from the beginning. Revelation has its successive steps and degrees, one unfolding out of and founded on another. This last opening of the heavens explains, harmonizes, and unitizes all the others. Theology and Science are now married, and the truths of each are written upon the face of the other. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Emanuel Swedenborg was the instrument chosen and prepared by the Lord for this sacred mission. He works no miracles to compel belief, but gives us spiritual light to illumine the rational understanding. His own state was the greatest of miracles. What is the miracle of raising a dead man to life, in comparison with the miracle of keeping a living man for nearly thirty years in open communication with heaven, hell and the world of spirits? And this sublime manifestation of divine power is discredited, and looked upon as a case of self-magnetization, hallucination or chronic mental disease!
The outside questions of Swedenborg's authority and credibility can be answered to the satisfaction of any candid mind; but our final judgment must be based upon the intrinsic merit of what he has revealed. The mere weight of his name and character is little or nothing in the eyes of his readers.
