It appears to me that A. C.'s silence on the points about which I specially asked for information, compels the inference that there is nothing in Swedenborg's writings to show whether he simply assumed the authorship and the historical accuracy of the Gospel narratives, or looked upon such authorship and accuracy as matters of no moment, and upon the spiritual signification as the only important matter. In either case it would appear that no information on the subject was given him in the spiritual world. The direct object of my inquiry is therefore so far answered by inference. I understand A. C. to hold that the correctness of the text at least, if not the historical accuracy of the Gospel narratives, is to be proved solely from within, by their being capable of an interpretation which "presents consecutive ideas, and a clear, connected, and consistent meaning, unfolding what we conceive to be truths of Divine Wisdom." A. C. says that the process he advocates requires a "proficiency in spiritual life,” but I am quite sure he would not for a moment wish to imply that none possess a proficiency of spiritual life but those who follow Swedenborg's system of interpretation. The truth is, that the religious teachers to whom I referred (but among whom I certainly do not class Hume, J. S. Mill, or others of their negative mode of thought) do largely agree with A. C. in principle, though they differ from him in its application. They would entirely agree with him that the true evidence "arises, not from any external authority, but from the internal perception that good is good and truth is truth," and that "this, as regards individual conviction, is alone the ultimate authority." They hold that the proof, and the only proof, of any writing whatever being a Word of God, lies in the spiritual life and power with which it touches us, and to which our highest nature answers with a quick response. They can therefore doubt the literal and historical accuracy of the narrative of a miracle, without losing hold of the inner and spiritual reality of it. The feeding of the five thousand, for example, is to them a real spiritual fact occurring daily in the spiritual experiences of many, and remains unaffected by any verbal changes in the letter, and independent even of the question whether such an occurrence ever happened in the exact form which has come down to us, or whether the actual incident was clothed in that form by the poetical quality of Eastern minds. One thing I wished to learn was, whether Swedenborg's view agreed in any degree with this, for it seemed to me that his somewhat rigid system of interpretation, and his claim that the spiritual sense "flows from each and all the expressions, and from the very words themselves, nay, even from every iota," require a definite literal sense, which might well be affected by such external considerations as I referred to. And does not Swedenborg state that all doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense? I may add that the question between this school of thought and Swedenborg is not, as it has been in other instances, whether God has spoken to man, but rather whether the Word of God is not a grand and wide Inspiration, of which what is contained in the Bible is but a part, though the highest and most spiritual part, and whether any limits either of place or time can be set to this Inspiration. THE NOTE. C. J. L. "doubt SIR,-When C. J. L. observes that there are those who can the literal and historical accuracy of the narrative of a miracle without losing hold of the inner and spiritual reality of it," may I be allowed to ask him whether the Christian is at liberty to doubt the literal and historical accuracy of the narratives of the miracle of the Incarnation and Resurrection of our Lord; and if not, by what rule is he to distinguish between historical and unhistorical miracles?—Yours very truly, A. C. IN MEMORIAM. The Very Reverend ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, D.D., IN Sebert's stately fane, Old England's pride! In storied marble for all time allied: There Stanley's memory shall undimmed abide, JESMOND LODGE, MALTON. THE SPRING-TIME OF LIFE. THE spring-time of life is a season for joy, Young hopes like the buds with rich promise are rife, The lessons of truth as they flow through the vale The teemings of life that are ev'rywhere found, These gifts of life's spring-time should make glad the heart; Of summer that never knows ending in heaven. Rememb'ring that purity, insuring the bliss Feb. 1874. SELF-EXAMINATION. LET me not, Judas-like, betray As I have learned the heavenly way Know I the truth, and doth its light T. C. Lost am I, helpless, impotent Yet am I ever doomed to be An unenfranchised slave? 'No! if one tempting thought I flee, M. A. C. THE BUILDERS. WITH steady though but slow increase, Foundations strong and sure it hath, Till finished as befits its kind, In structure low, or high, or grand, According as the builder planned, To match the features of his mind. The house, the home, the firmament, Where Love's bright sun in splendour glows, And wearied labour finds repose Wrapped in the moonbeams of content. The home where dwell in unity The love-encircled family group— The ducal parents with their troop Of happy-hearted infantry. Like faculties within the soul The will that owns the mother's heart, The manly intellectual part, The thoughts that act the children's rôle. 1 Authoress of "Emanuel Swedenborg and other Poems." But on a plane more high and wide, A house of which the stones and wood And stately truths aspiring high, On which their sun no season sets, The golden peaks resplendent gleam. Some build, alas! of sand and mud Mere hovels of the meanest caste, That fall before the passion-blast, And sink beneath the evil flood. Some build pretentious palaces Of tawdry tinselled dross and dust; These shortly fall, as fall they mustThe certain fate of fallacies. Then wise beyond dispute is he Who builds right earnestly and well For now the Master-Builder's love A house for that collective Man For whom were made the heavens above. That lofty state of mind and will— Beneath them stormy bolts may fall, With feathers from the zephyr's wings, But these are high above them all. A city built and kept for them— The heavenly New Jerusalem. D. YOUNG, Jun |