finite, whereas things do not limit and concentre, but extend it to the infinite, thus to the Lord. Thence also it is, that not any person, which is named in the Word, is perceived in heaven, but instead thereof the thing which is represented by that person, so neither any people or nation, but the quality thereof. Yea, further, not a single historical of the Word concerning person, nation, and people, is at all known in heaven, consequently neither is it known who Abraham is, who Isaac, who Jacob, who the Israelitish people, and who the Jewish nation, but it is there perceived what Abraham is, what Isaac, what Jacob, what the Israelitish people, what the Jewish nation, and so in all other cases; hence the angelic speech is respectively unlimited and also universal."-A. C. 5225.

"In the internal sense persons and words are not reflected on, but only their signification. In heaven they do not know (in reading the Word) who Lot is, but the quality represented by him. Inasmuch as the name signifies the quality of any person, it comprehends in one complex whatever is in him; for in heaven no attention is paid to the name of any one, but when any one is named, or when the term "name" is mentioned, there is presented the idea of the person's quality, or of all things which are his, which are with him, and are in him.-A. Č. 1434, 2009.

"Names, countries, nations, and the like, are not at all known to those who are in heaven; they have no idea of such things, but of the realities signified thereby. It is from the internal sense that the Word of the Lord lives, this sense being like the soul, of which the external sense is as it were the body; and the case with the Word is as with man; when his body dies, then his soul lives, and when the soul lives then he is no longer acquainted with the things that relate to the body: thus when he comes amongst the angels, he knows not what the Word is in its literal sense, but only what it is in its soul. Such was the man of the Most Ancient Church; were he living at this day on earth, and were he to read the Word, he would not at all remain in the sense of the letter, but it would be as if he did not see it, but only the internal sense abstracted from the letter, and this in such a manner as if the letter had no existence; thus he would dwell in the life or soul of the Word. The case is the same with every part of the Word, even with the historicals, which are altogether such as they are related; but yet not even the minutest word is given, which does not in the internal sense involve arcana, which never become apparent to those who keep their attention fixed on the historical context."-A. C. 1143.

The application of this to the particular theme of our present discussion is obvious. To a spiritual idea the names Israel, Judah, Jacob, Jerusalem, Zion, &c., so far from denoting the veritable persons and places indicated thereby, assume normally and necessarily a a representative significancy, which is to the letter what the soul is to the body. On the same ground the predictions respecting both the captivity and the restoration of the Jewish nation, as in fact the history of its whole career, couch under them an esoteric sense and scope applicable primarily and predominantly to the Christian Church and the Christian man, who is individually a compend of the Church. How far and in what sense a literal accomplishment is to be affirmed in connexion with the spiritual will be hereafter considered. What we now assert is, that to a spiritual state of mind the spiritual sense is the sense of the Word-the sense that is present and paramount above every other.

We cannot of course anticipate anything else than that the view now advanced will be denied and rejected as the mere dreaming va

garies of a distempered brain, or a string of unsupported assumptions. But we would fain interrogate skepticism as to such a rejection. Why should this view of the subject be deemed unworthy of notice? Is it not a fact that man possesses a spiritual as well as a sensual nature? Is it not the native effect of regeneration to open or unfold this nature? Is there not a spiritual world replete with objects and verities with which this spiritual element becomes more and more conversant, till at length, when separated from the body, it merges into the midst of them? Will Mr. L., or any one claiming the name of Christian, deny this? But if this be the truth, what is there in the above representations of Swedenborg that is in the slightest degree inconsistent with it, or that does not in fact grow legitimately out of it? rationally conceive that the truth respecting the operations of this spiritual principle should be other than that which he has stated? If the asserted phenomena, laws, and conditions of the spiritual world do refer themselves to a psychological basis inwrought in the very constitution of man, what fair objection lies against the enunciation of them in the form in which they are above presented? Take, for instance, the following paragraph, with which we conclude, and let any candid, reflecting man pronounce whether it be not perfectly consistent with the most rational ideas which we can form of the actings of the spiritual nature in its relations to a spiritual revelation.

"Inasmuch as at this day it is altogether unknown that in the Word there is an internal sense, yea, what the internal sense of the Word is, it may be expedient to say a few words further concerning it. The ideas of the thought of angels are not natural, such as are the ideas of the thought of men, but they are spiritual; nevertheless the quality of their spiritual ideas can hardly be comprehended by man, except by interior thought and reflection on the first rudiments of their thoughts, which, that they are without expression of speech, is known from this circumstance, that they are such that man can in a moment comprehend more things than he is able to express by speech in any given time; these ideas of thought appertain to his spirit; but the ideas of thought which man comprehends, and which fall into expressions, are natural; and by the learned are called material; whereas the former or interior ideas are called spiritual, and by the learned immaterial; into these ideas man comes after death, when he becomes a spirit, and by these ideas he consociates in discourse with other spirits. There is a correspondence between these ideas and the former, and by correspondence the former are turned into these, or spiritual ideas into natural, when man speaks. This is not known to man, because he does not reflect upon it, and no others are capable of reflecting upon it, but those who think interiorly, that is, who think in their spirit abstractedly from the body; sensual men are utterly unable to do this. Now since there is correspondence between spiritual thought and natural, and since the angels are in spiritual thought, hence the angels perceive spiritually what man perceives naturally, and this in an instant without any reflection on the difference; this is effected principally when man reads the Word, or when he thinks from the Word, for the Word is so written, that there is correspondence in all and singular things. As, for example, when man reads these words of the Lord in Matthew, After the affliction of those days the sun shall be ob scured, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from hea ven, and the virtues of the heavens shall be moved; then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with virtue and glory,' xxiv. 29, 30. These words the angels apperceive altogether otherwise than man; by the sun which shall be obscured they do not apperceive the

sun, but love to the Lord; by the moon they do not apperceive the moon, but faith in the Lord; nor by stars, stars, but the knowledges of good and truth; by the Son of Man they apperceive the Lord as to Divine Truth; by the tribes of the earth, all the truths of the Church; by the clouds of heaven, they apperceive the Word in the sense of the letter; and by virtue and glory, the Word in the internal sense. Into this understanding of those words the angels come in an instant from correspondence, when man reads them; nor do they know that man thinks of the sun, of the moon, of the stars, of the clouds of heaven, &c., the reason is, because the angels are in a spiritual idea, and a spiritual idea is such, that the things which are of nature are turned into things of heavenly light, which is the Divine Truth from the Lord. Another reason why the angels so perceive the Word, when man reads it, is because angels are attendant on men, and dwell in their affections; and because man as to his spirit is in society with spirits, and as to interior thought, which is spiritual, with the angels of heaven. Hence also man has the faculty of thinking. These observations are intended to show what the internal sense of the Word is, or what the interior things of the Word, of the Church, and of worship are, which are called celestial and spiritual things.”—A. C. 10,604.

The fuller bearing of these principles upon the scope of Mr. L.'s interpretation of the prophecies respecting the destiny of Israel, will be dwelt upon in our next.

G. B.

(To be continued.)

ARTICLE II.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA.

FROM a note accompanying the ensuing communication we are assured that it is the record of a veritable experience, and the writer is desirous of some suggestions enabling him to form a correct idea of the nature of the visitation and of the importance to be attached to it. We fear we shall not be able to satisfy our correspondent-certainly not if he is disposed to lay much stress on the kind of ghostly monition of which the present is a specimen. The facts detailed indicate to us an exceedingly morbid condition of the nervous system, attended with a consequent opening, to a certain extent, of the spiritual senses, but in a disorderly way. It is like opening a postern in a besieged citadel into which the enemy rushes like a flood. That such an infestation, however, might be overruled for good in the final issue, we have no doubt; and it is possible that the spirit of a pious and devoted mother may have succeeded, in its approach, to these infernal visitants and have insinuated its gentle counsels and uttered its mournful warnings to the inner ear of her son. But she could have had but little satisfaction in entering the interior chambers of the soul through such a door, and if her happiness were to be consulted, no efforts would be spared to close it by a course of strenuous self-subjection and earnest looking to the Lord.

THE events related in the following narrative occurred a few years ago in the month of September and in the city of New-York. Struck

with their singularity, I noted them down within a short time after their occurrence, and now offer them to the consideration of those interested in the study of our complex and mysterious organization.

Omitting then all preceding circumstances, let me say, that having spent the hours of a bright September day in traversing the great thoroughfares of the city in quest at once of exercise and of the amusement found in watching the aspect and movements of the busy throngs, I went to my lodging somewhat early in the evening, more than usually fatigued, but, so far as I knew, in my ordinary state of health. The remains of twilight on the one hand, and the just rising moon on the other, made it considerably light abroad, and I stood for some moments, looking from my chamber window towards the goldtinted West and listening to the manifold hum of the mighty city. While standing thus, my attention was arrested by sounds of which I despair giving any adequate or definite notion by words, though at the distance of some years, every particular concerning them is fresh in my mind as at first. At one moment there were murmurs, as of the voices of several persons talking rapidly together, interrupted occasionally by a loud, discordant laugh, in the tones of which was an inexplicable something that caused an involuntary shudder. The substance of this talk I could not at first catch. At another moment, I could hear a single strong voice repeating several times without intermission what seemed to be the same sentence in a measured sort of chant, and in what was so chanted I could hear my own name, as also something relating to myself. I was so startled at this strange occurrence (and alarmed too, I may as well admit), that I strove to make out that it was but the noises of the city I thus heard, especially those of a nigh-neighboring bowling-alley, which sent forth a host of discordant clamors, with small cessation by day or by night, and to explain away the apparent utterance of my own name, as a mere trick of fancy acted on by disordered nerves. But, after listening some time with the utmost attention, I ascertained that the sounds in question did not come from the bowling-alley or from any other quarter of the city, and I did not mistake in supposing I heard in them both my own name and remarks concerning myself. I could not, however, determine what direction they came from, or whether their origin was out of doors or within. In fact, they seemed to come as much from one quarter as another, and the impression they made upon me was (as nearly as I can describe it) that they had no relation to locality, and were not in space at all.

As I gave them this increased attention, the sounds grew more distinct and more intelligible, and I was able to hear perfectly the substance of conversations, alternating at intervals with the measured chant above mentioned, intermingled with peals of laughter so dissonant and grating, so overflowing with malignity in its tones, that my blood perforce ran cold as I listened. Again and again I thrust my head from the window and strained my hearing with the hope of finding that it was from a human source these noises came, but it was all in vain. The myriad various sounds of the city might all be distinguished as usual, but these were separate and different from them all. After

my utmost endeavors to account for what I heard on known principles, the impression was forced upon me, whether I would or no, that a band of disembodied beings were nigh me, though invisible, with injurious intents. For what was there to suggest to me, that these phenomena sprang from a morbid state of my system when I had all day been mingling in the city throngs in apparently full possession of all my faculties, and was at this very moment exercising my whole capacity of perception, of discrimination, and of reasoning? But while the impression was thus forced upon me, that disembodied beings were present, it was manifest from their every word, that they must be evil spirits or fiends. For they plied me with bitterest sarcasm, and heaped upon me abuse without measure. Wrong or doubtful acts, and even thoughts, imaginations, and wishes of my long past years, going back even to early childhood, were called up and commented upon in those sneering accents and with that subtlety of sophistry, which would go nigh to make the purest things look dark or dubious. And not content with this, they attacked and strove to slur what I had counted my life's best deeds and my most estimable traits, by the imputation of selfish motives and by glosses the most malignly ingenious. As I sat listening in half stupified amazement, my amazement was still further increased to hear my unuttered thoughts and feelings of the moment, of the workings of my mind upon these very circumstances, caught up and talked of aloud in the same strain of perversion and taunt.

The great drift and chief intent of these assaulting fiends (if such they were) seemed to be to drive me to despair, despair alike of myself and my fortunes, and of God's love and providence. Over and over again they declared that it was utterly in vain that I struggled to emancipate myself from my evils either of soul or of body, and in confirmation of this, they recalled and dwelt with endless, minutest iteration on every attempt in this behalf I had ever made, which had proved abortive. At the same time they poured out the most appalling blasphemies upon the name and character of God, interchanged at intervals with clanging peals of demoniac laughter. (And by the way, what is there on earth so capable of expressing intensity and depth of malignity, as the laugh?) To give a specimen of their blasphemy, they concluded one of their outrageous tirades against my unhappy self with the awfully impious words, "He is almost as bad as God himself!"

That I should be cast into no small commotion, and that my nerves should be strained and racked by finding myself the subject of phenomena so inexplicable, will readily be apprehended. I succeeded, however, in keeping myself measurably composed for a time by recalling much that I had read, as also something I had experienced, of the power of diseased nerves to falsify the reports of the senses, and retired to bed with some faint hope, that sleep might descend and scatter the megrims that plagued me. But sleep came not. On the con

trary, the assaults of my tormentors grew more violent, their taunts more stinging and their abuse more rancorous, while darker and yet darker, under their subtle glosses, grew the envelopment they were striving to wrap about me.