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THE -* 
 
 TRUE SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 IK 
 
 LETTERS TO A MAN OF THE WORLD 
 
 DISPOSED TO BELIEVE. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. E. LE BOYS DES QUAYS, 
 
 EDITOR OF "LA NOUVELLE JERUSALEM." 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN MURDOCK. 
 
 THIRD EDITION, 
 
 REVISED AND CORRECTED BY 
 
 GEORGE BUSH, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF HEBREW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 FIKST AND SECOND SERIES. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 OTIS CLAPP, 23 SCHOOL STREET. 
 
 LONDON: J. S. HODSON AND WILLIAM NEWBERY. 
 
 1849. 
 
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 REESE LIBRARY 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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THE 
 
 TRUE SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 IN 
 
 LETTERS TO A MAN OF THE WORLD 
 
 DISPOSED TO BELIEVE. 
 
 BY 
 
 J. E. LE BOYS DES GUAYS, 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, 
 
 JOHN 
 
 Mto 
 
 THIRD EDITION, 
 
 REVISED AND CORRECTED BY 
 
 GEORGE BUSH, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF HEBREW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK. 
 1 
 
 OTIS CLAPP, 23 SCHOOL STREET. 
 LONDON: J. S. HODSON AND WILLIAM NEWBERY. 
 
 1849. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The first edition of this work having been exhausted some months 
 since, it has been deemed desirable to issue it in a new and improved 
 form. With this view it has been subjected to a rigid revisal, and 
 now makes its appearance in a style of execution in some degree 
 worthy of its invaluable contents. It would not be easy to point to 
 any single work illustrative of the conjoint philosophy and theology 
 of Swedenborg, more happily adapted to its end. Taking the dis 
 turbed but meditative skeptic in the crisis of his mental conflicts, 
 he leads him gently onward, from certain rudimentary principles of 
 belief, through a series of well compacted and consecutive reason 
 ings to the grand conclusions embodied in the faith of the New 
 Church. The evolution of the argument is so skillfully conducted 
 one step of the demonstration rises so naturally from another 
 every difficulty proposed is so luminously cleared up that admission 
 after admission is forced from the doubter, till at length the momen- 
 toua result is seen to be inevitable man is immortal j there is a 
 heaven and a hell ; he lives as perfect a man after death as before; 
 he dwells in a spiritual body, in a spiritual world ; that world is 
 replete with objective scenery suited to the senses which take cog- 
 
Vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 nizance of it ; his destiny there is the necessary product of his life 
 and character here ; and every conclusion reached on the subject by 
 the fairest reason goes to confirm the truth of Revelation. 
 
 Considering the profound and abstruse nature of the subjects 
 treated, the work will be seen to be extremely felicitous in the clear 
 ness of it expositions, and a certain attractive simplicity in the 
 style relieves the mind from that latent oppression which it some 
 times experiences under the continuous influx of new ideas. 
 
 It will be seen, in the concluding letter, that a second series is 
 promised, relating mainly to the principles on which the inspired 
 Word is constructed, and by which it is to be interpreted. We are 
 happy to announce, that in the present edition of the work, this series 
 of Letters, as far as published, has been added to the preceding. This 
 may perhaps enhance somewhat the price of the volume, but no reader 
 of the first we presume would willingly dispense with the second. The 
 whole will be found to contain a most able and beautiful expose of the 
 leading disclosures of Swedenborg, relative to the philosophy of the 
 universe and the constitution of the Divine Word. 
 
 New York, April 1, 1848. O. B. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 LETTER I. Introductory. Unhappiness of a Skeptical State of 
 
 Mind. The Being of a God and the Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 Eeasonnot to be laid aside in Theological Inquiries. Conditions 
 of the Discussion. . . . ..: : .> " . . Page 5. 
 
 LETTER II. Consistency of the Existence of Evil with the Idea of 
 a God essentially good and all-powerful. Creation originating 
 in a Spiritual Sun. Man a free Agent. The Laws of Divine 
 Order. - . . ^ . " / * Page 10- 
 
 LETTER III. The surest Means of conducting Man to true religious 
 Principles, to assure him of his Immortality. Page 20. 
 
 LETTER IV. Of Spiritual Substances and Forms. God Very Man, 
 the Man-Type. The Soul an Image of God, a substantial Being, 
 having a Spiritual Body, endowed with all the organs which 
 constitute the terrestrial Body with which it is clothed. Page 28- 
 
 LETTER V. Demonstration of the Immortality of the Soul or of 
 the Man-Spirit. Digression respecting the Nature of An 
 gels , r ! l^oYT Pa e43 
 
 LETTER VI. Exposition of the Spiritual World. The Relations 
 which exist between God, the Spiritual World, and the Natural 
 World. End, Cause, and Effect. The Spiritual World, a real 
 World corresponding to ours. Digression concerning Space and 
 Time. . -" . . Page 57 
 
Viii CONTENTS, 
 
 LETTER VIL Answer to an Objection. Solution of the Problem 
 of the Soul of Beasts. Man the only Being endowed with Im 
 mortality. . . . . . . . . . Pac;e 72 
 
 LETTER VIII Of the Creation of the Universe. Questions on this 
 Subject. Considerations on the Infinite. God only Infinite. 
 God did not create the Universe out of nothing, but from Him 
 self by Emanation. The Universe distinct from the Creator. 
 Of the Spiritual Sun and the Natural Sun. Theory of Atmo 
 spheres. Confirmation of this Theory drawn from Modern Sci 
 ence. . .. . . . ? . . ... . Page 86 
 
 LETTER IX. The Impossibility of forming an Idea of the Creation 
 of the Universe, unless God be regarded as Man. Survey of the 
 Universe in its general primitive Constitution. Correspondence 
 between the Spiritual and Natural Earths. View of the Exte 
 rior Manifestation of the Spiritual World. Division into three 
 Heavens. Nature of the Spiritual Earths. --Changes effected 
 by the Fall of Man. The Fall progressive and not instanta 
 neous. The Law of Transmission by Germs. Of Hell ; Man 
 alone has produced it. How it is to be understood that Man 
 has the power of creating Hell.-- Of a mixed Spiritual Organ 
 ism, or of the World of Spirits.. . . Page 105 
 
 LETTER X. New View of the Nature of Angels. All the intel 
 ligent Beings who people the immaterial World, are Men that 
 have originally dwelt upon the natural Earths. The Formation 
 of the Universe gives an Idea of the Formation of Man. First 
 Investigation relative to Spiritual Beings. Of Influx, or the 
 Manner in which Life penetrates to the Inhabitants of the 
 Spiritual World, and consequently to Man. The Connexion be 
 tween the two Universes and the Indestructibilty of the Mate 
 rial Universe. ;. , .! r r ; . . . . Page 120. 
 
 LETTER XI. Each general Division of the Spiritual World in the 
 human Form. Does it follow that the natural Universe has 
 this Form? Simple Survey of our Universe as the modern As- 
 
CONTENTS. IT 
 
 tronomy presents it. Is there a central Sun around which all 
 other Suns revolve ? The Universe not Infinite though indefi 
 nitely extended V-* % l f f / Page 141 
 
 LETTER XII. The preceding Ideas on the Deity perfectly consis 
 tent with the Doctrines of True Christianity.. Application of 
 these Ideas to 1st, Redemption, 2dly, the Trinity. Sequel to the 
 Exposition of the Spiritual World ; Questions of Details. Pas 
 sage of Man from this Life into the other. Of the intermediate 
 World. Digression concerning Correspondences. The Spirits 
 of that World do not live isolated, but in Societies, like Men in 
 the present World. . ... Page 158. 
 
 LETTER XHI. The Language of Spirits in their Intercourse with 
 each other. Digressions ; 1st, On Man s Memory ; 2d, On his 
 Thought. The Language spoken in the world of Spirits the true 
 Universal Language Page 183. 
 
 LETTER XIV. Of the Form of the Man-Spirit during his sojourn 
 in the World of Spirits. Why Man grows old in the Natural 
 World, and does not grow old in the Spiritual World. Terres 
 trial Immortality would have been for Man an insupportable 
 Burden. In the Spiritual World the Old Man and the Infant 
 become Men in the Flower of their Age, the one receding, and 
 the other advancing to that Point. How Youth is renewed in 
 the Spiritual World. Examples. .The Trinity in the Person of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, and the true Nature of his Human 
 ity. . Page 200. 
 
 PART n. 
 
 LETTER I. The Understanding not to be blinded in dealing with 
 Religious Truth. Intellectual Conviction not the same with 
 True Faith. Quotations from Swedenborg, respecting the Affir 
 mative and Negative Principle. Plan of the ensuing Discus 
 sion .... Page 215. 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER II Historical expose of the Word from the Origin of all 
 things. True Theory of the Creation. Proceeded from the 
 Divine Word as the Divine Wisdom. The Word in the Most 
 Ancient Church not written, but inwardly revealed. By the 
 Fall, the Spiritual Man of the Most Ancient Church became 
 closed, and hence the necessity of a New Form of the Word. 
 A new Church, called the Ancient Church, instituted, to which 
 was given a Written Word. Embodied the Remains of the Doc- 
 trinals of the former Church. Consisted of Representatives 
 founded upon Correspondences. As the Ancient Church de 
 clined, the Key to the Science of Correspondences was gradually 
 lost. The Jewish Church then instituted, and a New Dispensa 
 tion of the Word granted them, but still constructed on the 
 Principle of Correspondences. Nature of its Inspiration. Its 
 internal Sense revealed for the Use of the New Church.Page 223 
 
 LETTER HI. Analogy between the Word of Man, and the WORD 
 of God. Difference between the two. The Word of God inex 
 haustible, because, Infinite like its Author. Prejudices : (1st), 
 The Jews considered as the People of God. (2d), The Penta 
 teuch considered as the Source of the Ancient Religion. Ob 
 stacles ; (1st), God represented as subject to Human Passions. 
 (2d), Facts and Expressions that offend against Morality. (3rd), 
 Assertions considered as unworthy of God : Inconsistencies ; con 
 tradictions. Why this new Revelation was not sooner made 
 known to the World, Would not have been received. The 
 Sadducees of old less culpable than the Pharisees. The mod 
 ern Pharisees, representing Theology, more opposed to the Doc 
 trines of the New Church than the modern Sadducees, repre 
 senting Philosophy. . . % ." . . Page 240. 
 
TO A MAN OF THE WORLD. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 LIKE yourself, sir, I have been a prey to that moral malady, 
 that spiritual stupor, which has resulted from the philosophy 
 of the last age. All that you say, therefore, respecting the 
 state of mind you are in, does not surprise me. I know by 
 experience, how painful, how insupportable is doubt. I have 
 experienced all the intellectual phases through which you have 
 passed. In vain we have recourse to the sciences, the arts, or 
 to high philosophy ; in vain we throw ourselves into the vor 
 tex of business, or give ourselves up to the pleasures of the 
 world ; all this will not remove doubts from the mind of a man 
 who is disposed to serious meditation. This state, you say, 
 is very painful : certainly it is, for such doubt, like the vexa 
 tion mentioned by the poet, incessantly rides behind its victim. 
 Happy, however, are they, who in this age of religious indiffer 
 ence feel the agonies of doubt. The necessity oi being relieved 
 from such a state of mind excites them to enquiry : and who 
 ever perseveres in such an enquiry, will be satisfied in the end. 
 Your state is that of a sick man who knows his disease, and 
 feels all its attacks, but who, on that account, can be restored 
 to health. Would you not be more deserving of pity if, like 
 the greater part of your associates, you were in a state of com 
 plete indifference? You would then resemble a paralytic 
 
LETTERS TO A 
 
 who feels no pain, but for whom there is no hope of recovery 
 while this fatal insensibility continues. 
 
 You are disposed to become a believer, without however, as 
 you add, being compelled to renounce your understanding. I 
 accept very willingly this restriction ; it accords so much with 
 my own views, that I should have proposed the reservation to 
 you, if you had not mentioned it yourself. When I discuss 
 any subject of religious philosophy with an unbeliever, I am 
 careful not to say to him, " Lay aside your understanding and 
 and believe blindly;" for this would certainly either break off 
 the discussion, or render it altogether useless. I induce him, 
 on the contrary, to make all cbjections which the subject 
 allows of. I go so far even as to point out those which do not 
 occur to him, in order that new doubts may not afterwards 
 arise in his mind j for experience proves thaf a man does not 
 arrive at a real conviction, on a controverted subject, cnly so far 
 as he examines it in all its bearings, in the full exercise <i his 
 liberty and rationality. Truths can only enter the mind of man 
 gradually, and in proportion as opposing errors are removed ; 
 and errors can only be removed so far as man acknowledges 
 freely and rationally that what he believed to be true is false. 
 Thus so far from wishing to trammel our future discussion, I 
 give it, as you see, the greatest latitude. And now, let us 
 define, as far as possible, our positions respectively. I see 
 from your letter, that you acknowledge a God distinct from 
 nature, and that there is no doubt in your mind on this impor 
 tant point. You are in this, much farther advanced than most 
 persons that are met with in society ; for though it is not any 
 longer the fashion publicly to deny the being of a God, yet 
 how numerous are they, especially in the learned world, who 
 make no distinction between God and nature ! Question them 
 on this subject, and they will at once declare that they admit 
 the existence of God, but if they are pressed with questions, 
 it will easily be perceived that in their minds they confound 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 
 
 tms God with nature. When it is a principle with a person 
 not to admit anything as ex-sting but what he apprehends 
 with his corporeal senses, he is driven to this lamentable 
 result. You do not find yourself very happy in this sad posi 
 tion, which I have likened to the state of a paralytic who feels 
 not his malady. If you suffer, it is because your belief is 
 limited to the acknowledgment that there is a God, the Creator 
 of nature, and that, 0:1 all the other questions, you remain in a 
 distressing uncertainty. For instance, relative to the immor 
 tality of the soul, you have nothing but probabilities; you 
 have no certainty. The arguments of philosophy, and those 
 of R-iman Catholicism, in which religion you were born, are 
 far from being satisfactory to your mind. You are desirous of 
 believing that you live after death, because you feel in your 
 self something which tells you that the existence of man can 
 not be limited to the miserable life he leads upon this earth ; 
 but when your attention has been directed to all that has been 
 told you on the subject of the human soul, you find the 
 hypotheses of philosophers, and the ideas of theologians so 
 vague, so incoherent, and so little in agreement with interior 
 sentiments, that you are obliged to reject both. 
 
 With respect to the interior sentiment, or interior views and 
 perceptions, let me here make an observation : it is, that the 
 ology and science, in putting forth fine treatises on the immor 
 tality of the soul, without previously giving any clear idea on 
 the soul itself, have obscured the question rather than thrown 
 lii^ht upon it; and that upon this subject, the ideas of a little 
 child that has lost its mother, or those of an honest peasant 
 who laments the loss of his companion, approach much nearer 
 to the truth, as you will hereafter acknowledge, than those of 
 a learned doctor of Sorbonne, or of a profound philosopher. I 
 should not then be astonished at the little advantage you have 
 derived from perusing these treatises. 
 
 Your wish to become a believer, without giving up the use 
 
8 LETTERS TO A 
 
 of your reason, shows me clearly why you have addressed 
 yourself to a member of the New Jerusalem, rather than to a 
 theologian of the Old Church. You have thought, no doubt, 
 that a religion appearing in this age of rationalism, ought not 
 to exclude reason from its religious philosophy, and in that 
 you are not mistaken ; but if you should think that the mem 
 bers of the New Jerusalem, like those innovators we see rising 
 up on all sides, reject the Christian religion, you would be 
 seriously mistaken. The New Jerusalem rests on Christian 
 ity, as Christianity rests on the Law and the Prophets. It does 
 not abolish, but repairs and completes. We are, therefore, 
 Christians j we are Christians in the broadest sense of the 
 term as you will be convinced when you understand the 
 principles of the Lord s New Church. 
 
 Now that it is established that you are an unbeliever disposed 
 to believe, provided you are not required to make a sacrifice of 
 your reason, and that I am a Christian in the fullest accepta 
 tion of the term, that is to say, admitting, from the sinc;>rest 
 conviction of its truth, all that the New Jerusalem teaches, 
 our respective positions are sufficiently defined for the present. 
 The discussion now to follow can alone show to you what the 
 name of Christian fully implies in the New Church. 
 
 We might now enter upon the subject, but before doing so, 
 it will be well for us to understand each other on certain points 
 relating to the argumentation. I shall point out in this first 
 letter, such as appear to me the most important. 
 
 You wish to be convinced by reason ; to your reason then, 1 
 must address myself. Now, in a subject so elevated, where 
 we have to treat of God and his attributes, of the soul and its 
 immortality, and in general of a world invisible to our natural 
 or material eyes, your reason tells you that you cannot require 
 natural or material proofs, or in other words, proofs which 
 strike the senses of your earthly body. As for the rest, I do 
 not think that your reason will refuse to admit the arguments 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 
 
 which I shall offer. I will not depart from the rules of good 
 logic, and I shall follow, as much as possible, the method of 
 geometricians. Like them, I shall go from the known to the 
 unknown ] and like them, I shall have recourse to proofs from 
 analogy. Now this kind of demonstration, it being admitted in 
 the exact sciences, you cannot decline to accept. Lastly, when 
 I shall speak to you of the spiritual world, I shall require you 
 to abstract time and space, as in geometry they must abstract 
 one or many dimensions of bodies, or as in mechanics, they 
 must abstract movement, resistance of the air, friction, &c. 
 
 If this manner of treating rationally, and, so to speak, mathe 
 matically, the great question of religious philosophy, should 
 excite your astonishment by its novelty, I would say to you : If 
 a divorce has taken place between religion and reason, it is 
 men alone who have caused it. God has never reproved rea 
 son because it was reason ; but from the moment when man 
 himself had perverted his noble faculty which he derived from 
 God, things spiritual and celestial could no longer gain access 
 to his corrupted reason. And as to the method of the geome 
 tricians, how could it be opposed to divine science ? Do we 
 not say, speaking of God, that he is the great Geometrician, 
 that is, the Architect of the universe ? Is not God the Archi 
 tect of those globes \vhich turn above our heads, according to 
 laws mathematically established ? Besides, have not the sci 
 ences also their metaphysical part 1 ? Ask the metaphysicians, 
 who have entered into the depths of infinitesimal calculation, 
 and they will confess that many among them, struck with the 
 results to which they were conducted, have from materialists, 
 which they were before, become spiritualists. 
 
 You see, moreover, that in all this, we have only to do with 
 high questions of religious philosophy. As to those which 
 relate to doctrine, properly so called, it would b-e quite out of 
 place to mention, them now. We must wait till the philosph- 
 ical errors which would oppose themselves to their admission 
 
10 LETTERS TO A 
 
 have been dispelled from your mind, and the spiritual truths 
 which shall gain an entrance with you, have disposed you to 
 receive them favorably. In a word, it is necessary that your 
 convictions be well established on the questions to which our 
 attention is to be first directed ; but be it well remembered, 
 that however strong this conviction may be, nevertheless it 
 will not be faith ; but it will conduct you to the faith which 
 God alone gives to man when man is prepared to receive it. 
 
 Before closing this letter, I must make another observation : 
 Though the New Jerusalem Church is in possession of truths 
 of a very elevated order, and can by their means, resolve 
 many questions which had hitherto remained without solution, 
 she is, notwithstanding, far from pretending to explain every 
 thing. The intelligence of the creature, be he man or angel, 
 will never be so far elevated as to comprehend the Creator. 
 To comprehend God in his infinite Essence, it is necessary to 
 be God himself. Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 THE conditions which I proposed to you, relative to the 
 mode of discussion, were so conformable to the reasoning 
 spirit of our age, that I was convinced you would accept them ; 
 and I would in my first letter have introduced the subject, had 
 I not been prevented by a motive altogether personal to your 
 self. When an author undertakes a treatise ex professo, he 
 can arrange his plan himself, and treat it as he pleases } but 
 euch is not my task at present. What I have undertaken is to 
 produce in you a religious and philosophical conviction j and I 
 should regard myself as departing from my design, if I did not 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 11 
 
 leave you full liberty to direct the discussion yourself. I there 
 fore waited for your answer, in the intimate conviction that 
 you would infallibly put questions to me on the points which 
 had engaged your mind the most. Your letter proves that I 
 was not mistaken ; it embraces several questions which clearly 
 show to me the present state of your mind ; and I think I 
 enter fully into your intentions, by considering the following 
 question, which is more important than all the others, in the 
 commencement. 
 
 "How," say you, " can we reconcile the existence of evil in 
 the universe, with the idea of a God essentially good and all- 
 powerful ?" 
 
 Yon are aware, sir, that this first question presents the 
 greatest of philosophical difficulties; but we may as well 
 enter on them now as afterwards ; only be good enough not to 
 be astonished if I am obliged to make a long preparatory di 
 gression. To prove that this existence of evil presents nothing 
 incompatible with the infinite goodness of God, nor with his 
 omnipotence, it is necessary to have correct ideas, not only 
 concerning God and his attributes, but also concerning man 
 and the universe. You see that from the very beginning of 
 the discussion, we have entered upon subjects, which for three 
 thousand years have thrown philosophy into despair, and given 
 birth to a crowd of systems, so little conclusive, that the friends 
 of truth are still waiting for a satisfactory solution. Still it is 
 not the fault of Philosophy, but of philosophers, who have 
 wished to sound its depths without being enlightened from the 
 torch of religion, and who have not called in the aid of religion, 
 until religion itself had lost the true light. However, this is 
 not the time to prove this propositiou ; but you will often, in 
 the sequel, have occasion to acknowledge the justice of it. 
 
 It is evident that our material world, in its whole and in its 
 parts, subsists by the sun which is shining above our heads : 
 without its presence, the globe which we inhabit, and all those 
 
12 LETTERS TO A 
 
 which compose the planetary system, would infallibly fall into 
 chaos. It is further evident, that all the effects produced by 
 the sun, are owing to the heat and light which flow from it. 
 Heat and light then are the two principles which cause our 
 planet to subsist materially. But there are not only natural 
 heat and light in our world, but also spiritual heat and light. 
 When a man is moved by an affection, does he not interiorly 
 experience heat? When a thought strikes him, is it not an 
 internal light to him ? This is so true, that in all languages, 
 we cannot speak of an affection, without using terms which are 
 suitable to heat, nor of a thought, without using terms which 
 have relation to light. If we speak of love, we say that it in 
 flames ; of truth, we say that it enlightens. If we wish to de 
 scribe an affection, we say that it is lively or ardent ; or a 
 thought, that it is brilliant or luminous. "What other conclu 
 sion can be drawn from this, than that the aff ction of man is 
 a spiritual heat, and his thought a spiritual light ? 
 
 But whence do this heat and light proceed which affect 
 us interiorly ? Can it be from the sun which is visible to the 
 eye of our earthly bodies ? No one would venture to maintain 
 this. This sun, because it is visible, is material. Now that 
 which is material cannot produce what is spiritual. In vain 
 would the materialist make use of the scalpel ; he would 
 never find in material organs the principles of affection or 
 thought. In vain, would he analyse an affection or thought ; 
 he would never succeed in discovering in it the least par 
 ticle of imponderous matter. To know whence proceed this 
 heat and this light, recourse must be had to analogy, from 
 which the following conclusion will be drawn, namely : that 
 if natural heat and light come from the natural sun. which 
 cannot be denied, spiritual heat and light must proceed from 
 a spiritual sun, invisible, like them, to our material eyes. You 
 will see hereafter how advantageous the knowledge of this 
 simple truth will be, in studying the part of the universe which 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 13 
 
 is inaccessible to the senses of our earthly bodies, and which 
 we call the spiritral world. 
 
 We learn also from analogy, that the material world subsists 
 from its sun, and, as incontestably, the spiritual world must 
 also subsist from its sun; and the examination which we are 
 now enabled to make upon ourselves goes to confirm the 
 analogy. Indeed, if by our bodies we live in the natural world, 
 by our spirits we belong to the spiritual world, and as spiritual 
 Deing is but a compound of affections and thoughts, it is evi 
 dent that it can only subsist by means of the spiritual centre, 
 whence emanate spiritual heat and light, or affections and 
 thoughts. Now if we who are yet invested with matter, can 
 not live without this spiritual centre, with much stronger 
 reason, beings purely spiritual who constitute the other world 
 could not subsist without it. 
 
 Now that we know there exists a spiritual sun, and that the 
 invisible part of the universe subsists from this sun, let us 
 enquire what can be the nature of such a luminary. All the 
 affections of man belong to his will, and all his thoughts to his 
 understanding ; and these two faculties, will and undei standing, 
 constitute the life of man ; for it has been said long ago, man 
 is man because of willing and thinking; it follows that 
 spiritual heat and light, which are in their essence love and 
 wisdom, constitute life itself, and as this heat and this light 
 emanate from the spiritual sun, it hence results again, that life 
 resides in this sun, and that it is this sun which distributes life 
 throughout the universe. 
 
 Although life itself resides in this spiritual sun, this sun is 
 not life itself, but is only the first recipient of it. Life itself is 
 God ; and as real life with man is composed of love and wisdom, 
 God, being Life itself, is consequently Love itself, and Wis 
 dom itself. Love is his Esse, his substance; and Wisdom his 
 Existere, his manifestation. All his other attributes are con 
 sequences of Love itself and Wisdom itself, as all the faculties 
 
14 LETTERS TO A 
 
 of man are consequences of his will, the seat of his affections, 
 and of his understanding, the seat of his thoughts. 
 
 If, in this argumentation, I have begun with the investiga 
 tion of man in order to arrive at God, instead of beginning 
 with God in order to descend to man ; the fault belongs to those 
 who have surrounded these subjects with such thick darkness, 
 that we are, in this our day, compelled to appeal to the reason 
 of man, before we can address his heart. 
 
 Love as it manifests itself in the creature is far from giving 
 us a just idea of that Love which is the Essence of the Crea 
 tor. However pure we might conceive human love to be, 
 there will always be, between it and the divine Love, the 
 inappreciable distance which always exists between the finite 
 and the infinite. Nevertheless, in reasoning from what we 
 are able to know of true love, we shall see cleared away ; suc 
 cessively, the greatest difficulties of religious philosophy . 
 
 It is the essence of love to communicate itself : it must have 
 an object to love out of itself; for to love one s self is not 
 true love. God, then, who is Love itself, required an object, 
 that is to say, creatures whom he might love. Hence the 
 creation of the universe. 
 
 I will not here enter into particulars respecting God s work. 
 If you would wish to know them, you will find them in one of 
 the treatises of Swedenborg (Angelic Wisdom concerning the 
 Divine Love.) I will only say, that to have a correct idea, 
 you must throw aside the hypotheses hitherto adopted. That 
 of chaos would only throw obscurity on the subject* that of 
 the old theology is not even susceptible of examination. To 
 pretend that God created the universe out of nothing, is going 
 against the axiom, " out of nothing nothing can be produced;" 
 now God, who is Truth itself, cannot make self-evident truth 
 an untruth. The Divine Omnipotence, as you will see at the 
 close of this letter, never opposes itself to the truth. 
 
 The design of God in creating this vast universe, being to 
 
p u 
 
 MAN OF THE WORDD^ ^V v ^ T1 ,j 
 
 pour out his love upon objects out of himself, and fit to receive 
 it, let us first survey the immensity of creation, and seek among 
 so many created objects, to discover thoi^, which have been 
 especially destined to satisfy the ardent love of the Creator, 
 by an intimate conjunction with Him. Our eye at first dis 
 covers myriads of sparkling globes, and analogy, supported by 
 the knowledge we have of the planetary system, shows us 
 millions of other globes, which gravitate round the first ; but 
 our understanding also teaches us that bodies passively sub 
 mitted to the invariable laws of gravitation, have none of the 
 qualities adapted to fulfil the final end of the Divinity. These 
 innumerable suns, and these earths still more innumerable, have 
 then only been launched into the immensity of space for the 
 use of more noble creatures. If, now, we descend to our 
 earth, what do we discover in this multitude of varied objects 
 which nature spreads daily before our eyes ? I see there min 
 erals, vegetables, animals, and, at the summit of this scale of 
 beings, man. Does not a single examination of this chain 
 show us at once, that the mineral kingdom was created for 
 the use of the two superior kingdoms \ that the vegetable 
 kingdom is indispensable to the animal kingdom ? and that 
 the animals themselves, deprived of the moral sentiment, 
 have only been to the Creator means, to the end that the 
 only creature capable of reciprocating his love might exist on 
 the earths of his immense domain, and there make use of all 
 these objects of his divine munificence? It is then for man 
 and man alone, that the whole universe has been created. 
 
 After having presented to you God, as Love itself and Wis 
 dom itself; after having shown you that the universe, the 
 expansion of his love, has been formed by his wisdom, and 
 that all has been created by him alone, I am at length in a 
 position to discuss your proposition. You might, however, 
 believe that, far from having rendered the solution easier, I 
 have increased the difficulties of it, in representing God as 
 
18 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Love itself and Wisdom itself a definition which seems to 
 embrace more than yours, which is, " God essentially good j" 
 for it is always impossible, you think, to deny the existence of 
 evil upon this earth, where everything attests the miserable 
 state of man, where all nature presents but a permanent 
 antagonism between all beings. I am quite of your opinion 
 respecting this impossibility ; but you will soon acknowledge 
 that I have followed the course traced out for me by the very 
 nature of things, and I hope to prove to you that evil proceeds 
 not from God, and that, nevertheless, it is a consequence of 
 the definition which I have just given. 
 
 Everything proceeded pure from the hands of the Creator. 
 It is useless, I conceive, to insist on this proposition, which 
 enters completely into our ideas. Love itself acting according 
 to the laws of Wisdom, could produce nothing but good. 
 From what source then is evil ? and how could this evil wres 
 tle with Love itself, in which resides Omnipotence"? An 
 attentive examination of the very nature of love, will remove 
 these difficulties, which appear insurmountable. 
 
 If love, as we have acknowledged, is in its essence com 
 municative if it must have an object out of itself to love it 
 also requires that the object loved shall return love for love, 
 To be convinced of this truth, it is only necessary to have once 
 loved. Reciprocality being essential to love, God, in creating 
 man with a view to shed down his love upon him, must have 
 given him all the faculties necessary in order for him to re 
 flect back to his Creator the love which he received from him. 
 And observe well, that it was not sufficient that the love of 
 man should return to the Creator ; but it was still necessary 
 thut this love should include in it the condition indispensa 
 ble to all true love ; it was necessary, in a word, that the love 
 of man should be in everything worthy of the love of God. 
 Now, such a love could not exist with man, except so far as 
 man should have the full and entire liberty to love God or not ; 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 17 
 
 for without liberty there could be no love. How can any one 
 believe himself still to be loved, if he discovers that the object 
 he cherishes is forced to love him ? If feeble beings who 
 possess but a particle of love, disdain to be loved from com 
 pulsion, how could it be supposed that God, who is Love 
 itself, had mistaken one of the essential principles of love, by 
 constraining man to love him ? With such a supposition, the 
 end of creation has failed : God has worked in vain : his 
 essence induced him to create beings capable of loving him, 
 and he has formed only automatons instruments purely pas 
 sive, to be moved with wires. Would not this be to degrade, 
 and even outrage the majesty of God, and compare him to a 
 child playing with puppets ? 
 
 No : God created man free ; and he could not create him 
 otherwise, because he is Love itself, and because liberty is an 
 essential principle of love. 
 
 It is besides, upon this principle of liberty on the part of 
 man, that all that there is most sacred in the world reposes 
 religion, morality, law. Without this liberty, religious rites 
 become superstition rules of morality become deception 
 and the punishments of law, atrocious injustice. Without this 
 liberty, there is no longer, after this life, either happiness 
 for the good man, or misery for the wicked ; or God is a 
 tyrant, only consulting his caprice in issuing his favors or 
 maledictions. 
 
 Created free to love God or not to love him, that is to say, 
 free to conform to the laws of divine "order, or to transgress 
 them, man lived at first conformably to these laws. All was 
 then orderly in the universe nothing disturbed its native 
 purity everything in its spiritual part was good and true ; 
 everything in its material part was good and beautiful 
 The other beings of our globe followed the order of their 
 nature respectively. Deprived of the principle of liberty, they 
 had not the power to disturb the established order. Man 
 
18 LETTERS TO A 
 
 alone could re-act against God, and so long as he did not use 
 this liberty, the primitive order was maintained ; but from the 
 time when he began, by virtue of this liberty, to swerve from 
 the laws of order, he introduced by this act a spiritual antag 
 onism. Opposition to good produced evil opposition to truth 
 gave birth to the false or to falsity ; then this spiritual antag 
 onism produced one in the material creation : by degrees, the 
 substance of t things natural, perverted by evil, from good be 
 came bad, and the form of these things, changed by what 
 was false, from beautiful became deformed. 
 
 Do not think, however, that the evil and the false, the bad 
 and the deformed, which were introduced into the universe 
 in these early times of the creation, were like the evil and the 
 false, the bad and the deformed, which we see in it now. The 
 evil and the false were then but a slight deviation from the 
 good and the true. It was only by an increasing series of 
 alterations and deviations, that human nature at lingth fell 
 into those states of fierceness arid barbarity, which history 
 presents to us. 
 
 You see that the existence of evil is easily reconcilable with 
 the existence of a God essentially good, since it is the act of 
 man alone, and that it results from human liberty which is an 
 essential principle of the love of the creature for his Creator. 
 It remains for me to prove to you, that this existence of evil, can 
 also be perfectly reconciled with the idea of an omnipotent God. 
 
 The custom of judging of the attributes of the Divinity by 
 those with which royalty is surrounded, has been the cause of 
 many errors. When a king, abusing his high station, has 
 placed himself above the law, and governed his people accord 
 ing to his caprice, undoing to-day what he did yesterday, he 
 has been said to be all-powerful ; and as the greater part of 
 despots have pretended to hold their power from God, it has 
 been inferred that the divine Omnipotence, being superior to 
 human power, could go so far as to do what is absolutely im- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 19 
 
 possible. From this error proceeded all superstitions: for 
 with these words, everything is possible with God, interpreted 
 in the sense which I have just described, there are no absurdi 
 ties which may not be admitted. 
 
 If God could do everything, according to the common un 
 derstanding of the divine Omnipotence, he would not be God. 
 This will doubtless appear to you a paradox, but it is never 
 theless a truth, and a little reflection will convince you of it. 
 Man, subject to error, can perfect his work only on the condi 
 tion of revising and correcting it. If he be a legislator, he 
 will only form his code after a long meditation, and having 
 promulgated it, his laws will still remain subject to the 
 changes which experience shall introduce. But can it be the 
 same with God, who is Wisdom itself and Foreknowledge 
 itself? When God created the universe, he said, Be it, and 
 it was. Yes, by the word of Jehovah was the universe con 
 stituted, with all the laws which govern it ; that is to say, 
 with all the laws which could then be manifested, with all 
 those which have since been successively manifested, and with 
 all those which will be manifested throughout all time. All 
 these 1-iws constitute the Divine Order, and are called the 
 laws of order. 
 
 You now see that there is no paradox in saying, that if God 
 could do everything, according to the common acceptation of 
 the divine Omnipotence, he would not be God. If God were 
 to change a law of his divine order, would not this be declar 
 ing that he had been mistaken ? and what would then become 
 of one of his principal attributes, his divine Foreknowledge ? 
 Oh, let us beware of debasing the Divinity to the rank of a 
 capricious tyrant ; let us not compare him even to the best of 
 kings ; let us regard him only as a Father, whose love for all 
 his children, as much surpasses that of the tenderest of earthly 
 fathers, as the infinite surpasses everything finite. 
 
 The liberty of man being one of the essential laws of divine 
 
20 LETTERS TO A 
 
 order, the divine Omnipotence consists in not destroying, but 
 maintaining it. The existence of evil then, is perfectly recon 
 cilable with the idea of an all-powerful God. We do not say 
 that evil will therefore always exist j it will disappear from 
 the earth, but having entered into the universe by the liberty 
 of man, it is necessary that it should be removed by the same 
 liberty. Accept, &rc. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 You say that the theory which I explained to you in my 
 second letter is ingenious : you acknowledge the logical con 
 nection of the propositions which served to establish it j but 
 you meet with so many new ideas in these propositions that 
 you are confused, and you justly consider that it would be 
 precipitate in you to adopt the theory without having maturely 
 examined it, and seriously digested it. This is well : you 
 enter entiiely into my views, and your hesitation gives me 
 more pleasure than would an entire acquiescence. I willing 
 ly excuse the ephithet ingenious, which you apply to this 
 theory, because you show a disposition to study it. Consider 
 it attentively, and you will soon come to acknowledge that it 
 is the only one your reason can adopt. Moreover you already 
 admit and that should satisfy me for the present that it is 
 much to be preferred to anything that has been taught up to 
 this time, on so grave a subject ; that it removes great philo 
 sophical difficulties, and gives much more elevated and sound 
 ideas concerning the Divine Being than any that have been 
 hitherto presented. 
 
 You add that you wish to make some objections, ask ex- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 21 
 
 planations, and submit reflections to me ; but in your present 
 position, not knowing our manner of resolving the other diffi 
 culties of high philosophy, you prefer to wait for a more suitable 
 time ; meanwhile, you request me to give you some elucidations 
 on the human soul, which may convince you of its immortality. 
 
 You are perfectly right, sir, in wishing to arrive at a cer 
 tainty that your soul is immortal, for this is the principal 
 point. If so many men at this day are indifferent as to all 
 that concerns religious matters, it is chiefly because they 
 hays not had anything but mere probabilities presented to 
 them respecting their immortal existence, or their state after 
 death. Our philosophers and theologians have made the ques 
 tion so intricate, that among men of the world, there is at least 
 a half who deny this immortality, if not with their lips, yet 
 with their hearts, while the other half believe it only upon 
 simple probabilities. But to believe upon probabilities, when 
 everything in this world leads us to indulge our selfish propen 
 sities ] is this quite sufficient to give us a firmer resolution to 
 resist evil ? Does not everything that passes daily before us 
 prove to the contrary ? But let a man who has hitherto had 
 but a vague idea of his immortality, become certain of it, and 
 very soon he will not be the same man ; a happy change will 
 soon be wrought in him. 
 
 Suppose, that instead of speaking to men in vague terms 
 respecting their existence after death, that existence should be 
 demonstrated to them, by showing them in what it consists, and 
 by answering all the questions which each should honestly 
 make on the subject, with a view to acquire a complefe con 
 viction; would not the most salutary of revolutions be the 
 result a revolution far superior to those which have produced 
 the most good, since it would be made without commotion ? 
 Induced by their new conviction to come out of that religious 
 indifference which is the bane of our modem societies, men 
 would seek to be instructed in true religious principles ; they 
 
22 LETTERS TO A 
 
 would cast far from them all the falsities which arise from 
 scepticism and superstition ; they would joyfully adopt a doc 
 trine full of devotedness, full of love. Firmly convinced that 
 their present life is but a state preparatory to entering fully 
 upon a life which shall never end ; and intimately persuaded 
 that their state in eternity depends entirely on the short pil 
 grimage which they bhall make upon this earth, they would 
 live in the peaceful enjoyment of all the blessings which the 
 Creator spreads daily and abundantly around them. Instead 
 of regarding their fellow men as so many rivals, they would 
 look upon them only as brothers ; devotedness would take the 
 place of selfishness, and feelings of envy and hatred would 
 insensibly disappear, to make room for charity and love. 
 Nevertheless, I am far from saying that man would be exempt 
 from faults, that he would always live in conformity with 
 principles of true doctrine ; but at least, man would then learn 
 by this doctrine of charity and love, to distinguish good from 
 evil, and the true from the false ; he would consequently 
 know when he did evil ; and his relapses, by producing in 
 him repentance and the desire for renovation, would help to 
 make him progress in the way of goodness. 
 
 What man is there then, who would be so inconsistent as 
 not to regret having done evil, and not to resolve on doing 
 good, if he were fully convinced of the immortality of his 
 soul ? What ! I must be intimately convinced that I shall 
 live eternally ! My reason would tell me daily that the long 
 est life on this earth, is not, in relation to eternity, so much as 
 a grain of sand to the widest desert, or as a drop of water to 
 the immensity of the ocean. 1 should know that my eternal 
 existence depends on the manner in which T shall have ful 
 filled my duties towards my country, my fellow citizens, my 
 family, and myself. Everything proves that man s conduct 
 depends on the principles which he has adopted. See how 
 ardently those who believe in this terrestrial life, follow the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 
 
 23 
 
 consequences of their false principles ; and judge by this 
 what it would be, if men were intimately convinced of their 
 eternal existence, The certainty of this existence is then the 
 most important point for man, and the most certain means of 
 leading him to religious principles. 
 
 This certainty, however, is not obtained immediately. Man 
 is plunged into such thick darkness on the subject of whatever 
 relates to spiritual things, that he can only perceive the light of 
 truth in the degree that he removes the clouds, or the falses 
 which intercept it. Though there may be little good will and 
 perseverance in him, he succeeds in disengaging himself from 
 his prejudices; then his conviction is gradually established, 
 and afterwards becomes so firm, that every reflection and 
 observation on his part concur in confirming him more and 
 more. I do not then pretend to convince you at once ; but 
 from the favorable disposition you are in, I feel certain that 
 after a mature examination, you will admit the different propo 
 sitions which I shall submit to you, however strange they 
 may seem at first ; and that the whole will result in producing 
 a complete conviction of your eternal existence. 
 
 Your desire to be enlightened on this important point in 
 duces me to postpone to another period the developments 
 which I wished to give you, in order to complete the question 
 relative to the origin of evil ; they will naturally find their 
 place when we come to doctrinal subjects, and when I shall 
 explain to you the nature of the fall. I must also before com 
 mencing, say that I shall consider as established, the proposi 
 tions which have already been treated of, and that I shall con 
 tinue to support myself by them, so long as you have not 
 positively refused to admit them 5 for this is a right which I 
 hold from the very nature of our argument. 
 
 The design of God, in creating the universe, having been to 
 pour out his love upon objects out of himself, and at the same 
 time capable .of reflecting back this love, I have shown you 
 
24 
 
 LETTERS TO A 
 
 that if man were not created free, the end of creation has 
 failed. I will now add, supporting myself always on the 
 essence of God, which is love itself, that if man had not to 
 live after his natural death, the end of creation would also 
 have failed. Behold, you will say, a solution which I was far 
 from expecting. You promised me new arguments, and you 
 decide the question after the manner of theologians and phi 
 losophers ; for many of them have supported themselves on 
 the goodness of God, to conclude from it that man will live 
 after death. 
 
 Be good enough, I pray, to wait a moment. You would cer 
 tainly have a right to exclaim in this way if theologians and 
 philosophers, before bringing forward the goodness of God, to 
 deduce from it the existence of another life, had given you 
 clear and precise ideas of that goodness ; but have they ever 
 presented, upon what they call the goodness of the Creator, 
 anything but common-place ideas, almost always in manifest 
 contradiction to the other attributes which they give to the Di 
 vine Being ? What is, indeed, this God of theologians 1 He is a 
 being always angry, who has only consented to pardon the hu 
 man race for the disobedience of the first man, on condition that 
 his own Son (innocent of this fault,) should suffer, in order to 
 repair it, the most frightful torments ; arid who, not content with 
 this, is only appeased so far as his Son supplicates him for 
 pardon, and makes mention continually of his sufferings, and 
 the blood he shed for the redemption of men. When they set 
 forth the Creator under such gloomy aspects, they certainly 
 cannot be permitted to support themselves upon, or to adduce 
 his goodness, that they may conclude fiom it that man will 
 live after death. And on the other hand, what is the God of 
 philosophers ? A being purely metaphysical, of whom they 
 cannot form the least idea ; consequently he is to them simply 
 a compound of abstractions, having a mere word for their sub 
 ject. When the Divinity is thus reduced to a mere word, 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 25 
 
 however imposing this word may be, they cannot be allowed 
 to adduce the goodness of such a being in proof of a new ex 
 istence of man. 
 
 It is not thus that the new Christians, or the members of 
 the New Jerusalem Church, represent the God of the universe. 
 They lay it down as a principle that Love itself is his Esse, 
 (being) and that Wisdom itself is his Existere, and that all 
 his attributes are consequences of this divine Love, and of this 
 divine Wisdom. You will see hereafter for I should be de 
 parting too far from my subject to demonstrate it now that 
 the divine Love is Substance itself, and the first substance 
 (substance-type) whence proceed all substances and that the 
 divine Wisdom is Form itself, and the form-type, whence all 
 forms are derived ; hence the Divinity, far from being what 
 is called a metaphysical being, is Being itself possessing in 
 the most elevated degree, what constitutes a real being 
 namely, substance and form. Strong in this principle, the 
 members of the New Church draw from it all possible deduc 
 tions, and all, without any exception, como afterwards to 
 corroborate and confirm it ; and what further shows, in a 
 manner not to be disputed, that this principle is the very 
 truth is, that true philosophy and true theology are always 
 found to harmonize with it ; also, that the doctrine, all of 
 charity and love, which flows from this principle, is in all 
 points, conformable to the Biblical Writings, and perfectly 
 reconciles all the apparent contradictions which these writings 
 contain ; also, that the historical events which have furnished 
 the strongest arguments against the divine Providence, be 
 come, on the contrary, evident proofs of the inexhaustible love of 
 the Creator for all his creatures. I should be drawn too far from 
 my subject, if I now entered into explanations on these dif- 
 fent points, which besides, are of a nature not to be treated 
 incidentally ; but farther on, I shall have occasion to develope 
 them. Now that I have, as I believe, sufficiently answered 
 
26 LETTERS TO A 
 
 the objection which I myself anticipated, it will be easy for 
 you to comprehend, by the miserable life which man leads 
 upon this earth, that the design of the Creator, or the design 
 of Love itself, would completely have failed if man s existence 
 terminated with his earthly life. This proposition is so self- 
 evident that it is useless to insist upon it further. 
 
 Do not think, however, that by this I consider the question 
 of the existence of man after his natural death as entirely 
 decided. If I had only had this argument to present to you, 
 I should not have undertaken to convince you. I have only 
 used it to show you what new strength it acquires, when, in 
 stead of considering the divine Being as theologians and phi 
 losophers do, he is represented as being essentially Love itself, 
 and above all, when we are well convinced that in creating 
 the universe for man, God had no other end than to satisfy 
 his inexhaustible love. Nevertheless, this argument would be 
 enough to prove to man the existence of a future state, if his 
 mind for a long time tossed about by the subtilties of philoso 
 phers, and the errors of theologians, had not come to lose the 
 most simple notions relative to his interior being, and the part 
 of the universe which is purely spiritual. It is true that philo 
 sophical spiritualists speak to him respecting the immortality 
 of his soul, but they give him no information what this soul is, 
 for they know nothing about it, and their ideas on this matter 
 are far below those of a simple peasant. They speak to him 
 of a future life but it would greatly embarrass them to tell 
 him in what it consists. Theologians are also silent whenever 
 it is a question to define the human soul; and if they some 
 times endeavor to give an idea of the other life, their descrip 
 tion only serves to frighten children. 
 
 Therefore, as I have told you already, so long as man, to 
 convince him of his immortality, shall only have the common 
 place views dealt out to him for so many ages, by poets and 
 moralists, by philosophers of every shade, and theologians of 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 27 
 
 every sect, lie will remain in that uncertainty which to you haa 
 become so insupportable ; for it is not by simple probabilities, 
 that a conviction can be formed. But if, instead of having 
 had represented to him the soul as a breath, as an unknown 
 aerial something, man had had clear arid precise ideas given 
 to him respecting the interior being which animates him, 
 which is himself, and which must survive his natural body ; 
 if, moreover, instead of the vague ideas which have been 
 hitherto presented to him relative to what is commonly called 
 the other world, the existence of that world were demonstra 
 ted to him ; if he were made to know in what it consists ; if 
 the topography, so to speak, of that world were presented to 
 him ; if the continual relations which exist between this spir 
 itual world (where he must live eternally), and the natural 
 world (where he sojourns for a little while), were shown to 
 him in such a way that he could himself daily and hourly verify 
 the reality of a great number of these relations oh then ! you 
 must allow that man by means of these knowledges, would 
 easily succeed in forming the firm conviction that he will ex 
 ist after laying aside his natural body say if this conviction 
 would not make him a truly religious man if this belief be 
 come general, would it not effect, without any commotion, the 
 most glorious of revolutions ! 
 
 Well, sir, it is thus, and riot by common-place ideas that I 
 hope to establish in you a solid conviction. Yes, it gives me 
 pleasure to repeat, you will ere long admit and acknowledge 
 all the truths which I have explained to you. I am certain of 
 this, because you are moved by a sincere desire to know the 
 truth, and this desire will keep up your attention, and give 
 you all the perseverance which is needed. If you had only 
 been directed by a vain curiosity, I should have answered 
 your questions by a few brief explanations ; but I should have 
 regarded it as useless to undertake seriously you* conversion, 
 for my endeavors would have been vain, and my reasonings 
 
28 LETTERS TO A 
 
 futile. We can only convince those who desire to be con 
 vinced. 
 
 I will in my next letter begin the exposition of these im 
 portant truths. Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 In your eagerness to see the exposition which I promised 
 you in my last letter, there is nothing, I assure you, to 
 astonish me ; and I am truly ashamed to receive from you 
 apologies which ought to come from me, for h;iving,by pre 
 meditation, postponed to the present letter the commence 
 ment of this exposition. I will not conceal from you, that in 
 acting thus, I felt certain of increasing your desiie to know 
 our ideas respecting the soul of man, and respecting that 
 world into which we all go when we leave this earth. In 
 deed, a man must be sunk into the lowest degree of sensual 
 ism, if the noblest faculties of his being remain inactive in the 
 presence of such important questions. If, however, there are 
 very few persons who interest themselves now-a-days about 
 spiritual things, it is not, you may rely, because the general 
 ity of men have fallen into this gross sensualism j but only 
 because the wants of natural life, the perplexities of business, 
 and the propensity to worldly pleasures divert their minds 
 continually from them. But let some event happen which 
 may throw back the attention of the man of the world upon 
 this grave subject, and you immediately see him willing to 
 devote himself to the serious meditations which the subject 
 demands. If persons usually keep in this frame of mind but 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 29 
 
 a very short time, it is because the efforts are vain which the 
 understanding makes to adopt the noblest aspirations of the 
 heart ; it is because the understanding, led astray by the lucu 
 brations of philosophers, or the errors of theologians, offers 
 nothing satisfactory to the reason ; then, wearied with wan 
 dering in the labyrinths of so many ideas which have no 
 ground to rest upon, men hasten to enter again into what they 
 very improperly rail the realities of life. 
 
 Allow me to make another observation : How can we help 
 being astonished to see philosophers always moralizing, and 
 theologians always dogmatizing, when it is so evident that the 
 writings of both cla>ses because of the false ground they go 
 upon are themselves the principal causes of the moral and 
 religious disorders against which they strongly declaim 1 I 
 willingly admit that they are sincere that their intentions 
 are pure, and their labors conscientious but yet can this ex^ 
 cuse them, when past and present experience is sufficient to 
 show them clearly that they are pursuing a false course ? Do 
 they not know that for ages their predecessors have moralized 
 and dogmatized without meeting with any success 1 Do they 
 not see that they themselves are moralizing and dogmatizing 
 without making men any better ? After so many deceptions 
 which follow one another continually, can they without being 
 chargeable with want of foresight, expect to be more success 
 ful than their predecessors, especially when they continually 
 adopt the same errors] But why do they continue to wan 
 der in the same cr ;oked paths in which people have been 
 misled so long? Why do they not enter the new way which 
 is open to every one who seeks the truth from a pure love of 
 truth? Why is this? /The answer is easy. It is because 
 they are like the abbot of Vertot. their seat is made. For them 
 the truth has no more attractions than it had for this historian. 
 Their seat is indeed made. Can it be believed, for example, 
 that they are the men to forget all they have learned and 
 
LETTERS TO A 
 
 begin their studies anew ? Can it be believed that they have 
 self-denial enough to acknowledge that the writings to which 
 they owe their reputation are contrary to the truth? If the 
 abbot of Vertot, who then had only his indolence to overcome, 
 was unable to conquer it, how can they do otherwise than 
 yield, who have to struggle against all the exigencies of self- 
 love 1 ? 
 
 This reflection is not out of place here; it presents on your 
 part the following objection which has often been made . 
 "Why do not the celebrated men of the day adopt the princi 
 ples of high religious philosophy which are held in the New 
 Jerusalem Church ? Is not the silence they maintain on this 
 subject a strong presumption that these principles, while they 
 seem very brilliant and solid, do not bear the test of a profound 
 examination V This is an objection which has long been 
 brought against us; but you may now see what this pre 
 sumption amounts to, which I confess may appear very strong 
 at first sight. Far from furnishing an argument against our 
 principles, this silence, on the contrary, is altogether in their 
 favor; nevertheless, it certainly is prejudicial for a time, to 
 the propagation of our doctrines, because we have not always 
 an opportunity of making known the true cause of it. There 
 is, indeed, a great number of persons simple enough to judge 
 men according to their writings, and to believe that those 
 who establish themselves as instructors of the people, are 
 beings separate from, and superior to the greater part of hu 
 man weaknesses ; but experience proves every day that the 
 learned more than all other men, are in general governed by 
 a passion jvhich produces in them most fatal results. This 
 passion is the love of their own intelligence; it is this which 
 even when they\now it not, directs them in almost all their 
 actions. This constrains them, as it involves their reputation, 
 ito say nothing whatever respecting Swedenborg s writings on 
 the subject of religion; and this they do, because these wri- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 31 
 
 tings contain true principles, both of philosophy and religion, 
 and a complete refutation of the vain systems of philosophers 
 and theologians. 
 
 I ask pardon, my dear sir, for this digression, and I ask it 
 also, for those which will follow, because it will often happen 
 that I shall make excursions here and there ; but you may 
 rest assured that I shall not lose sight of the propositions 
 which are to be the subjects of this discussion ; and, after 
 any deviations, will always return to them. Your own proposi 
 tion prescribes this course to me. It would be difficult, for 
 instance, to make myself well understood by you, if I confined 
 myself simply to declaring the preparatory propositions which 
 I shall be obliged to employ, and did not stop occasionally 
 to dwell upon those which, as they are not familiar to men of 
 the world, can only be admitted by them in proportion as 
 they perceive them rationally. Hence the necessity of my 
 digressing sometimes from the principal subject. Some of 
 the truths which I shall develope may excite your surprise, 
 as much by their appearance of novelty as by their contrast 
 with the ideas prevailing in the world ; but do not let this 
 stop you, only give me a little continued attention, and it will 
 not be long before they become familiar to you. Besides, 
 these truths have not always been strangers on this earth j they 
 were known and believed in ancient times, and their disap 
 pearance is only due to the depravity into which the human 
 race fell, by the bad use they made of their free will. 
 
 I come at length to the exposition which I promised you. 
 It divides itself into two parts : the first comprising the ques 
 tions relating to the soul and its immortality, and the second 
 those relating to the spiritual world ; but as these questions 
 are connected together, and illustrate each other, I would have 
 you to wait until this exposition, which will, no doubt, take 
 up several letters, is entirely concluded, before you form a 
 definite judgment on the propositions which, at first sight. 
 
32 LETTERS TO A 
 
 may appear strange, or to have need of further develope- 
 ments. 
 
 Men are generally agreed in the acknowledgement that 
 what lives in man is his soul or spirit ; only the materialists 
 affirm that what is called the soul ceases to exist when the 
 body can no longer perform its functions, while the spiritual 
 ists pretend that the soul or spirit survives the decomposition 
 of the body. T may, then, assume as a principle, that the soul 
 or spirit of man is that which lives within him. 
 
 But what is it that lives within man ? or what is it, properly 
 speaking, that constitutes his living principle, or the esse of 
 his life ? It is evidently his affection or his love, which has 
 for its seat the voluntary faculty. However, if there was in 
 man only affection or love, without any manifestation, man 
 would not exist : to exist really an esse must have a manifes 
 tation. Consequently the affection or love of man manifests 
 itself by his thoughts, which has the intellectual faculty for 
 its seat. Although esse arid existere are inseparable, and only 
 make one, since an esse is an esse only so far as it exists, still 
 they can be separated in thought ; thus we can say that the 
 love or the affection of man is the esse of his life, arid that his 
 intelligence or thought is the existere, or the manifestation of 
 his love and affection. Hence, I have already told you, that 
 in God, Love itself is his esse, his substance, and that Wis 
 dom itself is the existere, or the manifestation of his Love. 
 
 If it is evident that man lives, it is also evident that he does 
 not live of himself: man does not produce life, but only re 
 ceives it. And whence does he receive it ? I answer, from 
 God from God alone who is life itself. Life is one, as God 
 is one. God transmits life throughout the universe, and yet, 
 no created object has life in itself; for it would be a continu 
 ity of God, which is impossible. Every one is a recipient of 
 life or of God, not by continuity, but by contiguity ; and thus 
 it is that life is in everything, according to the nature of the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 33 
 
 object which receives it, and that nevertheless, no being has 
 life in itself. The father does not give life to his children ; 
 for to give it to them, it would require him to have it as his 
 own, and he is only the recipient of it. From the father pro 
 ceed only germs adapted to become, like himself, recipients 
 of the life which, emanates from God alone. It is thus that men 
 receiving life from God alone, are brothers not only all those 
 who inhabit this earth, no matter what may be their diversity 
 of color but those also who people all the earths throughout 
 the immensity of space. They are all brothers, inasmuch as 
 they all have but one only real Father, who is the sole God of 
 the universe. The learned may dispute as long as they please, 
 whether the different races that inhabit our earth have pro 
 ceeded from one man or from many men : their debates are 
 of no importance to us. The brotherhood of man is estab 
 lished in our doctrine upon too solid a basis ever to be shaken 
 by science. 
 
 I know that for eighteen centuries it has been repeated in 
 the Christian world that we are all children of God : I know 
 that this proposition is at the head of all the catechisms ; but 
 alas ! it is with this truth as it is with the human soul which 
 we are now considering. These two truths, because of not 
 having been put forward and understood rationally have been 
 considered as propositions very good to figure in sermons and 
 moral essays ; but too obscure and uncertain to deserve to be 
 taken into consideration in the practical affairs of life. Oh ! 
 if men were generally convinced that man does not live of 
 himself that he does not receive life from his father that 
 he does not give it to his children that there is but one only 
 Life that this sole Life is God himself that God is essen 
 tial Love that his Love causes him tf diffuse life continually 
 into all the objects of creation according as every object is 
 adapted for its reception that of all creatures, man alone, by 
 virtue of his organization, receives this life in the highest de- 
 
34 LETTERS TO 
 
 gree, by not opposing himself either to the entrance of the 
 divine Love into his will ? or to the entrance of the divine 
 Wisdom into his understanding it , I say, men were generally 
 persuaded of these sublime truths the " fraternity of men 7 
 would no longer be a vain term ! Far from being weakened, 
 the love of the son for the father, and of the father for the 
 son, would be increased. The son would regard his father as 
 the true representative of God upon the earth; the father, im 
 pressed with the goodness of the Creator to all his children, 
 and with the importance of the functions that are entrusted to 
 him, would strive to perform them worthily j and then God, 
 being better known by men would be loved by them, as his 
 love has so long invited and called upon them to love him. 
 
 By considering in a former letter the nature of man, we 
 were- led to a knowledge of God : and now, as we have acknow 
 ledged that man receives his life from God alone, the know 
 ledge of God, will be a means of drawing us to the nature 
 itself of the soul or spirit of man. But before commencing 
 this enquiry, I have to offer some remarks to you on the sub 
 ject of spiritual substance. 
 
 Among modern spiritualists, there are some who willingly 
 admit that there are forms in what they call the other world. 
 This no doubt arises from having been accustomed from their 
 childhood to these forms, the existence of which is acknow 
 ledged by the Greek and Roman mythologists. Now, it is these 
 very philosophers who are the most offended when they hear 
 mention made of spiritual substances, as if a world composed 
 of forms only could be anything but an imaginary world, or 
 as if a being without substance and form were not an imaginary 
 entity, which in itself is nothing. And observe what strange 
 ideas prevail in the present age. Men are not at all shocked 
 when such puerile notions are seriously put forth, and yet 
 they cry out if a single word is said about spiritual substance. 
 It is easy, however, to perceive that there can no more be 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD 
 
 really any form without substance tha 
 form. Nothing real can exist without 
 for substance and form are two things 
 be separated in thought but not in reality 
 
 When I said to you that far from being merely an ideal 
 being, which in itself is nothing, God is Being itself (E.sse), 
 possesing in the supreme degree what constitutes a real being, 
 namely, substance and form ; it was saying to you implicitly 
 that his divine Wisdom envelopes and contains his divine 
 Love ; and thus God has really a form which envelopes and 
 contains a substance, Love being the true substance and Wis 
 dom the true form. If you now enquire what is the form of 
 the Divinity, I will answer, that the universe being an ema 
 nation of the divine Love, or of the first Substance an ema 
 nation put in order by the divine Wisdom, or First Form 
 (Form-Type) this universe must present in the forms of 
 objects of which it is composed, images of this First Form, 
 and I will add that as the form of man is the most perfect of 
 all forms, it becomes evident that God is in the human form. 
 
 God, then, is VERY MAN. Yes, my dear sir, with all defer 
 ence to the philosophers of all schools, and to theologians of 
 all sects ; God, the Infinite being, the Jehovah of the Bible, 
 the Eternal Father of Christians, the One God in three Attri 
 butes or Essentials (and not in three persons) of the New 
 Jerusalem Church, the Creator, Saviour and preserver of the 
 universe this God who is Life itself, and by whom we exist 
 and subsist this God is VERY MAN. And it is because he 
 is the Human Type (Homme-Type), the Perfect Man, that we 
 his creatures, we who live and subsist by him, have in his 
 image and his likeness the human form. 
 
 This important truth is so different from the ideas of the 
 age respecting the Creator, that it will be difficult at first for 
 you to admit it. But when you shall have considered it ; 
 when in the course of discussion you shall have acknowledged 
 
36 LETTERS TO A 
 
 that it is the 1 fundamental basis of true philosophy and true 
 theology ; when you shall have seen that by it the greatest 
 difficulties are removed, and that it provides us with the 
 means of carrying our rational investigations into the spiritual 
 world, and the internal of man, so far at least as it is possible 
 for a finite being to reason on such profound subjects then 
 you will receive it with so much the more joy, because you 
 will be convinced that it would be impossible for you without 
 it, to form an exact idea of the true God. Although I do not 
 pretend to convince you at once that God is VERY MAN, I will, 
 notwithstanding, offer you some arguments in favor of this 
 truth. 
 
 It is, in the first place, absolutely impossible to represent to 
 yourself a being without form. Philosophy has invented a 
 God without form, in order to explain to itself a God as Crea 
 tor and everywhere present but by abstracting space, this 
 fiction can be dispensed with. When you shall have accus 
 tomed your mind to make this abstraction, and shall have some 
 ideas of the spiritual world, and the relations which exist be 
 tween that world and ours, you will conceive that a God who 
 is VERY MAN, can have created the universe, and be perpetu 
 ally present in all his work. 
 
 A just idea of God is more important than is generally be 
 lieved. How, indeed, can we love God, if it is impossible for 
 us to form an idea of him ? That a philosopher may be seized 
 with an admiration for the Creator of the universe, when he 
 beholds the rising sun, or the face of nature smiling and flour 
 ishing, or the starry vault in a beautiful night, I can easily 
 enough conceive. He yields to the emotion of enthusiasm ; 
 he ceases then to reason concerning the Author of so many 
 wonders, for he admires him ; and I am convinced that if he 
 endeavored to discover what was the inmost of his thought 
 during this momentary rapture, he would acknowledge that 
 the Creator was truly to him then, a real Being, and not a purely 
 
MAN OP THE WORLD. 37 
 
 metaphysical one that is to say, deprived of substance 
 and form. But if this philosopher should tell me that 
 he loves the Creator, I could not conceive it possible. To 
 love, there mus necessarily be an object ; it is also neces 
 sary that this object be really present, or at least present to 
 the thought of him who loves; and in this last case it is 
 necessary that the presence in thought should be very mani 
 fest. Now the God of philosophers could not be thus present 
 to their thought, since he is an incomprehensible Being, of 
 whom they cannot, by reasoning, form to themselves any idea 
 and is it not the same with theologians ? Can they form to 
 themselves the least idea of their God? I speak, however, 
 only of the first Person of their Trinity. It is true that the 
 Roman Catholics, in their temples, represent God the Creator 
 under a human form, but in their writings and at the head 
 of their catechisms, they declare positively that he is a pare 
 Spirit, and from the idea they have of spirit, it is plain they 
 do not give to him definitively either substance or form. Now 
 as the real end of religion is to establish relations between 
 God and man, and to lead man, by the knowledge of God, to 
 love this God with all his heart, and to love also his fellow 
 men because of God, it becomes evident that any religion 
 which presents the Creator deprived of substance and form, 
 (without which h^ is no longer conceivable in thought), thus 
 takes away from man all means of conceiving of this God 
 the Creator and consequently of loving him, and by this shows 
 manifestly that it is not the true religion. 
 
 The belief in God-man has, from the most remote time, 
 been admitted by the generality of men, in preference to the 
 vapory idea of the philosophers. The more you go back into 
 antiquity the more you find this belief prevailing. This 
 arises from the circumstance that the simple and unsophistica 
 ted man is generally much nearer the truth than the learned 
 man who is spoiled by his systems, and inflated by the love 
 
88 LETTERS TO A 
 
 of his own intelligence ; for the former follows the impulses 
 of his heart, while the latter gives himself up to the foolish 
 conceits of his understanding. The belief however, in a God- 
 man has been charged by philosophers with pride : they 
 have said that man had made God after his own image. If 
 this assertion were true, we should see the simple minded 
 generally adopting the God of the philosophers, and men 
 proud of their intelligence, believing in God-man ; but expe 
 rience proves the contrary. Besides this reproach of pride 
 cannot apply to the New Jerusalem Church ; for to say that 
 God is VERY MAN, when the principle is established that God 
 is Life itself, and that all men derive their life from God, is 
 not this implicitly saying, that it is the human race which is 
 conformable to the Type itself of life, to God the Creator of 
 all things ? 
 
 Finally, if it be evident that it is absolutely necessary for 
 God to be a substance and form, in order to be a real being, 
 and also that he may be apprehended by the thought of man, 
 and be loved by him, it is also evident that if God were not 
 substance and form, the end of creation would have failed ; 
 for we have acknowledged that the universe was created 
 with a view to man, in order that this creature, the only one 
 endowed with liberty, might return to the Creator the love 
 which he received from him. 
 
 But is it indispensable that the Divinity should have the 
 human form ? May he not have some other ? I have already 
 said that the universe, in the forms of the objects which com 
 pose it, should offer images of the first Form (Forme-Type) ; 
 and that of all forms, the form of man approaches the nearest 
 to perfection. These assertions are proved by the observa 
 tions of science. When we examine the chain of beings, do 
 we not find that man is the first link, arid that all the succeed 
 ing links are no more than successive alterations of the first ? 
 You are doubtless acquainted with that series of pictures 
 
MAX OF THE WORLD. 39 
 
 which presents scarcely a perceptible difference between them, 
 when one of them is compared with that which precedes or 
 that which follows, and yet the first represents the Apollo of 
 Belvidere, and the last a frog. What the painter has done 
 for a frog, he could have done for any other animal, whether 
 by increasing or diminishing the number of his pictures. The 
 type of man, then, is found in every animal, in whatever state 
 of degradation it may be } and it is thus, because every crea 
 ture is an image, more or less imperfect, of the Prototype 
 (Type-Createur). This successive degradation of the human 
 form in the chain of beings, is sufficient then to resolve the 
 question. It would moreover, be absurd, after having recog 
 nised this successive degradation, ti suppose that the form of 
 God the Creator, was that of any one of the inferior beings of 
 this chain, rather than that of the being who constitutes its 
 first link, and to whom all the rest are subject. If some 
 nations have given an animal or vegetable form to the Divinity, 
 this proves the necessity of representing him under a form ; 
 and it shows the state of spiritual degradation into which 
 those nations had fallen. 
 
 As this great question of God-man has been incidentally 
 treated upon as being necessary to the subject which engages 
 our attention, I will not enter here into further developements ; 
 but I shall often have occasion to return to it either in an 
 swering objections which it will give rise to in your mind, or 
 in treating on several points connected with it. It is important, 
 moreover, in order to understand it well, that you should 
 accustom yourself to abstract space and time ; and I propose 
 to submit to you shortly our ideas on the subject of this ab 
 straction. 
 
 I now return to our discussion relative to the soul or spirit. 
 We have seen on the one hand, that God is Life itself; that 
 his Life consists in Love and Wisdom ; that his Love is the 
 first Substance, and his Wisdom the first Form (Form-Type}; 
 
40 LETTERS TO A 
 
 that from the Divine Love ; as the first Substance proceed all 
 substances, and that from the Divine Wisdom, the first Form, 
 proceed all forms that God has the human Form ; that he 
 is VERY MAN, or the Human Type (VHomme-Meme ou I Hom- 
 me Type) ; and finally that everything in the universe pre 
 sents an image which more or less approaches to the form of 
 the Creator. 
 
 We have seen on the other hand, that the life of man is his 
 soul or his spirit ; that this life consists in will and under 
 standing, or in affections and thoughts ; that the human will 
 is a recipient of the Divine Love, and that the human under 
 standing is a recipient of the Divine Wisdom. If, now, we 
 recollect that man does not live of himself, and that he de 
 rives his life from God alone, who is Life itself, it will only 
 be necessary to connect these different propositions, one with 
 another, in order to arrive at the following conclusions : 
 
 1st. Life itself, or God, being substance and form, the life of 
 man, that is, his soul or spirit, is also substance and form. 
 
 2d. God having the human form, the soul or spirit of man 
 has also the human form. 
 
 3d. The Divine Love being the first Substance, all things 
 which, in the soul or spirit of man, belong to his will, that is 
 to say. all the affections, are spiritual substances. 
 
 4th. The Divine Wisdom being the first Form (Form-Type), 
 all things which, in the soul or spirit of man, belong to his 
 understanding, that is to say, all his thoughts, are spiritual 
 forms. 
 
 And as there cannot be any substance without form, there 
 is not a single affection in the soul or spirit of man without at 
 the same time a thought which corresponds to it, so that every 
 spiritual substance is always clothed with a spiritual form. It 
 is thus that everything constituting the soul or spirit of man 
 is endowed with a real existence. 
 
 It results, then, from all that precedes, that the soul or spirh 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 41 
 
 of man is a substantial being, having the human form : or, in 
 other words, that the soul or spirit of man is a real being hav 
 ing a spiritual body, endowed with all the organs which con 
 stitute the material body with which it is clothed. Thus the 
 spirit alone receives life, and if the material body seems to live, 
 it is because the spirit lives in all the parts which constitute 
 this body the spirit is the man ; the material body is but a 
 garment with which the Creator has covered it, according to 
 the laws of order, that it may perform its functions in the 
 natural world 
 
 Thus the human form belongs to the spirit, and the body 
 has this form only because it receives it from the spirit. 
 
 These truths, my dear sir, will excite your astonishment j 
 but it will be easy for me forthwith to make you understand, 
 that the material body of man can only derive its sensibility 
 and form from this spiritual body, whose existence has just 
 been established ; and I think it will be sufficient for this, to 
 prove to you : 1st, that of its3lf the material body is insensi 
 ble; 2-1, that of itself it has no form properly its own. 
 
 1st. The material body is of itself insensible. Chemists di 
 vide matter into inorganic and organic. It is evident at once 
 that inorganic matter is insensible j with respect to organic 
 matter, M. Dumas has lately shown, in his lectures on chem 
 istry, that of elementary bodies there are not more than ten or 
 twelve at most from which general physiology borrows mate 
 rials; and that ol these ten or twelve bodies there are only 
 four, viz., oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and azote, which consti 
 tute nearly the whole of the composition of living beings. The 
 material body of man is, then, of itself insensible, since it is 
 only composed of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and azote, ele 
 mentary bodies evidently insensible. If, then, it appears sensi 
 ble, it is because each of the innumerable parts which compose 
 it is the envelope of the same corresponding part of the spirit 
 ual body, the only body which can be gifted with sensibility 
 
42 LETTERS TO A 
 
 2d. The material body has not of itself any form which is prop 
 erly its own. This results from the fact that matter has not, 
 of itself : any particular form. This proposition may seem to 
 you paradoxical, for matter always offers itself to our eyes un 
 der a form which seems properly its own ] but observe, that I 
 have said of itself. Life never ceasing for a moment to exist 
 in all creation, and this life impressing a form upon all bodies 
 according to the present state of their substances, matter pre 
 sents itself, and should always present itself to us, clothed with 
 a form which seems properly its own ; consequently, to have 
 an idea of what matter can be of itself , we must recollect what 
 mathematicians have done when they have treated of the mo 
 tion of bodies : they have laid it down, as a principle, that a 
 body which has received an impulse must always proceed in 
 a straight line, and never stop. This proposition is, like ours, 
 in manifest opposition to facts : and yet nobody has ever dis 
 puted it, because mathematicians would have replied : Abstract 
 for a moment the resistance of the air, and of the friction 
 which results from it, and you will see that our proposition is 
 not to be disputed. Well I will say to you, in like manner : 
 Abstract life for a moment, and you will acknowledge that 
 matter cannot of itself have any particular form. The four 
 elementary bodies, of which our material body is composed, 
 would not have been combined together, so as to present a 
 human form, if they did not cover a spiritual body which has 
 itself this form. 
 
 This letter is very long ; but I wished not to conclude it, 
 without having given you at least some idea of what the soul 
 or spirit of man really is. I will give you in my next letter, 
 the continuation of this exposition. Accept &c. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 43 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 I presumed rightly, my dear sir that you would press me 
 with questions ; but I am far from reproaching you for it, be 
 cause the kind of impatience which you show is easily ex 
 plained, and is not, to speak favorably, anything more than an 
 ardent desire to be released from your painful situation. You 
 would like to grasp at once the whole of these theories, which 
 surprise you by their novelty, and still more by their elevated 
 ideas. Lost for a long time in the midst of the dark labyrinth 
 of modern philosophy, you have eagerly laid hold of the thread 
 which I have presented to you ; but this thread, which should 
 guide your reason, as yet consists for you only in the sequence 
 of the logical deductions which I present to you ; but if it 
 should be broken if the numerous propositions which are yet 
 to be examined, and which engage your mind, should not all 
 form a logical connection with those which precede if, in a 
 word, there should afterwards be found a want of continuity 
 in the whole system how would you escape from the laby 
 rinth ? Would you not run the risk of being drawn back the 
 more into its dark windings, in proportion to the nearness of 
 your approach to the half enlightened part which borders on 
 its outlet ? The flashes of lightning in the midst of ni<rht serve 
 only to make it afterwards more dark. Here is your fear ; and 
 you express it with so much sincerity, that I should hasten to 
 satisfy you. No : be well assured you have nothing to fear ; the 
 thread will not break ; follow it with confidence and yon will 
 come out of your labyrinth. All I ask of you is perseverance, 
 and you will h nd that all the other theories will come in groups 
 around those which I have already presented to you, and consti 
 tute in their harmonious whole, the true system of religious 
 philosophy. You will see then, that far from dreading the ex- 
 
44 LETTERS TO A 
 
 animation of historical facts, this philosophy will itself be able 
 to urge it ; for all those facts which have furnished to scepti 
 cism its strongest arguments against the divine Providence, 
 can, on the contrary, with tV, prove very evidently how much 
 this Providence is always admirable in all its ends. 
 
 I had at first intended to answer, in this letter, the questions 
 which you address to me ; but after having considered that 
 the greater part of them will be explained in the course of the 
 exposition which [ have commenced, it has appeared to me 
 more convenient to continue it. As 10 those for which there 
 is not room in it, they will be treated of before we go to 
 another subject. 
 
 I shall not resume the course of our discussion, without say 
 ing a few words to you relative to the simultaneous use which 
 I have hitherto made of the two expressions Soul and Spirit. 
 My only object was to render myself more intelligible, in 
 making use at once, both of the word commonly received and 
 of that which we ordinarily use ; for we mean more partic 
 ularly by the word Spirit, the man who is disengaged from 
 his material covering j and sometimes even to avoid the mis 
 takes which miuht result from the different acceptations of 
 this word, we make use of the expression man-spirit. Thus 
 the man-spirit or spirit being with us the man existing in an 
 immaterial world, just as soul is to men of the world the prin 
 ciple which survives the decomposition of the body, I shall not 
 any longer use the two expressions simultaneously, but shall 
 more particularly make use of that which we are accustomed 
 to employ. I return now to the principal subject. 
 
 It results very evidently from all that I have said to you in 
 my last letter, that man is not annihilated by that so much 
 dreaded event which is called death. 
 
 You have seen, in fact, that he continues to exist, not as a 
 breath or vapor without substance, not as a fleeting and im 
 palpable shadow* not as a thought without an organic subject, 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 45 
 
 not by transmission of one body into another but indeed, 
 as a true man, with this same organised spiritual body, from 
 which he derived, in the natural world, his sensibility and 
 his form, thus preserving all his identity, taking away with 
 him all that causes him to be man, and only leaving on 
 the earth the external covering by the aid of which he had 
 been in communication with our world, and with the ob 
 jects included in it. i his is what we call a man-spirit or 
 in a word, a spirit. 
 
 Man then does not cease to exist when his material body 
 is no longer in a state to perform the uses for which it was 
 destined ; he lives, but on another theatre ; he lives, but with 
 a life then much more active, and much more complete than 
 that which he had on this earth ; for his spiritual body is no 
 longer encased in a gross covering, as in this world. 
 
 This being demonstrated Does man live in the spiritual 
 world eternally ? 
 
 This last question must necessarily be settled before we shall 
 be aMe to conclude that man is immortal ; for it is not enough 
 to prove that he lives after his natural death ; it is necessary still 
 to show that his existence beyond the grave will be prolonged 
 to eternity. 
 
 You will observe however that at the point where we have 
 arrived, the difficulties which the question of the soul s im 
 mortality presented are quite removed. Indeed, that which 
 is necessary above all to prove to the men of our age is, that 
 they will live after the dissolution of their bodies. Let man be 
 convinced of this truth, and if there should still remain with him 
 any doubts about the eternity of his spiritual existence, it 
 would be easy to have them removed. If, on the other hand, 
 very great difficulties are experienced in convincing him that 
 he will live after death, it is because being deprived of the 
 most important spiritual truths, he has generally habituated 
 himself to reason only from the illusions of his senses. He is 
 
46 LETTERS TO A 
 
 accustomed only to admit with entire conviction, what he 
 sees with the eyes of his body ; now, he sees every day the 
 scythe of death cutting down men indiscriminately, and he has 
 never seen one of hie victims reappear. He does not know 
 that if everything in the material world presents to us this 
 picture of the successive decomposition of beings, it is because 
 matter of itself is dead, arid only receives from the spiritual 
 world the life with which it seems to be animated. He is 
 thence induced to believe that man, like all other beings 
 which dwell with him on the earth, is annihilated by natural 
 death. It is then very difficult when man has fallen into such 
 a state, to convince him with only the common views of phi 
 losophy, or even with the arguments of the old theology, that 
 he is excepted from the general law, and that he is destined 
 by his Creator to live eternally. But when it is proved to him 
 that the soul is a substantial being, having the human form 
 when he has understood that man after his natural death, lives 
 in a spiritual body, that is to say, in a body not subjected to 
 the laws of matter when he knows that he dwells with this 
 body in a world where all must be life, since matter does not 
 exist therethen he can no longer experience any great diffi 
 culties in admitting that man, when become a spirit, lives 
 eternally in a spiritual world, 
 
 To demonstrate to you the eternity of this spiritual existence, 
 I will satisfy myself in giving you only two proofs : one of 
 them I will base on the Essence itself of God, or on his divine 
 Love; the other shall be founded on his divine Wisdom in 
 the work of Creation. The first of these proofs, which might 
 .alone establish a complete conviction, is that which I derive 
 from the Essence itself of God. You have most readily ac 
 knowledged that God is in his Essence Love itself. This 
 definition has pleased you, because it satisfied both your heart 
 and your reason : it is besides, so conformable to the sound 
 idea which ought to be formed of God, that no one, I believe, 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 47 
 
 would venture openly to dispute it. If then, God in his Es 
 sence is Love itself, he must necessarily be constant in his 
 love, since constancy is one of the essential qualities of love. 
 Now, would not God give the most manifest proofs of incon 
 stancy if, after creating human beings that he mi^ht love them, 
 and himself be loved by them in return, he should annihilate 
 them ? Let us conclude then, that the spirit that has respond 
 ed to the love of the Creator while living in the material 
 body, will live eternally in the spiritual world. When I have 
 shown you in what consists the existence of the spirit, you 
 will see that God, who never infringes the immutable laws of 
 his divine order, permits him also to subsist eternally who has 
 rejected his love. 
 
 My second proof, founded upon the Wisdom of God in the 
 Creation, requires that 1 should previously iiive you some ideas 
 upon the nature of the beings that are designated in general by 
 the name of Angels. If I am obliged to speak to you of An 
 gels, on the subject of the immortality of the soul, before 
 showing you in what that which is called Heaven consists, it is 
 because all great questions have numerous points of contact j 
 and it would be impossible thoroughly to treat one without 
 approaching others. Besides, it must be thus in a true sys 
 tem 5 for in order that its different parts.may form an harmo 
 nious whole they should be connected with each other. 
 
 Those who b lieve in the existence of angels, generally think 
 that they are beings created before man and of a superior na 
 ture. This opinion, besides resting upon no foundation, is an 
 error. All intelligent beings who exist in the immaterial world, 
 whatsoever other denomination is given to them, are men, 
 and all have lived upon earths before living in the imma 
 terial world. These are two truths which it will be easy to 
 prove. 
 
 First : All thi. Angels are men. To admit this proposition as 
 an incontestable truth, it is enough to know what we are to 
 
48 LETTERS TO A 
 
 understand by man. God being VERY MAN, and the human- 
 type (V homme-type) the name of man must belong to every crea 
 ture who is formed in the image or according to the likeness of 
 God, that is to say, who is fit to receive freely his love and 
 wisdom. Man then is every being endowed with a will fit to 
 receive freely the divine love, and with an understanding fit to 
 receive freely the divine wisdom. And as liberty is an inhe 
 rent quality of man, it results {hence that every man by virtue 
 of his free will appropriates or rejects, in different degrees, this 
 love and this wisdom, which are always in the effort to enter 
 into him. From this it is that the difference proceeds which is 
 observed between all men, and which causes each to be him 
 self, and impossible to be confounded with another. But what 
 soever may be the div -rsity which exists between intelligent 
 beings, whether Ho tentots, Laplanders, Chinese, or Europeans ; 
 whether black, copper-colored, or white ; whether they inhabit 
 this earth or the planets of our sol;ir system, or even those of 
 other systems ; in a word, whatsoever may be the character, 
 stature, and color of a being, provided he has a cerebellum and 
 cerebrum, fo med in such a maim r as to be able to receive 
 the divine love and the divine wisdom, this being is a man. 
 Now, according to this definition of man, a definition which 
 is but a consequence of principles already explained, you see 
 that there cannot exist int Tmediate beings between God and 
 man, and that thus angels are, properly speaking, men. If, how 
 ever, from a recollection of instruction received in your child 
 hood, there remains yet a propensity to consider angels as 
 beings of a nature superior to man, I would suggest to you, that 
 in these same instructions you learned also that God had created 
 man in his image, and according to his likeness. Now if an 
 angel, who is also a creature of God, was of a nature superior 
 to that of man, pray, tell me, what could that nature be ? Use 
 all the efforts of your imagination, and see if it would be possi 
 ble to conceive of a nature superior to that which is in the image 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 49 
 
 and according to the likeness of God. Those who held this 
 language to you contradicted themselves. No, I repeat it, there 
 are not and there cannot be beings intermediate between God 
 and men, or of a nature superior to that of man, and this, be 
 cause God is VERY MAN; and besides, all beings to whom are 
 given the name of angels, have the human form, because the 
 first form (Form-Type) is the human form. All angels then 
 are men. 
 
 Second : All Angels have lived upon earths before living in 
 the immaterial world. It is very evident that it is only in a pre- 
 paratory world, that is to say, in the natural world, that intelli 
 gent creatures are enabled to use free will, or choose between 
 good and evil, between the true and the false. If the inhabitants 
 of heaven could become guilty or rebellious, none would be 
 certain of remaining there, whence heaven would be no longer 
 heaven, for the single idea of the possibility of being driven 
 thence would destroy that happiness which makes heaven to be 
 what it is. You will see presently when w r e treat upon the 
 mode of the existence of Spirits, that there is no choice to 
 make in the spiritual World, because choice has been made in 
 the natural world ; you will see that every one then enjoys, not 
 free will, bat liberty, which in the good consists in doing good 
 freely, without fearing evil, and in the wicked, in freely doing 
 eril without experiencing remorse ; so that the liberty of one 
 is true liberty, with all the enjoyments which result from it, 
 and that of the other genuine slavery, the slavery of evil, 
 with all the torments which it produces. If then, there is no- 
 enjoyment of free will but in the natural world, from all neces 
 sity it results that angels have first lived upon earths, or 
 that they have been created without being endowed with free 
 will. Now, in this second hypothesis, far from being superior 
 to man, the angels would be much inferior to him, for they 
 would be no more than automatons, destitute of the principle 
 of reciprocality, and thence unworthy of the love of God. ID 
 
50 
 
 LETTERS TO A 
 
 fact, from the principles which have been set forth in my sec 
 ond letter, a being created perfect would be but an instrument 
 purely passive, or a machine. It thence evidently results that 
 angels are men, who during their life in the natural world 
 have been rendered worthy to receive afterwards the divine 
 Love and the divine Wisdom in a very high degree. 
 
 Thus is confirmed anew this proposition, already advanced, 
 that man was the sole end of Creation ; for since there are no 
 intermediate beings between God and man, it results necessa 
 rily that all that exists, as we]l in the natural as in the spirit 
 ual world, has been created with a view to man, who is the 
 only being capable, by his constitution, of returning to his Cre 
 ator the love which he receives from him. The spiritual or 
 immaterial universe being thus found to be peopled only with 
 men who have lived originally upon the earths, if these men 
 who are spirits or angels are not to live eternally, it follows 
 either that they would successively cease t<> exist, as in our 
 world, or that they would cease to exist all at once. There are 
 no other suppositions to mak.fi ; now these suppositions are 
 both inadmissible. 
 
 To suppose the successive ceasing of the inhabitants of the 
 spiritual world, to make way for others, would be to suppose 
 that the immaterial world might be no longer capable of con 
 taining all the beings who are daily leaving the earths; this 
 would be as a consequence to assimilate the spiritual to the 
 material, or to compare life to death; for it is life which con 
 stitutes the spiritual world, and you know that matter of itself 
 is dead or deprived of life ; it would be, in a word, to materi 
 alize affection and thought. Now > if affection and thought 
 can be exempt from the laws of space even in this world (of 
 which you may easily convince yourself, since your affection 
 and thought know no distance), how could it be supposed that 
 they would be cubjected to these laws when man is no longer 
 imprisoned in matter ? The first hypothesis is then inadmissible. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 51 
 
 To suppose that the inhabitants of the spiritual world should 
 cease to exist at one time would be supposing that that world 
 might be annihilated, for what would a spiritual world be 
 totally deprived of intelligent beings ? And as the material 
 world is of itself dead, and has life only from the spiritual 
 v. orld, this would be to suppose the annihilation of all that has 
 been created Now, if the whole creation were annihilated. 
 God who is Love itself, could no longer diffuse his love, the 
 essence of which is to be communicative ; and his divine Wis 
 dom which is Foresight itself, would be imperfect, since in cre 
 ating the universe that the divine Love might might be satis 
 fied, it would not have been able to accomplish this end. 
 Such a supposition, which would accuse the divine Wisdom 
 of want of foresight, is then likewise inadmissible Thence 
 results the second proof of the eternity of the spirit in the im 
 material world. 
 
 Now let us recapitulate what has been said on the immor 
 tality of man. I have shown you in my last letter, that man 
 does not cease to exist at the time which is very improperly 
 called death; that he continues to live in the spiritual world, 
 with a body organized like the one he had in the natural world 
 that this body, of a nature wholly spiritual, is not given to 
 him at the time of his passage from one world into another 
 that he has had this spiritual body in the natural world that 
 it is truly by it that he experienced sensations in this world, 
 and lhat it has had the human form, his material body having 
 been but a simple covering, with which the Creator had invested 
 him that he might perform his functions in the natural world. 
 Lastly, in this letter, to establish the certainty that the spirit 
 or the man divested of his material covering, must live eternally 
 in the spiritual world, I have demonstrated that if he should 
 cease to exist, God, who is love itself, would contravene one of 
 the essential conditions of love, by exhibiting himself as incon 
 stant, which cannot for a moment be supposed ; arid moreover, 
 
52 LETTERS TO A 
 
 that the end of creation would not be attained, which could not 
 be admitted, without accusing the divine Wisdom of want of 
 foresight. From all this results rationally the complete proof 
 of the immortality of the soul. 
 
 Do not believe, however, that I rest upon tne reasonings which 
 I have presented to you. Strange would be my illusion, if I 
 thought I had established in you a firm conviction, because I 
 had proved to yon, by a logical train of arguments, that you 
 were to live eternally. No, my dear sir, should you even say : 
 I am altogether convinced, I could not believe it ; not that I 
 would doubt the sincerity of your avowal, but because in the 
 actual state of your present ideas, a firm conviction on such a 
 subject could not be formed but by a long series of medita 
 tions. I will grant you then all the time necessary, and will 
 furnish you, in each of my letters, means for meditating on 
 the eternity of your existence : for of all theories which are 
 yet to be examined, there is not one which does not bring new 
 confirmative proofs of this important truth. 
 
 As that which is the most difficult to admit in this discus 
 sion, is the existence of the spirit in the human form, with a 
 spiritual organised body, I cannot too much insist upon this 
 point. To the proofs then already given, I shall add some 
 others drawn from the observation of certain facts which may 
 be easily verified. These new proofs will be so much the 
 more to your taste, as it is generally required, at this day, that 
 theories should be confirmed by facts. 
 
 Towards the conclusion of my last letter, I proved to you 
 that the material body of man is of itself insensible, and has no 
 form properly its own. These two truths, drawn from modern 
 science, already evidently confirm the existence, with man, 
 of a spiritual organized body ; for if the material body has of 
 itself neither sens bility nor form, it is necessary that both of 
 these should be derived from the spiritual body. It remains 
 now to confirm, by the observation of facts, that this spiritual 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 53 
 
 body has the same organization as the material body which 
 covers it. 
 
 When a man receives a wound, he suffers. Why does he 
 Buffer ? Because the separation of continuity which exists in 
 the wounded part disturbs the organization of his body. But 
 what is it that suffers in him] is it matter? No : since it is 
 of itself insensible. Is it his soul ? Yes, since his soul, or his 
 spirit, that is, his life, is the man himself. Now. how could 
 you. from the ideas of philosophers, conceive that the soul, 
 the spirit, or the life, could suffer from an act purely material? 
 Hitherto it has been absolutely impossible to account for it : in 
 vain explanations have been sought ; thj physiologists in their 
 researches have not been more fortunate than the psycholo 
 gists ; neither the one nor the other have as yet presented 
 anything satisfactory But if recourse is had to our theories, 
 and a spiritual body is admitted, organised like the material 
 body, all is easily explained. We invite you to the te*t. 
 
 Life is composed of affections and thoughts ; the affections 
 being spiritual substances, and the thoughts spiritual forms, 
 the life peculiar to every being is always organised, by means 
 of these substances and forms, by reason of the affections and 
 thoughts or instincts of which this being has been created 
 susceptible. Now man having been created such that he 
 could receive the divine love in his will and the divine wis 
 dom in his understanding, it results from this, that in him life 
 is in a complete state j that it is an image of Life itself or of 
 God ; and that consequently it is, in the whole, a substance 
 having the form of God, that is to say, the human. Observe 
 at the same time, that man cannot act in the material world 
 but by an intermediation of matter ; that it is for this reason 
 that all the parts of his spiritual body have been covered with 
 material substances which constitute his natural body, and it 
 will be easy to comprehend why man suffers when his mate 
 rial body receives a wound. 
 3* 
 
54 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Indeed, when the material body is in its integrity, the spirit 
 ual body is able to act freely according to internal impulses ; 
 but if the material body is hurt, whether by contusion, by in 
 cision, or in any other manner, the action of the spiritual body 
 not being able to put itself forth freely, there is pain, suffer 
 ing. If, for example, there is separation of continuity in a 
 part of the material body, there is not, in truth, on that ac 
 count separation of continuity in the corresponding part of the 
 spiritual body, but this body being no longer able to act in our 
 world by the injured part of the material body, there is pain 
 so much the more acute, so much the more severe, as the dis 
 turbance is great j and this pain may even affect the whole 
 organization of the spiritual body, if the injury is of a nature 
 to disturb its general action. If, moreover, the injured part 
 is an organ indispensable to the general action of the spiritual 
 body, such as the heart, for example, or such as the lungs, the 
 material body, not being of any further use to the spiritual 
 body for acting in our world, it is impossible that the two 
 bodies should remain longer united. Then the separation 
 takes place ; the material body being then nothing more than 
 a corpse, and the spiritual body disengaged from the bonds 
 which confined it in the natural world, at once exists without 
 the need of translation, in the spiritual world. 
 
 Let me support what has been said by a phenomenon 
 which has often been produced. You have no doubt conversed 
 with soldiers who have suffered amputation of their limbs ; our 
 late wars have unhappily but too much increased their num 
 ber. Have you not often heard these brave men complain of 
 severe pains which they experienced in the heel or the toe, 
 though their leg has been left many years since in the field of 
 Austerlitz or the plains of Leipsic ? Has it not sometimes hap- 
 p iied to you to see them even so strong is the impression 
 suddenly cairy the hand to the part affected, with the intention 
 of compressing there the pain, and have you not then per- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 55 
 
 ceived their disappointment when, for the hundredth time 
 perhaps, they seized nothing but a piece of insensible wood ? 
 If you have never witnessed such facts, ask the first person 
 who has suffered the loss of a limb, and he will confirm you 
 in the reality of it. If afterwards, struck with this extraordi 
 nary phenomenon, you would desire to know the cause, would 
 you inquire of science ? You would receive no satisfactory 
 answer. Should you be more fortunate in consulting philoso 
 phy ? Philosophy would be dumb. But have recourse to the 
 principles which I have explained, and you will easily obtain 
 an explanation which will satisfy your reason. 
 
 The amputation of a leg or of any other member of the ma 
 terial body, cannot deprive the spiritual body of this member. 
 The person who has lost a limb preserves then his spiritual 
 body in its integrity j if the spiritual limb is not visible to the 
 eyes of our material body, it is because the material is not ca 
 pable of seeing anything but what is material. It is not, it is 
 true, the material eye which sees ; it is the spiritual eye ; but 
 as in general the spiritual eye cannot see in our world but by 
 the medium of the material covering, for this reason I say 
 that the material can see nothing but what is material. Now, 
 since the spiritual leg of the person amputated always exists, 
 though invisible to the eyes of our body, it is not astonishing 
 that this leg, or even its extremity, should be affected with a 
 pain of which the amputated person will experience the sen 
 sation ; it is the spiritual body which suffers in him, and not 
 the material. Besides, as there are circumstances where, with 
 those who enjoy their material limbs, a pain ii\ the superior 
 parts extends even to the heel or the toe, and becomes even 
 more severe in these extreme parts, it may clearly be seen 
 that it should be the same in like circumstances, though the 
 material leg no longer exists. 
 
 According to the same principle of the integrity of the spir 
 itual body, notwithstanding the mutilation of the material 
 
56 LETTERS TO A 
 
 body, the man who has been deprived of his material eyes, 
 preserves his spiritual eyes entire, he is only blind as to that 
 which concerns the objects of this world. He does not see 
 these objects, because the spiritual eye, as I have told you, 
 cannot see in the material world but by the medium of the 
 material organ of vision, and this organ failing, the phenome 
 non of natural vision ceases immediately. In like manner, 
 the deaf man does not hear, because the spiritual ear cannot 
 perceive the sounds of the natural world but by the intermedi 
 ation of the material organ of hearing, and if this organ is 
 hurt, deafness ensues : but the deaf man preserves entire the 
 spiritual organ of hearing. 
 
 If during sleep the blind man has had a dream and retains 
 the recollection of his dream, he then acknowledges that he 
 saw objects which were presented to him as distinctly as he 
 saw natural objects when he had the use of his eyes. The 
 deaf man acknowledges also, when he retains the recollection 
 of his dream, that he then perceived sounds as distinctly as he 
 perceived natural sounds before his state of deafness. How 
 are we to explain these facts ? It will be said without doubt 
 that they are the effects of the imagination ; but then what is 
 this imagination ? It would be very difficult to answer the ques 
 tion. The imagination is often suggested as a reason : it is a 
 word which the philosophy of the day highly esteems, for it 
 serves to withdraw it from embarrassments when it is pushed 
 to its last entrenchments ; but it is very evident that to attri 
 bute such facts to the imagination, would be evading the ques 
 tion, and not resolving it. To explain now to you the theory 
 of dreams, would be digressing too far from my subject ; we 
 will examine it together hereafter ; I will only say that gene 
 rally in dreams, it is the spiritual body of man which is alone 
 active, and this is sufficient to give an explanation of the facts 
 respecting the sight of the blind and hearing of the deaf. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 57 
 
 The blind man sees then with his spiritual eyes, and the deaf 
 man hears with his spiritual ears. 
 
 It would be easy to multiply confirmative proofs of the ex 
 istence in man of an organized spiritual body, by explaining 
 the extraordinary facts which some new branches of science 
 reveal ; but I should be drawn into too long a digression, for 
 these new branches of science being yet for the most part 
 devoid of theories, and presenting, to say the least, as many 
 inconveniences as disadvantages, I could not speak of them 
 without specifically pointing them out, which would cause 
 you to lose sight of the exposition which now engages our at 
 tention. Nevertheless, when you become acquainted with 
 the order of the spiritual world, and the mode of existence of 
 its inhabitants, you will always find me disposed to reply to 
 the questions which you may think proper to ask on the sub 
 ject of these new discoveries, and I will take care to put you 
 on your guard against the dangers which they may present. 
 
 Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Although you have acknowledged the force and stability of 
 the proofs which I have given you concerning the immortality 
 of the soul, yet I could not hope to establish an unshaken con-* 
 viction on this j oint, if there were not in reserve some other 
 means of strengthening that which you confess begins to be 
 formed within you. Of what use would it have been to have 
 proved to you that your material body is only an envelope, 
 and to have shown you that this envelope, though necessary 
 to your present existence, is not indispensable to constitute the 
 
58 LETTERS TO A 
 
 real life, of which the life of this world is but the first link ? 
 Of what use would it have been to have convinced you that 
 there exists in you a spiritual body that this body is ab 
 solutely organized like your body of flesh, and that it is as in 
 destructible as everything else which is of a spiritual nature ? 
 Of what use would these truths be, if I were not to make you 
 acquainted with the spiritual world, of which it is yet im 
 possible lor you to form an idea I if I were not to place be 
 fore your eyes this new theatre upon which your man-spirit 
 must exercise to all eternitv the functions of his immaterial 
 nature ? Without a knowledge of that world, how could you 
 combat in yourself the objections of every kind which would 
 come in crowds to assail your first conviction ? One day you 
 would believe, the next deny. 
 
 Far from having brought relief to your position, I should 
 only have rendered it the more intolerable, by exciting in you 
 a desire to believe, without presenting to you all that is neces 
 sary to establish and confirm your faith. You would have 
 had a right to say to me : " This breath, or this vapory being 
 of philosophers and theologians, I thought little about, since it 
 is impossible to form a clear idea of it ; I thought no more 
 about angels, whom they represent in human form, for the 
 wings which they give to them show plainly enough that they 
 are but pure fictions. However, I might have been able in 
 some degree by an effort of the imagination, to represent to 
 myself, in the midst of the immensity of the etherial regions, 
 souls wandering here and there, and angels flapping or poising 
 their wings to support their bodies. But your men-spirits, 
 and your angels in a perfect human form, what idea can I 
 form of their existence ? Philosophers and theologians place 
 but little stress on their lucubrations relative to the nature of 
 the soulj almost all confess that they are far from relying 
 with certainty upon what they advance, while you on the 
 contrary, appear to have not the least doubt of your assertions 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 59 
 
 Hasten, then, to draw me from this position, or else, while 
 wishing to relieve me of my doubts, you will but have in 
 creased them." 
 
 With great propriety would you thus address me, if I should 
 delay satisfying the desire you must have to know something 
 of this spiritual world : therefore I am anxious to give you 
 some ideas which will enable you at once to comprehend the 
 the whole. You will see then that the spirit, disengaged frum 
 the matter with which it is here covered, possesses all that 
 which is necessary for its existence ; and that the life which 
 it enjoys is much more complete than that which it had upon 
 this earth. 
 
 It would, withrut doubt, be easier to present to you these 
 views, if you were acquainted with our theory of degrees, and 
 our manner of regarding space and time ; but in your present 
 state, it is necessary to proceed at once to the subject; I 
 shall ? therefore, enter upon it without any preliminary re 
 marks. 
 
 The knowledge which we have of the man-spirit will con 
 duct us directly to that of the spiritual world. In this, it will 
 be sufficient to follow the law of analogy, for there must exist, 
 between the spiritual and the material worlds, relations anal 
 ogous to those which exist between the spirit and the material 
 body. Now if the spirit is a real man, if the form of the ma 
 terial body belongs to the spirit, and these are two truths which 
 we have acknowledged, we must thence conclude that the 
 spiritual world is a real world, and that the form of the mate 
 rial world belongs to the spiritual world. 
 
 Indeed, from this alone, that you have acknowledged the 
 truths which concern the man-spirit, you are forced to admit 
 the correlative truths which apply to the spiritual world. If, 
 as the discoveries of modern science prove, the matter of 
 which our body is composed, is of itself insensible, and has 
 of itself no particular form, with much stronger reason must 
 
60 LETTERS TO A 
 
 it be the same with inorganic matter. If the material body 
 does not live of itself, how can the other objects of nature have 
 existence of themselves, and how can nature, in the complex, 
 exist of itself? If the matter which composes our bodies has 
 not form of itself, how can that which constitutes the other 
 bodies of nature, of itself present to us the indefinite variety 
 of forms which charm our sight, and how can the whole of 
 nature have a form ? All the objects which exist in our world 
 receive, then, their form from objects similar, or properly cor- 
 responding which are in the spiritual world. I say correspond 
 ing for thoir h the things in the spiritual world appear like 
 those which are in ours, it is to be observed, however, that they 
 differ from them in this, that they have in them life, because 
 they exist and subsist from thv spiritual sun, in the interior of 
 which resides the Divinity ; while the things of the natural 
 world, existing and subsisting from the material sun, have no 
 life in them, but what they receive by the intermediation of 
 the spiritual world. 
 
 Since, according to this, there cannot be in our world a sin 
 gle object which is not the correspondent of an object existing 
 in the spiritual world, in reality, that is to say, in substance 
 and form, the strict consequence which we must thence draw 
 is, that there is in that world, as in ours, stars which appear 
 fixed in an azure vault, a horizon with its zenith, atmos 
 pheres with their meteors, countries watered by rivers, seas 
 confined to their limits by coasts, the three kingdoms with 
 all that constitutes them, and the indefinite variety of all the 
 objects of art, which result from the labors of man. Thus, 
 my dear sir, if until this moment, as I have supposed at the 
 commencement of this letter, you had not been able to form 
 in yourself an idea of the existence of men-spirits ; if you had 
 not known where to place these spiritual bodies, organized 
 like our material bodies, you see now, that by means of these 
 objects, which are all of an immaterial nature, men-spirits 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 61 
 
 enjoy a real existence, which it is no longer impossible to 
 comprehend. You see, also, that far from being lost in a va 
 pory immensity, they exist upon a solid earth, and are sur 
 rounded with real objects , for the earth upon which they 
 walk, the houses which they inhabit, the air which they 
 breathe, and all the objects in general which are before their 
 eyes, or which they touch, are then for them as real as our 
 earth, our habitations, the air, and all that which surrounds us 
 is now real for us. 
 
 You will, without doubt, be as much astonished in learning 
 these things, as you were when I announced to you that your 
 soul or your spirit is a real man, having a spiritual organiza 
 tion, like that of your terrestrial body. Nevertheless, the first 
 truth must have served to prepare you for the second; for 
 these are, as I have told you, two correlative truths, and the 
 admission of the one, necessarily draws after it that of the 
 other. Your astonishment would be still greater, if I should 
 at once make you acquainted with this spiritual world in all 
 its details j but before presenting you with the details, I must 
 endeavor to convince you of the reality of the whole. 
 
 As you read that which precedes, your mind, it seems to 
 me, will be greatly excited to know where this spiritual world 
 can be situated. This desire appears to me so much the 
 more natural on your part, as from your quality as a man of 
 the world, you cannot yet think of spiritual things, but from 
 ideas of space and time. Yet the spiritual world, from its 
 very nature, is entirely freed from the trammels of space and 
 time ; for space and time are accidents inherent in matter, and 
 can only exist in reality in the natural world. I will return 
 soon to these truths, which I now merely announce, for it is im 
 portant that I should present to you at once, some general con 
 siderations upon the relations which exist between God, the 
 spiritual world, and the natural world. This subject being of 
 an abstract nature, I claim for a moment all your attention. 
 
62 LETTERS TO A 
 
 When you do a work you are directed by a motive, and you 
 have an object in view. This object is, philosophically 
 speaking, the end ; the motive which directs you,- is the cause ; 
 the work which you do is the effect. These are three things 
 which are connected together by relations which it is impor 
 tant well to determine. 
 
 With very little reflection upon that which passes in your 
 mind when you act, you will easily see the difference which 
 exists between the end and the cause, in acknowledging that 
 the end or the aim, is an affection which resides in your will, 
 whilst the cause is a thought which has for its seat your un 
 derstanding. But that you may be better able to comprehend 
 this difference, and follow this discussion without any effort, 
 I shall support what I have said by an example. 
 
 When a sculptor wishes to make a statue from a block of 
 marble, he is evidently moved to satisfy an affection, and di 
 rected afterwards by a thought. His affection is either to pro 
 vide for his natural wants, or to acquire fame. This first 
 moving principle of the sculptor is the end or aim. After 
 wards he has recourse to his intellectual faculties to create a 
 form ; the thought which conceives the form to give to the 
 marble is the cause, for it is this thought which will direct the 
 hand of the sculptor in the execution of his work. Finally, 
 the m mifestation of this form by the chisel, that is to say, the 
 statue itself, is the effect. 
 
 It thence results that the end, the cause, and effect, are not 
 in relations which precede by continuity, whether from the 
 simple to the compound, or from the compound to the simple, 
 as are for the most part those which exist between things of 
 the same nature. Their relations do not consist in fact either 
 in increase or decrease of the same thing, as the relation of 
 light to heavy, which is only an increment of density, nor as 
 that of heat to cold which is but 3, decrement of caloric. But 
 if we examine attentively the nature of the end, of the cause, 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 63 
 
 and of the effect, we see that these three things are placed 
 one above the other, in degrees entirely distinct or separate 
 from one another, so that the relations which exist between 
 them are like those of the anterior to the posterior, or like 
 those of the superior to the inferior. 
 
 It is, indeed, evident that the end or design is anterior and 
 superior to the cause ; the end is anterior to the cause ; for the 
 sculptor has been moved by the love of riches or of glory, be 
 side having had recourse to his intellectual faculties to create 
 the form of the statue : the end is superior to the cause ; for 
 the love or affection of the sculptor is above his thought, since 
 it is this love or this affection which has determined his 
 thought, and which does not cease to sustain it. Suppose this 
 love in the sculptor should cease, would not his thought be 
 immediately directed to some other object ? 
 
 It is in like manner evident, that the cause is anterior and 
 superior to the effect ; for the thought of the sculptor had con 
 ceived the form of the statue, or of every part of the statue, be 
 fore his hand applied the chisel to it j the cause is superior 
 to the effect ; for the thought of the sculptor is above the 
 statue, since it is this thought which determines the form of 
 the statue. If, before having finished his work, the sculptor 
 rejected his thought, would not the form of the statue have 
 remained unfinished ? 
 
 Not to confound these relations between things which are 
 of an absolutely different nature with the relations which re 
 sult from increments or decrements of the same thing, we give 
 to the first the name of discrete degrees, and to the others the 
 name of continuous degrees. So there are three discrete degrees 
 the end forms the first degree, the cause is the second, and 
 the effect is the third or last. Continuous degrees are in num 
 ber indefinite. The theory of continuous degrees is not diffi 
 cult to comprehend, because these degrees, presenting only 
 differences in more or less, can be easily studied. But it is 
 
64 LETTERS TO A 
 
 not so with the discrete degrees : the theory of these, also, which 
 constitutes a real science, ^is, at this day, entirely obliterated , 
 and it is the loss of this knowledge which produces all the 
 vague lucubrations of philosophy, when it is engaged in the 
 considerations of ends, causes and effects. As the nature of 
 the questions we treat of will compel me often to have recourse 
 to this theory, I propose to develope to you successively its 
 principles. 
 
 The end, the cause, and the effect being three things of a 
 nature absolutely different, but united by relations of anteri 
 ority at id superiority, it concerns us now to see what results 
 from these relations. 
 
 Be it observed, in the first place, that ends and causes can 
 only be comprehended so far as they are manifested in effects. 
 Without the acts which they produce, they would be as if they 
 had no existence ; but, by means of their manifestation, they 
 are fixed in effects, repose in them as upon their basis, and 
 remain there so long as the effects subsist. Thus, so long as the 
 statue subsists, the thought of the sculptor will remain in this 
 statue, the form of which is nothing else than this thought defi 
 nitely arrested and fixed ; but, though it may be thus arrested 
 and fixed in such a manner as to strike the eyes and minds of 
 those who contemplate the statue, it is nevertheless certain 
 that this thought does not cease to be in the sculptor ; it is 
 then also out of the statue. This is a fact so evident that it 
 cannot be disputed j but how is this fact to be explained if not 
 by the relations of anteriority and posteriority, which exist 
 between the thought of the sculptor and the statue ? Really, 
 if the thought of the sculptor presents itself in the statue 
 which cannot be denied it is nevertheless not there, but as 
 all that which is anterior and superior presents itself in the 
 things posterior and inferior which correspond to it, that is to 
 say, that it does not the less subsist out of the statue, by rea 
 son that that which is anterior and superior cannot be absorbed 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 65 
 
 by that which is posterior and inferior. It is thus that the 
 cause subsists out of the effect, though being in the effect. 
 
 What I have just said concerning the cause and the effect 
 is applicable to the end and the cause, between which exist 
 the same relations of superiority and anteriority. The end 
 subsists, then, out of the cause, though being in the cause. 
 Farther, as the cause itself is in the effect, it results that the 
 end and the cause both subsist out of the effect, though being 
 both in the effect. 
 
 I will resume what precedes in the two following proposi 
 tions : 
 
 1st. The end is simultaneously in the cause and out of the 
 cause. 
 
 2nd. The end and the cause are simultaneously in the effect 
 and out of the effect. 
 
 This granted : all that which exists in the universe having 
 been created with a view to man, to the end that by man the 
 whole creation might return to the Creator, God is evidently 
 the First End of all things. 
 
 All that which is of a spiritual nature, consisting in affec 
 tions and thoughts, that is to say, in living forces always in 
 activity to manifest themselves in acts which are proper to the 
 cause, the spiritual world includes the causes of all things. 
 All that which is of a material nature, consisting in bodies 
 more or less gross, manifested by causes which themselves 
 proceed from the first end, the natural world is the theatre of 
 effects. 
 
 Lastly, the relations between God, the spiritual world, and 
 the natural world, being thus absolutely the same as those 
 which exist between the end, the cause, and the effect, the 
 two preceding propositions reveal to us these two important 
 truths. 
 
 1st. God is simultaneously in the spiritual world and out of 
 the spiritual world. 
 
66 LETTERS TO A 
 
 2nd. God and the spiritual world are simultaneously in the 
 natural world and out of the natural world. 
 
 Thus, in the creation, everything is bound together and 
 connected with God, without the possibility of God being 
 confounded with his work. God is the statuary, and the uni 
 verse is the statue which his divine Thought or his Wisdom 
 has formed and vivified, with a view to satisfy his divine 
 Affection or his Love. 
 
 Thus the universe proceeds from God, not by continuity, 
 which would be to deify creation, but by contiguity. 
 
 Thus, in that which concerns man, God and the spiritual 
 world are within him, and are also out of him. God is with 
 in man, for man finds God in the recesses of his heart, when : 
 by renunciation of his selfish interests, he devotes himself to 
 the general good, or sacrifices himself for one o.f his brethren. 
 The spiritual world is within man, for man finds in himself 
 his affections and all his thoughts, which evidently belong to 
 the spiritual world, since their nature is wholly immaterial. 
 But when man is disengaged from matter, or when his mate 
 rial body is for him as if it did not exist, then, though God 
 and the spiritual world are in him, he sees them also out of 
 him. He sees God as a spiritual sun, and also as man, when 
 it pleases the Divinity to manifest himself under the human 
 form ; and he sees the spiritual world as a real world, contain 
 ing all that which is necessary to the existence of the man- 
 spirit ; for all the affections being spiritual substances, and 
 all the thoughts spiritual forms, there are found there, by 
 means of these substances and these forms, objects corres 
 ponding to the objects of our world, which are of themselves 
 correspondences of affections and thoughts. 
 
 Thus, the spiritual world which philosophy had made to van 
 ish by subtilizing it, you can now represent to yourself by 
 means of the conception of spiritual substances and forms, as 
 having all the consistence of the material world, without sup- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 67 
 
 posing a single particle of matter. But, though the preceding 
 truths are drawn from logical deductions, nevertheless you 
 will be able to comprehend them clearly only so far as you 
 can abstract your thought from space. Indeed, God and the 
 spiritual world being out of the natural world, as the sculptor 
 is out of the statue, they are also out of space ; for space is 
 proper to the natural world, and consequently exists only for 
 this world where all is fixed, regulated, and constant, because 
 ends and causes subsist there in their repose. 
 
 Here then is the place to examine the two propositions pre 
 viously announced on the subject of space and time, to wit :" 
 
 1st, That space and time are accidents inherent in matter. 
 2nd. That space and time cannot exist but in the natural world. 
 Let us consider separately these two propositions, and first, as 
 to what concerns space : 
 
 1st. Space is inherent in matter: This is evident, for it is 
 impossible, by reason of the force of inertia in matter, to con 
 ceive this matter without the idea of space. 
 
 2d. Space can only exist in the natural world : It is easy to 
 convince yourself that everything spiritual, that is to say, all 
 that which is affection and thought, is independent of space. 
 Truly, if man cannot free himself from space when he pleases, 
 it is because he is, as to all the parts which constitute him, 
 enveloped in a material body, and because he thus finds him 
 self subject to the laws of matter in that which concerns his 
 body. Thence it is that, in order to convey himself to any 
 place, he is obliged to pass through places which separate him 
 from it; but if he abstracts himself from this body, by con 
 centrating himself in his affection and thought, the case with 
 him is different, and the trammels of space disappear for an 
 instant. I say for an instant, because it is hardly possible that 
 a man should make this abstraction long, inasmuch as, living 
 in this world in the midst of material objects, his ideas are 
 incessantly carried back upon these objects. When, by your 
 
68 LETTERS TO A 
 
 will and your understanding you transport yourself in affection 
 and thought to an absent friend, or to places which awaken 
 agreeable recollections, do you not really abstract space ? This 
 space, which so often opposes your desires, only exists, then, 
 for you because the material body with which you are clothed 
 in this world subjects you to the laws of matter. Thus there 
 is, in reality, no space for affection nor for thought j nor, con 
 sequently for all that which is spiritual, since the spiritual is 
 composed of nothing else but affections and thoughts. 
 
 In that which concerns time : 
 
 1st. Time is inherent in matter. This results also from the 
 inertia of matter inertia from which this matter can be sub 
 jected to regular movements. The measure of time is owing, in 
 fact, to the two-fold motion of the earth upon itself, and around 
 the sun, or what is the same thing, to the appearance of the 
 double motion of the sun around and in the ecliptic ; for you 
 know that it is this double motion which gives us the alternate 
 return of day and night, and the succession of years. Suppose 
 our planet should no longer be subjected to this two-fold mo 
 tion, and should remain immovable what would happen ? 
 The sun would no longer have his two apparent motions, and 
 would remain for us invariably fixed to one of the points of 
 the azure vault ; then there would be no more night for the 
 hemisphere, which would be enlightened, and which alone 
 would be inhabited ; no more return of seasons ; but one per 
 petual day, one temperature, whose changes for every locality 
 would depend upon the irregular variations of the atmosphere. 
 How, in such a case, could we measure time? What end 
 would be served by the instruments now in use ? Every one, 
 certainly, would be obliged to refer to his own sensations. 
 In such a state of things, it is evident that we should not mea 
 sure time, for you know that pain and ennui make it appear 
 long, while pleasure and absence of mind shorten it ; this 
 would be then rather the state of the soul, and the different 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 69 
 
 modifications of that state which we should determine. It 
 thence evidently results that time is owing to the force of 
 inertia of matter, and thus it is inherent in matter. 
 
 2d. Time can only exist in the natural world. Since time is 
 owing to the force of the ine-rtia of matter, and since it would 
 be impossible to measure it, if material nature were not sub 
 jected to regular motions, it results that time cannot exist 
 where the law of inertia does not exist ; now this law can 
 only exist for matter. In fact, the spiritual, having been en 
 dowed with the liberty or the faculty of moving itself freely, 
 cannot be subject to the law of inertia, for this law and the 
 law of liberty are by no means compatible. Besides, it is 
 easy to see of yourself that time does not exist either for af 
 fections or for thoughts ; you can free yourself from it, whether 
 by your will and your understanding you carry yourself into 
 the past, even the most remote, which then appears to you 
 present j or whether by these same faculties you represent to 
 yourself the time which is to come. 
 
 I will here add, as an observation, that there is in man an 
 innate desire to free himself from the shackles of space and 
 time, and this desire, which is ever appearing, is itself, if not 
 a proof, at least a strong presumption, that the spiritual world, 
 for which man is born, is independent of space and time. 
 
 It is also the consequence which flows from my second 
 proposition. In fact, if space and time cannot exist but in 
 the natural world, there is in the spiritual world neither space 
 nor time. Then how can we form an idea of that world ? 
 How form a conception of earths, mountains, valleys, meadows, 
 gardens, houses, inhabitants there, if there is not space 1 
 How admit there that succession of events which, properly 
 speaking, constitutes existence, if there is not time there ? 
 
 Although the objection seems strong, a few reflections will 
 suffice to remove it. Habituated as we are to live in a world 
 where we cannot act without being continually subjected to 
 
70 LETTERS TO A 
 
 the trammels of space and time, we can hardly conceive of an 
 existence freed from these fetters. Our ignorance of the true 
 nature of spiritual substances and forms, which are nothing 
 else but affections and thoughts, induces us to believe that 
 without space and time there would be nothing there j no in 
 dividual thing } that all would be confounded, or rather that all 
 would be annihilated. It is true, it would be thus with our 
 world, since space and time are inherent in matter ; but it is 
 quite different in the immaterial world. There substances and 
 forms preserve their individual state, without having need, for 
 this purpose, of space and time. If these substances and 
 forms, which are types of the substances and forms which we 
 see in our world, were not of themselves in the individual state, 
 our world would not exist, since material substances and forms 
 exist from spiritual substances and forms. The material and 
 spiritual worlds are then both composed of individual things, 
 but with this difference, that individual things in the former 
 are subjected to the laws of inertia, whilst in the latter they 
 are governed by the law of liberty. 
 
 It thence becomes evident, that there is in the spiritual 
 world the equivalent of our space and time, considered only in 
 this, that they cause substances and forms to be in the indi 
 vidual state, and not in this, that they place fetters upon their 
 action ; for this last property of space and time proceeds from 
 their inherence in matter, while they owe their first prop 
 erty to the mode itself of the existence of spiritual sub 
 stances and forms. Yet being obliged, in order to be better 
 understood, to compare spiritual things with natural things, 
 we give to this equivalent of space and time the name of 
 appearance, and we say that in the spiritual world there is 
 the appearance of space and time, though to speak more 
 correctly, we should say that the mode of existence of sub 
 stances and forms, in *our space and our time, is itself a 
 gross appearance of their real mode of existence, since instead 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 71 
 
 of acting freely according to their nature, they are confined 
 by space and time in a material prison. Besides, how many 
 appearances are taken for realities, and how many realities 
 for appearances I If man would only reflect a little upon the 
 subject, he would see that in our world everything is filled 
 with appearances which are taken for realities ; and, to cite 
 only one example, how many various appearances proceed from 
 the apparent immobility of the earth ! 
 
 In conclusion, it remains for us to enquire what it is which 
 constitutes for spirits the appearance of space and time. This 
 question being connected with other theories w T hich we will 
 soon examine, I will satisfy myself for the present with giving 
 you a summary solution of it. This appearance of space and 
 time s being the real mode of the existence of spirits, must 
 necessarily result from the life of each one of them. Conse 
 quently, the different states of the affections of a spirit consti 
 tute for him the appearance of our space, and the different states 
 of his thoughts, the appearance of our time. 
 
 I have entered into all these considerations relative to space 
 and time, because it is impossible to comprehend clearly spirit 
 ual things if we do not abstract our minds from these two acci 
 dents adherent to matter. 
 
 To think of God from space, is to think of the extent of na 
 ture and to fall into materialism ; but when we think of God 
 as out of space and time, though in space and time, we can 
 conceive Him to be everywhere present, and in all his entire- 
 ness in. the greatest as well as the least things. In his qual 
 ity of Infinite, he fills all spaces without being himself, like 
 material things, in space ; and in his quality of Eternal, he is 
 in all the parts of time, without the divisions of time being appli 
 cable to him. Mathematics prove in fact that the infinite is 
 applicable to the greatest as well as to the least thing : and 
 philosophy acknowledges that the eternity of God, being anteri 
 or and posterior, there is to God himself neither past nor future. 
 
72 LETTERS TO A 
 
 To think of the spiritual world from space, would be to 
 materialize that which from its nature is immaterial ; but 
 when we acknowledge that the spiritual world is out of space 
 and time, though it be in space and time in this sense that it 
 transmits to the material world the life which it receives from 
 God, we can conceive of this spiritual world as really exist 
 ing, without, on that account, assigning to it a fixed and de 
 terminate position ; we can conceive that it is in the natural 
 world and out of the natural world ; in man and out of man. 
 
 I propose soon to show you what is the mode of existence 
 of the man-spirit. It will then be very easy, by the details 
 into which I shall enter, to represent to yourself this immate 
 rial world, of which you cannot as yet have a very clear idea. 
 
 Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER VIT. 
 
 To trace in my exposition the great features of the spiritual 
 world, without stopping to reply to the objections which 
 might arise in your mind was, as you know, my first design. 
 I saw in this the double advantage of enabling you to em 
 brace an idea of the whole at once, and a saving of time in 
 the examination of questions, some of which must necessarily 
 find a place in the course of the discussion j others have been 
 introduced only because you had not this general idea j but 
 your last letter contains so serious an objection, that I find it 
 necessary to examine it immediately. Besides, the desire you 
 manifest, to be enlightened as soon as possible on this subject, 
 is a sufficient reason for me to return to my preceding deter 
 mination. 
 
V 
 
 9 *f#m 
 
 V Th* 
 MAN OF THE WORLDl/]J JJ J ^ 73 
 
 Not to diminish in the least the force of your objection, I 
 extract from your letter the whole paragraph which contains it. 
 
 " While reading, in your fifth letter, your views concerning 
 the human soul, there arose one objection. I willingly admit 
 that it is the human soul alone that suffers when the body is 
 injured : I admit also that it is this which suffers in the ampu 
 tated body ; but the argument you use would apply as well to 
 animals as to man, for animals experience the same sufferings 
 that we do, arid an animal having a limb amputated would 
 in like manner suffer from a member which it would no longer 
 possess. It would seem to result, then, that animals also 
 have a spiritual body. I did not first present this objection, 
 because I expected to see it removed in the course of your expo 
 sition, as it has happened with many others which I had pre 
 viously submitted. 
 
 " Nevertheless, far from removing this difficulty, your sixth 
 letter, on the contrary, has rendered it still more serious, since 
 you place in the spiritual world all the objects of the animal 
 kingdom. You say, in fact, that there is not a single object in 
 our world which is not the correspondent of an object existing 
 in reality, that is to say, in substance and form, in the spirit 
 ual world ; and in the enumeration which you make of these 
 objects you cite the three kingdoms with all that constitues 
 them. Now, to give a spiritual body to animals, and to say, be 
 sides, that there are Animals in the spiritual world, is evidently 
 assimilating animals to man, for this is not only giving them 
 a soul, but it is making this soul enjoy immortality. Eelieve 
 me -at once, I pray you, from the disorder of ideas in which 
 these reflections involve me. Your system pleased me ; I was 
 rejoiced to see that every one of your letters removed difficul 
 ties which I believed to be inextricable. I was not yet, it is 
 true, very familiar with your spiritual substances and forms j 
 but there were so many pleasing ideas in representing man 
 spiritually organised, and thus surviving a complete man, after 
 
74 LETTERS TO A 
 
 the dissolution of his mortal body, that you led me eagerly to de 
 sire that so beautiful a conception might be a reality. I would, 
 I confess, experience regret in abandoning ideas which were 
 to me a consoling balm ; but I should be compelled to reject 
 them if you give a soul to beasts ; for my reason would decide 
 for the complete annihilation of man and animals, rather than 
 admit to the privilege of immortality beings deprived of reason." 
 I cannot reproach you, my dear sir, for having supposed that 
 we attribute to animals an immortal soul, for I expected such 
 an objection. When we are heard to say that there are ani 
 mals in the spiritual world, there are few persons who would 
 not exclaim : Have beasts also a soul ] This exclamation ap 
 pears to us so natural, that it by no means surprises us. Men s 
 ideas at this day are so vague upon all that concerns man; 
 the discussions of philosophy concerning the soul of beasts, far 
 from throwing light on this subject, have thrown so much ob 
 scurity upon it j there are so many of the learned who by their 
 writings have given rise to the belief, when yet they have not 
 postively said so, that between man and beast there is only the 
 difference of more or less it cannot be surprising that they at 
 first should persuade themselves that we also assimilate beasts 
 to men. We are, however, far from admitting such an opin 
 ion, which would be in complete opposition to all our princi 
 ples. We, on the contrary, use all our efforts to destroy so 
 fatal an error, which introduces materialism into all classes of 
 society ; for so soon as there is admitted, between man and 
 beast, only the difference of more or less, men are logically led 
 to believe that man, like a beast, is annihilated by natural 
 death. But to combat this error, instead of having recourse, 
 like the old philosophy, to common-place ideas, the impotency 
 of which is acknowledged, we will demonstrate that the dif 
 ference between man and beast is so distinct, that it is impos 
 sible, when we have once recognised it, ever to assimilate the 
 one to the other. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 75 
 
 Now that I have relieved you by making known to you our 
 principles upon this important point, I come to your objection, 
 which may be thus stated : 
 
 11 If you give a spiritual body to animals, and if, besides, 
 there are animals in the spiritual world, you evidently attrib 
 ute an immortal soul to the animal." 
 
 To this I reply : 
 
 Yes, we give a spiritual body to animals: also, there are 
 animals in the spiritual world ; and yet an animal has not an 
 immortal soul. 
 
 Thus, though I admit with you the two propositions which 
 lead you to conclude that animals have an immortal soul, I 
 maintain the contrary ; but yet I am not at all surprised at the 
 conclusion you have drawn, for all other persons would have 
 concluded the same, because they are generally ignorant of 
 what the nature of man is, what that of beasts, and what are 
 the conditions requisite for a being to enjoy immortality. 
 
 As you have hesitated in believing that we attributed a spir 
 itual body to animals, it is my duty to insist at first upon this 
 truth which I have just affirmed. You acknowledge, besides, 
 that it is a consequence of the principles which I have ex 
 plained to you on the subject of man. Logic says, in fact, that 
 if matter in man is insensible, it must be the same in animals ; 
 that if there is in man a spiritual organized being, which suf 
 fers when the material body receives a wound, it must be the 
 same in like cases with animals ; for it cannot be denied that 
 there is suffering with both. Besides, when the insensibility 
 of matter and its inaptitude to take any form of itself is recog 
 nised, we are forced to admit the principle of spiritual bodies. 
 It results again from our principles that nature is of itself 
 dead ; now it is a fact that life is diffused in different degrees 
 into all natural bodies. How could each one of them take the 
 life which is proper to it if there was not in it a corresponding 
 spiritual body adapted to receive this life from the common 
 
76 LETTERS TO A 
 
 source ? Thus we declare boldly, because it is a truth which 
 cannot be combatted but by frivolous objections, that vegeta 
 bles and animals subsist by influx from the spiritual world into 
 the natural, and proceed from spiritual germs included in 
 natural germs, and nature serves only to fix the spiritual 
 which continuously flows into it, in consequence of the ten 
 dency of everything spiritual to clothe itself with a body. 
 The animal exists then only because it is the correspondence of 
 certain spiritual substances and forms, of which the whole 
 together has constituted the spiritual body upon which corres 
 ponding material particles are moulded. 
 
 And here is explained the mystery of the life and generation 
 of all that is born, grows up, and and dies. The seed always 
 produces the same plant. Why does the acorn always pro 
 duce an oak ? It is because in the acorn the spiritual body of 
 the oak already exists. Why have a great many animals and 
 principally the saurians, the faculty of reproducing amputated 
 members ? How is it that the foot of a lizard, when torn off, 
 grows out again ? One of two things either nature performs 
 a miracle, or else material substances mould themselves upon 
 the spiritual body, as upon a model. This last solution can 
 alone explain why hybrids, mules, &c. cannot reproduce them 
 selves; why the graft can only be performed upon trees of 
 the same class, for though material forms maybe coupled, it 
 is impossible in the same manner to establish spiritual forms. 
 
 From all that precedes then, it results evidently that animals 
 have spiritual bodies. I proceed now to my second affir 
 mation. 
 
 There are animals in the spiritual world. This truth, which 
 has excited your astonishment, is also a consequence of prin 
 ciples previously announced. If you do not admit animals in 
 the spiritual world, you are obliged to exclude from it vegeta 
 bles, minerals, atmospheres, and, in a word, all that corres 
 ponds to the different objects of which nature is composed. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 77 
 
 What becomes then of the spiritual world ? It vanishes com 
 pletely ; it is no longer a world, for this world carries with it 
 the idea of a thing analogous to the world which we inhabit : 
 you can thence form no idea of it : you fall into the abstractions 
 of philosophy, and consequently into all your doubts concerning 
 the immortality of the soul. 
 
 I readily conceive, however, your repugnance to admit that 
 there are animals in the spiritual world. An interior sentiment 
 tells you that you have an immortal soul : but taking a view of 
 all that surrounds you, you see on all sides beings destitute of 
 reason : you know that they live, feel, suffer and have passions 
 like men ; you are struck with all the other analogies which we 
 observe between the most intelligent of these beings and him 
 who is called the lord of creation. Then you hesitate to trace 
 the line of demarcation between the reasonable being and the 
 instinctive being, particularly when you reflect that many ani 
 mals are often more affectionate or ingenious than so many 
 depraved men : and yet, if you grant a soul to the being the 
 nearest to man, you are directly forced to give it to the one 
 which immediately succeeds, and so descend, step by step, to 
 animals which are found in the lowest degree of the scale. At 
 this thought your dignity of man revolts and, in your perplex 
 ity you are more inclined to believe in the complete annihila 
 tion of man, than in the immortality of all these beings de 
 prived of reason. 
 
 All these thoughts, which are those of the greater number of 
 men of this age, were awakened in you so soon as you saw us 
 place animals in the spiritual world. You immediately called 
 to mind that, from their analogy with man, animals must have 
 a spiritual body, and you concluded from this that we give an 
 immortal soul to beast. You know now that we reject your 
 conclusion with all our might; but seeing me nevertheless 
 persist in maintaining as true the two propositions which have 
 led you to this conclusion, you must be anxious to know why 
 I reject it. I proceed to satisfy you. 
 
78 LETTERS TO A 
 
 I admit, it is true, that animals have a spiritual body, but 
 the conclusion that this body is immortal by no means results 
 from the existence of a spiritual body : indeed, if from this 
 alone that the spiritual body exists, we are to conclude that it 
 is immortal, we should be under the necessity of concluding 
 that it possesses existence in itself, and thence it would not 
 only be immortal but eternal; now we know that God alone 
 is eternal. We shall soon see that the spiritual body of man 
 is only immortal because it is the receptacle of the eternal 
 life which reposes in the bosom of the Divinity. 
 
 I admit further, that there are animals in the spiritual 
 world ] but from this proposition it no longer results that 
 these animal forms, perceived in the world of spirits, are the 
 souls of animals dead or to be born upon the earth, and that 
 these appearances of animals are immortal individualities re 
 ceptive of the Divine life. 
 
 Here is my reply : not to keep you in suspense I give it to 
 you in a few words. As to the proofs of the assertions which 
 it embraces, I do not present them here, because they will 
 result from the examination of the important question which 
 is now about to occupy our attention. 
 
 This grave question known generally under the name of the 
 Problem of the Soul of Beasts has excited long discussion 
 among philosophers, and hs never yet been completly resolved 
 by them. Give me then, I pray you, the whole of your attention. 
 
 To ascertain correctly what constitutes immortality, it is 
 necessary to have clear ideas concerning esse and existere (to 
 be or being, and to exist or existence.) These are generally con 
 founded, because the esse and the existere always present them 
 selves to our view as a one, and thus we cannot see the esse 
 but by the existere. We see in fact only that which exists, 
 and nothing can exist without having an esse. Nevertheless, 
 we can by abstraction consider the esse independently, or sep 
 arated from, the existere, and then the esse is to us the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. TO 
 
 thing itself, and the existere is the manifestation of the thing. 
 In like manner, we see substances only by their forms, and yet 
 by abstraction we can consider the substance independently 
 or separated from its form j and then the substance is to us 
 the thing itself, and the form is the manifestation of that thing. 
 You may readily see, by means of this distinction, that a thing 
 cannot enjoy immortality, but so far as its esse shall be always 
 manifested by an existere j for, as results from the very expres 
 sions used in common language, " to cease to exist" is not to 
 enjoy immortality. 
 
 As it is the existere which manifests the thing, and which 
 constitutes its individuality, or its personality, all the objects of 
 nature have their existere while they subsist in this world, 
 since each of them is distinct and individual. But is this exis 
 tere so united to their esse that it cannot be separated from it, or, 
 in other words, must they always preserve their individuality ? 
 Arid to speak here only of the animal kingdom, as we affirm 
 that animals have a spiritual body, and that this body exists, 
 since it is it which acts in their natural body, is it united to its 
 esse in such a manner as never to be separated from it ? As 
 we affirm besides that there are animals in the spiritual world, 
 are these animals individualities which have previously exist 
 ed in our world ? Such, in fact, is the principal point of the 
 question which we are discussing ; for it is very evident from 
 what precedes, that immortality cannot belong to any individ 
 ualities except to those whose existere is united to the esse in 
 such a manner as to be incapable of ever being separated 
 from it. 
 
 It suffices, then, to enquire which are the bodies that fulfil 
 this indispensable condition, and which are those that do not 
 fulfil it } for the spiritual body even in its essence is not im 
 mortal, as I have already told you j it has this prerogative only 
 when it is adapted to receive life in its complete state, or, in 
 other terms, when it is the receptacle of the Love and Wisdom 
 
80 LETTERS TO A 
 
 of God. It is, in fact, in this case alone, as you will see pres 
 ently, that the esse and existere are inseparably united. 
 
 God, we have already said, is Love and Wisdom. Divine 
 Love is the Esse Itself ; it is this alone which fills and animates 
 everything with its life. The divine Wisdom is Existere Itself; 
 it is this which manifests the divine Love, which has created 
 and disposed all things. 
 
 All the objects of creation derive their substance from the 
 Esse Itself, which is the first Substance, and their form from 
 the Existere Itself, which is the first Form (Forme-Type ;) but 
 they are receptacles of the Existere in different degrees. Con 
 sequently they all tend more or less to the Form of the Crea 
 tor, or, in other words, to the human form, since God is Very- 
 Man. Hence the origin of the great chain of beings, every link 
 of which is a lowering from the link which precedes it. 
 
 At the head of this chain is man. If we consider man only 
 in his quality of a natural being, he necessarily constitutes a 
 part of the chain ; he is the first link of it. But if we consider 
 man in his quality of man, he no longer constitutes the first 
 link, in this sense, that there is not between him and the fol 
 lowing link the only difference which we observe between any 
 two other animals taken consecutively ; it is no longer possible 
 even to establish a comparison : for the difference which dis 
 tinguishes him from the other beings is of an order indefinitely 
 more elevated. Man is found, then, above the chain he rules 
 it as the spiritual rules the natural. Thus, on the one hand, 
 man connected with all nature belongs to this world, and, on 
 the other, he is separated by the spiritual principle with which 
 he alone is endowed ; his feet are upon the earth, but his coun 
 tenance looks towards the heavens. 
 
 This truth, which I but announce here, will soon become 
 evident to you. God continually diffuses life into the whole 
 universe ; but this life, penetrating into bodies, is modified ac 
 cording to the constitution of each of them. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 81 
 
 It is, in fact, evident that man owes the faculty of ascending 
 from the effect to the cause, and from the cause to the end, to 
 his particular organization. If man had not that elevated fore 
 head which distinguishes him from other animals, he would 
 be deprived of this faculty ; for experience proves, that the 
 more the forehead is depressed, the less there is of intelligence ; 
 and that he is no more than a kind of idiot when the depres 
 sion is very great. Experience proves, besides, that among 
 animals, the smaller the anterior part of the brain is, relatively 
 to the whole, the more inferior is the degree which the species 
 occupies in the chain of animated beings. 
 
 Man being able to ascend from effects to causes, and from 
 causes to ends, the result is that there are in him the three sepa 
 rate or discrete degrees, of which I have spoken in my last let 
 ter. The first of these degrees with man, is love, because what 
 man loves he proposes for an end ; the second degree is wis 
 dom, because it is by this that the end seeks causes ; the third 
 degree is the operation of the body, because by it the end 
 and the cause are manifested in effects. You know, also, that 
 these three degrees are of an absolutely different nature, and 
 the connection between them is only by relations of anteriority 
 and superiority. The order in which the discrete degrees act 
 is called successive order, while that of the continuous degrees 
 is called simultaneous order. 
 
 By means of the three discrete degrees, man can receive the 
 love and the wisdom of God, or life in the complete state ; his 
 will is the receptacle of that love, and his understanding the 
 receptacle of that wisdom the first being warmed by the ht-at 
 of the spiritual sun, and the second enlightened by its light. 
 It is thus that man is an image of God ; and as life descends 
 into him in its fullness, the tsse and the existere are with him 
 inseparably united, so that he enjoys immortality, even when, 
 by his life in this world, instead of having appropriated the 
 love and wisdom of God, he has rejected them far from his 
 
82 LETTERS TO A 
 
 heart and his thought ; for in this last case the divine influx 
 does not cease to act upon the man, even when he has become 
 a spirit ; but man, in consequence of his liberty and rationality 
 which he has depraved, changes love into hatred and wisdom 
 into folly. 
 
 Man having been created in the image of God, and the or 
 ganization of the beast differing from that of man, it results 
 that beasts are not images of God ; thus the chain of animals 
 presents to us only successive degradations of the human form. 
 Thence it results, at the same time, that animals do not receive 
 life in the complete state. This last consequence is besides 
 fully confirmed by comparative anatomy. Examine the brain 
 of the animal whose form approaches the nearest that of man, 
 and you will find that his sinciput presents no kind of compar 
 ison with that of man. Now, it is principally in the anterior 
 part of the human brain where the understanding resides ; and 
 you know that the understanding is the receptacle of spiritual 
 light or of wisdom from God. Then, since all beasts without 
 any exception, are deprived of this anterior part of the brain, 
 it is impossible for them to receive spiritual light in the two 
 first degrees which concern ends and causes ; but as they have 
 need of being directed in their actions, they receive this light 
 in its last degree, which concerns only effects. 
 
 I might here conclude this discussion upon the soul of beasts, 
 for it results very evidently from what precedes, that beasts 
 do not receive life in the complete state, and thus that the esse 
 and existere not being in them inseparably united, they could 
 not enjoy immortality. But though solved in principle, this 
 question of the soul of beasts is so important, I will seek to cor 
 roborate its solution by examining with you the principal dif 
 ferences which exist between man and beast : you will see by 
 this examination, that these differences, which have so much 
 occupied the attention of philosophers, are all explained by 
 means of the principles that I have now explained to you. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 
 
 Man being a receptacle of the wisdom and love of God, has 
 been endowed with rationality, or the faculty of comprehend 
 ing, and with liberty, or the faculty of willing freely ; conse 
 quently he can reason upon ends, causes, and effects. 
 
 Beasts not receiving the wisdom of God in the first degrees, 
 there is not in them either rationality or liberty ; they can nei 
 ther comprehend nor will freely ; thus there is in them neither 
 understanding nor will ; but instead of understanding they have 
 their science (commonly called instinct), and instead of will 
 they have natural affection. The natural affections, which sup 
 ply in them the place of the will, are the affection of nourish 
 ment, that of shelter, re-production, shunning danger, and 
 avoiding what is hurtful to them. Every natural affection is 
 accompanied with the science which is proper to it, and it is 
 this science which supplies the place of the understanding. 
 They have no thought, for they are only in the last degree ; 
 and this degree, without the superior degrees, gives no fac 
 ulty of thinking of anything whatever of moral or of spiritual 
 life ; but, instead of thought, they have an internal sight which 
 makes one by correspondence with their external sight. The 
 differences which we observe between animals proceed from 
 this, that every discrete degree decreases from its most perfect 
 state even to its most imperfect state, as light decreases to 
 shade. Thus, also, animals decrease; and it is this which 
 constitutes the chain of beings in the three kingdoms, without 
 any of these beings having the power to ascend out of the 
 last degree ; man alone is in the three degrees. 
 
 Man receives the divine influence and appropriates it, be 
 cause he is endowed with rationality and liberty. 
 
 The beast receives also this influence, but does not appropri 
 ate it, because it is deprived of rationality and liberty. 
 
 Man being endowed with rationality and liberty, is not 
 born into any science, because he is capable of learning them 
 all. 
 
84 LETTERS TO A 
 
 The beast, on the contrary, being deprived of rationality 
 and liberty, is born with all its science, because it is nol able 
 to learn any. 
 
 In man, the will depends upon the understanding, because 
 h ? can by his understanding elevate himself above the desires 
 of his will, and because he can thus, from this elevated point, 
 know them, see them, and correct them. In the beast, the 
 understanding is in subjection to the will; or rather its sci 
 ence, which is analogous to the understanding, is in subjection 
 to its affection, which is analogous to the will. Beasts always 
 act according to the laws of order impressed upon their na 
 ture ; if some appear to act morally and rationally, it is be 
 cause, being deprived of rationality and liberty, they have not 
 been able like men to pervert their science and affection by 
 depraved reasonings. This is the reason why this science, 
 or this wonderful instinct, with which they are endowed, 
 never deceives them ; this is the reason why it is always the 
 same. What seems to be civil and moral in them belongs to 
 their science, and is not above their science, since they are 
 not in the spiritual degree, which gives the power of per 
 ceiving what is moral, and afterwards of thinking analytically 
 respecting it. They can also be instructed to do some things, 
 but this proceeds only from the natural which is conjoined to 
 their science, and at the same time to their affection, and is 
 reproduced either by the sight or hearing : but this never pro 
 ceeds from thought, still less from reason. 
 
 Man, being in the three discrete degrees, can think that he 
 wills such a thing, or that he does not will it ; that he knows 
 such a thing or that he does not know it ; that he comprehends 
 such a thing, that he loves such a thing ; and he can express 
 his thoughts by words. 
 
 It is not the same with the beast ; as it is only in the last sep 
 arate degree, and cannot elevate itself into the superior de 
 grees, it can only think in a simultaneous order, and not in a 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 85 
 
 successive order, which is to act from a science corresponding 
 to its affection, and not to think ; for it cannot ascend from 
 the effect to the cause, nor from the cause to the end. Now 
 as it is impossible for it to think analytically, and see the infe 
 rior thought by any superior thought, consequently it cannot 
 abstract, nor thence speak ; it can only produce sounds which 
 relate to the science .of its affection. Thus in all their actions, 
 beasts are led by their affection, by means of their science, 
 without rationality or liberty; they are thus led by influx 
 from the spiritual world; for at the same time that the heat 
 and the light of the natural world act upon their material 
 bodies, they receive heat and light from the spiritual world, 
 and it is this heat and light which constitute their affection 
 and science. 
 
 I will conclude this parallel of man with the beast, by this 
 last remark : The man altogether sensual differs from the beast 
 only in this, that he can fill his memory with things which he 
 has learned, and can think and speak from these things ; and 
 this, by virtue of the faculty every man possesses of being 
 able to comprehend truth if he is willing. It is this faculty 
 which distinguishes him from the brute but there are many 
 men who degrade themselves below the beasts, by the abuse 
 of this faculty. 
 
 To reply to all the points which your objection has raised, 
 I would have to explain to you the origin of the animals which 
 are in the spiritual world ; but this origin cannot be rational 
 ly understood without knowing the mode of existence of men- 
 spirits. As we have not time now to enter upon the investi 
 gation of this subject, it will suffice for the present to say, 
 that in the spiritual world the representative forms of the 
 affections and thoughts of spirits appear as it were living, 
 hence the appearance of animals which spirits see there. 
 
 If your objection has compelled me to interrupt the course 
 of the exposition of the spiritual world, it has at least had the 
 
86 LETTERS TO A 
 
 double advantage in leading us to the examination of one of 
 the most important questions of philosophy, and to the proof, 
 by new arguments, not only that man is immortal, but that he 
 alone is endowed with immortality. 
 
 Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 I had designed, my dear sir, to resume to-day the exposition 
 respecting the spiritual world ; but since you have long mani 
 fested a desire to have an idea of the creation of the universe, 
 and since this desire is repeated in your last letter, I must has 
 ten to satisfy it. 1 see besides so much the less inconvenience 
 in treating this subject, as it will furnish you with new means 
 to form more easily a comprehensive idea of the spiritual 
 world. Do not expect, however, a complete treatise the sub 
 ject would require a volume. You wish only to have an idea 
 of the creation j it is then simply a sketch which I am about 
 to give you. 
 
 But there is a question, in advance, which I must anticipate ; 
 it is true you have not yet asked it; but you certainly 
 would ask it, for it always presents itself to the insatiable cu 
 riosity of man, when he meditates upon the creation of the uni 
 verse. 
 
 This question is : 
 
 Can man know what God was before the universe was created ? 
 
 You will agree at once that it matters little to man, so far 
 as his happiness is concerned, to know what God was before 
 the creation. What advantage could he draw from this knowl 
 edge, if it were even possible for him to acquire it ? None 
 whatever. Far from being satisfied, his curiosity would only 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 87 
 
 be increased: and ; pursuing his investigations in this unfruit 
 ful field, he would wish to go so far as to understand God in 
 his infinity, that is to say, so far as to wish to be God ; for to 
 comprehend God in his infinity, it would be necessary to be 
 God. The infinite only can comprehend the infinite. 
 
 There are, nevertheless, some spiritualist < who imagine 
 that after they have left this world, there will be no secret for 
 them ; that they will know the how and the wherefore of all 
 things. This again is one of the thousand errors of philosophy. 
 
 Yet with little reflection upon the nature of man, it is easy 
 to discover, that if an intelligent creature, whether man, spirit, 
 or angel, could attain to such a state as to know everything, 
 arid consequently to have nothing to learn, it would be to him 
 the greatest of misfortunes. This is not a paradox; it is a 
 truth which it will be easy for me to prove when we come to 
 treat of the existence of man in the other world. 
 
 What I have just said on the subject of the infinite is appli 
 cable also to the eternal, for the eternal is that whi (i h is infi 
 nite as to existere. ; it is then as impossible for any creature to 
 comprehend the eternity of God, as it would be impossible to 
 comprehend the infinity of God. 
 
 Besides, with man living in this world, in the midst of space 
 and time, there is always something of time in the idea which 
 he forms to himself of the eternal, just as there is always 
 something of space, in the idea which he forms of the infinite. 
 Now as time only exists by the creation of the universe, it is 
 then absolutely impossible for him to comprehend what God 
 was before time, that is to say, before the universe was created. It 
 is not, however, the same with an angel j though an angel 
 cannot, being a creature, comprehend God in his infinity or in 
 his eternity ; he can nevertheless form to himself, in some sort, 
 an idea of eternity, because the idea of time no longer exists 
 with him, and has been succeeded by the idea of state ; for 
 
88 LETTERS TO A 
 
 with spirits and angels eternity is not an eternity of time, but 
 it is an eternity of states, without the idea of time. 
 
 This question concerning eternity having led me to speak 
 to you of the infinite, it will not be out of place to remind you 
 here of certain results to which we arrive, when, upon this 
 point, we consult mathematics. If it is impossible for us, who 
 are continually in space, to place ourselves in a complete state 
 of abstraction ; if philosophical meditations offer us only a 
 feeble aid, seeing this aid is very often but instantaneous, and 
 disappears as soon as our ideas fall back upon the things of 
 the world, it is not the same with the exact sciences, the es 
 sence of which consists in abstracting all that can oppose the 
 development of thought : the answers which they give us, 
 when we interrogate them, are always clear, precise, and so 
 exactly formed, that they are established with facility in our 
 understandings. Let us see then what they tell us. 
 
 It is, in the first place, recognised as a principle that the 
 series of numbers is illimitable, since to the greatest number 
 imaginable, the addition of a unit is sufficient to increase the 
 result. There are then no efforts of the imagination which 
 can fix the limits of the finite, or those of space ; should we 
 add to the unit line as many ciphers as there as grains of sand 
 in the sea, what we would thus obtain would not be the in 
 finite ; it would always be a number of which an idea could 
 be formed, notwithstanding the impossibility of being able to 
 determine or fix it. Thence it evidently results, that to pass 
 from the finite to the infinite by way of continuity is absolutely 
 impossible. 
 
 Other incontestable proofs of this impossibility, are found in 
 the surprising results to which we arrive when the sign of the 
 infinite (signe de Vinfini) is introduced into the calculation. 
 Two examples will suffice to convince you of this. 
 
 Let us suppose that two parallel lines should have between 
 them the distance which separates the earth from the sun, or 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 89 
 
 any other distance which you may imagine. Let them be pro 
 longed in thought as far as you wish, they would constantly 
 keep this enormous distance without approaching a single hair s 
 breadth during their whole course ; this then is the result of 
 the very nature of these lines. But if you introduce into the 
 calculation the sign of the infinite, which is nothing else than 
 to abstract space, you discover that, in spite of the immense 
 distance which separates them in space, they meet however 
 at the infinite, without having previously passed through any 
 intermediate approach. 
 
 Let us take, for example, a branch of the hyperbola and its 
 asymptote which would not have between them, at a given 
 point, more than the distance of a millimetre (un millimetre). 
 Let us suppose these two lines prolonged as far as the imagin 
 ation could permit : calculation tells us that they will never 
 meet, though at every step, notwithstanding the slight dis 
 tance which separated them at the commencement of their 
 course, the right line has always approached the curve. If 
 we wish them to unite, we are obliged to introduce into the 
 formula the sign of the infinite (le signe de I infini) j whence 
 it clearly results, that in nature there is no longer any infinitely 
 small, nor infinitely large, and that the word infinite, taken in 
 its true acceptation, cannot be applied to anything created. 
 
 And it is said that the study of mathematics leads men to 
 materialism ! It leads him only whose heart, already corrupted, 
 is deaf to the warnings which it gives and whose understand 
 ing, already perverted, rejects the living li-_:ht which it pre 
 sents. Is it possible, in truth, to prove more evidently that 
 we must not confound the infinite with the finite, nor conse 
 quently God with nature? 
 
 The science of mathematics is (as you see) far from deserv 
 ing to incur the reproaches which have been cast upon it. 
 If philosophy arid theology had each in its sphere developed 
 this high question, instead ol obscuring it by a crowd of soph- 
 
90 LETTERS TO A 
 
 istries, there would not have been so many materialists. It 
 is then to philosophy and to theology that the fault is to be as 
 cribed, and not to the sciences, which are so exact, that when 
 we wish them to say that which is not true, they immediately 
 give the lie to it. 
 
 But should it be replied, the very examples which you have 
 just given prove that nature is without bounds, since it is im 
 possible to determine them. Ah ! what matters it if she be 
 without bounds, if these examples prove, even by the clearest 
 evidence, that which has no bounds preserves its quality of 
 finite and differs absolutely from the infinite ? What more 
 could be said of mathematics ? Nothing. But religious philoso 
 phy should have posessed herself of these first data, and de 
 veloped instead of obscuring them. , : 
 
 If religious philosophy, setting out on true principles, viz : 
 God is Being itself (Esse,) from whom and by whom every 
 thing exists; he is the first substance and first form (Forme- 
 Type^) the only infinite ; the universe has been created by 
 him to be his image and the representative theatre of his glory, 
 and it is for this reason that the universe, as an image of the 
 infinite, is without bounds or indefinite ; if, I say religious phil 
 osophy had held this language, and taught that there is be 
 tween the infinite and the indefinite, the same difference as be 
 tween the first cause and the effect, materialism or naturalism 
 would not have made such ravages in society. 
 
 If the universe, as well the spiritual as the natural, had not 
 been separate and distinct from the infinite, it could have had 
 no existence ; and it is precisely that it may have existence 
 that there is, in its natural part, space and time, and in its spir 
 itual part, the appearance of space and time. Without this, 
 the objects of the natural world and those of the spiritual 
 world would not have been either distinct or varied, or to speak 
 with more exactness, there would not have been any objects nor 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 91 
 
 consequently creation j all would have been confounded in the 
 infinite. 
 
 I recollect very well, my dear sir, that you have no sympa 
 thy for naturalism ; but the occasion having presented itself, I 
 thought it would not be inappropriate before passing to the 
 creation, to show you that mathematics themselves establish a 
 distinction between God and the universe. Besides, these 
 general considerations upon the infinite are not foreign to the 
 subject which we are discussing 1 , and cannot but dispose you 
 the better to comprehend the whole. 
 
 I come now to the creation ; and since you desire to have 
 only a general sketch, I will confine myself to the examination 
 of the three following questions : 
 
 1st. Whence proceeds the universe? 
 
 2d. Could the universe have been created, if God were not 
 Very Man ? (VHomme Meme.) 
 
 3d. How has God-Man created the universe? 
 
 I Whence proceeds the Universe ? 
 
 I have already told you that God has not created the uni 
 verse out of nothing ; this is one of those truths which every 
 man endowed with sound reason may at once acknowledge, 
 because he sees, without being able to doubt, that it is impossi 
 ble to make something from nothing j for nothing is absolute 
 negation ; and from this negation an affirmation cannot proceed j 
 between these two ideas there exists then a manifest contradic 
 tion. To pretend that God has taken the universe from chaos, 
 would not resolve the difficulty, but render it more complica 
 ted j for it would be necessary to tell what this chaos is, and 
 whence this chaos itself could have been taken. In fine, the 
 universe has not created itself, since it has just been proved, 
 that God and the universe are absolutely distinct j and that the 
 one is the first cause, and the other the effect produced by this 
 cause. 
 
 The universe must then necessarily have been created from 
 
9 LETTERS TO A 
 
 a substance, which is itself substance, or substance in itself, 
 for this is Being Itself, from which proceed all things which 
 are ; now. as God is substance itself, or substance in itself, and 
 consequently Being Itself, or Esse, it evidently results from 
 this, that all that which exists has been created from God and 
 by God. Thus it is from God that the universe proceeds. 
 
 Remember, always, that created objects are only the mani 
 festation of Being, or Esse, without for that reason having 
 Being, or Esse, in themselves ; since if they had Being, or 
 Essc, in themselves, they would be a portion of the Divinity, 
 which cannot be admitted. The cause is in the effect, but 
 the effect is not a portion of the cause : this we have already 
 acknowledged. The being or esse or man is nothing else than 
 a recipient of what proceeds from God ; for life, as we have 
 seen is one, and God alone is this one only life. Men, spirits, 
 and angels are but recipients or forms which receive life pro 
 ceeding from God : and the reception of life is what is called 
 existere. Man believes that he is ; he believes even that he is 
 of himself, and yet he is not of himself, but he exists. To be, 
 Being or Esse, is only in God. Thus creation was the opera 
 tion by which the Esse, to be, or Being, clothed himself with 
 the Existere. 
 
 It is so conformable to reason to think that the existence of 
 all things comes from God and from his Esse, or Being, that 
 we have met with many religious men who have had this 
 thought ; but they have rejected it in the fear of being led to 
 believe that the universe is God, or that the inmost principle 
 of nature is that which should be called God. This fear came 
 from this, that they thought from time and space, which are 
 proper to nature ; and from this, that it is impossible to com 
 prehend creation, without abstracting from the thought these 
 two accidents inherent in matter. 
 
 Since the universe was created from God and by God, and 
 yet is not God, it must necessarily be an emanation from God. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 93 
 
 The truth has also been partly seen by many philosophers j 
 but for want of the knowledge of the existence of discrete de~ 
 grees, these philosophers have fallen into the most serious 
 errors. If this theory had been at their disposal, they would 
 have known that these three degrees exist in all created 
 things, and are with them as the end, the cause, and the effect. 
 Then they would have understood that material nature in the 
 work of creation was only the last degree of the divine ray 
 (rayon,) and that this degree served to envelope, and to clothe 
 the substances arid spiritual forms which are in the two supe 
 rior degrees. Of this I hope soon to convince you. 
 
 From all that precedes we must conclude that the universe 
 is from God, aud that he has been manifested by an emanation 
 from his Being or Esse. 
 
 II. Could the Universe have been created, if God was not Very 
 Man? 
 
 I have proposed this question in order to meet an objection 
 which you without doubt would have made. You have not 
 forgotten, for it is a point upon which I have much insisted by 
 reason of its importance you have not, I say, forgotten that I 
 have established as a principle, in my fourth letter, that God 
 is VERY MAN, and that if we have the human form, it is be 
 cause we w r ere created in his image. But, now that we have 
 to treat concerning the creation of ihe universe by God, you 
 will not fail to say to me : Is it possible that G; d, being Man, 
 could have drawn the universe from liimself. and given it the 
 form which it has? As this apparent impossibility is of a 
 nature to raise doubts in your mind which could not be re 
 moved but in another letter, I have preferred showing you at 
 once, here, not only that God was able as Man, to create the 
 universe, but more, that he could not have been able to create 
 this universe, if he were not Man. 
 
 The universe very evidently attests the Love and the Wis 
 dom of him who created it j it is only Love divine which has 
 
94 LETTERS TO A 
 
 been able to furnish for it all its substance j it is only the di 
 vine Wisdom which has been able, in impressing upon it its 
 form, to order so harmoniously all its parts. Now it is impos 
 sible that love and wisdom should exist without a subject : and 
 this subject is man ; to separate these two attributes from 
 their subjects, is to say that they do not exist. Can you con 
 ceive of wisdom out of man ? Would it not be necessary for 
 you to place it somewhere to give it a form ? and what form 
 could you give it superior to that of man ? And what I have 
 just said of wisdom is applicable also to love, for the form of 
 wisdom is that of love, since love and wisdom are inseparable 
 and make one as substance and form. 
 
 You can see by this how vain are the ideas of those who 
 represent to themselves God, who is Love itself and Wisdom 
 itself, otherwise than as Man, and who place the divine attri 
 butes elsewhere than in God-Man. If the divine love and the 
 divine wisdom were not in God-Man, and if one did not con 
 stitute the substance, and the other the form of God-Man, these 
 two principal attributes of the Divinity, being nothing more 
 than imaginary entities, the universe could not have been cre 
 ated ; for it is evident that the universe must have been pro 
 duced by love and formed by wisdom. 
 
 If, however, you should represent to yourself God-Man as a 
 man of this world, and if you should think of him by the sim 
 ple natural idea, it would be impossible for you to comprehend 
 how he was able, as man, to create the universe and all which 
 it contains j but if you think of him by the spiritual idea, ab 
 stracting space and time, you will then be able to perceive 
 that God-man could be present in all his work, and create it 
 instantaneously; for the universe was not created from space 
 to space, nor from one time to another ; it was from a single 
 cast. This besides is what physical laws sufficiently demon 
 strate ; the motions of the heavenly bodies are so connected 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 95 
 
 with one another, that the whole must necessarily have been 
 arranged at the same instant.* 
 
 Is it not true that man, though his thought be in him, and 
 though he remain in one place, may nevertheless by this 
 thought be present elsewhere, in any place whatever, and even 
 in a place the most remote from him ? Such also is the state 
 of spirits arid of angels, even as to their bodies ; for you know 
 that they are men, and that their bodies are spiritual. If their 
 thought is fixed upon a place, they are actually there and in 
 body, because in the world which they inhabit spaces and 
 distances are appearances, and only make one with the thought 
 which proceeds from affection. Now, if in the natural world 
 man can already in thought transport himself instantaneously 
 whither he pleases ; if in the spiritual world, the man-spirit is 
 always where his thought is, why should we refuse to admit 
 that God who is VERY MAN (PHomme-Type), should have 
 been able, as man, to be present in all the work of creation j 
 He who in this quality of infinite, is the same in the first as 
 in the last, in the greatest as in the least objects j He who 
 
 * We are not entirely sure of apprehending the author in the sense in 
 which he would here be understood, in saying that the creation of the 
 universe was necessarily instantaneous, It is very certain, we think, 
 that our solar system, for instance, was not created at once in its pre 
 sent state, for the evidence is overwhelming of progressive formations, 
 from simpler elements, and going on through immeasurable tracts of 
 time ; and this would seem to be a fair deduction from Swedenborg s 
 theory of Atmospheric Creations, so strikingly unfolded by the author 
 in what follows. If, however, he means that the original projection 
 of the universe as the act of the Divine Mind, was instantaneous, we 
 can better grasp the idea, although we are still doubtful whether even 
 this be not assuming a more distinct conception on the subject than the 
 human faculties are at present capable of attaining. But the reader is 
 referred to Swedenborg s " Divine Love and Wisdom," No. 156, where 
 he treats of this point, and expresses himself in language that seems, 
 at first blush, to convey the same idea with that of the passage before 
 us, but which is, if we mistake not, designedly more abstract and tran 
 scendental, and that, too, from the very nature of the theme ; for there 
 is nothing that so baffles our feeble powers as the origin in time of the 
 material universe, ED. 
 
96 LETTERS TO A 
 
 fills all spaces without being in space, and all times without 
 being in time : He who consequently could not be continuous 
 as is the inmost principle of nature, since he is not in space ? 
 
 It would be to have a false idea of the infinite, and to miscon 
 ceive the true nature of God-Man, if in. thinking of his Human 
 Body, any invariable stature whatever, whether great or small, 
 should be given to him ; for this would be to think from space. 
 But we can and ought to represent to ourselves God-Man from 
 the appearance of space, for it is thus, when he judges it to be 
 useful, that he presents himself to spirits and angels, who then 
 see his Human Body under a form in relation to the state in 
 which they are as to the reception of love and wisdom ; and 
 this visible presence of God agrees perfectly with his continu 
 al omnipresence in the universe which he governs. 
 
 Thus creation may be understood, if space and time are re 
 moved from the thought. Divest yourself of them therefore 
 as much as possible, and then you will perceive that there is 
 no difference between what is the greatest and least of space. 
 Then you will not be able to have any other idea of the crea 
 tion of the universe than that of the creation of every part of 
 this universe : you will understand that the diversity in created 
 things is from this, that infinites are in God-man and indefinites 
 in the first proceeding from God, that is to say, in the spirit 
 ual sun ; and that these indefinites exist in the created universe 
 as in an image. 
 
 Hence the impossibility of finding in any place whatever, one 
 thing like another ; thence the indefinite variety of all the ob 
 jects which we behold. 
 
 III. How has God-Man created the universe^ 
 
 We have already seen that God created the universe, not 
 from space to space, nor from one time to another, but by a 
 single cast ; and that the universe is an emanation from the 
 
 Divinity. 
 But that you may the better understand the important sub- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 97 
 
 ject which engages our attention, I will have recourse to analo 
 gy, and proceed from the known, for experience proves suffi 
 ciently that human reason does not acquiesce in a thing which 
 we ask it to admit, but so far as she can perceive how this was 
 done. 
 
 Man having been created in the image and according to the 
 likeness of God, who is VERY MAN, it is in directing our ex 
 amination to man that we shall be enabled to discover by anal 
 ogy how God created the universe. 
 
 It is now generally admitted by science that a sphere of na 
 tural emanations continually proceeds from the body of a man, 
 as well as from the bodies of animals, trees, fruits, flowers, and 
 even from metals. This sphere, composed of fluids for the 
 most part aeriform, and consequently invisible, is more intense 
 than would at first be believed, and extends itself to great dis 
 tance. The insensible transpiration, whose emission is so vol 
 uminous and so surprising may give us an idea of the intensity 
 of this sphere, and the emanations which affect the smell may 
 show us how much it is susceptible of development. Man 
 may then be represented as plunged in an ocean of aeriform 
 fluids which emanate from his own body. All these emana 
 tions though not visible, are evidently material j but man in 
 this world being both spiritual and material, that is to say, hav 
 ing a natural body, and a spiritual body, and these two bodies 
 being connected together by laws of analogy, theje must also 
 from the spiritual body of man constantly emanate a spiritual 
 sphere analogous to the material sphere which envelops his natu 
 ral body; a simple examination will at once make this evident. 
 
 When it is known that the affections and thoughts are actu 
 ally spiritual substances and forms, it is directly seen that if a 
 spiritual sphere emanates from man, it cannot consist but in 
 affections and the thoughts which are derived from theso af 
 fections and which constitute their forms. Thence it is easy 
 to be convinced that such a sphere exists around every man j 
 
LETTERS TO A 
 
 it is sufficient for this to direct our reflections to the astonish 
 ing phenomena which sympathies and antipathies present. If 
 two persons who have never seen each other, who do not even 
 know each other by name, experience at the first meeting 
 sympathy for one another, it is because their spiritual spheres 
 are homogeneous and directly harmonize; if on the contra 
 ry they experience suddenly an antipathy wh ch they cannot 
 account for, it is because their spiritual spheres are heteroge 
 neous and repel each other. How many other phenomena, 
 still more extraordinary, would find their explanation by 
 means of these spheres, and would go consequently to confirm 
 their existence ! But this is not the place to occupy ourselves 
 in discussing them; we will examine these phenomena when 
 we shall have acquired a more complete knowledge of the 
 spiritual world. It is sufficient for the present to have verified 
 the existence of spiritual spheres. 
 
 I will add that the natural sphere and the spiritual sphere 
 which envelope and surround men, correspond 10 each other, 
 as all natural objects correspond to spiritual objects; that they 
 are not the man, as it is very easy to persuade himself, is ihat 
 they derive their existence from man, and do not make one 
 with him but in this sense, that being extracted from his two 
 bodies there is agreement between them and man ; that the 
 one drawing its existence from all parts of the natural body, 
 and the other, from all parts of the spiritual, they are constant 
 ly supported by the natural and spiritual substances which 
 emanate from them ; that the substances which are contiguous 
 to these bodies are continually put into activity by the two 
 sources of the motion of life, the heart and the lungs ; that 
 these contiguous substances communicate of their activity to 
 those which surround them, these to others, and thus from 
 one to another, so that the more the emanations are ren*)ved 
 from the substances contiguous to the two bodies of man, the 
 less activity do they receive. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 99 
 
 Now if we ascend from the creature to the Creator, we 
 shall experience no further difficulty in comprehending that 
 God-Man could extract the universe from himself without, for 
 that reason, its being confounded with him. It is very evi 
 dent that if man, created in the image of God, is surrounded 
 with a sphere of emanations, it is because God, who is VERY 
 MAN, is himself surrounded with a sphere of emanations. It is 
 these emanations from God-Man which have constituted and 
 which vivify continually the whole universe, as well its spirit 
 ual as its natural part. 
 
 The first sphere which proceeded from God in the work of 
 creation, is the spiritual sun, in the centre of which he resides 
 as a Being infinite, eternal, invisible, unapproachable. Con 
 sidered thus in his very essence, it is said of him that no one 
 can see God and live ; but I have already told you, and soon 
 you will be joyfully convinced, that God, having created man 
 to love him, and to be beloved by him, to satisfy his divine 
 love, has actually rendered himself visible and accessible. 
 
 The spiritual sun, being the sphere contiguous to God, is no 
 more God, than the emanations which from the spiritual sphere 
 contiguous to man, are man. This again is a new proof of this 
 important truth that the universe proceeds from God by con 
 tiguity and not by continuity, and consequently that it is im 
 possible when the true principles are known, to confound na 
 ture with God. 
 
 It is by the intermediation of the spiritual sun that the uni 
 verse was created, and it is also by its means that it subsists. 
 The substances which compose this sun are continually put into 
 activity by the two sources of the motion of the only life, the 
 heart and lungs of God-Man, inexhaustible sources of the divine 
 Love and the divine Wisdom. It is thus that the tirst proceed 
 ing of God is a centre of Life ; its heat is love, the principle 
 of all affections, and its light is wisdom, source of ail thought. 
 
 At the same instant when the spiritual sun was created, the 
 
100 
 
 LETTERS TO A 
 
 sun of our world received existence : it was by contiguity, and 
 not by continuity, the last term of the Divine sphere, whose spir 
 itual sun was the first term so that, in the work of creation, 
 God was the firet end, the spiritual sun the second end or the 
 cause, and the natural sun the last end or the effect. It is by 
 these two suns, the one purely spiritual, diffusing love by its 
 heat and wisdom by its light ; and the other, elementary fire, 
 distributing a heat and light purely material it is, I say, by 
 these two suns that were produced all things which exist in 
 the spiritual uuiverse, and in the part of the material universe 
 which comprehends our solar system ; the first of these suns, 
 the centre of life, acting with all the activity of love and wis 
 dom, and the second, deprived of life, receiving and communi 
 cating passively the impulsion which is given to it. Thus God 
 is in ends, the spiritual world in causes, and the natural world 
 in effects. 
 
 I said before, on the subject of the emanations which pro 
 ceed from man, that the more remote these emanations are 
 from the sphere contiguous to man, the less activity they re 
 ceive. This fact is so evident that I rest content with merely 
 announcing it. However, as I am going to rely upon it in pre 
 senting to you the principal details of creation, I will here 
 confirm it by this simple observation upon odoriferous spheres, 
 that the farther we remove from the object, whence they 
 emanate, the less the odor is perceived. 
 
 Thus the more remote the emanations from the spiritual sun, 
 the less activity have they received. This principle granted, 
 it remains to establish what must have been the first nature 
 of the emanations which proceeded from that sun. The most 
 simple ideas of natural things prove that the individual exis 
 tence of things depends not solely upon this that they are sub 
 stances and forms, but that from the nature of things and all 
 necessity, they must be surrounded with atmospheres which 
 retain, by their force of compression every substance in its 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 101 
 
 form. Besides, it is known that the heat and light of the na 
 tural sun must necessarily, in order to act with efficacy, be 
 tempered by the atmospheres which they pass through. 
 
 Now the spiritual world including objects corresponding to 
 those our world contains, analogy demonstrates that every spir 
 itual substance can only be retained in its form by means 
 of spiritual atmospheres, and that love and wisdom which are 
 the heat and light of the spiritual sun, must from necessity, in 
 order to act with efficacy, be tempered by these atmospheres. 
 Thence it evidently results that the first nature of the emana 
 tions which proceeded from the spiritual sun and the sun of 
 our world, was gaseous or atmospheric. 
 
 I speak here of many atmospheres, because there are actu 
 ally several in each world. You know that certain learned 
 men have already admitted, under the name of ether, a sub 
 stance more subtle and pure than the atmospheric air ; it would 
 not then be extraordinary when we say that there exis s anoth 
 er still more subtle and pure than ether. It is this indeed 
 which the science of degrees proves : this science which gives 
 a key to unlock the causes of things, teaches us that in every 
 thing there are the three separate degrees, which bear relation 
 to each other as the en /, the cause, arid the effect, or aspn or, pos- 
 terior, and last ; that each decree is distinguished from the other 
 by its proper envelopes ; that all the degrees are at the same 
 time distinguished by a common envelope covering, and that 
 the common envelope communicates with the interiors and 
 with the inmosts, which com r unication by degrees produces 
 the conjunction and unanimous action of all the parts of which 
 the thing is composed. T.ms, in animals, the muscle is a 
 compound of moving fibres, which are themselves composed 
 of smaller fibres ; the nerve is a compound of fibres themselves 
 formed of fibrils (very small fibres); in vegetables there are 
 assemblages of ti amenls in a triple order; in metals and 
 stones there are also accumulations of parts in a triple order. 
 
102 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Since all the visible bodies of nature are in this triple order, 
 it must be the same with the natural atmosphere ; whence 
 from analogy we conclude that it is also the same with the spir 
 itual atmosphere. Thus there are in each world three atmos 
 pheres, which are distinguished from each other according to 
 the three separate degrees, or, to use other terms, which 
 exist in relation to each other as the end, the cause, and the 
 effect or as the inmost of a thing, its interior or middle, and its 
 ultimate or totality. 
 
 The distinction of these three atmospheres, according to the 
 three separate degrees, causes each of them to have its own con 
 tinuous degrees. Thus each of them, according to the contin 
 uous degrees, becomes so much the more inert, and so much 
 the more dense, the more it approaches its ultimate term or 
 inferior places as experience proves in respect to the last natu 
 ral atmosphere, which is our atmospheric air. 
 
 By means of these plain truths concerning the atmospheres, 
 it will be easy now to conceive of the creation at once, and in 
 one connected idea. The emanations from the spiritual sun 
 were three spiritual atmospheres, all three distinct, though 
 the second was composed of the tirst, and the third was com 
 posed of the first and second. 
 
 Each of these atmospheres, in its progression away from 
 the spiritual sun, losing continually some of its activity and ex 
 pansion, became more and more inert and dense j and at last 
 the parts the most remote from it, attained tc such a degree of 
 inertness and density, that they ceased to be atmospheric 
 fluids and became snbstances at rest. They arc substances 
 at rest which constitute the earths of the spiritual world : and 
 these earths, like the atmospheres whence they draw their or 
 igin, are distinguished from one another according to the 
 three separate degrees. In the sequel I will enter more at 
 large into the details concerning these earths of the spiritual 
 world. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 103 
 
 The natural sun acting conjointly with the spiritual sun, and 
 receiving impulsion from it, the emanations which proceeded 
 from it were three natural atmospheres corresponding to the 
 three spiritual atmospheres. So, though al] three distinct, the 
 second was composed of the first, and the third was composed 
 of the (irst and second. In like manner, each of these atmos 
 pheres, in its progression away from the natural sun, losing 
 continually some of its activity and expansion, became more 
 and more inert, and more and more dense ; and at last, the 
 parts the most remote attained to such a degree of inertness 
 and density, that they ceased to be atmospheric fluids, and be 
 came those fixed substances which we call matters. Never 
 theless, as these fixed substances owe their origin to the at 
 mospheres, they retained in them an effort and a tendency to 
 produce uses, that is to say, to produce that which is confor 
 mable to the order established by the Creator. Each of these 
 substances included iri it the three separate degrees, being 
 composedof fixed parts which had their derivation from the 
 three natural atmospheres ; the parts derived from the 
 first atmosphere constituted its inmost, and the parts derived 
 from the second constituted its interior. Thence is the origin 
 of the planets and their satellites, and of the indefinitely varied 
 matters which constitute them. Thus nothing exists but from 
 a something prior to itself, and so on from a First. This First 
 is the sun of the spiritual world ; and the First of this sun is 
 God-Man. The prior (or things next to the first) are the at 
 mospheres by which this sun penetrates into the last bounda 
 ries of creation. Those who do not establish the creation of 
 the universe by continual intermediations proceeding from the 
 first, do but imagine incoherent hypotheses, altogether discon 
 nected from their causes. 
 
 This general view of the creation is found confirmed as to 
 what relates to our world, by the recent discoveries of science. 
 
 Chemistry has proved the possibility of reducing the most 
 
104 LETTERS TO A 
 
 solid bodies to the gaseous state, whence it reciprocally results 
 that gases could pass to the solid state. 
 
 Newton placed in etherial matter the origin of all things 
 which exist j and according to La Place, the greatest geome 
 trician of our age, " it could only be a fluid of an immense ex 
 tent which has given birth to our planets, and that fluid has at 
 first surrounded the sun as an atmosphere } it was upon the 
 successive limits of this atmosphere, and by the condensation 
 of the zones which it was obliged to separate from in receding, 
 that were formed all the planets of our system, as well as 
 their satellites." (Exposition of the System of the World, Book 
 V. Ch 9). P. Cuvier expresses himself thus on the assertion of 
 La Place : " The conjecture of M. de la Place, that the mate 
 rials of which the globe is composed must have been at first 
 elastic, and have successively in cooling taken the liquid con 
 sistency, and afterwards the solid, is much strengthened by the 
 recent experience of Mr. Mittcherlich, who ha? compounded 
 from parts, and caused to chrystalize, by the fire of high fur 
 naces, many kinds of minerals which enter into the composi 
 tion of primitive mountains." (Discourse upon the Revolutions 
 of the Earth, p. 11). 
 
 The more progress the natural sciences make, the more this 
 theory of Swedenborg, on the material creation, will be found 
 to be scientifically confirmed. 
 
 I will here close this sketch of the creation. If, however, 
 you desire more light on this subject, I will refer you to the 
 treatise of Swedenborg, where you will be able to find it, viz. 
 "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom," 
 As to the creation such as it is reported in Genesis, it will 
 suffice to read the record of Moses to be convinced that this in 
 no wise relates to the material creation. I have already told 
 you that I am a Christian in all the extension of this word 
 taken in its true acceptation ; thus I have for the Bible the 
 greatest veneration ; and my reason agreeing with my heart, 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 105 
 
 tells me that this Book is the Word of God. I hope some day 
 to cause you to partake with me in my convictions on this im 
 portant point : for I will demonstrate to you that the numerous 
 apparent contradictions which we meet with in the Bible are 
 all consistently explained, when we are in possession of the 
 key which unlocks the inexhaustible treasures that it contains. 
 But, for the present, I will content myself in telling you that, 
 while apparently treating of things of this world, the Bible in 
 reality only treats of spiritual things, and that the first chapter 
 of Genesis speaks solely of the spiritual creation of man, that 
 is to say, of his regeneration. Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 I have experienced much pleasure, my dear sir, in learning 
 that my last letter has made you familiar with the idea of 
 God-Man, and that you have not the least repugnance to con 
 sidering the Creator under the human form. In this you have 
 made an immense advance. The difficulties which spiritual 
 theories ordinarily present will henceforth disappear from be 
 fore you ; for everything depends upon the idea which is 
 formed of God: if this idea is just we can easily conceive of 
 the bonds which unite God, the universe, and man ; we can 
 comprehend the system of the world ; but if this is false, our 
 efforts, however great, will be vain. This explains to you why 
 philosophers rest in the impossibility of conceiving an idea of 
 the creation, and why this impossibility no longer exists with 
 the disciples of the New Church. 
 
 To philosophical spiritualists God is a pure spirit, or rather 
 an imaginary Entity, since according to their idea a spirit has 
 neither substance nor form. With so vague an idea of the 
 
IOC LETTERS TO A 
 
 Divinity, how could they ratio- tally conceive of the creation of 
 the universe ? Is it possible to construct any thing without a 
 basis ? and where would they place theirs "? The bond which 
 unites the first cause to second causes and to effects, is want 
 ing ] and the hypotheses which are heaped one above another, 
 go to prove only the weakness of their efforts. 
 
 But with God-Man the impossibility of conceiving an idea 
 of the creation no longer exists. God is Himself the basis, 
 since he is the centre of the universe, and this centre is a focus 
 of love and wisdom ; it is the infinite, the eternal Being, in a 
 Human Form j it is VERY MAN, the Archetype whence has 
 emanated all that constitutes the two worlds. Then the hu 
 man mind seizes upon this central support; it represents to 
 itself the Divinity surrounded by a radiant sun, which diffuses 
 all around spiritual heat and light, or love and wisdom ; it 
 sees formed around this sun those spiritual atmospheres which 
 proceed from one another, and which convey even to the ulti 
 mate limits this heat and this light with which they are filled ; 
 it sees the limits of these atmospheres cease to be fluids, be 
 come substances at rest, and thus form spiritual earths j it sees 
 the same things operating conjointly in the material order 
 around our sun by the force of expansion which it receives from 
 the spiritual sun. It can account for all these facts as soon as 
 it knows that the heat and light of our sun extend, by means 
 of the natural atmospheres, even to the last limits of our plan 
 etary system j and that according to recent discoveries of 
 science, the formation of the planets is owing to a fluid of an 
 immense extent ; it acquires thus the conviction that the uni 
 verse is a work which is continued from the Creator even to the 
 last objects of the creation; and that consequently God-Man, 
 who is the common centre, holds it suspended, puts it in motion, 
 and governs it as a single coherent whole. Then the human 
 mind incurs no danger of confounding God with the universe, 
 nor the spiritual with the natural j for it can know, by the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 107 
 
 science of degrees, that the first proceeding and those which 
 are posterior co-exist according to their order, in the more 
 remote or the last, in the sime manner as ends and causes 
 co-exist in effects : then it can have the idea concerning God, 
 that he is all in all, that he is omnipotent, omnipresent, omnis 
 cient, infinite and eternal ; then, also, it can have an idea of 
 the order according to which God- Man by his love and wisdom 
 disposes all things, provides for all, and governs all. 
 
 And observe, that when an idea is thus formed of God it 
 cannot be said of him that he is here or that he is there since 
 he is in the inmost of everything. It is then in the inmost of 
 our hearts that he truly is ; it is there that we should seek him 
 and it is there that we shall find him. 
 
 Do not forget, however, that God, his first proceeding and 
 the posterior proceedings, are not only in the last but are also 
 around these last, the same as the end and the causes are not 
 only in the effects which they produce, but around those 
 effects ; it is this truth which I have before demonstrated to 
 you by the example of the sculptor and the statue. Thus, 
 though the spiritual world is, like God, in the interior of our 
 selves, it nevertheless presents itself to our eyes around us, 
 when our soul is freed from the shackles which bind it to this 
 world. If this were not so, the soul remaining absorbed in 
 God would have no enjoyment but for itself, which would 
 be only a selfish pleasure, and for that reason alone opposed to 
 the essence itself of love or of God ; whilst by means of this 
 exterior manifestation it can love out of itself in returning up 
 on its likenesses the love which it receives from the Divinity : 
 thus it is in a reciprocal communication of love in which the 
 happiness of eternal life consists. To love his images is to 
 love God. 
 
 Let us examine now what the universe at first was in its 
 general constitution. 
 
 You have seen that the sun of our world was created at the 
 
108 LETTERS TO A 
 
 same time as the spiritual sun ; that it was by contiguity, and 
 not by continuity, the last term of a divine ray whose spiritual 
 sun was the first term ? aud that our planetary system was cre 
 ated by the intermediation of the natural sun. Now you know 
 that astronomy assigns to our planetary system but a very small 
 place in the material universe. You should therefore from 
 this conclude that at the instant when the extremity of a di 
 vine ray created the sun of our world, thousands of other divine 
 rays from the spiritual sun, created in all directions thousands 
 of natural suns : and that when the three natural atmospheres, 
 corresponding to the three spiritual atmospheres, issued from 
 our sun and constituted its planets, similar atmospheres diffus 
 ed themselves around each of these thousand suns, and that 
 this natural universe was strewed with millions of terrestrial 
 globes. 
 
 Every natural object, corresponding to a spiritual object of 
 which it is the effect, and hy which it exists, as every effect 
 exists from a cause, it becomes evident that the immaterial 
 universe includes millions of spiritual earths by means of 
 which the earths of our world exist and subsist. There is, 
 however, an important remark to be made j it is that the three 
 spiritual atmospheres formed immaterial earths distinct ac 
 cording to their degree, whilst the natural atmospheres con 
 tributed all three to form, the one the inmost, the other the 
 interior,and the last the ultimate, of the material earths. This 
 difference, of which I have before spoken, results from this, 
 that the spiritual earths not being subjected to the laws of space 
 and of time, those of the second and of the third degree, though 
 contained within those of the first degree, can appear out of 
 these, whilst the natural objects being governed by the laws 
 of space and time, their interior and their inmost cannot be 
 disengaged from their envelope. It thence results that every 
 natural earth corresponds to thr e spiritual earths, distinct from 
 each other, according to the three degrees. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 109 
 
 Thus the spiritual atmosphere of the third degree, or that 
 which, being the purest, remained nearest the source of life, 
 formed as many spiritual earths of the third decree as there 
 are terrestrial globes in the material universe. It was the same 
 with the spiritual atmosphere of the second degree j and the 
 same also with the spiritual atmosphere of the first and least 
 pure degree, in a word, that which was the most remote from 
 the spiritual sun. Remark besides, that according to the prin 
 ciples of the science of the three separate degrees, principles 
 which I have explained in a preceding letter, every earth of 
 the third degree constitutes the inmost of the corresponding 
 spiritual earth of the second degree : that these two earths 
 constitute afterwards the inmost and the interior of the spirit 
 ual earth of the first degree which corresponds to them, and 
 that these three spiritual earths are at the same time contain 
 ed in the natural earth, which is in correspondence with them, 
 bui only in the same manner as the first cause and second 
 causes are contained in the effect. 
 
 Ail that I have already said to you concerning the end and 
 the causes which are contained in the effect, though from 
 their nature they are immaterial, would be quite sufficient to 
 convince you that God and the spiritual world are in the nat 
 ural world, without for that reason occupying there a single 
 point of space. But when the abstraction of space is in ques 
 tion, this cannot be too thoroughly insisted upon ; let us not 
 then neglect any means of conviction. 
 
 Instead of directing our examination to the whole of the 
 universe, let us consider at first only one of its parts, our earth 
 for example. That which we will say of our planet in partic 
 ular will apply afterwards to all other parts of the universe, 
 and consequently to the universe in general. 
 
 The earth, being an effect which has for causes the spiritual 
 earths to which it corresponds, these spiritual earths are with 
 in it. but they are in it as the soul or spirit of man is in his 
 
110 LETTERS TO A 
 
 material body. Now, no anatomist has ever discovered the 
 spirit or soul in the human body; if then it were possible to 
 penetrate iuto the interior of the earth, neither would spiritual 
 earths be discovered there, though they are really there, the 
 same as the spirit or soul of man is really in his material body. 
 A.nd why would they not be discovered ? It is because every 
 part of a spiritual object, however small it maybe, is also in 
 the corresponding part of the natural object as the cause is in 
 the effect. Thus concerning our earth, and the three spiritual 
 corresponding earths, there is not an atom of the spiritual earth 
 of the third degree but what is in the corresponding atom of 
 the spiritual earth of the second degree, not an atom of this 
 which is not in the corresponding atom of the spiritual earth 
 of the first degree, and not an atom of this last which is not in 
 the corresponding atom of our earth ; for the spiritual earth of 
 the second degree is an effect in relation to that of the third 
 degree ; the spiritual earth of the first degree, an effect in rela 
 tion to the two preceding j and our earth an effect in relation 
 to these three spiritual earths. Thence it evidently results 
 that our earth can contain the three spiritual earths to which it 
 corresponds, without these earths occupying the least space 
 in its interior. If it is thus with our earth, it is the same with 
 all the planets of our system, and each of these planets con 
 tains in like manner the three spiritual earths to which it cor 
 responds ; it is also the same with the millions of globes which 
 gravitate in space, and consequently the whole spiritual world 
 is contained in the natural world without occupying there the 
 least space. 
 
 I will make at this time on this subject but a single remark : 
 the spiritual exercising thus within the natural an action, and 
 this action being necessarily so much the more active as the- 
 spiritual is more internal, it results thence that the nearer the 
 bodies which constitute the whole of the globe are to its cen 
 tre, the more should they be penetrated with heat. Now the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. Ill 
 
 experience of modern science, goes to confirm this consequence 
 of our principles, by proving that the more the thermometer is 
 sunk into the interior of the earth, the more the mercury rises. 
 The learned inquire into the cause of this fact, and have writ 
 ten long dissertations to discover it j but alas ! it is to them 
 with this cause as with almost all other causes ; it is in vain 
 for them to inquire, because they persist in remaining in their 
 false course. How many fruitless labors would they avoid, 
 and what progress would they make in the sciences which 
 they cultivate, if they knew, or were willing to take cogni 
 zance of, the true spiritual principles. 
 
 As to the exterior manifestation of the spiritual world, as it 
 constitutes the new theatre upon which we must eternally 
 live, it is this which it concerns us above all to examine. 
 
 The spiritual universe being divided into three parts wholly 
 distinct, and connected only between them by relations which 
 exist between the end, the cause, and the effect, we denom 
 inate the spiritual earths of the third degree with their atmos 
 pheres, the inmost or third heaven ; those of the second degree, 
 the second heaven ; and those of the last degree, the first 
 heaven ; this last is called the first heaven, because according 
 to the appearance it is nearer the natural world. You see also, 
 from what precedes, that each of these heavens includes as 
 many spiritual earths as the natural universe includes terres 
 trial globes. 
 
 This division into three heavens consists in this, that the 
 second heaven is to the inhabitants of the first heaven as invis 
 ible as this first heaven is invisible to the inhabitants of the 
 natural world ; and in this, that it is the same with the third 
 heaven in respect to the inhabitants of the second : but as the 
 inhabitants of the heavens are freed from the shackles of space 
 and time, they can visit the different earths of their heaven, if 
 they desire it, whilst we men who are yet subject to the laws of 
 space and time cannot leave the planet on which we now live. 
 
112 LETTERS TO A 
 
 As to the nature of the spiritual earths, you have seen in the 
 general view given of the creation, that all the bodies of a ma 
 terial nature are in a three-fold order, and that their inmost 
 corresponds to the third degree or to ends, their interior to the 
 second degree or to causes, and their ultimate or first degree 
 to effects. Now the two worlds, by virtue of their creation, 
 corresponding the one to the other, not only in the whole, but 
 also in each of their parts, however small it may be, it results 
 thence that the earths of the natural world can by analogy 
 give us a knowledge of the nature of the earths of the spiritual 
 world. However, to have a just idea of the earths of these 
 three heavens, it is neccessary to form an idea as to what 
 must have been the nature of the natural earths at the epoch of 
 which we are treating. All the objects which then composed 
 the universe were at the same time good and beautiful, since 
 they all emanated from God, and had not yet undergone any 
 alteration. Thus the inmost of objects of which material na 
 ture was then composed corresponded to the things which con 
 stituted the earths of the inmost heaven ; the interior of these 
 same objects to the things which constitutes the earths of the 
 second heaven ; and the objects themselves to the things of the 
 earths of the (irst heaven. The difference which exists be 
 tween the inmost of a thing, its interior, and its ultimate, should 
 easily enable you to comprehend that which exists between 
 the earths of the three heavens. 
 
 Such, in the beginning, was the general constitution of the 
 immaterial Universe: but there were afterwards produced 
 changes in the spiritual organism, of which I am now about to 
 speak. 
 
 1 have shown you, in my second letter, what was the end 
 which God had in creating the universe, and you have acknowl 
 edged that this end would have failed if man had not been 
 free to love God or not to love him, that is to say, if he had 
 not been free to conform to the laws of the divine order or to 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 113 
 
 infringe them. It thence results that the free will of man is 
 itself one of the principal laws of this order : so that God who 
 never contravenes the laws which his wisdom has established, 
 is careful not to destroy this libert)?" of man, and has recourse 
 to other means to preserve the order of the universe, which 
 man, from his present nature, is always disposed to destroy. 
 
 Man being in the likeness and image of God, or, in other 
 words, man having been created the receptacle of the love 
 and wisdom of God, received, by this very organization, a 
 power of changing, which was perverted by the abuse which 
 he made of his free will. We have seen in fact that man re 
 ceives and appropriates the divine influence because he is en 
 dowed with liberty and rationality, whilst other beings, having 
 neither free will nor the faculty of reasoning, receive this in 
 fluence but do not appropriate it. Give me for a moment all 
 your attention. The divine influence is none other than the 
 life which emanates from God, and life is composed of affec 
 tions and thoughts, which are themselves spiritual substances 
 and forms j this we have already acknowledged. This granted, 
 man continually receiving life appropriates to himself thus at, 
 every instant spiritual substances and forms which emanate 
 from God, and these substances and these forms are real 
 objects of spiritual organism. But the affections and the 
 thoughts which man receives from God, being appropriated 
 by him become, by that very reception, affections and thoughts 
 of man ; now man being thus himself a centre of continual 
 emanations, they enter, in emanating from him, into the spir 
 itual organism, but changed from their primitive substance 
 and form, if this appropriation is not made conformably to the 
 laws of order, that is to say, if man has separated himself from 
 the divine laws. 
 
 You may jndge now of the modification which the spiritual 
 organism must necessarily have undergone when man appear 
 ed in the universe ; I say when man appeared in the universe, 
 
114 LETTERS TO A 
 
 for reason teaches and the new sciences prove that the uni 
 verse must have existed long before it was inhabited by man. 
 
 Thus, so long as man returned to his Creator the love and 
 the wisdom which he received from him, that is to say, so long 
 as he lived comformably to the laws of divine or.ler, the affec 
 tions and the thoughts which he appropriated to himself pre 
 served their primitive purity ; and his emanations being for 
 that reason in homogeneity with the emanations which pro 
 ceed from God by the spiritual sun, the universal organism re 
 ceived from it no alteration. But when afterwards men began 
 to transgress the divine laws, the affections and thoughts 
 which they appropriated to themselves, lost their primitive 
 purity, and were so much the more estranged as the infrac 
 tions became greater. Man s infractions of the divine laws 
 were at first trivial ; for every thing in the universe, as well 
 in its spiritual as in its natural part, proceeds by gradations : 
 and besides, it is even now acknowledged that man does not 
 suddenly pass from an extreme good to an extreme evil. The 
 first transgression that men committed was only a desire the 
 desire of being led of themselves, instead of .suffering them 
 selves to be freely directed by God as at first j but though this 
 desire did not at once precipitate them into evil, it is most 
 true that those who conceived it lost some of the purity of 
 their fathers. 
 
 This was the commencement of the perversion of the divine 
 order by man, or in other words, the beginning of man s fall. I 
 can readily conceive the repugnance of men of the world, 
 when the fall is mentioned; it is not that they generally deny 
 the primeval existence of a paradisiacal age : they are ready 
 to admit that the human race is degraded ; but when they 
 recollect what, in their childhood, has been taught them con 
 cerning the fall, their reason revolts. And could it be other 
 wise, when they know that the old theology still persists, even 
 in this age, in teaching that the fault of a single man was the 
 
BE 
 MAN OF THE WORLD. f 115 
 
 cause of the condemnation of the human race ? Is not this to 
 attribute injustice to God and is it to be wondered at that 
 the reason of man should refuse to receive sucnTrRTTrJction 
 any longer ? 
 
 This allusion to the fall is but incidental : it is my intention 
 to show you .only, in a few words, that it was progressive, and 
 not instantaneous, and that it was the declension of man in 
 the aggregate, and not in the single individual. We will ex 
 amine this dogma at another time. 
 
 There is one law of the divine order whose existence you 
 will readily acknowledge : this is the law of transmission by 
 germs. If the agriculturists make choice of the best grain for 
 seed ; if breeders of cattle choose the healthiest and best formed 
 for the propagation of the species ; it is because the experience 
 of all time has proved that bodily defects are transmitted in 
 increasing progression from germ to germ. This law exists 
 for the moral and spiritual as well as for the corporeal part of 
 man it has been recognised by all good observers, but what 
 prevents it from being evident in that which concerns the 
 moral and spiritual part is, because man, by the education 
 which he receives, can conceal his desires and his thoughts ; 
 it is, besides, because being endowed with free will and ra 
 tionality, he can be reformed j but it is always a truth that he 
 is born with a propensity to apparent and hidden defects de 
 rived from his parents. I will dwell more on this subject 
 when we come to treat on original evil ; for this evil consists 
 in the transmission of evils and falses which accumulate from 
 generation to generation, and not in the simple transmission 
 of the crime of one man. 
 
 The men who had not originally the desire for self-guidance. 
 but who had only conceived this desire during their life in the 
 natural world, transmitted it to their offspring according to 
 this general law of order ; it was weak with the first, and be 
 came stronger with the next generation. Yet these were still 
 
116 LETTERS TO A 
 
 good, though their goodness had more degenerated than that 
 of their fathers; but the propensity to depart from the laws of 
 order increasing from generation to generation, men at length 
 fell into evil. There has been, since then, between the divine 
 emanations which constituted the primitive spiritual organism, 
 and the emanations of men fallen into evil, a real antagonism ; 
 and as spiritual objects are not subjected to the laws of gravity, 
 but observe those of spiritual attraction, that is to say, of sym 
 pathy, all those spiritual objects which resulted from the vitia 
 ted emanations of these men, reuniting according to the laws 
 of spiritual attraction, constituted an organism distinct from 
 the first and altogether inverted. We have called the first, 
 heaven, we will call the last, hell. This word, without doubt, 
 sounds harsh in your ears : so many absurdities have been 
 spread concerning hell, that a man of the world now-a-days 
 cannot even hear the name pronounced without smiling ; but 
 be good enough to wait a little, and you will soon acknow 
 ledge that we can speak of hell, and believe that there is a 
 hell, such as it actually is, and not such as it has hitherto been 
 described, without for that reason being obliged to make the 
 least renunciation of the use of the intellectual faculty. 
 
 Hell, like heaven, has its atmospheres, and its earths ar 
 ranged according to separate or discrete degrees. In fact, by 
 appropriating to themselves, and by perverting the divine em 
 anations, these men and those who from generation to genera 
 tion followed their example, did not, on that account, invert 
 the order of their degrees. The exterior good, or the good 
 of the first degree, became evil, but this evil was exterior, or 
 the evil of the first degree ; interior good became interior evil, 
 and inmost good, inmost evil; it was the same with truth, 
 which, according to its degree, was changed into the false of 
 the same degree. If you wish to form, to yourself an idea of 
 the infernal earths, represent them to yourself as composed of 
 all that is bad and deformed in that which constitutes our 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 117 
 
 earth. The inmost of bad and deformed objects corresponds 
 to the things which constitute the earths of the ihird. or deep 
 est hell j the interior of these objects, to the things which con 
 stitute the earths of the second hell, and these objects them 
 selves, to the things which constitute the earths of the first 
 hell. You will also judge of the difference between the infer 
 nal earths, by the difference which th -re is between the in 
 most of a bad and deformed thing, its interior, and its exterior 
 or aggregate form. 
 
 Thus hell is subsequent to heaver; ; it was not created by 
 God, since God was love itself, and wisdom itself: love could 
 not beget hatred, nor wisdom folly; but hell is from man; 
 man alone created it, and he created it by means of that power 
 to modify which he had received, and which in his hands has 
 become altogether destructive of the works of God, by the 
 abuse which he has made of his free will. If any difficulty is 
 experienced in comprehending that man has such a power, it 
 arises entirely from the erroneous ideas which the false philos 
 ophy and theology have incessantly spread about God and 
 creation. Why does the belief that there is no hell so exten 
 sively prevail ? Because it is repugnant to reason, not only to 
 require faith in the descriptions generally given of it, but also 
 to believe that God created a place of torment. But if God 
 has not created hell, by whom was it created ? At this ques 
 tion, moralists are silent ; some theologians believe they have 
 overcome the difficulty, by saying that rebellious angels have 
 been cast down into the abyss. But was not this abyss the 
 eternal prison in which they were to be confined ? Who then 
 created it ? And yet theologians and moralists admit the in 
 finite goodness of God, and recognize the necessity and reality 
 of hell. Why do they find it impossible for them to reconcile 
 the infinite love of the one with the existence of the other I 
 Why ! because they have only vague notions concerning God 
 6 
 
118 LETTERS TO A 
 
 and the world of spirits; because, consequently they have 
 been unable to form a just idea of the creation. 
 
 The idea generally prevailing upon this important subject, 
 is, that the universe being once formed, creation ceased. 
 Some philosophers, seeing that every thing is renewed by 
 means of germs, believe that nature perpetuates herself. On 
 the other hand, theologians, relying upon the letter of the 
 scriptures, without seeking to penetrate into their spirit, say 
 that all things were made by the Word ; and upon this first 
 point they are perfectly correct, as you will afterwards ac 
 knowledge, when we come to discuss the dogmatic questions 
 together; but they fall into a gross error in adding that every 
 thing was created by this alone, that God spake a word, or 
 gave an order, as an absolute sovereign would do in a king 
 dom. 
 
 When it is believed that the Creator is a Being without sub 
 stance and form, and that the universe was created out of noth 
 ing, how can errors be avoided ? But if is admitted that God 
 is substance itself and form itself (Form-type), and that the 
 universe emanated from him, then difficulties disappear for 
 then it is easy to admit as a principle that all production is a 
 continued creation. 
 
 It is true that the universe is from a single outbirth, for it 
 was not created as I have before told you, either from space to 
 space, or from one time to another ; but it by no means thence 
 results, that creation was terminated by its formation. The 
 universe being an emanation from God, cannot but subsist by a 
 continual emanation from the Divinity. If it were possible 
 that this emanation could be suspended one instant, the two 
 worlds, the natural and the spiritual, would be instantly de 
 prived of life, and the universe, both material and immaterial, 
 would subsist no longer. Creation then continues every in 
 stant, without the least interruption. If it appears stable to us, 
 it is because God is not inconstant as man is, and does not 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 119 
 
 overturn to day what he did yesterday. In God s incessant 
 creation he always conforms to the laws of his own divine 
 order. 
 
 If to the considerations which I have previously presented 
 to you, you now add the principle that all production is a con 
 tinued creation, you will experience no further difficulty 
 in comprehending that man had the power to create hell. 
 Take notice, however, that I do not take the word " create" 
 in the acceptation of producing out of nothing; but in saying 
 that man had power to create hell, I mean that he had power 
 to render bad and deformed the good spiritual substances 
 and the beautiful spiritual forms which emanated from God, 
 and which he appropriated to himself; I will even add that 
 in introducing thus the evil and deformed into the spiritual 
 organism, he introduced them also into the natural organism, 
 according to the laws of correspondence between the two 
 worlds. 
 
 The creation oi hell was not the only change which man in 
 troduced into the spiritual organism 5 there is still another 
 which I must also make you acquainted with. 
 
 When hell was constituted by man s perversity, or in other 
 words, when men after having progressively separated them 
 selves from the supreme good, fell at length into evil, they did 
 not all become perverted to such a degree as no longer to have 
 in them either good or evil. There were even many who still 
 fluctuated between the good and evil, between the true and the 
 false. The emanations of these being a mixture of good and 
 bad substances, and beautiful and perverted forms, could nei 
 ther enter into the celestial organism, where all is good and 
 beautiful, nor into the infernal organism, where all is evil and 
 deformed ; they composed consequently a spiritual mixed or 
 ganism. In its external manifestation, the earth of this new 
 organism holds the middle between the earth of the first 
 heaven and that of the first hell ; it is composed of objects like 
 
120 LETTERS TO A 
 
 those of our earth, except the difference between what is spir- 
 ritual and what is natural ; and presents thus a mixture of the 
 good and the bad, of the beautiful and deformed. We give to 
 this part of the spiritual world the name of World of Spirits. 
 
 Such are the changes which the fall of man has introduced 
 into the spiritual organism of the globe which we inhabit, t 
 have presented them to you briefly, that you may know what 
 is now the general division of this spiritual world, whose ex 
 ploration we have undertaken to make together. 
 
 I will conclude this letter by impressing upon you this re 
 mark, that notwithstanding these changes in the spiritual or 
 ganism, all its parts are at the same time contained in the nat 
 ural organism ; they are there as good and evil, the true and 
 the false, are in man, for man, we shall see in the course of 
 our discussion, is himself a microcosm, or little world. In 
 fine, if our natural organism remained entire whilst the spiritual 
 organism has been divided, the reason of this is easily to be 
 perceived. The objects which compose the latter have, as I 
 have already shown you, been capable of being separated 
 from each other, and this separation was effected at the instant 
 that there was antagonism between them; but it could not be 
 the same with corresponding bodies of the natural organism, 
 because the laws of space and time opposed, in an absolute 
 manner, their separation. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 I have, in my last letter, made you acquainted with the 
 principal divisions of the spiritual world : I shall speak in this 
 respecting the beings who inhabit them j but permit me first 
 to revert to a question which has already been incidentally 
 treated upon. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 121 
 
 I have shown, in my fifth letter, that all the intelligent be 
 ings who exist in the immaterial world, it matters not what 
 name has been given to them besides, are men, arid have all 
 first lived upon natural earths before inhabiting the other 
 world. This proposition being the fundamental basis of the 
 subject which is about to engage our attention, I must have re 
 course to all the means which can confirm it, and add to 
 proofs already given those which the present state of our dis 
 cussion permits me to employ. 
 
 As hell is posterior to the primitive creation, I will here 
 treat concerning those spiritual beings only to whom the name 
 of Angels has been given j besides, what I am about to say of 
 angels will equally apply to all other intelligent beings. 
 
 If angels had not originally lived upon natural earths, that is 
 to say, if they had not been clothed, as we are, with a material 
 body which they restored to the earth from which it was taken, 
 they must necessarily have been angels immediately created 
 such. It would then be necessary to suppose that God would 
 have been able to create the spiritual without adjoining to it a 
 natural suitable to contain it, and serve it for a basis and sup 
 port. Now such a supposition cannot be admitted by those 
 who are acquainted with the order which has presided at the 
 creation. You have seen, truly, that the universe is a cohe 
 rent whole, in the centre of which is the spiritual sun, and 
 that from this sun even to the most compact objects of nature, 
 everything must be connected by contiguity, according to the 
 order of separate or discrete degrees, so that the last degree 
 should be the continent, the basis, and the support of the two 
 prior degrees. 
 
 If to this ycu add that the emanation which has created the 
 universe, being in potency a compound of substances and forms 
 of the three degrees, it was impossible that these substances 
 and forms, as they develope themselvevS in acts, should not be 
 connected according to the order of these degrees ; you will 
 
122 LETTERS TO A 
 
 then easily understand that God could not create any spiritual 
 being without there being a natural, which might contain the 
 spiritual, and that consequently to have angels, it was abso 
 lutely necessary that he should create intelligent beings clothed 
 with a material body, that is to say, men. 
 
 It is true that our modern psychologists do not conceive of 
 the spiritual in this manner ; but to what results have they 
 thus come with their vapory ideas ? They have so refined 
 away the spiritual, that it has become for them as if it did not 
 exist. But you, who now know that there is nothing spiritual 
 without substance and form, because that which has neither 
 substance nor form cannot either exist or consequently sub 
 sist, and is absolutely ngthing but a creation of the imagina 
 tion, *or a being altogether chimerical you will understand 
 without difficulty that spiritual substances and forms, could 
 not have any consistence if they had not for their continent, 
 basis, and support, natural substances and forms, which are 
 their last degree or their effect. 
 
 Remark, besides, that if God had been able to create in his 
 likeness and image beings capable of loving him freely, with 
 out these beings having been obliged to live first in the last 
 degree of creation, that is to say, in the natural world, it would 
 have been, for this end, useless to create this natural world. 
 What was, in fact, the end which God had in the creation of 
 the universe ? We have already seen it, and it is impossible 
 to discover any other, it was to create beings who could re 
 ceive his love and freely return it to him. Now, if it were 
 possible to attain this end by an immediate creation of angels, 
 was it not useless to create man and the natural world ? 
 
 One of the consequences of the principles which we are 
 discussing is, that the spiritual world must have remained a 
 long time without being inhabited. This might, at the first 
 thought, excite surprise ; but if our earth, which no one at this 
 day will deny has revolved for ages around the sun. without 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 123 
 
 having had upon its surface any of the beings for which alone 
 it was nevertheless created, why should we be astonished 
 that the earths of the spiritual world, to which it corresponds, 
 should have been for a little longer time without receiving those 
 who were to inhabit them? We who live in the rnidst of time 
 may think it extraordinary that worlls should have remained 
 uninhabited for ages ; but should not our surprise cease as 
 soon as we reflect that ages are but an instant to Him who 
 is eternal "? We should not be any more astonished at this, 
 that all the earths of the spiritual world have been inhabited 
 posteriorly to the natural earths which correspond to them. 
 But are we to conclude from this tl^at there were not angels 
 in the spiritual world before man appeared upon our earth ? 
 Certainly not. The natural universe, as you know, contains 
 myriads of terrestrial globes, all of which, created to receive 
 men, were certainly not all inhabited at the same moment; 
 some have perhaps been inhabited for millions of years, and it 
 may be possible that others are not inhabited yet. Nothing 
 then can lead us to believe that our globe was inhabited before 
 there were angels in the spiritual world. What we have a right 
 to affirm on the subject of our planet only is, that it had in 
 habitants before the part of the spiritual world to which it cor 
 responds had any ; but it must always have been necessary that 
 one of the earths of the natural world should have been first 
 inhabited, in order that there might be angels in the heavens. 
 These new considerations, added to those which I have pre 
 sented to you in my fifth letter, prove very evidently, that the 
 angels at first lived as men in the natural world. 
 
 Nevertheless, as what I have said in discussing this subject, 
 has been based upon the principle that the spiritual can have 
 existence only so far as it is contained in a natural, which 
 serves it for a basis and support, it remains for me yet to solve 
 a question which ^ou would doubtless soon address to me if I 
 did not suggest it at this time ; the angels having restored to 
 
124 LETTERS TO A 
 
 
 
 the earth the material body, which in our world, served them 
 for a continent, basis, and support, what is the natural which 
 serves for a basis now ? 
 
 This question, my dear sir, from its nature enters into the 
 general discussion , and you will there find it explained ; how 
 ever not to detain you longer for an answer, I will say at once, 
 that it is the human race itself which supplies this function. 
 This need not be a matter of astonishment to you, as there can 
 be nothing in the natural world more suitable than man to 
 serve for a continent, basis, and support to beings who have 
 lived men, and who still live in a human form. As to the 
 manner in which angels and spirits are contained in man. it is 
 only in the course of the general discussion that we shall be 
 able to make this clear; to this discussion then I now come. 
 
 Since spirits and angels have all once lived as men on the 
 natural earths before inhabiting the other world, the most cer 
 tain means of forming an idea of spiritual beings is first to ac 
 quire a knowledge of man. Being in the likeness and image 
 of God, man must have been, and was really, the summary of 
 the universal creation ; and it was for this very reason that the 
 ancients used to call him a microcosm, that is to say, a little 
 universe. Thus the enigma of man, the enigma which for so 
 many ages philosophy has sought in vain to discover, this can 
 not be explained but by meditating upon the creation of the 
 universe. God being VERY MAN, all the emanations which 
 proceeded from him must have been a continual effort to im 
 press upon creation his image or the human form. Do you 
 desire a proof of this? Survey the scale of beings: those 
 which first appeared, presented, it is true, but a rough sketch : 
 bat the more creation developed itself, the more you see the 
 ivewly created beings approach trris form; at length when 
 everything was progressively arranged, so that it might attain 
 to its perfection, you see man appear upon tjie theatre which 
 God had embellished for him. 
 
3:.*N OF THE WORLD. 125 
 
 Observe, on the subject of these successive creations, that 
 the spiritual suri and natural sun, being always in activity, the 
 first by the presence of God who is in the midst of it, and the 
 second by the force of expansion which the first communicates 
 to it, the spiritual and natural atmospheres are continually in 
 effort to preserve and to produce ; for it is by them that the 
 substances at rest of the spiritual world, and the fixed substances 
 or matter of our world, subsist and are modified. Now, fol 
 low in all its details the formation of the universe, arid you 
 will be able o have an idea of the formation of man. 
 
 The creation of the three kinds of spiritual earths which 
 are between themselves separate and distinct, according to 
 the three degrees, sufficiently indicate to us, that there must 
 be in the man-spirit three receptacles in the same manner sepa 
 rate and distinct, that the love and wisdom of God may reach 
 him in the three degrees, namely, in the degree of ends, in 
 the degree of causes, and in that of spiritual effects, and that 
 man may thus be able to dwell upon those earths w r hen he 
 departs from our world. 
 
 The receptacle of the love and wisdom of God in the degree 
 of ends, is that which constitutes the inmost of the man-spirit. 
 It is in this inmost that God resides surrounded with his spiri 
 tual sun ; there is his sanctuary with man . This inmost, form 
 ed of the purest substances at rest, derived from the spiritual 
 atmosphere of the third degree, and disposed in the most har 
 monious order, is in reality the third heaven for man ; for it is 
 by means of this inmost receptacle that he is adapted, as you 
 will see presently, to become an inhabitant of the third heaven, 
 or an angel of the inmost heaven. 
 
 The receptacle of the Jove and wisdom of God in the de 
 gree ol causes, is that which constitutes the internal in the 
 man-spirit, every part of which envelopes the corresponding 
 part of the inmost. This internal, formed from the purest 
 substances at rest, drawn from the spiritual atmosphere of the 
 
126 LETTERS TO A 
 
 second degree, and disposed also in a harmonious order, is 
 the second heaven for man; for it is by means of this inter 
 nal receptacle that he can become an angel of the second 
 heaven if by his life in the world he has not rendered himself 
 fit to be elevated to the inmost heaven. 
 
 Lastly, the receptacle of the love and wisdom of God in the 
 degree of spiritual effects, is that which constitutes the interior 
 in the man-spirit, all of whose parts also envelope every cor 
 responding part of the internal and of the inmost. This inter 
 ior, formed from the purest substances at rest derived from the 
 spiritual atmosphere of the last degree, and disposed likewise 
 in a harmonious order, is the first heaven for man; for it is 
 by means of this receptacle that he may become an angel of 
 the h rst heaven, if by his life in the world, he has not ren 
 dered himself fit to be elevated to the superior heavens. 
 
 As to the state of these three receptacles in the material 
 body of man, the formation of the material earths demonstrates 
 to us that all the parts of each of them are enveloped with fixed 
 substances, which are derived from the three natural atmos 
 pheres, and which correspond to the substances at rest of 
 which these parts are themselves composed. Such is, in man, 
 the Divine order ; but the present state of the spiritual world, 
 such as ! have presented to you in my last letter, demonstrates 
 to us again that by his fall man has inverted this order. 
 
 You remember that the fall was progressive and not instan 
 taneous. In the degree that man abandoned goodness and 
 truth for the evil and the false, he removed himself from God 
 to turn himself more and more towards himself: the love and 
 the wisdom of God then experienced an increasing difficulty 
 in penetrating into their receptacles, and by degrees there was 
 formed in man an inverse order, having its proper receptacle 
 for the love of self and self-derived intelligence, or in other 
 words for hatred and folly ; and when man had entirely fallen 
 into the evil and false, the receptacles of the love and wisdom 
 
MAN OP THE WORLD. 127 
 
 of God were completely closed, and those of hatred and folly 
 completely open. It is thus that man himself introduced dis 
 order into his primitive organization. Subjected like all other 
 beings to the law of transmission by germs, so long as he lived 
 according to order, his children were born into the order of cre 
 ation that is to say, good : but as soon as by his life in hatred 
 and folly, he had inverted the order to which he had been 
 created, his children were born into inverted order, that is to 
 say, into evil or into the love of self. 
 
 Nevertheless, although the receptacles of the love and wis 
 dom of God were closed by the fall, God did not the less re 
 side in the inmost of man, for God is in the inmost of every 
 thing ; if it were not thus, man after the fall could not have lived 
 either in this or in the spiritual world. But the love and wis 
 dom of God not being able to manifest themselves in the 
 Ulan-spirit any farther than their receptacles are opened, man 
 would have been forever deprived of that love and wisdom, if 
 God, who had foreseen the fall, had not at the same time in 
 his mercy provided means for reinstating him. This is not 
 the place to examine the means which God employed to re 
 store man to himself; we will speak of this when we come to 
 treat concerning points of doctrine. I will only say that by 
 these means the receptacles of the love and wisdom of God 
 may successively be opened, and thus man can again become 
 an inhabitant of the heavens. 
 
 These primary ideas concerning man, being sufficient to en 
 able you to form an idea of spiritual beings, we proceed now 
 to extend our investigations to them. 
 
 According to the explications given you in my last letter, the 
 spiritual world is composed of two organisms absolutely oppo 
 site, called heaven and hell, and of a mixed organism denomi 
 nated the world of spirits ; then heaven and hell are subdivi 
 ded each into three great parts distinct in themselves, accor 
 ding to the order of degrees, so that there are three heavens 
 6* 
 
128 LETTERS TO A 
 
 and three hells. Such are the principal divisions which now 
 exist in the spiritual world. 
 
 The angels of the inmost or supreme heaven are men who, 
 by their life in the world, rendered themselves fit to receive 
 the love and wisdom of God in the supreme degree, or degree 
 of ends. As the inmost of man is formed of the purest sub 
 stances at rest, derived from the spiritual atmosphere of the 
 third degree, these angels, living then by this inmost alone, 
 are in the purest state ; surrounded with an atmosphere which 
 proceeds immediately from the spiritual sun, they receive 
 without any other medium, the influence of this sun, or rather 
 influx from God ; and consequently spiritual heat, or the divine 
 love, and the spiritual light or the divine wisdom, are not tem 
 pered in their manifestations to them except by this atmosphere 
 alone. 
 
 Here I will make one observation. You know that God, by 
 his spiritual sun, is in every created being, and that it is by 
 the heat and light, of this sun, that he vivifies all creation : but 
 the divine love is so ardent and the divine wisdom so tran- 
 scendantly bright, that all spiritual beings would be consumed 
 in an instant, if God did not temper this ardor and this bril 
 liancy, by veiling himself more or less by spiritual atmos 
 pheres, in order to proportion his love and wisdom to the state 
 of every being. Thus God being always present in the inmost 
 of spiritual beings, is never nearer to or more distant from one 
 than another j but he is more or less veiled, so that the inten 
 sity of spiritual heat and light depends upon the media which 
 they traverse before they affect us. The same thing is pro 
 duced in the material world, and the analogy is striking : indeed 
 science proves that no being of our globe could support either 
 the heat or the light of our sun, even if that luminary were a 
 thousand times more remote from us than it really is, if there 
 did not exist atmospheric media to temper i s heat and light j 
 thut without these media all the globes which gravitate around 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 129 
 
 it, would be set on fire and reduced to liquefaction ; and that 
 consequently the intensity of natural heat and light depends 
 upon the media which they traverse before arriving at objects, 
 and by no means upon the distance of the sun from those 
 objects. 
 
 On the other hand, if among beings of our globe some live in 
 the air, others upon the surface of the globe, others in waters, and 
 others in the interior of the earth, it is evidently because they 
 are not all susceptible of receiving the same intensity of nat 
 ural heat arid light ; but, besides this, those which fly in the air 
 pass through regions more or less elevated- those which are upon 
 the earth, live in climates more or less tempered ; those which 
 swim in the seas keep in greater or less depths ; and those which 
 conceal themselves in the earth are more or less remote from 
 the surface: analogy again shows us then, that in the same 
 heaven, angels have mansions which differ from each other, 
 as they are adapted to receive, according to continuous degrees, 
 more or less love and wisdom. 
 
 The inhabitants of the deepest hell opposite to the highest 
 heaven, are, on the contrary, men who in the world have 
 lived in the evils and the falses of the third degree or the de 
 gree of ends; the purer the angels of the highest heaven, the 
 more impure are those infernal spirits. The inmost inverted 
 form, in which they live, is as hideous as that of the third 
 heaven is beautiful ; in a word, everything in this hell is the 
 opposite of the highest heaven. 
 
 As to the two other heavens and the two other hells which 
 are opposite to them, it will be seen also, from the preceding, 
 what is the nature of their inhabitants. 
 
 The angels of the second heaven are men who, by their life 
 in the world, have only rendered themselves fit to receive the 
 love and wisdom of God in the degree of causes ; and the in 
 habitants of the second hell opposite to that of heaven, are 
 those who in the world have lived in the evils and falses of 
 
130 LETTERS TO A 
 
 this same degree. With the first the internal has been restor 
 ed to order ; with the others it has been inverted. 
 
 Lastly, the angels of the first heaven are men who, by their 
 life in the world, have only rendered themselves fit to receive 
 the love and the wisdom of God in the degree of spiritual ef 
 fects: and the inhabitants of the first hell opposite to "this 
 heaven, are those who, in the world, have Jived in the evils 
 and the falses of this same degree. The interior has been 
 restored to order with the first, and it has remained inverted 
 with the others. 
 
 The world of spirits is between the first heaven and the 
 first hell. It is composed of all those who, on leaving the nat 
 ural world, are not yet good enough to enter into one of the 
 heavens, or not yet wicked enough to plunge themselves into 
 one of the hells. The first remain there until they are divested 
 of the evils and falsities attached to them, and the second until 
 they have rejected the little goodness and truth remaining with 
 them. 
 
 It was indispensable to enter upon these preliminary details 
 before we could understand the nature of influx, or the man 
 ner in which life penetrates to the inhabitants of the spiritual 
 world, and consequently to men. 
 
 God governs the whole universe by influx. We call that 
 common influx which concerns the universe in general, and par 
 ticular influx that which specially concerns the inhabitants of the 
 spiritual world and men. There are other kinds of influx, of 
 which I will speak to you at another time, but for the present 
 we will confine ourselves to the nature of particular influx. 
 
 It is evident that the angel of the supreme heaven receives 
 immediately from the spiritual sun the love and wisdom of 
 God ; for this angel lives in his inmost principle, and it is in 
 this principle that God resides surrounded with his spiritual 
 sun. 
 
 But the angels of the second heaven cannot receive imme- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 131 
 
 diately, from the spiritual sun, the love arid wisdom ot God : 
 for they live in their internal and not in their inmost, or what 
 is the same thing, they are in causes and not in ends ; and as 
 there is only contiguity between ends and euuses, and not con 
 tinuity, the love and the wisdom of God cannot descend from 
 ends into causes, but by an influx of angels who are in ends, up 
 on those who are in causes. By means of this influx, the 
 angels of the third heaven communicate to the angels of the 
 second their affections which proceed from the love of God, and 
 their thoughts which proceed from his wisdom ; but these affec 
 tions and thoughts which with the first are relative to ends, be 
 come only relative to causes when the second receive them. 
 This results evidently from the degree of life, or of love and 
 wisdom in which these last are. 
 
 You have seen that with the angels of the second heaven the 
 inmost is closed ; but as every inmost receptacle is from its 
 very nature a supreme heaven, since it is formed of the purest 
 substances from the spiritual atmosphere of the third degree, 
 and since, moreover, heaven is in the angel and in man, though 
 it manifests itself out of the angel and man, it results thence 
 that the inmost of the angels of the second heaven, closed for 
 them, is open for the angels of the highest heaven : this, then 
 is the receptacle which serves them for a continent, basis, 
 and support, and it is from this that they flow into the internal 
 of the angels of the second heaven. 
 
 You will doubtless be much astonished to learn that angels 
 having substance and form, are in other angels ; but reflect a 
 moment, I pray you, upon the nature of spiritual substances 
 and forms ; remove from your thought the idea of space and 
 time, and your astonishment will cease. In saying to you repeat 
 edly that God is in man, I made use of no metaphor. God is 
 really in the inmost of man, but he is there veiled in his spir 
 itual sun. So the highest heaven is altogether in the inmost of 
 man, but it is not veiled there : yet this inmost being closed 
 
132 LETTERS TO A 
 
 with men during their life in the world, and with angels and 
 spirits who have not rendered themselves fit to receive the 
 Jove and wisdom of God in the degree of ends, is the reason 
 why this supreme heaven is not manifested to their eyes ; but 
 if their inmost were opened they would be instantly in this 
 heaven, because this heaven is for them included in their in 
 most. So of the rest, of which you will be fully convinced 
 when we enter into the details upon the objects of the spirit 
 ual world. Now if all the supreme heaven be in general in 
 the inmost of the angel of the second heaven, why be aston 
 ished that angels of this supreme heaven should make in this 
 inmost their habitual residence ? Yes, my dear sir, yon and I 
 have not only God and the supreme heaven in us, but we have 
 in us the whole spiritual world ; we have God and the 
 supreme heaven in our inmost, and the lowest hell in our 
 inverted inmost, the second heaven in our internal, and the 
 second hell in our inverted internal, first heaven in our interior, 
 and the first hell in our inverted interior j and lastly, the 
 whole intermediate world in our man-spirit, such as it is now, 
 that is to say, impregnated with terrestrial affections and 
 thoughts; and it is because this is the case that it would hap 
 pen, if to morrow we should quit this world, we would be 
 there immediately, and without, for that reason, being obliged 
 to make any progression of distance or change of place j we 
 should be, I say in the midst of the world of spirits, with the same 
 affection and thoughts that we now have, and afterwards we 
 should go either into one of the heavens or one of the hells, 
 according as by our life here below we should have rendered 
 ourselves fit to receive in a degree more or less elevated, 
 either the love and wisdom of God, or the hatred and folly 
 which proceed from the love of self and self-derived intelli 
 gence. But let us return to our discussion. 
 
 If an angel of the highest heaven were not in the inmost of an 
 angel of the second heaven, he could not subsist, and the parts 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 133 
 
 of his body would be dissipated like gases which are not com 
 pressed. Indeed, the angel of the supreme heaven, living in 
 his inmost receptacle, has successively divested himself of the 
 other Aceptacles which invested his inmost, and consequently 
 of the internal receptacle which was its immediate envelope ; 
 he would not have then any more envelopes to maintain the 
 parts of his body in permanent cohesion, if these receptacles 
 were not replaced ; now it is this which happens to the inter 
 nal receptacle, that this angel, as soon as he is divested of his 
 internal, resides in the inmost of an angel of the second heaven, 
 aud as this last angel lives in his internal, this internal serves 
 the angel of the supreme heaven for a continent, basis, and 
 support. 
 
 It is true that the internal of the angel of the second heaven 
 has but little more consistence than the inmost of the angel of 
 the supreme heaven, for the only difference which exists be 
 tween these two receptacles is that one is formed from substan 
 ces at rest from the atmosphere of the second degree, and the 
 other from substances at rest from the atmosphere of the third 
 degree. But observe, that as a consequence of the same law 
 the angel of the second heaven has for a residence the interior 
 of an angel of the first heaven, which serves him for a conti 
 nent, basis, and support ; and that the angel of the first heaven 
 in like manner resides in a spirit of the intermediate world. 
 Yet, although these different receptacles are less and less at 
 tached as to the substances which compose them, they would 
 nevertheless, have no consistence and would all be dissipated, 
 if they did not repose at last upon a stable basis ; and this solid 
 basis is the man whom the spirit of the intermediate world him 
 self has for a continent, basis and support. Thus, according 
 to this law of order, it can be explained how spiritual beings 
 in certain circumstances, may descend from the superior regions 
 of the spiritual world into inferior regions, and appear even be 
 fore men whose spiritual eyes are opened ; we can also under- 
 
134 LETTERS TO A 
 
 stand why our soul or man-spirit, in quitting its terrestrial en 
 velope, is not dissipated like a vapor since it finds in the in 
 habitants of our world a receptacle which serves for a continent, 
 basis arid support. 
 
 II an angel of the supreme heaven cannot subsist without 
 being in the inmost of an angel of the second heaven, an angel of 
 the second heaven, on the other hand, could not live if he had 
 not in his inmost one or more angels of the third heaven ; for 
 life is composed of affections and thought s ; and according to 
 what precedes, affections and thoughts cannot flow into this 
 angel, but by the medium of the angels of the supreme 
 heaven. 
 
 I have said that there is in the inmost of this angel, one or 
 more angels of the third heaven ; this requires some expla 
 nation. 
 
 The angel of the second heaven, receiving his affections and 
 thoughts from the supreme heaven, if his inmost were always 
 occupied by a single angel or by the same angels, he himself 
 would be an automaton obliged to follow all the impulses 
 which are given to him. But each angel, enjoying liberty and 
 rationality, which are faculties proper to him, i$ able to appro 
 priate to himself or reject the affections and thoughts which 
 he receives from the angels who are in his inmost. Those 
 then from whom proceed the affections and thoughts which he 
 rejects, finding themselves no longer in correspondence with 
 him, are induced for that very reason to quit him, and others 
 succeed who are more in harmony with him. It is thus that 
 the angel of the second heaven has really a life proper to 
 himself. 
 
 You see from what precedes, that the angels of the third 
 heaven are in those of the second, as ends are in causes, or 
 rather as causes are in the effects - } for in considering the 
 second heaven as the effect, the supreme heaven is the cause 
 and the spiritual sun is the end, so in considering the supreme 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 135 
 
 heaven as effect, the spiritual sun is the cause and God is the 
 end. Now, in like manner, as the cause is out of the effect, 
 though being in the effect, so also, the inhabitants of the third 
 heaven are out of the inhabitants of the second heaven, though 
 in their inmost. 
 
 The inmost of the angels of the second heaven being closed, 
 it thence results that in their normal state these angels neither 
 see those of the supreme heaven, nor this heaven itself. I say 
 in their normal state, for theni exist laws of permission, provi 
 ded from all eternity, and appertaining also to order, and accord 
 ing to those laws there can be, in certain cases, a communica 
 tion opened not only between these heavens, but also between 
 all parts of the spiritual world, and even between that world 
 and ours. It is thus that man in his normal state cannot see 
 the spiritual world, and yet that in certain cases his spiritual 
 sight can be opened, and then he sees objects and inhabitants 
 of this spiritual world. When, then, God permits the inmost 
 of the angels of the second heaven to be opened, they are ac 
 tually in communication with the angels of the supreme hea 
 ven ] but without this permission, no other communication exists 
 between them than by particular influx, and according to cor 
 respondences. 
 
 What I have just said concerning the second heaven in rela 
 tion to the third, is applicable to the first in relation to the sec 
 ond. 1 will only add that the affections and thoughts which 
 the angels of the superior heavens transmit, although they are 
 inmost and internal, or relate to ends and causes, are trans 
 formed into affections and thoughts of the first degree, or having 
 relation to spiritual effects, when they are received by the an 
 gels of the first heaven. 
 
 Particular influx is transmitted afterwards according to the 
 same laws to the world of spirits. Those who sojourn in this 
 world are destined to inhabit either one of the heavens or one 
 of the hells, according as they have rendered themselves fit dur- 
 
136 LETTERS TO A 
 
 ing their life upon earth to receive or reject the love and wisdom 
 of God in their different degrees. But as they are still full of 
 terrestrial affections and thoughts though they are disengaged 
 from their material body their inmost, their internal and 
 their interior cannot be completely opened, whether for the 
 life of heaven, or the life of hell, until after they have reject 
 ed these affections and thoughts. They live in this interme 
 diate world, both by the influx which they receive from the hea 
 vens, and by the contrary influx, which comes to them from the 
 hells, influx of which I am now about to speak. 
 
 You have already seen that man, by his fall, had destroyed 
 in himself the order of creation, and that by the change of the 
 love of God into self-love, or into hatred against others, and 
 by that of the wisdom of God into self-derived intelligence or 
 folly, he had formed in himself an inverted order, which had 
 its receptacles for the three degrees of hatred and folly, or evil 
 and the false. You have also seen that thence had resulted 
 three hells opposite to the three heavens, the deepest hell 
 consisting in inmost hatreds and follies, or what relates to 
 ends, the second hell in internal hatreds and follies, or what 
 relates to causes, and the first hell in interior hatreds and fol 
 lies, or what relates to spiritual effects. From the deepest 
 hell then there proceeds also by reaction an influx ; but this 
 influx operating upon the two other hells arid upon the world 
 of spirits, in a sense inverse of the influx of the supreme 
 heaven upon the two other heavens, and upon this world of 
 spirits, I believe it to be useless to enter again into all the de 
 tails which I have given you. You will, besides, readily ac- 
 kno\vledge that with the spirits of the intermediate world, 
 their inmost inverted includes demons of the deepest hell, 
 their inverted internal demons of the second hell, and their in 
 verted interior demons of the first hell. You will acknowledge 
 also with the same facility that th>> inhabitant of the deepest hell 
 has for continent, basis, and support the inverted inmost of 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 137 
 
 the inhabitant of the second hell ; that of the second hell the 
 inverted internal of the inhabitant of the first hell ; and that 
 of the first hell the inverted interior of the inhabitant of the 
 world of spirits ; if, however, this presents some difficulty to 
 you by reason of the inverted position which the hells present, 
 it will suffice for you to compare this position to that of the 
 antipodes, and analogy will at once remove the difficulty. 
 
 By the effect of these two kinds of opposite influx, the in 
 habitants of the heavens and those of the hells have for conti 
 nent, basis, and support those of the intermediate world ; but 
 this basis being, like the preceding, of a spiritual nature, 
 would still present no consistence, and all would be dissipated 
 and vanish away, angels, devils, and spirits, if it did not rest 
 upon a solid basis. This last basis which completes the edi 
 fice is man by means of his material body. In man are good 
 and bad spirits who transmit to him good and bad affections, 
 pure and impure thoughts; and as spirits include in them 
 selves angels a: id devils, these angels and these devils are also 
 with man in the different receptacles which his man-spirit 
 contains. Without the affections and thoughts which are 
 transmitted to him from the spiritual world, and which are 
 changed when he receives them into natural affections and 
 thoughts, man could not live, for the life of man con?ists in 
 affec ions and thoughts: but in order that man may be man, 
 and not an automaton, he has r ceived free will and rationality 
 as his own, and it is by these two faculties that he appropriates 
 or rejects the affections and thoughts which come to him from 
 the spiritual world by the two influxes. On the other hand, 
 without man spiritual beings could not subsist, since it is ne 
 cessary that they should have for a support a solid and stable 
 basis to contain them. 
 
 These general considerations concerning particular influx 
 will raise numerous questions which I will treat of successive 
 ly in other letters ; however, I will not conclude this, though 
 
138 LETTERS TO A 
 
 it is already too long, without drawing from this discussion a 
 consequence which may not have escaped you, but which 
 nevertheless demands from its importance some explication. 
 
 Since the spiritual world would not exist nor subsist without 
 the natural world, it results thence that if this were destroyed, 
 its destruction would necessarily draw with it that of the other, 
 so that of all that has been created there would remain abso 
 lutely nothing. 
 
 Those who have hitherto admitted and preached the erron 
 eous doctrine of the end of the world, have been believed, even 
 by persons who made use of their understandings, because they 
 were in complete ignorance of this strict connection which exists 
 between the two worlds, by which the one cannot subsist with 
 out the other. The end of the world in their idea presented 
 only the destruction of the material part of the universe, the 
 spiritual part, by that catastrophe, not ceasing to subsist. 
 But when the inmost connection, which makes the two worlds 
 one coherent whole, is known, it is impossible to admit the 
 complete destruction of the material universe, since God could 
 not destroy it without at the same time destroying the spirit 
 ual universe. That God should destroy one part of that 
 which he has made for the preservation and amelioration of 
 the other part, this, I repeat it, may be conceived ; but that 
 he should destroy all that he has made, without any vestige 
 remaining, this cannot be admitted, without charging God 
 with improvidence and folly. 
 
 Besides, in order to destroy the material universe, would it 
 not be necessary that God should employ means the reverse of 
 those he has made use of in creating it ? How, in fact, would 
 these masses which gravitate in space be made to disappear? 
 Would he launch them into chaos ? But we have seen that 
 chaos, such at least as it is commonly conceived, is but a 
 word without meaning, and never could have existed. It 
 would be necesary then that the material universe should dis- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 139 
 
 appear, or in other words, it would be necessary that it should 
 be, after its dissolution, what it was before its construction; if 
 not, matter would always exist, though under another form. 
 Then this would not be what is commonly understood by the 
 end of the world ; it would be a change of form, a general 
 ruin in which the human race would disappear, but it would 
 not be the annihilation of matter. Now where was the uni 
 verse before its creation ? As we have seen by our preceding 
 remarks, it was in the bosom of God. And what was matter 
 before it possessed the forms it now presents ? We have also 
 acknowledged, and modern science proves it, that it was com 
 posed only of serif >rm fluids. It would be necessary then that 
 the emanation which, in proceeding from God, has taken forms 
 so varied, in order to constitute by a succession of long periods 
 this vast and beautiful universe, it would be necessary, I say, 
 that this emanation should return to its first state, by follow 
 ing an inverse course, and thus return into the bosom of God 
 without external manifestation. Then God would have labored 
 in vain, and all his work would be to do over again. Can such 
 a supposition for a moment be admitted ] 
 
 There remains one objection j many persons will no doubt 
 say : How can the spiritual world contain the millions of souls 
 which each of the millions of terrestrial globes transmits to it 
 every day, if this daily transmission is to continue eternally, 
 especially when it is admitted lhat souls are spiritual sub 
 stances and forms I How provide for so many spiritual bodies ? 
 This objection, it is true, has nothing serious in it, and you 
 doubtless would not make it ; but I have referred to it because 
 it has often been presented to me by men who have given 
 proofs of intelligence, and were endowed with good judgment. 
 
 If we would reflect a moment upon the nature of what is 
 spiritual, which cannot in any manner be subject to the laws 
 of space, we would be very far from making snch an objec 
 tion j but accustomed as we are to live in space and time, and[ 
 
140 LETTERS TO A 
 
 to refer everything to space and time, our first ideas always will 
 partake of the impressions which we receive from them ; it is 
 not astonishing that a similar objection should present itself to 
 our minds as soon as we speak of such an immensity of spirit 
 ual beings. But when we abstract from our minds the idea of 
 space and time, it is easy to understand that the spiritual world) 
 though contained in the natural world, could contain not only all 
 the souls which the terrestrial globes will send to it to eternity, 
 but a much greater number, if it were possible, without its in 
 habitants being crowded. To see that, it is sufficient to recollect 
 that the spiritual world is contained in the natural world, as the 
 cause is contained in the effect, and that the spiritual not being 
 subjected to the trammels of space, each one of the parts of 
 the other world is always susceptible of taking all the devel 
 opment which is necessary to it, without this development 
 being for that reason prejudicial to the other parts, under the 
 relation of the appea ances of space which is enjoyed in the 
 spritual world. To the considerations which I have just pre 
 sented to you in favor of the indestructibility ol the material 
 universe, I could add many others j but this, I believe, would 
 be useless; for the more we advance in the examinations of 
 spiritual things, the more you will acknowledge the iniimate 
 connection which renders the two worlds indispensable to 
 each other. Besides, how much sweet consolation does the 
 thought, that the material universe will subsist forever, pres 
 ent ! What a beneficent impulse would it not produce if it 
 were generally admitted ! And yet it is engraved ujion the 
 heart of man. Consult it, and an interior voice will respond 
 that God has not created this universe to destroy it. What ! 
 could God be amused in creating a world to destroy it as a 
 child does with a house of cards ! No, God is not reckless- 
 he is not capricious. He is love itself, and wisdom itself. 
 The universe was derived from his love, and it was by his wis 
 dom that he created it in accordance with the laws of that 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 141 
 
 wisdom, that is to say. the laws of divine order. But according 
 to these laws, man, for whom it was created, was endowed with 
 free will, without which he would have been nothing more than 
 an automaton ; he has made a bad use of this precious faculty, 
 and has become altogether degenerate. The degradation of hu 
 manity has produced disorder in the spiritual world, as we have 
 seen ; and the natural world, which is subject to the spiritual 
 world, according to the laws of correspondence, has undergone 
 an analogous alteration. This is the real cause of the state which 
 the world we inhabit now presents. But God. in his infinite 
 wisdom, had foreseen this fall of man, and had, in his boundless 
 love, provided means to save by reinstating him. It is by this 
 renovation of man in particular, that the renovation of men in 
 general will take place, and that our world will gradually arrive 
 at the state of splendor to which it was destined. It is now 
 arising from a long and sad descending series of ages, to enter 
 upon a beautiful and glorious period which shall never end ! 
 
 Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 You are anxious, my dear sir, to know in its details, this 
 spiritual world, the generalities of which we have just been 
 investigating. This anxiety gives me pleasure, and I would 
 wish to satisfy it at once, for I am desirous to explain what is 
 the existence of man, when, on leaving this earth, he enters 
 the world of spirits ; but the very nature of our discussion re 
 quires us to proceed by degrees. Truths can only be well 
 comprehended so far as those upon which they are supported 
 have been at first developed and then admitted. There re 
 main, it is true, but very few truths to present to you that you 
 
142 LETTERS TO A 
 
 may be placed in a state to comprehend the existence of man 
 after death but still it is indispensable that you should know 
 them and admit them. 
 
 That which I am now going to establish may at first excite 
 your astonishment, but the least reflection will induce you 
 soon to acknowledge, that it is the consequence of those which 
 you have already adopted. It is this: 
 
 Every general division of the spiritual world has the human 
 form, and the spiritual world in the whole presents also this 
 form. 
 
 You have acknowledged that God is Very Man (or PJ7o?nme- 
 Type). and you have seen by our preceding remarks that all 
 that which exists here below tends to reproduce, by insensible 
 shadowings, the forms of the primitive type. If it is thus in 
 our world, with much stronger reason should it be the same 
 in the spiritual world, where life resides free from the obstruc- 
 tio:ts ol matter. Besides, since the spiritual world is the emana 
 tion of God, and as no object can really exist without having a 
 form, what other form could this world have but the form of 
 the principle from which it proceeds. 
 
 Let us at first examine it in its general divisions. 
 
 When I explained the creation, in a preceding letter, I made 
 use of the word " sphere," because it is that which is usually 
 employed in treating of emanations ; but I did not intend to be 
 understood by this that the emanations proceeding from God- 
 Man formed spheres according to the strict construction of the 
 word, such as those which would result from a body composed 
 of homogeneous parts, and having itself a form perfectly spheri. 
 cal. The form which emanations must take, when no foreign 
 cause opposes, is evidently that of the principle itself. The 
 three spiritual atmospheres that have constituted the three 
 heavens, being emanations from God-Man, have been devel 
 oped then according to the form of their principle. Thus the 
 supreme heaven, constituted of the spiritual atmosphere of the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 143 
 
 third degree, has the form of a man j and it is under this form 
 that it is presented in the complex to the eyes of the divinity. 
 The second heaven, constituted of the spiritual atmosphere 
 of the second degree, has also the human form; and as it en 
 velopes, in every sense, the supreme heaven, it is under this 
 form that it is presented in the whole, to the eyes of God and 
 to the angels of the supreme heaven. It is the same with the 
 first heaven, constituted of the spiritual atmosphere of the first 
 degree it having the form of man j and as it envelopes, in 
 every sense, the second heaven, it is under this form that it 
 presents itself, in the whole, to the eyes of God and angels of 
 the superior heavens. The three heavens, having thus the 
 human form ; being from their very nature one within another ; 
 and having God for the common centre, the whole of them to 
 gether present, in the sight of God, the form of one single man. 
 The first heaven is the exterior of this spiritual organism, the 
 second heaven is its internal, arid the supreme heaven is its 
 inmost. 
 
 But you have seen that through the work of man, there was 
 formed, in opposition to the spiritual organism, an inverted or 
 ganism, which is called hell. Seen in the whole together, 
 each one of the three hells presents also the form of man j but 
 this form, instead of being that of man created in the image 
 and likeness of God, is that of a man-monster. These three 
 hells, united in like manner, present themselves under the 
 form of one single human monster : the first hell is the exter 
 ior of this organism, the second hell is its internal, and the 
 deepest hell is its inmost. 
 
 The world of spirits being a mixed spiritual organism pre 
 sents, in the whole of it together, a form which is intermedi 
 ate betweeen the true human form and the form of a human 
 monster. 
 
 I will not insist further upon these truths j it will be very 
 easy for you to perceive the strict results of the principles 
 
144 LETTERS TO A. 
 
 which I have previously unfolded. Still I ought, before we 
 proceed further, to anticipate an objection which presents 
 itself, and which would not escape your notice. 
 
 " The spiritual world," you might say, " being in the nat 
 ural world, as the cause is in the effect, and having given to 
 this world the form which it presents to us, since matter has 
 not of itself any form, it results from this that if the spiritual 
 universe has the human form, the material universe also should 
 have this form. Now I do not think that such a position can 
 be sustained. Do we not know that the earth which we in 
 habit is a spheroid ? The principal laws which govern our 
 planetary system are now known. We know that the planets 
 gravitate around the sun, travelling in orbits whose tracts are 
 determined; that every satellite gravitates around its planet ; 
 and analogy is there which indicates that it must be the same 
 in the other solar systems. How, in the presence of these ac 
 quired knowledges, can it be demonstrated that the material 
 universe has the human form ? It seems to me that there is 
 here an absolute impossibility. It is in vain for me to seek this 
 form in the whole of our universe; I should see nothing which 
 could make an approach to it." This I believe is the objec 
 tion in all its force. 
 
 Swedenborg, whose suhlime theories I am simply developing 
 in my letters, does not, it is true explain himself upon the form 
 of the material universe : yet his theories, conducting us to the 
 consequence which forms the subject of the objection, I proceed 
 to examine if it is really impossible, since it seems at the first 
 approach, that the material universe should have the form and 
 the constitution of the human body. 
 
 To any one possessing a knowledge of astronomy it is evi 
 dent, that notwithstanding its 25,000 miles of circumference, 
 our globe is yet but a single point in space. The orbit even of 
 the earth, which is more than 630 millions of miles, is still but 
 a point relatively to the immensity of the universe ; indeed, if 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 
 
 145 
 
 the stars seem to us altogether immovable during the course of 
 the year, though they should from the motion of the earth 
 answer to different positions in the vault of heaven, it is evi 
 dently because our globe, notwithstanding the 630 millions of 
 miles it passes over in space, is in respect to them as if it had 
 no motion. But further, the whole of our solar system, of 
 which the orbit alone of Uranus has 12.000,000,000 miles, oc 
 cupies but an almost imperceptible part of the universe, when 
 we compare this universe to the body of man. This is not a 
 paradox ; it is a truth which the telescope has so well reveal 
 ed that no one can doubt it. A simple survey of the universe, 
 such as modern astronomy presents ir, goes to convince us of 
 this at once. 
 
 Antiquity, that part at least of which there remains any his 
 torical monument counted but twenty two thousand fixed stars . 
 But as soon as the telescope was discovered an innumerable 
 multitude of stars, till then invisible, were presented to the as 
 tonished view of observers. The Abbe De la Caille, in one 
 third of the arch of heaven, counted ten thousand of which he 
 gave a catalogue, which would be supposing thirty thousand 
 for the entire vault. The theory of nebulae afterwards came 
 to increase the number considerably ; then the telescope being 
 more and more improved, in a single band of the milky way, 
 of an extent of fifteen degrees in length by two in breadth, 
 Herschell counted fifty thousand; finally this celebrated as 
 tronomer presumes the number of stars mignt amount to 
 seventy-five millions. 
 
 Behold then already seventy-five millions of solar systems, 
 of which ours is perhaps but one of the least extent j but ad 
 mitting for it a proportional mean, still it would constitute 
 but the seventy-five millionth part of the universe j now, I ask 
 you if the seventy-five millionth part of the body of man 
 would not be even by this estimate almost imperceptible ? 
 
 But who would dare to say that there are but seventy-five 
 
146 LETTERS TO A 
 
 millions of suns spread throughout space, when the interval 
 which separates the stars from us is of such immensity that it 
 even frightens the imagination ? Huygen found the distance 
 between us and the nearest of the stars was 2,885,045,634,600 
 of miles. Other astronomers have carried their investigations 
 to particular stars; that which Lalande "observed was at 
 20,315,310.000,000 miles; that of Baily 21,482,718,240,000 
 that of Euler at near 42,000,000,000 of miles. This learned 
 man, in a letter to a princess of Germany, has calculated that 
 a ray of light from this star would take six years notwithstand 
 ing its incredible velocity, to reach our earth. If it were pos 
 sible that a cannon ball projected from that celestial body 
 could be transmitted to us, five millions four hundred thou 
 sand years would elapse before it could reach us. Another 
 star which was observed by Lambert was more than 5 1.000,000 
 000,000 of miles; finally Doctor Derham, canon of Windsor, who 
 observed the nebulae, in 1732, acknowldged that they were as 
 far from the fixed stars as these stars are from our globe. 
 
 If from the 30.000 stars of the Abbe de la Caille, we have 
 reached by the improvement of the telescop -, to the 75.000.000 
 of Herschell, at what number does not so immense extent allow 
 us to suppose we may arrive by means of new improvements ? 
 And if an instrument should be discovered, which would be to 
 the telescope what the telescope is to the naked eye, instead of 
 millions we would have to count by the thousand of millions, 
 the suns which enlighten the universe. We may then with 
 out fearing to be taxed with exaggeration, assert that in com 
 paring the material universe to the body of man, our solar sys 
 tem would form but an almost imperceptible part. 
 
 What do we conclude from this ? It is that if we continue 
 to compare the universe to the body of man we are forced to 
 acknowledge that all the motions of the globes which gravitate 
 around our sun, motions which appear to us so magnificent, 
 cannot even be discerned any longer. Then all these masses 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 147 
 
 not only must no longer appear to change position, but they 
 must again be confounded with their common centre, and seem 
 to make with it but one body scarcely visible. 
 
 In presence of all these facts revealed by the telescope, what 
 becomes of the argument drawn from the gravitation of the 
 planets and their satellites 1 But is it not astonishing that men 
 should exclaim against the first idea of the universe under a 
 human form : has it not a long time appeared incredible that 
 the earth is round ? What would a philosopher of the middle 
 ages have thought, if this truth, which is now incontestable, 
 had been advanced to him "? What again would a Swiss cot 
 tager think, should any one tell him that the earth is like an 
 orange, and that its surface presents no more inequalities than 
 that fruit, when that peasant would have but to raise his eyes 
 to see himself surrounded by mountains in the form of spires, 
 and contemplate the gigantic Mount Blanc ? Let us beware 
 of judging from appearances ; the experience of the past is suf 
 ficient to prove that they are deceitful ; let us, on this point, be 
 more circumspect than our predecessors were. 
 
 I have just compared the material universe to the body of 
 man, and I have proved mathematically that in the hypothesis 
 of the universe under a human form, our whole solar sys 
 tem, however vast it may be, and however magnificent the 
 motions of its planets may appear, would nevertheless cor 
 respond only to an almost imperceptible part of the body of 
 man. 
 
 I now proceed to show that in the almost imperceptible parts 
 of th^ body of man, there are motions analogous to those, 
 which are performed in the corresponding solar systems. This 
 second proposition appears at least as extraordinary as the first: 
 but from what we have just seen, what learned man would 
 venture to deny it ? If the telescope has made such fine dis 
 coveries in the fields of space indefinitely great, the microscope 
 yields nothing to it on this point, and every day new wondors 
 
143 LETTERS TO A 
 
 are discovered by it in the no less surprising field of space in 
 definitely small. 
 
 It is generally acknowledged that porosity is a quality inher 
 ent in matter; thus all bodies without exception are porous. 
 Now, if there are interstices between the different molecules 
 of a body, how many must there not exist before we come to 
 the parts which are invisible wiih the best microscopes? And 
 when we reflect on the extreme minuteness of these parts, 
 what intervals relatively immense must there not be between 
 them ! From this we may conceive that all that which we 
 have said on the subject of the indefinitely great is equally ap 
 plicable to the indefinitely least of things; for the distances 
 which separate the objects of the one are proportional to the 
 distances which separate the objects of the other. 
 
 If you were not already acquainted with the wonderful 
 things which are discovered by the microscope, in the domain 
 of the indefinitely least of things, I would have drawn a sketch 
 of it to support my position : recall, then, to your memory the 
 principal microscopic experiences, and my proposition will 
 cease to appear extraordinary to you. 
 
 A physician, who is doubtless far from knowing the wri 
 tings of Sweden borg, has published, upon the orbitary motion 
 of atoms, a theory which must confirm in some measure that 
 which I present to you. M. Gaudin, in fact, supposes that the 
 atoms of bodies, maintained at distances very great in propor 
 tion to their dimensions, perform around one another motions 
 analogous to those of a planetary system. 
 
 Imperfect as the microscope may yet be, if we should suc 
 ceed in verifying the theory of M. Gaudin, we should doubtless 
 find analogy between the motions of what he calls the atoms 
 of bodies and those of a planetary system ; but if afterwards 
 the investigations were applied to the particles of the human 
 body we should find there something more than analogy ; we 
 should find that there is similitude. I will state upon what 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 149 
 
 ground this conclusion is based : all the objects of nature tend, 
 as I have already said, more or less to re-produce the human 
 form, which is that of the Creator- it would be then confor 
 mable to our principles that there should be found some anal 
 ogy between the motions of the particles of bodies and that 
 of the planetary system j but as it is man alone who has the 
 form of God, if the material universe, as I suppose, has been 
 created according to this form, it is only in particles of the 
 human body that we could recognize a perfect similitude be- 
 tween their arbitrary motions and those of the solar systems. 
 
 I have spoken of the theory of M. Gaudin to show that sci 
 ence itself is beginning to enter upon a way which may lead 
 to great discoveries. Science has been for a long time embar 
 rassed with a crowd of systems which clash with and destroy 
 each other ; it knows that there can be but one which is true, 
 and that true system will be that which will be distinguished 
 from others by its extreme simplicity, great economy, and its 
 universality. The less wheel-work a machine has the better 
 does it perform its functions. 
 
 The objection which I have anticipated has already con 
 ducted us very far } but since the qutstion of the material uni 
 verse under a human form has been raised, we will continue 
 the discussion. As everything must tend to unity, and as 
 every fixed star is a sun around which a system of planets 
 gravitates, certain astronomers have been led to believe that 
 thtre exists a central sun, round which all the other suns also 
 gravitate. What are we to think of this sun ? does it really 
 exist ? 
 
 On the first view, the existence of such a central sun appears 
 probable enough ; it seems even to accord perfectly with the 
 spiritual theory which I have developed to you ; indeed, since 
 there is one spiritual sun, the centre of the whole immaterial 
 universe, should there not be also a natural sun for the centre 
 of the whole material universe ? However strong these prob- 
 
150 LETTERS TO A 
 
 abilities may be, you will soon acknowledge that they disap 
 pear before a profound examination. 
 
 The astronomers who are led to believe that there exists a 
 central sun, base their reasoning upon the analogy of the planets 
 to satellites. Since, they say, planets revolve round the sun, 
 drawing with them their satellites, why should not each sun 
 revolve round a central sun drawing with it, in like manner 
 all the globes which constitute its system? 
 
 In the first place there is not here complete analogy. In 
 fact, the planets and the satellites are of the same nature, since 
 they are both earths, and they differ from their sun in this, 
 that the sun is a globe of fire ; they are then similar bodies 
 which revolve round a dissimilar body, to receive from it heat 
 and light. It is not the same when we suppose solar systems 
 revolving round a central sun; the suns are not of the same 
 nature with the globes which they would draw with them, and 
 besides, they would not differ from the central star around 
 which they would revolve ;. for we could not conceive of this 
 central star being any thing else than a vast globe of fire to 
 feed the other suns, which also are globes of fire. But if we 
 supposed this sun of a superior nature to that of the other suns, 
 we should run a very great risk of making it the principle of 
 all nature, and of falling into materialism. 
 
 Next we see clearly that the sun of every system is indis 
 pensable to the globes which revolve around it. since it trans 
 mits to them the heat and light which are necessary to them ; 
 but we do not see so well of what use it would be to the mil 
 lions of suns to depend upon a central sun. 
 
 The learned, unable to conceive how the universe could be 
 sustained, desire to extricate themselves from their embar 
 rassment, by uniting through the laws of gravitation all these 
 suns to a common centre : but with this additional wheel-work, 
 will they succeed in diminishing the difficulty ? Will they 
 conceive any better how this central globe is itself sustained ? 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 151 
 
 Besides, what would become of the material universe on such 
 an hypothesis ? Would it not be a whole composed of parts 
 nearly similar ? for this universe in the whole would present 
 but the repetition of that which it possesses in its parts ; now 
 we know that the perfection of an unity, consists in the diver 
 sity, and above all in the beautiful harmony, of all its parts. 
 You will soon acknowledge that this new wheel work would 
 have been more destructive than useful to the harmonic unity 
 of our universe. 
 
 As to the probability of the existence of this central sun, 
 by reason of the existence of one only spiritual sun, it will not 
 bear an examination. What is spiritual, not being from its 
 very nature subject to space and time, the spiiitual sun is sus 
 ceptible of being seen by all the inhabitants of the other world. 
 If it is not visible, if it is more or less veiled, or entirely ob 
 scured to a great number, this proceeds o:ily from the dispo 
 sition of their interiors. It would be necessary, then, accord 
 ing to the laws of analogy, that the central material body, if 
 there existed one, should be universally seen, and clearly dis 
 tinguished among the other suns ; and the single fact that we are 
 unable to distinguish such a body throughout the whole vault of 
 heaven, would be at once a strong presumption against its exis 
 tence. Besides, from the prodigious number of suns intersper 
 sed through space, the first notions of astronomy teach us that 
 for a central body to be invisible to all the globes of the universe, 
 and to be clearly distinguished among the other suns, it must 
 necessarily be so large as to have no proportion between its 
 mass and the laws of gravitation. But further, as the proba 
 bility in question is supported from the analogy which should 
 exist between the two universes, it will necessarily be destroyed 
 if it is found to be in opposition to the strict analogical conse 
 quences, which we have already established. Now I have 
 shown in the beginning of this letter, that the spiritual uni 
 verse had the form of man, whence resulted, according to the 
 
LETTERS TO A 
 
 relations which exist between the two worlds, that the material 
 universe should also have this form. Nevertheless, this propo 
 sition appeared so strange, that I have been compelled to sup 
 port it by facts; and those which I have drawn from astronomy 
 have shown you that nothing is opposed to the idea that the 
 material universe has the human form. If then our universe 
 has the human form, it is evident that it could riot have a 
 central sun, unless there was in the human body a central 
 organ around which all the others should gravitate. Now it is 
 in vain to seek to discover such an organ in the body of man ; 
 it is very certain that it has no existence there. 
 
 The probabilities in favor of a central sun for the universe 
 being thus destroyed, I must now show you that this great 
 number of natural suns for one only spiritual sun, does not 
 really constitute a defect of analogy between the two uni 
 verses. 
 
 Observe that the spiritual world, having the human form, is 
 composed of regions innumerable, and in themselves distinct, 
 as are all the parts of the human body ; that these regions 
 are all inhabited by societies which present among themselves 
 very sensible differences ; that those, for example, which oc 
 cupy some parts of the feet or the hands of the Grand Man, 
 differ much from those which are in the parts of the head, or 
 of one of the viscera of the breast ; that these differences result 
 from the disposition of the interiors of those who compose 
 these societies ; that the spiritual sun does not shine with the 
 same force to the eyes of all these societies, since the exis 
 tence of every one of them depends upon a special degree of 
 spiritual heat and light, the same as in our world the existence 
 of the inhabitants of each planet depends upon a special de 
 gree of natural heat and light ; and that thus the spiritual 
 sun is always more or less veiled, and must appear to one 
 society different from that which it appears to another. Now 
 as every solar system of our universe corresponds to one of the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 153 
 
 parts of the spiritual universe, every natural sun corresponds 
 to one of these apparent differences of the spiritual sun; there 
 is actually then no defect of analogy. Thus our sun is the 
 correspondent of the sun of life for the very small part of the 
 material universe which gravitates around it. If there exis 
 ted a central sun. we could uot comprehend how ours could be 
 the immediate correspondent of the spiritual sun. 
 
 There is again, under the relation of analogy, an objection 
 which you might make ; it is that the human form belongs, 
 as I have established at the beginning of this letter, not only 
 to the whole of the spiritual Vorld, but further, to each one 
 of these general divisions, whilst in the natural world there 
 is seen nothing, in this respect, of analogy. I have but one 
 simple observation to make upon this subject: The general di 
 vision of th" spiritual world is quite peculiar to that world ; for 
 ours, in consequence oi the properties of matter, cannot present 
 a resemblance. It is sufficient to convince you of this, to re 
 member what has been said, that the two universes, the spirit 
 ual and the natural, were constituted by atmospheres, and that 
 the three spiritual atmospheres formed immaterial earths dis 
 tinct among themselves, according to the three separate de 
 grees, whilst the natural atmospheres contributed all three to 
 form the one the inmost, the other the interior, aud the last 
 the ultimate of the material earths. [Letter 9.] 
 
 I would make, besides, one important remark ; it is, that be 
 tween our system and that which admits a central sun and 
 thus gives to the universe a spherical form, there is, under the 
 relation of the harm>>ny of parts, thefsame difference as between 
 the beautiful structure of the human body, and that of a round 
 body. 
 
 I have sought, in the examination of this question, to antici 
 pate the objections which you might make ; if others should 
 present themselves to your mind, be pleased to communicate 
 them. 
 
154 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Now, let us take a view of the advantages which the system 
 of the universe under a human form can present to the philo 
 sophical Christian. 
 
 Since the laws of attraction and gravitation have been 
 known, men have vainry sought to discover the cause of these 
 laws. Deists, upon this point, have not been more happy 
 than materialists, for in considering, with the materialist, the 
 material universe under a spherical form, it became impossi 
 ble suitably to explain the relations which exist between God. 
 the universe, and man. What exact relations could they find 
 between their God, who has neither substance nor form, their 
 universe under the form of a ball, and man whose structure is 
 so different ? But when it is recognized, as it is by us, that 
 God is Man Himself, or VERY MAN, and the universe is admit 
 ted to be in the human form, all is united, everything is con 
 nected in a manner as simple as it is admirable, and the 
 structure of the material universe, being like that of the body 
 of man, the knowledge of our body may conduct us to that of 
 the universe. 
 
 Why indeed does your body, composed of material ele 
 ments, move, though from its very nature matter is inert ? 
 You have already acknowledged, that it is because there is in 
 you a spiritual man which gives it motion. Well, it is the 
 same with the great material man, or the natural universe 
 it receives its motion from the grand immaterial Man, or the 
 spiritual universe. As to your spiritual man and the grand 
 immaterial Man, though you have concerning them as yet but 
 indistinct ideas, you however know that they derive the form 
 they have from God -man, and from this alone you may see 
 with what harmonious simplicity, and with what admirable 
 economy of means, the Divine Architect has constructed and 
 sustains all that which exists ; but farther on, you will find in the 
 explications which I will give you concerning the man-spirit 
 and the spiritual world, new motives of admiration and new 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 155 
 
 means of confirmation. However, I ought even now to ob 
 serve, that if I call the universe the Grand Man, it is not that 
 it is properly speaking a man, that is to say, a being endowed 
 with will and understanding, it is only an immense organism, 
 all the parts of which, disposed according to the body of man 
 have been destined to be the representative theatres of the glory 
 of God, serving for the habitation of men, who alone are com 
 pletely created in the image and according to the likeness of 
 the Divinity. I make this observation, because certain philos 
 ophers still pretend that the universe is a being endowed 
 with intelligence. 
 
 I might here conclude this discussion ; however, as I ought 
 to neglect nothing in so grave a subject, I will examine yet 
 one question which may occur to you ; but this will only be to 
 prove to you how useless it is for a man to employ his medita 
 tions about things, which it will never be given to him to com 
 prehend. This question is : il The universe having the form 
 of man, what existence is there out of that form ?" In ad 
 vance, I must make one remark , viz : that this question does 
 not concern only the universe under a human form j but that it 
 may quite as well be addressed to those who represent it to 
 themselves under a spherical form. But whether the universe 
 has the form of a man or that of a sphere, there will always be 
 the same difficulty in conceiving it in all its extension, and this 
 difficulty arises from the fact, that our thoughts are continually 
 influenced by ideas of space, because living in the material world 
 we are unable to make a complete abstraction from space, which 
 is an accident inherent in matter. Men usually reason concern 
 ing the infinite as if they could comprehend it, and yet it is im 
 possible to have the least idea of it; in the spiritual world, where 
 there is only the appearance of sp tee, it is possible to form 
 some idea of it ; but to comprehend the infinite, it is necessa 
 ry to be infinite, that is to say, God. Between the infinite 
 and the finite there cannot be any relations, and the word in- 
 
156 
 
 LETTERS TO A 
 
 finite should never be employed but in speaking of God and 
 his attributes. 
 
 It cannot then be pretended that the universe is infinite, for 
 this would be making it God, but we may say that it is inde 
 finite. In fact between the indefinite and the infinite there is 
 this difference, that the indefinite is extended as far as our 
 imagination can go, while the infinite admits neither the idea 
 of the greatest nor of the least j and besides, though the inde 
 finite cannot be expressed by a number, nevertheless, relative 
 ly to the infinite, it is itself finite, arid so finite that there 
 cannot exist between the two any relation. 
 
 Though the material universe has a form, yet as this uni 
 verse is indefinite, it results thence that space is indefinitely 
 extended; now, to ask, what exists out of the form of the uni 
 verse ? is in other words to ask, what exists out of space ? an 
 idle question, as the terms which we are obliged to make use 
 of to form it sufficiently indicate. Out of, is in fact an ex 
 pression which belongs in an absolute manner to space, and 
 has no meaning when separate from the idea of space. Re 
 flect a moment on the idea which the expression out of excites 
 in you, when you ask yourself : what exists out of the universe ? 
 and you will admit at once that you are then under ihe im 
 pression of an idea of space. All that you could suppose then 
 to be out of the universe would be still in space, and would still 
 be part of the grand material man, or our universe. It is in 
 vain to seek abstraction from space, whether in saying out of the 
 universe, or by employing any other words of this kind ; we 
 always remain fixed to space not only by the employment of 
 expressions, but by the thought which is itself composed 
 only of ideas of space. Should not this very evident impossi 
 bility dissuade men from occupying themselves with questions 
 which are above human intelligence ? 
 
 These considerations upon space apply also to time. When 
 I said to you in my last letter that the material world would 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 157 
 
 subsist always, I did not mean that it would be eternal. Al 
 ways is not eternity. We cannot here below, enveloped as 
 we are by time, have any idea of eternity; in the spiritual 
 world, where there is but the appearance of space and time, 
 spiritual beings can form some idea of it ; but the Eternal 
 Himself can only comprehend eternity. Multiply ages by 
 ages as long as you please, you never will obtain eternity, be 
 cause you will remain in time without ever going out of it, 
 and you will thus have behind you a past, and before you a fu 
 ture. Always, or the indefinite of time, differs from eternity in 
 this that always extends itself as far as the imagination can 
 carry the succession ol time, with the unavoidable idea of the 
 past and the future, whilst eternity admits neither the idea of 
 the past nor the future. Man is destined to live always, be 
 cause he is immortal ; but immortality is not eternity; for if 
 man in the spiritual world is no longer in time, he is in the 
 appearance of time, and consequently in that of the past and 
 future. God alone has the past and future in the present, be 
 cause he alone is Eternal. 
 
 All this is because the indefinite is the image of the infinite, 
 and because the infinite is in God, and indefinites are in the 
 spiritual sun, whence proceed the two universes. 
 
 To resume, t see not, my dear sir, any impossibility in the 
 material universe having the human form. The more I reflect 
 upon this question, the more it seems to me that this form is 
 that which accords best with our theories a> a whole, and pre 
 sents at once the greatest simplicity and the most beautiful 
 harmony. 
 
 The old theology is affrighted at the discoveries of science j 
 it persecuted Galileo, aad, if it could, would again prevent the 
 soaring of the human mind ; but true theology, far from wish 
 ing to restrain the intelligence of man, would rather encourage 
 its development. The more the telescope shall multiply worlds 
 to our eyes, the more the microscope shall expose to our won- 
 
158 LETTERS TO A 
 
 dering gaze the marvellous structure of the human body, the 
 more will men be brought to acknowledge the sublime truths 
 of Christianity. 
 
 But why do those who cultivate the sciences make so little 
 progress in them, notwithstanding their ardor in the pursuit 1 ? 
 Why are they always groping, and incessantly turning in a 
 circle, instead of advancing in a straight line ? It is because 
 they want a fixed basis ; it is because they have no criterium. 
 The learned may in general be divided into two classes ; in the 
 first are those who by means of a system which they have built 
 up themselves, or which they have modified, claim to be lead 
 ers of sects j these so identify themselves with their system, 
 that it would be like committing suicide to abandon it. The 
 second class is that of the more modest learned, who seek 
 truth and attach themselves to some system in the hope of 
 finding it : these would become much more useful to the 
 sciences if they studied Swedenborg, and took his revelations 
 as their criterium; for whatever branch of human knowledge 
 they might explore, a vast field of discoveries would soon open 
 before them. They would not, it is true, acquire one of these 
 ephemeral reputations which, in our age, we have seen dissi 
 pated even during the life time of those who have so laboriously 
 sought after them ; but what is of far more value, they would 
 contribute eflectually to the true progress of humanity, and 
 instead of attributing the least glory to themselves, they would 
 render it all to Him alone to whom it belongs. Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER XTI. 
 
 There is, my dear sir, in your last letter, a passage which 
 has so awakened my attention, that I consider it necessary 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 159 
 
 again to suspend the course of our exposition, in order to ex 
 amine with you the difficulty you speak of. 
 
 You are struck, you say, with the sublimity of the new 
 theories drawn from the writings of Swedenborg j the more 
 you meditate upon them, the more you find them conformable 
 to sound reason, and the chain of connection between them 
 tends still more to increase your admiration: but when you 
 reflect that we continue, with such rational theories, to call 
 ourselves Christians, you are arrested by a serious difficulty ; 
 it is impossible for you to conceive how the ideas we enter 
 tain concerning God can be reconciled with the doctrines of 
 Christianity. 
 
 This difficulty arises from several causes, but chiefly from 
 the following: 
 
 The first is, that Christianity having for its foundation the 
 acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as God, it has not yet been 
 possible for you to see how this acknowledgment can agree 
 with the philosophical idea of one only God, such as has hith 
 erto been developed to you. 
 
 The second is, that still confounding Christianity with the 
 different Christian sects, which all really admit three Gods, 
 though with the lip they say there is but one, you are there 
 fore compelled to believe, that to be a true Christian it is neces 
 sary, when the question is about dogmas, to renounce entirely 
 the use of reason. 
 
 Permit me to tell you that if, during the whole of our dis 
 cussion, I have not yet once spoken to you concerning the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, though I have often repeated to you that I 
 was a Christian, it was not certainly through forgetfulness j 
 but because the state of your mind obliged me for the time to 
 keep silence. I could not speak to you concerning the Lord 
 without entering upon the doctrinal part of the Christian re 
 ligion, and of what use would it have been for me to have 
 drawn your attention at first to dogmas ? you, who are dispo- 
 
160 LETTERS TO A 
 
 sed to believe, it is true, but have since rejected all those doc 
 trines which were taught to you in your childhood 7 Would 
 I for a single instant have been able to gain your attention ? 
 It was best then to begin with the philosophical part of Chris 
 tianity, and this I have done ; when you become fully con 
 vinced of the important truths which we have already discus 
 sed, and those which remain to be explained, then only will you 
 be able to give your attention to the doctrinal part. 
 
 Nevertheless, as it is important to show that our ideas con 
 cerning the Divinity, are not in the least incompatible with 
 true Christianity, I will speak to you briefly concerning the re 
 demption and the Trinity. 
 
 CONCERNING REDEMPTION. Man, created free and rational, 
 abused his liberty and reason; he f .-II : but his fall, foreseen 
 by God, was to be succeeded by a restoration; for God, who is 
 love itself, could not leave him in the miserable state into 
 which his fall had plunged him. Now in what manner was 
 this restoration to be effected ? To replace man in his primi 
 tive state, would not this have been to destroy his free will, 
 and consequently annihilate him? for this misery, as we may 
 be assured of by the state of things at the present day, was 
 pleasing to man, and constituted even all his life. Conforming 
 to the laws of his own eternal order, God preserved the liberty 
 of man, and proceeded to the restoration of the human race. 
 
 You have seen, in my ninth letter, how by his fall man had 
 given birth to a spiritual organism altogether opposite to the 
 primitive one, and how this new organism afterwards acted 
 upon our world with a force continually increasing. In the 
 struggle which thence arose between the two spiritual organ 
 isms, or between heaven and hell, the Divinity by his influx 
 was always acting, it is true, to diminish the progress of evil 
 and the false, preserving still the liberty of man; but hell 
 at length became so preponderant, that spiritual order was 
 about to be broken, which would have brought with it the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 161 
 
 subversion of the universe ; for in consequence of this pre 
 ponderance, the divine influx, transmitted through heaven, 
 was no longer sufficient to maintain order and preserve the 
 creation. It was then that God had recourse to the great act 
 of redemption, which had been foreseen by him, and for 
 which he had provided from the beginning of time. 
 
 This act consisted in reaching hell, confining it to its limits, 
 by combatting it, so to speak, hand to hand j for it was neces 
 sary that man should be restored to spiritual equilibrium in 
 order that he might be ablo, by means of his free will and ra 
 tionality, to re-enter into the way of good and truth then closed 
 to him. But how could the Divinity, being in essences the 
 most pure, reach the enemy of men that is in essences the 
 most corrupt ? Indeed, you have seen that God the Creator, 
 or Jehovah, resides in the bosom of the spiritual sun, and that 
 the heat and light of this sun cannot even approach the angels 
 of the highest heaven without being tempered by the spiritual 
 atmospheres. Now Jehovah, not being able in his spiritual 
 sun to approach the supreme heaven without enkindling and 
 consuming this heaven, it is very evident that from the bosom 
 of that sun he could not reach the hells, which are beyond the 
 heavens and world of spirits. But if Jehovah could not em 
 ploy this means without destroying the laws of his divine 
 order, this order, nevertheless, far from being opposed to the 
 work of redemption, presented all that was necessarj to eflect 
 it. 
 
 You know that God or Jehovah is VERT MAN, and it is 
 owing to this that we his creatures, formed in his likeness and 
 image, are men, that is to say, beings endowed with a will and 
 understanding, susceptible of receiving his love and wisdom, 
 or the good and the true ; you know also, that it is by reason 
 of the form of God, that everything in creation presents either 
 the human form, or a tendency more or less evident towards 
 that form. Now, if you recollect the developments contained 
 
182 LETTERS TO A 
 
 in my tenth letter, concerning the formation of man, and the 
 two opposite influences which he receives from the spiritual 
 world, it will be easy to acknowledge that in order to approach 
 the hells, combat, conquer, and subdue them, and thus accom 
 plish the gr^at work of redemption, it was altogether confor 
 mable to the laws of divine order, for Jehovah to become flesh 
 and dwell among us. 
 
 Observe first, that Jehovah, being life itself, resides wholly, 
 in this quality, in all creation, and in each of its parts, for the 
 Divinity is indivisible ; thus we say that God is everywhere. 
 So Jehovah, who is in the inmost of every man, without this 
 residence preventing him from presiding over the government 
 of the whole universe, could easily clothe himself with the ex 
 ternal of a spiritual body, without abandoning any of the at-- 
 tributes of Divinity. Observe next, that in making himself 
 flesh, and descending thus into the last degrees of the creation, 
 Jehovah, who, in his spiritual sun, could not even approach 
 the heavens without consuming them, was able on the con 
 trary, without producing the least perturbation, to reach the 
 deepest hells; for the struggle of the hells against the 
 heavens renewing itself every day with man, Jehovah, in 
 clothing himself with humanity, placed himself upon the only 
 proper arena for the combat, and where he could, without de 
 ranging his work, struggle with, conquer, and subdue the 
 enemy. 
 
 As my object here is to give you only a general idea of Re 
 demption, I will not at present treat on thi> important subject 
 of the Incarnation ; besides it would require some preliminary 
 ideas which can only be explained in the doctrinal part. I 
 will merely say that in Jesus Christ the internal man was Je 
 hovah himself, while the external man and the material body 
 which veiled and enveloped Jehovah, was from Mary ; that 
 Jesus Christ, whose internal man was Jehovah, not having 
 been, like other men, conceived of a man, had not in him the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 163 
 
 hereditary evil with which we are all born but that his external 
 man and material body, having been produced in the womb of 
 a woman, he had from the mother hereditary evil, evil which 
 with him, by reason of the resistance of the internal man 
 never became actual evil, as he said in these words. lt Which 
 of you convinceth me of sin ?" (John viii. 46. ). If he had not 
 had external hereditary evil he never could have been temp 
 ted, for his internal man being Jehovah, that is to say, Good 
 itself and Truth itself, was not in any manner susceptible of 
 being tempted : thus, without this evil w r hich was in his ex 
 ternal man, he would not have been able either to combat 
 with hell, or consequently, to subdue it. By his temptations, 
 his struggles, and his spiritual victories, he successively put off 
 all that he had from Mary, arid attained to the complete con 
 junction of his external man with his internal man which he 
 calls the Father, thus making his humanity divine so that if 
 Jesus Christ was for a time the son of Mary, by reason of his 
 external, he is no longer so, since he rejected all that he had 
 from her, and thus Jesus Christ is no other than Jehovah God, 
 the Creator of all that exists, now become the Redeemer of the 
 human race by his incarnation. 
 
 All these truths, and many others which concern the incar 
 nation will be proved hereafter, and I will then enter upon all 
 the details which you may desire. I will here make only one 
 observation ; God or Jehovah is in us all, as I have already 
 told you, for if he were not in us, we should not have life ; 
 but he is only in the inmost of our being, and he is not in our 
 internal man which we have from our father, as we have our 
 external man from our mother; but the internal of Jesus 
 Christ was Jehovah himself. Thus, though Jesus Christ had 
 his external man and a material body from Mary, he was alto 
 gether different from any other man. 
 
 CONCERNING THE TRINITY. You already see from what 
 precedes, that God the Father or the Creator, and God the Son 
 
164 LETTERS TO A 
 
 or the Redeemer, are one only and the same God, one only 
 and the same person and not two distinct persons. But the 
 Creator of men, in becoming their Redeemer, became also 
 their Regenerator and Saviour , for God by redemption did not 
 save a single man ; If he had been able to save one, he would 
 have saved all; but he gave to all the possibility of being 
 saved or regenerated a possibilty which no longer at that 
 time existed, by reason of the superabundance and overflowing 
 profligacy of the most fatal errors and the most depraved pas 
 sion. 
 
 Now regeneration or salvation was the consequence of re 
 demption; indeed, before redemption, Jehovah, not having yet 
 descended into the last degree of creation, could not act from 
 the bosom of his spiritual sfln, but by a mediate influx, that is to 
 say, by the intermediation of angels and good spirits; but as soon 
 as he made divine the assumed Humanity, all power was acquir 
 ed to this divine or to the divine body of Jesus Christ, whose soul 
 is Jehovah himself, and it is this Divine Humanity, which from 
 this moment, governs the whole universe, as well by the mediate 
 influx of the heavens, as by his immediate influx. From that 
 time men could receive this immediate influx. He is the 
 Sanclifier or Holy Spirit, and it is by him that men can be re 
 generated or saved, if they consent to follow the impulses 
 which he gives to them. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is then no other than Jehovah-Jesus-Christ 
 acting to regenerate men and preserve the universe. Thus 
 God the Father or Creator, God the Son or Redeemer, and 
 God the Holy Spirit or Regenerator, are one and the same God, 
 one and the same person, and not three distinct persons. 
 Thus the divine Trinity exists in the unity of God, and this 
 only ftod is the Lord Jesus Christ in his glorified humanity ; 
 the soul of this humanity is Jehovah or the Father, his body 
 is the Son, arid the incessant action which his soul exercises 
 by his body to regenerate men and preserve the universe, is 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 165 
 
 the Holy Spirit. I can here do no more than announce these 
 high truths ; they will be developed in the dogmatical part of 
 our discussion, and you will then see that they are in perfect 
 harmony both with the Scriptures and with human reason. I 
 regret to speak thus briefly upon a subject which, from its na 
 ture, demands the greater elucidation; but on the other hand, 
 since I shall return again to the subject, I. experience a satis 
 faction in having presented to you these few ideas, for I have 
 been desirous for a long time to speak to you concerning the 
 Lord. Henceforth, instead of using exclusively the expression 
 God, I will from preference employ that of Lord, for it is this 
 which we generally make use of. Jehovah excites more partic 
 ularly the idea of God considered as Creator ; Jesus Christ the 
 idea of God as Redeemer, whilst the word Lord presents to us the 
 idea of the one God considered in his three grand manifestations 
 of Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator. 
 
 Thus, my dear sir, by this brief sketch you can see that 
 our ideas respecting the Divinity are perfectly reconcilable 
 with Christianity, and what is more, that we are the true 
 Christians. The word Christian, indeed, is derived from 
 Christ, and no one can properly be called a Christian who does 
 not acknowledge Jesus Christ to be God. Now, Jesus Christ 
 being for us God himself, and not the second of three divine 
 persons, have we not the right to claim the name of Chris 
 tians in preference to those who acknowledge him only as the 
 Son of God, and worship him only as a Mediator between God 
 and men, though with the lips they acknowledge him as God 1 ? 
 
 It is true, however, that Jesus Christ is a Mediator between 
 God and man, but not as a Person distinct from the Father ; 
 he is Mediator in this sense, that he is the Divine Body in 
 which resides the Divine Soul or Jehovah. Now, as in ad 
 dressing a man, we cannot approach his soul, but by the medi 
 ation of his body, so we can only approach Jehovah by the 
 mediation of the Divine humanity, or glorified Body of Jesus 
 8 
 
166 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Christ. For this reason he himself said, "no man cometh 
 unto the Father but by me," (John xiv. 6,) and for this also he 
 said, ; -no man hath seen God at any time," (John i. 18.) In 
 deed, always enveloped with a body, whether natural as in 
 this world, or spiritual as in the other life, the soul of man 
 always remains invisible, and only manifests itself by the ac 
 tion of its body ; it is the same with the Divine Soul or Je 
 hovah ; enveloped now with the humanity which Jesus Christ 
 assumed in this world and which he glorified or made divine, 
 it is only manifested by the action of this Divine Humanity. 
 Thus no one has ever seen, or ever will see, Jehovah or the 
 Father ; but the inhabitants of the heavens see the Divine 
 humanity or Jesus Christ, whose soul is Jehovah himself, 
 when ver it pleases the Lord to manifest himself to them ; and 
 further, they continually enjoy the presence of his spiritual 
 sun which vivifies them by its heat and light. But it is not 
 thus that Christians of the old church conceive of the media 
 tion, since they represent to themselves the Mediator as a 
 person distinct from God the Father. 
 
 Why do we see at this day so few Christians ? for to be 
 really a Christian, it is not sufficient to have received baptism, 
 nor even to follow certain religious practices j it is absolutely 
 necessary, not only to acknowledge from the heart, as I have 
 said, the divinity of Jesus Christ, but to live according to the 
 precepts which he has given us j why, I say, do we see at this 
 day so few Christians ? It is because the theologians of the old 
 church persist in maintaining that there are three divine per 
 sons, and because it is difficult to persuade men at this day 
 that three Gods make but one. Besides, how could the clergy 
 of the various Christian sects convince their auditors, and con 
 vince themselves, that Jesus Christ, risen again, according to 
 the Evangelists, with the body which was laid in the sepul 
 chre, is but one with God the Father, whom they consider as 
 a pure Spirit, that is to say, as a Being without substance and 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 167 
 
 form, though they make of him, nevertheless, a real person 
 distinct from the person of Jesus Christ ? And do they know 
 even where to place the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in that 
 world which also, in their idea, being without substance and 
 form, can consist of nothing but a kind of vacuum or empti 
 ness ? But these difficulties, which prevent our contempora 
 ries from being Christians, completely disappear when it is 
 known that the Creator of the universe is himself VERY MAN, 
 and that all creation tends to the human form, and above all 
 when the relations as simple as they are admirable are known, 
 which bind the universe to man, and man to his divine 
 original. 
 
 This is a long digression, but the subject is so important, 
 that you will excuse me for having interrupted the course of 
 our discussion to answer a simple observation which you had 
 made. 
 
 Let us resume our exposition of the spiritual world, and 
 enter upon matters of detail. 
 
 If we see so many unbelievers, if even the man who so loudly 
 proclaims the immortality of the soul, feels his faith waver 
 when .he seriously fixes his thought upon the passage from 
 this life into the other, is it not because it is impossible for 
 him to form a clear idea of this passage, after all the incohe 
 rent vagaries put forth by theologians and philosophers upon 
 the soul and its mode of existence ? Not knowing in an exact 
 manner what the soul is, nor in what part of the body it re 
 sides, is he not compelled either to consider it as a breath, that 
 disengaged from its prison wanders in a vacuum, which is re 
 pugnant to his reason, or to regard it as one of those impon 
 derable fluids which, being set free, unites with its common 
 reservoir, which is repugnant to his conscience ? This, how 
 ever, is the desolating alternative to which a reflecting man is 
 reduced when he has nothing for a guide but the data of the 
 old theology or those of the philosophy of the day. But it is 
 
168 LETTERS TO A 
 
 altogether different when he has a precise idea of the soul, 
 and of the world in which it is perpetually to reside ; then, to 
 comprehend how his passage from this life to another is effect 
 ed, it is sufficient to have present in his mind the truths which 
 I have previously set forth, and which it is important here to 
 repeat j 
 
 (1.) The soul or spirit of man is a real being, having a spir 
 itual body, endowed with all the organs constituting the ma 
 terial body with which it is clothed. 
 
 (2.) The spiritual world is a real organism, having objects 
 analogous to those which we see in ours ; it has its earths, 
 seas, atmospheres, a celestial vault, which like ours is a result 
 of the conformation of the eye j it has, in fine, its three king 
 domsanimals, vegetables, minerals ; but nevertheless, there 
 exists between the two worlds this difference, that in the one, 
 all the objects are of a spiritual nature, while in the other, they 
 are all of a material nature. 
 
 (3.) The spiritual world, being independent of space, is not 
 a place ; it is a state of the soul or spirit. Thus it cannot be 
 said that it is above or below; above the skies or in the 
 bowels of the earth j here or there ; but it is in man himself 
 every one has actually in himself his heaven or his hell. 
 
 (4.) Though independent of space and time, accidents which 
 are inherent in matter alone, the spiritual world presents still 
 appearances of them, appearances which result from interior 
 states in which those who inhabit it are successively 
 placed. 
 
 Now, we have seen in the sixth letter, that there are in 
 man as many receptacles having the human form as there 
 exist general divisions of the spiritual world, and that these 
 receptacles are opened or remain closed, according to the 
 manner in which man has lived in the natural world. You 
 have seen also, in the ninth letter, that each general division 
 of the spiritual world, though it be within us, is nevertheless 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 169 
 
 manifested without us, when after our death the receptacle 
 which it has in our soul or spirit is opened. 
 
 When therefore man is stripped of his mortal covering, he 
 has no need of being conveyed from one place to another, or 
 of making the least progression ; he finds himself, with the 
 same affections and the same thoughts, upon a spiritual earth, 
 and precisely upon that which belongs to the general division 
 whose receptacle is opened in him. 
 
 But as the heavenly receptacles are not completely opened 
 in man, unless he has neither bad affections nor false thoughts, 
 and as the infernal receptacles in like manner are not com 
 pletely opened in him, until he has rejected all good affections 
 and all true thoughts, it results that the greater part of men, 
 in leaving our earth, find themselves without conveyance or 
 transit, upon an earth of the world of spirits, or intermediate 
 world, where they remain a longer or shorter time, before they 
 go definitively either into the heavens or the hells. 
 
 Thus the passage of man from this world into the other con 
 sists simply, without conveyance or transit, in the emancipation 
 of the man-spirit by the loosening of the bonds which con 
 fined him to our earth, which is effected as soon as the systolic 
 and diastolic motions of the material heart have ceased for 
 ever. Then the material part of man is nothing but dead mat 
 ter ; hut the man, as to all that constitutes hirn* a man, lives, 
 and his senses no longer imprisoned in matter acquire proper 
 ties much more exquisite. It is the same with his two con 
 stitutive faculties, will and understanding ; they ihen mani 
 fest themselves in a higher degree of strength and activity. 
 
 The passage from this world into the other is besides so 
 much the easier to conceive of, as man during his life upon 
 our earth is himself, without knowing it, in the spiritual world. 
 He is actually there, since his affections and thoughts which 
 cause him to be man, and which certainly are not matter, be 
 long only to the spiritual world : but he does not see that 
 
170 LETTERS TO A 
 
 world, and knows nothing of that which is passing around his 
 man-spirit, because his spiritual eyes, as well as his other 
 spiritual senses, being covered with matter, are then only used 
 for that which concerns his existence upon our earth. But as 
 soon as man is disengaged from his mortal envelope, his senses 
 being no longer confined in an obscure prison, and entering 
 upon their full exercise, it is not then surprising that he 
 now sees the part of the spiritual world in which he had been 
 already, though unknown to him in his natural life, and that 
 he is then conscious of all that passes about him. 
 
 Since the greater part of those who go from our globe pass 
 into the world of spirits, we will first turn our attention to the 
 part of that world corresponding to our earth; but before en 
 tering into details it is necessary to give you an exact idea 
 of the nature of the objects of which the intermediate world 
 is composed. 
 
 The intermediate world, being a mixed spiritual organism, 
 presents a mixture of good and evil, of the beautiful and de 
 formed ; and in this respect, as in many others, bears a strong 
 relation to our material world. There exists even between 
 them, at first sight, so great a resemblance that many of those 
 who enter into the world of spirits, believe themselves yet to 
 be in ours, and do not perceive their error until they meet 
 there those who have died before them ; and see none of those 
 whom they left upon our earth. As to the objects of which this 
 intermediate world is composed, they have their origin in two 
 opposite sources. All that is good and beautiful comes from 
 the heavens, and has its origin from the love and wisdom of 
 God j all that is evil and hideous comes from the hells, and has 
 its origin in hatred and folly, or the evil and the false which 
 the fall of man has produced. 
 
 You have seen in fact that the divine Love, the source of all 
 good affections, is the first substance whence proceed all 
 substances which are good, and the divine Wisdom the source of 
 
MAN OF THE 
 
 all true thoughts, is the first or original form (Forme-Type), 
 whence proceed all the beautiful forms in which these sub 
 stances are clothed. You have seen also, that since the fall of 
 man, all the affections of his selfish will were bad spiritual 
 substances, and all the thoughts of his perverted understanding 
 were unsightly spiritual forms with which the bad substances 
 were clothed. 
 
 Thus, every affection being a spiritual substance, and every 
 thought a spiritual form, the mixture of good and bad sub 
 stances and of beautiful and hideous forms which the objects 
 of the intermediate world in general present, is the effect pro 
 duced by the state of its inhabitants, whose interiors are a 
 mixture of good and bad affections, of true and false thoughts. 
 
 Besides, as the intermediate world, the same as every gen 
 eral division of the spiritual, is an exterior manifestation of 
 that which is included in the man-spirit, it must present, in all 
 its parts, objects whose substances are affections, and whose 
 forms are the thoughts of those who inhabit it. If the objects 
 are presented there in number indefinite, and are indefinitely 
 varied, it is because the affections and thoughts themselves of 
 spirits present varieties whose number is unlimited. 
 
 I have already often repeated to you that the spiritual 
 world, such as it is presented to the sight of spirits and angels, 
 is an exterior manifestation of that which is in their interiors. 
 A consequence which, at first sight, would seem to flow from 
 this principle is, that each man-spirit would see only objects 
 which represent his affections and thoughts, and therefore, 
 would live altogether isolated from other men-spirits. Now, 
 if spirits did not live in society like men in our world, if they 
 were prevented from communicating their affections and 
 thoughts to others, however beautiful and delightful might be 
 the theatre upon which they live, their existence would be the 
 most sad that can be imagined, and would soon become insup 
 portable. It is then important to prove that in the interme- 
 
172 LETTERS TO A 
 
 diate world spirits live in societies like men in our world, and 
 that thus the consequence which seems to result from the prin 
 ciple above stated is but specious; but to arrive at this proof, 
 I shall be obliged to give you some general ideas relative to 
 correspondences. This again is a digression which it is ne 
 cessary for me to add to many others already made- I hope, 
 however, that you will continue to be as indulgent towards 
 this as towards the preceding. I will first speak of the cor 
 respondences which exist between the spiritual world and 
 ours. 
 
 The spiritual world and the natural world being related to 
 each other like the interior and exterior, it results from this 
 that spiritual things and natural things make one by Influx, 
 and that there is Correspondence between them. This is the 
 principle ; but what are we to understand by this Correspon 
 dence and this Influx ? Some examples to which I am about to 
 have recourse will enable you easily to comprehend it. 
 
 It is evident that the variations of man s face, or the different 
 expressions of his countenance, correspond to the different 
 states of the affections of his soul, for the expression of the 
 countenance varies according to the state of the affections. 
 These variations, which are natural effects, we call Corres 
 pondences of the affections which are the spiritual cause? of 
 them, and we say that the face itself is the Correspondence of 
 the interiors of the soul. But, in order that these correspon 
 dences may manifest themselves, it is necessary that the soul 
 should act ; this action of the soul is what we call the influx 
 of the spiritual principle into the natural. [See Apocalypse Ex 
 plained, number 1080.] 
 
 It is in like manner evident that the understanding of man, 
 or the sight of his thought corresponds to the sight of his 
 eyes, for the light and flame which shine in his eyes man 
 ifest the thought which his understanding produces ; the 
 sight of the eye is the Correspondence as well as the eye 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 173 
 
 itself, and the action of the understanding upon the eye 
 is Influx. 
 
 So also, the active thought which depends on the under 
 standing corresponds to the language which depends on the 
 mouth and its accessories ; language is the Correspondence as 
 well as the mouth and the organs which serve to produce lan 
 guage, and the action of the thought in language and in the 
 organs of language is Influx. Lastly, the action of the body 
 corresponds to the will ; that of the heart to the life of love ; 
 that of the lungs, which is called respiration, to the life of 
 faith ; and the whole body, as to all its members, viscera and 
 organs, corresponds to the soul, as to all its functions and all 
 the forces of its life. 
 
 By these few examples you can see that the spiritual and 
 the natural make one by Correspondences, as the interior and 
 the posterior, or as the efficient cause and the effect ; or again 
 as the cause principal which belongs to the thought and will 
 of man, and the cause instrumental which belongs to his lan 
 guage and action. 
 
 I have taken these examples from what passes in man, that 
 you may easily comprehend what we are to understand by 
 Correspondence, and the Influx which manifests it; but the 
 correspondence of the natural and spiritual is general ; it not 
 only has place in all that which constitutes man, but it also 
 exists in all that constitutes the universe, and is a result of the 
 influx of the spiritual universe into the natural. Moreover, it 
 is a consequence of the principles which I have previously ex 
 plained, and which you have admitted. Every natural object 
 including in it an analogous spiritual object, the spiritual is 
 always in activity, and its action being the influx of which we 
 are now speaking, it results that all the objects of the natural 
 universe are Correspondences. 
 
 The knowledge of these Correspondences constituted in 
 ancient times a science j it was even the science of sciences, 
 
174 LETTERS TO A 
 
 for it was the key to all knowledges ; but it was gradually cor 
 rupted by men, arid at last entirely lost. From this corrup 
 tion arose the symbols of the eastern nations, of the hieroglyph 
 ics of the Egyptians, and all the mythologies. This science 
 is at length restored to the world, and may now be studied in 
 the writings of Swedenborg. When hereafter we shall exam 
 ine the doctrines of Christianity, you will be easily convinced 
 that the sacred Scriptures are filled with correspondences, and 
 that this science of sciences dispels all the apparent contradic 
 tions which have led our contemporaries to doubt their holiness, 
 and even to deny it. 
 
 As there is correspondence between all things of the natural 
 universe and all those of the spiritual, and the spirit of man 
 being a little spiritual universe, it results that there is also a 
 correspondence between all the objects of the natural world, 
 and all the thoughts and the affections of man, for it is his af 
 fections and thoughts which constitute his spirit. I cannot 
 give you now the nomenclature of all these correspondences j 
 this would not be the place ; but it is indispensable to the un 
 derstanding of what follows to present you at first with some 
 of them. 
 
 The earth in general corresponds to man ; its different pro 
 ductions, which serve for the nourishment of men, correspond 
 to different kinds of goods and truths, the solid aliments to 
 various kinds of goods, and the liquid to various kinds of 
 truths. 
 
 A house corresponds to the will and the understanding, 
 which constitute the human mind ; by house, we have to un 
 derstand all that serves for lodging or retreat, the palace as 
 well as the hut. 
 
 Garments correspond to truths or falses according to the 
 substance, color, and form which they present. 
 
 Animals correspond to the affections; those which are use 
 ful and gentle, to good affections ; those which are hurtful and 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 175 
 
 bad, to evil affections : gentle and beautiful birds to intellectual 
 truths ; those which are ferocious and ugly to falses ; fishes to 
 the scientific^ which derive their origin from things sensual j 
 reptiles to corporeal and sensual pleasures j and noxious insects 
 to falsities which proceed from the senses. 
 
 Trees and shrubs correspond to different kinds of know 
 ledges ; and herbs and grass correspond to various kinds of 
 scientific truths. 
 
 Gold corresponds to celestial good, silver to spiritual truth, 
 brass to natural good iron to natural truth, stones to sensual 
 truths, precious stones to spiritual truths. With these few 
 correspondences you will easily be able to follow the discussion. 
 
 All that I have just said concerning the correspondences 
 which ejdst between the spiritual and natural worlds, is appli 
 cable in general to the correspondences which the great divi 
 sions of the spiritual world have between them ; for from the 
 lowest degrees of creation up to the spiritual sun everything 
 lives, everything is conjoined by influx which produces corres 
 pondences. Thus, the intermediate world, of which we are 
 now treating, being placed between the first heaven and the 
 first hell, receives an influx from both, and consequently is in 
 correspondence with both. Nevertheless, between this corres 
 pondence and that of which I have just spoken to you, there 
 is an important difference to be observed, namely : that here 
 below the objects which surround man being natural, and con 
 sequently subject to the laws of space and time, are not de 
 pendent upon changes which are effected in his spirit, while 
 in the intermediate world, the objects which surround spirits, 
 being of a spiritual nature, depend upon the states of these 
 spirits, and vary according as these states change. As the ob 
 jects in the intermediate world are the very representations of 
 the affections and thoughts of spirits, correspondences are 
 manifested there clearly to the sight, and then they are called 
 representatives. 
 
176 LETTERS TO A 
 
 By means of these ideas concerning correspondences, I am 
 now able to prove to you that in the intermediate world, 
 spirits live in societies as in our world, and thus that the con 
 sequence which appeared to result from the principle above 
 advanced is but specious. 
 
 Let us first take spirits separately ; each one of them accor 
 ding to this principle, having for the theatre of his existence 
 the exterior manifestation of his affections and thoughts, and 
 no one spirit resembling another, it results, it is true, that there 
 exists as many individual representative theatres, or different 
 little intermediate worlds as there exist spirits; but we shall 
 presently see that all these individual theatres or little worlds 
 make in fact but one. 
 
 It is evident that the intermediate world of a Chinese or of 
 a Hottentot must differ much from the intermediate world of an 
 European, since the affections and thoughts of the one have 
 but little affinity with the affections and thoughts of the other : 
 you will also agree that the intermediate worlds of two Chi 
 nese, or of two Hottentots, or of two Europeans must differ much 
 less; observe however, that the question here is only concerning 
 external effections and thoughts, such as are those of spirits; 
 for as regards internal affections and thoughts which are man 
 ifested later, those of a Chinese and European may even have 
 a closer relation between them than those of two brothers. 
 You will again agree that the intermediate worlds of two 
 Frenchmen must differ less than those of a Frenchman and an 
 Englishman, these of two Parisians less than those of a Paris 
 ian and a countryman, and those of two lawyers less than 
 those of a lawyer and a merchant. 
 
 But before extending further the inquiry into the resem 
 blances which these little intermediate worlds mnst present, 
 let us first see what, according to the science of correspon 
 dences, is in general the intermediate world of a spirit. As a 
 spirit is really a man, and the earth is the correspondence of 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 177 
 
 man. this spirit finds himself upon an earth j as he has a will 
 and an understanding, he dwells in a house as he is imbued 
 with truths and falses, he has garments ; but the nature of this 
 earth; as to its fertility and aspect, depends upon the general 
 state of this spirit ; the grandeur and beauty of the house are 
 in relation to the state of his will and understanding; the sub 
 stance, the color, and the form of his garments depend upon 
 the mixture of his truths and falses. Lastly, as this spirit pos 
 sesses affections and thoughts, and a multitude of things which 
 are the consequences of them, he sees in his horizon and around 
 him objects of the three kingdoms, and products of industry ; 
 but the nature of these objects and these products depends 
 upon the state of his affections and thoughts. 
 
 The representative theatre of the state of this spirit cannot re 
 semble in an absolute manner that of any other spirit, for in the 
 whole universe of beings, there are no two that completely re 
 semble each other; nevertheless, diversity in unity being a 
 general law of creation, everything tends to unity ; to attain 
 thif^ everything is arranged into groups, and it is by means of 
 harmonious relations that the different groups are formed. 
 Now, if there are not two men, nor consequently two spirits, 
 who resemble each other in an absolute manner, at least there 
 exist, in a greater or less number, those whose affections and 
 thoughts present among them many resemblances, and have 3 
 so to speak, a kind of neighborhood. The representative 
 theatres of the states of these spirits having consequently an 
 alogous relations between them, find themselves, so to speak, 
 neighbors one of another, or to express it more exactly, they 
 constitute one country of the intermediate world, which is 
 common to them, and are only distinguished from one another 
 by slight differences, and by the particular habitation of each 
 spirit : and these habitations exist more or less near to one 
 another, according as the affections and thoughts of spirits 
 have more or less similitude between them. Thence result 
 
178 LETTERS TO A 
 
 united masses of which the villages, towns, and cities of greater 
 or lees extent are composed, which are spread over the earth 
 of our intermediate -world. 
 
 You can easily conceive from this, how the millions of rep 
 resentative theatres or little individual worlds concur in form 
 ing a whole. There is actually but one only intermediate 
 world for all the spirits who depart from our globe j but there 
 exist millions of different horizons ; in the same country the 
 horizon of one is never completely like that of another, and 
 the horizon of each spirit varies even at every instant accord 
 ing to the mobility of the state of his affections and thoughts. 
 Ah ! do we not see something analogous in our world, in both 
 a physical and moral respect ? In the physical, are not the 
 horizons in number indefinite, and does not a man change his 
 horizon at every change of place ? And in the moral, in the 
 domain of affection and thought, is the horizon of one ever 
 like that of another ? Does not the horizon of the same man 
 change at every instant ? 
 
 But there are also spirits whose affections and thoughts pre 
 sent more intimate relations, and have a kind of kindred and 
 family, so that there is with them so to speak, the same will 
 and the same understanding} the representative theatres of 
 the state of these spirits present not only a country which is 
 common to them, but also one and the same edifice for a hab 
 itation j and under this relation these theatres are distinguish 
 ed only by particular parts of the same house ; or only by 
 other details of the interior of this house. It is thus that fam 
 ilies are formed in the world of spirits ; they are the result of 
 a more intimate conformity in affections and thoughts. 
 
 If to all that precedes you add, that in th spiritual world 
 there must necessarily be. as in this, and even in a much high 
 er degree, communication of affections and thoughts between 
 those who have some relations between them, it will be easy 
 for you to comprehend that spirits of the same country see one 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 179 
 
 another, and see also the exterior of their neighbor s house, 
 and penetrate even into the interior of those houses, or visit 
 those who inhabit them, when for the time they have with 
 them the same will and the same understanding. 
 
 Observe, moreover, that if, in this natural world, our affec 
 tions and thoughts are not exclusively fixed upon things, but 
 are also determined to persons, it must be the same in the in 
 termediate world. There, when the affections and thoughts 
 are fixed upon religious, moral, political, or civil matters, they 
 are manifested visibly by spiritual objects which are the cor 
 respondences of them ] but when they are fixed upon other 
 spirits, they are immediately present, though their proper habita 
 tion maybe in the most remote part of the intermediate world. 
 And this is easily conceived, since affection and thought 
 know no distance. Have you an intimate friend beyond the 
 seas, at Philadelphia, for example "? If you think of him, you 
 see him, you speak to him j and if he does not hear you, if he 
 does not answer your questions, it is only because you are 
 both in a material world, and space and time oppose your 
 communication of ideas ; but abstract matter, put away space 
 and time, and you are in the presence of your friend j he then 
 hears you and you enter into conversation. It is thus that it 
 should be. and really is, in the intermediate world, since space 
 and time are there replaced by states of affection and thought, 
 states which are manifested only in an appearence of space 
 and time. 
 
 You see from this, that spirits do not live separately but in 
 society, although the intermediate world is for every spirit 
 the exterior manifestation of what is contained in him. The 
 affections and thoughts are what every spirit has within him, 
 and these are a consequence of those which he had in our 
 world ; the latter are never entirely effaced, but are only re- 
 moved from his memory, so that occasionally they are repro 
 duced. The life of man is not interrupted by his passage from 
 
180 
 
 LETTERS TO A 
 
 this world into another : it is continued, and his memory then 
 is in all its vigor ; for there is not a single action of his life, 
 nor a single idea, which may not be recalled. If man, after 
 becoming a spirit, had no recollection of his life in the world, 
 he would be deprived of his individuality, and consequently 
 of immortality, because it would not be he who would exist ; 
 it would be really another being in his place. 
 
 The ordinary residence of the man-spirit being the corres 
 pondence of the habitual state of his will and understanding, so 
 long as this state is not entirely changed, the man-spirit pre 
 serves the same residence, without being forced to remain 
 continually in his house or city for certain affections and 
 thoughts may lead him to travel over the different countries of 
 our intermediate world, and even to visit the earths of the in 
 termediate world which correspond to the other planets of the 
 natural world, without the habitual state of his will and under 
 standing being remarkably altered ; but if this state is entirely 
 changed, he himself changes his abode. 
 
 Changes of residence are very frequent in the intermediate 
 world ; for man only goes into this world to be prepared there 
 by successive transitions, either for the heavenly or infernal 
 life. He is tfien obliged to pass through many states, and con 
 sequently often changes his abode, before repairing to his place, 
 whether in heaven or hell. 
 
 The future life of man depends entirely upon that which he 
 has formed for himself upon our earth ; if during this life his 
 will had been bad, it is no longer possible for him to make it 
 good, and his understanding, at the same time enlightened by 
 truth, will lose its light or its truth, in the intermediate world ; 
 on the other hand, if his will had been good, it is in no danger 
 of becoming bad, and his understanding will exchange any 
 false opinions it may have for truths. I will return to this 
 subject at another time. 
 
 Thus, all depends upon the will which man has made for 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 181 
 
 himself in the natural world, or, in other words, all depends 
 upon his ruling love. The will or ruling love of man is the 
 man himself; his understanding is but a servant at the dispo 
 sition of his will. All that appertains to the will is a spiritual 
 substance, and all that belongsto the understanding is a spiritu 
 al form ; so far then as the substance excels the form, so far 
 the will governs the understanding. 
 
 Nevertheless, as the life of man is not interrupted by his 
 passage from this world into another, the situations of those 
 who arrive in the intermediate world is generally, at first, very 
 similar to that which they had upon our earth j but this is not 
 of long duration, for the scene soon changes. Every spirit 
 being directed by his ruling love, if this love is good, since it 
 rules overall the other affections, it successively removes those 
 which are bad, and favors those which are good ; then the in 
 terior state of the spirits continually improves, and his exteri 
 or situation becomes more beautiful, by means of delightful rep 
 resentatives, which are the correspondences of his interior 
 state. But if the ruling love is bad, it successively removes 
 the good affections and favors the bad ; then the interior state of 
 the spirit continually becomes worse, and his exterior situa 
 tion becomes more and more miserable, by means of hideous 
 representatives, which are the correspondences of his interior 
 state. 
 
 I will continue the description of the w^orld of spirits in the 
 following letter; but I cannot conclude this without present 
 ing to you some reflections. 
 
 The imminent peril which social order is in at this day is 
 at length understood, and great efforts are made to avert it ; 
 those who lately smiled with contempt at the bare name of re 
 ligion, now think it might come to their help, and are the first 
 to invoke its support ; but religion will remain impotent in 
 this respect, so long as they persist in relying upon the falsified 
 doctrines of the old Church. If Christianity no longer exists, 
 
182 LETTERS TO A 
 
 so to speak, but in name, or if it is no longer effectual to render 
 those moral who call themselves Christians, it is owing to the 
 causes which I have already explained ; but it is chiefly be 
 cause its two principal branches have each adopted a perni 
 cious error, which they persist in spreading among the peo 
 ple j Roman Catholicism, in affirming that the absolution of 
 the priest, or even a single prayer of repentance, at the mo 
 ment of death, opens heaven j Protestantism, in maintaining 
 that it is sufficient for man to believe that the blood of Christ 
 has saved him. These two doctrines are no doubt consoling ; 
 they even present a charm to whoever believes in another life ; 
 but they are absolutely false, and so much the more danger 
 ous, as they give to man a kind of security, which prevents 
 him from thinking seriously of reformation. 
 
 Man, indeed, is naturally led to procrastinate, when the oc 
 cupation of his life should be to struggle against his bad pas 
 sions ; now, to tell him that a single prayer of repentance 
 may save him, is not this flattering his natural propensity ? 
 It will be in vain to add that he may die without having time 
 to address one single word to the Divinity ; it will be in vain 
 to cite to him examples in support, of what you say ; he will 
 soothe himself with the hope of not dying suddenly, or even 
 if you succeed in making some impression upon him, that im- 
 presion will be but momentary. 
 
 On the other hand, if it is sufficient for man to believe that 
 the blood of Christ has saved him, why should he struggle 
 against his bad passions, since he has need of nothing but this 
 faith? 
 
 Tn each of these two branches of Christianity reformation of 
 life cannot then be really undertaken except by very few per 
 sons ; and the generality of Christians will not be in the least 
 interested in changing their course of life, ascvery day s ex 
 perience sufficiently proves. 
 
 Suppose men on the contrary, to be inwardly penetrated 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 183 
 
 with the great truths which the New Church of the Lord pro 
 claims they would certainly manifest the greatest inconsistency 
 if they hesitated a single moment to enter upon the way of re 
 formation and regeneration. Convinced that repentance is 
 nothing, and that faith is nothing, if there is not a change of 
 life convinced that man carries with him, into the other life, 
 his ruling love that there this ruling love will strip him suc 
 cessively of all his vices if lie is good, and of all his good qual 
 ities if he is had, and will thus render him fit to become either 
 free in heaven or a slave in hell would he not use all his efforts 
 to make this love good, especially when the rational knowledge 
 which he would have of the spiritual world would no longer 
 permit him to have the least doubt of its existence ? 
 
 Hereafter, when you become acquainted with our doctrines, 
 and the admirable morality which they teach, I will return to 
 this subject ; and then you will acquire the inward conviction, 
 that it is only the New Church of the Lord, that is to say, the 
 New Jerusalem, that can cause peace and tranquility to reign 
 upon the earth. Accept, &c 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 IN my last letter, my dear sir, I showed you that the world 
 into which man enters immediately after death is altogether 
 like ours, except the difference existing between what is spir 
 itual and what is natural ; you have seen besides, that though 
 the world of spirits was for man the exterior manifestation of 
 his affections and thoughts, he could, nevertheless, in that 
 world, have relations not only with those whom he had known 
 during their natural life, but also with spirits who, in our world, 
 had lived in foreign countries, or even upon other earths. 
 
184 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Now, as it is impossible that relations should be established be 
 tween spirits the same as among men, without the use of some 
 language, the first question which we have now to examine is 
 this : In what language do spirits converse with each other ? 
 
 This question would no doubt appear absolutely idle to our 
 philosophers and theologians. Why, indeed, should they ask 
 about the language of spirits, since, in their view, a spirit is 
 without organs ? since, in their view, the other world, contain 
 ing neither substances nor forms, is but an immense vacuum, 
 or something which has but an imaginary existence? 
 
 It is thus they think when they are shut up in their studies \ 
 but let a painful event drive them from their pretended science, 
 and immediately the truth, piercing through the darkness 
 which obscures their understanding, becomes manifest to 
 them. 
 
 Behold the philosophical spiritualist wttb has just lost a 
 beloved child j it is in vain he calls to his aid the arguments of 
 his school concerning the immortality of the soul ; they re 
 main altogether impotent to console his grief; with them, 
 there is nothing which can retrace the form of his infant, its 
 smile, its graces, and its infantine language, every word of 
 which came so agreeably to his ear ; all this is destroyed, des 
 troyed for ever. This he says, this he repeats in his despair ; 
 but suddenly a ray of truth pierces the clouds of his under 
 standing he raises his eyes to heaven, and represents to him 
 self his child, like one of those angels which painters have in 
 theii pictures; immediately he feels his heart dilate, his res 
 piration becomes more free ; oh, how precious is this thought 
 to him ! how it sooths his grief! he would give everything to 
 retain it ; but his reason, which science has perverted, soon 
 deprives him of this only consolation, and he falls again into 
 his mournful despair. Oh, philosophers ! you often pay dear 
 for the frivolous pleasures which your science procures for 
 you; unite it then to true theology, and you will render it be- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 185 
 
 neficent both for those whom you wish to instruct, and for 
 yourselves. 
 
 When a theologian is with his mother, whom death has just 
 deprived of her husband, what are the arguments which he 
 employs to soothe her affliction ? Does he tell her that she 
 will again see, after a lapse of ages, him for whom she weeps ? 
 Does he himself believe, in the effusion of his grief, that he 
 will not find again his father, until after the complete destruc 
 tion of our world ? Oh surely, such a thought is far from him. 
 He then believes that the object of their regret yet exists really 
 in a human form. Hear him addressing his mother : You will 
 see him again, says he; moderate your grief; we shall meet 
 him again as soon as it pleases God to call us. Such then is 
 his language ; for in the overflowing of his filial grief, his false 
 science is forgotten, and a ray of truth penetrates even to him. 
 
 It is thus our philosophers and theologians give the lie to their 
 own science, whenever truth is able to penetrate the clouds of 
 their understandings. 
 
 But when they have re-entered their studies, say nothing 
 more to them about the soul or spirit under a human form ; 
 present to them no more the other world as u real world con 
 taining spiritual substances and forms ; tell them not that the 
 inhabitants of that world converse together as we do in ours ; 
 they will laugh you in the face, grave as they are; but, my 
 dear friend, let us, far from laughing at their blindness, rather 
 pity them, for the more they think themselves clear-sighted 
 the more are they objects of pity. 
 
 The question which is now to engage our attention will not 
 then consist in the enquiry whether spirits speak or not ; for 
 the momont that we acknowledge that they have a mouth, a 
 tongue, and ears, and that they live surrounded by a spiritual 
 atmosphere, it at once becomes evident that they can produce 
 sounds and hear those which others produce. So we have 
 only to examine what must be the language which spirits make 
 
186 LETTERS TO A 
 
 use of in their intercourse with one another. This examina 
 tion will again require some digressions ; for if in this world the 
 language of man depends upon his memory and his thoughts, 
 it must be the same when he lives in the world of spirits ; it is 
 absolutely necessary then that I should give you some expla- 
 nation ; first concerning the memory of man, and afterwards 
 concerning his thought. 
 
 Since men have lost true spiritual knowledge, they have in 
 vain endeavored to resolve the problems which most con 
 cern the happiness of humanity ; so they are as much in the 
 dark when they speak of the memory of man, as when they 
 treat of the immortality of his soul. And how could it be 
 otherwise ? Must not all the questions of philosophy be re 
 ferred to one general principle ? Now, this principle they 
 misunderstand ; they are not willing to comprehend that every 
 natural thing envelopes an analogous spiritual one, with which 
 it is in correspondence. If they admitted this principle, they 
 would then know that there are in men two memories, the 
 one natural and external, the other spiritual and internal ; they 
 would consequently know that these two memories, though 
 they seem to be confounded, must nevertheless be distinct 
 from each other. 
 
 If our two memories seem to be confounded and make but 
 one, this should not by any means surprise us ; is it not the 
 same with our spiritual man and our natural man ? If then 
 man does not perceive that in his natural man there is a spir 
 itual man, no more should he perceive that in his natural mem 
 ory there is a spiritual memory : besides, he reflects but little 
 upon this subject, because he immerses his life in corporeal 
 things, and can with difficulty withdraw his mind from them . 
 
 All that man thinks, wills, says, and does, all that he hears 
 and sees, everything, in a word, is received instantly in his 
 interior memory, and there remains impressed forever: noth 
 ing thus received is entirely effaced from this memory j they 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 187 
 
 are not there confounded whatever be their number, which 
 may seem astonishing; but, this .proceeds from the very con 
 stitution of man who was created in the image of God ; for if 
 the infinite is in God alone, indefinites are in his spiritual sun, 
 as I have already told you, and exist as in an image in the cre 
 ated universe. It thence results that the interior memory of 
 man can receive things in number indefinite, and preserve all 
 their impressions ; it retains even the impressions of things 
 which, having become a habit in the life of man, are entirely 
 effaced from his exterior memory ; in a word, it is in reality 
 the book of his life. 
 
 When man leaves this world, he comes into the full pos 
 session of his interior memory, which is the memory of his 
 spirit, and though he has no longer his natural body, he is not 
 deprived of his exterior memory. In what way he can also 
 enjoy this memory shall now be shown. As the things purely 
 natural which are in it cannot be produced in the other life, 
 the spiritual things which are adjoined to them by correspon 
 dences are represented in their place in a form altogether sim 
 ilar, so that the life of man is really continued in the spiritual 
 world, by means of this representation of things purely natural. 
 It is thus that the man-spirit does not cease to be the same 
 man that has lived in the natural world ; his identity is per 
 fect, since he can thus remember all that he has done during 
 his life in this world. If it were not so would there not be 
 something wanting to his immortal existence ? 
 
 I have just said that the happiness of humanity depended 
 also upon the solution of the problem of the memory j as this 
 assertion may have appeared to you rash, it is necessary to cor 
 roborate it here by some reflections. - ^ 
 
 Though you may have given but little attention to the study 
 of man, it is easy to see that he himself is most generally the 
 cause of his own happiness, and that it would again be possi 
 ble for him to live happy upon this earth, if he knew and 
 
188 LETTERS TO A 
 
 would moderate his passions. This truth ra proclaimed in all 
 the pulpits; it is written in all treatises on morality; \ve find 
 it in all books of popular instruction. Why, then, does man 
 remain deaf to the lessons of his instructors, to the advice of 
 moralists, to the threatening exhortations of the priests ? Why 
 does he continue to let himself be drawn away by his bad pas 
 sions ? It is because it is riot sufficient to tell him that God 
 sees his secret thoughts; it is necessary also to show him that 
 these thoughts .will be publicly divulged, and above all, to 
 prove lo him how this will be done. Now, so long as God is 
 represented to him as a pure spirit, without substance or form, 
 so long as the soul is in his view but a breath so long as the 
 spiritual world is looked upon by him as something void, with 
 out any objects whatever the sermons the best prepared to 
 produce effect, will make no impression up >n him; if he is 
 affected by them, it is only for the moment, and he will very 
 soon fall again into his former errors. But when he knows 
 that God is VERY MAN when he is informed that on putting 
 off his natural body, his soul is still invested with a spiritual 
 body, and that he then enjoys all his senses in a degree much 
 more elevated than during his existence upon our earth when 
 he knows that the world of spirits, into which he will enter 
 after putting off his material body, is like ours, except the dif 
 ference between what is spiritual and what is natural, and that 
 this world includes innumerable spiritual objects which cor 
 respond to natural objects it will be sufficient then to give 
 him some explanations concerning his interior memory in 
 order to produce the conviction that his most secret thoughts 
 will one day be publicly divulged. Suppose now that he 
 should be penetrated with this truth, would he not strive with 
 all his might to repress within himself every thought which 
 is of a guilty nature ? From this there \vould be but one step 
 to reformation, which would conduct him to happiness so far 
 as it can be hoped for upon earth. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 189 
 
 As to the manner in which the secret thoughts and actions 
 of man are divulged, it is easy to conceive. All that man has 
 thought, willed, said, and done in this world, being inscribed 
 in his interior memory, and the intermediate world being for 
 every spirit a representative theatre of his thoughts and affec 
 tions, it is only necessary that a shorter or longer period of the 
 terrestrial life of a man-spirit should be suddenly recalled to 
 his memory in order that all things which relate to that 
 thought, and even their smallest particulars, may be immedi 
 ately manifested by representatives to the sight of all the spirits 
 near him. 
 
 It is thus that the book of man s life is opened, and it is thus 
 he is judged. Such is the law of the divine order, a law as 
 inflexible as justice, but admirable as all that is divine, since 
 it provides that every one shall be judged according to his 
 works. 
 
 Yet this divulging of the thoughts and actions of man is not 
 effected as soon as he enters into the intermediate world, for 
 he is then in the exteriors of his spirit, and he preserves them 
 for a longer or shorter time, according to his greater or less at 
 tachment to external things; but it is effected when, being 
 entirely divested of his exteriors, h% comes forever into the 
 interiors of his spirit. This is not the place to speak of the 
 different states through which man passes during his sojourn 
 in the world of spirits j we will give some attention to this 
 hereafter. But as the subject is now concerning the manifes 
 tation of the thoughts and actions of man by means of his 
 memory, I will present you with an extract from Sweilenborg, 
 in which you will find in the first place several explanatory 
 examples, and afterward the principles which govern this sub 
 ject. In the Treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, Nos. 462, 
 463, he says : 
 
 " But still the difference between the life of man in the 
 spiritual world, and his life in the natural world, is great, as 
 
 9 
 
 \ 
 
190 LETTERS TO A 
 
 well with respect to the external senses and their affections, as 
 with respect to the internal senses and their affections. Those 
 who are in heaven perceive, that is, they see and hear more 
 exquisitely, and also think more wisely, than when they were 
 in the world ; for they see from the light of heaven, which 
 exceeds by many degrees the light of the world ; they hear 
 also by a spiritual atmosphere, which likewise exceeds 
 by many degrees that of -the earth, the difference of these 
 external senses is as the difference of sun-shine in respect 
 to the obscurity of a mist in the world, and as the differ 
 ence of light at mid-day in respect to shade in the evening : 
 for the light of heaven, because it is divine truth, gives 
 to the sight of the angels to perceive and distinguish things 
 the most minute. Their external sight also corresponds 
 to their internal sight, or the understanding : for with the an 
 gels one sight flows into the other, so that they act as one ; 
 hence they have so great acuteness; and in like manner also 
 the hearing corresponds to their perception, which is as well 
 of the understanding as of the will j hence, in the sound and 
 words of one speaking they perceive the most minute things 
 of his affection and thought; in sound the things which are of 
 affection, and in the \m>rds the things which are of thought : 
 see above. But the rest of the senses with the angels are not 
 so exquisite as the senses of seeing and hearing, because see 
 ing and hearing are serviceable to their intelligence and wis 
 dom, but not the rest which, if they were in a like degree 
 exquisite, would take away the light and delight of their wis 
 dom, and would bring in the delight of pleasures, which are ef 
 the various appetites of the body, which obscure and debilitate 
 the understanding in proportion as they prevail as also in the 
 case with men in the world, who are dull and stupid as to 
 spiritual truths, in proportion as they indulge the taste and tan 
 gible blandishments of the body. That the interior senses of 
 the angels of heaven, which are of their thought and affection, 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 191 
 
 are also more exquisite and perfect than what they had in the 
 world, may be manifest from what has been said and shown 
 in the article concerning the wisdom of angels of heaven, (No. 
 265-275). But as to what concerns the difference of the state 
 of those who are in hell in respect to their state in the world, 
 it also is great ; as great as is the perfection and excellence of 
 the external and internal senses of angels who are in heaven, 
 so great is the imperfection of those who are in hell. But the 
 state of these will be treated of in what follows. 
 
 " That man, when he passes out of the world, has also with 
 him all his memory, has been shown by many circumstances ; 
 concerning which many things worthy to be mentioned have 
 been seen and heard, some of which I will relate in order. 
 There were those who denied the crimes and villanies which 
 they had perpetrated in the world, wherefore lest they should 
 be believed innocent, all were disclosed and were recounted 
 from their memory, in order from their earliest age to the 
 latest ; they were principally adulteries and whoredoms. There 
 were some who had deceived others by wicked arts and who 
 had stolen ; their deceits and thefts were also enumerated in 
 a series, many of which were known to scarcely any one in 
 the world, except to themselves alone; they also acknowl 
 edged them, because they were made manifest as in the light, 
 with every thought, intention, delights and fear, which then 
 together agitated their minds. There were some who had 
 accepted bribes, and had made gain of judgement ; they from 
 their memory were in like manner explored, and from it were 
 recounted all things from the first period of their office to the 
 last ; every particular, as to quality" and quantity, together 
 with the time, the state of their mind, and intention, all which 
 things were at the same time brought to their recollection, and 
 shown to their sight, which were more than several hundreds. 
 This was done in some cases ; and what is wonderful, their 
 memorandum books themselves, in which they had written 
 
192 LETTERS TO A 
 
 such things, were opened and read before them, from page to 
 page. There were some who had enticed virgins to acts of 
 fornication, and who had violated chastity, and they were 
 called to a similar judgment ; and every particular of their 
 crimes was taken and recited from their memory ; the very 
 faces of the virgins and women were also produced as present, 
 with places, speeches, and purposes, and this as suddenly as 
 when any thing is presented to view ; the manifestations con 
 tinued sometimes for hours together. There was one who 
 had esteemed backbiting others as nothing, and I heard his 
 backbitings recounted in order, and defamations also with the 
 very words, the persons concerning whom and before whom 
 he had uttered them all were produced and presented to the 
 life at the same time j and yet every particular was studiously 
 concealed by him when he lived in the world. There was a 
 certain one who had deprived a relation of his inheritance, 
 under a fraudulent pretext : he was, in like manner, convicted 
 and judged, and, what is wonderful, the letters and notes 
 which passed between them were read in my hearing, and it 
 was said that there \vas not a word wanting. The same person 
 also, shortly before his death, clandestinely destroyed his neigh 
 bor by poison, which was disclosed in this manner ; he appeared 
 to dig a hole under ground, from which a man came forth as out 
 of a sepulchre, and cried out to him, l What have you done to 
 me V then everything was revealed, how the murderer talked 
 with him in a friendly manner, and held out the cup, also what 
 he thought before, and what afterwards came to pass ; which 
 things being disclosed, he was sentenced to hell. In a word, 
 all evils, villanies, robberies, artifices, deceits, are manifested 
 to every evil spirit, and brought forth from his very memory, 
 and he is convicted j nor is there any room given for denial 
 because all the circumstances appear together. I have heard 
 also from the memory of a certain one, when it was seen and 
 surveyed by the angels, what his thoughts had been within a 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 193 
 
 month, one day after another, and this without fallacy, which 
 were recalJed as he himself was in them on those days. From 
 these examples it may be manifest, that man carries along 
 with him all his memory, and that there is nothing, however 
 concealed in the world, which is not manifested after death ; 
 and this in the company of several, according to the Lord s 
 words ; " There is nothing hidden which shall not be uncovered 
 and nothing concealed which shall not be k*own; therefore 
 the things which ye have said in darkness shall be heard in 
 light, and what ye have spoken into the ear shall be preached 
 on the house-tops." Luke, xii. 2. 3. 
 
 " When man s acts are disclosed to him after death, the an 
 gels then to whom is given the office of inquisition, look into 
 his face, and the search is extended through the whole body, 
 beginning from the fingers of one hand, and of the other, and 
 thus proceeding through the whole. Because I wondered 
 whence this was, it was disclosed to me, viz., that as all things 
 of the thought and will are inscribed on the brain, for their 
 principles are there, so also they are inscribed on their whole 
 body ; since all things of thought and will proceed thither 
 from their principles, and there terminate, as in their ultimates. 
 Hence it is, that the things which are inscribed on the mem 
 ory, from the will, and thence its thought, are not only inscrib 
 ed on the brain, but also on the whole man, and there exist in 
 order, according to the order of the parts of the body. Hence 
 it was made evident that man in the whole is such as he is in his 
 will and thought thence, so that an evil man is his own evil, and 
 a good man is his own good. From these things also it maybe 
 manifest what is meant by the book of man s life spoken of in 
 the word, that is, that all things, both which have been acted and 
 thought, are inscribed on the whole man, and that they appear 
 as if read in a book when they are called forth from the mem 
 ory, and as seen in effigy when the spirit is seen in the light 
 of heaven. To these things I will add something memorable 
 
194 LETTERS TO A 
 
 concerning the memory ol man remaining after death, by which 
 I was confirmed, that not only general things but also the most 
 singular, which have entered the memory, remain, nor are 
 they ever obliterated. There appeared to me books with \vrit- 
 tings therein, as in the world, and I was instructed that they 
 were from the memory of those who wrote, and that there 
 was not a single word wanting there, which was in the book 
 written by the ame person in the world ; and that thus from 
 the memory of another may be taken the most singular things 
 of all, even those which he himself in the world had forgotten. 
 The reason was also disclosed, viz., that man has an external 
 and internal memory, an external which is of his natural 
 man, and an internal which is of his spiritual man ; and that 
 everything that man has thought, willed, spoken, done, also 
 that he has heard or seen, is inscribed on his spiritual memory ; 
 and that the things which are there are never erased, since they 
 are inscribed at the same time on the spirit itself, arid on the 
 members of its body, as was said above ; and that thus the 
 spirit is formed according to the thoughts and acts of its will. 
 I know that these things appear as paradoxes, and thence are 
 scarcely believed, but still they are true. Let not man there 
 fore believe that anything which a man has thought in him 
 self, and has done in secret, is concealed after death ; but let 
 him believe that each and all things then appear as in clear 
 day." 
 
 I have transcribed this passage for two reasons; first, be 
 cause the details and principles which it contains throw light 
 upon the subject which engages our attention j and next, I 
 was desirous of showing you with what candor Swedenborg 
 relates what he has seen, though he well knew how difficult it 
 would be for men to believe his relations. 
 
 Let us now return to the exterior or natural memory. I 
 have already said that all things purely natural, which are in 
 that memory, cannot be reproduced in the other life, but in 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 195 
 
 their place are corresponding spiritual things in a form absolute 
 ly similar ; now, things purely natural, being those which 
 are neither intellectual nor rational, we must rank among them 
 all the words of earthly languages, for there is nothing intel 
 lectual or rational in these words. It thence results that our 
 natural languages cannot be of any use in the world of 
 spirits; if there exist books there which seem to include, as 
 you have just seen, the same words as our books, they are re 
 presentative appearances, which have but a simple relation of 
 correspondence with the language of spirits, and you will ac 
 knowledge presently that in this language words become abso 
 lutely useless. In our world, it is true, men cannot converse 
 with one another without the use of languages divided into ar 
 ticulate sounds, that is, into words, and do not understand each 
 other unless they are acquainted with the same language ; but 
 it is because they are immersed in things purely natural and 
 corporeal, and cannot withdraw their minds from them. 
 
 The language of man depending not only npon his memory, 
 but his thought, we have now to carry onr investigations to the 
 nature of thought ; will you for a moment lend me all your at 
 tention ? 
 
 If man would reflect upon what passes within him, he 
 would acknowledge that his language is nothing else than his 
 thought speaking by means of the organs of his body. Indeed 
 the thought of man is active or passive ; it is active when he 
 speaks and passive when he is silent. Now, his active thought, 
 which we may also call his speaking thought, expresses itself 
 according to a mode proper to itself; and by the activity of its 
 language, it excites the organs of the body which correspond 
 to this language. I confess however, that at the first examination 
 it seems to man, that the words of his language are in his 
 thought ; but should not every reflecting man hesitate before 
 concluding from a first appearence 1 Does he not know that 
 he lives in the midst of illusions of every kind ? If the pro- 
 
196 LETTERS TO A 
 
 gress of the physical sciences has discovered so many illusions 
 of the senses which had, for thousands of years, been taken 
 for realities should not a progress of theology and philosophy 
 also unveil them ? Well, this appearance that the words of the 
 language of man are in his thoughts is pure illusion ; it is only 
 the sense of a language which is in thought. In a word, when 
 man speaks his thought is the language of his spirit, and if it 
 does riot Jhen appear to him to be a language, it is because it 
 conjoins itself to the language of the body, and is in this lan 
 guage. Besides, it is easy to acknowledge that the language 
 of the thought differs much from the language of words; 
 since man can think in one minute what it takes him a long 
 time to speak, it is very evident that he could not speak with 
 so much readiness, if the language of thought was composed 
 of words, like that of the body. (See the Arcana Celeslia, no. 
 3679. 4052. 6987.) 
 
 But, you will say, In what then does the language of the 
 thought consist ? This I can now explain to you in a few 
 words. 
 
 The thought of man is composed of ideas, as a phrase is 
 composed of words ; thus in the language of the mind one idea 
 of his thought follows another, as in the language of the body 
 one word follows another word ; but the ideas of the thought 
 succeed one another with so much rapidity, that during our 
 life in this world, if seems to us that the thought is continuous 
 and does not present any distinction in it. (See the Arcana 
 Celestia, no. 6599.) 
 
 The language of the mind of man then is composed of ideas 
 of his thought, and it is by the influx of this language into the 
 correspondent organs of the body that the language of words is 
 produced. Thus when man leaves this world, as he divests 
 himself of all that was of use to the body, he leaves with it all 
 the words of human languages with which he was acquainted 
 and as he carries with him all that belongs to his mind, he 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 197 
 
 finds himself in possession of all his thoughts and memory, as 
 well interior as exterior, excepting, as to the latter, the modi 
 fications of which I have spoken to you; and it is by means 
 of his interior memory and of the ideas of his thoughts, that 
 he expresses himself in his new abode. Human thought, says 
 Swedenborg, then becomes more distinct and clear, and the 
 ideas of the thought become discrete, so that they serve for 
 distinct forms of speech. What was obscure is dissipated, and 
 thus the thought, delivered from the fetters, as it were, with 
 which it was bound, consequently from the shadows in which 
 it was involved, becomes more instantly perceived ; thence it 
 results that the intuition, perception, and utterance of every 
 particular contained in it are rendered more immediate. (A .C. 
 1757.) 
 
 It is then ideas of the thought which take the place of words ; 
 and these ideas, which we cannot distinguish here on earth, 
 being clearly manifested when we are freed from our natural 
 body, become then distinct forms of our language. It must 
 not be supposed, however, that this language is mute j it is 
 manifested exteriorly like that of men, by means of sounds 
 which are produced and are heard like those of our language ; 
 for spirits, as you know, having a mouth, tongue, and ears, and 
 being surrounded by a spiritual atmosphere, respire in this at 
 mosphere ; and by means of that respiration arid of organs of 
 language, they produce words like men in our world. Then 
 the ideas of their thought, and the words of their speech make 
 one, as the efficient cause and the effect ; for that which exists 
 as a cause, in the ideas of thought, is manifested as an effect 
 in words. 
 
 You may now see what is the principal difference which ex 
 ists between the language of the ideas of thought and the 
 language of words ; the latter is altogether conventional, as its 
 very construction proves ; and the former is above all conven 
 tion, as it flows from the affection itself, and the thought itself 
 
198 LETTERS TO A 
 
 of the man-spirit ; in this language, sound corresponds to af 
 fection, and the articulation of the sound corresponds to the 
 ideas of the thought which proceeds from the affection. 
 
 The language of words being with us altogether conventional, 
 it results that the inhabitants of our world cannot, in their 
 present state, understand one another except they are ac 
 quainted with the same conventional language. The language 
 of the ideas of thought being, on the contrary, above all con 
 vention, it results that it is spoken and understood by all 
 spirits without being obliged to learn it; for one affection al 
 ways manifests itself by the sound which is proper to it, and 
 one idea of thought by the articulation which alone agrees 
 with it. 
 
 From all that precedes we must necessarily conclude, that 
 the language which is spoken in the world of spirits is the real 
 universal language ; and that this language can never be un 
 derstood upon our earth, so long as men are immersed in 
 things purely natural and corporeal, and will not elevate them 
 selves to things really rational and intellectual. 
 
 Thus, every man who leaves this earth, is able to speak the 
 universal language as soon as he enters into the intermediate 
 world 5 and he can by this means converse, not only with the 
 spirits who have inhabited our earth, whatever may have been 
 their language here, but with spirits who may have belonged 
 to one of those innumerable earths which compose the natural 
 universe. The correspondence which exists between the 
 language of thought and the language of words, causes man, 
 in the first moments of his new sojourn, to speak this language 
 without being aware of it, believing that he is expressing him 
 self in the language he made use of in the world. 
 
 You have, no doubt, my dear sir, met with, among your ac 
 quaintances, some enthusiastic admirer of mucic, an honest 
 man, who believes in the immortality of the soul, after the 
 manner of our psychologists. Speak to him, I pray you ; of 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 199 
 
 our ideas concerning spiritual substances and forms ; tell him 
 that in the other world we shall live in a spiritual body in the 
 midst of an immaterial atmosphere. He will regard you at 
 -first with attention, to assure himself whether you are speak 
 ing seriously, and if he does not see you smile, he will think 
 you have lost your senses, though he may not tell yon so to 
 your face ; that will depend upon the degree of familiarity 
 which exists between you. Let not this contempt for your 
 new faith disconcert you, but ask him if he believes in the 
 immortality of the soul : he will answer you in the affirma- 
 tiye j ask him if he thinks that the soul of the good man will 
 live in a happy state : he will tell you, yes ; ask him if he 
 knows in what consists the happiness of that soul ; upon this 
 point his answer will be in the negative ; ask him next what 
 it is in this world which affords him thy most delightful enjoy 
 ment ; he will answer, " Music ; nothing, 7 he will tell yon, 
 " electrifies all the faculties of my soul like the melodious ac 
 cents of the human voice, united with the sound of instru 
 ments ; it is to me the most Inply pleasure j it is then only 
 that 1 enjoy life in fulness." Interrupt him quickly, (for this 
 subject being inexhaustible, he knows not when to stop,) and 
 say to him, " You love it well, my dear friend, and when you 
 think of the other life, you hope your soul will be happy 
 there. You do not know, it is true, in what its happiness will 
 consist j but I. ask you, can it be happy if deprived of a con 
 course of sweet sounds ?" At these words you will see him 
 hang his head and reflect. Continue : " If the good man must 
 live happy in the other life, and you do not doubt that, God is 
 too just to deprive him of what constituted the charm of his 
 life ; and as God must have foreseen everything, should there 
 have been upon the earth but one single musician, a good man, 
 the divine justice would have provided for him, in his immor 
 tal existence, those innocent pleasures which were here the re 
 creation of his earthly existence." 1 Your friend, whom these 
 9* 
 
200 LETTERS TO A 
 
 words will relieve from the painful reflections into which you 
 had first plunged him, will then raise his head with an air of 
 satisfaction, and say: "You are right ; why should there not 
 be music and singing in the other life 1 The Grecian philoso 
 phers thought that music prevailed in heaven, and constituted 
 the principal amusement of the Gods and virtuous souls ; arid 
 do not our theologians speak of choirs of angels?" " This ifi 
 true," you will reply, "but I would have you to observe, that 
 without an atmosphere it is impossible there should be sounds. 
 And these accents of the human voice which you prefer to the 
 sounds of all instruments, how could they be produced if souls 
 do not speak, at least, if they do not sing ? And how could 
 they sing if they had not a spiritual body, and if they were 
 not surrounded with an immaterial atmosphere ? And your 
 own soul, how will it be possible to hear sounds, if it has 
 neither substance nor form, as from your philosophical princi 
 ples you believe ?" Do not press him further j tell him to 
 compare these principles, of which he seems so proud, with 
 those whose simple enunciation has almost made you pass for 
 a fool in his eyes; and, if after having maturely reflected upon 
 spiritual substances and forms, upon the existence of the soul in 
 a human form, and concerning immaterial atmospheres, he 
 still persists in his principles, of which I doubt, he will respect 
 yours, and never permit himself again to laugh at them. 
 
 Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 LET us continue, mv dear sir, our examination of questions 
 of detail. 
 
 In the preceding letters, we have taken man at his depar 
 ture from the world and introduced him into the spiritual 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 201 
 
 world. You have seen him, in the midst of spirits, speaking 
 their language without having learned it, associating with 
 those whose character has some analogy with his own, and 
 preserving, as in our world, his individuality by means of a 
 human form which, being proper to him, thus distinguishes 
 him from all other spirits. Let us now enquire what this form 
 is, and first see if it is the same as that which he had at his 
 departure from our world. 
 
 &s the other life is a continuation of this, and death is 
 merely a passage from one world into another, the tirst mo 
 ments of a new existence must be conformable to the last mo 
 ments of the preceding. You recollect besides, that there is 
 a gradation in everything which is subject to the Djvine Or 
 der, as well in the spiritual as in the material universe. 
 Man entering into the other life preserves then the physiog 
 nomy by which he was known in the world : the infant enters 
 an infant ; the young man with all thv freshness of youth ; the 
 old man with all his wrinkles and frailty ; and this, because 
 man, as a spirit, though divested of his i material body, is then 
 in the exteriors of his spiritual body. But he does not always 
 remain in those exteriors : he by degrees puts off this second 
 clothing of his real spiritual body and retains no more traces 
 of it when he leaves the world of spirits, whether to enter into 
 heaven, or to precipitate himself into hell. (See the 10th let 
 ter). Thus during this new phasis of his life, man is prepar 
 ing to manilest the interiors of his spirit, and his countenance 
 becoming by degrees the mirror of his affections, or rather of 
 his ruling love, which always tends to development, his phy 
 siognomy must appear more and more beautiful, if his ruling 
 love is good, and more arid more deformed if his ruling love 
 is bad. All this evidently results from principles previously 
 established. 
 
 But here a question arises which you would certainly pre 
 sent, if I should pass by it in silence, for it is very rare that it 
 
2U2 LETTERS TO A 
 
 is not addressed to us when we are speaking of the mode of 
 existence in the other world. Do we there become young 
 again? exclaim almost always with eagerness those who have 
 passed the spring time of life. 
 
 This question is not resolved by what precedes; for from 
 the circumstance that the physiognomy of man will become 
 more and more beautiful, it does i/ot follow that he will him 
 self again return to the flower of youth. Thus to speak only 
 of the old man, all that results from what has been said is, that 
 the old man whose ruling love is good, will, in the other life, 
 be a beautiful old man, and possess the tastes and inclinations 
 of a wise old man ; but the question is repeated, will he again 
 become young with the tastes and inclinations of youth 1 
 
 The reply, which we make in the affirmative, generally 
 pleases those who interrogate us, because there are so few who 
 do not regret their youthful age ; but the greater part, not 
 contented with this simple answer alone, enquire further, how 
 such a transformation can be effected. As I do not believe 
 that you are a man to be contented with a simple yes, I will 
 explain how, in the spiritual world, the old man can become a 
 young man. 
 
 But, previously, permit me to make some reflections. They 
 will lead us to establish first, that although, in our world, man 
 grows old, it cannot be the same with him in the spiritual 
 world. Like all the bodies of the animal and vegetable.king- 
 doms, the human body, after having reached its maximum of 
 youth and strength, enters upon a period of decay which ter 
 minates in a complete dissolution. Such is the law of natural 
 order. The aged never return to their youth, and the virtue of 
 the fountain of youth exist only in the writings of poets, and 
 the imagination of some superstitious persons. 
 
 How many regrets this law of natural order every day ex 
 cites ! how many complaints it continually gives rise to ! and 
 yet it is altogether conformable to the love and wisdom of the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 203 
 
 Creator. Consider what would have happened, if it had been 
 possible for man to be always young and live eternally upon 
 this earth, and you will readily acknowledge that this law of 
 natural order, which excites so many murmurs, proves also, 
 like all his other laws, the merciful views of God towards the 
 human race. 
 
 Our globe renews its inhabitants three or four times in an 
 age, and yet some are apprehensive that it may become too 
 populous ! And statistics prove that the earth would be very 
 soon unable to nourish its inhabitants, if the population con 
 tinued to follow its increasing progression. What then would 
 have happened if man had not been subject to natural death? 
 A. consequence of this terrestrial immortality would inevitably 
 have been a limitation as to numbers ; and already thousands 
 of years would have passed since the closing of the list. There 
 would have been no more births from that time. Imagine 
 then the earth covered with inhabitants, the youngest of which 
 would be many thousand years old : admit further, according 
 to our supposition, that they all remained in the prime of life, 
 and tell me if, in that case, from the nature of the human heart 
 which under the penalty of satiety demands a continual varie 
 ty in all things, the terrestrial immortality of these men would 
 not have become a burden to them ? 
 
 Besides, if it had been thus, the infinity of God would no 
 longer be manifested in his works ; for the limitation of the 
 number of men upon the terrestrial globe would have been a 
 proof of the limitation of his power. God being infinite, all 
 things produced must be unlimited, or in other words, the in 
 finity of God must manifest itself in creation by indefinites. 
 Now, in order that indefinites may exist in the natural uni 
 verse, which is subject to the laws of space and time, it is ab 
 solutely necessary that all the bodies of the vegetable and an 
 imal kingdoms, to give place to others, should successively 
 pass through periods of growth and decay. 
 
204 LETTERS TO A 
 
 It was then conformable to the love and wisdom of God. that 
 man, for whom the universe was created, should be but a so- 
 journer upon this material earth, whose limits are fixed and in 
 variable, and that he should only enjoy immortality his in 
 contestable heritage, as a creature in the image and likeness of 
 God on a spiritual earth, unlimited as all that is independent 
 of time and space, and consequently capable of receiving to all 
 eternity the generations that will successively pass on our 
 globe. 
 
 In what blindness then are they, whose greatest desire is to 
 live eternally in our world, and who blaspheme the Divinity, 
 by murmuring against that law which subjects man to natural 
 death ? They thus abuse that conservative instinct which God 
 has impressed upon the heart of man, and which makes him 
 dread death. If it is the will of God that man should be, by 
 an irresistible attraction, attached to his existence here below, 
 it is because man has a function to perform upon this earth, as 
 well for his own interest as for the accomplishment of the de 
 signs of the Divinity towards the human race in general. In 
 impressing upon man the fear of death, it is the will of God, 
 without however forcing his liberty, to prevent him as far pos 
 sible from arrogating to himself the right of discontinuing this 
 function, and thus opposing his merciful views. Without this 
 fear of death, would the religious principle, which classes su 
 icide among the most enormous crimes, be strong enough to 
 prevent men from precipitating themselves in crowds into the 
 other life? and what then would become of the plans of the 
 Divine Providence ? In fearing death, we do but obey the laws 
 of order, and so long as our fear does not surpass our confidence 
 in the divine mercy, it is moderated, and does not produce any 
 prejudicial effect, because we remain in order ; but in the con 
 trary case, it renders us unhappy, because in thus abusing the 
 conservative instinct, we are in order no longer. 
 
 Man being merely a passenger upon this earth, it is by nat- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 205 
 
 ural death that he should leave it; for violent and premature 
 deaths are only exceptional cases; it is necessary then that his* 
 material body, after having attained, by an ascending progres- 
 BI ,ri its maximum of strength, should retrogade to the last degree 
 of decay, by passing successively through the periods of in 
 fancy, youth, manhood, old age and decrepitude. In short, 
 man grows old in our world, because it is necessary that he- 
 should leave it. 
 
 But should it be the same with him in the spiritual world ? 
 Why should he grow old there since he is to remain there 
 eternally ? The cause ceasing, the effect must disappear. It- 
 is true that the world of spirits is ^self but a preparatory state, 
 and man must also leave it to enter into his definitive spiritual 
 state ; but this new passage cannot be compared, upon this 
 point, with the first ; it is the passage from one spiritual state 
 to another spiritual state, and not from a place to a spiritual 
 state, such as is the passage which it performed by natural 
 death. Besides, you will presently acknowledge, that to effect, 
 this new passage, far from being obliged to grow old, the spirit 
 on the contrary must resume all its powers. 
 
 I come now to our question : How does man become young 
 again in the spiritual world ? To render this discussion more 
 clear, let us have recourse to examples. 
 
 Let us take, for the first example, an old man whose ruling 
 love is good. On leaving our earth, this old man enters into 
 the world of spirits with his own physiognomy : his dotage, the 
 tastes and inclinations of old age follow him there, as he is 
 then in all the exteriors of his spirit ; in a word, he would be 
 lieve himself still upon our earth, if where he now lives he 
 were not deprived of the sight of persons whom he has left in 
 our world, and if he did not see some of those who have pre 
 ceded him into the other life. 
 
 In his new dwelling place, what will become of his feeble 
 spiritual body? The analogy which exists between the 
 
206 LETTERS TO A 
 
 laws of natural order and those of spiritual order will inform 
 us. 
 
 You are not ignorant that, in our world, the material body 
 is at every instant subject to changes ; they are insensible, it 
 is true, but they are not the less real j and strictly speaking, it 
 may be said, that our body of to-day is not identically the same 
 which we had yesterday. You know also that these changes 
 are owing to the continual loss which the body sustains in its 
 exercise, and to the reparations which it continually receives 
 from the atmosphere which surrounds it, and the aliments by 
 which it is nourished. 
 
 Why should it be otherwise with the spiritual body in the 
 world of spirits ? Is not this body organized spiritually > 
 as ours is materially ? Does it not live upon an earth like ours, 
 covered also with productions and surrounded with atmos 
 pheres ? Why should it not exercise the same functions, and 
 be subject to continual changes in consequence also of loss and 
 reparations ? 
 
 But, you will say, that by these successive changes, in this 
 world, we become old, while in the other, on the contrary, if 
 we enter there old, we shall become young ; whence this man 
 ifest opposition ? It proceeds from the characteristic differ 
 ence of the two worlds. Here we live in time, we must there 
 fore be subject to the laws of time ; thence the successive pe 
 riods which we call ages of life. In the other world, on the 
 contrary, as we are completely set free from the laws of time, 
 these periods or ages of life disappear and are succeeded by 
 states. Created in the image and likeness of God, who is VERY 
 MAN, our normal state must be that of a man, and not that of 
 an infant with whom the constitutive faculties of man are not 
 yet developed, nor that of an old man with whom these facul 
 ties have been blunted. Nevertheless, as all that proceeds 
 from order is effected, as we have seen, without violence, those 
 who enter as infants or old men, into the other life cannot but 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 207 
 
 by degress attain to the state of man, the one by increasing in 
 stature and the other by growing young again. This is the 
 principle. Let us return now to our old man, and to analogy, 
 and we shall be able to discover how such a change is effect 
 ed. You know that man is continually governed by his ruling 
 love, and that in the other life this love remains eternally, with 
 out the possibility of its ever being changed. As the ruling 
 love of our old man is good, this love must remove succes 
 sively from his heart all the bad affections which still beset it, 
 thus this old man, although still retaining the tastes and incli 
 nations, which he had when leaving our world, begins, from 
 the moment of his entrance into the other life, to profit by the 
 new lights which he has there acquired, to discriminate atten 
 tively between the good and eviJ, and the true and the false : 
 it is thus that he is able to struggle against his bad affections 
 and to root out his errors. He chooses with care his societies, 
 and seeks principally the company of old men, who are in a 
 spiritual state in affinity with his own. Then the air which 
 he breathes becomes more and more pure, the food with which 
 he is nourished becomes more and more healthy. 
 
 Here you would no doubt stop me to enquire if I make use 
 of a figure when I speak of food in the spiritual world. No, 
 my dear sir, I am not speaking figuratively, but really of the 
 thing itself. And why should you be astonished that they eat 
 and drink in the spiritual world, since you admit that they 
 breathe there? Why cry out against the word substan 
 tial food, since you admit in the other world earths, animals 
 of all kinds, fields with their crops, gardens with their fruit 
 trees, and in a word, all that exists in our world ? As the man- 
 spirit has a spiritual body, is it not necessary that it should be 
 nourished "? Arid how could he nourish it if he did not make 
 use of the products of the spiritual earth which he inhabits ? 
 But, you will answer, " If I have admitted all these things, it is 
 only, in regard to spirits, as correspondences of their affections 
 
208 LETTERS TO A 
 
 and thoughts, and I supposed that the nourishment of the man 
 spirit consisted in good affections and true thoughts, if he 
 was good j in bad affections and ialse thoughts, if he was 
 wicked." Well, it is just so that I understand it ; but observe, 
 I pray you, that it is a principle that every interior act man 
 ifests itself by an exterior act which corresponds to it. With 
 out this manifestation, the spiritual world would no longer be 
 a world, and we would then fall into the systems of philoso 
 phers and theologians who, by idealizing the other life, have 
 presented to men upon this subject ideas absolutely chimeri 
 cal, arid consequently inadmissible, which is the reason why 
 there are so few persons now who believe in the existence of 
 man after death. You had consequently adopted only the in 
 terior part of the fact, and entirely overlooked its exterior part. 
 The man-spirit, it is true, is nourished interiorly with affec 
 tions and thoughts ; but as the affections and thoughts are real 
 things, having substance and form, and not imaginary entities, 
 as philosophy pretends, and besides, as the spiritual world, 
 though within the man-spirit, is nevertheless manifested ex 
 teriorly to the eyes of his spiritual body, as I have explained 
 to you in my ninth letter, it is thence altogether evident that 
 the affections and thoughts with which the man-spirit is nour 
 ished interiorly, manifest themselves exteriorly in palpable 
 aliment with which he nourishes his spiritual body, absolutely 
 in the same manner as we nourish our material bodies on this 
 earth. 
 
 I have said, before this new digression, that by degrees our 
 old man breathes a purer air, nourishes himself with healthier 
 aliments : he breathes a purer air, because the spiritual atmos 
 phere which surrounds spirits alwajs corresponds to their 
 present state ; it becomes then purer for him in the degree 
 that he lives in society with more upright spirits : he nourislies 
 himself with healthier aliments, for the aliments with which 
 spirits nourish their bodies, always correspond to their affcc- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 209 
 
 tions and thoughts at the moment ; the solid aliments to their 
 affections, and the liquid aliments to their thoughts ; they be 
 come then healthier for him in the degree that his ruling love 
 removes the bad affections and false thoughts. Thus his spir 
 itual body, at first frail, will by degrees resume strength and 
 his strength will be always increasing, because his affections 
 will be always better and his thoughts always more beautiful. 
 Add to this, that man takes with him into the other world, all 
 his memory, and that it is only necessary for him to think of 
 any fact whatever of his natural life, to reproduce all the circum 
 stances which accompanied it in their least details, (13th let 
 ter,) and you will see that our old man must pass, in the world 
 of spirits, through states analogous to those of his terrestrial life ; 
 but as his ruling love is good, he will reject with disgust those 
 which were impregnated with evil and the false, and be de 
 lighted with those which included the good and the true. 
 
 All that precedes is, besides, conformable to the general 
 principles which we have previously discussed. You know 
 that in the whole spiritual world there exist, properly speak 
 ing, only affections and thoughts; that these affections are 
 good or bad, and these thoughts beautiful or deformed ; that 
 the good affections and beautiful thoughts proceed from good 
 itself and truth itself; and deformed affections and thoughts 
 proceed from the evil itself and the false itself, which have 
 been introduced by the fall; that all the innumerable objects, 
 which specially constitute the world of spirits, or the interme 
 diate world, are but various combinations of good and bad af 
 fections, of true and Jalse thoughts, and that all these objects 
 are themselves modified in their substance and form, by reason 
 of the modifications which the affections and thoughts un 
 dergo, of which they are the exterior representations. 
 
 Apply these principles to the body of the spirit, and you will 
 see that, simp t y a receptacle as the spirit itself is, of which it 
 is the exterior manifestation, this body should be modified ac- 
 
210 LETTERS TO A 
 
 cording as the spirit receives and appropriates good or evil ; 
 the true or the false, or in other words, according as the spirit 
 receives and appropriates good or bad affections, true or false 
 thoughts; and then you will be forced to conclude that ihe 
 spiritual body of the man-spirit whose ruling love is good, 
 must be continually strengthened, will become more and more 
 lovely in the intermediate world, until a degree of perfection is 
 attained which will permit the spirit to enter heaven and become 
 an angel. 
 
 Thus, our old man will not only become young again, but 
 he will besides partake of all that constitutes the beauty of a 
 young man, whatever may have been his visage or the con 
 formation of his body when living in our world. 
 
 This conclusion might give rise to an objection which it is 
 expedient to meet at once : If man, in the world of spirits, be 
 comes so different from what he was on the earth, how can 
 we, on entering that world, recognize those who have gone 
 there long before us? The answer is easy : Although the face 
 may have undergone many modifications, it ordinarily pre 
 serves some characteristic feature ; arid in most cases, it hap 
 pens there, what is very often observed on this earth, that they 
 recognize one another after a few seconds examination. If, 
 however the inspection of the face were not enough, as spirits 
 retain all their memory, and recall to their minds all the events 
 of their earthly life, better than on earth, (13th letter,) it be 
 comes easy for them to prove their identity, by citing the most 
 minute details of facts which passed between them in our 
 world. 
 
 Let us take for a second example an old man whose ruling 
 love is bad. Entering into the world of spirits, he also retains 
 his physiognomy, his decrepitude, his inclinations and tastes, 
 as he is in the exteriors of his spirit. His ruling love which 
 is bad. must remove successively from his heart all the good 
 affections which yet remain ; thus also on his arrival, this old 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 211 
 
 man, far from struggling against his bad passions, and seeking 
 to root out his errors, begins on the contrary, to take a disgust 
 at good affections and to ridicule the truths which he had in 
 his memory; he disdains the society of old men who act and 
 speak with wisdom, and seeks the company of those who are 
 in a spiritual state in affinity with his own. 
 
 While this old man lived in our world, his bad passions had 
 been for the most part deadened, so to speak, by the frailty of 
 the material body, whose worn out wheel-work yields with 
 difficulty to the impulse which comes from the interior j but 
 when he is disengaged from this material body, they gradually 
 resume some strength, and afterwards become more and more 
 active, in the degree that his ruling love removes the few 
 good affections which remain with him. Thus the air which 
 he breathes becomes heavier, the aliments with which he is 
 nourished become more and more gross ; but nevertheless his 
 spiritual body, at first feeble, continually gains strength, for 
 his affections becoming more and more violent and his thoughts 
 more and more deformed, the spiritual body, which is nothing 
 but their exterior manifestation, becomes for that very reason 
 so much the stronger. This old man then also becomes 
 young again j but far from manifesting the freshness of youth, 
 he becomes more and more hideous, and when at last their no 
 longer remains in him any good affection, nor any true 
 thoaghtj he precipitates himself into hell and becomes a 
 devil. 
 
 From all that precedes, you see that we become young again 
 in the other life. I could, it is true, have confined myself in 
 this discussion to presenting to you the principle, that is to 
 say, to supporting myself only upon the characteristic differ 
 ence of the two worlds ; for it is very evident that old age, 
 being an accident inherent in time and matter, must be dissi 
 pated when we are disengaged from the laws which govern 
 matter and time. But, as in this letter I have entered into 
 
212 LETTERS TO A 
 
 particulars concerning the world of spirits, I have dwelt upon 
 the subject in corroborating the principle by all the considera 
 tions which I. have just presented to yon. 
 
 To complete this picture, it is expedient to add a few words 
 on the subject of the child who enters into the other life. 
 You have already seen that it there becomes a man, and this, 
 on the sole consideration that God being VERY MAN, and hav 
 ing created man in his image and likeness, to people the spir 
 itual world, the normal state of the spirit must necessarily be 
 the state of complete man. You have seen also, that the child 
 does not attain to man s estate but by degrees, and in a man 
 ner analogous to the growth of the child in our world, and this 
 because in all that depends upon order there is gradation } and 
 no violent interruption. I will only add that all those who die 
 before they have enjoyed liberty and rationality in our world 
 faculties which alone render man spiritually responsible for 
 his actions are all without an exception taken to heaven and 
 become angels, when they have by degrees attained to the 
 state of complete manhood. As to the manner in which the 
 infant increases in stature in the spiritual world, to explain this 
 to you, it would be necessary to enter into developments, 
 which you will find in the treatise of Swedenborg concerning 
 Heaven and Hell, and principally in his posthumous treatise 
 concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, where he 
 enters into the most profound and most interesting details con 
 cerning the formation of man. 
 
 My letters having at length induced you to undertake the 
 reading of the works of Swedenborg, which treat particularly 
 of the spiritual world, it is unnecessary now for me to enter 
 into other details which relate to that world j you will find in 
 these works all that you can desire to know, and your convic 
 tion, already formed, cannot but be more and more corroborated 
 by the studies in which you are about to engage. 
 
 But, my dear sir, I have hitherto only fulfilled for you the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 213 
 
 least difficult part of my task. I promised to explain to you 
 the doctrines of the True Christian Religion, after you have un 
 derstood and admitted the principles of true religious philoso 
 phy. I am far from retracting my promise j but, though you 
 now acknowledge these principles, and however strong may be 
 your desire to proceed to the investigation of these doctrines 
 without delay, the exposition of them cannot however be pre 
 sented to you, until after a new preparation, which will oblige 
 me to enter into extensive developments. You are aware that 
 all the doctrines of Christianity repose upon what are com 
 monly called the Sacred Books, or Sacred Scriptures, which 
 we by a single expression call the WORD. Now, on the sub 
 ject of the Sacred Scriptures or the WORD, you have, like all 
 men of the world, a crowd of prejudices, which it is indispen 
 sable to root out. Though you may have preserved for it 
 some of that respect which you were accustomed to pay to it 
 in your childhood, you are far from having the conviction that 
 it is divine in all its parts; and yet this conviction is abso 
 lutely necessary; it is consequently necessary to make it pen 
 etrate deep into your heart before I attempt to explain to you 
 its doctrines. 
 
 This is the task which I am about to undertake in a second 
 series of letters. Accept, &c. 
 
 10 
 
THE 
 
 UNIVEESI 
 
 LETTERS 
 TO A MAN OF THE WORLD, 
 
 SECOND SERIES. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 You were conscious, my dear sir, at the commencement of oui 
 correspondence, of a deep necessity of believing. Weary of an 
 incessant whirl in the empty void of our philosophers, and 
 scarcely gaining a glimpse of any foundation on which to stand, 
 you at length became convinced of the nothingness of their 
 systems ; but though always on your guard against the doc 
 trines of the theologians, who carry written on their banners. 
 " Shut your eyes and believe," yet you knew not how to escape 
 from your painful position. You desired to believe, it is true, 
 but you wished your eyes to remain open, and on no account 
 would you consent to their being bandaged ; you felt yourself, 
 therefore, but little disposed to return to the religious beliefs in 
 culcated upon your childhood, and which you put away imme 
 diately upon your entrance upon the world ; thus, despite of 
 your earnest desire, you saw yourself reduced solely to the be 
 lief in a God, the Creator of the universe, and still, how vague 
 was this belief, when you found yourself unable to form any 
 idea of this God ! It was then that, having heard mention made 
 of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem, you evinced a determi 
 nation to become acquainted with them, and for that purpose 
 saw fit to address yourself to me. If I have been agreeably 
 surprised at your application, I have, on the other hand, con 
 sidered it a duty to respond to so laudable a wish, and have 
 
216 LETTERS TO A 
 
 therefore been prompt to enter upon the exposition which you 
 desired, endeavoring at all times to adapt myself to the present 
 state of your mind, that is to say, to develope first in order those 
 propositions which it would be most easy for you to admit. 
 
 Although I have as yet brought to view but a small part of 
 the sublime truths revealed by Swedenborg, yet your position 
 has already become essentially altered ; your belief in God has 
 risen from its former vagueness to the strength of a firm convic 
 tion, and, to say nothing of the great number of truths you have 
 admitted, you have heard also that man in dying continues still 
 to be a man, and merely passes from one world into another, 
 altogether as real and even more real than the former. Here, 
 then, are certainly two points of belief, which, of themselves 
 alone, ought to effect a happy revolution in all your ideas, and 
 I am not therefore at all surprised by the intimation, that you 
 have experienced an inward satisfaction and joy of which you 
 had never before been conscious. Still it is not this which has 
 afforded me the most pleasure on your account ; to believe in 
 God and in the immortality of the soul is, it is true, something ; 
 but this something is reduced to near nothing, provided one goes 
 no farther. The circumstance which affords me most pleasure 
 is, to have become apprised of the fact that you are now con 
 scious of an inward want no less urgent than the former. Your 
 first want was to believe j that which you now feel is, to become 
 really a Christian. You have been struck with certain ideas 
 which I have presented to you on the subject of the Trinity, 
 and of Redemption ; and now that you have learned that true 
 Christianity acknowledges but one only God in the single Per 
 son of the Lord Jesus Christ, you experience a lively desire to 
 arrive at the knowledge of this One True God. There is here, 
 my dear sir, a very important progress, on which I am im 
 pelled to congratulate you. 
 
 But to attain to an interior conviction that the Lord is in 
 deed the Creator of the Universe, the Redeemer of men, and 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 217 
 
 their Regenerator that is to say, the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Spirit you have still much ground to travel over ; for you 
 have still many prejudices to overcome, many philosophical 
 errors to extirpate, and a great number of truths to admit. We 
 cannot advance otherwise than very slowly, for you, doubtless, 
 desire that, in this second series, I should continue to follow 
 the course adopted in the first ; that is to say, that I shall 
 all along address myself to your intelligence, as is also my in 
 tention. The intelligence, or, rather, the understanding, is in 
 fact, one of the two faculties which constitute man ; it is the 
 torch which enlightens his will. Without intelligence man 
 would not be man ; and to pretend that he is to forego the use 
 of it, in dealing with religious questions, is to propose that man 
 should renounce one of the most precious gifts of the Creator, 
 that faculty which distinguishes him from the brutes, and by 
 which alone he can know and admire his God. I shall, there 
 fore, be especially on my guard against demanding of you the 
 sacrifice of your intelligence ; yet, as the intimate conviction 
 that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only God of the universe 
 springs from genuine faith, this is the moment for recalling to 
 your recollection certain expressions in my First Letter, on the 
 subject of the conviction which one acquires by reasoning : "Be 
 it well remembered that, however strong this conviction may 
 be, nevertheless it will not be faith ; but it will conduct you to 
 the faith which God alone gives to man, when man is prepared 
 to receive it." 
 
 Thus you have been already instructed that there is a dis 
 tinction to be made between a conviction acquired by reasoning, 
 and to which the name of faith is often given, and the true faith 
 which the Lord alone bestows upon man. In the position which 
 you now occupy, with the precautions that ought still to abide 
 with you, it is evidently needful that you first acquire, by hu 
 man means, a strong conviction before you will be able to receive 
 a true faith. This faith is not given arbitrarily, nor in an instant, 
 
 10 
 
218 LETTERS TO A 
 
 as many suppose. Those who think to have thus received faith 
 are in the greatest delusion, and have only an enthusiastic faith, 
 which is therefore rather injurious than advantageous to them, 
 hecause it does not come to them of the Lord. God never de 
 parts from the laws of his Divine Order, which are the laws of 
 eternal justice ; but the first notions of human justice, which is 
 merely a reflection of the Divine Justice, do they not declare that 
 a father would he unjust who should distribute arbitrarily his 
 goods among his children ? How, then, can we suppose that 
 God, who is Justice itself and the common Father of men, should 
 arbitrarily bestow faith ? If faith could be given without some 
 kind of co-operation on the part of man, He would certainly give 
 it to all without exception. As to the conditions in which man 
 ought to be, in order to be enabled to receive true faith, you 
 will see very soon, that they lie principally in his interior life, 
 or, what is the same thing, in the love which directs his actions ; 
 so far as man remains in the love of self, it is impossible for him 
 to obtain true faith, but the moment that he compels himself to 
 resist this love, and to live devoutly, he becomes capable of re 
 ceiving it. 
 
 Nevertheless, true faith, of which the principal point consists 
 in the recognition of the Lord Jesus Christ as the God who has 
 created the universe, this faith, I say, cannot be received by 
 man unless he believes sincerely in the Divinity of the Sacred 
 Scripture, or of the Word ; and it is on this account that this 
 series of letters will be, as I have already intimated, devoted to 
 proving that the Word is divine in every part. 
 
 But since, in the position in which you now stand, it is neces 
 sary that you acquire a strong conviction, before hoping to 
 attain a true faith, I am in duty bound to neglect no means 
 which may at present tend to prepare you for this result j I shall, 
 with this view, submit to your notice certain passages of Swe- 
 denborg, taken from the Arcana Ccdestia : you will then see 
 that, although man is not interdicted the use of his intelligence 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 219 
 
 while dealing with the doctrine of faith, it is at least necessary 
 that he should be interiorly in a suitable state ; as otherwise the 
 use that he makes of his intelligence, far from benefitting, will 
 be positively injurious to him. I earnestly solicit your whole 
 attention to these passages ; you will meet in them, it is true, 
 certain new terms, or terms taken in a new sense ; but in the 
 main they so carry their import with them, that you will have 
 little difficulty in grasping it. Swedenborg as is permitted in every 
 new science, has had recourse to neology, but still without in 
 the least abusing it ; and, if you will allow this slight digression, 
 I would add, that it is important to consecrate these new terms 
 in our modern languages, and to endeavor even, at all times, 
 to translate them literally ; to allow the least paraphrase in the 
 text would be to incur the risk of misconstruction j there is not, 
 in fact, a single word in the writings of Swedenborg which does 
 not suit its place, and for which another could well be substi 
 tuted, for he always employs the proper term. 
 
 " To respect the doctrine of faith," cays Swedenborg, " from 
 rationals, is very different from respecting rationals from the 
 doctrine of faith ; to respect the doctrine of faith from rationals, 
 is not to believe the Word, or doctrine thence deduced, be 
 fore there is a persuasion wrought from rationals that it is true ; 
 whereas to respect rationals from the doctrine of faith, is first 
 to believe the Word, or doctrine thence, and afterwards to con 
 firm the same by rationals j the former case is inverted order, 
 and effects that nothing is believed, but the latter case is genuine 
 order, and effects a better belief. 
 
 "There are, therefore, two principles, one which leads to all 
 folly and madness, another which leads to all intelligence and 
 wisdom ; the former principle is to deny all things, as when a man 
 says in his heart that he cannot believe such things, until he is 
 convinced by what he can comprehend, or be sensible of ; this 
 principle is what leads to all folly and madness, and may be called 
 the negative principle ; the other principle is to affirm the things 
 
220 LETTERS TO A 
 
 which are of doctrine from the Word, as when a man think sand 
 believes with himself that they are true because the Lord has 
 said so ; this principle is what leads to all intelligence and wis 
 dom, and may be called the affirmative principle. They who 
 think from the negative principle, the more they consult things 
 rational, scientific, and philosophical, do but so much the more 
 plunge themselves into darkness, till at length they come to deny 
 all things; the reason is, because no one can from things inferior 
 comprehend things superior, that is, things spiritual and celestial, 
 still less things Divine, inasmuch as they transcend all under 
 standing : and moreover in such case, all things are involved in 
 negatives from the principle : but, on the contrary, they who 
 think from the affirmative principle, may confirm themselves in 
 things spiritual and celestial by whatever rationals, by what 
 ever scientifics, yea, by philosophical, as far as lies in their 
 power, all such things being given them for confirmation, and 
 affording them fuller ideas. Moreover, there are some persons, 
 who are in doubt before they deny, and there are others, who 
 are in doubt before they affirm ; they who are in doubt before 
 they deny, are those who incline to a life of evil, and when this 
 life bears them away, then as much as they think concerning 
 things spiritual and celestial, so much they deny ; but they who 
 are in doubt before they affirm, are those who incline to a life 
 of good, to which life when they suffer themselves to be bent by 
 the Lord, then as much as they think concerning those things, 
 so much they affirm them." A. C., n. 2568. 
 
 " They who are in the negative principle in regard to the truth 
 of what is in the Word, saying in their hearts, that they will then 
 believe, when they are persuaded by rationals and scientifics, 
 are in such a state, that they never believe, not even when con 
 vinced by the sensuals of the body, as by the sight, the hearing, 
 and the touch, for they always frame new reasonings against 
 such convictions, whereby at length they totally extinguish all 
 faith, and at the same time turn the light of the rational into dark- 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 221 
 
 ness, because into falses. But they who are in the affirmative 
 principle, that is, who believe what is in the Word to be true, 
 because the Lord has declared it, are in such a state that by ra- 
 tionals and scientifics, yea by sensuals, they are continually con 
 firmed and their ideas illustrated and corroborated ; this is the 
 case with every one who is in the affirmative principle, for man 
 has light from no other source than by means of rationals and 
 scientifics." A. C., n. 2588. 
 
 Swedenborg gives, in the same article, a number of illustrative 
 examples ; I will .transcribe only one of them. 
 
 According to the doctrine of the "Word, the first and princi 
 pal thing of doctrine is love to the Lord and charity towards the 
 neighbor ; they who are in the affirmative in this, may enter into 
 whatever rationals and scientifics, yea, sensuals, they please> 
 every one according to his gift, his science, and his experience, 
 yea, the more they enter, the more they are confirmed, for uni 
 versal nature is full of confirmation. But they who deny this 
 first and principal of doctrine, and wish first to be convinced 
 that it is so, by scientifics and rationals, never suffer themselves 
 to be convinced, because they deny in heart, and continually in 
 sist on some other principle, which they believe essential : at 
 length by confirmations of their own principle, they so blind 
 themselves, that they cannot even know what love to the Lord 
 is and what love towards the neighbor is ; and inasmuch as they 
 confirm themselves in things contrary thereto, they also finally 
 confirm themselves in this, that there cannot be any other love 
 attended with delight, but the love of self and of the world, and 
 their confirmation herein is such, that, if not in doctrine, yet in 
 life, they embrace infernal love, instead of heavenly love. But 
 with those, who are neither in the negative, nor in the affirma 
 tive, but in a doubting (principle) before they deny or affirm, the 
 case is as was said above, n. 2568, viz., that they who incline 
 to a life of evil, fall into the negative principle, but they who 
 incline to a life of good, are led into the affirmative." 
 
222 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Your actual position, my dear sir, seems to me to be indicated 
 with sufficient clearness in these passages. It is certain that you 
 are not in the Affirmative on the subject of the Word, since you 
 do not admit that it has been uttered by God himself. It is cer 
 tain also that you are not in the Negative, since, under the con 
 scious need of becoming really a Christian, you have reached 
 the point of desiring to recognise the Divinity of the Word, 
 which forms the basis of Christianity ; it is, therefore, the Dubi- 
 tative position that you now occupy. If you were in doubt be 
 fore denial, I should anxiously avoid attempting to convince you 
 of the Divinity of the Word, for in that case, I should be really 
 culpable in directing your meditations to a subject like this, 
 without any probability of success ; but as everything evinces 
 that you are in doubt before affirming, I do not hesitate to 
 present to you the means of emerging from this doubt, and of 
 arriving in the end at a complete conviction of the Divinity of 
 the Word. 
 
 I shall follow, then, in this new discussion, the course which 
 I have all along adopted in the former. It is not by employing the 
 common places of the old theology that one can hope to con 
 vince on this point a man of the world, as experience has but 
 too well shown their utter impotency for such a purpose ; but 
 the end may be gained by a successive development of the sub 
 lime truths revealed by Swedenborg. As to yourself, my dear 
 sir, when you have learned these truths, you will believe in the 
 Word, as you have believed in the God-Man ; as you have be 
 lieved in a soul in the human form ; in a word, as you have be 
 lieved in another world, composed of spiritual substances and 
 forms. You will then be fully in the Affirmative principle, and 
 you will be able, without difficulty or danger, to make use of the 
 Rationals, Scientifics, and Philosophies, which will furnish you 
 with new confirmatory proofs ; hut in the mean time, while this 
 process of conviction is going on, I have one thing to aak of you, 
 and that for your own sake, which is, that you would unceas- 
 
A MAN OF THE WORLD 223 
 
 ingly bestow the greatest attention upon the subject matter of 
 the various passages which I shall cite. 
 
 Accept, &c 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 IF I have suffered a long time to elapse between my last letter 
 and this, it is not, my dear sir, without a motive, as you may 
 presume. Before entering upon a subject so important as that 
 which is going to occupy our attention, it was the part of pru 
 dence to allow you time for mature reflection upon the passages 
 of Swedenborg which I had cited. Everything proved to me, 
 in truth, that you were rather in doubt before affirming, than in 
 doubt before denying ; but, nevertheless, that the proof might be 
 complete, I desired to receive from you a formal declaration. I 
 have now, since, after sufficient examination, you have acknowl- 
 edge4 yourself that you were led to the study of religious matters, 
 not by mere curiosity, but by an urgent necessity of knowing 
 your God, the most perfect conviction that you are in an affir 
 mative state, and hence am ready to enter with you upon the 
 examination of the Bible, or the Word, in order to dissipate 
 your doubts upon its sanctity, and to convince you that it is 
 really the Word of God, and, consequently, Divine in all its parts. 
 
 I will commence this examination by an expose of the Word, 
 presenting it to you from the origin of all things, and giving you, 
 BO to speak, its history down to the present time. 
 
 If you will recur to what was said upon the Creation in the 
 preceding letters, you will find that the universe emanated from 
 Divine Love, but that it is by Divine Wisdom that it was formed 
 or created. This is still farther evident from the fact, that with 
 out the operation of Divine Wisdom the universe could not pos- 
 10* 
 
224 LETTERS TO A 
 
 sibly have existed ; for the emanations of Love could have been 
 neither distinct nor varied : or, in other words, there would have 
 been no objects, and, consequently, no creation, because there 
 would have been no forms; it is Love that furnished the sub 
 stances, but it is by Wisdom that each substance was clothed 
 with a form which constituted its existence ; thus the universe 
 owes its being to Divine Love, and its existence to Divine 
 Wisdom. t 
 
 Hence, when it is said in John i. 1, 3, " In the beginning the 
 Word was with God, and all things were made by It," it is very 
 evident that by the Word nothing else is meant than the Divine 
 Wisdom. 
 
 The Word [La Parole], or Divine Wisdom, by which all 
 things were made, is what the Greeks called iogo.s, the Latins, 
 Verbum, and what is generally called, at the present day, the 
 Word \le Verbs ]. Taken in this sense, you can by no means 
 doubt that the Word is Divine ; but when you consider the writ 
 ten Book, to which the name Word is given, you question with 
 yourself its Divinity, because you do not seize upon the identity 
 of this Book with the Word by which all things were created ; 
 and yet the identity is perfect, as you may be convinced by the 
 sequel of this expose. 
 
 Since the Word has caused the existence of the universe, or 
 has created it, it is also the Word which causes it to subsist, or 
 preserves it ; for preservation is perpetual creation, just as sub 
 sistence is perpetual existence. In order to preserve the uni 
 verse, the Word is everywhere in action, and in all things it 
 acts according to the recipient, that is, according to the confor 
 mation of the thing which receives, and according to the use for 
 which it was created ; viz. : in every object of the mineral king 
 dom, according to its form and its use, as also in every vegetable, 
 in every animal, and likewise in man j but with man, whose 
 form is the image of God, and whose use is to become an angel 
 of heaven, it acts with plenitude. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 225 
 
 In the earliest times, when everything was still in a state of 
 integrity, the Word found nowhere the least obstacle to its re 
 ception, and everything then maintained itself in order ; the hu 
 man receptacles were continually open, and nothing prevented 
 the Divine Wisdom from penetrating them. Men, thus directed 
 by the Word, lived happily upon the earths by conforming them 
 selves to the laws of Divine Order, and when they laid aside 
 their mortal bodies they found themselves immediately in the 
 heavens. 
 
 Such were the men upon our earth who constituted the Most 
 Ancient Church, designated in Genesis under the name of Adam 
 or Man. " In the Most Ancient Church," says Swedenborg, " the 
 Word was not written, but was revealed to every one who was 
 of the church, for they were celestial men, thus in the perception 
 of good and truth like the angels, with whom also they had fel 
 lowship ; thus they had the Word written in their hearts. And 
 inasmuch as they were celestial, and in society with angels, all 
 things which they saw and apprehended by any sense were to 
 them representative and significative of things celestial and 
 spiritual, which are in the Lord s kingdom ; so that they saw 
 indeed worldly and terrestrial things with their eyes, or appre 
 hended them by their other senses, but from them and by them 
 they thought concerning things celestial and spiritual : it was 
 for this cause, and not otherwise, that they were able to speak 
 with angels, for the things which are with the angels are celes 
 tial and spiritual, and when they present themselves to man, 
 they fall into such things as are with man in the world." A. 
 C., n. 2896. 
 
 You may readily obtain an account of t the state of these men, 
 if you will recur to what was said of the spirit of man, and of 
 the correspondence of the things of the spiritual world with 
 those of the natural world, in the preceding letters. You have 
 seen there that man has in himself the spiritual world, and that 
 this world is manifested exteriorly before him as often as his 
 
226 LETTERS TO A 
 
 spiritual man is open. Now, with the men of the Most Ancient 
 Church, the spiritual man was constantly open, and it was for 
 this cause that they were in society with the angels, not with 
 all indiscriminately, hut with those who were at the moment in 
 their spiritual man ; hence they saw them face to face, as man 
 in the world sees his fellow-man. When they conversed with 
 them, the angels, who were not in the least occupied with worldly 
 and terrestrial things, spake of celestial and spiritual things in 
 angelic language which was entirely unintelligible to man ; but, 
 in consequence of the correspondence of the things of heaven 
 with those of the earth, the expressions which they used were 
 changed for man into analogous expressions concerning the 
 world ; and as man then understood correspondences perfectly, 
 and consequently had a full understanding of representatives and 
 significati-ves, he immediately apprehended in these worldly and 
 terrestrial expressions the celestial and spiritual things which 
 they contained. 
 
 Thus, with these men of the Most Ancient Church, Divine 
 Wisdom, which is the ensemble of all the laws of Divine order, 
 was graven interiorly upon the depth o-f their heart, and inscribed 
 exteriorly upon natural objects and natural events ; entire nature 
 was with them the book of God, or the representative theatre of 
 the Lord s kingdom, and each object, each event, was a leaf of 
 that admirable book in which they read fluently. That book, 
 always displayed before their eyes and engraven upon their heart, 
 was the Word, inasmuch as it contained the Divine Wisdom. 
 
 If man had always remained in the state in which he was 
 when the Most Ancient Church flourished, the operation of the 
 Word would always have made itself felt in the same manner j 
 but man having been endowed with free-will, that is to say, with 
 the liberty of following the laws of order or of breaking them, 
 there came a time when the men of the Most Ancient Church 
 began to deviate from the laws of Divine Order; from that mo 
 ment the perception which they had of good and truth, and 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 227 
 
 which was to them the Word graven upon the heart, became 
 less clear, for by infraction upon the laws of order their spirit 
 ual man became closed, and no longer afforded the same access 
 to the Divine Wisdom ; and the more their descendants deviated 
 from these laws, the more obscure their perception became ; 
 until finally, this infraction having arrived at extremes, their 
 spiritual man was entirely closed, the Divine Wisdom had no 
 longer any way of entrance to them, and this most Ancient 
 Church totally perished, which is represented in Genesis by the 
 Deluge. 
 
 The destruction of this church must necessarily have been 
 followed by that of the entire human race, if the Lord had not 
 instituted a new church, designated in Genesis by the name of 
 Noah, which is called the Ancient Church, to distinguish it from 
 the preceding. In fact, if the Word or Divine Wisdom did not 
 penetrate men, or at least some of those constituted into a church, 
 the human race could not possibly subsist ; for men would lose 
 all idea of good and truth, of justice and equity, of honesty and 
 decency ; they would act contrary to all the laws of Divine Or 
 der, and would finally become reduced to utter destruction. But 
 the Lord never leaves men without a church, and when the last 
 which He had instituted is destroyed, he institutes another, as 
 will be shown in the sequel of this expos<5 ; for if the human 
 race should entirely perish, as it is the only seminary of the 
 heavens, it would follow that the heavens, destined, by reason 
 of the infinity of God, to receive perpetually and indefinitely 
 new inhabitants, without ever being filled, would receive no 
 more, and would become limited in population ; which would 
 be in manifest opposition with the love of God, for whom the 
 natural world is only a means of indefinitely and perpetually 
 creating beings capable of loving their Creator. Moreover, you 
 have seen elsewhere that spiritual beings and men could not 
 subsist without each other. 
 
 In order that a new church might be instituted, it was ne- 
 
228 LETTERS TO A 
 
 cessary that the Word should be received among some men 
 who were less depraved than the rest ; but as the Word could not 
 be engraven upon their heart, inasmuch as, their spiritual man 
 being closed, and the evil and the false operating against its being 
 opened, they could have no perception of the good and the true, 
 it manifested itself to them by another kind of dictate, which 
 may be called Conscience. Thus, instead of perception, they 
 had conscience, which is comparatively very obscure, and in 
 stead of being celestial, like the men of the Most Ancient 
 Church, they were spiritual : their state was entirely different 
 from that of the most ancient people, for they had with heaven 
 only a communication of which they had no knowledge. The 
 Divine Wisdom, it is true, did not cease to be inscribed upon nat 
 ural objects, even in the least natural events ; for nature, on 
 her part not vitiated by the fall of man, never ceased to be the 
 representative theatre of the Lord s kingdom ; but the spiritual 
 man being no longer open, and the Word manifesting itself no 
 longer to the interiors, except by conscience, it was indispen 
 sably necessary that this new church, in order to be a guide 
 for conscience, should have exteriorly a fixed rule ; then the 
 Word [Verbe] became the written Word [Paro/e], without 
 however ceasing to be the same [Word], that is, without ceas 
 ing to be the Divine Wisdom, as you will see. 
 
 The Lord, in his foreknowledge of the fall of the celestial 
 church, had provided the means of instituting a spiritual 
 church ; and as the spiritual man, deprived of perception, could 
 not be enlightened in the same manner as the celestial man, his 
 Divine Providence had caused to be preserved, from the very 
 commencement of the degradation of the Most Ancient Church, 
 some doctrinals of faith and some revelations of that church fo^ 
 the use of the new church. These doctrinals, at first collected 
 by men designated in Genesis under the name of Cain, were 
 put in reserve, that they might not be lost : this is what is 
 meant when it is said, " that a mark was put upon Cain that no 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD 229 
 
 one might kill him." iv. 15. At a later period representatives 
 and significatives were collected into a compilation of doctrine 
 by other men designated in Genesis under the name of Enoch ; 
 and as this doctrine was to serve for posterity, and not to be 
 used at that time, it is said that " God took Enoch." v. 24. 
 
 The written Word that was given to the Ancient Church was 
 derived from this origin ; it was composed of recitals, all of 
 which, even to the least word, were representative and signi 
 ficative of things celestial and spiritual, and, consequently, 
 contained the laws of Divine Order. Thus the Word, instead 
 of being read fluently [courammenf], as in the Most Ancient 
 Church, upon the objects of nature and in natural events, was 
 read in a compilation written according to the correspondences 
 of the earth with heaven ; it was therefore always the Divine 
 Wisdom itselfj but that Divine Wisdom was found in a natural 
 envelope, or, rather, it was, as an inestimable treasure, inclosed 
 in a casket whose key was then in the hands of men ; the casket 
 was the literal sense of the representatives and significatives, 
 and the key the science of correspondences ; by this science, 
 which was universally disseminated in the Ancient Church, the 
 men of that church knew what the representatives and signifi 
 catives contained j but they differed from the men of the Most 
 Ancient Church, inasmuch as they had no perception of them, 
 they merely derived from them a doctrine for the guidance of 
 their spiritual life. 
 
 That you may have a better apprehension of this difference, 
 I will quote the following passage from Swedenborg : " To 
 know by perception and to apprehend by doctrine are very dif 
 ferent things j they who know by perception have no need of 
 the knowledge acquired by means of systematized doctrines ; 
 let us take an example which will illustrate this point j he who 
 knows how to think well has no occasion to be taught to think 
 by any rules of art ; for in this way he would lose his faculty 
 of thinking well, as is the case with those who grovel along in 
 
230 LETTERS TO A 
 
 scholastic dust. Those who act from perception receive from 
 the Lord the faculty of knowing by an internal way what is 
 good and true, whilst those who act from doctrine derive their 
 knowledge of such things through an external way, or by 
 means of the corporeal senses ; the difference between these 
 two ways is like that between light and shade. Moreover, the 
 perceptions of the celestial man are wholly indescribable, for 
 they extend to the most minute and particular things, with the 
 greatest variety, according to states and circumstances." A. C., 
 n. 521. 
 
 As regards this written Word of the Ancient Church, only a 
 few fragments of it, which are found in the books of Moses, 
 are known, tor it was lost in the course of time ; it consisted, 
 like the Word of the Old and the New Testaments, of both his 
 torical and prophetical books ; the historical books being called 
 the Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetical, the Enunciations. 
 Numb, xxi., 14, 27. Finally, the historical narrations, being 
 written in the prophetical style, were factitious, for the most 
 part, like those in Genesis from the 1st to the llth chapter. 
 A. C., n. 2897. 
 
 The Ancient Church extended over the greater part of the 
 globe, and flourished principally in Syria, the land of Canaan, 
 Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, Nineveh, Tyre 
 and Sidon. Whilst the men of that Church followed the laws 
 of Order, they preserved the key of that Word ; that is, they 
 knew by the science of correspondences what the representa 
 tives and significatives, of which it was composed, contained; 
 as these representatives and significatives contained Divine 
 things, they were reduced among them into practice, and were 
 applied to their Divine Worship ; and this was done that there 
 might be a communication with heaven; since things in the 
 world represent and signify analogous things in heaven. But. 
 from the moment the Ancients deviated from the laws of Order, 
 they departed from the true meaning of correspondences ; and 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 231 
 
 when they became entirely abandoned to the love of self and 
 the world, the science of correspondences was lost, and their 
 worship became wholly idolatrous. 
 
 At the fall of this Ancient Church men had become so exter 
 nal that it would have been impossible to institute a new churcti ; 
 for they would have been incapable of comprehending the in 
 ternals of worship ; and even if they could have compre 
 hended them, they were in such a state of depravity, that they 
 would have profaned them. At that time, that there might 
 always be a communication between heaven and earth, and 
 that by this means the human race might be preserved, the Lord 
 instituted a representative of a church, and not a church, as is 
 generally believed ; for that which causes a church to exist 
 with man is the internal of worship, and the worship that was 
 then established was entirely external, for reasons which I have 
 just mentioned. Man could be brought back again into the 
 internal of worship only when the Lord Himself should insti 
 tute a church by coming into the world ; because it was only by 
 making Himself man that He could conquer the power of evil 
 and falsity by subjugating the hells; and the Lord was to come 
 into the world only when man had fallen into the last state of 
 degradation, that is, when from external-sensual, as he then 
 was, he should become corporeal-sensual ; it was therefore to 
 preserve the human race during this last period of degradation, 
 that the Lord instituted a representative of a church. For this 
 end He chose the Jewish nation, not because that nation was 
 less corrupt than others, for the history of the Jews proves that 
 they were as barbarous, and often more ferocious, than the 
 neighboring nations; but rather because, by the tenaciousness 
 of their character, and by their national egotism, the Jews were 
 better adapted to preserve untouched the depot of a new writ 
 ten Word. 
 
 You will doubtless ask, Why a new Word, since the Lord 
 might, before the Ancient Church was entirely destroyed, have 
 
232 LETTERS TO A 
 
 secured the Word, and at a later period have deposited it 
 among the Jews, when the representative of a church should 
 be instituted among them. I will reply by enlarging a little 
 upon what I have just said, viz. : that the Lord, who is pre 
 science itself, knew that the representative of the church would 
 have no more efficacy than the preceding churches for reinsta 
 ting the human race ; that He alone could reinstate them by 
 coming himself into the world ; that according to the laws of 
 his Divine Order, He must not come till the middle of the times 
 \le milieu des temps], that is, till the human race, by success 
 ively declining, should become" reduced to the last state of deg 
 radation ; that the middle of the times had not then arrived ; 
 that it w T as indispensably necessary to provide, in the mean 
 time, that the human race should not perish, by giving a Word 
 that might be carefully preserved ; that if the Lord had caused 
 the Word of the Ancient Church to be deposited with the Jew 
 ish nation, or with any other nation, it could not long have 
 existed, for no nation could have preserved it ; because that, no 
 one being capable of understanding the spiritual sense of it, 
 the literal sense would have been without interest to them ; that 
 then the loss of this Word would have been followed by that 
 of the human race, since the Divine Wisdom having no further 
 access to men, the communication of heaven with the earth 
 would have been broken ; but that, on the contrary, by giving 
 to the children of Jacob a new Word, whose external sense was 
 conformable to their character and to their national egotism, it 
 would be preserved by them with the greatest veneration till the 
 appointed times. This is what took place ; in fact, this Word 
 being destined, like the preceding, to be the bond of conjunc 
 tion between heaven and the human race, was entirely composed 
 of representatives and significatives ; it was also, like the pre 
 ceding, divided into historical and prophetical books; the his 
 torical relations anterior to Heber, or the father of the He 
 brews, are fictitious, like most of those of the Ancient Word ; 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 233 
 
 but those posterior to Heber are real. Now all these relations 
 refer directly or indirectly to the Jewish nation, and, moreover, 
 all the prophetical books treat, in the literal sense, of future 
 events relative either to the principles of the nation or to the 
 nation itself, and announce to them the most important desti 
 nies ; in fine, this Word, which, beginning from the creation, 
 comes without interruption down to the time of Abraham, and 
 afterwards traces their religious, political, and civil history, was 
 to them a precious monument, of which they have always 
 showed themselves very proud. All this may satisfy you why 
 the Jews, men so attached by character to terrestrial things, 
 have preserved this Word with so much fidelity and constancy, 
 and, at the same time, why, by reason of the inherent tenacity 
 of their nature, this Word has been intrusted to them in prefer 
 ence to any other nation. 
 
 I shall have occasion, further on, to return to this subject, 
 and to remove many objections by presenting to you the Jewish 
 nation and the principal personages of the Bible under their 
 true character; but for the present, to avoid digression, 1 will 
 pursue my task by explaining to you the manner in which the 
 Word has been transmitted. 
 
 The spiritual man having been entirely closed with the people 
 of the Most Ancient Church, there was no longer any open 
 communication with heaven ; that is, men no longer conversed 
 with angels, as at the time when that Church was in a flourish 
 ing state ; there was only a communication by means of the 
 Word, but so obscure with man, that he had no knowledge of 
 it. Such has been, since that epoch, the ordinary state of man 
 upon this earth ; this state, which goes back anterior to the 
 period of historical record, seems to be the normal state of the 
 human race ; but it is, as you see, only a consequence of the 
 degradation of man. The Lord cannot cause it to cease, 
 although it may be very easy for Him to open the spiritual-man 
 with all men, for the Lord can desire only the good of men, and 
 
234 LETTERS TO A 
 
 in the state in which they now are, if He opened their spiritual 
 man, He would precipitate them into evil ; in fact, they are more 
 in the love of self than in the love of God, and more in the 
 love of the world than in the love of the neighbor; now, as 
 the love of self is diabolic love, and the love of the world is 
 satanic love, men would enter immediately into communication 
 with diabolic and satanic spirits, and would disdain the society 
 of angelic spirits. Nevertheless, although the spiritual man 
 has been closed with all men, and notwithstanding the dangers 
 of which I have just spoken, it has always been capable of 
 being opened with some few of them, either when the Lord 
 wished to transmit revelations for the church, and then all 
 dangers were carefully guarded against, or when men, driven 
 by an evil love, ardently desired to enter into communication 
 with the other world, and then they suffered the penalty of 
 their audacity. Thus those with whom the spiritual man was 
 open momentarily found themselves in communication with the 
 beings of the spiritual world ; namely, either with angels, who 
 most frequently announced themselves as being Jehovah, or 
 with infernal spirits, who ordinarily assumed the appearance of 
 angels of light, and presented themselves under diverse names, 
 as being also gods. Hence the true and the false prophets, 
 hence also Divine miracles and magic miracles. 
 
 I have just said that angels announced themselves most fre 
 quently as being Jehovah ; this requires an explanation : before 
 that Jehovah had made himself flesh, it was impossible for Him 
 to communicate directly with his creatures, and to speak with 
 them face to face ; you have seen the reasons for this in my 
 12th letter, where it is treated concerning redemption : when, 
 therefore, Jehovah wished to make revelations, he filled 
 an angel with His divinity, to the extent that the angel believed 
 himself Jehovah, and remained in that belief until his commu 
 nication with man or with men had ceased. Thus it was always 
 by the ministry of an angel that Jehovah spake with the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 235 
 
 prophets and other personages of the Bible ; for neither man 
 nor angel has seen or can see Jehovah ; but since the Incar 
 nation, they can see the Lord, whose soul is Jehovah. 
 
 You may already perceive by these details how the Word of 
 the Old Testament was given : Moses, the Prophets, and in 
 general those whom Jehovah employed to transmit to us the 
 Word, were all, at the time, in communication with the spiritual 
 world ; or, in other words, their spiritual man was then open. 
 When they say, "Jehovah hath spoken to me," "The Angel 
 of Jehovah hath said to me," " I saw, and behold." etc., 
 such expressions show that they were not in the ordinary state. 
 The beings and objects which they saw were spiritual beings 
 and objects, and they saw them as distinctly as the natural man 
 sees the natural beings and objects that surround him : for 
 their spiritual man being open, they were really in .the spir 
 itual world. The words which they heard were spiritual 
 words which had reference only to celestial and spiritual things, 
 and which on arriving within their hearing were changed into 
 analogous expressions concerning the world. But when they 
 wrote the Word, they wrote according to an inspiration coming 
 from their interior ; each phrase, each word, even to the least 
 iota, was inspired into them ; there was absolutely nothing of 
 man ; for what they wrote could be the Word only so fa: as all 
 the literal or worldly expressions should be, without the least 
 exception, in perfect correspondence with the celestial and spir 
 itual ideas which they were to represent. " This Word," says 
 Swedenborg, " was written in like manner by representatives 
 and significatives, in order that it might contain in itself an in 
 ternal sense understood in heaven, and that there might thus be 
 a communication by the Word, and that the Lord s kingdom in 
 the heavens might be united to the Lord s kingdom upon the 
 earth. Unless each of the things which are in the Word repre 
 sents, and each of the expressions by which the things have been 
 traced signifies Divine things belonging to the Lord, consequently 
 
236 LETTERS TO A 
 
 celestial and spiritual things belonging to His kingdom, the 
 Word is not Divine ; and since the case is so, the Word could 
 have been written in no other style, for it is by this style, and 
 by no other, that human things and expressions correspond, even 
 to the least jot, with celestial things and ideas ; hence it is, that 
 if the Word be read only by a child, the Divine things which it 
 contains are perceived by the angels." A. C., n. 2899. 
 
 You may see from this quotation what is the nature of this 
 communication of heaven with the earth by the Word; you know, 
 from my preceding letters, that there are in every man beings of 
 the spiritual world, namely, angels and devils, good spirits and 
 evil spirits ; when therefore man reads the Word, the angels that 
 are in him perceive the spiritual sense of it, and the good spirits 
 understand it, and there is thus without his knowledge a com 
 munication of those angels and good spirits with him, which is 
 a source of great spiritual advantage to him, if he is disposed to 
 obey the interior impulse that results from it. 
 
 This passage and that which precedes show also that the Word 
 of the Old Testament has precisely the same characters as the 
 first written Word ; and since the word of the Ancient Church 
 was no other than the Word or the Divine Wisdom in a natural 
 envelope, it follows that the Word [la Parole] of the Old Testa 
 ment is likewise the Word \le Verbe], or the Divine Wisdom. 
 
 When the middle of the times arrived, or what is the same thing? 
 when the human race, having become entirely corporeal-sen 
 sual, had fallen to the last state of spiritual degradation, Jehovah, 
 came Himself into the world. This is not the time to explain the 
 Incarnation ; that grave subject will be treated upon when we 
 discuss the question of doctrines ; but all that has been said thus 
 far is sufficient to enable you to understand that Jehovah, in con 
 sequence of the incarnation, being the soul of Jesus Christ, the 
 Divine Saviour, whilst He lived upon our earth, spake only ac 
 cording to the science of correspondences, for every expression 
 that proceeded out of His mouth was at the same time intended 
 

 MAN OF THE WORLD. 237 
 
 both for the inhabitants of the heavens and the men to whom He 
 addressed Himself ; and that thus whatever He pronounced was 
 representative and significative of the celestial and spiritual 
 things of His kingdom. 
 
 When the Lord had glorified or rendered Divine the Human, 
 which He had assumed in the world for the purpose of living 
 among men and performing the great work of Redemption, He 
 desired that certain expressions which He had uttered by word 
 of mouth, and certain actions of His life upon our earth, should 
 be collected and transmitted to posterity as a new evidence of 
 His mercy. Hence the Word of the New Testament, which was 
 written in the same manner as that of the Old Testament ; that 
 is, each phrase and each word, even to the smallest iota, was in 
 spired, and in the Evangelists and in the Apocalypse there is 
 absolutely nothing that was derived from man. Everything, 
 therefore, is in like manner representative and significative of 
 celestial and spiritual things of the Lord s kingdom, so that the 
 Word [la Parole] of the New Testament is also the Word \le 
 Verbe], or the Divine Wisdom. 
 
 The question may here arise, why did the Lord, since the Word 
 of the Old Testament w r as then in existence, and has always 
 existed, give that of the New Testament ? I will reply, by 
 saying that the Lord having come into the world in the 
 middle of the times, that is, at the epoch when humanity, 
 having arrived at the last limit of the period of degeneration, 
 was going to enter through Him into an ascending period of 
 regeneration, it was indispensably necessary that the external 
 worship instituted by the old Law in the representative of the 
 Church for a nation entirely external, should be succeeded in 
 the Christian Church by a worship whose internal should be 
 the principal, which could be accomplished only by a new Law. 
 I will also remind you that in His Word God always has re 
 gard to circumstances of time and place, and especially to the 
 state of civilization and the character of the people to whom 
 
238 LETTERS TO A 
 
 He addresses it ; that is, the celestial and spiritual things that 
 are transmitted to them are clothed with representatives and 
 significatives which are always conformable to the times and 
 places, to their state of civilization, and to their character; and 
 this is so, in order that the Word may be more easily received. 
 Thus the Word of the Old Testament, being addressed to the 
 Jews, partakes of the ferocious and implacable character of 
 that people ; and that of the New Testament, being destined for 
 nations whose manners were become somewhat softened by 
 reason of the new period upon which they were entering, is 
 stamped with sentiments of benevolence and universal brother 
 hood. Moreover, I will add that the abrogation of that wor 
 ship does not affect at all the sanctity of the entire Word of the 
 Old Testament; for the external of the old law which is found 
 to be abrogated by the hew law, remains not the less, on that 
 account, the Word of the Lord ; inasmuch as that external con 
 tains within it celestia? and spiritual things which will exist 
 forever. 
 
 The institution of the Christian Church was therefore the 
 point of departure of humanity in its ascending period ; but this 
 Church, as is clearly announced in the Evangelists and in the 
 Apocalypse, was itself to fall and to be replaced by a New Chris 
 tian Church, designated by the emblematical name of the New 
 Jerusalem. This great event is being accomplished at the pres 
 ent day without the knowledge of a large majority of Chris 
 tians. 
 
 This new fall, however, at a period announced as an ascend 
 ing one, seems to imply a contradiction, and must therefore be 
 ^explained. 
 
 When the Lord instituted the first Christian Church, he was 
 obliged to take men just as they were, since he never forces 
 their free-will ; now, when he gave the Word of the New Tes 
 tament, they were corporeal-sensual, as 1 have said ; if he had 
 unfolded to them its internal sense, either they would not have 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 239 
 
 admitted it, or they would have profaned it ; and, in either case, 
 they would have rejected the Word, and there would have been 
 no Christian Church. Thus, although this Word was more 
 clear than that of the Old Testament, it must, in order to be re 
 ceived, remain sealed, as well as that of the Old Testament, 
 until the internals contained within them could be compre 
 hended and accepted by men. It is true, that in this manner 
 the Christian Church has fallen into the gravest heresies, and has 
 gradually approached an entire state of devastation ; but its exist 
 ence and its fall have nevertheless been an advance, since the hu 
 manity of the present day is found capable of comprehending and 
 of admitting a manifestation of the internals of the Word, or of 
 the celestial and spiritual things contained in it, as is sufficiently 
 proved by the existence of societies of the New Jerusalem in 
 a large part of the kingdoms of Europe, and in North America. 
 Thus, in consequence of the state of things, and of the free 
 will of which man cannot be deprived, the Lord could only found 
 a Christian Church that must necessarily perish, as He Himself 
 announced, but \vhich was at the same time to conduct Human 
 ity to another church, the crown of the whole edifice, which 
 should exist forever, because it would be able to compre 
 hend and receive celestial and spiritual things. 
 
 In support of the assertion, that there would have been no 
 Christian Church, or that it would not have lasted out its time, 
 if the Lord had revealed the internal sense of the Word, I will 
 cite this fundamental truth of the New Church, viz. : that the 
 Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself, and that there is no other God 
 than He. If the Lord had said openly to the Jews that He was 
 Jehovah, no one would have believed in His Word, and He would 
 have had no disciples; or even if after His Ascension He had 
 announced clearly in the Evangelist that He was Jehovah, His 
 disciples would have made few proselytes, and Christianity 
 would not have been sustained, as is evident from the discus 
 sions that have arisen upon the person of Jesus Christ 
 
240 LETTERS TO A 
 
 in the Councils, and especially in the Council of Nice, where, 
 in order to save Christianity, and prevent it from falling into 
 Arianism, they were obliged to admit three persons into the 
 Trinity. 
 
 It now remains for me to inform you briefly how the celes 
 tial and spiritual things contained in the Word of the Old and 
 New Testaments have been revealed to men by the Lord for the 
 establishment of the New Jerusalem, His New Church. The 
 Lord has followed in this, as in all other things, the laws of His 
 Divine Order, from which He never deviates. As He opened 
 the spiritual man of the Prophets, in order to transmit His 
 Word, so He opened the spiritual man of a modest and pious 
 Savant in order to reveal the internal sense of this Word. 
 There is, however, this difference, that the Prophets were blind 
 instruments, inasmuch as they did not comprehend what they 
 announced, or understood only the letter of it, whilst the Reve- 
 lator of the internal sense of the Word was to be put in a state 
 to comprehend that sense, in order that he might develope it 
 rationally. It is for this reason that the Lord chose a Savant 
 versed in all human sciences, in order that he might show the 
 relations of the sciences with celestial and spiritual things ; 
 and it is also for this reason that Swedenborg, before commen 
 cing the publication of his writings, was initiated into the knowl 
 edge of spiritual things by a daily communication of many 
 years with spirits and angels. 
 
 Accept, &c. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 IN my last letter I gave you an historical expose, so to speak, 
 of the Word, by showing you first the Word in its principle ; 
 then, the Word engraven interiorly in the depth of the heart 
 of the men of the Most Ancient Church ; afterwards, the Word 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 241 
 
 given to the men of the Ancient Church, in a compilation 
 written according to the correspondences between natural things 
 and spiritual things j and finally, a new Word written also ac 
 cording to these correspondences, viz. : our Bible containing the 
 Old and New Testament ; and you have seen that in these 
 various phases, the Word [La Parole] has never ceased to be 
 the Word [Le Verbe] or Divine Wisdom. Now, to neglect no 
 means of confirming in you this important truth, I am going to 
 attempt to complete this expose by some considerations drawn 
 from analogy. 
 
 Man having been created in the image of God, everything 
 that exists in him, so far as he remains in the order of his 
 creation, must be the image of something that exists in God ; 
 thus, there must be a kind of analogy between the Word of 
 man and the Word of God. Let us see, then, if this analogy 
 confirms what has been said of the Word of God. 
 
 We have said that the Word in its principle, or first cause, 
 created the Universe, that is, everything that God has made. 
 Is the case similar in regard to the Word of man relatively to 
 everything that man makes *? 
 
 By the Word creating the universe, we have understood the 
 Divine Wisdom or understanding of God, acting from the Di 
 vine Love or from the Will of God. With man the word 
 analagous to the Word is therefore the understanding acting 
 from the will, or, what is the same thing, the thought acting from 
 the affection. Now, it is very evident that everything that man 
 does is done by his thought from his affection ; every work of 
 man is therefore done by his word. Thus considered, the word of 
 man is not merely what he expresses, whether by sounds and 
 articulations, or by the expression of the countenance and by 
 gestures, but also everything that is produced by him ; so that 
 this word of man is man himself, as the Word is God Himself, 
 for the will and thought are man, as Love itself and Wisdom 
 itself are God. 
 
242 LETTERS TO A 
 
 We have said that with the men of the Most Ancient 
 Church this Word was engraven upon the bottom of the heart. 
 Is there anything in this analogous to the word of man, or, in 
 other terms, to what man says and does ? 
 
 The analogy was complete in relation to the men of the Most 
 Ancient Church who remained in the order of creation, and it 
 would likewise be complete in reference to the man of the pres 
 ent day, should he live conformably to the laws of order ; for 
 then, whatever he should say and do, would be the expression 
 of his thought which is at the bottom of his heart ; but if, 
 when man remains in the order of his creation, everything that 
 exists in him is the image of something that exists in God, it is 
 no longer so when he has perverted this order; whatever arises 
 from the abuse of some one of his faculties is still, it is true, in 
 relation with something that exists in God, but it is no longer 
 as an image, it is as something opposite or contrary. Hence it 
 happens that, at the present day, all that man says and does is 
 not always the expression of his thought which is at the bottom 
 of his heart. 
 
 As to the two written Words, namely, that of the Ancient 
 Church and our Bible, there is also an analogy between them 
 and the written word of man ; but as the Word of the Ancient 
 Church and the Bible were written according to the same 
 principles, we shall speak only of the Bible. 
 
 We have said that the Bible or written Word is also the Di 
 vine Wisdom or Word \Le Verbe], and, consequently, God Him 
 self. In regard to man, in the acceptation in which we have 
 taken the word, there is a written word, when what he says is 
 fixed by writing or by printing, and also when what he does is 
 a work that has tangible existence, as, for example, a painting, 
 a statue, a monument. Now, it is very evident that the man is 
 found in this book or in this work, such as he was himself when 
 he composed it or when he made it : that is to say, with the 
 thought proceeding from the affection which he then had. Thus 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 243 
 
 they say of a sincere author, that he is entirely in his writings ; 
 the painter is also in his pictures ; the sculptor in his statues, the 
 architect in his monuments, although each of these preserves 
 his own personality separate from his works. 
 
 Is not the case similar with God ? God is entirely in the Bi 
 ble, that is to say, in his Divine Word, which becomes fixed by 
 means of printing, since this Divine Word is the Divine Thought 
 or Divine Wisdom proceeding from the Divine Affection or Di 
 vine Love ; but he is in it as a sincere author is in his writings. 
 Thus, although wholly in each copy of the Bible to him who 
 seeks Him there with love and faith, God nevertheless preserves 
 His Divine Personality without or separate from the entire uni 
 verse which is his work, as an author preserves his own per 
 sonality without or separate from his writings. 
 
 Let us still continue the analogy. Although the author of a 
 book written with candor and sincerity is wholly in that book, 
 he does not manifest himself in the same manner to all those who 
 read it, or, rather, all his readers do not see him there in the same 
 manner. The majority, far from seeking to see him there, do 
 not even think of him while reading ; others see him only super 
 ficially ; some, on the contrary, endeavoring to seek him in each 
 phrase, and even in each expression, succeed from day to day 
 in knowing him better. 
 
 Is it not so with God in relation to the readers of the Bible ? 
 Those who do not seek God in the Bible, or who read it without 
 thinking of God, cannot see him in it ; those who desire to have 
 no other knowledges of God than those which they have re 
 ceived by tradition, see him in it only superficially ; those, on the 
 contrary, who desire to have a more exact knowledge of God, 
 with the intention of learning how to live a better life, see God 
 in each phrase, and even in each expression of this Holy Book. 
 
 These considerations upon the analogy between the word of 
 man and the Word of God, lead me to speak also of the differ 
 ence that exists between the books of men and the Bible. 
 
244 LETTERS TO A 
 
 The book of man contains only that kind of truth that exists 
 in the spirit of the author ; but the Books of which the Bible is 
 composed, having been written according to correspondences be 
 tween natural and spiritual things, in order that they might be 
 comprehended in this world by men, and at the same time in the 
 other by spirits and angels, contain every kind of truth, from 
 that which is adapted to the most imperfectly developed human 
 understanding, to that which is suited to the most elevated an 
 gelic intelligence. 
 
 When you look at a work of man, whether a painting or a 
 statue, after having seen the surface of it, you ha ve seen all of 
 it. It is not so with the works of God ; whatever may be the 
 exterior beauties of these works, dissection and the microscope 
 would reveal to you interior beauties still more wonderful ; and 
 the savant who has pushed his researches to the last limits of 
 science, still continues convinced that what he has discovered is 
 very far below what remains unknown to him. Every one 
 knows, it is true, that there is an immense difference between 
 the works of God and the works of man ; but a great number, 
 regarding the Bible as only a human composition of great anti 
 quity, it would be necessary, in order to lead them to consider 
 it as a work of God, to prove to them that there is between it 
 and an ordinary book the same difference as between the works 
 of God and the works of man. Now, from what has just been 
 said, you see that the difference between the works of God and 
 the works of man consists principally in this, that the works of 
 God, from the lowest degree on the scale of beings to the high 
 est, have an interior organization beyond what appears in their 
 exterior form. It is important, therefore, to prove that the Bi 
 ble has also an interior organization, which does not appear in its 
 exterior form, or in its letter; and that, like all the other works 
 of God, although infinitely superior, since it is It which, in its 
 quality of Word, has created all, it presents to the scalpel and 
 the microscope of illustrated human intelligence interior beau 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 245 
 
 ties, which become so much more wonderful as one penetrates 
 deeply into it. This interior organization, which the Lord has 
 Himself signalized, by saying that His words are Spirit and Life, 
 is the internal sense enveloped in the external or literal sense of 
 the Bible. 
 
 Farther on, when we shall together penetrate into the internal 
 sense, you will acquire the entire conviction that this sense con 
 tains marvels more and more wonderful, and that thus the Bible, 
 according to the expression itself of the Lord, is Spirit and Life. 
 
 Yet one observation before terminating this general expose. 
 From the fact that the Bible, as the Word of God, is God Him 
 self manifesting his Divine Love by his Divine Wisdom, it fol 
 lows that it contains the Infinite, and that, consequently, it is in 
 exhaustible and impenetrable as to its inmost ; inexhaustible, in 
 asmuch as man and angel will be able continually and forever 
 to draw new knowledges from this Divine Source without its 
 ever being drained ; impenetrable as to its inmost, inasmuch as 
 man and angel will never be able to know all that it contains ; 
 but although impenetrable as to its inmost, it is not for that less 
 adapted to all the spiritual and celestial wants of men and an 
 gels, by means of its spiritual and celestial senses which are suc 
 cessively accessible. It is even because that the Word is inex 
 haustible and impenetrable as to its inmost, that man can enjoy, 
 as well as angels, a happiness which will continually increase 
 during all eternity. In fact, angels as well as men live only by 
 their affections and thoughts j now, whatever is the degree of 
 love and of wisdom to which an angel has arrived, he will al 
 ways be able to draw from the Word affections more and more 
 filled with love, and thoughts more and more profound, without 
 however ever being able to penetrate as far as the inmost. Sup 
 pose, on the contrary, the angel a perfect being in the strict ac 
 ceptation of the word, having no more new affections or new 
 thoughts to acquire, because that he would be in possession of 
 all } what would become of his life ? Would it be really living 
 
246 LETTERS TO A 
 
 to be in view of eternity and without hope of ever obtaining any 
 new affection or new thought ? Would it not rather be only a 
 state of ennui, produced by satiety, which would be entirely in 
 supportable ? I conceive that God is perfect, because that God 
 is constantly delighted in his work, upon which he acts unceas 
 ingly in order that it may become more and more his image ; but 
 I cannot conceive of a single creature being perfect, because 
 that then that creature would be God, and there can be only one 
 God. 
 
 Such, my dear sir, is the Divine Word, the inexhaustible 
 source of Love and Wisdom, the inestimable treasury from 
 whence men can in this world, and will be able hereafter, in the 
 future life, eternally to draw good affections and pure thoughts; 
 and yet the Book that contains it is misunderstood by a majority 
 of Christians ; for the largest number among these have the 
 greatest indifference for the Bible, others despise it, and those 
 who have any respect for it, explain it in a manner so opposed 
 to the Justice of God, that their commentaries often prevent the 
 Divine Wisdom from being discovered in it. 
 
 We will soon study this Divine Book together according to 
 your desire; and then the truths in it which have been adapted 
 to the human understanding will become successively developed 
 before your eyes, if you persevere, as I hope you will, in seek 
 ing them with love, that is with the firm desire of applying them 
 to your life, in order to become a new man. But in order that 
 this study of the Bible may become more easy for you, I must 
 still remove certain prejudices, and cause certain obstacles to dis 
 appear which would retard our progress. 
 
 PREJUDICES. There are particularly two prejudices, which it 
 is important for me to remove immediately, because that Philo 
 sophy, having seized upon them as argument with which to 
 combat the Bible, they may have left upon your mind a some 
 what unfavorable impression. 
 
 FIRST PREJUDICE. The Jews considered as the People of God. 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 247 
 
 The Theology of the Old Church, founding itself upon the 
 letter of the Word without seeking the spirit of it, has diffused 
 through all Christendom this false idea, that the Jews, hefore the 
 coming of the Lord, were the only people of God, all the other 
 nations of the earth having been rejected; in like manner, it also 
 pretends, supporting itself by the letter of the New Testament, 
 that, since the establishment of Christianity, Christians only can 
 be saved. 
 
 Instead of combating this false idea, Philosophy has seized 
 upon it as a pretext to attack the God of the Jews, supporting 
 itself upon such attributes of the Divinity as no one can dispute ; 
 as for example, upon the Justice and Goodness of God. There 
 is no one, in fact, who can dispute the first of these attributes ; 
 and whatever difference there may be between Divine Justice and 
 human justice, it is always the case that true human justice is a 
 reflection of Divine Justice, and that, consequently, that which is 
 generally regarded as unjust by men, cannot belong to Divine 
 Justice. Neither can anyone dispute the second attribute j and 
 notwithstanding the difference that exists between the goodness 
 or love of God towards men, and the goodness or love of a fa 
 ther for his children, it is not less true that paternal goodness is 
 a reflection of Divine goodness, and thus that that which is gen 
 erally regarded as opposed to paternal goodness, can in no wise 
 belong to the Divine goodness. Now, would not the father of 
 a numerous family be generally considered as unjust and devoid 
 of a goodness really paternal, if he should love and cherish for 
 his heir only one of his children, to the exclusion of all the 
 others ; or, if all his children being obnoxious to him, he should 
 save only one of them and condemn all the others to destruction? 
 As this is incontestible, Philosophy concludes that God being 
 Justice itself, and Goodness itself, the God of the Bible was not 
 the true God, since he had condemned en masse all the nations 
 of the earth to an eternal damnation, and had taken care only 
 of the Jewish nation, which was as ferocious and as barbarous 
 11* 
 
248 LETTERS TO A 
 
 as other nations, and which even surpassed them often in the 
 refinement of cruelty. 
 
 Philosophy was therefore combating the Bible, not indeed 
 with the Bible, as it pretended, but with the false ideas dissem 
 inated by Theology ; and the latter, far from seeking to rectify 
 these ideas, intrenched itself behind the antiquity of the Bible 
 and the respect with which it had been invested ; or when it 
 was necessary to answer reproaches made against the Jewish 
 nation and its principal personage s, it considered itself obliged 
 to resort to all possible means for extenuating their actions, 
 even though they were most clearly opposed to all the prin 
 ciples of justice, of morality, or of humanity. Thus, Theology, 
 instead of again seizing the advantage over its adversary, fur 
 nished him by these very means, with new weapons against itself. 
 But the true Theology, which was given by the Lord in the 
 writings of Swedenborg, could have nothing to fear from a 
 contest with Philosophy, for this Theology is founded upon the 
 principle thatt^od is Love Ttself, Justice Itself, and Mercy Itself j 
 and none of its doctrines, as you will presently see, is contradic 
 tory to these Divine Attributes, which Philosophy cannot dispute. 
 Thus the weapons which Philosophy used with so much suc 
 cess in the last century, and at the commencement of the present, 
 would now be attended with no danger, since the true Theology 
 explains in a most satisfactory manner, what is to be understood 
 in the Bible by the People of God. 
 
 If the descendants of Jacob have been called the People of 
 God, it is because they had been chosen to be a representative 
 of the Church ; and you have seen in my last letter, that if the 
 Jews have been chosen rather than any other nation, it is not 
 because they had been less corrupt. Now, as it is a general 
 law of representation, that the thought is not occupied with the 
 person or thing which represents, but that everything has rela 
 tion to the thing represented, and that thus it matters little 
 who or what the person is who represents, it follows that the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 249 
 
 Jewish nation, however abominable it might be, was, in the 
 sense of the letter, necessarily called the People of God, since 
 it represented the Church of the Lord, which is composed of all 
 those who acknowledge one God and live in good, whatever 
 be their external mode of worship ; and that Jewish personages 
 were, also, in certain circumstances, necessarily called the 
 elect of God, however blameable had been their conduct in oth 
 er respects. 
 
 Far from seeking to extenuate the base and atrocious actions 
 committed by the Jewish people, and by their principal person 
 ages, the true Theology leaves them in all their weight, just as 
 they are related in the Bible : it by no means considers the Jews 
 as the People of God in the sense of a privileged people, nor 
 any of their chiefs, pontiffs, kings, or prophets, as the elect of 
 God in the common acceptation of that word ; for this would be 
 to do injury to God, in whose view all men are equal ; it is the 
 life alone that makes a difference between men ; thus, to appre 
 ciate the character of any one, we must consider his life, and 
 not the function with which he is charged. Farther on, I shall 
 often have occasion to speak to you of the Jewish nation, and to 
 show it to you under its true aspect ; it will be sufficient for the 
 present to refer you to No. 433 of the Apocalypse Explained, 
 where you will find interesting details upon the origin of the 
 Jews, upon their character, and upon their faith. 
 
 SECOND PREJUDICE. The Pentateuch considered as the source 
 whence all the nations of antiquity have derived their religious 
 ideas. 
 
 The old Theology founding itself upon this true principle, 
 that without Revelation man could have known no spiritual 
 truth, has hence concluded, and still pretends, that all the 
 nations of antiquity have derived from the books of the Jews 
 all their religious ideas which have any affinity with those 
 that are contained in the Pentateuch. 
 
 Such a pretension had nothing in it very prejudicial to the 
 
250 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Bible, so long as Philosophy dared not enter into open contro 
 versy ; but it became very injurious from the commencement 
 of that controversy, and especially since the theogonies and 
 chronologies of ancient nations have been studied with more 
 care ; for it is no longer merely Philosophy that combats this 
 pretension, it is science also, supported by all modern discov 
 eries. In face of so many proofs, which at the present day at 
 test the high antiquity of the nations of the East, in face of 
 so many vestiges which prove the existence of a civilization 
 far anterior to our historical times, how can any one dare still 
 to pretend, that all the nations of the earth have drawn their 
 religious notions from the books of the Jews, the most ancient 
 of which do not go back, at farthest, more than three thousand 
 and four or five hundred years 1 Is this not acting against the 
 Bible, rather than in its defence ? 
 
 The arguments which Dupuis has accumulated in his Origin 
 of all kinds of Worship, are overwhelming against the old 
 Theology ; but what can they avail against the Bible and 
 against the true Theology? Nothing; absolutely nothing. If 
 Dupuis proves incontestably that the Orientals have borrowed 
 nothing from a miserable people that lived in a retired corner of 
 Asia, this proof is overwhelming only to the old Theology, which 
 maintains the contrary ; but it is without any force against the 
 Bible, when the Bible is separated from its unwise defenders ; 
 it is also without any force against the true Theology, since the 
 latter acknowledges that the Orientals have borrowed nothing 
 from the Mosaic Word. 
 
 What is peculiar in this contest, is the fact that Philosophy 
 and Theology are both in error; for Philosophy retorting 
 against its adversary, maintains that the Jews have invented 
 nothing and have copied everything ; or, in other words, that 
 the Pentateuch has been drawn from the theogonies of the 
 Orientals. 
 
 Upon this point, as upon almost all others, it is only in the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 251 
 
 writings of Swedenborg that the truth can be found. You 
 have seen by my last letter, that, anterior to the Word given to 
 the descendants of Jacob, there had been in the Ancient Church 
 a written Word; and that this Ancient Church, far from being 
 confined to a small colony, extended over the largest part of the 
 globe, and flourished principally in Syria, the Land of Canaan, 
 Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, Nineveh, 
 Tyre and Sidon. Now, Theologians of the old church cannot 
 deny the existence of this Ancient Word, since the Bible con 
 tains some fragments of it, and gives us even the names of 
 the two parts of which it was composed ; and on the opposite 
 side, philosophers and savants, who carry back the theog- 
 onies of the Orientals and of other ancient nations to an epoch 
 anterior to Moses, when there existed upon our globe an ad 
 vanced civilization, the vestiges of which they are collecting 
 with avidity, have, consequently, no motive for denying the ex 
 istence of this ancient Church. Now, therefore, difficulties 
 vanish ; if the ancient theogonies have all points of resem 
 blance between them and our Bible, it is because they are all 
 derived from the same source, the written Word of the Ancient 
 Church; and if they differ, it is because this church having 
 fallen, the science of correspondences, the only key of that 
 Word, has been lost, and their worship having become idola 
 trous, each nation made for itself a particular theogony, founded 
 however upon the original types of which they had no longer 
 any knowledge. Thus all the systems of cosmogony and of 
 worship of ancient times, were only adulterations more or less 
 gross of the ante- Mosaic Word. 
 
 This explanation, as you see, leaves untouched the principle, 
 that without revelation, man could have known no spiritual 
 truth : and at the same time it protects the Bible against all at 
 tack, so far as it concerns the points of resemblance that it has 
 with the theogonies of the ancient nations, for these points of 
 resemblance arise from the fact, that the first seven chapters of 
 
252 LETTERS TO A 
 
 Genesis constituted a part of the Word of the Ancient Church, 
 and have been extracted from it. 
 
 OBSTACLES. These consist of a great number of charges and 
 objections. For the present I shall examine only the three fol 
 lowing points, which contain the most serious charges and ob 
 jections. 
 
 I. Jehovah in the Bible gives himself up to vengeance, anger ^ 
 and other human passions. This charge, which the old Theology 
 is unable to answer, remains without force and falls to the ground 
 as soon as it is known that the Word, being Written according 
 to correspondences between spiritual and natural things, is ex 
 pressed according to appearances and the fallacies of the senses. 
 " Jehovah-God, or the Lord," says Swedenborg, " never curses 
 any one, he is never angry with any one, he never leads any 
 into temptation ; he punishes none, much less does he curse 
 any. Such things can never proceed from the source of mercy, 
 of peace and goodness. If it is said in the Word that Jehovah- 
 God not only turns away his face, is angry, punishes, tempts, 
 but also that he kills, and even curses, it is in order that men 
 may believe that the Lord governs and disposes all things in 
 general and in particular, even evil itself, punishments and temp 
 tations ; and after this most general idea has been received, that 
 they may learn how he governs and disposes all things, and 
 that he turns the evil of punishment and of temptation into good ; 
 it is from things most general that the order of teaching and of 
 learning in the Word commences ; hence the literal sense abounds 
 in such most general things." A. C. n. 245. He further adds, 
 " All these expressions have been used, in order that persuasions 
 and lusts might not be broken, but bent; for to speak otherwise 
 than according to man s comprehension, and he comprehends 
 only according to appearances, fallacies and persuasions, would 
 have been to sow seed in the waters, and to say things that 
 would be instantly rejected." A. C. n. 1874. Jehovah has 
 therefore presented himself in this manner in the Bible, because 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 253 
 
 of the barbarity and ferocity of the descendants of Jacob, who 
 could not have conceived of God otherwise. But if God does 
 not punish, who is it that punishes ? The true Theology replies : 
 Evil itself punishes itself ; that is, the wicked plunge themselves 
 into the pain that corresponds to the evil that they have com 
 mitted. 
 
 II. Facts and expressions that offend against morality. One 
 of the gravest charges which Philosophy makes against the Bi 
 ble, is that it presents pictures of manners which could be toler 
 ated only in an uninspired book. 
 
 The best answer given by the old Theology is this ; that every 
 thing is impure to him whose heart is impure, but that every 
 thing is pure to him whose heart is pure. This is very true, 
 and it is for this reason that there is no danger in putting the 
 Bible into the hands of a person of a pure heart. But as this an 
 swer is far from satisfying philosophers, since it gives no indica- 
 cation why such pictures are found in the Bible, I am going to 
 present you with the additions which true Theology has made 
 to it. 
 
 The Bible gives us, it is true, the history of the Jewish nation ; 
 but that which constitutes the principal subject of the Bible, 
 since it is the Word of God, is not properly the history of the 
 Jewish nation, it is the relation of certain historical facts, which 
 by their correspondence, represent the spiritual states which the 
 Lord wished to present in his Word. In fact, of what conse 
 quence to all the nations of the earth, and to all future ages 
 could be a history of this little people written like that of other 
 nations ? Not any, assuredly; but the case is not so in regard 
 to the historical facts which the Bible contains concerning the 
 Jewish people, they are of very great importance to us; and 
 that, because they have been transmitted as representatives, and 
 have been expressed by words, all of which, even to the least 
 iota, are significative ; for it is this only that imprints upon any 
 written composition the character of the Word of God. Thus, 
 
254 LETTERS TO A 
 
 when the history of a patriarch, of a judge, of a king, or of any 
 other personage is treated of, there are given of his entire life only 
 those facts, whether general or particular, which are adapted 
 to represent in a series, the spiritual states which God thus en 
 veloped in a literal sense, in order to fix them so that they 
 might serve for a communication of the spiritual world with the 
 natural world ; whereas, in relation to all other facts, no mention 
 is made of them ; and thfe explains the reason why there appear 
 to he gaps in the Bible, when it is considered merely as a histo 
 ry of the Jews. 
 
 If we now inquire what the facts are that were to be more 
 particularly collected together in the Bible, we shall see that they 
 are precisely those whose relation most offends the ears of our 
 philosophers. In fact, the Word in its internal sense treats only 
 of the Lord, of the church, and of men considered as a church ; 
 in every part of it the celestial marriage is treated of, that is, the 
 marriage of the Lord with the church, which is the marriage of 
 good with truth ; and in the opposite sense, the infernal marriage, 
 which is the marriage of evil with the false. Thus whenever 
 the church was to be treated of as in evil and the false, and con 
 sequently perverted, this state was to be represented, and was rep 
 resented in the historical books, by whatever constitutes the in 
 fernal marriage, that is, by facts of adultery, of prostitution, and 
 even of incest, and in the prophetical books by expressions 
 which describe infamous acts of debauchery. 
 
 III. Indifferent assertions quite unworthy of the attention of 
 God ; contradictions in historical circumstances ; contradictory 
 propositions. These objections which the old Theology has been 
 entirely unable to remove, you may easily render void by means 
 of the knowledge which you now have of the Bible. 
 
 You know that the Bible was written according to correspond 
 ences that exist between spiritual things and natural things ; you 
 know that its end is the regeneration of man by means of the 
 knowledge of important truths of the spiritual sense j you know, 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 255 
 
 in fine, that the literal sense was destined to serve as an envel 
 ope to this spiritual sense, and not to perfect man in natural 
 knowledge. Thus when you find in the Bible passages which 
 seem to relate exclusively to things that are indifferent and un 
 worthy of the attention of God, you will be convinced that there 
 are concealed other things much more interesting. When you 
 shall find any contradiction in historical circumstances, you will 
 come to the conclusion that it was necessary for the letter to 
 bend in some respects under the weight of important matters that 
 are contained in its interiors, and that, to express these more 
 fully, some slight deviation must necessarily be made in the lit 
 eral narrative j for every composition should be judged according 
 as it is appropriate to the end of the author, and in the Bible God s 
 end was the spiritual rather than the natural. Finally, when 
 you meet with two contradictory propositions, such as the fol 
 lowing : " God repents," Gen. vi. 6, and " God does not re 
 pent," Numb. xx. 19 how can the two assertions be true in the 
 same sense, and yet as they must be true in a certain sense, since 
 they are both in the Bible, you will conclude that one is a truth 
 entirely naked, and that the other is covered under the veil of a 
 simple appearance formed in human ideas ; thus that one is a 
 real truth in connection with the spiritual sense, and the other 
 an apparent truth, which, to become real, must be rectified by 
 the spiritual sense. 
 
 I shall terminate my letter by this question which has been 
 often put to me. 
 
 Since the true theology has nothing to fear from philosophy, 
 why did not the Lord make it known sooner, in order to enlight 
 en men, and prevent his Word from being outraged ? 
 
 I shall first remark that the principles upon which this theol 
 ogy is founded are not new, and they are all plainly expressed in 
 the literal sense of the Bible, although not united in a body ; but 
 I must add, that as soon as the Apostolic Doctrine, which renders 
 faith subordinate to charity, had begun to be no longer regarded 
 
256 LETTERS TO A 
 
 as the sole and qjjy doctrine, Christianity became a prey to 
 heresies, which multiplied to infinity ; that hence sects arose ; 
 that each sect always found in the Bible certain passages to sup 
 port its own doctrine, and that then it regarded thse passages as 
 the summary of the law, and passed over all those that could 
 not be made to agree with their doctrine ; that each sect thus 
 made for itself a doctrine of its own, and was no longer able to 
 see the principles of the true theology in the Bible^ although 
 these principles were nevertheless expressed there in very ex 
 plicit terms. Hence, it is evident that Christians can have no oc 
 casion to complain of having been left in the dark, since they 
 have always had at their disposal true spiritual principles ; if 
 they saw them not, or rather if they would not see them, it is 
 because that love of self and of the world reigned in them ; but 
 the simple of heart, who lived conformably to the precepts of the 
 Decalogue, have always seen them, in spite of the theological 
 errors that had been inculcated upon them. 
 
 In regard to the true Theology itself, that is, as developed in a 
 doctrinal body, and given by the Lord in the writings of Sweden- 
 borg, it could not have been presented sooner to mankind : if 
 that had been possible, the Lord, who is Love Itself and Mercy 
 Itself, would not have waited so long before making it known ; 
 but the impossibility existed, because the Lord, conformably to 
 the laws of Divine Order, never forces any one, and, consequent 
 ly, this doctrine could not have been received by any person. 
 In fact, before Philosophy had attacked Theology with so much 
 vigor, the latter was ruling with absolute sovereignty both in 
 Catholicism and in Protestantism ; woe to him who then dared 
 to attack it, for it had recourse even to secular force, and the 
 fagot was kindled. How can it be supposed that from that time 
 it would have received, or permitted to be received, a doctrine 
 which clearly shows that all the dogmas of Christianity have 
 been falsified *? Would it not rather have stifled it from its very 
 first appearance "? In order that the New Doctrine might be able 
 
M 
 
 MAN OF THE WO 
 
 to be brought to light, without being imm< 
 was necessary that a breach should first be made upon the old 
 Theology itself by Philosophy, and that it should thus lose a 
 great part of the ascendancy which it had taken both over gov 
 ernments and people. Besides, that which clearly proves that 
 the New Doctrine, if it had been given before, would have 
 been received by no one, is the fact that at its appearance it 
 was adopted by but a very small number of men ; and although 
 Swedenborg had sent gratuitously the works containing it to 
 prelates of various Christian denominations, to Universities and 
 to the principal public libraries, the theology which might have 
 drawn thence arguments against its adversary, proudly dis 
 dained that anchor of safety which the Lord offered it; and 
 after the example of the synagogue, it preferred darkness to 
 light. 
 
 The Lord therefore could not have prevented his Divine 
 Word from being outraged. Yet you are not to suppose that the 
 greatest outrages that the Word of the Lord has had to bear, 
 have proceeded from Philosophy; the scoffs that Philosophy 
 hurled against the Bible, the sarcasms that it lavished upon it, 
 the contempt with which it regarded it, all this was but little, 
 compared with the outrages which it received on the part of 
 Theology. Philosophy, it is true, attacked the Bible with fury, 
 but it did not profane it, because it did not acknowledge it as the 
 Word of God ; and besides, in its blindness it had some correct 
 notions of God, for it represented him as just, good, and loving all 
 men, and it was indignant at the bare idea, that the evil passions 
 of man should be attributed to Him. Theology, on the contrary, 
 acknowledged the Bible as the Word of God, and yet ceased not 
 to commit outrages against It, blaspheming It, even when it ap 
 peared to defend it with the most favor. And, in fact, is there 
 a greater outrage against God, than to attribute to Him the worst 
 of human passions, partiality, injustice, jealousy, vengeance and 
 cruelty ? Are not these passions so entirely in opposition to 
 
258 LETTERS TO A 
 
 the attributes of Divinity, tacitly comprised in the dogmas of the 
 old Theology ? These are the greatest blasphemies against God, 
 and it is by dogmas thus falsified that the Divine Word is most 
 basely outraged. 
 
 This is, moreover, confirmed by facts which transpired at the 
 time of the first coming of the Lord. There were then in Judea 
 many sects: that of the Pharisees, which was the principal, had 
 acquired a reputation for its rigidity ; it had added to the Law 
 oral tradition, and thus had made itself the interpleader of the 
 Law, which procured it much veneration. The sect of the Phar 
 isees taught the resurrection, whilst that of the Sadducees de 
 nied it ; well, it was not the Sadducees whom the Lord blames 
 most, for when they came scoffingly to ask Him a question, He 
 merely told them that they erred, Matth. xxii. ; but He acted 
 quite differently towards the Pharisees, those rigid observers of 
 tradition and the law as interpreted by them ; He treated them 
 with the greatest rigor, He called them hypocrites, fools, blind T 
 whitened sepulchres, serpents, a generation of vipers, Matth. 
 xxiii. In the relation of the Passion of the Lord, the Evangel 
 ists say nothing of the Sadducees, but they show us that the 
 High-Priests and the Scribes were all set against Him ; and it is 
 even said in Matthew, that the Pharisees called him an impos 
 tor, xxvii. 62, 63. The greatest enemies of the Lord, therefore, 
 whilst He lived in the world, were not the Philosophers or Saddu 
 cees, but the High-Priests, Scribes and Pharisees ; these are they 
 who crucified Him ; Him the incarnate Word, the Divine Word ; 
 and as similar things always take place at the end of each church, 
 this same Word has received again like outrages on the part of 
 the Pharisees of Christianity. 
 
 From these facts, which show so clearly that the Sadducees 
 were less culpable than the Pharisees, it seems well established, 
 that modern Philosophy has also been less culpable than Theol 
 ogy ; and even at the present time, it is not so much Philosophy 
 as the old Theology that will place itself in opposition to the 
 
MAN OF THE WORLD. 259 
 
 establishment of the New Church, which the Lord is now insti 
 tuting. Philosophy dreads the spiritual principle, only because 
 it always has in view the horrors that have been committed for 
 more than three thousand years in the name of that principle ; 
 it is not surprising, therefore, that it manifests much reserve and 
 even distrust; but it will not always be hostile, and it will sur 
 render itself to evidence. The old Theology, on the contrary, 
 always thinks of the power which it formerly had; it mourns 
 over its loss, and despairs not of again coming in possession of 
 it, at least in part ; it will, consequently, make constant efforts to 
 extinguish the spiritual light of the New Church. Moreover, 
 true Theology is not incompatible with true Philosophy ; Phi 
 losophy, therefore, has no occasion for fearing destruction ; it 
 will only be modified, and will preserve its distinguished rank, 
 out as a subordinate, and without pretending to occupy the first 
 place. False Theology, on the contrary, cannot exist in con 
 currence with true Theology, the triumph of the latter will be 
 the annihilation of the former. 
 
 Accept, &c. 
 
 THE END. 
 

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