THE PURPOSE OF LIFE.

157 all the elements which in their free action make hell, exist in full virulence in the unchanged heart! Religious organisations there are, too, which act upon the principle that ecclesiastical functionaries can be religious for other people, and by the repetition of forms of prayer and much ceremonial secure the safety of the souls of those in whose behalf they act. But not thus is the heart of an infernal so changed in its whole nature as to become that of an angel of light. Political evils are declared by some to be the sources of human misery, and it is predicted that the state shall become a new land of promise for humanity if it is reorganised according to their theories. Social reformers in their hot haste to get realised their pet schemes for the regeneration of society often magnify into exaggerated proportions their speciality, and forget that within men, and not without must the great forces work that are to alter the face of the world. If, indeed, religious organisations are the expression of that piety which closely abides with charity and truth; if the growth of freedom in the state is the result of a wider expansion of the human spirit, and an increase in the power of self-control; if social reform has its roots in a higher moral and intellectual condition; then will all these forms of outward change be solid and real, and every forward step taken will be guaranteed against recession, by that inward progress of which the outward movement is but the issue. And, after all, the best possible forms of political and social order soon rush to ruin where these have no correspondence with the moral condition of the people; and the worst are deprived of half their power to hurt, and undergo a gradual but certain transformation where the moral tone is high and pure.

Thus not less of society than the individual is it true that character or the fixed habit of acting from given motives and principles, is that which determines the actual condition of both. If character is formed, according to those immutable laws of order which Infinite Wisdom has fixed; if it is the habit of life to act as these laws direct; all is peace within, and strong love of good guided by its needed truth, results in a fragrant and fruitful life. For he who is thus at one with the eternal truth is at one also with heaven and God, and is open wide to the influent life that pours its pure and beneficent streams into his nature. Nothing obstructs their entrance, nothing diverts or distorts them when received, and so they issue again in fitting use and service. Hence our main business in life is with what we essentially are, for this determines all the rest. We say "what we are " as distinguished from what we do and say; for these latter may spring from character or they may not. A hypocritical benevolence may ape an angel's deeds, and yet be very unangelic all the same. There are thoughts that hang upon the mind

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like borrowed jewels on the forehead; they shine there, but they are not its own. There are spoken words of infinite sweetness and goodness that have no roots in character; and, like flowers fixed by children upon thorn sprigs, wither and die, because they draw no living sap from the deep affections of the heart. Sincere deeds and thoughts and words help, in their degree, to make us what we ultimately are, and that is their precise intrinsic value for us. He who by a spasmodic effort of his will, overcoming for a time the native avarice of his soul, founds a hospital which may bring help and comfort to the poor for ages to come, and then relapses into the selfish greed which is the habit of his life, has not done that which is at one with what he is, nor can his intrinsic nature be modified by this single effort. And, again, one whose habit of life, in the least affairs, is generous and good, though no marked outward result follow from his deeds, expresses his heart in every action, and is always better for the things he does. Hence the value of our life to us is not measurable by the number of great and brilliant acts of benevolence which we may have done, nor by the benefits that others may have reaped from this large philanthropy; but by the habits which life has fixed, and the principles of action it has planted ineradicably in us. And character is mainly formed, as well as best expressed, by what we do in freedom, and every day, no eye seeing, no hand applauding, no voice reproving; and by the growths we cultivate and cherish in those regions of the soul into which no human eye can penetrate.

(To be continued.)

G. P.

THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

(Concluded from page 121.)

IN the same manner all the various arts and sciences, which are pursued with delight by good men here, may after death continue to afford delight, but in a different yet analogous form. There are some pursuits, however, which being in themselves of a spiritual nature, will continue after death absolutely the same even in form, though more exalted in degree, and more full of delight. Such, for instance, is that of preaching. As Swedenborg shows and most rationally-there are in the heavens, and also in the world of spirits, temples or places of public worship, in which the Word is preached to spirits and angels, precisely as it is to men on earth. For what are spirits and angels but men elevated into an interior sphere, but still capable of being for ever perfected, and therefore needing to be for ever instructed in higher and higher degrees of divine truth?—and the truth of the Divine Word being infinite, is inexhaustible.

It does not, however, follow that all those who were preachers in this world will continue to be preachers in the next; that will depend altogether on their interior fitness for the office, not only as to abilities, but also as to heart and life. Some in whom the preaching faculty was not developed here, may have it called forth hereafter; and others who were even famous preachers in their day, may on entering the next life, and passing through the testing processes before described, be found to have been interiorly selfish and evil, and then they will sink down to that place where all preaching is vain.*

But not only will offices purely spiritual, like that of preaching, be continued hereafter, but also those of a civil kind. As already stated, in the quotations from Swedenborg on the general employments of angels, those who in the world loved their country, and took a delight in public administrations from the pure love of use, may after death retain the same love, and have it gratified by filling analogous offices in the heavenly societies, which will then constitute their country. For, as Swedenborg remarks

"All things in the heavens are instituted according to divine order, which is everywhere regulated by ministrations executed by the angels;-by wiser angels those things which concern the general good or use; and by the less wise those which have reference to particulars, and so forth. Dignity, also, is attached to every employment according to the dignity of the use."-Heaven and Hell, n. 389.

Those, too, whose delight is in books and studies may continue to enjoy that delight :

"Man," says Swedenborg, "when he passes out of the natural world into the spiritual, as is the case when he dies, carries with him all things that are his, or which belong to him as a man, except his earthly body. For man when he enters the spiritual world, or the life after death, is in a body as in the world; to appearance there is no difference, for he does not perceive or see any differencc. But his body is then spiritual, and thus separated or purified from earthly things; and when what is spiritual touches and sees what is spiritual, it is just as when what is natural touches and sees what is natural; hence a man, when he has become a spirit, does not (at first) know otherwise than that he is in the body in which he was in the world, and thus does not know that he is deceased. A man

* Swedenborg has described one such :-" Mr. Robsahm having asked if a certain curate, who was greatly esteemed in the capital (Stockholm) on account of his flowery sermons, and who had lately died, had a place in heaven,-' No,' said Swedenborg, he went straight into the abyss; for this ecclesiastic left his devotion in the pulpit; he was not pious, but a hypocrite,-proud, and greatly vain of the gifts he had received from nature, and of the goods of fortune he was continually seeking to acquire. Truly,' he continued, false appearances will stand us in no stead hereafter; they were all separated from him after his decease, the mask has fallen off him.""-Documents concerning Swedenborg, p. 75.

spirit also enjoys every sense, external and internal, which he enjoyed in the world; he sees as before; he hears and speaks as before; he also smells and tastes; and when he is touched, feels the touch as before; he also longs, desires, craves, thinks, reflects, is affected, loves, and wills, as before; and he who is delighted with studies, reads and writes as before. In a word, when man passes from one life into the other, or from one world into the other, it is as if he passed from one place into another; he carries with him all things which he possessed in himself as a man; so that it cannot be said that man after death, which is only the death of the earthly body, has lost anything of himself."-Heaven and Hell, n. 461.

Our author, in one of his curious and interesting Relations—which contain, it may be remarked, the pith of all his statements concerning the spiritual world-describes a "great library," which was arranged in divisions according to the several sciences. This library was in a certain city in the spiritual world, in and around which dwelt the famous ancients, Pythagoras, Socrates, and others. Some novitiates, that is, new-comers from the natural world, being introduced into it, expressed their astonishment at seeing so many books :

"Then there are books also," said they, "in this world; whence have you parchment and paper? whence pens and ink? The sages replied-'We perceive that in the former world you believed that this world is empty, because it is spiritual; and you so believed because you had conceived an idea of what is spiritual abstracted from what is material, and what is abstracted from materiality appeared to you as nothing, thus as empty; whereas in this world there is a fulness of all things; here all things are substantial and not material, and material things have their origin in things substantial. We who here live are spiritual men, because we are substantial, and not material; hence, in this world we have all things that are in the natural world in their perfection, books and writings as well as other things.' The three strangers, when they heard mention made of things subsantial, perceived that it must be so, both because they saw written books, and because they heard it said that material things originate in things substantial. That they might be more fully confirmed as to the truth of these things, they were conducted to the houses of the scribes, who were copying the manuscripts written by the wise men of the city, and they inspected the writings, and wondered at seeing them so neat and elegant."—Conjugial Love, n. 207.

This is pleasant information to the student, that in leaving this world, he will by no means be obliged to leave behind him the delights of his literary pursuits, but will be allowed to enter upon them with new zest, and more exalted delight, in that higher state of existence. The subjects of his studies or compositions will be, no doubt, modified and elevated, in correspondence with the greater elevation of his mind, in passing into the splritual world; but the delight attending them will be similar, yet loftier.

Those whose delight is in the constructive art, may find in the Rela

tion just quoted, a hint sufficient to assure them that their peculiar faculty, also, will find opportunity for its exercise in the future life.

"Afterwards," continues the Relation, "the strangers were conducted about the city to see the rulers, administrators, and other officers, by whom also they were led to see certain wonderful works, constructed in a spiritual manner by the artificers."

In another place, moreover, Swedenborg describes a beautiful candlestick, constructed by angelic spirits in honour of the Lord, and mentions the delight they took in its construction, acknowledging at the same time that their ability to design and mould into form was entirely a gift of the Lord. That such things exist in heaven is evident from the fact that Moses was commanded to construct the golden candlestick, and all the other furniture of the tabernacle, after the pattern shown him in the mount, that is, in a vision of heaven ;* and that the constructive faculty, like every other species of talent, is a gift from the Lord, is plain from what is said of Bezaleel, who was the artificer of the tabernacle furniture:

"And Moses said to the children of Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, and hath filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise curious works; to work in gold, in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them; and in carving of wood, to make all manner of cunning work." (Exodus xxxv. 30-33.)

In the same Relation an angelic poem is also mentioned, thus giving us to understand that the poetic faculty is continued in the other life:—

"When the three strangers were convinced that 'eternal rest' does not mean inactivity, but the delight of some useful employment, there came some virgins with pieces of embroidery and net-work, wrought with their own hands, which they presented to them. And when the novitiate spirits were gone, the virgins sang an ode, in which they expressed with angelic melody the affection of works of use, with the pleasantnesses attending it."

As to the art of painting, I do not remember that Swedenborg has anywhere referred to it particularly, as existing in the spiritual world; but we may be quite sure that so delicate and so intellectual a faculty, one which, in its higher forms, has in it so much of the ideal and the spiritual, must be derived from an interior principle, which will continue in delightful exercise in the future state. The scenery of heaven, and even that of the world of spirits or intermediate state, is, as our author everywhere shows, grand and stupendous beyond conception. In the world of spirits, in particular, wonderful representatives are continually exhibited, which are, as it were, magnificent pictures or portraitures, in

* Exodus xxv. 40.