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Jesus Christ is the son of David, the son of Abraham, thus expressing in a few words all that is signified in the genealogy according to Luke; that is, all the first period of the glorification of the Lord. It is equally easy to see that the names that compose this genealogy are also, according to their respective significations, in the ascending order of degrees; thus Jesus Christ signifies good and truth in every degree, Jesus signifying good, and Christ truth. But as it treats of Jesus Christ coming into the world, since immediately after the genealogy it speaks of his birth, it is evident that the signification refers here to the last or natural degree, David signifying the spiritual, and Abraham the celestial: thus it results in unanswerable proofs of what is contained in the writings of Swedenborg.

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As to the genealogy in the descending order, verses 2 to 16, we see that it is divided into three distinct series, each containing fourteen generations, as indicated in the recapitulation in the 17th verse. division accords perfectly with the admirable theory of Swedenborg, upon the subject of discrete and continuous degrees. There are in all things three discrete degrees, and each discrete degree is composed of continuous degrees." Hence we see clearly the reason of the division of this genealogy into three perfectly distinct series, and that each series should correspond to one of the three discrete degrees, The first series commences with Abraham, and terminates with David. This is the celestial degree, represented by Abraham, or the highest discrete degree. The fourteen patriarchs that compose this series represent the filiation of all things appertaining to this degree, and the number fourteen shows that all these things have been rendered very holy by the Lord; indeed, fourteen being a composite of seven, has the same signification, designating what is holy, the composite numbers signifying the same things as the simple numbers of which they are formed.

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The second series commences with David, and extends to the Babylonian captivity. This is the spiritual degree, represented by David, or the second discrete degree. It is known, indeed, that David, as king, signifies the royal government of the Lord, or whatever has relation to the spiritual. The four kings which form this series, represent the filiation of all things that appertain to the spiritual degree, or which have been rendered holy. And lastly, the third series commences with the Babylonian captivity and extends to the coming of Christ. This represents the first discrete or natural degree, as is sufficiently indicated by the state of captivity, as were the two others by the patriarchal and royal states. The fourteen personages that compose this series, represent the filiation of all things appertaining to the natural degree, and which have also been made holy by the Lord.

It is clear from what has been said, that the two genealogies, considered in their supreme sense, present a perfect concordance with what Swedenborg says upon the subject of the angels who ascended and descended upon Jacob's ladder; and that they present also, in that sense, a summary of the glorification of the Lord, and in the relative sense, a summary of the regeneration of man.

We will not pursue further these exegetical researches. It would be useless to desire to do so, for there are mysteries in the glorification of the Lord, and in the regeneration of man, known to the Lord alone,

and impenetrable to man, and even to angels; and these mysteries are fully contained in the series of proper names of which these genealogies are composed. We will close this exegesis by observing: 1st. That the genealogy of Matthew seems to be placed at the head of his Gospel, as a summary of all it contains, since it presents a condensation of all the Lord's works, in both the ascending and descending periods of his glorification. 2nd. That this genealogy, in the supreme sense, is truly that of Jesus Christ, (although in the literal sense, it would be really that of Joseph, the husband of Mary,) for it has reference to the making divine the external or natural Human of the Lord, and consequently to the second birth of Jesus Christ.

EQUALITY OF THE SEXES.

A WELL-KNOWN fable has taught us the necessity of viewing a matter on all sides before coming to a determinate conclusion respecting it. Two knights, we are told, were ready to engage in mortal combat, in order to settle a disputed point, to wit, whether a certain shield suspended in a certain place was of gold or silver; one of the knights asserting it to be of the former, and the other, of the latter metal. And strange to say, although thus directly opposed to each other, both were equally in the right; inasmuch as the said shield was of gold on the one side, and of silver on the other, so that he who approached it from the north judged the whole shield to be of the one metal, while he who approached it from the south, judged it to be of the other. I imagine this is the case with X. Y. Z., and his friends; for it is certainly true, that the sexes from creation are equal; but it is equally true, that, in practice, the male sex necessarily exercises, and therefore practically possesses, superiority.

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It appears that the equality of the sexes in practice, is only perfectly maintainable in a perfect state of man, and of society, that is, in the celestial state; for then only can individuals united in marriage see eye to eye," and form determinations from an equally wise, and therefore a perfectly united, because a perfectly agreeing perception. In this case alone is it possible for them to agree in will, and thence in determination and action, on all occasions, as one man (homo).

Our Lord has instructed us, that a state of perception is perfect when to every thing that ought to be rejected, man is able promptly and accurately to say, "nay;" and to every thing that ought to be accepted, as promptly to say, "yea." "Let your communication be yea, yea, and nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of

evil." So long as the state of man was unfallen, the good and the true in the individual were equal; they acted as a perfect one; and whether in males or females, the " yea, yea," and " nay, nay, ,"-the acceptance or rejection of any matter,-always combined in one;—the yea of the intellect uniting with the yea of the will; and the nay of the intellect with the nay of the will, and it was to intimate this perfect union of the two faculties in all human operations, that the words yea and nay were used twice by the Lord instead of only once. But man fell from the celestial state. Evil entered. From evil came the false; the false banished perception, and reasoning took its place until conscience should be formed as its substitute by individual regeneration. And what is reasoning, but a groping between truth and falsehood,—a feeling after that accurate determination which the banished perception exercised spontaneously, as if by an immediate interior revelation from the Divine Wisdom? And such is our existing condition, as reasoners, who have lost the high faculty of perception. The "evil" now adheres to all our mental activities. Perception originally settled all matters by one word; but reasoning, that inferior capability, whose imperfection "cometh of evil," because it is the offspring of the fall, too generally imagines a man of many words to be the wisest man. And if common report be true, the female sex is not distinguishable from the male as being "the yea yea, and nay nay sex;" nor is that sex at all behind the other in activity in weaving the Assyrian tissue, with varying skill, both of the finer and the coarser textures. In the present talking or reasoning generation, what the Lord pronounced to be the highest excellence of the human intellect, is treated with contempt; it is even adopted as a mark of scorn; for if it be desired to describe a person as little better than a fool, he is called "a poor yea, nay, creature!"

That the perfect equality of the good and the true in individuals of both sexes necessarily led to perfect equality in all their mutual engagements and united activities, is evident. But when the fall began, the perfect oneness of the good and the true began to be interrupted. They were no longer equal; and hence the sexes, the corresponding embodiments of the good and the true, although still essentially equal from creation, could no longer remain equal in fact, or in practice; equality was no longer actual, it was only potential. Hence we find Eve addressed thus by Jehovah: "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."* When the will and the understanding began to be no longer a one in innocence, Jehovah foresaw that the will would eventually become entirely depraved, and that it would be neces

Granting this not to be a fact as history, it is not, therefore, less a fact as a correspondence.

sary gradually to prepare for the complete severance of the will from the understanding, in order that the understanding, after instruction, might subdue and rule the will. Hence it was that, immediately after the fall, the will, denoted by Eve, was placed under the intellect, denoted by Adam. The complete severance of the will from the understanding, we are informed, took place immediately preceding the flood, for then all in whom that severance could be effected, and who are denoted by those who were saved in the Ark, formed the ancient church at its commencement; while those in whom the will and understanding could not be separated, could not endure the new state of the Divine influx and operation, but being altogether discordant and non-responsive to it, perished through the spiritual flood that internally suffocated them, so that they actually died as to the body, as if by a literal flood of waters. (A. C. 1120).

Now it appears not to have been possible, after the rule over the will had been given to the intellect, that man, the form of intellect, should not receive power over woman, the form of the will, for the great law of correspondence must have its course. It is admitted that all the actual outward superiority of man over woman, "cometh of evil;" because all reasoning,-all that state of mind which results from the interrupted oneness of the good and the true, "cometh of evil;" but the admission of this origin is also an admission of the fact, that, since the fall, not of will, but from necessity, the Divine Providence has given superiority, in practice, to the male sex, for the benefit of both sexes; and the exercise of this superiority, itself an imperfection, is found actually to exist exactly in proportion as the good and the true are not a one in the individual. In other words, in proportion as man is distant from the celestial state, that is, in proportion as the good and the true are not united in the celestial marriage, man rules, and woman is ruled; and in the savage state, the most remote from the celestial, the female is degraded by the male down to the level of a brute beast. What, then, is the real truth but this,—that the sexes are perfectly equal essentially, (or as it is called, theoretically) as affirmed by X. Y. Z.; but, practically, and that of necessity, and thence providentially, man is the superior, as affirmed by those persons whose sentiments have so displeased our friend? X. Y. Z. and his friends have approached the shield from opposite directions; they have contemplated the case from opposite points of view; both are right in their conclusions according to the aspect in which they have respectively viewed the matter. Their difference is unreal; it probably belongs rather to the imperfection of natural language than to any defect of rational thought on either side.

To view the subject practically, we must consider, that when man and woman lost the high capability of perfect agreement as a matter of course, and thence perfect equality, because perfect unity, the capability of disagreement commenced. Differences of opinion must thenceforward arise, and if they could not otherwise be harmonized, disagreement, and thence contention, must become perpetual; and therefore, as the least evil of the two, all disputed questions must be closed by force. The man, as physically the stronger, must assume the preeminence for since the Gordian knot could not be untied, human happiness required that it should be cut. The Supreme Governor, therefore, mercifully uttered his fiat to the woman, "Thy husband shall rule over thee." How could it be otherwise? Where the man and woman vote differently, decision, and thus a quasi union, can only be come to, by giving to one or the other party the casting vote; and because man is the form of intellect, and therefore the least likely of the two to be carried away by the blind impulses of the fallen will, the casting vote is wisely given to him, whenever agreement cannot be come to through unity of view. Such is the necessity of the case; and it being so, to assert that the male sex is not practically the superior,the superior in fact although not in theory,-is to be gallant at the expense of truth, and in disregard of incontrovertible facts existing around us.

But the conscientious New churchman will never forget that woman is his equal in theory, although, through human infirmity, not so in practice. The wise husband will be ever striving after the realization of as much of the divinely intended equality in act, as is possible, being desirous that, if possible, the theory and the practice should become, in his case, a perfect one; for only in proportion as this is the case, is marriage a heavenly union, resembling the union of the Good and the True in its most perfect form, that is, as it exists in the celestial state. It is only in this state that there is a perfect realization in marriage of—

"Thought meeting thought, and will preventing will,

With boundless confidence."

As the Latin word homo describes both sexes as to their common character and essential equality; while the words vir and mulier, describe them as to their specific differences; so the word homo describes them as united in one in good and truth, while the words vir and mulier refer to their specific differences; and, spiritually, in respect to the man being intellect, and the woman will. It is desirable, then, that the sexes should always approach each other under the hallowing and confidence-inspiring feelings properly attachable to the word homo; that

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