ciation only that the nightingale derives her powers of disposing the heart to melancholy. Her notes, strong and sonorous, are cheerful and enlivening when heard by day, and seem pensive only when nature is lulled in repose, and our feelings are hushed to silence; when the sound of the wind among the trees, of distant bells, or of the music of running waters, touches the heart with nearly the same emotions as the notes of the nightingale herself.'

Fidelity, distrust, perverseness, cunning, cruelty, patience, all the virtues and vices of our nature, are likewise typified in different animals, birds, or insects, the appropriate introduction of which as the substitute for written descriptions of character is not only in the highest degree poetical, but often conveys the desired idea far more effectively. What a world of meaning is conveyed, for instance, by the representation of an industrious people under the emblem of a hive of bees! What is more beautiful and instructive, and at the same time more simple, as an emblem, than even a single working bee, as, loaded with honey, yet never tired, it still improves each shining hour'? Shakspere, who left neither the depths of the heart nor the secrets of nature unexplored, compares a hive of bees to a free and well directed government." In this, as might naturally have been expected, he was anticipated by Virgil, whose 4th Georgic (wherein the passage occurs) is wholly devoted to the history of these insects. One of the Roman historians was equally struck by the analogy, and in the course of his illustration beautifully remarks that as nothing is good for one bee which is not 'So work the honey-bees;

a

Creatures that by a rule in nature, teach

The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

They have a king, and officers of sorts,

Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;

Others, like soldiers, armèd in their stings,

Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds,

Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor :

Who, busied in his majesty, surveys

The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;

The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale

The lazy, yawning drone.'

Henry V., Act i., Scene 2.

Nunc age, naturas apibus, quas Jupiter ipse,' &c.-149–157.

equally good for every other inmate of the hive, so neither can anything be esteemed right or proper which favours certain individuals of a community at the expense of others."

Ants, in the same way, have been regarded from the earliest times as the emblems of forethought and prudence. This, however, is partly founded on mistake, for though certain tropical species of ants are said to hoard up provisions, it is certain that those of Europe and Syria never do so. Like bees, they live in harmony and build, but unlike the tenants of the hive, they are almost entirely carnivorous; the error would seem to have arisen from the circumstance of ants being often seen carrying about their eggs, which have a resemblance to small grains or seeds. So that when Solomon said 'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise,' and again 'The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer,'d-he was but doubtfully correct; while Virgil, Horace, and Milton, who all three speak of the ant as providing for the future, did but stamp a mistaken notion with authority.

e

One more illustration, and we leave this department of our subject. We cannot quit it without pointing to the beautiful emblem which migratory birds form of faithless friends, who, as Cicero touchingly observes, 'remain with us during the sunshine of prosperity, but who, when the winter of adversity comes on, all fly away.' If bent on finding one more of equal beauty, perhaps the moth that flutters round the candle which lures it to its own destruction while it maddens with delight, like false pleasures that too often enchant only to bring ruin, might suggest the most profitable reflections.

a See Paradise Lost, book first.

Recherches sur les Mœurs des Fourmis Indigènes, par P. Huber.' Paris, 1810. d Proverbs xxx. 25.

c Proverbs vi. 6-8.

THE HEAVENLY LIFE-SPIRITUAL APHORISMS.

(From Swedenborg.*)

"LOVE is not love without trust and confidence. Care and anxiety for the morrow are not only prohibited, but infernal (as was represented by the manna hoarded up, which bred worms and stank, Ex. xvi. 20.) Those have care and anxiety for the morrow, who are not content with their lot, who do not trust in the Lord, but in themselves, and who look only to worldly and earthly things, and not to things heavenly and divine. With such there reigns universally anxious care for the future, and also the desire of possessing all things, and of ruling over all, which desire kindles and grows to such a degree, that at length it transgresses all bounds. Such grieve if they do not possess what they desire, and they are tormented with anguish when they suffer loss, nor have they consolation, but are even incensed against the Divine Being, whose Providence they deny, rejecting all things relating to faith in Him, and bringing curses upon themselves.

But it is quite otherwise with those who trust in the Lord, who. although they have care for the morrow, still have it not; for they do not think with careful solicitude concerning the morrow, still less with anxiety. They are of an equal and patient mind, whether they possess what they desire or not, nor do they grieve if they suffer loss. They

* This paper is translated from a manuscript which, together with various other fragments, is now in the possession of the Editor. The book containing the manuscript, contains also a transcript of Swedenborg's work on the " Worship and Love of God," &c., and likewise a copy in manuscript, of the "Continuation of the Last Judgment." Besides these there are several fragments on subjects of importance, which, as far as we know, have not been published. These transcripts were made by Mr. B. Chastanier in 1778 and in 1781. This book of manuscripts was found in the library of the late Rev. R. Jones after his decease, but in what manner it came into his possession is not known. There are, in the collection, Latin copies of the two letters which Swedenborg wrote to the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, dated Amsterdam, 1771, and one to M. Venator, the Landgrave's minister of state, and also one to Archbishop Menander, without date. (See "Documents concerning Swedenborg," &c., pp. 226, 232.) We are not aware that these letters have ever been printed in Latin, if not, they should by all means be preserved in type. If any of our readers are aware of their existence in type, we shall be glad to be informed; if not, they should be printed without delay, as original documents are the ultimate courts of appeal in respect to all facts and data on which our knowledge is founded. The present paper is entitled "Aphorismata Quædam Emanuelis Swedenborgii," and although the ideas may not be new to many of our readers, yet their intrinsic worth is so great as to have induced us to present them to our readers.

are content with their lot. If they become wealthy, they do not place their heart in wealth; if promoted to honours, they do not consider themselves worthier than others; if they become poor they are not made sad and sullen; and if their condition is low in the world, they are not thereby dejected, for they know that all things contribute to the eternal good and happiness of those who trust in the Lord, and that whatever happens to them in time is overruled for their good, and made to contribute to their eternal happiness.

In proportion as a man is in the stream of Providence, he is in a state of peace; and in proportion as he is in a state of peace from the good of faith, he is in the divine Providence.

Those who trust in the Lord continually receive from Him all things necessary for their states, for whatever happens to them, whether it appear prosperous or not, is nevertheless good, for it is made subservient and conducive to their eternal happiness.

But those who trust only in themselves, are continually bringing evil upon themselves; for whatever happens to them, even though it appear prosperous and happy, is nevertheless evil, and hence serves as a means to promote their eternal unhappiness.

Anxiety for the future, when confirmed by act, much deadens and obstructs the influx of spiritual life; for such attribute to themselves what belongs to the divine Providence, and by doing thus, they obstruct the influx, and remove from themselves the life of Goodness and Truth.

Those who have been much solicitous about the future, and especially those who have become tenacious of what they possess, and hence avaricious, appear in the grand man in the region of the stomach, and represent the nauseous indigested things which there exist, and also the grievous pains arising from indigestion; hence it is that anxieties affect the stomach more than any of the other viscera.

Peace has in itself confidence in the Lord, that He governs all things, provides all things, and conducts all things to a good end; when a man is in this confidence and faith, he is in peace, for he fears nothing, and no anxiety for the future disturbs him.

Every evil takes away a state of peace, especially the evil of selfconfidence, or trusting in one's self. It is believed that the wicked are in a state of peace when they are in a tranquil and joyful state, because all things succeed according to their wish; but this is not a state of peace; it is only a tranquil and joyous state of the cupidities, which counterfeits a state of peace, and which is turned in the other life into a state of misery, for misery is interiorly latent in such a state.

The Lord has not only a universal care of all, but also a particular care, even to the minutest particulars of man's life, thus otherwise than as a king in the world.

Those who do not consider that the divine blessing consists in being happy to eternity, and that the Lord does not regard worldly things, which, in respect to the things of eternity, are comparatively but of a moment's duration, but as means of promoting eternal ends,—those who do not consider these things, cannot think wisely concerning the Lord's Providence, nor understand his ways.

The Lord provides for the good, who, in time, receive by his mercy such things as conduce to their eternal happiness; thus riches and honours for those who are not injured thereby, but not for those who would be injured by their possession,-to such, however, he gives in time, in the place of riches and honours, to be satisfied with few things, and thus to be more contented and happy than the rich and the honoured in the world.

He who is content in the Lord regards honours and riches as the means of uses; and when he thinks of honours and riches, and at the same time of life eternal, he regards the former as nothing, and the latter as essential and as every thing.

The Lord's blessing, in a genuine sense, signifies love to Him and charity towards our neighbour; for those who are endowed with these divine gifts are called the blessed of God, since they are thus blessed with heaven and eternal salvation. Hence the Lord's blessing, in an extensive sense, is to be content in God, and hence to be content with the state of honour and wealth in which we are, whether it be amongst the honoured and wealthy, or amongst the less honoured and the poor.

Conjugial love is heavenly when a man, together with his wife whom he most tenderly loves, and with his children, lives contented in the Lord, whence in the world he has interiorly a delightful tranquility, and in the other life celestial joy and happiness.

The man who is in the affection of goodness and truth, cannot, whilst he lives in the world, have a perception of the felicity of eternal life, but in the place thereof he enjoys a certain internal serenity; the reason is, because whilst in the body he is in worldly cares and hence in anxieties, and also in bodily infirmities, which prevent the felicity of eternal life, which is in him, from being then perceived or from manifesting itself; for such felicity dwells within, and flows from the interior into the cares and anxieties which are in the external of man, and is perceived as a certain kind of obscure joyful sensation, in which there is a happy principle, in which dwells the blessedness of heaven. To be content in God involves