Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

FREE-WILL, AND SPIRITUAL EQUILIBRIUM.

363

hereditary evil, his re-action is in opposition to the order of the spiritual; this did not exist originally, but it now constitutes the opposition between heaven and hell, and is the ground of the general equilibrium.

The equilibrium between heaven and hell is, according to the present state of mankind, essential to the existence of free-will, although it was not always the case. This equilibrium, although now a necessary ground on which alone the will of man can exist in freedom, is not coeval with free-will; for there was a time when free-will existed without it. Originally there was no equilibrium between good and evil, yet free-will existed, and was then the very centre of man's existence, as it is now. The equilibrium between good and evil was formed and adopted as an expedient after man had fallen, and evil had entered his nature, and a more perfect state of mankind had ceased to exist. Had not this been established when man fell, he would have been overwhelmed by evil as with a flood; but by the instituting of such a condition evil had no power over him, though present with, and even in him. By virtue of that Divine arrangement man's will was made free, and man is now enabled to exist in freedom as he did before the fall. If man had not fallen, by the origin of evil, there would have been no hell, nor world of spirits; these not being created, but they originated with man, the former in evil, the latter in the mixed or unseparated state of good and evil in man. Hell being only the external manifestation of evil as it exists in the infernals; and the world of spirits, the outward manifestation of that unseparated state of good and evil which is common with mankind when they leave the natural world;-these having no other origin, if those states did not exist which are their causes, they could have no existence as effects, but all, on leaving this world, would, without sickness or suffering, go immediately to heaven. (4. C. 5726.) This was the Divine design, but which was frustrated by man.

From what has been said, it may be seen that an equilibrium between heaven and hell is not absolutely essential to the existence of free-will; and had man retained his original purity and perfection such an equilibrium would not have existed, nor could such a state have been formed, the materials necessary for its formation not existing.

The hells were not formed that they might be opposites, or that equilibrium might exist in the heavens, but they were permitted in accordance with man's free-will, which God never violates. It is a great mercy that infernals are removed from the angels, which Divine order effects in their final states, and that to a distance proportionate with their disagreement; on which account it is a law that prevails everywhere in the spiritual world, that dissimilitude separates and similitude joins.

364

FREE-WILL, AND SPIRITUAL EQUILIBRIUM.

The separation of the evil from the good, in the classification of individuals into societies according to their qualities, is one of the greatest blessings of Divine Providence; because, without that order, angels could not be happy, and the infernals would be much more miserable; in fact, without that order there would be neither heaven nor hell, but one confused and heterogeneous mixture of good and evil.

That there are as many societies in the hells as in the heavens will follow as a consequence of the fall and the origin of the hells, evil being only good perverted. Any good, when perverted, becomes an evil opposite to that good; this being the case when man fell from the highest good in which he was created, that good became the opposite of what it was before; and all who had thus fallen, when in their final state, would form a society opposite to that consisting of the good from which they had fallen. It would be the same with the next degree of good which became perverted, and with the next also; and so on until the good of mankind had become so external and inferior as to possess the least possible virtue, and when this became perverted, good would be altogether extinguished, and mankind would be so external and inferior as to possess nothing which was capable of perversion. When this was the case, the fall was completed, and not until then; and in this state was man when the Lord came to redeem him. Now, throughout the whole process of the fall, from the first to the last, every degree of good which existed in succession became perverted, and as each good, when perverted, became its opposite evil, when all the degrees of good were perverted, there would be as many degrees of evil as of good; and when the subjects of these were formed into societies, there would be as many societies in the hells as in the heavens, and they would be opposite to each other. But this does not shew the necessity of such opposites, but only that such would be a consequence of the perversion of good, and of the Divine arrangement of all things.

It must be evident to every reflecting mind, that if man had not fallen, his equilibrium, even in this world, would not have been between good and evil, hell as the source of evil not existing; nevertheless he would have been in the enjoyment of free-will, as it is quite certain he was when he originated evil, and thereby fell. Man is now held in connection with evil spirits because he is born in evil. (H. H. 293.) And he is governed by spirits at the present day, because he is not in the order in which he was created; had that been the case, he would have had immediate communication with the Lord Himself. Swedenborg says

"The reason that man is governed by the Lord through the instrumentality of spirits is, because he does not stand in the order of heaven."

FREE-WILL, AND SPIRITUAL EQUILIBRIUM.

365

He then gives the reason why he is held in communication with evil spirits, which is as follows:

"He is born into evils, which are those of hell, thus into the state which is diametrically opposite to Divine order; consequently he is to be brought back into order; and this can be effected mediately through the instrumentality of spirits." And he adds

"It would be different if man were born in good, which is according to the order of heaven; he would not then be governed by the Lord through spirits, but by order itself, consequently by common influx." (H. H. 296.)

God did not create man as a subject to whose existence evil was necessary, nor did He give him a will that could not be free without evil; it was the same power when it was created that it is now; and so far was it from being dependent upon evil for its liberty, that the very first evil that existed was produced by its free exercise, and subsequently every other evil that did or does now exist.

From what has been stated, we trust that it will be seen that there are two equilibriums, one which is proper to a state of probation, in which man forms to himself a state in which he is to experience all his consciousness of existence, whether it be good or evil; and another by which he is preserved in that state, and, so far as he does not molest others, to live in the freedom of that state for ever.

WHEN IS THE NEW JERUSALEM TO COME?

(A Question of SPRINGER'S to SWEDENBORG.)

S. S.

WHENEVER the New Jerusalem is mentioned by its antagonists in theological or ecclesiastical books, it is almost always regarded as a special religious party and sect, or as a small chapel placed by the side of the great Christian mother-churches. Such, at least, is generally the case when German and Swedish scholars submit the doctrines of the New Jerusalem to their critical remarks and speculative investigations. We find, for instance, that Dr. K. Graul, in a theological school-book,* makes the New Jerusalem parallel not only with the Roman Catholic and the larger Protestant Churches, but also with the smaller ones, as the Arminian, Moravian, Fruingian, Friends or Quakers, Baptists, Latter Day Saints, and others. This book is translated into Swedish, and by theologians and clergymen cited as a good work of its kind. It can, therefore, I think, never too often be iterated, that the New Christian Church, or New Jerusalem, refuses to be regarded as one of

* "Die Unterscheidungslehren der verschiedenen christlichen Bekenntnisse im Lichte göttlichen Worts. 5 verm. Aufl. Leipzig, 1857."

366

WHEN IS THE NEW JERUSALEM TO COME?

the many different sects into which the general body of Christians is unhappily divided, but that it claims, as the name imports, to be an entirely new dispensation of doctrinal truth, as compared with any of the systems which at present prevail.

To consider the New Church as a special religious institution is but so far due and proper, as the heavenly truths which constitute her doctrines cannot, without external means and agencies, be spread all over the world. They must have a bodily organization, consisting of persons, societies, and churches, which, as an alma mater, preserve and watch over the precious spiritual treasures, and as a perpetual herald, proclaim and announce the Divine Truths from one time, land, and generation to another. But the New Jerusalem herself is not confined to any external form or ritual whatever. Her doctrines admit of every variety in this respect, and inculcate only that unity which is produced by charity. The New Jerusalem has nothing that reminds one of religious particularism. All its truths are of universal Christian character, and quite unsectarian. To be sure, nobody has ever embraced a more general Christianity than Swedenborg himself. Among all soi-disant Swedenborginas, he was the least Swedenborgian. And so free from all sectarianism as he was himself, so free is the doctrine that his writings promulgate. This doctrine is eminently of an universally Christian nature, and has no other restrictions or limitations than those of Christianity itself. To be convinced of this, we need but compare the general form of the New Jerusalem doctrine, which we read in the beginning of "The True Christian Religion," with the respective Confessions of the many Christian sects and churches in the world. Among these churches everyone has her marks of distinction, symbols, or symbolical books, the purpose of which is to separate and distinguish the members of one church from those of another, and make them, if not enemies, at least antagonists and strangers to each other. The New Church has no such intention, but quite a different one. It has no confessional symbols. The principal aim is to conjoin, not to disjoin. It does not strive and struggle to be an "Ecclesia polemica et militans" against all the others, but it aspires to be an "Ecclesia pacifica et triumphans."

While the Old Churches, almost after every article of faith, have an "anathema" or a "damnantur" against all disbelievers, this "anathema" is banished from the New Church. All, even heretics, can be saved, says Swedenborg,* if they have not "confirmed themselves in the falses of religion, or led evil lives." Whoever believes in one God, embodied in Christ, and lives according to His commandments, shuns evil, and

*T. C. R. 799.

WHEN IS THE NEW JERUSALEM TO COME?

867

does what is good, is a welcome friend in the New Jerusalem. In more general words the Christian faith cannot be expressed. They seem to be the quintessence of Christianity. Now, it is evident that a confession of so general a character, cannot properly be called a sect or a special church, because it has nothing special or exclusive but the faith in Christ and obedience to His commandments. And these two "nota characteristica" are a "conditio, sine quâ non" for all Christendom. If Christians do not believe in the very heavenly Good and True, manifested in the person of Christ, nor obey His commandments, they are not Christians but baptized heathens, whose hearts deny the confession which their lips have pronounced. Our old Apostolic Creed, to which, as we see from one of his letters to Dr. Beyer,* Swedenborg himself conformed, professes a "holy and universal or Catholic Church, the communion of saints." Many ancient and recent theologians have considered this Catholic Church as an internal and invisible one, which is spread in all countries and times, among all peoples, and which ought to be well distinguished from the external Catholic Church that is under the rule of the Pope. In our days, not a few speculative theologians conceive the whole Christian era as divided into three periods, which, from the names of three apostles, they call that of Peter, of Paul, and of John. The first period includes that of Catholicism; the second, that of Protestantism, both of which are now about to pass away; and the third, that of Christianity, which is to come, or "the New Jeru. salem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." As the great and eternal Sabbath is to our Sundays, which weekly come and go over the earth, so is the new, invisible, heavenly, perpetual Church to the visible, temporal, and transitory. The latter are only the shadows of the former,-her imperfect, dim, and faint figures.

But how is this invisible, ideal, holy Church to come? We have, in this respect, but to look upon the advice and hints which the Scriptures give us. Certainly, the New Jerusalem will not descend to us from heaven in the shape of a sect-church, with old, strict, and severe ecclesiastical discipline, many ceremonials and festivals. She will come, no doubt, as "the kingdom of God," that "cometh not with observation, neither shall they say, Lo! here, or Lo! there; for, behold, the kingdom of God is within us;" namely, in our understanding and will, when they are reformed and regenerated, so that our inward man is heaven in its smallest form. We pray daily to our Father in heaven—

*That of 30th October, 1769, inserted in "Collections for Philanthropists. Stockholm, 1787."

« AnteriorContinuar »