with the cordial acknowledgment of simple and unsophisticated minds. The very men who most bitterly oppose them are reluctantly yielding to their penetrating influence. The very ministers who speak against them in the pulpit proclaim their Divine origin by modifying their own tenets in accordance with the light which these sublime verities afford them. In all this we behold the unspeakable love and goodness of our blessed Saviour. Men are becoming New Churchmen in spite of themselves. They are begining to arrive at a vivid perception of their own falsities and own follies. This perception will eventually lead them to a full acknowledgment of the truth. The great reformation of the religious world - the inauguration of a new era of light and knowledge the triumphant descent of the holy city is being accomplished in majesty and silence. The. Lord is leading us to perceive with our interior minds what heretofore we would not believe when made plain to our

reason.

A. J. C.

"THE DISTINCTION OF THE HEAVENS INTO TWO KINGDOMS."

Two very interesting articles by S. R. on the above subject have appeared in the April and May numbers of the Magazine. Their author attempts to remove some of the obscurity that has been heretofore attached to the New Church doctrine of the two kingdoms of the heavens. He assumed the position, apparently taught in many passages from Swedenborg's writings, that the celestial kingdom of the heavens consists of the third, or inmost heaven, and the celestial-natural heaven; and that the spiritual kingdom consists merely of the second, or middle heaven, and of the spiritual-natural heaven. From the mode in which S. R. interpreted his quotations, we are obliged to conclude, first, that there is no spiritual kingdom in the inmost, or third heaven; second, that there is no celestial kingdom in the middle, or second heaven; third, that above the first, or

ultimate heaven, the distinction into celestial and spiritual kingdoms is identical with the distinction into third and second heavens; fourth, that the third heaven flows directly into the celestial-natural heaven without the use of the second heaven as a connecting link.

While S. R. alludes to other views of this subject, he does not consider the grounds upon which they are founded; nor does he attempt to answer the objections which exist to his interpretation of the doctrine. It is true that the position he maintains seems to be taught by the passages quoted, yet their interpretation must be modified by the teachings of other passages. If the selections S. R. gave us from the writings of Swedenborg were the only teachings we had on this subject, his position would be well taken. But true doctrine must be the resultant teachings of all passages.

All New Church people ought to hail with delight any doctrine that would clearly reconcile the teachings we have upon this subject. I confess to some obscurity, which S. R. has not removed. The following are some exceptions which, it seems to me, can be taken to his position:

1. Swedenborg clearly teaches that there is a sense in which every heaven has its spiritual and its celestial side. We read :

"There are three heavens; the first is the abode of good spirits, the second of angelic spirits, and the third of angels, all of whom, as well the spirits as the angelic spirits and angels, are distinguished into two orders, celestial and spiritual.” — A. C. 459.

"The angels and angelic spirits, who are called celestial, are of the same genius as the most ancient people, who were regenerated before the flood; whilst the angels and angelic spirits, who are termed spiritual, are of a similar disposition to the regenerate after the flood." - A. C. 201.

That the expressions " and "angelic spirits angels refer respectively to the inhabitants of the third and second heavens, see above, No. 459, and also A. C. 1642. Yet Swedenborg elsewhere represents the celestial and spiritual kingdoms as distinguished in the same way as was the genius

of those before the flood from the disposition of those after the flood. Hence this sentence clearly teaches that there are both kingdoms in the third, and also in the second heaven.

Again, read the following two passages from "Heaven and Hell"; the first was partially quoted by S. R., while the last was omitted:

"There is in each heaven an internal and an external; the external and the internal in the heavens, or in each heaven, are as the voluntary and its intellectual with man; the internal as the voluntary, and the external as its intellectual.". - n. 32.

"The celestial kingdom is the voluntary of heaven, and the spiritual kingdom is the intellectual of heaven."

n. 95.

The following remarkable passage from "Heaven and Hell" seems to me to conflict with S. R.'s position:

"Those who receive divine good more, are in the celestial kingdom of the Lord; those who receive divine truth more, are in the spiritual kingdom of the Lord. The most perfect angels are those who receive both in like degree." n. 133.

The distinction between the second and third heaven is in degree of regeneration. When the inmost degree of the mind is open, then is man in the third heaven, and that according to the fulness of the opening. This is taught all through the writings of Swedenborg, as we shall soon show. Now, if the celestial kingdom, where are those who receive divine good more, is the same as the third heaven, in what sense can it be said that "the most perfect angels are those who receive both in like degree"? Is an angel made more perfect by a less degree of regeneration? Does hot this passage clearly teach that the distinction into celestial and spiritual 'kingdoms denotes the preponderance of the voluntary, or intellectual, with man, and not that it is similar to the distinction into the third and second heavens, and hence varies according to degree of regeneration?

The theory that all on the right side of the various heavens in the Grand Man constitute the celestial kingdom, while

those on the left constitute the spiritual kingdom, while it may not be entirely correct, has much to support it. Thus we read concerning the brain:

"Those who correspond to the right part of the brain are in the will of good, and thence in the will of truth; whereas those who correspond to the left of the brain are in the understanding, and thence in the affection of good and truth. The former are called celestial, but the latter spiritual.” — A. C. 4052. See also A. C. 4325, 5725, and 9683.

The definition of celestial and spiritual here is the same as that given by Swedenborg whenever he defines the difference between the inhabitants of the celestial and spiritual kingdoms.

That infants, reared in heaven, are placed to the right or left according as they are of a celestial or spiritual genius (H. & H. 333, A. C. 2300, 2301), implies the same correspondence. That the Lord appears before the right eye in the celestial, and the left in the spiritual kingdom, seems to teach that their difference is in position on the same plane, and not a difference of planes; that when the angels of the celestial kingdom are in their states of externality, the Lord appears before them as before those of the spiritual kingdom (H. & H. 159), implies some such teaching, for it is hardly probable that they, on such occasions, descend to a lower heaven, thus through a discrete degree, but rather to a more external state upon the same plane.

2. The doctrine, as S. R. presents it, does not seem, to me, to recognize sufficiently the correspondence of the Grand Man. We read :

...

"Because the whole heaven resembles one man, and also is a divine spiritual man in the greatest form, even in figure, therefore heaven is distinguished into members and parts, as a man, and they are also named in like manner. . . . The supreme, or third heaven, forms the head as far as the neck; the middle, or second heaven, forms the breast as far as the loins. and knees; the ultimate, or first heaven, forms the feet as far as the soles, and also the arms as far as the fingers." H. & H. 65, 29, etc.

This figure is not a mere comparison, but is a correspondence used by Swedenborg throughout his writings. But when speaking of the kingdoms of the heavens as correspondentially represented in man's body, he says:

"They who are of the Lord's celestial kingdom belong all to the province of the heart, and they who are in the spiritual kingdom belong all to the province of the lungs."— A. C. 3887, and in other places.

Is there any passage in the writings of Swedenborg in which the celestial kingdom is compared to the head, or the third heaven to the heart? If these heavens and kingdoms were so very similar in their character and meaning, would we not expect some such passage? Swedenborg elsewhere states that the celestial kingdom is the heart and all the blood-vessels distributed throughout the body, and that the spiritual kingdom is the lungs, and the muscular fibres in the body. Would it be appropriate to compare the three heavens to anything like this?

3. There are forms of intercourse between the celestial and spiritual kingdoms of the heavens, impossible between the inmost, or third, and the middle, or second, heaven. Swedenborg says that the heavens are "most distinct" (H. & H. 29); that "the perfection of the angels of the inmost heaven immensely surpasses" that of the angels of the middle heaven, because open to an inner degree (H. H. 34); that "an angel of one heaven cannot enter to an angel of another heaven"; that whenever an angel ascends to a higher heaven, he is seized with anxiety, even to pain"; and that when an angel descends to a lower heaven, he is "deprived of his wisdom, falters in his voice, and despairs "(H. & H. 35). Yet in the presence of such teachings he tells us that "all preachers are from the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and none from the celestial kingdom." Yet we cannot conclude from this that there are no preachers in the celestial kingdom, for he informs us that "although the angels who are in the celestial kingdom perceive and see truths, still there are

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