# Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church/Chapter6

VI
CONTINUED STUDY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
Thus far Swedenborg's labors have been devoted to the unfolding of the Divine revelation in the Book of Nature, by means of experiment, analysis, and the exercise of reason, under such guidance as he was prepared to receive of the Spirit of Truth. In these labors we have observed the ample training of the reasoning faculty, even to maturity, with its increasing acknowledgment of dependence on the light of the Sun of heaven. We are now to learn the preparation of heart yet necessary, in order that the submission to the guidance of the Spirit of Truth might become so entire as to direct him securely in unfolding the Divine revelation in the written Word. The groundwork of this preparation we may recognize in the Rules of Life which Sandels found, as he says in his eulogy, in more than one place among his manuscripts, and which may be commended to all of us who would fulfil the duties ​of this life and prepare for life in the kingdom of heaven:—
"1. Diligently to read and meditate upon the Word of God.
"2. To be content under the dispensations of God's providence.
"3. To observe a propriety of behavior, and to preserve the conscience pure.
"4. To obey what is commanded, to attend faithfully to one's office and other duties, and in addition to make one's self useful to society in general."
As marking the progress of the preparation, we find in his philosophical works, besides the growing humility and reverence that illumine the pages, some plain statements, drawn we cannot doubt from his spiritual experience. In the part of The Animal Kingdom treating of the soul, he says—
"To change the disposition is to change the very nature. To change a good disposition into an evil one is comparatively easy; but to change an evil one into a good is more difficult. This can in no way be effected except by means of the rational mind and its understanding, whether the understanding be our own, or derived from faith, or ​persuaded by authority. Nor is the nature changed unless we become averse to evils and abhor them, and never lead our mind back into the former state; and unless whenever it slips back, we snatch it out, from the liberty given, and come into the state which agrees with the more perfect love. Not even so is it changed unless we remain a long while in this state, and meet the other with force and violence, clothing ourselves with the opposite new state by constant works and practices of virtues, and so continuing until it has become a second nature and expelled as it were the other nature—so that whenever the old nature returns, we perceive that it must be resisted. In this way and no other we can put off the evil nature and put on a good nature; but it is very difficult in this life without grace and Divine help."
These we feel to be the words of experience, of long and successful labor. But what is here described is only the reformation of the natural mind, or disposition. After this it is necessary that the natural mind should so far submit as to suffer the spiritual mind to flow in with its own loves.
"To this," Swedenborg says, "the intellect unless from what is revealed contributes nothing, ​but faith springing from God does the work. And so, His will being invoked, His spirit flows into the soul and changes its state, or perfects it; but the work is one of long discipline, if the soul is evil, that it may become good. . . . Hence it is plain how difficult it is to turn an evil soul into a good one, and that this is of the Divine grace alone, though there must be persevering application on the part of man."
What is here described, though in the terms of his Psychology, we cannot fail to recognize as the regeneration of water and of the spirit. The description is that of experience already, we may believe, far advanced. What was yet needed for its completion we are now to see. But we may well pause to consider how little we have ourselves accomplished, even of the reformation of the natural disposition, and how little we know in our own experience of the total regeneration sought by Swedenborg. This deep regeneration, though with his consent and coöperation, was being effected by the Lord for a purpose to Swedenborg unknown. A few years later, he wrote—
"What the acts of my life involved I could not distinguish at the time they happened, but by the ​Divine mercy of God Messiah I was afterward informed with regard to some, even many particulars. From these I was at last able to see that the Divine providence governed the acts of my life uninterruptedly from my very youth, and directed them in such a manner that by means of the knowledge of natural things I was enabled to reach a state of intelligence, and thus by the Divine mercy of God Messiah, to serve as an instrument for opening those things which are hidden interiorly in the Word of God Messiah."
Still later, Nov 11, 1766, he wrote to Oetinger—
"I was introduced by the Lord into the natural sciences, and thus prepared, and indeed from the year 1710 to 1744, when heaven was opened to me." And this he said was for the purpose—
"That the spiritual things which are being revealed at the present day may be taught and understood naturally and rationally; for spiritual truths have a correspondence with natural truths, because in these they terminate, and upon these they rest. . . . The Lord has granted me besides to love truths in a spiritual manner—that is, to love them, not for the sake of honor, nor for the ​sake of gain, but for the sake of the truths themselves; for he who loves truths for the sake of truth, sees them from the Lord, because the Lord is the Way and the Truth."
For a better understanding of this love of truth for the sake of truth, and of its effects, let us here read a passage or two from Swedenborg's later Heavenly Arcana:—
"Doctrine is to be drawn from the Word, and while it is being drawn man must be in enlightenment from the Lord; and he is in enlightenment when in the love of truth for the sake of truth, not for the sake of self and the world. These are they who are enlightened in the Word when they read it, and see truth, and therefrom form for themselves doctrine. The reason is, that such men communicate with heaven, thus with the Lord, and so, being enlightened from the Lord, they are led to see the truths of the Word as they are in heaven; for the Lord flows in through heaven into their understandings, the interior understanding being what is enlightened. The Lord at the same time flows in with faith, by means of the coöperation of the new will, to which it belongs to be affected with truth for the sake of truth."
​"The Lord speaks with the man of the Church in no other way than by means of the Word, for He then enlightens man so that he may see the truth; and He also gives perception so that man may perceive that it is so. But this takes place according to the quality or the desire of truth with man, and the desire of truth with man is according to the love of it. They who love truth for the sake of truth are in enlightenment, and they who love truth for the sake of good are in perception."
Of the manifestation to him of the Divine purpose, and of further steps necessary in preparation, we now learn many things from his Spiritual Diary:—
"During several years"—he notes, Aug. 27, 1748—"not only had I dreams by which I was informed about the things on which I was writing, but I experienced also changes of state, there being a certain extraordinary light in what was written. Afterward I had many visions with closed eyes, and light was given me in an extraordinary manner. There was also an inflow from spirits, as manifest to the sense as if it had been into the senses of the body; there were ​infestations in various ways by evil spirits when I was in temptations; and afterward when writing anything to which the spirits had an aversion, I was almost possessed by them, so as to feel something like a tremor. Flamy lights were seen [confirming what was written] and conversations heard in the early morning, besides many other things." "For nearly three years"—he writes in August, 1747—"I have been allowed to perceive and notice the operation of spirits, not by a sort of internal sight, but by a sensation which is associated with a sort of obscure sight, by which I noticed their presence, which was various, their approach and departure, besides many other things."
For some years his dreams had been growing more remarkable and more significant, so that he had been led to keep a record of them. The earlier records, beginning as early as 1736, were cut from his Diary for preservation in the family and now are lost; but there is still preserved a minute account of the dreams that he had at Amsterdam and London in the spring and summer of 1744, the critical period of his spiritual experience, together with a brief memorandum of those that ​came to him in the previous December, when he had gone from Amsterdam to the Hague.
In that month he notes—"How I opposed myself to the Spirit; and how I then enjoyed this, but afterward found that it was nonsense, without life and coherence; and that consequently a great deal of what I had written, in proportion as I had rejected the power of the Spirit, was of that description; and indeed that thus all the faults are my own, but the truths are not my own. Sometimes indeed I became impatient and thought I would rebel if all did not go on with the ease I desired, after I no longer did anything for my own sake. [And again] I found my unworthiness less, and gave thanks for the grace."
This is interesting in connection with the fact that in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, published three years before, we find some material statements which have been disproved by later researches; while in The Animal Kingdom, which he was now preparing for the press, nothing of importance is found that does not stand the test of time. It is noteworthy also that near this period he appends to some of his manuscripts the remark, "These things are true, for I have the sign"— ​by which we understand him to mean the flamy sign that appeared to him as a confirmation of what was true. To others again he appends, on stating what he is going to do, "So I seem ordered." Still his struggles go on:—
"How I resisted the power of the Holy Spirit, and what took place afterward. The hideous spectres which I saw, without life—they were terrible; although bound, they kept moving in their bands. They were in company with an animal by which I and not the child was attacked. It seemed to me as if I were lying on a mountain below which was an abyss; knots were on it. I was lying there trying to hold myself up, holding on to a knot, without foothold, and an abyss underneath. This signifies that I desire to rescue myself from the abyss, which yet is not possible."
That is to say, as we understand, the abyss of natural, selfish will, out of which we are to be rescued by the Divine grace, but not possibly by our own power. In March he dreams again of the abyss, into which there is danger of falling unless he receive help.
In April, "the day before Easter, I experienced nothing the whole night, although I repeatedly ​woke up; I thought that all was past and gone, and that I had been either forsaken or exiled. About morning it seemed to me as if I were riding, and as if I had had the direction pointed out. It was however dark, and when I looked I found that I had gone astray on account of the darkness; but then it brightened up and I saw how I had gone wrong, and I noticed the way and the forests and groves which I was to go through, and also heaven behind them, and then I awoke. My thoughts then of their own accord turned upon this, and afterward on the other life, and it seemed to me as if everything was full of grace. I burst into tears at having not loved, but rather provoked, Him who had led me and pointed out the way to the kingdom of grace; and also at my being unworthy of acceptance by grace."
"Easter was on the 5th of April, when I went to the Lord's table. Temptation still continued, most in the afternoon, till six o'clock; but it assumed no definite form. It was an anxiety felt at being condemned and in hell; but in this feeling the hope given by the Holy Spirit—according to Paul's epistle to the Romans, v. 5—remained strong. . I was assured that my sins ​were forgiven, and yet I could not control my wandering thoughts so as to restrain some expressions opposed to my better judgment: I was by permission under the influence of the Evil One. The temptation was assuaged by prayer and the Word of God: faith was there in its entirety, but confidence and love seemed to be gone."
After describing a terrible conflict that followed with a snake, changing to a dog, in a dream, he adds—
"From this may be seen the nature of the temptation and, on the other hand, the greatness of God's grace by the merit of Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory forever and ever. The idea at once struck me how great the grace of the Lord is, who accounts and appropriates to us our resistance in temptation, though it is purely God's grace and is His and not our work; and He overlooks our weaknesses in it, which yet must be manifold. I thought also of the great glory our Lord dispenses after a brief period of tribulation. . . . Afterward I awoke and slept again many times and all was in answer to my thoughts, yet so that in everything there was such life and glory that I can give no description ​of it; for it was all heavenly, clear to me at the time, but afterward inexpressible. In short I was in heaven, and I heard a language which no human tongue can utter with its inherent life, nor the glory and inmost delight resulting from it. Besides, while I was awake I was in a heavenly ecstasy which is also indescribable. . . . Praise and honor and glory be to the Highest! hallowed be His Name! Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts!"
"By this means," he says, "I learned by experience the meaning of this, not to love the angels more than God; as they had nearly overthrown the whole work. In comparison with our Lord no attention must be paid to them, that is, to them in respect to the help they can render, since their love is far lower than His. By some rays of light in me I found that it would be the greatest happiness to become a martyr; for, on beholding inexpressible grace combined with love to God, a desire was kindled in me to undergo this torture, which is nothing compared with eternal torment; and [a sense] that the least of the things that one can offer is his life. . . . This took place in the night between Easter Sunday and Easter Monday."
​Here we see the inward depth of the temptation and regeneration which Swedenborg was now undergoing. All his previous efforts were external in comparison, and futile. Indeed he is learning the inefficacy and error of all merely human efforts for goodness, even those of the angels themselves. And all this was to the end that he might yield himself wholly into the Lord's hands, and become His humble, faithful servant, with a new heart and a new spirit. Nor was his personal regeneration all that was at stake. The great question as to how regeneration is accomplished was to be experimentally solved and intelligently comprehended. From the time of the Christian Fathers it had become more and more misunderstood. The Roman Catholic Church taught that it was effected by baptism and confirmed by good works. The Reformed Churches had adopted the same belief in baptism as regeneration, for those who should receive faith as the elect—denying that men can do anything about it. For the implanting of a new, true, interior Christian Church, it was essential that the real means of regeneration should be understood. Swedenborg by inheritance was a mild Lutheran. By experience he now learns that ​neither has baptism regenerated, nor his own labor in reformation; that he is in danger of the abyss from deep natural tendency to sin; that the Lord's merit cannot be imputed to him and so effect his salvation; but that to be saved he must see and confess his sinfulness, be distressed on account of it, pray to the Lord for the grace of forgiveness, making every possible effort of resistance to evil, and all with the acknowledgment that both the prayer and the effort are not his own, but given from the Lord alone. The process is, indeed, not essentially different from that we have seen already sketched in The Animal Kingdom; but it is now being accomplished in interior degrees, far beyond what Swedenborg has imagined. And in his later works he has taught us that regeneration is applicable to several distinct degrees of the mind, of which the more interior are opened and regenerated with comparatively few. And as each successive degree is nearer to the Lord, His presence and agency in its regeneration become more clearly seen; or, in other words, each successive approach to the Lord brings a new consciousness of interior tendency to sin, which must needs be deplored and submitted to Him, ​and a deeper consciousness that all the power of deliverance is from Him alone. All this is learning to understand and to be aided by our Lord's victory over the weakness of human nature—in fact, to see His face in the clouds of heaven.
How deeply this was impressed on Swedenborg's heart and soul we learn from his Diary:—
"This have I learned, that the only thing . . . is in all humility to thank God for His grace and to pray for it, and to recognize our own unworthiness and God's infinite grace. . . . The sum of all I found to be this, that the one thing needful is to cast one's self in all humility on our Lord's grace, to recognize one's own unworthiness, and to thank God in humility for His grace; for if there is a feeling of glorification contained in it, the tendency of which is toward our own honor—whether it is a glorification of God's grace or of anything else—such a feeling is impure. . . . I found that I was more unworthy than others and the greatest sinner for this reason, that our Lord has granted me to penetrate by thought into certain things more deeply than many others do; and the very source of sin lies in the thoughts I am carrying out, so that my sins have on that account a deeper ​foundation than those of many others: and in this I found my unworthiness and my sins greater than those of other men. For it is not sufficient to declare one's own unworthiness, since the heart may be far removed from such a declaration, and it may be a mere matter of the imagination: but actually to see that such is the case is due to the grace of the Spirit.
"Now while I was in the spirit I thought and strove by thought to attain a knowledge of how to avoid all that was impure. I noticed, however, that this intruded itself from the ground of the love of self on all occasions when anything was reflected upon; as, for instance, when any one did not regard me according to my own estimation of myself, I thought, 'O if you only knew what grace I have, you would act differently.' This then was not only impure, but originated in the love of self. At last I found this out and entreated God's forgiveness; and I then wished that others also might have the same grace, as they perhaps either have had or will have. From this I observed clearly that there was still in me that same pernicious apple which has not yet been converted, and which is Adam's root and his hereditary sin. Yes, and an ​infinite number of other roots of sin remain in me.
At times he trusted that his pride in his own works was subdued and would no more trouble him, but again and again he had to learn his dependence for this, as for all other grace, on the constant protection of the Lord.
"April 10 and 11. . . . When awake I began thinking whether all this was not mere fantasy, and I then noticed that my faith was vacillating. I therefore pressed my hands together and prayed that I might be strengthened in faith, which also took place immediately. Again when thoughts occurred to me about being worthier than others, I prayed in like manner, whereupon these thoughts at once vanished; if therefore our Lord in the least withdraw His hand from any one, he is out of the true path, and also out of faith, as has been manifestly the case with me.
"I slept this night about eleven hours and during the whole of the morning was in my usual state of internal gladness, which was nevertheless attended with a pang: this I thought arose from the power of the spirit and my own unworthiness. At last with God's help I came into these thoughts​—that we ought to be contented with everything which pleases the Lord, because it is for the Lord to say; and further that the Spirit is not to be resisted when we receive from God the assurance that it is God's grace which does all things for our welfare; for if we are God's we must be delighted with whatever He pleases to do with His own: still we must ask the Lord for this, because not even the least thing is in our own power. For this the Lord gave me His grace. I reflected upon this, desiring to understand the reason why all this happens to me. Yet this was sinful, for my thoughts ought not to have gone in that direction, but I ought to have prayed to the Lord for power to control them. It ought to be enough for us that it so pleases the Lord. In everything we ought only to call upon Him, pray to and thank Him, and with humility recognize our own unworthiness.
"I am still weary in my body and mind; for I know nothing except my own unworthiness, and am in pain on account of being a wretched creature. I see by this knowledge that I am unworthy of the grace I have received. . . . I have therefore adopted the following motto—
​"God's will be done; I am Thine and not mine."
"April 11 and 12. . . . There is not a single thought which is not very much alloyed with uncleanness and impurity. It is therefore best that man should every hour and every moment acknowledge that he is deserving of the punishment of hell, but that God's grace and mercy which are in Jesus Christ overlook it. I have indeed observed that our whole will into which we are born, and which is ruled by the body and introduces thought, is opposed to the Spirit which does this; wherefore there is a continual strife, and we can by no manner of means unite ourselves with the Spirit, which by grace is with us; and hence it is that we are dead to everything good, but to everything evil we are inclined from ourselves. For this reason we must at all times acknowledge ourselves guilty of innumerable sins, because our Lord God knows all and we only very little about them: we know only so much as enters into our thoughts, and only when it also enters into the actions do we become convinced of it.
"April 12 and 13. . . . God's grace thus showed me that I had to strive after salvation ​amid fear and trembling. But I have for my motto, 'God's will be done; I am Thine and not mine;' as therefore I have given myself from myself to the Lord, He may dispose of me after His own pleasure. In the body there seemed to be something of discontent, but in the spirit joy; for the grace of our Lord does this. May God strengthen me therein!
"I was continually in a state of combat between thoughts which were antagonistic to one another. I pray Thee, O Almighty God, that Thou wouldst grant me the grace of being Thine and not mine. Pardon my saying that I am Thine and not mine; it is God's privilege and not mine to say so. I pray for the grace of being Thine, and of not being left to myself.
"April 18 and 19. . . . I was at Divine service, where I noticed that thoughts on matters of faith, respecting Christ, His merit, and the like, even though they be entirely favorable and confirmatory, still cause a certain disquietude, and give rise to opposing thoughts which cannot be resisted, whenever man tries to believe from his own understanding, and not from the Lord's grace. At last it was granted me by the grace of the ​Spirit to receive faith without reasoning upon it, and thus to be assured in respect to it. I then saw as it were below me my own thoughts by which faith was confirmed; I laughed in my mind at them, but still more at those by which they were impugned and opposed. Faith appeared to be far above the thoughts of my understanding. Then only I got peace: may God strengthen me in it! For it is His work; and mine so much the less as my thoughts, and indeed the best of them, hinder more than they are able to promote. . . . It is therefore a higher state—I am uncertain whether it is not the highest—- when man by grace no longer mixes up his understanding in matters of faith; although it appears as if the Lord with some persons permits the understanding to precede such states of assurance in respect to things which concern the understanding. 'Blessed are they who believe and do not see.' This I have clearly written in the Prologue [to The Animal Kingdom]; yet of my own self I could never have discovered this or arrived at the knowledge of it, but God's grace has wrought this, I being unconscious of it: afterward, however, I perceived it from the very effect and the change in my whole ​interior being. This therefore is God's grace and His work, and to Him alone belongs eternal glory. From this I see how difficult it is for the learned, more indeed than for the unlearned, to arrive at such a faith, and consequently to conquer themselves so as to be able to smile at themselves; for man's worship of his own understanding must first of all be abolished and overthrown, and this is God's work and not man's. It is also God's work for man to continue him in that state. Faith is in this way separated from our understanding and resides above it. This is pure faith; the other, so long as it is mixed up with our own understanding, is impure. Man's understanding must be put in bonds, and under the government of faith. The ground of faith however must be this, that He who has spoken it is God over all and Truth itself. That we must become like little children is to be understood, it seems, in this sense. . . . Faith then is purely God's gift, and is received by man when he lives according to the commandments of God and continually prays to God for it."
Such experience and testimony is most valuable on the part of him who was at the very time ​engaged in exploring the philosophy of the soul in the body, to the end that the way might be made clearer for the understanding to arrive at the true objects of faith. It is to be noted, however, that the submission of the understanding which he here enjoins, is to the faith given by the grace of God in the inner mind.
"April 21 and 22. . . . On awaking I heard the words, 'All is grace;' by which is meant that all that has happened is of grace and for the best. Afterward, because it seemed to me I was so far separated from God that I could not yet think of Him in a sufficiently vivid manner, I came into a state of doubt whether I should not direct my journey homeward; a crowd of confused reasons came and my body was seized with a tremor. Yet I gathered courage and perceived that I had come here to do what was best of all, and that I had received a talent for the promotion of God's glory. I saw that all had helped together to this end; that the Spirit had been with me from my youth for this very purpose; wherefore I considered myself unworthy of life unless I followed the straight course. I then smiled at the other seducing thoughts, and thus at luxury, riches, and ​ which I had pursued. All these I saw to be vain; and I discovered that he who is without them and is contented, is happier than he who possesses them. I therefore smiled at all arguments by which I might be confirmed, and with God's help made a resolution. May God grant His help! . . . I further noticed that faith is a sure confidence which is received from God, which nevertheless consists in every man's acting according to his talent for doing good to his neighbor, and continually more and more; that a man must do so from faith, because God has so ordered it, and must not reason any more about it, but do the work of love from obedience to faith, even though this be opposed to the lusts of the body and its persuasions. Wherefore faith without works is not the right kind of faith. A man must in reality forsake himself."
Thus we find Swedenborg learning by experience, from his own needs and under Divine guidance, what saving faith is. From another dream he learns "that God speaks with me, and that I comprehend only the least portion of what He says, because it is in representations, of which I understand as yet but very little; and further ​that He hears and perceives everything that is spoken and every thought that any one entertains."
From other representative dreams he understands "that I must employ my remaining time in writing upon that which is higher, and not upon worldly things which are far below; and indeed that I must write about that which concerns the very centre of all, and that which concerns Christ. May God be so gracious as to enlighten me respecting my duty, for I am still in some obscurity as to the direction whither I am to turn."
Early in May, 1744, he went to London for the better prosecution of his work on The Animal Kingdom. His dreams, interior struggles, and thorough purification were continued.
"May 5 and 6. . . . This now is the sum of all: First, that there is nothing but grace by which we can be saved. Second, grace is in Jesus Christ, who is the seat of grace. Third, love to God in Christ promotes salvation. Fourth, man then allows himself to be led by the spirit of Jesus. Fifth, everything that comes from ourselves is dead, and is nothing but sin, and worthy ​of eternal damnation. Sixth, for good can come from no other source than from the Lord."
Still laboring in the day-time on The Animal Kingdom, a large share of his dreams at night relate to his studies; sometimes encouraging him to expect in them the Divine assistance, sometimes warning him not to be withdrawn by them too far from what was more holy and of more importance. In this work, which he had undertaken of his own counsel, we cannot suppose that he would be easily freed from confidence in his own abilities.
August 5 he notes, "I boasted [in a dream] of my strength, in the presence of Assessor B. This signifies that daily I sin against my God in the thoughts which cling to me, and from which no man, but God alone, can deliver me; likewise that I had boasted to D. H. about my work. On the following day I had intended to go to the communion; but I forbore when from the above I found that none but God alone can give absolution from sins; wherefore it was given me also to observe some things with respect to confession."
Here we may take leave of Swedenborg's ​scientific pursuits, remarking only that their results are in train soon to receive greater attention than ever before, in consequence of being newly published in sumptuous style and great completeness by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.