itself with the other facts and phenomena of our terrestrial world, with the motion of the planets, the existence and color of the clouds, the verdure of the fields, the aspects of the landscape, the countless tints of the violet and the rose. These all presuppose and depend wholly upon the sun, and could not exist without it.
X.
PRACTICAL TENDENCY OF THIS DISCLOSURE.
GRANT that what Swedenborg tells us about the Sun in the angelic heavens be true, what then? Is the disclosure one of any practical value? Is it calculated to improve the character of those who accept it, or to quicken their endeavors after righteousness? For if it can be shown that the legitimate tendency of any revealed fact or law is good and wholesome, that it furnishes food or stimulus to the better part of our nature, and tends to exalt and ennoble the character of the believer, that is the strongest possible evidence of its truth. But if, on the other hand, its obvious tendency is pernicious—if it is calculated to exert a debasing influence on the character, you can have no stronger evidence that the alleged revelation is false. "For every tree is known by his own fruit; for of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes." (Luke vi. 44.) No more can the fruits of righteousness be the legitimate product of false teaching or a spurious reve-
