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that the sensual perceptions are consequently thus acute and unerring, since the influx and the organism act, like the principal and the instru mental, as a one. For the animal being in the order of its nature, is at once led to the ends and uses for which it is designed. Thus Swedenborg says,—

"Animals live in order, but not so man; this is evident from chickens, which follow the mother, and love to nestle under her wings; they also know their mother; but not so man, who does not recognise his infant, unless he previously knows it, nor does an infant recognise its mother."—(Ib. 2766, 2768.)

Whereas with man, it is very different; his ends and uses are not intended to be merely natural and earthly, but spiritual and heavenly,—directed to a sphere above nature, and consequently he requires, not so much the acuteness of the senses, as the intellectual perception and rational intuition of the mind, to attain these ends of his being. It is well known, that in proportion as a man increases in intelligence and wisdom as to interior and spiritual things, his external senses become comparatively dull and senseless. When intent in profound meditation upon mental subjects his senses of sight and hearing are so absent, or so withdrawn from external things, as scarcely to see the objects and to hear the sounds which strike upon them. Not so the animal; and this is the case because man has an internal class of senses which the animal has not. Thus man has an internal and an external thought, whereas an animal has neither; for in the animal, the action within from the spiritual world causes its instinct, and the reaction without from the objects of sense creates an impression, which cannot be properly called thought, still less an idea (except by way of analogy to what we call thought and idea in man), but an instinctive impulse, leading, without error, to the attainment of the end or use of its being, not which itself has designed, for it has no power to design ends and uses, but to which it is led by the laws of influx from the spiritual into the natural principle, which laws invariably contemplate ends and uses as their essential objects.

It is of great importance that we should distinctly see that man has an internal and an external thought.* By the external thought he is in contact with the objects of sense, and in the transactions of his life in the world. His memory and imagination are both the storehouse and seat of his ideas, all of which are, in the first instance, derived from the objects of sense, and which are there collected, like materials in a store

* See this especially treated of and demonstrated by Swedenborg in D. P. 103 to 119.

house or repository, for the uses of the internal, or intellectual and rational thought, which examines, analizes, and arranges the ideas in the external, as a skilful architect prepares and arranges his rough materials, and constructs them into an edifice of symmetry and beauty. Thus by his internal thought he can look into his external, and control and keep it in subjection to his rational mind. He can consequently correct the fallacious appearances and impressions of the senses, separate genuine from apparent truths, and judge not according to the appearance, but a righteous or a just judgment. He can thus reflect upon the ideas he has acquired from without,-can consider the consequences, if any given train of thought be followed out, and finally rise to the highest ends of his existence,-the rational contemplation, and love of the Creator himself. But all this is utterly beyond the instinct of an animal. Let us now endeavour to draw up a summary of distinctions between Intellect and Instinct.

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1. All sensations of instinct in animals are of the external objects themselves immediately. These sensations cannot properly be called ideas, except in a most simple form, and in a sense most remote from the application of that term to the ideas of the human mind. Innumerable interior things," says Swedenborg, "compose one material idea of man." (S. D. 155.) This arises from man's being a subject of mediate influx from spirits and angels, while an animal is not, it being only a subject of general influx from the spiritual into the natural world. It is true that the materials of man's ideas are, as stated above, the objects of sense; these materials, however, are not the immediate objects of his intellectual thought, but the ideas themselves; just as the external thought is the immediate object of the internal. Thus animals have a mere sensation, or a bare idea of the object only; whereas intellect has a farther perception, or apprehension of the idea itself, distinguishing it from the object of sense, as separate from it, and can reflect upon it, which an animal cannot. This necessarily results from the internal or intellectual thought with which intellect is gifted above instinct.

2. Thus the knowledge of brutes terminates in these mere sensations or bare ideas from the objects of sense: whereas our knowledge only begins here: these ideas from the objects of sense being what Swedenborg calls scientifics, which, as already mentioned, are the materials on which the intellectual or rational thought operates. Thus these bare ideas of sensation in animals form the whole extent of their knowledge, which, unlike man's knowledge, can only extend to three points, namely, selfpreservation, self-propagation (including the care of offspring), and selfdefence; whereas intellect can rise infinitely above these points, and

extend its operations to every thing upon which scientifics can be procured.

3. If the impressions from objects, or the bare ideas of them, in animals, are at all obliterated, they can never be repaired but by a new impression of the object; whereas our ideas can be renewed and revived by voluntary recollection, without the presence of the object, or the circumstance which first gave rise to the idea; this power is the memory

4. Animals necessarily follow the prompting, in all their operations, of their sensitive ideas, whereas we can regulate all our operations, even in opposition to those ideas of sense, and have power to control them at pleasure.

5. Animals can by no means change the nature, or alter the proportion and arrangement, of their sensual impressions or ideas; whereas we can change, transpose, alter, and compound them at pleasure, even against

nature.

These appear to be some of the wider distinctions between intellect and instinct; more might be pointed out if we were to enter into the province of the spiritual and celestial, but enough has been said to shew the foolish absurdity of considering that the only difference between a man and a sagacious brute is the gift of speech. That philosophy which brings us acquainted with internal things, and their relations and distinctions, &c., is very much required to enable the mind to advance in genuine intelligence; and such a philosophy is supplied in the writings of Swedenborg. SCRUTATOR.

ON THE MISAPPLICATION OF SCRIPTURAL LANGUAGE IN EXTEMPORE PRAYER.

To the Editor of the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY.
SIR,

THAT utterance of the Divine Love and Wisdom, commonly called the Lord's Prayer, was given at the request of some one of the Lord's disciples, who, on hearing Him praying in a certain place, said to Him"Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." (Luke xi. 1.) It was evidently given, too, as a pattern of prayer to Christians in all ages of the world,-a pattern of both private and social prayer; and had it been regarded as such by professing Christians in general, what an enormous amount of scandal might have thereby been warded off Christianity! The evils resulting from the melancholy disregard of this inimitable model of prayer are so numerous, so well known, and,

in so many instances, so profane, that we feel unwilling to call them up before the view of the reader. The ravings of an ignorant enthusiasm ; the pruriencies of a coarse and unbridled imagination; the gross familiarity with the Divine Being which passes current under the stamp of "wrestling with God in prayer," are so abhorrent to our ideas of propriety, that we think they are better left to perish in the darkness that originated them, than to be handed down to posterity to the detriment of a religion that knows them not.

The sole intention of the few following observations, is to draw attention to what the writer considers an injudicious and unwarrantable use of certain Scriptural expressions in extempore prayer, by men who profess to study the Sacred oracles in the languages in which they were originally written, and to lead their hearers into the full knowledge and conscientious practice of those truths which are essential to salvation; a most solemn undertaking, certainly, and one requiring a much more extensive and comprehensive acquaintance with the contents of the Sacred volume than is commonly supposed, and, we regret to add, than is generally sought after. For the sake of perspicuity, our remarks shall be classed under distinct heads, and for the sake of brevity, only a few illustrations shall be offered under each head; the attentive reader, who may be accustomed to listen to the extemporaneous prayers of the modern teachers of religion, will readily perceive to what an extent such remarks might be carried without exhausting the subject.

I. Invocation of the Divine presence.-The Lord has most mercifully assured his true worshipers, that where two or three of them are gathered together in his Name, there is he in the midst of them. This assurance, one might suppose, would be fully sufficient to satisfy the believer in the Lord's omnipresence that no assembling of his worshipers could, by any possibility, be deprived of his presence. From the Lord's own words, too, we might naturally suppose that the chief point of anxiety with the worshipers would be, whether they had really come together in his Name, for this is the very ground on which his presence is promised. And here what an extensive field for self-examination is opened to the really devout worshiper of God! To the man who would worship the Lord in faith operating from genuine charity, or in other words, who would worship him in spirit and in truth, this must and will be the first concern; as to the presence of his Divine Lord, how can he, for a moment, entertain a doubt? This essential qualification for worship is, it is to be feared, very generally lost sight of; and in its place we have invocations of the Divine presence which indicate a lamentable deficiency of serious thought, and a still more lamentable ignorance of the

true import of Divine truth. The uncouth, ungrammatical, unmeaning expressions" make one in our midst," "presence thyself amongst us," "bless this little hill of thy Zion," "fill this house with thy glory," "make the place of thy feet glorious," with many others of similar import, are, comparatively, harmless when we come to reflect on the bold, the daring invocation:-" Rend the heavens, and come down, that the mountains may flow down at thy presence." This last is a favourite petition with many of our popular preachers; and we do most freely and fully admit that we never hear it used without feelings of horror. Do the men who thus address the Almighty really mean what they say? We cannot for a moment believe they mean any such thing; for, as they are generally stern advocates of the system of literal interpretation, they must, they cannot but know that, notwithstanding all their importunity, neither are the heavens rent nor the mountains melted. And if they attach any other meaning to their words than that which the literal sense allows, what is that meaning? Such portions of the Word as speak of Jehovah rending the heavens, of his coming down, and of the mountains flowing down at his presence, plainly refer to his coming for the purpose of executing judgment; but this, we know, is far from being the meaning intended by those who so frequently use these expressions in their prayers. It is very questionable, indeed, whether any definite meaning is attached to their use at all; they seem to be used more for effect than for any other purpose; but what an unworthy motive is this,-how irreverent in any one professing to approach the Divine presence himself, and to lead the devotions of others! Devotion, indeed! What devotion can there be in uttering before the throne of the Most High, words without meaning?

II. Imploring the Divine blessing on the services of the assembly.The great end of all Christian association ought to be the edification of the Church, which is the Lord's body. For this purpose the Lord has appointed what are generally termed the ordinances of the Gospel ; and thus Christians are furnished with the means of growing in grace, and of increasing in the knowledge of the Lord. This high and holy object will be attained only in as far as the minds of the worshipers are in a state suited to the reception of the divine teaching, and hence the necessity of their turning themselves to Him who is the foundation of wisdom, waiting on him in all humility and docility of spirit, and supplicating his guidance. To be thus resting on the Lord, thus forming all their expectation from him, and in every act of worship, in praise, in prayer, in reading and expounding the sacred oracles, doing all to edification, is the sure way to secure all that is implied in the

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