means to a good life,--the fatal indifference to the distinctions between the true and the false,--the New Church and the old in all of which there is the non-acknowledgment of the LORD in the Writings which at His Advent He has given for the use of His New Church. Among the remedies suggested in the Paper to this indifference was a more diligent reading old study of the Word and the Writings, by the people of the Church, young and old; and in the preaching a more thorough unfolding of the Internal Sense of the Word and the Heavenly Doctrines, showing the impossibility of building up the New Church on the foundations of the old, or of evolving the new out of the old, or of infusing the new doctrine into the old, or indeed of establishing the New Church on any other foundation than the full acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Advent in the Word and by means of the Doctrines evolved from it by the LORD Himself and given to His Church in the Writings of Swedenborg.

The Rev. J. P. Potts, of Glasgow, now on a visit to this country, attended the Conference throughout its extended session. He received the cordial welcome of all the brethren; and by his timely and well-considered remarks, he often added much to the good derived from the discussions and to the pleasure of the Conference.

General Convention.

THE last meeting of the General Convention took place in New York, beginning on the 30th of May and closing on the 2d of June.

The associations and societies were generally well represented. Of the 11 associations and 6 societies belonging to the Convention, 6 associations and 1 society report a membership of 3167. Judging from former reports, the other 5 associations and 5 societies contain about 1702 members; making in all 4569. In these reports the scattered New Churchmen within the bounds of the associations are in almost every case omitted; these number at least 1200 more, making a total of over 6000 adult members within the associations and societies belonging to the General Convention. One new society, that of Denver, Col., was received into membership at this meeting.

As an acknowledgment of the unity of the Church on earth, messengers were received and sent to the New Church in other countries. The Rev. J. P. Potts and Mr. Thos. Wilson were received as messengers from the Church in Great Britain, and Rev. Ch. Giles was sent as a messenger to England, and Rev. F. Goerwitz was seat as a messenger to the Church in Germany and Switzerland.

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A similar acknowledgment, though somewhat different in kind, was the direction to the Board of Missions to pay $150 to the Mission in Italy, and a similar amount to the Mission in Sweden.

Several amendments to the Constitution were adopted this session: one defining more closely the mode of voting when delegates cast the whole vote to which an association or society is entitled, and another assigning only 1 vote instead of 3 to societies of 20 and less and 40, and giving an additional vote for every 20 additional members; formerly the basis of representation was 25. The tendency of these changes is to diminish the vote of the smaller associations and societies, and to increase the proportionate vote of large associations and large societies. The position of elective members appears now even more conspicuously abnormal than before. Though representing no one but themselves, for they are not elected by isolated receivers, their vote is entitled to the same weight as the representative of 20, and in extreme cases of 39 members of a society belonging to the Convention. A peculiarity of the present elective members is, that at least 2 out of the 3 are such in plain violation of the Constitution. For the Constitution (see Section 8) knows of no elective members but isolated receivers.

The Board of Missions reports an expenditure of $770.00 for Home Missions and $250.00 for Foreign Missions. The Rev. S. P. Dike proposed the establishment of one or two mission centres in the South, leaving to the associations the direction of missionary affairs within their borders. This was adopted with the proviso that associations needing assistance should also be helped.

The incorporation of the Board of Publication was agreed to after much opposition. The Committee on the Publication of Swedenborgs MSS. reported the transcription from the photolithograph of the work De Cerebro by Prof. P. B. Cabell, of Urbana, who is now engaged in transcribing the Ontologia. It also reported that Dr. S. H. Worcester has completed his comparison of the Apocalypsis Explicata with the photolithograph, and that he has also deciphered the work De Divino Amore et de Divina Sapientia. The plates of one half of the Apocalypsis Revelata have now been prepared, and the work will probably be completed in the coming year.

The election of officers was conducted on the plan of voting by associations and societies, the delegates casting the full vote to which these bodies are entitled. It was found that there were 402 votes represented. For President Rev. Ch. Giles received 249 votes, Rev. Wm. H. Benade 127, and the Rev. S. B. Dike 26 votes. Of the votes cast for vice-president the Hon. T. A. Plantz received 252 votes and the Rev. J. C. Ager 150. So there was no change in these offices: the treasurer and the secretaries were re-elected unanimously.

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The elective members of the Executive Committee are: O. Gerrish, F. A. Dewson, Rev. J. Worcester, Rev. J. Reed, A. Smith, J. Pitcairn, J. Shoemaker, W. N. Hobart, H. Lightner, and the Rev. P. W. Trk.

The usual religious services were held on Convention Sunday. In the afternoon the Rev. Jos. Pettee administered the Holy Supper to 293 communicants. Mr. Fedor Goerwitz was ordained by the Rev. F. W. Turk in the house of worship of the German Society of New York.

The Church is at present in a peculiar state, being divided into two parties: the one believing the Heavenly Doctrines to be the LORDS works in which He has made His Second Coming, and therefore of Divine authority, and all the teachings contained therein to be received as Divine Teachings and to be implicitly believed and obeyed; the other party believing the Writings to be the works of Swedenborg, who was indeed highly illuminated, but who nevertheless was liable to err, and who made so many mistakes, that it is necessary to sift carefully the Writings, receiving what we can see to be true, but rejecting the rest.

In the last two meetings of the Convention the tendency to ignore the rights of the minority showed itself in many ways; we need only mention one, and this one has respect to the theological schools of the Church. The Waltham Theological School had at first the co-operation of nearly all the ministers and laymen of the Convention, but being in the East it soon fell under the sole control of the Eastern ministers and was permeated by their peculiar views. There was then developed and taught the doctrine that illumination is altogether dependent on regeneration, and that Swedenborg formed no exception, but that his illumination also was limited by his state of goodness. As a corollary to this proposition it follows that any of our regenerate men and especially our regenerated ministers may become as highly illuminated as Swedenborg was, and may speak with the same authority as the Writings themselves.

This teaching with which the Waltham School became identified tends to bring up a continual mention of Swedenborgs views, and Swedenborgs works; instead of the Heavenly Doctrines, in which the LORD is teaching us. The believers in the Divine authority of the Writings became more and more convinced that the progress and welfare of the Church were seriously threatened by these teachings. In consequence of this a number of those who acknowledge that the LORD has made His Second Coming in the Heavenly Doctrines written by the LORD through Emanuel Swedenborg, and that these Writings are on this account true, infallible, and Divine, united in forming THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

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Through the devotion of its members and friends, the Academy two years ago organized a Divinity School in Philadelphia, which is at this time in active operation.

Though these facts are well known to the Church in general, and though it was seen that those favorable to the Academy and its principles are quite numerous, yet the friends of Waltham still desire to have it appear that the whole Church is in favor of the Waltham School, and accordingly in the Convention they called upon every member of the Convention and every member of the Church to support the Waltham School, at the same time knowing full well that a considerable part of the Church is by no means satisfied with the views taught in Waltham. Would it not be much more just and honorable to acknowledge the true state of the case and leave it to each part of the Convention to support that School which it conscientiously believes to be following the true course? Is it just or fair to ask those who believe in the Divine authority of the Writings to support or seem to support a School in which this fundamental doctrine is rejected?

The presumption of the opponents of the Academy reached its acme, when one of them proposed that even the allusion to the work of the Academy contained in the Report of one of the associations should be returned to the delegates of that association to have these allusions elided. The chair did not, as was his duty, rule this arrogant proposition out of order, but the Convention itself immediately laid it on the table by so overwhelming vote.

The future historian of the Church will no doubt consider the present tendency of putting reason above the Divine Revelation made for the New Church as very strange, and will think it unaccountable that any true New Churchman could ever have doubted that the welfare and progress, yea, the very life and strength of the Church, consists in being led in all things by the Divine Truth revealed to the Church, and thus by the LORD Himself.

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BOOK NOTICES.

SHEOL and HADES.

1. Wochenschrift der Neuen Kirche, 1853, TÃ¼bingen. Dr. J. F. J. Tafel.

2. Lehren der Neuen Kirche, Baltimore, 1869. Rev. A. O. Brickman.

3. Light on the Last Things, 20 Cooper Union, New York, 1869. Rev. Wm. B. Hayden.

4. The Angels, Jas. Spiers, London, 1874. By a Bible Student.

5. Sheol and Hades, Journal of the American Conference of New Church Ministers, 1875. Rev. L. H. Tafel.

6. The difference between Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna, and the meaning of Infernus or Infernum, Detroit, 1879. Rev. G. Field.

We propose to review these publications together only so far as they refer to the subject of Sheol and Hades, on which subject there seems to be quite a diversity of view. All these writers indeed seem to be agreed that Sheol and Hades refer to the same place or state, but they differ as to what place or state is designated by these names. The Wochenschrift (p. 50), Lehren der Neuen Kirche (p. 277), Light on Last Things (ch. v. and vi.), The Angels (pp. 31-34), Difference between Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna, (p. 8, etc.) all agree that sheol and hades do not signify Hell, but the world of spirits, but the article in the Conference Journal (p. 68) maintains that by these terms is signified nothing else than hell. This is quite a startling difference, for it involves the correct understanding of over 70 passages in the Bible. When we come to the grounds on which the view that Sheol and Hades are not Hell rests we find them quite various, consisting, however, mainly of the views held by certain Jews, then by certain Divines in the old church, their views being in some instances quoted entire, as if they were competent authorities to instruct the New Jerusalem as to the nature of Heaven, the World of Spirits, and Hell. Considering that the New Church Writings teach us that the old church is altogether in the dark as to heaven and hell and the life after death (s. H. and H. 1), and that the Jews hardly knew that there was any life after death, calling on these authors for light seems to us quite extraordinary. We would rather say: Let the dead bury their dead, and turn for instruction to the Heavenly Doctrines in which the LORD Himself teacheth us, saying, Behold, I make all things new. This seems to have been the course of the author of the paper in the Journal of Conference, and we are not astonished that he has reached results altogether different from those who followed the other course.

In the last article it is shown that Sheol and Hades are in the Writings always translated and explained as hell (infernum).

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Mr. Field, desiring to save the authority of the Writings as well as to keep to his own opinion, has endeavored to reconcile the two by the novel expedient of declaring that infernum or infernus perhaps quite as often or more frequently only means the lower regions of the World of Spirits. (p. 24.)

It is probably needless to say that Mr. Field differs in this view from all the other learned men of the Church, and from all the many scholars who have rendered the Writings into English, French, German, and other tongues. Mr. Field is singularly unfortunate in the passage which he selects to prove that infernum signifies the world of spirits, for any unprejudiced eye must at once recognize that infernum in the passages he quotes plainly means hell and nothing else. We take these passages in the order in which he quotes them:

1. Hell (infernum) consists of all those who from the creation of the world, by evils of life and falses of doctrine, have alienated themselves from God, T. C. R. 123, quoted on p. 26. Now will Mr. Field affirm that this is the world of spirits and not hell? We suppose not, for he himself grants that it means an infernal state (p. 27). So we see that the first passage cited turns against the citer.

2. He quotes from T. C. R. 68 that unless man fights against evil with himself he cannot but he immerged and submerged in hell (inferno); now does this mean hell or the World of Spirits? In the same number we read that all evils and thence falses are from inferno, is this then the World of Spirits or is it Hell?

Mr. Field makes a distinction between the infernal state and the final home elf those that are in that state. Mr. Field does not seem to consider that the English word hell like the Latin Infernum has both these meanings; for when we say that the LORD fought against the hells, every one supposes that this means against those who are in infernal states and who carry hell with them wherever they go. Mr. Field is in error when he says (p. 27):

3. We find that the Devils who broke loose from their Hells are described as being in Inferno whilst they were in the World of Spirits; and that it was in that World that the LORD battled contra inferna and subjugated them (T. C. R. 116, 7). The LORD no doubt fought against the bells, that is, the infernal spirits while they were in the world of spirits, but these infernal bands or hells were not then in that particular place for which they were fitted and which is their own hell, but they were roaming beyond it. Accordingly we do not find any statement either in T. C. R. 116, 7 or elsewhere that these devils were in inferno while they were in the world of spirits.

4. Out of the belly of Sheol (Infernum) cried I, and thou didst hear my voice, where Sheol (Infernum) signifies the earth below.--A. C. 247. It is to be noted that the earth below is in the Latin not the same with the lower earth, terra inferior, which is a part of the World of Spirits, but is terra infera. The exact force of this expression, which probably does not occur elsewhere, may perhaps best be gathered from the parallel passage in A. E. 622, where we read: The belly of the sea-monster, in which Jonah was three days and three nights, signifies the hells, where the direst falses are, by which he was surrounded, therefore the most dreadful temptations, as may be seen from the prophetic saying of Jonah in that chapter, where it is also said: Out of the belly of hell I called and thou heardest my voice, Jonah ii. 2.

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So infernum also in this passage refers to the bells which infested and not to the World of Spirits.

Mr. Field next complains that our translators constantly make Swedenborg say that the LORD cast down and dispersed Hell and reduced all things, both in Heaven and in Hell, into order (T. C. R. 123), as if the LORD had gone down into Hell to accomplish it, whereas it was in Hades or the World of Spirits (p. 27). Mr. Field would then probably translate: the LORD cast down and dispersed the World of Spirits and reduced all things in Heaven and in the World of Spirits into order; but he would just as surely make a mistake, For the LORD cast down not the World of Spirits or any other world but the infernal societies which are called hells. And He reduced not only Heaven and the World of Spirits but the very Hells into order at the Last Judgment; nor need we think that it required the visible presence of the LORD in the Hells to effect this, as His Divine Proceeding Itself has all the necessary power.

Thus we might go on and show in every instance cited by Mr. Field, that the passages he quotes to prove infernum is not hell but the World of Spirits, prove really the very contrary of what he endeavors to demonstrate. He has in fact not been able to adduce a single passage where infernum necessarily or even with any probability means the World of Spirits.

Then Mr. Field labors to prove that the lower earth (terra inferiror) is not hell but the lower part of the World of Spirits. This any well-informed New Churchman would at once grant him, but it does not in any way help to prove his point, for Swedenborg everywhere carefully distinguishes between terra inferiror and infernum, thereby again showing conclusively that the infernum is not the lower part of the World of Spirits.

We find in the explanatory notice (p. 3) of Mr. Fields pamphlet several misquotations, which though no doubt unintentional might with more care have been avoided. In reviewing the article in the Journal of Conference he makes the author of that paper say that Sheol is used (in the Old Testament) 70 times, which would have been quite an error. What the article does say is that sheol is used in the Bible 65 times, and that 31 of these texts are quoted in 79 passages of the Writings.

Then again there is a misquotation when Mr. Field states: In the Now Testament, he says, the Greek words used as meaning Hell are Hades and Tartarus, and for Heaven Elysium and Ournnos. This again would have been a serious mistake, as neither Tartarus nor Elysium are mentioned in the New Testament. The author of the paper in the Journal of Conference was not so careless, for we read there: the Greeks have another term for hell, i.e. Tartarus, and the terms Elysium and Ouranos for Heaven. By substituting New Testament for Greeks Mr. Field made out of a true statement a false statement. This misquotation seems to have misled the Intellectual Repository in its criticisms, which were evidently made without hearing both sides of the question.

The misconception as to the true force of Hades and Sheol has seriously affected the true explanation of several passages of the Word and especially the true conception of the parable of Dives and Lazarus, which has been explained in direct contradiction with the teachings of the Writings.

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It is well known that the gulf there mentioned signifies the World of Spirits, and since the rich man was on one side of the gulf and Lazarus on the other, it manifestly follows, that the rich man was in hell and Lazarus in heaven. This also is the plain teaching of the Writings but not that of the authors mentioned above. Confused by their misconception of Hades they place both Dives and Lazarus in the World of Spirits, making Abrahams bosom to refer to the upper part of the World of Spirits, and Hades to its lower part. (Wochenschrift, pp. 42, 53; Lehren der N. k., p. 297; Light on Last Things, chapter vi., also p. 65; Difference bet. Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna, p. 29.) Thus this parable of Scripture which is mentioned and more or less explained in 26 or more passages of the Writings is thus perverted and falsely explained in order to agree with this erroneous conception of Hades and Sheol.

That Abraham signifies the LORD in this passage, that Abrahams bosom signifies heaven, and that Lazarus was carried into heaven is taught in the following passages: A. C. 3305, 3703, 5078, 6804, 6960, 10,697, H. H. 365, L. J. 19, N. J. H. D. 228, C. L. 41, A. E. 118, T. C. R. 456, 475, 661. That New Church writers can declare that Lazarus was not in heaven, when there are 14 passages in the Writings where this is stated with more or less distinctness, while there is not one passage to be found declaring that Lazarus was not in heaven, is certainly peculiar, but it shows the disastrous consequence of going to old church writers for explanation of the Word, and also the consequence of going to the letter of the Word for instruction without doctrine to guide; when yet the Word without doctrine is not understood.--T. C. R. 226, S. S. 51.

Of the passages enumerated above we quote only the following in full:

The LORD said concerning Dives and Lazarus, that the one went to hell, and thence spoke with Abraham, and that the other went to heaven.-L. J. 19.

That Lazarus was carried up into Abrahams bosom, the angels perceive to signify that he was carried up into heaven, where the LORD is present.--A. C. 6804.

The LORD said concerning Dives and Lazarus, that the former was carried to hell, but the latter by the angels to heaven.A. C. 6078.

Lazarus was after death carried up into heaven, but the rich man was cast into hell.--A. C. 10,597, N. J. D. 228.

That the rich man who was in hades was in hell may be seen from several of the passages cited above, namely, L. J. 10, C. L. 41, A. C. 6078, 10,597. That the flames with which Dives was tormented were hell-fire or the cupidity of the love of self and of the world we see from the following passages: H. H. 670, A. C. 6832, A. R. 282, A. E. 465, 604.

That the reason why Dives could not pass over to Lazarus was because those who are in a state of hell cannot be transferred into a state of heaven we see from the following passages: A. C. 9346, 10,187, 10,659, N. J. D. 239, D. Pr. 100.

This appears also from the following passage in explanation of this text: Those who are in hell are said to see those who are in heaven afar off, because they are in a state most remote from good and truth, the immense gulf between them is this remoteness from good and truth, which also produces the appearance of an intervening gulf.--A. C. 8918.

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The whole subject is still more fully set forth in the True Christian Religion, where we read: Since the delights of hell are opposite to the delights of heaven, there is a great interstice between them, into which the delights of heaven flow from above and the delights of hell from beneath. In the middle of this interstice is man, while he lives in the world, in order that he may he in equilibrium, and thus in a state of freedom to turn himself to heaven or to hell. This interstice is what is meant by the great gulf fixed between those who are in heaven and those who are in hell, Luke xvi. 26.T. C. R. 455.

This passage again shows most plainly that Lazarus was in heaven and Dives in hell. This is if possible stated in still plainer language in the following:

The spiritual world consists of heaven and hell; heaven is over the head, and hell under the feet.... Between heaven and hell there is a great interstice, which appears to those who are there like an entire orb. Into this interstice evil from hell is exhaled in all abundance; and on the other hand, good from heaven flows in thither also in all abundance. IT IS THIS INTERSTICE of which Abraham said to the rich man in hell, Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who would pass over from hence to you cannot; neither can those who are there pass over to us, Luke xvi. 26.T. C. R. 476, see also T. C. R. 651.

We doubt that the meaning of the parable could be set forth in language more plain and definite, showing that Abrahams bosom signifies heaven, and hades, where Dives was, signifies hell.

That Hades signifies Hell also in other passages of the Word where it is mentioned, may be seen from a mere quotation of these passages in the rendering of which Swedenborg and the Authorized English version agree:

Thou, Caprernaum, which art exalted into heaven, shalt be brought down to hell (Hades, infernum). Matt. xi. 23.

Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell (Hades, infernum) shall not prevail against it.--Matt. xvi. 18.

I have the keys of hell (Hades, infernum) and of death.Rev. i. 18.

Behold a pare horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell (hades, infernus) followed with him.Rev. vi 8.

And death and Hell (hades, infernus) delivered up the dead that were in them.Rev. xx....13.

And death and hell (hades, infernus) were cast into the lake office.Rev. xx. 14.

Hell (hades, infernus), in the lust two passages quoted, signifies, according to the Apocalypse Revealed, those who interiorly in themselves were satans, thence all the impious in heart, who nevertheless appeared in externals like men of the Church. A. R. 870. These are called Hell, because hell is in them and they carry hell with them wherever they go. That it is said that Death and Hell were cast into the lake of file, is according to the angelic speech, in which a person is not named, but that which is in the person, and makes him ; here that in the person which makes his death and hell. That it is so may be seen from the fact that hell (infernus) cannot be cast into hell (infernum). A. R. 872.

We see therefore that Hades in the Word always signifies hell, that is, either the place in which the evil spirits appear to dwell, or the satans who in part constitute hell.

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Our space does not allow us to quote here the many passages concerning sheol, but as all writers, Jews, old church, and New Church, agree that sheol and hades are synonymous, it would clearly follow that if hades means hell, sheol must have the same signification. The Article in the Journal of Conference shows that Swedenborg translates sheol with infernum in nearly all the passages in which it occurs, and that he gives to it the meaning of hell.

We do not therefore see that the New Church can do otherwise than accept the fact that Sheol and Hades signify Hell, and it is to he hoped that all teachings contrary to this truth may be eliminated from our literature, so that it may harmonize with the Divine Truth as revealed by the LORD at His Second Coming.

SWEDENBORG AND CHANNING. SHOWING THE MANY AND REMARKABLE AGREEMENTS IN THE BELIEFS AND TEACHINGS OF THESE WRITTEN. By B. F. BARRETT. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1879. Crown octave, pp. 288.

The publishers of this volume have adorned the book in becoming elegance of style. The volume is inscribed to the Unitarian Denomination in America; and the members of that body who may chance to spend their summer vacation by the sea-side, or in the mountains, or in other lands, may find in this book a most valuable Vade Mecum.

The work treats respectively of Theology, Pneumatology, and Christology; and these subjects are again subdivided and considered in sixty odd brief sections. The topics chosen comprehend in 8 summary view the whole field of Christian Doctrine; and the plan of treatment consists in bringing together, face to face in the same section, the Doctrines of the New Church, and the Doctrines of the Unitarians as held by Dr. Channing.

On fifty-five of these subjects, Mr. Barrett says in his Preface, that the teachings of Swedenborg and Channing are substantially the same, differing only in form or phraseology. There is almost a perfect coincidence of thought, along with a wide difference in expression. The fullness of illustration in Swedenborgs writings, and the comparative meagerness in Channings is frankly declared as follows:

In many instances where I have given but one or two brief extracts from Swedenborg, I might have quoted many pages equally interesting and instructive, and in further elucidation of the same subject. And on hundreds of other subjects about which we find nothing whatever in Channing, Swedenborg has written with such a degree of fullness and such a measure and depth of wisdom, as compel me to admit that his illumination was extraordinary and special, and vastly superior to that of Channing.--Preface, p. xvi.

The Preface closes with an affectionate and forcible appeal to the students of Channing to acknowledge that a veritable revelation of transcendent interest and importance has actually been made through Swedenborg; a revelation not only of the deeper spiritual meanings of Gods word, but of the nature, laws, and phenomena of the spiritual world.

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The Unitarian who should examine Mr. Barretts book with a candid and unbiased mind could not fail to be impressed with the superlative vividness strength, and beauty of the truths quoted from Swedenborg, transcending beyond comparison the best utterances of Channing.

Mr. Barretts work is certainly a forcible appeal to the Unitarian to look not only to Channing and other similar writers, but also to writers that can show them the way from their negative state in respect to the LORD, and indeed their denial of His Divinity, to an affirmative state, and a belief in Him as the only God; and as such an appeal it will help many of its readers that need help.

But with the Unitarian as well as with the Trinitarian the fundamental error is the denial of the supreme and pole Divinity of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. In the book before us this fault in Channing is fully conceded by the Author, and still the concession is evidently made reluctantly. After declaring in several luminous pages Swedenborgs view of Christ, Mr. Barrett says:

Now we find no such idea as this anywhere in Channings writings. On the contrary, he believed that Christ was a being separate and distinct from the Father, and therefore not a proper object of religious worship.

And yet, on closer examination, we shall find this difference to be more apparent than real, more formal than substantial. p. 263.

On the contrary, as we view the subject, we find upon the closest examination that the difference is real rather than apparent, and substantial rather than formal. Indeed, we think that Mr. Barrett becomes the apologist of Channing at the very point where he ought to lift up the standard against him. Mr. Barrett himself seems to be conscious of this, for immediately following the words quoted above, which we have given in Italics, he returns to his affirmative ground and says:

And we shall see, too, that Swedenborgs doctrine on this subject, is precisely what Channing needed to give harmony, consistency, and unity to his own Christology, or to his clearly expressed views of the moral perfection, preexistence and sovereignty of Jesus Christ.

And we think that it ought to he added, that, if instead of his own Christology, Channing had received the Doctrine of the LORD as revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg, it would have changed his whole system; and that the LORD Himself being in the centre of the system, light from this Divine Source would have illuminated the derivative truths, modifying their form and structure, their relations and bearings, and giving to the system the harmony, consistency and unity, of which Mr. Barrett speaks; and the want of which the readers of Channing must feel. But a modification so radical as this would remove Dr. Channing from the centre of his theological system toward its circumference, and it would bring the LORD from the circumference of the system and place Him in the centre.

Regarding the book before us as a work well done from the authors point of view, we cannot but regret what seems to us the manifest incongruity in the very idea of comparison attempted: Swedenborg and Channing. For who is Channing more than many others that might be named in modern and in ancient times? Some years ago we had Wesley and Swedenborg, and still further back we had Mesmer and Swedenborg.

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These works are all similar in design and plan. By comparisons and familiarities in those several authors with Swedenborg the disciples of Mesmer, and Wesley, and Channing, are to be favorably impressed with what Swedenborg has written and thus to be won over to the cause of the New Church. By these several earnest attempts their authors have tried to bridge the chasm separating the New Church from others. But we doubt whether much will come of these attempts. In these days most people prefer direct methods of persuasion to methods more indirect. Contrivances to convert people are losing the force which they once had; and in fact they never had the force of the direct method of Swedenborg, the most of whose books are published to the world with neither preface nor apology.

But back of all this, what is there in these other persons comparable with Swedenborg? Swedenborg comes called and commissioned by the LORD, and through Him and in His Writings the LORD has made His Second Advent and is perpetually present in His Church. But Mesmer and Wesley and Channing, and others, came with their own plans and systems, more or less good or evil, more or less true or false, and therefore of limited use and brief duration.

THE MYSTERY OF LIFE, AND OTHER PAPERS. By THEOPHILUS PARSONS. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co., 1879. 12mo, pp. 328.

As the title indicates, this new volume from the well-known Professor is simply a collection of papers, of which the author in an introductory note says:

In these papers there will be found much repetition. They are not connected as chapters in a book, but are independent of each other. There are certain truths or principles which come up in the consideration of almost all topics, when the attempt is made to present any of them in the light of New Church doctrine. Much of the repetition might have been avoided by altering the papers for that purpose; but it was thought best to publish them as they were written.

The nine papers or theses constituting the book treat respectively of The Mystery of Life; of Trust; of Sacrifice; of The Church in the Wilderness; of Suffering; of Temptation; of False Witness; of The Discourses of the LORD; of The Cherubim. These subjects are opened in the light of the New Church as received by the author, in language at once terse, clear, and forcible. The paper on The Mystery of Life, a spirited monograph of forty pages, enters at once upon the subject, opening with the question:

Whence are we, and whether do we go? What was the creating, and what is the governing power in the universe? Why does evil so mingle with all its good, and which of the two is prevalent? p. 6.

Mr. Parsons then classifies the various theories offered in answer to these questions as gathered from the history of human thought in all ages, reducing them to a few classes.

We have space only to catalogue these as unfolded in the treatise before us:

One of them makes chance the God of the universe.

Then there was the Epicurean theory, that there were Gods who created the universe, but who repose in the inaccessible heights of their own heavens.

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There was then the theory which the Gnostics developed into many forms, that the supreme God formed by emanation from himself hosts of subordinate beings varying in rank, in character, and in functions, who divided among them the creation, care, and control of the universe.

Then there was the theory which ripened into Manicheism, and which also took on different forms, agreeing only in this,--that there were two creative and governing principles, one good and the other evil, which meet and mingle in all the forms and activities of Nature and all the affairs of this world, always in conflict, sometimes the one and sometimes the other prevailing.

Then finally there was the belief among multitudes, in the numerous Gods of the heathen mythologies whom they sought to propitiate by worship and sacrifice.

Mr. Parsons then unfolds the solution of The Mystery of Life as given by the LORD in His Incarnation in the Truths revealed for the First Christian Church, and finally after the lapse of ages in the revelations substantially of the same Truths as he claims, in more intense and special forms, at His Second Coming. Our author says:

The New Church has come to answer these questions and to lift these burdens. It has come to do this now by the same truths by which the first Christian Church did this work before. The same truths and no other. p. 17.

But elsewhere Mr. Parsons says:

The same truths are taught now that were taught in the first Christian ages. But not now in the form of general statement. They are Divine truths and something of their infinity is now revealed. p. 256.

When the LORD walked on the earth, He promised to come again. He has come, but in the spirit and not in the flesh. He has come in new spiritual truth, through a man who was such, and so instructed and assisted that he could see and communicate this truth. p. 43.

The conflict between the two statements which we have given in Italics, the one from p. 17, and the other from p. 43, is most manifest. In the latter Mr. Parsons says that the LORD in His Second Advent has come in new spiritual truth: in the former he says that the New Church does its work by the same truths by which the first Christian Church did this work before. The same truths and no other. One or the other of those statements must be erroneous; nor does the passage quoted above from p. 26 bridge the chasm and harmonize the conflict. Either the LORD at His Second Coming has come in new spiritual truth, as Mr. Parsons says, or He came in the same truths and none other that He gave to the first Christian Church, as Mr. Parsons also says! But even at the expense of this discrepancy in the thesis before us we are glad to find that Mr. Parsons has moved forward, and that in these few telling words he has acknowledged a principle so fundamental in the New Church; namely that the LORDS Second Coming is in the new spiritual truth which was revealed through a man who was so instructed that he could see and communicate this truth.

This harmonizes with what the LORD Himself declares through this man, namely, that He filled him with His Spirit to teach from Him by the Word the Doctrines of the New Church.--T. C. R. 779. It is well that in this late book of the venerable Professor he should confess and acknowledge this vital principle, a principle which hitherto he has been understood to disclaim.

We have marked many passages in this first paper and in the others which constitute this book, which seem to us especially beautiful and forcible, and which could not fail to be helpful to the earnest render who is struggling against the evils that human flesh is heir to.

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Not having space to set forth these passages we gladly commend to the leader the several papers of the book itself.

THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD: ITS CAUSE, SIGNS, AND EFFECTS. By REV. CHAUNCY GILES. Philadelphia: J. R. Lippincott and Co. London: 16 Southampton Street, Covent Garden. 1879. 12mo, pp. 264.

The design of this volume is stated in the Preface as follows:

To show that the principles formulated in the doctrines of the New Church, and contained in the Writings of Swedenborg, give us a rational and practical solution of the Second Coming, which is in entire accordance with the whole of Scripture, correctly understood; with the purposes of the LORD in the creation of man, so far as they can be known from reason and Revelation; and with the nature of man and of his relations to the Source of his life, and the conditions on which alone he can work out his destiny.

The plan thus announced indicates a very wide range of inquiry, too wide, indeed, fur the limits of so small a volume. The Second Coming of the LORD is a most momentous subject, and what is really needed at present is a distinct and specific treatment of the subject itself as it stands forth in the light of the Revelations made for the New Church. What is this Advent of the LORD? When did it take place, and how? What was accomplished by it; and how is it related to the New Age and the New Church? These are the questions that wait for answers, in any book that comes speaking on this subject.

The volume before us consists of twelve Lectures, delivered by Mr. Giles at different times, the most of them relating more or less to the Coming of the LORD. Many of the things said on topics collateral to the subject in hand are well said, and will be helpful to the thoughtful render. But in the treatment of The Second Advent itself the rather seems timorous and apologetic, often approaching the subject and then falling back into generalities and commonplaces, and never while near the heart of his subject moving with that clearness and force which we find so conspicuous in some of his other books.

There is a manifest confusion, in the work, of two ideas wholly distinct, namely, The Coming of the LORD in the Last Judgment in the year 1767, and the continued Coming of the LORD, as He manifests Himself day unto day to the regenerating soul. This lends to a perplexing confusion of tenses in some of these lectures.

Thus the Second Coming of the LORD is often spoken of, not as fait accompli but as a thing yet to come. Still we cannot imagine that any New Churchman doubts that the LORD has come, and that the works done by Him during His advent bad respect chiefly.

1. To the opening of the Word and the Revelation of its internal sense through the Writings of Swedenborg:

2. To the Last Judgment and the reduction to order of all things in Heaven, the World of Spirits, and Hell:

3. To the formation of a New Heaven of those who have believed in the LORD and who do believe in Him:

4. To the establishment of the New Church signified by the Now Jerusalem. Rev. xxi.

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These Divine works were accomplished by the LORD at His Second Coming, the first and second, in fullness, the third and fourth, in their incipiency.

But in the book before us there is the frequent confusion of tenses in this respect, for the Second Advent is spoken of as yet future. Thus: in the following and in many other places it is said that the LORD will come and do this or that, instead of saying He has come and has done this or that.

The LORD will come to man in a clearer and higher knowledge of Himself, whom to know aright is life everlasting.... At his Second Coming He will give us a clear and rational knowledge of the trinity and of its unity in Jesus Christ. ... p. 20.

And so even on the last pages of the book the same form of speech occurs, thus:

We have, therefore the clearest rational grounds for the belief that the LORD will make His Second Coming by a calendar revelation of Divine Truth in His Word. p. 268.

This phraseology is misleading, and it really seems to endorse the prevailing fallacy of the old church that the Second Coming of the LORD has not yet taken place, and that even in the New Church we are still looking for it. Mr. Giles, of course, does not believe this, for elsewhere he says that the end of the Christian age has come, and that the Son of Man has come, etc. p. 105.

Should the author in a revision of his work change these future tenses into past tenses and then remove the redundancies that would show themselves, while the volume would be diminished in size, we think its usefulness would be much increased.

In his reference to the Intermediate State, page 216, Mr. Giles unwittingly falls into the error, so common in the old church, that, Sheol in the Old Testament and Hades in the New Testament designate this intermediate world. This fallacy we have sufficiently exposed in our notice of several works under the head of Sheol and Hades.

THE HOSANNA: A BOOK OF HYMNS, SONGS, CHANTS, AND ANTHEMS, FOR CHILDREN. New Church Board of Publication, No. 20 Cooper Union, New York, 1878. pp. 218.

This Book, as we learn from the Preface, was made by a committee of the American New Church Sunday-School Association, and is the result of considerable conference and correspondence. The contents are drawn from all available sources, and preference is given to those chants, hymns, and tunes which had already by use grown into favor in our Sunday-schools.

Such is the general plan of the book as set forth by its Editors, and we think that they have executed the plan remarkably well. The first 167 pages of the book are occupied with Hymns and Tunes. Then follow 32 Selections and Chants; and then seven short Anthems, occupying 16 pages. A Catechism and a few other things occupy the six or eight remaining pages.

The book is handsomely printed and is presented in a pleasing form, and seems well adapted to the use intended. The music, we think, will be easily mastered by the children, and will please them; and the hymns are preferable to any collection for Sunday-schools which we have seen. Nevertheless, we miss in this collection a number of the best pieces for children hitherto published, and we find, instead, a number that might be omitted with profit to the book.

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