manded by the pope, and to whose animadversions he most dutifully assented, contrary to the convictions of his own mind. It is not uncommon for the Mystics to allegorise certain passages of scripture, at the same time not denying the literal sense, as having an allusion to the inward experience of believers. Thus, according to them, the word Jerusalem, which is the name of the capital of Judea, signifies allegorically the church militant; morally, a believer; and mysteriously, heaven. That fine passage also in Genesis, "Let there be light, and there was light," which is, according to the letter, corporeal light, signifies allegorically, the Messiah; morally, grace, and mysteriously, beatitude, or the light of glory. Mysticism is not confined to any particular profession of Christianity, but is to be understood as generally applied to those who dwell upon the inward operations of the mind (such as the Quakers, &c.) laying little or no stress on the outward ceremonies of religion*.

*The two following sects are occasionally mentioned in conversation, and the author has been asked by young people more than once for an explanation of them. A short account therefore is here subjoined.

The Fifth Monarchy Men were a set of enthusiasts in the time of Cromwell, who expected the sudden appearance of Christ to establish on earth a new monarchy, or kingdom. In consequence of this allusion some of them aimed at the subversion of all hu

SWEDENBORGIANS.

THE Swedenborgians are the followers of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish nobleman, who died in London, 1772. He professed himself to be the founder (under the Lord) of the New Jerusalem Church, alluding to the New Jerusalem spoken of in the Book of the Revelation of St. John. His tenets, although peculiarly distinct from every other system of divinity in Christen

man government. In ancient history we read of four great monarchies, the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman: and these men believing that this new spiritual kingdom of Christ was to be the fifth, came to bear the name by which they, are distinguished. See Burnet's History of his Own Times, where the reader will find a particular account of them.

The Muggletonians were the followers of Ludovic Muggleton, a journeyman taylor, who with his companion, Reeves, (a person of equal obscurity) set up for Prophets, in the turbulent times of Cromwell. They pretended to absolve or condemn whom they pleased, and gave out that they were the two last witnesses spoken of in the Revelations who were to appear previous to the final destruction of the world. I picked up some time ago a thin quarto volume published by Muggleton; it detailed his sufferings and persecutions, which were manifold, and stated at large his tra vels and labours. But from the wildness and incoherency of his statements, (some of which are really ludicrous) there can be no doubt of the poor man's insanity. Dr. Gregory, in his Ecclesiastical History, remarks, that the Muggletonions, Uchrewallists, Labbadists, Verschorists, &c. who derive their name from their re$ective founders, were mere ephemeral productions. They just appeared, and then passed away!

dom, are nevertheless drawn from the Holy Scriptures, and supported by quotations from them. He asserts, that in the year 1743, the Lord manifested himself to him in a personal appearance; and at the same time opened his spiritual eyes, so that he was enabled constantly to see and converse with spirits and angels.

He now began to print and publish various wonderful things, which, he says, were revealed to him, relating to heaven and hell, the state of men after death, the worship of God, the spirit-. ual sense of the Scriptures, the various earths in the universe, and their inhabitants, with many other extraordinary particulars, the knowledge of which was, perhaps, never pretended to by any other writer, before or since his time. Baron Swedenborg, in his treatise concerning heaven and hell, and of the wonderful things therein, as heard and seen by him, makes the following declaration: "As often as I conversed with angels face to face, it was in their habitations, which are like to our houses on earth, but far more beautiful and magnificent, having rooms, chambers, and apartments in great variety, as also spacious courts belonging to them, together with the gardens, parterres of flowers, fields, &c. where the angels are formed into societies. They dwell in contiguous habitations, disposed after the manner of our cities, in streets, walks, and

squares. I have had the privilege to walk through them, to examine all around about me, and to enter their houses, and this when I was fully awake, having my inward eyes opened.” A similar description is given of heaven itself, but the reader is referred to the treatise whence this curious extract is taken. He denies a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, but contends for a divine Trinity in the single person of Jesus Christ alone, consisting of a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, just like the human trinity in every individual man, of soul, body, and proceeding operation: and he asserts, that as the latter trinity constitutes one man, so the former Trinity constitutes one Jehovah God, who is at once the Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator. On this and other subjects, Dr. Priestley addressed letters to the members of the New Jerusalem Church, to which several replies were made, and particularly one by Mr. R. Hindmarsh, a printer.

Baron Swedenborg further maintains, that the sacred Scripture contains three distinct senses, called celestial, spiritual, and natural, which are united by correspondencies; and that in each sense it is divine truth, accommodated respectively to the angels of the three heavens, and also to men on earth. This science of correspondencies (it is said) had been lost for some thousands of years, viz. ever since the time of Job,

but is now revived by Emanuel Swedenborg, who uses it as a key to the spiritual or internal sense of the sacred Scripture, every page of which, he says, is written by correspondencies, that is, by such things in the natural world as correspond unto and signify things in the spiritual world. He denies the doctrine of atonement, or vicarious sacrifice, together with the doctrines of predestination, unconditional election, justification by faith alone, the resurrection of the material body, &c. and in opposition thereto maintains, that man is possessed of free-will in spiritual things; that salvation is not attainable without repentance, that is, abstaining from evils because they are sins against God, and living a life of charity and faith, according to the commandments; that man, immediately on his decease, rises again in a spiritual body, which was inclosed in his material body, and that in this spiritual body he lives as a man to eternity, either in heaven or hell, according to the quality of his past life.

It is further maintained by Baron Swedenborg, and his followers, that all those passages in the sacred Scripture, generally supposed to signify the destruction of the world by fire, &c. commonly called the last judgment; must be understood according to the above-mentioned science of correspondencies, which teaches, that by the end of the world, or consummation of the age, is not