a

The work begins with these words, "The Mind never really acquiesces in any system concerning the intercourse and harmony between the Mind and the Body, that supposes the existence of an unknown and incomprehensible principle," &c. The treatise ends on p. 80, in the middle of a sentence. The leaf containing p. 7 and 8 is wanting. In the preface at the beginning, the Author says, "Kind Reader,-I was long in doubt whether to bring together in one volume or work, the result of all my meditations on the Soul and Body, and the mutual action and passion of the two; or whether to divide my labors into separate numbers and treatises, and to publish them, one by one, in the shape of Transactions." He goes on to say, that it would be "labor of many years," and would “ require volumes" to explain the soul and the state thereof, together with its intercourse with the body, and the connexion between the two, by means of harmony; that is to say, "to set forth the whole Animal Kingdom with all its parts, and the functions and offices of each, philosophically, analytically, geometrically, and anatomically." As he foresaw that it would be impossible to finish this immense work satisfactorily at a single blow, he deemed it most advisable" to divide it into treatises and numbers, and to publish frequently." He promises, therefore, that he will come before the reader often; perhaps not less than five or six times a year, and that the fasciculi of his work will be issued under the title of " Psychological Transactions." At the end of the preface, the author signs his name, pseudonymice, J. S. E. G. O. F.

I leave the character and number of these Psychological Transactions, if they be identified with the parts published and unpublished of the Animal Kingdom, to be determined by those who are more versed than myself in the writings of Swedenborg.

Such are the particulars which have hitherto been observed by me in going over the manuscripts of Swedenborg. If they contain any novelty, or anything that is worthy of the kind consideration of those who are laboring so earnestly in the publication of Swedenborg's works, it will be a matter of the greatest gratification to me.

J. E. SVEDBOM,

Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Arts. Stockholm; The Library of the Royal Academy

of Sciences, December, 1843.

ON THE GREAT EVENTS RECORDED IN THE EARLY CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. (Concluded from page 6.)

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THAT there is a mental Creation, is a plain and obvious truth. That the soul is dark, useless, and barren, before the light of God's Word beams upon it, every one will readily own. The Saviour undoubtedly taught it, when He said, Whosoever followeth me, shall not walk in darkness;"*"The good ground is a honest and good heart;"+ "The seed is the Word of God;" and an immense variety of similar expressions. That the change from an ignorant and low state of mind, to a high state of wisdom and purity, is gradual, and by stages, the experience of every pious seeker after truth will testify. "The kingdom of God," said Jesus, "is first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear." St. Paul says, we must "speak the truth in love, that we may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." If, then, it shall be found that the days spoken of in Genesis do correctly describe the stages by which the soul advances, until it bears the perfect image of its Maker, will it not strongly press the conviction upon the thoughtful heart, that to teach this was the intention of the Almighty Giver of the Word, and not to teach natural creation with the circumstances of which it does not agree.

It is said, (verse 1,) "That in the beginning God created the heaven (Heb. hashamayim, the heavens,) and the earth." And this beautifully points to the Divine hand which formed the inward capacities of the soul, the "kingdom of heaven within a man,"§ and the natural degree of "the mind, or earth, into which instruction can be sown.'|| It is written, "Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven." The natural mind, or external man, was at first untaught, and unfurnished with principles of action in life; the earth was without the form of good, and void of truth. Hence we learn that man at first was as he is created now, (hereditary inclination to evil excepted,) innocent, but ignorant.

"The spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep." How descriptive of the Divine Mercy brooding over man's everlasting destiny, and preparing him for progression in holiness. Blessed be the boundless goodness of the Most High; He still moves over the deeps of young immortals, and prepares them for future blessing.

"And God said, Let there be light; and there was light: and God

* John viii. 12. Luke viii. 15. ‡ viii. 11. § xvii. 21. | Hosea x. 11, 12.

divided the light from the darkness: and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night: and the evening and the morning were the first day." God ever says to the uninstructed mind, "Let there be light." Let truth dawn upon the soul. He sees the light to be good. For" the soul to be without knowledge is not good."* He instructs it therefore in what is right and in what is wrong. He enables it to discriminate between error and truth, good and evil, heaven and hell; and the removal from the shades of ignorance to the brightness of knowledge, was the first state.

"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters, &c.: and the evening and the morning were the second day." When truths, the waters of life, have been plentifully acquired, man is led to perceive that they are twofold; some relating to the Lord, some to the neighbour, some to heaven, and some to earth; some to motives, and some to acts; and the perception and acknowledgement of this distinction advance him in his spiritual journey, from seeing this obscurely to a full perception of its truth, in the second state.

"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so: and God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas; and God saw that it was good: and God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself upon the earth; and it was so: and the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind; and God saw that it was good: and the evening and the morning were the third day.” After the Divine Regenerator has given man ability to distinguish truth from error, and then higher from lower truth, it is His holy will that he should discriminate between truth and good; so that the good ground, the honest and good heart, or heavenly charity, should appear, and make the seed of knowledge productive. And when this is the case, what holy and consoling thoughts abound, upon which the spirit can repose. "The Lord is his shepherd: he maketh him to lie down in green pastures."+ What new ideas are developed! What new views of grace and goodness are unfolded! What seeds of pious instruction are sown around, and what fruits of virtue, justice, and charity are produced! And from the first appearance of a tender regard for the happiness of others, to a manifestation of the fullest benevolent activity, is the third state.

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to + Ps. xxiii. 1.

* Prov. xix. 2.

divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so: and God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also; and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good and the evening and the morning were the fourth day." Hitherto, in his spiritual career, man had learned truth, but not seen it as a body of inward light; and he had done good but from duty and a desire for heaven, not from inward delight. Having, however, diligently learned and kept the commandments, a new and unwonted glow of affection and faith is revealed within his happy bosom. The wonderous power of conquering love is felt, warming every affection with its soul-cheering rays, and spreading a new day over his spirit,--a day of holiness and joy. He no longer needs a command; he acts from love, and love is the fulfilling of the law. He finds in doing God's commandments there is great reward. As the soul has varying states, when the impulses of love are not so strong, and somewhat of gloom exists, the blessed moon of faith rules the night; cheers, sustains, and encourages the mind; whispers that the full burst of blessedness will return again; and thus preserves the child of God in perpetual safety, peace, and joy. As he reads the Word now, each verse sends out its blessed beam of truth, as stars of heavenly radiance. He exalts them as the highest of learning. He makes them his crown. And when he reads of the Lord Jesus Christ, his sufferings, his temptations, and his triumphs, the blessed revelation, after his own experience of its efficacy illuminates him as a morning star, and ushers him quickly to approach and adore again the Sun of righteousness. No power can overcome this heaven-furnished servant of the Lord. His firmament within has always one or other great light in sacred lustre. Happy possessor of the 66 of heaven within! powers Thy Sun shall no more go down, nor thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." And from the commencement of this to its happy completion, is the fourth state.

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly about the earth in the open firmament of heaven: and God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind; and God saw

that it was good and God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth : and the evening and the morning were the fifth day." Man having now obtained the two great sources of holy action,-inward love, and inward faith, now returns to the consideration of the whole sea* of scientific information. He regards the outward history of the Word, and he perceives that all its patriarchs and prophets, its rites and ceremonies, its narratives and parables, are not dead facts; they are alive and pregnant with wisdom. "The waters bring forth abundantly." Every line moves with some living lesson. Every precept to Israel he finds speaking to himself, and conducting him to greater purity, to a more complete perception of the wonders of heaven, the Word, and the Lord, and to a more particular regulation of his words and his acts according to the great laws of everlasting order. He regards God's works around him no longer as mere cold and dull scientific realities, but as continual out-births of eternal wisdom. He finds a ladder every where to mount from earth to heaven. His thoughts ascend

"Through nature, up to nature's God."

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Contemplation receives wings from heaven, and rejoices in the glorious atmosphere of angelic intelligence. Wherever he is, devout meditation leads him to exclaim, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not: this is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven." He waits upon the Lord, who renews his strength; he mounts up with wings like eagles;+ he runs and is not weary; he walks and never faints. Though he has lain among the pots, now he has wings like a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers of yellow gold. Intelligent and pious, all his thoughts are pervaded by the holy sentiment, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name." And from the beginning of this perception of every particular of science, having relation to spiritual intelligence, to the full experience of so precious a conviction, was the fifth state.

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so: and God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and God saw that it was good: and God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth: so God created man in his own image, in the + Isa. xl. 31. + Ps. lxviii. 13. § Ps. ciii. 1.

* Ps. xxiv. 2.