phosphates; so also, there are various kinds of desires in the human mind: thus there are the desires of the natural mind corporeal desires, sensual desires; then again there are the desires of the spiritual mind-desires of spiritual good and of spiritual truth; and there are also the desires of the celestial mind-desires of celestial good and of celestial truth; and of each of these desires there is a great variety. All desires may, however, be considered under two great divisions; desires of good and truth, and desires of evil and false: Thus Solomon says, "the desire of the righteous is only good-the soul of the wicked desires evil." So the term salt in some passages of the Word signifies good desires, and in other passages, evil desires. In Lev. chap. 2, ver. 13, we read, "Every offering of thy cake shall be salted with salt; neither shalt thou make to cease the salt of the covenant of thy God upon thy meat-offering. Upon all thy offerings thou shalt offer salt ;" and in Leviticus we read that the incense should be salted. These divine words teach us that in all our acts of worship, the good which is in us must continually desire truth-the truth which is in us must continually desire good: the heavenly marriage, the covenant, is the union of good and truth, and the desire of this conjunction is "the salt of the covenant of thy God;" and the man who obeys these divine commands can adopt the words of the Psalmist, "I have longed for thy salvation," and of Isaiah, "The desire of my soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of Thee." "As a new born babe he desires the sincere milk of the Word that he may grow thereby." The Lord Jesus says, "Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will you season it." To be "salted with fire," denotes the desire of good for truth, for desire is the very fire of love. And "salt that has lost its saltness," signifies a negation of all desire of good and of truth. A man whose mind is enlightened by truth, but who, at the same time, does not seek after purity of affection and of life, has salt; he has desires, but they are not genuinethey are mere lust, and he is "good for nothing." Thus there are many passages in the holy Scriptures in which the term salt bears an evil signification. As in Jeremiah, "Cursed be the man who maketh flesh his arm; he shall not see when good cometh, but shall dwell in parched places in a salt land;" he whose trust is in his self-derived intelligence, and whose delight is in evil loves, dwells in a "salt land,” all good and all truth in him is destroyed by his filthy desires. So also in Zephaniah, "It shall be as Gomorrah, a place left to the nettle, and a pit of salt and a waste to eternity." "The nettle," denotes the ar dour and the burning of the life of a man who is in the love of self, and "a pit of salt," denotes the same burning love desiring what is false. Such a man is a Sodom, "as Gomorrah;" for these cities represent the evil, direful, fiery, filthy affections, burning with desires of self-love. In Genesis we read of Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt; and it teaches us that when truth in the mind (signified by Lot's wife) no longer looks to good (denoted by Lot), but turns to the love of self -to Sodom; then the mind becomes "a pillar of salt," all spiritual life is destroyed. With this view of the subject, how solemn is the Lord's exhortation, "Remember Lot's wife!" These explanations of the sacred text are gathered from the works of Emanuel Swedenborg. As however in the New Church we are not allowed to follow blindly the teachings of any man, but are permitted to obtain for ourselves a rational perception of the meaning of the sacred page, in order that having learned the truth, we may live the truth, we shall consider some of the peculiar properties of salt; by this means we may see for ourselves, and that with clearness of vision, that salt corresponds to desire. 1. Salt has a preserving principle. It has the peculiar property of preserving substances from putrifaction, and is, for this very purpose, extensively used in articles of food. It is also well known that the economy of the human body requires that we should take salt with our food. If the most healthy person were to abstain for any length of time from taking his accustomed portion of salt, his body would become diseased; health and strength would give way to disease and languor, followed with death as a certain result. The same observation is true in reference to cattle. Graziers know that by liberally scattering salt with their feed, they are using one of the most effective means for preserving them from many fatal diseases: and in those parts of the world where cattle are not under the direction of man, Providence has placed within them a strong instinct to seek a supply of salt. In America, sheep and cattle resort in herds innumerable to the different clay salt pits, and that with the greatest eagerness: and in Africa, large herds of cattle travel to great distances, at stated seasons, to enjoy the marine plants which are saturated with salt. By this provision their health is preserved. As it is in the animal economy, so also it is in the mental constitution: if the good we have received do not desire truth,-if the mental food we have received be not mixed with salt, then good corrupts, decays, perishes; so also if the truths we have taken do not desire good, then truth perishes. How forcibly is this exhibited in the state of the former church! In consequence of separating faith from charity, of teaching that faith alone is saving, of losing all affection for good, of having no salt in themselves, the church has become corrupt, a loathsome corpse, a putrid carcase, about which the birds of desolation are gathered together: its truths have become falses, and all charity has been destroyed. This deplorable state of the former dispensation is not referred to for the purpose of exciting any thing like boasting on our part, but that we may be forcibly impressed with the conviction of what will most assuredly be our condition, if, as individuals, we have not salt within ourselves. If we do not cherish a desire for good, if our faith be without charity, if our knowledge be not attended with a life in accordance with the divine commands, if our profession of religion be without the possession of piety and virtue, then, though our knowledge should appear to us as splendid, glittering from the light of our own intelligence, it is in reality but the cold light of the glow-worm, the phosphoric lumen of a decayed fish shining in the dark. Notwithstanding our abundance of knowledges, our souls are in a state of decay, having no health or soundness. Without this spiritual preservative, even our knowledges of truth will be taken away from us; they will wither like flowers cut off from their root; they will sink from our mental hemisphere like fallen stars. Our "knowledge will vanish away," and there will be nothing left in our minds but such errors as will unite by lust with the evils of our heart. But if we have salt in ourselves, then this holy desire will preserve us in spiritual health and vigour; and of our own souls it may be said, "Now abideth faith, hope, and charity." The salt of holy desire will give fixidity to every thing within us that is good and true, and preserve them for ever. 2. Salt has a fructifying principle. It is well known by farmers and graziers, that cattle fatten upon feed in which there is an abundance of salt. By this means cows give a greater quantity of milk, causing the fluids to become more readily converted into chyle, and giving an increased energy to these juices secreted by the digestive organs. To the fructifying principle of salt is also attributed the superior quality of the Merino wool; and the wool of flocks in our own country, fed within a few miles of the sea coast, or with plenty of salt, possesses a longer staple and a more pliant texture. Another proof of the fructifying properties of salt is seen in the extraordinary fertility of the cultivated land of China, its fruitfulness arising from the constant practice of the Chinese applying salt as manure,-a practice which is coming into general use in our own country. So also the spiritual salt has a frucN. S. No. 34.-VOL. 3. 3 c tifying principle: by it a man becomes a living man, fruitful in good works. Truth is seed; good is ground. Truths merely from thought will lie alone and rot. We may have knowledge in abundance, but if we have not a holy desire of good, our souls will be evil and barren : whereas if good salt be plentifully cast upon the ground-if we desire to do the good of truth, then these knowledges will take root, spring up luxuriantly, and bring forth an abundant harvest. The fructifying principle of mental salt is plainly taught us in many passages of the holy Word. We select one from 2 Kings, chap. 2, verse 19 to 21: "The men of Jericho said to Elisha, Behold, the situation of the city is good; but the waters are evil and the ground barren. And he said unto them, Bring a new cruse, and put salt therein; and they brought it to him, and he went forth to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land." The prophet Elisha represents the Lord in reference to the Word. Jericho, being near to Jordan, which was the boundary of the land of Canaan, represents the boundary of the human mind,—the external, the natural man. Water denotes truth; earth represents good; a new cruse, or vessel, the knowledges of good and truth; and salt a love of good,—a desire to live the truth. From this short explanation we may see that spiritual salt has a fructifying principle. Our first knowledges of good and truth are received into our external mind, —our natural principle. These knowledges, acquired in the first stages of regeneration, as also the good acts which we at that time perform, are not in reality good or true; they are lifeless and barren; merely natural; they arise from our own love of self. "These waters of Jericho are bitter;" neither is there in us any living spiritual good productive of living faith-of genuine charity; but "the land is barren." If any reader of this paper should be mourning this his unproductive and evil state, saying to himself, "the waters are bitter and the land is barren,”—“ 'O, wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death?" go to the prophet Elisha-the Word of God-the Lord Jesus Christ, and supplicate counsel of him. Listen to his words: Bring a new cruse, and put salt therein;" "Have salt in yourselves;" "Cast forth the salt at the spring, the going forth of the waters;" then you shall be saved from this bitterness and barrenness. Exercise a desire to live the truth you have received in your external mind; then you will drink of the waters of Jericho-the literal truths of the Word, and become fruitful in works really good. By the means of this spiritual salt your works will be 66 acts of true living charity; your knowledges of truth will be saving, and you will bring forth fruit to perfection. 3. Salt possesses a conjoining principle. It is by virtue of this its uniting property, that the uses we have referred to are effected. Salt conjoins all things. In the arts and manufactures it is very extensively employed as a uniting medium, connecting bodies which otherwise could never be joined together. Thousands of men in this town, employed in making silver plated articles of jewellery, and in what is here called the gilt toy trade, are in the daily practice of using salt for the purpose of uniting metals. A lump of copper has to be plated with silver. By covering the copper with a medium, a salt, a flux of borax, it will, when placed in a suitable degree of heat, readily take the silver; salt being the conjoining medium. In this instance, as also in a thousand other cases, we may see how the science of correspondence is adapted to raise the mind's contemplations from natural and worldly objects to things spiritual and heavenly. Every thing in our daily employ, in our recreations, imparts a blessing when it is made useful; and every thing around us can be made to aid us in working out our salvation, if God be in our thoughts, if we are spiritually minded. - The science of correspondence teaches us that copper represents natural good-that good which is obtained through our connections in civil society, such as obedience to parents and masters, attendance to the external ceremonies of religion,-all that is commonly termed morality. Silver represents spiritual truth-truth obtained not through the external mind, but from within-from God,-truth that is living, saving. The Lord, in his merciful providence, has so ordered outward circumstances, that every one of us has more or less of this natural goodness this copper, which is the foundation upon which the holy influences of heaven can operate: but this natural good-this copper, if it be not united with spiritual truth, can never prepare us for heaven. How can our minds be made spiritual? What means are to be used in order that they may be covered over with spiritual good and truth -the gold and the silver of heaven? The answer is this. Let the copper-natural good, be coated over with a flux of salt-holy desire; then the two principles will readily unite; then we shall be adorned with silver-decorated with the beautiful ornaments of spiritual truth and of good; with bracelets upon our hands, that is, the power derived from divine truth; a chain of gold on our necks-the conjunction of all things in our internal and external minds; ear-rings in our ears-practical obedience to the laws of heaven; and a beautiful crown upon |