in the spiritual world, through their voluntary confirmation in evil, are the only points of doctrine from which Unitarians and Universalists would much dissent. In neither of these doctrines can the writer of this article agree with him; for if the New Testament teaches any thing plainly, it is that the Father and Son are two distinct beings,-the Father supreme, and the Son dependent and subordinate; and that the Son must reign till he hath subdued all souls in willing homage and obedience to himself; when he also himself shall become subject unto Him that did put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Before concluding this article we must give a single quotation from Swedenborg, to show the spirit of his writings. Taking it by itself, one would be ready to conclude that he held to the final recovery, obedience and happiness of all mankind. It is from his work entitled, Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence," paragraph 330.

"As there prevails among some a belief in predestination to no salvation, which is damnation, and as such a belief is hurtful, and cannot be dispelled unless reason also sees the madness and cruelty of it, therefore it shall be treated of in the following series. 1. That any other predestination than predestination to heaven is contrary to the divine love and its infinity. 2. That any other predestination than predestination to heaven is contrary to the divine wisdom and its infinity. 3. That it is an insane heresy to suppose that those only are saved who are born within the church. 4. That it is a cruel heresy to suppose that any of the human race are predestined to be damned.

"Since every man is formed in the womb in the image and according to the likeness of the Lord, it follows that the Lord is the heavenly Father of all men, and that men are his spiritual children. So is Jehovah or the Lord called in the Word, and so are men called therein; therefore he says, Call no man your Father upon the earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven; by which is meant that He alone is the Father as to life, and that an earthly father is only such as to the covering of life, which is the body. In heaven, therefore, no other Father is made mention of than the Lord. That men who do not invert that life are called his sons, and said to be born of him, is also evident from many passages in the Word. Hence it may appear, that the Divine Love is in every man, the wicked as well as the good; consequently that the Lord, who is divine love, cannot act any otherwise with them than as a father on earth does with his

children, only with infinitely more tenderness, because the divine love is infinite; also that he cannot recede from any one, because the life of every one is from him.

"The divine love, through its divine wisdom, provides means by which every man may be saved. Therefore to say that there is any other predestination than predestination to heaven, is to say that it cannot provide means by which salvation may be effected, when nevertheless all are possessed of the means, and these are from the Divine Providence, which is infinite. The reason why there are some who are not saved, is, because the divine love desires that a man should feel in himself the felicity and bliss of heaven, for otherwise it would be no heaven to him; and this cannot be effected unless it appear to him that he thinks and wills from himself; for without that appearance nothing would be appropriated to him, nor would he be a man. For this reason there is a Divine Providence, which is of the divine wisdom, from the divine love. By this, however, is not taken away the truth that all are predestined for heaven and none for hell; yet it would be taken away if the means of salvation were wanting. But it was shown above, that the means of salvation are provided for every one, and that heaven is of such a nature that all who live well, of whatever religion they may be, have a place there.

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To suppose only that those are saved who are born within the church, is an insane heresy. Those who are born without the church are men as well as those who are within it; they are of the same heavenly origin, and are equally living and immortal souls; they have a religion by which they acknowledge that there is a God, and that they ought to live well; and he that acknowledges a God, and lives well, becomes spiritual in his degree, and is saved. It is alleged that they are not baptized; but baptism does not save any except those who are spiritually washed, that is, regenerated; for baptism is a sign and memorial thereof. It is alleged, also, that the Lord is not known to them, and that without the Lord there is no salvation; yet no one has salvation merely by the Lord's being known to him, but by living according to his precepts; and the Lord is known to every one who acknowledges a God, for he is the God of heaven and earth, as he himself teaches, in Matthew xxviii. 18, and other places. Besides, those who are without the church have an idea of God as a man, more than the Christians; and those who have this idea and live well, are accepted by the Lord; for they acknowledge God to be one in person and in essence, which Christians [i. e. trinitarian Christians] do not. They also think of God in their life; for they consider evils as sins against God, and those who do this think of God in their life. Christians

have the precepts of their religion from the Word; but there are few who draw any precepts of life from it. The Papists do not read it; and those of the reformed church, who are in faith separate from charity, do not attend to those things in it which relate to life, but only to those which relate to faith, and yet the whole Word is nothing else but the doctrine of life. Christianity prevails only in Europe; the religion of the Mahometans and Gentiles in Asia, the Indies, Africa and America; and the human race in the last mentioned parts of the world is ten times more numerous than in the Christian countries, yet in the latter there are but few who place religion in a good life; what, then, can be greater madness than to think that the latter only are saved, and the former condemned, or that a man possesses heaven by his birth, and not by his life? Therefore the Lord says, "I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out.

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To suppose any of the human race are predestined to be damned, is a cruel heresy. For it is cruel to think that the Lord, who is love itself, and mercy itself, would suffer so vast a multitude of men to be born for hell, or that so many myriads of myriads should be born condemned and devoted, that is, born devils and satans; and that he would not, out of his divine wisdom, provide that those who live well and acknowledge a God should not be cast into everlasting fire and torment. Lord is the Creator and Saviour of all; He alone leads all, and wills not the death of any one; therefore it is cruel to think and believe that so great a multitude of nations and people, under his auspices and inspection, should be predestined to be delivered as a prey to the devil.”

The

These extracts show the enlarged and liberal tendencies of Swedenborg's mind. In the first volume of the "Arcana Cœlestia" we find a passage which seems to teach the final restoration of all men, and which the editor of the work endeavors to explain away in a note. Not having the work at hand, we cannot give its language; but it would harmonize well with Swedenborg's character to suppose that he cherished the hope of a final extinction of evil in all human souls, and their conversion to the life of heaven. That he held such an opinion is not impossible, though many things in his writings seem to teach a different doctrine; especially those passages which limit the means of salvation to the present life. How he could hold that God has provided for the salvation of all, and

that all have the means of salvation, and yet confine the operation of those means to this world, it is difficult to understand. When it is considered how many are born in the midst of evils, over which they have no control, and how many die before they have had any fair opportunity of salvation, it cannot be that their state becomes fixed for eternity, under the auspices and oversight of a being of infinite love and wisdom, who is the Father of all, and who loves all mankind with a tenderness infinitely surpassing the love of an earthly parent. We are convinced, indeed, that Swedenborg could not have held such an opinion, consistently with the general spirit and argument of his writings, and that he ought not to be understood as denying the means and capacity of salvation to men in the spiritual world.

Swedenborg's life seems to have been prosperous, serene and happy-an unusual thing in the life of a reformer. He was permitted to live to a great age, and enjoyed during his life a large share of respect, affection, and confidence, a sufficiency of this world's goods, and every physical comfort that he desired. He was never married, notwithstanding he has written much upon "conjugal love," and entertained pure and elevated views of the marriage relation.

At one time he suffered some persecution from the clergy, who were offended at his doctrines, and refused to believe that his spiritual senses were opened to behold the things which he related. They tried to have him imprisoned, but he had many friends among the nobility, and the efforts of his enemies to injure him were unavailing. Others charged him with being insane; and the phrenologists, in later years, have exhibited drawings of his head, as exhibiting an excessive development of the organ of "marvellousness." But the plea of insanity, in any general sense, would be difficult to maintain, and as to his "organ of marvellousness," it may be that this is the seat of the spiritual sense, and his possession of the faculty, with his great intellectual powers and cultivated mind, may have rendered him the fit instrument of Providence for the communication of higher religious and spiritual views to the world. Whatever opinion we may hold of the nature of his writings, and the doctrines he

has promulgated, his character and writings were such as to command our respect, and the receivers of his views are among the most spiritually-minded and cultivated people of our time. In many of our cities, and in some of our country towns, large congregations meet to worship according to his teachings; several periodicals in the interest of the New Church are supported in this country; and many of the leading minds of the society formerly held a high place in the ranks of the great Orthodox denominations of the land. J. G. Wilkinson, of England, and Prof. Bush, of our own country, are men of distinguished learning and ability; and considering the many points of agreement there are between the New Church and the Unitarian and Universalist denominations, there is abundant reason for cultivating a better acquaintance, and establishing relations of Christian brotherhood and good fellowship. The signs of the times indicate that they are to form a part of that great church of the future, in which all who are principled in the love of God and the neighbor, are to enjoy toleration and Christian fellowship, whatever may be their speculative opinions, and from which shall emanate a moral power, mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the strong holds of wickedness in the world, and the building up of the kingdom of righteousness among men.

J. G. F.

ART. XXVI.

Nature's Prices.

WHEN we awake to consciousness, and take observation of our relations to nature and to man, we soon perceive that we are in a world of traffic. We perceive that life assumes a commercial aspect; that not only must we furnish men equivalents for what we would have of them, but that nature also, with all her seeming generosity, is a strict accountant; that notwithstanding her apparent prodigality, she has few possessions for