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heart, being the centre of vitality, corresponds to the inmost and central affections of the will. In the Psalms it is said, "I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel; my reins also instruct [correct] me in the night seasons" (xvi. 7), where the reins, or kidneys, of which chastisement is here predicated, signify the things which relate to faith and the intellect, or faculty of receiving them. For, as the reins in the animal economy serve the important office of purifying the vital fluids, so the truths of faith, or truths internally believed, when practically applied in the great work of man's regeneration, search and explore, correct and purify, all things of his mind and life, insomuch that without them the mind and life cannot be examined, corrected, and purified aright. This process of casting out evil affections and unclean thoughts takes place in the night of trial and temptation, and appears as a punishment till the morning of a new state of deliverance and joy arises upon the grateful soul, as it is written: "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom" (Ps. li. 8); and again: "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins" (Ps. vii. 9). The Lord also thus reproves his people by the prophet Jeremiah, for the mere external or lip profession of the truth of religion or of faith, without allowing it to search out and correct the inward evils and impurities of their hearts and thoughts: "Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins" (xii. 2).

Again in the gospel of Matthew we read that the Lord said to his disciples," Wherefore, if thy hand or foot offend thee [literally, from the Greek, cause thee to offend], cut them off and cast them from thee it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire" (xviii. 8, 9). In this extraordinary passage, which the science of correspondences can alone unfold, the hands, as the chief instruments of physical energy and the ultimate of action, denote ability; the feet, as the organs of locomotion and the support for the whole frame, denote the natural or lowest properties of the mind; and the eyes, or organs of vision, signify the intellectual powers. Now we are elsewhere exhorted to have "a single eye and a single heart," and the reason is plain, because, as with the body, if the sight be not directed to the object before the eyes with

singleness of energy, two objects appear where there should be only one, and the view is consequently bewildered: so with the mind; if its purpose be not direct and single, it is distracted with the two discordant views of seeking human applause and of trying to appear well with God. And singleness of heart is of necessity connected with singleness of sight, inasmuch as a single and direct view of subjects is the result of singleness of affection, just as surely as a double and indirect view follows from discordant feelings. When, therefore, any evil or false principles in the natural mind are, by the presence of truth, made manifest as the cause of our offending against the holy principles of the Word, we are to renounce them and cast them from us, for how much better is it for us to enter into eternal life “halt or maimed," that is, imperfectly instructed and struggling under the effects of ignorance, rather than, after being well instructed, having the form of godliness, but, as the Apostle says, "denying the power" (2 Tim. iii. 5),—a hand, a foot, an eye devoted to the world and self, while the other is ostensibly in the service of religion. Such doubleminded conduct assuredly renders man a miserable hypocrite here, and obnoxious, hereafter, to the self-inflicted punishments of "hell-fire," or the burning torments of evil affections thus rendered more furious for having been smothered in this world.

Again in Jeremiah it is said, “Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken" (vi. 10), to signify that unwillingness to learn and obey the principles of divine truth, which arises from impurity of heart. Hearkening denotes readiness to obey, even in the ordinary language of men; therefore many of the statutes of Israel had especial reference to the ear, and the Lord also frequently and solemnly said at the commencement or conclusion of his divine instructions, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt. xiii. 9); and again, "Let these sayings sink down into your ears" (Luke ix. 44). An unwillingness to be instructed in the divine truth, and a disinclination to obedience, arising from evil lusts cherished in the will, is thus described in the language of correspondence by the prophet: "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken; behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it" (Jer. vi. 10). "They hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers" (Ib., vii. 26). But turn to the Psalms, where the exultation of the heart is described, where divine blessings are received and acknowl

edged, and where the life and joy which animate the mind, internally and externally, when it becomes receptive of faith and charity, are the subjects treated of, and where every term has its peculiar and distinct meaning, we read, "Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord" (xcviii. 8, 9); "The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs" (cxiv. 6); "The voice of the Lord maketh the cedars to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn" (xxix. 6). Who can interpret these, and a multitude of similar passages in the Sacred Word, in their merely literal sense? What enlightened mind does not see that the various parts and motions of the human body are in these instances employed as significant figures, because, when viewed in connection with their uses, they precisely correspond with properties and states of the mind? To affirm, as some have done, that these and similar expressions are mere ornamental types and oriental figures, is to regard them as designed only to amuse the imagination, and is almost equivalent to a denial of their inspiration and solemn verity.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCES NOT A SPECULATIVE AND VISIONARY THEORY, BUT AN ABSOLUTE REALITY.-ILLUSTRATIONS FROM OPPOSITES, AND VARIOUS OTHER SUBJECTS.-THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE WORD OF GOD WAS REVEALED ONLY ANSWERED BY THE ADMISSION OF ITS INTERNAL SENSE, WHICH ALONE DISTINGUISHES IT FROM ALL OTHER COMPOSITIONS, AND RECONCILES ITS APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS.-UNIVERSALITY OF THIS DIVINE SCIENCE, AND THE NECESSITY THAT EXISTS FOR THE WORD BEING WRITTEN ACCORDING TO IT.

THIS

HIS doctrine of the structure of the Word of God-this law by which it must of necessity be expounded, in order to yield throughout its sacred pages "instruction and correction in righteousness"— is no speculative or visionary theory, as some have erroneously supposed, but a truly consistent, luminous, and universal method of interpretation. It may be trusted without hesitation, because it is founded on the immutable basis of eternal truth,-on the everenduring laws of divine order, on the unalterable relation which all created objects have to their Creator, and which all external objects have to internal realities.

Correspondences are the only forms which can contain the living truths of God and heaven, convey them into the inmost depths of the soul, and impress them permanently there. They are universally understood; they exist alike in all times and under all circumstances; they are more or less enshrined in all languages, and are equally obvious to all. "Whatsoever anywhere appears in the universe," says Swedenborg, "is representative of the Lord's kingdom, insomuch that there is not anything contained in the universal atmospheric region of the stars, or in the earth and its three kingdoms, but what in its manner and measure is representative; for all and singular the things in nature are ultimate images, inasmuch as from the Divine [principle] proceed the celestial things appertaining to good, and from these celestial things the spiritual things appertaining to truth, and from both the former and the latter proceed natural things. Hence it may appear how gross, yea, how terrestrial, and also inverted,

human reason is, which ascribes all and singular things to nature separate or exempt from influx prior to itself, or from the efficient Inasmuch, now, as all and singular things subsist from the Divine [principle], that is, continually exist, and all and singular things thence derived must needs be representative of those things whereby they had existence, it follows, that the visible universe is nothing but a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, and that this latter is a theatre representative of the Lord Himself."A. C. 3483.

All terms are of necessity modified by the sense of the connection as well as by the imperfection of languages. The same term is often used in the Holy Word as the translation of two or even more distinct words; and, on the other hand, several words are often used to trans late a single expression. A single word in the original may have two or more significations, either to be determined by the context or dependent on the subject treated of and indicated, sometimes, only in the most trifling difference in the form of the word, or in the use of particles and expletives. Many words and their modifications, in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, have no corresponding terms or forms of expression in any modern tongue. These niceties in the original sometimes occasion perplexity to the reader of Swedenborg, and give to correspondence the appearance of being an arbitrary and uncertain science, which, of course, cannot be wholly removed without some knowledge of the original languages themselves. Nice distinctions in the original are not always capable of transferrence into other languages."

The ancient Hebrew is not only the oldest, but the most significant language known, and was peculiarly appropriate to the purpose of enshrining the science of correspondences in the earlier ages of the world. The roots of several of the Semitic languages, such as the Arabic, Syriac, Chaldaic, etc., are so closely assimilated to the Hebrew

47"I find that the same object preaches a symbol of contrary spiritual mysteries."— truths of an opposite nature by the medium H. More's Cab. Def., p. 239. of the same symbol. This, however, can create no confusion, because the context will always determine in what light the symbol is to be considered. But if you care fully consider the human world, you will find the same ambiguity in men's actions. For the same outward expression springs frequently from opposite motives."-Essays on Universal Analogy between the Natural and Spiritual Worlds, p. 32.

"One and the same natural thing may be

"The same qualities, infinitely good and perfect in God, may become imperfect and evil in the creature; because in the creature, being limited and finite, they may be divided and separated from one another by the creature itself. There is no evil, no guilt, no deformity, in any creature, but in its dividing and separating itself from something which God had given to be in union with it.”— Law's Appeal, pp. 24, 41.

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