Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church/Chapter8
VIII
"THE APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED" AND OTHER WORKS
In the Arcana of the Books of Moses, and collaterally in the other Books of the Old Testament, Swedenborg had found a constant foreshadowing of the eventual coming of the Lord to dwell with men their God. In other terms, he had seen the inner Word to be the revelation of the Divine purpose toward mankind, inducing always the Divine image and likeness, and in due time to be fully accomplished by this purpose, or the Word, becoming flesh and dwelling among men. This great event in the history of mankind we are wont to regard as wholly completed in the Gospel period, while our Lord remained visible in the flesh. But this was only the beginning, the introduction to the Lord's dwelling with men in their souls, their hearts, and even in their flesh. By coming down, or coming forth from within, into all the degrees of human life, even to the flesh, in the single form taken from woman, the Divine Purpose, the Word, the Divine Will toward men, entered into human clothing and became forever present and operative with man, as he will accept it for his own—not indeed in continued visible presence, which could be but in one spot and there compelling, but throughout the world for all time in the record of the Gospel and within the heart as the Holy Spirit to those that love His commandments and do them.
This inner presence became real to the disciples after the outward presence left them, and inspired them to preach and heal in His name. But it was less and less realized in succeeding generations till—even as the Lord had foretold—all perception of it was lost. In fact, the understanding of it by the first disciples was not what would have been given if they could have received it. They thought of their Lord as they had seen Him—as a Divine Person, the. Only-begotten Son, in the bosom and at the right hand of the Father. It was with this idea that Judas wondered how He could manifest Himself to them and not to the world. And we may doubt whether any understood the Lord's answer—"If a man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him." For all the pains their Lord had taken to make them understand that He was but the manifestation of the Father's will in their human degree of life, they could not realize that when He had laid down the human form taken from the mother Mary, He would thereafter be with them and all who would love Him—not in limited bodily form, but as the Father's will in the Divinely human form of thought and feeling, which is the Word in essence and which He had revealed to them in the flesh.
This Divine Human presence manifesting itself by the Holy Spirit, calling all things to our remembrance whatsoever He has said unto us in all the Scriptures, the Church has been slow to apprehend. Only in love can it be apprehended. An age must pass of faulty apprehension in which the love of the many will wax cold. But John should endure to the end. There should yet be gleanings of the olive, a few berries in the topmost boughs of the Church, some of the love represented by John, when the time should be fulfilled for the new recognition of their Lord in His Word.
John in vision saw the Son of Man in the midst of seven golden candlesticks, with all heavenly light and love. The golden candlesticks, according to Swedenborg, represent the acceptance in the heavens of this the Lord's light in His Divine Human manifestation. John's falling at His feet as dead represents the utter abasement of all merely human conceit when this Divine presence is apprehended in the Word. John as representing the loving acceptance of the Divine Human presence represents also the teaching of this presence, and thus his addresses to the churches represent the effect of this teaching, or doctrine, on the various states of those of the Church who are in the end to compose it in its new age—that of the New Jerusalem. In the fifth chapter of his vision the opening of the Book by the Lamb describes the effect of its interior light on the interiors of men in both worlds. Thus the Book is at once the book of the Word and the book of men's lives as it searches and judges them. And the remaining chapters are filled with the particulars of this judgment, condemning and consigning to their homes those whose hearts and lives are opposed to the Divine will, enlightening and enrolling in a new Christian heaven those whose hearts are open to this will.
All the while that this true understanding of the Divine Human presence was descending from heaven into the world of spirits and executing the judgment there, Swedenborg was on earth recording both the judgment and the interior significance of the vision to John, in his "Apocalypse Explained." The judgment he describes as being effected during the year 1757. In that year and the one or two following he was preparing this work for the press in four large volumes. At first the method pursued is that of the Arcana, giving the high internal explication of each verse and word, with abounding citations from other parts of the Word in confirmation, with their internal meaning. And as in the Arcana, though true doctrine is drawn from the Word in contrast with the false doctrine condemned, but little is said of the new church by which the true is to be held, and that little speaks of it as probably, like the first Christian, to be established among the Gentiles. When however he comes to the fourteenth chapter, he finds the woman encompassed with the sun and with the moon at her feet, to represent the love for the Lord remaining in the Church, which was to bring forth the true doctrine—the man-child—and to become the new stage of the Church.
This becomes more and more apparent to him as he advances in the explication, and as he finds at the conclusion of the judgment a new heaven being formed of those from the Christian world who had in patience been awaiting the new light and now found their place in this heaven of the new church to be founded on earth. With this new understanding of the coming age of the Christian Church, as he came nearer its more particular description, he stayed his hand in the nineteenth chapter and laid this nearly completed work aside, not to be printed until by his friends after his death. Instead he now first published several smaller treatises, on "The Final Judgment" on "Heaven and Hell," "The Earths in the Universe," and "The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine." Then he took up the Apocalypse anew and in 1766 produced a much smaller work entitled "The Apocalypse Revealed," omitting in great part the numerous citations from other parts of Scripture which, with their explication, made the former work so voluminous. And from the very beginning of this later work he treats of those of the Christian Church of the first age who on being enlightened are to form the Church in its new age—the New Church of the New Jerusalem, the genuine Christian Church. The descent of the light of the Divine Human presence through heaven effecting the judgment in the world of spirits and for a beginning on this earth, was already bringing this enlightenment and was forming the new heaven.
The part taken in this judgment and enlightenment by Swedenborg's reception of this new light from the inner sense of the Word, with its publication and demonstration from the Word in the letter, is not set forth by him, but may in some degree be inferred. We have seen the doctrine of salvation by faith alone attacked by him from boyhood. It was the dominant power in the Protestant Church of his day, and his attacks which pervaded his theological works aroused the hostility of the Swedish clergy in this world, as well as of the numberless supporters of this doctrine in the world of spirits. Of the virulence with which his demonstration of the falsity of this doctrine was attacked, and of the effects in the world of spirits of this demonstration from the Scriptures, a striking example is related by him at the close of his explication of the eleventh chapter of the Apocalypse:—
"I was once seized suddenly with a disease that seemed to threaten my life. I suffered excruciating pain all over my head; a pestilent smoke ascended from that Jerusalem [in the world of spirits] which is called Sodom and Egypt; half dead with the severity of my sufferings, I expected every moment would be my last. Thus I lay in my bed three days and a half; my spirit was reduced to this state, and my body in consequence. And then I heard the voices of persons about me, saying, 'Lo, he who preached repentance for the remission of sins, and the man Christ alone, lies dead in the streets of our city.' And they asked some of the clergy whether he was worthy of burial; who answered, 'No, let him lie to be gazed at.' And they passed to and fro, and mocked. All this befell me, of a truth, when I was writing the explanation of this chapter of the Apocalypse. Then were heard many shocking speeches of scoffers who said, 'How can repentance be performed without faith? And how can the man Christ be adored as God? Since we are saved of free grace without any merit of our own, what need is there of any faith but this—that God the Father sent the Son to take away the curse of the law, to impute his merit to us, and so to justify us in His sight, and absolve us from our sins by the declaration of a priest, and then give the Holy Ghost to operate all good in us? Are not these doctrines agreeable to Scripture, and consistent with reason also?' All this the crowd who stood by agreed to and applauded. I heard what passed without the power of replying, being almost dead; but after three days and a half my spirit recovered, and being in the spirit I left the street and went into the city, and said again, 'Do the work of repentance and believe in Christ, and your sins will be remitted and ye will be saved; but otherwise ye will perish. Did not the Lord Himself preach repentance for the remission of sins, and that men should believe in Him? Did not He enjoin His disciples to preach the same? Is not a full and fatal security of life the sure consequence of this dogma of your faith?' But they replied, 'What idle talk! Has not the Son made satisfaction? And does not the Father impute it to us, and justify us who have believed in it? Thus are we led by the spirit of grace; how then can sin have place in us, and what power has death over us? Do you comprehend this Gospel, thou preacher of sin and repentance?' At that instant a voice was heard from heaven, saying, 'What is the faith of an impenitent man but a dead faith? The end is come, the end is come upon you that are secure, blameless in your own eyes, justified in your own faith, ye devils.' And suddenly a deep gulf was opened in the midst of the city, which spread itself far and wide, and the houses fell one upon another and were swallowed up; and presently water began to bubble up from the wide whirlpool, and overflowed the waste.
"When they were thus overwhelmed and, to appearance, drowned, I was desirous to know their condition in the deep; and a voice from heaven said to me, 'Thou shalt see and hear.' And straightway the waters in which they seemed to be drowned, disappeared; for waters in the spiritual world are correspondences, and hence appear to surround those who are in falsities. Then they appeared to me in a sandy place, where there were large heaps of stones, amongst which they were running, and lamenting that they were cast out of their great city; and they lifted up their voices and cried, 'Why has all this befallen us? Are we not by our faith clean, pure, just, and holy? . . . Have we not made reconciliation, propitiation, expiation, and are thus absolved, washed, and cleansed from sins? And is not the curse of the law taken away by Christ? Why then are we cast down here as the damned? We have been told by a presumptuous preacher of sin in our great city, "Believe in Christ and repent." But have we not believed in Christ while we believed in His merit? And have we not done the work of repentance while we confessed ourselves sinners? Why then has all this befallen us?' But immediately a voice from one side said to them, 'Do you know any one sin that is in you? Have you ever examined yourselves? Have you in consequence shunned any evil as a sin against God? For he who does not shun sin, remains in it; and is not sin the Devil? Ye are therefore of the class of whom the Lord said, Then shall ye begin to say, "We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets;" but He shall say, "I tell you I know you not, whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity." . . . Depart ye, therefore, every one to his own place; you see the openings into those caverns; enter, and there work shall be given each of you to do, and afterwards food according to your work; but should you refuse at present to enter, the demands of hunger will speedily compel you.'"
This, though not written for the purpose, bears plain testimony to the part which the opening of the Word to and through Swedenborg himself had in the diffusion of the light of the judgment.
And what were the effects of the judgment: Through the vast multitude of spirits gathered for harvest in the world of spirits the Gospel was preached anew with light from its Divine Author. As at His first coming, those who had done well welcomed the light and were gathered by it into its home, while those who had done evil fled from the light and were gathered unto their like in hell. Thus the atmosphere was cleared above and about men's souls; and from that time forward whenever the Word of God is read with simple heart, the light of heaven, which is none other than that of the Holy Spirit, flows into the mind and enables it to see with some clearness the true purport of what is read. How truly does this explain the return of the Christian mind to the simple Gospel and the right understanding thereof!
The new heaven was formed of those gathered by the judgment into the fold of the Good Shepherd. The new earth, its child in the world, is being born and nurtured. But the holy city, the new Jerusalem, what is that? A city is the abode of a community of men, with separate dwellings but with common streets in which they walk in concert, and public grounds and buildings for common interests. The city of men's minds is a system of thought or, spiritually speaking, of doctrine, in which, while each mind has its peculiar abode, the general lines are held in common, with common centres for assembling, for common interests. And as in the centre of a city resides its government, so in the centre of a common cult or doctrine resides its object of worship, its Lord. So was it with the old Jerusalem, with the Law of God in its central most holy place. So is it with the new. The Holy City is to be the new Christian faith, the resurrected faith, as declared in the Gospel, and as newly called to our remembrance and made clear by the light of the Holy Spirit. It has no need of the sun [of earth], neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
For continuity of subject we have taken Swedenborg's Apocalypse Revealed in connection with his Apocalypse Explained. But after laying aside the latter he wrote various smaller works, of which he published The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith; also a Continuation concerning the Final Judgment. These were but small treatises. In 1763 he published the larger work entitled "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom" and in the same or the next year that entitled "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence." In these two most important works we find the spiritual philosophy of the New Church. Then came the Apocalypse Revealed, 1764-1766, followed in 1767 by "The Delights of Wisdom concerning Marriage Love." It is noteworthy that this last named work was the first of his theological works to which the author attached his name, "By Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swede." But at the end of the volume he appends a "List of the Theological Works published by me," adding that they are still for sale at his printers and publishers in London. In the same style he affixed his name to the "Summary Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse." This was a small tract preliminary to his last important and crowning work entitled "The True Christian Religion, containing the entire theology of the New Church foretold by Daniel, chap, VII. 13, 14, and in the Apocalypse, XXI. 1, 2: by Emanuel Swedenborg, Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." This appellation he told a friend that he had asked and received permission to affix. The original volume in Latin was published at Amsterdam in the year 1771, in a quarto of 541 pages.
This monumental work contains far more than a mere statement of the doctrine of the true Christian Church. It contains ample exposition of every particular, with confutation of all opposing doctrine. And between the chapters are Memorabilia of things seen and heard in the other world, especially of important discussions held in the world of spirits on the very points of doctrine considered in the chapters. We cannot better close this sketch of Swedenborg's theological works than with what he sets forth at the beginning of this last great work as "the face, gate, and summary" of this new Christian doctrine:—
"The faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in the Universal Form is this:—That the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world that He might subjugate the hells and glorify His Human; and that without this no mortal could have been saved; and that those are saved who believe in Him.
"It is said in the universal form because this is the universal of faith; and a universal of faith is that which will be in the whole and every part. It is a universal of faith that God is one in essence and in person, in whom is a Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. It is a universal of faith that no mortal could have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world. It is a universal of faith that He came into the world that He might remove hell from man and that He did remove it by means of combats against it and victories over it; thus He subjugated it and reduced it to order and under obedience to Himself. It is a universal of faith that He came into the world that He might glorify His Human which He assumed in the world, that is, might unite it to the Divine from which [it proceeded]; thus He holds hell in order and under obedience to Himself forever. Since this could not have been done but by means of temptations admitted into His Human, even to the last of them, and the last was the passion of the cross, therefore He underwent that temptation. These are the universals of faith concerning the Lord.
"The universal of faith on the part of man is that he should believe in the Lord; for by believing in Him conjunction with Him is effected, by which is salvation. To believe in Him is to have confidence that He saves; and because no one can have this confidence but he that lives well, therefore this also is meant by believing in Him."
Such is Swedenborg's own summary of the doctrine for the new age of the Christian Church—the "True Christian Religion"—which it was his mission to draw from the letter of the Word of God, under the guidance of the inner heavenly content revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. There is nothing new or strange in the doctrine, for it is simply that of our Lord Himself, as recorded in the Gospel, now first clearly and rationally understood. The difficulty with the common interpretations of the Gospel has been the lack of clear distinction between that in our Lord which was of man and that which was of God. This distinction is rightly understood only with experience in ourselves of the distinction between the natural man, which is of self and the world, and the spiritual man, which is of God and of heaven—a distinction of which Paul well warned us. The life natural to man, into which he is born, is centripetal, self-centred. The life of God which man is to receive for his own, in coming into the image and likeness of his Creator, is centrifugal, giving forth of itself endlessly for the blessing of others. Our Lord taught plainly the absolute necessity of conversion from the one life to the other in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. What has not been well understood is that within or above man's natural mind, with its necessary concern for himself, he has an inner or superior spiritual mind, at first undeveloped, but capable of being opened and becoming lord of the house: not by any effort of the natural, but by the inflowing Divine life, when by instruction or experience the natural has been made willing to subside into its appointed place of humble service.
All this the Lord taught, not by words alone, but more emphatically by His own example, in Himself laying down the maternal human nature and living and speaking solely from the Divine Human nature within. It is this inner Divine Human life which He bade men recognize as the will of the Father, and in which He declared that whoever had seen and known Him, had seen and known the Father. In this He desired men also to understand that whatever they should be enabled to do of the Father's will, would be not of themselves, but of God. "Why callest thou Me good? None is good save One, that is, God." The comprehension of this Divine teaching was little possible to races just emerging from barbarism, or worse, from the profligacy of Roman civilization. What could they do in the way of renouncing their own will and accepting the Divine in its stead? For the time, therefore, it was permitted them to regard the Lord Jesus as a Divine Being distinct from the Father, retaining His maternal human nature, which for consistency has been determined in the Roman Church to have been itself Divinely immaculate. On this Rock of the Divine Human of our Lord the Christian Church has split and been shattered to pieces. The true understanding of this Corner-stone on which the Church is to be rebuilt is that the maternal human, after serving its temporary purpose as a recipient, and in itself being rejected, no longer existed. But the Divine Life which had in this maternal human entered fully into the life of men, had thereby acquired a perpetual Divine Human presence with man, in which it became God-withus, our known Father in heaven.