love falsity rather than truth, to conceal their real opinions, from this judgment taking place with the multitudes which war launches into eternity, a more orderly state of society, one more conducive to morality and Christianity, may, in good time, be expected to prevail upon earth with those in close spiritual connection with them. This favorable change will not affect those alone who are most nearly concerned, but will ameliorate the evil condition of all nations. The manifestations of this change upon earth, produced by causes in the spiritual world, will, of course, be gradual; to most eyes, perhaps, they may not be apparent. "Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," is the Divine law of progress. But to other eyes, which are looking to see what is coming upon the earth, this manifestation will be evident, from time to time, after the war is ended, even before they are really in sight, it may be, as shadows are cast in advance of objects when the light is from behind them.

In reflecting upon the peculiar, the deadly evils, upon the individual and corrupting falses prevailing with the people of the nations engaged in the devastating contest upon French soil, let us not for a moment forget that we, individally and as a nation, are subject to evils of a like or similar character; as all nations are, in the Lord's eyes, but one man, and thus liable to be influenced in various degrees by spiritual principles or propensities related, if not exactly the same as those of others.

With all men and nations, however remote may be the centre of them from a vital part, there are poisons, in a greater or less degree, of more or less activity, coursing in their life's blood, from the insidious influence of evil spirits who long to destroy mankind.

The daily record of corruption, of vile selfishness, at work with men of high station, and commanding influence in our country, the unjust and peculating spirit prevalent in its business relations, the gambling spirit which is rampant in its financial transactions, the sad cases of vice, the extended

immorality, the disregard of the obligations of the marriage tie, that are the constant spectacles in our great cities and other centres of population -the knowledge of these things must give us pause," when we are inclined to trust in our superiority, and exemption from a just retribution.

Like causes beget like results; let us not, then, be deluded by the notion that we can escape from the operation of the spiritual law which brings upon evil its meet reward; let us remember that woe, distress, desolation, must follow, however late, public or private disregard of the Divine precepts.

In humility of heart, in the endeavor to think right and to act right, with our hold upon the Lord's stretched-out Hand, and supplication to Him to save us from all evil ways and false imaginings, let us do what in us lies to correct our own lives, and help others, under our influence, to do the like.

Let us hope for the best for France and for all nations, and trust that when the clouds gather the thickest around the peoples of the world, that redemption draweth nigh, and that in heaven, if not upon earth, the song of comfort and praise shall go up to Him "who forgiveth all our iniquities, who healeth all our diseases," "who crowneth us with loving-kindness and tender mercies."

J. A.

THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE WORD.

SWEDENBORG says: "The reason why the Word is in its fulness, sanctity, and power in the literal sense, is because the two interior senses are simultaneously in it." He also says: "There are two kinds of order in heaven, and also in the world, viz. : Succèssive and Simultaneous order." And further: "That in Successive order one thing proceeds from another, from what is highest to what is lowest; but in Simultaneous order one thing proceeds from another, from what is inmost to what is outermost, in both cases by distinct or discrete degrees."

This may be illustrated in many ways; for instance, suppose we take the case of a person who has the desire to serve

another. From this desire, which is in the will, is derived the power to obtain a knowledge of the way in which this service can be rendered; but this power is merely potential, not actual, in the will, until it flows into some formula, which has been previously presented to the mind, it then takes form in the understanding.

This desire in the will is the highest degree in successive order, and the knowledge of how to bring that desire into act in the understanding is the middle degree; now, if nothing more is done, it is perfectly evident that these two degrees, however fully formed they may be, have no power. In order to give them power, the desire must flow down into the new knowledge, and conjunction must take place between them. When this takes place there is produced the third or ultimate degree, which is the act of service to the neighbor.

It needs only to be stated, for every one to see, that all the power of the desire in the will, which is the highest degree, and of the knowledge in the understanding derived from it, which is the middle degree, is, in its fulness, only in the act, which is the third or ultimate degree, in successive order. Now, why is it that anything is complete and in its power in this third or last degree of successive order? It is because the other two degrees are simultaneously in it. How are they in it? The highest degree in successive order, in this case, the desire to serve, in order to produce the middle, or knowledge of how to serve, must flow into such things as previously existed in the understanding from experience or instruction; the result is the thought or knowledge necessary. This knowledge is a new creation; it is, more or less, unlike anything that existed in the mind before. It is discretely distinct from the desire which was the progenitor of it. It has an actual existence, but regarded as a middle degree, in successive order, it has no power. It can have no power until the highest degree, or the desire, flows down into it, and becomes inmost in it, and pervades all its forms; then the ultimate degree, or act of service, is produced, entirely and discretely distinct, from either of the others; but it is

not the act of an automaton, moved by a force from without, but an act of life moved by forces from within. It is the ultimate force of the body, pervaded by, and acting in, the world, as of itself, from the knowledge in the understanding, while this knowledge in the understanding is simultaneously pervaded by, and acting as of itself, in the body, from the desire in the will. Thus the highest degree is in the middle, and by and with the middle simultaneously in the last. The highest degree in successive order becomes the inmost in simultaneous order, and the middle becomes the interior, and the aitimate becomes the outermost. The fulness and power of the outermost is as of itself, from the interior and inmost, which are always in it.

To apply this reasoning to the Word, which is God with us: The highest degree, in successive order, here, we know, is the desire to create a heaven from the human race. It is the Lord's Divine Love; it is the celestial sense of the Word. The middle degree is the knowledge how to bring this love into act; it is from the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom; it is the spiritual sense of the Word. The third, or ultimate degree, is the (Divine) proceeding from the conjunction of the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom in the Divine Knowledge; it is the literal sense of the Word acting on the natural plane adapted to men in the world; and there are simultaneously in it, the two interior degrees, the middle degree pervading all and every part of the ultimate, and in turn being pervaded by all and every part of the highest. Thus the Divine Love, or celestial sense, and the Divine Wisdom, or spiritual sense, are in the Divine natural, or literal sense.

Hence the Word, in its natural sense, being pervaded in all its forms by the spiritual and celestial senses, is in its fulness, sanctity, and power. It also is, by virtue of the spiritual within it, spiritual-natural, and, by virtue of the celestial within it, celestial-natural. It is therefore to be regarded as Holy and Divine in every part.

D.

[For the Olive-Leaf.]

NOTES

FROM THE EARLY HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY.

XVI.

(We take this Paper from the Supplement Number of the Olive-Leaf: published June 10, 1871.)

OF THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH, AND ITS LESSONS FOR THE NEW CHURCH.

THE rapidity and extent of the growth of the first Christian Church, constitute one of the most extraordinary facts in the history of mankind. Not propagated by victory in war, and the weapons of force, as was Mahommedanism; not, like Buddhism, purporting only to reform the established religion and gladly received with little opposition both by peoples and princes; and not in its earlier years supported by accomplished men who were recognized as leaders of thought; its marvellous progress in defiance of almost all possible obstructions, and with the aid of almost no human advantages or facilities, has always presented a problem of very difficult solution. It is indeed a problem which it is more than difficult to solve, which it is impossible to solve, if we bring to the solution only human and natural considerations.

Writers like Gibbon and others, who, in their unbelief, could bring to the question only these lower and lifeless views, and have felt how inadequate they were to the answering of this question, have endeavored to get over the difficulty by denying the fact. True it is, that in the absence of exact statistical returns and records, we are unable to say exactly how many Christians there were in this or that age. But there are perfectly unquestionable facts in history, which leave no doubt as to the wide and swift growth of Christianity.

Most of these facts are connected with the persecutions of which we have given an account in preceding numbers. Thus, the first persecution, and the references in Tacitus,