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Once more. told that

SWEDENBORG'S KNOWLEDGE OF HEBREW, ETC.

In the first edition of the editor's observations we were

"Mr. Noble (one of the few Swedenborgian ministers who have possessed a claim to ordinary scholarship) threw doubts on Swedenborg's accurate knowledge of the (Hebrew) language, and was only deterred by fear from changing these doubts into facts."

In the enlarged edition of the editor's observations we find

"It has been claimed for Swedenborg by his followers that in his knowledge of Hebrew he was before his age, and this judgment is formed of him from an exact and critical examination of his translation, by more or less competent critics."

Let us not be in too great haste to plume ourselves on this newly discovered, or at least newly acknowledged talent among us. The writer knows what he is doing. If he gives with one hand, he intends to take with both. He now finds it convenient to admit, or assert, that our critics have maintained our author's advanced knowledge of Hebrew on purely philological ground. But this is only to let us know that, as his critic has taken this ground completely from under our feet, we have no alternative but to change our tactics, and "attempt to answer the present criticism of Swedenborg's translation by some elastic notions of the spiritual meanings comprised in the Hebrew words." But even this refuge will fail us. Swedenborgians are told plainly that

"It will not do for them, when Swedenborg's blunders are exposed, to alter their mode of examination of his translations, and to throw the discrepancy upon the elasticity of their supposed spiritual sense."

Those who have read the two articles of "In Lumine Lucem," the second of which appears in the present number, will be able to judge how far the editor's champion has driven us, in vindicating Swedenborg's blunders, to seek refuge in our supposed spiritual sense, and how far he himself is invincible.

If arrogance and insolence deserve to be rebuked, no one of our readers can regret that the rebuke which this attempt has received is justly merited.

REMAINS.
PART I.

In order that a clear and comprehensive view of Remains may be obtained, the consideration of them shall be divided in the following order :-Firstly, What are Remains? Secondly, What is the use of Remains? Thirdly, By whom are Remains implanted? Fourthly, When and how are Remains appropriated?

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First, then, what are Remains? In the most general sense Remains are the goods and truths in the interiors of the mind, together with their states, also the knowledges of them which are stored up in the memory. In a general sense, Remains are goods and truths with their states only. And in a particular sense, Remains are simply the forms of goods and truths as they are stored up in the internal memory. Personally considered, Remains are those persons with whom goods and truths exist at the end of a church.

In considering the subject of Remains, there are two facts which should be known and borne in mind. The first is, that everything which is learned by man, from whatever source, is received by an external way, through the medium of the bodily senses,-there being no other access to the mind from either the objects of the world, or from the minds of others. The second is, that whatever enters the mind, by means of the senses, is merely formal; no life, no good, no quickening principle, entering by that way.

It may be useful to define what we mean by knowledges, what by goods and truths, and what by states. Knowledges are the forms of goods and truths as they exist in the external memory, which are the most external mental forms which are permanent. Goods and truths are those forms in the interior degrees of the mind which correspond to the knowledges in the memory. It is to be observed that both knowledges and goods and truths, as received, are in themselves void of life, and are really not goods and truths, but only the forms thereof, and become goods and truths by the reception of, and by being actuated by, influent life. The states of goods and truths may be considered under two aspects: firstly, as to their affections, which are the results of life operating in them; and secondly, as to their position, relation, and action. Respecting Remains Swedenborg states as follows:—

"Mention is made of remains and also of residues in the Word throughout, but by the former and the latter have been understood only remains of a people or nation according to the letter; whilst heretofore it has been altogether unknown that in the spiritual sense they signify goods and truths of the interior man, stored up by the Lord. That remains are not the remains of any people or nation, may be manifest from this consideration, that in the Word, especially in the prophetical, by Israel is not meant Israel, nor by Jacob, Jacob, but by each the church, and what is of the church; and this being the case, by remains are not meant the remains of Israel and Jacob, but the truths and goods that are of the church. Yea, neither do the remains of people, and the residues of any nation, when the expressions are used, signify the remains of any people, or the residues of any nation, because by people in the internal sense are signified truths, and by nations goods.” Arcana Calestia, 5897.

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Those in whom there remain, at the end of a church, any goods and truths proper to that church, are in the most general sense signified by Remains, because of the goods and truths which are in them, and not on account of their persons; it is so for this reason, it is the church which is treated of throughout the Word, and goods and truths are what constitute the church; hence the application of the Word is universal, and will be so as long as goods and truths continue to exist in human minds. With this idea we shall be able to see the truth and application of these words:

"Remains are everywhere treated of throughout the Word, and by them are signified those states by which man becomes a man, and this he does from the Lord alone."-A.C. 1906.

Again

"With the church the case is this-that in course of time it decreases, and at last remains with a few. Those few with whom it remained at the time of the Deluge, were called Noah. That the true church decreaseth and remains with a few is evident from other churches which have thus decreased. Those who are left are in the Word called Remains or a remnant, and are said to be in the midst or middle of the land. Now as this is the case in the universal, so it is in a particular sense, or as it is with the church, so it is with every individual man; for unless remains were preserved by the Lord in every one, he must needs perish in eternal death, for spiritual and celestial life exist in them. So also in a general or a universal sense, unless there were always some with whom the true church or true faith remained, the human race would perish.”—A.C. 468.

Again—

"In order to the better understanding of the nature of Remains, let it be observed that they are not only the goods and truths which a man has learnt from his infancy out of the Word, and which were thereby impressed on his memory, but they are likewise all states thence derived; as states of innocence of infancy;-states of love towards parents, brothers, teachers, and friends;-states of charity towards the neighbour, and also of mercy towards the poor and needy; in a word, all states of goodness and truth. These states, with their goods and truths, impressed on the memory, are called Remains, and are stored up unconsciously to himself in his internal man, and are carefully separated from the things of man's proprium, that is, from evils and falses."-Arcana Calestia, 561.

Here we have a full definition of Remains, showing what they are, where they are, and by whom implanted and preserved. Although Remains are commonly confined to the goods and truths which are stored in the interiors, yet it is here said they include the goods and truths which are learnt and impressed on the memory. Now the goods and truths which are learnt are knowledges; those included in Remains are such as are derived from the Word; and we apprehend they are included in this comprehensive definition of Remains, because they are

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the external forms of goods and truths, and constitute a ground on which all interior ones rest. They are to the natural man what goods and truths are to the spiritual man; and which, when filled with life from within, become natural goods and truths; and there are no other receptacles of conscious life in the natural man. It is said in the above that Remains are such goods and truths as a man has learnt from the Word; yet in another place it is said, they are such as have been received from parents and masters; and in another place, that they are not learned at all. Thus, as quoted above,

"These states, with their goods and truths, impressed on the memory, are called remains; and are stored up unconsciously to himself in his internal man.” And that Remains, or goods and truths, are from parents and masters, we read as follows::

"A man from infancy, even to childhood, and in some cases to early youth, imbibes goods and truths by instruction from parents and masters."-Arcana Cœlestia, 5135.

In this case the knowledges of good and truth are to be understood;children receiving nothing from parents and masters as instruction but knowledges, which enter the memory chiefly by the senses of seeing and hearing, and which, when in the mind, and animated by life from within, are received as goods and truths respectively, according to their forms and natures. And though it is said these are from parents and masters, yet they are from them only as instruments,-what is in them being from the Word; so that, properly speaking, it is from the Word through them; the Word is the origin, and they (parents, &c.) are the mediums through which Remains are conveyed, or they are the instruments by which Remains are administered. Similarly it is said that goods and truths are from heaven, whereas the reality is, they are from the Lord through heaven.

Knowledges are Remains only in the most external sense; goods and truths, with their states, are the Remains proper, and are what are emphatically called Remains in the above number, viz., 561, where it is stated-These states, with their goods and truths, impressed on the memory, are what are called Remains." The memory here named appears to be the internal; because in it Remains are stored unconsciously to the individual himself, which is not the case with what enters the external memory. This memory appears to be referred to in the former part of the number, where it is said Remains are goods and truths which man has learnt from the Word, and which are impressed on the memory. This appears to be the case, because the

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external memory is that which receives what is learned, and of which man is conscious; but the internal memory receives what is not learned, and that of which he is not conscious: and what is there stored is that which is properly signified by Remains. It may be supposed that the goods and truths of the internal memory have been learned, from the circumstance of their being implanted simultaneously with the reception of instruction, and from their entering by the same way; for all the forms which occupy even the internal memory have been received through the medium of the bodily senses. Nevertheless, it cannot with propriety be said that the goods and truths of the internal memory are learned, because there is no voluntary effort made respecting them, nor is man conscious of his reception of them; and it is quite certain he cannot learn unconsciously,-this being equal to learning what is not perceived, and consequently what is not known.

It may appear that there is a discrepancy between what is stated in 561 and what we have asserted previously, but it is only an appearance. We have said that Remains as goods and truths are in themselves only formal, and, as introduced, are void of life; but in 561 they are said to be not only goods and truths which have been learnt out of the Word, but that they are also all the states thence derived, as states of innocence of infancy, &c. The goods and truths named in this instance are formal, and are distinct from the states mentioned as rising out of them; yet, though distinct from them, they are not separate, their states being their conditions consequent upon their reception of life. The forms of goods and truths are indeed in themselves void of life, nothing entering from without but what is in itself dead. The case is thus, all forms enter man from without, and all life from within, but states do not enter either from within or from without, they being only assumed conditions of the forms which have been received, effected by the influx of life. Hence life and form are essential to the existence of state; state does not flow into man, nor has it any origin out of him, but it originates in the conjunction of life with a recipient form. There could be no conscious reception of life if there were no mental forms introduced, and there could be no states without both forms and life; both are included in a full sense by Remains, yet in a general sense sometimes one is named and sometimes the other; and though they are at one time named separately, and at another unitedly, there is not any discrepancy between the statements.

By the implantation of Remains in the human soul, there is not any increase of substance effected; the introduction of forms not implying

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