The Judgment Day/Part 1/Section 4
SECTION FOURTH.
The doctrine of correspondences—Different mediums of spiritual and natural truth—The jewish prophecies not fulfiled in a natural sense—Similar prophecies in the New Testament must be explained in the same way.
I have intentionally avoided any reference to the testimony of the divine word, while discussing the question of the durability of the earth, on rational and scientific grounds. Rational and scientific-truths are of a lower order than spiritual truth, that is they refer to more external things. But all truths, whether read in the word or the works of the Lord, come from the same source, and must therefore perfectly harmonize. There is an exact and most beautiful correspondence between natural and spiritual things, a correspondence which enables us to interpret the word of the Lord in a manner which is at once simple, rational, and beautiful, and which can scarcely fail to be recognized, as perfectly in accordance with the natural and intuitive perceptions of the mind. We regard all external and visible things as unalterable expressions of those interior and spiritual things, to which they correspond and on which they depend. Those spiritual things are revealed in the word of the Lord, which is filled with divine goodness and truth, and with the living realities of the spiritual world. We would not therefore go to the word of the Lord, for the purpose of learning natural or scientific truths. The Lord has revealed these to us through another medium. He has written them upon the external, and visible things of nature. But as all things in this natural world correspond to, depend upon and represent the more substantial realities of the spiritual world, it is very reasonable to expect that the word of the Lord would come to us, as it does, clothed in language taken from natural and external things. The divine word is thus given in language which will last as long as the sun and moon endure; as long as the everlasting hills shall stand. The sun, moon, and stars; earth skies, and waters; men, animals, and plants; rivers, fields, and mountains,—all these things and many more are brought into requisition to give an external, ultimate, and literal expression to the word of the Lord, to give the divine word a distinct and permanent form in the natural world, and thus to prepare it to be a medium of instruction to men in all spiritual states, and in all ages of the world. This principle of correspondence between natural and spiritual things cannot be more easily illustrated than by showing its application to the doctrine in question. It will readily be seen that with the most perfect ease, and in the plainest and most satisfactory manner, it removes the apparent discrepancy between the teachings of the word and the deductions of rational and scientific truth.
In warning the Jewish church of the judgments which were about to fall upon it on account of its wilful perversion of divine goodness and truth, the prophets often use such language as the following;—that "the Lord maketh the earth empty,"—that he "maketh it waste and turneth it upside down;"—that "the land shall be utterly spoiled;" that "the earth mourneth and fadeth away; is utterly broken down; is clean dissolved; is moved exceedingly;" "shall reel to and fro like a drunkard;" "shall be removed like a cottage;" "is without form and void," "shall be burnt up;" "shall be darkened," and many more similar expressions. See Is. xxiv, 1, 3, 4, 19, 20;—Jer. iv, 23;—Nahum i, 5;—Amos viii, 9. In connection with the above passages, we often find such declarations as the following: "that the heavens had no light;" that "the sun and moon shall be darkened and the stars shall withdraw their shining;" that there shall be "wonders in the heavens, and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come;"—Jer. iv, 23;—Joel ii, 10, 30, 31, and iii, 15.
I believe it is generally admitted that the above and similar prophecies, primarily refer to the judgments which were about to fall upon the Jewish church; and which would arrive at their full consumation, at the time of the first coming of our Lord, "when the Lord of Hosts," says Isaiah (xxiv, 23,) "shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." In regard to the passage in Joel, where it is said "I will show wonders in the heavens, &c." Peter distinctly declares, in his sermon on the day of pentecost, that "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel," and then quotes the above and other passages. Now these prophecies, certainly cannot be understood literally for in this sense they were not fulfilled. It is true we are told, that at the time of the crucifixion, there was darkness over all the land, from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. But the darkness was not so great as to prevent the consummation of that infernal act, by which a perverted church gave an outward and full manifestation of its internal rejection of goodness and truth. In regard to natural light, there appears to have been nothing more than a temporary and partial withdrawal. The sun was not literally "turned into darkness," nor the "moon into blood." On the morning after that fatal day, on which "the heavens and the earth passed away," the natural sun no doubt shone forth in its usual splendor. The moon continued to look down, with the same quiet lustre, even upon Calvary itself. The stars held their places in the skies. The earth pursued its long travelled path in the heavens; and the whole machinery of nature moved on as if nothing had happened. But were the divine prophecies unfulfilled? Certainly not: But they were fulfilled in a spiritual sense. The former church "was made empty," it "was made waste," and "turned upside down," It was "utterly spoiled," "broken down" and "clean dissolved." It was "moved exceedingly," "reeled to and fro like a drunkard," was "without form and void; ' It was "burnt up" by evil lusts, and "darkened" by false doctrines. It will thus be seen that the transition from the literal to the spiritual sense is perfectly easy and natural; and that the latter is the true and only rational meaning: that it is in fact the only meaning which is consistent with a belief in the divine inspiration of the word. As in a literal sense the earth denotes that which is below or inferior to the natural heavens, so in a spiritual sense it denotes the church, which is inferior to the spiritual heavens. The term "earth" has the same spiritual meaning in such passages as the following; "God judgeth the earth;" "the Lord maketh the earth to tremble;" "the earth rejoices;" "shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord;" "shall be full of praise;" "shall worship the Lord;" shall "keep silence;" "truth shall spring out of the earth;" "good hath perished out of the earth; "and many more similar expressions. If such passages are applied to the material earth they have no meaning; for that certainly has no moral or intellectual qualities. It cannot rejoice or grieve the Lord. But when we pass from the natural to the spiritual idea, a thick cloud of darkness vanishes from the sacred page. It is instantly illuminated by a light from heaven. The law of correspondence between natural and spiritual things, also explains with equal clearness those other prophecies mentioned above. In the literal sense those prophecies seem to foretell the approach of some awful convulsion in the material universe; but in this sense they were not fulfilled. The natural sun which is the source of heat and light, sustains a relation to the earth, similar to that which the spiritual sun, the divine love and wisdom, sustains to the Church. The sun never ceases to shine, but the clouds sometimes intercept its rays, or the earth turns us away from it, and then it seems to us to be darkened. In a similar way the spiritual sun which is the life and light of the Church, appears to be "turned into darkness." Not that the love and wisdom of the Lord are ever withdrawn, for these divine qualities being infinite and perfect, can never be diminished or changed. But the church sometimes turns herself away from the Lord, and then her heavens become dark and the spiritual sun appears to be extinguished.
The moon transmits to us the light which she receives from the sun. It very finely and beautifully represents that heavenly charity and faith which is the reflected image of the divine love and wisdom. But when the sun is turned into darkness, the moon is also turned into blood. When the divine love and wisdom disappear from the spiritual heavens, charity and faith are turned into that which is evil and false. For blood, in an evil sense denotes the extinction of life—in a natural sense the extinction of natural life, and in a spiritual sense, the extinction of spiritual life, the life of charity and faith.
So also, when we read that "the stars shall withdraw their shining," we ought not to fall into the great folly and absurdity of supposing that the word of the Lord intended to teach us, that the unnumbered millions of suns and
worlds which lie scattered through the immensity of space, would at some time literally fall upon this mere speck of matter. The stars appear to be small lights, of various sizes suspended in the skies. They are thus the smaller lights in the natural heavens, and very beautifully correspond to and represent the various religious truths which adorn the spiritual heavens. But when the clouds of darkness are spread over the heavens, not only is the spiritual sun extinguished but even the spiritual stars also "withdraw their shining." When the Church loses sight of the Lord as one divine person, the source of all goodness and wisdom, and forgets that the substance of true religion is a spiritual and faithful obedience to the commandments of the Lord—an obedience grounded in love, when she thus loses sight of the two great and essential principles of divine truth, the subordinate truths of religion must also, become obscure and disappear.
By thus looking through the external frame-work of the divine word, and opening our minds to the reception of its internal spiritual meaning, we are enabled to see and maintain its divine authority and power in all their fulness and force. We are enabled to silence, or at least to answer, every cavil that may be made, on account of the apparent non-fulfilment of the prophecies. For in this way we are enabled to see and demonstrate, that the prophecies which related to the Jewish church were perfectly fulfilled, according to their true spiritual meaning. It is true that the church did not recognize their fulfilment, even at the moment when it was transpiring. Their minds were so deeply immersed in external, sensual, and worldly things, that they had lost all perception of the divine realities of the spiritual world. And when the spiritual sun was becoming clothed in darknes and receding from their view, they saw not and felt not the cold, cheerless, and gloomy night that was gathering around them, for their spiritual atmosphere was illumined by the false and delusive glare of their selfish and infernal lusts. They did not know or even suspect that heavenly wisdom had departed from them, for that self-derived intelligence, which corresponded to their own evil affections, had been mistaken for the pure light of heaven. They had chosen out such prophecies as, in their literal and apparent meaning, were best calculated to gratify their national pride and worldly ambition; and as the Son of Man did not fulfil the false expectations, which were based upon the literal interpretation of their favorite prophecies, they rejected and crucified him.
On turning to the New Testament, we find several passages very similar to those which foretold the spiritual ruin of the Jewish church. In Matthew xxiv. 29, the Lord says: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." This prophecy is repeated in nearly the same words in Mark xiii. 24, 25, and in Luke xxi. 25. It will be remembered that these prophecies are very similar to those in Joel, which Peter declared were fulfilled when the Jewish church ended and the Christian church began. The Lord described the judgments that were about to fall upon the Jewish church, in the following words: "And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a fallen fig from the fig tree." (Is. xxxiv. 4.) Very nearly the same words occur in the New Testament, where they evidently refer to the consummation of the age, or, as it has generally been called, the "end of the world." "And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo! there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as the fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of mighty wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." (Rev. vi. 12, 13, 14.) And in describing the final casting out of the beast and the false prophet, and the descent of the holy city, the New Jerusalem, it is said: "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and first earth had passed away; and there was no more sea." (Rev. xx. 11, and xxi. 1) Now it will scarcely be denied by any one who intends to reason fairly,—and with those who do not, it is in vain to attempt to reason,—it will scarcely be denied or questioned, that the same prophetic figures, whether in the Old or in the New Testament, ought to be interpreted in the same manner. I have already endeavored to show that similar prophecies in the Old Testament cannot be understood in a literal sense, for in that sense they were not fulfilled; and have given a hasty glance at their internal, spiritual meaning. If the principles advocated above are true, the passages quoted from the New Testament must have a similar application to the final consummation of the first Christian church. They afford nothing on which to rest even a probability that the earth, or any portion of the material universe, will ever be destroyed.
To repeat the above argument in a few words: The word of the Lord, if taken in a literal sense, distinctly taught that the earth and other portions of the material universe would be destroyed contemporaneously with an event which took place near two thousand years since. But these works of the Creator have continued to exist, and thus have demonstrated that those prophecies which seemed to foretell their destruction, ought not to be understood in a literal sense. Such an interpretation is, also, not only opposed to rational and scientific truth, but does violence to the word of the Lord, by changing its divine and spiritual truths into mere natural and external ideas. And if we deal fairly and honestly with the word of the Lord, and with that reason which the Lord has given us, we must interpret similar passages in the New Testament in the same manner.
In the above remarks, I have hastily glanced at a principle of great importance—the interpretation of the word of the Lord according to the laws of correspondence between spiritual and natural things—It would have been impracticable, in the above connection, to have given even a tolerably full development of that doctrine. I have attempted nothing more than to develop it so far as to show that it unfolds a rational and infinitely important meaning in the prophecies referred to, and a meaning which does not come into collision with any of the laws of nature, or with any rational or scientific truth. If the reader wishes to know more of this doctrine, he will find it clearly, rationally, and satisfactorily explained in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. In the writings of that author, he will find it fully demonstrated, that a knowledge of the science of correspondences between spiritual and natural things, is the only true key to a rational and spiritual interpretation of the word of the Lord.
It will be observed that I have not attempted to maintain that the word of the Lord asserts that the material universe will never be destroyed. It teaches nothing directly in regard to this matter. It is a revelation of the divine goodness and truth, and a development of the laws of our spiritual nature. It is a medium of those divine and heavenly influences, the reception of which is spiritual regeneration and eternal life. It is true, it comes to us clothed in words formed from the appearances of the external world. But those words are only the external frame-work of the inner spiritual temple—the outward clothing of living spiritual forms. "The words," says the Lord, "that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." His word is every where filled with living realities. Those scientific truths which unfold the laws and operations of dead matter, have no life in them. It is true, they may be made the servants of spiritual truth, and thus be made the means of performing important spiritual uses. But in themselves they have no life. Taken alone, they have no tendency to regenerate the spirit of any man. They are, therefore, no part of the divine word. They do, indeed, correspond to, and represent spiritual truths, and thus descend from heaven. And it is also true, that their form may be rationally determined, or at least confirmed, by regarding them as the external correspondences of internal and spiritual truths. On this principle, I shall endeavor to show, in another section, that the doctrine of the permanent stability of the earth, as well as other portions of the material universe, is a rational and necessary consequence of certain spiritual truths which are contained in the divine word. But as this doctrine lies in a lower sphere than that which is filled by the word of the Lord, it would be unreasonable to expect to find it confirmed by any direct testimony from that source.