"tree of life in the midst of the garden," and the "tree of knowledge of good and evil." And, what is remarkable, the mention of one of these trees is accompanied by a prohibition in regard to the use of it. "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Now here, it is to be observed, is the first intimation of anything evil in the creation; or rather, the first intimation of the possibility of anything being done by man which could be evil or sinful, that is, contrary to Divine order, or displeasing to the Divine Being. And here, therefore, is the commencing point of the great inquiry which constitutes the subject of the present essaythe Origin of Evil. Observe, it is not said that the tree was itself evil, but only that the eating of or touching it would be hurtful. It is, indeed, called the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil;" but it does not follow, from this language, that such a thing as evil was already existent, but the expression is used, we conceive, only as indicative of a possibility: implying that the tree, as it stood untouched, was harmless, but, if it should be eaten of, would lead to a knowledge of evil. Or, the use of the term evil here, before evil was yet in existence, may be explained in another way. Evil, abstractedly considered, is simply that which is contrary to Divine order,—a departure from Divine order. Now, there may be a knowledge of what is (or would be) a departure from Divine order, though that departure may not yet have taken place. For instance, the men of the celestial church knew (for it was expressly told them by Divine revelation) that it would be contrary to order (that is, evil) for them to eat of the tree of science,—which, as we shall presently show, means that they were not to claim wisdom to themselves. Here, then, was a knowledge of what was evil, though there was no evil yet in act. In fact, all things that God had made were pronounced good, and very good; this tree, therefore, must have been included. Nevertheless, it is hard, at first sight, to understand why a thing should be created which was not to be used,-why a tree should be planted which was not to be eaten of. But when we get beneath the allegory, and reach the truth that underlies it, we shall see the meaning of this prohibition. As may be presumed, very deep and profound truth is here involved,— a great law of the human mind, which it will require all our attention to understand. By the trees of the garden, as before stated, are signified the various perceptions in man's mind, derived from God. The being allowed to eat of them, signifies that man was permitted to enjoy, dwell upon, and open his mind to those perceptions, and that thence he would derive delight and happiness. By the "tree of life," in particular, was signified the perception that the Lord alone is life, the one Source of all that constitutes the life of the soul. The tree of life is spoken of as in the midst of the garden, to denote that this perception was the very central one of the mind. To look to the Lord as the one Fountain of all good, and humbly to acknowledge that every blessing, spiritual and natural, all powers of intellect, all kindly affections, all pure enjoyments, are from Him alone, and that man is momentarily dependent upon Him for them-this was the central light of the wisdom of the most ancient church, as it is the first principle of all true religion. And their minds being in this state of child-like dependence upon the Lord, were fully open to His Divine influence: the illumination from Him was constant, and not only general, but pervading all the particulars of their thought. By this inward light they perceived what was true with a clearness which left no room for doubt: hence they were such as say only-"Yea, yea; nay, nay;" (Matt. v. 37.) that is, they had no need to go through a process of reasoning to arrive at truth on any subject, but they had an interior and immediate perception of what the truth was. Hence their minds were always in light, and at the same time in love and joy. This state is what was represented by the garden of Eden, and these innumerable and ever-varying and delightful perceptions were signified by the trees of the garden of which they were allowed to eat. But what now could be signified by the tree of knowledge which had been placed there, but which they were forbidden to touch? By that tree was signified the faculty of acquiring knowledge from without, from beneath, through the senses,-in contradistinction to those perceptions of truth just described, which came by illumination from the Lord and from within. Now it is to be observed, that such a faculty—the ability to attain knowledge by external means-was good in its place; it was necessary to constitute an entire human mind (the tree was in the garden, and constituted a part of its perfection) A perfect human being must have senses; he must see with his eyes, and hear with his ears; and he cannot but derive ideas through those mediums. And such ideas do no harm, but rather much good, provided they are kept in subordination and subjection to the interior perceptions; for they present to those perceptions objects to reflect upon; they afford, as it were, a material ground for the winged spirit to stand upon. When, for instance, a mountain was beheld by the material eye, the man of the celestial church thought of what was spiritually elevated, morally sublime-states of love to the Lord. When he beheld hills, he thought of charity to the neighbour, an affection not so high as the former, but still elevated and charming. When he looked upon the flowing river, he saw an emblem of the streams of intelligence and wisdom that flow through the mind, and refresh, so to speak, its inner landscape; for water corresponds to truth. Flowers were to him the emblems of beautiful thoughts; trees, of lofty perceptions. The sight of innocent and sportive animals, herds and flocks, brought to his mind ideas of good and gentle affections; and in the birds soaring and singing through the sky, he beheld images of the soaring intellect of man, filled with happy and harmonious thoughts,-with the heaven of the spiritual mind spread in lucid beauty above, and the earth of the natural mind as a firm basis below, and all lighted and warmed by the Sun of Righteousness, the Lord. Thus, while his mind was in its true order, the whole outer universe, with all its sights and sounds, was a picture of the universe of mind, the inner world of the soul. Thus did the senses serve as instruments of use to the inward perceptions; thus was the faculty of receiving ideas from without, a means of enlarging and perfecting the lofty perceptions that came from within; thus was the tree of knowledge, standing in its place in the circumference, an ornament and enrichment to the garden. But though the tree might be looked upon, yet it must not be eaten of, nor touched. What was signified by this? The meaning is, that though the knowledge or ideas received through the senses might be contemplated from the inner mind in the manner just described, and, while under the control of the interior perceptions, might even be made use of as instruments for perfecting wisdom, yet that such external ideas must not in the least be trusted to or depended upon as guides in spiritual things; for if the senses were thus trusted to, the internal mind, with all its lofty perceptions, would perish, which is meant by their dying if they should eat of the tree. To understand how the case was in regard to this, we must have some idea of the elevated state of the men of this most ancient or celestial church. "The most ancient church, which was a celestial man," says Swedenborg, "was such that it not only refrained from eating of the tree of science, that is, from learning what relates to faith from things sensual and scientific, but they were not even allowed to touch that tree, that is, to think on any matters of faith from things sensual and scientific, lest they should fall away from celestial life into spiritual life, and thus further." "The men of the most ancient church had the knowledge of true faith by revelations, for they spoke with the Lord and with angels, and were also instructed by visions and dreams, which were most delightful and paradisiacal to them. They had, moreover, from the Lord, continual perception, which was of such a nature that when they thought of anything which was in the memory, they instantly perceived whether it was true and good; so that when anything false presented itself, they not only held it in aversion, but even regarded it with horror. Such also is the state of angels.* London. O. P. H. (To be continued.) MISCELLANEOUS. NOTES ON SOCIAL & RELIGIOUS 1714 there were 2,538 livings, with in PROGRESS. CHURCH TEMPORALITIES.-The members of the New Church are in the habit of looking almost exclusively to the growth of religious opinion and the examples of spiritual life for evidences of the descent of the New Jerusalem, and the advancement of the better age on which the church has entered. It is in these the evidences are most clearly written and correctly read. It is not, however, exclusively so. The influences of the new age are seen everywhere. They pervade society in all its features, and are manifested in all its arrangements. The diversity of opinion in the church is a consequence of her greater intellectual activity; and will doubtless lead the way to correcter faith and higher spiritual life. The progress of the church, however, like that of the individual, is from externals to internals; and it was not, therefore, unreasonable to expect that the first marked improvements in ecclesiastical matters should be of an external kind. One of these improvements is in the management of church funds. The power of the clergy prior to the Reformation, and their influence, from their almost exclusive possession of education and learning, had been so exerted for their worldly interest, that one-sixth of the land was in their possession, and the servants of a Master who "had not where to lay His head," rolled in worldly wealth and affluence. The scandalous waste of church property, and total neglect of its duties, combined with the gross immoralites of their lives, and other causes, led, at the Reformation, to the despoiling of the church of a great portion of her worldly possessions; and "in comes under £20. a-year; and in the whole, 5,597 livings in the Church of England under £50. a-year. Queen Ann's Bounty was then endowed by the Crown, with the first-fruits and tenths, for the purpose of augmenting these incomes, but this endowment afforded so small an amount yearly that, until 1788, an income of £50. a-year was the limit of livings entitled to receive from it any kind of augmentation; and thus so lately as 1802 there were still 5,555 livings with only £50. a-year." This condition of the clergy was necessarily attended by their social degradation. "No historical fact is more certain than the extreme poverty and inferior social position of the bulk of the clergy throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Statists, poets, play-writers, and historians, lay and clerical, all concur in representing the lower portion of the clergy as holding a position which was not menial, only because the cloth gave to each individual an undeniable claim to be regarded as a gentleman. The State assumed occasionally the duty of supplying churches where the increase of the population required additional spiritual superintendence, as in the provision of new churches for the suburbs of London; but it would probably be difficult to find one church built or one ancient church restored by private beneficence during the greater part of that period. The State also languidly admitted the duty of providing spiritual instruction for the people, and augmented the clerical incomes by eleven parliamentary grants of £100,000. each between 1809 and 1820; and the legislature granted £1,650,000. between 1818 * Arcana Calestia, n. 202-205. and 1826 for the erection of new churches. In 1826 there were 5,397 parishes with resident incumbents, and the incumbents of 5,037 parishes were non-resident, but 984 did parochial duty; and there were 3,926 curates. Such was the state of things when the legislature commenced, in 1836, the passing of measures for the regulation of episcopal incomes, the abolition of pluralities, the more economical management of capitular properties, and subsequently the creation of new ecclesiastical districts in large towns and populous neighbourhoods. We cannot here trace the progress of these several measures, nor note the opposition raised to their passing, and afterwards to their working, by the selfishness and worldliness both of the clergy and the laity, the latter of of whom had gained profitable investments in leases of church property on favourable terms. The annual grants, which in 1863 are stated by the commissioners appointed to carry out the measures we have indicated at £108,500., must next year exceed £280,000.; the capi tal value invested by the commissioners must be increased from £3,000,000. to £10,000,000.; the 1,388 benefices must then be nearly 2,500 in number. There will then be no benefice with a population of 4,000 persons without an income of at least £300. a year, except where a private patron neglects to provide one half of the increase required to bring the income up to that amonnt. The 1,137,000 persons who, in 1831, might be found in 34 parishes in the diocese of London, under the charge of 75 clergy, can only now be enumerated by the addition of the inhabitants of the 80 most densely populated parochial districts in that diocese, and these are already under the charge of 226 clergymen, exclusive of those attached to missions. And a similar improvement has been made in every one of the populous parishes in the kingdom, except a very few where the negligence of private patrons intervenes." We have culled these extracts from an article on this subject in the last number of the " Quarterly Review." The writer concludes his sketch with a liberal recognition of the services of the Dissenters, in supplying the Church's lack of service, for which we have not space. The tendency of modern thought is to freedom and justice; and we may be well assured that the changes that have already taken place will be followed by further modifications, tending to greater unity and equality of social position among all. Christian communities, and to greater efficiency in their working. Again, to quote from this writer,-" If knowledge be power to the extent only of the ignorance of the uneducated, that ignorance has now to a great extent ceased to exist, and influence can be effectively exercised only through intelligent conviction. The voice of authority speaking from antiquity cannot be accepted as conclusive, in an age which recognises the fact that we are the true ancients, living a life later by many centuries, and endowed with a larger experience and a wider range of knowledge." CHURCH AND STATE.-The question of Church and State, and thus also of the relation to the Church to Dissenting communities, has been discussed, in a lecture by the Dean of Westminster, at Sion College. At this lecture the Bishop of London presided, and some of the leading opponents of a State church were in attendance; among others, Mr. Miall, who briefly addressed the meeting in reply. A condensed report of the lecture is given in " The Inquirer," Unitarian newspaper, and is copied into the "English Independent," where it is made the subject of a leading article. "The accidents of a State church," said the Dean, "should be carefully separated from its essence. It was important to bear in mind, (1) that it did not necessarily involve endowments; (2) that it did not necessarily impose an exclusive system either of theological doctrine or ecclesiastical polity; and (3) that it did not mean the delegation of power to a clerical body. These were accidents,-adjuncts that could be separated from a State church, however they might be parts of any existing arrangements; but that the essence lay in these two obvious points,—namely, (1) that the State recognise the religious expression, the religious aspiration of the community; and (2) that this religious expression be so controlled, that excess or fanaticism may be avoided,—such as would justly be a social offence. The Dean proceeded at some length, and with much ability, to propound his theory, the same as is generally held by broad churchmen. They "would make the church as inclusive as the nation; abolish all subscription to creeds or formulas, except perhaps the Apostles' Creed; and recognise every man as a minister who was |