BEAUTY FOR ASHES.
INTRODUCTION.
There is but one Source of the beautiful, the good, and the true; for all the beauty, goodness and truth there are in the world, are only finite expressions—faint images, as it were—of the One Infinite Goodness. "There is but One Good, that is God."
And we are taught that man was originally made in the image and likeness of this One Good. Therefore all the finite expressions of this Good, are always pleasing to men in the degree that their moral integrity has been preserved, or the lovely image of their Maker been retained. They interest and attract every mind, from which the native hues of innocence have not faded or been blotted out.
And yet the interest which most men feel in the beautiful, the good, and the true, is often enhanced by contrast with their opposites. Beauty never appears so attractive, as when exhibited along with deformity. Virtue never has such winning charms, as when seen by the side of vice. Truth never looks so lovely—never shines with such heavenly lustre, as when contrasted with the dark shades of ignorance or error. Every good artist understands this. Hence poets, painters, and sculptors, in seeking to present us with their highest conceptions of the beautiful, the good, and the true, almost always avail themselves of the power that exists in contrasts.
It is from a motive akin to that of the artist, that we here undertake to exhibit the Old doctrine concerning the state of infants after death, side by side with the New. The reader will thus be enabled to judge between them; while the truth and beauty of the one, cannot fail to be exalted by contrast with the blackness and deformity of the other.
We have a further object in exhibiting the Old doctrine upon this subject with some minuteness, and somewhat in detail. It is, that the reader may see what gross darkness enveloped the Christian church prior to that New Dispensation of Christianity which it is our high privilege to proclaim; and how urgent was the need, therefore, of a new revelation, upon the subject here treated of, at least. Before men can be expected to bestow much serious and candid attention upon the writings of Swedenborg, which contain this new revelation, they must be led to see and acknowledge that there existed a real need of some such new revelation, prior to the time of its announcement. And the best way to lead them to see and acknowledge this, is, to unfold and exhibit some of the features of the Old Theology, especially as that Theology was understood and expounded prior to Swedenborg's time. For if there were really a need of this new revelation at the time it was made, the evidence of such need must be sought and found in the then reigning Theology of Christendom, as expounded by its eminent doctors, and most distinguished writers. It is, therefore, a matter of deep interest and importance, to those who are disposed to examine any point in the New Theology, to ascertain, if possible, what was the belief of Christians generally upon that point, at the time of, or prior to, this alleged new revelation. And the importance of this becomes the more apparent, when we consider that the doctrinal theology of some portions of christendom, particularly those portions with which we are most familiar, has undergone very important modifications on some points, since the time when Swedenborg wrote;—and this, too, in consequence of the new revelation made through him, and that memorable event which occurred in the World of Spirits[1] in the year 1757, witnessed and described by him. And on account of these modifications, the contrast between the New and the Old Theology, as the latter is understood and expounded by many theologians at the present day, is often much less striking than that between the New and the Old of one, two, or three centuries ago. The New Theology, we know, has not changed, for it is embodied in the theological writings of Swedenborg; and these writings, which are the same to-day as they were when first given to the world a hundred years ago—or rather, we should say, the Sacred Scriptures as interpreted by these writings, are the standard to which all New Churchmen appeal. But the Old Theology—not, perhaps, as embodied in the written creeds, but as understood by its living expounders, and as proclaimed from the pulpits of Christian lands—is perpetually changing, and has been for the last hundred years or more. Its ministers all appeal, indeed, to the written Word; but, for lack of some acknowledged and reliable standard of interpretation—some authorized and uniform method of eliciting the true meaning of the Word, their interpretations differ widely, as might be expected. And the popular interpretations of the present day, differ on many points still more widely from those of a few centuries ago, as will appear from the extracts cited in these pages. For there is no doubt that the prevailing belief among Christians now, upon the subject of our present inquiry, is quite in harmony with the doctrine revealed through Swedenborg a hundred years ago; and how different this doctrine is, from the one almost universally held as orthodox prior to the New Dispensation, will manifestly appear from the following pages.
- ↑ For a minute description of the event here referred to, see Swedenborg's treatise on the Last Judgement.