interpretation, but after all, with the poorest spiritual results, and such as can in no wise excite a deeper respect, or a warmer love, for God’s holy Word, than was entertained centuries ago, when such learning was a rarer thing. Yet if we believe that God inspired this Book, can we for a moment suppose that it should have no other end than the narration of the history of a petty people, and the enunciation of dark prophecies, which the acutest of men pronounce impenetrable mysteries, and which the daring and the foolish turn to all manner of profane purposes in political soothsayings? If the Bible be indeed the Word of God, it must contain within itself much more than the majority of Christians suppose; otherwise it presents a most startling anomaly when viewed in comparison with the other Divine work, the natural universe. The assumption, then, with which Swedenborg starts, is, that the Scripture is in very truth the Word of God; that every syllable and expression therein are His; that Moses, David, the prophets, and the Evangelists, were simply the inspired penmen, who wrote implicitly according to Divine dictation. He teaches, moreover, that the Word does not belong to men alone, but is the possession likewise of the angels of heaven, to whom it wears different forms according to the degree of their love and intelligence. In general, it may be said to have three senses, or meanings; first, a celestial sense, apprehended by the celestial or highest angels; secondly, a spiritual sense, apprehended by a lower range of angelic minds, the spiritual; and thirdly, a natural sense, with which we are all familiar, written down to the comprehension of the lowest, most worldly, and sensual of men—the Jews. These three senses make one by correspondence; although diverse, they are still harmonious, and connected by one divine life.