It has opened out new paths of civilisation; and by its researches and results has, under Providence, increased the amount of health and of comfort to the human race. It must be obvious to every reflecting New Churchman that the Lord is now opening a new discrete degree of civilisation for the purpose of forming new ultimates,—a new earth,— upon which a new state of interior things, now opened from the Word, can, together with innumerable blessings from Himself, be established; and there is every reason to believe, from the beneficial results experienced during the last fifty or sixty years, that this progress in the developments of science and of civilisation will continue: for it would appear that new openings of divine Truth from the Word require new ultimates both to receive it and to give it effect upon earth. The "“new wine must be put into new bottles." And not only must a new scientific development be effected, but also a new rationale, or a new philosophical mode of thinking be brought to pass, in harmony, with the new perceptions of divine Truth, now disclosed to the human mind, by the dispensation of the New Church.

It is said in the text that "wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and the strength [or support] of thy salvations," to shew us that the Lord's kingdom to be established at His Second Coming, denoted by "His times," when He will be known in His true nature as "God manifested in the flesh,"-in His Divine Humanity, or "Glorious Body," (Phil. iii. 21.) will be founded upon a true knowledge of His divine Person and Character, and also of His Divine Word and of its genuine doctrines, and likewise upon that wisdom of God which arises from the pure love of Him and of the neighbour, by keeping His divine commandments. This holy "fear [or love] of the Lord is His treasure," because it is the salvation of man, which is the most precious treasure that the Lord can give, or that man can receive and enjoy.

According to Swedenborg, there are two foundations in ultimates for the spiritual world, and for the internal, and spiritual, and celestial things of the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and of His church upon earth. The first is the terraqueous globe, and the physical or natural truths of the earthly sciences, which form the most general basis of the spiritual universe. The second is formed from the ultimate or literal truths, properly understood, of His revealed Word. These, and not the former, are the especial foundation of His church, both in heaven and upon earth. Hence the Lord is said "to found the earth upon the seas, and to establish it upon the floods;" (Psalm xxiv. 2.) because the waters of the sea and of the floods or streams signify revealed truths in their ultimate form, as they are in the literal sense

of the Word, upon which the Lord founds His church. That He doth not literally establish the earth upon the seas and the floods is abundantly obvious; but that He establishes the earth, which signifies the church, upon the waters, which signify the truths of His Word, especially in their natural or literal sense, might be clearly proved from other passages, if this were the place. A clear distinction, therefore, must always be made between the physical truths of science and the "truths of faith." Every man is bound, if he wishes to prepare himself for heaven and to be saved, to acquire a knowledge of the truths of faith, for he cannot be saved without them. But for this purpose it is not necessary to acquire the truths of science: these latter, indeed, may strengthen, illustrate, and confirm the truths of his faith, and on this account they are exceedingly valuable, and worthy of every effort to acquire them; but they cannot constitute his faith, it is only the truths revealed in the Word that can do this. For, as the Word has come down from the Lord through the heavens like Jacob's ladder, it can raise man up to heaven if he will but obey its truths and follow its guidance; and it will thus consociate him with angels, and conjoin him in faith and love with the Lord Himself, and thus save him. But this the merely natural truths of science, howsoever useful they may be in their own sphere, cannot possibly do. Hence the necessity of the revealed Word, not only for the salvation, but also for the civilisation of mankind. For it might be demonstrated, were this the time and the place, that without the Word men could not only not be saved—that is, have their spiritual and truly rational degree of life opened for the reception of heavenly influences-but that they could enjoy no civilisation, and if they existed at all, it would be only as savages, or as brute animals; for the natural degree of life, separate from the spiritual and truly rational, is in itself nothing but a savage and brute animal, more ferocious than any wild beast that roams over the plain. Hence it is that we owe to the revealed Word not only all the blessings of our salvation, but also all the benefits of our civilisation, which, in like manner, we equally owe to the Lord's mercy and providence.

The physical truths of science, therefore, as they originate with man in the terrestrial globe, cannot raise him above the world any more than waters in nature can rise above their own level. For, as the reservoir of waters in the distant hills which supply our city with this necessary of life can cause its streams, on account of its high level, to rise even to the highest apartments of our houses, but not to an elevation above their own source, so the waters of science cannot raise a man above the world whence they arise. A higher source than the

world can supply is necessary to raise man up to its own level in the region whence it comes. This region is heaven; and the source whence the waters of truth flow is the "Fountain of living waters," which is the Lord Himself, as the Fountain of all truth. Hence, again, the necessity of a divine revelation such as we have in the Word, which the world cannot possibly supply; but which must be supplied, in order that man may be developed or regenerated as to his spiritual nature, and be trained for heaven, the destiny for which he is created. All that we have here said is confirmed by the Lord, when he says— "No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven;" (John iii. 13.) for, no truth derived from merely earthly sources, whether it be the truth of physical or of moral science, can possibly ascend up into heaven, because, like the waters of earth, it cannot ascend above its own level. But the Son of Man," or the truth, which, as the Word or the "living waters," cometh down from heaven, can ascend up into heaven, and take us up with it, if we will but follow its guidance.

But the British Association of Science has not only a tendency to develop new principles of knowledge, and thus to help on the progress of civilisation and of moral order amongst men, it has also a tendency to consociate men together in a new kind of brotherhood, which may be called the brotherhood of science; for no one can have been present at this Association without feeling the sphere of mutual regard which the distinguished members seem to entertain for each other; for science, especially when blessed with the higher truths of theology, has the power of awakening "good will amongst men,” and of establishing "peace upon earth;" and under this aspect we must acknowledge the very beneficial tendency of this institution.

The subject of our discourse is, in itself, extremely interesting to every thinking mind. Who does not, at once, perceive that there must, in the nature of things, be a delightful harmony between science, philosophy, and theology? All the three come from one fountain, which is God, and all the three must exist in the most perfect harmony in their divine source, and they ought also to exist in harmony in the human mind, both in the individual and in the aggregate of men. These three things involve all our knowledge both of God's works and of God's Word, and also of the innumerable things which both His works and His Word reveal to our perceptions. The volume of God's works in nature, the source of science and philosophy, is in perfect harmony with God's works in Revelation, the source of theology and of the purest reason and philosophy. Neither science alone, nor philo

AND THEOLOGY IN THE NEW CHURCH.

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sophy alone, nor theology alone, can properly develop the human mind, and form it either into a palace of intelligence, or into a temple of wisdom, in which God can dwell with man, and man with God; but the three united in one harmonious whole are essential for this great purpose.

But, in the present state of things, we by no means find this harmony to exist. These three provinces of all human knowledge have been separated from one another; theology has been divorced from science, and banished from nearly all our scientific institutions; it has been forbidden to raise its voice, although the chief of sciences, in our halls of science; and in the courts of literature and of philosophy, she has sat down in silence and sorrow. Yet theology in itself considered is the highest science, the highest reason, and the highest philosophy, and the only true wisdom. How then has this deplorable state of things come to pass? Is it owing to the wrong mode of cultivating science, on the ground of experiment and observation? By no means. For this is the only true mode of cultivating science. Is it because philosophy has too hastily come to its inductions and conclusions, and has thus generalized too fast, without taking a sufficient number of data and of facts into its investigation of causes and of principles? This may, to a certain extent, have been the case; but still philosophy would not, on this account, be always hostile to theology. What then is the cause of this want of harmony between these three great provinces of human knowledge-science, intelligence, and wisdom? It is simply. this, that the prevailing theology, called orthodoxy, has nothing in science to support it, and nothing in philosophy to sanction, by the suffrages of rational inquiry, any of its dogmas and its teachings. From the idea of God, as consisting of three divine and co-equal persons, each, as the Creed expresses it, "being Lord and God," down to the idea of the resurrection of the material body,-not one of its doctrines is in harmony with science and with philosophy. We do not mean an infidel or a sceptical philosophy, which reasons from a negative rationalism; but we mean that proper and legitimate philosophy which reasons from an affirmative rationalism, and which, taught of God by His Word, loves the truths of revelation, and delights in the light which they shed upon every subject relating to God, His Divine Person and attributes, and to man, his soul, its immortality, and its destiny.

When we thus speak of the prevailing theology called orthodox, as being the cause of this disunion which exists between science, philosophy, and theology, we do not deal in assertions not capable of

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abundant proof; for nearly every writer and every preacher who handles any article of doctrine in the orthodox creeds and forms of belief, will tell us, before he comes to the conclusion, that the doctrine cannot be understood,-it cannot be explained so as to satisfy the reason of man,— it must be believed, as it is a fact, revealed in God's Word, although it cannot be understood. Now this is the reason why science and philosophy cannot be in harmony with the prevailing theology, and, therefore, they cannot submit themselves to the authority of theology, or allow it to take part in their councils.

But that theology properly deduced from the Scriptures is in strict harmony with science and with philosophy, will be clear when we consider that the Divine Author of theology requires us to understand what we read in His volume of Revelation. Hence, He says in the most emphatic manner-"Whoso readeth, let him understand,” (Matt. xxiv. 15.) shewing, in respect to His prophetic declarations, which are not the most intelligible part of his Divine Word, that every man who readeth them ought to understand them. Again, He says-" When any one heareth the Word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart:" (Matt. xiii. 19.) here, the wicked one taketh away the truth, because it is not understood. To understand divine Truth is, therefore, of the utmost moment-it is to have spiritual intelligence; and if the Truth is at the same time loved and obeyed in the life, it is to have wisdom-the wisdom of God, and salvation. For the only way of preventing the wicked one, or the devil, from taking the truth from our minds, is to understand it and to love it, by yielding obedience to its dictates and to walk in its light. The Lord, also, often rebuked His disciples for not understanding what He said; and instead of the Lord forbidding us to use our reason in matters of theology and of spiritual intelligence, He commands us "of ourselves to judge what is right;" (Luke xii. 57.) shewing that the highest use we can make of our rational mind is to employ it in the service of Truth, and especially of His revealed Truth, and "to judge of ourselves what is right."

And this brings us to consider the relation in which our reason and our rational minds stand to revealed Truth. There has been a great variety of opinion on this very subject. Some have thought that reason has nothing to do with theology and with religious knowledge: as when Luther was reproached as teaching in his doctrine of justification by faith alone, what was contrary to reason, he replied that " reason was the devil's harlot, and that he would have nothing to do with her;" and in general it is a tenet of modern theology, called orthodoxy, that the