fection for the truth and our fidelity in obeying its behests. And it warns us not to forget or transgress the Divine commands, under penalty of dimming or destroying our spirit's eyesight, and thus preparing ourselves for the "outer darkness." Its tendency therefore is, to make us watchful against the indulgence of any known evil, and to stimulate our desire to learn and practice the laws of the heavenly life; for it is in this way only that we can become qualified to behold and rejoice in the beams of heaven's bright Sun.
Then see how this disclosure concerning the nature of heavenly light and heat, helps us in the interpretation of the Bible; for there is, as we should expect, an intimate connection between the spiritual sense of the Word as revealed through Swedenborg, and his disclosures concerning the spiritual world.
In its natural or literal sense the Bible appears to treat much of natural things;—of the earth and clouds, winds and waters; of rocks, trees and mountains—sun, moon and stars. And it was once regarded as the very highest authority in settling questions of natural science. But latterly a great change in this respect has come over the mind of Christendom. Many of the beliefs prevalent in the days of Galileo, have been discarded by every religious sect. Many of the deepest thinkers of our day have reached the conclusion that the Bible was never meant to teach us about natural but only about spiritual things; that, rightly understood, it will be found to treat exclusively of God, the soul and things belonging to the soul's appropriate realm; that it is, and was meant to be, a revelation not of natural but of spir-
