Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/149

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VI

CONTINUED STUDY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

Thus far Swedenborg's labors have been devoted to the unfolding of the Divine revelation in the Book of Nature, by means of experiment, analysis, and the exercise of reason, under such guidance as he was prepared to receive of the Spirit of Truth. In these labors we have observed the ample training of the reasoning faculty, even to maturity, with its increasing acknowledgment of dependence on the light of the Sun of heaven. We are now to learn the preparation of heart yet necessary, in order that the submission to the guidance of the Spirit of Truth might become so entire as to direct him securely in unfolding the Divine revelation in the written Word. The groundwork of this preparation we may recognize in the Rules of Life which Sandels found, as he says in his eulogy, in more than one place among his manuscripts, and which may be commended to all of us who would fulfil the duties

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