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LIBRARY
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VINDICATION
OP THE
CHARACTER AND WRITINGS
OF THE HONOURABLE
EMANUEIL SWMBEMBOIRG.,
AGAINST THE
SLANDERS AND MISREPRESENTATIONS
OF
THE REV. J. G. PIKE, OF DERBV.
INCI.DDING
A REFUTATION OF THE FALSE REPORTS
PROPAGATED BY
THE I-ATE REV. JOHN WESI.EY,
Respecting Uie same Pious and Illastrious Author.
WITH
BRIEF IREMARIKS
ON THE
RASH CENSURE PRONOUNCED ON BARON SWEDENBORC
AND HIS WRITINGS
BY THE EDITORS OF THE
EVANGEIilCAI. MAGAZINE.
•I saw THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS, like FROGS, come out of the Mouth of the Dragon, and ont of the Mouth of the Beast, and out of the Month of the False Prophet." Apoc. xvi. 13.
' And I heard a loud Voice, saying in Heaven, Now is come Salvation, and Stiength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the Power of his Christ : for the ACCUSER of our Brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God Day and Night." Apoc. xii. 10.
By ROBERT HINDMARSH,
Minister of the New Jorusalera .Tempi®, 3/yltda-Sfre<^t, >^ajford, Manchester.
irf^
Printed by A. &. R. SMITH,- St. •Aun's-Square;
And Sold by Messrs. Clarke and Co. in the Market-Plaoe ; and in Loudon, by
H. C. HODSON, Cross-Street, Hatton-Gaiden ; and by T. GoYPER,
James-Street, Buckingham-Gate, Westiainster.
1021=:65.
Siyy 3 36 3
Apr. 5,, 1939
CONTENTS.
B»-3e-ee
PAGE
c^ Preface 9
i SECTION I.
<^
1. Introduction, containing some general Remarks on
^ the Opposition made to the Heavenly Doctrines of
"o the Neio Jerusalem, hy different Individuals. —
2. A Refutation of the false Reports propagated
hy the late Rev. John Wesley, in his Arminian
Magazine 17
SECTION II.
1. Answer to the Objection, that Swedenborg gives no Proof of his being a divine Messenger hy the Performance of Miracles. — 2. Nor hy the Pre- diction of future Events 24
SECTION III.
1. Whether a new Revelation was or was not to he expected. — 2. Fornication and Adultery falsely supposed to he allowable hy Swedenborg. — 3. A distinct Heaven for Mahometans, and Plurality of Wives. — 4. Devils and Angels once Men. — 5. Calvinists said to he driven out of Heaven, and to have Churches in Hell. — 6. Satans said to plunder the Heavens. — 7. Married People quarrel in the other World. — 8. Dutchmen said A 2 to
4 CONTENTS.
PAGE to live on one Side of the Street in Heaven, and
their Wives on the other. — 9. Tables said to he in Heaven for bursting in Explosions on those ivho lay too much Stress on Faith. — 10. Errors in Heaven. — 11. Effects of the Baptism of In- fants.— 12. The Lord appears in Heaven as a Sun before the right Eye, and as a Moon before the left 32
SECTION IV.
1. The spiritual Sense of the Word heretofore not knoivn in the Church. — 2. How far the Apostles were acquainted with that Sense 61
SECTION V.
1. Swedenborg charged with denying the Inspiration of a great Part of the Divine Word. — 2. And icith rejecting the Apostolic Writings Q^
SECTION VI.
The spiritual Signification of certain Expressions in the Sacred Scriptures, such as, 1. The Tree of Life. — 2. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.—S. The Number Ten.— 4.. The Num- ber Tivelve.—5. Noah's Ark.~-6. The Flood.— 7. Husband and Wife. — 8. Fowls and Birds. — 9. The Terms Jehovah and God. — 10. Money. — 11. Virgins and Women. — 12. The Lord's Coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and Glory. — 13. The Lord in Man, and Man in the Lord. — 14. Cain and Abel. — 15. The Destruction of the ivicked by Jehovah 75
SEC-
CONTENTS. 5
PAGE
SECTION VII.
1. The Lord as a Sun above the Angelic Heavens. — 2. A Divine Trinity, not of Persons, hut of Essen- tials in One Person. — 3. The Lord became the Word even in ifs Ultimates 94
SECTION VIII.
1. A Denial of the Divine Omnipotence falsely imputed to Sivedenborg. — 2. A supposed Contradiction on this Head cleared up Ill
SECTION IX.
1. God is not that angry, vindictive, and relentless Being, which Mr. Pike and many others take him to he, in Consequence of not understanding his Word. — 2. Comparison hetiveen Mr. Pike's God, and the God of Emanuel Swedenborg , . . . 119
SECTION X.
1. Redemption, how understood by the Old Church, and how by the New. — 2. Angels redeemed, as well as Men. — 3. The ivhole Angelic Heaven, together with the Church on Earth, is before the Lord as a single Man. — 4. Bearing Iniquities not the Removal of the^n, but a Representation of the Profanation of the Truths of the Word. — 5. An Angel let (not led, as Mr. Pike has misrepresented the Expression,) into his former Sins 125
SECTION XI.
1. The Resurrection, how understood by the Old Church, and how by the New ; proving, that
Man
0 CONTENTS.
PAGE
Man rises immedialehj after Death with his spiritual Body, and not luith his natural or ma- terial Body. — 2. The Difficulties and Absurdi- ties attending the Resurrection of the material Body, tcith Respect to it's Identity. — 3. The Doctrine of Paul on the Resurrection 146
SECTION XII.
1. T%e absurd and ridiculous Notions, which prevail concerning the Last Judgment. — 2. The State of Man after Death. — 3. The true scriptural Doctrine of the Last Judgment; shewing, that the Judgment irredicted in the Gospels, and in the Apocalypse, is already accomplished in the spiritual World.— -i:. The particular Judgment of Individuals after Death. — 5. The supposed Destruction of the Heavens and the Earth by Fire, a gross Error, arising from Ignorance of the Meaning of the Term Fire, as used in the Sacred Scriptures 160
SECTION XIII.
1. The Second Coming of the Lord, though expected by many to be in Person, is proved to be in Spirit, that is, in the Opening of his Holy Word. — 2. And such Second Coming is effected through the Instrumentality of Emanuel Swe- denborg 176
SECTION XIV.
1. Stvedenborg falsely charged with being an Encou- rager of Vice, and giving his Sanction to For- nication, Concubinage, and Adultery, because he discriminates between their relative Degrees of
Evil.
N
CONTENTS. 7
PAGE Evil. — 2. Female Prostitution. — 3. Indelicacies of Language and Idea. — ^4. The probable Reason why in the Word such frequent Mention is made of the Intercourse between the Sexes, and of those Parts of the human Body, which are dedi- cated to that Office 186
SECTION XV.
1. The Rise and Progress of the Mahometan Religion under the Guidance of the Divine Providence of the Lord. — 2. The Difference between the mere external Gratif cation of the Senses, as held out by Mahomet to his Followers, and the pure Joys and Delights of Heaven, which are described by Raron Swedenborg 204
SECTION XVL
I. Purgatory. — 2. Vastation in the other Life. — 3. The. intermediate State and Place between Heaven and Hell, called the World of Spirits 213
SECTION XVII.
1. The Place of Punishment, or Hell. — 2. Descrip- Hon of Hell, as a State. — 3. The Inhabitants of Heaven, as well as of Hell, are all of the human Race. — 4. Evil Spirits represented as dis- turbing Heaven. — 5. The wicked go voluntarily to Hell, and infernal Spirits have their Delights. — 6. Some are in Hell, and yet do not know they are there » 229
SECTION XVIII.
1. Heavenly Joy supposed by many to consist in per- petually worshipping and glorifying God in an external Manner, which yet is a Thing impos- sible.
8 CONTENTS.
PAGE sible. — 2. What is truly meant by praying al- ways, and hy incessant Glorification. — 3. Angels not perfectly pure. — 4. Administrations , Offices, Employments, and Trades in Heaven. — 5. Mar- riages in Heaven 250
SECTION XIX.
A scriptural View of the Rise, Progress, and future Perfection of the New Church, called the New Jerusalem 266
SECTION XX.
Brief Remarks on the rash Censure passed on Baron Swedenhorg and his Writings hy the Editors of the Evangelical Magazine 269
SECTION XXI.
Chief Articles of the Faith of the New Church, called
the Neio Jerusalem, 280
PREFACE,
( 9 )
PREFACE.
XXAVING been repeatedly called upon by many individuals, and at length formally requested by a General Conference of the ministers and other members of the New Church, called the New Jeru- salem, held at Derby in August, 1820=64, to reply to a pamphlet lately published by the Rev. J. G. Pike, of Derby, entitled, " Swedenborgianism de- picted in it's true Colours ; or a Contrast betiveen the Holy Scriptures and the Writings of Baron Swe- denborg, on a Variety of important Subjects;' on mature reflection, and considering that an humble endeavour to remove unworthy prejudices from the minds of the upright and sincere, may prove bene- ftcial to society, I am induced to undertake the fol- lowing plain and honest Vindication of an author, whose writings on theological subjects may be truly pronounced to be the most rational, the most con- sistent, and the most scriptural, that have ever yet appeared in the world since the days of primitive Christianity. In performing this duty, I trust I am influenced purely by the love of truth and justice, Jiaving no desire to injure or offend an antagonist, who it is possible may be conscientiously, though ignorantiy, engaged in the support of what he be- lieves to be the truth of revelation; though it must be acknowledged, that in too many instances he has betrayed a spirit of malevolence, sarcasm, and per-
B secution,
10 PREFACE.
secution, by no means consistent with the character of an upright Christian, much less of a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Many of the charges, which Mr. Pike has urged against the Baron and his writings, ^are al- together unfounded ; others are shamefully misre- presented ; and some, it is admitted, are fairly stated, yet not with the view of doing justice to the authors sentiments, but in the way of scorn and contempt. These latter, however, so far from containing matter of a reprehensible character, or in any respect unworthy of universal reception, are on the contrary highly creditable to the discern- ment of that great man, who in the midst of so many errors, which prevail in the Christian world, was enabled to discover the truth, and to confirm it by the undoubted testimony of divine revelation. It may therefore be regarded as a proof of the su- perintending care of the Divine Providence over the rising fortunes of the New Church, that even it's bitterest enemies are, in a way never calculated upon by themselves, made to contribute to the cir- culation of doctrines, which they are most anxious to suppress.
Mr. Pike having, in his introduction, referred to some idle tales, which never had any founda- tion in truth, it has been thought proper to com- mence the following work with an authentic refuta- tion of the false reports propagated by the late Mr. John Wesley, in his Arminian Magazine, against the personal character and conduct of Baron Swe- denborg. The writer of these pages did himself visit the very man, Mr. Brockmer, from whom Mr.
Wesley
PREFACE. 11
Wesley is said to have received his information: and he expressly denied having ever communicated with Mr. Wesley on the subject, or that the Baron, while at his house, was ever afflicted with any in- firmity either of body or mind.
Towards the close of the work is introduced a scriptural view of the rise, progress, and future perfection of tlie New Church ; which is followed by a few remarks on the rash censure pronounced on Baron Swedenborg and his writings by the Edi- tors of the Evangelical Magazine, who, assuming that the report made of them by Mr. Pike may be depended upon for it's truth and accuracy, have not only condemned what they never took the pains to read and understand for themselves, but have charged the members of the New Church with being both Sabellians and Socinians. That they do not, however, come within the description of either of those denominations, will be at once seen by comparing their peculiar tenets with the doctrines taught by Emanuel Swedenborg.
Lastly, for the information of those, who are unacquainted with the Baron's writings, and to guard them against being imposed upon by the misrepresentations and false reports of interested individuals, who find it easier to accuse and abuse an author, than to confute him, the chief articles of the faith of the New Church, called the New Jerusalem, are annexed as a conclusion to the whole work.
ROBERT HINDMARSH.
Manchester, Aug, 8, 1821=65.
b2
EXPLANATION OF THE MOTTO.
" / saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." Apoc. xvi. 13.
" And I heard a loud voice, saying in heaven, Noiv is come salvation, and. strettgth, ■and tlte kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night,' Apoc. xii. 10.
I. By the dragon is signified the acknowledgment of three divine persons, or, which is the same thing, three Gods, and of justification or salvation by faith alone, together with all such persons in the church, particularly in the Protestant or Re- formed church, as make that acknowledgment in doctrine and in life. By the beast, whfch in this case is the beast rising up out of the sea, chap. xiii. 1, are signified the men of the external church, or the laity in general, who confirm themselves in the same acknowledgment and faith. And by the false prophet, or beast rising up out of the earth, which spake as a dragon, and exercised all the power of the first beast before him, doing great wonders, and deceiving them that dwell on the earth, chap. xiii. 11 to 15, are signified the men of the internal church, or the clergy in general, who teach and maintain the doctrines above alluded to. The mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet, evidently denotes their doctrine, preaching, and discourse. By unclean spirits are signified lusts, or impure aiTections and desires, in this case the lusts of falsifying and perverting truths ; and hj frogs, to which they are compared, are meant reasonings from such lusts. The number three, as a complete number, denotes all, likewise altogether and merely : thus when applied to unclean spirits resembling frogs, it denotes mere reasonings from an evil and disorderly state of mind, on the part of all such as come under th« above description.
II. By the loud voice, which was beard in heaven, saying, " Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ," is signified joy among the angels of heaven, that the Lord alone reigns in heaven and the church, and that Ihej' who believe in him, and keep his commandments, will be saved. The term Gofl denotes the essential Divinity, called the Father ; and the term Christ, the Divine Humanity, called the Son, both constituting one divine person, as the soul and body constitute one man. By the accuser of our brethren being cast down, who accused them before our God day and night, is signified the overthrow and removal of those, who are understood by the dragon, and who in the spiritual world were heretofore continually opposing the doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and condemning them as contrary to the Word. The same effect in it's degree is now taking place in the natural world : for since the doctrines of the New Church have become known, and been received in heart and life by those who have long been seduced by the artful reasonings of false teachers, the power of these latter over the minds of many pious and sincere Christians is com- paratively crushed, and the everlasting gospel of the new kingdom of our Lord is preached on every side. The accuser of the brethren denotes all those, who, under a pretence of great piety, and zeal for religion, stigmatize the members of the New Church as enemies to the truth : and as they endeavour to make this ap- pear by continually appealing to the literal sense of the Word, falsely understood, they are therefore said to accuse them day and night before God, God and bis Word being oue, John i. 1.
VINDICATION, &
C.
SECTION I.
IntrodiictAon, containing some general Remarks on the Oppositio7i made to the heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem hy different Individuals. — 2. A Refutation of the false Reports propagated hy the late Rev. John Wesley, in his Arminian Magazine,
1. INTRODUCTION.
JLT is clearly predicted in the Sacred Writings, that when- soever the state or dispensation understood by the name of the New Jerusalem should take place on earth, it would meet with a decided opposition on the part of those, who, like the Pharisees of old, make a loud profession of religion, and con- ceive themselves to be already in possession of so high a degree of light, as to need no further instruction. The dragon is represented as persecuting the woman, or New Church, who brought forth a male child, casting water out of his mouth as a flood against her, and afterwards making war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ: see Apoc. xii. 13 to 17. It is therefore neither surprizing nor unexpected, that the advocates of a perverted and fallen church should now take the alarm, on finding their respective systems de- tected and assailed by the superior light and power of divine truth ; and that they should endeavour, though in vain, even
c bv
W A VINDICATION OF
by misrepresentation, calumny, and fallacious reasonings, in the room of fair argiiment, to arrest the progress of doctrines, Avhicli they either do not understand, or which they have reason to dread as subversive of their own irrational, un scriptural, and delusive faith.
Among the numerous opponents of the Nev/ Church, that have already sprung up from the different sects, only one luis been found to act the part of a generous enemy ; and that one was the late Dr. Priestley, who never attempted to scan- dalize the memory of Baron Swedenborg, by applying to him the epithets of madman, lunatic, impostor, &c. The gen- tleman, however, who now stands forward as an accuser of the most virtuous of men, hesitates not to follow the track of his predecessors in scurrility, and, after the example of the late Mr. John Wesley and others, to prefer charges against both Swedenborg and his writings, which have no foundation whatever in truth, but appear to be fictions invented by envy or malice, and propagated for no other end than to discredit the testimony of an author, who for piety, learning, and soundness of doctrine, has never yet been exceeded by any writer ancient or modern. Because there have been impostors in the world, Mr. Pike seems to argue, that therefore Swe- denborg must be one ! Because some have pretended, that they maintained an open communication with the spiritual world, and their pretensions have not been justified either by the importance or the utility of their alleg-ations, it is inferred, that therefore the declarations of Swedenborg are to be re- garded as the mere eflusions of a warm imagination, or as the ravings of a disordered mind ! Such is the logic, the kind of argument, with which Mr. Pike introduces his re- marks on what he is pleased to call " Swedenborg ianism" and so little is he acquainted with the true character of the man, whom he attempts to vilify, or with the real merits of the doctrines, which he undertakes to confute, that he flounders at almost every step of his progress, and gives ample proof as well of his ignorance of the subject on which he writes, as of the illiberal spirit by which he is actuated.
With
EMANUEL SWEDENCORG S WRITINGS. 19
With respect to the silly tales, which have been most in- dustriously circulated about Swedenborg* by his enemies, such as that detailed by Mr. Pike from Mr. Liudsey, who again had it from a third person, who is staled to have been walking- in the streets with the Baron, and to have witnessed him pay- ing his obeysance to Moses ; as they appear to be mere in- ventions for the purpose of exciting merriment, or throwing ridicule on the character of one of the best and wisest of man- kind, they are utterly unworthy of a serious answer. The charge is anonymous ; and as there are no means of tracing it to it's real author, it can only be ranked among those idle reports, which little minds delight to spread, without any regard to their truth or falsehood. But as Mr. Pike alludes also to a story related by Mr. Wesley in his Arminian Maga- zine, and afterwards reprinted and circulated very extensively among the Methodists, I can of my own personal knowledge prove that to be altogether groundless and false.
2. REFUTATION OF THE FALSE REPORTS PllOPAGATED BY i\JR. WESLEY.
Mr. Wesley asserts in his Arminian Magazine for August ]783, p. 438, that he was informed by one Mr. Brockmer, of London, and also by Mr. Mathesius, a Swedish clergyman, that Baron Swedenborg, while he lodged at the house of the former, " had a violent fever, in the height of which, being totally delirious, he broke from Mr. Brockmer, ran into the street stark naked, proclaimed himself the Messiak, and rolled himself in the mire." Being desirous of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of this story from Mr. Erockmer's own mouth, I made it my business, in company with three other gentlemen now deceased, to wait upon him at his apartments in Fetter- Lane, and to ask him whether he had ever communicated to Mr. Wesley, or to any other person, such information as above stated, at the same time shewing him the different Numbers of the Magazine, in which the reports published by Mr. Wesley were contained. After hearing the passages read, ]\;lr. Brockmer without hesitation denied tjie fact, posi-
c 2 tivelv
20 A VINDICATION OF
lively declaring', " that he had never opened his mouth on the subject to Mr. Wesley, nor had he ever given such an accouni to any other person :" and he seemed much displeased, that Mr. Wesley should have taken the liberty to make use of hi.s name in public print, without his kno\v!edge or consent. " Baron Swedenborg (said he) was never atflicted with any illness, much less with a violent fever, v/hile at my house : nor did he ever break from me in a delirious state, and run into the street stark naked, and there proclaim himself the Messiah, as Mr. Wesley has unjustly represented. But per- haps he may have heard a report to that effect from some other person; and it is well known, that Mr- Wesley is a very credulous man, and easily to he imposed upon by any idle tale, from whatever quarter it may come."
I tiien put the following' question to Mr. Brockmer : * Supposing" it to be true, that Baron Swedenborg did actually see and converse with angels and spirits, did you ever observe any thing in his behaviour, that might not naturally be ex- pected on such an extraordinary occasion V He replied as follows : " If I believed that to be true, I should not wonder at any thing he said or did ; l)Mt should rather wonder, that the surprize and astonishment, which he must have felt on such an occasion, did not betray him into more unguarded expressions than were ever known to escape him: for he did and said nothing, but what I could easily account for in my own mind, if I really believed what he declares in his writings to be true."
It is to be observed, that Mr. Brockmev was one of the people called Moravians, who are by no means friendly to the doctrines of the New Church, as laid down in the writings of Baron Swedenborg. The testimony, therefore, of such a man in favour of the equable and becoming deportment of his noble lodger, and to the silencing of those unfounded reports, to which Mr, Wesley (once an admirer of Swedenborg atid his writings, but afterwards an avowed enemy to both,) so hastily and unworthily lent himself, must be received with due respect by every candid and unprejudiced mind.
K
EMANUEL SWEDENBOKGS WRITINGS. *21
It appears, then, that the report of Baron Swedenborg's having- been seized with a fever, in the height of which he broke from Mr. Brockmer, ran into the street naked, and proclaimed himself the Messiah, is totally false. But even supposing- it to be true, that he once had a fever accompanied with delirium, an affliction to which the wisest and best of men are subject, what has this to do with the general tenour of his writings, composed while he was in perfect health? Js the character of a man to be estimated by what he says or does in such a state? Would Mr. Wesley, Mr. Pike, or any other person, wish to be judged in this way ? But Mr. Pike says, p. 4, that Swedenborg's friends were obliged to ac- knowledge, that he once called himself the Messiah." This is not true : his friends (and I well know to whom the writer alludes under that name) never made any such acknowledg-- ment : and Mr. Pike, with all the assistance he can derive from the anonymous author whom he quotes, is challeng-ed to bring proof of the assertion.
Mr. Brockmer died a few months after he made the decla- ration above recited : but the Peruke-maker alluded to by Mr. Wesley, namely, Mr. Richard Shearsmith, who lived in Cold Bath Fields, Clerkenwell, and at whose house Swedenborg afterwards lodged and died, survived Mr. Brockmer many years. Him also I well knew, and have often had occasion to speak to him of the character, habits, and manners of the Baron : and he imiformly gave the most unequivocal and honourable testimony concerning him, both with respect to the goodness of his heart, and the soundness of his under- standing^. He declared himself ready to attest (upon oath, if required,) that " from the first day of his coming- to reside at his house, to the last day of his life, he always conducted himself in the most rational, prudent, pious, and christian- like manner : and he was firmly of opinion, that every report injurious to his character had been raised merely from malice, or disaffection to his writings, by persons of a bigotted and contracted spirit." Mr. Shearsmith has been dead now for some years. I saw him not long- before his death ; and he con- tinued
22 A VINDICATION OF
(inued to bear the same testijuony, which he had so often re- peated ill my liearing during' the course of the thirty years that I had known him.
The other person, whom Mr, Wesley names as liaving given him the same information as Mr. Brockmer had done, was Mr. Mathesius, a Swedish clergyman. Of the credit du€ to tills Mathesius the following extract of a letter from Christopher Springer, Esq. a Swedish gentleman of distinc- tion then resident in London, and the intimate friend of Baron Swedenborg, will enable the reader to form a just and correct estimate. Speaking of the Barons death, he observes, "AVhen the deceased found his end approaching, and expressed a wish to have the communion administered to him, somebody present at the time proposed sending for Mr. Mathesius, the officiating minister of the Swedish church. This person was known to be a professed enemy of Baron Swedenborg, and had set his face against his writings. It was he that had raised and spread the false account of Baron Swedenborg's having been deprived of his senses. Baron Swedenborg therefore declined taking the sacrament from him, and actual- ly received it from the hands of another ecclesiastic of his own country, named Ferelias, who at that time was a reader of Baron Swedenborg's v/ritings, and is said to have continued to do so ever since, at Stockholm, where he is now living (in 1786); and I have been assured that, on this occasion. Baron Swedenborg expressly exhorted him " to continue stedfast in the truth." Mr. Mathesius is said to have become insane himself, a short time after this; and becoming thereby in- capable of his function, has existed ever since, in that melan- choly state, upon the bounty of the King of Sweden."
What now are we to say of the report first invented by Mr. Mathesius, the Lutheran divine, afterwards propagated by Mr. Wesley, the Arminian divine, and lastly by Mr. Pike, the Baptist divine, but that they each found it the easiest and most convenient argument to be drawn against the heavenly doctrines contained in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg? When the theologians of former days found themselves unabl^
to
E3IANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 'i3
to withstand the new but powerful doctrines of divine truth delivered by the Saviour of the world, some said, " He is a good man; others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people" John vii. 12. " He is beside himself" Mark iii. 21. " And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? But others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil: can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" John X. 20, 21. Now we know the truth of our Lord's words, when he saith, " The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple to be as his master, and the servant as his lord: if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household .'" Matt. x. 24, 25. And again, " The servant is not greater than the lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you," John xv. 20. In all ages of the church divine truth has been persecuted in the persons of those, who have been it's most strenuous asserters and advocates ; and in general according to the degree in which they have manifested their sincerity, integrity, and faithful- ness in the discharge of their duty, in the same degree have they been subjected to the derision and scorn of the world. It was not therefore to be expected, that Baron Swedenborg, the distinguished and devoted servant of his Lord, would escape the malevolent and bitter attacks of his enemies, who either through ignorance of the doctrines he taught, or through envy at their success, are disposed to treat the disciple in the same ungenerous manner as their predecessors of old had treated his Divine Master. But as Michael the archangel, in disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, (the his- torical sense of the Word,) durst not bring against him a railing accusation, so it is the duty of those, who are engaged in the defence of a good cause, to imitate so illustrious an example, and to leave all judgment to him who cannot err.
Having made these observations on Mr. Pike's personal attack on Baron Swedenborg, I shall now proceed to the ex- amination of his charges against the testimony as well as the doctrines contained in his writings. These are arranged
under
24 A VINDICATION OF
under twenty distinct heads ; and though the greater part of them have been repeatedly answered and refuted by different writers in defence of the New Jerusalem, yet, as they are again brought forward under the specious pretext of vindicat- ing the cause of Christianity, and supporting the interests of it's professors, whether they be Churchmen or Dissenters, Arminians or Calvinists, it may be advisable to meet those charges on the present occasion, and to demonstrate, that they are in general founded in error, and a total misappre- hension both of the language and the true sense of divine re- velation.
SECTION II.
1. Answer to the Objection, that Sivedenhorg gives no Proof of his being a divine Messenger by the Performance of Miracles. — 2. Nor by the Pre- diction of future Events.
1. PERFORMANCE OF MIRACLES.
J. HE first objection or charge, which Mr. Pike brings against the authority and credibility of Baron Swedeoborg, is, p. 5, " that he has given no proofs that he was a divine mes- senger, either by working miracles, or by predicting any con- siderable events that have since taken place in the world."
This objection, particularly that part of it which is found- ed on the want of miracles, has already been so fully answered and refuted in the author's Letters to Dr. Priestley, from p. 7 to 75, and in his Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion, from p. 122 to 126, that further arguments to shew it's weakness cannot surely be required by any who have read those works. But as others, who have not had an opportunity of consulting them, may possibly con- sider the objection of some importance, I will endeavour, in
as
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 25
as brief a manner as possible, to stale the substance of what is there delivered.
And first of all let it be observed, that if the want of miracles, in the case of a person professing to have a divine commission, prove any thing at all, it proves too much, that is to say, too much for the party bringing the objection : for by such an argument he will be under the necessity of denying the divine mission of many of the acknowledged prophets, as well as of John the Baptist, whom our Lord represents as the greatest of all. It is a remarkable circumstance, that of the sixteen prophets who give names to different books in the Old Testament, the twelve last performed no miracles what- ever, and yet they have been uniformly received as messengers from heaven by Christians as well as Jews. Will Mr. Pike charge the want of miracles upon those prophets as a proof that they were impostors ? Will he on that account deny, that they have any claims to a divine commission? Surely he must have paid but little attention to this part of his subject, or he would not have ventured to assert, as he has done in p. 5, that " the prophets of the Old Testament were proved to be messengers from God by the wonderful miracles which they performed."
What miracle did John the Baptist perform, to con- vince the Jews that he was charged with a divine commission? that he was vested with the authority of a prophet? yea, as our Lord himself expresses it, of more tlhan a prophet t It is expressly written, " John did no miracle ; but all things that John spake of this man (Jesus), were true. And many believed on him there," John x. 41, 42. Miracles, then, in the case of John the Baptist, were not necessary to justify his pretensions ; neither was his testimony concerning the Messiah less effectual by reason of their absence ; for by virtue of the truth alone it produced conviction in the minds of many of his hearers, and caused them to believe on the name of the Lord : a proof this that rational evidence is superior to the most miraculous displays of power.
D If
26 A VINDICATION OF
If we look into the history of the Jewish or Israelitish people, as recorded in the Old and New Testaments, we shall find, that the effect prodiwed on their minds by miracles was not a i-ational conviction of divine truth, but a mere superficial impression, which awed them for the moment into a kind of external acquiescence and acknowledgment, that the power competent to perform those wonders was super- natural. By this sentiment of fear, which rather stupified than awakened their rational faculties, they were urged to the observance of the various ceremonies peculiar to their religion, especially to the worship of Jehovah, from which however they were continually declining into open acts of idolatry. Although they had seen so many miracles in Egypt, and afterwards the red sea divided; the Egyptians immersed therein ; the pillar of a cloud going before them by day, and a pillar of fire by night ; manna daily rained down from heaven for their particular use, and water gushing out of the rock as soon as it was smitten by the i*od of Moses ; and al- though they had seen mount Sinai altogether enveloped in smoke, when Jehovah descended upon it in fire, in the midst of supernatural thunderings, lightnings, and the loud sound of a trumpet ; and had heard the voice of Jehovah speaking from the mountain, with other most extraordinary tokens of the divine presence and power ; yet how soon did they forget those wonders, and turn to the worship of a senseless calf, the workmanship of their own hands !
The same infidelity and hardness of heart continued with their posterity through everj' period of their history. Hence neither the miracles of their prophets, nor even those of the Lord himself, when he appeared among them, had the effect of changing their character, or inspiring them witli any tiling like a pure and genuine faith. It is therefore written of them, that, " though he had done so many miracles before tbem, yet they believed not on hi7n" John xii. 37.
It is evident, therefore, that miracles have no such power, as many ascribe to them, of convincing the understanding, or producing in the mind a rational and wholesome faith:
neither
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 27
neither can they l)e considered as the sure and proper evi- dences of a divine mission. For we read, that when Moses and Aaron exhibited before Pharaoh the signs or proofs of their authority, by turning- a rod into a serpent, and all the waters of Egypt into blood, and also by bringing up frogs upon all the land, the magicians with their enchantments did the same. Pharaoh therefore hardened his heart, and refused to listen to the message, with which tliey were charged from Jehovah. Similar, in all probability, would be the conduct of many in the present day, were really divine miracles again to be performed: they would either be refened to some in- comprehensible operations of nature, or else be rejected as phantasms and crafty deceptions ; and such persons, as as- cribed them to a divine power, would be held in derision, or pitied for their simplicity.
Our Lord says, "There shall wc'i&c: false chrlsts, m\(\ false prophets, who shall shew great signs and iconders, insomuch that (if it were possible) they shall deceive the very elect," Matt. xxiv. 24. Mark xiii. 22. If so, then signs and won- ders, or miraculous performances, are no certain proofs of a divine mission, because they are within the power of im- postors and false teachers, and by no means the peculiar characteristics of a divinely authorized prophet. Nay, the power of working miracles is expressly attributed to devils, in Apoc. xvi. 14 : and the very wish or desire to see a sign, in proof of a divine commission, is charged on the Jews as a mark of their being a wicked and adidterous generation, Matt. xvi. 4.
Then why, it may be asked, were miracles performed among the Jews in ancient times, and not among Christians in the present day? The answer is, Because the former were so immersed in natural and corporeal affections, that they were incapable of discerning the interior spiritual truths of revelation ; neither could these be laid before them with- out danger of profanation : on which account the Lord spake to that people in parables, that "seeing they might see, and not perceive, and hearing they might hear, and not un-
D 2 derstand,"
28 A VINDICATION OF
derstancl'^ Mark iv. 12. Whereas now, since the intro- duction of Christianity into the world, the rational faculties of the human mind are more capable than before of being ex- ercised on subjects of a divine nature, especially in respect to the Lord, his Word, the church, and a state of immortality in another life. The miracles, therefore, which were dis- played among- the Jewish and Israelitish people in the times alluded to, were performed, not with the design of forming them into a real spiritual church, (for this was not done, neither could it possibly be effected, by any such external means a$ miracles,) but for the purpose of compelling them to become the mere representative of a church, that all their rites, ceremonies, and acts of public worship might typify, shadow forth, and thus represent the Christian dispensation, together with the great process of man's regeneration, and above all that of the Lord's glorification. The miraculous cures, which were performed on the bodies of the blind, the deaf, the lame, and the sick, were in like manner repre- sentative of those divine operations upon the spirit of man, whereby his understanding is enlightened, his aflPections pu- rified, and his whole life renewed, through the medium of a true and genuine faith, directed solely to the Lord God and Saviour in his Divine Humanity.
There appears also to have been another reason why the dispensation of miracles was formerly given, but is with-held in latter times ; namely, tliat the canon of Sacred Scripture might be written and completed, while the representative church was in a state favourable to it's dictation in ultimates : for it's divine truths could not have been concentrated in the literal form and basis, in which we now behold them, and con- sequently could not have been accommodated to the capacity of man in all future ages, unless a series of miraculous ap- pearances had been exhibited and registered. From which consideration it follows, that it was chiefly for the sake of the Word, which is the uniting link between heaven and the church, and to point out the divine omnipotence of the Lord, as well in spiritual as in natural things, that such extraordi- nary
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 29
Bary miracles, as we find recorded in it, have actually taken effect. But having been transacted before men, with whom the internals of the mind were already closed, and by whom consequently no further spiritual injury was likely to be sustained from the display of supernatural powers, the vo- lume of revelation, couched under the language of history, prophecy, and evangelism, was written in different succes- sive periods, and at length fully completed, it's letter being made perfectly correspondent with it's divine spirit.
Henceforth, therefore, no other miracle is required in the church, than the opening of the eyes of the understanding, the renovation of the heart and aflfections, a conformity of the life to the holy and divine precepts of the Word, and the actual descent of the New Jerusalem from heaven to earth. Effects like these, wheresoever or with whomsoever they take place, are truly miraculous, because they are supernatural, and plainly bespeak a divine power, which is alone capable of producing them.
After this scriptural account of the nature, use, design, and effect of miracles, will Mr. Pike still call for their ex- hibition as the true and proper test of a divine message ? or will he, as an honest man and sincere christian, fairly acknowledge the error, into which he has inadvertently fallen? If upon re-consideration he shall find, that he has been reckoning without his host, that he has in short grossly misrepresented the grounds upon which the authority of prophets and other men of God has been admitted in the church, I trust he will have the candour to allow, that the want of miracles, even in the case of Baron Swedenborg, is in itself no just reason for rejecting his testimony, any more than the testimony of twelve out of sixteen prophets, or of John the Baptist, the greatest of them all.
2. PREDICTION OF FUTURE EVENTS.
The next point of objection urged against the credibility of Baron Swedenborg, as a divinely-commissioned messenger from heaven, is, that " l^e foretold no considerable events,
that
30 A VINDICATION OF
that have since taken place in the world, as the prophets of the Old Testament are known to have done." We have already seen, that several of the prophets made no appeal to the test of miracles, as a proof that they were sent by God ; and it is equally clear, that many of their predictions received no accomplishment whatever till hundreds of years after tlieir delivery, namely, until the period when our Lord made his appearance in the world. Yet at the very moment of their thus announcing the future advent of the Messiah, and during- all the time which elapsed between the prophecy and it's actual fulfilment, while there was no visible proof of their divine mission, they were accepted by the Jewish nation as true prophets of Jehovah. It is plain, therefore, that the objection, which Mr. Pike raises against the au- thority of Baron Swedenborg, on the ground of his not having predicted future events, which have since taken place in the world, is no more entitled to our consideration and respect in the present day, than a similar objection would formerly have been, if urged by the Jews in the days of many of their prophets.
But though Swedenborg did not undertake to foretel any specific events that were to take place herealter, it is a most remarkable circumstance, that in his treatise on the Last Judgment, published in the year 1758, he announces, that a great change had then recently taken place in the spiritual world, which could not but be followed by a similar change in the minds of men living in the natural world. Heretofore the professors of religion, the members of the church both among Roman Catholics and Protestants, were debarred from exercising their reason and understanding in the examination of the faith, which had been so long imposed upon them by their priests. They were not permitted, for example, to inquire how far the generally-received doctrine of three divine persons in the Godhead is consistent or inconsistent either with the Sacred Scriptures, or with sound reason : but they were bound to submit their understanding to the dictates of a blind faith, and implicitly to believe
whatever
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 31
whatever the rulers of the church have taught on that aud other subjects connected with it. This state of mental bondage Baron Swedenborg was the first to declare at an end ; and hencefortii, says he, by virtue of the spiritual liberty, which is now restored, mankind will be more gene- rally disposed to think and judge for themselves on all matters of religion, and at the same time more capable of discerning the truth when presented to them, and of receiving it in heart and life, than they have been in the ages that are past.
The surprising events, which have taken place in the moral world since the period above alluded to, when spiritual liberty was restored, and the New Jerusalem dispensation commenced, afford abundant coniirmation of the truth of this assertion ; and no reasonable doubt can be entertained, but the various improvements in science, as well as the many new and benevolent institutions in society, which so remark- ably distinguish the present age, ai'e all effects proceeding from the same cause, and the necessary results of that great change in the spiritual world, which was so distinctly an- nounced by Baron Swedenborg at a time when not the smallest traces of it were as yet discernible in the natural world. But as it v/as in the days of the Son of Man, when neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees could discern the signs of the times, although they were evident to others, so it is probable that in the present day also the successors of those Pharisees and Sadducees will be equally incapable of forming a right judgment on the great events that every where sur- round them, though to the unprejudiced and truly enlightened mind they must carry full conviction, that a new era has already commenced in consequence of the Lord's second advent.
SECTION
32 A VINDICATION OF
SECTION III.
1 . Whelher a 7ieiv Revelation was or tvas not to be expected. — 2. Fornication and Adultery falsely supposed to he alloicable hy Sivedenhorg.— Z. A. distinct Heaven for Mahometans, and Plurality of Wives. — 4. Devils and Angels once Men. — 5, Calvinists said to he driven out of Heaven, and to have Churches in Hell. — 6. Satans said to plunder the Heavens.- — 7. Married People quar- rel in the other World. — 8. Dutchmen said to live 071 one Side of the Street in Heaven, and their Wives on the other. — 9. Tables said to be in Heaven for bursting in Explosio7is on those ivho lay too onuch Stress on Faith. — JO. Errors in Heaven. — 11. Effects of the Saptism of In- fants. — 12. The Lord appears in Heaven as a Sun before the right Eye, and as a Moon before the left.
\JF the various charges, which Mr. Pike brings forward against Swedenborg, in p. 5, some are false, while others are grossly misrepresented : and instead of referring his readers to the author's own works, he appeals to a pamphlet written by an avowed enemy of the Baron, under the title of Ati Inquiry respecting the Truth of the Mission of Sweden- bora. Let us however examine those charges separately.
1. A NEW REVELATION.
«
It is asserted by Mr. Pike, that " the Scriptures give us no warrant for expecting any new revelation." Now, in opposition to this, our Lord expressly says to his disciples,
"I
EMANUEt SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 33
** I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now t Howbeit, when he the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth," John xvi. 12, 13. Here he evidently declares, that the revelation, which in his divine wisdom he saw was best suited and adapted to their imperfect comprehension at that tbm, would in some future day be succeeded by one more distinct and full, when the Spirit of truth would enlighten their understandings with new ilis- coveries of his Word and will, which they were then in- capable of receiving. In another verse of the same chapter he adds, " These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in pro- verbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father," ver. 25. Here again a new and plainer revelation concerning the Father, in addition to that which they were then favoured with, is distinctly promised : and we know, that this promise was never fulfilled until the publication of the heavenly doc- trines of the New Jerusalem, which teach that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Saviour of the world, is at the same time it's Creator and Preserver, and consequently the Only God of heaven and earth, the Everlasting Father himself: see Isa. ix. 6. Chap. xl. 3, 9, 10. Chap, xliii. 1, 11. Chap. Ixiii. 16. John xiv. 9. Apoc. i. 8, 11, 17. Chap. xxii. 13. From a variety of other passages it appears, that the Lord was, in some future day, to come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matt. xxiv. 30; that is, in his Holy Word, unloosing the seals of it's letter, Isa. xxix. 11 ; and revealing it's spiritual sense, Apoc. v. 1 to 9. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of this time, saith, " The glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,'' Isa. xl. 5. " Jehovah shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee," chap. Ix. 2. And in the Apocalypse it is written, " The Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, 1 come quickly, and my reward is with me," Apoc. xxii. 6, 12. " Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are,
£ and
34 A VINDICATION OF
and the things which shall h& hereafter,''' Apoc. i. 19. " The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament," Apoc. xi. 19. " And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven ivas opened," Apoc. xv. 5. And again, " I sa\v heaven opened, and behold, a white horse ; and he that sat upon him was called laithful and true. And he was clothed with a vesture dipt in blood ; and his name is called The Word of God," Apoc. xix. 11, 13. These and many other passages both in the Old and the New Testament clearly shew, that some further manifestation of divine truth, beyond the mere literal expressions contained in the Word, was to be communicated to the church on earth, and that such manifestation would in fact be a new revelation of the glory of the Lord.
The apostle Paul likewise says, that " the Lord Jesus shall he revealed from heaven ; that he shall come to be glori- fied in his saints, and to be admired in all tliem that believe in that day," 2 Thess. i. 7, 10. But that " the day of Christ shall be preceded by a general falling away from the true faith," 2 Thess. ii. 2, 3. Which agrees with our Lord's words, where he saith, " When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth i" Luke xviii. 8. In like manner the apostle Peter speaks of " the grace that is to be brought into the church at the revelation of Jesus Christ," IPet. i. 13. In all these cases a future revelation is clearly announced; and we are fully waiTanted in expecting it, notwithstanding Mr. Pike's assertion to the contrary. It is called the revela- tion of Jesus Christ, not because he will then manifest him- self to the world in person, or in an open and visible manner, as some are led to expect, but because he will open the interior sense of his Word, which indeed is himself, John i. 1, 14, and thereby communicate new light and new life to those, who heretofore were sitting in the shade and ob- scurity of it's letter.
2. FORNICATION
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 35
2. FORNICATION AND ADULTERY.
The next charge against Baron Swedenborg is, that with him " fornication is allowable, and adultery, in many cases, no crime." This is a most unjust charge, and can only be ma'de by those, who either wilfully or ignorantly misrepresent the author. So far from countenancing and encouraging the evils of fornication and adultery, he expressly condemns them ; but at the same time, with that wisdom and discrimi- nation to which his opponent appears to be an entire stranger, he distinguishes between the several kinds and degrees of evil in both the one and the other. On the subject of for- nication he writes thus : " Tliere are degrees of the quali- ties of evil, as there are degrees of the qualities of good: wherefore every evil is lighter and heavier, as every good is l)etter and more excellent. The case is the same with fornication, which, as being a lust, and a lust of the natural man not yet purified, is an evil: but inasmuch as every man is capable of being purified, therefore so far as it accedes or approaches to a purified state, so far that evil becomes a lighter evil, for so far it is wiped away ; but so far as it accedes or approaches to the love of adultery, so far it is more grievous." Conjugial Love, 452. He afterwards, n, 453, explains what he means by the lust of fornication ac- ceding or approaching to adultery : " All fornicators (says he) look to adultery, who do not believe adulteries to be sins, and who entertain like thoughts of marriages and of adul- teries, only with the discrimination of what is allowed and what is disallowed" by the laws of human society.
On the subject of adultery perhaps no author has ever written so amply, so ably, and so expressly in condemnation of that vice, as the Baron has done throughout his volumi- nous works, particularly in his treatise on Heaven and Hell, 384; Conjugial Love, 464, 500; Arcana Ccelestia, 8904; where he observes, that " whenever man commits adultery, and feels a delight therein, heaven is closed against him."
e2 But
36 A VINDICATION OF
But he also cliscriminates between the degrees of guilt even in acts of adultery, according to the circumstances attending them, justly remarking, that some cases are less aggravated than others : and for this he is shamefully accused of en- couraging vice, and giving his sanction to adultery, by the Rev. J. G. Pike, of Derby, a professed minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ; by Mr. Pike, who knows no dif- ference in guilt between simple fornication and the infernal lust of adultery, but confounding together all the shades of crime, the lightest with the most grievous and pernicious, pronounces the same judgment on every kind and degree of evil ! To reason with such a man is obviously a waste of time, which might be employed to a much better purpose. If he cannot of himself comprehend so plain a doctrine as that of the equitable distribution of rewards and punish- ments, according to the degree of merit or demerit in human actions, no arguments will avail so as to produce a conviction of the truth and justice of our Lord's words in the Gospel, where he saith, *' That servant, who knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with feio strij)es,'' Luke xii. 47, 48. Let these observations suffice for the present, as we shall have occasion to return to this subject again in the course of the work.
3. A DISTINCT HEAVEN FOR MAHOMETANS.
Another charge against Baron Swedenborg is, p. 5, that he assigns " a distinct heaven for Mahometans, where they have a plurality of wives." It is generally supposed, that there is only one heaven, one spacious receptacle, into which ail good men are admitted after death, without any regard to the different degrees and qualities of the charity and faith, which constitute their spiritual life. And this crude, indigested notion of a future state and place of happiness appears to be entertained by Mr. Pike, as if it were a
matter
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 37
matter of undoubted certainty. That tliere are, however, at least three heavens, cannot be denied by those who admit the authority of the apostle Paul ; for he expressly states, that he knew a man (probably himself,) who was " caught up into the tldrcl heaven," 2 Cor. xii. 2. And if we appeal to still higher authority, we shall find, that the kingdom of heaven is diversified by numerous habitations, or distinct places of abode, all of them being doubtless accommodated to the temper, taste, and spiritual state of their respective inhabitants. Our Lord in the Gospel says to his disciples, "In my Father's house are viany mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you," John xiv. 2. Nothing therefore can be conceived of as more consistent with divine order, and the true sense of Holy Writ, than such an arrangement in the mansions of bliss, as may be best suited to the various dispositions and hal)its of life, which have been previously formed in good and pious men, according to their several professions of religion, whether they have been Christians, Mahometans, Jews, or Pagans. For to suppose, that none but Christians can hereafter become the subjects of eternal happiness, and that all others are necessarily excluded from heaven, is the height of cruelty, wickedness, and insanity : it is an aspersion of the character of Him, " whose tender mercies are over all his works," Ps. cxlv. 9 ; and who de- clares, that " many shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God," Luke xiii. 29. Matt. viii. 11. With respect to the Mahometans being allowed a plurality of wives in heaven," this is not correctly stated. The Baron's words are as follow : " The Mahometans, like all other people who acknowledge God, and love what is just, and do good from religious motives, have their particular lieaven, but out of the limits of the Christian heaven. The Mahometan heaven is divided into two : the inhabitants of the inferior heaven live virtuously with several wives, but none are raised thence into the superior heaven, except such as renounce a plurality of wives, and acknowledge the
Lord
38 A VINDICATION OF
Lord our Saviour, and at the same time his dominion over heaven and hell. I have been informed, that it is impossible for them to conceive God the Father and our Lord to be one; but that it is possible for them to believe, that the Lord hath dominion over the heavens and the hells, because he is the Son of God the Father. (*) It is this faith whereby the Lord effecteth their ascent into the superior heaven." True Christ. Relig. 832. We leave this pas- sage without comment for two reasons ; first, because it is not contrary to the Scriptures, though it may sound strange in the ears of a person, whose charity is contracted to the span of his own narrow circle; secondly, because every man erf sound understanding-, who believes in divine reve- lation, may know, that the life which is coniirmed by habit in this world, especially if derived from the religious in- struction received from infancy, cannot easily be changed after death ; but that each individual, whatever may have been the dispensation under which the Divine Providence had placed him, will be dealt with and rewarded hereafter according to the quality of his works, which are expressly said to ''follow with himP Apoc. xiv. 13.
4. DEVILS ATVD ANGELS ONCE MEN.
The doctrine maintained by Baron Swedenborg, " that devils and angels were once men," is also brought as a charge against him, in all probability merely because it is
new
(*) Let the reader compare this Mahometan faith with what is now usually called the Christian faith, and he will scarcely find a particle of difference. The Christian (so called) no more believes, that God the Father and the Lord are one, than the Mahometan does. Both equally consider the Son of God as a person and being distinct from God : and though both may be induced to acknowledge, that the Son is capable of exercising a power over heaven and hell, in consequence of it's being delegated to him by another, yet neither of them will admit, that he is the mighty God, the everlasting Father, or Jehovah himself in human form, Isa. ix. 6. John xiv. 9 ; when vet this is plainly the true Christian faith, and that which distinguishes between Christianity and every other known system of reli- gion in the world.
EMANUEL SWPDENBORGS WRITINGS. 39
new to Mr. Pike, and to those who in reading the Scriptures, as he must have done, with half-closed eyes, have not been able to discover it's truth, though to an impartial eye it is very evident. It is indeed the general opinion, that angels were originally created such, and immediately placed in heaven, without having first lived as men in the natural world, and that many of them afterwards rebelled, and were cast down from heaven, together with Lucifer the instigator and leader of the insurrection. This idea, however, has no foundation in the Sacred Scriptures either of the Old Tes- tament, or of the New ; but has arisen in the church from a misapprehension of the true sense of those passages, wherein mention is made of angels, of the sons of God, and of Lucifer the son of the morning; and has been further confirmed by the representations of poets and other fanciful writers. Tine fall of Lucifer, which is spoken of in Isa. xiv. 12, &c. has no reference whatever to the defection of any angel so called in heaven, but solely to the fallen state of the church on earth, as is evident from the whole tenor of the chapter, and particularly from ver. 4, which announces the subject to be "a proverb against the king of Babylon J' that is, against the church which had once been like an angel in a state of integrity and spiritual glory, but had afterwards degenerated, and became "as a carcase, trodden under feet," ver. 19.
A passage in Job is also thought by some to coun- tenance the idea of angels having been created such before the formation of man, when yet no such doctrine can be fairly deduced from it, if interpreted, as it ought to be, ac- cording to it's spiritual sense, and the true meaning of the writer. Speaking of the church under the denominatioa of the earth, as is usual in the Word, and in the writings of high antiquity among the nations of the east, Jehovah is represented as saying to Job, " Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth I declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Where- upon
40 s. A VINDICATION OF
upon are the i'oundations thereof fastened t or who laid the corner-stone thereof? when the moniiriff-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," Job xxxviii. 4 to 7. Literally and philosophically speaking, the earth, being merely a globe of terratpieous matter, has no foundations, nor any corner-stone ; still less can it be supposed, that there is any substance, upon which it's foundations are laid or fastened. But of the church it may truly be said, that it's foundations are laid on the rock of divine truth, and that the corner-stone thereof is the Lord himself: see Isa. xxviii. 16. Matt. xxi. 42. The morning-stars, therefore, which sang- together, and the sons of God, who shouted for joy, on the foundation or commencement of the Ancient Church there treated of, were the primitive members of that church both in the spiritual and in the natural world, who being delivered from the power of hell, which previously threatened them as an overwhelming sea, ver. 8 to 11, are described as partaking of the supreme happiness resulting from the reception of divine truth, and a consciousness of their salvation.
There is yet another passage or two in the Apostolic Epistles, from which it is inferred, that angels are a distinct race from men. Peter in his second Epistle, chap. ii. 4, and Jude in his General Epistle, ver. 6, both speak of " angels that sinned, or kept not their first estate, whom God spared not, but cast them dowij to hell," &c. (*) But that these angels were no other than fnen, who belonged to the First or Most Ancient Church, and on it's fall became a degenerate and abandoned race, is pretty evident from the description given of them by Jude in ver. 7 ; from which it would appear, that, like the inhabitants of Sodom and Go- morrha, " they gave themselves over to fornication, and
ffoinff
(*) The apostle Peter aad the apostle Jude both appear to have copied from one and the same ancient book, which was extant in their day, but is since% lost to the world. How otherwise can it be accounted for, that the very same ideas, the very same kind of laitguaje, and the very same order of delivery, which we find in the oii» writer, are so punctually followed by the other ? Let the readtr
onlv-
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 41
going after strange flesh:'" a charge, which even the advocates for the creation of angels before men will scarcely allow to be in any respect applicable to such thin, airy, fleshless, and unsubstantial beings, as they suppose angels to be.
Upon
only compare the passages here referred to, and he will find no room for a doubt on the subject.
PETER, SECOND EPISTLE. JUDE, GENERAL EPISTLE.
Chap. ii. Verse 1 to be compared with Verse 4.
4 6.
6 T.
10 8.
11 9.
12 10.
13 to 15 11, 12.
17 12, IS.
18, 19 16.
Chap. iii. Verse 2 17.
8 18.
Peter goes on in the succeeding verses of chap. iii. to speak of the former heavens and former earth ; of (he heavens and earth which then were ; of these ■ fatter being reserved for destruction by fire, as the former had been destroyed by water ; and lastly of new heavens and a new earth, wherein should dwell righteous- ness : All which particulars were no doubt transcribed by him from some ancient writing, not perhaps of absolutely divine authority, like the genuine books of the Ancient Word, (now lost, though plainly referred to by Moses in Numb. xxii. 14, 15, 27 to 30 ; by Joshua, chap. x. 12 to 14 ; and in 2 Sam. i. 18 ;) but the pro- duction of some enlightened man, who treated of the successions of different churches in the style and manner of the literal sense of our Word. Origen, who lived at the beginning of the third century, says, he found in a Jewish Greek book, called Tha Assumption of Moses, ('AmXjjiptc ra Mw(7£we,) the story related in the Epistle of Jude concerning the dispute of the archangel Michael with the devil about the body of Moses : and from a comparison of that book with Jude, he was thoroughly persuaded, that it was the very book, from which Jnde quoted. (See 3Iichaelis, lutrod. Vol. 4, p. 379.) Jude also in his Epistle, ver. 14, 15, makes express mention of a prophetical book written by Enoch, the seventh from Adam, and quotes from it a passage, which foretels the coming of the Lord to execute judgment upon the wicked. And it is not improbable, but several of the references made by the Evangelists to the sayings of prophets not to be found in the Old Testament, (if there be any such,) may have been intended as appeals to, or citations frpm, th^ Ancient Word spoken of above. Or perhaps they were contained in some other prophetic books, or written sayings, now lost, of which mention is so frequently made in the books of Kings and Chronicles.
F
42 A VINDICATION OF
Upon no better foundation, than the preceding passages, ill understood, and supported by the poetical fiction of Milton's Paradise Lost, rests the prevailing opinion of the existence of angels before the creation of man. All our poets, however, have not fallen into that error; for Dr. Young took a more correct view of the subject, when he penned the following lines :
" Angels are men iu lighter habit clad.
High o'er celestial mountains wiug'd in flight ;
And mtn are angels loaded for an hour.
Who wade this mirj vale, and climb witli pain,
Ana slipp'ry step, the bottom of the steep.
Angels i\\c\r failhujs, mortals have their jj/uisi;."
If tiien angels are not to be distinguished from men either by their birth, or by their final destination, but only by their dress, that is, by tiie kind of body which they carry with them, and the heights of intellectual enjoyment to which they can aspire, it follows, that neither were devils originally created angels of light, and afterwards cast out of heaven, and converted into angels of darkness, in conse- quence of any rebellion devized by Lucifer their chief, and fatally attempted by the rest ; but that they in like manner are also of the human race, having been born men like other men, and lived and died without God in the world, that is, like devils, as they afterwards became. On this subject, therefore, we may safely come to the following conclusion, That there is not in all heaven a single angel that was origi- nally created such, nor in all hell a single devil that was originally created an angel of light, and was afterwards cast out of heaven ; but that all both in heaven and in hell are of the human race, in heaven such as had lived in the world in heavenly love and faith, and in hell such as had lived in the lusts and concupiscences of self-love and the love of the world. And further, that hell, taken collectively, or in it's entire form, is called sometimes the devil, and sometimes
satan,
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 43
mtan, according- as the evil or the false principle issuing therefrom is more particularly adverted to and described. (*)
But to come to more direct proofs from the Sacred Scriptures, that angels and men are of one and the same species of intelligent beings, it is written, that " in the he- ginning (that is, at the commencement of all things) God created the heavens and the earth," Gen. i. 1. And after describing the process introductory to the formation of man, it is then added, " So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them," ver. 27. The inspired penman concludes this part of the subject by saying, " Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of thein. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made," Gen. ii. 1, 2. If now this be regarded as an account of the first act of creation, it is plain that men were formed before angels, and not contrariwise : for it would be the height of absurdity to suppose, that angels or any other beings were created before the beginning, or before the Divine Agent began his work.
The order of creation is also worthy of being noticed ; because it shews, that the less perfect production preceded the more perfect : first of all inanimate matter was created, as earth and water on the first day ; then vegetables, as grass, herbs, and fruit-trees, on the third day; afterwards animals, as fishes, fowls, and beasts, on the fifth day ; lastly men, male and female, on the sixth day. But man at his first formation was not in so high a state of perfection as he afterwards arrived at, when " the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and he became a living soul," Gen. ii. 7. With this new name he acquired a new quality, and became in effect a man-angel, while living in the body, each successive stage of his existence introducing him to a
still
(*) See Reflections on the Unitarian and Trinitarian Doctrines, p. 11, 12.
f2
44 A VINDICATION OF
still more exalted degree of wisdom and intelligence, until at length, by putting ofl" the material body, he became a pure spirit or an angel. In this last state the term angel is not unfrequently applied to him in the Word : and reciprocally also an angel is called a man.
The fii'st place, in which mention is made of an angel, is Gen, xvi. 7 to 11, where the angel of Jehovah appeared to Hagar. But as this passage does not furnish so clear a proof of the identity of angels and men, as the argument requires, we proceed to others more decisive of the question. In Gen. xviii. we read, that three angels appeared to Abra- ham, who are expressly called men, ver. 2, 16, 22. And in like manner the two angels that appeared to Lot, Gen. xix. 5, 8, 10, 12, 16. We also read, that " when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over-against him with his drawn sword in his hand :" and that the same man was an angel, is plain from his calling himself " the captain of the Lord's host," Josh. V. 13 to 15. An angel likewise appeared to Manoah's wife, and afterwards to Manoah himself, as a man, being repeatedly so called, Judg. xiii. 3, 6, 8, 10, 11. The priest and prophet Ezekiel constantly describes the angels, whom he saw, as men: see chap. ix. 2, 3, 11. Chap. x. 2, 3, 6, 7. Chap. xl. 3, 4. Chap, xliii. 6. Chap, xlvii. 3. Daniel and Zechariah do the same : see Dan. viii. 15, 16. Chap. ix. 21, where the angel Gabriel is called the man Gabriel. Chap. X. 5, 16, 18. Chap. xii. 6, 7. Zech. i. 8, 10. Chap. ii. 1.
The same doctrine of the identity of angels and men is equally demonstrable from the writings of the New Testa- ment. In Mark xvi. 5, the angel that was seen " sitting on the right side pf the Lord's sepulchre, clothed in a long white garment," is called " a young man.'' And in Luke xxiv. 4, when the women went to the sepulchre, to look for the body of the Lord Jesus, it is said, that " two men (meaning tivo angels) stood by them in shining garments."^ Our Lord also in the same Evangelist says, that deceased men, who have departed in a regenerate state, "are equal unto the angels," Luke xx. 36.
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 45
But the doctrine here maintained is inculcated niore plainly still by the apostle John in the book of Revelation. The angel, who accompanied John, and shewed him the gteat city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, measured the wall thereof, and found it to be an hundred and forty and four cubits, which are said to be " ac- cording to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel,'' Apoc. xxi. 17; thus identifying a man and an angel as one and the same, because they are of the same family by creation, and acknowledge the same Lord as their common Parent.
It is further written, that after the angel had shewed John the wonderful things relating to heaven, he was about to fall at his feet in profound adoration : but the angel im- mediately stopped him, and said, " See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus : worship God," Apoc. xix. 10. And again the apostle continues, " When I had heard and seen^ I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, who shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me. See thou do it not ; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them who keep the sayings of this book: worship God," Apoc. xxii. 8, 9. Here the angel avows himself to be only a man, a prophet, the brother and fellow- servant of John, and of no higher consideration than other pious and good men, who, having kept the sayings or com- mandments of their Saviour, are after death admitted to share in the glory and happiness of heaven.
It is also worthy of remark, that the seven churches ifl Asia, to which John wrote, are addressed by the Spirit nndef the general name of angels ; and each particulaif church, consisting of many individuals, as if they were only one single angel. To each of them he says, " I know thy works ;" and, after pointing out the errors or evils into which they had fallen, exhorts the greater part of them to repentance, and comforts all who shall overcome with the promise of everlasting life.
The
46 A VINDICATION OF
The writer of the Acts of the Apostles concurs in the same doctrine of angels being no other than deceased men ; for in describing the case of Cornelius the centurion, who was a Gentile convert, he states, that an angel of God ap- peared to him, and directed him to inquire for Peter, who would instruct him in the first principles of the Christian religion: see Acts x. 3, 7, 22. And the same angel is in verse 30 expressly called a man.
Having made these observations, I now ask, Why should it be thought a strange or unscriptural doctrine, that all the angels of heaven were once men upon earth ; and by parity of reason, that all the devils in hell were once equally men ? since the most satisfactory testimony, drawn from pro- phets, evangelists, and apostles, establishes the fact, that at the very beginning of creation 7nen were formed, and not angels ; but that in due process of time men became angels, and were thenceforth distinguished as such, though they still retained their original and primitive name of ine7i.
5. CALVINISTS SAID TO BE DRIVEN OUT OF HEAVEN.
Mr. Pike next charges the Baron with asserting, that " Calvinists are driven out of heaven, and have churches in hell." But as he has not referred for proof to a single page or number in any of that author's voluminous writings, but to the anonymous publication of an avowed enemy, it might be sufficient to observe, that, until the passage is clearly pointed out, the objection is not fairly entitled to any answer what- ever. We read in the Gospel, " that the kingdom of heaven is like unto a king, who made a marriage for his son ; that many were bidden, who refused the invitation; that others were gathered together in their place, both bad and good ; and that thus the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment: and he saith unto him. Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding- garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to
the
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 47
tlie servants, Bind him liand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," Matt. xxii. 2 to 13. From this para- ble we learn, that it is a possible case for a man, without the necessary qualifications for enjoying the happiness of heaven, still to gain admission therein, and after a time to be detected as altogether unfit for angelic company, and in consequence to be cast out or driven into his proper abode, which is hell. Our Lord also says, " I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven," Luke x. 18. On a supposition, therefore, that Swedenborg has given an account of the expulsion of certain characters out of heaven, it is no more than what we are justified in believing by the highest authority that can be quoted. Whether the persons so cast out had professed themselves to be Calvinisls, Arminians, or of any other de- nomination, is of little moment: it is sufficient to know from the Scriptures, that not every one who saith. Lord, Lord, or who makes a profession of religion, is accepted hereafter, but he only who " doeth the will of his Father who is in heaven," Matt. vii. 21.
6. SATANS SAID TO PLUNDER THE HEAVENS.
Another charge against Baron Swedenborg is, that he says, " Satans plunder the heavens." Here again no autho- rity is cited iVoin any of his works, in proof of the asser- tion; but the reader is expected to believe what Mr. Pike has quoted from a most scurrilous pamphlet, published some years ago against the doctrines of the New Jerusalem. As I cannot find such a passage in all the writings of the Baron, it would be a mere waste of time to dwell upon it. Speaking of the Jews, in the spiritual world, he states indeed, that they obtain precious stones from heaven, and. traffick with them, in consequence of their reading the Word in the original tongue, and regarding it's literal sense as holy. The passage, which is explanatory of itself, and probably the very same from whi(;h the misrepresentation has gone
forth.
48 A VINDICATION OF
forth, is in the True Christian Religion, ii. 843, being" as follows: "The Jews traffick in the spiritual world, as in the natural world, with various commodities, particularly with precious stones, which by unknown ways they procure for themselves from heaven, where there are precious stones in great abundance. The reason of their traflicking- with pre- cious stones is, because they read the Word in the original tongue, and esteem the sense of the letter to be holy, and precious stones correspond with that sense."
A passage of this description may be ridiculed by those, who are unacquainted with the state of man after death, and have never considered the distinction observed in the Sacred Scriptures between the spiritual world in general, and the se- veral parts of that world, which are respectively denominated heaven, hell, the lower earth, the pit, the prison, &c. : see Isa. xiv. 15, 19. Chap. xxiv. 18, 22. Ezek. xxvi. 20. Ps. xxviii. 1. Yet, without attending to these and other particu- lars, it is impossible to understand many parts of divine revelation. John says he was carried away in the spirit into the tvilderness, where he saw a woman (representative of the fallen church) sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, and ar- rayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, Apoc. xvii. 3, 4. The wilder- ness here mentioned was neither in heaven nor in hell, but in the intermediate world of spirits, where also were to be seen gold, precious stones, and pearls. So when the Jews are described by Swedenborg as trafficking in the spiritual world with precious stones and other articles, the account, so far from being in contradiction to the Sacred Writings, is rather supported by them, as may be further seen in Ezekiel, chap, xxviii. 11 to 18, where the king of Tyrus, (denoting the church with respect to it's knowledges of good and truth, derived from the literal sense of the Word,) is said to have been in Eden the garden of God, ajid adorned with every precious stone, being full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, ?itttil iniquity was found in him, and his merchandise and traffick became sinful.
7. MAR-
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 49
7. MARRIED PEOPLE QUARREL IN THE OTHER WORLD.
It is next objected, that " married people quarrel in the other world." This would have been indeed surprizing, if nothing of the kind occurred in this world. But the objec- tion evidently arises from total ignorance, on the part of Mr. Pike, that man continues the same after death, as he was before. He seems to think, when the material body, the mere shell of humanity, is dropped, that the mind, which is the real man, is also entombed in the same grave with it, or else suffers such an unaccountable change in it's whole frame and texture, that it is in a moment a new subject, it's former thoughts, affections, and life, being at once completely discarded, and in their stead new thoughts, new affections, and a new life, as suddenly adopted. A senti- ment this equally absurd with the supposition, that a man is no longer the same man, when he puts olf his worn-out garment, and exchanges it for a new and better one.
How different from such indigested and childish notions is the account, which the great Swedenborg has given of the state of man after the death of the body ! He instructs us, not only from the reasonableness of the thing itself, but from his own experience and observation, that "the first state of man after death nearly resembles his last in this life ; that he still retains the same face, speech, and disposition, as he had before ; consequently that he is known in the other world at first sight by such as had been his friends and acquaintance in this ; and that they mutually congratulate each other on these occasions." He further adds, that " it is common for husband and wife to meet thus, and to abide together for a longer or a shorter time, accor- dingly as they had agreed in this world; but if they had not lived together in conjugial love, which is an union of minds from an heavenly principle, after some short stay they are separated : but if they had lived in variance and hatred, it is not unusual for them to break out into strife
G aod
60 A VINDICATION OF
and quarrelling, even to fighting ; but nevertheless they are not totally separated before they enter upon their second state." Heav. and Hell, 493, 494.
The probability of this account, independent of the authority of the writer, is certainly heightened by the Sacred Scriptures themselves. When Abraham died, it is said, that " he was gathered to his j)eople," Gen. xxv. 8. The same is said of Ishmael, ver. 17 ; of Isaac, Gen. xxxv. 29 ; of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 29, 33 ; of Aaron, Numb. xx. 24, 26 ; and of Moses, Numb, xxvii. 13. Chap. xxxi. 2. Deut. xxxii. 50. Likewise of the first generation of the children of Israel, that entered into the land of Canaan, it is said, that "they were gathered unto their fathers,^' Judg. ii. 10. Now to be gathered to one's fathers, or to one's people after death, evidently implies, that the deceased meet and associate together as before, family with family, kindred with kindred, children with parents, husbands with wives : and if man retains the same propensities and dis- positions as he had tl^e moment before his departure from this life, can any thing be supposed more likely to take place hereafter, than the exercise or manifestation of those tempers and dispositions, of whatever nature or character they may be ? The Scripture saith, that the works of a man follow him beyond the grave ; by which is doubtless understood, that they are repeated in another life, and for the same reason that they were first transacted here, namely, because they are the natural fruits of the tree which produces them. Man is that tree, and will never cease producing such fruits as are congenial with his real state of life, whether he be in the natural or in the spiritual world.
8. DUTCHMEN AT^D THEIR WIVES LIVING SEPARATELY.
Mr. Pike and his anonymous prompter bring another heavy charge against our author, and represent him as say- ing, that " Dutchmen are living on one side of the street in heaven, and their wives on the other." This is altogether a
false
EMANUEL 8VVEDENBORCtS AVRITINGS. 51
false ckarge, and discreditable to the parties >vko m'^e it, first, because it suppresses the most iiuportaut part of liie passage alluded to, wliereby it is ijjade to speak of the Dutch nation at large, without in the least r.oticiug tlie distinction plainly stated by the author between those who live in mutual and conjugial love, a^id those who do not; and secondly, because, in defiance of tJie very title of the chapter, from which it is extracted, and the express v/ords of the author, repeated therein ao legs than nine times, that Ue is describ- ing the state of the Holiajiiders in tlie spiritual world, and not in heaven, it superadds tlietie last words, and represents Swedeuborg as saying, that Dutch husbands and wives live on contrary sides of the street in heaven. This conduct in JVEr. Pike and his nameless principal is the more repre- hensible, because Baron Swedenborg in the same chapter distinctly states, that he is trea,ting of Hollanders not actually in heaven, but only in a course of instruction for it below heaven ; and that occasionally some of them are permitted to ascend thither, alter which they again descend to their associates, until finally prepared for the happiness of eternal life. See JVne Christian Relirfion, 804.
That the reader, however, may judge for himself of the loose manner, in which quotations are made from tlie writ- ings of Swedeuborg, by persons as destitute of candour as they are hostile to the truth, and whose only aim seems to be the destruction of their neighbour's reputation, that they may suppoi't their own tottering system of pharisaic ox soliti- dian theology, we shall here annex the passage, which has been so miserably garbled, as it stands in n. 805 of the work above mentioned. After speaking of the cities in which the Hollanders live in the spiritual ivorid, and before they are fully prepared for elevation into heaven, the author proceeds as follows: " Wives, who atlect authority over their husbands, dwell on one side of tlie city, (not on one side of the street, as pretended by Mr. Pike,) and never meet with their Jmsbands unless biv particular invitation in the way of re- spect and civility, and on such occasions tlie husbands lead
G 2 them
52 A VINDICATION OF
them to houses, where the married pairs \i\e without aftect- ing any authority over each other, and shew how elegant and neat their houses are, and how happily they live together, informing them at the same time that this is the consequence of mutual and ccujugial love. Such wives as are atten- tive to, and affected with, these things, cease to claim any dominion over their husbands for the future, and are admitted to live with them ; and in this case they have an habitation allotted them nearer the middle of the city, and are called, angels ; the reason whereof is, because true conjugial love is a celestial love, which affecteth no dominion."
9. TABLES FOR EXPLOSION.
The next charge is, that tables are in heaven for burst- ing in explosions on those wjio lay too much stress on faith." This again is a misrepresentation of the author's words and~ meaning : he does not sav, that such tables are in heaven, but helow heaven, in that world which is intermediate between heaven and hell. The substance of the case is given as fol- lows : " There is a place not far from hence, illuminated by a direct influx of light from heaven, in the midst whereof there is a table, on which if any piece of writing be placed, that containeth in it any truth derived from the Word, by virtue of that truth the Avriting instantly shineth like a star." He then goes on to state, that if a person, who is not in genuine truth, but in the habit of perverting the divine truth of the Word, should " fix his eyes attentively on the paper, the light suddenly disappears, and the paper becomes black, as if it had been in the smoke of a furnace." He afterwards describes another place, still in the intermediate state be- tween heaven and hell, called the world of spirits, where is also a table, " on which lies the Word, decorated on all sides with precious stones in celestial arrangement, from which there darteth light of inexpressible brightness every time the Word is opened. But if any pcson approaches who hath falsified the Word, the brightness instantly vanishes,
and
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 53
and if he approaches iiearez*, and fixes his eyes on the Word, it seems as if it were covered over Avith blood ; and when this is the case, he is admonished, at his peril, to stay there no longer. A certain person, however, (it is observed,) who, during- his abode on earth, had been much distinguished for his writings in favour of the doctrine of justification })y faith alone, approached the table, boasting, that he had never falsified the Word, and in the confidence of this assertion, in spite of the caution given him by an angel, touched the ' Word ; when, lo ! there was a sudden efflux of fire and smoke from the Word, attended with a loud explosion, whereby he was thrown into a distant corner of the apart- ment, and lay there for the space of an hour as if he had been dead." See True Christian Religion, 162, 209.
Considering now the divine sanctity of the Word, and that it constitutes the presence of the Lord himself in his church, where is the impropriety or improbability of such a relation as the preceding, which describes the power and effect of divine truth on those who falsify and profane it? Is not the same thing in substance related in the Word itself? When the ark of God, containing the Word, was taken by the Philistines, and placed in the house of Dagon their false god, it was found on the morrow, that " Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth, before the ark of the Lord." The experiment was tried a second time : " They took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground, before the ark of the Lord: and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands, were cut off upon the threshold, only the stump of Dagon was left to him." I Sam. V. 1 to 4. In the following verses of the same chapter it is further related, that the enemies of divine truth could not endure the presence of the ark of the God of Israel; that the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the men of Ashdod, of Gath, and of Ekron; that he smote them with emerods, and brought upon them a very great destruc- tion; until at length they gathered together all the lords of
- • \hv:
54 A VINDICATION OF
the Philistines, and said, " Send away the ark of the God of Isi-ael, and let it go again to it's own place, that it slay ns not, and our people," ver. 11.
We further read, that " he smote the men of Beth- shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men : atid the people lamented, because tlie Lord had smitten liiany of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said. Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God V 1 Sam. vi. 19, 20.
Another remarkable ilastauce of divine judgment executed <!>n the person of one, who inadvertently ventured to touch the ark of the Lord, whri<yh contained tlie Holy Word, was that of Uzzali, one of the sons of Abiuadab, who with his lirother Ahio was appointed to drive the cart that bore it to- wkrds the city of David. Being on their journey, it is written, that " when they caDie to Nachou's threshing-floor, Uzzah put forth bis hand to the ark of (lod, and took hold df it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God srnote him there for his error, and there he died by the ark of God." 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7.
In each of these cases it is evident, that a certain unfitness of state in the persons treated of, arising either from the idolatry of their worship, or from a too curious and unsanctified desire to look into the ark, or from an arrogant confidence in the merit of self-righteousness, had totally dis- qiialified tliem from susfeiining the divine presence, which Twas in a peculiar manner displayed in and around the ark. Whether they came near it, or looked into it, or touched it, the result was equally dreadful and fatal.
The same danger -Rlio threatened the Israelites, when the Lord came down in t!ie sight of all the peo])le, upon njount Sinai. The following caution was therefore given them: "Take heed to yourselves, tliat ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount, shall be surely put to death." And again, "The Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest
they
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 55
they break througli unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.-' Exod. xix. 12, 21,
After these examples, and another winch might be nrged, all taken from the Sacred Scriptures, of the extreme danger of approaching the tree of life, around which cheru- bim, and a flaming sword which turns every way, are placed. Gen. iii. 24, without due preparation by repentance and deep humiliation of heart and life, will Mr. Pike still persist in holding up to ridicule and contempt a man, who by his extiaordinary writings has done more to explain the Divine Records, and to recommend them to the approbation of mankind, than any writer or commentator since the days of the apostles ? What is there in his account of the ^'^ tables for explosion (as Mr. Pike calls them) against those who lay too much stress on faith," and pay but little attention to a life of charity, which is the essence of all religion, that differs in substance from the several cases above cited? Is it not plain, that the circumstances described by Baron Swedenborg as taking place in the spiritual world, in prool" of the astonishing power of the Word, have their foundation in the Word itself? since it is reasonable to believe, that the things transacted in former times, among the Jewish or Israelitish people, are intended as examples of what still continues, and v/ill ever continue, to mark tlie distinction between the effects of divine truth upon those who give it a cordial reception, and those who in the pride of self-derived intelligence falsify, pervert, and profane it. The reader, therefore, may fairly conclude, that the objection, which Mr. Pike has thought proper to urge against the testimony of Baron Swedenborg on the subject now discussed, is no less than a direct attack, it is to be hoped ignorantly and inad- vertently, on the Sacred Scriptures themselves.
10. ERRORS IN HEAVEN.
It is further charged on our honourable and illustrious
author, that he asserts "there are errors in heaveiu" A
. short
56 A VINDICATION OF
short answer will suffice for this, taken from the book of Job, which is admitted by the objector himself to be conclusive authority. " Shall mortal man be more just than God J shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants ; and his angels he charged tvlth folly,'' Job iv. 17, 18. Again, " Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints ; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight,'' chap. XV. 15. And again, " The stars are not pure in his sight: how much less man that is a worm," chap. XXV. 5, G. Here the heavens are charged not only with folly or error in the understanding, but also with uncleanness or impurity in the affections. But this is to be taken comparatively: for angels, as we have already proved, being but men, though men purified by regene- ration from the gross corruptions of their nature, are still defective in wisdom and in love ; they still fall infinitely short of absolute perfection ; and therefore it is with great propriety that the Psalmist exclaims, " Who in the heaven can be compared unto Jehovah I Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto Jehovah?" Ps. Ixxxix. 6. Unto that Jehovah, " who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven r Ps. cxiii. 6. And at whose presence not only " the earth shakes," but " the heavens also drop" as it were into nothing I Ps. Ixviii. 8.
11. EFFECTS OF THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS.
Again, Mr. Pike complains, that according to Baron Swedenborg, " infants are baptized in heaven." The reader is requested to observe, that the complainant professes him- self to be a Baptist, more properly an Antipcedohaptisi, or one who disapproves of the baptism of infants even on earth: what wonder then is it that he should betray his aversion to that ceremony, although performed by angels in heaven I But is the charge true, that Swedenborg asserts the baptism of infants in heaven after their departure from the natural world ? It is altogether untrae, there being no such an as*
sertion
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG*S WRITINGS. ^7
sertion in any part of his writings. Speaking indeed of the uses of baptism on earth, and it's effects both in the natural and in the spiritual world, he observes, that " the first use of baptism is introduction into the Christian church, and at the same time insertion amongst Christians in the spiritual world." Then, after remarking upon the uses on earth, he proceeds to shew the effects of the same baptism even in the heavens, infants being introduced thereby into the Christian heaven. " Wherefore, (says he,) as soon as infants are baptized, they are placed under the tuition of angels, by whom they are kept in a state of receiving faith in the Lord ; and as they grow up, and become capable of thinking and acting for themselves, the tutor-angels leave them, and they draw into association with themselves such spirits as make one with their life and faith. Hence it is evident, that baptism is an insertion amongst Christians even in the spiritual ivorld." Tr. Chr. Rel. 677.
That the ceremony of baptism, which is a divine insti- tution, should have the power of extending it's effects even to the spiritual world, is a doctrine so far from being un- supported by the Sacred Scriptures, that it is rather incul- cated by them, as plainly appears from our Lord's words first to Peter, and afterwards to the rest of his disciples : " Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven," Matt. xvi. 19. Chap, xviii. 38. And again in another place, " I say unto you, there is joy in heaven, in the presence of the angels" of God, over one sinner that repenteth," Luke xv. 7, 10. From these passages there is good reason to believe, that every external act of man, which is performed in obedience to the divine will, especially if it be an act of piety or religious worship, must have an effect far beyond what is usually ascribed to it; in short, that while it is done in the sight of men on earth, it is at the same time noticed or perceived by angels in heaven. And if so, it follows, that the baptism of infants is not only, as Swedenborg justly observes, an introduction into the visible
H church
58 A VINDICATION OF
church on earth, but also a kind of proclamation even among* angels, that the person baptized is henceforth to be ranked among-, and instructed by, those who believe in and worship the true God manifested in the ffesh.
12. THE LORD APPEARS IN HEAVEN AS A SUN BEFORE THE RIGHT EYE, AND AS A MOON BEFORE THE LEFT.
The last charge, included under Mr. Pike's second head of objections to the testimony of Baron Swedenborg, is. That he says, " the Lord appears in heaven as a sun before the right eye, and as a moon before the left." How- ever strange this may appear to the uninstructed concerning the mystical body of Christ, which is so much spoken of in the Apostolic Writings, there is yet no difficulty in the subject with those who believe, that that body is constituted by the members of the church, whether it be in heaven or on earth, and that each has his situation therein, either to the right or to the left, according to the quality of the life re- ceived by him from the Lord. The apostle Paul, in his first address to the Corinthians, writes as follows : " Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ .'*" 1 Cor. vi. 15. "We being many, are one bread, and one body,'' 1 Cor. X. 17. " Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular," 1 Cor. xii. 27. Again, " We being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another," Rom. xii. 5. " That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ," Eph. iii. 6. " He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," Eph. iv. 11, 12. " And he is the head of the body, the church," Col. i. 18. Seeing now that the church on earth, and by parity of reason the kingdom of heaven above, which is the church in a still purer state than with men below, is considered by the apostle, and expressly declared to be the body of Christ,
how
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. ^9
how plain must it appear to every intelligent mind, that the in- dividuals composing- this universal church are distributed into the various provinces, organs, or members of that spiritual body, whose life and soul is the Lord himself! consequently that some are in the province of the head, others in that of the trunk, and others again in that of the feet! and moreover that in each particular province or member some are situated to the right, and others to the left, and so in endless variety, according to the genius and capacity of each to perform such and such uses, as the several parts of the human body cor- respond to !
This may be illustrated by the case of a nation or king- dom on earth, in which the king or first magistrate may be regarded as the head, the executive power in general as the arms, the higher and middle classes of society as the breast and <rM«^, the labourers, .&c. as the legs and yeef, and all together as one connected hody politic. Now in heaven this arrangement is regulated according to the spiritual states of it's inhabitants ; those who are more particularly under the influence of love and affection being situated therein to the right, while those who are distinguished for their knowledge and intelligence take their places to the left of that spiritual or mystical body, of which mention has already been made. It is further to be noted, that the Lord, who is expressly called a sun in Ps. Ixxxiv. 11 ; Mai. iv. 2 ; Apoc, i. 17 ; and is likened both to a sun and to a 7noon in Isa. xxx. 26, is seen either as the one or as the other according to the state of the beholder, and the situation which he occupies in heaven. ( * ) If he be situated in the right side of that spiritual body before alluded to, in other words, if he be more particularly under the influence of love to the Lord,
he
( * ) The existence of a sun in tbe spiritaal or intellectual world, as well as in the natural or sensible world, was well known to the wise men of antiquity, tbougli little suspected in modern times. Empedonles, an ancient philosopher, who lived about four hundred and fifty years before the Christian Era, maintained, that there a^e two worlds, the one intellectual, the other sensible ; and that the former of these
IT 2 is
60 A VINDICATION O*'
he tlien beholds him as a sun, the Lord being so called with respect to his divine love : but if he be situated in the left side of the same spiritual body, that is to say, if he be more particularly distinguished for his intelligence and faith, he then beholds the Lord as a moon, this term having" respect also to the Lord as the source of spiritual light, though in an inferior degree to that of the sun. It is in this way we are to understand the words of Baron Swedenborg, when he says, that " the Lord appears as a sun before the right eye, and as a moon before the left." Not that he is seen doubly by one and the same individual, as a sun before his right eye, and at the same time as a moon before his left : but that, while an angel directs the vision of both eyes to one point, if he be on the right side of heaven, then the Lord appears to the individual as a siin ; and if on the left, then he appears to him as a moon ; and this by reason of his so appearing before the right and left eye, respectively, oi the grand man, called by the apostle the body of Christ, or the church uni- versal.
If Mr. Pike cannot comprehend this explanation, he must be left to enjoy his incapacity : but let him at least be given to understand, that while he attempts to ridicule the sublime ideas of an author like Swedenborg, he is only betray- ing his own ignorance of the spiritual things relating to heaven, and his total inattention to the language contained in the Apostolic Writings.
is the exemplar and archetype of the latter. He also said, there are two suns, the one archetypal or intellectual, the other apparent or sensible ; tliat is, the one spiritual, and the other natural. His own words are, " cvo iiXit^Q, TOV Utv kp-vtTVTTOV, TOV (it (patvofiii'ov." See Dr. Cudworth's Jntelledual System, p. 25.
SECTION
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 61
SECTION IV.
1 . The spiritual Sense of the Word heretofore not known in the Church. — 2. Hoiv far the Apostles were acquainted ivith that Sense.
1. THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD.
JlT is next objected, p. 5, 6, that the view, which Swe- denborg g-ives of tlie Scriptures, is absolutely contrary to the account of their design and efficacy, which is presented in that holy volume." And as a proof of this the objector endeavours to form a contrast between what the apostle Paul says of the Scriptures, taken in a natural or general sen&e, and what Swedenborg says of them as to their spiritual or particular sense. The apostle justly observes, that "all Scripture (meaning* all Divine Scripture) is given by inspi- ration of God; and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works," 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. This is no where denied by Emanuel Swedenborg, but is rather demonstrated and con- firmed by the whole tenour of his writings. Yet Mr. Pike, no doubt under the influence of a strong desire to bring him into discredit with the public, fansies and jJ^rsuades himself, that he has discovered a contradiction to the apostle in the following words of the Baron : "In the Word there is a spiritual sense heretofore unknown : owing to this sense the Word is divinely inspired, and holy in every syllable." Tr. Chr. Rel. 193. " It's holiness doth not appear in it's literal sense. That the Word of God should not be rejected as a common trivial writing, the Lord hath revealed it's spiritual sense." Tr, Chr. Rel. 200. " No one hereto- fore
62 A VINDICATION OF
fore hatli had the least idea tliat there is in the Word any- spiritual sense." Tr. Chr. Rel. 776. These are detach- ed and unconnected quotations : but the last is mutilated, and Mr. Pike appears wilfully to have suppressed the quali- fication which immediately follows, viz. according to the truth and reality, in luhich it existeth."
Many pious writers have indeed supposed, that there is some kind of a spiritual sense in the Sacred Scriptures ; but they were not apprized of the real nature of that sense, and therefore Swedenborg has well observed, that heretofore it was unknown according to the truth and reality in which it exists. He also explains the nature of this spiritual sense, and in a great variety of examples shews, that the literal sense is unintelligible without recourse to another sense, which lies concealed within it, comparatively as the soul of a man is concealed within his body. Thus, when it is said, that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven with power and gi'eat glory, Matt. xxiv. 30, he proves by numerous pas- sages from the Word itself, that by the clouds of heaven is meant it's literal sense, and by power and glory it's spiritual sense. Also when mention is made of the sun being dark- ened, the moon turned into blood, and the stars falling from heaven, Joel ii. 31 ; Matt. xxiv. 29, he clearly demon- strates, that by such language we are not literally to under- stand the sun, moon, and stars of the visible firmament, but spiritual things corresponding thereto. So again, when it is written, that God rode upon horses, and walked through the sea with his horses, Hab. iii. 3, 8, 15; that he will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness, Zech. xii. 4; that the tribe of Judah is a lion; Issa- char, a strong ass ; Dan, a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, biting the horse's heels, so that his rider falls back- ward ; Naphtali, a hind let loose ; Joseph, a fruitful bough near a well, with branches running over the wall ; while Benjamin is said to ravin as a wolf. Gen. xlix. 9, 14, 17, 21, 22, 27 ; that Ephra,im is a cake not turned, a silly dove with- out
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 03
out heart, and an heifer that is taught, Hosea vii. 8, 11 : chap. X. 11 ; that the Jews in general are sei*peuts, and a generation of vipers, Matt, xxiii. 33 ; that all the feathered fowl and beasts of the field are invited to the table of the Lord God, where they are to be filled with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, to eat fat till they are full, and drink blood till they are drunken, Ezek. xxxix. 17 to 20. Apoc. xix. 17, 18; that Jehovah shall hiss for the fly of Egypt, and for the bee of Assyria; that he shall also shave with a hired razor, ])y the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet, Isa. vii. 18, 20 ; that a man must hate his father and mother, his wife and children, brethren and sisters, in order to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, Luke xiv. 26 ; although he is elsewhere commanded to honour and love them, Exod. xx. 12. John xiii. 34, 35 ; that the city New Jerusalem, descending from heaven, is twelve thousand furlongs in length, breadth, and height, that is, fifteen hundred miles each way, Apoc. xxi. 16 ; — in all these cases, and a hundred others which cannot possibly be understood according to the literal expressions, the same author proves, and every intelligent person who reveres the Divine Word must admit, that things of a spiritual or hea- venly nature are intended to be represented and signified by them ; things which do not manifestly appear in the language made use of, but which are concealed therein, like jewels within a casket, and discoverable only by the science of cor- respondences, which unfolds the true spiritual sense, and presents every part of the Sacred Scriptures as worthy of their Divine Author, who himself says, " The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" John vi. 63. Mr. Pike, however, has no idea of the necessity of any spiritual sense, and seems disposed to rest contented with the mere letter. He must consequently believe, that God lite- rally rides upon a horse, and upon the clouds ; that some of the sons of Jacob were lions, asses, calves, and serpents ; that Joseph was the branch of a tree ; that Benjamin acted tb^ part of a wolf; that Ephraim was a cake, a silly dove,
and
64 A VINDICATION OF
and an heifer ; that the Jews were a nation of serpents and vipers ; that birds and beasts are to dine at the table of the ffreat God : that Jehovah is to hiss for flies and bees, and to shave men with a razor hired for the purpose ; that Christians are bound to treat their parents, wives, children, brothers, and sisters, with hatred and contempt, and at the same time to love them as themselves ; that they are on certain occasions to cut off their right hands, and to pluck out their right eyes ; that they are to call no man upon earth either father or master ; that paupers are saved in preference to men of property ; and that a city, fifteen hundred miles in length, in breadth, and in height, will actually descend from heaven, and light upon the earth, according to the description given in the book of Revelation. Judging likewise that the apostles entertained the same gross ideas with himself concerning the Scriptures, he exultingly exclaims, " Is not that sense of the Word, with which apostles and martyrs were acquainted, and in which they rejoiced, sufficient for us?" p. 6. Allowing it to be sufficient for Mr. Pike and his friends, does it follow, that no higher and more interior discoveries of divine truth were ever to be communicated to the church, than those which accompanied the first dawning of Christianity? The apostle himself says, " We know in part, and we prophesy ill part : but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away : for now we see through a glass darkly,''' 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, 12.
2. HOW FAR THE APOSTLES WERE ACQUAINTED WITH THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.
To suppose that the apostles and primitive Christians were fully acquainted with the interior sense of the Holy Word, and that in their Epistles or Letters to the different churches they had exhausted the treasures of wisdom, which it contains, is a position altogether childish and absurd. They knew indeed, that the history of Abraham's two sons, Tshxnael and Isaac, was an allegorical description of the
two
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 65
two dispensations of the law and the gospel, Gal. iv. 22 to 31. They knew also, that the prophecy of Joel concerning the sun being turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, was fulfilled spiritually, and not literally, at the day of pen- tecost. Acts ii. 16, 20. And it is probable that they regar- ded the rest of the Sacred Scriptures as having a spiritual as well as a literal sense. But it does not appear from any of their writings, which have reached our times, that they were at all acquainted with the science of correspondences, which is the true key to the spiritual sense of the Word; and consequently they have left unexplained a thousand difficult passages, which the pious and well-disposed members of the church iu all ages have been desirous of understanding. And now, when proof is offered not only of the actual existence of a spiritual sense, heretofore unknown, in every part of the Word, but of it's efficacy in reconciling apparent contradic- tions, in removing difficulties that embarrass the pious reader, and in giving importance and sanctity to those parts, which are too frequently regarded as trivial and unworthy of their Divine Author, it is contumeliously refused by Mr. Pike, who pretends, that the Word is in no danger whatever of being treated as a common or trivial writing, although he knows that Deists and Skeptics have rejected it on that very ground.
The danger, to which Swedenborg alludes, and which he is so anxious to avert, by representing the Scriptures in a more amiable point of view, than commentators have here- tofore done, Mr. Pike, in a manner most unbecoming the character of a Christian minister, treats with the utmost con- tempt, and with equal ignorance asserts, that Swedenborg and the apostle Paul are at variance with each other, because the one says, that " the Word of God has an internal spiritual sense," and the other, that " all Scripture is given by inspira- tion of God ; that it is able to make men wise unto salvation; that it is profitable for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." This view of the Scriptures by the apostle,
I ' and
66 A VINDICATION OF
and Swedenborgs honourable testimony to their inherent sanc- tity and divinity, are declared by Mr. Pike to be " as opposite, to each other, as light and darkness !" " Both (says he) can- not be true;" and as it is his object to depreciate, in evei'y possible way, the character and sentiments of the Swedish theologian, he thus virtually proclaims his total disbelief in the internal sanctity and divinity of the V/ord of God. When Swedenborg shews, that the command to hate our father and mother, is compatible with that other injunction, which re- quires us to love all men, even our enemies, and that in the fonner case the father and mother to be hated are our here- ditary propensities and inclinations to what is evil and false, which produce acts of wickedness as their offspring, he re- jects the interpretation, calling it " /««" internal sense, and chooses rather to abide in the letter which killeth, than to open his eyes to the spirit which giveth life and salvation. Such however is the way, in which Mr. Pike justifies his pretensions to advocate the cause of Christianity, and to secure the best interests of society.
SECTION V.
1. Swedenborg- charged with denying the Inspira- tion of a great Part of the Word. — 2. Aiid with rejecting the Apostolic Writings.
1. THE BOOKS OF THE WORD.
Swedenborg is next charged, p. 6, 7, wltli " deny- ing the inspiration of a great part of the Divine Word," because he distinguishes between those books which have an internal sense, and tLose which have not, pronouncing t!.e former, and not the latter, to be of divine authority.
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WHITINGS. 67
On this subject I would ask, By what rule of evidence does Mr. Pike form his judgment of a divine writing t Has he any other to appeal to, than the uncertain and flucluating decisions of the Romish Church i What foundation has he for his belief in the sanctity and divinity of any particular books, except the opinions of fallible men, sitting to debate the question among themselves, and deciding by a majority of votes at one time that such and such a book is divine, and at another time that tiie very same book is destitute of that character ; thus extending or diminishing the number of inspired writings, not by a reference to any internal evi- dence, like that of the spiritual sense contained witliin them, nor to the words of the Lord in Luke xxiv. 44, which form the rule of judgment in this case, but by the caprice of the moment, or the induence of a prevailing party in the church? (*) Even in the Established Church of this coun- try are not the apocryphal books, at least seven of them, recommended and read in the national churches equally with those which are acknowledged to be canonical.' (f)
And
(*) It does not appear, that even the Jews were always agreed in opinion con- cerning the books generally received by them ; some, which are now regnrded as oationical, being once deemed apocryphal, or of doubtful authority. Rabbi Nathan, speaking of the Proveths, Solomon's Song, and Ecdeslasles, observes, " Tu former times it was said of these books, that they are a^>ocnjphai." See Midiadh, lutrod. vol. 1, p. 71.
(t) These books are Toh'tt, Jnditli, the book of Wisdom, Erdesiastiitis, Baitirh, History of Susanua, History of Bel and the Drajou, The lessons appoiiiltd for the 30th day of September, and the 1st of October, in every year, are the 6th and 8th chapters of the Apocryphal book, called Tobit, wherein is detailed the mode how a devil or an evil spirit is to be driven away from a man or a woman, namelv, hr burning the heart and liver of a fish, and making a smoke therewith, so that the devil may smell it ; and as he cannot endure the scent, this instructive lesson, given as from the mouth of an angel, asserts, that the devil will instantly depart, and " the party," whom he before troubled with his presence, " shall be no more vexed." Is this suitable doctrine for a Christian congregation ?
The book o( Judith is supposed by Grotins to be entirely a parabolical fiction, written in the time of Antiochus Epiphaues, when he came into Judea to raise a persecution against the Jewish Chuicii, and that the design of it was to confirm the Jews under that persecution in their hopes, that God would send them a de- liverance. And he says, "That therein by Judith is meant Jadea; by fyihulia,
I 2 l»>e
68 A VINDICATION OF
And with respect to the New Testament in particular, what reason is assigned by the Church of England for admitting- the Letters or Epistles of the different apostles among the books of divine inspiration ? None whatever, except that of general custom, which in itself is no reason at all.
The truth appears to be, that neither the Romish nor Protestant Churches have to this day clearly understood what it is that constitutes a divine book : they have not suffi- ciently considered the purport of our Lord's words to bis disciples, when he told them, that " all the Scriptures ivere written concertiing himself;'' and that the books, which he acknowledged as the Scriptures of divine truth, to be ful- filled in his own person, were those comprehended under the titles of " the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms :" see Luke xxiv. 27, 44. Thus our Lord has him- self laid down the rale, by which we are to judge of those books and writings, which alone deserve to be honoured by the church as divine, viz. That in their inmost sense they treat solely of him. Now in many parts of the books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, no allusion whatever is made, in the literal sense of the expressions used, either to the Lord incarnate, or to his sufferings, death, and re- surrection ; and yet he came into the world to fulfil in his
the temple, or house of God ; and by the sioord, which went out from thence, the prayers of the saints : That Nabuchodonosor doth there denote the devil, and the kingdom o( Assyria tlie devil's kingdom, pride : That by Holofernes is tliere meant the instrument or agent of the devil in that persecution, Antiochus Epiphanes, who made himself master of Judea, that fair leidow, so called, because destitute of re- lief: That B/ueiktm signifies God, who would arise in her defence, and at length cut olT that instrument of the devil, who would have corrupted her."
There are many other learned writers, who agree with Grotins in tlie general, that this book is rather a parabolical, than a real history, made for the instructing and comforting of the people of the Jews under that figure, and not to give them a narrative of any thing really done. And their reason for it is, that they think it utterly inconsistent with all times, where it has been endeavoured to be placed, either before or after the captivity of the Jews.
Grotius and others also think, that the book called Baruch is a mere fiction by some Hellenistical Jew, and contains nothing of a real history. See Pridemix's Co» nection, &c. vol. 1. p. 62.
EMANUEL SWEDENRORGS WRITINGS. 69
own person the whole and every particular part of the Sacred Scriptures, as it is written, " The Word, which in the he- ginning was with God, and was God, was made flesh, and dwelt among us," John i. 1, 14. And again, " All ihings must be fulfilled, whicl> were v/ritten in the l^w of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me,'' Luke xxiv. 44. There must therefore be an internal spi- ritual sense belonging to the Word, not apparent in the letter ; and without a doubt the Lord must have opened the understanding of his disciples to discern that sense, accord- ing to their measure, when, " beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself,'' Luke xxiv. 27.
The same rule, which so well applies to the Old Testa- ment, may also be applied to the New ; and by it we are enabled to distinguish those books, which are absolutely divine to the very letter, in consequence of being dictated by God himself, from those which, tlsough excellent in their kiud, are yet only the productions of good and pious men. Of the former description are the four Gospels and the A-pocalypse ; of the latter, are the Acts of the Apostles, and the Letters which they wrote to the different churches, to encourage and confirm them in the cause of Christianity.
The reader may now see the true scriptural ground and reason why the New Church discriminates between those books which are divine, and those which are merely human, though in many respects deservedly to be esteemed ; while neither Mr. Pike, nor his Dissenting brethren, nor the Church of England, nor the Church of Rome, nor any othei' body of professing Christians so called, can give any reason whatever, beyond that of blind custom, for placing on a fevel with each other productions so widely different in their cha- racter and complexion, as those are which form wbat m usually called the Bible. '^'^^- ^ --
The argument urged by Mr. Pike in favour of the indiscriminate admission into the canon of Sacred Scripture of books authorized by the Lord himself, and of tho§e which
are
70 A VINDICATION OF
are not so authorized, is childish and ridiculous in the ex- treme. He quotes the words of the apostle Paul, where he says! " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," 2 Tim. iii. 16; as if the apostle meant, either that his own wiitings, or any others the mere production of human saga- city, were comprehended under the expression of all Scrip- ture ! At this rate the story of Tobias and iiis dog, of Bel and the dragon, and oven the traditions of the Jews, which rendered vain and oi" none effect the commandments of God, are equally to be regarded as works of divine in- spiration with the Holy Word itself; for these are all in- cluded in the term Scripture, which simply means a Writing. And if all writings are of divine inspiration, then it will follow, that even Mr. Pike's, Mr. Paiue's, and Mr. Vol- taire's, are from the same high origin. The absurdity of Mr. Pike's mode of reasoning, in turning and twisting the apostle's words to a sense never intended by him, Hor un- derstood by any rational or intelligent Christian, must be evident to every candid reader, while it reflects disgrace upon that man, who, ignorant alike of the Word of God, and of the writings of Baron Swedenborg M'hich illustrate that Word, presumes to hold himself up as a master in Is- rael, or as a vindicator of the Christian religioTi.
2. THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS.
But says Mr. Pike, " One of Swedenborg's followers, and if I do not much mistake Hindmarsh's Compendium, the same gentleman asserts, that the Baron valued the Apostolic Writings as highly as any other person ; but in this he differed from others, that he valued the Word of God unspeakably higher." And he goes on to declare, " that this passage contains an assertion that is absolutely false : Christians value the Apostolic Writings as one of the most precious parts of the Word of God : with what truth then can he, who asserts that they are a mere human composure, be said to value them as highly as those who esteem them divine V In answer to-
this
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 71
this I would observe, tliat it is one thing; to say, that certain books are divine, while their internal spirituality is expressly denied ; and another thing to believe them to be such in reality, by ascribing to them that which is alone constituent both of their sanctity and divinity, namely, an internal sense, treat- ing of heavenly and spiritual things, through the medium of earthly and natural images. Now this is exactly tiie case with Mr. Pike, and those whose cause he has undertaken to advocate ; they profess with their lips, and say, that the books of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the Gospels, are divine ; but at the same time they deny, that either of those books has an internal spiritual sense different from that of the letter. So again they say, that the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles are divine ; and yet they acknowledge they have no higher, more interior, or other sense, than that which appears on the face of them. Thus they place all the books, which usually go under the names of the Old and New Testa- ments, on the same level ; and that level they comparatively fix in the dust, because, by denying the spiritual sense of the Word, they will not allow, that it is in heaven, as well as upon earth, though the Psalmist expressly says, " For ever, O Jehovah, thy Word is settled in heaven," Ps. cxix. 89. Those books, which are really divine, they strip of their brightest glory, their spiritual part ; and those, which are merely human, they recommend with the same earnestness, nay with much more zeal and industry than they do the for- mer, grounding almost all their doctrines upon, writing al- most all their essays from, and preaching almost all their sermons according to, the maxims laid down by Paul, instead of deriving them immediately from the divine sayings of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ.
On the other htmd, the members of the New Church, being in all cases desirous of " rendering to Cesar the things which are Cesar's, and to God the things that are God's," Matt. xxii. 21, and being furnished with the most decisive and satisfactory evidence of the eternal distinction between those writings which constitute the Word made flesh, full of
ffrace
72 A VINDICATION OF
grace and truth, and those of mere human authority, how-' ever excellent in their kind, and beneficial to society, ac- knowledge with their hearts, and profess with their mouths, their full conviction of the superior excellence of those books, which, according to the Lord's own words, in their inmost sense treat of him alone, and in their internal sense of the things appertaining to his kingdom both in heaven and on earth. Other books, such as the Apostolic Acts and Epistles, cxre not rejected, but highly esteemsd by the New Church, their authority being frequently quoted in confirmation of the truth of the Divine Records. They are not indeed consider- ed as books of the Word, because they are not written by correspondences, or according to the rales of that science, which teaches tlie strict analogy subsisting between spiritual and natural things, and consequently have not the genuine internal sense, as every book written by divine inspiration must have. But when we say this of the Acts, Epistles, and various other v/ritings, do we assert any thing more, than what is expressly declared by the members of the Old Church, concerning crery hook of the Word? They deny, that the W ord possesses any internal or spiritual sense dif- ferent from that of the letter ; while we on the other hand maintain, that it has three senses, absolutely distinct from each other, though conjoined by correspondences ; and that it ought by no means to be confounded, or placed on a level, with any human productions whatever, merely because they happen to be bound up with it in the same volume. If our denial of a spiritual sense in the books above named be called a rejection of them, we can with equal propriety retort the argument, and say, that the Old Church rejects the Word altogether ; for it denies, that any such spiritual sense as that ahready described exists at all. Until therefore the opposers of the New Jerusalem acknowledge an internal sense, at least in sonie of the books of the Word, it must be with a very ill grace that they bring against us the charge of reject- Iftff the Acts, Epistles, and other writings ; since the New Church allows the same authority and weight to those books,
■which
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 73
which have no internal sense, as the Old Church does to the whole Word. (*)
It is however worthy af remark, that the civil insti- tutions of this country recognize the superior sanctity and divinity of the four Gospels ; it being usual in cojirts of justice, and with officers authorized by law, to administer an oath upon tJiem, in preference to either the Acts or the Epistles of the Apostles. This practice evidently im- plies an acknowledgment on the part of judges, magistrates, and others, that they regard the four Gospels with more veneration than the other books of the New Testament; that they consider them as more binding on the conscience, and as affording a more sure and satisfactory test of the sin- cerity of witnesses, than any appeal which might be made to other writings. It is further observable, that the Rubric of the Church of England directs the congregation to stand up, while the lessons from the Gospels are reading-, during the €ommunion-service ; which is not the case when the lessons are taken from other books. There can be no doubt but such order and custom have arisen in consequence of something like an internal dictate from heaven, tacitly leading the mind of a sincere worshipper, when free from the influence of er- roneous doctrines, to esteem the words of the Evangelists as more immediately written by divine inspiration, and conse- quently as more holy, than the Acts or Apostohc Epistles.
As to the comparison, which Mr. Pike makes between Swedenborg and infidels, it is in itself so absurd and ridicu- lous, that it cannot claim the smallest attention ; every page of tliat author's writings furnishing the most decisive proof of his high veneration for the Word of God, and his most earnest endeavours to wipe away that stigma and reproach, which has been so unjustly and so treacherously brought upon it, in the eyes of Deists, and all thinking men, by such com- mentators, interpreters, and Christian divines (so called), as
Rome
(*) See Magazine of Knowledge, &c. vol. 1, p. 255. R
74 A VINDICATION OF
Rome and Geneva have produced. It is well known, that the Old Testament is but little regarded either by the Romish or the Reformed Churches, the law being supposed to be superseded by the introduction of the gospel : and as to the New Testament, so far from founding their creeds and doc- trines upon the words of their Divine Saviour, that is, upon the four Gospels, they are almost continually (as before ob- served) harping upon the Epistles of Paul, drawing the greatest part of their discourses from him, and thus paying their court to the mere servant, who stands at the door of his Master, instead of having the courage and the confidence to enter into the house, and like humble disciples, elevated by their Lord to the rank of sons, freemen, and friends, to ap- proach him alone, who in his divine love hath said, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and / will give you rest,' Matt. xi. 28. " Every man that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto 7ne" John vi. 45. " The servant abideth not in the house for ever : but the son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed," John viii. 35, 36. And again, •' Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth: but I have called you friends ; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you," John xv. 15.
SECTION
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 75
SECTION VI.
The spiritual Signification of certain Expressions i?i the Sacred ScripiureSy suc/i as, 1. The Tree of Life.— 2. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. — 3. The Number Ten. — 4. The Num- ber Twelve.— b. Noah's Ark. — 6. The Flood. — 7. Husband and Wife. — 8. Foivls and Birds. — 9. The Terms Jehovah and God. — 10. Money. — 11. Virgins and Wom,en. — 12. The Lord's Coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and Glory. —
13. The Lord in Man, and Man in the Lord. — ■
14. Cain and Abel. — 15. The Destruction of the wicked by Jehovah.
iyXR. Pike's next objection, p. 7, is levelled against Baron Swedenborg's interpretation of certain phrases and expressions used in the Sacred Scriptures, which, as he can- not comprehend them himself, he imagines that no one else can ; thus setting up his own measure of spiritual kno wledge as the standard, by which others are to be guided; and holding up to the admiration of scoffers the ignorance and infidelity of the same anonymous writer, from whom he before quoted, and to whom he again appeals, instead of referring directly to the places where the terms objected to occur. Among the different interpretations, which he gives from the Baron, though in so mutilated and abrupt a form, that a stranger to his writings can scarcely perceive their propriety, in consequence of their being detached from the context, are the following, corrected and stated so as to accord with the true sense of the author.
K 2 1. THE
76 A VINDICATION OF
1. THE TREE OF LIFE.
" The tree of life," or more properly, as iu the original, " the tree of lives, signifies love and faith thence derived." Will Mr. Pike himself pretend to say, that the two-fold life here spoken of is or can be any thing else than love and faith derived from the Lord? Besides these, and the blessings accompanying them, what can man possibly be the subject of, in order to be truly happy for ever?
2. THE TREE OF THE liNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.
" The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies faith derived from mere science, or from the sensual things of the natural man ;" iu other words, faith separate from the life of charity. The knowledge of good and evil is called a tree, the eating of which brought death and misery into the world. But surely such effects as these could only have been produced by a life of disobedience to the divine law, or by the perversion and abuse of those faculties, which were ori- ginally given to man by his Creator. And hence it may plainly appear, that eating of the tree of knowledge must imply the acquisition of something intellectual in a way con- trary to right order, by depending more on external science and sensual observation, than on the internal things of reve- lation ; consequently that it must denote a spurious faith, a self-formed faith, and not a true spiritual faith derived from the Lord, and from heaven.
3. THE NUMBER TEN. '
"The number ten signifies remains," or all those states of the affection of good and truth, with which man is gifted by the Lord, from the first stage of infancy to the end of life, these being treasured up from time to time in his interiors for future use : on which account tithes were instituted in the
Jewi^
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 77
Jewish or Israelitish Church, and offered to the priest, as an acknowledgment that every blessing, spiritual and natural, is derived from the Lord alone. Can any thing be more con- sistent with the general tenour of the Sacred Scriptures, than this spiritual interpretation ?
4. THE NUMBER TWELVE.
" The number twelve denotes the holy things of faith," comprehending all states of truth and good in the church, and in the kingdom of the Lord : in reference to which signi- fication we read, that the precious stortes on Aaron's breast- plate were twelve ; that the cakes of shew-bread upon the table before the Lord were twelve; that the number of men sent out to search tlie land of Canaan was twelve ; that the tribes of Israel were twelve; the apostles of the Lord twelve; the gates of the New Jerusalem twelve, being twelve pearls; the angels at the gates twelve, the gates themselves being garnished with twelve precious stones ; the length, breadth, and height of the city, twelve thousand furlongs each way ; it's wall twelve times twelve, or an hundred forty and four thousand cubits ; also that the tree of life in the midst of the street of the city bare twelve kinds of fruit, which it yielded every month. {*)
5. noah's ark.
" The ark of Noah represented the church in the midst of it's spiritual dangers ; and it's various dimensions in length, breadth, and height, denoted states of sanctity, truth, and good, each derived froni the Lord." Similar in signification
were
(*) If the re«der be desirous of more full information on the subject of .Numbers^ and their application to states of the church, he is referred to a small work, entitled, " A Key to the Spiritiuxl Signtfieaiion of N*mbers, Weights, «nd Mtusures," lately published by the author.
78 A VINDICATION OF
were the dimensions of the ark, which the people of Israel carried with them in the wilderness ; also the dimensions of the mercy-seat, the golden table, the tabernacle or habitation, the altar of burnt-offering, the altar of incense, the court, the spiritual temple in Ezekiel, and the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse. Without a spiritual signification in each of these cases, to what purpose would it be to define so ac- curately, as the Scriptures have done, the various measures of the temple, the tabernacle, and the diflferent things belong- ing to them ? And is that man to be held up to ridicule and contempt, who has given more satisfactory information on all these points, than any iormer writer or commentator ever pretended to possess I Yet Mr. Pike has done this violence to the wishes and desires of the best members of the Christian Church, who have long been waiting for and expecting a just, rational, and scriptural interpretation of the many mysteries concealed in the Holy Word. He has, by his sneers and unsanctified cavils, exerted himself to the utmost in confirming the imaginary triumphs of Deists, in disap- pointing the hopes of the pious, and in closing the door of spiritual knowledge against those who might be disposed to enter into the holy of holies.
6. THE FLOOD.
" The flood signifies temptations, and also desolations of the church." This interpretation is clearly authorized by the use of the term in numerous parts of the Sacred Scrip- tures, particularly in the following. Jehovah says by the prophet, " This is as the waters of Noah unto me ; O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted," Isa. liv. 9, 11. And the Psalmist complains, " The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid," Ps. xviii. 4. " Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me," Ps. Ixix. 1, 2. The serpent also, or the dragon, is said " to cast out of his mouth rvater
as
EMANUEL SVVEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 79
as a flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood" Apoc. xii. 15. Now these and similar passages are to be understood either literally or spiritually : if taken in their literal sense, then llie floods which alarmed David, and the waters which came in unto his soul, must be supposed to have been natural floods or torrents of liquid matter inundating an immaterial spirit ; and the waters, which the dragon cast out of his mouth as a flood after the woman, must also have been of the same description. But who, except Mr. Pike, can thus interpret the Sacred Scriptures I Who, besides him, ever imagined, that ungodly men have floods of natural water at their command, to spout with violence against the righte- ous, that they may be overwhelmed and literally drowned ? Common understanding suggests a very difl'erent construc- tion, and at once perceives, that the passages above quoted are entitled to a superior, to a spiritual interpretation. And as the troubles of the church are declared by the Lord him- self to be as the waters of Noah, it is just and reasonable, from such high authority, to conclude, in the words of Baron Swedenborg, that " the flood signifies temptations, and also desolations of the church."
7. HUSBAND AND WIFE.
" In the Word frequent mention is made of man and wife, and also of husband and wife : when mention is made of man and wife, by man is signified truth, and by wife good ; and in the opposite sense by man the false, and by wife evil. But when mention is made of husband and wife, by husband is signified good, and by wife truth ; and in the opposite sense by husband evil, and by wife the false. The ground of this arcanum is this ; in the celestial church the husband was in good, and the wife in the truth of that good ; but in the spiritual church the man is in truth, and the wife in the good of that truth ; and also they actually are and were so, for the interiors with man underwent this
change.
80 A VINDICATION OF
change. Hence it is, that wheresoever celestial good and consequent celestial truth are treated of in the Word, there mention is made of husband and wife; but where spiritual good and consequent spiritual truth are treated of, there mention is made of man and wife, or rather of man and woman." Arc. Ccel. 4823.
A further reason why in the inmost sense of the Word " husband represents good, and wife truth, is, because the church is compared to a marriage, and actually is a mar- riage of good and truth. Good, as being in the first place, is represented by the husband ; and truth, as being in the second place, is represented by the wife : hence the Lord in the Word is called Bridegroom, Man, Husband ; and the church is called Bride, Woman, Wife." Arc. Coel 3236.
8. FOWLS AND BIRDS.
The next explanation is, that " by fowl after it's kind is signified all spiritual truth, and by bird natural truth." Arc. Ccel. 776. But the ground of this interpretation, toge- ther with the numerous passages of Scripture by which it is justified and confirmed, are altogether with-held by Mr. Pike. Let the reader therefore judge for himself. " The most ancient people (says the Baron) likened the thoughts of man to fowls, because the things of the understanding, in respect to things of the will, are as birds in respect to beasts. Inasmuch as mention is here made (Gen. vii. 14.) of fowl and bird, and winged thing, and these succeed each other as things intellectual, rational, and sensual in man, to remove all doubt of their having such a signification, it may be expedient to adduce some passages from the Word in proof thereof. To begin then with David ; " Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet, flocks and all herds, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the heavens, and the fish of the sea," Ps. viii. 6 to 8 ; speaking of the Lord, whose iiominion over man, and over the things which are of man,
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 81
is thus described. According to any other sense, what could dominion mean over beasts and birds ? So again, " Trees of fruit, and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creep- ing things, and bird of wing, shall praise the name of Jehovah,'" Ps. cxlviii. 9, 10, 13. Tree of fruit is the celes- tial man ; cedar is the spiritual man ; beast and cattle and creeping thing are the goods thereof; birds of wing are the truths thereof: by these the name of Jehovah may be glorified, but not by beasts, cattle, creeping things, and birds. In profane writers such things may be said hyper- bolically ; but in the Word of the Lord they are not said hyperbolically, but significatively and representatively. So in Ezekiel, " The fishes of the sea, and the foivls of the heavens, and the beasts of the field, and every creeping thing that creepeth on the ground, and every man that is on the face of the ground, shall tremble before me," xxxviii. 20. That beasts and fowls in this passage have a spiritual signification, is very evident ; for what glory would it be to Jehovah, that fishes, fowls, and beasts, should tremble ? or can any one suppose, that such expressions would be holy, unless they implied and involved holy things I So in Jeremiah, " I beheld, and lo, no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled," iv. 25 ; denoting the extinction of all good and truth. Again, " All the fowls of heaven made their nests in Lis branches, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and in his shade dwelt all great nations," Ezek. xxxi. 6 ; speak- ing of Ashur, which is the spiritual churcli, and is called a cedar ; the fowls of heaven signify it's truths, the beasts of the field signify it's goods. In like manner the Lord saith, " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew and waxed a great tree, so that the fowls of heaven lodged in the branches of it," Luke xiii. 19. Matt, xiii. 31, 32. Mark iv. 30 to 32.
9. THE
82 A VINDICATION OF
9. THE TERMS JEHOVAH AND GOD.
*' The term Jehovah, as one of the names of the Su- preme Being, is ejcpressive of his divine love, or divine good ; while the term God is expressive of his divine wis- dom, or divine truth." In like manner it might have been added, from other parts of the Baron's vrritings, that the terms Jesiis and Christ, in the New Testament, have a simi- lar signification.
10. MONEV.
*' Money, or natural wealth, is applied in the Sacred Scriptures to denote the knowledges of truth and good, which constitute spiritual riches." This is evident from the parable of the rich man in the Gospel, who represented the Jewish nation, as being rich in the knowledge of those things which are revealed in the Word, and of whom it is therefore said, that "he was clothed iw purple andj^ne linen, ^indi fared sump- tuously every day ;" while of Lazarus the poor beggar, who represented the Gentiles, destitute of such heavenly know- ledge, yet anxious to obtain it, we read, that " he was de- sirous of being fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table,'' Luke xvi. 19, 20. It appears also from the description given of the prince of Tyrus : " Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel ; there is no secret that they can hide from thee : with thy wisdotn and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures : by thy great wisdom and by thy tTaffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches. Thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; evenj precious stone tvas thy covering," Ezek. xxviii. 3 to 5, 12, 13.
11. VIRGINS
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGSj WRITINGS. 83
11. VIRGINS AND WOMEN.
** Virgins signify the affections of truth and good, or -what is the same thing, the church as to such affections." Women in general have a similar signification. By holdino- up this sentiment to the ridicule and contempt of his readers, it is plain that Mr. Pike denies it's truth ; and yet he cannot otherwise account for the scriptural application of those terms to Israel, Judah, Zion, Jerusalem, &c. How often do we read of the virgin of Israel, as in Jer. xviii. 13. Chap. xxi. 4, 21. Amos V. 2. Joel i. 8 ; of the virgin-daughter of Judah, as in Lam. i. 15 ; of the virgin-daughter of Zion, as in 2 Kings xix. 21. Isa. xxxvii. 22. Lam. i. 4. Chap. ii. 10, 13; of the virgins of Jerusalem, and the daugh- ter of Jerusalem, Lam. ii. 10, 13; and of the virgin-daughter of my people, as in Jer. xiv. 17. Is not the kingdom of heaven also likened unto ten virgins, going forth to meet the Bridegroom? Matt. xxv. 1, 2. And are not the hundred and forty and four thousand, who were redeemed from the ^rth, though consisting both of males and females, expressly called virgins, who had not defiled themselves with tuomen.' Apoc. xiv. 3, 4. Why then should Mr. Pike, in so indis- creet and wanton a manner, falsify, reprobate, and blaspheme the true spiritual sense of the Sacred Writings, calling it *' a mass of absurdity," as he has done in his rash, if not malicious animadversions on Baron Swedenborg's interpreta- tion of a Scripture term, which even his own friends, in com- mon with every reasonable mind, must allow to refer to the church, and to the things constituent of the church in man, jiamely, his affection or love of what is true and good ?
12. THE lord's coming IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.
** By the clouds of heaven, in which the Lord is to come a second time, is meant the Word in it's literal sense ; and by the power and glory, which will accompany him, it's
L 2 spiritual
84 A VINDICATION OF
Spiritual sense." Mr. Pike, like many otliers, who coniine their views of the great events predicted in the Word to the literal expressions made use of, without the least idea of any higher or more interior sense belonging- to them, seems to entertain an opinion, that at the time of the last judg- mient the Lord will personally appear in the clouds of the atmosphere with extraordinary pomp and splendour, accom- panied by an innumerable host of angels ; that he will then raise out of their graves all, who had ever lived since tlie creation of the world ; that he will again clothe their souls with their former bodies ; and, when collected together to one place, that he will pass judgment upon them, sentencing the good to eternal life or heaven, and the wicked to eternal death or hell. He also appears to believe, that the visible heavens and the habitable earth, though so well adapted to answer all the ends of creation in perpetuity, will at the same time be destroyed, and that a new heaven and a new earth will be created in their stead. Such are the gross and childish notions, which have arisen iu the church, and are still cherished even by it's professed ministers, from a total misapprehension of the literal sense of the Word, and from an entire ignorance of the existence of a spiritual sense, now at length happily revealed for the use and benefit of the New Jerusalem. By this sense we are distinctly taught, that the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven denotes, not his personal appearance in the air, but his appearance in the Word, which is one with himself: for as natural clouds obscure the direct light of the sun, so the literal sense of the Word in a great degree obscures it's spiritual sense, which latter constitutes the power and glory of divine truth. The coming of the Lord, therefore, is not to destroy the visible things of creation, but to build up and to esta- blish a new spiritual church, in the room of that which is fallen ; thus to open his Word to the understanding of man- kind, to make manifest it's interior treasures of wisdom, and to demonstrate it's astonishing perfection in the sanc- tity and divinity of it's contents.
That
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 85
That the clouds spoken of in the Sucred Scriptures are to be referred to the ohscurity of divine truth, as it appears in many parts of the letter, rather than to any natural exha- lations or vapours arising from the earth, and that the term glory, brightness, or splendour, is predicated of the spiri- tual sense, requires no further confirmation, than an atten- tive consideration of the following- passages. " Jehovah will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud, and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming Jire by night : for upon all the glory shall be a defence (or covering)," Isa. iv. 5. " Behold, Jehovah rideth upon a sivift cloud," Isa. xix. 1. " He bowed the heavens, and came down ; and darkness was under his feet. He made darkness his secret place : his pavilion round about him were dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before him, his thick clouds passed," Ps. xviii. 9 to 12. " Thy mercy, O Jehovah, is in the hea- vens ; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds," Ps. xxxvi. 5. " Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds," Ps. Ivii. 10. Ps. cviii. 4. " Ascribe ye strength unto God : his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds," Ps. Ixviii. 34. " Jehovah covereth himself with light, as with a garment ; he maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind," Ps. civ. 2, 3. In the book of Job also it is written, " He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it," Job xxvi. 9.
In these and many other passages clouds denote the literal sense of the Word ; glory, brightness, and light, it's spiritual sense ; and riding upon a cloud, instruction in divine truth. The thick cloud and smoke, which appeared upon mount Sinai, when Jehovah descended upon it in fire, and gave the law to Moses, in like manner signified the literal or external sense of that law, as the first-fruits of the Word ; as did the cloud that covered the tent of the congregation, when the tabernacle was completed, and the glory of Jehovah filled it. From all which circumstances it
is
86 A VINDICATION OF
is evident, that the Lord's second coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, can have no other mean- ing, than his more immediate presence in the literal sense of his Word, in consequence of the revelation of it's spiri- tual sense.
13. THE LORD IN MAN, AND MAN IN THE LORD.
The next quotation, in the form which Mr. Pike gives it, I have not been able to discover in the writings of Swe- denborg, though great pains have been taken, in searching for it. He represents the Baron as saying, " The Lord is man : man is the Lord ;" intendirig it, no doubt, to be under- stood, that the Baron confounds the Creator and the crea- ture as one and the same. But this insidious attempt cannot succeed in the estimation of any truly candid mind. Speak- ing of the reciprocal conjunction of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord, he very frequently indeed says, " The Lord is in man, and man is in the Lord ;" which is no more than what the Lord himself declares in the Gospel, in these words, "A| that day ye shall know, that I am in my Father, and j/ou in me, and / in you" John xiv. 20. And again, "Abide in me, and I in you: he that abideth in vie, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit," John xv. 4, 5. But it is probable the quotation may have been grounded upon a passage in the True Christian Religion, u. 101, &c. where the author observes, and clearly proves, that in Jesus Christ "God was made Man, and Man God, in one person;" and that in consequence of his Humanity being Divine, in him "God is Man, and Man God," n. 102. The proofs, which he furnishes from the Sacred Scriptures in support of this great truth, are too abundant to be repeated in this place : suffice it to observe, tlrat he who was born in time, and became the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind, is called Immanuel, or God with us, Isa. vii. 14. Matt. i. 23 : the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Isa. ix. 6 : Jehovah our God, who was expected and waited for, Isa. xxv. 9 ;
and
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 87
and whose way was prepared by John the Baptist, Isa. xl. 3. John i. 23 : the Lord Jehovih, who was to come with strong- hand, and to feed his flock like a shepherd, Isa. xl. 10, 11 ; the Branch, whose name is also Jehovah our Righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 : the Word Incarnate, which in the beffin- ning was with God, and was God, and by whom all thing's were made, John i. 1, 3, 14 ; the very Father, whom Philip was so desirous of seeing-, not knowing- that he then stood before him, clothed with Humanity, John xiv. 8, 9 : " the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last, who Is, who Was, and who Is To Come, the Almighty," Apoc. i. 8, 11, 17.
If now Jesus Christ be really and truly that very Jehovah, whom the Scriptures of the Old Testament so uniformly des- cribe as the only Saviour, and the only Redeemer, Isa. xliii. 11. Chap. xlix. 2G. Jer. 1. 34. Hos. xiii. 4. Ps. xix. 14; then it follows, in the words of an apostle, that he alone is " the true God, and eternal life," 1 John v. 20 ; that " in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,'^ Coloss. ii. 9; and consequently that in him " God is Man, and Man is God."
14. CAIN AND ABEL.
Among a variety of passages quoted from the Arcana Ccslestia, in explanation of the gradual declension of the first or Most Ancient Church, Mr. Pike selects the following for animadversion. On Gen. iv. 8, the Baron says, " By Cain is signified faith separate from love; by Abel is signified charity, which is the brother of faith. Cain's rising up against Abel his brother, and slaying him, signifies that faith, in it's separate state, extinguishes charity." Arc. Ccel. 366. And on Gen. iv. 18, he further says, " All these names (viz. Enoch, Irad, Mahujael, Methusael, and Lamech,) signify heresies derived from the first, which was called Cain." Arc. Ccel. 404. Immediately after this explanation, Mr. Pike, fansy- ing he has detected the author in a manifest error, with an air of triumph makes this remark, "A little before he said,
that
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that Cain meant /aiVA ,• here Cain means the first heresy : so that the first of heresies was faith ! " A more perverse and false judgment was surely never witnessed. Argument it cannot be called, the premises and conclusion being so plainly inconsistent with each other. In his eagerness to discover an error in another, like Cain of old, he makes a sacrifice of charity, and commits himself as an assassin both of the lan- guage and the sentiment of the man whom he opposes. He first of all quotes the words of Swedenborg, when he says, that " Cain signifies faith separate from love, and that his rising up against Abel his brother, and slaying him, signifies that faith in it's separate state extinguishes charity ;" and then, because the same author further adds, that " the first heresy was called Cain," unblushingly remarks, that accord- ing to the Baron "the first of heresies was faith!" Thus, totally regardless of the kiiid of faith signified by Cain, which Swedenborg has been careful to describe, namely, that which is not only separate from charity, but violently op- posed to it, he endeavours to make his readers believe, that the Baron has denounced a true, genuine, and living faith in
the Lord, as no better than a vile heresy. Mr. Pike, this is
neither fair, candid, nor honest, but rather betrays, what I should be most unwilling to believe of you, a disposition to revile a good and pious author, as well as to suppress and torture the truth, which yet must and will survive all youi" efforts to destroy it.
15. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED BY JEHOVAH.
Another singularly perverse criticism, on the part of Mr. Pike, is occasioned by Swedenborg's explanation of Gen. vi. 7, where it is written, " And Jehovah said, I will destroy man, whom I have created," &c. The Baron, in his spiritual illustration of this passage, as in many other parts of his writings, observes, that wheresover wrath, an- ger, fury, vengeance, or any other odious passion, prompt- ing to the infliction of punishment, calamity, or death, is
ascribed
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ascribed to Jeliovah or the Lord, it is not to be understood, that the Lord himself actually punishes or destroys, but only that he permits the evil spoken of to take place, and that in reality man by his own acts of wickedness brings punish- ment, destruction, and every other calamity upon himself, agreeably to these Avords of the prophet, " O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,'* Hos. xiii. 9. He therefore inter- prets the passage in Genesis, which in the literal sense im- putes the destruction of man to Jehovah, by shewing it's spiritual and genuine sense, that being the only way in which it can be done consistently with other parts of the Word, and at the same time with the divine attributes and perfec- tions of the Lord. Thus he observes, that " by Jehovah's saying, I will destroy man, is signified that man would extinguish himself." On which Mr. Pike remarks, p. 8, *• This is much such an interpretation as would be given, if it were affirmed, that when it is said the Jews crucified Christ, the meaning is, that he crucifed himself!*'
Now if Mr. Pike is serious in making this comment, and wishes it to be understood by his readers, that he con- siders the two cases as parallel, the former being no more a matter of fact than the latter, it will then follow, that as Christ did not crucify himself, so man by his acts of wicked- ness and moral depravity did not and does not bring destruc- tion upon himself; but on the contrary, as it is literally true, that the Jews crucified our Lord, so it is equally true that Jehovah brings upon man all the miseries, calamities, and evils, which he suffers. This conclusion is the necessary consequence of that ignorance of the true nature of Scrip- ture language, which takes it for granted, that every ex- pression of the letter must be understood in it's obvious and customary sense, even though it should directly militate against other parts of the same letter, and against the whole tenour of the spiritual or genuine sense of divine revelation.
It is frequently repeated in Exodus, that " Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh," as in Chap. vii. 3, 13. Chap. ix. 12. Chap. x. 1, 20, 27. Chap. xi. 10 : and it is also Be-
M clared,
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clared, tliat " Pharaob hardened his own heart," as ia Chap, viii. 15, 32. Chap. ix. 34. Both of these assertions cannot be confirmed as genuine truths, one being opposed to the other. There must tlierefore be some way of harmonizing- them, because both are dictated by divine wisdom, which can neither err, nor be inconsistent with itself: and that way is to consider one of the propositions as an apparent truth, and the other as o. (/enuine truth; jast as we do, when we speak of the rising and setting of the sun, and also of his being stationary in a certain part of the heavens. But which of tlie above mentioned propositions will a reasonable and pious man be disposed to confirm as a genuine truth, and which as an apparent one i Will he insist, that the obstinate wickedness of Pharaoh ought in truth and reality to be attributed to Jehovah, and not to Pharaoh himself? Will he thus endeavour to screen the man, and defame his God? Or vvill he not rather, if free from the influence of a false and dangerous creed, at once see and acknowledge, that when evil is ascribed to Jehovah or the Lord, as it is in numerous parts of the Word, it can only be in conse- quence of it's so appearing to man, and not because it is in reality from him ? Tliis is the very doctrine, v/hicli Swe- denborg uniformly inculcates throughout his writings ; and hence it is, that in explaining the particular passage alluded to by Mr. Pike, he shews, that " by Jehovah's saying, I will destroy man, is signified that man would extinguish or de- stroy himself."
A further elucidation of this subject, in the words of the author of ^rca>ia Ccelestia, cannot fail to he acceptable to the candid and unprejudiced reader, who will thereby be enabled to judge for himself how far the calumnies, which have been heaped upon the name of Swedenborg, are me- rited by him, or how far they fall back upon the heads of those, who invent and propagate them. After explaining what is really meant by the anger of Jehovah, which in Exod. iv. 14, is said to have been kindled against Moses, he proceeds to observe as follows. " The reason why anger
in
EMANUEL SWEDENRORG's WRITINGS. 91
in the Word is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord is, be- cause it is a most general truth, that all things come from God, thus both evils and goods ; but this most general truth, which it is expedient should be admitted l>y infants, by young people, and the simple, ought afterwards to be illustrated, viz. by teaching that evils are from man, but that they ap- pear as from God, and that it is so said to the intent they may learn to fear God, lest they should perish by the evils which themselves do, and afterwards may love him ; for fear must precede love, that in love there may be holy fear ; for when fear is insinuated into love, it becomes holy from the holy principle of love, and in this case it is not fear lest the Lord should be angry and punish, but lest they should act against good itself, because this will torment the con- science. Moreover the Israelites and Jews were driven to observe the statutes and precepts in the external form by punishments, and hence they believed that Jehovah was an- gry and punished, when yet it was themselves who by idola- tries brought such things upon themselves, and separated themselves from heaven, whence came punishments, as is also said in Isaiah, " Your iniquiiies have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you" Chap. lix. 2 ; and whereas the Israelites and Jews were only in externals without an internal principle, there- fore they were held in the opinion that Jehovah was angry and punished ; for they, who are in externals without an internal principle, do all things from fear, and nothing from love. From these considerations it may now be manifest what is meant in the Word by the anger and wrath of Jehovah, viz. that punishments are meant." Arc. Coel. 6997.
Again, in explanation of what is meant by Jehovah's hardening the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants, he says, " When it is said that Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh, &c. in the internal sense it signifies that they themselves, and not Jehovah, hardened their own heart, that is, made them- selves obstinate ; for it is the evil attendant on man, which hardens him, or makes him obstinate against divine things,
M 2 and
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and evil comes from man, and flows-in from hell, but not from heaven ; nothing but good flows-in through heaven from the Lord ; evil cannot come forth from good, still less from the most essential good ; evil comes forth from it's own origins, viz. from the contraries of love to God and love to the neigh- bour ; such origins are given with man, and in no wise with God, Hence it is evident, that when it is said in the Word, that God induces evils, it is said according to the appear- ance." Arc. Ccel 7533.
In another place, on the same subject, he writes : " In ancient times, on account of the simple, all evil was attri- buted to Jehovah ; and this by reason that the simple were not able to know, and the generality not to comprehend, how the things which came to pass could come from any other source than from Jehovah ; also how it is to be understood, that Jehovah permits the diabolical crew to induce evil, and does not hinder them, when yet he hath all power. Inas- much as the simple could not conceive those things, and scarcely the intelligent also, therefore it was said, in agree- ment with the general belief, that even evil existed from Jehovah. This is common in the Word, the literal sense whereof is according to the faith of the simple. Tlie evil, however, which in the Word is attributed to Jehovah, is from man." Arc. Cozl 7632.
Notwithstanding this clear and satisfactory account of the true reasons why evil, punishment, wrath, and anger, are in the literal sense of the Word ascribed to the Lord, when yet nothing but what partakes of the nature of mercy, clemency, and love, can possibly proceed from him, how passing strange must it be to hear one, who calls himself a minister of that Lord, with a shameless front assert, p. 9, that " such interpretations of Scripture are not more absurd than irreverent to it's great Author!" What! is it absurd and irreverent to impute nothing but good to him, who is the fountain of good? Is it irrational, is it unscriptural, to teach that man is the author of his own miseries I Or does it shew any want of respect for the character of the Supreme Being
to
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 93
to endeavour to remove from the minds of men improper, unworthy ideas, hastily taken up, of his divine attributes and perfections? On the contrary, is it not a proof of the highest veneration for the Author of all that is sacred and good, to represent him in the most amiable light, as a God of infinite mercy and compassion towards his degenerate offspring, and not as a cruel tyrant, first hardening the hearts of his creatures, and then inflicting the punishment of death and destruction for the very crime, of which he was himself the instigator and the cause ?
Emanuel Swedenborg is perhaps tlie only writer, who in all his interpretations of Scripture, uniformly and consistently gives honour to his Divine Master, by shewing how those passages, which apparently impute evil to him, still harmonize with the many others which ascribe to him nothing but good. And yet he is to be selected for calumny, reproach, and abuse, by such men as Mr. Pike and his partisans, who in the same breath blow hot and blow cold, asserting, that God in his own nature is merciful, and at the same time full of fury and indignation ; that his loving-kindness to some, and his anger against others, are alike burning within him at the same moment ; in short, as the rebellious house of Israel said of old, that " the way of Jehovah is not equals Ezek. xviii. 25, 29,^ These are the teachers, the upholders, the cham- pions of modern Christianity, who, pretending to serve and honour their God, blaspheme his name, his nature, and his character, by ascribing to him, (not as children or uninstructed persons might do, in simplicity and innocence, but advisedly, deliberately, and argumentatively,) the most odious passions and properties, such as are altogether unworthy of a Divine Being, disgraceful to mankind, and congenial only with the vile spirits of darkness. Because it is written, that Jehovah raised up Pharaoh, and hardened his heart, for the very pur- pose of shewing his power upon him and his people, by plaguing and destroying them, they not only believe these declarations as literally expressed, but seek out arguments to confirm themselves in the idea, that such conduct is perfectly
agreeable
94 A VINDICATION OF
•tigieeable to the divine nature, saying, " Hath not the potter power over the clay, even to mar the vessel made of it, if he please? Jer. xviii. 2 to 6. May not the householder, on settling with his labourers, do what he will with his own ? Matt. XX. 15. Why then may not God, of his mere will and pleasure, in order to manifest his power and glory, literally take vengeance not on Pharaoh only, but on whole nations, sparing neither men, women, nor children?" And because it is further written, " I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau," Mai. i. 2, 3, it is therefore insisted upon by the same ministers of the letter, that love and hatred, good and evil, light and darkness, sweetness and bitterness, flow equally from one and the same fountain, that fountain being no other than the adorable Parent and Preserver of his people, who is thus dishonoured and ti-aduced as it were in his own house, and bv his own children.
SECTION VII.
The Lord as a Sun above the Anf£clic Heavens. — 2. A I)ivine T'rinifi/, not of Persons, but of Es- scidials in One Person. — 3. The Lord became the Word even in it-s Ultimates.
1. THE LORD AS A SUN ABOVE THE ANGELIC HEAVENS.
jL he first point, which Mr. Pike notices under this head, p. 9, is the declaration which Swedenborg makes, in his True Christian Religion, 25, and elsewhere, that " the Lord appears as a sun above the angelic heavens, being manifested, with respect to his wisdom, in the proceeding light thereof; and, with respect to his love, in the proceeding heat. He himself is not that sun; but divine love and divine wisdom,
iu
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 95
in their proximate emanation from him and round about him, appear as a sun before the angels. Himself in the sun is a Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, both with respect to the all- begetting Divinity, and with respect to the Divine Humanity." This account of the Lord as a sun is called by Mr. Pike a glaring and awful contradiction of the Holy Word ; and in proof of his assertion, he quotes a few passages from the book of Job, one from Isaiah, and another from the Psalms, which speak of the incomprehensible greatness of the Divine Being, and do not at all bear upon the subject he pretends to discuss. It will be sufficient, therefore, to answer this ob- jection by producing the following passages, which clearly authorize the description given by the Baron.
" The Lord God is a sun and shield," Ps. Ixxxiv. 11. " Unto you that fear my name, shall the sun of righteousness aiise with healing in his wings," Mai. iv. 2. " The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound," Isa. xxx. 26. " Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: hnt Jehovah shall he thine everlasting light/' Isa. Ix. 20. " When Jesus was transfigured, his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light," Matt. xvii. 2. " The countenance of the Son of Man was as the sun shineth in his strength," Apoc. i. 16. " I saw an angel standing in the sun,'" Apoc. xix. 17. This was a view of the Lord, who is frequently in the Word called an angel, in the midst of the sun of heaven ; for John was then in spiritual, and not in natural vision. The apostle Paul says, that " the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto," 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16. This inaccessible light, in which the Lord dwells, can surely be no other than the sun of the spiritual world. Where- in then consists the " daring impiety," which Mr. Pike as- cribes to Swedenborg, in giving such a representation of the
Most
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Most High, as is warranted by the Sacred Scriptures them- selves, as well as by tlie Apostolic Writings ?
2. A DIVINE TRINITY, NOT OF PERSONS, BUT OP ESSEN- TIALS IN ONE PERSON.
It is next objected, p. 9, that Swedenborg denies a trinity of j)<irsons in the Godhead, and instead thereof main- tains a trinity of essentials in one divine person, teaching, that the wJiole trinity, or as the apostle Paul expresses it, all the fulness of the Godhead, is in Jesus Christ, the invisible Divinity being what is called the Father, the visible Huma- nity the Son, and the proceeding influence or operation the Holy Spirit. This doctrine, though manifestly the true doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures throughout, is violently opposed by Mr. Pike, who quotes a few passages to shew, that there is a distinction in the divine nature pointed out by the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and then iguorantly concludes, that he has proved a trinity of persons. He knows there is no such expression as a trinity of persons in any part of the Scriptures ; and he ought to know, that such a trinity is incompatible with the divine unity : for if each person, separately considered, be God and Lord, then there must of necessity be three Gods and three Lords ; and it avails nothing to say, that the three persons are still only one God, when the whole tenour of the doctrine, as well as it's plain language, labours to inculcate the idea of three Gods. If the Father be not the Son, nor any part of the Son, and yet is a whole and complete God in himself; and if the Son be not the iPather, nor any part of the Father, and yet is a whole and complete God also in himself; and if again the same may be said of the Holy Spirit in respect to the other two ; then Ibow, in the name of wonder and common sense, can the whole three together constitute only one God ? The fact is, Mr. Pike believes in three Gods ; and so does every triper- sonalist, who, by false reasonings, and perverse interpreta- tions of the Sacred Scriptures, confirms himself in the idea,
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EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 97
that there is one divine person or being called God the Father, another called God the Son, and a third called God the Holy Ghost, and who then worships them one after another, buf for the most part one for the sake of another.
Well, (Mr. Pike may exclaim,) but is it not expressly written, " God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness?" Gen. i. 26. "The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become (Heb. was) as one of us" Gen. iii. 22. From these two passages he reasons in favour of a trinity of persons, just as if the expressions us and our necessarily implied three, and no more ; when yet every body knows, that the terms will equally embrace three, three hundred, or three thousand. This part of the argument therefore falls to the ground, and is lost in the dust of a mere quibble.
What is really meant by the term us, when used by the one only God, the Creator and Regenerator of man, is well explained by Emanuel Swedenborg in his illustrations of the first and third chapters of Genesis ; where he clearly proves, that the subject treated of in the passages alluded to is not the first creation or first birth of man as to his natural body, but his new birth, or the regeneration of his spirit, and the decline of the Most Ancient Church. With this view he describes the nature of the communication, which subsists between the regenerate man and the angels of heaven, who in the Word are frequently called Gods. On the first passage. Gen. i. 26, he observes, that the Lord governs and regenerates man through the ministry of angels and spirits, and for this reason it is at first said in the plural, *' Let us make man in our image ;" but as it is the Lord alone who actually governs and disposes according to the dictates of his own divine wisdom, therefore in the following verse it is said in the singular, " So God created man in his own image ; in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them." The Lord also de- clares in Isaiah, " / Jehovah malce all things, stretch- ing forth the heavens alone, and spreading abroad the eajrth hy myself" Chap. xliv. 24. Mr. Pike, however,
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insists, that Jehovah did not create man by his own wisdom, judgment, and power, but was assisted in the work by two others equal to himself, whose advice he craved ; which again is a manifest avowal of the existence of three Gods; a dilemma, into which he is continually fal- ling, and from which he cannot possibly extricate himself, while he maintains a trinity of divine beings or persons : and I defy him to stir a single step in the controversy with- out shewing this cloven foot. Well may the prophet ex- claim, with indignation at the very thought of such impiety and insanity, " Who hath directed the spirit of Jehovah, OE being his counsellor taught him i With whom took lie counsel, and ivho instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and tiiught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?" Isa. xl. 13, 14.
On the next passage. Gen. iii. 22, where Jehovah God says, " Behold, the man was as one of us, in knowing good and evil," it may be remarked, (still keeping in mind, as before observed, that the subject treated of is the decline of the Most Ancient Church,) that it does not at all allude to any second or third person in the divine trinity, but to the angels of heaven, who by reason of their great power, in consequence of their reception of divine truths, are fre- quently called Gods, as in the Psalms, " Give unto Jehovah, O ye mighty, (Heb. O ye sons of the Gods,) give unto Jehovah glory and strength," Ps. xxix. 1. " God standeth in the congregation of God : he judgeth among the Gods," Ps. Ixxxii. 1. Again, " Who in the heaven can be compared unto Jehovah ? who among the sons of the Gods can be likened unto Jehovah?" Ps. Ixxxix. 6. "O give thanks unto the God of Gods; O give thanks unto the Lord of Lords," Ps. cxxxvi. 2, 3. And in another place, " I will praise thee with my whole heart, before the Gods will I sing praise unto thee," Ps. cxxxviii. 1. Even men, so far as they are possessed of power, are likewise called Gods, as in Ps. Ixxxii. 6. John x. 34, 35. Hence Moses is called a God to Pharaoh, Exod. vii. 1 ; the term God in this place,
as
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 99
as well as in those which immediately refer to the Divine Being himself, being in the plural number, Elohlm. (*) Since then angels are regarded as Gods, when any thing is said to be eflFected by their ministry, the plural number is used, to shew that the Lord acts through the medium of subordinate agents or instruments, as in the first chapter of Genesis, where the regeneration of man, or the formation of him into a new creature, is the subject treated of. And again in the third chapter, where allusion is made to the state of the celestial man, who as a man, a mere finite crea- ture, cannot justly be compared with the Lord, but may with the angels, who were tliemselves once men, it is with great propriety said, that man " was as one of us in know- ing good and evil ;" in other words, that he was once wise and intelligent, like an angel.
Li order to prove a trinity of persons, Mr. Pike quotes a variety of passages from the Word , and from the Apostolic Epistles, all of which, it is true, announce a distinction be- tween the Father and the Son, and some of them extend it to the Holy Spirit ; but not one of them makes the least mention of a trinity of j)^rsons, Avhich yet is the very point
he
(*) One of the chief arguments in favour of a trinily of <Uvine persons is built upon the word Elohim, a noun of the plural number, and literally signifj-ing Gods, though usually rendered God in the singulai-. But in the case above cited the same term, which is applied to the Divine Being, is also applied to Moses. Will any one therefore be so devoid of reason as to argue, that Moses consisted of three per- sons, because the plural noun Elohim is used in reference to him? The thing is too absurd to gain a single proselyte. Why then should the use of the plural noun Elohim be considered as a proof of the existence of three divine persons in the God- head, seeing that it is equally applied to an individual man i The truth is, that Moses represented the Lord, (Exod. iv. 16,) and also the divine law, of which he' was the bearer, or medium of communication, to the people of Israel : and as the divine law consists of many truths, though derived from one single source, therefore lie is called Elohim, or Gods, in the plural number. For the same reason Jehovah, as being the fountain of all divine truths, is also called Elohim, or Gods, not to denote a. plurality of persons in the divine nature, but a plurality, nay an infinity of d.ivine thinys in him, and proceeding from him.
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he is aiming- at, and for which purpose he ransacks as it were the whole volume of the New Testament, yet without succeeding to his wish. The first he selects is this, " Go ye, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Hohj Spirit,'" Matt, xxviii. 20 ; evidently pointing out a distinction in the divine nature, not of jjersons, as Mr. Pike and others would have it, to the destruction of the divine unity, but of essentials in the single person of the Lord, as the verse immediately following clearly proclaims, and as Swedenborg with every truly rational man most cheerfully affirms. Go, says our Lord, and baptize all nations, " teaching them to observe all things whatsoever / have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world," or consummation of the age, ver. 21 : being as much as to say, that he himself their omni- present Legislator was all that was meant by the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whose name they were to baptize and teach. Accordingly his disciples went forth agreeably to his Word, and baptized in the name of Jesus only. Acts ii. 38. Chap. viii. 16. Chap. x. 48. Chap. xix. 5. In his name only they healed the lame man, Acts iii. 6, 16. Chap. iv. 10 to 12 : in his name only a spirit of divination was cast out of a young woman, Acts xvi. 18 : and in his name only all their wonderful acts were performed.
That there is a divine trinity, is plainly declared in the Sacred Scriptures. But in what sense this trinity is to be understood, whether as consisting of three divine persons, each of whom singly and separately is God, which is mani- festly the same thing as an acknowledgment of three Gods ; or whether it is to be viewed in some other way more con- sistent with the Scriptures, with the divine unity, and with sound reason, is the point at issue between the New Church and the Old, between the angels of Michael and the angels of the dragon, Apoc. xii. 7. It is asserted by the Old Church, that the trinity consists of three persons, as so many distinct beings ; and that these three are nevertheless one.
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To the question, How can three be one .' the answer is, that it is not a matter of reason, but of revelation ; that it is a mystery not to be unfolded, nor even examined by a curious eye ; and that the understanding ought to be kept in a state of blind obedience to faith. On the other hand, it is main- tained by tte New Church, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are three essentials of One God, like soul, body, and operation in man ; also that the Saviour Jesus Christ is that One God ; and that this view of the divine trinity is alike scriptural, rational, and competent to explain, in the most satisfactory manner, all that is written concerning the inter- course and union subsisting between the Father and the Son, and concerning the mission or proceeding of the Holy Spirit from both.
For the sake of illustration, let us for a few moments at- tend to the striking analogy and resemblance, which are dis- coverable in the divine and in the human trinity. The FatJier is represented in the Word as invisible, and inaccessible except through the medium of the Son : so the human soul is invisible, and inaccessible except through the medium of it's body. The Son is described as the manifestation, form, and image of the Father, by whom the will of the Father is made known, and who doeth the works of the Father : so the body is in like manner the manifestation, form, and image of the soul, by which the will of the soul is made known, and which doeth the works of the soul. And the Holy Spirit is said to proceed from the Father and the Son jointly : so the opera- tions of the soul and body together may be said to proceed from both, and to be as it were sent forth from them into outward nature. Again, the Father is said to dwell in the Son, just as the soul dwells in the body : and the Son is said to possess all things belonging to the Father, to have received and to exercise all his power, and in short to be the very habitation of all the fulness of the Godhead bodily ; just as the body may be said to possess, to have received, and to exercise all the powers and energies of the soul, and
in
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in a similar manner to be the ver)' seat, abode, or liabitatiou of the whole soul. The Son is said to have been sent into the world by the Father, because the Humanity was conceived by the power of the Divinity. He is also said to have life in himself, just as the Father hath, because the Divinity and Humanity are united in one person, as the soul and body are united in one man, whatsoever is done by the one being at the same time done by the other also. Hence, when the prophet Isaiah predicted the birth of the Son, he declared that very offspring of the Father to be, in a certain respect, the everlasting Father himself, Isa. ix. 6, because they are inseparably one, like the soul and body of a man, though still capable of being distinguished, as the soul is distin- guishable from the body. Hence also, when Philip desired to see the Father, supposing him to be a different Being from the Lord, whom he then addressed, he received for answer, " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father," John xiv. 9: as much as to say, " He that hath seen the Humanity, hath seen all that can be seen of the Divinity. And hence again the Son of Man, when seen by John in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, saith, " I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Finding, the First and the Last, who Was, who Is, and who Is To Come, the Almighty,^' Apoc. 1. 8, 11, 17.
That the Holy Spirit is the virtue or operation proceed- ing immediately from the Lord, that is, from the Humanity and Divinity united, is plain from this circumstance, that after his resurrection " he breathed on his disciples, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit," John xx. 22 : from which it evidently follows, that the hreath or divine truth proceeding from him is what is properly called the Holy Spirit. This divine ti'uth proceeding from his Huma- nity, when glorified, is in certain respects distinguishable from that divine truth, which he uttered, and which he himself was, before his glorification, that is, before his crucifixion and resurrection : on which account it is written, after he
had
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had given a general invitation to the people to come unto him, and to drink living water, " But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive : for the Holy Spirit was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified," John vii. 39. And further, as every thing pro- ceeding from the Lord must partake of his divine quality, and thus be in a manner identified with him, we therefore find, that when in one place, John xvi. 7, he promises to send the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, after his departure from the world, and in another place, John xiv. 16, 17, en- gages that the Father shall send him, he at length plainly declares, that he himself, as the fountain and source of all divine truth, is that very Comforter, that same Holy Spirit, of whom he was speaking: " I will not leave you comfortless (says he); I ivill come to you " John xiv. 18. And lastly, as the most undeniable testimony, that both the Father and the Son, together with the Holy Spirit, are identified as one and the same Comforter, that was promised to visit and to dwell with and in his people, our Lord, in answer to Judas, says, " If a man love me, he will keep my words ; and my Father will love him, and we ivill come unto him, and make our abode with him," John xiv. 23.
All this Mr. Pike flatly denies, p. 11, because he cannot comprehend how " the Father can be at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," or how the three essentials of Divinity, Humanity, and Operation, can be constituent of one God, as the soul, body, and operation are of one man. But he finds no difficulty in admitting, that three persons, each of whom is a separate and distinct God, form all together only one God ; as if the multiplication of Gods had the effect of diminishing their number ! a mystery well worthy of such a faith, which shuns the light of truth, and closes the eye of the understanding in worse than Egyptian darkness.
Because the Scriptures, according to the eastern manner of personifying and embodying things, principles, and es- sences, declare, that God sent his Son into the world, and
that
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that Jesus came down from heaven to do the will of him that sent him, it is inferred, that they must of necessity he two persons : (*) for were it otherwise, says Mr. Pike, and were Jesus absolutely God the Father himself, then he would have come unsent, and he should have said, ** Sent by no one, I came from heaven to do my own will." However strange it may appear to those, who are unacquainted with the true nature of divine language, which is infinitely superior to the petty rules of gramnmr, on which I observe Mr. Pike, Mr. Roby, whom he has pressed into his service, Mr. Grundy, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Bayley, and other opposers of the New Church, have built their respective systems, it is a fact equally founded upon the Old Testament, and testified by our Lord himself in the New, that the sender and the person sent are in this case one and the same Divine Being. It is acknowledged on all hands, that Jehovah the Father is the sender, and that the Saviour and Redeemer of the world is the person sent. Now Jehovah saith of himself, " I am Jehovah, and beside me there is no Saviour" Isa. xliii. 11. " I Jehovah am thi/ Saviour and Redeemer^ Isa. xlix. 26. The prophet also, addressing Jehovah, saith, " Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not : thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer ; thy name is from everlasting," Isa. Ixiii. 16. Again, Jesus said unto the Jews, " He that sent me, is with me: the Father hath not left me alone" John viii. 29. " The Father is in me, and I in him," John x. 38. " He that believeth on me, believeth not on me (separately from the Father), but on him that sent me : And he that seeth me, seeth ?iim that sent me," John xii. 44, 45. " I and the
Father
(*) The objection, which is here noticed, was long ago urged by Dr. Priestley, and has been repeated by others since his time. Indeed the greater part of Mr. Pike's objections have been answered over and over again. See the Rev. J. Clowes's Letters to the Rev. J. Grundy, and to the Rev. W. Roby; also the Anthor's Letters to Dr. Priestley, and his Seal upon the Lips of Unitarians and Trinitarititis, &c. &c.
emanueC swedenborg's writings. 105
Father are one,^ John x. 30. Here the very doctrine ob- jected to is plainly asserted by our Lord, viz. that he and the Father, who sent him, are one and the same. Not that the Humanity was in all respects the same as the Divinity ; for the former was visible, while the latter was invisible ; but both together constituted one divine person, of which the Divinity or Father was the soul, and the Humanity or Son was the body ; and we have already seen, that tJiese two, though distinguished by name, are regarded in the Sacred Scriptures as One God manifested in the flesh, for the redemption and salvation of his creatures.
It is further insisted upon, by those who deny the Father and the Son to be one person, like the soul and body in man, that it is a " palpable absurdity" to suppose, that these two, the soul and the body, can address each other, and speak of each other, as the Father and the Son are known to do. The answer to this is short and plain. It is the usual language of divine inspiration, which, as before observed, personifies things, principles, and states of life, giving to each the ap- pearance of a separate existence, when at the same time it is only intended to shew, in a sensible manner, the nature of the intercourse and communication between things internal and things external, belonging to one and the same individual. Hence David with his external addresses his internal in the following manner : " Bless Jehovah, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits ; who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who liealeth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies ; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles," Ps. ciii. 1 to 5. " Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me?" Ps, xlii. 5, 11. Ps. xliii. 5. " Return to thy rest, O my soul ; for Jehovah hath dealt bountifully with thee," Ps. cxvi. 7. " Praise Jehovah, O my soul," Ps. cxlvi. 1. Deborah also, in her song after the death of Sisera, addresses her own soul, saying, " O my
o soul,
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soul, thou hast trodden down strength," Judg. v. 21. And old Jacob, in his prophetic denunciation of Simeon and Levi, whose conduct had sorely grieved him, says, " O my soul, come not tJiou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united," Gen. xlix. 6. The same