to the term "material," which he then confines to those grosser parts of natural substance which are cast off at death. But that he does not regard as living even the purest substances of nature, which are retained and held in connection with man's spirit, is evident from what he says in different places. For instance, D. L. W., 159:-" Now since nature begins from that sun, and all that exists and subsists therefrom is called natural, it follows that nature, with all and singular the things appertaining to it, is dead. The appearance of nature as alive in men and animals, is owing to the life which accompanies and actuates nature." What, therefore, is retained by man at death, is not retained because it is alive, nor because it has put off that which is material or dead appertaining to it; but because its dead properties are wanted for a cutaneous covering to the living spirit, that man may have a fixed identity of life continued to eternity. Hence, Swedenborg says "The natural mind of man consists of both spiritual and natural substances; from its spiritual substances thought is produced, but not from its natural substances; the latter substances recede (fall back) when a man dies, but not the spiritual substances." D. L. W. 257. So that the office of these substances is only that of fixing and rendering permanent all the particular states and things belonging to the spirit of man. It is therefore a dead use, in consonance with the nature of the substances themselves. These now, which, while the man lived in the world, were the organs of thought and affection in the natural body, the most dignified uses to which natural substances can be exalted, fall back to their real state, in accordance with their nature and essence, and subserve a purpose that is merely material and fixed. They become the ultimate substances and forms,-the very cuticles of the spiritual body. "The external, or natural memory. so far as regards all ideas which are derived from materiality, time, space, and all other things which are proper to nature, does not serve the spirit for the same use which it had served man in the world." 66 The external memory is quiescent as to anything material, because material ideas cannot be reproduced in the spiritual world." — H. H. 464. It is worthy of notice, that Swedenborg here predicates materiality of those substances which he had before called natural, derived from the purest parts of nature. The things of the spiritual world he always calls substantial, in contradistinction to those of the natural, which he denominates material. Instance the following, T. C. R. 280: 66 The true cause of those differences is, that you who inhabit the spiritual world are substantial beings, and not material; substantial things being the beginnings or principles of material things, for what [Enl. Series.-No. 61, vol. vi.] с is matter but a gathering together of substances? You, therefore, have your existence in singulars, but we in the natural world have our existence in the derivatives of those principles, and in the composites of those singulars. You are in particulars, but we are in generals; and as generals cannot enter into particulars, so neither can natural things, which are material, enter into spiritual things, which are substantial, any more than a ship's cable can enter into or be drawn through the eye of a sewing needle, or than a nerve can be introduced into one of the fibres of which it is composed." Trusting that from what has been advanced the essential difference between spiritual substance and natural, or material, will be seen by the reader, I now leave the subject in his hands. Dec. 6th, 1858. T. R. THE BIBLICUS INDEX, BY EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. OUR readers have been frequently informed in these pages that an Index Biblicus, or an Index to the entire Word, was commenced by Swedenborg at an early period of his spiritual illumination. This Index, consisting of several volumes in MS, has been preserved, since the death of the author, in the library of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. At the celebration of the Centenary in 1857, it was resolved to publish this Index, and application was made to the Royal Academy for permission to print it. This permission was graciously granted, and the manuscripts were forwarded to our learned and indefatigable friend, Dr. Tafel, for that purpose. We must not forget to mention, although already known, that a munificent donation of £500. was presented, by some generous friend, to the Swedenborg Society in London, as a contribution towards the expenses of editing and printing these precious documents. On examining the manuscripts it was soon discovered that the work was incomplete; that it is probable that the author intended to proceed with it as a general Index to everything he had quoted and explained from the Word; and that by degrees, as he printed his works, he would add to the completeness of the Index. Dr. Tafel has accordingly girded himself to the task of completing the work, by supplementing everything required from the printed volumes of Swedenborg, to carry out the design of a complete Dictionary or Index to the principal subjects, words, and names mentioned in the Bible. This indeed is a gigantic labour, which can only be accomplished under the idea that, through the Lord's blessing, it may be of great utility to the New Church. We are now happy to inform our readers that the work is advancing through the press, and that we have received through the post from Germany the printed sheets up to page 250, to the term altare, an altar. We are thus in a position to give some idea of the work, both as to its nature and its probable size. As to its nature it will be a complete Dictionary of Correspondences, significatives, and representatives, of subjects and things, and especially of the proper names mentioned in the Word. The parts supplemented by the Editor will be included in brackets [thus], and may consequently be well distinguished from the original of Swedenborg. As to its size, judging from the term altare, which is about the middle of the letter A, this first letter will occupy about 450 pages, of the same form as the new edition of the Latin works well known to most of our readers. On examining a Latin Dictionary it will be found that the letter A is one of the most comprehensive in the alphabet; hence, with the exception probably of C and S, it will comprise more terms than any other letter. Judging, then, from the data we possess, we cannot arrive at any other conclusion than that this Biblical Index will, when completed, consist of not less than ten volumes of 500 pages each. We hope and trust that through the divine mercy of the Lord, the health and strength of the learned Editor may be preserved to him in full enjoyment till its completion, which must require at least seven or eight years from the present period. As a specimen of the work we will for the present take the term Abel :-· ABEL, born Gen. iv. 2., concerning whom we read in the following verses, where he stands for the celestial man, thus in the supreme sense for the Messiah. * * * Abel, therefore, stands for the people of the ancient [that is, of the most ancient church], who were slain by the posterity of Jacob, but replaced by Seth, &c. [By Habel (Abel) is. signified charity. A. C. 342, 350, 351. By Abel is signified celestial love, or what is the same, Good conjoined with Truth. A. E. 817, p. 250.] To slay Abel is to slay the internal man, which was done by Cain, that is, by the external man.—Ibid. The blood of righteous Abel, even to the blood of Zechariah, (Matt. xxiii. 35.) [by which is signified that the truths of the Word were violated by the Jews from the first time even to the present, to such a degree that they were not willing to acknowledge anything of internal or of celestial Truth, wherefore they did not acknowledge the Lord. A. C. 9127. Abel, who is called the just (or righteous), represented the good of charity. A. C. 9263.] (Luke xi. 51.) [The blood of Abel stands for the extinction of charity. A. C. 8902. In the spiritual sense by Abel are understood those who are in the good of charity, and abstractedly from Person, that good itself; and by Zechariah are understood those who are in truths of doctrine, and abstractedly from Person, the truth of doctrine itself; hence by the blood of both is signified the extinction of all Good and Truth. A. E. 329, p. 425. From the blood of Abel even to the blood of Zechariah slain between the altar and the temple, signifies the adulteration of all good, and hence the extinction of the worship of the Lord. A. E. 391, p. 571. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR Among the beneficent adaptations of this material universe to the requirements of man as a progressive being, the greater and less cycles which mark the lapse of time are not the least important. The periodical return of seasons and years furnishes the means of comparing our advancement in wisdom, goodness, and virtue, with the progress of our probationary course, and measuring our short-comings in the Christian race. The same laws which mark the experience of individuals equally characterize that of aggregate bodies. The history of nations is but individual experience in the concrete, and that of the church presents the aggregate embodiment of the phases of individual religious states. Of the twofold points of view of which the subject admits, that which bears on man's interior individual state, and the considerations arising thereout, has been the subject of another paper; in this it is proposed to cast a passing glance at some of the more salient features whereby the ope*rations of the religious world have been eharacterized. The chief feature by which, in the present juncture of conflicting principles, whatever is connected with religious subjects is distinguished, appears to indicate their gradual and somewhat rapid approach to a state of chaos. To those whose associations and sympathies are with the Old, this betokens destruction; to those whose sympathies stand related to the New, it is simply the disintegration of effete forms preparatory to the reconstruction of a new and more living-more spiritual form of religious thought and practice. Not only are the principles of light arrayed on the one side and those of darkness on the other, but as is the case when the latter approach their consummation, these are at issue among themselves. As in the camp of the Midianites and Amalekites, when Gideon, with his three hundred men, approached; and like the Philistines, when Jonathan and his armour-bearer discovered themselves-" every man's sword was against his fellow;" so it is now. When some common danger arises a temporary union indeed results; but the danger removed, the discordant elements re-commence the intestine struggle. It is recorded of Jerusalem on the eve of its destruction, that, rent by contending factions, its inhabitants only acted in concert under the pressure and in the immediate presence of the Roman arms; when a lull occurred in the attacks of the besiegers, they waged a war of extermination among themselves, and thus hastened the impending catastrophe which dispersed them as a nation. Similar is the spectacle presented at the present juncture. The religious world is not only divided into the two great sections of Catholics and Protestants, and these again subdivided, the one into orders, and the other into sects more or less at issue with each other; but within each sect a similar antagonism exists. The forces of the church, for instance, range themselves respectively under the banners of the High, Low, and Broad Church-Puseyite, Evangelical, and Orthodox, each supporting their public organs. Among the Nonconformists, the German element wages war with the more orthodox form of dissent; whilst opposed to all, and sedulously watching every opportunity to undermine the interests of religion, and the hold it has on the mind, stands Infidelity under its Protean forms, from the gross sensuality it takes in its cheaper organs, to the more subtile aspect it assumes in the Westminster, and the recent History of Civilization in England of Buckle. In the Church of England the struggle mainly turns on certain antiquated forms and ceremonies which it is attempted to revive. This conflict, which has raged under varied forms, is designated"The Battle of the Rubric." At one stage it turned on the questions of stone altars versus wooden sacramental tables, and the use of candles on them, not for light, but for some unexplained religious object,* together with crucifixes. The form it has more prominently taken during the last year is the subject of oral confession to a priest. It would be foreign to the object of this article to enter into the merits of these questions, neither can we dwell on the subjects themselves; suffice it to remark, that coincident with much that is puerile, some valuable points have, in the course of the controversy, been mooted, among others the doctrine of Faith Alone-the repudiation of which by the Puseyites forms a redeeming feature, when contrasted with some of their puerilities. The Atonement is another of the important questions that have been raised, shewing that the more liberal in thought are yearning for something more satisfactory than the dominion of their creeds. Indeed the result of these agitations is to unsettle the mind on all religious subjects, a fact beginning to excite painful attention, as may be seen by the following extract from the Press of July 31st, 1858:"Any one who has mixed much among the rising race of our theologians, or read their writings, and observed their tone, will have remarked that there is a careful avoidance of everything that is definite in terms, or dogmatic in doctrine, in their words and works. All is vague, general, hazy and indistinct. You cannot tell for certain to what school of theology the man belongs. Even the most sacred doctrines of our religion-such as the atonement, the infinite nature of Christ's sacrifice, the method of a sinner's justification, the extent of future reward or punish *Some time since an ecclesiastical authority, to whom an appeal was made, decided that candles might be placed on the communion, but not lighted, at least in the day time. ment-are enunciated (if enunciated at all) in the most general terms. There are no dogmatic statements. No definite creed is propounded. It is only 'Christian truth,' without our being told what that truth is; and 'Christian charity,' without our being instructed in what that charity consists. It is true this arises from the system being an importation, in a great degree, from Germany, partaking, as a consequence, of the misty, hazy character of the German school of theology; but it has a deeper origin even than this. It arises out of a latent shame of what has been received as truth-a tendency to give up, in compliance with the spirit of the age, that which has stamped many of our forefathers with an opprobrious name. Its new name is descriptive enough of it. It is the Broad Church,' by which is meant something highly liberal in religion, and which is, in fact, a principle that would merge all distinc.. tion of Roman Catholic or Protestant, orthodox or evangelical, churchman or dissenter, in one colourless mass, to pass under the general name of 'Christian,' without any one knowing distinctly what it means. Among the chaotic mass are nevertheless discoverable the initiaments of new agencies, and the germs of a new organization. Much indeed of the latitudinarianism depicted and deplored in the preceding extract is attributable to the upheaving of new principles, and agencies aiming at more comprehensive uses, and struggling to break through the superincumbent mass, and to break through the barriers which creeds have imposed. Among the signs which indicate this we may place the efforts to reform the criminal classes, the conferences of social science at which the noblest and greatest in the land have been present, the increasing efforts in educating the people, and even the efforts making in the direction of sanitary reform, and increasing the material comforts of the people. In the Established Church, even with all the hankering of some of her ministers to resuscitate the past, the spirit of change has set in. Two services, formerly regarded almost in the light of bulwarks to Angelican Protestantism, have, at the instance of churchmen themselves, been abolished; the impost laid upon members of other creeds for |