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 ^'Provc all things, holdfitst that ichicl^ is good," 
 
 PRESBYTERIANISM 
 
 A .Nil 
 
 DEFENCE & KEPLY ? 
 
 TO A 
 
 PIECE UPON, AND AGAINST SWEDENIiOIUMANISM, 
 
 \.-,..VJ \ 
 
 APPEARING IN 
 
 '^Tke Home and Forelf/n Itecord of the 
 Canada Presbyterian ChurcIC 
 
 FOR NOVEMBER 18G9. 
 
 BY A MEMBER (XOT A MINISTER} OF 
 
 ^ of Toronto, Caii«ida. 
 

Presbyterianlsm and '^Sweikenborgiaidsiik" 
 
 In the "Home and Foreign Becord of the Canada Presbyterian 
 Church" for November 1869 appears a piece upon, and against 
 "Swedenborgianism," to which the following is a reply : — 
 
 The receivers of New Church doctrines, recognise Emanuel' 
 Swedenborg as the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the 
 herald of the New Jerusalem. 
 
 We cannot fail tu see the Divine Providence in the peopling 
 of the North American continent, with men "from all quarters 
 of the old world, and trained in every atmosphere of religious 
 thought." 
 
 The United States of America we can look upon as called into 
 existence for the purpose — chiefly— of performing great spiritual 
 uses, and amongst those, the splitting up of Protestantism into 
 "two hundred" and more sects, may be looked upon as not one 
 of the smallest. This splitting up is inevitable, being the result 
 of freedom of thought, which exists upon this continent, with 
 fewer trammels than in any portion of the old world. Wo here 
 must not be understood as characterising the governments as 
 better, or the people as better, or even more enlightened, nor do 
 we deem them worse •, but there is seen the removal of the arti- 
 ficial restraints, that bind the men of all European nationalities 
 in their native lands. Beligious teaching is not accepted undis- 
 puted, and though new errors are often accepted, old errors are 
 searched out, exposed and rejected. (Beligious conviction of any 
 value must always be accepted in freedom.) This nation — the 
 United States of America — fights against old ideas, despises old 
 age (often iniquitously), and the government has its mission and 
 will fulflJ it, in spite of rebellion, and the more dangerous ele- 
 ment of dishonesty in its officials. The results of this great gath- 
 ering of the nations may well be looked upon with the most in* 
 tense Interest by every Christii^ man, for the hand of the Lord 
 is in the collection. 
 
 In the important concession of freedom pf thought and freedom 
 (within bounds) of Action, there 19, Ui tiiePlTi&o Providence^ no 
 
— 2 — 
 
 important difTcrcnce botweon the States and Canada, so that there 
 is in each an equally good field for the New Church to rescue, ah 
 it will rescue many "enquiring, but unin8tructed minds," and 
 the means shall be afforded to instruct them in "the things which 
 belong to their eternal peace." 
 
 It may bo that all so rescued shall have previously passed in- 
 to the ranks of infidelity ; for it is an incontrovertible fact, that 
 those who in this doy adhere to the letter only of the Word, 
 whether they be Protestants or Roman Catholics, cannot in face 
 of the arguments advanced by men of science and common sense, 
 satisfactorily answer the doubts, the fears, the unbelief of those, 
 who investigate for themselves, and who accept nothing on the 
 ipse dixit of any man, or on the authority be it ever so awe-in- 
 spiring of any church or of any priesthood. And iixQ/allaeioua 
 doctrines not found in the Word of God, but laid down by these 
 two branches of the first Christian church, in their Creeds, their 
 Catechisms, their Confessions of faith &c. must melt away before 
 the march of Truth, which these doubts, fears and unbelief pre- 
 cede ; the searchers for truth shall find it, for the promise is : 
 "Seek and ye shall find." But as regards these erroneous doct- 
 rines, not only will truth-searchers reject them, but we may 
 give it as the actual reason for the admitted unsuccess of mission- 
 ary effort in our day that only the truth can noyr jyrevail, and the 
 simple— good amongst the men outside of the Christian fold, 
 find some of the doctrines inculcated by Christians to be repuls- 
 ive to their more correct intuitions, and inconsequence refuse to 
 receive them. 
 
 As addressing Presbyterians, we may at this point single out 
 "Predestination" concerning which Swedenborg writes: — "But 
 what more pernicious doctrine could have been devised, or what 
 more cruel notion in regard to God could have been conceived, 
 than that any of the human race are damned by a positive pre- 
 determined decree ? How cruel is a faith which maintains that 
 the Lord, who is love itself, and mercy itself, can cause a multi- 
 tude of men to be born, and devoted to hell ; or that thousands 
 and tens of thousands, are brought into the world, with an in- 
 evitable curse on their heads ; — and that in his infinite divine 
 wisdom he never did and never does provide some method of de- 
 liverance for those, who lead good lives, and acknowledge the be- 
 ing of a God, that they might 6scap<^ everlasting fire and punish- 
 ment ( Is not the Lord the Creator of all, and the Saviour of 
 
— 8 — 
 
 of 
 
 all ? And docs not ho alone guide and govern all his creatures, 
 not desiring the death of any? What then can bo believed or 
 conceived more inhuman, than that whole tribes of nations and 
 people should under his auspices and intention bo delivered up, 
 by a positive pre-detormined decree, as a prey to the devil, and 
 to glut his voracious appetite ? This however is the foetus brought 
 forth by the faith of the present church : the faith of the New 
 Church abhors it as a monster. ' ' True Christian Religion No. 486. 
 
 The New Church feeling or sentimant in all the sects now ab- 
 hors this doctrine, as monstrous, and the day of preaching that 
 "there are children in hell, a span long," which Calvinism teach- 
 es, is almost past for ever. 
 
 In the "Record" the allusion to the life of tho "philosopher" 
 is in milder terms, than we generally find proceeding from tho 
 prejudiced Presbyterian mind, but tho allusion to Joseph Smith, 
 and the Mormon delusion or imposture introduces a comparison, 
 which in malignity equals any thing that has proceeded from 
 similar sources. The Presbyterian writes: "he pretended that 
 God appeared to him, and opened up to his view tho spiritual 
 world which continued open to him ever after, and the sayings 
 and doings of which he regularly recorded for tho instruction of 
 the faithful. " The accusation of pretension has no point because 
 Swedenborg founded no sect. All his standard works were writ- 
 ten in the Latin language, and were not translated until after 
 his departure into the other life, and strange to say, even when 
 now translated, they seem to be in pretty much of a dead lan- 
 guage to our erudUe antagonist. We would invite you, Pres- 
 byterian, to put them in the hands of your Knox' College stud- 
 ents, and let your Professors refute them in tho classes. They 
 can at least pick out the "memorable relations," and cast ridi- 
 cule upon them, not knowing that the doctrines must to a certain 
 extent be accepted, before these valuable illustrations can become 
 of any value — before they can become really memorable. — But 
 put them in the students' hands, it may be that your Professors' 
 occupation will soon be gone, being changed for the better, and 
 that we may have additional candidates for the New Church 
 ministry, or more valuable truth from Presbyterian pulpits. — 
 Let the Professors also beware of being representatives in this 
 age of those to whom the Lord said, "Woe unto you lawyers I 
 for ye have taken away the key of knowledge : ye entered not 
 in yoursoives, and them that were entering in ye hindered." — 
 
w 
 
 — 4 — 
 
 • 
 
 Luko 11, 62. Has tho writer in the "Record" learned nothing 
 from Mormonism ? Has "modorn Bpiritualism" taught him 
 nothing f Docs not tho starting up of those and other sects, such 
 as for instanco that llussian horror tho "Skoptzi," show that tho 
 descent of truth is universal, that the coming of goodness to men 
 is universal, but that if the recipients are "in the gall of bitter- 
 ness and tho bond of iniquity," the good and the true is perverted 
 into tho evil, and the false in their lives and in their intellects. 
 Therefore we must bo careful how tho descent, tho coming, finds 
 us. And Presbyterian, can you make no distinction between u 
 Joseph Smith, who leads his followers in person into delusions 
 and immorality/, and an Emanuel Swcdenborg, who in person 
 leads no one, and refers every statement he is commissioned to 
 make to tho Grand Standard, tho written Word of God ? point- 
 ing man to Him, who was Tho Word made flesh, as tho sole 
 source of Goodness and Truth, to Him alone as the object for 
 man's reverence, worship and love. The writer in the "liecord," 
 if he can distinguish between right and wrong, between false- 
 hood and truth, well knows tho difference that is a great gulf 
 between Mormon imposture and the teachings of Swcdenborg, 
 why then will he slander by implication ? There is not in Swe- 
 denborg's religious writings, a sentence upon any subject, from 
 marriage down to ordinary traffic and hand labour, that invites 
 men to a breach of any one precept of the ten Commandments, 
 in the letter, or in tho spirit, on tho surface or implied, or a word 
 that would absolve from guilt, tho man, who in act or in thought 
 sins against them. 
 
 As to "few Swcdenborgians professing to understand their own 
 articles of faith, or being able to give a reason for the hope "such 
 as it is" that is in them," we would remark that all Swcdenbor- 
 gians, cannot be expected to be teachers ; but it certainly would 
 be an absurdity to expect to find any one amongst them, especi- 
 ally in tho condition of the Society thus far, who could give no 
 reason for accepting the prominent doctrines of the New Church 
 and for rejecting tho prominent doctrines of the Old. We have 
 already alluded to ^^Predestination, '[we may now give the Swe- 
 dcnborgian's reasons for rejecting the "Three-Persons-Theory" 
 invented by men. The Old Testament teems with the reiterated 
 statement that God is one, and there is none else, whereas the 
 doctrine of three persona means — {logically, can only mean) — 
 three gods ; and we know tiie dootrine leads to confirmation in 
 
— 6 — 
 
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 jited 
 
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 tho belief in throe Godsi. In prtiyor for instnnco, you place thrco 
 before your imnginntion — tho Father, central andliighest, whom 
 you ask for panlon and mercy for the Bak«» of His Son's sufter- 
 ing8, (for His vicarious sacritlce f Him.«elf for your sins to ap- 
 puaso tho angry Father). Tho Son, a second God, you picture 
 as standing or set down at the right hand of the Father, and you 
 beseech that He, (or They) will send tho H(»ly Ghost, (of whom 
 however you hnvo no personal conception) to sanctify you and 
 comfort you; thus tho three-persons-theory lends to thclxliof in 
 three Gods, whom by a forced belief, which is no belief at all, 
 you designate as one God. — Three in the niiiul, One on tho lip. 
 We show that thi^ One God is the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ 
 by tho following texts : Isaiah 43, 10 & 11, "Hcforo mo thcrowas 
 no God formed, neilher shall there bo after nio, I even I am tho 
 Lord, and besides me there is no Saviour." Isaiah 9, 0. "For 
 unto us a child is born. ..and His name shall be called. ..thoMighty 
 God, tho Everlasting Father, tho Prince of rcuco." Here Iho 
 child born is plainly stated to bo the Mighty God, tho Everlast- 
 ing Father, and there is but one flighty God, there can be but 
 one Everlasting Father; also by tho Lords words in John, "I, 
 and tho Father are one." "Before Abnilu^m was I am." — 
 "Philip saith unto him: Shew us tho Father and it ?ufliccth us, 
 Jesus saith unto him : Have I been so long time with you and 
 yet hast thou not knoAvn 77ie, Philip? he that hath seen mr hath 
 seen tho Father, and how sayest thou then, shew us the Father." 
 "I am in the Father, and tho Father in mo." "Tho Father that 
 dwelleth in me," (tho Divinity in the Humanity) "ho doeth the 
 works." "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name that 
 will /do." "If yeshall askanjthing in my name /will do it." 
 He also said "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you an- 
 other Comforter that ho may abide with you for ever. Even tho 
 Spirit of Truth, ye know him for he dwelleth with you, and shall 
 be in you, I will not leave you comfortless'" — the Lord here and 
 always grants what he appears to pray for — "/will come to you. " 
 These would be some of the reasons given by any Swcdonbor- 
 gian for believing that "in Him" (the Lord Jesus Christ) "dwel- 
 leth all the fulness of tho Godliead bodily." But further, tho 
 Swedenborgian fears not to meet the texts upon which the doct- 
 rine of three persons is ostensibly founded. Matthew 28, 18. 
 "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth — Go ye 
 therefore," (mark the therefore) "and teach all nations, baptiz- 
 
— 6 — 
 
 \ng them in tho name of the Faihtir, and of the Son and of the 
 Holy Ohoflt ... and lot /am with you always." — There ia no 
 throo-pcrsons-thcory deduciblo from those words, and see how 
 the Apostles understood them, soo how they proceeded to obey the 
 command Acts 2, 88. "Repent and be baptized every one of 
 you in the name of Jeaua Christy for the rcmiAsion of sins, and 
 ye shall receive tho gift of the Holy Ohost. " Thus tho command 
 was fulfilled by baptizing "in the name of Jesus." All power 
 being in Him, unquestionably tho Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
 which are powers in heaven and in earth, are in Him, for Ho 
 has glorified His Humanity and made it Divine. Tho power of 
 Divine Love and Divine Goodness, represented by the Father, 
 tho power of Divine Wisdom and Divine Truth, represented by 
 tho Son ; and the power of the Divine Proceeding from Love 
 and Wisdom and from Godness and Truth, All this power is in 
 Him, for "Ho is tho Alpha and the Omega, tho Beginning and 
 tho Ending, tho First and tho Last, who is and who was, and 
 who is to con.c ihoAlrydghty.^^ Why does the rrcsbylcrian not 
 give a personality to all tho attributes of the Lord ? why stop at 
 throe ? whence cometh idol worship ? can it not tlius bo ti ncocl I ! 
 a people given to the use of symbols in their worship first ascribe 
 a personality to the attributes of the Deity, make roprc&ontations 
 of these from forms in nature, and gradually falling away frora 
 the original conception, they forget the representative nature of 
 tho symbols and worship them as actual divinities. 
 
 Swcdenborgians believe in the Divinity of tho Lord, thus in 
 tho Divinity of His Humanity. Presbyterians make Him a sec- 
 ondary Divinity, we "crown Him Lord of all." And Presby- 
 terian: herein is the exaltation of the Lord, in our creeds and in 
 our minds, not "the exaltation of Swedenborg over the Word" 
 of which you accuse us as being guilty. 
 
 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, 
 the Word and tho Holy Ghost and these three are one," 1st John 
 6, 7. Who disputes a trinity here ? not the Swedenborgian, 
 there is a Trinity unquestionably, but not three persons any more 
 than there are three persons in the trinity alluded to in the suc- 
 ceeding verse. "And there are three that bear witness inearth, 
 the spirit and the water and the blood, and these three abide in 
 one." Further the writer in the "record" makes allusion to the 
 event at our Lord's baptism, when the dove was seen, and av^ice 
 was heard saying, "This is my beloved Son." The dove was an 
 
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— 7 — 
 
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 appoaranco, and was of course representative, and to be seen re- 
 quired the opening of the spiritual eyes, the voice was also spiri- 
 tual aud heard only bj those whose spiritual ears were opened. 
 Surely you do not believe that the dove was nctutilly or mutcri- 
 ally a dovo ond the third person in the Trinity; and a voice is 
 not a ]H>rHon. It was the vuice of the Lord, there is but one Lord, 
 the trinity was here present because tiie Lord was present in 
 whom is the Trinity, and the more deep truths contained In the 
 event, you can get from Emanuel Swedonborg's unfoldings of 
 the Word, if your prejudices will permit 3'ou to poruso them in 
 singleness of heart. 
 
 Next comes the doctrine of "Justiflcation by faith alone" so 
 dear to the Protestants, the grand panacea that has led one half 
 of Christendom nntray to t!. >ppofiite extreme of Koman Catlio- 
 licism. One would suppose in tt a full reply to and refutation of 
 this dragonlc doctrine, couU be given by referring its votaries 
 to the 2nd chapter of i\ • general opis.e of James, but the Swe- 
 denborgian has furth''r toadvf en against it, that the command- 
 ments are "Cease to do evil, 'ni. a ''If thou wouldst enter into lifo 
 keep the commandments." John the Baptist prearlied i»6 a pre- 
 paration for the reception of tuu Lord not merely repentance, 
 but the bringing forth cf fruits, meet for rc^jontflnco to bring 
 forth; ho pointed out to the people their duty, to the publican 
 his duty, to the soldier his, and bade them all do their d'»ty, as 
 though he would take up the wor'^s of the prophet Micah and 
 say, "He hath shewed thee, man, what is good, and what doth 
 the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy and 
 to walk humbly with thy God." It is significant that the Lord's 
 call to his disciples (and we can surely all rise to the perception 
 of a spiritual meaning in the words) is "Follow me." Not be- 
 lieve on me, but "follow mo" which includes the belief. Genu- 
 ine charity and genuine faith being according to Scripture and 
 according to rational common sense a one. United, they flow 
 forth from the man in uses or good works, and life, whilst faith, 
 without works is dead, being alone. 
 
 The Swedenborgian would protest against the false deduction 
 made by the Presbyterian from Swedenborg's words as exhibited 
 in the paragraph in the "Record" headed "Redemption" for 
 Swedenborg, as to Redemption writes pointedly that "it is a work 
 purely Divine," that man acts only "(wof himself" and through^- 
 out, he teaches nothing unreconcilable with the apostle's admoni- 
 
— 8 — 
 
 tion. "Work out your own salvation with foar and trembling, 
 for it is God that workcth in you, to will and to do of His good 
 pleasure." As to the crucifixion, of which it is said Swedcnborg 
 "could make nothing at all," it seems to us thnt in a few words 
 we have from Swedenborg upon this subject, a statement so im- 
 pressive that he must indeed bo a shallow trifler, who would call 
 it nothing at alU T. C. K. 2 and 126. '-The passion of the Cross 
 was not redemption but the last temptation which the Lord en- 
 dured as the Grand Prophet ; and it was the means of the Glori- 
 floation of His Humanity, that is of the Union with the Divinity 
 of His Father." 
 
 "The Lord suffered not as to His Divinity, but as to His 
 Humanity, and at the time of suffering the most intimate and 
 thereby the most complete union was effected." "We quote the 
 mere statements, which in the work referred to are accompan- 
 ied by argument and proofs; it is added "Although redemption 
 and the passion of tho cross are distinct, yet they make a ono in 
 respect to salvation.'* ' 
 
 The Presbytarian gives as part of Swedenborg's system "The 
 great end of tho incarnation, of the life, and sufferings and death 
 and resurrection of our Lord is simply to afford man access to 
 God." Can it be possible that teachers of the Christian religion 
 consider this view erroneous ? what else was the end ? His name 
 is "Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." Sins 
 removed man, and kept man, frorv* God. Mankind had shut 
 themselves out from heaven (from the heavenly life). He camo 
 to bring us back (to enable us to come back), and His birth as a 
 man was for that purpose. His life was a combat against dark- 
 ness and death, and His death and resurrection were a triumph, 
 and all for that purpose. But no ! you Presbyterians will have 
 two Gods, the ono furious against man, the other offering him- 
 self up as a vicarious sacrifice to appease the Angry Deity. You 
 do not accept the Word, you reject its teachings, and substitute 
 instead thereof, the unscriptural teachings of some parts of your 
 "Shorter Catechism." — You prate about a God of Justice, as an 
 ancient heathen might. Can you not see that it is thoroughly 
 ii^rational, stupid, and unjust to adopt the idea that in the room 
 and stead of one being, another being can suffer /or the saiisfac' 
 tion of justice f Preach this doctrine to your people, force your 
 children to give up their intuitive perceptions of justice by dril- 
 ling it into them ftoiu your stand-point of authority ae fathers, 
 
— 9 — 
 
 or as teachers, and you help to make them fanatics, why ? because 
 it is false, and it is evil, it is contrary to, it is diametrically op- 
 posed to "the true light which lighteth every man that cometh 
 into the world." But let us follow up the rational argument. 
 A man commits a crime, is found guilty, and sentenced to death, 
 at the hour of execution his friend comes forward, and offers him- 
 self as a substitute — to suffer instead of the criminal, that his 
 friend's life may be saved ; the representative of law accepts the 
 substitute, sacrifices him, and the guilty man is set free. Where, in 
 the name of common sense is justice ? Is it satisfied — has it been 
 done ? No ! justice has not been done to the criminal, for ho has 
 escaped his deserts, justice has not been done to the substitute, for 
 he was innocent of the crime for which ho suffered, and the re- 
 presentative of law has perverted justice in accepting and sacri- 
 ficing u substitute. Civilised law founded upon Divine Law, and 
 under the Divine Providence, equity, existing in every living 
 man protest against it, and reject it as absurd ; justice is outraged, 
 not satisfied, and yet Presbyterians dart to picture the Divine 
 work of man's salvation in this horrible style, and grind it into 
 the very souls of their youth. Has not the vicarious sacrifice 
 been thus ground, forced, into the mind of the writer by the Pres- 
 byterian teachers of his youth ? the picture often chosen being 
 that of a boy in school coming forward and volunteering himself 
 as a substitute for the whipping which his bosom-friend deserved, 
 and the injustice of the school-master — the representative of 
 justice — in accepting and punishing the volunteer never for a 
 moment hinted at ? So thoroughly has the doctrine of the vicari- 
 ous sacrifice (as accepted by Presbyterians and the majority of 
 all the sects of the first christian church, including the church of 
 Rome from whom the other sects received it) done its work, that 
 the implied injustice of t1ie Just and Perfect Lord, who is bim- 
 self our Father and our Saviour, for centuries has never seeming- 
 ly struck these votaries of a spiritual Juggernaut, that crushes 
 souls. 
 
 "The soul that sinneth it shall die.'* "Be not deceived God 
 is not mocked, ... he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh 
 reap corruption, and he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spi- 
 rit reap life everlasting." But "when the wicked man turneth 
 away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that 
 which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive," for the 
 Lord willeth not that any man should die, but rather that be 
 
— 10 
 
 should turn and live. He has made this possible by opening up 
 a way — an actual open path — by His Humanity "the only Medi- 
 ator between God and man, the Man Oirist Jesus." He being 
 "the Woy— the Truth— and the Life." "He that believeth on 
 Him though he were dead yet shall he live, and he that liveth 
 and believeth on Him shall never die." "To believe in the Lord, 
 is not only to acknowledge him, but also to do his commandments ; 
 for a bare acknowledgement proceeds only from thought grounded 
 in some degree of understanding ; but the doing of his command- 
 ments proceeds from an acknowledgement which has its root in 
 the will. The mind of man consists of understanding and will ; 
 and it is the part of the understanding to think, and of the will 
 to do and practise ; while therefore a man only acknowledges the 
 truth from the thought of bis understanding, he comes to the Lord 
 with only half his mind ; but when he does his commandments he 
 comes with his whole mind, and this is truly to believe," See T. 
 C. R. 161. We can see this by reflecting upon the contrast drawn 
 by our Lord, between the servant who knew his lord's will and 
 did it Jiot, and he who knew his lord's will and did it. It is not 
 a mental a mere mental (so called) belief that shall act as a talis- 
 man even at the hour of death, and change a man from a form 
 of evil and falsity, into a form of goodness and truth, but an act- 
 ual departure from evil, until it becomes horribly hateful in all 
 its manifestations, and leads to a doing of good, to following in 
 the footsteps of the Lord. Spiritually, an evil man, is in the 
 likeness of his father the devil— a form of hell — as a good man is 
 in the image and likeness of God — a form of heaven. Any ration- 
 al man can accept it as an axiom, that true repentance is reform- 
 ation, or that reformation is the fruit meet for repentance to bring 
 forth, and reformation which has reference to the understanding, 
 (a reformed person being in the affection of truth for truths-sake) 
 must precede regeneration, and is spiritually, a gradual process 
 corresponding in every respect to the conception, the formation in 
 *the womb, the birth, and the education of the natural human be- 
 ing. The Word is full of allusions to this correspondence, all the 
 narrations of marriages, births, &c., having reference thereto.— 
 To the question "How is man to be justified before God ?" we^ 
 answer : by being made juaU "He that doeth righteousness is 
 righteous even as He is righteous." 
 
 To arrive at Swedenborg's method of interpreting the Word 
 called "refined trifling" the writer in the "Kecord" has taken a 
 
— 11 — 
 
 harried glance at the Index to the Apocalypse Revealed, and 
 jumps at inferences that we hope simply reveal his ignorance, and 
 not his dishonesty to his neighbour, the Swedenborgian. There 
 is very little meaning to the natural mind — if there is any — on 
 the surface of the Apocalypse, yet being the "Word of God there 
 must be an unfathomable depth of meaning — spiritual meaning — 
 in every natural word made use of. "Why are some seen upon 
 white horses, others upon red, some clothed in scarlet, others in 
 white, some in purple, others in fine linen, and why are other 
 portions of the Word full of this style of imagery ? The explana- 
 tion cannot be hero given at length, yet as an antidote to the per- 
 verted inferences of the Presbyterian, we shall quote the explan- 
 ation of part of a text that may strike home to the consciousness 
 of Presb3'terians. Apocalypse Revealed No. 537. "Rev. chap. 
 12, V, 3," And behold, a great red dragon, signifies thoae in the 
 Reformed Church who make God three and the Lord two, and 
 separate charity from faith, and insist on the latter being compe- 
 tent to salvation without the former. Such are here meant, and 
 in what follows by the dragon; for they are against the two essen- 
 tials of the New Church, which are that God is one in essence 
 and person in whom there is a trinity, and that the Lord is that 
 God ; also that charity and faitli are a one as an essence and its 
 form ; and that none have charity and faith, but they who live 
 according to the commandments of the decalogue which say that 
 evils are not to be done. . . . The reason why he is called a great 
 dragon is because all the Reformed Churches distinguish God in- 
 to three persons and made faith alone saving, except some here 
 and there Avho do not think alike concerning the trinity and con- 
 cerning faith : they who divide God into three persons and ad- 
 here to these words of the Athanasian doctrine: "There is one 
 person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy 
 Ghost;" and also to these: "The Father is God, the Son is God, 
 and the Holy Ghost is God :" these — cannot make one God of 
 three ; they may indeed say that they are one God, but they 
 cannot think so. In like manner they who think concerning 
 the Lord's divinity from eternity as concerning the second per- 
 son of the Divinity, and concerning his Humanity in time as con- 
 cerning the humanity of another man, cannot do otherwise than 
 make two of the Lord, although it is said in the Athanasian doct- 
 rine, that his Divinity and Humanity are one person, united as 
 the soul and body, The reason why the dragon is called red, is 
 
— 12 — 
 
 because red sign ifies what is false from the evils of concupiscen* 
 ces, which is the infernal false principle. Now because these two 
 essentials of the doctrine of the Keformed Churches are falses and 
 as falses devastate the church, since they take away its truths and 
 goods, therefore they were represented by a dragon ; the reason 
 is, because by a dragon, in the Word, is signified the devastation 
 of the church ; as may appear from the following passages : **I 
 will make Jerusalem heaps a habitation of dragoiis, and I will 
 make the cities of Judah desolate," Jerem. ix, 11, Jcrom. 10, 22, 
 Jerem. 49, 83; Isaiah 34, 13 — besides other places." 
 
 We may next allude to the resurrection of the natural body, 
 which Presbyterians naturally cling to, as others do, to the ven- 
 eration of relics — mouldering bones, and the like — which is the 
 natural consequence of such a belief. Open a grave, a hundred 
 or more years old, and where is the body ? Not in the grave ! it 
 has most probably all disappeared, and gone into mineral, vege- 
 table and animal forms ; yes, has even gone to form the consti- 
 tuents of other human bodies. When Moses and Elias appeared 
 to the opened spiritual vision of the disciples on the mount of 
 transfiguration, did they not have bodies, how could they have 
 talked with the Lord if not? St. Peter says : 1 Pet. 3, 18—20 Christ 
 . . . being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 
 by which also He went and preached unto the Sjnrits hi prison ; 
 which sometime were disobedient ... in the days of Noah ..." 
 These Spirits must have had ears to hear, eyes to see, minds to 
 comprehend ; in short : they must have been in Spiritual bodies 
 or else the Lord could not have preached to them. ("There is a 
 natural body, and there is a spiritual body." "God is not a God 
 of the dead but of the living : for all live unto Him.") They had 
 spiritual bodies, and appeared as men in the human form, yet 
 their natural bodies had long been dissipated, and the resurrec- 
 tion (in the idea of the Presbyterian) had not then, and has not 
 yet come. A spiritual body must have a spiritual world in which 
 to expatiate, and to deny to a spiritual body senses corresponding 
 to the corporal natural senses, but of a spiritual nature, would be 
 to give it a mere name to live, a mere semblance of life with the 
 characteristics of a statue. 
 
 That sublimely blind leader of the blind in matters theological, 
 the poet Milton, has usurped the place of the Divine Word in 
 many minds, so much so that his pedantic not to say blasphemous 
 production "Paradise Lost" is frequently referred to by innocent 
 
— 13 — 
 
 God 
 had 
 yet 
 rec- 
 not 
 lich 
 ting 
 be 
 Ithe 
 
 minds and others in proof of doctrine. He tenches that angels 
 are a separate creation, whereas the word teaches that angels are 
 men "are they not ministers sent forth to minister to those who 
 shall bo heirs of salvation," Have they not always appeared in 
 the human form; but to see them and to see any thing spiritual, 
 a man's spiritual vision must bo opened. See 2 Kings 6, 17, 
 '♦And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man ; and he saw ; 
 and behold the mountain was full of horses, and chariots of fire 
 round about Elisha." 
 
 Wo would refer also to Mark IG, 5, "they" (the women) "saw 
 a young man sitting on the right side clothed in a long white gar- 
 ment." Luke 24, 24, "Behold two men stood by them in shining 
 garments." But wo may note that Peter, when he looked into 
 the sepulchre, behold the "linen clothes" only, his spiritual eyes 
 were not, as the eyes of the women were, upon that occasion, 
 opened to the perception of spiritual forms. 
 
 Likewise John in the Apocalypse writes, "I fell down to wor- 
 ship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. 
 Then saith he unto mo, See thou do it not, for I aiji thy fellow 
 servant and of thy b. ^thren the prophets, and of them which 
 keep the sayings of this book ; worship God." Death (so-called) 
 is to us the resurrection because man rises again immediately af- 
 ter death, in the spiritual world, and according as his "appetites, 
 cupidities, desires, aflfections, loves" have been regulated in the 
 natural life, according as his loves and affections and his life 
 thence have been ^ood or evil, so shall the eternal future state of 
 the man be ; (his heaven, or his hell,) his form, and his surround- 
 ings must also spiritually correspond, and how absurd it is to con- 
 ceive of a material body existing in a spiritual world, the angels 
 would require to be re-furnished with nrtural eyes, to perceive 
 it. Swedenborg in No. 851 of the Apoc. K'^v. in unfolding chap. 
 20, 5. ^'This is the first resurrection'^ writes, "By resurrection 
 is signified salvation and life eternal ; for there is only ono resur- 
 rection to life a second is not given ; therefore a second resurrec- 
 tion is nowhere mentioned ; for they who are once conjoined with 
 the Lord are conjoined with him for ever ; and this in heaven for 
 the Lord says "I am the resurrection and the life" &c. John 11, 
 25 & 26* That this is what is meant by the first resurrection, 
 appears also from the following verse : *^ Blessed and holy is he 
 that hath part in the first resurrection." 
 
 We would here refer to the two well-known texts "Seek ye the 
 
— 14 — 
 
 Lord while ho may be found," and the following verses: "Corao 
 unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden" and what fol- 
 lows. These two merciful announcements are from the same Di- 
 vine author, our Father, our Saviour, our Comforter, His name 
 is One. There is no vindictive Father demanding satisfaction 
 from fallen man, in wrath, in anger, in fury ; these appearances 
 are only in "the letter Mhich killeth." How could the Bource of 
 happiness have such unhappy qualities ? "God was in Christ, re- 
 conciling the world unto himself, 2 Cor. 6, 19." There is no Son 
 offering up Himself a sacrifice for the offenders to appease an angry 
 Deity, and for the satisfaction of justice. No ! He hath made 
 Himself a sacrifice for sin, by enduring "the contradiction of sin- 
 ners against Himself;" the "sinners" embracing all the evil and 
 the false, the power of which centres in hell. He suffered in re- 
 deeming us, the salvation being "from sin/' 
 
 There is no Holy Ghost of a totally incomprehensible nature, 
 therefore made imaginary and awful, to frighten weak minds in- 
 to insanity, by the effort of the human imagination to ascertain 
 what the sin- against Him can be, (the rew of hell meantime at 
 hand, continually ready to flow in and accuse the troubled soul, 
 and bring the imaginary sin home to it). Head Dr. Workman's 
 last report of numerous cases in the Toronto Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 In order to have a clear idea of the Divine proceeding it 
 is necessary to understand that the Lord is the Great "Sun of 
 Righteousness ;" and Swedenborg in his Divine Love and Wisdom 
 146, writes: "But when it is known that tho»Lord appears as a 
 sun, a just idea may be had of the Divine proceeding or Holy 
 Spirit as being one with the Lord, yet proceeding from Him as 
 heat and light from the sun ; which is the reason why angels are 
 in Divine heat and Divine light in the same proportion as they 
 are in love and wisdom. No one who is ignorant that ihe Lord 
 appears in the spiritual world as a sun, and that His Divine (Spi- 
 rit) proceeds from Him in this manner could ever know what is 
 meant by proceeding, whether it only means communicating those 
 things which are of the Father and the Son, or illuminatmg, and 
 teaching." And in Apoc. Rev. 666, he writes: "Sines the Word 
 is Divine Truth and Divine Truth spiritually illuminates, there- 
 fore it is said that the Word was dictated from Jehovah by the 
 Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit illuminates, and teaches 
 man ; but who does not know that God is omnipresent, and that 
 what is holy proceeds from Him, and that when He is received 
 
— 15 — 
 
 He gives illustration ? who may not thence conclude ilmt the Holy 
 Spirit is not a God by itself, distinct from Jehovah, or the Lord, 
 a3 one person from another, but that it i« Jehovah or the Lord 
 himself? He who acknowledges the Divine omnipresence will 
 also acknowledge f/iis. That by the Holy Spirit, in the Word, is 
 meant the Divine life of the Lord, thus himself, and in parti' :lar 
 the life of his wisdom, which is called Divine Truth may be seen 
 in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord Nos. 
 50 — 58, where it is proved from the Word." — The New Jerusa- 
 lem is descending, but how slowly, we are so unfitted for its re- 
 ception ! nevertheless the promise is "A little one shall become a 
 thousand, and a small one a strong nation." Do not for a moment 
 suppose that wc assert that all now of the New Jerusalem arc 
 Swedcnborgiuns, nor that all Swedenboigians are of the New 
 Jerusalem, but we do receive and have higher manifestations and 
 unfolding of Divine Truth, than have hitherto, or otherwise, been 
 revealed to Christian men, and rest assured of this, "that whoso- 
 ever docs not approach the true God of heaven and earth, cannot 
 have entrance into heaven, inasmuch as heaven is heaven from 
 that One God, and that that God is Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah 
 the Lord, from eternity Creator, in time Saviour, and to eternity 
 Regenerator, who is therefore at once the Father, Son and Holy 
 Spirit," Apoc. Rev. No. 901. 
 
 And now, Presbyterian, a few closing remarks : Shape your the- 
 ology, found your hope of salvation upon the Word — the Truth — 
 the Life — alone; the truth is coming even through your own 
 sect, the sermons heard from Presbyterian pulpits in various pla- 
 ces are widely different from the Presbyterian sermons of twenty 
 or thirty years ago. In spite of Creeds, in spite of Catechisms, 
 containing truth and falsity, half-blended ; (unhappy attempt at 
 union!) in spite of Confessions of faith, and such writers as thou I 
 Oh man of the Presbyterian "Record" : Divine Truth comes in 
 various manifestations, it is the second coming of the Lord ; and 
 let us all (Presbyterians and Swedenborgians) beware how "TVte 
 Master" finds us as to life. 
 
 And we would urge the truth that if a man confimls himself 
 in error up to the time of this mortal putting on immortality, he 
 shall awake in the other life with the same confirmations, and in 
 a life constituted as the other life is, where can the end be? but 
 in a spiritual insanity far removed from the Source of Wisdom. 
 The simple are in less danger from this than you "Doctors of 
 
— 16 — 
 
 Divinity" and learned men ; therefore wnlk humbly, and resist 
 not truth oven though it comes to you, through him whom now 
 you affect to so much despise "Emanuel Swedenborg servant of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ." "If any man will do His will, he shall 
 know of the doctrine whether it be of God." John 7, 17. 
 
 "TRUE CHRISTIANITY." 
 
 "In vain the name of Christ wo bear" 
 "Unless the heart of Christ wo share." 
 "Through faith and charity alone" 
 "Is Christ received, and felt and known." 
 
 "In vain the name of Christ we bear" 
 "Unless the faith of Christ we share," 
 "Not words alone, but deeds shall prove" 
 "The living faith that works by love." 
 
 "In vain the name of Christ we bear" 
 "Unless the cross of Christ wo share," 
 "The path that leads us to the skies" 
 "Demands love's perfect sacrifice." 
 
 "In vain the namo of Christ we bear" 
 "Unless the love of Christ we share ;" 
 "That love that bids the dying live" 
 "And whispers on the cross "Forgive"." 
 
 Toronto, March 1870. 
 
i resist 
 m now 
 vant of 
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