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

| ficllCcf the divine wutd Is WrIttsH through
| puf. For isnia.ce, aheu bread ard VINE
ud 0esh aod hood, are nenfion.d IN tn
N"fd, the good spirits aud angels ha,e 40
PERCEPTION whatever of matcrl.d bse.J and
! wine, OF flesh and blood, but of the guad
| Uiinss III divine love and truth hy which
spiritual affections of goodness aud truth
, are nUnrIBhed.
Thus, whist CHILDREN sad men of simple
| pleiy aud chid-like Dispositions, rsad pas
sages IN the word, which, they neither I'm
derstand nor pretend To- interpret, aud vet
rpsere, ~ the word of God, good spirits
aud angels who are present with them, and
understand them IN the internal sense, are
often enabled 10 Infllse into their minds
| those heavenly affections and thoughts,
which such nca often experience on such
occasions, without knowing whence they
proceed. Bal it Is we'll known that this
child like simpllcity,a at present extremely
rare, that the spirit of mankind has become
decidedly critical, that the scriptures are
interp slcd by almost every one who reads
them, and accommodated by every reader
10 IA, orite opinions derived elsewhere, and
whenever these do not accord with the
sacred LETTER. that the same liberties aie ia
ken with It Is compositions merely human.
To prevent them from failing more and
more aud more into contempt, ii therefore
became necessary to reveal their internal
sense, far III. reception and investigation of
which, that very critical spirit which is OPP
posed Ia the simple faith of the primitive
christians, renders men Of the present age
euinenlly qualified. For although il Was
necessary that the spiritual sight of an in
dIvtdual should be opened in order that he
might be enabled to hear the correspon-
deuce of spiritual and natural objects, by
an experience which could he acquired IN
no other manner and thus to give Us AN
Interpretation of the internal sense Of the
word, under the influence of nm exfraordi-
nary illumination, yet this Interpretation
once given, becomes a fair object of critical
investigation, by which the most satisfacto-
~ evidence OF ia truth may be obtained.
But II i To be observed that although the
word was written hy Corrrspondences. il
has been 50 ordered by the Lord, that all
fhose passages that instruct men respecting
then eternal interests, and all that ~ neces-
sary 10 be known IN order To secure them,
are written IN such a manner as to be per
fecily ineligible in their literal sense, which
IN such cases comedies with their spiritual
sense. From these, and from these alone,
the fundar'ental doctrines of the church
are to he derived, with which all doctrines
derived solely { ON the spiritual sense IN st
col lcdr. Whenever the Fundamental doc
lrlnes Of the New Church have been at
tackled, they have therefore been defended
! by the lite al sense of the word Thus NJ.
! lin marsh has proved the sole and exclu-
siye divinity Of the Lord in his ''seal on the
| lips" by Ia quotations from the gospels.
| If, then, the members of the New Church
have been eminently successful IN all these
| controversies with those of the old, as will
| trust, be acknowledged by all who have
read Hln6marsh's replies to Priestey and
Pike, and Mr.. Cloves to the Christian
Observer aud to Mr.. Koby, il cannot but
be said, that they have fairly met their
opponents with the bible, the lexicon, and
the logic Of common sense. There is no
appeal 10 the internal sense of the woyd, or
To the authority of Baron Swedenborg, no
thing e,asvc or obscure in these replies,
and the impression that they leave on the
mind of a candid reader can be- no other
than ust admiration of the remarkable
clrarness of conception peculiar to these
authors, of the conclusive stringency OF
their arguments, and their close adherence
10 the literal sense of scripture IN the ex-
plicatlon 81 these quotations. lfthrre is any
Thing severe or sarcastic in the writings of
MIR. lIlndmarsh. IT never enters without be .
ing called forth by the downright rudrness
Of his adversary and Mr.. Cloves never
once deviatcs from the mild and affection
ate spirit of the beloved apostle. So far
from being antl.trinltarian, the members oi
the New Church are the most strenuous
and consistent assrrters of = divine trinity,
which they however Carcfly dlstteu 81
from lrlpersunalty, considering the latter
expression To he fully equivalent TO trithe
ism. With those who do not use the word
person, when prtdicated of three, for
the purpose of conveying any idea equiva-
lent or analogous To man, they have no
controversy, if they acknowledge that the
Lord Jesus is divine man, and that " IN
him dweHeth the Godhead bodily" for
they must, in consequence, acknowledge
that the unity Of his divine person consti-
turs the unity of the Godhead, and that
If any thing is worshipped that doth not
, dwell in his divine person, it is excluded
from the "whole fullness Of the Godhead,"
anu II consequently NOT ulFine' ne ulC-
tlonary to which our anonymous author
: aIludes, as containing the mystcsms of
= Swedenborgianism in an alphabetical ar
t arrangement, is Nicholson's dictionary of
correspondence, &c. We only regret that
this work, imperfect as it is, is not better
known. 1t is in many instances defective,
in some incorrect, ye. such as It's, il is an
excellent assistant 10 those who desire to
study the internal sense of the word, and
the science Of correspondence, a srienc.
WHICH, though long lost bci're it was again
) setored TO us by the diuine mercy of the
| Lord, was well known To the ancicnts, and
hesIlI.s o ~ nlaIninn Lnn unrd nf God rluri-