to serve and help the man, is well; but to confirm as real truths, and to declare that the man has ceased to exist, this would be eating of the tree of knowledge, and we should spiritually die. For a man to act as firmly in the performance of his duty, and as diligently, as if his life were his own, and all his happiness depended upon his own exertions alone, (for these also are appearances of human knowledge,) is well. But if a man eats this, or in reality believes and loves this, he becomes an atheist-he spiritually dies. This did men in ancient days, and this do men now. Hence we see the practical importance of the spirit of the Word. From former errors, we may learn heavenly wisdom. Where they fell we may avoid the danger, and walk safely. Let us prize the warning which the wisdom of the Lord has given us in this important narrative, and keep our spirits ever under his guidance who said," Be ye wise as serpents, but harmless as doves."

J. B.

MATERIALS FOR MORAL CULTURE.

[Continued from page 61.]

"Keep the channel open."-No. CCL.

CCCLXXI.

THE love of ruling, and the love of accumulating, are the two furies that torment mankind beyond all others. They are especially the evils of the religious world, and are more deadly to true religion-the religion of disinterested love-than even that love of mere outward pleasure which distinguishes the irreligious. From the latter evil, reformation may be expected; but from the former evils, when they get fast hold of the will, reformation is not easily brought about. The temptation is great to conceal the love of rule under pretences to humility; and to invest the love of gain in the decent garb of industry, prudence, and economy; and when an evil has been successfully concealed from the eye of man, the transition is easy to the state of "saying in the heart," God hideth his face, he will never see it."

66

uses.

CCCLXXII.

It is the perfection of human life to combine spiritual with natural Spiritual uses are properly of an interior kind, and consist in a man's preparing his understanding and will for God's purposes. From the spiritual states thus wrought in him, during the progress of his regeneration, will spontaneously proceed outward uses, both religious

and temporal, as opportunities offer. Until the mind is thus devoted to the Lord, although the uses performed may relate to the church, they cannot properly be called spiritual uses.

CCCLXXIII.

It is a lamentable fact, that we are often most strongly impelled to act, when we are least fitted for useful and intelligent action, namely, when under excitement; hence the wisdom of sleeping on a matter of importance before acting upon it.

CCCLXXIV.

No one more lightly regards pretences to visions, than the believer in the supernatural communications of Swedenborg. It is the vast importance of the latter, as seen in their concomitants-the truths of the Word they are the means of disclosing-which make the former, without any exception, appear so insignificant in comparison. But the rejecter of the newly-developed truths of the Word, of necessity classes the pretensions of Swedenborg with all apparently similar pretensions; thus the rejecter and receiver being agreed in the principle of estimating visions generally, the latter may well bear the mistaken contempt poured upon him for making an exception in favour of those of Swedenborg, while he cordially meets it with a Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

CCCLXXV.

66

The Old Church and the New Church very differently estimate the element of piety; the former, according to quantity; the latter, according to quality. With the Old Church, a man of great piety means a man of much prayer; and the more prayer the more piety,—provided it be extemporaneous prayer. But with the New Church, piety means devotedness to God in all things, and therefore prayer is estimated according to its tendency to promote such devotedness. An unceasing desire to be devoted to the Lord's purposes, is identical with ceaseless prayer, and is so estimated by Him who hears the aspirations of the heart as if they were uttered by the lips.

CCCLXXVI.

The Pharisees made long prayers in public, and therefore were esteemed to be men of much piety; but the Pharisees were covetous, and derided the Lord's exhortations to self-denial :-such, also, are the Pharisees of our day.

CCCLXXVII.

The visible heavens, or the sun, moon, and stars, are representative

of the angelic heavens; the sun, in his heat and light, represents the love and wisdom of the third heaven; the moon, in her light, represents the faith or truth, and the good thereof, which is charity, as existing in the second heaven; while the stars, in their feebler light, represent the inferior degree of knowledge which, as combined with obedience, distinguishes the first heaven. The sun, moon, and stars, also correspond to the three degrees of the Internal Man, above the Rational, which corresponds to the atmosphere.

CCCLXXVIII.

In order that a Christian may possess his soul in patience, it is needful that he should be interiorly convinced, that the promise of his Saviour is to save his soul in his trials and temptations-not to save him from his trials and temptations.

CCCLXXIX.

Dwelling with regret on past natural ills and sorrows, is sinful; and mourning over past spiritual "short-comings," is useless,-except so far as it incites to watchfulness for the future. The former emotion has a merely selfish origin; but the latter, even when in excess, is free from that objection, although it be the injudicious carrying out of a good principle.

CCCLXXX.

When Providence permits any one to become prosperous, it is either because his state cannot be hurt by it, so long as he maintains his integrity towards God; or because he cannot be made worse by it, by reason of his confirmed hardness of heart and devotedness to the world. He who belongs to the former class, and suffers himself to be seduced from his duty by the allurements of prosperity, if he be saved eventually, it will be-" so as by fire." (1 Cor. iii.)

CCCLXXXI.

Can any thing be justly deemed little, which is pregnant with eternal consequences? Are there any little things in a sound system of spiri tual-morality?

CCCLXXXII.

The greater our attainments in wisdom and virtue, the greater will be our attention to the regulation of the minutiae of conduct; for the greater the interior power of spiritual life, the more effectually will it penetrate to the extremities, and there rule, correct, and vivify. Hence "little things" will become of increasing importance, until, practically, they will become great, because of the greatness of their results in eternity.

CCCLXXXIII.

A fully developed and exalted moral character, or, in other words, a highly regenerate mind, may be compared to an exceedingly complicated and valuable piece of machinery, vast in the minuteness of its parts, and their harmonious adaptation to a common object; while an ordinary well-disposed person may be compared to a piece of simple machinery, easily understood and controlled: the former can only be managed by a mechanician whose skill has gradually attained eminence; while the latter can be managed by a child: to the former the minute parts appear of vast consequence, for such they really are, but to the latter, there can be no just appreciation of them, for want of experience.

CCCLXXXIV.

Peaceableness is frequently inculcated by the Apostles. It is a social virtue of immense value; it requires great watchfulness to attain it, and great practical wisdom to preserve it. A peaceable man avoids occasions of difference by not taking up a hostile position except from necessity, or a pressing sense of duty. He would rather suffer an ill word to pass by in silence, or allow a bad argument a seeming triumph, than hazard a reply which promises no good result, so far as he is able to calculate.

CCCLXXXV.

The power of directing the attention, by a determination of the will, from the objects which invite the senses to abstract ideas drawn forth from the memory by reflection, constitutes the distinctive characteristic of the human intellect. It is a power of the will, freely choosing between the higher and lower things of man's mixed nature, which raises man above the compulsory impulses of instinctive desire by which the lower animals are governed. It is the act of the will which must first fix the mind, and direct the attention to the attainment of knowledge, in preference to outward acquisitions; it is the act of the will which determines both progression in knowledge, and the persevering application of it to use. However attractive the objects of sense may be which are present to the senses, the mind-the interior memory, that is, takes no lasting impression from them except so far as the will commands attention. It is on the present direction of our voluntary energies that our future weal or woe depends. The will makes the man; and his future history hangs upon its present state.

CCCLXXXVI.

It is a distinguishing feature of the New Church, that its real members have a more intense feeling of their need of salvation than N. S. NO. 88.--VOL. VIII.

L

any others can have; and are also able to exercise a firmer confidence in the Saviour. This arises from the disclosures made through Swedenborg, of the astonishing malice, cunning, and power of evil spirits, personified in Scripture as the Devil and Satan, on the one hand; and of the still more astonishing mercy, wisdom, power, and watchful care of the Lord's Divine Human on the other, in affording protection to those who trust in Him for salvation from their spiritual enemies.

CCCLXXXVII.

No one can be spiritually tried by the lack of any thing which is not desirable to his supreme love. If a man supremely love the world, the lack of good and truth will not afflict him; but if he supremely love good and truth, and thus the Lord and his neighbour, the apprehension or sense of the loss of them, such as is felt in spiritual temptations, will be his severest affliction. If the loss of outward good afflicts him, it is not his supreme love which grieves, but some inferior love, which is undergoing, by means of this trial, the death of the cross, in order to its removal, and virtual extinction. He is " dying unto sin ;"—as it is said of the Lord's Humanity," He died unto sin once." (Rom. vi.)

CCCLXXXVIII.

The female sex has the greater capacity of loving; and has an innate desire to be loved by one of the other sex. The desire to be admired is a selfish and promiscuous desire, and not to be confounded with the desire to be loved by one, to which it is directly opposed. A desire to be loved for personal properties, is the desire of the unregenerate female; but a desire to be loved for the devotedness of her mind to what is good, is the desire of the regenerate female.-Extending our view from the conjugial state to the social-Christian relation, does it not follow, since woman has a proportionately large capacity of loving, and of desire to be loved, that, with the regenerating mind, the desire to be spiritually loved, and the capacity of spiritually loving, are in a like proportion? If so, it follows, that little solicitude to be the object of brotherly love, indicates a proportionately little solicitude to become a heavenly form of charity, which is much the same as indifference to real regeneration. Hence it appears reasonable to conclude, that the “I care for nobody" principle, is anything but a heavenly one, even although a clear and strong intellect may so govern the speech and conduct of one who avows that principle, as effectually to guard him from all impeachment of respectability in the sight of man.

(To be continued.)