general outline of the multitude of spiritual truths which are unveiled
in the course of the exposition of Genesis and Exodus; and not of these
two books alone, but of passages from all parts of the Word, which are
drawn upon to illustrate and confirm the truth of the interpretation.
As Wilkinson says, “Consider, gentle reader, twelve goodly 8vo volumes
[in English,] written with such continued power that it seems as if
eating, drinking, and sleeping, had never intervened between the penman
and his page, so unbroken is the subject, and so complete the sense. Add
to the other health and harmony of this unflagging man, a memory of the
most extraordinary grasp, which enabled him to administer the details
of an intellect ranging through all truth on the one hand, and through
the whole field of Scripture illustration and text upon the other. Then
take into account the unity of the work from first to last; the constant
reference that binds all parts of it together, and shows the caution
with which each strong affirmation is at first set down. Observe also
the felicity of phrase, the happiness of mind, the easy greatness, which
shine along and dignify those serious pages. Remark also, that the author
does not deal in generalities, but sentence for sentence, and word for
word, he translates his text into spiritual meaning, and criticises and
supports himself with nearly every parallel text in the sacred writings.”
The earnest reader of the “Arcana” will never question the reality of
Swedenborg’s mission. He would as soon question the reality of the world,
or his own existence. This is a strong assertion, a stranger to the work
will perhaps say; but it is only a stranger to these wondrous volumes
that will say so; for every one at all familiar with them will agree with
us. We never take down a volume of the “Arcana” to read, without feeling
more and more assured that Swedenborg was an anointed servant of the
Lord. The depths of spiritual experience he reveals, his insight into the
inmost recesses of the heart, his explanation of the causes of thoughts,
and the origin of our various desires and inclinations, of lowness of
spirits, of pleasant and dull moods, in short, of all spiritual trials
and temptations, with the heavenly ends they are permitted to serve,
together with a thousand other matters which it concerns us all to know,
are of such a nature that we cannot but feel that such knowledge must
have been derived from a Divine source, and that unless his stand-point
had been most peculiar, and providentially appointed, it would have
been impossible for him to have written as he has. To speak of the
“Arcana” as it deserves, would, to one unacquainted with it, appear like
exaggeration, while every reader would feel that we had fallen far short
of the truth in many points. No criticism, however reverential, can
adequately express the innumerable and marvellous excellencies of the
work; and should this feeble testimony to its worth excite any one to
read and _study_ it,—and it is a work which should be studied, if read at
all,—we know that he will say, as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon, “It
was a true report that I heard of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit
I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and
behold the half was not told me.”
We have not spoken of those chapters which come between the expositions
of Scripture, because the subjects therein treated of will recur in
notices of his other books. They serve to diversify the work, and to
relieve the mind tasked with the deep thought involved in the spiritual
expositions, by the contemplation of some of the leading facts of the
future life.
The “Arcana Cœlestia” was translated into English by the late venerable
John Clowes, a clergyman of the Established Church in Manchester, and a
most cordial receiver and preacher of the doctrines of the New Church.
It is published in twelve octavo volumes, with an index prepared by
Swedenborg himself, which forms a thirteenth volume. This index has
been greatly extended by Elihu Rich, filling two large octavos. Several
editions of the “Arcana” have also been published in America; and the
sale, considering the size and cost of the work, has been in both
countries very considerable. It is a work which will in coming days
run through many cheap editions; and when that time shall come, many
will wonder why such a treasury of spiritual wisdom lay so long in our
midst, and yet men thought so little of it. But the world is approaching
Swedenborg as fast as steady progress will permit.
CHAPTER XI.
_Anecdotes._
Of Swedenborg’s external life, during the composition of the “Arcana
Cœlestia,” we know little. From his “Spiritual Diary,” we incidentally
learn that he was in Stockholm on the 23d of July, 1756. A revolution had
been attempted, and the leaders of the conspiracy, Count Brahe and Baron
Horn, were executed on that day. Swedenborg writes of Brahe thus:—“Brahe
was beheaded at ten o’clock in the morning, and spoke with me at ten at
night; that is to say, twelve hours after his execution. He was with me
almost without interruption for several days. In two days’ time, he began
to return to his former life, which consisted in loving worldly things;
and after three days, he became as he was before in the world, and was
carried into the evils that he had made his own before he died.” (S.
Diary, 5099.)
Robsahm, a friend of Swedenborg’s, probably alludes to this circumstance,
when he writes: “One day as a criminal was led to the place of execution
to be beheaded, I was by the side of Swedenborg, and asked him how such a
person felt at the time of his execution. He answered: ‘When a man lays
his head on the block, he loses all sensation. When he first comes into
the spiritual world, and finds that he is living, he is seized with the
fear of his expected death, tries to escape, and is very much frightened.
At such a moment no one thinks of anything but the happiness of heaven,
or the misery of hell. Soon the good spirits come to him, and instruct
him where he is, and he is then left to follow his own inclinations,
which soon lead him to the place where he remains for ever.’” It appears
that whatever happens at the hour of death, is carried into the other
life, and the state is continued for some time. Thus we read in the
“Spiritual Diary” of a person who had been reduced by melancholy to
despair, until being instigated by diabolical spirits, he destroyed
himself, by thrusting a knife into his body. “This spirit came to me,”
writes Swedenborg, “complaining that he was miserably treated by evil
spirits. He was seen by me, holding a knife in his hand, as though he
would plunge it into his breast. With this knife he labored very hard, as
wishing rather to cast it from him, but in vain.”
It soon became widely known that Swedenborg had intercourse with spirits;
and many and various were the demands made upon him, for information of
one kind and another. The Queen of Sweden asked him whether his spiritual
intercourse was a science or art that could be communicated to others. He
said: “No, it is the gift of the Lord.” “Can you then,” said she, “speak
with every one deceased, or only with certain persons?” He answered, “I
can not converse with all, but only with such as I have known in this
world, with all royal and princely persons, with all renowned heroes,
or great and learned men, whom I have known, either personally, or from
their actions or writings; consequently with all _of whom I could form
an idea_; for it may be supposed that a person whom I never knew, and of
whom I could form no idea, I neither could or would wish to speak with.”
The Prince of Prussia was brother to the Queen of Sweden, and shortly
after his death, Swedenborg being at court, the Queen perceiving him
said: “Well, Mr. Assessor, have you seen my brother?” He answered, “No.”
Whereupon she replied: “If you should see him, remember me to him.” In
saying this, she did but jest. Eight days afterwards, Swedenborg came
again to court, but so early that the Queen had not left her apartment
called the white room, where she was conversing with her maids of honor,
and other ladies of the court. Swedenborg did not wait for the Queen’s
coming out, but entered directly into her apartment, and whispered in
her ear. The Queen, struck with astonishment, was taken ill, and did not
recover for some time. After she was come to herself, she said to those
about her: “There is only God and my brother who can know what he has
just told me.” She owned that he had spoken of her last correspondence
with the prince, the subject of which was known to themselves alone.
The following is narrated by J. H. Jung Stilling:—“About the year 1770,
there was a merchant in Elberfeld with whom, during seven years of my
residence there, I lived in close intimacy. He spoke little; but what he
said was like golden fruit on a salver of silver. He would not have dared
for all the world to have told a falsehood. His business requiring him
to take a journey to Amsterdam, where Swedenborg at that time resided,
and having heard and read much of this strange individual, he formed the
intention of visiting him. He therefore called upon him, and found a
very venerable looking, friendly old man, who received him politely, and
requested him to be seated. Explaining his errand, and expressing his
deep admiration of Swedenborg’s writings, he desired that he would give
him a proof of his intercourse with the unseen world. Swedenborg said:
‘Why not? Most willingly.’ The merchant then proceeded to tell that he
had formerly a friend, who studied divinity at Duisburg, where he fell
into a consumption, of which he died. Visiting this friend a short time
before his decease, they conversed together on an important topic. The
question he then put to Swedenborg, was: ‘Can you learn from the student
what was the subject of our discourse at that time?’ Swedenborg replied:
‘We will see; what was the name of your friend?’ The merchant told his
name, and Swedenborg then requested him to call in a few days. Some days
after, the merchant went again to see Swedenborg, in anxious expectation.
The old gentleman met him with a smile, and said: ‘I have spoken with
your friend; the subject of your discourse was _the restitution of all
things_.’ He then related to the merchant, with the greatest precision,
what he, and what his deceased friend, had maintained. The merchant
turned pale; for this proof was powerful and invincible. He inquired
further: ‘How fares it with my friend? Is he in a state of blessedness?’
Swedenborg answered: ‘No, he is not in heaven; he is still in the world
of spirits, and torments himself continually with the idea of the
restitution of all things.’ He ejaculated: ‘My God! What! in the other
world?’ Swedenborg replied: ‘Certainly; a man takes with him his favorite
inclinations and opinions, and it is very difficult to be divested of
them. We ought, therefore, to lay them aside here.’ The merchant took his
leave, perfectly convinced, and returned to Elberfeld.”
An ambassador from Holland, named Martville, died at Stockholm. After his
death, a considerable sum of money was demanded of his widow in payment
of a debt. She felt certain the debt had been paid, but was unable to
find the receipt for the money. Being advised to consult Swedenborg,
who, she was told could converse with the dead whenever he pleased,
she adopted the advice, more from curiosity than from a belief in his
powers. The lady called on Swedenborg and told him her trouble; and he
promised if he met her husband in the spiritual world, he would inquire
of him about the matter. Eight days afterwards Martville appeared to his
wife in a dream, and mentioned to her a private place in his cabinet,
where she would not only find the receipt, but also a hair pin set with
twenty brilliants which had been given up as lost. This happened about
two o’clock in the morning. Full of joy, she arose and found them in
the place designated. She returned again to rest, and slept till nine
o’clock. About eleven Swedenborg was announced. His first remark, before
Madame had time to speak, was, that he had, during the preceding night,
seen several spirits, and among others her late husband. He had wished to
converse with him, but Martville excused himself on the ground that he
must go to discover to his wife something of importance. This account,
attested by the lady herself, was noised through all Stockholm. It may be
added that Madame desired to make Swedenborg a handsome present for his
services, which he, of course, declined.
Sometimes Swedenborg’s announcements of the states of the departed
alarmed his auditors. We read of a case of this kind which took place on
a voyage from Gottenburg to London. The vessel staying at Oresound, the
Swedish Consul invited the officers of the custom house, together with
several of the first people of the town, all anxious to see and know
Swedenborg, to dine with him at his house. Being all seated at table, and
none of them taking the liberty of addressing Swedenborg, who likewise
was silent, the Consul thought it incumbent on him to break silence,
and asked Swedenborg, as he could see and speak with the dead, whether
he had seen Christian VI., King of Denmark, after his decease. To this
he replied in the affirmative; adding, that when he saw him the first
time, he was accompanied by a bishop or other prelate, who humbly begged
the King’s pardon for the many errors into which he had led him by his
counsels. A son of the deceased prelate happened to be present at the
table: the Consul therefore fearing that Swedenborg might say something
further to the disadvantage of the father, interrupted him, saying:
“Sir, this is his son!” Swedenborg replied: “It may be, but what I am
saying is true.”
Such anecdotes might be greatly multiplied, but space forbids. No one,
perhaps, has a lower idea of the worth of these stories, as testimonies
to Swedenborg’s veracity, than the writer; yet they could not well be
omitted from an account of his life. Gossip spread them far and wide in
his own day, as is evidenced by the various forms in which they have come
down to us; and any biographer would fail in his duty did he not show
how the common world of men dealt with, and regarded Swedenborg. These
anecdotes also in some degree manifest what a kind, affable, simple, and
honest man Swedenborg was.
Having finished the “Arcana Cœlestia,” Swedenborg’s pen yet knew no
rest. In 1758 he published in London the five following works:—1. An
Account of the Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon; showing
that all the predictions in the Apocalypse are at this day fulfilled;
being a relation of things heard and seen. 2. Concerning Heaven and its
wonders, and concerning Hell, being a relation of things heard and seen.
3. On the White Horse mentioned in the Apocalypse. 4. On the Planets in
our solar system, and on those in the Heavens; with an account of their
inhabitants, and of their spirits and angels. 5. On the New Jerusalem and
its Heavenly Doctrines, as revealed from heaven. Let us now examine these
works in order.
CHAPTER XII.
_The Last Judgment._
To the early reader of Swedenborg’s writings, few of his declarations
appear stranger, at first, than his affirmation that the Last Judgment
is past, that it took place in 1757. Yet although startling at first, it
is a doctrine which, on closer acquaintance, readily comes within the
grasp of reason and common sense; and we discover that all its early
strangeness was owing to our having looked at it through the mist of
prejudice and preconceived opinion.
The treatise on the Last Judgment, (although, as to size, only a
pamphlet,) is a most effective and masterly exposition of the nature
of the end of the church, the new heavens, and the new earth of the
Apocalypse.
In the first place, it is shown that the day of the Last Judgment does
not mean that of the destruction of the world; for neither the visible
heaven nor the habitable earth will perish, but both will remain forever.
The reason is that the heaven of angels is formed from the human race,
all angels having lived the life of men, and none having been so created;
and as the perfection of heaven increases to eternity with the increase
of regenerate men from the world, it follows that the earth will never
cease to exist, nor men to live and be born upon it. The world is the
seminary of heaven. Heaven depends upon the world for its growth,
increase, and perfection. Heaven could not exist without worlds.
Heaven being formed from the human race, so likewise is Hell; all devils
and satans having at one time been men on this or some other earth. “That
is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural.”
These doctrines, it will be seen, militate against what are called
orthodox opinions, which teach that angels were created before the world,
and that no man can go to heaven or to hell before the time of the Last
Judgment; when the souls of men having returned into their bodies, the
visible world will be burned up; the sun and moon be quenched in nature’s
night; and the stars, each surrounded with its own system of worlds,
having first fallen upon this speck of a globe, are to be wiped out of
existence. These common but crude and unscriptural ideas have afforded
the best subjects for scoffing at the Christian religion which the
skeptic could desire. For he triumphantly asks, How can so vast a heaven,
and so many stars, with sun and moon, be destroyed and dissipated? And
how can the stars fall from heaven upon the earth, when they are larger
than the earth? How can men’s bodies, eaten up by worms, consumed by
putrefaction, scattered to all winds, absorbed by vegetation, and again
incorporated into other men’s systems, be re-collected for their souls?
What is this day of Judgment? And has it not been expected for ages in
vain? Together with many other such questions, all pertinent, but to
which the church can give no rational answer.
And yet ignorance on such subjects cannot be excused; for men might have
known from the Word that heaven and hell are from mankind, and that man
is raised up and lives immediately after death. Information on these
subjects might have been obtained from the Lord’s words to the thief
upon the cross, “Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me
in Paradise;” and from those which he spoke concerning the rich man and
Lazarus, that the one went to hell, and spoke with Abraham, and that the
other went to heaven; and what the Lord told the Pharisees respecting the
resurrection, that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
And then we see how inconsistent men are with themselves on these
subjects. A worthy church-member, who is a firm believer in the burning
up of the world, and the resurrection of the dead at the Last Judgment,
comes to his death-bed, and straightway all his doctrine passes into
forgetfulness; and he talks of going home to glory in heaven, and being
within a few hours of the angels. He dies; and his friends, as orthodox
as himself, think of him as happy in heaven; and yet they profess to
believe in the resurrection of his corrupt and diseased body. What
strange inconsistency is this! But it is one of the marks of error, that
it is always inconsistent with itself.
The leading fact in Swedenborg’s doctrine of the Last Judgment, is,
that it takes place in the spiritual world, where all men congregate
after death. A judgment takes place in the world of spirits whenever a
church comes to its end; that is, when its charity, and consequently its
faith is dead, and all things that remain are mere empty forms of life.
A judgment took place at the end of the Jewish church. For proof of
this, we need only turn to the Gospel of _John_, (xii. 31,) where Jesus
said: “_Now_ is the judgment of this world: _now_ shall the prince of
this world be cast out.” We all know there was at that time no visible
judgment in the natural world. Everything went on as before; yet, we
learn from the Lord’s own lips, that a judgment was effected.
It is a great mistake, and one which even the best of men labor under,
to suppose that the soul of man exists alone, and independent of any
influences but those that are external to him, and of which he is
conscious. We would ask, Who ever saw a grain of matter independent of
the law of gravitation,—that cause which binds it to kindred matter
with a bond as indestructible as its own existence? It is the same with
men’s souls. No man lives independent of spiritual association. Place
a man in the middle of some distant and desolate island; yet he is not
alone. Around his soul are the spirits of those who have left the world
before him, who love as he loves, and think as he thinks. The minds of
men and spirits are most closely and intimately conjoined; for in the
universe of mind, as in the universe of matter, there is no such thing as
isolation and independency. And what can be more philosophical than such
a doctrine? The laws of matter represent the laws of spirit; in every
particular there exists a perfect correspondence. As matter is everywhere
bound to matter, and compacted in firm communion, so likewise are the
minds of men to be regarded as a universe of atoms, bound together by
loves and affections. In meditating on this subject, we must remember
that spirit knows nothing of material space.
The church had been declining from the days of the Apostles. Men had
forsaken the pure spirit of the gospel, and had sought to hide their
evils of life by doctrines and creeds formed from their own darkened
understandings. The popedom had arisen; and in the black night of the
dark ages, had established its fearful assumptions, and blasphemously
invoked the name of the Highest to sanctify its crimes. The Reformation,
the last flicker of an expiring candle, had indeed established free
thought, but it failed in its highest aims; and in the erroneous doctrine
of justification by faith alone, had deadened the consciences of men,
and extinguished all aspirations after spiritual life. Last and worst of
all, Atheism reared its horrid front, and openly manifested itself; yet
what of it was open and confessed, was as nothing to what lay concealed
even under the vestments of the church. Toward the middle of the last
century, Christendom had reached its lowest point of degradation; and
any one who is anxious to test this affirmation of Swedenborg’s, need
only turn to the history and literature of that period, and observe the
selfishness, the negation and ridicule of everything pure and spiritual,
the gross ignorance, the licentiousness and intemperance, and in fact
the reduction of humanity to its lowest and most bestial condition. He
will then understand the cry of the good, at that time, in the world of
spirits, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge
our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
It is to be noted that from the time of the Lord’s advent, when he
effected the Judgment upon the Jewish church, there had been pouring
into the world of spirits, in countless myriads, the souls of those who
were full of evils and falsities, and who, collecting around terrestrial
humanity, lay as thick clouds between it and heaven. Forming themselves
into societies by spiritual affinities, the reformed churches were in the
middle; the Romanists around them; the Mahommedans in a still outer ring;
and the various Gentile nations constituted a vast circumference; while
beyond all, lay the appearance of a sea as a boundary. Of the states
of those associations, we have a most graphic picture in Swedenborg’s
treatise; and no where else out of the Apocalypse, do we find a more
thorough exposure of the internal atheism of the priests of Rome, their
blasphemies and subtlety. But the time of the end had come; the world
groaned to be delivered; and the eyes of Swedenborg were favored to
behold the process of the great redemption.
The vast concourse of these spirits, formed into societies, is what
is meant in the Revelation by the first heaven and the first earth
which passed away. The manner in which these societies were dissolved,
Swedenborg describes as follows:—“Visitation was made by angels, and
admonition given, and the good were singled out and separated by the
heavenly ministers, agreeable to the Lord’s words, ‘He shall send his
angels, and they shall gather together the elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other;’ and again, ‘All nations shall be
gathered together before the Son of Man; and he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats, and he
shall set the sheep on the right hand, and the goats on the left.’” Then
followed destruction. There were great earthquakes, and a vehement wind,
which swept all before it. Then gulfs yawned, and seas appeared, into
which the wicked threw themselves, and were drawn to their place in hell.
“Then,” says Swedenborg, “I saw angelic spirits in great numbers rising
from below, and received into heaven. They were the sheep who had been
kept and guarded by the Lord, and who are understood in the Word by the
bodies of saints which arose from their sepulchres and went into the holy
city; and by the souls of those slain for the testimony of Jesus, and who
were watching; and by those who were of the first resurrection.
“After this, there was joy in heaven, and light in the world of spirits,
such as was not before; and the interposing clouds between heaven and
mankind being removed, a similar light also then arose on men in the
world, giving them new enlightenment.”
Such was the Last Judgment. Its centenary draws nigh; and how fruitful
in good to mankind has been that century which is now drawing to a
close! It is unnecessary to repeat the hackneyed phrases which tell of
the progress of the world during the last hundred years. Every newspaper
speaks of it. Everybody with open eyes observes it. It has become the
universal opinion that the world is moving onwards and upwards; yet how
few understand _why_ the world is so moving. Men have yet to learn that
effects can no more take place without adequate causes in the universe
of mind than in the universe of matter. Nowhere out of Swedenborg can we
find a description of those spiritual causes which are changing society
and revolutionizing the whole world. We, who live in the dawn of the new
era, can form, even in our highest states, but a faint conception of its
coming glory. Yet we see in the wonderful movements of our age, in its
growing benevolence, in its increasing intelligence and thoughtfulness,
and in the prodigious advances that are making in every department of
science and art, so many indubitable signs that the former things have
passed away, and that the Lord is making all things new.
Every one knows that in the Scripture, the second coming of the Lord
is described as simultaneous with the Last Judgment. We will hereafter
endeavor to prove that the Lord has indeed come, and will describe the
manner of his coming.
The reception of the doctrine of the Last Judgment is somewhat difficult,
because the comprehension of it demands the understanding of many
principles and spiritual laws unknown to the world at large, yet most
worthy of any amount of labor requisite to master them. The remembrance
of this fact will serve as an apology for any appearance of unfounded
assumption in the outline of the doctrine we have given.
CHAPTER XIII.
_Heaven and Hell._
The treatise on Heaven and Hell is among the most charming of
Swedenborg’s writings. Its subjects possess a universal attraction; for,
what believer in the immortality of man has not, at times, longed to
penetrate the awful mysteries of the unseen world? And there is nothing
unreasonable in the desire. True it is, that, until Swedenborg came, any
but the most general knowledge of the nature of the future life had been
withdrawn from mankind since the days of primeval innocence; yet not
from anything hurtful in the knowledge itself, but simply because the
sublime facts of the future state transcended the apprehension of men
immersed in worldly loves and cares, and denying and ridiculing every
idea which was not an object of sensual perception. For this reason the
Lord said to his disciples: “I have yet many things to say unto you,
but ye can not bear them now.” (_John_ xvi. 12.) We frequently see this
inability to “bear” things spiritual and divine, manifested in our own
experience. We offer Swedenborg’s treatise, for perusal, to some man of
science, full of self-confidence, with the laws and facts of the universe
at his finger’s ends; or to some deeply-read theologian. The title page
is read,—“Heaven and its Wonders, the World of Spirits, and Hell; being
a relation of things heard and seen.” It is enough. “What nonsense! What
foolishness! The lunatic! What could _he_ know of heaven or hell? How
could he get there? The impostor! None but a fool could write such a
book!” And so on. The title page settles the whole question. Now what can
be said in reply to these railers, of whom the world is full? How can
one argue with, and combat, such inveterate prejudice? Yet these people
are professing Christians. They profess to believe there is a heaven and
a hell. But, does not their condemnation of Swedenborg betray a lurking
infidelity in their hearts? If they really possessed a living faith in
the existence of heaven and hell, it could not appear to them so utterly
preposterous that some account of their nature might in these times have
been revealed, through the abounding mercy of the Lord.
But the world now contains many who are willing to receive, and able to
understand, the truths of the future life. The Lord, who never allows his
children to lack any good thing, has, in due season, given them, through
Swedenborg, this precious and delightful volume. Let us briefly enumerate
its important statements.
The spiritual world divides itself into three great regions,—Heaven, the
World of Spirits, and Hell.
Heaven is formed of all who have loved the Lord on earth by living a life
in accordance with his laws. The laws of spiritual life are known, more
or less perfectly, in all nations, even among the heathen. The lowest
of the Gentiles have some faint rays of the light of spiritual truth;
and if they live in obedience thereto, regeneration, and consequently,
heaven, is attainable by them. Yet heaven has its degrees of bliss. Good
persons of every variety of character pass into it. But the promiscuous
association of these different kinds of character would not be orderly,
and could not be blissful. By the law of spiritual gravitation, (from
which the law of natural gravitation is but a derivation, and of which it
is a type and image,) all who possess similar affections and intelligence
are drawn together, and co-ordinated in the most blissful harmony.
The infinite variety of heaven thus arranges itself, in general, into
two kingdoms; specifically into three heavens; and in particular, into
innumerable societies. The two kingdoms are respectively called celestial
and spiritual. The angels forming the celestial kingdom are characterized
by their exceeding love of the Lord and of goodness; and the angels who
form the spiritual kingdom are distinguished by their exceeding love of
their neighbor and of truth. The celestial angels are immensely wiser
than the spiritual, and their blessedness is ineffable. Specifically
there are three heavens, perfectly distinct, called the first heaven,
the second or middle heaven, and the third or highest heaven; or they
may be called external, internal, and inmost; or natural, spiritual, and
celestial. Of these three heavens the highest or third, together with
the internal of the first or lowest heaven, forms the celestial kingdom;
and the middle or second, together with the external of the first or
lowest heaven, forms the spiritual kingdom. These three heavens and
two kingdoms, arising out of the varieties of the human mind, are not
arbitrary distinctions. The external, first, or natural heaven, is formed
of those who, from a principle of obedience and duty, live in accordance
with the Divine will. The second, spiritual, or middle heaven, is formed
of such as love truth, delight in things intellectual, and at the same
time are in disinterested love to the neighbor. The inmost, third, or
celestial heaven, is formed of those who, full of love to the Lord, are
in innocence. These celestial angels, gifted with the highest wisdom
and peace, yet full of humility, indefinitely exceed all beneath them
in beauty and wisdom. The existence and order of the three heavens was
represented by the courts of the Jewish temple. The celebrated Oberlin,
a diligent reader of Swedenborg, had a plan of the courts of the temple
hung upon the walls of his church, by which he taught his hearers, that,
according to their humility, piety, fidelity, and love of being useful
to each other, would be their elevation in the Lord’s kingdom, either
to the first, second, or third heaven. We think that no one, in whom
reign the heavenly principles of “love” to the Lord and the neighbor;
“joy” in duty under all circumstances; “peace” in every change of state;
“long-suffering” under all provocations; “gentleness” of behaviour;
“goodness” of disposition, ever manifesting itself in good actions;
“faith” or truth, believed, loved, and thence trusted in; “meekness”
in doing and in suffering; “temperance” both in external and internal
delights, Gal. v. 22, would be an unwilling inhabitant of such a heaven
as Swedenborg describes. Is not this at least presumptive evidence that
he has spoken truly?
The three heavens are further subdivided into innumerable societies,
some smaller, and some larger; some consisting of myriads of angels,
and some of hundreds. Their association into societies, is a result of
similarity of character, which similarity is imaged in their faces; and a
general likeness of countenance is observed among the angels who form one
society. All who are in similar love know each other, just as men in the
world know their kindred, relations, and friends; and thus, as it were,
spontaneously associated, they feel at home and in freedom, and thence
in the full delight of their life. From this it also follows that angels
who differ much are far apart; and few depart out of their own society
into another, because to go out from their own society is like going out
of themselves, or out of their own life, and passing into another which
is not so agreeable. Nevertheless all the societies of heaven are bound
together in one perfect form, which is strictly human.
All angels are in the human form, and are just such men and women as they
were on earth, except that they have rejected the material body. That
we should have to write and enforce such truisms—for such they must
appear to a mind really rational,—is owing to the strange and ridiculous
fancies that are commonly entertained on this subject. We often hear the
departed talked of as shades, and thought of as minds without forms, or
mere thinking principles composed of some sort of ethereal vapor; and
when artists draw them, we see perhaps an exquisitely beautiful human
form, but disfigured with large feathery wings, which, having no adequate
muscles, would have no power of motion. None of these vague, shadowy,
and erroneous ideas do we find in the Bible. The angels seen by Abraham,
Lot, Manoah, the prophets, and the Lord’s disciples, were all seen as
men, and talked with as men. Our author writes thus explicitly on this
subject. “The angelic form is in every respect human; angels have faces,
eyes, ears, breasts, arms, hands, and feet; they see, hear, and converse
with each other; and, in a word, no external attribute of man is wanting,
except the natural body.”
And now comes a doctrine which on a first view may appear very mystical,
and yet when pondered over, and understood, commends itself to our belief
by a thousand irresistible evidences drawn from analogy, and confirmed
by right reason. It is, that every society of heaven is in the human
form; and that the universal heaven, viewed collectively, is also in the
human form; and is called by Swedenborg the Grand or Greatest [Maximus]
Man. Wilkinson well expresses this sublime truth. “Heaven,” he says, “is
supremely human—nay more, it is one man. As the members of the body make
one person, so before God, all good men make one humanity: every society
of the angels is a heavenly man in a lesser form, and every angel in a
least. The reason is, that God himself, (the Lord Jesus Christ,) is a
Divine Man, and He shapes His heaven into His own image and likeness,
even as He made Adam. The oneness of heaven comes from God’s unity:
its manhood from His humanity. Heaven has, therefore, all the members,
organs, and viscera of a man; its angel inhabitants, every one, are in
some province of the Grand Man. Indefinite myriads of us go to a fibre
of its humanity. Some are in the province of the brain; some in that
of the lungs; some in that of the heart; some in that of the belly;
some are in the legs and arms; and all, wherever humanized, that is to
say, located in humanity, perform spiritually the offices of that part
of the body whereto they correspond. They all work together, however
spaced apparently, just as the parts of a single man. Their space is but
their palpable liberty, and they touch the human atoms, more closely,
by offices which unite them in God, than the contiguous fibres of our
flesh.” Every society of heaven also increases in number daily, and as it
increases, it becomes more perfect; and from its perfection the universal
heaven becomes more perfect, because heaven is composed of societies.
Since increasing numbers make heaven more perfect, it is evident how
much _they_ are deceived who believe that heaven will be closed when
it becomes full. On the contrary, heaven will never be closed, for the
greater its fullness, the greater its perfection; and therefore the
angels desire nothing more earnestly than to receive new comers.
This part of our subject would require considerable expansion to make it
intelligible to minds that have never meditated on these high themes, and
whose theological education has perverted all perception of the truth on
these matters. The subject is enticing, but our limits command restraint.
It was a remark of a profane wit and epicure that “as to heaven, he had
no great longing, as he could not see what great pleasure there could
be in sitting on a cloud and singing psalms to eternity.” We have in
this expression a thought which we know to be common to many minds, but
respect for the externals of religion forbids its expression. The general
belief respecting the nature of life in heaven, is so vague, and contains
so much of clouds and psalm-singing, that it is not to be wondered at
that some free and daring spirits should openly avow their preference for
the more substantial realities of this life. And is it not a pity that
the divine glories and delights of the heavenly life should become so
veiled in mystery as to lose their attraction, and cease to be desirable?
With the exception of the church’s ignorance of the humanity, unity, and
divinity of its Saviour and Lord, no surer evidence could be adduced
of its consummation, than its inability to answer the simplest child’s
questions as to the nature of life in heaven. Let us be thankful that
man’s utmost wants, in this respect, are satisfied in the writings of
that New Church which the Lord is now raising up, and of which Swedenborg
was the divinely-appointed herald.
The sun of heaven is the Lord. The light of heaven is the divine truth,
and its heat the divine love; both proceeding from the Lord as a sun. The
sun of this world is not seen in heaven. Nature commences from the sun
of this world, and everything which is produced from it, and subsists by
it, is called natural; but the spiritual world in which heaven is, is
above nature, and entirely distinct from it, although it is ever to be
remembered that nature is a derivation from spirit, and communicates with
spirit by correspondences. We shall have more to say on this conjunction
yet perfect separation, between nature and spirit, when we come to speak
of the doctrine of degrees.
The sun of heaven, or the divine sphere of glory surrounding the Lord,
the “light which no man can approach unto,” 1 Tim. vi. 6, appears
variously to the angels of heaven according to their states of love and
intelligence. To the angels of the third heaven, the sun appears fiery
and flaming; to the angels of the second heaven, white and brilliant;
while to those of the first heaven its light is more subdued and veiled
with clouds, yet at intervals bursting forth and pouring his glorious
radiance upon them. Although the Lord is thus seen by the angels as a sun
above them, yet at times He appears in their midst, in an angelic form,
and with a resplendent countenance. What tongue can describe the rapt
adoration and ineffable joy which must thrill angelic bosoms on these
occasions!
Heaven has its times and its seasons, but they are not like those of
earth. In heaven there is no winter and no night. The times and seasons
of heaven are consequences of the variations of the states of angelic
minds. While to all appearance they are objective as on earth, they are
in reality strictly subjective. The external changes of light and heat
correspond to the internal changes of love and wisdom in the angelic
mind. Now as the angels are sometimes in a state of intense love, and
sometimes in a state of love not so intense, morning, noon, evening,
and twilight, exist in heaven as the external emblems of these changes.
Without such changes life would lose its zest. Eternal uniformity would
be eternal dullness.
Since angels are men, and live together in society like men on earth,
therefore they have garments, houses, and other things similar to those
which exist on earth, but of course infinitely more beautiful and
perfect. The garments of the angels correspond to their intelligence.
The garments of some glitter as with flame, and those of others are
resplendent as with light; others are of various colors, and some white
and opaque. The angels of the inmost heaven are naked because they are in
innocence, and nakedness corresponds to innocence. It is because garments
represent states of wisdom that they are so much spoken of in the Word,
in relation to the church and good men. Thus in Isaiah liii. 1, “Awake,
put on strength, O Zion; put on thy _beautiful garments_, O Jerusalem.”
And in Ezekiel xv. 10, the Lord says of his church: “I girded thee about
with fine linen, and covered thee with silk.” And in the Apocalypse iii.
4, 5, it is said: “They who have not defiled their _garments_, shall walk
with Me in _white_, for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same
shall be clothed in _white raiment_.” What a depth of meaning appears in
these passages when we remember the spiritual signification of garments!
“The garments of the angels,” writes Swedenborg, “do not merely appear to
be garments, but they really are garments; for they not only see them,
but feel them, and have different ones, which they take off and put on,
laying aside those which are not in use, and resuming them when they come
into use again. That they are clothed with a variety of garments, I have
witnessed a thousand times; and when I inquired whence they obtained
them, they told me ‘from the Lord,’ and that they receive them as gifts,
and that they are sometimes clothed without knowing how. They also said
that their garments are changed according to the changes of their state.”
Since there are societies in heaven, and the angels live as men, it
follows that they have habitations, various, like all else in heaven,
according to the degree of love and wisdom in which they are principled.
No words are like Swedenborg’s own on this subject. “Whenever I have
conversed with the angels mouth to mouth, I have been present with
them in their habitations, which are exactly like the habitations on
earth called houses, but more beautiful. They contain chambers, parlors
[conclavia], and bed-chambers, in great numbers; courts also, and around
them gardens, shrubberies, and fields. Where the angels are consociated
their habitations are contiguous, or near to each other, and arranged in
the form of a city, with streets, ways, and squares, exactly like the
cities on our earth.
“I have seen palaces in heaven, magnificent beyond description. Their
upper parts were refulgent as if they were pure gold, and their lower
parts as if they were precious stones: some were more splendid than
others, and the splendor without was equaled by the magnificence within.
The apartments were ornamented with decorations which neither language
nor science can adequately describe. On the south were paradises, in
which all things were similarly resplendent; for in some places the
leaves of the trees were like silver, and the fruits like gold, while
the colors of the flowers which were arranged in beds, appeared like
rainbows; at the boundaries appeared other palaces, which terminated the
view. Such is the architecture of heaven that one might say it is the
very art itself; nor is this to be wondered at, because the art itself
is from heaven. The angels said that such things, and innumerable others
still more perfect, are presented before their eyes by the Lord, but that
nevertheless they delight their minds more than their eyes, because in
everything they see correspondences of things divine.
“The angels who constitute the Lord’s celestial kingdom, dwell for the
most part in elevated places, or mountains; those who form the spiritual
kingdom, on hills; but those who are in the lowest parts of heaven, in
places which appear as rocks. There are also angels who do not live
consociated, but separate. These dwell in the midst of heaven, and are
the best of the angels.
“The houses in which the angels dwell, are not constructed by hand, like
houses in the world, but are given them freely by the Lord, according to
their reception of good and truth. All things whatsoever which the angels
possess, they hold as gifts from the Lord; and they are supplied with
everything they need.”
We thus learn that in heaven there are not external, physical, or mental
occupations to support bodily wants, as in this world.
It was said above that the angels have not wings, as is commonly
supposed. Their power of progression far exceeds anything that wings
could supply. They have no idea of space, such as we have in the world.
All who are of like disposition spontaneously associate together in the
spiritual world. It thus follows that those are near each other who are
in a similar state, and distant who are in a dissimilar state; and that
what appears to be space in heaven is merely an external appearance,
representative of internal differences of mind. From this cause alone the
heavens are distinct from each other, and each society of heaven, and
every individual in each society. Hence also the hells are altogether
separated from the heavens.
From the same cause, any one in the spiritual world appears to be
present if another intensely desires his presence; for from that desire
he sees him in thought, and puts himself in his state. Again one person
is removed from another in proportion as he holds him in aversion; for
all aversion is from contrariety of the affections and disagreement of
the thoughts; therefore many who appear together in one place in the
spiritual world, so long as they agree, separate as soon as they disagree.
Further: when any one goes from one place to another, whether it be in
his own city, in the courts, or the gardens, or to others out of his own
city, he arrives sooner when he has a strong desire to be there, and
later when his desire is less strong; the way itself being lengthened or
shortened according to his desire of arrival. Hence again it is evident
that distances, and consequently spaces, exist with the angels altogether
according to the state of their minds.
These principles settle that often asked question, “Shall we know each
other in the future life?” We shall, if we are in the same state as
to love and truth; but if in different states, we shall not, but shall
be separate; and, moreover, we shall have no desire for acquaintance.
The only friendships in heaven are those formed on the ground of
similarity of character. If this similarity does not exist,—with the
exception perhaps of a short meeting in the world of spirits—death is an
everlasting, though in such case not a mournful, farewell.
There are governments in heaven, various according to the varied classes
of mind which compose the heavenly societies. The government of mutual
love is the only government which exists in heaven. Governors in heaven
are distinguished by love and wisdom more than others, and by willing
well to all from love; and knowing, from their superior wisdom, how
to realize the good they purpose. They do not domineer, and command
imperiously, but minister and serve: not making themselves greater than
others, but less; for they put their own good last, and the good of their
society first: nevertheless they enjoy honor and glory; for they dwell
in the midst of their society, in a more elevated situation than others,
and inhabit magnificent palaces; but they accept glory and honor, not for
the sake of themselves, but for the sake of obedience; for all in heaven
know that they enjoy honor and glory from the Lord, and that, therefore
they ought to be obeyed. These are the things which are meant by the
Lord’s words to his disciples: “Whosoever will be chief among you, let
him be your servant; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister.” Matthew xx. 27, 28. “He that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger: and he that is chief, as he that doth
serve.” Luke xxii. 26. A similar government prevails also in every house
in heaven; for in every house there is a master, and there are servants,
the master loving the servants, and the servants loving the master, so
that they serve each other from love. The master teaches the servants how
they ought to live, and directs what they ought to do, while the servants
obey, and perform their duties.
Divine worship performed in heaven, is much the same in externals, as
on earth. In the heavens, as on earth, there are doctrines, preachings,
and temples. As the angels have houses and palaces, so also they have
temples in which preaching is performed. Such things exist in heaven
because the angels are continually perfecting in wisdom and love. But
real divine worship in the heavens does not consist, any more than on
earth, in frequenting temples, and hearing sermons, but in a life of love
and usefulness; sermons and prayers being only means whereby the mind is
enlightened to perform its various duties. “To work is to pray,” is a
heavenly precept which we should all do well to engrave upon our hearts.
The sermons of heaven are fraught with such wisdom that nothing of the
kind in the world can be compared with them. They are all drawn from the
Word. The same Bible that we read here, the angels read in heaven; but to
them it is a very different book from what it is to us. Where we read and
think of earthly and material things, they read and think of spiritual
and divine things. To them its spiritual and celestial senses are as open
as the natural sense is to us. From the Word they derive their highest
wisdom; and through continual converse with it, they grow wiser and wiser
day by day. The Word is the wisdom of the Lord, and eternity can not
exhaust it.
All infants go to heaven, whether born within the church or out of it;
whether of pious parents or wicked ones. When infants die, they are still
infants in the other life. They are not angels, but become angels. Every
one, on his decease, is in a similar state of life to that in which he
was in the world; an infant in the state of infancy, a boy in a state
of boyhood, and a youth, a man, or an old man, in the state of youth, of
manhood, or of age; but the state of every one is afterwards changed. As
soon as infants are raised from the dead, which takes place immediately
after decease, they are carried up into heaven, and delivered to the care
of angels of the female sex, who in the life of the body loved infants
tenderly, and at the same time loved God. By these good angels, they
are educated and brought up until they attain a suitable age, when they
are transferred to other teachers. They grow up and become young men
and women; are instructed in wisdom, and trained in the duties of the
heavenly life: and when their character is fully developed, they become
settled in some society, either of the celestial or spiritual kingdom, in
agreement with their inherited genius or disposition. What a delightful
faith is this! Do not its beauty and rationality prove its truthfulness?
Many persons imagine that infants are forever infants in heaven, and that
there is indeed something infantile about all angels. This idea probably
arises from the pictures which are frequently seen, in which angels
are drawn as infants. But this is a great mistake. Children in heaven
grow up into young men and women, and the aged return to the freshness
of early manhood. They who are in heaven are continually advancing to
the spring-time of life, and the more thousands of years they live, the
more delightful and happy is the spring to which they attain; and this
progression goes on to eternity. Good women who have died old and worn
out with age, after a succession of years come more and more into the
flower of youth, and into a beauty which exceeds all the conceptions of
beauty which can be formed from what the eye has seen. In a word, _to
grow old in heaven is to grow young_. It is worthy of note, that the
human form of every man after death, is beautiful in proportion as his
love and practice of divine truths is interior. The angels of the inmost
heaven are consequently the most beautiful, because their love of truth
is the deepest, and their lives are the most perfect. “I have seen,”
says Swedenborg, “the faces of angels of the third heaven, which were so
beautiful, that no painter, with the utmost power of art, could depict
even a thousandth part of their light and life; but the faces of the
angels of the lowest heaven may, in some measure, be adequately depicted.”
It is believed by many in the world that heaven is a place of idleness,
full of refined sensual delights, of pleasant sights and harmonious
sounds; in short, some such place as a laborious tradesman, struggling
for a fortune, fancies he shall enjoy when his gains shall have enabled
him to “_retire_.” But this is a great mistake. Man’s nature remains
the same in heaven as on earth; and who has not felt that his happiest
moments are not those of mere pleasure and idleness, but those in which
he was rendering himself most eminently useful? Happiness is as little
consonant with idleness in heaven as on earth. Jesus himself said:
“My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” John v. 17. The angels are
employed. All the delights of heaven are conjoined with uses, and are
inherent in them. In proportion to an angel’s usefulness, is his bliss.
Some spirits, we read, conceived the opinion that heavenly happiness
consisted in a life of ease, and in being served by others; but they were
told that happiness by no means consists in mere rest from employment,
because every one would then desire to take away the happiness of others
to promote his own; and since all would have the same desire, none would
be happy; that such a life would not be active but indolent, and that
indolence makes life torpid; and that without activity there can be no
happiness, and that _cessation from employment is only for the sake of
recreation_, that a man _may return_, with new vigor, to the _activity_
of his life. They who entertained the idea that heavenly joy consists in
a life of indolence, and sucking in eternal delight without employment,
were allowed some experience of such a life; and they perceived that it
is most sorrowful, and that all joy being destroyed, they would after a
time loathe and nauseate it.
Some spirits who believed that heavenly joy consists solely in praising
and celebrating God, were instructed that to praise and celebrate God
is not properly an active life; and that God has no need of praise and
celebration. The Lord’s will is that all should perform uses; and the
angels testify that in the performance of good works is the highest
freedom, conjoined with ineffable delights.
From all this it follows that heaven is full of employments, in
comparison with which those of the world are few. There are societies
whose occupation consists in taking care of infants; other societies,
whose employment is to instruct and educate them as they grow up; others
which in like manner instruct and educate the young; others which
instruct the simply good from the Christian world, and lead them in the
ways of heaven; others which perform the same office to Gentile nations;
others which defend novitiate spirits, or those who are newly arrived
from the world, from the infestations of evil spirits; some also are
attendant on those who are preparing in the world of spirits for heaven;
and some are present with those who are in hell, to restrain them from
tormenting each other beyond limit: there are also others who attend
those who are being raised from the dead. In general, angels of every
society are sent to men, that they may guard them, and withdraw them
from evil affections and consequent evil thoughts, and inspire them with
good affections, so far as they are willing to receive them. All these
employments are performed by the Lord through their instrumentality;
and hence it is that by _angels_ in the Word, in its internal sense, are
not meant _angels_, but something of the Lord; and for the same reason,
_angels_ in the Word are called _gods_.
These employments of the angels are their general employments, but every
one has his own particular duty; for every general use is composed
of innumerable others, which are called mediate, ministering, and
subservient uses. But in heaven there are so many offices that it is
impossible to enumerate them on account of their multitude. All angels
feel delight in their employment derived from the love of use, and none
from the love of self or of gain; nor is any one influenced by the love
of gain for the sake of his maintenance, because all the necessaries of
life are freely given them; their habitations, their clothes, their food.
It is De Quincey, we think, who accuses Swedenborg of sensualizing
heaven, and reducing its sublime glories to the common order of things
in this world. The assertion could only have been made through want of
personal acquaintance with the writings of Swedenborg. No one can use
the words, Isaiah lxiv. 4, quoted by the Apostle, 1 Cor. ii. 9: “Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,” with
more fervor and truth than the New Church preacher. Everywhere we are
told by Swedenborg, that the joys and delights of heaven transcend the
highest power of language to express; everywhere we are told that our
highest ideas formed from natural things, fall indefinitely short of the
common realities of the heavenly life. Yet we also learn that the common
humanities and pleasures of this life are not lost in the next; and that
as men and women we carry with us to our eternal home every faculty
of thought and affection which we possess here. In this most rational
doctrine there is gain every way. In thinking of heaven we know we can
never overrate its bliss, think as we will; and yet with this idea is
associated nothing of dreamy vagueness. We feel that as we live well we
are but walking onwards to a pleasant home, in which all that is truest
and best in this life will go with us. What stronger incentive can a man
have to a pure and religious life than this divine faith. Entertaining
it, with what feeling may he, at the close of life, utter the poet’s
words,—
“Draw near, sweet death;
Come raise me into life!”
The condition of admission into heaven is the possession of a soul
whose existence is a continual fulfillment of those two commandments
on which the Lord says, “hang all the law and the prophets”—love to
God, and love to man. To enter heaven, we must habitually place self
last, and our neighbor first; and unless we can do this, we can never
know eternal bliss. Now we are born into this world selfish; and hence
it is truly said we are hereditarily depraved. It is the Divine will
to take all to heaven. To do this, it is necessary that we should be
divested of our corrupt hereditary nature; as the Lord said to Nicodemus:
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God.” This regeneration of mind, this change from a
supreme love of self, to a supreme love of God and our neighbor, is, of
necessity, a gradual work. It is not accomplished in a day, nor in a
month, nor in a year. Like all Divine works, it proceeds gradually, step
by step; “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the
ear.” The regeneration of man is a Divine work, and as the Divine end in
the creation of man was the formation of heaven out of the human race,
the Lord’s providence is unceasingly exerted to draw man out of evil,
by all means consonant with the maintenance of the inalienable freedom
of his will. It thus follows that the Lord, in all his dealings with
man, has respect solely to his eternal state, and amid all the apparent
accidents and vicissitudes of life, he is present, bending them and
making them all conduce to man’s everlasting peace. Life in this world,
its cares, trials, pleasures, comforts, friendships, sympathies, and
affections, form the divinely-appointed regenerative process; and those
who will only believe this great truth, and submit to the Divine leading,
will encounter nothing in life but what is good for them; and existence
here, however bitter and painful at times, will resolve itself into a
series of lessons devised by infinite wisdom to uproot all latent and
known evils, transforming the patient sufferer into a true child of God.
The Lord permits one man to be rich, powerful, and famous, and another
to be afflicted with disease and perplexed with poverty; one to have a
settled and calm peace of mind, while another is tried and tormented
with doubts and anxieties; nor for any ultimate purpose on earth, but
solely as a means of spiritual regeneration,—as a means of making man
happy in the eternal life to come. All man’s states are under the minute
guardianship of the Lord; and each day comes round with its circle of
pleasant and unpleasant occurrences, often, apparently, the result of
accident and chance, but in truth all provided of the Divine Providence
for the eradication of evil, and the growth and nurture of goodness.
There is no trial encountered, no circumstance met, or cross endured, but
has its eternal issue; and man’s conduct in relation to it is looked upon
by the Lord with a love and interest infinitely transcending our highest
conception. All has been foreseen; and these daily recurring tasks are
appointed by that wisdom which guides the stars in their courses, and
by that love which requires eternity to satisfy the ardor with which it
would bless. With what dignity does such a faith clothe existence! What
earnestness and celestial patience must it infuse into life!
From all that has now been said, it will be very evident that heaven
is not a gift of immediate Divine mercy, to be obtained by a verbal
confession of faith at the hour of death. If man could be saved by
immediate mercy, all would be saved; even the inhabitants of hell,
and hell itself would not exist; because the Lord is Mercy itself,
Love itself, and Good itself, and wills the salvation of all, and the
damnation of no one. But man’s spirit is substantial; and if formed to
evil, to change it would be equivalent to annihilation. “The angels
declare that it were easier to change a bat into a dove, or an owl into
a bird of paradise, than to change an infernal spirit into an angel of
heaven.” “Ample experience,” writes Swedenborg, “enables me to testify
that it is impossible to implant the life of heaven in those who have
led an opposite life in the world. There were some who believed that
they should easily receive divine truths after death, when they heard
them from the angels; and that they would believe them then, amend their
lives, and be received into heaven; and the experiment was made on great
numbers of them, in order that they might be convinced that repentance
is not possible after death. Some understood the truths they heard, and
seemed to receive them; but as soon as they returned to the life of their
love, they rejected them, and even argued against them. Some rejected
them instantly, from entire unwillingness to hear them; but others were
desirous that _the life of the love they had contracted in the world,
might be taken away from them; and that angelic life, the life of heaven,
might be infused in its place_. This was permitted; but when the life of
their love was taken away, they lay as if dead, and deprived of all their
faculties. From this it was manifest that no one’s life can possibly be
changed after death, that evil life can not be changed into good life,
nor the life of an infernal into that of an angel; because every spirit
is from head to foot of the same quality as his love, and therefore of
the same quality as his life; and consequently to transmute his life into
its opposite is to destroy him altogether.” All this goes to confirm the
Lord’s declaration before quoted, “Except a man be born again, he can not
see the kingdom of God.” On no other terms can heavenly bliss be gained.
We now come to speak of the World of Spirits, which Swedenborg thus
defines: “The world of spirits is neither heaven nor hell, but an
intermediate place or state between both, into which man enters
immediately after death; and then after a certain period, the duration of
which is determined by the quality of his life in the world, he is either
elevated into heaven, or cast into hell.
“The spirits in the world of spirits are immensely numerous, because
that world is the general assembly of all immediately after their
resurrection, and all are examined there and prepared for their final
abode; but the length of their sojourn in that world is not in all cases
the same. Some only enter it, and are immediately taken up into heaven,
or cast down into hell; some remain there a few weeks, and others several
years, but none (since the Last Judgment,) more than thirty years.”
A belief in the existence of an intermediate state has been entertained
in all times and churches, except among Protestants, who, in their
anxiety to divest themselves of every remnant of Popery, rejected the
doctrine entirely, through aversion to the follies of Purgatory. A
return to the truth is however slowly taking place; not a few Protestant
divines having expressed their faith in the existence of Hades, or the
intermediate state alluded to in the literal sense of Scripture. But the
world of spirits is not to be thought of as a revived idea of Purgatory.
The soul of no man is changed in the world of spirits. “As the tree falls
so it lies.” The discipline of this life is perfected at death, and its
opportunities never return. The world of spirits is a place where the
externals of man are brought into correspondence with his internals; for
no one, either in heaven or in hell, is allowed to have a divided mind,
understanding one thing and willing another. What any one wills, he must
understand, and what he understands he must will; therefore he who wills
good in heaven, must understand truth; and he who wills evil in hell,
must understand falsities. On this account also, falses are removed from
the good in the world of spirits, and there are given them truths which
agree and harmonize with their good; but truths are removed from the
evil, and they take to themselves falses which agree and harmonize with
their evil. Let us explain this subject further.
We suppose the generality of our readers will admit that countless
thousands of good men and women among the Mahommedans, Chinese, Hindoos,
and all the heathen nations, who live according to the measure of their
light, are saved and taken to heaven. But it is very evident that they
can not go to heaven carrying with them false notions on religious
subjects, and knowing nothing of that good Lord into whose kingdom they
are about to pass. They must be instructed. They must have errors removed
from their minds, and truths implanted in their stead. Time is required
to effect these changes, and the world of spirits is the school in which
the process is accomplished. Instruction in truth is readily received by
the simply good; and after being enlightened and purified from falsity,
they are led to their eternal homes among the blessed—to those of a
disposition and order of mind like themselves.
Then, again, among Christians, there are many who die with slight
failings pertaining to them, with infirmities of temper, with bad habits
of one kind and another; yet who are really sound-hearted and good men.
Their lot can not be hell; yet with these flaws in their character, their
presence in heaven could not be pleasant, because their state of mind
is at variance with the perfect order and peace of heaven. Such, then,
remain in the world of spirits, passing through trials, and temptations,
and sufferings, until they reject all that is disorderly and impure. The
processes by which this removal of external evils is accomplished, are
frequently extremely painful, and extend over many years. Their removal
might with less difficulty have been accomplished in the present life.
The Lord warns us of this in these words: “Agree with thine adversary
quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the
adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt
by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.”
Matthew v. 25, 26. Our adversary is the truth. Truth is ever an adversary
to the evil. Elijah the prophet represented the Divine Truth. When he
approached the wicked Ahab, Ahab cried: “Hast thou found me, O mine
enemy?” “In the way with him” is in the present life; and the “prison”
is the world of spirits, often so called in the Word, out of which we
shall not be delivered until entirely divested of selfish affections,
and false principles of thought. How practical, thus viewed, becomes our
Lord’s advice! But without a knowledge of the world of spirits, and the
spiritual sense of Scripture, it is quite mystical and unintelligible.
There are many in the Christian world who have confirmed their minds in
false ideas on many religious doctrines. With such erroneous ideas they
can not enter heaven, where truth alone prevails. They therefore remain
in the world of spirits until, through instruction, they see and reject
the false persuasions they had contracted on earth. In some cases, where
false doctrine has been deeply reasoned upon, and ground, as it were,
into the mind, the process of its removal and rejection is attended with
deep and prolonged suffering.
As the good reject all false ideas in the world of spirits, so the evil
cast off all true ones. It may be asked, Why? Why should bad be made
worse? Bad is not made worse. It is for the peace of the evil themselves
that they should be divested of all truth. The presence of truth with
the wicked only adds to their torment by the continual protest it makes
against their sin. It is also well that the evil lose all truth, for the
sake of the good, whom they might trouble and disturb through the power
that truth would afford them to assume an angelic appearance; to become
wolves in sheep’s clothing; or as Paul states it, “Satan transforming
himself into an angel of light.” Hypocrites, who have used truth to
subserve their own selfish ends, remain longer than others in the world
of spirits, and endure much suffering ere they allow their means of
subtlety and mischief to depart from them. The process of divesting the
evil of the truths they possess, is described by the Lord in these words:
“Take heed, therefore, how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be
given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he
seemeth to have.” Luke viii. 18. What is heard is truth. The good alone
have truth, for their goodness loves truth, and cherishes it. Truth thus
loved, multiplies; therefore it is said, “more shall be given.” The bad
may have truth in their memory, may use it for selfish purposes, and talk
much about it; nevertheless it is not theirs. Their internal evil hates
it. “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light;” and in the future life
the truth which he seemed to have, is taken from him. How just, and at
the same time how merciful, is this judgment!
Hell is the congregation of all evil spirits. As there are many heavens,
so likewise there are many hells. As the inhabitants of heaven are
arranged from similarity of goodness and truth, so the inhabitants of
hell are arranged from similarity of evil and falsity. The hells are
arranged so distinctly according to the differences of evil, that nothing
more orderly and distinct can be conceived. The Lord, speaking through
David, says: Psalm lxxxvi. 13: “Thou hast delivered my soul from the
_lowest hell_.” Thus from Scripture we derive a direct proof, if proof
were wanted, of the gradations of evil. There are several other texts to
the same effect.
The scenery of hell, like that of heaven, is in perfect correspondence
with the states of those there. It is an outbirth from the minds of its
inhabitants; and as _they_ are deformed and full of every pollution, so
their scenery is full of horrors and things abominable. “In hell there is
no sun, but the inhabitants roam in darkness corresponding to themselves,
for they are darkness: their light is artificial, as of coal fires,
meteors, ignes fatui, and the lights of night. They inhabit scenery of
which they are the souls, as bogs, fens, tangled forests, caverns, dreary
deserts, charred and ruined cities. In the milder hells, there appear, as
it were, rude cottages, which are in some cases contiguous, and resemble
the streets and lanes of a city. Within the houses infernal spirits
are engaged in continual quarrels, enmities, blows, and violences,
while the streets and lanes are full of robberies and depredations. The
inhabitants are at continual war, hating and tormenting one another,
and the cruelties they practice are indescribable.” “It is impossible
to give a description of the horrible forms of the spirits of hell. No
two are alike, although there is a general likeness in those who are in
the same evil. They are forms of contempt of others, of menace against
those who do not pay them respect, of hatreds of various kinds, and of
revenge; and in these forms, outrage and cruelty are transparent from
within; but when others commend, venerate, and worship them, their faces
are drawn up, and have an appearance of gladness arising from delight.
Some of their faces are direful and void of life, like corpses; some are
black, and others fiery, like torches; others are disfigured by pimples,
warts, and ulcers; and frequently no face appears, but instead of a face
something hairy and bony, and sometimes nothing but teeth. Their bodies
are monstrous, and their speech is the speech of anger, of hatred, of
revenge; for every one speaks from his own false, and the tone of his
voice is from his own evil. In a word they are all images of their own
hell.”
“And does Swedenborg relate such horrors?” some may ask. For facts,
we answer, Swedenborg is not to blame. Like the Israelites of old, we
would fain have our prophets “speak unto us smooth things.” Let us rid
ourselves of all morbid delicacy, and seek to know the truth. We should
all do well to peruse with patience those pages wherein our author
narrates the horrors of hell, so that we may see, shun, and detest the
evils which make hell. It is well that every man should know whither his
lust, his pride, his avarice, or anger, is leading him. If he shudder, it
is for his eternal good.
The universal hell, like heaven, is as one man,—not of beauty, as heaven,
but a hideous monster. In its collective capacity, it is the Devil and
Satan; the Devil is the name of its evil, and Satan is the name of its
falsity. There is no individual evil spirit ruling hell, and bearing
either of those names. An enlightened view of Scripture confirms this
doctrine in every point, and rids us of the innumerable absurdities which
the commonly received theory in regard to the Devil involves. There is no
spirit in hell who was not once a man on earth. There is no spirit in
hell who was ever an angel in heaven. The Lord himself rules the hells,
and by all means possible restrains their violence and mitigates their
suffering.
Some people believe that God turns away his face from man, rejects him,
and casts him into hell, and that he is angry with him on account of his
evils; and others go still further, and affirm that God punishes man, and
brings evil upon him. They also confirm this opinion from the literal
sense of the Word, in which expressions occur that appear to sustain it.
But these opinions are formed through ignorance of the real sense of
these passages, and from a blind neglect of others, the literal sense of
which teaches that God is goodness and mercy itself, and that fury is
not in him. Isaiah xxvii. 4. True doctrine declares that the Lord never
turns away his face from man, never rejects him, never casts any one into
hell, and is never angry. The Lord is continually withdrawing man from
evil and leading him to good; but man’s freedom is never taken away. If
man _will love_ evil and _will do_ perversely, the Lord does not prevent.
That man should go to hell is at variance with the Divine design; but to
infringe man’s freedom would be to destroy his life and take from him all
that is human, reducing him to the level of a machine or a brute. Those
who are in hell, cast themselves down thither, and keep themselves where
they are. “This is,” as Wilkinson says, “he last dogma of free will,—that
of a finite being perpetuating for ever his own evil, standing fast to
selfishness without end, excluding Omnipotence in all its dispensations,
and making the ‘will not’ into an everlasting ‘cannot,’ to maintain
itself out of heaven, and contrary to heaven.”
This is a very brief abstract of the leading ideas in Swedenborg’s
wondrous treatise on Heaven and Hell. We are well aware how far short it
falls of doing full justice to the work. Let us hope that what has been
said may induce some to make a personal acquaintance with it; and then
they will understand the difficulties we labor under in condensing within
a few pages its multitudinous facts and closely linked logic.
It remains only to add, that the treatise on Heaven and Hell has been
translated into English, French, and German. The English editions have
been many, and in some cases large. The latest may be accepted as a sign
of the times, being in the form of an eighteen-penny volume, a second
edition of which has been called for. We lay no claim to the gift of
prophecy, but we feel certain that the time is coming when Swedenborg’s
“Heaven and Hell” will be the most popular and extensively read of
religious books.
CHAPTER XIV.
_The White Horse—The Earths in the Universe—The New Jerusalem
and its Heavenly Doctrine._
1. The treatise on the White Horse mentioned in the Apocalypse, forms a
tract of about twenty pages. It is an exposition of the spiritual sense
of Revelation xix. 11-16. It is shown that by the heavens being opened,
the White Horse, and its rider, are represented the Lord and his Word,
and the quality of those to whom the internal truth of the Word is
revealed. The particulars of the text are all gone into and expounded,
and copious references made to the Arcana Cœlestia for fuller details.
It is to be noted that voluminous as are Swedenborg’s theological works,
that they form one harmonious whole bound together in the unity of truth,
and mutually confirming each other. Literature, we believe, contains no
example of so great a mass of writing permeated with such a consistent
spirit, and so little affected by the author’s humors and fluctuations of
mood. So far does this uniform spirit extend, that, had it been possible,
we might imagine his many volumes had been struck out of thought in one
short day, instead of being written continuously through a course of
nearly thirty years.
In this small treatise we have a list of the books in our Bible which
form the true _Word of God_. They are, in the Old Testament, the five
books of Moses; the book of Joshua; the book of Judges; the two books
of Samuel; the two books of Kings; the Psalms of David; the Prophets,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos,
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
Malachi; and, in the New Testament, the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John; and the Revelation. The rest have not the internal sense,
and are not to be regarded as a part of the inspired Word. We shall
have to speak of the plenary inspiration of the Word, when we come to
Swedenborg’s treatise on the Sacred Scripture, and show how broad is the
line of distinction between the Word of God and the writings of men. It
requires but a slight acquaintance with the doctrine of correspondences,
to perceive that this distinction between the books contained within the
covers of the authorized version of the Bible is not arbitrary; that it
is a distinction as marked and visible as that between God and man, or
nature and art. Apart, however, from the doctrine of correspondences,
the distinction may be sustained by the authority of the Jews, and the
indirect testimony of many of the Fathers of the Christian Church,
coupled with numerous natural reasons founded on a critical examination
of style, etc.
“The book of Job,” says Swedenborg, “was a book of the Ancient Church,”
and therefore, with the exception of the first chapters of Genesis, is
the oldest portion of the Bible. It has a kind of internal sense, but not
like that of the Word.
The exclusion of the Epistles from the Books of the Word, is perhaps,
to a new reader, the most startling of Swedenborg’s announcements. For
this exclusion and its reasons, we will simply quote his own words.
Writing to Dr. Beyer, he says: “With regard to the writings of St. Paul,
and the other Apostles, I have not given them a place in my ‘Arcana
Cœlestia,’ because they are dogmatic writings merely, and are not written
in the style of the Word, as are those of the Prophets, of David, of the
Evangelists, and of the Revelation of St. John. The style of the Word
consists throughout in correspondences, and thence effects immediate
communication with heaven; but the style of these dogmatic writings is
quite different, having, indeed, communication with heaven, but only
mediately or indirectly. The reason why the Apostles wrote in this
style, was, that the First Christian Church was then to begin through
them; consequently, the same style as is used in the Word would not have
been proper for such doctrinal tenets, which required plain and simple
language, suited to the capacities of all readers. Nevertheless, the
writings of the Apostles are very good books for the Church, inasmuch
as they insist on the doctrine of charity, and faith from charity, as
strongly as the Lord himself has done in the Gospels, and the Revelation
of St. John, as will appear evidently to any one who studies these
writings with attention.”
2. The treatise on the “Earths in the Universe” is formed from several of
those portions of the “Arcana Cœlestia,” occurring between the chapters,
expository of the spiritual sense of Genesis and Exodus. It forms a
pamphlet of about fifty pages.
Many and prolonged have been the discussions as to whether other planets
are, like our own, the abodes of human beings. Great as has been the
progress of astronomical science, the learned are yet far from being
unanimous on the question, as is evident from the recent controversy
between Prof. Whewell and Sir David Brewster. Swedenborg does not
entertain us with prolix reasonings as to whether or not the earths of
the universe are inhabited. That was a question far too trivial for his
masculine understanding. He saw that these vast spaces were not formed
by the Lord, except for the highest end, the creation of a heaven of
intelligent human beings, capable of satisfying the infinite desires
of Divine Love. The earths of the universe are peopled even as our own
globe, or are in course of preparation for it. Any other view than this
is unworthy of acceptance, and dishonorable to the highest truths of
reason and revelation.
Swedenborg was permitted to see, and hold converse with, the inhabitants
of other earths; and most interesting are his relations concerning them.
Wilkinson aptly remarks that the work now under consideration “may be
characterized as a Report on the Religion of the Universe.” Swedenborg
tells us that the dwellers in these distant spheres think of the Lord and
worship him. He describes the quality of their love and wisdom, and how
they conduct themselves toward each other. It is a pleasant thought that
the people of this world are the worst of humanity, the most sensual, and
the least abounding in true intelligence and spirituality. In other words
there is sin, and its consequent suffering, arising from the same cause
as with us; but it is not so deep nor so wide spread. The fact of the
Divine Incarnation is likewise known in other worlds, and is regarded as
the great truth of faith.
Swedenborg affirms that the moon is inhabited. We know that even those
scientific men who hold to the doctrine of a plurality of worlds, do not
believe in the habitability of the moon; because, say they, it lacks
alike water and atmosphere. To say that it has no atmosphere is very
unphilosophical. The atmosphere may not be of the same density as that
of our earth; but that it should have no sphere or aura around it, we
cannot for a moment believe. Swedenborg tells us that the Lunarians are
dwarfs, like boys of seven years old, with robust bodies and pleasant
countenances. They do not speak from their lungs, on account of the
attenuated nature of their atmosphere, but from a quantity of air
collected in the abdomen.
It is but just to state that Swedenborg speaks of Saturn as the outermost
planet of the solar system, he not being permitted to anticipate
Herschel or Neptune. An opponent might make merry over this, and say:
“Don’t you see that Swedenborg was but a dreamer? How could he know
aught of the inhabitants of other earths when he did not even know that
beyond Saturn rolled two immense worlds?” We reply, that it would have
been disorderly for him to have become possessed of such knowledge by
spiritual means. “But how so?” Because it would have compelled belief in
the spiritual doctrines he taught, without due thought and examination,
as soon as science had established the existence of these orbs; because
miracles and prophecy are not permitted in these times, for they force
and destroy man’s freedom. How easy it would be for the Lord to witness
to the truth of His Word by supernatural signs in the natural world!
Yet he does not, although belief in his Word, and life according to it,
is essential to man’s highest happiness. Belief so induced would be
worthless, because compelled. It may be said that this is mere special
pleading; but it is not so. The laws laid down in a later work of
Swedenborg’s, on the “Divine Providence,” fortify, in a most rational
manner, the truth as we have endeavoured to set it forth. It is also to
be remarked that natural truth must be discovered by its appropriate
means,—natural investigation. It was necessary that Swedenborg should be
skilled in all natural science previous to his illumination, so that he
might possess a basis for many spiritual facts which could neither have
been expressed nor made intelligible without at the same time giving
their correspondence in nature. It would have been altogether contrary
to the Divine order to have taken Swedenborg in his early youth and
ignorance, and, making him a seer, have communicated natural truth to him
in a supernatural manner.
3. “The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine” is a brief exposition of
the leading truths of the New Church. After each of its chapters follow
references, (in some cases more extensive than the chapter itself,) to
the “Arcana Cœlestia.” These references, so numerous in Swedenborg’s
writings, do not form a dry and unreadable index, but may be looked on
as a series of precepts pertaining to moral and spiritual life. Were we
gathering a volume of gems of thought, we should find an abundance to
suit our purposes in these references.
This work has been printed as a cheap pamphlet. We know of no other work
which could more appropriately be placed in the hands of a stranger
desiring to know, without much reading, the nature of those doctrines
which Swedenborg was commissioned to reveal to the world.
CHAPTER XV.
_Anecdotes._
The trite observation that the lives of literary men are devoid of those
incidents which make up a stirring and lively biography, applies with
great truth to the career of Swedenborg. His quiet and unostentatious
life afforded but few materials for anecdotes; hence we have but faint
traces of his outward course. While writing the works we have just
noticed, from 1747 to 1758, the principal portion of his time must have
been passed in London. Few men in those days were capable of sympathy
or communion with the elevated and spiritualized mind of Swedenborg.
Yet though living as it were alone, he could not have been melancholy
or desolate. Under the care and guidance of the Lord, favored with
the company and converse of angels, and enjoying the consciousness of
fulfilling high and holy duties, he had every reason to be the cheerful
and contented man that contemporary testimony represents him. His
evenings he used often to spend with his printer, Mr. Hart, of Poppin’s
court, Fleet street. Mrs. Lewis, his publisher’s wife, knew him, and
“thought him a good and sensible man, but too apt to spiritualize
things.” Beyond a few particulars such as these, we know nothing of his
private life.
On the 19th of July, 1759, we find Swedenborg at Gottenburg. Here
occurred the following circumstance, of which Immanuel Kant, the
celebrated transcendentalist, is the narrator.
“On Saturday, at 4 o’clock, P. M.,” says Kant, “when Swedenborg arrived
at Gottenburg from England, Mr. William Castel invited him to his house,
together with a party of fifteen persons. About 6 o’clock, Swedenborg
went out, and after a short interval returned to the company, quite pale
and alarmed. He stated that a dangerous fire had just broken out in
Stockholm, at Sundermalm, (distant three hundred miles from Gottenburg,)
and that it was spreading very fast. He was restless, and went out often.
He said that the house of one of his friends, whom he named, was already
in ashes, and that his own was in danger. At 8 o’clock, after he had been
out again, he joyfully exclaimed: ‘Thank God! the fire is extinguished
the third door from my house.’ This news occasioned great commotion among
the company. It was announced to the governor the same evening. The next
morning, Swedenborg was sent for by the governor, who questioned him
concerning the disaster. Swedenborg described the fire precisely, how it
had begun, in what manner it had ceased, and how long it had continued.
On the same day the news was spread through the city; and as the governor
had thought it worthy of attention, the consternation was considerably
increased, as many were in trouble on account of their friends and
property, which might have been involved in the disaster. On Monday
evening, a messenger arrived at Gottenburg, who was despatched during the
time of the fire. In the letters brought by him, the fire was described
precisely in the manner stated by Swedenborg. On Tuesday morning, a royal
courier arrived at the governor’s with the melancholy intelligence of
the fire, of the loss it had occasioned, and of the houses damaged and
ruined, not in the least differing from that which Swedenborg had given
the moment it had ceased: the fire had been extinguished at 8 o’clock.
“What,” continues Kant, “can be brought forward against the authenticity
of this occurrence? My friend who wrote this to me, has not only examined
the circumstances of this extraordinary case at Stockholm, but also,
about two months ago, at Gottenburg, where he is acquainted with the most
respectable houses, and where he could obtain the most authentic and
complete information, as the greatest part of the inhabitants, who are
still alive, were witnesses to the memorable occurrence.”
This narrative is taken from a letter written by Kant, in 1768, to
Charlotte de Knobloch, a lady of quality. Kant, it may be remarked, was
no adherent of Swedenborg’s. Two years before writing this letter, he
had attacked him in a small work entitled, “Dreams of the Great Seer
Illustrated by Dreams of Metaphysics.” Received from such a source, we
can entertain no doubt as to the truth of the story.
At home, in Stockholm, Swedenborg did not fail to excite much curiosity
and attention, and his conduct and deportment were carefully watched. It
was observed that he seldom went to church, or received the sacrament.
This was owing partly to the contrariety of the Lutheran doctrine to
his own views, and partly, Robsahm says, to the disease of the stone,
which troubled him. In 1760, two bishops, his relations, remonstrated
with him in a friendly manner upon his remissness. He answered, that,
religious observances were not so necessary for him as for others, as
he was associated with angels. They then represented that his example
would be valuable, by which argument he suffered himself to be persuaded.
A few days previously to receiving the sacrament, he asked his old
domestics to whom he should resort for the purpose, for “he was not
much acquainted with the different preachers.” The elder chaplain was
mentioned. Swedenborg objected that “he was a passionate man and a fiery
zealot, and that he had heard him thundering from the pulpit with little
satisfaction.” The assistant chaplain was then proposed, who was not
so popular with the congregation. Swedenborg said, “I prefer him to the
other, for I hear that he speaks what he thinks, and by this means has
lost the good-will of his people, as generally happens in this world.”
Accordingly he took the sacrament from this curate.
“In general,” says Robsahm, “Swedenborg would not enter into dispute on
matters of religion. If he was necessitated to defend himself, he did it
with mildness and in a few words; but if any one would not be convinced,
and became warm in argument, he retired, saying, ‘Read my writings
attentively and without prejudice; they will answer you in my stead, and
will afford you reason to change your ideas and opinions on such things.’
“He used, at first, freely to speak of his visions and spiritual
explications of the Scriptures; but as this displeased the clergy, who
proclaimed him a heretic and madman, he resolved to be less communicative
of his knowledge in company, or, at least, more cautious, lest the
censorious should have room to blame what they could not comprehend like
himself. I once,” says Robsahm, “addressed the rector of the parish where
he lived, an old and respected clergyman, asking him what he thought
of Swedenborg’s visions and explanations of the Bible. The venerable
man answered: ‘God alone can judge of this; but I can not think him to
be such a person as many do; I have myself conversed with him, and in
company where we have been together, and I have found him to be a good
and a holy man.’
“It was remarkable that Swedenborg never endeavored to persuade any
person to receive his opinions. He was in nowise led by that self-love
which is observable in those who publish new opinions concerning church
doctrines; neither did he seek to make many proselytes, not even
communicating his thoughts and sentiments, except to those whom he
thought virtuous, disposed to hear them with moderation, capable of
comprehending them, and lovers of truth.
“It is a very singular circumstance,” continues Robsahm, “that all who
have read the writings of Swedenborg, with a desire to refute them, have
finished the attempt by adhering to his sentiments.” This assertion must
be received, however, with qualification.
Though busied with the composition of his works, and immersed in
spiritual contemplations, Swedenborg was not forgetful of the world
and of his duties to his country. In 1761 he took part in the Swedish
Diet or Parliament. Three of his memorials or addresses to the Diet,
are preserved. In the first of these he congratulates the House upon
its meetings, and counsels the redress of all grievances which cause
disaffection. In the second he advocates an alliance with France instead
of England from prudential motives, at the same time strongly protesting
against the evil of despotic governments, and the danger to liberty in
the extension of the Roman Catholic faith. The third memorial is on
the subject of finance. Count Hopken, the Swedish prime minister at
that time, leaves on record that “the most solid memorials, and the
best penned, at the Diet of 1761, on matters of finance, were presented
by Swedenborg; in one of which he refuted a large work in 4to on the
same subject, quoted the corresponding passages of it, and all in less
than one sheet.” He was likewise a member of the secret committee of
the Diet, an office to which only the most sage and virtuous were
elected. Consider, reader, for a moment, the dignity, the wisdom, and
the abounding common sense which must have permeated the whole being of
Swedenborg, to enable him to live down the obloquy attached to the name
of a “ghost-seer,” and be received with high favor and acceptance by men
of the world, sceptical and sensual!
Soon afterwards Swedenborg left Stockholm; and we find him in July,
1762, at Amsterdam. Jung Stilling received from a friend the following
interesting anecdote respecting him at this time. “I was in Amsterdam,”
says he, “in 1762, in a company in which Swedenborg was present, on the
very day that Peter III., Emperor of Russia, died. In the midst of our
conversation his countenance changed, and it was evident that his soul
was no longer there, and that something extraordinary was passing in him.
As soon as he came to himself again, he was asked what had happened to
him. He would not at first communicate it; but at length, after having
been repeatedly pressed, he said: ‘This very hour, the Emperor Peter III.
has died in his prison,’ mentioning at the same time the manner of his
death. ‘Gentlemen will please to note down the day, that they may be able
to compare it with the intelligence of his death in the newspapers.’ The
newspapers subsequently announced the Emperor’s death as having taken
place on that day.”
CHAPTER XVI.
_Doctrines of the Lord—The Sacred Scripture, Faith, and Life._
In 1763, Swedenborg published, at Amsterdam, the following works:—1.
The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord; 2. The Sacred
Scripture; 3. Faith; 4. Life; 5. Continuation respecting the Last
Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon; and 6. Angelic Wisdom concerning
the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. We will now speak of these works
seriatim.
1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, is a small
treatise: but within its limits is concentrated so much light and
rationality, that we might say the question it deals with was finally
settled, did we not too well know the perversity and pertinacity of
theological error, in closing the mind against the perception of truth,
though it were manifested with angelic wisdom.
The great truth in the treatise is the Supreme Divinity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This truth is brought forth from the collation of nearly every
passage of Scripture which, in the literal sense, bears upon the subject.
It is shown, by an invincible logic, that there is but one God; and that,
in the Bible itself, the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead is
not to be found. It is then shown that God the Lord, in the fullness of
time, came to earth, and put on human nature, or became incarnate. The
object sought to be effected by the incarnation, was the salvation of
man. From the days of Adam, mankind had been treading a downward path.
Through wickedness, all true faith and spirituality had perished. Hell
had drawn near to men, even to the possession of their bodies, as we read
in the Gospels. Isaiah describes the state of mankind thus: “Hell hath
enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure.” Humanity was
thus hastening to destruction, and final extinction. But the Lord Jehovah
interposed. Clothing himself with an arm of flesh, he met the powers
of hell on their own ground; and rendering himself accessible to their
attacks, in a series of the most direful temptation-combats, He reduced
Hell to order, and redeemed mankind forever from the absolute dominion
of devils. But this was not all. The human nature that the Lord had
assumed, full of hereditary corruption, was taken from the race of Jewish
kings, the most depraved and perverted to be found on earth. He purified,
glorified, and made it divine, ascending with it to heaven. The new
influences flowing through the medium of this Divine Humanity, are called
the Holy Spirit. Of the truth of this we have the most convincing proof
in John vii. 39, where it is said, “the Holy Ghost was _not yet, because_
Jesus was not yet glorified.”
From this it is very evident that the Trinity is not, as commonly
taught, a Trinity of persons, but of principles. In ourselves we see
a finite image of this Divine and Infinite Trinity. The soul of man
may be taken as the representative of Jehovah; his body represents
the Divine Humanity, or Jesus Christ; and his action or influence on
others corresponds to the Holy Spirit. Regarded in this light, that
most mystical and incomprehensible dogma of three Persons, and yet one
God, is annihilated, and we come into the enjoyment of a faith at once
scriptural, intelligible, and rational. It is impossible for us here to
go into the details of this doctrine, or give even an outline of its
proofs. To an earnest seeker after truth we can conceive no pleasure
exceeding an acquaintance with this treatise on the Lord. If, especially,
he has vexed and worn himself in reading the profitless controversies and
lucubrations of learned divines on the Trinity, his fretted and heated
mind will experience a spiritual relief similar to the natural one which
results when patience has become exhausted in vain endeavors to unfasten
a lock, and a skilled mechanic draws near, takes the work out of our
hands, and with dexterity and ease accomplishes the task in a moment.
Swedenborg lays his hand on the tangled mass of mysticism and perverted
Scripture, and straightway the Gordian knot is untied. The simplicity of
explanation fills us with amazement, and we wonder that it was never done
before.
2. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Sacred Scripture,
next demands our attention. The primary truth of this treatise is, that
the Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is Divine Truth itself, thus the Lord
himself. Let us see how this can be.
We are too apt to abstract books from their authors, and to regard
them as matters impersonal,—as type and paper merely. Now this is a
childish error, and a proof of the loose and external way in which we
are accustomed to think. When I speak, or write, I manifest spiritual
influences; and the force of these influences is proportionate to my
earnestness, and their effect is proportionate to the state of reception
of my hearers. Words are thus perceived to be the representatives of
spiritual forces. The action of spirit on spirit is inappreciable by the
senses; but could we look behind the veil of nature when a crowd or a
congregation is swayed hither and thither by the speech of one man, we
should see that the influence exerted was as real and actual as muscular
force. From this we learn that words are not mere sounds, but are the
sheaths or cases of spiritual life, and on this ground we at once see the
force of the Lord’s declaration, “The words that I speak unto you, they
are spirit, and they are life.” John vi. 63.
When we think of the Lord’s words, we must conjoin with the thought an
idea of the Divine Nature and Attributes. The Lord’s speech being the
manifestation of His life, must partake of its every quality, thus of
infinity and of independence of time, and consequently of adaptation to
every possible condition of mind, for infinity includes all. Bearing
these facts in mind, we can easily perceive how true it is that the Word
is the Lord Himself.
But while the Word in its inmost is the Lord, and is thus infinite, yet
as apprehended by man, who is finite, it necessarily wears a finite
aspect. It is plain that as man’s ideas become sensualized and bound
down to matter, his view of the Divine Truth, or Word, must involve many
illusions; true, certainly, in relation to him, but very far removed from
the absolute Divine Truth. Now the literal sense of the Word, as we read
it in our Bibles, is the presentation, if we may so phrase it, of the
aspect of the Lord to the natural man, whose senses constitute his court
of appeal. The Jews, to whom the Word in its literal sense was delivered,
were just such men.
Above this natural state of mind, there are two marked grades of
intelligence—the spiritual and celestial. To these, the Lord’s words bear
a far wider meaning, and are more fully instinct with the glory of the
Divine Wisdom, and the warmth of the Divine Love.
It is thus said that the Word of God has three senses—the natural, the
spiritual, and the celestial. We attribute these senses to the Word:
more correctly we should charge them to the universal human mind, whose
capacity of reception they express. To no two men, or angels, does the
Lord,—or in fact anything,—bear precisely the same appearance, or suggest
the same meaning.
These three grades, separated by discrete degrees, make up the universe
of humanity; and the enlightened eye of the true philosopher may trace
in every object of external creation an image and representation of
them. But space forbids further explanation on this head; our author’s
reasoning is, moreover, so closely linked as to admit of no curtailment.
Suffice to say, that after demonstrating the existence of an internal
sense in the Scripture, he proceeds to show the many uses of the literal
sense, and, at the same time, the manifold abuses to which it is liable,
when the laws by which it is written are not understood.
Accepting the sublime philosophy of this treatise, we find in it a
perfect refuge from the attacks of the sceptic, and discover a thousand
reasons for one we had before, for loving God’s Holy Book, trusting in
its wisdom, and committing our lives to its guidance.
3. The Doctrine of Faith of the New Jerusalem, may be best understood by
a few extracts from the treatise itself. Swedenborg writes: “The idea
attached to the term faith at the present day is this, that it consists
in thinking a thing to be so, because it is taught by the church, and
because it does not fall within the scope of the understanding. For it
is usual with those who inculcate it, to say, ‘You must believe, and not
doubt.’ If you answer: ‘I do not comprehend it,’ it is replied: ‘That is
the very circumstance which makes a doctrine an object of faith.’ Thus
the faith of the present day is a faith in what is not known, and may be
called a blind faith: and as being the dictate of one person abiding in
the mind of another, it is a historical faith. But this is not spiritual
faith.
“Genuine faith is an acknowledgment that a thing is so, because it
is true. For he who is in genuine faith thinks and speaks to this
effect:—‘This is true; and therefore I believe it.’ For faith is the
assurance with which we embrace that which is true; and that which is
true is the proper object of faith. A person of this character, also, if
he does not comprehend a sentiment, and see its truth, will say: ‘I do
not know whether this is true or not; therefore I do not yet believe it.
How can I believe what I do not comprehend? Perhaps it may be false.’
“But the common language is, that nobody can comprehend things of a
spiritual or theological nature, because they transcend our natural
faculties. Spiritual truths, however, are as capable of being
comprehended as natural truths. The reason that spiritual things admit of
being comprehended, is, because man, as to his understanding, is capable
of being elevated into the light of heaven, in which light no other
objects appear than such as are spiritual.