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4 
 
 OUTLINES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 SWEDENBORG. 
 
 BY 
 
 THEOPHILUS PARSONS, LL.D. 
 
 I I » 
 
 
 JAMES SPEIRS, 
 
 36 BLOOMSBURY STREET, LONDON. 
 
 1876. 
 
E't'lV 
 
 ?2S0 
 
 - -c-r -' > i* I I 
 
 REMOTE ia I Or^w- 
 
 BO0K3TACKS OFFICE 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 This book is a reprint of an American work. The author, 
 now nearly eighty years of age, was, for many years, Profes¬ 
 sor of Law in the University at Cambridge, in the United 
 States; and has published many Treatises on legal subjects, 
 which are well known to the profession in this country. He 
 has also published books illustrative of the truths of the New- 
 Cliurch; as, “Ueus Homo,” “The Infinite and the Finite,” 
 “Essays,” &c., &c. This work, lately published in America, 
 is republished here in the belief that it is well adapted to 
 satisfy the growing desire to know something of the system 
 of Emanuel Swedenborg. 
 
 JAMES SPEIRS. 
 
 30 Bloomsbury Street. 
 
 
 o 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. Introductory. 5 
 
 The Necessity of Revelation. 9 
 
 Successive Revelations ........ 15 
 
 The Latest Revelation.18 
 
 II. God.38 
 
 III. Creation.53 
 
 IV. This World.65 
 
 V. The Other World.79 
 
 VI. The World op Spirits.94 
 
 VII. Degrees.101 
 
 VIII. 0WNHOOD.121 
 
 IX. Correspondence.153 
 
 X. The Human Form.165 
 
 XI. Heaven.178 
 
 The Three Heavens.180 
 
 The Two Kingdoms of Heaven.182 
 
 The Employments of Heaven.184 
 
 Angels.188 
 
 XII. The Word.191 
 
 The Bible.201 
 
 The Israelitisii Church.217 
 
 XIII. The Lord.233 
 
 The Redemption of Mankind.242 
 
 The Bringing of the Spiritual World into 
 
 Order.256 
 
 The Making of the Assumed Humanity 
 
 Divine.260 
 
 The Providing thereby a New Medium for 
 
 Saving Influence.262 
 
 The Giving to Mankind for Evermore a 
 Definite Object of Intelligent Faith, 
 of Worship, and of Love.265 
 
 XIV. Conclusion.283 
 
 Of Marriage.283 
 
 Of Thought.288 
 
 Of Instinct.295 
 
 The Slow Growth of the New Church . . 301 
 
OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 A church may be defined as the collective body of 
 those who agree together in faith and in worship. 
 
 There have been, and there are, many churches; 
 differing from each other in their systems of faith 
 and modes of worship. 
 
 All churches, so far as their religious tenets or 
 doctrines have any truth, are founded upon revela¬ 
 tion. The reason of this is, that religious doctrines 
 relate necessarily to God and a life after death; 
 and the human mind is incapable of forming the 
 first or simplest idea, or having any thought what¬ 
 ever concerning these topics by the exercise of the 
 senses, or of sensuous thought concerning what 
 the senses discover. By this phrase I mean think¬ 
 ing, by the exercise of any or all the intellectual 
 faculties, only on what the senses teach; drawing 
 inferential instruction from the direct instruction 
 
6 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 which the senses give; and thus continually enlarg¬ 
 ing the knowledge which a right use of the senses 
 enables us to acquire, but with no reference to any 
 thing higher. It is certain that, without the senses, 
 we could not know any thing or think any thing 
 about the material world, or the life we pass upon 
 this world. It is equally certain, although not so 
 obvious, that without revelation, or information re¬ 
 ceived from the other world, we could not know 
 any thing or think any thing about that world, or 
 an infinite Creator of that world and this. 
 
 If men did not think about what the senses ac¬ 
 quaint them with, they would be but little better 
 for their senses. They would not gain so much 
 from them as the lower animals do, for these have a 
 kind and measure of sensuous thought. Men have 
 a far greater power of sensuous thought, that they 
 may profit far more by their senses. This power is, 
 indeed, far larger and higher than the analogous 
 power which the lower animals have; for, with them, 
 this power exists at once in the highest development 
 it can reach, as soon as the animals are old enough 
 to make use of it; and with but little difference 
 among animals of the same species, or among suc¬ 
 cessive generations. It stops where it begins. No 
 animal grows much more knowing by experience, 
 nor can the individual or the race transmit what 
 they have learned to their successors so as to permit 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 7 
 
 an accumulation or a growth of knowledge. Re¬ 
 cently, the doctrine of “ Evolution ” has come into 
 great prominence. It may be that sufficient reasons 
 will be found for holding this process of evolution, 
 under some form or modification, as one of the laws 
 or methods of Divine Provideuce in creation. But 
 if an animal of a new kind, a new species, may 
 thus have come into existence from or through the 
 agency of a lower, — a better from a worse, a higher 
 from a lower, — it will still be true and certain that 
 no animal below man, however he may have been 
 formed, has the power of consciously and inten¬ 
 tionally helping the future to know more than the 
 past. 
 
 In all these particulars, the power of sensuous 
 thought in men differs from that in the lower ani¬ 
 mals. In men, this power is nearly nothing in the 
 beginning of life, but grows afterwards, or may 
 grow, to the end of life. All that a man learns, he 
 may teach. All that a generation acquires, it may 
 transmit to a succeeding generation. This is done 
 imperfectly, because of the imperfect exercise of 
 this power of sensuous thought. Nevertheless, there 
 is constantly much teaching of the knowledge ac¬ 
 quired by the exercise of this power, and a large 
 accumulation of this knowledge and a great ad¬ 
 vancement in it, from generation to generation. 
 
 There is no limit to the possible progress of this 
 
8 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 power, if rightly exercised, either in the amount of 
 knowledge it may acquire, or in the utilization of 
 this knowledge for the benefit of individual and 
 social life. It seeks to learn all it can of the forces 
 and laws of external nature, to use these forces to 
 make life on earth easier and more delightful, and 
 to overcome the hinderance and obstruction with 
 which these forces resist the designs and efforts of 
 mankind. All this it might do, if rightfully exer¬ 
 cised, with a continual progress, which would have 
 neither interruption nor termination. 
 
 But it can do only this. However properly, saga¬ 
 ciously, or energetically exercised, it can do no more 
 than this. It belongs to this world, to this life; and 
 whatever it may add to the knowledge of this world 
 or the improvement of this life, it cannot take a 
 single step beyond or above this life. Whatever 
 may be the enlargement, or, if we prefer to call it 
 so, the elevation of sensuous thought in its use or its 
 effect, it does not in this way change or make any 
 approach to a change of its essential nature. It may 
 embrace all the kingdoms of Nature, and penetrate 
 the material heavens. But it continues to be sensu¬ 
 ous thought, and only that, as entirely as it was 
 in its beginning, or in its earliest and lowest activ¬ 
 ities. A man may master all the truths of natural 
 science, or utilize them all to the advantage of ex¬ 
 ternal human life, and still employ sensuous thought 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 9 
 
 as exclusively as the savage who hammers one stone 
 with another, and so makes his hatchet. 
 
 The human mind possesses higher powers; or, if 
 we think proper to express it differently, we may 
 say that it is able to use all its powers in another 
 and a higher way. The difference between these 
 two classes of powers, or between these two ways 
 of using all intellectual faculty, is like the differ¬ 
 ence between the two lives we lead. 
 
 We begin life in this world, as men living upon 
 earth. We have senses exquisitely adapted to earth, 
 and to all the information which earth can give; 
 and intellectual faculties which, using the senses 
 as means, may make this life one of continually 
 
 0 
 
 greater enjoyment. But, after we have ceased to 
 live on earth, we shall live another life in another 
 world, and this other life will never cease. As we 
 have faculties perfectly adapted, if rightly used, to 
 make this life one of enjoyment, and our senses are 
 given us as the means of attaining this end, so we 
 have faculties as perfectly adapted to make the other 
 life one of happiness; and revelation from or through 
 that world provides for us the means of attaining 
 this end by the rightful use of these faculties. 
 
 THE NECESSITY OF REVELATION. 
 
 Revelation is not an abnormal thing, coming in 
 to supply a sudden or exceptional necessity; it is 
 
10 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 a perfectly regular part of the method of Divine 
 Providence. It is as essential and indispensable to 
 any knowledge or thought about spiritual life or the 
 other world, as the senses are indispensable to any 
 knowledge or thought about this life or this world; 
 and it is as perfectly possible for revelation from 
 the other world to teach us about that life and that 
 world, as it is for the senses to teach us about this 
 world. Then it is the business of spiritual thought 
 — we use this phrase in contrast with sensuous 
 thought — to make a rightful use of the instruction 
 which revelation gives. 
 
 Revelation discloses to us the fact of another life. 
 It is, as the derivation of the word implies, an un¬ 
 veiling : by it, the veil which hides that world from 
 us is partially lifted. It tells us that there is One 
 w T ho made that world and this; and it tells us also 
 somewhat about Him and His nature and method 
 of action, His laws and His purposes. And an ap¬ 
 plication of our intellectual faculties, in an appro¬ 
 priate way, to the truths which revelation teaches 
 may give us an ever-growing enlargement of knowl¬ 
 edge regarding them, and may lead us to an ever¬ 
 growing happiness. 
 
 Whether we call the faculty of spiritual thought 
 a distinct and higher faculty, or say that it is only a 
 higher use and employment of the same faculties 
 which give the power of sensuous thought, it is still 
 
OF THE NEW CHUECH. 
 
 11 
 
 true that spiritual thought when rightly employed 
 about God, the soul, and other matters of religion, 
 works, to a large extent, in like manner with sensu¬ 
 ous thought, when that is rightly employed about 
 its proper topics. If religion rests in some degree 
 upon intuition or perception that certain propositions 
 are true, so does science just as much; for the very 
 foundation-truths of all science — axioms, or postu¬ 
 lates — are, on the one hand, perfectly indispensable 
 to science, and, on the other, assumed to be true in 
 the absence of all proof; because by the constitution 
 of human nature we cannot help believing that they 
 are true. Religion, building upon its own foundation, 
 which is revelation, uses logic, inference, analogy, 
 and deduction in arguing from a general truth to its 
 particulars, and induction in arguing from particular 
 truths to the general truth which includes them; 
 and religion reasons, in all these and similar ways, 
 as freely as science. 
 
 If there are similarities, there are also essential 
 and vital differences between spiritual and sensuous 
 thought. One of these — that the basis of sensuous 
 thought is sense, and the basis of spiritual thought 
 revelation — has already been spoken of. There is 
 another of almost equal importance. 
 
 Through all the work of sensuous thought, the 
 intellect alone is called upon to act, and is alone 
 permitted to act. They who would think safely 
 
12 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 are careful to exclude from their thought all influ- 
 ence of feeling and affection ; and that this must be 
 guarded against is one of the rules for sound and 
 just scientific inquiry. But for the higher mode of 
 thought the rule is otherwise. Here feeling, affec¬ 
 tion, and moral tendency come in ; not to warp or 
 obscure intellectual action or perception, but to ani¬ 
 mate and encourage and illustrate them. The results 
 
 o 
 
 reached do not depend upon the intellect only, but 
 upon this and upon the affections and the character 
 also. Hence the fact to which the whole history of 
 religion bears testimony, — that a system of relig¬ 
 ious truth is seldom received or rejected only be¬ 
 cause of the weight of argument or of evidence for 
 or against it, but as it suits or opposes the character 
 and tendencies, the affectional and moral wants, of 
 those to whom it is offered. The intellect may be 
 misled in these inquiries, and its conclusions falsified 
 by the affections and the character. A mistaken 
 enthusiasm may teach untruths, and cling to them. 
 On the other hand, a coldness towards truths of this 
 higher order, or fixed habits of thought adverse to 
 them, or a rejoicing confidence in the strength of 
 one’s own powers and the truths they have won, 
 with a sense of humiliation at the necessity of assist¬ 
 ance from greater strength, — all these and similar 
 moral difficulties have in all ages led, and will al¬ 
 ways lead, minds of great strength and culture to 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 13 
 
 reject all aid from revelation, and deny all its truths. 
 Hence always and now, some of those who are uni¬ 
 versally acknowledged as leaders of scientific thought 
 have been, and are, unbelievers of all that merely 
 sensuous thought is unable to grasp. 
 
 The cause of this important difference between 
 sensuous thought which appeals only to the intel¬ 
 lect, and super-sensuous thought which appeals also 
 to the moral and affectional nature, may be consid¬ 
 ered more fully hereafter. Now, we say only that 
 life in this world is but a life of preparation for 
 another. This must be a preparation of the char¬ 
 acter, for it is that which determines the quality of 
 life, everywhere, in this world or in the other. It 
 is obvious that the moral character would be harmed 
 by a compulsory intellectual reception of spiritual 
 truth, followed by that disregard and rejection of it 
 in life, which must spring from an antagonism to it 
 on the part of the affections and moral tendencies. 
 Better, it must be, that one should reject this truth 
 intellectually, than that he should receive it intel¬ 
 lectually by the compulsion of proof, and then 
 harden himself against it; and so destroy or lessen 
 the possibility that he may at some future time open 
 his mind to the truth, and his heart to its influence. 
 
 The whole course of increase of knowledge by 
 means of sensuous thought has been, first, to some 
 conclusion; then to the discovery that this conclu- 
 
14 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 sion was erroneous, in whole or in part, and the 
 substitution of another, — and this other, regarded 
 as certain when it was adopted, was in its turn 
 swept away, or greatly modified by the next wave 
 of knowledge, and its successor took its place. 
 Perhaps no one of what were the theories or the 
 certainties of science two thousand, or even one 
 thousand, years ago are held now. The cycles and 
 epicycles of ancient astronomy have been supplanted 
 by the circles and ellipses and other conic curves of 
 modern astronomy. In chemistry the change is even 
 more marked. It would seem to be impossible that 
 the truths and principles now relied upon should ever 
 be abandoned; but it is in the highest degree prob¬ 
 able that the theories explanatory of them, or con¬ 
 nected with them, will be most importantly modified. 
 Perhaps we may believe that natural science has 
 ascertained certain physical facts, in many branches 
 of knowledge, which can never be disproved, be¬ 
 cause they are facts. But the inferences to be drawn 
 from them, the laws which regulate them, and the 
 theories which explain them, will all be subjected to 
 changes as great as those which have attended the 
 progress of science hitherto. 
 
 Something at least analogous to this is true in 
 
 o o 
 
 respect to the results of higher or spiritual thought, 
 — using this phrase in distinction from sensuous 
 thought, and meaning by it thought concerning 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 15 
 
 those things about which the senses can know noth¬ 
 ing and can teach nothing. 
 
 SUCCESSIVE REVELATIONS. 
 
 Religious truth has passed through successive 
 phases. In the words of the apostle, “ God at sun¬ 
 dry times and in divers manners spoke in times past 
 to the Fathers.” The existence of a God, and of 
 another life, are two great truths which all revela¬ 
 tion from the beginning has declared, and all relig¬ 
 ion has accepted. But, with different races and in 
 different ages, these truths have borne very different 
 aspects, and have led to very different conclusions 
 of faith and practice. 
 
 There are two reasons for this: one of which is, 
 that the law of unending life must be the law of 
 unending growth; for growth is of the essence 
 of life. The moment when improvement comes to 
 an end, must be a moment when that which is most 
 valuable in life has come to an end. Goethe said 
 that the thought of unending life sometimes op¬ 
 pressed him, because there must be in it a period 
 when farther progress was impossible, and there 
 would be nothing left but unending stagnation; but 
 he was comforted on this point when he looked up 
 to the stars. He mmht have found the same CORSC- 
 
 cs 
 
 lation in looking through the microscope; for in 
 these days, if the telescope has disclosed the indefi- 
 
 S y 
 
16 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 nite in the great and distant, the microscope has dis¬ 
 closed it in the little and the near. But if Goethe 
 had known where and how to look for it, he might 
 have found, not consolation only, but hope and joy 
 in the prospect of a constantly growing enlarge¬ 
 ment of power, and of happiness in the exercise of 
 power for usefulness. 
 
 There is another reason for this perpetual prog¬ 
 ress, which applies only to spiritual thought and its 
 results. For this thought, revelation supplies the 
 foundation and the means. And revelation has al¬ 
 ways been progressive, and always limited in its 
 disclosures. If revelation comes from God and His 
 heaven, and comes to tell us of Him and heaven, 
 and how to go to heaven, why has it not been 
 always full and clear in its instruction; telling us at 
 once, and if need be keeping us constantly and ac¬ 
 curately informed, of all that is knowable about Him 
 and the other life ? Surely, such knowledge is of 
 as much more value to us as immortals than any 
 knowledge about earth, as eternity is more than 
 time. Surely, He could if He would give to all the 
 nature He creates and governs, — to the leaves, the 
 stars, the winds, — a voice to speak of Him. Why 
 has he not done this ? The answer to this question 
 I can give much better hereafter, when I treat of 
 human freedom, its necessities, its laws, and its 
 effect. Now I only note the fact, that there has 
 
OF THE NETV CHURCH. 
 
 IT 
 
 never been a revelation so complete as to leave 
 nothing more to be known; so distinct that it could 
 not be misunderstood; and so well attested that it 
 could not be denied and rejected. And there never 
 will be such a revelation. 
 
 It has been already said, that, to all reception and 
 comprehension of spiritual truth, there were moral 
 and affectional requisites as well as intellectual. 
 Only to improve and elevate the whole nature of 
 man, and chiefly his moral and affectional nature, 
 is revelation given; and this improvement and ele¬ 
 vation cannot be effectually made unless man does 
 his part, in the freedom which is given him that he 
 may do this. It is an easy conclusion that revela¬ 
 tion must always, in its instruments and its method,, 
 its quantity and its character, be perfectly adapted 
 by perfect wisdom to the needs and possibilities of 
 those to whom it is given. Hence the fact, already 
 referred to, but only to be understood where the 
 nature and the purpose of all revelation are under¬ 
 stood,— that there never has been, is not, and never 
 will be, a revelation such in its disclosures and in 
 its evidence, that it cannot be utterly rejected by 
 those whom, for whatever reason, rejection suits 
 better than acceptance. 
 
 Revelations have been usually attested by mira¬ 
 cles. That given to the children of Israel was at¬ 
 tended by miracles of the most striking and almost 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 appalling character. That upon which the Chris¬ 
 tian religion was founded, rested on testimony of a 
 different kind. In the first place, our Lord’s life and 
 character bore witness to the truth of His words. 
 Besides this, however, they were abundantly proved 
 by miracles; or, as the word so translated should be 
 translated, signs.* And these were ail of them 
 works of cure, of healing, or of gift; always works 
 of obvious mercy, and never works of terror. 
 
 THE LATEST REVELATION. 
 
 Now another revelation is given. As the Chris¬ 
 tian revelation explained and carried forward the 
 work of the Israelitish revelation, so this new rev¬ 
 elation explains and completes the work of the 
 Christian revelation. As the Christian revelation 
 advanced so far beyond the Israelitish revelation as 
 to rest upon its own miracles of mercy instead of 
 f the terrors and trumpet-tones of Sinai, so this new 
 revelation advances one step farther, and appeals 
 only to reason and faith. For this is the second 
 Christian revelation. 
 
 * The word “miracle,” in the received English version, occurs 
 almost exclusively in the Gospel of John. But the word so trans¬ 
 lated there occurs frequently in the other Gospels, and is there 
 always translated “ sign,” as it is in some places in John. Why the 
 word miracle was thus used in the translation of the last Gospel, 
 and in that alone, I have never been able to learn. 
 
OF THE NEW CHUKCH. 
 
 19 
 
 This revelation was made through a man, whose 
 life and character were most peculiar. He was the 
 son of a Bishop, who was eminent in station and 
 excellent in character. He was educated thoroughly 
 in all the learning of his time; was for many years 
 practically and busily at work as a mining engineer, 
 holding high office in the Board which had charge 
 of the mines of Sweden, and during this period 
 publishing many works about the business he was 
 engaged in, and other more general scientific sub¬ 
 jects ; and by these works winning a high reputa¬ 
 tion, and an acknowledged position among scientific 
 men. All this continued until he had reached the 
 age of fifty years. Then a change began, which 
 completed itself in a few years. During his whole 
 subsequent life, he utterly renounced the study of 
 natural science and all worldly occupation, and 
 devoted himself with all his former energy to spir¬ 
 itual science. 
 
 This he declared to be his mission, and in doing 
 this he called himself the servant of the Lord. 
 
 Is this credible ? What is the evidence of the 
 truth of so strange a statement? 
 
 If a new revelation was to be made through him, 
 if it was to be made by his statement of spiritual 
 truths, they should be not merely new, but so en¬ 
 tirely distinct from all that was ever before known, 
 so well adapted to send the mind forward on a new 
 
20 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 path and from a new beginning, so able to supply 
 new motives and incentives to a new moral and 
 affectional as well as intellectual progress, and new 
 instruction to guide this progress, as to justify and 
 authorize this large claim. 
 
 This is precisely what his disclosures seem to give, 
 to those who have studied them most carefully and 
 most thoroughly. Nor do we know, or have we ever 
 heard, of any person who studied them with care 
 and thoroughness, and came to a different conclu¬ 
 sion. Those who have made themselves — so far as 
 such study could do this — competent to judge of 
 them, believe that they answer questions as old as 
 human thought, which have always been shrouded 
 in darkness; that they give a rational and intelligi¬ 
 ble explanation of the nature of God and of His 
 providence in reference to His whole creation and 
 to every part of it, and bring into new light the laws 
 of existence and life, and the duties, destinies, and 
 hopes of mankind; and that they do one abso¬ 
 lutely new thing, in destroying the separation, if 
 not antagonism, between faith and reason, religion 
 and science, — basing the whole world of spiritual 
 truth upon the world of natural truth, and opening 
 to the grasp and to the work of reason all truth 
 equally. 
 
 ,/ There is, however, one difficulty. He declares 
 that his spiritual senses were open through many 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 21 
 
 years, and a part of his writings is occupied with 
 describing what he saw and heard in the spiritual 
 world. Such a statement and such descrijDtions must 
 affect different classes of minds very differently. 
 To the imaginative, who are lovers of the marvel¬ 
 lous and not accustomed to weigh evidence, or, 
 indeed, to ask for it, such statements come pleas¬ 
 antly, and are in themselves a reason for accepting 
 all the revelations made through him. 
 
 Not so is it with thoughtful and inquiring minds, 
 who begin with the assumption of an extreme an¬ 
 tecedent improbability, and require evidence of suf¬ 
 ficient weight to overthrow it; and while they 
 admit that these claims and revelations should be 
 
 V 
 
 judged of by evidence suited to them in kind and 
 character, they demand that it should be conclu¬ 
 sive. And some find this. They find it, first in 
 the coherence, completeness, and clearness of these 
 statements and revelations, which commend them¬ 
 selves to belief by their aspect of rationality and 
 truthfulness. They find it next, by the novelty of 
 the principles involved, and of the system of thought 
 and faith builded upon them. Such inquirers see 
 an all-embracing system of truth laid before them, 
 logical in its order and consistency, solving prob¬ 
 lems which have engaged in all ages the strongest 
 minds and never before found a solution. They say 
 this system would have been discovered before, if 
 
99 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 merely human thought could have found it; and a 
 large part of it, that relating to the life after death, 
 while perfectly satisfying the demands of reason, 
 could not, by its own nature, have been placed 
 within the grasp of reason, excepting by revelation. 
 
 Very often have I heard a remark substantially 
 like this: “ There are many beautiful and valuable 
 things in the writings of Swedenborg, but how can 
 I, as a rational man, believe his assertion that he 
 lived consciously in the spiritual world, and that 
 God was giving to mankind a new revelation by him, 
 without proof and adequate proof? — and there is 
 no proof whatever.” True, there is nothing which 
 this person could regard as proof. During the many 
 years of Swedenborg’s uninterrupted intercourse 
 with the spiritual world, there would be, perhaps 
 there must be, instances of knowledge possessed by 
 him, which were not to be explained except by the 
 truth of his statement concerning himself. There 
 were quite a number of such instances. But he 
 utterly disclaimed and rejected any use of them as 
 proofs of his veracity. Not only so, but it is a 
 point in his doctrines, rejieatedly stated, that all 
 such proof of this new revelation would be not only 
 useless but mischievous. 
 
 It is of the very essence of this revelation that it 
 is given to man’s reason; and to his reason acting in 
 freedom. Any thing whatever which compelled or 
 
OF THE XEW CHURCH. 
 
 23 
 
 constrained his reason would be out of place in this 
 revelation, and would tend to fetter or impair that 
 freedom to which this revelation is given. Its doc¬ 
 trines must rest in every mind upon proof; but the 
 only proof they require or permit is the proof of a 
 rational perception of their truth, — a proof perfectly 
 convincing, and perfectly incommunicable. There 
 is an ancient proverb, — said to be Arabian, — “ The 
 eyes of the heart sometimes see farther than the 
 eyes of the head.’’ And the apostle said, “With 
 the heart, man believeth unto righteousness.” 
 
 It may be added, that the difficulty in believing 
 the relations of Swedenborg, concerning things seen 
 and heard in the spiritual world, does not lie in 
 what he says of that world, but in the fact that he 
 says any thing whatever, distinctly and definitely, 
 concerning it. The belief in another life, or that 
 men and women after death continue to live as men 
 and women in forms and in a world suited to them, 
 has become very feeble among thinking persons 
 throughout Christendom. Many profess this belief, 
 sometimes urgently; and they do so to confirm their 
 belief and persuade themselves that they do believe. 
 But this belief is at best a hope, more or less confi¬ 
 dent, but perfectly undefined, and not a subject of 
 distinct conception. To such, any description what¬ 
 ever of that world and its inhabitants, presenting 
 them as living persons, actively employed, must 
 
24 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 come with a shock. This fading out of belief in 
 actual life after death constituted one of the neces¬ 
 sities for this new revelation ; and it constitutes one 
 of the principal difficulties in its reception. 
 
 If it be a revelation, it must necessarily make 
 its way into acceptance and belief very slowly. 
 This point I shall consider presently. Now I 
 will only say, that it came because it was neces¬ 
 sary. It was necessary, because the intellectual and 
 affectional character of the age was so far from the 
 truth, and so far antagonistic to spiritual truth, that 
 progress or improvement was impossible, and the 
 loss or corruption of what was known, probable, if 
 a new revelation were not given. And that condi¬ 
 tion of the human mind and character which made 
 it necessary, resists it when it comes. 
 
 There are intellectual men of high powers and 
 great cultivation, who sometimes reason about the 
 soul and its origin and destiny. But they bring to 
 the investigation of spiritual truth faculties and 
 habits of thought trained and fixed into fitness for 
 a very different kind of work, and unfitness for this. 
 The acceptance of the mere elements and rudiments 
 of all spiritual truth is almost impossible to them, 
 for revelation itself, or the fact that there has been 
 or can be any revelation, is not, perhaps cannot be, 
 admitted by them. They would look with contempt 
 upon those who try to work out from revelations of 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 25 
 
 spiritual truth the sciences of geology or chemistry 
 or physics; and they make the very same mistake 
 in trying to work out spiritual truth from the senses 
 or modes of thought proper to the consideration of 
 what the senses teach. They do not know that, but 
 for the indirect and diffused influence of revelation 
 on the minds of all who live where there is any re¬ 
 ligion, they could not even think about, and there¬ 
 fore not even deny, God, and a soul, and another life. 
 The inquiry into protoplasm and the reflex action 
 of the nervous centres may be able, successful, and 
 yield valuable results; but the chain of observation 
 and ratiocination which led to these results will not 
 go on, and reach up to God and the Infinite. For 
 that purpose, reason must take a new departure; it 
 must begin differently, and proceed differently. If 
 any such person should read what I have written, 
 what can he think but that I ask him to renounce 
 logic and reason, and trust to sentiment; to abandon 
 the realms of knowledge for those where feeling only 
 is acknowledged as authority, and enthusiasm is the 
 lawful sovereign ? And yet I do not mean this, and 
 I desire it just as little as he would. 
 
 Perhaps the state of mind induced in the present 
 day, by a successful devotion to the study of natural 
 science, may be illustrated by the fact that some 
 among the most eminent of living scientists find it 
 easier to believe that the wonderful order of the 
 
26 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 universe, with all the marvellous results of its laws 
 and forces in the world — not of matter only, but 
 of mind — are caused by the reflex action of ner¬ 
 vous centres, or some inherent power of matter to 
 form protoplasm, and then of protoplasm to vivify 
 itself, or by the mutual action of atoms, than by the 
 simple truth, almost universally believed by all races 
 in all ages, that they are caused by a Divine Creator. 
 
 Professor Tyndall, in his address recently deliv¬ 
 ered at Belfast, says: — 
 
 “ Over and above his understanding, there are 
 many other things appertaining to man, whose pre¬ 
 scriptive rights are quite as strong as that of the 
 understanding itself. . . . There are such things 
 interwoven into the nature of man as the feeling of 
 awe, reverence, wonder, . . .the love of the beauti¬ 
 ful, physical and moral, in Nature, poetry, and art. 
 There is also that deep-set feeling which, since the 
 earliest daw T n of history, and probably for ages prior 
 to the dawn of history, incorporated itself into the 
 religions of the world. You who have escaped 
 from these regions into the high-and-dry light of 
 the understanding, may deride them; but, in so 
 doing, you deride accidents of form merely, and 
 fail to touch the immovable basis of religious senti¬ 
 ment in the emotional nature of man. To yield 
 this sentiment reasonable satisfaction, is the problem 
 of problems at the present hour.” 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 27 
 
 Through the address, both before and after the 
 passages above quoted, he throws out some hints 
 as to the method by which he would solve this 
 “problem of problems.” The noticeable thing is, 
 that he everywhere assumes that the understanding 
 can have nothing to do with this work. The pas¬ 
 sage begins, “ Over and above his understanding, 
 are many other things,” &c., “ whose rights are as 
 strong as that of the understanding itself.” He 
 opposes “ the high-and-dry light of the understand¬ 
 ing” to the “religious sentiment in the emotional 
 nature of man.” And the problem of the day is, to 
 yield reasonable satisfaction to “this sentiment.” 
 All that the understanding has to do is to take care 
 that this satisfaction is no more than reasonable. 
 He concludes the paragraph from which we have 
 quoted, thus: “It will be wise to recognize them 
 [the religions of the world] as the forms of a force, 
 mischievous, if permitted to intrude on the regions 
 of knowledge over which it holds no command, 
 but capable of being guided by liberal thought to 
 noble issues in the region of emotion , which is its 
 proper sphere. It is in vain to oppose this force 
 with a view to its extirpation. What we should 
 oppose, to the death if necessary, is every attempt 
 to found, upon this elemental bias of man’s nature, 
 a system which should exercise despotic sway over 
 his intellect.” 
 
28 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 What can be plainer or more certain than that 
 Mr. Tyndall confines religion entirely to feeling or 
 emotion, denying to it any hold upon the understand¬ 
 ing, and permitting it to exist only on condition that 
 it abstain from any reference to the understanding. 
 It is not less than marvellous that he should suppose 
 this religious sentiment could consider any “satis¬ 
 faction ” as “ reasonable ” or sufficient, which wholly 
 excluded it from all connection with the under¬ 
 standing, and which permitted no man to hold his 
 religious belief as a distinct and positive intellectual 
 belief. 
 
 And yet he is perfectly right on his own ground. 
 If the understanding were only that which he has 
 known and cultivated as such; if its faculties were 
 only those which he has used, and could be used 
 only in the way in which he has used them, and had 
 no materials to work with but those which the 
 senses supply, and which he has worked upon and 
 with so successfully, — then he is entirely right. Be¬ 
 tween the understanding and religion, the separation 
 must be absolute. But, then, what can he mean 
 when he says that the problem of the day is to 
 satisfy the religious sentiment reasonably ? 
 
 Elsewhere in this address, he says: “ The whole 
 process of evolution is the manifestation of a Power 
 absolutely inscrutable to the intellect of man. As 
 little in our day as in the days of Job, can man, by 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 29 
 
 searching, find this Power out. Considered funda¬ 
 mentally, it is by the operation of an insoluble mys¬ 
 tery that life is evolved,” &c. An insoluble mystery 1 
 And yet the problem of this day is to solve this 
 mystery; for what else can give “ reasonable satis¬ 
 faction ” to the belief that it exists, and should be 
 the object of reverence, faith and worship, obedience 
 and love? — and surely, all these, in some way or 
 measure, are included in all the forms of religious 
 sentiment and emotion. 
 
 How happens it never to have occurred to Mr. 
 Tyndall, and thinkers like him, that this Powei, 
 which, as a part of its work, has implanted in human 
 nature this religious sentiment, may have given to it 
 some means of intellectual satisfaction ? “ Certainly,” 
 they may answer, “it might have done so, but it has 
 not. We have looked through the realms of Nature, 
 even to their depths, and we are sure that they 
 supply no such means.” I would reply, It may be 
 * ! that Nature has not supplied, and could not supply, 
 such means; or, in other words, this Power could 
 not or would not, certainly has not, by or through 
 Nature, provided such means. But can there be 
 no other way? If they answer, We can see no 
 other way, I say, Does this prove that there is no 
 other way ? May not your want of insight be your 
 own fault? Is it not at least possible that this 
 Power, because it would not through Nature alone 
 
so 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 give the needed information, has found another way 
 of giving it? And if you reject at once, and with¬ 
 out inquiry, whatever purports to be information 
 given in this other way, may you not be rejecting 
 truth that would offer a perfect reconciliation be¬ 
 tween religion and the understanding; giving to 
 religion the full support of all that knowledge 
 which you value so highly, and casting upon the 
 • dark places, even of that knowledge, a new and 
 guiding light? 
 
 We believe that he is perfectly right in saying 
 that, to yield this religious sentiment reasonable 
 satisfaction, is the “problem of problems” at the 
 present hour. And we believe, also, that the sys¬ 
 tem of thought and belief introduced by Sweden¬ 
 borg will lead to the solution of this “problem of 
 problems.” 
 
 It is not unbelief alone which resists and pre¬ 
 vents the acceptance of this last revelation. Still 
 greater and wider is the effect of a firm and un¬ 
 doubting belief in the doctrines made familiar by 
 education, and sanctioned in many minds by the 
 conviction that it would be dangerous and sinful 
 to change or renounce them. In some minds, of 
 great power and careful culture, the doctrines of 
 the sect they belong to are confirmed by long- 
 continued study, by earnest efforts to maintain 
 them and expose the errors of doctrines which op- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 31 
 
 pose theirs, and by the fixed and indurated habit 
 of loving their doctrines as their own, as a part of 
 themselves, and thus protecting them by the invin¬ 
 cible strength of self-love and pride of opinion. 
 
 Another cause of the slow and narrow reception 
 of this new system of truth lies in the fact that it 
 shares that characteristic of imperfection, which, it 
 has been already said, is common to all revelations. 
 This new revelation is indeed imperfect in many 
 respects. It is given to man’s reason, and to reason 
 in its freedom; and, that this freedom may be more 
 perfect, it is not given by inspiration. No intelli¬ 
 gent receiver of the truths taught by Swedenborg 
 regards him as inspired, or considers his writings as 
 superseding or equal to the Bible. His very unusual 
 faculties were cultivated by the most varied and 
 thorough education possible to him, that he might 
 be thus prepared to receive intelligently truths 
 taught him in a most unusual way, and to profit 
 to the utmost by this instruction. This was all. 
 His words were not God’s words, but his own; full, 
 as we believe, of truth and wisdom, but limited in 
 their scope, and liable to error. A most important 
 doctrine taught by him is that of the spiritual sense 
 of Scripture, as resting upon the correspondence of 
 natural things with spiritual things. But he con¬ 
 fines his interpretation to three books of the Bible, 
 and the texts from other parts incidentally referred 
 
32 
 
 OUTLINES OF TIIE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 to. Thus he gives the principles and elements of 
 
 this correspondence with much illustration, but 
 
 ♦ 
 
 leaves the application of them to the works and 
 Word of God, to those w T ho receive them. His 
 other works are doctrinal or philosophical. But, 
 while they contain a wisdom which opens to a 
 receptive mind a vista that looks far into the depths 
 of being, and truths that flash on eyes not closed 
 to them like new sunlight, they have none of the 
 charms of rhetoric; and are sometimes repellent to 
 the new student, by the repetitions with wdiich he 
 seeks to enforce the truths he most valued, and by 
 other characteristics, which, altogether, make his 
 books ^ny thing but easy reading. 
 
 If this new revelation is thus imperfect in what 
 we may call its foundation, it is far, very far, more 
 imperfect in its reception by those who sit at the 
 feet of Swedenborg as learners, and would gladly 
 impart what they know to others. We have neither 
 his ability, nor his learning, nor his long and com¬ 
 plete devotion to this use; and, most assuredly, we 
 have nothing of the peculiar sources of information 
 which were opened to him. Moreover, the causes 
 above alluded to, as impeding the reception of this 
 revelation in the world, act within our own minds to 
 make this reception poor and limited. They who 
 know these doctrines best, know best how little they 
 know, and how imperfectly they understand what 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 33 
 
 they know. They cannot study the religion which 
 he teaches, without seeing at every step that it 
 underlies a profound philosophy. They cannot study 
 his philosophy without learning a lesson that con- 
 tinally repeats itself — the lesson that all true phi¬ 
 losophy rests upon religion, not only in general, but 
 in every particular; and that a true religion finds a 
 support and confirmation in all true philosophy. 
 These two are in his works, distinct, and yet united; 
 and it must depend upon the bent of his mind who 
 studies them, whether he would call the system of 
 truth, which these works contain, a religious philos¬ 
 ophy or a philosophical religion. 
 
 In Swedenborg’s mind and purpose, religion far 
 outweighed philosophy, so far as they were distinct 
 from each other. Hence it is that he teaches phi¬ 
 losophy only as that is connected with religion. But 
 that connection is so close and constant, that, in 
 teaching and illustrating religious doctrines, he 
 teaches much of philosophy. Nevertheless, one 
 who studied all of his works to learn his philosophy 
 would find that they gave only the Outlines of the 
 Philosophy of the New-Church. In giving this 
 name to my little book, I have not the slightest 
 thought of reproducing all of Swedenborg’s philos¬ 
 ophy. I am so far from being able to do this, that 
 an attempt to do it would be very foolish. Minds, 
 
 different from those which have as yet accepted his 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 doctrines, must engage in the study and presenta¬ 
 tion of them, and perhaps a different condition of 
 human thought must prevail, before even the ele¬ 
 ments of this philosophy in its length and breadth 
 can be given with clearness and accuracy. 
 
 If it be asked, then, what it is I propose to do, 
 my answer is, Very little. I would gladly, however, 
 if I could, offer to welcoming minds some, at least, 
 of the foundation-truths of this new system of a 
 philosophy that is wholly religious, and of a religion 
 that is wholly philosophical. 
 
 We live in days in which science is declaring its 
 divorce from religion ; and some of the strongest and 
 most influential of the minds now active are en¬ 
 gaged in proving that men may still have a religion 
 and retain their common sense, only on condition 
 that they not only submit their belief to the legiti¬ 
 mate criticism of science, but that they believe only 
 what is permitted them to believe by the knowledge 
 given them by the senses, added to that derived 
 from consciousness, and, as a whole, treated in the 
 same way which has been wonderfully successful in 
 natural science; but with an utter rejection of all 
 preternatural instruction or guidance. All other 
 means of knowledge but those which are useful in 
 the acquirement of natural knowledge, and all other 
 methods or activities of thought, are renounced and 
 rejected as irrational and impossible. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 35 
 
 This work these men are doing in various ways; 
 seldom with repulsive arrogance, or contemptuous 
 and offensive denial. Far oftener, their gentleness 
 and tolerance extend and strengthen their influence. 
 This influence is as yet limited, in its full effect, 
 to the few who are engaged in such studies ; and is 
 met, and in some degree neutralized, by the earnest, 
 not to say passionate, defence of their assaulted 
 citadels, by religionists of various names. So it is 
 neutralized to some extent; but not very greatly, for 
 the weapons of these defenders of religion, however 
 energetically and skilfully used, are inadequate to 
 the exigencies of this hard battle, because they are 
 
 taken from an armorv that was suited to other times. 
 
 •/ 
 
 The most which they who use them try to do, is, 
 to hold their own ground, without attempting to 
 carry the war into the enemy’s own territory, and 
 make natural science itself a firm support, an 
 earnest and trustworthy friend, of religion. Be the 
 causes what they may, it is certain that doubting, 
 denying, naturalistic views are now gaining ground, 
 and threaten soon to permeate society. 
 
 It is to avert this danger and arrest the decay 
 of religious belief, as well as to lay the founda¬ 
 tions of a faith that will endure every test, and last 
 through the ages, that this new revelation is given. 
 Its work of reanimating and refounding religion, 
 of clearing away the ruins which cumber the old 
 
36 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 and immovable foundations of religion, and building 
 upon them a new structure that will endure every 
 test, and resist every assault, and abide the test of 
 time, must be gradual and slow, and hardly percep¬ 
 tible in its early stages; for it can be wrought only 
 through reason, and reason working in freedom,— 
 and human reason is in these days greatly cumbered 
 and darkened. But it is impossible for those who 
 have studied and learned the truths taught by Swe¬ 
 denborg, to doubt that this work will be done; to 
 them, the result is inevitable. 
 
 Already, a city is “descending from God out of 
 heaven,” which “ the glory of God will lighten,” — 
 “ and the nations of them which are saved will 
 walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth 
 bring their glory and honor into it.” There is a 
 science of correspondence of natural things with 
 spiritual things, which reveals the spiritual meaning 
 of the Word and the works of God, and of which I 
 shall say more presently, and am perfectly aware 
 that even a reference to this science must seem to 
 many minds simply irrational. The interpretation 
 which this science gives us of this prophecy, when 
 stated in the most general terms, is this: Now, from 
 God, by the agency of His angels, a new system of 
 truth and doctrine is being given to men, as a 
 city for their minds; where, although entering each 
 through his own among the many gates, men may 
 

 OF THE NEW CHUKCH. 37 
 
 dwell together in the peace of certainty, and in 
 possession of truth irradiated with light from the 
 knowledge that and how God is, and is the source 
 and centre of all being; and nations will be saved 
 from ignorance and sin by walking in this light; and 
 the kings of the spirit, or the certain and sovereign 
 truths of genuine knowledge of every kind, will 
 bring their glory and honor into it, by acknowledg¬ 
 ing that it is the teacher and the mother of all 
 wisdom. 
 
38 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GOD. 
 
 There is a God. He is One. He is Infinite. He 
 is the Cause of all that exists. 
 
 He is Infinite Love, Infinite Wisdom, and Infinite 
 Power. He creates the universe from Himself. If 
 we imagine Him causing something to be where 
 nothing was, He is there by His Will, His Thought, 
 His Action; or in and by His Love, His Wisdom, 
 and His Power, — and they are Himself. We can¬ 
 not, however, suppose something to be where noth¬ 
 ing was; for He is everywhere, and creates, by 
 efflux from Himself, whatever exists. 
 
 He is Infinite Love. It is of the essence of love 
 to desire to give of its own to others; to give itself. 
 This desire in God is infinite; and it is the moving 
 cause of creation. It is a desire to give himself in 
 all possible ways and all possible degrees. There¬ 
 fore, He creates the universe. He creates it by efflux 
 from Himself; and He creates it such that it may 
 continue to be, in the highest possible degree, recep¬ 
 tive of influx from Himself. 
 
OF THE NEW CHUECH. 
 
 39 
 
 He creates the material world. The lowest form 
 of this is the mineral world; above that is the vege¬ 
 table world; above that is the animal world; and 
 above that is man. All the worlds below man refer 
 to him, and are for his use. We can see that they 
 supply his needs, and minister to his life and enjoy¬ 
 ment; and we may discern this in a degree which 
 should excite in us gratitude and wonder. But 
 they are adjusted to all our needs, natural and spir¬ 
 itual, in a way of which any knowledge that we 
 acquire will never be complete, and to which any 
 conception that we can form, although it be always 
 growing, will never be adequate. 
 
 The reception of Him, in all of creation below 
 man, cannot go far. In man, however feeble its 
 beginning, it can increase indefinitely and for ever; 
 for man is immortal. He begins to live here, be¬ 
 cause this home for the beginning of life is so con¬ 
 structed and so adapted to him, that he may here 
 prepare himself for happiness hereafter. That hap¬ 
 piness must consist in the fuller reception of Divine 
 love and wisdom. They constitute God; and that 
 man may receive these and appropriate them to 
 himself, he is made in the image and likeness of 
 God. 
 
 Anthropomorphism is, in these days, often used 
 as a term of reproach. It means, literally, the as¬ 
 cribing of man’s form to God; it means, actually, as 
 
40 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 used, the likening of God to man. This is an error, 
 and a great one, just so far as it degrades God to a 
 similitude with man, and brings the infinite down to 
 the finite. This error has been permitted, because, 
 even in its grosser forms, — as in those ancient relig¬ 
 ions in which the gods of popular belief were not 
 only men, but, in much of their conduct, bad men, — 
 even in these forms it gave a definite idea and a 
 positive belief of the existence of God to minds 
 which were incapable of higher views. This was 
 good, because, for a man to be wholly destitute of a 
 belief in God is the worst calamity that can befall 
 him. But anthropomorphism is a truth, and not an 
 error, just so far as it preserves the whole infini¬ 
 tude of God; and, asserting His absolute perfection, 
 makes that the standard of human excellence, and 
 founds the highest hopes of humanity upon the 
 possible approach to divinity. There can be no 
 religion in faith or in life, without some idea of God; 
 and man could have no idea of God, and would 
 have nothing upon which, or by means of which, he 
 could form such an idea, if he were totally and 
 perfectly different from God. If he were so differ¬ 
 ent that he must exclude from his idea of God all 
 ideas derived from himself, he would have no ideas 
 to take their place. It is declared in Genesis, that 
 God made man in His own image and likeness. 
 This new philosophy neither rejects this truth, nor 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 41 
 
 explains it away. It accepts it as a truth, and rests 
 upon it its whole belief in God. And it explains 
 this truth in such wise as to give to it new force 
 and new distinctness, together with a clearer view 
 of the infinite and absolute perfection of the Divine 
 nature. 
 
 Neander, the great historian of the Christian 
 church, finds in early Christian writers, and uses 
 himself, the word “ anthropomorphism.” Of it he 
 says: “So far as it denotes a diseased process of 
 thought, it consists in ascribing to the Absolute 
 Spirit the limitations and defects which cleave to 
 the human. ... It is based on an undeniable and 
 inherent necessity; since man, being created in the 1 
 image of God, and being a spirit in affinity with 
 the Father of spirits, feels constraint and a warrant 
 for framing his idea of God after this analogy. . . . 
 It is possible to err, as well as to be right, according 
 as the analogy is wrongly or rightly observed.” In 
 another place he says: “From the contemplation 
 of God’s self-manifestation in the creation, we are 
 constrained to form our conception of the Divine 
 attributes in accordance with the analogy of our 
 own minds.” We are, indeed, constrained to do 
 this, by the nature He has given. And have we 
 any right to say that He has constrained us to a 
 falsehood ? 
 
 They who make a rightful use of the resemblance 
 
42 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 of man to God find in man love; and they carry 
 this to the highest imaginable degree, and vest it 
 in One who is capable of loving. They find in man 
 wisdom, and, carrying this to its highest potency, 
 vest it in One who can be wise. So they do with 
 all the powers and essential attributes of manhood 
 which they see to be good, excepting those which 
 imply limitation and imperfection. But who or 
 what is this One, who is thus good and wise and 
 strong, but without limitation? They cannot im¬ 
 agine Him, — if, by imagination, we mean the pre¬ 
 sentment of a thing to thought, in shape. They 
 cannot conceive of Him, — if, by conception, we 
 mean the forming of an idea which has definite 
 limits. But they can believe , — led by the tendency 
 of a healthy human nature, and guided by a sound 
 and intelligent logic,—they can believe that there 
 is such a One, that there must be such a One; and, 
 so far as above stated, He must possess the essen¬ 
 tial attributes of human nature, and so far He 
 is a Divine Man. 
 
 A far more perfect solution of this problem is 
 given by Christianity; and that solution is made 
 more complete by the truths which are now given 
 to the New-Church. But of this, I can better 
 speak in another connection, when I treat of our 
 Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, — who is Immanuel, 
 or God with us, and God for us. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 43 
 
 God is Man; perfect and infinite man in form: m 
 form, but not in shape, for shape is but the expres¬ 
 sion and outward manifestation of form. It is by 
 means of shape that form becomes apprehensible by 
 sense and thought; and thought may then rise above 
 shape, and think of form as it is in itself. For form 
 we may define sufficiently, and perhaps as well as 
 words will permit, by saying that it is the inmost 
 nature or essential being of a tiling. God is above 
 the limitation of shape, by which all lower things 
 are accommodated to the perceptions of his creat¬ 
 ures. So He is above the limitations of space and 
 time; for he is in all space without space, and in 
 all time without time. But God is Man ; and man is 
 man, only because God’s life is given to him to be 
 his own. 
 
 God is Love and Wisdom; and man is made in 
 the image and likeness of God, that he may receive 
 of the Divine love and wisdom more fully. He has 
 a will, into which the Divine love may flow, and 
 become in him all he has of affection or feeling. He 
 has an understanding, into which the Divine wisdom 
 may flow, and become in him all he has of thought 
 or perception. The infinite love of God is ever 
 moving Him to exert, through His infinite wisdom, 
 His infinite power. Man has strength given hiin, that 
 the moving force of his will and his affections, incit¬ 
 ing and acting through his thoughts, may cause him 
 
44 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 to be useful, and happy in being useful. This is so 
 in man, because it is so in God, who is the one per¬ 
 fect Man, and the Source and Cause of all man¬ 
 hood ; and the infinite blessedness of God, which 
 He is ever desirous to impart in whatever measure 
 it may be received, springs from the exercise of His 
 power, under the direction of His wisdom, and 
 moved by His love. The law is universal, that, 
 without usefulness, there can be no happiness. 
 
 In the very lowest condition of human life, 
 and in the feeblest beginnings of human strength, 
 there is this Divine love which has become man’s 
 love, acting through his thoughts, which are but the 
 Divine wisdom accommodated to man’s capacities, 
 and appropriated by him ; and thus he is living, mov¬ 
 ing, and acting to do the least and humblest things 
 which a living man can do. But, from this lowest 
 beginning, a never-ending ascent is possible. 
 
 God gives to man to be his own, to be himself; 
 not to be a partial or imperfect God, but to be him¬ 
 self, — a man. Because God is perfect Man, and man 
 lives by receiving the Divine life from God, man is 
 man. The life flowing into him is infinitely human 
 in its source and essence, and continues to be human 
 in him, and constitutes him man. Because this life 
 is given him to be his own, to cause him to be 
 himself, he is not a mere channel through which 
 Divine life flows, nor merely an instrument which 
 
 i 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 45 
 
 Divine power uses. Infinite love could not be 
 satisfied with creating: so low a creature as this. 
 
 It could be satisfied with nothing less than a creat¬ 
 ure capable of receiving Divine life, and appropri¬ 
 ating this life as his own, so that he may live as 
 from himself, and be himself; and this with an 
 ever-growing reception and fulness of life and hap¬ 
 piness. 
 
 Freedom is an element of the Divine life, and, 
 like all its elements, is infinite; and this element is 
 not severed from this life in its inflow into man. 
 
 Like all the elements of this life, it is feeble and 
 imperfect to the last degree in its incipient and early 
 reception, but capable of perpetual growth and de¬ 
 velopment. Hence and such is human freedom, 
 with all its possible evil, and all its immeasurable 
 good. If its evil were not possible, neither would 
 its good be possible, for it would not be freedom; 
 and without freedom man could not be himself, and 
 could not fulfil the end of his creation, by living a 
 life ever-growing in happiness by his own efforts, 
 and ever-rising in the character of that happiness. 
 
 The doctrine that, while man’s life is wholly 
 derived from God, it is given him to be his own, — 
 and that it is his own, and he is himself, — must often 
 be referred to in all attempts to present the philoso- l / 
 phy of the New-Church, for it lies near its centre, 
 and comes forth into every part of it. The fact that 
 
 i 
 
45 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 God is infinite Love, and therefore desires to give 
 Himself fully, accounts for this further fact, that He 
 gives to man, who is perfectly dependent upon Him, 
 a life which is as if independent. Hor is this a mere 
 illusion, nor is the freedom which results from it an 
 illusion. It is through this independence in depend¬ 
 ence, and this freedom which is given, that God en¬ 
 deavors to build all men into forms most capable of 
 happiness. But He can do this only through this 
 
 a 
 
 freedom; and therefore only through man’s con¬ 
 sent and cooperation, and only in the degree in 
 which man consents and cooperates. It is to man 
 himself that God commits his character, and, there¬ 
 fore, his destiny. And we shall begin to compre¬ 
 hend the wants and the failures of humanity, and 
 the mingling and alternation of good and evil 
 in every thing of this life, when we throw upon 
 the clouds and darkness which now enwrap Divine 
 Providence the light of the truths, — that we are 
 here only in the beginning of being; that we are here 
 only that this beginning may be rightly directed; 
 and that we see, in this mingling of good and evil, 
 only the conflict between the influences which would 
 lift us up, and our refusal and opposition, or our un¬ 
 preparedness to give our consent and cooperation, 
 in our freedom. 
 
 Among mankind, there is now a strong and 
 very general sense of independence of God, broken 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 47 
 
 only by a feeling that, in some way, He is still our 
 Master. This is permitted, because human progress 
 begins from this idea of an absolute selfhood. But 
 the first steps of a true progress are taken, when 
 we come to some knowledge of the truth that all 
 life, and all that constitutes life, — every affection 
 and every thought and every faculty, — are con¬ 
 stantly, instantly, and incessantly given us from 
 God; but given to be our own, and to become what 
 we choose to make them. 
 
 In the beginning of life, and without instruction, 
 a man is wholly unable to have any thought that he 
 lives from God, or otherwise than from himself. As 
 his mind matures, if he receives instruction, he 
 learns that there is a God, his Creator; and that 
 he lives from Him. At first, this truth will be 
 very obscure to him; he will see it imperfectly, and. 
 understand very little about it. As he advances in 
 spiritual knowledge, this truth will grow clearer to 
 him, and he will understand more about it and its 
 consequences. This process may go on for ever. 
 The wisest among the wise, the happiest among the 
 happy, in that kingdom where all are happy, are 
 those who see most clearly and know most certainly, 
 that their whole life is His life given to them; 
 given instantly and incessantly, so that they neither 
 have nor can have any thought, affection, or feeling 
 which is not derived from His influent life. And, 
 
48 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 with the growing certainty of this knowledge, there 
 is also a growing certainty that this life is given 
 them as their own, and that they are free, because 
 freedom is given them as an element of this life. 
 
 The sunlight, falling upon all the individuals 
 which make up the vegetable world, is determined 
 in its effect and manifestation by the inmost and 
 essential form of each; and, being so determined, 
 causes each one to be that which it is, — beautiful 
 and fragrant, or the reverse; fruitful or poisonous. 
 Precisely so it is with man. It is his inmost and 
 essential form or character which determines what 
 the influent Divine life shall become in him, and 
 therefore what lie shall be. The sunlight and the 
 dew, absorbed by night-shade, form and ripen poison. 
 The heat and light from the Sun of heaven, or the 
 Divine love and wisdom, received by the sinful 
 man into his will and understanding, — who is sin¬ 
 ful because he does not use the power given him to 
 resist the proclivities of his nature, — come forth as 
 sinfulness. 
 
 It is an universal law that this inmost form of 
 each existing thing determines what it is, although 
 all exist by the reception of one life. To man alone 
 something more is given; something which belongs 
 to him as man, and constitutes him man: it is the 
 power over his own inmost form, or over his charac¬ 
 ter. A vegetable has a kind of life, but cannot 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 49 
 
 change its place; an animal has more life, for he 
 can change his place; a man has yet more life, for 
 he can change his character, — that is, himself; and 
 therefore his character, and with it his destiny, are 
 in his own hands. 
 
 If man, the creature, were utterly unlike his Cre- 
 
 i 
 
 ator, he would be utterly unable to have any knowl¬ 
 edge or thought concerning his Creator; just as 
 animals are unable. But man is in the image and 
 likeness of God; and he is made so, that it may be 
 possible for him to have some knowledge of God, 
 and form some idea of Him. As he becomes better 
 and wiser, he becomes more godlike; and as his 
 godlikeness (or godliness) grows, so does his knowl¬ 
 edge of God, and his wisdom concerning God. The 
 best and most that "we attain to here is but little 
 more than nothing compared with wdiat is possible. 
 The wisdom* of the wisest in the other life differs from 
 our best wisdom, far more than this differs from the 
 thought of the infant. 
 
 God is Love; pure, perfect, infinite love. Love 
 is His motive power; it is from Him the motive 
 power of the universe, — all the force, and all the 
 forces of the universe, are always, and in all their 
 action, derived from love, and are forms of love; of 
 His love given to the universe of His creation to be 
 its motive power. We call this force by a variety of 
 
 names, because we see it under a variety of aspects. 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 But under all this variety of names and activities, 
 doing the work of creation and of sustaining all 
 that is created, force in some form is never ceasing, 
 always active, and seen everywhere; and scienco 
 is rapidly approaching the conclusion that all forces 
 are but varying aspects of one force. As yet this 
 is held, and that imperfectly, only in regard to ma¬ 
 terial things; because science has not yet learned 
 to look up from material things. The time will 
 come, however, when, after science has increased 
 its knowledge of material forces, and clearly seen 
 their unity, it will look higher; and, becoming itself 
 one with spiritual science, will see that all spiritual 
 forces are one, and that they and natural forces are 
 also, in their origin and in their inmost nature, one. 
 What can this One be but the Divine love, which is 
 the spring and cause of all causation ? 
 
 Tell this truth now, and so tell it, if that were 
 possible, that science would accept it, and there 
 would be this danger: existing science would then 
 seek to make it all material; to prove that mind 
 was only more ethereal matter, and that “ the brain 
 secretes thought as the liver secretes bile,” to use 
 words already uttered by an eminent materialist. 
 Already the conviction that all material forces are 
 one has led some minds to the effort of bringing 
 intellectual and moral forces within the same unity; 
 and very ingenious are the arguments by which it is 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 51 
 
 attempted to make mind and will only a form, or at 
 best a product, of matter. These arguments will not 
 be permitted to prevail. The conclusion to which 
 they point is too absolute a falsehood; and a false¬ 
 hood at once degrading to science and destructive 
 of all true philosophy. 
 
 Love is one, and Force is one; for it is but love 
 brought forth into an infinite variety of uses, by an 
 infinite variety of instruments. Everywhere the 
 universal law prevails; and this love, which has be¬ 
 come force, is determined in its aspect and in its 
 action by the work it has to do, and by the instru¬ 
 ments which are adapted to this work, and by which 
 that work is done. 
 
 All the forces of the universe in all their action 
 are but forms of love: the tornado, the earthquake, 
 the devastating fire, “ the terror by night, the arrow 
 that flieth by day, the pestilence that walketh in 
 darkness, the destruction that wasteth at noon-day,” 
 and the lighter or heavier blows which fall upon 
 us every day, and bring their gifts of pain and dis¬ 
 appointment,— all, all of these are but forms of 
 love. But it is an infinite love which is one with 
 infinite wisdom; and clouds never rest upon the 
 infinite perception that it is best for the high¬ 
 est and most enduring interests of man, that his 
 spiritual freedom should not be impaired. In 
 other words, that he should not be compelled to 
 
52 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 yield to, but led to cooperate with, the Divine 
 goodness. 
 
 Therefore are sin, and the suffering which is its 
 child, permitted. Therefore “ are clouds and dark¬ 
 ness round about Him.” But with it all, and 
 through it all, His love reigns and works. We are 
 enveloped by it in the air we breathe. It shines 
 upon us in His sunlight, and falls upon us in the soft 
 rain and the dew, and comes to us in food and 
 shelter; and more, infinitely more, than all this, it is 
 ever doing all that omnipotence can do, to lead us 
 always, in our own freedom, to look to Him with 
 love and trust; to put away from us the hindrances 
 that gather between Him and us; to use His gifts 
 aright, and so convert even calamity into the bless¬ 
 ing it was given to be. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 53 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CREATION. 
 
 God cannot but create. Because He has and He 
 is Infinite Love; and the desire to give what one 
 has and is, is of the essence of love: this desire 
 He has infinitely. Therefore He cannot but create 
 those whom He may love, and to whom He may 
 give from Himself; and for that purpose He creates 
 the universe. But is the created universe eternal ? — 
 or was there a time when He who is eternal, and 
 must desire to create, did not create ? This question 
 is irrational, because it carries the idea and the 
 measure of time where time does not belong. We 
 can never answer this question, nor can we ask 
 it intelligently ; for the reason that, while we live on 
 earth, it is impossible for us to liberate our mind 
 entirely from the influence of time, even if we are 
 able to know and to acknowledge that time is only 
 a thing of thought, indispensable for the necessities 
 of this life, and adjusted to its uses. 
 
 He creates from Himself. He cannot create from 
 nothing; for that which is created from nothing 
 
M 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 must consist of nothing, and b$ nothing. Therefore 
 He creates from Himself, or by an efflux of Himself 
 from Himself. Time belongs to us, not to Him. He 
 creates always and incessantly. Whatever is exists 
 by a perpetual and ever present efflux from Him. 
 The work of creation is always now. He has 
 methods of working, derivable from and conformed 
 to the essential order of His own being. So far 
 as we can discern these methods, we may call them 
 laws. But there is no mistake which more forci¬ 
 bly resists all comprehension of the Divine work, 
 than that which supposes it was once done for all 
 time ; done in the past for the present and the 
 future; done, and dismissed from Divine action. 
 The truth that all existence is continuously caused, 
 in the whole and in each part, in every thing, 
 nnd in all that any thing is or does, — is a central 
 and essential element in a just and rational compre¬ 
 hension of the Divine work. 
 
 God is All in All. But is not this Pantheism ? In 
 all ages religious believers have looked upon Pan- 
 • theism with horror. They have regarded it, and for 
 good reasons, as the very opposite, the very antago¬ 
 nist, of all religion, as the most plausible and seduc¬ 
 ing enemy of religion, because it appeals to and 
 attempts to satisfy that deep-seated and inextin¬ 
 guishable desire of the human heart for God, by de¬ 
 claring its belief in the divinity of creation, and 
 
OF TIIE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 55 
 
 giving to the universe the name of God. But the 
 assertion that the universe is God, and the only God, 
 is a most positive and emphatic denial of God. 
 What the implanted religiousness of human nature 
 demands is a personal God; is One to whom prayer 
 may be directed; on whom confidence and trust 
 may be reposed; for whom love and gratitude may 
 be cherished, and to whom the sacrifice of obedience 
 may be offered. Any other God than this is a God 
 only of words, and unmeaning words; a God only of 
 theory and not of faith or affection ; a God of what 
 may call itself philosoj)hy, but in no possible sense 
 a God of religion. It was of a very different God 
 from the God of this Pantheism, that the Christian 
 apostles four times declare Him to be All in All; 
 and it is in a different sense from that of Pantheism 
 that I have made use of the same phrase. 
 
 God creates the universe from Himself; but He 
 creates it other than Himself. He creates it for His 
 creatures, and He gives it to them. He makes it to 
 be theirs. It is still His; but it is theirs also. He 
 must have beings other than Himself to be objects 
 of His love; therefore He creates them to be them¬ 
 selves. 
 
 I here again touch upon one of the points where 
 the infinite mystery of Being comes before every 
 mind which endeavors to investigate this mystery 
 in the hope of learning whatever may be knowable 
 
56 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 concerning it: and that is the reconciliation of exist¬ 
 ing evil with Divine love. The little that we can 
 learn, is so little in comparison with the stupendous 
 whole, so nearly nothing, that it may well be re¬ 
 garded as nothing. 
 
 The truth to be kept in constant recollection as 
 the basis of all consideration of this subject is, that 
 God creates from Love. If there be a Creator, then 
 there must be some motive power to induce crea¬ 
 tion. We may think that this motive must be far 
 above our possible perception, and infinitely beyond 
 our comprehension. But need we say this? Not 
 if we believe that man is to live hereafter, and that 
 his happiness during the whole of his unending life 
 must be connected in some way with his relations to 
 his Creator; for then we should admit it as proba¬ 
 ble that he would be gifted with some power of 
 knowing the existence and apprehending the nature 
 of his Creator; and that this power, however feeble 
 in its beginning, would even then enable him to 
 discern the fundamental truths on which an ever¬ 
 growing structure of knowledge might rest. A part, 
 at least, of this fundamental truth would tell him 
 why God created him. He could learn this only 
 from revelation; but he would be capable of so 
 learning it, and revelation would be given him that 
 he might know it. Hence he is taught by revela¬ 
 tion that God is Love. Very dimly do we see this 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 57 
 
 truth, but only so far as we see it do we know any 
 thing about God; and only when we recognize this 
 truth as truth, and keep it constantly before us so 
 that we may walk in its light, can we hope to make 
 any progress in our understanding of the Divine 
 nature and work. 
 
 God creates every thing from Love; and man 
 stands at the head of creation. How can we recon¬ 
 cile the oppressive imperfection and diversified un¬ 
 happiness of man and his condition with the truth 
 that an all-wise and all-powerful Being created him 
 only from love? We cannot unless we believe that 
 man is immortal, that he is capable of an ever-grow¬ 
 ing happiness; and that the imperfections and mis¬ 
 eries we witness, and are conscious of, spring from 
 causes which are the indispensable means of making 
 this happiness more certain, more constant, more 
 perfect. Then all that seems to be antagonistic to 
 love may be reconciled with it, and made to wear 
 the aspect and do the work of love. 
 
 Before attempting to show how this is, let us 
 look for a moment at so much of the universe as is 
 not man. The first statement to be made is, that 
 all that is not man is for the sake of man. If we 
 believe that God creates the universe to satisfy the 
 desire of an infinite love, and that man satisfies this 
 desire because he, and he only, is immortal and capa¬ 
 ble of an ever-growing and never-ending happiness* 
 
58 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 then what is not capable of this, or what is not man, 
 can meet the demand of an infinite love only by as¬ 
 sisting and promoting man’s eternal happiness; and 
 to this end it must be adjusted. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that because all things are 
 for man, no other thing has any value of its own. 
 So it might be if things were created by man, the 
 finite; but because they are created by God, the In¬ 
 finite, it is not so. Each has its own value and is 
 itself, as if it existed for itself only and not for man. 
 All living things have their own life, and their own 
 happiness; and this happiness is first His, and 
 given to them by Him, and then returns to Him, 
 and becomes again His happiness; for He is happy 
 because they are. 
 
 And how is it with the dead things of the uni¬ 
 verse? They also make their return to Him. He 
 is infinitely useful . This word may seem a strange 
 one to apply to God; but it is so applied, because 
 He loves infinitely to be useful, — that is, to do good. 
 Because this is an essential and inseparable element 
 of His nature, it passes into all the creation which 
 He makes of Himself and from Himself. The grain 
 of sand, the drop of water, the rock, the ocean, the 
 planet, the sun, — each of them has its special use, 
 and in all these uses He rejoices. 
 
 And the beauty of the world, — vast and varied 
 beyond all conception, escaping human observation 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 59 
 
 and appreciation except in the minutest degree, — is 
 it nothing to Him? “He that made the eye, shall 
 He not see?” The power of perceiving and enjoy¬ 
 ing the beautiful is a part of man’s nature (a power 
 as yet most imperfectly developed), because it is a 
 part of God’s own nature; and, like every thing else 
 which belongs to Him, is in Him perfect. 
 
 But if all this be so, why is there so much unhap¬ 
 piness in the world; so much that obstructs and 
 hinders all use ; so much that is not beautiful, and is 
 its opposite; so much that is not good and is evil ? 
 
 Again, let us remember that God is Love ; that it 
 is of the essence of love to give itself; that because 
 His love is infinite, His desire to give Himself must 
 be infinite; and that this infinite desire must prompt 
 Him to.give Himself unreservedly. It is precisely 
 this which He does. He gives to the universe to be 
 itself; He gives to every thing of the universe to be 
 itself. He gives to man to be himself; He gives to 
 him the power, or rather the necessity, to own his 
 being, his life, his self-hood. And while God is All 
 in All, there is no other Pantheism. In this way 
 God makes the universe to be other than Him, even 
 while it and every part of it depends upon His being 
 for its being, perfectly, absolutely, and at every in¬ 
 stant. It is other than Him because it is itself. It 
 is itself because, while He gives being to it from 
 Himself, He also gives to it to own the being that 
 
60 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 He gives: to own it as its own. And in this truth 
 we have a key to the mysteries of Providence. 
 
 To all that exist He gives being from Himself. If 
 this were human giving, life given from Him would 
 be severed from Him ; but it is Divine giving; and 
 the life which flows from Him to man, and is given 
 to man that he may be himself, remains perfectly 
 the life of God. His love is one with His wisdom ; 
 and both are constantly exercised to guide and lead 
 and induce man to use aright the power and freedom 
 which are given him that he may be himself. But 
 they are always so exercised as to leave in his own 
 hands, unimpaired, the power to form his own char¬ 
 acter, and thereby determine his own destiny. 
 
 Man, in the exercise of this power, sometimes 
 abuses it. If he could not abuse it, he could, not use 
 it in freedom. He can abuse it, and he does abuse 
 it. If we would form some conception of what 
 would be the effect if man constantly used this 
 power aright, we have but to think of what the op¬ 
 posite effect must be, when man abuses it. The 
 effect of using this power aright is good, all good. 
 Evil is the opposite of good; and the effect of abus¬ 
 ing this power is evil, all evil, — for there is no evil 
 which is not the exact opposite of some good, and is 
 not caused by the wrongful use of a power, the 
 rightful use of which would have produced that 
 good. 
 
OF THE NEW CHUBCH. 
 
 61 
 
 As soon as men began to think, there must have 
 been an effort to account for the evil existing within 
 and around them. The abuse of freedom suggested 
 itself long ago, and has been presented in many 
 forms; in none of which has it been wholly satisfac¬ 
 tory. Men could hardly help thinking that there 
 was some evil power at work to produce evil. This 
 belief was most definitely systematized in the latter 
 part of the third century of Christianity under the 
 name of Manicheanism. It spread from the far east 
 into Christendom and prevailed widely. The cen¬ 
 tral doctrine was that there had existed from eter¬ 
 nity two principles, — one good, the other evil; God 
 and Hyle, light and darkness; absolutely opposed to 
 each other; everywhere meeting and always in con¬ 
 flict. This system was developed into a great num¬ 
 ber of doctrines, variously modified; the only thing 
 common to them all being this eternal conflict of 
 two opposite principles. The name has disappeared 
 long ago. Perhaps the profession of such belief is 
 not now to be met with. But the belief itself, in 
 some degree or measure, is held very widely and 
 almost universally. For is it not held of necessity 
 by those who do not believe that all evil originated 
 in some way from good ? This would seem obvious. 
 Good exists, and evil exists; and evil must exist 
 from good, or else it exists from itself and by per¬ 
 petual self-propagation. There are, undoubtedly, 
 
62 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 those who say, and with greater or less sincerity of 
 faith believe, that a God of goodness finds the evil in 
 the universe, and uses it as His instrument of disci¬ 
 pline or punishment; and some I suppose think that 
 He causes it to exist that He may so use it. 
 
 It would seem certain that we must hold Mani- 
 cheanism or the belief in two antagonist principles, 
 in some form, — either as God and His antagonist, 
 or the two in God himself, as love and something 
 which, whether we call it justice or by some other 
 name, is not love; or else, that we must believe that 
 evil is man’s work, and that the power of man to do 
 evil was given to him by Divine love, and therefore 
 for his best good. Very many have been the efforts 
 to establish this last theory. The difficulty is, that 
 of the many elements of this belief every one is held 
 feebly and imperfectly. These elements are, that 
 there is a personal, creating, and governing God; that 
 He is essential goodness, and only that; that what¬ 
 ever man has he receives from God as the gift of 
 goodness; and that among these gifts is freedom, — 
 given because, with all its necessary liability to 
 abuse, it must be given as the essential foundation 
 of all that is best in character and happiest in con¬ 
 dition: and nothing less than the best can satisfy the 
 infinite desire of God to give happiness. 
 
 When all these truths are clearly seen and firmly 
 held, then, and perhaps then only, can it be clearly 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 63 
 
 seen that all evil necessarily arises from the abuse of 
 human freedom. Then, too, we shall be prepared to 
 follow out this truth into its consequences. 
 
 It is because the destiny of man is placed in his 
 own hands that evil comes, — moral evil and spiritual 
 evil; evil in thought, affection, and life. And it is 
 one of the evidences, as it is one of the effects, of the 
 adaptation to man of that universe which is for man, 
 that all the evil there is in man’s nature or life is 
 imaged forth in the conflicts, imperfections, and dis¬ 
 order in the world beneath, above, and about him. 
 There is indeed a conflict ever going on within man 
 and without him, between two principles, — one of 
 which is good and the other evil. But the good one 
 is from our Father in Heaven, and the evil is born of 
 our abuse of the gifts of our Father. Ignorant as we 
 are, and with our ignorance intensified and indurated 
 by our conceit of wisdom and intellectual ability, no 
 wonder that the relations of God with man are 
 shrouded, not in mystery only, but in midnight dark¬ 
 ness. No wonder that we detect in our thoughts 
 the secret influence of the falsity which tells us that 
 man and the universe were imperfectly constructed 
 through a failure either of love or of power, and then 
 left to themselves. No wonder we find it so hard to 
 believe that perfect love, guided by perfect wisdom, 
 is the universal motive power; and that while the 
 power of the Omnipotent is never exerted to destroy 
 
64 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 or paralyze the freedom of the human race; while 
 perfect love can never withdraw that gift of freedom 
 which perfect wisdom sees to be the indispensable 
 condition of the highest happiness, — this same love 
 and wisdom are constantly watchful to do, through 
 human freedom, all that can be done to prevent, or, 
 if that can not be, to lessen, the abuse of this gift; 
 to remedy the mischiefs which spring from it, and, as 
 far as is possible, to use these very mischiefs as in¬ 
 struments of good. Immeasurable time rolls on. 
 Patiently and slowly the work of God goes forward; 
 and the whole universe, with all its inhabitants and 
 every individual in this innumerable multitude, are 
 ever advancing as fast and as far as the law of love 
 which governs them all permits: the law that no 
 one can advance in wisdom and in goodness, except 
 so far as he cooperates with the Divine influence in 
 his own freedom. 
 
OF THE NEW CHUECU. 
 
 65 
 
 A 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THIS WORLD. 
 
 We live here in material bodies and in a material 
 world. But what is a material world ? Surely we 
 all know that. It is the world which we see and 
 feel everywhere, and of which our bodies are made. 
 Such is the answer which the senses give; and if it 
 be not true and certain, what can be certain ? And 
 is not the philosophical question which has puzzled 
 thinkers since the beginning of thought — What 
 is matter? — a striking instance of the power and 
 tendency of philosophy to bewilder thought, and 
 darken with its subtleties what would never raise a 
 doubt if quietly left to consciousness and common 
 sense ? Not so. It is a wholesome thirst of knowl¬ 
 edge which prompts a thinking mind to ask, What 
 is this world we live in ? And the question cannot 
 be asked, and any consideration given to the answer,, 
 without our finding that the answer is not easy. 
 
 Innumerable are the ways in which this question 
 has been answered; but they all may be classed 
 
 under two heads — Realism and Idealism. Realism 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 holds that the world outside of us is really what it 
 seems to be: that tree, that mountain, that cloud, 
 are just what you see that they are, and just where 
 you see them. But Idealism replies by easy proof of 
 the deceitfulness of sense, and goes on to inquire into 
 the cause and foundation of sensuous impressions or 
 perceptions. It shows us that, when we look at that 
 tree, all we see and all that the mind contemplates 
 is a minute picture painted on the retina (or the ex¬ 
 pansion of the nerve of sight at the back of the eye) ; 
 or rather, it takes a step farther, and says that all 
 the mind can contemplate is the idea formed in the 
 mind from that picture on the retina. For, say the 
 Idealists, we have not and cannot have the least evi¬ 
 dence that any thing but the idea exists, and matter 
 is only a product or a form of thought; thus pre¬ 
 cisely reversing the materialistic theory that thought 
 is but a product or form of matter. 
 
 Such is a very general statement of Realism and 
 Idealism. But the modifications of each of them 
 that have been at different times suggested, are in¬ 
 numerable ; the main question — What is matter? — 
 being no more and no better answered by any of 
 these theories than it was when first asked. Sup¬ 
 posing this question to be now before us, I think the 
 principles of New-Church philosophy would answer 
 it somewhat in this way. 
 
 God causes or creates the universe from Himself, 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 G7 
 
 and by an efflux from Himself. This efflux is pure 
 substance. We cannot form the slightest idea of it 
 as it is in itself; for all that we can possibly know of 
 it is what it appears to the mind as the mind contem¬ 
 plates it through the senses. It is perfectly adapted 
 to our needs, and exquisitely adjusted to our senses, 
 as our senses are to our mind. And the result is 
 that this substance, becoming matter, acts on the 
 mind through the senses, and presents all the forms 
 and phenomena of the universe. This effect is pro¬ 
 duced in this way. The new-born babe sees the 
 things around him ; but he has no idea of distance. 
 The moon is as near to him as the lamp on the table. 
 He moves his limbs, and soon he moves himself. The 
 other senses come in. He reaches toward some ob¬ 
 ject, and acquires the ideas of motion, of distance, 
 and place. He touches objects, and gets the ideas 
 of shape and solidity. Ail this goes on; and, with 
 every day, objects become more distinct to him, and 
 stand before him, each in its place. We do all this 
 in infancy and early childhood, from the first begin¬ 
 nings of sensation and thought, in the years over 
 which oblivion rests. So we come unconsciously to 
 those conclusions concerning external objects, which 
 the experience of every day confirms, and which it 
 never occurs to us to doubt. We do this, because 
 our senses are so adjusted to our minds on the one 
 hand as to excite these ideas in the mind; and are 
 
68 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 so adjusted to pure substance on the other hand,, 
 that through our senses that substance excites those 
 ideas. And, in this way, we have an external world 
 with all its indefinite variety of objects. 
 
 This view reconciles realism with idealism. It is 
 realistic, for it asserts that there is an actual entity* 
 a pure substance, underlying and supporting all the 
 forms of matter. It is idealistic, for it asserts that 
 all these forms, with all their interacting forces, are 
 to us what they are, by reason of the adjustment 
 of this substance to our senses, and of our senses to 
 our minds. 
 
 It is realistic, inasmuch as it holds that there is 
 a positive and most real something which is not us ; 
 and that this something exists not in Nature, but as 
 Nature, or as the natural basis upon which rest all 
 our conceptions of natural things. It is idealistic* 
 inasmuch as it asserts that this substance has form 
 and force and manifestation because, by its relation 
 to the senses and their relation to the mind, this 
 substance presents itself in all natural forms and 
 forces. 
 
 In this world we begin to live. When we have 
 ceased to live here, we at once begin to live in 
 another world. There also we find this same sub¬ 
 stance, and there also it is adjusted to our needs. 
 We are then in spiritual bodies with spiritual organs 
 of sense, and with a spiritual world to live in; all 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 69 
 
 formed of spiritual substance which exists, as mate¬ 
 rial substance exists here, from a Divine source, and 
 there as here is an adaptation of our senses to pure 
 substance on the one hand, and to our minds on the 
 •other. That life will never end. It is therefore of 
 immeasurably greater importance than this life, if 
 we consider them separately. But they should not 
 be considered separately. This life is a preparation 
 for that life ; and that life is the result and consum¬ 
 mation of this life. 
 
 If this life is a preparation for that life, two ques¬ 
 tions suggest themselves. One is, What is this 
 -preparation for? The other is, How is this prep¬ 
 aration made ? 
 
 We can learn what this preparation is for, or 
 what is the end to be attained by it, only by 
 deducing it from the Divine purpose in creating 
 us. This purpose is to satisfy the desire of a Being 
 •of infinite and perfect goodness, to create those 
 whom He might love, and to whom He might im¬ 
 part as far as possible, and in an ever-growing meas¬ 
 ure, His own goodness and His own happiness. 
 
 Then another question occurs, and may present 
 itself often while we are considering these topics, 
 Why does not He create beings in whom this 
 •end is attained at once, and perfectly ? He cre¬ 
 ates the birds, and gives to each one peculiar fac¬ 
 ulties tending to its preservation in life and its 
 
70 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 enjoyment of life. He creates the horse, the lion y 
 with other faculties which have the same tendency. 
 He creates man with still other and higher faculties 
 which, however, tend still in the same direction. 
 Why does He not create beings who are at once in¬ 
 vested with the faculties and qualities which would 
 insure the end which we are told He infinitely de¬ 
 sires? Why has He not endowed man with these 
 faculties and qualities ? Is it a want of power which 
 prevents it, or a want of will ? 
 
 The answer is, He does not do this because this 
 is not the best thing He can do for His creatures. 
 Far as we are from an ability to fathom the infinite 
 and solve the mystery of being, it should not be 
 difficult for us to see that a created being gifted 
 with power to be himself, and hold his life as his» 
 own ; enabled and assisted to work out his own hap¬ 
 piness by his voluntary cooperation with God; be¬ 
 ginning at the lowest point and thence ascending, 
 step by step, finding, as he rises, this ascent opening 
 before him, and leading upwards forever and forever, 
 with a constantly increasing ability to work with hi3 
 Father in doing good, and enjoying the happiness of 
 goodness, — it should not be difficult to see that we 
 have here a picture of the happiest possible of cre¬ 
 ated beings. If we think this, then we must also 
 think that this is the being which Perfect Love 
 would create. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 71 
 
 The earth we live on, the air we breathe, the in¬ 
 sect, the bird, the mammal, — all alike and equally 
 exist and live by efflux of being or of life from Him. 
 But we are sure that this one life is received in 
 different ways on these different planes of being. 
 We are sure that the higher animals receive life in 
 another way from the lower animals; and they all 
 receive life in another way from that in which it 
 constitutes the being of dead matter. We may use 
 words derived from sense to express this, and say 
 that the higher animals receive a higher life, or re¬ 
 ceive it more largely than the lower. The point I 
 would impress is, that there are degrees in the life 
 received, and in the kind of reception. For then we 
 may see that there are degrees in the gifts of Divine 
 goodness, and that the whole of the Divine purpose 
 in the preparation of mankind in this life for another, 
 may be summed up as the desire and purpose of 
 enabling man, by this preparation, to receive Divine 
 life in the greatest possible degree, and in the best 
 possible way. 
 
 Then we come to the question, How is this 
 preparation effected? The first and most general 
 answer is, Through man’s voluntary cooperation in 
 all the work, because the best result is attainable in 
 this way. The more specific answer is, By man’s 
 resisting, suppressing, and putting away from him¬ 
 self the qualities and proclivities which obstruct or 
 
72 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 impair or pervert the reception of Divine life. All 
 men receive life, and all their life, from God; for 
 otherwise they would not live at all, for man does 
 not live from himself. But man, and man alone, can 
 pervert this influent Divine life, because he alone 
 has A’eedom and the power of self-determination. 
 And he receives life without perversion, and in the 
 manner in which God desires that he should receive 
 it, when, and as far as, love continues to be love in 
 his will, and wisdom continues to be wisdom in his 
 understanding. Divine love received by man must 
 indeed continue to be in him love of some kind 
 for ever; for otherwise he would have no motive 
 power, no life. But only when it is the love of 
 others does it continue to be the love it was in its 
 Divine source. So the Divine wisdom must remain 
 in him, or he would have no power of thought. But 
 if the love is itself perverted into self-love, it per¬ 
 verts that wisdom into falsity. 
 
 It follows of necessity, that the qualities and ten¬ 
 dencies which man must resist and put away are 
 those which are most opposed to love and wisdom, 
 and would therefore resist their entrance into him¬ 
 self, or enfeeble them, or pervert them into their 
 opposites. The opposite of love is self-love, and its 
 child is the love of the world for the sake of self; or, 
 in fewer words, selfishness and worldliness. These 
 things then are what we must resist and put away, if 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 73 
 
 we would become capable of receiving Divine life 
 without perversion, and with it, true happiness. 
 
 As all revelation is given to man to aid him in 
 preparing for another life, it is especially aimed 
 against the evil things which prevent or mar this 
 preparation. All the commandments have this aim; 
 and all are summed up in the two commandments, to 
 love God with all the heart, and to love the neigh¬ 
 bor as one’s self. Revelation cannot go beyond 
 this, except to explain these commands, and show 
 why they were given, and how they may be obeyed, 
 and what is the effect of obedience to them. And 
 this the new revelation places in clear light. 
 
 It tells us that our life is Divine life, given us to 
 be our own; that infinite love prompts this gift, be¬ 
 cause it is the foundation of all existence and of all 
 happiness; that love of others is the essence of this 
 life; and therefore the measure of our happiness 
 must be our reception and appropriation of love, — or 
 our happiness must be measured in kind and in de¬ 
 gree by the kind and measure of our loving. The 
 best and highest possible love must be our love for 
 Him who is best and highest, and our infinite bene¬ 
 factor. We are therefore commanded to love the 
 Lord our God with all the heart and soul, because, 
 if we do so, His life, which is His love, becomes 
 •our own life without perversion; and, in the degree 
 in which it is so, we are happy. 
 
74 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 We must also love our brother as ourself.- Our 
 Father has given His children to each other as ob¬ 
 jects of love, that so all may learn to love, and all 
 may be happy. In the immaturity of beginning life, 
 we can only love each other. We are as yet incapa¬ 
 ble of knowing God or of loving Him; but we may 
 love each other. Because the love of the neighbor 
 is “ like unto ” the love of God, it trains and educates 
 us for that consummating love. As our eyes are 
 opened to see Him in His works and word, and in 
 the love and wisdom manifested in them, our hearts 
 are opened to love Him; and if we have learned to 
 love our brethren, it is just that love which opens 
 our hearts to this higher love. Henceforward, these 
 two loves grow forever; not independent, but in¬ 
 dissolubly connected; not separated, but united:: 
 one as the centre, the other as the circumference. 
 If we have learned to love our brethren aright, we 
 love them because they and we are children of one 
 Father, and co-partakers of His life and His love. 
 The more we love Him in the light of this truth, the 
 more we shall love them. The more we love them, 
 the more we shall love Him who, as a crowning 
 work of His infinite mercy, has given them to us 
 that we may love them. 
 
 It is because He is Love, that He is the source of 
 love; for all love is but His love flowing forth from 
 Him. He creates the inanimate world for the ani- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 75 
 
 mate world. He creates the animal world; they can¬ 
 not look up to Him and return His love to Him; 
 but He nevertheless created them in love, and cares 
 for them in love. He creates man, and man may 
 look up to Him; and from man, the Divine love 
 which has become man’s love, may return to Him 
 who gave it. Then is the circle completed; and 
 God is infinitely happy, because the end of creation 
 is accomplished, and He has children to whom He 
 can impart of His own happiness. 
 
 For this end all things are provided and governed, 
 and to this end all things tend. Therefore it is that 
 He has given us laws, obedience to which is the 
 direct and certain way of overcoming and putting 
 away the evil tendencies and lusts which oppose 
 themselves to our unselfish love of the neighbor and 
 of Him. There is no religion which has not these 
 laws, and which does not give instruction that will 
 save men from their sins. Hence we may now be¬ 
 lieve that all on earth, be their place and name what 
 they may, if they are faithful to the best instruc¬ 
 tion they receive, may learn to love their brethren 
 and their Father; and so prepare for that heaven 
 where that love — always one with wisdom — reigns, 
 and fills all with the light and life they are prepared 
 to receive. 
 
 Wherever we are, whether in this world or in 
 
 # 
 
 the other, it is the desire, the infinite desire, of 
 
76 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 our Father to give to us all the happiness He can 
 give. But while we live here, He can not forget 
 the end, the purpose, for which he makes us to live 
 here; and that is, to prepare for living hereafter. 
 In every particular of every life, a constant reference 
 to our eternal interests governs the Divine Provi¬ 
 dence. Those interests are never subordinated to our 
 temporal interests. These last are not forgotten or 
 disregarded; for as much of happiness of every kind 
 is given to us by Him while we are here as is com¬ 
 patible with His primal and constant regard for the 
 things of eternity. All the events and circumstances 
 of life are so shaped and so governed, that we may 
 have the utmost possible aid in preparing for an 
 eternal life. All success and all enjoyment are given 
 us, which would not lessen or interfere with the for¬ 
 mation of a character susceptible of true and eternal 
 happiness. When the one great end and purpose for 
 which we live here requires that disappointment, 
 suffering, or calamity should befall us, they come; 
 but they are measured precisely by our needs, and 
 are productive of good, if we make that result pos¬ 
 sible. We die, and then enter upon our new life. 
 And as happiness can be given to us here, only so far 
 as it is compatible with our preparation for that life, 
 so in that life no happiness is or can be given but that 
 which that preparation has made it possible for us to 
 receive, and therefore possible for Him to give. 
 
OF I'HE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 77 
 
 There are those who begin life on earth, and 
 end it before this preparation could possibly be 
 made. They die in an hour or a day, or in infancy 
 or childhood, or in youth, before the power of self- 
 determination is fully developed. Or they live many 
 years in a condition of imbecility. What is their 
 destiny? A happy one, — always a happy one^ 
 They have not harmed themselves by the abuse 
 of their human freedom of choice between good and 
 evil, because they never fully possessed this free¬ 
 dom. They have not been able to close their hearts 
 against good influences by the voluntary choice of 
 evil rather than good. If they died young, they 
 grow to maturity in the other life. If they were 
 imbecile in this life because the material brain or 
 nervous system was an imperfect instrument of the 
 mind, death has cast this impediment away, and 
 their spiritual body becomes the instrument which 
 their material body was not. They are happy, be¬ 
 cause the impediments to happiness have never 
 grown with them into strength, and been confirmed 
 into dominant principles of character and life. What 
 germs or possibilities of good are in them by inher¬ 
 itance become like living seeds planted in a kindly 
 soil, where the sun of heaven shines on them, and 
 the dews of heaven fall on them. As they grow in 
 heaven, instruction is given them, and they welcome 
 it. They are shielded from the assaults of those 
 
78 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 whose influence could, to them, be only harmful. 
 They receive all the happiness of which their spirit¬ 
 ual natures are susceptible; they know whence it 
 comes, and who it is that protects and preserves 
 them. They receive it in innocence, and respond to 
 it with grateful joy. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH* 
 
 79 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE OTHER WORLD. 
 
 All men die; and all, when they die, live again. 
 Death in this world is birth into another world. The 
 first question this fact suggests is, What is this other 
 world, — of what does it consist? 
 
 The answer is similar to that already given to the 
 question, Of what does this present world consist ? 
 Pure substance, flowing from God, becomes matter 
 in this world; because our senses are so adjusted to 
 it on the one hand, and to our minds on the other, 
 that all the phenomena of an external world exist 
 for us. When at death we are born into another 
 world, we have left matter behind us, but not sub¬ 
 stance. That same pure substance, flowing forth 
 from its Divine source, is there in the other world 
 as it was here, and of it are formed our bodies and 
 their organs. We have senses, and these so adjusted 
 to this substance on the one hand, and to our minds 
 on the other, that this substance becomes for us 
 there also an external world, as it did here. 
 
 But is that world the same as this world ? It is 
 
80 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 not the same. It is a spiritual world, and the world 
 we live in first is a material world. In some re¬ 
 spects it is like this world, while in others it is 
 altogether different. Both worlds are precisely 
 suited to our needs; this world is suited to our 
 needs while we live in it, and that world is suited to 
 our needs when we are there. The similarities be¬ 
 tween the two worlds come from the fact that we 
 are the same persons there that we were while here. 
 There is no change in our identity; none in our 
 essential nature. 
 
 The differences between that world and this 
 come from the fact, that the purpose for which 
 we live in this world is altogether different from 
 that for which we live in the other. We live in 
 this world to prepare for the other. We live here to 
 change our characters, our wills, our very natures; 
 to remove from ourselves those qualities and ten¬ 
 dencies which would hinder our happiness in the 
 other. The Divine purpose in creating us is, that 
 we may live forever in an unending condition of 
 happiness. The Divine purpose in causing us to 
 begin life in this world is to provide us with the 
 means of removing from ourselves the hindrances 
 to happiness. This we can only do by resisting 
 them; by a conflict with them. Let the plain truths 
 which belong to this matter not be forgotten. One 
 is, that God cannot remove our tendency to self* 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 81 
 
 isbness and sin for us. Another is, that, while we 
 must do this ourselves, we can not do it without 
 His help. The third is, that His help we are sure 
 to receive; and, by our acceptance of it, and our co¬ 
 operation with Him, this work can be done, and is 
 done. 
 
 Life in this world is a life of conflict. In a part of 
 this conflict, we are conscious of it; and voluntarily 
 contend against evil, and on the side of good. 
 Another part of this conflict is waged within us, and 
 for us, and through us, by that Divine power which 
 is fighting our battle. We may feel it only as a 
 season of doubt and darkness, of suffering and dis¬ 
 tress. But here, too, we have much to do in deter¬ 
 mining the issue of this conflict; and if it ends in the 
 victory of the right over the wrong, we are strength¬ 
 ened for every farther conflict. The value of that 
 which is done within us and for us, without our con¬ 
 sciousness and cooperation, consists in its preparing 
 us to cooperate in freedom and with consciousness 
 in the efforts of Divine Providence to reform us. 
 We undergo temptations; we are softened by suffer¬ 
 ing; calamity comes to weaken our selfishness and 
 worldliness, or some strong excitement awakes oi 
 invigorates our good resolves and purposes. Then 
 there comes a time for us to determine whether all 
 these things are good for us or not. That time 
 comes when calmness and quiet return, and we 
 
82 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 come into our ordinary state of feeling and of 
 life, and our power of self-determination is restored* 
 Then are they — our feeling and our life — better 
 than they were ? Are the lessons which were taught 
 us in those states remembered? Are the resolutions 
 we formed carried into effect ? This is the test; for 
 if they are, we have in character advanced a step 
 forward in the way of life. If they are not, we have 
 fallen backward. It is one battle, one conflict, from 
 the beginning to the end. And that this battle may 
 be fought by us and for us, matter is here vested, so 
 to speak, in fixed, indurated, unyielding forms, by 
 which it is capable of resisting us, and reacting 
 against us. Moments, or it may be hours, of peace 
 occur when we rest from the conflict, and a foretaste 
 of the peace we may enjoy hereafter is given us* 
 But soon the battle begins again; and, during the 
 whole of earthly life, every man is more or less com- 
 jielled to do or to be what he would not do or be, 
 and more or less fettered and constrained by his 
 surroundings. 
 
 This is the universal doom; because to all men is 
 given the capacity and opportunity of preparing for 
 another life; and this work can only be done in, by, 
 and through effort and conflict. Therefore, this re¬ 
 sisting and reacting world is given us wherein we 
 may do this work. This work of establishing a per¬ 
 manent character is done by all who live: they can 
 
OF THE NEW CHUECD. 
 
 83 
 
 not help doing it; but they may doit as they choose. 
 They cannot help becoming here that which they 
 will continue to be hereafter. But they may be¬ 
 come whatever they choose to become. Then they 
 die; that is, they enter into another life, — another 
 way of living. And what is the world in which they 
 then live ? 
 
 If we live in this world to prepare for that world, 
 it would seem reasonable to believe that the two 
 worlds cannot be altogether different. We serve 
 here an apprenticeship to the art of living happily. 
 Assuredly, the way in which we are to live when 
 our apprenticeship is over cannot’ be so totally un¬ 
 like our life here, that the habits we here form of 
 loving and of living cease at once at death, and are 
 impossible in that condition of being to which we 
 are introduced by death. Of what value or what 
 efficacy could such a preparation be ? How could it 
 be a preparation ? 
 
 But if on this ground we assume a measure of 
 similarity between these two lives, there are reasons 
 which compel us to believe that there are also im¬ 
 portant differences. We have left the material body 
 behind us. We live here, to prepare by effort and 
 by conflict for the other life; and a hard, unyield¬ 
 ing material world is given us for that purpose. We 
 live there, not to prepare for that world, but to 
 manifest and develop the preparation we have made 
 
84 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 in this life; and the world we there live in is not 
 the hard, unyielding material world we live in here. 
 Wo h ave gone away from the world in which the 
 substance of being is vested in resisting and indu¬ 
 rated forms. That resistance and reaction against us 
 were needed while the conflict of preparation was 
 going on. But the conflict is over; and, instead of it, 
 we have now its result. The same Divine substance 
 is where we are after death, which gave us bodies and 
 an external world before death; it gives us now 
 spiritual bodies, and an external world formed of 
 spiritual substance. This substance, as spiritual 
 substance, is as exquisitely adjusted to our senses, 
 and through them to our minds, as it was as 
 matter. It is as perfectly adapted to our needs now 
 as it was before, and becomes for us an external 
 world as it did before. But we no longer need the 
 assistance or the encumbrance of indurated and re¬ 
 acting matter, and we are delivered from it. But 
 how can this be, if we have spiritual bodies composed 
 of organs of sense? If, in those bodies, we live in 
 an external world composed of spiritual substance, 
 which is adapted to our spiritual bodies and their 
 organs as perfectly as the material external world 
 was adapted to our material bodies a-nd their 
 organs, how can that spiritual substance be more 
 yielding or less refractory than material substance 
 is here? 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 85 
 
 An answer can be given only by some considera¬ 
 tion of Space and Time. The strongest intellects 
 have been exhausted in the effort to say precisely 
 what these are. I do not propose to present the 
 metaphysical views which have been held, nor to 
 add another to them; but shall confine myself to 
 those things which are certain. In the first place, 
 they are not entities; they are not things which 
 have a distinct and positive existence by themselves. 
 How far they are products of thought, or in what 
 words their relation to thought may best be ex¬ 
 pressed, has been the subject of never-ending dis¬ 
 cussion. I say, only, that they are laws or effects of 
 thought; they are these, whatever, else they may 
 be. They are laws or effects of thought; or, if we 
 like it better, we may say, necessities of thought. 
 We cannot think of external things without them. 
 
 o 
 
 We cannot think of any external object without 
 thinking of it as existing in time and in space. Not 
 only are space and time laws or necessities of 
 thought, but they are as much laws or necessities of 
 action as of thought; for we can perform no action 
 whatever except in time and in space. Moreover, 
 they fix impassable limits to action, and exercise an 
 absolute control over it, and thought and will are 
 powerless before them. I think of the next room, 
 and wish I were there; but only, by using so much 
 of time and passing over so much of space, can I be 
 
86 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 there. If I think of England, and wish to be there, 
 it can be only by using much more time and passing 
 over much more space. If a bright star attracts me 
 and I wish I were there, time and space are too much 
 for me; and, if there were no other hindrances, 
 would make it impossible. They exercise this con¬ 
 trol, not in motion only, but in all action. I wish to 
 build a house, and I form a distinct idea of what I 
 desire it to be; but I must appropriate a portion of 
 space, and use up in suitable efforts a portion of 
 time, before my house can be built. And this is as 
 true of every action; for I can not move my finger 
 except in the requisite space and time. I may 
 diminish these very much, but escape from them I 
 can not. 
 
 The reason of this is, that space and time are in 
 this world vested in that unyielding, resisting, and 
 reacting matter which is needed for the purposes for 
 which we live in this world, and are thus made per¬ 
 manent and independent of men. But when we die, 
 these purposes no longer exist. We are no longer 
 preparing to live, but are living in the way our prep¬ 
 aration has fitted us for; because we need there, 
 
 just as we do here, instruments by which we may 
 
 * 
 
 take cognizance of others, and they take cognizance 
 of us; and also need things to use, and organs and 
 faculties by which we make use of them; we have 
 there bodies and organs of sense and thought, and 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 87 
 
 an external world of inexhaustible variety. Because 
 we have all these, and they are so far like what we 
 have known here that our experience will not be 
 lost upon us, we need space and time that we may 
 recognize ourselves and others, and make use of the 
 things about us; or, in one word, live. But we no 
 longer need such space and time as we had in this 
 world: we no longer need their restraint and com¬ 
 pulsion, and these pass away; but we do need as 
 much as before their assistance, and that we have. 
 We may express the difference in few words, thus: 
 In this world, space and time control thought and 
 will; in that world, thought and will control space 
 and time. 
 
 For example: Things there have shape and place; 
 they are near together or far apart; we move through 
 space to approach another or go from him when we 
 wish to do so; and we see things moving, slowly or 
 rapidly, through space. To that extent, we have 
 the assistance or instrumentality of space and time; 
 but they no longer obstruct us. We move through 
 spiritual space and time by thought and will, as we 
 will, without painful effort. If they whom we de¬ 
 sire to see and to be with at any moment are far 
 off, the thought and the desire bring us together. 
 Thought and desire produce presence in this world, 
 but they do this subject to the impediment of space 
 and time; and, in some cases, this impediment can 
 
88 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 not be overcome. Thought and desire produce pres¬ 
 ence in the other world; and space and time have 
 no power to hinder it. 
 
 Externals are created through internals , or the 
 objects of sense through and by thought and affec¬ 
 tion. All the various things about us, which togethei 
 compose the world in which we live, were created 
 through and by the things within human minds, 
 — or the thoughts in their understanding, and the 
 affections in their will. This law is in full force 
 now, and in this world, but is almost wholly con¬ 
 cealed from us. In the other world, it is not 
 only in full force, but always cognizable. There 
 we are minds, or thoughts and affections; they 
 compose us, and constitute our, personality and our 
 identity; but not they alone. If we try to think 
 of disembodied mind; of thinking while there is 
 nothing that thinks, of loving while there is nothing 
 that loves, of acting while there is nothing that 
 acts, — we soon find that we are trying to think 
 of that which can be only nothingness. There we 
 are, in essence, minds; and so we are here. There 
 we are, in existence, as much as we are here, minds 
 in bodies, exquisitely organized, and surrounded 
 with a world exquisitely adapted to us. Here, it is 
 through minds that bodies are formed in adaptation 
 to them, and the world around us is formed in adap¬ 
 tation to us. But we know it not. There, too, our 
 
OF THE NEW CHUKCH. 
 
 89 
 
 bodies and our external world are created through 
 our minds, and in adaptation to them. And there 
 we know that it is so. 
 
 Here and hereafter, the external world is created 
 through or by the instrumentality of the internal 
 world. But here, the external world of each person 
 is not formed through or by his thoughts or affec¬ 
 tions. Here, men of all kinds mingle; for the 
 purposes of this life require that it should be so. 
 An external world which corresponded to one 
 man would not suit his neighbor. The external 
 world of mankind is therefore the common resul- 
 
 l 
 
 tant of the thought and affection of mankind 
 through an indefinite period; and is vested in en¬ 
 during matter, which gives it a measure of perma¬ 
 nence. There, the law of affinity brings those to¬ 
 gether who are interiorly like each other; and 
 the external world about each society corresponds 
 to all who are within it. Because it is not vested 
 in hard 'and enduring matter, it changes as they 
 change. It is as permanent as their states are; 
 and, therefore, in its general features, may be more 
 permanent than any thing on earth, while in its 
 details it may be changeful, because it is always 
 the mirror of those whom it corresponds to and 
 represents. 
 
 So long as we live in this world, we live here for 
 
 o 7 
 
 a definite purpose, and we live only for that pur- 
 
90 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 pose; and, therefore, when that purpose is accom¬ 
 plished, as far as it will be here, we die and go else¬ 
 where. So long as we live here for that purpose, 
 we live in surroundings adapted thereto, and think 
 and feel accordingly. It must be very difficult 
 therefore for us, while we live here, to form an 
 exactly defined idea of a life and a world so dif¬ 
 ferent from this, as that life and world must be. 
 And yet, if it be one which we enter upon at 
 death, and we are there the same persons which we 
 are here, that life can hardly be so different from 
 this, that it must be impossible to form any idea of 
 it. The two essentials which are not to be lost sight 
 of in our efforts to form this idea are, first, that we 
 are the same persons there as here, and need and 
 have an external world suited to our needs and 
 capacities. The second is, that there we are free 
 from that oppressive control of matter, and time, 
 and space, which would not be useful to us there. 
 Through us are formed our surroundings, and they 
 are such as we; that is, as our thoughts and af¬ 
 fections make them. They are our inner selves 
 projected into outness , so to speak; and thus 
 they constitute an external world, which cannot 
 but be exactly adapted to our wants, our capaci¬ 
 ties, and our use, and a mirror in which we see 
 ourselves. 
 
 Let us sum up what has been said of this world 
 
OF THE XEW CHURCH. 
 
 91 
 
 and of the other, of the likeness between them and 
 the difference between them. We have, as St. Paul 
 says, a spiritual body. We have that body noAV. 
 It is within the material body, and fills it, and 
 gives life to it; for the material body without the 
 spiritual body is only dead matter. The spiritual 
 eyes look through the material eyes, the spiritual 
 ears hear through the material ears, the spiritual 
 fingers feel through the material fingers. In other 
 words, the soul while in the material body makes 
 that body live, and through it perceives the things 
 of this material world. We die. Our material eyes, 
 ears, and fingers remain for a time just what they 
 were. But they neither see, nor hear, nor feel. 
 Why? Because the spiritual body is withdrawn 
 from them; and this is all that death means. Our 
 spiritual body rises, — that is, we, in our spiritual 
 body, rise from the material body. Then we are in 
 a spiritual body, which is like our material body in 
 limbs, members, organs, and senses. If our spirit¬ 
 ual body had not had all these, those of our material 
 body would not have lived; for they would have 
 been only dead matter, which they become as soon 
 as the spiritual body leaves them. 
 
 If we rise in a spiritual body, which is like our 
 material body, we need an external world to live 
 in and to make use of, just as much as we needed 
 it here. And we have it just as much. Why should 
 
92 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 we not? This natural world is formed primarily 
 of pure substance; and the mind, acting through 
 the senses, perceives it as this world, and as all 
 things in it. That same substance is there also. 
 And there the mind, acting through the senses, 
 perceives the spiritual world as it perceives this 
 world while here. To our mind and our spiritual 
 senses, the spiritual world is the same thing that 
 the material world is to our mind and our senses 
 when we are clothed with a material body. In 
 some respects it is the same thing. But it differs 
 in other most important respects. This life is a 
 life of preparation through conflict; therefore, the 
 things of this world are vested in untractable, in¬ 
 durated, and resisting forms. It would not be well 
 for us to command them absolutely by our will; for 
 the very purpose for which we live here is not to 
 indulge, but to resist, our will, and change it by con¬ 
 flict. And during this life, the things around us are 
 just such as may help us to fight the battle of life. 
 Mind and will have some power over them, but that 
 power is imperfect and obstructed; and when we 
 wish to have our own way, this world often answers 
 No. The other life is not a life of preparation. That 
 work is over; and the life there is one of result 
 and consummation. Therefore, we do not need this 
 resistance of unyielding matter, and we do not have 
 it. Spiritual substance is no longer clothed in un- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 93 
 
 tractable, indurated, and resisting forms, but is 
 spiritual substance only. All the things of that 
 world are the ready instruments of mind and will; 
 and mind and will have there a supreme control of 
 their external world. 
 
94 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE WORLD OF SPIRITS. 
 
 We always have a spiritual body. While we live 
 in this world, this spiritual body is clothed with a 
 material body. It fills this material body and ani¬ 
 mates it. The material body lives only because the 
 spiritual body fills and animates every part of it. 
 At death, the spiritual body is withdrawn from the 
 material body. The material body, by reason of 
 age, disease, or injury, becomes so ill adapted to the 
 spiritual body, that the spiritual body can no longer 
 fill and animate and act through the material body. 
 Then it leaves the material body, and lives out of it. 
 This is death. The spiritual body is not created by 
 or at death. It is only separated from the material 
 body by death. It does not then begin to live, for 
 it always lived within the material body, and gave 
 life to this body; but it then begins to live as only a 
 spiritual and substantial body, and not within a 
 material body. 
 
 While we live within a material body, or upon 
 earth, we live, as has been repeatedly said, for the 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 95 
 
 purpose of preparing for a life out of the material 
 body. This preparation is made by determining our 
 will, our character, our ruling love. What that love 
 is, we are. What that love is at death, we remain. 
 But with very few persons is this ruling love fully 
 developed and freed from all disguise and all admix¬ 
 ture, so long as they live on earth. With all, or 
 nearly all, habits are formed, motives felt, and affec¬ 
 tions indulged, which, in a greater or less degree, 
 conflict with and modify their ruling love, and per¬ 
 haps conceal it even from themselves. In this con¬ 
 dition we pass into the spiritual world and begin to 
 live there. But this is not the condition in which 
 we are to live forever. That must be a condition in 
 which the ruling love is freed from all conflicting or 
 qualifying influences. Our external must be at one 
 with our internal. That is to say, our life in action, 
 our manifested character, must be the same with our 
 inmost life or love. If we live in this world to pre¬ 
 pare for the other world by determining here what 
 our character shall be there, so, in the first stage of 
 our existence there, we prepare for living in that 
 character in a complete, unimpeded, and manifested 
 manner. 
 
 This result is attained through various means, and 
 in a shorter or a longer time. These means are 
 adapted to the end they are to produce by Him who 
 knows perfectly what we are within, and how we 
 
96 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 may best become without that which we are within. 
 They may take the form of instruction, or of disci¬ 
 pline; and, if need be, of painful discipline; and they 
 are continued until their end is accomplished and 
 the final result reached. When that end is accom¬ 
 plished, the result is that the man stands forth the 
 embodiment and personification of his ruling love, 
 which governs every feeling, every thought, every 
 word, and every act. Precisely what he is, he seeujs 
 to be; and he is known to be that, and only that, by 
 himself and by others. Disguise is no longer possi¬ 
 ble, and is not desired or attempted. There is no 
 longer any conflict of motives, or uncertainty of pur¬ 
 pose, or wavering in act. The man is wholly him¬ 
 self; and that which he is, he is for eternity. 
 
 A principal means by which this end is accomplished 
 consists in bringing the will and the understanding, 
 the affections and the thoughts, the belief* and the 
 love, into unity. This is never completely the case 
 in this world. In most men, the knowledge and the 
 belief are above the love and the life; in some they 
 are below. In all men there is more or less of con¬ 
 tradiction between that which they desire, and per¬ 
 haps do, and that which they know to be right, and 
 perhaps inwardly love. St. Paul says, “What I 
 would, that I do not; but what I hate, that I 
 do.” There are those who are always aware how 
 much their affections and desires fall short of what 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 97 
 
 the truth they know requires of them; and they are 
 earnest in their efforts to bring them into harmony, 
 
 and lament the inherited tendencies or other evil in- 
 
 * 
 
 fluences which obstruct their efforts. None in this 
 world complete this work, because none subdue and 
 suppress perfectly all tendencies to wrong. But in 
 the other life, if the ruling love is good, by various 
 means which infinite wisdom supplies, it works it¬ 
 self clear of whatever conflicts with it. And then 
 there comes, to those who are good, peace — the 
 peace of God, which passes all understanding that is 
 possible in this life. 
 
 The state or condition in which these changes are 
 going forward, and which cause not an alteration of 
 the essential character, but a development and mani¬ 
 festation of it, Swedenborg calls “ The world of 
 Spirits;” giving it this name, I suppose, because 
 those who are in that state have left the natural 
 body, and are therefore spirits, but are not yet 
 angels, nor have they yet gone down to be with 
 those who have chosen not to be angels. 
 
 To some readers the thought may occur, Why 
 carry forward into the other world the struggles and 
 limitations, and slow and wearying progress of this? 
 If at death the question, what we are, is settled, He 
 who reigns there might surely assign us our place 
 without waiting for the result of this tedious proc¬ 
 ess. We may answer: He reigns in this world as 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 in that; and yet we know that life here is a series, 
 and, it may be, a long and painful series, of efforts, 
 and alternate success and disappointment; and prog¬ 
 ress is, at best, gradual and slow and interrupted. 
 That is the way of God in all of His working that 
 we know; and it is but reasonable to infer some 
 analogy between the known and the unknown, or 
 between life in this world and the life of the same 
 persons in the next world. 
 
 We might think this, even if we could see no 
 reason why this should be so, either here or there. 
 But we may see a reason for it, — not the reason ; 
 not the whole council of God, but a reason. For 
 we may find it in the truth that God does all of His 
 work through living, rational, moral, and free agents, 
 which can be done in that way. The greatest bless¬ 
 ing He can confer on them is that of doing His 
 work, or working with Him. The best evidence of 
 His infinite goodness is in the fact that He has 
 given to His creatures this power of working with 
 Him. All of His creatures, even to the components 
 of the inanimate world, are His instruments, and 
 are always doing His work. To man alone is given 
 the power of doing this consciously and rationally, 
 and in his freedom, or by his voluntary choice. God 
 has given to man the ownhood of himself. This is 
 equally true while he is living in this world and 
 preparing for the other; and while he is in the world 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 99 
 
 f 
 
 of spirits, removing from his character all that dis¬ 
 guises it or conflicts with its ruling principles; and 
 also when this work too is done, and he takes the 
 place he has made himself fit for. 
 
 Through all this course he cannot take one step, 
 except by the strength given him. Through it all 
 he is guided, led, and helped in every possible way 
 that does not take from him his freedom, or his 
 power to make of himself, and to be himself, what 
 he would. 
 
 In the beginning of life it is impossible for us to 
 have any other thought than that we live from our¬ 
 selves, with divers hindrances to our will, which we 
 contend against as we can. Afterwards, we get 
 glimpses of the truth that we live from God, and 
 under His government; and must obey Him if we 
 would be happy. So it is in the life of every man ; 
 and so it has been in the life of mankind. We have 
 reached a point in human progress, in which we can 
 at least begin to see, if we will, that we live from 
 Him, and constantly from Him, in the highest and 
 most absolute sense; that we depend upon Him for 
 life, and all that constitutes life, perfectly and con¬ 
 stantly ; and that, while He is ever doing all that 
 infinite love can prompt and infinite wisdom dis¬ 
 cern, which will help us to make our destiny a happy 
 one, that destiny and that happiness are placed in 
 our own hands. 
 
100 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 They are now taught this great truth, who are 
 willing to learn it. Only they can learn it; and they 
 must learn it for themselves, and in their own free¬ 
 dom : they must see it through their own mental 
 eyes. Very imperfectly can any see it now. Very 
 dimly, and only in a most general way, and as a 
 mere possibility, can some see it; and in the vision 
 of others it will be distorted. Slowly the day may 
 come, which this dawning light promises. But it 
 will come surely, and as soon as shall be permitted 
 by that law of our being, which enables these gifts 
 of Divine Mercy to reach us only as fast and as fully 
 as we can be brought into a condition to receive 
 them willingly, and with all our hearts. But still 
 there is for us the hope, that if this willingness be 
 established within us as of our life, we may, after 
 death has cast this body and its defilements aside, 
 have our darkness enlightened, our weakness 
 strengthened, and the stains of this world cleansed 
 away; and all that is within us of true life, even if 
 it be no more than a living germ, developed into the 
 fulness of its stature, whatever that may be. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 101 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DEGREES. 
 
 One of the novel doctrines of this new philosophy 
 is that of “ Degrees.” It continually presents itself 
 in the consideration of this philosophy, and it may 
 be well to offer now a brief sketch of it. 
 
 Degrees are of two kinds. One of them is that 
 by which a thing grows larger or smaller, and be¬ 
 comes more or less, without change in its nature. 
 Thus, that which is warm may grow warmer, or less 
 warm; that which is bright, more or less bright; 
 that which is sweet, more or less sweet, — and so on 
 indefinitely. Such degrees as these Swedenborg 
 sometimes called continuous degrees, for they run 
 into one another by a certain continuity. The thing 
 which changes in this way makes no change in its 
 nature or essential character; it remains always on 
 the same plane of being, or on the same level; as 
 for example when it changes, by increase or dimi¬ 
 nution, from larger to smaller, from finer to grosser, 
 or from rarer to denser, — as when the air so changes 
 but always remains air. And as through all these 
 
102 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 changes the thing remains on the same plane of 
 being, these degrees are also, and perhaps better, 
 called degrees of Breadth. 
 
 There are, however, degrees of another kind ; not 
 continuous, but discrete, — by which word we mean 
 distinctly separate. A thing changing by these 
 degrees becomes another thing; it is higher or 
 lower than it was before in the scale of being; 
 and these discrete degrees are therefore called de¬ 
 grees of Height. The most general example I can 
 give of them is end, cause, and effect. The end 
 is that for which all that follows is. It moves or 
 puts in action the cause, which then produces the 
 effect that is sought. In that effect the cause is 
 operative, and the end is satisfied. Of these three 
 
 c 
 
 degrees the end is highest, the cause intermediate, 
 and the effect lowest; or, we may say, the end is 
 first, the cause intermediate, and the effect last. 
 These three degrees belong necessarily to every 
 thing which exists; for whatever exists, exists for 
 some purpose which would not be accomplished if it 
 did not exist; and it exists because for this end it is 
 caused to exist; and it is itself the effect of the end 
 operating through the cause. By the “ end ” thus 
 used is meant much the same — but not precisely 
 the same — as the “ final cause ” of the old philoso¬ 
 phies; while what I call simply the cause is there 
 called the “ proximate ” or “ efficient cause; ” but I 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 103 
 
 prefer, and use, Swedenborg’s phraseology of end, 
 cause, and effect. 
 
 Another illustration of this same triad may be seen 
 
 in affection, thought, and act. There can be no act, 
 
 • 
 
 unless there be first some affection or feeling in the 
 form of wish or desire for the act. This affection 
 prompts the thought, and through the thought it 
 causes the act. It is obvious that a man would not 
 and could not do anything, if perfectly devoid of all 
 affection or desire; for these are the motive force 
 that sets in action all motion, and without them 
 there could be no action. But it is equally cer¬ 
 tain that this desire or wish acts only through the 
 thought which it excites. Although a man had a 
 desire, however strong, if he had no capacity for 
 thought, he would not be conscious of any desire, 
 or know that he had such a desire; and still less 
 would he know how to carry this desire into effect. 
 But the desire sets him thinking; he becomes con¬ 
 scious of his desire, and devises the way of gratify¬ 
 ing it; and then he does gratify it in the appropriate 
 act. 
 
 These three discrete degrees exist in every act; 
 but there are also all manner of continuous degrees 
 in each of them, or in the strength of the affection 
 or desire, in the adequacy of the cause, and in the 
 completeness of the act. This man desires earnestly 
 to have a house; and the desire prompts multitudi- 
 
104 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 nous thoughts about it, as to how he shall hire the 
 house that comes nearest to his wishes; or, if he 
 builds, he reflects, and confers with experts, until he 
 has decided what plan within his means will best 
 suit his wish, and then he thinks out and provides 
 the ways of building his house, and at last builds it. 
 That man or that boy desires to know how to read; 
 he thinks of the means by which he may learn to 
 read; and then,by long-continued use of these means, 
 he acquires some measure of this learning, and reads, 
 and completes his knowledge, more or less, by prac¬ 
 tice. This girl wishes to play upon a piano ; uses 
 the means which she thinks best adapted to enable 
 her to do this, and, after more or less practice, plays, 
 better or worse. 
 
 In all these instances it is obvious that there is a 
 specific desire or affection; that this prompts the 
 thoughts specifically adapted to the desire, and, by 
 means of them, carries the desire into effect. But 
 presently, the man learns to read so well that he is 
 perfectly unconscious of the wish to read each word, 
 or of the thought that reads it, or of the motions of 
 his fingers by which he turns the pages. The girl 
 practises diligently for years, and at last she will 
 play a piece of familiar music, conversing with those 
 who sit by her side, unconscious of the wish or the 
 thought which causes her fingers to strike the keys; 
 and she is equally unconscious that she strikes them. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 105 
 
 and does not know that she hears the sounds she 
 makes, unless some mistake or discord calls her atten¬ 
 tion to them; then the desire, the thought, the effect, 
 all come again into consciousness, and she corrects 
 the mistake. Perhaps the most universal instance 
 of the same kind is in walking. At first, this is 
 learned by the process of desiring and thinking out, 
 and then taking, each step. At last we walk with¬ 
 out any thought of the steps we take, unless some¬ 
 thing calls our attention to them. I have read that 
 the late Dr. Chalmers usually counted his steps as he 
 walked; and this habit became so fixed, that he did 
 it without effort, and without its interfering with 
 any conversation he might be carrying on, and per¬ 
 haps without consciousness unless his attention was 
 called to it. 
 
 It has become rather a fashion in modern philoso¬ 
 phy to deny that there is desire, or thought, or inten¬ 
 tion, in these cases where habit has made the desire, 
 the thought, and the act so easy as to be unnoticed. 
 The effects are sometimes said to be produced by “ re¬ 
 flex action,” a phrase recently invented; or the mo¬ 
 tions have become automatic (that is to say, they do 
 themselves), through habit. But this is a mistake. 
 These motions are just as voluntary; that is, they 
 are, each of them, as much the result of a specific 
 desire, thought, and purpose, as those earlier motions 
 of the same kind, which required a strong desire and 
 
106 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 an earnest effort in the beginning, but of which the 
 strength and the earnestness have gradually lessened 
 as they became unnecessary. 
 
 An important truth in relation to these three de¬ 
 grees is, that as the two higher terminate in the last 
 and lowest, all are in that: all close or ultimate in 
 that. The end is there attained; the means are 
 there operative and effectual, and thus the end and 
 the means ultimate in the effect. 
 
 It has been said that this trinity, or tri-unity, of 
 end, cause, and effect, is universal. It is so, because 
 it is supremely in God, the author of all existence. 
 In Him it is Love, Wisdom, and Power; all infinite 
 because His; and all imaged forth in the love, 
 thought, and action of man, because he is created in 
 the likeness of God. His love is an infinite desire 
 for such ends as are proper to perfect love. His in¬ 
 finite wisdom is one with His love, and directs His 
 infinite power in producing its appropriate effects. 
 The effect is creation; and in this His love and His 
 wisdom are ultimated. 
 
 Firsts, intermediates, and lasts (or ultimates) are 
 
 % 
 
 in whatever exists. The universal end of crea-tion is 
 to be found in God. In Him is the divine desire or 
 purpose for which all created things exist. They 
 are all created by Him to be His instruments, and 
 are all used by Him as His instruments, whereby 
 His purpose is carried into effect. But this trinity 
 
OF TIIE NEW CHUKCH. 
 
 107 
 
 exists also, as has already been said, in each one of 
 
 ♦ 
 
 the things which exists. Every grain of sand exists 
 for the sake of some use it performs or subserves. 
 It is so created that it may perform that use. It 
 does perform it, and in the use, which is the last or 
 ultimate degree, the higher degrees are ultimated. 
 Nothing whatever could exist unless the end, cause, 
 and effect were in it; and the end and the cause are 
 ultimated in the effect. 
 
 That which is the effect or ultimate in one series 
 may be the instrument or mediate in another series; 
 indeed, it always is so in one sense. Man may ac¬ 
 complish a purpose in producing an effect, and stop 
 there, making no use whatever of the effect. But 
 it is never so in Divine causation. There, every 
 effect produced becomes at once an instrument by 
 which a further effect is produced. One series of 
 these degrees may be found in the Divine purpose, 
 as the first; the spiritual world through which and 
 by means of which the material world is created, as 
 the intermediate; and the material world itself, 
 as the effect in which the higher degrees of this 
 series are ultimated. But then the Divine pur¬ 
 pose or end at once uses this material world, and 
 every thing in it, as the instrument for effecting a 
 further purpose, and, when this is effected, it be¬ 
 comes the instrument for an effect beyond it: and 
 this with no exception and no cessation. 
 
108 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 While this series is in all things, it manifests itself 
 differently in different things. It has always a ten¬ 
 dency to manifest itself, or come into expression 
 and form; and this is especially the case in all 
 organisms. Thus there is in the human body 
 that series which is universal: the end or purpose 
 for which it is, the construction or mechanism which 
 is the instrument by which this end is reached; and 
 lastly, the operation of this mechanism by which 
 this end is carried out into effect. 
 
 But, beside this, there is in the very shape of the 
 human body an expression of this series. The head 
 is at the summit, and originates all movement or 
 action. The heart and lungs, and the other viscera, 
 are the instruments by which the vital force from 
 the brain disseminates life and strength and activity 
 through the frame and causes all action. Then the 
 limbs, which are the ultimates of the series, do the 
 work which carries into effect the purpose for which 
 the body or the man exists. 
 
 The hands and the feet are the ultimates of the 
 human body. They may help us to understand a 
 law laid down by Swedenborg as widely prevailing, 
 and often referred to by him, —the law that power 
 resides in the ultimates. In the hands and feet, as 
 the ultimates of the human body, the power of doing 
 the work for which the body exists, resides. The 
 brain is as far from them as possible; they cannot 
 
OF TIIE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 109 
 
 impel the blood like the heart, nor purify it like the 
 lungs \ nor can they see, or hear, or smell, or taste. 
 But all that the other organs do ends in enabling 
 them to do their work. Cut off the hands and 
 feet, and however well all that remains may do 
 its duty, the man is physically powerless. But let 
 them do their duty, and the other organs of the 
 body no longer work in vain, for the feet and hands 
 are the ultimates of all the rest, and carry into effect 
 the end and aim for which all the rest work and 
 live. 
 
 Mr. Tyndall, in the address to which we have 
 already referred, says: “I discern in that matter, 
 which we in our ignorance, and notwithstanding our 
 profound reverence for its creation, have hitherto 
 covered with opprobrium, the promise and the po¬ 
 tency of every form and quality of life.” This is 
 regarded by everybody as a declaration of material¬ 
 ism. It would seem, indeed, that he himself re¬ 
 gards it as materialism of some sort; for he goes on 
 to say : “ The 4 materialism ’ here enunciated may be 
 different from what you suppose, and, therefore, I 
 crave your gracious patience to the end.” Never¬ 
 theless, these words have been considered not only 
 as a declaration of materialism, but as a bold state¬ 
 ment of a view held by leading scientists of the 
 day; and not hitherto avowed, either from timidity, 
 or from an opinion that the public mind has not 
 
110 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 heretofore been prepared to look upon this view, 
 when presented without disguise or veil. And it 
 has been attacked in all quarters, or by religious 
 writers of every name; and, in fact, by all but 
 those who welcome it, because it is a declaration 
 of materialism. In all this there seems to me 
 a mistake. I consider Mr. Tyndall’s statement in 
 some measure true; an imperfect, one-sided, incom¬ 
 plete statement of the truth. What it needs for 
 its completeness is the farther truth that all the 
 promise and potency in matter are derived from 
 above matter, and are carried forth into action and 
 effect by the inflow of that which is higher than 
 matter. 
 
 The series of end, cause, and effect have already 
 been presented in many forms, and the lowest and 
 last term of the series has been called its ultimate ; 
 and it has also been stated as another law of this 
 trinity, that its power (force, energy, vis ) resides in 
 the ultimates. Of the series, God, the spiritual 
 world, and the material world, — or God, spirit, and 
 matter, — the material world or matter is the ulti¬ 
 mate. This series includes all that is. In God’s 
 desire, design, or purpose, is the end; or that for 
 which all things are, and which originates all exist¬ 
 ence. He creates the spiritual world, and by and 
 through this as the causal instrument employed He 
 creates the material world; and here the purpose of 
 
 i 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 Ill 
 
 God is carried into effect. This purpose is the crea¬ 
 tion of a universe of beings to whom he may impart 
 His own life, His love, and His wisdom, and give it 
 to them as their own; while they, receiving life 
 from Him, and knowing that He is their constant 
 Creator and Father, using their own strength in the 
 acknowledgement that it is their own only because 
 He gives it them to be their own, may, under His 
 guidance, and with His aid, enable Him to form in 
 them a heavenly character; so that they, entering 
 into heaven, and there growing for ever in this char¬ 
 acter and in the happiness belonging to it, satisfy 
 the Divine purpose. This character is formed by 
 resisting, overcoming, and putting away from the 
 natural character whatever therein would tend to 
 mar or pervert the life (the love and wisdom) re¬ 
 ceived from its source; and so permit that life to be, 
 when it is theirs, a life of love and wisdom that will 
 always, in its own freedom, reject all evil and falsity. 
 This is heavenly life. In kind and in degree it is 
 infinitely diversified, all its varieties agreeing only 
 in this, — that they love and choose good rather 
 
 I 
 
 than evil. 
 
 But the work of forming this heavenly character 
 begins on earth. Here, the free choice and the free 
 act of every man determine his character and, there¬ 
 fore, his destiny. Earth, and all its laws, forces, 
 and activities are exactly adapted to promote this 
 
112 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 end; and all these laws and forces have come down 
 to earth from God through the spiritual world, that 
 they might carry this end into effect. It is carried 
 into effect just so far as men use the freedom and 
 the strength given them aright, and so build up a 
 heavenly character. For this end is, that God may 
 have a universe of beings to whom He may impart 
 His own life, and with His life His happiness, in the 
 greatest measure in which a created being can re¬ 
 ceive it. 
 
 It might be thought the Divine purpose was not 
 carried into effect on earth, where evil mingles so 
 abundantly with good, but only in heaven. It is 
 not so. No one is heavenly in heaven, who did not 
 begin to be heavenly on earth. For if one begins 
 on earth to love good rather than evil, truth rather 
 than falsity, the love of God rather than the love of 
 self, the love of others rather than the love of the 
 world for the sake of self, — he begins to be heavenly. 
 Immeasurably small may be this little germ of a 
 true life, and but little more than nothing the taste 
 of heavenly happiness. But if he has begun to love 
 God and his neighbor, and to hate selfishness and 
 worldliness, and to desire deliverance from them, he 
 has begun to be heavenly, and already has had some 
 slight foretaste of the happiness of heaven; although 
 the new thing is to him as the manna in the desert, 
 •and he asks, as the Israelites did, “ What is it ? ” 
 
OF THE NEW CHUKCH. 
 
 113 
 
 Heavy the burdens which still oppress him, full of 
 pain and weariness the conflicts he may pass through 
 before his warfare is accomplished. But he has 
 begun to be heavenly. In him the Divine purpose 
 for which he came into being is accomplished. All 
 that follows is a question of degree. Of the accom¬ 
 plishment of this Divine purpose there can be only 
 a beginning, a constant and perpetual beginning, 
 which will never have an end. In the other life the 
 burdens may fall off, the conflicts cease, the happi¬ 
 ness be secure and great; but it will be ever-grow¬ 
 ing, for, if it were not so, it would not satisfy the 
 infinite love of God. And after the ages of eternity 
 have passed by, and the wisdom and the happiness 
 are wholly beyond our present power of conception* 
 still it will be only a beginning. 
 
 Ages ago asceticism prevailed. In eastern coun¬ 
 tries it was formulated into the doctrine that the 
 universe had been formed and was governed by 
 two beings or principles—one good and one evil; 
 the good being represented by the soul, and the 
 evil by the body. When this doctrine was sup¬ 
 pressed, or where it was not held, the body was still 
 regarded by many as an incarnation of evil. All in¬ 
 dulgence of it was wrong, and all mortification of it 
 a virtue. Much of this has survived to our own 
 times, and causes a modified and undefined belief in 
 
 many minds that sensuous pleasure is at best a weak- 
 
 8 
 
114 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 ness; and that, while a moderate enjoyment of it 
 may be permitted, a contempt and rejection of it is 
 better and safer for the soul. 
 
 Asceticism, even in its extreme, may be good for 
 those who are unable to indulge at all in sensuous 
 pleasure without running into excess, impurity, and 
 sin. And now and always it may be well that sen¬ 
 suous tendencies, when very strong, should be 
 checked by a belief that all sensuous enjoyment 
 should be looked upon with disfavor, if these ten¬ 
 dencies cannot otherwise be resisted. But, in itself 
 considered, asceticism of every kind and degree is 
 a mistake. The body and the senses, with their 
 capacity of enjoyment, are given us to be enjoyed; 
 and the virtues of temperance and purity give to 
 their enjoyment endurance and a more exquisite 
 relish. Wherever the more general elements of 
 religion are believed, — as that there is a God whose 
 commands are to be obeyed, — the rightful enjoy¬ 
 ment of the senses may become itself religious, 
 strengthening the recognition of the goodness of 
 God, and the disposition to use in His service 
 the added strength which well-adjusted recreation 
 gives. 
 
 I have spoken of asceticism because this falsity is 
 closely akin to, and may help to illustrate, another 
 which prevails widely in these days, and is as much 
 a mistake as asceticism. I refer to that falsity which 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 115 
 
 fears or undervalues natural science, and regards it 
 as hostile to religious truth. This is an extreme, 
 a total, mistake. When we say that natural truth 
 cannot contradict spiritual truth, we only utter a 
 truism which, in some form or other, is often ex¬ 
 pressed. It is but an application of this more 
 general proposition that falsity, either natural or 
 spiritual, must contradict truth of the other kind. 
 That which is thought to be truth of either kind 
 may not be true, for mistake in either direction is 
 very easy. Thus, that which is called spiritual or 
 religious truth may contradict natural science, be¬ 
 cause it is spiritual falsity and not spiritual truth; 
 and so what seem to be truths of natural science 
 may be only its mistakes, and then they must con¬ 
 tradict whatever is actual spiritual truth. 
 
 Is there indeed any truth so certain that it has 
 the right to sit in judgment on all propositions that 
 claim to be true ? There can be none such, but the 
 primary truths of religion. But these are precisely 
 what many natural scientists deny to be certain 
 truths; and they are so far right, as that however 
 certain a man may rationally be of the primary 
 religious truths, he cannot have the right to be cer¬ 
 tain that either his apprehension or his expression of 
 these truths is beyond the possibility of mistake. 
 Neither system of truth can practically be made 
 the criterion for truths of the other kind, for those 
 
116 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 who are devoted to truths of that other kind must 
 necessarily hold that it is their truths which have 
 the right of final determination concerning all 
 truths. Nevertheless, this criterion is one which 
 men constantly, perhaps inevitably, apply. It is just 
 this which makes so many religionists dread and 
 hate what are called discoveries of science; and so 
 many scientists deny and despise what are called 
 essentials of religious truth; and so many habitually 
 regard the rapid and inevitable growth of science as 
 leading necessarily to the enfeeblement, if not the 
 destruction, of religion. The fault or error is some¬ 
 times on one side, and sometimes on the other, and 
 often divided between them. 
 
 Tyndall and Huxley and Darwin, and other lead¬ 
 ing scientists, regard as certain some at least of the 
 results of their scientific investigation, and, because 
 they are certain, deny the religious dogmas which 
 are incompatible with these results; and some of 
 their followers, although they themselves do not, 
 reject all religion because it seems to include or im¬ 
 ply these dogmas. 
 
 In some cases, there is an entire blindness to all 
 spiritual truths. Where this is, religion would have 
 been denied at any rate; for while such persons 
 think they reject religious truth because scientific 
 truth opposes it, they would have been as sure to 
 reject it if presented to their minds in any way. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 117 
 
 They reject it simply because they are unwilling and 
 therefore unable to accept it. 
 
 In other cases, natural truth has perhaps been dis¬ 
 covered by means, and in a way, appropriate to it. 
 If such persons acquire the habit of believing that 
 whatever is true is discoverable or cognizable in the 
 same way, or by the same process, and in the same 
 temper of mind, and that whatever cannot be so dis¬ 
 covered cannot be true, they must necessarily reject 
 religious truth ; for that is to be seen and known only 
 by a process and in a temper appropriate to it. For 
 this, reason must be consulted and obeyed; but it 
 must be a reason that is not too proud to listen to 
 revelation, and not so proud of its own strength or 
 its own work, that it believes itself sufficient alone 
 and of itself to lead to all good results. 
 
 Perhaps, however, the most common cause for the 
 rejection of religious truth by scientists and philoso¬ 
 phers is still another. They are educated as Chris¬ 
 tians in some form or other of what is called 
 Christian Faith; or, if not so educated, they see 
 these various forms all around them. In none of 
 them do they see doctrines which they can reconcile 
 with their reason or their knowledge. The indirect 
 influence of revelation upon them induces them per¬ 
 haps still to retain the belief of a God of some sort, 
 and of future existence of some sort; and they hold 
 these in a dim and uncertain way as a hope or a 
 
118 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 possibility, and give what seem to them scientific 
 or philosophic reasons for the belief or opinion they 
 hold, utterly discarding revelation, not knowing that 
 without the indirect effect of revelation no thought 
 of the kind could have found its way to their minds. 
 
 Or perhaps, like Sir David Brewster, they adhere 
 to the religion in which they were educated; hold¬ 
 ing it during active life rather loosely, not neglect¬ 
 ing its observances, but not submitting it to investi¬ 
 gation; and, when old age arrives and death draws 
 near, clinging to it more closely. 
 
 Faraday — the great and good Faraday — could 
 hold no opinion loosely or indefinitely; he could not 
 but be religious, he could not but be scientific. But 
 that he might hold both his religion and his science, 
 he separated them perfectly. He placed himself 
 very positively on the ground that they were not 
 only distinct in their nature, but that they had no 
 relation whatever which connected them together; 
 and, perhaps, — if I draw a just inference from what 
 I read in accounts of him that I have seen, — hold¬ 
 ing that both would be harmed and neither helped 
 by any effort to bring them into harmony. Accord¬ 
 ingly, as a scientific man, he held on his triumphant 
 course; and, as a religious man, he left all his scien¬ 
 tific knowledge and aspiration and thought behind, 
 and adhered closely and earnestly to the peculiar 
 views in which he had been brought up. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 119 
 
 A better way than this is coming; I know not 
 how soon or how slowly: but coming it certainly is. 
 In the mean time, let our great scientists go on, and 
 perform the work they are doing with so much 
 energy and success. They are, above all, scientific 
 men and philosophers; they must have knowledge 
 and philosophy; they see much in the religions 
 about them which could not be made to harmonize 
 with their knowledge or their philosophy, and they 
 are not led to go back to the records of revelation, 
 and hold in their simplicity the truths they find. It 
 is a pity when they go out of their way to sneer at 
 religion, — which the most eminent among them do 
 not, — for this hurts them and others. But let them 
 go on in their course of inquiry. Let them learn all 
 that they can about the material world, its laws, its 
 forces, and its phenomena. This is a progress which 
 will never end ; and, when it is best for mankind, 
 a new science will lay hold of their results. A 
 science which is no less scientific because it is essen¬ 
 tially and profoundly religious. A science which 
 
 / 
 
 will have for its corner-stone the principle that 
 there is not, and never was, and never can be, a 
 truth of natural science which has not its correla¬ 
 tive spiritual truth. A science which holds that 
 the Infinite clothes itself in the finite; and which 
 rejoices in all new light cast upon natural truth, 
 because it may surely be reflected back upon spirit- 
 
120 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 ual truth. Then will Science and Religion no longer 
 be hostile or alienated; for each will regard the 
 other as a friend and assistant, and both will offer 
 their fruits to Him who made them both, and gives 
 to them both all the life they have. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 121 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OWNHOOD. 
 
 Swedenborg frequently uses the Latin word pro - 
 prium as a substantive. What he means by it can¬ 
 not be adequately and precisely expressed by any 
 English word. The adjective proprius comes very 
 near to the English word “own.” It appears in 
 many English words; as property, propriety, appro¬ 
 priate, and the like. In all of these we may see the 
 idea of own-ness: thus, a man’s property is what he 
 owns. The word is also used to signify some quality 
 which belongs to a thing and is its own, and without 
 which it would be another thing: thus, it is the 
 property of flame to heat and burn, and of ice to 
 cool; a man behaves properly, or with propriety, 
 when his conduct accords with all the circumstances 
 which belong to him and are his own; and he ap¬ 
 propriates any thing when he adds it to his property 
 {ad and proprio). In translating Swedenborg’s 
 works, in which this word proprium frequently 
 occurs, some have used “self-hood;” others have 
 used or proposed “ own-ness,” “ owndom,” or “ own- 
 
122 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 hood.” But it is found, on trial, that neither of 
 these words exactly represents proprium , or sug¬ 
 gests the ideas which it is intended to express by 
 that word. Hence it has been practically concluded 
 not to translate it at all, but to use the Latin word 
 proprium as if it were an English word, leaving 
 readers who do not know Latin to infer its meaning 
 from the use of it; while they who do know Latin 
 must remember that there is no word in any lan¬ 
 guage which expresses more emphatically what 
 we mean in English by the word “own.” I agree 
 that, in the translation of Swedenborg, it is best to 
 use the word proprium ; but, in such a work as this, 
 I prefer to use generally the word “ ownhood,” ex¬ 
 plaining it as well as I can. Without using either 
 this word or the word proprium , I have already 
 referred to this doctrine, especially in Chapter II.; 
 and must often refer to it, for it is implied in all the 
 doctrines of the New-Church. 
 
 If it is not easy to translate the word proprium , 
 it is equally difficult to exhibit the doctrine of pro¬ 
 prium intelligibly. But so far as I am able to do 
 this, it will be seen that it is novel and important, 
 leading to consequences of great value. 
 
 Because all being is from one source, — God, who 
 causes all things to be by an effluence from Himself, 
 — we may hope to find the origin of this universal 
 ownhood in God Himself, and in the nature of His 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 123 
 
 working. He gives being, and all the elements of 
 being. He gives from love; from perfect love; and 
 He gives wholly and unreservedly. He wishes 
 that whatsoever is should be itself; but dependent 
 upon Him, or connected with Him, so far as it 
 must be by the continual gift of being to it, and 
 the continual effort on his part that its being should 
 be complete and perfect. Because every thing 
 exists by a constant creative effluence from Him, 
 and could not exist otherwise, it would be a part 
 of Him, or continuous with Him, or Him in an im¬ 
 perfect way, if He did not give to it to be itself, 
 or to be its own. The whole created universe 
 as a whole, has this ownhood of itself. In the 
 material universe, we discern some effects of this. 
 Modern science has come to the conclusion that 
 there is only so much matter in the world, its 
 quantity being constant; and all the apparent deaths 
 or births of matter being only changes in the form 
 and appearance of matter, — no matter ever ceasing 
 to be, or ever now beginning to be. 
 
 More recently, and yet not so certainly, science 
 has concluded that there is but one force in the 
 material universe; and that constant in quantity, 
 but ever and indefinitely varying in action and 
 appearance. The heat we feel or cause by our own 
 efforts disappears; but this is only because it is 
 changed into or becomes light or magnetism or 
 
124 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 motion, or some other of the forms of force. So 
 it is with every other of these forces. If either of 
 them comes into manifestation, it is at the expense 
 of some other; and when it ceases to act and ap¬ 
 pear as one force, it is because it has changed into 
 or given birth to another. Indeed, science, in all its 
 progress, seems to be advancing to the conclusion 
 that the material universe is complete in itself, need¬ 
 ing only the forces we see active in it to produce all 
 its phenomena, and its whole succession of created 
 beings and their circumstances. Hence it is that 
 scientists, whose extent of knowledge gives them 
 the widest view, see in matter “the promise and the 
 potency” of all life. Their mistake, as we have 
 already intimated, is that they do not see that 
 matter has all this promise and potency, because 
 God creates the material universe to be its own, 
 itself; and is constantly creating, preserving, and 
 animating it, — constantly giving this promise and 
 potency. He continually gives it being; He con¬ 
 tinually imparts to it all force; He acts within the 
 action of all its forces and all their effects, using 
 them all as His instruments. And the reason of this 
 is that the world of matter may be its own, itself, — 
 and as if independent of Him, — while it is in 
 fact instantly and constantly dependent upon Him 
 for being, and for all its force, energy, or activity. 
 
 If we ascend to the animal world, we find the 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 125 
 
 same law or fact of ownhood, not more real, but 
 more manifest. Every animal has some power over 
 himself. He has will. Natural science finds it very 
 difficult to say whether certain of the protozoa (or 
 first forms of life) are vegetable or animal; insomuch 
 that some scientists hold them to be neither the one 
 nor the other, but somethiug between, which may 
 be developed into either. All, however, or nearly 
 all, agree that the test is, Has the thing inquired 
 about a will? — for if it can be seen to have a will, a 
 choice, a power of self-determination, of any kind or 
 any measure, it is an animal. There are sensitive 
 plants in which motions may be produced by a 
 touch; others in which moisture produces motion 
 strangely like walking. Still others of which the 
 appropriate organs close upon a fly or a morsel of 
 flesh, and hold it firmly until ail its juices are ab¬ 
 sorbed for the nourishment of the plant. Still it is 
 only a plant, because all this is done unconsciously 
 and involuntarily, and therefore do not entitle it to 
 be regarded as an animal. So, too, the power which 
 a grape vine and some other plants (perhaps all in 
 some degree) have of sending out a root to seek dis¬ 
 tant water or rich food, or down the face of a rock 
 to find earth, does not make the plant an animal. 
 For an animal is a living organism which has a will; 
 and this means that it has some power over itself 
 some choice whether to accept or to reject; to do 
 
126 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 this or that, or to leave it undone; and exercises 
 this power of choice consciously and intentionally. 
 There is, indeed, among the indefinitely numerous 
 theories advanced in these days, one which holds 
 that animals are only automata, or machines, with 
 no more of consciousness or will than trees have; 
 but this theory meets with little favor, and very 
 limited, if indeed any, reception. 
 
 Animals have been created successively; the 
 lower or simpler in organization first, and then, step 
 by step, the higher or more complex. Geology tells 
 as much as this, perhaps, with certainty. But this 
 new science, much less than a century old, is still in 
 its infancy; although its discoveries are so numerous 
 and interesting, and its conclusions so important, 
 that it seems to have reached at once a kind of 
 maturity. But its discoveries are as yet imperfect, 
 and few of its most important conclusions are cer¬ 
 tain. If any one is so, it is that animals have been 
 created through countless ages in successive grada¬ 
 tion, and that at last man was created, an animal 
 who crowned the series. Whether evolution played 
 any part in this successive creation, I do not care to 
 inquire; for, as I have already intimated, if it did it 
 was but one of the methods or means by which God 
 created. This succession stopped with man, and we 
 have no evidence and no reason to believe that any 
 new animal has been created since man existed. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 127 
 
 Man is an animal; but he is also something more 
 and higher than an animal. As an animal he has 
 all the ownhood which an animal has. But an ani¬ 
 mal is only a natural being, and man, as an animal, 
 is natural; but he is also a spiritual being. He is 
 not spiritual because he possesses all the faculties 
 which animals possess; for some animals possess 
 each of these faculties in greater measure than man. 
 If he possessed all, and in a greater measure than all 
 animals taken together, this would be a superiority 
 only in a continuous degree; it would be a superi¬ 
 ority of measure and not of kind, and only such 
 superiority as lifts the higher animals above the 
 lower. He is superior to all other animals by a dis¬ 
 crete degree. In addition to all that they have, he 
 has that of which they have not a particle: he has a 
 spiritual nature; and it lifts him above all other ani¬ 
 mals by a difference not of measure but of kind, and 
 it makes him altogether other than them. By this 
 spiritual nature, he stands in definite relations to the 
 spiritual world; for in this spiritual nature he lives in 
 the spiritual world even while he lives in this natural 
 world. 
 
 He does not know this. So lon^ as he lives in 
 this world, his material body covers and clothes his 
 spiritual body; and lives only because the spiritual 
 body fills it and animates every part of it. The ma¬ 
 terial body answers two purposes, or rather it causes 
 
128 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 two entirely different effects. In the first place, as 
 has been already said, it gives to the spiritual body 
 an instrument by which it can recognize and make use 
 of the material world. The material eye does not 
 see; but the spiritual eye, or the eye of the spiritual 
 body, through the material eye, sees the material 
 world. When a man dies, his material eye remains 
 for a time just what it was. It does not see, and 
 never did see, and now the spiritual eye cannot see 
 through it because it has gone away; for death is 
 only the departure of the spiritual body from the 
 material body, which then becomes dead, because 
 all that gave it life has passed away from it. As 
 it is with the eye, precisely so it is with the other 
 senses and organs of sense. 
 
 The material body thus performs one of its func¬ 
 tions in being an instrument through which the spir¬ 
 itual body may make use of a material world. But 
 it accomplishes another purpose, or performs another 
 function; and this is to serve as a veil or barrier or 
 obstruction between the spiritual body and the 
 spiritual world. So long as the spiritual body is 
 clothed upon by the material body, its senses are 
 (while we are in a normal condition) closed against 
 all the objects in the spiritual world. How these 
 two effects are in fact one, or if not one are closely 
 connected, may perhaps be illustrated by a compari¬ 
 son. A man looks up at the sky in a cloudless night. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 129 
 
 He sees a multitude of stars filling the whole con¬ 
 cave. He points a good telescope at a dark space in 
 the sky, and at once he sees a multitude of other 
 stars, of which he could not see one before. But 
 while the eye is fixed to the telescope, he cannot see 
 that multitude of stars which he saw before. The 
 instrument which enables him to see what he could 
 not see without it, disables him from seeing what he 
 could see without it. The material body is as the 
 telescope. The comparison is rude, but it may at 
 least help one to understand that, w T hile a man lives 
 on earth, the spiritual senses are (or the man whose 
 senses they are, is) enabled, by the clothing of ma¬ 
 terial organs, to hear, see, feel, and handle material 
 things; while, because of these material organs, he 
 cannot see, hear, feel, or handle the spiritual things 
 in the midst of which he is living. 
 
 Death liberates the spiritual body from the mate¬ 
 rial body; they go asunder. The material body loses 
 all life and all sense; the spiritual body loses all 
 recognition or perception of the material world, and 
 gains at once full recognition and perception of the 
 spiritual world. The man who has now no material 
 body or organs ceases to live in this world, and be¬ 
 gins to live consciously in that spiritual world in 
 which he has always lived without knowing it. 
 
 If we regard God as infinite, and as the cause and 
 
 source of all being, it must needs be impossible that 
 
 9 
 
130 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 we should have the slightest idea of Him as He is 
 in Himself, and prior to all action or manifesta¬ 
 tion. But it is not impossible that we should 
 discern something of His action and His mani¬ 
 festation of Himself. It is certain that He has 
 given to us the power of thinking that we discern 
 this, and of drawing some inferences in respect to 
 His nature and His methods of action. We have also 
 what purport to be revelations from Him, helping 
 us in this discernment and in these inferences. If, 
 moreover, we believe that He has made us to be im¬ 
 mortal, we must believe that through this immortal¬ 
 ity there must be progress in knowledge and wisdom 
 and life, or else stagnation through eternity. If we 
 believe that there will be progress in knowledge and 
 wisdom, this must be in knowledge of Him, and in 
 wisdom concerning Him. For if Pie be the cause 
 and source of all being, it is plain that the wiser we 
 are concerning Him and His action, the wiser we 
 shall be as to all things, because all things are but 
 the products of His action. Then if we believe in 
 immortality after death, we cannot rationally avoid 
 the belief that we begin our immortality here, and 
 may begin here to prepare for the life which will be 
 more fully developed hereafter. 
 
 From all this it would seem to follow that, while 
 the finite intellect cannot either here or there form 
 an idea of the infinite as it is in itself, it may begin 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCn. 
 
 131 
 
 here to form an idea of Him in His action and mani¬ 
 festation ; which idea, however imperfect in its be¬ 
 ginning, will be enlarged and developed indefinitely. 
 To say that our knowledge of Him may hereafter 
 become, in comparison with our knowledge of Him 
 while here, far more than the full-grown oak is in 
 comparison with the acorn, is to suggest but a slight 
 similitude. But when we remember the probable 
 relation of this life to the next, and the probable 
 purpose of our life here, we may believe that a 
 knowledge of Him which is possible here may be as 
 an acorn, a living seed, in which there exists poten¬ 
 tially, and in its beginning, the germ of that which 
 will come hereafter. 
 
 If any thing is certain concerning the Divine ac¬ 
 tion, it is that it is gradual, — each step in advance of 
 that behind, and each leading to a step still farther 
 in advance. We may be disposed to see in this both 
 the proof and the effect of the law that progress is, 
 on the whole, eternal. However we may account 
 for it, and however we may sometimes doubt it, be¬ 
 cause this progress advances in waves which go 
 forward and then fall back, and in the retreating 
 moment it seems as if progress itself were stayed, — 
 yet, if we look over a series of sufficient extent, we 
 cannot but be sure that the movement is, on the 
 whole, forward. We may form two conclusions. 
 One is, that, when we look at the past history and 
 
132 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 the present condition of human thought, we may be 
 sure that the best idea we can form, or the sum of 
 the knowledge we can acquire, concerning the rela¬ 
 tions of God with man must be imperfect to the last 
 degree, and so slight as to be only more than noth¬ 
 ing. The other conclusion is, that this knowledge 
 may be accurate as far as it goes, and, however small 
 in comparison with what the far future may bring 
 forth, it may be of vast magnitude and importance 
 in comparison with the nothingness of ignorance. 
 It may, though small as the grain of mustard seed, 
 have within it the capacity of perpetual growth and 
 of indefinite multiplication by the propagation of 
 truth from truth. This progress may be slow. We 
 may begin from nothing; and in its early stages be 
 only more than nothing. But progress must be con¬ 
 stant and continual, and never end ; and in all this 
 progress man must have a share, as of his own 
 work. 
 
 The conclusion from all that has been said, is, that 
 man was created what he is, to the end that he 
 may advance in wisdom, goodness, and happiness 
 for ever, by his own efforts. But it is impossible 
 to believe this without some idea o£ some belief 
 in, ownhood. For it all implies that whatever lives 
 and advances by voluntary efforts must make these 
 efforts as his own, and they must be most truly 
 his own. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 133 
 
 This doctrine of a man’s ownhood of his life and 
 being meets Pantheism; and it is the only doctrine 
 which reconciles the truth that God is all in all, 
 with the other truth that He is other than and dis¬ 
 tinct from the universe. True it certainly is, that 
 God is all in all; and so far as this constitutes or im¬ 
 plies Pantheism, that also is true. But it is not true 
 that the All of creation is the All of God. He exists 
 in His creation, and He exists also in Himself—in 
 His Divine ownhood, from which proceeds creation. 
 To this creation He gives also all the ownhood it can 
 receive. He gives it to be itself, and therefore other 
 than Him: as entirely other than Him as if He were 
 not its constant and continual creator. By virtue of 
 its ownhood, of its own being, — while it exists only 
 from Him, and He is in it, and constitutes all of it,— 
 He is other than it, and it is other than Him. 
 
 I have already referred to Pantheism, or the 
 theory that the universe is God, and that God is the 
 universe ; and have said that what makes it a fatal 
 falsity is its denial of, and its antagonism to, the 
 idea of a personal God. The one thing which gives 
 to Pantheism its attractiveness is its satisfying, or 
 at least appeasing, the desire for a God, which, after 
 revelation has once given the thought of God, is 
 never wholly lost from the human mind and heart, 
 — while it relieves the understanding from the effort 
 to comprehend an Infinite person. 
 
134 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 This effort the simple-minded do not make. From 
 the earliest ages to the present day, the great body 
 of religious persons believed simply in a Divine 
 man. They did not, and do not, trouble them¬ 
 selves to define this idea. They hold it uncon¬ 
 sciously. If they were told that they believed 
 only in a Divine man, they would deem it an ac¬ 
 cusation which they would reject, perhaps indig¬ 
 nantly. “No,” they would say, “we believe in a 
 God.” They do so; but all the while their God 
 is a Divine man. He is a man, in the first place, 
 that they may be able to think of him at all; 
 and then they make him Divine in just such a 
 way, and to such an extent, as they can. The old 
 mythologies, and the religions of many heathen na¬ 
 tions at this day, attest this. Pious Catholics cling 
 to the worship of the Virgin Mary and of the saints, 
 because in them they have persons to believe in, and 
 think of, and worship. 
 
 When Pantheism relieves the understanding from 
 the effort to comprehend an Infinite person, it does 
 this at the cost of all that is of the essence of relig¬ 
 ion. There can be no reverence of, no obedience to, 
 no love for, any thing which is not a person. Feti- 
 chism, which worships stocks and stones, and idol¬ 
 atry, may seem to worship that which is not a person ; 
 but it is worship only so far as the imagination invests 
 the thing with the attributes of personality, or sup- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCIT. 
 
 135 
 
 poses it to represent a Divine person. A Pantheist 
 believes all this a weakness from which he has 
 escaped. He mistakes: it is a modicum of strength 
 which he has lost. If he has succeeded in silencing 
 or paralyzing the demand for a God whom he can 
 love and worship, he has put away nearly all which 
 lifts him above animal life. If he recognizes this 
 need, and has a theory by which he worships some 
 abstraction — as Comte and others have done or tried 
 to do— he commits a folly which is a mere emptiness 
 in his own mind, and which thinking people see to 
 be an empty folly, and of which the only value is the 
 proof it offers that man must have a God, or some¬ 
 thing which he can call a God. 
 
 How then are thinkers to deal with the problem 
 of an Infinite person? They must resort to that 
 anthropomorphism of which we have already spoken, 
 and which is at once reasonable and inevitable; and 
 is wise, so far as it lifts man up to God, and avoids 
 degrading God to man. 
 
 An important effect of the doctrine of ownhood 
 of human life is the perfect answer that it gives to 
 the doctrine of final absorption into Deity. This last 
 falsity has always prevailed very widely. Among 
 eastern nations, and especially in Buddhism, although 
 not in that faith alone, it was systematized and 
 avowed. There has been, and still is, much question 
 whether even there this absorption was carried to 
 
1313 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 the extent of an entire annihilation of individuality. 
 It is, however, certain that in the minds of its earlier 
 and most authoritative teachers it approached very 
 near to, if it did not reach, this extreme; while it is 
 also certain that it stops far short of this in the 
 views held now by the great body of Buddhists. In 
 Christianity it has never taken the form of a positive 
 doctrine; but it lingers, concealed perhaps and 
 latent, in many of the most religious and reflective 
 minds, and not unfrequently exhibits itself in poetry 
 and speculative writing. For example, in Words¬ 
 worth’s beautiful lines, if he does not mean he at 
 least suggests this thought, where he speaks of life 
 and death, and compares human lives to 
 
 Streams whose murmur fills this hollow vale; 
 Whether their course be turbulent or smooth, 
 
 Their waters clear or sullied, all are lost 
 Within the bosom of yon crystal lake, 
 
 And end their journey in the same repose. 
 
 It is easy to see how thoughtful persons end, if 
 not in this belief, at least in a strong tendency in 
 that direction. They see that there must be a God; 
 that He must be in some sense alone, and All in 
 All; and that all being flows forth from Him, and 
 through its ascending steps culminates in man. 
 Then, what more rational hope for the next step, 
 than that this life, going forth from God, returns to 
 Him in the final consummation of its progress ? 
 
OF TIIE NEW CHURCH. 137 
 
 To all this the doctrine of ownhood has an answer. 
 God’s love, because it is infinite, cannot but give to 
 man the infinite and endless blessing of ownhood of 
 his life. By this is made possible that gift of recip¬ 
 rocation, which, if it were only understood, would 
 vivify every human heart with the wondering grati¬ 
 tude that swells the heart of Heaven. If man could 
 receive only, he could return nothing. He would 
 have nothing of his own to give back to God, who 
 gives him every thing. But because all that is 
 given him is given to him as his own, he can give 
 this back. The life which comes from God to man 
 is none the less God’s life when it is in man. When 
 man gives back this life to God, it is none the less 
 man’s life. He does give this life back to God when 
 the love God gives to man returns to God as man’s 
 love for Him. Man returns God’s wisdom to Him, 
 when he receives the truths God gives to him, and 
 uses the rationality also given, to learn from those 
 truths how to ascribe to Him all the thought and 
 understanding he possesses, and all the wisdom that 
 came forth from God to fill his mind with light, 
 and all that constitutes his life and being; and thus 
 gives to God the glory due unto Him. And this is 
 what is meant by reciprocation. God gives to man 
 life and love and wisdom, and man gives it all back 
 to God, as his own free gift of that which is his 
 
 own. 
 
138 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 God always works through His instruments. He 
 does all of His work that can be so done, by and 
 through His free and rational instruments; for thus 
 He blesses them. And when we think of what man 
 may grow into, and may now be in the higher stages 
 of his being, what limits shall we set to this possi¬ 
 bility ? God does this, because His own infinite hap¬ 
 piness springs from the indulgence of His love and 
 the exercise of His wisdom in His own infinite work¬ 
 ing, and in His giving of happiness ; and He desires 
 to impart as much of the same happiness to those 
 whom He has created that He may bless them, as it is 
 possible for them to receive, and therefore for Him 
 to give. He does not work through them as merely 
 passive channels, for then His end would not be at¬ 
 tained. He creates them to be active and reacting 
 instruments; to be men, who, in their own freedom,, 
 and in their own strength, which is given to them 
 to be their own, do His work as their own work. 
 In this they work with Him. Absorption into Deity 
 is not possible, nor is a merely passive reception; 
 but reaction and reciprocation are possible; and, 
 thanks to His infinite goodness, conjunction with 
 Him is therefore possible! Yes, conjunction of man, 
 the finite creature, with God, the infinite Creator! 
 
 In the prevailing alienation from God, in our 
 habitual looking to Him as infinitely removed from 
 us, and as inaccessible to definite thought, and in- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 139 
 
 deed to be thought of, if at all, only as a vast and 
 hidden power, — it must be difficult to apprehend a 
 truth which tells us that He is very near, and always 
 seeking to come nearer. But in the light of this 
 truth we may look upon Him as ever acting in His 
 work of creation and preservation, and upon our¬ 
 selves as working with Him: actually working with 
 the Infinite. Far forward into an indefinite future 
 must we extend our look, if we would see ourselves 
 in any great measure permitting Him to accomplish 
 the purpose for which He creates us, and has ever 
 in view in all His dealings with us. For that pur¬ 
 pose is that we should be, and know’ ourselves to be, 
 His children; to whom He commits a share of His 
 Divine work, that we may have a share in His 
 Divine happiness. 
 
 But perhaps the most valuable fruit of this doc¬ 
 trine of the ownliood of human life is the solution 
 of the problem presented by the mingling of order 
 and disorder, of good and of evil, in all things that 
 we know; in a word, that old problem, — the origin 
 of evil, — to which we have more than once alluded, 
 and of which we would again speak in connection 
 with this doctrine of ownhood. Old as this problem 
 is, and attacked by the strongest thinkers in all ages, 
 there have been devised only three solutions: One 
 is, that there is a power of evil in the universe, 
 equal or nearly equal to God, and always contend- 
 
140 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 ing with Him. Another — which is akin to the first, 
 and, as sometimes presented, appears to be almost 
 the same — is, that the love and power of God are 
 limited and imperfect. The third finds the origin 
 of evil in the freedom of man and the abuse of that 
 freedom. It is the last which the New-Church 
 adopts, and to which, in its doctrine of the ownhood 
 of human life, it gives a new explanation. 
 
 This doctrine explains both how and why we 
 have freedom, because that springs necessarily from 
 a true ownhood of one’s life. Without freedom, we 
 should be only a machine operated by a force which 
 we could not resist. Nor should we have even the 
 thought or desire of resisting it, or the knowledge 
 that it was a force controlling us; for without free¬ 
 dom, we could not have any idea of freedom, nor 
 know what freedom is. Without freedom, we could 
 not act as of ourselves, for we should be only in¬ 
 struments used by another, and all our acts would 
 be the acts of him who made use of us. Because 
 we have freedom, and this freedom is the gift of 
 God, we stand in a relation to Him of perfect de¬ 
 pendence, and yet are as entirely ourselves as if we 
 were perfectly independent. 
 
 This doctrine explains what freedom is. It is the 
 power of choosing for ourselves what we shall do, 
 and what we shall be. There is natural freedom, 
 and there is spiritual freedom. Natural freedom 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 141 
 
 relates to this world, and to external life and con¬ 
 duct. Spiritual freedom relates to the spirit and 
 the things of the spirit; to our true character; to 
 our spiritual life in this world and in the other. 
 Our natural freedom is much and often impaired 
 and controlled, because we have natural freedom 
 for the sake of our spiritual freedom; and our nat¬ 
 ural freedom is always impaired and controlled as 
 and so far as the interests of our spiritual freedom 
 require, but never any farther. It is impaired, sus¬ 
 pended, and controlled in such wise as will best lead 
 us, if we can be led, to make a good use of our spir¬ 
 itual freedom. That is not lessened or controlled 
 except in the rare cases in which it is permitted that 
 evil influences should gain possession of us; and in 
 those cases our manhood and selfhood are suspended. 
 
 It is true that there is a sense in which it may 
 be said that our spiritual freedom is otherwise, for 
 a time, suspended. Divine Providence has per¬ 
 mitted calamity or fear to oppress us, or other 
 modes of discipline to wake us for a time to a 
 knowledge of ourselves. We see our wrong-doings 
 and our sins; we form earnest resolutions to abstain 
 from them altogether. This is an excellent thing. 
 It is just that for which these visitations are per¬ 
 mitted. But we are not in a state of entire spirit¬ 
 ual freedom, when, under such influences, we form 
 such resolutions. They do not yet, therefore, as 
 
OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 we have already said, enter into our character. 
 For that we must wait until the storm has gone by, 
 and we have returned into our normal condition. 
 Then our freedom becomes again entire; and in that 
 freedom we choose whether the repentance and re¬ 
 form which we had resolved upon shall be infixed 
 into our character by our conduct. That we might 
 form such jiurposes, those controlling influences were 
 permitted; that these purposes may be carried into 
 effect, those controlling influences have been taken 
 away, and our freedom restored to us. For certain 
 it is, that only what we choose in freedom, and do 
 because we have so chosen it, becomes a part of our 
 character and of ourselves for ever. If these reso¬ 
 lutions of reform are sincere and earnest, they are 
 rooted into the character, and will bear their fruits 
 in the other life, if Divine Providence abridges this 
 life, and so prevents them from manifesting their 
 effects here. But in any given case, whether these 
 purposes be so sincere and earnest, can be known 
 only to Him who searches the heart. 
 
 There could not be manhood, and all the possibil¬ 
 ities of a manhood growing through eternity, with¬ 
 out ownhood of ourselves. And this implies and 
 causes necessarily self, as the basis of character. 
 Man, because he is free, asks of himself what he 
 shall do and what he should be. He asks this of 
 himself; for, if there were any one who could answer 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 143 
 
 this question and decide it for him, he would not be 
 free. He must ask this question of himself, and his 
 answer must satisfy himself, or he cannot be happy; 
 for he would be in a state of bondage, and that is 
 incompatible with true happiness. He must look 
 to himself and regard himself, or he cannot be what 
 a man should be. 
 
 Self-love is an inevitable necessity. It belongs to 
 man as man, and cannot be escaped from. The 
 severest ascetic, who rejoices in the belief that he 
 had put self-love away, has only clothed it with a 
 disguise which cheats himself as well as others. 
 But while it is inevitable that self-love should be 
 positive and active in every man, it is not inevitable, 
 and it is very far from necessary, that it should be 
 sovereign within him. Whether it shall be so or 
 not is precisely the question which determines his 
 character and his destiny. As soon as he begins to 
 live and to be conscious of life, he begins to seek 
 indulgence for himself and for his love of himself. 
 But he is not left long before some love of others is 
 suggested to him and infused into him. From that 
 moment, the contest begins between the love of self 
 and the love of others; and it never ends until it is 
 determined which of these two is sovereign over 
 the other. Neither of the two can be wholly extir¬ 
 pated. The question is, both being there, Which 
 shall exist and act for the sake of the other? All 
 
144 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 the aid that Infinite love and wisdom and power can 
 give to man, to help him to give the victory to the 
 right over the wrong, is surely and ever given to 
 him. But there stands his ownhood of himself. 
 Nothing can be given to him which he does not 
 accept. In the beginning, and at the foundation of 
 his character by birth and nature, the love of self 
 stands first; it remains supreme, dominating the char¬ 
 acter and determining the destiny, unless the man 
 accepts the aid that is given him, and, by the right¬ 
 ful use of means and powers given to this end, sub¬ 
 jects this essence and origin of all evil — self-love 
 — to that love of others, which is the essence and 
 origin of all good. The question then is, Which is 
 for the sake of the other ? If self-love be supreme, 
 the man loves himself for the sake of himself, and 
 loves his neighbors for the sake of himself, or onlv 
 as instruments for his purposes, and as contributors 
 in some way or other to his pleasure and enjoy¬ 
 ment. In this way, or on this ground, he may love 
 them ardently, and persuade himself, and perhaps 
 others, that love for others is supreme within him; 
 but all the while it is only a servant, and perhaps 
 a slave. But if his love for others becomes indeed 
 supreme, then he loves himself for the sake of others. 
 He seeks for the means of strength, that he may use it 
 for others. He enjoys—perhaps no one more — all 
 that sustains life and gives to it innocent pleasure; 
 
145 
 
 OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 but the foundation of all his enjoyment is that it 
 supports and freshens and invigorates him for use¬ 
 fulness, and, in usefulness, happiness. 
 
 From such a love of others, as from its root, grows 
 the love of God. For, by the unselfish love for 
 others, man is prepared to receive this love into his 
 heart. It is sent to him from God, as the last, best, 
 gift, which will lead him to the love of God, and 
 will help to accomplish the purpose of God, in mak¬ 
 ing him capable of conjunction with Him and of 
 receiving from Him the happiness which it is the 
 happiness of God to give. 
 
 Self-love is not selfishness unless it be supreme, — 
 making self the centre to which all things are re 
 ferred. It is not selfishness when it seeks to be 
 the servant of that love of others which uses it as 
 its instrument. May we not here, also, look to God, 
 the exemplar of man, his child, for instruction? We 
 cannot err in seeing in Him a self which loves to 
 give itself away and desires that all it gives should 
 return to it in prayer and worship and love, only 
 because this enables it to give itself more fully and 
 more entirely. That He may give Himself entirely 
 to His children, He gives to them an ownhood of 
 their lives. Through this ownhood and the free¬ 
 dom which belongs to it, they may, with His un¬ 
 failing help, build themselves more and more into 
 
 His image and likeness, and therefore more and 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 more into the capability of receiving His life i 
 their own. 
 
 For all this, freedom is perfectly indispensable. 
 Without it, man would not be man. When Hux¬ 
 ley said, a few years ago, that he saw no good in 
 freedom with its responsibilities, and he should be 
 glad to be wound up periodically, like a clock, 
 thereafter to go on as he was made to go, — this 
 was a thoughtless remark; for no man could see 
 more clearly that, if his wish were gratified, he 
 would be a clock, and not a man. Freedom is in¬ 
 deed essential to manhood and to all idea of man¬ 
 hood. When disease or any cause takes it wholly 
 from a man, he is separated from his fellows, and 
 cared for as one who can no longer be with them. 
 We say such a person is no longer himself, and this 
 phrase tells the whole truth; without rational free¬ 
 dom and the power of self-determination, a man is 
 not himself. 
 
 But freedom, to be real and true, must be capable 
 of abuse. It is the power of choosing between good 
 and evil; and no man can choose good unless he 
 can choose evil. The choice of evil brings sin, with 
 all its train of consequences. The world, outside of 
 man, — and this includes his body, for the spirit is 
 the man, — is perfectly adjusted to his spiritual 
 needs, and is therefore in correspondence with his 
 spiritual condition. Hence the disorder and dis- 
 
I 
 
 OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 147 
 
 turbance in this external world are the effect and the 
 symbol of the disorder in the internal world, or in 
 the spiritual condition of mankind. 
 
 In saying that freedom, if real, must be liable to 
 abuse, we touch again upon the great difficulty in 
 accounting for the existence of evil. It is impossi¬ 
 ble not to believe that we are free. No sane man 
 can doubt this any more than he can doubt his life. 
 Freedom is as certain as life, for it is a part of life. 
 Nor is it difficult to appreciate the good of freedom, 
 or its indispensableness to the highest human worth 
 or happiness. But the question remains, Why could 
 we not have been so constructed that we might have 
 freedom and all its beneficial results, without this 
 liability to abuse? If we believe in heaven, do 
 we not believe that man is free there, and yet sin¬ 
 less and happy? 
 
 The answer is, that only by the rightful use of a 
 freedom liable to abuse, could we build up such a 
 character that hereafter, when this character was 
 fully developed, we might be free, and yet sheltered 
 from the danger of sin. 
 
 The truth of this answer is not obvious. We 
 
 shall come nearer to seeing it, as we see more 
 • • 
 
 clearly the worth and the essentials of a true man¬ 
 hood. The great difficulty in believing that a God 
 of love, of wisdom, and of power, all infinite, should 
 have made us and the world which is our home so 
 
148 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 fall of that which we justly call evil, may be lessened 
 by remembering how little of His work we see, and 
 how very little of that little we understand. Many 
 thousand years ago, men roved upon this earth in 
 the lowest condition possible for human beings. 
 We have, through gradual advances, reached a posi¬ 
 tion which, as we look back from it upon the far- 
 retreating past, seems to us a commanding position; 
 which justifies us in making our reason the meas¬ 
 ure of all things, and in believing what we can¬ 
 not understand to be unintelligible or non-existent. 
 “ When man has looked about him as far as he can, 
 he concludes there is no more to be seen; when he 
 is at the end of his line, he is at the bottom of the 
 ocean; when he has shot his best, he is sure that no 
 one ever did or ever can shoot better or beyond 
 it; his own reason he holds to be the certain meas¬ 
 ure of truth, and his own knowledge, of what is 
 possible.” * 
 
 This is utter foolishness; but it is a universal 
 foolishness from which none escape entirely. Nor 
 can we escape it, except by a thankful reception 
 of such truths as are within our reach, and a pa¬ 
 tient and humble hope that what we now see dimly 
 we may grow into the ability of seeing clearly. 
 We see here and now but a small part of the be¬ 
 ginning of a work that is to have no end. Surely, 
 
 * Sir William Temple. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 149 
 
 we cannot be mistaken in holding as certain that 
 whatever evil exists, exists by God’s permission; 
 that it is permitted by Him only for the sake of 
 good; and that His omnipotence is constantly en¬ 
 gaged in evolving good out of all evil. But how? 
 This may indeed be a secret of the Infinite ; and the 
 wisest may grow for ever wiser as they discern more 
 and more of that wisdom, which they can never 
 contemplate or comprehend in its wholeness. Little 
 is the light now given us, because, as we now are, 
 more would be unfit for us and harmful; but that 
 little may guide us to the conclusion that He cannot 
 have created any of His children for a doom which 
 would be worse than non-existence, — for such a 
 doom could never be the gift of perfect love. 
 
 The presence in this world of so much that is not 
 good has always seemed, and now to many minds 
 seems, to justify a doubt as to the existence of God; 
 or, if He exists, then as to His goodness or wisdom 
 or power. True it is, that we cannot believe in 
 Him and in His infinite attributes, unless we believe 
 that in some way He is able to deduce good from all 
 evil. That we are unable to see clearly and always 
 how He does this, is no argument against this belief, 
 except with those who think that the finite can 
 fathom the counsels of the Infinite, and who forget 
 that we are but at the beginning of being, and that 
 our best wisdom is but as mere foolishness in the 
 
150 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 sight of perfect wisdom. One reason why we are 
 permitted to begin our being in a world like' this is 
 suggested by the fact that this is but the beginning. 
 It may well be that the highest good may, in the 
 end, or in an eternity which will not end, require 
 eternal progress, and that this progress should begin 
 from the bottom — from the last and lowest state in 
 which human beings may live. And- this thought 
 helps to explain the fact which science has abun¬ 
 dantly proved, that, prior to any civilization, men 
 lived on earth for myriads of years in a condition 
 removed only one step, and that not a long one, 
 
 from the condition of the beasts around them. 
 
 \ 
 
 Another view of this subject we may derive from 
 
 the consideration, that what is true of individuals 
 
 * 
 
 must be in some measure true of the whole which, 
 taken together, they compose. And who that has 
 made any progress in spiritual improvement can 
 doubt that the seeming calamities which have be- 
 fallen him, and have often disappointed his dearest 
 wishes, have been the means by which he has gone 
 forward, step by step? Even so, we may say, hum¬ 
 bly and reverently, it may have been with our sins. 
 We have been permitted to fall, that we might know, 
 as otherwise we could not and would not know, 
 what depths of iniquity were hidden in our hearts. 
 Happy is he who is able to discern and to resist the 
 first thoughts and emotions of evil, when they first 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 151 
 
 disclose themselves to the mind! But only One, 
 the Sinless, could do this always and perfectly. We 
 must strive for this; and, when we fail, we may still 
 hope that a penitence as profound as the sin calls 
 for, may wipe the sin away, and out of its own 
 sorrow beget such a hatred of that sin as shall 
 make us ever thereafter safe against- its influence. 
 Happy then are we, if that repentance shall convert 
 our love of sin into hatred of it; happy are we, if 
 we are so changed by yielding to influences from 
 above, that we shall hereafter be sure to hate that 
 which otherwise we might have always loved! 
 
 For a more general view of this question we must 
 again advert to our ownhood of ourselves. Because 
 it has been given us, and as the end for which it is 
 given us, we may build up our own character, — al¬ 
 ways under the leading of Providence, always with 
 the constant help, without which we cannot take a 
 single step; but with this leading and this constant 
 help, we may build up our character even from the be¬ 
 ginning. This Divine leading may take us through 
 paths which are painful, and seem to be devious. 
 But one of the great purposes for which the dark 
 mysteries of life are permitted to close in upon us, 
 may well be to strengthen our casting away of the 
 self we know to be so stained, and our acceptance of 
 the will of God; and to invigorate our faith in a 
 wisdom that cannot err, and our trust in a goodness 
 
152 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHT 
 
 that cannot fail. And when we remember what 
 Heaven is, and that the happiness of all who are 
 there consists in a clear perception of Him and of 
 His working, and in perfect love for and perfect 
 trust in Him who gives them all their happiness, 
 and in entire surrender of self to Him, — what price 
 can we think too large to pay for whatever shall 
 advance us on the way to this consummation! 
 
V- - 
 
 OF THE NEW CHURCH. 153 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 The basis of the philosophy which we are taught 
 by Swedenborg, is, that all things exist from God, 
 and that He creates them by an effluence from 
 Himself. The whole universe is not at an equal 
 distance from God, but some things are nearer to 
 and other things farther from Him. Thus, spirit 
 is nearer to Him than matter; and, in the world of 
 spirit and in the world of matter, there are different 
 degrees of nearness to Him or of distance. This 
 nearness or distance is not of place, but of state or 
 condition, and is strictly a difference of degree; and 
 of these degrees some are continuous degrees, or de¬ 
 grees of breadth on the same plane, and some are 
 discrete degrees, or degrees of height. 
 
 One of the laws in conformity to which God 
 creates is, that He creates through, or by means of, 
 these discrete degrees, — higher things being instru¬ 
 ments by means of which He creates lower things; 
 each several higher thing being an instrument by 
 means of which each several lower thins: is ere- 
 
 
154 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 ated. Thus, all spirit is higher than matter; and 
 it is through spirit that matter is made to assume 
 form. Take for example the body: if life leaves the 
 impregnated ovum in the mother, it dies, and there 
 is the end of it. If it lives, the life that is in it is a 
 spiritual life; and it gathers, first from the mother, 
 and afterwards from suitable objects brought within 
 its reach, the materials out of which it forms the 
 body. We know that the body grows from the first 
 living germ to the full maturity of the adult man. 
 So does the spirit grow from the first germ of spir¬ 
 itual life to its adult condition. And as the spirit 
 grows, the material body, which is to be its clothing 
 for a while, is formed by or through the spirit. For 
 it is always the spirit which is formative or causa¬ 
 tive, and the material which is formed or is the 
 effect. 
 
 What is thus true of the spirit and the body is 
 true of the whole spiritual world, — which world in¬ 
 cludes our own spirit and all that belongs to it, — 
 and of the whole material world. It is through that 
 spiritual world as a whole, that the material world 
 as a whole is created. This is true not only in the 
 past but in the present, and continually; not only 
 generally, but specifically: all substances and forces, 
 and all the forms of substance, and all the activities 
 of force, having their causes in the spiritual world.. 
 Each one of all these things is first spiritual, and 
 
 ( 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 155 
 
 then, by the creative energy passing down through 
 it, becomes material. And this is true also of 
 all the changes in all things, whether substance 
 or force. These changes are continual, for it may 
 now be considered as ascertained that all things 
 are in perpetual motion or action, external and 
 internal; and all this motion or action is first spir¬ 
 itual, and then material. 
 
 Let us return again to the example first selected, 
 of the soul and the body. As the soul forms the 
 body, or through the soul the body is formed, so the 
 soul forms the body to be its representative and in¬ 
 strument. It can be its instrument, because it is its 
 representative; that is, because it is so exactly 
 adapted to it that the soul animates every part, and 
 finds in the bodv clothing for all of itself; and is able 
 to make use of every part of the body to do the act 
 or perform the function which each portion of the 
 soul asks of that part of the body which clothes it. 
 In one word, the material body corresponds to the 
 soul. 
 
 We know very well what resemblance is; and 
 almost — not perhaps quite as well — what analogy 
 is. But correspondence is neither resemblance nor 
 analogy. It bears a certain likeness to them, and 
 yet is different from them. In certain instances 
 of correspondence, there is between the things 
 that correspond much resemblance; in others much 
 
156 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 analogy, and in yet others neither resemblance nor 
 analogy. Correspondence is a different relation be¬ 
 tween things; and it is difficult to present this new 
 idea intelligibly. The word is old: but it is now 
 used in a new sense to express a relation, not hith¬ 
 erto known, between spiritual things and natural 
 things. Perhaps this new meaning of the word can 
 only be learned gradually, as we understand in spe¬ 
 cial instances the relation which it seeks to express. 
 It might suffice as a provisional definition of corre¬ 
 spondence, to say that it is the relation between a 
 higher and causative thing, and the lower thing 
 which is caused by or through the higher, and which 
 represents the higher. 
 
 Perhaps this relation of correspondence may be 
 illustrated by the relation between the human coun¬ 
 tenance and the affections and thoughts. Whatever 
 they are, that becomes. Between what is felt and 
 thought, and the expression of the face, there is no 
 resemblance or analogy ; but there is correspondence. 
 Let a man feel some strong affection, or have a new 
 and interesting thought, and a change takes place at 
 once in the muscles of the face and in the brightness 
 or sadness of the eye, which is perfectly inexplicable 
 on mechanical grounds, but is the effect of internals 
 operating upon externals . It is a correspondence; 
 and this correspondence is perfect, if hypocrisy does 
 not interfere, and if habitual repression and conceal- 
 
OF THE NEW CHUECH. 
 
 157 
 
 ment have not impaired the response of the face to 
 the mind and heart. 
 
 It has been said that the material world, as a 
 whole, corresponds with the spiritual world. But 
 there is also in each of these worlds a correspond¬ 
 ence. For all the persons in the spiritual world 
 think and feel, and all their thoughts and affections, 
 taken together, constitute their internal spiritual 
 world; but they have an outside world to live in 
 just as men have here, and all the things thereof, 
 taken together, constitute their external spiritual 
 world. Their external spiritual world is formed 
 through or by their internal spiritual world, not gen¬ 
 erally, but specifically; that is, all the several things, 
 whether substances or forces of their external world, 
 are formed through or by the several things — each 
 by each — of their thoughts or affections. 
 
 So it is also, but with a difference, in this material 
 world. Men, while they live here, have a material 
 world, and a home and all things of it, including all 
 animals below men, for their instruments. They 
 have also thoughts and affections, which are of their 
 spirits; and the things which are material are formed 
 through and by the things of their spirits. 
 
 All things below, which are created by or through 
 things above, correspond to them. Hence, the gen¬ 
 eral correspondence between this lower world and 
 the spiritual world, and also the correspondence be- 
 
158 
 
 OUTLINES OF TIIE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 tween thoughts and affections, and external things, 
 which is true of that world and of this world; spe¬ 
 cifically true of that world, where the attraction 
 of affinity classifies all perfectly, bringing together 
 those of like kind, and permitting the external 
 world about them to represent, specifically, their in¬ 
 ternal world or their thoughts and affections. Here 
 men of all kinds are mingled for the uses of this 
 world, and the external world corresponds only gen¬ 
 erally to the world of human thought and affection; 
 being, as it were, its common resultant. 
 
 It is indeed by means of this correspondence that 
 creation is effected. The creative energy, flowing 
 into one degree of existence, flows through it and 
 creates the degree below by this law of correspond¬ 
 ence ; which may be regarded as not only a law and 
 a fact, but also as a force, animated, like all forces, b y 
 the only primal and original force. This relation 
 exists from the summit to the bottom, everywhere, 
 through the whole range of existence. It is by 
 means of it that all created tilings are connected 
 together into one whole, and that this whole crea¬ 
 tion is connected with its Creator. Every thing 
 which is caused corresponds to the higher causative 
 thins: through which it is caused; and this caused 
 thing may become in its turn a causative thing or 
 instrument through which a lower thing is caused, 
 which again corresponds to its cause. And, finally, 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 159 
 
 # 
 
 the whole creation corresponds to, expresses, and 
 represents its Creator. Thus, correspondence is uni¬ 
 versal and all-pervading. 
 
 I have used the words cause, causative, and causa¬ 
 tion in a somewhat unusual sense. There are two 
 kinds or modes of causation; a higher and a lower. 
 One of these operates only between different planes 
 or discrete degrees of being, as between spirit and 
 matter; this is the higher. The other operates be¬ 
 tween things on the same plane of being; this is the 
 lower. When we strike a billiard ball with another 
 and cause it to move, when we apply flame to gun¬ 
 powder and cause it to explode, when a sculptor 
 brings out a statue from a block of marble, — these 
 are instances of causation of the lower kind. But 
 this is the only kind which is recognized among men. 
 If ever they think of a spiritual cause producing a 
 new creation, they think of it only as they would 
 think of making some new form by the proper 
 use of suitable instruments and substances. The 
 idea of causation in its higher sense has not existed 
 among men, and therefore no word has been required 
 or used to express it. “ Cause ” is the only word I 
 have, and I must use it in both senses. But I shall 
 not be understood when I use it, if it is not remem¬ 
 bered that I am speaking of causation as that is 
 operative between different planes of being; of 
 causation by correspondence. Of course I cannot 
 
160 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 be understood by those who are unable to believe 
 that there are different planes of being. 
 
 Some of these correspondences have always been 
 seen, and they show themselves in all languages. A 
 man is said to be warm or cold in his feelings or 
 affections: burning with passion, or frozen in indif¬ 
 ference. His thoughts are said to be luminous and 
 bright, or dark and cloudy. Language is indeed 
 founded upon correspondence; for leading philolo¬ 
 gists agree, that words which have a moral meaning 
 are generally formed from those which have pri¬ 
 marily a physical meaning; and some of our words 
 still retain both meanings, as rule, right, and the 
 like. Poetry discovers a multitude of correspond¬ 
 ences ; some nearer, some more remote. Indeed, 
 the very highest poetry has always done its best and 
 greatest work in making the splendor, the sublimity, 
 and the beauty of the external world significant, and 
 giving them a voice. Upon the walls of the world 
 that is our home are hung pictures of the life with¬ 
 in ; they are veiled to our eyes, and poetry takes the 
 veil away. When these things are thought about, 
 and there is an attempt to analyze and account for 
 them, they are said to be the products of imagina¬ 
 tion. This is true, but it is not true in the sense in 
 which it is commonly said; for in their utter igno¬ 
 rance of the true function of the imagination, men 
 mean by this phrase only that these things have no 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 161 
 
 real existence, no actual truth. There can be no 
 greater error. It is as much the function of imagi¬ 
 nation to supply reason with inexhaustible materials 
 for its proper work, as it is for reason to instruct and 
 guide imagination, that it may not wander into the 
 paths of fantasy. 
 
 Already is it seen by some of the most eminent 
 thinkers of the day, that imagination has always 
 worked with reason in the progress of the pro- 
 foundest sciences. Astronomy, and all the branches 
 of physics, owe to its assistance their greatest ad¬ 
 vances ; and distinguished mathematicians have said 
 that even mathematics, the stern rebuker of fantasy, 
 would never have reached its present fruitfulness 
 and power had it not profited by the aid of imagina¬ 
 tion. 
 
 It is difficult to speak of what must be the effects 
 of this doctrine, now that there is no knowledge and 
 no recognition of it even among advanced scientists. 
 And it cannot but seem fanciful, and offensively so, 
 to those who habitually confine their thoughts to ma¬ 
 terial things ; or, if they investigate mind, so utterly 
 invert the truth as to regard mind as the product of 
 matter; or, if they avoid this falsity, regard mind as 
 not only perfectly distinct from matter, but as hav¬ 
 ing no definite relation to it. While mind and mat¬ 
 ter are thus regarded as perfectly separated from 
 
 each other, without relation or connection, neither 
 
 11 
 
162 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 can be understood. Nor is there any relation or 
 connection discoverable between them, except that 
 of correspondence. When this is distinctly seen, 
 the whole material world will have its significance 
 and its voice. The realms of Nature will speak 
 to man, for whom they are created, and their utter¬ 
 ance will reveal truths concerning things above 
 them. The sciences of mind and matter, no longer 
 independent, and still less hostile, will work to¬ 
 gether while each does its own work. Many a mys¬ 
 tery in the world of mind will be solved by light 
 rising up to it from new discoveries in the fields of 
 matter. Many a mystery in the world of matter 
 will be illuminated by light falling down upon it 
 from the world of mind. 
 
 It will be seen that all there is in the spirit of man 
 refers itself to what is either of the will, or of the 
 understanding, — to feelings and affections, or to 
 thoughts; to the activities of affection or to those of 
 thought. So it will be seen that all there is in the 
 world of matter refers itself in its correspondence 
 and significance to one or the other of these two 
 great departments, — will and intellect, — which to¬ 
 gether constitute spiritual life. Innumerable and 
 indefinitely diversified are the particulars which 
 compose the worlds of mind and of matter. And 
 the correspondence between the worlds is not gen¬ 
 eral only, but specific; running through all these 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 163 
 
 particulars and connecting them together. It is 
 not more true that every thing which exists was 
 caused, or had a cause, than it is that every thing 
 which is caused corresponds to its cause. Hence 
 it is that this world is so perfectly adjusted to 
 our needs. We live here only to prepare for 
 another life; and it is the perfect correspondence 
 between those two worlds which makes the lower 
 world perfectly adapted to be a world of prepara¬ 
 tion for the higher. The things of Nature will 
 be made to give their moral lesson, and will be 
 seen to have their spiritual import. A little of this 
 is sometimes attempted, and successfully, even now, 
 and especially by the highest poetry; but this is 
 very little, very near to nothingness, in comparison 
 with what may be, and therefore will be known in 
 coming ages, when the human mind is opened to 
 the light. 
 
 But a few correspondences have been referred to. 
 It would be easy to go on indefinitely, and apply 
 the same principles to other things. Indeed, it 
 is difficult to refrain from the attempt to do so. 
 But to those who refuse to rise above sensuous 
 thought, and whose whole habit and condition of 
 mind tend to resist the idea that the universe, 
 including mind and matter, is an organic one, all 
 its infinitely varied parts being linked together in 
 indissoluble unity, what I have already said must 
 
164 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 
 needs seem to be an idle tale, a dream of unbri¬ 
 dled fantasy; and nothing could be added that 
 would change its aspect. To those who have 
 learned or are willing to learn this central truth, it 
 is possible that it might receive some illustration 
 from farther instances of this correspondence. It 
 seems, however, that the few which the scope of 
 this work permits me to attempt can be given to 
 better purpose, if at all, when I treat of the word 
 of God. For then I shall endeavor to show that 
 the sanctity and power and instructiveness of the 
 word rest, in great measure, upon correspondence. 
 By its means, inspiration from on high was able to 
 bring that word which, in the heavens, is the inex¬ 
 haustible source of the wisdom of the wisest there, 
 down even to the dwellers upon earth, with all its 
 transcendent truth; but covered with a veil which 
 the science of correspondence makes, or hereafter 
 will make, transparent. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 165 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE HUMAN FORM. 
 
 Form is not the same thing as shape. Every thing 
 has a form, and only some things have shape. The 
 correlative to form is essence. Whatever exists has 
 both. Sensuous philosophers — Locke for example 
 — deny and, as they think, disprove essence ; and to 
 sensuous thought there is neither form nor essence. 
 But every thing which exists has that which makes 
 it to be just what it is : and that is its essence. In 
 despite of philosophy, common sense expressing 
 itself in common language asserts an essence; for it 
 says of this or that quality or attribute, that it is 
 essential to this or that thing: and all that is essen¬ 
 tial to its being is of its essence. If its essence 
 determines what a thing is, it is almost a definition 
 of form to say it is that which determines how o 
 thing is. Bacon, in his seventeenth aphorism, says/ 
 “Eadem res est forma calidi vel forma luminis, et 
 lex calidi aut lex luminis;” — “The same thing is 
 the form of heat or the form of light, and the law 
 of heat or the law of light.” As the essence of 
 
166 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 every tiling determines what it is, and the form of 
 it determines how it is, or what it shall do or act 
 or cause, — so the form of any thing is its law. 
 
 Swedenborg uses in relation to this matter two 
 Latin words which it has been found impossible to 
 translate adequately; and, for the most part, they 
 are left untranslated in our English translations of 
 his works: these words are “esse” (literally, to be) 
 and “ existere ” (literally, to exist). Existere is de¬ 
 rived from two other Latin words, and means “ to 
 stand forth; ” and it may help us to approach the 
 meaning of this distinction, if we understand that 
 the esse of any thing is that which it is in itself, 
 while its existere is that which it is as it “ stands 
 forth,” and makes itself manifest and active in its 
 functions. This use of these two Latin words is not 
 peculiar to Swedenborg. Spinoza makes frequent 
 use of them in just the same sense; and I think 
 I have met it in other writers who use scholastic 
 Latin, but I am not sure that I remember accurately. 
 In this work, I use u essence ” and “ form ” as very 
 nearly, though not quite, the equivalents of esse and 
 existere . 
 
 * w 
 
 In this sense, it is obvious that every thing must 
 have an essence and a form; for, if it had no essence, 
 it would not have that which makes it to be what it 
 is, or to be at all, and could not have any form. 
 And, if it had an essence and not a form, it would 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 167 
 
 have no existence; for it would not have that by 
 which it could exist and act, or stand forth in mani¬ 
 fested and active being. But it is not so with 
 shape; for this some things have, and other things 
 have not. The air we breathe, the ethers from 
 which come light, electricity, and magnetism, have 
 no shape, but they have form. Our affections and 
 thoughts, which are most real things, are without 
 shape, but they have form. Shape is only an exter¬ 
 nal of form, which is moulded by the form, and ex¬ 
 presses the form to the senses of sight and touch. 
 Where shape exists, the form is clothed by it, and in 
 it puts on dimensions, and is cognizable by the senses 
 and by sensuous thought. The shape does in some 
 sort reveal and manifest the form, as the form mani¬ 
 fests the essence. The form is not apprehensible by 
 sensuous thought, but only by rational thought. 
 And, in these days, rational thought for the most 
 part submits itself to sensuous thought, and con¬ 
 sents to call those of its intuitions or conclusions 
 which sensuous thought cannot accept, unrealities. 
 
 Sometimes the body is called the form of the 
 soul, and this phrase may indicate a truth. But the 
 soul has its essence and its form, as the body has its 
 essence and its form. The man, the human being, 
 has his essence and his form. He is first spiritual, 
 and then material. He is first that which makes 
 him to be a man, and then this human essence ulti- 
 
168 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 mates itself in a human body, which clothes the 
 human essence, and responds to its true form, and 
 to some extent reveals it. In the other world, this 
 body is formed of spiritual substance; it is so here 
 also, for the man has a body formed of spiritual sub¬ 
 stance, — a spiritual body; and, while he lives here, 
 he has also a body formed of material substance, 
 deriving its life from the spiritual body which, for a 
 time, it clothes. In both worlds, the body is an 
 adequate instrument of the soul, and presents it 
 forth to view. Remembering, then, that the body 
 is itself only the shape, and not the form, of the 
 man, but that it is adjusted to the form and reveals 
 this form, — let us now see what lessons we may 
 draw from the human form, as thus expressed and 
 revealed. 
 
 In the first place, let us notice the probable per¬ 
 fection of this form; by which I mean that there 
 can be no better form. If we believe what the 
 Bible says, — that man was made in the image and 
 likeness of God, — we shall look upon the human 
 form as the express image of the Divine form, which 
 must needs be perfection itself. Neither art nor 
 science can improve upon the human form. All that 
 can be done to represent the beautiful is to represent 
 it as perfectly as possible; and physiology is full 
 of acknowledgment of the wonderful adaptation of 
 the whole and all its parts to the performance of 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 169 
 
 their functions: and, as the knowledge of anatomy 
 advances, this is seen more clearly. It may well be 
 called the type of form; because all organisms, vege¬ 
 table or animal, aspire towards the human form. In 
 the least and lowest of them there is something 
 which, to say the least, reminds one of some portion 
 or some function of the human form. Science is 
 now busy and successful in seeking through the 
 whole organic world for organs, members, or limbs 
 which appear to represent organs, members, or limbs 
 of the human body; and to be indeed the same, ex¬ 
 cepting so far as they are changed by other needs 
 and other circumstances. 
 
 In the next place, let us notice the indefinite 
 diversity among the innumerable parts which com¬ 
 pose this whole. No twm are altogether alike. 
 While this would be readily admitted as to all 
 the organs or limbs, it may be thought that the 
 minute cells and fibrils are alike in substance, shape, 
 and function. But every cell and every fibril fills 
 its own place, and performs precisely the function 
 which that place requires. However similar, it is as 
 certain that no two can perform precisely the same 
 function in the same way, as it is that they cannot 
 occupy the same place. 
 
 Then let us notice the law which prevails through 
 all this immeasurable diversity of shape and place 
 and function: it is that each part works for others, 
 
170 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 and not for itself. All the parts which compose 
 this wonderful whole are connected together by a 
 perfect symmetry, and the meaning and the effect 
 of this symmetry is, that each one is so formed and 
 so placed that it does its own especial work; and 
 the work of each one is so adjusted to every other, 
 that the whole work of the human body is the 
 common resultant of the work of each part. While 
 each one works for all, all work for each. Nor is 
 it strictly true that no part works for itself. Each 
 part does work for itself just so far as to profit by 
 the work of others for it, to the extent of securing to 
 itself the nourishment and strength necessary for its 
 health, and for its healthy performance of the work 
 it has to do in the organic whole. When this is 
 perfectly true of all parts of the body, there is per¬ 
 fect health. Disease comes when any organ fails in 
 its duty, and especially whenever any organ works 
 for itself primarily, and takes more than it needs of 
 vitality or substance. Then other organs suffer for 
 want of that which the offending organ unduly 
 appropriates, and the offending organ suffers for its 
 selfishness by engorgement or inflammation. The 
 symmetry of action is impaired or destroyed, — and 
 that symmetry is health, and the want of it disease. 
 
 If we believe that the human form is an image of 
 the Divine form, and therefore the most perfect of 
 forms, we may well believe that the creative energy 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 171 
 
 is always in effort to bring all things into or towards 
 this form, but leaving all things as far away from it 
 as their several functions may require. An impor¬ 
 tant application of this principle is to human society. 
 But we can understand that better, if we look at it 
 in its perfection in heaven. That I will endeavor 
 to do in my chapter on heaven. Here I will only 
 say that the whole heaven stands before the Lord 
 in a human form — not shape, but form; that it is 
 composed of larger societies, and these of lesser, 
 and these again of still less; that every society is 
 in a true form, — that is, in the human form; that 
 these societies differ from each other, as men differ 
 from each other while all are men; and that the 
 various members of a complete society correspond in 
 character, function, and use, to the different organs 
 of that human body which clothes and expresses the 
 human form. This is carried to the minutest detail, 
 and determines the order of heaven, and makes that 
 orderly. And, as heaven grows in its completeness, 
 its harmony becomes fuller and richer; and the 
 whole heaven, and all the several societies—larger 
 and smaller — approach more nearly to perfection. 
 
 There are frequent expressions which show that 
 the idea of the human form as the type of all form 
 has found its way to human consciousness. Thus, 
 we speak of this man as the head of a society, and 
 of others as its members; we say this one supplies 
 
172 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 it with brains, and that those are the strong hands 
 that do its work. This reference goes down to the 
 most familiar things; and thus we speak of the 
 arms, legs, feet, face, back, and the like, of things 
 in common use. The answer which would now. 
 be made to all this is, These are but casual analo¬ 
 gies which the, imaginative faculty, always on the 
 lookout for materials, has laid hold of and embodied 
 in common language. 
 
 This may be partially true, but it is very far from 
 the whole truth. When social organization shall 
 have advanced far beyond its present condition, and 
 rational imagination shall have grown more acute 
 and wiser, it will see in society many more of what 
 it now calls analogies. Ages, perhaps ages of ages, 
 must elapse before humap society can advance so far 
 as to recognize its own best principles of organ¬ 
 ization. Earth will always be earth, hot heaven, 
 and disorder will mingle w T ith its order; because it 
 w r ill always be the state and condition in which we 
 may prepare for heaven by conflict and by effort, 
 and by choosing between the elements and in¬ 
 fluences of good or of evil. But even now we 
 may learn the lessons this truth yields, and hereafter 
 they may grow larger, and be more clearly seen, 
 and come to us with greater power. 
 
 The first and greatest of these lessons is one 
 which the whole universe and the whole course of 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 173 
 
 Divine Providence are constantly giving to all who 
 are willing to receive it. This is that usefulness — 
 working for others, and doing good to others — is the 
 one law of health and happiness; while selfishness, 
 in affection and in life, is the one centre from which 
 radiate all disorder and all suffering. The Divine 
 mercy surrounds almost every man with circumstances 
 which compel him to be useful. The greediest self- 
 seeker, who cares only for himself in all he does, is 
 often in his most selfish exertions eminently useful. 
 This has no direct effect upon his character. That 
 he is useful to others does not render him less selfish. 
 But it is a good thing to have the habit of useful¬ 
 ness. If the efforts of Providence to lead him from 
 the love of self to the love of others are ever in any 
 degree successful, he will not be under the additional 
 necessity of learning to be useful. In point of fact, 
 the highest charity for most men, or the best form 
 of usefulness for them, lies in the complete discharge 
 of their daily duties; for the mercy of God always 
 so adjusts these to their spiritual needs, that the 
 best way in any hour for men to advance spiritually 
 is simply to do the duty of that hour. 
 
 The difference between the good man and the bad 
 man lies in the difference in the motives which govern 
 their acts, more than it does in the acts themselves. 
 Of course, some acts are good and others bad; and 
 there are persons who habitually practise those acts 
 
174 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 which all call had, and others whose actions seem to 
 be always good. But these are exceptions. The ma¬ 
 jority of mankind lead lives of not so much difference 
 in appearance, while there is actually between them 
 all the difference between good and evil, — between 
 heaven and hell. He through whose discharge of 
 duty there runs the desire and purpose of doing his 
 duty and being useful to others, is good; and this 
 goodness may be infinitely diversified in kind and 
 in measure among men who are good. While he 
 whose constant and dominant purpose is to serve 
 himself and his own selfish desires, and who, when 
 he is useful to others, is so only for the sake of him¬ 
 self, is not good, however he may be regarded by his 
 fellowmen, who can judge only from appearances. 
 
 Charity, or love for others, and selfishness, are 
 the two great opposites, between which all human 
 life is included. If we would understand why 
 this is so, we must go back to the original and 
 fundamental truth that God creates man by efflu¬ 
 ence from Himself, and makes him, as far as may 
 be, like unto Himself. His very essence is love 
 for others. It is love which causes Him continu¬ 
 ally to create and to sustain the universe, spiritual 
 and material; which causes Him to be infinitely 
 useful, and to find His infinite happiness in His 
 infinite usefulness. And it is the same love which 
 leads Him to do all that His infinite power can 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 175 
 
 do, to excite in his children a love of doing good, 
 
 — a love of usefulness, that by this He may make 
 them happy. The opposite of this love is selfish¬ 
 ness. Between these opposites every man must 
 choose , that his love of others, if he chooses that, 
 may be his own. Between these opposites every 
 man does choose; and this choice determines his 
 destiny, because it determines his character. 
 
 God is One; but He is not “ without form and 
 void.” He is One and Infinite; but He is an In¬ 
 finite composed of infinites. One way in which He 
 reveals Himself to us is in our own human form ; 
 and the parts and members of His Divine form, 
 each perfectly distinct, but perfectly responsive to 
 every other, and each in perfect sympathy with all, 
 
 — all these members and activities, combining to¬ 
 gether into a perfect unity, compose or constitute 
 God: and the correspondent to the whole and to 
 each part is the human form. Every human being 
 is taught and trained in this life, so far as he will 
 permit, to take his proper place and do his proper 
 work in that form. For it is the form of heaven, 
 and heaven grows eternally by accessions from the 
 earth; and the members added to it, as they rise 
 from this world to the other, are not mere additions 
 to a chaotic mass, only enlarging its size or the num¬ 
 ber of its components, — but each takes his own ap¬ 
 propriate place, precisely as every part of added 
 
176 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 food, assimilated to a healthy human body and 
 incorporated therein, takes its appropriate place. 
 There every one is known, and his whole character 
 and function are defined and manifested by his place 
 in the human form of heaven. This angel is in the 
 head, that one in the heart, and that one in the 
 lungs; this one in the hand, and that one in the foot; 
 this one in the eye, and that one in the ear, — and 
 so of every part, and of every minutest part of a 
 part. Symmetry, sympathy, and health belong to 
 the whole; and the health and happiness of the 
 whole belong to each. 
 
 Pride and humiliation are equally impossible 
 where order is perfect, and it perfectly discrimi¬ 
 nates between all who are there. The highest can¬ 
 not forget, and have no desire to forget, their entire 
 dependence upon all the rest. The lowest feel and 
 know that they are essential to the rest, and that 
 this is seen and acknowledged by them. For each 
 one knows that he fills a place which would not be 
 filled or not so well filled, and does a work which 
 would not be done or not so well done, if he were 
 not there. All know this of all; and all help each 
 to do his work, and the work of each is for all. 
 
 This is the perfection of human society. In its 
 perfection it will never be found, except in the 
 heavens. For, as already intimated, always will 
 the earths be training schools, in which influences 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 177 
 
 from above and from beneath, with the order and 
 the disorder they bring with them, will mingle; that, 
 through them all, man, in his ownhood of his life 
 and in his freedom, may cooperate with God Him- 
 solf in preparing to take the place which he is fit 
 for among the happy. But, while this perfection of 
 human society will never be reached upon the earth, 
 it may always be approached. And it will be ap¬ 
 proached in the degree in which mutual love and 
 the love of usefulness prevail over selfishness in all 
 its forms, and give force and vitality to the acknowl¬ 
 edgment of the universal brotherhood of man, — 
 the child of our Father in the heavens. 
 
 Already has the study of the human form, and a 
 comparison of it with other forms, suggested at least 
 a thought of its central position among them all. 
 Far more than this is to come; for truth is eternal, 
 and has eternity for its development. Hereafter the 
 study of the human form will be found to be central 
 among human studies, as the form itself is central 
 among forms. Unbounded treasures will repay this 
 study; and in some future day, it will be found that 
 an increase of knowledge of the human body (be¬ 
 cause the body is the effect, the instrument, and 
 the expression of the human form) will enlarge 
 the knowledge of the soul, and of the laws of all 
 true life. 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 All men live after this life is ended; and in the 
 next life live as they will to live, far more than they 
 can in this life. It has already been repeatedly said 
 that we live here to prepare for life there; and be¬ 
 cause this preparation can be made only by conflict 
 and self-compulsion, and we are often led to this or 
 aided in it by external compulsion, our life here is 
 more or less a life of coercion, and all our surround¬ 
 ings are controlled for us, and are made to be what 
 we need, which is only in small part what we desire. 
 After death, the preparation we have made is devel¬ 
 oped in the world of spirits, our ruling love freed by 
 the suppression of opposing and inconsistent tenden¬ 
 cies, and our whole character brought into such har¬ 
 mony as is possible. 
 
 One effect of this is that intellectual and affec- 
 tional affinity have full play. Here all live together, 
 — the good and the evil mingled, — with but little 
 of separation possible ; because, by this mingling, we 
 can best help each other in this life of preparation. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 179 
 
 Not so is it there. For there the law of affinity 
 brings the good together, and separates them from 
 those who are not good. Where the good are is 
 Heaven. But the attraction of affinity does far more 
 than separate the good from the evil: it arranges 
 them into societies, so that those who are of like 
 kind live together. These societies in Heaven are 
 innumerable : greater and greatest, — the larger com¬ 
 posed of lesser, and the lesser of least; and each 
 society has its own peculiarities and its own work, 
 differing from every other in its character, function, 
 and use, as every individual in every society differs 
 from every other. 
 
 The law which pervades the whole is the law of 
 the human form, — form, I repeat, not shape. This 
 form I have treated of in the preceding chapter. 
 I will repeat that it is man’s form because it is 
 God’s form; and it comes to man with the life of 
 God, which is given him to be his own, and which 
 makes man to be man because God is Man. This 
 Divine form is perfect; and Heaven is for ever grow¬ 
 ing into the likeness and image of this form. Hence 
 there is an ever-growing order and harmony among 
 all the parts of Heaven ; that is, among all the soci¬ 
 eties of Heaven, and all the individuals who compose 
 those societies. There is also order, and this an 
 ever-growing order, in the arrangement of Heaven. 
 The societies are lesser and greater, and all are 
 
180 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 arranged into three,— which are three heavens, and 
 which, taken together, constitute Heaven. 
 
 THE THREE HEAVENS. 
 
 In our chapter on Degrees, and that on the Human 
 Form, we have indicated the two principles which 
 may help us to understand the arrangement of 
 Heaven into three heavens. A distinction into three 
 discrete degrees is universal, existing in God Him¬ 
 self, and from Him pervading all things. In Him it 
 is love, wisdom, and power, or action. It divides 
 Heaven into three heavens. In the highest of these, 
 which Swedenborg calls the Heavenly heaven, love 
 to the Lord is the ruling and all-pervading principle. 
 In the middle heaven, called by Swedenborg the 
 Spiritual heaven, wisdom, truth, a living faith which 
 recognizes charity or love of the neighbor as the law * 
 of life, prevails. The lower heaven, called the nat¬ 
 ural heaven, is characterized by obedience. If we 
 look at these heavens in the light of their corre¬ 
 spondence with the human form, we may say that 
 the highest heaven corresjionds with the head, the 
 middle heaven wdth the chest and trunk, the lowest 
 heaven with the limbs. Nor is this correspondence 
 general only. As each of these three great divisions 
 of the human form is composed of larger parts, and 
 these of lesser, and these again of still lesser, until 
 the series closes in innumerable individual cells or 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 181 
 
 molecules, so in each heaven are larger and smaller 
 and still smaller societies. In the human form, not 
 only are the larger members and the components of 
 these specifically different, but it is as impossible for 
 any two of the smallest cells or minute parts of the 
 body to exercise precisely the same function, or stand 
 in precisely the same relation to the rest, as it would 
 be for them to occupy the same place at the same 
 time. Nor is there any thing accidental or arbitrary 
 in all this infinite variety. Every member of the 
 body, great or small, and every minutest portion of 
 every member, has precisely that special work to do 
 which best enables it to promote the health, strength, 
 and usefulness of the whole body, drawing from this 
 general health its own well-being. All are in har- 
 mon} r , — each one being that and doing that which 
 all the rest require. 
 
 Precisely so is it in Heaven. There, too, this 
 exact distinction between all the members and com¬ 
 ponent parts, this perfect harmony between them, 
 this cooperation of all in the universal good, is the 
 constant law of life. This is effected in a healthy 
 and vigorous human body, because it exists in 
 Heaven; and because Heaven is in a human form, 
 and the human body in its true form corresponds 
 with Heaven. Nor is this correspondence general 
 only, for it is precise and specific. Whatever be 
 the use or function of any part of the human body, 
 
182 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 larger or less, some part of Heaven performs a cor¬ 
 responding use or function, and finds therein its 
 health and happiness. Not the whole human body 
 only, but every member in its whole structure down 
 to its minutest component parts, and the action of 
 all and each, has its antitype and cause in heaven. 
 So through the whole universe the life of God goes 
 forth, creating all, sustaining all, pervading all; and 
 impressing upon all, as far as that is possible, the 
 order which exists in absolute and infinite perfection 
 in Himself. > 
 
 THE TWO KINGDOMS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 We may notice still another point in the corre¬ 
 spondence between Heaven and man, or another fact 
 resulting from the human form of Heaven. Every 
 member of the human race has will and understand¬ 
 ing ; and these are distinct and yet united. In 
 every man one or the other prevails, for they are 
 never precisely equal. In this man, the will con¬ 
 trols, and his affectionate and loving nature are 
 always prominent. That man seems to be a man 
 of intellect only; he may be as brilliant as ice, but 
 he is as cold. All his affections seem to ask leave 
 
 i 
 
 of his understanding to be, and to exhibit them¬ 
 selves. These extremes are perhaps rarely met 
 with. But they only carry to excess a difference 
 which is universal. Men with a perfect balance 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 183 
 
 between these two elements of our being are not 
 met with. Some come very near it, but all stand on 
 the one side or the other, at a greater or less dis¬ 
 tance from the middle point; and are either some¬ 
 what more intellectual than affectional, or the re¬ 
 verse. So it is with the heavens : with each heaven, 
 and every society in heaven, and every individual 
 there. The highest heaven, in its relation to all 
 below it, is a heaven of love; but it has its affec¬ 
 tional and its intellectual side. The spiritual or 
 middle heaven is a heaven where wisdom rules, and 
 the love of the neighbor, founded on the truths 
 which wisdom teaches, is the law of life; but this 
 heaven also has its affectional and its intellectual 
 side. The natural or lowest heaven, which is the 
 heaven of obedience, consists of those who obey 
 from affection, and those who obey from a sincere 
 and intelligent recognition of the truth. This dis¬ 
 tinction, which runs through the heavens, is ex¬ 
 pressed by Swedenborg in the statement that all 
 Heaven is divided into two kingdoms. 
 
 As the distinction into three heavens is repre¬ 
 sented in the human body, so is the distinction 
 
 i 
 
 into two kingdoms. AYe have a heart, representing 
 in its action and influence the affectional side; and 
 lungs, representing the intellectual side. The brain 
 is divided into two hemispheres, — one on the right 
 side, and the other on the left. The limbs, the ears, 
 
184 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 the eyes, are on the one side and on the other. 
 The liver has its two lobes; the kidneys are two¬ 
 fold ; and single organs generally have, like the 
 brain, two halves, although these are not always so 
 apparently distinct from each other as in the case of 
 the brain. The distinction corresponding to that of 
 the three heavens is, if we may so express it, hori¬ 
 zontal; while that representing the two kingdoms 
 may be said to be vertical. 
 
 Every one who dies, and in the world of spirits 
 has passed through such discipline and development 
 that his ruling love dominates and forms his char¬ 
 acter without resistance or impediment, if he be 
 good, takes his place in Heaven. This place is 
 determined by his character. That places him not 
 only in the heaven to which he belongs, but in that 
 society, and in the place in that society, for which 
 he has become fitted. He is in the closest affinity 
 with all who are there, and they with him; and 
 there he finds his eternal home. 
 
 THE EMPLOYMENTS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 God is infinitely active. His infinite action cre¬ 
 ates, sustains, and governs the universe of spirit and 
 of matter. His life flows into angels and becomes 
 their life; and His activity is in the life which is 
 derived from Him. It follows necessarily that every 
 angel is active and useful. In the language of Swe- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 185 
 
 denborg, heaven is a kingdom of uses. Every one 
 there gratifies the tendency and the demand of his 
 own life in performing the use which he can best 
 perform. These uses grow and rise as he grows and 
 rises in Godlikeness. Every angel finds in the con¬ 
 sciousness of this constant growth one of the ele¬ 
 ments of his happiness. But no angel becomes 
 radically other than that he was prepared to be 
 when he left this world. He does not change his 
 heaven, for that depends upon the essential qualities 
 of his character; and they are permanent and un¬ 
 changeable. He finds his happiness in the perform¬ 
 ance of his use, and in the consciousness of the 
 unending growth and elevation in his performance 
 of it. I need not say that it must be impossible 
 for us to form an adequate idea of the employ¬ 
 ments of the angels, for it is obvious and certain. 
 But there are some facts and some principles which 
 may lead our thoughts in that direction. 
 
 Many good things are done in this world. The 
 greatest amount of human effort is of that kind. 
 How many men are busy through life in providing 
 food, how many in furnishing shelter or clothing, 
 for others! — and how many in the vast variety of 
 uses which subserve the comfort and enjoyment of 
 life! These are all good works, and we are con¬ 
 strained to do them by the mercy of our Father; 
 for so His will is done on earth, though not as it is 
 
186 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 done in heaven, for there it is done without con¬ 
 straint. But of this, we who adopt the doctrines 
 of the New-Church are sure: the motives and the 
 thoughts which induce us to do these things are all 
 from the spiritual world, and, so far as they are 
 good, from heaven. All the good works on earth 
 have their prototypes in heaven; and whatsoever 
 good things men do in an earthly way, angels are 
 doing — not in the same, but in a heavenly way. 
 What this way is we do not know now, for the 
 reason that we know so little of the correspondence 
 which connects all things of this world with all 
 things of the other. 
 
 We may go still further. We may remember that 
 whatsoever God can do through living and con¬ 
 scious instruments, He does through them; for so 
 He blesses them. It is His sun and His rain which, 
 coming down upon the fields He has spread out, 
 raise and ripen all our food; but He gives to men 
 to be His instruments in this, and thus they acquire 
 the habit, and if they are capable of it enjoy the 
 happiness, of usefulness. From this lowest instance 
 of this universal law, our thoughts may go upwards 
 indefinitely. Science now permits us to look at the 
 material heavens, and catch a glimpse of the way in 
 which they are builded. With the best instruments, 
 we can but look upon an edge of the universe or a 
 small spot within it; but we can see innumerable 
 
OF THE NEW CHUIICH. 
 
 187 
 
 stars, all of which are probably suns, and may have 
 habitable earths around them. We see nebulae of 
 every description: in some, we may look upon the 
 spiral forms which indicate that they are growing 
 into worlds of suns and earths; in others, we may 
 see this growth so far advanced that a central sun is 
 there already; and in others, only amorphous masses 
 of light-mist, over which countless aeons have yet 
 to pass. And perhaps we may believe that each 
 created sun and planet in its turn, when its work is 
 finished, is gradually resolved into its primal atoms, 
 which mingle with those that fill the universe; at 
 some distant cycle again to coalesce into masses, 
 and build up new worlds, — thus repeating, on a 
 larger scale, the circle of death and life which we 
 see everywhere on our own earth. We may go 
 on in this path of what, if it be as yet only hypoth¬ 
 esis, is at least reasonable hypothesis, until the 
 imagination is weary and faint. 
 
 Now let us remember that all this is God’s work, 
 and that all of His work which He can He puts into 
 the hands of His living instruments; and then what 
 employment is there for angels in their various ranks, 
 and in their various degrees of advancement, of wis¬ 
 dom, and of power! And, as in this world, beside 
 all the external uses which are done here, there are 
 those who find full employment for their best ability 
 in the world of thought and truth, so in the heavens, 
 
188 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 above all the work of building and sustaining the 
 universe as His instruments, there may be those 
 who find their usefulness and happiness in ever 
 learning truths which are ever ascending towards 
 His own infinite wisdom. And they learn that they 
 may teach, for they know how much more blessed 
 it is to give than to receive. And from them, even 
 the highest of them, this wisdom comes down in 
 far descent, through all the ordered ranks of in¬ 
 telligences, and so modified and accommodated in 
 this descent, that at last it reaches us, and pours 
 into our understanding all the truth we are capable 
 of receiving in this beginning of being. 
 
 ANGELS. 
 
 It is common for those who believe any thing 
 about angels to regard them as a race of created 
 beings who are altogether other than men, and far 
 higher than men. This belief is confirmed by the 
 text which says, “ Thou hast made him a little 
 lower than the angels.” But Swedenborg declares 
 that all angels began life as human beings, upon this 
 or some other earth, however brief the stay of some 
 of them upon earth. A line of thought which leads 
 to this conclusion is suggested by the principle, that 
 the best thing which perfect and almighty Love 
 eould do for its creatures was to create them such 
 that, by working as of themselves in voluntary co- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 189 
 
 operation with their Father, and by the exercise of 
 strength which He gives them as their own, they 
 might rise, step by step, from a far-off beginning, to 
 a condition in which it would be possible for Him to 
 impart to them a large measure of His own life and 
 happiness; and that this measure might increase 
 with their constant and unending elevation towards 
 Himself. He makes men to be themselves; that in 
 the exercise of their own power, which is their own 
 because He gives it to them, they might become 
 capable, not of absorption into His infinitude, but 
 of a conjunction with Him which may grow nearer 
 and closer, for ever and for ever. The infinite hap¬ 
 piness of God springs from His infinite activity in 
 good. By their conjunction with Him, men may 
 become at once His ministers and servants, and co¬ 
 workers with Him in the whole work of creation, 
 preservation, and government of the universe. And 
 this, men who have become angels are. Yfhat more 
 could angels be ? 
 
 Whatever we may imagine angels to be, what¬ 
 ever capacity of acting as His ministers we may 
 suppose them to have, whatever measure of love or 
 wisdom, or of happiness resulting therefrom, we 
 may suppose them to possess, — it is simply impos¬ 
 sible for the most vivid and soaring imagination to 
 surpass or to approach that point upon which human 
 beings must stand, who, having profited by the 
 
190 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 means He gave them, through the revolving cycles 
 which time cannot measure, have gone ever upwards 
 in their approach to the Infinite. Higher beings 
 than these could not be created, and could not exist. 
 Whatever might be our belief in the desire of God 
 to bring into being creatures whom He might bless 
 with the utmost happiness, we may still believe that 
 He would form for this purpose such creatures as 
 He has formed men, with all their boundless hopes 
 and possibilities; because to them, in the condition 
 within their reach, might be given the highest hap¬ 
 piness a being less than infinite could enjoy. 
 
 The idea of a race of beings higher than men has 
 
 perhaps grown out of the thought that Infinite love 
 
 and power could not be contented with beings so 
 
 imperfect, so feeble, so far from happiness as men 
 
 are, — as we see them. But when we are taught 
 
 © 
 
 that what we see of human life is but its beginning, 
 and think as well as we may of what will attend 
 the full development of those powers which we here 
 dimly discern in their germ condition, we are sure 
 that even Infinite love and power would be satisfied 
 with what men might become, and, in their homes 
 in Heaven, do become. 
 
OF THE NEW CHUECH. 
 
 191 
 
 > 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE WO ED. 
 
 Here, as elsewhere in the consideration of topics of 
 religious philosophy, we must begin with God, and 
 with His purpose in creating and providing for man¬ 
 kind. This purpose was that beings might exist 
 whom He could make happy; and therefore He 
 made them such in capacity and character that He 
 might for ever help them to be happy and to grow 
 in happiness. The animals He had made He could 
 make happy, but their happiness is not capable of 
 eternal increase; while man’s is so. Here is one of 
 the radical distinctions between men and animals. 
 And because of this, there exists another of these 
 radical distinctions, — lano-ua^e: men have the fac- 
 
 ' o o. 
 
 ulty of speech, and animals have not. 
 
 God is constantly in the effort to carry into effect 
 His own infinite purpose. The whole nature of 
 man, and all that contributes to the constitution of 
 that nature, is so made as to be an instrument which 
 God can use to carry His purpose into effect. Lan¬ 
 guage is one of these instruments, and a most impor- 
 
192 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 tant one. Words are the simplest things in the 
 world: to utter them is as easy a matter as breath¬ 
 ing; and, indeed, they are only breath made vocal. 
 And yet words are among the most mysterious 
 things in the world. The origin of language is 
 wholly unknown; and no one of the many theories 
 about it seems to be acceptable to many beside him 
 who announces it. But the true nature of language 
 and its influence and effect are almost as much un¬ 
 known as its origin. We do know, however, much 
 of what it is and does for man, for this is apparent 
 at the first glance. 
 
 Words serve for means of intercourse, because 
 they enable men to communicate to each other their 
 thoughts and feelings, and to impress these upon 
 each other and make them common to speaker 
 and hearers, — and thus unite men in a common 
 thought or feeling. Then words serve for the pres¬ 
 ervation of thoughts and feelings. They preserve 
 them by tradition, if they are delivered for safe¬ 
 keeping only to memory and transmission by repeti¬ 
 tion. Of late there have been quite interesting 
 conclusions as to the method, and the extent and 
 accuracy, with which a wide and complex system of 
 doctrines could be continuously preserved by such 
 transmission,— as in the case of the earliest Hindu 
 beliefs. These conclusions have been drawn from 
 distinct intimations in ancient records of the system- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 193 
 
 atic and well-devised means which were successfully 
 employed to make this transmission accurate. 
 
 Then came a farther improvement, — that of writ¬ 
 ing, — which is almost as marvellous as the origin 
 of language. This gave to all the uses of words 
 new power and efficacy; and when, a few cen¬ 
 turies ago, a farther improvement in the use of 
 words — that of printing — took place, they gained 
 still farther power and efficacy. 
 
 If we believe that the use of words or mutual 
 language is peculiarly human, and indispensable to 
 human improvement; that the power of speech is 
 given to man by God; that it is adapted to his 
 whole nature and needs, as the means by which 
 truth may be given him that will help him to build 
 up in himself a heavenly character; if we believe 
 that all human life flows into man from God, and 
 therefore whatever is in man, humanly, must be in 
 God, divinely, — well may it be asked, Why should 
 not God speak to man ? Why should He not make 
 use of this instrument of language to give to man 
 knowledge which he could not otherwise possess? 
 The answer to this question is, He has spoken to 
 man, and He does speak to him. He does in fact 
 make use of man’s power of hearing, of reading, and 
 of understanding language, to communicate to men 
 truths which could not otherwise be given to them. 
 
 God speaks to man through men into whom Ho 
 
 13 
 
194 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 breathes His spirit. He makes use of their minds, 
 their thoughts, their affections, their mouths, their 
 language, to say to His children what He would. 
 It is true that every thought and every affection 
 which any man has comes to him from God. But 
 the common and normal way is for these thoughts 
 and affections to be modified and qualified by the 
 mediums through which they flow, into affinity and 
 adaptedness to the man’s state; in order that, when 
 they reach man, they may be given to man to be his 
 own: and they thereby become man’s, and not God’s. 
 It is sometimes said of men of great genius, — as Ho¬ 
 mer, Shakspeare, Milton, — that they were inspired. 
 But this use of the word confounds things essen¬ 
 tially different. Whatever comes normally to any 
 individual is always modified into conformity with 
 his peculiar and individual state and faculty, but 
 always so that, when he receives it, it becomes his 
 own. Not so is it with the subjects of inspiration. 
 Their ownhood of themselves is for the time sus¬ 
 pended. They are filled with the sjoirit of God. 
 They utter or write what is thus given to them. 
 This may be somewhat modified in the form it takes 
 by the mental character, or by the habits of thought 
 and feeling of the person employed for this use, as 
 instruments modify the work that is done by them; 
 but not so as to make the words their own words, 
 for they are, and they remain, God’s words. 
 
OF THE NEW CHUKCH. 
 
 195 
 
 How it was in the earliest condition of mankind 
 we know not. There was probably a long period 
 during which such words were only spoken, and were 
 delivered over to memory and transmission by tra¬ 
 dition. But at length more could be done. Our 
 Bible, which we call emphatically the Word of God, 
 was given to mankind, and in the languages best 
 suited to this use. It was not given all at once. 
 Words, perhaps preserved only by tradition from an 
 earlier age, made a part of it. In following ages, 
 a succession of persons employed for this use, who 
 differed much from each other, and whose personal 
 peculiarities are to some extent impressed upon 
 their work, added the books of the Old Testament. 
 At a later period, the Gospels and the Book of 
 Revelation were added, — finally completing this 
 Word of God. 
 
 Emanuel Swedenborg was not one of those so 
 employed to write the words of God. He was not 
 inspired. We repeat what we said before. He was 
 
 to 
 
 selected for the use he performed, as a man of re¬ 
 markable intellect, which was as fully cultivated and 
 prepared by study and work as was possible; and 
 he was then taught spiritual truth in a way in which 
 it had never been taught to any man. He was as¬ 
 sisted in every possible way to understand it; and 
 as he understood it, and only so, he communicates it 
 to others in his writings. The idea that these writ- 
 
196 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 ings were intended to supersede in any way or 
 measure the Word of God, or to add to it or sup¬ 
 plement it, would have shocked him; for the pur¬ 
 pose of his whole work was to enforce and illustrate 
 that Word. 
 
 % 
 
 What must be the difference between the Word 
 of God and the words of men? No one can answer 
 this question fully; but some things we may say 
 about it. For if we believe that all life proceeds 
 from Him, that it flows forth, forming many succes¬ 
 sive spheres of being, using each higher one as the 
 medium through which it forms the nearest lower, 
 and finally ultimating itself in the lowest, we may 
 believe that this is the law of the truth flowing forth 
 from Him, and ultimating itself in the words which 
 are given to man. This truth is the same truth in 
 each of these degrees or spheres, — the highest and 
 the lowest; but in each of them it has the form 
 which is suited to that degree of being. All these 
 degrees or forms of truth are ultimated in and 
 are contained in the last and lowest, — the written 
 Word. If this were a man’s word, the truth would 
 have flowed down to it through all these planes of 
 being; but when it reached man and became his 
 thought, it would have become his own, and would 
 have been no longer God’s truth, but what the state 
 
 and character of the man made it to be. But the 
 
 > 
 
 Word of God, although expressed by the use of 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 197 
 
 human instruments, was never given to them as 
 their own; for their ovvnhood of life was suspended, 
 that they might become these instruments. 
 
 In the Word, all these higher forms of truth, or all 
 these truths, are in the lowest or literal form. This is 
 made possible by the law of correspondence, which 
 connects all these degrees of being together, and all 
 with Him from whom they flow forth as from their 
 primal cause. By force of this law, every lower de¬ 
 gree responds to the higher which was its causative 
 medium, and is that higher in a lower form. By 
 force of this law, every truth in the Word upon a 
 lower plane responds to a truth upon a higher plane, 
 and is that truth expressed in a lower form. All 
 these truths are there, and we may arrange them 
 into two classes: one, the lowest, literal sense; the 
 other, the higher or spiritual sense. 
 
 These truths are there. But are they there for 
 man? Yes, by force of this same law of corre¬ 
 spondence; for a knowledge of this correspondence 
 explains and applies this law, and, by the interpre¬ 
 tation of the lowest sense, unveils the meaning of a 
 higher sense. Each lower sense veils the higher 
 from those who live on the lower plane of being 
 to which that lower sense is adapted, and whose 
 minds are not lifted above that lower plane. The 
 knowledge of correspondences lifts the mind up¬ 
 wards and makes the lowest sense transparent. This 
 
198 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 knowledge may be systematized; and this system¬ 
 atized knowledge is the science of correspondence. 
 
 This science is now given to man; not in its ful¬ 
 ness and entirety, for that would be beyond its pos¬ 
 sible reception, and therefore it would be given in 
 vain. We live in the beginning of a new era. 
 Divine Providence has waited for the need and the 
 possibility of even this beginning. The thick dark¬ 
 ness which has gathered through the long succession 
 of ages of ignorance and falsity still hangs upon us 
 all. If, through these ages, seeds of truth and light 
 have been sown and germinated and grown, and 
 have at last made it possible for new and greater 
 light to be thrown upon the darkness, this great gift 
 must still be given under the universal law of adap¬ 
 tation to those to whom it is given, and therefore to 
 ns only in an inchoate and incomplete manner. 
 This science was taught to Swedenborg, and is 
 given to mankind by him. He has given us the fact 
 of correspondence and its general laws and prin¬ 
 ciples. He has given us, by an application of these 
 principles, the spiritual sense of Genesis, Exodu's, 
 and the Apocalypse ; and, in illustration and enforce¬ 
 ment of the meaning of these books, he has given 
 the spiritual meaning of many passages in other 
 books of Scripture. 
 
 The universal correspondence between all the 
 planes of being has made it possible to include all 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 199 
 
 truths within the form and expression of literal 
 truth. The science of correspondence teaches the 
 higher truths which lie within the lower. In doing 
 this, it will show that whatever thing exists in 
 Nature had a spiritual cause, and from that a spir¬ 
 itual meaning. All the order and beauty and mag¬ 
 nificence of Nature, which, even in their mystery, 
 have lifted up some happy hearts to their Creator, — 
 all will be made vocal; and their songs of praise 
 — perfect in harmony, and ever-growing in mel¬ 
 ody— will sound, even to men’s hearts, the wisdom 
 and power, and, more than all, the goodness of Him 
 who is the All-Father. Then will the prophecy be 
 fulfilled; for “ He will destroy in this mountain the 
 face of the covering cast over all people, and the 
 veil that is spread over all nations.” 
 
 Is this a work to be done at once or soon ? The 
 science of astronomy, from the far-distant ages when 
 the watchers of the stars on the plains of Chaldea 
 first observed them, has been growing to this day ; 
 when, however perfect some may think it, other and 
 wise men regard it as only in its beginning. This 
 new science is as much more radiant than the other 
 as the stars of the spirit are brighter than the stars 
 of the sky, as much higher as the laws of heaven are 
 higher than the laws of material worlds; and who 
 will count the ages which must elapse before it can 
 attain what may be regarded as a full development ? 
 
200 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 Man is not born into the faculty of speech or of 
 reading and writing, but with the capacity of acquir¬ 
 ing these faculties ; and they can be acquired only 
 step by step, and by continuous effort. So must 
 it be with learning to read the spiritual sense of 
 Scripture and the meaning of the book of Nature. 
 These things also must be learned only step by step, 
 and by continuous effort. He who enters upon the 
 investigation of the science of correspondence, and 
 gives it up because of the difficulties he meets with 
 at the beginning of his study, acts like the petulant 
 child, who, discouraged by the efforts required, casts 
 his book away, insisting that it cannot be read, or 
 that it is not worth reading. Speech was given to 
 man, probably, soon after he began to be; then, 
 after a long period, came written language, and, 
 after another period, the invention of printing. 
 Now, a new faculty is placed within his reach; for 
 the fact of correspondence of all that is without 
 with all that is within is made known to him; and 
 with this fact the principles are given which will 
 enable him to acquire some knowledge of the sci¬ 
 ence that discovers and explains these correspond¬ 
 ences. It would be impossible to forecast the whole 
 effect of this consummating gift; it is the close of 
 an ascending series: the close, because it deals with 
 infinites and universals, and can never be exhausted; 
 and nothing: more can be gdven but added means 
 
 O O 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 201 
 
 of acquiring, comprehending, and applying this sci¬ 
 ence. We may regard it as a reasonable conclusion, 
 that so much as the arts of writing and printing 
 have done towards elevating and advancing men 
 beyond the point they could have reached had 
 these gifts been withheld, so much will the science 
 of correspondence — in the far-distant ages, when its 
 work shall reach a high development — do towards 
 elevating and advancing men beyond the point 
 which they could have reached had this science 
 never been given. 
 
 As yet we have nothing like an elementary or 
 educational work adapted to beginners in the study 
 of this science. Swedenborg assumes it as existing, 
 and applies it as he has occasion to the passages of 
 Scripture he explains. He does little more than this, 
 and nothing more has been done; but he lays down 
 with great clearness the principles of the science, 
 and from these will be evolved in coming time all 
 that will be necessary or useful to those who would 
 learn this science. 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 Of the Bible which we have, a few of the earliest 
 chapters were taken from an earlier Word, which 
 differed from the present, inasmuch as it contained 
 only truths of correspondence; that is, only a spir¬ 
 itual meaning, and not literal truth. Under the 
 
‘202 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 form of an historical account of the creation of 
 the natural world, and the fall of man, and finally 
 the almost total extinction of men,—they describe 
 the beginning, the decay, and termination of a spir¬ 
 itual creation; or of the establishment and decline 
 of the earliest church among men. These chapters 
 were placed as an introduction to the Word which 
 we have, in part because, by their apparent descrip¬ 
 tion of the creation and early history of the world, 
 they serve as a fitting introduction to the historical 
 Word. They are placed there far more because in 
 their spiritual meaning they set forth truths of infi¬ 
 nite moment, eternal duration, and universal appli¬ 
 cation, concerning the birth, growth, and perils of 
 spiritual goodness in every man and every age and 
 every church. 
 
 After the long period during which primeval man 
 lived “ sicut ferce ,” or in a way of life but little 
 higher than that of animals, “ The spirit of God 
 moved upon the face of the waters.” Spiritual 
 light dawned upon the heaving waste of his merely 
 natural life, and the first Church was established. 
 Swedenborg says it was established in Mesopotamia 
 and the countries adjacent for a considerable dis¬ 
 tance ; when or how many ages ago we know 
 not. He calls this the “Most Ancient Church.” 
 It was very peculiar, responding to the needs of 
 the infancy of mankind. In its beginning, it was 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 203 
 
 pure and holy; and it subsequently fell away, and 
 became wholly corrupted, through the abuse of that 
 freedom which is given to man for his highest good. 
 This abuse caused an evil influence to come forth 
 from elements of human nature which are insepa¬ 
 rable from it, — the ownhood of life, and power of 
 self-determination, — because without them man 
 would be incapable of “ working out his salva¬ 
 tion,” and building himself into the largest recep- 
 tibility of the gift of happiness. He was told not 
 to eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and 
 evil.” To eat, is to appropriate to ourselves; we 
 make what we eat our own and a part of our¬ 
 selves. He was permitted to discern most dis¬ 
 tinctly the difference between good and evil; and 
 all good influences told him and taught him, that 
 this knowledge was given him from God for his 
 guidance ; and all evil influences told him and taught 
 him, that this knowledge was his own, not by gift 
 from his Creator, but in its origin,— that it was self- 
 acquired, and belonged to him by virtue of the 
 power and intelligence which were self-derived and 
 self-possessed. These evil influences told him to 
 cast away all grateful acknowledgment of God 
 as the giver of all knowledge and of all truth, to 
 eat of this tree, and be to himself “as God, know¬ 
 ing good and evil” from himself. To these in¬ 
 fluences he yielded. He denied and deserted his 
 
204 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 God, and strove to avoid the thought of Him, 
 or to hide from His presence; he became as God 
 to himself, and worshipped himself. So he fell 
 from his high estate. So the Church fell from its 
 early innocence; not by the disobedience of one 
 man, nor by one act, but by a long-descending 
 course of failure in temptation, until there grew up a 
 state of mind in which man gave the victory within 
 himself to evil influences over good ones, — to evil 
 over good. And this is symbolized in the account 
 of what we call the Fall of Man. 
 
 When the spirit of God moves upon the face of 
 the waters in any mind, and there is in it the first 
 germination of good, there is some foretaste of peace. 
 But soon the tempter comes. He moves us to look 
 upon our goodness as our own work. A conflict 
 begins between this influence, this temptation, and 
 all within us which recognizes our own impurity, and 
 our inability to cope with it without strength from 
 on high, and which inspires humble gratitude to 
 the Divine mercy which has given us this strength. 
 Every feeling of this kind is insidiously attacked by 
 our sensuous nature; for this tells us that we have 
 conquered by our own strength, and the very good¬ 
 ness we are conscious of becomes an evil thinfor 
 it is corrupted into food for self-pride and self-love, 
 and builds up a barrier against all recognition, obedi¬ 
 ence, worship, or love of Him to whom these are 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 205 
 
 due. If this enemy of our souls prevails, we fall. 
 Well is this sensuous nature symbolized by the ser¬ 
 pent, which cannot leave the ground; and, if it con¬ 
 quers in this strife and holds its victory, will creep 
 upon its belly and feed on dust for evermore. And 
 in these days how it clings to the ground, looking 
 upon sense and sensuous thought as the only teacher 
 of truth, and finding all its nourishment in the dust 
 of the earth! Happily we are told, that while it will 
 continue to bruise the heel, or that part of human 
 nature which comes in contact with all that belongs 
 to earth, “ the seed of the woman ” shall eventually 
 bruise its head. 
 
 This first fall of man, which includes all subse¬ 
 quent decline, is followed by the successive decay 
 of this Church, which is treated of in the following 
 chapters. 
 
 The next prominent fact narrated symbolizes the 
 next essential element of spiritual death. Because 
 of the long-continued indulgence and confirmation 
 of the evil thing, we are now born with the inherit¬ 
 ance of a proclivity to self-pride and self-love. We 
 can resist and overcome it, only by learning the 
 truth which exposes its true nature and tells us how 
 to suppress it, and then by obeying this truth. In 
 this work, the understanding must take the lead, and 
 gradually reform and purify the will, which will then 
 be filled with true life — the life of love. Faith must 
 
I 
 
 206 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 take the lead, and open the way for charity. Faith 
 is the first born, and is represented by Cain, while 
 charity is represented by Abel. Faith, truth, must 
 take the lead; but only in the beginning, and until 
 charity comes into full life, — for all the worth of faith 
 consists in its leading to charity. But in human 
 nature there lies deeply hidden the propensity to 
 exalt faith over charity, belief over life, the under¬ 
 standing over the will. Faith seeks to rule alone, 
 to claim all sovereignty, to be the master while 
 charity is the servant; and at length charity is 
 wholly thrown aside as valueless, while to faith alone 
 is attributed the whole work of salvation. Then the 
 end is reached, and Cain kills Abel. 
 
 It is commonly thought, by those who think about 
 the matter at all, that “faith alone” is to be found 
 only in the theological doctrines which rest upon it 
 as their basis. This is indeed a very great mistake. 
 They are but a consummation of that which in less 
 intensity is very common. “Faith alone” shows 
 itself everywhere to those who know how to rec¬ 
 ognize its presence in its influence and effects. 
 Wheresoever there is a preference of belief over 
 life and act, a disposition to think that character 
 and destiny are determined by belief rather than 
 by the affections which govern the life (a disposi¬ 
 tion which easily passes into the substitution of 
 profession for belief) ; wherever there is any ten- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 207 
 
 dency to consider profession and a name as haying 
 some virtue in themselves, whether it be slight or 
 strong enough to make us prominent and violent in 
 defence of the doctrines which we think are saving 
 us without the trouble of goodness; wherever there 
 is a willingness to consider mere belief and loud 
 assertion of truth as the equivalent of loving it and 
 living it; wheresoever the intellect is placed above 
 the heart, and culture, knowledge, and mere belief 
 have a value assigned to them which is disconnected 
 from life and character, — there is faith alone. And 
 are not its traces everywhere ? 
 
 This most ancient Church continued to decline 
 through a period which was probably a very long 
 one. The stages of this decline were marked, each 
 having its own peculiarities; and they constituted 
 what may be regarded as derivative or subordinate 
 churches of the most ancient Church. They are 
 designated by the series of antediluvian patriarchs, 
 none of whom were persons. The peculiarities of 
 each were described in the events which befell each, 
 and intimated in their names. At length the con- 
 summation came. Falsities had overwhelmed the 
 Church like a deluge. They were so extreme and 
 intense that they suffocated even natural life, and 
 this was nearly extinguished in that Church. A few 
 only survived, who were represented by Noah, and 
 with them there began a new Church, differing alto- 
 
208 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 gether from that which preceded it. This Ancient 
 Church, — for so this Church, beginning with Noah, 
 is called by Swedenborg, — continued for many 
 ages, which were represented by u the generations of 
 Noah,” and described symbolically by the events 
 and the persons named, until at length it passed 
 away, and was succeeded by the Hebraic Church, 
 which takes its name from Eber, or Heber. . This 
 Church also continued through many spiritual 
 changes and generations, and with Abraham, or his 
 immediate ancestry, the history becomes literally 
 true.* Abraham was an actual living man; and 
 
 * Within the last half-century, the peculiar learning necessary for 
 a critical examination of the Scriptures has greatly increased, and it 
 has been used by many writers, some of great ability, to prove that 
 the books of the Bible were written by other authors than those 
 whose names they bear, and not in the forms which they now have, 
 nor at the times supposed. It does not fall within the scope of this 
 work to consider these speculations, nor would it be necessary, for 
 these writers do most conclusively refute each other. Of their spec¬ 
 ulations, which are numerous and utterly discordant, Dean Milman 
 said well, that the authors do not attempt “ to make bricks without 
 straw, but to make them wholly of straw, and offer them as solid 
 materials.” Among those opposed to them, some adhere to the 
 literal truth of every word of Scripture, in the belief that a failure in 
 any part of this truth would impeach, if not destroy, the authority 
 of the Scriptures. I do not share this belief nor this fear. The 
 difficulties in holding to the literal truth of the whole Scripture are 
 very great. I do not possess the learning which would enable me to 
 judge, of them critically; but of one thing I am entirely confident, 
 and that is, that the books which compose what I consider the inspired 
 Scriptures, were written at such times and by such persons, as to 
 admit of the inspiration which makes them the Word of God. 
 
 I have said that the assailants of the literal truth of the Bible hold 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 209 
 
 with his grandson Jacob, or Israel, the Israelitish 
 Church began,—although it was not fully established 
 until a later day, when the Israelites were led forth 
 from Egypt. 
 
 discordant theories, and conclusively refute each other. This they 
 do in most particulars. But there are some general propositions 
 in which they mainly agree; arguments in their favor derived 
 from recent investigations have great force, and they are accepted 
 by most of the defenders of the Bible who do not hold to its exact 
 literal truth. These are,—that the first chapters of Genesis were 
 derived from earlier traditions or scriptures, and are without exact 
 literal truth; that the names of the Patriarchs, which, like all other 
 Hebrew names, are significant, probably served to indicate different 
 races or tribes; that those early chapters, so far as they are histori¬ 
 cal, refer to a part only of mankind, and to a limited region of the 
 earth; and that there are passages of Scripture which, w r hether or 
 not interpolated, will not bear a literal construction. Now it is, to 
 say the least, remarkable that Swedenborg, more than a hundred 
 3 ,, ears ago, without the especial learning such investigations require, 
 and before the critical apparatus necessary for them existed, came, 
 in his own w r ay, to conclusions, not in exact, but still in singular, 
 accordance with these. For he holds, as I have already stated, that 
 Genesis, as far as Eber (or rather Heber, from wffiom came the name 
 of the Hebrews), was taken from an earlier Word, which v r as so v'rit- 
 ten as to express spiritual truths under the form of a constructed 
 history; that the names of the Patriarchs indicate (not successive 
 tribes or races, but) successive churches, or systems and modes of 
 faith and worship; that the history in these chapters, so far as it is 
 history, relates to a part only of mankind, and to a limited region of 
 the earth (Mesopotamia and the countries adjacent, to a considerable 
 distance); and that in the books w'hich are actually historical are 
 passages in which the spiritual truths to be expressed by correspond¬ 
 ence required some departure from literal natural truth, and hence 
 these passages do not describe an actual occurrence, but have a differ¬ 
 ent meaning. This last statement applies, I suppose, not only to the 
 ages of the Patriarchs, but to the numbers in the historical books 
 which seem to present insuperable difficulties. 
 
 14 
 
210 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 Recently, there have been earnest efforts to recon¬ 
 cile the established facts of science with the early 
 chapters of Genesis; nor have they been wholly 
 unsuccessful. By supposing a day to mean, not a 
 natural day, but a distinct period of great length, 
 regarding Adam as the parent of a special race, 
 confining the deluge to a limited tract of country, 
 and other similar accommodations, the creation of 
 earth, of animals, and of man as narrated in Genesis, 
 is made to coincide, though very loosely, with the 
 conclusions of geology and other paleontological 
 sciences. So, too, recent discoveries and theories in 
 philology and ethnology have led some persons,— 
 not wholly without reason, — to see in history the 
 Hamites, Shemites, and Japhethites fulfilling the 
 statements and prophecies concerning them. And 
 yet we say that the first eleven chapters of Genesis, 
 as far as the immediate ancestry of Abraham, are 
 without literal truth. 
 
 An explanation of this we can give only by refer¬ 
 ring to the doctrine of corresj^ondences. In those 
 chapters of Genesis we have a spiritual history of 
 mankind, and of the earlier churches. This spir¬ 
 itual history is adequately expressed in what pur¬ 
 ports to be an external history of mankind, by 
 reason of the correspondence between spiritual 
 things and natural things. These natural things 
 were narrated without reference to actual occur- 
 
 i 
 
OF THE NEW CHUECH. 
 
 211 
 
 rences, but in just such a form as would suffice to 
 represent and signify the spiritual history. But the 
 correspondence between internal and causative facts, 
 and external facts or effects, causes this external 
 history to have some literal truth, or some accord¬ 
 ance with actual facts, though only of the most 
 general kind. Times are mentioned as the ages of 
 the patriarchs with so much exactness, that a chro¬ 
 nology has been constructed, and, until of late, 
 generally received. But by these patriarchs were 
 signified not men but churches; and as times, like 
 all other natural things, have their correspondence, 
 and through their correspondence their significance, 
 these times, while without literal truth as the lives 
 of men, have their spiritual significance in reference 
 to the churches which bear the names of the patri¬ 
 archs. If natural science is, or shall be, able to con¬ 
 struct a chronology of those primeval times, nothing 
 in the Scripture narrative will, in our view, give to 
 it either support or contradiction. 
 
 With Abraham a new order of things begins, and 
 there is a great change in the letter of the Word. It 
 becomes literally historical, although the literal sense 
 continues to be, in the whole and in every part, cor¬ 
 respondent to spiritual truth, and significant of that 
 truth. 
 
 The Israelitish Church was a most peculiar Church. 
 In fact it never was a true Church, but only a rep re- 
 
212 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 sentative Church, or rather the representative of a 
 true Church. The Israelitish nation were selected 
 not because they were among the best of men, but 
 because they were very far from this. They were 
 so entirely natural or sensual in thought, character, 
 and disposition, that they could be led along through 
 a series of events such that the narration of them 
 would be made perfectly correspondent and significa¬ 
 tive, with less harm or peril to themselves than 
 might have been caused to any other race. 
 
 To explain this, I must say something of profana¬ 
 tion; and the doctrines which relate to this griev¬ 
 ous and destructive evil are among the new truths 
 which are now given to men, If truth is offered 
 to a man, he may be perfectly insensible to it; 
 wholly unable to understand it, or to receive it. 
 It will then do him neither good nor harm, for it will 
 not enter into him and make a part of him. It may 
 be asked how can truth do any man harm ? If truth 
 be understood, received, and acknowledged, it at 
 once carries with it the duty of obedience, of preser¬ 
 vation and cultivation, and of a life in accordance 
 with it. Where truth has been received because 
 the evidence of it or its own inherent light are 
 for the time irresistible, and afterwards, when op¬ 
 posing elements of character come into full force, 
 is rejected and denied and cast out of the life,— 
 there the truth has been the means of great harm: 
 
OF THE NEW CnURCH. 
 
 213 
 
 falsehood is confirmed, and the possibility of a 
 future recovery is diminished. This is the sin of 
 profanation. It is frequently referred to in the 
 Bible, but generally under the veil of symbols. It 
 is represented in the law of Moses by leprosy, 
 that most distressing disease which it is so difficult 
 to cure. In the Gospels, it is referred to as the un¬ 
 pardonable sin. If a man has listened to the truth 
 as the gift of God, and suffered it to amend his 
 heart and life, and afterwards, deluded by the up¬ 
 rising of self-confidence and the pride of self intelli¬ 
 gence, believed that it was all his own work, ascrib¬ 
 ing it to his self-intelligence and self-excellence, 
 regarding his former belief that it was wrought only 
 by the strength that God gave, as an illusion and a 
 folly, — wofully is that man’s state changed for the 
 worse. The devil that left him has returned with 
 seven more to find his former home swept and gar¬ 
 nished for his reception and his permanent abode. 
 
 Not in Scripture only, but in life and in all Provi¬ 
 dence, we may see the Divine effort to guard men 
 from this great danger. We may thus understand 
 those texts which say that the Lord hath blinded 
 their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should 
 see and understand, “and I should heal them.” 
 Better is it that they should not be healed, if their 
 temporary health would bring with it more fatal 
 disease. 
 
214 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 The Word of God as a whole is addressed to all 
 possible conditions of human beings. Therefore, 
 in its higher and highest senses it speaks to those in 
 the higher and highest of these conditions; and in 
 its lowest and literal sense to those in the lowest of 
 them. It was addressed to the Jews, primarily, in 
 this literal sense; and was in exact adaptation to 
 them, that it might be in exact adaptation to all in 
 all ages, who stand where they stood. There is 
 scarcely a reference in it to another life. All the 
 motives to obedience, whether of promise or of 
 threat, of reward or of punishment, are drawn from 
 this life. In the same sense, it is and always will be 
 addressed to all who, like the Jews, are only natural, 
 and therefore incapable of being moved by any thing 
 more spiritual. To them, as to the Jews, God is 
 a hard and jealous master. So He awakens in them 
 that “fear of the Lord” which is said in the Psalm 
 to be “ the beginning of wisdom.” Even in this 
 literal sense, there are passages unequalled in sub¬ 
 limity by any human composition, because in them 
 the spiritual shines through the natural; and the 
 good of all ages have found in them instruction, 
 consolation, hope, and joy. But these passages were 
 to the Jews, generally, a dead letter; and if the 
 whole Word had been, in its literal sense, higher 
 than it was, it would have been to them, and to all 
 like them, dead, or worse than dead. It was in 
 
OF TIIE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 215 
 
 mercy that their eyes were blinded and their hearts 
 hardened by their naturalness; and so it is to-day 
 with all in whom this naturalness and worldliness 
 prevail. They are taught only what will lift them 
 up, — one step, and then another, and another, if 
 they will; until at length they rise out of the dark¬ 
 ness of mere naturalism, and stronger and purer 
 light from God out of heaven can reach them 
 without exposing them to the fearful danger of 
 profanation. 
 
 This same principle has governed the action of 
 Divine Providence throughout the history of man¬ 
 kind, and in all His dealings with races, nations, and 
 churches, and with every individual. First, stands 
 the law that only through man’s free and voluntary 
 cooperation will God give to man His greatest gifts, 
 for only so can they be given in the fullest measure; 
 and therefore from the humblest and lowest condi¬ 
 tion must mankind and every man of his kind work 
 himself upwards by the strength given him to that 
 end. And with this law comes another: the gifts 
 of truth are always so measured, so qualified, or 
 so withheld, that, while they are ever enough to 
 teach the willing mind and lead the willing heart, 
 they are forced upon no reluctant acceptance, but 
 may be rejected by all who are not willing to re¬ 
 ceive them. And most of all is Providential care 
 exerted, that spiritual truth shall not become acces- 
 
216 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 sible and attractive to those who, when their ruling 
 loves again become triumphant, would be sure to 
 reject or pervert it. Therefore is this great sin of 
 profanation rare. But wholly prevented it cannot 
 be; for whatsoever is given to man is given to his 
 freedom, and he may abuse it even to the extent of 
 profanation if he will, — and he sometimes does. 
 
 It may indeed be asked by some, If this new gift 
 of truth on which the New-Church is founded, be 
 of such transcendent worth as I have supposed, why 
 lias not He who has given it for the good of man¬ 
 kind provided for its wider and more rapid growth ? 
 Why has He deposited it in such feeble hands, and 
 not called some of the princes of knowledge to im¬ 
 part to it the prestige of their greatness, and set it 
 forth with all the charm of eloquence, and all the 
 glory which genius could cast upon it? The an¬ 
 swer is, Because it is better for mankind that it 
 should obey the universal law of adaptation. It is 
 better that the progress of this truth should be slow, 
 and its reception so narrow as to be almost unseen, 
 rather than it should be so presented to unprepared 
 multitudes as that some, however excellent in the 
 ways which the truths they possess have shown 
 them, would be unable to receive this new truth, 
 and harm themselves by its rejection; and others 
 would receive it only to expose it to perversion and 
 profanation. This truth is permitted to find its 
 
 i 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 217 
 
 way to the hearts and minds of the few who have 
 received it, not because they are better or worse 
 than others, but because they could be helped by 
 it more than by any other truth. 
 
 THE ISRAELITISH CHURCH. 
 
 Under the guidance of this principle of adapta¬ 
 tion, the Israelites were chosen as a race among 
 whom could be established a perfect representative 
 of a Church; but under the protecting veil of a 
 symbolic representation. This was effected by pos¬ 
 itive revelations, variously but stringently enforced, 
 which, in the tabernacle and temple worship, and in 
 a law and ritual which penetrated into social, family, 
 and daily life, expressed in symbolic language pre¬ 
 cisely the requirements and the characteristics of a 
 true spiritual Church. These literal expressions sig¬ 
 nify by correspondence, answering spiritual truths 
 and laws. Then the race was carried through a his¬ 
 tory which, told for the most part with literal accu¬ 
 racy, expressed in its literal language what in its 
 spiritual correspondence was a spiritual history,— 
 as true of one race as of another, of one time as of 
 another, and of one man as of another. Not that all 
 which is spiritually told there befalls all races and all 
 men, but that nothing can befall any race or any men 
 which does not find its lesson there. It would be 
 impossible, without going too far beyond the scope 
 
218 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 and character of this little work, to give these les¬ 
 sons in any detail. That the history of the Israel¬ 
 ites has some spiritual meaning has always been seen 
 by all who looked upon the Scriptures as holy. For 
 example, the journey from Egypt to Canaan, the 
 sanctity of the temple and of Mount Zion, are mat¬ 
 ters frequently referred to in the sermons and relig¬ 
 ious writings of most Christian sects. In the early 
 ages of Christianity, the spiritual sense of Scripture 
 was generally acknowledged; and some — Origen, 
 for example — labored earnestly to discover and ex¬ 
 hibit this sense. But the time had not come when 
 the laws and principles of correspondence could be 
 given; and by them alone can this spiritual sense 
 be made accurate, continuous, and coherent. 
 
 For a long succession of ages, the Bible has been 
 protected against the assaults of a purely natural 
 criticism by the reverence which hung about it an 
 impenetrable armor. That time has gone by. Now, 
 reverence for any thing is feeble, and seems to be 
 growing feebler every day. The Bible which, to 
 some persons, is still a most interesting topic of 
 investigation on religious grounds, is to others an 
 interesting topic of inquiry on the most external and 
 purely natural grounds. Learned and able men 
 devote themselves to the work of disproving its 
 inspiration, and exposing what such criticism as 
 theirs holds to be its errors. Its defenders are fee- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 219 
 
 ble, however earnest; and it is impossible to deny 
 that the Bible has fallen in men’s minds far below 
 its former high estate. The ground taken by mod¬ 
 ern criticism is, that the Bible must be investigated 
 and criticised, and accepted or rejected as this 
 criticism determines, precisely like any other book, 
 — which would be true if the Bible were like other 
 books; and is just as untrue as that is. It may be 
 that this conclusion has not been generally reached; 
 and certainly it is not by all religious men. But 
 equally certain it is that the Bible seems to be fall¬ 
 ing under the blows of its adversaries, and needs a 
 new and stronger defence, if any portion of its an¬ 
 cient sanctity is to be restored to it. These late 
 assaults upon it, and this decay of an unreasoning 
 reverence, have been permitted, because means are 
 now given for awakening a reverence for it far 
 deeper than has ever been felt, and of founding 
 this reverence on grounds which the strictest ration¬ 
 ality will maintain. 
 
 The assaults upon the Bible have been almost 
 wholly on the following grounds: First, that there 
 is not and cannot be any such thing as inspiration, 
 or as an inspired book. Then, the uncertainty as 
 to the authorship and dates of the several books, 
 and of the canon of Scripture. Then, the appar¬ 
 ent contradiction by passages of Scripture of the 
 most certain principles of morality, and its imputa- 
 
220 
 
 OUTLINES OP THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 tion to the Deity of wrath, cruelty, and vengeance. 
 Then, its inconsistencies. And then, the demonstra¬ 
 ble inaccuracy of some of its statements. To all 
 these objections an answer can be given, and against 
 them there is now an adequate defence. 
 
 As to the first and most general objection,—that 
 there is no such thing as inspiration or an inspired 
 book, — this is an objection which cannot but pre¬ 
 vail with all those who do not believe in spirit as a 
 real existence, distinct from matter; that is, with all 
 
 those whose thoughts are only sensuous thoughts, 
 
 \ 
 
 and whose reason is only a sensuous reason, whether 
 that reason be coarse, rude, and wholly uncultivated, 
 or carried forward to the highest point of external 
 culture and refinement. And to this objection the 
 answer is given by the truths now made known con¬ 
 cerning the relation of God to man, and of spirit to 
 matter. As these are understood, inspiration will 
 be understood, and an inspired book be seen to be a 
 communication from God to man, and to the highest 
 reason of man. 
 
 As to the uncertainty of the authorship and dates 
 of the several books, so far as we think of it at all, 
 we recognize in it a provision which lessens the ten¬ 
 dency to regard the books as merely human books, 
 which would certainly be stronger if the individual 
 writers were well known. The canon of Scripture 
 has greatly fluctuated as to both Testaments. There 
 
f 
 
 OF THE NEW CHURCH. 221 
 
 is but one standard which can be depended upon. 
 No book contains the Word of God, unless it con¬ 
 tains from beginning to end, and in all its parts, a 
 continuous spiritual sense founded on the corre¬ 
 spondence between spirit and matter. We should 
 not venture, on our own knowledge of this corre¬ 
 spondence, to apply this test rigorously. On this 
 point we accept the statement of Swedenborg, 
 who, on this ground, excludes from the commonly 
 accepted canon of Protestant Scripture, Ruth, Chron¬ 
 icles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Proverbs, Eccle¬ 
 siastes, and the Song of Solomon; and, from the 
 New Testament, the Acts, and all the Epistles. 
 
 Of the opposition of some parts of the Bible to a 
 pure morality, and of the imputation to God of the 
 qualities of a bad man, the explanation is to be 
 found in the nature and purpose of the Word, and 
 the method in which that purpose is accomplished. 
 God has spoken that Word to men to lift them up. 
 It addresses them in the very lowest moral and spir¬ 
 itual condition in which they can exist. It speaks 
 to them in a way they can understand, and addresses 
 to them motives by which they can be influenced. 
 For this purpose, God is represented very differently 
 in different places, because He is presented to all 
 as that which their God would be. It is said in 
 Psalm xviii., “With the merciful thou wilt show 
 thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt 
 
222 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 show thyself upright; with the pure thou wilt show 
 thyself pure ; and with the froward thou wilt show 
 thyself froward.” Let a man’s disposition be what 
 it may, it will be sure to give color and form to 
 the conception he will have of God from reading 
 the Bible. If he be down in the depths of sinful¬ 
 ness, and his heart and mind are closed against all 
 but the lowest motives, the terror of an angry and 
 avenging God may restrain and help him. If he 
 accepts the help, and is restrained from his evil 
 ways, and gradually grows better, at whatever 
 point of elevation he may reach, he will find, even 
 in the literal sense of the. Word, assurances of a 
 gracious Father, of perfect mercy, and unfailing 
 love. 
 
 As to the objection to the Bible, founded on the 
 immorality of some of its chief persons, and the sav¬ 
 age cruelty of the chosen people, — we reply that this 
 people were chosen that they might exhibit, in their 
 extirpation of the corrupted heathen who then pos¬ 
 sessed Palestine, the processes, often painful and dis¬ 
 tressing, by which correspondent corruptions may 
 be extirpated from the heart which they have taken 
 possession of. The inhabitants of Canaan at that 
 time were descendants from the ancient and Hebraic 
 churches, and had reached that fulness of depravity 
 that it was well for them that they should pass 
 away. The Israelites were in their own nature 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 223 
 
 hard and savage, and were permitted to obey the 
 dictates of their nature, wholly unconscious of what 
 they were representing. Vice and sin of every 
 kind grew by indulgence among all ranks of them, 
 until at length they completed their own work, and 
 brought destruction on the nation. Thus they rep¬ 
 resented in their whole career, the establishment, 
 the growth, the decay, and the death of a church 
 among men; and not this only, but of the church — 
 or the good and the truth — in every man who after¬ 
 wards pursues a downward path. These paths are 
 as many and as various as the men who take them; 
 but all are included in this representation. 
 
 Perhaps it may be well to show what different 
 construction the spiritual meaning gives to the nat¬ 
 ural meaning. Let us, in the difficulty of choosing, 
 take almost without choice, as an example, the clos¬ 
 ing verses of Psalm cxxxvii., in which it is said, 
 “ O daughter of Babylon who is to be destroyed, . . . 
 happy he that taketh and dasheth thy little ones 
 against the stones.” I have more than once heard 
 this cited as giving great difficulty to those who 
 would see in the Psalms only songs of praise and 
 prayer to a God of love. In the literal sense, these 
 words are full of the most savage cruelty; in the 
 spiritual sense, they describe a blessedness which 
 the best man may well pray for every day of his 
 life. As the whole world of matter corresponds to 
 
224 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 the whole world of spirit, so, as has been said, all 
 that is material mast correspond either to what be¬ 
 longs to the understanding or to the will; for these 
 two compose and constitute the whole of the spirit, 
 each half being indefinitely diversified. Rocks and 
 stones are perfectly devoid of life, and are among 
 the things which correspond to and represent the 
 things of the understanding; and more especially 
 those truths which are positive, abiding, and funda¬ 
 mental. Thus our Lord speaks of the house that is 
 founded upon a rock, that the floods and the winds 
 assail it in vain; for so it is with the house of faith, 
 — the intellectual structure in which a man makes 
 his home, and which spiritual floods and winds beat 
 upon in vain, if it be founded upon a clear perception 
 and firm belief of the foundation truths upon which 
 all genuine faith must rest. So He said to Peter, 
 “ Upon this rock will I build my church,” referring 
 to the truth Peter had just declared, — “Thou art 
 the Christ, the Son of the living God; ” for against 
 a church, whether of many or of one, built on this 
 foundation, the gates of hell cannot prevail. Stones 
 are more special truths, of like kind, each of which 
 forbids and rebukes the sin opposed to it; and the 
 power to dash the little ones of the enemies of our 
 souls against the stones is a power from our Heavenly 
 Father to dash the earliest emotions of evil, — the 
 newly-born children of sin, — even in their infancy, 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 225 
 
 against the truths which expose and defeat them, 
 and take their life away. 
 
 All good may be perverted into evil, and all truth 
 into falsity; and there is no evil which is not a per¬ 
 verted good, and no falsity which is not a perverted 
 truth. Hence, most things mentioned in the Scrip¬ 
 tures have a twofold significance; in one place repre¬ 
 senting what is good or true, and in another what is 
 evil or false. Thus stones are often used to repre¬ 
 sent falsities; as, when our Lord said, “ I and my 
 Father are one,” the Jews, representing the natural 
 man or mind, “took up stones to stone him.” And 
 in the parable in Matthew xiii., and Mark iv., the 
 “ stony places ” and “ stony ground ” represent a 
 mind so overstrewn with falsities, that truths sown 
 there could not take abiding root. 
 
 That modern criticism has established the opposi¬ 
 tion between some of the facts stated in the Bible 
 and those which the progress of science has demon¬ 
 strated, cannot be denied; and some Biblical state¬ 
 ments, especially where numbers are concerned, are 
 impossible. To objections of this kind, the answer 
 is that God has not spoken to man to reveal to him 
 either natural science or the history of the race, or 
 of a nation. His purpose was altogether other than 
 this. This has been often said before; but now, and 
 not until now, we can understand the true nature 
 
 and purpose of the Bible, and the way in which it 
 
 15 
 
226 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 accomplishes its purpose. God gives to man, as in¬ 
 herent in his nature, powers entirely adequate in 
 their normal and natural exercise to the gradual 
 acquirement of all knowledge of a natural kind, or 
 needed for this life. God speaks to him in a way 
 that is higher than his nature, to give him truth 
 which he could not otherwise possess; spiritual 
 truth, religious truth, — of which not one particle 
 could come to him any more than it comes to ani¬ 
 mals, if it did not come to him in a supra-natural 
 way. This spiritual sense or meaning of the Bible 
 is the primary thing. It is preserved at all events 
 and perfectly. By means of the correspondence be¬ 
 tween spirit and matter, it could be expressed in nat¬ 
 ural forms which are for the most part literally true, 
 and in this natural form it could come to natural 
 men, and reach their understandings and their hearts. 
 But where this expression was impossible, because 
 no natural forms which were literally true were capa¬ 
 ble of containing this spiritual sense, there natural 
 forms which were not literally true were of neces¬ 
 sity employed. For this spiritual truth is the gift of 
 God to men in every possible condition, even to the 
 highest which created beings can attain, and there¬ 
 fore it is perfect. Our eyes are opened to see it 
 only partially and imperfectly. In coming ages, as 
 the race rises into higher needs and higher capaci¬ 
 ties, more and yet more of this truth will be seen, 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 227 
 
 and seen with greater distinctness. The limit is all 
 of it in the seer and none of it in the truth, for 
 infinite truth is condensed and embodied in this 
 literal truth. 
 
 Of the Gospels I shall have more to say when I 
 . speak of the acts and words of our Lord. The Acts 
 and the Epistles, it has been already stated, are ex¬ 
 cluded from the canon of the New Testament, be¬ 
 cause they were not inspired in the sense already 
 given to the ^vord inspiration. They are excellent 
 and valuable writings, containing much religious 
 truth of great importance, and have been useful not 
 only for the truth they contain, but for their protec¬ 
 tion of the inspired books, by drawing away from 
 them the assaults of a sceptical and hostile criticism, 
 or of a false and pernicious interpretation, which 
 have, in large measure, exhausted themselves upon 
 the Epistles. 
 
 The prophetical writings are not everywhere 
 prophecies of the future. In some passages they 
 regard the present; and describe, in words of fearful 
 denunciation, the corruptions prevailing all around 
 the prophet. In others, they threaten calamity and 
 destruction as the doom of transgressors. But in 
 many others they describe, as in a far future, the com¬ 
 ing of the Messiah, the establishment of His kingdom, 
 the restoration of Israel, and a reign of peace that 
 is to know no end. This prophecy has always been 
 
228 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY* 
 
 referred by Christians to the coming of the Lord. 
 This is well. But in an interior sense it refers to His 
 second coming. So understood, the prophets bear 
 testimony, not only in general but in their de¬ 
 tails, to the establishment of the New-Church; and 
 to its growth, its character, and its influence, as 
 a whole, and in every mind to which it can And 
 entrance. 
 
 The Psalms are quite distinct from any other 
 parts of Scripture. In their literal sense, they are 
 songs of praise and prayer. In their spiritual 
 sense they set forth the spiritual history of our 
 Lord: His temptations, His conflicts, His suffer¬ 
 ings, and His victories. Because there is no way 
 to heaven but to take up our cross and follow Him, 
 and this not merely in a general way but most spe¬ 
 cifically, the Psalms in their spiritual sense are 
 applicable to every man who is seeking to walk in 
 the path which our Saviour trod; and at every step 
 they give him, and always have given him, guid¬ 
 ance, strength, and consolation. 
 
 Of the book of Job we have already said that it 
 has not a constant and continuous spiritual sense, 
 and therefore is not properly a part of Holy Script¬ 
 ure; nor does Swedenborg say much of it, although 
 he sometimes quotes from it. He tells us that some 
 knowledge of correspondences existed among very 
 ancient races, who had very little of natural science; 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 229 
 
 and that the book of Job was composed when much 
 of that knowledge remained with the posterity of 
 those races. It may be regarded as a long parable. 
 
 Under the guise of a good and very wealthy man, 
 
 - 
 
 who is bereft of every thing, and long and sorely 
 tempted but never overcome, and in the end re¬ 
 stored to greater wealth and prosperity,— it nar¬ 
 rates the spiritual history of a good man, who is 
 conscious and proud of his goodness, and suddenly 
 awakes to a sense of the taint which lies upon that 
 goodness, and, by long and painful temptation, is 
 brought to a knowledge of his utter wretchedness 
 without God; and when at length, accepting and 
 taking to his heart the truth that all human good¬ 
 ness is the gift of God only, he gives to Him the 
 glory, he is restored to more than his former i;>eace 
 and happiness. 
 
 Of the Apocalypse we must say more. Very 
 many have been the efforts to explain this book as a 
 prophecy of external history, by applying its state¬ 
 ments to various historical events. These efforts 
 have been utterly vain and useless, for the plain 
 reason that this book refers solely and exclusively to 
 the spiritual history of the Christian Church. After 
 describing the falsities and errors which beset it even 
 in its beginning, it goes on to describe its gradual 
 decay and decline, until its corruption was consum¬ 
 mated. It then relates the judgment which took 
 
230 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 place in the spiritual world, establishing new heav¬ 
 ens, under whose influence a new earth would be 
 created by the descent to earth from heaven of 
 a new church, which is called the New Jerusalem. 
 A great number of details concerning all these 
 topics are specifically set forth. All of these are 
 wholly unintelligible, unless a knowledge of the 
 correspondences in accordance with which the book 
 is composed casts its light upon them. Then they 
 are full of information; not speculative, and not 
 merely general; but intensely practical, and infi¬ 
 nitely greater in interest and importance to the 
 well-being of mankind than any prophecy concern¬ 
 ing political or external history could be. 
 
 There are undoubtedly some passages in the Word 
 to which, if they are regarded only in the literal 
 sense, it is difficult to attach any meaning; and 
 many, especially in the historical narratives, to 
 which it is impossible to attach any religious 
 meaning, if they are so regarded. But these 
 were necessary to the continuity and complete¬ 
 ness of the spiritual sense. There is also much 
 — indeed, nearly all the ritualistic portion of the 
 Old Testament — which has no longer obligatory 
 force or application in the literal sense. But all 
 these portions — as will be seen when their cor¬ 
 respondences are known — contain in their sjoirit- 
 ual sense instruction of inestimable value. And 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 231 
 
 there are other passages, in which the spiritual sense 
 shines forth with its own light, imparting a sublimity 
 to which none can be dead but those who are wholly 
 blinded by sense or sin. Swedenborg compares 
 these passages to the face which is not clothed, and 
 in which the character shines forth unveiled. 
 
 Let it not be supposed for a moment that the 
 belief in the spiritual sense of the Bible has the 
 slightest tendency to depreciate the literal sense. 
 On the contrary, a firm belief that it is the basis, 
 the continent, and the expression of a heavenly and 
 an infinite sense gives to it new force and sanctity. 
 The commandments therein set forth are the words 
 of God to man, given to guide him to happiness and 
 to heaven. In their literal sense, they are addressed 
 to him in his lowest and most external condition. 
 But this is a condition which no man can ever pass 
 through in such wise that it no longer belongs to 
 him. Among the heresies which have darkened the 
 Christian Church, have been some which permitted 
 men to believe that they could rise to so lofty a 
 spiritual state that the natural or external became 
 utterly unimportant, and that it was then safe for 
 them to disregard the commandments of the Word, 
 and to indulge their lusts. What truth can more 
 effectually rebuke this terrible falsity than that which 
 teaches us that internal goodness (if it were pos¬ 
 sible) without a corresponding life, would be a soul 
 
232 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 without a body, an essence without a form, — a mere 
 impossibility! 
 
 Gladly would I close this most imperfect view of 
 the Bible with fitting words; but I have none such. 
 How can the words of man speak adequately of the 
 Word of God? For the Bible is that, in no poetical 
 way, and by no figure of speech, but with a reality 
 which surpasses all other reality. Not to men only 
 upon earth is it spoken; but when they leave this 
 lowest life and ascend to heaven, even to the Heaven 
 of heavens, they find it there also, — the Word of 
 God to men: ascending in its meaning as they as¬ 
 cend, and ever in its inmost infinitely above them, 
 and ever bringing down from His infinitude and 
 His blessedness light and life to His children. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 233 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE LORD. 
 
 They who can form any conception of the incarna¬ 
 tion of God the Father, in Jesus Christ, whether 
 they believe it or not, may see that it must be, if 
 true, the central fact of Divine Providence, — for 
 which every thing that preceded it prepared, and 
 from which every thing which follows it proceeds. 
 They may see, too, that any comprehension of this 
 fact must be, if not founded upon, assisted by some 
 general understanding of the laws and order and 
 purposes of Divine Providence, and of a personal 
 immortality or a spiritual existence after life in 
 this world has terminated. 
 
 Nothing of all this can be clearly understood 
 without some knowledge of the doctrine of own- 
 hood, or of proprium , as I have elsewhere called 
 it. This has already been referred to, and must be 
 repeatedly referred to; for I deem it fundamental 
 to all truth that relates to Divine Providence. Of 
 this doctrine I will endeavor a^ain to make such a 
 statement as seems necessary in connection with the 
 subject of this chapter. 
 
234 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 God loves infinitely; He is Love. It is the 
 essence of love to desire to give whatever it has or 
 is — to give itself—to an object which must be 
 other than itself, or outside of itself. 
 
 To satisfy this desire God created and creates 
 whatever exists; and so created and creates every 
 thing, that it shall be other than Himself or outside 
 of Himself. 
 
 And yet He cannot but create every thing from 
 Himself. His infinite and perfect love would move 
 him to do this: nor could He otherwise create, for 
 whatever is created only of nothingness would con¬ 
 sist only of nothingness; nor can we believe this, 
 or indeed think it. We can think He caused 
 thoughts or affections which belonged to His being 
 to be embodied and existent outside of Himself, and 
 that thus an external universe came into being. 
 This, however, is an inadequate expression of the 
 fact. So must any of our words be. Nor can we 
 ever comprehend fully and adequately the method 
 of creation. But something we may know and 
 comprehend about it; and all of this knowledge 
 may grow in quantity and in clearness for ever. 
 Now, all that I venture to say is, that God creates 
 the universe from Himself and of Himself. 
 
 But love requires an object out of itself, or other 
 than itself. If God continually creates the universe 
 from Himself and of Himself, how can it satisfy His 
 
OF THE NEW CIIUKCH. 
 
 23o 
 
 infinite desire for an object of Ilis love, which object 
 must be other than Himself? It is precisely this 
 question which this doctrine of proprium answers. 
 
 lie gives to the universe He creates to be itself. 
 He gives to it ownhood of itself, ov proprium, that 
 it may be itself and not God; and so may be other 
 than Him, while created of and from Him, and an 
 object of His love. He does not cause it to be 
 other than Himself by creating it apart, and infus¬ 
 ing into it a certain measure of life or energy or 
 force, and impressing upon it certain laws in accord¬ 
 ance wherewith this force shall continue to operate, 
 and then letting it alone to go on of itself. With 
 Him there is no time. He gives us the idea of 
 time to satisfy a necessity of our finite nature; and 
 it is difficult for us to think even of Him and His 
 work without time. But we are capable of seeing 
 clearly that with Him there is no time, and that His 
 work of creation is a constant and ever-present 
 work. And as He creates by perpetual creation* 
 He always imparts to His creation to be itself; and 
 so other than Him, even while its being arid all that 
 constitutes its being are incessantly derived from 
 Him. 
 
 The universe consists of dead matter and of living 
 creatures. All of it and all things in it are the 
 objects of His care. But only living creatures can 
 receive from Him happiness; and all that is not 
 
236 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 living is for the sake of what is living, and is instru¬ 
 mental in enabling Him to give them happiness. 
 But what is happiness? This word expresses a feel¬ 
 ing which cannot be defined. We may use other 
 words, more or less synonymous, but they do not 
 define it. It needs no definition. All men know 
 what it is, for it is that which all men know that 
 they desire. In form it is infinitely diversified, and 
 so it is in measure. But all forms and all measures 
 of it are, like life, — which is equally diversified in 
 form and measure, — derived from one source, one 
 infinite happiness, which is the happiness of God. 
 Of this, which is His own happiness, He imparts 
 to all His creatures in the form and measure in 
 which they are capable of receiving it. Only where 
 there is life is there happiness; and in created life, 
 only in its highest form, — only in human life, — is 
 there a consciousness of happiness. 
 
 Only to men does He give this consciousness of 
 happiness; but He also gives to men much more 
 than this. He gives to them selfhood, proprium , 
 — ownership of themselves and of their life in a far 
 higher sense than that in which He gives this to 
 any other of His creatures. And therefore He 
 gives to them the power of determining for them¬ 
 selves the kind and the measure of the happiness 
 which they will make themselves capable of receiv¬ 
 ing from Him. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 237 
 
 In Him, in life in its origin and in itself, happiness 
 is an element of life, and is one with life. The gift 
 of proprium , and of the free will or power of self- 
 determination which flows from it, is given to man 
 not only because Infinite Love must have objects 
 out of itself, and could not otherwise have such 
 objects, but because, by means of this gift, the high¬ 
 est possible measure of happiness may be given to 
 those of His creatures who possess this freedom of 
 the will; that is, to human beings. For that great¬ 
 est happiness is the happiness of working with Him 
 by choice and as of themselves, to build themselves 
 up into the possibility of a likeness with Him, 
 which admits of conjunction with Him; and of 
 the perpetual and eternal growth of this likeness 
 and this conjunction, which is at every step the 
 result of God’s working and man’s free cooperation 
 with God. 
 
 As man cannot have one particle of goodness or 
 truth unless God gives them to him, so He cannot 
 give them to man unless man accepts them. And 
 man may accept the gifts of God, and utterly per¬ 
 vert them. He may receive from God that which 
 should be truth in his understanding and good in his 
 affection, and, by the abuse of his power of self- 
 determination, he may make it falsity and evil. 
 
 It has been already said that man has no con¬ 
 sciousness that he lives from God, or that his 
 
I 
 
 238 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 thoughts and affections are other than self-derived; 
 and he begins life with no other consciousness than 
 that his life is his own. Soon the difference be¬ 
 tween right and wrong becomes known to him. 
 Then, if he chooses good rather than evil, he be¬ 
 lieves not only that the power of choice which he 
 exerts is his own, which is true, but that this power 
 belongs to and is derived from his own nature, which 
 is false. This is, however, a falsehood which then 
 may do no harm; for it is necessary that he should 
 so begin his human consciousness that his selfhood, 
 or free-will, or proprium, may be complete and unim¬ 
 paired. But so long as he so believes, his choosing 
 good in act has less power to make him good in 
 spirit; for it tends to nourish self-love, self-pride, 
 and self-contentment, — all of which are the oppo¬ 
 sites of good. There is but one real good, and that is 
 godlikeness; for only that tends to make him capa¬ 
 ble of conjunction with God. Hence, from near the 
 beginning of his consciousness, influences around him 
 and within him endeavor to open his mind gradually 
 to the truth, and to lead his will to the good which 
 belongs to that truth. The idea of God is soon pre¬ 
 sented to him. Then other religious truths; those 
 which, as the Commandments, tell him to avoid do¬ 
 ing those things which would darken his thoughts 
 and corrupt his affections. These truths are taught 
 him in various ways, and with progressive increase 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 239 
 
 and elevation in their character, if he profits by them, 
 always being adapted by perfect wisdom to his capar 
 cities, that he may make use of them; and always 
 rising and growing as his capacities grow by his 
 reception of these truths in his understanding and 
 his will, and his incorporating them into his life. 
 By these means, and at every step forwards, his 
 proprium or selfhood is vivified with a true life, 
 and regenerated. Whensoever he rejects or abuses 
 the means of this improvement thus given him, his 
 proprium or selfhood remains what it originally 
 was, and that is only self-love, which, when unchecked 
 and uncontrolled, is the source and origin of all evil; 
 and therefore his proprium remains only self-love, or 
 only and altogether evil, and all that he thinks or 
 feels or does from it is evil and only evil. Therefore 
 also truth is never given him such in form or in 
 measure that he cannot receive it, or, if he receives, 
 must reject or pervert it; but always only such that 
 he may receive it if he will, and may profit by it if 
 he will. 
 
 The same law or principle of order, by which 
 Divine Providence is governed in reference to indi¬ 
 vidual men, governs this Providence also as to all 
 men or the race. From the beginning, God came 
 down to men always in forms and in measures per¬ 
 fectly suited to their capacities and needs. At first, 
 by revelations and influences of which we know but 
 
240 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 little, and only as we gather that from the first chap¬ 
 ters of Genesis, when their spiritual meaning is 
 disclosed by the science of correspondence. Then 
 followed successive revelations, and churches built 
 upon them. To the Jewish Church was given a 
 written Word. It was given, not to this church 
 
 only, but to mankind; and will endure as long as 
 
 / 
 
 mankind. It is adapted, even in its literal sense, 
 to all men in all ages. To those who are only natu¬ 
 ral, it speaks in tones of command, — prohibiting sin 
 and threatening disobedience with the consuming 
 wrath of an Omnipotent God, To those capable 
 of receiving into the understanding, heart, and life, 
 higher truths, they are given even in the literal 
 sense; and such men have always found them there. 
 These truths are all expressed under natural forms; 
 but these natural forms clothed spiritual forms, by 
 virtue of that correspondence between spiritual 
 things and natural things, which causes all natural 
 things to exist as the effects of their spiritual causes. 
 
 At length, more could be done for mankind. He 
 who had heretofore given them of His truth and His 
 influence through all these instrumentalities, came 
 down Himself; came to man in a human body and 
 in a human nature; was born and grew and lived 
 as a man among men, — Immanuel, God with us, — 
 through the years of one generation. 
 
 There is no life but His life. Whenever concep- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 241 
 
 tion takes place in a mother’s womb, it is because 
 life from Him, through the child’s father, and there¬ 
 fore modified and limited by that father, came down 
 and vivified the seed in the mother. But to the 
 virgin Mary life came directly from Him who is 
 Life; for He Himself, without any instrumental 
 medium, vivified the seed in Mary’s womb, and 
 Jesus Christ was conceived and born of a virgin. 
 
 In assuming a human body and a human nature, 
 He assumed a human proprium / that proprium, 
 ownhood, or selfhood, which has been repeatedly 
 spoken of. For what purpose and with what effect 
 He assumed this proprium , I will endeavor to state. 
 
 It may well seem an idle thing, or worse than 
 idle, to attempt to fathom the designs of the Om¬ 
 niscient and Almighty. But, thanks to His infi¬ 
 nite mercy, it is not impossible for us to see with 
 some clearness some part of His infinite purpose. 
 We venture, therefore, to say that the incarnation 
 of our Lord may be considered under five heads: — 
 
 1. The redemption of mankind. 
 
 2. The bringing of the spiritual world into order. 
 
 3. The making of the assumed humanity Divine. 
 
 4. The providing thereby of a new medium for 
 saving influence. 
 
 5. The giving to mankind for evermore a defi¬ 
 nite object of intelligent faith, of worship, and of 
 love. 
 
 10 
 
242 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND. 
 
 Any presentation of the working of Divine Prov¬ 
 idence which supposes that He works according to a 
 certain plan and method, and makes use of means 
 and instruments, and advances slowly, step by step, 
 — is open to the objection that it forgets His Omni¬ 
 science and Omnipotence, and likens Him to man in 
 a way that degrades Him. It will be said that He 
 who knows every thing needs not to grope His way 
 through experiments and by circuitous paths; and 
 that He who can do what He will needs not to 
 employ instruments or methods, nor to approach 
 gradually the end that He would reach. All this 
 is for man to do. He who has all knowledge and 
 all power has but to will, and it is; as when God 
 said “ Be light,” and “ light was.” 
 
 This objection has great weight with many minds; 
 more perhaps than they are aware of. The ob¬ 
 vious and immediate answer, that in point of fact 
 growth and movement by steps, and by instruments, 
 is the way and method of divine action, in all wo 
 
 t 
 
 see and know of it, does not satisfy them. The 
 fact is undisputable. The whole universe, and all 
 its parts and operations, proves and illustrates this 
 fact or law. And not only does the dead universe 
 prove it, but the universe of mind as well. Every 
 thing that lives acts by its instrument, and if by no 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 243 
 
 other instrument then by its body, which is its 
 instrument. Nothing marks the elevation of man 
 above all lower animals, more than the variety and 
 multiplicity of the instruments which he uses. And 
 gradual progress is another universal fact, for the 
 law of life is growth, and when that ceases decay 
 begins, and death approaches. Not more certain 
 is it, that the babe grows through childhood and 
 youth into manhood, than that the mind grows also, 
 and in every hour of its growth, or every step of its 
 progress, makes use of means and instruments that 
 it may grow. Nor, is this more true of the indi¬ 
 vidual than of the race. Age follows age ; there is 
 much alternation, — apparent advance being followed 
 by apparent retreat; and advance in some places is 
 accompanied by retreat in others. Events occur 
 which promote advance, and then those which 
 cause retreat; and not unfrequently those circum¬ 
 stances which seemed to promise advance or 
 threaten retreat are utterly falsified by the actual 
 result. But through it all, and as the common re¬ 
 sultant of it all, the race does grow, and does go 
 forward. 
 
 Either, then, there is no God, — or He has left 
 this world to take care of itself, — or else this 
 method of action, by successive steps, by the use of 
 diversified instrumentalities, and in ways suited to 
 varying conditions and needs, is the universal law 
 
■244 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 of Divine action. If it be so, any method of pro¬ 
 moting the salvation of mankind, which has not this 
 character, would stand in exact opposition to all 
 that we know, and all we might expect from what 
 w T e know of Divine Providence. 
 
 This answer, however, to the objection above 
 stated would tend rather to silence than to satisfy 
 it. There is a better answer. Because this is the 
 method of Divine action, to man can be given the 
 blessing of using the instruments which God pro¬ 
 vides, and of unending advancement in goodness 
 and in the happiness of working with God. 
 
 Before going farther, let me advert to a mistake 
 on which rests much of the unwillingness to con¬ 
 sider the Almighty as working step by step, and 
 upon a definite plan or method. This mistake is, 
 that there are no limits to the power of God; 
 whereas there is a sense in which, or an aspect 
 under which, this power is limited; for it is self¬ 
 limited by the Divine love and wisdom. God can 
 do nothing which He does not desire because it is 
 ,the best thing for his creatures. He can do nothing 
 which He does not see to be the best way of pro¬ 
 moting that result. The Divine omnipotence is the 
 willing and obedient servant of the Divine love and 
 wisdom. Herein wc see one of the instances of the 
 likeness of man to God. For what can be more 
 obvious, than that we grow in Godlikeness, or god- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 245 
 
 liness, in the measure in which the strength we 
 have is the willing and obedient servant of what¬ 
 ever love and wisdom there may be in us ? 
 
 Let us again refer to the fact, that while God 
 creates the universe constantly and incessantly, and 
 always from Himself, He so creates it that it shall 
 always be itself, or other than Him; and should 
 always and in all things, small or great, act as of 
 itself. 
 
 The first and perpetual effect is, that man, for 
 whom the universe is, and to whom it is always 
 accommodated, adjusted, and adapted by corre¬ 
 spondence,— man must always do his part of the 
 work in all that God does for him, wherein man can 
 work. Innumerable, yea, infinite, are the things 
 which God does for him, wherein he does and can do 
 nothing; as in all that belongs to his infancy and 
 immaturity, and in various circumstances of his life 
 and condition. All these things, however, have but 
 one end ; and that is, to lead and help him, by all 
 the aid which Omnipotence can yield, freely to 
 accept the blessing offered him, and in the exercise 
 of his own free will, and by the strength given him 
 to that end, do what there is for him to do, that this 
 blessing may be his. It can be his only, on the con¬ 
 dition that he thus cooperates with God. He could 
 not so cooperate, unless his free agency or free self- 
 determination in spiritual things were perfectly pre- 
 
246 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 served; and therefore it is preserved. And thus, 
 while he is perfectly and instantly dependent upon 
 God, he is always himself. In the measure in 
 which we understand this truth or law, we shall 
 find it easier to understand the mystery of life. 
 And let us endeavor to cast the light of this truth 
 upon the redemption of man by the incarnation of 
 God in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Life flows into man in two ways: immediately and 
 mediately. That which flows into him from God 
 immediately, forms the basis of his life. It flows 
 into the inmost of his being, and does not reach his 
 consciousness. That which flows into him mediately, 
 comes to him through angels and spirits. They 
 who are most like him are nearest to him by the 
 law of affinity. The life which flows through them 
 is modified by them, and is thereby suited to him 
 because they are like him, and are brought into con¬ 
 nection with him by this resemblance; not by a 
 blind law, for this influent life is always controlled 
 by our Father, and made to be the best for him which 
 it can be. This life forms and constitutes the whole 
 of his conscious life. He would have no conscious¬ 
 ness of being, no feeling, no thought, no action, and 
 no character, but for this mediate life. It must be 
 suited to him, that it may become his; and it is suited 
 to him by those through whom it flows to him, be¬ 
 cause they are like to him. They are many. They 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 247 
 
 are good so far as he has any thing of good in him 
 to bring the good near to him ; they are evil so far 
 as he has evil in his character to bring evil spirits 
 near to him. And in this way every thing in him 
 which lives is vivified. 
 
 But not every thing within him is thus vivified. 
 Far, very far more of that which is in him is never 
 brought forth into his consciousness. They must 
 have little experience or knowledge of themselves, 
 who do not know what it is to find some trait or 
 tendency which was wholly unexpected brought in¬ 
 to consciousness and activity. “ Is thy servant a 
 dog, that he should do this thing?” has been the 
 indignant exclamation of many who afterwards 
 found themselves doing just that thing. There is 
 no one of us who would not be amazed and shocked, 
 could he see all the proclivities to evil which are in 
 him by a long inheritance. But it is here that the 
 goodness and wisdom of Providence come in espe¬ 
 cially. These proclivities do us no harm, and are 
 not really a part of us or of our living self, while 
 they remain latent and suppressed. And our Father 
 so controls the influent life by which we live, that no 
 evil tendency shall be called forth, which it is beyond 
 our power to resist and overcome. But why, we 
 may ask, does not His mercy, by a similar control, 
 prevent any tendency to evil from acquiring vitality 
 within us? Nor is there any answer to this ques- 
 
248 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 tion, excepting so far as we understand and remem¬ 
 ber that Providence places our character in our 
 own hands, and we are gifted with the power of 
 preparing for eternal happiness, by building up, as 
 of ourselves, a character receptive thereof. Nor 
 can we do this in any other way than by resisting 
 and putting away from us, as of ourselves, an evil 
 tendency, and then the love of the opposite good 
 flows in, and is appropriated — or added to our pro - 
 prium — and becomes a part of ourselves. Unless 
 we do something of this, we do not take one step in 
 the path of happiness; and the more of this we do, 
 the farther we advance in this path. 
 
 That we may do this, our free-will is perfectly 
 preserved. The influences by which we live are 
 so balanced and equilibrated that we stand between 
 them, living from them, and yet free: free to turn 
 to the right or to the wrong; free to accept and ap¬ 
 propriate and make our own the good or the evil 
 that are within our reach; free “ to choose this day 
 whom we will serve,” — and every day of our lives 
 we make that choice. 
 
 Good spirits have no desire to disturb this equi¬ 
 librium, or coerce us in any way. They know that 
 upon the rightful exercise of our free-will depends 
 our happiness. Evil spirits seek nothing more than 
 to fetter this free-will, and coerce us into evil; lor 
 that will bring us into servitude to them. And now 
 
OF THE NEW CHUECH. 
 
 249 
 
 we come to the great fact which made the incarna¬ 
 tion of our Lord necessary. 
 
 All conscious life comes to men through those in 
 the spiritual world. Evil men become evil spirits, 
 and the life which flows through them is evil. This 
 evil life is equilibrated in the manner already stated. 
 But the amount and strength of evil had gradually 
 so increased in the spiritual world that this equilib¬ 
 rium had become difficult; and, if the same increase 
 of evil had gone on, would have become impossible. 
 Then would the free-will of mankind have perished, 
 and with it all the hope of eternal happiness. Man¬ 
 kind were made captive by the enemies of their 
 souls, and were passing under a bondage from 
 which there would be no escape. From this cap¬ 
 tivity, from this bondage, our Lord came to redeem 
 them. And in coming as He did come, He only 
 pursued to its end the path He had ever followed 
 in enabling and assisting men to work out their 
 
 o o 
 
 salvation. 
 
 Heretofore, from the beginning, truth had been 
 given to men to help them in their combat with 
 evil. It always came from the Divine wisdom; it 
 always was that wisdom accommodated to man. A 
 word is the expression of a thought. The Divine 
 Word is the form and expression of the Divine wis¬ 
 dom. Always it was the Word of God which 
 taught men how to escape from the hell within 
 
250 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 themselves, — the hell of self-love. It had come in 
 many forms; it had come in many revelations; it 
 had come as a written Word. But now, in man’s 
 greatest need, it came itself to men. 
 
 Let it not for a moment be supposed that the 
 Divine wisdom came alone, or separated from the 
 Divine love. With God, this is impossible. In 
 man, as we all know, truth and goodness, the un¬ 
 derstanding and the will, are separated, and some¬ 
 times far apart. For we all know what it is to love 
 that which the understanding rebukes, and have no 
 love for that which it approves and enjoins. The 
 will and the understanding, which are vessels for 
 and instruments of love and wisdom, are separated 
 and opposed when the will seeks and enjoys that 
 which the understanding condemns. 
 
 In God, love and wisdom exist together in a per¬ 
 fect unity. They are separated in man during his 
 life on earth, but that life is given him to bring them 
 again into unity. This is done when the under¬ 
 standing succeeds in bringing the will, first into 
 acknowledgment, then into obedience, and then 
 into love for that which the understanding knows 
 to be good. They are brought into unity also 
 when an evil will subdues the understanding into 
 agreement with itself, and, by its seductions, causes 
 the understanding to see as good and to call good 
 the evil things—the worldliness and selfishness — 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 251 
 
 which the unregenerated will loves. Blessed is he 
 whom truth has taught the way of goodness, and 
 who has followed that way until his will and under¬ 
 standing have become one in the knowledge and 
 the love of good. 
 
 In God, love and wisdom are perfectly and abso¬ 
 lutely one. The wisdom is always the guide, the 
 expression, and the instrument of the love, and 
 the love always the only motive force of the wis¬ 
 dom. Always, in the earliest, the later, and the 
 latest action and manifestation of the Word, or 
 of the wisdom of God, His love was in His wis¬ 
 dom as its source and life. For the Word was 
 always with God, and was always God, and with¬ 
 out it was nothing made (or done) which was 
 made. In the Word made flesh, the Infinite and 
 Divine love, and the Infinite and Divine wisdom, 
 were together as one; and as one became flesh by 
 assuming a human nature from the virgin Mary. 
 
 If it be asked how we can hope that a finite mind 
 can be lifted to a conception or to an intellectual 
 belief of an infinite, and therefore inexpressible and 
 inconceivable, fact, — the answer is, that here also 
 God has revealed Himself, not in His Word only, 
 but in His work; and even in ourselves has so 
 placed His image, that we gain from it some knowl¬ 
 edge even of Him. Whatsoever thing a man has 
 ever done, he did because some desire or affection 
 
252 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 moved him to do it, and caused a thought of how 
 to do it; and when it was done, the affection and 
 the thought met together in the act. Were there 
 
 C? CP 
 
 no affection, there would be no motive power; were 
 
 s 
 
 there no thought, the motive power could not act; 
 and only in the act could both come forth and be. 
 From this faint image of the Infinite, we may look 
 up, not wholly without light, even to the Infinite 
 itself, — although the image is as far from its proto¬ 
 type as earth is from heaven; but earth reflects the 
 forms of heaven. 
 
 Thus the Word made flesh was God with us,— 
 Immanuel. He was a man, conceived within a 
 human mother, and born of a human mother. But 
 
 i 
 
 within that assumed humanity there was God Him¬ 
 self. 
 
 The Word was made flesh by the impregnation 
 of a virgin. We have already said, that, whenever a 
 human child begins to live, life through its father 
 impregnates the ovum in its mother; and the child 
 grows, and is born. But, in the case of our Lord, 
 life came to the mother directly, and not through 
 any human father. 
 
 When a man is regenerated, it is by resisting and 
 overcoming the proclivities to evil, which belong to 
 his inherited nature. Precisely so it was with our 
 Lord; but with this difference. No evil spirits are 
 permitted to have access to any man, and waken any 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 I 
 
 253 
 
 of liis inherited proclivities to evil, excepting those 
 which he may, if he will, resist and subdue. Pre¬ 
 cisely so was it with our Lord ; but with this differ¬ 
 ence. In any man, the life which is his came to 
 him through a human father, and was modified by 
 this transmission; his power of resisting and sub¬ 
 duing his evils is thereby modified and limited, and 
 the evils which present themselves to his conscious¬ 
 ness are those only which this limited power is 
 adequate to subdue. But the life within our Lord 
 was infinite, possessing all power; therefore all the 
 evil tendencies in the nature inherited from the 
 mother came forth into consciousness and conscious 
 effort, because the life within was strong enough to 
 resist them all, and overcome them all: and it did 
 resist, subdue, and extirpate all of them. 
 
 With every man, the evil tendencies which awaken 
 within him, and tempt him to sin in thought, affec¬ 
 tion, or act, are animated by evil spirits in whom 
 those very evils have become their life. If he resists 
 in these temptations, if he overcomes in these con¬ 
 flicts, he overcomes these evil spirits, and lessens 
 and at length destroys their power to do him harm. 
 
 Precisely so was it with our Lord ; but with this 
 difference. The evil spirits by whom He was 
 tempted, and whom He overcame, were the whole 
 company of evil spirits; for all the powers of hell 
 were permitted to rise up against Him; in His 
 
254 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 mother, Mary, were by long inheritance germs of 
 all possible evil, and the work which our Lord came 
 to do, He could therefore do completely. All of 
 these evil spirits He conquered, and conquered per¬ 
 fectly ; and all of them He reduced into such order, 
 that never thereafter should they exert an overpow¬ 
 ering influence upon man, or any influence beyond 
 what might subserve his best interests in bringing 
 to his knowledge and within his reach the sinful 
 tendencies which he might overcome, — and thus 
 giving him the means and opportunity of removing 
 from himself those hindrances which opposed the 
 good influences that seek to give him the life of 
 heaven. 
 
 Thus our Lord became our Redeemer. Thus He 
 redeemed us from slavery to sin, and bondage to evil 
 and unhappiness. 
 
 / 
 
 it is common to consider redemption and salva¬ 
 tion as the same thing. It is not so. Redemption 
 makes salvation possible. It supplies the means, 
 and gives the opportunity of securing salvation ; it 
 gives salvation to all who will make use of those 
 means, and profit by that opportunity. Redemp¬ 
 tion is an accomplished fact, and is universal. Sal¬ 
 vation comes to all who are willing to profit by their 
 redemption, and accept the offer of salvation. Re¬ 
 demption means the deliverance from all those in¬ 
 fluences which would have made our salvation 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 255 
 
 impossible. Salvation means an escape from sin by 
 our acceptance of, and cooperation with, the Divine 
 effort to save us. 
 
 Again it may be asked, Why has an Omniscient 
 and Omnipotent Being taken this indirect and cir¬ 
 cuitous method of accomplishing His purpose, in¬ 
 stead of reaching this result at once by the exercise 
 of His Sovereign will ? And, again, we refer to this 
 gift of man to himselfj to this proprium or ownhood 
 of life, without which man would not be man, for he 
 would lose all that distinguishes and characterizes 
 his nature. It may help us to believe that this 
 work of redemption was done in the manner we 
 have attempted to describe, if we remember that 
 man alone can sin. To him alone among the creat¬ 
 ures of God is this fearful power given. For man 
 alone can choose between good and evil, and his 
 choice of evil makes sin. Man alone can resist sin 
 and put it away. For he alone can choose between 
 good and evil, and his choice of good resists sin and 
 puts it away. Human nature alone can be defiled 
 with sin; and only in and by human nature can this 
 defilement be cleansed away. 
 
 So has our Lord created us; so has He created 
 human nature. He has made it to be itself, its own. 
 He has given it power to do its own work; and that 
 it might do this fully, that its choice of good might 
 be its own and entirely its own, He has so formed 
 
256 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 it, that only by and through human nature can the 
 work of resisting evil and choosing good be done. 
 Therefore, our Lord Himself assumed this human 
 nature, that in it, by it, and through it, He might 
 contend against and overcome and put away all 
 evil; which work, even He could not do in any 
 
 $ s 
 
 other way. There have been those who, oppressed 
 by the magnitude of this fact, have held that it was 
 all unreal, not a fact, but only an ajDpearance. They 
 were terribly mistaken. It was the greatest reality 
 in heaven or in earth. He, the Infinite and Eternal, 
 was born of a woman, and lay in the manger in 
 Bethlehem, — a babe, — a human babe. From this 
 humble infancy He grew into childhood, youth, and 
 manhood. And in His human nature, from the 
 power it derived from the Almightiness within, He 
 resisted all the tendencies to evil of this nature, and 
 contended with and overcame the evil spirits who 
 animated these evils and brought them into His 
 consciousness, and strove to bring them into will 
 and act. 
 
 He conquered them; and by this victory He 
 wrought the redemption of mankind. 
 
 THE BRINGING OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD INTO ORDER. 
 
 It will be recollected as a part of this statement, 
 that all our conscious life comes to us through those 
 in the spiritual world, who are brought near to us by 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 257 
 
 affinity or resemblance; that we neither think nor 
 love nor do evil, except from the influence of those 
 who, finding in us the germ of the evil which has 
 reached its maturity in them, animate that germ with 
 their own life ; that, at the time of the coming of our 
 Lord, our enemies had become so numerous and 
 strong, that it had become difficult, and would have 
 become impossible, so to balance their evil influences 
 with good influences as to leave our spiritual freedom 
 unimpaired. By our Lord’s victories over these evil 
 spirits, our redemption was wrought; and, that it 
 might be complete, all the powers of darkness and 
 of death were permitted to assail Him, and all were 
 conquered. 
 
 These conflicts or temptations, and the sufferings 
 attendant upon them, grew even to the end. They 
 were like those which men suffer from like causes, 
 with the exception repeatedly made before, that they 
 were boundless and unlimited; they were all , of 
 which no man can know more than a part. We 
 cannot conceive of them adequately; but, that we 
 may not be wholly ignorant, we have the story of 
 Gethsemane. In this we have a picture of the 
 sharpest agony that man ever endured; for where 
 else was it ever seen that a human mind could be 
 tortured, until the sweat fell from the brow in drops 
 of blood ? 
 
 It is commonly supposed that His suffering in Getk- 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 semane arose from His anticipation of what was 
 awaiting Him in Calvary. But this supposition 
 does Him fearful injustice. How many of his fol¬ 
 lowers went rejoicingly to a similar but more pro¬ 
 tracted and painful death! No. The suffering in 
 that garden was from conflicts at that moment 
 going on within Him. When, in His intolerable 
 distress, perfect patience for a moment gave way, 
 and He said, “ Let this cup pass from me,” — it 
 was the cup He was at that moment drinking. He 
 drank it all. They crucified Him, and He died on 
 the cross; but he did not die from the cross. 
 Capital punishment by crucifixion was well known 
 and often practised in those days, nor is it now 
 wholly unknown in the East. Different writers, 
 ancient and modern, tell us about it. The nails 
 did not pierce a vital organ, and a crucified person 
 who was not interfered with usually lived from 
 three to seven days. Our Lord hung on the cross 
 six hours, and then gave up the ghost. The two 
 who were crucified with Him were alive when the 
 soldiers came, and were put to death. What then 
 * did our Lord die of? He died because the inten¬ 
 sity of His spiritual suffering laid at last upon his 
 physical frame a heavier burden than it could bear. 
 He died of intolerable agony. 
 
 It may be that there are few in these days who 
 can form any conception of this kind of suffering. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 259 
 
 It has not been so always. There have been those 
 who have felt and have manifested from similar con¬ 
 flicts, an extremity of distress which shattered the 
 mind and convulsed the body. Here, as so often 
 elsewhere, we have but to enlarge indefinitely a 
 thing of human experience to reach a higher experi¬ 
 ence. That our redemption might be accomplished, 
 all the powers of evil were permitted to assail Him. 
 They were conquered; but more than that was 
 necessary, that our redemption might be perma¬ 
 nent and perpetual. It was necessary that these 
 evil spirits from whom all evil influences come, 
 should be so disposed of, so arranged, and so cir¬ 
 cumstanced, that never, or very seldom and only 
 for a time, should there be an irruption from the 
 abode of the false and the evil; of force enough to 
 break down man’s will. 
 
 When we speak of the people of the spiritual 
 world as undergoing some process of disposition 
 and arrangement which should have a material and 
 permanent effect upon their condition and their 
 power, we encounter the difficulty arising from the 
 prevailing dimness and feebleness of the belief that 
 there are any such people, or, as a matter of fact, 
 any other world but this. A mind in such a state 
 can scarcely believe that words have any meaning 
 which describe that world as most real, and as 
 having inhabitants who are men and women still, 
 
OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 Mini subject to various changes of condition, some 
 
 \ 
 
 slow and gradual, some rapid and sudden, much 
 as it is in this world. Yet even this must be 
 believed, if we would understand at all the effect 
 of our Lord’s life and death on earth, in establish¬ 
 ing new order in the spiritual world. 
 
 THE MAKING OF THE ASSUMED HUMANITY DIVINE. 
 
 The conflict and agony endured by our Lord was 
 a conflict between the immeasurable evil of the 
 assumed humanity and the perfect good within. 
 It belonged to and was felt in that human nature. 
 Again, we must refer to our own experience as men, 
 to help us to form some conception of this. Every 
 one who has resisted any evil thought or wish in 
 himself, must know that something within him, 
 something higher than his lower nature, opposed 
 and resisted the tendencies of this lower nature. 
 He must know that he himself consisted, if we may 
 so speak, of two natures, — one lower and more ex¬ 
 ternal than the other, to which all the influences of 
 sense and self and worldliness had access, and the 
 other higher and more internal, in which better 
 thoughts and better feelings prevailed. He must 
 know, if much conflict between what is worse and 
 what is better has taught him the lesson, that these 
 two are so distinct that he may look upon himself 
 as in some sense two men, — a natural man and a 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 261 
 
 spiritual man. And not only his own experience, 
 but his observation of all around him, teaches him 
 that what the whole man becomes depends upon 
 the issue of this conflict: natural, if the lower nature 
 prevails and suppresses or silences the higher nature, 
 which would rebuke and reform the lower; spiritual, 
 if this higher nature prevails in the conflict, and suc¬ 
 ceeds in subduing the impulses of the lower, and 
 these grow weaker and less urgent until their power 
 disappears, and they are suppressed. 
 
 Carry this conception upwards, as far as our 
 limited faculties permit, and it will help us to 
 understand the effect of our Lord’s temptations and 
 victories. It will help us, too, to understand how 
 He spake and acted differently in these two states. 
 At times, when that which was only natural was 
 urgent and prominent, He spake as a suffering 
 man, and of the Father as distinct and afar from 
 Him; when the conflict had ended in victory, He 
 spake of the Father as one with Him. At one time 
 appearing to the disciples as distraught with the 
 agony of Gethsemane, and at another as glorified 
 with the glory of the Father, as on the mount of 
 transfiguration. These conflicts and victories were 
 constant, and covered the whole ground. He 
 cleansed His assumed human nature perfectly from 
 defilement, from every thing belonging to it which 
 opposed the divine withiu. It was full of all evil, 
 
 i 
 
262 
 
 OUTLINES ON THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 and all this evil He expelled; and as the evil passed 
 away, the opposite good, divine good, took its 
 place. He brought this lower nature into perfect 
 harmony, into oneness, with the divine within. The 
 human nature became glorified; without ceasing to 
 be human, it became a divine nature. He was at 
 once perfect Man and perfect God. 
 
 THEREBY WAS PROVIDED A NEW MEDIUM FOR 
 
 SAVING INFLUENCE. 
 
 In this divine-human nature, God has a new and 
 nearer access to us in our human nature. He always 
 works by instruments or means, and we can see, 
 dimly if not clearly, that, excepting by instruments 
 or media of some kind, the Infinite could not reach 
 and act upon the finite. Many are the instruments 
 he has used and is using, — as many as the things He 
 has created and creates; but by His incarnation and 
 His unition of His assumed humanity with His 
 essential divinity, He has a new instrument per¬ 
 fectly adjusted to our human needs; for while it 
 is divine with the essential Divinity, it is human 
 in the Divine external. The nature which He 
 assumed is our nature, and the proclivities to evil, 
 which’ in that nature He resisted and subdued, 
 are our proclivities to evil. If we would resist our 
 own proclivities to evil, we must follow His example, 
 and resist them as he resisted them. There is no 
 
OF THE NEW CIIUECH. 
 
 263 
 
 other way. And, while we acknowledge His omni¬ 
 science and perfect love, we may think that in 
 every step of the way, — in every effort, every pain, 
 every trial, in the dark hours of temptation, in the 
 darker hours when despair is drawing near, — He is 
 with us in His divine-human experience, and with 
 His divine-human sympathy. All that, too, He has 
 known ; for His trials and His sufferings include all 
 
 trial, and all suffering. 
 
 » ° 
 
 In all our conflicts with the enemies of our souls, 
 it is He who fights for us and in us, even as He 
 fought against those same enemies when He stood 
 on earth. By His victory over them He reduced 
 them to order, so that they could never more assail 
 us with a strength He could not enable us to 
 resist, as of ourselves and in our own freedom. 
 More He did not do. He did not take from us the 
 necessity of doing our part, because He loved us too 
 well to take from us the blessing that comes, when 
 we do our part. It is only His strength that fights 
 the battle, but He gives this strength to us to be 
 our own, if we are willing to accept it, and make use 
 of it; for we, too, must fight that battle, as of our¬ 
 selves. We are fighting for life; we must conquer 
 or die : and in all the days or years we pass in this 
 world this battle is going on, all hough we know it 
 not. This is the battle between right and wrong, 
 between truth and falsehood, between good and 
 
264 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 evil. The power to choose comes only from Him; 
 but He gives us this power, and our choice is our 
 own. Over us His infinite goodness is watching, 
 exactly adapting all the circumstances of life to our 
 spiritual needs, bringing to us every day in the form 
 of that day’s duty the means by which we may ad¬ 
 vance along the path He trod. He helps us always 
 with a power which cannot fail, and leads us always 
 with a wisdom which cannot mistake, but which 
 we are often utterly incapable of comprehending. 
 And He leaves it always to us, to choose whether 
 we will reject His mercies, or accept them in the 
 only way in which we can accept them; and that is, 
 by doing the duty of each day, in the strength He 
 gives us, and with the acknowledgment that it is 
 His strength, given to us, by which we do it. 
 
 Mankind has reached a point in human progress, 
 at which it is given us to knoTV, if we will, that we 
 live from God, constantly and in the highest and 
 most absolute sense; that we depend upon Him for 
 life, and for all the thought and feeling and power 
 which constitute life, instantly, incessantly, and per¬ 
 fectly ; that He is ever doing all that infinite love 
 can prompt, and all that perfect wisdom can discern, 
 to make our destiny a happy one. But that, never¬ 
 theless, He has placed our destiny in our own 
 hands. 
 
 Perhaps ages must elapse before the human mind 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 265 
 
 can be so far cleansed from its obstructions and 
 defilements, that this central truth of man’s own- 
 hood of his life, which perfectly reconciles the omni¬ 
 potence of God and our perfect dependence upon 
 Him, with our perfect freedom; which reconciles 
 His omniscience and almightiness with the neces- 
 sity and efficacy of our Lord’s life and death on 
 earth, — before this truth can be seen with entire 
 fulness and clearness. But so far as it is seen, it 
 stands in the mind as indeed a central truth. From 
 it radiates light into all the departments of thought 
 which concern themselves with the relations of God 
 with man, or with the laws of being in this life or in 
 the other. Resting upon it we may have doctrines 
 on all these subjects, which illuminate the sorrow, the 
 danger, and the mystery of life. Unspeakable the 
 hope and consolation, the trust and peace they offer 
 when pain and peril press upon us most heavily. 
 They solve hard questions of duty, and fall as sun¬ 
 shine upon the pathway that leads to heaven and to 
 God. 
 
 THE GIVING TO MANKIND FOR EVERMORE A DEFI¬ 
 NITE OBJECT OF INTELLIGENT FAITH, OF WOR¬ 
 SHIP, AND OF LOVE. 
 
 Throughout this work I have assumed the immor¬ 
 tality of man, and the existence of God. The system 
 of Swedenborg would have much to say, if these 
 
206 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 fundamental truths were disputed. But they are 
 topics by themselves, and I have thought it best not 
 to enter upon any direct investigation of them in 
 this sketch. One reason is, that I suppose them to 
 be generally and almost universally believed in some 
 form or other, and have therefore confined myself 
 to some attempts to rectify and improve this belief. 
 But they who hold it in any form whatever would 
 probably admit that a correct knowledge of God, 
 and just views of His nature and action, if it were 
 possible to attain to them, would have a vast 
 importance, not only in this life, but during the 
 whole of that immortality. The religious phil¬ 
 osophy I am attempting to exhibit goes still far¬ 
 ther. It asserts that the whole condition of every 
 man through eternity is governed and determined 
 by his relation, or the relation of his thoughts and 
 affections, to God. We are told by our Lord, that 
 the first and greatest commandment is to love God. 
 Th is, like every commandment in the Word, is not 
 merely a positive requirement, but it is a revelation. 
 It discloses to us the truth, that our love to God 
 measures our capacity of happiness; that the entire 
 absence of this love implies the entire absence of 
 that capacity; and that the quality of that love 
 determines the quality of our happiness. Hence, 
 from the very beginning, it has been the constant 
 endeavor of Divine Providence to give to men this 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 267 
 
 knowledge and this love, so far as it was possible for 
 men to receive them in freedom, and give them a 
 cordial welcome. 
 
 All the earlier revelations, however they began, 
 ended in idolatry. This was permitted, because even 
 this was always better than no recognition and no 
 worship of a being or beings above men. And while 
 in many instances this idolatry ran to extremes 
 which were awful in their wickedness, we have also 
 much reason to believe that through them a lmht 
 shone upon many minds, which suggested, some¬ 
 times to the intellect, perhaps oftener to the heart, 
 a belief in and a love for a Supreme, Almighty 
 Father. 
 
 Through many fluctuations, far more than history 
 takes note of, there was on the whole a gain or 
 enlargement of the human capacity for truth and 
 goodness, even from the first existence of mankind, 
 when they lived only as animals live. These fluct¬ 
 uations were inevitable. Every revelation of truth 
 became dim, and every church founded upon these 
 revelations ran through its course of morning, noon, 
 and night. For every revelation, like every spir¬ 
 itual gift of God, was given to and submitted to 
 man’s freedom. We may liken the whole course of 
 Divine Providence to the advancing and retreating 
 waves of a rising tide; or, better, to the tide that 
 rises and falls back, but is ever slowly but surely 
 
268 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 gaining on the shore, on which it seems to break 
 ineffectually. So the influence of truth and of good 
 has been slowly but surely gaining upon the in¬ 
 durated self-love, the natural proprium of mankind. 
 And, as they gained, new and larger gifts, making 
 still greater gains possible, could be and therefore 
 were given to mankind. 
 
 A step of vast importance was taken, when a 
 written word was given. But a further step of infi¬ 
 nitely greater moment was taken, when our Lord 
 came upon earth. And then the Gospels were 
 written, containing His words and acts. Then the 
 Apocalypse was written, containing little literal 
 truth, but in its spiritual meaning disclosing the 
 spiritual history of Christianity, — thus complet¬ 
 ing the Word of God. Nothing more remained 
 but that second coming of the Lord, His coming 
 in the Spirit, which was distinctly intimated in 
 the Gospels, and of which the Apocalypse of St. 
 John is, in its spiritual sense, a perfectly definite 
 prophecy. 
 
 Our Lord was a man; certainly He was a man. 
 But there was that in His words and works which 
 distinctly indicated that He was a divine person; 
 and when one of His disciples called Him, u My 
 Lord and my God,” He accepted this address. 
 During the first centuries, He was worshipped as 
 divine by all; for those most earnest to find in the 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 269 
 
 early centuries a denial of His divinity have wholly 
 failed. He was regarded as a manifestation of the 
 Father, as Himself divine; and was not unfrequently 
 called or spoken of as God. At first, there was 
 little effort to determine His relation to the Father, 
 beyond the accepted phrase, “ Son of God.” But at 
 length, some three centuries after His death, these 
 inquiries took definite shape; and then the contro¬ 
 versy between Arius and Athanasius arose. At the 
 Council of Nice, in the year 325, it was determined 
 in favor of Athanasius; and what was called the 
 heresy of Arius was condemned. The essence of 
 that heresy was, that Jesus Christ was a created 
 person, whom God the Father called into being; 
 and Arians and Semi-Arians gave unto Him, in 
 various forms, all the glory and exaltation that were 
 compatible with His distinctness from and subor¬ 
 dination to the Father. This heresy, subdued with 
 much difficulty, retained sufficient power in the 
 church to be very troublesome for some ages, and 
 has never been eradicated. 
 
 The Nicene Council decided that the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost were of the same essence; 
 the Arians contending that they were of like essence. 
 The dominant or orthodox party contended that 
 while they were One, they were also Three. But 
 three what ? It is impossible that this question must 
 not have greatly exercised the minds of thinking 
 
270 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 men. Among the most noticeable things in church 
 history is the indistinctness, the delay, not to say 
 the reluctance, with which the church answered 
 this question. I must be very brief in noticing this 
 answer, and perhaps cannot do better than to refer 
 for illustration to the three creeds, — the Apostles’, 
 the Nicean, and the Athanasian. 
 
 Of the first the origin is unknown ; but it is cer¬ 
 tainly of extreme antiquity, and settled down into 
 its present form in less than two centuries after our 
 Lord’s birth. It is not so much a creed of opinions 
 or beliefs, as an assertion of facts; but of such facts 
 as they who framed it supposed all Christians should 
 and would admit. Very possibly it was soon after 
 its general adoption used as a test-creed, as setting 
 forth what it was on the one hand necessary, and on 
 the other hand sufficient, for a Christian to believe in 
 order to entitle him to that name. As to the point 
 under consideration, it says nothing about our Lord 
 except by stating the facts narrated in the Gospels, 
 and nothing: concerning: His nature or His relation 
 
 o o 
 
 to the Father beyond calling Him “His only begot¬ 
 ten Son.” 
 
 Then came the Nicean creed; agreed upon at 
 that council only after long, and earnest, and furious 
 debate, and, perhaps, the coercive authority of the 
 Emperor. In this creed, description and epithets 
 are used without stint to mark with reprobation the 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 271 
 
 heresy of Arius. It calls our Lord, “ God of God, 
 Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not 
 made, being of one substance with the Father.” 
 But they do not go further and say what the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Spirit are in respect to each 
 other. And then came the Athanasian creed; 
 formed, probably, a century or two after Athanasius, 
 and called by his name, because it was intended 
 and believed to express his views. However, when¬ 
 ever, or by whomsoever composed, it gradually 
 worked its way into general acceptance; and for 
 more than a thousand years, and until recently, has 
 been the authoritative symbol or creed of Catholic, 
 Greek, and Protestant, and indeed of Christendom, 
 with the exception of those who have strayed wholly 
 away from the old paths. This creed is as definite 
 as words can make it, and labors after words to 
 make it perfectly definite. The sum of the whole 
 matter is, that there are three Persons and one 
 God; “for there is one person of the Father, 
 another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost; 
 but the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost is all one; the glory equal, the 
 majesty coeternal.” 
 
 I do not pause to consider the Greek w hypostatis,” 
 or “ prosopon,” or the etymological and original 
 meaning of Person. That which is certain about 
 the matter is, that Christendom, as a general thing, 
 
272 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 settled down into the worship of three persons who 
 formed one God. They were understood to be 
 distinct individualities, so distinct as to have dif¬ 
 ferent characteristics and functions, and enter into 
 arrangements with each other founded upon these 
 characteristics and the different work they did. 
 This is made certain by the vicarious atonement, or 
 the scheme of salvation which was founded upon 
 and indissolubly connected with this distinctness of 
 persons. For this scheme or system was, that the 
 First person of the Trinity accepted the self-sacrifice 
 of the Second person as atoning for the sin of the 
 sinner, and satisfying the requirement of the First 
 person’s justice; whereby the Third person became 
 able to do for the sinner the work of regeneration 
 and salvation. It would seem difficult, not to say im¬ 
 possible, to hold this system in substance and reality, 
 and not to look upon these three persons as sepa¬ 
 rate from each other, as much as three men are; and 
 any dimness or uncertainty about this distinct sepa¬ 
 ration must make the belief of this scheme of salva¬ 
 tion proportionally dim and indistinct; and if this 
 distinct separation were wholly lost, then all belief in 
 this scheme must be wholly lost from thought, what¬ 
 ever words might continue to be used. A few 
 words concerning the history of this doctrine may 
 illustrate our meaning. 
 
 We have a right to say of Augustine, Bishop of 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 273 
 
 Hippo, that he was a great and good man, if any 
 evidence can authorize us to attach these words to 
 any person. And yet, to him more than to any 
 other, the Christian Church owes its system of elec¬ 
 tion, predestination, and salvation by faith alone. 
 Of course it is always said by those who hold this 
 system, that its foundations are to be found in the 
 epistles of Paul. There, undoubtedly, Augustine 
 did find these foundations; but it was his great 
 logical power which built upon them the fabric that 
 has lasted to our own time. 
 
 His early life was, perhaps, dissolute. But the 
 instruction of his admirable mother, Monica, who 
 was a most devout Christian, at length bore fruit. 
 While still a young man he determined to change 
 his life. At first he sought help and guidance in 
 philosophy ; but he soon saw or felt its insufficiency, 
 and, turning to religion, he became a Manichean. 
 To that doctrine of two sovereigns of the world, one 
 good and the other evil, he was impelled by the pro¬ 
 found conviction of his own sinfulness. After a 
 few years he renounced it, and became an orthodox 
 Christian. Still the conviction of his sinful nature 
 haunted him, and the business of his intellectual life 
 was to account for this. He thought the accepted 
 doctrines of the church, especially as expounded by 
 St. Paul, enabled him to do so; for he understood 
 
 from them that Adam by his disobedience, — by doing 
 
 18 
 
274 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 his own will instead of the will of God, which is at 
 once the root and the sum and substance of all evil, — 
 fixed upon his own nature the stain of rebellion, and 
 imparted that nature to his children, whereby they 
 are irresistibly inclined to evil; that is, to the love 
 of self rather than the love of God. By this taint 
 all men became sinful, and all merit from the perfect 
 justice of God the punishment of damnation. They 
 could be saved only by the self-sacrifice of the only- 
 begotten Son of God, who thereby atoned for their 
 sins ; and the benefit of this atonement fell on those 
 who had been elected as its recipients, and predes¬ 
 tined to salvation. At first, and for some years, he 
 held only to conditional predestination; that is, to 
 predestination founded upon foreknowledge. The 
 Omniscient could not but foreknow who would 
 accept the grace offered to all, and them He would 
 predestinate to salvation. But in his later years he 
 abandoned all condition, and maintained the doc¬ 
 trine of absolute predestination, with no reference 
 to the individual man. In those days this doctrine 
 was, and ever since has been, opposed by those who 
 saw in it the great danger of telling men that con¬ 
 duct could have no influence upon destiny; and in 
 Augustine’s day this opposition was the more urgent, 
 because his doctrine had impelled some to avowed 
 Antinomianism (or the worthlessness of obedience to 
 law), and to the misconduct which would flow there- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 275 
 
 from. Nevertheless, his great influence established 
 this as the doctrine of the church. In succeeding 
 ages, this doctrine came sometimes into controversy, 
 and sometimes faded out of notice. Later, in the 
 centuries immediately preceding Luther, it yielded 
 practically to a view of the efficacy of works, which 
 was carried to an extreme. 
 
 Then came Luther. Partly from constitutional 
 tendency, more from his needing it as a weapon 
 against the papacy, he took up Augustine’s whole 
 system, dwelling especially upon salvation by faith 
 alone. I have read a quotation from one of his ser¬ 
 mons, in which he says that good works can have 
 nothing to do in causing regeneration, because before 
 regeneration our works cannot be good, and after 
 regeneration they cannot cause what has been al¬ 
 ready effected. He and his disciples — the kind and 
 gentle Melancthon especially — preached and pressed 
 this doctrine unreservedly; and, as one of its almost 
 inevitable consequences, Antinomianism, or dis¬ 
 regard of the law, broke forth with fury, and did 
 vast mischief. 
 
 It is, however, to Calvin more than to any or all 
 others, that the prevalence of the doctrine of salva¬ 
 tion by faith alone among Protestants is due. He 
 rested this doctrine upon the atonement by vicarious 
 punishment, and that upon the doctrine of three 
 persons in one God. With his powerful logic he 
 
276 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 bound together with such consistency and coherence 
 these elements of his system, that it has resisted 
 all assault until recently. Now, while it has caused 
 some to be unbelievers in any religion, and has led 
 more to construct a religion which did not require 
 the divinity of Jesus Christ, it has exhibited its 
 inherent weakness more clearly by its universal 
 decay. There are still a few who from time to time 
 preach or publish some assertion of old Orthodoxy 
 in its hardest form, as if to show that it was 
 not quite dead yet. Nor is it; for to many it is 
 all the religion they have, and any obscurity or 
 weakening of the system in their minds, or of its 
 foundation (the tripersonality of the Godhead), is 
 an obscurity and a weakening of their religion. 
 
 The strongest minds, — profoundly impressed with 
 the necessity of upholding the doctrine of an atone¬ 
 ment by vicarious suffering, on the one hand, and of 
 maintaining the unity of God on the other, — have 
 expended all their strength in the endeavor to 
 reconcile a trinity of persons with a unity of person. 
 But in vain, because reason is incapable of the 
 thought. Some have said it is not a truth for 
 reason, because we cannot understand it; but that 
 it is a truth for faith, because we can believe it. 
 But this is a mere misuse of the word “belief.” 
 If a scholar whom we trusted read to us some 
 Arabic words of which we knew not the mean- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 277 
 
 ing, and told us they expressed a truth, we might 
 learn the sounds and repeat them as a formula, 
 and insist that they were true. But this would be 
 a belief of the man who told us, and in no sense 
 a belief of the wholly unknown ideas which the 
 words express. So, if our religious teachers assure 
 us that God is one person, but is also three per¬ 
 sons, we may say it is so; but we attach no mean¬ 
 ing to the words, nor is there any meaning in our 
 faith; for the human mind is wholly unable to 
 attach a meaning to such words. 
 
 Those who hold this doctrine as an article of 
 faith may be divided into three classes: First, those 
 who hold it only in words, and do not think about 
 it at all. Then, those who jmofess the doctrine, but 
 forget the tripersonality, and believe in one God. 
 Then, those who, clinging to the tripersonality, be¬ 
 lieve in three Gods. It would seem to be impossible 
 to believe actually in three persons and one God, be¬ 
 cause this is unthinkable. The old maxim, “ Credo 
 quia impossibile est,” — “I believe because it is im¬ 
 possible,”— was used to mark the distinction be¬ 
 tween a religious faith and a merely rational Faith. 
 Now none would avow it, and all would agree that 
 it was ludicrously absurd. And yet it would express 
 accurately the condition of that mind which really 
 believed that there were three persons, each one of 
 
278 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 whom was God, and that, nevertheless, there was 
 but one God. 
 
 It is to this condition of the Christian mind, that 
 the New-Church comes to give for evermore a defi¬ 
 nite object of religious Faith, of Worship, and of 
 Love. This object is our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ; in whose person is a Trinity analogous to 
 that in every man. For in every man there is Love 
 or aflection, which is the motive power of every act; 
 Thought, which is produced from love or affection, 
 and is the instrument by means of which the affection 
 or desire acts; and Action, or operation, wrought by 
 the love through the thought. And in these we 
 have, by as close an analogy as can exist between the 
 infinite and the finite, what is meant by Jehovah 
 the Father, His only-begotten Son, and the Holy 
 Spirit. When we address a man, and ask of him a 
 favor, we do not address his affections alone, nor his 
 thoughts alone, nor his action alone; but we ad¬ 
 dress the whole man. Precisely so should we 
 address in thought, in faith, in prayer, and in love, 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He is Jehovah 
 in His divine humanity. He is the Holy Spirit in 
 His divine providence. He is our Lord and our 
 God. Will, understanding, and action are as dis¬ 
 tinct in God as they are in man, and are distinct in 
 man because they are distinct in God; and they are 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 279 
 
 no more three persons in God than they are three 
 persons in man. 
 
 Without recognizing the likeness between God 
 and man, as has been repeatedly said, it will be im¬ 
 possible to have any idea whatever of God. From 
 very early in the history of thought on this subject, 
 — at least in the early Hindu and Greek religious 
 philosophies, — there were those who urgently and 
 eloquently maintained the doctrine of one God, the 
 All-father, the Infinite, Absolute, and Impersonal; 
 towards whom or which, in their view, all the 
 many and diversified forms of popular religion 
 pointed. Of late years this doctrine seems to be 
 revived; for there are those who think they are 
 giving clearness and accuracy to their religious 
 ideas by going back, not to the early name, but to 
 this early doctrine. That God should be a person 
 they hold to be an absurdity, and almost a contra¬ 
 diction in terms. He must be infinite, and therefore 
 without limitation or definition ; and therefore with¬ 
 out personality. * But it should be obvious, for it is 
 certain, and by some of the strongest thinkers who 
 hold this view it is admitted, that of such a Being 
 it is necessarily impossible to form any idea or con¬ 
 ception. Such an idea of God may be held in words, 
 but not in mind; it may be said, but it can not 
 be thought; for if this infinitude makes personality 
 impossible, it necessarily makes all idea or concep- 
 
280 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 tion impossible. The whole effect upon the mind of 
 such a view must be negative. It leads to the denial 
 of every form of doctrine which implies personality, 
 but it substitutes nothing in its place. With some 
 it may lead to the deification of Nature, or to some 
 form of Pantheism; but these, whatever words may 
 be used, are but ways of denying that there is any 
 God. For the human mind is such, that, to extin¬ 
 guish all idea of a God possessing the incidents of 
 personality, is to exclude all idea of God. A relig¬ 
 ious sense, which is satisfied with such a God, must 
 be satisfied with a God whom it can not love, nor 
 worship, nor think of definitely. Far more might 
 be said of the inexpressible mistake of attempting 
 to believe in an impersonal God. But it would all 
 end.in this, — that an impersonal God is a word 
 only, and not a thought. 
 
 It is to guard against this peril, and lift men out 
 of this utter darkness, that in all ages Divine Prov¬ 
 idence has permitted them to find personal objects 
 of worship in the many forms of heathenism; for 
 even these might train the good among them into 
 the possibility of receiving more and higher truth 
 in their subsequent state of being. The Jews were 
 taught that there was but one God, and that he was 
 a spirit. But they always regarded Him as a per¬ 
 sonal Being of unlimited power, who had chosen 
 their race as the object of His especial favor. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 281 
 
 Our Lord came ; and He disclosed His divinity suf¬ 
 ficiently to lead to faith in Him, and to love and wor¬ 
 ship of Him. And in all subsequent ages, through 
 all the clouds which have gathered about His revela¬ 
 tion of Himself, and all distortions of the truth, He 
 
 m. 
 
 has lifted towards Himself the thoughts and the 
 hearts of all who have not chosen to grovel upon 
 the earth. 
 
 He has come again. He has come in the spirit* 
 and has given to mankind the revelation which lay 
 within the former revelation as the soul within the 
 body. He has come to satisfy, fully and for ever, 
 the requirement of human nature for a Divine Man, 
 who may be the object of love and worship without 
 limit. He has come not merely to satisfy this 
 requirement, but to show that it springs from the 
 very nature of God Himself, and of man, and of 
 the relation of man to God. We may know now, 
 what has always been known by those who could 
 profit by the knowledge, that it was impossible to 
 form any idea of Him, excepting through the ideas 
 of human nature which we derive from self-conscious¬ 
 ness. But we may also know now, that in this way 
 we can form an idea of Him, founded upon His true 
 nature and the actual working of His Providence; 
 which idea, however imperfect and inadequate, may, 
 as far as it goes, be just, and be capable of unending 
 increase in its development and its truth. He has 
 
282 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 come to teach us that as all things exist from Him, 
 so all our life is from Him, and is His life given to us 
 to be our own; that our humanity is the effect and 
 the image of His humanity, our personality the 
 effect and image of His personality; and that we 
 are men because He is perfect man. 
 
 i 
 
 * 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 283 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In this last chapter, I propose to touch upon some 
 of those topics which have not yet been considered, 
 but of which some notice seems necessary even to 
 the sketch I am endeavoring to make. 
 
 OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 This topic, from the place it holds in the philoso¬ 
 phy of the New-Church, might seem to merit a 
 chapter to itself. Nothing more, however, will be 
 attempted, than a brief statement of the peculiar 
 views held concerning this subject. 
 
 In the faith of the New-Church, marriage is con¬ 
 nected with the order of the whole universe, from 
 the bottom to the summit. In all ages, a kind of 
 duality, answering somewhat to that of the sexes, 
 has been recognized as everywhere existing. Mod¬ 
 ern science has proved that this distinction of sexes, 
 and the propagation of life by their conjunction, 
 exists throughout the vegetable kingdom as much 
 as in the animal kingdom. Elsewhere are traces of 
 
284 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 the same principle, not so obvious or so certain, but 
 which many writers have referred to, in many ways. 
 All of this, whatever be its form or its manifestation, 
 refers to the primary and essential duality between 
 the Divine love and the Divine wisdom. This du¬ 
 ality is perfect, and their union into oneness is per¬ 
 fect. They are, to translate Swedenborg’s phrase, 
 “ distinctly one; ” that is, distinct and yet one. In 
 mankind, these two divine elements come down into 
 the human will and the human understanding, which 
 are formed for their reception. Below the spirit of 
 man, these divine elements come forth into the 
 human form, and cause the distinction of the sexes. 
 Farther down and outside of man, they cause a dis¬ 
 tinction of the sexes in the animal and vegetable 
 kingdom. Still farther down, in the world of dead 
 matter, they cause the innumerable correspondences 
 which make this dead world representative, in this 
 respect, of the world of life. 
 
 In man, this correspondence is necessarily higher 
 than in the world outside of him, for the whole of 
 that world is lower than he is. Of the two sexes, 
 the correspondence changes somewhat with the 
 change in the state of the individuals. Generally, 
 however, the intellectual prevails in man, and the 
 affectional in woman. 
 
 In God these two elements are perfectly united,— 
 are one. It has been already said that it is the con- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 285 
 
 stant effort of Providence to make the will and the 
 understanding in man united into oneness; for then, 
 what the understanding sees as true the will loves 
 as good, and there is the joy of peace in the whole 
 man. The chief instrument to this end, and the 
 most prominent example of the influence of this 
 effort, is a marriage between two who may become 
 one, by the union of the will and the understanding. 
 The husband representing the understanding, and 
 the wife representing the will, they two become one, 
 when they are perfectly adapted to each other, and 
 bound together by mutual love; they are a one 
 formed of two whom God has joined together. 
 Then the husband draws for every thought warmth 
 and vitality from the wife, and every affection of 
 her heart draws truth, enlightenment, and guidance 
 from the wisdom of the husband. 
 
 The distinction between the sexes is not bodily 
 only; it is primarily spiritual, and exists in the 
 body only by derivation from the spirit. It is com¬ 
 plete in the body ; for no smallest part in a mascu¬ 
 line body is precisely the same with the answering 
 part in the feminine body. The distinction is also 
 perfect in the spirit. Nothing in the soul, or in the 
 thought, or affection, or motive, or action, of the one 
 is precisely the same with any thing in the other. 
 Therefore this distinction survives the death of the 
 body. It is as perfect in the spiritual world as it 
 
286 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 was in the natural world. The two who have made 
 each other happy, and who have helped each other 
 while here to advance hand in hand along the way 
 of life, were, while bound by the ties of a natural 
 marriage, united in a spiritual marriage even in this 
 world; and this marriage, so far from being weak¬ 
 ened by the death of the body, rises as they rise, 
 and is for ever the means of their ascent, and grows 
 in strength and in happiness with every step of their 
 ascent. 
 
 And they, too, who have not known on earth the 
 happiness of such a marriage, because the wisdom 
 of their Father saw that it was not well for them to 
 find it here, if they choose good rather than evil, 
 and by that choice become angels, will be sure to 
 find it in heaven, and to find in it a large part of 
 all that heaven can give them. 
 
 Hence, in the view of the New-Church, marriage 
 stands invested, not with an importance merely, but 
 with a sanctity, that it can not know elsewhere. 
 The best influences of heaven have formed it, and 
 bless it; and through it descend to earth and find 
 a home in human hearts. 
 
 Hence, too, all that is hostile to, or inconsistent 
 with, the holiness and purity of marriage, — all un¬ 
 chastity, infidelity, impurity, and lust, in thought, or 
 word, or act, — are seen in the new light now dawn¬ 
 ing, to come direct from hell, and to be the surest 
 
OF THE NEW CHUKCH. 
 
 287 
 
 means of dragging down their victims to the dark 
 abodes from which they spring. 
 
 Only when the true nature of the marriage rela¬ 
 tion and its origin in the Divine nature itself are 
 understood, can we form a just conception of the 
 truth, that whatever is hostile to this relation pol¬ 
 lutes the source of all good, and threatens the 
 destruction of all happiness. The Scriptures bear 
 testimony to this truth in the very peculiar phrase¬ 
 ology often recurring in the prophetical writings, 
 which is quite unintelligible without the aid of this 
 truth. For in the most terrible denunciations of the 
 prophets, the charge of adultery and fornication is 
 constantly brought upon churches and races, and so 
 applied that a literal understanding of it is impossible; 
 as in Jeremiah iii., 8, 9, it is said, that “backsliding 
 Israel” and “her treacherous sister Judah” “com¬ 
 mitted adultery with stocks and stones.” And in 
 Isaiah xxiii., 18, it is said that, “ Tyre shall commit 
 fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon 
 the face of the earth.” In all the many texts of this 
 kind, these sins are used to express the direst per¬ 
 version and corruption of all that is good, and the 
 falsification of all that is true; and thus the consum¬ 
 mation of all evil. 
 
288 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 OF THOUGHT. 
 
 What is Thought? And here, as so often else¬ 
 where, I must go back to the central truth, that all 
 our life is derived from God, — is His life given to 
 us to be our own. His being consists of that which 
 when received by our will — which is formed for its 
 reception — constitutes love and affection of every 
 kind; and of that which when received by our 
 understanding — which is formed for its reception 
 — constitutes thought, or rather the capacity of 
 thought; for thought exists only when the under¬ 
 standing becomes active. The activity of the un¬ 
 derstanding is thought. For our understanding is 
 formed first, to receive life from the Divine wis¬ 
 dom ; and then, by its own action, to manifest this 
 life in all the forms and varieties of thought. Our 
 thoughts are not the thoughts of God in us ; for they 
 are our own thoughts, caused by the action of our 
 own minds, by virtue of the life which is given to 
 us to be our own. 
 
 Animals think; but men have far higher and 
 wider capacities of thought. There have been end¬ 
 less discussions of the question, What constitutes 
 the difference between human thought and animal 
 thought? Some, who have looked only or mainly 
 at the enormous difference between them, have 
 come to the conclusion that animals are little or 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 289 
 
 nothing more than self-acting machines, without 
 thought or even sensation. Others, who have looked 
 only or mainly at the great similitude between ani¬ 
 mal and human thought, have concluded that they 
 are much the same in kind, differing only in degree. 
 
 Our first answer to the question, — What consti¬ 
 tutes the difference between men and animals ? — is 
 this. We have heretofore spoken of the internal 
 man and the external man, or of man’s internal 
 nature and his external nature. Animals have no 
 internal nature. The human external is like the 
 animal external in kind, though larger and fuller in 
 measure. But a man is essentially more than an 
 animal, because he has also an internal nature. 
 Animals are not immortal. Their life begins and 
 ends on earth; and their whole nature is adapted 
 to life on earth. Man is immortal, and lives here to 
 prepare for a life w T hich begins when this life ends. 
 Besides an external, which with him as with animals 
 is adapted to life on earth, he has also an internal; 
 whence he has the power while living here, to take 
 thought for an eternal morrow, and to prepare 
 for living hereafter. A man who makes no use of 
 his internal, but suffers it to grow torpid and wholly 
 inactive, leads a life which is only an animal life, 
 however far above it he may seem to be, from the 
 larger capacities of his external nature. 
 
 Intellectually considered, the difference between 
 
 19 
 
290 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 men and animals is this: Animals have not, and men 
 have, the power of thinking about their thoughts ; 
 and all the differences between them are derivable 
 from this difference; and this again is derived from 
 the primary difference, that animals have only an 
 external nature, while men have both an external 
 and an internal. Men and animals think, first, in 
 their external minds. Animals stop there because 
 they have no other mind. But men have another 
 and a higher mind, and from that look down upon, 
 recognize, and think about, the thoughts in that 
 lower mind. 
 
 Thought is certainly possible without words; for 
 the youngest infants think, and animals think: but 
 neither of them can speak. At first, all thought is 
 caused by sensation. The thoughts of an infant, 
 thus caused, are very few. Soon, however, he be¬ 
 gins to think about his thoughts; or, in other words, 
 his thoughts become the subjects of thought. Then 
 it is possible to use words, and the child slowly 
 learns to speak. An animal never speaks. A dog 
 can see that a cherry is red, and that blood or raw 
 flesh are red, as well as man can, and can recog¬ 
 nize the things as well as man can; but he can not 
 think of the thought, and therefore he can not 
 think of redness , aside from any one or more red 
 things; and he has no word which would apply to 
 all red things, because he has no such thought. To 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 291 
 
 use the terms of logic, he can think in the con¬ 
 crete hut not in the abstract; and words which are 
 abstract, or which represent abstract thoughts, form 
 so large and so important a portion of language, 
 that without them there could be no language. 
 Such words are not derived directly from sensation, 
 but from thought about the thoughts which sensa¬ 
 tion excites. Men, as we have said, can think from 
 sensation, and can then rise to a higher plane of 
 thought and look down upon the thoughts derived 
 directly from sensation. Animals have not this 
 higher plane of thought. Because animals have no 
 such thoughts they have no words. They make 
 sounds which are often very significant, and com¬ 
 municate information to their fellows or to men. 
 These sounds may be said to be their words, and 
 to constitute their language. And it is much what 
 our language would be if it lost all its abstract 
 words, and contained none but those expressive of 
 some one specific object. Human language can sig¬ 
 nify specific objects, but it is only by the use of 
 words which limit and specialize these objects. 
 Generic words are thus made specific words. I 
 can think and speak of pens; but if I would speak 
 of a pen on my table, or the pen in my hand, I 
 must use apposite words, or perhaps use apposite 
 gestures,— as when I say this pen, and show it, or 
 point to it. 
 
292 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 Animals can have no abstract words, because they 
 have no abstract thoughts; and they have no ab¬ 
 stract thoughts, because they do not need them; and 
 they do not need them, because they are not immor¬ 
 tal. Men owe to language (which they could not 
 have without abstract thought) civilization, with 
 all that it implies or includes, and all science, with 
 the immense addition which it makes to human 
 enjoyment. These things belong to this life; and 
 it may be said that men would lose a vast deal, 
 even were this life all, if they were without lan¬ 
 guage. But it should be remembered that this life, 
 with all that is in it, is intended to promote the 
 preparation of mankind for another life, by the de¬ 
 velopment and elevation of both the intellect and 
 the affections. It is left to human freedom to deter¬ 
 mine whether and in wdiat degree this effect shall be 
 produced; but such is the purpose of every thing 
 which is comprehended within or produced by civil¬ 
 ization. And it is for this purpose that civilization, 
 and language as the means of civilization, are given. 
 
 But language can do far more to effect this pur¬ 
 pose of preparation for eternity. It is the instru¬ 
 ment of thought; and thought can not only use it 
 to express itself, but, by means of language, can 
 advance gradually and slowly to an elevation it 
 could not otherwise have reached: and this ascend¬ 
 ing pathway will know no end. A profound thought 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 293 
 
 which is clothed in words gains definiteness and 
 
 \ 
 
 nltimation. It stands distinctly before the mind, 
 and becomes the step from which a higher ascent 
 can be made. And words may rise as thoughts 
 rise; and, in that future life where much that fetters 
 them here will pass away, both words and thoughts 
 will reach an elevation far transcending our present 
 capacity of conception. 
 
 In this upward progress of thought, three stages 
 may be recognized, answering to the three degrees 
 which play so important a part in the system of 
 Swedenborg. To these three stages we give the 
 names of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. We. 
 must begin with knowing; for, if we know nothing, 
 there is nothing for us to understand. We may, 
 however, know much, very much, and understand 
 little or nothing of what we know. We take an 
 entirely distinct step forward when we begin to 
 know, not only the thing, but its place in Nature or 
 in thought, its relations with those other things 
 which touch it upon all sides, the end for which 
 it is, the cause which produces it, and the effects 
 which it produces. Then we have ascended from 
 knowledge to intelligence. We may know very 
 much, and understand much about what we know, 
 and yet have little or no wisdom. For here also we 
 take another distinct step forward, when we inquire 
 into and ascertain the relation of a thing or a truth 
 
294 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 • 
 
 to life and character, and apply it in accordance 
 with what we learn. It is for the sake of wisdom 
 that we possess the faculties of knowing, and of 
 understanding what we know; and only in the 
 measure in which we acquire wisdom are these 
 faculties put to their proper use. 
 
 Either knowledge, intelligence, or wisdom may 
 exist in any degree, small or great. Where the 
 knowledge is large there may be little of intelligence 
 or wisdom ; where it is small there may still be much 
 of these. And of these two either may be small 
 while the other is large, or the converse. We often 
 • meet knowing men of active intellects, who are far 
 from wise, and men of little knowledge or active 
 thought, who are wise with what they know. Al¬ 
 ways one law holds good. Knowledge and intelli¬ 
 gence are for the sake of wisdom; if they do not 
 end in this, they may as well not be, and will cease 
 to be at death. Only when, only as far as, knowl¬ 
 edge and intelligence have ripened into wisdom, and 
 their fruits are rooted in the life and character, and 
 so belong to the ownhood of the man, do they rise 
 with him from the grave of the dead body, and 
 abide with him for evermore. These fruits may be 
 small; but, if they belong to the life, they will be 
 as living seeds, possessing the power of indefinite 
 multiplication and unending duration in that in¬ 
 
 crease. 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 295 
 
 OF INSTINCT. 
 
 The instinct of animals is another topic of fre¬ 
 quent discussion. By some means animals know, 
 from the beginning of life, what they must do to 
 preserve life and make it comfortable, and how they 
 must do it. Neither instruction nor imitation have 
 much to do with it, if any thing. Birds might per¬ 
 haps profit by the example of their parents, and 
 there are some indications of animals teaching their 
 young. But, after the utmost is made of instances 
 of this kind, it is still certain that instinct teaches to 
 all animals much, and to some animals all that they 
 know, without any other instruction; as in the case 
 of those insects which never knew their parents, and 
 cannot know their children. There is something of 
 instinct also with human beings, as when new-born 
 babes take their mother’s milk at once, as perfectly 
 the first time as ever. What then is instinct ? 
 
 To answer this question, we must again go back 
 to the primal truth, that all life is God’s life, im¬ 
 parted to those who live by receiving it. But to 
 this we must now add another truth, or law. It is, 
 that, while life is one, it is determined in its action, 
 manifestation, aspect, and effect, by the form of the 
 recipient. My readers must remember what I have 
 repeatedly said, that I do not mean by form, shape, 
 but the inmost nature of the thing; that which 
 
296 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 gives to the form of a thing, according to Bacon, 
 almost the same meaning as the law of the thing: 
 for its form is the law which determines what it is. 
 The doctrine above stated is not a new one. It is 
 indeed much the same with the old maxim, “ Quic- 
 quid recipitur, recipitur ad modum recipients,” — 
 “ whatever is received, is received after the manner 
 of the receiver,” — provided we add to the maxim 
 that the “ modus” or manner, is determined by the 
 form, or inmost nature, of the receiver; and that 
 this form is itself determined by and adjusted to 
 the use or function of the receiver in the universe. 
 
 Every thing has its form, and could not exist 
 without it. It is created in this form, through 
 parents if it be an organized and living thing, to 
 the end that it may so live by the life it receives as 
 to carry into effect the end for which it exists. 
 Therefore it has by creation the form by means of 
 which it will manifest the life it receives in the way 
 which that end requires. 
 
 The variety in these forms, and in the way in 
 which they accomplish the ends for which they are, 
 is simply infinite. No two leaves in a forest, no 
 two grains of sand upon a seashore, are absolutely 
 alike. But all things are arranged in classes, which 
 man can often discern, in each of which all the 
 individuals resemble each other, while no two are 
 precisely alike. These classes gradually rise, from 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCn. 
 
 297 
 
 beings so small that they are only indicated but 
 not shown by our best instruments, to the larger 
 beings which are yet so small that only these instru¬ 
 ments can discern them; and from these up through 
 all the range of animal life, and at last to man 
 himself, who, while also an animal, is not merely the 
 highest of animals, but above all animals. Through 
 this infinite variety, the one law prevails which 
 makes each one, while it lives by receiving the 
 same Divine life which gives life to all, at the 
 same time itself, and by its form determined in 
 its action and function. 
 
 The bud on every tree wraps the living germ that 
 is to break forth next spring in the tenderest, soft¬ 
 est leaflets, imbricated around that central germ 
 with a skill human art cannot imitate, and covers 
 the whole with a thick and leathery coat, cemented 
 together so as to resist the winter storm and cold, 
 and protect the tender life within while it needs 
 protection. An insect lays its eggs in an exact 
 order upon the twigs of the tree that its offspring 
 when hatched can eat, and covers them too with 
 a protective and sufficient cement. The bird that 
 builds in the tree builds its nest carefully in the 
 appropriate season, lays its eggs, sedulously covers 
 and warms them with her own heat during the 
 appointed period, and, when her young break forth, 
 rejoices to find food for them and to protect them 
 
298 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 to the utmost of her power, even, if need be, at the 
 peril of her own life. The human mother delights 
 in caring for her new-born, and, as it lies in its 
 cradle, covers it when too much cold threatens, with 
 one and another blanket, as the tree protected its 
 germ by the leaflets it folded around it. So much 
 for the affections; and the same law holds good as 
 to the intellect. For thousands of years, the honey¬ 
 bee has constructed its marvellous cells, all upon the 
 same model. A few generations ago, a human mind 
 was able to discover its mathematical accuracy, and 
 to demonstrate that it solved practically a most diffi¬ 
 cult problem, — how to construct cells which should 
 afford the utmost storage room and have the utmost 
 strength which were possible, by the use of a certain 
 quantity of building material. 
 
 And now, What is instinct? It is action by a 
 recipient of life, promotive of the ends for which 
 that recipient exists, but without its conscious, intel¬ 
 ligent, and voluntary cooperation. When the tree 
 so shapes the bud as to protect the germ at its 
 centre, it is wholly unconscious of what it is doing. 
 The insect lays, arranges, and seals up its eggs on 
 the tree, without the slightest thought of why it 
 does this, but probably finds pleasure in what it 
 does; for its desire and determination to do it are 
 intense and regardless of obstacles. The bird has 
 perhaps something more of consciousness as to the 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 299 
 
 why and the wherefore of its acts; and certainly, 
 when its young become the objects of its care, finds 
 great enjoyment in that care. The human mother 
 knows what she does, and why she does it, and is 
 happy in doing it; and sometimes makes great mis¬ 
 takes, and sometimes fails utterly in that which, • 
 because she possesses rational power, has become 
 her duty, but is subjected to that rational po\Ver. 
 
 Here is the dividing line. Animals are so consti¬ 
 tuted that the very form of their being causes the 
 life received to manifest itself in all the knowledges 
 and all the acts which are necessary for them. To 
 man more is given, for he has the power of volun¬ 
 tarily carrying into effect the purposes for which he 
 lives; and, that he may exercise this power, they 
 cannot be and will not be carried into effect without 
 his cooperation. The bee knew at the beginning 
 how to make his cell perfectly, or rather did make 
 his cell perfectly, by the influence of the mind 
 within him of which he had no consciousness, and 
 over which he had no control. But innumerable 
 ages rolled along before man, from the ability to 
 count his fingers, — and this he had to learn, — rose 
 up through the series of gradually-acquired knowl¬ 
 edges, into the ability to comprehend the mathemat¬ 
 ical •haracter of the cell. 
 
 The animal is not wholly without reason, and the 
 man not wholly without instinct. And yet it is 
 
300 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 certain that reason characterizes man, and instinct 
 animals. The mother who tenderly cares for her 
 child may do this only from instinct, and only as 
 instinct prompts; and so far she is only an animal. 
 But she may rise far higher than this; for she may 
 • look upon her child as an immortal being, given to 
 her by God, entrusted to her care, and bringing 
 with it a boundless responsibility so to deal with it 
 as to promote its eternal welfare. And she may, 
 through all the years that she is spared to it, use all 
 her rational faculties to discern and pursue the path 
 that leads to this end. Nothing of all this can the 
 animal mother even think of. The human mother 
 can if she will, and can neglect this duty if she will; 
 but only so far as she does it, is she a woman, a human 
 mother. The universal law which is founded upon 
 the inmost nature of man, and man alone, and gov¬ 
 erns his whole being and destiny, comes in here as 
 everywhere. For man only is capable of a voluntary 
 cooperation with his Father; he only is capable of 
 a voluntary reception of the gifts which his Father 
 is ever seeking to bestow; and he only is capable of 
 a voluntary refusal of this cooperation or this recep¬ 
 tion. But only by them can man become so far 
 His child as to know the full blessedness of that 
 relation. * 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 301 
 
 THE SLOW GROWTH OF THE NEW-CHURCH. 
 
 It is more than a century since the foundation of 
 this church was laid, by the publication of the 
 theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. For 
 more than half of that time, individuals and societies 
 have been active in translating them, and in publish¬ 
 ing them widely. There have been many preachers 
 of these doctrines, and not a few writers of books 
 and periodicals. The sale of Swedenborg’s writings, 
 and of books intended to present the doctrines of 
 the church, has been constant and large. How hap¬ 
 pens it, under these circumstances, that the growth 
 of this church has been and is so slow, if its doc¬ 
 trines are all that we who hold them suppose them 
 to be ? 
 
 There are many answers to this question. One 
 among them is, that its growth has been greater 
 than is apparent. It is not a sect. Its faith does 
 not consist of a few specific tenets, easily stated and 
 easily received. It is a new way of thinking about 
 God and man, this life and another, and every topic 
 connected with these. And this new way of think¬ 
 ing has made and is making what may well be 
 called great progress. It may be discerned every¬ 
 where, in the science, literature, philosophy, and the¬ 
 ology of the times; not prevalent in any of them, 
 but existing, and cognizable by all who are able to 
 
302 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 appreciate these new truths with their bearings and 
 results. If we hold that the spiritual world is the 
 world of causes, and this world the world of effects, 
 then we must hold that the New-Church will be an 
 effect of influences which come, as the New Jerusa¬ 
 lem is said by John to come, “ from God out of 
 heaven.” 
 
 These influences are constantly at work to pro¬ 
 mote the establishment of this New-Church upon 
 earth. Not suddenly, not violently, for the Lord 
 is infinitely patient; but slowly, step by step, and 
 only in such wise as is compatible with that spiritual 
 freedom of mankind which is never violated. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that by the New-Church 
 is meant the organized societies calling themselves 
 by that name. In one sense, that is their name. 
 Swedenborg says there are three essentials of this 
 Church: a belief in the Divinity of the Lord, and 
 in the sanctity of the Scriptures, and a life of charity, 
 which is a life governed by a love of the neighbor. 
 Where these are, there is the Church. Whoever holds 
 these essentials in faith and life is a member of the 
 New-Church, whatever may be his theological name 
 or place. Only in the degree in which he so holds 
 these essentials is any one a member of that church. 
 Those who, holding or desiring to hold these essen¬ 
 tials in faith and life, unite and organize that they 
 may be assisted and may assist each other in so 
 
OF THE NEW CHUKCH. 
 
 303 
 
 holding them, constitute the visible or professed 
 New-Church. But very false would they be to its 
 doctrines, if they supposed themselves to be exclu¬ 
 sively members of that Church, or if they founded 
 their membership upon their profession or external 
 organization. For there is no other true foundation 
 for this membership than every man’s own internal 
 reception of the essentials of the church, and his 
 leading the life which its truths require. 
 
 It would demand a volume to indicate all those 
 effects the new influences now constructing new 
 heavens and a new earth have already produced, 
 that we who can see but a very small part of the 
 whole are able to discern. But we may mention as 
 one of these effects, that Calvinism — old, hard, 
 uncompromising — has almost disappeared. Where 
 should we read in any new book, where should we 
 hear in any sermon, of the damnation of infants, 
 absolute election and predestination; or an atone¬ 
 ment which presented God as vindictive and mer¬ 
 ciless, condemning a large part of His children, 
 before their birth, to eternal misery, and hating with 
 infinite and eternal wrath, not only sin but sinners, 
 whom He had foreordained to be sinners ? The 
 Orthodox community has generally gone so far from 
 such doctrines, that many may deny that they ever 
 were preached, and charge me with error and injus¬ 
 tice. 1 would advise persons who do so, to read the 
 
304 
 
 OUTLINES OF the philosophy 
 
 “spider sermon,” so called, of Jonathan Edwards, 
 lately republished. In all ages there have been 
 those who turned their minds away from such pic¬ 
 tures, and, even while assenting in words, greatly 
 modified these views in their thoughts and feelings. 
 But that such views were widely preached, and, 
 indeed, passionately urged, is a matter of history. 
 
 One other instance of the diffused and indirect 
 influence of the New-Church is the change which 
 has taken place in the thought and feeling concern¬ 
 ing death. Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson, in an essay 
 on Immortality, contained in a volume lately pub¬ 
 lished,— in which he gives in his own inimitable 
 manner what we may regard as his latest views 
 on many interesting subjects, — says: “Swedenborg 
 had a vast genius, and announced many things true 
 and admirable, though always clothed in somewhat 
 sad and Stygian colors. These truths, passing out 
 of his system into general circulation, are now met 
 with every day, qualifying the views and creeds 
 of all churches, and of men of no church. And I _ 
 think we are all aware of a revolution in opinion. 
 Sixty years ago, the books read, the sermons and 
 prayers heard, the habits of thought of religious 
 persons, — were all directed on death. All were 
 under the shadow of Calvinism, and of the Roman 
 Catholic purgatory; and death was dreadful. The 
 emphasis of all the good books given to young 
 
OF TI1E NEW CHURCH. 
 
 305 
 
 people was on death. We were all taught that 
 we were born to die; and over that, all the ter¬ 
 rors that theology could gather from savage na¬ 
 tions were added to increase the gloom. A great 
 change has occurred: death is seen as a natural 
 event, and is met with firmness.” Mr. Emerson 
 is a good judge of this, and he is an impartial 
 judge; for he is very far indeed from accepting 
 the system of Swedenborg. The fact is undoubt¬ 
 edly as he states it. The indirect influence of 
 the New-Church has produced just that effect; but 
 it is as yet most imperfect and incomplete. What 
 will it be, and what changes in thought and feeling 
 will it cause, when the darkness and dread which 
 have in all ages rested upon the grave, pass away ? 
 — when the inexpressible folly of bewailing the 
 dead, with the feeling that they have ceased to live, 
 or “ are sleeping in the grave,” is effectually ex¬ 
 posed, not by faith only, but by a close and exact 
 reason, which, while receiving warmth from faith, 
 gives to it light? — when the shuddering horror 
 which now shrouds the dead body, gives way to the 
 certainty that death is but a step forward in life ? 
 
 It may be said, and indeed often is said, that all 
 this fading out or modification of ancient error is 
 due to “the spirit of the age.” This is true,— 
 exactly true; for the spirit of the age is the spirit 
 
 of the New-Church, doing its work wherever it can. 
 
 20 
 
306 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 If it can do but a little here, it does that little; if 
 it can do more there, it does more: everywhere 
 doing all it can, always in subordination to the prin¬ 
 ciple that no more can be done for man than he is 
 willing to accept. 
 
 Another answer to the question — Whence the 
 slow growth of the church ? — may be this: Chris¬ 
 tians may now be divided into those who care for 
 religion, and those who do not. They who do care 
 for religion constantly nourish their religious faith, 
 value it, and make some effort to live in accordance 
 with it. They are therefore confirmed in that faith, 
 and, if not wholly satisfied with it, they are at least 
 convinced that there is no better, and that it would 
 be a great mistake, if not a sin, to wander away 
 from it. The stronger their faith, and the more 
 they value it, the greater would be their dislike of 
 a heresy which claimed, as they must think, to 
 supersede it, and the more unwilling they must be 
 even to inquire into it. While they who feel no 
 interest in religion, and whose observance of it is 
 merely formal, — a thing of habit, but not of mean¬ 
 ing, — would feel no interest whatever in this new 
 form of religion. It is nothing to them, and threat¬ 
 ens only to disturb the routine of their thought and 
 life. If they are led by mere curiosity to look into 
 it at all, it is unintelligible to them, or it presents 
 difficulties they do not care enough about the matter 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH, 
 
 307 
 
 to encounter; and they pass it by with indifference 
 or contempt. 
 
 This would be a sufficient answer, if the division 
 above made were exhaustive; that is, if there were 
 none in the Christian Church but those who were 
 wedded to the faith that they held and satisfied 
 with it, and those who held no faith and had no 
 desire to hold any. But there is a third class; per¬ 
 haps not inconsiderable now, and continually in¬ 
 creasing. This class consists of those who have 
 much religious sentiment, and some, perhaps much, 
 desire to learn religious truth that they may have 
 the support and comfort of distinct and firm re¬ 
 ligious belief; but who have no such belief and 
 indeed no faith, because the forms or systems of 
 faith in which they have been educated or which 
 are within their reach are entirely unsatisfactory, 
 and seem to them irrational or unsupported by com¬ 
 petent evidence. The question then takes this form: 
 Why do not these persons come to the New-Church 
 and find there all they want ? The answer I would 
 now make to this question rests upon a principle 
 which only of late has been clearly seen and appre¬ 
 ciated. The best recent writers upon the philosophy 
 of history have solved some of the most difficult 
 problems which it presents, by the recognition of 
 the law, that the peculiar and distinctive character¬ 
 istics of an age cannot fail to exert an almost irre- 
 
308 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 sistible influence upon all its phenomena and all the 
 individuals then living and acting. 
 
 One of the statements of Swedenborg is to the 
 effect, that every substance puts forth from itself 
 what may be called a sphere of itself, which contains 
 or consists of its essential qualities. By this sphere, 
 every thing exerts an influence upon its surroundings. 
 In living organisms it is more active than in dead 
 matter; in the animal world more active than in 
 the vegetable world; and in men more active than 
 in animals, for the sphere of men includes all their 
 character. What is sometimes called — for want of 
 a better word — the magnetic power of certain 
 persons, by which, as orators, preachers, statesmen, 
 generals, or in society, they exert an influence upon 
 other men that seems, in some cases at least, inex¬ 
 plicable, may be accounted for by the spheres which 
 flow from them. This power is sometimes said to 
 be the power which a strong will exerts over a 
 weaker. It is certainly stronger in him whose 
 will is stronger, and is more energetic when the 
 man himself is strongly excited and his will inten¬ 
 sified. 
 
 The sphere of an age is the combined sphere of all 
 who compose that age. Its power is very great, and 
 can hardly be withstood by persons of ordinary 
 power of resistance; and still less by those in whom 
 this power is feeble, or who make no effort. 
 
s 
 
 OF THE NEW CHURCH. 309 
 
 \ 
 
 What then is the prevailing sphere of this age? 
 Let us compare it with that of other ages. 
 
 So far as the records of human thought instruct 
 us, we must believe that there never has been a 
 period in which naturalism prevailed to the same 
 extent as in the present. By this word, I mean a 
 looking to and thinking about and caring for and 
 recognition of things of this world rather than of the 
 other; nature rather than spirit; secular interests 
 of all kinds rather than those of religion. We may 
 go back to ages so remote that we know little of 
 them, but their monuments remain and tell us what 
 a vast proportion of the labor of different races 
 was expended in the service of religion; and we 
 may infer what a hold it had upon the thought 
 and care of rulers and peoples. Coming down 
 through the ages, we shall find evidence of a similar 
 condition of human interest. In the centuries of 
 Christianity we find the strongest men — and very 
 strong were some of them, especially in what we 
 call “the dark ages” — devoting their most earnest 
 thought to religion. The magnificent cathedrals of 
 the middle ages tell the same story. We say noth¬ 
 ing as to the value or worthlessness of the specula¬ 
 tions about which so much profound thought was 
 employed, or of the truth or falsity of the religions 
 which were so highly valued; but only that, in all 
 those days a strong and' general interest was felt in 
 
310 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 the religious questions of the time, and a very large 
 proportion of the best and most strenuous intel¬ 
 lectual effort was given to them. 
 
 Coming to our own age, what do we see ? Let 
 the railroad, the steam-engine, the telegraph, answer. 
 We see a more earnest and successful devotion of 
 human effort to science and arts in their application to 
 this life than was ever before known. It may safely 
 be said, that within the last hundred years there have 
 been more inventions promotive of human activity 
 and effort in the direction of the enjoyments of this 
 life, and a greater utilization of all the forces of 
 Nature to that end, than all the previous centuries 
 taken together have contributed. Natural science 
 has flourished and is flourishing as it never did, draw- 
 , ing into its service the best intellects; and their 
 investigations and discoveries are presented in pop¬ 
 ular form in leading periodicals as the most accept¬ 
 able and interesting reading they can offer to the 
 public. In a word, never was there known a period 
 approaching this in the earnest devotion of thought 
 to every thing which is of the earth, earthly, and 
 in the decay and feebleness of interest in that which 
 concerns the spirit of man and his eternal life. Of 
 course all the forms of religion remain, although so 
 large a portion of the people attend to them not at 
 all, or only with indifference. Of course there are 
 still those who professionally, or from their personal 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 311 
 
 taste, write and publish on religious topics. But 
 looking at the matter as a whole, who that lias any 
 real belief in another and an eternal world, and 
 therefore regards this life as only introductory and 
 preparatory, can fail to see that the set and tendency 
 of human thought and care in these days is strongly 
 and decidedly away from whatever belongs to man 
 as an immortal, and towards this world and all that 
 belongs to it; or away from spiritualism and towards, 
 naturalism? 
 
 I have used a word which suggests to me one 
 answer that may be made. Is not the Spiritualism 
 (so called, but I like better to call it spiritism) now 
 so popular, a proof that I am wrong as to the prev¬ 
 alence and power of naturalism? On the contrary, 
 I find in it cogent evidence that I am right. Of 
 this spiritism, whatever else may be said of it, this 
 much I think is certain (and my opinion is grounded 
 upon much study of its phenomena, and much ac¬ 
 quaintance with its literature. I do not speak of 
 persons. Undoubtedly the many believers in spirit¬ 
 ism are of all kinds; and some of them are good, 
 and perhaps find aliment for their go'odness in what 
 they believe. But from what I have seen and heard 
 and read, I write of the system and its fundamental 
 doctrines; for these it seems to have), — spiritism 
 does nothing more than extend this life beyond the 
 grave. If its theories, or its dreams, are realized, 
 
312 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 the other life is but a continuation of this,. So far 
 is it from opposing naturalism, that it gives to the 
 merest, lowest, and grossest naturalism an element 
 of perpetuity; and this is its highest idea of immor¬ 
 tality. So far from spiritism being an opponent of 
 naturalism, I believe that its popularity and rapid 
 spread spring from its naturalism, and from its sup¬ 
 plying food for the hunger of mankind for some 
 knowledge of what is to follow death, without 
 making any demand for an elevation of either 
 the will or the understanding above the common 
 thoughts, cares, or interests of this world. I be¬ 
 lieve spiritism to be the consummation of natu¬ 
 ralism. It brings the thought of heaven itself down 
 to earth, — not to lift the earthly up, but to be itself 
 submerged in the very dregs of earthliness. 
 
 Naturalism at this day dominates the thought of 
 Christendom as it never did before. The metaphys- 
 ical philosophy of the day is characterized by a pre¬ 
 vailing— not a universal—tendency to limit its 
 
 * 
 
 inquiry into the nature and functions of mind to 
 this life, not seldom with an express or distinctly 
 implied denial of any other. 
 
 So, as to the philosophy of history, whether gen¬ 
 eral or confined to some special subject, as that of 
 civilization. Writers who are most successful do 
 not seem to have a thought of Providential action 
 or purpose. Buckle went farther; his naturalism 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 313 
 
 was aggressive. He knew that something other 
 
 than naturalism had vast power in other ages, and 
 
 has some power in this; and the main purpose of his 
 
 book was to extinguish its embers. These writers 
 
 consider and analvze the course of events with utter 
 
 •/ 
 
 ignorance or positive denial of Providential action 
 or purpose. If it be true that there is a God, and 
 that He is the Supreme Governor of the world, 
 what sort of work must such writers make in their 
 explanation of events and consequences? Just such 
 work as they would make if they undertook to ex¬ 
 plain the mechanism and action of a clock, in utter 
 ignorance or denial that there was any weight or 
 pendulum. And yet their labor may not be wholly 
 lost. They may supply to those who believe that 
 there is a weight and pendulum, or a motive force 
 and a governing wisdom, the means of tracing their 
 influence through the intricate machinery, and of 
 discerning more distinctly the purpose of the whole, 
 and the way in which this purpose is accomplished. 
 
 We repeat, that naturalism at this day dominates 
 the thought of Christendom as it never did before. 
 And yet it may be that in this way and for this 
 reason this age may be eminently preparatory for 
 the new era of the New-Church. It is a funda¬ 
 mental principle of the new truths which will pre¬ 
 vail in this new era, that Nature and spirit, when 
 viewed aright, are not distinct from each other 
 
314 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 in the way in which they have been thought to 
 be. They are distinct — perfectly distinct — from 
 each other; but Nature is the effect, the clothing, 
 and the mirror of spirit: spirit is the cause, the 
 inmost essence, and the soul of Nature. In the 
 present generation, the most active and energetic 
 thought is devoted to an investigation of Nature 
 and of all its laws, forces, and phenomena. It • 
 has made a wonderful progress in this direction; 
 and never did it seem to be advancing more rapidly 
 than at this moment. But in all this, natural science 
 is but laying up a vast store of materials which 
 spiritual science is hereafter to make use of. 
 
 It is now a very common question, What is the 
 use of all this knowledge, and what is the value of 
 the truth which is sought with so much labor? One 
 answer is, that truth, merely as truth and for its 
 own sake, is a noble object of human pursuit; and 
 much eloquence has been expended in proving this. 
 Another answer is, that truths of the most abstract 
 kind are found serviceable to the practical good 
 of mankind. Mathematics, so profound that few 
 men on earth are equal to its demands, is now 
 applied to all natural science, and especially to as¬ 
 tronomy ; and astronomy directly assists the whole 
 navigation of the civilized world. Chemistry, in 
 some hands, is penetrating into all the physical 
 secrets of Nature, and by other hands its discov- 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 315 
 
 eries as soon as made are utilized for practical art. 
 And so it is with all the branches of natural science. 
 
 Bat a far better answer remains to be made to 
 the question, What is the worth of natural science? 
 The New-Church will bring back to the knowledge 
 of mankind what, if it has known, it has forgotten, 
 — that this life and this world are but preparatory 
 for another, and that their value in this respect is as 
 much more than their value in themselves, as eter¬ 
 nity is more than time. Then, when the light of 
 spiritual science is cast upon natural science, it will 
 be seen that what is true of the whole of Nature 
 is true of all the science which teaches us about 
 Nature. Building upon the relation of Nature to 
 spirit as that of an effect to its cause, and upon the 
 correspondence between all things of Nature and 
 the things of spirit, it will begin a work which 
 wall last through the ages: the work of showing 
 that all natural science is but the clothing, the outer 
 form, the mirror of spiritual science. Then it will 
 be found that the age which busied itself success- 
 fully in gathering the stores of natural science was 
 gathering a treasury of knowledge for spiritual 
 science to lift up far above Nature. Then will it 
 be seen that this naturalistic age was doing a work 
 which was not only useful but indispensable for the 
 work of that coming age. 
 
 And even the prevailing worldliness of this age 
 
316 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 may possibly become instrumental for the growth of 
 its opposite, — charity. Swedenborg is continually 
 speaking about charity. It holds with him the 
 same high place which Paul gives it when he says, 
 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and 
 of angels, and understand all mysteries, and have 
 all faith, and bestow all my goods on the poor, and 
 give my body to be burned, — all profiteth me noth¬ 
 ing , if I have not charity.” But what is charity? 
 Swedenborg gives this definition: “ Charity itself 
 is to act justly and faithfully in the office, business, 
 and work in which one is, and with whomsoever 
 he has any intercourse” He does not object to 
 or undervalue that which in the present opinion 
 of the world is alone thought to be charity, — the 
 caring for the poor (a mistake which Paul’s express 
 declaration might have prevented) ; for this, he says, 
 should always be done, but with prudence. What¬ 
 ever is done outside of one’s regular employment 
 may be a beneficent act; but it does not deserve 
 the higher name of charity, for that belongs to the 
 full and faithful discharge of all the duties of our 
 office, place, function, or employment. And, when¬ 
 ever this charity prevails, there will be little need of 
 that almsgiving which is now called charity. Swe¬ 
 denborg says of a true charity, “And so the com¬ 
 mon good is provided for as well as that of each 
 individual.” And how universally would the good 
 
OF THE NEW CHURCH. 
 
 317 
 
 of each individual be provided for, if all men per¬ 
 formed all the duties of their employment justly 
 and faithfully! Charity may be described as love 
 in action. And a true charity is the love of the 
 neighbor, and of all as our neighbors; recognizing 
 the place and mode of work which belongs to us as 
 that assigned to us by our Lord’s perfect wisdom, 
 because it is the best way in which we can exercise 
 and manifest our love. And it is not the least 
 among the novelties of Swedenborg’s system, that 
 he puts what is now called charity in its proper 
 place, lifting up the word to its just meaning, and 
 the thing itself to its high position. What will the 
 earth be when the unremitted industry and active 
 energy in all the uses of life which characterize this 
 age are unabated, but the fever of greed is quelled, 
 and selfishness is no longer dominant, order is 
 unbroken, and usefulness universal, and the hap¬ 
 piness of usefulness fills the human heart with the 
 happiness it was made to enjoy ? 
 
 I have asked what earth would be then. There is 
 but one answer, — it would be heaven. For, by the 
 influence of such truth and the infusion of such 
 life, earth would be lifted up to heaven. 
 
 Countless ages of ages have rolled away since this 
 earth was made ready to be the home of human life. 
 Gradually and very slowly mankind have reached 
 their present condition. It may be that as many 
 
318 
 
 OUTLINES OF THE PHILOSOPHY 
 
 ages must come forth from the womb of the future 
 and join the long procession of the past, before such 
 a hope can be, even in a moderate degree, fulfilled. 
 But it is certain that for that happiness man was 
 made; and to it, led by his Father’s hand, he will 
 approach while earth exists. How far away such a 
 result may be; how slowly and with what alterna¬ 
 tions we may approach it; how long it will be 
 before the fetters of naturalism and worldliness 
 will be broken, or at least loosened, so far as to 
 permit some decided relaxation of their influence, — 
 we know not. What we do know is, that, while 
 their influence remains dominant as it is now, the 
 reception of this latest and consummating revelation 
 must be slow, narrow, imperfect, and fragmentary; 
 because New-Church doctrine and influence, and 
 naturalism and worldliness, are exact antagonists. 
 The New-Church strikes a deadly blow at natural¬ 
 ism, and must needs be resisted by all the influences 
 of naturalism. Where one is strong, the other must 
 be weak. Where one holds possession, the other 
 cannot enter. None who live in.this age can wholly 
 escape the influence of the age; and that influence 
 tends powerfully to close the mind against spiritual 
 truth, and to bar the heart against the entrance of 
 spiritual life.