experience granted to Swedenborg, which altogether has no parallel in the history of the world.

Reviewing all the facts connected with this important inquiry, drawn respectively from theological history, from testimony the most remarkable in the fulfilment of prophecy, and from the incomparable progress of the last century, I trust the question which concluded my preceding paper has been not unsatisfactorily answered. ROBERT ABBOTT.

Correspondence.

(To the Editor of the "Intellectual Repository.")

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.

DEAR SIR,-In taking into consideration the miracle of the Incarnation,1 it is first of all necessary to know what the Incarnation is, and why it is. These questions we shall answer from out of the writings of Swedenborg, and it will then be seen, we hope, that no ground will be left for the difficulty with regard to its miraculous nature.

In the address to his congregation at Bedford Chapel by the Rev. Stafford A. Brooke, which appeared in certain periodicals some time ago, on the occasion of his secession, occurs the following remark : "The form of doctrine to which the Church of England has committed itself appears to stand on the miracle of the Incarnation, as a building on its foundation. Not to accept that miracle is to separate myself, not I hope from the spirit, but from the external form of the faith as laid down by the Church of England; and it is the inability to confess this miracle which beyond all else forces me out of its communion."

We take it for granted that he who denies the miracle of the Incarnation denies also the miracle of the Resurrection; for in the case of Christ Jesus, the Resurrection was of that body which was assumed by the Incarnation.

Mr. Brooke has well observed that the doctrine of the Church of England appears to stand on the miracle of the Incarnation as a building on its foundation; and in accordance with this view of the subject it is remarked by Swedenborg, that the natural world is the basis or foundation of the spiritual world, the Church on earth the basis of the Church in heaven, the external and sensual mind the basis of the internal and rational, the body the basis of its soul.

"The rational principle indeed hath a life in itself distinct from the life of the natural; but still the rational principle is in the natural, as a man in his house or the soul in its body. The case is so likewise

remarkable work, entitled

1 On the subject of miracles see a recent and "The Mystery of Miracles," by J. W. Reynolds. (Kegan, Paul, & Co.)

in the heavens; the inmost or third heaven lives indeed distinctly from the heavens which are beneath it, but still, unless there was reception in the second or middle heaven, the wisdom therein (i.e. in the third heaven) would be dissipated. In like manner, unless there was reception of the light and intelligence of this latter heaven in the ultimate or first heaven, and of this ultimate heaven finally in the natural principle of man, the intelligence of those heavens would also be dissipated, unless it was provided of the Lord that there should be reception elsewhere. Wherefore the heavens are so formed by the Lord that one may serve another for reception; and that at length man, as to his natural and sensual principle, may serve for ultimate reception, for there the Divine principle is in the ultimate of order, and passes into the world; therefore if the ultimate accord with or correspond with the things prior, in this case things prior are together (simul) in the ultimate; for things ultimate are receptacles of the things prior to them, and things successive become simultaneous in these receptacles."

"All good and truth come to man from the Divine essence through the Human. This is a Divine arcanum which few believe, because they do not comprehend it; for they suppose that Divine good might reach to man without the Humanity of the Lord being united to the Divinity; but this is impossible, since man had so far removed himself from the Supreme Divinity, by the lusts into which he had immersed himself, and by the falsities with which he had blinded himself, that it was not possible for any influx of the Divinity to enter into the rational principle of the human mind except by and through the Humanity which the Lord united in Himself to the Divinity. By His Humanity the communication was effected, for thus the Supreme Divinity could come to man, as the Lord plainly declares in several passages, as when He says of Himself that 'He is the way, and that there is no coming to the Father but by Him.'" 2

Now, "just before the Lord came into the world, and thereby took upon Himself the ultimates of humanity, there was no basis to the heavens, for there was no Divine truth in ultimates with men in the world; and altogether none in the Church among the Jewish nations, except what was falsified and perverted. Wherefore unless the Lord had come, all the human race in this earth would have perished in eternal death." 3

The same principle is otherwise expressed in the following passage taken from the " Apocalypse Explained: "The human race is the basis or foundation of the Angelic heaven; for the conjunction of the Angelic heaven with the human race is perpetual, and one subsisteth by the other, wherefore when the basis doth not correspond, the Angelic heaven as it were totters, and therefore a judgment is then accomplished upon those who are in the spiritual world; that all things, as well in the heavens as in the hells, may be reduced into order. That the 2 Ibid. art. 2016. Apocalypse Explained.

1 Arcana Cœlestia, art. 4618.

3 Nicholson's Dictionary, art. Basis.

human race is the basis and foundation of the Angelic heaven, and that there is a perpetual conjunction between them, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 291 to 302, and n. 303 to 310,"1

So again in art. 726 of the "Apocalypse Explained" it is said that with respect to the heavens the human race is as the basis to a column, or as the foundation to a palace; that consequently the heavens subsist in order upon those things of the Church which are with men in the world, thus upon Divine Truths in ultimates, such as are Divine Truths in the literal sense of the word. Hence also Swedenborg adds:

:

"Inasmuch as the Divine power itself resides in those ultimates, therefore the Lord Himself came into the world, and was made man, that He might be at the same time in ultimates as He is in first principles; to the end that by ultimates, from first principles, He might reduce all things into order which had become inordinate, viz. all things in the hells, and also in the heavens. This was the cause of the Advent of the Lord (in ultimates); for at this time, proximately before His Advent, there was not any Divine Truth in ultimates with men in the world, nor any at all in the Church which was then with the Jewish nation, but what was falsified and perverted; in consequence of which there was not any basis to the heavens. Wherefore, unless the Lord had then come into the world, and Himself assumed what was ultimate, the heavens which were from the inhabitants of this earth, would have been translated elsewhere, and all the human race in this earth would have perished in eternal death."

It is, however, to be observed that there was a Humanity in first principles before there was a humanity in last; and it was the Humanity in first principles which put on a humanity in last, or in ultimates:

66

For when Jehovah appeared before the coming of our Lord in the world, He appeared in the form of an angel; for when He passed through heaven, He clothed Himself with that form, which was the human form; for the universal heaven, by virtue of the Divine principle in it, is as One Man, or Maximus Homo, and hence is the Divine Human principle; and whereas Jehovah appeared in a human form as an Angel, it is evident that it was still Jehovah Himself, and that this very form also was His, because it was that of His Divine principle in heaven; this it is which was the Lord from eternity. But inasmuch as that human form was assumed by transition through heaven, and yet to save the human race it was necessary to be really and essentially a man in ultimates; therefore He was pleased to be born, and thereby actually to assume the human form, in which was Jehovah Himself. That this is the case the Lord teaches in John'Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; I and the Father are One.' "2

1 Apocalypse Explained, art. 398.

2 Arcana Cœlestia, art. 10,579.

We thus see that 66 as to what concerns man, man in ultimates is the Church in the earths; man in first principles is the Lord; man in interiors is heaven; for the Church and heaven before the Lord is as one man, on which account heaven is called the Maximus Homo. There is a continual connection, and influx according to connection, of all things from the Lord through the heavens to the Church in the earths. By the heavens are meant the angels who are there; by the Church men who are truly men of the Church; and by man in first principles the Lord as to His Divine Humanity. That from the first by or through the last all things are held together in connection, and stand together, is meant by the Lord's words in Isaiah, 'I am the First, and I am the Last. My hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hath spanned the heavens. I call them together; they stand together.""1

“Where the subject treated of in the Word is concerning the regeneration of man, there in the supreme sense the glorification of the Lord's Humanity is treated of; for the regeneration of man is an image of the Lord's glorification. To glorify the Humanity is to make it Divine; but to regenerate man is to make him celestial, that the Divine principle of the Lord may dwell within him." 2

"It is to be noted that with every man there is an internal and an external, which are called his internal and external man; and that when man is regenerating he is regenerating both as to the internal and as to the external; and that regeneration is the conjunction of good and of truth in each. The case was similar in the Lord as to His Human principle; and yet as to this Human principle it cannot be said that it was regenerated, but that it was glorified; for His inmost principle, which with man is called the soul from the Father, was the Divine principle itself, inasmuch as He was conceived from Jehovah. The Divine principle itself is the Divine Good of the Divine Love; and whereas the Lord united His Human principle with His Divine Good, and thereby made also His Human principle Divine, therefore it cannot be said that His Human principle was regenerated, but glorified; for to glorify is to make Divine." 3

Speaking of the internal sense of the burnt-offerings offered upon the altar under the Jewish dispensation, Swedenborg observed that the altar was representative of the Lord's Divine Human principle; and that the fire upon the altar with which the offering was burned signified the Divine Good of the Divine Love which was in the Lord Himself when upon earth. Thus-

"The Divine Being Himself is pure Love, and pure Love is as fire, hotter than the fire of the sun of this world. Wherefore if the Divine Love in its purity inflowed into any angel, spirit, or man, he would altogether perish. Hence it is that Jehovah, or the Lord, is in the Word so often called a consuming fire. Lest, therefore, the angels in heaven should be hurt by the influx of heat from the Lord 2 Ibid. art. 10,042.

1 Arcana Cœlestia, art. 10,044.

3 Ibid. art. 10,052.

as a Sun, they are each of them veiled by some thin and suitable cloud, whereby the heat flowing in from that Sun is tempered.” 1

"From this consideration, that the presence of the Divine Being is such that no angel could endure it, unless protected by a cloud, which tempers and moderates the rays of heat from that Sun, it may manifestly appear that the Lord's Human principle is Divine; for unless it was Divine it could never be so united to the Divine principle itself, which is called the Father, as that they may be One according to the Lord's words in John, chap. xiv. 10, and the following verses, and in other places; for what so receives the Divine must needs be altogether Divine: what is not Divine would be absolutely dissipated by such a union; for, to speak comparatively, what can be thrown into the solar fire and not perish, unless it be a similar solar principle. In like manner who can be cast into the ardency of Infinite Love except He who is in the ardency of similar love, consequently except the Lord alone? That the Father is in Him, and that the Father doth not appear except in His Divine Humanity, is manifest from the Lord's words in John, 'No one hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath brought Him forth to view' (chap. i. 18); and in another place in the same evangelist, 'Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape "" (v. 37).

"Unless the Divinity had been in His humanity by conception, the humanity could not possibly have been united therewith, on account of the burning heat of Infinite Love essential to the Divinity." 2

Now we have seen that the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of our Lord's Humanity; and as the first chapter of Genesis treats of the regeneration of man, so it treats, therefore, in the supreme sense, of the glorification of the Humanity in ultimates of our Lord Himself.

3

With respect to the miraculous in the case of the Incarnation, some may ask, says Swedenborg, why God did not instantly assume the Humanity without the intervention of such a process (as is mentioned in the Gospels). Why He did not create or compose a body for Himself out of elements from the four quarters of the world, and in this way make Himself visible as God Man. Why did He not infuse His Divinity at once into the assumed Humanity, seeing that He had all power and could effect anything He pleased? not to mention a multitude of other questions of a similar kind. And what is the answer given by Swedenborg to these inquiries? He says that God is Order itself; that Divine Omnipotence is exercised according to this Order; that man was created a form or image and likeness of this Divine Order; that all and everything was created for the sake of man, and therefore that all the properties of Order, both in general and particular, were collected into man and were concentrated in him; that in assuming the humanity God operated according to those laws 1 Arcana Cœlestia, art. 6849. 2 Nicholson's Dictionary, art. LORD.

3 True Christian Religion, art. 90.