Various Selections from The Heavenly Doctrines ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— THE CROWN OF ALL THE CHURCHES —
AN UNDERSTANDING OF ONE GOD
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. (John 16:12, 13; 25)
There have been, in general, from the beginning, four churches on this earth, one before the flood, the second after it, the third the Israelitish church, and the fourth that which is called the Christian church; and as all churches depend on a knowledge and acknowledgment of one God, with whom the man of the church can be conjoined,
and as none of these four churches has possessed that truth, it follows that a church must follow these four which will know and acknowledge one God.
The sole end of God's Divine love, when He created the world, was to conjoin man to Himself and Himself to man that He might thus dwell with man.
This truth the former churches did not possess, the Most Ancient church, which preceded the flood, worshiping an invisible God with whom no conjunction is possible; the Ancient church which followed the flood, did likewise; the Israelitish church worshiped Jehovah, who in Himself is an invisible God (Exod. 33:18-23), but under a human form, which Jehovah God put on by means of an angel, in which He was seen by Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua, and sometimes by the prophets. This human form
was a representative of the Lord who was to come, and because this was representative so each thing and all things in their church were made representative. It is a well known fact that the sacrifices and everything else pertaining to their worship represented the Lord who was to come, and that when He came they were abrogated. The fourth, which is called the Christian church, did indeed
with the lips acknowledge one God, but in three Persons, each One of whom was singly or by Himself God; thus it acknowledged a divided Trinity, but not a Trinity united in one Person; and from this an idea of three Gods adhered to their minds, although the expression "one God" was on their lips. Moreover, the teachers of the church from that doctrine of theirs which they concocted after the Nicene Council, teach that men ought to believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all of them invisible, because existent in a similar Divine essence before the world was (
although, as said above, with an invisible God no conjunction is possible), for they still do not know that
the one God who is invisible came into the world and assumed a Human, not only that He might redeem men, but also that He might become visible, that thereby conjunction with man might become possible. For we read:
The Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 14).
And in Isaiah:
Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name, God, Mighty, Father of Eternity (9:6).
It is also frequently declared in the Prophets that Jehovah Himself would come into the world, and would be a Redeemer, which He also became in the Human which He assumed. (TCR 786)
This New Church is the crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on the earth,
because it is to worship one visible God in whom is the invisible like the soul in the body. Thus, and not otherwise, is a conjunction of God with man possible because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally, and
conjunction must exist in his thought, and thus in his love's affection, and this is the case when he thinks of God as a Man.
Conjunction with an invisible God is like a conjunction of the eye's vision with the expanse of the universe, the limits of which are invisible; it is also like vision in mid-ocean, which reaches out into the air and upon the sea, and is lost.
Conjunction with a visible God, on the other hand, is like beholding a man in the air or on the sea spreading forth his hands and inviting to his arms.
For all conjunction of God with man must be also a reciprocal conjunction of man with God; and no such reciprocation is possible except with a visible God. That before the assumption of the Human, God was not visible, the Lord Himself also teaches in John:
Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His form (5:37).
And in Moses:
That no one can see God and live (Ex. 33:20).
But that He is visible through His Humanity is stated in John:
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath manifested Him (1:18).
And in the same:
Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me. He that knoweth Me, knoweth the Father, and he that seeth Me seeth the Father (14:6, 7, 9).
That there is a conjunction with the invisible God through the visible, that is, through the Lord, He teaches in the following passages:
Jesus said, Abide in Me, and I in you; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4, 5).
In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me and I in you (John 14:20).
The glory which thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and Thou in Me: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:21-23, 26; also 6:56).
It is also taught that He and the Father are one, and that in order to have eternal life man must believe in Him. That
salvation depends on conjunction with God has been frequently shown above. (TCR 787)
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Men ought to believe, that is, have faith, in God the Savior Jesus Christ, because that is a faith in a
visible God within whom is the invisible; and faith in a visible God, who is at once Man and God, enters into a man;
for faith in its essence is spiritual but in its form is natural; consequently with man such a faith becomes spiritual-natural. For anything spiritual, in order to be anything with man, must have a recipient in the natural. The naked spiritual does indeed enter into man, but it is not received; it is like the ether, which flows in and out producing no effect, for to produce an effect there must be perception and consequent reception, both of these in his mind; and no such reception is possible with man except in his natural.
But on the other hand merely natural faith, or faith destitute of a spiritual essence, is not faith, but only persuasion or knowledge. In externals persuasion emulates faith; but since there is in its internals no spirituality, neither is there anything saving in it. Such is the faith of all who deny the Divinity of the Lord's Human; such was the Arian faith, and such also is the Socinian faith, because both reject the Lord's Divinity. What is faith without an object toward which it is determined? Is it not like gazing into the universe, where the sight falls, as it were, into vacuity and is lost? It is like a bird flying beyond the atmosphere into the ether, where, as in a vacuum, it ceases to breathe. The abiding of this faith in man's mind may be compared to that of the winds in the wings [halls?] of Aeolus, or of light in a falling star. It rises like a comet with a long tail, and like it passes over and disappears.
In a word,
faith in an invisible God is actually blind, since the human mind fails to see its God; and the light of that faith,
not being a spiritual-natural faith, is a fatuous light; which light is like that of the glow-worm, or like that seen above marshes or sulphurous glebes at night, or like the phosphorescence of rotten wood. From that light nothing comes except what pertains to fantasy, which creates a belief that the apparent is the real, when yet it is not. Faith in an invisible God shines with no other light than this, especially when God is thought to be a Spirit, and spirit is thought to be like ether. What follows but that man regards God as he does the ether? Consequently he seeks God in the universe; and when he does not find Him there, he believes the nature of the universe to be God. This is the origin of the prevailing naturalism of the day. Did not the Lord say,
That no one ever heard the Father's voice or saw His shape? (John 5:37)
and also,
That no man hath seen God at any time, but that the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father hath revealed Him (John 1:18).
No man hath seen the Father, save He who is with the Father, He hath seen the Father (John 6:46).
Also that no one cometh unto the Father, but through Him (John 14:6).
Furthermore,
That He who sees and knows Him sees and knows the Father (John 14:7-12).
But faith in the Lord God the Savior is different; He, being God and Man, can be approached and be seen in thought. Faith in Him is not indeterminate, but has an object from which and to which it proceeds and when once received is permanent, as when anyone has seen an emperor or king, as often as the fact is recalled the image returns. That faith's sight is like one's seeing a bright cloud, and in the midst of it an angel who invites the man to him, so that he may be raised up into heaven. Thus does the Lord appear to those who have faith in Him;
He draws near to every man so far as man recognizes and acknowledges Him, which he does, so far as he knows and keeps the Lord's commandments, which are, to shun evils and do good; and at length the Lord comes into man's house, and together with the Father who is in Him, makes His abode with man, according to these words in John:
Jesus said, He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him (14:21, 23).
The foregoing was written in the presence of the Lord's twelve apostles, who were sent to me by the Lord while I was writing it. (TCR 339)
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Genuine Truth, of which doctrine must consist, can be seen in the sense of the letter of the Word
only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord.
Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, and exists in those who love truths because they are truths, and who make truths uses of life. To no others is enlightenment in the Word possible. Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, because the Word is from Him, and consequently He is in it. Enlightenment is given to those who love truths because they are truths, and who make them uses of life, because such are in the Lord, and the Lord is in them; for the Lord is Truth itself; and
men love the Lord when they live in accordance with His Divine truths, that is, when from those truths they perform uses, as is taught in these words in John:
In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me and I in you. He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him and I will come unto him, and make My abode with him (John 14:20, 21, 23).
Such as these are in enlightenment when they read the Word; and with such the Word is both luminous and translucent.
With such the Word is both luminous and translucent because a spiritual sense and a celestial sense are contained in every particular of the Word, and these senses are in the light of heaven; and thus by means of these and the light of these the Lord inflows into the natural sense of the Word and into the light of that sense in man;
and in consequence man acknowledges truth from an interior perception, and then sees it in his thought, and this as often as he is in an affection for truth for the sake of truth. For perception comes from affection, and thought from perception; and thus the acknowledgment, which is called faith, is produced. (TCR 231)
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It is written in many places that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven
... and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30) (see also, Matt. 17:5; 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 9:34, 35; 21:27; Rev. 1:7; 14:14; Dan. 7:13).
And as no one has hitherto known what is meant by "the clouds of heaven," it has been believed that the Lord would appear in them in Person. Heretofore it has not been known that "the clouds of heaven" mean
the Word in the sense of the letter, and that the "glory and power" in which He is then to come (Matt. 24:30), mean the spiritual sense of the Word, because no one as yet has had the least conjecture that there is a spiritual sense in the Word, such as this sense is in itself. But as the Lord has now opened to me the spiritual sense of the Word, and has granted me to be associated with angels and spirits in their world as one of them, it is disclosed that "a cloud of heaven" means the Word in the natural sense, and "glory" the Word in the spiritual sense, and "power" the Lord's power through the Word. ...
In the spiritual world as well as in the natural world there are clouds, but from a different origin. In the spiritual world there are sometimes bright clouds over the angelic heavens, but dusky cloud over the hells. The bright clouds over the angelic heaven signify obscurity there arising from the literal sense of the Word; but when these clouds are dispersed, it signifies that they are in the clear light of the Word from the spiritual sense; while the dusky clouds over the hells signify the falsification and profanation of the Word. This signification of "clouds" in the spiritual world has its origin in the fact that the light which there goes forth from the Lord as a sun, signifies Divine truth; for which reason He is called "the Light" (John 1:9; 12:35). And for the same reason the Word itself there which is kept in the sacred recesses of the temples, appears surrounded by a clear white light, and its obscurity is induced by clouds. (from TCR 776)
AUTHOR'S PREFACE IN APOCALYPSE REVEALED
There are many who have labored in the explanation of the Apocalypse; but, as the spiritual sense of the Word had been hitherto unknown, they could not see the arcana which lie concealed therein,
for the spiritual sense alone discloses these; on which account expositors have conjectured various things, and the most of them have applied the things that are therein to the states of empires, intermingling also some things about ecclesiastical affairs.
But the Apocalypse, like the whole Word, does not in the least, in its spiritual sense, treat of worldly, but of heavenly things; thus not of empires and kingdoms, but of heaven and the church. It is to be known, that after the Last Judgment, which was accomplished in the spiritual world in the year 1757, concerning which see in a small work by itself, published at London in 1758, there was formed a New Heaven from Christians; but from those only who could receive the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, according to His words in Matthew 28:18:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
and who at the same time in the world had repented of their evil works. From this heaven the New Church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem,
is descending and will descend. That
this Church will acknowledge the Lord alone, is manifest from these passages in the Apocalypse:
There came unto me one of the seven angels, and spake with me, saying, Come I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's Wife; and he showed me the great city, holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (chapter 21:9, 10).
And in another place:
Let us rejoice and exult; for the time of the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready. Happy are they that are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (chapter 19:7, 9).
That there is to be a New Heaven, and that the New Church on earth will descend therefrom, is manifest from these words there:
I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth; and I saw the holy city Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband. He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new; and He said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful (chapter 21:1, 2, 5).
"The New Heaven" is a New Heaven from Christians: "the New Jerusalem" is the New Church on earth, which will act as one with that New Heaven. "The Lamb" is the Lord as to the Divine Human.
To this something shall be added for illustration.
The Christian Heaven is below the Ancient Heavens. Into it, from the time of the Lord, when He was in the world, were admitted those who worshiped one God under three Persons, and who at the same time had not the idea of three Gods; and this because the Trinity of Persons has been received in the whole Christian world. But they who cherished no other idea of the Lord's Human than as the human of another man, could not receive the faith of the New Jerusalem; which is, that the Lord is the only God, in whom is the Trinity. These were for that reasons separated, and were sent away to the extremes: it was given me to see the separations and the removals after the Last Judgment. For the whole heaven is founded upon a just idea of God, and the whole church on earth, and in general all religion; since by that idea there is conjunction, and by conjunction light, wisdom, and eternal happiness.
Everyone can see that the Apocalypse can by no means be explained but by the Lord alone; for each word therein contains arcana, which could never be known without particular enlightenment, and thus revelation; wherefore it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and to teach me. Do not believe, therefore, that I have taken anything therein from myself, nor from any angel, but from the Lord alone. The Lord also said to John through the angel:
Seal not the words of the prophecy of this Book (chapter 22:10).
By which is meant that they are to be made manifest.
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SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS EFFECTED BY MEANS OF A MAN TO WHOM THE LORD HAS MANIFESTED HIMSELF IN PERSON, AND WHOM HE HAS FILLED WITH HIS SPIRIT, THAT HE MAY TEACH THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH FROM THE LORD BY MEANS OF THE WORD.
Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as shown just above, and nevertheless has foretold that He was to come and establish a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who is able not only to receive these doctrines in his understanding but also to 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 thus introduced me into the spiritual world and granted me to see the heavens and the hells, and to talk with angels and spirits, and this now continuously for several years, I affirm in truth; as also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word. (TCR 779)
NOTE. - After this work was finished the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world; and the next day He sent them all forth throughout the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages, according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13, 14), and in Revelation (11:15).
Also that blessed are those that come to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).
THIS TOOK PLACE ON THE NINETEENTH DAY OF JUNE, 1770
This is what is meant by these words of the Lord:
He shall send His angels and they shall gather together His elect, from the end of the heavens to the end thereof (Matt. 24:31). (TCR 791)
From the INVITATION TO THE NEW CHURCH
The manifestation of the Lord, and intromission into the spiritual world, surpass all miracles. This has not been granted to anyone since the creation, as it has been to me. The men of the golden age, indeed, conversed with the angels; but it was not granted to them to be in any other than natural light; but to me it is granted
to be in both spiritual and natural light at the same time. By this means it has been granted to me to see the wonderful things of heaven, to be together with the angels like one of them, and at the same time to draw forth truths in light, and thus to perceive and teach them; consequently to be led by the Lord.
From SKETCH THE CORONIS, APPENDIX TO TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
In place of miracles, there has, at this day, taken place a manifestation of the Lord Himself, an intromission into the spiritual world, and enlightenment there by immediately light from the Lord, in such things as are interior things of the church.
But chiefly, the opening of the spiritual sense in the Word, in which the Lord is in His own Divine light.
These revelations are not miracles; since every man is in the spiritual world as to his spirit, without separation from his body in the natural world; I, however, with a certain separation, though only as to the intellectual part of my mind, but not as to the voluntary; and, as to the spiritual sense, the Lord through it is with all who in faith approach Him in that light, and through that are in its natural light. (Coronis 4, 5)
