416 THE TREES OF OLD ENGLAND. be a very trifling piece of information for the dignity of Scripture to communicate, if it were no more than the bare physical fact that the tables were placed against an oak. Scripture always means something— it does not simply speak. It is not a book of words, but of ideas, speaking for all time; which kind of language comes of the facts that it records being not simply literal but representative. It is literally true, without doubt, that the tables were placed against an oak; it is no less true that an oak was chosen because of its symbolic meaning for all ages. The poetical character of the oak is beautifully acknowledged again in the time-honoured allusion to the defenders of our country as "hearts-of-oak." No one disputes the fact that our sailors are made of this capital material; yet how absurd the statement if taken in any other light than that of poetry! This shows that although much that holds the form and outward show of poetry may be unmeaning and silly, the inmost and true spirit of poetry finds a response in universal human nature, and that its genuine language never needs interpreting. LEO GRINDON. THE SWEDISH PRINTING SOCIETY. [We have great pleasure in inserting the following letter. It is written by a Swede, long resident in England, and well known to many of the friends in London as an intelligent and worthy recipient of the Heavenly Doctrines. We trust his appeal to the members of the church in this country, to aid the Swedish Printing Society in their effort to enable the countrymen of Swedenborg to read his writings in their own language, will be successful.-ED.] IT had long been felt by the members of the New Church in Sweden, to be a great want not to have Swedenborg's writings translated into good Swedish. For it is to be observed, that all the theological works published by Swedenborg himself, with the exception of his great work the Arcana Calestia, had been translated and published in the Swedish language. These translations, which may be divided into two sets— one published in the latter part of the last century, and, I believe, partly translated by Dr. Beyer, of Gothenburg, Swedenborg's personal friend, and the other set translated and published by Mr. C. Deleén, of Stockholm, between 1820 and 1830-are however both obsolete, being antiquated in style, and full of faults, so that, as Dr. Kahl, of Lund, says, they must be translated afresh, if they are to find readers. Many are also out of print, though new editions of some have been published. As the readers of Swedenborg are few, and scattered over a large country, without any bond of union, and even without any knowledge of each other, it was found very difficult to take any action THE SWEDISH PRINTING SOCIETY. 417 in the matter; but in 1857, Madame F. Ehrenborg, the widow of a very eminent Swedish gentleman, who at the time of his death, although still a young man, held the office of Governor of the province of Scania, and was a very active member of the New Church, who has laboured long and ardently to keep the flame of the New Church alive in Sweden, came over to this country to enlist the sympathies of the English members for the land that gave birth to Swedenborg. In this she was not very successful; and I must admit that her plans and ideas were not very practical. She obtained nevertheless promises of assistance from several members of the New Church. In the summer of 1858, the subject of assistance to Sweden was brought before the committee of the Swedenborg Society by Baron C. Dirckinck Holmfeldt and myself, and promises of support were given us; but the committee gave us to understand that no such assistance was likely to be obtained without guarantees that the money would be well employed. On receiving these promises, Baron Dirkinck Holmfeldt and I advised our Swedish friends to form an association for publishing the theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg in Swedish translations; and such an association was formed in the town of Christianstad, in Scania, in the autumn of the same year, 1858. Rules were drawn up by a wellqualified person; a managing committee, with president, secretary, and treasurer was elected, and the association commenced its work immediately. The main reason of this speedy formation of the association was to be found in the circumstance of the friends in Christianstad meeting with Dr. J. A. Sevén, an excellent scholar and devoted admirer of Swedenborg's writings, who undertook to become the secretary of the association, and to translate the works, superintend the printing, &c. The association published one after another the following works, several of them as it were only preparatory: John Clowes's Address to the Christian Priesthood. The Life of Swedenborg, by William White. The Principal Doctrines of the New Church, or the Promised New Declaration addressed to the Public by the New Church, by Dr. Tafel. Arcana Cœlestia, the first part of the first volume. A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church, &c. 418 THE SWEDISH PRINTING SOCIETY. So far, up to the beginning of last year, the association had worked without calling upon the Swedenborg Society for its promised assistance. It had, however, received the munificent gift of £50. from the Rev. Mr. Clissold, and I had collected here among personal friends about £20., which I sent over to Sweden. Up to the 1st June, 1863, the association had expended about £410. In the month of February, last year, the secretary, Dr. Sevén, wrote to me with a request that I should lay the case of the association before the Swedenborg Society. I accordingly addressed myself with that object to then secretary, Mr. Warren, who took up the matter warmly, and brought it before the committee of the Swedenborg Society, the result of which was that a grant of ten pounds for each volume of Swedenborg's works was made. In addition thereto, Mr. Warren brought the subject before the annual general meeting, held in June last year, when a resolution was moved and carried, to the effect that the Swedish Association was deserving of the support of the New Church in England; and on that occasion a friend present deposited £50. with the treasurer of the society, to be paid to the Swedish Association by instalments of £5. for each volume of the Arcana Coelestia published by them. Since then, the second volume of the Arcana Calestia has been published in Swedish, and the association has received altogether £30. from England, that is to say, £20. from the Swedenborg Society for two volumes of the Arcana Calestia, and £10. from the friend just referred to. This, however, is not enough for continuing the work of the Association; our Swedish friends are desirous of being able to publish one volume of the Arcana Cœlestia annually. The cost of doing so for an edition of 1,000 copies is about £2. 10s. per sheet, and as each volume contains about thirty sheets, the cost would be about £75. But besides this the translator has to be paid. Dr. Sevén undertook to devote his time exclusively to the service of the Association for the remuneration of about £56., which was what he calculated he would be able to exist upon. A separate subscription list was sent round in Sweden for that purpose, but for the last two years this sum has not been raised, and Dr. Sevén has been obliged to content himself with half the amount, or £28. a year, and scarcely that. Most of the readers of Swedenborg in Sweden are poor in worldly substance, and I regret to say, that not a few of the wealthier members are leaning towards spiritualism, particularly to that new form of it which is called spiritisme, and whose exponent is M. Allan Kurdic. THE SWEDISH PRINTING SOCIETY. 419 The Association numbers seventy-six members, who pay annually only three rixdollars, or about 3s. 5d. each; of course many give more, and Dr. Kahl particularly has been very liberal, both with his purse and his assistance, in the editorial part of the work. The sale of the books brings in about £12. yearly. But these sources of income, with the assistance from England, are not enough to insure the uninterrupted activity of the Association or the carrying out of its desired object-the publishing of one volume annually. Urged by several New Church friends, I therefore venture to appeal to the New Church for assistance for our Swedish friends. The time for publishing Swedenborg's writings is most propitious. The Lutheran Church in Sweden has reached a crisis; it is losing its hold over the educated classes, and cannot even find a sufficient number of young men to enter its service, wherefore not a few of the churches have had to be closed, or several parishes given to one minister. By a law just passed, church questions are to be discussed and settled by synods, to which laymen are to be admitted; and by a Reform Bill, which in all probability will pass, the clergy will lose the privilege of constituting one of the four estates composing the Swedish Diet, which has hitherto been the cause of preventing progress in spiritual things. A new spiritual era is therefore opening in Sweden, and now is the time for making known the new revelation. The association in Christianstad is indebted to the extent of about £66., and requires help urgently and early. I am particularly interested in Dr. Sevén, who has given up all to devote himself to this work. The New Church in England has done a noble work for France and Germany, and an appeal for the land of Swedenborg will not, I trust, be left without a response. I would suggest that a subscription be made for Sweden, and the money placed in the hands of the Swedenborg Society, as a separate fund to be used as required, after the debt of the association is first paid off. I should also like to propose that those who feel inclined should undertake to pay an annual sum for the purpose. Fifty pounds a year from England ought to ensure the permanent working of the Swedish Association; and as £15. have already been promised, it would only require from thirty to forty subscribers of £1. each to do this; and I hope they will be found here, and in America, where Mr. Warren has kindly promised to advocate the cause. Subscriptions will be received by the treasurer of the Swedenborg Society, Mr. Watson. 19, Highbury Crescent, FREDERICK CÖSTER. London, W. 420 ON HAPPINESS. THE nature of the relation which this world bears to the next must be known, that we may make the present life conducive to the future. We may venture to say that happiness in this life and happiness in the other arises from one and the same cause. There is but one kind of hap piness. The happiness of the world and the happiness of heaven are the same in kind; they differ only in degree. We can only be happy in either world by living in accordance with the laws of life. This is the same as living in harmony with the order which God introduced into the world at creation, and, indeed, according to which both worlds were created. But this may be considered to mean only those laws which are called natural or physical. Not so, however. The natural and the spiritual worlds are both included in the work of creation, and are governed, as they were created, by the same laws, or by laws of the same immutable order. The natural laws are only the spiritual laws translated into another and less perfect language. The voice of God gives utterance at once to spiritual laws in the spiritual world and to natural laws in the natural world, and thus to laws for the government of the soul and to laws for the government of the body. We all know the body can only be preserved in health by its being subject to the laws of health—that is, by its living according to the laws of the order according to which it was created. So with the soul. The immortal part can no more be preserved in health, and by health in the enjoyment of its peculiar life, without living according to the laws of its nature, than the body can. What are the laws of the soul's nature? First, the soul requires sustenance. Milton says "Whatever was created, needs to be sustained and fed." What is the soul's food? "Man shall not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live." The soul's food is eminently the "Word made flesh." Jesus Christ is "the true bread that came down from heaven to give life unto the world.” "He that eateth Me shall live by Me." Here is our soul's support. But in what way or in what sense are we to eat this bread? In a way as real as the body eats its earthly food. Jesus created us and He redeemed us that we might live by Him, and He saves us by feeding us with His own flesh and blood. He saves us by imparting to us something of His own natureHis own attributes, thus making us like Himself. His body and blood are His own love and wisdom, which He reveals to us by His Word, and conveys to us by His spirit. It is only by having the spirit of |