when the truly internal man, the apostle's "inward man which delights in the law of God,"—is closed: it is put off at death together with their external part; and as they then come into their internal, which is in the infernal marriage of evil and falsehood, they become also actually insane; although, as is often the case with the insane in this world, they become in the highest degree cunning, and skilful in malicious artifices. Now that the objects which appear to sight in the spiritual world are appearances of such objects as are seen in the natural world, and that these are all representative of spiritual things, is perfectly evident from all the relations of the kind which are to be found in the Word of God, and which are there very numerous. Το take an example which alone is sufficient to establish the fact. When forces were sent to seize Elisha the prophet, and his servant was greatly intimidated at the danger, we read thus: "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."* Here were appearances of objects similar to those of the natural world, seen when the eyes of the spirit of Elisha's servant were opened: consequently, the objects seen were really in the spiritual world, and not in the natural world. But who can imagine that there are real horses and real chariots in heaven, or in any part of the spiritual world? What then were these but appearances representative of the sphere of Divine Protection with which the prophet was surrounded? The prophet, doubtless, being the immediate agent of God, was in consociation with the angelic world, and in the midst, as to his spirit, of guardian angels: but his servant did not see the angels themselves, but appearances representative of the defence and protection, which, by the ministry of angels, surrounded him from the Lord. A hundred other instances might be mentioned, but I will confine myself to a few. We read in Zechariah, That he saw a man riding on a red horse among the myrtle trees, behind whom were red horses, speckled, and white: that he after * 2 Ks. vi. 17. イ wards saw four horses presented before him: that he saw a man with a measuring line in his hand: that he saw a golden candlestick and two olive trees: that he saw an ephah, or a sort of a measure, flying in the air, and a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah; and that he saw two other women with the wings of a stork, who lifted up the ephah between the earth and heaven; * with many other things equally extraordinary. These he could not see with the eyes of his body: they were then things presented before the eyes of his spirit: thus they were appearances of things in the spiritual world: and that they all were representative of some spiritual subject, no one, surely, can doubt. Just the same was the We case with John when he wrote the Revelation. have already seen, that when he beheld the extraordinary things that were exhibited before him he was in the spirit, or in a state in which the senses of his spirit were opened: and that all the singular and wonderful appearances which he afterwards beheld were representations of spiritual subjects, and of the interior state of the things and persons to whom they related, no reflecting mind can doubt for a moment. Thus, for instance, when he was favored with a sight of the Lord as the Son of man: who can doubt that all the appearances which his divine person exhibited were exact correspondences of his divine attributes and perfections? for it is impossible to suppose that the person of the Lord, in itself, is such as is there described. Thus it is said of this glorious being, not only that "his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes as a flame of fire, and his countenance as the sun shining in his strength;" but also that "his feet were like fine brass as though they burned in a furnace,—that he had in his right hand seven stars, and that out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword." These are beautiful representative appearances, his face like the sun, of his divine love in its interior, higher, and inmost nature, as perceived by angels; his feet like burning brass, of the same divine love in his Divine Natural Essence, whence he operates on men; the stars in his hand, of all the di * Ch. i. 8; 18; ii. 1; iv. 2, 3; v. 6, 7; 9. + Rev. i. 14, 15, 16. vine principles of knowledge which he imparts to the church; and the sword from his mouth, of the power and operation of his Word or Divine Truth. And who can doubt, if the circumstances under which the Lord himself appears to those who enjoy such a privilege are thus representative of his attributes and the excellences of his nature, that the circumstances in which all the inhabitants of the spiritual world find themselves,-whether in heaven, in hell, or in the intermediate state, are representative of their state, quality, and nature, likewise, and that all the appearances which attend them entirely depend on those circumstances? And yet that the appearances which there exist are not mere illusions, having no reality whatsoever, is evident from the occurrence, that a little book was presented both to Ezekiel and to John, and which was not only made manifest to their sight, but they were commanded to eat it; which they accordingly did, and both of them describe how it tasted. Ezekiel affirms, "I did eat it, and is was in my mouth as honey for sweetness:"* John says, "And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was made bitter:"t-circumstances these which fully prove, that the spirit, in which John and Ezekiel were, has its senses as well as the natural body: for that they could not eat a spiritual book with the organs of their natural body, is evident: the spiritual body only could eat a spiritual book or roll: and with their spiritual senses only could they distinguish its taste. Evident, then, I apprehend, it is, that all things that exist in the spiritual world are appearances, which either are actually real, or appear as distinctly as if they were so to the senses of the inhabitants. If any one cannot believe that the things seen by the prophets had any proper reality, though they impressed their senses as such, we will not stop to dispute the point now: only I will assure him, that we believe all the appearances in the spiritual world described by Swedenborg to be of exactly the same kind: the one exist there as really as the other, and equally owe their origin to the spirit* Ezek. iii, 3. † Rev. x. 10. ual things and states of which they are the outward manifestations. The only difference is, that the things seen by the prophets were appearances produced at the time by the Lord, to represent things and states belonging to the church and its members mostly at periods future to the time of the exhibition of the visions; whereas the appearances described by Swedenborg as ordinarily existing in heaven, hell, and the intermediate world, are those which constantly flow from the states of the angels, spirits, or infernals, about whom they are seen. Plain enough, then, I apprehend, is the agreement of our author's assertions on this subject with the testimony of Scripture. And that it is equally agreeable to the suggestions of reason, is evident from the fact, that never did any one endeavor from his imagination to draw a picture, presenting anything in detail, of heaven or hell or their inhabitants, without accompanying it with such circumstances as he deemed expressive of the states of mind of those whom he wished to depict:* the only difference being, that persons who have formed their guesses from their imagination, being ignorant of true correspondences or analogies between natural things and spiritual, have usually been very much mistaken as to the particulars of their figurative delineations. Many writers, also, have seen, that unless the objects that appear in heaven be analogous to those which are found on earth, our idea of heaven is an idea of a mere nothing. Thus the angel Raphael is made to say, in Milton's Paradise Lost, "What surmounts the reach Of human sense, I shall delineate so, By likening spiritual to corporeal forms, As may express them best: though what if earth In which striking lines he has exactly delineated the true state of the case. Be it asked then; Is it reasonable to condemn Swedenborg for affirming as a fact, what in Milton we admire as a highly probable conjecture? So * I am informed that a remarkable attempt of this kind is made in the popular opera of Der Freyschutz. likewise, I am assured, even our present accuser has himself seen the necessity of finding some other objects wherewith to furnish heaven beside men in their revived material bodies; whence he once preached a sermon to prove, that there would be a resurrection of animals as well as of human beings; an idea which is favored also by the great Bishop Butler: and surely to put there horses and oxen, sheep and goats, dogs and cats,-to consider beasts as existing in the spiritual world in solid bodies of animal flesh and blood,—is immensely moré extravagant than our idea, that such things do indeed exist there, but only in appearance. So, I suppose, every Methodist knows, that Mr Wesley furnishes his new earth, which he considers to be the habitation of the saints in glory, with all kinds of animals and other objects which exist in this earth, only in a much more perfect state. But surely, since all seem to be sensible, that, in some way or other, that world must contain such things, it is far more reasonable, with us, to conclude, that such things exist there as appearances, not possessing any conscious life of their own, existing only as outward figures of the states of the human inhabitants, and appearing or disappearing as those states change, than to imagine with our opponents that they exist there of themselves, real living creatures, enjoying for their own sakes the privilege of immortality. Reason teaches us, that the privilege of immortality only accompanies the faculty of rationality, and the capacity of being conjoined to THE IMMORTAL by the conscious reception of his life-giving energies. If then our two general positions are seen to be true; if it be admitted that man after death, though no longer clothed with a material body, is a real and substantial man,-if good, endowed with the most exalted wisdom, and if wicked, though inexpressibly cunning, destitute of all true rationality and absolutely insane;-and if it be seen that the things which exist in heaven, hell, and the intermediate world, are appearances, exhibiting sensibly the inward states of those about whom they are seen; or if it be only known, what cannot be disputed, that this is the manner in which these subjects are represented in the writings of our Author and understood by us;-we are provided with satisfactory solutions of all those cir |