stractedly, that is, universally, and therefore in a way applicable to any subject or thing which is in such degrees.

197. The application may be made to all those things which were enumerated in the preceding article, as the muscles and nerves, the matters and parts of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, the organic substances which are the subjects of the thoughts and affections in man, the atmospheres, heat and light, and love and wisdom. In all these things, the first principle is the sole governing in the subsequent, yea, it is the sole in them; and being so, it is the all in them. This is also evident from things that are known, namely, that the end is the all of the cause, and through the cause the all of the effect; wherefore end, cause, and effect, are called the first, the middle, and the ultimate end; also that the cause of the cause is likewise the cause of the thing caused; and that there is nothing essential in causes but the end, and nothing essential in motion but effort; also that there is only one substance which is substance in itself.

198. From these considerations it may be clearly seen, that from the Divine, which is substance in itself, or the only and sole substance, all and every thing that is created exists; thus that God is all in all in the universe, agreeably to what was demonstrated in Part I.; as, that the divine love and the divine wisdom are a substance and a form, n. 40 to 43; that the divine love and the divine wisdom are substance and form in itself, and therefore the self-subsisting and sole-subsisting (Being), n. 44 to 46; that all things in the universe were created from the divine love and the divine wisdom, n. 52 to 54; that hence the created universe is an image of Him, n. 61 to 65; that the Lord alone is heaven, where the angels dwell, n. 113 to 118.

199. THAT ALL PERFECTIONS INCREASE AND ASCEND WITH DEGREES AND ACCORDING TO DEGREES. That there are two kinds of degrees, degrees of latitude and degrees of altitude, was shown above, n. 184 to 188; and that the degrees of latitude are as of light verging to shade, or of wisdom verging to ignorance, but the degrees of altitude as end, cause, and effect, or as prior, posterior, and postreme. These degrees are said to ascend or descend, for they are degrees of altitude; but the former are said to increase or decrease, for they are degrees of latitude. The latter degrees differ so much from the former, that the two have nothing in common, wherefore they ought to be perceived distinctly, and by no means to be confounded.

200. All perfections increase and ascend with degrees, and according to degrees, because all predicates follow their subjects; and perfection and imperfection are general predicates, for they are predicated of life, of powers, and of forms. Perfection of life is perfection of love and wisdom; and as the will and the understanding are receptacles of love and wisdom, perfection of life

is also perfection of the will and understanding, and thence of the affections and thoughts; and as spiritual heat is the continent of love, and spiritual light is the continent of wisdom, perfection of these also may be referred to perfection of life. Perfection of powers is the perfection of all things that are actuated and moved by life, without having life themselves: such powers are the atmospheres in their actualities; such powers are the interior and exterior organic substances in man, and in all kinds of animals; and such powers are all things in the natural world which possess activities immediately and mediately from the natural sun. fection of forms and perfection of powers make one, for such as the powers are, such are the forms; only that forms are substances, but powers are their activities, wherefore they have both similar degrees of perfection: forms, which are not at the same time powers, are also perfect according to degrees.

Per

201. I shall not here speak of the perfections of life, powers, and forms, increasing or decreasing according to the degrees of latitude or continuous degrees; because these degrees are known in the world; but of the perfections of life, powers, and forms, ascending or descending according to degrees of altitude, or discrete degrees; because these degrees are not known in the world. The manner in which perfections ascend and descend according to these degrees, can be but little known from the visible things in the natural world, but clearly from the visible things in the spiritual world. All that is discovered from the visible things in the natural world, is, that the more intimately they are examined, the more wonderful are the things that present themselves; as, in the eyes and ears, in the tongue, in the muscles, in the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys, and other viscera, also in seeds, fruits, and flowers, and in metals, minerals, and stones. It is well known that in all these objects, more wonderful things present themselves to the sight, the more intimately they are examined; nevertheless, from these things it has been little understood, that they are interiorly more perfect according to degrees of altitude or discrete degrees; for the ignorance of these degrees has concealed such knowledge. But as the same degrees exist manifestly in the spiritual world, (the whole of that world from highest to lowest being distinctly discrete according to them,) therefore the knowledge of them may be obtained from thence; and afterwards conclusions may be drawn respecting the perfections of powers and forms which are in similar degrees in the natural world.

202. In the spiritual world there are three heavens disposed according to degrees of altitude: in the supreme heaven the angels are in all perfection superior to the angels in the middle heaven; and in the middle heaven the angels are in all perfection superior to the angels of the lowest heaven. The degrees of perfections are such, that the angels of the lowest heaven cannot ascend to

the first limit of the perfections of the angels of the middle heaven, nor these to the first limit of the perfections of the angels of the supreme heaven. This seems a paradox, but still it is true: for the angels are associated according to discrete degrees, and not according to continuous degrees. It has been made known to me by experience, that there is such a difference between the affections and thoughts, and consequently the speech, of the angels of the superior and inferior heavens, that they have nothing in common, and that communication is effected only by correspondences, which exist by immediate influx of the Lord into all the heavens, and by mediate influx through the supreme into the lowest heaven. These differences, being of such a nature, cannot be expressed or described by natural language, for the thoughts of angels being spiritual do not fall into natural ideas; they can only be expressed and described by the angels themselves in their own language, words, and writings, and not by human ones: on which account it is said, that the things heard and seen in heaven are ineffable. These differences may in some measure be comprehended thusthat the thoughts of the angels of the supreme or third heaven are thoughts of ends, the thoughts of the angels of the middle or second heaven are thoughts of causes, and the thoughts of the angels of the lowest or first heaven are thoughts of effects. It is to be observed, that it is one thing to think from ends, and another to think of ends; also, that it is one thing to think from causes, and another to think of causes; and that it is one thing to think from effects, and another to think of effects. The angels of the inferior heavens think of causes and of ends, but the angels of the superior heavens from causes and from ends; and to think from these is a property of superior wisdom, but to think of them is a property of inferior wisdom. To think from ends is a property of wisdom; to think from causes, of intelligence; and to think from effects, of science. Hence it is evident, that all perfection ascends and descends with degrees and according to them.

203. Since the interiors of a man, which belong to his will and understanding, are similar to the heavens, as regards their degrees (for a man, as to the interiors of his mind, is a heaven in its least form,) therefore their perfections also are similar. Those perfections, however, do not appear to any man during his life in the world; for then he is in the lowest degree, and from the lowest degree the higher degrees cannot be known: but after death they are known. A man then comes into the degree which corresponds to his love and wisdom, for he becomes an angel, and thinks and speaks things ineffable to his natural man: there is then an elevation of all things of his mind, not in a simple, but in a triplicate ratio; in the latter ratio are the degrees of altitude, but in the former the degrees of latitude. None, however, ascend and are elevated to those degrees, but those who in the world were in truths, and applied them to life.

204. It appears as if prior were less perfect than posterior things, or simple than compound things; nevertheless prior things, from which posterior ones are formed, or simple things, from which compounds are formed, are the more perfect; for prior or simple things are more naked, and less covered with substances and matters void of life, and are as it were more divine; wherefore they are nearer to the spiritual sun, where the Lord is: for perfection itself is in the Lord, and thence in the sun, which is the first proceeding of His divine love and divine wisdom, and thence in those things which proximately succeed, and so in order to the lowest, which, according to their distance, are more imperfect. If there were not such an eminent perfection in things prior and simple, neither man nor any animal could exist from seed, and afterwards subsist; nor could the seeds of trees and fruits vegetate and become prolific for every prior thing, in proportion to its priority, and every simple thing, in proportion to its simplicity, as being more perfect, is more exempt from harm.

205. THAT IN SUCCESSIVE ORDER THE FIRST DEGREE CONSTITUTES THE HIGHEST, AND THE THIRD THE LOWEST; BUT THAT IN SIMULTANEOUS ORDER THE FIRST DEGREE CONSTITUTES THE INMOST, AND THE THIRD THE OUTMOST. There is successive order and simultaneous order the successive order of these degrees is from highest to lowest, or from top to bottom. The angelic heavens are in this order; the third heaven is the highest, the second is the middle, and the first is the lowest; such is their relative situation : in similar successive order are the states of love and wisdom there with the angels, as also of heat and light, and likewise of the spiritual atmospheres: in similar order are all the perfections of forms and powers there. When the degrees of altitude, or discrete degrees, are in successive order, they may be compared to columns divided into three degrees, by which there is an ascent and descent; in the superior mansion of which are the things the most perfect and most beautiful, in the middle the less perfect and less beautiful, and in the lowest the still less perfect and less beautiful. But simultaneous order, which consists of similar degrees, has another appearance: in this the highest things of successive order, which, as was said, are the most perfect and most beautiful, are in the inmost, inferior things in the middle, and the lowest things in the circumference. They are as in a solid substance consisting of those three degrees, in the middle or centre of which are the most subtile parts, about it are parts less subtile, and in the extremes, which constitute the circumference, there are parts composed of these, and consequently more gross: it is like that column, which was spoken of above, subsiding into a plane, whose highest part constitutes the inmost, whose middle part the middle, and its lowest the extreme.

206. Since the highest of successive order is the inmost of

simultaneous order, and the lowest is the outmost, therefore, in the Word, superior signifies interior, and inferior signifies exterior; and upwards and downwards, and height and depth, signify the same.

207. In every ultimate there are discrete degrees in simultaneous order: the moving fibres in every muscle, the fibres in every nerve, and the fibres and vessels in every viscus and organ, are in such order; in their inmost are the most simple and perfect things, whereof their outmost is composed. A similar order of those degrees is in every seed, and in every fruit, and in every metal and stone; the parts of them, of which the whole consists, are such; the inmost, intermediate, and outmost principles of the parts, are in those degrees, for they are successive compositions, or confasciculations and conglobations, from simples, which are their first substances or materials.

208. In a word, there are such degrees in every ultimate, thus in every effect; for every ultimate consists of prior things, and these of their first; and every effect consists of a cause, and this of an end; and the end is the all of the cause, and the cause is the all of the effect, as was demonstrated above; and the end constitutes the inmost, the cause the middle, and the effect the ultimate. That the case is the same with the degrees of love and wisdom, of heat and light, and with the organic forms of the affections and thoughts in man, will be seen in what follows. The serics of these degrees in successive order and simultaneous order, is also treated of in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURES, n. 38, and elsewhere; where it is shown that there are similar degrees in all and every part of the Word.

209. THAT THE ULTIMATE DEGREE IS THE COMPLEX, CONTINENT, AND BASIS OF THE PRIOR DEGREES. The doctrine of degrees, which is delivered in this Part, has hitherto been illustrated by various things which exist in both worlds; as by the degrees of the heavens where the angels dwell; by the degrees of heat and light therein; by the degrees of the atmospheres; and by various things in the human body, and in the animal and mineral kingdoms. But this doctrine is of more ample extension; it reaches not only to natural things, but to civil, moral, and spiritual things, and to the whole and every part of them. There are two causes why the doctrine of degrees extends also to such things; Firstly, because in every thing, of which any thing can be predicated, there is the trine, which is called end, cause, and effect, and these three are to each other according to the degrees of altitude; Secondly, because every thing civil, moral, and spiritual, is not any thing abstracted from substance, but is a substance; for as love and wisdom are not abstract things, but a substance (as was shown above, n. 40 to 43), so in like manner are all civil, moral, and spiritual things. These indeed may be thought of abstractedly from substances, but still in themselves they are not abstracted; for