-r^-tj-t. 
 
 C^>^*'
 
 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE; 
 
 THE HOLY CITY NEW JERUSALEM." 
 
 WHAT IT IS, AND WHEN AND HOW IT " COMES DOWN 
 FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN ;" 
 
 SWEDENBORG AND HIS MISSION IN RELATION TO IT. 
 
 INTRODUCTION ON GOD AND MAN. 
 
 BY 
 
 EDMUND A. BEAMAN, 
 
 AUTHOU OP "the RIVEIl OF LIFE," " FROWARl) TO THE FROWARD, 
 
 "the scienti.st's theology," etc. 
 
 "He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with 3*011 for- 
 ever, even the SPIRIT of Truth."— John xiv. 16, 17. 
 "And the Truth shall make you free." — John viii. 32. 
 
 ' PHILADELPHfA.:'' "' 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1881.
 
 Copyright, 1881, by J. B. Lippin'cott & Co.
 
 J-J>/\ 
 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ,^ 
 
 ■1- 
 
 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 (iOD AND MAN. 
 
 1. God the Same to All 
 
 2. All DifiFerence in Recipient Conditions 
 
 3. God as the Word 
 
 4. What is the Word ? 
 
 5. God as Influx 
 
 6. Nothing Finite in Influx 
 
 7. Mistakes and Expedients 
 
 8. God Unchangeable 
 
 9. God is Love . 
 
 10. Not Outside . 
 
 11. Manifestations 
 
 12. God's Personality 
 
 13. Omnipresence 
 
 14. True Basis of Thought 
 
 PA HE 
 7 
 
 8 
 8 
 10 
 10 
 13 
 16 
 18 
 1!» 
 1!) 
 20 
 25 
 28 
 29 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 1. Swedenborg ........... 31 
 
 2. Why these Questions? . .31 
 
 3. AVhat we Propose to Show ........ 32 
 
 4. The New Departure ......... 33 
 
 5. Illustrative Example ......... 36 
 
 6. The " Main Factor" 37 
 
 7. Illumination ........... 39 
 
 8. Perception ........... 40 
 
 9. Undeistanding and Will ........ 41 
 
 10. Revelation from Perception ........ 42 
 
 11. Dictation . . . . . . . . . . . 43 
 
 12. AV ho have Revelation from Perception ? . . . . .44 
 
 13. Formulated Truth 45 
 
 3
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 14. The AVritings 
 
 15. Truth not Transferable 
 
 16. The Writings.— How Useful 
 
 17. Not all the Truth 
 
 18. Truth 
 
 19. Authority to the ]\Ian of this Age 
 
 20. Evidence ......... 
 
 21. The Man of the Age and the Writings .... 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 SWEBENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 
 
 1. Inspiration ..... 
 
 2. Of Two Kinds .... 
 
 3. The Lord's Part in the Writings . 
 
 4. "Instilled" 
 
 5. Swedenborg's Part 
 
 6. His Partial Separation from the Body 
 
 7. His Inspiration .... 
 
 8. Conditions of Internal Inspiration 
 
 9. Result of Regeneration 
 
 PAGE 
 
 46 
 
 48 
 
 49 
 
 49 
 
 50. 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 
 54 
 
 56 
 
 57 
 58 
 60 
 62 
 05 
 67 
 68 
 71 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 RELATION TO THE LORD {Coutimied). 
 
 SWEDENBORG 
 
 1. "Varied a Little" 
 
 2. Swedenborg and the Prophets .... 
 
 3. Exceptional ........ 
 
 4. Individuality Sacredly Intact .... 
 
 5. AYhy the Word is Holy in the Letter . 
 
 6. Instructed by Angels 
 
 7. AVritings not Correspondences .... 
 
 8. Instructed by the Lord ...... 
 
 9. The Lord's Writings 
 
 C H A P T E II l\ . 
 
 man's RELATION TO TH K LOKD. 
 
 1. The Regenerated Man . 
 
 2. How the Lord governs Men . 
 
 3. Certain Passages: AVhat they Show 
 
 4. Strange Conclusions 
 
 5. " Led by the Lord" 
 
 6. Swedenborg as Servant of the Lord 
 
 7. How all Man's Works are the Lord's 
 
 73 
 73 
 76 
 79 
 
 81 
 82 
 83 
 85 
 87 
 
 89 
 91 
 93 
 94 
 96 
 97 
 103 
 
 /
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 
 
 The Lord Ajipeiired to Iliiu . 
 
 "Specially Qualified" . 
 
 His Call .... 
 
 His Preparation . 
 
 Not a Prodigy 
 
 A Student of the Natural Sciences 
 
 Swedenborg as a Scientist 
 
 The Next Step ... 
 
 His Search for the Soul 
 
 His Principles of Investigation 
 
 Changes his Plan . 
 
 Correspondence and Representation 
 
 His State Ripening 
 
 Another Transition 
 
 Ripened for Nobler Work 
 
 His Intromission 
 
 His Intromission Progressive 
 
 Importance of his Intromission 
 
 PAGE 
 107 
 
 109 
 114 
 115 
 121 
 122 
 124 
 126 
 128 
 128 
 130 
 132 
 134 
 135 
 137 
 139 
 140 
 144 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE WRITINOS AND THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 
 
 1. The Writings .... 
 
 2. The Spiritual Sense 
 
 3. Absurd Conclusions 
 
 4. Only Explanations 
 
 5. What Swedenborg calls his Writings 
 
 6. The Writings and the AVonl . 
 
 146 
 148 
 149 
 150 
 152 
 154 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 
 
 1. Advent Written on the Books . . . . . . .157 
 
 2. Advent a Perception ......... 158 
 
 3. The Books only Treatises on the Advent . . . . .159 
 
 4. Man as an Instrument . . . . . . . . .161 
 
 5. The Writings only an Ex])lanation ...... 163 
 
 6. General Principles ......... 165 
 
 7. The Word Unveiled 167 
 
 8. Knowledge First Needed 168 
 
 9. Kind of Knowled'^e 169
 
 6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 10. The Man Needed as an Instrument ...... 170 
 
 n. Style of Sacred Scripture 170 
 
 12. Science of Correspondences ........ 171 
 
 13. The Expounder 172 
 
 14. AVhat Makes Man Man 174 
 
 15. His own Writings . . . . • 174 
 
 16. Why and When the Lord Comes . . . . . . .176 
 
 17. Humanity in the Middle of the Last Century .... 176 
 
 18. Why the Lord Came When He Did 177 
 
 19. Kesults of Second Advent 179 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 CHRIST AKD SWEDENBORG. 
 
 1. What Christ is to Man 183 
 
 2. The Man of the New Jerusalem 185 
 
 3. Light of Experience ......... 187 
 
 4. Oracles 188 
 
 5. Revealed by Explanation ........ 190 
 
 6. The Crucible of Thought 191 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 AUTHORITY AND INFALLIBILITY. 
 
 1. Diflferent Kinds to Different States ...... 195 
 
 2. "Authority in the New Church" 200 
 
 3. "To be Believed First" 201 
 
 4. Misinterpreted Statements ........ 202 
 
 5. A State of "Intellectual Truth" 206 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY' CITY. 
 
 1. Doctrine 209 
 
 2. Advent, Doctrine, and Holy City the sainc ..... 210 
 
 3. Doctrine and Doctrinals ........ 211 
 
 4. This and Preceding Ages ........ 214 
 
 5. Swedenborg and the New Manhood ...... 216 
 
 6. The Writings an Appeal to Rational Minds 218 
 
 7. Wants of the Coming Man 220 
 
 8. Conclusion ........... 223
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 GOD AND MAN. 
 
 1 . God the Same to^All. 
 In ordei* to understand Swedenborg and the real character 
 of his WritingSj as reUxting to the man of this New Age, we 
 must first have true views of God, who He is, what He is, and 
 \vhat is His rehition to man. With true views of God, the 
 Writings, in many places, have a very different meaning from 
 what they have with false ideas of God. Swedenborg has made 
 it especially plain that God is absolutely unchangeable, — un- 
 changeable both in what He is and in what He does, — and also 
 that He is " no respecter of persons ;" and thus that, so far as 
 His action in relation to men is concerned, all men are alike. God 
 is the Sun of the spiritual world, and His radiance is eternally 
 and unchangeably going forth to all, as is the case with the radi- 
 ance of His great representative, the sun of the natural world. 
 And is it because of any change in what the natural sun does 
 or gives, that one field is barren, another productive ; that one 
 plant or tree is noble, another ignoble ? So, is it owing to 
 anything different that the Lord gives or does for men, that 
 they are different from each other, different in character and 
 different in capacity ? Is this the reason why Swedenborg was 
 different from Nero, or different from Humboldt, or Shak- 
 speare, or Napoleon ? Search the Scriptures, and search the 
 Writings, and, though you may find certain misunderstood 
 expressions, you will find, when truly interpreted, no affirmative 
 answer to any of these questions. 
 
 7
 
 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 2. All Difference in Recijnent Conditions. 
 
 On the contrary, Swedenborg plainly teaches that the cause 
 of all the diflferences and of all the changes in men is in dif- 
 ferences and changes in men as recipients of what the Lord 
 gives. And this is in perfect accordance with reason and with 
 what we see and learn of the operations of Grod in nature. A 
 large recipient will receive more than a small one, not different 
 in kind. And the action of what is received will be different 
 in an obedient recipient from what it will be in a disobedient 
 one ; and there will be, accordingly, a corresponding differ- 
 ence in the results. All creatures below man are obedient re- 
 cipients. All true men, so far as they are true, are obedient 
 recipients. Selfish men, so far as they permit their selfishness 
 to rule them, are disobedient recipients. That is to say, the 
 former act according to the good impulses of the life that flows 
 into them from the Lord ; the latter obey their selfish, evil 
 promptings instead. Swedenborg was an obedient recipient ; 
 his vessel was also a large one ; and by obedience it constantly 
 increased in capacity and improved in quality, so that he be- 
 came, in many respects, a most extraordinary man, — extraor- 
 dinary for his goodness, and extraordinary for his great and 
 varied acquirements and talents. But it was all owing, let 
 me repeat, not in the least degree to anything different that 
 the Lord did for him from what He does equally for all men, 
 but to what was in and constituted the man and to his use of 
 what the Lord gave him. 
 
 But what did the Lord do for Swedenborg? Bather, what 
 is it that the Lord does for all men ? This is a question con- 
 cerning which there need be no disagreement among those who 
 read Swedenborg's writings in the light of their true spirit 
 and philosophy. 
 
 3. God as the Word. 
 
 Nothing comes from God but what is called, in the Sacred 
 Scriptures, the WOBD [Logos, in Greek]. The Lord does
 
 GOD AND MAN. 9 
 
 notliing but as the Word; just as nothing comes from tlic 
 sun but radiance, and just as the sun does nothing but as such 
 radiance. The Word is actually CJrod Himself in His omni- 
 presence ; just as the radiance is the sun itself in its limited 
 omnipresence. The Word is Grod in His goings out, as it 
 were, of Himself and from Himself, in His processes of crea- 
 tion, or of evolving finite being from Himself; just as the radi- 
 ance is the sun in its processes of action on the earth, or just 
 as the nervous system, or the vascular sj^stem, is the brain, or 
 is the heart, in its processes of creating or evolving animal tis- 
 sue and fibre, and thus animal organism. • The Word is God 
 at work, if I may so speak ; just as the radiance is the sun at 
 work, or just as the nerves and the blood-vessels are the brain 
 and the heart at work. " By Him [the Word] were all things 
 made, and without Him was not anything made that was made." 
 Thus the Word is the " Mighty Arm" of Jehovah ; just as the 
 radiance is the mighty arm of the sun, or just as the nerves 
 and the arteries are the mighty arm of the brain and the heart. 
 To conceive of God but as the Word, is to conceive of the sun 
 without an efiluence, or the heart and brain without arteries 
 and nerves ; and this is to think of God without action or man- 
 ifestation : and there is no such God. We know nothing about 
 God but as the Word; just as we know nothing about the sun 
 but as it reveals itself in its efiluence, and just as we practi- 
 cally know nothing about the heart and brain but as they man- 
 ifest themselves in their efiluence in arteries and nerves. Let 
 me repeat, for it is a very important fiict, the Word is God, 
 not at rest, not with power stayed and in reserve, — there is no 
 such God, — but is God at work. When we have come to 
 see this, and see it clearly, we have taken a most important 
 step towards understanding God, and we never can have any 
 really true ideas of Him until we have taken this step. And 
 how significant the fiict that all of the Lord's " comings" or 
 "manifestations" to men have been as the Word! It was as 
 the Word finited and verbalized in Sacred Scripture that
 
 10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Lord many times came to tlie Jews. It was as the Word 
 " made flesh" that He afterwards came and " dwelt among us" 
 as " God with us." It is as the Word, which is meant by the 
 " Son of Man," that He is now coming again, but now coming, 
 not as veiled or clothed in human language, or in a finite per- 
 sonal humanity, but, on the contrary, as the unveiled Spirit of 
 Truth itself. 
 
 4. What is the Word? 
 
 Thus it is as the Word that God is related to man. What, 
 then, specifically and practically is the Word, and how does it 
 operate with or in man ? " Thy Word is Truth." " In Him 
 [the Word] was Life ; and the Life was the Light of men." 
 The Word " made flesh" said : " I am the Light of the World ;" 
 " I am come a Light into the world ;" also, " I am the Way, 
 the Truth, and the Life." Swedenborg says: "The Word 
 is Divine Truth itself." " Truth"—" Life"—" Light." The 
 Word is all these. As Life, the Word, or God as the Word, 
 creates and sustains. As Truth — which is spiritual Light — 
 the Word enlightens the mind and shows the " way of life." 
 In its essence the Word is Love, — " God is Love." Life, 
 Truth, Light, are only forms of operation and manifestation 
 of Love, thus of God. All these, therefore, are one. They 
 are all in and constitute what is called the Word. How are 
 they related to man ? This is the great question. And I 
 answer, They are related to man by what Swedenborg calls 
 " influx ;" they are an influx into man, and into all men alike : 
 " The Lord, with all His Divine Love, with all His Divine Wis- 
 dom, thus with all His Divine Life, flows in with every Man." 
 T. C. 11. 364. 
 
 5. God as Influx. 
 
 Such " Infliix^^ then, is all that God gives ; and to give this 
 is all that He does for any man ; all that He ever has done, or 
 ever will, or even can do, for man. For, as we have seen, such 
 Influx is the Word in man, thus is God at avork in man, 
 and thus at work always with all His Attributesin intensest
 
 GOD AND MAN. 11 
 
 operation. This, I mean, so far as God is concerned. With 
 all men, with all being, in fact, He simply and only gives, or 
 is present as, sucli Influx. Of course, as we are all related, 
 we receive influx also " mediately^'' or are aff"ected indirectly 
 by influx into others and through its eff'ects upon them. Swe- 
 denborg was in no sense an exception to this universal and 
 unchangeable principle. Like all other men, he never received 
 anything from the Lord but such Influx, or such presence of 
 the Lord as the Word. And its operation in him, so far as 
 the Lox-d's agency had anything to do with its operation, was 
 precisely the same in him as in all other men. 
 
 " The Life of God, in all its fulness, is not only with good 
 and pious men, but also with bad and impious men ; in like man- 
 ner with the angels of heaven and with the spirits of hell ; the 
 diff'erence is, that the bad stop up the way and shut the door, 
 that God [that Influx] may not enter into the lower parts of 
 their mind ; but the good clear out the way and open the door, 
 and also invite God to enter into the lower parts of their minds, 
 as He dwells in the highest parts of it ; and thus they form the 
 state of the will for the influx of love and charity and the state 
 of the understanding for the influx of wisdom and faith, con- 
 sequently for the reception of God ; but the bad obstruct that 
 influx by various lusts of the flesh and spiritual defilements, 
 which hinder and stop the passage ; but still God resides in 
 the highest parts of them with all His Divine essence, and 
 gives them the faculty of willing good and of understanding- 
 truth, which faculty every man has, but which he would not 
 have unless life from God were in his soul. That the bad also 
 have this foculty has been given me to know by much experi- 
 ence. That every one receives life from God according to 
 HIS FORM may be illustrated by comparisons with vegetables 
 of every kind. Every tree, every shrub, every herb, and every 
 blade of grass receives the influx of light and heat according 
 to its form ; thus not only those which are of good use, but 
 also those which are of evil use, and the sun with its heat does
 
 1 2 INTROD VCTIOR. 
 
 not change tlioir forms, hut tlte forms^ change its effects in them- 
 selves. It is similar with the subjects of the mineral kingdom ; 
 each of them, as well the excellent as the mean, receives influx 
 according to the form of the contexture of the parts among 
 themselves; and so one stone receives it differently from another 
 stone, one mineral differently from another mineral, and one 
 metal diff"erently from another metal. Some of them variegate 
 themselves with most beautiful colors, some transmit the light 
 without variegation, and some confuse and suff"ocate the light 
 in themselves. From these few cases it may be evident that, 
 as the sun of the world, with its heat and with its light, is 
 equally present in one object as in another, but that the recij)- 
 ieiit forms vary its operations, so the Lord from the sun of 
 heaven, in the midst of which He is, is universally present 
 with its heat, which in its essence is love, and with its light, 
 which in its essence is wisdom ; but that the form of man, 
 which is induced by the states of his life, varies the operations ; 
 consequently that the Lord is not the cause why man is not 
 regenerated and saved, but man himself" T. C. R. 366. 
 
 Can anything be plainer than this? Does Swedenborg any- 
 where contradict it ? Does he anywhere say anything in the 
 least qualifying these plain, practical, common-sense state- 
 ments ? Ls what he says of his own experience at variance 
 with them ? Must not, on the contrary, all that he says of 
 himself in his relation to the Lord be understood in the light 
 of these universal and unchangeable principles ? Is it possible 
 that he could have been, in any sense, according to his own 
 unmistakable principles, as a private pupil, receiving special 
 attention or special manipulation, as it were, at the hands of 
 the Lord to prepare him for his mission ? " The life of God 
 is, ill all its /illness, with all men, with the evil equally as with 
 the good, with devils equally as with angels ; all the diff"erence 
 is in the recipient vessels, the recipient forms." So far as the 
 Lord was concerned, Swedenborg received nothing more from 
 Him in preparation for his mission than the wickedest devils
 
 GOD AND MAN. 13 
 
 of the wicketlest hells receive. So far as such preparation was 
 eifected by anytliing sjiecial on the Lord's part, or in the Lord's 
 agency in relation to it, it was nothing more tlian every man's 
 preparation is for even the same mission ; just as, so far as the 
 preparation of the oak to bear acorns is effected by anything 
 sjjecial that the sun does for it different from other trees, it 
 might bear chestnuts or apples as well. So also, in regard to 
 the spirits or angels and prophets through whom Sacred Scrip- 
 ture was written, — or the Word was veiled or clothed in human 
 language, — according to the above principles or laws of the 
 Lord's relation to man, as iterated and reiterated throughout 
 the Writings, they received nothing from the Lord different 
 from what all men receive, — nothing different in either quality, 
 or measure, or degree ; they received nothing, absolutely and 
 unqualifiedly nothing, but that " Influx" which is equally 
 given by the Lord to all men. The holiness of Sacred Scrip- 
 ture, as " the basis, continent, and firmament" of the Word, 
 must be explained on an altogether different principle from 
 that of any variation whatever in the Lord's agency or action 
 in regard to men or the uses of men, and it can be, though 
 this is not the place to do it. 
 
 This point, then, we must regard as eternally and unalterably 
 settled, — namely, that the Lord gives nothing and does nothing 
 for men but give them influx of Himself, of Himself as the 
 AVord, thus as Divine Life, Truth, Light, or Love, with all the 
 Divine attributes, just as the sun does nothing for the earth 
 or anything on the earth but give its radiance, or itself in its 
 effluence. 
 
 6. Nothing Finite in Influx. 
 
 But what is in this Divine Influx ? Are there ideas, thoughts, 
 principles, doctrines in it? No more than there are acorns, 
 apples, peaches, berries in the sunbeams. All these are finite 
 things. The Divine Influx, and everything in it, is infinite. 
 The Lord can no more give such finite things than the sun can 
 give fruits. All these things are in potency in the Divine
 
 14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Influx, and the Lord can bring them out into actuality, but 
 only through the finiting organism of mind which has first, in 
 its own order, been fiiiited and developed; just as the sun can 
 produce fruits only through the organism of shrubs and trees, 
 which are first produced in their order. Finited and finiting 
 mind is just as necessary in the process of evolving from the 
 Divine Influx ideas, principles, and doctrines as trees are in 
 evolving fruits from the elements of earth, air, water, and sun- 
 shine. The Lord is no mechanic. He is not outside of His 
 work, as a mechanic is of his. He does nothing by manipula- 
 tion, or by special design and act, as man does. He simply 
 LIVES ; He is nowhere but inmostly the life of all being ; He 
 creates by simply living ; therefore all that is is the result, and 
 not by creation according to a certain plan, but by evolution 
 of what is eternally reposited, in potency, in Himself. All 
 possibilities, infinite possibilities, are in that influx which every 
 man receives. All true ideas, principles, teachings, precepts 
 of life are, in potency, in that Influx ; but they can be evolved 
 or brought out into actuality only by the conditions supplied 
 by already finited mind. For all these are the fruits of finite 
 tliouglit. And God does not think as man thinks, — that is, does 
 not think finitely^ thus, does not ultimate ideas and words : 
 " For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your 
 ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher 
 than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
 thoughts than your thoughts." 
 
 When Swedenborg says, therefore, that " the Lord prepared 
 him for his mission," " opened the sight of his spirit," " com- 
 manded him what to write," " dictated to him," and the like, — 
 also that " he was only an humble instrument to do the Lord's 
 work," that " he did not act of himself but from the Lord," and 
 that the revelations which he made were not his, but the Lord's 
 through him, — we are not to understand him as saying anything 
 in contradiction of his own teachings, or of the spirit and phi- 
 losophy of his own principles ; we are not to understand him as
 
 GOD AND MAN. 15 
 
 making his own case an exception to the inimutahle principles 
 hiid down in tlie paragraph above quoted from tlic " True Chris- 
 tian Religion ;" we are not to understand him as receiving any- 
 thing whatever, or in any sense or way, from the Lord, but 
 that " Influx of Divine Truth" which is equally given to all 
 men. God is in that Influx "preparing," "commanding," 
 " dictating," " impelling," and the like, but with no difference 
 as regards men as subjects of Influx. Swedcnborg's language, 
 as regards the LjOrd's relation to him, must be interpreted by 
 the unchangeable principles so plainly laid down in his writ- 
 ings as regards the Lord's relation to all men alike. Sweden- 
 borg was, in no sense, an exceptional expedient in the hands 
 of the Lord to meet an emergency. Tbe Lord has no expedi- 
 ents and never resorts to any. Every emergency is met, and 
 instantly, by the normal operation of the Divine Influx ; for 
 there is in eveiy moments operation of that Influx, Infinite 
 Wisdom, Infinite Providence, Infinite Power, or, if I may so 
 speak, infinite and constant expediency. To make Sweden- 
 borg, according to the views of some, an extraordinary or ex- 
 ceptional expedient would be to make God, so far, a finite 
 being. On the contrary, Swedenborg was simply and only 
 the noble, normal fruit of certain recipient conditions and of 
 the same Divine Influx into those conditions that flows into 
 all conditions. The diff"erence is, he " cleared out the way and 
 opened the door, and also invited God to enter into the lower 
 parts of his mind as He dwelt in the highest parts of it ; and 
 thus he formed the state of his will for the influx of love and 
 charity, and the state of his understanding for the influx of 
 wisdom and faith, consequently for the reception of God," — he 
 did these things as others did not do. It was this and not 
 anything different in the Divine Influx, or in what the Lord 
 gave him or did for him, that made his case exceptional or 
 different from that of other men.
 
 1 6 INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 7. Misfahes and Uxjjedicnfs. 
 
 But a few words more on " Divine expediency," as this is a 
 point of such vital importance and is so generally misunder- 
 stood. There are really no mistakes, no deficiencies, no fail- 
 ures in God's operations, when we understand them truly; and 
 hence no resort to expedients in, as it were, unexpected emer- 
 gencies. Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Providence never re- 
 quire, and never resort to, expedients. We see this fact exem- 
 plified in everything, even in Nature. The acorn, with God in 
 it, — that is, with Life in it, and God inmostly in that life, — 
 is sure, in the required conditions, to create or evolve an oak, 
 and everything that belongs to an oak ; under proper condi- 
 tions it cannot possibly fail to do so. So of every other germ 
 of life. And this is because it is an ofishoot from the Divine 
 Life, and because the Divine is still operating in it as its vital- 
 izing and evolving force or power. Hence, — and this is the 
 point, — if an injury befalls the developing organism, as, for 
 example, a wound in the flesh or the fracture of a bone, the 
 remedy is instantly at hand and in operation, and simply as the 
 normal result of life continued under the circumstances or in 
 the clianged conditions. 
 
 So wonderfully perfect is life in Nature, which is God — God 
 as the Word — working, so to speak, in " ultimates." Such life 
 cannot act imperfectly ; it cannot fail, either in wisdom, provi- 
 dence, or power, on its plane or in its degree ; for all these are 
 always in its every moment's action as life. How much more 
 perfect, if possible, must be life above Nature, the Infinite 
 Life itself, as not subject to the limitations of Nature ! How 
 spontaneously and at once remedy must follow on the heels of 
 injury, and this without anything like a resort to expedients, 
 but simply from the fact that such is the normal operation 
 of life, on every plane of life, in the changed conditions, thus 
 simply from the fact, not that God devises and does something 
 difierent as an expedient, but that He lives, or that He Him-
 
 GOD AND MAN. 17 
 
 self is Life. Oli, ■what an infinite %yorkl tliere is in that one 
 little word Life ! It contains everything ; everything is in it 
 in potency or possibility ; expediency even is one of tlie features 
 of its normal operation as Life. 
 
 So, in what is called the " Fall," God did not take cogni- 
 zance of it as a condition unexpected, and thus unprovided 
 for, in any such sense as man takes cognizance of like things, 
 and then devise and apply a remedy. Infinitely far from it. 
 God was unaffected and unchanged in any sense or manner 
 whatever, so far as He or what He did in His own absolute 
 action was concerned. It was simply the result of the con- 
 tinued operation of His Life as Life, but as varied in its oper- 
 ation by the changed conditions^ that was the remedy or the 
 expedient. And this has always been so in every stage of 
 man's " decline," in every changing phase of his relation to 
 God. What God has absolutely done has never varied because 
 of man's condition, — except in the sense in which its operation 
 has been varied by that condition, — but has been unchangeably 
 the same ; just as is the case with the sun in its relation to 
 earth. The sun sends out, as it were, the same beams — what- 
 ever happens to the recipient — day and night, summer and 
 winter, and into the rose as into the nightshade, into the des- 
 ert as into the green meadow, and in the calm as in the tem- 
 pest; and just as the heart also sends its life equally into the 
 diseased as into the healthy organ. The acting principle, or 
 the influx ffivn, is in each case the same. But the results are 
 not the same ; these depend upon the recipient. The condition 
 of the recipient in all cases modifies the action, and thus the 
 effects of the action of the influx. How strikingly this is the 
 ca.se as regards the blood, also the nerve-fluid, in their relation 
 to diseased and healthy organism ! They change not, because 
 of the condition of the recipient organism, but the results of 
 their action are very different because varied by the condi- 
 tion of the organism. 
 
 2*
 
 1 8 INTROD UCTION. 
 
 8. God Unchangeahle. 
 
 So of that All-creating Life, the Word, God, with Whom 
 " is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;" that Life has 
 not changed, has not itself modified its own action, during all 
 the successive stages of creation, during all the successive 
 phases of developing humanity. God has always been giving 
 the same and doing the same, — the same in quality and the 
 same also in amount and energy, — and not at one time more 
 and at another time less. The variety in evolved or ultimated 
 form, is owing to the fact of the infinite potencies in Him as 
 Life, and of the difi"erent degrees or distances, so to speak, of 
 evolution from Him. As He continues to he, and from this 
 cause alone, one thing after another comes out, as it were, from 
 Him into ultimated or evolved form, and without anything like 
 resorting to expedients under emergencies : perfect wisdom, I 
 repeat, requires no expedients. His revealing Himself in 
 Sacred Scripture even, was not an expedient, neither was His 
 Incarnation an expedient ; it was no more an expedient than 
 the shooting out of a branch, or the coming of a leaf or a 
 flower, or the development of the teeth or of the beard, in the 
 order of growth, is an expedient ; no more an expedient than 
 is the modified action of the blood in a wounded muscle or 
 fractured bone, or in no other sense than that in which such 
 modified action is an expedient; in all which cases it is the 
 normal action as modified by recipient conditions themselves. 
 There is everything in the normal, unchanging action of life 
 for every emergency. It is the nature of all life, from the 
 purely Divine clear down to the lowest degree of the finitely 
 evolved life, to ultimate itself in successively lower and lower 
 forms, and then to act, with modified results, through these 
 forms as recipient and modifying vessels. 
 
 The great fact which I am endeavoring to make plain is 
 that God, the Word, the Absolute Life, is in Himself, is in 
 the very operation of Himself as Life, such fulness and per-
 
 GOD AND MAN. 19 
 
 fection in all-creative energy, wisdom, providence, and power 
 that all that He does or needs to do is to live ; and all that is, 
 is the result; just as all that the finitely evolved principle of 
 His life in the seed or egg does, or needs to do, is to live, and 
 the plant or animal is the result. 
 
 9. God is Love. 
 
 God is Love, or Love, in its real essential nature, is God. 
 There is, indeed, no God but God as Love. Life is simply 
 Love acting, Love living. The Word is Love creating, or 
 evolving and ultimating itself in lower forms ; is Love cloth- 
 ing itself with a body ; is Love revealing itself, and all this as 
 a result of the fact of its living, or of its being Life ; or is 
 Love shining as ligltt, and hence is called Divine Truth, which 
 is Divine, spiritual light. The Love I speak of is infinitely 
 more than an affection, and so much more that it is the entity 
 or Divine substance from which all substance, whether spirit- 
 ual or natural, is derived ; it is, indeed, " all in all," so that if 
 it were withdrawn from all, nothing would remain. Hence 
 everything that is is only a phase or manifestation of Love, 
 thus of God. Hence everything is /nil of Love, thus full of 
 God, as the body is full of the soul. 
 
 10. JVot Outside. 
 
 All that is, therefore, is God's dwelling-place, God's " tab- 
 ernacle," but in diff"erent degrees, from Nature, as His "outer 
 court," to regenerated angelic mind — rather to the " Divine 
 Humanity" — as His " inmost sanctuary," His " Holy of Holies." 
 God as Love, as the Word, as Divine Truth, as all-pervading, 
 omnipresent Life, operates with infinite wisdom, providence, 
 and power within us, always within vs, never and nowhere 
 outside of us, except through others in relation to us : " Be- 
 hold, the kingdom of God is within you." Nothing but God's 
 foot-stool, nothing but His materialized expression, or Love 
 materialized, so to speak, nothing but the evolved efi"ects of
 
 20 INTR OD UC'TIO N. 
 
 the operation of the Divine Life, is outside of us. It is vain 
 for us to look for Him or think of Him outside of us. We 
 err most sadly when we think of God as being outside of any 
 being. Everything outside is finite. There is no God outside, 
 any more than there is heart, or brain, or soul outside the little 
 world of the body. God would not be God outside, but a 
 mere manifestation of God, as the body is of the heart, or 
 brain, or soul. God lives in His kingdom — the soul of man — 
 as a King lives in his kingdom ; more truly, as the soul lives in 
 its kingdom, the body. All that is outside, I repeat, is but a 
 MANIFESTATION of God. The whole universe is but such 
 manifestation of God. But the universe is no more, for that 
 cause, God than the body is the man. 
 
 1 1 . Ma n ifestations. 
 
 But God's manifestations or appearings of Himself, — what, 
 in reality, are they? How do they diifer from Himself? How 
 does the body, which is a manifestation of the man, dift'er from 
 the man ? Yet the cases are not quite parallel. The body 
 exists, is evolved directly from what is within, as an effect 
 directly representing a cause within. So is the universe and 
 everything in it and of it, as an effect in relation to God as the 
 cause. It came from God as an effect from its cause. But 
 there are Divine manifestations or appearances of another kind 
 which depend upon, and are characterized by, the stafen of 
 those persons before whom they take place. The former mani- 
 festations are made to all men, though with a difference ; the 
 latter to comparatively few. This is the kind of which Swe- 
 denborg speaks as being made to him. What is the real nature 
 of this kind of manifestation ? Did God, in any sense, or in 
 the least degree, absolutely vaiy in what He did from what 
 He always does, as the cause of such manifestations ? We see 
 from the views we have given of God from Sacred Scripture 
 and from the writings that such variation was simply impossi- 
 ble and absurd. We cannot yield a particle in our view of
 
 GOD AND MAN. 21 
 
 God's absolute unchangeableness, — unchangeablencss as well 
 in what he absolutely does as in what he is. If He manifested 
 Himself to Swcdenborg, — as we doubt not He did, as He does 
 also to the angels, — the cause of such manifestation and of every- 
 thing in it as a manifestation, was entirely and exclusively in 
 Swedenborg's own state. It was his state, and nothing else, 
 that made such manifestation possible and that brought it 
 about. Its peculiar quality and character were in him as the 
 cause. God is really no more present in such peculiar mani- 
 festations than He is when the states of men are such that they 
 do not take place. Can God be more than omnipresent? 
 
 How, then, does God manifest Himself to man ? Swcden- 
 borg says : " I can sacredly and solemnly declare that the 
 Lord Himself has been seen of me." Again : " The Lord, 
 our Savior, has manifested Himself to me in a sensible per- 
 sonal appearance." In view of the real character of what we 
 call God, and of what we are taught about him in Sacred 
 Scripture and in the Writings, — for we rest upon His character 
 as the Word and Swedenborg give it to us, — how could this 
 be ? and what does it mean ? Mark, it was the Lord our 
 Savior that was seen of him, or that manifested Himself to 
 him. And Swedenborg adds, in close context with the first 
 citation above, that " the Lord opened and enlightened the 
 interior part of his soul." 
 
 Who is " the Lord our Savior" ? We all agree that He is 
 identically that same God, the Word, the Life, the Divine 
 Truth " brought forth to view," of which I have been speak- 
 ing. And are we not all agreed that God in Himself never 
 changes, any more than the sun, or the radiance from the sun, 
 changes? Like Sacred Scripture, "the Lord our Saviour" is 
 God the Word clothed^ God the Word mediating, or God the 
 Word with His eternally unchanging and unchangeable action 
 modified and varied by the recipient medium in a~nd through 
 which His action takes place. Sacred Scripture is the result of 
 such modified action. The Word " made flesh" is the result of
 
 22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 such modified action. I mean that neither the Word made 
 Sacred Scripture nor the Word made flesh is the result of spe- 
 cific design and purpose, and then of changed or modified action, 
 on the part of God ; but, on the contrary, that it is the result 
 only and solely of the Divine Influx into modifying condi- 
 tions ; hence that the changed conditions are the responsible 
 cause of any appearance of change on the part of the Divine ; 
 just as any apparent change in the action or manifestations of 
 the sunlight is owing entirely to changed recipient conditions, 
 and just as light entering the eye is of one color or another, or 
 is painful or pleasant, exactly according to the condition of the 
 eye. So the Word, whether clothed in finite teachings and 
 human language or in an external personal humanity, is not 
 really the result of any diff"erence in the Divine action or 
 purpose any more than the light, as colored and shaded by 
 clouds or by a smoky atmosphere, is the result of any dif- 
 ferent action of the sun. The common ideas of God, finite 
 Him and make Him a being of resorts and expedients, when 
 these are all mere a'ppearances, when the fact is, that His 
 unfailing, normal, unchangeable action is infinite perfection 
 itself, under whatever changes, conditions, or circumstances ; 
 as it is the action of infinite love itself, it flows, in the infinite 
 wisdom and providence and power and Love, in all conditions 
 and under all circumstances — and spontaneously does so — for 
 the ends of Love. That is to say, we have the Word made mani- 
 fest in Sacred Scripture or in a fleshly personality, not because 
 God saw the changed condition of man, and saw, therefore, 
 that such was man's need, but because that was the spon- 
 taneous result of His absolutely and eternally unchanged 
 normal action as modijicdhy changed conditions. So infinitely 
 full of every attribute of the Divine Natui-e, even of resorts 
 and expedients as it were, is every moment's action of the 
 Divine Life. It was the continued flowing of God as the 
 Word into man's changed condition — in other words, it was 
 the continued living of God as God — that resulted, under the
 
 GOD AND MAN. 23 
 
 changed modifying conditions, in Sacred Scripture, and after- 
 wards in the Incarnation. And how wonderful and how full of 
 love and wisdom and providence the fact that these apparent — 
 not real — changes in God were exactly what man needed, and 
 without which he could not have continued to exist as man, 
 but would have relapsed to a condition worse than that of the 
 beasts ! 
 
 Again, we ask, what does Swedenborg mean when he says 
 that " the Lord manifested Himself before him in a sensible 
 personal appearance" ? Does he mean that the Lord was 
 finited out into external shape and actually stood before him 
 somewhat as He had stood before the disciples ? No one can 
 think this who has any true thought of the Lord as He is rep- 
 resented by Swedenborg. It was not such a finited presentation 
 of the Lord. Swedenborg does not say this. Rather, it was 
 a "manifestation," or "sensible personal appearance." 
 And was this appearance really and purely the Lord ? Was 
 it only what was divine ? or was it not, on the contrary, the 
 Lord as the Word, as living Divine Truth, clothed and finited 
 into external visible appearance hy what was in Swedenhory s 
 own mind, in like manner as is the case with the angels, to 
 whom things appear objectively or outside themselves, when, 
 in reality, there are no such things outside, but they so apjiear 
 from what is in the angels themselves? Swedenborg says that 
 " in the other life, by virtue of the light communicated from 
 a celestial and spiritual origin by the Lord, there are sensibly 
 exhibited to the sight of spirits and angels most astonishing 
 scenes, — as paradisiacal gardens, cities, palaces, habitations, 
 besides other objects." A. C. 1534. '• The very celestial and 
 spiritual of the Lord," again, he saj's, " manifests itself by 
 light before the external sight of the angels ;" but the degree in 
 which the light is received is in proportion to the degree of the 
 celestial and spiritual with the angels, and the quality of the 
 light is according to the quality of that celestial and spiritual. 
 
 This is brimful of si<rnificance in connection with our sub-
 
 24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 joct, as also in connection with the fact that the Lord appears 
 to the celestial angels as a sun, but to the spiritual angels as a 
 moon. A. C. 1529. Swedcnborg says that, "In order that he 
 might be confirmed in this, his interior vision was so for opened, 
 and he saw plainly the moon shining." And this means, of 
 course, not that there was actually a spiritual moon, or the 
 Lord as such moon, outside of him, but that in the state in 
 which he then was the Lord manifested Himself to him, and 
 thus appeared outside of him, as a moon. We read in Sacred 
 Scripture that the pure in heart shall see God, and that the 
 Lord will manifest Himself to those who keep His command- 
 ments. It was because Swedenborg kept His commandments 
 that, as a result of the consequent processes of regeneration, 
 the " interior part of his soul was opened and enlightened." so 
 that he saw the Lord, but saw Him, just as the angels do, "ac- 
 cording to the degree and quality of the celestial and spiritual 
 in himself." According to his own teachings, it would be im- 
 possible for him to see the Lord, or have the Lord appear or 
 manifest Himself to him in any other way, or for any other 
 cause than that depending on his own state as a recipient of 
 the Divine Influx. In no case has the Lord ever appeared to 
 man or angel as He really is ; it has always been only a mani- 
 festation, and that even only as measured, limited, and qualified 
 by the state of him before whom the manifestation took place. 
 In no case has such manifestation been purely God, but always 
 God clothed, or, which is the same, the Word, or God as Di- 
 vine Truth clothed ; just as is the case with the sun as it 
 appears to the eye, — it is the sun clothed by the earth's atmos- 
 phere and by the things or state of the eye, though the cases 
 are not exactly parallel, for the Lord is really within, while the 
 sun is outside. We must not forget the fact that all of the 
 Lord's comings have been simply manifestations of Himself as 
 the Word, thus as Divine Truth. Thus Swedenborg says : " To 
 the end that the Lord might be constantly present, He has dis- 
 closed to me the spiritual sense of Ilis Word in which Divine
 
 GOD AND MAN. 25 
 
 Triitli is in its liglit, and hi tJii'.s He is conthninU ij present." 
 That is to say, the Lord is continually present only in the 
 working, operating, or creating phase or aspect of Ilis nature 
 as the Word., and mcDufcatly so only as the Word, as h'chig 
 Light, or as it really shhitH in the interiors of a mind opened 
 by regeneration. And the Lord is present thus only " accord- 
 ing to the degree and quality of the celestial and spiritual with 
 man." And this shows that the manifestations or personal 
 appearing-s of the Lord are, from the very nature of the case, 
 never the same to two persons, nor to the same person twice 
 alike, so much does qualifying state have to do with them. 
 And this suggests the question of God's personality — what 
 is it? 
 
 12. God's PcrsonalitT/. 
 
 Is there a " personal God" ? We answer, yes. But, then, 
 what is meant by person ? Does it necessarily imply limited 
 outline, figure, shape ? We answer, no. God does not exist 
 as person in any such finite, external sense, though He so man- 
 ifests Himself, as we have seen above. God, in His absolute, 
 unfinited, unrevealed, or unmanifested nature, is not person in 
 any such gross sense of the word. It is true Swedcnborg 
 says that " God, being Man, has a body and everything be- 
 longing to it." D. L. and W. 18. But does he mean by this 
 that God has such body, with all its organs and members, in 
 actual, outwardly developed shape or form ? Does he mean 
 that God has eyes with which to look out upon external things, 
 as we do, and ears to hear audible sounds, as we hear ? Of 
 course not. He only means that God has all these, everything, 
 in fact, that belongs to the whole universe, in latency, or in 
 first principles, or in the possibilities from which all things are ; 
 like as the seed or the egg contains all the possibilities of the 
 future plant or bird. God consists of infinite possibilities ; the 
 universe consists of these possibilities developed and develop- 
 ing into actualities. What Swedcnborg means by the above is 
 evident from what he says in " Arcana Coelestia," 38G9, namely,
 
 26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " That Jehovah has neither ears nor eyes as man has is known, 
 but ear and eye signify an attribute predicable of the Divine, 
 namely, infinite will and infinite intelligence. Infinite will is 
 Providence, and infinite intelligence is foresight ; this is what 
 ear and eye mean, in the supreme sense, when attributed to 
 Jehovah." Of course the " body, and everything that belongs 
 to it," has each a corresponding supreme meaning as applied 
 to the Lord. Thus it is in an infinitely higher sense than that 
 which applies to us that God is person. And yet God is not 
 simply diffused being, like air or light. On the contrary, there 
 are in Him all the essentials in their beginnings or potencies 
 ■which, when ultimated in their most perfect form, constitute 
 personal man and angel, — constitute, in fact, the personal man- 
 ifestations of the God-Man. Man is really man — finitely, per- 
 sonal man — only because God, of whom he is the image and 
 likeness, is Divinely and Infinitely personal Man, Man in first 
 principles or infinite possibilities. We must not think of man 
 even as person, because he has limited figure or shape, and 
 visible organs and members, though we cannot think of him 
 without these, for these are not what make man man or con- 
 stitute him personal being. It is because we do not think of 
 God thus that we are bewildered about His personality. How 
 can Omnipresence have such limited and defined personality ? 
 No wonder the sensible scientist denies a " personal God." It 
 is contrary to true manhood reason to suppose that Infinity 
 and Omnipresence are in such externally visible and meas- 
 urable shape. God's manifestations of Himself, or His ap- 
 pearings to men, are a totally diflFerent matter. These are due, 
 as I have shown, to what is in man as a finite and finiting 
 recipient vessel. What flows in takes i\\Gfonn of the vessel 
 into u'Jiich it floics. Out of Christ, or Deity, as clothed and 
 manifested in finite humanity, it is impossible to think of God 
 but vaguely and absolutely. Out of Christ, we can think of 
 God only as Love, Wisdom, Power, Providence. 
 
 But what is it that really constitutes personality ? What is
 
 OOD AND MAN. 27 
 
 it that makes man even a personal being ? What is it that 
 makes you a different person from me? Is it your figure, 
 your length, the shape of your head, the form of your limbs 
 and features ? Is not man even, a person only in virtue of 
 those inherent qualities and capacities of which the body, con- 
 sisting of organs and members, is the ultimated form ? Is it not 
 these, — these qualities and capacities, — rather than anything 
 relating to shape or figure, or anything manifested to external 
 sense, that constitute man's personality, that give him identity 
 and individuality, that make him different, personally, from 
 every other being, from every other man, in fact? And this 
 is the ground on which God is person ; it is His quality. His 
 potency, is that which constitutes His peculiar identity and 
 individuality, as differing from those of all other beings. And 
 thus for man to be in Gods image and likeness is to be so, not 
 in outward form, but in inward quality and character, is to be 
 so in that which really makes him man. Outward, personal 
 form cannot be predicated of the Divine Being, out of Christ, 
 His finite, personal manifestation of Himself, any more than 
 it can of Life, or Truth, or Love, or Light, and these, we have 
 seen, are just what God is in His real nature. 
 
 The common views of God as a personal being belong to a 
 darker age than that in which we are now living, — belong to a 
 low, sensuous, Israelitish state of mind. When we have, by 
 regeneration, risen above that merely natural, external view of 
 God, we shall find Him risen, — risen in our truer conceptions 
 of Him, — " we shall wonder how we could ever have been con- 
 tent with a mere finite, personal manifestation of Him, a being 
 so much like ourselves, a being outside of us and listening and 
 influenced by our selfish prayers, and pleased by our fulsome 
 praises ! We shall have no less a personal God than before ; 
 we shall not think of Him any the less in His personal numi- 
 festation ; but we shall think more of Him as that of which 
 such manifestation is comparatively only as the shadow. 
 There will be all the difference between our outgrown personal
 
 28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 God — if I may so speak without being misunderstood — and our 
 found or risen personal Grod, risen in our truer conceptions of 
 Him, that there is between the mere child's personal man, as 
 the child conceives of him, and the scientist's and Christian 
 philosopher's personal man. The child takes cognizance of 
 only external form, of only figure and shape. The scientific, 
 Christian philosopher sees a world within and above what the 
 eye sees. So you will see within and above the manifested 
 personality of your risen God that which makes Him all that 
 He is to you and all that He is to the universe, as the in- 
 finitely present, infinitely potent, infinitely wise, and infinitely 
 active cause and source of all being. You will recognize a 
 personality that perpetually fills the heavens, fills the universe 
 of universes, in fact, but which manifests itself, or becomes 
 manifest to each individual man or angel, only exactly accord- 
 ing to his state." — Author s sermon, " He is Hiscn." 
 
 13. Omnipresence. 
 
 And with this view of God's personality His Omnipresence 
 is divested of all its absurdity and mystery. With former 
 views of personality we never could conceive of the Divine 
 Omnipresence. We cannot conceive otherwise than of God's 
 absolute presence everywhere, but present never and nowhere 
 without, but always and everywhere within, present as life is 
 present within the body. For this, as we have seen, is just 
 what God is, and, with its attributes, all that God is, — He is 
 Life. It is as Life, and only as Life, that He creates and sus 
 tains and governs ; and it is only by actual presence that He 
 does these things. He does nothing. He exercises no power, 
 but by His actual, tangible, inmost presence in the subjects of 
 His operations and power. We see it now, and see plainly, 
 that it is only as God works in us as the soul in the body that 
 He gives us life and being; and we see how necessarily it de- 
 pends upon our state of recipiency whether the operations of 
 His presence within us give us pleasure or pain, joy or sorrow.
 
 QOD AND MAN. 29 
 
 For lie as the Divine Life is always present within wliat we 
 call our life, as the heart life and brain life are within the 
 tissues of the body. If such Divine Life ever gives pain or 
 sorrow, it is only when, from transgressing the laws of life, we 
 have become diseased, and the cause of the pain or sorrow is 
 simply owing to the persistent effort of the Divine Life to re- 
 move the disease, just as it is with the body in a diseased con- 
 dition ; its pain is owing to the presence of life from the heart 
 and brain in the diseased organism, and in actual effort to re- 
 move the disease. It is not because (rod has left us that we 
 suffer, — He cannot leave \is. If He left us we should cease 
 to be. On the contrary, it is because He, as Life, is trying to 
 restore us, because He is so infinitely and absolutely present 
 in us, and present in His operations as Life, — in His operations 
 as Love, in ftvct, with all its attributes of Wisdom, Power, and 
 Providence, — for this, as we have seen, is just what Grod as Life 
 is. He is Love, but Love not as an affection, but Love itself, 
 Love in its essence. 
 
 God, then, never came to Swcdenborg, never came to any 
 man ; for He has always been present, absolutely present, with 
 all men, rather in all men ; but He manifested Himself to 
 Swedenborg, as He has to other men and to angels. And we 
 may sec what is meant by this ; we may see that God, from 
 His absolute presence tvithin, has, under certain conditions or 
 states of mind, and because of such conditions as modifying 
 the Divine Operations, become mani/esf, or appeared exter- 
 nally, and, therefore, in an external pei'sonalifi/, to men ; but 
 that He did this without in the least degree changing or 
 modifying His absolute presence within. 
 
 14. True Basis of ThouglU. 
 
 Now if we take false views of God, — that He is a sort of 
 mysterious being outside of us ; that He acts from arbitrary will 
 and purpose and according to plan or pattern previously con- 
 ceived • that He comes and goes ; that He now does little and
 
 30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 now more ; that He takes special cognizance of one man and his 
 work, or in any other sense than that in which He takes special 
 cognizance of each and of all men and their work, — take such 
 a view of God as some men evidently do, and we shall become 
 all bewildered and divided and in irreconcilable difference of 
 opinion on all subjects in which Grod is a factor. 
 
 But if we have given a correct view of Grod — of Grod as the 
 Word, thus as the Truth and the Life ; of Grod as an " Influx 
 of Divine Truth," and as eternally and unchangeably the same 
 to all men ; of God within and not without ; of what He is in 
 His absolute nature, and what in His manifestations ; of His 
 personality and of His Omnipresence — let us take this view as 
 our standing ground and our basis of thought and of inquiry 
 on all questions relating to God, or in which the Divine is a 
 factor. Let us keep this view, under all circumstances and 
 conditions, as constantly and unfailingly in sight as the mariner 
 does his compass, and we shall then be led to true views of 
 Swedenborg and his writings, and of both in their relation to 
 the Lord, and also in their relation to the man of this New 
 Ase.
 
 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 
 
 1. Sicedenhorg. 
 
 Who was Swederiborg ? what was his mission ? how was he 
 prepared for his mission ? in what did his qualifications for it 
 consist? did the Lord do anything different for him from what 
 he does for all men ? was there anything special or extraor- 
 dinary in the Lord's relation to him, in any other sense than 
 that in which these terms apply to all men ? what is the real 
 nature of his writings ? are they in any sense the AVord or 
 Sacred Scriptures ? are they divine ? are they Swedenborg's 
 writings or the Lord's writings ? are they the Lord's Second 
 Advent ? what is that advent ? what is Swedenborg's relation 
 to the Advent ? what is the New Jerusalem ? 
 
 2. Why these Questions ? 
 
 These questions have become of unusual interest of late 
 because of extraordinary views entertained by some in regard 
 to the " Writings." It has been claimed that they are the 
 " Lord's writings ;" that they are the " Word without the ex- 
 ternal sense;" and that they are the " Lord's Second Advent." 
 Thus it is claimed that the Writings are not an explanation 
 merely of the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, but that 
 they themselves are the spiritual sense. This is equivalent to 
 
 31
 
 32 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 saying that they are the very " Spirit of Truth" itself, and it 
 was indeed as the Spirit of Truth that the Lord promised to 
 come again. But there is no ratio between Truth itself and 
 verbalized truth, or a verbal statement or explanation of truth, 
 any more than there is between the sunlight and a description of 
 the sunlight. The Writings must be either truth itself, truth in 
 its spirit, truth, that is to say, in its spiritual essence and form, 
 or they must be a mere explanation or finited, verbal statement 
 of truth. They must, therefore, be the spiritual sense of the 
 Word, either in the sense of an explanation merely of the 
 spiritual sense, or in the sense of the " Spirit of Truth." 
 And such extraordinary views about the Writings have re- 
 sulted in equally extraordinary views about Swedenborg, the 
 instrument of them. We have thought, therefore, that this 
 whole subject demanded a most thorough and careful exam- 
 ination, and in the very light itself of the spirit and philosophy 
 of the Writings. 
 
 3. What we Propose to Show. 
 
 We propose to show, and from the Writings themselves, 
 that they are in no sense whatever the Lord's writings, further 
 than that He gave the influx of light and life to the mind that 
 produced them ; that they are no more the Lord's writings, m 
 any other sense, than all men's writings are the Lord's ; that 
 they are no moi'e the Lord's writings than the fruit produced 
 on a tree is the sun's fruit, or the Lord's through the sun, 
 which, we know, is His only in the sense in which His life 
 evolved or created the organism of the tree that produced the 
 fruit ; and, moreover, that they are not the " Lord's Second Ad- 
 vent" in any other sense than that of a treatise on, or explana- 
 tion or instruction about, the Advent; and that they are in no 
 other sense the Word than that of an explanation of the Word. 
 "We propose to show, on the contrary, that, with the above 
 qualification, the Writings are, in the fullest sense of the 
 word, purely and exclusively Swedenborg's writings ; and that
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 33 
 
 they are as mucli more completely his writings as he was 
 more completely a faithful " servant of the Lord ;" and that 
 certain expressions which he uses in relation to himself and 
 the Lord's relation to him no more belong to him — making all 
 allowances for differences in men and differences in uses — than 
 they belong to all men ; in a word, that, so far as the Lord 
 was concerned, in what He did for Swedenborg, Swedenborg 
 was in no sense different from other men ; just as, so far as 
 the sun is concerned in what it does for the tree bearing noble 
 fruit, such tree is in no sense different from the trees bearing 
 ignoble fruit ; that Swedenborg was no " prodigy ;" that he 
 was remarkahle even, not for what the Lord did for him, but 
 for the manner in which he received and used what the Lord 
 equally gives to or does for all men ; that his writings, there- 
 fore, have no other authority than that of the truth that is in 
 them, and in them, not as real living truth, but as mere verbal 
 statements of truth ; and that they have such authority even 
 only as they meet the rational demands of the mind that reads 
 them; and, moreover, that the authority of truth thus ration- 
 ally seen, and by each one for himself, is the only authority 
 that can be acknowledged in the true New Jerusalem. 
 
 4. Tlie New Departure. 
 
 Let us at the start, and for the sake of clearness from the 
 contrast, briefly consider the claims, enforced by no lack of 
 knowledge of what Swedenborg literally says, that his writings 
 are the Lord's writings. It is plain that this claim makes the 
 Writings virtually another Sacred Scripture, another woi-d of 
 God, though, it is confessed, '• without the external sense," 
 and yet " without an internal or spiritual sense," the Writings 
 themselves being, it is claimed, the spiritual sense rather than 
 a mere explanation of it. This makes the Writings another 
 Divine revelation, like the Sacred Scriptures, but differing 
 from any previous revelation in being addressed and accom- 
 modated to further developed and higher states of mind. la 
 
 3
 
 34 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 such accommodated form the Writin2:s are, therefore, to be to 
 the more matured cominjr man essentially \vhat the books of 
 Moses were to the Israelites. According to this claim, the 
 Writings, like the Sacred Scriptures, have come as verbally 
 expressed Divine authority^ as " thus saith the Lord." The 
 difference is, the Israelite was, practically, scarcely more than 
 a physical man, and his responsible acts were, therefore, only 
 acts of the body ; hence it was such acts that his Scriptures, 
 as he understood them, recognized and rewarded or punished; 
 whilst the " coming man," the true man of the New Jerusalem, 
 is a rationally thinking, loving man, and is, therefore, respon- 
 sible for his thoughts and motives of action as well as for his 
 actions. Revelation to the latter, therefore, or his " thus 
 saith the Lord," only addresses a higher plane of mind than 
 did the Israelitish Scriptures. I mean that truth, according 
 to this view of the Writings, must be, or rather has been, in 
 just as imperative and divinely formulated statements, meas- 
 ured down to the man of this New Jerusalem Age, as it was 
 to the less developed man of the Old Jerusalem Age. That 
 is to say, the man of the New Jerusalem must, like the man 
 of the Old Jerusalem, be governed by divinely exact, in- 
 fallible, verbal statements of truth rather than by the Lord 
 in His Advent as the Spirit of Truth actually shining in and 
 enlightening the mind. According to this view, the New 
 Church man must be just as punctilious in his observance 
 of what the Writings literally and formally &ay as the Israelite 
 was in his observance of what " Moses and the Prophets" 
 said. 
 
 Thus the Word as the " Spirit of Truth,'' actually flowing 
 into New Jerusalem mind, as it did not and could not with 
 similar results flow into Old Jerusalem mind, seems to be 
 either wholly ignored or to be given an altogether secondary 
 place. And yet the Word, as such actually and consciously 
 present influx as the Spirit of Truth, is really the great dis- 
 tinctive characteristic of this New Age ; is, indeed, that which
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 35 
 
 constitutes tlie real " glory" of the " Second Advent." For 
 all of the Lord's comings have been (xs the Word, — that is to 
 say, have been as Truth in one form or another in its relation 
 to mind. To the Israelite the Lord as Truth could come only 
 in words, only in finite statements of truth ; to the coming 
 man, on the contrary, the Lord's real distinctive coming must 
 be as light shining in and illuminating the mind ; that is to 
 say, as the Spirit of Truth. But according to the view of 
 which I am speaking, Swedenborg seems to be regarded as a 
 specially prepared instrument, not by whom the real character 
 of Sacred Scripture — the lowest written , or verbalized form 
 of the Word — was explained, but through whom a higher 
 written or verbalized form of the same Word was given by 
 the Lord. 
 
 Yes, according to this view, the " coming man," the man of 
 the regenerated manhood of the race, the man capable of illus- 
 tration by the influx of the " Spirit of truth" itself, — as is to 
 be the case with all regenerated men, as was the case with 
 Swedenborg, — is to have truth verbally measured down to 
 him, it seems, in a divinely authoritative form, as the dark-, 
 minded Israelite had. Thus the man of the future, whose 
 mind is destined to become more and more opened to the 
 Word in its internal form of " living light^'' is to be forever 
 kept in verhal " leading strings," like the man of the past. 
 We can easily see why the child or the undeveloped man, as 
 was the Israelite, must be told ; why it must be " Thus saith 
 the Lord ;" why the great principles or laws of life must be 
 verbally stated to him in a divinely authoritative form. But 
 we cannot see why this should be necessary or even useful to 
 the developed or developing man of the New Jerusalem phase 
 of humanity, whose mind is opening to receive truth from influx, 
 thus to receive the very Spirit of truth, — which is to receive 
 truth as living light. Any authoritative statement of truth is, 
 and it ought to be, most repulsive to the real man of this age. 
 The true man of this a2:e can acknowledjie no truth but as it
 
 36 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 appeals to his own rational thought and gives him light. He 
 can receive the husk of truth only as he sees the corn in it, 
 and then he will receive it for the sake of the corn, not the 
 husk. 
 
 The Writings are not even the husk, for they are not as an 
 outgrowth from the corn ; they have not come by correspond- 
 ence, as Sacred Scripture has ; they are nothing but a treatise ; 
 yet they are, as such, of priceless value until you have come 
 into a state to see the truth itself, and then tbeir value is of a 
 very different character. You then see truth as Swedenborg 
 did, as all regenerated men do ; you see it illuminating the 
 very letter itself of the Word as you devoutly and lovingly 
 read it. What do you then care, when you have arrived at 
 this state, for any explanation, any verbal statement of truth 
 or about truth ? 
 
 5. Illustrative Example. 
 
 I once heard of a man, a good old man, who had read the 
 " Heavenly Doctrines'' with great delight and profit for about 
 fifty years. His interest in them then gradually subsided, 
 until they at length lost their attraction for him. He laid 
 them aside and read the Bible only. Why was this ? The 
 Writings had done their work for him ; they had explained to 
 him the real nature of Sacred Scripture as a casket of jewels ; 
 they had given him the key to the casket ; he had applied the 
 key, and had at length come into that regenerate state in which 
 he actually saw the jewels in the casket, — ^jewels which had 
 only been described to him before. He no longer needed the 
 key after he got sight of the jewels. The living truth itself — 
 of which the Writings are only verbal treatises — flowed sen- 
 sibly into his mind while he was reading the Scriptures, and 
 exhilarated and illuminated it. He was in " revelation from 
 perception." 
 
 A description of the landscape, or of the things seen in the 
 sunlight, may be of priceless value to one by blindness de-
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 37 
 
 privcd of tlio siinliulit ; but what does he care for such descrip- 
 tion after his sii^ht has been restored ? " In proportion as the 
 love is kindled," says Swedcnborg, " the truth sliines ; for tlie 
 good of love is the very vital fire, ... is comparatively as the 
 flame of the sun which is heat and licjht." And it is regener- 
 ation, and that alone, that" kindles the love," thus that enables 
 one to see the jewels in the casket. You may be intellectually 
 informed about the jewels, yon may learn how to use the key 
 to open the casket, but by no possibility can you see the jewels 
 but as your love is kindled as the result of regeneration. The 
 old man in question was in a state to see measurably, as Swedcn- 
 borg himself saw ; but this by no means implies that he pos- 
 sessed the qualifications to do the work which Swedcnborg 
 did. Other similar cases might be mentioned, in which the 
 Sacred Scriptures, from a similar cause, had become, to those 
 devoutly reading them, luminous with the very "spirit of 
 truth," and hence of infinitely greater value than any other 
 book, not excepting even the Writings. 
 
 6. The ''Main Factor^ 
 
 Prior to the year 18G0 there seemed to be no important 
 difference of opinion in regard to Swedenborg's writings or 
 the nature of his mission. But in that year the late llev. 
 Thomas Worcester, in his address before the Convention, at 
 Chicago, spoke thus of Swedcnborg : 
 
 " When Swedcnborg became receptive of those two loves 
 [love to God and love to man], he had within himself the most 
 essential means of understanding the Scriptures; he had a 
 genuine love for the truths contained in them, for he loved 
 what they teach. And besides, the good loves which he had, 
 opened his mind upward to heaven, to the Lord, so that he 
 could receive heavenly light, — the spirit of truth, the Holy 
 Spirit, — which exalts and illustrates the things contained in 
 the literal sense. This is what enabled him to see and to draw 
 forth true doctrine from the Word." (See " New Jerusalem
 
 38 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AOE. 
 
 Magazine" for August, 18G0, p. 80.) A very few took excep- 
 tion to this. 
 
 According to the view above stated by Mr. Worcester — and 
 we were not aware that any diti'ered from it at that time, and 
 we presume that he was not — the " main factor'" in Sweden- 
 borg's qualifications for his mission, though by no means the 
 only important or extraordinary one, was his state of regener- 
 ation. It was to this that exception was taken ; and yet it has 
 since been admitted, by a part, at least, if not by all who once 
 opposed it, that the " gift of perception or illustration from 
 the Lord, by which man sees the truth not from himself but 
 from the Lord, presupposes a state in which man has reached 
 not only the sixth, but even the seventh, stage of the regenerate 
 life ;" and that it is only when he is regenerated as to his celes- 
 tial degree . . , that he is in the condition in which he may 
 be " internally inspired," or " receive revelation from percep- 
 tion." And all admit that Swedenborg was " internally in- 
 spired," or, which is the same, was in a state of revelation 
 from perception. 
 
 This high state of regeneration, in its relation to Sweden- 
 borg's other qualifications, is, comparatively, we may say, by 
 way of illustration, as the retina to the other organs of the 
 eye. The retina is an. expansion of the optic nerve, thus is 
 immediately connected with the brain, and, through the brain, 
 with the soul itself. However perfect the eye in other respects, 
 there could be no vision without the retina. The other organs 
 of the eye are as Swedenborg's other qualifications. But as 
 these organs are impotent without the nerve connecting them 
 with the soul, so Swedenborg's other qualifications, however 
 perfect they might be, would be of no avail, as regards his 
 great mission, but for that state of regeneration which opened 
 his mind upward to the reception of that influx from the 
 Lord which filled him with light, which internally inspired 
 him, or put him in a state of "revelation from perception." 
 It was this that gave significance and power to all his other
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 39 
 
 qualifications, and made them effective, as it were, as instru- 
 ments ; just as the retina makes all the other organs of the eye 
 effective as instruments of sight. 
 
 Here, then, is one point, and a fundamental one, on which 
 all must be agreed, namely, that Swedenborg's mind was, by 
 his high state as to regeneration, — though perhaps not neces- 
 sarily to the seventh degree, — opened upward to the Lord. 
 
 7. Illumination. 
 
 Let us now inquire what are the results of such a state of 
 regeneration, as regards man's relation to the Lord. What 
 new capacities are opened in him ? First, he comes into a 
 state of illumination, or illustration. All men do. The 
 Writings are vei'y full and unmistakable on this subject : 
 " When man is in good, and, from good, in truth, he is raised 
 into the Divine light, and. according to the quantity and qual- 
 ity of good, into such as is more or less interior." A. C. 9407. 
 " The light of truth with a man is altogether according to 
 the state of his love. In proportion as the love is kindled, 
 the truth shines" (10,201), and, of course, the mind is illu- 
 minated. " All illustration is from good." " When there is 
 illustration by truth, then there is an appearance as if the 
 illustration was from truth, when yet it belongs to the good 
 which thus shines through truth." 309-1. This so accords 
 with our rational intuitions I will not take up the space with 
 further citations. We all see how this is; for Swedenborg 
 teaches with unmistakable clearness that the Divine Influx is 
 the same into all men, — the evil and the good, the regenerate 
 and the unregenerate, — ^just as the influx from the sun is the 
 same into fields of weeds and fields of corn; just as the rains 
 fall equally upon the cultivated and the uncultivated portions 
 of the earth ; just as life from the brain flows with c(pial ful- 
 ness into the diseased as into the non-diseased organs of the 
 body. Regeneration clears the mind of its darkening vapors, 
 dispels the clouds, and brings the mind into a state recipient
 
 40 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 of tlie light of heaven. To be in regenerated love and charity 
 is to have the spiritual sky clear and transparent, is to be 
 upon the spiritual mountain, in the very light of heaven itself, 
 where the Lord — the Lord as the Word, as the very Spirit and 
 Life of truth — is " in His glory." Let it be remembered that 
 this is not an exceptional state, but that all regenerated men 
 are in a state of illustration, but each " altogether according 
 to the state of his love ; that is, according to the quantity and 
 quality of good in him." Of course the measure of the light 
 received — not its intensity — and the results of its reception 
 must depend upon the capacity of the mind, upon whether it 
 is broad or narrow, large or small, if I may so speak. We do 
 not suppose that a mind of small and limited experience, for 
 example, can receive as much light as one of vast experience, 
 like that of Swedenborg, nor that the results will be as great. 
 
 8. Perception. 
 
 A second result of such highly regenerated state — and thus 
 of illustration — is an " internal perception of truth," and 
 " thus revelation from perception." " He who loves truths 
 for the sake of truths sees them from the Lord^'' that is to say, 
 from the Word, from the truth itself, which the Lord is. " All 
 perception is from celestial love," and all who arrive at the 
 celestial state in their regeneration receive perception from the 
 Lord. A. C. 1442, 1616. " Perception is the celestial itself 
 given by the Lord to those who are in the fiiith of love." 536. 
 " They who are in the spiritual affection of truth are elevated 
 into the light of heaven, even so as to perceive their illustra- 
 tion from the Lord." A. C. 1183. And this perception of 
 truth is internal revelation, — is a revelation to all men in a 
 regenerated state and to angels, but, of course, with a differ- 
 ence. It is a revelation to them of all that God has to reveal, 
 for it is a revelation of Himself, of Himself as the all-creating 
 Word, as the all-illuminating Truth. What has God to re- 
 veal but Himself as Living Light? " The Divine Truth from
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 41 
 
 the Lord is the only thing from wliich is everything else." 
 9503. What else need He reveal ? What more does the 
 man in illustration, thus in the perception of truth from the 
 Lord, want? Illuminating truth, thus truth glowing with 
 Divine Love, is all that it is possible for any one to receive 
 immediately or directly from the Lord. 
 
 9. Understanding and Will. 
 
 Let us not confound a state of perception with the state a 
 man is in when his understanding is raised into light in ad- 
 vance of his will, for there is an infinit-c diiference between 
 them. A man is in perception, or that kind of perception 
 which is from illustration, only as a result of regeneration. It is 
 true, Swedenborg says, that the " understanding of every man 
 may be elevated into the light of heaven and perceive spiritual 
 truths when he hears them," but qualifiedly so, that is, " ac- 
 cording to the affection of knoicing and understanding them." 
 A. C. 1323. He says that " even devils can understand the 
 arcana of wisdom." A. C. 1343. " The understanding can be 
 elevated above the lusts of the will." T. C. R. 574. Of course 
 man could never see the " way of life" and become regenerated 
 if this were not so. Man is mentally so organized that his 
 understanding can go before and lead the way. But Sweden- 
 borg says that " there arc no truths where there is no good," 
 and thus no pure genuine light ; and he proves it. For he 
 adds, " The reason is, because the Lord never flows immediately 
 into truths with man, but mediately by his good ; for good is 
 of the will, and the will is the man himself, the understanding 
 being thence produced and formed ; for the understanding is 
 so adjoined to the will that what the will loves the under- 
 standing sees, and also brings forth into light ; wherefore, if 
 the will is not in good, but in evil, then the influx of truth 
 from the Lord into the understanding avails nothing ; for it is 
 dissipated, because it is not loved ; yea, it is perverted, and 
 the truth is falsified ; hence it is manifest why the Lord does 
 
 8*
 
 42 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 not immediately flow into the understanding of man, except 
 so far as the will is in good. The Lord can illustrate the un- 
 derstanding of every man, and so flow in with divine truths, 
 inasmuch as the faculty of understanding truth is given to 
 every man, and this for the sake of his reformation ; but still 
 the Lord does not so flow in, because truths do not remain, 
 but in proportion as the will is reformed : to illustrate the un- 
 derstanding in truths even to faith, except in proportion as the 
 will acts as one with it, would also be dangerous ; for man can 
 then pervert, adulterate, and profane truths, which exposes him 
 to the worst condemnation. Moreover, truths, howsoever they 
 are known and understood, if they are not at the same time 
 lived, are nothing but inanimate truths ; and truths inanimate 
 are as it were statues which are without life. From these 
 considerations it may appear, whence it is, that there are no 
 truths where there is no good, unless as to form and not as to 
 essence." A. E. 730. 
 
 Li regard to perception, it is of various degrees and kinds ; 
 but that with which Swedenborg was favored was evidently 
 that which a man has when he is " in truth from good," and 
 which is the result of his state of illustration. Swedenborg 
 was in illustration, and therefore in perception as a consequence, 
 and he was in revelation from perception. 
 
 10. Revelation from Perception. 
 
 Revelation from perception is what the angels only and re- 
 generated men have. This is the kind of revelation that was 
 common in the Most Ancient Church, but comparatively rare 
 in the degenerating Ancient Church. It is a totally different 
 kind of revelation from that made by speech, like the Sacred 
 Scriptures, or by visions ; and it requires an entirely different 
 state of mind to receive it. It could not possibly have been 
 received by those to whom revelation was made in a verbal form, 
 not even" by Moses and the Prophets. Revelation from per- 
 ception is the Word as living light actually shining in the
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 43 
 
 mind, as it shines in the minds of angels and good spirits, or 
 regenerated men. Revehition from perception is from influx, 
 not from dictation; Sacred Scrii)ture, or verbal revehition, is 
 from dictation, but dictation, let us remember, not by the Lord, 
 but by angels and good spirits, as they were filled by influx 
 from the Lord ; for dictation is a finite act. It is divine truth 
 finited down, as it were, into thought and measured out 
 in words. Revelation from perception, it is plain, is of a 
 more interior kind, for it is actual insight into spiritual prin- 
 ciples and causes ; it is a conception of such principles and 
 causes in the very light itself of heaven. Revelation from 
 verbal dictation is only a description, in words, of scarcely 
 more than the gross, materialized effects, as it were, of such 
 principles. Revelation from perception is as the restoration 
 of the things of sight to the blind, in all their detail of beauty 
 and glory, as they appear to perfect vision ; while revelation 
 from dictation is as the lame, verbal utterance and description 
 of those things to the blind. 
 
 11. Dictation. 
 
 But we are told that Swedenborg positively affirms that 
 the spiritual sense of the Word was dictated to him from 
 heaven. So he does. But to dictate is to give the very 
 words. And if he received the words he wrote from heaven, 
 it must have been either from the Lord or from the angels. 
 But the Lord never finites truth, which is Divine thought, 
 into speech, except through finite agencies, such as men, spirits, 
 or angels. But Swedenborg expressly declares that " he never 
 received anything concerning the doctrines of the New Church 
 from any angel or spirit, but from the Lord alone." What does 
 he mean, then, by dictation? Let him define his own words, 
 and he does this clearly and consistently. In speaking of Reve- 
 lation from Perception, he says that perception " is a dictate 
 through heaven from the Lord flowing into the interiors of 
 the thought." A. C. 5121. Again, " Perception, in itself, is
 
 44 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 nothing else than a sort of internal spooch ;" " every interior 
 impression or dictate, and even conscience itself, is nothing but 
 such internal speech." 1822. When perception ceased in the 
 Most Ancient Church, there succeeded a kind of dictate called 
 conscience. Swedenborg speaks of several kinds of dictate, 
 as that of perception, of conscience, of truth, of good. But 
 they are each and all an injfiix from the Lord ; and whether 
 they are of one kind or another depends, not at all upon the 
 nature of the influx, — for that is unchangeably the same, — 
 but upon the state of the recipient. 
 
 12. Who Jiave Revelation from Perception? 
 
 But who have perception ? Swedenborg's teachings on this 
 point are unmistakable ; they are often repeated. In fact, his 
 whole philosophy of mind in its relation to the Lord makes 
 the subject plain, even if he had said nothing specifically about 
 it. As shown above from the Writings, they have revelation 
 from perception " who are in good, and from good in truth." 
 Revelation from perception is made when they who are in 
 such a state read the Word. 5121. The Word reveals itself 
 by Holy Influx to all who are in such a state of Good and 
 Truth while they are devoutly reading it. 8971. And there 
 is nothing else to be revealed but the Word, or the Lord as 
 the Word. When the Word is revealed all is revealed ; God 
 and heaven and all things in heaven are revealed. To such 
 persons the Word reveals itself in its genuine sense, — that is, 
 as living light. 10,323. Such influx of the Word as light, 
 and conseci[uent illustration, are actual elevation into heaven 
 among the angels, and communication there from the Lord. 
 10,330. But communication from the Lord is nothing else 
 than communication from Him as the Word, thus as an influx 
 of living light. Communication from the Lord is never in 
 audible speech, except to the merely natural man, and not to 
 him even, except as the liglit is finited into speech through 
 the tiniting medium of angels or spirits. Though there is a
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 45 
 
 sense in which natural men may, as regards their intellectual 
 
 part, be raised into the light of heaven, yet no one who is not 
 
 " in truth from good" can have the kind of perception of 
 
 which we are speaking, and thus revelation from perception. 
 
 No one can understand the true spirit and philosophy of Swe- 
 
 denborg's writings without being undoubtingly convinced of 
 
 this. 
 
 13. Formulated Truth. 
 
 Formulated Truth— that is to say, Truth finited into verbal 
 statements, verbal precepts, principles, or doctrines — never did, 
 never can, come immediately from the Lord ; they come only 
 through finiting agencies or instruments. And there are no 
 such finiting mediums between the man in a state of " revela- 
 tion from perception" and the Lord. A man in such a state 
 'sees truth, not in its finited and verbalized form, in its form 
 as of a statement, precept, or doctrine, but sees it as light from 
 the Divine, — perceives his own illustration from the Lord (as 
 above). Swedenborg mentions his own case AS an example, 
 and NOT as exceptional : " It was given mr," he says, " to see 
 the illustration, and from it to perceive distinctly what comes 
 from the Lord and what from the angels." 1183. What came 
 from the Lord to Swedenborg was precisely, in kind, what 
 comes to all men, namely, illuminating truth, or truth as light ; 
 just as what comes from the sun to one plant is precisely, in 
 kind, what comes to all plants. What Swedenborg wrote was 
 finitely /oj'mit^a/efZ truth ; he never wrote any other kind of truth. 
 But where was such truth formulated but in his own mind ? and 
 how formulated but exactly according as his mind was im- 
 pressed by the influx of truth as fifing light ? And how is 
 mind thus impressed but according to its purity, its developed 
 capacities, its stores of experiences, etc. ? It is not every mind 
 that can formulate truth, especially in its highest verbal re- 
 vealment. A mind must have peculiar gifts and be specially 
 prepared for this oflice ; and even then it is only " spiritual 
 truth" that can be measured down into a verbal form : " celes-
 
 46 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 tial truth" is inofFable. S. D. 4071, et jiassim. That nothing 
 is received from the Lord — nothing whatever — but influx of 
 living truth, influx of the very " spirit and life" of the Word, 
 and not verbal truth, not finited or formulated ideas, princi- 
 ples, or doctrines, is confirmed by the following passage, among 
 numerous others, — namely, " By revelation is meant illustration 
 when the Word is read, and in such case perception ; for they 
 who are in good, and desire truth, are SO taught from the 
 Word," — that is, by the Lord. And this is the way, and the 
 only way, in which Swedenborg was '' taught by the Lord while 
 reading the Word;" it was by illmtnition and perception, and 
 not by the Lord's giving him already formulated ideas, prin- 
 ciples, or doctrines, much less verbal statements of truth, as 
 some seem to suppose. Neither Swedenborg, nor any other 
 man or angel, ever received anything directly or immediately 
 from the Lord but infinite or unfiuited truth, truth as light 
 shilling in the mind ; for this, as repeatedly stated before, is 
 all that the Lord has, or ever had, or ever need to have, to 
 give any one. 
 
 14. The Writings. 
 
 And did Swedenborg give what he so joyously and so abun- 
 dantly received? Never. This was impossible. Truth, as 
 light, could not even shine through him as natural light 
 through a transparent medium. And this is an important 
 fact to be noted. Truth became finite the moment the Divine 
 Influx impinged upon the walls of his mind. He could not 
 be the medium of truth as light; he could not transfer it as 
 Divine Truth. He could give it, could speak it and write it, 
 only as finited, formulated, verbal truth ; he could communicate 
 it only in the form of talks about or descriptions of truth ; in 
 other words, he could only convey to others the thoughts, ideas, 
 principles suggested and formed in his own mind as illumi- 
 nated by truth as light; just as, however purely you may re- 
 ceive the sunlight, you cannot communicate it ; you can only 
 talk about it and about things illuminated by it. Swedenborg's
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 47 
 
 writings are not genuine truth, — tcacliings are not genuine 
 truth, — they cannot be, any more than bottles are wine, or 
 than surfaces receiving and dividing or foriuuhxting light into 
 distinct shades and colors are the light, or rather than such 
 colors are the light. They are only verbal expressions of 
 truth, or suggestive mediums or formularies of truth. And 
 such formularies are not Divine any more than the purple 
 clusters produced from the vine through the medium of the 
 branches are the vine, or are the life of the vine. The 
 Writings are rather as finger-points to show the way to the 
 Divine, or how we may come into a state to receive more 
 purely the Divine. They are not designed to give men truth, 
 but to lead them in the way of truth, to tell them how to be 
 regenerated, and thus how to have their minds cleansed and 
 purified, so that they can receive the truth already flowing 
 into them without perverting it, and thus receive it as truth. 
 The Writings are the guides, as it were. Yet we regard 
 Swedenborg's statements as true statements or doctrines of 
 truth, and of priceless value as such. His writings are not 
 even recipient vessels of truth, as mind is. We can receive 
 no truth from them or through them, as we can from the 
 Word. They are in no sense the Word, or like the Word. 
 The Word, and that alone, is truth. 
 
 It was not because Swedenborg was a servant of the Lord, 
 — we are all equally his servants, — nor because he had a spe- 
 cial mission, — we each have equally a special mission, — that 
 he made such true statements or teachings or doctrines of 
 truth, but because he received truth so purely, thus because he 
 wrote in such pure light of truth. 
 
 Swedenborg was not exceptional in his relation to truth, 
 thus to the Lord, but in the measure which he received of it, 
 rather in the purity, thus heavenly brightness, in which he 
 received it; and this is the reason, and not because the Lord 
 gave him more than other men, why his writings are so 
 exceptionally truthful as verbal expressions of truth.
 
 48 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 15. Truth not Transferahle. 
 
 Swedenborg was simply a man, like other men, in his rela- 
 tion to truth ; he was simply a recipient of it, just as we are ; 
 it flowed into him just as it flows into us, and for the same 
 reason, — flowed into him as light into the eye or life into the 
 body, but not to be transferred to other men. Can light be 
 transferred from one eye to another, or life from one body to 
 another ? You cannot transcribe truth. There is an infinite 
 difference between truth in Swedenborg — or as it flowed into 
 him — and truth in his writings. Swedenborg is not a medium 
 of truth to us ; he is not between the Lord and us ; neither 
 are his writings. We do not look to him or go to his writings 
 for truth, as we do to a well for water ; they contain none. 
 We rai^ht as well 2:0 to a treatise on lioht, or to verbal state- 
 ments about light, for light. Truth cannot be bottled up 
 like wine. It is truth as it flows into you, but not as it rests 
 in you or after it has passed through you, — if such resting or 
 such passage were conceivable. What is light, the natural 
 symbol and representative of truth, when confined in a vessel 
 or when it is brought to a state of rest? Is it anything? 
 What is light when finited and formulated in words? Is it 
 light? Is it anything like light, except that it gives the 
 blind man some sort of an idea through the ear of what he 
 cannot see with the eye ? 
 
 Such is the relation of Swcdenborg's writings to truth, — 
 real truth. They are a needful substitute for truth to the 
 spiritually blind. They are truth speaking, as it were, when 
 it cannot shine by reason of our blindness. Rather they are 
 an explanation of truth, or a verbal presentation of principles 
 of truth, which, if not spiritually blind, we might see, and 
 see in their fulness and glory. They are, in their relation to 
 truth, what a description of a landscape to a blind man is to 
 the light by which, if not blind, he might see things inefi"able 
 and full of beauty.
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 49 
 
 IG. The WritliHfs. — IIoio Useful. 
 
 Thus these writings are of vast importance to us because 
 we are blind. But let us not for that reason consider them 
 an embodiment of all truth, or of all the Lord has to give 
 men. and just as if the Lord could put His truth, any of 
 His truth, into words at all. They are of very great use to 
 us in aiding us, by explaining to us the way, to come into 
 states in which we may receive truth, in i:s living brightness, 
 from the Lord. But let us remember that we are living under 
 the same spiritual sun that poured its light into Swedcnborg's 
 mind, and that we are all receiving, each according to his 
 measure and state, just as he received. We are not dependent 
 upon Swedenborg, or upon any verbal statement whatever, for 
 Truth, but, just as Swedenborg was, upon the Lord alone. We 
 may have read Swedenborg much or little or not at all ; all the 
 Truth we have received has come by influx from the Lord 
 alone. What we get from Swedenborg aids in giving Truth 
 from the Lord practical outline and form. Truth, without 
 true doctrinal statement, would be indefinite and vague. 
 Here we see the use, the very great importance, of Swe- 
 dcnborg's writings ; here we see their true place and use in 
 relation to Truth itself, 
 
 17. Mt nil the Truth. 
 
 But we very greatly err, so far as we imagine that Sweden- 
 borg has furnished all or the only forujulated vessels of truth. 
 On the contrary, every true life elaborates such vessels. The 
 Sacred Scriptures furnish them ; so does science or a knowl- 
 edge of God, — that is, of Truth in nature. The thoughts of 
 some men flow spontaneously, as it were, into true expressions, 
 and to such men an external formula would be only an em- 
 barrassment. Other men, who have equally keen perceptions 
 of what is true, cannot think but as aided by already formu- 
 lated vessels of thought. The former do not care to read
 
 50 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 Swcilenborg or to know the ultimate expression of others' 
 thoughts ; the latter are persistent and loving students of all 
 that Svvedenborg has written. Both arc admirers of Sweden- 
 borg and of his writings, but for different reasons. 
 
 There is every variety of mind in the reception of truth 
 and in its operation and effects, just as there is every variety 
 of plant in the reception and operation of the sunlight. We 
 live in an age or at the time of that peculiar phase of developing 
 humanity when universal mind is in a new receptive state, not 
 when the Lord is doing anything different or anything more 
 than in any former age. 
 
 There is, I say, an infinite difference between truth and 
 a verbal statement of truth. True, men are in the habit of 
 speaking of such statements as truths ; thus, of calling true 
 precepts, doctrines, or teachings, truths. Swedenborg's writ- 
 ings are truth or contain truths only in this sense. 
 
 18. Truth. 
 
 For what is truth^ real truth ? It is substantial, living efflu- 
 ence from the Lord. It is, indeed, the Lord in His goings 
 forth of Himself, as it were, from Himself. It is the all- 
 creating, spiritual radiance of God and from God as the Life 
 and Source of all that is. It is the " TlorcZ," — not as Sacred 
 Scripture, but as that of which Sacred Scripture is only the 
 basis and continent, the outer garment, the finited, verbal 
 statement; it is that Word by which and out of which " all 
 things were made," and without which " was not anything 
 made that was made." Truth is Life: " In Him [the Word] 
 was life." Truth is Light : " And the Life was the light of 
 men." Truth flows into the mind as the brain-life or the 
 heart-life into the body, and it gives life to the mind as such 
 fluids give life to the body. Mind actually lives on truth — 
 truth as the form and manifestation of love — as the body lives 
 on its fluids of life. Truth ifliiininates the mind as the sun- 
 light the world. It is by truth alone that mind is enabled to
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 51 
 
 think and perceive and produce results, just as it is by the 
 sunlight alone that the earth is made productive. Such is 
 truth: it is God; and all the God we know or need to know 
 anything about. Christ was Truth [God the Word] manifest 
 — brought forth to view — to human perception on a lower 
 plane. Truth in the mind is God in the mind. 
 
 Can any of these things be said of the Writings, or of any 
 other verbal teachings or doctrines, however true they may be ? 
 Are they truth, then ? Do they ever contain truth ? Are any 
 of their doctrines or teachings truth? Are they anything 
 more than finite statements or verbal expressions of truth ? 
 but statements or expressions made in the very light itself of 
 truth, — which is to be " instructed," " dictated to," by the Lord 
 Himself, the Lord as Truth itself, — thus they are true state- 
 ments. They are a rich storehouse of such statements, thus 
 of truths in this sense of the word. And this, it is plain, is 
 all that they are. There is no real " life" in them, no real 
 " light" in them. They only tell us how, by living according 
 to them as true teachings, we may come into a state to receive 
 real truth as life and light by influx from the Lord, which is 
 the only way to receive real truth. 
 
 Such are the Writings and such their relation to Truth, 
 thus to the Lord. What is their relation to men ? Are they 
 true statements of truth to men ? 
 
 19. Authority to the Man of this Age. 
 
 Here is exactly the point : Are they true statements, — not 
 absolutely, but relatively ? This depends upon the reader's 
 state. Even though absolutely true, yet to some men they 
 are false ; and the man of this age, of this phase of dc^velop- 
 ing humanity, is to be his own judge. No Grand Sanhedrim 
 or ecclesiastical Council is going to decide the question for 
 him. The Word, Christ, Truth, — Truth as he sees it, — is 
 his only " Rabbi.'' Matt. ii. 3, 8. And this is one of the great 
 distinctive features of the man — the real man — of this age,
 
 52 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 and a feature that seems to be entirely overlooked and ignored 
 by some writers on the nature of Swedenborg's writings as 
 " authority." It is not literal truth, not any verbal statement 
 of truth whatever, but truth itself, — truth as a living influx into 
 his own mind, — that the real man of this age is going to ac- 
 knowledge as authority, and influx as qualified by his own, not 
 another's, state of reception. It is the Jew and the Solifidian 
 alone — those who are in a relatively undeveloped, childhood 
 state — that need t;fr?*aZ authority, the " Thus-saiththe-Lord" 
 form of truth. But such men do not really belong to this 
 age ; they are dwellers in the lingering shadow of the past. 
 To such, Swedenborg's writings are true or untrue, — ^just as 
 has been the case with the Jew and the Christian in regard to the 
 Bible, — according to external evidence, according as they are 
 persuaded that he was a true man, and therefore " told the 
 truth," or wrote what the Lord told him to write. With such 
 men, therefore, the question is not " What is truth?" but " What 
 do the Writings say?" It is not living truth as it flows into 
 the mind and produces rational conviction, but verbal truth as 
 substantiated by adequate authority, that is their " Master," — 
 not truth as it comes directly from the Lord, or is the Lord, 
 in their own minds, but as it comes externally formulated and 
 clothed by other minds. 
 
 20. Evidence. 
 
 Thus it is plain that whether Swedenborg's writings are true 
 statements of truth to men depends upon the character of the 
 men, and that they will be regarded as true, or untrue, ac- 
 cording to the state of mind. Formalists or literalists — such 
 is the character of some minds — must have evidence about 
 them that " thus saith the Lord." And they are constantly 
 looking for such evidence, and they are delighted with it when 
 they find it. There is every variety of this kind of mind, 
 from the ancient Israelite down to the litcralistic reader of the 
 " Heavenly Doctrines." Mystery was all-sufiicient evidence to
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 53 
 
 the Israelite; a miracle, to the "Christian;" to the man in a 
 transition state for the new age, but who has not yet entirely 
 outgrown the old, a kind of rational conviction of the Divine 
 authority of the messenger is necessary ; whereas, with the true 
 man of the age, the message itself is all that he will regard as 
 of any account, and this even will have weight only as wit- 
 nessed to \>f the internal Rabbi of the mind itself, — Christ as 
 the inflowing life or Spirit of truth. To such a man the 
 Writings will be true, not because Swedenborg says so, not 
 because of any supposed evidence that the Lord says so 
 through him, but because he is in a state -to receive, and is ac- 
 tually receiving, qualifiedly, the very Spirit of truth itself, of 
 which the Writings are only a finited, verbal statement. No 
 external say-so evidence will weigh a straw or excite a thought 
 with such a man. He will not care to ask what was Sweden- 
 borg's authority, or whether his statements are worthy of be- 
 lief. The man of this new age, the man of the real New 
 Jerusalem, for whose use alone the Writings are designed, will 
 measure them by the truth actually flowing into him, and not 
 by what Swedenborg or anybody else says about them ; and the 
 only test to him of their fallibility or infallibility will be that of 
 such inflowing truth, — if it should occur to him to ask even 
 whether they are infallibly true or not. To every such man 
 the Writings must be true or false according as he himself 
 sees them, in the light of the real Spirit of truth in his own 
 mind. If he does not thus see them as true, you cannot 
 by any evidence whatever prove them to him to be true. 
 Dreadful exhibitions of Divine wrath and power, as with the 
 Israelite, or signs and wonders, as with tlie earliest Christians, 
 or rational arguments, though never so logical and convincing, 
 as with the scientist and philosopher, are not the kind of evi- 
 dence demanded by the real man of this age, though they have 
 had their mission, and an important one, in the past, and still 
 have with a certain class of people. Of what avail is it for 
 you, though possessed of all the gifts of the highest angel, of
 
 54 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 what avail is it for councils, though consisting of men of such 
 gifts, to tell a man who has the real manhood of this age de- 
 veloiiiiig within him, that this or that is true ? He has a higher 
 authority — Christ, Truth — as a witness and monitor in his own 
 mind, whose testimony he can hold as subordinate to that of 
 no man or body of men. Even though you were to satisfy him 
 that Swedenborg was the infallible mouthpiece of the Lord, as 
 some believe, it would be of no avail ; his utterances must be 
 judged and received or rejected according as witnessed to by 
 the Rabbi within. You do him, therefore, no good service by 
 proving, even if it were possible, that Swedenborg's writings 
 are infallible. He is of an entirely different genius from either 
 the Israelite or the Papist, and is capable of higher testimony, 
 of being shown plainly of the Father, — " even the Spirit 
 of Truth . . . that dwelleth with you and shall be IN you," 
 an inner counsellor, teacher, and enlightener. How is it that 
 men professedly of this new age have so mistaken the genius 
 and wants and prerogatives of its manhood ? This is an in- 
 ternal phase of humanity. The truth that comes with " au- 
 thority" comes in an internal way ; it is not formulated truth. 
 No man, in any sense, stands between another man and the 
 real Master : " All ye are brethren." The man of this age is 
 going to drink from the living fountain, as Swedenborg, its 
 precursor, herald, and great exemplar, did, and not, as in the 
 past, from finited statements of truth. 
 
 21. The Man of the Age and the Writings. 
 
 The important question presents itself, then. What is the 
 position of the real man of this age in his relation to Swe- 
 denborg's writings ? I answer. Very similar to what it is in 
 his relation to other writings. In fact, where is the difference, 
 if he acknowledges no verbal statement of truth, however 
 true in itself, as authoritative truth ? For no one is going to 
 acknowledge these writings as true except so far as they are 
 true to him J true as Ae sees them. And this can be said of all
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 55 
 
 ■writings. And he can sec them as true only according to his 
 reception of corresponding living truth by influx. So different 
 is the man of this age from the man of any preceding age. 
 The witness of truth is, I say, within and not outside. Swe- 
 dcnborg's writings, in a wonderful degree, bear the impress of 
 this witness. lie evidently wrote them in its light, thus by 
 its " dictation ;" just as the true scientist writes in the light 
 and by the dictation of scientific truth ; just, indeed, as Swe- 
 denbors; wrote as a scientist.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 
 
 1. Inspiration. 
 
 Much has been said about Swedenborg's inspiration. But 
 what is meant by his inspiration ? how was he inspired ? was 
 he inspired in any different sense from that in which all re- 
 generated men are inspired ? Swedenborg gives a plenty of 
 unmistakable instruction on this subject. And what he says 
 of himself is clearly intended, in most cases, as illustrative of 
 general principles as applicable to all men in similar states of 
 regeneration ; as, for example, where he says, " it was given 
 me to know by experience," '' I know from my own case," 
 " this was granted me to know as a most certain thing by daily 
 experience and reflection," and the like. Passages are often 
 met with in the Writings which relate to Swedenborg's own 
 experience and history in his qualifications for, and perform- 
 ance of, the duties of his office. And these, to a superficial 
 reader, or to one insensible to the true spirit and philosophy 
 of the Writings, would seem to indicate that Swedenborg was 
 in a certain extraordinary, not to say miraculous, manner, — 
 different from all other regenerated men, — an instrument, 
 somewhat as Moses and the Prophets were, in the hands of 
 the Lord — a " quill," as expressed by one — to write the doc- 
 trines of the New Church. But the extracts show no such 
 thing, encourage no such view, except to the intense literalist 
 who is blind to the true scope and philosophy of Swedenborg's 
 teachings as a whole. 
 66
 
 SWEDENBORO'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 57 
 
 2. 0/ Two Kinds. 
 
 There are plainly two kinds of inspiration, — one external, 
 the other internal. The Bible was written by men externally 
 inspired, by unregenerated or merely natural men, thus by ex- 
 ternal men. Swedenborg was internally inspired ; for he was, 
 as is acknowledged, in illustration, and thus in " revelation 
 from perception ;" and this, as abundantly shown in the 
 Writings, is what is meant by " internal inspiration." No 
 one will deny that Swedenborg was gifted with this kind of 
 inspiration ; but in this he was like all .other men who are 
 " in the good of love to the Lord," or " in good and thence in 
 truth," which is an indispensable condition of such inspiration. 
 In such inspiration, therefore, his case was not exceptional, 
 except so far as his regeneration to such state of love was 
 exceptional, for all men in such state of " good of love to the 
 Lord" are internally inspired. Nothing is more clearly taught 
 by Swedenborg. Thus it is plain that Swedenborg was in- 
 ternally inspired, not because of any special gift by the Lord, ' 
 but because, and solely because, he was in a state of " good of 
 love to the Lord." And for the same reason, and for no other 
 reason, was he in illustration, and thus " in revelation from 
 perception," while writing an explanation of the internal sense 
 of the Word. He was inspired or was in revelation from 
 perception, we insist, in the sense, and only in the sense, in 
 which all men, in such good of love, are inspired, or are in 
 revelation from perception ; for influx of Divine Truth into 
 such men is, in all cases, as we have shown, " revelation from 
 perception," or " internal inspiration," but with a difference in 
 measure and degree and results, of course, determined by the 
 character as to capacity, condition, stores of knowledge, ex- 
 periences, and the like, of the recipient vessels, no two of 
 which arc just alike. 
 
 4
 
 58 SWEDENBORQ AND TUB NEW AGE. 
 
 3. The Lord's Part in the Writings. 
 
 Now what wc want to know is specifically what constituted 
 the Lord's part and what Swedenborg's part as regards the 
 Writings. First, the Lord's part, — that is to say, we want to 
 know what the Lord specifically gave Swedenborg or did for 
 him as His " servant" while he was writing. Did He give 
 him, or did He do for him, anything whatever diflForent from 
 what He gives to or does for other men, all men ? We 
 answer, No. For, as most clearly shown in the Writings, 
 nothing, nothing whatever, no influence, no power, no opera- 
 tion, not even the form, the essence, or the shadow of any- 
 thing, comes from the Lord but an effluence of Himself, — of 
 Himself as the Word, of Himself as Love, Spirit, Life, Truth. 
 He has nothing else to give, nothing whatever, but such 
 effluence. And He does nothing, absolutely notliing, but give 
 such effluence ; just as the sun does nothing but give its 
 radiance, its effluence of itself; just as the vine does nothing 
 for the branches but give them an effluence of and from its 
 life, or give itself in the form of such effluence. The Lord 
 does nothing, absolutely nothing, in the creation or evolution 
 of each and all His works, — and whether physical or spiritual, 
 — but what He does as simply and exclusively the result of 
 such effluence in its operation as influx or influence ; and such 
 operation must of necessity and invariably depend upon the 
 recipient of such influx. God's power. His wisdom, His 
 providence, all His attributes, are confined to the operation of 
 such effluence and influx. He has no finitely purposive in- 
 fluence, no arbitrary power, as man has ; no magic power. 
 He has no hand, no " mighty arm," none but the Word, — that 
 is, none but Truth, Truth as the form of His own life, by which 
 to execute. He docs nothing as man does, not even as the 
 good man does. He has no such power as man has. The sun 
 is the great exemplar of the operation of His power. And 
 how does the sun operate ? purely as an influx of itself or of its
 
 SWEDENBORO'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 59 
 
 own substance. It works in secret, entirely concealed from 
 view ; works silently, Avorks orj^anifically, and little by little, 
 and always exactly according to conditions, producing woody 
 fibre, leaves, or flowers, producing sour or sweet, one color or 
 another, a noble or ignoble ])lant or tree, exactly according to 
 the recipient conditions modifying its operation. It is pre- 
 cisely so with the Lord in all that lie does or ever did. He 
 works as the sunbeam works, or as the living principle in the 
 seed or in the egg, which is from Ilim, works to create a 
 plant or a bird. And this is the way, and the only way, in 
 which He works in men and for men. lie works as life, and 
 only as life works ; for He is Life, Life itself; and all His 
 attributes are attributes simply of Himself as Life. Sweden- 
 borg has explained this to axiomatic clearness. This is the 
 way, and the only way, in which the Lord ever worked for or 
 ever in any sense or manner taught or influenced Swedenborg 
 in his writings ; it was as inflowing Life, Life whose essence 
 is love and whose form of operation and manifestation is truth. 
 Hence the Lord's part, and His only j)art, in those Writings 
 was in the one only normal, unchangeable operation of the 
 influx of Divine Truth which he gave Swedenborg. Yet, 
 strange to say, men often speak as if the Lord exercised some 
 other influence over Swedenborg, or as if He influenced him 
 in some other way, or in some additional way, than by the 
 natural and spontaneous operation of influx of Himself; they 
 speak as if the Lord made Swedenborg an exception to a uni- 
 versal and unchangeable law in this respect, which law is, as 
 before stated, that the operation of influx must, by stern 
 necessity, always and invariably be according to recipient state 
 and conditions. They speak, for example, of truth being " in- 
 stilled into Swedenborg by the Lord Himself" ! And this 
 peculiar, exceptional, instilling process seems to be what some 
 understand by " internal inspiration ;" and to substantiate this 
 view they cite what Swedenborg says about the Lord's " dic- 
 tating to him," " commanding him," " teaching him," " lead-
 
 60 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 ing liim." and the like, without regard to the necessary and 
 only meaning of these phrases when considered in the light 
 of the spirit and philosophy of Swedenborg's writings. Just 
 as if the Lord could and did do for Swedenborg something 
 outside or independent of, or in addition to, the natural opera- 
 tion of His influx according to state and conditions ! and just 
 as if it were not equally as necessary to consider what Swe- 
 denborg means, according to Ms own j^^iHosoj^hi/, as to hear 
 what he is regarded as " authoritatively" and " inftillibly" sa?/- 
 iiig. And here, we think, lies the fatal mistake which has led 
 to such strange views about Swedenborg, and about his writings 
 as " the Lord's writings." 
 
 4. ''Instaiedr 
 
 But if truth was instilled into Swedenborg's mind, it was 
 truth in what form ? Was it in the form of ideas, principles, 
 words, doctrines? That would be external inspiration, and 
 must come through a finiting medium, through the mind of 
 some spirit or angel ; for ideas, doctrines, etc., are finited 
 things ; even doctrines are only truth finited into verbal teach- 
 ings ; are truth finited, or limited and accommodated, in a cer- 
 tain conceivable form, by the processes of finite thought. Doc- 
 trines could not come from the Lord in such finite form. And 
 yet Swedenborg says that he " was instructed by no spirit or 
 angel" — that is, by no finite being — in his explanations of the 
 AVord. And, as we have seen, nothing comes from the Lord 
 but Divine Truth, and to the regenerated man it comes only 
 as an influx of Light. The finiting and formulating process 
 into ideas, principles, and doctrines must have taken place in 
 the finite faculties of Swedenborg's own mind. When he says, 
 therefore, that " the internal sense was dictated to him by the 
 Lord," that he "was taught by the Lord," that his books 
 were "written from the Lord [a Domino] through him," and 
 makes use of other like expressions, he certainly cannot mean 
 what the rigid litendist would make him mean. Such expres-
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. Gl 
 
 sions must be intcrprctctl by doctrine, and interpreted in sucli 
 a manner as not to militate against the unity and harmony of 
 acknowledged general principles. Swcdcnborg certainly does 
 not contradict, in his own experience, universal and unchange- 
 able principles. He never makes the laws of God's relation 
 to men different, as applied to himself, from what they are as 
 relating to other men. Swedenborg clearly shows the mean- 
 ing of the above expressions by the way he uses them in other 
 connections. For example, " dictate" — which literally means 
 " to declare with authority," or to give verbal command, or to 
 speak in words — does not mean, when predicated of the Lord, 
 to give either words or finited thoughts, principles, or teach- 
 ings ; it is only a certain result of the operation of the influx 
 of Divine Truth into finite vessels and under certain condi- 
 tions. Thus Swedenborg says, " It was dictated in a wonder- 
 ful manner in the thought, and the thought was led to an 
 understanding of these words, and the idea was fixedly held in 
 each expression as if detained by heavenly power : so this 
 revelation took place to the conscious senses. By the permis- 
 sion of God Messiah, other revelations, which are many, will 
 be spoken of elsewhere." Adv. 7167. Swedenborg had been 
 speaking of a certain revelation to him. " They who arc in 
 good know from good what is in Divine Truth," " for it is to 
 them a dictate, and guides them." A. C. 4715-88. " In- 
 spiration is not dictation, but is influx from the Divine." 
 9094. Genuine perception is also called a dictate flowing 
 through heaven from the Lord into the interiors of the 
 thought. 5121. Conscience is a kind of dictate from the 
 Lord that a thing is true. 895. And do finited thoughts, 
 ideas, or principles flow down through heaven from the Lord ? 
 Rather, does not Divine Truth from the Lord take such finited 
 forms in the finite and finiting mind itself into which it flows ? 
 So, also, such expressions as the following — upon which 
 some seem to put an altogether too literal construction — must 
 be interpreted in the light of Swcdenborg's general teachings
 
 62 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 on God's relation to man : " The Lord alone favglit me ;" " the 
 man who is led by the Lord is tauglit by Him from day to 
 day what he is to do and to speak, and also what he is to 
 preach and to write." That is to say, all men so led are so 
 tauglit., and not Swedenborg alone. Again he says, " I was 
 instructed by no spirit and by no angel, but by the Lord 
 alone." True, such expressions as the following, " A revela- 
 tion from His mouth," " by command," as predicated of the 
 Lord, and other like expressions used by Swedenborg, seem to 
 imply the use of finite vocal organs by the Lord as the means 
 of their utterance. He has such organs m i:)ote.ncy., or in first 
 principles, or we should not have them. But has He them in 
 actual, finited form ? " By the Divine speech," Swedenborg 
 says, " is meant the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord's 
 Divine Human." And " the Divine Truth proceeding from 
 the Lord cannot be heard nor perceived by any one except by 
 mediations ;" and " the ultimate mediation is by the spirit 
 who is with man, who flows in either into his thought or by a 
 living voice." A. C. 6996. But there was no such media- 
 tion in Swedenborg's case while explaining the internal sense 
 of the Word ; for he says that he " was instructed by no spirit 
 or angel, but by the Lord alone while reading the Word." 
 And this shows, again, that Swedenborg received nothing 
 whatever from the Lord but an influx of Divine Truth, and 
 this in no other form than of such Truth as Light in the mind, 
 as is the case with all regenerated men. And yet Swedenborg 
 not unfrequently speaks of such influx as " Divine speech ;" but 
 he also says that it infinitely transcends the tongues of angels, 
 and of course it must the tongues of men. 
 
 5. Sioedenhorg' s Part. 
 
 It would be a very easy matter to prove to the Jiferalisf, by 
 Swedenborg's own words, that his writings are the " Lord's 
 writings." In fact, some do actually claim that, " in those 
 writings which contain the doctrines of the internal sense of
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 63 
 
 the Word of God there is not a single expression that has not 
 been written by the Lord through Swedenborg !" And this 
 claim is made even for the " Adversaria" and the " Sj»iritual 
 Diary" ! Swedenborg must, therefore, be proved to be either an 
 infinitely pure medium, — such as the highest angels are not, — 
 thus a part of God, as the branch is of the vine, or, in some 
 sense, a perfectly jjas.sav insfrumenf, like a pen, or like a com- 
 pletely controlled amanuensis. And the following from S. D. 
 2799 has been cited to substantiate this view: " To-day it was 
 given me to know that . . . language follows from the thought 
 according to the ideas of thought, and that language is a natu- 
 ral consequence which follows in order ;" and then the infer- 
 ence is made, " If Swedenborg's language ' followed according 
 to the ideas of his thought, being ' their natural consequence,* 
 the inspiration of the Lord must have been continued even 
 into the very words that Swedenborg wrote." Then the 
 converse must be true : if the words of Swedenborg's writings 
 are the Lord's, " the ideas of his thought" are the Lord's as a 
 necessary inference. But ideas also, like words, are finite 
 things. And such finite things cannot be predicated of the 
 Lord. They are exclusively and finitely human. Inspiration 
 on the Lord's part is simply injtax of Divine 'J'ruth ; on man's 
 part, perccpfion. The result is, first, " rcvddtion from percep- 
 tion," and then "ideas of thought;" and these are formed by 
 the action and according to the condition of human faculty as 
 a recipient of such influx. Ideas of thought never flow in 
 from the Lord, any more than plants and animals flow in from 
 the sun to the earth. Finiting and formulating human faculty 
 must always, of necessity, intervene between the Divine Influx 
 and the words that follow " in order" as a " natural conse- 
 quence" according to the "ideas of thought" which result from 
 such influx. Such human faculty is just as absolutely neces- 
 sary to the formation of inflowing living truth into verhal truth 
 as the organism of the tree is to the formation of the sunlight, 
 and the elements of earth, air, and water into flowers and
 
 64 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 fruit ; or as the mechanism of the hand is to the reduction of 
 formless material into the form of a watch or a steam-engine. 
 And such human faculty, however highly regenerated, must be 
 relatively impure and imperfect; must, therefore, so far ^ be a 
 limiting and qualifying measure and medium. Even the 
 " angels arc impure in the sight of Grod ;" even " in heaven 
 there is continual purification ;" " it is impossible for any angel 
 even, by any means, to arrive at absolute perfection to eter- 
 nity." The angels even are, therefore, in relative obscurity in 
 their perceptions ; and even the regenerate man's perceptions 
 are still more obscure so long as he lives in the body. This is 
 confirmed by the following from A. C. 2367 : " When the 
 man who is in the good of love and charity passes into the 
 other life, he comes from an obscure life into a clearer one, as 
 from a kind of night into day, . . . till he comes at length to 
 the light in which the angels are, whose light of intelligence 
 and wisdom is ineflfable ; the very light \lumen~\ itself in which 
 man is respectively, is, as it were, dark ;" and by this, from 
 D. L. W. 257, " Human wisdom, which is natural as long as man 
 lives in the natural world, cannot on any consideration be raised 
 into angelic wisdom, but only into a certain image of it.^^ And 
 Swedenborg acknowledges that " there was a change of state 
 in him into the celestial kingdom in an image ;" thus that he 
 was raised only into a certain image of angelic wisdom. " In- 
 ternal inspiration," or " revelation from perception," is the 
 gift only of one who is " in truth from good^ Yet it is some- 
 times claimed that Swedenborg's perception did not correspond 
 to his state as to good, thus that it " did not depend upon 
 his regeneration," but that truth was "instilled into him by the 
 Lord Himself," and this because Swedenborg was, in a certain 
 sense, " separated from his body" only " as to the intellectual 
 part of his mind, and not as to his will part." And it is this 
 instilling process that, strange to say, is called internal inspira- 
 tion. Just as if the Lord actually manipulated the influx of 
 Divine Truth into Swedenborg in some extraordinary way,
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. G5 
 
 making his case thereby a peculiar and exceptional one ! Just 
 as if it were in the nature or power of the Divine influx — 
 which is all that the Lord gives or docs for man — to do this ! 
 You might just as sensibly speak of the Sun's resorting to the 
 expediency of some such instilling process to produce a certain 
 desired extraordinary kind of fruit. If Swedenborg anywhere 
 speaks of any kind of inspiration as the result of any such ex- 
 traordinary instilling on the part of the Lord, let us not make 
 Swedenborg so inconsistent with himself as to believe that he 
 means anything like what such language obviously implies. 
 
 6. His Partial Separation from the Body. 
 
 But let us inquire what is really meant by the following 
 clause from the " Coronis," which is calculated to mislead the 
 novitiate reader of Swedenborg in regard to his state of in- 
 spiration and the cause of such inspiration : " These revela- 
 tions are not miracles, since every man is, as to his spirit, in 
 the spiritual world without separation from his body in the 
 natural world, but I with a certain {quodani) separation, but 
 only as to the intellectual part of my mind, but not as to the 
 voluntary part." S. D. Ap., p. 169. 
 
 All men while in the natural world are at the same time in 
 the spiritual world, but not consciouslt/ so. Swedenborg's case 
 was an exceptional one. What made it so ? He was at the same 
 time consciously in hotli worlds. How? Why, by a certain 
 separation as to his intellectual part which was, at the same time 
 that he was in the natural world, consciously in the spiritual 
 world ; he, unlike other men, had the gift of spiritual vision. 
 This is all that we can make of the words, " a certain separa- 
 tion as to his intellectual part." This is all that the phrase, 
 even in itself, justifies; and the philosophy of the Writings ab- 
 solutely forbids any other meaning. " It has been granted me 
 to be at the same time in natural light and in spiritual, . . . 
 and thereby to see the wonderful things of heaven, to be among 
 the angels like one of them, and at the same time to imbibe 
 
 4*
 
 66 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 truths in light" (^idrin, 157), wliich implies a " certain separa- 
 tion as to his intellectual part," — that is, intromission by con- 
 scious spiritual vision into heaven, without which he could not 
 have seen its wonderful things nor been among the angels as 
 one of them. 
 
 This in no sense implies any separation of Swedenborg's intel- 
 lectual part from his voluntary part. Good in the regenerated 
 will was still the " very vital fire" by which the intellect 
 was illustrated, for such regenerated will is the only possible 
 recipient of all illuminating, wimediate influx from the Divine. 
 " The truth which proceeds immediately from the Divine enters 
 into man's will, this is its way ; but the truth which proceeds 
 mediately from the Divine enters into man's understanding ;" and 
 " conjunction" of the two — namely, truth in the will and truth in 
 the understanding — " cannot take place unless the will and the 
 understanding act as one — i.e., unless the will will the good and 
 the understanding confirm it by the truth." A. C. 7056. And 
 such conjunction, we are taught by the most unequivocal 
 statements in the Writings, is an indispensable condition of 
 " revelation from perception," or " internal inspiration." You 
 might, therefore, as well think of light without heat, which is 
 its very essence, or of form without substance, as think of such 
 pe7-ceptio7i or inspiration without love in the will. " When 
 there is illustration by truth there is an appearance as if it was 
 from truth, but it belongs to the good which thus shines 
 through the truth." " The Lord"— i.e., the Divine Truth— 
 " flows in and is present with a man in his good. ... It is 
 thought that the Lord is present in the truth of what is called 
 faith ; but He is not present in truth without good." " The 
 light of truth with a man is altogether according to the state 
 of his love." " Illustration and apperception cannot exist 
 unless there is aff"ection or love, which is spiritual heat, to im- 
 part life to those things which arc illustrated by light." " In 
 proportion as the love is kindled, the truth shines." What 
 can be plainer ? Will and understanding must not only be
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. G7 
 
 most intimately and practically connected, but must bo most 
 active in their relation to each other. The intellect cannot be 
 divorced from the will and still have either life or light, for the 
 ■will is the very substance of the mind (" good constitutes the 
 man himself," A. C. lOjtSS), and the understanding is not 
 only impotent, but is nothing without it. Hence there is no 
 perception or internal inspiration but through the will as the 
 principal factor. 
 
 7. His Insjnration. 
 
 Illustration or inspiration must be " in proportion as the 
 love is kindled ;" for " the light of truth with a man is alto- 
 gether according to the state of his love." " They must pro- 
 ceed at a like pace." How, then, can we understand that the 
 truths which Swcdcnborg saw, " did not correspond to his 
 state of good ;" and that " the state of his illustration did not 
 depend upon his regeneration," and that, therefore, the truth 
 by which he was illustrated and inspired, was " instilled into 
 him l>y the Lovd^'' and, of course, instilled into him by some 
 other process than that one only process which expresses God's 
 relation to man — namely, influx? Influx, as the Writings con- 
 clusively show, is the Lord's one only and unchangeable rela- 
 tion to all being. And " the influx is always the same" as 
 regards what comes from the Lord, but " is varied according 
 to state and reception." In regard to man, " the influx of the 
 Lord is into good and through good into truth, and not con- 
 trariwise ; thus into the will and by the will into the under- 
 standing, and not contrariwise." Because, and solely because, 
 of his state of regeneration, Swedenborg received immediate 
 influx into his will and mediate influx into his understanding ; 
 and those influxes were conjoined, and he suffered himself to 
 be led by the Lord. This is most plainly the reason, and the 
 only reason, why Swedenborg, like all other men in a similar 
 state of regeneration, was in " revelation from perception," or 
 was " internally inspired." His spiritual vision or intromis- 
 sion into the spiritual world, which was only a " certain scpara-
 
 68 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 tiou from the body as to Lis intellectual part," had nothing to 
 do with his inspiration, either for or against. Such vision or 
 intromission was, relatively to his perception or inspiration, a 
 very external matter. Even natural men sometimes have such 
 vision, and thus such separation, though with a difference in 
 extent and degree. Such intromission was, with Swedenborg, 
 simply one of the important agencies in his qualifications for 
 his peculiar mission, — one of the qualifiers, one of the indis- 
 pensable conditions, in fact, of his state and reception; one of 
 the factors which enabled his inspiration, or the influx of 
 Divine Truth into him, to take effect in the way it did. He 
 might have done other work requiring illustration and internal 
 inspiration or perception, but he could not, as effectually as he 
 did, have done the work he had to do, without this factor ; 
 any more than the eye, or any other organ of the body, can 
 perform as perfectly its function, with any part of its organism 
 gone, however small, and even though receiving the same un- 
 impaired and unchangeable influx from the heart and the 
 brain. 
 
 8. Conditions of Interned Insjiiration. 
 
 The cause and conditions of internal inspiration, as of reve- 
 lation from perception, as stated throughout the Writings, are 
 intelligible, rational, and practical, and, we may add, apply to 
 all men ; they are simple and easily understood, — are, indeed, 
 just what, to be in accord with other teachings, we should ex- 
 pect them to be. We cannot reverse what Swedenborg so 
 clearly teaches on this subject. A certain intellectual sepa- 
 ration from the body cannot change the cause or the conditions 
 of internal inspiration ; for it cannot change man's relation to 
 the Lord, the one only Source of such inspiration, for that 
 relation is an internal one, — the heavens are external compared 
 with it. No angel can get between the Lord's immediate in- 
 flux and man, and this is the chief element in internal inspi- 
 ration. Immediate influx is into the will, is into the regener- 
 ated love there ; and perception, or internal inspiration, is the
 
 SWEDENBORQ'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 69 
 
 result. And such a state of mind enables man, if gifted with 
 spiritual vision, — which, as before stated, is relatively an ex- 
 ternal matter, — to be consciomlij " in consociation with angels 
 as one of them." No unregenerated man, even though in 
 spiritual vision, could possibly have had the kind of intelligent 
 and conscious association with the angels that Swedenborg 
 enjoyed. And the reason is a perfectly obvious one. For the 
 contrast between such a man and an angel is as great as be- 
 tween a wild man of the woods and a philosopher. Such wild 
 man may be in the presence of a philosopher, thus in exter- 
 nally visible society with him ; but to be in intimate consociation 
 with him is another and very different matter, — is, indeed, an 
 impossibility. The fish might as well attempt to consociate 
 with the bird, or the grub with the butterfly. This may help 
 us to see the real nature of Swedenborg's intromission into the 
 spiritual world, and how entirely different it was from that of 
 any one that ever preceded him. Because he was in internal 
 inspirat'Kju like the angels he could be in consociation with 
 them as " their equal." 
 
 What does Swedenborg mean, therefore, when he says that 
 " Inspiration is an insertion into angelic societies," but that the 
 inspiration was the cause rather than the effect of, the inser- 
 tion ? And what does he mean in the following citations, 
 made by another to show that Swedenborg came into a state 
 of inspiration mainly as a result of being placed in the society 
 of angels? 1. "Then by the Lord's command three angels 
 descended out of heaven and were associated with me, in order 
 that, from an interior perception, I might speak with those 
 who were in the idea of three gods ; . . . and then, from in- 
 spiration conferred [lY^a^a], I spoke with them." T. C. R. 135. 
 2. " When I think of what I am to write, and while I am 
 writing, I am gifted with a ^perfect inspiration ; formerly this 
 would have been my own, but now I know for certain that 
 what I write is the living truth of God." 3. " Wliat was 
 written above was inspired by an angel, who was with me,
 
 70 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 which I could perceive from the light and other indications. 
 The words flowed out spontaneously on the paper, but with- 
 out dictation." Adv. 5394. 4. "While writing, to-day, I 
 experienced an angel directing what I wrote, and, indeed, in 
 such a manner that I thought thence that there is not the 
 smallest particular but what takes place under the auspices 
 and the direction of God Messiah." S. D. 446. Let this 
 suffice. See also S. D. 2270. 
 
 What is there in either of these quotations to show that 
 Swedenborg's inspiration was caused., in any way or manner, 
 by his insertion among angels ? In No. 1 the angels came 
 evidently in some way to be an aid by their presence, but not 
 to be the cause of either his perception or of his inspiration. 
 We can see no reason whatever for the second citation. It is, 
 then, most plainly a false conclusion that " the Lord endowed 
 Swedenborg with inspiration by inserting him into the society 
 of angels." In one place Swedenborg expressly says that cer- 
 tain things were " inspired by an angel." But what does this 
 mean ? Will you so interpret it as to make it contradict the 
 great fundamental principles of inspiration as so clearly and 
 abundantly taught in the Writings? and as to make it contradict 
 other statements, viz., that "Swedenborg was instructed, while 
 writing the doctrines of the New Church, by no spirit or angel, 
 but by the Lord alone" ? We do not believe that Swedenborg 
 ever contradicts himself But some make him do so by the 
 use they make of various quotations they draw from the 
 Writings. It is plain enough that anything inspired into one 
 by an angel is a very diiferent matter ft'om Divine Truth in- 
 spired into one by the " conjunction of mediate and immediate 
 influx from the Lord." The heading and the close of S. D. 
 446 show that Swedenborg speaks of his own experience, as 
 he often does elsewhere, as illustrative of a general principle 
 as applicable to angels and all regenerated men. That pas- 
 sage certainly docs not mean that Swedenborg received internal 
 perception or inspiration as a result of his insertion among
 
 SWEDE NBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 71 
 
 angels, or in an angelic society, any more than a man receives 
 his native talent — what God has given him — as a physician or 
 lawyer by his insertion among physicians or lawyers. 
 
 9. Result of Regeneration. 
 
 We see, therefore, and see plainly, that Swedenborg's in- 
 spiration was, unmistakably, the result of his regeneration, 
 and not the result, as some suppose and teach, of "a certain 
 separation from the body as to his intellectual part," and then 
 the " iHstilfatwii' — in a certain extraordinary way — " of truth 
 into him by the Lord Himself;" nor the' result of his " inser- 
 tion among angels." Just as if the Lord ever really acted in 
 an extraordinary way in any other sense than that in which 
 all that is extraordinary is due entirely to the condition^ form., 
 and action of the vessel recipient of the Divine influx and 
 action ! Swedenborg makes nothing plainer than that all in- 
 flux from the Divine is the same and its inherent action the 
 same, but that all variety is owing entirely to the varied re- 
 ciprocal action of the recipient vessel. This principle is as 
 rigidly applicable to Swedenborg's *cnse as to any other, and 
 we wander into error just so sure as we fail in any case or in 
 any sense to recognize it. 
 
 But we are speaking now, let it be remembered, not of Swe- 
 denborg's peculiar qualifications for his mission, or of what is 
 peculiar in them, but of the cause and conditions of his in- 
 spiration ox pfrception ; and these we claim were the same in 
 Swedenborg's case as in that of all other men, in all cases 
 alike, the cause being, first, the Divine Influx, and, second, 
 the conditions or the state of mind as to regeneration. (We 
 will consider what was pecidiar in his case farther on.) Thus 
 there is no real cause whatever for saying, as some do, that no 
 man in this world can come into a state of perception like that 
 of Swedenborg, " even if he should be regenerated to the 
 same high degree," unless he be separated from his body as to 
 his intellectual part as Swedenborg was. Fur such separation
 
 72 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 is nowhere mentioned by Swedenborg as one of the conditions 
 of perception or internal inspiration ; it is only a factor, like 
 all others, and relatively an external one, as before stated, in 
 qualifications for a certain office or use ; just as, if I may use 
 the illustration, the use of the telescope with its appliances is 
 neither a cause nor a condition of natural vision, but is vir- 
 tually an extension of it, and thus is a most important factor 
 in the qualifications of an astronomer. And all can see how 
 very important, how absolutely indispensable indeed, this fac- 
 tor was in Swedenborg's case. In its importance to his mission 
 Swedenborg's intromission, as to his " intellectual part," into 
 the spiritual world was, comparatively, as the astronomer's 
 intromission, so to speak, by astronomical instruments into the 
 sidereal heavens. But even with this intromission or spiritual 
 vision Swedenborg could have done nothing as regards his 
 special mission — namely, an explanation of the internal sense 
 of the Word — without internal inspiration or perception, any 
 more than the astronomer, even with all the external aids of 
 his science, could do anything without his natural vision ; or, 
 rather, to make the illustration a better one, without a certain 
 degree of developed intelligence in the use of the eye and 
 such aids.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD (Continued). 
 
 1. " Varied a Little^ 
 
 SwEDENBORG says (Adv. III. G955, ijQGQ) : " With him 
 who is inspired there is not the least thing in any expression, 
 not even an iota, which is not inspired, although it is varied a 
 little according to the gift and endowment of him who utters 
 the inspiration." 
 
 This is an instructive and significant passage in regard to 
 Swedenborg's part or the finite part in*the Writings, or in 
 regard to how or in what sense they were his writings. But 
 this is what Swedenborg says in regard to the prophets, or 
 those who, from external inspiration, wrote the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures. How does it apply to Swedenborg's case ? 
 
 2. Sicedenhorg and the Prophets. 
 
 Let us consider what the Prophets were inspired to do and 
 what Swedenborg was inspired to do. We are all agreed that 
 the Prophets were externalhj inspired, and to write the letter 
 of the Word, to give the Word its lowest finite form, which is 
 its " basis, continent, and fii-mament," which is, in other words, 
 its " outer garment" or its " casket." We know that the letter 
 is not in itself holy," but is holy in virtue of that of which it 
 is the basis and continent. On the contrary, Swedenborg was 
 internally inspired, and to write an explanation of the internal 
 sense of the letter. His writings, strange to say, are claimed 
 by some to lie the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, not 
 an explanation of it merely, as Swedenborg most plainly 
 
 73
 
 74 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 teaches. Now the " internal sense is the soul of the Word," 
 is the " very essential Word," the Word as " Spirit and Life," 
 as the " Si)irit of Truth," thus is " the Lord Himself" Now 
 was Swedenborg insi^ired to write the Spirit of Truth, thus to 
 write the Lord Himself? 
 
 No ; that won't do. No one can believe that. Swedenborg 
 only wrote an explanation of the Spiritual sense. We see 
 what an immense difference there is, therefore, between what 
 he wrote and what the Prophets wrote ; it is as the difference 
 between a mere description or explanation of the soul, on the 
 one side, and the body itself, which is an organic outcome 
 from the soul, on the other side. There is, as it were, an or- 
 ganic connection between the Spiritual sense as the Spirit of 
 truth and the letter, as between the soul and the body ; but 
 none whatever between the Spiritual sense as an exj)lanation 
 and the letter. 
 
 Now, as is the dilFerence between the Word itself and its 
 letter or " continent," or between the soul and its body, or 
 between the jewels and the casket containing them, such is 
 tjie difference in any variation made by the writers of the 
 different senses, the natural and the spiritual. And in this 
 connection how pertinent are the Lord's words : " They parted 
 my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast 
 lots," — garments denoting the external and vesture the inter- 
 nal sense of the Word. The vesture must be preserved en- 
 tire. The internal sense, " the very essential Word itself," 
 thus "the Lord Himself," cannot be divided, cannot be 
 marred, or tarnished, or " varied," by the touch of any finite 
 agent or medium. A little variation in the casket, the mere 
 receptacle of the jewels, is a very different matter from a 
 little variation in the jewels themselves. " When an angel 
 inspires words into a prophet ... he is only in spiritual 
 things, and thus acts upon the mind of him who is inspired, 
 thus excites that by which they [the spiritual things] fall into 
 expressions in the usual way. The expressions are such as
 
 SWEDENBORGS RELATION TO THE LORD. Y5 
 
 belong to the prophet, thus such as occur to him according to 
 his comprehension and form of mind. This is the reason why 
 the style of the prophets is so varied, each one having a style 
 according to the peculiar, previously-developed, analytical form 
 of his own mind." Adv. 6965. Thus it is plain that the 
 form of the literal expression was not important further than 
 to have it a truly corresponding ultimate " basis," " continent," 
 and " firmament" of the Divine spiritual principle. This 
 form might be " varied a little," and without detriment, so 
 long as the correspondence was preserved. It was of no im- 
 portance, indeed, that the letter came from- "filthy vessels," — ' 
 there were no other for it to come from, — it was what was in 
 the letter, and what the letter was by correspondence, that 
 sanctified it. The letter, in its mere natural meaning, must 
 be accommodated to those to wJiom it was given ; it was the 
 correspondence that efiiected the conjunction between God and 
 man, between the innermost and the outermost of being. The 
 inspiration was really in the angel, and an internal one, and 
 not in the prophet. It was only the material that was in the 
 prophet, such as it was, that was used by the angel, the prophet 
 himself being, in a certain sense, only as a passive instrument 
 and medium. The case was very different with Swedenborg. 
 The influx of Divine Truth into him was the same as that into 
 the angel, and the inspiration the same in kind, though not 
 in degree ; for he, like the angel, was in " truth from good." 
 But the influx did not take such entire possession of him as 
 it did of the angel, for " even regenerated men," " when they 
 pass into the other life, go from an obscure life into a clearer 
 one, as from a kind of night into day," etc. A. C. 2367. 
 The influx into the angel who inspired words into the prophet 
 took entire possession of him [the angel], so that he was not 
 conscious of being other than the Lord, — that is, other than 
 the Divine Truth which so completely filled him ; and so filled 
 him, not because the Lord did more for him than fur othcT 
 angels or for men, but because his peculiar form of mind anJ
 
 76 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 developed and regenerated state could and did spontaneously so 
 receive. The angel, having that office to perform and being 
 thus filled, may have been in an immeasurably intenser degree 
 of light than Swedenborg was in. Compared with the angel, 
 " the light itself in which man is, respectively, is full of dark- 
 ness." (Ibid.) And this is said of the regenerated man. 
 And yet, considering his other qualifications, and his peculiar 
 genius or form of mind, Swedenborg may have been immeas- 
 urably better prepared and qualified for the duties of his pe- 
 culiar ofiice than any angel was or could have been. 
 
 Let us look into this diff"erence a little more deeply. No 
 two angels are in precisely the same degree of light ; but not 
 because the Lord does more or less, or gives in different de- 
 grees ; not because there is a difierent influx of Divine Truth 
 into one from what there is into another, but wholly because 
 of different states of recejytion, — that is, because of different 
 forms of mind, different experiences, different degrees of prog- 
 ress in heavenly life, different intellectual qualifications, and 
 thus different uses to perform ; just as it is with all the infi- 
 nitely varied members and organisms of the body in their rela- 
 tion to influx from the heart and the brain, no two of which 
 receive and appropriate exactly alike. 
 
 3. UxcejJtional. 
 
 It may be thought by some that the Lord did something extra 
 — something in addition to influx from and of Himself — for 
 those angels who " inspired words into the prophets ;" just as 
 it is thought by some that the Lord did something extraor- 
 dinary for Swedenborg to prepare him for his mission, some- 
 thing besides flowing into him. But cannot every one see, 
 who is imbued with the true philosophy of the Heavenly Doc- 
 trines, that this implies that there are two Gods, namely, one 
 in the influx of Divine Truth, God within you, — and an- 
 other outside, devising and planning and considering expedi- 
 ents to meet emergencies ? We know of no such God as the
 
 SWEDENBOItG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 77 
 
 latter, — of none who is not already and always, and with all 
 His attributes, in the Influx of Himself as Divine Truth, who 
 is not already and always in that influx with all that He is, 
 and thus with all that He has to give. This idea, which is so 
 prevalent, of two Gods, — namely, one outside as a sort of su- 
 perintendent, and relatively at a distance doing the devising 
 and planning, and the other inside, sent by the former as an in- 
 flux to do the execution, — is perfectly bewildering and entirely 
 destroys the idea of one God. Hence, the very common mis- 
 understanding of Swedenborg, when he speaks of the " Lord's 
 appearing to him," of the " Lord's instructing him," " leading 
 him," " preparing him for his mission," and the like. It was 
 no God outside of him that did these things, but God within 
 him, God in the influx of Divine Truth that flowed into him ; 
 it was no God outside, instigating, instilling, and infusing some- 
 thing, in his case, in a certain exceptional way. What was 
 exceptional in regard to Swedenborg? 
 
 There never is anything excejitional in the Divine or the 
 Divine agency. All that was exceptional in Swedenborg's case 
 was in his recipiency, first, in the germinal or potential genius 
 or form of his mind, thus in his capabilities ; then in his de- 
 veloping tastes, capacities, dispositions, and the like. He was 
 prepared for his work by the Lord, — that is, by influx from the 
 Lord, thus by God in him, — but by means and processes which 
 were entirely dependent for their peculiar mode of operation 
 upon what was within and constituted his peculiar form of being. 
 Just as an acorn develops into an oak not because of any dif- 
 ference in the influx from what flows into all seeds, but be- 
 cause of thd diff'erence of operation of such influx caused by 
 the acorn's own peculiar nature as a recipient of such influx ; 
 so of all men, — so of all angels. Thus Swedenborg was 
 prepared for his work on identically the same principle that 
 the oak is prepared to bear acorns, — namely, because that was 
 the natural, orderly, and necessary result of the Divine Influx 
 into his peculiar form of mind. If he followed the leadings
 
 Y8 SWEDENBORG AND THE NE]^ AGE. 
 
 or promptings or impulses of such Influx, — God witliin him, 
 — as lie did, lie could not help being thus prepared, any more 
 than the acorn, under the required conditions, can help devel- 
 ojiing into a fruit-bearing tree. So that what was special, ex- 
 cepfional, or extraordinary in Swedcnborg, did not depend at 
 all upon anything special, exceptional, or extraordinary in what 
 the Lord did for him, but upon what was in him, thus upon 
 the way in which he received what the Lord does, and equally, 
 for all men. So of all other extraordinary men, so of each 
 and all extraordinary angels, — of those who inspired the Word 
 into the prophets, and of those who were sent on any extraor- 
 dinary mission. All that was special or extraordinary was not 
 in what the Lord did, but in the ojyeration of what was re- 
 ceived ; and the operation of what was received depended upon 
 the state and character of the recipient vessel. 
 
 This is a great principle which is never violated by the Lord 
 in His relation to the universe, whether natural or spiritual ; 
 it is a principle which cannot be violated by Him. All that is 
 is an outcome from Him, and solely by the operation of influx ; 
 just as is the case with all organic being in its relation to life, 
 which is the result of the operation of such life by influx. 
 This is the way the plant is evolved and also the animal body. 
 It is the gxeat law of creation or of finitation. And does 
 finite life — ■vyhich, in the laiv of its operation, is an exemplifi- 
 cation of the Infinite Life — ever vary in its operations in any 
 manner or degree, except so far as its action is modified by re- 
 cipient conditions ? does finite life ever so vary that the results 
 of its operations do not partake of its own peculiar individu- 
 ality? Can the influx into the acorn, as thus modified, evolve 
 anything but what is wholly and distinctively oak ? Can the 
 iiiflux into the egg evolve anything but what is, in kind, dis- 
 tinctively of the parent bird ? Can influx into the oak, as thus 
 affected by its recipient vessel, evolve any other than what is dis- 
 tinctively the fruit of the oak? How can man or angel, then, 
 be the instrument, by Divine influx, of anything that partakes
 
 SWEDENBORO'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 79 
 
 not of his own incliviiluality, that has not his own imaj^c stamped 
 wT^ovx it, — that is not, in otlicr words, " varied a little" ? This 
 is tlic point. 
 
 4. Iiulividuality Sacredly Intact. 
 
 But does this mar, in the least possible degree, the lioliness 
 of the Sacred Scriptures ? Does it abate one iota from Swedcn- 
 borg's writings as authority? Certainly not. How is this? 
 How can the Sacred Scriptures, having come through the 
 qualifying [the " varying a little"] individuality of a finite 
 medium, be purely Divirie ? And the angel and the prophet were 
 such mediums, and iwcHmma never, for a mamciit, in whdt they 
 did, divested of their individualify. Even the angel was hivi- 
 self, \yas himself even when so filled with the Divine Influx — 
 with Divine Truth, with God — that he was unconscious for the 
 time that he was other than such influx, than God. He still 
 possessed his individuality intact, unmarred ; and his freedom 
 and rationality were a part of his individuality, and these 
 were never more perfect; thus he was never more perfectly 
 angel or man than when so completely filled with the influx of 
 God, thus than when so completely a " servant" of God. Such 
 freedom and rationality are, indeed, and at all times and in all 
 conditions, indispensable attributes of angelhood as well as of 
 manhood. They are most essential parts of angel as well as 
 of man, and in action. Thus what passed through the angel to 
 inspire the prophet must inevitably have partaken somewhat 
 of the angeFs individuality. It could not have been finitcd — 
 could not liave done its work and answered the Divine end — if 
 this had not been the case. The angel was not, in him- 
 self, a Divine medium, thus Divinely pure ; he never could 
 become so, though perpetually born and reborn to eternity. 
 The angel that was such medium to tlie prophet may have 
 been in the heavens thousands or hundreds of thousands 
 of years, and in a correspondingly developed, ineffable state 
 of light above that of the regenerated man ; and lie may 
 have been, if such a thing is conceivable, even more obedient
 
 80 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 to the Divine influx than the organism of the phint is to its 
 influx of life ; yet his freedom and rationality were most essen- 
 tial parts in his character as such medium, and those, too, of 
 his own peculiar individuality. And the individuality of every 
 angel is difierent from that of every other angel. It required 
 a peculiar one to perform such a function from the Divine, but 
 peculiar only in the same sense that it requires a peculiar in- 
 dividuality to perform any other use in the Divine economy ; 
 only in the sense in which one peculiar individuality, so to 
 speak, or mechanism or organism of vegetable fibre, is required 
 as a medium to one kind of fruit, and another to another kind. 
 But all that has been peculiar in the ofiice or function of any 
 man or angel has been owing to the development of what was 
 peculiar in the potential germ of his being, and not at all to 
 anything afterwards grafted on," " infused," or " instilled" by 
 the Lord as a Divine expedient. 
 
 We mean to say that the angels, in all they do, act as of them- 
 selves, and that the work they do is in all cases their work, and 
 to the extent that their individuality is in it ; and their indi- 
 viduality is always in it, just as really so as the individuality 
 or quality of the apple-tree is in the apple, and each of its 
 kind. But to be led by the Lord, let it be always remembered, 
 is one and the first of the essential elements of angelic, as it is 
 of true human, life. No act devoid of such element is, in the 
 true sense of the word, either an angelic or a human act. But 
 man's being led by the Lord is a very diff'erent thing from a 
 beast's being led by a man, a soldier by a general, or a child 
 even by a parent. The Lord leads angels and regenerated 
 men " in freedom according to reason^ This is the reason 
 why their individuality is in all cases in their work. It is 
 their rationality and freedom that enable them to be, in the 
 highest sense and with the most perfect efficiency, the Lord's 
 agents. The " tables" that were formed by the Lord were 
 broken because there was nothing finite or human in them to 
 accommodate them to the finite or human state of mind.
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 81 
 
 5. Why the Word is Uohj in the Letter. 
 
 Thus we see why the letter of the Word must be '" varictl a 
 little," why it must partake of the peculiar iudividuality of the 
 agents — and angelic as well as human agents — through whom it 
 came. It would have been worthless for its Divine end with- 
 out sucli "variation." But this fact, let me repeat, does not 
 mar in the least the holiness of the letter. For the word- 
 inspiring angel was in such relation to the inflowing Divine, 
 was in such perfect obedience, thus in such oneness with the 
 Divine, that the Divine Truth, through the individual, finiting 
 agency of the angel, ultimated itself in LANGUAGE OF cor- 
 respondence. This is plainly all that was essential to its 
 holiness, all that was necessary to make the words of the 
 prophets virtually the Lord's words ; they were WORDS OP 
 CORRESPONDENCE. They were words, therefore, that the Di- 
 vine Truth could flow into and rest in as its ultimate con- 
 tinent and basis. The words of the Bible were not, and they 
 could not have been, the Lord's words in any other sense than 
 that of their correspondence. There is nothing distinctively 
 and Divinely His, from the highest clear down to the very 
 lowest, but what is so in virtue of its correspondence. Nothing 
 is His that does not correspond. This is a great principle 
 which is exemplified in all things in nature even, and made 
 plain in the Writings. The letter of the Word is as the bark 
 of the tree or the skin of an animal. Does not the bark 
 correspond to the organic life of the tree ? Does it corre- 
 spond to the life of any other tree even of the same kind ? 
 And is not the same true of the skin in its relation to the life 
 of the body ? Swedenborg speaks of the letter of the AVord 
 as its skin ; and, because the letter is denoted by the skin, 
 the skin of Moses' face, when he came down from the Mount, 
 was said to shine. 
 
 5
 
 82 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 6. Instructed hy Angels. 
 
 Swcdenborg was not instructed in the Doctrines of the New 
 Church by tiny angel, but by the Lord alone while reading the 
 Word. T. C. R. 779. This is brimful of significance. The 
 angels could not, of course, instruct him about the letter of 
 the Word. They were only in the internal sense, the natural 
 meaning not being in the heavens or cognizable to the angels. 
 How could they then " explain" the Sacred Scriptures? How 
 could they instruct him in or about the different styles of the 
 Scriptures ? How could they give him the kind of informa- 
 tion the thirsting, rational man needs about the science of 
 correspondences? How could they teach him the signification 
 of Biblical words and phrases and sentences? Such revela- 
 tions, such openings or unveilings of Scripture, must come, if 
 at all, through the instrumentality of a man on earth. An 
 angel could not have inspired words, as he did into the proph- 
 ets, or thoughts even, or ideas or principles, in explanations of 
 natural words or ideas which he [the angel] knew nothing 
 about. Besides, an angel is one who has come into the order 
 of the Lord's Providence, into its current or " stream." He 
 is, therefore, so far, in correspondence; he so far thinks, 
 speaks, and acts from coi-respondence. If, therefore, he were 
 filled by the Lord, — that is, by the influx of Divine Truth, as 
 such angel would be, — and should inspire words, or ideas to be 
 clothed with words, in Swedenborg's mind, such words would 
 be words of correspondence^ and Swedenborg's writings would, 
 therefore, be holy writings or Sacred Scriptures ; they would 
 be the Lord's writings, indeed, and thus didactic instead of 
 explanatory in their character. Thus we see why Swedenborg 
 was not instructed by angels. It was not Sacred Scriptures, but 
 an explanation of Sacred Scriptures, that was needed ; and the 
 angels could not give this.
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 83 
 
 7. Writings not Corrcsj)ondences. 
 
 Yes, the fact that Swedenborg's writings are not in the lan- 
 guage of correspondences, is an insurmountable objection to 
 their being regarded as the Lord's writings. It is admitted 
 that they are not in such language ; but it is said that " the 
 language of correspondence is not necessarily inspired ;" that 
 the book of Job and other ancient books were written in " cor- 
 respondences, and yet were not Divinely inspired." Sweden- 
 borg says, in "Arcana Coelestia" (No. 175G), that "the most 
 ancient style of writing was representative /" that even " profane 
 writers in those times composed their histories thus, and even 
 the things of civil and moral life were thus treated; so that 
 nothing that was written was altogether such as it appeared in 
 the letter. . . . All books of the church in those times were 
 therefore written in this style." It is, indeed, a question 
 whether, considering the nature of the people and of their 
 language in those times, they could have written in any other 
 style. 
 
 But the language of " representatives" and " significativcs" 
 is not necessarily the language of correspondences. All cor- 
 respondences are representatives, but the converse is not true. 
 " llepresentatives are nothing but images of spiritual things 
 in natural, and when the latter are rightly represented in the 
 former they then correspond." A. C. 4044. " The things 
 which flow in from the spiritual world, and are presented in 
 the natural, are in general representations ; and so far as they 
 AGREE together they are correspondences." 2989,2990. "Rep- 
 resentatives are the external things which are put forth as 
 effigies of internal things, and those which concord, or which 
 are rightly represented, are correspondences," as expressed by 
 liich. This is all very plain. Correspondence is the relation 
 existing between cause and efi"ect, and between spiritual things 
 and natural, when they agree ; without agreement there is not 
 correspondence, but only representation. The difference between
 
 84 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 correspondence and representation is clearly and abundantly 
 sliown by Svvedenborg. The Sacred Scriptures were written 
 in the language of correspondences as well as of representa- 
 tives ; and this is so because there is agreement. Other ancient 
 books were written only in the language of representatives. 
 
 But what if it were admitted that such books were written 
 in the language of correspondences, would this be any evidence 
 that the Lord could or would write in any other language ? 
 The argument would amount to nothing, even with this admis- 
 sion. What! human, even " profane," writings in the language 
 of correspondences, and the Lord's writings not? Whereas 
 human writings cannot be in that language, and the Lord's 
 writings cannot be in any other, " the style of the Word 
 [thus of the Lord, who is the Word in its ' spirit and life'] 
 is the very Divine style, ... is such that there is holiness in 
 every sentence, in every word, yea, in some instances, in the 
 very letters." T. C. R. 191. " The Word is written by mere 
 correspondences, wherefore the Lord, hecause He spoke from 
 the Divine, spahe from, correspondences.^^ And why? "Be- 
 cause," it is added, " what is from the Divine, this, in nature, 
 falls into such things as correspond to Divine things." T. C. E.. 
 201. The Lord spoke from correspondences because He spoke 
 from the Divine. How full of significance ! nothing less than 
 that the language of correspondences is the language, and the 
 only language, of the Lord. Nothing, nothing whatever, comes 
 from Him but in correspondence ; this is the one only law of 
 its efflux and influx. All eflFects of the operation, then, of 
 such efflux and influx must be — so far as He is in them, and 
 they are, therefore. His — correspondences. It cannot be 
 otherwise. 
 
 What is the inevitable conclusion, then, in regard to Swe- 
 denborg's writings, ir. they are the Lord's writings, but that 
 their language is the language of correspondences ? This is 
 just as surely the case as that eff"ects follow causes, and that 
 they are related to each other by correspondence. And those
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 85 
 
 Writings are eiFects of which, if the Lord is distinctively and 
 peculiarly the author, He is the cause. And the corre- 
 spondence could not possibly have been destroyed but by the 
 operation of such cause through a self-conscious, rationally 
 responsible, modifying medium, such as Swedenborg was. 
 Wherever correspondence fiiils, it is because there the Divine 
 fails as the tinqaalificd or unmodified cause. Hence those 
 Writings either have an internal sense and need themselves to 
 be explained, or they are not the Lord's writings. 
 
 8. Instructed hy tlte Lord. 
 
 But how was Swedenborg instructed by the Lord ? This 
 question has been substantially answered in what was said on 
 the subject of illustration, revelation from perception, and in- 
 spiration. Swedenborg, like all other regenerated men, was in- 
 structed by the Lord as the Word, thus by the Lord as an influx 
 of Divine Truth. Why is there instruction in such influx ? be- 
 cause, in Swedenborg's own language, it " is illumination which 
 gives the faculty of apperceiving and understanding truth. This 
 illumination is from the light of heaven, which is from the Lord. 
 This light is nothing else than Divine Truth." A. C. 5GG8. 
 Such influx or such instruction takes place while man is read- 
 ing the Word. " Heaven, which is in the internal sense of the 
 Word, flows in with the man ichose internal man is open when 
 he reads the Word, enlightens him, gives him perception, and 
 thus teaches him. Yea, . . . [such a] man's internal man is 
 in the internal sense of its own accord, . . . although he is 
 not aware of it." A. C. 10,400. " The Lord teaches everyone 
 by the Word," thus by influx. Therefore Swedenborg was no 
 exception in this respect. But the illuminating effects of such 
 influx from the Lord, as shown elsewhere, are according to the 
 subject's peculiar character, condition, and form of mind. All 
 men are different in these respects. " The Lord [also] teaches 
 man according to the Icnoidedges that are with him, and docs 
 not immediately infuse new knowledges into him' (T. 0. 11.
 
 8G SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 208) ; or, as expressed in A. C. 10,400, " man's illustration, 
 when he reads the Word, is according to the light in which he 
 may be by the knowledges that are with him." It is in this 
 way that " the man who is led by the Lord is taught by Him 
 from day to day what he is to do and to speak, and also what 
 he is to preach and write ; for when evils are removed, then 
 he is continually under the Lord's auspices, and enjoys illus- 
 tration. " But" — and this is directly to the point — " he is led 
 and taught by the Lord, not immediately or by any perceptible 
 inspiration, but by influx into his spiritual delight, ichence he 
 has perception according to the truths of which his understand- 
 ing is composed." A. E. 825. Again, such persons " have a 
 certain interior perception in regard to those things which are 
 to be done, especially during the act." S. J). 892. Sweden- 
 borg testifies abundantly to the fact that he was taught by the 
 Lord precisely as other regenerated men are, — namely, by in- 
 flux and illustration. " The Lord alone taught me, who re- 
 vealed Himself to me, and afterwards appeared, and still 
 appears, before my eyes like the smi, ... as He appears to 
 the angels, and illustrated me." D. P. 135. " There was a 
 dictation in the thought . . . which was thereby led to an ?m- 
 derstanding," etc. Swedenborg " was gifted with a perfect 
 inspiration." But " inspiration is not dictation, but is influx 
 from the Divine." A. C. 9094. 
 
 How plainly all this shows how the Lord teaches the re- 
 generated man, and how therefore He taught Swedenborg, 
 — namely, by influx, — as the one only way so far as the Lord is 
 concerned ! All instruction by the Lord is in the operation and 
 result of influx, which influx is the same with all men ; it is a 
 sort of " dictation in the thought," and thence " understand- 
 ing." The influx of Divine Truth stimulates thought, and 
 that in the light of such truth is followed by understanding. 
 But the nature of the understanding, of the illustration or 
 revelation, — that is, of the instruction by the Lord, or of the 
 Lord's " dictation," as it is sometimes called, — depends upon
 
 SWEDENBORG'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 87 
 
 the peculiar genius, development, learning, etc., of the recipient. 
 It is what is peculiar, or special, or exceptional, or extraor- 
 dinary ill (he recipient himself, and this alone, that is the 
 cause, and the sole cause, of all that is peculiar, special, excep- 
 tional, or extraordinary in the Lord's relation to him. It was, 
 first, Swedenborg's native genius — it was what was first in him 
 in potency, and not what was afterwards put into him ; it was 
 therefore what he could be developed into, and was, in fact, 
 developed into, and not what the Lord did for him more or 
 difi"erent from what He does for all men — that was the cause 
 of all that was special or extraordinary in him in his relation 
 to the Lord, or in his relation to his use or mission. It was 
 this that caused that the same influx into him whicli flows 
 into other men, thus the same instruction from the Lord which 
 is given to other men, resulted in such extraordinary and widely 
 difi^erent manifestations in his case ; just as it is the potential 
 form of the eye as differing from that of the ear, and not any 
 difference in the influx from the heart and brain into it, that 
 is the cause of all that is peculiar and special in the develop- 
 ment and use of the eye. The nature and results of mediate 
 as well as of immediate influx into the mind are characterized 
 solely by the recipient mind itself. The Lord taught Sweden- 
 borg precisely as He teaches all men, — that is, by influx of 
 Himself as Divine Truth, as Living Light. And Swedenborg 
 was affected by and acted from such influx precisely as is tlic 
 case with other men in a like state of regeneration, only wich 
 a difference determined, as with other men, by what belonged 
 to and was peculiar to his own mind. 
 
 9. The Lord's Writings. 
 
 What does Swedenborg mean, then, by such language as the 
 following, which is sometimes quoted to prove that " Sweden- 
 borg's writings are the Lord's writings?" Namely, " WJuit 
 came from the Lord I wrote down, and what came from the 
 angels I did not write down." A. C. 1183. " I was instructed
 
 88 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 by no spirit and by no angel, but by the Lord alone." " The 
 things which I liave learned from representations, A'isions, and 
 from conversations with spirits and angels, are from the Lord 
 alone." S. D. 1(J47. "A revelation of truths from His 
 mouth or from His Word." " Dictated to me out of heaven." 
 " Written by the Lord through me." " Whether I was willing 
 or not, I had to think and speak" [in a certain manner]. " Do 
 not believe that I took anything from myself or from any 
 angel, but from the Lord alone." 
 
 These and like passages seem to indicate that, different from 
 other men, Swedenborg was compelled by the Lord to write as 
 he did ; and yet (as is admitted), in some mysterious and un- 
 accountable way, in the full exercise of Ms understanding and 
 in j)Ossessi<m of his freedom, though the latter only as regards 
 his " external thought." But how, if Swedenborg's writings 
 can properly be called " the Lord's writings," could Sweden- 
 borg possibly be other than practically a perfectly controlled, 
 passive instrument, like a " quill," as expressed by one ? For, 
 so far as they were written by Swedenborg in the exer- 
 cise of his own understanding and freedom, though in the 
 smallest degree, he was responsible for them as his own writ- 
 ings. He " lifted up his tool upon them," and made them his 
 instead of the Lord's, — that is, there was somewhat of his 
 peculium, of his individuality, in them ; so that they were just 
 as much his as any act of a regenerated man is such regen- 
 erated man's act.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 
 
 1. Tlie Regenerated Man. 
 
 And here is an important point, — namely, the difference be- 
 tween a regenerated man's acts and the acts of an unregen- 
 erated man. There is more of the Lord and less of the devil — 
 i.e., less of man's selfish joro/wmm — in the former than in the 
 latter. The regenerated man is in the image and likeness of 
 the Lord, he is in accord with the Lord's life, he is in spon- 
 taneous and loving obedience to the impulses of the Divine 
 Influx. He is lovingly led by the Lord, by th'e Lord as such 
 Influx. What seems compulsion from a misinterpretation of 
 some of Swedcnborg's statements is reglly most essential free- 
 dom. There is really more of the man's pecidium, ox the 
 peculimn o'f his distinctive individuality, in what he does in 
 his regenerated than in what he does in his unregenerated 
 state. It must be so, for there is more of the real man in 
 him. The more fully and obediently he is the Lord's, the 
 more perfectly he is himself, for the more completely he is 
 "created;" and this means the more strongly is every peculiar 
 potential faculty in him brought out into its actuality. The 
 Lord does not regenerate and develop man in the higher de- 
 grees of his nature in order to hiud him, or make a passive 
 tool of him, or to limit or circumscribe, in any sense, the 
 pecuUum of his individuality. AVhat Swedenborg says of 
 himself in the above passages is simply illustrative of general 
 principles as applied to regenerated men. And what he says, in 
 such connection, helps us to understand what will be our own 
 
 6* 89
 
 90 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 condition sliould we ever arrive at such high states of regen- 
 eration. Whatever shall be our use, we shall be " led hy the 
 Lord;" and we shall so love to be led by Him that it will 
 seem impossible to be otherwise led. We shall be in a state 
 of freedom like that which the Lord is in. He loves to do 
 the works of love, and He cannot do otherwise than do such 
 works, for He has no love and thus no power to do otherwise, 
 and freedom is to do as one loves to do. The whole sphere 
 and influence of heaven are the sphere and influence of love. 
 There is a universal flowing in the direction of the freedom 
 of love. The stronger one is in love, then, the stronger he is 
 in freedom, and at the same time that he is more the Lord's he is 
 more himself. The following from Swedenborg is in point, but 
 it has, we think, been misinterpreted : " The universal heaven 
 and earth, both in general and in particular, are governed by 
 a sphere proceeding from the Lord. . . . Whenever I speak 
 in this sphere, or when I think in it, as I now do while I am 
 writing, each and every thing is in conformity with the action 
 of this sphere; and nothing can be said, thought, or written, 
 not even the least iota, but what is in conformity with this 
 sphere." 
 
 To live and think and act in " this sphere" is, of course, to 
 do so from love, thus from the Lord alone, and not from self- 
 love or evil spirits. It is the very nature of the angel and of 
 the regenerated man, of him who has come into harmony with 
 the sphere of the Divine Nature, to think and act fi'om love, 
 thus from the Lord. Swedenborg's case is not an exceptional 
 one in this respect. What he did and what all do in that state 
 of unity and oneness with the Lord are the Lord's doings, 
 and this means that they are the doings of love. The regen- 
 erated man and angel cannot help acting from love, thus from 
 the Lord, unless, for some cause, they are let down tempora- 
 rily from this high state. They are in a sense compelled so to 
 act, and are so just in proportion to the completeness of their 
 marriage union with the Lord. And yet this is most essential
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 91 
 
 freedom. And man and angel are most completely themselves 
 just in proportion as they are in the Lord and He in them, and 
 they are led by Him and act from Him. And their acts are 
 most distinctly and peculiarly their own the more distinctly 
 and completely they are the Lord's. All this is abundantly 
 confirmed by what Swcdcnborg says about others, and by what 
 he says about himself or about his own experience as illustra- 
 tive of general principles. 
 
 2. IIoio the Lord governs Men. 
 
 It is said by another that " when nian's regeneration is 
 accomplished, then he no longer governs himself, but is gov- 
 erned by the Lord." This, of course, is true of all men. 
 And how is he governed by the Lord ? Does the Lord govern 
 him in an arbitrary way, telling him in words or in any other 
 finite form to do this or to do that, as a master does a servant ? 
 When a master so commands a servant, the deed is not the 
 servant's, but the master's. If the Lord governs regenerated 
 men and angels in this way, all their deeds would be, resjwnsi- 
 bli/, not their deeds, but His deeds. On the contrary, it is 
 wisely added to the above, " And then the Lord governs him 
 not only by immediate influx into his will, but also by mediate 
 influx into his understanding." Why by both ? Because, it 
 is further added, " Then also will and understanding, good 
 and truth, mediate and immediate influx in him are conjoined." 
 Because then the man is a perfect man, thus is completely 
 himself, the two influxes hold him in perfect balance ; they so 
 act in relation to each other as to leave man in freedom and 
 make him responsible for his deeds. Otherwise man's deeds 
 would be either wholly and thus responsibly the Lord's deeds, 
 or wholly and thus responsibly the deeds of the mediums of 
 the influx to him. They certainly could not be responsibly 
 man's deeds. Thus, to be governed by the Lord, by both 
 mediate and immediate influx, is to be in most essential free- 
 dom. This is the state into which the Lord is constantly
 
 92 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 striving to bring all men. And He never, in any case whatever, 
 in any manner whatever, or in any sense or degree whatever, so 
 far as He is concerned, — that is to say, so far as the inherent 
 action of influx from Him is concerned, — does anything whatever 
 to interfere with or mar in the least possible degree the perfec- 
 tion of this state of freedom, though there may be appearances 
 to the contrary, and there are, we confess, many such appear- 
 ances, and both in the language of Sacred Scripture and also 
 of Swedenborg's writings. But they are only appearances. 
 The Lord has not, and He never had, any ends to accomplish 
 through any imperfection, or through suspension of any of 
 the normal prerogatives, either temporary or continued, of any 
 of His creatures. And a man not in responsible freedom, or 
 in a state in which his deeds are not responsibly his own, is 
 not a man. There is nothing in influx — and this is the Lord's 
 only practical relation to man — to interfere with man's free- 
 dom, but everything to establish freedom ; so that the stronger 
 the influx from the Lord, so far as man has come into the 
 order of life, the more perfect is his freedom, for the more 
 perfect is his manhood. No angel was ever more perfectly or 
 more responsibly himself than those who were the Lord's ser- 
 vants, in connection with the prophets, in writing the Sacred 
 Scriptures, and no unregenerate men were ever in greater 
 freedom than were the prophets in the performance of their 
 part of the service. And, for the same reason, never Avas 
 man more perfectly and more responsibly himself than was 
 Swedenborg while writing the doctrines of the New Church. 
 And hence never were any man's deeds more responsibly his 
 own deeds than were Swedenborg's in every one of the duties 
 of his mission. It was the correspondence, as shown else- 
 where, that made the writings of the prophets the Lord's 
 writings, or Sacred Scriptures ; they were the Lord's by their 
 correspondence. Swedenborg's writings, as universally ad- 
 mitted, are without such correspondence. They are princi- 
 ples or teachings or doctrines as conceived and formulated and
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 93 
 
 expressed in words by a blind in the very light of heaven, by 
 a man who, at the same time that he was on earth among men, 
 and thus in natural language, was also gifted with revelation 
 from perception ; by a man, therefore, who could explain to 
 men such high and heavenly principles, teachings, or doctrines. 
 Yes, Swedenborg was "led," "taught," " governed," by the 
 Lord, and " by the Lord alone," but in no arbitrary way, by 
 no arbitrary process of " insinuation," " dictation," or " instil- 
 lation," as some suppose, and as some of Swedenborg's state- 
 ments lead a mind blind to the spirit and philosophy of his 
 writing to suppose ; but he was led, taught, etc., by influx, 
 thus by precisely that process by which the Lord leads, 
 teaches, and governs all men and angels, and this means that 
 he was led and taught and governed " in freedom according to 
 reason," and thus as a full and perfect man. 
 
 3. Certain Passages : What they Shoiv. 
 
 Many of the passages quoted from the Writings to prove 
 that Swedenborg was only as an irresponsible scribe or a mere 
 amanuensis of the Lord show, on the contrary, how much 
 there is to learn about a man in his regenerated or angelic 
 state in his relation to the Lord. The mode of operation of 
 influx from the Lord in leading, teaching, and governing all 
 regenerated men and angels, as taught and exemplified in 
 Swedenborg's own individual case, is exceedingly instructive 
 and interesting. Swedenborg's case, or what he says about 
 himself, is a grand exemplification of a regenerated, or of a 
 highly-advanced regenerating, man's relation to the Lord ; for 
 — we insist upon it — tliere is, and there can be, no exceptional 
 cases in what the Lord does for man, any more than there is 
 in what the sun does for flowers and trees. No one imbued 
 with the real spirit and philosophy of the Writings can for a 
 moment regard what Swedenborg says about himself as at all 
 exceptional in what the Lord did for him, or exceptional in 
 any other sense than as depending entirely upon his own recipi-
 
 9-4 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 ency. And the passages so often quoted from the Writings 
 to show that they are the Lord's writings, thus " Holy Writ- 
 ings," Sacred Scriptures, or " the Word without the external 
 sense," no more show that they are the Lord's writings than 
 they show that all the works of both regenerated men and 
 angels are responsibly the Lord's works. That Swedenborg 
 was — different from other men and angels — consciously in both 
 worlds at the same time does not in the least degree affect the 
 question of his freedom and thus of his own exclusive rational 
 responsibility for what he wrote ; it only enabled him to do, 
 as the Lord's servant, what he could not otherwise have done ; 
 it only afforded different conditions of mind as modifiers of 
 the operations of the same influx from the Lord that flows 
 into all minds. Swedenborg's intromission into the other life 
 — the real significance of which we think is often misunder- 
 stood — was, like his peculiar form of mind, his genius, his 
 tastes, his remarkable learning, — in a word, like every other 
 trait or disposition of his individual character, — only one of the 
 many modifying conditions through which the Divine Influx 
 operated, first to prepare him for, and then to enable him 
 efficiently to perform, the important works of his mission. 
 
 4. Strange Conclusions. 
 
 Strange to say, it is claimed by some that even the " Spiritual 
 Diary" is the Lord's writing, thus " equally the Woi'd with 
 Swedenborgs other writings," though, like the rest, the " Word 
 without the literal sense." The following is quoted in proof: 
 
 " In general, it is to be borne in mind that everything 
 written in this book [^.e., in S. D.] has not been written by me 
 otherwise than from living experience, from conversations with 
 spirits and angels, from thought like tacit speech communicated 
 to me while writing, from things insinuated by those who were 
 present during such experiences, and under whose direction I 
 was while thinking and writing, even as to my hand ; so that 
 all things contained in these three books, and likewise in other
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 95 
 
 places, although they frequently do not cohere, are neverthe- 
 less experiences of facts derived in their own peculiar way 
 from spirits and angels." S. D. 2894. 
 
 Again : " What I have learned from representativesj visions, 
 and from conversations with spirits and angels, is fi*om the 
 Lord alone." S. D. 1647. 
 
 Again, Swedenborg says, respecting the contents of the " Spir- 
 itual Diary :" " These are the things which I have now learned 
 for several years by living experience, so that they are among 
 the things with which I am acquainted by instruction better 
 than with other things." S. D. 3788, And again, " these 
 things have been written by influx from heaven, from the 
 wisdom of the angels there." 
 
 Who, in the light of the spirit and philosoi^hy of the 
 Heavenly Doctrines, can see any evidence whatever in these 
 quotations that they [the quotations] are the Lord speaking 
 to Swedenborg ? 
 
 The " Spiritual Diary" is a record of facts of Swedenborg's 
 " living experiences" when in society with spirits and angels. 
 Did he write them in the free exercise of his own individual 
 thought, and according to his own individual perception and 
 xinderstanding and end in view ? Did he write them as a man 
 fully responsible for what he wrote, just as you and I and all 
 men write? Or was his freedom, and thus his responsibility, 
 modified by some Divine agency outside or independent of that 
 Influx ? We know of no such agency, we never heard of any ; 
 we know of no agency from the Lord but what is contained in 
 the influx from Him, and influx that is never in any way 
 modified in its operation but by the recipient vessel. There 
 is nothing implied in the fact of his " conversations with 
 spirits and angels," of " thought like tacit speech communi- 
 cated to him," of "things insinuated by those present," of his 
 being under " their direction while thinking and writing even 
 as to his hand," thus in the " experiences of facts derived in 
 their own peculiar way from spirits and angels," — nothing
 
 96 SWEDENBORG ANV THE NEW AGE. 
 
 ■whatever in all this, implying that the Lord really had any- 
 thing more to do with Swedenborg's diary than He has with 
 the doings of all good men and angels whose sweetest delight 
 is to be led by Him, or who so love to be led by Him that to 
 be led otherwise would be to be led contrary to their strongest 
 impulse, thus in subversion of their freedom. Such state- 
 ments, therefore, from Swedenborg, contain no evidence what- 
 ever that the S. D. was " written by the Lord." 
 
 5. " Led hy the Lorcir 
 
 But why does Swedenborg say, " What I have learned from 
 representations, visions, and from conversations with spirits and 
 angels, is from the Lord alone''' ? He also says, in close con- 
 nection, " Whenever there was any representation, vision, and 
 discourse, I was kept interiorly and inmostly in reflection upon 
 it, as to what thence was useful and good, thus what I might 
 learn therefrom. . . . Thus have I been instructed ; conse- 
 quently by no spirit, nor by any angel, but by the Lord alone, 
 from Whom is all truth and good ; . . . ' when they wished 
 to instruct' or to persuade me, I perceived an interior or inti- 
 mate persuasion that the thing was so and so, and not as they 
 wished." S. D. 1647. And this means substantially that he 
 was in the love of truth for the sake of use or in the good of 
 love from the Lord. Thus he was led by immediate influx 
 into his will, conjoined with mediate influx into his under- 
 standing, thus by the Lord alone. He loved what the Lord 
 loved. The Lord's love flowed into his love, — was, indeed, the 
 very life of it. He saw and knew and experienced that this 
 .was so. How could it possibly be otherwise than that he 
 should be led by the Love that filled his love when it was his 
 regenerated nature, thus his greatest delight to be so led ? and 
 this it was to be led by the Lord. He did nothing without 
 interiorly and inmostly considering whether it was useful, 
 whether he was thereby doing the good which he so loved to 
 do. His love of use held him in such interior reflection. And
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 97 
 
 this was being- led by the Lord, — that is, by the influx of Divine 
 Truth into his mind, which influx is the Lord in His prac- 
 tical relation to us, — but in freedom and according to his own 
 thus enlightened judgment, and not by the suggestions or in- 
 fluence of any spirit or angel. 
 
 6. Swcdenhorg as Servant of the Lord. 
 
 And all this shows completely and peculiarly that all his 
 actions, of whatever kind, were distinctively his own ; and it 
 also shows how lovingly and faithfully and unqualifiedly, and 
 in all his wonderfully developed, manly .faculties, he was the 
 Lord's servant, — that is, the servant of all that is divinely 
 good and true. He suffered himself to be led and influenced 
 by no self-interest, thus by no evil spii-it. He even permitted 
 no good spirit or angel to instruct him without inmostly weigh- 
 ing and considering everything, whether it was uaeful. He 
 had come to be in every sense a man ; and he therefore could 
 and did look to the Lord alone, the One only Source of all 
 good and all truth, and acted from Him alone, and he as nat- 
 urally and spontaneously did so as the flower opens its petals 
 to the sun : how was it possible for him to do otherwise with- 
 out doing violence to the great central element of his being, — 
 namely, his indomitable love of use, — thus without annihilating 
 all that constituted and ennobled his distinctive manhood ? 
 How preposterous, then, to talk about his acts as the Lord's 
 acts, which you may with just as much propriety do as call 
 any of his writings the Lord's writings ! For it was the same 
 man, and with the same •' good of love from the Lord" in 
 him, that wrote letters and did other good deeds, who wrote 
 the "Spiritual Diary'' and other books. Why call a part of his 
 doings the Lord's, and not all ? Was he not identically the 
 same man, and did he not receive identically the same influx 
 from the Lord, whether he was lovingly serving Him in one 
 way or in another? Why the discrimination? 
 
 Strange that perhaps the most perfect, the most Godlike
 
 98 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 man that ever lived, one who had become so perfectly, and 
 with such splendid qualifications for one of the greatest of 
 uses, tlic servant of the Lord, should be thus divested of his 
 real manhood in his capacity as such servant, and become in 
 any sense or manner or degree as a passive instrument ! and 
 especially in a service in which, when truly understood, his 
 peculiar and distinctive manhood was a most essential and 
 indispensable element ! We find nothing whatever in the 
 Writings against the statement, but everything supporting it, 
 — namely, that every regenerated, manhood faculty of Sweden- 
 borg's nature, and even everything of his own peculiar, indi- 
 vidual character, thus of his whole man, was in the most un- 
 restrained, the freest possible action, in all and every part of 
 his service, when acting from and as servant of the Lord. 
 And this is true of every man ; just in proportion as he is in 
 a state to he led hy and to act from the Lord, is he most free, 
 is he most truly and really and livingly himself, and are his 
 actions most distinctively, peculiarly, and responsibly his own ; 
 and he is most emphatically a Clodlike man. Swedenborg 
 never could have been more livingly himself, and more a man, 
 and more responsible for what he did, than while he was medi- 
 tating upon the Word and writing the doctrines of the New 
 Church ; and his whole history and experience, as described by 
 liimself, shows this. It is this fact, — namely, that Swedenborg 
 was so perfectly, in every sense of the word, a man, and that 
 he was so intensely a rational and a free man, and that every- 
 thing that came from him came through such a Godlike and 
 such a free rationality, — it is this fact, I say, that gives his 
 writings such inestimable value, and such unrivalled authority 
 with the Age, — with the peculiar kind of manhood humanity 
 now developing and for which they are designed. It is the 
 stdmp oi'Jiiiite hninaiiify upon them that brings them within the 
 reach, and accommodates them to the wants, of a less advanced, 
 and yet a progressive, regenerating state of humanity. God's 
 influx into and through nature, becomes adapted to the condi-
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 99 
 
 tions and wants of nature ; His influx into and through perfect, 
 free, rational mind, becomes adapted to the wants of such mind. 
 The " Thus-saith-tlie-Lord" mode of revelation was adapted 
 to man, or to an Age of man, incapable of rational freedom ; 
 and, by a wonderful providence, in the very nature of the in- 
 flux itself, the influx of Divine Truth from the Lord sponta- 
 neously took, through the mediums of it, the form of prescribed 
 laws and principles to be literally and blindly obeyed. There 
 was no medium through which the Word, or such Influx, 
 could take any other form, nor was it necessary ; there was no 
 use for it as rational truth in the age in which it was tjiven as 
 " Tlius saith the Lord.'''' But authority in any such form is 
 certainly not adapted to men who are not only capable of 
 rational freedom, but are actually advancing into it ; and it is 
 for such men, it was for an age of men, — be it remembered, — 
 •of men in a dift'erent and in a higher sense than ever existed 
 before, that Swedenborg wrote ; and such men will have their 
 rationality and their freedom cultivated, developed, and en- 
 larged by a devout study of his writings and a life according 
 to the beautiful and wonderful truths revealed in them. 
 
 Yes, we confess that Swedenborg was led by the Lord ; that 
 he loved, thought, wrote from the Lord. We have no doubt 
 about it, — for, such is the very nature of the regenerated man, 
 it could not be otherwise, — and yet he acted in freedom, acted 
 according to his regenerated nature. He consciously lived and 
 was led by the Lord in all that he did, — he would not have 
 been the perfect man he was if it had not been so ; but 
 by the Lord, it should always be remembered, is meant the 
 Lord as that Influx of Divine Truth which has in it, in an 
 infinite degree, every element of that manhood which it is in 
 unfailing eff"ort to beget and produce in man in a finite degree. 
 Among these elements, freedom and rationality — and loving, 
 thinking, and acting according to them — are pre-eminently 
 and distinctively human. On these two elements rests man's
 
 100 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 peculiar responsibility as a man. They are in him from the 
 Lord, or because corresponding elements are in the Lord, 
 They flow into man in the influx from the Lord. They are, 
 therefore, as certain in their existence and operation in man, 
 when he is in the order of the Divine Life, as is such in- 
 flux. They cannot, for an instant, be suspended or inter- 
 rupted in their action, by the Lord even, any more than such 
 influx can be suspended. Man may lose his freedom by suf- 
 fering himself to be led by self, thus by evil spirits, but never 
 when led by the Lord. " The Lord leads man in freedom, and, 
 so far as man permits it, by freedom leads to good." This is 
 the case with all men and angels, without exception and at all 
 times. The Divine influx must fail, before it can be possible 
 for man to foil to receive all that is necessary from the Lord 
 to make him a perfect man, thus a free man. Swedenborg 
 teaches in the following passages — yet cited by others for a ■ 
 diffierent purpose — how completely every regenerated man and 
 angel is one with the Lord, as the branch with the vine, and 
 is dependent upon Him, at the same time that he is most per- 
 fectly and distinctively himself, and without the loss or inter- 
 rupted action even of a single element of true humanity : 
 
 " All things, yea, the smallest things of all, to the smallest 
 of the smallest things, are directed by the Providence of the 
 Lord, even as to the very steps." A. C. 6493. " Both men 
 and spirits are compelled to think and speak as the Lord per- 
 mits or grants ; for, whether I was willing or not, I was 
 obliged to think and to speak. Spirits are also compelled to 
 speak contrary to what they think, nor is it possible for them 
 to resist," — and why? — '' for," it is added, " they are admitted 
 into the society of others, and thus are carried away, as it 
 were, by a stream of thinking and speaking." S. D. 2099. 
 
 Now mark this fact: this is an experience mentioned by 
 Swedenborg not, by any means, to show that there was any- 
 thing peculiar to him in this respect, not to show that his was 
 an exceptional case, much less to show that he was, in any
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 101 
 
 sense or manner whatever, a passive instrument of the Lord, — 
 as his language sometimes, to those ignorant of the spirit and 
 philosophy of his writings, seems to imply, and as some seem 
 to think, — but to show, on the contrary, that neither men, 
 spirits, nor angels think or speak " of tliemselves." So of other 
 passages seized upon so eagerly by some to show that Sweden- 
 borg's freedom was, in some mysterious way, so interfered with 
 by the Lord as to make his writings in no sense distinctively 
 his own, as is the case with other men's writings, but exclu- 
 sively and divinely the Lord's writings. 
 
 " All men, the evil as well as the good; derive the power to 
 think by influx from the Lord" (A. C. 1707, 2004), and 
 thought flows from the Love of a man's life, and so absolutely 
 so that, if there were no love, there would be no thought. 33. 
 But there is interior thought and exterior thought ; men can- 
 not think interiorly unless the natural be in order, as with 
 the regenerate. 5168. A man who is in good is elevated 
 above sensuals, or the externals of the natural, to interior 
 thought. 68-44. Angels think from the interior. They who 
 are in love to the Lord think from perception. Perception is 
 not the same as thought, but thought flows from it. 2515, 
 2552. 
 
 " They who have interior thought have also exterior 
 thought." S. D. 2900. This whole paragraph, sometimes 
 cited to show that Swedenborg's case was an exceptional exam- 
 ple of the ^'' double plane of thought" is headed De cognitionc 
 interiore [concerning interior thought], and treats of what is 
 equally as applicable to all men as to Swedenborg. Sweden- 
 borg in this instance, as in a great many others, simply de- 
 scribes his own experience as an illustrative example. Yet 
 this, like other passages, has sometimes been cited as if it was 
 Swedenborg's own exclusive experience. " In this interior 
 thought," says one, " the Lord was constantly present with 
 Swedenborg, and He thence dictated to him what to write, what 
 to speak, and what to do," thus reiterating, as has been often
 
 102 SWEDENBORQ AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 done, the gi*eat fallacious idea that the Lord, by special motive 
 or eflPort on His own part, did something for Swedenborg that 
 He does not do for other men ! 
 
 Here is another passage which has been quoted for the 
 same purpose, but unfairly, because without the qualifying 
 context. Swedenborg says (S. D. 484) : " I am gifted with a 
 double thought, one interior, the other exterior." The appear- 
 ance is, without the context and without a knowledge of the 
 heading of this section, that Swedenborg's case was an excep- 
 tional one in this respect. But read the whole section, and 
 you will see that Swedenborg meant to teach no such thing ; 
 that he speaks of his own case here as different, not from that 
 of regenerated men and angels, but from that of spirits. 
 
 " They who are in the spiritual affection of truth are ele- 
 vated into the light of heaven, even so as to perceive the 
 illustration. [A general truth.] It was given me to see this 
 illustration and to perceive distinctly what comes from the 
 Lord, and what from the angels." [Swedenborg's case plainly 
 an illustrative example of the above.] A. E. 1183. 
 
 " Those to whom the Lord has granted perception are able 
 to know who in a society and who outside of it flow into their 
 thoughts and into their speech, and indeed in a most exquisite 
 manner, by the good pleasure of the Lord." S. D. 2100. 
 This and the following are statements only of a general prin- 
 ciple : 
 
 " Those who are led by the Lord have a certain interior 
 perception or intuition in respect to those things which are 
 to be done, especially during the act of doing," etc., etc. S. D. 
 892. 
 
 " As those who are led by the Lord perceive what they 
 ought to do, and indeed in a manner not intelligible by others, 
 so also they are persuaded what they ought to know, likewise 
 in a spiritual manner, not intelligible to others." S. D. 1405. 
 
 " During an hour's experience it was shown me how all 
 thoughts are ruled by the Lord. There was an influx like that
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 103 
 
 of the softest and almost imperceptible stream whose vein does 
 not appear, yet it leads and draws. That which flowed in from 
 the Lord led every series of my thoughts in succession, and 
 although softly, yet strongly, so that I could by no means stray 
 away into other thoughts, which it was permitted me to try to 
 do, but in vain." A. C. 6174. His own experience, again, 
 only an illustrative example of how "all thoughts are ruled 
 by the Lord." 
 
 " Man is ruled by the Lord by means of angels and spirits." 
 " The thoughts of a man who is in faith are not his ; when 
 they are evil, they are of evil spirits ; . > . when good, they 
 are the Lord's only." S. D. 1910. A general statement, 
 again. 
 
 " Only they who have suffered themselves to be regenerated 
 by the Lord, act from freedom itself, according to reason 
 itself" D. P. 98. 
 
 All these are general principles, and Swedenborg gives a 
 great many illustrations of them in his own experience. The 
 fact of his being led by the Lord, ruled by the Lord, controlled 
 in his thoughts by the Lord, impelled, instigated, dictated io, 
 and the like, by the Lord, is common to him and all other re- 
 generated men. All things relating to his own peculiar expe- 
 rience, though often having the appearance of being due to 
 something peculiar done for him by the Lord not done for 
 other men, yet were owing entirely to his own peculiar state 
 and quality as a recipient vessel ; just as it is with the garden 
 which differs from all other gardens. Is the difference in this 
 case owing to any difference in what is received from the sun ? 
 on the contrary, is it not due entirely to the nature of the 
 soil, to what is planted in it, to its cultivation, and the like? 
 
 7. How all Mail's Works are the Lord's. 
 
 All of man's works are the Lord's works when man is in 
 the order of life, or just in proportion as he is in such order. 
 If man were perfect, his works, his thoughts, liis words, his
 
 104 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 writings, his actions or deeds, of whatever kind, would be per- 
 fectly the Lord's, and yet they would be most completely and 
 most distinctively his own. Yet this is a great principle 
 which, as applicable to probably the noblest, the most perfect 
 specimen of finite, terrestrial humanity of which we have any 
 knowledge, is, by some devoted readers of the Writings, ap- 
 parently ignored. Let us consider this subject, then, a little 
 further, and even at the risk of some repetition, for much 
 hangs upon it. All of God's works, and even many of man's, 
 are full of illustrative exemplifications of this great principle. 
 The fruit of the pear-tree is God's work, God's fruit; He 
 made it ; it was produced by and from Him, — entirely by and 
 from Him. The same is true of the fruit of the apple-tree, 
 and, in fact, of every other kind of fruit. Why, then, are 
 these fruits so diflPerent? is the question. We answer. Because 
 of the difference of the mediums — the Lord's instruments, 
 the Lord's servants — through which they were produced or 
 evolved ; because the pear-tree is different as a recipient vessel, 
 thus as an agent of the Lord, from the apple-tree ; because 
 the distinctive organisms of the two trees are different. Now 
 it is that in the fruit which is derived from the distinctive or- 
 ganism of the tree, that makes it the fruit of that tree rather 
 than of some other tree ; and it is exactly this, nothing 
 else, that makes such fruit distinctively that tree's work at 
 the same time that it is the Lord's work. And we should 
 never say that one tree's work was either its own work or the 
 Lord's work in any other sense than that in which we should 
 say the same of the fruits of all trees. Each and all have 
 what is distinctively their own in them as well as wdiat belongs 
 to the Lord. The injlux is the Lord's, but its peculiar mode 
 of operation, which is different in all recipient vessels, is dis- 
 tinctively their own ; for this, in all cases, depends upon their 
 quality. The same is true also of all animal organisms and 
 their fruits or works ; there is that which is their own and 
 that which is the Lord's in them all. The same is true also of
 
 MAN'S RELATION TO THE LORD. 105 
 
 men as instruments or servants of other men, as the tree or 
 animal, or man himself, is of the Lord. A man builds a 
 house ; yes, he builds it, even though he lift not up a sinj^le 
 tool upon it; and yet just as truly the architect, the mason, 
 the carpenter, and the joiner build it. Each and all put them- 
 selves into it and leave their mark upon it, the employees as 
 well as the employer; just as is the case with the tree in re- 
 lation to its fruit. Each says, This and this and that are 
 my work ; the master says, and he who devises the plans 
 and gives the directions says. It is all my work. Such are 
 men, all men, in their relation to the Lord. There is that 
 which is their own, and there is that which is the Lord's, in 
 all that they do. Swedenborg was in no instance, in nothing 
 whatever that he did, an exception. There never was, never 
 can be, an exception. All that he ever wrote, all that he ever 
 did, was the Lord's and was also his own. Different from other 
 men, he saio and acknowledged what was from the Lord. 
 And he did this, and he could do it, because he was in a state 
 to live and act so completely from the Lord, which is a state 
 of internal perception. His writings were as much his own at 
 the same time that they were the Lord's, as mine are mine, and 
 there was as much of himself in them, and even more, the dif- 
 ference being, not in what the Lord did, — for this was the same 
 to him as to me, — but in the difference between his self and 
 my self, his self being a more pure and more perfect servant of 
 the Lord than mine ; just as the faithful and obedient mechanic 
 who has no selfish fancies or plans or projects of his own to 
 interfere with his employer's wishes, is a more perfect servant 
 of the builder than the one who " lifts up his own tool" upon 
 the work. The great difference between Swedenborg's writ- 
 ings and those of other men, is that there is no antagonism, no 
 incongruity or want of unity, between what is his own and 
 what is the Lord's in them ; which cannot be said of the works 
 of unregenerate men. 
 
 Thus our conclusion is an inevitable one, — that all that the 
 
 6
 
 106 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 Lord had to do with Swedenborg's writings, as with other 
 men's writings, was to give him, precisely as to other men, 
 the Divine Influx ; and tliat, therefore, all that is in any sense 
 special or remarkable about them is owing alone to recipient 
 conditions furnished by his own mind. As writings, therefore, 
 they are wholly and purely and exclusively his own, not the 
 Lord's ; his own writings just as much as your writings, your 
 speech, or your works of whatever kind, are your own ; just as 
 much as the fruit borne by any tree is its own, and in a similar 
 sense. The fruit of a tree is from the Lord, but not as fruit, 
 except indirectly through the organism of the tree ; it is the 
 tree's fruit in so far as the tree has put its impress upon it, or 
 has put the results of its operations as a tree into it and made 
 it fruit. Just so Swedenborg's writings are his in so far as he 
 has put the impress of his mind upon them, or has put the 
 results of the operations of his mind into them, by the pro- 
 cesses of formulating from living truth verbal statements of 
 truth, which is purely a process of finite faculty. His writings 
 are noble fruit ; but they are not divine, any more than any 
 other fruit, coming through the modifying conditions of finite 
 mediums or instruments, is divine. It was Divine Truth that 
 Swedenborg received; but that was the '■^Spirit of Truth," 
 not cogitated, idealized, and thus finited, verbalized, truth. 
 Divine truth ceases to be Divine after passing through finiting 
 conditions, however pure and perfect those conditions might be.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 niS CALL AND PllEPARATION. 
 
 1. The Lord Appeared to Him. 
 
 But the Lord " appeared" or " manifested Himself" to Swe- 
 denborg. Much is made of this fact to show that the Lord 
 had given him a " particuhir influx," " special inspiration," 
 and had him in a most extraordinary manner under His direc- 
 tion, using the words " particular," " special," and " extra- 
 ordinary" in a sense akin to that of miraculous, as the latter 
 term is commonly understood. And to one ignorant of the phi- 
 losophy of the New Church, Swcdenborg's language encourages 
 such a view. The appearance, from what Swedenborg says, is 
 that the Lord is ^finited personage in the heavens, and that 
 He actually came and presented Himself before Swedenborg, 
 especially from the following, viz. : '^ The Lord manifested Him- 
 self in person before me, and sent me to fill this oflice, in 1743." 
 Some readers of Swedenborg seem to entertain this view of the 
 Lord and of His relation to Swedenborg. On this view, mainly, 
 seems to be founded the extraordinary claim for Swcdenborg's 
 writings as " the Lord's writings." We grant this is Swcden- 
 borg's mode of speaking ; the appearance sometimes is that 
 the Lord and Swedenborg had personal interviews, and that 
 they really talked with each other as man with man. But we 
 must not give such expressions of Swedenborg an interpreta- 
 tion inconsistent with his philosophy ; for, according to his 
 philosophy, the Lord's relation to Swedenborg was precisely 
 like His relation to other men, — namely, as so often repeated, 
 by influx, and only by influx. There is great danger of mis- 
 
 107
 
 108 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 taking appearances, or what Swedcnborg calls " real appear- 
 ances," for realities. Such appearances depend not at all 
 upon anything different that the Lord does at the time of such 
 manifestations from what He does at other times, — for He, in 
 what He does, is as invariable and unchangeable as the sun, — 
 but they depend alone and entirely upon the operation of His 
 influx, and this operation again depends exclusively upon the 
 nature of the recipient mind to whom the manifestation is 
 made. It is just as it is with the sun of the material heavens. 
 His great examplar in the physical world. All variety in the 
 sun's appearances or manifestations of himself is owing entirely 
 to the variety in the recipiency of his radiance, of his influx. 
 A regenerated state of mind is indispensable to the kind of 
 manifestation of the Lord made to Swedenborg, and " a con- 
 junction of mediate and immediate influx" is one of the essen- 
 tial conditions. And such conjunction " cannot be given but in 
 good, for good is the very ground." When the conjunction of 
 mediate and immediate influx takes place in man, " then the 
 Lord appears as though He were present, and His presence is 
 also perceived." A. C. 7056. " The Lord is present only in 
 the celestial things of charity, and in these He appears to man." 
 1442. The Lord appears to the celestial angels as a sun, 
 and to the spiritual angels as a moon. He so appeared to 
 Swedenborg, he being consciously associated with the angels 
 as their equal (in certain respects). Swedenborg says that, in 
 reading the Lord's prayer, he always apperceived that there 
 was an influx from the Lord into each of the things of the 
 prayer, thus into each of the ideas of his thought, which were 
 from the meaning of the things contained in the prayer. . . . 
 It was made manifest how infinite things were in the expres- 
 sions of the prayer, and that the Lord was present in each. 
 6476. 
 
 Thus Swedenborg's case — in regard to the Loi'd's appearing 
 to him — was exceptional only in the sense in which every man's 
 case is exceptional ; what was exceptional was owing entirely
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 109 
 
 to his exceptional state of recipiency, just as it is with all 
 men and angels. 
 
 But a word more in regard to such aj)2'>earances or mmri/es- 
 tationa of the Lord. We must always bear in mind that they 
 are. what Swedenborg calls them, — namely, " appearances,'^ or 
 "manifestations," — and that they depend entirely upon the 
 states of those who seem to themselves to see what is onli/ an 
 appearance or manifestation, but a real one. Swedenborg says, 
 "there are real appearances and those not real ;" the " real" in 
 them is owing to that, in the states of those who see them, on 
 which the appearances depend as real appeai-ances. The real 
 cause, for example, of the beautiful things appearing outwardly 
 to the angels is in the angels themselves. The Lord apipears 
 outside the angels ; but is He outside of them? " The king- 
 dom God is within you," and He is within, most inmostly 
 within. His kingdom. He appears as a sun or moon, or as a 
 " black, dark thing ;" but is He such, with rounded and limited 
 outline ? He appears at a middle altitude ; but is it because 
 He is there more than elsewhere ? He so appears " in what- 
 ever direction the angels turn themselves .'" Does Swedenborg 
 mean to say that the Lord ever actually stood before him and 
 talked to him, told him what to do, what to write, etc. ? Does 
 not his philosophy say rather that this was an appearance 
 owing to his state, owing to the peculiar operation of influx 
 from the Lord in him, as affected or modified hy his state? If 
 we take all his statements as literally true, — which he never 
 meant we should do, — without regard to their meaning in the 
 light of his philosophy, we shall be led into the most bewilder- 
 ing confusion. 
 
 2. " Specially Qualified:' 
 
 All uses are special, and therefore require that which is 
 special in preparation for them. Swedenborg was not an ex- 
 ception to the universal law in this respect. His case was 
 exceptional only in the degree of the special, just as has been
 
 110 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 the case with other men. He had a use to perform unlike 
 that of any other man, and a use which was special in an ex- 
 traordinary degree. But all that was special in his prepara- 
 tion for his office or use was owing to what was special in the 
 potential germ of his being, or in his capacity for such prepa- 
 ration. There was nothing added to him. His preparation 
 was simply a development of capabilities already potentially in 
 him. In this his case was precisely like that of every other 
 man. If a tree bears acorns instead of walnuts, it is not be- 
 cause of any diiFerence in the sunshine that falls upon it, in 
 the air which it breathes, in the rains that give it drink, or in 
 the soil from which it grows, but because of the undeveloped 
 possibilities of acorns, instead of walnuts, in its germinal state. 
 If an organ of the body is an eye instead of an ear, it is be- 
 cause it was first an eye, instead of an ear, in possibility. And 
 so also if the germ was the germ of an oak, instead of the germ 
 of a walnut-tree, in jyossihilifi/, it was not because of any dif- 
 ference in its primal origin in the great First Cause, but be- 
 cause of the conditions under which it became a germ. An 
 acorn is an acorn instead of a walnut because an oak furnishes 
 different conditions from those of a walnut-tree for the opera- 
 tion of life from the One only Source of Life. So of the 
 fruits of all other trees or plants ; so of the eggs, or seeds, or 
 germs of all animals ; so also of the finited beginnings of all 
 human beings. All cause of anything special or extraordinary 
 is in the recipient conditions. 
 
 Here we have exemplified a universal principle, and, how- 
 ever strong may be appearances to the contrary, there are no 
 exceptions to it, none whatever. It is the ignoring of this 
 principle — which is as unchangeable in its operation as God 
 Himself — that has led to such absurd conclusions in regard 
 both to Swedenborg's preparation for his mission and also to 
 his performance of the duties of his office. According to the 
 representations of some, Swedenborg seems to have been a 
 private pupil of the Lord, who took special pains with him,
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. HI 
 
 and gave liini a different kind of training from what He ever 
 gave any other man, — somewhat as a parent or teacher some- 
 times does a cliild, — or just as if the sun of the natural heaven 
 should take under its most particular charge some little germ 
 of a tree, — like that of the California giant cedar, for example, 
 — and should, in addition to giving it the fulness of its radi- 
 ance, as to other trees, do fur it, in some mysterious and extra- 
 ordinary way, and with a certain end in view, something dif- 
 ferent from what it does for other trees; or just as if some- 
 thing special and extraordinary were added to the influx from 
 the brain and heart, to prepare an eye- or ear or hand for 
 some extraordinary office or function. Such a thing is impos- 
 sible. To suppose that God can do anything extraordinary, 
 or outside the natural and uniform operation of influx from 
 Him, farther than what is extraordinary is due entirely to re- 
 cipient state and conditions, is to show a culpable ignorance of 
 God in His relation to the universe. 
 
 According to our understanding of the revelations of the 
 Lord in the Writings, influx from the Lord flowed into certain 
 existing conditions to produce Swedenborg's germinal or poten- 
 tial being, precisely as it always has done to produce the germ- 
 inal or potential being of all other men ; and then it flowed 
 into his germ of being, and ever after continued to flow into 
 it, during all its stages of development and of preparation for 
 his mission, precisely as it flows into all men. Swedenborg 
 became the extraordinary man he was, and performed the 
 extraordinary use he did, because, and solely because, of 
 the extraordinary conditions furnished by his nature for the 
 operation of that influx from the Lord which is the same to 
 all. 
 
 Thus there was really nothing special in Swedenborg's case, 
 except so far as it was made so by special conditions furnished 
 by his own being'^for the operations of the Divine Influx, just 
 as is the case with all men. There is never any change or 
 deviation in the Divine Influx, except in its operations a.s af-
 
 112 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 fected by recipient conditions. God never changes, either in 
 what He is or in what lie does. Infinite love and infinite wis- 
 dom can never change. Is it because the sunbeam changes, 
 or because of a special form or mode of action of the sun, that 
 the rose is red and the lily white ? Is it because of change 
 in the stream, or in the channel, that the water now calmly 
 moves, and as if it did not move, and now foams and boils, 
 and now dashes and leaps and carries destruction before it? 
 There is nothing special, in any case, in what flows in from the 
 Lord ; all that is special, in all cases, is in the state of the re- 
 cipient. If there is ever a special action of Providence, it is 
 always because of special recipient conditions which cause the 
 deviation of such action. Any special action of life in the 
 body is not in the life, but in the body. Swedenborg was pre- 
 pared for his mission, and every other man for his mission, by 
 the same Divine action, so far as God was concerned. It was 
 only the same Influx into diff'ercnt recipient conditions. The 
 same Divine Influx into men of diiferent constitutional tastes, 
 genius, and capacities results in qualifications for difi"erent uses 
 in life, just as the same influx from heart and brain into dif- 
 ferent germinal forms results in the development of difi"erent 
 organs and members and offices of the body. It sometimes 
 seems as if God purposely caused the Divine Influx to deviate 
 from its normal action ; but this is only an appearance. When 
 any part of the body is wounded, it seems as if heart and 
 brain went immediately to work, by a special action of their own 
 organism, to repair the injury ; but this is only an appearance, 
 for nothing diff'ercnt, in any sense, flows out from the heart 
 and brain. True, there is special action, remedial action, but 
 caused by the condition of the organism, for only the same 
 influx enters it that entered it before the injury, or that enters 
 healthy organism. 
 
 There is a grand and beautiful principle here, if we can see 
 it, illustrative of the operation of the Divine Influx in wicked 
 men, or in diseased or disordered spiritual organism. The
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 113 
 
 same influx, in all cases and always, carries with it, carries in 
 it, inlierent in its own nature, every remedial resource ; so that 
 it instantly and spontaneously becomes remedial on entering 
 disordered organism. It is the very nature of the disorder to 
 make the action of the influx remedial, thus special, and ap- 
 parently so by special design or purpose. How can it be other- 
 wise when we understand the real nature of the influx, — that 
 every attribute is intensely present in every instant's action of 
 the influx ; that the influx carries all its resources with it and 
 in it ; that it keeps and needs keep nothing in reserve. And 
 how comforting the fact that our God, — our Life and our Light, 
 — and with every attribute in intensest operation, is always in us, 
 and instantly and spontaneously applying the remedy, and the 
 divinely best remedy, for every disordered condition, — that it is, 
 indeed, impossible for Him to fail to do this ; thus, that, wherever 
 we are, in heaven or in hell, and whatever we are, angel or devil, 
 He is unchangeably the same, the same in what He is and in 
 what He docs ; and that it is impossible for what He does, as 
 varied in its action by our state, to be otherwise than what is 
 best for us, — that such varied action is, in fact, most specially 
 adapted to our condition. And what follows ? And this may 
 make my meaning plainer, if there is, as yet, any obscurity. 
 The action, for example, of the Divine Influx, as varied by an- 
 gelic state or conditions, would be most terrible torture, if not 
 actual destruction, to infernal organism. What would be the 
 eff'ect of influx from heart and brain, as varied in its action by 
 healthy conditions, upon diseased organism ? Is not this, then, 
 what is meant by " special Providence" : that it is Providence, 
 or the Divine Influx, as varied in its action by special states 
 or conditions, and always with Infinite Love and Infinite Wis- 
 dom, and in its results, for that which, in the conditions and 
 under the circumstances, is best? 
 
 It seems to me to be a want of recognition of this grand and 
 unchangeable principle of the Divine Nature, — namely, that 
 God, so far as His own inherent action is concerned, is the 
 
 6*
 
 114 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 same, in all conditions and under all circumstances, — that has 
 led men to set up such strange and irrational claims in regard 
 to Swedenborg and his writings ; and that has led to such a 
 misunderstanding of what Swedenborg says about himself, as 
 to make his own experience contradict his own philosophy ; as 
 to make the Lord, for example, do something for him, with a 
 view to his preparation for his mission, that He does not do 
 for other men. This, so far, finites and degrades God down to 
 the level of a mechanic or tutor acting from expediency. 
 And the whole spirit and philosophy of the Writings contra- 
 dict any and every such view of God's action or relation to 
 man. 
 
 3. His Call. 
 
 Swedenborg was " called by the Lord," we admit, " to a 
 holy office." But how was he called ? Precisely as other 
 men, all men, are called. What did the call consist in? It 
 consisted, with him, as with other men, in a constitutional 
 " hent'^ or inclination of his mind to certain pursuits ; it was 
 an inborn, natural taste for certain studies and certain uses in 
 life. All men are called by the Lord, each to some specific 
 use, profession, or business, and one no more than another. 
 And there is no difference in the calls, none whatever, so far 
 as the Lord's agency in them is concerned : He is " no re- 
 specter of persons," or of professions or businesses. It is the 
 peculiar form, quality, or disposition of the mind itself as a 
 recipient of the Divine Influx, that makes the call. Some 
 have a more marked or decided bent, thus a more decided, 
 more appreciable, or louder call, than others. Some manifest 
 this bent earlier in life than others. Mozart had a very early 
 call to be a great musical composer ; Franklin, to be a philoso- 
 pher ; Colburn, to be a mathematician ; Napoleon, to be a war- 
 rior. To some who are peculiarly constituted and sensitive to 
 spiritistic influences the call may seem to come through such 
 influences, in audible tones even. But this is owing entirely 
 to the peculiar character of the subject. The Lord has no
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 115 
 
 more to do, really, with sucli calls than with all others. Swe- 
 denborg manifested a love for certain intellectual pursuits early 
 in life ; but these were not limited to one channel, as mathe- 
 matics alone, natural history alone, or ethics alone. His mind 
 indicated great breadth and very great versatility, even in his 
 childhood. There was a clear prophecy of the man in the 
 child. His was a very remarkable mind, — it was sui generis. 
 None like it had ever existed. Such breadth, such depth, 
 such perspicacity, — there was a significance that none could 
 interpret, a future that none could read ; for it was to be 
 most unlike the developed future of any previously existing 
 youth, that of Shakspeare, for example, or Milton, or Bacon, 
 or Humboldt. The world was not in a state to foresee or 
 expect anything like such a future. It was to be an entirely 
 new problem, and one upon which, even now, after that 
 future has come and gone, men — "great men," "wise men" 
 — look with amazement and bewilderment ; they are not even 
 now prepared for even the announcement of the problem of 
 the revelation made to human thought by Swedenborg's life 
 and works, and much less arc they prepared for the solution 
 of the problem, for the understanding of the vast significance 
 of his life and mission. 
 
 4. Ills Preparation. 
 
 Such was Swedenborg's call : it was as the acorn's call to 
 become an oak, or the egg's call to become a bird, which 
 are equally by the Lord. Everything in his primal being- 
 pointed to his mission, just as much as everything in the seed 
 points to the future tree, or everything in the egg to the future 
 bird. But this was no more true of him than of all men. 
 What was remarkable and exceptional in his ease was his de- 
 velopment AwA p>reparation for his work. And in what was he 
 different from other men in this respect ? He was different in 
 this, — namely, in that he followed, and sought most diligently to 
 follow, the leadings of Providence ; in that he listened so heed-
 
 116 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 fully to the voice of the Lord in the dictates of conscience ; 
 in that he so unceasingly studied and meditated upon the 
 Word, and did so for the sake of learning the true way of 
 life ; and thus in that he suffered himself to be so completely 
 led and governed by the Lord, but by the Lord, it should 
 always be remembered, as that influx of Divine Truth which 
 filled, and whose very nature it was to give free, rational, and 
 thus true, responsible manhood to, every faculty of his being. 
 He was, indeed, in this sense, the Lord's most faithful and 
 obedient pupil or disciple during his whole course of prepa- 
 ration. He was, every moment of his pupilage or preparation 
 for his use, most completely himself, and in the highest sense 
 of the word his own master ; but only so ftir as, at the same 
 time, he was wholly and completely the Lord's, and followed 
 undeviatingly His leadings. For so far, and only so far, as one 
 is the Lord's he is his own ; and just so far. and only so far, 
 as he serves the Lord does he, in the highest and best and 
 truest sense of the word, serve himself; for by such service, 
 and only by such service, he makes all that the Lord gives him 
 his own, but his own as a steward, — makes himself, indeed, one 
 with the Lord, as the branch is one with the vine. To serve 
 the Lord is not to worship Him, not idolatrously to adore and 
 praise Him, as most people suppose. Worship and praise are 
 incidental, are simply the result of a spontaneous overflow of 
 love and thanksgiving, are only the expression of a heart 
 made warm and full by real, loving service. We serve the 
 Lord bi/ serving others, — that is, by being His instruments in 
 doing the work which He is in the constant effort to do. The 
 case is as it is with the service of men : we do not serve men 
 by worshipping and praising them, but by aiding them in their 
 work ; and just as the branch serves the vine by bearing its 
 fruit, or as any organ or member of the body serves the brain 
 by obeying its impulses. Such was Swedenborg's service of 
 the Lord all along the pathway of his preparation for his 
 final work, — for his educatioji fof that work consisted mainly
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 117 
 
 in performing uses for the sake of his fellow-inen, — and he was, 
 all along, day by day, seeking knowledge for the sake of such 
 uses ; day by day he consulted the Lord, by reading and med- 
 itating upon the Word, to learn what He would have him do, 
 to find out how he could best serve Him. And the Lord in- 
 structed him by giving him light, thus by giving him intuitive 
 perception of what He would have him do. In this was the 
 secret of Swedenborg's great power : it was the power of the 
 Lord in him. He earnestly desired to be led by the Lord, — 
 by the Lord as the very Spirit of Truth, — and this enabled the 
 Lord, by His influx as such Spirit of Truth, to lead him and 
 guide him and give him the required strength. It was in this 
 that he differed so widely from other men ; it was not in what 
 the Lord sought to do for him, but in what his state enabled 
 the Lord to do for him. Yet some men are — mistakenly, we 
 think — constantly inculcating the idea that the Lord did some- 
 thing for Swedenborg, and sought to do something for him that 
 He does not do, and does not seek to do, for other men, and 
 because of Swedenborg's intended peculiar mission, just as if 
 all the difference was in what the Lord did, and not in what 
 Swedenborg was, as differing from other men. Thus it is 
 claimed that the Lord, in a peculiar, exceptional way, directed 
 Swedenborg, both by mediate and by immediate influx, in re- 
 gard to everything pertaining to his special mission, and the 
 following has been quoted in proof: 
 
 " From my past life, I was able to see that everything therein 
 was governed by the Lord by means of those things that had 
 been produced or done by me." S. D. 3177. 
 
 Now this applies no more to Swedenborg than to every hu- 
 man being. The whole paragraph whence this sentence is 
 taken is under the caption, " That the Lord rules the human 
 race in the very smallest particulars." And what Swedenborg 
 says of his own case he mentions as an illustration of this 
 fact ; and, what is remarkable, considering the use that has 
 been made of this citation, Swedenborg speaks in the same
 
 118 SWEDEXBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 short paragrapli of another, a very wicked man, who was iu 
 like manner governed by the Lord " in the most singular 
 things !" 
 
 The following passage, which has been cited also in immediate 
 connection with the above, and therefore for the same purpose, 
 is very interesting as teaching the same general truth of the par- 
 ticularity of the Lord's providence in relation to men, — to all 
 men, — and not to Swedenborg alone, or as an exceptional case. 
 Adv. I. vol. iii. 839 : 
 
 " What the acts of my life involved I could not distinguish 
 at the time when they happened, but, by the Divine mercy 
 of God-Messiah, I was informed with regard to some, and 
 even with respect to man}^ particulars. From these I was 
 at last able to see that the Divine Providence had governed 
 the acts of my life uninterruptedly from my very youth, 
 and directed them in such a manner that, by means of the 
 knowledge of natural things, I was enabled to reach a state of 
 intelligence, and thus, by the Divine mercy of God-Messiah, 
 to serve as an instrument for opening those things which 
 are hidden interiorly in the Word of God-Messiah. Those 
 things, therefore, are now made manifest which hitherto were 
 not manifest." 
 
 Yes, we all acknowledge it. Providence " governed" and 
 " directed" Swedenborg in regard to all the acts of his life, 
 even from his " very youth" ; but we deny that Swedenborg 
 was in any sense or manner exceptional in this, and he nowhere 
 claims to have been exceptional as regards icluit the Lord did 
 for him. The Lord simply flowed into him as he was, precisely 
 as He flows into all other men ; and the operation of such in- 
 flux in its government and direction was, in Swedenborg's case, 
 as in all other cases, qualified or made exceptional by his pe- 
 culiar state of recipiency. But the above passage is interest- 
 ing and instructive as showing how uninterruptedly and how 
 thoroughly every human being is under the Lord's Providence. 
 And the end of such Providence is — equally with all, as with
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 119 
 
 Swedenborg — their best possible qualification for fulfilling their 
 mission ; for every human being has a mission as much as Swe- 
 denborg had. 
 
 Swedenborg says that he was prepared for his office from 
 his infancy. How full of meaning ! What was his office ? 
 He had, we may say, a succession of offices, but all looking to 
 the one great office of explaining the Bible. This was a reve- 
 lation from God in speech. What qualifications were required 
 for such explanation ? I answer : a perception of the Word in 
 its real nature as the Spirit of Truth, and a mind well stored 
 with a knowledge of the revelation of the same Word in 
 nature. His mind was prepared for such perception in the 
 one only way by which it could be prepared, — namely, by re- 
 generation, as before shown. This opened his mind to the 
 light of heaven, which is nothing else than the light of the 
 Word as the Spirit of Truth, which is the light of its spiritual 
 sense. He says that " the Lord opened the interiors of his 
 spirit." Of course the Lord did it, but the Lord as the Word 
 did it. Neither Swedenborg nor any other man ever knew 
 any other Lord than the Lord as the Word. But the Lord 
 opened the interiors of Swedenborg's spirit in no other sense 
 and in no other way than that in which He opens the interiors 
 of every man's spirit, when he comes into a state to have them 
 thus opened, — that is, by his regeneration. There was no me- 
 chanical or artificial process of opening ; there was no special 
 operation on the part of the Divine, except so far as normal 
 operation was made special by recipient conditions. The sun 
 opens the interiors — if I may so speak, for the sake of illustra- 
 tion — of the flower-bud, but of all flower-buds alike, so far as 
 the sun is concerned ; but it does this only after it has, little 
 by little, brought the bud into a condition to be opened, when 
 it, as it were, spontaneously opens as the sunbeams fall upon 
 it. The sun does not artificially force the bud open, as it were, 
 by a certain process of manipulation, as the child would do, 
 and as it would seem as if the Lord did, according to the
 
 120 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 views of some, when He opened the interiors of Swedenborg's 
 spirit. The Lord really did nothing for Swedenborg in this 
 case that He does not equally for all, and just as He does for 
 all. The only thing exceptional was in Swedenborg's state as 
 to recipiency. 
 
 But when one is regenerated up into a state of spiritual 
 perception, his degree or kind or extent of illustration, when 
 he reads the Word, depends upon his intellectual development, 
 and also upon his stores of knowledge of the Word as revealed 
 in Nature. AVhen a man's interiors are open he has illustra- 
 tion, and thus revelation from perception, when he reads the 
 Word, but in measure, or extent and variety, according to the 
 light which he is capable of having by means of the knowl- 
 edges belonging to him. A. C. 10,400. That is to say, the 
 intellectually learned man, if in a state of perception, has, 
 while reading the Word, larger or intenser illustrations, so to 
 speak, than the unlearned man. It was in this respect that 
 Swedenborg was so much in advance of other men who may 
 have been in a similar state of perception or illustration. His 
 learning was vast, though, perhaps, not greater than that of 
 some others. His excellence — excellence as regards the use 
 he had to perform — was not so much in the extent as in the 
 kind of his knowledge. His knowledge was peculiarly that of 
 the Word, of the Word in its revelations of itself in Sacred 
 Scripture, and also in its revelations of itself in nature. His 
 great study through life was the Word, and the Word as re- 
 vealed in Nature as well as in Sacred Scripture. This was a 
 most important part of his " preparation by the Lord" for his 
 great mission. In this he faithfully followed the leadings of 
 Providence ; and this is the reason why he was so successful in 
 it. Swedenborg was prepared for his office, like all men each 
 for his own work, on the same principle that the heart or any 
 other organ of the body is prepared for its function, which is 
 by influx into its own peculiar form and conditions, and by its 
 own action. That is to say, the diiference is not in what the
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 121 
 
 Lord docs, is not in the influx, but is in recipient state and 
 conditions. 
 
 5. Not a Prodigi/. 
 
 Swedenborg was no prodigy, as some seem to teach, and to 
 teach for the purpose of showing that the Lord at length 
 made something out of him, by a particular and exceptional 
 process of manipulation, as it were, by whom, as a sort of 
 intensely active, yet mysteriously passive, instrument. He could 
 accomplish a certain object. In proof of which they cite the 
 following : 
 
 " I know, from my own case, that in .the parts of my office 
 I am instructed by experience only, without the memory of 
 particulars." S. D. 888. 
 
 " By which Swedenborg means," it is said, " that in every- 
 thing that concerns his office — ?*.e., ' his teaching of the doc- 
 trines of the New Church by the Word from the Lord' — he 
 was not directed by his own thought on the things contained 
 in his natural memory, which in the ' Spiritual Diary' he 
 calls the ' memory of particulars,' but was governed by the 
 Lord by an influx into his will, of which he remained uncon- 
 scious until it (manifested itself by ' experience,' or by the acts 
 of his life. And by this influx," it is added, " the Lord gov- 
 erned the particulars of Swedenborg's thought, and also the 
 particular influx which he received from spirits." 
 
 Now read the whole paragraph from which the above cita- 
 tion from the " Spiritual Diary" was made. Here it is (Swe- 
 denborg had been speaking of the " interior memory'''^ : 
 
 " In regard to this interior memory, and the manner in 
 which knowledges are insinuated into spirits, it cannot be 
 otherwise known than from those things which occur in the 
 life of the body, as that a man from infancy learns to speak, 
 learns to think, and this more and more, still without knowing 
 in what manner these things are insinuated, still less how the 
 faculties of understanding, thinking, judging, and concluding 
 have been insinuated. Just as when an adult is learning; Ian-
 
 122 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 guages, so I have known, from my own case, that in the parts 
 of my office I have in like manner been instructed by expe- 
 rience only, without the memory of particulars." And here 
 Swedenborg adds, parenthetically (" these things are said solely 
 that it may he understood what is the nature of that •memory^ 
 and not that they 'may he inserted concerning myself'''). 
 
 It is impossible to see any indication whatever in this para- 
 graph, or in any dissevered part of it even, that the Lord's 
 treatment of Swedenborg was in any sense or manner excep- 
 tional or peculiar. The lesson of the paragraph is a general 
 one, and no more applies to Swedenborg than to all men. If 
 he " was governed by the Lord by an influx into his will, of 
 which he remained unconscious until it manifested itself by 
 ' experience,' or by the acts of his life," so are all men and 
 angels so governed ; if this made, so far, a tool of Swedenborg, 
 — and this seems to be the conclusion of some, — it does so of 
 all men and angels. So, also, if Swedenborg learned by his 
 own experience " that the thoughts of a man who is in faith 
 are not his, that when evil they are of evil spirits, . . . that 
 when good they are the Lord's only," he learned it, and he 
 teaches it, as a general iirincijile, and as equally applicable 
 to all. 
 
 6. A Student of the Natural Sciences. 
 
 Swedenborg was most completely his own man, a perfectly 
 free, responsible, moral agent, during his whole course of prep- 
 aration for his work, though " led," " governed," " directed" 
 by the Lord, just as other men are, so far as they permit them- 
 selves to be. It was his tastes that led him in pursuit of the 
 peculiar kinds of knowledge needed to fit him for his mission, 
 and it was his capacity and diligence that made him proficient 
 in the acquisition of such knowledge. The Lord flowed into 
 and acted through his tastes and capacities. Indeed, it was 
 his peculiar combination of tastes and capacities and qualities 
 of heart and of intellect that virtually elected him to his pecu-
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 123 
 
 liar office or use, or rather it was the Divine influx, acting 
 through that combination, that so elected him. A'boy's tastes, 
 as his mind opens, indicate, and frequently with unerring cer- 
 tainty, what is to be his future ; they indicate whether, if he 
 can follow his tastes or his hent, he is going to be an artist, a 
 naturalist, a mechanic, or something else. It was so with 
 Swedenborg, though there was vastly more ia his futixre than 
 any interpretation of his beginnings could possibly indicate to 
 men, as men then were. We know not how to prophesy of 
 the developed tree of an unknown germ or shoot. Sweden- 
 borg was an extraordinary child, and this is why he became 
 an extraordinary man, — the man was simply the well-developed 
 child. 
 
 Swedenborg says, " I was first introduced by the Lord into 
 the natural sciences, and thus prepared." How introduced? 
 Why, just as every man fond of the natural sciences is intro- 
 duced to them, — namely, by following his tastes, or the indica- 
 tions of influx from the Lord operating in his tastes. Here 
 was indicated a future which no one, not even himself, could 
 foresee. A knowledge of the natural sciences — that is, of God 
 in nature — was an indispensable prerequisite to a knowledge of 
 " correspondences,^' of which the whole Bible is composed ; yet 
 he had no idea or intimation of this, — it was not necessary for 
 him to have. He loved the pursuit and saw a use in it, and 
 this was enough for him at the time. His works on science 
 are wonderful stores of knowledge, and such as the works of 
 no other author contain, ancient or modern. They are too 
 profound, go too far into the secrets of nature, for even modern 
 scientists to understand. It was not until he had foretoken- 
 ings of his final mission that he even grasped their full sig- 
 nificance. There was a meaning in his intellectual stores which 
 even he did not see while he was acquiring them. He was not 
 exceptional in this ; this is often the case with men of great 
 missions. Thus Swedenborg says, expressing a general prin- 
 ciple : " What the acts of my life involved I could not dis-
 
 124 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 tinguisli at the time when they happened ; . . . , but those 
 things are now made manifest which hitherto were not mani- 
 fest." Cannot some of the oldest of us bear some testimony 
 to this from our own experience? Can we not "see, with 
 him, that the Divine Providence has governed the acts of our 
 lives uninterruptedly from our very youth," and that the Lord 
 has had a specific end in view in our case, as really in his 
 case ? He could look back and read the lessons of Providence 
 in his experiences after they were past, though he could not 
 see their meaning at the time. We can do the same, and it 
 is useful to do so. 
 
 7. Swedenborg as a Scientist. 
 
 Swedenborg had published his works on a wide range of 
 scientific and philosophical subjects, among which are his 
 treatises on metallurgy, " The Principia," " The Outlines of 
 the Infinite," and " The Final Cause of Creation," " Principles 
 of Chemistry," etc. He had, indeed, gone down into the 
 depths and ascended into the heights on all the subjects that 
 occupied his thoughts and pen, and, what is more, he turned 
 them to pracf'tcrt? tise. In addition to being the profoundest 
 and most versatile scientist and philosopher of his or any other 
 age of the world, he was, in the fullest sense of the word, a 
 practical man. Use was the great end and law of his life. It 
 was because of this trait in his character, and because of his 
 wonderful intelligence and practical energy, that he was a great 
 favorite of his king, Charles XII. of Sweden, who ennobled 
 him, and who made practical use of him in the service of his 
 country. He had ranged over — rather had revelled in the 
 depths of — a vast field of thought and investigation, from the 
 lowest ultimates up to the beginning of things. His works on 
 metallurgy and the like show what he had done on the former, 
 as his "Principia" and like works on the latter. All these 
 works show what a world of thought was evolved from his brain. 
 He never went back, but was always going forward to greater
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 125 
 
 liciglits, to the investigation of profounder piinciples. It 
 was not necessary for him always to tarry in one field. It was 
 the very nature of his experience to be constantly lifting him 
 up, and to unexplored heights. This was his genius, the 
 peculiar character of his mind, and because he was a regener- 
 ating man. Thus all nature had successively opened her 
 treasures of knowledge to him. He was already standing on 
 the Alps of human learning, and with his vision still reaching 
 upward. Not in one department alone, but in most, — in 
 science, in philosophy, in ethics, in devotion to his Maker, in 
 the service of his country, and as a loving and useful citizen — 
 he had risen high above his fellow-men. Take him all in all, 
 he was such a man as the world had never seen. The angels 
 were said to have spoken through his mouth while he lay in 
 the cradle ; his manhood had, seemingly, already become the 
 fulfilment of his childhood. 
 
 Truth for TrnfJis Sake. 
 
 But Swedenborg was no prodigy. He had not been lifted 
 up to that high vantage-ground, nor let down from heaven, as 
 " some bird of heavenly plumage fair," but had " toi/ed vj)," 
 had " made himself," just like other men. The Lord had 
 led him, and had led him because he could be led, because he 
 submitted to the Divine dictates or promptings ; but He had 
 led him precisely as He leads all men, so far as they permit 
 themselves to be led. He was already the Lord's servant, just 
 as all good men are, but each according to his ability and the 
 peculiar form of his mind. He was rising to an unknown 
 destiny as regards the future use of his capacities and his vast 
 knowledge. What had been, perhaps, the most remarkable 
 feature in his most remarkable character, and especially in 
 that supremely selfish and wicked age of humanity, was his 
 search for " trnfh for truth's salce,^' or " for the common good." 
 This had now becoiuc the bright polar star of his voyage of 
 life, this was the precious jewel of his character. In this
 
 126 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 he was, perhaps, more unlike other men than in anything else. 
 It was this that was now, by little and little, opening his mind 
 to the light of heaven. It was this that enabled the Lord to 
 lead him, and as few other men, if any, had then permitted 
 themselves to be led. It was this that was the secret of his 
 then dawning illammation. This was the sun of his soul, for 
 it was the tabernacle of God with him. It was this that was 
 setting his mind in order for a higher work, but of which he 
 even yet had no definite premonition, though his whole being 
 was, if its real significance could have been read, full of the 
 clearest prophecy of it. It could not be read because it was 
 hitherto an unknown fruit that he was to bear. 
 
 8. Tlie Next Step. 
 
 Now look at him, as he then was, filled with the noblest 
 impulses, every faculty yearning for the noblest action, with 
 energies irrepressible for good work. What will he do with 
 himself, as moved by that influx from the Lord which flows 
 into all men ? What should we expect that a mind so devel- 
 oped, so endowed, and so yearning for higher knowledge and 
 greater use would do ? Gro back, go down from that lofty 
 eminence, and make a reinvestigation of nature? As well 
 might the plant, after being matured for bearing noblest fruit, 
 go back into the ground whence it sprung ; as well might the 
 astronomer have contented himself with a reinvestigation of 
 our own planet after he had got glimpses of the wonderful 
 significance and power of the telescope ; as well might the 
 intelligent anatomist be satisfied with his knowledge of bones 
 and muscles and tissues after he had got glimpses of a world 
 within and above them to explore. Swedenborg had all the 
 knowledge he need have, or could have, of the gross ultimates 
 of being until the world of causes was opened to him. He 
 was already master, we may say, of nature. But how to go 
 farther, this was the question. It was a comparatively simple 
 matter to investigate effects ; but how to rise to invisible, intan-
 
 IIIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 127 
 
 gible causes, this was the question. Swodenborg had satisfied 
 himself that there was a cause above nature, tliough down in 
 it. What would be the spontaneous impulse of a mind en- 
 dowed like his but to make an effort, at least, to reach that 
 cause ? lie believed that the body had a spiritual counterpart, 
 or soul : could he do less than try to learn its whereabouts and 
 relation to the body ? 
 
 This had been a subject of earnest inquiry by learned men. 
 But it was all speculation ; their modes did not suit him. His 
 form of reasoning was that of analj/sis, — that is, from effects 
 to causes, or from the known to the unknown. It was a 
 " Jacob's ladder" that he was climbing, — a ladder resting on 
 solid ground and its top lost in the skies. He had planted 
 his foot on the lowest rundle, and then ascended, step by step, 
 as he got sight of higher ones. He was now standing on the 
 topmost one visible y/'om earth or accessible by any appliances 
 of natural science. He was gazing still upward, and searching, 
 but in vain, for some clue that could guide him still higher. 
 But his intellectual vision, as yet, could not penetrate the dark- 
 ness. What should he do ? What could he do ? Did he 
 fxU upon his knees and pray God by an arbitrary ^*«/ to re- 
 move the darkness ? He knew that there was no efficacy in a 
 prayer of mere words or thoughts, or feelings even. Did the 
 Lord come to him in an extraordinary manner and, because 
 he was so nearly prepared for his mission, take him more 
 especially under His charge and lead him to the light he so 
 much desired ? Nothing like it ; the Lord never acts in this 
 way. Tlie Lord did nothing for him that He had not always 
 been doing. The Lord gave him light, as He had always done, 
 gave him all he could bear, filled his vessel full, and en- 
 couraged him, as before, to journey onward and upward, to 
 follow the clue which the light of heaven and of his own expe- 
 rience would give him. And this was enough. All that he 
 needed was to work on, as before, making the most, day by 
 day, of his new experiences, which were constantly increasing
 
 128 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 in tlicir prophetic, but as yet hidden, significance. He was, 
 indeed, nearly ripe for revehitions of a more interior kind than 
 he had ever experienced before. 
 
 9. nis Search for the Soul. 
 
 But his mind needed yet the discipline of another kind of 
 investigation. The soul now, and her relation to the body, 
 became the object of his pursuit. How and where should he 
 find her? This was a new inquiry, and required the exercise 
 of new capacities, but which had all along been developing, 
 and which were now ready for service. If he would find the 
 soul, he said, he must " seek her in her own palace." And to 
 find her there he must explore the palace. So he commenced, 
 with untiring zeal and earnestness, the study of the human 
 body. And how did he do this ? Let him answer. 
 
 10. His Princijyles of Investigation. 
 
 " Whereas the soul has her residence in a place so sublime 
 and eminent that we cannot ascend to her and attain to the 
 knowledge of her, except by a particular and general investi- 
 gation of the lower and accessible things of her kingdom, or 
 whereas she lives withdrawn so far within, that she cannot 
 be exposed to view until the coverings under which she is 
 hidden are unfolded and removed in order, it hence becomes 
 necessary that we ascend to her by the same steps or degrees, 
 and the same ladder, by which her nature, in the formation of 
 the things of her kingdom, descends into her body. By way, 
 therefore, of an Introduction to Rational Psychology, I will 
 premise the Doctrine of Series and Degrees, the design 
 of which is to teach the nature of Order and its rules, as ob- 
 served and prescribed in the succession of things ; for the 
 rational mind, in its analytical inquiry into causes from effects, 
 nowhere discovers them, except in the Subordination of things 
 and the Co-ordination of subordinates ; wherefore, if we would 
 advance from the sphere of eff"ects to that of causes, we must
 
 HIS CALL AND niEPARATlON. 129 
 
 proceed by Orders and Degrees, agreeably to what rational 
 analysis itself both approves and advises." E. A. K. I. 579. 
 " By the Doctrine of series and degrees, when taken in con- 
 junction with experience, we are led into the inmost knowledge 
 of natural things." 628. 
 
 Such were his principles of investigation. We see that 
 they were worthy of his antecedent character, were, indeed, a 
 natural and necessary outgrowth from it. No one familiar with 
 his previous works could help coming to this conclusion. The 
 discovery and announcement of these principles were the cul- 
 minating point of his growth thus far, and were as necessary a 
 rundle in the ladder by which he was climbing up to high 
 spiritual things as any other step in his progress had been. 
 And it was so till the last. There was perfect unity in his 
 progress from first to last. The posterior was the outgrowth 
 of the prior, just as is the case with the plant or the animal, — 
 that is to say, there was no capacity, no quality of mind, no 
 discovery grafted on to what he had already become by de- 
 velopment, as you graft the scion of one tree upon another. 
 There was nothing in his whole character but what was con- 
 gruous, nothing successively developed but what was related 
 to everything going before, as an eiFect to its cause. This 
 grand doctrine of series and degrees, which, in a somewhat 
 modified form, plays so important a part in all his future 
 spiritual, as it had in his scientific, writings, was no super- 
 added, arbitrary gift from the Divine, but was as much his dis- 
 covery, or the result of a revelation to him because of the 
 natural and continued action of his peculiar faculties, as is the 
 apple-blossom the result of the opening bud of the apple-tree. 
 
 Being now earnestly in pursuit of a knowledge of the soul, 
 Swedenborg naturally took what he supposed to be the nearest 
 and most direct course to her. The blood, in its several de- 
 grees, including the animal spirits, or spirituous fluid, with its 
 vessels and the heart, became the first object of his investi- 
 gations; then followed his "Introduction to Rational Psy- 
 
 7
 
 130 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 cliology," in which he emphasizes the importance of his great 
 Doctrine of Series and Degrees ; and after this a wonderful 
 treatise on the brain, the soul's highest natural tabernacle. 
 After this, having entered, as he supposed, the very vestibule 
 of the object of his search, he had nothing to do but to open 
 the door to her inmost recess ; but she still eluded his grasp. 
 But his hopes were only deferred, not destroyed ; he only 
 discovered that there must be some modification in his modes 
 of search. Providence was leading him, not arbitrarily di- 
 recting him, but leading him in the only way in which it was 
 possible to lead him, — namely, through his own experiences. 
 
 11. Changes his Plan. 
 
 lie has now arrived at another important stage of his in- 
 vestigations. He finds it necessary to change his course some- 
 what in his search for the soul. What he says, both in retro- 
 spect and in prospect, is exceedingly interesting. He had 
 published the " Economy of the Animal Kingdom," treating 
 of the vital fluids of the body, the heart, and its appendages of 
 arteries and veins, and the brain. But " before traversing the 
 whole field in detail," he says, " I made a rapid passage to the 
 soul, and put forth a prodromus respecting it. But, on con- 
 sidering the matter more deejjly, I found that I had directed 
 my course thither both too hastily and too fast. . . . But as 
 the soul acts in the supreme or innermost things, and does not 
 come forth until all her swathings have been successively un- 
 folded, I am, therefore, determined to allow myself no respite 
 until I have run through the whole field to the very goal, — 
 until I have traversed the universal animal kingdom to the 
 soul. Thus I hope that, by bending my course inwards con- 
 tinually, I shall open all the doors leading to her, and at length 
 contemplate the soul itself, by the Divine permission. 
 
 " To accomplish this grand end I enter the circus, designing 
 to consider and examine thoroughly the whole world or micro- 
 cosm which the soul inhabits ; for I think it is in vain to seek
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 131 
 
 her anywlicre but in her own kingdom. . . . The body is her 
 image, resemblance, and type ; she is the mode, the idea, the 
 head, — that is, the soul of the body, — thus she is represented in 
 the body as in a mirror. I am, therefore, resolved to examine 
 carefully the whole anatomy of her body, from the heel to the 
 head, and from part to part. . . . But, since it is impossible to 
 climb or leap from the organic, physical, and material world 
 — I mean the body — immediately to the soul, ... it has been 
 necessary to lay down new ways by which I might be led to her, 
 and thus gain access to her palace, — namely, to discover, dis- 
 engage, and bring forth, by the most intense application and 
 study, certain new doctrines for my guidance, which are (as 
 my plan shows) the doctrines of forms, of order and degrees, 
 of series and society, o^ communication and influx, oi correspond- 
 ence and representation, and of modification. 
 
 " Let us then," he says in the closing paragraph of the 
 Prologue to the " Animal Kingdom," from which the above ex- 
 tracts are made, " gird up our loins for the work. Experience 
 is at our side with a full horn of plenty. The nine virgins are 
 present also, adorned with the riches of nearly two thousand 
 years, — I mean all the sciences, — by whose abundance, powers, 
 and patronage the work is constructed. . . . All things at the 
 present day stand provided and prepared, and await the light. 
 The ship is in the harbor ; the sails are swelling ; the east wind 
 blows : let us weigh anchor and put forth to sea." 
 
 A knowledge of the soul, he says, will constitute the crown 
 of his studies. Of the indispensable qualifications for a clear 
 perception of truth, he reiterates, among others, " the love of 
 truth for truth's sake, or for the sake of the common good." 
 This was indeed the real illuminator, — or the occasion of it — 
 of his pathway to the goal which he so earnestly sought. 
 
 To understand Swedenborg's present state of progress 
 towards a final preparation for his great crowning mission, — as 
 yet unknown even to himself, — we need to be familiar with 
 those grand treatises, the " Economy of the Animal Kingdom"
 
 132 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 and the " Animal Kingdom." No one can read and understand 
 a single paragraph from either of these wonderfully original and 
 profound works, especially the latter, — his last great work before 
 the opening of his spiritual vision, — without being astonished as 
 well at the novelty as at the depth and breadth of his thoughts. 
 One of the results of his investigations is most especially in- 
 teresting in this connection, as showing that his next transition 
 phase of life, or of use, was not a sudden leap, as from darkness 
 into light, or from ignorance on a certain subject to glowing 
 intelligence upon it, but that all his knowledge, all his progress 
 — every step of it — in intelligence and wisdom and heavenly 
 light, was the result of experience, of earnest, devoted, plodding 
 industry, and just as much so in the latter part as in the earlier 
 part of his life. No one who will study his life, as revealed in 
 his works from beginning to end, in the order in which they 
 came from his hand, can fail to be convinced of this. In the 
 main, one was the spontaneous outgrowth of another all along 
 till his death. It was one continuous growth, one continuous 
 succession of buildings up, the higher upon the lower, to the 
 cap-stone, in perfect and undeviating symmetry. There was no 
 break, no gap, no " fault" (as the geologists say) in Sweden- 
 borg's progress, or in his character. He was all along, and 
 from step to step, a complete, whole man, a sound man. 
 
 12. Correspondence and Representation. 
 
 We all acknowledge that Swedenborg's great, peculiar mis- 
 sion was to open the Word, to explain Sacred Scripture, and 
 to do so by a knowledge of the great law according to which 
 it was written, — namely, the Science of Correspondences. How 
 did he gain this knowledge ? Was it an arbitrary revelation 
 to him ? Or did he receive it in the order of logical thought, 
 inquiry, and investigation, as he had received all his knowl- 
 edge ? That is, did it come to him little by little, as a revela- 
 tion from the Divine to honest, loving, persevering thought, 
 just as all of what is called original knowledge comes ? Pre-
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 133 
 
 cisely so, as is abundantly proved by bis writings. Like all 
 otber revelations from tbe Lord, tbis peculiar kind bad its 
 seed-time, its germinating state, and tben its progressive de- 
 velopment till the consummation of its full and effective fruit- 
 bearing maturity. 
 
 It will be remembered tbat tbe Doctrine of Correspondence 
 and Representation was one of bis " netv doctrines," announced 
 in the Prologue to tbe "Animal Kingdom" as one of tbe sub- 
 jects of investigation in bis new chase after the soul. It is 
 very plain, from wbat be says of correspondence and represen- 
 tation in various places in tbe " Animal Kingdom," tbat a knowl- 
 edge of tbis subject did not drop down, already acquired, from 
 God, out of heaven, into bis mind, any more than any other kind 
 of knowledge did. In the first volume of the "Animal King- 
 dom" be speaks of " a perpetual symbolical representation of 
 spiritual life in corporeal life, and likewise of a perpetual typical 
 representation of tbe soul in tbe body," and adds the following 
 very significant note, significant as foretokening that use of such 
 knowledge, of which, though so near at hand, he bad as yet 
 had scarcely a premonition : 
 
 " In our Doctrine of Representations and Correspondences 
 we shall treat of both these symbolical and typical representa- 
 tions, and of tbe astonisbing tbings which occur, I will not 
 say of tbe living body only, but tbrougbout nature, and wbich 
 correspond so entirely to supreme and spiritual things that 
 one would swear tbat the physical world was purely symbolical 
 of tbe spiritual world, insomuch tbat, if we choose to express 
 any natural truth in physical and definite vocal terms, and to 
 convert these terms only into tbe corresponding spiritual 
 terms, we shall by tbis means elicit a spiritual trutb or tbeolog- 
 ical dogma, in place of tbe physical trutb or precept, although 
 no mortal would have predicted tbat anything of tbe kind 
 could possibly arise by bare literal transposition, inasmuch as 
 tbe one precept, considered separately from tbe otber, appears 
 to have absolutely no relation to it." He further adds : " I
 
 134 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 intend liereafter to communicate a number of examples of 
 such correspondence, together with a vocabulary containing 
 the terms of spiritual things, as well as of the physical things 
 for which they are to be substituted. This symbolism per- 
 vades the living body, and I have chosen simply to indicate it 
 here for the purpose of pointing out the spiritual meaning of 
 searching the reinsy lie was still only a scientist and philos- 
 opher. 
 
 13. His State Ripening, 
 
 We may now have glimpses of the vast significance of Swe- 
 denborg's whole previous life. We see, as we draw near to 
 the grand consummation, how he has been preparing, in the 
 order of his nature as a man, according to his peculiar tastes 
 and capabilities, as a tree to bear fruit, and as a tree to bear 
 fruit of its own peculiar forrtx^ size, color, and flavor. If we 
 could examine the tree in its germinal beginning, and in all the 
 successive phases of its development, we should see every 
 quality of the fruit foretokened in every fibre and in every par- 
 ticle of fluid belonging to every phase of development of the 
 tree. So of Swedenborg. His present state of knowledge and 
 experience, and developed capacities and intuition, is simply a 
 fulfilment of his whole life, and everything in it, as a prophecy, 
 is simply the ripening fruit, of which every thought, and every 
 phase of every thought, was a prediction. And just so sure as 
 the tree is the bearer of its own fruit, is he the author, and the 
 only responsible author, of his own work, and of every part of 
 it. But he can see — as the tree cannot, and as the unre- 
 generate man cannot — that he, like everybody, in fact, every- 
 thing, else, is but the servant or instrument of the Lord ; and 
 he loves to acknowledge this. 
 
 It is plain that what Swedenborg has thus far learned of 
 correspondence (remember this was before his illumination) 
 has come as the result of his study of nature, and of his pecu- 
 liar modes of search after the soul. By this study and these 
 modes he was, as it were, spontaneously led to a knowledge of
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. ]35 
 
 the relation of natural things as effects, to spiritual principles 
 as causes, which relation is what is meant by correspondence. 
 And such knowledge, so far as knowledge is concerned, is the 
 consummation of the last, and the foundation and beginning 
 of his next, phase of life, — it is the fruit of the tree not yet 
 ripe, but beautiful in promise ; it needs a yet warmer, brighter 
 radiance from heaven to bring it to maturity. 
 
 14. Another Transition. 
 
 Up to this next transition state — namely, that from the com- 
 pletion of his course as a scientist and -philosopher to that of 
 his " call to a more holy office" — all are agreed that he was, in 
 the true sense of the word, his own master, though always, 
 like all other men, a servant of the Lord, and that his works 
 were the legitimate fruits of his own free thought, and unaided 
 but by that influx from the Lord which is equally a gift to all 
 men. But it is impossible for any one who has not followed 
 him in his wonderful development of rational and illuminated 
 thought, by a systematic study of his works, to form any ade- 
 quate conception of the huge proportions of the man as he at 
 this stage of his life stands before us. He is immeasurable, 
 by any known standard, in almost every attribute of his nature. 
 His regeneration, which has been gradually ripening into 
 " love of truth from good," has spread a halo of light around 
 every fiiculty. Because of his highly regenerated state, his 
 mind is already basking in the very light itself of heaven, — he 
 is high up on the acclivity of the mountain, above the clouds 
 of earth, and with his eyes still turned upward. Already is 
 he advancing into a state of " revelation from perception," or 
 of "internal inspiration," which is equally the gift of all re- 
 generated men and angels. 
 
 Now here are two things whose significance we want to 
 understand : the first is the fact that the sunshine of heaven 
 is actually streaming down into his mind, and evidently from a 
 high altitude. It is more than day-dawn, — that took place in
 
 136 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 the early part of his manhood, all his works bear witness to 
 it. But it was now evidently more than the light of earliest 
 day in which he was directly searching for the soul. His last 
 great work — the " Animal Kingdom" — shows an advanced 
 state of even spiritual illumination ; every paragraph of his 
 " analysis'^ is radiant with light. 
 
 The other thing is the fact of his wonderfully developed 
 capacities and his vast learning. His capacities are as a rich 
 soil, and his stores of knowledge as the seeds of every variety 
 of good food planted in it. 
 
 What do we expect on earth from such a relation of things, 
 — namely, the summer sunshine flowing down into the planted 
 and cultivated field of fertile soil? And that such a mind 
 as Swedenborg's was as such a field is plain from his own 
 words : 
 
 " Man can form and retain no idea, notion, or conception of 
 interior truths except from scientifics ; but scientific truths are 
 founded upon sensual truths, for without sensual truths scien- 
 tific truths cannot be comprehended. These different kinds of 
 truths succeed each other in order. Man cannot be confirmed 
 in interior truths or doetrinals except by ideas derived from 
 things sensual and scientific ; for nothing is ever given with 
 man in his thought — even as to the deepest arcanum of faith 
 — which has not with it a natural and sensual idea." A. C. 
 3310. 
 
 Again : " Scientifics must be arranged into order in the 
 natural before the arrangement of the truths of the church, 
 because the latter are to be apprehended by the former ; for 
 nothing can .enter the understanding of man without ideas 
 acquired from such scientifics as man has procured to himself 
 from infancy. Man is altogether ignorant that every truth of 
 the church which is called a truth of fiiith is founded upon his 
 scientifics, and that he apprehends it and keeps it in the mem- 
 ory, and calls it forth from the memory, by ideas wrought from 
 the scientifics with him." 5510.
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 137 
 
 This is most remarkable, and is full of suggestion. It shows 
 the importance of the high cultivation of the external mind 
 and the acquisition of scientifics, by which are meant all 
 kinds of knowledge acquired by all kinds of experiences of 
 the external mind. But how full of significance when we 
 apply all this to Swedenborg's case ! What a harvest is in 
 him in prophecy ! But the kind of harvest, so unlike any- 
 thing hitherto of earth, who can tell ? Its peculiar promise 
 is in the peculiar soil, the ground, stored with such varied 
 and wonderful experiences and potencies. And it is of such a 
 nature that it cannot remain fallow, it must bring forth ; for 
 the fact that Swedenborg was " in good, and in truth from 
 good," opened his mind, as a field, upward to the very light of 
 heaven. The Lord was in that light, was, indeed, the light 
 itself. Can too much be expected from such a relation of 
 things ? 
 
 15. Ripened for Nobler Worh. 
 
 Thus far all agree that Swedenborg became what he was by 
 following the leadings of Providence, and by thus cultivating 
 and developing his native capacities. Nothing was added to, 
 engrafted upon, or " instilled" into him. There was nothing 
 in him but what was of him and belonged to him, and by his 
 own acquisition and appropriation, as much as the fruit belongs 
 to the tree on which it grows. Thus far he has been growing 
 and ripening in the order of life. And who can read his later 
 philosophical works, especially his " Animal Kingdom," without 
 being convinced that he was, in the highest and truest sense of 
 the word, a man, an exceptional man ; that he was as a fully- 
 developed tree prepared for the production of some unknown 
 and extraordinary fruit ? Who can read the full significance, 
 who can interpret, indeed, the wonderful prophecies, of such a 
 combination of human virtues and capacities without looking 
 for results such as had never been the fruit of human intellect 
 before? A mind so vast, so cultivated, so filled, and filled 
 with such varied and exalted stores, and so regenerated into 
 
 7*
 
 138 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 the very light of heaven, and thus so completely one with the 
 Lord, so perfectly obedient to every impulse of inflowing life 
 and light from Him : who can think of such a mind, of such 
 a full man, and then conceive of any necessity for any change 
 of his relation to the Lord, for the sake of the work which he 
 had to do, any change other than as that of the continued 
 perfection of the blade for the sake of the corn ? And this is 
 precisely the relation of all Swedenborg's works to himself, 
 theological as well as scientific : they are as the corn to the 
 blade, or the fruit to the tree. They must be so, or he has 
 taught us a false philosophy. What was now the inevitable and 
 unmistakable prophecy of Swedenborg's whole being, and his 
 relation to the Lord, but, if we could read it truly, exactly 
 what his theological writings fulfilled. We can conceive of 
 the sun's having greater ^oi^^e/- over the fruit as it ripens, thus 
 of its making it sweeter or more like itself; but we cannot 
 conceive of its cluinging^ in any sense, or manner, or degree, 
 its relation to the fruit, or of its making the fruit depend less 
 upon the producing-tree for whatever is peculiar in its form 
 and quality. Swedenborg was now advanced to a highly ma- 
 ture state, and therefore was prepared to bear riper and sweeter 
 fruit. As a branch he had become more perfectly recipient of 
 what flowed into him from the Vine. And this did not make 
 him less himself, or his works less his own, but more in unison 
 with the Divine, from which all regenerated men and angels 
 delight to act. 
 
 This was precisely the manhood that was now needed to be 
 the medium of instruction from the Lord for the coming man- 
 hood of the New Jerusalem, — it was an exemplar and a pre- 
 cursor, a John the Baptist, — for the coming manhood of the 
 New Jerusalem is to be distinctively, like his, a free and 
 rational one, and in this respect differing from any preceding 
 manhood. This was the grandest and noblest finite manhood 
 that has ever existed, and it was the medium of the grandest 
 and noblest mission to mankind. And every attribute of
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 139 
 
 Swedenborg's manhood entered into his mission ; not one of 
 his faculties was suppressed ; and every one was filled with 
 light and life from the Lord ; every one was a tabernacle of 
 the Lord, as the branch is of life from the vine. The coming 
 man is to feed on rational truth such as had never been 
 revealed before ; its verbal statement must come from the 
 Lord, therefore, throvgh an intensely rational mind, for no 
 other mind could adequately measure it down to the wants of 
 such rational mind. And Swedenborg was now to do a work, 
 not which would detract from, or in any sense or manner limit, 
 his responsible manhood, or make him less a man, but which 
 would help to carry him on to still higher and nobler manhood, 
 and thus continue to make him a still more and more perfect 
 servant of the Lord. 
 
 16. His Intromission. 
 But Swedenborg's new work, on account of its peculiar 
 nature, required new and extraordinary qualifications, which 
 could be acquired only by extraordinary means. I refer to 
 his intromission into the spiritual world. This was extraor- 
 dinary because of his extraordinary state of reception. By 
 his faithful obedience to the laws of human life, Swedenborg 
 had as naturally and as spontaneously grown up into the light 
 of heaven as a plant grows up into its flowering state. His 
 illustration, or internal inspiration, was as naturally and inevi- 
 tably the result of such growth as the opening of the flower 
 is of such state of the plant. So also was his spiritual vision, 
 or open and conscious presence with spirits and angels in the 
 other life. Not that all men in a corresponding state of regen- 
 eration have this gift, though they have that of internal in- 
 spiration or illustration, yet this even with a difiference, accord- 
 ing to mental genius and endowment. Swedenborg's spiritual 
 vision was as much the necessary and spontaneous result of his 
 peculiar character of mind as was all that was peculiar or 
 exceptional in his scientific attainments or in his illumination.
 
 140 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 Open intercourse with angels was an extraordinary gift, but no 
 more so, perhaps, than some of his other gifts. He belonged 
 to a peculiar province of the Grand Man, so does every 
 man. He simply had the endowments characteristic of the 
 province to which he belonged, just as the eye, the ear, the 
 hand, or the foot has its peculiar function because of its form 
 and its relation to other parts of the body. Some people are 
 spontaneously clairvoyant, and do not understand why all are 
 not so ; whilst others cannot possibly conceive of anything above 
 nature, and are, therefore, inevitably skeptical about another 
 or spiritual state of existence. All are more really in the spirit- 
 ual world than in the natural world, for all are, in their real 
 nature, spiritual beings, the body being only a temporary tene- 
 ment and instrument to give us conscious and eifective being 
 in this world. When men were in the order of life, visions 
 were frequent. They are not contrary to true human nature, 
 but one of its birthrights, but now lost because of abuse. It 
 required no interference with the laws of life for Swedenborg 
 to receive this gift. It only required that he should be of a 
 certain genius, and iu a certain state, just as for one of the 
 many organs of the body to see, rather than hear or taste or 
 touch, it must have a certain form and structure, and then it 
 sees as naturally and spontaneously as another organ hears, — it 
 cannot help doing so. And such was Swedenborg's case as to 
 spiritual vision : it as much belonged to the man, as he then 
 was, as any other gift did. 
 
 17. His Intromission Progressive. 
 
 Swedenborg's intromission was gradual, just as his illumina- 
 tion was, just as the development of every one of his faculties 
 was, thus was not an arbitrary gift by the Lord, instantane- 
 ously conferred upon him by aim^Xy opening his spiritual eyes. 
 His spiritual sight was opened when he was ripe for it, like 
 the flower from the bud, and as the result of development of 
 what was inherent in his very nature, and thus because that
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 141 
 
 was, in his case, the next orderly and inevitable step in the 
 process of growth. There had not been, and there was not 
 then, any sudden transition in his state, as to illustration (which 
 is an entirely different thing from spiritual vision), as if by 
 some extraordinary bestowment by Divine Providence. He 
 first had " illustration of the natural mind" as is evident from 
 the wonderful character of his later philosophical works. And 
 such illustration, he says, " does not ascend by discrete degrees, 
 but it increases in a continuous degree ; and in proportion as it 
 increases there is illustration from the interior by the light of 
 the two superior degrees. The natural mind may, therefore, 
 be elevated into the light of heaven, in which the angels are, 
 and may perceive naturally, and thus not so fully, what the 
 angels perceive spiritually ; but, nevertheless, the natural mind 
 of man cannot he elevated into the very light of the angels^ 
 (Note this.) " When man's natural mind is raised into the 
 light of heaven he can think, and even speak, with the angels ; 
 but then the thought and speech of the angels flow into the 
 natural thought and speech of the man, and not the reverse; 
 on which account the angels speak with man in natural lan- 
 guage, thus in his mother-tongue. This takes place by a 
 spiritual influx into the natural, and not by any natural influx 
 into the spiritual. Human wisdom, therefore, which is nat- 
 ural as long as a man lives in the natural world, cannot, on 
 any consideration, he raised into angelic wisdom, hut only into 
 a certain image of it." D. L. W. 256, 257. 
 
 And this is the difi"erence between Swedenborg's state and 
 that of the men of the Golden Age, who also conversed with 
 angels. They were not " in any other than natural light," or 
 the light of the natural mind. He was also in spiritual light, 
 he was " among the angels like one of them," and consequently 
 imbibed truths in the very light itself of heaven, and thus 
 immediately from the Lord, who is that light. There was 
 with him a certain kind of separation from his body, as to his 
 intellectual part, which enahled him to be with the angels as
 
 142 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 one of them, and to partake of their wisdom ; and this was the 
 combined result of his state, as to regeneration, and of his 
 spiritual visions. This enabled lihn, — different from other re- 
 generated men, — even while in the body, to be " illuminated 
 by the light of the Word more proximately." It was this 
 that enabled him fii-st to perceive the internal sense of the 
 Word, and then to formulate it in his own understanding and 
 explain it to others. In fact, being then regenerated up into 
 the higher degrees of his nature, and also having " spiritual 
 sight," he was in the very light itself, the very " spirit of life 
 itself," of the Word, which is the spiritual sense in its own 
 substantial form ; for he says, " if you are willing to believe it, 
 man's internal man is in the internal sense of its own accord, 
 for it is a heaven in the least form, and it is with the angels 
 of heaven when it is open." A. C. 10,400. This does not, of 
 course, mean that the " internal man" is in the " internal 
 sense," in the verbalized form of the internal sense, as contained 
 in Swedenborg's writings, but in its form as " living light ;" for, 
 as we intend to show, there is an infinite difference between 
 the internal sense, as finited, formulated, and expressed in 
 human language, and the internal sense, as the very spirit and 
 life of the Word. 
 
 In view of this fact — namely, such complete, conscious life 
 of a man, while on earth, with the angels of heaven, as was 
 the case with Swedenborg — we are overwhelmed in wonder and 
 amazement. But let us not lose our senses. There never was 
 an effect without a cause, and that cause, however extraordinary 
 and seemingly miraculous the effect, something else than God's 
 deviation, in any sense or manner whatever, from His own 
 eternally unchangeable laws or mode of operation. True, 
 Swedenborg says that, " since the creation" it had not been 
 granted to any one, as it was to him, " to be at the same time 
 in natural light and in spiritual light, . . . and thereby to see 
 the wonderful things of heaven, to be among the angels like 
 one of them, and at the same time to imbibe truths in light,
 
 BIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 143 
 
 and thus to perceive and teacli them, and consequently to be 
 led by the Lord." But Swedenborg does not say that no one 
 in the future " will ever come into a like state, even as no one 
 before him had ever been in such a state," as is sometimes 
 illogically inferred. This would be saying that the Lord had 
 deviated from His one only law of influx, or had added some- 
 thing to its operation, in order to make a prodigy of Sweden- 
 borg, which all partakers of the true philosophy of developing 
 humanity, as taught in Swedenborg's writings, will most em- 
 phatically deny ; for all must see and acknowledge that the 
 Divine Influx, so far as God is concerned, is the same to all 
 and at all times, and that any diff'erence in results, therefore, 
 must be owing to difierence in recipient conditions. The fact 
 is, Swedenborg was the inauguration, or an exemplification of 
 the inauguration, of a new and extraordinary phase of develop- 
 ing humanity, a phase as difi'erent from every preceding one 
 as youthhood is from childhood, or manhood from youthhood. 
 Humanity had never before been capable of what Swedenborg 
 was, or of what humanity is to be, capable. Swedenborg lived 
 in the transition age from the old to the new, but was of the 
 new. There are recipient conditions in youthhood that do not 
 exist in childhood, and in manhood that do not exist in youth- 
 hood, also in spiritual manhood that do not exist in natural 
 manhood. What if Swedenborg lived in the dawning spiritual 
 manhood of the race : how difi'erent would be the recipient 
 conditions furnished by his mind for the operation of the Di- 
 vine Infiux from any existing before ! Swedenborg was most 
 plainly a grand exemplar of a new kind or new degree of man- 
 hood. There existed in him the new conditions, and there- 
 fore he had the new gifts, and gifts that were extraordinary 
 only because they were new. Not that all are going to have 
 the same gifts that he had, or do tlie same work. There will 
 be all the difi"erence in the individuals of the new manhood 
 that there had been in tliose of the old. Some will be high 
 and some low, some internal and some external, in the difi"cr-
 
 144 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 cnt provinces of the Grand Man of the coming humanity, as 
 in the past. The Lord will make out of all, precisely as He 
 did out of Swedenborg, all that the recqnent conditions of their 
 mind will admit of. And the coming man, as he becomes re- 
 generate, will, like Swedenborg, delight to be led by the Lord, 
 and to acknowledge that all good is from Him, and that he is 
 only the Lord's servant. 
 
 18. Importance of Im Intromission. 
 
 But, to return to the fact of Swedenborg's intromission, we 
 may see what an important factor it was in his preparation 
 for his work from the following, as quoted by another from 
 one of his letters to Dr. Beyer. He says, — 
 
 " When heaven was opened to me it was necessary for me 
 first to learn the Hebrew language, as well as the correspond- 
 ences, of which the whole Bible is composed, which led me to 
 read the Word of God over many times ; and as the Word of 
 God is the source whence all theology must be derived, I was 
 thereby enabled to receive instruction from the Lord, who is 
 the Word." 
 
 It was at this time that Swedenborg became aware of the 
 nature of his real mission, and that he, therefore, commenced 
 specific preparation for it by the study of Hebrew, and of the 
 Word in Hebrew, and of the " science of correspondences," of 
 which, as we have seen, he had had glimpses years before. 
 He had acquired certain knowledges on the plane of Nature, 
 knowledges of the relations of natural things as eff"ects to 
 spiritual principles as causes ; these served as vessels — " ves- 
 sels of gold and vessels of silver" — into which he could receive, 
 or which rendered him capable of receiving, such indispensable 
 spiritual knowledges as were the result of his open intercourse 
 with spirits and angels. His intromission enabled him to com- 
 plete his knowledge of correspondences, for this enabled him to 
 see plainly the causes towards which he had so long been 
 climbing up from efi'ects. He was now enabled to see the
 
 HIS CALL AND PREPARATION. 145 
 
 spiritual sense of the Word, and to loarn things about the 
 Word which he could not have learned, even though in a state 
 of spiritual illumination, from the mere letter. He was now 
 enabled also to see the mysteries of the spiritual world, and 
 thus the state of man after death. Even this kind of knowl- 
 edge was indispensable to a complete, rational understanding of 
 the Word in its practical relation to humanity, — that is, to men 
 and angels, — and most especially indispensable to a rational ex- 
 planation of the Word ; and this was what was now specifically 
 needed, — namely, a rational explanation of the Word.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE WRITINGS AND THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 
 
 1. The Writings. 
 
 And now we come to the question, What is the real nature 
 of Swedenborg's writings ? What do they do ? or what does 
 Swedenborg profess to do ? In the very significant words of 
 another : 
 
 " We must allow the Writings of the Church to explain 
 themselves, and then we shall never find any contradictions 
 therein." 
 
 Now, the Writings seem to teach some of their readers that 
 they are " the Lord's writings ;" that they are the " spiritual 
 sense of the Word ;" that they are the " Word without the 
 external sense ;" and that they are the " Lord's Advent," and 
 are the " Holy City, New Jerusalem." 
 
 We grant that there are expressions in Swedenborg's writ- 
 ings that seem to justify these conclusions. But the spirit and 
 philosophy of his teachings, or the obvious import of his teach- 
 ings as a loliole, lead to no such conclusions. 
 
 Let us now consider these four propositions, namely, that 
 the Writings are the " Lord's writings ;" that they are the 
 "spiritual sense of the Word ;" that they are the " Advent of 
 the Lord ;" and that they are the " Holy City, New Jeru- 
 salem." 
 
 First, " the Lord's writings." Much has been made of 
 the following, found in a photo-lithographic edition of Sweden- 
 borg's MSS., vol. viii. p. 1 : " Those books are to be enumer- 
 ated which were written by the Lord through vie (a Domino 
 per me) from the beginning to the present day." 
 146
 
 THE WRITINGS AND THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 147 
 
 Every student of Swedenborg's Latin knows that a Domino 
 per me does not necessarily mean % the Lord through 7ne, but 
 more likely from the Lord by me. The latter meaning is cer- 
 tainly more in accord with other expressions which he uses in 
 regard to his and the Lord's relation to his Writings. He no- 
 where says that he writes from himself or from " the devil," 
 but always from the Lord. IIow could a regenerating man 
 express himself differently? But even admitting that the 
 above translation of. the phrase is the correct one, we must in- 
 terpx'et its meaning in the light of Swedenborg's teachings 
 about man and God and man's relation to God. True, Swe- 
 denborg had " internal inspiration ;" but his Writings say that 
 " inspiration is not dictation, but influx." And we all know 
 that the Divine Influx is not influx of words or of ideas, or of 
 principles even, but of truth, and of truth as " living light." 
 Nothing but truth as the " sjjirit of truth" comes by influx. 
 Swedenborg's writings, therefore, are the Lord's writings so far, 
 and only so far, as finite mind was capable of receiving the 
 spirit of truth and Divinely, or by correspondence, formu- 
 lating it into statements of truth. The formulation was a 
 finiting process ; it must, therefore, necessarily take place in a 
 finite recipient vessel ; and unless the vessel were in a perfectly 
 passive state, it must partake more or less of the quality of the 
 vessel. Swedenborg's writings can be the Lord's writings, 
 therefoi-e, only in the sense in which the works of an agent 
 acting according to as perfect an understanding of his prin- 
 cipal's wishes as he is capable of are the principal's works. 
 All that we are and all that we have, and all our ability to do, 
 come from the Divine Influx. A regenerating man is livingly 
 sensible of this, and he is constantly acknowledging it. If he 
 does good, it is not he that does it, but the Lord through him. 
 Thus Swedenborg nowhere takes any credit to himself for 
 the wonderful revelations he is making to mankind. It is the 
 Lord's doings. It was the Lord that " instructed" him, and 
 "taught" him, and "dictated to" him. He was like the
 
 148 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 angels in this respect. They never do any good of them- 
 selves ; it is always the Lord acting in them and through them 
 as humble instruments. This is plainly all that Swedenborg 
 means in what he says about the Lord's relation to his works. 
 How frail a basis — the perfectly natural and spontaneous ex- 
 pressions of loyalty of a regenerated man to the Source of all 
 good — on which to found the perfectly astounding claim that 
 all of Swedenborg's theological writings, including even the 
 " Spiritual Diary," are the Lord's writings! 
 
 2. The Spiritual Sense. 
 
 Some say " That the Writings are the spiritual sense of the 
 Word," and thus the " Word itself without the literal sense ;"• 
 and this is just what they necessarily must be if they are the 
 " Lord's writings." 
 
 What is meant, then, by the spiritual or internal sense of 
 the Word ? All are agreed that it is indeed the essential 
 Word of God ; yea, is the Lord Himself. In this we are sup- 
 ported by the following passages : 
 
 " The internal sense is the most essential WorcV^ " The in- 
 ternal sense is the Word Itself." " In single things there is 
 an internal holi/, which is its internal sense, or celestial and 
 divine sense ; this sense is the soul of the Wojcl, and is Truth 
 Divine Itself proceeding from the Lord, thus the Lord Him- 
 self." " The spiritual sense lives in the literal sense, as man's 
 spirit in his body." A. C. 3432, 9349, 5457, 1540. 
 
 Thus we are left in no doubt in regard to what the internal 
 sense of the Word is in its real or absolute nature. 
 
 Again, in its relative nature, or as it relates to man, the in- 
 ternal sense is doctrine, or doctrine is the internal sense. " The 
 internal sense is doctrine itself." " The doctrine of charity and 
 fliith is the internal sense of the Word. . . . The internal 
 sense of the Word is the very doctrine of love to the Lord 
 and charity towards the neighbor." " The doctrine which 
 ought to serve man as a lami) is that which is taught by the
 
 THE WRITINGS AND THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 149 
 
 internal sense, and thus it is the internal sense," A. C. 10,400, 
 9380, 9t09. 
 
 But we are told that " the doctrines taught by Swedcnborg 
 are the internal sense of the Word." In what sense a,re they? 
 This is the question. " In the sense of the genuine doctrines 
 of the Churcli^'' as understood by some, who seem to regard the 
 " spiritual sense" and such doctrine as identically one and the 
 same. 
 
 " We see, therefore," says one, " that the genuine doctrines 
 of the Church, and hence the doctrines taught by Emanuel 
 Swedenborg, . . . are tlie internal sense of the WorcV This 
 is equivalent to saying that the Writings of Swedenborg are 
 the internal sense of the Word, especially as " they are the 
 Lord's works," " the Lord's writings," and hence it is claimed 
 that they are " the Word without the external sense." Thus, 
 " the genuine doctrines of the Church," Swedenborg's writings, 
 and the internal sense of the Word are identically the same. 
 
 3. Absurd Conclusions. 
 
 Now let us see to what absurd conclusions this leads. First, 
 it follows that Swedenborg's writings — including the " Spiritual 
 Diary" — are the " most essential Woj-d Itself;" are the " inter- 
 nal holi/" of the Word; are the '' soid of the Word;" are 
 " Truth Divine Itself Y>voceed'm^ from the Lord ;" are the Lord 
 Himself;'^ that they " live in the literal sense, as the soul in 
 the body." 
 
 Second, Swedenborg's writings, if they are the internal 
 sense, are " doctrine itself;" are " the vert/ doctrine of love to 
 the Lord and charity towards the neighbor ;" are " the doctrine 
 that ought to serve man as a lamp." And are they such doc- 
 trine? Perhaps doctrine has a deeper meaning than we had 
 fathomed. It certainly has, if we had not regarded it as the 
 very Word itself in "its spirit and life." Genuine doctrine, 
 in its real essence as the internal sense of the Word, is that 
 which actually shines in heaven as light ; is that which actually
 
 150 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 illuminates the mind ; is that, therefore, which instructs man, 
 
 wliich instructed Swedenborg, but by its illuminating, not by 
 
 its verbal power. " By genuine doctrine of the Church, as to 
 
 faith and as to life, the internal sense is inscribed both on 
 
 man's understanding and on his will, on his understanding by 
 
 faith and on his will by life." A. C. 9430, Do Swedenborg's 
 
 writings shine ? Can they illuminate the mind ? Do they by 
 
 any process become " inscribed on the understanding and on 
 
 the will" ? 
 
 4. Only Explanations. 
 
 No, most conclusively. Swedenborg's writings are not the 
 Word ; are not the Lord ; are not the internal sense of the 
 Word; are not genuine doctrine, — ?*.e., are not "truths con- 
 tinuous from the Lord." No, infinitely far from it. What 
 are they, then ? They are just what he claims them to be, 
 and just what all must, sooner or later, acknowledge them to 
 be, — namely. They are simply an " explanation of the inter- 
 nal sense," or, rather, an explanation of the real nature of the 
 literal sense of the Word, so as to show, so far as human lan- 
 guage can show, somewhat of the real character of its " sowZ," 
 of its " spirit and life" within. Swedenborg's writings are not 
 to the spiritual sense even, as the body to the soul within the 
 body ; not even as the cup to the wine contained in the cup, or 
 as the casket to the jewels. This is the relation of Sacred 
 Scripture to the spiritual sense. Swedenborg's writings are 
 nothing more than as verbal expressions about the soul in the 
 body, the wine in the cup, or the jewels in the casket; but 
 verbal expressions of such a character as to give most precious 
 insight into the real nature of Sacred Scripture and its inter- 
 nal sense. Swedenborg's writings in no sense or. manner 
 measure out for us the internal sense, or a single ray of it. 
 They do not, and they could not describe even the smallest 
 portion of what is contained in a single sentence of Sacred 
 Scripture. " In the internal sense are singulars, myriads of 
 which make one particular in the literal sense." A. C. 3438.
 
 THE WRITINGS AND THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 151 
 
 There are a great many passages in Swedenborg of similar 
 import. The internal sense of the Word can, indeed, no more 
 be put into human language than the sunlight can, or than the 
 life of the soul can. The spiritual sense is utterly ineffable. It 
 can flow into the mind, and it actually illuminates the regener- 
 ated mind, but it cannot flow into words. Hence there is an 
 infinite difference between that sense and any possible verbal 
 statement of it. 
 
 How, then, is it possible for any one to claim that Sweden- 
 borg's words are the Lord's words, and thus that his Writings are 
 the Lord's writings, thus Holy Writings, or Sacred Scriptures ? 
 And such they certainly would be if they were the Lord's 
 writings ; they would be Sacred Scriptures, and, as such, would 
 themselves have an internal sense, thus would themselves be 
 God, as the Sacred Scriptures are, in their " Spirit and Life." 
 God is Life ; and Life cannot act or operate otherwise than by 
 correspondence ; for all life — finite life even — operates by cor- 
 respondence ; that is to say, operates in such a way that, what- 
 ever is produced from it, is produced in successively evolved 
 degrees, so that every lower degree corresponds, as an effect to 
 a cause, to the higher, and, at length, to the highest degree 
 whence it originated. God never does anything by external, 
 arbitrary act, as man does. Nothing can come from God but 
 by correspondence ; no effect comes from the normal operation 
 of any degree of life but by correspondence. Life in the 
 germ of the egg, or of the seed even, operates by correspond- 
 ence in every phase and degree of its operations. Every- 
 thing in the tree and everything in the flower, and then in the 
 fruit, corresponds to and is filled with the life that produced it. 
 Such producing life fills, has entire possession of, and thus 
 perfectly controls and characterizes, everything of the mechan- 
 ism of the tree, and also of the flower and the fruit. This is 
 the reason why everything in and of these, corresponds. Now 
 if the Lord — the Lord as Life, for He operates in no other 
 way — thus filled, had entire possession of, and thus portVctly
 
 152 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 controlled and characterized everything of the mechanism of 
 Swedenborg's mind, then his fruits, as of a tree, his works, his 
 Writings are the Lord's Writings, and hence correspond to the 
 Lord ; but not otherwise. The idea of his Writings being the 
 Lord's writings, and not correspondences, is, when we under- 
 stand the nature of God in His operations as Life, a perfectly 
 absurd idea, and is unworthy of the real man of the New 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 5. What Swedenhorg calls his Writings. 
 
 Now let us see what Swedenborg himself says about his 
 Writings. He nowhere calls them the Word, the Lord, the 
 soul of the Word, or doctrines in the sense of " truths contin- 
 uous from the Lord ;" and this is just what the doctrines — the 
 "genuine doctrines of the Church" are; they are truths con- 
 tinuous from the Lord ; and this is just what he says that gen- 
 uine doctrines are. They are the internal sense of the Word, 
 are Truth Divine, are the very living Light itself, flowing down 
 from, thus " continuous from, the Lord ;" just as genuine light 
 is light continuous from the sun ; just as genuine life is life 
 continuous from the soul. The genuine doctrine of the New 
 Church — that is, the doctrine of man arrived at a state of 
 rational freedom — is not verbal doctrine, is not an external, 
 authoritative statement of truth, — as it was to the Israelite 
 and the man of the first Christian Church, — but is doctrine 
 that shines in and illuminates the mind. It was no formulated, 
 verbal instruction, but such doctrine, or the Lord as such doc- 
 trine, flowing " continuously" into the mind — flowing in as 
 Divine spiritual light — that taught Swedenborg, and that is, in 
 like manner, to teach the real man of the New Church, as soon 
 as he comes into a state to be so taught. Swedenborg's writ- 
 ings, are only " verbal statements," only " verbal explanations," 
 of doctrine, — of the internal sense of the Word. This is all 
 they are, and all that he claims that they are. Swedenborg's 
 writina;s are a revelation of Truth, of the doctrine of the New
 
 THE WRITINGS AND THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 153 
 
 Churcli, for %oiregenerated men, for men, therefore, who could 
 not receive genuine doctrine, or Divine Truth " coHtimionnJi/'''' 
 flowing into the mind from the Lord; Truth must be finitcd, 
 must be verbalized, must be broken up into formulated state- 
 ments or explanations of principles. The regenerated man, on 
 the contrary, needs no such verbal statements of doctrine ; he 
 has outgrown such a form of revelation, or of " accommodated 
 truth," and this is just what " revelation" is, it is accommo- 
 dated, verbalized truth. The regenerated man receives doc- 
 trine by " internal inspiration," — that is, by sensible influx 
 continuous from the Lord. This is the way Swedenborg re- 
 ceived doctrine, and this is the kind of doctrine he received. 
 And this is what is meant by his being " instructed by the 
 Lord." He was instructed by the Lord as such doctrine, as 
 such continuously inflowing truth. 
 
 But Swedenborg did not reveal such genuine doctrine, such 
 continuous truth, for unregenerated men, — and regenerated 
 men, as we have seen, did not need it, — he need not reveal it, 
 he could not reveal it, — could not reveal it in any other sense 
 than that of " explanations" about it. And this is precisely 
 the way in which he characterizes his great work, the " Arcana 
 Coelestia;" he says (A. R. 820) : 
 
 " That the spiritual sense of the Word has been revealed, 
 this day, may be seen in the ' Arcana Coelestia,' where the two 
 books of Moses, Grenesis and Exodus, have been explained 
 according to that sense ; also in the ' Doctrine of the New 
 Jerusalem,' concerning the Sacred Scriptures, Nos. 5—26 ; in 
 the little work on ' The White Horse,' from beginning to end, 
 and in the passages collected there from the Sacred Scriptures ; 
 and, moreover, in the present explanations of the Apoca- 
 lypse, where not a single verse can be understood without the 
 spiritual sense." 
 
 Again (A. C. 6597) : " That the internal sense is such as it 
 has been expounded (cxpositus), appears from the particulars 
 that have been explained (explicata)."
 
 154 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 Again : in " Apocalypse Revealed," " Every one may see 
 that the Apocalypse cannot be explained at all except by 
 [from] the Lord alone." 
 
 Again : " This sense" [the celestial, a part of the internal 
 sense] " cannot be expounded^ because it is the celestial sense 
 itself, not even an idea of which can be expressed in human 
 language." S. D. 4671. 
 
 Again : " I can testify how many things are contained in 
 thought and speech when they are spiritual ; and that they can 
 never be expressed.''^ Adv. iv. p. 66. 
 
 It is not necessary to multiply quotations. Every reader of 
 Swedenborg knows that he nowhere pretends to give the in- 
 ternal sense of the Word, or of any part, phrase, or verbal 
 expression of it, in any other sense than that of an explanation, 
 or verbal statement of its representative, significative, or sym- 
 bolical meaning. His great work on the Apocalypse is entitled 
 " Apocalypsis Explicata," which contains a great deal more 
 than " Apocalypsis Revelata," which last word is evidently used 
 in the sense of exjylicata. And his great work is the "Arcana 
 Coelestia," detacta, laid ojjen, uncovered., — that is, laid open 
 by explanation, certainly in no other way. In which work, as 
 in the others on the Word, he takes up, seriatim, words and 
 phrases of Scripture, and says they represent, or they signify 
 so and so ; or it is treated (rigit, or actum est) of such and 
 such things. 
 
 6. The Writings and the Word. 
 
 Swedenborg's writings, then, — it is plain as day, — are the 
 internal sense of the Word only in the sense of an explanation 
 of the internal sense ; and it is equally plain from his own 
 teachings that this is all that he claims for them. Hence there 
 is an infinite difi"erence between his Writings and the Word 
 itself, either in its external or in its internal sense ; all the 
 difference that there is between the light that actually shines 
 and warms and illuminates the landscape and creates life and 
 beauty, and any verbal expression, statement, or explanation
 
 THE WRITINGS AND THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 155 
 
 about the light. The internal sense as " the essential Word 
 of God," as " the Lord Himself," as the " Spirit of Truth," is 
 a fathomless fountain. Swedenborg's writings are not even the 
 bucket by which to draw even a single living draught. They 
 only show us that the Word, in its spirit and life, is such a 
 fountain, and how and why it is so ; and they also show our 
 relation to it, and how we may come into a state to drink of 
 it. The internal sense is as the radiance continuously flowing 
 forth from the sun and filling all space. Swedenborg's writings 
 are not even the optical instrument wliich enables us to see the 
 wonders of such radiance. They only explain to us its nature 
 and what we must do to come into a state to see its glories. 
 Swedenborg's writings are not even related to the internal 
 sense, are not even its vessel or casket, as Sacred Scripture is ; 
 are not even the settings of the jewels within the casket ; they, 
 indeed, bear no organic relation to them whatever, as the Scrip- 
 tures do ; they do not even unlock the casket, much less do 
 they open it and expose the jewels to our view ; they only give 
 us the key and tell us how to use it — how to apply it to the lock. 
 This we can do, or learn to do, by cold intellection. To turn 
 the key and raise the cover is quite another matter. Sweden- 
 borg did this, but for himself alone ; he could not do it for 
 another. No man can do it for another. This requires the 
 application of " eye-salve," which no one can apply for another. 
 For, to really open the casket and see the jewels, is to have 
 your eyes opened, which is the result of those regenerating 
 processes which one man can only explain to another, as Swe- 
 denborg has to us, and the nature and necessity of which he 
 has so clearly shown in his Writings. 
 
 And this one fact — namely, that they are only explanations 
 — is enough to show that Swedenborg's writings are not " the 
 Lord's writings." The Lord never explains, never does so in 
 any other way or sense than through that kind of responsible 
 agency of man which makes the explanation the man's ex- 
 planation, though from the Divine Influx, thus from tlie Lord,
 
 15G SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 operating in him and through him, but in him and through 
 him as Vi free agent and one under the free and unbiased ex- 
 ercise of his own rationality. And this was the case with 
 Swedenborg in all his Writings. The Lord only ultimates or 
 finites truth down into vei'bal statements or expressions, as the 
 soul, as it were, finites itself down into or out into what we 
 call the material body ; or as the germ-life of the seed finites 
 itself out into woody fibre and bark, and, at length, leaves, 
 blossoms, and fruit. There is an organic connection between 
 the soul and the body, also between the vegetable soul and its 
 body, the evolved plant or tree. So there is, by con-es^jo?ic?ence, 
 a similar connection between the Lord, or, which is the same 
 thing, between Divine Truth and its finited verbal expression 
 — Sacred Scripture. Sacred Scripture, therefore, is the basis 
 and continent of the Word, of Divine Truth, as the body is of 
 the soul, or as the tree is of its evolving life, or as the channel 
 is of its stream. Swedenborg's writings are no such basis or 
 continent ; as mere explanations they could not be. And no 
 one claims them to be, no one pretends that they are, finited 
 or evolved from the Lord by correspondence ; and yet, as we 
 have before shown, without correspondence no writings can be 
 " the Lord's writings," no words the Lord's words.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 
 
 1. Advent Written on the Books. 
 
 Another claim, and by no means the least remarkable one, 
 is " that the Lord effected His Second Coming once for all 
 through Emanuel Swedenborg;" that Swedenborg's writings 
 are, in fact, the Lord's Second Coming ! It is said, indeed, 
 that " he [Swedenborg] declares expressly that the BOOKS 
 THEMSELVES constitute the Lord's coming !" 
 
 This is perfectly marvellous. And what is the authority 
 for it ? Why this : Swedenborg says " in his Sketch of a His- 
 tory of the New Church" : 
 
 " Upon all my books, in the spiritual world, was written 
 The Lord's Advent (Adventus Domini). The same I also in- 
 scribed, by command, on two copies in Holland." 
 
 Again : " The Lord's Second Advent takes place by a man, 
 before whom He manifested Himself in person, and whom He 
 filled with His Spirit, so that he might teach the doctrines of 
 the New Church." Now if " this [Second Advent] is meant 
 in the Apocalypse by the New Jerusalem descending out of 
 heaven," — and it is claimed that it is so " proved by the super- 
 scriptions to Nos. 779 and 781 in ' True Christian Religion,' 
 when read in consecutive order," — then the " Books Themselves 
 constitute" the New Jerusalem also ! 
 
 But we ftiil to find in Swedenborg's writings any " express 
 declaration," or anything even akin to any such declaration, 
 that either his books, his Writings, or any verbal statement of 
 doctrine whatever, constitutes either the Lord's Second Ad- 
 
 167
 
 158 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 vent or the New Jerusalem. " The Lord's advent," written 
 on Swedenborg's books, no more implies — much less " declares" 
 — that those books constitute the Lord's Second Advent than 
 the phrase " AutJiority in the New Churcli^^ printed on the 
 back of a book, implies that that book is authority in the New 
 Church. 
 
 2. Advent a Perception. 
 
 Let us now, in the exercise of that practical common sense and 
 reason which are the peculiar prerogative of the man of this age, 
 and not as trammelled and blinded by " authority," briefly con- 
 sider, in the light of what Swedenborg says on the subject, 
 what the Second Coming of the Lord is. We are all agreed 
 that, so far as the Lord is concerned, — whatever may have 
 been the appearances to the contrary, — all His comings to man 
 have been as the Word : first, as the Word as " Sjiirit and 
 Life" or " living truth," " living light" (this was before man 
 was contaminated with evil) ; second, as the Word, or Divine 
 Truth finited into statements of truth, Sacred Scriptures ; 
 third, as the Word '■^ made flesh ;" fourth, as a revelation of 
 the internal sense. It is the last Advent — which is the most 
 glorious of all — which Swedenborg's books are said by some 
 to constitute. Swedenborg defines this Coming most plainly. 
 He shows that it is a higher and more interior, rational j^er- 
 ception than any preceding coming. Read the following from 
 A. C. 2513, in connection with the remarkable statement that 
 the " Books Themselves constitute the Lord's Coming," 
 namely : 
 
 " The Coming of God signifies perception ; for percep- 
 tion is nothing else than a Divine advent, or a Divine in- 
 flux into the intellectual faculty." And this is just what the 
 Coming of the Lord is, as shown in very many places in 
 Swedenborg's writings. And there is reason in this. And, 
 in this connection, how full of significance the fact, as acknowl- 
 edged, I believe, by all Swedenborg's readers, that " The Lord 
 made his Second Advent in Swedenborg's intellectual faculty !"
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 159 
 
 This was, indeed, the advent of the Lord to Swedenborg as the 
 Spirit of Truth. And it was such advent that gave Swedcn- 
 hoYg percept ion, or, which is the same, "internal inspiration." 
 And as Swedenborg was a representative man of this age, — the 
 age of the Lord's Second Coming, — we have, exemplified tii 
 him, the great principle of the Lord's Second Coming to all 
 men. That is to say, as the Lord came to him so lie comes to 
 all men. And as were the conditions of such coming in his 
 case, such must be the conditions in all eases ; and the condi- 
 tiojis, as we have elsewhere shown, were certain states of mind 
 as to regeneration. All men are in a state of perception, or of 
 internal inspiration, from Divine Influx, according to their 
 state as to regeneration. Such Influx is the conscious or per- 
 ceptive influx of the internal sense of the Word, and is, there- 
 fore, the Lord's Second Coming ; for His Second Coming is in 
 the perceptive glory of the very spirit and life of the Word, 
 and is in the form of the Word as Spirit and Life, or as the 
 " Spirit of Truth" which He had promised as His Second Ad- 
 vent, and not in the form of any writing or any verbal state- 
 ment of truth, much less in the form of the " books themselves" 
 containing such statements. 
 
 3. The BooJi's only Treatises on the Advent. 
 
 What relation then do Swedenborg's writings really bear 
 to the Second Coming? Let me answer in the language of 
 another : " Under the influence of this perception" [this per- 
 ceptive coming of the Lord to Swedenborg] " Swedenborg 
 wrote all those books in and by which the Lord efi'ected Ilis 
 Second Coming in this world." I would amend this by saying, 
 " all those books which treat of the doctrines of the New 
 Church and thus of the Lord's Second Coming;" for this is all 
 that can rationally be made of the superscription — " the Lord's 
 Advent" — which was written on " all his books in the spiritual 
 world." That is a very appropriate general title to his books ; 
 for they all relate, directly or indirectly, to the Lord's Advent.
 
 160 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 The title of each treatise, in fiict, — the "Arcana Coelestia," the 
 " Apocalypse Ilcvealed," the " Apocalypse Explained," the 
 " True Christian llcligion," etc., — is as the title or subject of 
 different chapters of a book under the more general title of 
 "The Lord's Advent." 
 
 The following from a learned writer on this subject is per- 
 fectly marvellous, — namely, " That the Lord's Advent, which 
 was first made in Swedenborg's intellectual faculty and which 
 imparted to it perception, was continued also into the very hooks 
 which he wrote, is proved by the fact that ' on all his books 
 in the spiritual world was written the Lord's Advent, and that 
 the same he also inscribed on two copies in Holland !" 
 
 Has there not been some misprint in this ease? According 
 to Swedenborg's own definition of the Lord's Second Advent, 
 no language could receive it or even adequately describe it, 
 much less could any books contain it or hold it. For such 
 Advent is an " influx into" and a " perception by" the " intel- 
 lectual faculty." Can there be any such influx into, and per- 
 ception by, books, or words, or language of any kind ? The 
 Second Advent is entirely diff"erent from any previous coming. 
 To the Israelites the Lord came, or rather manifested Himself 
 in human language, in finited statements of truth, in what is 
 called — because it is the Lord's — Holy Writing, — Sacred Scrip- 
 ture. In this case the book or the language, or the verbal 
 meaning of the book, was the Lord's coming, — more correctly, 
 was His manifestation as the means of His coming. The 
 Israelite was not capable of receiving or of understanding any 
 other kind of coming. It was, and it necessarily must have 
 been, a revelation or manifestation to his EXTERNAL senses. 
 To the men of the First Christian Church the Lord came, or 
 rather manifested Himself, as the means of His coming, in a 
 finite, visible humanity, as the " Word made flesh." This 
 was, relatively, an external coming. But even this coming 
 could not have been embodied in a book or books. In its real 
 nature, even His First Coming was and is a coming of truth
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. IGl 
 
 in the mind, of truth as " light" to show man his " foes," and 
 as a " sword" to drive them out. Even this coming was not a 
 " perception," nor does it even now result in perception, except 
 as the " foes" are actually driven out, and man becomes a re- 
 generated man, and thus comes into a " love of truth for 
 truth's sake," and then the Second Advent takes place. But 
 the Lord's Second Coming is an actual perceptive presence, a 
 real, internal manifestation, a consciously illuminating Influx 
 of the Lord as the " Spirit op Truth." Nothing but a re- 
 generated mind can receive such a inanifestation of the Lord. 
 And to all such minds the Lord does consciously manifest 
 Himself, as abundantly shown in Swedenborg's writings. He 
 so manifested Himself to him, which is an evidence of his 
 high state of regeneration. There can be no proof, therefore, 
 strong enough to show that the Lord's Advent ..." was 
 continued also" — after being first made in Swedenborg's in- 
 tellectual faculty — " into the very books which he wrote ;" and 
 thus that " the books themselves constitute the Lord's Com- 
 ing." Much less can the title of a treatise, and whether in- 
 scribed by men, angels, or the Lord, be any evidence that the 
 treatise or book is the thing itself about which it is written, 
 and even though it be admitted that the Lord Himself wrote 
 the book. Even if the Lord wrote Swedenborg's books, as 
 claimed, they could not constitute the Lord's Second Coming, 
 according to Swedenborg's own definition of that coming. 
 
 4. Man as an Instrument. 
 
 But what docs Swedenborg mean by what he says about Ids 
 own agency in connection with the Lord's Advent ? It is very 
 plain what he means, if we are not so closely tied down to the 
 letter as to be blind as to the real spirit of his language. Let 
 us recur to the nature and means of prior comings or manifes- 
 tations of the Lord. These have all been diff'erent, — diff'erent 
 in their character and diff'erent in their means or instruments. 
 " The Lord was able to assume the human essence without 
 
 8*
 
 1G2 SWEDENBORQ AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 being born as a man ; and He was seen as a man in the most 
 ancient times, and more recently by tlie propliets." A. C. 15*73. 
 He appeared to Moses and otliers through the medium of an- 
 gels. It was through both angels and men that He came or 
 manifested Himself in the form of Sucred Scripture. He 
 afterwards came by means of a personal incarnation. But it 
 is important to bear in mind that the assumed '^ himian es- 
 sence,^^ in the first case, the mediumistic angels, in the second, 
 Sacred Scripture, in the third, and His Incarnation, in the 
 fourth, were not what constituted His real coming ; but all 
 these were for the sake of His real coming, which takes place 
 only in the life of man, either internal or external. It was only 
 through obedience to instruction or influence, communicated 
 as a result of these several manifestations as mediums, that it 
 was possible for the Lord to make His coming a real one, or 
 anything more than a manifestation. 
 
 Swedenborg doubtless had something like the above in his 
 mind, especially the last, — the Lord's being horn as a man as 
 the means of His coming, — when he spoke as he did about his 
 own agency in what is called the Second Coming. There 
 must be in this, as in every previous case, some finite and ac- 
 commodating agency. And since the Lord could not manifest 
 Himself in person, as previously shown by Swedenborg, "and 
 yet He had foretold that He would come and establish [condl- 
 turum'] a New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows 
 that He must do it by means of a man who was able, not only 
 to receive the doctrines of this Church with his understand- 
 ing, but also to publish them by the press." There must al- 
 ways be the means, as a precursor, a John the Baptist, before 
 there can be the real thing. The Lord must first come or 
 manifest Himself as an earth, before He can come or manifest 
 Himself in the higher form of living creatures upon the earth. 
 The soul of man must first manifest itself in the form of a 
 natural body, before it can really come in the higher form of 
 an angelic being. And then such comings always have been,
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 1G3 
 
 and, from the very nature of the case, they always must be, 
 gradual comings. The tree is a long time in preparing the 
 bud, in preparing even the first sign or manifestation of its 
 coming, and then even, after the bud is formed, it is only by 
 little and little, under the influence of favoring conditions, and 
 after many progressive changes, that the tree really comes in 
 its ripened fruit, — in an " image and likeness," that is to say, 
 of itself This is so in everything. There is no coming, of 
 whatever kind, ox in whatever degree, Divine or natural, that 
 takes place "once for all," as said by another of the Lord's 
 Second Coming " through Emanuel , Swedenborg." If the 
 Lord's revelation of Himself as Sacred Scripture, or His In- 
 carnation, and the consequent subjugation of the hells, had 
 not resulted in some form of life, either external or internal, 
 in obedience to the laws of life, there would have been no real 
 coming on the earth in either case. It is in man's reforming 
 and reo-eneratin"- life, as the result of obedience in each case to 
 the lessons of the precursory manifestation or revelation, and 
 in that alone, that the Lord's real comings take place. Sacred 
 Scripture reveals the laws of external life. So far as man 
 obeys these laws, as laws of God, God comes to him, but 
 comes as natural truth. Swedenborg's writings exj^Iain Sacred 
 Scripture, and in doing so reveal the principles of internal., 
 spiritual, and heavenly life. Now, so far as man lives accord- 
 ing to these principles, he becomes a regenerated man, and the 
 Lord's coming is an internal, conscious, illuminating Influx of 
 Divine Truth, such as was never experienced before. 
 
 5. The Writings only an Explanation. 
 
 Thus it is plain what Swedenborg means when he says : 
 "The Lord's Second Advent takes place by a man," etc. We 
 see that it is of such a nature that it could not take place by 
 means like those of any former coming. Such means had done 
 their work, and had done precisely the work that was needful for 
 them to do ; and at each time there were different means, be-
 
 IGi SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 cause there was different work to do ; and there was diiferent 
 work to do, because humanity was in a different state. More 
 Sacred Scripture^ at the time of the Incarnation, would have 
 been of no use; and a ^erso?ia? manifestation would not have 
 been adapted to the phase of humanity now developing. What 
 is now needed, it is plain, is precisely the rational exposition 
 or revelation of truth made, by explanation, in Swedenborg's 
 writings. For the Lord to " come in His glory," is for Him 
 to come pcvceiitively in the internal man. And to effect such 
 perceptive coming, man needs to be instructed about the inter- 
 nal man, and about the means of bringing it into such a state 
 that the Lord can come in it. This is precisely what Swe- 
 denborg's writings are for and what they do. And thus we 
 may see, and see plainly, exactly what and how much is meant 
 by the Lord's Second Advent " taking place," or being 
 " effccted,^^ as the Latin word^a^ is sometimes translated, '• by 
 a man." This Advent actually took place in Swedenborg. It 
 was a matter of personal experience with him. He had the 
 perception, — the internal inspiration, — which was an evidence 
 of — which, in fact, itself constituted — the Lord's Advent in 
 his mind. The actual perception constituted such coming ; for 
 the Lord is always actually present in man's internal man, as 
 really and necessarily so as the soul is in the body ; and what is 
 called the Second Advent is the conscious perception — as a result 
 of a change not in the Lord, but in the mind itself — that He 
 is there, and the consequent illustration or internal inspiration. 
 Now, what did Swedenborg do as the result of such coming 
 in his own mind ? Did he pour the '• Lord's Advent" into his 
 Writings ? Did such " conscious perception of the Lord's 
 presence flow down from his mind, through his pen, on to the 
 paper under his hand ? By what other process could such a 
 coming have been " continued also into the very books which 
 he wrote" ? W^e can conceive of the Lord's glorifying the 
 instrument of His First Advent, but not of His glorifying in- 
 organic books, or words even. Will some one please explain
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 1G5 
 
 tlie process by wliich sucli a marvel can take place, as the 
 transference — or "continuance," if he prefers — of "percep- 
 tion," which " is nothing else than a Divine Advent, or Divine 
 Influx into the intellectual fiiculty," into hooJcs ? No, no ; 
 this was not what Swedenborg did. On the contrary, in his 
 state of reception of the Lord and thus of perception, he 
 simply gave those " explanations," made those verbal rev- 
 elations of Divine Truths, — made them as far as verbal state- 
 ments could make them, — by which, so far as they should be 
 heeded and obeyed by men, the Lord could efi"ect His real Sec- 
 ond Coming by joerception in thcmj as- He had done and was 
 doing in Swedenborg. 
 
 Such, then, are Swedenborg's writings in relation to the 
 Second Advent : they are that Advent only in the very exter- 
 nal sense of teachings about it, and thus of means to it ; in 
 like manner as the Incarnation was the First Advent only in 
 the sense of a preparation for it and as an instrument of it. 
 And this is all that Swedenborg claims that his Writings are in 
 their relation to the Second Advent. 
 
 6. General Principles. 
 
 The Second Coming of the Lord is only a certain specific 
 coming. There have been other comings. To understand the 
 real nature of any one coming, we need to have some true idea of 
 certain general principles relating to all of the Lord's comings. 
 
 And first we need to have some true idea of God in His 
 absolute nature, or at least in His practical relation to us 
 as our Creator and Sustainer, — some true idea of what God 
 really is and where He really is in His relation to us. When 
 we think of Him as creating, or as the Cause, and thus origin 
 and Father whence all being is, we cannot think of Him other- 
 wise than as Life, than as everywhere and absolutely present 
 — omnipresent — Life, Life which contains in it all the pos- 
 sibilities of all that is and all that is to be ; for it is Life and 
 only life that creates, — life in the seed that creates or evolves a
 
 166 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 plant; life in the egg that creates or evolves a bird, animal, or 
 man. 
 
 It is as the Word, — the Word as Spirit and Life, — which is, 
 as it were, an effluence from God, — that God is related to all 
 that is ; like as it is by its radiance that the sun is related to 
 the earth, or to all that is outside of itself. As elsewhere 
 stated, the Word is, so to speak, God at wot'k, God in the very 
 act and process of creating or evolving from Himself, just as 
 the radiance is the sun at work. 
 
 All that is, and whether spiritual or natural, is a coming of the 
 Lord ; and this means simply a maniffistation of Him, and in a 
 somewhat similar sense to that in which the body and all that 
 belongs to it, and all that takes place through it or by means of 
 it, is a coming or manifestation of the man within the body. 
 
 * These comings of the Lord are of two kinds, ordinary and 
 extraordinary. The ordinary comings or manifestations are 
 creations or evolutions from the Divine into suns, earths, 
 plants, animals, and men. The extraordinary comings are in 
 verbal expressions, — Sacred Scripture, — the Incarnation, and 
 at length in explanations of these. 
 
 All these comings take place, never from arhitrary will or 
 purpose, but always, as it were, spontaneously and exactly ac- 
 cording to conditions, like as the primordial germ — whose in- 
 most life and being is from the Divine — is evolved, or " comes," 
 in the form of a plant or animal exactly according to conditions. 
 
 All extraordinary comings take place through the agency of 
 men, or of personal, finite humanity. This was the case when 
 the Lord as the Word, that is to say, as living Truth, was 
 clothed in human language, and was thus finited or formulated 
 down into verbal truth ; and it was the case when the Word 
 was, for another purpose, or in other conditions of humanity, 
 '■'• made flesh,'' or was clothed with a finite, personal humanity. 
 
 * The rest of this chapter is an extract from the author's published lec- 
 ture on this subject.
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT 167 
 
 7. The Word unveiled. 
 
 Now, tliese extraordinary comings, let us remember, have 
 been as the Word clothed or veiled, and because of the extraor- 
 dinary condition of mankind. But since about the middle 
 of the last century, mankind, it is plain to the student of his- 
 tory, have been coming into a different condition, and one in 
 which a diiferent coming or manifestation of the Lord has 
 been taking place. This coming is, in its real nature, an 
 opening or unveiling of the Word. 
 
 The first stejy of this unveiling, it is plain, on a little reflec- 
 tion, must have been in the form of an explanation. For 
 mankind had lost all knowledge of the Word above the mere 
 natural or literal meaning. They did not know that Sacred 
 Scripture was ^the Word veiled, concealed from view, like the 
 sun above the clouds, and so veiled in accommodation to man's 
 state of diseased spiritual vision. They had lost the language 
 in which it was written. They were reading even symbol and 
 allegory as literal truth. The " serjjent^' that tempted and over- 
 came the woman was to them a real animal ; " Noah's flood,'^ 
 a flood of material waters ; the " whale' that swallowed Jonah, 
 a bona fide fish ; the " devil" that took Christ upon a " pin- 
 nacle of the temple," and " upon an exceeding high moun- 
 tain," a real personal devil, and the like. But a part of man- 
 kind were coming into a state of rational manhood thought, 
 and thus to see, though dimly at first, that all this and more 
 was irrational. And this was the case with the best of men 
 then living. And they " mourned" over their condition. 
 These were what are called, in Matthew, the " tribes of the 
 earth." They had had great reverence for their Scriptures as 
 the Word of God. But now, from the very fact of their 
 somewhat advanced, more rational condition, they were losing 
 confidence in them. In fact, the Lord, as in the dim, early 
 dawn, was coming to them in the form of a clearer and more 
 rational perception of truth, even though not of a high order.
 
 1G8 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 How plain it is that what was most especially needed in that 
 peculiar condition of mankind was an explanation of Sacred 
 Scripture as being only the " garment," or only the formulated 
 statement of truth ; whilst the real Truth was veiled within 
 such garment or statement as the sunlight behind the clouds ! 
 The men of that age were in the darkness as of midnight, 
 and of a midnight without even stars to mitigate the dark- 
 ness. And this means that they were destitute not only of 
 truth, but of even a knowledge of truth. For, as the sun is a 
 symbol of love and the moon of truth, so the stars are sym- 
 bols of knowledge. And not only was the 'sun " darkened" 
 and the moon had " failed to give her light," but the stars 
 even " had fallen." And this means that, in that dark, wicked 
 age of the Church, there was not only no love or charity, and 
 hence no perception of truth among men, but that there was 
 no knowledge even of truth or of spiritual principles. 
 
 8. Knowledge First Needed. 
 How plain, let me repeat, that what was needed by those 
 who were in a state to somewhat realize their condition and 
 to make an effort to rise out it, was knowledge ! For as love 
 or charity is the first thing to perish in a degenerating people, 
 and truth or a perception of truth next and as a consequence, 
 and a knowledge of truth last, so in a regenerating people, in 
 the beginning, a knowledge of truth is the first thing needed, 
 and it is the first thing also that can he restored. Spiritually 
 blind men can he instructed in the way before it is possible 
 for them to see the way, or whilst real truth would be even 
 darkness rather than light to them. And how beautifully 
 significant the fiict that truth, or a perception of truth, can- 
 not exist without love, as a sun, to shine down, as it were, 
 upon the earth of the mind ; just as the moon, as a luminary, 
 cannot exist without the sun ; whilst knowledges of truth may 
 be intellectually acquired before a man is in a state to per- 
 ceive truth, and may be acquired independently of that state ;
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 1G9 
 
 just as tlie stars can shine independently of the hxrger lumi- 
 naries ! 
 
 9. Kind of Knoirhilgc. 
 
 If knowledge, then, was what those people needed who, in 
 that " midnight of the ages," were " looking for the morning," 
 the question is, what kind of knowledge ? Avhat kind, that 
 men had not already received and perverted? what kind, I 
 mean, did the then coming., rationally thinking man need? 
 We know something of his genius and character. I am 
 speaking of the religious man, and religious, not in any limited 
 ecclesiastical sense. I am speaking of the man who wants to 
 understand himself, and understand his relation to others and 
 to his God, or the great Father and sustainer of his being. I 
 am speaking of the man who has a sort of vague intuition 
 that human beings do not belong to time and space alone, but 
 that they live right on and forever, after leaving this world ; 
 of the man who has great reverence for the Bible, — perhaps 
 a more or less superstitious regard for it, — as containing, with 
 much valuable instruction and some evidences of its Divine 
 origin, more that is mystical and incomprehensible, and also 
 some, as interpreted ex cathedra, that is most repulsive to his 
 reason. In a word, I am speaking of the rationally thinking- 
 man who is seeking for truth, and not scientific truth alone, 
 but spiritual truth as well. What kind of knowledge above 
 all other kinds docs such a man want and need ? Is it not 
 plain that it is the scientific and rational opening of that casket 
 which has been so long held and valued, but valued, not as a 
 casket, but as itself constituting a most precious treasure, and 
 without knowing anything of the priceless jewels within, — with- 
 out, perhaps, even suspecting that such jewels were there? 
 Is it not plain that an explanation of the Bible, an explanation 
 of it from a knowledge of the language in which it was 
 written, would give the kind of knowledge which humanity 
 was then, by little and little, coming into a state to understand 
 and be benefited by ?
 
 170 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 10. The Man Needed as an Instrument. 
 
 Now is it not plain that such explanation, such opening or 
 unveiling of the Word, was, so far, a new coming of the Lord, 
 but coming or manifestation, like all the preceding comings, as 
 the Word? And is it not plain that such coming, or the 
 coming in that limited, external sense as an explanation of 
 the Word, must take place through the instrumentality of a 
 7?ia?i, as had been the case with all the preceding ones ? 
 
 Bat who in that dark age could make that explanation? 
 Certainly no other than he who had experienced that coming 
 in his own person ; certainly no other than he who had ac- 
 quired the requisite knowledge, and was, at the same time, 
 recipient of the light. And such, in that age, would be a 
 most exti-aordinary man. Well, every new and great develop- 
 ment in human affairs has been inaugurated by some extraor- 
 dinary man, by some one far in advance of his age. And so 
 it was in this case. 
 
 11. Style of Sacred Scripture. 
 
 To explain the Word, it was necessary, first, to understand 
 the principles according to which it was written. And what 
 were these principles? The Word as Sacred Scripture was 
 written in a Divine style. It was the Divine thought, rather, 
 the Divine Truth, Divine Light evolved. Sacred Scripture is 
 the lowest verbal form of the Word, just as nature is the 
 lowest material form. There must, therefore, be a like rela- 
 tion existing between Sacred Scripture and the Word, as be- 
 tween nature and the Word. And to understand the former 
 relation we need to understand the latter. The relation be- 
 tween nature and the Word is that of cause and effect. Hence 
 there is a correspondence of nature to the Word, — or to the 
 Lord as the Word, — as of an effect to its cause. Sacred 
 Scripture, being virtually written by the Lord, was written 
 according to .the principles of such correspondence. It could
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 171 
 
 not have been otherwise. For the Word must descend into 
 ultimates, — and whether in the form of verbal teachings or 
 material objects, — according to its own laws or the principles 
 of its own nature, just as is the case with the potential germ 
 of the seed in becoming a developed plant or tree. 
 
 12. Science of Correspondences. 
 
 Men once were in intuitive perception of these principles ; 
 they intuitively saw the relation of natural things as effects to 
 spiritual principles' as causes. And though, by degeneration, 
 they, at length, became incapable of such perception, they still 
 for a long time retained a knowledge of such relation, under 
 the form of what was called the " Science of Correspond- 
 ences ;" but which Science, as mankind became more corrupt, 
 was at length lost ; and the world has been ignorant of it ever 
 since, and, as a consequence, ignorant of the true interpreta- 
 tion of Sacred Scripture. Now, therefore, to be able to ex- 
 plain truly Sacred Scripture, a knowledge of this " lost 
 Science" vras indispensable. Who could acquire such knowl- 
 edge? Who but he whose natural tastes would lead him to 
 an investigation of the laws of God in nature ? Who but the 
 devout scientist and philosopher ? And he even could " know 
 only in part." He even, however learned in all that belongs 
 to nature, could see only the material body, as it were, of those 
 grand principles of correspondence, which, like ^Jacob's ladder, 
 rest on the earth, but whose upper part is lost in the clouds. 
 To see the " angels ascending and descending," it was neces- 
 sary to have the vision opened so as to see the upper part. 
 To see the soul in the body and thus the relation of the two to 
 each other, it was necessary to have the spiritual, as well as 
 the scientific and philosophical vision quickened. And this 
 implies a high state of regeneration. There is no other law 
 by which a man can come into a state of spiritual illumina- 
 tion, and thus of " internal inspiration" or " revelation from 
 perception," than by regeneration. It is only when a man
 
 172 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 has arrived at that high state that he can see both ends of the 
 hidder, both ends — the soul and the body — of those grand 
 principles of correspondence by which the Word was written ; 
 so that the thoughts, Hke the angels on the ladder, could as- 
 cend and descend and thus explore the causes as well as their 
 effects. It is only as a man is in the very light itself of the 
 Word as " living truth," that he can really understand and ex- 
 plain the Word in its form of verbal truth or Sacred Scripture. 
 And to be in such light, is virtually to be " instructed by the 
 Lord," is, in fact, to have the Lord practically dwelling in you 
 as the very life of your life and light of your light. 
 
 13. The Expounder. 
 
 It was such a man, a man thus qualified, thus highly re- 
 generated, that was required to " open the Word," and to do 
 so by rediscovering and restoring the long lost key to its in- 
 terpretation. Swedenborg, as we have seen, rose to that high 
 state. 
 
 He had a thirst, a taste, and a capacity for those very 
 kinds of knowledge without which he would have lacked the 
 basis on which the science of correspondences rests. He was 
 equally a searcher for the laws of God in Sacred Scripture as 
 in nature. And he was not only a searcher but a doer. It 
 was to the fact that he was a doer that he was indebted for 
 his high state of regeneration and consequent illumination, 
 without which he would have been like other scientific men, 
 in the light, not of causes, but of effects only. In mere 
 scientific light he never could have discovered the relation of 
 natural effects, or the things of nature, to spiritual causes, and 
 he never could have received the spiritual light, the instruction 
 or illumination from the Lord, — from the Lord as the Word, — 
 while he was reading its letter, to enable him to understand 
 and explain that relation. He must not only have the facts 
 in nature, but the light to shine on them, before he could see 
 their spiritual significance. And though regeneration would
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 173 
 
 have given liim tlie light, yet without the scientific facts, with- 
 out a knoAvledgc of the natural principles, the light would 
 have been like that of the sun on deserts of rocks and sands. 
 The angels could not aid him, for, though regenerated men, 
 and therefore in the very light itself of the Word, they were 
 without the ultimate principles. The Lord only could in- 
 struct him, but the Lord, let it be distinctly understood, as the 
 Word^ thus as the influx of living, Divine light. Swedenborg 
 had laid up in the grand store-house of his own memory, as 
 the result of his own vast labor and experiences, all the knowl- 
 edges requisite, when illuminated by the Word as spirit and 
 life, to enable him to fulfil his mission as expounder of the 
 internal sense of Sacred Scripture. It is plain that he needed, 
 and could receive, aid from no other source than the Lord 
 alone, but the Lord as the all-illuminating, living Truth itself 
 He stood alone, therefore, with the Lord, as His chosen servant 
 for a certain mission, just as the angels do, just as all regen- 
 erated men do, and each as the Lord's chosen servant for a 
 specific work. He wrote as the Lord dictated to him, but 
 dictated, not in words, not in formulated principles, but in 
 "revelation from perception." The Lord gave him simply 
 illuminating Truth ; he by his own rational faculties, as thus 
 illuminated, finited that truth, as it were, into verbal expres- 
 sions, into specific doctrines or teachings, according to his own 
 wonderfully developed understanding. It is plain that the 
 influx from the Divine into his mind must have been most 
 powerful, but thus powerful, because his mind had become so 
 open and receptive, and because his regenerated will had be- 
 come so perfectly subordinate to the Divine will, — as is the 
 case with all regenerated men and angels ; and it is plain 
 that his rational faculties must have been correspondingly 
 quickened and strengthened ; so that he wrote in no sense 
 or manner whatever, as a passive instrument or tool in the 
 hands of the Lord. And let me repeat here, and with, if 
 possible, greater emphasis, what has been said before.
 
 174 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 Swedenborg was never more himself, and never was what he 
 wrote more his own, at the same time that it was so purely 
 the Lord's, than when thus so completely the Lord's servant. 
 His faculties were never in so intense activity, and he was 
 never so completely in possession of them as his own, as 
 when receiving most purely and powerfully the Divine influx ; 
 and the measure of his manhood was never so great, and never 
 so distinctively his own. For it must be always true, that the 
 more of the Lord there is in a man, the more fully and per- 
 fectly he is a man, and is himself. 
 
 14. What Makes Man Man. 
 
 It is the Divine that malces man man; for the Divine' is 
 itself man in his highest essence and cause. The more purely 
 and fully, and thus powerfully present the Divine is in man, 
 therefore, the more fully and perfectly he is a man. Man is, 
 therefore, no true servant of the Lord, but in proportion as he 
 is fully and intensely a man ; and this means, but in proportion 
 as he acts in freedom and according to his own, not another's, 
 not the Lord's, rationality. 
 
 15. Ills oivn Writings. 
 
 Swedenborg's writings, then, are his own writings, and in 
 the fullest conceivable sense of the phrase his own. They are 
 so fully his own, because he was so completely a servant of the 
 Lord. If they are not his own, then he was nothing but an 
 instrument ; he was not a servant. My pen is only an instru- 
 ment of my thoughts, not their servant. There is an infinite 
 difference between an instrument and a servant. What Sweden- 
 borg received from the Lord was Divine, was the Lord Him- 
 self as the Word, as the living truth ; but the formulation of 
 that truth into finite principles, and the expression of those 
 principles in language, was purely the work of the freest and 
 intcnsest action of his own rational Acuities ; the Lord had 
 nothing to do with such formulation and expression, further
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 1*75 
 
 than to fill him as a man, — just as He fills all men, each ex- 
 actly according to his measure, — and to thus give him power 
 to act as a man. It is because Swedcnborg was in a condition 
 to act so completely from the Lord, that what he did was so 
 completely his own. For regeneration, thus a more pure and 
 more perfect reception of the Divine, does not make a man 
 less, but more himself, more a man in the image and likeness 
 of God, and thus more perfectly a servant of God. And 
 herein lies the wonderful adaptation of these Writings to 
 the man of this new age; it is in the fact that they are the 
 Writings of a man, a man of the age, a man so completely a 
 man, and thus so perfectly a servant of the Lord. 
 
 Such was the man, and such are the Writings of the man ; 
 what is their relation to that extraordinary advent or manifes- 
 tation of the Lord which is now taking place ? 
 
 Such advent actually took place in Swedenborg. The Lord 
 came in great power and glory to him, — rather in him, — but 
 the great power and glory of Himself as the Word, thus of 
 Himself as the living Truth, living Light. He so came or so 
 manifested Himself, because Swedenborg's mind was in such a 
 condition that He could so come. And as He came to Sweden- 
 borg, precisely so has He since been coming, and is He going 
 to continue to come, to all men, but to each in power and glory 
 according to his condition and measure. We may regard 
 Swedenborg as van-courier and exemplar of His coming, as in 
 a sense inaugurating and visibly ushering in the new age. 
 We may regard him as actually receiving the Lord, the Lord 
 as the Word and as the Word in its " spirit and life," as, in- 
 deed, the " Spirit of Truth," into his own mind, and then, by 
 his writings, preparing the way, or showing the way, by which 
 others could receive Him. He did this hy his writings. Thus, 
 in a certain external sense his writings are the Advent of the 
 Lord ; they are so, in so far as they open or unveil Him as 
 the Word to our understanding, — in so far as they show by 
 explanation the internal sense of the Word, or its real nature
 
 176 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 as spirit and life, or as the Lord Himself. In this showing we 
 intellectually see a higher manifestation, a more interior coming 
 of the Lord than man ever saw before. But it is plain that 
 no human language, no verbal statement or explanation about 
 the Lord, can bring Him to us in His " great power and 
 glory." This, from the very nature of the case, must be an 
 internal, personal experience, and of each individual, and only 
 as he puts away his sins and thus renders his mind consciously 
 receptive of the Lord; and in His coming, not "with observa- 
 tion," not with any outward show, but as the very " Spirit of 
 Truth." For this, namely, the " Spirit of Truth," was to 
 be, according to His promise, that " other Comforter," that 
 next coming or manifestation of the Lord. 
 
 16. Why and When the Lord Comes. 
 
 If now we understand the real nature of the Lord as the 
 very living Word itself, that is to say, as the very " Spirit of 
 Truth" itself, in His Second Coming, if we also understand 
 the relation of man, and especially of the one man, Sweden- 
 borg, to that coming, we are prepared to see and see clearly 
 why He did not come before, and why He came so soon. For 
 all of the Lord's comings, as we have seen, have been simply 
 manifestations of Himself, and have been owing, not at all to 
 any change in Him, — any change in what He was or did, — 
 but entirely to change in recipient humanity. The state of 
 humanity has always been the occasion, and also the measure 
 of His comings. 
 
 17. Humanity in the Middle of the Last Century. 
 
 Humanity was in a terrible condition about the middle of 
 the last century, — especially the ecclesiastical part of it. It 
 was the midnight of the church. Why a midnight? why is 
 there a midnight of the day ? is it because the sun has turned 
 from the earth, or the earth from the sun ? And why does 
 not the mornitiG; come sooner? is it because the sun tarries?
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 177 
 
 is it not rather because the liemispliere lingers in its own 
 shadow ? And does the Lord turn away from mankind ? 
 Never ! How could He do it ? He is to the world of mind 
 what the sun is to the world of matter. And can the sun 
 turn itself away from earth ? Can it even hide itself from 
 earth ? can it withhold, for an instant, anything it has to give ? 
 is it not, on the contrary, from its very nature, eternally shining 
 and in the fulness of its glory? It is man that turns him- 
 self from the Lord. But for mind or spirit to turn, is for 
 state to change. For Grod is not in space tvifhont you, but is 
 within you. And you turn from Him, -when you pervert the 
 good and truth which you receive from Him, that is to say, 
 when you live a selfish and evil life. While you are living 
 this kind of life, you are like the earth at night turned from 
 the sun. The appearance is, that the Lord has left i/ou ; but, 
 on the contrary, j/ow have left Him. Do you not see, then, 
 why the Lord delays His coming to you ? Do you not see that 
 your own state makes it impossible for Him to come? Do 
 you not see that He can never come but as you change, but as 
 you cease to do evil and learn to do good ; precisely as the 
 sun cannot come to earth, but as the earth changes, but as it 
 turns itself round to the sun. How plain, then, the reason 
 why the Lord did not come sooner ! Man was perverting and 
 profaning the Word as formulated, verbal truth : how could he 
 receive Him, then, as the " Spirit of Truth ?" The wonder is, 
 when we come to understand the real nature of the case, not 
 why the Lord did not come sooner, but why He came so soon, 
 — why He came or could come, at all, in that dark age. 
 
 18. Why the Lord Came When He Did. 
 
 Why, then, did the Lord come so soon ? Because it was 
 the " fulness of time," that is, of state ; because there was a 
 crisis in the condition of humanity, and a consequent change. 
 Every disease has its crisis. And this was the condition of 
 humanity, — it was diseased. And the disease had come to its 
 
 9
 
 178 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 crisis or consummation ; it had spent its force, had done its 
 worst. " Prodigal" humanity had gone to its extremest en- 
 durance, even to filling itself " with the husks that the swine 
 did eat." The disease must now prove fatal, unless its terrible 
 severity should bring into action some rallying energies which 
 had, as it were, been lying dormant. " And at midnight there 
 was a cry made : Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out 
 to meet him." It was midnight ; like the sun at that crisis of 
 the night, the Lord was farthest away ; humanity was in the 
 blackest state of spiritual darkness ; its evil lusts, like the task- 
 masters of Egypt, had become very exacting, and very oppres- 
 sive in their burdens. But all men were not alike. The very 
 extremes of suffering had, in some cases, brought out and 
 brought into action redeeming qualities. Tliey had lamps, 
 and also had some oil in their vessels with their lamps. They 
 were " looking for the morning." There was in them the 
 " tender branch of the fig-tree putting forth leaves," sweet 
 tokens of coming summer. All in that wicked age were not 
 huried in the darkness of the dark valley ; some were groping 
 for the acclivity of the mountain, where they could hegin to 
 climb up towards the bright sunshine at the top. Such per- 
 sons were in a state to see their sad condition and mourn over 
 it. They saw their destitution ; they were conscious that their 
 riotous living had brought them into that state ; they knew 
 they were feeding on husks, and yearned for better, spiritual 
 food. They longed for the day, and were in effort to put 
 away their sins, that the day might come. They reverenced 
 and obeyed the Word as natural, or verbal truth, and were 
 thus coming into a state to see and love the Word as the 
 Spirit of Truth. And, so far, this was a second coming of the 
 Lord to them. These and such persons were, as it were, on 
 the mountain-tops of humanity, to receive first the tokens of 
 coming day. The Lord came to them, though in the dim 
 distance, because He could come, or rather came so soon, be- 
 cause they were in a state to receive Him ; just as the sun
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. I79 
 
 comes so soon or comes first to the natural mountain-tops be- 
 cause they can first receive him. The Lord could not help 
 coming in that midnight of" universal humanity, any more than 
 the sun can help ascending towards the morning when it has 
 passed the nadir ; any more than the ripened bud can help 
 opening into a leaf or flower when it feels the warmth of spring. 
 The Lord would have come centuries sooner as the Spirit of 
 Truth, as the Word unveiled, instead of as the Word veiled, 
 if humanity had only furnished the conditions which alone 
 could have rendered it possible for II im to so come. 
 
 19. Residts of Second Advent. 
 
 But the results of this Second Coming, this coming as the 
 Spirit of Truth, as living light in the mind, — what are they? 
 We can measure them best by contrast. The Lord's prior 
 comings, — comings as the living truth formulated into verbal 
 truth, or Sacred Scripture, — were followed by comparatively 
 external results, a change in the object and external forms of 
 worship, and, to some extent, a change in external life. His 
 coming as the Word " made flcsli,^'' released man from bond- 
 age, so that he could return to obedience to the commandments 
 as laws of life. This coming also told him that his real foes 
 were not without, were not other nations and other people, 
 but within his own being, the household of his own mind. 
 The coming noiv taking place as the Spirit of Truth, as the 
 living light actually flowing into the mind and illuminating it, 
 is to him as the restoration of sight to the blind ; it enables 
 him to see what was before only described to him in words. 
 And this is a wonderful difference ; it is as the difference be- 
 tween brightly shining light revealing to your eye the whole 
 landscape, in all the symmetry and beauty of form and color, 
 and having that landscape described to you ; it is really the 
 difference between a mind actually illuminated from within, 
 and a mind only verbally instructed from without. The Spirit 
 of Truth, the Word unveiled, comes into the mind through an
 
 ISO SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 " inner door," and as living light ; this is the door at which Christ 
 as the Word stands and knocks ; and for us to open which is 
 to put away our sins, and thus remove the darkness which 
 prevents His coming in unto us. The Word as Sacred Scrip- 
 ture comes to us through an outer door, but not as light, but 
 as verbal precepts about light and about life. A man with 
 the Word as the Spirit of Truth shining in his mind, is in 
 intuitive perception, thus in " internal inspiration." And the 
 results of such perception are marvellous. We see them, at 
 the present time, or in the present phase of developing 
 humanity, in every department of human thought. It is this 
 that makes this age different from all other ages. Sweden- 
 borg, as shown by his life and his works, was a most wonder- 
 ful exemplar of this kind of coming of the Lord. 
 
 Of course, the Lord as the Spirit of Truth, or living light 
 itself, manifests Himself differently in different degrees of the 
 mind, or in the different states or stages of regeneration, and 
 in different kinds and forms of mind. Results of such influx 
 of light are as varied as the minds themselves are which are 
 recipients of the light ; and such variety is infinite. It is just 
 as it is in nature. The sunlight flowing into one plant, into 
 one flower, leaf or bud, manifests itself differently from what 
 it does while flowing into another. And so it is also in the 
 different stages of forming and ripening fruit. There is such 
 infinite variety in nature, not because there is any difference 
 in the inflowing life, but entirely because of the difference 
 of recipiency of such life. Just so it is in mind or spirit. 
 The manifested results of the Lord's coming must necessarily 
 always be according to the tastes, and capacities, and char- 
 acter, and occupation of the man. They must be of one kind 
 with the inventor ; of another with the scientist ; of another 
 with the artist ; of another with the novelist, the poet, the 
 statesman, the theologian, and so on. It is from the light 
 flowing into the mind as the Spirit of Truth, that we have in 
 this age such wonder%l developments in machinery, in litera-
 
 THE BOOKS AND THE ADVENT. 181 
 
 ture, in science and philosophy, in all the fine arts, as well as 
 in religion, — in all the appliances and conditions and circum- 
 stances of human life, in fact. The sewing-machine, the rail- 
 road, the telegraph, the telephone, the steam-engine, and the 
 rest, with all their wonderful mechanisms and capabilities, 
 could not possibly have been the result of any other coming of 
 the Lord than as the Spirit of Truth. This kind of coming 
 warms all the faculties of the mind into life and energy. It 
 quickens and sharpens and intensifies the perceptions. It is 
 as the summer's sun to the fields and meadows ; it changes 
 what was before cold, dead and barren, into blooming life and 
 beauty. The mind at length becomes a paradise, and the 
 world without, a glorious living outcome and thus representa- 
 tive image of the world within. All nature, and even the 
 commonest aifairs of life, even the humblest duties, become, 
 though in a sense unchanged, transformed and transfigured and 
 all aglow with living beauty. The Son of Man, — God as the 
 living Light, — is seen " coming in the clouds of heaven," and 
 not only so, not only in the letter of Sacred Scripture, but 
 in every natural object also. In the fulness of this coming, 
 everything will be seen to be alive with His presence, as the 
 lovely human face is seen to be alive with the intelligent, 
 loving spirit behind or within the face. For all that is, will 
 then be seen to be, as it were, and as it really is, the mani- 
 fested face of the Divine. God will not then be " afar oiF," but 
 always " at hand," and always speaking to us, always giving us 
 lessons of love and wisdom, and from all that is within us and 
 from all that is around us. All things will be transparent of 
 Him, as the all-pervading, loving Spirit of Truth. As with 
 Moses when he came to the "mountain of God, to Horeb," 
 so with loving, rational, regenerated humanity of this New 
 Jerusalem age, as it rises to its spiritual mountain state; not 
 only the "bush will burn with fire," but every tree, every 
 plant, every hill and mountain and valley, every landscape, 
 every flowing stream, every rain-drop, every pebble even, " will
 
 182 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 burn" with the presence of God, with the presence of God 
 as the very Spirit of Truth, will glow with living fire, and 
 yet will not be "consumed." And all this will be, not from 
 any transfiguration without, but from a transfiguration within ; 
 not from a coming of the Lord with " observation," with a " lo, 
 here," or " lo, there," but from a coming of the Lord " within 
 
 you."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHRIST AND SWEDENBORG* 
 
 1. What Christ is to Man. 
 
 Christ says, " Be not ye called Rabbi ; for one is your 
 Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." 
 
 Christ our Master or Teacher ! What is really meant by 
 this? Who and what is Christ? What is really His relation 
 to us? What does He do for us, and how does He do it? 
 The thinking man wants answers to these questions, and he 
 must have answers, or be of those who are accounted as unbe- 
 lievers. 
 
 We have many things to unlearn before we can truly learn 
 who or what Christ was and is. He is infinitely more than 
 the loving and self-sacrificing being whom we see, in our im- 
 aginations, as living on this earth a few centuries ago ; a being 
 with finite and measured shape and outline. That, as then 
 conceived of, was the Christ for that dark age, for men too 
 carnal-minded to conceive of Him or have Him revealed to 
 them in His higher, true character. That was the Christ whom 
 men have learned to love, because lie loved them ; just as "sin- 
 ners love those who love them." He was their Rabbi because 
 He personally taught them and cared for them. In this, and 
 by His pure and loving life, thus by His example, He was a 
 " bright and shining Light." Since that dark age, He ha.s been 
 loved and adored for what He then did for men, and because, 
 
 '^' This chapter is from the author's printed discourse. 
 
 18a
 
 184 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 as a result of what He*did, He gave theru hope of a happy 
 hereafter, because He was their Savior. 
 
 All this is well, until men rise out of this low, selfish, mere 
 carnal-minded state. Such men have found their Christ 
 " r('sew." He now comes to them, as He promised that He 
 would do, as the " Spirit op Truth." And such men now 
 understand what is meant by Christ AS the Word, and how 
 it was the Word which was, " in the beginning, with God, and 
 was God, and made all things," that was " made flesh." To 
 such men Christ is now all lovable and adorable, not because 
 He has loved and saved them, but because He is, in Himself, 
 in His own real nature, lovable and adorable. 
 
 But how is this ? We shall know how it is when we come 
 to know what is really meant by the Word, and thus by Christ 
 as the Word. The Word is, in its real nature. Life and 
 Light ; " in Him [the Word] was Life and the Life was the 
 Light of men." How full of meaning ! and how unmistakable 
 the meaning ! The Word, or — which is the same — God, as 
 " Li/e,^' creates. And is not this so? does anything, so far as 
 we can see, come into being but from the operation of life, — 
 the plant, the animal, men? The Word as Light shows the 
 way of life. how wonderful ! Is not Christ, the Word, 
 then, in Himself, and for what He is in Himself, lovable and 
 adorable ? 
 
 And now how plain what is meant by Christ — the Word — 
 as " Master''' or Teacher. He is the "Light," and this means 
 that He is the living Truth, — not verbal truth, but truth 
 that internally ^£»t<;s, as it were, into the mind, shines in it and 
 illuminates it. 
 
 Such is Christ as Rabbi, or Master, in the present — which is 
 the New Jerusalem — age of the world. He is the Christ in 
 His now second coming, not personally, but as the " Spirit 
 of Truth," and coming, therefore, not outside, but within the 
 mind itself of men.
 
 CHRIST AND SWEDENBQRO. 185 
 
 2. The Man of the Neio Jerusalem, 
 
 There is a great difference between the character of the 
 coming, or New Jerusalem phase of developing humanity, and 
 that of all preceding ages. This difference is as that between 
 ripening manhood and the preceding stages of infancy, child- 
 hood, and youth. And we meet with practical illustrations 
 of this difference every day, especially among religionists, some 
 of whom are perfectly satisfied with what is taught ; they have 
 unbounded respect for the " Fathers," in other words, for the 
 " authorities." They regard themselves as all right if they 
 think and believe as the Fathers thought and believed, — and no 
 matter if the Fathers did live and form their opinions and 
 creeds in a less mature and a darker age of human intellect. 
 And there are some possessing these traits of character, even 
 among professed believers in the doctrines of the New Church. 
 Such persons refer everything to Swedenborg. The first ques- 
 tion with them is not, is it true ? does it look reasonable ? but, 
 what does Swedenborg say on the subject ? is it in accordance 
 with his teachings ? If so, this settles it ; they do not need 
 to think any more about it ; their minds are at rest ; they are 
 perfectly satisfied. But you talk with them about it, and you 
 will see that they have really got nothing, nothing that has en- 
 tered into the real fibre of their own mind. Nothing that they 
 have is theirs ; it is but borrowed material which they have 
 taken only within the walls of their external memory. They 
 can, perhaps, tell you all that Swedenborg says on the subject, 
 and they are proud of their knowledge, though'such men have 
 very little that is their own. They have a plenty of words, a 
 plenty of borrowed thoughts, but little or no real light. Their 
 intellectual stores are as borrowed grain in the sack, and not as 
 bread digested, appropriated, and entering into the very sub- 
 stance of the tissues. Such men lack the most essential ele- 
 ments of the real New Jerusalem. They simply knoio ; they 
 do not possess, do not own. They are mere Swedenborgians, 
 
 9*
 
 186 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 as others are Calvinists, Lutherans, or Wesleyans. They 
 differ from these mainly in having a different Rabbi. They 
 may be good and true men, but not men of real manhood. 
 They are the last lingering remnants of an age -that is passing 
 away. They are not, in the real fibre of their nature, of the 
 real New Jerusalem. 
 
 With another class of men the case is entirely different. 
 They are men of the New Age. They possess its genius and 
 imbibe its spirit. They love its manhood character. They 
 have more respect for an infidel who is a MAN, than for a blind 
 believer who is not a man. No mere authority, but the one 
 only Master, is authority for them. Everything must be 
 brought to the test and approval of their own thought before 
 they can believe it. That another has thought it out and be- 
 lieved, is no satisfying element or condition of faith for them. 
 Their belief must have its basis within their own minds. 
 
 Such is the character of the men of the real New Jerusalem. 
 And such men must, of necessity, remain irreligious and un- 
 believing, until they can see something more rational than the 
 religious systems of the past, and until the Sacred Scriptures 
 are so explained as to be relieved of so much that, in the letter, 
 is an offence to the sensibilities of a pure, loving heart, and 
 that does such violence to the unsophisticated intuitions of 
 reason and common sense. Such men can never believe that 
 the Sacred Scriptures are of Divine Origin, until they are sat- 
 isfied that they are capable of a very different explanation from 
 what has been given them by the " Fathers." For men of this 
 character believe only as they themselves see. They take 
 nothing requiring intellectual thought on mere authority. 
 They belong to an age whose blindly trusting childhood and 
 easily misguided youthhood are passing away ; an age in 
 which humanity is fast advancing into its rational, Godlike 
 manhood. And this is a humanity which must, /oy itself, ex- 
 amine and weigh and judge.
 
 CHRIST AND SWEDENBORG. 187 
 
 3. Light of Experience. 
 
 And is not this the genius of the present and coming age of 
 the world? And do we not see this manifesting itself in every 
 department of human thought? The dust-covered tomes of 
 olden time are now taken from their alcoves, not, as formerly, 
 as authority^ but as gratulatory evidence, by contrast, of mod- 
 ern progress, or to test the degree of present advancement. 
 The number of those is now rapidly increasing, who resort, not 
 alone to books, not to authoritative teachers, but to free ra- 
 tional thought, or to the revelations that are made to such 
 thought for instruction. For the true light comes, not through 
 books, or teachers, or Rabbis, or fathers ; but it comes as the 
 result of the exercise of free, rational, regenerated manhood 
 thought. And, inasmuch as this thought is excited by love, 
 or is, as it were, love itself thinking, the light is brighter and 
 brighter as the love is purer, thus as the mind becomes more 
 perfectly regenerated. 
 
 And this kind of mind is becoming more and more charac- 
 teristic of the age in which we live. If you now ask him 
 whose mind partakes of the real genius of this age, whether 
 certain new doctrines are correct, he will not go to some Rabbi, 
 some favorite authority ; he will not first consult some author- 
 ity, as Calvin, or Doddridge, or Wesley, or Swedenborg ; on 
 the contrary, he will first take the question into the crucible of 
 his own thought ; he will first open the windows of his own 
 mind towards heaven ; he will do this by that kind of inquiry 
 which alone can render his mind receptive of the light of 
 heaven. If a man looks to others for truth, he gets only 
 verbal truth ; if he looks within — Christ is within — he gets 
 living truth, that truth which illuminates the mind, and thus 
 gives it keener perceptions and a truer understanding. If 
 such a person goes to authorities, it is to those whose opinions 
 and teachings he has found to be in harmony with both reason 
 and revelation, and who have drunk from the stream, perhaps,
 
 188 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 higher up towards its Divine fountain, or who have received 
 light into more highly regenerated minds than his own. And 
 he goes to them, not as " masters," but as " brethren ;" not as 
 to one who himself, like Christ, gives light, but who, like him- 
 self, receives light, and from the same Divine Source whence 
 all receive it. 
 
 4. Oracles. 
 
 And this is the use of " brethren," of an oracle, or of one 
 who speaks with more or less of authority because from the light, 
 and thus with the authority, of his use or calling. Yet do not 
 mistake him for your master ; he does not give you the truth 
 which you receive ; he has none to give you ; he is only a re- 
 cipient, like yourself, though he receives, it may be, into a purer 
 vessel and in larger measure, and you therefore regard him an 
 elder brother. 
 
 And such is Swedenborg to those who, like him, are of the 
 real New Jerusalem. He is an elder brother. Moreover, he 
 speaks from the light of a peculiar use or office. We regard his 
 writings as true and as of the very highest of finite authority. 
 And yet they are not our Master. They are, at most, only 
 true verhal statements of truth. The Lord as the Word^ thus 
 as the truth, is the only Light, the only " true Light that 
 lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The Lord as 
 such " true light" — and light actually shining in the mind — is 
 the only acknowledged Master of the real man of the New 
 Jerusalem. Swedenborg's writings are only explanations of 
 truth. No mere verbal forms of truth, however much cause 
 we may have for confidence in them, can be acknowledged as 
 master by the real Godlike man of this and the coming age. 
 Such writings give no real light to the mind. They only show 
 the way to the Light. The Sacred Scriptures even, in the 
 letter^ or as mere verbal statements of truth, do not give any 
 real living light ; they are the basis and continent, and thus 
 tempering mediums of the Light, as the clouds are of the sun- 
 light. And thought, grounded in love, is the only vessel into
 
 CHRIST AND SWEDENBORG. 189 
 
 which the true light, or Christ, the Word, as the true light, 
 can flow. When you read Sacred Scripture, you get from the 
 letter only verbal j^rcccpts of life ; you do not get from the 
 letter Uving truth; but if you read devoutly, with your 
 thoughts grounded in love and charity, living truth as living 
 light flows into the mind ; your mind receives the very " spirit 
 of truth," or the very "spirit and life" of the Word, of which 
 the letter is only the outer garment. The light thus received 
 — and which is Christ your master — manifests itself in the 
 mind, in truer thoughts, keener perceptions, brighter intuitions, 
 and clearer convictions. You get an influx of no such light 
 from any other writings. The truth of all other writings is 
 measured out to you simply by what they say. You may be 
 informed^ but not enlightened^ by them. It is only Christ in 
 His second coming as the " spirit of truth" that can really 
 enlighten the mind. Swedenborg's writings are, at best, only 
 verbal truth. They have nothing in them above the letter, as 
 the Sacred Scriptures have. They are in no sense, then, our 
 Master. Our Master is truth as unshaded light shining in the 
 mind, and truth as loe see it, not as somebody else sees it and 
 tells us about it. Swedenborg — as every truly regenerated man 
 does — saw by Christ as the very spirit of truth ; but he did not 
 give us that spirit of truth ; he did not write it ; he could no 
 more write that kind of truth than you can write the sunlight. 
 He only described it. Thus we see the infinite difference be- 
 tween his writings, or any other mere verbal statements of truth, 
 and Christ, or truth in its Divine or spiritual form as our Master. 
 Who or what, then, is Swedenborg ? What is the particular 
 office and use of his writings ? I answer, Swedenborg simply 
 takes us by the hand and leads us to our real Master and 
 Father. He has, so to speak, gone up before us ; and now he 
 tells us how to go up. He has himself sought out the way, 
 and now he shows us the way. This is all he does. lie does 
 not give us the light ; but he explains it, explains where it is, 
 and the way to get it. And thus we go to him, not as our
 
 190 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 master, but as one who, if we will follow his directions, or fol- 
 low his example, indeed, will lead us to our master. 
 
 5. Revealed hy Explanation, 
 
 His great mission was, by explanation, to open the in- 
 ternal sense of the Sacred Scriptures ; to open it as far as 
 explanation could do it ; was, by explanation, to uncover the 
 Fountain of living waters ; was to show Ao?« He who " be- 
 came Flesh — " God with us" — was the Word, and was the 
 " true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the 
 world." But thus uncovering the fountain does not give us 
 of its sweet waters ; to know even all that he knew, or all 
 that he has taught about this fountain, would not enable us to 
 drink of it. Before we can drink, we must " thirst" for the 
 waters ; and we must have a vessel formed into which to re- 
 ceive them. He shows us how this vessel is formed ; and shows 
 us that, in proportion as it is formed, we thirst and it is filled. 
 He tells us where the Fountain is, what it is, and how we can 
 go to it ; and he tells us as one who has already drunk of it ; 
 he tells us how the Word that was made Flesh and dwelt 
 among us is that fountain, and how the Sacred Scripture^ 
 concerning whose meaning there has always been so much 
 doubt, is only as the outer garment or walls of the fountain. 
 
 He does not say, " Come to me as, your master." He does 
 not say, " Receive what I say as authority, or as Divine, for I 
 am only your brother. What I receive is divine, is living truth, 
 is, as it were, God speaking to me ; for I receive from Christ as 
 our common Master. But what I give is not divine, for I give 
 only explanations of truth, and as I, a finite being, conceive of 
 it. I give truth only as it is fiuited into thoughts, ideas, prin- 
 ciples, in the crucible of my own mind, and thus only in words. 
 The true light does not pass through me to you. I can give 
 you a knowledge of truth ; I can explain to you what truth is, 
 and what are the conditions of its reception; just as the physi- 
 ologist can give you knowledge of the influx from the brain into
 
 CHRIST AND SWEDENBORG. 191 
 
 the body, and can explain what that influx is, and what are tlie 
 conditions of its reception. But I cannot give you truth, any 
 more than the physiologist can give the life of the brain to the 
 body. For truth, as I have said, is life, is the Divine life. I 
 can receive it as life, but cannot give it as life. Christ alone, 
 who is the spirit and the life of the Word, can give you truth. 
 I can tell you how to form the vessel, but He alone can fill it : 
 just as I can explain the sunlight to you ; but the sun alone 
 can give it to you. If your eyes are diseased, so that they 
 are closed against the sunlight, I can tell you how they can 
 be cured and opened ; or I can tell • you, if your vision is 
 obstructed by clouds, how you can rise on a mountain above 
 the clouds into the sunlight, but I can never give you the 
 sunlight. Truth is the spiritual sunlight." 
 
 And thus it is plain what is the relation of Swedenborg's 
 writings to us. They are not the truth, but are, in verbal 
 explanations, sure guides to the truth. And we are to receive 
 them, not as the light of the Holy City, but as guides to and 
 on the way to the Holy City. And this way is simply the way 
 of regeneration ; is the way by which we become redeemed 
 from the infirmities and the darkness of our lower nature, 
 and thus the way by which we become capable of receiving 
 truth from Christ as our Master ; is the way by which truly 
 rational mind is formed and prepared as a vessel into which 
 truth from the Lord, as living light, can flow. 
 
 6. The Crucible of Thought. 
 
 And such mind can be developed only by little and little, 
 and only as, step by step in its progress, it freely and ration- 
 ally does its own thinking. Everything must pass through 
 the crucible of its own free thought, must be examined and 
 tried by the test of its own reason, and even though its reason 
 be, as yet, but small in its development ; even all the teachings 
 of Swedenborg must pass through this crucible, — they will do 
 so — he meant that they should do so — if our minds possess,
 
 192 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 so far as they are developed, the real character and spirit of 
 the New Jerusalem. And this was the character of his mind, 
 and this is the reason why he advanced so rapidly and in such 
 a direct way, to the light of the Holy City. This is the reason 
 why he became capable of receiving, in such large and full 
 measure, truth from Christ as his master. And so he tells us 
 that we can really receive nothing but what we receive ration- 
 ally, and can really believe nothing but what we can see, or 
 only so far as we can see. 
 
 Let us not flatter ourselves, then, that we are necessarily of 
 the New Jerusalem, because we believe and love its doctrines. 
 This love and faith must be of an entirely difi'erent character 
 from what has existed in any previous age or phase of human- 
 ity. There have been other masters than Christ in all other 
 ages, and He has been truly acknowledged as master in jiotie 
 of them. The nature of the faith in all these ages has been 
 like that of childhood and youth. It has been founded only 
 on external evidence, or only on authority ; there has been no 
 rational conviction ; the clergy have derived it from the 
 " fathers," and the people from the clergy. Thus the fathers 
 have been the masters of the clergy, and the clergy of the 
 people. This has been peculiarly the case in the age that is 
 now passing away. The time has been when no one dared to 
 question the utterances from the pulpit, when no one, in fact, 
 was disposed or even thought to do so ; when everything that 
 the minister said was believed as a matter of course, for he was 
 regarded as a kind of demigod. And this has been almost the 
 only kind of religious belief that has existed in the ages past. 
 This is the case now in the papal church ; it is less so in the 
 protestant church ; and it still lingers even among those pro- 
 fessing to be of the New Chui'ch. Is any one's mind, indeed, 
 free from it ? Is not the faith of each one of us resting, in 
 part, at least, on what we regard as authority, — that is to say, 
 on some verbal expression of truth, rather than on truth itself? 
 Is not this still, to some extent, the tendency of our own mind ?
 
 CHRIST AND SWEDENBORQ. 193 
 
 Are not all more or less inclined to rest in the authoritative 
 statements of Swedenbori;:, or of those in whom they have 
 confidence, without applying the test of their own rational 
 thought? Tliis is to have otlifr masters than Christ. But 
 this kind of faith, and this quality of mind must pass away ; 
 they are not of the New Jerusalem ; they must pass away as 
 the characteristics of youth pass away on advancing into man- 
 hood. This was not the character of Swedenborg's mind, 
 which, at the same time that it was the harbinger and the 
 herald, was also the. grand exemplar of the real genius of the 
 descending New Jerusalem. lie, looking to his one only 
 Master for light and life, moulded his character, built the 
 temple of his own manhood. He used authorities, all the 
 great lights, all the learning of the world, but only as means ; 
 he sifted and tried everything ; he winnowed out the chaff by 
 means of the light flowing into rational thought, and used the 
 wheat as the nourishment of that very thought. Truths living 
 truth, truth as living light, of which he believed the Word, 
 or Christ in the Word, was the only source, was his master. 
 And because such truth was his master — truth rationally seen 
 — the pursuit of this opened new avenues of thought, and was 
 constantly revealing new means of arriving at truth. Thus it 
 was free, rational thought, prompted by love fur the common 
 good, that led him to Christ as his master, or, rather, that 
 led him to shun evils as sins against the Lord, and to do His 
 commandments, as the only way to his Master. It was this 
 kind of life and discipline, and not mere intellectual training, 
 that gave his mind such a high state of illuminated, rational 
 thought, and made the letter of the Word transparent to him 
 of its own Divine, spiritual light, for it opened his mind — ^just 
 as similar life and discipline will open any mind — upward 
 towards heaven, so that the Sun of heaven could shine into it 
 and enlighten it ; in other words, so that Truth — Living Truth 
 — could come in and make its abode in the mind. 
 
 Swedenborg, as our brother, was simply a fellow branch of
 
 194 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 the same vine. We are to receive from the same Source 
 whence he received, and in a similar way. His writings and 
 his example are simply instructive lessons to us, how we can 
 come into co-ordinate states with his as branches of the same 
 vine, or members of the same body. In the same sense the 
 angels are our brethren. We are all branches of the same 
 vine, all children of the same Father, whose relation to us is 
 as the vine to the branches. We may give each other knowl- 
 edge, we may instruct each other in regard to the truth. But 
 we cannot receive truth — that truth which is Master — from 
 each other, any more than we can the sunlight, or any more 
 than one branch can receive life from another branch, or than 
 one member of the body can receive the influx of the heart 
 or of the brain, which is as truth to the body, from another 
 member. We can receive truth, which is the life of the soul, 
 as the blood is of the body, from one only source, from one 
 only Father who is in heaven, and who is the one only life 
 and light. 
 
 How plain it is, then, that we have no Rabbi but Christ ; 
 that Swedenborg even in no sense stands between us and 
 Christ, the Lord ; that his writings are in no sense the Word, 
 or a substitute for the Word ; but that, on the contrary, his 
 teachings and his example only show us into what form we 
 must be moulded, in order that we may go ourselves directly 
 to Christ as our Master !
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AUTHORITY AND INFALLIBILITY, 
 
 1. Different Kinds to Differmt States. 
 
 Man had never before been capable of a rational under- 
 standing of the Word. He knew nothing about it as " spirit 
 and life," or " the spirit of truth ;" nor was he capable of 
 knowing. But he was now becoming capable of understand- 
 ing a rational explanation^ or of understanding the " spiritual 
 sense of the Word" in the sense of an explanation of that 
 sense. Such explanation was all that was needed and all that 
 could be given. It would have been of no use before, or it 
 would have been given before. Blind obedience to verbal 
 authority was all that the Israelite was capable of, and there- 
 fore all that was required of him. The so-called Christian 
 was only one step in advance of the Israelite. With such 
 Chiistian the Bible meant just what it literally says; and his 
 reason, if he had any, must be suppressed while reading it. 
 No verbal Scripture statement was to be questioned. The 
 difference was, authority to the Israelite meant, " Thou shalt, 
 or shalt not, fZo;" to the Christian, "Thou shalt believed 
 
 But the time had now come, when man was coming into 
 his full, rational manhood. He must now use his God given 
 reason in all that he read and in all that he did. But the 
 Bible, as given to the Israelite, or as given to the Christian, as 
 mere literal truth, would not bear the test of manhood reason. 
 As read in the full exercise of unbiassed, rational thought, 
 as the truly rational man must now read it, in the mere letter, 
 
 195
 
 196 SWEDEN BORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 it contains inconsistencies, contradictions, absurdities. And if 
 tlie letter were all that there was of the Word, it must inevit- 
 ably have been repudiated as the Word of God, and rejected. 
 One was raised up, therefore, by the Lord, to show rationally 
 and logically that the literal meaning was not all the meaning 
 of Sacred Scripture ; to show that Sacred Scripture was only 
 the Word finited, clothed, and accommodated to man in a very 
 gross, "carnal-minded," " froward" state; and thus was raised 
 up rationally to explain its real nature as " spirit and life." It 
 is plain that such explanation, to be adapted to the man of the 
 Age, must be given by a man of the Age. For the Word 
 was to be hereafter — different from what it had been hereto- 
 fore — authority to each man as he should himself rationally 
 see and understand it, and not as somebody else said it meant. 
 Its authority, therefore, must not be in the man explaining it, 
 in reverence for his learning, his wisdom, his integrity, nor in 
 any external evidence, even if there were any, that " the Lord 
 explained it ;" but its authority must be in what each one 
 should see, see for himself, IN the explanation. I mean that, to 
 the man of this new age, all the elements of conviction must 
 be in the very nature of the explanation itself; and that, there- 
 fore, the explanation must come through a man of the Age, 
 through a man who was in the very light itself of that spirit- 
 ual sense, — spiritual sense in the sense of Spirit of Truth, — 
 which it was his mission to explain, at the same time that he 
 possessed all other requisite qualifications. I mean that the 
 explanations of the spiritual sense of the Word were to be, on 
 account of the peculiar genius of the coming man, in the 
 highest degree, rational ; and hence Swedenborg's most pecu- 
 liarly rational qualifications. For they were to satisfy rational 
 want, rational inquiry ; they were to help men, not merely to 
 know, but to see ; and in this, in their helping men to see, con- 
 sists all their power and all their authority. Swedenborg, 
 therefore, enforces his teachings with no other kind of author- 
 ity than that of an appeal to man's rational convictions. It
 
 AUTHORITY AND INFALLIBILITY. 197 
 
 is not to be, I insist, with the coming man, as with the past, 
 " thus saith the Lord," and you must, therefore, submit with- 
 out rational thought or question. The Lord is to speak to the 
 coming man, not as verbal truth speaks, but as the " Spirit of 
 Truth" speaks, — which is the Lord — the Lord as the Word — 
 coming " in His glory," and so coming because coming as the 
 glorious, bright shining of truth in the mind, instead of in 
 verbal statements of truth outside the mind. It was thus in 
 His glory, as the Spirit of Truth, that He came to Swcden- 
 borg, the forerunner, herald, and great exemplar of the coming 
 man. The man of this New Age is going to believe, on ac- 
 count of what he rationally sees, on account of the things 
 revealed to his rational convictions, and not on account of 
 what he is authoritatively told, or of his confidence in the 
 medium through whom the revelation comes. Christ, Christ 
 in His advent as the " Spirit of Truth," is to be his only 
 Master. It will be impossible for him to believe on any other 
 ground, or in any other authority. He is going to respect any 
 revealer, therefore, — revealer in the sense of explainer, — only 
 as he learns to do so through his respect for the revealed. 
 
 The reverse has been the case, but because of as yet imma- 
 ture, undeveloped manhood. This is the secret of the peculiar 
 nature of Swedenborg's qualifications. He is to be judged ac- 
 cording to the character of his message, and as this produces 
 rational conviction, and not according to his authority as a 
 messenger. In this some have entirely mistaken the nature of 
 the authority of Swedenborg's writings, as well as th5 real na- 
 ture of the coming man for whom he wrote. The truth that 
 makes free is, to the coming man, the truth that speaks in him 
 and not outside of him. Thus his authority is the Lord as he 
 himself sees Him in such truth, and not as somebody else sees 
 Him ; thus is the Word as he rationally mulerstands it, with 
 such helps as he can get, and not as any language, human or 
 divine, authoritatively says it means. And this is the only 
 kind of authority legitimately existing in the New Church.
 
 198 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 The point is" right here : to men in an external or merely 
 representative state of mind the mere words or representative 
 forms of truth must be authority ; for this is all they can see ; 
 they cannot understand and therefore respect any other kind of 
 authority. And this must be substantiated as divine authority 
 by seemingly mysterious and incomprehensible demonstrations 
 of power. To such men the mere Incarnation itself, the hu- 
 manity assumed by the Lord, the finite, maternal part of the 
 " Grod with us," is all that is cognizable. The Christian world, 
 to this day, have had no true idea of what it really is that 
 makes Christ God. But is such to be the nature of the au- 
 thority to the real New Jerusalem ? Is it to be, in any sense 
 or manner, " thus saith Swedenborg," or " thus saith the Writ- 
 ings?" Are not the Writings, on the contrary, designed and 
 calculated, as we come to fully understand and imbibe their 
 true spirit, to lead us from the representative to the real or 
 represented Master, the real truth, the " Comforter," or Spirit 
 of Truth ? Are they not calculated to free us from old exter- 
 nal ideas of mere representative, verbal authority, and to lead 
 us into states of perception and acknowledgment of the Spirit 
 of Truth as authority, and truth as each for himself sees it, 
 and not as Swedenborg or some one else, in words, states it to 
 him? How can men, really belonging to this New Jerusalem 
 Age, if they possess, even measurably, its spirit, waste their 
 time and talents in attempts to prove or disprove this thing or 
 that thing from any verbal statements of truth, which at best 
 can be but mere shadows, as it were, of truth, even if we grant 
 — as we do — that they are in no way shadows distorted by the 
 medium through which they came? It is not a matter worth 
 discussing, whether Swedenborg's writings are fiillible or infal- 
 lible, and it is not anything of the true genius and spirit of the 
 Age that has suggested the question. Yet one thing we may 
 be assured of, and that is, if we are really at war with ourselves, 
 if we are living the life of the New Jerusalem, and thus are 
 coming into its true order and under its true authority, we
 
 AUTHORITY AND INFALLIBILITY. 199 
 
 shall see ourselves so plainly, we shall be so painfully conscious 
 of our imperfections and blindness, that wc shall go to the 
 Writings in humility, and in undoubting faith in everything 
 essential as regards their accuracy as verbal teachings. We 
 shall not, indeed, question, or be disposed to question, Sweden- 
 borg's teachings ; we should regard it as presumption in our- 
 selves to do so, and as evidence of our own blindness. For we 
 know, we are all convinced that his statements were made with 
 the Lord — the Lord as the Spirit of Truth — visibly present ; 
 that is to say, with the Lord as the Word livingly shining in 
 and illuminating his mind. To question the verbal accuracy 
 of Swedenborg's explanations, when we have acknowledged 
 his high mission and his wonderful qualifications for it, be- 
 cause of some imagined discrepancies, or for any other cause, 
 would be only less presumptuous than it would be for a man, 
 ignorant of all but the external form and members of the 
 body, to question a learned anatomist's description of its inter- 
 nal mechanism. We only disclaim Swedenborg's writings as 
 authority in any such sense as that in which Sacred Scripture, 
 in its mere letter, is authority to an external or representative 
 church. We maintain that any authority claimed for them 
 like that of the Sacred Scriptures is a misunderstanding and 
 perversion of their real design and use, and a misconception of 
 the real character of the age and of the wants of the age for 
 which Swedenborg wrote. Such false claim for the Writings 
 is one in character with the empty rituals and ecclesiasticisms 
 of the past, which, though indispensable and useful to man in 
 a low, sensuous state, are, nevertheless, nothing more than the 
 old fig-leaf aprons extended over the shame of degenerate gen- 
 erations, or to hide, or serve as a substitute for, the want of 
 real life of an external church. The tendency of such a claim, 
 like all rituals observed as rituals, is to hold the mind down in 
 mere externals. The Writings, on the contrary, virtually say 
 in their spirit, " hold yourself in no such bondage to any ex- 
 ternal statements of truth ;" but, " arise, shine ; for thy light is
 
 200 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 come, and the glory of the Lord" — that is to say, the glory of 
 the real Word — " is risen upon thee." The Lord is in His 
 second or real, full coming ; in His coming to an internal 
 church ; in His coming, therefore, as real, not verbal, truth ; 
 tliat is to say, as the Spirit of Truth, by immediate influx into 
 the mind with power, therefore, and great glory. 
 
 2. ^'■Authority in the Neio Church." 
 
 Authority in the New Church ! What is it ? According 
 to the tone and drift of thought of some writers, authority in 
 the New Church seems too much like that of another papal 
 hierarchy. We are told, for example, that " the doctrines of 
 the New Church are to be believed first, and afterwards to be 
 confirmed by rational considerations." The Catholic Bishop, 
 Ryan, in a lecture on " what Catholics do not believe," says : 
 
 " They have first convinced themselves that the church to 
 which they pay allegiance ... is an unerring messenger of 
 Grod to them ; therefore, if they submit to a decision of the 
 Church, they submit to the decision of a tribunal which their 
 own reason has already accepted as an unerring tribunal." 
 
 But how, in the full exercise of their reason, could they 
 have first convinced themselves that any human institution 
 was unerring ? and especially how could they now do it in the 
 light of the fearful history of such institution ? The Catholic 
 is evidently convinced, — if it may be called conviction, — on 
 simple authority, that the church is infallible ; and on simple 
 authority he believes her decrees. Reason, the distinctive at- 
 tribute of his race, — that which makes him a man, — has 
 nothing to do with either his conviction in the one case, or his 
 belief in the other. He is a mere animal ; authority does it 
 all. The authority of the church says that the church is un- 
 erring, and the church's infallibility is authority for faith in 
 her.
 
 AUTHORITY AND INFALLIBILITY. 201 
 
 3. " To he BeUeved Firsts 
 
 So this new theory of the Writings as '.' the Lord's writings," 
 says, " The doctrines are to be believed first, and afterwards 
 to be confirmed by rational considerations." But on what 
 grounds believed first ? The man of true manhood of the New 
 Church must, as an imperative necessity, have some rational 
 grounds for his belief In this he is different from the man 
 of any previous church age. If Swedenborg teaches that a 
 man must believe before the exercise of " rational consider- 
 ations," it is sufficient cause for the rejection of his writings as 
 unworthy of confidence. The man of this age is not a true 
 man of the age, if he can have confidence in any such teaeh- 
 ino-s. But Swedenborg nowhere teaches such absurdities. 
 The very passages from " True Christian Beligion" and " Ar- 
 cana Coelestia" cited in confirmation of the above remarkable 
 statement, are distorted from their true meaning. They mean 
 exactly the opposite. The following is in one of the passages 
 cited from T. C. R. 508, — which is enough for all, — namely : 
 
 '' The Word with the Roman Catholics was taken away from 
 the laity, and with the Protestants it is open, but still shut by 
 their common saying that the understanding is to be kept 
 under obedience to their faith. Bat in the New Church it is 
 reversed; in her it is lawful by the understanding to enter and 
 penetrate into all the secrets of it, and also to confirm them by 
 the Word ; the reason is, because its doctrinals are truths con- 
 tinuous from the Lord, laid open by the Word ; and confirm- 
 ations of them by rational things cause the understanding to 
 be opened above more and more, and thus to be elevated into 
 the light in which the angels are." 
 
 If, as is claimed by some, the Writings are infallible, — and 
 the true man of this age will not waste a thought on the ques- 
 tion whether they are or not, — a man must in some way — 
 and it is not shown how — be convinced of it, it seems, — just 
 as the papist, in some way, has to be convinced of the iufalli- 
 
 10
 
 202 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 bility of his church, — before he can be permitted to exercise 
 " rational considerations." And here is the difference between 
 the papist and those who regard the Writings as " the Lord's 
 writings," and, therefore, infallible : the former pretends, at 
 least, to allow you the use of your reason in becoming con- 
 vinced of the infallibility of the church, whilst the latter seem 
 to recognize no such preliminary condition of belief as neces- 
 sary as regards the doctrines of the New Church. These doc- 
 trines must be believed first, simply because they are " contin- 
 uous truths from the Lord," and thus the Lord's teachings. 
 How do we know that they are such truths ? How can we 
 know without the exercise, first, of "rational considerations?" 
 The New Church mind cannot take this for granted, on blind 
 authority, as the Catholic mind can the infallibility of his 
 church ; if it can, then it is not New Church mind. It is of 
 no avail to say that this declaration is in the AVritings and 
 that the Writings are the Lord's. How do we know that they 
 are the Lord's writings? They who have come to this conclu- 
 sion, have evidently done so on their own principles, namely, 
 that certain things '' must be believed first, and afterwards 
 confirmed by rational considerations ;" for people who believe 
 first on " rational considerations," are very far from coming to 
 their conclusions. 
 
 4. Misinterpreted Statements. 
 
 If there is anything taught in the Writings more clearly 
 than anything else, it is that the man of the New Church is a 
 rational man ; that there is, indeed, no real manhood without 
 rationality ; that there is, in fact, no genuine manhood act, 
 thought, aifection, or motive, or desire even, and thus no be- 
 lief without reason as a prime constituent element. When 
 the general statement, therefore, is made, on the authority of 
 Swedenborg, " that the affirmation of what is Divine, and thus 
 the acknowledgment of what is Divine as authority, must come 
 first, and rational thought afterwards," we are compelled to
 
 AUTHORITY AND INFALLIBILITY. 203 
 
 doubt the correctness of the understanding of Swedenborg, 
 and even though the statement be seemingly substantiated by 
 the language of Swedenborg. We will not believe that Swed- 
 enborg is inconsistent with himself, as we should be forced to 
 do, if we took all his readers' representations of him as cor-" 
 rect, or all their quotations from him as representing him truly. 
 And as regards citations from Swedenborg, a great mistake 
 is made in taking certain sjjecml statements as general state- 
 ments, and without regard to the subject treated of. For ex- 
 ample, Swedenborg" is represented as making the general state- 
 ment (A. C. 3388), that " the acknowledgment of what is 
 Divine is the first thing, for then an idea of holiness is present, 
 which gives universal confirmation to each and every thing 
 that is said, even though it he not comprehended^ 
 
 Now let us look at the context of this statement. Just 
 hefore it, we read : " It is treated concerning those who are in 
 the doctrinals of faith, and have no perception of truth from 
 good, but only a conscience of truth from this, that it has been 
 so told them by parents and masters. . . . With such persons, 
 the first of confirmation of truth is, that it is called Divine [_ilUs 
 prinium conjirmationis veri est, quod Divinum dicatw-]'^ It 
 is plain from the Latin even, aside from the context, that 
 Swedenborg does not make the general statement that " the 
 acknowledgment of what is Divine is the first thing." On 
 the contrary, it is " with such persons" [the peculiar class he 
 is treating of] that " the first of confirmation of truth is, that 
 it is called Divine," and why? Swedenborg then adds: " for 
 then they have instantly an idea of what is holy, which gives 
 universal confirmation to all and each of the things that are 
 said, and this though they do not comprehend it. But still the 
 things said must he adequate to their comprehension [they must 
 have some rational perception of it] ; for it is not enough that 
 a man knows that a thing is ; he wants to know what it is, and 
 how it is or what is its quality, so that some confirmation may 
 accrue thence to his intellectual part, and in turn from that ;
 
 204 SWEDE NBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 otherwise, a thing may, indeed, be committed to the memory, 
 but it remains there not other than a dead thing as if a thing 
 of sound ; and unless some confirming things infix it. from 
 whatever source derived, it is dissipated like the reminiscence 
 of something only sounding." 
 
 Take another example of the wrong use of special state- 
 ments as general ones in support of the position of belief first 
 and rational confirmation afterwards. The following has been 
 cited for such a purpose, from A. C. 1911 : 
 
 " Intellectual truth does not appear, i.e., is not acknowledged, 
 until fallacies and appearances are dispersed ; and these are 
 not dispersed so long as man reasons concerning truths them- 
 selves from sensual and scientific things ; but it then first ap- 
 pears when a man believes from a simple heart that it is truth, 
 because the Lord has spoken it : then the shades of fallacies 
 are dispersed ; and then it matters not to him that he does not 
 comprehend it." 
 
 In order to understand the real significance of this extract, 
 we must ascertain the subject of the paragraph whence it is 
 taken ; and the subject is the relation of the " rational first 
 conceived'^ to "truth intellectual or spiritual." Such rational 
 cannot acknowledge such truth as truth, " because there ad- 
 here to it many fallacies originating in sciences received from 
 the world and from nature, also appearances derived from 
 knowledges collected from the literal sense of the Word, which 
 are not truths. As, for example, it is an intellectual truth, 
 that all life is from the Lord ; but the rational first conceived 
 does not comprehend this truth. ... It is an intellectual 
 truth that all good and truth are from the Lord ; but neither 
 does the rational first conceived comprehend this, because it 
 ajjpears to sense as if good and truth were from self," etc. 
 
 Several other examples are given of similar import in the 
 same number. But Swedenborg does not speak of this as a 
 fault of this " first conceived" rational, but as being all that 
 the mind, in this jyarticular stage of development, is capable
 
 AVTHORITF AND INFALLIBILITY. 205 
 
 of. For the case was precisely similar with the Lord, with 
 whom, though there were no fallacies, yet, " when His rational 
 was Jirst conceived, there were appearances of truth, which 
 were not in themselves truths. . . . Hence also His rational, at 
 its first conception, like man's, lightly esteemed intellectual 
 truth." But with Him and with man, the clouds of appear- 
 ances were dispersed in the regular order of progress to higher 
 states. The necessity of this order some men fail to I'ecog- 
 nize, and it seems that they would have a man he^in with a 
 state, which, from the very nature of the case, must come at a 
 later stage in the work of regeneration, and as the fruit of 
 several preceding states. 
 
 Man cannot believe, " from a simple heart," etc., until he 
 ?ias a " simple heart;" he can so believe only when his state 
 is ripe for such belief; only when, like the tree in preparation 
 for fruit-bearing, he has passed through certain preparatory 
 states. Swedenborg recognizes at least two distinct states of 
 progress as preparatory to that in which " fallacies and appear- 
 ances are dispersed," and " intellectual or spiritual truth ap- 
 pears, i.e., is acknowledged." He says the " progression is 
 from scientifics to rational truths ; next, to intellectual truths ; 
 and, lastly, to celestial truths." " Scientific truth is of science ; 
 rational truth is scientific truth confirmed by reason ; intellec- 
 tual truth is joined with an internal perception that it is so." 
 A. C. 1495-96. This is the order of progression. It was so 
 with the Lord. And every state must come in its order. Sci- 
 entifics and sensuals must have their day ; but when they have 
 done their work, the mind parts with the fiiUacies and appear- 
 ances connected with them, as the tree parts with its blossoms 
 when the prolific principle of the pollen is matured and the 
 germ is fertilized. But though a man may have passed through 
 the first two states, he never can come into the third, or that 
 of intellectual truth, or of faith, and an acknowledgment of 
 what is Divine, unless he is fighting against his sins, and thus 
 is being regenerated. Thus it is not until a man has pro-
 
 20G SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AOE. 
 
 gressed to the third state, or a state of " intellectual truth," 
 that he can " believe first, and afterwards confirm his belief by 
 rational considerations." And he can do so then only because 
 he has, as a result of prior experiences, an " internal percep- 
 tion that it is so." 
 
 5. A State of " Intellectual Truth.'' 
 
 And when a man has arrived at a state of " intellectual 
 truth/' "joined with an internal perception that it is so," what 
 is his authority? what is his "Rabbi," or "Master?" Is it 
 any writing, any verbal statement of truth or doctrine ? is it 
 doctrine as formulated and expressed in human language ? is 
 it truth finited and coming to him through the medium of 
 another mind ? is it what any finite being tells him is truth, 
 or is the Lord ? No, never, never, never ! But before a man 
 comes to that state of "intellectual truth," he must take such 
 verbal information as authority as he is best capable of. But 
 all such information is, at best, exceedingly imperfect '; for it 
 means one thing, or another thing, exactly according to the 
 state of the recipient of it. There is no such thing as an 
 infallible, finite medium of truth or doctrine. The mere letter 
 of the Word, though spoken by the Lord, is not so. It is 
 constantly a question with every one, while passing through 
 the preliminary, sensuous, scientific, and " first conceived" ra- 
 tional states, — before he has arrived at a state of " perception," 
 — what does this mean ? What seems perfectly transparent of 
 truth at one time, or to one person, is full of obscurity and 
 doubt at another time, or to another person. But when he has 
 arrived at that state of " intellectual truth," in which he has 
 a " perception that it is so," the doubts, the fallacies, and ap- 
 pearances of preceding states flee away, as birds of night before 
 the day. 
 
 And then, when a man has come into this state of percep- 
 tion, he no longer remains in doctrinals. A. C. 6043. What 
 does he care for doctrinals, that is, for verbal statements of
 
 AUTHORITY AND INFALLIBILITY. 207 
 
 doctrine, and even tliouL;,li such statements be perfect ? He 
 now has an " authority," a " Master," even Christ, the Word, 
 that is, the very " Spirit of Truth" itself, which is to him 
 absolutely unerrinj^;. He has now actually come in . sight of 
 the Holy City, and is in its light. He now sees wherethe city 
 is, and what it is, for it is in his heart, — sees its golden streets 
 and pearly gates, of which he had before heard and learned so 
 much, through doctrinals or verbal statements about them, — 
 sees them now actually shining in the bright sunlight. And 
 now what becomes of all the misunderstood, and thus errin<r 
 guides to the city ? That is, what becomes of the sensuous, 
 scientific, or purely rational information that he has had about 
 the city ? Is he any longer necessarily, or in any such way as 
 formerly, a subject of instruction through human language, 
 and by any formulated statements of doctrine ? He now sees 
 like the blind with sight restored. He does not need to be led 
 by any sensuous or " rational considerations." He has out- 
 grown all such means. All such things are therefore now dis- 
 persed, or are used only as confirmations; otherwise they would 
 blind him. For him now to rely on " rational considerations" 
 for his belief, would be as if a traveller, after he had come in 
 sight of the city, should rely on verbal directions to it, instead 
 of his own now clear vision of the way to it. Sensuals, sci- 
 entifics, and reasonings are indispensable up to a certain point 
 in the journey of life, — they must, indeed, lead^ up to that 
 point; but, after arrival at that point, they necessarily and nat- 
 urally take a subordinate position, and all that is fallacious 
 about them is seen and abandoned. When a man comes into 
 a state to perceive truth as it flows into the mind ^^ contimiously 
 from the Lord," to believe such truth then from what is sen- 
 sual, scientific, and rational, is to make it a nullity. This is 
 clearly shown in " Arcana Coelestia," 2538, in which and the 
 preceding numbers Swcdcnborg is treating of ductrine, which 
 he says, in 25 IG, is " from the essential Divine and the Divine 
 Human of the Lord ; this is its origin, and, indeed, insomuch
 
 208 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 that the Lord is doctrine itself, and therefore in the Word is 
 called the Word, the Truth, the Way, the Light, the Door." 
 Swedenborg is evidently not speaking of doctrinals here, or of 
 statements of doctrine, but of that substantial entity which 
 the man in " intellectual truth" '^ perceives^' as doctrine, and as 
 doctrine as an interiorly illuminating principle.
 
 CHAPTEU X. 
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITY. 
 
 1. Doctrine. 
 
 Among other inferences drawn by some from T. C. R. 779, 
 are the following, namely : first, " that the doctrines contained 
 in the theological writings of Swedenborg are meant in the 
 Apocalypse by ' the Holy City, New Jerusalem descending 
 from God out of heaven ;' " and, second, " that the publica- 
 tion of these writings in this world constitutes the Lord's 
 Second Coming, which was promised in the letter of the 
 Word." 
 
 By another passage (" Coronis," Nos. 18 and 20) some think 
 that " it is clearly proved that the New Jerusalem does not 
 descend insensibly into the interiors of men, and hence does 
 not transform them gradually by an interior process into the 
 members of the New Jerusalem :" and why ? " for," it is added, 
 " it is distinctly stated here that by the descent of the New 
 Jerusalem is meant the descent of doctrine, and that by means 
 of this doctrine the New Jerusalem is established upon earth." 
 
 Now let us look at these statements. According to the 
 above view. Doctrines are the Holy City, and the publication 
 of them constitutes the Second Advent ; and this is not a pro- 
 gressive work, is not a gradual transformation of men, but 
 takes place " once for all." And yet in those very passages 
 cited from the " Coronis," Swedenborg says that " the doctrine 
 of the New Heaven is the doctrine of truth and good falling 
 from heaven like the dew of twilight, by which the leaves of 
 the grass are opened and their vegetative juice is sweetened. 
 
 10* 209
 
 210 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 This doctrine, also, is like the shower of rain, which refreshes 
 the fruits of the field, and causes them to sprout ; it is also 
 like the fragrance exhaling from the fields, gardens, and flowery 
 meadows, which is inhaled by the beast with an eager and glad 
 spirit." The dew and the rain fall gradually.^ and their effect 
 is a gradual one. And the fragrance also is a progressive 
 effluence, and the beast inhales it by little and little, and is 
 made glad by it. These are beautiful and most significant 
 illustrations of doctrine in its descent and efi"ects. 
 
 2. Adveiit, Doctrine^ and Holy City the same. 
 
 The great confusion and inconsistency on this, as on other 
 subjects, arises from persistently taking the mere verbal state- 
 ment or explanation of a thing for the thing itself. If Swe- 
 denborg's writings, yea, the very books themselves, constitute 
 the Second Advent, then they constitute the Doctrines of the 
 New Jerusalem, and constitute also the New Jerusalem itself; 
 for these three, as acknowledged by all, and as Swedenborg 
 teaches, are one and the same, — are so in their real meaning, 
 or when we come to know what is really meant by the Lord's 
 Advent, by Doctrine, and by the New Jerusalem. 
 
 Nothing is more plainly taught in the Writings, than that 
 the Lord's Advent is an influx and perception of Divine 
 Truth, and also that such Truth is what is meant by " Doctrine 
 continuous from the Lord;" and thus that such Doctrine is the 
 Lord ; and that when received and taking effect in men, such 
 Doctrine is really the New Jerusalem. And that all this is a 
 ^'' perception,'^ an internal inspiration, or illustration, will appear 
 plain, when we consider that there has been no change in the 
 Lord, none whatever, as the Cause of these results. There 
 has been no absolutely new or diff"erent influx of Divine Truth 
 from the Lord ; neither has it been different in its operation so 
 fur as the Lord's absolute agency is concerned. The Lord, as 
 the same Divine Truth, has always flowed into man, and un- 
 remittingly so. The change, all that has ever taken place, has
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITV. 211 
 
 been in man, or has been a change induced by man's changed 
 state, thus by changed receptive conditions. This change has 
 simply enabled him to perceive what he never perceived before ; 
 thus has enabled the Lord, as the very Life and Light, as the 
 very " Spirit of Truth," of the Word, to manifest Himself to 
 man as He never had done before. And how plain it is that 
 the Lord as such influx of Divine Truth, is the " Doctrine of 
 the New Jerusalem," or of that new phase of humanity which, 
 for the first time in the history of man, has come into a state 
 to be illuminated by such Divine Truth, or to have it shine in 
 his mind ; and how plain that the New Jerusalem itself is 
 nothing else than the Lord, as such Truth, " coming," or as 
 such doctrine, " descending," " from God out of heaven," into 
 the LIFE of MEN ! How plain all this is ; and how it lifts the 
 clouds from a great many passages in the Sacred Scriptures, 
 and in the Writings ! The real Advent is the perceived Influx 
 of the Lord as Divine Truth ; Doctrine is the same Influx in 
 its instructing and illuminating eflScacy ; the New Jerusalem 
 is the same in its " descent'^ into the life, or in its progressive 
 and eflfective operation in the life. Thus such Truth is the 
 Lord coming in me, when I have come into a state to perceive 
 His presence or the presence of such Truth in me, — which 
 presence is, in itself, nothing new, but is new only in its new 
 manifestation, or in my new perception of it ; for it is always 
 in me, as my soul is always in my body : it is Doctrine when 
 and because it illuminates me ; it is the New Jerusalem when 
 and because it is in my life. 
 
 3. Doctrine and Doctrinals. 
 
 Swedenborg says : " The case with Doctrine is this : it is 
 no doctrine just so far as it is believed to be doctrine, from 
 anything human, that is, from anything sensual, scientific, and 
 rational ; but so far as the sensual, scientific, and rational is re- 
 moved, that is, so far as doctrine is believed without them, so 
 far it lives, for so far the Divine flows in ; the thing proper to
 
 212 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 the human impedes influx and reception. But it is one thing 
 to believe from the rational, scientific, and sensual, or to con- 
 sult these in order to believe, and another thing to confirm and 
 corroborate what is believed by rational, scientific, and sensual 
 things." 
 
 By Doctrine here — Doctrine that " lives" — is not meant 
 " doctrinals," which " are nothing else than appearances of 
 truth divine, or nothing else than spiritual and celestial vessels, 
 in which is the divine." " All those things are called doc- 
 trinals which are of doctrine, which, so far as they can be re- 
 ceived and acknowledged in heaven by r.ngels and on earth by 
 men, are said to respect rationals, for it is the rational which 
 receives and acknowledges them ; but the rational is such that 
 it can in no wise comprehend things divine, inasmuch as it is 
 finite, and this cannot comprehend the things which are of the 
 Infinite ; therefore truths divine from the Lord are presented 
 before the rational by appearances." A. C. 3365. 
 
 Here we see the great difierence between Doctrine and 
 Doctrinals, the former being truth itself, truth in its essence, 
 truth as an influx of living light " continuous from the 
 Lord ;" the latter being only an " appearance of truth," or the 
 verbal vessel or medium of truth, ?'.e., containing things or 
 clothed with " things proper to the human which impede in- 
 flux," etc. The former is for the New Church, the latter is 
 all that the Old has ever been capable of. Strictly speaking, 
 Swedenborg's writings contain only " doctrinals," real doctrine 
 not being expressible in verbal statements, or in what is " proper 
 to the human ;" for, when so expressed, it becomes doctrinals, 
 thus only "appearances" or "vessels" of truth or of doctrine. 
 It may be said of doctrine — thus defined — that it must be 
 " believed first and afterwards confirmed by rational considera- 
 tions ;" and why? Because such doctrine cannot be seen as 
 the result of any learning however great, or of any process of 
 reasoning however acute, but only as the result of a certain 
 degree of progress in regeneration ; and it must be seen before
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITV. 213 
 
 it can be believed ; from the very effect of its influx into the 
 mind it must be " perceived that it is so." But before a man, 
 through a proper use of sensual, scientific, and rational things, 
 arrives at this state, he can no more believe than a man without 
 eyes can believe in the sunlight, or without ears can believe 
 in sound, except on external authority, which is not the belief 
 of the New Church. 
 
 But belief in doctrinals, or in verbal statements of doctrine, 
 is a very different matter, — and these seem to be all that some 
 writers mean when they speak of the " doctrines of the New 
 Church ;" they evidently mean the Writings, or the doctrines 
 as revealed in the form of teachings or doctrinals. And belief 
 in these requires a very different exercise of human faculty 
 from that required in belief in doctrine as just explained. A 
 man can believe in doctrinals, or things that are told him, thus 
 things outside of him and of which he has no internal vision 
 or " perception that it is so," only as he sees convincing evi- 
 dence of their truth. And this evidence must be founded on 
 " rational considerations." This is a state preceding that of 
 " intellectual truth," when such considerations would be only 
 as clouds before the sight. He must weigh doctrinals, must 
 turn them over, analyze them, and test them in the light, not 
 of perception^ — he has not arrived at that state yet, — but of 
 such " rational considerations" as he is now capable of. Whether 
 he can believe them must depend upon how they bear the test 
 of such " considerations ;" for either they or the opinions of 
 men are, as yet, his only authority, unless he has been educated 
 into a sort of belief in the Scriptures. But if he is really, in 
 the character of his mind, a partaker of the genius of the New 
 Church, he cannot regard the opinions of men as authority ; 
 but he may, from evidence in themselves, and from an influence 
 which he feels from them when he devoutly reads them, be 
 convinced of the truth of the Scriptures. They, in this case, 
 become his authority, but as interpreted, not to another's but 
 to his own rational convictions. If he is asked now to believo
 
 214 SWEDENBORO AND THE NEW AOE. 
 
 certain doctrinals, lie can really do it, only as they accord, not 
 with his " perception that it is so," for he has none, but with 
 his own rational understanding of the Scriptures. 
 
 4. Tlus and Preceding Ages. 
 
 And this is the vast difference between this age, this New 
 Jerusalem phase of developing humanity, and all preceding 
 ages or phases, '■'■nunc Ucetr Now it is permitted; before it 
 was not permitted ; that is to say, now it is lawful — for now it 
 is possible — to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith ; 
 before, humanity was incapable of it. In the age of the Is- 
 raelitish church there was no faith but of the most external 
 kind, and on the most external of external authority ; it was a 
 belief in which even scientific and rational considerations had 
 nothing to do ; it was purely sensuous. The man of the first 
 Christian church age has not been capable of a faith founded 
 on anything higher than that of " signs and wonders" and his 
 own reasonings. And these last even have not been permitted. 
 He has been required to believe unconditionally and without 
 the exercise of a particle of " real" intellectuality. But in 
 this age it is different, and different because the capahilities of 
 humanity are different, and different in a sense similar to that 
 in which the capabilities of manhood are different from those 
 of childhood or youthhood. Man is now capable of the true 
 light in regard to regeneration, and thus of true regeneration, 
 as he has not been before. In the Old church, regeneration 
 is a miraculous and instantaneous change by an arbitrary divine 
 act; which is not regeneration at all, which does not, therefore, 
 open the mind to the " living light," and thus does not enable 
 it to " enter intellectually into the secrets of faith." It is law- 
 ful now for a man to know what he believes and why he be- 
 lieves, for he is now capable of a real belief, and he is just so 
 far incapable of a blind belief; for he can now, as he rises by 
 regeneration into his real manhood, intellectually see — " per- 
 ceive that it is so" — as he never could before. He acknowl-
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITV. 215 
 
 edges no authority, therefore, and needs acknowledge none, — 
 no doctrinals, no finited teachings, no formulated statements of 
 truth, — no authority but Christ the Lord, the Word, the Truth, 
 — none but Divine Truth, that is to say, as he ^^e/reiVrs it as 
 an illuminating influx into his own mind. The doctrinals of 
 this age, of this peculiar phase of humanity, are vessels, or are 
 the external formulated expressions of real doctrine, that is to 
 say, of " truth continuous from the Lord laid open by the 
 Word," whose " truths, one and all, are so many mirrors of the 
 Lord." 
 
 The Doctrinals of the Israelitish age — of a man in a blind, 
 sensuous, youthhood state — must necessarily have been — to 
 have any influence — the blind doctrinals of " thus saith the 
 Lord." But the Israelite was not required to believe them ; 
 was not capable, indeed, of exercising any rational thought or 
 question about them ; but he was required to ohey them, and to 
 obey them because " thus saith the Lord ;" and he was goaded 
 to obedience by threatened consequences if he did not obey. 
 The man of the first Christian Church Age was a step in ad- 
 vance of the Israelite. The true man of that age has exer- 
 cised his rational faculties in regard to the real nature of what 
 the Lord said, has claimed the right to rationally see and un- 
 derstand what the Lord required of him before obeying or be- 
 lieving even. Paul may perhaps be regarded as a remarkable 
 exemplar of this kind of man. Entirely diff"erent from the Is- 
 raelite, he was a reasoner. This was as for as the man of that 
 peculiar phase of humanity could go. He could believe and 
 obey only on rational evidence, " rational considerations." His 
 mind was not open so that he could " see the Lord," so that he 
 could perceive, that is to say, " living doctrine,^' — " truth con- 
 tinuous from the Lord." The papist who takes as authority 
 " thus saith the church," as a thus saith the Lord, though in 
 another form, is practically still only an Israelite. The New- 
 churchman who adopts the view of the Writings as " the 
 Lord's writings" is qualificdly the same. For such views, so
 
 216 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 far as they have any practical influence, tend to carry the 
 manhood of this new age back to the darkest of all the dark 
 ages. There seems to be a labored effort to prove, we regret 
 to say, that Swedenborg's writings — being, as it is claimed, the 
 Lord's writings, thus the " Word without the literal sense," 
 thus the Lord, — the " Lord in His Advent," thus, the " Thus 
 saitli the Lord" — are authority to the man of this age, in a 
 sense similar to that in which the Scriptures were authority to 
 the Israelite, and the " Church" to the papist. The radical dif- 
 ference of the manhood of this age from that of the past ages, 
 which is as great as is that of individual manhood from child- 
 hood, seems to be entirely ignored. If it could be fairly proved 
 from Swedenborg's writings that he makes any such claim for 
 them, it would simply be proved to the truly rational man that 
 his writings were utterly unworthy of himself, and unworthy of 
 the noble, Godlike manhood of the Age for which they were 
 given. The philosophy both of his life, that is to say, of his 
 own developing manhood, and of his teachings, is a contra- 
 diction to such a claim. Swedenborg's writings are for the 
 use of the New Jerusalem. And truth to the New Jerusa- 
 lem is not to come, as to the dark-minded Israelite or papist, 
 in the form' of " thus saith the Lord," or thus saith the church, 
 but in the form of an inspiration, of an internally illuminating 
 influx. 
 
 5. Swedenhorg and the New Manhood. 
 
 Swedenborg's life, at the same time that it is the grandest 
 exemplification of true. Godlike manhood that the world has 
 probably ever seen, is also the grandest exemplification of the 
 way of attaining to such manhood. His journey of life, as 
 every other man's must be, was through every phase of de- 
 veloping humanity. He passed over every plane, through the 
 instructive and disciplinary experiences of every degree of 
 life. While on the animal and sensuous plane, he was an ani- 
 mal and sensuous being, — an infant when an infant, a child 
 when a child, and a youth when a youth. At each period his
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITY. 217 
 
 mind fed upon and was exercised by what belonged to that 
 period, as should be the case with all other minds. He passed 
 through the several states in which '• scnsuals," " scicntifics," and 
 " rationals" successively had their day, and their work to do. He 
 garnered a grand store-house of each, and to subserve higher 
 ends as he came successively, by their use as means, into 
 liigher states. IJe never ignored any of them, but gave each 
 its place and its day of rule. Each was to him successively his 
 authority, his object of belief, and trust and guide. He bowed 
 to " sensuals" when on the mere sensuous plane ; but as modi- 
 fied, of course, by instruction from his superiors, and by the 
 Sacred Scriptures, which were his constant study. He in like 
 manner bowed to " scicntifics" while on the scientific plane, 
 and to "rationals" while on the rational plane. Like all others, 
 he had to think and live and act according to what he was and 
 had., in the phase through which he was at the time passing, 
 and not according to what he was not and had not, but was 
 only preparing to be and to have. He did not " believe," be- 
 lieve, I mean, in the higher, true sense of the word, — believe 
 as it is the exclusive and peculiar prerogative of the man of 
 the New Jerusalem to believe, — until all the prior states had 
 ripened him for that state, and he coxdd so believe. Pie then 
 " believed," but not because he persuaded himself that he 
 ought to, but because that was the next faculty opened, and he 
 could not help it, — could not help it any more than the tree 
 can help putting forth leaves when its state for that phase of 
 development has come. He believed when and because he 
 was in a state to " perceive that it was so." And did he now 
 make the same use of sensuals, scicntifics, and rationals that 
 lie had done before ? By no means. This would have blinded 
 him. On the contrary, he now used them only to confirm 
 belief, not, as formerly, as grounds of belief Their use, once 
 a dominant one, is now a subordinate one. 
 
 How singularly all this is exemplified and confirmed in Swe- 
 denborg's writings ! What stores he had <i:athered in of " sen-
 
 218 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 suals," and " scientifics," and " rationals," up to a certain period 
 of his life, up to the time when, from a state of " intellectual 
 truth," he was " illuminated," or " internally inspired," so that 
 he had a " perception that it was so !" He then saw, and he 
 used rationals and scientifics only to confirm what he saw, — 
 they were the " borrowed vessels of silver, and vessels of gold 
 and raiment" which he took with him when he " went up out 
 of Egypt." He wrote in the very light itself of heaven, — 
 thus as " instructed by the Lord alone," — and used what he 
 had before acquired, both of learning and of development, only 
 as means, only as instruments and recipient vessels. His 
 writings are most peculiarly an appeal to the rational mind, to 
 those who are passing through the necessary states of prepa- 
 ration, who are forming the good ground which renders real 
 belief possible. For there must, from the very nature of the 
 case, be rational belief before there can possibly be belief from 
 perception. The Writings give none but rational light, rational 
 evidence, that is, the light of rational formularies or expres- 
 sions of truth, and not the light of absolute truth itself, not 
 the light of " revelation from perception," or " internal inspi- 
 ration." 
 
 6. The Writings an Aj^peal to Rational Minds. 
 
 Swedenborg's writings, therefore, it is plain, are only rational 
 aids to states of mind such as he himself passed through, which 
 are preliminary to states of enlightenment by real truth, and 
 thus preliminary to that state of perception which is attended 
 by genuine ftiith. Diflferent from the Word, they give no other 
 light than rational light, and they are authority only on the 
 plane of reason. We cannot, therefore, possibly believe them 
 on other than rational grounds, for they are not '' doctrine 
 that lives ;" they are not the New Jerusalem as real doctrine 
 is when it descends into life, when it flows into men as the 
 life of the vine into the branches ; they are not the Lord in 
 His Advent, as the perception of such doctrine is ; they are
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITF. 219 
 
 not the " continent" of the living Word, as Sacred Scripture is. 
 But they are of priceless value as " explanations," or as fiuiteJ 
 and formulated revelations of all these, as furnishing, indeed, 
 the rational substi-atura of genuine belief. They show us, in 
 fact, how we must live, and the real nature of the successive 
 states through which we must pass, and the absolute necessity 
 of those states, before it will be possible for us to be in a state 
 of '■'■ j^erception,^'' and thus in a state to truly believe. They 
 show the real nature and significance, and relation to the others, 
 of each state through which we have to pass, — of the " state 
 of sensuals," of the " state of scientifics,," and of the " state of 
 rationals ;" and they show us, with most convincing evidence, 
 that the state in which it will be possible for us to believe can- 
 not be reached but as the result of the work done in these 
 preceding states. They show us that there is order, and that 
 there are series and degrees in everything, and that everything 
 must come in its order ; that the " full corn in the ear" cannot 
 come before the " ear," nor the ear before the " blade ;" for 
 the full corn is evolved from the ear, and the ear from or after 
 the blade. So a " state of scientifics" is evolved, so to speak, 
 from a " state of sensuals ;" a " state of rationals" from a " state 
 of scientifics ;" and a " state of perception," and thus of belief, 
 from a state of regenerated rationals. 
 
 It is an important fact, and one of significant bearing upon 
 this subject, that man's normal relation to Grod is that of per- 
 ception, and thus belief. The New Jerusalem is man's return 
 to that relation, but with all the diflPerence in kind and degree 
 that there is between any state of adult age and a correspond- 
 ing state of uncontaminated infancy or childhood. In both of 
 these states there is no authority or " Master" but Christ the 
 Lord as an injiux of Divine Trutli^ — Truth that actually shines 
 in and thus illuminates the mind. All other appliances of 
 truth, such as formulated statements, or finited expressions of 
 truth, have been made necessary only because of man's way- 
 wardness, and consequent blindness to real truth, while passing
 
 220 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 through the intervening states ; liave been, as it were, an expe- 
 dient growing out of certain darkened conditions of mind. 
 As man, therefore, comes up out of those conditions, — as the 
 real man of the New Jerusalem must do, — he outgrows that 
 kind of autliority. Think, then, of keeping man, in all time 
 to come, under the leading-strings of verbal statements of truth, 
 — as it is the tendency of a belief in the Writings as the 
 Lord's writings to do, — and even though we admit — which we 
 do not — that such statements were the utterances of Divinity 
 Itself! The very act of subjecting man's reason to such state- 
 ments as authority would blind him to the perception, and 
 thus real authority, of inflowing truth itself. It would be 
 putting man's mind, not his hands, into gyves. It would de- 
 stroy his freedom, and thus his manhood. Why, the man of 
 the New Jerusalem phase of humanity is the man, not gToping 
 in the dark valley and capable only of being taught in words, 
 and how to live on that low plane and as a merely sensuous 
 man, as the Israelite was, but actually rising on the acclivity 
 of the mountain, and capable of being rationally instructed in 
 the processes of rising, and at length capable of actually seeing, 
 and trusting in, and being exclusively guided by the increasing 
 light itself of the now almost visible summit. 
 
 7. Wants of the Coming Man. 
 
 The man of the noble. Godlike phase of humanity now 
 developing is to be an internal, not an external man. It is 
 the external man that must have truth finited and clothed, 
 measured down to him in verbal teachings, in accommodation 
 to his state. When very external, truth must come to him 
 verhalized into specific statements of what he must do, and of 
 what he must not do, as a merely physical or sensuous man ; 
 it must, as it were, be pushed down to him in such a form 
 that he can see it sensuously, and feel compelled to obey it, and 
 to obey it, though blindly, as imperative, unintelligible, arbi- 
 trary authority. This is the counterpart of that internal state
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITY. 221 
 
 to wliicli truth comes with no less authority, and with no less 
 imperativeness, but without the appearance of either ; it giving, 
 at the same time, a " perception that it is so," and striking a 
 cordially responsive chord in man's nature. Then there are 
 the intervening states which are, as it were, the " highway" 
 from the former to the latter, and over which we must all 
 pass. These are states in which we are passing from that of 
 the mere blind authority of verbal truth to that of clearly per- 
 ceived " intellectual or spiritual [thus real] truth." We have 
 left our port, have left our " father's house ;" we have too 
 much knowledge and too much rationality to stay where we 
 were, to stay in what was once home to us, to stay longer in, 
 as it were, our " swaddling-clothes," — we have " put out to 
 sea," and a pathless sea. But if we have been obedient to 
 authority we are prepared to navigate the sea ; our ship is fur- 
 nished with all the appliances needed to make our voyage a 
 safe one, and even though the sun by day, and the pole-star by 
 night, be clouded over. We are in a transition state. We are 
 trying our manhood. We have outgrown that blind, sensuous 
 state in which we believed — or thought we did — every word 
 of the Bible, " because the Bible said {1^ We have come 
 into a higher state, in which something within prompts us to 
 inquire whether it is, and why and how it is, — which is neces- 
 sarily a sort of doubting or sceptical state. Our minds are 
 now made up of different materials, have different capacities, 
 and are subject to different influences ; to the mere "sensuals" 
 of the former state we have added, and are adding, "scien- 
 tifics" and " rationals." Rightfully now everything must bear 
 the test of reason, the as yet highest attribute of our nature. 
 The Scriptures which we had obeyed, and the principles we 
 had acquired from mere blind authority, must now be brought 
 to the bar of reason, else we must necessarily remain of the 
 religion in which we were born and educated, and even though 
 this be paganism. 
 
 And here is precisely where the writings of Swcdenborg
 
 222 SWEDENBORG AND THE NEW AGE. 
 
 come in to help us. It is when we have outgrown, and become 
 dissatisfied with, mere sensuous authority, and we yearn for a 
 rational, practical view of things. They are our compass on 
 the sea, but not to be followed blindly, — we should then be no 
 better than we were, — but rationally. They are now to be 
 our authority, but by no means in the sense in which the letter 
 of the Word was to the Israelites ; not authority as the Bible 
 was and is to a state of mere unreasoning " sensuals," but au- 
 thority such as is required by, and is possible to, a state of 
 " scientifics" and " rationals." And what kind of authority is 
 this but rational authority ? And what is that but a satisfac- 
 tion, as well as aid to our reason ? If these Writings do not 
 find a response in our reason, then they are not authority for 
 us ; and to acknowledge them as such would not exactly belittle 
 our manhood, but would show how little manhood we have. 
 Different from the letter of the Scriptures, these Writings are 
 addressed to our reason, and are to be acknowledged by our 
 reason, when truly acknowledged at all. If you choose to 
 express it so, they are the Lord's appeal to our reason; and for 
 this reason they are an appeal made through a most eminently 
 rational medium, and not the less rational because internally 
 inspired or illuminated. But even though the Lord's appeal, 
 even though we admit (which, I repeat, we by no means do) 
 that they are the Lord's writings, thus the Lord's Word, they 
 are, nevertheless, an appeal to reason ; and they must therefore 
 be regarded only as rational authority, or authority to man's 
 reason. And this is the highest and only authority that it is 
 now, while man is in this transition state of scientifics and 
 rationals, possible for him to acknowledge and obey. He can 
 now no more acknowledge sensuous truth as authority than he 
 could, while in mere " sensuals," acknowledge rational truth as 
 authority. And he certainly cannot acknowledge intellectual 
 or perceptive truth until he comes into a state in which he can 
 perceive it. He must first let rational truth do its work — and 
 its work is that of regeneration, as well as of culture and de-
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITY. 223 
 
 velopment — before it will be possible for him to be in a state 
 to perceive truth, thus doctrine tliat " Zi'ves," which is "truth 
 continuous from the Lord," wliich is the doctrine of the New 
 Jerusalem, which doctrine is the New Jerusalem, atid which 
 truth, when perceived or as perceived, is the Advent of the 
 Lord, as shown above from Swedenborg. When rational truth 
 has thus done its work, then, and only then, is a man in a state 
 to " believe first, and afterwards confirm by rational consider- 
 ations." This is what we understand Swedenborg to mean 
 when he says, " Now it is permitted to enter intellectually into 
 the mysteries of faith." Man was not, capable of this before, 
 was not capable of true rationals, and thus of arriving at length 
 at " intellectual truth." His ship was driven hither and thither 
 by every changing " wind of doctrine," he was lost upon the 
 sea and without any intelligible reckonings. Now, on the con- 
 trary, man has his nautical instruments, and knows how to use 
 them and his reckonings, and he trusts in them as his guide 
 until he comes within the range of the reflected light [per- 
 ceptive truth] of his destined port, when he spontaneously 
 abandons all such aids, except as confirmations, and follows 
 his sight. 
 
 8. Conclusion, 
 
 What, then, do all the labored arguments of " Authority in 
 the New Church," and all the zealous cfi"orts to prove that the 
 Writings are the Lord's, amount to ? Why simply this : if a 
 legitimate use has been made of Swedenborg's teachings, if 
 they have not been perverted, and the meaning of extracts 
 from them distorted, — and I do not believe that they have 
 been so, intentionally, — they simply prove that Swedenborg's 
 writings are utterly unworthy of our confidence, either as his 
 writings or as the Lord's writings, and unworthy of Sweden- 
 borg himself, as a man of the New Age. Fur they make 
 Swedenborg contradict, in the most unmistakable manner, the 
 very philosophy of man, of God, and of man's relation to 
 God, which it was the chief aim of his writings to set forth.
 
 224 SWEDEXBORG ASD THE NEW AGE. 
 
 They not onlj fail to recognize, but they make him virtaally 
 contradict hl« most important teachings about the real nature 
 and wants of that most interesting and important transition 
 phase of man's nature interrening between his state of sensuafs 
 and his state of intf:Uectual or perixptiv^e truth. By giving the 
 Writiogs (including even the " Spiritual Diary"), even every 
 verbal statement of them, — the Authority of '• thus saith the 
 Lord,'' they virtually dwarf this part of man's nature down 
 into his state of mere sensuals. They take away man's high- 
 way out of Egypt to Canaan- They carry man back to the 
 old Israelitish state which could be reached only by arbitrary 
 precepts and commands. '•' Thou shalt" and *■ thou shalt not" 
 was the only form of authority that the Israelite could ac- 
 knowledge. And this must be enforced by threatened judg- 
 ments. This, on the contrary, is an age of truth as authority, 
 truth in its form of living light shining in the mind, not of 
 words spoken in the ear. Words, with the real man of this 
 age, &om whatever Source, have no authority, and they should 
 have none, but as they are mediums of intellectual truth, of real 
 living light to the rational faculty. For man is now coming 
 to be man, Godlike man, which he had never been before. 
 
 TThat. then, is the position of the real man of this age — 
 the man of the real Xew Jerusalem — in re^rard to the Writings 
 of Swedenborg ? It is that of a rational inquirer, as in regard 
 to the writings of any other author, weighing them and judg- 
 ing them according to the measure of rational satisfaction he 
 derives from them. They are authority to him just so far. and 
 only so far as they help him to rationally «e« truth, or what is 
 truth to him ; and then it is not the Writings, which are mere 
 statements of truth, but the truth itself thus rationally seen., 
 — which is the Lord — that is the authority. No modest man 
 who considers the real nature of Swedenborg's mission and his 
 wonderful qualifications for it will, for a moment, question the 
 accuracy of his statements, because he does not understand 
 them, or because they seem, inconsistent with other statements ;
 
 DOCTRINE AND THE HOLY CITY. 225 
 
 but he will not be a blind slave to them ; he will simply sus- 
 pend his judgment, remembering that he is yet groping in 
 comparative darkness, under the clouds, low down on the ac- 
 clivity of the mountain, whilst Swedenborg, when he wrote, 
 had risen above the clouds into the bright light of the summit. 
 The Divine ivords — but words enforced by the terrible quak- 
 ings and thunderings of the burning Mount — were authority 
 to the sensuous Israelites ; the Lord's personal teachings, 
 when confirmed by " signs and wonders," were authority to 
 the only less dark-minded christian ; but it is truth rafionaUi/ 
 seen, thus the real spirit of the Word, that is to be authority 
 to the " coming man." We go to Swedenborg, as to one who 
 has gone before, for a verbal descnjjtion of the way of life ; 
 we go to the Word, thus to the Lord, for light to shine in the 
 way. And this is the difference between the Lord's writings 
 — Sacred Scripture — and Swcdenborg's writings ; the former, 
 being correspondences, are mediums of light as well as of 
 verbal instruction, thus of conjunction with the Lord ; whilst 
 the latter, not being correspondences, are mediums only of 
 verbal teachings about the Light, thus about the Lord. Swed- 
 enborg wrote while in the light, thus as illuminated by it ; but 
 the light did not flow down through his pen into his words 
 and illuminate them, nor did it make them mediums of light 
 to the reader. The Prophets, on the contrary, did not write 
 in the light, yet their words, being the Lord's words, and 
 therefore correspondences, were, qualifiedly, mediums of the 
 light to the devout reader. Swedenborg's writings, therefore, 
 are simply mediums of rational instruction ; the Word, besides, 
 of spiritually warming, illuminating, living light. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 ir
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
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