could only be revealed through phenomena called miracles, which are in agreement with the laws of order as operative in the spiritual world, according to which laws Redemption, Salvation, Judgment, and Regeneration are accomplished. For man is not redeemed and saved by the physical laws of order as operative in the natural world, but by the moral or spiritual laws of order as operative in the spiritual world. And to make these laws known is the principal object of Revelation, and they can only be made known through miracles and parables. Hence it is, that the entire Word is, in the most comprehensive meaning of the term, a divine Miracle and a divine Parable. "Jesus spake nothing without a parable;" (Mark iv. 34.) and it may be said that He did nothing without a miracle.

Secondly, as miracles, therefore, may be miracles from an infernal as well as from a divine origin, they cannot be exclusively appealed to, as Mr. Mahan says, as "evidence of the divine origin of Christianity." The appeal which the Lord Himself declares, as to the evident testimony of revealed Truth, and consequently of the Divine origin of Christianity, is the doing of His Will. "If any man will do His Will, he shall KNOW of the doctrine whether it be of God." (John vii. 17.)

We now pass on to Part IV., which treats of the Clairvoyant Revelations of Emanuel Swedenborg." We have already seen that Swedenborg's case was entirely different both as to its nature, its object, and its tendency, from that of clairvoyants. When, therefore, Mr. Mahan says, "that these revelations (of Swedenborg) undeniably belong to the very class of developments which were the subjects of criticism in the first two parts of this work," p. 423, we entirely dissent from his statement. There may be something in common between them, but as to essential particulars, they are totally distinct and diverse. Mesmeric and clairvoyant facts prove, indeed, the possibility of Swedenborg's case, but they are far from shewing the true nature of the condition in which he, as we believe, by an interposition of Providence, without his own seeking, was placed for the instruction and the eternal benefit of mankind. Swedenborg's case and the elucidation he gives illustrate, as Mr. Bush has shewn, most of the phenomena of mesmerism, which would otherwise have remained in impenetrable obscurity.

The first objection which the author alleges against Swedenborg is as follows:

"If we admit the validity of these revelations as now commended to the world by their advocates, we must hold, and that for no other reason than the simple word of this one man, that a part of the Bible was given by inspiration, and a part-about one-sixth of the Old, and one

half of the New Testament, the Acts, and all the Epistles-was not thus given. This we are to hold, when we have all the evidence, Swedenborg's testimony aside, that the parts rejected were thus given, that we have that the others were." p. 424.

By these words the author means to insinuate that Swedenborg rejects the Acts and the Epistles from the Divine Code of the New Testament, and thus to create, at once, a strong prejudice in the mind of his reader against the claims of Swedenborg. This is obviously his intent. But what is the fact? Swedenborg, in common with the theologians of primitive Christianity, and with many of the most learned of every age, makes a just discrimination between the Gospels and the Acts and Epistles, and shews the difference between the immediate and plenary inspiration of the former, and the mediate and enlightened inspiration of the latter. And that this is a fact in theological science cannot be denied by any professor of Theology without endangering his reputation as a man of learning. This distinction has been made in all ages prior to the Reformation, and is preserved in the ritual worship of the Church of England. Who, indeed, does not perceive that there is an immense difference between the Gospels and the Epistles? The internal evidence of the Epistles in many places is sufficient to shew, that they are not written from that depth of inspiration which characterizes the Gospels. Paul speaks "of a cloak which he left at Troas, and which Timothy was to bring with him," and he quotes from the Greek poets. There are also many things which evince that the Epistles are, as to their origin, different from the Gospels; but we have not space to enter into details. As to the rubrick of the Anglican Church, it requires the congregation, when the Holy Gospel is read at the Communion, to rise up and to say," Glory be to thee, O Lord!" but when the Epistle is read the people remain seated and say nothing. This ritual or custom has been derived from the primitive age of Christianity, to show that the Gospels were heard with a profounder veneration than the Epistles, because the impression then prevailed that the Gospels were more holy than the Epistles.

But is it correct to say, that because Swedenborg, in common with primitive Christianity, makes a distinction between the Gospels and the Epistles, he rejects the Epistles and the Acts from the New Testament? By no means; and in proof that he does not reject them, he adduces them more than forty times in his work on the “True Christian Religion," in confirmation of his doctrines.* The following extract

* The reader, as to this subject, is especially referred to Dr. Tafel's "Vindication of Swedenborg against the Perversions, &c. of Dr. Mohler," p. 39. Translated from the German by the Rev. J. H. Smithson.

from a letter from Swedenborg to Dr. Beyer, Professor of Greek, at Gotenburgh, places this subject in its true light, and shows that while Swedenborg holds the Acts and the Epistles as having a degree of inspiration equal to that which Mr. Mahan and the school to which he belongs, believes them to have, he, at the same time, believes the Gospels to have a still higher degree of inspiration than is commonly believed even in the so-called orthodox churches. For Swedenborg, by shewing us the true nature of the Word, teaches us to think of it with a deeper and holier veneration than any other writer has ever done. This in itself is a great good; for whatever increases our love and veneration for the Word of God, is an immense blessing, since it prepares the way for the reception of all heavenly good and salvation. Swedenborg has not only done this, but he has placed, by shewing in what the divinity of the Word consists, the disciple of Revelation upon a rock of adamant, and protected him against the shafts of infidelity, from whatever quarter they may come, either from the ridicule and scoffing blasphemies of a Voltaire, or from the subtleties of a negative rationalism in modern days.

"With regard (says Swedenborg) to the writings of St. Paul and the other apostles, I have not given them a place in my Arcana Cœlestia, because they are doctrinal writings merely, and not written in the style of the Word, as are those of the Prophets, of David, of the Evangelists, and Revelation of St. John.*

"The style of the Word consists throughout in correspondences, and thence effects an immediate communication with heaven; but the style of these doctrinal writings is quite different, having, indeed, communication with heaven, but only mediate or indirectly.

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The reason why the apostles wrote in this style, was, that the New Christian Church was then to begin through them; consequently, the same style as is used in the Word would not have been proper for such doctrinal tenets, which required plain and simple language, suited to the capacities of all readers.

"Nevertheless, the writings of the apostles are very good books for the church, inasmuch as they insist on the doctrine of charity, and faith thence derived, as strongly as the Lord Himself hath done in the Gospels, and in the Revelation of St. John, as will appear evidently to any one who studies these writings with attention." f

As to the code of the Old Testament, Swedenborg adopts that laid down by the Lord Himself, as being the "law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms." (Luke xxiv. 44.) He also makes the distinctions, as * See the "Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture," No. 113.

+ See Documents concerning Swedenborg collected by Dr. Tafel, of Tübingen, and edited in English by the Rev. J. H. Smithson- New Edition, p. 166.

the Jews do and as all sound theologians have done, between these, and the other books called the hagiographa or holy writings.

But there are other charges, some of a very grave nature, brought against Swedenborg by this author, which, as they are most unjust and grievous accusations, we regret that we have no more space left in the present number, to take them up and at once confute them; but in our next we shall recur to the subject, and shall, we trust, convince even Mr. Mahan himself of the error of his statements. EDITOR.

(To be concluded in our next.)

Poetry.

ASPIRATION.

O THERE are moments when the rapt soul, soaring
On wings of light, and life, and joy, ascends;
When the full heart, with love and bliss outpouring,
Before its Source in adoration bends:

Such are the states, bereft of earthly feeling,

When all is wrapped in ecstasy sublime;

Each wish, each thought, each inward thought revealing,
That dwells beyond the bounds of space and time.

But there are moments also, when dull earth
Restrains the bounding spirit's upward flight;
When things of mortal and material birth,
Obscure the inner and the purer light;

And while ignoble clay retains the soul,

To seek to free it from its bonds were vain;
Nature's stern laws we may not all controul,
Nor drive the spirit from its home, the brain.

O Thou, whose nature is Infinity!

Whose essence finite beings cannot scan,
Parent of all existences! to Thee,

Who breathed thy breath into Thy creature, mail,
I yield whatever is of Thine in me;

That Thou may'st view therein Thy form Divine,
Bright and more bright through vast eternity,
For Thine is mine, and mine is ever Thine!

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MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.