loves the good end to effect which the laws were ordained, then these two men are essentially unlike. Now men are classed and distinguished in heaven only according to the kind and measure of their advancement from the inherent selfishness of our nature towards or into perfect love or charity; but in none who are created does love ever become perfect and unchanging, and of those in every sort and degree of goodness, there are some who, more than others who stand with them, incline to one or other of the two ruling principles mentioned above. Hence it is, that every heaven, or all heaven, is said to be divided into two kingdoms. We will give a section from our author, relating to this subject.

"Inasmuch as in heaven there are infinite varieties, and one society is not altogether like another, nor indeed one angel like another, therefore heaven is distinguished into general, specific, and particular in general it is distinguished into two kingdoms; specifically into three heavens; and in particular into innumerable societies we shall speak of each in the following pages. They are called kingdoms, because heaven is called the kingdom of God.

"There are angels who more and less interiorly receive the Divine proceeding from the Lord; they who receive it more interiorly are called celestial angels, but they who receive it less interiorly are called spiritual angels; hence heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms, one of which is called the CELESTIAL KINGDOM, the other the SPIRITUAL KINGDOM.

"The angels who constitute the celestial kingdom, inasmuch as they receive the Divine of the Lord more interiorly, are called interior and also superior angels; and hence also the heavens which they constitute are called interior and superior heavens. The reason why they are called superior and inferior is, because interiors and exteriors are so called.

"The love in which they are who are in the celestial kingdom, is called celestial love; and the love in which they are who are in the spiritual kingdom, is called spiritual love: celestial love is love to the Lord, and spiritual love is charity towards the neighbour. And whereas all good is of love, for what any one loves, this is to him good, therefore also the good of one kingdom is called celestial, and the good of the other spiritual. Hence it is evident in what respect those two kingdoms are distinct, viz. that they are distinguished like the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbour and whereas the former good is a more interior good, and the former love is a more interior love, therefore the celestial angels are more interior angels, and are called superior.

"The celestial kingdom is also called the priestly kingdom of the Lord, and in the Word His habitation, and the spiritual kingdom is called His regal kingdom, and in the Word His throne: from the Divine-celestial also the Lord in the world was called JESUS, and from the Divine-spiritual, CHRIST.

"The angels in the celestial kingdom of the Lord, greatly excel in wisdom and glory the angels who are in the spiritual kingdom,

by reason of their more interior reception of the Divine of the Lord, being in love to Him, and hence being nearer and more closely conjoined to Him. The reason why the former angels are of such a quality, is, because they have received and do receive divine truths immediately in the life, and not, as the spiritual, in previous memory and thought; wherefore they have those truths inscribed on their hearts, perceiving them and as it were seeing them in themselves, nor do they at any time reason concerning them whether it be so or not so: they are like those described in Jeremiah, 'I will put My law in their mind, and write it on their heart: they shall not teach any more every one his friend, and every one his brother, saying, know ye Jehovah; they shall know Me from the least of them unto the greatest of them,' xxxi. 33, 34: and they are called in Isaiah The taught of Jehovah,' liv. 13: that they who are taught of Jehovah are they who are taught of the Lord, the Lord Himself teaches in John, chap. vi. 45, 46.

"It was said that they possess wisdom and glory above the rest, because they have received and do receive divine truths immediately in the life, for as soon as they hear them they also will and do them, neither do they store them up in the memory, and afterwards think whether it be so. They who are such, know instantly by influx from the Lord, whether the truth which they hear be truth, for the Lord' flows-in immediately into the will of man, and mediately through the will into his thinking faculty; or, what is the same thing, the Lord flows-in immediately into good, and mediately through good into truth; for that is called good which is of the will and thence of the work, but that is called truth which is of the memory and thence of the thought. All truth likewise is turned into good, and implanted in the love, as soon as it enters the will; but so long as truth is in the memory and thence in the thought, it doth not become good, nor doth it live, neither is it appropriated to man, inasmuch as man is man from will and thence from understanding, and not from understanding separate from will.

"Such being the distinction between the angels of the celestial kingdom and the angels of the spiritual kingdom, therefore they are not together, nor do they hold consort with each other, having communication only by intermediate angelic societies, which are called celestial-spiritual. Through these societies the celestial kingdom flows-in into the spiritual; and hence it comes to pass, that although heaven is divided into two kingdoms, they still make one, the Lord always providing such intermediate angels, by whom is communication and conjunction.

"Since the angels both of one and the other kingdom are much treated of in the following pages, therefore it is needless here to be more particular on the subject." pp. 17, 18, 19, 20.

There are also three heavens, perfectly distinct from each other. The whole of our author's doctrine respecting the three degrees, is new, and reaches, in its relations, all subjects. It is not easy to give, in a few words, a distinct understanding of it. We may, however, make intelligible its application to states of character and

life. There is but one way for man to become regenerate; and that is, to do the will of God; and to do the will of God, is to obey his commandments. But one may obey them, because he fears the consequences of his disobedience and hopes to receive the recompense promised to obedience. If he persevere in thus well-doing, he will gradually become capable of following the same course, of obeying the same law, from higher motives. He will become influenced by a desire of doing right, and will truly wish to apply divine and revealed truth to his life, although that truth condemn his favourite sins and call upon him to subdue his strongest propensities; and in this state he will be led, by these motives, to do what he sees to be right, without reflecting upon a recompense of good or evil. If he persevere in thus well-doing, he will again advance a further step; the impulses which he has habitually and perseveringly resisted, will cease to recur, or will be weakened; his favourite sins will become hateful to him; that which he did because he ought to do it, he will now do because it is pleasant to do it; and thus, what he only saw to be right, he will also feel to be good; the law which he obeyed will not be to him as a law, because, as it was the law of his conduct or his external life, it has now become the law of his internal life, or his affections. These three states of moral quality are perfectly distinct; and whichever of them becomes the ruling and predominant state during this life, after death is established and perpetuated. The first, or lowest of these states is called by our author the natural; the second, the spiritual; the third, the celestial. In each of these degrees, or heavens, there are some, who, more than others in the same degree, have been brought to that degree and remain in it through their affections rather than their understanding, or through their understanding rather than their affections; and thus, according to what was said in the last section, belong to the one or the other of the two kingdoms of heaven. This difference is much more obvious in the natural degree than in either of the others, because in the spiritual degree truth is constantly looked at as teaching the way of life, and in the celestial degree, love is supreme. The following are the principal paragraphs of this section:

"The Divine which flows-in from the Lord, and is received in the third or inmost heaven, is called celestial, and hence the angels who are there are called celestial angels; the Divine which flows-in from the Lord, and is received in the second or middle heaven, is called spiritual, and hence the angels who are there are called spiritual angels; but the Divine, which flows-in from the Lord, and is received in the ultimate or first heaven, is called natural; yet whereas the natural of that heaven is not as the natural of the world, but hath in it a spiritual and celestial, therefore that heaven is called spiritual

and celestial-natural, and thence the angels who are there, are called spiritual and celestial-natural; they are called spiritual-natural who receive influx from the second or middle heaven, which is the spiritual heaven; and they are called celestial-natural who receive influx from the third or inmost heaven, which is the celestial heaven. The spiritual-natural angels and the celestial-natural are distinct from each other, but still they constitute one heaven, because they are in one degree.

"There is in each heaven an internal and an external; they who are in the internal, are there called internal angels; but they who are in the external are there called external angels: the external and internal in the heavens, or in each heaven, are like the willprinciple and its intellectual with man, the internal being as the will-principle, and the external as its intellectual. Every thing of the will-principle hath its intellectual, the one not being given without the other the will-principle is comparatively as flame, and its intellectual as the light thence derived.

"It is well to be noted that the interiors of the angels are what cause them to be in one heaven or in another; for the more the interiors are open to the Lord, they are in a more interior heaven. There are three degrees of the interiors appertaining to every one, both angel and spirit, and also to man: they with whom the third degree is open, are in the inmost heaven; they, with whom the second is open, or only the first, are in the middle or ultimate heaven. The interiors are opened by the reception of divine good and divine truth : they who are affected with divine truths, and admit them immediately into the life, thus into the will and thence into act, are in the inmost or third heaven, and are in that heaven according to the reception of good from the affection of truth; but they who do not admit those truths immediately into the will, but into the memory and thence into the understanding, and in consequence thereof will and do them, are in the middle or second heaven; whilst they who live moral, and believe in the Divine, without any particular concern about being instructed, are in the ultimate or first heaven. Hence it may be manifest, that the states of the interiors make heaven, and that heaven is within every one, and not without him; as the Lord also teacheth, where He saith, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say lo here, or lo there, for behold ye have the kingdom of God within you." Luke xvii. 20, 21.

"Every perfection also increases towards the interiors, and decreases towards the exteriors, inasmuch as the interiors are nearer to the Divine, and in themselves purer, but the exteriors are more remote from the Divine, and in themselves grosser. Angelic perfection consists in intelligence, in wisdom, in love, and in all good, and thence in happiness, but not in happiness without them, for happiness without them is external and not internal. Inasmuch as the interiors appertaining to the angels of the inmost heaven are open in the third degree, therefore their perfection immensely exceeds the perfection of the angels in the middle heaven, whose interiors are open in the second degree; in like manner the perfection of the an

gels of the middle heaven exceeds the perfection of the angels of the ultimate heaven.

"In consequence of this difference, an angel of one heaven cannot enter-in to the angels of another heaven; in other words, it is not possible for any one to ascend from an inferior heaven, nor to descend from a superior heaven: he who ascends from an inferior heaven is seized with anxiety even to pain, nor can he see those who are there, still less discourse with them; and he who descends from a superior heaven is deprived of his wisdom, stammers in his speech, and is in despair." pp. 21, 22, 23.

"He who does not know how the case is with divine order as to degrees, cannot comprehend in what manner the heavens are distinct, nor indeed what the internal and external man is. Most people have no other notion concerning interiors and exteriors, or concerning superiors and inferiors, than as of something continuous, or of what coheres by continuity from what is purer to what is grosser: nevertheless interiors and exteriors are not continuous with each other, but are discrete. There are degrees of two kinds, viz. continuous degrees, and degrees not continuous. Continuous degrees are as the degrees of the decrease of light from flame even to its obscurity or as the degrees of the decrease of vision from those things which are in light to those which are in shade; or as the degrees of the purity of the atmosphere from its bottom to its summit; these degrees are determined by distances: whereas degrees not continuous but discrete, are discriminated like prior and posterior, like cause and effect, and like what produces and its product. An attentive observer will discover, that in all and singular things whatsoever in the universal world, there are such degrees of production and composition, that from one thing another is produced, and from that other a third, and so on. He who doth not procure to himself a perception of these degrees, cannot possibly know the distinctions of the heavens, and the distinctions of the interior and exterior faculties of man, nor the distinction between the spiritual world and the natural world, nor the distinction between the spirit of man and his body; and neither can he understand what and whence correspondences and representations are, nor what is the quality of influx. Sensual men do not apprehend these distinctions, for they make increases and decreases, even according to these degrees, continuous; hence they are unable to conceive of what is spiritual in any other way than as of something more purely natural; on which account they also stand out of doors, and at a distance from intelligence." pp. 24, 25.

In the next section our author states, "that the heavens consist of innumerable societies."

"The angels of each heaven are not together in one place, but distinguished into societies greater or less, according to the differences of the good of love and of faith in which they are: they who are in similar good, form one society. Goods in the heavens are of infinite variety, and each individual angel is as it were his own good. "The angelic societies in the heavens are also distant one from