Soon afterwards Swedenborg left Stockholm; and we find him in July, 1762, at Amsterdam. Jung Stilling received from a friend the following interesting anecdote respecting him at this time. “I was in Amsterdam,” says he, “in 1762, in a company in which Swedenborg was present, on the very day that Peter III., Emperor of Russia, died. In the midst of our conversation his countenance changed, and it was evident that his soul was no longer there, and that something extraordinary was passing in him. As soon as he came to himself again, he was asked what had happened to him. He would not at first communicate it; but at length, after having been repeatedly pressed, he said: ‘This very hour, the Emperor Peter III. has died in his prison,’ mentioning at the same time the manner of his death. ‘Gentlemen will please to note down the day, that they may be able to compare it with the intelligence of his death in the newspapers.’ The newspapers subsequently announced the Emperor’s death as having taken place on that day.”
CHAPTER XVI.
Doctrines of the Lord—The Sacred Scripture, Faith, and Life.
In 1763, Swedenborg published, at Amsterdam, the following works:—1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord; 2. The Sacred Scripture; 3. Faith; 4. Life; 5. Continuation respecting the Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon; and 6. Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. We will now speak of these works seriatim.
1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, is a small treatise: but within its limits is concentrated so much light and rationality, that we might say the question it deals with was finally settled, did we not too well know the perversity and pertinacity of theological error, in closing the mind against the perception of truth, though it were manifested with angelic wisdom.
The great truth in the treatise is the Supreme Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This truth is brought forth from the collation of nearly every passage of Scripture which, in the literal sense, bears upon the subject. It is shown, by an invincible logic, that there is but one God; and that, in the Bible itself, the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead is not to be found. It is then shown that God the Lord, in the fullness of time, came to earth, and put on human nature, or became incarnate. The object sought to be effected by the incarnation, was the salvation of man. From the days of Adam, mankind had been treading a downward path. Through wickedness, all true faith and spirituality had perished. Hell had drawn near to men, even to the possession of their bodies, as we read in the Gospels. Isaiah describes the state of mankind thus: “Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure.” Humanity was thus hastening to destruction, and final extinction. But the Lord Jehovah interposed. Clothing himself with an arm of flesh, he met the powers of hell on their own ground; and rendering himself accessible to their attacks, in a series of the most direful temptation-combats, He reduced Hell to order, and redeemed mankind forever from the absolute dominion of devils. But this was not all. The human nature that the Lord had assumed, full of hereditary corruption, was taken from the race of Jewish kings, the most depraved and perverted to be found on earth. He purified, glorified, and made it divine, ascending with it to heaven. The new influences flowing through the medium of this Divine Humanity, are called the Holy Spirit. Of the truth of this we have the most convincing proof in John vii. 39, where it is said, “the Holy Ghost was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
From this it is very evident that the Trinity is not, as commonly taught, a Trinity of persons, but of principles. In ourselves we see a finite image of this Divine and Infinite Trinity. The soul of man may be taken as the representative of Jehovah; his body represents the Divine Humanity, or Jesus Christ; and his action or influence on others corresponds to the Holy Spirit. Regarded in this light, that most mystical and incomprehensible dogma of three Persons, and yet one God, is annihilated, and we come into the enjoyment of a faith at once scriptural, intelligible, and rational. It is impossible for us here to go into the details of this doctrine, or give even an outline of its proofs. To an earnest seeker after truth we can conceive no pleasure exceeding an acquaintance with this treatise on the Lord. If, especially, he has vexed and worn himself in reading the profitless controversies and lucubrations of learned divines on the Trinity, his fretted and heated mind will experience a spiritual relief similar to the natural one which results when patience has become exhausted in vain endeavors to unfasten a lock, and a skilled mechanic draws near, takes the work out of our hands, and with dexterity and ease accomplishes the task in a moment. Swedenborg lays his hand on the tangled mass of mysticism and perverted Scripture, and straightway the Gordian knot is untied. The simplicity of explanation fills us with amazement, and we wonder that it was never done before.
2. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Sacred Scripture, next demands our attention. The primary truth of this treatise is, that the Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is Divine Truth itself, thus the Lord himself. Let us see how this can be.
We are too apt to abstract books from their authors, and to regard them as matters impersonal,—as type and paper merely. Now this is a childish error, and a proof of the loose and external way in which we are accustomed to think. When I speak, or write, I manifest spiritual influences; and the force of these influences is proportionate to my earnestness, and their effect is proportionate to the state of reception of my hearers. Words are thus perceived to be the representatives of spiritual forces. The action of spirit on spirit is inappreciable by the senses; but could we look behind the veil of nature when a crowd or a congregation is swayed hither and thither by the speech of one man, we should see that the influence exerted was as real and actual as muscular force. From this we learn that words are not mere sounds, but are the sheaths or cases of spiritual life, and on this ground we at once see the force of the Lord’s declaration, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John vi. 63.