Part Three

 

PART THREE.The Second Coming of the Lord — Swedenborg and “The Lord’s New Church”

The Second Coming of the Lord

The Lord said:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. (Matthew 24:30)

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. (Matthew 24:42)

The Apostles, taking His words literally, expected that the Lord would come during their lifetime, for He had said :

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. (Matthew 24:34)

As many centuries passed and the Coming of the Lord was not seen, the Second Coming of the Lord became less and less a reality to the Christian Church. Most persons nowadays either do not believe in the Second Coming or feel an aversion to thinking about it. Yet the Lord made it an important matter of faith. Those few at the present day who place great importance on this subject for the most part have ideas concerning it, such as the sun and moon becoming dark and the stars falling from heaven, which, to most people, appear fantastic, unreal, or impossible, and such ideas, if taken literally, also appear fantastic, unreal, and impossible to us.

How are we to interpret the Lord’s words concerning His Second Coming?

Let us consider the nature of prophecy; and in order to do this, let us first consider the nature of prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the First Coming of the Lord. We find that they fall into two classes. One class of prophecy was literally fulfilled in a most remarkable way. The other class was spiritually fulfilled, but not literally fulfilled.

Those which were literally fulfilled tell the place of the Lord’s birth, say that He would be rejected of men and that He would overcome Satan, that is, the power of evil or of the hells, and give a remarkably detailed description of His final trial and death.

On the other hand, we find these prophecies: that He was to be a King who would sit on the throne of David, that He would be a Priest, that He would deliver Israel from its enemies, that He would be a hero, that blood would be sprinkled on His garments, and that He would tread down the wicked.

When asked concerning the prophecy that He, the Christ, was to be a king, He answered: “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36.) He was the Christ, that is, the anointed king, but He was never anointed king with the oil of this world. He sat on the throne of David, but it was not a throne of this world. He was a Priest, but He was never called a priest by anyone in this world. He overcame the enemies of Israel, but it was not the Israel or the ene­mies of this world. He waged warfare, but not a natural warfare against any in this world.

We read:

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? (Joel 2:10,11)

Again, we read in Joel:

And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. (2:30,31)

It might at first be thought that these words refer to the Second Coming, because of their similarity to the words in Matthew 24. Yet, referring to these words of Joel, Peter said:

For these are not drunken, as ye suppose. . . . But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy; And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. (Acts 2:15-20)

Though, indeed, at the crucifixion there was an earth­quake and darkness for three hours, and the sun was dark­ened, yet there was no general cosmic convulsion such as one might expect from the prophecy in Joel. No one not at Jerusalem knew anything about a cosmic convulsion hav­ing taken place. Were not the sun, which was darkened, and the moon, which was turned into blood, things that are not of this world?

The Jewish Church did not accept the Messiah when He came because He did not fulfill many of the prophecies the way they expected. They expected a great earthly king who would overcome their enemies in this world. Might not Christians react in the same way if Christ does not fulfill His Second Coming in the literal way that many Christians expect?

Turning now to the prophecies of the Second Coming, we also find two very different classes of prophecy.

We are told that the Lord would “come as a thief” (Rev­elation 3:3; 16:15), that is, unrecognized; that the kingdom of God would come “not with observation” (Luke 17:20), thus, secretly. Contrast this with the description of “the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30.)

Again, contrast the prophecies that the Lord would “sit on the throne of David” with the statement that “we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3.)

The Lord is described as coming again as the Divine Truth. We read:

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. (John 14:17-18)

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. (John 14:28)

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can­not bear them now. (John 16:12)

The Spirit of truth . . . will guide you into all truth. … A little while, and ye shall not see me, and again, a little while, and ye shall see me. (John 16:13,16)

The difference between the above verses which describe the Lord not coming with observation and coming as the spirit of truth which will lead to all truth, and the passages in Matthew which describe the sun being darkened, the stars falling from heaven, and the powers of heaven being shaken and the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (24:29,30) is most striking. This is similar to the contrast in the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the First Coming. As we have shown, the one series of prophecies of the First Coming was fulfilled literally; the other, such as the Lord’s coming in glory as a king, was “not of this world.”

We might, therefore, assume that the same would apply to the Second Coming; that the Lord’s coming as the spirit of truth would be literally fulfilled, but that His coming in glory would be a thing not of this world. There are now some leaders in the Christian Church who believe that the Lord’s Second Coming is a coming in His Divine Truth, a teaching we find in the Writings of Swedenborg, written two hundred years ago; but concerning this Divine Truth in which the Lord comes, they have very little idea. Where is the Divine Truth which, like lightning, illumines the whole mind, as we read: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27) ?

We read:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the pow­ers of the heavens shall be shaken. . . . and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29,30)

What are “the clouds of heaven” here spoken of? Are they the clouds of the sky, or are they the clouds of the spiritual heaven? Is the sun here spoken of the sun of this world? Are not the moon, the stars, and the clouds, as is said of the Lord’s Kingdom, not of this world ?

We read in the Psalms:

For the Lord God is a sun and shield. (84:11) His seed [David’s]  shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. (89:36)

In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. (19:4) His face did shine as the sun.  (Matthew 17:2)

Here the Lord is called a sun. From the Lord as a sun proceeds the heat of love and the light of wisdom. When it says, concerning the Lord’s Second Coming, “The sun shall be darkened,” does it mean the sun of this world or the Sun of heaven? Is it not more reasonable to think it means the latter? There is no reason for the sun, moon, and stars of this world to fail.

In a prophecy of the Lord’s coming, we read: “The light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people.” (Isaiah 30:26.) This obviously is not speaking of the sun of the world.

When the Lord says, in predicting the Second Coming, that the sun shall be darkened, what is meant?

When agnosticism prevails, when faith is weak, when doubts and confusion over the interpretation of the Word of God prevail, black clouds of doubt and obscurity gather and darken the Sun of heaven, that is, the Lord as the sun. The Lord’s love is then not received in men’s hearts; and the moon of heaven, that is, faith in the Lord, does not give light; and the stars fall from heaven, that is, the knowledges which are in the inner man fall into worldly reasonings and are destroyed.

This darkness is nowhere more evident than in regard to the subject of the Second Coming, which was a primary matter of faith in the early Christian Church; but the faith concerning it, and the ideas about it, are now so much in darkness that most persons in the Christian Church have no idea as to what is meant and many feel an aversion even to considering the subject.

Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven. . . . and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30)

That clouds stand for obscurity is evident, but here the clouds stand particularly for the obscure things of the Word of God. Many things in the letter of the Word are obscure, called by the Lord “dark sayings,” which are not understood.

The Son of Man, coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, is the Lord as the Divine Truth coming with authority and shedding a wonderful light on the whole of the Word of God.

What are the leading subjects which the Lord will re­veal in His Second Coming? They are those things which He spoke of when He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” He indeed tells us, for He says: “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (John 14:20.)

“These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.” (John 16:25.) Here we are taught clearly that the Lord will come again to reveal the relation of the Son to the Father, that is, the nature of the Divine Trinity, and how the Lord was glorified; also, the nature of the relation of the Lord and man, and how the Lord is present in man. He would come to reveal the nature of the Divine Love and Wisdom and the manner in which man is born again from the Lord and becomes His son. All the wonders of the relation of the Lord and man, and the nature of man’s spiritual development, things which in the Word were given in parables, would then be opened.

Some Christians, when they reflect, might well wonder whether, if they had lived at the time the Lord came into the world, they would have believed in Him or not.

Put yourself in the place of the Jew who listened to the Lord. How would you feel if a young man condemned the respected priests and leaders of your church, calling them hypocrites, saying that they had made the Church a den of thieves, condemned your church and nation—on all of which you prided yourself? Could you have believed in Him as the promised Messiah?

Are you sure you would be any more likely to recognize the Lord, when He came again, “not with observation” but “as a thief in the night”? The Lord said: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8.) Do not these words indicate that at the Lord’s Com­ing, the Christian Church would no more recognize and ac­knowledge Him than the Jewish Church did when He came to them as their Messiah?

The Jews expected the Messiah to come in a spectacular way and fulfill their ambitions by making them the greatest and most powerful nation, but He did not come in that way. Do not those Christians who await the Second Coming for the most part expect something spectacular which will ful­fill their ambitions? But does He come that way?

As we read in the first chapter of John, the Lord is the Word, the Divine Truth, which enlighteneth everyone. He comes again as the Word, the Divine Truth, not now in parables, but plainly.

In True Christian Religion, by Emanuel Swedenborg, we read:

The Second Coming of the Lord is not a Coming in Person, but in the Word, which is from Him, and is Himself. (Caption before Number 776, T.C.R.)

It is written in many places that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven. And as no one has hitherto known what is meant by “the clouds of heaven,” it has been believed that the Lord would appear to them in Person. Heretofore it has not been known that “the clouds of heaven” mean the Word in the sense of the letter, and that the “glory and power” in which He is then to come, mean the spiritual sense of the Word, because no one as yet has had the least conjecture that there is a spiritual sense in the Word, such as this sense is in itself. But as the Lord has now opened to me the spiritual sense in the Word, and has granted to me to be associated with angels and spirits in their world as one of them, it is disclosed to me that “a cloud of heaven” means the Word in the natural sense, and “glory” the Word in the spiritual sense, and “power” the Lord’s power through the Word.” (T.C.R., Number 776)

The Second Coming of the Lord is effected by means of a man, to whom the Lord has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit, that he may teach the Doctrines of the New Church from the Lord by means of the Word. (Caption before Num­ber 779, T.C.R.)

Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as shown just above, and nevertheless has foretold that He was to come and establish a new church, which is Nova Hierosolyma [the New Jerusalem], it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who is able not only to receive these doctrines in his understanding, but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord manifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me to this office, and He afterward opened the eyes of my spirit and thus introduced me into the spiritual world and granted me to see the heavens and the hells . . . and this now continually for several years, I affirm in truth; as also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doc­trines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word. (T.C.R., Number 779)

In order that the Lord might be continuously pres­ent with me He has unfolded to me the spiritual sense of His Word, wherein is Divine truth in its very light, and it is in this light that He is continually present. For His presence in the Word is by means of the spirit­ual sense and in no other way; through the light of this sense He passes into the obscurity of the literal sense, which is like what takes place when the light of the sun in day time is passing through an interposing cloud. That the sense of the letter of the Word is like a cloud, and the spiritual sense is the glory, the Lord Himself being the Sun from which the light comes, and thus that the Lord is the Word, has been shown above. (T.C.R., Number 780)

When one first reads the above words, they may seem strange, impossible, and even fantastic. Yet if we consider the problem, how does the Lord make His promised Second Coming? What alternative is there to the idea that the Lord does this through a man who has been filled with His Spirit? We may discover that there is no other way. Some hold that the Lord will literally come in the clouds of this world.

We read in the book of Revelation:

And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (6:12-14)

Few who know the size of the stars, as being immensely larger than the earth, and their immense distance from earth, can take this prophecy as being about to take place literally; besides which, if it were to take place literally, how could the other prophecies which the Lord made con­cerning His Second Coming be fulfilled, namely, that He would come as the “spirit of truth,” that He had “many things to say” unto them; but they could not bear them then. He would come as “the spirit of truth,” which would guide them into “all truth.”

Still, there are very few who will have an open mind toward what Swedenborg says concerning the Second Com­ing. They may be impressed by other things said in the Writings of Swedenborg, but they will find this a “hard saying.”

Many who have followed what is written in this book with a certain affirmation will here tend to turn away.

This brings to mind what is said about those who fol­lowed the Lord, when He said to them:

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51)

Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? (John 6:60)

From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:66)

A friend of Swedenborg wrote to him, saying that if he left out of his work the descriptions of the spiritual world and his conversations with angels and spirits, many would accept his doctrine; to which Swedenborg replied that the Lord had commanded him to include these portions of his works.

We often read in the Old Testament that the Lord ap­peared to a person and gave him a command, and to some this does not appear impossible. But that He should have done so to a man in relatively modern times appears incred­ible and even fantastic to nearly everyone. But why is this?

There are some who do not believe in any direct reve­lation of the Word of God to men or in the possible com­munication between angels (who are men that have died) and men on earth. Such are apt to regard themselves as having a scientific approach. Yet the true scientific approach is an open-minded approach, an approach without prejudice or preconceived ideas; an approach which takes into account all known facts. The facts are that nearly every people on earth have believed in the communication of the departed with men living on earth. To throw out this immense testi­mony out of prejudice is certainly not scientific and must therefore come from a decision which has its origin in the will.

Those who are proud and vain hate the idea that anyone can see anything they cannot see. It has been observed that some of those who are color-blind and are not aware of this fact become angry and insist that they can see colors when it is demonstrated that they are color-blind.

If those who see a matter clearly speak to others who are in obscurity on the matter, the latter often intensely resent it and may become angry and wish to persecute the former.

Many Jews resented the fact that “he [Jesus] taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Matthew 7:29.)

If Swedenborg had said that he spoke from himself, instead of saying that he spoke from God, more would have accepted his teaching. Compare this with the saying of the Lord: “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.” (John 7:16-18.)

Try to explain with great definiteness to a man who is proud of his learning something which he cannot see, an idea which he cannot grasp, and observe his reactions. As long as one will admit that one’s own ideas have certain obscurities in them, and it is a matter of opinion, it is all right; but as soon as one says it is as clear as four times four are sixteen, the other is likely to become angry and react irrationally.

For those who believe that there has been communica­tion with God and with angels, as recounted in the Bible, it is still difficult to believe that a relatively modern man could have such communication, because they think such communication came to an end nearly two thousand years ago. Yet if there is a Divine purpose to be fulfilled, it is obviously prejudice that would say it is impossible for God to revive this communication with a man for the sake of a Divine purpose. Yet in spite of the obvious force of this argument, prejudice is so strong that few can overcome it, and few will consider Swedenborg’s claim with an open and unprejudiced mind.

A man who has an open mind will view the Writings of Swedenborg unprejudiced by habits of thought or prevail­ing opinions; he will carefully weigh what is said as to whether it is in agreement with God’s love and His desire to communicate the truths of the spirit to man. The question is, Do they reveal a God of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, of Divine Mercy and Justice? Do they reveal a life after death, that one can perceive is the only kind of life in which man could be happy to eternity? Do they reveal the kind of communication between God and man that is in accordance with God’s love and the nature of man? A man with an open mind will struggle to answer these questions for him­self and will not be satisfied until he has found the answer.

The documents concerning Swedenborg’s life are con­tained in three large tomes. There are a number of biogra­phies, two of which have a length of four hundred large pages. The following is a brief sketch of his life.

His father, Jesper Swedberg (the name was changed to Swedenborg when the family was ennobled), was at the time of Swedenborg’s birth Court Chaplain at the court of Charles XI. Later, Jesper Swedberg was appointed by the king as first professor of Theology at Upsala University and, shortly afterward, as Rector and Dean of the Cathe­dral. Later he became Bishop of Skara, and his diocese in­cluded “New Sweden” on the Delaware River. Emanuel Swedenborg’s mother was the daughter of a wealthy mine owner. She was a modest and lovable person. When Eman­uel was eight years old, his mother died. Some time later, Bishop Swedberg married again, and Emanuel had a new mother, who loved him dearly. He had a happy childhood. When he was four years old, the family moved to the uni­versity town of Upsala, the seat of the leading university of Sweden. At the age of eleven Swedenborg entered the university. He was bright in his studies and took a very active part in an institution which was somewhat like a fraternity but whose activities were mostly intellectual and included debating. These fraternities were called “nations,” and the students joined them according to the part of the country from which they came.

While he was living with his father, he took great de­light in listening to the religious discussions which went on in the home when visitors came.

He was born in 1688 and died eighty-four years later in the year 1772.

To convey even a general impression of the remarkable career and eighty-four years of Swedenborg’s life in a chap­ter of a book is not easy. There are few indeed who lived two hundred years ago whose life is so fully documented as Swedenborg’s.

[2]

Swedenborg: Youth and Scientific Period

When Emanuel Swedenborg was fifteen, his father was appointed Bishop of Skara and left Upsala to reside in the episcopal mansion of Brunsbo. The youth remained in Up­sala to continue his studies, staying with his sister, Anna, and his brother-in-law, Eric Benzelius, the university li­brarian.

At the time that Swedenborg was in the university, a controversy was raging between the old school of scholastic education and the new spirit of scientific investigation. Descartes, who had lived the last year of his life in Sweden, had given great impetus to the newer philosophic-scientific point of view. Eric Benzelius, with whom Swedenborg lived, was keenly interested in the new scientific develop­ment, and by him Emanuel was fired with enthusiasm and the ambition of advancing Sweden and making it one of the leading countries in culture, philosophy, science, and manufacturing.

Some time after Swedenborg was graduated, he jour­neyed to England, Holland, and France. He was away for four years, most of which he spent in England. Here he contacted the most learned men of the times and worked with some, for example, Halley, the famous astronomer, after whom Halley’s comet was named.

At this time, Swedenborg’s center of interest was as­tronomy, mathematics, and inventions. He worked out a system of finding the longitude of any place by the sighting of two stars in relation to the moon. The difficulty he en­countered was that at that time the tables of the stars and moon were not sufficiently accurate to accomplish this pur­pose. His proposed inventions included a fixed-wing flying machine, a submarine, something like a player piano, and many other inventions. He also wrote Latin poetry. He sent a list of the most worth-while English authors, includ­ing Shakespeare, to his brother-in-law, with the recommen­dation that they should be studied in Sweden. When in London, he made a practice of living with various artisans and picking up their trades. In this way, he learned to grind lenses, to make scientific instruments, and also the craft of bookbinding. At this period his enthusiasm was given to science and its practical application. Although he was intensely ambitious, his ambition was focused on the advancement of Sweden rather than being merely personal.

On his return to Sweden, he worked with Polhem, the great Swedish inventor and engineer. Charles XII, King of Swed«n, took a very active interest in the inventions and mathematics of Polhem and Swedenborg, and encouraged Swedenborg in the publication of the first scientific maga­zine in the Swedish language. With the encouragement of the king, work was commenced on the great canal linking Stockholm and Gothenburg, traversing Sweden and having a length of three hundred miles. Swedenborg was put in charge of the construction of the locks. About this time he made a name for himself by transporting naval sloops over fifteen miles of rugged territory, giving Sweden a naval advantage in the war with Norway.

At this time, Swedenborg desired to marry Polhem’s daughter; Polhem favored such a union, but as the daughter preferred someone else, Swedenborg withdrew. He never married.

Swedenborg contemplated the idea of applying for the appointment as first professor of Mechanics at the Univer­sity of Upsala. This subject would have included what are now called Physics and Engineering. But as there was an insufficiency of funds for the university, this plan did not materialize. When the opportunity came up at a later date, Swedenborg turned it down in order to accept the position of Assessor on the Board of Mines.

The Board of Mines had broad powers: mining was the chief source of Sweden’s wealth. The whole economy of Sweden depended on the success of Swedish mines. The Board of Mines was directly responsible to the Crown. It controlled all mining and allied interests, having every pow­er short of actual ownership. It appointed mining offi­cials and settled industrial disputes involving owners and workers. It regulated prices and imposed or withdrew taxes. It licensed new mines, forges, and all buildings and mapped out the distribution of charcoal—the fuel in those days. It was in charge of metal testing, charts and measurements, and a chemical laboratory.  Swedenborg  undoubtedly felt that by accepting this position he could be of greater serv­ice to the welfare of Sweden than in any other way. He had far more knowledge of mechanics and engineering than any­one else on the Board. In fact, there was scarcely anyone else in Sweden who had such a broad knowledge in this field. On accepting this position, he set about learning everything it was possible to learn about mining. He visited mines all over Europe,  and finally wrote the most comprehensive work on iron and copper mining and smelting then extant. This work, which was written in Latin, made him famous throughout Europe. It was, however, a description not mere­ly of applied science and engineering, but also of what we now call pure science, which also involved philosophic princi­ples. Swedenborg was an indefatigable worker. The minutes of the Board of Mines report that he traveled extensively in Sweden, to settle disputes and to oversee the mining; the daily meetings he attended when the Board was in session indicate a labor which with most men would have left little time for other pursuits. But in his  spare time he was acquiring a thorough knowledge of all the science and philos­ophy known in his day. During his travels he made remarkable geological observations, with the result that he is con­sidered by those who are acquainted with the facts one of the fathers of geological science. It would take a large book to enumerate all the contributions Swedenborg made to science and philosophy. In science, he made contributions and sometimes discoveries in Anatomy, Cosmology, Crystal­lography, Mineralogy, Psychology, and other sciences which were one hundred years or more before his time.

Svante Arrhenius, Nobel prize winner, vouched for Swedenborg’s cosmology, which surmised the nebular hy­pothesis and the existence of galactic universes. Anatomists said that he was the first to localize the mental processes in the cortical cells of the brain. He also stated that different parts of the brain controlled different parts of the body, and that nerves from the upper part of the brain controlled the lowest part of the body and vice versa. Leading modern anat­omists have marveled at how Swedenborg came to this knowledge, which has since been verified, from the limited anatomical knowledge of his day. His placing of the seat of consciousness in the cortex or cortical cells of the brain was a discovery which may be compared in importance with Harvey’s discovery of the nature of the circulation of the blood in the body.

To give even a general idea of Swedenborg’s philosophic and scientific works, which are contained in many large vol­umes, would require a book in itself. We shall here give only some idea of the purposes he had in mind. In his early man­hood his ambition was centered in the advancement of Sweden in science and industry. But as he approached mid­dle age, while still serving Sweden diligently in the practical matters of his official office, his mind turned more and more to Philosophy. He had the strong belief that pihlosophy had to be built not only on a scientific foundation, but also on the Word of God. His aim came to be to see the relation of God to His creation. He never questioned the being of God, for in all things of science he saw an order that must have a source in God, and above all, he had faith in the Bible.

In all his later scientific works his aim was to demon­strate the marvelous laws and order of creation as emanat­ing from a God of Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, and Divine Order. In order to convey as full an idea as possible of this, he felt he must have as broad and deep a knowledge of science and the laws governing it as possible. His first con­centration along these lines was in Cosmology, within which he sought to show the relation of Divine Order in God Him­self to the things of the created world, and by what order the material world was created from God. He took as his prem­ise that God was Divine Order Itself and that, therefore, everything which He did was necessarily done according to the laws of order, including creation. To give too brief an account of Swedenborg’s works on creation would lead rather to confusion than enlightenment, according to the saying: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” (Alex­ander Pope, Essay on Criticism.) Really, it is not the little knowledge that is dangerous, but the vast ignorance still remaining!

Swedenborg’s objective was to see as clearly as possible the aim and purpose of human life, and the relation of God to man and of man to God. After his large work on Cos­mology, he turned to the study of Anatomy. His aim here was to acquire a knowledge of the relation of the soul, the mind, and the body.

The principle that guided him in his studies was a truly scientific one, namely, that before we can make any ap­proach to a subject, we must have a sufficient body of factual knowledge. From this, by contemplation, we discover laws. These laws must then be verified by again checking them with known facts. Swedenborg’s faith was not, indeed, de­pendent on science, but his effort at this time was to strengthen faith, which was being brought into doubt by many philosophers and scientists. A true philosophy and science, he believed, would strengthen and confirm faith in God.

He saw the human body and all the laws governing it as a vehicle for the soul to express itself. He said that the conscious mind corresponded to the soul, and the body cor­responded to the mind. By “correspondence” he meant a relationship such as shown by the fact that when the mind is happy, the face smiles; and when the mind is grieved, the body weeps. When love is stirred, the heart beats more rap­idly. These relations are obvious, and of them we are in­stinctively conscious; but he maintained that this revealed a universal law, and that every least thing of the body, of most of which we are not conscious, corresponds to things of the mind and soul. For example, the heart corresponds to love, and the lungs to thought. Love affects the beating of the heart, and thought the breathing of the lungs. The re­lation of the two correspond to the relation of the will and understanding. To consider these matters fully would also require a separate book.

Swedenborg has been compared to Leonardo da Vinci as being a universal genius. In the eighteenth century there were a number of persons who were outstanding in various fields: Jefferson was outstanding not only as President, but also as a political philosopher, an architect, and an inventor. Benjamin Franklin was a statesman, economist, moralist, and inventor, besides having practical accomplishments in many fields. Neither of these men was, however, an outstand­ing theologian as well.

Swedenborg was not only a great scientist and philoso­pher, but he was also an outstanding administrator, a ca­pable businessman, an economist, a legislator, a judge in mining disputes, an inventor, and, above all, a great theo­logian—in a word, an outstanding man in nearly all realms of human endeavor.

Most persons have a limited bent of mind. This means that they are attracted to a limited field. When they are, therefore, confronted with the Writings of Swedenborg, they are often repelled. Swedenborg is too idealistic for the realist, and too realistic and matter-of-fact for the idealist. He is too poetical and spiritual for the materialistic scientist, and too matter-of-fact and rationalistic for those who are poetically or mystically inclined. He is too literal for those who seek a vague spiritual interpretation, and too spiritual for the literalist. In a word, the golden mean ap­peals to few. Most people prefer one extreme or another, according to the bent of their mind. A uniting in a balanced proportion of all aspects of life has, to most people, little appeal.

When the family of Bishop Swedberg was ennobled, Emanuel Swedenborg regularly took his place as head of the family at the sessions of the House of Nobles, which was the most powerful legislative body in Sweden.

Swedenborg’s Theological Period

When Swedenborg was fifty-nine years old, one of the councilors on the Board of Mines died, and Swedenborg was unanimously recommended by the Board for advancement to the position of councilor. He, however, petitioned the king that another should be selected and that he should be re­leased from office, as he wished to engage in other important work, the nature of which he did not mention.

For more than thirty years, he reminded King Fred­erick, he had served as an official on the Board, had made frequent journeys and published many works for which he had never asked any recompense from the country. He therefore requested that His Majesty now grant him the continued use of half his salary in his retirement, but without the customary honorary title of councilor.

This favor the king so much the more gladly granted as he felt sure that the new work on which Swedenborg was then engaged would, like all his other publications, contribute to the welfare of the country. When Sweden­borg handed in the royal decree releasing him from duty, all the members of the Board of Mines expressed their regret at losing so worthy a colleague, and asked that the assessor continue to attend the sessions until all those cases had been settled in which he had partici­pated. To this he consented and we find him present at five more sessions. On June 17, 1747, on the eve of his sixth foreign journey, Swedenborg took leave of the Royal Board of Mines, thanking all the members for the favors he had enjoyed at their hands during his connec­tion with the Board and commending’ himself to their continued kindly remembrance.

The Royal Board thanked the assessor for the min­ute care and fidelity with which he had attended to the duties of his office as an assessor up to the present time, and wished him a prosperous journey and a happy re­turn ; after which he departed. (Tafel, Documents Con­cerning Swedenborg, I, 464 ff., Swedenborg to the King.)

Swedenborg at Fifty-five Commences a New Work

This important work of Swedenborg’s was the exposition of the Word of God. During the next twenty-five years, he continued to publish his theological works, at first anony­mously, no one knowing their authorship.

When he was seventy-one years old, returning to his native land from England, he stopped at Gothenburg. While at dinner in company with fifteen others, he suddenly an­nounced that a fire had broken out in Stockholm, three hun­dred miles away, and was burning quite a large section of the town and was approaching his house. He later said that the fire had been arrested, three houses from his, and gave a description of the extent and region of the damage. This caused quite a stir, and the account rapidly spread through the town. Three days later, a messenger brought from Stock­holm the news of the fire, which was just as Swedenborg had described it. About this time he included his name on one of his theological works, and it became known that he was the author of his other works.

This caused much excitement in Stockholm. In these works Swedenborg had said that he had been Divinely com­missioned by the Lord to unfold the Word and that for many years he had spoken with those who had died, in full wakefulness, as man with man. One can imagine the astonishment at this announcement if we picture in our minds what would happen if Herbert Hoover were to announce that ever since leaving the Presidency, at Divine command, he had been publishing an explication of the Bible and was in daily com­munication with those who had departed this life. Many thought that Swedenborg must have become demented. Yet during the period he had been writing these books, no one had observed anything strange or unusual in his behavior. He had taken part in the sessions of the House of Nobles. Count Höpken, the Prime Minister, said of him during this period, “He possessed a sound judgment upon all occasions; he saw everything clearly and expressed himself well on every subject. The most solid memorials on finance and the best penned, at the Diet of 1761, were presented by him.” As a result of one of these memorials, Swedenborg was asked to sit on the government board in control of the fi­nances of Sweden, but he declined.

As a result of what had taken place, a number of the leading citizens called on Swedenborg, and their testimony was unanimous that he spoke most clearly and rationally on every subject. But we do not need such testimony, for the books which he published are most clear and rational, with nothing to indicate any mental disturbance, if one be­lieves in the possibility of communication with those in the spiritual world.

Swedenborg was such a highly respected, good, and lovable man that no one who knew him intimately or who has studied his life has questioned his honesty or sincerity. The only question was whether he was suffering from de­lusions.

When Swedenborg was asked by Count Höpken, the Prime Minister of Sweden, why he included the description of the spiritual world in his writings, “of which ignorance makes jest and derision,” Swedenborg replied: “that he was too old to sport with spiritual things, and too much con­cerned for his eternal welfare to yield to such foolish notions, assuring me on his hope for salvation, that imagination produced in him none of his revelations, which were true, and were from what had been heard and seen.” (Tafel, II: 241-242, 239-240, 416; I:66.)

Swedenborg was once asked why the Lord had chosen him instead of one of the clergy to make the new revelation, to which he replied:

In the same manner that fishermen were made disciples and apostles by the Lord; and that I also from early youth had been a spiritual fisherman. On hearing this the inquirer asked, What is a spiritual fisherman? I replied that a spiritual fisherman in the spiritual sense of the Word, signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural truth, and afterwards, spiritual truths rationally. (The Intercourse Between the Soul and the Body, Number 20.)

To investigate spiritual truths rationally is to gather together a sufficient number of facts, and upon these, with an enlightened understanding, to come to a conclusion as to the laws involved. As Swedenborg was a master of this in relation to science, he was well suited to do the same in re­lation to the phenomena of the spiritual world.

Three weeks before his death, Swedenborg predicted the day of his decease. When he told the maid who looked after his room, and who was very fond of him, the approaching day of his death, she said he was as happy as if he were going to a fair. (Tafel, II: 546)

Mr. Hartley, a friend, visited him when Swedenborg was nearing his end. In the presence of another friend, Mr. Hart­ley solemnly besought Swedenborg to declare whether all that he had written was strictly true, or whether any part or parts were to be excepted. “I have written nothing but the truth,” Swedenborg replied with some warmth, “as you will have more and more confirmed to you all the days of your life, provided you keep close to the Lord and faithfully serve Him alone by shunning evils of all kinds as sins against Him, and diligently searching His Word which from beginning to end bears incontestable witness to the truth of the doctrines I have delivered to the world.” (Tafel, II: 579-580)

The afternoon of March twenty-ninth — the predicted day — Mrs. Shearsmith (Swedenborg was living with the Shearsmiths in London at the time) and Elizabeth, the maid, were seated at his bedside. It was the close of a peaceful spring Sabbath. Swedenborg heard the clock strike and asked what time it was. When they answered, “Five o’clock,” he said, “That is good. I thank you. God bless you.” He heaved a gentle sigh and tranquilly expired. (Sigstedt, The Swedenborg Epic, p. 433.)

Skepticism About Swedenborg

The great majority refuse to believe that such communi­cation as Swedenborg had with those who have died is pos­sible, and therefore will not evaluate with an open mind Swedenborg’s statements about the spiritual world.

Swedenborg’s theological writings contain much that is obviously true—truths that have affected the thinking of the world on many subjects. They would have had a wider acceptance if he had not spoken of his intercourse with angels and if he had omitted the description of the spiritual world.

Why Swedenborg’s Declarations Are Not Generally Accepted

Why is it that most persons will not believe that such communication as Swedenborg said he had is possible? The whole evidence of the history of the human race is that communication with the dead has taken place in more ancient times. Why, then, cannot people believe that such communication took place in relatively modern times if the evidence is sufficiently strong? We can see no reason but prejudice. This prejudice is based on many things. There have often been charlatans and fakers who have made fan­tastic claims, so that reasonable people are naturally wary. Swedenborg himself warned against thoughtless credulity on the part of those who had a tendency toward the fan­tastic.

There are many who feel an aversion for thinking about the life after death, because they find it disturbing, depress­ing, and troublesome. They form a mental block as a means of escaping the problem of death so that they can live com­fortably in this world.

Others are not willing at heart to “Seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33) because they are eager to seek the good things of this world. There are others who are prejudiced against the Writings of Swedenborg because these do not agree with the habits of thought or the teach­ings in which they have been brought up from childhood. Most, however, are too lazy to think about matters which require concentration of thought in a field to which they are unaccustomed and in which they see no material profit.

Swedenborg had been an open-minded scientist, and as such he did not expect a proposition to be accepted on the mere statement of anyone, but only on the thing being seen as true by the person accepting it. All he asked for was an open-minded consideration of the matter.

Besides the fire in Stockholm, there were several sim­ilar incidents. Of the two most widely known, of which there were many witnesses, the first was the queen’s secret. Queen Ulrika Eleanora, having heard of Swedenborg, was curious to speak with him. In order to test him, she asked if he could tell her a secret that only her brother, who had died, and she knew. Some days later, Swedenborg visited the court and, calling the queen aside, told her the secret, at which she nearly fainted.

The second was the account concerning the widow of Monsieur de Marteville, the Dutch ambassador to Sweden. A goldsmith presented Mme. de Marteville with a bill, de­manding 2,500 Dutch guilders in payment for a silver service bought by her husband. Mme. de Marteville was sure the bill had been paid but could not find the receipt. She was told that Swedenborg might be able to help her. Shortly afterward, through Swedenborg’s aid, she was told that the receipt was in a secret drawer about which she did not know and there she found it. These accounts had wide cir­culation. When Swedenborg was asked by a friend whether they were true, he said they were but were of little moment, and that his writings were to be judged on their contents and not on the basis of such events.

There are two kinds of proof, one a demonstration to the senses, or scientific demonstration on the basis of ma­terial facts; the other, by internal evidence, namely, whether the matter is reasonable and harmonious, is in agreement with the laws of the mind, and strikes one as being obviously true. One does not ask for scientific proof that stealing or cheating is bad and honesty is good.

Swedenborg gave as the criterion of judgment “the self-sounding (or resounding) reason of love.” That is, his criterion is whether the idea rings true or not—not merely from a cold judgment devoid of feeling, but from a love of God and one’s neighbor, and from a love of the Kingdom of God. A man who is devoid of such loves has no judgment in spiritual matters, for they have no significance or reality to him.

If we consider the Writings of Swedenborg, there are three aspects from which we can come to a judgment: the unfolding of the Word or Bible; the theology contained; and the description of heaven and hell.

The Spiritual World

We have considered the first two above, but to many the third point appears like a real stumbling block. That Swe­denborg should have lived consciously in the spiritual world, speaking with those who have departed this world, as man with man, appears to them incredible.

Why is it that this is so difficult to believe? Is denial of this possibility based on reason or on prejudice? On intel­lectual or on emotional grounds ? Most would say it is based on rational or intellectual grounds. But is this really so?

If we believe that there is a life after death, to have knowledge concerning it would obviously be useful, as it would enable us better to prepare for it, and this the more insofar as it became a greater reality to us. It would also remove the fear of death. Many have said they would like to believe in a spiritual world such as is described by Sweden­borg, but are not able to.

We have said it is useful to know the nature of life after death. Why could not God reveal this? And if God wished to reveal it, what other way would be more suitable than to introduce the spirit of a man into it while he was still living on earth? From this it can be seen that the grounds for not considering, with an open mind, the possibility of Swedenborg’s being introduced into the spiritual world are not intellectual. They must, therefore, be emotional or from prejudice.

What, then, are these emotional prejudices?

Many persons are fearful of being considered naïve and credulous, and of being ridiculed on this ground.

The spirit or fashion of the times is scientific materialism, and few have the ability or will to think clearly, apart from the intellectual fashion of their day.

Many persons wish to appear up-to-date or modern. These people fear to be considered old-fashioned in their ideas; and a belief in the possibility of open communication with the dead is not considered modern.

Whereas many have a vague hope for a life after death, with most there is little living faith in such a life.

In the case of many people, their life is contrary to the idea of “seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness”  (Matthew 6:33), and they do not wish to be disturbed in the life they are leading.

Because Swedenborg described his experiences in the spiritual world, he has been called a paranoiac. Hardly any­one who has read the Writings of Swedenborg and is ac­quainted with his life doubts his sincerity. The argument for his mental aberration is based solely on the preconceived idea that such communication is impossible. But those hold­ing such a view, if logical, must necessarily apply this epithet to John the Baptist, the Apostle John, Paul and the other Apostles, and the Lord Himself, all of whom were accused in their time of being mad or possessed by a devil, and the same ban applies to the Old Testament prophets, such as Ezekiel and Daniel.

Swedenborg is said to have suffered from paranoia. This word gives the impression that this is a modern, scientific diagnosis. Many psychologists apply the same term to the above-named religious teachers.

“Paranoia” is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as being “mental derangement; insanity; especially a chronic form of insanity characterized by a very gradual impairment of the intellect, systematized delusions, and usually by delu­sions of persecution producing homicidal tendencies. In its mild form paranoia may consist of well-marked crochetiness in persons commonly called ‘cranks.’ Paranoiacs usually show evidence of bodily and nervous degeneration, and may have hallucinations of sight and hearing.”

Swedenborg’s writings are very clear, logical, and sys­tematic. As shown above, as to his person, he was highly re­spected by all who knew him; moreover, he was cheerful and friendly. He led a very normal and balanced life, and he was remarkably vigorous in both mind and body until his death at the age of eighty-four. All these characteristics are the opposite of paranoia. A prominent psychologist, puz­zled by Swedenborg, said he was unique and did not fit into any known classification.

The sole reason for designating Swedenborg a paranoiac was his statements that he had open communication with those who had died. This is based on the hypothesis that such communication is not possible.

Taking such a hypothesis is totally unscientific. The true scientist examines evidence with an open and unprejudiced mind. If we go back in history, there is, as we have said, a great deal of evidence of the communication of some people with those who have died. But Swedenborg was the only man, in nearly two thousand years, who claimed such open communication and at the same time was a very wise and learned man and profoundly influenced the thinking of some of the most famous men and women during the past two hundred years. The fact that Swedenborg was the only man of this character during this period is no proof of the im­possibility of such communication.

Although it might be said that open communication with those who have died has not been fully proved from a merely scientific point of view, there is certainly no scientific proof that it has not taken place and much evidence from the past favors its possibility. It is, therefore, totally unscien­tific to call Swedenborg a paranoiac on the basis of an un­proved hypothesis, as has been done. Although the above argument is, we believe, unanswerable, most will still cling to their opinion out of preconceived prejudice which makes one with the fashion of the thought of the day; modern education has so strongly formed the patterns of thought that one who has not an exceptionally independent mind can scarcely escape from the type of scientific thinking that is prevalent.

Swedenborg’s Theological Writings

As we have said, the Theological Works of Swedenborg were extensively read during the nineteenth century, and many writers, poets, and philosophers were profoundly in­fluenced by them. The whole religious thinking of the world was directly or indirectly modified by Swedenborg’s Writ­ings. As a result of this, in some respects, the theology in the Writings of Swedenborg does not appear to be in such contrast to the prevailing theology of the day as it did in the time when Swedenborg wrote his works. Yet in other respects, there is a greater divergence. Swedenborg’s Writ­ings, as to their letter, were accommodated to the thinking and language of his age; yet they have a universal applica­tion to all ages. But, on account of their more obvious mean­ing, they appear more remote to the casual twentieth-cen­tury reader than they did to those of the nineteenth century. This accounts for the fact that they have been less studied by eminent men in this century than by those in the last; yet a deeper study manifests their great importance for the present day.

Swedenborg Not a Mystic

Many of those who have heard of Swedenborg have mis­conceptions and prejudices, based on hearsay or on ideas quoted from the Writings of Swedenborg out of their con­text. The most common misconception of Swedenborg is that he was a mystic.

In Webster’s Dictionary the definition of “mystical” in­cludes: “remote or beyond human comprehension; baffling understanding; unknowable, obscure.”

The definition of “mysticism,” however, includes the following:

The doctrine that the ultimate nature of reality or the divine essence may be known, in an immediate ap­prehension, intuition or insight, differing from all or­dinary sensation or ratiocination, hence the experience or ecstasy of those mystics who claim to attain this in­sight in vision, trance or sense of absorption in or union with the divine spirit or ultimate being … a knowledge of God or spiritual things, unattainable by the natural intellect, and incapable of being analysed or explained.

Leading ideas in the Writings of Swedenborg are that Divine Spiritual or theological ideas can be understood and explained and grasped by the mind, that the rational mind is capable of receiving inmost truths, and this not in ecstasy but in wakefulness and in the clear light of the intellect. His Writings also oppose the idea of absorption in the Divine Spirit.

In the Encyclopaedia Britannica under “mysticism,” we read:

Swedenborg, though selected by Emerson in his “Representative Men” as the typical mystic, belongs rather to the history of spiritualism than to that of mysticism as understood in this article. He possesses the cool temperament of the man of science rather than the fervid Godward aspiration of the mystic proper; and the speculative impulse which lies at the root of this form of thought is almost entirely absent from his writings. Accordingly, his supernatural revelations re­semble a course of lessons in celestial geography more than a description of the beatific vision.

Although Swedenborg rightly does not belong in a class with the mystics, still less does he belong in a class with the spiritualists. The above quotation manifests another com­mon misconception concerning Swedenborg’s Writings.

His Writings treat throughout of man’s knowledge of God and the orderly steps by which man can advance to conjunction with God and charity toward one’s neighbor. Swedenborg revealed many things about the spiritual world, yet all things seen in the spiritual world, called by the writer “celestial geography,” are not understood unless it is realized that every appearance in the spiritual world is representative or an appearance of some idea, thought, or affection of the inhabitants of that world. If the things seen in the spiritual world are not seen as images of the minds or spirits of those dwelling there, they have no sig­nificance.

According to the Writings of Swedenborg, the things seen in the life after death appear so similar to those seen in this world, and the life appears so much like that of this world that those who have died, if not told otherwise, be­lieve they are still living on earth. Yet the things of the spiritual world are not material or spatial as they are in this world. For example, if one has a desire to see someone, that person is immediately present.

The spiritual world is not a material world, but a world of the mind—the most real world we can know. But the mind includes all sensations as we know them. This is illus­trated by dreams, in which things appear to the mind exactly as if they were in space, namely, in appearances similar to those of the physical world. So fully is this the case that when dreaming one is not aware of the difference, although the things sensated in a dream are not material things bounded by space. In this respect the spiritual world is like a dream. But the spiritual world in other respects is oppo­site to a dream. In the other life, a man’s mind is more alert and wide-awake than it is on earth. Contrary to what occurs in dreams, things seen in the life after death have a greater order than the things on earth, and the thinking is clearer.

In the Most Ancient Church, represented by Adam, it was common for men to have visions and dreams which were in order and in which they were instructed concerning God and heaven. But after men cast themselves out of Paradise, the mind was no longer in its primitive order, and dreams became confused and disordered. Then only occasionally were divine visions and dreams given which were of spirit­ual significance. The fullest descriptions of the spiritual world are recounted in Ezekiel and in the book of Revelation.

All primitive peoples, however, feel a contact with the spiritual world. Although their relation to that world is confused and mixed with superstitions it is very real to them and affects their lives, as is portrayed in their literature, their dances, and all things of their daily life. A leading Basuto chief told me I should do well in his country because I, like the Basutos, believe in the spiritual world. He said Christians say that they believe in the spiritual world, but they really do not. Now most Christians think they believe in a life after death and a spiritual world, but it is a thing very unreal to most of them, having little effect on their lives.

Primitive people have a feeling of the reality of the spiritual world which gives life to their arts and a living meaning to life which the scientifically inclined often lack. Not only primitive people, but also the wisest men of an­tiquity, all had a strong belief in the spiritual world—not only those we read about in the Word of God, but also the great philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Cicero.

Considering the great testimony of the whole human race as to the reality of the spiritual world, does not the lack of the perception of the reality of the spiritual world in this scientific age testify to the fact that, owing to an overdevelopment of the scientific faculty of the mind, the region of the mind that is sensitive to the reality of the spiritual world has become atrophied? Surely, to throw out the whole body of testimony of the past is neither rational nor truly scientific.

Imagine the human race so changed that no one would have dreamed for two thousand years. If a man then re­counted a dream, scarcely anyone would believe him, no matter how truthful, reliable, and well-balanced the man was known to be; and those who believed his report would be considered unscientific. Is it not reasonable to believe that when the human race concentrated on the things of the material world and science, this would make such a change in the mind that communication with those who had died would cease?

Swedenborg was different from the prophets, like John and Ezekiel, who recounted what they saw and heard in vision, in this: that he not only saw and heard the things of the spiritual world, but understood them in a state of full wakefulness. He had a clear idea of the thoughts and states of mind of those whom he saw and spoke with in the spiritual world; and he saw how these states of their mind were represented in the things which appeared around them.

To have a clear idea of the spiritual world, as something which we can prepare for by our life in this world, is evi­dently of great value; and if the Lord wished to give such an idea to men, the natural way to do it would be to open a man’s spiritual eyes and introduce him to that world, and it would be a man well prepared to describe not only the appearances of that world, but also the minds and lives of those there. Is it not irrational to deny that God could do this? Cannot a wise man see the logic of this? The sophisti­cated, however, either deny the possibility of a life after death, or they have an idea so abstract, so lacking in normal human appearances, that, if we are the same persons after death that we are here, we would be most miserable in the kind of life they envision.

The life of those who go to heaven, as described in the Writings of Swedenborg, however, though in appearance so similar to life on earth that apart from reflection it seems the same, is still far superior to life on earth, for the faculties of the mind become purer, clearer, and more awake, and those living there are not distressed by the ma­terial problems of this world. Nevertheless they have the same mind, with its loves and desires; the essential person­ality does not change. Is not any other idea one can form of the spiritual world necessarily a fantastic and unreal idea? Yet, strange to say, very few are even willing with an open and unprejudiced mind to consider the possibility that what Swedenborg said is true. By far the greater part of the theological Writings of Swedenborg are an explica­tion of the Old and New Testaments. From his experiences in the spiritual world, he knew what things in the mind were represented by the things which are recounted in the Word. He tells us that words in the Word of God have their signi­ficance according to the appearances of the spiritual world. To illustrate: When those in the life after death are con­versing about the understanding of the Word, horses appear. A horse therefore in the Word signifies the understanding of the Word. A white horse, as described by John in the book of Revelation, means the genuine understanding of the Word, and a red or pale horse, a false understanding of the Word. Again, when a man is meditating on the Word in heaven, and drawing doctrine therefrom, at a distance he may appear to be drawing water from a well, wherefore in the Word the drawing of water from a well is frequently spoken of.

The Style of the Theological Writings of Swedenborg

Turning now to the Writings of Swedenborg, we find them written in a style that is most exact, without poetic or literary effect. The reading of them requires careful at­tention, and one is not carried along easily by the beauty of the style. This is purposeful, for Swedenborg in his ear­lier writings at times wrote with a powerful poetic imagery.

In the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture, by Emanuel Swe­denborg, we read:

It is in everybody’s mouth that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet hitherto no one has known wherein it is Divine. For in the letter, the Word appears like a common writ­ing, in a style that is strange and neither so sublime or brilliant as apparently are the writings of the day. A man . . . who thinks from himself . . . and not from heaven from the Lord, may easily fall into error in respect to the Word, and into contempt for it, and while reading it may say to himself, What is this? can this be Divine? could God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak in this manner?

Yet the style of the Word is the Divine Style Itself, with which no other style, however sublime and excel­lent it may seem, is at all to be compared. . . . The style of the Word is such that there is holiness in every sentence, and in every word, and some places even in the very letters. (Numbers 1 and 3)

What is here said about the style of the Old and New Testaments is equally true of the Writings of Swedenborg. In fact, the Old and New Testaments are often written in a more poetic style than the Writings of Swedenborg.

In this connection, what is said in prophecy in Isaiah concerning the Lord’s Coming applies, like many prophecies, also to His Second Coming: “He hath no form nor comeli­ness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men. . . . We hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (53:2,3.)

Being one of the most learned men of his age and in intimate contact with other learned men, and living in a sophisticated and skeptical age, Swedenborg was well aware of the attitude of the sophisticated of his day. He knew that they would regard his Writings as visionary, reflecting a mental aberration. He also expected, as frequently declared in his Writings, that few would accept them for what they were. At the age of sixty he had nothing to gain and much to lose in reputation by publishing his theological works. He had independent means, and he ordered that any profit that might come from the sale of his theological works was to be given to a society for the distribution of the Bible. He made no attempt during his lifetime to organize a fol­lowing or to form a church, although he foretold that a church would be formed on the basis of the Writings given through him.

[3]

Beginning of the New Church and Its Spiritual Development

It is recommended that the reader, if he has not already done so, make a study of at least some of the Writings of Swedenborg in order to understand better what follows. In the meantime we suggest that he skip to the Epilogue of this book.

In the New Testament the word translated “Jerusalem” in the English Bible is often “Hierosolyma” in the original Greek.

In the True Christian Religion, by Emanuel Swedenborg, we read:

By the Nova Hierosolyma [or the New Jerusalem] coming down from God out of heaven [Revelation 21] a new church is meant for the reason that Hierosolyma [or Jerusalem] was the metropolis in the land of Ca­naan and the temple and altar were there, and the sacrifices were offered there, thus the Divine worship itself . . . and also for the reason that the Lord was in Hierosolyma [or Jerusalem], and taught in its tem­ple, and afterwards glorified His Human there. This is why “Hierosolyma” [or Jerusalem] signifies the Church . . .

Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered. . . . Behold, I create Hierosolyma a rejoicing and her people a gladness; that I may rejoice over Hierosolyma and be glad over my people.  (Isaiah 65:17-19)

That Hierosolyma [or Jerusalem] here means a church about to be established by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, is evident from . . . its description . . . that Jehovah God was to create a new heaven and a new earth. (Number 782)

Apart from publishing the books written through him, Swedenborg did nothing toward organizing a new church. When asked when the New Church spoken of in his writings would come, he replied that the Lord alone knew this. He also foretold that the Church would grow very slowly in Christian lands.

During Swedenborg’s lifetime, there were about fifty who accepted his Writings as Divine Truth. These were mainly in England and Sweden, with a few in Germany and Holland. Two leading ministers, who were members of the consistory of Gothenburg, were tried for heresy during Swedenborg’s lifetime for teaching the doctrines of the New Church and as a result of the trial were forbidden to teach theology. Later a minister of the State Church of Sweden, the Reverend Sven Schmitt, was even less fortu­nate: he was declared insane, deprived of his office, and imprisoned on account of teaching the new doctrine.

As there was no freedom of religion in Sweden, it was many years before the New Church could be organized there; but in 1788, sixteen years after Swedenborg’s death, the first New Church Society was organized in London.

From the beginning of the New Church, there were two points of view concerning the nature of Swedenborg’s writ­ings. This difference was expressed in a letter published in 1794 in The Aurora, the first New Church magazine. To quote:

I have in my journeys from place to place, lately met with different classes of readers of Honourable Baron Swedenborg’s works: One class holding it as a fixed principle with them that the Baron’s writings are really the Word of the Lord, as positively as the Writ­ings of any of the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John in his Revelation. The other class allow the Baron to be a person highly illuminated by the Lord; and that his writings are highly useful in opening the spiritual sense of the Word, and thereby the true nature of the New Jerusalem church state; but still they cannot allow his writings to be upon an equal footing with the Word Itself.

In this difference of ideas we may note a similarity to a controversy which took place in the early Christian Church when the question arose as to whether the Gospels were the Word of God and were the Scriptures, and were therefore equal to the Old Testament Scriptures. In time, those holding that they were not lost out, and this position ceased to exist in the Christian Church.

What the Writings of Swedenborg Say About Themselves

The important question is: What do the Writings of Swedenborg say concerning themselves?

Swedenborg, in a conversation with Carl Christopher Gjörwell, said:

When I think of what I am about to write, and while I am in the act of writing, I enjoy a perfect inspiration, for otherwise it would be my own; but now I know for certain that what I write is the living truth of God. (Tafel, Documents Concerning Swedenborg, II, 1404-405)

Every one can see that the Apocalypse can by no means be explained but by the Lord alone. . . . Where­fore it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit and to teach me. Do not believe, therefore, that I have taken anything therein from myself, nor from any angel, but from the Lord alone. (Apocalypse Re­vealed, by Emanuel Swedenborg, preface)

What has come from the Lord has been written. (Apocalypse Explained, Number 1183)

The books are to be enumerated which were writ­ten, … by the Lord through me. (Ecclesiastical His­tory, Number 3; Post. Theol. Works, I, p. 305)

But that the internal sense is such as has been set forth, is evident from all the details that have been unfolded, and especially from the fact that it has been dictated to me from heaven. (Arcana Coelestia, Num­ber 6597)

It is not my work but the Lord’s, who wished to reveal the nature of heaven and hell, and of man’s life after death. . . . This (Revelation) is the male child whom the woman brought forth, and whom the dragon wished to devour. (Spiritual Diary, Number 6101)

On the flyleaf of the small work, the Summary Exposi­tion, Swedenborg wrote, “This book is the Advent of the Lord, written by command.”

Swedenborg states: “In the spiritual world there was inscribed on all these books: ‘The Lord’s Advent.’ The same I also wrote by command on two copies in Holland.” (Ec­clesiastical History, Number 8.) One of those copies has been found and is now in the British Museum.

Without the Lord’s coming again into the world in Divine Truth, which is the Word, no one can be saved. (True Christian Religion, Number 3)

The Coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and glory [signifies] His presence in the Word, and revelation. . . . Such immediate revelation is granted at this day because this is what is meant by the Coming of the Lord. (Heaven and Hell, Number 1)

We read: “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews . . . and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.” (John 19:19.)

The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, the New Testa­ment in Greek, and the Writings of Swedenborg were written in Latin. That the two Testaments were not com­plete, but looked to a Third Testament, thus to a trine, is indicated by the Lord’s words: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12.)

These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. (John 16:25)

Most Protestants at this day doubt that the Bible is the Word of God, inspired as to every word. These, even if they are impressed by many things in the Writings of Swedenborg, will still not accept them as the Word of God.

As we have pointed out, there are two reasons why the Bible is not accepted by many as the Word of God, one intellectual and the other emotional. The intellectual reason is that many things in the Bible treat of history, of wars, and of dynasties, which do not appear to differ much from other history; and there are other things in the Bible which appear to be of little importance; and some things appear to be impossible, as, for example, the sun standing still. The emotional reason is, that a man—a sophisticated man— does not like to submit or humble himself before a written Revelation from God.

There are some, indeed, who are conceited, vain, and proud, and who accept the Bible but are proud of their own interpretation of it, and they are therefore unwilling to accept any interpretation that is superior to their own, espe­cially the revelation that speaks with divine authority. This was the case with the Jews, who resented the fact that the Lord spoke to them with authority and not as the scribes.

Those who have such a pride will seldom accept the Writings of Swedenborg, and especially will they not accept them as the Word of God. They may indeed accept certain things in them, because they appear more rational than the usual interpretations of the Bible, provided they feel they have an equal right to interpret the Scriptures and to judge for themselves in all matters. A man indeed must judge for himself whether the Lord has made His Second Coming in the Writings of Swedenborg or not. If, however, he comes to see that in them the Lord has made His Second Coming, if he is not proud, he will then humble himself before these Writings as the Word of God.

Every religion, to begin with, thinks the books which it regards as holy are of God. Otherwise it is not a religion but a philosophy. A church not based on Divine Truth can be based only on the shifting sands of human opinion. Such a church cannot long stand. In its beginnings, the Protes­tant Churches were founded on the idea that the Bible was the Word of God and was of divine authority. This faith, to a large extent, has been lost, and with this loss the Prot­estant Churches have become internally so weak that some, even in these churches, have asked the question, “Can Prot­estantism be saved?” The confusion even to insanity has become so great that some theologians, who call themselves Christian, inspired by Nietzsche, have proclaimed that God is dead.

Much of what the Lord said was a rebuke to hypocrisy, the counterfeit, and the false—especially those who were leaders of the church. “Woe unto you scribes and pharisees, hypocrites.” (Matthew 23:13.) Pride, clothing itself with the appearance of humility; vanity in the guise of piety; ambition masquerading as brotherly love and service; and sophistication pretending to be erudition, were rebuked.

If the hypocrisy of the world of today were denounced in the very words of our Lord, which were most sharp, the denouncer would be charged by most so-called Christians with lacking Christian charity. He would be called intolerant and arrogant. This clearly illustrates the hypocrisy so prevalent in what are called Christian lands.

No wonder that they who say God is dead think so, for haven’t they killed God already in their hearts?

If there is no belief that there is a foundation of eternal truths in a written revelation, and if men think, therefore, that all is a matter of human opinion, they soon lose interest in religion and turn to something which has a solid founda­tion, namely, to science or nature.

Many think that scientific knowledge is relative and uncertain, yet there are few who do not believe that eternal laws govern nature, and most think that science has dis­covered at least some of these laws. And though it may be felt that some of these laws, as formulated, may have to be modified, it is seldom doubted that nature has its own order and laws, whether man has discovered and knows them or not.

It is the nature of the mind to wish to deal with some­thing that has a solid foundation, as science has in nature. For this reason the intellectual development which has taken place in modern times has been mostly scientific. Un­less the Bible is regarded as a Divine basis containing all spiritual laws, as nature is a basis containing all natural laws, theology becomes a vague guesswork, unable to sat­isfy the mind of man.

Can We Surely Know Truth?

It is widely thought that in matters of religion, phi­losophy, and the arts, all is opinion and there is nothing certain. It is a common saying that “a man has a right to his own opinion”; yet if a man is of the opinion that he is Napoleon, he belongs in a mental institution.

Is there any sense in saying that a man has a right to the opinion that 2 times 2 equals 5 ? Indeed, no one can stop him from holding such a notion; but is this what is meant when it is said that “a man has a right to his own opinion” ?

There are laws which protect the right of freedom of speech and of the press, within bounds, for the freedom of expression can be unjustly taken away; but there are no laws in regard to the freedom of opinion, because no one can, by force, take away another’s opinions. Wherefore the expression, “every man has a right to his own opinion,” can refer only to a legal right, not a moral right.

For does a man have a moral right to the opinion that it is permissible to cheat or do harm to others? A man has a moral duty to weigh opinions freely and seek for the truth, but does he have a moral right to believe what is false?

When someone repeats this phrase, he usually means that no one has a right to say, or even think, that his (the speaker’s) opinions are not as good as anyone else’s. Thus what he says is the opposite of what he means; and yet the above saying he regards as an expression of charity.

When this saying is used, it is also usually implied that truth cannot be ascertained beyond a doubt, or that a man cannot grasp the truth in its completeness. The latter of these statements is true; but it is obvious that because a man’s knowledge of mathematics is very limited, this does not prevent him from being certain that he has solved a problem in mathematics. Cannot such certainty exist in other fields of thought?

It is self-evident that to kill or harm one’s neighbor is evil, and that to steal from or cheat the neighbor is evil; one who doubts this is not sane. But when it comes to theology, men are for the most part blind and therefore think that everything is a matter of opinion. They there­fore doubt the words of the Lord: “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12.) If the Lord heals our blindness so that we see, then we know for a certainty that we have been given sight. This is just as true of the sight of the mind as of physical sight.

Few are willing to make the struggle needed to become able to distinguish between holding an opinion and seeing a thing clearly in light. Many of our thoughts are opinions, because we have no light on the subject or because our knowledge of the subject is too limited; still, we should realize that a clear light is possible. Many people sacrifice and labor industriously to find the answer to scientific prob­lems, with the conviction that they can find out the truth of the matter. But few will labor with all their might to find the answer to spiritual problems. The reason for this often is that coming to the truth of a scientific matter brings a reward of this world, whereas coming to a spiritual truth brings the inner reward of a closer conjunction with God.

As the majority of the Protestant Churches no longer have faith in the Bible as a solid foundation, their faith has become weak. In the same way, many of those in the New Church, called Swedenborgians, do not believe in the Writ­ings of Swedenborg as the Word of God, the Rock of Truth upon which the New Church is founded, and such have tended to become weak in their faith.

With those in the New Church who believed in the Writings of Swedenborg as the Word of God, the question arose as to what was the nature of these Writings as the Word of God.

The Understanding of the Word

According to the Writings of Swedenborg, the Word, like a man, has a soul and a body. The inner or spiritual sense or meaning is its soul, and the sense of the letter is its body, in order that it may live in the world. The inner or spiritual sense forms the letter of the Word, in order that it may manifest itself in the world. Divine Truth, in the sense of the letter of the Word, is in its fullness, holiness, and power, for in this it rests upon its divine founda­tion.

The Word of the Lord, as we have said, treats of noth­ing but the things of the spirit. It does not in its spiritual sense treat of the history of nations, of science, or of the things of the world. Because the facts of science and his­tory do not appear to agree with the Word of God, when seen in its letter, many have come to deny the importance of the letter, not knowing that every word, every jot and tittle, has a spiritual significance. Such may try to find the spirit of the Word, but, as we have said, the spirit without the body of the Word—that is, without the letter—is a ghost or phantom. The learned in the New Church (Swedenborgian) have been faced with the same problem in relation to the Writings of Swedenborg as Christians have in rela­tion to the Bible. Some, like the fundamentalists in the Christian Church, cling to the unopened letter; others, not seeing that every word has a spiritual signification, look for the spirit or rational idea—which, apart from the letter, is a phantom.

Some held that the Writings were the internal sense of the Word. Others maintained that, although they were in­deed the internal sense of the Word, they were also clothed with a letter and were therefore part of the letter of the Word.

The question later arose as to how the Word of the Lord becomes Divine Truth in the mind of man. Is it Divine Truth with man merely because man has read it and has it in his memory?

In the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, by Emanuel Swedenborg, it is said:

The Church is from the Word, and is such as is its understanding of the Word. That the church is from the Word does not admit of doubt, for the Word is Di­vine truth itself. The doctrine of the church is from the Word, and through the Word there is conjunction with the Lord. But doubt may arise as to whether the understanding of the Word is what makes the church, for there are those who believe they are of the church because they have the Word, read it or hear it from a preacher, and know something of its sense of the let­ter, yet how this or that in the Word is to be understood they do not know, and some of them little care. It shall therefore be proved that it is not the Word that makes the church, but the understanding of it, and that such as is the understanding of the Word among those who are in the church, such is the church itself. (Number 76)

The Word is the Word according to the understand­ing of it in a man, that is, as it is understood. If it is not understood, the Word is indeed called the Word, but it is not the Word with the man. The Word is the truth according to the understanding of it, for it may not be the truth, because it may be falsified. The Word is spirit and life according to the understanding of it, for its letter if not understood is dead. And as a man has truth according to his understanding of the Word, so has he faith and love according thereto, for truth is of faith and love is of life. Now as the church exists by means of faith and love, and according to them, it fol­lows that the church is the church through the under­standing of the Word and according thereto; a noble church if in genuine truths, an ignoble church if not in genuine truths, and a destroyed church if in falsified truths. (Number 77)

Further: it is through the Word that the Lord is present with a man and is conjoined with him, for the Lord is the Word, and as it were speaks with the man in it. The Lord is also Divine truth itself, as likewise is the Word. From this it is evident that the Lord is present with a man and is at the same time conjoined with him, according to his understanding of the Word, for according to this the man has truth and the derivative faith, and also love and the derivative life. The Lord is indeed present with a man through the reading of the Word, but He is conjoined with him through the understanding of truth from the Word, and according thereto; and in proportion as the Lord has been con­joined with a man, in the same proportion the church is in him. . . . The church that is outside of him is the church with a number of men who have the church within them. This is meant by the Lord’s words to the Pharisees who asked when the kingdom of God would come:—

“The Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) Here “the Kingdom of God” means the Lord, and from Him, the church. (Number 78)

The Lord said: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” (John 15:4.) If the Lord does not abide in us and we do not abide in the Lord, we can have no genuine understanding of the Word, no matter how many knowledges from the Word we have in the memory.

To understand anything, there must be three things: There must be an objective world outside of ourselves. Furthermore, there must be a sound eye and there must be light. In relation to spiritual things, we have the Word out­side of ourselves. This is of no use unless we have light.

The Lord said: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12.)

To follow the Lord is to keep His commandments not only in the letter, but also in the spirit. The light which the Lord said He was, is the Holy Spirit which those receive who live in the Lord and the Lord in them. Apart from such a dwelling and such a life, the man is in darkness as to all things of the Word. He may know many things from the Word; but if his understanding of them is not genuine, he indeed has the Word, “but it is not the Word” with the man.

The third thing which a man must have to see is a sound or healthy eye. If a man is blind, he cannot see; or if his eye is badly defective, he sees all things distorted. The spiritual eye is the understanding, for by the under­standing man can see truths as they really are. Man, to begin with, is either spiritually blind or he has a very im­perfect understanding which distorts the things which he sees. If a man is humble, he comes to the Lord acknowl­edging his blindness and asks the Lord to heal his blindness. If a man is proud, he thinks he sees very well and does not need to be cured of his blindness. This is the meaning of the Words of the Lord:

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Phari­sees . . . said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:39-41)

The Lord comes to those who acknowledge their lack of understanding of the Word, that such may see. But at His Coming those who are in the pride of their understand­ing of the Word are made blind. If men acknowledge their blindness, that is, their lack of understanding of the Word, “they have no sin”; but if from pride in their own intelli­gence, they insist that they understand the Word, then their “sin remaineth.”

The Lord said, “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.” (Matthew 18:9.) How many are willing to ac­knowledge that their eye offends them, that is, that they falsely interpret the Word of God? or that they are blind and cannot see the true meaning of the Word for themselves unless the Lord heals their blindness? Yet it was just this for which the Lord came—”for judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind.” (John 9:39.)

Our Lord said, “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7.) It is the new eye which man has from being born again that alone sees the inner truth of the Word. The old eye can see the things of the letter of the Word, but it is blind to the inner truth or spirit of the Word. This regeneration and rebirth cannot take place quickly. A man must again enter into the womb of the Church and be gestated for a long time before he can be born again with a new eye which can see clearly; and even when he is born again, like a new infant, he cannot at first see the internal things of the Word, for this takes time. The spiritual eye, or understanding of spiritual things, must first be formed and then be perfected as to sight by the use of the spiritual eye.

Many in the Christian churches think that merely be­cause they read the Bible they are in the spirit of the Gospels. Yet, as we have said before, without struggling with all one’s mind and strength to obey the Ten Command­ments and the Lord’s Commandments, both in spirit and according to the letter, one remains in his old life. One who remains in his old life does not receive a new heart and a new spirit; that is, he is not born again. To believe that one can be born again in a moment, by a miracle, without his cooperation, is a fallacy.

In the same way, there is the danger that those in the New Church (Swedenborgian) may think they are in the Spirit of the Writings of Swedenborg, which are the Third Testament, merely because they read these Writings and have them in their memory and outer understanding, apart from giving much consideration to the light in which they are, or the state of their eye, that is, to their spiritual under­standing. They may not realize that it is only the new eye, which belongs to the new body when man is born again, which has an inner sight of the Word.

The Lord said:

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of dark­ness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:21-23)

This teaching applies to all reading of the Word. No matter how wonderful the Lord’s Word is, no matter if we have only one or two or three Testaments of the Word, if our eye is evil, our whole body is full of darkness; and if we are not proud and conceited, we shall acknowledge that we are first in such darkness, that is, until the Lord has opened our eyes and given us sight.

To come to an understanding of the Word, our minds must be active, not just in a state of passive receptivity. That is, we must work to come to a real understanding of the teaching of the Word. For this reason, the Church and the men of the Church must make a doctrine.

We read in the Arcana Coelestia, by Swedenborg:

Those are said to “see the back parts of Jehovah and not the faces,” who believe and adore the Word; but only its external, which is the sense of the letter, and do not penetrate more interiorly, as do those who have been enlightened, and who make for themselves doctrine from the Word, by which they may see its genuine sense, thus its interior sense. (Number 10584)

The Words which the Lord spoke, He called Spirit and Life, and so they are. But a man who only remains pas­sively in the sense of the letter and whose mind is not opened to the Lord in heaven does not see the Lord’s face, but only His back.

In the Writings of Swedenborg, or the Third Testament, the Lord has come again and unfolded the Word in an in­finite way, and this Testament is again Spirit and Life; it is in itself the internal sense of the Word. But if a man receives the Third Testament only passively, and if he is not enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he remains only in the sense of the letter of this Testament. All Three Testaments necessarily have a soul and a body, and apart from the presence of the Holy Spirit and the cooperation of the Church and the men of the Church in making doctrine, man sees only the body and not the soul. A man when he reads the Word can be in no truth unless the truth flows into his mind from the Lord through heaven above while he is read­ing or meditating on the Word. This is expressed in the Arcana Coelestia as follows:

When a man is in truth, as is the case before he has been regenerated, he knows scarcely anything about good; for truth flows in by an external or sensual way [that is, by the bodily senses], but good by an internal way [that is, from the soul]. Man is sensible of that which flows in by an external way, but not, until he has been regenerated of that which flows in by an internal way. (Number 4977)

When the state with a man who is being regenerated is inverted, that is when good takes the first place, then come temptations. . . . When good is taking the prior place and subordinating truths to itself, which takes place when man is undergoing spiritual temptations, the good which then flows in from within is attended with very many truths that have been stored up in his interior man. . . . For while a man is living in the body, and does not believe that all things flow in, he supposes that the things which come forth interiorly are not pro­duced by causes outside of him, but that all the causes are within him, and are his very own. Yet such is not the case. For whatever a man thinks and whatever he wills (that is, his every thought and his every affection) are either from hell or from heaven. (Numbers 4248 and 4249)

The celestial are in such a state, [that] they are able to acknowledge that all good and truth flow in from the Lord; and also that there is a perceptive power of good and truth that is communicated and appropriated to them by the Lord, and that constitutes their delight, bliss and happiness. (Number 3394)

The Divine that proceeds from the Lord, when re­ceived by the angels, makes heaven. Thus in respect to what is their own the angels themselves do not make heaven; but in respect to the Divine which they receive from the Lord. . . . That the Divine of the Lord makes His Kingdom with man, that is, heaven and the church with him, the Lord also teaches in John: “The Spirit of truth shall abide with you, and shall be in you, and ye shall know that I am in My Father and ye in Me, and I in you.” (14:17,20)

The “Spirit of truth” denotes the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord, of which it is said that it “shall abide in you”; and afterward that “He is in the Fa­ther, and they in Him, and He in them” whereby is sig­nified that they would be in what is Divine of the Lord, and that what is Divine of the Lord should be in them. (Number 10151)

In the Arcana Coelestia, Number 1807, it is said: “They who are in Divine ideas never come to a stand [stop] in the objects of the external sight; but from them and in them constantly see internal things.”

Those who are in “Divine ideas” never remain in the letter of the Word, which is the chief object of the external sight in the Church, but constantly see the internal things which belong to the spiritual sense of the Word.

From the above it is clearly evident that to be in the Divine Truth does not come merely from reading the Word, apart from the reception of the “Divine Truth which pro­ceeds from the Lord.”

It is also evident from the above that it is not only the individual who should receive the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord, but also the Church, as is evident from the number in the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture quoted above. “The church is the church through the understand­ing of the Word and according thereto; a noble church if in genuine truths, an ignoble church if not in genuine truths, and a destroyed church if in falsified truths.” (Number 77.)

The importance of man’s taking an active part in com­ing to an understanding of the Word is described as follows:

The genuine truth which must be of doctrine ap­pears in the sense of the letter to none but those who are in enlightenment from the Lord. Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, and exists with those who love truths because they are truths and make them of use for life. With others there is no enlightenment in the Word. The reason why enlightenment is from the Lord alone is that the Lord is in all things of the Word. The reason why enlightenment exists with those who love truths because they are truths and make them of use for life, is that such are in the Lord and the Lord in them. For the Lord is His own Divine truth, and when this is loved because it is Divine truth (and it is loved when it is made of use) [or when lived] the Lord is in it with the man. This the Lord teaches in John: “In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me and I in you. He that hath My commandments, and doeth them, he loveth Me, and I will love him, and will manifest My­self to him; and I will come unto him, and make My abode with him.” (John 14:20,21,23)

And in Matthew: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (5:8)

These are they who are in enlightenment when they are reading the Word, and to whom the Word shines and is translucent.

The reason why the Word shines and is translucent with such, is that there is a spiritual and celestial sense in every particular of the Word, and these senses are in the light of heaven, so that through these senses and by their light the Lord flows into the natural sense, and into the light of it with a man. This causes the man to acknowledge the truth from an interior perception, and afterwards to see it in his own thought. . . .

With such men the first thing is to get for them­selves doctrine from the sense of the letter of the Word, and thus light a lamp for their further advance. Then after doctrine has been procured, and a lamp thus lighted, they see the Word by its means. (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, Numbers 57-59.)

We read in Arcana Coelestia:

The Lord does these [good and truth] through man’s heaven, that is, through his internal; for all good and truth are from the Lord, insomuch that good and truth with man are the Lord Himself. (Number 9776)

“No man hath ascended into heaven, but He that came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in the heavens,” (John 3:13) . . . for this [Divine truth] comes down, and therefore ascends, because no one can ascend into heaven unless Divine truth comes down into him from heaven. (Number 9807 [9])

From this it can be known what is meant by “Spirit” when said of the Lord, namely, the Divine truth that proceeds from His Divine good, and that when this Divine truth flows in with man, and is received by him, it is “the Spirit of Truth,” “the Spirit of God,” and “the Holy Spirit”; for it flows in immediately from the Lord, and also mediately through angels and spirits. (Num­ber 9818 [3])

The sense of the Word is circumstanced in accord­ance with the heavens: the supreme sense … is for the inmost or third heaven; its internal sense . . . for the middle or second heaven; but the lower sense . . . for the lowest or first heaven . . . and the lowest . . . sense is for man while living in the world, and who is nevertheless of such a nature that the interior sense, and even the internal and supreme senses can be com­municated to him. For man has communication with the three heavens. . . . Hence it is that within man is the Lord’s kingdom, as the Lord Himself teaches in Luke: “Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.” (17:21) (Number 4279 [2])

Angels, all of whom have at one time lived on earth as men, are in the inner sense of the Word from the Lord and not from themselves; wherefore, the internal sense which is communicated to man is from the Lord and is indeed the Lord with man.

In the two quotations above there is an apparent para­dox. One passage treats of the teaching or doctrine drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word, by reading or hear­ing, that is, by physical influx, through the bodily senses. In this, by study, man works as if from himself. The other treats of the actual spiritual influx, an influx of the Holy Spirit, that comes to man from within.

In order to live an actual spiritual life, man must be prepared so that he can receive the spiritual influx and com­munication from the Lord, and at the same time in the ap­parent physical influx from without, in which he acts as if of himself. Thus a man draws teaching or doctrine from the sense of the letter of the Word as if of himself, but acknowl­edges that every genuine truth of doctrine with him is from the Lord, who is the internal of the Word. Thus he believes the words, “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” (John 3:27.)

From the above, it is evident that whereas the Lord de­scended and made His Second Coming in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg which are in their essence the Internal Sense of the Word, but clothed on earth with a letter, the Truths which are set forth in the literal sense of this Testament are not spiritual and celestial truths with a man un­less they at the same time flow into man from the Lord from within.

For we read:

The natural [mind] of man sees things in the light of the world, which light is called natural light. Man procures for himself this light by means of the objects which enter through the sight and hearing. . . . When light from heaven flows into these things, the man be­gins to see them spiritually. . . . This insight increases according to the influx of the light of heaven . . . for the light of heaven inflows from the Lord through the in­ternal man into the external man. From this then man has perception. . . . There must be an influx of living light through the internal man from the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia, Number 9103 [3], [5])

To illustrate the above in a somewhat crude way: AH laws of nature exist in the created world whether man knows them or not. In the same way, all Divine Truth ex­ists in the Word of the Lord whether or not it is known by man. In fact, the truths which men know, compared to those that are unknown, are as a cup of water is to the ocean.

There are things which man knows directly by his five senses, things which are often better known by a primitive man than by an educated man. The laws of science are ar­rived at by an intellectual process. These laws are sometimes quite contrary to the direct evidence of the senses: for ex­ample, that the sun stands still relative to the solar sys­tem and does not traverse the sky from east to west. That objects which appear inert, as to their particles, are in a high state of activity. In the same way, there are appear­ances in the letter of the Word, as seen in the light of the world, which appear very differently when seen in the light of heaven.

Every revelation of the Word is clothed in a letter. There are those who cling to the letter and ignore the Spirit, that is, the inner sense, and those who would seek the Spirit and lose faith in the letter.

It is said in the Writings of Swedenborg that John the Baptist represents the Word in the external sense.

We read:

John only inaugurated them into the knowledges from the Word respecting the Lord, and thus prepared them to receive Him; but . . . the Lord Himself regen­erates man by means of the Divine Truth and Divine Good proceeding from Him… .”The waters” with which John baptized signified introductory truths, which are knowledges from the Word respecting the Lord. (Apoc­alypse Explained, Number 475:20)

In relation to the Lord’s First Coming, there had to be one who would go before and prepare the way by preaching repentance and proclaiming the Coming of the Lord. In the same way, in relation to the Second Coming, the under­standing of the literal sense of the Writings of Swedenborg has to come first; and again, this sense calls to repentance and prepares the way for the Lord’s Coming in the Divine Truth of the Holy Spirit and the fire of His Love, which proceed from Him.

That Swedenborg teaches that the Writings have a liter­al sense is evident from the following quotation:

They [certain spirits] said … that those things which I have written are so rude and gross, that they suppose nothing which is interior could be understood from these words or the mere sense of the words. I also perceived by a spiritual idea that it was so, that my ex­pressions were very rude, wherefore it was given me to reply that my words are only vessels into which purer, better and interior things might be infused, as if the literal sense [thereof]; that such vessels, as it were, are the many literal senses of the prophets. (Spiritual Diary, Number 2185)

There are four characteristics of the Word of the Lord, in which it differs from all other writings.

One: It is written in a continuous and perfect Divine series from beginning to end. (See Arcana Coelestia, Num­ber 7933.)

Two: In this series as to its inmost sense, it treats solely of the Lord and His glorification; in its inner sense, it treats of His Kingdom or the Church and the man of the Church and his regeneration. (See Arcana Coelestia, 3540)

Three: Every word in the Word of the Lord is from the Lord and can be opened to infinity. (See Arcana Coelestia, 771, 1936)

Four: The Word is perfect in ultimates or as to its letter, for every least thing therein is holy. Seen merely as to its letter, it indeed appears imperfect; but seen from within, or seen in the light of heaven, its perfection appears. (See Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, Numbers 6 and 28.)

If a sophisticated man views the Word from his unre-generated mind, he will not accept these statements as true. For the Word as seen from without does not appear to be perfect; rather, it appears to contain errors, things contrary to scientific knowledge and many things that are crude and apparently unworthy of God.

If one believes that the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, one can see how this applies to these books.

If one believes the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the Word of the Lord, one can see that this also applies to these Writings, for we are told in these Writings that books not having these four characteristics are not the Word of the Lord; yet viewed only from without, the Writings of Swedenborg do not appear to have the above four charac­teristics.

If the Writings are the Word of the Lord, they are open to a continuous unfolding. The explication of the Word may be true or false. The true explication of the Word is from the presence of the Lord in the Church, that is, it is the work of the Lord’s Holy Spirit, although man does this unfolding, in appearance, as of himself.

The genuine Truths drawn from the Word in the Church are the doctrine of the Church or its teachings. This doc­trine is from the Lord and is open to indefinite expansion even to eternity.

To illustrate how a man may be enlightened when he reads the Word, consider the following quotation:

“Certain spirits . . . were in unbelief concerning the Word of the Lord, as to there being such [sublime] things stored up in its bosom, or within it; for in the other life spirits are in unbelief like that in which they had been in the life of the body; and this is not dissipat­ed except by means provided by the Lord, and by living experiences. On this account, while I was reading some of the Psalms of David, the deeper insight or mind of these spirits was opened, .. . and being amazed at them [they] said that they had never believed such things. The same portion of the Word was then heard by many other spirits; but they all apprehended it in different ways. With some it filled the ideas of their thought with many pleasant and delightful things, thus with a kind of life in accordance with the capacity of each one, and at the same time with an efficacy that penetrated to their inmosts, and this to such a degree with some that they seemed to be uplifted toward the interiors of hea­ven, and nearer and nearer to the Lord, according to the degree in which they were affected by the truths and the goods therewith mjoined.

The Word was then at the same time brought to some who had no apprehension of its internal sense, but only of the external or literal sense; and to them the letter appeared to have no life. From all this it was manifest what the Word of the Lord is when the Lord fills it with life—that it is of such efficacy that it pene­trates to the inmosts; also what it is when He does not fill it with life—that it is then the letter only, with scarcely any life.

Of the Lord’s Divine mercy I too have been per­mitted in the same way to see the Lord’s Word in its beauty in the internal sense, and this many times; not as it is while the words are being explained as to the in­ternal sense in detail, but with all things both in general and particular brought together into a single series or connection, which may be said to be the seeing of a ce­lestial paradise from an earthly one. (Arcana Coelestia, Numbers 1771 and 1772)

A certain spirit. . . was suddenly taken up on high. … He then spoke with me from thence, saying that he saw things more sublime than human minds could pos­ sibly apprehend        Soon others also were taken up into

the same heaven,.. . one .. . testified to the same effect, saying . .. that he was too much amazed to describe the glory of the Word in its internal sense. Then, speaking from a kind of pity, he said that it was strange that men knew nothing at all of such things. (Arcana Coeles­tia, Number 3474 [1],[3])

A man so far as his spirit is concerned may also be raised into heaven; only then can he see the Word of the Lord in its beauty as a celestial paradise. A man in this world may not be conscious of having been so taken up into heaven, but he can know it from the fact that he has been given to see the Word in its glory and beauty as a heavenly paradise. A man who has not been so elevated has never seen the beauty and glory of the Word, no matter how diligently he has studied it, and no matter how extensive his knowl­edge of it is, or how well he can appear to explain it.

The Genuine Church

The genuine Church is the Word made flesh in an image of the Lord, who was the Word made flesh in an infinite way. Anything in the Church which is not the Word made flesh is not the genuine Church. A wise man, therefore, in giving his loyalty to the Church, gives his loyalty to what he sees in the Church to be the Word become flesh. To any­thing which he sees has crept into the Church from any other source, he does not give his loyalty. The simple who are not wise in the things of the Word can only with diffi­culty make this distinction. Still, all should strive for this ability. A man should feel loyalty to the Church and a desire to protect it, as long as he perceives that the Church’s dominant love is loyalty to the Word of the Lord. If a man comes to perceive that the Church is not giving its first loyalty to the Word, but rather to itself and its own tradi­tions, then he should eagerly seek for a Church which gives its first loyalty to the Word of the Lord.

Those who are genuinely of the Church have the King­dom of the Lord within them—of these the Church is con­stituted. Others who may be in the Church are not of the Church. Even with those who have received something of the beginning of the implantation of the Church, there are great regions of the mind which are outside the Lord’s Kingdom, and as to those regions they are not of the Church.

The Kingdom of Heaven is a Divine man. It is said, in the Divine Providence, by Emanuel Swedenborg:

Its inmost [the Divine Providence] is that man may be in this or that place in heaven, or in this or that place in the Divine celestial man; for thus he is in the Lord. (Number 67)

Each one from infancy is introduced into this Di­vine Man; whose soul and life is the Lord. . . . [That is] those who receive are carried to their places through infinite turnings. (Number 164)

In heaven the Divine of the Lord is love to-Him and charity toward the neighbor. (Heaven and Hell, Num­ber 13 heading)

Man, so far as his mind and body are concerned, how­ever, is not Divine, but only a vessel which may receive the Divine. Man is no more Divine than a candle is light or an electric light filament is light. Nevertheless, the King­dom of Heaven which is Divine can be received by man, but it is never man’s, for man of himself apart from recep­tion is spiritually dead.

The Lord, however, is life, for He made the very ves­sels of His body Divine and therefore rose with the body un­like any man.

The Divine of the Lord received by man, compared to the Divine of the Lord Himself, is in the ratio of the light of a candle compared to the sun.

There are some who think that the Divine, being Infinite, is far above the Church and the man of the Church and cannot be in the Church and in man.

Although the Infinite Divine cannot be in man unaccom­modated, yet it is the teaching of the Writings of Sweden­borg that the Divine can be so accommodated that it can be in the Church and in the man of the Church, as in the following quotation:

The “candlestick” [signifies] the Divine Spiritual in heaven and in the Church. . . . The Divine Celestial in the good of love, and the Divine spiritual in the truth of faith thence; both proceeding from the Lord. (Ar­cana Coelestia, Number 9548)

Confusion may arise from failure to distinguish be­tween the Divine Itself of the Lord and of His Word, the Infinite source of all good and truth, and the Divine as re­ceived by the Church and the man of the Church. This Divine is called above, the celestial and spiritual Divine. Con­cerning this distinction, we read:

In the case of the angels, the Divine is not in them, but is present with them, because they are only forms recipient of the Divine from the Lord. (Arcana Coeles-tia, Number 4971)

The great importance of acknowledging that the Divine is received by man is evident from the following passage:

Man is above the beasts, in such a state as to be able to understand what pertains to the Divine Wisdom, and to will what pertains to the Divine Love, thus to receive the Divine; and a being that is capable of so receiving the Divine as to see and perceive it in himself cannot but be conjoined with the Lord and by that conjunction live forever. What would the Lord be in relation to the entire creation of the universe if He had not also created images and likenesses of Himself, to whom He could communicate His Divine ? … What of the Divine would there be in all these things, unless they had as their end to be serviceable to subjects that could receive the Divine more nearly, and see it and feel it? And as the Divine is of glory inexhaustible, would He keep it to Himself alone, or would it be possible for Him to do so? (Divine Providence, Number 324)

We read in the Arcana Coelestia, Number 8328:

Frequent mention is made [in the Word] of “the Father who is in the heavens”. . . . Regarded in Itself the Divine is above the heavens; but the Divine in the heavens is the Good that is in the Truth that proceeds from the Divine. This is meant by “the Father in the heavens,” as in Matthew:

“That ye may be the sons of the Father who is in the heavens; that ye may be perfect, as your Father who is in the heavens is perfect.” (5:45,48; 6:1)

“Our Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name.” (6:9)

“He that doeth the will of the Father who is in the heavens.” (7:21)

The Divine that is in the heavens is the Good which is in the Divine Truth that proceeds from the Lord; but the Divine above the heavens is the Divine Good Itself. . . . How the case is with the Divine Truth that proceeds from the Lord, that it is in heaven good, may be illustrated by comparison with the sun, and with the light that is from the sun. In the sun is fire, but from the sun proceeds light, which light has within itself heat, from which gardens sprout forth and become like paradises. The very fire of the sun does not pass to the earth (for it would burn up and consume all things), but the light wherein is heat from the fire of the sun. In the spiritual sense this light is the Divine Truth; the heat is the good in the Truth from the Divine Good; and the resultant paradise is heaven.

There are those who think they have in them a spark of the Divine Itself, a spark of the Sun of Heaven. Such may desire to approach the Infinite Divine Itself. Like Daedalus, they fly toward the sun with wax wings, until the wings melt and they fall to earth. Such regard themselves as little gods.

At the other extreme are those who regard all the truths they have as human and uncertain, who deny that the Lord, Who is the light of the world, can dwell in their heaven or inner mind and form a paradise from the Divine Truth received in which is the Lord’s love.

To approach the Divine Itself is to approach the invisible Father, God, whom “no man hath seen at any time,” rather than the Lord, our Father in the Kingdom of God which is within. The true believers acknowledge the Lord present in the light of Divine Truth, within which is good. The Lord forms a paradise of the Church within them.

Such see the Divine Human of the Lord, the visible God-man. Those who deny that the Divine Truth can be seen and received in the mind and life worship an invisible God with whom there can be no conjunction by love.

A man may enter the Church for many reasons. He may do so because he wishes to feel or appear spiritually more important than others. He may do so because he wishes to belong to the wave of the future. He may do so because he has a rebellious spirit, and out of such a spirit he may re­sent the Church he is in and express this resentment by joining another Church. There are also other nongenuine reasons for joining a Church. Such, however, are not true members of the Church. Nor are those true members of the Church who have been brought up in a church and remain in it from habit, from natural affections, and from a personal love for those with whom one has associated from childhood, such as parents and companions. There are many who love the external of the church, its services and customs, from attachment to childhood memories. Such think they have a faith, though many of them have little love of the truth for the sake of the truth and for the sake of the good of life and, apart from such personal attachments, would care little for the Kingdom of Heaven. Others who lack a living faith remain in the Church out of fear and the distress it would cause them to break away from their family and friends.

The genuine Church consists only of those who cleave to the Church in order that they may lose their old life and receive new life from the Lord by means of the Word.

Those who are truly of a genuine Church do not believe that its members are necessarily better than those of other churches—far from it. The characteristic of those in the Lord’s Church is this: that there is a continuous call for repentance and for humiliation before the Lord in order that it may continually become more and more the Lord’s Church on earth; but as few have the desire to give up the life they are in, a true Church expects to grow slowly.