fering a change; therefore at the end of the Book of Revelation it is said: And if any man shall take away from the words of the books of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book.' The same is the case with the books of the Word of the Old Testament; there also each thing, and each expression, contains an internal or spiritual sense; wherefore, there also, no word can be removed. Hence, likewise it is, that by the Lord's Divine Providence these books, from the time when they were first written, have been preserved entire down to the very jot, by the care of a number of men, who have numbered every least particular therein. This was provided by the Lord on account of the sanctity which is interiorly in every jot, letter, word and thing."

Again, in the "Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture," 13, we read: "It is to be observed that in the spiritual sense all things cohere in a continuous series, and to its production every word in the literal or natural sense conspires; wherefore, if but the least word is removed, the connection would be broken, and the conjunction would perish. Lest, therefore, this should happen, it was added at the end of the prophetical Book of Revelation that not a word should be removed (xxii. 19). The same is the case with the prophetical books of the Old Testament; lest anything should be removed thence, by the Lord's Divine Providence each particular therein, down to the very letters was numbered; this was done by the Masoretes."

Another reason why the letter of the Word ought to be kept inviolate is this, that each part of the letter of the Word corresponds to, and thus effects conjunction with a particular society of heaven; if therefore any part of the letter of the Word is dropped or mutilated by a false translation, the Word cannot effect conjunction with the whole of heaven, and hence not the whole of heaven can be brought near to man. This follows from the following teaching of the T. C. R. 272: "It has been granted me to know, by much experience, that a man has communication with heaven by means of the Word. In reading the Word, from the first chapter of Isaiah to the last of Malachi, with the Psalms of David, and keeping my thoughts fixed on the spiritual sense of each passage, it was granted me to perceive clearly that each verse communicated with some particular society in heaven, and thus that the whole Word communicated with the universal heaven, from whence it appeared, that as the Lord is the Word, so also heaven is

the Word, since heaven is heaven from the Lord, and the Lord by the Word is the all of heaven."

As conjunction with the whole of heaven can be effected only by the whole of the Word properly translated, therefore also we are taught, that principally on account of the reading of the Word, the Jews have been preserved as a distinct people up to the present time. This we find stated in the Writings of our Church in the following language-In A. C. 4231, the following general statement is made on this subject: "The Jewish nation has been preserved on account of the Word." And in A. C. 3479 we read: "Because the tribe of Judah, more than other tribes, was of this character [that they could be in a holy external], and at this day, as formerly, keep holy the rituals which can be observed out of Jerusalem, and also have a sacred veneration for their fathers, and an especial reverence for the Word of the Old Testament; and it was foreseen that Christians would almost reject it, and would likewise defile its internals with things profane, therefore that nation has been hitherto preserved-according to the Lord's words in Matthew (xxiv. 32): Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away until all these things shall have happened.'' And again, in the "Divine Providence," n. 260, we read on this subject: "The reason why the Jewish nation has been preserved, and scattered over a large portion of the globe, is on account of the Word in its original language, which they above Christians consider holy; and in each particular of the Word is the Lord's Divine, for it is the Divine Truth conjoined with Divine Good which proceeds from the Lord, and by this there is a conjunction of the Lord with the church and the presence of heaven; and the presence of the Lord and of heaven is everywhere where the Word is read in a holy state. This is the end of the Divine Providence for which that nation has been preserved, and scattered over a large portion of the globe." "If the Christians," says Swedenborg in another place (A. C. 3479), " "as they were acquainted with internal things, had also lived as internal men, it would have been otherwise. If this had been so, that nation, like other nations, before many ages would have been cut off.”

(To be continued.)

160

ON DEGREES OF GOOD AND TRUTH.

READ BEFORE THE SWEDENBORG READING SOCIETY.

MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,-Impressed with a sentiment found in an author whose name is highly esteemed in this society, I have been induced to endeavour this evening to present to you some thoughts on the varied degrees which exist even in goodness. The sentiment to which I allude is to the effect, that unless certain general principles are known, it is impossible to form true ideas respecting spiritual and celestial things, and the object of my paper is to present from the Writings of Swedenborg the nature of goodness and truth, as to their various degrees, and by means of numerous illustrations to enable the mind to perceive with clearness that thus it may grasp and apply the truth.

Truth is spiritual light. It is the light of heaven, that is, the Divine Truth itself, from which comes all intelligence. Light from heaven is illustration to the understanding, and those who acquire illustration are thus far actually elevated into the light of heaven.

In the old church, to a large extent, it is accepted as a trustworthy axiom, that if the faith be right, and the life not contradictory thereto, heaven will be attained, and thus, as it is imagined, all the treasures and blessings of heaven, as a matter of course, be enjoyable. On the contrary, we know that there are many steps in the heavenly ladder; there are several absolutely different, distinct, discrete degrees of good. Salvation does not necessarily imply the realization of the highest attainable good. It is important that we should be acquainted with the true nature of the case. The end of regeneration is that the internal or spiritual man may rule, and the external or natural man serve. And regeneration, rightly regarded, is a plane whereon to perfect the life of man to eternity.

In the New Church we are taught that the spiritual life of man resides in a true conscience, and that a more perfect conscience can be given with those who are enlightened in the truths of faith above others, and who are in a clear perception above others, than with those who are less enlightened, and who are in an obscure perception. Herein we find an illustration of the New Church motto, "That all truth leads to good." The possession of true or saving faith, let it be noted, does not instantly fix and for ever determine one's position in heaven. The fact that good is of various degrees is all important;

it would be fatal to rest in mere natural good; it is the will of the Lord that we may all rise to celestial good, and every truth attained or strengthened, every moral conquest achieved, is a step towards a higher state. The shrewd man of the world would say, what can be the use of talking about differences in what is good. Truly of little use to him so long as he is merely natural, for the natural man cannot comprehend spiritual things. Natural good is good for this life, smooths the path of its possessor, and makes him an agreeable companion instead of being a pest to society; but natural good is not saving, it has no affinity with heavenly things. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." To this Divine canon we cannot but bow, and it behoves us to receive with thankfulness the light presented in the writings of Swedenborg as to the nature of good in its natural, spiritual, and celestial degrees.

There are three degrees in man, named natural, spiritual, and celestial. When a man is born he first comes into the natural degree, and this degree increases in him by continuity, according to his knowledge and the understanding he acquires by it, to the highest point of understanding, called rationality. Nevertheless, the second or spiritual degree is not hereby opened. This degree is opened by the love of uses, which is love towards the neighbour. This degree likewise may increase by degrees of continuity to its summit; and it increases by the knowledges of truth and good, or by spiritual truths. Nevertheless, the third or celestial degree is not opened by this, but by the celestial love of use, which is love towards the Lord, and love towards the Lord is nothing else than committing to life the commandments of the Word, of which the sum is to flee from evils because they are infernal and diabolical, and to do goods because they are heavenly and divine. These three degrees are thus successively opened in a man. While a man lives in the world he knows nothing of the opening of these various degrees in him, but when he puts off the natural degree, that is at his death, he comes into the degree which was opened in him in the world. And Swedenborg distinctly asserts that there are three degrees of altitude in every man from his birth capable of being successively opened.

Distinction must carefully be made between spiritual good and natural good. Natural good saves no one, but spiritual good saves all who possess it. The reason is that the good which is formed by the truths of faith is the plane into which alone heaven can flow,

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that is the Lord through heaven, and by means of which the Lord can lead man and withhold him from evil, and afterwards elevate him into heaven. With natural good this is impossible. Those who are in natural good can be as easily carried away by falsity as by truth, if falsity but appear in the form of truth; and can be as easily led by evil as by good, if evil be but presented in the form of good. They are like feathers in the wind.

Those who have watched the course of religious literature will have observed many authors in the old church of late years expressing their doubts as to how far they should accept the doctrine of man's total depravity, and some of these authors, probably more from amiableness than from fairly following out their theological deductions, have admitted that with certain persons, on account of their sweet natural tempers and high hereditary natural endowments, there appears to be no need of so absolute a conversion as with the majority. Other theologians, stern in their belief in the doctrine that man's nature at birth is totally corrupt, and following out harshly but honestly their doctrines, assert that morality of external life has no advantage in regard to the attainment of salvation over the most diabolical wickedness. Inquirers after truth are doubtless often perplexed. Have we not in the following extract from the writings of Swedenborg a ray of spiritual light which detects sophistry, unravels metaphysical subtleties, and reveals the simple truth? He says, "Good which is from hereditary tendency has many things in affinity with good which has its source in a religious principle, or from the doctrine of faith and charity, but this affinity is only in the external form, and the two kinds of good are altogether different in the internal. Good which is from the hereditary origin may be compared to the good that prevails even among tame and gentle animals ; but good which is from the other or religious origin (although still natural good) is proper to the man who acts from reason."

Those who do good from the hereditary origin are carried, as it were, blindly and by instinct into acts of charity, but those who do good from the religious origin are led thereto from an internal obligation, and act as it were with their eyes open.

Those who do good from the merely hereditary origin do not do it from any conscience of what is just and equitable, still less from a conscience of spiritual good and truth. Those, on the contrary, who do good from the religious origin do the good from conscience. These things will necessarily appear obscure to those who are in an external condition, but they appear most distinctly in the light of