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YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

ALBERT H CHILDS
YALE '61
MEMORIAL COLLECTION

-m

A BRIEF VIEW
OF
THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINES
REVEALED IN
THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS
OF
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. BY
C. THEOPHILUS ODHNER.

PHILADELPHIA :
ACADEMY BOOK ROOM.
1897,

T, a, & H, a, COCHRAN,
PRINTERS,
LANCASTER, PA,

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Introduction. The New Jerusalem. Emanuel Sweden
borg  3
The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem — In Four Parts 6
PART I. CONCERNING THE LORD.
God: One, Substantial, Visible, God-Man .... 7
The Trinity: Jesus Christ the Only Person in
the Godhead  . . g
Redemption: The New Doctrine of the Atone
ment  15
The Divine Providence  20
PART II. CONCERNING THE WORD OF GOD.
The Understanding of the Scriptures: long
sealed; now opened  24
The InTERNAI< Sense: the Letter aud the Spirit 26
The Word in the Heavens  28
Correspondences and Representatives . 30
Ali, Divine Truth Is the Word of God . . 33
PART III. CONCERNING LIFE.
Man: his Life, Free Determination, Will and
Understanding . ... • • 35
The Regenerate Life: Repentance, Reforma
tion and Regeneration . . . . . ,39
Eternai, Life: Death and Resurrection . . , ,42
The Spiritual World . . ,44
The Intermediate State or the World of Spirits 47
Hell and the Infernal Spirits  49
Heaven and the Angels  53
Marriage in Heaven  62

Contents.
PART IV. CONCERNING FAITH.
Justification; Salvation not by Faith Alone . . 67
True Faith  73
The Church: universal and specific  75
The Sacraments: representative of Spiritual
and Divine Things  76
The Four Churches: or successive General
Dispensations  78
The Last Judgment: already accomplished in
the Spiritual World, and now passing over the
Christian Church in this World .  79!
The Second Coming of the Lord: in the In
ternal Sense of the Word  83
The New Church: the Crown of Churches ... 87
The Progress of the New Church  89
APPENDIX. The Creed of Athanasius  100

INTRODUCTION.

In the year 1758 there appeared in Londo^ a
small volume in Latin, with the remarkable title,
"The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly
Doctrine," in the opening paragraphs of which
it was taught that ' ' the Holy City, New Jerusa
lem, coming down from God out of Heaven,"
signifies the Heavenly Doctrine of a New Chris
tian Church, which the Lord was about to estab
lish in this world. For the New Jerusalem, we
are told here, is not a natural or material city,
but a heavenly or spiritual city, a city of that
Heavenly Kingdom, which cometh not with ob
servation, but is within you. A "city," when
mentioned in the Word of God, always represents
such a spiritual city, which is essentiall3' the sys;
tem of doctrine and faith, in which a man dwells
spiritually. Thus Jerusalem, of old, stands for
the faith and worship of Judaism, Babylon for the
doctrine and dominion of the Roman Catholic
Church, and so in all other cases.
But the ' ' New Jerusalem ' ' stands for a new
system of Christian doctrine, revealed and de
scending from Heaven, and this Doctrine is
briefly unfolded in the little work referred to
above, and is further explained in numerous

4 Introduction.
other volumes, all of which, as was noticed at the
time, had evidently issued from the same pen.
The writer, it became known after a time, was
a star of the first magnitude in the realms of
science, philosophy, literature and politics,
Emanuel Swedenborg, (born in Stockholm,
1688; died at London, 1772,) a Swedish noble
man, the son of a famous Bishop, and himself
celebrated throughout Europe as traveller, in
ventor, mathematician, astronomer, metallurgist,
natural philosopher, physiologist, patriot and
statesman.* Great was the astonishment of the learned and
the fashionable world on hearing the news that
this clear-sighted, critical savant, this aristocratic
intimate of statesmen and princes and kings,
had left the pursuit of worldly fame -and had
entered upon the career of a theologian and rev
elator. Society was bewildered at the claims
made so solemnly, yet with so much innocent
modesty by their old, universally beloved and
respected friend. He asserted that his spiritual
eyes had been opened; that he was able to live in
the other world as consciously as in this; that he
was in daily conversation with spirits and angels;
nay, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself had

* For particular information concerning Emanuel Swedenborg,
his character, life, and work, the reader is referred to any of the
thirty or more biographies which have appeared since his death
but particularly to those written by Dr, James J. Garth Wilkinson
(1849), by William White (1856), by " U. S, E," {1877), by Benjamin
Worcester (1883), or the little sketch by the present writer (1803).

Introduction. 5
, manifested Himself to him, had commissioned
him and filled him with the Holy Spirit, to reveal
by Divine inspiration the Doctrine of the New
Jerusalem as contained within the Sacred Scrip
ture What were men to think of these claims and of
him who made them? Was he an impostor, or
madman, or a self- deluded, harmless mono
maniac? Or was he what he claimed to be?
Swedenborg an impostor! The saint-like
purity and benevolence of his whole life, his dis
interestedness and single-hearted devotion to the
welfare of his country and of humanity forbade
the thought. A madman ? No, for he retained
throughout his life, in private as in public affairs,
the same calm, rational and well-balanced judg
ment as had distinguished him in his earlier
years. But his claim to open vision and inspiration,
would not this by itself show that he was labor
ing under a self-delusion, to say the least?
Not necessarily, for Moses and David and all
the prophets, John, Paul and the evangelists
made the same claim. They were rational per
sons and servants of the living God. How do
we know ? By reason of the self-evident light of
Truth Divine, which shines from every page of
the inspired Word !
Clearly, the only possible and just manner of
judging of the validity of Swedenborg's claims is
to give him a fair trial and hearing; to read his

6 Introduction.
published works, and to judge them according to
Scripture and reason. These two — not disjoined,
but in union with one another — are the divinely
given tests of truth. Apply these in reading
Swedenborg's works, and you will see whether
the Doctrine announced by him is of himself or
of God.
The following few pages aim only to call atten
tion to these works of Swedenborg's, by setting
forth, as in a birds-eye view, the walls and streets
of the New Jerusalem, the leading and essential
features of the Doctrines of the New Church.
The theological system of the New Church is
contained in four leading, all-embracing Doc
trines, treating respectively of the Lord, the
Word, Life, and Faith. Following this order, ,
we will now briefly review these Doctrines, as
contrasted with the teachings of the old Christian
Church, as appealing to the enlightened human
understanding, and as supported by the Word of
God.

I.
CONCERNING THE LORD.
GOD.
There is a God, and He is One ! No man with
religion and sound reason will deny this.
But who, and what, is this One God ?
The old Christian Church, Catholic or Protes
tant, teaches that ' ' God is a Spirit, invisible and
incomprehensible, without body, parts, or pas
sions," and that He created the universe out of
nothing. Is this the true idea of God ? Would not the
absence of any ' ' parts ' ' indicate the absence of
a whole ? Is not the lack of ' ' passions, ' ' i. e. , of
affections, the same as lifelessness and uncon
sciousness? What has no body has no form, and
what has no form can have no permanent and
substantial reality. How can we form any con
ception of what is invisible and incomprehensible ?
And how can we approach and love that of which
we have no conception ? Such an idea of God is
an idea of nothing, out of which comes — nothing.
Widely different from this is the idea of God,
revealed in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.
7

8 Conceming the Lord.
Here we are taught that there is a God, and
that He is One; that this One God is Divine
Man, in Himself eternal and infinite Love and
Wisdom, and yet both visible and comprehensible,
possessing actual though not material substance
and form, with self-consciousness, affections,
thoughts and distinguishable qualities, and that
He created the universe, not out of nothing, but
out of Himself, by means of His Word.
It is self-evident that God is Love itself in sub
stance, and Wisdom itself in form, for it must be
admitted by all that He is Life itself, since He is
the fountain of all life. And Life is nothing but
love; take away all love, all interest in life, and
life is done. Wisdom is nothing but the form,
the manifestation, the expression of love, God,
therefore, is nothing but Love and Wisdom,
eternal, infinite, omnipresent, omniscient and
omnipotent, God is Man, the Divine Man, the only real
Man, for love and wisdom, received from Him in
some small finite degree, are what make men
human, are what distinguish them from beasts.
God is man, for He created us men, in His own
image and likeness.
God is visible, for He is Truth itself, and
Truth can be seen. He is visible in an actual
human body, for the Truth, that is, the Word,
' ' became flesh and dwelt among ns. "
Men have seen Him on earth in this body, and
He ascended to Heaven in a human form. We

Concerning the Lord. 9
can still see Him as a Man in His Word, and hear
His own voice:
" And in Heaven the angels do always behold His face , ' '
(Matth. 16: 10.)
He has a Body, for in the Scriptures we read
of His face and His eye, His mouth and nostrils,
His arms and hands and feet. If He possesses
all these parts, what else can He possibly lack ?
And who is He ?
" In Jesus Christ dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead
bodily." (Col. 2:9)

THE TRINITY.
" In Jesus Christ dwelleth the Fulness of
the Godhead bodily." In Him, in His one
Divine Body and Person, resides the whole of the
Divine Trinity.
This is the key that opens the mystery of the
Trinity in God, in regard to which the whole
Christian Church has gone so utterly astray.
Protestants and Catholics alike maintain that
the Trinity in God means that there are three
distinct persons in the Godhead, one in essence,
but differing in operations and attributes.
Examine this doctrine in the light of Scripture
and of reason, and you will find that it is contrary
to both. Consider it in any reasonable way you
please, you still can make of it only a plurality
of gods. One human person is one man; three

ID Concerning the Lord.
human persons three men. One Divine Person
is One God; three divine persons three gods.
Those who framed the Athanasian Creed (just
before the Dark Ages) were caught in this dilem
ma, and could compel faith only by direful anath
emas and by the declaration that ' ' although we
are compelled by Chiistian verity to confess each
person, one by one, to be God and Lord, yet we
are forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say
there are three Gods and three' Lords. ' '
If this be the extent of harmony between Chris
tian verity and Christian Religion, what, then,
shall we think of a Christian morality which bids
us think one thing but say a totally different
thing ?
How have Christian artists, inspired by Chris
tian teachers, depicted this Trinity? As one
God ? No, but as two distinct gods, one old and
one young, with a dove soaring above. Or else
as a monstrous head, with three faces flowing
into one.
To whom of these three are Christian prayers
addressed? To all three, as one? No! To the
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath all power in Heaven
and on earth ? No, but to the invisible Father,
for the sake of his Son. If these two are truly
believed to be one single God, why this division
iu the inmost thought ?
If God is a being consisting of three Divine
persons, and if He created us into His own image

Conceming the Lord. 1 1
and likeness, how is it that each one of us does
not consist of three persons?
Clearly, sound reason has no part in this doctrine
of a Divine tri-personality, and the inquiring mind
is therefore silenced by the dictum that this is an
"incomprehensible mystery of faith," and that
' ' the understanding must be held captive under
obedience to faith."
If this be true, and if by " faith ' ' is meant the
dogmas framed by human councils, then will we
become the blind slaves of men, and not the free
servants of God. But do not put your faith in
councils, for they are but human, and it is
human to err. Rather
' ' Search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify
of Me." (John 5: 39.)
Search the Scriptures through and through,
and you will not find a single statement concern
ing any three persons in the Godhead, nor any
personal manifestation of the Father or of the
Holj"^ Spirit, except in the Son. But one single
Divine Person has ever revealed Himself, even
Jesus Christ, and He alone.
Nevertheless it is most true that there is a
Trinity in God, but not a tri-personal Trinity. It
is a trinity of essentials, not of persons. It is
the Trinity of Divine Soul, Divine Body, and Di
vine operation, all in the one Person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. By the ' ' Father, ' ' in the corre-
spondential and significative language of the Scrip
tures, is meant nothing else than the Divine Soul,

12 Concerning the Lord.
which assumed a human body in, the virgin
Mary. By the "Son" is meant the human
nature itself, which was tempted and crucified,
died, and rose again, but which, by victories over
all evil, was glorified and made one with the
Father or the Divine within. By the ' ' Holy
Spirit," finally, is meant not a third person or
god, but the Spirit of Divine Truth, flowing from
the Divine Human, the Divine Power or oper
ation, which enlightens, leads and regenerates all
who receive it. This is what is represented by the
"dove." There is the image of this Trinity in all things
of creation. We have it in our own soul and body
and operation. We have its representation in the
Sun, in which the essential fire is the " father,"
the heat and light proceeding as one, the "son,"
and the emanating life and effective power the
"spirit." It exists in every human thought
and action, which consists of end, cause and ef
fect, or purpose, means and result. It is seen in
every single thing of nature, which consists of
substance, form, and resulting use.
With this doctrine in your mind, read the pas
sages in the New Testament, where the Son ap
pears to converse with the Father and to pray to
Him, and you will see that these describe only
how the tempted human nature of the Lord
turned to the indwelling Divine Soul, asking and
receiving thence Divine instruction and power to
conquer its own inherited evil inclinations. Then

Concerning the Lord. 13
look into your own heart, and observe the voice
of conscience warning your own lower and evil
nature against sin, and notice the protests and the
unwillingness of that nature to be crucified and
die. This may illustrate what is meant by the
Divine Trinity.
But hear the testimony of the Word of God:
GOD IS ONE.
" I am the LORD thy God, and thou shalt have no other
Gods before My faces. " (Ex. 20:3.)
" Hear, O, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord."
(Deut. 6: 4.)
" In that day shall the Lord be king over all the earth'
in that day shall the Lord be one and His name one.'
(Zech. 14: 9.)
JESUS CHRIST IS THAT ONE GOD.
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." (John. 14:
6.) "A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and His
name shall be, Immanuel, God with us," (Is. 7: 14;
Matth. i: 22.)
" We abide in the Truth in Jesus Christ. This is the
true God and life eternal. Little children, keep your
selves from idols," (i John, 5: 20, 21.)
"To Me is given all power in Heaven and on earth."
(Matth 27: 18.)
"Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Re
deemer Jehovah Zebaoth, I am the First and the Last, and
beside Me there is no God." (Is. 44: 6. )
"To Jesws C^hrist be glory and strength. He is the
Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the
First and the Last, who is and wbo was and who is to come,
the Alm^hty." (Rev. i: 5, 8,)

14 Conceming the Lord.
HE AND THE FATHER ARE ONE.
"Unto to us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,
and His name shall be called, God, Mighty, Father of
Eternity, Prince of Peace." (Is. 9: 6.)
"The vpiqe of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare
ye the way of Jehovah." (Is, 11 : 30.)
' ' Behold the days are coming, when I shall raise up
unto David a just Branch, who shall reigu King, and do
justice and judgment in the earth, and this is His name,
Jehovah our Justice " (Jer. 23:5, 6.)
"If ye had known Me, ye would have known My
Father also, and from henceforth ye have known Him
and have seen Him. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show
us the Father and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him.
Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast not
known Me, Philip ? He that hath seen Me, hath seen the
Father." (John 14: 7, 9.)
" I and the Father are one." ( John 10: 30.)
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS HIS SPIRIT.
" The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not
yet glorified. ' ' ( John 7 : 39. )
[This has been wrongly translated in the Authorized
Version, where it is said that "the Holy Spirit was not
¦ye^. given." The word "given" does not occur in the
original Greek.]
After Jesus had been glorified,
" He breathed upon the disciples and said. Receive ye
the Holy Spirit. ' ' ( John 20 : 22. )
"A new heart I will give unto you, and a new spirit.
I will put My spirit in the midst of you. " ( Ezech, 36 : 26, ) '
"When the Comforter cometh, the Spirit of Truth,
He shall testify of Me. " ( John 15 : 26, )
" I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you, and
ye shall see Me." ( John 14: 16-19 )
« The Lord is that Spirit." ( 2 Cor. 3:17.)

Conceming the Lord. 15
REDEMPTION.
If, then, there is but one person in the God
head, what becomes of the doctrine of Redemp
tion ? Have we not been taught, in all churches,
that Christ came to propitiate the wrath of the
Father, and to pivjcure for us the grace of God
by His own sufferings and blood? If Christ
and the Father are one person, who was there to
propitiate, and from the wrath of whom are men
redeemed ?
Why did God Himself come down to this
world ? Why was He born, tempted and cruci
fied? The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem teaches,
that the Lord came down to redeem and save
mankind, not from the wrath of God — for there
is no such thing, — nor from any well-merited pun
ishment for crimes committed — for God is Jus
tice, — but from the love of evil, and from the
overwhelming power of Hell, which at that time
threatened the entire human race with destruc
tion and damnation.
The love of evil is like an avalanche, which
increases in volume and in destructive force as it
descends. From generation to generation, ever
since the Fall, mankind had become worse and
worse, through the accumulation of hereditary
inclinations to evil. Ever greater hosts of evil
spirits had been entering from this world into the
other world, until the power of Hell had become

1 6 Conce-ming the Lord.
so great that no human power could withstand
it, and until the demons were actually taking
open possession of the minds and bodies of men.
The worst of all nations on earth was the Jewish,
God's " own, chosen people," among whom pride
and hypocrisy, hatred and avarice reigned as
nowhere else.
It was to this nation that the Lord came down,
taking upon Himself, from a Jewish woman, flesh
and blood tainted with an hereditary inclination
to all evil, even the grossest and most vile. He
came down to the very bottom of the abyss of
human nature, in order to reach and save all
men, even the vilest; in order to be tempted to
all evil, and in order to conquer in all tempta
tions and thus to break the power of all the
demons. No one but a man could be thus tempted, and
no one but God Himself could be thus victorious.
The God-Man, Jesus Christ, did this for us.
Himself without sin. He bore in His body the
inclination to all, sins. But He yielded not. To
every infernal suggestion He replied, "Thou
.shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," and " Get
thee behind Me, Satan !" Thus He broke the
force of evil, compelled the infernal crew to fall
back, cowed and in trembling obedience to Him
self. Thus He redeemed and set us free from
spiritual slavery, and cleared a way through Hell
into Heaven, a way upon which all who wish are
free to follow Him.

Conceming the Lord. 17
The last and most direful of these temptations,
the final and most desperate assault of Hell, was
the passion of the Cross. The very robber on
the cross beside Him bade Him descend and free
Himself from suffering and death. To the Man,
in His despair, it seemed for a moment as if the
God within Him had forsaken Him. Yet He
yielded not, but committed His spirit into the
hand ofthe "Father," and expired, exclaiming:
"Itis fini.shed."
What was finished? The lifelong and ever
victorious struggle against Hell; . the universal
-Divine work of Redemption; the complete ex
pulsion of hereditary evil from the assumed
human body and nature, whereby this nature
itself became glorified and was made one with
the Divine Soul or "Father " within.
In this glorified and Divine body He rose again
out of the grave, and with this Divinely Human
body He ascended into Heaven. And thus it is
that men can even now see, hear and understand
Him, love, worship and become conjoined with
Him as God-Man, our Father in the Heavens,
our Creator, Redeemer and Regenerator.
How different from these teachings are the doc
trines of the old Church respecting the bloody
sacrifice of Christ, the Atonement, and the Re
demption ! From these latter it would appear,
ist, that God the Father had given poor, weak
mankind a Law which He well knew they had not
the power to keep; 2d, that He condemned uni-

1 8 Concerning the Lord.
versal mankind to eternal death because of the
sin of Adam; 3d, that He had determined to de
stroy the race in His terrible wrath; 4th, that
blood alone would appease Him; 5th, that His
only begotten Son offered to sacrifice Himself for
us; 6th, that the Father permitted this substitu
tion; and, 7th, that Christ became sin and curse
for us, taking our actual sins upon Himself, past,
present and to come, and bearing the natural
punishment though not the eternal damnation
which we had merited.
Reader, think of it! Could God, who is un
changeable Divine Love, be angry and revenge
ful? Could the Divine Mercy seek the eternal
death of any of His creatures ? What satisfac
tion to Him would be the blood of any such
specks in the universe as we ? Could He, who is
justice itself, permit the innocent to suffer for the
guilty ? Can sins— and especially sins that have
not yet been committed — be transferred from
one person to another, like so many pieces of
clothing? And how could Christ, who is God
and unchangeably pure and holy, become "sin
itself" and "a curse," without losing His
Divinity. Such is the very corner-stone and jewel of the
Old Theology, which was established at the
Council of Nice in the year 325, and which has
reigned supreme through all the dark ages, even
unto this nineteenth century.
Yet, where is the religion, the Christianity in

Concerning the Lord. 19
all this? Where the morality, the common sense,
the justice of it all? What would we think of a
judge in a court of justice who would venture to
follow such an example ?
Happily, it is not true that God is such a
monster. Do not believe it for one moment.
Hear the Scriptures:
"He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is
Love." (i John 4: 8.)
"For I am the Lord, I change not." (Mal. 3:6.)
" Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?
saith the Lord God, and not that he should rettjrn from
his ways, and live?" (Ezech. 18: 23,)
' ' The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,
neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. ' ' ( Ezech.
18: 20.)

"He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He
took on Him the seed of Abraham," (Heb. 2: 19.)
' ' We have not a high priest who cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 4: 15.)
"In that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted. He
is able to succour them that are tempted." (Heb. 2: 10.)

"Ye are clean through the word that I have spoken
unto you." (John 15: 3.)
For further instruction respecting the Lord,
the Trinity and the Redemption, read the "Doc
trine of the Newjerusalem concerning the
Lord," and "The True Christian Religion,"
Vol. I.

20 Concerning the Lord.
PROVIDENCE.
In presenting a brief view of the Doctrine of
the New Jerusalem concerning Providence, we
can do nothing better than to quote the follow
ing from the writings of Swedenborg himself:
' ' The Universal Government of the Lord is
called Providence, and it extends to the most
minute particulars of the life of man: for there is
only One Fountain of life, from whom we have
our being and live and act and that Fountain is
the Lord,
' ' They who think of the Divine Providence
from worldly affairs conclude that its operations
are only of a general nature, and that particulars
depend on human agencies. But such persons
are unacquainted with the mysteries of Heaven,
because they form their conclusions under the
influence of the love of self and the love of the
world and of their gross delights.
" Hence, when they see the wicked exalted to
honors and acquire riches, more than the good,
and when they see success attending the arti
fices of which they avail themselves, they say in
their hearts, that these things would not be so if
the Divine Providence were universally operative
and if it extended to every particular of the life
of man; not considering that the Divine Provi
dence does not regard that which is fleeting and
transitory and which terminates with the life of

Conceming the Lord. 21
man in this world, but that it regards that which
remains to eternity, thus which has no end.
"Of that which has no end it may be pre
dicated, that it is; but of that which has an end it
may be said, respectively, that it is not. Let
him who is able consider whether a hundred
thousand years be anything when compared to
eternity, and he will perceive that they are as
nothing; what then are a few years of life in this
world ?
"Whoever rightly considers the subject may
know that worldly rank and riches are not real
Divine blessings, although man, from the pleasure
which they yield him, calls them so; for they
pass away, and also seduce many, and turn them
away from Heaven.
"But that eternal life, and the happiness
thence resulting, are real blessings bestowed on
man by the Lord, He himself plainly teaches in
these words:
' Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treas
ure in the Heavens that faileth not, where no thief ap-
proacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.' (Luke 12:
'33. 34-)
' ' The devices of the wicked are attended with
success, because it is according to Divine Order
that whatever man does he should do in the
free exercise of his reason and from freedom
of choice; unless therefore he were left to act ac
cording to his reason, consequently unless the

22 Concerning the Lord.
artifices which he thence construes were followed
with success, he could in no wise be disposed to
receive eternal life. For eternal life is insinuated
into him when he is in a state of liberty and of
enlightened reason.
' ' No one can be compelled to do good, because
nothing forced is permanent with man, since it is
not his own. That alone becomes his own which
he does from liberty and in accordance with his
reason. What he does from liberty is done from
his own will or love, and the will or love is the
man himself. If a man were compelled to act
contrary to his will, his thoughts would con
tinually incline towards the dictates of his will.
Besides, everyone strives after what is forbidden,
for everyone strives to act from liberty. Hence
it is evident, that unless man were preserved in
liberty he could not be provided with good.
" To leave man to think, to will, and, so far as
the law does not restrain him, to do evil, from
his own liberty, is called Permission.
'" When man is led, by the success of artful
schemes, to the enjoyment of happiness in the
world, it appears to him as the result of his own
prudence; when yet at the same time the Divine
Providence incessantly accompanies him, per
mitting and continually withdrawing him from
evil. But when man is led to the enjoyment of
felicity in Heaven, he knows and perceives that it
is not effected by his own prudence, but by the

Concerning the Lord. 23
Lord, and is the result of tTie Divine Providence,
disposing and continually leading man to good.
"It is to be particularly observed, that beside
Providence there is also Previdence or Foresight.
Good is provided by the Lord; but evil is pre -
vided. The one must needs accompany the
other, for what proceeds from man is nothing but
evil, but what proceeds from the Lord is wholly
good." (New Jerusalem and its Heavenly
Doctrine, Nos. 267-275.)
See also on this subject, Swedenborg's work
entitled ' ' Angelic Wisdom Concerning the
Divine Providence."

II.
CONCERNING THE WORD OF GOD.
THE BOOK OPENED.
The Bible, the Sacred Scripture, or the Word
of God, is generally acknowledged in the Chris
tian Church to be Holy and Divine, the infallible
canon and foundation of all true faith, of all gen
uine religion.
Yet when asked wherein the holiness and per
fection of the Word resides. Christians can point
to it only as being the general evidence of God's
Love and Wisdom, but are utterly unable to come
to a common agreement in regard to the sense
and understanding of the Scriptures; they cannot
offer any rational explanation of the many appa
rent contradictions and obscurities occurring in
the text; they have no power to show the har
mony between the Word of God and the princi
ples of human reason and science, and hence they
stand helpless against the ever-increasing attacks
of skepticism and infidelity.
" For the Lord hath poured out upon them the spirit
of deep sleep, and hath closed their eyes, and the vision
24

Conceming the Word of God. 25
of all is become unto them as the words of a book that is
sealed, which a man delivereth to one that is learned,
saying, Read this, I pray thee, and he saith, I cannot, for
it is sealed." (Isa. 29: 10, 11.)
But now, in the light of the New Jerusalem,
"The deaf shall hear the words of that Book, and the
eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of
darkness." (Is. 29: 18.)
For now is the time of the Second Advent of
the Lord, the time of which He spoke, when He
told the disciples:
" These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs but
the time cometh when I will not speak in proverbs, but
shall show you plainly of the Father." Qohn 16: 25.)
And now is fulfilled the promise implied in the
words: " I have yet many things to say unto you, but j'e can
not hear them now," (John 16: 12,)
This Advent of the Lord has taken place in the
revelation of the spiritual or internal sense of the
Word, which is concealed within the literal or
earthly sense, as the soul is hidden within the
body, as the sweet and nutritive kernel is hidden
within the stony shell. This revelation of the
internal sense of the Word is contained in the
theological writings of the servant of the Lord,
Emanuel Swedenborg.

26 Concerning the Word of God.
THE INTERNAL SENSE.
That there is a deeper, internal sense or under
standing of the Sacred Scripture is evident from
this simple truth that the Word of God is spir
itual and Divine, and hence of infinite and eter
nal application. But the Letter, or the surface
sense of the Word, treats mo.stly of finite and
temporal things; it deals to a very great extent
with the history of the earth and of men and
nations; spiritual principles appear only here and
there. It is evident, therefore, that there must
be a spirit, an interior sense, a more genuine
understanding concealed beneath the surface of
the Letter.
Is not this self-evident from the teachings of
the Letter itself ?
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing. The -words that I speak unto you, they are
spirit and they are life." (John 6: 63.)
" If I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe
not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly
things?" (John 3: 12 )
' ' tJnto you it is given to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of God; but to others in parables; that seeing
they might not see, and hearing they might not under- ¦
stand." (Luke 8: 10,)
"And all these things spake Jesus unto the multitude
in parables. And without a parable spake He not unto
them. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the prophet saying, I will open my mouth in parables: I
will utter things which have been kept secret from the
foundation of the world." (Mark 13: 34.)

Concerning the Word of God. 27
" Then opened He their understanding, that they might
understand the Scriptures, ' ' (Luke 24: 45.)
Equally clear are these teachings of the Apos
tles: ' ' The Letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. ' ' (2 Cor.
3: 6.)
" It is the spirit that beareth witness, because the spirit
is truth." (John 5: 6.)
"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am
carnal, sold undSr sin." (Rom. 7: 14.)
" The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (i
Cor. 2: 14.)
"Which things are an allegory." \i e., the history of
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Ishmael.] (i Gal. 4 , 24,)
"The priests that offer gifts according to the law
serve unto the shadow and example of heavenly things,
as the pattern of the things in Heaven." (Heb. 8: 5,
9:23.) As the soul and spirit of man is not confined to
the brain of man alone, but fills the whole body
and animates every fibre and atom, so does the
internal sense fill the literal sense, not only in
general, but in every particular sentence and
word. In the original Hebrew the syllables and
the single letters and even the curves and horns
of each letter are pregnant with an interior sig
nificative meaning, representing and correspond
ing to spiritual and Divine things. Hence it is
said: " Until Heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one
tittle shall not pass from the Law, until all be fulfilled."
(Matt. 5: 18.)

28 Concerning the Word of God.
THE WORD IN THE HEAVENS.
The Word of God is the light of life, not only
for the men of this world, but also for the count
less host of angels in the Heavens. For we read:
"Forever, O Lord, thy word is established in the
Heavens." (Ps. 119: 89 )
The Word in the Heavens, which the angels
read, is the spiritual sense, which is contained
within our Scriptures,, for these, as a whole and
in every particular, ' ' serve as the shadow and
example of heavenly things, the pattern of the
things in Heaven. ' ' What we understand natur
ally, when reading of Jerusalem, Israel and the
Jewish people, the angels understand spiritually,
as treating of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and
the spiritual life of man. When we think of
Joseph and David as men on earth, the angels
think of the heavenly Joseph and of the almighty
King whom David foreshadowed. And thus in
every case.
And as there are three heavens, one above the
other, so there are three degrees of the internal
sense of the Word, one within and more wonder
ful than the other.
The sense which is nearest to the Letter is
called the internal historical sense, and treats in
general of the spiritual quality and history of the
nations that are mentioned in the Letter.
Within this setise is the spiritual or internal

Concerning the Word of God. 29
sense itself, which treats of the establishment of
the Lord's Church in the individual man. It is
the continuous history of the reformation and
regeneration of the individual by means of the
birth and development within him of charity and
faith. And inmostly within this spiritual sense there
is the third or highest sense, called the celestial,
which treats of the Lord alone, His Love and
Wisdom and Power, His incarnation, tempta
tions and victories; the glorification of His human,
and His work of Redemption and Salvation.
This, then, is what is typified by the ladder
which Jacob in his dream saw standing on the
earth, its top reaching unto Heaven, and the
angels of God ascending and descending on it.
By means of these degrees of Truth in the Word,
more and more internal, as they are gradually
opened to his understanding, man will be able to
approach nearer and nearer to his God and Lord,
who stands inmostly in the Divine glory of His
Word. For inmostly and supremely the Word
no longer treats of the Lord, but is the Lord
Himself. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God, And the Word was
made Flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. ' '
(John i: I, 14.)

30 Conceming the Word of God.

CORRESPONDENCES AND REPRESENTA
TIVES.
In order to contain all these infinite things
within a finite and comprehensible compass, the
Word of God is written throughout in parables,
allegories and symbols, or, to speak more cor
rectly, in significatives, correspondences and
representatives. Correspondence is the harmony in quality and
use of an external thing with an internal thing;
it is the answer or agreement of the one with the
other. Thus the eye corresponds to intelligence,
for it performs the same use to the body as the
intelligence to the mind. On the same ground
there is a corrfespondence between the heart and
the will or love of man, between the hand and
spiritual power, between the sense of taste and
spiritual judgment or discernment, etc. And so,
in the world about us, light corresponds to truth
from the heavenly Sun; heat to the life of good
received from the same source; the earth to the
Church on the earth; mountains to sublime states
of love and nearness to God; valleys to the lower
states of selfish and worldly loves.
, In this manner, through the universal law of
correspondence, the whole created Universe may
be seen as the external image and likeness of the
microcosm or little world, which exists within
ourselves.

Conceming the Word of God. 31
Representation, however, is a somewhat differ
ent relation from correspondence. The latter is
based on interior agreement in actual quality,
but representation is based on the more external
similarity of form and temporary use, irrespective
of the real quality. Thus a lion, a mighty but
an evil beast, represents, but does not correspond
to the Divine ,omnipotence of the Lord, who is
called " the lion of Judah." Similarly all kings
and priests mentioned in the Scripture represent
the Lord, or bring back to the mind the idea of
His Royalty and Highpriesthood, and this on
account of their office itself, no matter whether
these kings and priests were good men or evil.
It is in such correspondences and representa
tives that the Word of God is written, and this
not only in spots, or in certain parables, but
throughout, in every sentence and word, from
beginning to end. The whole system is unfolded
in the writings of Swedenborg, with a consistency
miraculous, superhuman and all- convincing.
No human composition can be similar. The
nations of the ancient world, the Egyptians and
Assyrians, for instance, did indeed have a knowl
edge of this long-lost science of correspondences,
and embodied it in their hieroglyphics They
wrote all their books in a symbolic sense. Solo
mon did the same in his Song of Songs, but in
these ancient books the correspondences are de-
tatched and scattered, and not continuous as in
the sacred codes which were written by the

32 Conceming the Word of God.
direct inspiration and dictation of the Lord Him
self. The presence or absence of this continuous in
ternal sense determines which of the books, at
present included in the Bible, are truly the Word
of God, and which are not. According to this
test, we learn from the Writings of the New
Church that the following books were written by
Divine inspiration, and consequently belong to
the genuine canon:
The five books of Moses, the Judges, Joshua,
the two books of Samuel, the two books of the
Kings, the Psalms and all the Prophets, the four
Gospels and the Revelation of John. The rest
are all good and useful books of doctrine for the
Church, but are of human origin, and are not to
be mistaken for the Word of God.
Does this internal sense, then, dissolve the Law
and the Prophets ? Nay, but it establishes them.
It explains and dissolves all the "clouds" of
apparent contradictions and obscurities in the
Letter, reconciles science and morality with true
Religion, and restores and confirms the faith of
man in the absolute holiness, infallible authority
and complete Divinity of the Word of God even
in its most ultimate, literal sense.
For this Letter, according to the Doctrine of
the New Jerusalem, is the " Basis, Continent and
Firmament of the spiritual and celestial senses,
and in it alone is the Divine Truth in its fulness,
its holiness and its power. ' '

Concerning the Word of God. 33
Why, then, was the Word written in this
manner ? In order that the Divine Truth might
be accommodated to the understanding and capa
city of all classes and conditions of men, to the
simple and ignorant as well as to the wise and
learned; to men on earth as well as to the angels
of Heaven, Otherwise it could not be the lamp
of doctrine and the light of life to all men.
ALL DIVINE TRUTH IS THE WORD OF
GOD.
Since the Word of God is nothing but the
Divine Truth, it follows that all Divine Truth,
in any inspired Revelation, is also the Word of
God, holy. Divine and infallible.
The Divine Truth, which was "written upon
the hearts" of the most ancient men, when they
were still in Paradise, was the Word of God.
The Divine Truth, which was revealed to the
men ofthe subsequent age, and which was written
in books that are now lost or hidden, — as in the
" Book of Jasher " (Josh. 10: 13), the "Wars of
Jehovah" (Num. 21: 14), and the "Prophetical
Annunciations" (Num. 21: 27-30), — was the
Word of God.
The Divine Truth, which was revealed in the
Hebrew books of the Old Testament, and the
Greek of the New Testament, is the Word of
God. And the Divine Truth, now revealed to the
Church of the New Jerusalem, and written in
3

34 Concerning the Word qf God.
Latin by Emanuel Swedenborg, — not by means
of verbal dictate but by rational inspiration, — is
the Word of God, .the unfolding and the crown
of all preceding Revelations.

For further teachings on this subject see
the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem con
cerning the Sacred Scriptures," by Emanuel
Swedenborg. The continuous internal sense of the books of
Genesis and Exodus has been explained by
Swedenborg in the great work, the "Arcana
Caelestia, or Heavenly Mysteries which are
in the Word of the Lord." and the internal
sense of the Revelation of John in the " Apoca
lypse Revealed" and the "Apocalypse Ex
plained," by the same author.

III.
CONCERNING LIFE.
MAN.
The life of man is his love. This life or
love is varied with all men, but is one in its
origin, which is the Divine Love, the fountain of
all life. Man has no life in himself, but it is a
free gift of God; it is given to man as his own,
and he is in freedom to use it according to his
pleasure. Created out of the dust of the ground, God
breathed into him the breath of life. The clay
became living, but within the living clay there
remained, higher and distinct from it, the breath
of life itself. Hence the life or nature of man is
two-fold, higher and lower, heavenly and earthly,
spiritual and natural, internal and external. In
the higher region within man the Lord resides
with immortal life. In the lower dwells the
"ego," the self -hood or "proprium," endowed
with the appearance of original and independent
hfe. Since the Fall of man these two lives are not
only opposite to one another, but irreconcilable.
Both cannot rule together in him, one must rule
and the other must give way. In the midst be-
35

36 Concerning Life.
tween these two dwells human reason; it is able
to view both, and can freely determine which of
the two shall rule in him.
If man then freely turns to the Lord, subdues
his self-life and self-love and subjects this to the
love and Hfe of God, he will become conjoined
with God and live forever with Him in Heaven.
If, on the other hand, he turns to himself, and
away from God, if he gives free reins to the grati
fication of his selfish lusts, he will become utterly
disjoined from the source of life'; he will lose his
soul, and dwell forever with death in Hell.
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and
whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give
in exchange for his soul." (Math. i6: 25, 26.)
Free will in spiritual things is therefore an
inalienable essential of human life. For life is
of the Lord, and the Lord is Freedom itself. It
is our love that He would have, but love forced is
love no longer.
"Behold, I have set before thee this day life and the
good, death and the evil. Therefore choose life, that
both thou and thy seed may live," (Deut. 30: 15-19.)
* "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." (Jos. 24: 15. )
And yet, in all the Reformed churches, the
dogma is held (with some variation) that man
has no free will in spiritual things, that he is
like a stock or a stone in matters of faith and of
good and evil. If he receives faith, it is by the

Concerning Life. 37
pure grace of God. If he does what is good, it is
by the grace of God. If he does evil, — why, it is
because God withholds His grace!
What is this, essentially, but Predestination,
and what is Predestination but the most cruel,
insane and blasphemous heresy ever hatched by
disordered minds? A child would recognize its
injustice. A heathen would reject it with loath
ing. And yet there are Christians who believe
in it!
There is, indeed, a Divine Predestination, a
predestination of all men for Heaven and its
eternal blessedness, for that is the destination
intended by the Creator for all His creatures.
And every one is able to gain this goal, who is
willing, freely willing, to choose it, to turn to it,
to strive for it. Divine grace will then accompany
hira and sustain him in his efforts, but will not
supercede these efforts, will not push or force
him into Heaven.
Freedom of choice, however, cannot exist with
out the knowledge and the understanding of
Truth, for falsity is of Hell, and Hell is slavery
itself In order, therefore, that all men might
be free, the Word of God was given, first in the
Letter and now in its internal sense.
"Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant
fcnoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you
friends " (John 15: 15.)
"Aud ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set
you free." (John 8: 32,)

38 Conceming Life.
Will and understanding are the names of
th^e two universal organs of life in the spirit of
man, answering to the heart and the lungs in his
body. The will is the vessel created to receive
the influx of life and love from God, and the
understanding is the vessel set apart for the influx
of truth and perception.
Ever since the Fall of mankind, these two
faculties have been entirely distinct and separate
from one another. Thankful, indeed, may we be
for this separation, for on it depends our whole
salvation. ^
Ever since the Fall, the human will or heart
has been entirely and utterly evil, a mass of
filthy inclinations and lusts, the very gate of
Hell with man. It has become so thoroughly
corrupt, that it can never, to all eternity, be re
formed and regenerated. It is bad ! Nothing
can be done with it, except to subdue it, and shut
it up below. An entirely new will, a will of
good, will then be created in its place by the
Lord. Now, if the human understanding were one
with this evil will, man would be like any
ferocious beast, rushing headlong into the grati
fication of his lusts, without any regard to con
sequences. In order, therefore, to save the race from utter
damnation and extinction, the Lord, after the
Fall, separated the understanding from the cor
rupted will. Hence man is able to see and dis-

Concerning Life. 39
tinguish with his understanding between truth
and falsity and good and evil; is able to realize
his own conditions, and is able to compel or force
himself to abstain from evil and to do what is
right. It is thus, alone, that the old will can be sub
dued, and a new will be created.
THE REGENERATE LIFE.
Repentance is the first step in the life of
regeneration, but by repentance is not meant the
mere oral confession that one is a sinner, nor the
violent enthusiastic contrition which in the old
Church is said to be followed by the "consolation
of the Gospel. ' ' But true repentance is the recog
nition of the hellish love of self, and the earnest
resolution to shun evils, — not on account of the
fear of punishments, — but because they are sins
against the Lord. And actual repentance con
sists especially in the act of shunning and
compelling some one particular sin and evil
love. For no man is able to fight against all
evil, and all the Hells at once; but he is able to
put away one evil at one time, and another after
wards, in the degree that his eyes are opened to
the infernal nature of that particular evil.
" Wash you, make you clean; pat a-way the evil of your.
doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil; learn to
do well." (Isa. 1:16).
" When I say unto the wicked. Thou shalt surely die:
if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and

40 Concerning Life.
right; if the wicked restore the pledge; give again that
which he robbed; walk in the statutes of life, without
committing iniquity, he shall surely live. He shall not
die." (Ezech. 33: 14, 15.)
Reformation and Regeneration follow
Repentance, as conception is followed by gesta
tion and birth. For Regeneration is not, a mere
figure of speech. It is an actual new birth, the
birth of a new man, a man angel, and the process
corresponds in every detail to the conception, for
mation and birth of the bodily man. The seed from
which the spiritual man is begotten is the seed of
Divine Truth, — the Word of God, — from the
Heavenly Father. This, when received in the
mind, and when not only heard, but loved and
obeyed in life, causes a re -formation of the whole
understanding. The old falla ies, misconcep
tions, prejudices and false notions are cast out.
Man learns to view God, the Word, the world
and himself in an entirely new light. He learns
to distinguish between truth and falsity, and be
tween good and evil. And as he perseveres in
his efforts to walk in this Light, shunning his
former evils as sins against his God, he will grad
ually withdraw from death and Hell, and draw
nearer unto life and Heaven. He will first learn
to fear evil as hurtful; afterwards he will come
to hate it as undelightful and deadly to his soul,
and finally he will learn to love what is good,
which formerly he regarded as utterly opposed
to his own interests and pleasures.

Conceming Life. 41
In this manner by slow degrees, by tempta
tions and vastations, the old selfhood, "the old
Adam" in him, will be cast down from his
throne, and a new will, a new love and life will
be created and born. But as the creation of the
natural man is not the work of a moment, but of
forty weeks,* neither is the new birth the effect
of any "instantaneous conversion." It is the
one great work and business of man during his
entire Hfe in this world, and the work of perfec
tion continues in Heaven to all eternity.
For not even the angels are perfect in the sight
of God, but are forever drawing nearer unto Him,
who alone is perfect.
' ' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the King
dom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." (John 3:
3, 7-)
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of in
corruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abid
eth forever." (i Peter i: 23. )

On these same subjects read "The Doctrine
of Life for the Newjerusalem," " The True
Christian Religion," and "Angelic Wisdom
Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine
Wisdom," by Emanuel Swedenborg.
*The number " forty," in the Word, always indicates a state of
temptations. Compare the Lord's temptations in the wilderness,
forty days ; the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness,
forty years, etc.

42 Conceming Life.
ETERNAL LIFE.
Death and Resurrection.
What is termed ' ' death ' ' is nothing but the
change which man undergoes when he lays aside
the natural body and enters consciously into the
life of his spirit. The man himself cannot die or
cease to exist, for the real man is spirit and life,
and life is eternal, because God is Life.
When the motions of the heart and of the
lungs have entirely ceased, the spirit is fully sep
arated from the body and awakes immediately
in the spiritual world where, indeed, his spirit
has lived from the beginning of his life, though
not consciously. The worn-out natural body re
turns to the dust out of which it was made, and
arises never more.
There is not, therefore, any "resurrection of
the material body," as is believed in the old
Church. Such a doctrine is utterly unscriptural
and irrational. Paul is explicit enough on that
point, where he says:
" Some will say. How are the dead raised up? And
with what body do they come ? Thou fool ! That which
thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that
which thou sowest is not that body which shall be. But
God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every
seed its own body. There are also celestial bodies, and
bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one,
and the glory of the terrestrial is another. So also is the
rescurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is

Concerning Life. 43
raised in incorruption. It is sown a natural body; it is
raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there
is a spiritual body. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God- neither
doth corruption inherit incorruption, " (i Cor. 15:35-50.)
Common sense alone shows that the material
flesh and blood cannot arise again after life has
once departed from the body. The latter returns
unto dust, and the dust enters into plants, aud
the plants become food for beasts and men. In
the body which we now carry there may be sub
stances derived more or less directly from the
dead bodies of a million men. Our own bodies
are thus inseparably interlaced with those of our
ancestors. If, on the " day of Judgment," each
one should take what is his own, would there be
bodies enough for all the waiting souls ?
But what need to dwell on these ancient super
stitions? "There is a spiritual body," and
this body is the human form and substance of the
spirit of man, which, in this life, exists within
and permeates the flesh and blood. When the
material covering falls off, this spiritual body re
mains as before in a perfectly human shape,
possessing all the senses, all the organs and
viscera and limbs, without which man would not
be human.

44 Conceming Life.
The Spiritual World.
Where, then, is the spiritual world in which
man is to awaken immediately after death ? Is it
in some sublimated aerial sphere, high above the
stars ? Or is it in Tartarus, beneath us ? Or are
spirits and angels floating about us, invisible, in
our own atmosphere? No! It is not any where in
space, for space, as well as time, is nothing to
the spirit. Thought is of the spirit, and in your
thought you can transfer yourself, in a moment,
to the ends of the. earth, to the regions beyond
the boundaries of the universe. What is space
but an appearance, a relative condition of dead
matter, distinctly inferior to the intelligence of
man? A hundred years ago we were separated
from Europe by a journey of three months. Now
the distance is measured by a week or less.
You close your eye at night. You dream.
Where are you in your dream ? In the world of
matter, of time and space ? No, for in a moment
you may pass through the experiences of a whole
day, or may accomplish any distant journey.
Dreams are but fleeting glimpses of that inner
world, in which your own spirit dwells together
with countless other spirits. In dreams, long
ago, the angels of God descended to patriarchs
and prophets, bringing messages of instruction
or of warning to mankind; in dreams and in
visions of the night the kingdom of God de-

Concerning Life. 45
scended and still sometimes communes with the
half -conscious spirits yet fettered in the clay.
You see a man. Yet you do not really see him
if you do not see his spirit at the same time. In
a crowd of a thousand you may see but one single
man, and that because you know that man's
internal mind and spiritual characteristics. It is
not your material eye that sees his spirit, but
your spiritual eye. Thus like sees like. Matter
can not view spirit, nor spirit matter, for they
are of totally different substance, origin and
degree. The natural eye sees the paper and
printing of a book; the spiritual eye sees the
meaning of the book. Hence we may know the
falsity of modern spiritism, which claims that
spirits appear in the material world, that they
may be photographed by a natural camera, that
they can produce natural writing, move slate-
pencils, etc. They cannot do this anymore than
you are able to lift up a stone by the mere action
of your thought.
But though invisible and totally distinct from
this world, yet the spiritual world is not unreach
able or far away from us. Where is the spirit
ual world? It is where man is, and nowhere else!
He cannot get away from it, for he is in it now,
as to his spirit, as really as he is in the world of
nature as to his body. He is not con.scious of his
spiritual life aud surroundings, but in a moment
these may be opened to him, by the will of God.
This immediate presence of the spiritual world is

46 Concerning Life.
evinced most clearly in the Word (2 Kings,
6:17), when the servant of Elisha feared, because
he saw the city of Samaria surrounded by
enemies on horses and chariots. But Elisha
answered, "Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they
that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said. Lord,
I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the
Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw,
and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots
of fire, round about Elisha."
The kingdom of God is not of this world, but
of another world. This other world, therefore,
is where the kingdom of God is established in
everlasting reality and glory. And where is this ?
"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation,
neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold,
the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17: 20, 21.)
It is in the spiritual body, then, that man
awakens after death, a real and substantial being
in an actual and tangible world. So easy is the
transition called death, that many, on awakening',
are persuaded that they still live in the natural
world. They find themselves surrounded by
familiar scenes and loving friends; they arise,
clothe themselves, eat and drink; little or nothing
seems changed at first, excepting this, that they
no longer carry with them the bodily infirmities
and ailments from which they suffered in the
former world. After a while, however, new scenes
and faces present themselves, as the spirit enters
further into the spiritual world on the journey

Conceming Life. 47
that is to carry him to his final destination. For
few if any are so good or so wicked that they
enter at once into Heaven or into Hell. A state
or world of final preparation is needed for almost
all, and this state is called the "world of spirits,"
or the world where all spirits are together, imme
diately after death.
The World of Spirits.
This ' ' world of spirits " is an intermediate state
between Heaven and Hell, "the great gulf,"
spoken of in Luke 16: 26, and corresponds to the
mouth and the digestive organs in man, which
first receive the food and separate its good parts
from the evil.
In this world of spirits the final judgment
takes place and the separation of the good from
the evil, for the judgment after death must take
place in a world where the good and the evil are
still together. And the judgment is effected by
everybody being put into a state of perfect free
dom, without any fear of shame and punishments.
The evil then rush joyfully into the indulgence
of their lusts, and thus lay bare their inmost
character, which in the natural world had been
carefully and hypocritically concealed. They
hasten from one enormity into another, and
finally cast themselves headlong into Hell among
their like.
Evil, therefore, is its own punishment. God
casts no one into Hell. He seeks not the death

48 Conceming Life.
of any sinner. He would draw all unto Himself
in Heaven, but such is His Love and Wisdom,
that He compels no one to love and serve Him.
But those whose inmost and ruling love has
been the love of good, pass through a state of final
preparation for Heaven. For few in this world have
attained to a sufficient degree of perfection. Ex
ternal, worldly and selfish loves still cling to most
good people some time even after death, and the
ignorance concerning the real nature of Heaven
and of the Lord is so great that instruction be
comes absolutely necessary. In this state are all
who die as children, most of the Gentiles and
many of the Christians All these are now given
the opportunity to learn the fundamental things
of the true Christian Religion, and they enter into
Heaven when there is a balance between their
faith and their will of good.
Each one, therefore, seeks his final abode ac
cording to his ruling love. This love remains
unchanged after death, for he has made it his
very life. Hence we read:
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he
that is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is just,
let him be just still; and he that is holy, let him be holy
still." (Rev. 22; II.)

Concerning Life. 49
Hell.
The kingdom of the devil is not a place outside
of or beneath man. Like the Kingdom of God,
it is within him.
Hell is, essentially, the state or condition of
evil itself, and hence the general state of the
wicked spirits who in the other life, by self-
gravitation and mutual attraction, gather them
selves together into vast congregations of satans
and devils.
For like seeks like. Where the carcass is,
there the eagles are gathered. Thieves seek the
company and dens of thieves. Adulterers are
happy only among the lascivious. The dog returns
to his vomit, and the swine to his mire.
Hell-fire is not material fire, for such cannot
exist in the spiritual world. Nor is it, as some
suppose, the hopeless, unceasing pangs of a con
science awakened too late, for conscience is the
voice of God in man and leads to Heaven. No
one can go to Hell who has left within him one
spark of conscience.
But the fire of Hell is the burning lust of doing
evil. It is the evil will of self-love, which, when
not extinguished or subdued in this life, will burn
up and consume all good and truth which Divine
Mercy has bestowed upon man.
"Wickedness burneth as fire, and the people shall be as
the fuel of fire; no man shall spare his brother " (Isa. 9:
17, 19- ) 4

50 Conceming Life.
The essence of Hell is the love of self, which,
when opposed, flames up as deadly hatred against
all outside of one's self. It is the love of domi
neering over all, the love of possessing all things
and depriving others of all that is theirs: their
wealth, their faith, their innocence and their life.
It is the hatred against all that is good and
true, and it is especially the cruel, undying hatred
against the Lord, who is Mercy and Innocence
itself. Far from being tormented, whilst burning in
this fire of infernal love, the devils feel its flames
as the inmost joy of their life, their very heaven,
in the degree that they are permitted to revel in
the indulgence of their insane lusts. The self-
denial and purity of Heaven would be death and
hell to them.
So great is the Divine mercy that the infernals
are permitted, to some extent, to indulge in their
evils, for otherwise they could not remain alive.
And their very evils are the means of preserving
some degree of order in Hell, for the devils love
to punish and torment one another, and they are
thus kept in continual fear of one another, and
are restrained by this fear.
But let no one think that the devils are happy,
on the whole. Evil is misery and horror and
torment in itself The devils feel the fire of Hell
as burning when they are not permitted to hurt
their fellows or the innocent. Their headlong
rush into ever deeper evils is continually checked,

Concerning Life. 51
their cunning plans are baffled, their mad desires
disappointed, their conspiracies exposed, and
their crimes direfuUy punished.
Most of their lives are spent in prisons and
work-houses, where they are compelled to labor
for their miserable subsistence. To be forced to
work and thus to be of some use, this is direful
torment to them, as it is to all who hate tht
neighbor. As there are degrees of evil, so there are de
grees in Hell. All are not equally wicked. Some
fare better and some fare worse, according to the
depth and persistency of their malice. And those
who are in like evils are herded together by them
selves in to various congregations . To themselves
and to each other they appear, indeed, like men
and women, but when the light of Heaven falls
upon them they are seen in their ' ' true inward
ness," deformed, monstrous and disgusting, like
filthy and ferocious beasts.
Their surroundings are in harmony with their
own inner nature. They dwell, and love to
dwell, in hideous holes and caverns, in deserts
and stagnant bogs, reveling in filth and stenches.
Here many who in this world had been rich and
mighty become paupers and vile slaves. Here
the learned become foolish, and the refined forget
their polish. Nor is Hell for these alone, but for
the slothful and vicious among all classes of men.
It is to be noted that all the inhabitants of Hell
have been men and women upon some earth, and

52 Concerning Life.
that there is no class of devils or satans who had
once been created in Heaven, but had fallen from
their angelic estate. But of this later on. Nor is
there any one special Devil, who is, as it were,
king and god over the whole of Hell. By the
" Devil " is meant simply the love of evil, and by
"Satan" the love of falsity, both of which rule
as one in the minds of all in Hell.
Thus they live in Hell from age to age. ' ' Their
morning is the itch of cupidities; their noon is the
heat of lust; their evening anxiety and their night
torment." But is there, then, no hope for their final res
toration? No, for they know what they have
freely chosen, and they prefer it immeasurably to
heavenly good and truth. Their will is formed,
their choice is made. Heaven would be hell to
them were they lifted up thither by force. They
are happier in Hell, and so they are permitted to
remain there forever.
Reader, would you have a more objective and
nearer view of Hell ? Look then, in the light of
these teachings, upon the state of this ' ' Chris
tian ' ' world in which we live ! And look nearer
still, into your own heart, and you will find that
Hell is not very far away, nor foreign to our
nature. But while we are in this world we may
still escape from the Hell within us, if we will.

Conceming Life. 53
Heaven.
The ignorance concerning Heaven, and the
disbelief in a life after this is so great among
Christians, that but few think about it or wish to
know what it is. They reason that if there is a
Heaven then they will learn all about it after
death. In the meantime they prefer to bury
their minds in the things of this world.
Whatever ideas are prevalent in regard to
Heaven, are either so vague as to amount to
nothing, or else so filled with the hopes of sensual
and selfish gratifications, as to be gross and re
volting to a spiritually-minded man.
Some picture Heaven as a cloudy dreamland,
without substantial reality or actual human life,
where angels, with wings on their backs and
palm-branches and harps in their hands, fly
about the throne of God or pray and sing with
out a pause.
Others imagine that life in Heaven consists . iu
everlasting church-going, or in eternal feasting
with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or in unending
promenades in heavenly paradises. Each one,
in fact, makes up an imaginary heaven of his
own the chief blessedness of which is to consist
in the free and eternal indulgence in his particular
"weakness of the flesh," whether this be some
form of religious frenzy, or slothfulness, or the
satisfaction of some bodily appetite.
But mouth-worship or self-gratification, cannot

54 Concerning Life.
be the true service of God in which men are to
spend a whole eternity. What then is Heaven?
We are taught ' ' Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God," and " Thy will be done, as in Heaven,
so upon the earth. ' ' But how are we to find
the Lord's Kingdom, and how are we to do His
will on earth, if we do not know nor care to know
how it is done in Heaven and what Heaven is ?
It is to dispel this universal ignorance that the
Lord Himself has now vouchsafed an immediate
Revelation concerning Himself and His King
dom in the Writings of His servant, Swedenborg.
These revelations are not the vapid mutterings of
any spiritistic medium about ' ' the summer land, ' '
etc. , but they present the universal laws of eternal
life and order in a light so rational as to be self-
evident, and established throughout by the testi
mony of the Scriptures.
The Lord is the God of Heaven. This is the
first and all-important truth concerning eternal
life. The Lord Jesus Christ,— not any three
divine persons, — is the one and only God, who is
acknowledged, worshiped and loved in Heaven.
In the Sun of Heaven, which is the Divine sphere
of glory surrounding and emanating from Him,
the Lord Himself is constantly visible as the
Divine Man, the "Father in the Heavens," be
fore the eyes of the angels.
" To Me is given all power in Heaven and on earth."
" The Lord is a Sun and a shield." (Ps. S4: 11. )
"Unto you that fear My name, shall the Sun of right-

Conceming Life. 55
eousness appear, vrith healings in His wings." (Mal, 4: 9,)
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones;
for I say unto you, that in Heaven their angels do always
behold the face of My Father who is in Heaven " (Matth.
18: 10.)
" I and the Father are One, He who sees Me, sees the
Father." The Divine of the Lord Makes Heaven.
From the sun of Heaven there proceed or ema
nate spiritual heat and light, which is the Divine
Good and Truth. These fill and make the uni
versal Heaven. This heat gives light to the
angelic love of God and of the neighbor; and
this light makes the whole of angelic wisdom
and intelligence. The angels, therefore, do not
in themselves make Heaven, but Heaven is in
and with the angels, because the Lord is in them
and they in Him.
"God is Love, and he that dwelleth in Love, dwelleth
in God, and God in him." (i John 4:16.)
But who are the angels? Are they, as is
commonly supposed, certain favored beings, who
were created in Heaven in the beginning? And
did some of them fall and become devils ? No,
this story is au allegory, quoted by Jude from an
ancient oriental work, in which the fall of man
from Eden was symbolically described. How
could any ' ' fall ' ' take place in Heaven itself,
where nought that is evil can enter in? All
angels, and all devils, who are in the spiritual
world, have been men on earth, and have here
developed their heavenly or their infernal nature.

56 Conceming Life.
An evil man is even here a devil, in so far as he
is in falsity and evil; and a good man is even
here an angel, in so far as he is in love to the
Lord and to the neighbor.
" Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a
devil." (John 6: 70.)
" When they shall rise from the dead, they are as the
angels in the Heavens." (Mark 12: 25.)
Heaven is a Greatest Man. As the Lord
is the Divine Man, and as His Divine Humanity
makes Heaven and all the angels in His own
image, so the whole of Heaven, or all the angels
regarded together as a whole, are spiritually in
the form of a Greatest Man.
"As we have many members in one body, and all
members have not the same oflSce, so we, being many,
are one body in Christ." (Rom. 12: 4, 5. )
There are three distinct heavens. And as
the body is most generally divided into three
parts, — the head, the trunk, and the extremi
ties, — so is the Greatest Man, or Heaven as a
whole, distingui-shed into three Heavens, tbe one
superior to and more perfect than the other.
" Behold,_ the Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens, is
the Lord's." (Deut 10:14.)
"I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago
(whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell:
God knoweth); such a one was caught up into the third
Heaven." (aCor. 12:2. )
The lowest of these three heavens is called
"the natural heaven," the angels there being

Conceming Life. 57
more than the others similar to men in the natural
world. These angels are such as in this life had
not advanced very far in love and wisdom, yet in
simplicity believe and obey the Lord and do good
to the neighbor.
The second or middle heaven is called ' ' the
spiritual heaven," and consists of such angels
as in this life had not advanced as far in the love
of God as in the love of the neighbor. The
delight of their life is to understand clearly the
spiritual things of the Church, and to perform
the offices of charity to the neighbor, whom they
love as themselves.
The third or inmost heaven is called " the
celestial heaven," because it is the only perfect
and truly "heavenly" heaven. Here, in bliss
inconceivable, dwell those who in this life had
reached that state in which they love the neigh
bor more than themselves, and the Lord above
all. They do not reason about truth, for or
against, but perceive it and do it instantly, and
they are in innocence, humility and perfect trust
as little children before their Heavenly Father.
" Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this
little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of
Heaven." (Matth. 18:3, 4.)
The innumerable Societies of Heaven.
Not only are there three distinct Heavens, but in
each there are innumerable Societies or associa
tions of those who are in greater similarity of love,
wisdom and use. These Societies are to the Great-

58 Conceming Life,
est Man what the various organs are to the human
body. Each Society performs a distinct and
special use to the whole. And even in each
Society each member or angel performs a different
and distinct use. No one is or does exactly the
same as any other. Some are wiser, others more
simple; some are masters, others servants; some
govern, others obey, but all are inspired by the
universal love of serving the Lord and the
neighbor. " He that is greatest among you, let him be as the
younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve."
(Luke 22:26.)
" Well 4one, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast
been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler
over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
(Matth. 25:21.)
Mansions in Heaven. To each angel a house
is given by the Lord in the Society of which he
is a member, a mansion which in beauty and
grandeur corresponds to the degree and abun
dance of love and wisdom in his own mind. The
angels, therefore, do not fly about in space, but
each one lives in his own heavenly home, with
his own wife (for what would a home be without
a wife ?) .
" In my Father's House are many mansions." (John
14:2,) "For we know, that if our earthly house of tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, not made
with hands, eternal in the Heavens." (2 Cor. 5: 11.)
W^orship in Heaven. Life in Heaven does

Concerning Life. 59
not consist in everlasting church-going and mouth-
worship, for that would prevent any actual ser
vice of God in the loving service of the neighbor.
But each angel is continually worshipping and
serving the Lord in his life, and each heavenly
home is a temple dedicated to this service. Never
theless, there are also public Temples in Heaven,
of unsurpassable magnificence and beautj', and
here the angels, at stated times and together with
one another, engage also in the external worship
of the Lord, and are instructed more and more
in the deeper mysteries of faith and life, through
discourses of wisdom delivered by preachers who
are inspired from the Lord.
The Happiness of Heaven. The angels
possess magnificent palaces and beautiful gar
ments, delicate food and drink, every innocent
amusement and pleasure, and this in a degree of
perfection incomparably exceeding our earthly
conceptions. Yet these things do not constitute
Heaven and heavenly felicity to them, but are as
nothing when compared with the unspeakable
joy and blessedness which they receive from their
love of serving the Lord aud the neighbor, with
out any thought or motive of self
Yet such service does not consist in the mere
thinking and speaking about God and the neigh
bor, or in the mere sensation of loving emotions
in the breast.
"Not every one that saith to me. Lord, Lord, shall

6o Conceming Life.
enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the
will of my Father, who is in Heaven." (Matth. 7: 21.)
And the will of the Heavenly Father, the will
of the Divine Love, is that each one, in that office
and work for which he is best fitted and which he
loves best, should do good to his neighbor, should
strive to be of the greatest possible use to him.
Heaven, therefore, is a " Kingdom of Uses," a
kingdom of love expressed in acts and works.
This, it is to be feared, is not a "popular"
idea of Heaven, for to most men work is a curse
and not a blessing, and hence they have imagined
Heaven to be a kingdom of everlasting idleness.
Yet they ought to know better from the Scrip
tures :
"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." ( John 5:
17.) "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bring forth
much fruit." (John 15: 8.)
"To such as keep His covenant, and to those that
remember His commandments to do them, the Lord hath
prepared His throne in the Heavens." (Ps. 103: 18.)
But is not Heaven a kingdom of ' ' eternal
rest?" Is it not said, "Blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labours ?" Yea, verily. Heaven is eternal peace
and rest, rest from the ' ' labours ' ' of temptations,
from the struggles against evil, but not rest from
a life of blissful usefulness, for the same verse
continues " and their works do follow them."

Concerning Life. 6i
The occupations of the angels are as mani
fold and varied as is the number of angels in
Heaven. For as every plant and every animal
has been created by the Lord for some particular
and distinct use in the Great Economy, so also
has every man been created for some distinct pur
pose and use. Circumstances may prevent a man
from finding this his special calling in this world,
but in Heaven it will be given to him, and iu it
he will find Heaven itself. In it he will find his
angel-hood, for angels are
"All ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation. " (Heb. i : 4.)
The angels, one and all, minister to the spirits
of men upon the earth, gently insinuating and
suggesting good affections and thoughts, drawing
men nearer to God and to Heaven, and at the
same time warning against evil, and protecting
and defending men against the soul-destroying
assaults of evil spirits.
Another general use performed by them is to
instruct and prepare for Heaven such spirits as
have newly arrived from the earth. And beside
these, there are innumerable uses and offices of
charity performed by the angels to one another,
in all the various functions of a perfectly organized
community. Children in Heaven. But one of the most
excellent of all heavenly uses is the use of educa
tion, that is, of preparing for Heaven such tender
spirits as have left this world in infancy aud child-

62 Concerning Life.
hood. For not one of these little ones is lo.st.
All, whether of Christian or Gentile parents,
whether baptized or not, are received by the
angels immediately after death. Here they are
at first given into the loving care of women-
angels, such as in this life had tenderly loved
little children. These they are taught to look
upon as their mothers, and upon the Lord as
their only Father. Afterwards, as they grow up,
they are most carefully taught and trained by
angel teachers, and finally, when matured men
and women, they are introduced by the Lord into
Heaven and made members of some angelic
Society. " Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in
Heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
(Matth i8: 14,)
Age in Heaven. The Lord's Heavenly King
dom is eternal innocence, peace, strength, beauty
and youth. To grow old in Heaven is to grow
young. Aged and decrepit men and women,
when they become angels, regain the first bloom
and vigor of youth, for youth means the fulness
of life, and Heaven is complete and eternal life
from Him who is Life itself
Love is life and life is eternal. Every pure
and holy love is therefore in itself etemal, and
hence it is that Conjugial Love, or the love of
marriage, remains after death and continues unto
eternity. Marriage in Heaven. Marriage in this world

Concerning Life. 63
is regarded by most people rather as an evil
necessity than as an ideal condition. A wicked
and adulterous generation cannot sever from their
thought about marriage the idea of what is merely
sensual and impure, and hence they cannot
imagine that marriage exists in Heaven. Hence
in the wedding ritual of many denominations the
contracting parties agree to abide with one an
other ' ' until death do us part. ' '
But in the Church of the New Jerusalem mar
riage is an eternal and spiritual covenant, pure
and holy above every earthly love. For here it
raeans a conjunction of minds as well as of bodies,
an internal friendship and mutual inclination
which death cannot rend asunder.
For the soul or spirit of the male man is clearly
masculine in every thought and affection, and so is
the spirit of the woman feminine in all and every
respect. It is not the external difference in the
bodies that makes the two sexes, but the funda
mental, unchangeable difference in the minds.
After death we shall still be men and women,
attracted spiritually to one another as now natur
ally. Is it not a common saying that ' ' marriages
are made in Heaven," and do not all true lovers
trust that they shall find one another after death?
Would God disappoint so holy a hope?
Spiritual nuptials. But. is it not expressly
stated in the Scripture that there are no mar
riages in the other life ? Is it not said that
"Those who shall be accounted worthy to attain to

64 Conceming Life.
another generation, and the resurrection from the dead,
shall neither marry nor be given in marriage, neither
can they die any more." (Luke 20: 35.)
Reader, the "letter killeth" but the "spirit
giveth life."* But in the spiritual sense these
words of the Lord refer to the spiritual marriage,
which is the same as the regeneration of man, for
they begin by speaking of ' ' another generation ' '
or another birth, the new birth, by means of
which "resurrection from the dead," or salva-
vation from spiritual death is given. This is self-
evident to any one who observes the context.
The ' ' marriage ' ' spoken of here is the marriage
which must take place within each individual
man, the marriage or conjunction between his
will and his understanding, between his faith and
his love.
When this conjunction has been effected within
man, then it is that he has "attained to another
generation" and has "arisen from the dead."
But these spiritual nuptials must take place within
him while he is in this life. If he has not been
born anew while here he cannot be born anew in
the other life. But if thus ' ' married ' ' in his
? These words were spoken to the mocking, unbelieving Sad-
ducees, "a wicked and adulterous generation," who looked upon
marriage simply as the means of the lascivious gratifications of
the flesh. To such the I<ord could not have revealed the true and
heavenly doctrine concemjng marriage, for they would have pro
faned it, and thus have cast themselves into deeper damnation.
Such filthy marriages, as these Jews meant, do not exist in the
pure aud chaste Kingdom of Heaven. But there i"^ nothing filthy
in the chaste conjunction of husband aud wife, when actuated by
true, undying love.

Concerning Life. 65
spirit when entering the spiritual world, the pro
cess of regeneration, of temptation and victory, is
not repeated there, nor will he ever be in danger
of losing his soul, for "neither can he die any
more. ' '
The Divine Marriage.
"Thou shalt no more be termed 'Forsaken;' neither
shalt thy land any more be termed ' Desolate.' But thou
shalt be called ' Chefzi-bah ' [my delight in her], and
thy land ' Beulah ' [married]. For as a young man mar-
rieth a virgin, so shalt thy sons marry thee; and as a
bridegroom rejoiceth over a bride, so shalt thy God re
joice over thee." (Isa, 62: 4, 5,)
Heaven and the Church are everywhere in the
Word spoken of as the Divine Marriage union
between ' ' the Lamb ' ' and ' ' the Bride. ' ' Heaven
itself is this marriage, and the angels partake of
the married nature of that whole of which they
are the constituent parts.
All the angels are married, and none can enter
Heaven who- is opposed to this holy covenant.
To each man-angel is given a woman-angel, a
conjugial partner who from the beginning was
provided and appointed for him and for him alone.
By each others' side and in each others' arms
the angelic husband and wife find the supreme
bliss of Heaven. Thus they progress together
unto etemity, becoming more and more closely
conjoined in every thought and affection, until
they become, internally, one heart, one mind,
one angel. 5

66 Concerning Life.
On these subjects read, further, Swedenborg's
works on " Heaven and Its Wonders, the
World of Spirits and Hell," and " The De
lights of Wisdom Respecting Conjugial
Love."

IV.
CONCERNING FAITH.
JUSTIFICATION.
The Common Doctrine of the Old Christian
Church, upon which all the sects rest their whole
hope of salvation, is based upon this single state
ment of Paul:
' ' Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the Law." ( Rom. 3:28,)
This passage has been understood to mean that
man is saved by faith alone, without good works,
and hence Luther, in his translation of this sen
tence, rendered it "faith alone" (though the
"alone" is not in the Greek), in order to em
phasize and distinguish his own doctrine from
the Roman Catholic teaching and practice of
buying salvation with money or with acts of
merit. Hence, also, Luther wrote to his friend,
Melanchthon: "Remain thou a sinner, and sin bravely, but
confide and rejoice still more bravely in Christ.
As long as we are here we must sin. This life is
not the habitation of righteousness. It is enough
that we, by the treasure of Grace, acknowledge
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
67

68 Concerning Faith.
the world. From this the sin shall not tear us
loose, even if we, thousand and thousand times
a day commit fornication and murder."
(Luther's Epistles, Vol. I., Jena, 1556, p. 345.)
Thus it has come to pass that all the ' ' evan
gelical" churches in Christendom hold fast to
the teaching that man is saved by faith alone,
faith in the blood of Christ. But this is not
enough. By the " saving faith" is meant " the
faith once delivered to the fathers," the creeds
set up by the contending bishops at the Council
of Nice, or the " articles " laid down by the venal
creatures of Henry VIII. This is the faith, with
out which man is declared "Anathema Mara-
natha." And how is man supposed to receive this faith ?
Not by his own efforts, for he has been declared
to be " like a stock or a stone in spiritual things. ' '
He is said to have neither a free will nor a free
understanding. He is totally passive and receives
faith, it is said, by means of the ' ' Grace of God ' '
alone !
Without this saving "Grace," thus extended
to " God's favored few,'' no salvation is supposed
to be possible, but through that grace man is said
to receive faith in an instant; he is saved in the
twinkling of an eye; the merit and justice of Christ
are imputed to him, and he becomes "whiter
than snow ' ' in that same moment, no matter if he
has been the blackest villain throughout his life.
And all this without having fought a single bat-

Concerning Faith. 69
tie against his own evil lusts and inrooted habits!
Good works are held to be of no account in this
salvation, for good works, — before faith has been
received, — ^are supposed to be inseparable from
the idea of merit and self-righteousness. Hence
all heathen, and all " unconverted" persons, are
exposed to the wrath of God and eternal damna
tion, — no matter how upright, useful and unsel
fish have been their lives; whereas some murderer
on the scaffold, some fiend in human shape, goes
straight to Heaven, if he but receive and profess
' ' faith ' ' some moments before death !
Still, good works, though not essential to
salvation, are held to be desirable and ornamental,
the inevitable fruits and evidences of faith. Nev
ertheless, in themselves they contribute nothing
to salvation !
But this scheme of salvation, easy and com
fortable though it may seem, is based upon the
above-mentioned passage of Paul's, — misunder
stood and misapplied, — and is, moreover, dia
metrically contrary to the entire Word of God, and
to the plain teachings of Paul himself, and of the
other apostles.
For by the ' ' deeds of the law ' ' without which
man is justified, Paul clearly means the observ
ance of the Jewish ceremonial law, from which
Christians were to be absolved. The passage
reads: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by
faith, without the deeds of the law. Is He the God of

70 Conceming Faith.
the Jews alone? Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yea, of
the-Gentiles also." (Rom. 3:28, 29.)
But it is clear that Paul did not intend to ab
solve man from the duty of observing the com
mandments and the moral laws of God, as may
be seen from the same chapter:
"Do we, then, make void the Law through faith ? God
forbid; yea, we establish the Law." (Rom. 3:31.)
And in other places he says:
"Not the hearers of the Law are justified before God,
but the doers of the Law. " (Rom. 2:13.)
"We know that we all have knowledge; knowledge
puffeth up; but charity edifieth." (i Cor. 8: i.)
"There are these three: faith, hope and charity, and
the greatest of these.is charity." (i Cor. 13: 13,)
Were we to quote all the passages in the Scrip
tures, where it is taught that man is not saved
by his faith alone, we should have to introduce
the whole Bible. But the following from James
may suffice:
" What profiteth it, my brethren, though a man say he
hath faith, and hath not works? Can faith justify ^im ?"
" For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead, being alone. ' '
' ' A man may say. Thou hast faith, and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show
thee my faith by my works."
"Thou believest there is a God. Thou doest well: the
devils also believe, and tremble." (James 2: 14, 17, 18,
19, 20.)
If man is not saved and justified by faith or

Concerning Faith. 71
by faith alone, then by what is he saved ? Let
the Scriptures give the answer.
" By their fruits ye shall know them. (Matth. 7:20.)
"A Book was opened in Heaven, and the dead were
judged, all according to their works." (Rev. 20: 12, 13.)
"Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me,
to give every man according as his works shall be." (Rev.
22:12.) "Ye see, then, how that by works a man is justified,
and not by faith alone." ( James 2 : 24. )
But what have been the fruits of faith alone,
and of the doctrines of justification by faith
alone ?
Horrible and sweeping as the charge may seem,
the fruits of this doctrine and practice have been
the entire ruin and spiritual destruction of
the whole Christian Church !
Faith itself has been destroyed, for the light of
truth has been taken out of it. The Word of
God has been closed to faith, for men are not per
mitted to understand its simple teachings, since
' ' the understanding must be held captive in
obedience to faith," the man-made faith of coun
cils and assemblies. When men yield such obedi
ence then they can be made to believe in any
insane falsity, in any of the destructive heresies
which from time to time have been hatched out
in the Catholic Church and in the Protestant: the
worship pf popes and saints, predestination and
what not?
And so also has the life of charity been de-

72 Conceming Faith.
stroyed in the Church by faith alone, as may be
seen in the long history of wars, persecutions
and crimes which have been committed in the
name of Christian faith and Religion.
If these be the "fruits of faith," then what
shall we think of the faith itself? Look at the
' ' benighted heathens, ' ' whom Christians set out
to convert. In what moral sense are Christians
better than these ? Are they more honest, sincere
and truthful in their business dealings ? Are they
more faithful to their wives? More pure and
temperate in their conduct ? More tolerant and
generous in their treatment of one another ?
But it may be said: All this is not the fault of
Christian doctrines, but it is because Christians
do not live up to their teachings.
This objection, however, is not valid. Chris
tians do live up to this fundamental doctrine of
theirs, that " man is justified by faith alone."
Hence the ruin !

Concerning Faith. , 73

TRUE FAITH.
Do we conclude, then, that Faith is unneces
sary to salvation? By no means, for as faith
without charity is dead, so charity without faith
is blind, helpless and impotent. But it must be
a genuine, enlightened, free and living faith, and
no mere knowledge in the memory, no blind per
suasion, forced upon man by the fear of Hell.
Faith is necessary to salvation, but it is not
salvation itself It is a guide on our path, but is
not the path itself. It is the lamp and light of
our life, but is not life itself.
And a genuine faith must be the faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed in His Word, a
rational and loving conviction and trust in His
Mercy and Wisdom and Providence. To Him
and His Revelation the understanding of man
owes loyal and humble obedience, but not to any
man-made creed, dogma, bull or article. For
what is a man or any number of men ? Are they
gods that they must be obeyed, without having
to show that their commands are based upon the
revealed Truth of God ?
"Nunc Licet." This is the inscription
written over the entrance to a Temple of the New
Church, which Swedenborg once beheld in the
spiritual world And it was explained to him,
that this meant that " now it is allowable to
enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith."

74 Concerning Faith.
For now the inner recesses of the Word of God
have been thrown open, so that he who desires
can enter with his understanding and learn truths
in unceasing abundance for the illustration and
confirmation of his faith.
But no matter how much a man may learn,
still he will not have faith, if he does not at the
same time love and obey the Truth in his life.
For light alone can produce no life, if not at the
same time joined with heat.
" He that doeth Truth, cometh to the Light, that his
deeds may be made manifest." ( John 3: 21.)
" A new commandment I give unto you: That ye love
one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another. " (John 13:34.)

On these subjects read further ' ' The Doctrine
ofthe Newjerusalem concerning Faith," the
" Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the
New Church," and " The True Christian
Religion," by Emanuel Swedenborg.

Concermng Faith. 75
THE CHURCH.
The Church is the Lord's presence and con
junction with man by means of charity and faith.
Wherever these exist together, in any degree,
there the kingdom ofthe Lord is established.
The Lord's Universal Church, which also is
called "the communion of saints," consists,
therefore, of all those who love the Lord and the
neighbor, and who have any light of religion
from the Word of God, either directly or medi
ately through the universal traditions. This uni
versal church thus, includes, all regenerating
men, whether Christians or Gentiles, whether
they live on this earth or on any of the countless
orbs in the starry heavens. All these make one
body before the Lord, of which He is the Head
and the Life.
Within this universal body there is, however,
and there must always be a visible, specific
church, which consists of those who consciously
know and openly acknowledge and worship the
Lord as the only God of Heaven and earth; who
believe in the Divine holiness and authority of
His Word; and who earnestly endeavor to obey
its commandments in their lives.
This ' ' Church Specific ' ' of the Lord serves as
the center of light and life to the Church Uni
versal, for to it the Lord reveals Himself directly,
and through it the whole human race can have
communication with Him and with Heaven.

76 Concerning Faith.
THE SACRAMENTS.
The Lord's visible Church has beeu instituted
and organized by Himself by two universal
means: Baptism and the Holy Supper. These
are, representatively, the two great gates into the
Church and into Heaven.
The washing of Baptism and the eating and
drinking of the Holy Supper, do not in them
selves, as external acts, save any man, but they
stand as the constant signs and reminders that
man must purify himself from his evils, and be
born anew through the appropriation and con
junction of charity and faith.
The water of Baptism represents and corre
sponds to the Divine Truth, the " living water"
welling from the Word of God. Only by wash
ing in this water, by applying this Truth to his
life, can man remove his evils from himself, and
conquer in all temptations. This is what Bap
tism represents, and it is thus a sign to all that a
man is of the Lord's Church, or is to be brought
up in it in order to be thus purified.
And being a spiritual act, at the same time that
it is a natural ceremony, it is a sign to spirits and
angels as well as to men. When a man or a child
is baptized, such spirits and angels are associated
with him as belong to that religion and faith into
which a man is then introduced. Baptism into a
faith in three persons in the Godhead associates
with man spirits who worship three gods, but

Concerning Faith. 11
Baptism into the faith in one Divine Person in
troduces man among spirits and angels who wor
ship the Lord Jesus Christ as the only God.
The most holy Sacrament of the Supper is also
a purely representative institution. The sacred
elements are not the actual material flesh and
blood of Christ, as is believed in the Catholic and
Lutheran Churches, for this is an utterly carnal
superstition, nor do they stand as the symbol of
the merely historical fact that Christ stiffered and
died, as is believed in the Reformed Churches.
But the bread of the Holy Supper represents
the living bread that came down from Heaven,
the Divine Love and Mercy, which is the very
substance and flesh of the Lord. And the wine
represents the "blood of the New Testament,"
which is the same as ' ' the words that I speak
unto you," that is, the Divine Truth which the
Lord teaches in His Word.
Eating represents communication and appropri
ation of the Divine Good and the Divine Truth.
He that eateth this spiritual flesh and drinketh
this spiritual blood, dwelleth in the Lord and the
Lord in him. From this good a mau receives
charity, and from this truth he receives faith.
And when charity and faith are joined in man,
then he is conjoined with God and receives eternal
life. It is thus that the Holy Supper, as one com
prehensive act of worship, represents the whole
of the Divine work of Redemption and Salvation.

78 Concerning Faith.
THE FOUR CHURCHES.
The spiritual history of mankind, or of the
Church with men, has been like the life-history
of an individual man. The Church, as a whole,
has had its infancy, its adolescence, its manhood
and its old age. After this death set in, but was
followed by resurrection into life, through the
establishment of a new spiritual and everlasting
Church of God with men.
Each of these four ages has itself been a Church
or distinct dispensation among men, and these
four successive churches are represented in the
Word by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in
his dream. (Dan. 2: 31-35.)
The head of gold in this statue represents the
" golden age " among men, the first or " Most
Ancient Church," the state of mankind when
in Eden, the morning or infancy of the race.
The breast and arms of silver represents the
"silver age," the Second or " Ancient Church,"
signified by Noah and his posterity. This was
the noon and early manhood of mankind.
The belly and thighs of brass represent the
"brazen age," the third or " Israelitish " dis
pensation, and the legs of iron, and the feet of
iron mingled with clay, represent the "iron
age," " the Christian Church," in which faith
and charity passed into their night, old age and
death. Then a stone was seen, cut out without hands.

Concerning Faith. 79
which smote the image upon its feet of iron and
clay, and brake them to pieces. This represents
the fifth and final Church or dispensation of the
Lord, the New Church, the Church of the New
Jerusalem, in which the "Rock of Ages," the
Divine Truth of the Lord, shall become a great
mountain and fill the whole earth, lifting man
kind nearer unto God.

On the spiritual history of these successive dis
pensations read further Swedenborg's work, en
titled " Coronis, or Appendix to the True
Christian Religion."
THE LAST JUDGMENT.
In a little work on " The Last Judgment,"
-published in London in the year 1758, Sweden-
bord made the truly startling announcement, that
this most momentous event had taken place the
year before, in the spiritual world, and that " the
former heaven and the former earth ' ' had already
passed away.
This statement, of course, is quite incompatible
with the common theories of ' ' the end of things, ' '
according to which the visible world is to be de
stroyed in a universal conflagration, some time or
other, when the stars and the suns shall have
fallen down upon this little globe of ours.
But such ideas are based upon a merely literal
interpretation of the twenty-fourth chapter of

So Concerning Faith.
Matthew in which the Last Judgment is de
scribed. The words
"this generation shall not pass away until all these
things shall be fulfilled," (Matth. 24: 34),
ought to show to anyone that " these things "
are not to be taken according to the Letter, for in
that case the generation of Jews then living would
still be wandering on this earth.
But it was not the visible heaven and the habit
able earth that were to be devastated in the day of
Judgment. These are and will be good and per
fect as the Lord in His wisdom created them, a
footstool unto Himself, and a home for His crea
tures. By the earth, which should come to an
end, is meant a certain state of the Church among
men upon the earth, a state which has been con
summated spiritually by the fire of evil love.
Then, when the cup of abominations was filled to
overflowing, the Lord executed a last judgment
upon that state or that Church, separated the
good from the wicked and formed a "new earth"
or a new Church upon the earth in this world,
and a ' ' new heaven ' ' in the spiritual world.
Such a last judgment has taken place at the
end of each of the four successive churches that
were described above. The ' ' Flood ' ' was the
last judgment upon the fallen descendants of the
Most Ancient or Adamic Church. The ' ' disper
sion of tongues ' ' at the tower of Babel was the
last judgment upon the degenerate descendants
of Noah, or the Ancient Church, and the destruc-

Q.onceming Faith. 8i
tion of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews
was the last judgment upon the Israelitish dispen
sation. Of this judgment upon the wicked Jews in this
world and in the other, the Lord said: " Now
is the judgment of this world; now shall the
prince of this world be cast out," which shows
that this was essentially a spiritual judgment.
But the Last, the final judgment, is described
in these words:
' ' Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall
the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers
ofthe heavens shall be shaken."
Spiritually discerned, these words signify that
the Christian Church would come to an end, when
there was no longer with it any living love of God
a!nd faith in Him; when the Church had lost all
genuine knowledge and understanding of the
Truths contained in His Word.
The ' ' sun that was to be darkened ' ' is the Sun
of life, the Sun of righteousness, the Lord and
the love of Him; it is this Sun that is seen no
more, because the church has turned from it, and
has permitted the golden calf of selfishness and
worldliness to be worshiped instead of the Lord.
The ' ' moon that was no longer to give her
light ' ' is the faith of the Christian Church de
stroyed by the belief in three personal gods, and
by all the false teachings that have flown from
this impure spring of theology. Faith is here
6

82 Concerning Faith.
callad and compared to the moon, because as the
moon receives all its light from the sun, so does
faith receive all its life and all the light of truth
from the love of God and of the neighbor. But
when charity has been separated from faith, — as
has been done in the Christian Church, — then its
light is extinguished. By the ' ' stars which
should fall from heaven ' ' are not meant the suns
and globes in the firmament, but the knowledges
of truth and good from the Word, which all
transmit their rays of light and intelligence from
that fountain of all light. These have fallen
from the firmament of the Church, because the
understanding of the Word has been closed by
grossly literal interpretations and by slavery
under the dictates of man.
And the ' ' powers of the heavens that were to
be shaken ' ' are the fundamental principles of the
Christian Religion, which have been torn aud
twisted and utterly shaken to pieces by all the
sects of Christendom in their disputes and wrang-
lings, until ever- increasing multitudes, losing
faith in all principles of religion, have left the
ruined Church to seek the fatuous light of natur
alism, agnosticism and atheism.
Thus it is that ' ' the Last Judgment ' ' is even
now descending upon that Church which has for
saken her one Lord and Master. She can no
more be revived or reformed, for she is dead and
corrupt, and Christian in name only. ' ' Babylon

Concerning Faith. 83
the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the
habitation of every unclean and hateful bird. ' '
"And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, come out
of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and
that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have
reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her
iniquities.'" (Rev. 18: 2-5.)
THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD.
Not less wonderful than the teachings concern
ing the Last Judgment is the announcement made
by Swedenborg that the Lord has come again,
has effected His second advent in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory.
This advent of the Lord is not His descent
upon the earth in a material body, visible to the
corporeal eye, but in His glorified body, which is
the Divine Truth in the Word. Thus is fulfilled,
spiritually, the prophecy in Matthew:
"Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in
Heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth wail,
and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds
of Heaven with power aud great glory."
It is clear that these words are not to be taken
according to the gross appearances of the senses.
For we are taught that
' ' The kingdom of God cometh not with observation ;
neither shall they say, Lo here, or Lo there ! for behold.
the Kingdom of God is within you," (Luke 17: 20, 21,)
The second advent of the Lord is therefore an
internal coming, an advent to the spirit of man.

84 Concerning Faith.
to his understanding and to his heart. Such
an advent is far more effective of free internal
conviction than would be a personal material ap
pearance in the clouds, which would compel
belief. The "sign of the Son of Man" is that by
which He makes Himself known to man, the
Revelation which He has given in these latter
days, and the "Son of Man" Himself is the
Word itself, which now is revealed as it is in its
internal power and glory.
"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse,
and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True,
and His name is called. The Word of God." (Rev. 19:
II. 13)
The " clouds," in the midst of which He was
to appear, are the obscure and sensual ap
pearances of the literal sense of the Scriptures.
These are what " kill," if not understood accord
ing to "the spirit," They are then like black
and heavy clouds that shut out the light of the
sun. But when understood in the spiritual sense,
they become transparent and beautiful, revealing
the " glory of God in the cloud."
The Second Advent, therefore, has been effected
by means ofthe new Revelation, which the Lord
has given through the inspired mind of Sweden
borg. From this Revelation it is now known that
there is an internal sense in the Word of God,
and what this internal sense is. The Scriptures
are now no longer sealed, but opened and dis-

Concerning Faith. 85
closed, and within them men may now behold
the Divine Truth itself, the Son of Man in the
clouds of Heaven.
Being a spiritual revelation, this Advent of the
Lord took place in the spiritual world, and at the
same time to the spiritual minds of men on earth,
and it is this revelation of the Lord as the Divine
Truth that has effected the Last Judgment in both
worlds. In the world of spirits this revelation appeared
as ' ' the lightning which cometh out of the east,
and shineth even unto the west. ' ' The vast con
gregations of wicked, hypocritical spirits, which
since the dark ages had assembled in that inter
mediate world, and there had formed themselves
into false, "imaginary" heavens, these were
now cast down. Falsity and evil were now re
vealed in their true colors, and the wicked ones
could no longer deceive and domineer over those
who, though simple in their faith, yet loved the
Lord and the neighbor.
These ' ' simple good ' ' were now redeemed from
their oppressors, and were led into Heaven by the
Lord, who thus formed a ' ' new Heaven ' ' out of
these spirits in place of the former imaginary
heaven that had passed away.
Hence there is now an entirely new condition
and order in the world of spirits. The ' ' Dragon, ' '
the swarm of those who believed and lived in
Faith alone without the good of charity, has been
cast into Hell; they can no longer interpose them-

86 Concerning Faith.
selves between God and man. The clouds have
been dispersed and the Light of Heaven can now
freely flow down to earth and operate among men.
New light has been given and a new state of
freedom of thought, whence there has resulted a
new and freer state among men on earth, since
the time of the Last Judgment in the year 1757.
But the effect of this new light and freedom de
pends upon the manner of its reception by man.
A poisonous plant receives the light and heat of
the sun as well as a useful plant, but the one
turns all into poison while the other turns all into
good. So with men. Externally considered, the
world has improved most wonderfully iu the last
century and a half. But morally and .spiritually
the Christian Church has not improved, but is
going further and further into decay. This may
be observed everywhere and every day.
In this. History but repeats itself. Think of
the Roman civilization in the age that immedi
ately followed the first advent of the Lord.
Never before . had there been a greater state of
order, of culture and of civilization. But none
the less immorality and infidelity increased as
never before. Nothing could save the world
but the victory of an entirely new religion, em
bodied in a new and distinct church or dispensa
tion. This salvation was found in the Christian
Church, which, beginning in the utmost obscurity
among a few fishermen, yet grew until it had

Concerning Faith. 87
conquered the world. But, alas, at the same
time, the world triumphed over the Church.
THE NEW CHURCH.
This fate, however, will not overtake the New
Church, the Church of the New Jerusalem, which
the Lord has now begun to establish at His Sec
ond Advent. For we have the Divine promise
that it shall not pass away.
"I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the
Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven. And there
was given to Him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom,
that all people and nations and tongues shall serve
Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that shall not be
destroyed." (Dan. 7: 13, 14.)
This Kingdom, this New Church, consists of
those who have received in mind and heart the
Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. This
revelation is the crown of all previous revelations,
for it is the fulfillment and unfolding of them all,
and the reception of these Doctrines will make
the New Church the crown of all the churches
or dispensations that have been upon the earth.
This Church, like all new churches, will first be
established among the few remains in the Chris
tian world who are willing to receive the Lord in
His Second Advent, but it will afterwards be
established in its fulness and glory among nations
who now are Gentiles and who have not shared
in the corruption of the Christians.

88 Concerning Faith.
The faith and life and worship of the New
Church cannot by any means be- together with
those of the Old Church. The new wine cannot
be put into the old bottles, for these would then
break and the wine be spilled. But the New
Church will be established entirely distinct and
separate from the Old Church, and has even
begun to be thus established. ^
The New Church, therefore, must have its own
distinct organization, its own worship and sacra
ments and priesthood, its own education and
science, its own social and moral and religious
life. In so far as the members of the Lord's New
Church develop these things by following the
teachings of its Divine Revelation, in so far will
be fulfilled on earth the prophecy of the Lord:
" Behold, I make all things new."

The Second Advent of the Lord and the New
Heaven and the New Church have been tre^ed
of especially in "The True Christian Religion,
which Contains the Entire Theology of the
New Church." .

Progress of the New Church. 89

THE PROGRESS OF THE NEW CHURCH.
The office of Emanuel Swedenborg was that of
an inspired revelator. He did not himself make
any attempt to establish an external church or
ecclesiastical organization. He simply pub
lished the Doctrines of the New Church to the
world, and the receivers of these Doctrines were
left in absolute freedom to apply the Doctrines to
the more ultimate things of life, according to
their best understanding and conscience.
At the time of Swedenborg's death, in the year
1772, there were but few receivers of the Heavenly
Doctrines in this world, and for some ten years
afterwards little or nothing was heard of the New
Church. Nevertheless, the seed of Divine Truth
had been sown broadcast through Swedenborg's
own zeal in distributing his Writings, and it was
germinating silently and unseen until, in the year
1783, societies were established in England for
the purpose of translating and publishing the
Writings of the New Church.
Eminent among the first disciples of the Lord
in His second advent were two learned and pious
clergymen of the Church of England, the Rev.
Thomas Hartley, an intimate friend of Sweden
borg himself, and the Rev. John Clowes, of Man
chester, who spent a long and devoted life in the
use of making the Doctrines known through the

go Progress of the New Church.
translation of the Writings and the exposition of
the Internal Sense of the Word.
Another of the eminent ' ' fathers ' ' in the
Church of the New Jerusalem was the Rev.
Robert Hindmarsh, who was the first and chief
promoter of the New Church as a distinct ecclesi
astical organization. Many of the early receivers
of the Heavenly Doctrines were filled with the
fond hope that the new truths would gradually
permeate and be received by the various sects of
the old Christianity, thus effecting an internal
reformation in doctrine and worship and life.
Others, and Hindmarsh chief among these,
looked upon such a hope as utterly vain, and
they were confirmed in this view, not only by
the explicit teachings of the Doctrines them
selves, but also by the lessons of universal human
history, and by the evident signs of the times.
Nor has the subsequent history of Christianity
disproved their conclusions.
Inspired by these reasons and by their desire to
worship the Lord Jesus Christ alone in His
Divine Humanity, these early New Churchmen
resolved to commune no longer with those who
worshiped the three gods of the old Christian
church. The first step toward the distinctive
establishment of the New Church was taken at
London in June, 1787, when the Sacraments of
of Baptism and the Holy Supper were first ad
ministered according to the Doctrines of the New
Church. This was followed in January, 1788, by

Progress of the New Church. 91
the institution of the public worship of the Lord
in His Second Advent, and in June of the same
year by the consecration of a distinctive ministry
or priesthood for the New Church.
These early efforts soon brought rich results.
The readers and receivers of the Heavenly Doc
trines multiplied rapidly, and a more general
organization was effected in the year 1789, when
the first ' ' General Conference ' ' of the New
Church in Great Britain was held in London.
Similar Conferences have been held annually
since the year 18 15. This organization includes
at present about 6,000 members, with seventy-
four societies and thirty clergymen. The princi
pal societies exist in London, Manchester, Ac-
crington, Birmingham, and Glasgow. The official
organ of the General Conference is ' ' The New
Church Magazine," a monthly journal, estab
lished in the year 1 8 1 2 . The " Mornin g Light , ' '
is another journal published weekly in London.
One of the most useful of the various institu
tions of the New Church in Great Britain is the
"British and Foreign Swedenborg Society,"
which was instituted in 18 10, and has its head
quarters at No. I Bloomsbury street, London.
Through the activity of this Society and its
kindred institution in America, the Writings of
Swedenborg have been kept constantly before the
public, and are to be obtained, at present, not
only in Latin and English, but also in WeLsh,
Icelandic, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, German,

92 Progress of the New Church.
Russian, Polish, Hungarian, French, Italian,
Spanish, nay, even in Arabic and Hindi. With
a single exception, not a year has passed during
the present century that has not witnessed the
publication of one or more volumes of Sweden
borg's Writings. There are on record about
1,500 different editions of Swedenborg's works.
The collateral literature of the New Church
has been even more voluminous, and has passed
almost beyond the possibility of recording.
Among the most eminent of the New Church
authors in England we may mention John
Clowes, Robert Hindmarsh, Joseph Proud,
Manoah Sibley, Samuel Noble, William Mason,
Thomas and David Goyder, Augustus Clissold,
E. D. Rendell, WilHam Bruce, O. P. Hiller, W.
W. Woodman, William Hyde, Jonathan Bayley,
Rudolph L. Tafel, John Presland, and J. F.
Potts, the compiler of the ' ' Swedenborg Con
cordance," not to mention a hundred others.
While the literary activity of the New Church
had its first beginning in England, the young
Republic in North America witnessed the first
proclamation of the Heavenly Doctrines by the
living voice. This took place in the year 1784,
when Mr. James Glen, a Scotchman, settled at
Demerara, lectured on these Doctrines in Phila
delphia and Boston. The first of the receivers in
America was Jonathan Bailey, of Philadelphia,
who, in 1789, published an edition of "The True
Christian Religion," to which Benjamin Frank-

Progress of the New Church. 93
lin was one of the subscribers. George Wash
ington, in his later years, is said to have been a
diligent student of these Writings, and President
Jackson was a devoted admirer. We might
mention other illustrious names, but refrain, for
these can add nothing to the Divine glory of the
Doctrines themselves.
The first Society of the New Church in America
was established at Baltimore in the year 1792, and
the first consecration of American New Church
ministers took place in the same city in 1798.
The receivers continued to increase, especially in
Pennsylvania, New York, New England, and
Ohio, and were united in a "General Conven
tion" in the year 18 17. This body still meets
annually, and consists of twelve general State
Associations. Connected with this body there
are various institutions, among which we may
mention the ' ' New Church Board of Publica
tion " and the " American Swedenborg Printing
and Publishing Society," both with headquarters
at 20 Cooper Union, New York; a Board of Mis
sions; a Theological School in Cambridge, Ma.ss. ;
a Sunday-school Association and a German Mis
sionary Union.
The organ of the General Convention is the
' ' New Church Messenger, ' ' a weekly journal
issued at New York. The "-New Church Re
view " is a quarterly magazine jDublished in
Boston. Among other institutions of the New Church

94 Progress of the New Church.
in this country we may mention the ' ' American
New Church Tract and Publication Society "
and the "Swedenborg Association," both of
Philadelphia, the ' ' Massachusetts New Church
Union," at i6 Arlington St., Boston, and the
Urbana University, at Urbana, O.
The education of the Priesthood and the youth
of the New Church "in the Church, by the
Church, and for the Church ' ' has long occupied
the serious attention of Newchurchmen in this
country, and has led to the establishment of a
Theological School, a College, and a Girls' School
in Philadelphia, and of schools for children in
various cities in the United States, Canada and
England, by a corporation named "The Academy
of the New Church, ' ' which was instituted in the
year 1876, and which has its headquarters at 1821
Wallace St., Philadelphia. This body conducts
also a publishing office and a monthly journal,
the "New Church Life."
' ' The General Church of the New Jerusalem ' '
is the latest of the general organizations of the
New Church in America, and is closely connected
in principles with the Academy. It held its first
" General Assembly " in June, 1897; it is distin
guished, externally, by an episcopal form of gov
ernment, and has its headquarters at the New
Church settlement near Huntingdon Valley,
Montgomery Co., Pa.
Connected with the external organizations of
the New Church in the United States and Can-

Progress of the New Church. 95
ada there are about seven thousand members,
one hundred and twenty ordained ministers and
one hundred and ten societies. Among the most
eminent of the past laborers in the New Church
in this country stand the names of John Hargrove,
Adam Hurdus, M. M. Carll, Jonathan Condy,
C. I. Doughty, Thomas Worcester, George Field
and W. H. Benade, as founders and organizers;
William Hill, Jonathan Chapman ("Johnny Ap-
pleseed"), Holland Weeks, J. R. Hibbard, B. F.
Barrett, A. O. Brickman, J. P. Stuart and Chaun-
cey Giles, as evangelists; Samuel Woodworth,
Richard De Charms, David Powell, George Bush,
Sampson Reed, Theophilus Parsons, T. B. Hay-
ward, Abiel Silver, W. H. Holcombe, S. H.
Worcester, N. C. Burnham, and W. B. Hayden,
as expositors, scholars and writers.
The New Church has found its greatest growth
where spiritual and political freedom most pre
vail; thus with the English-speaking race. Still,
there is hardly a civilized nation on earth where
the Heavenly Doctrines have not found some re
ceivers and some degree of development.
In Svs^eden, the home of Swedenborg, the
Doctrines were first received by two learned doc
tors of divinity, G. A. Beyer and Johan Rosen,
who were subjected to severe persecutions even
before Swedenborg died. Later on, the new rev
elations were accepted by a great number of
Lutheran clergymen, and by men of learning,
high station and birth. One of the Swedish

96 Progress of the New Church.
monarchs, Charles XIII., while crown prince,
was a member of a New Church Society. Among
these early disciples in Sweden we may mention
especially Mr. C. B. Wadstrom, who, inspired by
the Heavenly Doctrines, was the first person in
this world to labor for the abolition of the Afri
can slave trade. He is now acknowledged as the
' ' father ' ' of this great movement. This period
of progress was soon followed by an era of politi
cal and ecclesiastical persecutions. Religious
liberty was totally stifled, and the New Church
was not able to assume an outward form until the
year 1875, when public worship was established
in Stockholm. There are now four ministers
laboring in Sweden, and one in Denmark; a pub
lishing society has been established, and two
monthly journals are supported.
The Heavenly Doctrines were first introduced
into Germany by the famous theologian, Oetin-
ger, in Wiirtemberg, who suffered some perse
cution for his zeal. He was followed by Dr.
Immanuel Tafel, professor at Tiibingen, who
labored for forty years in the work of republish
ing Swedenborg's Latin works, editing many of
his unpublished manuscripts and translating the
writings into German. His literary activity
was continued by Mr. J. G. Mittnacht and the
present "Swedenborg Verein" in Stuttgart.
But the New Church has by no means flourished
as greatly in Germany itself as among the Ger
mans in the free atmosphere of America, where

Progress of the New Church. 97
numerous societies have been established and two
German New Church monthlies are being pub
lished. , In republican Switzerland the New Church
has made greater progress than in Imperial Ger
many. Receivers and societies have existed here
since the beginning of the century, and are now
united into an ecclesiastical union, with head
quarters at Ziirich, where the " Monatblatter "
is published. The Rev. Fedor Gorwitz, super
intends the work in Switzerland, and ministers
also to the societies in Vienna and Buda Pesth.
In Russia there have been receivers of the
Doctrines since the time of Swedenborg, but they
have not been permitted to labor publicly. Chief
of these receivers has been the famous General
Mouravieff, to whose influence is due the eman
cipation of serfs in Russia, under Alexander II.
In France, also, there has been an unbroken
chain of Newchurchmen since the time of
Swedenborg. The most eminent of these has
been M. Le Boys des Guays, of St. Amand, whcse
literary labors for the New Church were similar
to those of Professor Tafel, in Germany. At
present the New Church in France has its head
quarters at 12 Rue Thouin, in Paris, where
public worship is conducted, and a journal, tbe-
" L'Eglise de 1' Avenir," is published.
Since the year 1872 the New Church has also
had its own missionary in Italy, where Signor
Loreto Scocia, resident at Florence, has labored
7

98 Progress of the New Church.
for many years in the translation and publication
of Swedenborg's writings in the Italian language.
In Australia, also, there are societies of the
New Church in Sydney, Auckland, Christ
Church, Brisbane, Adelaide, and in Melbourne,
where a New Church monthly, ' ' The New Age, ' '
is published.
Societies exist also at Allahabad, India ; at
Port Louis, Mauritius ; at Port Natal, South
Africa, and at Port of Spain, Trinidad.
In conclusion, a few words about the members
of the New Church in general, to correct some
prevalent misconceptions.
The members of the New Church do not "set
plates for the dead."
The members of the New Church are not
' 'Swedenborgians, ' ' or the followers of any mere
man, for they look upon Swedenborg's Theo
logical Writings as works purely Divine and not
the production of Swedenborg's own genius or
philosophy. They are not sectarians, differing from other
Christian sects in some unimportant particulars
of faith or usages, for the New Church is as new
and as different from the Old Christian Church
(Catholic or Protestant) as the latter was from
the consummated Jewish dispensation.
They are not Mystics, for they hold that men
must, in all things, act "in freedom according
to reason," and yet they are not rationalists
or free-thinkers, for they acknowledge that reason

Progress of the New Church. 99
itself has no light, except from Divine Revelation.
Finally, they are not spiritualists or spiritists,
for they look upon any self-sought intercourse
with spirits as not only useless and forbidden, but
most dangerous to the spiritual freedom and sal
vation of man. Swedenborg was not a spiritistic
medium, any more than John the Revelator. He
never sought any communication with the other
world, but his spiritual senses were opened by
the Lord, in order that the new, final and crown
ing Revelation of God might be communicated
through him to men on earth.

APPENDIX.

THE ATHANASIAN CREED.
Lest any of our readers may think that the
theological system of the old Christian Church
has not been presented fairly in the preceding
pages, we append here an exact copy of the
Athanasian Creed, — the dogmatic foundation of
the Protestant as well as the Catholic Church,
wherein God is divided into three different per
sons, and our Lord Jesus Christ into two different
natures: one of these Divine, the other still re
maining merely human.
" Whoever will be saved, before all things it is
necessary that he hold the Catholic faith. Which
faith, except everyone do keep whole and unde
filed, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic faith is this: that we worship
one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither
confounding the persons, nor dividing the sub
stance. 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 Ploly Ghost is all one: the glory
equal, the majesty coeternal. Such as the Father
loo

The Athanasian Creed. loi
is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the
Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incompre
hensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy
Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal,
the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet there are not three eternals, but one
eternal. . As also there are not three incompre-
hensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated,
and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father
is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy
Ghost almighty. And yet there are not three al
mighties, but one almighty. So the Father is
God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet there are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is the Lord, the Son Lord,
and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three
Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are com
pelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge
every person by himself to be God and Lord, so
we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say
there be three Gods and three Lords. The Father
is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor
created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the
Father and ofthe Son; neither made, nor created,
nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one
Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three
Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore or after the
other; none is greater or less than another. But

I02 The Athanasian Creed.
the whole three persons are coeternal together,
and coequal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid,
the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is
to be worshipped. He therefore that will be
saved must think thus of the Trinity. Further
more, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that
he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord
Jesus Christ. For the right faith is that we be
lieve and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is God and Man. God of the sub
stance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
and man of the substance of his mother, born in
the world. Perfect God and perfect man, of a
reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
Equal to the Father as touching his Godhead,
and inferior to the Father as touching his man
hood. Who, although he be God and man, yet
he is not two, but one Christ. One, not by con
version of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking
of the manhood into God. One altogether, not
by confusion of substance, but by unity of per
son. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one
man, so God and man is one Christ. Who suf
fered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose
again the third day from the dead. He ascended
into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the
Father, God Almighty. From whence he shall
come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose
coming all men shall rise again with their bodies,
and shall give account for their own works. And
they that have done good shall go into life ever-

The Athanasian Creed. 103
lasting, and they that have done evil into ever
lasting fire. This is the Catholic faith which,
except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be
saved. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen." (Copied from Schaff's " History of the Chris
tian Church," §132, and McClintock and Strong's
"Cj'clopedia," Vol. II. , p. 560.)

Publishers' Notice.

In order to enable every person who so
desires, to further investigate the Writings of
Emanuel Swedenborg, we append a list of them,
and the publishers will cheerfully receive orders
for any of the books mentioned therein.
The books in this list are all octavo in size
and bound in cloth, unless otherwise specified,
Postage, if not stated, is included in the price.
bur complete Catalogue will be sent free on
application to the
Academy Book Room,
1 82 1 Wai<i,ace Street,
Phii,adei.phia.

SWEDENBORG'S THEOLOGICAL "WORKS.
Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine
Love and concerning the Divine
W^isdom. 30 cents, postage 12 cents,
Latin-English edition, half leather, gilt top edges,
Sl,oo, postage 20 cents,
Rotch edition, ^1,00. The Intercourse between
Soul and Body, bound with this edition,
Lippincott edition, i2mo, 50 cents.
Pocket edition, cloth, 30 cents ; paper, 15 cent .
London edition, vellum, ^1.25.
London edition, l6mo, 60 cents, postage 7 cents.
Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine
Providence. 30 cents, postage 14 cents.
Rotch edition, $1,25.
Convention edition, l2mo, 50 cents.
Pocket edition, cloth, 30 cents ; paper, 10 cents,
postage 3 cents.
London edition, 75 cents, postage 10 cents.
Apocalypse Explained, The
According to the Spiritual Sense in vrhich
the Arcana therein predicted but hereto
fore concealed are revealed.
6 vols. , each 50 cents, postage 20 cents.
London edition, 6 vols,, each $1,00.
Latin-English edition, 12 vols., each $1.00, post
age 20 cents.
Apocalypse Revealed, The
In which are disclosed the secrets which
have been foretold therein, and have
hitherto lain concealed.

Bound in l vol., 60 cents, postage 28 cents.
Bound in 2 vols., each 40 cts., postage 18 cts.
Rotch edition, 3 vols,, per set, ^3,75.
London edition, I vol., $1.00.
Appendix to the True Christian Religion.
See Coronis.
Arcana Coelestia.
The Heavenly Arcana contained in the Holy
Scriptures or Word of the Lord unfolded,
beginning with the Book of Genesis, to
gether with Wonderful Things seen in the
World of Spirits and in the Heaven of
Angels.
10 vols,, each 50 cents, postage 20 cents.
Rotch edition, vols. I to VIII now ready, each
$1.25. The other volumes in preparation.
London edition, 12 vols., each gi.oo.
Arcana Coelestia, Index.
See Index to Arcana Coelestia.
Athanasian Ctzcd, The
And subjects connected with it.
London pocket edition, 25 cents.
Same work, American edition, published under
the title Divine Trinity and Divine Providence.
Athanasian Creed, The, Concerning the LORD.
Not the same work as the foregoing.
See Creed of Athanasius.
Baptism and The Holy Supper.
From the True Christian Religion.
Pocket edition, 10 cents.

Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New
Church. Paper, lo cents.
London edition, l6mo, 40 cents, postage S cents.
Also in Miscellaneous Theological Works.
Canons of the New Church,
Or, the Entire Theology of the New Church.
Paper, 15 cents,
London edition, l6mo, 35 cents.
Catechism, The See Decalogue Explained.
Charity. See Doctrine of the New Jerusalem con
cerning Charity.
Doctrine of Charity and Faith.
Conjt^^ial Love. See Delights of Wisdom relating
to Conjugial Love.
Concerning Marriage. Paper, 30 cents.
Concerning the Sacred Scripture,
Or, the Word of the Lord. From The
Spiritual Diary ; 4 cents.
Consummation of the Age, The
The Lord's Second Coming and the New
Church ; aiso entitled Invitation to the
New Church.
London edition, l6mo, 35 cents.
Continuation concerning the Last Judginent,
And concerning the Spiritual World.
See Last Judgment.
Coronis, The ; or, Appendix to the True
Christian Religion. Treating of the Four
Churches on this Earth from the Creation
of the World, and of their periods and

consummation; ofthe New Church about
to succeed those four, which will be truly
Christian, and the Crown of the preceding
ones ; of the Coming of the Lord to it,
and of His Divine Auspices therein to
Eternity, and further of the Mystery of
Redemption.
London edition, 40 cents.
Also contained in the Svo edition of The
True Christian R ligion.
Correspondence of the Human Body with the Grand
Man. See Divine Attributes.
Creation. See God, Providence, Creation.
Creed of Athanasius, The. Concerning the
Lord. Paper, 10 cents.
Latin-English edition, paper, 20 cents.
For another work on this subject
See Athanasian Creed,
Divine Trinity and Divine Providence.
Decalogue, The
Explained as to its external and inter
nal senses. From The True Christian
Religion. i2mo, 25 cents, postage 5 cents.
London edition, l6mo, paper, 10 cents.
Decalogue, The, and Free Will.
From The True Christian Religion.
Pocket edition, 10 cents.
Delights of Wisdom, Relating to Conjugial
Love, The After which follow the pleas
ures of Insanity, relating to Scortatory
Love. 40 cents, postage 18 cents.
London edition, ^1.00, postage 15 cents.
Handsome'y bound in full cochineal morocco,
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Divine Attributes, The
Including also the Divine Trinity, a treatise
on the Divine Love and Wisdom and the
Correspondence ofthe Human Body with
the Grand Man. Extracts from the Apoca
lypse Explained and Arcana Coelestia.
l2mo (Lippincott edition), ^i.oo.
Divine Love and 'Vrisdom.
See Angelic Wisdom concernini; the Divine
Love and Wisdom.
On the Divine Love and Wisdom.
Divine Providence.
See Angelic Wisdom conceming the Divine
Providence.
Lams of Divine Providence.
God, Providence, Creation.
Divirie Trinity and Divine Providence.
Divine Trinity, The, and Divine Provi
dence. With related Subjects.
I2mo, half-leather, 50 cents.
Same work, London pocket edition, published
under the title (see) Athanasian Creed.
Also contained in The Divine Attributes,
and in the last volume of Apocalypse
Explained, 1091-1228.
Doctrine of Charity and Faith.
From Arcana Coelestia.
Carter edition, l6mo, 15 cents, postage 4 cents.
Doctrine of the New Church. See Brief Exposi
tion, etc. 3

Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning'
Charity, The. Convention edition, l2mo,
IO cents.
Pocket edition, lo cents.
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
Faith. Convention edition, •i2mo,paper,iocents.
Rotch ediiion, paper, 15 cents.
Pocket edition, 10 cents.
London edition, i6mo, 25 cents.
Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, The
From the precepts ofthe Decalogue.
Convention edition, l2mo, paper, lo cents.
Rotch edition, paper, 25 cents.
Pocket edition, 10 cents.
London edition, l6rao, 25 cents.
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
the Lord, The. Convention edition, 12.no,
paper, 10 cmts,
Rotch edition, paper, 30 cents.
Carter edition, l2mo, 25 cents.
Pocket ediiion, 10 cents.
London edition, i6mo, 35 centf.
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
the Sacred Scripture, The. Convent. on
edition, 121T10, paper, 10 cents.
Rotch edition, paper, 30 cents.
Carter edition, i6mo, 20 cents, postage 5 cems.
Pocket edition, 10 cents.
London edition, l6mo, 35 cents.
The four last-mentioned works also in one
volume. See Four Lradinq^ Doctrines,

Earths in our Solar System, The
Which are called Planets and the Earths in
the Starry Heavens, with an Account of
their Inhabitants, and also of the Spirits
and Angels there, from what has been
Seen and Heard; paper, 15 cents.
Rotch edition, paper, 30 cents.
London edition, 60 cents.
London pocket edition, 30 cents.
Also in Miscellaneous Theological Works.
Ecclesiastical History of the New Church.
Published as an Appendix to Words for the
New Church, Part I ; paper, 25 cents.
Entire Theology of the New Church, The
See Canons of the New Church.
Faith. See Doctrine of the New Jerusale-m concern
ing Faith.
Doctrine of Charity and Faith.
Faith of the New Heaven and the New
Church, The. From True Christian
Religion; J cents.
Free WilL See Decalogue and Free Will.
Four Leading Doctrines of the New Church,
The. Concerning the Lord, The Sacred
Scripture, Life and Faith .
30 cents, postage 12 cents.
Rotch edition, ^l.it,.
London edition, ^1,00.
London edition, l6mo, 85 cents.
London pocket edition, 25 cents.
Also sold separately. 10

God, Providence, Creation.
Extracted from the closing chapters of
Apocalypse Explained.
Pocket edition [A. 8. P. S.], paper, IS cents;
cloth binding, gilt top edge, 30 cents.
Heaven and Hell.
Also the World of Spirits, or Intermediate
State, from Things Heard and Seen.
40 cents, postage 16 cents.
Rotch edition, I1.25.
Pocket edition, cloth, 30 cents ; paper, 15 cents.
London edition, 75 cents.
Holy Supper, The
See Baptism and the Holy Supper.
Index to Arcana Coelestia.
Lontion edition, iSl.25.
Indexes to the " Missing Treatise."
Angelic Wisdom concerning Marriage.
Paper, 25 cents.
Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms, The
See Summary Exposition, etc
Intercourse cf the Soul and the Body, The
Paper, 5 cents.
Rptch ediiion, paper, 15 cents.
London edition, i6ino, 30 cents.
Also bound in, Miscellaneous "Theological
Works, and the Rotch edition of Divine
Love and Wisdom,
Invitation to the New Church.
See Consunimatiim of the Age, etc.

Last Judg;ment,The, and Babylon Destroyed.
Showing that all the Predictions in the
Apocalypse are atthis day fulfilled. Being
a Relation of Things Heard and Seen;
with a Continuation concerning the Last
Judgment and the Spiritual World.
Paper, lo cents.
London ediiion, 60 cents, postage 7 cents.'''""
London pocket edition, 20 cents.
Also in Miscellaneous Theological Works.
Laws of the Divine Providence, The
From Apocalypse Explained, Nos, 1135-1I91.
Pocket ediiion, 10 cents,
( Also published in the Divine Trinity and
Divine Providence, Nos. 36-82.
Also in the pocket edition entitled
God, Providence and Creation,^)^. 77-169.
Leading Doctrines,The. See Four Leading Doctrines.
"Liie. See Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem.
Lord. See Doctrineof the New Jerusalem concern
ing the Lord.
Marriage. See Delights oJ Wisdom relating to
Conjugial Love.
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