NELLIE.

I GAZED upon the grassy bed

Where my sweet Nellie lay,

And wondered that the time had sped
So rapidly away.

Like the last deep footprints in the sands,
Which fringe Death's narrow stream,

And the farewell wave of the tiny hands,
That little mound doth seem.

"Twas but as yesterday to me,
I clasped her wasted form,
Within my arms so tenderly,

While tears fell fast and warm;
But many years have come and gone
And left their trace on me,
Since my own, my darling angel one,
From suffering was set free,

And high to yonder world of light
Above all thought of care;

Was borne by angels' hands so bright,
Eternal joys to share.

And yet I think of her e'en now,
Unchanged nor older grown,

Of the same sweet face and marble brow,
And the youthful form I've known.

I scarce can grasp the mighty truth,
Or bend my mind to know,

That the spirit forms of tenderest youth,

To a perfect stature grow.

In that world of full-developed life

No buds are ever seen,

But the flowers bloom ;-no pruning knife

With edges sharp and keen

Will need to lop the drooping bough;

No weakly life is there,

But all in strength and beauty grow,

In that land without compare.

S. L. MOORE.

SPACE AND TIME, INFINITY AND ETERNITY.

OUR ideas on all subjects connected with Nature are apt to be bounded by Nature itself; and being founded on the appearances therein pre

sented, are too often held in such mere appearance as if it were a truth, forgetting the inevitable fact expressed by Swedenborg, that "all truth with men and angels is but the appearance of Truth. Pure Truth is with God alone."

Those who search most deeply into the truths of natural science, know well how the appearances presented to the senses have to be corrected by the reasoning powers; in fact, that philosophy is nothing more than the correction of the fallacies of the senses, by tracing out cause and effect for the phenomena of daily life; in the course of which it becomes evident that the fallacies so called are not in the senses or the impressions they convey, but in our perceptions of them, and that when these are corrected by the light of higher and more interior perception, they are seen to be still the only way in which the truths could be presented in the lowest or sensual plane of the human mind.

The extent to which this is done, even in the natural degree alone, is wonderful, and the developments of science in this degree are only limited by the capacity of the investigators.

But the true study of natural science can only be carried on with full success by tracing its relations through the spiritual and celestial degrees of creation up to the great Creator Himself. Human powers fail to lead the thought above the natural degree, unless the interiors of the mind are opened in a state of loving reception of spiritual light from the Lord, which illuminates the natural ideas flowing in through the outer senses, and makes them clear and distinct to the perception.

The highest degree to which the fullest development of merely natural science has yet led its votaries has been to trace the source of all the physical forces of nature to the sun of this system, which they almost deify, as the creator of all things; and, whilst observing the evident correspondence to the human form presented by animals, and traceable through all gradations down to the lowest forms of life, to consider man merely as the result of a mere development upwards; a system that if carried to its ultimates would educe a God as a further human development. It is the confinement in this manner of thought and reasoning to the plane of nature, that keeps us all from understanding the true character of Space and Time, Infinity and Eternity.

Space and time are so interwoven in our ideas, that each is used to measure the other. The length of a journey is frequently specified by the time it takes to accomplish; and a period of time is called a space

of time, and measured by the motions of the earth, or a pendulum, &c., through space. Founded on these bases, interminate periods of space and time are called in the one case eternal, in the other infinite, when the term should simply be indefinite, for no accumulation of the one or of the other could possibly produce infinity or eternity.

Space and time are, in reality, appearances founded on natural and cosmical phenomena; and it is evident that in the spiritual world, where such phenomena do not exist, there can be neither space nor time such as we have here. But as the spiritual world is the sphere of existence of real, living, sentient human beings to eternity, it follows that there must be in that world all the appearances of space and time, to the full as real as here, and doubtless more so; for the source of natural space and time, so far as they are perceived by the mind, is from spiritual space and time, and only so far as the latter is in the former is there real space and time on earth. Let us then consider in what such spiritual appearances consist, and it may then be possible to see more truly what space and time are in the natural world.

In the spiritual world events must be continually occurring, and thought and action ever progressing. A state of mind in further development of goodness, truth, and use is striven for; it is induced, and the consequent delight felt and appreciated, to be succeeded still by other states more perfect and more delightful. These pass in sweet succession, alternately hoped for, enjoyed, and remembered with thankfulness and gratitude; and thus confirmed in permanence in the life of the angel. Can we not see in such a series of mental periods of anticipation, enjoyment and recollection, a measurement of progress far more complete and perfect than any natural division of time; one also in which each period helps to build the other up, and unites with it in perpetually increasing the states of joy and bliss of the heavenly angels.

Again, man in his eternal abode, living as a true substantial human being in the perfect human form, must exist in a world where his surroundings are in agreement with himself. There are houses, trees, rivers, mountains, gardens, cities, fields, &c. He can walk and delight himself in the beauties of heavenly scenery, and enjoy the society and converse of others like himself. There must be, therefore, what, for want of a better word, we call the appearance of space, but this spiritual space is entirely dependent on his own state; those things in which his soul most interiorly delights being in his immediate vicinity, and other things and places, distant according as they are less in

accordance with his ruling love. But his ruling love, whatever it may be, cannot imply quiescence of state. Love is essential activity, and consequently an angel will be ever seeking new developments of love and affection, which will require him to move here and there as best subserves his desires, causing states of nearness or distance in accordance therewith, in reference to other angels and societies with which he may be in connection.

We thus find that what corresponds to time in heaven is progression in states of wisdom; and to space, progression in states of love. Let us now see how far these states have relation to what we know as space and time here.

foot of time.

In Shakespeare's play of "As You like it," Rosalind in jest with Orlando says:"Then there is no true lover in the forest, else sighing every minute and groaning every hour would detect the lazy foot of time as well as a clock.—Orl. And why not the swift Had not that been as proper?-Ros. By no means, sir. Time travels in divers paces with divers persons: I'll tell you who time ambles withal, who time trots withal, who time gallops withal, and who he stands still withal." She then goes on to instance humorously the different characters to whom time thus appears in various guise. In this description there sublies the fact that even here the real rate of time depends on the state of our minds, a point which has been seen by other poets, who after all only express more gracefully a truth we all feel. How slowly do the years pass in the spring of life. To the child ages are included in a few short years, and in the increasing desire for progress and independence, with the consequent rapid accumulation of knowledges, the years on to manhood are greatly prolonged. In maturer age time gradually seems to increase his pace and years pass almost as weeks used to. This is beautifully expressed by the poet Campbell in the following lines :-—

"The more we live, more brief appear

Our life's succeeding stages;
A day to childhood seems a year,
And years like passing ages.

The gladsome current of our youth
Ere passion yet disorders,

Steals lingering like a river smooth
Along its grassy borders.

But as the careworn cheek grows wan
And Sorrow's shafts fly thicker,
Ye stars, that measure life to man,
Why seem your courses quicker?

When joys have lost their bloom and breath,

And life itself is vapid,

Why, as we reach the Falls of Death,
Feel we its tide more rapid?

It may be strange-yet who would change
Time's course to slower speeding,
When one by one our friends have gone
And left our bosom bleeding?

Heaven gives our years of fading strength
Indemnifying fleetness,

And those of youth a seeming length

Proportioned to their sweetness."

This intellectual conception of time may also be confirmed from the progress of events in the last century, into which more of progress has been crowded than could have passed in ages prior, while an extent of history is now acted in a few months which once took years on years

to pass.

In sleep we are ignorant of the lapse of time, and night passes as a breath to the healthy sleeper; but to the restless, or those watching the sick bed of a loved one, the hours of darkness seem interminable.

The perception of the passing of longer or shorter periods of apparent time in dream or vision has been known practically to most of us, and is a subject of many tales and legends. Mahomet says that the angel Gabriel showed him all the wonders of the seven heavens, and returned him to his bed, whence he had been snatched, before a water jar, upset by him in his hasty departure, had emptied itself. An Eastern story tells of a sultan, who at the bidding of a dervish dipped his head into a basin of water, and though he withdrew it immediately after, yet went through seven years' adventure in the interim.

Lafayette when in prison had a fearful dream which held him in terror for many hours, and the actual time of which was positively measured by the opening and shutting an iron gate while a single sentry was relieved.

If time were an absolute thing and not a mere appearance here, it would be the same time over all the world at the same moment. But a message by telegraph sent a quarter round the globe eastward would be six hours apparently in reaching its destination, even if its transmission were instantaneous, while sent in the same manner westward, it would arrive six hours earlier than the time of dispatch. In voyages round the world a day is lost or gained according to the direction sailed, and the captain in such cases has to change a day in the reckoning at some part of the voyage. If Australia had been, for