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who entertained erroneous doctrines, that they are not aware that the genuine doctrine of the church is derived from the spiritual sense of the Word." I next turn to the "Universal Theology," n. 225, and find there— "The doctrine of the Church ought to be drawn from the literal sense of the word, and to be confirmed thereby." Now I am aware it is said that "genuine doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense, enlightened by the spiritual sense;" but how about those who have not, perhaps never heard of, that spiritual sense, even at the present day, still more, how about those who lived before it was unfolded. I know it may be said they were enlightened by the Lord whilst reading the literal sense devoutly, but does not this drive us to the conclusion that those whose minds were drawn aside into "ignorance, heresies, and errors," were not enlightened, and yet would any say that theologians and Christians did not read and study this word devoutly from the fathers downwards.

Four years ago this subject was brought under the consideration of the Conference, and a committee of four was appointed to prepare a statement of what they considered to be the teaching of the writings upon it. That statement was printed in the September number of the Repository for 1868. Although it is not given in the name of the Conference, but on the responsibility of the writers, the names of the committee are a sufficient guarantee of its correctness. It might have been sufficient to refer our correspondent to that document, but it is possible that after perusing it his chief difficulty might still remain, as, although clear as a statement, it might not seem sufficient as an explanation. As on such a subject it is well to let our author speak for himself, a passage may be quoted which will be a useful addition to those which the committee have cited. The passage is long, but it will repay perusal.

"It may be expedient here briefly to say, who and of what quality they are who are in the external sense of the Word separate from the internal. They are such as extract from the Word no doctrine of charity and faith, but abide solely in the sense of the letter of the Word. The doctrine of charity and faith is the internal of the Word, and the sense of the letter is its external. They who are in the external sense of the Word without the internal, are also in external worship without internal, worshipping external things as Holy and Divine, and also believing that in themselves they are Holy and Divine, when yet they are Holy and Divine from things internal. The sons of Jacob were of this character. But let examples illustrate this case. They believed that they were pure from all sin and guilt, when they offered and ate of the sacrifices, conceiving that sacrifices in the external form without the internal were the most holy things of worship, and in such case, that the animals offered were holy, and that the altar was the most holy of all; in like manner they conceived of the bread of the meat offerings, and of the wine of the libations. They believed also that when they washed their garments and their bodies they were altogether clean; that the perpetual fire of the altar, and the fires of the lamp, were holy of themselves, likewise the shew-bread and the oil of anointing, besides other things. The reason why they so believed was, because they rejected everything internal, insomuch that they were not even willing to hear of internal things, as that they should love Jehovah for the sake of Himself, and not for the sake of themselves; that they might be exalted to dignities and to opulence above all nations and people in the universe; therefore neither were they willing to hear of the Messiah, that He was to come for the sake of their salvation and eternal happiness, but for the sake of themselves, that they might have pre-eminence over all in the world; neither were they willing to hear of mutual love and charity towards the

neighbour for the sake of the neighbour and his good, but for the sake of themselves, so far as he favoured them; they made light of unfriendly dispositions, of bearing hatred, of exercising revenge and cruelty, if they had any cause to plead for such enormities. They would have believed and acted altogether otherwise, if they had been willing to receive the doctrine of love and of faith to the Lord, and of charity towards the neighbour; in this case they would have known and believed, that burnt-offerings, sacrifices, meat offerings, libations, and eating of the sacrifices, did not purify them from any guilt and sin, but that they were purified by the worship of God, and repentance from the heart. In like manner that the washings of the garments and of the body did not make any one clean, but purifications of the heart; also that the fire of the altar, and the fires of the lamp, the shew-bread, and the oil of anointing, were not holy of themselves, but by virtue of the internal things which they signified; and that when they were in holy internal things they were then holy, not from themselves, but from the Lord, from whom is everything holy. The sons of Israel would have known these internal things, if they had received the doctrine of love and charity, since this teaches what external things involve. From that doctrine also the internal sense of the Word is known, inasmuch as the internal sense of the Word is the doctrine itself of love to the Lord, and charity towards the neighbour, which also the Lord teaches, saying, that on those two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. The case is nearly the same at this day in the christian world, in which, inasmuch as there is no doctrine of love to the Lord, and of charity towards the neighbour, it is scarcely known what celestial love is, and what spiritual love, which is charity, therefore they are in externals without an internal; for the good of celestial and spiritual love, and the truth of faith thence derived, makes the internal of man; hence it is that at this day also the external sense of the Word, without doctrine as a rule and guide, is bent in every direction at pleasure. For the doctrine of faith without the doctrine of love and charity is as the shade of night, but the doctrine of faith grounded in the doctrine of love and charity, is as the light of day; for the good which is of love and charity is as a flame, and the truth of faith is as the light thence derived. Inasmuch as in the christian world the inhabitants at this day are of such a quality, namely, in externals without an internal, therefore scarcely any are affected with truth for the sake of truth; hence also it is, that they do not even know what good is, what charity, and what the neighbour, also what the internal of man, neither what heaven, nor what hell, nor that every one has life immediately after death. Such of them as remain in the doctrines of their own Church, do not care whether they be false or true; they learn them and confirm them not for the sake of the end of exercising the good of charity from the heart, nor for the sake of the salvation of their own souls and eternal happiness, but for the sake of prosperity in the world, that is, that they may gain reputation, honours, and wealth; hence it is that they have no illumination when they read the Word, and that they altogether deny that there is anything internal in the Word, but what is extant in the letter." (A. C. 9409.)

This clearly shows, first, that the literal sense of the Word alone leads into ignorance, heresies, and errors; secondly, that true doctrine is the doctrine of love and charity; thirdly, that this doctrine is the internal of the Word, and the internal of the Word is this doctrine; fourthly, that even the children of Israel might have been in this doctrine, and therefore in the internal of the Word. Our correspondent seems to be under the impression that none can be in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word unless he is

acquainted with the science of correspondence. This science enables us to enter scientifically into the spiritual sense of the Word, and thus gives us a true law of interpretation. But we may know the science of correspondence without being in the spiritual sense, and we may be in the spiritual sense without knowing the science of correspondence. The real spiritual sense does not come from without, but from within. "The spiritual sense itself of the Word does not flow into man immediately from heaven, but it flows into his affection, and thereby into the knowledges which pertain in him, and thus kindles his desire, and then so far as he can see from the literal sense of the Word, so far he receives the internal truths of the Church" (A. E. 117). Nay, "the real internal man thinks no otherwise than according to the science of correspondence; for where the external man apprehends the Word according to the letter, the internal man apprehends it according to the internal sense, although man during his life in the body may be ignorant of it. This may appear especially from the circumstance that when man comes into the other life, and becomes an angel, he knows it, as it were, of himself without instruction" (A. C. 4280). We are not to suppose therefore that in any church, or in any age of any church, men were unable to know the genuine truths of the Word, and thence the genuine doctrines of religion. "That the truths of the Church are apprehended quite otherwise by those who are in good-that is, by those with whom those truths are conjoined to good-than with those who are not in good, appears like a paradox, but still it is true; for truths are apprehended spiritually by those who are in good, because they are in spiritual light; whereas truths are apprehended naturally by those who are not in good, because they are in natural light hence truths with those who are in good have truths continually conjoined to them; but with those who are not in good they have many fallacies, and also falses, conjoined to them. The reason of this is, because truths, with those who are in good, extend themselves into heaven; whereas truths, with those who are not in good, do not extend themselves into heaven" (A. C. 5478).

While the internal sense of the Word is genuine truth which constitutes the essence of doctrine, yet doctrine "must derive its form from, and subsist in, the literal sense of the Word. The heavens subsist in order upon those things of the Church which are with men in the world, thus upon divine truths in ultimates, such as are the divine truths in the literal sense of the Word. The Lord can save all who are in divine truths from the Word, and in a life according to them; for with them he can be present and dwell in the ultimate truths from the Word, since ultimate truths are His and are Him, because from Him, according to His words in John xiv. 21, 23." (A. E. 726.)

SCANDINAVIA.

BARON Dirckinck Holmfeld of Copenhagen, now residing at Pinneberg, Holstein, has continued his publication of some of the writings of Swedenborg, translated from the Latin into Danish. In the fifth number of this publication we meet with the translation of the "Summaria expositio doctrinæ Novæ Ecclesiæ," published a year ago in Copenhagen, 101 pp. gr. 8vo, with a preface of twelve pages, from which we give a brief extract.

After stating that his endeavours in 1861 had come to a sudden stop by circumstances painfully notorious, as being connected with the causes of the

disruption of the Danish dominions, reduced in 1864 to the kingdom proper (the three duchies being ceded to the two great belligerent German powers), the author remarks that this stop as to the contemplated spreading of the doctrines was of little consequence, the "Four Leading Doctrines" having remained undisturbed on the booksellers' shelves until 1870, when a demand from different places in Denmark induced him to resume his efforts and publish the "Summaria expositio," which he had translated nine years before, thus exemplifying the "nonum prematur in annum."

Meanwhile his friend Præpositus, Dr. Theol. Achatius Kahl of Lund, in 1862 had got published, in Christianstadt, his Swedish translation of the same "Expositio," with an introduction, the substance of which is reproduced in the preface of which this is an epitome.

The "symbolical books" (which in the Lutheran Church are equivalent to the "Thirty-nine Articles" of the English Church) had long since ceased to satisfy the wants of truth-seeking minds and the claims of Christian theology, when, after the middle of the last century, the yoke was broken which had kept the mind blindly subservient to mere dogmatic tenets and articles. The New Time began to disperse the dense clouds ascending from the dark regions, which had held humanity in a state inaccessible to spiritual light. The Lord, through His truth, was preparing the way for the new era of reformation, in which we live, leading to the New Christian Church, and abolishing everywhere mere human authority in spiritual matters, reinstating reason in its rightful position as the recipient of light, and making truth the principle of enlightened faith. In that incipient era of the development of spiritual order and intelligence, Swedenborg, in 1769, in his "Summaria Expositio Doctrinæ N. E. quæ per Novam Hierosolymam in Apocalypsi intelligitur," prepared the way for the "True Christian Religion." In this Expositio" he went into the critical examination of the Confessions dogmatically laid down in the symbolical books and articles; while Dr. F. Ğ. Tellner, in his "Information about symbolical Books generally," Zullich, 1869, and Dr. A. F. Büsching, in his "General remarks on Symbolical Writings of the Evang. Luth. Church," Hamburg, 1770, joined in the public discussion about those old formularies of faith. Our veteran of eighty years sent his "Expositio" gratis to the libraries of the universities, to all the theologians of renown in Holland, France, and England. It was translated into the languages of those countries, as also into German, in 1786, under the title of "Emanuel Swedenborg's Revision of the Now Extant Theology." It was translated into Swedish in the "Kort Sammandrag," 1788, Copenhagen, published by Thiele.

Swedenborg's own thoughts about the reception his book would meet with in Sweden are expressed in a letter of 30th October 1769, published in Stockholm, in the first number of "Samlingar för Philanthroper," in 1788. He says: "My little treatise, 'Summaria Expositio Doctrinæ Ñ. E.' is communicated to Bishop Benzelstjirna, with the reservation of his not communicating it to others, because in Sweden few people are found who admit man's intellectual power of discernment in theological matters, so they are unprepared for receiving enlightenment from the Word of God, e.g. that Paul (Rom. iii. 28 and Gal. ii. 16), had not a faith in view by which the merit of Christ is imputed, but a living faith, originating in Jesus, and directed to Him; nor had he in view works in reference to the ten commandments, but works in reference to the Mosaic law, relating to the Jewish Church; nor did he, in Rom. iv., mean an imputation of the dogmatical faith of the Old Church. Neither would people allow illustration of those passages of Scripture which speak of the Son of God, viz., that they do not refer to a Son from eternity, but to the Son who was manifested in the flesh,

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generated from Jehovah Himself, and born of the Virgin Mary, as the word clearly is understood in Luke i. 32-35, Matt. iii. 17 and xvii. 5, John xx. 31, and 1 Ep. of John v. 20, 21, and other places, and is in conformity to the Apostolic Creed, which knows of no other Son, so that the primitive Church knew nothing of another Son. A Son from eternity is a notion that was first introduced by the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, because the Church saw no other way to conquer and banish the Arian heresy. I adhere to the Apostolic Church, and think that in the whole of Christendom, and especially in the Lutheran Church, according to the Augsburg Confession, p. 19, and the later Apology,' p. 226, the worship of God the Saviour could never be refused, even if the confession that in Christ man is God and God is man' were overlooked. The 'Formula Concordiæ,' p. 695, and Appendix, p. 130, speak of a Divine Trinity in those who by faith are regenerated; a Divine Trinity in God the Saviour ought still more to be recognized; see Col. ii. 19. All this and much more will be demonstrated in the book (True Chr. Relig.) which I am to publish two years hence. The "Expositio" is only to prepare the way for its reception. This opusculum is spread through the whole of Christendom, with the exception of Sweden (or the North), because theology there is still in its winter, and its night lasts longer in the north, than in the southern regions. There, in the dark, you easily hurt people's intelligence and reason in judging of the New Church, with the exception of those few clergymen who really are an exception. To myself I apply the words of the Lord to His disciples, Matt. x. 15, "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall not enter therein."

This sad state of compulsory confession in Sweden is now happily altered. Several bishops and many theologians, after having perused the works of Swedenborg, have declared that there is nothing in them discordant with the Gospel, nothing but what is founded on truth derived from Divine Revelation, or from and in agreement with reason. His doctrine is held to express the principles of the early Apostolic Church which he professes. All the principal works of Swedenborg, with the exception of the last volumes of the "Arcana Cœlestia," are translated into Swedish and variously published. Many clergymen and laymen who long for truth and knowledge are zealous and constant readers. Swedenborg himself, though spiritual light and progress was his aim, taught that time, circumstances, and personalities ought duly to be considered. He was always opposed to untimely neology and immature reform, not less than to party zeal, whether in the church or out of it. He looked for future improvements both as to institutions and as to doctrines, and only wished they might be realized by rational instruction, criticism, and conviction, by tolerance and meekness in the spirit of the Lord the Saviour, and to the exclusion of converting party zeal, and irritating polemics. He sent his writings into the old dogmatical and symbolic camps as messages of peace, never entering into war with them. All progress ought to be gradual and according to the prior state, which ought not to be violently uprooted, nor wantonly destroyed, but should be carefully handled, so as to preserve every good germ while plucking up the weeds, and regulating our zeal by the laws of divine providence. Acting in this way, he respected the old church, though he never failed to shew its errors and degeneracy. We cannot do better than follow such an illustrious example, evincing that far-reaching tolerance, which may awaken a similar state of mind in those who try to extricate themselves from the bonds of prejudice or selfish interest, and which is likely to secure a favourable reception for our doctrines among all classes of society. Thus the real followers of the New Christian faith have generally been preserved from persecution and violent proceedings, as far as the highest authorities