Doctrines of the Lord—The Sacred Scripture, Faith, and Life.
In 1763, Swedenborg published, at Amsterdam, the following works:—1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord; 2. The Sacred Scripture; 3. Faith; 4. Life; 5. Continuation respecting the Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon; and 6. Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. We will now speak of these works seriatim.
1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, is a small treatise: but within its limits is concentrated so much light and rationality, that we might say the question it deals with was finally settled, did we not too well know the perversity and pertinacity of theological error, in closing the mind against the perception of truth, though it were manifested with angelic wisdom.
The great truth in the treatise is the Supreme Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This truth is brought forth from the collation of nearly every passage of Scripture which, in the literal sense, bears upon the subject. It is shown, by an invincible logic, that there is but one God; and that, in the Bible itself, the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead is not to be found. It is then shown that God the Lord, in the fullness of time, came to earth, and put on human nature, or became incarnate. The object sought to be effected by the incarnation, was the salvation of man. From the days of Adam, mankind had been treading a downward path. Through wickedness, all true faith and spirituality had perished. Hell had drawn near to men, even to the possession of their bodies, as we read in the Gospels. Isaiah describes the state of mankind thus: “Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure.” Humanity was thus hastening to destruction, and final extinction. But the Lord Jehovah interposed. Clothing himself with an arm of flesh, he met the powers of hell on their own ground; and rendering himself accessible to their attacks, in a series of the most direful temptation-combats, He reduced Hell to order, and redeemed mankind forever from the absolute dominion of devils. But this was not all. The human nature that the Lord had assumed, full of hereditary corruption, was taken from the race of Jewish kings, the most depraved and perverted to be found on earth. He purified, glorified, and made it divine, ascending with it to heaven. The new influences flowing through the medium of this Divine Humanity, are called the Holy Spirit. Of the truth of this we have the most convincing proof in John vii. 39, where it is said, “the Holy Ghost was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
From this it is very evident that the Trinity is not, as commonly taught, a Trinity of persons, but of principles. In ourselves we see a finite image of this Divine and Infinite Trinity. The soul of man may be taken as the representative of Jehovah; his body represents the Divine Humanity, or Jesus Christ; and his action or influence on others corresponds to the Holy Spirit. Regarded in this light, that most mystical and incomprehensible dogma of three Persons, and yet one God, is annihilated, and we come into the enjoyment of a faith at once scriptural, intelligible, and rational. It is impossible for us here to go into the details of this doctrine, or give even an outline of its proofs. To an earnest seeker after truth we can conceive no pleasure exceeding an acquaintance with this treatise on the Lord. If, especially, he has vexed and worn himself in reading the profitless controversies and lucubrations of learned divines on the Trinity, his fretted and heated mind will experience a spiritual relief similar to the natural one which results when patience has become exhausted in vain endeavors to unfasten a lock, and a skilled mechanic draws near, takes the work out of our hands, and with dexterity and ease accomplishes the task in a moment. Swedenborg lays his hand on the tangled mass of mysticism and perverted Scripture, and straightway the Gordian knot is untied. The simplicity of explanation fills us with amazement, and we wonder that it was never done before.
2. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Sacred Scripture, next demands our attention. The primary truth of this treatise is, that the Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is Divine Truth itself, thus the Lord himself. Let us see how this can be.
We are too apt to abstract books from their authors, and to regard them as matters impersonal,—as type and paper merely. Now this is a childish error, and a proof of the loose and external way in which we are accustomed to think. When I speak, or write, I manifest spiritual influences; and the force of these influences is proportionate to my earnestness, and their effect is proportionate to the state of reception of my hearers. Words are thus perceived to be the representatives of spiritual forces. The action of spirit on spirit is inappreciable by the senses; but could we look behind the veil of nature when a crowd or a congregation is swayed hither and thither by the speech of one man, we should see that the influence exerted was as real and actual as muscular force. From this we learn that words are not mere sounds, but are the sheaths or cases of spiritual life, and on this ground we at once see the force of the Lord’s declaration, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John vi. 63.
When we think of the Lord’s words, we must conjoin with the thought an idea of the Divine Nature and Attributes. The Lord’s speech being the manifestation of His life, must partake of its every quality, thus of infinity and of independence of time, and consequently of adaptation to every possible condition of mind, for infinity includes all. Bearing these facts in mind, we can easily perceive how true it is that the Word is the Lord Himself.
But while the Word in its inmost is the Lord, and is thus infinite, yet as apprehended by man, who is finite, it necessarily wears a finite aspect. It is plain that as man’s ideas become sensualized and bound down to matter, his view of the Divine Truth, or Word, must involve many illusions; true, certainly, in relation to him, but very far removed from the absolute Divine Truth. Now the literal sense of the Word, as we read it in our Bibles, is the presentation, if we may so phrase it, of the aspect of the Lord to the natural man, whose senses constitute his court of appeal. The Jews, to whom the Word in its literal sense was delivered, were just such men.
Above this natural state of mind, there are two marked grades of intelligence—the spiritual and celestial. To these, the Lord’s words bear a far wider meaning, and are more fully instinct with the glory of the Divine Wisdom, and the warmth of the Divine Love.
It is thus said that the Word of God has three senses—the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial. We attribute these senses to the Word: more correctly we should charge them to the universal human mind, whose capacity of reception they express. To no two men, or angels, does the Lord,—or in fact anything,—bear precisely the same appearance, or suggest the same meaning.
These three grades, separated by discrete degrees, make up the universe of humanity; and the enlightened eye of the true philosopher may trace in every object of external creation an image and representation of them. But space forbids further explanation on this head; our author’s reasoning is, moreover, so closely linked as to admit of no curtailment. Suffice to say, that after demonstrating the existence of an internal sense in the Scripture, he proceeds to show the many uses of the literal sense, and, at the same time, the manifold abuses to which it is liable, when the laws by which it is written are not understood.
Accepting the sublime philosophy of this treatise, we find in it a perfect refuge from the attacks of the sceptic, and discover a thousand reasons for one we had before, for loving God’s Holy Book, trusting in its wisdom, and committing our lives to its guidance.
3. The Doctrine of Faith of the New Jerusalem, may be best understood by a few extracts from the treatise itself. Swedenborg writes: “The idea attached to the term faith at the present day is this, that it consists in thinking a thing to be so, because it is taught by the church, and because it does not fall within the scope of the understanding. For it is usual with those who inculcate it, to say, ‘You must believe, and not doubt.’ If you answer: ‘I do not comprehend it,’ it is replied: ‘That is the very circumstance which makes a doctrine an object of faith.’ Thus the faith of the present day is a faith in what is not known, and may be called a blind faith: and as being the dictate of one person abiding in the mind of another, it is a historical faith. But this is not spiritual faith.
“Genuine faith is an acknowledgment that a thing is so, because it is true. For he who is in genuine faith thinks and speaks to this effect:—‘This is true; and therefore I believe it.’ For faith is the assurance with which we embrace that which is true; and that which is true is the proper object of faith. A person of this character, also, if he does not comprehend a sentiment, and see its truth, will say: ‘I do not know whether this is true or not; therefore I do not yet believe it. How can I believe what I do not comprehend? Perhaps it may be false.’
“But the common language is, that nobody can comprehend things of a spiritual or theological nature, because they transcend our natural faculties. Spiritual truths, however, are as capable of being comprehended as natural truths. The reason that spiritual things admit of being comprehended, is, because man, as to his understanding, is capable of being elevated into the light of heaven, in which light no other objects appear than such as are spiritual.
“Hence now it is that those who are in the spiritual affection of truth, enjoy an internal acknowledgment of it. As the angels are in that affection, they utterly reject the tenet that the understanding ought to be kept in subjection to faith: for they say, ‘How can you believe a thing, when you do not see whether it is true or not?’ And should any one affirm that what he advances must nevertheless be believed, they reply: ‘Do you think yourself a God, that I am to believe you? or that I am mad, that I should believe an assertion in which I do not see any truth? If I must believe it, cause me to see it.’ The dogmatizer is thus constrained to retire. Indeed, the wisdom of the angels consists solely in this, that they see and comprehend what they think.
“There is a spiritual idea of which few have any knowledge, which enters by influx into the minds of those who are in the affection of truth, and dictates interiorly whether the thing which they are hearing or reading is true or not. In this idea are those who read the Word in illumination from the Lord. To be in illumination is to be in perception. Those who are in this illumination are said to be taught of Jehovah, and of them it is said in Jeremiah: ‘Behold, the days come that I will make a new covenant:—this shall be the covenant,—I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know ye the Lord; for they shall all know me.’ xxxi. 31, 33, 34.
“From these considerations it is plain that faith and truth are one. This also is the reason that the ancients, who were more accustomed to think of truth from affection than the moderns, instead of faith used the word truth: and for the same reason, in the Hebrew language, truth and faith are expressed by one and the same word, amuna, or amen.
“If any one thinks with himself, or says to another, ‘Who can have that internal acknowledgment of truth which is faith? I can not.’ I will tell him how he may. Shun evils as sins, and apply to the Lord; then you will have as much as you desire.”
Such then is the New Church doctrine of faith. Faith is the perception and acknowledgment of truth from a right understanding of it. True faith is something that grows. It is not the gift of a moment. It is attained by leading a good life, and through obedience to the truth so far as we know it. In the course of time we find that a pure life is clearing our spiritual vision, and extending its range. Spiritual truths which we had laid up in our memories, and perhaps fancied that we had believed, are brought forth, are seen in new and striking light, are elevated into the understanding, and are in reality believed. Thus a living faith is attained. This doctrine finds a Divine seal in these words of the Lord: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.” John vii. 17.
The remainder of this little treatise is taken up with an exposure of the fallacies involved in the common doctrines of faith prevailing in the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. Faith separated from charity, is proved to have no existence, because evil can by no possibility love truth. Spiritual and Divine Truth may, it is true, be reasoned upon, defended, and expounded, by wicked men, for the promotion of their own selfish ends; but internally they are in deep hatred and denial of them, and in the other life their detestation of them causes them to cast them forth even from the memory. Thus the wicked have no faith and no truth.
4. The treatise on the Doctrine of Life is a brief and compendious exposition of the nature of that life which leads to heaven and happiness. In the first place, it asserts that all religion has relation to life, and that the life of religion is to do good; agreeable to the Lord’s saying: “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.” John xiii. 17. It is then shown that no one can do good, which is really good, from himself, as is taught in John, where we read: “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven,” iii. 27; and again: “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing;”—“He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit,” signifies that all good is from the Lord; fruit signifies good: “without me ye can do nothing,” signifies that no one can do good from himself.
Now, it may be asked, “Why can a man not do good of himself?” For this simple reason, that, as there is no goodness out of the Lord, if man does good, his power and disposition to do it must, in all certainty, be derived from the Lord alone. Man, in his highest state, is but a medium for the manifestation of the Divine Life or Goodness. Yet while only a medium, he must act in freedom, as of himself. The appearance is that the good he does is self-originated, and born of his own will; and this appearance can never be removed, because on it depends his freedom of action. Man must subdue all tendencies to spiritual pride arising therefrom, by habitual reference to the truth that the Lord is all in all; and that if he has done good, or been useful, he has been indebted for the motive as well as for the wisdom, to the Divine Mercy alone; as Paul said to the Philippians: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” ii. 15. While thus saved by the Divine Mercy, through a good life, and brought into spiritual health by obedience to divine laws, man has no reason whatever to boast, or to take credit to himself for his bliss and salvation. The advocates of justification and salvation by faith alone, charge spiritual pride and merit, as a necessity, upon all who believe that heaven and its happiness are attained through the regenerative influence of a good life; but this accusation falls to the ground when it is acknowledged that the power to lead a good life is the continual gift and inspiration of God. If man would only think truly, he would see that humility is the acknowledgment of the grand primal truth of existence, that nothing we have or can do that is good, is of ourselves, but solely of the Lord; and that just as we are left to ourselves and our own wisdom, we do evil, and perpetrate folly and mischief. Salvation through a good life, when thus rightly stated and understood, is seen to involve nothing of merit, but only the strongest reasons for gratitude, humility, and worship.