Theosophy - Swedenborg Bifrons - or Swedenborg, The New Church Sect and the Theosophical Society - A Critique by a Fellow of the Theosophical Society
Swedenborg
Bifrons
or
Swedenborg, The New Church Sect,
and the Theosophical
Society
A
Critique by a Fellow of the Theosophical Society
The
word Bifrons should not here be taken in an ill-sense –T.P.S.
Theosophical
Publishing Service
reprinted from “Theosophical
Siftings” Volume - 1 -
[Page
3] “Errors
cease first to be dangerous when they can be confuted.
When known as very errors, they sink into the Abyss of Oblivion,
and Truth alone hovers over the Immeasurable Space
of the Centuries”. — HELVETIUS.
SWEDENBORG
died in 1772, in the 85th year of his age. He had in
his life-time quietly, and at his own expense, published
and gratuitously distributed his theosophic writings.
In time some of these fell into the hands of an English
printer, named Hindmarsh, who, in conjunction with a
few friends that had like himself become interested in
them, formed a “Theosophical Society” for the study,
translation, and publication of them. This happened
about twelve years after Swedenborg's decease. But Mr.
Hindmarsh, and some of his friends, became after a while dissatisfied
with the plain, democratic fare of the “Theosophical
Society”, and began to lust
after the flesh-pots of Ritualism. Well, the society dismembered.
Whereupon Mr. Hindmarsh and his sympathisers prepared
a creed and a liturgy (after the pattern of the Church
of England), ordained two of their own number (to baptise
the rest and administer bread and wine to them) and coolly
proclaimed the Second Advent of Jesus of Nazareth and
the establishment of a new church by him (sic.) through
his servant Emanuel Swedenborg! As time passed, the “New
Church” grew a
little, though with sighs, struggles, and throes; for
divers souls with divers ideas began to enter the new fold,
and, worse than this, began to read the Swedenborgian
books with an effect different from that of the Hindmarshians;
for they began seriously to question the legitimacy of
the Hindmarshian interpretation of them. And [Page
4] so it
came to pass that parties arose, and multiplied, that
wordy and hot discussions ensued, and that the “Lord's
New Church” began to quake !
What caused the quaking ?
This:
some read in the Swedenborgian books that Jesus was an
avatar of Jehovah; others, that he was a myth, or a
symbol of the descent of the Divine Principle in man
into matter, its suffering and death in it, and its final
resurrection out of it into oneness with the Absolute Existence;
some read in them that the New Church vaticinated by
Swedenborg is the ecclesiastical, Hindinarshian organization;
others, that is it a regenerate state of the soul; some
read that Jesus rose with his physical body into heaven;
others, that this body saw corruption in the sepulchre;
and some read that to obtain salvation it is essential
for every “receiver” of
Swedenborg's teachings to withdraw from the upas-like atmosphere
of the
“Old Church” (the Greek, Romish, and Protestant
sects) and by re-baptism to enter the “New Church”;
others read that salvation may be obtained within any of
the sects of the Protestant church
!
Although
thus from the outset bearing within itself the seeds
of disintegration, in the shape of parties, “at daggers
drawing one with another”, the Hindinarshian sect has
like a sloth crept down the century, neither growing
much numerically nor diminishing; and has meanwhile,
under the cover of Swedenborg's name, brazenly proclaimed
itself the sole possessor of the Divine Truth — the
only bride and wife of the Lamb.
Well, hundreds of Christian sects have done so, do it, and will do it: and
were it not that I regarded Swedenborg, in spite of his many contradictions,
as a true Theosophist, and loved to see him placed before the world in a
true light, I would verily not take up my pen against the sophomorical
claims of the Hindmarshian sect ; because I care in reality as little for these
as for those of any other sect.
The
knowledge touching Swedenborg in the possession of the
public has hitherto come almost exclusively through this
sect: no matter whether we take up a pamphlet or an
Encyclopedia Britannica, we find the information therein
given to be from this source, and so, one-sided and untrustworthy.
It ever represents Swedenborg's teaching as altogether Christian;
either drawn straight out of the Bible by him, or given
orally to him by Jesus in person. All biographies of
Swedenborg in existence (save a brief one by Philangi
Dàsa) are, therefore, to use a Carlylean phrase, “wretched
puckeries and botcheries”, representing him either
in the halo of a Genevan Calvinist or a New England Puritan:
thus neither as a god, an angel, or a rational man, but as
a simpering Pharisee. Falsehoods, nay, lies have thus far
been liberally used in the production of some of these biographies.
I say this with a full knowledge of the meaning of what I
say. If facts have happened to please the fancy and narrow-mindedness
of the biographers, they have been freely published and
generally grossly [Page
5]
magnified;
if not, they have been suppressed. I admit that the suppression
of certain dreams in Swedenborg's private diary has been
judicious. I myself would have suppressed them. They
were Swedenborg's private property, and were not intended
for the irrationally vulgar, either within or without the “New
Church” sect. They
are useful in the hands of a philosopher, but not so
in the hands of a fool — religious or irreligious.
But what I do not justify is the suppression of his theosophic
teachings — as,
with great sedulity and for jesuitic purposes, has hitherto
been the case. I would not give an ace for all the “New
Church” literature
afloat — whether
published in the organs of the sect or in the Encyclopedias— touching
Swedenborg's teachings. I am thoroughly familiar with
all that has been published both in Europe and in America
with regard to them; and I do not hesitate to say that,
with three exceptions, which I shall presently mention,
I would not, for the trouble of carting it home, accept
it as a gift. Please understand me: I have reference
solely to doctrinal statements and inferences, not to
mere historical facts.
The
outcome of this jesuitical one-sidedness on the part
of the Christian students of Swedenborg was very well
illustrated in the case of Rao Bahadur Dadoba Pandurung,
a Hindu, and, if I mistake not, a member of the Theosophical
Society, who studied some of our author's writings in
the light of the Hindmarshian sect, and wrote a book
entitled, “A Hindu
Gentleman's Reflections respecting the Works of Swedenborg
and the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church”. For,
had a preacher of the sect written it, it could not have
been more orthodox (and misleading) than it is. Not that
Pandurung intended it to be so — far from it:— but
he himself had been misled. Had he read the works of
students of Swedenborg like Tulk, James, and Dàsa,
I am confident he would not have written it; for he was
an intelligent man. The same may be said of a series of articles
written by Dr. H. C. Vatterling and published in TheTheosophist,
headed, “Studies in
Swedenborg”. These represent the teachings of our good
Swede as seen through the spectacles of the “New Church” sect.
Indeed, so pleasing were they to that sect that its most
orthodox organ, the NewChurchLife,
noticed them favourably; though to notice anything favourably
that is published in a journal so “godless” as TheTheosophist,
is contrary to its policy. Now, the difference between looking
at Swedenborg's teachings through the spectacles of the “New
Church” sect, and those of a Tulk, a
James, or a Dàsa, is the same as looking at the biblical
teachings through the spectacles of a Wesley and those of
a Gerald Massey or a Colenso.
The
first prominent dissenter from the Hindmarshian sect
was the late Charles Augustus Tulk, an Englishman and
Member of Parliament. In a work entitled “Spiritual Christianity” he
proves, after a lengthy, critical, and exhaustive study
of Swedenborg, that he did not at heart believe in [Page
6]
the personal
god of the “New Church” creed, but in an impersonal,
Divine Principle; nor in a personal Jesus, but in a subjective
Christ-principle; nor in an ecclesiastical church organization,
but in a life of good, unselfish use to humanity.
The
second prominent dissenter was the late Henry James (sr.),
an American literatus of great acumen, who wrote several
books to show that the “secret of Swedenborg” is
a subjectiveness of
heaven and of all things Divine, and not, as the thoughtless
suppose, an objectiveness of them. In
other words, God, Christ, heaven, hell, and the church are,
each and all, according to Swedenborg, entities and states
of the Human soul: —
subjective, therefore, and not objective.
James treats with Carlylean scorn and mordacity the
objective “New
Church” and its aperies as most
pernicious and death-doing interpretations of Swedenborg.
The
third prominent dissenter is Philangi Dàsa; who
has written a work entitled “Swedenborg the Buddhist”;
in which he proves, from Swedenborg, not only all that
Tulk and James have proved, but also, in addition, that
Swedenborg, very far from being a sound Christian, and
in communication with a personal Jesus, was a very sound
Pagan, and in communication (by occult means) with Buddhist
Yogis and Arhats and their disciples. This writer has
the advantage of his precursors, Tulk and James, in this
respect, that he has had the benefit of works of scholars
like Koeppen, Lassen, Bournouf, Rhys-Davids, Max Müller,
Beale, and many others; not to speak of the priceless
works published by the Theosophical Society. Had these
existed in Tulk's day, I am confident the “New
Church” sect would not now exist. But Europe was
then in belluine ignorance with regard to the archaic religions
and philosophies of Asia. This was well illustrated when
Swedenborg, upon the publication of his theosophical writings,
in England and Holland, sent copies of them to Swedish Prelates
and friends. The majority merely glanced at them, and then
shelved them; but a few read them, grew angry and began to
vociferate about atheistic, Mohammedan innovations ! and
actually took steps to have a writ delunaticoinquirendo issued.
But Swedenborg's influential position, as well as his relationship
by birth and marriage to both ecclesiastical and political
dignitaries, frustrated it. Mohammedan innovations ! The
priests of that day were familiar with the triplet religious
sisters of the Occident — Judaism, Christianism, and
Mohammedanism; but not with those of the Orient,—Buddhism,
Brahmanism, and Zoroastrianism. It was plain to them, notwithstanding
the thick, Christian bronze-lacquer, with which Swedenborg
has overlaid his “new Christian
religion”, that there was, in Hamlet's words, “something
rotten in the state of Denmark”, and what could this
be but atheism and Mohammedanism ! These charges Swedenborg
declared to be “wicked lies, invented by craft,
and two deadly stigmas, designed to avert and deter the minds
of men from the holy worship [Page
7] of
the Lord” (T.137) [The abbreviated titles
of Swedenborg’s
works referred to in these pages are as follows: A Arcana
Coelestia. E Apocalypse Explained. R. Apocalypse Revealed.
B Brief Exposition. M. Conjugal Love. Coro. Coronis.
W. Divine Love and Wisdom. P. Divine Providence. I. Intercourse
between Soul and Body. J. Last Judgment. D. Diary. S.
Sacred Scriptures. T. True Christian Religion. W.L. Worship
and Love of God. Doc. Documents];—the “Lord”,
as presented in his writings, of course !
The
spread of the “New Church” sect has almost exclusively
been confined to England and the United States of America,
the two countries in the West, in which the critical
study of religious subjects is as yet in its infancy.
On the Continent, notwithstanding strong pecuniary support
from these countries, it has made no headway. But, as
the object of this critique is not the mere history of
the Hindmarshian sect, I shall forbear to go into details — to
give the causes of this non-success, and to enumerate
the many “heresies” and bitter fights, with which the
sect, owing to the miscellaneous, strange, and contradictory
teachings of Swedenborg, has been infested and torn, — and
content myself with the relation of the following extraordinary
fact:
Swedenborg
has, in the sect, been held as the authority in
all spiritual matters. The phrase, “Swedenborg says
so”, has
ever been sufficient to suppress (loud) thought, stop
reason, and make honest inquiry synonymous with impiety
and profanation; in one word, it has ever been sufficient
to freeze or fossilize the mind in the Hindmarshian mould.
The infallibility of Swedenborg has therefore always
been tacitly admitted. But it fell to the lot of a young
countryman of Swedenborg, a bold, uncompromising and
fanatical preacher of the sect in America, openly to
assert the infallibility-dogma. This assertion created,
however, at the time no sensation, for his hearers had
already in private been prepared for it. The new dogma
spread, and became in a short time, within the party
to which he belonged, a shibboleth of “New Church” orthodoxy.
Let us see if I misrepresent: The New Church Messenger (New
York) for December 21, 1887, contains the following paragraph: “All
New Church papers accept the writings of the New Church
(i.e. of Swedenborg) as a divine revelation. TheNewChurchLife goes
a step further and says: consequently, they are an infallibledivineauthority.
To dispute the one proposition is to dispute both”.
In
view of the fact that we have the original writings of
Swedenborg before us, and also in view of the fact that
our “New Church” brethren do not
inhabit Patagonia, but lands in which scholarship and reason
are coming into ascendency, this is certainly an extraordinary
claim. The same claim made by Loyola's Black Militia
for the Bishop of Rome is absurd and impudent enough,
but as it rests upon tradition, it does not in [Page
8] these
respects, approach this, made by Hindmarsh's Foolish Militia
for Swedenborg.
There
is one subject upon which all the parties of the sect
are agreed; namely this, that Swedenborg has for the
first time revealed the genuine, inner meaning of the
Bible, and that this revelation, founded upon his (?)
“science of correspondence” will stand any crucial
test that may be applied to it. Now, it behoves us not to
reject this claim, but to test it; for which purpose let
us go straight to the writings of our “divine” revelator,
to see how he “infallibly” draws forth the hidden
meaning of the Bible:
“And
they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and
faithful”. —
Revelation, xvii. 14.
The ‘Called
(says Swedenborg) means
those
that are in the highest form of love
The ‘Called’ (says
Swedenborg
means
those that are thelowest form
of love.
The ‘Faithful” means
those that are in the lowest form of love – A.E.
1074
The ‘Faithful’ means
those that are the highest form of love – A.R
744
The
Apostolic Word has not an internal sense – A.
10325
The
Apostolic Word has an internal
sense. The internal sense of Acts ii 1 – 4
is given inA.E.
455
In
A.R. 95 he rejects the phrase,” yet thou
art rich” (Rev ii 9) because it is “omitted
in some manuscripts”.
In
A.E. 118 this phrase is ‘“divine” and
has an internal sense;
which is there given
I
could easily fill page upon page with specimens like
these of the “internal
sense” of the Bible, now “infallibly” and for the first time
drawn forth from it by Swedenborg; but, cuibono ?
The
orthodox members of the Hindmarshian sect have for many
years past discussed the advisability of translating
the Bible in the light afforded by Swedenborg; that is
to say, of translating his Latin translation into English;
and, where he has not translated the Hebrew, of translating
it in the light of the “Lord's New Church”. And,
if I mistake not, the work has been informally begun. King
James' version will not do; for in hundreds of instances
it does not agree with Swedenborg; nor will Queen Victoria's;
being a “sacrilegious mangling” of the “infallible” Hebrew
edition of Everard van der Hooght ! But Swedenborg did not
translate as much of the Hebrew of Van der Hooght's edition
into Latin, as his uncritical students imagine. He copied,
as a rule, the Latin of Sebastian Schmidt.
The “New
Church” sect claims that Swedenborg, with the personal
help of Jesus, has drawn forth the spiritual meaning
of the Bible; and it stands therefore to reason that
his understanding and rendering of the sacred volume
must be infallible; for no one can, out of the fallible,
draw [Page
9]
forth anything
infallible. Let us therefore look at Swedenborg as a
translator:
And
the court that is without (extra) the
temple,
cast out, and measure it not – Rev.
xi 2) in A.R.
And
the court that is within (intra) the temple, cast
out, and
measure it not – A. 730
They
made them (the idols) to bow themselves
down to the moles and the wasps (vespis).
Is. ii 20, 21, in A.
9424
They
made them to bow themselves
down to the moles and bats (vespertilionibus)
—
A.
8932; 10582. E. 410
May
the blessing of thy father prevail above
the blessings of my parents; may
they be upon the head of Joseph and
upon the crown of the bed (lectus) of
his brethren. – Gen xIix 26, in E 163
The
blessings of thy father will prevail
over the blessing of my sires,
even to the longing desires
of the hills of an age they
will be for the head of Joseph, and for the crown of the
head of the Nazariteship (Naziraei) of his brethren, – A.
3969
I
could also in this respect fill page upon page with specimens
like these, but it would only weary the reader. We have
now had a glimpse of Swedenborg as an expositor and translator
of the Bible; it remains to get a glimpse of him as a
teacher of doctrine. To this end, and to be as brief
as possible, let me take up, say, four different subjects:
(i) the Deity, (2) the Hells, (3) Christians and Gentiles,
and (4) Transmigration.
THE
DEITY
SWEDENBORG
THE CHRISTIAN: We must worship Jehovah, the father of
God-Messiah, our Saviour (D. 169); we must also worship
his son, Jesus, as a mediator between him and ourselves
(D. 408; 526). If we do not believe in the Son we must
inevitably be damned to hell (D. 857); for the Son alone
has on the cross been made justice for us all (D. 273);
having offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of the whole
world, (T. 727) when the Omnipotent was about to punish
the race because of sin (W. L. 78). As to the nature
of the union of the Son and his Father, it is not for
us to try to penetrate this mystery (D. 1595). He that
sees the Son, the intercessor between the Father and
the human race, sees the Father himself. This is sufficient
to know. It is useless and impious to go deeper into
mystery (D. 1601). For my own part, I desire always to
have my crucified Saviour before my eyes, because his
blood and merit help me (Doc. V. ii. p. 178, 186). Every
one that desires to be truly a Christian, and desires
to be saved by Christ, must believe that Jesus is the
Son of the Living God (T. 342); and that the name of
Jesus is so holy that it cannot be named by any devil
in hell (T. 297).
SWEDENBORG
THE THEOSOPHIST: It is said that it is useless and impious
to try to enter into the mysteries of faith. Do not believe
it. For, “itisnow lawfulto enter intellectually into the
mysteries of faith” (T. 508). [Page
10]
The Divine
Life is not a person (W. 71), not a he or a she,
a father or a son. It is a principle, which, though it
pervades all space, is itself spaceless; and though it
pervades all time, is itself timeless (W. 7 ; T. 30).
The worlds, visible and invisible, supernal and infernal,
spiritual and material; and all beings, divine and undivine,
human and animal, have come forth from it (T. 32; 43;
44). And all that has come forth from it is eternal;
that is, divine in itself (E. 1130), and returns in the
end to it (E. 1129). It is correct to say that we are in the
Divine Life (though we are not conscious of it), and
that everything is full of it (W. L. 58; 98). The personal
gods of the priests are but the anthropomorphic projections
of their own mind. The only personal god I have seen
was a reflection, outside me, of the personal god (the
Sixth-Seventh principle) inside me (H. 39; 79; 147; 435)
For all good men see inwardly, in themselves, their Divine
Being (E. 151). It is useless to trouble oneself about
the gods of books and men: for Life and Nature are
the causes of all entities and things (I. 10, II),
and are all-sufficient! As to the statement that the
name of Jesus cannot be uttered in hell, this is a mistake:
I have heard it uttered there (D. 228). And as to the
statement that to be saved one has to believe in Jesus,
this is another mistake: for the faith of the Gentiles
saves them (T. 107).
THE
HELLS
SWEDENBORG
THE CHRISTIAN: God has given to man rationality and liberty
to choose between good and evil. And he has also predestined
him for heaven. Therefore, if he goes to hell he goes
thither from deliberate choice (E. 802); and stays there
eternally (E. 383). The man that does not purge himself
of inherited and actual evils has hell in him, and comes
after death in hell, and remains there eternally (E.
1164). Self-love and worldly love are the two great banes
which cause man to cast himself into eternal punishment
in hell (E. 837). You have doubtless heard the pernicious
falsehood that God can save whomsoever he pleases, and that
he will in the end save all, even those in hell. But
I solemnly assure you that, a soul once in hell remains
there everlastingly (H. 521 — 7, E. 745, A. 967).
For, as the tree falls so it lies. Emendation after death
is not possible (D. 4037 — 8,
H. 508). I would caution you not to think that infants and
little children — even of Pagan parentage — are
permitted to go to hell, for the lord takes all that
die in infancy and childhood to himself (H. 329)
SWEDENBORG
THE THEOSOPHIST: Man, it is said, was predestined for
heaven, and if he goes to hell it is his own fault. Can any
one predestinedfor
a state escape it ? All this twaddle is the outcome of
a belief in a personal god. The evil done here bears
in its bosom its own punishment (D. 2438). But this punishment
is even proportionate to the evil, or rather
[Page
11] to the
selfish motive that
prompted it. As the effect of a particular evil cannot,
any more than the evil itself, be everlasting, so neither
can the punishment. I have been taught that to every
man an opportunity is given after death (in a future
incarnation) to amend his life, if possible (P. 328).
A man suffers until the selfishness in him is subjugated
(D, 1742); that is, until it exhausts itself. Otherwise
he would suffer endlessly (D. 2709; 4596); which would
be useless and contrary to the Law of Mercy. Those
that hereafter come into the various hellish states
are by degrees taken out of them and elevated into
heavenly (D. 1741). Wherefore, damnation is at last
taken away (D. 2583), I have seen many of the damned
raised out of hell and torments into heaven, where
they now live (D. 228). It would indeed be foolish
to suppose that anyone would be permitted to be punished
in hell everlastingly for the sins of one so short
life as this. The end of all punishment in view is
reformation. But eternal punishment could have no such
end in view, and would therefore be useless (D. 3489).
The Divine Law is, that nothing is ever without a use
(D. 3144). When the effect of man's selfishness; of
his self love and worldly love, has exhausted itself,
the Divine Principle intervenes and liberates him out
of hell (D. 2826). When I speak of hell, I do not,
of course, have in mind an objective hell,
but a subjective: a low, selfish state of the
soul, with its train of sufferings.
CHRISTIANSANDGENTILES
SWEDENBORG
THE CHRISTIAN: A Christian is one that knows the Lord
(Jesus), has the Word (the Bible), and belongs to the (Protestant)
Church: and he, more than anyone that is not a Christian,
has the capacity of being regenerated, or becoming spiritual
(M. 339). In other words, to attain to salvation it is
not merely necessary to be good naturally (as many of
the Gentiles are), one has to be good spiritually. Now
spiritual goodness has its source only in the truths
of the Christian faith; and it is this goodness that
confers eternal life (A. 8772). It is Christian goodness
that makes heaven; nothing else (A. 7197). I do not say
that a Gentile may not be saved; he may indeed, if only
he has worshipped a god under a human form (an anthropomorphic
god), and has lived a good life. This will admit him
into the company of Christians in heaven (J. 51). But
then, no matter how good a Gentile may be, he cannot
be, as it were, of the heart or of the very centre of
heaven; for this is possible only to a Christian. When
I say
Christian, I do not, of course, mean a Papist (for
the Papists are not Christians; — N. 8), but I mean
a Protestant (S. 105).
You
seem to wonder that the Christians are in the very centre
of heaven, and nearest the Lord (Jesus); but from personal
observation I assure you that this is a fact (T. 678,
D. 5240). And the English Christians, because of their
exalted intelligence, form the very cream of [Page
12] heaven
(T. 807). The Lord Jesus is the Central Life of the
Universe, and those that worship him alone are after
death drawn to him. A man, born in the Christian world,
who does not believe in Jesus, is never admitted into
heaven, nor are his prayers heard (T. 108). Nay, more
than this, a man that does not in the world live a Christian
life cannot after death even name Jesus (P. 262). I have
just said that the Papists are not Christians; let me
add that neither are those Christians who deny the holiness
of the Word (Bible) .— P. 256. I think it expedient
to tell you, by all means to have your children baptized
very early into the Christian faith; for, while an infant
remains unbaptized, some straggling Mohammedan or Pagan
spirit may see him, and by occult means, unknown to you,
alienate him from Christianity (T. 678). Therefore, let
him be baptized, and let him receive the sign of the
cross upon his forehead and breast (T. 682). When he
reaches manhood, and feels himself burdened with sins,
it will do him good to confess them to a priest and receive
absolution (T. 539). Let me call your attention to this,
that a pure marriage-love can exist only between one
Christian man and one Christian woman (M. 337). That
is to say, the Christian marriage principle alone is
chaste, because it is spiritual (M. 142; 339). And because
it is chaste and spiritual it is the very store-house
of the Christian religion (M. 457). Concubinage, without a really serious reason, closes heaven against
man, and the angels do not number him among the Christians
(M. 464). I might add that the Lord (Jesus), the only God of
heaven and earth, has appeared to me inperson, and has, through me, revealed the mysteries
of the Word (Bible), of heaven, of hell, and of the earth,
and has so made his promised Second Advent. He has also, through
me, established a New Christian Church, which will last eternally,
and so be the crown of all the churches that have existed
(Coro. LIX.); and he has moreover formed a new heaven into
which only Christians will be admitted (R. 876).
SWEDENBORG
THE THEOSOPHIST: The idea of three gods has prevailed
among the Christians since the establishment of their
schismatic and heretical church (H. 2. B. 63. P. 262.
T. 378); and this idea, including the Vicarious Atonement,
has led to all manner of abominations. The Christians
are at heart idolaters and atheists (A. 2605); and the
angels say that they are spiritually insane (T. 134);
men-beasts and prating parrots (T. 160; 391); and that
they believe nothing but what their natural senses tell
them. Thus they are worshippers of Nature (A. 5572; 5639;
6876). They openly profess to believe in Jesus and in
the Bible, but at heart they deny both, and, have contempt
for them (A. 3472-9-89). They have no spiritual illumination,
and are not affected by the truth. Of true goodness they
are ignorant, and also of a life hereafter. They go to
church for selfish and worldly reasons, and care not
a [Page
13] whit
whether the doctrine taught be true or false (A. 9409).
Not a single one among them knows what heavenly joy is
(M. 2); nor what conscience is (T. 666). And nowhere
in the world do we find a more detestable life than in
Christendom (A. 916). Hence it is that the doctrine of
charity is much more easily embraced by the Gentiles
than by the Christians (A. 932; 4190; 2284); for the
former are not so befogged spiritually as the latter.
When we enter the Spiritual World, we find that the worst
souls there are from those that profess themselves Christians
(D. 480). They are full of hatred and hypocrisy
(A. 1032; 1886. D. 3595; 3613; 5539; 480). Think scarcely
of anything but greatness, power and profanity (A. 2122);
have no regard for the neighbour (especially if he be
a Gentile), and are, above all in the world, obscene,
adulterous, and domineering (A. 2752 - 4 ; 8772). The
Christians are in factso corrupt that the Lord
hasbetakenhimself to the Gentiles (D. 5807)
and the angels have slender hopes of the Christians (J.
74). When the Gentiles are instructed in spiritual matters,
they are in a clearer, more interior, perception or intuition,
than the Christians (A. 9256); and many more of them are
saved (A. 2284). It may be truly said that, as far as the
Christians are concerned, Intuition, or Perception, does
not exist (A. 10737). The Gentiles wish well to the Christians,
but they are in return despised, and, as much as possible,
injured (A. 2590). The angels have told me that when the
Gentiles die and enter the Spiritual world, they obtain
in a single day rest, which, in the case of Christians,
is scarcely obtained in thirty years (A. 2595; 298). The
end of the Christian Church is now at hand; and the Lord's
Kingdom will soon be found beyond the Christian world (A.
4535. D. 2567).
TRANSMIGRATION
SWEDENBORG
THE CHRISTIAN: It is known that the ancient Gentiles
believed that the Soul pre-existed: that it was created
in the beginning of the World, and that afterwards it
entered into conjunction with the Body. Well, this was
a delusion, the outcome of intercourse with lying spirits
(T.). I have again and again instructed spirits, who
have imagined that their Soul has always existed, that
this is a wicked delusion (D. 1673; 2180½ etal).
The Soul of every man is conceived by his father. Conception
is, therefore, a purely masculine function. A woman cannot
conceive a Soul (T. 110). The Creator inserts the elements
of the Soul of everyone into his father's Understanding,
where they are formed by his Will into a Soul, which
then descends into his Body, is there clothed with a
certain covering from Nature, and is then transferred
to his mother's womb to receive a gross Body. There is,
therefore, in everyone a graft or offset of his father's
Soul in its fulness (T. 103; 112; 171; 584). The reason
why the Soul is formed in the father is, because he is
a rational [Page
14] being;
which the mother, by herself, is not. The rationality
and originality that a woman manifests are not hers,
but some man or men's; for which cause the Ancients ordered
that she should keep silent in the Church (A. 8994. M.
175) You wonder, I perceive, at the unlikeness of men or
brothers: some being dull, gross, and bad; others, bright,
refined, and good; and others again neither; and you ask,
Why does the Creator make them so unlike? Now consider
this: as the mould is, so is the thing moulded; or, as
the father is, so is the son. The good done by a man is
from the Creator; but the bad is in part from his father,
or his father's paternal (not maternal) ancestors, and
in part from himself (T. 521)
SWEDENBORG
THE THEOSOPHIST: Man receives through his parents nothing
but the Physical body (P. 330). His Soul is altogether
independent of them. Man is, however, more than a duality
of Soul and Body (T. 112); he is a trinity of Body, Mind,
and Soul (D. 3185); and more than this, he is a quaternity
of Body, Natural soul, Spiritual soul, and the Lord (D.
1313), M. 101); and still more than this, he is a septenary
of Body, its Vitality, Sensual degree, Natural degree,
Rational degree, Spiritual degree, and Divine degree
(D. 3385; E. 726; 1056; 1127). With regard to the seven
degrees let me state briefly that man receives the First
and the Second from his parents and Nature; the Third
and Fourth he creates for himself (D. 2794; 2837); the
Fifth (the Human soul proper) is the result of his experiences;
the Sixth is, or will be, so to say, the sweetness, the aroma,
the fulness of the good and the true he has acquired
(in his transmigrations), and the Seventh is the Divine
Being; the Self-Infinite, or the God in man (E. 151;
M. 135. W. L. 33). As to the statement that the doctrine
of pre-existence is a spiritualistic and gentile delusion,
depend upon it, the delusion is altogether on the side
of those that make it. “For man, as to all (omnes)
his degrees, existed similarly before (ante) his nativity,
as he existsafterward”
(D. 2591).
Reader: “Ex
uno disce omnes!”
Had
Swedenborg, like nearly all the founders of the various
Christian sects, been a mere strainer at gnats and swallower
of camels, he would, at this day, hardly be worth while
our attention. For, since the foundation of the Theosophical
Society, we have matters to think upon far more serious
than the whims and ambitions of sectarists, bent upon
hatching new dogmas out of the Bible, or out of their
own brains: new dogmas of as little practical value
as the old. But, after years of careful study of Swedenborg,
I look upon him, notwithstanding his verbosities, wearisome
reiterations, absurd claims, blunders, and exploded Christian
dogmas, as one of the most useful allies pf the Theosophical
Society. He, more than any one else, has confirmed me
in the belief that the Society has a [Page
15] glorious
mission in the world. Swedenborg predicted the establishment
of a New Church somewhere, outside Europe (A. 2986).
Now, a Church in the true sense in which he uses this
term, does not mean an ecclesiastical organization, like
the Hindmarshian, Roman Catholic, or any other ; but
a new, rational teaching — a
new thought and a new life: a worship
of the Divine inHumanity, and a life of impersonallove toward
humanity (A.
3379; 4899). Has anything else been the real, underlying
object of the Theosophical Society ?
I
am well aware that Mr. Hindmarsh's “New Church” will
stoutly, angrily, and sophistically object to this claim.
But the claim of this sect, that Swedenborg with the
help of Jesus of Nazareth, gave to the world a new revelation
and established a new Church, has most effectively been
exploded by Dàsa in “Swedenborg the Buddhist”;
for he has therein brought the higher teachings of Buddhism,
Brahmanism, Zoroastrianism, and even those of the ancient
Goths and American Indians, as far as these are known, face
to face with the theosophic teachings of Swedenborg; and
has in this way demonstrated beyond cavil, that the “new” revelation
is a very, very old revelation. Besides this, there is now
publishing in America, a little monthly paper, The Buddhist
Ray, “devoted
to Buddhism in general, and to the Buddhism in Swedenborg in
particular” — a fact upon which
comment is altogether unnecessary !
Let
us now look at the attitude of the “New Church” sect
toward the Theosophical Society, and at that of the Society
toward the sect. In 1882 the Society issued a pamphlet,
entitled “Swedenborg and Theosophy”,
made up of two letters, the first from a Swedenborgian to
a Theosophist; and the second, from the latter to the former.
The first letter contains the usual, unfounded claims made
by the “New Church” sect for Swedenborg;
in brief, that the world is governed by a masculine, personal
god; that, the Bible is his word; that we must look to Jesus
of Nazareth for salvation; and to Swedenborg for an understanding
of the Bible and a guidance to Jesus. The second letter is
an able and temperate reply to these dogmas, and a very satisfactory
confutation of them. It contains a statement anent Swedenborg
which is as remarkable as it is true; this is namely: “There are (notice
the tense) those amongst the Adepts (of Asia) who knew him
(Swedenborg) well. Efforts were made to help him to clear
his mind, and not altogether unsuccessfully; much of the
truth he did bring back from other planes (to use his own
phraseology) he owed to that assistance. No mystic with anything
like Swedenborg's natural capacities ever dawns upon the
world without persistent efforts being made by one or other
of the Adepts to lead him to the absolute truth. But in his
case (as in that of many others) this was impossible, owing
to an ineradicable, erroneous fundamental conception which
absolutely barred his ever rising to the perfect light, and
always insensibly blurred and [Page
16] distorted
this to his inner sight. This erroneous conception was
the Western notion of an
omnipotent PERSONAL God” (p. 12).
I agree with
the writer: the obstacle in Swedenborg's way was an anthropomorphic
deity. Still there is a large number of facts that go to
prove that, though in some states of mind he believed in
this deity, in others, he did not; as I have just shown
from his writings.
Two
or three years ago there appeared in London a book entitled
the “Issues of Modern Thought”, by a preacher of the
Hindmarshian sect; the last chapter of which is devoted
to a hypercriticism of the Theosophical Society, its
work, and claims. The Theosophist published a
review of it; with a few mild, good-naturedly ironic
civilities, because of the presumptuous statement that
the Mahatmas, or Adepts, that stand behind the Society
are in league with the devils of the “Middle”, or “Spiritual” hell!
A writer in the BuddhistRay, for May, 1888,
asks pertinently the author, being that he is so confident,
if he has visited the “Spiritual” hell and there seen the
league.
The
New-Church Messenger (New York) published last year
a series of articles headed “Spiritualism, Theosophy, and
Kindred Subjects”, by
another preacher of the sect. The statements therein made are
but a stale reiteration of those made by the London preacher,
with an additional display of childish assertion and
ignorance with regard to the Theosophical Society. These
articles have been re-published in pamphlet form and
extensively circulated within and without the sect. For
it has always been the desire of the Hindmarshians to
appear well in the eyes of “Old Church” sects: to appear,
not as a Mussalmanic, Spiritualistic, Theosophic, or
Pagan organization, but as a genuinely Protestant Christian.
Hence these “feeble-forcible” efforts.
The
latest effort on their part, and the most “feeble-forcible”,
too, was made on the appearance of Dàsa's “Swedenborg
the Buddhist”. When the
orthodox leaders of the sect had read it, it was plain to
them that an honest criticism or review of it would be suicidal.
And so they ordered a youth in their theological school
in Philadelphia, to berate the founders of the Theosophical
Society and to befoul the author. Why the former, who
were altogether innocent in the matter, should be berated,
is beyond my comprehension. The book is not a publication
of the Society; nor are the founders even once mentioned
in it. The attack upon them was, therefore, a piece of
sheer deviltry, and a disgusting exhibition of the inward
spirit of the “New Jerusalem Church”. Well, the “review” (as
the youth called it), appeared in the the New-ChurchLife for
February, 1888, under the sensational heading, “A 'Theosophistical'
Attack”. When with many
adjectives he thought he had sufficiently berated the founders
of the Society, he sought his “New Church” spelling-book
for a choice set of nouns wherewith to befoul the author;
and boot-black, profaner, woman-hater, [Page
17] fool,
caricature, and border-ruffian, were among those found,
and with a score or more of exclamation-points, liberally
used. There was not in the scurrility the faintest attempt
to deal with the principles at issue; only personalities
and scurrilities. So far did he forget himself that he
attacked the “Studies in Swedenborg”, which
had appeared in the Theosophist, though these
had a short time before, because of their Hindmarshian
orthodoxy, received a complimentary notice in the New-ChurchLife.
The “New
Church” sect has, since the founding of the Theosophical
Society, publicly, and still more so privately, shown a great
hatred of it and its teachings. Its journals never mention
the Society without adding, “devoted to spiritism and
sorcery”, though they well know that
Spiritism and Sorcery have proved its worst opponents. I
have often heard surprise expressed at this. But to one that
knows the inner life, the secret workings of the sect, which
are carefully hidden from the world, the cause of this hatred
is very plain. The leaders in the sect are only too well
aware that all that glitters is not gold; that an unbiassed
study of the teachings of Swedenborg, a study of them in
the light of the Theosophical Society, will reveal the fact
that, instead of being at the core genuinely Christian, newly
sent down from heaven by Jesus of Nazareth, they are at the
core genuinely theosophic, very, very old guests of this
sublunary globe, to be found both in the archaic philosophies
of Asia and in the publications of the Theosophical Society;
and this fact must therefore, by hook or by crook, be kept
from the less knowing and less jesuitic members of the sect;
and so they amuse them with shifts and personalities.
It
would be to the credit of the “New Church” sect,
if its leaders would cease to slander and misrepresent the
Theosophical Society. And it would tend to the godly
edification not only of its own members but also of the
rest of the human family, if they would drop their present
bones of contention; which are: (I) Whether the “New
Church” worship of the dual
god, Jehovah-Jesus, should be conducted by robed prelates,
priests, and acolytes in imposing churches, or by plain
preachers in simple meeting-houses. (2) Whether the blood
of Jesus is properly represented by grape-juice or by
wine. And (3) whether Swedenborg's work on “Scortatory
Love” was written for the men of the “Lord's
New Church”, or for
the men of the “Lord's Old Church”: that is to
say, whether or not the unmarried “New
Church” man is ever justified in keeping a mistress,
and the married man, a concubine. For I know that the pros and cons,
these bones of contention, and the slanders, maledictions,
and persecutions, in the name of the Lord and Swedenborg,
growing out of them, have a most baneful effect upon the
young — especially
upon the young men; inasmuch as it fosters among them a sensuality
and a materialism. It seems to me it would be wiser to keep
before the young the Divine [Page
18] Truths
that underlie the dogmas, sensualities, and formalities
of the decaying Christian Church which impair the theosophic
writings of Swedenborg. I believe this would be the policy
of the Theosophical Society. And I am sure it would lead
to the abandonment of formality for charity, drunkenness
for soberness, and unchastity for chastity: and so help
to upbuild the New Church vaticinated by Swedenborg and
found nowhere but within the Theosophical Society.
It
has hundreds of times been publicly stated, but upon
what ground I do not know, that the real, invisible FOUNDERS
of the Theosophical Society, the Mahatmas (Great Souls),
have no existence: that They are figments of Madame H.
P. Blavatsky, wherewith either to advertise her books,
her “new religion”, or herself. Less sceptical
persons of the Spiritualistic and Christian Swedenborgian
creeds, believe in their existence; but explain that they
are her “Spirit-Guides”,
or, “Devils
of a Spiritual Hell”. With these
suppositions, theories, and statement in view, it is interesting
and instructive to note the following statements made by
Swedenborg, in the last century: First, that there exists
a system of Spiritual Truth, of far more transcendent nature
than any known in the world at this day; second, that it
is in the hands of certain inhabitants of Central Asia (Buddhists);
third, that it is inaccessible to the world at large, especially
to Christians; fourth, that he, by occult means, and in the
company of the possessors of it, visited Central Asia, and
there got a glimpse of it; and fifth, that it should be sought
for among the (Buddhist) inhabitants of China and Tartary.
These statements were made at different times, and in different
works of our author, between the years 1764-71. (See, M.
77. T. 279. Coro. 39. R. II. S. l0I. D. 6077).
Mr.
T. L. Harris, the American Spiritualist and Mystic, has
truly said: the World has had its ages of Gold, Silver,
Copper, and Iron; the present is the Pulpit-age, the
Age of Wind! When the preachers of the Hindmarshian sect,
with Swedenborg in their pocket, rail at Madame Blavatsky
(who, by the way, has never said a harsh or unjust word
against them) and foam at the mouth about “her Mongolian
hobgoblins” and “devils
of a spiritual hell”,
there can be no doubt about the truth of Mr. Harris's statement.
Heaven help all, of the “New Church” and of the “Old
Church”, who,
instead of thinking and investigating for themselves, permit
themselves to be carried away by “wind”!
I
must tell the reader that there are many students of
Swedenborg who are not members of the sect; who have
a great contempt for it, and oftentimes a great hatred
of it; as may be seen in their organ, the Chicago New-ChurchIndependent,
where we find the “NEW Jerusalem” styled the
worst “viper” and “harlot” in the
Christian world (June 1888). But this hatred does not concern
the absurd, fundamental dogmas of the sect, but its trinitarian
priesthood (its “bishops”, “pastors”,
and “priests”).[Page
19]
The
independents in the “New Jerusalem” correspond to the anti-popery
criers in the “Old Jerusalem”. The
only students of Swedenborg, wholly independent of the
anthropomorphic dogmas of the sect are the Buddhistic Swedenborgians.
These are, however, strictly speaking not mere students
of Swedenborg, but persons who, through the study of his
writings have been lead to the study and acceptance of
Buddhism. Many of them cooperate heartily in the work of
the Theosophical Society.
In
conclusion: It may be asked, Are all the members of
the sect unaware of the patent, dual teaching of Swedenborg — content
with looking at him through Mr. Hindmarsh's spectacles
? Good reader, no more than all the members of the Church
of England are content with looking at the New Testament
through the Thirty-Nine Articles of Henry VIII.'s spectacles!
The truth is that the foundations of the “New Jerusalem
Church” are being
sapped by its sceptics, freethinkers, and atheists — clerical
and laical! Let us not insult the Brotherhood of Man by denying
the presence of some little glimmer of that Ray of the Divine
Sun — Reason — in any sect. I know that
many members of the so-called “New Church” sigh for light
to guide them out of the perplexities of Swedenborg's Christian
theology; and to them and to all others I heartily recommend
the Theosophical Society and its publications.