given, in the preaching, to the doctrine of dependence, in the
forms of regeneration, election, &c. This was what was to be
expected from the Calvinistic preachers of the time, in view of
the prevalence of Arminianism. In the more recent revivals,
however, a similar prominence seems to be given to moral agency,
in the forms of present obligation to duty, its present
practicability, &c. The preaching, thus distinguished in its more
prominent characteristics, has been undeniably owned and blessed
by the Spirit of God, although we are very apt to believe that
what is true of one kind of preaching at one time, must be true of
it at another. Now, I believe that both the doctrines of
dependence and moral accountability must be _admitted by the
public mind_, to secure upon that mind the full power of the
gospel. I also believe that greater or less _prominence_ should be
given to the one or the other of these doctrines, according to the
prevailing state of public opinion. When, at the earlier periods
alluded to, the doctrine of dependence was dwelt on chiefly, (I do
not suppose exclusively,) the public mind believed enough—I might
say too much—concerning the free moral agency of man, and had not
so well learned as since to pervert the doctrine of dependence to
justify the waiting attitude of a passive recipient. And, then,
both doctrines told with power on the mind and the conscience,
and, through God, were attended with great and happy results. But
the prominence given to the doctrine of dependence, in preaching,
was continued, until, if I mistake not, it so engrossed the public
attention, and so obscured or weakened the doctrine of
responsibility, that many fell into the opposite error of quietly
waiting for God’s interposition. Hence, when this prevailing error
is again corrected by a more prominent exhibition of man’s
responsibility, in the form of immediate obligation, &c., the
power of both doctrines is again combined on the public mind, and
we see the same or even greater results in revivals of religion.
Nor would it be strange if the latter kind of preaching should, in
its turn, prevail so exclusively and so long, that the practical
influence of the doctrine of dependence should be greatly
impaired, to be followed with another dearth of revivals and a
quiet reliance of sinful men on their own self-sufficiency. On
this subject, I have often, in view of the tendency of the human
mind to vacillate from one extreme to the other, expressed my
apprehensions. In some of my brethren, whom I love and respect, I
see what I esteem a _disproportioned_ estimate of the importance
of preaching dependence; in others, whom I equally respect, I see
what I regard as a _disproportioned_ estimate of the importance of
preaching moral responsibility. In regard to myself, I can say
that I have aimed, in this respect, rightly to divide the word of
truth, and that those discourses in which I have best succeeded in
bringing the two doctrines to bear, in their combined force, on
the mind, have been more blessed to the awakening and conversion
of sinners, than almost any others which I preach. When both
doctrines are wisely and truly presented, the sinner has no
resting-place. Ho cannot well avoid a sense of guilt while
proposing to remain in his sins, for he sees that he is a free
moral agent, under all the responsibilities of such an agent to
immediate duty. He cannot well presume on his resolution of future
repentance, for he sees that sovereign, injured grace may at once
abandon him to hopeless sin. He is thus shut up to the faith,—to
the immediate performance of his duty. In accordance with these
views, I aim, in my instructions to those who are preparing for
the ministry, to inculcate the importance of a consistent,
well-proportioned exhibition of the two great doctrines of the
sinner’s dependence and responsibility, that, in this respect,
they may hold the minds of their hearers under the full influence
of that gospel which is the power of God to salvation.
“I have thus stated, more minutely, perhaps, than you anticipated,
my views and opinions. I could wish that they might be
satisfactory to all our Orthodox brethren. I have no doubt that
they will be to very many, and to some who have been alarmed by
groundless rumors concerning my unsoundness in the faith. With
respect to what I have called _leading doctrines_, I regard these
as among the cardinal truths of the Christian system. They are
truths to which I attach the highest importance, and in which my
faith is more and more confirmed, the more I examine the word of
God. To _some_ of those of which I have spoken as _comparatively
minor points_, I attach a high importance in their practical
bearings and doctrinal connections. They are points, however, in
regard to which there is more or less diversity of opinion among
the Orthodox; and, as it is not my intention nor my practice to
denounce others as heretics, merely because they differ from me in
these matters, so I should be pleased with the reciprocation of
the like catholicism on their part.”
SWEDENBORGIANS, OR, THE NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.
Emanuel Swedenborg, the father of this sect, was the son of a bishop of
West Gothnia, in the kingdom of Sweden, whose name was Swedberg, a man of
considerable learning and celebrity in his time. The son was born at
Stockholm, January 29, 1688, and died in London, 1772. He enjoyed early
the advantages of a liberal education, and, being naturally endowed with
uncommon talents for the acquirement of learning, his progress in the
sciences was rapid and extensive, and he soon distinguished himself by
several publications in the Latin language, which gave proof of equal
genius and erudition. It may reasonably be supposed that, under the care
of his pious and reverend father, our author’s religious instruction was
not neglected. This, indeed, appears plain from the general tenor of his
life and writings, which are marked with strong and lively characters of a
mind deeply impressed with a sense of the divine Being, and of all the
relative duties thence resulting. He was ennobled in the year 1719, by
Queen Ulrica Eleonora, and named Swedenborg, from which time he took his
seat with the nobles of the equestrian order, in the triennial assembly of
the states.
Baron Swedenborg had many eccentricities; but perhaps the most remarkable
circumstance respecting him was his asserting that, during the
uninterrupted period of twenty-seven years, he enjoyed open intercourse
with the world of departed spirits, and during that time was instructed in
the internal sense of the sacred Scriptures, hitherto undiscovered.
_Articles of Faith, Of the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in
the Revelation._
“1. That JEHOVAH GOD, the Creator and Preserver of heaven and earth, is
Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, or Good Itself and Truth Itself: That he is
One both in Essence and in Person, in whom, nevertheless, is the Divine
Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which are the Essential Divinity,
the Divine Humanity, and the Divine Proceeding, answering to the soul, the
body, and the operative energy, in man: And that the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ is that GOD.
“2. That JEHOVAH GOD himself descended from heaven, as Divine Truth, which
is the Word, and took upon him Human Nature for the purpose of removing
from man the powers of hell, and restoring to order all things in the
spiritual world, and all things in the church: That he removed from man
the powers of hell, by combats against and victories over them; in which
consisted the great work of Redemption: That by the same acts, which were
his temptations, the last of which was the passion of the cross, he
united, in his Humanity, Divine Truth to Divine Good, or Divine Wisdom to
Divine Love, and so returned into his Divinity in which he was from
eternity, together with, and in, his Glorified Humanity; whence he forever
keeps the infernal powers in subjection to himself: And that all who
believe in him, with the understanding, from the heart, and live
accordingly, will be saved.
“3. That the Sacred Scripture, or Word of GOD, is Divine Truth itself;
containing a Spiritual Sense heretofore unknown, whence it is divinely
inspired, and holy in every syllable; as well as a Literal Sense, which is
the basis of its Spiritual Sense, and in which Divine Truth is in its
fulness, its sanctity, and its power; thus that it is accommodated to the
apprehension both of angels and men: That the spiritual and natural senses
are united, by correspondences, like soul and body, every natural
expression and image answering to, and including, a spiritual and divine
idea: And thus that the Word is the medium of communication with heaven,
and of conjunction with the Lord.
“4. That the government of the Lord’s Divine Love and Wisdom is the Divine
Providence; which is universal, exercised according to certain fixed laws
of Order, and extending to the minutest particulars of the life of all
men, both of the good and of the evil: That in all its operations it has
respect to what is infinite and eternal, and makes no account of things
transitory, but as they are subservient to eternal ends; thus that it
mainly consists, with man, in the connection of things temporal with
things eternal; for that the continual aim of the Lord, by his Divine
Providence, is to join man to himself and himself to man, that he may be
able to give him the felicities of eternal life: And that the laws of
permission are also laws of the Divine Providence; since evil cannot be
prevented without destroying the nature of man as an accountable agent;
and because, also, it cannot be removed unless it be known, and cannot be
known unless it appear. Thus that no evil is permitted but to prevent a
greater; and all is overruled, by the Lord’s Divine Providence, for the
greatest possible good.
“5. That man is not life, but is only a recipient of life from the Lord,
who, as he is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, is also Life Itself; which
life is communicated by influx to all in the spiritual world, whether
belonging to heaven or to hell, and to all in the natural world; but is
received differently by every one, according to his quality and consequent
state of reception.
“6. That man, during his abode in the world, is, as to his spirit, in the
midst between heaven and hell, acted upon by influences from both, and
thus is kept in a state of spiritual equilibrium between good and evil; in
consequence of which he enjoys free will, or freedom of choice, in
spiritual things as well as in natural, and possesses the capacity of
either turning himself to the Lord and his kingdom, or turning himself
away from the Lord, and connecting himself with the kingdom of darkness:
And that, unless man had such freedom of choice, the Word would be of no
use, the church would be a mere name, man would possess nothing by virtue
of which he could be conjoined to the Lord, and the cause of evil would be
chargeable on GOD himself.
“7. That man at this day is born into evil of all kinds, or with
tendencies towards it: That, therefore, in order to his entering the
kingdom of heaven, he must be regenerated, or created anew; which great
work is effected in a progressive manner, by the Lord alone, by charity
and faith as mediums, during man’s coöperation: That, as all men are
redeemed, all are capable of being regenerated, and, consequently saved,
every one according to his state: And that the regenerate man is in
communion with the angels of heaven, and the unregenerate with the spirits
of hell: But that no one is condemned for hereditary evil, any further
than as he makes it his own by actual life; whence all who die in infancy
are saved, special means being provided by the Lord in the other life for
that purpose.
“8. That Repentance is the first beginning of the Church in man; and that
it consists in a man’s examining himself, both in regard to his deeds and
his intentions, in knowing and acknowledging his sins, confessing them
before the Lord, supplicating him for aid, and beginning a new life: That,
to this end, all evils, whether of affection, of thought, or of life, are
to be abhorred and shunned as sins against GOD, and because they proceed
from infernal spirits, who in the aggregate are called the Devil and
Satan; and that good affections, good thoughts, and good actions, are to
be cherished and performed, because they are of GOD and from GOD: That
these things are to be done by man as of himself; nevertheless, under the
acknowledgment and belief, that it is from the Lord, operating in him and
by him: That so far as man shuns evils as sins, so far they are removed,
remitted, or forgiven; so far also he does good, not from himself, but
from the Lord; and in the same degree he loves truth, has faith, and is a
spiritual man: And that the Decalogue teaches what evils are sins.
“9. That Charity, Faith, and Good Works, are unitedly necessary to man’s
salvation; since charity, without faith, is not spiritual, but natural;
and faith, without charity, is not living, but dead; and both charity and
faith, without good works, are merely mental and perishable things,
because without use or fixedness: And that nothing of faith, of charity,
or of good works, is of man; but that all is of the Lord, and all the
merit is his alone.
“10. That Baptism and the Holy Supper are sacraments of divine
institution, and are to be permanently observed; Baptism being an external
medium of introduction into the Church, and a sign representative of man’s
purification and regeneration; and the Holy Supper being an external
medium to those who receive it worthily, of introduction, as to spirit,
into heaven, and of conjunction with the Lord; of which also it is a sign
and seal.
“11. That, immediately after death, which is only a putting off of the
material body, never to be resumed, man rises again in a spiritual or
substantial body, in which he continues to live to eternity; in heaven, if
his ruling affections, and hence his life, have been good; and in hell, if
his ruling affections, and thence his life, have been evil.
“12. That Now is the time of the Second Advent of the Lord which is a
Coming, not in Person, but in the power and glory of his Holy Word: That
it is attended, like his first Coming, with the restoration to order of
all things in the spiritual world, where the wonderful divine operation,
commonly expected under the name of the Last Judgment, has in consequence
been performed; and with the preparing of the way for a New Church on the
earth,—the first Christian Church having spiritually come to its end or
consummation, through evils of life and errors of doctrine, as foretold by
the Lord in the Gospels: And that this New or Second Christian Church,
which will be the Crown of all Churches, and will stand forever, is what
was representatively seen by John, when he beheld the holy city, New
Jerusalem, descending from GOD out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband.”
-------------------------------------
The leading theological works of Swedenborg are, the _Heavenly Arcana_, in
twelve octavo volumes, giving an explanation of the books of Genesis and
Exodus, being a key to what he calls the internal or spiritual sense of
the sacred Scriptures. The next in importance is the _Apocalypse
Explained_, in six octavo volumes, containing a full explanation of that
book.
From his last work, _The True Christian Religion_, we make the following
extracts, to show some of his peculiar views and style of writing:—
“Concerning the Spiritual World.
“The spiritual world has been treated of in a particular work concerning
HEAVEN AND HELL, in which many things of that world are described; and,
because every man, after death, comes into that world, the state of men
there is also described. Who does not know, or may not know, that man
lives after death? both because he is born a man, created an image of God,
and because the Lord teaches it in his word. But what life he is to live,
has been hitherto unknown. It has been believed that then he would be a
soul, of which they entertained no other idea than as of ether, or air;
thus that it is breath, or spirit, such as man breathes out of his mouth
when he dies, in which, nevertheless, his vitality resides; but that it is
without sight, such as is of the eye, without hearing, such as is of the
ear, and without speech, such as is of the mouth; when yet, man, after
death, is equally a man, and such a man, that he does not know but that he
is still in the former world. He walks, runs, and sits, as in the former
world; he lies down, sleeps, and wakes up, as in the former world; he eats
and drinks, as in the former world; he enjoys conjugial delight, as in the
former world; in a word, he is a man as to all and every particular;
whence it is manifest, that death is not an extinction, but a
continuation, of life, and that it is only a transition.
“That man is equally a man after death, although he does not then appear
to the eyes of the material body, may be evident from the angels seen by
Abraham, Hagar, Gideon, Daniel, and some of the prophets,—from the angels
seen in the Lord’s sepulchre, and afterwards, many times, by John,
concerning whom in the Revelation,—and especially from the Lord himself,
who showed that he was a man by the touch and by eating, and yet he became
invisible to their eyes. Who can be so delirious, as not to acknowledge
that, although he was invisible, he was still equally a man? The reason
why they saw him was, because then the eyes of their spirit were opened;
and, when these are opened, the things which are in the spiritual world
appear as clearly as those which are in the natural world. The difference
between a man in the natural world and a man in the spiritual world is,
that the latter is clothed with a substantial body, but the former with a
material body, in which, inwardly, is his substantial body; and a
substantial man sees a substantial man as clearly as a material man sees a
material man; but a substantial man cannot see a material man, nor a
material man a substantial man, on account of the difference between
material and substantial, which is such as may be described, but not in a
few words.
“From the things seen for so many years, I can relate the following: That
there are lands in the spiritual world, as well as in the natural world,
and that there are also plains, and valleys, and mountains, and hills, and
likewise fountains and rivers; that there are paradises, gardens, groves,
and woods; that there are cities, and in them palaces and houses; and also
that there are writings and books; that there are employments and
tradings; and that there are gold, silver, and precious stones; in a word,
that there are all things whatsoever that are in the natural world; but
those in heaven are immensely more perfect. But the difference is, that
all things that are seen in the spiritual world are created in a moment by
the Lord, as houses, paradises, food, and other things; and that they are
created for correspondence with the interiors of the angels and spirits,
which are their affections and thoughts thence; but that all things that
are seen in the natural world exist and grow from seed.
“Since it is so, and I have daily spoken there with the nations and people
of this world,—thus not only with those who are in Europe, but also with
those who are in Asia and in Africa, thus with those who are of various
religions,—I shall add, as a conclusion to this work, a short description
of the state of some of them. It is to be observed, that the state of
every nation and people in general, as well as of each individual in
particular, in the spiritual world, is according to the acknowledgment of
God, and the worship of him; and that all who in heart acknowledge a God,
and, after this time, those who acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ to be
God, the Redeemer and Savior, are in heaven; and that those who do not
acknowledge him are under heaven, and are there instructed; and that those
who receive are raised up into heaven, and that those who do not receive
are cast down into hell.”
Swedenborg says, “The Dutch are easily distinguished from others in the
spiritual world, because they appear in garments like those which they
wore in the natural world; with the distinction, that those appear in
finer ones, who have received faith and spiritual life. The reason why
they are clothed in the like garments is, because they remain constantly
in the principles of their religion; and all in the spiritual world are
clothed according to them; wherefore, those there who are in divine
truths, have white garments, and of fine linen.
“The cities in which the Dutch live are guarded in a singular manner: all
the streets in them are covered with roofs, and there are gates in the
streets, so that they may not be seen from the rocks and hills round
about: this is done on account of their inherent prudence in concealing
their designs, and not divulging their intentions; for such things, in the
spiritual world, are drawn forth by inspection. When any one comes for the
purpose of exploring their state, and is about to go out, he is led to the
gates of the streets, which are shut, and thus is led back, and led to
others, and this even to the highest degree of vexation, and then he is
let out; this is done that he may not return. Wives, who affect dominion
over their husbands, live at one side of the city, and do not meet their
husbands, except when they are invited, which is done in a civil manner;
and then they also lead them to houses, where consorts live without
exercising dominion over each other, and show them how clean and elegant
their houses are, and what enjoyment of life they have, and that they have
these things from mutual and conjugal love. Those wives who attend to
these things, and are affected by them, cease to exercise dominion, and
live together with their husbands; and then they have a habitation
assigned to them nearer to the middle, and are called angels: the reason
is, because truly conjugal love is heavenly love, which is without
dominion.
“With respect to the English nation, the best of them are in the centre of
all Christians, because they have interior intellectual light. This does
not appear to any one in the natural world, but it appears conspicuously
in the spiritual world. This light they derive from the liberty of
speaking and writing, and thereby of thinking. With others, who are not in
such liberty, that light, not having any outlet, is obstructed. That
light, indeed, is not active of itself, but it is made active by others,
especially by men of reputation and authority. As soon as any thing is
said by them, that light shines forth.
“For this reason, they have moderators appointed over them in the
spiritual world; and priests are given to them, of high reputation and
eminent talents, in whose opinions, from this their natural disposition,
they acquiesce.
“There are two great cities, like London, into which most of the English
come after death: it has been given me to see the former city, and also to
walk over it. The middle of that city is where the merchants meet in
London, which is called the Exchange: there the moderators dwell. Above
that middle is the east, below it is the west, on the right side is the
south, on the left side is the north. In the eastern quarter, those dwell
who have preëminently led a life of charity: there are magnificent
palaces. In the southern quarter the wise dwell, with whom there are many
splendid things. In the northern quarter, those dwell who have
preëminently loved the liberty of speaking and writing. In the western
quarter, those dwell who boast of justification by faith atone. On the
right there, in this quarter, is the entrance into this city, and also a
way out of it: those who live ill are sent out there. The ministers who
are in the west, and teach that faith alone, dare not enter the city
through the great streets, but through narrow alleys; since no other
inhabitants are tolerated in the city itself, than those who are in the
faith of charity. I have heard them complaining of the preachers from the
west, that they compose their sermons with such art and eloquence, and
introduce into them the strange doctrine of justification by faith, that
they do not know whether good ought to be done or not. They preach faith
as intrinsic good, and separate this from the good of charity, which they
call meritorious, and thus not acceptable to God. But, when those who
dwell in the eastern and southern quarters of the city hear such sermons,
they go out of the temples; and the preachers afterwards are deprived of
the priestly office.”
“Concerning the Popish Saints in the Spiritual World.