RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, AND LITERATURE. 67 as signifying the world and its elementary components. A uniform and harmonious interpretation of these books has only once appeared in all the ages of time. But it would be wide of our purpose to dwell any longer on the errors into which he has fallen, either in his exposition of the Scriptures or in the further development of his theory of the Logos, as we must hasten to notice his influence on the writers of the New Testament, and thence on the Ante-Nicene Church. This we have already done in the case of the Apostle Paul (see October No., 1862), and we may add that in the Epistle to the Hebrews (whether ascribed to Paul or Apollos), the mention of the Word as the High Priest (chap. iv. 12—16.) is decidedly Philonic; for the Logos as the Divine Reason, or place of ideas, is regarded by Philo as the Mediator, or medium of communication between Deity and humanity, and in this character was represented by the High Priest in the Hebrew ritual. But most of all do we note the presence of this teaching in the Apostle John, who was termed the Theologian for his sublime development of the theory of the Logos. There is a curious tradition preserved in Eusebius, namely, that John, notwithstanding his humble station in life, belonged to the priesthood, and had, as a kind of heirloom in his family, the Petalon, or golden leaf, one of the most remarkable of the insignia of that office. This may in some measure account for his familiarity with the works of Philo, who, as already observed, was of priestly lineage. The Johannine theory of the Logos combines all that is valuable in Philo with the Old Testament theory of the Word and Wisdom of Jehovah, particularly as developed by Solomon in the 8th chapter of Proverbs. This will plainly appear from the following synopsis : I. Solomon. Wisdom present with Jehovah anterior to creation, as the Beginning or Principle of all things, (X, Apxn), Head, or Principal Truth, containing all others, which are, as it were, summed up in it. (Proverbs viii. 22—26.) Philo. The Moyos existing in God before the creation, as idea idewv; corresponding to what the Xoyos évdiabetos is in man, and equivalent to Plato's supreme idea containing all other ideas. * Eusebius relates this on the authority of Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus in the 2nd century. The Petalon was a plate of gold in the shape of a leaf or flower, worn on the forehead of the high priest, and bound to the head with an azure fillet adorned with artificial flowers. (See Exodus xxxviii. 36; and Josephus, Ant. Lib. iii. 8.) 68 RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, AND LITERATURE. John. The Logos in the beginning with God, and one with God as the Sum of all the Divine Thoughts, which are innumerable and infinite. (See, for the identity of the Divine Thoughts with the Word, Isa. lv. 9-11; Psalm cxxxix. 17, 18; cxlvii. 4, 5; with xl. 5.) II. Wisdom present with Jehovah in creation. (ver. 27—30.) Philo. The Moyos in operation, as the opyavov or instrument by which creation was accomplished; corresponding to the λoyos πроpорikos in man. John. The Logos, by which all things were made, and without which nothing was made; (ver. 3.) implying the essential presence of the Logos in creation.* III. Wisdom present with men universally, as the inward source of intelligence and happiness; (ver. 12, 14, 31.) even with those who receive it not; (ver. 1—5.) but conferring blessedness on those that do. (ver. 32-35; chap. iii. 13-18.) Philo. The λογοs as Light and the intellectual Sun (ήλιος νοητος), and as the heavenly Manna, the nourishment of the soul, present with man as the source of life and rationality. John. The Logos in whom is life, which is the light of men; (ver. 4.) i. e., Truth or Wisdom proceeding from and united with Good or Love Divine, of which it is the form or manifestation;+ unconsciously present with all men in the higher forms of the soul, where its various aspects are ideas of thought containing things innumerable, whence men are rational, and, on full conscious reception, regenerate, possessing "the light of life." (ver. 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; chap. viii. 12.)‡ See further, for the close connection between the Word and works of God, Psalm xxxiii. 4—6; and, in Psalm civ. 24, it is clearly intimated that the manifold variety of nature pre-existed in "the manifold Wisdom of God." (Eph. iii. 10. See Prov. iii. 19, 20.) +"Whatsoever doth manifest is light." (Eph. v. 13.) For the identity of Logos and "Manifestation," see 1 Cor. xii. 7, 8. "Every man has exterior and interior thought; interior thought is in the light of heaven;" (A.R. 914.) "and in one idea of thought are things innumerable, and more so in one thought composed of ideas." (A. C. 6599.) "These spiritual ideas are concealed in the natural ideas of those who are in the affection of Truth for its own sake, and man comes into these ideas after death." (4. C. 3310.) RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, AND LITERATURE. 69 Again we would caution our readers against supposing we mean to intimate that John borrowed his theory of the Logos from Philo, or even from Solomon; but we assert that Providence chose a mind stored with these ideas, as the most fitting receptacle for plenary inspiration on the subject. And after traversing the plain of Truth, in company with these "sons of the East," he was elevated to its morning-hills when he became the medium of this sublime oracle-"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." (John i. 14.) THE FALSES OF CONCUPISCENCE. J. B. W. THE loves appertaining to man, we read, (A. C. 9144.) are the fires of his life. The evil loves, which are the loves of self and of the world, are consuming fires, for they consume the goods and truths which are of life itself. Those fires constitute the life of the will of man, and the light from those fires constitutes the light of his understanding. So long as the fires of evil are kept enclosed in the will, the understanding is in light, and hence in the apperception of good and truth; but when those fires pour forth their light into the understanding, then the former light is dissipated, and man is obscured as to the apperception of good and truth. It is such a state as the one above described which gives birth to the falses of concupiscence, signified by thorns in the Holy Word. By concupiscences, we all know, are generally meant low and sensual affections, which are either fixed on a forbidden object, as the desire to possess what belongs to another, or the exercise in an unlawful degree of those affections which are legitimate in themselves, such as the bodily appetites. Very few, except the hopelessly wicked, who delight in evil, or those who are betrayed in a moment of unwatchfulness, give way to such evils knowing and believing them to be so. They are more generally the result of some false persuasion, which takes possession of the mind-as in the case of one who is insulted, and attempts to resist the evil, excusing himself on the ground of its being necessary to show a proper spirit; or the thought of the avaricious man, that he wishes to increase his wealth for the sake of doing more good; or of the spendthrift, that he does good to trade. All such thoughts, and many others too numerous to be exemplified, are the results of the falses, or false persuasions, of concupiscence. Few there are who, at some period 70 THE FALSES OF CONCUPISCENCE. of their life, have not suffered themselves to be influenced by these falses to their spiritual injury. When the Word of God has addressed us through our consciences, saying "Doest thou well to be angry?" "A fire has gone forth and taken hold of thorns;"-anger from the affection of evil inserts itself into the falses of concupiscence, and we have said "I do well to be angry." When we hear the solemn warning-"Take heed and beware of covetousness," the thorns have led us to seek unrighteous gain. When we are told to crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts, and to mortify our members which are upon the earth, the falses of concupiscence have closed the internal man, so that nothing which relates to the salvation of the soul and eternal life is relished. (A. C. 9144.) The Jews were permitted to place a crown of thorns on the head of our adorable Lord, as a token that they had become so blinded through the falses of concupiscence as to reject the Word or Truth Divine; therefore, when they had so placed it, they saluted the Lord as the King of the Jews; and our Lord, when such a crown was placed upon His head, said—“Behold the Man!"* signifying, Behold Divine Truth, such as it is at this day in the church; for the Divine Truth, proceeding from the Lord in heaven, is a Man (homo.) The spiritual signification of "thorns" being known, we can see more fully the force of the question contained in Matt. vii. 16"Do men gather grapes of thorns?" Grapes, which signify charity, can never be produced by the falses of concupiscence, because those falses, arising from an inordinate love of self, will always prevent the true exercise of charity. When man had fallen from his first estate, and become vile, one of the evils denounced upon him as the result of his fall was that the earth should bring forth thorns and thistles, the earth signifying the external man, which, when separated from the internal—as in the case of those who are not yet regenerate-brings forth nothing but the false principles which favour and support its lusts. When man is regenerated he is no longer called earth, but ground, because celestial seed is then implanted in him. (A. C. 268.) In reference to the former state, it is said-" Upon the land of my people cometh up the thorn and the briar," (Isa. xxxii. 13.) whilst in regard to the latter state we have the cheering promise-" There shall be no more a pricking briar unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn;" the pricking briar denoting the falses of the concupiscences of self-love, the thorn those arising from the love of the world. When from any false principle, grounded in evil love, we make an outward show of worshipping The word Pilate, in our common version, is put in italics, to show that it is not in the original. THE FALSES OF CONCUPISCENCE. 71 the Lord, "the thistle and the thorn" is said to come up upon our altars. (A. C. 9714.) Bearing in mind the truth that all concupiscences arise from the loves of self and the world, and give birth to falsities, we see the truth of our Lord's declaration-" But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness," (Matt. vi. 23.) and its connection with the preceding command-" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth;" for only as we obey this command, and that which immediately follows-" But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,"-can we be gifted with that heavenly peace which flows in when the lusts arising from the love of self and of the world are taken away; since it is these lusts which take away peace, that peace which our adorable Redeemer sought for all His creatures, when he made Himself known to His disciples after His resurrection, saying "Peace be unto you." (Luke xxiv. 36.) M. B. To the Editor. LETTER FROM DR. TAFEL. Tübingen, Nov. 13th, 1862. My dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for having kindly sent me the November number of the Intellectual Repository, in which I see with pleasure an article on the useful work of M. Le Boys des Guays and M. Harlé, containing Swedenborg's Latin translation of the Prophet Isaiah, together with extracts from the Expositions to be found in his works. This work begins to supply one want of the church, whilst the Index Biblicus Allegoricus et Emblematicus left by himself, together with the necessary Supplements and Continuations to be found in his works from 1749-71, supplies the other. We must have his translations and spiritual explanations, in series, of every book of Holy Scripture, and we must also have a repertory containing his translations and spiritual explanations of every word of Holy Scripture, in a synopsis of all the passages of Holy Scripture in which the word occurs. Such a work is necessary, not only for the New Church as to her increasing regeneration, but also to others who are not yet in the church, but can see with their own eyes by such a repertory that, by the key now given, every passage of Holy Scripture can be really opened. If we consider that the church must be built upon the Word of God,-that we possess this only so far as we understand it, and cannot understand it without sound doctrine and its key,that the whole of Holy Scripture is given for our eternal salvation, and that there is no part of it which does not give a contribution to our |