man would not stick at robbery or murder, or any kind of wickedness, to gain his own ends; consequently, unless the human intellect could raise itself above the will for the attainment of wisdom, that so it may communicate instruction to influence and control the latter, man would be no better than a beast, his thoughts would be chained down to his natural passions, nor could he make any excursions into the intellectual world, nor even enjoy the use of speech, but would express his affections by inarticulate sounds like the brute creatures. Without such a separation of his understanding from the natural bent of his will, he would be rendered incapable of exercising any rational inquiries or conclusions, and be under the sole dominion of animal instinct, and so, being unable to acquaint himself with God in the study and knowledge of the works of creation, he could have no fellowship with him, nor consequently be capable of a blessed immortality; for, to all appearance, man thinks and acts as from himself, and this appearance of his doing so, is the reciprocal part on his side of his union or communion with God; for without reciprocation there is no conjunction, as betwixt an active and a passive there can be none, unless the latter reciprocates by re-action. God alone is the first agent, and man suffers himself to be acted upon, and re-acts in appearance as from himself, though in truth such re-action, deeply considered, is also from God. What has been here offered, if attentively considered, may serve to show the quality of love in the human will, when it is elevated and influenced by a right understanding, and when it is not, and consequently what is the quale or quality of man. Now what man is in quality and condition, when his will-principle keeps not pace with his understanding, but whilst the latter is employed on heavenly things, the affections of the former are set on earthly things, shall be illustrated by the following comparisons: Such a one may be likened to an eagle, which, soaring in the upper regions of the air, spies his prey upon the ground, and suddenly descends to feast on garbage; or to the adulterer, who, after extolling the virtue of chastity, in company with his friends, presently withdraws to commit lewdness with his paramour; or to some sly thief, who, being appointed to keep watch for the security of the garrison, on spying some booty at a distance, quits his station to play the robber: Such is the man whose will and affections correspond not to the improvement of an exalted understanding, but are sunk in grossness and sensuality: Far otherwise is it with those happy souls, who, by the salutary documents and influence of their intellectual attainments, subdue the irregular propensities of their nature. In these the understanding and will join in amicable confederacy; wisdom and love are inseparably conjoined in marriage-union, and their lot is with angels in bliss eternal.

(To be continued.)

AN HIEROGLYPHIC KEY

TO

NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL MYSTERIES.

[BY EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.]

EXAMPLE IX.

Perfect order constitutes harmony, harmony begets beauty, and these renew and preserve nature. But imperfect order produces disharmony,* disharmony begets deformity, and these pervert and destroy nature.

The affection of true harmony begets jucundity, jucundity begets joy, and these refresh and enliven the animal spirit and mind. But disharmony begets injucundity, injucundity begets sadness, and these injure and extinguish the animal spirit and mind.

The love of the supreme good begets happiness, happiness begets heaven, and these render the soul blessed, and exalt its spiritual life. But the love of evil begets unhappiness, unhappiness begets hell, and these bring upon the soul damnation, which is spiritual death.

Correspondences. (1.) Affection and love; for all affection, which is grateful to the mind, may be called its love: but, properly speaking, love is a spiritual word, to which correspond concord, unanimity, and, in the class of naturals, conjunction, and connexion: yet notwithstanding this, love also corresponds to affection, when the subject treated of is harmony, in which is such concord and connexion. (2.) True harmony, supreme good; for nothing can affect the animal spirit or mind with pleasure, but what partakes of the nature of harmony. However, harmony is not a spiritual word, but good is, which corresponds to harmony in proportion as it produces jucundity. The same holds good with respect to disharmony and evil. Thus, at the creation, when all things were pronounced by God to be good, the meaning is, that they all mutually corresponded to each other; that is to say, nature and the world corresponded with man and his mind, and the human mind corresponded with the Deity, so that there was no occasion for instruction, inasmuch as every thing subsisted in perfect harmony. (3.) Beauty, jucundity, joy, happiness, heaven. Beauty or comeliness is a natural word; but is not always considered as such, for it results from harmony and the perfect order of things. Jucundity is predicated of the animal spirit, and joy of the human mind,

The translator finds himself obliged to use the words disharmony, jucundity, &c. for the sake of preserving a regular series in the correspondent expres siens; though he is sensible they do not sound so well to an English ear.

which have their existence in the animal kingdom alone. Happiness is predicated of the mind separate from the body, and comprises all the jucundities in the universe. But heaven signifies joy in its utmost perfection, and, indeed, the joy of all in each, and of each in all, which in other words is termed celestial joy. As this is ineffable, and admits of no comparison with our joy, it is therefore called heaven, by which also we are to understand the heavenly society itself. (4.) Deformity, injucundity, sadness, unhappiness, hell. As these are the direct opposites to the foregoing, it follows, that they bear a similar relation or proportion to each other. 5.) Pervert, injure, condemn. Pervert is a natural word; injure, or evil intreat, properly speaking, is applied to the animal kingdom; and the word condemn or damn, as used in common, is spiritual, seeing it is the soul that suffers torment and death eternal. (6.) Destroy, extinguish, spiritually kill. Nature may be destroyed; the mind or life may be extinguished; but the soul can never die, except it be spiritually by damnation.

Confirmation of the propositions. (1.) That perfect order produces harmony, and harmony beauty, or the perfection of form; and that these renew and establish nature, is evident even from the light of nature: it is also confirmed from the harmonies of seeing, hearing, and all the other senses in the animal kingdom, both external and internal, which are never exercised but they yield refreshment; and likewise from love which corresponds to harmony, seeing that this unites minds. Hence it was, that Pythagoras ascribed all things to harmonies, and that the most ancient philosophers asserted that every thing was formed, supported, and preserved by a certain love. Since then we cannot but admit of the reality of this, it of course follows as equally true, that things disharmonic pervert and destroy. (2.) That the love of the supreme good begets happiness, will appear as a plain consequence, if we but consider what is meant by the supreme good, namely, that it is no other than God himself, and that he is love; and it is impossible that union with such good, through love, can ever take place without the blessing of happiness and heavenly joy.

Rules. (1.) There are many things in the class of naturals, which cannot be supposed in that of spirituals; therefore we must substitute those things which do exist, and which appear to have the greatest agreement with them: as for instance, when speaking of nature, the word destruction may be used; when of corporeal life, then the term extinction or death; but when the subject treated of is the soul, which in its essence is spiritual, that cannot be said to be destroyed, extinguished, or to die; yet the chief essence of its life, namely, its happiness, may be said to perish, and its connexion with the Deity dissolved, which is spiritual death and the pains of hell. (2.) There is often found a word expressive of some natural quality, which may be rendered by several others in the second class; thus, harmony and Comeliness may be rendered by jucundity, pleasantness, gladness, joy, and innumerable others; for to every sense there is annexed its own jucundity and harmony, namely, one kind to the taste, another to snelling, another to hearing, another to seeing, another to the animal spirit, and another to the rational mind In the following examples the word modification occurs, to which corresponds the sensation both of seeing and hearing, as also perception and the anderstanding. In

like manner will be found spiritual words, which have for their correspondents many things in the natural and animal classes; as, good, evil, &e.

EXAMPLE X.

Harmony alone conjoins natural beings, and sustains the world: but disharmony disjoins, and destroys the world.

Concord alone consociates souls and minds, and preserves societies: but discord dissociates and destroys societies.

Love alone unites souls together, and forms an heavenly soiety but hatred separates souls, and gives rise to an infernal soeiety.

--

Correspondences. (1.) Harmony, concord, unanimity, love. Harmony is a word purely natural: concord is a word belonging to the animal class, because it is predicated of hearts: so in like manner is unanimity, this having relation to animal spirits. Moreover, if wẹ consider concord as a virtue, it belongs to the rational mind Love în general is a spiritual word; but when considered as to its species or particular relations, there are many loves, which signify affections, as the love of a companion, a parent, our offspring, and country, conjugal love, the love of the sex, that of honor, of riches, of the world, of heaven. (2.) Disharmony, discord, hatred. These in like manner are acknowledged to be correspondeners. 3) Conjoin, consociate,

uniles Conjoin is a natural word; consociate is animal, because it is spoken of companions; and to be united is to be most strictly conjoined, after the manner of souls, when assimilated with their equals.

Confirmation of the propositions. Similar to this is that vulgar axiom, By concord small things increase, but by discord they perish. Hence the reason is evident, why love and concord are the bond of society and union of minds, viz. because they are to society what harmony is to nature itself, for harmony corresponds to concord and love. Why harmony, concord, and love, have such properties, may be gathered from analogies, and even from geometry itself.

EXAMPLE XI.

Harmony of natural beings exists not without a beginning of harmony in superior nature itself, which conjoins individual things universally, and the universe individually.

Concord of human minds exists not without a beginning of concord in some superior love, which consociates individual minds universally, and universal society individually.

Mutual love of souls exists not without the beginning of love in God himself, who unites individual souls universally, and the universal heavenly society most individually.

Confirmation of the propositions. (1.) That there is a beginning of harmony in superior nature, follows from the co-ordination and subordination of all things throughout nature; for unless superior things governed inferior, these latter could in no wise be preserved in any connexion, neither could they subsist; for that which has no beginning, is without existence:* the atmospheres are kept in their proper connexion by the more pure and perfect airs; so is the universal world by its sun, the animal body by its soul, and so on. (2.) Neither can the concord of human minds exist without deriving its origin from a superior or more universal love, as the love of honesty, of virtue, of our country, of gain, and similar things which promote the consociation of minds. Love towards God is the supreme and most exalted of all loves: O! that every individual possessed it! How would their souls and minds be conjoined! Then of a truth should we have a transcript of heaven upon earth, and the kingdom of God would ap pear! (3.) Whatever conjoins, consociates, and unites universally, that also does the same singularly or individually; for there cannot be any such thing as universal action, without, at the same time, supposing that which is singular or individual, an universal being nothing without singulars; of these it is compounded, and becomes and is denominated universal. But the quality of the universal is known from the singulars that form it, as that of the singulars is known from the universal. (4.) Hence it follows, that no one can love his neighbor, unless he loves God; neither can any one love God, unless at the same time he loves his neighbor: so that these loves are conjoined tegether, as links in a chain, or as one thing depends upon another.

EXAMPLE XIL

There is a natural necessity that every substance regards another as itself, and an aggregate of similar substances as many selves; but that each should regard superior substances, from which it takes its essence and nature, as above itself, to which it is subjected by the pure connexion and harmony of things.

*To this it may be objected, "Then God himself, being without beginning, must likewise have no existence" But this is not a just inference, for the subject treated of is created nature, and the argument runs thus: Every subordinate being in nature o es its existence to an immediate superior cause, and this again to another still higher, till it terminates in the cause of all causes, which is God, who being the beginning itself, it cannot possibly be said of him, that he has a beginning; for this would be as absurd as to say, tha' one first cause owes its existence to another first cause.

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