clusion too absurd, one would suppose, for any rational mind to adopt.

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"Once more-We read in the book of Kings, that when the King of Syria sent horses and chariots and a great host' to Gotham, to fetch to him Elisha the prophet, and the host compassed the city both with horses and chariots,' the servant of Elisha being greatly alarmed, said unto him, alas, my master, how shall we do? And he answered, fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see, and the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.' (2 Kings, vi. 15, 16, 17.)

"For me, I confess that I cannot conceive how language can be so framed as to teach more clearly than this does, not only that men have spiritual senses, but that these have actually been opened in persons while living upon earth; and that, when opened, they could see things in the spiritual world, which were not discernible by the bodily eye. Elisha saw (with his spiritual eyes of course) the multitude of the heavenly host that were with him; but his servant did not see them until the Lord opened his eyes, and then he beheld the mountains full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.'

"With such as acknowledge the Scriptures to be indeed the Word of God, we think that the question with regard to man's having spiritual senses, and the possibility of their being opened in him during his life in this world, must now be placed beyond all doubt. Without admitting this fact, we know of no rational mode of explaining many things which are recorded in scripture, some of which we hav、 noticed. But granting this, together with what Swedenborg says concerning the spiritual world, and all the visions which are related in the Bible admit of an easy explanation. We have only to suppose that the spiritual senses of the beholders were for the time opened, (which, we have said, may be done so gently that one would not know it,) and that the things then presented to his view were actually in the spiritual world, and then all becomes plain, and easy to be understood; for the world of spirits and the

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heavens,' says Swedenborg, are full of representatives, such as were seen by the prophets, and of so grand a kind, that if any one's sight were opened, and he could look into those worlds, though but for a few hours, he could not but be astonished.'-(Arcana Calestia, n. 1521.)

"And we shall find upon careful examination, that the Memorable Relations of Swedenborg, or the account of things seen by him in the spiritual world, are not more strange or incredible than the visions which are recorded in the Bible. Any one who really believes the latter, may easily believe the former likewise. Indeed, these Revelations explain and illustrate not only the visions but many other things also which we find in the Scriptures, and which without them were hard to be understood.' And those persons who profess the religion of Christ, and who yet ridicule, (as many do) the idea of Swedenborg's having had his spiritual senses opened-who scoff at his Memorable Relations-who regard his alleged intercourse with the spiritual world as, of itself, evidence of his insanity, and as affording sufficient ground therefore for rejecting, without examination, all that he has written as certainly false, perhaps they are not aware of the length to which their logic would lead them. For if their derision be not misapplied, and their conclusion be legitimately drawn from the premises-if the fact of Swedenborg's alleged intercourse with the spiritual world be sufficient to prove him insane, and to warrant them in rejecting all that he has written as necessarily a delusion and a lie-then let them be consistent; and employ the same mode of reasoning when they come to the Sacred Scriptures; and they will find themselves calling the Apostles insane, and the Prophets insane-sneering at and ridiculing many parts of God's Word, and rejecting it all as a fable.”

CHAPTER V.

The errors into which we are likely to fall by understanding only the literal sense of the Scriptures-The reason why the Bible was not composed in such a manner that the genuine truth can be readily perceived by every one-Christ's declaration in regard to the Scriptures-Necessity of admitting their spiritual sense.

SWEDENBORG says, in the 3d vol. of his "Heavenly Arcana," pages 383-4:

"Into what mistakes they fall, who abide in the sense of the letter alone, without searching out the internal sense from other passages where it is explained in the Word, may appear manifestly from the number of heresies, every one of which confirms its dogma from the literal sense of the word; especially from that great heresy, which the mad and infernal love of self and the world has deduced from the Lord's words to Peter: 'I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in the heavens." (Matt. xvi. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.) They who rest upon the literal sense, suppose that these words were spoken of Peter, and that to him so great power was given when yet they know, that Peter was a very simple man, and that he never exercised such power, and that to exercise it was against the Divine; nevertheless, because from the mad and infernal love of self and of the world, they would arrogate to themselves the highest power on earth and in heaven, and make themselves gods, they explain this according to the letter, and vehemently defend such explanations, when yet the internal sense of those words is, that essential Faith in the Lord, which is with those only who are in love to the Lord, and in charity towards the neighbor, has that power, and yet

not faith, but the Lord from whom faith is; by ROCK is here meant that faith, as in other passages throughout the Word; on that the church is built, and against that the gates of hell do not prevail; and to that faith belongs the keys of the kingdom of the heavens; that shuts heaven to prevent the entrance of evils and falses, and opens heaven for goods and truths; such is the internal sense of the above words. The twelve Apostles, like the twelve tribes of Israel, represented nothing else but all the things pertaining to such faith, (see n. 177, 2089, 2129, 2130.) Peter represented faith itself, James charity, and John works of charity (see the preface to chapter xviii. of Genesis;) in like manner, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, Jacob's first born, in the representative Jewish and Israelitish church, as is manifest from a thousand passages in the Word; and because Peter had relation to faith, the above words were spoken to him. Hence it is evident into what darkness they cast themselves, and others with themselves, who explain all things according to the letter, as in the instance of the above words to Peter, whereby they arrogate to themselves the power of saving mankind."

"But some are perhaps, ready to ask, 'why should there have been any cloud about the Holy Oracles? Why did the Lord place this covering upon the internal glory of his Word? Why was it not composed in such a manner that the genuine truth could be readily perceived by every one?'

"And why, I would ask, was not this natural world so constituted, that any one, say a child or an ignorant savage, might comprehend its interior structure and understand all its laws, by a single glance of the eye? Why is it so difficult to understand and explain the laws of the natural phenomena we witness, and why do so many things around us appear different from what they really are? Why does not a flash of lightning reveal at once to every beholder the nature and laws of the electric fluid? Or those flickering pencils of light that dance in the northern sky? Why does the color of trees and flowers appear to be one of their own inherent properties, when in reality all their color belongs to the sun? Why do the sun, moon and stars appear to rise and go round our earth once in twenty-four hours, when in reality, they do not, but the earth turns

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round in that time, and thus causes this appearance? Why should the God of Nature delude his intelligent creatures with fallacies, and often suffer the appearance of things to contradict the reality? Answer these questions, and I will tell you why there is a cloud or covering upon all the glory of God's Word; for He who gave the word, made and governs the world also, and the same laws of order therefore, which appertain to the one, belong also to the other. Many things in the word appear different from what they really are, just as they do in the natural world. And this obvious answer, which must occur to every one, to the question why there exist such fallacies in nature, viz: that it is according to divine order, because the world could not have been constituted otherwise than it is, is the true answer to the question why the appearance of truth in the letter of the Word so often differs from the genuine truth itself. The word of the Lord is not less orderly in its construction than his works. And it could not have been written without the clouds, or any otherwise than according to the fixed and internal law of correspondence between natural and spiritual things, and be a divine composition. And the many fallacious appearances of truths in the literal sense of Scripture, can with no more propriety be urged as evidence of any imperfection in God's Word, than the fallacious appearance of many natural things can be urged as evidence of any imperfection in nature. The truth, is that the clouds of which we have spoken, do not really belong to the Word itself, but to human minds; just as natural clouds, which obscure the light of the sun, do not belong to the sun itself, but to our own planet. And in proportion as the spirits of men are purified from evil loves, and brought into a state of heavenly order, or of conformity to spiritual truths, the clouds will disappear from the letter and the internal sense of the word be unveiled.

"Again, it is asked, why has not the internal sense of the word, (if there be such a sense,) been revealed to men long before? With equal propriety might it be asked, why was the Lord's first advent so long delayed! And the true answer to both questions is, that each of these events took place when the fulness of time had come. The world was no more prepared for the revelations that are