202 THE DOCTEINE OF DEGREES. 



by itself, the posterior by itself, and the postreme by itself; 

 but still, taken together, they make a one." 



Further illustrations of the same subject are given as fol- 

 lows: "It is well known by ocular experience, that each 

 muscle in the human body consists of very minute fibers, and 

 that these fasciculated, constitute those larger ones, called mov- 

 ing fibers, and that bundles of these produce the compound 

 which is called a muscle. It is the same with the nerves : very 

 small nervous fibers are put together into larger ones, which 

 appear like filaments, and by a collection of such filaments the 

 nerve is produced. It is also the same in the other compagi- 

 nations, confasciculations, and collections of which the organs 

 and viscera consist; for these are compounds of fibers and 

 vessels, variously fashioned by similar degrees. The case is 

 the same also with all and every thing of the Vegetable King- 

 dom, and with all and every thing of the Mineral Kingdom ; 

 in wood there is a compagination of filaments in three-fold 

 order ; in metals and stones there is a conglobation of parts 

 also in three- fold order. These considerations show the nature 

 of Discreet Degrees, namely, that one is formed from another, 

 and by means of the second, a third, or composite ; and that 

 each Degree is discreet from another." 



Inasmuch as the second Degree in any trhie, proceeds from 

 the first, and the third from the second, it was also taught by 

 Swedenborg, that " the first Degree is all in all in the subse- 

 quent degrees ;" and that " the ultimate Degree is the complex, 

 continent, and basis, of the prior Degrees ;" by which latter 

 phrase I understand to be meant, that in the ultimate Degree, 

 all the Degrees receive permanent, potential, and utilized em- 

 bodiment. 



This doctrine of Degrees is extended by Swedenborg to 

 every department of existence, whether in the physical, moral, 



