no longer be deterred from this good work, by vague fears of unknown difficulties. Neither let us give way to the ungrounded fear that the reverence and love of the people for the English Bible, as a whole, will be weakened by the correction of some defective renderings; their reverence and love rest on a far wider and deeper basis."

Professor Noyes observes, that "more may be done to make the Sacred Writings understood and respected, by a revised translation of them, than in any other single mode. . . . It would do more for the cause of revealed religion than many an elaborate argument in its defence."

XV. DEGREES.

A clear understanding of the subject of degrees, is of so much importance to a right comprehension of the Word of God, and the science of correspondences, and has been so amply unfolded and so clearly illustrated by Swedenborg, that I cannot refrain from presenting to the intelligent and earnest reader the following extracts:

"That Degrees are of two kinds, Degrees of Altitude, and Degrees of Latitude.— The knowledge of degrees is, as it were, the key to open the causes of things, and enter into them: without it scarcely anything of cause can be known, for "Respectable and excellent, as our without it, the objects and subjects of common version is, considering the both worlds appear so general (univoca) time and circumstances under which it as to seem to have nothing in them but was made," remarks Dr. J. Pye Smith, what is seen with the eye; when never"no person will contend that it is in-theless, this, respectively to the things capable of important amendment. A which lie interiorly concealed, is as one temperate, impartial, and careful re-to thousands, yea to myriads. The invision, would be an invaluable benefit to the cause of Christianity; and the very laudable exertions which are now made to circulate the Bible, render such a revision, at the present time, a matter of still more pressing necessity."

For additional opinions, etc., see Newcome's Hist., View of the Eng. Bib. Translations; An Essay for a New Translation of the Bible, London, 1727, by H. R., etc., etc. Throughout his voluminous works, Swedenborg has adopted a new, more literal, and more accurate rendering into the Latin language, of those portions of the Word which he explains or quotes. He sometimes translated into the Latin from the original, and at others used the excellent, but literal version of Schmidius. The translation of his works into English, therefore, supplies a more correct rendering of numerous portions of the Word than our authorized English version.

terior things which lie hid, can by no means be discovered, unless degrees be understood; for exterior things advance to interior things, and these to inmost, by degrees; not by continuous degrees, but by discrete degrees. Decrements or decreasings from grosser to finer, or from denser to rarer, or rather increments and increasings from finer to grosser, or from rarer to denser, like that of light to shade, or of heat to cold, are called continuous degrees. But discrete degrees are entirely different: they are in the relation of prior, posterior, and postreme, or of end, cause, and effect. They are called discrete degrees, because the prior is by itself, the posterior by itself, and the postreme by itself; but still, taken together, they make a one. The atmospheres which are called æther and air, from highest to lowest, or from the sun to the earth, are discriminated into such degrees; and are as simples, the congregates of these simples, and again the congregates

of these congregates, which taken to- part by an induction continuous with gether, are called a composite. These effects; when nevertheless causes do last degrees are discrete, because they not produce effects by continuity, but exist distinctly; and they are under- discretely, for a cause is one thing, and stood by degrees of altitude; but the an effect another; there is a difference former degrees are continuous, because as between prior and posterior, or as they continually increase; and they between the thing forming and the are understood by degrees of latitude. thing formed."-D. L. W., n. 184, 185.

"All and singular the things which exist in the spiritual and natural worlds, coëxist at once from discrete and continuous degrees, or from degrees of altitude and degrees of latitude. That dimension which consists of discrete degrees is called altitude, and that which consists of continuous degrees is called latitude: their situation relatively to sight does not change their denomination.

"Without a knowledge of these degrees nothing can be known of the difference between the three heavens, or of the difference between the love and wisdom of the angels, or of the difference between the heat and light in which they are, or of the difference between the atmospheres which surround and contain them.

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"All things which exist in the world, of which trinal dimension is predicated, or which are called compound, consist of degrees of altitude or discrete degrees. But to illustrate this by example. It is well known by ocular experience that each muscle in the human body consists of very minute fibres, and that these fasciculated, constitute those larger ones, called moving fibres, and that bundles of these produce the compound which is called a muscle. It is the same with the nerves; very small nervous fibres are put together into larger ones, which appear like filaments, and by a collection of such filaments the nerve is produced. It is also the same in the other compaginations, confasciculations, and collections of which the organs and viscera consist; for these are compounds of fibres and vessels va riously fashioned by similar degrees. The case is the same also with all and every thing of the vegetable kingdom, and with all and every thing of the mineral kingdom: in wood there is a compagination of filaments in threefold order; in metals and stones there is a conglobation of parts also in threefold order. These considerations show the nature of discrete degrees, namely, that one is formed from another, and by means of the second, a third, or

Moreover, without a knowledge of these degrees, nothing can be known of the difference of the interior faculties of the mind in men: or, therefore, of their state as to reformation and regeneration; or of the difference of the exterior faculties, which are of the body, as well of angels as of men; and nothing at all of the difference between spiritual and natural, or therefore of correspondence; yea, of any difference of life between men and beasts, or of the difference between the more perfect and the imperfect beasts; or of the differences between the forms of the vegetable kingdom, and between the materials composite; and that each degree is which compose the mineral kingdom. Whence it may appear, that those who are ignorant of these degrees, cannot from any judgment see causes; they only see effects, and judge of causes from them, which is done for the most

discrete from another.”—D. L. W., n. 190.

"That in successive order the first degree constitutes the highest, and the third the lowest; but that in simultaneous order, the first degree constitutes

wards and downwards, and height and depth signify the same.

"In every ultimate there are discrete degrees in simultaneous order: the moving fibres in every muscle, the fibres in every nerve, and the fibres and vessels in every viscus and organ, are in such order; in their inmost are the most simple and perfect things, whereof their outmost is composed. A similar order of those degrees is in every seed, and in every fruit, and in every metal and stone; the parts of them, of which the whole consists, are such; in inmost, intermediate, and outmost principles of the parts, are in those degrees, for they are successive compositions, or confasciculations, and conglobations, from simples, which are their first substances or materials.

the inmost, and the third the outmost. | and inferior signifies exterior; and upThere is successive order, and simultaneous order: the successive order of these degrees is from highest to lowest, or from top to bottom. The angelic heavens are in this order; the third heaven is the highest, the second is the middle, and the first is the lowest; such is their relative situations: in similar successive order are the states of love and wisdom there with the angels, as also of heat and light, and likewise of the spiritual atmospheres; in similar order are all the perfections of forms and powers there. When the degrees of altitude, or discrete degrees, are in successive order, they may be compared to columns divided into three degrees, by which there is an ascent and descent; in the superior mansion of which are the things the most perfect and most beautiful, in the middle the less perfect and less beautiful, and in the lowest the still less perfect and less beautiful. But simultaneous order, which consists of similar degrees, has another appearance in this the highest things of successive order, which, as was said, are the most perfect and most beautiful, are in the inmost, inferior things in the middle, and the lowest things in the circumference. They are as in a solid substance consisting of those three degrees, in the middle or centre of which are the most subtle parts, about it are parts less subtle, and in the extremes, which constitute the circumference, there are parts composed of these, and consequently more gross: it is like that column, which was spoken of above, subsiding into a plane, whose highest part constitutes the inmost, whose middle part the middle, and its lowest the extreme.

"Since the highest of successive order is the inmost of simultaneous order, and the lowest is the outmost, therefore in the Word, superior signifies interior,

"In a word, there are such degrees in every ultimate, thus in every effect; for every ultimate consists of prior things, and these of their first; and every effect consists of a cause, and this of an end; and the end is the all of the cause, and the cause is the all of the effect, and the end constitutes the inmost, the cause the middle, and the effect the ultimate. That the case is the same with the degrees of love and wisdom, of heat and light, and with the organic forms of the affections and thoughts in man will be seen in what follows. The series of these degrees in successive order and simultaneous order, is also treated of in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scriptures, n. 38, and elsewhere; where it is shown that there are similar degrees in all and every part of the Word." -D. L. W., n. 205–208.

"That the ascending and descending degrees, which are called prior and posterior, and degrees of altitude or discrete degrees, are in their power in their ultimate, may be confirmed by all those things which were adduced by way of

confirmation from sensible and percep- | known fact. These three do not act by

continuity, but discretely; and to act discretely is to act by correspondences. The interiors of the mind correspond to the interiors of the body, and the in

which actions exist; wherefore the two former are in potency by means of the exteriors of the body. It may seem as if endeavor and powers in a man are in some potency, although there is no action, as in dreams and states of rest; but in these cases the determination of endeavors and powers, fall on the common moving principles of the body, which are the heart and lungs; but when the action of these ceases, the powers also cease, and the endeavor with the powers."-D. L. W., n. 218, 219.

tible things in the preceding pages; but here I choose to confirm them only by efforts, powers, and motions, in dead subjects and in living subjects. It is well known that endeavor of itself does noth-teriors of the body to its exteriors, by ing, but that it acts by powers corresponding to it, and by them produces motion; hence that endeavor is the all in the powers, and through the powers in the motion; and motion being the ultimate degree of endeavor, that by this it produces its efficacy. Endeavor, power, and motion, are not otherwise connected than according to degrees of altitude, conjunction by which is not by continuity, for they are discrete, but by correspondences; for endeavor is not power, nor power, motion; but power is produced by endeavor, being endeavor excited, and motion is produced by power; wherefore there is no potency in endeavor alone, or in power alone, but in motion, which is their product. That this is the case still appears doubtful, because it has not been illustrated by application to things sensible and perceptible in nature; but nevertheless such is their progression into potency.

"Let us apply these principles to living endeavor, living power, and living motion. The living endeavor in a man, who is a living subject, is his will united to his understanding; the living powers in him are what constitute the interiors of his body, in all of which there are moving fibres variously interwoven; and living motion in him is action, which is produced through those powers by the will united to the understanding. The interiors of the will and understanding constitute the first degree, the interiors of the body constitute the second, and the whole body, which is their complex, constitutes the third degree. That the interiors of the mind have no potency but by powers in the body, and that powers have no potency but by action of the body, is a well

"The ancient Egyptians believed in the unity of the Godhead, and expressed his attributes by Triads." It is remarkable that the ancient trinities of the Hindoos, as well as the Egyptians, emblematized the male principle, the female principle, and the offspring, and that this is identical with the early Chinese philosophy.

According to Pythagoras, the symbol of all things, or fulness, was, the Monad, or active principle, or Father; the Duad, or passive principle, or Mother; and the result, or operation of both united.

The philosopher Damascius asserts, that, "throughout the world a Triad shines forth, which resolves itself into a Monad." And also, that this doctrine was the fundamental principle of the Orphic philosophy. Voscius observes that this idea holds a principal place in the mythology of the ancients. -See Pritchard's Analysis of Egyptian Mythology, pp. 39-47.

Numberless pantheistic superstitions and absurd cosmogonies, etc., were founded on the corruptions of this philosophy, as it became more de praved and sensual.

The three degrees of initiation into the ancient mysteries of Egypt, Greece, etc., were, without doubt, derived from the above doctrine of discrete degrees. Among various nations the number three always conveys the idea of fulness and perfection.

I take the present opportunity of observing, that the signs, symbols, and three degrees of Free-Masonry, are a peculiar compound of a few correspondences, adopted from the ancient cavern mysteries, most probably from those of the Sun-worship of Heliopolis, and phrases and figures borrowed from the symbolic sculpture, painting, etc., of more modern times, and incorporated into ceremonies which, on mere assumption, without the slightest evidence, are said to have originated with the building of Solomon's temple. (See the works of Hutchinson, Preston, Capt. G. Smith, Dr. Ashe, Dr. Oliver, etc., on Free-Masonry.)

tropical vehicle of doctrinal mysteries and monastic professions, vows, charms, etc., and for the purposes of secret association and recognition. (See Glossary of Architecture, and Pugin's Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume)

Vitruvius informs us that the Ionic order of Grecian architecture was formed on the model of woman, and the Doric on that of man. Architecture is called by De Staël and Goethe "frozen music." "A Gothic church," said Coleridge, "is a petrified religion."

"All styles of architecture are hieroglyphics upon a large scale; exhibiting to the heedful eye, forms of worship widely differing from each other; and proving, that in almost every religion with which we are acquainted, the form of the temple was the hierogram of its god, or of the peculiar opinions of its votaries."-Bardwell's Temples, p. 55.

The Christian symbols of the middle "In the most ancient monuments of ages, with the exception of some coin- India and Egypt, as in those of the cidences, most likely accidental, were middle ages, architecture, statuary, and not correspondences at all, but only painting, are the material expressions enigmatical comparisons, often very of religious thought."-Portal's Des obscure. A large proportion of them | Coleurs Symboliques. were derived from heathen mythologies and Jewish traditions. The remainder were founded upon some fanciful associations or resemblances, which particular objects and their habitudes, mystic words and signs, arbitrary marks and combinations, the forms and properties of the vestments, utensils, and instruments connected with religious worship, and the various professions and trades, etc., were supposed to bear to certain moral rules and sentiments, regarded as necessary for the right direction and government of the conduct. This symbolism was further used to designate the presumed or admitted qualities of persons; or was applied to distinguish them from each other. It was also employed as a

The science of Correspondences being lost, the abstract ethics of Christianity were thus sought to be extensively imprinted on the memory and conscience. In correspondence there is nothing arbitrary or fanciful. The thing signified must be the proximate cause of that to which it corresponds, and be recognized in its form and use. The former must live, so to speak, within the latter, as the soul lives in the body, or as thought enshrines itself in speech, or as the intellect exists in the eye, or as the affections of the heart animate the countenance; all which act together as cause and effect.

"Even in the most remote periods of history, three was considered a mystic number, and regarded with reverence.