The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-04-30

nushsnhora.. Account Of menven.

antttlcd IT,arcn (Claxton, Remscn Hafe
nngei), which constitutes the second number OF
"rhe Swedenborg Library now in course OF
publication by the aid Of the Swcdenoore Pub
lishing Association Of Philadelphia. II IA con
donscd from the authors larger work. " Heaven
aud Hell" with a few supplementary citations
added from his other writings, and mar be read
through hy almost anybody in an hour.
The title page tells us that the book 30 the re-
port Of an eye witness. This assertion, we must
say, is not calculated to produce favorable I'M
preston. The very nature OF the subject Is such
ss to throw suspicion upon anything protesting
~ treat II as matter within positive human
knowledge. We read with respect, " not with
interest, travellers accounts OF remote and to
us uuknown regions Of this earth, because we
believe that such regions are accessible to ex-
plorers, aud that, therefore, descriptions Of them
may be true But when Swedcnborg or any
other man offers to tell us about what he saw In
heaven, our first Impulse ia to refuse him hear
Ing for we say to ourselves. 1t Is Impose la for
him to have been there. Certainly nobody that
we know has been there, nobody that has
died and gone there has come back to Ns, and
there is no prospect that any one ever will do
20. All our habits Of thought arc against Sweden
bores claims, and 1t ia difficult for us To over
come them.
swedenborg himself evidently foresaw this
objection for he mentions IL at the outset, and
very adroltly presents IL as the occasion CT his
book. His opening paragraphs arc these:
The arcana revealed in tho following pagcs are those
eoneerng heaven together Win the nff OF mA9 after
scarcely anything about heivrn or hell, nor yet about
hsSwp We ate death although these ,hng on St a.
born WITHIN se church DENY 1 s,s s,S ss
therefore, such negative princips. Witch rue.
dom should also infect aud corrupt the simple ih hesr
gels and 70 converse ,ith them as one MAN Win ~
Sss 40" Wei f' those witch are ia the Se and tins
for the space Of thirteen years,ao nat eau now ae
which do ~ the hope mat lgnoranee MAJ thus ue en-
lie here assumes what he elsewhere more
fully explains, that heaven u not IA locality In
this material universe, but pirltual region,
existing within and above matter, and, there
fore, everyw mere and at all tunes accessible
without change Of physical sta alton. Hence,
he insists. his Visits TO IT not " be treated as
travellers Journeys to foreign country, but
simply ~ the seeing Of things wh.ch lie within
and about every one of us, but to which we, an
like him, are blind. In support Of this assuinp-
ton he cites she cases mentioned 81 the Bible,
of visions Of heaven by men stu 10 the body,
and OF appearances TO them Of heaveely being,
all OF which are des ccibed occurring without
bodily locomotons
rbey saw such things when heaven W" opened to
them; and heaven IL sad to be opened, when tie IN.
terror sight which the sEht OF mans sprit. 10 opened
the bodily eyes bat with the OF tho spirit ana
se M Tn s y. ssrs We s LH,G h 1S 5
~ reason q ne 6oSny seS.es saS Is eievssd INTO
that ght have seen ths thnss which exist in heaven
seen by msn win hs BODILY eye. with the eyes Of
the spirit when vlinn him because We spirit s In
natural world Like sees IKE, because II N Ike AT
vision wnich IS the eve Is 90 gross tbs, It cannot see
re r ss , n h NIP Dy .s 1u Ss
wien are above IN, sphsre Of nature as are all hnss
man when he lie WITHDRAWN from the bodiy .ight, anu
NO. wSen TX please. Se or thai man s6oa see
spiritual lhngs AMI then ne doc ne AnoN oui that
The explanation, II must be conceded, has a
certain air Of plausbi,y, and takes much from
the demand which swedenborg at lrst seems 10
make upon our credulity. For II ethers have
looked into heaven aud had communication with
its denizens, IL s not absurd nor imp ssible for
him 10 have done the same. The question be
comes one of ordinary fact, and must be decided
like other similar questions. Did he or did he not
have the experiences he saws he oid2 Unfor
tunately, he Is the chief witness In his own be
half, and alb turns upon the amount OF weight
we allow to his testimony. That he meant C
tell the truth is now pretty generally conceded
He came Of good family, was a man OF exem
pl nv life, and had no motive for living. He GO
neither money. respect, nor influence by BIZ
revelations. lie had a private income sunicien
for bis wants and for the publication OF hi
books, which he distributed Rratutously, an,
he sought nothing more. the few converts h,
made came to him without solicitation, anC
were never required to pay him personal HON
age. One might as well accuse Darwin or Tyn
dali OF wilful imposition because they have uro
mulgated startling ideas aud thereby won 10
themselves following, as accuse Swedenbor.
Off OF any such insanity as involves a lack O
Intellectual ability, he must be held to b
equglly innocent. Whatever may have been hi
hallucinations, they did not prevent his ex
pressing himself lucdly and coherently, and
Is asserted bv men who have made his work
their lifelong study, that from the beginning t
the end OF a period OF twenty-seyen wears, dul
Ing which his various treatises were written,
never varied from the fundamental principle
laid down by him at the outset, or contradicte
himself in any important matter Of detai
Nothing IL left to us, therefore, but to take h
story az he tells II, and try 1t by our know
sdgc of the subject aud its own intrinsic prot
ability.
Let us take for example what he says ~ II
nature Of heavenly happiness. As he locate
heaven not in material space. but in the unsee
spiritual world, so he makes ITS delights to b
not II material, but Of spiritual natur
This is his manner Of expressingit;
It can ia no case be said that heaven y without ~
ont that 10 In within imi for every anRe receives {
heaven wien l. .lt. .aut him according To the hcN
tist o. within HIM. ''bls plainly shows now much he
deceived who believes that 10 90 10 heaven IL merely
b. ei'y waited among thr hnges, without regard TO 7
auaufy of ones interior life thus that heaven may
bnrs- heaven be Wlihn person nOth'is OF thr heaN
NLicu IL without in Il twk IN ana I. received,
1Nc Angels taFtn collectively are cLlled heaven,
eausr they constitute heaven. hrNeril eiess n 10
DIVINE proceeding from the Lord which lows 10 vi
w. angels and IN received bT them, which mas
heaven ia general anu IN particular. The DIVINE pl
Feeding from the 0rd Is tile good Of love and the tru
Of talfh. So far therefore. as they receive Eood a
truth from the Lord, he} are angels anu are heaven
on the whole this seems TO be only anoth
mode Of presenting what is now the accept
view of the best instructed Christians. IA
heaven is not place but state, and that FOL
man 10 be in heaven, heaven must be in hi
foll0wng out the principle, he goes on ratl
u the disappointment OF those who suppose
heaven to be sort Of Mohammedan parddis
ivory one may snow that man, when he leaves
ni' NJ rraturt, come tiutu me internal spflir
Hthc 10 may nee known that heavenly delight IN int
MAJ dNl apluiuht not cA.trhal aud natural and
eAu. ID internal aud spiritual, that ls pur rand an
p1qu1tr than natural delight and that 10 Htcts The
Ter OF vi d 10 = sO ur