Whatever proceeds from the Lord descends through three degrees, which are termed celestial, spiritual, and natural: the first is called celestial, because it has reference to divine good; the second spiritual, because it relates to divine truth; and the third natural, because it is derived from both the others, and contains them within it. Thus the divine proceeding, when it is in its last degree, is in its fulness. Such is the nature and quality of the WORD; in its last sense it is natural, in its interior sense it is spiritual, and in its inmost sense it is celestial, and in each sense it is divine. The distinction, however, between these degrees, can only be known by the science of correspondences, for the natural degree corresponds with both the spiritual and celestial.

II. We are now to show, that it is by virtue of the spiritual sense, that the WORD is of divine inspiration, and holy in every expression. This, in some measure, appears from what has been already advanced; but let us pursue the subject a little further. In the WORD mention is made sometimes of Egypt, sometimes of Ashur, sometimes of Edom, of Moab, of the sons of Ammon, of Tyre and Sidon, and of Gog; now, if it be not known that by those names are signified the things of Heaven and of the Church, a reader may be easily led erroneously to suppose, that the WORD treateth much of nations and of people, and but little of Heaven and the Church, consequently much of earthly things, and little of Heavenly things; but when he is acquainted what is signified by those nations and people, and by their names, it is possible he may then come out of error into truth. So, in like manner, when a reader observeth that so frequent mention is made in the WORD of gardens, groves, forests, and also of the trees thereof, as the olive, the vine, the cedar, the poplar, and the oak; and also of lambs, sheep, goats, calves, and oxen; and further, of mountains, hills, vallies, fountains, rivers, and several other things of a like nature; if he be not acquainted with the spiritual sense of the WORD, he must needs believe that such things have merely a literal signification: for he doth not know that by a garden, a grove, and a forest, are meant wisdom, intelligence, and science; that by an olive-tree, a vine, a cedar, a poplar, and an oak, are meant the goodness and truth of the Church, under their different characters of celestial, spiritual, rational, natural, and sensual; that by a lamb, a sheep, a goat, a call, and an ox, are meant innocence, charity, and natural affection; that by mountains, hills, and vallies, are meant things appertaining to the Church, in their several degrees of superior, inferior, and lowest ; also, that by Egypt is signified science, by Ashur reason, by Edom what is natural, by Moab the adulteration of good, by the sons of Ammon the adulteration of truth, by Tyre and Sidon the knowledges of truth and good, by Gog external worship without internal; but when be knoweth these things, he may then think, that the WORD treateth only of things celestial, and that those terrestrial things are merely the subjects that contain them.

From what has been said it may plainly enough appear, that there is not a single expression in the WORD, but what has a spiritual signification distinct from the letter.

III. In corroboration of the foregoing observations, we will now adduce a few examples to prove, that without an internal or spiritual

182 ON THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE SCRIPTURES.

sense, the WORD, in many parts, would be trifling, whimsical, and unworthy its Divine Author. Jeremiah the prophet was commanded “to buy himself a girdle, and put it on his loins, and not to draw it through the waters, but to go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock," Jer. xiii. 1 to 7. Isaiah the prophet was commanded "to loose the sackcloth from off his loins, and to put off his shoe from off his foot, and to go naked and barefoot three years," Isaiah xx. 2, 3. Ezekiel the prophet was commanded "to make a razor pass upon his head and upon his beard, and afterwards to divide them, and to burn a third part in the midst of the city, and to smite a third part with the sword, and to scatter a third part in the wind, and to bind a little of them in wings, and at last to cast them into the midst of the fire," v. 1 to 4. The same prophet was commanded "to lie upon his right side and his left three hundred and ninety, and forty days, and to make himself a cake of wheat, and barley, and millet, and fitches, with cow's dung, and eat it; and in the mean time to raise a rampart and a mound against Jerusalem, and besiege it," Ezek. iv. 1 to 15. Hosea the prophet was twice commanded "to take to himself a whore to wife," Hosea i. 2 to 9. chap. iii. 2, 3; with several other things of a like nature.

Many more passages might be quoted, particularly from the Levitical law, of a nature so singular and extraordinary, that we judge it next to an impossibility for any person to attach a rational sense to them if he confines himself to the letter alone, distinct from a spiritual meaning. But we trust the above are sufficient to convince every reflecting mind, that, if the WORD be indeed holy and divine, (as most assuredly it is) it must be possessed of an interior signification, widely different from what appears in the literal sense, in order to be worthy of its Divine Author. The truth is, that nothing was enjoined, be it ever so minute or apparently strange, but what was significative of somewhat appertaining to the Lord, to Heaven, and to the Church. We hope no reader will think, that by giving the WORD an internal sense, we derogate in the smallest degree from the letter. On the contrary, is it not very evident, that hereby the letter is rather honored and exalted? If we suppose, that to a man's body is united a spirit, which gives life and animation unto it, surely this can be no disparagement to his body, since without such union it would be no better than a mere lump of corrupted clay. The case is just the same with the holy WORD; without a spiritual or internal sense it would be no other than a dead letter, possessing no more virtue than any other book: whereas, with that sense it contains every thing conducive to the wisdom and happiness both of angels and men; for our Lord says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John vi. 36.

(To be continued.)

The next objections which we have to answer, concerning the nonresurrection of the material body, and the assertion that all the angels and devils were once men, being of equal importance with the foregoing, we must therefore defer entering upon them till the next number.

M. K.

THE BOUQUET.....N°. IV.

The following is offered as an instance of the sublime, falling far short of an hyperbole; for, as St. John observes, "even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written," on the subject of Infinile Love, displayed in the redemption of man.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

Were the whole earth of parchment made,

Were every single stick a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the Love of God to man,
"Twould drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the plan,
Tho' stretched from sky to sky.

FEMALE LOQUACITY.

Among the numerous subjects of what is generally considered fashionable and polite ridicule, that of female loquacity has not been the least severely handled by the upstart wits and would-be philosophers of the age. "I know not what other men may think, but for my single self," no instrument on earth can impart such exquisite melody to my ear, as the tongue of a pretty woman, when moved by the impulses of a generous heart, modulated by sensibility, governed by the slops of modesty, and directed by a polished religious education. But as this side of the question has also had very powerful supporters among the poets, we shall at present say no more about it. A wit of some celebrity has jocosely said, that “women would talk had they no tongues." Few, however, will believe this assertion, although it is literally true, as can be made to appear by the following fact.

In the tenth number of our first volume, [page 470] are given some extraordinary anecdotes relative to speech. Among others, the case of Miss MARGARET CUTTING is there mentioned, "who had her tongue entirely cut out by reason of an incurable canker; but who, twenty years after, could speak, and read, as fluently as other persons." This story has since been treated as fabulous, ridiculous, and impossible, until we ourselves began to doubt its reality. But the following extract from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, has convinced us of its truth, as, we doubt not, it will every candid reader of the Halcyon Luminary. It is to be found in No. 464, of that publication, page 143, and was communicated by HENRY BAKER, F. R. S. "This extraordinary woman [Margaret Cutting] was born at Turnstall, a village four miles from Wickham market, in Suffolk, where she lost her tongue by a cancer, being then about four years old. It appeared first like a small black speck, on the upper superfices of the tongue, and soon eat its way quite to the root of it. She was under the care of Mr. Scotchmore, a surgeon of Saxmundham, who soon pronounced the case incurable. One day when he was syringing it, the tongue dropped out, and they received it into a plate; the girl, to their astonishment, saying to her mother, 'Don't be frighted, mamma ; it will grow again.' It was near a quarter of a year after, before it was quite cured. The mouth was afterwards examined, with the greatest exactness, by Mr. Hammond, apothecary, a gentleman who perfectly understood anatomy; the Rev. Mr. William Notcutt, and Mr. Benja

min Boddington, a Turkey merchant; but they found not the least appearance of any remaining part of a tongue, nor was there any uvula. These gentlemen say, in one of the papers on this case transmitted to the Royal Society, "We observed a fleshy excrescence on the under left jaw, extending itself almost to the place where the uvula should be, about a finger broad; this excrescence, she said, did not begin to grow till some years after the cure; it is by no means moveable, but quite fixed to the parts adjacent. The passage down the throat, at the place where the uvula should be, or a little to the right of it, is a circular open hole, large enough to admit a small nutmeg. Notwithstanding the want of so necessary an organ as the tongue was generally supposed to be, to form a great part of our speech, and likewise to be assisting in deglutition, to our great admiration she performed the office of deglutition, both in swallowing solids and fluids, as well as we could, and in the same manner; and, as to speech, she discoursed as fluently and well as other persons do; though we observed a small sound, like what is usually called speaking through the nose; but, she said, she had then a great cold, and she believed that occasioned it. She read to us a book very distinctly and plain: only, we observed, that sometimes she pronounced some words ending in eth as et, end as emb, ad as cib; but it required a nice and strict attention to observe even this difference of sound. She sings very prettily, and pronounced her words in singing as in common. What is still very wonderful, notwithstanding the loss of this useful organ the tongue, which is generally allowed by anatomists, and natural philosophers, to be the chief, if not the sole organ of taste, she distinguishes all tastes and smells very nicely."

"AH! WHAT IS THE BOSOM'S COMMOTION."

This highly and very justly admired song has met a deserved reception on our stage. It is performed by Mr. Darley, with the exquisite effect which ever accompanies that gentleman's execution of the vocal tasks assigned to his profession.

Ah! what is the bosom's commotion,

In a sea of suspense while 'tis tost!
While the heart in our passion's wild ocean,
Feels even hope's anchor is lost.
Morgiana, ah! thou art my dearest,

For thee I have languished and grieved,
And when hope to my bosom was nearest,
How oft has that hope been deceived!
Morgiana, my hope was deceived!

The storm of despair is blown over;
No more by its vapor depress'd,

I laugh at the clouds of a lover,

With the sunshine of joy in my breast.

Love, made by a parent my duty,

To the wish of my heart now arrived,

I bend to the power of beauty,
And every fond hope is revived;

Morgiana, my hope is revived.

Modern Poets borrow most of their ideas and images from those who have gone before them. Even Moore, the elegant and voluptuous Moore, is not original, except in the exquisite coloring and captivating softness which he has given to the haggard looks of Vice. The following lines are undoubtedly copied :

"Come, twine the wreath, thy brows to shade,

These flowers were cull'd at noon;

Like woman's love, the rose will fade,

But, ah, not half so soon!

For though the flower's decayed,

The fragrance is not o'er;

But once when love's betrayed,

The heart can bloom no more."

Beautiful as these lines are, they are surpassed by the original, ascribed to Dr. Dodd.

A ROSE ADDRESSES ELIZA.

"Extol not, fair maiden, thy beauties are mine;
They too are short-lived, and they too must decline;
And small, in conclusion, the difference appears,
In the bloom of few days, or the bloom of few years!
But remember, a virtue the rose hath to boast,
Its fragrance remains, when its beauties are lost."

A SINGULAR IMPOSTOR.

It might almost have been admitted as a proverb, that whatever else a man might have assumed as his character, that of a person born deaf and dumb could never have been worth his while to have persevered in; but Paris has lately seen an instance of this imposture, and as the history may be useful, as it certainly is curious, we shall give it at some length. It is from the Literary Panoraına.

L'Abbe Sicard had received, in the course of last year, so many letters, from different parts of France, in behalf of a young man who described himself as one of his pupils, and who professed to be travelling from province to province, in search of his father, and to ascertain his family, that he thought proper to insert in the public papers a note, dated July 12th, 1806, denying any knowledge of such an individual, and cautioning the public against deception. The party was accordingly seized and imprisoned at La Rochelle. This produced a letter from M. Victor Lewe, officer of the 66th regiment, dated Rochelle, October, 1806; in which the writer describes himself as doing garrison duty in that city, part of which duty consisted in visiting the prisons. He says he had seen this young man, who was about twenty-five or twenty-six years of age: his figure mild and expressive, his address noble and modest, his look downcast, his cheeks not ruddy, all his features, as all his attitudes witnessing his misfortune. He wept, and deeply affected all beholders, who amounted to upwards of one-hundred. He won every heart. His father emigrated in 1792: his mother was legally assassinated in the same year: a German, named Vere, took him and taught him the French language as well as he could. He died in 1802. Such was his story. He called himself Victor de VOL. H. No. 3.

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