XXV.

The good of civilization may be pure (according to its place and degree) or it may be spurious; the principles of morality and honour may be sound or unsound; but the procedure of those solifidians must not be imitated, who unjustly depreciate this good, in order the more to exalt the supremacy of their faith. Every degree and kind of good, the Lord requires his true disciples to cultivate, and devote to his service.

XXVI.

It is certainly desirable to be placed amidst orderly external delights, sanctified by gratitude to the Supreme Giver; but it is still better to be in the performance of active uses, sanctified by love to the Lord, and especially when external delights have been renounced for the sake of use, in obedience to the calls of duty.

XXVII.

Reverence for God is the corner stone of piety; and for the same reason reverence for good men and women is the corner stone of charity. As the best men have most reverence for God, so have they also for the wise and virtuous.

XXVIII.

To be blind to good in others, indicates the absence of the " light of life," in which good is discerned with clearness and delight. The want of this light indicates neglect in following the Lord, for to those who follow the Lord, this light is promised.

XXIX.

A writer evidently teeming with prejudices, quotes the words of a celebrated author, that "men have fire for falsehood, and ice for truth,” not being at all aware that he is himself affording a personal illustration of the truth of the saying!

XXX.

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." This much quoted line is now generally considered to be inaccurate. It is nevertheless true in this sense, that we are prone to value ourselves most for kinds of knowledge in which we least excel. Had we advanced far enough to see the extensiveness of the subject, and the difficulties in our way, our estimate of our attainments would have been more moderate.

N. S. NO. 138.-VOL. XII.

T

XXXI.

The habitual and spontaneous recognition of a principle in our actions, is the mark of a healthy conscience; but all paltering with our likings, or compromising principle with expediency, marks an unhealthy state of the conscience.

(To be continued.)

PHYSIOLOGY AND THEOLOGY, OR THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE HUMAN BODY AND ITS PARTS TO THINGS SPIRITUAL AND DIVINE.

THE human body, so fearfully and wonderfully formed, is an epitome of Divine Order, shewing how the Deity operates, by his life-giving influx, and in what manner uses of every kind are performed. The body, viewed physiologically as to its organs, functions, and uses, is a type of all the divine operations, and also of the divine economy in the universe. As a microcosm or little world, the body is the image of the macrocosm or great world. Whatever principles of science have ever been discovered in mechanics, chemistry, hydraulics, hydrostatics, botany, electricity, &c. &c., are perfectly imaged in the human frame by its functions and uses. Thus the body is the temple of all the sciences, both physical and philosophical.* But this image can only be rationally seen by analogy and correspondence. Thus in the human system there is a perfect image of domestic order,-the economy of the body is the type of the household in which we should live. How one principle is subordinated to another, and how all are coördinated together, is perfectly exemplified in man's corporeal system. For without subordination and coördination there can be no order, and without order nothing can subsist in its proper state, so as to produce its destined usefulness. Again, in the human system there is a perfect exhibition of civil order, and of political government. The body politic is conceived of as being in the human form, according to which the mind not only derives its metaphors of language, but its principles of thought. But lastly, the church and kingdom of God are thought of in accordance with the human form; the principles which govern this form also govern the mind when properly thinking about heaven and the church. Hence it is, that

*See Swedenborg's Animal Kingdom, 317.

heaven is called "Christ's mystical body," and the faithful are said to be members of that body. (1 Cor. vi. 15; Eph. v. 30.)

Now, from what has been said, it will follow that physiology is a most important science, not only to the medical practitioner, but to the general reader, since it forms, more directly than any other science, the basis of theology. It supplies a ground of thought respecting God, his kingdom, and the human soul, more solid and firm than any other kind of knowledge. Even the divine Word itself, the only source of all revealed knowledge respecting divine and spiritual realities, is likened by Swedenborg to a man; and the prophets, especially Elijah and John the Baptist, represented, even as to their dress, the Word of God. From the importance, then, of physiology as a science, forming the basis of thought and reflection on subjects relating to the human soul, to God, and universally to things spiritual, celestial, and divine, every individual who desires to be gifted with any degree of spiritual and rational intelligence should cultivate a knowledge of anatomy and physiology, as the principal means of access to the great world of interior realities, or of genuine intelligence and wisdom. This will become more evident when we consider that the body and its parts often occur in the Scriptures, and that it is impossible to understand their true meaning without a spiritual discernment, or a spiritual perception of their correspondence to what is heavenly and divine. This will abundantly appear as we proceed. The head and its coverings, the hair, the scalp, and the skull, frequently occur in Scripture, and in most cases in so striking a manner as at once to evince that something ulterior or spiritual is implied. One of the most universal metaphors of language is the head, as denoting the chief, the primary, essential, and governing principle in relation to the subject of which it is predicated. As being the central seat of the powers both of the will and of the understanding,— as denoting the mind in its first principles, the head is at once an obvious figure of the governing principle of the soul. From the head every thing in the body is animated with life. Here it is that all motion, the first indication of life as well as its first correspondent, exists, and from which, with a velocity greater than that of electricity, it is communicated to the entire system. Here likewise dwell all the organs of sense, and here all sensation is experienced. The head being the top of the body, we find that in all those passages in the Word where in the common version we meet with the term top, in Hebrew it is head. Thus, "the tower, whose top (head) may reach unto heaven." (Gen. xi. 4.) "The top (head) of the ladder reached to heaven." (xxviii. 12.) "Jacob poured oil on the top (head) of the stone," &c.

This is its most common metaphorical meaning, because all correspondences have relation to the human form, and in most cases, in Hebrew, designations of objects are taken from parts of the body. Thus we read of " trees clapping their hands." (Isaiah lv. 13.) This is adduced in order to shew that every thing, when viewed from heaven, has relation to the human form, or to what is opposite thereto, and monstrous. The correspondence of the head as the governing principle of the life, will now be obvious, and the numerous allusions in the Word to the head will be seen in their true and edifying meaning. Hence the Lord is said to be the lifter up of mine head," (Ps. iii. 3.) to denote that during the process of regeneration He elevates the governing principle of our life to the love of Himself above all things, by which elevation our head is truly "lifted up above our enemies," (Psalm xxvii. 6.) the evils to which we are prone. He also "anoints our head with oil," (Psalm xxiii. 5.) to denote that He flows with His divine love—oil—into the inmost or supreme principles of our life, and thus governs and blesses all things in the mind of man. Of what use would it be to anoint the head with oil, unless it had this spiritual signification? Hence it is that to anoint the head is one of the divine precepts of the Gospel-(Matt. vi. 17.)-to open the heart to the reception of the Lord's love. Our iniquities are said to go over our heads (Psalm xxxviii. 4.) when, during temptations, we feel the sinfulness of our depraved nature, and dread lest it should become the governing principle of our life. In this case, we feel that "the whole head is sick,” (Isaiah i. 5.) which signifies, that even the governing principles of our life are nothing but evil, and that from the Lord alone can we be healed and restored to spiritual health. The mischief or evil of the wicked is said to return upon his own head, (Ps. vii. 16.) to signify, that according to the law of action and reaction, which is as prevalent in spiritual things as in natural, the evil intended always comes back again, with sevenfold vengeance, upon him who intends it; for all intentions and designs originate in the governing love, or the head; here also is the seat of all our motives, or of every thing which moves us to think, feel, and act.

The hair which covers the head, and which is found more or less over the whole body, denotes, in relation to the principles of our life, what is most external and ultimate. As in nature, or the great world around us, all active principles and forces from the sun terminate in inactivity, inertia, and fixedness: so, in like manner, in the little world of man, the body, all the active principles and forces of life, from the head, terminate in the bones, cartilages, nails, and hairs, which are the ultimates

where things settle down in comparative inertia and fixedness, deprived of nearly all sensation and life. Now the hair, and especially the hair of the head, is often mentioned in Scripture in a manner which it is impossible to understand but by means of the spiritual signification, discovered to our perceptions by the science of correspondences. In confirmation of this statement, we will adduce out of many passages only a few. What, for instance, is meant by the Lord's declaration in the prophet, that " instead of well-set hair there shall be baldness"? (Isaiah iii. 24.) Again, what is signified when it is said that the "Lord shall shave the head, and the hair of the feet”? (Isaiah vii. 20.) And also, what is involved in the divine command to Jerusalem--" Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away"? (Jer. vii. 29.) Every man who believes the Word to be divine, can see that something very important is involved in these statements; but he cannot have a clear perception of the divine teaching, unless he knows, from correspondence, the spiritual signification of the hair.

Of all the institutions among the Jews, that of the Nazariteship was probably the most remarkable: see Numbers vi., where the laws to be observed by the Nazarites are stated. One of these laws commands that the Nazarite, during his vow of separation, or of his especial consecration to God, "should suffer no razor to come upon his head; and that he should let the locks of the hair of his head grow." (verse 5.) There were, it appears, two kinds of Nazarites: one like Samson and John the Baptist, who were Nazarites from their infancy; and another kind, who voluntarily took upon themselves the vow of the Nazariteship for a season only, after which they returned to their usual avocations, and to their ordinary mode of living. But the distinguishing characteristic of the Nazarite was his hair: and in respect to Samson this was especially the case, for it is expressly stated that his wonderful strength consisted in his hair; and that when his locks were shorn off, his strength failed him. (Judges xvi. 17, 19.) Now, no merely rational investigation could ever discover the reason why the strength of Samson consisted chiefly in his hair. No rationale of this circumstance can be discovered à posteriori by our ordinary modes of thinking and of rational investigation. Hence it is that mere rationalists, or those who reason from merely external grounds of thought, and from sceptical and negative principles, consider the history of Samson to be a mere fable from beginning to end, and thus they reject the Scriptures. This is the case with very many at the present time in the Protestant universities and colleges of Germany, and also with some in this country. But it should be borne in mind that there is a true rationalism as well as a false, and