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We may thus--under the light of the doctrine of Degrees-understand how the created universe proceeded from God, and yet is not God nor Divine at all. I will conclude this part of my subject by adducing the following extract from Swedenborg, which is a summary of what has been said :

"That every created thing is finite, is because all things are from Jehovah God, by means of the sun of the spiritual world, which proximately encompasses Him; and that sun is of the substance which proceeded from Him, the essence of which is love. Out of that sun, by means of its heat and light, the universe was created from first to last. One thing was formed from another; and thus were made degrees, three in the spiritual world, and three corresponding to them in the natural world, and as many in the quiescent things of which the terraqueous globe consists. It is by means of these degrees that all posterior things are receptacles of things prior, and these of things still prior, and thus, in order, receptacles of the primitive of which the sun of the angelic heaven consists; and it is thus that finite things are receptacles of the infinite. Thus God first made His infinity finite by substances emitted from Himself, from which exists His proximate encompassing sphere, which makes the sun of the spiritual world; and afterwards, by means of that sun, He perfected other encompassing spheres, even to the last, which consists of things quiescent: and thus, by means of degrees, he made the world finite more and more. These things are adduced in order that human reason may be satisfied, which does not rest unless it sees the cause."Universal Theology, n. 33.

Having thus considered the question, Where the spiritual world is, and also, What it is, let us turn now from philosophy to fact, from abstract principles to living realities. Let us contemplate the spiritual world as it really is, and appears before the eyes of its multitudinous inhabitants : men who once stood on this earth where we are now living; but who, having passed "that bourne whence no traveller returns," are now treading the light earth of a higher sphere, the spiritual and eternal world. We shall be called upon to take the same journey ere long; let us examine the features, and study the resources of that new country, whither we are soon to emigrate, there to dwell for ever.

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The spiritual world, as Swedenborg explains, is divided into three regions, heaven, the world of spirits, and hell. The world of spirits is that region into which all men pass immediately after death;-thence the good are elevated to heaven, and thence the evil are cast down into hell. It is said elevated," and "cast down," respectively, because heaven appears above the world of spirits, and hell beneath it. The heavens, or angelic societies, are not in general visible from the world of spirits; but there appears over that world a blue expanse or sky, very much such as is seen in this.* The reason it appears as blue, is * Spiritual Diary, n. 844—8.

*

474

THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

because that colour corresponds to truth transparent from good, which is the character of heaven.* That our natural sky is blue is also derived from correspondence; for the natural world being produced from the spiritual, corresponds to it in general and in particular, and, in fact, presents an image of it. The reason that the heavens, or angelic societies, are not in general visible from the world of spirits, is because their state, or degree of truth and good, is above the perception or mental vision of those in the world of spirits; and outward sight in the spiritual world is altogether dependent on inward sight,—that is, on the sight of the understanding. (Hence-it may be remarked in passinghow mistaken is the idea of those atheistic "secularists" who argue"If there is a God, we shall see Him after death; and that will be time enough to believe." They are in a fatal error; if they do not see Him with the mind's eye, the eye of understanding and of faith, now, they will never see Him with their eyes hereafter; for the spiritual eye is but the understanding in a form.)

At times, however, the angelic societies, we are told, appear as light clouds in the sky of the spiritual world; the reason they appear as clouds, is because a cloud signifies truth in obscurity, and angelic truth is obscure to those who are yet but spirits (by "spirits" are meant distinctively such as are still in the world of spirits; those in heaven are called angels, and those in hell infernal spirits or devils). At other times, the angelic societies appear in great numbers, shining like stars, similar to what are seen in our sky at night.

"In the spiritual world," says Swedenborg, "there appears a firmament full of stars, as in the natural world, and this appearance is from the angelic societies in heaven; each society there shines like a star to those who are beneath; hence, they know there in what situation the angelic societies are."§

In regard to this, our author gives also the following pleasing relation :

"Once," says he, "in company with angels, I was walking in the world of spirits, which is in the midst between heaven and hell, and into which all men first come after death, and are prepared, the good for heaven, and the bad for hell. I conversed with them about many things, and in particular about this,-that in the world, where I am in the body, there appear in the night time innumerable stars, greater and less, and that these are so many suns, which transmit their light into our solar system; and when I saw (said I) that in your world, also, stars are to be seen, I conjectured that they might be as many as those in the world where I am. The angels, being delighted with this conversation, said, that perhaps there may be as many, since every heavenly society, to those who are under heaven, * Arcana Cœlestia, n. 9408. Heaven and Hell, n. 431.

+ Conjugial Love, n. 11.
§ Apocalypse Revealed, n. 65.

THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

475

sometimes shines like a star; and the societies of heaven are innumerable, all arranged in order, according to the varieties of the affections of love of good, which in God are infinite, and thence from Him are innumerable; and as these were foreseen before the creation, it may be presumed that, according to the number of these, were provided, that is, created, as many stars in the world, where men were to live in the natural body."-T. C. R., 160.

It is a very pleasing and elevating idea, that the stars which we look upon at night, twinkling and sparkling in the firmament above us, represent the heavenly societies, and that they are, probably, of a similar number, and are arranged in a similar order.* In fact, it is from this correspondence, the knowledge of which existed in ancient times, that the starry firmament is called "the heavens," and that many have even supposed the stars to be the abodes of angels, although we know from science and reason, that the stars are mere natural and material suns and worlds like our own, and consequently they are no more the dwellingplace of angels than our own world is. Our sun and our planets shine to them like stars, as much as they to us. On this subject Swedenborg remarks

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"When mention is made in the Word of the heavens,' in the internal sense are meant the angelic heavens. This is from correspondence, and also from the appearance. For the ancients had no other idea of the visible heavens than that the heavenly inhabitants dwell there, and that the stars were their habitations; similar, also, at the present day, is the idea of the simple, and also of children. Hence, likewise, it is customary to look upwards to heaven when God is worshipped. This, also, is from correspondence; for in the other life appears a heaven with stars, but it is not the heaven that appears to men in the world; but it is the true heaven appearing according to the state of the intelligence and wisdom of spirits and angels. The stars there denote the knowledges of good and truth; and the clouds which sometimes appear, have various significations, according to their colour, transparency, and motions.'"-A. C., 9408.

The reason why the angelic societies appear sometimes as stars, is hinted at in the last remark of the above passage, namely, because stars correspond to knowledges of good and truth, and all the heavens are in such knowledge; hence, they appear to shine, for in the spiritual world all truth shines, since truth is spiritual light. A knowledge of the fact that there exists such a starry appearance of the heavens in the spiritual world, affords an apt illustration of the meaning of the passage in Daniel (xii. 3.),—

"They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever."

London.

O. P. H.

* A. C., 5377.

(To be continued.)

476

Poetry.

THE SILENT WALK.

I roam across the grassy mead,

Where daisies spring beneath my feet; Where buttercup and primrose lead

I

To contemplations rich and sweet.

pass the blazing fields of corn,

Whose upturned ears adore the sun,

And thus reprove the man of scorn,

Who sneers at God, and says-"There's none!"

O'er woodlands, too, I thoughtful stroll,

Where sounds amuse,-where sights arrest

My gaze, and fill my adoring soul

With praise to Him who earth hath blest.

The hills with verdure clad,-the dales,
Where rippling brooks perennial flow,
Recite to me their charming tales

Of wonders past-'tis bliss to know!
Harmonious all! and gifts Divine!
With beauty clad, imbued with life;
Types of the higher, inner mine

Of mental treasures, rich and rife.
But Nature shows a curse, a blank,
In desert form, on barren soil;
Where grow both weed and thistle rank,
The source to man of sweat and toil.

Dark types of froward, sensual states,

Of lust of gold and lust of power, It figures forth infernal hates,

It shadows Satan's darkened hour.

Nor poisonous plant, nor prickly thorn,

Nor blighted fruit—which fair may seem―

Nor mildew on the standing corn,

But all with inner meanings teem.

'Tis thus, I have a land within

Bestrewed by briar and by thorn; Alas! 'tis sown by poisonous sin,— 'Tis desert all—a land forlorn.

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GENERAL CONFERENCE.

In the last number we directed attention to some of the Conference proceedings. Since then the "Minutes" have been published, and are no doubt already in the hands of a large number of members, and in the libraries of all societies, from which they can be procured by those who do not purchase them. We would recommend their perusal, as, besides the proceedings of Conference recorded in the Minutes themselves, the appendix contains much valuable and interesting matter in the form of statistics, reports, and addresses to and from the various sections of the church in different parts of the world. These present a comprehensive view of the state and prospects of the church at home and abroad, and will be found cheering as well as interesting.

As it is not our object to give a report of all the proceedings of the Conference,

but only of such as are of more general interest, we will advert to some particulars that require not only the attention but the action of the church.

Among the documents annually laid before Conference are reports of the various institutions of the church, some of which only are under the direction of the Conference, but all regarded as the objects of its fostering care. Several of these are included in one resolution"That the Conference has received with great satisfaction the reports of the Swedenborg Society, the Manchester Printing Society, the New Jerusalem Church Tract Society, the Manchester Missionary Society, the Missionary and Tract Society of the New Church, as well as those of the National Missionary Institution, and the Students' and Ministers' Aid Fund. The Conference rejoices to observe that all these institutions are in active operation, and performing a large amount of good, and would affec

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