Mr. Abbott has performed an important service in publishing our views of the above questions in this useful form. The first position laid down to be illustrated and confirmed, is, "That man has not life originating in himself, but that he is a recipient of life from God." The truth of this proposition must be seen before the nature of Freewill can be understood; for the human mind has ever to contend against an ensnaring fallacy, which is at the root of all our misconceptions of genuine truth. "This fallacy consists in the belief of the appearance, as a reality, that man feels, thinks, speaks, and acts altogether of, and from, himself, independently of any extraneous source; for it seems as though all the life which manifests itself in feeling, thinking, speaking, and acting, were inherent and originating in man alone." "This, however, is only an apparent, and by no means a genuine, truth. The fact is, that man is only an organ receptive every moment of life from God, who alone is LIFE ITSELF, and the only fountain of life to angels and men, and to all created existences. Hence it is divinely asserted, that the Lord God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life (or more properly lives), and man became a living soul,' by which was represented the constant inflowing of life into man, since what God once does He always does, or as God originally breathed life into man, so He does constantly; thus preservation is continual creation." This is abundantly confirmed from Scripture, nature, and reason. This inflowing of Life, or LOVE and WISDOM (for "God is Love, and God is Light," 1 John iv. 8, i. 5), is received into the two grand constituents of the human mind, the Will and the Understanding; which, when regenerated or made spiritual, produce a life of CHARITY and FAITH. It is then shown that, by the abuse of these two principles, their opposites, that is, evil and falsity are produced. To see this clearly, the laws of action and re-action are referred to, and illustrated in a simple and convincing manner. "God, by His divine life, first acts upon man, who is passive, and, as we have seen, totally devoid of life in himself; and man re-acts, and, as we have also seen, in all appearance as of and from himself; hence arise spiritual action and re-action." Not only in this respect is man distinguished from the animal creation, but also by the possession of a threefold nature, which is spiritual, rational, and natural or sensual. This rational nature is between his highest or his spiritual, and his lowest or his sensual, nature, and is the seat of that which properly constitutes him a man. "It is in this capacity that he exercises his freedom of thought and determination; so that, like the centurion in the gospel, he can say to this one, 'Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth

it; that is, he can exercise entire controul over all things in the lower, natural, and sensual principles of his being; and at the same time, from his highest or spiritual nature, he can be in the exercise of spiritualmindedness, humility, and faith, and can say, 'Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof; speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed."" Essential, likewise, to the elucidation of this question, is the explanation of the law of Equilibrium. The Lord never forces any one into His service, but desires perpetually, by the attractive influences of His unfailing love, to persuade man, through the consent and conviction of his rationality, to hate evil and choose good, to cease to do evil and learn to do well;" but on the other hand, the natural mind, or external man, is subject to the operation of sensual and worldly influences, which incline it to rebel against the inward promptings of the Divine Spirit. Between these counteracting forces, man, in his rational capacity, is in the enjoyment of freedom, or free-will, and can turn to the one or the other as he may determine; for it is a fixed law, that man is never tempted beyond his power to bear. Moreover, as it is a Scriptural doctrine that man is created "in the image and likeness of God," and as God is essentially free, it follows that man (in as far as the finite can resemble the Infinite) must likewise be free. God acts of and from Himself; man acts as of himself. God has life in Himself, and gives His life, with the appearance of its originating in man, who must act as though he were entirely independent of any other source of life. In many aspects besides these, is man born to be an image and likeness of his Creator, which are here adduced in confirmation of the free-will of man. "When man originally,

in his rational capacity," proceeds the author, "inclined to love the suggestions and life of his sensual or lowest principle, in preference to the perceptions and life of his spiritual or higher principle, he fell, and evil commenced. This is represented to us in the history of the temptation, the serpent denoting the sensual principle about to gain dominion." The New Church explanations are further and fully given; and this part of the subject is concluded by the observation, "Some readers, however, may still hesitate and ask, What moved man to abuse his freewill, and thus to fall? We answer, man-as a free re-agent, and thus as the first cause, in a finite sense, of all things relating to his own condition and allotment-moved himself to the abuse and perversion of good-moved his higher powers downwards, that is, towards his earthly and sensual nature, allowed that nature to gain dominion over his rational and spiritual nature, and thus fell, as it were, from heaven to the earth."

The views here presented of the origin of evil and the freedom of the human will, are shown to be the true doctrines of the Word; and the writer, in his application of Scripture to the subjects, makes use of the "Swedenborgian" method of interpretation, that is, of the science of correspondence; but it is introduced in a manner that must sometimes lead the mind of a reader unacquainted with this science, to believe that the writer had naturally and of course been led to see, on reading the Bible, that this was how it ought to be explained. We should be sorry to think he ever intended to lead any one to this conclusion. We do not think he has. But the very frequent occurrence of such phrases as, "No intelligent person can possibly doubt," "Every one may see," or "It is equally manifest," "It must be abundantly evident to every devout reader of the Scriptures," &c., surely justifies our observation, since what is here adduced as so "manifest," and so "abundantly evident," are the very things generally doubted, and which "devout readers of the Scriptures" especially, strenuously deny. Intelligence and piety are insufficient to discover that by the serpent in the garden of Eden, for instance, is meant the sensual principle of the human mind. It required an extraordinary exercise of more than human power-a revelation, in fact, from the spiritual world, if not from the Divine Being Himself before we became possessed of this infalliable key to the treasures of wisdom in the Holy Word, and came to perceive how "evident" are the genuine interior truths it teaches.

The production, as a whole, has our most hearty recommendation; and especially would we solicit for it the serious attention of all young men. Of the two important questions it so ably discusses and satisfactorily explains, we are all, at an early period of our lives, in our ordinary intercourse with our fellow-men, called upon to form a judgment, and to defend our position in regard to them with what weapons we may have provided. We have in this notice been able to convey but a faint idea of Mr. Abbott's "Logical Arguments;" but the best position to assume, and the most effective weapons of defence and attack, will be found, on perusal, to be placed within the power of every young man of ordinary intelligence.

H. W.

UNLESS the Lord's providence was in things the most minute, it would be impossible for man in anywise to be saved, or indeed to live, for life is from the Lord, and all the moments of life have a series of consequences to eternity.-A.C. 6490.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE EAGLE.

THERE are two principles which exist in all human beings as well as in the Creator Himself, these are love and wisdom, and these operate by and through each other; as the nature of the being in whom they exist is good or evil, so these two principles become either good or evil. In the one, love distinguishes itself by goodness, and wisdom develops itself by truth: while in the other, love becomes perverted into evil, while wisdom becomes changed into falsehood. To these two leading principles, either as good or evil, truth or falsehood, everything in nature bears a relation: nor is there a single object throughout the universe, that does not serve to illustrate, or shadow forth these two qualities, in some of their various changes and modifications, either as love and wisdom, will and understanding, affection and thought, goodness and truth, charity and faith. It will be generally found, too, that while beasts have a reference to the affections, either good or evil, birds have a reference to the understanding or thoughts, either true or false. There may appear instances to the contrary, but as a general rule, it may be laid down, that beasts correspond to the affections and birds to the thoughts. For this correspondence, the bird is peculiarly fitted. Lightness, beauty, and harmony are the characteristics of this part of the creation. Adapted by their structure and their wings to soar high above the earth, the firmament seems to be their dwelling place, for they only descend to earth for food or for rest. Their view is not bounded, like that of other animals, by the objects immediately around them. Raised above the earth, they behold at a glance the things immediately around and beneath them; their form is one of lightness and beauty; and many of them possess the power to produce the most ravishing harmony.

But to their correspondence with the understanding, a recent discovery has given a most important proof. For a long time it was very difficult to account for so small a creature as a bird making a tone as loud as some animals a thousand times its size: but the discovery alluded to has shewn, that in birds the lungs have several openings, communicating with corresponding air bags or cells, which fill the whole cavity of the body from the neck downwards, and into which the air passes and repasses in the progress of breathing. This is not all, the very bones are hollow from which the air pipes are conveyed to the most solid parts of the body, even into the quills and feathers. The air being rarified by the heat of the body adds to their lightness. By forcing the air of the body, they can dart from the greatest height with

astonishing velocity, no doubt the same machinery forms the basis of their vocal powers, and at once solves the mystery.*

Compared with the affections or the will, the thoughts or intellect are distinguished by the same attributes which characterise the bird as distinguished from the beast. The one is fixed to earth, and the view is bounded by surrounding objects: the other soars into the heavens, and can look down upon all beneath. The one is comparatively heavy and sluggish in his movements: the other, furnished with wings, springs lightly through the air.

Thus the will is confined to a few immediate objects, those upon which the affections are fixed. The thoughts, on the contrary, wander from object to object, and are confined to none. The will is not always active; in some instances it is nearly quiescent,-it neither loves nor hates: but the thoughts are ever on the wing, or if they fix upon any object in preference to another, it is where the will has fixed itself, and where, therefore, the thoughts delight to rest. The operations of the will are bounded by the objects immediately within its range; it makes no excursions. It cannot love or hate an object which is without its range. The thought, on the contrary, can fix its view upon any object, however remote, or however undefined. If it has not a near and perfect view of a subject, imagination comes to its aid, and it can at once transport itself to the place required. The will rises no higher than the object upon which it rests. The thoughts spring upward and travel through the vast expanse of intellectual wisdom. In a word,

while the will has all the fixedness and all the wariness of the beast, the intellect has all the vigour and activity of the bird. But it is not merely in the capacity for motion, or in its power for mounting above the earth, that the peculiarity of the bird consists. The form which it bears is the highest and most beautiful of the animal creation. It is, indeed, a form of beauty; and though differing in each species, it is, in all, light, airy, and graceful. So of the intellect its power of motion, the rapidity by which it travels from object to object, is not its only characteristic. The thought or intellect of man is in itself beautiful. In what graceful forms does it sometimes appear; and, even in the dullest and most obtuse, there is often much that claims attention from its originality. Again: no animal has the power to produce such harmony as the bird. The voice of other animals is monotonous; or consists merely of a few re-iterated sounds: but the voice of many of the smaller birds is one varying strain of harmony. But there is no instrument of music comparable to the human voice, because man is a * See Gardener's Music of Nature.

NO. XV.-VOL. II.

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