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life, he sees himself reflected. And as a mirror throws back a different image, to every different person who looks into it, because of their own dissimilarities of contour and color, so the unnumbered forms and sceneries which make up the mirror of the world, appeal in a slightly different manner, and in a slightly different degree to every separate beholder. Herein accordingly lies not only the testimony to the reality and completeness which we spoke of, but the whole secret of men's different opinion, as to what constitutes beauty and the beautiful. Beauty is seen to be the offspring to the perceptions; of the marriage or consociation of the immortal mind, with its best beloved among material objects. Beloved, not because the object has been selected after long search, but because there is a natural and enduring relation between the two. And as all our enjoyment in nature is the object of the same consociation or marriage of our mental essences with the correspondent objects of the external world, love of nature' is simply beauty felt; and beauty, the pictorial love of nature. The beauty, which in the one case we behold, is realized to our spirits in the form of pleasurable emotion in the other. Designating, in the first place, the quality of forms-as estimated by virtue of this harmony-the word beauty thence passes on to all impressions that give pleasure, through whatever medium they may be developed, because they have but one essence, and that pervades the whole. Accordingly, we give the name of beautiful equally to the objects of sight and sound, and thence to the quality of truth, as shewn in a poem, or mathematical theorem, or a scientific law or phenomenon.

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Men are, nevertheless, often unconscious that such an affinity or harmony exists, and can hardly conceive of it, till placed in scenes where its reality is made plain. But then it is with them as with Eve when she first saw her countenance reflected in the still and shining water. Everything she there beheld, she had possessed during the whole period of her existence, yet, from her previous unconsciousness, it was wholly new to her. How beautiful is Milton's description of this event!

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As I bent down to look, just opposite
A shape within the watery gleam appeared,
Bending to look on me--I started back!

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It started back! but pleased I soon return'd:
Pleas'd it returned as soon, with answering looks
Of sympathy and love.'

There is a charm in this exquisite passage, over and above that of the specific circumstance which it records and describes. It illustrates the precise fact which we are now considering, for we could not have a more charming illustration of the nature of the truth of beauty to the mind, than is afforded by the view of objects reflected in still water. There is nothing which excites a livelier delight, or one which is shared more widely. Whether it be the trees, or the banks, or the gliding clouds that are imaged in its placid depths, that fair vision never fails to touch our hearts, as one of the loveliest of sights. However uninteresting or commonplace the reflected object may be when regarded by itself, the water relieves it of all deformities; converting uncouthness into grace, the rude into the gentle, and bestowing a charm upon the image, such as the original never possesses, even in its gayest and comeliest seasons. It is a charm which seems wholly foreign and superior to everything associate with earth and materiality. In this visible union of a material object, with its immaterial duplicate, there is thus shadowed faintly to our minds, a picture of that sublime and mysterious relation, which subsists between the external world, and the essences of our inner being. The essence in the mind can neither be perceived nor understood, till it is called forth by the presence of its material counterpart; and we do not realize true beauty in the latter, if it fail to throw back, or mirror, the essence that is projected from ourselves.

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Despite of the obvious facts above enumerated, correspondences are denied and laughed at by some persons. They would seem to be unaware when they do so, not only of the facts in question, but that correspondences have been recognized in all ages, and by all nations of whose mental condition we possess any knowledge; and that there is the abundant written testimony, moreover, of intelligent men of all creeds as to their existence. Now these are forms of evidence quite independent of the conclusive proofs yielded by philosophy, by the style in which the Scriptures are composed, and by the intuitions of the mind with regard to

external nature, and they are within the reach, too, of the most ordinary intellect. Although the latter forms of proof may require some little thought and study before they can be thoroughly realized to the mind, there is no such excuse for these. These, at the least, we may expect to be familiar to any one who pretends to give an opinion upon the matter, by virtue of his general information and experience. Yet what are we to think of those who deny, when even these simple shapes of testimony are unknown to them; for unknown they must be, if the denial be honest. It comes to this. To deny correspondences simply from non-acquaintance with their proofs, either recondite or familiar, can only be from the presumption of ignorance, and is an act calling for our pity. To deny them on the other hand, after being apprised that there are such proofs, can be nothing less than prejudice, most hostile and deep seated. This is made quite clear by the circumstance of denial, coming in all cases, not from the simply uninformed and indifferent, but from those on whom the doctrine of correspondence presses with inconvenient truthfulness. Men resent nothing more than assaults on a point which they feel uneasy about, nor will they deny anything more sourly and impatiently. It is the sure sign of conscious weakness. Truth may be questioned with impunity, not so a sophism. (See Gundon's Figurative Language,' p. 74, sections 70 to 74.)

If the science of correspondence be brought to the explication of the Word of God, then can the hundreds of passages, which, in the letter, seem to contain neither wisdom nor instruction, be found to be replenished with both; then can the words of an apostle be fully substantiated--All scripture is given by inspiration of God.

But, we shall be told, there have been commentators enough on the bible, and though most of them agree in this, that there are many parts which are highly figurative, but certainly not all; yet none of them agree in explaining these figures in a uniform manner, or giving to them a uniform meaning, and it is not likely any one ever will. We reply, Swedenborg HAS done so; our only difficulty is to induce the world to read and judge for themselves. A simgle illustration will render this more intelligible.

Suppose a casket royally ornamented, but locked by fifty locks; suppose that this casket had successively descended from patriarch to patriarch, until at length it reached us at the present day. It was an opinion entertained by its first possessors, that it contained an invaluable treasure, but that the key was lost, nor was any one able to find out the means of opening the casket. Many had professed to be in possession of the key, but though they had succeeded in opening several of the locks, they were entirely baffled in opening the whole. Many persons at length doubt whether the casket was ever intended to be opened, and many dispute the existence of any treasure within it. At length another person declares he is in possession of the key, and will open the casket, if permission be granted. He tries: and, behold, lock after lock is unfastened, and the treasure is found to be really within.

Now let us apply this. The bible is the work of an infinite author. It was given to man to instruct him in the things concerning eternal life: but many parts of it, nay whole books, seem to relate to this world only, and to have no reference whatever to eternal life. In the earliest ages of christianity, however, an opinion prevailed, that there was a spiritual meaning hidden within it, and that the interior meaning contained secrets relating to the Lord, to the soul of man, and to eternal life. Time after time, one commentator or another attempted to explain the spiritual or hidden sense; one explained a passage here, another there; but none appeared qualified to give a consistent explication of the whole. Wearied with what appeared an unavailing task, the Church rashly jumps to the conclusion, that except in a few passages, there is no other meaning than that of the letter; and that the greater part of the bible is mere history or poetry. So prevalent has this opinion become, that a great portion of the holy Word is not considered applicable to christian teaching, and thus the epistles of Paul and the other apostles, are the principal themes of most pulpit orators.

At length the time arrives for a more open manifestation of the hidden wonders of God's Word. Swedenborg declares that the Lord, in the course of his providence, has prepared him for beholding the true meaning of the Word,

and for unfolding its spiritual sense.

Now what is the
Is he to say,

obvious duty of every christian in this case.

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O we have had so many commentators who have failed in their endeavours, that it is utterly impossible you should be able to succeed." Is he to speak thus; or, as in the case of the supposed casket, to say, Try: if your system will do this, it must be true. Try, and in the name of the Lord, 66 we wish you good luck."

Now we affirm, that the system of Swedenborg does this. It unlocks every passage, explains every difficulty, and throws new light upon the whole of the sacred Scripture, it is, throughout, consistent in its application. What, then, is the unavoidable conclusion: as the opening of every lock of the casket was a proof that the person opening it possessed the key, so the opening of every passage, the solving of every difficulty, and the manifestation of a pure, holy, and consistent meaning in the Word of God, is an undoubted proof that Swedenborg received the rule by which he has accomplished this, through the medium of the Divine Truth itself (the Lord), whilst reading the Word. What the primitive christians surmised,-what the most acute and learned writers in the Church laboured for centuries to accomplish, and laboured in vain, is now proved and shewn forth to the world, and is accomplished in a small portion of a human life. If this is not itself sufficiently miraculous, there is little need of anything else.

The philosophic Origen, the eloquent Jerome, the pious Augustin, all tried in vain. The learning of Clement, the fervour of Ignatius also failed in the same work, and many who in their day were lights of the world, could throw no light here, but it has now been done clearly and irrefragably, and it is the work of a few years. We now sum up, by saying,

1. That which agrees with the Word of the Lord, and with right reason, must be a doctrine of the Lord.

2. The doctrines promulgated by Swedenborg, do so agree with the Word of God and with right reason, and 3. Therefore, they must be true, and to be true, they must be the doctrine of the Lord.

4. None can explain the spiritual sense of the Word, but one enlightened by the Lord.

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