The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained/Chapter31
XXXI.—Concerning Heaven.
The idea which the Christian church in the middle of the last century entertained concerning the spiritual world, was extremely vague and indefinite—so much so, indeed, that it could hardly be called an idea. Multitudes were beginning to doubt, and not a few to deny, the immortality of the soul; and those who believed in it had no clearly defined idea of what the soul is or of its mode of existence after the death of the body. It was thought of as something ethereal, a kind of vapor or shadow, not as a substantial entity existing in any definite form. How, then, could there have been any other than the most vague idea concerning the realm which the soul enters when it leaves the body? And what could resist and drive back the in-coming tide of skepticism in regard to a life beyond the grave, but some further and trustworthy revelation of the sublime fact, accompanied with adequate rational evidence?
The Need of Swedenborg's Disclosures.
It is thought by some that any disclosures concerning the world beyond the grave, would be of no practical value even if true. Others think that heaven is above our human thought; and that therefore any revelation of its grand realities would be useless, because unintelligible to dwellers here on earth. But others, of profound thought and deep religious experience, have thought differently. Dr. William Ellery Channing, mourning over the feebleness and increasing lack of faith even in the immortality of the soul, among Christians of his day, says:
"This faith is lamentably weak in the multitude of men. To multitudes, Heaven is almost a world of fancy. It wants substance. The idea of a world in wbich beings exist without these gross bodies, . . strikes them as a fiction. What cannot be seen or touched, appears unreal. This is mournful, but not wonderful; for how can men who immerse themselves in the body and its interests, and cultivate no acquaintance with their own souls and spiritual powers, comprehend a higher, spiritual life? . . This skepticism as to things spiritual and celestial, is as irrational and unphilosophical as it is degrading." (Works. Vol. IV., p. 219.)
And how, or by what method, would this great thinker and writer strengthen the feeble and waning faith of Christians in the Hereafter, and bring the sublime doctrine of a future life home to men's minds as a grand and inspiring reality?
And the. lack of distinctness in the features of the other world which the soul of Channing longed for, or thought so desirable, is beautifully and amply supplied by the disclosures made through Swedenborg. And we have only to subject these disclosures to a careful examination—to survey them, calmly and without prejudice, in the light of Scripture and reason and human experience and the accepted laws of our moral constitution, to be thoroughly convinced of both their truth and origin.
Discredited:—But by Whom?
We are aware that Swedenborg's claim to have so long enjoyed open intercourse with spirits and angels, and to have been divinely commissioned to reveal what he did concerning the other world, is discredited by many honest and intelligent people. This was to have been expected. And it is no more to be wondered at, than that the mass of the Jewish people should have discredited and rejected the Messiah whose advent their own prophets had foretold. Swedenborg himself foresaw that he would be discredited;—that his alleged mission and professed converse with spirits, would encounter the derision of some, the disbelief of more, and be set down by not a few as the impudent claim of an impostor or the hallucination of a fanatic. Thus he says near the commencement of his first published volume:
And he tells us why this intercourse was granted him. It was, that the tide of skepticism in regard to the reality of a spiritual world, might be arrested; that men's faith in immortality might be strengthened and confirmed; that the nature of both heaven and hell might be clearly understood; and that men might be encouraged and helped on their heavenward way, by more definite and vivid conceptions of the Future Life. Referring to the prevalent ignorance among Christians respecting the spiritual world, he says:
But it should be carefully borne in mind, that Swedenborg's alleged intercourse with spirits has never been discredited by any who have candidly and thoroughly studied his pneumatology, so as to fully comprehend it. This is a fact worth considering. The Bible, we know, has been discredited, and its Divine authorship denied; but rarely, we believe, by men who have reverently studied the Bible, and imbibed something of its divine spirit. Surely they who have studied the Bible most thoroughly, and heeded its precepts most reverently, are best qualified to judge of its character and claims. No value whatever, indeed, is to be attached to the opinion of those who have rarely if ever read the Bible. And if we apply the same rule to the multitude who discredit Swedenborg without having first studied him, what weight should we attach to their opinion? Only those who have made themselves familiar with his teachings, are qualified to judge of their value or of the validity of their author's claim; and by all of this class, without a solitary exception of which we have any knowledge, the seer's credibility is admitted and his claim conceded.
One other consideration.—He tells us that the almost constant sight of objects and spirits in the other world with which he was favored for so many years, occurred in states of full wakefulness, and was as vivid as the sight of men and objects in this world. Now, (1) he either had this experience and did actually see and converse with spirits in the manner alleged; or (2) he acted the part of a most villanous impostor—and this, too, without any adequate or conceivable motive; or (3) he was under a strange hallucination for nearly thirty consecutive years—all this time mistaking the things of his imagination for objective realities realities. We are inevitably shut up to one or the other of these conclusions.
But we presume not many intelligent people nowadays accept the second theory; for the seer's biography has been written—the latest and most complete, by Benjamin Worcester, because compiled from amplest and authentic documents—and is accessible to all.—And do the passages quoted from his writings in the previous pages of this work, read like the teachings of one who was unable to distinguish facts from fancies?—of one who knew not the difference between subjective states and objective realities?—of one who could not even tell the difference between his own lively fancies, and the sights and sounds that he actually saw and heard? Yet this third theory is the one generally accepted by the philosophers (?) and scientists (?) and reputed sages of our times!—No: The first, which admits the seer's claim and the truth of his diclosures, is clearly the only rational and sensible theory. Admit this, and straightway all difficulties vanish.
The New Doctrine concerning Heaven.
Let us look, now, at some of the things which have been revealed through Swedenborg concerning heaven, and see how far these justify the seer's claim. But we can scarcely do more than give mere outline of these sublime revealings.
According to the new doctrine, then, as now revealed, the New Church believes and teaches that there is a spiritual world inhabited by spirits and angels, far more populous than the world in which we are now living, and as much more substantial, too, as the soul is more substantial than the body. All the inhabitants of that world were once dwellers on this or some other earth—having commenced their existence on the lowest plane of human life. They are not remote from men as to space, but are very near, and intimately associated with them as the soul with the body.
The good and the evil (for there are both classes in the other world, as there are in this) are soon separated there, forming two grand divisions, a heaven of angels and a hell of devils. And this is no arbitrary division, but one which takes place under and in accordance with the provisions of divine law, and with the full consent of all the inhabitants, whose best welfare the Divine Mercy perpetually wills, and is forever seeking;—the welfare of the evil not less than that of the good, for all are alike subjects of the Divine regard.
Character of the Heavenly Inhabitants.
The angels, viewed collectively, are called heaven; yet the essential constituent of heaven is the Divine of the Lord in the angels. In the degree that they receive His influent life, which is the life of unselfish love, and perceive and acknowledge that it is the Lord's life and not their own, they are blessed; for they are all images and likenesses of Him, though in different degrees according to reception. No one can enter heaven, or remain there, unless he has something of heaven in himself; for the essence of heaven is within the soul. (See Luke xvii. 21.) Those in the highest states (for the states of the angels are infinitely various) love others even better than themselves; and their wisdom is equal to their love, being so superior to the wisdom of men, as scarcely to admit of comparison. They take the highest delight in communicating to each other all the good things they receive from the Lord, for such is the nature of true love; and the more they give, the more are their souls opened to the influx of like things from the Lord, and the greater their delight. Swedenborg says:
They are in genuine innocence—the innocence of wisdom—which consists in a desire to be led and governed by the Lord in all things, and in the constant recognition of Him as the fountain of life, and the immediate giver of all the love and wisdom they possess. "They love everything that is good, and are delighted with everything that is true; for they know that to love what is good, that is, to will and do it, is to love the Lord; and to love what is true, is to love the neighbor."
Such, briefly, is the character of the angels as revealed through Swedenborg—a character that is forever becoming more and more perfect; for they are perpetually receiving fresh increments of intelligence and wisdom from the Lord, so that their progress in the heavenly life is unending.
Distributed into Societies.
The angels are not all equally wise and good; consequently they do not all dwell together promiscuously, but are distributed or arranged in an order the most beautiful and perfect. In general there are three heavens, called celestial, spiritual, and natural. These are separated by discrete degrees, like the degrees of the human mind; and like these, also, they communicate by correspondence. They are related to each other like end, cause and effect; or like the three classes of persons connected with every well-arranged institution or enterprise on earth. These are: 1st. The persons who conceive and start the enterprise, and perhaps furnish the needed capital: 2d. Those who have the requisite knowledge to carry it forward to completion: and 3d. Those who do the work, or obey the directions of the knowing ones immediately above them. These three classes, which are to be found co-existing everywhere in the most advanced Christian civilization, are seen to stand to each other in the relation of end, cause and effect, and may serve as an illustration of the three angelic heavens. Viewed naturally, they are together on the same plane here, being all in the natural realm; but viewed spiritually, as to intention, thought and intelligence touching the enterprise, they are on different planes separated by a discrete degree, yet each flowing into and animating the next below it; and so the three classes act simultaneously by correspondence as one mind.
Then the angels of each heaven are arranged into innumerable societies, some of them consisting of myriads, others of thousands, and others still of some hundreds, of angels. There is nothing forced or arbitrary in this arrangement. Each one goes in freedom to the society of those who are most like himself, being drawn thither by the law of spiritual affinity which attracts and holds like ones together. There he is perfectly at home, being with those who are in complete sympathy with him, and whom he seems to have known from earliest infancy. And as those of the same society are all in a similar kind and degree of good, there is a family likeness even in their faces; for in heaven the face is a perfect index or mirror of the mind. There is an endless diversity among the heavenly societies, no two of them being in the same kind and degree of good and truth. In this respect they resemble the various organs of the human body, with which they perfectly correspond—so perfectly, indeed, that the whole heaven appears before the Lord as one man, and is often called by Swedenborg, Maximus Homo.
Does it seem absurd to speak of the whole heaven of angels as resembling one man, or to call heaven "the Greatest Man"? There is no other conceivable way in which the exact truth could be so well or so concisely expressed. For the meaning is simply this: That the diversity, unity, harmony, mutual dependence, and perfect concert of action existing among the societies which constitute the whole heaven of angels, are similar to, and perfectly correspondent with, what are known to exist among the different parts of the human body. And were we seeking for. something to illustrate the most perfect unity and harmony coupled with mutual dependance and the greatest conceivable variety, is not the human body the very thing we should select? And as all parts of the body are nourished and vitalized by the same blood, so all the diverse angelic societies are pervaded and animated by one and the same Divine Spirit. The Lord's own life is the animating principle—the very life-blood—of them all.
Time and Space in Heaven.
Time in the natural world is measured by some regular movement through space, as the hands of a clock, or the earth's revolution on its axis or around the sun. In heaven there is no such time as this. There is an appearance of time there as here, but it is caused by, and is in correspondence with, the changes of state with the angels. Speaking of the apparent movement of the sun of our world, producing what we call time, Swedenborg says:
"It is otherwise with the sun of heaven. This does not, by successive progressions and revolutions, cause years and days, but to appearance changes of state; and these not at regular intervals. Hence the angels have no knowledge of the things which belong to time, as a year, a month, a week, a day, an hour, to-day, to-morrow, yesterday. When they hear them named by man, they have, instead of them, a perception of states, and of such things as relate to state. Thus the natural idea of man, is turned into a spiritual idea with the angels. Hence it is that times in the Word signify states; and that the things which are proper to time, signify spiritual things corresponding to them." (H. H. 164, '5.)
It is easy to believe this, if we reflect upon what is happening every day in this world. When the mind is thoroughly absorbed in any subject, or agreeably entertained by genial company, we take no note of time. Hours pass, but they seem to us as minutes. Again, in moments of distressing anxiety, as when one's house is on fire or his child has fallen into the water, seconds seem as minutes and minutes as hours. And again in our dreams, we sometimes have the experience of days crowded into a few moments of natural time. In a few minutes we make journeys and accomplish deeds which it would require days, weeks, and even months to perform. All of which is so much evidence from our own experience, that in the spiritual realm there exists not what we call time, but state instead.
Nor does natural space exist in heaven; yet things appear to be in space there, and people appear to go from place to place by the exercise of their powers of locomotion, the same as on earth. But this appearance results from a change of state, the visible correspondent of which is a change of place. When Paul was caught up to the third heaven, his body underwent no change of place, though there was doubtless the appearance to the apostle of his being lifted up through space. But in reality he only underwent a sudden change of state—the interiors of his mind being opened to the third degree. This is the way he was caught up— up, the same as high, meaning spiritually what is interior in the soul. So when the Lord says, "come unto me," etc., He is to be understood spiritually, as inviting us to come into sympathy with, or spiritual likeness to, Himself;—to pass from a state of mind which is spiritually remote, into one which is spiritually near (that is, akin) to his own—and not from one place to another. Place corresponds to state; and a change of place, therefore, corresponds to a change of state.
"By changes in the state of my interiors, have I also been conducted by the Lord into the heavens, and likewise to the earth's in the universe. I was carried there as to my spirit only, my body meanwhile remaining in the same place. Thus do all the angels journey. They have no spaces nor distances, but instead of these they have states and their changes." (Ibid. 192.)
The Light and Heat of Heaven.
If heaven is a realm inhabited by thinking, loving, active, human beings, it were reasonable to expect there would be light and heat there suited to the wants of its inhabitants. Both reason and Scripture justify such expectation. And we should expect that these, like the light and heat of the natural world, would emanate from some central source. Paul, on his way to Damascus, saw "at midday a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, shining round about him and them that journeyed with him " (Acts xxvi. 13); and he calls the appearance of that great light a "heavenly vision," which shows that he regarded it as the light of heaven. And the words he heard told him from whom came that dazzling light. Whence should come the light and heat of heaven, but from Him who is "the Light of the world"—the Illuminator of all minds—"the Sun of righteousness". (Mal. iv. 2)—the spiritual and living Sun? So did the Lord Jesus Christ appear to the disciples on the mount of transfiguration; for "his face shone as the sun, and his garments were white as the light." So, also, did He appear to John when he was "in the spirit;" His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength" (Rev. i. 16). And it is plain that the light and heat from such a source must be spiritual in their nature; otherwise they would not be suited to the condition and wants of spiritual beings. And what can spiritual light and heat be, but the light of Divine truth which illumines the understanding, and the warmth of Divine love which sets the heart aglow? Accordingly Swedenborg says:
"The light of heaven is not natural like that of the world, but spiritual; for it proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and in its essence is divine truth. And the heat of heaven is spiritual, as well as its light, for it is from the same origin; and this heat in its essence is love."
"The heat of heaven, like its light, is everywhere various. That in the celestial kingdom differs from that in the spiritual; and it differs also in every society. And it differs not only in degree, but even in kind,—being more intense and pure in the celestial than in the spiritual kingdom of the Lord, because the angels there are more receptive of the divine good." (H. H. 126, '7, '34.)Changes of State in Heaven.
According to Swedenborg, the angels are not constantly in the same state. Sometimes their love is more intense than at others, and their perception of truth consequently more clear. When their love is most intense, they are in their most luminous and delightful state; but when it is least intense, they are comparatively "in shade and cold, or in their state of obscurity and undelight. From the latter state they return again to the former; and so on." And the various objects which appear before their eyes, "are also changed with the states of their interiors; for the things without them assume an appearance corresponding to those within them." Thus they have their morning, noon, and evening states; but "there is no correspondence of night with the states of those in heaven," only "of the twilight which precedes the morning,"—the correspondence of night being only with the states of those who are in hell.
The Appearance, Garments, Habitations, and other Surroundings of the Angels.
Swedenborg sometimes speaks of the personal appearance of the angels, and says their beauty is indescribable; but some are more beautiful than others—their beauty depending on the degree of fulness with which they receive into their hearts the Lord's love and wisdom. It is this which moulds their features into forms of such exquisite grace. Their beautiful faces correspond to their beautiful souls, of which their faces are the true and faithful mirrors. And the more perfectly they receive the Lord's life, "so much the more perfect human forms do they become; and at length so perfect that their beauty exceeds all belief. Should one see them he would be amazed; for they are celestial loves and charities in form, which is the truly human form. The reason is, that the divine in heaven is the Lord; and they who receive from Him divine truths in good, are images of Him." (A. C. 9503). Again he says:
And the objects in heaven which the angels behold, and in the midst of which they dwell, are similar to, yet far more beautiful and perfect in form and more abundant in number than, the objects seen on earth; but they are all spiritual in their nature, else they would not be suited to the wants of spiritual beings. The angels are clad in most beautiful garments, but some more beautiful than others, according to the measure of the wearer's intelligence—for this is what their garments correspond to. The most intelligent have garments that glitter as from flame, some those that shine as from light; the less intelligent have bright and white garments without splendor; and the still less intelligent have garments of various colors." And "their garments are changed as their states change." (H. H. 178, 181.)
The angels also dwell in houses more or less magnificent according to the state of each one; for the house in heaven, with all its furniture and decorations, is the correspondential image of the occupant's interior state. But the houses there are not built like houses in the world, but are given to the angels gratis by the Lord. They also change a little from time to time, as the states of the angels change. Swedenborg speaks of some of the palaces he saw in heaven as magnificent beyond description." And "the splendor without was equalled by the magnificence within. The apartments were ornamented with decorations which no language can adequately describe." But such things delight the minds more than the eyes of the angels, "because in everything they see correspondences, and by them things divine."
The scenery, too, by which the angels are surrounded, is described as far more magnificent than any ever seen on earth. Hills and valleys, fountains and streams, gardens and groves, trees and flowers, clustering vines and delicious fruits, "such as were never seen in the natural world"—"all of such beauty as no language can describe." And all their beautiful surroundings are but the embodied forms of their own wise thoughts and sweet affections—a mirror reflecting with mathematical precision, under the great law of correspondence, the living and lovely things within their own souls. They are created and exist through the angels, and are in exact correspondence with their internal states; and they change, therefore, as their states change—the outward or phenomenal world in heaven, being always in correspondence with the internal states of its denizens.
Government and Worship in Heaven.
As there are societies in heaven, some of them consisting of many hundreds of thousands of angels, and as all in any society are not equally wise, we should expect to find some kind of government there; and we should expect, also, that the wisest and best of the angels would be appointed to administer the government,—those who are least in the love or thought of themselves, and most in the thought and love of serving, and who best know how to serve. We should further expect that the fitness of every one for the particular governmental position he is called to fill, would be perceived and acknowledged by all, and that all administrative powers would be so kindly and wisely exercised, that nothing like friction would be felt in the working of the machinery, but that all would move on as smoothly and harmoniously as the machinery in a loving family or a healthy human body. We should expect this, from the character of the angels as already described (pp. 121, '2), as well as from the perfection of their social organization. And we should further expect that the government would not be the same in every society, but would vary to suit their various states.
Now, all this (and much more of like character) which seems so reasonable, is precisely what has been revealed through Swedenborg on the subject. He says "there are governments in heaven," and that these are "various," different in the higher from what they are in the lower heavens, and "differing also according to the ministries performed by each society." But "they all agree in this: That they regard the general good as their end, and in that the good of every individual." This results from the fact that all in heaven are under the auspices of the Lord, "who loves all, and from divine love ordains that the common good shall be the source of good to every individual." And of the governors, he says: "They are in love and wisdom more than others; and they will well to all from love, and from wisdom know how to provide that the good they desire may be realized." And being of this character, "they do not domineer or command imperiously, but minister and serve. . . . Nor do they account themselves greater than others, but less, for they put the good of society and of their neighbor in the first place, but their own good in the last." They live in magnificent palaces and in more elevated situations than others, accepting the honor conferred on them, "not for the sake of themselves but for the sake of obedience; for all in heaven know that honor and glory are from the Lord, and that for this reason they ought to be obeyed." So that the government in heaven is altogether one of mutual love and service.
There are also temples for worship in heaven; "for the angels are being continually perfected in wisdom and love," and social worship there as here is one of the divinely appointed means of growth in grace. Swedenborg says that he was several times permitted to enter their temples and listen to the discourses, "which were fraught with such wisdom that none in the world can be compared with them," all the preachers being "in interior light." The doctrines there preached "agree as to essentials," of which the most essential is the Divine Humanity of the Lord, and are "suited to the perception of the angels in each heaven;" but the preaching is more replete with wisdom in the superior or inmost heaven, than in the others. The truths taught there, "all regard life as their end," and are at once perceived and acknowledged by the hearers to be true. And the truths which they perceive, they also love; and by living according to them, they incorporate them into their lives. To live according to truths, they say, is to love the Lord."
Children in Heaven.
It is not uncommon nowadays to meet with even professed Calvinists who do not know, and will stoutly deny, that their church ever believed a doctrine so revolting as that of infant damnation. Yet so prevalent was this belief in all branches of the Christian church, both Catholic and Protestant, prior to Swedenborg's time, that the few who rejected it were counted as heretics.[1] Yet this old doctrine finds few believers now in any of the churches, though it is still taught (by implication, at least) in some of the creeds. It belongs to the Old Christian Age which is fast passing away, and is part and parcel of that huge heap of theological error which had been accumulating for fifteen centuries, and which finally brought the former Christian Church to its end, and made a New Dispensation necessary.
Why is it that this old but once prevalent belief has become so unpopular in our time, and now looks so hideous to everybody? Why does it everywhere shrink from exposure, and anxiously seek to hide its head? Why is it no longer proclaimed from the pulpit, or defended in theological treatises, or owned and accepted even by the stanchest Calvinist? Why, indeed, but because new light has dawned on the world, making more and more manifest the things of darkness? Why, but because heaven has been opened, and the rejoicing beams of the spiritual Sun have begun to penetrate the dark corners of the earth, and compel the creatures of the night to retire to their hiding-places?
Yes: It is. plain to the most superficial observer, that we are living at the commencement of a New Age—an Age of general and rational enlightenment. The things of the Old Age are gradually passing away, and all things are being made new, agreeable to Divine promise (see Rev. xxi. 5). It is the time of the second appearing of Him whose advent was foretold, and which it was promised should be "as the lightning which cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west." It is the dawn of that great day when, as the prophet says, "a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty " (Isa. ii. 20, 21). And as the light of this New Dispensation becomes more and more diffused, it needs not the gift of prophecy to foresee that the time is not distant when it must fare with some other doctrines—still held by multitudes in good repute—as it has already fared with the old doctrine of the damnation of infants.
Listen, now, to the revealed doctrine of the New Church on this subject. According to this doctrine, all who die in infancy and childhood, go directly to heaven; that is, they pass immediately into some one of the angelic societies, and are so instructed and governed by the angels, that they all in due time become angels. Nor does this depend on the character of their parents, as whether they are righteous or wicked, in the church or out of it, Christians or Pagans; nor upon the circumstance of their having received the rite of baptism or not. They are not angels immediately after their decease, for they lack the intelligence and wisdom which angels have. Or, they are rudimental angels, as little children on earth are rudimental men and women. They have the same spiritual organism, and consequently the same infantile forms and infantile minds, that they had while in the world. But they do not forever remain infants. They advance there to the full stature of men and women. They grow by the assimilation of spiritual substance, as children in this world grow by the assimilation of material substance; for the bodies of both angels and men, are formed of the substances belonging to their respective worlds.
But children in heaven do not grow old as they do in this world. They never advance there beyond the period of early manhood or womanhood, but retain forever the freshness and bloom belonging to that age. But they must attain the fullness and perfection of the angelic form, in order that they may receive angelic life in its fullness, or have their human faculties unfolded, strengthened and perfected in the highest degree. For in the normal condition of all living objects, the form must correspond to the essence; and the perfection and fullness of angelic life could no more be given to the immature form of a little infant, than the savory qualities of the peach full-grown and ripe, could be imparted to the germ of that fruit as soon as the blossom has fallen.
Little children, immediately after death, "are conveyed to heaven and delivered to the care of angels of the female sex, who in the life of the body loved children tenderly, and at the same time loved God. These angels receive them as their own; and the little ones, from an implanted affection, love them as their own mothers;" so that they never feel forlorn or homesick. All their wants are abundantly supplied. They are tenderly cared for, and so wisely governed that their hereditary evils are never aroused into activity. They witness no exhibitions of turbulent passion; they hear no profane or angry words; they look upon no wicked deeds. They are enveloped in an atmosphere of the tenderest and sweetest love. Love breathes in every tone they hear; love beams in every face they see; love moulds the forms, and prompts the words, and shapes the deeds of all around them. Even the gardens, trees and flowers, and all the beautiful objects that greet their senses, are but the embodied forms of the sweet affections and noble thoughts that are poured into their innocent and receptive minds in a constant, fresh and living stream. And recently the heavenly methods of instructing little children, as revealed through Swedenborg, have begun to be adopted by our best earthly educators, and in our most advanced Christian communities.
Such is a meagre outline of the doctrine revealed for the New Church concerning children after death. Is there anything unscriptural or unreasonable in it?—anything to awaken a doubt about its truth? Then how does it look by the side of the Old doctrine on the same subject?
A Heaven for the Heathen.
Up to the time when Swedenborg wrote, it was a part of the current creed of Christendom, that salvation for any but Christians was quite out of the question; that all in heathen lands, therefore, unless converted to the Christian religion, must perish everlastingly. This belief was one of the legitimate offspring of the generally accepted doctrines of a vicarious atonement and salvation by faith alone. For these doctrines, and even the particular form in which they were held, being regarded as absolutely essential to salvation, the damnation of all unconverted heathen followed as a logical conclusion. For how could people believe in a vicarious atonement, who never heard of a crucified Redeemer? Yet, for not believing in that of which they never heard, millions of human beings (so Christians believed and taught) must be shut out of the kingdom of heaven, and forever suffer the torments of the damned!
One can hardly conceive of a more unreasonable or revolting doctrine than this, or one more derogatory to the character of the Heavenly Father. And in what a sad and unenlightened state must the Church have been, when such a belief could be generally entertained! Every one who allows himself to think apart from his creed, or who consults the feelings and intuitions of his better nature, knows that such a doctrine cannot be true; for if true, it would stamp the supreme Ruler of the universe as the most abominable of tyrants. The Sacred Scripture, enlightened reason, our sense of justice, and every tender and humane sentiment, are alike opposed to such an idea.
And these same witnesses further concur in teaching, that He who is Love itself and Wisdom itself could not create beings capable of blissful conjunction with Himself, and then leave them without the means or possibility of attaining to that conjunction. Such a thing would be against his very nature. The benevolence of his character is a perpetual guarantee that He will leave none of his intelligent creatures without the means of salvation. There must be, therefore, in every nation and for every people endowed with an immortal nature, some form of religion and worship, and some truths which, if religiously obeyed, will bind the creature to the Creator, and save him from sinking into the realms of darkness. And a complete history of the various religions on earth, or a full account of their doctrinal teachings, would show that such is actually the case; for some vital truths—some simple precepts inculcating a life of charity—would be found interwoven among them all. And obedience to these truths must, therefore, develop some degree of heavenly life in the receiver, and consequently save him in that degree.
Now, what has been revealed through Swedenborg concerning the Heathen in the other world? This will tell what the New Church believes and teaches on this subject. The following brief extracts will show what he teaches, and what the New Church, therefore, believes respecting the salvation of the heathen:
"It is a common opinion that those 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, from these considerations alone, that they also are saved: That the mercy of the Lord is universal, that is, extended towards every individual; that they are born men as well as those within the church, who are comparatively 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."
"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." (H. H. 318, 319.)
"It is provided by the Lord that those whom the Gospel cannot reach, but yet some religion, may likewise have a place in heaven, . . . and that they may live in heavenly joy as well as others. It matters not whether a person be in such joy as is experienced by the angels of the highest or the lowest heaven, since every one who is received into heaven, enters into the supreme or full joy of his heart." (D. P. 254.)
How are the Denizens of Heaven Occupied?
The apostle to the Hebrews speaks of a rest that "remaineth to the people of God," and of the righteous "entering into his rest" (iv, 9, 10). And it is said in the Revelation that "the dead who die in the Lord," are "blessed," and that they "rest from their labors" (xiv. 13). Putting a merely sensuous interpretation upon passages like these, Christians have concluded that in heaven there will be a total cessation from every kind of work, and that the "rest" of which the Bible speaks, is the rest of inaction; consequently that the life of the saints in heaven will be an eternal Sabbath, somewhat after the Jewish or Puritan type.
Contrary to this, the writings of the New Church teach that there are innumerable employments in heaven—so many, indeed, that "those on earth are comparatively few." But they are all spiritual employments, that is, employments having regard to the spiritual protection, guidance, progress and edification of human beings, in both worlds. Every one is there engaged in the particular work which he loves, and which his special gifts qualify him to do best; and he works at it, not unwillingly nor from a selfish love of honor or gain, but from love of and delight in the use; and "when use is spoken of, the Lord also is meant, because use is good, and good is from the Lord." Swedenborg says:
"All in heaven are in the delight of their occupation, and labor from the love of use, and no one from the love of self or gain. Nor is any one influenced by the love of gain for the sake of maintenance, because all the necessaries of life are given them gratis;—their habitations, garments and food." (H. H. 393.)
Thus the heaven which Swedenborg tells us of, is altogether a human heaven; involving the existence, therefore, of all kinds of affairs properly human—ecclesiastical, civil, social and domestic—and their necessary administration. Ecclesiastical affairs there, are in charge of those "who, when in the world, loved the Word and earnestly searched for the truth it contains," not for the sake of honor or gain, but for the improvement of their own and others' lives; and these are "in the light of wisdom according to their love of use, for they come into that light there from the Word." And their civil affairs are administered by those "who, while in the world, loved their country and its general good in preference to their own, and did what is just and right from a love of justice and rectitude," that is, from a love of use, and not from the love of honor or greed of gain.
Now, what can be more reasonable than this? We were evidently created to be forms of use in the kingdom of God. And we can fulfill the purpose of our creation, only by the active exercise of our God-given faculties in the doing of something useful. A life devoted exclusively to oral prayer and psalm-singing, would be an utterly useless life; and if any one imagines it might be a happy life, let him try the experiment for a single week, and he will be convinced of his mistake. And if such a life on earth would be neither useful nor happy, why should it be in heaven?
No: the highest happiness here is realized by those who devote themselves most faithfully and unselfishly to the performance of the highest uses of which they are capable. And if such be the condition of happiness on earth, then why not also in heaven?
It is into such faithful, active, use-loving souls, that the Divine life flows most freely; and it is the influx of this life which brings heavenly peace and rest;—not the rest of idleness or inaction, but rest from all the harassing doubts and tormenting fears and turbulent passions and corroding anxieties and worldly cravings which make the unregenerate heart "like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt."
The Happiness of Heaven.
Swedenborg says that heavenly joy and bliss, "such as it is in its essence," is indescribable, being in the inmosts of the angels, and thence diffusing itself throughout their whole being.
"It is as if their interiors were wide open and free to receive delight and blessedness, which is distributed to every single fibre, and thus throughout the whole frame. The perception and sensation of delight and blessedness thence resulting, surpass all description." (H. H. 409.)
And that he might have some idea of the delights of heaven, he says he was "often and for a long time permitted to have a living experience of them." And he thus relates his experience:
All of which agrees with and confirms the teaching of Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians.[2]
- ↑ If the reader doubts this, let him consult a small work by the author, published in 1855, entitled "Beauty for Ashes," and the many and high authorities there cited in Part I., cannot fail to dispel his doubts.
- ↑ For a full and detailed exposition of the New Church teachings on the subject treated in this chapter, the reader is referred to Vol. II. of the Swedenborg Library, which treats exclusively of Heaven.