Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-21

purport. With Swedenborg there have been
four church ages or dispensations, known
as the Adamic. Ancient or Noahtic, Jew
ish and Christian. The ancient church, he
states In his Arcana Coeleestia paragraph
1889. was not confined to a few, but ''ex
tended through many kingdoms-namely,
Assyria. Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia,
Arabia. Lydia. Egypt. Philistia, even to
Tyre and Sidon, and through the whole
land Of Canaan, on both sides of the Jor-
dan" In the same work he says the an
cient church acknowledged the Lord and
called him Jehovah, Especially they who
had inward worship" That church was
spread through great part Of the Asiatic
world. he says in paragraph 1850 of the
same work, land through many kingdoms
there, and although they differed as to
doctrinals of faith. still the church was one,
because all in every part of it made charity
the essential of the church. They who at
that time separated faith from charity, and
made faith the essential of the church,
were called Ham But in process of time
this church turned away to idolatrous
things, and in Egypt. Babel and elsewhere
to magic; for they began to worship out
ward things without inward, and they
thus receded from charity heaven also
receded from them. and in its place
came spirits from hell who led them"
The scientificS of the ancient church were
cultivated, especially in Egypt, and related
to correspondence. representatives and sig
Initiatives" Paragraph 5223 of same work)
"All who were of the ancient church, and
did not separate charity from faith beliey-
ed that the God of the universe was d.
vine man. and that He was the Divine
Esse. Hence they also named Him Jeho-
YAH"
Critics of our Bible would have US believe
that Moses did not derive what he wrote
about the infamy of the world from inspi-
ration, but from neighboring nations. Here
again Swedenborg has anticipated modern
thought In his True Christian Religion"
paragraph 90, he says: About seven
years ago. as l was calling to mind what
Moses had transcribed from the two books
called The Wars of Jehovah and The
foundations Numbers. xxD. there were
some angels present, who told me that
those books were the ancient Word, the his
torical parts of which were called The
Wars of jehovah and the prophetical parts
The foundations They said, too, that
that Word is still preserved in heaven, and
is in use among the ancients there, who
were In possession of it during their abode
on earth. Those ancients, who still use it
in heaven. were in part natives of the land
OF Canaan and its confines Syria, Meso-
potamia, Arabia. Chaldea. Assyria. Egypt.
Zidon, Tyre and Nineveh. the inhabitants
of all of which kingdoms were in the prac-
tice of representative worship. and conse-
quently were skilled in the science Of
correspondence. The wisdom of those
times were derived from that science. and
thus they enjoyed interior perception and
communicat ton with the heavens. Those
who were acquainted with the correspond
ences Of that Word were called wise men
and In succeeding ages OWNERS and
magi.' but as that Word began to
be falsified by many. in process of time it
was removed by the divine providence Of
the Lord. After this the Word as we
know 1t, was given. written in such way
that the divine within it Is obscure
If 1t is possible. as psychic research now
declares. for mind to be affected by mind
in this world regardless OF distance why
may not the mind of Swedenborg have been
so brought into intimate relations with the
minds of those deceased ages ago as to
pies thought and worshiped. In his Ar
cana paragraph 1877. Swedenborg says:
Men who are distant from each other
some hundreds Of thousands Of miles. when
they appear before the internal senses OF
each other. are so near that In some cases
they are In mutual contact. according to
their situation: thus. supposing there were
several on earth who had their internal
sight opened. they might be together and
converse together, even though one were
IN India and the other in Europe" In
other words, space is nothing to mind. and
II we could get ourselves into the proper
mental rapport with the inhabitants of
Mars we should be able to converse with
them and learn all about them. In no other
way will we ever be able to do 1t except
by some species Of clairvoyance and
thought transference. That Mars Is in
habited Swedenborg declares. and Is here
again ahead Of the scientific world Of to-
day. and has much to say about its inha Bit I
ants. some Of whom deceased he claims to
have met in the spiritual world.
Swedenborg was the great. mysterious fig
ure of the eighteenth century and not only
that is perhaps the most mystifying per-
sonality Of all time. ]. H. SMITH.