"the same chariot," page 674. X. "Original sin doth not "consist in any particular fault perpetrated or brought "into act, but remaineth intimately rooted in the nature, "substance, and essence of man,' and is the fountain from. "whence all actual sins flow, as depraved thoughts and "words, and evil works," page 577. "This hereditary "disease, whereby man's whole nature is rendered corrupt, " is horrible sin, and is in fact the beginning and cause of "all sins, from which, as from their root and spring, all "transgressions are derived," page 640. "That nature, "by means of this sin, as by a spiritual leprosy, is totally "infected and corrupt before God, in the inmost bowels, " and deepest recesses of the heart, and by reason of such "corruption every individual man is accused and condemned "by the law of God, so that by nature we are all the chil"dren of wrath, of death, and damnation, unless we are "delivered and saved from such evils by the benefit of "Christ's merits," page 639. "That hence a total absence, 66 or privation, of original righteousness, or the image of "God formed in paradise, bath taken place, attended with "such impotence, unfitness, and stupidity, as render man "altogether indisposed towards things divine or spiritual. "That instead of the image of God thus lost in man, hath "arisen an inmost, most vile, most profound, inscrutable, "inexpressible corruption of his whole nature, and of all "his powers, particularly of the superior and principal "faculties of his soul, in the mind, understanding, heart, "and will," page 640.

465. Such are the precepts, tenets, and decrees of the present church, on man's free-will in regard to things spiritual and things natural, and also on original sin; they are adduced, in order that the precepts, tenets, and decrees of the New Church, on the same subjects, may more evidently and distinctly appear; for different forms and objects, placed near to each other, tend, by the contrast, to make

truth more apparent and distinct, just as in a picture an ugly and a beautiful face are frequently contrasted with each other, to the intent that the beauty of the one, and the ugliness of the other, may be exhibited in a more striking point of view. The following are the tenets and decrees of the New Church in regard to free-will.

1. THAT THE TWO TREES IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, ONE OF LIFE, AND THE OTHER OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, SIGNIFY THE FREE-WILL WHICH MAN ENJOY ETH IN RESPECT TO SPIRITUAL THINGS.

466. It is believed by many persons, that Adam and Eve, mentioned in the book of Genesis, do not mean the first of the human race that were created on the earth; and in support of this opinion they adduce arguments from chronological computations found amongst some people and nations, which favor the existence of men prior to Adam, and also from what Cain, Adam's first-born said to Jehovah : "I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall kill me; and Jehovah set a mark upon Cain, lest any one finding him should kill him," Gen. iv. 14, 15: "And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of Nod, and built a city," Verses 16, 17; whence they conclude, that the earth was inhabited before the time of Adam. But in addition to this it is abundantly demonstrated in the Arcana Cœlestia, published by me at London, that by Adam and his wife is meant the most ancient church that existed on our earth; and in the same work it is further shewn, that by the garden of Eden is meant the wisdom of the men of that church; and by the tree of life the Lord in man, and man in the Lord; and by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man not in the Lord, but in his proprium, or self-bood, as is the case with every one who believeth that he does all things, even what is good, from

himself; it is also proved that by eating of this tree is meant the appropriation* of evil.

467. By the garden of Eden, in the Word, is not meant any particular garden, but intelligence; nor by a tree, any particular tree, but man. That the garden of Eden signifieth intelligence and wisdom, may appear from these passages: "WITH THY WISDOM AND THINE INTELLIGENCE thou hast gotten thee riches; thou hast been in EDEN THE GARDEN OF GOD; thou sealest up the sum, full of WISDOM, and perfect in beauty, every precious stone was thy covering," Ezek. xxviii. 4, 12, 13. These words are spoken of the prince and king of Tyre, of whom wisdom is predicated, because by Tyre, in the Word, is signified the church as to the knowledges of good and truth, by which wisdom is attained: by the precious stones which were his covering, are also signified the same knowledges of good and truth for the prince and king of Tyre were never in the garden of Eden. Again, in Ezekiel: “Behold, Ashur was a cedar in Lebanon; the cedars in THE GARDEN OF GOD, could not hide him; no tree in THE GARDEN OF GOD was like unto him in his beauty; all the trees of EDEN THAT WERE IN THE GARDEN OF GOD envied him,” xxxi. 3, 8, 9; and further, "To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness, among the TREES OF EDEN?" Verse 18: this is said of Ashur or Assyria, because by Assyria, in the

* To appropriate evil signifies, according to our author, to make evil our own, which we do by choosing, embracing, and consenting to it. Evil thus appropriated becometh fixed or rooted in the will or life, and thereby bringeth the soul into condemnation; otherwise it could not hurt the soul, being in a state of separation, or removal, in consequence of our refusing or rejecting it. For it deserves well to be considered, that nothing can either be a real blessing, or a real curse, to the soul or spirit of man, but what is made its own; and nothing, whether it be good or evil, can thus become the spirit's own, but by its choosing, embracing, and consenting to it, with its will or desire. The doctrine of appropriation, thus explained, is of weighty importance, and deserves the serious attention of every reader.

Word, is meant rationality, and intelligence thence derived. So in Isaiah: "Jehovah shall comfort Zion; He will make her wilderness like EDEN, and her desart like THE GARDEN OF JEHOVAH," Chap. li. 3: Zion, in this passage, is the church, and Eden and the garden of Jehovah are wisdom and intelligence. So in the Revelation: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of THE TREE OF LIFE, which is in the midst of the PARADISE OF GOD," Chap. iii. 7: "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side the river, was the TREE OF LIFE," Xxii. 2. Hence it plainly appeareth, that by the garden of Eden, in which Adam is said to have been placed are meant intelligence and wisdom, because the like is asserted of Tyre, Assyria, and Zion. By a garden also, in other parts of the Word, is meant intelligence, as in Isaiah lviii. 11, Ixi. 11, Jer. xxxi. 12, Amos ix. 14. This spiritual meaning of a garden is grounded in the nature of representations in the spiritual world, in which world gardens and paradises appear, where the angels dwell who excel in intelligence and wisdom: the intelligence and wisdom which are received by them from the Lord, form themselves into such representations around them, and this takes place from correspondence, all things that exist in the spiritual world being correspondences.

468. That a tree signifies man, is plain from these passages in the Word: "All the trees of the field shall know that I Jehovah have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish," Ezek. xvii. 24: "Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord; he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season," Psalm i. 1, 3, Jer. xvii. 8: "Praise the Lord, ye fruitful trees," Psalm cxlviii. 9: "The trees of the Lord are full of sap," Psalm civ. 16: "The axe is laid unto the root of the trees; wherefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down," Matt. iii. 10,

chap. vii. 16 to 20: "Either make the tree good and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit," Matt. xii. 33, Luke vi. 43, 44: "I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree," Ezek. xx. 47. In consequence of this signification of a tree, it was made a statute, "That the fruit of every tree, serviceable for food, in the land of Canaan, should be accounted uncircumcised," Levit. xix. 23, 24. And whereas the olivetree signifieth a man of the celestial church, it is therefore said of "the two witnesses who prophesied, that they were two olive-trees, standing before the Lord of the whole earth," Rev. xi. 4: see also Zech. iv. 3, 11, 12: and in David, "I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God," Psalm lii. 8 and in Jeremiah, "The Lord called thy name a green olive-tree, fair and of goodly fruit," xi. 16, 17: not to mention other passages, which are too numerous for insertion. 469. Any person of interior wisdom may, at this day, perceive, or at least conjecture, that the circumstances recorded of Adam and Eve must have a spiritual signification, which hath heretofore remained unknown, because the spiritual sense of the Word was never discovered till now. Who cannot discern, on the slightest glance, that Jehovah could never have placed two trees in a garden, one of which might prove a stumbling block, unless they had some spiritual representation? And who cannot see the absurdity of supposing that both Adam and his wife were cursed, because they ate of the fruit of a certain tree, and that the curse adheres to all their posterity, so that the whole human race is subjected to damnation for the fault of one man, in which fault there was no apparent evil of the lust of the flesh, or iniquity of heart? Does such a proceeding square with the divine justice? May it not reasonably be asked, on such a supposition, why Jehovah did not remove that fruit out of Adam's reach before he ate of it, and why He