appear; many of them are combinations of forms, such as eagle-headed lions, lion-headed men, winged quadrupeds, and others. In one is a pair of winged horses. If these were copied from designs of an earlier date, as they most probably were, it shews that symbols had been more numerous than they continued to be with the Assyrians. The remarkable resemblance between the forms seen by Ezekiel in his prophetic visions is worthy of attention. The prophet had evidently sojourned in Assyria, and seen these symbols that have engaged our attention. That the remembrance of them should have laid in his mind a suitable basis for the spirit of divine Truth to flow into and create the things he saw, and so occasion the resemblance between them, is not inconsistent with the purity of his inspiration; at the same time the circumstance yields one of those corroborative evidences of the authenticity of the Word that are always pleasing to meet with. "He was among the captives by the river of Chebar, in the land of the Chaldeans, and the hand of the Lord was upon him. He saw the likeness of four living creatures. They had the likeness of a man, every one had four faces and four wings. They had the hands of a man under their wings. They had the face of a man and the face of a lion, the face of an ox and the face of an eagle." In another description of it, it says "Every one had four faces, the first face was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle; the likeness of their faces the same as the prophet saw by the river of Chebar." We find here the man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle, the chief of the Assyrian symbols, combined. The prophetic spirit from the Lord with which Ezekiel was inspired, recognised in these Assyrian symbols the true representatives of those principles of Truth by which his Church had been originally blessed, the perversion of which had brought on its decline and effected its ruin in respect to its Truth, for Israel had been taken into captivity by Assyria, and the restoration of which should again bring the spiritual Israel into its own land, or in other words, should be the raising up of a new Church to be for ever established, which becomes the crowning burden of Ezekiel's prophecy, as we may know by its detailed description of the new temple and its services, after foretelling the utter devastation and end of the old corrupt and fallen Church.

In the second description of these four living creatures they are associated, if not identified with the cherubim in the temple at Jerusalem. The Prophet had been brought in the visions of God to Jerusalem, into the inner court of the Lord's house, and while

beholding wonderful appearances about the cherubim, lo four wheels, by the cherubim, having faces which he describes as already quoted, and then adds—“This is the living creature which I saw by the river of Chebar." When man was driven from Paradise, the Lord placed cherubim to keep the way of the tree of life. The images of the cherubim in the sanctuary and temple were placed above the mercy-seat, the place of entrance for the divine communications. And when the divine influences were about so to proceed from the Lord as to effect the removal of the old and perverted things of the Church, and the substitution in their place of new things for the formation of a new heaven and a new earth, "Behold," he saith, "I create all things new." Then, at the commencement of this work is placed the cherubim, to guard and protect from profanation the holy things that are for the new dispensation. Hence this prophecy, which describes this Divine work, begins with a description of the cherubim. For the same reason, in the Revelation by John, the subject of which is the same as that of Ezekiel, after the Lord is announced, and the attention of the Churches is called to hear what the spirit is about to communicate, John saw the four beasts or living creatures near the throne of God. The description of their faces is like the former. The faces of a lion, of a calf or young ox, of an eagle, and of a man, and like the other, full of eyes. In all the entrances to man from the Lord there is mercifully this guard, which is thus represented, according to the existing condition of things; the Divine omniscience, denoted by their being full of eyes, watching and providing by means of all those divine and spiritual principles represented by the four living creatures, for accomplishing the Divine purpose. An interpretation of the particulars in the prophet's description would be of a highly interesting character, but it would itself afford abundant material for a course of lectures, so full of wisdom are the words of Divine inspiration. I trust, however, that this slight notice of the subject, and also what has been offered upon the other matters, will not be without their use in helping to understand the correspondences of the Word, and in leading to the practical benefits really to be derived from their study, for our spiritual welfare.

SPIRITUALISM.-NOTES OF A DISCOURSE BY THE REV. O. PRESCOTT HILLER.

"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or is an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." (Deut. xviii. 10, 11, 12.)

It is remarkable that the Spiritualists of the present day should suppose that they had discovered something new, because they can by certain acts and endeavours effect a kind of communication with the spiritual world, and bring themselves under the manifest operation of spirits, or what is termed "under a spiritual influence." Why, the knowledge of the possibility of such a communication is as old as the oldest of any recorded facts-as old as Moses and the magicians of Egypt-as old as Saul and the witch of Endor-as old as the Greeks and the oracle of Delphi. The question is not whether it is possible, but whether it is allowable. The belief is, the existence of such a faculty of spiritual communication, under the name of witchcraft, has in fact existed in all ages of the world till within about a century past, when the progress of infidelity had sunk men's minds into gross atheism and materialism, and the existence of spirit and of God Himself, and of anything except matter, was doubted and denied. This state of utter rationalism reached its climax about the time of the French Revolution. Then the darkness of unbelief began to be dissipated, and at length a reaction has taken place; and now men not only are disposed to believe in the reality and newness of spirits, but many, in their newly awakened zeal, are anxious to prove and test the truth of that belief in ways that are disorderly and dangerous, and expressly forbidden by the Divine Word. In fact, the spiritualism of the present day is nothing more nor less than a species of magic-that “consulting with familiar spirits” which was forbidden to the Israelites under pain of death, and which the New Church Doctrines declare is fraught with danger to the soul. Hear Swedenborg on this point:

"It is believed by many that man may be taught of the Lord by spirits speaking with him; but those who believe this, and desire to believe it, are not aware that it is connected with danger to their souls. Man,

while he lives in the world, is, indeed, as to his spirit, in the midst of spirits; and yet spirits do not know that they are with man, nor does man know that he is with spirits. The reason is, because they are conjoined as to the affections directly, but as to the thoughts of the understanding only indirectly. For man thinks naturally, but spirits think spiritually; and natural and spiritual thought do not make one, except by correspondences; and a union by correspondences is such, that the one does not know anything of the other. But as soon as spirits begin to speak with man, they come out of their spiritual state into his natural state, and in this case they know that they are with man, and conjoin themselves with the thoughts derived from his affection, and from those thoughts speak with him: they cannot enter into anything else, for it is similar affection and consequent thought which conjoins all, and dissimilar which separates. Hence the speaking spirit is in the same principles with the man with whom he speaks, whether those principles be true or false; and he excites them, and by his affection conjoined to the man's affection, strongly confirms them. Thus it is evident that no other spirits than those similar to himself speak with man, or manifestly operate upon him, for manifest operation coincides with speech; and hence, no other than enthusiastic spirits speak with enthusiasts, no other than Quaker spirits operate upon Quakers, and Moravian spirits upon Moravians; the case would be the same with Arians, Socinians, and others. All spirits that speak with man are no other than such as have been men in the world, and were then of a similar quality. That this is the case has been given me to know by repeated experience. And what is strange and remarkable, when man believes that it is the Holy Spirit that is speaking with or operating upon him, the spirit also believes that he is the Holy Spirit: this is a common thing with enthusiastic spirits. From these considerations, it is evident to what danger the man is exposed who speaks with spirits, or who manifestly feels their operation. Man is ignorant of his own affection, whether it be good or evil, and with what other beings it is conjoined; and if he is in the conceit of his own intelligence, his attendant spirits favour every thought which is thence derived; and so, likewise, if incited by a certain fire within, one is inclined towards any particular falses, which is the case with those who are not in truth from genuine affection. And when a spirit from similar affection favours man's thoughts or principles, then one leads the other, as the blind leads the blind, till both fall into the pit. The Pythonists [oracle-priestesses] of old were of this description; as also the magicians of Egypt and Babylon, who, in consequence of discourse with spirits, and of the operation of spirits manifestly felt in themselves, were called wise men." But by this means the worship of God was turned into the worship of demons, and the Church perished; wherefore such communications were forbidden the children of Israel, under the penalty of death."-Apocalypse Explained, n. 1182.

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It is here expressly declared that to speak with spirits is "connected

with danger to the soul," and that it is disorderly even to feel, in any way, their "manifest operation." The order for man in this world— or at any rate, in the present unregenerate state of mankind-is not to know (that is, by any manifest perception) the spirits are with him, and the same ignorance is the proper order for spirits also; consequently, any art, whether by a medium or otherwise, which causes spirits to know that they are with man, is disorderly. Spirits are, indeed, ever present with man, but in an orderly way they operate only on his affections, but not directly upon his thoughts. Men," says Swedenborg, "think naturally, but spirits think spiritually; and natural and spiritual thoughts make one only by correspondences; and a union by correspondence is such that the one does not know anything concerning the other." This order leaves man in perfect freedom to think according to reason; to exercise judgment freely according to the principles he has imbibed from the Word, from parental instruction, and other orderly sources of mental cultivation. But the moment he begins to perceive the manifest operation of spirits, and is disposed to give up his thoughts to their guidance, he departs from the proper order of his nature as a man, and becomes the slave of invisible power. And the more he yields to such influences the more entirely enslaved does he become, till at length he no longer has any faculty left of exercising his mind in "freedom according to reason," which is what constitutes a human being, but becomes the mere tool and instrument of a spirit-master.

In this state what progress can be made in the regeneration? Regeneration is accomplished by a continual resistance to the evil and the false, and a continual practice of good and truth, by man, as of himself, acting in all freedom according to reason. It is in this way that he forms a character, and gradually attains (as Swedenborg terms it) a celestial proprium. And in order that man may thus form a character by acting in freedom according to reason, the Lord Himself is most careful not to influence man by any manifest internal operation, but guides him by means of the teachings of His Word, and only indirectly by the influence of good angels on his affections, being most careful never in the least to infringe upon his perfect mental freedom. But now, if a man, violating these laws of Divine order, subjects himself by any means to the manifest operation of spirits, he thereby gives up his precious freedom, and abandons the means of his regeneration. Let Spiritualists think well on this.

Under the light of these principles, it seems plain that New Churchmen are bound to discountenance this spiritual movement in all its forms—