§3. The rule of final judgment can be no other than that of moral government, called the moral law; the immediate foundation of which lies in conftituted relations. Hence it is plain, that obligations "fufficiently apprized, is in a great measure owing to the want "of fuch a key; for the more we are acquainted with the science "of correfpondences, fo much the more fhall we be agreed in "judgment, and in the true understanding of the fcriptures. "Indeed fo regular and certain is that science, that were any "given number of perfons, properly acquainted with it, required "to give their opinion of any part of fcripture, they would all "uniformly agree in the fame explanation, if not in words, yet "in fubftance; which is a circumftance not even pretended to "by those who reject the spiritual fenfe, but at the fame time a "ftriking proof of the reality of correfpondences, and that the "Word of God is written according to that science." Ibid. 268. "It only requires a proper knowledge of the fcience of corref "pondences, to be poffeffed of a rational, fatisfactory, and "determinate way of explaining them. For example, wherever "mention is made of a horse, it invariably fignifies the under"A mere "ftanding; and a chariot means doctrine." Ibid. 273 figure or fimile is the refemblance which one natural object or "circumftance is fuppofed to bear to another natural object or "circumstance; whereas a correfpondence is the actual relation "fubfifting between a natural object and a spiritual fubject, or a "natural form and a spiritual effence; that is between outer and "inner, lower and higher, nature and fpirit; and not between "nature and nature, or spirit and fpirit. This distinction should "be well attended to. The language of correfpondence is "the language of GOD himfelf, being that which he always "fpeaks, both in his word, and in his works: but figure and "metaphor, together with the language of fable, are the mere "inventions of man, which took their rife when the divine fcience "of correfpondences began to be loft in the world." Ibid. 283. "Numbers, as well as names, in the holy word, are fignificative "and correfpondent; therefore it is faid, Apoc. xiii. 18. Here is vary as relations and circumftances do. And it is no lefs plain, that moral obligation, the moral law, and conftituted relations, are co-exiftent; there is no obligation " is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the "beaft: for it is the number of a man ; and his number is fix hundred "three feore and fix. I remember to have read, fome years ago, 66 many curious explanations of the number 666, all having reference to the titles of the Pope, in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, or in "fome other way alluding to the church of Rome. The words "Lateinos, Romiith, Vicarius generalis Dei in terris, Vicarius Filii "Dei, with various others, were by dint of numeral powers, the moon. and fuch like calculations, all made to produce the exact com"plement 666. At that time I thought fome attention was due "to thofe ingenious fpeculations; but on further inquiry I foon "found, that not only the names above mentioned would make "up the required number, but perhaps an hundred and fifty "other names, that could no more be supposed to have any con"nection with the contents of the Apocalypfe than the man in I then faw, that all fuck explications could not be the "effect of that wifdom fpoken of in the 13th chapter, and to "which we are invited; but that there must be fome other "hidden meaning, with which the learned were unacquainted. "It did not fatisfy me, that Lateinos, Romiith, Vicarius Filii Dei, "or even Ludovicus, made up the complement 666, when other "words were to be found, that did the fame, fuch as Jofeph "Smith, Tomkins, Benjamin Bennet, and what is fingular "enough, the Rev. Jof. Priestley; for by the magical power of "numerals I could bring them all to fing the fame fong, fix huh"dred and fixty fix. It was indeed a curious circumstance; but I "thought that not fufficient for one who is in fearch of genuine "truth; neither did I then, nor do I now think, that a mere "rebus or conundrum is worthy a place in thofe oracles of divine "truth, whofe author is no less than the great JEHOVAH, the "GOD of heaven and earth." Ibid. 284, 286. "As the true "meaning of the number 666 may be feen at large in Baron "SWEDEN obligation without law, and there is no law without conftituted relation; and the one flows from the other as a neceffary effect. The only poffible way, therefore, of exempting us from obligation to the moral I 3 the a SWEDENBORG's Apocalypfe Revealed, I fhall here only obferve, ferved, that a whole church, or community of men, appears "before the Lord as one man it is for this reason that the quality 66 of a church is, in the letter of fcripture, faid to be the number "of a man." Ibid. 288. "He who knoweth nothing of the fpiritual fenfe of the word, "little thinketh that by a garden, a grove, and a wood, are meant "wisdom, intelligence, fcience; that by the olive, the vine, the "cedar, the poplar, and the oak, are meant the good and truth "of the church, under the different characters of celeftial, fpiri"tual, rational, natural, and fenfual; that by a lamb, a fheep, 66 a goat, a calf, and an ox, are meant innocence, charity, and "natural affection; that by mountains, hills, and valleys, are 66 meant the higher, the lower, and the lowest things relating to "the church; alfe, that by Egypt is fignified what is fcientific, "by Afhur what is rational, by Edom what is natural, by the "children of Ammon the adulteration of truth, by the Philistines "faith without charity, by Tyre and Sidon the knowledges of 64 goodness and truth, by Gog external worship without internal ; in general, by Jacob in the word is understood the church 46 natural, by Ifrael the church spiritual, and by Judah the "church celeftial." Ibid. 291. On the hiftory of 1 Sam. chap. v. and vi. it is thus remarked: "That all thefe devices of moral law, properly fo called, is to annihilate our human existence. - This law, which is the rule of right and wrong, will be the ftandard of measure in judgment, the impartial balance to weigh the varied characters "of the Philiftine diviners were corrcfpondences, is evident from "their fignification, which is this; the Philistines themfelves "fignified thofe who are influenced by faith feparate from cha"rity; Dagon reprefented their religious worship; the emerods, "wherewith they were fmitten, fignified the natural loves, which, "if feparated from fpiritual love, are unclean; and mice figni"fied the devaltation of the church, by falfifications of truth; a new cart fignified natural doctrine of the church; for chariot, in the word, fignifieth doctrine derived from spiritual truths; "the milch-kine fignified good natural affections; the golden. "emerods fignified the natural loves purified and made good; "the golden mice fignified the devaftation of the church re"moved by means of goodness; for gold in the word fignifieth "goodness; the lowing of the kine in the way fignified the "difficult converfion of the concupifcences of evil in the na"tural man into good affections; the offering of the kine and "the cart as a burnt-offering, fignified that thus the God of "Ifrael was rendered propitious. All these things then, which "the Philiftines did by the advice of their diviners, were correspondences; from which it appears that that science was long preferved among the Gentiles." Ibid. 296. "The reafon "why the fcience of correfpondences, which is the true key to the "fpiritual fenfe of the word, was not difcovered to later agcs "[though it remained amongst many caftern nations, even till the "coming of the Lord] was, because the chriftians of the primitive "church were men of fuch great fimplicity, that it was to no purpose "to difcover it to them; for had it been difcovered, they would "have found no ufe in it, nor would they have understood it." Itid. 300. 66 "With refpect to the Lord's 2. The fecond coming of our Lord. cond advent, the doctrine of the New Church is this; that the "Lord cannot come in perfon into the material world, because 66 "fince characters of mankind. By this will be judged the patriarchs and prophets, the twelve apoftles of the lamb, confefiors and martyrs, as well as the ignorant and wicked, who know not GOD and obey not I 4 the "fince his afcenfion into heaven he is in his glorified humanity, "and in this humanity, although it is omniprefent, he cannot be "seen by any man unless his fpiritual eyes be first opened, as was "the cafe with all who faw him after his refurrection; for as a "material eye can fee nothing but matter, fo the Lord's glorified "body being fubftantial, and not material, can only be seen by a "fpiritual eye. Indeed it is a clear cafe to me, that, were the 86 86 the Lord to make his perfonal appearance among men in the un"clouded splendour of his divine humanity, it would be attended " with more certain deftruction to the whole race of mankind, "than if this ball of earth, together with all its inhabitants, were "caft into the Sun." Ibid. 305. "The whole paffage [Acts i. 11. "Ye men of Galilee, why look ye up to heaven? &c.] is the record of "a tranfaction that occurred, not in the natural, but in the spiritual "world; for, as has been already proved, the Lord never was, nor could be, feen after the refurrection, by the natural eyes of any man. He was then in the lower parts of the spiritual "world; confequently his perfonal afcent muft have been from "thence into heaven, and not from the material world, which he "had left forty days before, viz. at the time of his refurrection. "Befides, there are clouds in the fpiritual world, equally as well "as in the natural world; and the clouds of the former, are more "properly called the clouds of heaven, than the latter, which in "fact are nothing but the clouds of the earth. It is evident, there"fore, that what the angels faid of Jefus returning from heaven "in like manner as he went up into heaven, ought to be under"ftood as alluding to his appearance in the spiritual world, at the "time of his fecond coming, and not to any perfonal appearance "in the natural world. To men on earth who are enlightened, "fo as to difcern the fpiritual sense of the fcriptures, the Lord appears as divine truth: but to those inhabitants of the spiritual "world, who in heart acknowledge him as the only GoD of "heaven |