0. INVITATION TO THE NEW CHURCH*
THERE is no Church truly such, unless God is One, and He, Jehovah God, under a human form.-And thus God is Man, and Man God.
The doctrinals contained in THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION agree with the doctrinals of those of the Roman Catholic Church, and with the doctrinals of those among the Protestants, who acknowledge a personal union in Christ, and approach Christ, and take the Eucharist in two kinds.
Various causes why now, for the first time, and not before, those truths of the Church [have been revealed]; among which is this, that a new Church is not instituted before the former Church is being consummated.
The Divine Providence in these matters:
From the heresies spread abroad after the time of the Apostles.
Why the Romish Church was permitted.
Why the separation from it took place, and the causes why it was an unworthy mother.
Why the Greek Church separated from the Romish.
Various things concerning miracles; that they have destroyed the Church,-also from the Lord's words in Matt. xxiv.
All things tended to the invocation of men who were called saints.
This Church is not instituted and established through miracles, but through the revelation of the spiritual sense [of the Word], and through the introduction of my spirit, and at the same time of my body, into the spiritual world, so that I might there know what heaven and hell are, and that I might imbibe from the Lord immediately in light the truths of faith, whereby man is led to eternal life.
The Advent of the Lord-from the Word and the creeds.
Invitation to the New Church that men should go to meet the Lord-from Rev. xxi and xxii; and also from Chap. i, etc., etc.
Hereafter men are not to be styled Evangelicals, Reformed, and still less Lutherans and Calvinists, but Christians.
Many things concerning miracles.
* Latin text in Volume recently returned from Upsala to The Swedenborg Society and entitled Opuscula Varia Swedenborgii, Vol. II. Aug. Nordenskold. Also in Immanuel Tafel's Diarium Spirituale, App. vii, pp. 142-160.
2. During man's regeneration, the light of heaven, and at the same time the heat of heaven, is instilled into natural light; which two constitute, as it were, a new soul by means of which man is formed by the Lord. This light and heat are instilled through the higher mind, which is called the spiritual mind. By virtue of this instilling, or insertion, man becomes a new creature, and becomes more enlightened and more intelligent in the things of the Church, and in the reading of the Word; and this is the new understanding and the new will. By means of this light and this heat, man is afterwards led by the Lord and from natural becomes spiritual.
4. This insertion may be exhibited by a comparison; namely, by the grafting and budding of trees, in that the grafts receive [the sap] inwardly in themselves, according to their form, etc.
10. The "fulness of time" also signifies consummation and desolation: the reason is that "time" signifies the state of the Church (see Rev. x 6; and in Ezekiel). The same also is signified by "a time, times, and half a time" [see Rev. xii 14; Dan. vii 25; xii 7]. Times in the world are spring, summer, autumn; and the fulness of them is winter. Times as to light are morning, noon, evening; and the fulness of these is night, etc., etc. This is meant by the Lord's coming being in "the fulness of time" or of "times"; that is, when there is no longer any truth of faith and good of charity remaining. (Concerning "the fulness of time," see Rom. xi 12, 25; Gal. iv 4, and, especially, Ephes. 9, 10; Gen. xv 16).
15. Thence it may he clearly seen that the body exists through the soul, as a tree from its seed. Hence also it is that a tree derives its quality from the seed. Inasmuch, therefore, as the soul of Christ is from the Divine essence, it follows that His body is also.
16. All theologians, when preaching, know nothing of the falsities of their religion. For they preach that God is one; that the Saviour is to be adored; that man, therefore, ought to believe in the Word and in what is preached; that he ought to exercise charity, and perform repentance, so as to desist from evils. While so preaching, they remember nothing about three Gods, about their mystical faith, about impotence in spiritual things, and about all the rest. But let them know, that the falsity which they have imbibed in the schools cleaves inwardly, and that the other things are only in the mouth; and that, after death, they will come into the interior things of their spirit- wherefore, these falsities must be entirely eradicated. And yet they continue in the mouth, like the beard on the chin; which, afterwards, as is the custom, is shaved off, and the man then becomes beardless.
17. When orthodoxy enters and explains those things which the priests preach from the Word concerning faith, that we must believe in God; concerning charity towards the neighbour; concerning conversion; concerning repentance, and hence the life of piety and spirituality-all these things fall, as it were, into a bucket; and then they are overthrown, as when men destroy a building, or house, so that nothing remains but ruins: and then they say, "These things are not truths unless you so believe. What does charity matter? or repentance?" etc. The very Word then falls to the ground, etc. It is as if one undermines a wall by digging ditches under it. All things are overthrown.
18. Bring a single example, where someone preaches devoutly on the above things from the Word; and, when his orthodoxy is brought to bear upon them, you will see that all things that I have seen and said are true. (Let an example illustrate this . . .) Thus, they affirm, and then deny, if orthodoxy is in the internal man and the above-mentioned preached in the external. In this case that which then remains in the external man is of no account and becomes like froth. It is as if there were an earthquake, or as if a ship in the water were wrecked from below.
19. A striking example may also be brought from genuine orthodoxy on the subject of faith, charity, and freedom of choice, from which example the absurdity will appear plainly.
20. That the spiritual things of heaven flow into every man, and that things flow in through the world, is luminously confirmed thus: that spiritual and natural things flow in conjointly, but that the evil man inverts the two. That which is within he places in his mind without, and that which is without he places within; so that the world is above heaven, or heaven below the world. But the pious and good man receives each in its own order in which it flows in: the spiritual things which flow in through heaven, he places above in his mind, and the natural things which flow in through the world, below. This latter man stands erect on his feet; but the former, as it were, upside down.
21. The whole of Theology at the present day is nothing but Divine omnipotence. Thus it is asserted: 1. that God gives faith where and to whom He will; 2. that He remits sins; 3. that He regenerates; 4. that He sanctifies; 5. that He imputes and saves; 6. that He will raise the dead bodies from the graves; that He will cause the skeletons to live, and will put into them their former souls; 7. that He will destroy the world, together with the sun, the stars, the planets, the earths, and will create a new universe; 8. Since omnipotence is everything, and is the order which God is, and which is from God in the whole world, it follows that the man of the Church can imagine whatever he will; that he can raise himself even above what is eternal, that is, above reason; and that, wherever he pleases, he can go counter to reason, and simply declare, "reason must be kept under obedience to our faith. For is not God omnipotent? Who is able, or dares, to reason against His omnipotence?" Such are all things of the present-day faith, etc.
22. Man cannot discover a single Divine Truth, except he approach the Lord immediately. The reason is, that the Lord alone is the Word, and that He is Light and Truth Itself and that man does not become spiritual, except from the Lord only, but remains natural; and the natural man, in spiritual matters, sees all things invertedly. That this is so, is known from Paul. This is the reason why not a single truth has remained in the Church, so that there is now consummation, desolation, decision, and fulness. But because the Lord is not dead, therefore there still remains "a root left in the earth" according to Daniel [iv 15, 23, 26]; also that man desires to die, but is not able, according to the Apocalypse [ix 6]. That which is "left" is the faculty of being able to understand truth, and of being able to will good. This is "the root that is left."
27. No one is able to see the desolation of truth in the Church before the truths of the Word come to light. What heretic, indeed, knows anything else than that all his heresies are truths? Every one can swear to his own. There is a delusive light arising from confirmations. In such light is the natural man until the spiritual man enlightens him. Yea, an atheistic naturalist may swear that there is no God, and that the existence of God is a mere vain imagination of the common herd; wherefore, at heart, he scoffs at the learned men of the Church.
28. It is known in the Church that the Church is the Body of Christ; but how this is, has not been known hitherto. Hence it is, that the whole heaven is as one man before the Lord; and this one man is distinguished into societies, each of which has reference to some member or organ, and viscus, in man. In this man, or body, the Lord is the soul or life. For the Lord breathes into men; and, when He is present [with them], He is present through the heavens, as the soul through its body. The like is the case with the Church on earth; for this is the external man. Wherefore, every one, after death, is gathered to his own in that body, etc.
29. The things which are related of me are not miracles, but testimonies that I have been introduced into the spiritual world by the Lord for the sake of ends which . . . Reasons why miracles do not take place at this day. . . . Further, from the Lord's words in Matt. xxiv. Concerning the miracles of Anthony of Padua, and of many who are worshipped as saints, of whose miracles the monasteries are full. Concerning the miracles of Paris, concerning which there are two volumes in 4to.*
* Francois de Paris, who is referred to here and in "Invitation to the New Church," no. 29 and 55, and in Swedenborg's letter to Venator, was a Jansenist. The miracles at his tomb in the cemetery of St Medard, Paris, led to petitions for his canonization. See the volume entitled Recueil des Miracles Operes au Tombeau de M. de Paris, . . . Diacre, MDCCXXXII. The petitions were ignored. The first of the two volumes referred to by Swedenborg was published in 1737, and bears the title, La Verite des Miracles Operes par l'Intercession de M. de Paris. Demontree contre M. l'Archeveque de Sens. Ouvrage dedie au Roy par M. de Montgeron Conseiller au Parlement. A Utrecht chez les Librairies de la Compagnie, MDCCXXXVII. The second volume, without the dedication to the King, and referring also to the Convulsionnaires, was published in 1741. A third volume followed in 1747. See article by the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, in The New-Church Review of Boston, Mass., U.S.A., for October 1906.
30. That the Lord would come in the fulness of time and would judge, is meant by His words,
When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit on the throne of His glory; and there shall be gathered before Him all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the he-goats (Matt. xxv 31, 32).
This coming of the Lord is meant by the following words concerning Jesus Christ, in the Apostles' Creed: "He ascended into the heavens, He sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead"; and also by this concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in the Nicene Creed: "He ascended into heaven; He sitteth at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall be no end."
31. And also in the Athanasian Creed: "He ascended to the heavens; He sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead and they shall give account of their own deeds. And they that have done goods shall go into eternal life: and they that have done evils into eternal fire" (Formula Concordiae [Leipsic, 1756], pp. 1, 2, 4).
Besides, the Schmalkaldic Articles teach the same thing as the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian creeds; namely, "Jesus Christ ascended to the heavens; He sitteth at the right hand of God, . . . He shall come to judge the quick and the dead"; and our Catechism [the one used in Sweden] teaches the same (p. 303). From the Augsburg Confession in like manner, "He ascended to the heavens, that He might sit at the right hand of the Father, and reign forever, and exercise dominion over all creatures. . . . The same Christ will openly return to judge the quick and the dead, according to the Apostles' Creed" (Formula Concordiae, p. 10). Luther teaches the same (in the Lesser Catechism, p. 371; Augsburg Confession, pp. 10, 14).
32. That the Lord will not come to judgment in order to destroy heaven and earth, is plain from many passages in the Word where His coming is treated of; where it is said,
When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? (Luke xviii 8);
besides many more passages which are quoted in THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, no. 765. Further, that He will not come to destroy the visible heaven and the habitable earth (n. 768, et seq.), but to separate the evil from the good (n. 772, et seq.); and many more besides. The same also is declared in the Credal Faith which is inserted in every Psalm book in the whole Christian world, where the Apostles' Creed only is set forth. The same is introduced thence into psalms. By the "quick," in the above places, are meant those who are in charity and faith, and are called "sheep" by the Lord; but by the "dead" are meant those who are not in charity and faith, and are called by the Lord "he-goats." (Add to the above, Rev. xi 18; and xx 12.)
33. Title:
THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE, AND THE ABOMINATION OF THE DESOLATION THEN.
There is to be adduced what the Lord says,
1. Concerning the "abomination of desolation";
2. What He says [concerning vastation];
3. What the Lord says concerning the "affliction";
4. That "no flesh can be saved";
5. Concerning the "darkening of the sun and of the moon";
6. The things which are declared in the Apocalypse (i 18),
Behold, I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am He that liveth unto the ages of the ages (see, also, Rev. ii 8 and v 6).
And again, the Lord says:
The night cometh when no man can work (John ix 4);
In that night, there shall be two men in one bed (Luke xvii 34).
Further, what the Lord says concerning Peter in John xxi 18; also, what Paul says concerning the last times, in 1 Tim. iv 1-3; 2 Tim. iii 1-7; iv 3,4.
(What the Lord says in Matt. xxiv 27, that this should take place in the day of the Last Judgment, must be explained; also, what He says in vers. 30, 31. That this actually has thus taken place, see THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, n. 791.)
34. The Coming of the Lord is according to the order that the spring does not come until after the winter, nor the morning until after the night; nor comfort and joy to the travailing woman until after the pain; that consolations are after temptations; one lives truly after death, even as the Lord says,
Except the grain . . . die, etc. (John xii 24).
The Lord exhibited the type of this order in that He suffered Himself to be crucified and to die, and afterwards rose again. This type signifies the state of the Church. . . . This, also, is involved in the image which appeared to Nebuchadnezzar, in that the Stone became a great Rock at the last; it is further involved in the four beasts out of the sea, and in what is related there concerning that horrible nation (all of which is to be explained). It is likewise involved in the four Ages known to the ancients, the golden, the silver, the copper and the iron ages; further, in the ages of every man, from infancy to old age-then is the end of the life of the body, and then comes the life of the spirit, which is the life of all those who have lived well. The same also is implied in the heaven which has first to pass away (Rev. xxi 1, 2). The case with the Church is similar.
35. The keys of the kingdom of the heavens were given to Peter, because he represented the Lord as to Divine Truth; and this is what is meant by "rock," throughout the whole of the Sacred Scripture. On this account [it is said],
"Upon this rock," that is, on this Divine Truth, "will I build My Church," namely, the truth that the Lord is "the Son of the living God."
It shall be shown from the Word, that "rock" has this signification.
("Rock" in the Word: Exod. xvii 6; xxxiii 21, 22; Num. xx 8-11; Deut. viii 15; xxxii 4-37; 1 Sam. ii 2; 2 Sam. xxii 2, 3, 32, 47; xxiii 3; Ps. xviii 2, 31, 46; xxviii 1; xxxi 2, 3; xl 2; xlii 9; lxii 2, 7; lxxviii 16, 20, 35; lxxxix 26; xcii 15; xciv 22; xcv 1; cv 41; Isa. ii 10; xxii 16; xlii 11; ii 1; 1 Cor. x 4). ("Fissures of the rock" denote falsified truths, Rev. vi 15, 16; Isa. ii 19; Jer. xvi 16; Song of Solomon, ii 14; Isa. xlviii 21; Jer. xxiii 29; xlix 16; Obad. ver. 3; besides in the Gospels.)
In this wise also some of the Fathers explained it (see Formula Concordiae, p. 345).
36. Since the Son alone became Man, and not the whole Trinity, was not then the Divine Essence, which is a one and an indivisible trine, separated, or disunited and divided?
37. That the whole of the Lord's prayer, from beginning to end, has respect to the present time, is very plain-that is, that God the Father is worshipped in human form. This appears if this prayer is rightly explained.
38. That the Churches after the times of the Apostles fell away into so many heresies, and that at the present day there are none other than false Churches, is owing to their not having approached the Lord, when yet the Lord is the Word, and the Light itself which enlightens the whole world. And yet it is as impossible to see one genuine truth from the Word, which is not crowded about and defiled with falsities, and cohering with falsities, as it is impossible to sail to the Pleiades, or to dig out the gold which is in the centre of the earth. Wherefore, in order that the true Christian religion might be opened up, it was absolutely necessary that some one should be introduced into the spiritual world, and derive from the Lord's mouth genuine truths out of the Word. The Lord cannot enlighten any one with His light, unless He is approached immediately, and acknowledged as the God of heaven.
39. Miracles do not take place at this day, for the reasons stated in THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION [n. 501]; wherefore, the Lord said in Matt. (xxiv 24), that they would lead astray. Again, what is more common among the Roman Catholics than to fill the tombs of the saints and the walls of monasteries with miracles? How many leaves of gold and silver are there not in the tomb of Anthony of Padua! What is there not where the three wise men are said to be buried, at Prague, and elsewhere? What else than illusions can be derived from these things? Of more weight than all these miracles are the facts that I speak with angels and spirits in the spiritual world, that I have described the states of heaven and hell, and of the life after death; also, that the spiritual sense of the Word has been laid open to me; besides much else. Such intercourse, as far as I know, has not been granted by the Lord to any one before. These are proofs that this is for the sake of the New Church, which is the crown of all Churches, and which will endure for ever. Being in the spiritual world, seeing the wonders of heaven, and the pitiful things of hell; and being there in the very light of the Lord in which the angels are, surpasses all miracles. Evidences that I am there, may be found in abundance in my books.
40. The sole cause why the Church has immersed itself in so many falsities that not a single truth is left in it; and why it is like a ship that has suffered shipwreck, of which the top of the mast only stands out, is this-that hitherto they have not approached the Lord immediately; and when He is not approached immediately, not a single truth can appear in its own light. The reason is, that the Lord is the Word, that is, all Divine Truth in the Word, and that He alone is the Light which enlightens all men, - as He Himself teaches; and every truth of the Word shines from no other source than from the Lord alone. This light it is which is meant by the "spiritual"; when, therefore, he has not this light, there is nothing spiritual in man's understanding, but only the natural; and the natural man sees only invertedly all things which contain the spiritual: he sees falsity instead of truth. While reading the Word, therefore, he bends all things there to his own falsities, and thus falsifies truths; and is delighted therein. For the human natural mind is in such things as pertain to the world and to self; it is delighted solely by such things: wherefore, unless in the above things there is spiritual light, the natural mind transfers them to those things which are of the world and of self which he puts in the first place. He thus not only shuns spiritual things, and hides them away, but he also scoffs at them afterwards. Faith is spiritual, that is, it can be called spiritual, from no other source than from the truths which it contains, and thus by virtue of light from the Lord. Unless faith is from this source, it 13 natural faith, which neither conjoins nor is saving.
41. In the spiritual world no one knows another from his name only, but from the idea of his quality. This idea causes that other to be present, and to be recognized. Thus, and not otherwise, parents are recognized by their children; children by their parents; and relatives, connections by marriage, and friends, by relatives, connections and friends. In like manner the learned are known from their writings, and from the reputation of their learning; great men and rulers by the fame of their deeds; in like manner kings, emperors and popes. All are known by these things alone. It was granted to me to converse with such; but with others this is not possible. A spirit himself is nothing else than his quality; on this account every one in that world drops his baptismal name, and the name of his family, and is named according to his quality. Hence it is that name in the Word does not signify name, but quality. As the Lord says in the Apocalypse:
Thou hast a few names in Sardis (Rev. iii 4);
and again,
I know thee by name (Exod. xxxiii 17)
(besides a thousand other places where "name" is mentioned). From all this, then, it is manifest, that no one has the Lord present with him, unless he knows His quality. This quality is made known by the truths of the Word; for, as many truths as there are in the Word, just so many mirrors and ideas are there of the Lord, for He is the Word Itself and He is the Truth Itself as He Himself says.
Qualities are of two kinds: one kind pertains to the knowledge concerning Him, that He is the God of heaven and earth, the Son of God the Father, One with the Father, that all things of the Father are in Him-in a word, that He is the Human of God the Father. The other kind pertains to the knowledges of those things that proceed from Him (and the things that proceed from Him are Himself); as what He teaches concerning charity, freedom of choice, repentance, regeneration, the sacraments and very many other things. These things also make up the idea of the Lord, because they are from Him.
42. It is an arcanum from the spiritual world, that unless a person approaches the Lord directly and immediately with an idea concerning Him, the Lord's presence is not brought about, and still less can the person, in that case, become receptive of any communication. It is as if some one stands at the side, and appears in the dark. In like manner, no one can speak with another unless he looks directly at him; communication then takes place when each looks at the other. Thus, and not otherwise, ideas enter into another; and if, at the same time, there is love, conjunction is effected. If any one, therefore, approaches the Father immediately, He stands, as it were, at the side; and hence He is unable to grant and to impart redemption, that is, is unable to regenerate and afterwards save him.
43. The manifestation of the Lord in person, and introduction by the Lord into the spiritual world, both as to sight and as to hearing and speech, surpasses all miracles; for nowhere in history do we read that such an intercourse with angels and spirits has been granted from the creation of the world. For I am there with the angels daily, even as I am in the world with men, and now for twenty-seven years. Evidences of this intercourse are the books published by me concerning Heaven and Hell, and also the memorable relations in the last work, entitled THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION; further, what has been there related concerning Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, and concerning the inhabitants of a number of kingdoms; besides the various evidences which are known in the world, and, in addition, many others which are not known. Say, who has ever before known anything concerning heaven and hell? Who has known anything concerning man's state after death? Who, anything concerning spirits and angels? etc., etc.
44. Add to these most manifest evidences, that the spiritual sense of the Word has been disclosed by the Lord through me, which has never before been revealed since the Word was written among the sons of Israel; and this sense is the very sanctuary of the Word: the Lord Himself is in this sense with His Divine, and in the natural sense with His Human. Not a single iota in this sense can be opened except by the Lord alone. This surpasses all the revelations that have hitherto been made from the creation of the world. By means of this revelation a communication has been opened between men and the angels of heaven, and conjunction of the two worlds has been effected; since when man is in the natural sense, the angels are in the spiritual sense. See what has been written concerning this sense in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture [in THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION].
45. Correspondences, by which the Word, as to each and all things of it, has been written, possess such force and strength that it may be called the force and strength of Divine Omnipotence; for through these correspondences the natural acts conjointly with the spiritual, and the spiritual with the natural, thus everything of heaven with everything of the world. Thence it is that the two sacraments are correspondences of spiritual with natural things; thence is their strength and power.
46. What, on the other hand, do miracles amount to? Miracles do not take place at this day, because they lead men astray, and make them natural. They close up the interiors of their mind, in which faith ought to be rooted; wherefore, mere falsities proceed thence (see Matt. xxiv 24). What did the miracles which were wrought in Egypt effect with the sons of Israel? What did those miracles effect which were wrought before them in the wilderness? What those miracles at their entrance into the land of Canaan? What the miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha? What the miracles performed by the Lord Himself? Was anyone ever made spiritual by their means? What have the miracles among the Roman Catholics done for them? and those of Anthony at Padua? and of the three wise men at Cologne? And what has been the use of the countless miracles in the monasteries, which are filled with pictures, plates and gifts? Has ever anyone been made spiritual thereby? Have they not become natural thereby, so that there is scarcely any truth of the Word among them, but only externals of worship which pertain to men and to traditions?
47. That in Christ God is Man, and Man God, is confirmed three times in the Formula Concordiae; and also in the Athanasian Creed, where is said, the "taking of the Manhood into God"; from the Word (Rom. xiv 11; Coloss. ii 9; 1 John v 20, 21), as well as, by the Lord Himself, that the Father and He are one; that the Father is in Him, and He in the Father; that all things of the Father are His; that He has Life in Himself; that He is God of heaven and earth.
48. The soul is the inmost man, and, according to the ancients, is in the whole and in every part of the body, for the beginning of life resides in the soul; that part of the body in which the soul is not inmostly, does not live. Wherefore, there exists a reciprocal union; and hence the body acts from the soul, not the soul through the body. Whatever proceeds from God partakes of the human form, because God is Very Man; this is especially the case with the soul, which is the first of man.
49. Nothing is more common in the whole heaven and in the whole world, than for one thing to be within another, thus an inmost, a middle and an outmost, and for the three to intercommunicate, and for the power of the middle and outmost to be derived from the inmost. That there are these three, one within the other, is evident from each and every thing in the human body. Around the brain there are three tunics, which are called the dura mater, the pia mater, and the arachnoid; and over these is the skull. Around the whole body there are tunics, one within the other, which, together, are called the skin. Around each artery and vein there are three tunics; likewise around each muscle and fibre; in like manner, around all the rest of the things there. So in the vegetable kingdom. How they intercommunicate, and how the inmost enters the middle, and the middle the last, anatomy shows, etc. Thence it follows that it is so with light: that spiritual light, which in its essence is truth, is inwardly in natural light; in like manner, spiritual heat, which in its essence is love, in natural heat. By natural heat is meant natural love, because that love grows warm; and this is covered over by the heat of the blood.
50. All that they say about the Holy Spirit falls to the ground as soon as it is believed that man is not life, but only an organ of life, and thus that God is constantly present in man, and that He strives, acts and urges that those things which relate to religion, and consequently those relating to the Church, to heaven and salvation, shall be received. It is, therefore, vain to say that the Holy Spirit is "given," or that it is "withheld." For the Holy Spirit is nothing else than the Divine which proceeds out of the Lord from the Father, and this Divine constitutes man's life, and also his understanding and love; and the presence of this Divine is perpetual. Without the presence of the Lord, or of the Holy Spirit, man would be only a kind of animal; but he would have no more life than salt, a stone or a log. The reason of this is, that man is not born with instinct, like the beasts; wherefore, a chick of one day old knows the order of its life better than an infant.
51. It is allowable to confirm the truths of the Church by reason, or the understanding, as much as one pleases, and also by various things in nature; and, in proportion as truths are so confirmed, they become inrooted and shine. It is also allowable to confirm truths by the Word, wherever one pleases, and also to apply for this purpose many things from the Word; and the Word is not then falsified. These sayings of Scripture, through which truths are confirmed, rise into heaven: they are like the fumes from incense; but if falsities are confirmed from the Word, they do not rise to heaven, but are driven back; and they explode on the way with a loud report. I have heard it a thousand times.
52. The manifestation of the Lord, and admission 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 angels; but it was not granted to them to be in any other than natural light; to me, however, it is granted to be at the same time both in spiritual and in natural light. By this means it has been granted to me to see the wonderful things of heaven, to be among angels as one of them, and at the same time to imbibe truths in light, and thus to perceive and teach them; consequently, to be led by the Lord. But as concerns miracles: they would have been nothing else than snares to lead astray, as the Lord says (Matt. xxiv 24); and as is related of Simon the sorcerer, that he "bewitched the people of Samaria," who believed that these things were done from "the great power of God" (Acts viii 9 et seq.). What else are the miracles among the Papists, than snares and deceptions? What else do they teach, than that they themselves ought to be worshipped as deities, and that men should give up the worship of the Lord? Have wonder-working images any other effect? Have the idols or dead bodies of saints throughout Popedom any other purpose? Those of Anthony of Padua, of the three wise men of Cologne, and of all the rest, whose miracles fill the monasteries? What have they taught concerning Christ? What concerning heaven and eternal life? Not a syllable.
53. Any Church and any coherent religion are impossible, unless it is believed that God is One. When, therefore, the Divine Trinity is believed to be divided into three Persons, how can the metaphysical term "essence" make of the three one, so long as the properties of each person are diverse, yea, so diverse that they are said not to be communicable? and so long as equal, proper persons subsist by themselves, and one person has no part and no quality in another, or of another, person? But, as soon as it is believed that the one God is not only Creator, but also Redeemer and Operator, then we have one God; and then for the first time the Church exists and subsists, and religion lives. And there cannot be this union of three otherwise than, as in every man, that of the soul, the body, and the proceeding. These three make one man: and why not God, who is Very Man from firsts to lasts? These things concerning God-Man have been explained in the book concerning "The [Divine] Love and Wisdom," and may be consulted; and that He is neither ether, nor air, nor wind. That the soul of every man is the man himself, thence follows.
As we now have in the Church one God, who is God-Man and Man-God, this Church is called the crown of all the churches.
54. That in Christ Man is God:
From three places in the Formula Concordiae;
From Paul (Rom. xiv 11 and Coloss. ii 9);
From John (first Epistle v 20, 21);
and from the words of the Lord:
1. That God was the Word, and the Word became flesh;
2. That all things of the Father are His;
3. That all who are of the Father come to Him;
4. That as the Father hath life in Himself, so has the Son ("Life in Himself" is God);
5. That the Father and He are one;
6. That He is in the Father, and the Father in Him;
7. That he who seeth Him, seeth the Father;
8. That He is God of heaven and earth;
9. That He governs the universe (from the Creed);
10. That He is called "Jehovah, the Redeemer";
11. That He is called "Jehovah, our Righteousness";
12. That it is said that Jehovah would come into the world;
13. In the Apocalypse (chap. i) it is said, that He is "the First and the Last";
14. In a word, that He is God the Father who is invisible, in a Human which is visible before minds.
Inasmuch as there is thus one God in the Church, the Church is the Church; etc., etc.
From the Athanasian Creed: that God and Man in Christ is one Person, like soul and body. Also that the Human Nature was taken up into God.
55. CONCERNING MIRACLES.
From the sons of Israel;
From the Lord's words concerning the rich man and Lazarus;
From the Lord's words in Matt. xxiv 24.
The Popish miracles (which are to be enumerated). They only lead astray, and do not teach anything except that they are to be invoked as deities, and this to the end that they may bring gold and silver to the monasteries, or, that they may scrape together the treasures of the whole world. The miracles of many of them; as, for instance, those of Anthony at Padua; those of the three wise men of Cologne; those of the wonder-working images, at which treasures are collected; everywhere in the monasteries, where the walls are covered with pictures of the miracles worked by their saints, and of their idols. The books concerning the miracles of Paris* and others; what else are they for, but that [saints] may be invoked for the purpose of raking in gifts? But who among them has thus far taught the way to heaven, and the truths of the Church out of the Word?
For this reason it has pleased the Lord to prepare me from my earliest youth for the perception of the Word, and He has introduced me into the spiritual world, and enlightened me with the light of His Word more nearly. It is hence manifest that this surpasses all miracles.
Beelzebub did miracles, more than any other of the gentile gods, as is plain from the Old Testament; also Simon the sorcerer.
* Francois de Paris, who is referred to here and in "Invitation to the New Church," no. 29 and 55, and in Swedenborg's letter to Venator, was a Jansenist. The miracles at his tomb in the cemetery of St Medard, Paris, led to petitions for his canonization. See the volume entitled Recueil des Miracles Operes au Tombeau de M. de Paris, . . . Diacre, MDCCXXXII. The petitions were ignored. The first of the two volumes referred to by Swedenborg was published in 1737, and bears the title, La Verite des Miracles Operes par l'Intercession de M. de Paris. Demontree contre M. l'Archeveque de Sens. Ouvrage dedie au Roy par M. de Montgeron Conseiller au Parlement. A Utrecht chez les Librairies de la Compagnie, MDCCXXXVII. The second volume, without the dedication to the King, and referring also to the Convulsionnaires, was published in 1741. A third volume followed in 1747. See article by the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, in The New-Church Review of Boston, Mass., U.S.A., for October 1906.
56. That the Lord made the Natural Man in Himself Divine, to the end that He might be the First and the Last; and is thus able to enter with men even to their natural man, and teach this from the Word, and lead it. For He rose with the whole natural or external man, and did not leave anything whatever of it in the sepulchre; on which account He declared that He had bones and flesh, which spirits have not; and [hence it is] that He ate and drank natural food with His disciples, and indeed before their eyes. That He was Divine, He showed by passing through doors, and by becoming invisible, which would have been impossible, unless His natural man itself also had been made Divine.
57. That all those things which are said by the orthodox at the present day concerning the "sending" of the Holy Spirit fall to the ground as soon as it is known that the Lord is constantly present with every man and causes him to live as man; and that He dwells with man in order that man may go to meet the Lord; and that even if he does not go to meet Him, he still has rationality from Him, which is impossible without the Lord's presence. If the Lord were absent from man, he would not be an animal, but a kind of corpse which would be disintegrated. This is meant in Genesis by "God breathing into him a living soul" (Gen. ii 7).
58. The Lord is the "Kingdom of God" (this is to be shown from the Word); thus, He is Heaven and the Church.
59. The greatest power dwells in correspondences (to be shown), because in them heaven and the world, or the spiritual and the natural, are together; and for this reason the Word has been written by pure correspondences, wherefore by it there is conjunction of man with heaven, and thus with the Lord. Thus, also, the Lord is in first and at the same time in last things. Therefore the sacraments have been instituted through correspondences, in which, therefore, there is Divine power.