while He is creating man anew into His image and likeness. The mind of the natural man is in a state of spiritual darkness, disorder, and emptiness. Hence, before regeneration, or before the spirit of God moves upon the waters, his state corresponds to, and is therefore represented by the earth when it was without form and void; and darkness brooded over the faces of the deep.' Ba when the intellectual principle of man is illumined from the Word, and is formed according to Divine wisdom, i. e. when a man thinks and understands nothing but what is in agreement with divine truth-and when his will-principle is formed into an agreement with the Divine Love, i. e. when the man wills and loves nothing but what divine truth teaches to be good and right--then there exists in his mind the celestial marriage of goodness and truth; 3 will and understanding act together in perfect union. The man then becomes a living soul. He is then spiritually created, male and female; i. e. both his understanding and will are formed anew, and he is made into the image and likeness of God. Image is here predicated of the u derstanding when formed into an agreement with the divine truth; and likeness, of the will, when formed into an agreement with the divine love. And because man is not able to regenerate himself-because divine truth from the Lord illumines his understanding, and so forms it into an image of itself, and divine love from the Lord vivifies his will and also creates that into a likeness of itself, and divine power from the Lord enables him to resist and put away evil and do what the truth requires, therefore this creation is spoken of as the work of God.

"The six days' work mentioned in this chapter, correspond to and signify all the states of spiritual labor, all the temptations and combats with evil spirits which man has to endure while he is becoming regenerated. And the

The Hebrew word [adamah] which is translated earth, is a derivative from [adam] which is translated Adam, and sometimes man. And asmuch as the earth, together with all things appertaining to it, subsisted by an influx of human principles from the spiritual world, and hence repre sents by correspondence all the principles of the human mind or of the church with man, we may therefore see why the earth, when mentioned in the Word, denotes the church, as was shown in a former lecture; also why Adam likewise signifies the most ancient Church, or any church in a state of true order.'

seventh day which is called the Sabbath, and the Lord's day, corresponds to and signifies a state of internal peace and rest, such as a man feels when he has overcome and subdued in himself all infernal propensities, and rests from his spiritual warfare. This is called the Lord's day, because it is one in which the man suffers himself in all things to be led and governed by the Lord. Moreover, Sabbath, in the Hebrew language, means rest.

"Those who desire to know the correspondence and internal sense of each particular thing mentioned in this chapter, are referred to the first volume of the Arcana Cœlestia by Emanuel Swedenborg. In this great work, (the greatest of Swedenborg's) all the doctrines of the New Church are explained, and the science of correspondence is applied to the unfolding of the internal sense of the Scripture.

"That the garden of Eden, in Genesis, 'does not signify any particular spot of ground on this natural earth, as has commonly been supposed, but a certain state of man's affections and thoughts, is manifest from the mention that is made of it in Ezekiel,' (xxviii. 13.) It is there said concerning the King of Tyrus, Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. Now it is a common opinion that no one ever entered the garden of Eden after Adam was expelled from it; and certainly, if a literal garden or spot of material earth be understood, it is quite improbable that this King of Tyre could ever have been in it; for, according to common chronology, he was not born till more than 3000 years after Adam's expulsion from Eden.

"If a material garden and material things in it be meant, what can be understood by one of the trees being called the Tree of Life;' and another the tree of knowledge (or science) of good and evil.' We perceive by the very name that the fruits are spiritual; and not any material production, such as apples.

"It is well known that the whole book of Revelation has been and is still acknowledged, even by the most learned in the Old Church, to be dark, mysterious, and nearly unintelligible throughout. No one has had much confidence that he understood it aright, and no two com

mentators, that we have any knowledge of, have ever been agreed as to its precise meaning: and for this very good reason, that it is a prophetic book, treating throughout of the consummation (or end) of the first Christian Church, and a commencement of a new dispensation, or the descent of a New Church which is called the New Jerusalem. This book, therefore, could not be rightly understood before the internal sense of the Word was revealed (which revelation is the Lord's second appearing) any more than the prophetic books of the Old Testament could be understood before the Lord's first advent. But by the aid of the science of correspondence, we are now able to discover in this hitherto mysterious book, an orderly, consistent, coherent and beautiful meaning from beginning to end. The whole of this book is explained in Swedenborg's Apocalypse Revealed,' 3 vols. (and also in his Apocal. Explained, 6 vols.) showing, by the science of correspondences, that the things therein predicted by the apostle John, have come to pass. And, like the prophecies of the Old Testament, could not be understood till fulfilled; but, like them, too, can be explained when fulfilled.

"We will proceed to show the views of the New Church with regard to all its doctrines, as distinguished from those of the Old Church. Those of the latter, at the present day, we believe, arose from erroneous interpretations of the Scripture, owing to an ignorance of the science of correspondences. Those persons who love truth suffi ciently to seek for it, and whose minds are candid and unprejudiced, and in whose hearts there dwells a hearty love of the right, may be convinced that this science was truly revealed to Swedenborg; and once convinced of that fact, a belief in the doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church must follow as a consequence

CHAPTER VIII.

Errors entertained in the Old Church concerning the destruction of the world-New Church views on this subject—“ The end of the world" an incorrect translation-Consummation of the age -The Lord's first advent.

WE will commence by showing that there are errors entertained in the Old Church, with regard to the destruction of the world. The extracts in this chapter are from the New Church tract No. 1, entitled "The End of the World, or Consummation of the Age."

"In the first place, it is to be remarked, that the prevailing doctrine concerning the destruction of the material world is drawn from the literal sense of Scripture, separate from its spiritual and true meaning. It is the appearance of truth to the mind of the natural man, who cannot easily elevate his thoughts above sensual* things, and to whom the things of the spirit of God are foolishness, not being discerned, (1 Cor. ii. 14.) It is a doctrine tanght by the mere letter of the Word. And the apostle more than intimates that the true meaning of Scripture is not to be found in the literal sense, as understood by the natural man, when he says 'the letter killeth; but the spirit giveth life.' (2 Cor. ii. 6.) The same thing is also intimated by Paul, when he speaks of eating spiritual meat and drinking spiritual drink, and of that spiritual rock which was Christ, (1 Cor. x. 4.)

"It is well kown that the natural man is inclined to judge of everything according to the appearance. He cannot easily believe that anything is real unless it be material. He, therefore, understands the words of the Lord according to their lowest, literal sense. He materializes the whole of the Sacred Scriptures, and thus destroys in himself its spirit and life. And we have the highest authority for affirming that the words of the Lord are capa

Things that are perceived by the five senses or some of them. With this meaning the word sensual is often used in New Church books.

H*

ble of being understood in more senses than one, and that, when understood according to their lowest or merely literal sense, they are misunderstood. Thus when the Lord said to the disciples on one occasion, 'Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees,' they supposed that He spake of the leaven of material bread, and reasoned among themselves, saying, 'It is because we have taken no bread;' which when the Lord perceived, He said unto them, O ye of little faith! why reason ye among yourselves because ye have brought no bread?.... How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees ? Then understand they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.' (Matt. xvi. 6, 7, 8, 11, 12.)

"We are taught in the writings of the New Church, that the natural world is the world of objects, and the spiritual world is the world of causes; that the natural world subsists from the spiritual world; that things around usas plants, animals, men--live not of themselves, but by virtue of their connection with the world of causes, i. e., by means of an influx into them of spiritual principles from the One Only Life. We are also taught that there is a correspondence between the spiritual and natural worlds like that between the spiritual and the natural part of man, or between the soul and the body. Thus the sun, for example, corresponds to the Lord, who is the sun of the spiritual world. Hence in the Word, the Lord is sometimes called the Sun (Ps. lxxxiv. 2.) And when He was seen in vision, or in the spirit--i. e., as He appears to those who are in the spiritual world, His face shone as the sun.' (Matt. xvii. 2. Rev. i. 16.) Truth is spiritual light. Hence the Lord, in respect to his truth, is called 'the light of the world,' the light of men,'' a burning light,' &c. (See John i. 4, 9; v. 35; vii. 12; xii. 46.) He is the source of all truth, and thus is the illuminator of all minds the true light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world.' The heat or fire of the sun corresponds to the Lord's divine love; for love is spiritual heat. Hence the Lord, whose essence is love, (see 1 John