204 THE DOCTRINE OF DEGREES. 



which we have constantly, though in other terms, represented 

 as the complex, continent, and basis of all previous divisions 

 and this view without the slightest violence to any essential 

 doctrine of Swedenborg, will bring the theory of Degrees pre- 

 cisely into the form in which I had conceived it. I believe 

 that while Swedenborg himself maintained that triunity was 

 predicable of all completeness, he also distinctly taught that 

 the number seven was the common number of completeness. 

 Consistently with this, then, it would seem that he could 

 not avoid admitting that the septinity in some way in- 

 volved the trine of the truth of which idea a very small 

 portion of the existing evidence is spread through the fore- 

 going pages. 



The doctrine of Degrees of altitude, then, in the light of 

 principles heretofore established, and which doubtless Sweden- 

 borg himself would have admitted, may be presented in the 

 following modified form : 



Let each component gradation in the seven-fold series be 

 called an Elemental Degree. 



Let each Trinity of Elemental Degrees (the Primary and 

 Secondary Trinities, as distinguished in foregoing pages) be 

 called a Discreet Degree ; and 



Let each seven-fold series, as a whole, be called a Complete 

 Degree. We have thus Elemental Degrees, Discreet De- 

 grees, and Complete Degrees. 



For example, let the Mineral Kingdom be considered as 

 one Complete Degree, the Vegetable Kingdom as another, 

 and the Animal Kingdom as another ; while each Trinity of 

 developments in each of those Kingdoms, as before repre- 

 sented, is considered as a Discreet Degree, and each member 

 of each of those Trinities is considered as an Elemental De- 

 gree; and the whole theory of Degrees of altitude will 



