does he feel the importance of this interior relation, as to be led to exclaim, (Gal. iv. 19.) "My little children, I travail in birth again until Christ be formed IN you." While we think of God merely as out of us, we think of Him sensuously, according to an idea of space, and we think of Jesus as being sent from God, and ascending to God, as if the Omnipresent God had any thing in common with space, which is a gross absurdity; but when we think of God as in us--as being "OUR LIFE,”the spiritual life of goodness and truth,-we think of Him as to quality apart from all idea of space, which is to think of Him spiritually, or in a manner becoming the spiritual nature of the subject. Let us determine, then, to think of God as dwelling IN man, and of the Godhead as dwelling bodily in Infinite fulness, IN Jesus, while we read the Lord's words,-" I ascend to my God and your God;" and then we shall understand them truly, because spiritually. In further illustration, we may refer to the following words of Jesus Christ addressed to the Father within Him, expressive of His solicitude for His disciples," I pray that as thou, Father, art IN ME, and I IN THEE, they also may be one IN US;" and this oneness he defines by adding, THEM, and THOU IN ME." (John xvii. 20, 23.) How exactly the definition, "Thou in Me,”-the Father in the Son,-agrees with the glorious affirmation that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Jesus! And equally does the definition, "I in them,"-the Son in his disciples,―agree with the words of an Evangelist, "Of His fulness have all we received:" and His own words to the Father, The glory which THOU gavest ME, I have given THEM!"

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"I IN

With this just illustration kept intelligently in mind, it will be found that all difficulty will presently disappear. We shall then think as if Jesus had said, "I am about to ascend to a state of infinite perfection, goodness, wisdom, and power, for all that the Father,—all that God-HAS, and IS, is MINE,-is My Father and MY GOD," and that infinitely, and as an eternal possession; as the same also shall be " YOUR Father and YOUR GOD," but in a finite degree, through my medium, by the Holy Spirit proceeding from my "Glorified Humanity." The words "my," and "your"-(God and Father) very properly present the idea of possession, an idea which it is all-important to keep in view in order to a just understanding of this subject. Man does not really possess his God and Father as such, or as to those Divine perfections of which he was created to be a finite recipient, unless he interiorly possesses that which God is, and thus is made "a partaker of the Divine Nature." (2 Peter i. 4.) To possess a God thus, is the only way to have Him really and beneficially as God. To have a God merely

to acknowledge and worship outwardly, is, by itself, of no value whatever. The latter, and external, or seeming possession of God, is intended only as a means to the attainment of the former, and interior, or real possession of God. Jesus possessed God, or the Divine Nature, infinitely, as "the ONLY-Begotten Son," even from his conception, being "sealed" with an infinite impression of his image by "God the Father;" (John vi. 27.) and man, by being "born again" of God, is sealed with his Heavenly Father's likeness, but only in a finite degree. This way of regeneration is the only way really and interiorly to possess our God and Father. The visible ascent of Jesus to the Father, which took place before the spiritual vision of his disciples, and his becoming, before the angels of heaven, (by an infinite investiture with the eternal glory) "the Sun of righteousness," the Fountain of life and light to the moral universe, is presented to us in the Word as a striking symbol, which was actually seen in spiritual vision, of the real interior ascent of the Human to perfect union or oneness with the Divine, by its plenary Glorification, the symbolic appearance was an ascent of space, the reality, an ascent of state. Indeed, every thing outwardly seen in heaven must be symbolic of interior, spiritual, and divine realities. To view the ascent of Jesus, then, as if it were a mere natural fact of the natural world, instead of a spiritual fact of the spiritual world, and to draw a conclusion from the fact thus misconceived, of a spatial ascent of one Divine Person in one place, to another Divine Person in another place, is to sensualise what is spiritual, and to suffocate the spiritual instruction intended to be conveyed under the outward, symbolic appearance of the Lord's ascension.

Two things, then, appear to be necessary to the right understanding of the Lord's words cited above from John xx. 17; first, to entertain a spiritual idea of the fact of the ascension of Jesus, instead of a sensual one; and, secondly, to have a spiritual idea of God in his relation to man, as being in man; and of the Father in his relation to the Son, as being in Him, in infinite fulness; and thus to attach to the words "MY God," the idea of a spiritual, interior possession of God, in respect to that which HE IS-Love and Wisdom, Goodness and Truth; thus dismissing, or modifying, or elevating, the merely external idea of God as apparently dwelling at a distance out of man, and as forming to man a merely outward object of intellectual contemplation, just as He is conceived of by children.

W. M.

ON GENUINE FRIENDSHIP.

SWEDENBORG teaches us, in various parts of his writings, how extremely dangerous it is to contract friendships which are not founded upon truly Christian principles. In proportion as the friendship contracted is influenced by a merely worldly or selfish love which actuates the spirit, it becomes "the friendship of love," which must be well distinguised from the friendship founded on principle, that is, on truly Christian or religious principles. The former is exceedingly injurious to the eternal interests of the soul, but the latter is remarkably conducive to those interests. Christianity is intended to regulate and to sanctify all our relations and duties in life. These relations and duties are numerous and important, but they may be all classed under the following heads;-1, our relations and duties to the Lord; 2, to one another; 3, to the world; and 4, to ourselves.

There is something very beautiful and sublime when we consider the universality of Christianity; how it enters into every relation, every duty, every principle and every circumstance of life; and wherever it operates it is always for good, and invariably leaves a blessing. But in order to this, it must be enthroned in the centre of our being, since whatever is in the centre governs the entire system of man.

The subject of Friendship, or the mutual association into which we enter one with another, is immensely important. The heart of man, created for the reception of the divine love, is such as to require objects to love, on which it can exercise its sympathies and its affections. The eye might as well be supposed to have no objects for its vision, as the heart no objects for its love; and according to the moral worth and dignity of the object loved, will be the elevation of the heart, and the nature of genuine friendship. If a man be placed in a distant isle, alone and out of "humanity's reach," isolated from his species, his heart will nevertheless seek for objects which it will love. He will survey the mountains, which will awake in his soul emotions and sentiments of love; he will inscribe his name on the rocks and the trees, as mementos of his affection; and he will seek to win the regard, and to soften the wild nature of the animals around him, rather than be without objects on which to exercise the affections of his heart. In short, man is created for love and friendship.

All true friendship, like every other good thing, comes from heaven, and its sole origin is the Lord. We must first be friends with Him before

we can be friends one with another. This must ever be considered as the basis of true and genuine friendship. "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you;" these are the Lord's words, and it is plain that the covenant of friendship and love between him and us is the covenant of salvation. What does the Lord command us? He commands us to love one another, to do to others as we would that they should do to us; to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, to pray for them who despitefully treat us and persecute us; to forgive, even to seventy times seven; to learn meekness and lowliness of heart from Him, and universally to keep his commandments, that we may enter into the life of his love and peace. Thus pure love is the essence of all friendship. It consequently follows that friendship is always according to the nature of the love from which it springs. But the love which constitutes friendship may be either worldly, or selfish, or heavenly.

If it is worldly, it will originate in mere earthly considerations and objects; and as this friendship is unworthy of the Christian, and of the spiritual mind, it is designated as "enmity against God." (James iv. 4.) By this friendship men may be associated together according to the flesh, but not according to the spirit. But all association and friendship grounded only in earthly considerations, is injurious to the parties concerned. It may promote their worldly ends of reputation, pleasure, and gain; but "if a man gain the whole world and lose his own soul, by what is he profited?"

But this worldly friendship should also be well considered. It may be either internal, or external, or both. If internal, it is the friendship of love; that is, some merely natural affection of the spirit unites the two parties in what they call friendship; but as the affection is merely natural, and consequently impure, the friendship will be of the same quality. There will then be an internal association of spirit, which being formed upon an improper ground, cannot be permitted to last; and though it may continue through this life, yet in the world of spirits a separation must be accomplished which is attended with suffering and pain more or less intense and dreadful, according to the manner in which the roots of the spurious and merely natural attachment have been mutually struck and ramified in each other's spirits. This merely worldly friendship, in proportion as it becomes intimate, or the friendship of love, is extremely injurious, because it strengthens the sphere of the world around them, and confirms them in their merely earthly loves. The “world loves its own," and will not fail to inspire them with aversion and

*

* See T. C. R. 446-449. Swedenborg's Spiritual Diary, 4524.

hatred against every thing spiritual and heavenly. It will induce them to prefer the works of the flesh to the fruits of the spirit. (Gal. v.) Such friendship being born of the flesh, can only savour the things which are of the flesh, and not the things which are of the spirit. The signs and evidences of this friendship are conspicuous enough to all who have any true perception of what real spiritual friendship is. The evidences are, that the parties can only speak with each other on worldly things-the affairs of the body, its gratifications, its pleasures, its health. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh;" and as the heart abounds only, in this case, with things natural, the mouth is true to the impulses of the heart, and can only speak on the same subjects. Thus the spiritual interests of the soul, and the eternal things of the Lord's Word and kingdom, are rarely the topics of conversation in such friendly circles, except probably when some worldly emoluments, some preferment, some earthly dignity is in view, and the sacred things of the church are the means by which the desired objects can be attained. But under all this may lurk infidelity and even atheisim itself. Such is the friendship of the world.

There is, however, an external friendship which may be called civil, because it relates only to the civil life. This kind of friendship is exceedingly necessary in society, and must be well distinguished from the former. It is by this friendship that men associate together in external transactions of business, in maintaining political rights, and in discussing measures for the good of the community. As it is the object or end in view, and not the friendship of love, leading to a consociation of minds between the parties, which in this case associates them together, therefore this friendship is not only not injurious, but necessary and useful.

But if the love in which friendship is grounded is selfish, originating in merely selfish motives and ends, it will be still further removed from that genuine friendship which is founded in love to God and man. If this friendship is analysed to its first principles, it will be found to originate in the love of dominion grounded in the love of self. The objects to whom it attaches itself, and whom it calls its friends, are mere tools whom it endeavours to employ in order to secure its ends, which when attained, it casts away its tools as no longer useful, and begins to treat them with neglect and contempt. This kind of friendship is consequently similar to that which exists amongst a horde of robbers, or a banditti of assassins, and is eventually changed into the most direful hatred, if not in the world, assuredly hereafter, and will cause much anguish and pain to the soul.