Beauty for Ashes/Part 2/Chapter 1
CHAPTER I.
THE NEW DOCTRINE.
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation."—Is. lii. 7.
We have seen how prevalent—how almost universal was the belief in the doctrine of infant damnation, prior to the time of Swedenborg, through whom, as it is believed, a new dispensation of Christianity was vouchsafed unto men. This has been shown by copious extracts from books and other printed documents, whose authority no one will call in question. We have seen that this doctrine, false, cruel, loathsome and absurd as it now seems to almost every one, was once believed and taught for Bible truth, by men who have been looked up to and revered as distinguished luminaries in the church. We have seen that it was held by those celebrated "Reformers," Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and Beza—by many eminent ministers of the gospel and professors of theology, who have taken the lead in theological opinion since their time—by the English and German churches—by the famous Synod of Dort_and by the Westwinster Assembly of Divines, whose Confession of Faith still forms the platform of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.
But rarely do we hear the belief in this doctrine publicly asserted now. Even the rankest Calvinists, if they believe it, are chary about avowing their belief, and prefer to pass the question sub silentio. The time was, however, within the memory of some now living, when the case was quite otherwise. Some can remember to have once heard clergymen assert from the pulpit, and in the presence of large and intelligent audiences, that they had no doubt there were myriads of infants groaning in hell! But what intelligent Christian congregation, in these days, would tolerate language like this? What clergyman, however orthodox or Calvinistic in sentiment, would dare to utter it? We doubt if there be any. The revealing light of the New Dispensation, and the resisting power of the new heavens, render it well nigh impossible.
Seeing, then, that doctrines so monstrous as this—and others, equally unreasonable, which might be mentioned—have been taught for Scripture verities by the professed expounders of the Christian faith, can we wonder that infidelity rank and virulent has for so long time been festering in the heart of almost every community throughout Christendom? Is it not rather a cause of wonder that infidelity has not been, and is not now far more bold, and its advocates far more numerous? Who, indeed, would not prefer to be an infidel, if, to be a Christian, he must believe a doctrine so horrible as that of infant damnation? Yet this doctrine is seen to be the legitimate offspring of others, still held in tolerably good repute among many, such as the doctrines of election, reprobation, and the imputation of Adam's sin. Do you say it is a most unreasonable doctrine? True: but that is no objection to it in the minds of those who discard reason, and deprecate the exercise of it in matters of religious faith. Neither is the fact that the doctrine is monstrous, unjust and cruel, any objection to it in the minds of those, who have persuaded themselves that the divine and human ideas of justice and mercy have nothing in common; or that an act may be right and just in God, which would be wicked and abominable in man.
But there is cause for joy and thankfulness that this doctrine has been compelled to retreat before the dawning light of the New Age—compelled to hide its head "in the holes of the rocks, and in the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty." For the light of the New Jerusalem, which is a glorious light from the Lord out of heaven—a light breaking forth from the spiritual or heavenly sense of the Sacred Scripture—is now shed abroad with greater or less effulgence in the minds of multitudes, who have never heard of Swedenborg or the church of the New Jerusalem by name. And one of the immediate effects of this universally diffused light, is, to put to silence, or drive into obscurity, doctrines, whose hideous deformity it so faithfully reveals. They flee before it, and hide themselves, as owls, and bats, and all creatures of the night, retreat to their hiding-places as soon as the dawn of a new morning comes.
"We turn now from the absurd, dark and dreadful doctrine concerning the final condition of many who die in infancy, as believed and taught by the first Christian Church, to that more rational, bright and beautiful doctrine on the subject, as set forth in the revelations made for the use of the New Church. And as the traveller in the desert, weary, and worn, and wasted by his journey, scotched by the sun's burning heat, faint from parching thirst, and almost blinded by the drifting sands, hails with rapture the sight of green herbage and the music of babbling brooks, so do we joyfully turn from the Old to the New Christian doctrine upon the subject under consideration;—from the doctrine held to be orthodox by John Calvin, the Synod of Dort, and the Westminster Assembly, to that revealed by the Lord through his own chosen servant, Emanuel Swedenborg.
According to the New doctrine on this subject, then, all who die in infancy go directly to heaven, or pass immediately into some of the angelic societies, and in due time become themselves angels. Nor does this depend at all upon the character of their parents, as whether they be virtuous or vicious, pious or impious, in the church or out of it, Christians or Pagans; nor upon the circumstance of the infants themselves having been baptized or not. And the same is true of children dying at any age prior to the period when they may properly be said to have become free agents, and to have confirmed, by their own free choice, either good or evil principles. To cite the language of Swedenborg:
"Some believe that only the infants who are born within the church are admitted into heaven, but not those who are born out of the church; and they assign as a reason, that infants within the church are baptized, and are thus initiated into the faith of the church. But they are not aware that no one receives heaven or faith by baptism; for baptism is only a sign and memorial that man is to be regenerated, and that he is capable of being regenerated who is born within the church, because the church possesses the Word which contains the divine truths by which regeneration is effected, and in the church the Lord is known, by whom it is accomplished. Be it known, therefore, that every infant, wheresoever he is born,—whether within the church or out of it, whether of pious parents or of wicked parents,—is received by the Lord when he dies, and is educated in heaven. He is there instructed according to divine order, and is imbued with affections of good, and by them with knowledges of truth; and afterwards, as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom, he is introduced into heaven, and becomes an angel. Every man who thinks from reason, may know that no one is born for hell, but all for heaven, and that man himself is in fault if he goes to hell; but that infants cannot be in fault."—H. H. 329.
Thus, according to the New doctrine, all who die in infancy and childhood go to heaven. They are not angels, however, immediately after their decease, though they are in the society of angels; for they are destitute of that intelligence and wisdom by which the angels are characterized. Or, they are rudimental angels, as the ovary or seed-bud is the rudiment of the yet immature fruit, or as little children here on earth are initial or rudimental men. They have the same infantile form and infantile mind which they had before their decease; for the death of the body works no immediate change in the spiritual organism, or in the mental characteristics. So long, therefore, as infants in the other world are destitute of heavenly wisdom, they are not angels, although associated with angels. Accordingly Swedenborg says:
"When infants die, they are still infants in the other life. They possess the same infantile mind, the same innocence in ignorance, and the same tenderness in all things. They are only in rudimental states introductory to the angelic; for infants are not angels, but become angels. Every one, on his decease, is in a similar state of life to that in which he was in the world; an infant in a state of infancy, a boy in a state of boyhood, and a youth, a man, or an old man, in the state of youth, of manhood, or of age; but the state of every one is afterwards changed. The state of infants excels that of all others, because they are in innocence, and evil is not yet rooted in them by actual life; for innocence is of such a nature, that all things of heaven may be implanted in it, because innocence is the receptacle of the truth of faith and of the good of love."—H. H. 330.
The state of infants in the spiritual world is far more perfect than that of infants in this world; for they are sot invested with a material body, but with a body like that of the angels. They are in that higher or more interior sphere of human life, where all things; are more perfect than they are in this lower sphere; for it is a universal law, that the perfection of things increases, according to the progress towards interiors. Being spirits untrammelled by gross matter, they act immediately according to the promptings of their interior affections; and all their mental and bodily powers are more rapidly unfolded than those of infants in this world. Then they are far more wisely governed and instructed, being in constant association with, and under the immediate care and direction of, some of the best of the angels. To quote again the treatise on Heaven and Hell:
"The state of infants in the other life is much more perfect than that of infants in the world, because they are not clothed with an earthly body, but with a body like that of angels. The earthly body in itself is obtuse, and does not receive its first sensations and first motions from the interior or spiritual world, but from the exterior or natural world. Infants, therefore, in the world, must learn to walk, to use their limbs, and to speak; and even their senses, as the senses of seeing and hearing, are to be opened in them by use. It is otherwise with infants in the other life. They are spirits, and therefore they act immediately according to their interiors. They walk without previous teaching, and speak also; but at first they speak only from general affections not clearly distinguished into ideas of thought. In a short time they are initiated also into these, and acquire them speedily, because their exteriors are homogeneous to their interiors.
Thus, the lot of infants and of all little children in the spiritual world, is altogether preferable to the lot of those in this world. They are in far better company, and under far better influences, there, than here. All their spiritual wants are better provided for; for the angels who have the care of them are much wiser than even the wisest and best of earthly parents, and love them with a purer spiritual affection, that is, with an affection which looks more steadily at their eternal well-being. Thus, through the guidance and instruction of their good guardian angels, they are kept continually under the more immediate auspices of the Lord, and protected against those manifold debasing influences which surround so many little children in this lower sphere. Here, the moral atmosphere which our little ones are compelled to breathe, is polluted more or less with the pernicious taint of sin: There, they breathe the healthful and balmy air of heaven; no blasting mildew, no foul breath from hell, is suffered to fall upon them. Here, their hearts often become cankered, and their feelings callous, through harshness, injustice and cruelty: There, unspeakable kindness, tenderness and forbearance, meet them at every turn. So wisely and tenderly are they governed, that their hereditary evils remain dormant— are not excited, or aroused into activity. Here, they are often forced to be spectators of shocking scenes—scenes in which the very malignities of hell pour themselves forth in obscenity, vulgarity, profanity, cruel calumnies, stinging taunts, and acts of violence, hatred and cruelty: There, they witness no exhibitions of turbulent passions or evil feelings in those around them; they hear no vulgar, profane or angry words; they look upon no wicked deeds. On the contrary, they are encompassed with an atmosphere of tenderest love and purest wisdom. Love prompts, and wisdom directs, all that is done to them and for them. 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. And even the gardens, trees and flowers, and all the innocent and beautiful objects which greet their senses and fill their souls with exquisite delight, are but the embodied and substantial forms of those angelic affections, which are poured forth in a constant, fresh and living stream, into their innocent and tender hearts.
They are also educated in a much wiser and more perfect manner than children in this world, and improve much faster. This might reasonably be inferred from what has already been said. They are instructed for the most part by representatives adapted to their age and capacities, the transcendant beauty of which, and their fulness of angelic wisdom, are said to exceed all belief. Objects indescribably beautiful and interesting are exhibited to their senses, and they are greatly delighted with them; and by means of such objects, all of which are correspondences replete with heavenly instruction suited to their states, the interiors of their minds are gradually opened, formed and perfected, and heavenly intelligence insinuated into their innocent affections. Thus they are led on by their angel teachers to the fulness of angelic wisdom, far more rapidly as well as more pleasantly than children in this world, even under the best instruction; for the wisest of teachers on earth, are at best but distant approximations towards those in heaven. No harshness, no severity, no compulsory processes are resorted to there, but all are led by their affections; for the angels, on account of their superior wisdom, know how to insinuate heavenly intelligence into the minds of little children through the medium of things most agreeable to their senses. They know how to instruct them in such a manner, and by such representatives, as are most interesting and delightful to the children. To cite again the language of Swedenborg:
"Infants are instructed principally by representatives suited to their capacities, which, in beauty and fulness of wisdom derived from an interior ground, exceed all belief. Thus intelligence, which derives its soul from good, is insinuated into them by degrees.
"The Lord also flows into the ideas of infants chiefly from inmost principles, for nothing closes their ideas, like those of adults. No false principles obstruct their understanding of truth, nor does the life of evil obstruct their reception of good, and thus their reception of wisdom. Hence it is evident, that infants do not come immediately after death into the angelic state, but that they are gradually introduced into it by the knowledges of good and truth; and that this introduction is according to all heavenly order: for the minutest particulars of their natural disposition are known to the Lord, and therefore they are led to receive truths of good and goods of truth according to every movement of their affection.
"In what manner all things are insinuated into them by delights and pleasantnesses suited to their temper, has been also shown to me. It was granted me to see little children most elegantly clothed, having their breasts adorned with garlands of flowers resplendent with the most pleasing and celestial colors, which also encircled their tender arms. On one occasion I saw some children with their instructresses accompanied by virgins in a paradisiacal garden, not consisting so much of ornamental trees, as of laurel espaliers, and thus of porticoes with paths conducting towards the interior parts. The children themselves were clothed in the manner above mentioned, and when they entered the garden, the clustering flowers above the entrance shot forth glad radiance. From this may be inferred the peculiar quality of their delights, and that they are introduced by agreeable and delightful objects into the goods of innocence and charity, which goods are continually insinuated from the Lord by those mediums.
"It was shown me by a mode of communication familiar in the other life, what is the nature of the ideas of infants when they see any objects. Every object, even the most minute, appears to be alive, and therefore in every idea of infantile thought there is life. I also perceived that the ideas of infants on earth are nearly the same, when they are engaged in their little pastimes; for they do not yet possess reflection, like adults, so as to distinguish the inanimate from the living."—H. H., 334, '5, '6, '7, '8.But it must not be supposed that infants, after their removal to the other world, remain infants, nor that children remain children, throughout eternity. Such is not the case. They advance to the full stature of manhood there, the same as here, but more rapidly. They grow by the constant accretion of the substances of the spiritual world, just as children on earth grow by the constant accretion of material substances; for the bodies of all in the other world are formed of the substances of that world, which are spiritual, as the bodies which invest our spirits while in the flesh, are formed of the substances of the material world. But they do not grow old there as here. They do not advance beyond the period of early manhood, but retain for ever the freshness, bloom and beauty, which belong to that period. But in order that they may receive angelic life in all fulness, in order that their human faculties may be unfolded, strengthened and perfected in the highest degree, it is necessary that they should attain to the fulness and perfection of the angelic form. For in all normal conditions of things endowed with life, the form must correspond to the essence; and to suppose that the perfection of angelic life might exist and manifest itself under the feeble and immature form of a little infant, were not less absurd than to suppose that all the delicious qualities of the full-grown and full-ripe orange, might be imparted to the tender germ of that fruit as soon as the blossom has fallen. Accordingly Swedenborg says:
But if children grow in the other world, how shall we be able to recognize those who have been taken from us in their early years? Shall I never behold my child again? says some bereaved and affectionate mother. Shall I never see my little Carrie, my sweet Alice, or my darling Mary, just as she was before death snatched her from my embrace? If not, then indeed will heaven be for ever closed against me. The other world will be to me as dark and desolate as this.
But you will see your darling child again, even if you should not yourself enter the spiritual world these fifty years or more. You will see it just as it was when in health, before it left this world; everything about it—its countenance, voice, figure, manner—will be just as when you knew it on earth; and you will also be permitted to recognize and love it, and to be recognized and loved by it in return, as in times gone by. This will be permitted by the Lord in answer to the deep desire of your heart, and in tender mercy towards you. And this is the way in which the Lord's benignant purpose in such cases is accomplished: The child, now grown to be a bright and beautiful angel, is remitted into that tender and infantile state in which it was when on earth; and when in this state, it necessarily puts on precisely the same infantile form which it had when in the same state in this world. For it is one of the laws of the other life, that as soon as any person is remitted into the state in which he was while on earth, he immediately puts on a similar bodily form, a similar manner, a similar expression of countenance, and speaks in a similar tone. This results necessarily from the great law of Correspondence, which is fixed and constant in the other world.
But it is not in heaven that parents are permitted to meet and recognize their little ones who have gone before them, but in the World of Spirits, that intermediate state upon which all first enter immediately after death. For all, when in this state, or on their first entrance into the other world, being in the state of their externals, appear just as they did in this world. Therefore it is in the World of Spirits where those who had been friends and acquaintances on earth, meet and recognize each other after death. It is here that parents meet and recognize their children. But they will not always remain together here, because they will not always remain in the state of their externals. As the parents pass from their external and natural, into an internal and spiritual state, they will gradually lose the desire to have their little ones remain always in the same state, or of the same infantile form. They will by degrees cease to think of them as their children; and as they come into higher spiritual states, they will cease to desire their society, unless they feel a spiritual nearness to, and affinity for, them. They will see, as they pass into more and more interior states, that the highest and only permanent relationships are spiritual; therefore they will have no desire to remain for ever with those to whom they have once stood in the relation of natural parents, unless they find themselves closely allied to them spiritually. Their former natural relationships will be forgotten, and new and higher relationships will be formed, determined by spiritual proximity. In the degree that this takes place, parents will lose all desire to have their natural offspring remain with them permanently, unless they are spiritually related to them. Therefore if a separation takes place in the other world, it will cause no pain either to parents or children, because the natural affections, which in this world formed the basis of this relationship, will have ceased their activity. Having performed their use on earth, these affections now give place to higher spiritual affections. Hence the Lord, addressing Himself to those who have passed into a state to act from spiritual affections, or according to the laws of spiritual order, says: "Call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father which is in heaven."
While, therefore, according to the New Theology, parents, who desire it, will be permitted to meet and recognize their children in the World of Spirits, and to remain with them as long as their society may be mutually agreeable, they will not, when their more interior and permanent states are unfolded, continue to desire their companionship, unless they perceive a near spiritual relationship—unless they are of a similar internal quality. The sum of this instruction may be gathered from the following extract from Swedenborg's treatise on Heaven and Hell:
"The World of Spirits contains a great number of inhabitants, because it is the region in which all first assemble, and where all are examined and prepared for their final abode. * * * All meet in that world, and converse together, when they desire it, who had been friends and acquaintances in the life of the body; especially wives and husbands, brothers and sisters. I saw a father conversing with his six sons, all of whom he recognized; and many others conversing with their relations and friends; but as they were different in disposition, resulting from their course of life in the world, after a short time they separated. But those who go from the World of Spirits to heaven, and those who thence go to hell, afterwards neither see nor know each other any more, unless they are similar in disposition and similar in love. The reason that all who had been acquainted see one another in the World of Spirits, and not in heaven nor in hell, is, because, while they inhabit the world of spirits, they are brought into states similar to those which they experienced in the life of the body, passing from one into another. But afterwards all are brought into a permanent state, similar to that of the governing love; and then, one individual only knows another from the similitude of his love; for similitude conjoins, and dissimilitude separates."—H. H., 426, '7.
But if parents become regenerated on earth, and there be found a close spiritual affinity between them and their children who have gone before them into the other world, then the family connection may be continued throughout the ages of eternity, with its blessings multiplied, its joys refined, and its delights greatly augmented. This, as Swedenberg tells us, is sometimes the case.
"Certain souls," says he, "who were with me, were let into a state of innocence, from which they conversed with me through [the medium of] spirits; and they confessed that it was a state of such joy and gladness, that neither eye, nor ear, nor mind, nor human intellect could perceive it, for it was their inmost principles which were affected. * * * They were with those who had been their parents, grandsires, and ancestors, thus with the whole family for two centuries back. They were admitted together with them in that heaven, and the joy was such as to be entirely ineffable."—Sp. Di., 832, '4.
But it is a doctrine of the New Church—a doctrine whose truth Scripture, observation, and each individual's own experience, abundantly confirm—that we are all born with a certain hereditary evil taint. We are born with a perverse nature, or with tendencies to all kinds of evil; and this, on account of the moral disorder of the race. When we arrive at maturity, we find a supreme selfishness to be the overmastering force within us; until, through the regenerating power of Divine Love, we lose this supremely selfish life, and receive the opposite life from on High—the life of love to the Lord and love to the neighbor. Hence the necessity of losing our own life for the Lord's sake—the necessity of being born again or born from above, before we can enter the kingdom of heaven. The transmission, by hereditary descent, of certain physical qualities,—certain natural diseases or tendencies to disease, is a fact well established, and universally admitted among scientific men. Yet this is not more certain than the transmission from parents to children of certain mental qualities—certain dispositions or moral proclivities—certain tendencies to good or to evil, and to particular kinds of good or of evil. This being admitted, how is it, then, some will ask, that all who die in infancy and childhood can go to heaven? Do not the evil tendencies and corrupt inclinations belonging to their nature, go with them into the other world? And if so, what finally becomes of these tendencies and inclinations? How are they to be overcome or got rid of?
It is quite true that children do carry with them into the other world all the perverse tendencies of their nature—all the hereditary dispositions to evil, having their origin in a supreme love of self, with which they are born. But these dispositions are not there called into activity; they are kept in a state of quiescence through the powerful and controlling sphere of angelic love. Therefore their hereditary evils are never appropriated; that is, they never become sins—never become their own by actual life, or through their voluntary and deliberate ultimation of them. And by not being uitimated, their perverse tendencies gradually lose their strength and activity: for it is a universal law, that, whatever is endowed with life loses its vital force just in the degree that exercise, or freedom of action, is denied it. Let your arm, or any other bodily member, remain inactive for a great length of time, and see how weak and puny it becomes. It will cost you an effort, and even give you pain, to move it at last. But let the arm be vigorously exercised every day for a few months, and see what muscular power will be developed in that limb. The same is true of the dispositions and faculties of the mind, whether good or bad. These, as well as the bodily organs, gain strength by habitual exercise, and lose strength by habitual and long-continued rest. This will help us to understand why the hereditary evils of children in the other world do not get the mastery, and consequently do not cast them down to hell. They remain quiescent, and therefore do not prompt to the commission of actual sins. And the principal reason of this is, because the children there are so wisely instructed and governed by the angels, that their hereditary evils are never called into active exercise. The sphere of angelic love and wisdom with which they are encompassed, exerts a restraining influence upon the evil tendencies of their nature, at the same time that it quickens into life and action every good and innocent affection. It is this encompassing sphere of love in which they are embosomed, that keeps their hereditary evils in a quiescent state, and prevents their ever becoming actual sins.
We might suppose that, if they have been guilty of no actual transgressions, they would be lacking in Christian humility, or that continual sense of dependence on the Lord, which those feel who have experienced His gracious deliverance from the thraldom of sin. We might suppose that they would fall into a state of spiritual pride or self-righteousness, and imagine that they were good in and of themselves alone. This, however, is provided against with infinite wisdom and care. In order to induce in them a becoming humility, and to convince them where and what they are hereditarily—to convince them, that, in and of themselves they are nothing but evil, and that they are every moment dependent on the Lord for whatever good there is in them, they are occasionally remitted into their hereditary evils, and kept in them until they see and acknowledge this great truth. Upon this point Swedenborg says:
"The innocence of infants is not genuine innocence, because it is without wisdom. Genuine innocence is wisdom, for in proportion as any one is wise, he loves to be led by the Lord; or, what is the same thing, in proportion as any one is led by the Lord he is wise. Infants therefore are led from external innocence, in which they are first—and which is called the innocence of infancy—to internal innocence, which is the innocence of wisdom. The innocence of wisdom is the end of all their instruction and progression, and therefore when they come to the innocence of wisdom, the innocence of infancy, which had served them in the mean time as a plane, is conjoined to them.
It sometimes happens that parents feel like murmuring when their children are removed to the spiritual world. It seems to them like an act of unkindness—almost of cruelty—in the Lord, thus to blight their fondest hopes, and wring their hearts with anguish. But it seems so only when they contemplate the event under the influence of natural affection, and in the obscurity of the natural mind. Viewed in the crystal light of heaven, and under the influence of heavenly feelings, it seems quite otherwise. For the light of spiritual truth makes it plain, that the removal of little children to the other world, is no less an act of tender love and mercy, than their birth into this world. It is an act of mercy alike to them and to their parents, however much pain their removal may cause the latter. For the Lord's end in the creation of the universe, was none other than a heaven of angels from the human race; and all who depart this life in infancy and childhood, are sure to attain the great end of their creation. Then how much of sickness and sorrow, of disappointment, and trial, and sore bereavement, do those escape, who are called away in the spring-time of life! And how consoling to all spiritually-minded parents, must be the reflection, that they have been instrumental, under the Divine Providence, in adding one or more to the kingdom of heaven! It is not permitted to finite beings to perform a higher or nobler use than this. Our children are a heritage from the Lord. They are not ours but a sacred trust committed to us by our heavenly Father to be trained for His heavenly kingdom. And whenever it is our Father's good pleasure to call them to his more immediate presence, we should hold ourselves ready to surrender the trust, and suffer them to go without a murmur: agreeably to the divine declaration, "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." We should feel grateful for the high privilege conferred on us of doing so much to enlarge the boundaries of the heavenly kingdom. We should think not of what we have lost, but of what heaven has gained. We should call to mind, whatever of comfort, joy, and peace, has been vouchsafed us, whatever of true parental feeling has been enkindled within us, whatever of kindness, gentleness, tenderness and patience has been called into active exercise, whatever of pure angelic love has been made known to us through the ministry of our dear departed ones; and for all this we should cherish a feeling of devout thankfulness to Him, from whom cometh every good and every perfect gift. In this way our souls, closed against the thoughts and feelings which come from beneath, and which incline us ever to grieve and murmur, will be opened to those that descend from above, and be brought into blissful union with the Lord and the angels. Then shall we experience some of the blessing and comfort promised in the words, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."
It is a most wise, beautiful, and beneficent provision—one worthy of a Being of infinite love and mercy—to send us in our low estate such ministering angels as little children, with all their innocence and tenderness, their helpless dependence, their guileless simplicity, and their confiding love; and when they have entwined themselves closely around our hearts, then to remove them to a higher sphere, there to become to us a still more sure and constant medium of angelic influences. Having bound themselves to us by the strong cords of affection, when they are removed from earth to heaven, those everlasting cords remain, detaching our hearts from the things below, and gently drawing us to that upper world. And thus ten thousand golden chains are every year let down from the mansions of rest, to draw us upward to our heavenly home;—let down in mercy to the children of men, to bind more closely the heavens and the earth. The matchless love and wisdom here displayed, are such as no human tongue can utter, no pen of man record. Truly "the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works." And although "clouds and darkness are round about Him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne" for ever. "How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings."
Thus have we given a summary view of the New doctrine concerning the lot of those in the other world, who depart this life in infancy and childhood. And is it not alike consistent, rational, interesting and beautiful, and at the same time in agreement with our highest ideas of the character and attributes of our Father in the heavens? Contrast it with the Old doctrine as exhibited in a previous chapter, and say which of the two is most worthy a God of infinite wisdom and love, and which most agreeable to the dictates of enlightened reason. Which looks most like a merely human invention, or like the ravings of insanity, the New doctrine as revealed through Swedenborg, or the Old doctrine as expounded by Augustin, Calvin, the Synod of Dort, and the Westminster Assembly? Is not the contrast between the two as striking as that between day and night, light and darkness, harmony and discord, the fragrance of a flower garden and the fœtor of a lazar-house ? While we recognize in the one the brightness and beauty of heaven, the other bears upon its face the blackness and deformity of hell. Had Emanuel Swedenborg, in all the ten thousand pages that he wrote, anywhere taught a doctrine so unreasonable and monstrous as the Old, and once popular, doctrine of infant damnation, we never would have taken our pen nor spent our breath in vindication of him or his teachings against the charge of madness.
All are constrained to acknowledge that the New doctrine upon the subject we have been considering, is reasonable, good, and beautiful. Some say it is too good and too beautiful to be true. Too good and too beautiful to be true! Is there any thing too good or too beautiful for God to do?—God, who is Himself the fulness and perfection of all goodness and all beauty? Did He not create man for heaven, and is it not the constant effort of His love to bring all human beings into heaven? What is there, then, in the nature of the case—what is there in the revealed character of God, in the known laws of His providence, or in the character of little children themselves, to hinder their lot in the other world from being precisely what Swedenborg has declared that it is? Is not the Lord's infinite love a sure pledge that such will he the eternal condition of all who die in infancy and childhood? And does not his holy Word give assurance of the same? What affecting tenderness did the divine Saviour exhibit towards little children when He called them to Him, put his hands upon them and blessed them! And how plainly did He declare their innocence, and their fitness for the society of the angels, when He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xix. 14.) And again, when He "called a little child and set him in the midst of them [the disciples], and said. Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Ib. xviii. 2, 3, 4.) And again, when He said, "For I say unto you that their angels in the heavens do always behold the face of my Father which is in the heavens." (Ib. xviii. 10.) And thus we see that the New doctrine has the support of holy Scripture, not less than of sound and enlightened reason. And when we look at its practical tendency, and measure it by this standard—by its fruits—we shall find the conclusions already forced upon us by the abounding testimony of reason and Scripture, amply sustained.