Beauty for Ashes/Part 2/Chapter 3
CHAPTER III.
CONCLUSION.
"A day of clouds and of thick darkness," indeed, must that have been, when even the men of christendom could not see that all who die in infancy must have their abode among the blessed;—when the most learned expounders of the Christian religion, believed and taught the dreadful doctrine of infant damnation. And when the mind of Christians generally were involved in such thick darkness upon this subject, could they have been in a high degree of illustration upon others? Impossible. In every religious system, the doctrines are found, on a close examination, to be intimately connected. They all have a kind of family likeness. No great and glaring falsehood ever stands alone. A single great error in any system, whether of philosophy or religion, is a thing unheard of. It can stand there only by virtue of its close alliance with other kindred errors, whence also it derives support. So great a falsity, therefore, as the Old doctrine of infant damnation, could no more stand alone in any theological system, or as an integral portion of a system generally true, than a snow-drift could stand in a field where the corn is springing and the trees blossoming all around it. As the heat which can bring forth verdure and bloom, must necessarily dissolve the snow, so the light of a true theology, shed upon a great falsity like this, must inevitably reveal its deformity, and so help to dissipate it. And when its deformity could not be seen, as was the case when it was accepted and held for Bible truth, how great must have been the mental obscurity—how false the prevailing theology of that day! Surely, then, a new revelation was needed—a new interpretation of the divine Word—a fuller disclosure of the great facts and laws of the spiritual world—a second appearing of Him who is declared to be the truth itself, and whose advent was to be "as the lightning, which, coming out of the east, shineth even unto the west."
And the fact that the Old doctrine of infant damnation is now perceived by almost every intelligent Christian to be false, and is almost universally rejected as a dead and loathsome thing, proves that new light has come into the world during the last century. For what else but light could enable people to see this doctrine as almost everybody now sees it? What else but light can make manifest the things of darkness? For "whatsoever doth make manifest," saith the apostle, "is light." And whence is all spiritual, all mental, illumination? Whence, but from Him who is declared to be the light of the world —the light of life? It is manifest that a different light now shines upon men, from that by which they saw two centuries ago. Else, why does the doctrine we have here been considering, appear so different to people now, from what it did to Christians of former times? And what is this new light, so manifest to all eyes, but a new and spiritual advent of the Lord? What, but His promised glorious appearance amid the dark clouds of ignorance and error, which have so long spanned the moral firmament, but which are now beginning to dissolve and disappear? If it be upon such clouds, and not upon those which address the outward sense, that we are to look for the predicted second appearing of the Lord, then may we be sure that we are living in the time of the second advent. For every one sees that the clouds of superstition, ignorance and error, which once darkened men's moral horizon, are gradually breaking away, and new light from the Sun of heaven beginning to stream through: agreeably to the divine declaration, "Behold He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him."
And how shall we account for the flood of light which has been pouring in upon the world during the last century, making more and more manifest the things of darkness? The all-sufficient answer to this question—and the only rational answer that we have ever heard—may be found in Swedenborg's announcement of the last general judgment in the World of Spirits in 1757, and the commencement, about that time, of a new era, or a New Dispensation of Christianity, pointed at in the symbolic language of divine prophecy under the figure of the Holy City New Jerusalem, which was seen coming down from God out of heaven. This New Dispensation consists of a new and higher interpretation of the Word of God—an unfolding of its interior and spiritual sense—together with a disclosure of the great facts and laws of the spiritual world. It may, therefore, truly be called a second advent of the Lord, since it is a revelation or advent to the minds of men, of a better understanding of the Word; and the Word is the Lord. For we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
This New Dispensation is repeatedly foretold in the New Testament. And we have seen how much it was needed a few centuries ago. The general belief among Christians, in the doctrine of infant damnation, proves how great was the darkness which then prevailed, and how much the church needed enlightening, upon this subject at least. And now, since the light has come—for all will acknowledge that more enlightened views prevail now than formerly—we find, on turning to the pages of Swedenborg, that he has spoken according to the highest ideas of the present day upon this subject, although he wrote a hundred years ago. It is chiefly through him and his writings, or in consequence of the light of that New Dispensation, of which he was the divinely appointed herald, that the more enlightened views of the present day have come.
And if Swedenborg, upon this subject, has spoken so contrary to the belief which once prevailed, yet in strict accordance with the highest ideas of the most enlightened Christians in this enlightened age, then is there not some reason for believing that his claim to an extraordinary divine illumination may not he wholly unfounded? If what he has taught upon this subject be, indeed, worthy the heavenly origin claimed for it, then is it not possible that he may have been "a man sent of God," and that his teaching upon other subjects may be equally far in advance of the wisdom of all preceding times? All those who have made themselves thoroughly acquainted with his teachings, have been constrained to acknowledge that such is their firm belief; and their concurrent testimony may be taken as some evidence of the alleged fact. Those who deny or doubt his claims, are always persons least familiar with his writings, and who are not qualified, therefore, to pronounce an intelligent opinion. Those who have studied his writings most, discover in them such stores of wisdom, as could not have come elsewhere than "from God out of heaven." They know that these writings have opened their eyes to new and higher views of God and duty. They know that they have been a means of drawing them nearer to the Lord and the angels. They know that they have rent in twain the outer vail of the letter, and revealed a higher and heavenlier meaning in the Sacred Scripture than had been known before. They know that they have opened to their longing vision new views of the divinity and inspiration of the Word—new views of life, death, and the resurrection—new views of the nature and the way of salvation—new views of heaven and of heavenly joy—new views of hell and of the nature of its torments—new views of the wisdom, love, and providence of the Lord—new views, in short, of every subject which concerns us as spiritual and immortal beings; and views not less beautiful, elevating, gladdening and rational, than they are new. And these people naturally ask, whether writings, which possess such an illuminating power, can themselves be false, and from hell. "Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?"
We close this little treatise, therefore, with an affectionate and earnest invitation to all sincere seekers after the truth, and the time meaning of the divine Word, to take up and read, diligently and prayerfully, the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem as unfolded in the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. We assure them that they will find here a treasure of inestimable worth—"a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees; of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."