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LIFE AND WBITINGS OF SWEDENBORG.
Vol. n.
tsm-:
/^■trt/a^
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
HIS LIFE AND WBIIINGS.
WILLIAM WHITE.
" Go to Urn. Ha b not witlioiit foiblei, but ia wIm eioe«dlDg1y ; vened In mnoh sbange kcciwledgB, and familur with ths intrioadea of tli« heart. Tou'll lifo long and go fat en 70a find moh uiotfaer."
A»dr»o Femmdc.
VOL. IL
LONDON:
8IMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.,
STATIOHEBS' HALL COURT.
1867.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
EilAinJEL SWXDKNBOBO. — {FrofOUpiece,)
Copied from in engrsiriiiif intcxfbed •JBmani Swedenborg; Anno JBtaHt 80, Ifat* 'JETo/mto. tith Jan,, 1688. DenaU Land, 89 Mart, 1779. J. F. Martin, Sculpt. iSTo/mto.* It la ^nermllj admitted as the beet likeneei of Swedenborg in old age. It was in a copj of this engraTing that Serrant^ recognised the old gentleman he encountered in 8t. John Street. Olerkenwell. Bee present Tol., p. 578.
SwEDENBoRQ^s House AKD Summer House Page 336.
Engrared from photographs taken in Btoekholm in the summer of 1889.
KiRRATA*
For kis read (As befoie dmifhter, and insert tfJPeter Ms Oreat after
daughiert page 87. final line.
Insert who utter thai As, ,i 878, line 7 from top.
For iy read wy, „ 390, „ 5 „ bottom.
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
PART U.— {Continued.) Spirit-Seeikq and Theology.
CHAPTER IX. The Last JuDaxMSirr.
Page.
Last Judgement accomplished in 1757 — ^Its Scene the World of Spirits — ^The Human Race will never perish for it is the Base of Heaven — Heaven*s well-being dependent on that of the Church — Sad State of the Church — Character of the Souls from Christen- dom— Condition of the World of Spirits previous to 1757 — Judgements executed at the end of each Church — Arrangement of the Nations in the World of Spirits — Judgement of Maho- metans and Gentiles — ^Liiquities of the Papacy — Repetition of these Iniquities in the World of Spirits — Distribution of the Papists there — Visited hj Angels — Destruction and Dispersion of the Papal Heavens — The Good instructed and received in Heaven — This Judgement the theme of the Apocalypse, a full exposition of which is promised — Modest Estimate of the results of this Judgement — Swedenborg*s Indifference to social and political Wrongs — ^The Expectations of the Angels ... ... 3
CHAPTER X.
Th£ New Jkbusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine.
The Troths revealed through Swedenborg constitute the New Jerusalem as to Doctrine— An Index to the Treasures of the Areima (MetUa — Why the Church has come to an End —
VI CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
Page. Goodness and Truth — ^Will and Understanding — Internal and
External Man — Love in General — Loves of Self and the World —
Love of the Neighbour — Faith — Piety — Conscience — Liberty —
Merit— Repentance and Remission of Sins — Regeneration —
Temptation — Baptism — The Holy Supper — ^The Resurrection —
Heaven and Hell — The Church — ^The Word — Providence — ^Tbe
Lord — Ecclesiastical and Civil Govemment| and Conmients
I nereon ••« ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• £\j
CHAPTER XI.
The White Horse.
The Vision of the White Horse in the Apocalypse signiiies'the opening of the Spiritual Sense of the Word — Details of the Vision explained — The Horse in Greek Mythology — List of the Books of the Word ... ... ... ... ... 49
CHAPTER XII. In London.
The English in the Spiritual World — Spiritual London — England and Italy — Discussion with Sir Isaac Newton on a Vacuum and on Colours ... ... ... ... ... 54
CHAl^ER XIII. At Home in Stockholm.
Swedenborg discerns a Fire in Stockholm from Gottenburg — Enables a Lady to find a lost receipt for Money — Startles the Queen of Sweden with a Communication from her deceased Brother : opinions on the Case — ^Defines to the Queen the Limits of his Spiritual Acquaintance — Kant^s relation to Swedenborg — The Mess made of Kant^s Testimony — His hasty Pamphlet and subsequent Letter — Swedenborg predicts a Death — ^He will receive no Women alone— Anecdote by Mr. Marryat — Is per-.
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. VU
Page.
soaded to receive the Sacrament — ^What a Priest thought of him — How he encountered Insolence — A popolar Preacher — A Bi«hop brouglit to Repentance— Swedenborg in the Diet — His Rules of Life — Speeches in the Diet — Opposes absolute Monarchy and denounces Popery — Advocates a French Alliance — Views on the Currency — ^What the Prime Minister thought of him — Con- tributes a Paper to the Academy of Sciences and gives a Marble Table to the College of Mines ... ... .. ... 61
CHAPTER XIV.
Notes in Amsterdam.
Peter III. Czar of Russia— The Empress Elizabeth — Her Marriage in the Spiritual World — Peter the Great and the Russians — The Merchant of Elberfield— St. Peter and St. Paul— The Dutch and the Germans in the Spiritual World — Hamburg — The Jews after Death — A Literary Programme by Divine Command — The Pro- gramme modified ... ... .-. ... ... 87
CHAPTER XV.
The Doctrine of the Lord.
A Scriptural Argument — ^The whole Sacred Scripture treats of the Lord who is the W^ord — ^The Law was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who was the summary of Judaism — He effected Redemption by Combats against the Hells — How Humanity was menaced by the Hells— The two Ends of the Divine Advent— The Body assumed from Mary was done away and replaced by Deity — Swedenborg sees Mary — The Saviour's Resurrection — God was then Man in Ultimates as He had ever been in Principles — The manner of his Incarnation — His various Titles stand for various Aspects of His Being — How the Body from Mary possessed independent Consciousness — The Holy Spirit a result of the Incarnation — ^Why these Truths were hidden from former Gene- rations— Swedenborg talks with Athanasius — ^The Merits of his Doctrine of the Lord ... ... ... ... ... 103
• ••
Vlll OOMTSlfTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XVL
DOCTRniB OF THE SaCRED SCBIPTUBE.
Pafe*
Tho Hcrlptaron dictated by God— The Text preserved in immacnlAte r«rfmjtion— Dr. Stanley on the Bible and the Koran— The sunple liiit Divine Btyle of the Scriptures— To restore them to Human ]i4fv#!rf?nre their Internal Sense is now made known — Origin of th« various Honses of the Word — ^The Literal Sense is the Jew's appriifMUiPiion of tho Divine Wisdom — The Literal Sense includes ihft H|>lritual. and (Celestial Senses, wherefore the Word is in its fiilri(mff, fiolinesN, and power in that Sense — ^Without Doctrine the HiTlptiirns are unintelligible — ^True Doctrine must be draUm from thii Lltiiral H«nso— How True Doctrine is to be discriminated — Who ran ntrflvo tho Spiritual Sense — The Literal Sense a Guard Mf^ahiHi Profanation— Man is conjoined with Heaven by the H<tripturi!» : proved by Experience — ^The Word in Heaveft — 'Jim Understanding of the Bible constitutes the Church — Without tho Scriptures there could be no knowledge of God, nor i^ Ifisaven or Hell — The Ancients derived their spiritual know- |jj^lg« from Tradition — ^The Church by the Word is a centre of Light U) all Nations — ^Why the Spiritual Sense was not made known lieforc — Comments on Swedenborg^s Doctrine — Why Jowlsb History was chosen as the vehicle for the Word ... 118
CHAPTER XVU. The Doctkike of Life and of Cuaritt.
A Or>od and a Bad Life defined — The Love of Self simulates the l»ve of Others — Heavenly Life overcomes Infernal Life by shunning Evils as Sins — Conditions of the Warfare — Man^s part wholly external : he has no merit : the Lord has all — The Wicked are void of Charity — Love of Approbation, of Money, and of Pleasure— The Lord does all Good, but gives His Creatures to feel as if they did it^ — Genuine and Spurious Charity— What is the Neighbour? — As many varieties of Neighbour as of Good- ness shewn by examples — ^The Love of Country — Charity consists In doing all Business faithfully, as in the cases of a I/eader of an Army, a Sohlier, and a Tradesman — Pious Duties must end in Use or they are vain — Almsgiving — ^Tax -paying —Amusements —The Love of God— What and where God is— The Love of God is not a personal Affection ... ... ... ... 144
OONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. IZ
CHAPTER XVIIL The Doctrinb op Faith.
Belief defined — Faith the Assurance wherewith the Good receive Truths — He who would acquire Faith must become Good — ^The Good have an interior sense of Truth, and Truths are multiplied in them — ^The Evil Heart of Unbelief— The Evil may defend the Truth whilst inwardly denying it — Evanescent Faith — ^Elnow- ledge and Faith — ^No Faith without Understanding — ^Angelic Faith—Catholic and Protestant Faith— Faith of Thomas— Ex- travagances of the Protestant Creed— An Angelas Conversation with a Solifidian and a Christian— Rehains—How shall a Man procure Good Affections ?— Good Seed sown in In£Euicy and Childhood — This Seed is the Hope of Heaven — ^Is there no room for Creati<Hi ? ... ... ... ... •.. «.. 171
CHAPTER XIX.
COMTIMUATION OF THE LaST JUDGEMENT.
Judgement of the Protestants — ^Their Heavens in the World of Spirits composed of Hypocrites and gentle Simpletons — Visited and warned by Angels — Dispersion of their Heavens as witnessed by Swedenborg — ^The Hypocrites cast into Hell, and the Simple elevated to Heaven ... ... ... ..• «.. 191
CHAPTER XX. The Divine Loye and the Divine Wisdom.
A Key to Swedenborg's Philosophy — I. Gk)D— He is Life and therefore Love and Wisdom — He is essential Substance and Form, and therefore the Cause of all Substances and Forms, though nothing created is God — God being Love is bound to create to satisfy His Love — Creation is dead in itself — Man is an Organ recipient of Life — How Man is vivified by God — God is everywhere the same : differences in Creation are merely degrees
CX)NTBNTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
P«fo. of Ills utterance — Creation is comprised in Man — God is a Man —
Tlio Incomprehensible Infinite^— We cannot but think of God as
Man — ^Thus did the Ancients, and so do the Gentiles — ^Those who
will not worship God, worship Men — Space and Time are created,
and are no attributes of God— II. The Spiritual Sun — God is
the Bun of the Spiritual World — Relations of the Angels to the
Hun— Man as to his Interiors is under the Spiritual Sun — The
Sun is an Effluence from the Divine Manhood — III. Degrees —
Order of Creation — Discrete and Continuous Degrees — Discrete
Degrees hitherto unknown — Distinguished from Continuous
Degrees — Exist everywhere in Trines — ^The Trinity of God
repeated throughout His Creation — Trines in Man and Nature —
IV. Ckiation op Till Universe — Repudiation of Early Theories — G(h1 from the Spiritual Sun creates and sustains the Universe -Constitution of the Spiritual World — Tlie Natural derived fVom the Spiritual World — Creation terminates in Earths — Mutiml Dependence of Spirit and Nature — Their two Suns co- operate -Nature a re-production of Man — Meaning of malignant things in Nature — Spontaneous Generation — ^Interview with Sir llaiiM Sloane and Martin Folkcs — Creation a perpetual work —
V. TiiK Ckkation of Man— Will and Understanding the Habi- tations of Divine Love and Wisdom — The Brain is their Seat — The Heart represents the Will and the Lungs the Understanding in the Body — Influence of the Spiritual Sun — In Physiology we may learn Psychology — How the Blood is nourished — Respira- tion of the Good and Evil — Man*s Initiament — Brain and Mind 196
CHAPlTli XXL The Divine Providence.
HtHtenitMit of the Relation between the Creator and His Creatures KflTuHive and Absorbent I-#<)ve — Double Origin of Free Will and Free Thought — The End of the Lord's Providence is a Heaven from the Human Race — In all affairs He regards what is infinite and eternal — Love and Liberty — Kinds of Liberty — Origin of Liberty — God's Love and Man's Love — God's work and Man's work in Regeneration — God's Care of Man's Liberty — Useless- ncss of Miracles, outward Force and Afflictions in effecting Salvation — Nature of Man's Strife with himself— God within and
CONTENTS OP THE SECOND VOLUME. XI
without — God conceals Himself — ^He would have Men know Him bnt not feel Him — Man^s Wisdom is God^s Wisdom — Atheism of Self-Love — Providence Universal because Particular — Things temporal subordinated to Things Spiritual — Heaven clearly divided from Hell — Evil Advocates of Good — Various modes of Profanation — Fate of Profaners — The Divine Gentleness in leading Men — Biblical Difficulties as to Providence— Worldly Difficulties — How the Lord uses the Wicked — Use of the Devil — ^War and Warriors — Men saved under all Religions — Use of Diverse Religions — Use of Mahometanism — Universal Influence of Christianity — How Popery was permitted — Why Protestantism was permitted — Quakers, Moravians, Baptists, and others — Why Judaism continues — Swedenborgian Difficulties as to Providence — Evils allowed that they may be discovered and overcome — Evils subdued, not extirpated — God is not the Creator of Evil — How He governs Evil — We ought neither to credit ourselves with Good nor Evil — Organisation gives Character — We are all parts of a Grand Man and are affected by our Surroundings— Swedenborg^s Experiences of Influx from Spirits — How to treat Bad Thoughts — ^The Illusion of Individuality — ^The Lord predestines all to Heaven — Kindly Sophistry — God bound by Himself as Order, and therefore instantaneous Salvation is impossible — A Commu- nication from Hell ... ... ... ... ... 237
CHAPTER XXII. George II. and His Bishops.
Swedenborg meets and converts Dr. Beyer — Indifference of the English to his Books — Holds a Conversation with some English Bishops in the Spiritual World — List of the Bishops he might have spoken with— Greorge II. overhears the Conversation — One of the Bishops exposes the character of his Brethren, and the King indignantly orders them off — Misrepresentation of Episcopal Patronage — Again George II. appears as Swedenborg^s Advo- cate— King George^s earthly reputation — Apocalypse Revealed published at Amsterdam, and Method of Finding the Longitude by (^ itfoofi re-published, 1766 ... ... ... ... 300
XU CX)19T£KT8 OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XXra.
Thb Apooaltpse Revealed and Explained.
' Page.
Apooaiypw BkepUdned written and set aside for Apooalypee Revealed — Saperiority of the first Work— Differences between them — ^The Apocalypse a Prophecy of the Last Judgement of 1757 —The in- terpretation universalized — SpiRirUAL Stories— A Prophecy fulfilled in Swedenborg— An Old Man in a Cave— A Couple of Solifidians — An Assembly of Wiseacres— Peter's Keys — Paul quoted as Protestantbm is attacked ... ... ... 309
CHAPTER XXIV. Disciples and Othebs.
Letter to Beyer with Copies of Apoealypee Revealed — A Discreet Letter on Paul — Use of Paul's Epistle — Competes for the Reward offered by England for a handy Method of Finding the Longitude — Letter on the subject to the Stockholm Academy of Sciences — Swedenborg before the English Admiralty — His friendship with Springer, Swedish Consul in London — Anecdotes by Springer — Bergstrom's Reminiscences — Swedenborg's Voyages — Cautions Beyer against too open Advocacy of the Truth — His Expecta- tions concerning the New Church — Bishop Oetinger questions Swedenborg and is answered — Is almost persuaded to be a Swedenborgian ... ... ... ... ... ... 324
CHAPTER XXV. Habits at Home.
Beauty of Stockholm — Swedenborg's House, Garden and Summer- House — His Life in-doors — His Health — ^Toothache induced by Hypocrites — All Diseases from Hell — His acquaintance with Devils — ^His infernal Afflictions — His irregular Sleep^How he alarmed his Servants — Dreams — His Dress and Demeanour — Furniture — His extreme Simplicity — Bibles his sole Library — Did all his Writing himself— His Money — Visited by Collin : His Reminiscences — A Student's Visit and VirgiPs: apocryphal — Augustus and Cicero appear to Swedenborg — Linnteus and Swedenborg — Sexuality of Plants denied by Swedenborg — He leaves Stockholm for London, proceeds to Amsterdam, and there puhUBhes Conjagial Love 17 6S ... ... ... ...336
• ••
OOMTEMTS OP THE SECOND VOLUME. xiu
CHAPTEB XXVL
Love and Lust.
Page.
CoKJUGiAL Love.— Vifiit to Heaven — Wedding of two young Angels — Sex Burviyes Death — ^Explanation of the Lord^s State* ment, that none marry in the Resurrection — ^Tennyson confirms Swedenborg — Husbands and Wives after Death — Bachelors and Spinsters — Coi\jugial Love the strongest and holiest of Loves— The Masculine and Feminine Mind — Sydney Smith, St. Paul, Milton and Tennyson on the matter — Man's Love and Woman's Love defined — ^Boys and Girls at Play — Men love Knowledge and Wisdom — Women love Knowledge and Wisdom in Men — Woman derived firom Man-^Women love to be ruled — Charlotte BrontS on the matter — ^Litellectual Characteristics of Women — Coi\jugial Love a purely human Affection — Marriage of the Lord and the Church — Chastity and Unchastity — In Marriage is perfect Chastity — Celibacy is not Chastity — Celibacy prone to Unclean- ness — Henry James on Celibacy — Coiyugial and Sexual Loves originate in Women and are communicated by them to Men — Joys of Wedlock — Change of Mind induced by Marriage-^ Blessings of Marriage — The Sense of Touch belongs to Coi\jugial Love — ^In true Love time brings access of Happiness and closer Unity — Conjugial Love is an Efflux from the Lord — ^All Angels are married — Causes of Coldness, Separation and Divorce — Apparent Love, Friendship and favour in Marriage — Elective Affinities — ^Why heartless Marriages may not be dissolved on Earth — ^Where ^ere is no Love it should be assumed — Outward Love and inward Hate — Betrothala and Nuptials — Repeated Marriages — Polygamy twrntf Monogamy— Jealousy — Conjugial Love and Philoprogenitiveness — A Spiritual Story: a Coufde from Eden— Adultbbous Love — The Wicked see no essential diffieireBoe between Marriage and Adultery — ^Varieties of Adultery — ^FoBinOATiON. — Is not Adultery— Cases in which Fornication Is allowable — Comcubinaos. — Cases in which it is allowable — Swedenborg's Heartlessness ... ... ... ... 354
CHAPTER XXVIL Habits in Amstebdam.
Autobiography of Cuno an Amsterdam Gossip—Cuno makes Swedenborg's acquaintance — Describes his Habits in his Lodging
XIV CONTENTS OP THE SECOND VOLUME.
P«g«. — Hifl Sociability — Bohaviour at a Dinner-party — Contradicts the
Rumour of the Execution of the Bishop of Coimbra — Scandal
about Voltaire — ^Publishes Brief ExpotUion of the Doctrine of
M« 2^(Ri7 C%t«rc^ at Amsterdam, 1769 ... ... ...420
CHAPTER XXVIII. Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church.
The Treatise a Prospectus — Catholics before the Reformation held the same Doctrine as Protestants — The ordinary Catholic knows nothing of Doctrine : he is engrossed in Ritualism — Justification by Faith alone the Marrow of Protestantism —Few mercifully receive the Doctrine — ^Three Gods acknowledged by Christendom — The Terrible Father — Henry James on His Character — Such Fantasies about Deity sure Evidence of the End of the Church — Summary of New Church Doctrine — Possibly Catholics may enter the New Jerusalem before Protestants — ^Impolicy of Swe- denborg^s attacks on Protestantism — Explanation of the saying of St. James, that he who keeps not the Law at one point is dis- obedient in all — ^Annual Self-Examination — Swedenborg^s expe- riences with Luther, the Elector of Saxony, Melancthon and
\>&A V 111 ... ••• ••• ••• •• ••• ,,, 4m f
CHAPTER XXIX. A Visit to Paris and other Matters.
Swedenborg distributes the Brief ExpoeiUon widely — His Doctrine denounced in the Gottenburg Consistory^Cuno remonstrates with him on his Heresy — How he received the Remonstrance — Cuno^s dull Orthodoxy— His Parting with Swedenborg — A Mysterious Visit to Paris— Hosts of Catholics enter Heaven- Fiance holds the first place among Catholic Kingdoms— Louis XIV. in Heaven— Good Clement XH.— Bad Benedict XIV.— Sirens govern Popes — Interview with Sixtus V. — Loyola and Xavier — Impotence of Saints— St. Agnes — St. Genevieve — Lavater writes to Swedenborg — What was he after in Paris ? — Publishes in London InUrcouree bettoeen the Saul and the Body,
A V Vv ••■ mm fl** #•• ••• •*# *•• ^K^wO
CONTENTS OF THE SBCOND VOLUME. .XV
CHAPTER XXX.
The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body.
Three Hypotheses of Intercourse : Physical Influx, Spiritual Influx and Pre-established Harmony— Description by Mr. Lewes of Pre-established Harmony — ^The Hypothesis rejected by Sweden- borg — Physical Influx also rejected — Spiritual Influx adopted and defined — Swedenborg^s contributions to the Spiritual Hypo- thesis— ^The Kernel of his Doctrine— The Doctrine re-stated and illustrated — Discussion on the three Hypotheses in the Spiritual World — The Distinction between Men and Animals — How Swedenborg from a Philosopher became a Theologian — l^eibnitz led to see the existence of the Grand Social Man — Wolf dis- covered an empty Pedant — Conversation with Aristotle : he is a sane Spirit ... ... ... ... ... ... 460
CHAPTER XXXI.
English Friends and Other Matters.
Neglected in England but read in Heaven — Wm. Cookworthy reads and believes — Dr. Messiter likewise, who translates and circulates the Britf E^aspatkion — Rev. Thomas Hartley translates Intercourse between SiaU and Body—UvA Testimony concerning the Author — Swedenborg fieivours him with a piece of Autobiography — Dr. Hamp^ another Convert — Hopes of the Gentiles : Africans — Descent of the New Jerusalem in Africa— Conversation with St. Augustine — ^The Chinese — ^The Mahometans and Mahomet — Swedenborg returns to Sweden ... ... ... ... 478
CHAPTER XXXII. Last Days in Sweden.
Arrest of Coit^ugiaH Love in Sweden by Bishop Filenius— His Treachery — Drs. Beyer and Rosen accused of Heresy at Qotten- barg— Swedenborg remonstrates with the Consistory — Dr. Beyer
Xvi CONTENTS OP THE SECOND VOLUME.
Ptg«. addreases the King— Swedenborg also appeals to him — ^His Works excluded from Sweden — A Conspiracy to send him to a Mad-House — His Opinion of his Countrymen — Offers to explain the Hieroglyphics of Egypt to the Academy of Sciences — Cor- respondence with Beyer: a youthful Seer; death of Beyer's wife— The Countess Gyllenborg awaits Swedenborg as his Bride in the Spiritual World— Sails for Amsterdam for the last time ... 487
CHAPTER XXXIII. Last Visit to Amsterdam.
Visit to General Tnxen at Elsinore — ^Tnxen's Reminiscences and Testimony — ^ELlopstock goes to see Swedenborg — At Work in Amsterdam — ^Habits of Composition — Cuno's surprise that he should style himself, ' Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ' — ^Fa- miliar Spirits — A Discussion in the Spiritual World in which the Familiar Spirits of Dr. Emesti and Dean Ekebom appear — Swedenborg*s bitterness against Emesti — Correspondence with the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt — Catholic Miracles pro- nounced Lnpostures — ^A lost Prince inquired for — Social Habits in Amsterdam — True Christian ReUgion published — Swedenborg classifies his Readers — ^Leaves Amsterdam for London, 1771 ... 603
CHAPTER XXXIV. Thx Trub Chbistiam RsLiaioN.
A Body of Divinity, and Discussions and Adventures in the Spiritual World — L God thb Creator.- His Unity— Tri- Personalism leads to Atheism — God is Substance and Form — He cannot breed Gods — The Swedenborgian Revelation — ^The Infinite incomprehensible by the Finite — Coiyunction of the Infinite with the Finite — Definition of the Human liind — Power and Order indivisible — Omnipotence is not Lawlessness — How God is present in Evil — How He is present in Man — H. The Lord the Redeemer.— Why God became Man— He descended as Truth- He assumed Humanity according to His own Divine Order— The Son of God— By Acts of Redemption He made Himself Righteons-
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. XYU
Fafo.
ness— God and Bian made One.— III. The Holt Sfibit.— The Influence received from the Lord Jesus Christ — ^The Influence varied in its Recipients — Three Gods unknown in the Apostolic Church.— IV. Thb Sacrbd Soriptube, or the Word op God. — ^y. The Decalogue explained as to its External AND Internal Sense. — VI. FArra. — Be Good, the everlasting Recipe for Faith. — ^VII. Charity or Love to our Neiohbour, AND Good Works. — The three Loves of the Complete Man — ^A Man's Business is his main Charity — A Man in true Charity assumes no merit. — VIII. Free Determination. — ^Predestina- tion denounced in Arminian Rhetoric — ^A Man^s sense of Freedom does not imply Independence — ^The Angel includes the Devil. — IX. Repentance. — Particular and Wholesale. Repentance — In< sincere Self- Abuse — Self Examination. — X. Reformation and Regeneration. — The first, Strife after Goodness, the second Goodness attained — Conditions of the Combat — Temptation un- known in the Church because truths are unknown — Angels made in many ways. — XI. Imputation. — XII. Baptism. — Purely symbolic — Practised in the Spiritual World. — ^XIII. The Holy Supper. — Uses of the Sacrament and Conditions of its worthy Reception. — XIY. Consummation of the Aoe, the Coming OF THE Lord, and the New Heaven and the New Church. — The Four Churches — Gk>od discovered through Experience of Evil — ^End of the Christian Church — ^Why the Lord could not again appear in person — He makes his second Advent in the opening of the Spiritual Sense of the Scriptures — The New Church is the Crown of Churches and eternal — ^The New Heaven precedes the New Church — ^The Twelve Apostles sent abroad in the Spiritual World to spread the New Heavenly Doctrines — Swedenborg*s profuse Imagery in the present Work — His Spiritual Stories written by Divine Command — New Works begun : Caroms and Invitation to the New Church — A Mysterious Inventory ... .^ 523
CHAPTER XXXV. Death in London.
Swedenboi^^s London Lodgings — Settles with Shearsmith in Cold Bath Fields — Habits there — Abstains from Animal Food — Deportment in the Streets — Visited by Ferelius: his Remi-
xviii CONTENTS OP THE SECOND VOLUME.
Page.
niscences — Barkhardt*8 Note — Francis Okely, and Cookworthy and Hartley go to see him — Stricken with Apoplexy on Christmas Eve, 1771 — Declares to Hartley and Messiter that he has written nothing but Truth — Invites Wesley to an interview — Springer's Visit and Inquiry about the New Church — Receives from Ferelius the Lord's Supper — Foretells his Death and joyfully departs, 29th March, 1772— His Funeral — Sandel delivers his Eulogium in the Swedish House of Nobles — His Coffin opened and Remains desecrated — Inscription in the Swedish Chapel, liOndon ... ... ... ... ... ... 574
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Progress of Swedenboroiakism.
Swedenborg neglected or unknown by his Generation — Cook- worthy publishes Heaven and Hell — Cookworthy 's Death — Hartley's Death —Wesley's Enthusiasm about Swedenborg — His Favour changed to Dislike — Fletcher of Madely — John Clowes — His ^liraculous Conversion — His Labours in Diffusion of the Heavenly Doctrines — Summoned before Bishop Porteous and dismissed without Hurt — Robert Hindmarsh — Swedenborgianism in London — Hindmarsh resolves to build Jerusalem — Hires a Chapel in Eastcheap — His apostolic Lottery — How it cast him uppermost — Rejected by his Adherents on account of his immoral Opinions — He turns them out of the Chapel, and carries on the New Jemsalem business himself— His audacious ecclesiastical Scheme — Has to close his Chapel for lack of Hearers —Mather and Salmon preach Swedenborgianism over England — Conversion of Proud, a popular Baptist Minister — A Chapel built for him in Birmingham — Dr. Priestley attacks the New Sect — Hindmarsh answers him — Proud prospers in Birmingham — Removes to London — Flaxman a member of his Congregation — Sydney Smith covets his Chapel— Collapse of Proud — Meanness of his Mind — Attacks Clowes, who answers him — Hindmarsh deserts Jerusalem for Stock-jobbing — Wm. Cowherd sets up a Vegetarian Jerusalem — Hindmarsh resumes preaching in Manchester — His Death and Character— Samuel Noble— His ^/>ip6a^ William Mason — C. A. Tulk — His attempts to systematize Swedenborg — William Blake — ^William Sharp and Louthcrbonrg — Samuel Crompton and
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. xix
Page.
Highs— James Glen — His opinion of Negroes — Mrs. French — Swedenborgianisra among the Quakers— -George Harrison — His Translation of Swedenborg — His Disownment by the Friends — Death of Clowes — His Influence on the Clergy — E^s Position in the Established Church justified — Crabbe, Lackington, and Southey on the New Sect — ^The Swedenborgian Conference — Adopts Hindmarsh's Lottery as Divine — Statistics of Sweden- borgianism in 186&— Its Organization — The InteUedtiol Rq^osUory — Extinct Periodicals — ^Propaganda of the Sect — ^The Swedenborg Society — Schools and College — The Sect has long ceased to increase — ^Bad Times for Sectaries of all sorts — Natural Limits of Swedenborgianism — The average Swedenborgian — A Swedenbor- gian Congregation — Worship and Preaching— Litigiousness of the Sect — Contemporary Swedenborgians — Doctrinal Dissensions — Swedenborgianism and Spiritualism — Swedenborgianism in France — In Germany — ^In Sweden — In the United States — List of Societies in America — ^Their Convention and its Pretensions — Characteristics of the Sect in New England — ^Independent Swe- denborgians— George Bush — B. P. Barrett — ^Henry James : his Estimate of Swedenborg — Causes of the Failure of the Sect — Swedenborg in no way responsible for Hindmarsh ... ... 591
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Last Words.
Plainly some Change came over Swedenborg about 1745 — Ho * could not invent his Spiritual World — How much of his Revela- tion is true — His Fancies set forth as Facts — His Affectation of Omniscience — Holiness of Ignorance — Summary of his Philo- sophy— His unfairness towards Orthodoxy — His little Reading and Ignorance of many Matters — His Voluminousness — His orderly but loose mind — How he ought to be read — His loneliness through life— His Self Sufficiency— His Excitation of Prejudice — ^Diffusion of Principles identical with his — The Biographer's Confession ... ... ... ... ... . • 662
1743 TO 1772.
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
FROM HIS 6&m TO HIS DEATH IN HIS 85ih TEAB.
PART 11.
(OOVTWVBD.)
SPIRIT-SEEING AND THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LAST JUDGEMENT.*
If the good people of London In 1758 had troubled to read ' Heaven cmd Hell^^ they would have found in it abun- dant matter for nine days' wonder ; and scarcely second to their astonishment over the anonymous author, who professed a familiar acquaintance with the abodes of the Blessed and the Danmed, would have been their amazement at his asser- tion in the treatise we now open, that the Last Judgement had come off in the previous year, 1757, and that whilst the world, immersed in its business and its pleasures, was pro- foundly unconscious, he had been an eye witness of the momentous transaction !
Stated thus baldly, without explanation or qualification, anything more preposterous will, to many, seem difficult to conceive: but as we grow familiar with Swedenborg we discovef , that beneath his strangest affirmations there lies a substratum of reason, which redeems him more or less effectually from the charge of folly or fanaticism. In the ease before us, if we are willing to understand what he means by the Last Judgement, and the conditions of its execution, his statement will, at the least, lose its first glare of wildness.
At the risk of the repetition of some details set forth in
* ' De Ultimo JudidOy et de Babylonia Dutructa: iia quod omnia^ qua in * Apoealjfpn prtediela suni^ hodie impUia tint. Fix Auditis et Visis. Londini : ' 1766.' 4to. 65 pages.
B 2
4 HEAVEN AND THE CHURCH INDIYI8IBLE.
preceding articles, but which are bo foreign to ordinary in- telligence that their recital may not be disadvantageous, let us bear with Swedcnborg whilst, in a few preliminary considerations, he prepares our minds for a fair apprehension of his narrative of the Last Judgement.
He first requires us to believe, that the scene of the Last Judgement is in the AVorld of Spirits, and that its execution does not involve the destruction of the World of Nature. Our Earth will never perish, for it is the birth-place of the Human Race, and the Human Race is the seminary of Heaven, and Heaven would be starved if deprived of its ground of sustenance in Earth.
^ The Human Race is likewise the basis on which Heaven ^ is founded, because Man was last created, and that which is ^ last created is the basis of all that precedes. Creation ^ commenced from the Supreme or Inmost (that is, from the ^ Divine) and proceeded to Ultimates or Extremes, and then ^ first subsisted. The Ultimate of Creation is the Natural ^ World, including the terraqueous globe and all things ^ thereon. When these were finished, then Man was created, ^ and into Man were collated all things of Creation from * first to last.'*
In a word, Man is a compendium of Creation. As to the Inmost of his Mind he lives with God, and as to his Out- most— his Body, he is one with Nature ; and between his Inmost and Outmost, he is kin to every tide of the Spiritual World. Hence Man is more than Angel or Devil: he is Angel or Devil, plus a material body.
^ From this order of Creation it may appear, that such is ^ its connection from first to last, that the Universe is One, ' that the prior cannot be separated from the posterior (even ^ as a cause cannot be separated from the effect), and that ' thus the Spiritual World cannot be separated from the
» No. 9.
CONNECTION OF ANGELS AND MEN. 5
Nataraly nor the Natural World from the Spiritual^ nor Angels from Men, nor Men from Angels. It is provided by the Iiord, that each shall afford mutual assistance, thus the Angelic Heaven to the Human Race and the Human Race to the Angelic Heaven. One subsists by the other. Heaven without Mankind would be like a house without a foundation, for Heaven closes into and rests upon Mankind. . . • • When Man passes from the Natural to the Spiritual World at death, he no longer subsists on his own basis, but upon the common basis which Mankind supplies.
^He who is ignorant of the mysteries of Heaven may suppose, that Angels subsist without Men, and Men with- out Angels ; but I can asseverate from all my experience of Heaven, and from all my discourse with Angels, Uiat no Angel or Spirit exists apart from Man, and no Man apart
from Spirits and Angels That Angels and Spirits
are with Man and in his affections, has been given me to see a thousand times from their presence and abode in myself: but Angels and Spirits do not know the Men with whom they are; neither do Men know the Angels and Spirits with whom they cohabit: the Lord alone knows and disposes their affiliations.' *
If so much be conceded, and it is clearly understood, that the Grood on Earth are the Body of Heaven and the Evil on Earth are the Body of Hell, it will not be difficult to make a further advance and perceive how largely the well-being of Heaven is dependent on the health of the C3iurch,t and vice versd the health of the Church on the character of its affinities with Spirits and Angels.
In the review of the ^Arcana Ccekstia^ we recorded
• No. 9.
t By the Church is meant no particalar ecclesUBticiHrn, but whatever Goodnew wedded to Wisdom ie to be found incarna'.od in Mankind.
6 KND OF THE CHURCH.
Swedenborg's opinion of the hopeless condition of the Ghrift- tian Church. In common with former Churches, he held, that it had run its course and attained its period —
^ Every Church in its commencement is spiritual, for it ' begins from Charitj, but, in process of time, declines to ' Faith, and from an Internal Church becomes an External ^ one, and then expires. Such is the state of the Christian ^ Church at this day : Faith has ceased, for Charity has ^ ceased ; mere knowledge is set above life ; and therefore ^ its doom is sealed.^*
Standing in the Spiritual World and seeing the issue of Christendom through the gates of death, he had to bear this testimony —
' I can aver that the Spirits from the Christian World ^ are the worst of all, hating their neighbour, hating the ^ faith, denying the Lord, and given to adultery more than ' the rest of Mankind. Hence I have been given to know of ' a certainty, that the last time is at hand.'t
Now it is very plain, that if Heaven be rooted in, and nourished from the Church, Heaven, about the middle of last century, must have been in a miserable plight ; and if Saints on earth be vivified and strengthened by communion with Saints in Heaven, they too must have endured sore privation by reason of their incorporation in so sinful a generation.
At this point it is to be observed, that not Heaven and Hell, but the World of Spirits — the Intermediate State — exists in most immediate contact with Mankind. The World of Spirits is, in a certain sense, a magnificent reduplication of our familiar Earth : there, as here, the Righteous and the Wicked are intermingled until their inward choice is openly declared: and as the condition of Spirits there is so like that of Men here, by the strong law of affinity, they are
* No. 38. t rrefaoe to Pt II. 'Arcana CeoUHm,
fools' PAKAPIftUB, 7
anoeiBtMl with m directly, ^iHiilrt (to speak aooording to tiio ofyonmeg of Space) Heaven lies on one side and Hell on die odier.
So mndi premieed, let ns trj if wo can follow Swodonborg^ tluromgh die Last Jndgement, which, to cite his words, ^ It ' was gpranted me to see with my own eyes, in order that I ^ might describe it ; and which was commenced in the b^^- ^ ning of the year 1757, and folly accomplished by the end * thereof.'*
Ln * Memoen €md HdV he informs ns, that no one remains in the World of Spirits more than thirty years, or, as he has it in another place and at a later date, more than twenty^ bnt it was