to the laws by which our mental and spiritual nature is governed. In the following article our readers will see that Swedenborg is beginning to be acknowledged in the domain of speculative philosophy; and all must admit, that such a teacher has been abundantly required. If calmly consulted and studied he will set all thinking minds right as to the great problems of Speculative and Metaphysical Philosophy.

SWEDENBORG, IN TENNEMANN'S MANUAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY.

A NEW edition of "Tennemann's History of Philosophy, revised, enlarged, and continued by J. R. Morell," has lately appeared. This admirable Manual should be in the library of every student. To trace the history of the cogitata of the things thought out by the human intellect in its strivings after Truth, from the earliest period of mental philosophy of which we have any records, to the present century, is a study which at once expands, strengthens, and improves the mind. Many things may now, in the light of a superior intellectual philosophy, be seen to be absurd fallacies and groundless hypotheses, which for a long time maintained their hold upon the human mind, but are now rejected as lumber, or regarded as the antiquary regards the relics of former times. It is well known by the students of philosophy, as culti vated in Germany, which is the chief school of theoretical and speculative philosophy, that one system has succeeded another in rapid succession, has become antiquated, or superseded by another, which for a period has been fashionable, but in its turn destined to be laid aside as no longer adapted to the new modes of thinking in which the speculative mind has embarked. Thus these systems have been abandoned, as we lay aside the garments of a bygone age, because to appear in them would subject us to the scornful gaze and ridicule of all who behold us. Whoever now thinks in Germany of the philosophy of Kant, at one time so renowned throughout the world of speculative philosophy? To advocate even the leading features of his system, which, as to its machinery, its external Darstellung or exposition, is so cumbrous and intricate, that scarcely two of his disciples have been agreed as to the right comprehension of it,* would, in his Fatherland, subject you to almost as much tacit ridicule as though you were to dress yourself in the perruke,

*

Compare Kant's "Critique of the Practical Understanding" with the two articles on "Mental Philosophy and the Operations of the Intellect" by Sweden. borg, in this Periodical, for June and July last.

[Enl. Series.-No. 14, vol. ii.]

H

the pigtail, and the ruffles which he wore, and which were fashionable in his day.

Of what use, then, it may be said, have been these systems of speculative philosophy? And why should their history be recorded? They are of similar use to thinking and speculative minds as the history of shipwrecks and of hidden rocks and shoals are to the navigator; or as the history of the blunders which our forefathers committed in building their cities with narrow streets, with no proper sewerage, and with no regard to any sanitary laws by which health and comfort are preserved.

By knowing the history of these things we avoid these shipwrecks and fatal blunders. In like manner, by knowing the shoals upon which speculative thinkers have been stranded and wrecked, we may in our speculations, especially with Swedenborg as a guide, steer in a new course of rational inquiry with the best hopes of safety and success.

The following is extracted from the above-mentioned work of Tenne

mann

"SWEDENBORG.

"About this time there appeared a man whose merits were overlooked by the contemporary and succeeding generations, but who has assumed a loftier stature and mightier proportions as years have rolled on, and distance has enabled us more justly to estimate his altitude. Emanuel Swedenborg occupies a prominent position among the master-minds of humanity. Sprung from an eminent Swedish family, he was born at Stockholm in 1688, and passed a considerable part of his life tranquilly in London, where he closed a long and happy career in 1772. In his earlier years he devoted himself with ardour to the physical sciences, and explored them with a keen spirit of research, anticipating many subsequent inquiries. A tendency to spirituality may be traced even in his earlier scientific works, though it was reserved for his later years to develop his gift of Seership. On attaining his 57th year, (A.D. 1745,) he threw aside material researches, and dived into the mysteries of the spiritual world, which he has reported with a clearness, dignity, and consistency that have seldom if ever been emulated. It is not our province or purpose to decide the question of his Seership, but we may be permitted to remark, that to all impartial and reflecting minds, his historical appearance presents a problem that still awaits solution. The smile of incredulity begins to die upon the lips of the conscientious sceptic, and the opprobrious terms 'dreamer' and 'madman' are yielding to the more courteous epithet of Mystic. In vain will you ransack the archives of his family or personal history for a trace of insanity. Equally fruitless will be your endeavour to trace any symptoms of incoherence or raving in his methodical pages. If he must needs be mad, there is a rare method in his madness; and if the world insists on his being a visionary, it must admit that his visions are something anomalous in their systematic and mathematical form. But we have yet to learn that visionaries and dreamers can write a cool business-like style, and

pen dry

and well-digested folios; nor is it a common thing to find a madman deficient in sallies of imagination, and remarkable for strong common sense. Such is the problem and anomaly presented by this remarkable man, whose gift of seership is attested by such characters as Kant and the sister of the great Frederic.* The solution we leave to the skill of the gentle reader, as it does not fall within our province.

Swedenborg's Philosophy, as developed in his scientific as well as theological works, may be characterised as a very decided system of Empirical Realism, distinguished for an almost diaphanic introvision into the human heart, for consummate simplicity, and consistency. He regards the science of Correspondence as the Key of Knowledge, a Divine Philosophy unlocking the treasures of the Spiritual as well as Natural worlds, and sending Thought at a bound from the Zoophyte to the Seraphim. The material world is the ultimate and pedestal of the universe, filled with various creations, corresponding to others in the higher-ascending spheres of the universe. Thus Nature is in truth a Revelation and a Divine Book, whose letters,' the Groves, Hills, and Rivers, the Firmament and the Lamps of Heaven, are hieroglyphic representatives of corresponding spiritual Realities.

"The doctrine of Degrees forms a pendant to the science of Correspondence in Swedenborg's Philosophy. Degrees, which he classes in two series, i. e., Continuous and Discrete, carry the mind by the Patriarch's Ladder, from Earth to Heaven; and, scaling the Empyrean, conduct us from 0 to the Throne of God. The Continuous Degrees are evident and familiar to all, whereof an obvious example is presented in the ascending series of organic vitality, from the plant to Man. Discrete Degrees constitute a series of a different description. They are the same things mirrored or re-echoed on different platforms through the medium of Correspondences. Thus God is the Sun of the Spiritual World, whose Heat and Light are Love and Wisdom.

His

"The Psychological Analysis of Swedenborg is remarkable for its agreement with the conscience and experience of all who reflect on what transpires in the chambers of their own heart. His remarks, indeed, are alarmingly searching, and seem to proceed from one who united to a profound knowledge of mankind, a natural kind of clairvoyance that penetrated into the inmost recesses of men's thoughts and motives. philosophy savours much more of Life than of the Lamp. He divides the Mind into Will and Understanding; the seats of the Affections and of Thought. It is the former that constitutes the character; man being what his loves are, according to the elevation or depression of his affections, a little lower than the Angels, or crawling worm-like in the dust. Man, regarded as a psycho-physiological being, consists of three parts: 1st, The Spirit, which is essentially the man; 2nd, Its inner garment, or spiritual body, identical with the Soul of St. Paul's Epistles, and which

"See the account of Swedenborg's vision of the Fire of Stockholm, as recorded by Em. Kant; and that of his disclosures to the Queen of Sweden respecting her deceased brother. Emanuel Swedenborg: a Biography; by J. J. G. WILKINSON. 8vo. p. 121, 126, and 158.

This is an instance of discrete and not of continuous degrees.-ED.

constitutes the medium of union between the Spirit; and, 3rdly, Its outer garment or material body. The latter is woven around it by the Spirit through the law of Correspondences. Hence a perfect analogy exists between the mental faculties and the bodily organs.

"Death, according to Swedenborg, is nothing more than the casting off an outer skin, or the shelling of the mature and ripened spirit within. "The mind may be again subdivided into three parts: 1st, The inmost or Celestial-Spiritual principle, by which man communicates directly with God, angels, and heaven; 2nd, The Rational and Internal, which constitutes the intellectual and scientific principle; and, 3rdly, The External, natural, or sensuous, which brings man into connection with the material world. The metaphysical reader will easily trace an analogy between Swedenborg's Celestial-Spiritual, Rational, and Sensuous principles, and the Intuitive Reason, the Logical Understanding, and the Sensational Perception (Anschauung) of Transcendental Philosophy. There is, however, one broad distinction between them: Swedenborg's Celestial-Spiritual Principle grasps an objectively-real and substantial world of Spirits, and his Sensuous Principle grapples with the solid reality of an objective world of matter; whilst the Transcendentalist, both in his Intuition and his Sensation, hobbles in a world of subjective ideas and representations, that hold his mind in a strait waistcoat.

"On an impartial review of his system, it will be found to be characterised by that best of wisdom, which consists in its adaptation to the normal understanding, and its agreement with the most cherished instincts of the human heart."-pp. 366 to 369.

In order to shew the confusion in which Speculative Philosophy, after so many ages of thinking, is still involved, we will here quote the Conclusion to Tennemann's "History of Philosophy."

"It is natural that the various and contradictory attempts which have lately been hazarded by the philosophic mind, should cast some doubt on philosophy itself, and lead men to despair of ever finding the solution of the problem of Reason, which consists in finding a certain system of knowledge, founded on principles. And this suspicion seems to be confirmed by the fact, that the Critical method followed by Kant, which endeavoured to fix the measure and limit of knowledge with the view of overthrowing the scepticism of the Sensationalists, so far from checking the daring flight of speculation, has only furnished it with new materials, and given it a more lively and imposing character. Nevertheless, these various endeavours should lead us to hope that Reason will at length arrive at the knowledge of itself; that it will determine the sphere assigned to it, and continue to unfold more and more the true philosophic method; and that it will learn from the past how to avoid the shoals on which so many adventurous thinkers have been stranded. A time will probably come when the different modes of philosophising, which now only seem to be aberrations, will be recognised as the necessary conditions of the true cultivation of Reason and Wisdom."

This is a humiliating confession, and plainly indicates that a superior

Teacher is required to guide the human mind to the satisfactory solution of all the great problems contemplated from the time of Plato to the present period. Swedenborg, we believe, will be found to be this Teacher so much desiderated by the sincere inquirer after Truth. To those who wish to examine for themselves, we would especially recommend the works by Swedenborg entitled the "Divine Love and Wisdom," &c. and the "Divine Providence," &c., and his works in general.

ON THE THEORIES OF THE FORMATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIVING FORMS.

(The following lecture, on the above subject, was delivered by Dr. Haddock,* before the members of the Bolton Mechanics' Institution, on the evening of the 20th December.)

THE subject for our consideration this evening is, "the Theories of the Formation of the Earth, and the Development of Living Forms;" and I have been induced to call your attention to these inquiries, because they may be considered a natural sequel to the lectures with which we have been favoured by Dr. Black, on the Geology of Manchester, and of our own neighbourhood. No one could have listened to those lectures, nor indeed to any well-founded geological statements, without feeling convinced that the old notion, that the earth was originally created much as we now find it, is altogether fallacious; and to be equally convinced, that in whatever form our planet may have come forth under the creative fiat, it has since undergone mighty changes, which have involved periods of time, compared to which all historic annals are of brief duration. Further, it is also most evident that much of the order and nature of these mighty changes is revealed to the inquiring eye, by the phenomena which the earth's surface presents, and that, written as with a pen of iron on everlasting rocks, we have the autobiography of the earth laid open for our perusal.

It is not, then, to be wondered at, that profoundly learned men have speculated on the birth, infancy, juvenescence, and maturity of worlds, as well as on the races of living forms by which they may have become tenanted; and, as regards our own planet, such speculations not only open up some of the greatest wonders of science; they possess, also, the

* Dr. Haddock is the author of a work noticed, at the time of its appearance, in this Periodical, entitled "Somnolism and Psycheism," &c., in which the philosophy and phenomena of Mesmerism and Clairvoyance are more clearly explained than in any other work.-ED.