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organic distinction of sex, manifestly pervading the inorganic kingdom of nature. We behold it actively manifest in the lowest and most elemental forms of matter with which science has made us acquainted. Chemistry displays to us the world of elemental matter divided into two great classes, all the individuals of one class being electro-positive, and the other electro-negative, representing the principles of love and wisdom. Two individuals of the same class will not chemically unite, any more than two males, or two females. But an individual of one class chooses from among the individuals of the other class, the one of all others for which it has the strongest affinity, they are clasped in mutual embrace, and the two become one. This union is attended by a remarkable evolution of heat-corresponding to lore-and the united pair, at the moment of their union, are often decked in a brilliant and beautiful colour, which not inaptly represents the bridal day. By these marriages-chemical unions, they are called, are produced many of the most brilliant colours used in the Arts. By these marriages are produced water, the various rocks, and all the substances of the earth. Without them the whole earth would be dissolved, for universal nature is held in the fast embrace of a universal marriage of its elements. But who will say that in this great dual division of the elements there is sexuality? Who will say when oxygen and hydrogen unite to form the one sparkling element that bubbles from the crystal fountain, that one of these substances is of the male and the other of the female sex ? Is it not clear beyond a doubt that there are not necessarily two sexes wherever the universal marriage law obtains? Then Swedenborg's statement, that there are not two sexes in the vegetable kingdom, is not equivalent to a declaration "that the universal marriage law is not universal," as is alleged by the writer in the "Newchurchman." It will therefore be seen that in this case also there is no contradiction in the teaching of our illumined author.

The functions of sex are higher manifestations of the universal marriage law. They are organic functions, and of course exist only in organic forms. The use or object of these functions is pro-creation; and only organic bodies-which are plants and animals-pro-create. The animal kingdom is endowed with both these functions, and has therefore within itself full power of pro-creation. It has two sexes. But the vegetable kingdom,-which is lower than the animal, and between the animal kingdom and the inorganic, in which is no sex-is endowed with only one of these functions. It has not therefore within itself full power of pro-creation. It performs one of the sexual functions, that of the production of seed, while the other function, which

is the pro-creation of offspring from the seed, is performed by the earth. We are happy to be able to confirm these views by the following remarks from the pen of the late Rev. Robert Hindmarsh :

"The Linnæan system supposes plants, &c. to be male and female, because of a certain distinction between their parts, called the stamen and pistil, the union of both which is necessary to render the seed prolific. But this distinction in plants is no more a sufficient reason for calling them male and female parts of a plant, than a similar distinction, which may be observed in all male animals, is for supposing there are male and female parts in one and the same animal. The characteristic peculiar to male animals is the formation of seed in themselves, which is first conceived in the understanding, then formed in the will, and afterwards translated to the lower parts of the body, where it is enveloped with a material covering, and thence conveyed into the womb, and last of all brought forth into open day. By tracing this analogy in the vegetable kingdom, we may easily see what is male and what female. All plants are male, because they produce in themselves seeds only, and not new plants. The distinct parts of the plant, which some mistake for male and female organs of generation, are nothing but analogous resemblances of the will and understanding, which are equally distinct in every male animal, and like them necessarily unite in the formation of seed. But this animal seed cannot produce new animals, until it is conveyed into the womb of a female, where after undergoing a state of corruption, similar to that of death, it rises again in all the strength and vigour of a new and living animal. In like manner the seeds of plants, which are all male, cannot produce new plants, until they are sown in the womb of the earth, which is the common female, where they equally undergo a state of corruption similar to death, and after that rise up by vegetation into new plants. As therefore the formation of seed is peculiar to the male, and the nourishment and expansion of it peculiar to the female, it follows, that all the subjects of the vegetable kingdom are male, because they are concerned only in preparing seed for the production of plants; and that the earth alone is the common female, because it nourishes and expands the seed, and thus actually brings forth new plants."-Hindmarsh's "Letters to Priestley," (2nd edition,) p. 221, Note. See also a note, of similar purport, to T.C.R. 585, edition 1819, written by Rev. S. Noble. We are informed that this note by Mr. N. must have received the sanction of the Committee of the London Printing Society.

A few words in conclusion, and we leave these subjects with our readers. The "Newchurchman" claims to make a very important distinction between every thing pertaining to the doctrines of the New Church, the spiritual sense of the Word, and Swedenborg's own deductions therefrom." Now, there is no ground or warrant in the writings for any such distinction. Swedenborg's own declarations forbid the idea that his writings contain any deductions properly "his own." He affirms “that even those things which he learned in representations and visions, and from conversation with spirits and angels, were from the Lord alone." (8. D. 1647.) And this declaration, in the same number,

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he explains to this effect; that his mind was so governed by the Lord that he was not permitted to receive anything from the proprium of any angel or spirit. Thus," he says, "have I been instructed; consequently by no spirit, nor by any angel, but by the Lord alone." And in A. E. 1183, he says, "It has been given me to perceive distinctly what comes from the Lord, and. what from the angels; what comes from the Lord is written [or given in my writings], and what comes from the angels is not written." Now, if he was not permitted to receive or to publish anything from the proprium of the angels of heaven, a fortiori he would not be permitted to publish anything from his own proprium; or, in other words, to make any deductions of his own. And this conclusion is remarkably supported by his own positive affirmation. The venerable Dr. Hartley waited on Swedenborg a few days before his death, and "earnestly pressed him openly to declare whether all he had written was strictly true, or whether any part or parts thereof were to be excepted." "I have written (answered Swedenborg in a very emphatic manner) nothing but the truth, as you will have it more and more confirmed hereafter all the days of your life, provided you keep close to the Lord," &c. (Swed. Doc., p. 108.) Such declarations as these leave no room for any admixture of falsity from his own mind-in the shape of his own deductions "—with the truths he was commissioned to reveal. Swedenborg makes similar asseverations, in the most solemn manner, in many places,* sometimes offering to verify his declaration by the most solemn oath. It follows, therefore, that the position of the "Newchurchman" cannot be true unless Swedenborg was egregiously mistaken in the character of his own mission.

We believe the general conviction of the New Church upon this subject to be well expressed in the following language of Professor Bush :—

"If Swedenborg is what he claims to be a divinely commissioned messenger of God to man, whose grand function it was to announce and unfold the nature of the Lord's Second Advent-we infer of course that his teachings have all the infallibility necessary to make them absolutely reliable."

“Exemption from error is not impossible to men, spirits, or angels, when the Lord sees fit to confer it. Neither their finiteness nor their imperfection stands in the way of it when the divine influx takes possession of their faculties, and makes them an organ of utterance. This divine possession may be so full and powerful as to lay asleep the proprium of man, [see S.D. 1647, cited above,] and thus render him a perfect and infallible instrument of conveying the Lord's mind to His children upon earth. The written Word was communicated through scribes who were in themselves finite and fallible, but who were still capable of delivering *T. C. R. 779; Preface to A. R., at the end; N. J. Magazine, 1790, pp. 51, 232; Swedenborg Documents, pp. 82, 108, 195, 297; S.D. 1647; A. E. 1183, &c.

+ American New Church Repository.

an unalloyed message to the world. Whether Swedenborg was brought into a similar psychical condition, and employed to give an infallible exposition of that Word, is a question of fact the intelligent reader of his works must decide for himself. We simply affirm that for aught that has ever been shown on this head, he may have been infallible. There is no à priori reason sufficient to warrant a denial of it."

"The New Church do not regard these revelations as of coördinate authority with the Divine Word, but simply as being intrinsically as true."

It cannot be said that this view of the writings requires a blind surrender of the judgment, or gives a narrower scope for the legitimate exercise of reason. The acceptance of truth by the mind does not narrow, but enlarges the sphere of its vision. If these writings be a revelation of truth" from the Lord alone," their unqualified acceptance as such must vastly enlarge the field for the exercise of the rational powers, for truth is the element in which the rational mind lives and breathes. Either they are so, or they are not. It is a question of fact, upon which reason must sit in judgment, and which every man must decide for himself. But having decided in the affirmative, there is but one rational course.

No one presumes to regard Swedenborg himself as infallible, and if the term infallible be predicated of his writings, it means no more than exemption from error. His writings are by no means regarded in the New Church as standing upon a level with the Divine Word. The Word is infinite Divine Truth, and in its inmost is the Lord Himself. Its very letter is Holy, as being the continent of infinite Divine Wisdom. The writings of Swedenborg are an exposition of the Wordentirely subordinate to it—and of the laws and phenomena of the spiritual world, with their operation upon the natural world, given by divine authority; or, as he says, revealed "from the Lord alone." They must, therefore, be exempt from error; but not necessarily exempt in any similar degree as the Word itself. The Word, being infinite Divine Wisdom, must not only be in every respect Holy, but it must be in every respect infallible. Its very letter, being the continent of infinite Divine Wisdom, must be delivered absolutely perfect and free from error, even as to every least expression.* For not the least violence can be done to the letter of the Word without doing violence to its most Holy internal. It was necessary, therefore, to the purpose for which the Word was given, that it should be absolutely free from error even to its very ultimates. The purpose for which the new revelation was given required no similar infallibility. It is a dispensation of doctrinal truth, containing no internal sense within the letter, and therefore

• See S. S. 3, 18; A. C. 2, 1869, 1870, 1887; T.C.R. 191, &c.

literal accuracy was not required-and literal errors no doubt occur. But there can be no intermingling of doctrinal errors in such a system. If these writings are, as is solemnly declared, "from the Lord alone," (A. E. 1183.) they must be exempt from error as to every important idea which they contain, for the Lord Himself cannot communicate error. Nor can it be rationally supposed that He would suffer truths "from Him" to be perverted by the medium which He had especially chosen and raised up for the purpose of their communication to man. Neither is it rational to suppose that He would leave him to reveal them as best he might, suffering them to be intermingled with falsities from his own proprium. The trumpet which heralds a New Dispensation of truth from God to man, is one which emits no uncertain sound.

S. M. W.

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY.

To the Editor.

DEAR SIR,-You have proved, I think, conclusively, in your interesting paper on "Candidates for the Ministry," in the November number, that whatever form the New Church may hereafter take,—whether, after the doctrines have penetrated and leavened the teachings of other religious bodies, the present sectarian form of our church will cease, or whether the separate and distinct form will ultimately prevail and absorb all the rest-however this may be, you have certainly proved that there is a use and therefore a necessity for a New Church ministry as far as the present is concerned. It is, therefore, our duty earnestly and disinterestedly to set ourselves the task of providing for its increase and perpetuation. It is a subject that has occupied the attention of our American brethren far more than ourselves, not only to devise means for its adequate support, but also to settle its position in the church, and to define and introduce a healthy discipline among its members. The great question, however, at present, with us, is the support of the ministry.

It is a general conviction, that if young men could see anything like a moderate income by devoting themselves to the ministry of our church, there are many, who are even already qualified, who would prepare themselves for it. It is not that there is no disposition to undertake its duties, but because the pecuniary trials which have hitherto beset many of those who have devoted themselves to its service, have been such as to deter prudent young men from selecting it as an occupation.