The True Christian Religion.
In the early part of 1771, Swedenborg published his “True Christian Religion, or, Universal Theology of the New Church;” and in August of the same year took ship, and left Amsterdam for London. Let us now turn to the consideration of his last great work,—a summary of the doctrines he was commissioned to teach.
“The True Christian Religion, containing the Universal Theology of the New Church,” the last work published by Swedenborg, may be looked upon as the summary of his spiritual thought, his theological labors, his heavenly message to mankind. In its ninth English edition, it forms a large octavo volume of 815 pages, and is a complete body of divinity. It is divided into fifteen chapters, a Supplement treating of the states of Luther, Calvin, and Melancthon, the Dutch, English, Germans, Papists, Romish saints, Mahommedans, and the Africans, in the spiritual world; and seventy-seven memorable relations of scenes and representations witnessed in that world, interspersed between the various chapters; altogether forming a volume unique in literature, ancient or modern. At the risk of an occasional repetition of what has before been said, let us take a rapid survey of the contents of this massive and marvellous work.
Chapter I. treats of God the Creator, His Unity, the Divine Esse which is Jehovah, His Infinity or His Immensity and Eternity, the Essence of God which is His Divine Love and Wisdom, His Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence, and of the creation of the universe. On these sublime subjects, themes on which, for ages, the weary reason of man has exerted itself with the poorest results, Swedenborg, with a mathematical exactness, sets forth the true doctrine; and with a simplicity of logic which at every step calls the Word of God, and the reason and common sense of man, to witness; leading the reader to wonder why truths so simple, so soul-satisfying, should have been hidden from human eyes so long. Whilst elucidating subjects commonly supposed to transcend human ideas, and yet which humanity is ever restless to discover,—reverence is in nowise deprived of its exercise. It is a great mistake, yet a common one, to associate mystery with true reverence; to talk of “ignorance” as “the mother of devotion.” Let any one ask himself whether the reverence of Sir Isaac Newton for that God whose operations in the universe he was favored to discover, was inferior to that of an ignorant devotee, or an illiterate peasant. No. A knowledge of God and His attributes is no destroyer of faith, reverence, or devotion, but the reverse. Our knowledge of Him, however extended, is but the enlargement of a circle, which, as it is enlarged, expands our conception of the infinity beyond. Hence it is that whilst this chapter on God the Creator, goes into details which are the death of mysticism, the truths which it opens to the mind lead to an intelligent and reverential love, to which ignorance can never attain.
Chapter II. is devoted to the consideration of the Lord the Redeemer. It tells how Jehovah God descended and assumed humanity, that He might redeem and save mankind; and how the humanity was united to the Divinity, and thus God was made man, and man God, in one Person; that Redemption consisted in bringing the hells into subjection, and the heavens into order, and in thus preparing the way for a new spiritual Church; and how, without such Redemption, neither could men have been saved, nor could the angels have remained in a state of integrity. Thus Redemption was a work purely divine, and could not have been effected but by God Incarnate. The passion of the cross was in itself alone not Redemption, but was the last temptation the Lord endured in His Humanity; and it was the means of the glorification of that humanity. Hence it is a fundamental error of the Church to believe the passion of the cross to be Redemption itself; and this error, together with that relating to three Divine Persons from eternity, has perverted the whole system of Christian theology.
Chapter III. sets forth the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the Divine Operation. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth, and also the Divine Virtue and Operation, proceeding from the One God, in whom there is the Divine Trinity, thus from the Lord God the Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Divine Virtue and Operation in and on humanity, signified by the Holy Spirit, consists, in general, in reformation and regeneration; and, in proportion as these are effected, in renovation, vivification, sanctification, and justification; and in proportion as these are effected, in purification from evils, remission of sins, and finally salvation. The Holy Spirit being the efflux of Jehovah through the glorified humanity, did not exist until after the incarnation. Hence it is nowhere said in the Old Testament, that the prophets spoke from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah God. We have a beautiful and irresistible confirmation of this truth in these words, “for the Holy Spirit was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” John vii. 39.
In this chapter he also speaks of the Trinity. There is a Divine Trinity, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and these three are the three Essentials of One God,—which make a One, like soul, body, and operation in man. To conceive of a Trinity of Divine persons from eternity, is to think of three Gods; and no amount of word-playing and creed-making can prevent the mind from falling into Tritheism, as long as a Trinity of persons and not of essentials is spoken and thought of. A Trinity of persons was unknown in the Apostolic Church. The doctrine was first broached by the Council of Nice, and thence received into the Roman Catholic Church, and thus propagated among the Reformed Churches. The Nicene and Athanasian doctrines concerning a Trinity, have, together, given rise to a faith which has entirely perverted the Christian Church; and hence has come that “abomination of desolation, and that affliction, such as was not in all the world, neither shall be,” which the Lord has foretold in Daniel, the Evangelists, and the Revelation. For when the Church ceases to know its God, the central point of all faith and doctrine, all subsidiary points must necessarily become involved in darkness. And thus it is that the Athanasian creed has given rise to so many absurd notions about God, and hence, also, to an innumerable brood of heresies and phantasies on every point of doctrine and life, so much so, that had not the Lord effected a Last Judgment in 1757, and established a New Heaven and a New Church, no flesh could have been saved. The “healing of the nations,” the new life, light and heat, that have coursed through humanity during the past century, attest the working of Omnipotence for the salvation and restoration of what is most valuable and precious in man.
Chapter IV. is an exposition of the nature of the Sacred Scripture, or the Word of the Lord, proving it to be the Divine Truth itself. The spiritual sense of the Word, and the means by which it is unfolded, together with the law of its composition, are explained at length, and with great perspicuity. It is shown that the spiritual sense is in all and every part of the Word, that hence it is divinely inspired, and is holy in every syllable. Nevertheless the literal sense is not to be disregarded. It is the basis, the continent, and the firmament of the spiritual sense; in it the Divine Truth is in its fullness, its sanctity, and its power; from it the doctrine of the Church is to be drawn and confirmed; and by it conjunction with the Lord and consociation with the angels is effected. The Word is in all the heavens, and the wisdom of the angels is thence derived. The Church exists from the Word, and the quality of the Church with man is according to his understanding of the Word. The marriage of Goodness and Truth, and of the Lord and the Church, is in every part of the Word. Men may collect and imbibe heretical opinions from the letter of the Word; but it is hurtful to confirm such opinions. Many things in the Word are appearances of truth, in which genuine truths lie concealed; and many fallacies arise from the taking of these appearances of truth for genuine or absolute truth. The literal sense of the Word is a guard to the genuine truths contained in it, and in the Word is represented by cherubs. To the wicked, it is a mercy that spiritual truth is thus hidden; for if known and not obeyed, it is profaned, and profanation involves the deepest suffering and distress. The Lord, during his abode in the world, fulfilled all things contained in the Word, and was thus made the Word, that is, the Divine Truth, even in ultimates. Previous to the Word which the world now possesses, there was a Word which is lost, but is preserved in heaven among the angels who lived as men in those times, and is also extant among certain nations in Great Tartary, who, however, have probably no true idea of the treasure they possess. By means of the Word, light is communicated to those who are out of the pale of the Church, and are not in possession of the Word. This is effected outwardly by the communications of commerce, with those nations who have the Word; and internally and insensibly by that community of soul which makes humanity appear before the Lord as one man. There is no thought conceived, no deed done, but which radiates from soul to soul, and produces effects of which the doer is not conscious. Thus it is that the Church—composed of the men who read, love, and obey the Word—benefits the world, and conjoins it with heaven and the Lord. Without the Word, no one would have any knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, or of a life after death, and much less of the Lord. The multiplicity of points involved in these statements, receive, in this chapter on the Sacred Scripture, most copious illustrations, both from the Word itself, and from the common experience of mankind. In reading this chapter, every candid person will feel that, strange and novel as many of the statements are, he is not dealing with a mere theorizer; and that facts and even Revelation itself must be done away, ere the doctrine of the Sacred Scripture here revealed can be overthrown or proved erroneous.
Chapter V. explains the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments, as to their external and internal sense. The Decalogue, in the Israelitish Church, was the very essence of holiness, and from it the ark and the tabernacle derived their sanctity. In the Ten Commandments are contained all things which relate to love to God, and love towards our neighbor. In its literal sense, the Decalogue contains general precepts of doctrine and life, but in its spiritual and celestial sense it contains all precepts universally. Swedenborg then takes up each commandment singly, and gives an exposition of its literal, spiritual, and celestial application; and when he has done this, we perceive that these Ten Commandments, which every school-boy repeats and feels he understands, nevertheless contain all precepts, and are such as may afford guidance to the wisest angel, and that man can never outgrow them. Taking, for instance, the Seventh Commandment, (the eighth, according to the common numbering,) “Thou shalt not steal,” he explains it in the natural sense, after the common acceptation. In the spiritual sense, he shows that to steal means to deprive others of the truths which they embrace in faith, in teaching doctrines known to be false, or teaching for the sake of gain; and in destroying in others, either by word or deed, those truths which lead to salvation. In the celestial sense, to steal is to take away divine power from the Lord, to be vain, to be proud, to arrogate to ourselves the merit and righteousness which are the divine gifts. All who do such things, notwithstanding their seeming adoration of God, do not trust in Him, but in themselves; and likewise do not believe in God, but in themselves; they steal from God; they are spiritual thieves; and every one who knows his own heart, must know how often he must refer to this commandment, in order to govern his life, and restrain his thoughts, before he can know perfect obedience, and be in truth a child of God. As with this commandment, so with all. We need to think of them every day, and to use them in all our states. If we purpose to lead a true and happy life, we must cherish them as constant companions.
Chapter VI. treats of Faith. Faith, it is said, is first in regard to time, and charity is first in regard to end; that is, the use of faith is to lead to charity. A saving faith is a faith in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, because He is the visible God in whom is the invisible. Faith, in general, consists in a belief that the Lord will save all who live a good life and believe aright; and a man receives this faith in consequence of approaching the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living a life in conformity with them. Faith without charity is not faith, and charity without faith is not charity; and neither faith nor charity has any life in it but from the Lord. Although a man has power given him to procure for himself faith and charity, and the life of faith and charity, yet nothing of faith, charity, or the life of either, is from man, but from the Lord alone. Charity and faith are together in good works; for charity consists in willing what is good, and good works consist in doing what is good, from and under the influence of a good will; and both charity and faith are merely mental and perishable things, unless they are determined to works, and coexist in them, whenever there is opportunity. The wicked have no faith, because wickedness is of hell, and faith is of heaven, and all the truth of faith is derived from heaven. Faith cannot dwell with evil, for evil is like fire,—infernal fire being the love of evil, which consumes faith like stubble, and reduces it and all that belongs to it to ashes. Evil dwells in darkness, and faith in light; and evil by means of the falsehood which it loves, extinguishes faith, as darkness does light. And because the world is at this day full of evil, (notwithstanding the morality of life, and the rationality with which faith is spoken and written about,) of true faith there is almost none, because of goodness there is almost none.
Chapter VII. discourses of love towards our neighbor, and good works. It is introduced by the statement that there are three universal loves, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and the love of self. These three loves, when they are in right subordination, make a man perfect; but when they are not in right subordination, they pervert and invert him. The love of self and of the world are not in themselves evil. When the love of heaven, that is, the love of God, of goodness and truth, is supreme in the mind, and the world is loved as a means to do good, and self is cared for that uses to the neighbor may be performed,—then the love of self and of the world are orderly and justifiable. But when the love of God and heaven is dethroned, and the love of self or of the world rules, and a man is religious and just only so far as religion and justice conduce to self-interest and thus God and justice and all things holy are put to vile uses, then the soul of man is inverted,—is a form of hell; and in the light of heaven appears bestial, ugly, and deformed.
Every individual man is the neighbor whom we ought to love, but according to the quality of his goodness or his life. Man considered collectively, that is, as a lesser or larger society, and considered under the idea of compound societies, that is, as our country,—is the neighbor that ought to be loved. The Church is our neighbor, to be loved in a still higher degree, and the Lord’s kingdom is our neighbor to be loved in the highest degree. To love the neighbor is not to love his person, but the good which is in him. Charity itself consists in acting justly and faithfully in whatever office, business, and employment a person is engaged, and with whomsoever he has any connection. Eleemosynary acts of charity consist in giving to the poor, and relieving the indigent, but with prudence. There are public, domestic, and private duties of charity. Public duties of charity are, more especially, the payment of imposts and taxes. These are paid with different feelings by those who are spiritual and by those who are natural: those who are spiritual pay them out of good will, because they are collected for the preservation and protection of their country and the church, and as a provision for the proper officers and governors, who must receive their salaries out of the public treasury, therefore those who consider their country and the church as their neighbor, pay such debts cheerfully and with a willing mind, and consider it a wicked act either to withhold them or to use any deceit in the payment; whereas those who do not esteem their country and the church as their neighbor, pay such debts with a reluctant and unwilling mind, and, as often as they have an opportunity, withhold them, or use some fraud in the payment; for they regard only their own house and their own flesh as their neighbor. The domestic duties of charity are of several kinds, as those of a husband to his wife, and of a wife to her husband; of parents to their children, and of children to their parents; likewise of a master and mistress to their servants, and of servants to their master and mistress. There are so many duties relating to the education of children, and the government of families, that it would require a volume to enumerate them. As to what particularly regards the duties of parents to their children, there is an intrinsic difference in this respect with those who are under the influence of charity, and with those who are not, although externally the duties may appear similar. With those who are under the influence of charity, parental affection is joined with love toward their neighbor and love to God, and such parents love their children according to their morals, virtues, pursuits, and qualifications for the service of the public; but with those who are not under the influence of charity, there is no conjunction of charity with parental affection; the consequence is, that such parents frequently love wicked, immoral, and crafty children, more than those who are good, moral, and prudent; and thus prefer such as are unserviceable to the public, before such as are serviceable. Private duties of charity are also of several kinds, such as paying wages to workmen, returning borrowed money, observing agreements, keeping pledges, and other transactions of a like nature, some of which are duties grounded in statute law, some in civil law, and some in moral law. These duties, also, are discharged from different motives by those who are under the influence of charity, and by those who are not; by the former they are discharged faithfully and justly, for the law of charity requires that a man should so act in all his dealings, with whomsoever he may have any connection; but these duties are discharged in a totally different manner by those who are not influenced by charity. Then there are convivial recreations of charity, which consist of dinners and suppers and social intercourse. Every one knows that dinner and supper parties are in general use, and are given to promote various ends; by many on account of friendship, relationship, mirth, gain, recompense, and for party purposes of corruption; among the great they are given on account of their dignity; and in the palaces of kings, for the display of splendor and magnificence. But dinners and suppers of charity are given only by those who are influenced by mutual love grounded in a similarity of faith. Among Christians in the Primitive Church, dinners and suppers had this end alone in view, and were called feasts, being instituted that they might meet together in cordial joy and friendly union. At table, the guests conversed together on various subjects, domestic and civil, but particularly on such as concerned the Church; and as these feasts were feasts of charity, their conversation on every subject was influenced by charity, with all its joys and delights. The spiritual sphere which prevailed on such occasions, was a sphere of love to the Lord and toward the neighbor, which exhilarated every mind, softened the tone of every expression, and communicated to all the senses a festivity from the heart; for from every man there emanates a spiritual sphere, derived from the affection of his love and corresponding thought, which inwardly affects those in his company, particularly at the time of convivial recreations.
The first part of charity consists in putting away evils, and the second in doing actions that are useful to our neighbor. It is believed by many, at the present day, that charity consists only in doing good, and that while a man is doing good, he does no evil; consequently, that the first part of charity is to do good, and the second not to do evil: but the case is altogether the reverse, it being the first part of charity to put away evil, and the second to do good. For it is a universal law in the spiritual world, and thence too in the natural world, that so far as a person wills no evil, he wills what is good; consequently, so far as he turns himself away from hell, whence all evil ascends, he turns himself toward heaven, whence all good descends; and, therefore, so far as any one rejects the devil, he is accepted by the Lord. In performing the exercises of charity, a man does not ascribe merit to works, so long as he believes that all good is from the Lord. Moral life, if it is at the same time spiritual life, is charity. The friendship of love, contracted with a person without regard to his spiritual quality, is detrimental after death. The friendship of love, among the wicked, is intestine hatred toward each other. There is spurious charity, hypocritical charity, and dead charity. There can be no such thing as genuine charity, which is living, unless it make one with faith, and unless both in conjunction look to the Lord. Spurious charity is such as is the charity of those who hold to faith alone for salvation, and who say charity is of no account in leading to heaven. Such charity as these may have is spurious, because not spiritual, and merely performed from selfish and worldly motives. Hypocritical charity is predicable of those who, in public or private worship, bow themselves almost to the ground before God, pour forth long prayers with great devotion, put on a sanctified appearance, kiss crucifixes and bones of the dead, and kneel at sepulchers, and there mutter words expressive of holy veneration toward God, and yet, in their hearts nourish self-worship, and seek to be adored like so many deities. Dead charity is predicable of those whose faith is dead, since the quality of charity depends on the quality of faith. Faith is dead in all who are without works, and in those who believe not in God, but in living and dead men, and worship idols as if they were holy in themselves, after the practice of the old Gentiles.
Chapter VIII. is devoted to the vexed question of Free-Determination, or Free-Will. The doctrines of the Church, as commonly held, are first stated, and then the New Church doctrine on the question is explained under the following heads:—The two trees in the garden of Eden, one of life, and the other of the knowledge of good and evil, signify the free-will which man enjoys in respect to spiritual things. Man is not life, but a recipient of life from God. Man, during his abode in the world, is held in the midst between heaven and hell, and thus in a spiritual equilibrium, which constitutes free will.
From the permission of evil, which every man experiences in his internal man, it is evident that man has free-will in spiritual things. Without free-will in spiritual things, the Word would not be of any use, consequently the Church would be a nonentity. Without free-will in spiritual things, man would have nothing which would enable him to conjoin himself by reciprocation with the Lord; and consequently there would be no imputation, but mere predestination, which is detestable. Without free-will in spiritual things, God would be chargeable as the cause of evil. Every spiritual principle of the Church that is admitted and received in freedom, remains, but not otherwise. The human will and understanding enjoy this free-will; but the commission of evil, both in the spiritual and natural worlds, is restrained by laws, or else society in both would perish. If men were destitute of free-will in spiritual things, it would be possible for all men throughout the whole world, in a single day, to be induced to believe in the Lord; but this would be in vain, because nothing remains with man which is not freely received. Miracles are not performed at the present day because they deprive man of free-will.
Chapter IX. treats of Repentance. It is shown, in the first place, that repentance is the first constituent of the Church in man, and that in proportion as a man practices it, his sins are removed; and as they are removed, they are forgiven or remitted. Contrition, in the sense of a mere lip-confession of being a sinner, and of being involved in the guilt of Adam, without self-examination, is not repentance. Every man is born with a propensity to evils of all kinds, and unless he remove them, in part, by repentance, he remains in them; and whoever remains in them can not be saved. The knowledge of sin, and the discovery of some particular sin in one’s self, is the beginning of repentance. Actual repentance consists in a man’s examining himself, knowing and acknowledging his sins, supplicating the Lord, and beginning a new life. True repentance consists in a man’s examining not only the actions of his life, but also the intentions of his will. Those also do the work of repentance, who, though they do not examine themselves, abstain from evils because they are sins; and this kind of repentance is done by those who perform works of charity from a religious motive. In repentance, confession ought to be made before the Lord God the Saviour, and at the same time supplication for help, and power to resist evils. Actual repentance is an easy duty to those who occasionally practice it, but it meets with violent opposition from those who never practiced it. He that never did the work of repentance, and never looked into, and examined, himself, comes at last not to know the nature either of damnatory evil or saving good.
Chapter X. describes the nature of Reformation and Regeneration. Unless a man be born again, and, as it were, created anew, he can not enter into the kingdom of God. This new birth, or creation, is effected by the Lord alone, through the medium of charity and faith, during man’s coöperation. Since all are redeemed, all have a capacity to be regenerated, every one according to his state. The several stages of man’s regeneration answer to his natural conception, gestation in the womb, birth, and education. The first act of the new birth, which is an act of the understanding, is called reformation; and the second, which is an act of the will, and thence of the understanding, is called regeneration. The internal man is first to be reformed, and by it the external, and thus the man is regenerated. When this takes place, there arises a combat between the internal and external man, and then whichever conquers has dominion over the other. The regenerate man has a new will and understanding. A regenerate man is in communion with the angels of heaven, and an unregenerate man is in communion with the spirits of hell. In proportion as a man is regenerated, his sins are removed; and this removal is what is meant by remission of sins. Regeneration, can not be effected without free-will in spiritual things. Regeneration is not attainable without truths by which faith is formed, and with which charity conjoins itself.
Chapter XI. is devoted to a description of what imputation is, and what it is not. It is shown that imputation, and the faith of the present church, which alone is said to justify, are a one. The imputation which belongs to the faith of the present time is two fold, the one part relating to the merit of Christ, and the other to salvation as its consequence. The faith which is imputative of the merit and righteousness of Christ the Redeemer, first took its rise from the decrees of the Council of Nice, concerning three divine persons from eternity; and, from that time to the present, has been received by the whole Christian world. Faith imputative of the merit of Christ, was not known in the Apostolic Church, which preceded the Council of Nice, and is neither declared nor signified in any part of the Word. An imputation of the merits and righteousness of Christ is impossible. There is such a thing as imputation, but then it is an imputation of good and evil, and at the same time of faith. The faith and imputation of the New Church can not be together with the faith and imputation of the former Church; and, in case they were together, such a collision and conflict would ensue, that every principle of the Church in man would perish. The Lord imputes good to every man, and hell imputes evil to every man. Faith, with whatever principle it conjoins itself, passes sentence accordingly; if a true faith conjoins itself with goodness, the sentence is for eternal life, but if faith conjoins itself with evil, the sentence is for eternal death. Thought is imputed to no one, but will.
Chapter XII. is a luminous exposition of the uses of Baptism. Without a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word, it is shown no one can know what the two sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper, involve and effect. The washing which is called baptism, signifies spiritual washing, which is a purification from evils and falses, and thus regeneration. As circumcision of the heart was represented by circumcision of the foreskin, baptism was instituted in lieu of it, to the end that an internal Church might succeed the external, in which all and everything was a figure of the internal Church. The first use of baptism is introduction into the Christian Church, and at the same time insertion among Christians in the spiritual world. The second use of baptism is, that the Christian may know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ the Redeemer and Saviour, and may follow Him. The third and final use of baptism is, that man may be regenerated. By the baptism of John, a way was prepared that Jehovah the Lord might come down into the world, and accomplish the work of redemption.
Chapter XIII. is taken up with a like description of the uses of the Holy Supper. It is shown that it is impossible for any one, without an acquaintance with the correspondences of natural things with spiritual, to know the uses and benefits of the Holy Supper. An acquaintance with correspondences serves to discover the signification of the Lord’s flesh and blood, and that the bread and wine signify the same; namely, that the Lord’s flesh and the bread signify the divine good of His love, and likewise all the good of charity, and that His blood and the wine signify the divine truth of His wisdom, and likewise all the truth of faith, and that to eat signifies to appropriate. By understanding this, it may clearly be comprehended, that the Holy Supper contains, both universally and particularly, all things of the Church, and all things of heaven. In the Holy Supper the Lord is entirely present, with the whole of His redemption. The Lord is present, and opens heaven to those who approach the Holy Supper worthily; and He is also present with those who approach it unworthily, but does not open heaven to them; consequently, as baptism is an introduction into the Church, so the Holy Supper is an introduction into heaven. Those approach the Holy Supper worthily, who are under the influence of faith toward the Lord, and of charity toward their neighbor, thus, who are regenerate. Those who approach the Holy Supper worthily, are in the Lord, and He in them; consequently, conjunction with the Lord is effected by the Holy Supper. The Holy Supper is, to the worthy receivers, as a signing and sealing that they are sons of God.
Chapter XIV., concluding the doctrinal portion of the work, describes the consummation of the age, the coming of the Lord, and the new heaven and the New Church. The consummation of the age is the last time or end of the Church. The present day is the last time of the Christian Church, which the Lord foretold and described in the Gospels, and in the Revelation. This last time of the Christian Church, is the very night in which the former Churches have set. After this night, morning succeeds; and the coming of the Lord is this morning. The coming of the Lord is not a coming to destroy the visible heaven and the habitable earth, and to create a new heaven and a new earth, according to the opinions which many, from not understanding the spiritual sense of the Word, have hitherto entertained. This, which is the second coming of the Lord, is for the sake of separating the evil from the good, that those who have believed and who do believe in Him, may be saved; and that there may be formed of them a new angelic heaven, and a New Church on earth; and without this coming no flesh could be saved. This second coming of the Lord is not a coming in person, but in the Word, which is from Him, and is Himself. This second coming of the Lord is effected by the instrumentality of a man, before whom He has manifested Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His spirit, to teach from Him the doctrines of the New Church by means of the Word. This is meant by the new heaven and the new earth, and the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven, spoken of in the Revelation. This New Church is the crown of all the Churches which have existed, to this time, on the earth.
On all these subjects Swedenborg discourses at length, and in a style which, for its combined simplicity and purity, we believe, is unmatched in theological literature. Wilkinson says truly of the volume, that, “viewed as a digest, it shows a presence of mind, an administration of materials, and a faculty of handling, of an extraordinary kind. There is old age in it in the sense of ripeness. If the intellectualist misses there somewhat of the range of discourse, it is compensated by a certain triteness of wisdom. As a polemic, not only against the errors of the Churches, but against the evil lives and self-excusings of Christians, the work is unrivaled. The criticisms of doctrine, with which it abounds, are masterly in the extreme; and were it compared with any similar body of theology, we feel no doubt that the palm of coherency, vigor, and comprehensiveness, would easily fall to Swedenborg, upon the verdict of judges of whatever Church.”
We have said nothing of the seventy-six memorable relations strewn through the pages of the “True Christian Religion,” because the limits to which we are confined forbid anything approaching to an adequate description of them. They are a great trouble to new readers of Swedenborg, and many who love and delight in the doctrinal teachings of the work, pass over, unread, the memorable relations, and try not to think of them. But this is only for a time. They are only strange and incomprehensible because the principles upon which they are written are not apprehended. The Indian king, who was told that in northern lands water became solid, so that his elephants might walk on it, laughed, and was an unbeliever. But, had the law or principle by which water becomes ice, been made plain to him, his laughter and his unbelief would have ceased. So it is with those who are shocked with Swedenborg’s relations of things heard and seen in the spiritual world. Let but the great law of correspondence be understood, and the most marvelous of the relations straightway attain an interest and reality, which none but those who have studied them under the bright light of correspondences can understand, or easily believe possible. A memorable relation, which was to the writer of this, at one time, a thing to cause pity for the man that wrote it, is now the pleasant and practical study of a Sunday afternoon. He knows that his experience in this respect is paralleled by that of most Newchurchmen.
Count Hopken, in a letter to General Tuxen, says, “I once represented, in rather a serious manner, to this venerable man, (Swedenborg), that I thought he would do better not to mix his beautiful writings with so many memorable relations of things heard and seen in the spiritual world, concerning the states of men after death,—of which ignorance makes a jest and derision. But he answered me, that this did not depend on him; that he was too old to sport with spiritual things, and too much concerned for his eternal happiness to give into foolish notions; assuring me, on his hopes of salvation, that no imagination produced in him his revelations, which were true, and derived from what he had heard and seen.”
“The True Christian Religion” was the last work Swedenborg published; it was a worthy conclusion of his grand labors. Among his papers, at his decease, was found an incomplete “Coronis” or Appendix to the work. This has been translated and published, and contains an elucidation of several interesting points.