The White Horse—The Earths in the Universe—The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine.
1. The treatise on the White Horse mentioned in the Apocalypse, forms a tract of about twenty pages. It is an exposition of the spiritual sense of Revelation xix. 11-16. It is shown that by the heavens being opened, the White Horse, and its rider, are represented the Lord and his Word, and the quality of those to whom the internal truth of the Word is revealed. The particulars of the text are all gone into and expounded, and copious references made to the Arcana Cœlestia for fuller details. It is to be noted that voluminous as are Swedenborg’s theological works, that they form one harmonious whole bound together in the unity of truth, and mutually confirming each other. Literature, we believe, contains no example of so great a mass of writing permeated with such a consistent spirit, and so little affected by the author’s humors and fluctuations of mood. So far does this uniform spirit extend, that, had it been possible, we might imagine his many volumes had been struck out of thought in one short day, instead of being written continuously through a course of nearly thirty years.
In this small treatise we have a list of the books in our Bible which form the true Word of God. They are, in the Old Testament, the five books of Moses; the book of Joshua; the book of Judges; the two books of Samuel; the two books of Kings; the Psalms of David; the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; and, in the New Testament, the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and the Revelation. The rest have not the internal sense, and are not to be regarded as a part of the inspired Word. We shall have to speak of the plenary inspiration of the Word, when we come to Swedenborg’s treatise on the Sacred Scripture, and show how broad is the line of distinction between the Word of God and the writings of men. It requires but a slight acquaintance with the doctrine of correspondences, to perceive that this distinction between the books contained within the covers of the authorized version of the Bible is not arbitrary; that it is a distinction as marked and visible as that between God and man, or nature and art. Apart, however, from the doctrine of correspondences, the distinction may be sustained by the authority of the Jews, and the indirect testimony of many of the Fathers of the Christian Church, coupled with numerous natural reasons founded on a critical examination of style, etc.
“The book of Job,” says Swedenborg, “was a book of the Ancient Church,” and therefore, with the exception of the first chapters of Genesis, is the oldest portion of the Bible. It has a kind of internal sense, but not like that of the Word.
The exclusion of the Epistles from the Books of the Word, is perhaps, to a new reader, the most startling of Swedenborg’s announcements. For this exclusion and its reasons, we will simply quote his own words. Writing to Dr. Beyer, he says: “With regard to the writings of St. Paul, and the other Apostles, I have not given them a place in my ‘Arcana Cœlestia,’ because they are dogmatic writings merely, and are not written in the style of the Word, as are those of the Prophets, of David, of the Evangelists, and of the Revelation of St. John. The style of the Word consists throughout in correspondences, and thence effects immediate communication with heaven; but the style of these dogmatic writings is quite different, having, indeed, communication with heaven, but only mediately or indirectly. The reason why the Apostles wrote in this style, was, that the First Christian Church was then to begin through them; consequently, the same style as is used in the Word would not have been proper for such doctrinal tenets, which required plain and simple language, suited to the capacities of all readers. Nevertheless, the writings of the Apostles are very good books for the Church, inasmuch as they insist on the doctrine of charity, and faith from charity, as strongly as the Lord himself has done in the Gospels, and the Revelation of St. John, as will appear evidently to any one who studies these writings with attention.”
2. The treatise on the “Earths in the Universe” is formed from several of those portions of the “Arcana Cœlestia,” occurring between the chapters, expository of the spiritual sense of Genesis and Exodus. It forms a pamphlet of about fifty pages.
Many and prolonged have been the discussions as to whether other planets are, like our own, the abodes of human beings. Great as has been the progress of astronomical science, the learned are yet far from being unanimous on the question, as is evident from the recent controversy between Prof. Whewell and Sir David Brewster. Swedenborg does not entertain us with prolix reasonings as to whether or not the earths of the universe are inhabited. That was a question far too trivial for his masculine understanding. He saw that these vast spaces were not formed by the Lord, except for the highest end, the creation of a heaven of intelligent human beings, capable of satisfying the infinite desires of Divine Love. The earths of the universe are peopled even as our own globe, or are in course of preparation for it. Any other view than this is unworthy of acceptance, and dishonorable to the highest truths of reason and revelation.
Swedenborg was permitted to see, and hold converse with, the inhabitants of other earths; and most interesting are his relations concerning them. Wilkinson aptly remarks that the work now under consideration “may be characterized as a Report on the Religion of the Universe.” Swedenborg tells us that the dwellers in these distant spheres think of the Lord and worship him. He describes the quality of their love and wisdom, and how they conduct themselves toward each other. It is a pleasant thought that the people of this world are the worst of humanity, the most sensual, and the least abounding in true intelligence and spirituality. In other words there is sin, and its consequent suffering, arising from the same cause as with us; but it is not so deep nor so wide spread. The fact of the Divine Incarnation is likewise known in other worlds, and is regarded as the great truth of faith.
Swedenborg affirms that the moon is inhabited. We know that even those scientific men who hold to the doctrine of a plurality of worlds, do not believe in the habitability of the moon; because, say they, it lacks alike water and atmosphere. To say that it has no atmosphere is very unphilosophical. The atmosphere may not be of the same density as that of our earth; but that it should have no sphere or aura around it, we cannot for a moment believe. Swedenborg tells us that the Lunarians are dwarfs, like boys of seven years old, with robust bodies and pleasant countenances. They do not speak from their lungs, on account of the attenuated nature of their atmosphere, but from a quantity of air collected in the abdomen.
It is but just to state that Swedenborg speaks of Saturn as the outermost planet of the solar system, he not being permitted to anticipate Herschel or Neptune. An opponent might make merry over this, and say: “Don’t you see that Swedenborg was but a dreamer? How could he know aught of the inhabitants of other earths when he did not even know that beyond Saturn rolled two immense worlds?” We reply, that it would have been disorderly for him to have become possessed of such knowledge by spiritual means. “But how so?” Because it would have compelled belief in the spiritual doctrines he taught, without due thought and examination, as soon as science had established the existence of these orbs; because miracles and prophecy are not permitted in these times, for they force and destroy man’s freedom. How easy it would be for the Lord to witness to the truth of His Word by supernatural signs in the natural world! Yet he does not, although belief in his Word, and life according to it, is essential to man’s highest happiness. Belief so induced would be worthless, because compelled. It may be said that this is mere special pleading; but it is not so. The laws laid down in a later work of Swedenborg’s, on the “Divine Providence,” fortify, in a most rational manner, the truth as we have endeavoured to set it forth. It is also to be remarked that natural truth must be discovered by its appropriate means,—natural investigation. It was necessary that Swedenborg should be skilled in all natural science previous to his illumination, so that he might possess a basis for many spiritual facts which could neither have been expressed nor made intelligible without at the same time giving their correspondence in nature. It would have been altogether contrary to the Divine order to have taken Swedenborg in his early youth and ignorance, and, making him a seer, have communicated natural truth to him in a supernatural manner.
3. “The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine” is a brief exposition of the leading truths of the New Church. After each of its chapters follow references, (in some cases more extensive than the chapter itself,) to the “Arcana Cœlestia.” These references, so numerous in Swedenborg’s writings, do not form a dry and unreadable index, but may be looked on as a series of precepts pertaining to moral and spiritual life. Were we gathering a volume of gems of thought, we should find an abundance to suit our purposes in these references.
This work has been printed as a cheap pamphlet. We know of no other work which could more appropriately be placed in the hands of a stranger desiring to know, without much reading, the nature of those doctrines which Swedenborg was commissioned to reveal to the world.