PILLAR AND CORDS.

The nails, pins, or small stakes were driven into the ground that the hangings, attached to them by cords, might be made fast at the bottom. They are represented in the cut above. In allusion to these and in view of its future glorious enlargement, the prophet thus apostrophises the church, Is. liv. 1-3, "Sing, O barren, that thou didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." The original for "fillets" viz. hashukim, comes from hûshak, to connect, to conjoin, and according to Rosenmuller and others denotes connecting rods of silver between the heads of the pillars, on which the curtains were suspended. The rendering in our version, fillets, has arisen from the impression that the term meant raised bands or mouldings encircling the tops of the pillars. But the other is the more probable sense, and it is confirmed by Swedenborg who says that by the hooks and fillets are signified modes of conjunction by truth, as truth is represented by silver.

In exhibiting from Swedenborg the spiritual import of the Tabernacle as a whole we begin with the outer court as above described. "That hereby is signified the ultimate heaven, appears from the signification of the court of the habitation, as denoting the external of heaven, thus the ultimate heaven, for there are three heavens, the inmost, the middle, and the ultimate; the inmost was represented by the inmost of the habitation where was the ark of the testimony; the middle by the habitation out of the vail; the ultimate by the court, which is the subject now treated of. This heaven is called the court, because in it are they who are in the good of faith, and not yet in the good of charity towards the neighbor; they who are in the good of charity are in the middle heaven. They who are in the ultimate heaven, which is called the court, are called angelic spirits; they who are in the middle heaven, are called spiritual angels; but they who are in the in

most heaven, celestial angels. The good itself of faith, which is the good of the ultimate heaven, is also a court, for by it man is introduced into the good of charity towards the neighbor, which is the good of the middle heaven. It is to be noted, that the good appertaining to man makes his heaven, and that his heaven is such as his good is. There are three goods which follow in order, the good of faith, the good of charity towards the neighbor, and the good of love to the Lord. The good of faith makes the ultimate or first heaven, as was said above; the good of charity towards the neighbor makes the middle or second heaven; and the good of love to the Lord makes the inmost or third heaven. That it may be the better known how the case is with the heavens, it may be expedient to say a few words on the subject. The heavens are distinguished into two kingdoms, into the celestial kingdom, and into the spiritual kingdom; and in each kingdom there is an internal and external; in the internal of the celestial kingdom are they who are in the good of love to the Lord, and in its external are they who are in the good of mutual love; but in the internal of the spiritual kingdom are they who are in the good of charity towards the neighbor, and in its external are they who are in the good of faith. The external of each heaven is what is called the ultimate or first heaven, and was represented by the court; hence it is that the court was two-fold about the temple, the exterior and interior; the exterior court denoted those who are in the external of the spiritual kingdom, and the interior court denoted those who are in the externals of the celestial kingdom. Hence it is evident that in the ultimate heaven which was represented by the outer court of the temple, is the good of faith which makes it; and in the ultimate heaven which was represented by the inner court, is the good of mutual love. They who are in the good of mutual love, are in the affection of good for the sake of good, but they who are in the good of faith are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth, for good has rule in the celestial kingdom but truth in the spiritual kingdom. That the ultimate heaven is signified by courts, is evident from the passages in the Word where they are named, as in Ezekiel, 'The glory of Jehovah lifted up itself from above the cherub over the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with a cloud, and the cloud filled the inner court, and the court was full of the splendor of the glory of Jehovah; and the voice of the wings of the cherubs was heard even to the outer court,' x. 3, 4, 5. Inasmuch as the court was representative of the ultimate heaven, therefore it was filled with a cloud and the splendor of the glory of Jehovah, as the house itself; for a cloud and glory is Divine Truth. Again, 'The Spirit lifted me up, and introduced me into the inner court of the temple; when behold the glory of Jehovah filled the house; and I heard one speaking to me out of the house, saying, Son of Man, the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where Í will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel forever,' xliii. 5 to 7; where the temple with the court is called the place of the throne of Jehovah, and the place of the soles of His feet, because the temple with the court represented heaven. The throne of Jehovah is the spiritual heaven; the place of the soles of his feet is the ultimate hea

ven.

The ultimate heaven also is signified by a court and by courts in the following passages: 'Blessed is he whom thou choosest, and makest to approach, he shall inhabit thy courts; we shall be satisfied with the good of Thy house, with the holiness of Thy temple,' Psalm lxv. 4. That to inhabit courts is to inhabit heaven, is evident. Again, 'A good day in thy courts is better than a thousand; I have chosen to stand in the gate of the house of my God,' Psalm lxxxiv. 10. Again, 'Give to Jehovah the glory of His name, bring a present, and come into his courts,' Psalm xcvi. 8. Again, 'Praise ye the name of Jehovah; praise, O ye servants of Jehovah, who stand in the house of Jehovah, in the courts of the house of our God,' Psalm cxxxv. 1, 2. And in Isaiah, They shall gather together corn and new wine, they shall eat together and praise Jehovah, and they who are gathered together shall drink it in the courts of My holiness,' lxii. 9. In the above passages, courts denote the ultimate heavens, for the interior heavens are called the house of Jehovah and His temple. And in the Apocalypse, 'The angel said, Rise and measure the temple, and the altar, and them that worship in it, but the court which is without the temple cast forth abroad, and measure it not, because it is given to the gentiles, who shall tread down the holy city forty-two months,' Apoc. xi. 1, 2. The temple and the altar, and they who worship in it, are the Church and the wor ship of the Church; the court without the temple denotes the good of mutual love, as was said above; the gentiles, to whom it is given to tread down the holy city, denote the evils of self-love and the love of the world which destroy the Church."-A. C. 9741.

The interior explication of the outer and inner rooms, or the holy and most holy place of the Tabernacle we reserve to our next.

(To be continued.)

G. B.

MISCELLANY.

For the N. C. Repository.

"HOW SOCIETIES IN THE NEW CHURCH SHOULD BE FORMED."

In an article under the above caption, found in the March No. of the Repos itory, the writer, who signs himself S. J., has, I think, fallen into some error. He supposes that an evil man in the life of the body, and while in evil, is the centre of infernal societies; and instead of being himself led and governed by infernal spirits in this state, he leads and governs them. "He commands and they obey." The passage which contains what is regarded as an error, reads thus:

"The difference between heavenly consociation and infernal is, among other things, that one who, while in the life of the body, is as to his spirit in infernal societies, is the centre thereof, and those spirits who adjoin themselves are of the same quality and gather round about. He commands and they obey. They conform to him and minister to his peculiar genius, and angels only keep

all in check. But when one is conjoined to a heavenly society he takes his state from the society in which he is. Societies of angels, inasmuch as they are in order and are led of the Lord, are not conformed to the man by his conjunction with them, but they conform the man to themselves, because all alike suffer themselves to be led of the Lord."

It is a mistake to suppose, as this writer seems to, that an evil man on earth, and while in the indulgence of evil feelings and intentions, is a centre and ruler of the evil spirits with whom he is in association. On the contrary the infernals have the ascendency, and rule him. It is only when the man commends or does what is good, that he commands the infernals, and they are bound to obey. Then the evil spirits think in unison with the man, and are compelled as it were to bring forth good things. This is clearly taught by our illumined scribe in the following passage from the Spiritual Diary, under the caption, That Evil Spirits are bound to obey.

"While speaking with myself, or thinking with myself, concerning the import of the word rib of which the woman was built, evil spirits spake and thought with themselves precisely as I did. Shortly after they said that they had done so, and yet that subsequently to this they acted in opposition to me. Hence it was given to know, that while the Lord rules the thoughts and speech of man through the angels, evil spirits cannot but think in like manner, and that then they know no otherwise than that it is from themselves. The case is similar with the preacher of bad life, when he commends what is good; evil spirits think and excite the same, but when the preacher is in his true life, then evil spirits have the ascendency. Thus it is clearly manifest how the evil bring forth good things."-S. D. 4129.

There appears, then, to be no sufficient ground for the difference, alleged by S. J., between heavenly and infernal consociation, so far as man in this world is concerned. The individual takes his state from the society in which his spirit dwells, whether it be heavenly or infernal. And if he is evil, he is at all times the servant and not the master of the devil, save when his mind is elevated to receive influx out of heaven from the Lord. Then the man is the master and the devil the servant.

In the same article S. J. alludes to New Church societies, formed upon Old Church principles, which, to cite his own language, "are composed of those who lead themselves, and each one is a centre, and his spirits with him of his own genius.—They all think of doing good hoping to receive again like publicans and sinners. They call and dictate terms to the preacher; they require him to regard them as the focal centres to be served and delighted, and the Lord and heaven in the last place. Therefore when the preacher ceases to give delight to them in their ways, they get together and by a vote decline to employ and pay him any longer."

This language has, to my mind, rather a strange aspect. The writer's meaning appears to be pretty obvious, and yet I am not sure that I understand him. It is really hard to believe that he can mean what he says. That there is in the members of New Church societies a disposition more or less strong to lead themselves, instead of suffering the Lord to lead them, is undoubtedly true. This must ever be the case among unregenerate men; and no sensible or humble-minded Newchurchman claims to be free from evils-fully regenerate. Such a claim would of itself argue a most deplorable state in the claimant, and evince the presence and power of hell in his heart in no ordinary degree. But if by New Church societies "formed upon Old Church principles," S. J. means that they are formed upon the idea that it is orderly and right for each one to lead himself, and be a centre, in the sense spoken of,-with the understanding and acknowledgment that this is a principle of true order-then I have only to say that I never heard of any such New Church society, and presume that no one else ever did. Neither did I ever hear of such a thing as New Church societies requiring their minister "to regard the Lord and heaven

in the last place." Where is there a New Church society, who might not justly regard the intimation of any such requirement on their part as the basest kind of a slander? Where is there a society who would long listen to the teachings of one, who should appear to regard the Lord and heaven in the last place?

Then as to "dictating terms" to the preacher whom a society may "call" to minister to them in spiritual things, I certainly can see nothing wrong in this within the limits usually observed. Is it not right that the members of a New Church society should require their minister to be faithful, industrious, efficient, and that he teach them according to the doctrines of the New Church? Is not so much impled in their "call ?" So far, then, it seems perfectly right and proper that the people should "dictate terms to the preacher;" and I have never yet heard of the members of a New Church society going beyond this in the matter of dictation. Surely S. J. would not set up a claim of infallibility for the priesthood in the New Church. Surely he would not have the laity receive for truth all that their minister may say, without exercising their own rationality upon it--comparing it with the Word of the Lord and the writings of the Church; for this would be endorsing a doctrine of papal' Rome, and one for which no intelligent receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines can be supposed to have much affinity. It is true that the minister ought to look to the Lord, and suffer himself to be led by Him; and ought not the people to do so likewise? In the degree that they do this, the Lord will undoubtedly lead both people and priest in the right way. But suppose (for certainly it is a supposable case) that the minister does not look to the Lord, but rather to his own intelligence. Suppose he falls under the dominion of spirits of darkness, and is led by them into many crooked ways; suppose he imbibes from them many hurtful errors-many foolish, fantastic and ridiculous notions, which he nevertheless believes to be true, and teaches to the people for truth-what then? Shall the people abandon their rationality-suffer themselves to be led blindfold by the blind leader-receive all the utterances of their minister with implicit faith, as if they came from God out of heaven? Or shall they not rather "get together, and by a vote decline to employ and pay him any longer?" Which course seems most in accordance with the general tenor of the Doctrines of Heaven?

In the last paragraph of the article in question, the writer speaks of societies in the true Church being formed after the pattern of the societies in the heavens, and adds: "When societies of the church are thus formed, they will have stability, peace, order, mutual love, and progress from one state and degree of life to another." Undoubtedly. But it may be well for us to bear in mind that this world is not heaven, but only a place of preparation for heaven. It is not a world in which the Lord ever designed that men should be arranged in those societies wherein they will remain forever-wherein their spiritual affinities will be all completely met and satisfied. Do we not expect too much, therefore, if we expect in societies of the church on earth that "stability, peace, order and mutual love," which exist in the heavenly societies?

Moreover, it is known from the doctrines of heaven that regeneration is impossible without temptation-combats. And it is while man dwells in the lower sphere-a region or state between heaven and hell-that these combats must be carried on in him. There are no temptation-combats properly so called in heaven. And while these combats are taking place within us, it is not to be expected that we can enjoy the peace or stability that the angels experience. Every one can see the truth of this in relation to individuals. And it is clear that there can be no social regeneration without the regeneration of individuals. Must there not, then, exist social strifes and combats so long as those internal commotions necessary to the regeneration of individ uals continue? Do we not expect quite too much, if we expect that societies of the New Church on earth will be formed as they are formed in heaven, before the individuals composing such societies have been all brought into a heavenly state? Must not instability, discord, and disorder, exist in the social man, so long as there are any remains of these things in the hearts of individ