who is "the Light of the world." They are declared to be a revelation of new and heavenly truth made by the Lord himself through his own chosen servant, whom He raised up and prepared for this work, and in due time graciously and wonderfully illumined by his Spirit.
The stupendous system of truth, therefore, contained in the writings of this man, is not to be considered his, but the Lord's. He was but the chosen instrument to receive and make known to men, truths which no amount of labor or study could ever have enabled him to discover. Hear what the seer himself says on this subject:
"Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, and nevertheless has foretold that He would come and establish a New Church which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do so by means of a man who can not only receive these doctrines in his understanding but can also publish them by the press.
"That the Lord manifested Himself before me his servant, and sent me to this office, that He afterward opened the eyes of my spirit and so intromitted me into the spiritual world, granted me to see the heavens and the hells, also to converse with angels and spirits, and this continuously now for several years, I affirm in truth; as also, that, from the first day of that calling I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that Church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I read the Word." (True Christian Religion, 779.)
And elsewhere in his writings he repeats the same
