The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1823-11-18

very ingenious, diiIcg SO widely ffoH Swe-
'lenhorg's, thai they actually have nothing
~ common with each other. Nj William
Law works arc tfely spostolical, aud br
cause iliry are 50. they IN many instances
coipcide With the doctrines of the New
Church respecting redemption, the identity
of lasi'iicatron aud regeneration, aud the
holy ttPt). Up9u the latter subject, he
expire sses hin, IN one uf his letters flo the
hest of my reepllet tlouj thus Il make no
paper images Of the trinity In The Father |
worship Christ from eternity, in the Son,
Christ come III the flesh, and in the Holy
Ghost, Christ come in the spirit" 1t IS
much to b" regretted that his works are
not more generally known.
The mystic doctrines respecting the i'm
mediate ,nnux are expressly contradicted
by Swedenborg, who assures ns that all
who seriously believe themselves to be the
subjects Of II are deluded by enthusiastic
spirits, such influx being contrary to divine
order, according to which man is to be in
strucicd in doctriuals, solely through the
medium of the divine word. The quistism
OF mys;ics, however harmless II may ap-
pear, is evidently selfish and destructive of
that charity which is the very essence of
true christianity, and which is an active
principle, constantly exciting us to reflect,
that we do not live for our own sakes alone,
and never can obtain that state ofhappiness
for which we were destined without strict
attention to the duties of social life, to the
welfare of our fellowmen, of our country,
and The church of God, which latter are in
a more eminent sense Dur neighbors than,
any individual.
No doctrine can possibly be more averse
to the selfish indulgence o indolent quietism
than that of the New Church, which clearly
shows that the work man who faithfully la
bors for the benefit of his employer, from a
sense Of duty, as well as generous interest
10 his welfare, and the artisan or merchant
who, IN his business, always has an eye to
the convenience and interest OF his Gus
toners, and OK hrs country, as well rs to his
own. serves his God much more snceptabiy
IN his shop, or in his counting house, than
II he spent the same time in the closet, OF
on his knees, in the most delightful, and,
AZ he may perhaps fancy, heavenly rcte-
rles.
The account which our anonymous au-
thor asserts, that Swedenborgians give of
the creation, ferns no part whatever OF
then creed. Ii is mere hypothesis found
in Baron Swedeuborg' philosophical works
winch he wrote previously to his iumira-
lon. II IS however thought TO be ingenious
by men of philosophIc minds, and is not
more contradictory to scripture than the
Copernican system,the belief ofwhich Gal
it1h IA lnh tn
God, those days are passed ; theologians
no longer conceive the scriptures to be writ
ten for the purpose of instructing us in ma
tural philosophy, and fanaticism no longer
abstracts the course of science. The nv.
pothes5 that the planets were formed from
the sun and thence exploded, so Ear from
being disGraceiul 10 its honorable author, is
at this day favorite idea with philosophers
and adopted, tn my certain knowIedgc, by
SkeIline, and believe by Kant before HIM
The idea of III analogy between the earth,
considered as an organic body, and the or.
ganlc bodies produced from it, such as
planets and ANIMALS, which our anonymous
author probably means to ridlcue by call
ing the planets little = eatures,'') is a fun.
damental idea in Skelling's philosophy of
nature, which is almost universally rpceiv-
ed throughout Germany, aud by awakening
our attention to spiritual influx bids fair tn
cxpel from the schools of philosophy, that
stupid materiahsm, which had there too
long, usurped an almost universal empire.
and which, consistently pursued. necessari-
ly leads To the atheism of the French acca-
aemlClans.
Our anonymous authors objection to
Baron Swedenhorg's hypothesis, that the
projectile force # the planets is not solely
derived from their ffst explosion, bu' w, :
gradually generated by living powers in.
herent IN themselves, whereby they were
carried through spiral movements with nc.
celebrated veIocillcs, into their respective
orbits, is founded upon the supposition
that these powers, If they continue t. act,
must also continue to generate motion, and
thus t. widen their orbits, ad infinitum. But
this supposltiOn is incorrect. For ii hath
been demonstrated by Scheling, in his
Philosophy of Nature, that all powers re.
neratlns finite motion consist of positive
and negative factors, which, when the pow
ers of nature are excited for the sake of
production, always subeide into an equili.
brium when the products formed Thus
he proves that every chemical process in
It's lnciplent state is electric, and that the
chemical product of two bodies brough,
into contact with each other, exists, from
the moment in which the respective cleo.
trcitIes excited in each, subsde into new
state of equilibrium. Thus all sell-motiye
powers of the planets were brought into a
state of equilibrium, when their general
organization was complete, and their OF bits
were forever determined by the velocity
they had then acquired But the same
powers, which, with respect to the whole
planet, are quescent, because they are ia
equilibrium, now exhaust themselves IN the
endless production OF particular orsaniza-
tons, OF winch the individuals successive
~ perish, while the genera are preserved.