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IN THE DIET OF SWEDEN.

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humiliation before Europe. With the Caps, he did not hesitate to inquire into the wilful trespasses against the law, committed in the Senate, and to accuse the guilty before the States; but he was also, what neither the Hats nor the Caps were, inexorable in censuring and condemning the depravation and corruption of the representatives themselves.

From his sentiments of equity, justice, and love of liberty, Swedenborg's emphatic expressions and fiery words against his political or national antagonists are to be interpreted and defended. Some have considered his striking words as proofs of his factiousness, and concluded from them that Swedenborg was "a party-man, a Cap, an enthusiast in politics as in theology." But this conclusion is evidently false. Swedenborg was as little a political partizan, before he pleaded for political liberty against absolute power and despotism, as he was a heretic, because he proved the falsity of the ecclesiastical creed. He was in the one case a good patriot, in the other a true Christian.

How zealously Swedenborg laboured to maintain liberty and the alliance with France, which indeed was very advantageous to Sweden, is to be seen in one of his memorials of 1761, entitled "Impartial Thoughts on the preservation and confirmation of Liberty in this Kingdom." Swedenborg begins his memorial with these words:

"There are two principal points which the States ought to preserve as sincerely and carefully as a man his life and welfare; the first is to preserve our excellent government, and by this means our inestimable liberty; the second, to preserve our alliances with foreign States, and principally with France." Then he shows "how a king in Sweden, with unlimited power, if he, for instance, as the Queen Chrisina, should embrace the Catholic creed, would be capable of thinking himself empowered to force his subjects to abandon the light of heaven, and throw themselves into barbarous darkness, as to worship images, idols, and Satan, if they would not be martyrs." * * * * "This," he continues, "and all other kinds of servitude were to be feared for the future, if our excellent government should be changed, and our liberty annihilated. The only counterbalance would be our oath and conscience; but if an oath were sufficient, and a good conscience were to be found with the majority, everything would go well in every State. Moreover the Papal See can loose all oaths and consciences with the power of St. Peter's keys. * * I see no difference between a despotic king in Sweden and an idol. As all minds and hearts are turned to the one, so are they also to the other, and they listen to his will, and worship all that goes out of his mouth," &c.

*

In another memorial, entitled "A True Answer to False Tenets, dedicated to Mr. C. B. Renhorn at the Diet, 1761," Swedenborg pronounces a philippic against this bold and impudent member of the third State or House. Renhorn was Burgomaster, or Mayor, a man of great influence. In the Diet, 1756, he accused before the States Count Brahé, Baron Horn, and some other noblemen, for having

38 SWEDENBORG AS A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF NOBLES, ETC. conspired against the constitution in order to enlarge the power of the King. Renhorn, a passionate and violent Cap, insisted upon the loss of life, honour, and fortune of the accused Royalists and Hats, and they were condemned and put to death. In the Diet, 1761, Renhorn had altered his political maxims. Now he was a Hat, instead of a Cap, and an advocate of the Barons Palmstjerna and Scheffer, who, together with some other senators, were accused of having, in the King's council, pleaded for the German war, and made themselves guilty of several crimina læsi regni. In a long memorial, Renhorn proposed and requested the indemnity of Palmstjerna and Scheffer, or their discharge from all punishment in this capital cause. Swedenborg, on the contrary, attacked Renhorn in the most striking words. He exclaims

"What boldness! Is it according to law and the order of lawsuit to demand indemnity in a capital cause, before cognizance of the cause is taken and sentence pronounced? What arrogance, what absurdity, to condemn to death those who had indeed intended to violate liberty, but had not been able to kill a fly, and to excuse and defend those who have not only violated law, liberty, and justice, but also spoken and laboured in favour of a bloody and desolating war! What times, what manners! Swedish men and citizens are considered as slaves, who may at pleasure and without responsibility be sacrificed! Are any men more seditious and rebellious against God, king, and country, than those who abuse law aud offices to the oppression, destruction, and ruin of the people? Quid ultra! consilio pares paria fata ferent. If all the Senators have agreed in the same counsels and decrees, they ought also all to be sentenced to the same punishment. To punish the less guilty with all the severity of the law, and declare the more criminal free from all responsibility and penalty, would be a shameful injustice and violence. They who act so, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, turn everything upside down, and make the body of the State tremble," &c.

Is this language that of a demagogue or partisan? No, it is rather that of a zealous patriot, pronounced at the right time and in expressive terms. From the mouth of Swedenborg, it seems to sound as a Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? from the lips of the Roman

orator.

Swedenborg's impartiality is also testified by his two biographers, Sandel and Robsham. The former, in his panegyric of Swedenborg, says that "he was present at several Diets without reproach to himself or from others: and the latter, who often had an opportunity of hearing his ideas about national and political subjects, assures us that he "resented the discord of the States, and that he was of neither of the parties, but loved truth and righteousness in all his doings." In short, he was never a Hat nor a Cap, but a just and impartial man, quocum vel in tenebris mices. ACH. KAHL.

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MISCELLANEOUS.

GENERAL CHURCH INTELLIGENCE.

INQUIRIES WITH ANSWERS. To an Accrington correspondent, we answer that "Lead us not into temptation" is the correct rendering of the petition in the Lord's Prayer. The substitution, were it admissible, of "Leave us not in temptation," would not remove, but only shift the difficulty; it would only substitute one apparent truth for another; for true as it is that the Lord never leads any into temptation, equally true is it that He never leaves any in temptation. The apparent truth in the Lord's Prayer occurs in an historical form in the Word. It is said that the Lord tempted Abraham R to offer his son, and David to number the people. And both appearances are recorded in the history of the Lord's own life in the world. He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil, and He had a sense of being left in temptation when he uttered the exclamation on the cross"My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!" God is spoken of as the author of temptation on the same principle that He is spoken of as the author of evil. In the first place, it is in accordance with the general truth, which is one of the first to be impressed upon the mind, that God is the author of all things, the cause of all effects. This, indeed, is a truth for the wise as well as for the simple, the difference being that the simple receive it without discrimination, while the wise discriminate between what comes from God through mediums that are in order, and what comes from Him through mediums that are not in order. The young and the simple, if they receive this truth at all, must receive it in simplicity; distinction and discrimination belong to a more advanced age and intelligence, and constitute, in fact, a great part of intelligence itself. We may, therefore, conclude that the apparent truth of which we are now speaking was introduced into the Lord's Prayer, because this, the only truly universal prayer, was designed to be used by human beings of all ages and degrees of intelligence-to be lisped by the child at its mother's knee, to be uttered by the sage at the altar of worship, and offered by the seraph at the foot of God's throne. And in order to be universal, it must be brought

down to the apprehension of the lowest, for that which is lowest includes all that is above. But while the simple use it in simplicity, the wise use it in wisdom. They have passed out of the apparent into the real truth; so that, while they utter the same words as the simple, they do not express the same ideas. But even those who may be numbered with the intelligent are not always in the clear perception of the real truth. The Lord Himself was not-how can the disciple be? In his states of temptation, answering to those of the Lord's bumiliation, the Christian is in the shade of appearance in regard to many truths that he sees clearly when he is not in states of tribulation. And this is a second reason for the particular form of this petition. This is lucidly explained in a passage in the Arcana (No. 4, 2991), which at the same time states what is the origin and immediate cause of temptation :-" The proximate causes (of temptation) are evils and falses appertaining to man, which lead him into temptation, consequently evil spirits and genii who infuse them. But still no one can be tempted, or undergo any spiritual temptation, unless he has conscience; consequently, no one can be tempted but those who are in celestial and spiritual good; for these have conscience. Conscience is a new will and a new understanding from the Lord: thus, it is the Lord's presence with man, and this the nearer by how much more man is in the affection of good and truth. If the presence of the Lord is nearer than is suitable to the degree of the affection of good and truth in which the man is, he comes into temptation; the reason is, that the evils and falses that are with man, tempered with the good and truths that are with him, cannot bear a nearer presence. Temptations appear as if they were from the Divine, because, as was said, they exist from the Lord's presence; but still they are not from the Divine, or the Lord, but from the evils and falses appertaining to him who is tempted." When, therefore, the intelligent Christian prays that the Lord will not lead him into temptation, he in reality prays that he may not be led into temptation by his own evils and falses, and by the evil spirits who dwell in them and act upon them. Yet we know that

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temptation is necessary to regeneration; and this has given rise to another difficulty on the subject-Why should we pray against that which is necessary to our salvation? The passage quoted removes both difficulties. Temptation is necessary, but it is a necessary evil. The Lord does not provide, but permits it; it is not in itself good, but is only over-ruled for good. But temptation not only is not a good in itself, but it is not of necessity always a good in its result. Temptation may make us better, or it may make us worse. It is a fiery ordeal, through which we must pass before we can enter into life; but it may consume, or it may purify us. It purifies us when we overcome, it consumes us when we yield. To overcome, we must fight in the Lord's strength; failure is the inevitable consequence of fighting in our own. One of the most necessary preparations for entering the conflict, with any hope of a successful issue, is a deep sense of our inherent feebleness, and a sincere conviction of our liability to fall. This produces a fear of temptation, and this fear is a salutary fear. It leads us carefully to avoid putting ourselves in the way of temptation, or doing anything that has a manifest tendency to lead us into, or expose us to it. Nothing makes us more liable to fall than the confidence that we are able to stand. It was this confidence that prepared the way for Peter's fall. The Lord, therefore, teaches us not only to avoid temptation, but to pray against it. And here we may offer what appears to be a reason that in the Lord's Prayer "lead us not into temptation" is better than "leave us not in temptation." To be real and efficacious, prayer must be suited to our present state, and be expressive of our present feelings. When we are free from temptation, it is suitable to our state, and expressive of our feelings, to pray that we may not be led into it. It is only when we are actually in temptation that we can suitably and feelingly pray that we may not be left or forsaken in it. As our ordinary state is one in which we are not in temptation, and as the Lord's Prayer is, though not exclusively, for our ordinary states and everyday life, therefore we may conclude that our common prayer should be "Lead us not into temptation."

We may remark, in conclusion, that we must not be too anxious to get rid

of the appearances of truths as they occur in the Divine Word, however much they may be opposed to its genuine truths. Apparent truth is the door of introduction into genuine truth, and the first impressions which apparent truth makes upon the heart, and the first ideas it conveys to the mind, are among the appointed means for preparing the way for the distinct perception and interior reception of real truth.

Apparent truths are real truths to those to whose states they are suited, and whose ideas and feelings they express. To lightly deprive them of these, even to give them what we may think more than an equivalent, is like taking in pledge the garment of the poor Israelite, who, unless his covering in which he sleeps be restored to him by the going down of the sun, may be left without its protection, exposed to the cold in the night of his trial.

The time to lead the young and simple out of apparent into genuine truth, is when they themselves begin to see a difficulty, and to inquire their way out of it-when they feel the want of something clearer and better, and desire to obtain it. And even then, we should watch the bent of the mind, and gently assist it in its efforts to unfold itself, that it may grow from within, and not merely increase from without. We should attend to the law that he who received the pledge was not to enter the house of him who gave it, but was to stand without, and let its owner bring it forth to him. We should not insinuate our mind into the mind of another, but leave him in the free exercise of his faculties, and in the power of free reciprocation.

But apparent truths are not confined to the young and the simple; all are more or less in them, and are influenced by the appearances they express. It might be possible, by stripping truth of its appearances, to reason ourselves out of external worship altogether. Angels themselves pray, and they also are in appearances, although appearances with them are very different from what they are with us; and this is enough both for angels and men, that appearances are realities to those that are in them. But in whatever degree of intelligence men may be, one thing is certain, that the Word of the Lord, both in its lowest apparent and in its highest genuine truths, is equally the utterance of Infinite

MISCELLANEOUS.

Wisdom, and as such is perfect in every sense, and perfectly suited to human beings in every state.

Another Accrington correspondent makes some inquiries about life, as it is in created subjects, whether it is of one or of several degrees; and about the nature of animals in relation to their forms. The first point may be answered by the following passages from the Writings: "There are three degrees of ascent in the natural world, and there are 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 are recipients of one degree of the same; but man alone is recipient of the life, not only of the three degrees of the natural world, but also of the three degrees of the spiritual world. Hence it is that man may be elevated above nature, which is not the case with any other animal. He has the power of thinking analytically and rationally of civil and moral things, which are within the sphere of nature, and of spiritual and celestial things, which are above nature. Yea, he may be elevated into wisdom, insomuch that he may see God. But the six degrees, by which the uses of all created things in their order ascend unto God the Creator, will be treated of in their place. From this summary, it may be seen that there is an ascent of all created things to the FIRST, Who alone is life." (D. L. W. 66.)

"The souls of beasts are not spiritual in the same degree as the souls of men, but in an inferior degree; for there are degrees of spiritual things, and the affections of the inferior degree,although spiritual in their origin, are yet to be considered as natural, being similar to the affections of the natural man. There are three degrees of natural affection in beasts, as well as in man; in the lowest are insects of various kinds, in the next degree are fowls of the air, and in the higher degree are beasts of the earth, which were created from the beginning."

As to the other point: the nature of animals is not dependent on their shape, but their shape on their nature. The body is but an instrument of the soul, and one which it fashions for its own

use.

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Our bodies are human because our souls are human, and require such an instrument; and every animal has a body, which may be called an outbirth from its soul, and which is therefore the most suitable possible for the work which its nature prompts and requires it to do.

"Simplex" says "Will you kindly afford me a little assistance in understanding how the Lord Jesus Christ can be called the Divine Truth, when Swedenborg says that the angels perceive in the name Jesus the Divine Good, and the name Christ the Divine Truth, and in both the marriage of good and truth." (A. C. 3004, 3005.) This name Jesus belonged to him fron His birth; are we not therefore to conclude that the angels saw in Him from the beginning "the Divine Good"?

We are not quite sure that we understand the precise nature of our friend's difficulty. Although at His birth the Lord was not, as to his body, the Divine Good, nor even the Divine Truth, yet as to His soul, which was from the Father, and which, consequently, was Divine and Jehovah, he was essential Divine Good and Divine Truth in union. "He alone was born spiritual celestial, the Divine being in Him." (A. C. 4592.) Independently of this, we do not see that there would be any difficulty in supposing that the name might be given in anticipation of the state which the Lord was to acquire by glorification; and, indeed, the Divine history says as much: "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." Events then future are spoken of in the Word as if they were present; and this because to the Lord there is no future, neither any past, but an eternal present.

NORTH SHIELDS.

A brief report of our doings here may be interesting to the readers of the Magazine, and is due to the London Missionary Society for continued aid in maintaining and spreading the heavenly doctrines amongst us. In August last we removed our place of worship to the Oddfellows' Hall, Rudyerd-street, near the Railway Station, which is in all respects more suitable for our purpose than the former one, and our attendance has considerably increased.

On September 23rd, the Rev. E. D. Rendell, being on a visit to Newcastle,

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