assists in the support of all animated nature, providing seed for the sower, and bread for the eater. There is no hiatus in the creation: one kingdom does not commence abruptly without connection or dependence upon another; but all are united by links (in many instances, it is true, invisible to us) into one vast chain, from the lowest order of created things or beings to the highest. There is no independent power but the Supreme.-Before we proceed further, that the young mind may not be startled by the idea that creation is closely linked together in all its parts, we shall endeavour to explain the two terms by which the illustrious Swedenborg proves that all creation is dependent upon God, and that, though man is described as the lord of the creation, he is not so in reality, but only in appearance. As a steward superintends an estate, and becomes by this a delegated lord of the estate, but yet holds his power under him who gives him his authority, and must return the profits, together with the accounts of all matters transacted, for the satisfaction of his principal-so man, though to him is committed the delegated sovereignty of the wide creation, must only consider himself a steward appointed by the righteous God of heaven, who will not fail to exact a just account of the manner in which he has exercised the trust reposed in him. In reading the writings of Swedenborg, the young student will often meet with terms difficult of apprehension, because Swedenborg wrote in Latin, and the translators have not at all times been able to find in the English language, terms sufficiently explicit to convey the full sense of the original; and have therefore either left the term untranslated, or else given to it what may be termed the idiom of Latinised English. The terms which we wish now to explain are CONTINUOUS and DISCRETE; these terms, with the annexation of degrees, repeatedly occur in the writings of Swedenborg.

CONTINUOUS DEGREES are like the different shades, from the first faint streaks of light in the morning, till the full blaze of the meridian splendour at noon day. Or, suppose we take a piece of paper, of the purest and most delicate texture, so white as to be the closest approximation to the perfection of the lily-the gradual declension of the white through an almost apparently endless variety of shade,

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until it finally reaches black, will be a good illustration of continuous degrees. Nothing can be more opposite than the white and the black, and yet the black is produced by continuous degrees from the white. Or, suppose we take a barleycorn, three of which are supposed to make an inch, there will be an immense difference between this barleycorn and a mile, and a still greater difference between a mile and a billion of miles, and yet in progression they become perfectly sensible; and a billion of miles, made up of barleycorns, is an illustration of the progression of continuous degrees. This is the way in which Swedenborg describes the great work of the creation, and thus from a mite to a mammoth there is no real hiatus. But, though by continuous degrees the white, by different shades, ultimately becomes black, it is evident that the black is essentially different from the white. There is, therefore, the same difference between the new shade of colour produced by continuity, as there is between cause and effect; the cause being one thing, and the effect distinctly another. But this effect, in its turn, becomes again a cause, as the black coal produces the ruddy heat; and hence it is that every substance proceeds by continuous degrees, until it ultimately becomes discrete; and thus continuous degrees and discrete degrees exist in every created thing.

Each of the three kingdoms, then, being united with the others by connecting mediums, and the whole being more or less operated upon by the meteoric kingdom, it will follow, if the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made," (Romans i. 20), that each has a distinctive spiritual signification.

(1.) The meteoric kingdom corresponds to the Deity, as he is in himself, and as truth or light proceeds from him immediately.

(2.) The mineral kingdom corresponds to the Deity in his creative power or wisdom in its first or ultimate effects. (3.) The vegetable kingdom corresponds to the Deity in his production of effects upon the human mind.

(4.) The animal kingdom corresponds to the Deity in the ultimate results of such effects.

Our Heavenly Father has revealed himself to us in three

esssentials; Love, Wisdom, and Power, or effect. These essentials have reference to all the three kingdoms, including also the meteoric. We shall consider them in their order. And, first, the meteoric: the sun, moon, stars, light, dew, clouds, rain, snow.

The SUN corresponds to the divine love, as it is in its purity, unapproached and unapproachable. There is a sun which never goes down. It is the Sun of Righteousness. There is a sun which in appearance sets, the sun of this world. There is in man an immortal soul which is to live for ever in happiness or misery, according to the quality of his life in this world. There is a body which the soul dwells in, as a probationer in this world; but which probation being ended, the soul departs, and the body returns to dust, whence it was taken. Man is, consequently, an inhabitant of two worlds-the spiritual and the natural, and requires the agency of two suns to support his twofold constitution. The spiritual sun, the Sun of Righteousness, warms and animates his soul; the natural sun warms and animates his body. The most glorious object upon which the natural eye can rest is, the sun when he shines in the greatness of his strength, and strong indeed must be the eye that can then behold him. The most glorious being upon which the eye of the spirit can rest is, Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, who has so mercifully accommodated himself to all orders of intelligent creatures, that all may feel his vivifying power within them, blessing them with continual life.

Without that love which has loved us everlastingly, where would the soul of poor fallen man be now? It is the Sun of Righteousness that quickens every affection within the soul; it animates into spiritual life all the plants of truth in the understanding; it shows the effects produced, by the exemplary life and conversation of all who submit themselves to its invigorating influences.

That the sun corresponds to the divine love, may be seen clearly, if we compare the effects produced by it, with the effects produced by the Sun of Righteousness on the .soul.

As the sun of the natural world is the medium of support to all bodies within the sphere of its influence, so is the spiritual sun the medium of support to those humble souls

who place themselves within the sphere of its influence. And as the farther we roam from the cheering heat and light of the natural sun, the more cheerless, cold, and solitary we become; so the farther we rove from the Sun of Righteousness, the more dead and inert our souls become to all heavenly impressions. But to behold the perfect resemblance which the sun of nature bears to the Sun of heaven, let us briefly state their qualities.

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God is

"The Lord our God is a Sun." He "clothes himself with light as with a garment." His countenance is as the sun shining in his strength.' Here are the essentials of the divine Trinity. Divine love or heat is the father. love. Divine light or wisdom is the Sun with which the Father clothes himself. God is light. The operation of his power is felt by all men, by the sending forth of his light and heat. Here is power. Love, wisdom, and power; heat, light, and operation, constitute the one God, the Sun of Heaven, which has arisen upon us with healing in his wings.

The natural sun is in like manner a trinity; its essence is heat or fire; it sends forth light, and the influences of both are felt in the effects produced. But the sun is one as God is one.

The heat and light of the sun are universally felt in nature; and in the soul of man the love of God kindles the affections by its warmth into devout gratitude, and illuminates the understanding by rays of the heavenly light, while throughout the universal church the love and wisdom of God are ever present.

As the Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," so is the sun immoveably fixed in the centre of our system. As when man turns from God, God appears to hide his face from him, although, in reality, it is man only that changes, and thus different states are produced; so the earth, by its motion, produces those alternate periods of light and shade which answer to the vicissitudes of man's natural state.

But though the Lord is invariably the same, not a shadow of change attaching itself unto him, yet does he appear more favorable to some than to others. The soul that inclines itself towards Him, and elevates itself from earthly 10 heavenly contemplations, becoming more receptive of the

divine influences, of course partakes largely of the heat and light of the Sun of Heaven; in the same manner as the earth's inclination is more towards the sun it receives an increase of heat and light, and its productiveness is of course increased.

In the season of affliction, in the winter of trial, the face. of the Lord seems hidden from us, but the dark clouds of adversity are in reality the means of drawing the Lord closer to us. Our troubles for the time may prevent us from beholding this, but the Lord is not the less present. So the natural sun appears to be farthest from the earth in winter, but, in reality, he is nearest to it.

The more we elevate our affections and thoughts to the Lord, the greater is the supply of spiritual meat and drink; but, with the supply, our spiritual appetite increases-we become more hungry and thirsty, and "blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."-It is the same with the natural sun, whose heat in summer produces abundance of rain, while the earth at that season is most parched and thirsty.-It would be easy to extend these illustrations, but the above are sufficient to show the exact analogy which subsists between the sun and this natural world and the sun of heaven, from which all its qualities are derived.—According to correspondence, then, the sun in a primary sense is significative of the Lord; in a secondary sense, of love; in a natural sense, it is the orb of the day.

The MOON, as deriving all her light from the sun corresponds to the divine truth, or light. In a primary sense, the moon is representative of the church; because, as she derives all her light from the sun, on whom she is dependent, so the church derives all her truth and intelligence from the Lord, the Sun of Righteousness, on whom she is dependent. In a secondary sense, the moon corresponds to faith; for as faith is the principle which removes darkness of mind from every recipient for admission into the church, so the moon is the only medium of removing that entire obscurity and darkness of night, which compensates in some small degree for the absence of the more glorious light of the sun. In the natural sense of the word, the moon is the secondary orb, which rules the night.