Heaven Revealed/Chapter 14
XIV.
A HEAVEN FOR THE NON-CHRISTIAN WORLD..
IT will not be denied that, since the memorable year 1757—the alleged date of the last General Judgment—the human race, especially throughout Christendom, has enjoyed a steadily increasing degree of enlightenment on religious as well as on all other subjects. The new angelic heaven has been pressing with continually augmenting force upon all minds—pressing in every direction like a subtle and elastic atmosphere. And under the influence of this pressure, a gradual change in theologic thought has been going on in the minds of individuals and churches. The theology of Swedenborg's day has undergone important modifications, and the change is still in progress. The theology of the present time as it exists in the popular mind (however it may remain unaltered in the creeds) is quite different from that of the last generation. Hence it is not uncommon to meet with persons nowadays, who disbelieve and reject many of the doctrines set forth in the very creeds they have subscribed. And others who still profess loyalty to the "standards," are found giving to their creed a very different interpretation from that clearly intended by its original framers.
This is one of the hopeful signs of our times:—A green and tender leaf on the fig-tree, which proclaims a spiritual summer nigh. In the fluctuation and modification of religious beliefs which we see going on around us, there is abundant cause for joy and hope. It is because the fountains of the great deep in men's minds are breaking up, and the windows of heaven are opening, and increasing light from out the new angelic heavens is bursting upon the world, that such things are coming to pass. It is, moreover, a verification of what Swedenborg foresaw and predicted more than a century ago.
"In consequence and by means of the Last Judgment," he says, "the communication between heaven and the world, or between the Lord and the church, has been restored.
"The state of the world and of the church before the Last Judgment was as evening and night, but after it as morning and day.
"After the Last Judgment was accomplished, there was joy in heaven, and such light in the world of spirits as was not there before. . . A similar light also arose in men in the world, giving them new enlightenment."—Contin. L. J. 11, 13, 30.Now, because of the changes in religious thought here referred to, it is difficult to say what is the present prevailing belief among Christians respecting the condition of the non-Christian world in the Hereafter. But the general belief in Swedenborg's day was, that all the heathen (unless converted to Christianity before dying) must perish everlastingly. Archbishop Cranmer says: "If we should have heathen parents, and die without baptism, we should be damned everlastingly." And Noel's catechism, regarded as high authority in the Church of England, says: "Without the church [meaning outside of the church professing the Christian religion] there can be nothing but damnation and death." This was the declared doctrine also of the Council of Trent, was held by the Roman Catholic Church, and believed, too, by Luther and Calvin. The latter says: "Without her bosom [that is, outside the pale of the Christian Church] no remission of sins or salvation is to be hoped for."—Ed. Harold Browne's Expn. of 39 Articles, p. 447. N.Y. Ed. 1865.
Then, if we read attentively the letters from foreign missionaries and the reports of Missionary Societies, or note the expressions used in prayers and sermons at meetings held in aid of the cause of foreign missions, we cannot fail to see that the belief is still clung to by Protestant Christians, that the myriads in the heathen world, unless converted to Christianity, are all doomed to hell. Besides, this belief is a strictly logical inference from some of the doctrines of the former Christian church regarded as fundamental and essential, such as the doctrine of vicarious atonement, and justification and salvation by faith alone.
The evidence, therefore, is abundant and undeniable, that the general and well-nigh universal belief both of Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians prior to Swedenborg's time, was, that all of the non-Christian or Gentile world who die unconverted to Christianity, must inevitably be lost, and forever suffer the torments of the damned.
We need not stop to show the unreasonableness and cruelty of such a doctrine; nor how it mars the beauty of the Divine character, and militates against every right conception of God's love and justice. This must be sufficiently apparent to all. To suppose that God would permit hundreds of millions of human beings to be born in regions where He knew they would live and die without any belief in the Gospel of our Lord, or any knowledge even of the existence of such a Gospel, and that He would provide no means for the salvation of these innumerable hosts; and to suppose, further, that they are all to be doomed to eternal hell torments for not believing doctrines which they never had the opportunity of learning, were a supposition so extreme in its unreasonableness, that we can only wonder it should ever have been entertained for a moment by any sane people. The belief is too absurd and revolting to merit a serious refutation. Talk about Swedenborg's madness! Why, if he had ever taught anything half so absurd and monstrous as this old dogma, once so generally accepted among Christians, there would indeed have been good ground for such imputation.
Let us now hear the New Church doctrine on this subject, as revealed through the illumined Swede. And if you consider the general darkness of the period in which he lived as compared with our own times, you can the more easily judge whether his claim to have written under a special Divine illumination, be or be not well founded.
"It is a common opinion that those who are born out of the church, who are called Heathen or Gentiles, cannot be saved, because they have not the Word and are therefore ignorant of the Lord, without whom there can be no salvation. Nevertheless it may be known that they also are saved, from these considerations alone: that the mercy of the Lord is universal, that is, extended toward every individual; that they are born men as well as those within the church, who are respectively few; and that it is no fault of theirs that they are ignorant of the Lord.
"Every person who thinks from enlightened reason, may see that no man is born for hell; for the Lord is love itself, and it is agreeable to his love that all be saved. Therefore also He has provided that all shall have some kind of religion, and thereby be in the acknowledgment of a Divine, and in the enjoyment of interior life: for to live according to religion is to live interiorly. For then man looks up to a Divine; and as far as he looks up to a Divine he does not esteem the world, but removes himself from it, consequently from the life of the world, which is exterior life.
"That Gentiles are saved as well as Christians, may be known to those who understand what it is that makes heaven in man. For heaven is in man; and those who have heaven in themselves enter heaven after death. It is heaven in man to acknowledge a Divine and be led by Him.
"It is known that Gentiles live a moral life as well as Christians, and that many of them live better than Christians. Men live a moral life either for the sake of the Divine, or from a regard to the opinion of the world. The moral life which is lived for the sake of the Divine is spiritual life. Both appear alike in the external form, but in the internal they are altogether different. One saves man: the other does not. For he who lives a moral life from a regard to the opinions of the world, is led by himself. But let this be illustrated by an example.
"I have often been instructed that Gentiles who have led a moral life, have lived in obedience and subordination, and in mutual charity according to their religion, and have thence received something of conscience, are accepted in the other life, and are there instructed with anxious care by angels in the goods and truths of faith; and that, while under instruction, they behave themselves modestly, intelligently and wisely, and willingly receive truths and are imbued with them. Besides, they have formed to themselves no principles of the false contrary to the truths of faith, which are to be shaken off, much less scandals against the Lord,—like many Christians who cherish no other idea of Him than that of a common man.'—H. H, n. 318-321.
"The mercy of the Lord is infinite, and does not suffer itself to be confined to the small number within the church, but extends itself to all throughout the world. For those who are born out of the church, and are thereby in ignorance as to matters of faith, are not blamable on that account; nor are they ever condemned for not having faith toward the Lord, because they are not aware of his existence. What considerate person can suppose the greatest part of mankind must perish eternally, because they were not born in that quarter of the globe denominated Europe, which respectively contains so few? Or that the Lord would permit so great a multitude of human beings to be brought into existence to perish in eternal death? This would be alike contrary to the Divine nature and to mercy. Besides, those who are out of the church and are called Gentiles, live a much more moral life than those within the church, and far more easily embrace the doctrine of a true faith. This is very evident from the state of souls in another life; for the worst of all are those who come from the so-called Christian world, bearing mortal hatred both against their neighbor and the Lord, and being more addicted to adultery than any other people on the face of the earth." A. C. 1032.This, remember, comes professedly as a revelation on the subject we are considering. And what shall we say of it? That it is unreasonable?—senseless?—indicative of some strange hallucination on the part of the seer? On the contrary, it is so perfectly in accord with the dictates of reason and common sense, that the rejection of it, or even a doubt about its truth, would seem to indicate a mental condition closely allied to insanity. Since God is love, He can never forsake any portion of the children of men. He can never be indifferent to their welfare. He can never cease his efforts to save and bless them. If He should, that moment He would lose or lay aside his most distinguishing attribute: He would cease to be Infinite Love. For it is in the very nature of this love to be "long-suffering," "plenteous in mercy and truth," "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." And it is in the nature of Divine Wisdom to adapt its teachings to mankind in their various stages of development and of moral disorder. When, therefore, man perverts the highest truths, and extinguishes in himself their light and life, then truths of a lower order are given him—truths better suited to his lower and perverse state; and Infinite Love seeks to secure his obedience to these. And when, through the perversion of these, he sinks to a still lower or more external state, then truths of a yet lower degree are mercifully vouchsafed him.
Thus the Lord, in the plenitude of his wisdom and love, forever adapts his truth to the states of all finite minds. Evermore does He impart to all his human offspring as much and as pure truth as they are able to receive. And when they fall into states to profane the highest truths, then these are mercifully taken from them; or what is equivalent, their eyes are veiled, as it were, so that they may not see or acknowledge them to be truths. As it is written: "He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." (John xii. 40.)
This Is as true of nations as it is of individuals. Hence no nation has ever been left without a religion of some sort, nor without some religious truth. And the form which religion takes in any age or country, and the character and amount of religious truth which is acknowledged, will depend on the general state of the people, and be suited to their state. And more and higher truth will be given them so soon as they are prepared to receive it.
None of the heathen nations, therefore, are left wholly destitute of religious truth. With all the errors and absurdities in the Mahometan and Pagan religions, there are to be found many important truths, many wholesome precepts, many laws of heavenly charity. And all who obey these laws from a principle of religion, are thereby saved from the evils they forbid. And not only this, but fidelity to the little truth they know, prepares them for the reception of more and higher truth when they enter the other world. A person may be born amid such surroundings that he will be brought up in great ignorance and even in the belief of great errors, and yet be preserved in a state of child-like innocence. And as this is a state receptive of wisdom, such person will readily receive instruction in the world of spirits, and be there fitted for the kingdom of heaven in the way that children are. We may thus see how it is possible for people in the non-Christian nations, to be finally admitted into heaven, notwithstanding the many errors they imbibed on earth. Indeed they may, on account of their greater innocence and simplicity, receive instruction in the other world more readily than many Christians.
"Occasionally," says Swedenborg, "it has been granted me to converse with Christians in another life concerning the state and lot of the Gentiles out of the church, that they receive the truths and goods of faith more easily than Christians who have not lived according to the Lord's precepts; and that Christians think cruelly concerning them in supposing that all who are out of the church are damned, and this in consequence of a received canon, that out of the Lord there is no salvation; and that this is true, but that the Gentiles who have lived in mutual charity, and have done what is just and equitable from a kind of conscience, in another life receive faith and acknowledge the Lord more easily than they who are within the church and have not lived in such charity; also that Christians are in a false principle in supposing that they alone have heaven, because they have the book of the Word written on paper but not in their hearts; and that they know the Lord, and yet do not believe Him Divine as to his Human, yea, acknowledge Him only as a common man as to his other essence which they call the human nature; and on this account when they are left to themselves and their knowledges, do not even adore Him; and therefore they are the people who are out of the Lord, for whom there is no salvation."—A. C. n. 4190.
"All the good of charity even among the Gentiles, is seed from the Lord; for although they have not the good of faith as those within the Church (where the Word is) may have, yet they are nevertheless capable of receiving it. Such Gentiles as have lived in charity in the world, as they are wont to do, embrace and receive the true faith or the faith of charity, much more readily than Christians, when they are instructed therein by angels in another life."—Ibid. n. 932. See also n. 1032, 9256; A. E. n. 1180; D. P. 330.It is as true of Pagan as of Christian nations, that they have more truth than they are careful to obey. In every nation upon earth men's beliefs are better than their practice. The religious code of Pagans as well as of Christians is far better than the general character of the people. He who walks according to the light vouchsafed him, does all that the Lord requires of him. No one can be held accountable for disobeying truth of which he is ignorant, especially if his ignorance be no fault of his. Therefore a wrong which a man does ignorantly, is not a sin. Sin implies a knowledge of the law transgressed. It consists in disobedience to known and acknowledged truth. If we ignorantly transgress, we feel very different from what we should if we did the same act with a full knowledge at the time that we were violating a divine law. Is it reasonable, then, that those born in Pagan lands should be forever doomed to darkness and woe, because of their non-obedience to truth which they never heard of?
No: God is a Being infinitely wise and just. And all that such a Being can require of individuals or nations, be they Jews, Mahometans, Pagans or Christians, is, that they live according to the light they have. And all who do so live, will finally be received into heaven; for by their religious obedience to the few truths they know they are prepared to receive more and purer truths in the world of spirits.
Such, briefly, is the doctrine revealed through Swedenborg on this subject; a doctrine that fully accords with our highest conception of the Divine character and attributes, as well as with the dictates of reason and common sense.
And not less clearly does the doctrine agree with the teachings as well as with the entire spirit of Holy Scripture. The Word of God simply requires us to walk according to the light that is given. "While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light," saith the Lord (John xii. 36). And we really believe in the light, only when we walk according to it (H. H. 351; A. C 4239; A. R; 67; A. E. 346). "Walk while ye have the light." Those to whom the light of the Gospel has not come, cannot walk according to it, and are not, therefore, to be judged by it. For what is it that brings, or on whom is pronounced, the sentence of condemnation? The Lord answers: "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John iii. 19.) From which it is plain that there can be no condemnation where the light has not come; for condemnation consists in a rejection of the light when offered. Neither is sin imputed to those who err through ignorance; for the Lord further says: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." (John xv. 22.) And that, in the day of final adjudication every one will be held accountable for only that measure of truth which has been vouchsafed him, is plain from these words of the Lord: "And that servant who knew his Lord's will, and prepared not, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required; and to whom men have committed much, of him will they ask the more." (Luke xii. 47, 48.) Equally conclusive, too, is the apostle's testimony, and clearly teaching the very same doctrine: "Of a truth," he says, "I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." (Acts x. 34, 35.) Which is virtually saying that there are some righteous and God-fearing people in every nation, and that all such will be saved.
And so we find the teaching of the Bible to agree with that of Swedenborg on this subject; and the testimony of both to be in complete accord with the whole spirit of the Christian religion as well as with the verdict of enlightened reason.
And not only does Swedenborg teach that the heathen may be saved, but he says that more of them actually are saved than of those who profess the Christian religion; and he tells us why.
This, we doubt not, will have a strange sound to the ears of many who have been educated in the old theologies, and who hear it now for the first time. But is it not both reasonable and Scriptural? Does it not accord with these words of the Lord? "And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness." (Matt. iii. 11, 12. See also Luke xiii. 24-31.) By "the children of the kingdom" are plainly meant those who have the Word, and who imagine (as did the Jews) that, for this reason alone, they would be saved in preference to those who have it not (as in the case of the Gentiles), and who have not therefore eaten and drunk in the Lord's presence, nor heard his voice in their streets. And by the "many" who would come from the four quarters and find a welcome, while "the children of the kingdom" would be thrust into the outer darkness, are as plainly meant the Gentiles—the non-Christian peoples who have not the written Word.
And not only does Swedenborg teach that fewer are saved from among Christians than from among the Gentiles, but that the worst of all the devils in hell are from the Christian nations. "This I can aver," he says, "that they who come into the other life from the Christian world, are the worst of all, hating their neighbor, hating the faith, and denying the Lord: for in the other life the heart speaks, and not the lips merely. Besides, they are more given to adultery than the rest of mankind."—A. C. 1885; also 1032.
But while the worst of the devils go from Christian countries, so likewise do the best of the angels. Those from among Christians who go to heaven, rise to a higher state than do the good from among Gentiles, while those who are lost sink to a deeper hell. How can it be otherwise? Tor Christians, being in possession of the Word, have a greater amount of truth than the Gentiles, and truth of a higher order and a purer quality. And the higher and purer the truth, the higher the state to which those will rise who receive and live according to it. The truths of the Christian religion are deeper and more heart-searching than those of any other religion. Therefore strict obedience to these truths must bring the richest reward—must develop the highest and noblest life. And on the other hand they who know but disobey these truths, commit greater sin than those can who are ignorant of them. They sin against greater light. They become more wicked; therefore they sink to a deeper hell,—are beaten with more stripes. This is in accordance with the universal law, that the better a thing is, the worse are the consequences resulting from its abuse. What Swedenborg says, therefore, about the worst of the devils being from Christian countries, is altogether reasonable.
His statement on this point, too, is corroborated by well-established historical facts. For it is matter of history that scenes of the most dismal horror which the sun ever shone upon, have been enacted in Christian lands; that the blackest crimes which the page of history records, have been perpetrated within the bounds of Christendom. Can there be any doubt, then, that the very worst spirits in the other world, are from Christian lands?
Such is the doctrine revealed through Swedenborg concerning the state of the Heathen in the great Hereafter,—very different, we see, from that hitherto believed and taught in the Christian church. A doctrine truly catholic in its spirit, wholesome in its tendency, boundless as God's love in its embrace, and in complete agreement with Holy Scripture and enlightened reason. It assures us that the Lord has left none of his intelligent creatures without sufficient light, if they follow it, to guide them to the realms of bliss. It declares that people of every nation and creed, be they civilized or barbarous, may be saved and are saved so far as they live according to the truths they know; and, furthermore, that the worst of all the devils in hell are from Christian countries; and that those who live under the noonday light of the Gospel, may be lost and are lost if they walk not according to that light.
Thus the new doctrine affirms this momentous truth—a truth often reiterated in the writings of the great seer, and which deserves to be engraven indelibly on every heart—that entrance into the kingdom of heaven depends not upon what people know, but upon how they live; not upon the character or amount of the truth they believe, but upon the motive and measure of their obedience to its requirements; not upon the brilliancy of the light that illumines their pathway, but upon their fidelity and sincerity in following the light. Therefore "while ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light," saith the Lord. And the only genuine and saving belief, is that which avails to the renovation of the heart and life; for "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." And Swedenborg often says that a genuine belief, or belief in the Lord, involves obedience to the Divine precepts, and can have no existence without it. To cite a single passage: