Besides these enormous errors there are also others, which I omit to mention here, by which it clearly appears that if any one produces the fruits of such a faith, he really produces the "cockatrice eggs," mentioned in Isa. 59, ver. 5; for it is taught in the doctrines of the New Church, that faith can never produce the goods, or good works of charity, as a tree produces its fruits, but that the truths, which are called the truths of faith, teach how we ought to think of God, and how we ought to act towards our neighbour, and that charity receives these truths in good works, as the fruit receives the sap and juices of the tree; consequently the fruit, or the good works which are said to accompany the present faith, of which we have been speaking, have no other sap or juices than those contained in the confirmations of what is false, and these falsities are contained in the supposed good works which are said to accompany that faith. Of this however man is ignorant, but the angels perceive and know it very well. I have the honour to be, &c.,

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

REVIEWS.

L. Annai Senecæ et Pub. Syri, Mimi forsan et aliorum Selectæ Sententiæ cum Annotationibus Erasmi et Græca versione Jos. Scaligeri; quas cum consensu Amp. Fac. Philos. Notis illustratas, sub Præsidio Viri Amplissimi Mag. Fabiani Torner, Publico Examini modeste submittit EMANUEL SWEDBERG, 1709.-Select Sentences from L. An. Seneca and Pub. Syrus, Mimus, and others, with the annotations of Erasmus, and with the Greek version of Jos. Scaliger, which with the consent of the Faculty of Philosophy, under the Presidency of the learned Tærner, Professor of Philosophy, &c., have been illustrated by notes, and humbly submitted to public examination, by EMANUEL SWEDBERG: re-edited with Fragments lately discovered, By DR. J. F. E. TAFEL, Tubingen. London: W. Newbery, Chenies Street, Bedford Square.

THIS academical lucubration was the first public offering from the pen of Swedenborg. He was in the twentieth year of his age, when this harbinger of future genius was submitted to the examination of the Faculty of Philosophy, at the university of Upsala.

The studies of his youth are evident from this production, and the subject, which he selected for his academical dissertation, clearly marks the bent of his mind; it evidently shews that his genius was of that nature, which could not be satisfied with mere superficial at

tainments. To decipher some of the dark sayings of Latin literature, involving the maxims and proverbs of ancient wisdom, is no easy task; and the most profound minds have often engaged in the labour, and have exercised their ingenuity, and employed their erudition in explaining these concise and sententious sayings of antiquity. That a youth should choose this subject for discussion, must have surprised the professors; and the manner in which he accomplished his task, must have afforded them an evident prognostic of future genius and greatness. For no person can read this dissertation without being pleased with the classical latinity, with which the young author has penned, both his amiable dedication to his father, the preface to the reader, and the illustrative and critical remarks with which he has accompanied the text of his authors.

The first attempt of the celebrated Swedenborg, in his character as an author, was to explain the proverbs and sententious sayings of Roman antiquity; and his last and most successful efforts, under the special guidance of an all-wise Providence, was to unfold and illustrate the Divine Word, the "dark sayings of old," the "wondrous things of God's holy law," and to bring to rational perception and discernment those things of a spiritual nature, which so deeply concern the eternal well-being of man. His first attempt, therefore, as an author, was analogous to his last successful exertions; he began in his early youth, by explaining the maxims of moral wisdom, and by illustrating the prudential course of the natural mind in its relation to the world; and he devoted the last thirty years of his life, to the opening of the divine oracles of God's holy Word, unfolding their spiritual sense, and pointing out the wisest course that man can pursue in his relations to an eternal world, and in the pursuit of eternal happiness in heaven. The intermediate course of his life lay through the wide provinces of science, which he traversed with unwearied diligence in the pursuit of solid principles, on which the mind could repose; unmoved by the fear of being deluded by the appearances and fallacies of the senses, or of being shaken by the arguments of sophistry and groundless hypotheses. Mathematics, experimental philosophy, and sound reasoning*, were the means he employed to arrive at genuine philosophy; until, at length, having laid a deep, solid, and extensive basis in his mind of natural science, he was called to explore the world of spirit, and to make known to mankind things of vast importance to their eternal welfare.†

* See Swedenborg's Principia De Mediis ad veram Philosophiam.

† See Documents concerning the Life and Character of E. Swedenborg, lately published.

It is extremely interesting, and, in some respects, necessary to trace the progress of that mind, which was gradually to cause so great a change in the modes of thinking, and in the systems of mental philosophy and theology prevalent in the age in which he lived. A single new idea, glowing with love and intelligence, may sometimes accomplish mightier changes in the constitution and habits of human society, than any extraneous power that can be brought to operate on the minds of men. The silent, but irresistible, power of thought, when kindled in the mind, works its way to the accomplishment of all the improvements and beneficial changes of which society is susceptible. How great is the multitude of new ideas glowing with love and intelligence, which are opened and expanded in the later writings of Swedenborg! These ideas are destined, as they gradually enlighten and kindle the thoughts of men, to accomplish the greatest changes for good that mankind can experience. Hence to trace the progress of that mind from its early development to its meridian light of spiritual illumination, by which changes so vast should be effected, as "to make all things new " in the intellectual and moral condition of mankind, is, as already observed, extremely interesting and useful: and the means of tracing the progress of this wonderful mind are now afforded by the indefatigable labours of the learned Dr. Tafel, the editor of the lucubration before us. This gentleman has exerted himself to bring to light all possible information concerning Swedenborg, in order that the inquiring mind may be in the possession of every thing tending to throw light on his character, and to show the gradual progress of his mental achievements in the paths of science, and, above all, his access to that spiritual illumination which, by the Divine Providence and mercy, he eventually enjoyed for the benefit of mankind. Nothing short of this searching inquiry into the life and labours of Swedenborg can satisfy the demands of the present, still less of any future generation; and as the best way to accomplish this desideratum is to bring those labours before the public, and to give a description of their nature, and an analysis of their contents in a comprehensive biography of Swedenborg, we hail the present exertions of Dr. Tafel, and claim for him the interest and support of all the sincere friends of the New Dispensation.

On reading the dissertation before us, four points of consideration in respect to its youthful author appear abundantly evident,-first, that he had already, acquired a facility in writing Latin, and had mastered its idioms, so as to write with propriety, correctness, and

energy in the language of Cicero, Virgil, and Horace. As this was his first academical essay, classical correctness as to its latinity would, no doubt, be a point of great consideration. Secondly, it is obvious from this lucubration that the author must have diligently perused the most esteemed authors of classical antiquity: thus we find frequent allusions and references to Ovid, Horace, Virgil, Cicero, Valerius Maximus, Sallust, Terence, Plautus, Tacitus, and others, and especially to Seneca, who are referred to in a manner which evinces that they had been diligently studied by the author. His reading, therefore, of the ancient classic authors, as well as of the works of modern literati, had already been very extensive; and it justifies the encomium of the Count de Sandel, who, in his panegyristic address to the Academy of Sciences, after the death of Swedenborg, says, that this dissertation, and a small volume of Latin poetry which he published in 1710, "evince how well he had employed the studies of his youth*, and how proud many would be at such an age to be able to give such proofs of genius."

A third point to which we allude is his knowledge of Greek, which during his academical studies must have engaged a great share of his attention, and in the acquiring of which he must have made considerable progress to justify his undertaking to edit the Greek version, by Scaliger, of the sentences and proverbs of Seneca and Syrus; since no person would undertake to edit an author in a foreign language of which he did not feel himself to be sufficiently competent, without being guilty of most reckless presumption. His quotations also from the Greek authors plainly evince that he had studied them with great care and diligence. There is every reason to believe, however, that after his academical studies were completed he did not further prosecute the study of the Greek. His mind could not remain satisfied with mere words; "every thing with him tended to maturity;" words, or merely outward symbols of ideas could not in his mind be substituted for the ideas themselves. From his early youth, it is evident, that he was actuated by an ardent desire to penetrate beneath the surface of things, and to become acquainted with the interiora of nature: thus his constant direction was towards interior things,— first the interior things of nature, that is, the principia on which her operations are conducted; and secondly, the things beyond the sphere of nature, or those things which concern man as a spirit and an inhabitant of a spiritual world. It is thus easy to see in what sense Swedenborg was providentially prepared from his youth for the high * See Documents, &c., concerning Swedenborg, p. 5.

office to which he was mercifully called, when his mind, as to natural things, had attained its highest maturity. The fourth point to which we refer, as obvious in this youthful essay, is the tendency in the author to grapple with difficult subjects, and to solve intricate questions. As a proof of this we will only adduce the first sentence which he illustrates.

A morte semper homines tantundem absumus.

Θανάτου τοσοῦτον ὑςεροῦμεν οἱ βροτοί.

Our space, however, does not permit us on the present occasion, to adduce his illustrations and critical remarks; these together with other observations on this first essay of Swedenborg, we shall reserve for a future paper. Manchester.

EDITOR.

The Holy Bible, containing the Authorized Version of the Old and New Testaments, with nearly twenty thousand Emendations. London: Longman and Co. 1841.

It is a remarkable fact, that the English nation, which is deservedly distinguished by such various marks of its regard for religion, should yet present the striking anomaly of being almost as distinguished, when compared with northern Europe at least, for its long neglect of all Biblical philology. With an established church the most munificently endowed in the world; with universities which annually dispense the proceeds of the ample and accumulated bequests of ages, as the rewards and encouragements of learning; and with such a jealousy for even shades of doctrine as the existence of numerous sects evinces, it may, nevertheless, be safely affirmed, that all the studies requisite for a philological interpretation of the Sacred Volume, are neglected by us to a degree which is without a parallel in any Protestant country at the present time. Nor is it merely that we are now too supine to acquire a school of theological learning: it is an aggravation of our neglect that we once possessed one, which still commands the admiration of Europe. We, who could once boast of Selden, Castell, Lightfoot, Pocock, Walton, Spencer, Hody, Hyde, and other great contemporaries, as the ornaments of a single generation-and that, too, one in which civil war destroyed the interest and emoluments of such studies-are now content to see a time in which there is either no zeal for Biblical philology, or, if any do survive, it is dependent for its modern nourishment on the scholars of the continent.

This depressed state of theological learning among us, may be illus