Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/15

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THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE

mission depends on his accepting with heart and reason the Divine guidance, which at all times and under all conditions is provided in such form as can be in freedom accepted—in the "still small voice," in inspired words, or in portentous signs.

It is the accumulation of these revealings of the Divine will that has come down to us in our Holy Scriptures, in which we recognize the Purpose or Word of God in adaptation to the various states and conditions of men. This Word, or revelation of the Divine will, is given in man's own language and form of thought, even as our Lord Himself gave it to the people in parable. But in coming forth through heaven into man's thought and speech, the Word does not lose its Divine content. It simply embodies this in corresponding forms of lower degree. Thus this written Word is the foot of a ladder on which man and angel may ascend in thought into the presence of its Giver. Under this recognition of the spiritual and Divine content of the Scriptures incongruities in the letter are easily referable to human crudities of thought. Within, all is compatible with the infinite wisdom and love of Him whose will it reveals, full of instruction for angels and men.

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