XVII.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF THE ANGELS.
WHEN a traveler in a foreign land writes an account of his travels, he is expected to describe the personal appearance of the people he visits, as well their character, manners and customs. Without such description his narrative would be incomplete and unsatisfactory. So natural, indeed, is it for people to inquire about the personal appearance of those whom they know only from the lips or pen of another, that a novelist would never think of dismissing one of his heroes without gratifying his readers on this point. If he should, they would be disappointed, and would not fail to note the omission as a conspicuous defect in the story.
Now, Swedenborg professes to have enjoyed open intercourse with the denizens of the spiritual world for a period of nearly thirty years. He claims to have daily seen and conversed with both angels and devils during this long period. If this is true, we should expect him to say something about the personal appearance of the people he saw there—to tell us how they look, whether beautiful or ugly. And this he has not failed to do. He says that the inhabitants of heaven are all in the human form, and beautiful beyond the power of language to describe. And he has told us why they are so beautiful. Their figures and faces, he says, are the very images of the spirit that animates and moulds them. They are the correspondential forms of their elevated thoughts, sweet affections and noble purposes. For Mind is the controling power throughout the universe; and so entire and absolute is its sway in the spiritual world, that the minds of all, both in heaven and in hell, mould their bodies into forms exactly correspondent to their essential nature. The face of every one there, is the image of the spirit within him. The appearance of the outer proclaims with undeviating certainty the character of the inner man; for there the body and the soul are in such perfect correspondence that the former is the exact image of the latter. We will cite the seer's own language on this subject:
"The human form of every man after death is the more beautiful, the more interiorly he had loved divine truths and lived according to them; for the interiors of every one are opened and formed according to his love and life; wherefore the more interior is the affection, the more conformable it is to heaven, and hence the more beautiful is the face. . . . All perfection increases toward the interiors, and decreases toward the exteriors; and as perfection increases and decreases, so likewise does beauty. I have seen the faces of angels of the third heaven, which were so beautiful that no painter, with all his art, could ever impart to colors such animation as to equal a thousandth part of the brightness and life which appeared in their faces."—H. H. n. 459.
"Beauty derived only from the truth of faith, is like the beauty of a painted or sculptured face; but the beauty derived from the affection of truth which is from good, is like the beauty of a living face animated by celestial love; for such as is the quality of the love, or of the affection beaming from the form of the face, such is the beauty. Hence it is that the angels appear of ineffable beauty. From their faces beams forth the good of love by the truth of faith, which not only appears before the sight, but is also perceived by the spheres thence derived. The reason why this is the source and origin of beauty is, that the universal heaven is a Grand Man, and corresponds to all even the most minute things appertaining to man. He, therefore, who is principled in the good of love and thence in the truth of faith, is in the form of heaven, consequently in the beauty in which heaven is, where the Divine of the Lord is all in all. Hence also it is, that those who are in hell, since they are contrary to good and truth, are in horrible deformity, and in the light of heaven they appear not as men but as monsters."—A. C. n. 5199.
"The understanding of man is nothing else but the will unfolded and formed, so that its quality may appear visibly. Hence it is evident whence beauty is, viz., of the interior man, that it is from the good of the will by the truth of faith. The truth of faith itself presents beauty in the external form, but the good of the will sets it in and forms it. Hence it is that the angels of heaven are of ineffable beauty, for they are as it were loves and charities in form; wherefore when they appear in their beauty, they affect the inmost principles. With them the good of love from the Lord shines forth through the truth of faith, and as it penetrates it affects."—Ibid. n. 4985; also n. 3212.
"When the angels present themselves visible, all their interior affections appear clearly from the face, and thence shine forth, so that the face is their external form and representative image. To have any other face than that of their respective affections, is not allowed to any in heaven. They who feign any other face, are cast out from the society. Hence it is manifest that the face corresponds to all the interiors in general, both to the affections and the thoughts thereof, or to those things which are of the will and understanding with man. Hence also in the Word by face and faces are signified the affections."—Ibid. n. 4796.
"Evil spirits may also be known from their faces, for all their lusts or evil affections are inscribed on their faces; and it may likewise be known from their faces with what hells they communicate; for there are very many hells all distinct according to the genera and species of the lusts of evil. In general their faces, when seen in the light of heaven, are almost without life, being ghastly like those of dead bodies, in some cases black, and in some monstrous; for they are the forms of hatred, cruelty, deceit and hypocrisy; but in their own light among themselves, they appear otherwise from fantasy."—A. C. n. 4798.Many more passages similar to these might be cited; and however the phraseology or form of expression may vary, their substance will be found invariably the same.
And here, as on other subjects, the seer's assertions address themselves to our rational intuitions, and meet with a ready response from every enlightened and unprejudiced mind. For every one sees that, if the character of the angels is as pure and exalted as he tells us it is, their personal appearance cannot be other than he has so often described it. If their interiors are purer, their souls more beautiful, than those of men—if they are wiser, nobler, more loving and unselfish, then we should expect them to be more beautiful in form and aspect. This is so reasonable that a child sees the utter absurdity of any doctrine essentially different. For a child sees that it is impossible for such exalted human excellence as that to which the angels have attained, to exist under hideous and repulsive forms; and it has an equally clear and instinctive perception that these latter are the appropriate forms of wicked spirits or demons.
All men are physiognomists to some extent, even without knowing it; for every one forms some idea of the character of others from the features and expression of their faces. And the idea they form would seldom fail of being correct, were it not that people often act the hypocrite, and make their faces lie as they do their lips and actions.
And what is thought to constitute the most exalted human beauty here on earth? What sort of a face do people of high culture and a truly Christian spirit commonly regard as most beautiful? Is it not that combination of features and that expression which reveals the most and the highest order of mind?—that which expresses the noblest qualities of heart in union the most exalted powers of intellect?—that which seems in the highest degree instinct with the divine attributes of wisdom and love? To a cultivated mind that face, and that only, is beautiful, which reveals a beautiful soul; and it is beautiful just in the degree that it expresses the thoughts, feelings, aspirations and hopes of such a soul. A person's face speaks as plainly as his lips, and often more truthfully. For many a time does the face reveal thoughts and feelings which the lips vainly strive to conceal. The looks often contradict the words. And if the graces of heaven—humility, meekness, resignation, courage, benevolence, gratitude, hope, love, trust—really dwell in the heart, they will to some extent reveal themselves in the countenance even in this world. And those who have any just appreciation of the spirit of true religion, will call that countenance most beautiful which expresses the largest measure of these heavenly graces.
It is the quality of the spiritual and invisible part, then—the peculiar characteristics of mind and heart which the face discloses—that makes all the difference among people on earth in respect to beauty. And among cultivated Christian people that face will always be thought most beautiful, which expresses most of the higher and nobler qualities of humanity. There is no beauty in the human countenance apart from the mental beauty—the lofty thoughts, the sweet affections, the tender sympathies, the noble purpose which it reveals. This is confessed by all the great masters in literature. Thus Milton says of Adam and Eve while in their primitive innocence:
"For in their looks divine
The image of their glorious Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude, severe and pure."
And Spenser, with the insight of a true poet, and clearly recognizing the influence of the soul upon the body even to the extent disclosed in Swedenborg's pneumatology, sings:
"Every spirit, as it is most pure,
And hath in it the more of heavenly light,
So it the fairer body doth procure
To habit in:.....
For of the soul the body form doth take,
For soul is form and doth the body make."
And in a like strain sing Addison and Young, Shakspeare and Goethe, Byron and Coleridge, and all the great masters in this art.
Every one knows, too, that a good artist is able to express all the passions and emotions of the heart in the faces of the figures he paints or carves: and can express them with such precision that people of some discernment will read them the moment they look at the picture or statue. Ask any distinguished sculptor to embody in a bust certain well-defined mental or moral qualities, and he will do it with such fidelity that every close observer of human nature will read in that bust the very qualities you described, almost as easily as if they were printed in a book. This were impossible but for the correspondence existing between the face and the passions and emotions of the heart;—a correspondence so exact and perfect, too, that where no willful deception is practiced, the former may be taken as the representative image of the latter.
Then look at the faces of little children—those young immortals so guileless and innocent, so late from their Maker's hand, with the impress of heaven so fresh upon them—and how legibly can you see recorded there the feelings of their hearts! How unmistakably do their laughing faces tell of the exuberant life, the overflowing joy and gladness within their little bosoms! And when they experience disappointment, sorrow, vexation or shame, how faithfully are these emotions imprinted on their faces, and how quickly, too! And the same is true of adults in the degree that they have retained the innocence and simplicity of childhood, or become as little children by regeneration. When joy and gladness fill their hearts, their faces are sure to reveal the fact. The sunshine within streams out from their eyes, and sheds its radiance over the whole countenance. Again, when sorrow comes, when cares oppress and fears disturb and gloomy thoughts becloud the soul, their faces proclaim this inward change as clearly as the moving shadow on the landscape proclaims the floating cloud between it and the sun. This, indeed, is true of every one to some extent. It is only with those who have lost the simplicity of childhood, and learned to practice the arts of deception, that the face ceases to be a true index of the mind;—fails to reveal by its changes the sunshine or gloom, the joy or sorrow, the peace or unrest that exists within.
And not only does the face reveal the transitory feelings, the changes of mental state, as from joy to sorrow, but it registers with fidelity those states which have become fixed and abiding. Let a person harbor for any considerable time melancholy thoughts and dark forebodings; let him indulge in poignant grief, in anxious fears or bitter repinings; let him encourage by indulgence the growth of an inordinate love of the world, a mean and miserly spirit, or a sour and misanthropic temper, and how surely will this confirmed habit of his soul imprint itself upon his countenance! Or let him, on the other hand, exercise the spirit of self-denial, let him repose calmly and trustingly on the Divine Providence, let him cultivate a cheerful and resigned disposition, cherish noble and unselfish aims, exercise himself habitually in kind and philanthropic deeds, and thus open his soul more and more to the influx of the Lord's unselfish love; and let this be continued for a series of years, and the heavenly quality of his inner man will be legibly inscribed upon his countenance. You will see the angel shining through. The light of heaven will sparkle in his eye, and the warmth of heaven will tinge his cheek with a lustre all its own; and this, too, in spite of the wrinkles that usually accompany declining years.
There is, then, abundant evidence right around us of the truth of what Swedenborg says as to the personal appearance of people in the other world, and of the great law that determines it. For we all know that there is a strong and continual tendency in whatever passion or principle is allowed to govern a man, to mould the countenance into a form correspondent with itself. We know that heavenly love deep-seated in the heart, has ever a tendency to light up the countenance with a heavenly radiance. And we know, too, that the tendency of all infernal principles is equally strong in this respect. All evil feelings long indulged, all sad and sickening thoughts, all dark and gloomy views of God, religion and human life, are perpetually operating, so long as they are entertained, to shape the outward corporeal part into complete correspondence with themselves;—perpetually working to divest the visage of its properly human expression, and imprint thereon the deformity of hell. If it is true that "a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine," it is equally true that a wicked heart will in time mould the countenance into an exact image of its wickedness.
It is certain, then—nothing, indeed, can be more so—that the human countenance was intended by the Creator to be the perfect image of the heart's affections. The face was plainly meant to be the mirror of the soul. And the nearer men approach to the innocence and simplicity of childhood, and the less disguises they wear, the less occasion do they have for concealment, and the more truly do their faces as well as their words express the thoughts and feelings of their hearts. How, then, should we expect it would be in heaven where innocence, simplicity, purity and love reign triumphant?—where all are willing to be seen in the light, and no one desires to express by his looks a single emotion that he does not feel? Should not the faces of the angels express with mathematical exactness the unselfish love that dwells within their bosoms? And if so, how surpassingly beautiful must they be! How easy to believe, therefore, what Swedenborg so often declares, that their beauty is beyond the power of art to picture or of human language to describe! Otherwise there would not be a perfect correspondence between their internals and externals, and the face in heaven would not be the mirror of the soul.
The face, then, being intended by the Creator to faithfully express the feelings and dispositions of the heart, corresponds to the interiors of the mind, or to the ruling love. This love, therefore, is what is meant by the face in Sacred Scripture when spiritually interpreted. Accordingly the Psalmist prays: "God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us." (LXVII. 1: LXXX. 3.) The inmost and very esse of the Lord, is pure, unselfish love. And when there is an influx of this love into our hearts, and we feel it as our own, then the Lord's face shines upon us, and we are saved—delivered from the love of self which is altogether infernal. And so the Psalmist again prays: "O God, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." Deliverance from the dominion of self-love, and reception of the Lord's own love instead, is the only true salvation. Again, in Isaiah: "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you." Self-love is the very opposite of the Lord's; and they who are ruled by it, are in a sinful state, and have no conception of the Lord's love. His face is therefore hid from them. Again the Psalmist says: "Thy face, Lord, will I seek." We seek the Lord's face, when, through obedience to the laws of the heavenly life which He has revealed, we open our hearts to the reception of his own life, that is, his unselfish love. Again: "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance." The light of the Lord's countenance is the light of truth proceeding from his divine love, as light proceeds from and is the visible manifestation of heat in the natural world.
And hundreds of similar illustrations from Scripture might be added; all of which go to show the intimate connection of the spiritual sense of the Word, with the facts, phenomena and laws of the spiritual world; and how a knowledge of these latter may help us in the right understanding and interpretation of the former.
What, now, is the practical lesson to be drawn from the subject as here presented?
It may be seen from what has been said, that beauty is the mark which God has set on goodness. The external beauty of the angels is but the type, or correspondential form, of their beautiful souls. Their pure and unselfish love exerts a potent influence over their bodily organism, moulding every feature into a form of corresponding grace and loveliness. Yes: it is love—love from the Lord, and therefore kindred to his own—that makes their faces so lovely. And this angelic beauty we are all made capable of attaining in some measure. But the only way of attaining it, is by strict and religious obedience to the revealed laws of the angelic life,—precisely as bodily health and vigor are attained and preserved by strict conformity to the laws of health. Encouraging and strengthening by exercise the growth of angelic dispositions, is the sure way of ultimately attaining to angelic beauty. Our bodies in the Hereafter will be just what we, by our volitions and conduct here, choose to make them—moulded into forms exactly correspondent to the dispositions we cherish and the feelings we habitually indulge—perfect images of our ruling loves: beautiful and symmetrical if we are careful to strengthen and confirm the principles that beautify the soul, but ugly and deformed if we encourage the growth of the opposite principles.
To conclude. It is a solemn and impressive fact, that within each of our material frames is a spiritual and immortal body, receiving its daily and hourly sustenance from the spiritual world; a body which lives and grows upon the food of angels, or the food of devils. And every year—yea, every day—this immortal body is approximating the exquisite symmetry and grace of heaven, or assuming more and more the hideous deformity of hell: and this, according to the prevailing tenor of our daily lives,—according to the dispositions we habitually cherish, and the motives from which we uniformly act. For here, in the flesh, our immortal part is daily and hourly taking on its enduring shape. Here it is continually developing—every feature and lineament—in exact correspondence with the nature of the principles we allow to govern us; that is, with the love that reigns and rules in our hearts, the central fire and moulding force of our immortal being.