THE CHURCH'S BROKEN UNITY.

THE SWEDENBORGIANS,

OR

CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

(Continued from page 361.)

HEN we have disposed of this earthly body to be consumed according as GOD may will it, either in the earth, or in the waters, or in the fire; and then in the faith of CHRIST await the Resurrection; the question immediately suggests itself, whither has the spirit fled? for since there are two parts of man, the body and the spirit; the inquisitive mind cannot rest until it forms some sort of theory about the latter, as well as about the former.

And in this point also, as well as in the doctrine of the Resurrection, the Swedenborgians have set forth most wild and romantic doctrines.

In the first place, their doctrine is that the soul or spirit of man does not, immediately upon its separation from the body, enter either into heaven or into hell, but into an intermediate region between the two, which they call "the world of spirits."" In the second place, their doctrine is that this "world of spirits" as well as the ulterior heaven or hell into which the soul takes up its abode eventually, is filled with angels who are ministering spirits over those who, from time to time, arrive at their several destinations; that these angels are not any pre-existing creation separate or independent of man, but are men themselves exalted after death into the angelic state;

[PRICE 3d.

that the souls of good men form the angels in heaven, while the souls of wicked men form the devils in hell.

Now as far as they assert the doctrine of the "world of spirits" and mean by it, that which the Church has called "the intermediate state" their doctrine is correct; but when they advance further and assert that the souls of men dwelling there immediately after death become angels; and that this world of spirits is not a world of the souls of the dead waiting for the general resurrection, but a world of souls transfused out of the nature of men into that of angels, or in other words, that angels and men are the same race of residue of the other after death; then, in beings, the one being the mere spiritual that doctrine, they become heretical. First, as to the doctrine of the intermediate state. It is put forth in the following words.

"The world of spirits is neither heaven nor hell, but an intermediate place or state between both, into which man enters immediately after death; and then after a certain period, the duration of which is determined by the quality of his life in the world, he is either elevated into heaven, or cast into hell. The spirits in the world of spirits are immensely numerous, because that world is the general assembly of all immediately after their resurrection, and all are examined there and prepared for their final abode; but the length of their sojourn in that world is not in all cases the same. Some only enter it and are immediately taken up into heaven, or cast down into hell; some remain there a few weeks, and others several years, but none (since the last judgment)* more than thirty years.

A belief in the existence of an intermediate state has been entertained in all times and Churches, except among the Protestants, who, in their anxiety to divest themselves of every remnant of Popery, rejected the doctrine entirely, through aversion to the follies of purgatory. A return to the truth is however slowly * Swedenborg's doctrine is that the great judgment has already taken place.

A A

taking place; not a few Protestant divines have expressed their faith in the existence of Hades, or the intermediate state alluded to, in the literal sense of Scripture. But the "world of spirits" is not to be thought of as a revived idea of purgatory. The soul of no man is changed in the world of spirits. "As the tree falls so it lies." The discipline of this life is perfected at death, and its opportunities never return."❤

He then states the arguments for this doctrine as derived from holy Scripture and from reason, as follows:—

We all know that among Christians there are many who die with slight failings pertaining to them, with infirmities of temper, with bad habits of one kind and another, yet who are sound hearted and good men. Their lot cannot be hell, yet with these flaws in their character, their presence in heaven could not be pleasant, because their state of mind is at variance with the perfect order and peace of heaven. Such, then, remain in the world of spirits, passing through trials, and temptations, and sufferings, until they reject all that is disorderly and impure. The processes by which this removal of external evils is accomplished are frequently extremely painful, and extend over many years. Their removal might with less difficulty have been accomplished in the present life. The LORD warns us of this m these words: "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest at any time, the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing"" S. Matthew v. 25, 26. Our adversary is the truth. Truth is ever an adversary to the evil. Elijah the prophet represented the Divine Truth. When he approached the wicked Ahab, Ahab cried, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy ?" "In the way with him" is the present life; and the "prison" is the world of spirits, often so called in the Word, out of which we shall not be delivered until entirely divested of selfish affections and false principles. How practical, thus viewed, becomes our LORD's advice! But without a knowledge of the world of spirits, and the spiritual sense of Scripture, it is quite mystical and unintelligible."

There is nothing objectionable in the statement of this doctrine, neither is it opposed to the general teaching of the Church. Persons in these latter days have generally confounded the unauthorized additions of purgatory with the ancient truths of the intermediate state, and so have rejected both equally; whereas, the one is totally distinct from the other. It is wonderful indeed how Swedenborg and his followers can adopt this doctrine, because

* Whites: "Swedenborg." p. 64. + Idem. p. 65.

they imagine that the day of judgment is already past; whereas, the Church teaches the doctrine on the express ground that it is yet to come. Waiving, however, this difference as to the grounds on which the doctrine is built, the doctrine itself is correct; for if the resurrection of the dead is to be simultaneous and universal, as already shewn; and if both the quick and dead are together waiting for that great day, when the LORD shall come with all His holy angels to the great judgment of the world; then it follows that those already departed from this earth, having their bodies in their various degrees of corruption still remaining here, must be abiding that great judgment in the spirit. But in what place do they so abide it? It cannot be heaven in the sense of a place of reward; neither can it be hell in the sense of a place of punishment; because, the sentence of judgment either for good or evil has not yet passed. It is some place then which is neither heaven nor hell; i.e., an intermediate place; a resting place; a place of repose.

repose

But then comes the question how are these souls occupied in the place of ? what is their state or employment? Now as to the souls of the absolutely wicked; 1 mean those dying in mortal sins unrepented and unconfessed, without Sacraments and without grace; the Church holds that to these the intermediate state is but little otherwise than hell itself; for out of such sins there is no escape, and the punishment of the condemned hangs over them without a possible refuge. But for the souls of those who have passed from this world penitent as regards mortal sin, but still in various degrees of human infirmity, there would seem to be required a time of preparation, or of purifying, by which, according to the need of each several soul, the joys of heaven, and the abodes of the saints, might ultimately be obtained. If the word purgatory as describing this state should merely mean, according to its nominal definition, a place of cleansing, or purgation; in that case there is no objection to the use of the word; but if it mean according to the generally received use of the Roman Church, a place of penal suffering, a place in which the souls of the dead are cleansed by what is called purgatorial fire, meaning punishment; then we should avoid the use of the

Of course, if Swedenborg had this Divine commission, and did in reality visit the heavenly abodes, we have nothing more to say; but if we may be allowed to dispute that assertion as a mere assertion, and require something more in proof of it then the credulity of his own followers; we must appeal to holy Scripture and the Church before we part with the "prejudice" in which men, it must be confessed, have in general freely indulged since the time of Moses.

But first as to the real meaning of the thing? For in the Swedenborgian writings it is really most difficult sometimes to bring into any kind of harmony what is said.

For instance, in one place it is asserted: "Are we not entitled to say, that according to the evidence of Scripture, the conclusions of the intelligent, and the experience of the pious, the testimony of Swedenborg upon this subject is most certainly true? Man after death is still a man, a REAL MAN, in a substantial yet spiritual body, though no longer in a material body as while here.” †

And yet in another place, in the very same discussion, we find the following: after pointing out the distinction between. the Almighty Being as Creator, and the brute creation derived from Him, he says:

"To possess life derivatively, accompanied with a power of rising from natural love to spiritual, and attaining to the enjoyment of a love and wisdom truly human, imaging the divine love and wisdom from which they are derived, belongs to the only other conceivable order of animated creatures, that only species of being that can exist between the all perfect, the infinitely wise and good GoD, and the irrational animal. Such a being is man; and such a man, when he has passed from this natural into the spiritual sphere of existence, IS AN ANGEL. Did the order which the Divine Being has laid down for the conduct of His own operations admit of the production of angels in a more immediate manner, who can suppose that men would ever have been created ?"‡

Now to say the least of it, this is rather perplexing; for in one place we are emphatically told that man after death is still a man, a REAL MAN, and yet we are as emphatically told in another place that Noble's appeal. Section vi. p. 279. + Noble's Appeal. Heaven and Hell. p. 301. Idem. Heaven and Hell.

when man has passed from the natural into the spiritual, sphere he is "AN ANGEL."

Again, further on in the same book, we have a wonderful announcement, in contradiction to all Catholic teaching, to the effect that a great part of the delights and pleasures of heaven consist in the conjugal relationship of the angels abiding there; and that since they are of different sexes, the same idea of marriage is retained as existed before upon earth. While on the contrary, the punishments of hell, in great part, consist of the junction of wicked souls, having become devils; and thus entering into every kind of incongruous and wicked relationship."

"When it is seen that this order of original angels, neither male nor female, is the pure creation of man, not of God; that, in reality, there is not a single angel in heaven, not a single devil in hell, nor a single created inhabitant of the spiritual world, of whatsoever character, but what first came into being as a man of a woman in the natural region of creation; it becomes a matter of extreme difficulty to imagine, that, on being transplanted into the spiritual world, they cease to be men and women, and to be connected with each other in that relation altogether. And when, in addition to the fact, that, all the inhabitants of the spiritual world are from the human race, it is seen, as we have just proved, that man after death is no less a real and substantial man than before; and when it is further seen, as also just proved, that all things which exist before the sight, in the other world, are appearances, outwardly exhibiting the state, ideas, and inclinations of those who dwell there, it seems scarcely possible to doubt, that they who have been men and women in this world, will still be, respectively, men and women in that; and consequently, that there must exist pure marriage-unions in heaven, and connexions of an opposite nature in hell.” *

Now this seems a very remarkable assertion. When upon the broad basis laid down in regard to the resurrection of the body it was over and over again denied that men could have bodies in the next world, but that they were of necessity only spirits; and when now again it is laid down as a distinct dogma that the holy angels are, as spiritual beings, merely the transformation of the souls out of the pre-existing bodies of men which bodies perish; it is wonderful that we are now to be told after all, that "they who have been men and women in this world, shall still be respectively men and women in the next; and consequently that there must exist pure marriage-unions in heaven!"

Noble's Appeal. p. 307.

We may indeed follow and reason upon any theory of the future world, provided it be harmonious with itself; but what are we to do when such utter contradictions and inconsistencies are set before us, as these angelic marriages to take place in the future world. Is it not better to

cast ourselves in repose upon the Catholic Faith, and the Church's interpretation of GOD's word, than thus to flounder about in wild speculations and dreamy visions, which melt into air when you attempt to bring any meaning out of them.

First, as to marriage-unions existing in heaven, or any other sort of union in hell, and the angels or devils being of two sexes as here on earth. It might have been thought that any one reading our LORD's description on this point, would have been satisfied as to the absurdity, if not more, of the Swedenborgian doctrine. For when the Sadducees (S. Matt. xxii. 23,) disputing about the Resurrection, put this difficulty about carrying on the marriage-union into the next world, stating that seven brethren had one wife on earth, and then asked, whose wife shall she be of the seven in the Resurrection? Our LORD at once solved the difficulty by saying that they erred 'not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of GOD; for in Heaven they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels." How as the angels? By not having carnal, or fleshly bodies. By not having carnal, or fleshly relationship, as men and women on earth. Men in heaven are to be of an entirely different society and intercourse, as opposed to that of men on earth, namely, that of angels; not that they should pass into angels, but have that peculiarity of angels which did not admit of the continuance of such earthly relationship as marriage. Men were not to sensualize heaven by carnal imaginations.

And as to the fact of the angels being of an entirely different order from men ; a different creation, and endued with a different ministry and service; that is fully set forth by the word of GOD, and the testimony of the universal Church.

Origen says that the angels were created at the same time as "the heavens," which are mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis; "In the beginning GoD created the heavens."

The venerable Bede commenting on the second verse of the same chapter-" The earth was without form and void"-explains it by saying that the expression "earth" as distinct from the "heavens," in the preceding verse, infers that the "heavens" were not without form or void, and that these heavens at the beginning, were distinct from the heavens in which afterwards the luminous bodies were placed, as in the 14th verse, "Let there be light in the firmament of heaven;" and he concludes it on this ground:

"That higher heaven which is inaccessible to the sight of mortals, was not without form or void, because it had indeed been already created, and was filled with its inhabitants, namely the troops of the most blessed angels. The Creator of the world Himself calls these angels, who were thus created 'in the beginning with the heavens and the earth,' to witness, and to relate their own condition, as well as that of the rest of the original creation, when He speaks to His holy servant Job, and says: Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth ?'"*

And then he subsequently cites S. Jerome to the same effect, on Isaiah xiv. 12.

S. Augustine seems to suppose that Moses included the angels under the word "light" in the creation of the first day, "Let there be light." At any rate, he concludes distinctly and emphatically that the angels were a creation of GoD before the works of the fourth day; for when he remarks on the objection made by some that the creation of the angels

is not mentioned in the Book of Genesis he uses these words:

"Although it is not in so many words expressed that the angels are the creation of GOD, yet it is not in reality omitted; but in other places holy Scripture bears witness to it with the clearest voice; for in the hymn of the three children, where it is said: 'O all ye works of the LORD, bless ye the LORD:' the angels are included in these works. And in the Psalm (Ps. cxlviii.) it is said, 'O praise the LORD of heaven, praise Him in the height, praise Him all ye angels of His, praise Him all His host. . . . . . Let them praise the Name of the LORD, for He spake the word, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created."

S. Gregory Nazianzen, S. Basil, S. Ambrose, S. Jerome, all speak as though it were a thing taken for granted that the

Beda Comm. in Gen: Lib. 1.

+ S. Augustine. De Genesi. ad Litteram. § 7. 8. S. Augustine De Civitate. cap. ix.