take which course you will, you are neither much the better nor much the worse for this change of condition as to personal consciousness. When death actually comes, there is little room left for improvement or deterioration in our state; all that is usually supposed to take place after death, has been realized at the moment of conversion or rejection. The only apparent difference is, the Swedenborgian is re-invested with a new body the old one being done with-of precisely the same construction, but of a somewhat more delicate, and therefore more sensitive organization; he has the same feelings, desires, and passions, and of course pursues the same objects as before, with some increase of perception, and capability of enjoyment; and every thing about him is of purer metal, and rather superior quality. With the Anti-Swedenborgian it is pretty much the same. He has a somewhat keener relish for his peculiar gratifications, and greater susceptibility of their penal consequences. Heaven and hell are both peopled solely by human beings. Angels fallen and unfallen, from the highest to the lowest, were once mortals. We, therefore, disciples and non-disciples of Sweden❤ borg,' shall be similarly transmuted and transferred. The mind is its own heaven and hell, and being eternal and immortal, is incapable of any generic change. What we call death, is but a continuance of life; and we shall scarcely, or at least we shall not always, know that we are really in a different state.

Now to set seriously about exposing such absurdities, or to argue upon the moral consequences of the belief of them, is ob viously an idle occupation; but to be refuting them by texts of Scripture, and entering into a grave examination of particulars, is a species of folly, itself almost Swedenborgian.

The Scriptures, as an authority superior to his own, are expressly renounced by Swedenborg; therefore, to appeal to those Scriptures, could neither silence him, nor have any weight with his disciples. If, then, these pretensions of Swedenborg are to be refuted, as it is called, for the sake of rescuing and preserving honest protestants from delusion, another course must be taken. The origin of the Baron's claims must be inquired into. What proofs does he bring of the genuineness of his commission? On what grounds are we to believe him? Not upon the reasonableness, not upon the obviousness of his doctrines surely. A person empowered to communicate the will of heaven, must have some means or other of authenticating his powers. He must exhibit his credentials: the commissioner of Judaism did this satisfactorily. The divine Author of Christianity did the same-by powers beyond human skill, strength, or artifice; by doctrines not contradictory to reason; and by prin

ciples of action in accordance with the purest conceptions of the purest reason, and calculated to enlighten and advance it. Mohammed himself, in the absence of these commanding sanctions, did not leave himself without a witness; he appealed to his success; and not one in a thousand reflected upon the causes or the resources by which that success had been brought about. But Swedenborg, with a confidence or a simplicity, which itself argues the madman, exhibiting a judgment incapable of measuring the means of accomplishing an object, announces his views and principles without any the slightest support beyond his own bare declaration, though claiming an intimate intercourse, daily and hourly, with superior spirits, and therefore possessing the means of convincing, it might be supposed, beyond doubt or difficulty.

Yet Swedenborg, with all his manifold absurdities, found his followers, few though they were; and his followers continue to find teachers, who will themselves be sure to have their admirers; for he who is able to guide and control the principle and practice of any set of people, no matter, ignorant or not, will not willingly lose his hold, and will never want successors for the inheritance of his power.

With these opinions of Swedenborg, our readers may feel a little surprise that we take up our space, and their time, with the subject at all. Our excuse is one that must be admitted for many an absurd discussion yet to come: here is a book that falls within the range of our subjects, and we engage ourselves to present them with some account of whatever is published on theology.

We have already hinted, that the writer's mode of refutation consists in opposing to Swedenborg's reveries the language of Scripture; and, it must be admitted, he does it with singular dexterity. If we understand him right, the divisions of his book, with all its subdivisions, correspond with those of Robert Hindmarsh. Of this we have ourselves no knowledge; and we shall be excused, we hope, for saving ourselves the labour of ascertaining it. For the arrangement, therefore, which is as bad as possible, without any thing deserving the name of method, he is not to be responsible, but Robert, the original delinquent. There are twenty-one primary sections, and perhaps forty or fifty subdivisions, each of which, we observe, is fitted with an appropriate quotation from the Scriptures, as an immediate antidote, or by way of sop to stay the eager cravings of the reader for the full confutation of the particular heresy and enormity of the Baron's, about to be discussed. The reader must have a specimen or two.

"SECT. I. Remarks on the opposition to the heavenly doctrine of the New Jerusalem."

This is Robert Hindmarsh's heading, be it remembered; on which the Trier forthwith claps his burning brand in these words.

"He said unto him, 'I am a prophet as thou art. unto me, (without meaning, we suppose, to identify lying prophet,) saying,' &c.-but he lied unto him.

An angel spake himself with the 1 Kings. xii. 18."

Here the refutation takes the form of the lie direct, and in the mind and meaning of the writer (or why does he produce it) clearly settles the question; but he does not content himself (we wish he had) with this concise style of demonstration, but proceeds to talk very learnedly, and with a due degree of horror, of Paine, Voltaire, Spinoza, and Richard* of Dorchester, as if the vagaries of the cracked skull and heated brain of Swedenborg were to be seriously classed with the ratiocinations of cool, deliberate, calculating infidels.

"SECT. II.-Answer to the objection that Swedenborg gives no proof of his being a divine messenger, by the performance of miracles, or by prophecy."

This, again observe, is Robert's title to a section of his book. What that answer may be we do not yet know; and before we are admitted to the knowledge of it we must take with us the Trier's further objection,-one that must appear to him decisive.

"There was a certain man called Simon, which used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he himself was some great one. Acts viii. 9."

Again:

"Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not; and he caused you to trust in a lie. Jer. xxix. 31."

Was ever so apt a textuary! Wesley and Whitfield were fools to him at this game of tric-trac. The writer evidently prides himself on this power of pat quotation, and well he may, it being nearly as valuable a talent as that of the now neglected one of capping verses.

"SECT. IV. The spiritual sense of the word not known heretofore in the Church." R. H.

"No prophecy, (says the Trier,) of the Scripture, is of any private interpretation of any recondite, interiorly anterior, Swedenborgian 2 Pet. i. 20."

sense.

* We have discovered that this person is Carlile, confined at Dorchester, not for the publication of blasphemies, but for fines and fees.

Here he is obliged to eke out the quotation by a little gentle pointing.

Well, but the poor Baron's morals, or rather immorals, and those of his followers, are to be denounced by dint of Scripture also, though we believe the original charge rests entirely on the imaginations, or perhaps the inventions, of his opponents. "SECT. III. 2. Fornication and adultery falsely supposed to be held allowable by Swedenborg. R. H.

"Thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, Rev. ii. 14.

"SECT. IX.-God is not an angry, vindictive, relentless Being. R. H. "And said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come. Rev. vi. 16, 17. Make your peace with the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way (of salvation). Ex. xx. 5."

Therefore God is an angry, vindictive, relentless Being. This is being orthodox au pied de lettre. Preserve us from your textuaries!

"SECT. XXI.-Chief Articles of the faith of the Sect calling itself the Church of the New Jerusalem."

These articles we are inclined to insert, as a curious record. The Trier of the Spirits has prefixed a phylactery, which will secure the reader against any evil contagion.

"Deut. iv. 2. 'Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord which I command you.' Deut xii. 32.

Rev. xii. 18, 19.

"That Jehovah, God, the Creator and Preserver of heaven and earth, is a being of infinite wisdom and power. That he is One, both in Essence and Person, in whom, nevertheless, there is a divine Trinity, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, like soul, body, and operation in man. And that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is that God.'

"ARTICLE IL.

"That Jehovah, God himself, came down from heaven, as divine truth which is the Word, and took upon him human nature, for the purpose of subduing and removing the Power of Darkness, of restoring the spiritual world to order, of preparing the way for a New

Church upon earth, and thus accomplishing the great work of Redemption. That through the process of sufferings and temptations he also glorified his humanity (human nature) by uniting it with his essential divinity; and that all who believe in him from the heart, with the understanding, and in the life, will be saved.'

"ARTICLE HI.

"That the Word of the Lord, or sacred Scripture, was written by divine inspiration. That it contains an internal spiritual sense for the use of angels in heaven; and an external natural sense for the use of men upon earth; and that in each sense it is holy and divine. Now since the Lord and his Word are One; and since thereby man is conjoined to heaven, it is highly necessary that the genuine books of the Word be distinguished from all other writings whatever. The following therefore are acknowledged as constituting the complete canon of the Scriptures:in the Old Testament, the five books of Moses, GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY, the book of JOSHUA, and of JUDGES, two of SAMUEL, two of KINGS, the PSALMS, the prophets ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, LAMENTATIONS, EZEKIEL, DANIEL, HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH, HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, and MALACHI; and in the New Testament, the FOUR EVANGELISTS, and the APOCALYPSE."

"ARTICLE IV.

*** That all evils of affection, thought, or life, are to be shunned, sins against God, because they proceed from the devil; that is from hell, and destroy in man the capacity of enjoying the happiness of heaven. But that on the other hand, good affections, thoughts, and actions, ought to be cherished and performed, because they are of God, and from God. And that every act of love and charity, justice, equity, both towards society and individuals, ought to be done by man as of himself, nevertheless under the acknowledgment and belief that they are really and truly from the Lord, operating in him and by him.'

"ARTICLE V.

“That man, during his abode in the world, is kept in a state of spiritual equilibrium between heaven and hell, or good and evil. In consequence of which he enjoys free-will in spiritual as well as natural things, and has the capacity either of turning himself to the Lord, or of separating himself from the Lord. That so far as he does the work of repentance, and lives in charity according to the truth of faith, so far his sins are remitted; that is to say, so far his evils are removed; and in the same proportion also he is regenerated, or created anew by the Lord.'

"ARTICLE VI.

“That man is not life in himself, but only a recipient of life from the Lord, who alone is life in himself, which life is communicated by influx to all the spiritual world, whether in heaven, or hell, or in the intermediate state, called the world of spirits. But it is received differently by each, according to the quality of the recipient.'