here stop to demonstrate how this sacred relationship has, in the churches now passing away to their doom, been insulted, violated, polluted, and destroyed. But it will not be so in the renovated church, understood by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse. No man can belong to this church who is not imbued with a holy idea of marriage, and who does not make that idea a living principle of his life. Woman, as being the living image of the Divine Love upon earth, will, if she is true to her destiny, be arrayed in dignity and glory, such as never since she dwelt in the garden of Eden has fallen to her lot.

It ought, therefore, not to surprise us that marriage, which, in its origin is so holy, and in its nature so spiritual, should be the source, under Providence, of an infinite variety of the most eminent uses and blessings to mankind. It is the only legitimate origin of the human race, and consequently, as angels "are the spirits of just men made. perfect," (Heb. xii. 23.) it is the only proper birth-place and seminary of the angels of heaven. This view at once inspires us, if we have attained to any degree of rationality, with an idea of the infinite importance and sanctity of marriage. Marriage, or its essential element, pure conjugial love, is also the birth-place of all the affinities and friendships amongst men. It is here where every social tie and every pure and disinterested affection has its origin. It is here where all the virtues are born and reared, and where they germinate and grow as in their most congenial soil. It is here chiefly where the "Heavenly Father plants His plants." (Matt. xv. 13.) In fact, true marriage, or pure conjugial love, is the principal abode of the Lord with men, inasmuch as of all states of man's life, that state, as to its spiritual and true nature, is most receptive of the Lord's love, and the most direct centre upon earth whence all pure love to the neighbour can emanate. Well, therefore, does Swedenborg say, that conjugial love is the precious jewel of human life.

But what are the laws by which marriages should be contracted? In the solution of this question we must consult Scripture and reason : Marriage is often mentioned in Scripture, and the laws by which, among the people of Israel, it was contracted are clearly recorded. One most solemn injunction was, that the Israelites should by no means, under penalty of death, contract marriages with the people of foreign nations, and especially with the seven nations of Canaan, who were hostile to the establishment of Israel in that country (Exodus, xxxiv. 16, Deut. vii. 3, 4.) As everything relating to the Church of Israel was typical, (1 Cor. x. 11.) marriages and the laws by which they were contracted, were, in an eminent sense, types of the spiritual union of what

is Good and True, or of Charity and Faith in the church. It follows that the violation of those laws corresponded to the violations of the sacred union or marriage to which heaven is compared in the Word of God. The intermarriages between the people of Israel and the corrupt nations of Canaan would have corresponded to the intermingling of what is good with what is evil, and what is true with what is false, which is profanation. Hence it was that such marriages were so strictly forbidden.

Marriages in the time of the Mosaic dispensation were, consequently, not only to be contracted amongst the people of Israel, exclusively, but they were to be formed within the tribes to which the parties belonged. (Numb. xxxvi.) This represented that marriages, spiritually understood, can only be formed between what is good and true of the same kind or genus. For the tribes represented all the genera of all the Truths and Goods of the church in the aggregate; and each tribe corresponded to some especial genus of what is Good and True. Hence it was that the particulars or individuals constituting that genus should contract marriages together.

And amongst Christians, where there is any knowledge of the true nature of marriage, as being a union of minds, it is also known that minds, in order to be united, must believe alike as to the essential principles of religion; for without this union of affection and thought in the inmost region of their souls, there can be no union of minds, or no real marriage, properly so called. Hence most Christians, who have something of Christianity beside the mere name, are desirous to contract marriages with such as are of the same Faith or belong to the same denomination. For what is more incongruous, yea, revolting to one's perceptions, than to see a Protestant married to a Roman Catholic, a Socinian to a Tripersonalist, or a Christian to a Jew or Mahomedan? We have, therefore, now, as Christians, to observe the spirit and true meaning of the ancient laws of the Israelitish Church in respect to marriages. And in this way it is, that the Word of the Old Testament, even where in the letter it is abrogated by the introduction of Christianity, is of infinite importance; for in the laws respecting marriage and the intercourse of the sexes (see Exodus, xxi. 7-11, xxii. 15, 16, xxxiv. 16, Numb. xxxvi. 6, Deut. vii. 3, 4, xxii. 28, 29) we may, when we understand them, as the apostle says, with a spiritual discernment," (1 Cor. ii. 14.) have a clear idea of the laws which govern the heavenly marriage, or the union of what is True and Good, or of Charity and Faith in the Church, and in the human mind. And we can also have a knowledge of the manner in which that union,

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if infringed or violated, may, by repentance and regeneration, be restored and established. Every thinking mind will readily admit that this knowledge is of the greatest importance, and it is now all revealed by the opening of the spiritual sense of the Word.*

But the laws which regulated the marriages of the Israelites within the tribes are recorded in Leviticus xviii. These laws are still in power, and are founded not only in the correspondence which exists between the spiritual laws which govern the relation between what is Good and True, or the Heavenly Marriage, as it is in heaven and as it is in the church when properly constituted, but they are also the laws which prescribe the limits of consanguinity and affinity within which marriages ought not be contracted. These laws, we apprehend, are founded on this spiritual law;-that the spiritual marriage between what is Good and True in the mind, in the church, and in heaven, is not contracted between goods and truths of the same degree, but between the good of a superior degree, and the truth of an inferior degree. † A marriage between goods and truths (or what are considered to be goods and truths) of the same degree, would not contribute to regeneration; but the marriage or union between the good of a higher, or more internal degree, and the truth of a lower, or more external degree, does contribute to regeneration, and indeed this is the process by which it is accomplished. Now the consanguinities in Lev. xviii. represent Goods and Truths of the same degree, among which, as stated above, no spiritual marriage conducive to regeneration can be effected. For by the marriage, or the consolidated union of principles, in the unregenerated natural degree, everything evil and false would be confirmed, and as such marriages would have represented that confirmation, they were so strictly forbidden.

But these laws of consanguinity and affinity within which marriages should not be contracted, are founded in the nature of our humanity, and in the very laws of a wise propagation. For by marriages not contracted within consanguineous relationships, a nature less imbued with strong tendencies to certain evils, and consequently more susceptible of regeneration, may be produced. In families there are roots, or germs of hereditary propensities to certain evils, which by intermarriages amongst near of kin, are greatly strengthened; but by marriages out of consanguineous relationships, these roots of hereditary tendencies to evil may be modified, crossed, and hence counteracted, checked, or weakened in

* See Swedenborg's Arcana Calestia, 4,434, and many other numbers. + See Arcana Calestia 3952, where the author explains this important point.

their developments, and thus more easily subdued by the regenerating power of the Lord. For it is well known, that in physiology, and also in political and moral society, one evil will often so check the expansion and prevalence of another, that good may at length find a place to establish its authority. Hence we see the wisdom of Providence in amalgamating the races, which in certain periods of history is remarkable. In America, at the present time, there is a mingling of all the nations of Europe, and the Chinese in great numbers are also emigrating to that country,, who in time will no doubt amalgamate with the races of Europe, and thus give rise to a new genus of the human family. The same fact formerly occurred in England; for during the heptarchy, and for a long time after the Norman conquest, emigrants from various parts of Europe came into England; the Danes, Angles, and Saxons, together with Celts and Normans, were the principal. The present race of English are the offspring of those amalgamated immigrants and settlers. But this process of amalgamation is now going on to a very much greater extent in America. In both cases the aborigines of the country have not amalgamated with the new settlers; in England, the Ancient Britons disappeared before them, and `in America, it is said that the Indians of every tribe are fast dying out. There must be a cause for this, which is hidden amongst the arcana which characterize the operations of Providence.

But in contracting marriages there is a difference between consanguinity, or relationship by blood, and affinity, or relationship by marriage. Offspring from consanguinity have necessarily a similar common tendency as the root or stock from which they spring; and therefore marriages of this kind ought to be avoided and prohibited by law, in order to prevent, as shewn above, the confirmation of hereditary evil tendencies, either moral or physical, in the offspring. We consider that marriages between first cousins, which are sanctioned by the laws of this country, are violations of the law of consanguinity, and that much evil to the race has hence resulted. The history of such marriages as are permitted in Spain and Switzerland, for the sordid purpose of keeping up masses of wealth, or of family distinction and rank, in the same family circle, is exceedingly painful to contemplate. Cases are frequent of deterioration of physical structure, amounting to deformity, and monomaniac ideas and dispositions are so strongly confirmed as to terminate in madness or idiotcy, aud in many cases the family have become extinct. We consider, also, that such marriages are forbidden by the general prohibition with which the laws in Leviticus, xviii. 6, commence :-"None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to

him," &c. It is true that the daughters of Zelophehad

unto their father's brother's sons," (Numb. xxxvi. 11.) or to their first cousins; but this was permitted, like polygamy or concubinage, for the specific purpose of a type, or representative, to shew that marriage should be contracted within the same tribe, or representatively, as stated above, within the same genera of what is good and true. But this representative or type, like many others, ceased when the merely typical church itself was abrogated by the Lord; and the general law now obtains "that none shall approach to any that is near of kin."

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But with the law of affinity it is different. Here is no blood-relationship; the native character of the two parties may have widely different tendencies as to their hereditary dispositions, and thus the offspring would not be confirmed in the same hereditary nature. Now, in examining the laws in Leviticus, xviii., we find that, for the most part, they have a strict relation to consanguinity, and, in some cases, to very close affinity, such as a brother's wife" and "a son's wife." In respect to the former, however, there was an exception, (See Deut. xxv. 5-10.) unless it be understood that a widow is no longer to be regarded as a wife. But the most specific law which has relation to the question now occupying so much attention, is contained in verse 18th:- "Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister to vex her, beside the other in her lifetime." This evidently means, that although the Jew was permitted to have two wives at the same time, yet he was forbidden to take the sister of his wife as a second during the lifetime of the first, implying, that he might take any other woman who would consent, but not his wife's sister. After his wife's death, however, he would be at liberty to marry his wife's sister. Here, then, is no prohibition to marry a deceased wife's sister. And the law of consanguinities does not forbid it, for there is no consanguinity, such as is prohibited in the laws previously mentioned, between the parties. We, therefore, conclude both from Scripture and from reason, that no law should be enacted to prevent such marriages. We are aware that our Periodical does not treat of merely political questions, which can only be settled by the Legislature; but our pages are fully open to the discussion of the subject as to its Scriptural, rational, and moral bearings, and it is our opinion that the question should be left to the free determination of the parties concerned, who, if their inclination, taste, and circumstances lead them to such a marriage, no Act of Parliament should prevent it.

SCRUTATOR.