—shall we assume to be wiser than the Most High, and proclaim in advance a doctrine, which (supposing it to be true) the Lord in his wisdom has thought proper hitherto to conceal from the children of men?
No: Let us scrupulously guard against such presumption. Let us reverently acknowledge that the infinitely wise One knows what truth, or what measure of truth, is adapted to human wants, and what is the proper time to reveal it. Under the New Dispensation the Lord has plainly taught the eternity of the hells. True or not, it is clearly His will that it should be believed and preached—for the present, at least—yes, during the continuance of this Dispensation. And to believe or teach a different doctrine, is either to discredit the revelation that has been made, or to assume to know better than the Divine Being himself what is true on this subject, or when is the proper time to proclaim this truth.
We see not, therefore, how any one who professes to believe in Swedenborg's divine illumination—who regards him as a man especially prepared, authorized and sent of God to make a new revelation—can for a moment think of rejecting or questioning his teaching in regard to the duration of the hells, or of substituting for it the more than doubtful conclusions of his own understanding. Surely it is not wise to shut ourselves in a dark room and invoke the feeble glimmer of a lamp, when the great orb of day is shining in meridian splendor.
