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FREE WILL, A PRACTICAL DOCTRINE.

the disposal of man's will as of Divine Providence. Again, the internal objects of choice, when willed, not only become the possession of man, but he inevitably becomes of their quality, whether they be good or evil; so that he does, by the choice of them, procure for himself a quality, which is to characterise him as a man, and qualify him for the enjoyment of life, either in heaven or in hell, to eternity. But the choice and possession of external things has no such effects; external possessions do not characterise man, neither do they qualify him for the enjoyment of life hereafter; but they are simply means in his hands, by which he can spread his influence in doing either good or evil, and which soever of the two he does, will depend upon the quality resulting from his choice of internal objects, external possessions being equally subservient to the good and the wicked, irrespective of character or quality.

From these remarks, we trust it will be seen that affections and thoughts are the primary objects of man's choice, and that his quality is from those which he freely wills and appropriates. To show this, is the chief object of this part.

S. S.

SWEDENBORG AND "THE RECORD."

[The substance of this paper was sent to the London newspaper named above, but was not inserted. We give it partly to show what the world knows and says about the New Church, and partly in the hope that the offered correction contains some point of interest, to those at least who have not gone quite beyond the study of first principles.]

In your paper of the 27th, three letters are inserted under the head "Swedenborgianism," in answer to "Omicron," who in a previous number of your journal had asked to be directed to some small work that would give him an idea of Swedenborg's doctrines. One of your correspondents, who signs himself "Anti-Swedenborgian," kindly undertakes to anticipate this inquirer's researches, by offering him the information he desires. Had this proffered information been even generally correct, I would not have troubled you with this communication. Having carefully read, I may say studied, the writings of Swedenborg, which "A." seems only to have cursorily examined, perhaps you will allow me to point out some of the more serious mistakes he has fallen into.

He says "The foundation of the whole system is, Swedenborg is the Holy Ghost, whom Christ promised to send to say the many things He had to say, (John xvi. 12.) but which His disciples

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could not then receive." There is not the slightest foundation for this statement, involving as it does a charge which, if true, would effectually prove the utter baselessness of the whole system. Swedenborg calls himself a servant of the Lord, and professes to have received a direct call from Him, and to have been enlightened by Him to teach the true doctrines of the Word, and explain its spiritual sense. This certainly implies the reception by him of a larger measure than ordinary of the Spirit of God, but it surely does not involve the profanity of claiming to be himself the Holy Ghost! It is worth mentioning that he frequently remarks that it is a not uncommon delusion of religious enthusiasts to suppose themselves to be the Holy Ghost, a delusion which he asserts to be as dangerous as it is false.

'A" proceeds to say that "Swedenborg makes the most arbitrary use of the authority this assumed principle gives him in interpreting the statements of the Bible, besides adding an immense amount of new revelation." I have admitted that he claims to be an interpreter of the Bible. But, so far is he from proceeding in an "arbitrary" manner, it was, according to him, an important part of his mission to supply the Church with a rule of interpretation which will for ever deliver the Divine Word from those "arbitrary," conjectural, and ever-shifting expositions to which it has long been subjected, and of the uncertainty and unsatisfactoriness of which our own times afford too abundant evidence But while Swedenborg professes to be an interpreter of the Bible, he claims to be nothing more. The Word of God held so exalted a place in his estimation, as it does in his system, that for any one to add or to take away from its sacred contents would be to violate that which is most holy. Nothing, therefore, can be more mistaken than the statement that "there is also an immense amount of new revelation, given for the first time by him, so that his works are held to be part of the Bible." It is true that Swedenborg gives in his works a good deal of information regarding the other world; but the members of the New Church no more regard these to be a part of the Bible than they regard Swedenborg himself to have been the Holy Ghost. They believe these to be among the means with which he was supplied for enabling him to explain and us to understand the Bible, especially its teaching respecting life and immortality, but nothing more. According to him, the Bible was given by immediate divine inspiration, which makes it truly the Word of God, and raises it immeasurably-nay, infinitely-above every human composition, however enlightened its author may be. By virtue of its immediate divine origin, the Word is DIVINE TRUTH itself, which can only be brought down to human or even angelic apprehension, by

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SWEDENBORG AND THE RECORD."

being veiled in the forms of angelic and human ideas. The Holy Word, as we possess it, is but the natural form which God's Eternal Truth assumed in its descent to our earth, to accommodate it to the minds of men in the natural world; and it contains, therefore, a higher sense and a profounder wisdom than appear in the letter. Swedenborg's exalting the spiritual sense may perhaps have led "A." to suppose that he "rejects with scorn the literal interpretation, and gives what he calls a true spiritual interpretation." So far is he from rejecting the literal interpretation, that he lays it down as a rule that "all doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, and to be confirmed thereby." And the reason he assigns for this is one that should entirely exonerate him from the charge not only of rejecting but of contemning this part of the Word-that "in the literal sense Divine Truth is in its fulness, holiness, and power."

But in order to derive sound dotrine from the literal sense of the Word, an important principle in regard to it must be understood. The literal sense of Scripture consists of two kinds of truths-real truths and apparent truths. In this respect the Word is like the works of God. In nature there are apparent as well as real truths, and no true system of nature can be formed except from her real as distinguished from her apparent truths. The difference between the Ptolemaic and the Copernican systems of astronomy, is simply the difference between the real and the apparent truth relating to the motion of the heavenly bodies. The Ptolemaic system was founded on the appearance that the sun moves, and that the earth stands still. The discovery by Copernicus of the real truth that the earth moves, and that the sun stands still, gave the world a new and true system of the universe. Swedenborg may be called the Copernicus of Theology. He discovered the real as distinguished from the apparent truths of the Word, and in them he traced out a true system of divinity, as distinguished for its simplicity and harmony, as every system founded upon its apparent truths must be for its complexity and confusion. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that Swedenborg's was a re-discovery, just as was that of Copernicus. The true idea of the planetary system had been known in the world for more than two thousand years as an idea of Pythagoras, but it had never been developed into a system, so as to render it a matter of common faith, nor even of philosophic conception. The fact is, the human mind was not sufficiently instructed to rise above the appearances or phenomena of creation, and as a consequence this truth soon disappeared from the human mind, like one of those stars that have suddenly shone out in the heavens, and then paled away till lost to the sight, but to re-appear at some future

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period. In like manner, the existence in the Divine Word of real as distinguished from apparent truth has been known for ages in the church, but the idea has never been so definite or developed as to produce any decided change in existing systems of theology, which are essentially based upon the apparent truths of the letter of Scripture.

Nor could it be otherwise; for the human mind was no more prepared to acknowledge the real truths of religion than of science. But that day has now arrived; and God, who ever provides men with His truth as they are able to bear it, has raised up one of those great instruments always produced for great occasions, to draw aside the veil of appearances, and disclose the genuine truths of the Divine Word. One of the real and central truths of Revelation is, that God is perfect and unchangeable love, and that all appearances of Divine anger or severity arise from the state of the creature: that the summer and winter, day and night, or the heat and cold, light and darkness of the moral world and of the soul, are produced by man turning to or from the Divine Suu, which shines in the sphere of the absolute in one endless and unclouded day of perfect love and glory. Some, however, think that if God were pure love and tender mercy to all-the wicked and the good, there would be no hell and no future punishments. There cannot be a greater mistake. So long as wickedness exists, hell and misery will exist. Hell and heaven are states of the mind; and it is the state, not the place, that produces happiness or misery. The state and the place are inseparable from each other. The good in this life are, as to their spirits, in heaven, and the wicked in hell; and when the veil of the flesh, with its appearances, is removed, men find themselves where their state has placed them. The wicked do not require to be cast into hell; they cast themselves into it. It is true,

therefore, as "A." states, that "when the Bible says that God casts the wicked into hell, Swedenborg says it does not mean that God casts the wicked into hell." This "A." considers as "contradicting the express assertion of the Bible." It might with equal truth be said, as Infidels say, that the Bible contradicts itself. In fact, Swedenborg not only does not contradict the Bible, but he shows, what no one before him has shown, that the Bible does not contradict itself. He shows that all apparent contradictions in the Word arise from confounding its apparent truths. We contradict an express assertion of the Bible when we say that the earth moves, and that the sun stands still; and we know how Galileo suffered from the theologians of his day for this supposed impiety. Swedenborg meets with similar opposition for having announced and explained the analogous fact, that the real are different from the apparent truths of the Bible.

real and

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SWEDENBORG AND THE RECORD."

Besides the distinction of real and apparent truths in the letter of the Word, there is a distinction between the literal sense as a whole and the spiritual sense, which resides equally in every part of the literal sense. The difference may be explained in this way. The real truths of the literal sense are like the face and hands of the body, which are uncovered; the apparent truths are like the other parts, which are clothed. But the distinction between the literal sense and the spiritual sense is like the distinction between the whole body and the soul which dwells within and animates every part. The literal sense is to be explained by doctrine, the spiritual sense by correspondence. When Swedenborg, again, "contradicts the express assertion of the Bible, by saying that flesh does not mean flesh, but doctrine," (sic) he does not say that in the literal sense flesh does not mean flesh; but that wherever flesh is mentioned in the literal sense something purely spiritual, corresponding to it, is meant in the spiritual sense.

"A." proceeds to say-"There are two grand points of tho system. First, there is no God and no Father, except Christ only." This is strictly true. Christ in His one person is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." It does not, however, follow that "what the Bible states respecting the mutual acting and speaking of the Father and Son is a kind of soliloquy of Christ only." According to Swedenborg, the Lord's Divine nature is understood to be the Father, and His Human nature to be the Son; and which was actually the case, since the Human was begotten of the Divine; and between the Divine and the Human there was a real "mutual acting and speaking" that is impossible between two equally Divine Persons. When Jesus said "The Son can do nothing of Himself," (John v. 19.) "the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself," (xiv. 10.) He evidently spoke of and from his Human, not His Divine nature. But where was He by whose power He acted? He Himself instructs us:-"The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." (ver. 10.) There was, indeed, even to the Lord Himself, much more to man, an appearance in His states of humiliation of the Father being out of Him; so that he prayed to Him, and cried to Him upon the cross. Shall we remain in the apparent truth that Father and Son were two different Beings, or shall we adopt the real truth, as uttered by the Lord Himself, "I and the Father are one"?

But the "second" grand point of the system is-"“There is no such thing as salvation through Christ's atoning sacrifice, or otherwise than by personal righteousness." If I have read Swedenborg aright, he not only admits but maintains that there is no salvation except through the

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