ever-varying image of those whose dwelling-place it is; its objects being the imagery in which all see their own thoughts embodied in corresponding forms, and in which the heavenly inhabitants at least can read them. The substances of the spiritual world are not, therefore, like those of the natural world, inert and fixed, but plastic and varying. Compared with those of the natural world, the substances of the spiritual world are as those of the mind compared with those of the body. And the substances of the mind are plastic, and the thoughts and affections are varying. Affections and thoughts are not abstract things, or impressions, or entities that reside in the mind. Affections are changes of state, and thoughts are variations of form, in the substances of the mind itself. How varying, then, must the mind be, and how correspondingly varying must be the world of mind, compared with the world of matter! Of this we are able to form some conception even in this world. Look at the human face. It is made of the matter of this world. And yet how wonderful are its variations in expressing the thoughts and affections of the mind!

When we read of thoughts and affections, and even of truth and good, do we always conceive of them as such substantial things that they are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh-spiritually? Hear what our author says on this important and interesting subject: "Those who have no other idea of knowledges (or cognitions), as also of truths, than that they are abstract things, which is the idea commonly entertained concerning thoughts, can in no wise conceive what is meant by good being implanted in knowledges, and truth being the recipient of good. But it is to be observed, that knowledges and truths are no more abstracted from the very pure substances that belong to the interior man or the spirit, than vision is abstracted from its organ the eye, or than hearing is abstracted from its organ the ear. There are purer substances, and those real, from which knowledges (or cognitions) exist, whose variations of form being animated by an influx of life from the Lord, present them to the mind, whilst their agreeableness and harmonies, in succession or simultaneously, affect the mind, and constitute what is called beautiful, pleasant, and delightful. Spirits themselves are forms, that is, they consist of continued forms, just as men do, but of a purer nature, not visible to the bodily sight. And as these substances are not visible to the corporeal eye, men at this day conceive no other than that knowledges and thoughts are abstract things. Hence comes the folly of mankind in the present age, in that they do not believe they have a spirit within

them which is to live after the death of the body, when yet this spirit is a substance much more real than the substance of the material body; yea, if you are disposed to believe it, the spirit, after being freed from corporeal substances, is that very body purified, which the generality of mankind say they are to have at the day of judgment, when they believe they shall first rise again. Spirits, or, what is the same thing, souls, have a body, see each other as in clear day, converse together, hear each other, and enjoy much more exquisite sensation than whilst they were in the body or the world."

Intercourse between spirits and men is as real as between spirits and spirits, and it is as easy, the only difference being that in the one case the intercourse is conscious, in the other it is not. Men do consciously know they are attended by spirits, and spirits do not know they are attendant on men. "The spirits attendant on man do not know that they are so; only angels from the Lord know this, for they are adjoined to his soul or spirit, but not to his body. For those things which from the thoughts have determination into speech, and from the will into the acts of the body, flow ordinarily into acts by common influx, according to correspondence with the grand man; wherefore the spirits attendant on man have nothing in common with these things; thus they do not speak by man's tongue, for this would be obsession, neither do they see through his eyes what is in the world, nor hear through their ears what is passing there. It is otherwise in my case, for the Lord has opened my interiors that I can see the things that are in the other life. Hence spirits have come to know that I am a man in the body, and that it is given them to see through my eyes what is in the world, and to hear those converse who are in company with me. If evil spirits perceived that they were attendant on man, and that they were spirits separate from him, and if they could flow-in into those things which are of his body, they would attempt by a thousand means to destroy him, for they hate him with a deadly hatred." It is of the Lord's providence that evil spirits are prevented from knowing that they are attendant on men. One of the means of effecting their destruction would be to take possession of their bodily organs, and thus deprive them of rationality and freedom. This, it appears, evil spirits were able, in some instances, to do at the time our Lord came into the world. We read of several cases of persons possessed with devils being brought to the Lord to be cured, and of His casting out the spirits with His word, as well as healing those that were sick. On one occasion when the Lord asked

the possessed, "What is thy name?" he was answered, "My name is Legion for we are many" (Mark v. 9). This illustrates the nature of possession, as explained in the Writings.

ence.

According to the law of spiritual intercourse, spirits who are attendant on men put on all things of their memory, insomuch that they know no other than that the things contained in a man's memory are their own. "The spirits attendant on man put on also his persuasions, whatever be their quality; thus they put on man's persuasions not only in things moral and civil, but also in the spiritual things that belong to faith. Hence it may be manifest that the spirits attendant on those who are in heresies, in fallacies and illusions as to the truths of faith, and in falsities, are in the like, without the slightest differThe reason of this is, that man may be in freedom, and may not be disturbed by any proprium of a spirit." This is man's security. For spirits have a respect for what they believe to be their own. And although they naturally desire to indulge the evil propensities which they find in a mind which they believe to be their own, and therefore act as tempters, they perform a use; and although it is an evil use, evil in itself and in its intention, it is not necessarily evil, but possibly good, in its result. The possibility rests with man, and with every man. One of the reasons men do not profit by the influence of these attendant spirits as they might and as they ought is, that they are under the same fallacy as the attendant spirits themselves. Attendant spirits identify themselves with men, and men identify themselves with attendant spirits. If men believed that the evil desires they feel and the false suggestions that rise in their minds are excited by evil spirits, the consequences would be different from what they too often are. As expressed in the Writings, If man believed all evil to be from hell, he would not appropriate evil, and if he believed all good to be from heaven, or from the Lord, he would not claim merit for goodness.

Possession by evil spirits was exemplified by the case of the man whose name was Legion; for he did not speak from the spirits, but the spirits spoke through him, or, what is the same, the man spoke, not from his own memory, but from that of the spirits by whom he was possessed. Obsession, in fact, implies a double violation of order. It is the external memory of spirits which is used in obsessing men, and the use of this memory is out of the order of the spiritual world. Although "man after death does not lose the smallest portion of anything which has ever been either in the interior or the exterior memory, so

that no circumstance can be considered so small and trifling which is not reserved with him," yet, "if spirits were allowed to use the exterior memory, they would be in a state of imperfection like that which they had experienced when men. They would hereby be in gross and obscure ideas, in comparison with those of the interior memory; and thus they would not only grow more and more foolish, but would also descend instead of ascending, consequently they would not live to eternity; for to immerse themselves again in things worldly and corporeal would be to plunge themselves again into a state of death. And further, if it were allowed to spirits to use the exterior memory, mankind would perish, since every man is ruled of the Lord by spirits and angels; and in case that spirits from the exterior memory should flow into man, it would not be possible for man to think from his own memory, but from that of spirits; thus man would no longer enjoy freedom of life and determination in himself as his own, but would be obsessed. Such was the nature of obsession in old times." There are no external obsessions at this day. "But there are very many spirits at this day who desire to flow in not only into man's thoughts and affections, but also into his speech and actions, thus even into his corporeal parts, when yet the corporeal parts are exempt from the influx of spirits and angels, and are ruled by general influx; in other words, when thought is determined into speech, and will into actions, the determination and transition into the body are according to order, and are not ruled by any spirits in particular; for to flow into man's bodily parts would be to obsess him." The spirits who desire thus to obsess men are such as have been grossly impure and mercilessly cruel. "Such spirits are corporeal and sensual above all others, and have rejected all thought concerning heaven, by ascribing all things to nature, and nothing to God. They have thus closed up their interiors and have opened their exteriors; and as in the world they had been only in the love of exterior things, therefore in the other life they are desirous of returning into those things through man by obsessing or possessing him. But it is provided of the Lord that they do not come into the world of spirits, and therefore they are closely shut up in their hells. Hence there are no external

obsessions at this day."

The prevalence of external obsessions at the time of the Lord's first advent undoubtedly affords a very striking confirmation of the view of redemption which the Writings deliver, that it consisted in conquer. ing the hells, which had risen to such a height that not only the sal

vation but the very existence of the human race was threatened; for no doubt obsession was one of the ultimate effects of the prevailing power of hell.

But a difficulty has presented itself to some minds on this subject, in the fact that after the Lord's ascension, when the judgment had been performed and the wicked were no longer in the middle state, cases of obsession occurred. In the Acts of the Apostles (v. 16) we read that "there came a multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them that were vexed with unclean spirits : and they were healed every one." In chap. xix. 13-16 we read of a case similar to that of the man who was possessed by spirits whose name was Legion. After relating the wonderful cures and casting out of evil spirits by Paul, the writer says that certain vagabond Jews took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus. But the evil spirits answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?"

There can be no doubt that the condition of things from which demoniacal possessions existed was brought, generally, to an end by the judgment effected by the Lord at the time of His incarnation. We do not, however, think that obsession is, from its nature, so identified with an unredeemed state of the human race, as to make particular cases of it impossible amongst the redeemed race. There are no external obsessions at this day. And yet cases have been exhibited in our day and generation, not perhaps of a disembodied spirit taking permanent possession of an embodied spirit in the shape of a man, but of the spirit of the man taking temporary possession of the body of another, that is to say, of one man supplanting the memory of another by his own. Arthur, in one of his interesting books, mentions an "operator" who publicly stated: "I have had many subjects who, when to all appearance perfectly awake, would believe that a piece of blank paper was a bank-note of any denomination I asserted it to be. At Saratoga Spa, in the presence of Judge Marvin and many other gentlemen, I made a young man of excellent character take worthless paper for bank-notes, and give me a written obligation for a large amount of money which he supposed he had received."

We do not, however, appeal to either this fact or that consideration to account for the cases of obsession which occurred after our Lord's ascension. These may be accounted for in another way. A general judgment does not all at once change the condition of things so entirely as to leave no trace of that which previously existed. The imaginary