cherubs; thus He spake unto him.' The reason why the Lord thence spake unto Moses, was, because the law was there, and by that law, in an extensive sense, is signified the Lord as to the Word, and the Lord speaks with man from the Word: the reason why it was from over the propitiatory between the two cherubs, was, because by the propitiatory is signified the removal of falsities originating in evil loves, and thence reception and hearing, and by the cherubs, defence, lest He should be approached except by the good of love"--A. E. 700.

It may here be remarked, that this place over the propitiatory, where the Lord was to meet with and speak with his people, is called in the Hebrew, debir, word-place, oracle, from, dabar, word, and as the Law is the Divine Word, and this Law was deposited within the ark, we may see the peculiar propriety of designating the propitiatory over the ark by this appellation. But we proceed with our illustrative extracts. "Inasmuch as the Lord in heaven and in the church is the divine truth or the Word, and this is understood by the law included in the ark, and whereas the presence of the Lord is in the law or the Word, therefore where the ark was, there was Jehovah or the Lord, as may appear from these words in Moses, Num. x. 31-36, 'Moses said unto Hobab, leave us not, I pray, forasmuch as Thou knowest how we are to be encamped in the wilderness, whence Thou wilt be to us instead of eyes; and it shall be when Thou shalt go with us, yea it shall be that the good which Jehovah shalt do to us, we shall also do to thee. And they went forward from the mount of Jehovah a journey of three days, and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah going before them the journey of three days to search out for them a rest; and the cloud of Jehovah was upon them by day, when they went forward out of the camp. When the ark went forward, Moses said, Arise, Jehovah, that Thine enemies may be dispersed, and Thy haters may flee from before thy faces; and when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, the myriads of the thousands of Israel.' From all the particulars of this passage it is evident, that Jehovah or the Lord is there understood by the ark, by reason of His presence in the law, which was in the ark, thus by reason of His presence in the Word; inasmuch as the Lord is there understood by the law, and thence by the ark, therefore when it went forward, Moses said, Arise, Jehovah, that Thine enemies may be dispersed, and Thy haters may flee from before Thy faces: and when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, the myriads of the thousands of Israel: but the same words involve things still more interior, viz. that the Lord, by His divine truth, leads men, and defends them against falses and evils, which are from hell, especially in states of temptation, which are specifically signified by the journeyings of the sons of Israel in the wilderness forty years; that He leads them continually by His divine truth is signified by the ark of the covenant of Jehovah going forward before them, a journey of three days, to search out a rest for them; by the ark of Jehovah is understood the Lord as to divine truth; by its going forward a journey of three days is understood His auspices, and leading from beginning to end, and by

searching out a rest is signified salvation, which is the end; but protection from falses and evils, which are from hell, is signified by the cloud of Jehovah upon them by day, likewise by the words of Moses when the ark went forward, Arise, Jehovah, that thine enemies may be dispersed, and Thy haters may flee from before Thy faces: by the cloud of Jehovah by day, is also signified defence by divine truth in ultimates, such as is the Word in the sense of the letter, for the Lord by this may be approached also by the evil, and by this He defends the interior things of the Word which are celestial and spiritual; by enemies and haters are signified falses and evils, which are from hell; by enemies falses, and by haters evils, consequently also the hells themselves as to those falses and evils; truths from good which are implanted in man after temptations, are signified by Moses saying, when the ark rested, Return, Jehovah, the myriads of the thousands of Israel; but by the resting of the ark is signified the state after temptations, when evils and falses are removed, by returning is signified the presence of the Lord, which is then manifest, for in temptations the Lord appears as absent, and by the myriads of the thousands of Israel is signified the truths derived from good, which are then implanted, and from which the church exists."-A. E. 700. It is obvious from the sacred history that a signal potency is attributed to the ark in the working of various miracles therein recorded, as the dividing of the waters of Jordan when the children of Israel passed over-the subversion of the walls of Jericho-the destruction of Dagon-the smiting of the men of Bethshemesh, and of Uzzahand the blessing of Obed-edom and his house on account of its presence, a full explanation of which will be found in A. E. 700. These. miracles were all wrought through the instrumentality of the ark, and solely by reason of its representative virtue from containing the book of the Law, which is the Truth of the Lord, the source of the Divine Omnipotence. On this account the ark is sometimes denominat. ed the Ark of the Lord's strength.

"Thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee." From this the Ark is frequently called the "Ark of the testimony," as to the purport of which we are furnished with the following expli cation. "Testimony is the Divine Truth which testifies concerning the Lord, thus it is the Word, for the Word, in the supreme sense treats of the Lord alone, and hence, in the internal sense, testifies concerning Him, that is, teaches Him, and the truths which are of faith and the goods which are of love, which are from Him. In this sense mention is made of testimony also in the Apocalypse, Who were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they had,' vi. 9. And in another place, They overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of His testimony,' xii. 11. The blood of the Lamb is the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord, as before shown: and the Word of the testimony is the Divine Truth received by man. In like manner, chap. xii. 17; chap. xix. 10. That the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord is called a testimony from this consideration, because it testifies concerning the Lord, is manifest from the words of the Lord Himself in John, 'He

who cometh from heaven is above all; what He hath seen and heard this He testifies; whosoever receiveth His testimony, hath sealed that God is true, iii. 31, 32, 33. Again, 'I am who testify concerning Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifieth concerning Me,' viii. 18. Again, Search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of Me,' v. 39. And again, 'The Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, He shall testify of Me,' xv. 26, 27. From these passages it is manifest, that the Divine Truth is called a testimony from its testifying concerning the Lord; this truth is the Word, for the Word in the supreme sense, as was said above, treats of the Lord alone, hence the Word is Divine, and hence its Holy [principle]. The Ten Words also, or the Law which was promulgated from Mount Sinai, and inscribed on two tables, and reposited in the ark, is what is here called the testimony. That Law signifies the Word or the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord in every complex. That the Lord is the source of Divine Truth, is evident from His words to Pilate, 'Pilate said, art thou a King? Jesus answered, thou sayest I am a King; for this was I born, and for this I came into the world, that I might give testimony to the truth, John xviii. 37. By King, in the internal sense, is signified Divine Truth; wherefore He said, I am a King, and for this was I born, that I might give testimony to the truth, that is, that Himself is Divine Truth. From these considerations it is now evident, that by the testimony in the ark is signified Divine Truth, thus the Lord in heaven."--Ă. C. 9503.

As to the various remaining minutiae of the Ark, the border or crown, the corners, the rings, and the staves, it will suffice to give in general Swedenborg's interpretation, in which the reader will be struck, as often elsewhere, by the perpetual recognition of the human form in a connection where he would be little apt to expect it.

"It may be expedient here to say from what ground it is that by the ark and the habitation could be represented heaven, and in this case by the border of the ark, termination; by the corners, firmness; by the rings, the conjunction of good with truth, and by the staves, power. It has been shown that universal nature, thus all and singular the things therein which are in order, are representative of the Lord's kingdom, that is, of heaven, and of the heavenly things therein. It has been also shown, that the universal heaven resembles one man, and that on this account heaven is called the GRAND MAN; from which considerations it now follows, that all the forms, by which heavenly things are represented, have reference to the human form, and have a signification according to their congruity with that form. Hence now it is evident from what ground it is, that when the ark signifies heaven where the Lord is, the border of the ark signifies termination; the sides, good with which truth is to be conjoined; the corners, firmness; the rings, conjunction itself; and the staves, power. For the staves have reference to the arms appertaining to man, whence also they signify the like with arms; the rings have reference to the ginglymoid articulations by which the arms are conjoined with the breast; the angles to the eminences themselves, where that conjunction is effected; the sides, to the pectoral or thor

acic part; the border to the circumference in which is termination. Hence it may be manifest, that by staves is signified power, as by arms; that arms and hands denote power; and that by the sides is signified the like as by the pectoral or thoracic part of the body. namely, good, for in that part are the heart and the lungs and by the heart is signified celestial good, and by the lungs spiritual good. Hence it is evident, that the rings signify the same as the ginglymoid articulations of the breast with the shoulders, and of the shoulders with the arms, namely, the conjunction of good with truth; and that by corners is signified firmness, for the strength of the body there puts itself forth, which strength and power exists by the arms. From these considerations it may be manifest, from what ground it is, that natural forms not alive represent similar things with living forms, or with forms in the human body, namely, that it is from this ground, because heaven resembles one man, that the things which are in heaven have reference to those things which appertain to man."-A. C. 9496. G. B..

(To be continued.)

POETRY.

The following lines were addressed to the late Rev. Dr. Beers by a Lady on the occa sion of his relating to her a remarkable dream of an interview with his departed wife. Though written without the remotest view to publication, yet it seems not inappropriate to preserve them among the interesting mementoes of that much loved and much venerated man.

TO DR. BEERS.

“I am married,”—“I am married,”—thou said'st,
And the glow of thy countenance proved it,
And thy love-lit eye, as the smile passed by,
Was pure as the passion that moved it.

In dreams thou hast once more clasped her form,
And perceived the dark eyes' revealing,

And tasted the bliss of her angel-kiss,

The pledge of re-union sealing.

(Her spirit speaks.)

"My earthly dross is here passing away,

Interior forms unfolding,

In the fountain clear goods and truths appear,
Each angel-eye beholding.

"The wisdom of angels at once perceives
If the thoughts are of things terrestrial,
For the heavens are pure and seek to allure
The soul to its home celestial.

“Oh, hasten, my own, away from the earth,
My joys are not full without thee,
And thy days are long, thy nights are lone,
Without thine heavenly half about thee.

"My bosom, though peaceful, often pines
For the joys of our early love lighted,
And, oh, it is plain we shall meet again,
And in heav'n, as on earth, be united."

A. G.

SELECTION S.

The following extraordinary document is assuredly to be ranked among the marvellous things of the present age. Emanating from a venerable Synod of the Presbyterian Church, we have in the manifesto before us, a bona fide overture looking to the union of the Jewish Synagogue and the Christian Church! Our readers will scarcely know how to give vent to their astonishment on witnessing this specimen of what may be termed ecclesiastical coquetting or spiritual turtle-billing. A portion of the Christian Church in our country is suddenly smitten with a concern for the Jews so tender that it longs to take them at once to its sisterly embrace. Upon inquiring into the grounds of this new-born yearning, it will be seen to grow mainly out of the fact, that the Jewish Synagogue was the model of the Presbyterian Church, and that the officers of the latter find their express prototypes in those of the former. A vein of lavish admiration of the Synagogue consequently pervades the document It is virtually lauded as an institution divinely designed for the spread of the truth and worship of the God of Israel among all nations, and it strikes our Presbyterian fathers as a pity that "the standard of Judah is not in front of the armies of the living God." Although we perceive a quasi salvo in the closing paragraphs, in which they read a lecture to their invited allies on certain faults recognized in their mode of worship, and exhort them to the study of Paul's epistles, yet it is clear that they have a strong disposition to fraternize with them as Jews, because as Jews they hold the Synagogue service, and the Synagogue is the ecclesiastical mother of the Presbyterian Church. On the same ground the Roman and the Episcopal churches might claim affinity with the sons of Israel, inasmuch as they can trace their priesthood to the same ancient origin.

We do not like to impute to any portion of the so-called Christian Church a conduct or policy that could justly be termed Jesuitical; but we cannot shut our eyes to the symptoms of such a spirit pervading the present document. Some kind of union is palpably proposed with the nation of Israel, and it is proposed to them either as Jews in unbelief or