“After this, there was joy in heaven, and light in the world of spirits, such as was not before; and the interposing clouds between heaven and mankind being removed, a similar light also then arose on men in the world, giving them new enlightenment.”
Such was the Last Judgment. Its centenary draws nigh; and how fruitful in good to mankind has been that century which is now drawing to a close! It is unnecessary to repeat the hackneyed phrases which tell of the progress of the world during the last hundred years. Every newspaper speaks of it. Everybody with open eyes observes it. It has become the universal opinion that the world is moving onwards and upwards; yet how few understand why the world is so moving. Men have yet to learn that effects can no more take place without adequate causes in the universe of mind than in the universe of matter. Nowhere out of Swedenborg can we find a description of those spiritual causes which are changing society and revolutionizing the whole world. We, who live in the dawn of the new era, can form, even in our highest states, but a faint conception of its coming glory. Yet we see in the wonderful movements of our age, in its growing benevolence, in its increasing intelligence and thoughtfulness, and in the prodigious advances that are making in every department of science and art, so many indubitable signs that the former things have passed away, and that the Lord is making all things new.
Every one knows that in the Scripture, the second coming of the Lord is described as simultaneous with the Last Judgment. We will hereafter endeavor to prove that the Lord has indeed come, and will describe the manner of his coming.
The reception of the doctrine of the Last Judgment is somewhat difficult, because the comprehension of it demands the understanding of many principles and spiritual laws unknown to the world at large, yet most worthy of any amount of labor requisite to master them. The remembrance of this fact will serve as an apology for any appearance of unfounded assumption in the outline of the doctrine we have given.
CHAPTER XIII.
Heaven and Hell.
The treatise on Heaven and Hell is among the most charming of Swedenborg’s writings. Its subjects possess a universal attraction; for, what believer in the immortality of man has not, at times, longed to penetrate the awful mysteries of the unseen world? And there is nothing unreasonable in the desire. True it is, that, until Swedenborg came, any but the most general knowledge of the nature of the future life had been withdrawn from mankind since the days of primeval innocence; yet not from anything hurtful in the knowledge itself, but simply because the sublime facts of the future state transcended the apprehension of men immersed in worldly loves and cares, and denying and ridiculing every idea which was not an object of sensual perception. For this reason the Lord said to his disciples: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now.” (John xvi. 12.) We frequently see this inability to “bear” things spiritual and divine, manifested in our own experience. We offer Swedenborg’s treatise, for perusal, to some man of science, full of self-confidence, with the laws and facts of the universe at his finger’s ends; or to some deeply-read theologian. The title page is read,—“Heaven and its Wonders, the World of Spirits, and Hell; being a relation of things heard and seen.” It is enough. “What nonsense! What foolishness! The lunatic! What could he know of heaven or hell? How could he get there? The impostor! None but a fool could write such a book!” And so on. The title page settles the whole question. Now what can be said in reply to these railers, of whom the world is full? How can one argue with, and combat, such inveterate prejudice? Yet these people are professing Christians. They profess to believe there is a heaven and a hell. But, does not their condemnation of Swedenborg betray a lurking infidelity in their hearts? If they really possessed a living faith in the existence of heaven and hell, it could not appear to them so utterly preposterous that some account of their nature might in these times have been revealed, through the abounding mercy of the Lord.
But the world now contains many who are willing to receive, and able to understand, the truths of the future life. The Lord, who never allows his children to lack any good thing, has, in due season, given them, through Swedenborg, this precious and delightful volume. Let us briefly enumerate its important statements.
The spiritual world divides itself into three great regions,—Heaven, the World of Spirits, and Hell.