Swedenborg's Maximus Homo/Independent Witnesses/Chapter 1

"INDEPENDENT WITNESSES."

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I.

OBSTRUCTIONS TO THE SPREAD OF THE NEW REVEALINGS, AND A HELP TOWARD THEIR REMOVAL

A large percentage of people at the present day, even in Christian communities, feel no interest in spiritual things. Their life is purely sensuous. Their thoughts and afections are on the things of this world exclusively—its wealth, its pleasures, its honors and emoluments. These seem to them the only realities—the only things worth striving for or thinking about. Their spiritual consciousness has never been awakened, and they feel not the slightest interest in spiritual things. They have no conception of them. Such things seem to them visionary, unreal, things of the imagination merely. And as these are the things treated of in the writings of Swedenborg, such persons cannot be expected to feel any interest in these writings. They do not care to read them; or if they read they fail to understand them. It is useless, therefore, to place the New Church writings in the hands of such persons in their present state.

There is another class, however—a considerably smaller class, it may be, but steadily increasing—in whom the spiritual consciousness has been awakened, and who are prepared to receive and understand spiritual truth. They are not satisfied with the sensuous interpretation of Scripture, nor with the irrational doctrines formulated in a dark age, and taught them from their childhood for Bible truths. They long for some definite knowledge of the spiritual world, of the nature of heaven and hell, of the laws of the soul's higher life—a knowledge, in short, of that complete system of religious truth, of the very existence of which they are at present altogether ignorant. This is the class of persons who are capable of receiving and being greatly blessed by the truths of the New Dispensation, and whom we desire to reach with our literature. But there are obstructions to be removed—a general disinclination on the part of this class of persons to read our books, arising from one or the other of the following causes:—

1. Total ignorance of the real nature of their teaching, and of the priceless value of the truths they contain.

2. The prevailing prejudice against them, arising from this ignorance and the current misrepresentation of the character of their teaching.

3. Fear that they contain a subtle poison which, if touched or approached, may imperil the soul's salvation.

4. Fear that, if their teachings prove true and are accepted, they may disturb the reader's social relations and compel him to dissolve his ecclesiastical connection.

These are the chief obstructions to the spread of the New-Church writings among that class of persons who are prepared to understand and receive them—who are really hungering for the spiritual nutriment they contain, but know not where to find it. And the removal of these obstructions would seem to be the chief work of the New-Church missionary at this time.

It was mainly for this purpose that the "Cloud of Independent Witnesses to the truth, value and spiritual helpfulness of Swedenborg's Teachings" was prepared. And in the estimation of many competent judges it is well fitted for the special work for which it was intended—is, indeed, a powerful, and ought to prove a successful agent for the removal of all the above-named obstructions. For it shows, by extracts from the letters of more than a hundred ministers, and copious quotations from the published writings of a few of the most eminent, that the prevailing prejudice against Swedenborg's teachings has arisen wholly from ignorance and current misrepresentations of their true character, and that the fears of innocent and uninstructed people are altogether groundless. And this testimony is not that of pronounced Swedenborgians, which might be open to the suspicion of being prompted by a desire to strengthen and build up a particular denomination; it is, on the contrary, thoroughly independent, being the testimony of educated men who have studied both the Old and the New Theology, and are able, therefore, to judge of their respective merits; and not one of them was ever identified with the organization known as the New Church.

And this book is not only well fitted to sweep away the obstructions above named, but to awaken, in all who feel any interest in spiritual things, an earnest desire to know more about the New Christianity; and its wide circulation, therefore, cannot fail to greatly increase the demand for New Church literature.

Moreover, the facts and testimonies which the book records, and its cordial approval of the course which thousands of the most advanced and esteemed clergy in our land are at this time pursuing, are in complete agreement with what is taught in the foregoing pages of the present volume, and with Swedenborg's prediction concerning the effects of the Last Judgment, and the descent of the New Jerusalem. (See A. E. 1217; L. J. 73, 74; Contin. L. J. 12, 30; T. C. R. 784.)

Shortly after its publication the author received a number of letters from some of the most intelligent and devoted ministers and laymen in the organized New Church, commending the volume in very strong terms. A few brief quotations from some of these letters may not be out of place in this connection, and may convince the reader that by helping its circulation, especially among ministers and theological students, he will be helping to remove existing obstructions, and thereby to promote the spread of the new and precious truths of heaven.

OPINIONS OF COMPETENT JUDGES.

"I have just finished reading your 'Cloud of Independent Witnesses,' and hasten to say: I am exceedingly glad to see this book. I have been greatly profited personally by its careful perusal to the final end.

"You and your Publishing Association have been engaged in a grand work—especially during the last dozen years—which has again and again rejoiced me more than I can tell. . . . And the marked success of your efforts is certified by this 'Cloud of Witnesses.'

"Now for the man or men of means to take this work in hand—as in several cases heretofore—and send this book, if possible, to every minister and theological student throughout the land. And it will, I feel sure, be the best missionary that can be employed."

"I have read your "cloud of Independent Witnesses' with intense interest. It seems to be unique in its nature and use; and if it could have a wide circulation, it would do more than any other book to allay prejudice and stimulate a desire, especially among 'evangelicals,' to study the writings of Swedenborg for themselves. I am surprised at the large number of ministers in the old churches who are reading and teaching the heavenly doctrines. Their testimony has no uncertain sound. And the doctrinal instruction, with which the leading testimonies are replete, make the book doubly valuable.

"I am convinced that no open-minded reader can lay this book aside without a profound conviction that a great light has dawned upon the world. I wish that steps could be taken to give it a large circulation."

"So far as I am able to judge, your 'Independent Witnesses' is one of the best books for the field to be covered that I have yet seen. . . . It shows to those who think affiliation with the New Church [in its largest sense] means solitude and loneliness, that the thought is untrue, and that the larger outlines of the New Truth have found a lodgment in many heads, and will find lodgment in many more.

"We have so many fields and departments of New-Church work to cultivate, that I feel grateful for the thought, and the fact back of the thought, that the Lord gives you strength and wisdom to so vigorously preside over that part of the work which He has in His providence entrusted to your hands."

"Your new book came duly to hand, and I have read it with much pleasure. It is a work which, I think, will arrest the attention of all into whose hands it may fall. You wisely sounded the true key of the New Gospel when you announced in your preface that the book 'was not written in the interest of any particular sect or denomination.' . . . A very useful book would this 'Cloud of witnesses' be for circulating libraries and for ministers and theological students, and I hope it may be widely distributed among them."

"Since I wrote you last I have finished reading the 'Cloud of Witnesses.' It is a very satisfactory work. One feels fresh courage after seeing the gathered proofs of the appreciation of Swedenborg's teachings. I think the book will be very useful. I hardly need tell you that I do not regard Swedenborg as a source of truth, but as one who has led me to the Source in the Word; and if I find truth there, and try to help others see it, it matters little whether I speak of the guide who brought me to it or not."

These letters are from some of the most intelligent and highly esteemed ministers in the New Church General Convention. And a number of the most intelligent laymen in that body have written in a similar vein. To cite here the words of two or three of them—for they are all of the same general tenor. The President of one of the New-Church societies on the Pacific coast writes:

"Dear Brother Barrett: Your 'Cloud of Witnesses' I have read with the deepest interest, It is a revelation in two directions. In the [organized] New Church it will be like a new star of hope. From the small visible effects upon the world, the heaven-born truths received by us in joy, and scattered abroad for the coming harvest, appeared to many of us as if they had fallen upon the highways of human thought and were trodden under foot. When well-nigh despairing, in our outward feebleness, of the blessings and promises of God, your beautiful book has come with its glad news. The seed was not wasted, but has come up in unexpected places and is bearing its blessed fruit.

"Outside of the [organized] New Church the new truths have been listened to by many congregations, . . . and they have seen with wonder the dawn of the New Day. To them your book will also be a revelation. In reading it they will see how silently these wonderful truths have come among them and found a lodging place.

"May the blessed day soon come when, both within and outside the [nominal] New Church, the loving mercy of God will be seen and recognized—that now, when Christendom is longing for more light, it has been given to the world by God's watchful providence."

And another, who has been a receiver of the New-Church doctrines for more than forty years, writes:—

"Your 'Cloud of Independent witnesses' is a book worthy of all commendation. The arrangement, selections, and comments are all so good—no better could be made. The experience and testimony of so many educated men and independent and earnest seekers of religions truth are of the greatest value. The influence which this kind of evidence will have with many, and the number that will be led by it to investigate and become receivers of the N. C. doctrines, cannot be estimated. The book is, I think, one of the very best to put into the hands of those who are yet ignorant of the New-Church theology and prejudiced against it."

And another, who has been a receiver for nearly fifty years, writes:—

"I am reading your 'Cloud of Witnesses' with much interest, and my opinion is that its wide circulation will do more toward correcting false impressions and removing prejudice against the New Church than any other book yet published."

A New-Church phvsician writes:—

"Your 'Cloud of Witnesses' is full of light to me. I am truly overcome with joy. The hand of Providence is in it for good."

And another physician writes:—

"Your "Independent witnesses, is splendid—just the thing that is needed."

And a number of letters, no less encouraging and commendatory, have been received from both ministers and laymen in other Christian communions. A Cumberland Presbyterian minister writes:—

"I think you have done a blessed work in bringing out this book, ['A Cloud of Witnesses']. If it can be placed in the hands of the ministers and theological students of the United States, I believe it will induce hundreds to read the works of Swedenborg. . . The names of such men as Henry Drummond, Dr. Bushnell, Clowes, Browning, and others, as independent witnesses to the value of E. S.'s writings, will stimulate many an intelligent minister to look into the new truths; and he will not reject them. . . .

"You are right about ministers of other denominations remaining where they are. If I should mention the name of E. S., some of my people would doubtless be offended; but as it is, I preach N. C. doctrine continually, and my people show their approval by their attendance."

A distinguished Congregational minister (a D. D.) writes:—

"I have not yet read much of your 'Cloud of Witnesses,' but enough to see very clearly that the book presents to every candid, truth-seeking mind strong reasons for an unprejudiced examination of Swedenborg's writings."

Another (denomination not known) writes:—

"Your last work, 'A Cloud of Independent Witnesses,' is excellent—just the thing to open the eyes of many even professed Newchurchmen. Indeed, you could not have conferred a greater benefit on mankind, nor produced a better book for the purpose intended."

An intelligent member of the Presbyterian Church writes:—

"Permit me to thank you for the service you have done the cause of truth by the amount of testimony you have gathered and published under the title of 'A Cloud of Independent Witnesses.' It cannot but do a most useful work in this transition period of church history. . . . It is instructive and truly inspiring to have the best thought of so many teachers collected into a single volume. I wish some wealthy 'lover of his kind' could be brought to see the good he might do by presenting a copy of this work to every minister of the Gospel in the United States. What a blessing it would be to have this broad outlook placed before them!"

A learned and eminent Professor writes:—

"I have read with great interest your late book of testimonials of eminent theologians, of different denominations, to their acceptance and advocacy of religious views wonderfully unlike doctrines called orthodox half a century ago, yet wonderfully in accord with the widely taught and rapidly growing religious sentiment of to-day. Whence the leaven that has so notably modified religious belief and practice, and manifests daily increased activity and results? From the venerable Clowes and the almost youthful Drummond the Heavenly Doctrines enunciated by Swedenborg are clearly manifest. These and hundreds of other conscious or unconscious heralds of the sublime truths formulated in The True Christian Religion, are not plagiarists, any more than are the planets which reflect the solar rays and influences . . . In scattering broadcast, like the seed-sower of the parable, the helpful, comforting, ennobling, soul-saving truths of Swedenborg, as widely and judiciously as your hundred or more grateful correspondents have, whether labeled as his or not, you have well served your Divine Master and benefited your brother man."

We make these few quotations from the many letters received since the publication of "Independent Witnesses," for reasons which New churchmen generally will understand and appreciate, especially those who read the New-Church Messenger—although it is not probable that many of this class will ever see them. And not a word has been received essentially different from the foregoing extracts. And all the letters quoted are from intelligent and esteemed ministers and laymen—most of them in organic connection with the N. C. General Convention. And in the same commendatorv terms have the independent New-Church journals, such as the New Jerusalem Magazine, the New-Church Pacific, and The New Christianity, spoken of " Independent Witnesses." The only adverse criticism of the book which has ever come to our notice appeared in the New-Church Messenger. The editor of that paper occupied a full column mainly in trying to prove that this book counsels ministers to pursue a course that is "essentially dishonest," and that it is therefore to be considered a bad book, and one which ought to be everywhere spoken against. That this is an utterly groundless and mistaken criticism—resulting, no doubt, from the editor's honest but mistaken opinion as to the nature and whereabout of the New Church—will appear plain to every one who reads the following vindication, which was published in The New Christianity for February, 1892:—

THE PROSCRIBED POLICY VINDICATED.

When a minister of any one of the denominations reads and accepts the New Christianity as expounded by Swedenborg, what is the wise and proper course for him to pursue? Three courses are open to him:—

1st. He can quietly withdraw from his denomination and join (or not, as he thinks best) the New-Church organization.

2d. He can announce to his people his acceptance of the New-Church teachings, and allow them to dismiss or retain him as they may decide.

3d. He may proceed with his blessed work, quietly and peaceably teaching the new truths to his people without any mention of Swedenborg or the New Church.

Which of these courses is it wisest and best for him to adopt? or which would it seem to be his duty to adopt?

Before answering this question some well-known facts should be considered. Within the last fifteen years three or four of the more important works of Swedenborg have been sent to some 30,000 ministers in our country at their own request, the ministers themselves paying the cost of transportation; and some of the smaller works have been sent to more than 80,000 of the American clergy. It is also known that some hundreds of these ministers have become full receivers of the heavenly doctrines and are quietly teaching them to their people, who generally receive them with joy and gladness. And there is reason to believe that there are not less than five thousand ministers in our country, posssibly twice that number, who now accept and teach, to the great satisfaction of their hearers, the fundamental doetrines of the New Church.

Now, if it is the duty of one of these ministers to withdraw from his denomination, it is the duty of all of them. Think of these five thousand or more ministers voluntarily withdrawing from fields in which Providence has placed them, and where their services are so acceptable and so useful! And what shall they do after they have withdrawn? The organized New Church could not furnish a paying employment for half a dozen of them, and they would be compelled to seek some other occupation for which they have little or no fitness, as a means of livelihood. Surely no sane man, not even the editor of the New-Church Messenger, would advise any such unreasanable, such absolutely idiotic, course as this.

And what of the wisdom or expediency of course No. 2? This is what we presume the Messenger editor would advise. Let us briefly consider it.

If the thousands of ministers who now receive the New-Church doctrines in a greater or less degree of fullness, and are quietly teaching them to their people, should openly say to their several congregations, "The doctrines we now believe and must henceforth preach, are not those formulated in the creed you have subscribed, but are the doctrines taught in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg," what would be the effect of such an announcement? Why, in every congregation where there has hitherto been peace and harmony and a gradual learning of the new truths, there would at once arise disturbance, strife, and division. It could not be otherwise; for the name of Swedenborg is associated in the minds of most of them with religious folly and fanaticism, and in the minds of some with a species of monomania. Some have made but slight progress in learning the new truths, and very few are yet sufficiently advanced to see the unity and harmony of them and their agreement with reason and Scripture. Many facts, the existence of which cannot be denied, would combine to sway the minds of the majority against the retention of their minister after such an announcement; and by not one congregation in a hundred would he be retained, and if he were it would be by a bare majority. Thus would discord, strife, and division be produced where all had been unity, harmony, and peace. And this would be in direct violation of the plain teaching of the Writings. These tell us that a minister ought to search the Word—using, of course, all the helps to a right interpretation of it within his reach—to see if the doctrinals of his church or creed be correct; and if he finds they are not, he should reject them and accept and teach the truth, but take care to do it in such a way as not to disturb his congregation or church.

"Doctrinals," says Swedenborg, "are not true because men of eminence in the church have said so. . . . When this exploration of the Word is made from the affection of truth, the man is enlightened by the Lord to perceive what is true, and is confirmed therein according to the good in which he is principled. If these truths [found by searching] disagree with the doctrinals or creed of his denomination], let him take care not to disturb the church." (A. C. 6047.)

No teaching could be plainer than this. Every minister knows perfectly well, that, on account of the intense but blind prejudice against Swedenborg in nearly every Christian community, he could not announce his acceptance of this man's revealings without causing more or less disturbance in his society and denomination. By such announcement, therefore, he violates the plain teaching of our heaven-illumined scribe. Nor is his offense one atom less grievous, nor his violation of peace and order less palpable, even though a majority of his society should agree to retain him as their minister—a thing that would rarely happen.

The third and only remaining course is that which we advise, and have for more than forty years advised as often as our counsel has been sought. It is, that a minister who receives the heavenly doctrines should remain right where he is so long as his people are glad or willing to have him, and quietly teach the new truths as they are able to receive them—pursuing a straightforward, prudent, and judicious course, and making no mention of Swedenborg or the New Church until such time as he thinks he can do so without any disturbance in his society. See, now, if this course be not fully justified by the Word and the Writings.

The Lord counsels his disciples to exercise prudence and circumspection. This, we are told is what He means when He tells them to be prudent as serpents, and guileless as doves." (Matt. x, 16) And we read in the Arcanα Cœlestia that "among the most ancient people, who were celestial, the serpent signified circumspection, and also the sensual principle by which they exercised circumspection so as not to be harmed. It is in this sense that the Lord said to his disciples, 'Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye, therefore, prudent as serpents, and guileless as doves." (A. C 197.)

Prudence and circumspection, therefore, are Christian virtues. And are they not to be exercised by those who are called to proclaim the Gospel? Does not the Lord Himself counsel their exercise? And what does circumspection mean? "Attention," says Webster, "to all the facts and circumstances of a case; caution; prudence." And "genuine charity consists in acting prudently, and for the sake of an end to promote good." (A. C. 8120.)

Now wherein does this teaching differ from the policy commended in "Independent Witnesses" and in my "Suggestions to Ministers," for which I was so promptly ruled out of the New Church by the editor of the New-Church Mesenger? And do not those who object to the course I advise, and who, in the pride (as it would seem) of self-derived intelligence, counsel a different policy, manifest a culpable disregard of the Divine injunction to be "prudent as serpents and guileless as doves"?

But the policy I advise is called "deceitful" and "cunning;" and "the true men of the church," says Swedenborg, "are so far removed from cunning that they utterly abhor it;" and "what the wicked do from cunning and deceit they call prudence." (A. C. 6655.) True, but our opponents forget that there is a good as well as a bad cunning—a cunning that has good for its end, and is therefore wise and commendable. And it is needless to say that this is the kind of cunning which I commend.

"Pretense and cunning," says Swedenborg, "which have good for their end, whether it be the good of a neighbor or of a man's country or of the church, are prudence; . . . but pretense and cunning which have evil for their end are not prudence, but are artifice and deceit, with which good cannot be conjoined." (A. C. 3993.)

Now, if "acting prudently" is, as we are plainly taught, "genuine charity," and if cunning which has for its end the good of the church is prudence, is it not strange, and a matter to be deeply regretted, that the editor of a leading New-Church paper should put himself on record as strongly opposed to the policy encouraged and advised in "Independent Witnesses"—the very policy commended in the writings which this editor professes to revere?

Moreover, Swedenborg tells us, in his last great work, in what way or by what instrumentality the heavenly doctrines revealed through him will be diffused among the people on earth—the very way, be it observed, so fully illustrated by the facts recorded in "Independent Witnesses."

"The descent of the New Jerusalem, that is, the New Church," he says, "cannot take place in a moment, but only as the falsities of the former church are removed. For what is new cannot enter where falsities have been ingenerated, until these have been eradicated; and this will take place by means of the clergy [that is, through them as instruments], and thus with the laity," (T. C. R. 784.)

And this process has been going on rapidly for the last ten or fifteen years, as shown by copious extracts from ministers' letters in "Independent Witnesses." And what possible interpretation of this passage can be given, which makes it disagree with the recorded and well-known facts, and with the policy so sternly proscribed by the Messenger?

The Messenger regards it as wrong and immoral for a minister "occupying a denominational pulpit," and "professedly expounding the doctrines of Christianity from that denominational standpoint," to preach the doctrines of the New Church without telling his people that he is teaching them the New Christianity. But wherein lies the wrong? The minister was not ordained to preach Calvinism or Lutherism or Wesleyism, but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. His supreme allegiance, therefore, is due to this gospel as the Spirit enables him to understand it, and not to any man-made creed. And if he is teaching his people a better gospel than that they had bargained for, and they are well satisfied, why should he disturb their peace or shock their prejudices by the needless announcement of an unwelcome fact? Would such a step be an act of "genuine charity"?—the exercise of that prudence and circumspection which the Lord enjoins?

"We do not believe," continues our critic, "that there is a religious society in the old church which would tolerate for one moment that their minister should claim the right to follow this advice," that is, the advice which the Messenger condemns as "essentially dishonest." On the contrary, we believe—yes, are quite sure—that the wisest, best, and most progressive element in every religious society would heartily approve of his following this advice. They would say to him, "Go on as you have been going, and quietly teach the new truths until the entire society shall have learned them and become imbued with their heavenly spirit." Only the bigots would refuse to tolerate him. And whose judgment does the Messenger most respect, that of the bigots or that of the liberals?—that which aims at peace and progress, or that which tends to strife and division? If the latter, then the editor shows an utter disregard of the teaching in A. C. 6047.

It is needless to say more (though much more might be said) in vindication of the policy so sternly proscribed by the Messenger. That policy, when carefully considered, is seen to be most reasonable, wise, and just, and in perfect accord with the teaching of Scripture and of the divinely authorized Writings. It is the policy which hundreds of the best ministers in all the denominations—and their number will soon be counted by thousands—are steadily pursuing at this time; and they have the witness of the Spirit in their own souls that what they are doing is not "essentially dishonest," but wise, prudent, and essentially righteous. It is a policy by which the new and precious truths of heaven are being disseminated as by the direct agency of all the professedly New-Church periodicals and missionaries—though we would by no means discourage or disparage the work of these. And does not the fact that some hundreds of thousands of volumes of New-Church works have been sent free to ministers in our country, and thankfully received by them, within the last few years, plainly enough stamp this policy with among the people a hundred times as fast with the Divine approval?

There are several other mistakes in the Mes- senger's notice of "Independent Witnesses;" but as they are quite subordinate to the one we have here examined, we pass them without further notice—only adding that they all appear to be the legitimate offspring of a mistaken idea of the nature and whereabout of the New Church, and of the editor's attitude toward the Swedenborg Publishing Association and the freedom and catholicity which it represents and advocates.

B. F. B

Every reader of the Messenger who has any confidence in the opinion or judgment of its editor, would be forced, by his criticism, to regard "Independent Witnesses" as a bad book, and would therefore feel more like hindering than helping its circulation. Believing that, if the above "vindication" were placed before them they would see that they had been misled by the Messenger's criticism, and would change their opinion, I could not help wishing that the foregoing article might be copied into that paper, that its five or six thousand readers might haνe the opportunity of judging for themselves of the morality or immorality of the course the book advises. Accordingly I sent the printed article to the Messenger, with the earnest request that it might be copied into the columns of that paper. But my request, I regret to say, was refused, and the article returned, which seemed alike unjust to me, to the readers of the Messenger, and to the cause of truth to which that paper is devoted. For all those readers are still left under the totally false impression that Mr. Barrett, in his old age, has written a book that is highly discreditable to the New Church, since it encourages and counsels ministers of the gospel to an immoral and wicked practice. It is to be hoped that our brother will ere long see the injustice of this, and hasten to undo it.