no further observation in reply will be expected with reference to those points. As regards the remainder of the article, it is not intended to attempt any refutation of the opinions advanced, my object being simply to re-state, or more fully explain, those expressions which appear to have been the most imperfectly understood by your correspondent.

In the article referred to I commenced by stating, as impartially as possible, the prevailing views both for and against the use of liturgical forms, leaving the reader to form his own conclusion as to their desirableness or otherwise. My own opinion was held in reserve, though leaving it to be inferred that I was not favourable either to one view or the other, as applicable to the public service of the church.

human

It is stated that I have set an impracticable task to the framers of liturgies, unless we use exclusively the language of the Word. This is precisely the position it was desired to assume, in illustration of which I referred to the liturgy now in use among our American brethren. Allusion is made to the statement that it would be difficult, if not impracticable, to frame forms of prayer which shall in all cases, and under all circumstances, be exactly suited to the interior state of the worshiper. Now I think that this is true, not only as applicable to different societies, but even to the individual members of the same society. It is well known that every man, during the progress of regeneration, passes through various states of temptation, depression, peacefulness, and exaltation. Will it be insisted upon that any forms could be so arranged as to be rendered suitable for all the members of an assembly composed of persons who may respectively be the subjects of these various states of the internal man? I appeal to the individual experience of the reader. An endeavour is made to shew that the Word is not the most suitable medium for the public worship of the church, because the ignorant would interpret ignorantly, the wise, wisely, and the mistaken, mistakenly. But let it be observed, in reply, that doctrinal passages of various interpretation might be omitted; or if this were deemed objectionable, and to guard against the fears of W. M., allow me to observe, that it appears to be the obvious duty of the minister to instruct the ignorant, and to set the mistaken right. And this is also a good reason why the creed should be repeated, as it would tend to correct any erroneous impressions; and the use of which, as being the symbol of our faith, would be one of the best means of making known our sentiments to the world. That a solemn and devout acknowledgment of the truth, such as this would be, is calculated to foster a spirit of pride, I cannot believe; as a declaration of faith, given under such circumstances, must necessarily proceed from the heart of the sincere be

liever, and not from the intellectual region only, as suggested by your correspondent.

It may be here observed, that the words internal and interior were made use of as having reference to the hidden states or operations of the mind, as distinguished from that which appears in an obvious external form; these words must therefore be understood in their general and not in their more precise signification. With reference to the use of the word active, permit me to remark that it was not intended to question the activity either of the external or internal of the mind while engaged in silent worship; all that was intended to be expressed was, that a more intensely devotional feeling is induced when every faculty-yea, the whole man-body, soul, and spirit, is unitedly engaged, without any reservation whatever, in the adoration of the Lord; for there is then a fulness and completeness, even an approach to perfection, which cannot be otherwise attained. But we cannot conceive it possible that individuals so engaged should be the listeners of their own voices; it would, I think, be questionable whether they would be at all conscious of the sound thereof,-as persons intently engaged in mental or spiritual exercises are scarcely sensible of any merely external impression. What was said with regard to "listening to the performances of others," had reference to chanting, and not to prayer, and was intended to discountenance the practice of leaving the choir to celebrate this part of the service alone, as may be observed in some assemblies. The perfection of chanting consists of no one voice being heard above another, but the sound should ascend as if it were but a single voice.

In conclusion permit me to state, that I do not wish to advance any thing in a dogmatic spirit, but merely as being the opinions of an individual, thrown out for the consideration of those interested in this important subject.

I am, dear Sir, yours truly,

W. SNELL CHAUNCY.

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF SWEDENBORG AND HIS THEOLOGY.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,-It has appeared to me very desirable that the relation between the scientific works of Swedenborg and his theology should be pointed out, as many may not be aware of the harmony that exists between them. To this end I could wish that either yourself or some of your correspondents would shew, which it appears to me might be

accomplished, that the scientific productions of our author are not only in harmony with his theological principles, but that they serve as a foundation, or as a stand-point on which the wonderful views he has opened respecting spiritual things may be more fully contemplated and better understood. I am, &c. W. P.

In reply to our correspondent's appeal, we think we could not do better than introduce the concluding portion of Mr. Wilkinson's "Introductory Remarks" to his translation of the "Animal Kingdom," in which our readers will find the harmony to which our correspondent alludes fully borne out by one who, from his profound studies of the author's philosophical works, was well enabled to pronounce, a correct judgment:

"But it is (says Mr. Wilkinson) on the New Church itself that Swedenborg's scientfic works have the highest claim. They were written, indeed, to convince the sceptic, yet perhaps their chief end may be to confirm the believer. They disclose the intellectual use of nature, as being a theatre of instruction where man may learn the highest truths in the lowest form, and from which he may mount upwards, on the ladder of divine order, until the intellect merges in the moral sphere. They proclaim that in this course of true instruction there is nothing to be unlearnt, either in this life or in that which is to come, but that our limits are to be successively enlarged, and all that is real and positive ever carried forwards into the proximately succeeding state. For these works are thoroughly congruous with the theology of the New Church. The order which they shew to exist in nature, is the very mirror of the order that reigns in the spiritual world. They mark the successive stages through which Swedenborg was led by the Divine Providence, until he was capable of that interior state in which his spiritual eyes were opened, and the inner world disclosed to his view; and as they were therefore the means, so were they in unison with the end. The doctrines which they set forth respecting the human body are reiterated with scarcely an omission in his theological treatises, and particularly in his " Arcana Cœlestia," where they serve as the ground-work of his stupendous descriptions of the life of man after death, when he is associated with his like, according to the laws of order and degrees, and if he be capable of it, becomes a part of the grand human form of heaven. It is therefore at once edifying and delightful to examine the scientific evolution of those doctrines in the "Animal Kingdom," and to observe how wonderfully coherent they are, and how firm they stand in nature. At the same time, far be it from us to admit, that Swedenborg's theology was the outgrowth

of his science. This has been stated to be the case, and it is an asser. tion easily made, a proposition which the sceptic will be too ready to conceive. But we give it a direct negative: it is the offspring of a double ignorance,-of an ignorance of both the premises. Those who are best acquainted with the writings of Swedenborg know full well that it has not a glimmer of probability to support it.

"Nevertheless it may be confidently affirmed, that it is impossible to affix a meaning to much that Swedenborg has said of the human body in his theological writings, without a study of his scientific works. In this respect the former presuppose the latter, as containing a body of elucidations that cannot be obtained from the views of any other physiologist.

"But these works not only support and elucidate Swedenborg's theolo gical writings, but they also afford the members of the New Church an opportunity of descending from the spiritual sphere into the natural, and there gathering confirmations from the broad field of creation. In proportion as this is rightly done, or done for spiritual ends, there will be a regeneration of the sciences, and the ascending or analytic method will become subservient to the influx of spiritual power and truth from above. The order of nature will be more and more seen to be at one with the order of heaven. The sciences through which nature is viewed in different aspects, will become easy of comprehension and recollection, because all their details will be ranged on the electric spirals of order. The organic sciences especially will be schools in which the great lesson of society is learnt, and the laws of government and intercourse represented. The human imagination will be limited by the truth, and will admit that all that outlies its sphere is a monstrosity, and an outrage against the universal principles of art; and that without rational truth there can, at this day, be no true art, as there can be no heroic action. The under standing will no longer love the occult, or dwell in quiddities and logical formulas, but in the recognition of ends and uses in substantial forms. Man will see the omnipresence of God in nature, because he will contemplate a moving order, perpetually tending from ends to ends, and thus involving an infinite intelligence and love in every point of its pro gression. There will no longer be faith alone, nor charity alone, nor works alone. The natural world will not be divorced from the spiritual, nor the body from the soul; for there will be no hostility between the different faculties of the mind, but the spiritual man will rest on the rational, and the rational on the sensual, which last will then become the enduring basis of the heavenly, and the ultimate theatre of its life and fructification. In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian

into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land.'*

"But until this prophecy is accomplished, science must be dead. For the Egypt, Assyria, and Israel of the Word, are not places lying under a particular latitude or confined to one planet, for the divine truth is omnipresent, and transcends the conditions of space and time; but they are general states within every man that is born into the world. The Egypt of divine truth is his scientific mind; the Assyria is his rational mind; and the Israel, his spiritual; and the prophecy here describes the true order of the influx and circulation of mental states and principles, in either an individual, a society, or the human race at large. This is the order to which we believe power will ultimately be given by Him who has all power in heaven and on earth. For we know that until it is established, opinion must be as the shifting sand; human systems must be so mortal that the mere flux of time is sufficient to destroy them; the scientific state of each age must be at the mercy of any strong man with an energetic will and an equal faculty of persuasion; since without a permanent reference to true order, intellectual feats can be measured by no standard but daring and determination. But a better time is at hand, and a better state than man deserves, or than he himself could originate. The new era has commenced already. The truths of a New Church have been revealed in the writings of Swedenborg; and in those truths, and those truths alone, may science drink of the waters of immortality."

THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF SELF-LOVE.

To W. M.

I think it might be objected that you have not shewn man's proprium to be created after any pattern in the Lord Himself, inasmuch as man's desire to be governed by the Lord is opposite to the Lord's desire to govern man,-though both have the same end,—viz., man's happiness.

ANSWER BY W. M.

The Lord's desire to govern man is of necessity accompanied with the desire that man should submit to be governed; this desire can no more be separated from the former desire, than a desire to do a thing can be separated from the desire that it should be done. The desire in * Isaiah xix, 23, 24.

See this Periodical for May last, p. 161.