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on which it rests. These grounds are brought home to the conviction of every reader whose mind is not entirely hardened against every idea of religion. It is a work which is rendering good service in France, and in this country we are certain its uses will be great, especially amongst a certain numerous class of readers. The "Key to the Mystery" explains the doctrine of Correspondences as the only means of expounding the truths and mysteries of the Word. The Apocalypse is judiciously taken as the book to which the Key can be obviously and effectively applied. The learning and skill of the author are astonishingly great. All the resources of ancient history and mythology are at his command, and he applies these resources in illustration and confirmation of the Key-the Science of Correspondences—with great ability and skill. The book is also exceedingly valuable as viewed from another standpoint, which is this, the expositions of the Apocalypse, which have had much authority and influence in the religious world, especially in France, is that of Dupuis and that of Bossuet. The former takes the astronomical and physical ground as the Key to the interpretation of the Apocalypse, finding in

the Zodiac the Lamb, the Virgin, the Dragon, or Serpent, and other symbols, which it is strangely contended by Dupuis afford the right clue to the proper understanding of the mysteries of this wonderful portion of Divine Revelation; the latter, or Bossuet's system, takes the historical ground, and applies much that is said in the Apocalypse to the history of Pagan Rome and its overthrow. The reader, therefore, at the same time, is made acquainted with these two systems, and by contrasting them with the True Key, or the real ground of interpretation, he more clearly sees the dignity and beauty of the one, and the entire nonsense and futility of. the other. We do hope that our friends will do all they can to promote the sale and circulation of these books. The next volume is the "Future Life; or Swedenborg's Heaven and Hell." We should like to know that these books are to be met with on the book stalls on all the railways in the kingdom. In our former notice of these works we deprecated the mention of Clairvoyance as connected with the "Spiritual Library," and especially as associated with Swedenborg, as calculated to lead to very erroneous ideas respecting his true case and position, and we here repeat the deprecation.

Obituary.

Died, at Levenshulme, near Manchester, February 26th, Mrs. Mary Holgate, aged 84 years, widow of the late Mr. Samuel Holgate, a notice of whose death appeared in this periodical for 1814, p. 165. Mrs. Holgate had, at an early period in life, been introduced to a knowledge of the doctrines of the New Church. For a period of nearly sixty years our late dear friend was a member of the Society in Peter-street, and it may with great propriety be said of her, in the language of the apostle, that she "adorned the doctrines of God her Saviour," by that integrity, meekness, and charity which were so beautifully exemplified in her life as to render her an object of attraction, esteem, and love to all around her. Besides her own immediate family of sons, daughters, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, numbering, at the time of her decease, 47 persons, she had a most numerous circle of friends, who all respected and

loved her as a mother; in fact, no individual, we believe, in Manchester, was known and respected through a wider circle. Her attendance at the public worship of the Lord, up to within a recent period of her death, (owing to the infirmities of age,) was most regular and exemplary. Scarcely ever was she absent from the Holy Supper; the truths respecting this holy ordinance, which in the New Church are so well understood, nourished and strengthened her mind in love to the Lord, and in charity to her neighbour. On Sunday, March 6th, a sermon from John xi. 25, 26, was preached by the Rev. J. H. Smithson, to improve the occasion of her departure into the eternal world, when a numerous audience attended to hear those truths relating to death, resurrection, and eternal life, which the New Church doctrines have so clearly unfolded from the Holy Word. J. H. S.

Cave & Sever, Printers, Palatine Buildings, Hunt's Bank, Manchester.

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PHYSIOLOGY AND THEOLOGY; OR THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE HUMAN BODY AND ITS PARTS TO THINGS SPIRITUAL AND DIVINE.-THE FACE.

(Continued from page 47.)

genuine and

PHYSIOLOGY is the basis of Psychology, or the true Science of the Soul; and this science, if properly developed, is the universal receptacle of all truth and love. The soul, or, vxn, is, properly regarded, formed for the reception of truth and love from God, and to know the nature of the receptacle is to know the laws by which truth and love are adequately received. This is verily to acquire a knowledge of ourselves, for we can never be said to acquire this knowledge until we know our psychical and mental constitution, its faculties and powers, and their relation to their proper life, which is truth and love. The Understanding, which is one part of our psychical system, is formed for the reception of truth, and the Will, which is the other and essential part, is created for the reception of love. The true knowledge of the soul is consequently of the first importance, and may be said to be the key to all genuine intelligence and wisdom, because from this knowledge we may more clearly see the truths of God's Word and their application to our states; for all the truths of the Word flow and operate according to the form of heaven, which is the form of the soul; and the laws by which the truth operates internally on the soul are, in an eminent sense, the laws of mind, as the laws by which light N. S. No. 162.-VOL. XIV. 2 c

operates externally on the eye, are the laws of optics. One thing thus in a lower sphere illustrates another in a higher, and this by the law of correspondence between the mind and the body, or between things spiritual and natural. For to think according to correspondences is the only way to think truly respecting things in a higher sphere, or things truly rational and spiritual. It is from not thinking in this manner that the science of metaphysics, which professes to treat of these higher intellectual subjects, has always, up to the time of Swedenborg, been a byword for confusion and darkness, and the prolific source of endless controversies and discords amongst men. Our object, however, now, is not to write a treatise on Psychology, but to shew the correspondence of the human body and its parts to things spiritual and divine, and thus to enable the mind to understand more clearly the genuine truths of the Word, which, without that knowledge, cannot be seen but "through a glass darkly," and in many cases not at all.

In former papers we have shewn the correspondence of the head, the skull, the hair, the forehead, the eyebrows, the eyes, the eyelids; and also the ground why every thing in the body exists in pairs, or in a twofold organism. In our contemplation of these parts of the human body, as mentioned in Scripture, we discovered that numerous passages in which these bodily parts are mentioned cannot be understood without a knowledge of the correspondence, and hence the discovery of the spiritual sense, in which the truth shines in its own proper light. It was also demonstrated that much that is false and detrimental to the mind in its relation to pure truth, may be deduced from the letter of Scripture, if these correspondences are not understood, and that many false and pernicious dogmas have only this misunderstanding for their basis, realizing again the declaration of the apostle, that the "letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive." In this way, also, we are persuaded, the existence of the spiritual sense of the divine Word may not only be clearly shewn, but the laws of correspondence by which that sense is unfolded can be most effectually demonstrated.

The face, or the countenance, is the index of the mind. It is here chiefly that the correspondence between the mind and the body is eminently seen. Every one, even a child, has an intuitive perception of this correspondence, for a child can discover the emotions of the mind, whether they be angry or kind and affectionate, and at a glance reads the mind of the parent or teacher in the countenance. Poetry at once recognizes this fact:

"Your face, my Thane, is as a book, where men

May read strange matters."-Macbeth i. 5.

Again from Shakespear:

"Her face, the book of praises, where is read

Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever raz'd, and testy wrath

Could never be her mild companion."-Pericles i. 1.

The face or countenance, then, as it is the principal index of the mind, is the type, in its infinitely varied expressiveness, of the internal affections and emotions of the spirit, and, by correspondence, it signifies those interior affections and thoughts which, in spite of ourselves, however we may in some cases strive to disguise or conceal them, shine forth from our countenance, and are easily read by every observer. The Lord is said to "let his face or faces (for the Hebrew term is always in the plural) shine upon us." (Num. vi. 25.) By the face here as predicated of the Lord is evidently signified His love, mercy, truth, &c.; in short, all the attributes of His infinite goodness and wisdom, which are constantly shining like the full-orbed splendours of the sun upon all His creatures; in confirmation of this, it is expressly said of the Lord in His Divine Humanity, that "His face did shine as the sun." (Matt. xvii. 2.) Again, the prayer of the faithful is-"God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us.” (Psalm lxvii. 1.) By the Lord's face shining is evidently signified the operation of His divine love and truth; and the faithful are said to walk in the light of His countenance, (Psalm lxxxix. 15.) to denote the reception of His love and truth. The Lord is also said "to set our secret sins in the light of his countenance," (Psalm xc. 8.) to teach us that our inmost thoughts and motives and resolves are clearly seen by Him. A man's wisdom is said to make his face to shine (Eccles. viii. 1.) to shew, that when wisdom dwells and operates in the mind it manifests itself in the life, and especially in the life of the countenance. To the same purport the Lord says," So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works.' To represent this internal wisdom in the soul, the face of Moses shone as he descended from the mount with the Commandments in his hand. (Exodus xxxiv. 29.) The merely external and wicked are averse to this wisdom which arises from keeping the divine Commandments; this aversion was signified "by the people being afraid to come nigh to Moses." (30.) "The wicked hate the light because their deeds are evil." Hence it was that Moses, "whilst he spoke to the people, covered his face with a veil," to denote that the knowledge and sight of internal truths and wisdom is veiled or concealed from those who are not in states to receive without abusing and profaning them.

We may now see the reason why the Lord commands his disciples to "wash the face;" (Matt. vi. 17.) that is, to purify the interiors of the mind, or the affections and thoughts, and thus to be pure in the internal before God, as well as in the external appearance before men. Whereas the hypocrites are said "to disfigure their faces" because they imbue their interiors with all kinds of evil. Without a knowledge of the correspondence of the face with the interiors of the mind, or with the affections that govern the man, it would be impossible to see what of religion there is in the mere act of "washing the face;" but when this correspondence is seen, the command assumes a weighty importance indeed, shewing that our energies should be chiefly directed to the purification of our affections and thoughts, because if the "inside is clean the outside will be clean also." Hence it is, that we are commanded" to turn our faces away from all abominations." (Ezek. xiv. 6.) The sincere and good are said "to seek the Lord's face," (Psalm cv. 4.) to signify that their minds are open to the reception of His divine love and mercy, and that they desire to live in the light of His countenance. The Lord sets his face against the wicked, (Ezek. xiv. 8, Lev. xvii. 10.) to signify the contrariety and opposition of all evil to His divine nature-His divine love and wisdom. Thus the wicked are said "to make their faces harder than a rock,” (Jer. v. 3.) to indicate their obduracy and opposition to His divine love and truth. It is said of Cain, when he had slain his brother, that 66 his face or countenance fell," to denote that when charity is extinguished, the interiors of the mind fall and become degraded, because they are then imbued only with earthly considerations originating in the love of self and of the world. But when love or charity is a living principle in the mind, the countenance is then exalted and raised towards heaven. At the time of judgment, immediately after death, when the interiors of the mind are opened and their nature disclosed, it is said of the wicked that " the shew of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not;” (Isaiah iii. 9.) and that their faces "are then as flames," (Isaiah xiii. 8.) to signify the fiery evil of hatred against every thing good and true which existed in the interiors. The faces of others also are said "to gather blackness," (Nahum ii. 10.) which is a correspondence to other forms of evil which dwells in the interiors of the wicked, but which, at the time of judgment, is disclosed; for "there is nothing hid that shall not be made manifest." (Mark iv. 22.)

The ideas, therefore, which arise from the proper understanding of the face, or countenance, as corresponding to the interiors of the mind,

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