MESMER AND SWEDENBORG; OR, THE
RELATION OF THE DEVELOPMENTS OF MESMERISM TO THE DOCTRINES AND DISCLOSURES OF SWEDENBORG
MESMER VE SWEDENBORG VEYA MESMERİZM
GELİŞMELERİNİN SWEDENBORG ÖĞRETİMLERİ VE AÇIKLAMALARIYLA İLİŞKİSİ
“İnsanlar birbirleriyle
mevcudiyette olduklarında, bedenden bedene olduğu gibi, ruhtan ruha bazı ışık akışlarının
olduğu akıl yargısına kesinlikle uygundur.” -Bacon-
Yazan: GEORGE BUSH
Not: Bu resmin ne olduğunu yazıyı translate ederek öğrenin, hayret edeceksiniz...
2
REPUGNANCE TO
NAMES.
The
peculiarity indicated by the title of the present chapter is one which seldom
fails to manifest itself more or less to all those who are conversant with the
Mesmeric phenomena. It is often a perplexing problem why the subject, when in
that state, and attempting the description of the commonest material objects,
should not at once designate them by their appropriate name, instead of
describing them by their qualities or uses, which he is almost invariably
prompted to do. If the operator holds in his hand a watch and asks his subject
what it is, he will be very apt to reply that it is something by which to tell
the time—of a staff, that it is something to walk with—of a knife, that it is
something to cut with—of a garment, that it is something to wear, and so of a
thousand other things. Those who have entered but little into the philosophy of
the magnetic condition are frequently stumbled by this circumstance, being
utterly at a loss to comprehend why it is not as easy to name as to perceive
the object in question. The consequence is, that many are led to doubt of the
.fact of the perception at all, and resolve the matter into a species of
evasion on the part of the subject. But the truth is, the peculiarity rests on
some of the profoundest principles of psychology which receive an abundant
eclaircisement at the hands of Swedenborg. We should have much more reason to
doubt the reality and lucidity of their internal perception were the case
otherwise than it is. The state developed by Mesmerism is one which brings the
subject into contact with the soul and essences of things, or in other
words into the sphere of universal causes. As all sensible objects are a
mere body to the internal living principle which actuates and moulds them, so
the names by which they are designated are mere outward coverings that fall
off, as it were, when their inner essence and constitution is revealed, as it
is to the faculty interiorly awakened in the spirit of the sleep-seer. It is
then, as I have been informed by a very intelligent subject of that state,
positively painful to endeavor to clothe the ideas in what, in the natural
state, would be their appropriate language. Not only have they an unaccountable
repugnance to employ the proper terms when they occur to them, but often they
do not occur—they cannot find them—they have strangely disappeared from the
memory. They have accordingly in many cases a strong disposition to make use of
gestures to convey .their meaning, and in others to resort to such round-about
modes of phraseology as make their answers appear like guessing, as if they
were but half certain of what they intended to express.
The
rationale of all this is very luminously expounded by Swedenborg in two grand
features of his disclosures, the one touching the principle of spiritual
thought, the other that of the external memory. He informs us that
man is ordinarily, in the present world, in natural thought, which is a
thought conversant with natural objects, and that the objects of this thought
are also the objects which form the materiel of the external
memory. But there is notwithstanding in every man an innate potency of the
waking up of a principle of spiritual thought, which has respect to
entirely another class of objects, and with which the internal memory
is more especially connected. This faculty is not normally developed in the
present life, but every one conies into the exercise of it in the other life,
where the objects with which he is conversant are no longer natural but
spiritual. In that state also the external memory, though not extinguished, is
rendered dormant ; and though its contents may be occasionally reproduced,
and the soul let in to any former state of which it has ever been
conscious, yet this is not according to the estab - lished order of that world.[*]
The
following passages disclose the facts of the spiritual condition of the other
life; their bearing upon the present theme will shortly appear.
6t Man, while he lives
in the body, can scarcely know that he has an interior memory, because then the
interior memory almost acts as one with the exterior memory for the ideas of
thought, which are of the interior memory, flow into the things which are of
the exterior memory, as into their vessels, and are there conjoined. This case
is the same as when angels and spirits speak with man; then their ideas, by
which they converse with each other, flow into the expressions of man’s
language, and so conjoin themselves with these, that they know no otherwise
than that they themselves speak in man’s mother tongue, when yet the ideas
alone are theirs, and the expressions into which they flow, are man’s, concerning
which circumstance I have frequently discoursed with spirits.
“ These
two memories are altogether distinct from each other; to the exterior memory,
which is proper to man when he lives in the world, pertain all expressions of
languages, also all objects of the external things of the senses, and likewise
the scientifics which are of the world. To the interior memory pertain the
ideas of the speech of spirits, which are of the interior sight, and all
rational things, from the ideas whereof thought itself exists. That these
things are distinct from each other, man does not know, as well because he does
not reflect thereupon, as because he is in corporeals, and cannot so easily
withdraw his mind from them.
“ Hence
it is that men, while they live in the body, cannot speak with each other, but
by languages distinguished into articulate sounds, or expressions, and cannot
understand each other, unless they are acquainted with those languages; the
reason is, because this is done from the exterior memory. Whereas spirits
converse with each other by an universal language distinguished into ideas,
such as are the ideas of thought itself, and thus can converse with every
spirit, of whatever language or nation he had been in the world; the reason is,
because this is done from the interior memory. Every man, immediately after
death, comes into this universal language, because he comes into this interior
memory, which, as was said, is proper to his spirit.”—A. C. 24702472.
“ The
external or natural memory, as to those things therein which are derived from
what is material, and from time and space, and from all other things which are
proper to nature, does not serve the spirit for that use in which it had served
it in the world; for man in the world, when he thought from the external
sensual, and not at the same time from the internal sensual, or the
intellectual, thought naturally and not spiritually; yet in the other life,
when the spirit is in the spiritual world, he does not think naturally, but
spiritually; to think spiritually is to think intellectually or rationally.
Hence it is, that the external or natural memory, as to those things which are
material, is then quiescent, and those things only come into use which man has
in the world imbibed by means of material things, and has made rational. The
reason why the external memory is quiescent as to those things which are
material, is, because they cannot be reproduced : for spirits and angels speak
from affections and thence thoughts.”— H. $ H. 464.
“
Inasmuch as men after death are in the interior memory, which was of their
rational, hence it is, that they who have been distinguished in the world for
their skill in languages, are not able to call forth into utterance a single
expression of those languages ; and that they who have been distiijguished for
skill in the sciences, are not able to recollect anything of scientifics, and
that these are sometimes more stupid than others.—A. C. 2480.
What
light, then, is reflected from these statements on the circumstance to which we
have alluded as usually connected with the Mesmeric manifestations ? The entire
mass of evidence accumulated in the preceding pages goes to show, that the
subjects of that state are elevated in a very considerable degree into a spiritual
state, that is, into the state of spirits. Consequently the fixed phenomena of
the spiritual world evince themselves more or less distinctly in the experience
to which the state gives rise. In respect to the peculiarity we are now
considering, there can be noMoubt that the person under the magnetic influence
is elevated so far into the sp i- ritual region, that his thought becomes at least
partially spiritual, and the consequence is that his external memory ceases,
in the same degree, to furnish the materials for expressing natural thought.
How then can he but forego the use of those terms with which he is familiar in
a natural state ? It is the prerogative of this spiritual state to deal with
spiritual objects, and these objects are the inner essences of all material
embodiments.[†]
Their perceptions fix upon the inherent qualities, properties, and uses of the
thousand-fold objects of the material world, for these are the causes of
everything that comes within the range of the senses in the natural sphere.
The
philosophy of this—and a strange philosophy it will be seen to be to have
emanated from a madman—will be distinctly seen in what follows.
“ If you
will believe it, the very interior thought of the man who is in good,
apprehends this, because that thought is in the internal sense; although the
man when in the body is deeply ignorant of it, for the internal sense, or the
spiritual sense, which is of the interior thought, falls, without his knowing
it, into material and sensual ideas, which partake of time and space, and of
such things as exist in the world, and thus it does not appear that his
interior thought is such; for his interior thought is of a quality like that of
the angels, inasmuch as his sgirit is with them in society. That the thought of
the man who is in good, is according to the internal sense, may be manifest
from this, that after death, when he comes into heaven, he is instantly,
without any information, in the internal sense; which would in no wise be the
case, unless he had been in that sense as to interior thought, when in the
world. The cause of his being in that sense is, because there is a correspondence
between spiritual things and natural, of such a nature, that there is not the
smallest thing but what has its correspondence ; therefore, inasmuch as the
interior or rational mind of the man who is in good, is in the spiritual world,
and his exterior or natural mind in the natural world, it must needs be that
each mind thinks, but the interior mind spiritually, and the exterior
naturally, and that the spiritual falls into the natural, and they act as one
by correspondence. That the interior mind of man, whereof the ideas of thought
are called intellectual, and are said to be immaterial, does not think from the
expression of any language, consequently not from natural forms, may be
manifest to him who can reflect concerning them; for he can think in a moment what
he can scarcely utter in an hour, thus by universals, which comprehend in them
very many singulars. Those ideas of thought are spiritual; and no other, when
the Word is read, than as is the internal sense; although man is ignorant of
this, by reason, as was said, because those spiritual ideas, by influx into the
natural, present natural ideas, and thus the spiritual ideas do not appear;
insomuch that man believes, unless he have been instructed, that there is no
spiritual but what in quality is like the natural, yea, that he thinks in the
spirit no otherwise than as he speaks in the body; in such manner does the
natural overshadow the spiritual.”—A, C. 5614.
“The
internal sense of the Word is principally for those who are in the other life :
they, when they are with the man who is reading the Word, perceive it according
to the internal sense, but not according to the external sense, for they understand
no human expressions, but only the sense of the expressions, and this not
according to the natural thoughts of man, but according to his thoughts which
are spiritual; into th’s spiritual sense the natural sense, which is with man,
is instantly transmuted, comparatively as one turns the language of another
into his own, which is different, which is done suddenly ; thus the sense of
human natural thought is transmuted into spiritual, for spiritual language or
speech is proper to the angels, but natural is proper to the man : that the
transmutation as it were of one language into another is so sudden, is because
there is a correspondence of all and single things which are in the natural
world with those which are in the spiritual world.”—A. C. 5648.
“ The
reason why these things are signified by Jehovah speaking to Moses, is, because
those words are not perceived in heaven as in earth; for in heaven the words
are perceived according to the internal sense, but in earth according to the
external sense, for in heaven all things are spiritually understood, but in
earth naturally; the former understanding is momentaneous, without the
knowledge of what is understood in the external or literal sense by man. Such
is the consociation of the angels of heaven with man, by reason that the all of
man’s thought flows-in from the spiritual world, and thus that his thought in
its first origin is spiritual, and becomes natural in the external man by
influx.”—A. C. 10,215.
“ In the
internal sense the persons and words are not reflected on, but only their
signification. In heaven they do not know who Lot is, but the quality represented
by him ; nor do they know what a son is, but the spiritual state, which is
respectively as a son; nor what a brother is, except from the nature of that
brotherhood which prevails in heaven. As to what concerns truth sensual, it is
the first truth which insinuates itself into a child, form childhood the
judgment does not penetrate deeper. Truth sensual is, that all things of the
earth and the world are seen as created by God, and all and each for some end,
and that in all and each is seen some resemblance of the kingdom of God.”—A. C.
1434.
We are
now prepared to solve the problem respecting the non-use of names in the
Mesmeric state. The principle to which this is owing has already been
developed. What follows naturally refers itself at once to this principle. It
grows out of the spiritual thought pertaining to the spiritual state— a state
which has to do with the qualities of things.
“
Inasmuch as the name signifies the quality of any person, it comprehends in
one complex whatever is in him ; for, in heaven, no attention is paid to the
name of any one, but when any one is named, or when the term ‘name ’ is mentioned,
there is presented the idea of the person’s quality, or of all things which are
his, are with him, and are in him; hence a name, in the Word, signifies
quality.”—A. C. 2009.
“ In the
spiritual world, or in heaven, persons do not come under the mind's view, but
things, for persons limit the idea, and concentre it to something finite,
whereas things do not limit and concentre, but extend it to the infinite, thus
to the Lord. Thence also it is,that not any person, which is named in the Word,
is perceived in heaven, but instead thereof the thing which is represented by
that person, so neither any people or nation, but the quality thereof. Yea,
further, not a single historical of the Word concerning person, nation, and
people, is at all known in heaven, consequently neither is it known who Abraham
is, who Isaac, who Jacob, who the Israelitish people, and who the Jewish
nation, but it is there perceived what Abraham is, what Isaac, what Jacob, what
the Israelitish people, what the Jewish nation, and so in all other cases ;
hence the angelic speech is respectively unlimited and also universal.”—A.
C. 5225.
ee The sense of the
letter in most places has respect to persons, and also mentions them, but the
truly spiritual sense is altogether without respect to persons ; for the
angels, who are in the spiritual sense of the Word, in everything which they
think and speak, have not any . idea of person or of place, inasmuch as the
idea of person or of place limits and confines the thoughts, and thereby
renders them natural; but it is otherwise when the idea is abstracted from
persons and places ; and hence it is that they have intelligence and wisdom,
and that angelic intelligence and wisdom are ineffable; for man, so long as he
lives in the world, is in natural thought, and natural thought derives its
ideas from persons, places, times, and things material, which, if they were
taken away from man, his thought which comes to perception would perish, for he
comprehends nothing without those things; but angelic thought is without ideas
derived from persons, places, times, and things material; hence it is that
angelic thought and speech is ineffable, and also incomprehensible to man. The
man, however, who has lived in the world a life of love to the Lord and of
charity towards his neighbor, after his departure out of the world comes into
that ineffable intelligence and wisdom, for his interior mind, which is the
mind itself of his spirit, is then opened, and in such case the man, when he
becomes an angel, thinks and speaks from that mind, and consequently thinks and
speaks such things as he could not utter or comprehend in the world: every man
has such a spiritual mind, which is like to the angelic mind: but in. the
world, inasmuch as he there speaks, sees, hears, and perceives by the material
body, it lies hid within the natural mind, or lives above that mind, and what
man therein thinks, he is altogether ignorant of; for the thought of that mind
then flows into the natural miild, and there limits itself, closes, and
presents itself to be seen and perceived. Man knows not, whilst he continues in
the body in this world, that he possesses inwardly such a mind, in which are
contained angelic wisdom and intelligence, because as was said, all things
which there engage attention flow into the natural mind, and thus become
natural according to correspondences. These things are said in order that it
may be known what is the quality of the Word in the spiritual sense, when that
sense is altogether abstracted from persons and places, that is, from such
things as derive their quality from what is material pertaining to the body
and the world.”—A. E. 625.
The
foregoing extracts disclose', by the way, the fundamental principle on which
is founded the internal sense of the Word, a feature of Swedenborg’s system
that has laid it open to the charge of fancifulness, extravagance, and whimsicality—whatever
be the term by which the character of visionary can be most
emphatically affixed to it. But it is clear that something more is requisite
than the use of odious epithets to do away the force of the evidence in its
support. It is a theory, so to term it, which rests upon a principle, and the
principle must be confuted before the theory can be overthrown. The principle
is, that the spiritual sense of the Word arises by necessary result from the
spiritual nature of man. The two facts inevitably stand or fall together. Let any
one peruse the following passage and then pronounce whether the principle
involved is to be set down among the vagaries of a disjointed intellect.
“
Inasmuch as at this day it is altogether unknown that in the Word there is an
internal sense, yea, what the internal sense of the Word is, it may be
expedient to say a few words further concerning it. The ideas of the thought of
angels are
not
natural, such as are the ideas of the thought of men, but they are spiritual;
nevertheless the quality of their spiritual ideas can hardly be comprehended by
man, except by interior thought and reflection on the first rudiments of their
thoughts, which, that they are without expression of speech, is known from this
circumstance, that they are such that man can in a moment comprehend more
things than he is able to express by speech in any given time ; these ideas of
thought appertain to his spirit; but the ideas of thought which man
comprehends, and which fall into expressions, are natural: and by the learned
are called material; whereas the former or interior ideas are called spiritual,
and by the learned immaterial; into these ideas man comes after death, when he
becomes a spirit, and by these ideas he con- sociates in discourse with other
spirits. There is a correspondence between these ideas and the former, and by
correspondence the former are turned into these, or spiritual ideas into
natural, when man speaks. This is not known to man, because he does not reflect
upon it, and no others are capable of reflecting upon it, but those who think
interiorly, that is, who think in their spirit abstractedly from the body;
sensual men are utterly unable to do this. Now since there is correspondence
between spiritual thought and natural, and since the angels are in spiritual thought,
hence the angels perceive spiritually what man perceives naturally, and this in
an instant without any reflection on the difference ; this is effected
principally when man reads the Word, or when he thinks from the Word, for the
Word is so written, that there is correspondence in all and singular things. As
for example, when man reads these words of the Lord in Matthew, e
After the affliction of those days the sun shall be obscured, and the moon
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the virtues
of the heavens shall be moved; then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man,
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn ; and they shall see the Son
of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with virtue and glory,’ xxiv. 29, 30.
These words the angels apperceive altogether otherwise than man; by the sun
which shall be obscured they do not apperceive the sun, but love to the Lord;
by the moon they do not apperceive the moon, but faith in the Lord ; nor by
stars, stars, but the knowledges of good and truth; by the Son of Man, they
apperceive the Lord as to Divine Truth; by the tribes of the earth, all the
truths of the Church; by the clouds of heaven, they apperceive the Word in the
sense of the letter; and by virtue and glory, the Word in the internal sense.
Into this understanding of those words the angels come in an instant from correspondence,
when man reads them; nor do they know that
man
thinks of the sun, of the moon, of the stars, of the clouds of heaven, &c.,
the reason is, because the angels are in a spiritual idea, and a spiritual idea
is such, that the things which are of nature are turned into things of heavenly
light, which is the Divine Truth from the Lord. Another reason why the angels
so perceive the Word, when man reads it, is because angels are attendant on
men, and dwell in their affections ; and because man as to his spirit is in
society with spirits, and as to interior thought, which is spiritual, with the
angels of heaven. Hence also man has the faculty of thinking. These
observations are intended to show what the internal sense of the W ord is, or
what the interior things of the Word, of the Church, and of worship are, which
are called celestial and spiritual things.55—A. C. 10,604. .
Hundreds
of passages might be easily adduced from these writings of parallel import, all
going to prove that this peculiarity of Swedenborg’s interpretations rests
upon the pro- foundest principles of psychology, and although we may not in all
cases clearly perceive the intrinsic truth of his applications of the general
law, yet the evidence which he has afforded of being divinely empowered to
develope the law itself, lays a foundation for entire confidence in all his
specific exemplifications of it. There is the same ground for believing in the
soundness of his exposition of every part of the Word, that there is for
believing in it in regard to any part.[‡]
But this
by the way. Our main object in the present chapter has been to afford a
solution of the fact that Mesmeric subjects are so generally found averse to
the use of the names of material objects.
TRUTHFULNESS.
The
observation is often made by those acquainted with the peculiarities of the
Mesmeric state, that its subjects evince a remarkable degree of sincerity and
truthfulness in whatever falls from their lips during the trance. “
Separated,” says Mr. Townshend,“ from the usual action of the senses, the mind
appears to gain juster notions, to have quite a new sense of spiritual things,
and to be lifted nearer the fountain of all good and all truth. The great
indication of this elevated state of feeling is a horror of falsehood, which I
have found common to all sleep-wakers. Sincerity is their especial
characteristic ; they cannot feign or flatter; they seem to be taken out of
common life, with all its heartless forms and plausible conventions.” It is not
implied by this that they do not utter anything that is erroneous—which
they undoubtedly often do, owing to delusive influences under which they come,
especially if their ordinary moral state is not good— but that they do not
practise wilful deception. Their words do not belie their real sentiments as
they are then impressed upon them. There is apparently an instinctive shrinking
from every form of dissimulation, so much so that it would be extremely
difficult for them in that state to act a part, as they are often
accused of doing by those who refuse to yield their credence to the facts of
the Mesmeric agency. Even if they had, in the waking state, consented to become
parties to a collusion to deceive, the end would be very apt to be frustrated
by the spontaneous honesty of their extatic promptings.
Among
the striking instances of the exhibition of this peculiar feature of the
Mesmeric state we insert the following from Mr. Townshend’s work so often
quoted above:
“ I
proceed, by one or two instances, to show how forcibly sleep-wakers are
impelled to speak the thing that is, and to clear their consciences of that
dissimulation which clings so much to man in his natural state.
4‘During the Antwerp
carnival, a lady, who took a sincere interest in Anna M ’s welfare, advised her not to go to
the
masked ball which is usually given at that season. The night after the ball
Anna came to be mesmerized, and, though compraining of fatigue, would not own
that she had acted in opposition to the advice that she had received. When, however,
in sleep-waking, she acknowledged of her own accord that she had been at the
masked ball, and said that she felt she had done wrong in practising concealment,
though her motive had been to avoid giving pain to her kind monitress.
“ A
similar instance of candid confession occurred in E. A. I had given him a
bottle of lotion for his eyes, which were weak at the time; he took it home
with him, and a day or two afterward, in reply to my inquiries as to the
benefit received, answered in some prevaricating way, so as to make me suppose
that he had used the lotion to advantage. Subsequently, however, being in
mesmeric sleep-waking, he said, quite voluntarily, c There is
something that I wish to tell you. In going home the other night I broke that
bottle which you gave me. I feared you would be angry if you knew this, and I
dared not own it when awake; but now I feel that I did not act rightly.5
“ In the
mesmeric state, the character of this sleep-waker presented generally a strong
contrast to its waking exhibition. Good talents and a good disposition had in
him been warped by an unfortunate education ; and, young as he was, he had
imbibed at Paris certain infidel opinions of the worst kind,
which,
he scarcely studied to conceal. I asked him once, in his waking state, what he
thought became of us after death: and his answer was,4 D&s qu’on
est mort, on n’est plus rien du tout,’—after death, one is no more any thing
at all.
{i This extreme
ignorance on most subjects was accompanied by a vain belief that he knew a
good deal; and if one stated to him the commonest facts of philosophy (the distance
of the sun from the earth, for example), he suspected a design of playing upon
his credulity, and intrenched himself in absolute unbelief. In sleep-waking
all this was changed. His ideas of the mind were correct, and singularly
opposed to the material views he took of all questions when in the waking
state. He once chided me for calling the soul ‘ une chose and said, 4
Ce n’est pas une chose—c’est une pen- see.’ 4 Can the soul
ever die ? ’ I asked. 4 Certainly not. It is the soul which is the
only true existence, and which gives existence to all we apprehend.’ 4
Whence came the soul ? ’ 4 From God, who by his thoughts created the
universe.’ His words were, 4 L’ame provient de Dieu, qui a cree
1’univers par sa pensee.’ 4 Is there a future punishment for evildoers
? ’ 4 Undoubtedly, a great one.’ 4 In what will it consist
? ’ 4 In seeing themselves as they are, and God as he is.’
44 On another occasion
I mesmerized E. A. when a lady of great talents and feeling, and an author well
known to English literature, were present. The latter was suffering under a
severe domestic affliction. He had recently lost a beloved daughter, and the
tone of mind induced by that bereavement naturally inclined him to question the
sleep waker on subjects relative to a future state. In order that Mr.------- might speak
with the
greater freedom, I placed him 4 en rapport,’as it is called, with
E. A., and took but little part in the conversation that ensued. The
conversation itself 1 cannot accurately detail, but the general impression that
it left upon my mind can never be effaced. The sleep waker rose into eloquence
which seemed unearthly. It was simple, it was beautiful, it was like an
inspiration. He spoke of the never-dying nature of the soul; of its ransomed
beatitude; of its progress through various eras of existence, during which he
asserted (for here I remember his very
words), 4 Elle conserve la memoire du passe, et des amities faites
sur la terre ; et elle a 1’envie de revoir ceux qu’elle a cheris autrefois.
Tout Ie bien de l’ame s’en va avec elle, et dure apr&s la mort; et les
justes qui se sont pleures ici bas seront reunis devant Dieu.’ Every one
present was affeqjed; some even to tears. It was indeed beautiful to see the
young prophet, whose countenance had retaken an expression of candor and of
childish innocence, speaking so calmly the words of holiness and of comfort,
and the older listener humbly stooping to drink of the waters of refreshment
from so lowly a source.
“ The
same sleepwaker, thoroughly unsentimental in his natural state, seemed always,
when mesmerized, to take a pleasure in losing himself in imaginations of
another world. Beautiful are the things he has said to me respecting the soul’s
recognition of those it loved on earth, and of the privilege of departed
friends to watch over the objects of their solicitude while toiling through
the pilgrimage of life; but, were I particularly to record these speculations,
as they would be called, 4 should probably be deemed a visionary, or branded
as an enthusiast. It is enough to say that, under mesmeric sleepwaking, all
the hard incredulity which characterized E. A. when awake was gone. His
wilfulness was become submission; his pride, humility; and, in precise proportion
as he seemed to know more, he appeared to esteem himself less.' Often would he
regret the errors of his waking hours, and speak of his natural state as of an
existence apart. Often would he exclaim, in sleepwaking, ‘ How I wish I could
always see things as 1 do now ! ’ There is not a person who saw him in the
mesmeric state but remarked the change for the better that his physiognomy
underwent. His affections, also, were enlarged. Egotistical in general, and
displaying but little sensibility, he in the mesmeric state showed all the
warmth of a kind-hearted nature. Shortly before leaving me I mesmerized him.
Immediately on passing into sleep waking his countenance assumed an expression
of the deepest sorrow, and he seemed scarcely able to speak. When asked the
cause of his sadness, he said, ‘ I am going away : how deeply I feel it!5
Restored to his waking state, he laughed, and talked, and seemed as unconcerned
as usual.
“A state
of mind so simple, so religious, so tender, yet so pure, is in itself a
refutation of the charge of immorality which they who lack the charity that
hopes and believes the best have attempted to bring .against Mesmerism.”—Townshend
p. 117-121.
As the
the testimonies to the manifestation of the character of truthfulness
in Mesmeric subjects are very ample, it would doubtless seem to be dependant on
the operation of some law pertaining to spiritual existence, and one with which
a fuller knowledge of the condition of spirits would make us acquainted. But
Swedenborg is our great oracle on this head, and our resort must be to his
writings to find a clue to the solution of this problem of the T^Iesmeric
experience. From him, accordingly, we learn that in the other world the exterior
and interior man act in unity—that no spirit can utter anything contrary to his
convictions—and that although he may apprehend falsehoods for truths, yet he
cannot put forth known falsehoods in his speech. The following is to the point:
“ This
especially manifests itself in the other life, for all in that life act from
the heart, that is, from the will or love, and it is not allowed to act from
gestures separate from thence, nor to speak from the mouth according to
pretence, that is, separately from the thought of the heart.”—A. C.
10,130.
“ In the
natural world the speech of man is twofold, because his thought is twofold,
exterior and interior; for a man can speak from his interior thought, and at
the same time from his exterior thought, and he can speak from his exterior
thought, and not from his interior, yea, contrary to his interior thought,
whence cometh dissimulation, assenting flattery, and hypocrisy; but in the spiritual
world speech is not twofold, but single; a man speaks there as he thinks.”—A.
R. 293.
We
recognize in all this another confirmation of the truth of Swedenborg’s
disclosures. The facts that are witnessed are strong in support of the
statements which he makes in the character of a Seer divinely illuminated. What
other inference can we draw from the evidence afforded ? And how powerfully is
his claim sustained when we consider the resuit cumulative arising from
all the coincidences above adduced ?
CONCLUSION.
The
ground we have thus far traversed is probably sufficient for the purpose for
which we entered upon it. The object has been to evince the affinity, if not
the positive identity, of certain leading phenomena developed in the mesmeric
state with those which Swedenborg has affirmed in respect to the laws of being
and acting in the spiritual world. The force of the argument, it will be
perceived, lies in this;— that the psychological condition evolved by the
magnetic processes is so near an approximation to the state of spirits divested
of the body, that one hi that condition comes under the dominant laws that
govern a spirit, and so far reveals the state of a spirit. This fact
accordingly is often recognised by subjects themselves while under the mesmeric
influence. They scarcely seem to know otherwise than that they are spirits. I
have frequently been struck at hearing them say when asked -Tespecting their
head, their hands, their feet, that they had none ; that is, that they had no such,
members as we usually understand by the terms. They speak as if, to their own
consciousness, they had undergone an inward translation, by which they had
passed out of a natural into a spiritual body. Upon reference to the
Memorabilia of Swedenborg we find the statements precisely such as we were authorized
to anticipate from the previous developments before * us. The state into which
a subject is brought by the mesmeric process is a state in which the spirit
preponderates, for the time being, over the body. Bodily sight, hearing, touch,
taste, and smell are suspended. Still the soul—the inner man is awake and
active, and in a state akin to that upon which it enters when mortality is
swallowed up of life. Consequently new phenomena connected with inner sensation
and intelligence are brought out. These phenomena are clearly such as in the
nature of the case pertain to the conditions of being in the other life; and if
Swedenborg had never lived, we should still have had a strong impression that
some additional light was reflected, from this source, upon the mysteries of
our great future. But Swedenborg has lived, has seen, has
revealed. He has taken up these phenomena just at the point where we were
compelled to leave them, and carrying them forward to the world unseen has
shown, by astounding disclosures, that they are in perfect accordance with ’the
laws and manifestations of that world. He has put into our hands the key with
which to unlock the psychological secrets involved in a state which
thousandshave witnessed, but which, apart from his teachings, not one can
explain. I again, then, repeat that if Mesmerism is true, Swedenborg is
true, and if Swedenborg is true, the spiritual world is laid open, and a
new and a sublime era has dawned upon the earth. We are no longer estranged
from the verities of the future life. The world of spirits is no longer a land
of dim shadows peopled with the creatures of our dreams. In entering that world
we need no longer feel ourselves launching forth into a region of vague and doubtful
conjecture, of the realities of which we have no clear conception. The divine
hand itself has, in the teachings of this illuminated seer, lifted the veil
interposed for agesbetween the world of matter and the world of mind. The
departure of friends and kindred is scarcely any more even a <e
curtained exit” from the busy scenes of earth and time. Heaven and Hell are but
states formed by the developed characters of the good and the evil, and
the retributions of eternity the normal issue of confirmed principles and
rooted loves. The forms of destiny, which result by inevitable sequence
from the operation of the fixed laws of our intellectual and moral nature,
stand forth before us as the realization of the sternest reason, and not merely
as the fancy-work of fear or hope. The anticipation of the future is rationally
deduced from the constitution of the present, and the sanctions of the
Christian faith receive a tenfold greater moral power from the removal of every
element of the arbitrary from the allotment which awaits us. Our state
of weal or woe in the world to come, resulting as it does from immutable laws
of being, cannot, by any possibility, be otherwise than as we render it by our
lives on earth.
Such are
the disclosures unfolded to us in the pages of Swedenborg, and .we would with
all deference submit the question, whether the sublime reported truths,
embodied in this system, are not worthy of a distinct and special
announcement on the part of infinite wisdom and infinite love ? As it is impossible
to show that God has precluded himself from the vouchsafement of new light upon
the subject of human destiny, why should we deem ourselves authorized to put a
virtual limitation upon his prerogatives by a peremptory refusal to weigh the
evidence of such unveilings as Swedenborg declares himself to have been called
and empowered to make ? In view of the pre-eminently wonderful nature of his
disclosures and of their signal confirmations from other sources, is it not at
least possible that in rejecting them unconsidered we may be trifling
with a message from heaven ?
Another
point of great moment is involved in the results of the present investigation.
It is well known that with the mass of the Christian world Swedenborg has the
credit of having been insane. His alleged revelations are regarded as
the outbirth of a deranged intellect. The solution usually given of his
peculiar mental state is, that he had pondered so deeply and absorbingly on the
themes connected with the other life, that his mind having eventually lost its
balance, all his abstract speculations embodied themselves in living forms and
came before him in a kind of phantasmagoria, which he was unable to distinguish
from a world of actual entities. Thus the Rev. Dr. Pond, in his recent work against
the doctrines of Swedenborg, delivers his judgment concerning him in the
following language :
« To my
own mind the case of Swedenborg is a clear one— as clear as, under the
circumstances, and with our present means of information, could be expected. He
was as rational as ever, on all subjects except one or two; and when these were
not introduced or touched upon, he wrote, he published, he appeared in society,
much as usual. But in reference to these subjects—I mean those pertaining to
his revelations, his mind was disordered; it had become unbalanced; and he was,
to a degree, insane. There can be no reasonable doubt of it. Still,
there was method, even in his insanity. His spectres did not run riot with him.
They followed chiefly in the train of his natural thoughts, giving a sort of
personal existence and reality to what were before the theories, the
abstractions, the mere conceptions, of his own mind. This theory harmonizes all
the known facts in the case of Swedenborg; and to my apprehension it is the
only one that does. I propose it therefore, and I accept it, as the truth.”
p. 282.
Now to
say nothing of the compliment paid to the understanding of intelligent men in
their cordial reception of his disclosures as the very perfection of truth and wisdom,
it is not to be forgotten, that it is upon precisely those features of his
revelations which are most strikingly confirmed by the facts Qi
Mesmerism that the charge of insanity is founded. How then is this charge to be
sustained, when the only things which he has affirmed respecting the realities
of the spirit-world, and for affirming which he is written a madman, are demonstrated
to be true by the realities witnessed in the present world ? For ourselves we
see but one alternative. Either the mental facts of Mesmerism must be denied
to be facts, and that in the face of an amount of testimony absolutely
overwhelming, or the charge must be retracted. It is impossible to
sustain it except upon grounds which go directly to disprove it; and it surely
will not be rested upon any other basis than that adverted to. What evidence
has Swedenborg given of mental aberration save in his asserted converse with
spirits and his professed developments of their various conditions, of their
modes of intercourse, and of the sources and forms of their happiness or misery
? But the abstract possibility of the translation of a human spirit into
the world of spirits while sojourning in the body cannot be denied except upon
assumptions.that would sweep away all evidence of a revelation from heaven, for
the disclosures of that divine Book could not have been given to the world had
not some of its writers been intromitted into the spiritual sphere. The
fundamental fact, therefore, of his claim will be admitted to be a possible
fact, and this admission once made, by what species of evidence can it be
proved to be a real fact ? Must it not by such revelations respecting the state
o things in that world as shall approve themselves to the rational mind as
true ? This truth, though intrinsically capable of being apprehended and
rested in from its own light, may yet be confirmed by testimony drawn from
auxiliary sources, and especially from discoveries which shall more fully lay
open the inner constitution and laws of the human spirit. Such discoveries, we
maintain, are actually made in the mental phenomena of Mesmerism, and we claim
to have shown, in the preceding pages, that their coincidences with what
Swedenborg has declared on the subject of the conditions and properties of spirits,
are so many and so palpable that they cannot be viewed apart from each other.
They are not so much analogous as identical facts. The proof of the one is the
proof of the other. Where then is the evidence of Swedenborg’s insanity ? The
imputation has been founded, and founded solely, on the incredible character of
his statements. These statements, as far as the nature of the case will
permit, have been proved to be true. Again then we ask what becomes of
the charge ?
But in
order to present the matter in a still more forcible point of view, and to
bring it to a summary test, I will adduce one of his so-called visions
and submit to the reader how far it is entitled to be considered as a mere
vagary of a disordered imagination.
“ Once,
when I was meditating about the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, which
are mentioned in the Revelation, an angelic spirit appeared to me, and asked, 6
What are you meditating about?’ And I said, c About the false
prophet.’ Then he said, ‘ I will lead you to the place where they are, who are
meant by the false prophet;’ and he said that they are the same that, in the
13th chapter of the Revelation, are meant by the beast from the earth, which
had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon. I followed him, and lo, I
saw a crowd, in the midst of which were the leaders of the church, who taught
that nothing saves man, but faith in the merit of Christ; and that works are
good, but not for salvation; and that still they should be taught from the
Word, that the laity, especially the simple, may be kept more strictly in the
bonds of obedience to the magistrates, and may be led, as from religion, thus
more interiorly, to exercise moral charity. And then one of them, seeing me,
said, ‘ Do you wish to see our temple, in which there is an image
representative of our faith ? ’ I went and saw it; and lo, it was a magnificent
edifice, and.in the midst of it there was the image of a woman, clothed in a
scarlet garment, holding in her right hand a golden coin, and in her left a chain
of pearls; but both the image and the temple were induced by phantasy ; for by
phantasies infernal spirits can represent magnificent things, by closing the
interiors of the mind, and opening only its exteriors. But when I perceiyed
that it was such a trick, I prayed to the Lord, and suddenly the interiors of
my mind were opened; and then I saw, instead of the magnificent temple, a house
full of chinks, from the top to the bottom, in which nothing cohered ; and I
saw in that house, instead of the woman, a pendent image, the head of which was
like a dragon, the body like a leopard, the feet like those of a bear, and the
mouth like that of a lion; thus in every respect as the beast from the sea is
described, Rev. xiii. 2; and in place of a floor, there was a quagmire, in
which was a multitude of frogs; and it was told me that under the quagmire
there was a large hewn stone, under which lay the Word, entirely concealed. On
seeing these things, I said to the juggler,e Is this your temple ? ’
And he said that it was. Bur then suddenly his interior sight also was opened,
from which he saw the same things that I did ; on seeing which, he exclaimed,
with a loud voice, ‘What is this? and whence is this ?’ Andi said, £
It is from the light of heaven, which discovers the quality of every form, and
thus the quality of your faith separate from spiritual charity.’ And
immediately an east wind blew, and carried away the temple, with the image, and
also dried up the quagmire, and thus exposed the stone under which lay the
Word. And after this, a warmth, like that of spring, breathed from heaven; and
lo, then in the same place, there was seen a tabernacle, as to the external
form simple ; and the angels who were with me said, e Behold the
tabernacle of Abraham, such as it was when the three angels came Jo him, and
told concerning Isaac, who was about to be bom. This appears to the eyes
simple, but still, according to the influx of light from heaven, it becomes
more and more magnificent.’ And it was given them to open the heaven in which
were the spiritual angels, who are in wisdom; and then, from the light thence
flowing in, that tabernacle appeared like a temple, similar to that at
Jerusalem ; and, on looking into it, I saw the stone of the foundation, under
which the Word was deposited, set around with precious stones, from which
bright rays, like lightning, shone upon the walls, upon which were the forms of
cherubs, and beautifully variegated them with colors. When I was admiring
these things, the angels said, ‘ You -will see something still more wonderful.’
Then it was given them to open the third heaven, in which were the celestial
angels, who are in love ; and then, from the flammeous light thence flowing in,
the whole of that temple vanished, and instead of it the Lord alone was seen,
standing upon the foundation stone, which was the Word, in the same form in
which he appeared to John, Rev. i. But because a holy reverence then filled the
interiors of the angels’ minds, from which they had pn inclination to fall prostrate
on their faces, the way of light from the third heaven was closed by the Lord,
and a way of light from the second heaven was opened; whence returned the
former appearance of the temple, and also of the tabernacle, but this in the
midst of the temple. Hereby was illustrated what is meant in the Revelation,
xxi., by this passage: The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them, ver. 3 : and also by this : I saw no temple in the New
Jerusalem, because the Lord God Omnipotent is the temple of it, and, the Lamb,
ver. 22.”— T. C. R. 187.
What, I
ask, is there in this that I should render it incredible as the relation of a bona
fide occurrence in the spiritual world ? We have already seen that nothing
is more frequent than such phantastic creations among spirits, and we can
easily conceive, I think, that the central truth intended to be set forth
should be represented by the highly significant imagery here employed. It is
certainly a very striking description of the effect produced by a growing
influx of heavenly light revealing the interior deformity of a church founded
upon a virtual rejection of the Word, the only true basis of such a
superstructure. Equally impressive is the shifting scenery of the picture
developing the Tabernacle and Temple, and the superseding of both by the Glory
of the Lord, as symbolical of the gradual restoration of a pure system of
worship, of which the Divine Word should be pervading life and soul, as well as
the exclusive foundation. We see nothing in this in the least inconsistent
with what we have already gathered to be the laws of mental operation in the
other life, and consequently nothing which can justly subject the author to
the charge of venting mere dreams and fancies for veritable occurrences in the
spirit-world. The same remarks apply to multitudes of other relations of
similar character abounding throughout his writings. Let them be viewed in
reference to the grand psychological principles involved in them, and they
imperceptibly become divested of the air of extravagance which at first blush
they seem to wear, and commend themselves more and more to the soundest reason
of the reader. Yet, I repeat, it is wholly upon narratives of this nature that
the charge of insanity, so often brought against Swedenborg, rests. But why
should they give occasion to it ? Is it not reasonable to suppose that
the actual facts of the other world would strike us with surprise could we
witness them as they are ?—that they would be in a thousand points different
from our anticipations ? Yet to a calm reflection I imagine it will appear in
the highest degree probable, that if the spirits and angels of heaven and hell
are not living, acting, communing, enjoying, and suffering in the precise
modes which Swedenborg represent, still the real modes are marvellously like
them. If their very being is intellectual and spiritual, why should not
the scenes in which they are engaged be such as are adapted to their nature, or
in other words, such as Swedenborg has depicted ? One assertion at least may
be confidently made;—everything he has related of that world is in such perfect
keeping that, considering the grandeur and magnificence of the
descriptions, and the number, variety, and amplitude of the details, the idea
of its having emanated from the mind of a madman is the most preposterous that
can be entertained. And how is the wildness of the supposition enhanced by the
comparison instituted in the preceding pages, between the leading features of
his revelations and the undeniable facts of the Mesmeric developments ? These
developments disclose to the very senses of men the fundamental truths of the
psychology upon which his averments rest. How can the admission of the one be
consistent with the rejection of the other ? And how can that admission be
refused in the face of all the testimony which goes to enforce it ? The
affinity of the two classes of disclosures is too palpable to be denied, yet
it could not possibly have been the result of any collusion between Mesmer and
Swedenborg. Swedenborg died ten years before Mesmer went to Paris to divulge
his discovery, and even Mesmer himself knew nothing of the higher mental
phenomena to which his name has given the appellation. They were discovered
subsequently by one of his disciples. I would ask then whether it be possible
to account for the coincidences except upon the ground of the intrinsic truth
of both; and I would submit also whether there be not something more than a
merely plausible basis for the position, that the ultimate design, in
Providence, of the development of Mesmerism at the present era, is in fact
nothing less than to pave the way for the universal admission of Swedenborg’s
claims. If these claims are well founded they are of an importance which no
language can describe, for they involve something vastly more momentous than
even the revelations of the future world. They present a new view of the
interior genius of the inspired Word, and of the whole body of Christian Doctrine—one
which offers, we believe, the true and only ground on which the jarring creeds
of Christendom may be brought to a genuine symbolism by the consenting
elevation of Charity and Life to the prominence hitherto given to Doctrine and
Faith. Viewed in this light, is it not reasonable to anticipate that some
striking and palpable authentication should be given to the mission of this-
man of marvels, provided it be indeed of God ? And how could this be more
effectually accomplished than by an unexpected and providential discovery,
clearly ascertaining that the psychological structure of the human mind and its
interior manifestations in the present world, are in strict accordance with
what S^vedenborg, from supernatural insight, assures us are the laws of
spiritual existence in the world to come ? On this basis then we build our
plea for the truth of a system which we are firmly persuaded embodies the
sublime doctrines of the New Jerusalem, the crown and glory of all the Divine
dispensations on earth.
REVELATIONS OF
A. J.^DAVIS.
In
giving the following communication to the world I am conscious of exposing
myself, in the estimation of many minds, to the charge of a weak and easy
credulity, which may possibly tend to impair the effect of whatever has been
advanced in the body of the work. Yet the positive truth that may
distinguish any portion of the previous discussion will still remain truth,
whatever may be the character of its sequel, and as I deem the matter which I
am now about to present as being as well authenticated as anything previously
given, and perhaps as intrinsically credible, I do not scruple to offer it to
the reader to be received and interpreted as he may see fit. It bears doubtless
very much the air of the marvellous, not to say of the miraculous, but after what
we have already seen of the developments of this mysterious state, especially
in connection with the parallel recitals of Swedenborg, we shall perhaps find
ourselves prepared to admit at least the possibility of just such an
occurrence as that alleged in the letter to have taken place. It is probably no
more inconsistent with what we have ever understood to be the established laws
of the Creator in the government of the intelligent universe than many of the
facts and principles wre have already had occasion to consider. Of
this, however* the reader is left to judge for himself.
The
writer, Mr. A. J. Davis, is a young man not far from twenty years of age, who
is well known to a wide circle as a person of remarkable clairvoyant powers in
the investigation of disease. He is now a resid ent of this city, and for the
last two or three years has devoted himself professionally for the most part to
this business. The exercise, however, of his distinguished faculty is not
confined to this department. In consequence of what he deems a direct
communication from the spirit of Swedenborg a year or two since—of whose name,
by the way, or of the fact of his ever having lived, he was then entirely
ignorant—he was prompted to enter upon a course of Lectures in the Mesmeric
state on a large class of scientific subjects, of which he has thus far
delivered about eighty, embracing Cosmology, Ethnology, Astronomy, Geology,
Physiology, Language, and various others, upon all which he is profoundly
ignorant in his natural state. He is a young man whose educational advantages
have been of the most limited character, having never enjoyed, from the age of
childhood, but about five months schooling. Up to the period when he entered on
his Mesmeric career, he had served as a shoemaker’s apprentice, and the
gentleman in whose employ he was is ready at any time to testify to his entire
unacquaintance with the scientific topics of which he has treated in his
Lectures, and that too on many points, in a truly masterly manner. Since that date
he has been so constantly occupied in the examination of diseases and in the
Lectures that no time has been left him for anything like the connected study
which would be requisite for such elaborate discussions as he goes into on the
entire philosophy of the universe, besides that he considers himself
prohibited by an internal dictate from reading a page or a line on any of the
subjects of which he treats. To these inward monitions, or impressions,
as he terms them, he uniformly pays a religious deference, and as he acts under
the conviction that his only security for his being made the medium of truth,
is his own unimpeachable truthfulness and general moral integrity, I am
for myself perfectly satisfied that entire confidence is to be reposed in his statements.
Having had for many months a fair opportunity of acquaintance, and having
closely studied the leading traits of his character, I can freely say, that a
more simple, guileless, unsophisticated spirit I have seldom met, or one more
utterly incapable of being a party to any scheme of imposture or delusion. He
has been from his earliest years religiously disposed, and his former employer
has certified, in the fullest manner, to his uniformly upright and exemplary
conduct during the time that he was in his service and: an inmate in his
family. The same testimony is given by all who have known him from a child.
Indeed, were his character generally, other than it is, I doubt if he would
ever have been made the medium of such astounding developments as have uttered
themselves through him. He possesses, both physically and mentally, in an
eminent degree, the requisites for a clairvoyant of the highest order. But it
is the less necessary for me to dwell upon these traits of his character and
his claims to credibility, as his Lectures are to be published in connection
with a voluminous mass of testimony, from the most authentic sources, to his
absolute incompetency to such revelations, except upon the ground of
supernatural agency. This conclusion will probably be confirmed by the purport
of the ensuing communication.
I may
here remark in regard to the series of Lectures above mentioned, that while I
express no opinion as to the absolute truth of the scientific principles and
positions advanced in them, I am fully prepared to bear witness to the fact of
his making correct use of a multitude of technical terms appropriate to the
themes of science, which he is wholly unable to define in his waking state, and
which would naturally occur only to one who had been long familiar writh
the subjects and with their peculiar nomenclature. Indeed, I have been
sometimes amused at his bungling attempts, on casually reading the manuscript,
even to pronounce accurately the words which he utters with entire freedom and
correctness in the Mesmeric delivery, and which are taken down 'verbatim
by a scribe with a view to ultimate publication. I can also testify that having
been occasionally present at some of these Lectures, I have heard him quote,
with the utmost accuracy, from the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages, of none
of which has he the least knowledge in his normal condition. He has also quoted
long extracts from the Sanscrit, the substance of which I have been able to
verify from a French translation of the Vedas. Whether the same thing exists in
an English version I have not learned. But I am entirely confident he has
never read it in any translation. At the same time, I have no reason to
suppose that, even hi his preternatural state he can be fairly said to be acquainted
with these tongues. He would probably be unable to give the meaning of any
sentence in a foreign language that might be submitted to him by way of
experiment. But whatever word or phrase may be necessary to the more full
elucidation of any point which he is explaining, seems to come spontaneously to
his lips from the same source with the body of the disclosures themselves, and
that these are suggested or dictated by the influx of some other mind into his
own is, I think, beyond question. But that it is any mind inhabiting a material
body, which prompts his revelations, 1 am convinced is not the case, for they
are often in direct contrariety to all the opinions which have ever been
advanced upon the same subjects, and when not contrary they are frequently
beyond all that has been known to be propounded respecting them.
Not the
least remarkable among the phenomena of the case is the fact, that his
enunciations from the outset, in this course of Lectures, have coincided most
astonishingly with those of Swedenborg, although he has to this hour never read
a page of his works, and has never been intimately associated with those who
have, or who would be capable of determining his thoughts in that direction.
The two gentlemen who are permanently connected with him in his Mesmeric
operations are both of them nearly as ignorant as himself of the peculiar
doctrines, philosophical and theological, of Swedenborg, and since they have
become aware of the fact of the coincidence mentioned, they have stifled their
curiosity and rigidly abstained from all recourse to those writings with the
express design of being able to say, in the issue, that from whatever source
his information may have been derived, it has not come from their minds. As to
myself, though I have had occasional intercourse with Mr. D. and his
associates, yet I can in all seriousness affirm, that as soon as I became acquainted
with the fact of these singular coincidences, I at once refrained from any but
the most remote and general allusions to them, usually by way of inquiry, and
those gentiemen will bear me witness that I have not in their presence, made
Swedenborg’s views on these or any other subjects, a topic of conversation.
With Mr. D. himself I have had but few private interviews, and I was then
equally guarded for the same reason, and also because he intimated that he was
internally forbidden to make these matters a theme of conversation. I saw at
once that if I became an expounder of these doctrines, I should deprive his
disclosures of the advantages that would accrue to them in the public
estimation from the assurance that he had received them from no earthly
source. The following extract from one of his Lectures, together with the
corresponding passage from Swedenborg, will serve to afford the reader a
specimen of these singular coincidences, which for the most part are real
rather than verbal-
“ The
original form was angular. This contained the principle and nature of
all other forms: so that from the lowest to the highest could be constantly
emanating forms accompanied with, and controlled and acted upon by, the Great
Positive Power. Progression of the angular evolved the circular.
This assumed, not a spherical constitution, but it was a combination of angular
and rectilinear plane. Therefore the continuance of the angular to the
circular, was only a progressive perpetual form, ascending to the spiral.
And this developed diameters, axes and poles containing the perpetual angular,
and progressed to that of a still higher and more perfect form, that of the vortical,
properly the celestial.”
“
Meanwhile, for the better understanding of the subjects mentioned in this
chapter, 1 will here state, that forms ascend from the lowest to the highest,
in order and by degrees, as do also the essences and substances of all things.
The lowest form is the angular; which is also called the terrestrial
and the merely corporeal form, inasmuch as it is peculiar to bodies
having angles and rectilinear plailes; the measurement of which is the primary
object of the present geometry. The second and next-higher form is the circular,
qt spherical form; which may
also be called the perpetual-angular, since the circumference of the
circle involves neither angle nor rectilinear plane, because it is a perpetual
angle and a perpetual plane: this form is at once the parent and the measure
of angular forms; for it is the means of showing the properties of angles and
figures, as trigonometry teaches. The
form
above this is the spiral, which is the parent and the measure of
circular forms, as the circular form is the parent and the measure of angular
forms. Its very radii or diameters are not rectilinear, nor do they converge
to a fixed centre, like those of the circle, but they are variously-circular,
and have a spherical surface for a centre ; wherefore the spiral is also
called the perpetual-circular. Our science of geometry rises almost to
this form, but dare not enter it, or peruse its spires; for at the first
glance it strikes us as inextricable, and seems to sport with our ideas. This
form never exists or subsists without poles, an axis, foci, a greatest circle,
and lesser circles which are its diametersand as it again assumes a perpetuity
which is .wanting in the circular form, namely, in respect of diameters and
centres, therefore it emulates and breathes a natural spontaneousness in its
motion : as also appears from the stomach and its segments after death, for
when its nerves are only touched, it rolls and wreathes as in the living
subject, and flows spontaneously into its gyres, as though it were still
hungering, and longing to grind the food: there being nothing that can prove an
obstacle; inasmuch as there are no angles, and consequently no hindrances to
motion. There are other still higher forms, as the perpetual-spiral,
properly the vortical: the perpetual-vortical , properly the celestial:
and a highest, the perpetual-celestial, which is spiritual, and
has in it nothing but what is everlasting and infinite.”—Swed. Anim. Kingd.
Vol. I. p. 125.
A multitude
of similar parallelisms will disclose themselves in the course of his
revelations to one who is familiar with Swedenborg, but more especially in his
account of the inhabitants of the several planets.
The
above statements will be seen to have been necessary in order to prepare the
reader for viewing in its just light the revelation that follows.
Early in
June last Mr. D. while in the midst of one of his Lectures came to a sudden
pause, and remarked that he received no farther impressions—the usual language
in which he speaks of his internal communications—saying at the same time, that
he perceived that he must go immediately to Poughkeepsie, and that something
very extraordinary was going to happen to him there. What it was, he was unable
to say, but observed that it would be known in New York in three or four days,
and that his associates might freely inform others of the fact, but it must be
kept from him while in the waking state, as it would produce an undue
excitement in his mind, which he must carefully avoid. His wishes in this
respect were strictly complied with, and accordingly, shortly after, when in
the natural state, he announced the purpose of starting the next day (Saturday)
for Poughkeepsie, though he had previously formed an entirely different
arrangement in regard to an excursion into the country. On Saturday he left the
city in company with Dr. L. his constant companion, and on the Wednesday
following—the fourth day from the announcement—I received unexpectedly the
ensuing letter, which I give “ with all its ” grammatical “ imperfections on
its head.”
Poughkeepsie, June 16th, 1846.
“Dear
Sir:—Yesterday
morning, after eating ^breakfast at No. 49 Washington St., where my friend Mrs.
Lapham lives, I went down to the book store, to get some paper to write a
letter to---------------------- ;
after buying it, I visited several
persons
about the street, staying only a few minutes at each place. Soon I had a desire
to go down to the river; what caused it I don’t know. But went down, called on
Qne or two friends on the way.
“
I soon lost all knowledge where I was, recollect of being about the river
somewhere, and also ascending a hill. I am conscious of meeting the same person
that I had seen in the graveyard in Hyde Park. I also remember conversing with
him, and taking out my pencil and writing all the thoughts given me. I remember
him leaving me suddenly, and I came out the state. I was surprised to find
myself wet with rain, the paper on my lap, and dry—and being in the mountain
opposite Poughkeepsie, about 4 miles, where I had been before, 2 years ago.
“
I came directly home, it was 6 o’clock in the evening, I was wet and muddy, and
very hungry. The paper had not been wet. The very moment I came into the
natural state, I felt you
*
should,have the paper immediately. I do not understand the meaning, nor the
letters A. C. and them figures. It appears now that I knew it
then, but can’t recollect what it was. As I felt impressed so strongly to send
it to you, I do so, for it must be right.
“
The friends here can tell about it. I am at Mrs. Lapham’s, 49 Washington St. If
you can tell me about the meaning, please write me at the above No. I
copy the writing exactly from the paper, as written by me then.
Yours, &c. A. J. DAVIS.”
. COPY.[§]
“Inasmuch
as, by causes unrelated, things interior are open to me, which appertain to my
spirit, as well as to all others, and thereby it has been granted me to
discourse with you. while near our earth; and to be instructed by you concerning
the opening hereafter, which will lead me to an enlarged understanding (of) a
plurality of worlds, and to be informed, that the human race is not confined
to one earth only, but extends to earths innumerable; and that by the things related,
man may be instructed, if his (being or principle) mind be so opened as to be
enabled to associate with them under- standingly. I observe you are averse to
discoursing vocally, but instead thereof enter the cerebrum, near the right,
where the thinking principle, which is above the imagination, is ; and farther,
all that I hear, see and perceive, are such as delight me, being good and of
the Spirit. From your mind, I perceive »that whatever things cause delight, and
affect the love, and flow as it were spontaneously, is a communication of all
good things, inasmuch as it is the property of heavenly love to communicate
all its possessions with others; and I perceive that by research in your
written thoughts, the above can be found in A. C. 549, 550, 1390, 1391, 1399,
10,130, 10,723. You represent to me three important truths ; that all spirits
and angels are from the human race, A. C. 1880; and by them.man may be
instructed;—for in his essence he is a spirit, and that the soul is the
spirit, which is the real man in him, and remains in another life in a perfect
human form—322, 1880, 1881, 3633, 4622, 4735, 6054, 6605, 6626, 7021, 10,594.
Wherefore he whose interiors are opened may discourse with them, as man with
man ; but not unless he be of true faith, and is led by the principle, A. C.
784, 9438, 10,751. Moreover, by the truthfulness of the above, long made known
to your own spirit, a privilege has been granted me, now for three years, never
before made manifest, in this manner ; and to know that what has been related
is above the sensual things of the natural man. From the purport of your mind,
1 perceive the intended meaning—that truth is reflected through my mind into
the external; but that by different terms (that have been imposed heretofore
by speculative minds, on similar subjects), so that they may form correct
impressions from the terms used to describe interior things. And that all such
expressions appearing as material, entirely external and speaking of
terrestrial laws, is meaning only, and that deeply to impress on the logicians
and metaphysicians the more important essences of interiors—as these are
expressions of the Divine Principle, which flows not only into heaven, but also
into the universe, and everything made thereby the subordinate receptacle of
light and life, which is love ; and order and form, which is wisdom. Inasmuch
as these all dwell in the external world, and is (are) constantly exemplifying
the qualities and attributes of the divine love and wisdom. Some men do not
even proceed to thoughts, but stay solely on terms, which if they apply, it is
to confirm whatever they desire, and to impose on false principles the
appearance of truth—according to their desire to create a dis belief in the
future or interior condition. Hence philosophical investigations lead men
rather to folly than to wisdom, and hence they have darkness instead of light.
How shall I, when in the form, and in the world, let these present sayings of
thy spirit become known and be believed? It appears manifest; you have said,
that whatsoever spirits there be. were once men; that every one’s life remains
with him and goes after death, A. C. 4227, 7440 ; and that the externals of
life are kept closed after death, and the internals opened—4314, 5128, 6495.
These things are not by me known, when in the form, but are to others. I
receive one other impression from you ; the form, the external, is not of
itself living, only as it is animated by the internal essence ; and by it the
form is determined, and made alive. Thus the body is in constant subordination.
On hearing this, from me in spirit, the world will be silent; but will
acknowledge, (according to your former predictions) that these truths are so.
The inhabitants of the earth inquire into and imbibe the knowledges of things,
not elevated above the sensualities of the body; this is made manifest by the
influx of your spirit. Also that men immerse their thoughts in the science of
logic and metaphysics, with no other end than to acquire the character of
being learned, and thus to be advanced to honor and emolument.
“ I perceive
by your spirit, this, for me, is impossible, and that I should retain my former
and present advice, acting to my own interior direction, as given me; the use
in the Avorld is not known; but to me is now manifest; with promptitude my
spirit obeys ; and the spirit now on your mind, shall read this, judgingly,
from your references, from what sphere your spirit is manifested.
“ I
observe the illuminated expression of your eye, which it is given to know
corresponds to understanding, because understanding is interior sight, and also
to sight and knowledge of things true and immaterial, 2701, 4410, 4526, 9051,
10,569 ”
This
will be perceived to be, upon its bare perusal, somewhat of a singular
document. It embodies a large mass of references to the Arcana Celestia
of Swedenborg, so often quoted in the preceding pages, as it usually is
elsewhere, under the initials A. C., and yet of these letters and of
the numbers annexed he professes to be ignorant of the purport. I have,
moreover, received from him the positive and solemn assurance that he had never
read a syllable of the Arcana, and had never heard of its existence. My
surprise on the receipt of this letter may well be imagined. My knowledge of
the young man’s character forbade the idea of any intentional imposture, and
yet on the other hand, the contents of the paper, under the circumstances in
which they were said to have originated, forced me to withhold a ready credence
of the entire transaction. As was natural, I at first supposed that the references
to the Arcana were direct—that they were not quoted from any other work—and I
proceeded accordingly to verify them by an appeal to the sections cited. I
found upon examination that they were all, with one exception correct, and in
this case I discovered that the original Latin of Swedenborg himself contained
the same error, which was obviously typographical. On farther investigation I
found that not only the express quotations, but even the whole tenor of the
letter was contained in almost so many words in the treatise entitled “ The
Earths in the Universe.” On this discovery the inference was almost
irresistible, that though he had not read the Arcana, yet he had read the
other, and had copied from it everything that he deemed suitable to his design,
whatever that might have been. Still the coincidences, though striking and
obvious, were not so perfect, as might have been expected in an intended copy.
There was a singular air pervading it. Portions of it were obscure and
mystical, and it was still a problem; why it should not have been marked either
by a greater or less conformity to the original. The whole matter was a puzzle
which I had no clue for solving till I should see Mr. D. himself—then
absent—and learn whether he had ever read or heard of“ The Earths in the
Universe.” If I I could be satisfied that he had not, the wonder in the easel
would not be at all diminished, for how could he even quote! quotations of
which he had never read either the one or the other ?
In this
state affairs remained till Mr. D.’s return to the city in September, when I
brought the subject before him, and interrogated him very closely as to whether
he had any knowledge of the work in question. He assured me in reply that he
had never read a page of it—that he knew nothing of any such sentiments having
been expressed, or references made, in that or any other work—and that he was
perfectly willing to be qualified by the most solemn oath to the effect that he
had never drawn himself, or been furnished with by others, a single sentence
from any book known by him to be in existence—that what he wrote was written in
an unconscious or abnormal state, as it was mysteriously suggested to his
mind—in a word, that everything occurred precisely as it is related in the
letter.
As I was
anxious to render assurance doubly sure, I again submitted to him, when in
the Mesmeric state, the question of the propriety of his being qualified
before a magistrate as to the truth of the above declarations. He said in reply
that although he would not refuse to yield to a desire on my part to that
effect, yet he was impressed that it would not add anything to the weight of
the testimony growing out of the document itself and all the attending
circumstances. He remarked that the conclusion would very naturally be, that if
he was unprincipled enough to fabricate such a document, he was also
unprincipled enough to take a false oath, and that the conviction of the
genuineness of the article must be produced by the evidence which the whole
affair, viewed in all its aspects, carried with it. This, he intimated, would
be sufficient for candid minds, without having recourse to a kind of testimony
that would be regarded by the more judicious as superficial, and as having the
air of an undue anxiety as to the result. He clearly implied that there was no
need of resorting to anything that would look like an expedient of policy, or
which would betray a distrust of the intrinsic efficacy of the evidence
involved to weigh with those who could, under any circumstances, receive
it; and as to others, it was unnecessary to cherish any particular solicitude
whether it should be believed or not. There was proof enough, if their minds
were open to appreciate it. In the meantime, he observed, that I need not
scruple to adopt the language of the most positive assurance as to his never
having read the work in question, for it was sacredly true, and the truth
itself would justify any strength of assertion. He said, moreover, that the
peculiar work he was called to perform was of such a nature as to be
inconsistent with the least desire for reading, and consequently every such
desire had been effectually wiped away from his mind. Throughout the interview
he spoke with a clearness, calmness, and discretion which was truly admirable,
and elicited expressions of wonder from all who were present, as they were
perfectly satisfied of his utter incapacity to talk in such a style in his
natural state. And what is remarkable, although 1 had my manuscripts with me,
from which I wished to propose certain queries relative to the correctness of
my interpretation, I found I had no need to refer to it, as he was evidently,
from his replies, cognizant of its entire scope from beginning to end, though
all the time closely bandaged and unable to read a word by the outward eye.
This will appear incredible, but it is strictly true. I had no occasion
to refer to a single sentence in my papers, for it was evident that he was in
possession of the whole, though he had not seen a line of what I had written,
nor had previously known of the fact of my writing at all
I am
well aware that even this statement will avail but little towards vanquishing
the skepticism which such a marvellous train of incidents must necessarily
encounter. I am deeply sensible myself of the large draft which it makes upon
the faith of sober minds. But my own conviction is unwavering that he has
never read the book. Everything, it is true, depends upon the judgment
formed of the young man’s veracity. I feel that, on this point, I have no right
to claim the reader’s assent to my conclusions, unless he recognizes a
satisfactory ground of reliance on the statements made by Mr. D. in regard to
the fact of his entire ignorance of the contents of the work in question.
Being desirous of securing the most effectual guaranty to my own confidence in
Mr. D.’s assertion on this and other subjects, as well as of justifying that
confidence to the minds of my readers, I wrote to his former employer,
requesting from him such a certificate as he could freely give, and would be
willing to have published, respecting young D.’s character while an inmate in
his family. The following is his reply :
Dear Sir—Circumstances have prevented me from giving an
earlier answer to yours of the 9th inst. than could have been desired.
In
regard to A. J. Davis, and your inquiries respecting him, I am happy to give
the information desired. He was an apprentice to me, and boarded in my family
for nearly two years. I was daily and hourly in association with him, and under
circumstances which enabled me to form a clear and perfect estimate of his
character, the leading trait of which * was, integrity in its broadest and best
sense. His education * was very limited—that, I mean, which is acquired at
school
—but
I employed him to keep my books, which improved him somewhat in writing and
casting accounts.* In his own statements you may place the most unbounded confidence.
I never knew him to deceive or equivocate in my life. His character before I
knew him can be traced in this neighborhood from his infancy up to the time he
left me like the lines on a map, and it is all of a piece. His reading was also
very limited, and mostly confined to books of a juvenile or narrative
description.
Poughkeepsie, Oct. 17, 1846. IRA
ARMSTRONG.
In
accordance with what is here said of the limited range of his reading, Mr. D.
has informed me that previous to the date of his earliest magnetic experience,
he did not know that he had ever read a dozen books in his life, and that the
only one which had left much impression upon his memory was “ a story of
Three Spaniards!” As to works of science, he had never read a single
volume; and when he began to speak in his Mesmeric state of the different
planets, he knew nothing at all of the structure of the solar system.
Subsequent to that period he has literally had no time for connected reading
or study on any subject whatever, and yet in his Lectures above-mentioned, he
has discoursed on Astronomy, Geology and General Physics in a style worthy the
high’ 9
est
masters in those departments. These are the indubitable facts in the
case, and it is left to the judgment of the world to account for them, which,
probably, it will find it somewhat difficult to do, except upon grounds that
suppose the truth of the main positions of this book.
But,
though well assured myself of the claims of Mr. P.’s statements to entire
confidence, arising from the general conscientious honesty which governs his
deportment, yet I do not say that this quality exists with him to such a degree
as absolutely to secure him from the inroads of false impressions. I would not,
therefore,be understood as expressing a willingness to endorse the intrinsic
truth of all that he utters in his Lectures.* I am taught by Swedenborg that a
large portion of the influences from the spiritual world are delusive, and that
a true faith as to the grand doctrines of Christianity, together with a
right moral posture of the inner man, are indispensable to a safe communion
with spirits and to the trustworthiness of the reports that may be made from
their sphere. Now I am not sufficiently acquainted with Mr. D.’s character in
this respect to feel a full assurance of his immunity from error in this
species of communication. I cannot penetrate to the real state of his affection
and thought and thus ascertain the nature and degree of his moral affinities.
I should not, however, be at all surprised if it were such as to lay the
foundation for a mixture of truth and falsity in his utterances. This question
remains to be decided by the issue. I am only sure of one thing—that the young
man is actually the medium of communications made by prompting spirits of the
other
♦ Of these Lectures I have heard two or
three delivered, and have heard read from the manuscript parts of forty or
fifty more. They are certainly very extraordinary for the extent of ground they
occupy—touching upon nearly all the great themes of human knowledge—and for the
soundness of the conclusions on subjects of which he was previously utterly
ignorant. In ordinary circumstances it would be impossible for such topics to
be treated, even as ably as he has treated them, without a wide range of
reference to books. In this case I am positive he has consulted no books
whatever. I can scarcely expect this will be believed upon my assertion,
neverthless it is unquestionably true.
world. I
am satisfied that nothing else will account for the facts in his case. Still,
for aught I know, the following remarks of Jung Stilling may be applicable to
him:—“ The elevation, the exalted feeling, the new discoveries, the enlightened
insight, convince the individual that what is passing in him is a very peculiar
operation of the Holy Spirit ; but believe me, assuredly and confidently, that
this is not (necessarily) the case. Such an one may certainly say excellent and
very useful things, and even be the means of really doing good ; but before the
man is aware, a false spirit, in the guise of an angel of light, mixes itself
in the matter, and the poor creature is deceived,”—Pneumatology, p. 209.
This
however can only be hypothetically suggested in the present case. I do not
venture to say in regard to Mr. D. that he is deceived or deluded, but simply
that if, after uttering so much that is in accordance with Swedenborg’s doctrines,
he should utter other things that are contrary to them, Swedenborg himself has
given us the key by which to solve such an apparent paradox. Some secret and
lurking error of life or faith gives advantage to spirits of delusion to flow
into his mind and falsify his impressions of truth. And let me here say that it
is in the highest degree remarkable, that while Swedenborg himself is generally
reputed to have been the victim of the wildest hallucinations, he has in fact
developed more clearly than any one has ever done before, the sources and
causes of all kinds of spiritual delusions, and thus enabled us to be on'our
guard against the various forms of fallacy which are frequently evinced in the
Mesmeric state. Let the reader recur to the previous chapter on Phantasy
and that which treats of Swedenborgs State psychologically considered, and
he will find ample proof of the truth of this remark.
That
Mr.D. has in some way come, in his disclosures, into a singular relation to the
philosophy and psychology of Swedenborg is, I think, beyond a question.
Equally clear do I consider it that this is not the result of design on his
part How could he have designed it when he had previously not the slightest
knowledge of his system, and when, to this day, he has not read a page of his
works ? Whatever he has advanced in common with him has been the result of
some mysterious influence upon his spirit, over which he has had no control.
How this has happened I assume not to say. Previous to the indications of the
fact, there is not the slightest evidence that he had ever heard the name of
Swedenborg, and it was only from an internal suggestion or impression that he
was enabled to mention it. Yet it is certain that he has accurately reproduced
many of his leading ideas, and the presumption would be that in all important
points he would agree with him. But I do not know that this is the case. It is
not unlikely that his Lectures, in several particulars, go counter to the
doctrines of Swedenborg, though I believe it will be found that they mainly
accord with them in spirit and scope. But if such a discrepancy should be found
to exist in regard to certain points, there, can of course be no hesitation
with the receivers of Swedenborg which to accept and which to refuse. The
contrary reports of ten thousand clairvoyants would not shake an iota of their
confidence in the paramount truth of vzhat their illuminated teacher has affirmed
on the same subjects.
But
I have thus far merely asserted without exhibiting the remarkable
correspondence between the general scope of the letter and that of certain
portions of the “ Earths in the Universe.” This I now proceed to display at
some length, reminding the reader that the core of the marvel is in the fact
that he is quoting, in a great degree verbatim, from a work not one page
of which had ever come under his eye.
“Inasmuch
as, by causes unrelated, things interior are open to me which appertain to my
spirit, as well as to all others, and thereby it has been granted me to
discourse with you while near our earth, and to be instructed by you concerning
the opening hereafter which will lead me to an enlarged understanding (of) a
plurality of worlds, and to be informed that the human race is not confined to
one earth only, but extends to earths innumerable—
In
like manner the “ Earths in the Universe ” commences thus:—“Inasmuch as,
by the divine mercy of the Lord, things
interior
are open to me, which appertain to my spirit, and thereby it has been granted
me to discourse
not only with spirits and angels who are near our earth, but also with those
who are near other earths; and whereas I had a desire to know whether other
earths exist, and of what sort they are, and what is the nature and quality of
their inhabitants, therefore it has been granted me of the Lord to discourse
and converse with spirits and angels who are from other earths, with some for a
day, with some for a week, and with some for months; and to be instructed ‘by
them concerning the earths, from which, and near which, they were; and
concerning the lives, and customs, and worship, of the inhabitants thereof,
with various m other things worthy to be noted: and whereas in this
manner it has been granted me to become acquainted with such things, it is
permitted to describe them according to what has been heard and seen.”—E. U.
1. So again in another passage. “ That there are several earths, and men upon
them, and thence spirits and angels, is a thing most perfectly well known in
another life, for it is there granted to every one who desires it from a love
of truth and consequent use, to discourse with the spirits of other earths, and
thereby to be confirmed concerning a plurality of worlds, and to be
informed, that the human race is not confined to one earth only, but extends to
earths innumerable ; and moreover to know, what is the particular genius,
manner of life, and also divine worship, prevailing amongst the inhabitants of
each particular earth.”—E. U. 2.
—and
that by the things related man may be instructed if his (being or principle)
mind be so opened as to associate with them understanding]y.
This is
evidently responsive to the last paragraph of No. 1 of the E. IT.: “ It is to
be observed, that all spirits and angels are from the human race; and that they
are near their respective earths; and that they are acquainted with things on
those earths ; and that by them man may be instructed, if his interiors be
so open as to be enabled to speak and converse with them ; for man in his
essence is a spirit and together with spirits as to his interiors; wherefore he
whose interiors are opened by the
Lord,
may discourse with them, as man with man; which privilege has been granted me
now for twelve years daily.” A singular usage will be noticed in the above, of
the interjected clause, “ being or principle,” as if synonymous with “ mind.”
Now it is remarkable that this very phrase, enclosed in brackets, is of
repeated occurrence in the E. U. as a supplied translation of the original
word “ Divinum,” which is applied to the Deity without a substantive. Thus,“
What would this be to the Divine (being or principle) which is infinite ?” “
They adore the Divine (being or principle) not as invisible, but as visible,
for this reason amongst others, that because when the Divine (being or
principle) appears to them, &c.” It is evidently in the document applied to
the human essence, as it is by Swedenborg to the divine.
I
observe you are averse to discoursing vocally, but instead thereof, enter the
cerebrum near the right, where the thinking principle, which is above the
imagination, is;—
Here
the parallelism is obvious. “ They are averse to discourse consisting of
vocal expressions, because it is material, wherefore when I conversed with
them without intermediate spirits, I could only do it by a species of active
thought. Their memory as consisting of things, not of images purely material,
affords a nearer supply of its objects to the thinking principle; for the
thinking principle, 'which is above the imagination, re quires for its
object, things abstracted from material.”— E. U. 17. '
—and
farther, all that I hear, see, and perceive are such as delight me, being good
and of the Spirit. From your mind I perceive that whatever things cause
delight, and affect the love, and flow as it were spontaneously, is a
communication of all good things—
“Hence
also it may appear manifest, that spirits have memory, and that it is much more
perfect than the memory of men; and farther, that what they hear, see, and
perceive, they retain, and especially such things as delight them,
as these spirits are delighted with knowledges; for whatever things, cause
delight, and affect the lave, these flow in as it werespon- taneously, and
remain; other things do not enter, but only touch the surface and pass by.”—E.
U. 14.
—inasmuch
as it is the property of heavenly love to communicate all its possessions with
others—
The
coincidence here is verbal; the parallel passage in Swedenborg is contained in
a note to No. 15, which reads thus:—“ That in the heaven there is given a
communication of all good things, inasmuch as it is the property of heavenly
love to communicate all its possessions with others; and that hence the angels
derive wisdom and happiness, n. 549, 550, 1390, 1391, 1399, 10,130, 10,723.”—£.
U. 15 n. k.
—and I
perceive that by research in your written thoughts the above can be found in A.
C. 549, 550, 1390, 1391, 1399, 10,130, 10,723.
These,
it will be observed, are the very references cited in the note given above, so
that it is impossible to resist the inference, that they were either copied
directly from the work in question, by means of material hands and eyes, or the
passage was transferred from some mind upon whose memory it was
impressed, as upon a tablet, to that of Davis, according to the law of communication
between the memories of spirits as laid down hi our previous chapter on that
subject. We have already
adverted to the considerations which weigh against the former .theory, and what
Swedenborg teaches on the subject
decidedly favors the idea of a mysterious mental transcription. He thus
speaks of Memory in the other life. (< Ideas, which are of the
memory, are various ; as the idea of a person, namely, whatever has been heard
concerning him, or whatever was seen about him, which was observed whilst
speaking with him, also what then was thought about him, as well good thoughts as
bad thoughts,—all ideas remain, and more than the man himself was ever
conscious of which appeared to him as though he had not observed them. All
those ideas remain, and are presented in the other life together, or in a
moment, when any one is thought of.
<e Ideas also of
places are presented together, and with them all things which happened there;
these things adhere to the memory of the place, and are presented at the same
time, together with a thousand particulars. Ideas of things, in like manner, as
of scientific things, and such like, remain: whatever a man has learnt and
thought concerning any subject, is presented at the same time, thus more
fully, when he has thought more concerning the subject.
“ That
more things enter into a man’s ideas than the man himself is aware of, was
shown from this circumstance,—• that when I was walking in the street of a
city, or in a grove, it was said, that the things which I merely glanced at,
and scarcely observed, nevertheless adhered to me, and could be recalled; in
like manner concerning persons and things.”—£ D. 4553-4556. These
impressions, thus remaining, are instantaneously transferred from one spirit’s
mind to that of another.
You
represent to me three important truths;—that all spirits and angels are from
the human race, A. C. 1880,—
This is
but another form of the first note in the E. U.— “ That there are no spirits
and angels, but what were of the human race, n. 1880.”
—and by
them man may be instructed; for in his essence he is a spirit, and that the
soul is the spirit, which is the real man in him, and remains in another life,
in a perfect human form—322, 1880, 1881, 3633, 4622, 4735, 6054, 6605, 6626,
7021,10,594.
Here
again we have the words of the third note to No. 1, n. c. of the E. U.;—“ That
the soul, which lives after death, is the spirit of man, which is the real man
in him, and also appears in another life in a perfect human form,” n. 322,
1880, 1881, 3633, 4622, 4735, 6054, 6605, 6626, 7021, 10,594. It will be
noticed that Davis uses the word“ remains ” instead of“ appears,” which is the
term found in the common translation.. Why this variation if one was copied
manually from the other ? When the whole passage, except this word, is given verbatim,
what object was to be gained by altering this ? The same remark is applicable
to several other similar cases that will be noticed in the sequel.
—wherefore
he whose interiors are opened may discourse with them as man with man, but not
unless he be of true faith and is led by the principle, A. C. 784, 9438,
10,751.
This is
at once referred to the following: “ That man is capable of discoursing with
spirits and angels, and that the ancients on our earth did frequently
discourse with them, n. 67, 68, 69, 784, 1634, 1636, 7802. But that at this day
it is dangerous to discourse with them, unless man be in a true faith, and
be led of the Lord,” n. 784, 9438, 10,751.—E, U. l,n. e. The
reason of the use of the word <e principle” for “ Lord” has
already been explained.
Moreover,
by the truthfulness of the above, long made known to your own spirit, a
privilege has been granted me now for three years, never before made manifest
in this manner ; and to know (that) what has been related is above the sensual
things of the natural man.
The
idea, though obscurely expressed, undoubtedly is, that in accordance with the
truth of what Swedenborg says respecting the possibility of spirits
communicating with men on earth, he had himself been privileged, for three
years past, to enjoy this intercourse, and was thereby made cognizant of truths
which transcend the grasp of the merely sensual or natural man—an intimation
perfectly in the style of Swedenborg when speaking of the principles and
properties of our nature.
From the
purport of your mind I perceive the intended meaning; that truth is reflected
through my mind into the external—
That is,
that the influx of spiritual light and truth which flows into my mind is
reflected or made manifest by coming into expression through the external
organs of speech.
—but
that by different terms (that have been imposed heretofore by speculative
minds on similar subjects), so that they (i. e. men in general) may form
correct impressions from the terms used to describe interior things—
Here,
again, the true sense is somewhat enigmatical; but as far as I can gather its
scope, it is, that the peculiar language or diction which he employs, though
differing from that which 9*
has
been for the most part adopted by the learned, is yet not without a precedent,
inasmuch as certain writers of “ speculative minds” have, in treating of “
similar subjects,” sought to adapt their terminology to the intrinsic nature of
the themes of their discussion, and that for the purpose of conveying more
correct ideas of the interior essences of things. I infer this from the evident
allusion in the passage to what Swedenborg says of Aristotle in the other
life:—“ From the purport of his discourse, I perceived that he was altogether
of a different genius and temper from those schoolmen who first ascended, in
that he wrote from a ground of thought and discernment in himself, and thence
produced his philosophical discoveries; so that the terms which he invented
and which he imposed on speculative subjects, were forms of expression by
which he described interior things.”—E. U. 38. That the allusion is to the
passage now quoted, I think there can be no doubt, and the drift of the writing
seems to be, that we are warranted by this example to endeavor, if possible, to
adopt a phraseology in speaking of these spiritual and transcendental themes
which shall be more accordant with their real nature than that usually
employed. Indeed, the general scope of thi& part of the document seems to
be to vindicate the propriety of the peculiar diction of which he, from the
influx of Swedenborg’s mind, makes use in this, and perhaps also in his- other
communications. It is consequently a justification, at the-1 same
time, of Swedenborg’s peculiar style, of which complaints are frequently made
by those who do not fully appreciate the genius of his revelations. Those who
do, are perfectly satisfied with it.
—and
that all such expressions appearing as material, entirely external, and
speaking of terrestrial laws, is (are) meaning only, • and that deeply to
impress on the logicians and metaphysicians the more important essences of
interiors—
Before
attempting to determine the precise import of this sentence, I will refer to
what Swedenborg says of certain spirits who were present with him while writing
and explaining the Word as to its internal sense. “ These,” he says, “
perceived what I wrote, and said that the things which I wrote were very gross,
and that almost all the expressions appeared as material”—E. U, 21, And
as these spirits had relation to the memory of things abstracted from what is
material, therefore, “ when any one discourses with them concerning things
terrestrial, corporeal, and merely worldly, they are unwilling to hear.”—E,
U. 31. On the whole, I infer this as the tenor of the paragraph—that all
these apparently gross and material expressions, founded upon the outward
aspects of things, are, in the true and spiritual use of them, “ meaning only,”
that is, possessed of a soul, as it were, an internal life and efficacy of
import, compared with which the more obvious or outward meaning can scarcely
be termed a meaning at all. On the contrary, such terms drawn from material objects,
when seen in their just relation to internal essences, are nothing but
meaning. The idea which is doubtless intended to be conveyed in this
paragraph may be illustrated by the following extract from the E. U. which
occurs in the same connection with the passages we have already quoted:— “
Afterwards I represented to them birds of different sizes, both large and
small, such as exist on our earth ; for in another life such things may be
represented to the life; when they saw the birds represented they were disposed
at first to change them, but afterwards they were delighted with them and
seemed satisfied; the reason was, because birds signify the knowledges of
things, and the perception of this signification flowed in also at that
instant; thus they desisted from transmuting them, and thereby from averting
the ideas of their memory. Afterwards it was allowed to represent before them
a most pleasant garden full of lamps and lights; instantly they paused, and
their attention was fixed, by reason that lamps with lights signify truths
which are lucid by virtue of good. Hence it was made manifest that their
attention might be fixed in viewing things material, if the signification of
those things in a spiritual sense was but insinuated at the same time; for the
things appertaining to such spiritual sense are not so abstracted from things
material, being repre-. sentative thereof.” Here it is seen how things
external, corporeal, and terrestrial are resolved into interior essences, and
consequently the terms by which they are ordinarily expressed acquire a new
fulness of import, which renders them, as it were,“ meaning onlythe common
terms seem to disappear, and the interior sense only remains. Mr. D. further adds,
that the conviction of this truth will not fail to produce its due impression
upon logicians and metaphysicians in their researches into the deeper
departments of our nature, and especially as to the most appropriate language
with which to clothe their ideas.
—as
these are the expressions of the Divine principle which flows not only into
heaven, but also into the universe, and everything (is) made thereby the
subordinate receptacle of light and life which is love, and order and form
which is wisdom;—
The
parallelism here, though not so obvious as in some other cases, is still to be
detected, as the reader will see from the following passage, in which
Swedenborg is still speaking of Aristotle. “ He next showed me what idea he,had
conceived of the Supreme Deity, viz. that he had represented Him to his mind
as having a human face, and encompassed about the head with a radiant circle;
and that now he knew that the Lord himself is that Man, and that the radiant
circle is the Divine principle proceeding from Him, which not only flows
into Heaven, but also into the universe, disposing and ruling all things
therein” The coincidences and the discrepancies in the two paragraphs are
obvious. The latter are mainly verbal. The purport is not difficult of
apprehension after what we have already said by way of explanation of that
which has preceded ; and to the reader familiar with Swedenborg’s theosophy,
it becomes at once not only intelligible but luminous. According to his sublime
discoveries, the whole universe is an outbirth of the Divine Love and Wisdom.
All material forms are mere receptacles of the influx of these Divine principles,
and thus constitute their expression, according to the law of
Correspondences which Swedenborg has so strikingly developed. This is still
more evident from what follows :—
—inasmuch
as these all dwell in the external world, and is (are) constantly exemplifying
the qualities and attributes of the Divine Love and Wisdom.
That is,
these principles of light and life, order and form, dwell or inhere in the
external world, with all its varied contents, and continually “ exemplify” or
illustrate and set forth the all-pervading, all-animating, all-sustaining
attributes of the Divine Love and Wisdom. That this is the universal teaching
of Swedenborg throughout his works no one needs to be informed who is at all
acquainted with them.
Some men
do not even proceed to thoughts, but stay solely on terms, which, if they
apply, it is to confirm whatever they desire, and to impose upon false principles
an appearance of truth, according to their desire to create a disbelief in the
future or interior condition. Hence philosophical investigations lead men to
folly rather than to wisdom, and hence they have darkness instead of light.
The
coincidence in this case is all but absolutely verbal. Swedenborg is still
speaking of Aristotle, of whom, by the way, he remarks, that he “ is amongst
sound and sober spirits in the other life, while several of his followers are
amongst the infatuated.” Of him he says, that“ he was excited to such pursuits
by a delight of affection, and by a desire of knowing the things appertaining
to the thinking and intellectual faculties, and that he followed obediently
whatever his spirit had dictated; wherefore he applied himself to the right
ear, contrary to the custom of his followers, who are called the schoolmen, and
who do not go from thoughts to terms, but from terms to thoughts, thus in a
contrary way; and several of them do not even proceed to thoughts, but stick
solely in terms, which, if they apply, it is to confirm whatever they desire,
and to impose on false principles an appearance of truth, according to their
eagerness to persuade others. Hence philosophical investigations lead them
rather to folly than to wisdom, and hence they have darkness instead of
light.”—E. U. 38. This must certainly be pronounced very remarkable, in
case it is not an actual transcript on the part of Davis from the words of
Swedenborg. But if it be, why did he vary from the original in writing “
stay solely on terms ” instead of “ stick solely in termsand why did
he substitute “ according to their desire to create a disbelief in the future
or interior condition,” instead of “ according to their eagerness to persuade
others ?” These are indeed points of little intrinsic importance, but in a case
of this kind, it is by such minor items that our judgment is often determined.
If the whole was copied, why this strange variation in particulars? What
object was to be gained by it? It obviously could not be to disguise a
plagiarism, for this would be detected by the verbal conformity of the other
parts. It is clear that, on any hand, there is no escape from an astounding
puzzle.
How
shall I, when in the form, and in the world, let these present sayings of thy
spirit become known and be believed ?
The
phrase “ in the form ” is one that Mr. D. frequently uses in his clairvoyant
state to denote the normal or waking condition in contradistinction from the
abnormal or sleeping, if the term sleep can with any propriety be
applied to a state of such intellectual elevation and activity. The usage seems
to go on the tacit implication, that in that state the substance, or the
soul, can scarcely be said to be in the form, or the body. The governing
idea is clearly Swedenborgian.
It
appears manifest; you have said that whatever spirits there be were once men;
that every one’s life remains with him and goes after death, A. C. 4227, 7440 ;[**]
and that the externals of life are kept closed after death, and the internals opened,
4314, 5128, 6495.
The
identity of this with the following extracts is apparent at once :—“ It is to
be observed that all angels and spirits whatsoever were once men ,• for
the human race is the seminary of Heaven; also, that the spirits are altogether
such, as to affectionsand inclinations, as they were during their life in the
world whilst men ; for every one's life follows him into another world”
Appended
to the above is the following marginal note :— “ That every man’s life
remains with him and follows him after death, n. 4227, 7440. That the
externals of life are kept closed after deaths and the internals opened, n.
4314, 5128, 6495.—E. U. 30. Here again is a slight but, as usual,
confounding verbal variation of“ goes ” for “follows.” The coincidence
otherwise is exact.
These
things are not by me known when in the form, but are to others.
The
inquiry, it will be recollected, was made just above, how the requisite faith
might be produced in these revelations. The question is here answered. He is
enabled to state important facts in regard to man’s future condition which are
entirely unknown to him when in the natural state, but which are known to
others, that is, to those who receive Swedenborg’s declarations on the subject.
If they are satisfied that he has acquired this intelligence without a previous
acquaintance with his writings, they at least will have a full assurance
that he is entitled to credit, for in what way can it be supposed that he has
been enabled to make these statements, if he has not derived them from
supernatural suggestion ? His truth here is a pledge for his truth in other
respects.
I
receive one other impression from you; the form, the external, is not of
itself living only as it is animated by the internal essence; and by it the
form is determined and made alive.
How
perfectly accordant this is with the general teaching of Swedenborg the
following extracts evince :—“ I added that several in this earth do not know
that it is the internal man which acts on the external, and causes the
external to live ; and that they persuade themselves from the fallacies of
the senses, that the body has life, and that in consequence thereof,
such as are wicked and unbelieving entertain doubts respecting a life after
death.”—E. U. 27. “ It is a fallacy of sense, that the body alone lives,
and that its life perishes when it dies; the sensual does not at all apprehend
that the internal man is in each single thing of the external; and that
the internal man is within nature in the spiritual world, (i. e, in a sphere
interior to outward nature).” “ Man leaves nothing at all behind him at death
but only bones and flesh, which, while he lived in the world, were not
animated by themselves, but by the life of his spirit”—A. C, 2475. The same
truth is taught in hundreds of other passages. How came an unlettered youth,
recently from a shoemaker’s bench, to utter this profound philosophy ?
Thus the
body is in constant subordination.
The
parallel to this is to be found in the following passage of another work:—•“ The mind, that
is, the will and the understanding, actuates the body and all things of it at
pleasure. Does not the body do whatever the mind thinks and wills ? The mind
erects the ears for hearing, directs the eye for seeing ; the mind moves the tongue
and lips to speaking; it actuates the hands and fingers to doing whatever it
pleases, and the feet to walk whither it will. Is the body thus anything but
obedience to the mind ?”—D, L. fy W. 387.
On
hearing this from me in spirit (i. e. while in a spiritual state), the world
will be silent; but will acknowledge (according to your former predictions)
that these truths are so.
A
corresponding passage to this is the following:—“ On hearing this they were
silent, inasmuch as by a perception then given them, they acknowledged
it was so."—U. E. 39. It of course remains to be seen how far this
emphatic intimation of the effect of his disclosures upon the world will be
verified by the result. That the specific truths to which he here particularly
alludes will be ere long much more universally acknowledged, I have for myself
not the least doubt. The interjected clause—i( according to your
former predictions”—alludes to what Mr. D. affirms to have been said by Swedenborg
to him in a former interview, of which he has written out a minute account that
will probably be one day given to the world. It is a narrative of facts, or of
what he alleges to be facts, no less remarkable than anything which we are now
detailing to the reader. Time alone, however, can determine how far the
evidence of the truth of the revelations shall silence the voice of incredulous
reproach.
The
inhabitants of the earth inquire into and imbibe the knowledges of things not
elevated above the sensualities of the body; this is made manifest by the
influx of your spirit.
The
source of this is obvious from what is said in the following passage
respecting spirits of an opposite character to that of the mass of men on earth
:—“ With what eagerness they inquire into and imbibe the knowledges of
things, such as appertain to the memory elevated above the sensualities
of the body, was made manifest to me from this circumstance, &c.”—E.
U. 13. As to the remaining clause—“thisis made manifest by the influx of
your spirit”—the import doubtless is, that the inflowing of Swedenborg’s
spirit into his, and bringing to view the essential nature of spiritual and
heavenly things, revealed an immense contrast between these subjects and
those which constitute the leading themes of human inquiry.
♦
Also, that
men immerse their thoughts in the science of logic and metaphysics with no
other end, than to acquire the character of being learned, and thus to be
advanced to honor and emolument.
Every
one must be struck with the verbal correspondence of this with what Swedenborg
says of a class of spirits which he encountered in the other world :—“ They
spake with me, saying, that they were logicians and metaphysicians, and that they
had immersed their thoughts in the sciences of logic and metaphysics with no
other end, than to acquire the character of being learned, and thus to be
advanced to honor and emolument.3’—E. U. 38,
I
perceive by your spirit this’, for me, is impossible ; and that I should retain
my former and present advice, acting (according) to my own interior direction
as given me.
The idea
I take to be, that he is assured by a certain indescribable impression upon
his mind, that this whole train of disclosure is 'in itself something that
entirely transcends his own unassisted powers, and that he can only accomplish
it by yielding an implicit obedience to the internal promptings by which he has
been governed from the outset, as I have already remarked that it was in
consequence of an express direction which he affirms that he received from
Swedenborg that he entered upon his present course of revelations.
The use
in the world is not known, but to me is now manifest ; with promptitude my
spirit obeys ; and the spirit now on your mind shall read this, judgingly, from
your references, from what sphere your spirit is manifested.
The
grand providential design of these singular developments is not, at present,
seen or appreciated by the world at large ; nor have I been myself hitherto
competent to apprehend it. But in consequence of the light now let in upon my
mind, that design is fully manifested, and I cheerfully yield myself as an
instrument by whom it is to be accomplished.
The
latter clause of the above was a complete riddle till I recently submitted it
to Mr. D. himself for a solution. He replied that for a particular reason the
impression upon his mind, as to the scope of this sentence, w$s made to remain
after he came into his natural state, and that it had special relation to
myself. I give the explanation as he gave it to me, simply with the view of
making his language intelligible, and not from self-complacency at being
unconsciously mixed up in such a mysterious train of incidents. He said he
clearly perceived that I was on the mind of Swedenborg at the time, and that
it was in consequence of this that he felt the strong and irresistible impulse
to send the paper immediately to me, which he did as soon as he had copied it.[††]
By “ the spirit now upon your mind ” therefore is meant “ the spirit now in
your thoughts,” and this he says, was no other than myself. I, it seems, was to
read the communication, and by an investigation of the references was to form a
judgment of the source from which it emanated. This I have certainly undertaken
in this portion of the work, and that too in a manner very accordant with the
tenor of the words; yet I entered upon the task before being at all aware of
the import which he says belongs to the expressions. It must be confessed that
the interpretation makes a very consistent sense when compared with the result,
and I know no reason to reject it, though far from aspiring to, or previously
dreaming of, the honor of being in any way a party to such a marvellous
transaction. The exact scope of the final clause—“ from what sphere your spirit
is manifested ”—I was not certain of having grasped till I submitted it to Mr.
D. in the transic state, r who remarked that the import was, that I
should be enabled to judge, all things considered, and especially from the
references, whether the contents of the communication emanated from a spirit in
a material body, or whether it was to be referred to one in a higher sphere, or
state, for by “ sphere ” in this connection, he observed, is to be
understood a state, and a state implying a certain degree of spiritual
exaltation. As to the general question, whether the origin of the document was
natural or supernatural, my conclusion, as the reader will have seen, is
unequivocally in favor of the latter hypothesis. But as to the particular, or
what I may term the personal, source, I am far from being decided.
Mr.
Davis himself is very confident, from the impression made on his mind, that the
spirit with whom he conversed was the veritable Swedenborg himself, and I have
all along spoken as adopting his view. Yet from what Swedenborg says of the
order of the spiritual world, and especially of there being a “ world of
spirits ” intermediate between our world and heaven or hell, who are in more
immediate proximity to the mass of men, I am unable to rest in it as an
absolute certainty that Mr. D.’s impressions on this score are correct. What we
are taught respecting the influx of one spirit’s mind into that of another, and
of one’s frequently personating another, leaves it still subject to doubt,
whether the other party to this strange interview were really Swedenborg
himself. It may possibly have been a “subject” of Swedenborg*— some one who was
in close conjunction with him—who was thoroughly imbued with his truths—who was
intent upon the propagation of his system in the world—and yet he may
have been merely an intermediate spirit, of the “world of spirits,” through
w’hom Swedenborg’s influx may have come to Davis’ mind. This is perhaps
rendered more probable by the fact that all the quotations from the E. U.
which occur in the letter, are made from the English version. The inference
would seem to be that they must have been transferred, so to speak, from an English
memory, for they would scarcely have that dress in Swedenborg’s mind, and I
know not that he developes any law by which the process could have occurred on
any other supposition, than that the dictation should have come from some one
who had read the work in the English translation. It may therefore have been a
different being from that which Mr. D. supposed.
From
what Swedenborg has developed of the state of things in the other life, we
learn that another spirit may have actu- tually assumed his form
and appearance, and that too without a necessary evil intent, but simply from
the plenary influx of his mind. I am therefore at a great remove from assurance
as to the identity of the spiritual personage who formed a party to this
asserted conference. The whole matter, however, is, from the nature of the
case, involved in so much obscurity that nothing positive can be affirmed
respecting it. I am only assured of the fact, that most extraordinary disclosures
have been made from the spiritual world through this gifted young man, and that
things more and more wonderful are constantly being exhibited by him, of which
the world will by and by have an opportunity to judge.
I
observe the illuminated expression of your eye, which it is given to know,
corresponds to understanding, because understanding is interior sight, and
also to sight and knowledge of things true and immaterial^ 2701, 4410, 4526,
9051, 10,569.
♦ Upon the nature and character of “subjects”
in the other world, I shalt have occasion to remark on a subsequent page.
This
doubtless favors, at first blush, the idea that the spirit who appeared to
Mr.D. was no other than Swedenborg himself. But we still do not consider it
decisive, as the same cause which produced this effect upon Swedenborg’s eye
may have produced it upon that of another being. The same ocular phenomenon
occurred in the case of the Seeress of Prevorst, hereafter to be mentioned, and
from her account is common to all spiritual vision. But the fact in regard to
Swedenborg, reminds us of the following item in his biography. “ Mr. Robsham
having asked of the wife of Swedenborg’s gardener, if she had ever observed any
change in the countenance of her master, soon after he had conversed with
spirits; to this she replied: c Entering one day, after dinner, into
his chamber, I saw his eyes like a most, bright flame ; I drew back,
saying, In the name of God, Sir, what has happened extraordinary to you, for
you have a very particular kind of appearance ?’ ( What kind of look
have I,’ answered he, I then told him what had struck me, ‘ Well, well,’
exclaimed he (which was his favorite expression), ‘ don’t be frightened; the
Lord has so disposed my eyes, that by them spirits may see what is in our
world.’ In a short time this appearance passed away, as he said it would. (I
know,’ said she,(when he has conversed with heavenly spirits, for
there is a pleasure and calm satisfaction in his countenance, which charms
those who see it; but after he has conversed with evil spirits, he has a
sorrowful look.’ ”—Docu. Concern. Swedenborg, p. 76. There is not the
slightest ground for believing that Mr. D. had ever became acquainted with the fact
of this personal peculiarity in regard to Swedenborg.—As to the remainder of
the sentence, and the references, we perceive their source in what follows :—“ That
the eye corresponds to the understanding, because the understanding is internal
sight, and the sight of things immaterial, n. 2071, 4410, 4526, 9051,
10,569.”—E. U. 22, note.
We have
now submitted, with our comments, this remarkable production to the reader. It
will appear remarkable just in proportion as the evidence is strong, that the
work we have incessantly quoted throughout was never read by Mr. D and that the
paper was not prepared to his hand by one who had. The latter supposition is
entirely incredible, for his associations have not been such as to bring him
into contact with any one who is sufficiently familiar with these writings to
prepare such an article, and one. who could do it would not, He
could have no object that he would not feel to be condemned by the spirit of
every page of these hallowed revelations. Besides, as to Mr. D., nearly every
hour of his time for the last two years can be distinctly accounted for, as he
is scarce ever for five minutes out of the presence of one or the other of his
companions, and they know that he has had no opportunity for the private
getting up of such a document. And who will rationally believe that any object
to be gained by a bare-faced fabrication could be sufficient to induce him to
endeavor to palm such an egregious lie upon the world ? Still I cannot be
ignorant that it will be regarded by multitudes as far more probable that a
scheme of imposture has been concocted by somebody, and the present
paper got up as a part of it, than that a miraculous
communication has been made, at this age of the world, through this young man
as a medium. This conclusion will doubtless be favored by all those who
sturdily refuse admission to the claim made for Swedenborg of having spoken,
by divine suggestion, from the spiritual world. To those who are ready to
recognize the soundness of this claim the difficulty on this score will have
but little weight, for they have learnt the presumption of “ limiting the Holy
One of Israel,” and of prescribing to him when and where and how he shall put
forth his mighty power in bestowing new measures of truth upon his creatures.
They will be at no loss to admit the possibility of just such a
demonstration as that which we affirm in the present case, and they, we think,
in view of all the circumstances, will be inclined to share with us in the
conviction, that in regard to Mr. D. the evidence decidedly preponderates,
that he has told the simple truth—that he never read the book.
Here
then stands the astounding fact, that a young man of the utmost simplicity and
truthfulness of character—of fair natural parts, but of exceedingly limited
intellectual culture —who had never read a page of Swedenborg’s writings—is
prompted, while in a preternatural state, to indite a long communication made
up from beginning to end of a series of quotations from one of these works,
embodying a train of profound philosophical thought, such as he is utterly incapable
of entertaining or expressing in his normal condition ! Indeed I am myself
satisfied that even if he had had the book before him, he would be utterly
incapable of framing from it such an article as we have here presented to us..
The character of his mind, and his entire intellectual habits, are of an order
altogether foreign to the production of a document of this kind, no matter
what might be the materials before him. This will perhaps be doubted, but not
by those who know him.
Such
then are the circumstances attending this remarkable case, and the whole affair
is propounded to the world for solution. Such a solution too is demanded as,
supposing su*- pernatural agency involved, shall explain why the recorded
sentiments of Emanuel Swedenborg shall thus be echoed from the spiritual world
rather than those of any other man. This is the grand problem in the case, and
it is felt to press just in proportion to the difficulty of accounting for the
facts on the ground of fabrication or fraud. The difficulty on this score we
think to be insuperable, and the conclusion not to be avoided, that the
communication is the result of the action of a disembodied mind on the mind of
the writer. To whomsoever that mind pertained, it was certainly one which was
deeply imbued with Swedenborg’s doctrines, and which was intent on having them
imparted, through this medium, to the world. Yet why such a distinction
conferred on these doctrines especially ? Why are the spirits holding
these doctrines permitted or prompted, rather than any others, to be brought
into connection with young Davis’ mind and to act, by their influx, upon it ?
Some reason must be assigned for this, and again we ask what it is ? Has it not
the air at least of a providential attestation of the truth of these doctrines
? Does it not seem to be a designed confirmation of the claim of a messenger
from heaven ? One of the main features of this claim is the asserted fact of
Swedenborg’s having been commissioned to reveal the conditions of the other
life, and the truth of the fixed and indissoluble connection between the
spiritual and the natural world. But all this is subservient to the still
higher function of unfolding the true genius of the Christian Religion. If the disclosures
are true, we do not see but the doctrines must be. Consequently whatever
goes to confirm the verity of the one bears also upon that of the other. But if
both are indeed true, it does not seem unreasonable that some such
providential testimony to this truth should be afforded as we read in the case
before us.
I am
aware that the reply to this will be, that the very point I am laboring to
establish, viz. the relation of the phenomena of Mesmerism to those that mark
the case of Swedenborg, disproves the idea of anything miraculous or divine in
his revelations—that if common clairvoyants are gifted with the opening of a
spiritual sense which brings them into peculiar relation and intercourse with
the spiritual world, there is no need to consider Swedenborg’s prerogative in
any other light, except perhaps as his superior native and acquired endowments
may have rendered him a vessel of larger reception than his fellow-seers ? How,
it may be asked, did he differ from them but in the degree of his
influx and illumination ? In reply to this I can only say, that I should be
sorry to think that I had toiled so much in vain in the preceding pages as not
to have impressed upon the reader a conviction of the immeasurable interval, in
point of absolute reliability, which separates the apocalypse of
Swedenborg from the apocrypha of the Mesmeric seeings. I would ask of
any one who has attentively read the foregoing extracts from his works, in
connection with those cited from the Magnetic writings, whether he is not
conscious of an immense disparity in the two on the score of solidity,
gravity, reality, and a certain indescribable air of truth ? Does not
Swedenborg speak comparatively in a tone of self-conscious authority, which is
clearly entitled to render his revelations a standard by which the truth of all
others is to be tried and decided ? Does he not disclose the amazing fallacies
and delusions to which those are exposed who come into this state unprotected
by the panoply of a sound and upright moral condition ? Can we resist the
impression that he would himself have been liable to become the victim of the
thousand fold subtle phantasies that prevail in that world, if he had not been
specially called and qualified to be the subject of this hazardous experience
?
44 Swedenborg’s
illumination differed only in degree from ordinary clairvoyance.” But
what is in this degree 1 The inspired prophets themselves could never
have been admitted into the spiritual sphere, and enabled to describe its
sublime spectacles, except upon the ground of an innate potentiality, in
the very structure of their being, for such an intromission. The same capability
belongs to all other men, and it has doubtless been more or less developed in
thousands of instances both in earlier and in later days. The souls of pious
men have often been visited, especially upon their deathbeds, with the sights
and sounds of heaven. But would any one rightly infer from this, that the
utterances of the prophetic ecstasy were clothed with no more authority than
the sayings emanating from the devout raptures of the saints, albeit, they may
have proceeded from the same psychological grounds laid in the elements of
their being ? Is not the degree of difference everything? We have
admitted that there is a common basis in the principles of our nature for the
revelations of clairvoyants and the revelations of Swedenborg, but, without
retracting this admission, we hold that there is a heaven-wide difference
between them growing out of the circumstances of their utterance. Still I see
not but that the one may justly be made use of to illustrate the other, and
that the process is perfectly legitimate by which I have endeavored to confirm
the truth of Swedenborg’s statements, not so much by the actual revelations
of Mesmeric subjects, as by the phenomena, of the Mesmeric state.
The
above remarks are made in view of the possibility that Mr. D.’s other
revelations may contain many things that are intrinsically erroneous and at
variance with Sweden- 10
borg’s
teachings. I do not know that they do, but it is still possible, and should the
fact be so, I can yet see that a very important end may be accomplished in the
way of confirmation, by showing that Swedenborg has disclosed the truth in
regard to the delusions that emanate from the spiritual world. It is
something for an assurance to be given of his own truth, even in what he says
of the untruth of evil spirits, and the force of the evidence is not lessened
by the proofs of both coming through the same medium, when brought into a state
like that of Mr. D.
And
here, with the hope of reflecting still farther light upon the psychological
phenomena involved in the present case, I shall advert to one remarkable
feature of Swedenborg’s disclosures—I mean that which relates to subject-spirits
in the other world. A subject, in his phraseology, is one who serves
as a medium of communication, for the most part between societies of spirits,
whether good or evil, though capable of performing the same functions in
relation to individual spirits. “ The spirits who were seen near to me, wrere
for the most part subjects of entire societies; for societies send from
themselves spirits to others, and through them perceive the things thought and
the affections, and thus communicate.” “ In the other life one society cannot
have communication with another, or with an individual, except by the spirits
who are sent forth by them; these emissaryspirits are called subjects, for by
them as by subjects they discourse. To send forth subjects to other societies,
and thereby to procure to themselves communication, is among the familiar
things in the other life; and it is very well known to me by this, that they
have been sent to me a thousand times.”
In the
following extract a much fuller account is given of the peculiar genius of
these emissary-spirits and of the part they perform in the matter of mental
communication. " The subject is he, in whom are concentrated the thoughts
and discourses of several, and thus several are presented as one: and because a
subject thinks and speaks nothing at all from himself, but from others, and the
thoughts and discourses of others are therein presented to the life, therefore
they who flow in suppose, that the subject is as nothing, and scarcely
animated, being merely receptive of their thought and discourse ; but the
subject on the other hand supposes, that he does not think and speak from
others, but from himself alone; thus fallacies delude both. It has been
frequently given me to say to a subject, that he thinks and speaks nothing from
himself, but from others; and also that those others suppose that a subject is
not able to think and speak anything from himself, thus that he appears to them
as a person in whom there is nothing of life from himself; on hearing this, he
who was the subject was filled with indignation ; but that he might be
convinced of the truth, it was given to speak with the spirits who flowed in,
and they then confessed, that a subject does not think and speak anything from
himself, and thus that he appears to them to be something scarcely animate. It
happened also on a time, that he, who said that a subject was nothing, became
himself a subject, and then the rest said of him that he was nothing, at which
he was greatly enraged; but yet he was instructed by this how the case is.
“It is
worthy of being mentioned, that it has frequently been shown by experiment,
that no one, either in heaven or in hell, thinks, speaks, wills, and acts, from
himself, but from others, and thus finally all and each from the common influx
of life, which is from the Lord. When I have heard them say, that a subject did
not think and speak anything from himself, and that still the subject thought
that it was solely from himself, it has then been frequently given them to
speak with those, who flowed in into the subject; and when they persisted in
the assertion that they thought and spoke for themselves, but not the subject,
it was also given to tell them that this was a fallacy, and that they, as well
as the subject, thought and spake from others ; to confirm this point, it was
also given to speak with those who flowed in into these latter; and when they
also confessed a like persuasion, it was also given to speak with those who
flowed in into these, and so on in a continued series; hence it wTas
made manifest, that every one thought and spake from others. This ex_ whence
excited in the spirits the utmost indignation, for every one of them wills to
think and speak from himself; but because they were thence instructed how the
case is, it was said to them, that the all of thought and also of will flows
in, because there is but one only life, from which those faculties of life
are, and that that life flows in from the Lord through a wonderful form, which
is the heavenly form, not only generally into all, but also particularly into
each; and that it is varied everywhere according to the form of each subject,
according as this agrees or disagrees with the heavenly form. From these things
it may also appear evident how the case is with man, of whom more will be said
in what follows, when treating of influx.
44 The more there are
who concentre their view into one subject, the stronger is the subject’s power
of thinking and of speaking; the power is increased according to the plurality
of concordant views; this was also shown me by the withdrawing of some who
flowed in, in that the subject’s power of thinking and of speaking was then
diminished.
44 There were subjects
with me near the head, who discoursed as if they were in sleep, but still they
discoursed well, as they who are not in a state of sleep. It was observed that
evil spirits flowed in into those subjects with malignant deceits, but that the
influx in them was instantly dissipated; and whereas they knew that those same
had before been their subjects, therefore they complained that they were no
longer so: the reason was, because good spirits could now act into them, when
they were in sleep, and thus that by their influx the malignant influences of
the evil spirits were dispersed.”— A. C. 5985, 5988.
This
latter paragraph is quite remarkable from the intimation conveyed of a state
among spirits analogous to the magnetic sleep among men, a state, too,
which gives decided advantage to the influx of good spirits, as would appear
to be the case also in regard to human sleep-wakers. The instances quoted from
Mr. Townshend in the previous chapter on Truthfulness are strikingly in
point.
How far
a parallelism is to be detected between the case of Mr. D. and that of the
spirits here described, I am not prepared to say, but that they are somewhat
analogous appears evident, and the following extract seems to disclose a
coincidence still more marked:—“ There was a certain one above my head, that spake
with me. From the sound I perceived that he who spake with me was in a state of
sleep, and yet as if not in sleep. He spake respecting this and that altogether
like those who are broad awake, and with such prudence that one awake could not
have discovered more, so that there was nothing indicating sleep except the
sound alone. I perceived that good interior angels spake through him, and he
in that state perceived and produced (what they suggested). I asked him
concerning the state, telling him what kind of state he appeared to be in, and
that he spake nothing else but what was good and true, and that he perceived
whether there was anything different (from the good and true), which he would
not admit or utter; thus that he was in the state of one who was awake; but
because in a state of sleep he said that that was a state of peace. His delight
thence arising I perceived from the fact of being myself in a similar state of
love, for I am free from all solicitude and care respecting the future. Thus
they pre enabled to render (important) uses.”—£ D. 3878.
I do not know that
the supposition is incredible that this is in effect Mr. D.’s state, and that
from a very peculiar mental organization—a somnambulic idiosyncrasy—he is
adapted to become a subject-medium or a fit recipient for the influx of
angelic ideas, and in this character may, as Swedenborg says, be enabled to “
render important uses ” by communications of knowledge from a higher sphere,
while, at the same time, to all appearance, as in the case of subjects
generally, he merely brings forth the product of his own mind. In this state I
do not perceive that there is any definable limitation to his power of
imparting light on any theme of human inquiry. ‘He apparently discourses on
all subjects with equal facility and correctness.* The range of his intuitions
appears , _____________ * —
— •..........
* The manner in which Mr. D.’s
remarkable gift is, so to speak, to
be well nigh boundless. Yet, with the solution before us, we recognize the
intelligence not as his, but as that of the spirits who speak through him. The
extent of their knowledge of the truths of the universe we, of course,
cannot measure. Yet in receiving their utterances through such a medium, we can
never be released from the duty of subjecting them to the ordeal of reason and
revelation, whose lights are never superseded by miraculous oracles. We may, indeed,
find occasion, from such communications, to reconsider the prior verdicts of
our reason, and the established interpretations put upon the Word, but we can
never properly forego our legitimate guides and yield to a demand for implicit
faith even in angelic revelations.
From
the point of view in which we have exhibited the particulars of this remarkable
case, it cannot fail to be seen that a newphasis is given to the evidence
before adduced of the relations of Mesmerism to the spiritualism of Swedenborg.
I now propose to adduce a more direct testimony to the same effect. This is a
remarkable paragraph in one of Swedenborg’s letters to a correspondent, which,
we think, receives its true interpretation from its bearings on the subject
before us. e
managed
and overruled, is no less extraordinary than the gift itself. It is
uniformly held in entire subordination to some important use. He submits
to no experiments prompted by mere curiosity. He makes no revelations, offers
no advice, expresses no opinion, which would in any way give one person an
undue advantage over another. Though evidently possessing in his abnormal
state a supernatural knowledge, no worldly inducement has the least effect towards
persuading him to exercise it for any purpose which would not conduce to the good
of the whole. The most urgent solicitations have been made to him to aid
individuals in the accomplishment of schemes of private interest, but all in
vain. He invariably turns a deaf ear to all such propositions. He refuses
because, he says, it would not be right, and because it w'ould endanger
the continuance of his clairvoyant power for higher and holier purposes.
As to the Lectures in which he is
engaged, he maintains that in their grand scope they aim directly at the
regeneration of society ; • that a great moral crisis is impending in this
world’s history; and that he is selected as a humble instrument to aid, in a
particular sphere, in its accomplishment.
• c
To your interrogation, Whether there is occasion for any s &n
that I am sent by the Lord to do what I do? I answer, that at this day no
signs or miracles will be given, because they compel only an external belief,
but do not convince the internal. What did the miracles avail in Egypt, or
among the Jewish nation, who nevertheless crucified the Lord ? So, if the Lord
was to appear now in the sky, attended with angels and trumpets, it would have
no other effect than it had then. See Luke xvi. 29, 30, 31. The sign given at
this day, will be an illustration, and thence a knowledge and reception
of the truths of the New Church: some speaking illustration of
certain persons may likewise take place; this works more effectually than
miracles.”—Letter to Oetinger, Hobart's Life of Swedenborg, p. 43.
Now it
is a fair question, what is meant by the “ speaking illustration ” here
mentioned. It seems that the truth of his mission might eventually be confirmed
by something that should take place in regard to other persons. We
should naturally suppose, a priori, that all the evidence appropriate
to the occasion would be confined to himself, as in the case of the first
promulgators of the Gospel. But it seems that in this instance a new order of
testimony, from another source, was perhaps to be made auxiliary to the
establishment of the claims of a professed messenger from God. Whether Swedenborg’s
foresight of the exact nature of this testimony was clear and accurate, it is
now probably impossible to determine, but it may be questioned whether
anything can be conceived that answers more suitably to its predicted character
than the phenomena we have now been considering. It is certainly something
which “ speaks and that it truly involves an “ illustration,” I trust has been
shown by the whole tenor of the foregoing argument. At any rate, if it be not
this, it may be said to be a problem which well nigh defies conjecture. We are
willing, however, to leave it to the reader to put his own construction on the
remark, and imagine what he pleases as to the precise anticipation that
prompted it. It will not be easy, I think, to resist the impression that Mesmerism,
viewed in its most striking effects, is a “ speaking illustration,” and
one that speaks somewhat loudly, too, of the truth of Swedenborg’s spiritual
developments, and consequently of the truth of his mission; for this can only
be made out by the intrinsic character of the information he has imparted to
the world. A true messenger can only be proved such by his delivering a true
message.
In
conclusion, from a full view of the case given above, especially when
considered in connection with all the facts and deductions presented in the
body of the preceding work, we see no sufficient grounds for refusing assent to
it as a veritable narrative. It cannot well be rejected on the simple score of strangeness,
after the astounding things which have already come before the reader. We do
not perceive that it is intrinsically incredible that a man’s spirit, while on
earth, should come into communion with spirits translated to a higher sphere.
It is clear, we think, from the evidence afforded, that the Mesmeric state, in
its more sublimated manifestations, does enable one human spirit, while sojourning
in the body, to come into actual converse with another human spirit similarly
conditioned. If so, why may not a like intercourse occur between an embodied
and a disembodied spirit ? The only question, in the present instance, which
particularly calls for solution, is that which concerns the reasons why
the spirit of Mr. D. should be brought into contact with that of
Swedenborg—provided it was his—and made the medium of his influx, rather
than with that of any other man who has formerly lived, and promulgated what he
deemed important truths to the world ? The reply to this, we think, can
scarcely fail to suggest itself from the whole tenor of the previous
discussion. We have accumulated a mass of testimony in proof of our position,
that Swedenborg has laid open the interior laws and principles which govern
these marvellous developments of the spiritual element in men. If he has done
this, it was because he was enabled to do it in virtue of a special
designation to that end by the Divine Providence itself. This we infer from the
intrinsic character of his revelations, which so immeasurably
transcends that of all ordinary clairvoyants, while at the same time it
ascertains the truth of the psychological basis on which theirs rest. But if
this is admitted—if a divine ordination be recognised in his
disclosures—then
we are brought at once to the conclusion, that they are in themselves of an
importance which renders them worthy of precisely such an attestation as we
read in the related and parallel phenomena of the case before us. There is
nothing more wonderful in the fact of Mr. D.’s conversing with Swedenborg than
of Swedenborg’s conversing with the departed spirits of other men. But the
other and lower phenomena of Mr. D.’s transic state, go directly to prove, as
we have shown, the truth of Swedenborg’s intercourse with the spiritual world.
This again, when established, reflects back a powerful evidence of the truth
of Mr. D.’s intercourse with himself or some adequate representative. Such is
the posture of the affair as it is presented to the judgment of the world. Its
calm and enlightened verdict is very anxiously awaited.
In view
of the foregoing narrative, presented as it has been, in its various bearings,
the reader, I trust, will allow the suggestion that the case is one which
imperiously demands on his part a definitive judgment. It is not of a
nature to be summarily dismissed as merely something that astounds and
confounds all belief, and about which, as one knows not what to think, it were
therefore better not to think at all. This surely is an unfair and
unphilosophical mode of dealing with evidence such as that which we have
exhibited in relation to the alleged facts. It is by no means a fit
entertainment of a * narrative like the present to reply, that it sets at
defiance all known laws of mind—all settled principles of belief—and therefore
is unworthy of serious consideration. Is nothing, to be admitted as worthy of
attention and examination which disturbs, in any degreee, our pre-established
sentiments on any point of science or religion ? When an asserted fact of the
most momentous character is set before us, sustained by irrefragable proof, is
it the part of cool-judging reason to turn away with blank indifference from
the subject, or to say with Baron de Grimm in regard to the narrative of
Swedenborg’s supernatural insight, “ The fact is confirmed by authorities so
respectable, that it is impossible to deny it; but the question is, how
to believe it ? ” This may perhaps be a mode of reasoning becoming a French
philosopher of the last century, but I doubt if it will find a response in any fair
mind at the present day. Suppose the Baron or any of his associates were to be
suddenly restored to life and informed by Arago, Guizot, and others, that
intelligence was now instantaneously transmitted from one end of France to
another, what should we think if he were to reply, “ The fact is confirmed by
authorities so respectable that it is impossible to deny it; but the question
is, how to believe it.” Should we not say at once, “ If you do not believe the
fact upon the testimony adduced, are you not bound to make known the reasons
on which you refuse to believe it ? We ask simply for the reasons that
justify you in withholding your faith.” So in the present case. We do not understand
the philosophy of that state of mind which can suffer one to relapse from a
perusal of the preceding pages into a dead indifference—a sort of moral
inertia—in regard to the whole matter. The facts asserted are either true or
false. The evidence adduced is either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If the
latter, wherein ? In what point is the soundness of my conclusions to be
impeached? That the above communication was actually written and sent to me by
young Davis, is beyond question. That it is made up of quotations from
Swedenborg’s “ Earths in the Universe ” is equally incapable of a doubt. The
only question is, whether it was copied by . his own or some other hand, or
whether, as he affirms, it was supernaturally dictated to his mind. The latter
hypothesis no one can be expected to adopt unless the force of the evidence of
the young man’s veracity be such as to countervail the a priori
incredibility of the fact. Now without asserting this to be the case, I still
maintain that there is so much evidence to that effect as justly to
forbid the apathy which I deprecate. The testimony is clear and unequivocal as
to the general truthfulness and integrity of the young man’s character. It is
also undeniable that he is constantly giving forth utterances in the Mesmeric
state which are as intrinsically marvellous as that which we have considered,
and which therefore reflect the character of credibility upon this. I can most
solemnly affirm that I have heard him correctly quote the Hebrew language in
his Lectures, and display a knowledge of Geology which would have been astonishing
in a person of his age, even if he had devoted years to the study. Yet to
neither of these departments has he ever devoted a day’s application in his
life. I can moreover testify that in these Lectures he has discussed, with the
most signal ability, the profound est questions of Historical and Biblical
Archaeology, of Mythology, of the Origin and Affinities of Language, of the
Progress of Civilization among the different nations of the globe, besides an
immense variety of related topics, on all which, though the style is somewhat
faulty, the results announced would do honor to any scholar of the age, even if
in reaching them he had had the advantage of access to all the libraries in
Christendom. Indeed, if he has acquired all the information he gives forth in
these Lectures, not in the two years since he left the shoemaker’s bench, but
in his whole life, with the most assiduous study, no prodigy of intellect of
which the faorld has ever heard would be for a moment to be compared with him.
Yet not a single volume on any of these subjects, if a page of a volume, has he
ever read, nor, however intimate his friends may be with him, will one of them
testify that during the last two years he has ever seen a book of science or
history or literature in his hand. His daily life and habits are open to
inspection, and if any one is prepared to gainsay in any point the statement
now made, I will pledge myself to make a recantation as public as I now make
the statement.
I
would ask then if this array of facts do not prefer an imperative claim to
consideration ? If the facts are such as I affirm, it is indeed impossible to
view them apart from the revelations of Swedenborg. They conduct us at once to
that sphere of phenomena which he, and he alone, has developed. But is this a
sufficient ground for refusing them a hearing ? Is the name of Swedenborg but
another term for delusion, and vagary, and dream ? Is it a matter of course
that nothing can be true which connects itself with his disclosures ? Shall the
imputation of fiction be allowed to neutralize the evidence of fact ? It is the
facts in the case which I plead, and I can-
not but
protest, with uplifted hand, against the injustice of permitting an unwelcome
inference to weigh down and stifle the testimony sustaining uthe
principle from which it flows. It is indeed an inevitable inference, that if
the facts affirmed in the case of Davis are such as I have claimed, the
revelations of Swedenborg bear the stamp of heaven, and the reproach must be
rolled away from those who have given them their credence. On this head they do
undoubtedly feel solicitude, and why should they not ? It cannot be other than
a grief to sensible‘minds to be aware, that they are looked upon by the
majority of their fellow-men as the dupes of a gross delusion in yielding their
assent to the dogmas and • disclosures of one who can only be regarded as a
devout lu
natic.
As they are inwardly assured, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that their
faith rests upon the soundest foundation, they naturally feel desirous that
others should give them the credit, which they are conscious of deserving, of
having yielded to evidence of the most legitimate and unimpeachable character.
• In a case therefore like the present, where the admission of the alleged
facts is a clear certificate to the justice of their views, they may well be
expected to be urgent in their appeal to the world on the ground of these
facts. They can by no means consent that a slighting go-by shall be
given to such a testimony to the truth of their faith as they read in these
lucid developments.
Still
from their knowledge of the obliquities of the human mind, they cannot suppress
the fear, that the evidence in this matter will not be fairly dealt with—that
those who cannot deny will yet demur—that they will content themselves with
some flimsy apology for not forming an opinion—that they will settle down in
the belief that there is some solution, could they but discover it,
which shall preclude the necessity of resorting to the supernatural. This very
propensity to stave off the unwelcome conviction that Swedenborg is, after all,
true, and that God designs to certify his truth to the world because it
comes from Himself, is one among the items that go to confine that truth,
because he has so luminously unfolded its source and the subtle modes of its
operation. No
one has
ever so fully developed, as he has done, the influence of affection, passion,
self-interest, in moulding belief or in urging unbelief. He has completely
anatomized the process by which his own claims are nullified. He has illustrated
it too in his graphic delineations of the facts of the other life. We find in
one of his relations the narrative of a conversation with certain spirits, who
have left a large class of representatives on earth. “ Continuing to converse
with them respecting the operation of their sphere, some of them said they
would believe if they should see me resuscitate a dead person who was lying on
a bier. But it was given to reply, that even if they should see a dead person
revived, they would not believe unless they should see me resuscitate a number,
and even then they would ascribe it to natural causes, and so would believe
less than before ; for so it happens with anything which becomes familiar,
that it makes no more impression than the sight of green meadows, which excite
as little wonder, when the causes are not considered, as did the manna with the
Jews, though they saw it every day. Therefore faith cannot be rooted in a man’s
mind by means of miracles, nor even persuasion; if they are persuaded, it will
be without miracles. They afterwards said, when left to their own thoughts,
that if they should see a priest raise (and reanimate) a dead body that was
being borne to the burial, they should ascribe it to fraud; and when they were
convinced that it was no fraud, they would say that the soul of the dead man
had some secret communication with the priest, by means of which the
resuscitation took place ; and if they saw this happen in repeated instances,
they would be confirmed in the idea that there was some secret in the case
which they did not comprehend, as many things occur in the course of nature
which are not well understood; but they would never believe the priest’s
assertion that the effect was wrought by a celestial power, and so would
ascribe it to nature. The quality of their faith, even though miracles should
be wrought, may hence appear. It is such that they neither believe in spirit,
nor heaven, nor hell.”—S. D. 3521.
Truth,
however, as well as Wisdom, is justified of her children. There are those whom
inveterate prepossession has not steeled against the power of constraining
evidence, how much soever it may go counter to prior belief. From all such we
anticipate a verdict according to truth, and such a verdict cannot fail to
confirm the grand conclusion which we have labored throughout this volume to
establish, to wit, that the spiritual world has been laid open to mortal view
through the instrumentality of Emanuel Swedenborg. It is upon those therefore
who deny, and not upon those who admit, this fact that the imputation of madness
redounds.
THE SEERESS OF
PREVORST-
The
title of this section of our Appendix is the title of a work, translated from
the German, containing the narrative of a prolonged magnetic experience in the
case of a Madam Hauffe, whose native place was Prevorst in Wirtemberg. It is a
volume replete with interest to those who can appreciate the truth, impliedly
conveyed on its title-page, of “ the inter-diffusion of a world of spirits in
the one we inhabit.” My object in adducing it hi this connection is to add
another to the list of confirmations drawn from the magnetic phenomena of the
truth of Swedenborg’s disclosures. The parallelisms are very striking, and
they derive weight from the fact, that they come from an independent source.
Though Swedenborg is occasionally alluded to in the work, yet it is in such
terms as to preclude the supposition that either the subject herself, or the
author, regarded him as an authoritative expounder of the mysteries of
the inner world of spirits which are so fully dwelt upon in the pages of the
work.k
♦ Indeed, as to Mrs. H., Kerner
remarks, p. 121, that of Swedenborg she knew nothing whatever.
The case
of this lady is peculiar. Her condition was preeminently a morbid one, and in
the outset was evidently not understood by her attendants, in consequence of
which a course of treatment was entered upon in the highest degree ill-judged
and injurious. Its effects were somewhat retrieved by the system of measures
afterwards adopted by Kerner, who has given her case to the world ; but they
were never fully countervailed by any subsequent process. The writer observes
respecting her at the time she came under his care:—“Many years before Mrs. H.
was brought to me, the earth, with its atmosphere, and everything connected
with it—mankind not excepted—had ceased to be anything for her. She had long
needed more than mortal aid could yield her: she needed other skies, other
nourishment, other airs, than this planet could afford her. She was more than
half a spirit, and belonged to a world of spirits ; she belonged to a world
after death, and was herself more than half dead That in the early years of her
illness Mrs. H. might, by judicious treatment, have been restored to a
condition more fit for this world, is exceedingly probable; but, at a later
period, this was impossible. However, by much care, we did so far improve her
condition, that, in spite of many efforts to poison her peace, she looked upon
the years she spent at Weinsberg as the least painful of her magnetic life. As
we have said, her fragile body enveloped her spirit, but as a gauzy veil. She
was small; her features were oriental; her eyes piercing and prophetic; and
their expression was heightened by her long, dark eye-lashes. She was a
delicate flower, and lived upon sunbeams.”—Seeress of Prevorst,p. 59.
Her very
life, it would seem, had become dependent on the vital energies and nervous
emanations of those around her, and she was for the greater part of the time in
a state so highly sublimated—so aloof from the grossness of the material
world—as to be more properly termed a spirit than a being of mortal mould. “
Should we compare her,” says Kerner, “ to a human being, we should rather say
that she was in the state of one who, hovering between life and death, belonged
rather to the world he was about to visit, than the ones he was going to
leave.”
She was,
as Kerner expressed it,44 a being in the gripe of death, but chained
to the body by magnetic power. Soul and spirit seemed to me often divided, and
while the first was entangled with the body, the latter spread its wings and
fluttered into other regions.” She lived an inner life ; she was an inmate of
the spirit-world; and her revelations of that world were voluminous. Hence it
would be strange if her reports did not frequently coincide with those of Swedenborg,
although, as her moral state was incomparably below his, it would be natural
that innumerable phantasies should mingle with the realities which she
disclosed. Such was undoubtedly the fact; and in what follows, I propose to
give merely such features of her developments as find a parallel in those of
Swedenborg, in which alone we recognize the standard of truth whereby to try
all revelations from the spiritual world.
DISTINCTION OF
SOUL, SPIRIT, AND BODY.
Among
the striking things of her disclosures is a marked, threefold distinction of
the elements of our being into spirit, soul, and body. Although she nowhere
discloses, in pure philosophical fashion, the precise nature of the difference,
psychologically considered, between the soul and the spirit, yet she plainly
ascribes thought to both, though she regards the soul as the mere gross and
exterior of the two. The distinction is undoubtedly a sound one, as it is not
only clearly recognized by the apostle, 1 Thes. v. 23., Heb. iv. 12., but was
also inculcated by most of the ancient philosophers, especially the Platonic,
Pythagorean, and Stoic.[‡‡]
With
this accords entirely the doctrine of the German Supernaturalists. “The
spirit,” says Von Meyer’s lucid visionist, speaking in the Magnetic crisis, “
is not (in this life) subject to suffering as the soul is.” She adds, “ The
soul seeks after, and is attracted by, the natural in all things; the spirit is
absorbed in its own contemplations; ever tending towards the Infinite, it has
properly no sympathy with aught in the human world.” And according as soul or
spirit characterises an individual—in other words, according as the psychical
(i. e., the natural) or the pneumatical (i. e., the religio-spiritual)
man predominates in him, will he be disposed to reject or reverence the law of
life laid down in the oracles of Holy Writ.
“ Both
soul and spirit,” says the writer of a notice of the Seeress in the Dub. Univ.
Mag. (Jan., 1842), “ were in perfect harmony with each other before the Fall of
man; but since the occurrence of that tremendous calamity they have ever stood
in a relation of mutual hostility; the soul, through the blindness entailed on
her by Original Sin, foolishly fancying that her interests are bound up
altogether with the Natural and the Present, while the spirit, though
possessing an unclouded perception of the true state of the case, is yet, from
the want of some common sympathetic channel of communication with its companion,
unable to do more than loathe and lament her aberrations in secret, and note
them down as they occur, in the hope that they may thus, however obscurely, be
(as indeed they sometimes are) brought under her eye in their genuine colors.
Occasionally, however, it does happen that the soulish principle quite
absorbs, and, so to write, psychises the spiritual; in the which event
the man is in danger of becoming a veritable devil. Nay, more : there is
actually a perpetual tendency in nature towards this psychising and ultimate
diabolising of the whole human being.”
The
theology involved in this we have no doubt is correct, and theology comes
home to the mind with more power, just in proportion as it is seen to rest on a
sound psychology. How far it accords with Swedenborg we shall see shortly.
In
speaking farther on the subject of this distinction, Mrs. H. remarked, “ that
the sleep-waking state is the life and act of the inner man, and contains in
itself a proof of a future existence, and of reunion after death. It is the internal
activity of man which is unawakened in persons in their normal condition, and
which is wholly asleep in those whose life is centered altogether in the brain,
who, being unconscious of their sympathetic life, never listen to its voice ;
though, if man considered rightly, he would find this his true guide. The
sleep-waking produced by magnetic passes is a sure remedy: for, in
clairvoyance, the inner-man steps forward and inspects the outer, which is not
the case either in sleep or dreaming. Clairvoyance is a state of the most perfect
vigilance, because then the inner spiritual man is disentangled and set free
from the body. I would rather, therefore, denominate sleep-waking the coming
forward of the inner-man, or the spiritual growth of man. At these moments the
spirit is quite free and able to separate itself from the soul and body, and go
where it will, like a flash of lightning. The sleep-waker is then incapable of
any ungodly act; though his soul be impure, he can neither lie nor deceive. I
should call this the third stage of clear-seeing. In the second stage, which is
inferior, the soul and spirit come forth together— not the spirit alone, as in
the former. There is a still inferior state, in which the soul unites itself
with the spirit; and, as no soul is quite pure, the seeing is here imperfect.
The lowest stage of all may be considered as an excited condition of the
nervous system, and is a state which appears more or less in ordinary life. It
resembles that prophetic power that some men, doubtless, are endowed with; but,
in the case of a sleep-waker, the faculty is stronger and more regular. In the
normal condition, the soul dwells chiefly in the brain, and the spirit in the
epigastric region. In the magnetic state, the soul approaches, more or less,
the seat of the spirit. In those who only live their external life, the soul
has the supremacy ; and the highest state of spiritual perfection is, when the
spirit can free itself wholly from the soul.”—Seeress, p. 109-110.
It will
be observed that in what she says respecting the spirit’s inability to lie or
deceive when thus temporarily set free from the clogs of the body, she still
admits that the state of the soul may be, at the same time, prevailingly
impure. It is, therefore, nothing more than a compelled truthfulness, and
therefore agrees with what Swedenborg says of disembodied spirits.
By the
spirit the Seeress understands the most interior essence of our being; and
this, she says, is intrinsically capable of some kind of separation both from
the soul and the body, and one which actually occurs to a greater or less degree
in the magnetic trance. Her ideas on this subject will appear more clearly in
what follows.
THE
NERVE-SPIRIT.
But the
psychology of the Seeress involves another element which she calls the nerve-spirit,
of the nature and functions of which she thus speaks : —44 With
respect to the nervespirit, or nervous principle of vitality, she said, that
through it the soul was united to the body, and the body with the world. The
facility with which the spirit freed itself in her case, was the cause of her
abnormal condition. The nervespirit is immortal, and accompanies the soul
after death, unless where the soul is perfectly pure, and enters at once
amongst the blessed. By its means the soul constructs an airy form around the
spirit. It is capable of increase or growth, after death; and by its means
the spirits, who are yet in the mid-region, are brought into connection with a
material in the atmosphere, which enables them to make themselves felt and
heard by man, and also to suspend the property of gravity, and more heavy
articles.”—Seeress, p. 119-120.
44 Once she said, 41
feel the soul in the nerves, which I now see quite clearly. But I must know,
with certainty, whether the soul only hovers over the nerves, and what happens
to the nerves after death.’ After looking more deeply into herself, she
said,‘The soul continues to live with the spirit, and creates around it an
ethereal form.’ ”—Seeress, p. 108.
The
subject is still more fully developed in a subsequent passage:—“ According to
her, the nerve-spirit is the remnan of the body, and, after death, surrounds
the soul with an aerial form. Being the highest organic power, it cannot by any
other, physical or chemical, be destroyed; and, when the body is cast off, it
follows the soul; and as, during life, it forms the only bond that unites the
soul with the body and the world, so is it also the means whereby the soul,
whilst in the mid-region, can make itself manifest to man; of which power the
atmosphere is the instrument. In our ordinary condition, our senses are
incapable of discerning these phenomena, just as we are incapable of
perceiving the principle W’hich produces seeing and hearing; because the
subject cannot, at the same time, be the object.
“
But in the abnormal magnetic state, such conditions are possible. The
nerve-spirit—which, in our waking life, acts through the senses on the
objective world—in the magnetic life is more concentrated and self-reflecting,
whereby the sensorium attains an unwonted energy. It creates internal senses
for itself out of the nervous plexuses, whilst the external senses are more
and more shut up. And thus, the sensitive life of the soul is augmented and
strengthened, by the reinforcements of the knowing and willing powers, which
unite with it.”—Seeress, p. 153.
Although
the language is diverse, yet the leading idea falls into evident coincidence
with what Swedenborg teaches in the following extract.
“
The natural mind of man consists of spiritual substances, and at the same time
of natural substances; from its spiritual substances becomes thought, but not
from the natural substances ; these substances recede when a man dies, but not
the spiritual substances: wherefore that same mind after death, when a man
becomes a spirit or an angel, remains in a form similar to that in which it was
in the world. The natural substances of that mind, which, as was said, recede
by death, make the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body, in which spirits
and angels are. By such envelope, which is taken from the natural world, their
spiritual bodies subsist; for the natural is the containing ultimate.”—!). L.
§ W. 257.
THE SUN-CIRCLE
AND THE LIFE-CIRCLE.
Mad. H.
represented herself as sometimes entering, spiritually, within the limits of a
peculiar kind of interior circle or sphere, which she calls the “ Sun-circle,”
made up of several successive concentric circles, into some of which, though
usually the outermost, magnetic subjects frequently pass, and within which the
spirit experiences a kind of liberation from the fetters both of the soul and
body, and comes into a perception or cognizance of the realities of the
spirit-world, so far as they can be apprehended by the mere intelligential
principle of the mind. This principle can bring within its scope the inner,
actuating and spiritual essences which pervade the frame-work of the exterior
creation, though it does not perceive, by the normal process of vision, their
material embodiments. This is all that is meant by the sun, moon and planets .
being comprehended within the periphery of the sun-circle. These objects are
not seen except as to what may be termed their interior soul or essence, and
this is rather known than seen. So also the forms which
exist in the spiritual world, and which are the living representatives that
mirror the inner affections, become visible to the eliminated spirit.
In close
relation to the sun-sphere and underlying it, as it were, is another sphere
which she calls the “ Life-sphere” or “Life-circle.” This is at once more
interior and fundamental than the other. “ In clear-seeing (clairvoyance),”
says she, “ the spirit quits the life-circle and enters the centre of the
sun-circle; and then all things become visible, freed from the veil or screen
which otherwise conceals them.” In the centre of this life-circle is a
glorious sun, infinitely brighter than the natural sun, to which she gave the
name of Gnadensonne or Sun of Grace, and* in respect to which
Eschenmayer, one of her expounders, says, “ There are two kinds of suns: one
which we see, and which gives us light; and which is confined to our
planet-system—a mere drop in the ocean. But there is another—a central
sun—which we do not see, but from which all the stars receive their light.”
This is doubtless the same with the “ Spiritual Sun” of Swedenborg, which is
incapable of being seen but with the eye of the spirit, nor even with that
unless the soul is in celestial good, or is opened to the celestial
degree, which really corresponds with the Lifeorbit of the Seeress. The merely
spiritual do not see the Sun of heaven as a sun. This is clearly implied in
the paragraph that follows, in its being said that this sun is above the angelic
heaven. “ Above the angelic heaven there is a Sun, which is pure love, to
appearance fiery, as the sun of the world; and from the heat which proceeds
from that Sun, angels and men have will and love, and from the light thence
they have understanding and wisdom; and those things which are thence are
called spiritual; and those things which proceed from the sun of the
world are containers or receptacles of life, and are called natural;
thus the-expanse of the centre of life is called the Spiritual World, which subsists from its Sun ; and the
expanse of the centre of nature is called the Natural
World, which subsists from its sun.”—T. C. R. 35,
She
adds, “ A somnambule can only describe what belongs to our sun’s orbit, as the
sun, moon, earth, and other planets, and the mid-region, which is the ethereal
space around us.” Not that even these are thus discerned from without,
but from within, as the spirit of the sleep-seer deals not with the external,
but with the internal. “No somnambule has described what belongs to the
deeper sphere of the life-orbit," This, however, indicates the
loftier prerogative of Swedenborg. Leaving all ordinary clairvoyants at a
measureless remove behind him, he was enabled to penetrate to the deepest
arcana of every sphere, and lay open the mysteries of the domain of Life as
well as that of Light. His doctrine of “ Degrees,” as expounded in the “
Divine Love and Wisdom,” contains, in fact, though set forth in more scientific
and luminous method, the substantial truth of the Seeress’s theory of circles.
When thoroughly analysed this will be found, we believe, to be nothing more
nor less than a kind of pictorial presentment of Swedenborg’s sublime view of
the spiritual and the celestial degree of the mind of man, the
former of which may be developed while the other is comparatively dormant. The
one has relation to the Love or the principle of Life, while the other regards
the Understanding or the principle of Intelligence.
The
Seeress’s developments have a mystical, not to say a cabalistical air, and by
being mapped out in a diagram unavoidably convey an idea of locality
which by no means suits the subject. Nevertheless we gather from them a very important
item of instruction. From all she says on the subject we are led to infer,
that the inner magnetic life is a state essentially distinct from the inner
spiritual life. From the disclosures made by the Seeress, it appears that while
the lucid vision of magnetizees is a phenomenon affording no indication of the
moral state of the subject, the beatific vision of the saints is to be regarded
as the prerogative only of those who by true faith, by piety and prayer, and
severe crucifixion of the psychical man, have attained a moral condition which
renders them fit recipients of it. This is a very important consideration,
inasmuch as it has been claimed by irreligious and anti-religious men, that
the fact of the rapt exaltation of all sorts of sleep-wakers is an adequate
ground of belief, in the beatitude of all sorts of men hereafter, and, of
course, of a disbelief in a future state punishment. Thus, for example, a
German reviewer of Kerner’s work dogmatizes on this subject. “ We see that a
morally-corrupted individual enters, in the lucid sleep-waking crisis, upon a
state of freedom, appears calm, lofty-souled, pure-minded, exhibits elevated
insights and powers, becomes in fine, a glorified being. Here then, surely, is
the test: here we have the true inner man; thus will the individual exist and
manifest himself hereafter; his spirit, having shuffled off its mortal coil,
will at the same time find itself independent of all earthly prejudices and
trammels, and rejoice in a deathless liberty.” Thus, too, observes the Baron
Dupotet:—“All the lucid sleep- wakers hold a language nearly alike, and
suggesting the idea of a partial disencumberment of the soul from its
burden of mortality : all seem to see, hear, feel, and take cognizance of
everything past, present and future, through some other channels than those
physical organs which serve on ordinary occasions to make known the volitions
of the mind, a too, agree in
declaring that they enjoy in this state an exqu site elysium of repose from
which they dread to be disturb ed ; their souls, apparently half
liberated, shrink from being again bound by the chains which fetter men down
within the narrow sphere of suffering humanity. It is impossible to contemplate
a lucid sleep-waker without a feeling of mingled wonder and awe: he is a being
who appears to belong more to that world which is to come than to that in which
Man, as a finite being, exists; he already seems half disrobed of his carnal
nature, and almost participating in the enjoyment of his immortality: none of
us can divine what views of infinity may now open before him: all that we
observe, is a being like ourselves, elevated into a state of temporary
beatification, far above our sympathy and our comprehension.”—Dublin
Univers. Mag. p. 11, Jan. 1842.
Let us
hope then that every honest mind may be henceforth disabused of the
impressions growing out of the gratuitous assumption that the magnetic state
and the state after death, are alike states of one and the same being,
the so-called soul. The assumption is undoubtedly fallacious and false.
The lucid sleep-waking state is a mere psychological phenomenon, independent
of the moral condition of the subject, although in certain stages it does indeed
indicate a tendency to truthfulness; whereas the state of the soul
after death is a purely moral state of the inner man in which his destiny, as
miserable or happy, is determined by his character. This is unquestionably the
simple truth, and any other inference, we do not scruple to say, is not only
entirely unwarranted by the phenomena developed, but is a gross perversion of
the whole subject.
SEPARATE
FUNCTIONS OF THE SOUL AND SPIRIT.
In
farther unfolding the threefold distinction above mentioned, she remarked,
that “in her half-waking state she thought only with the cerebellum; of the
cerebrum she felt
nothing—it
was asleep.[§§]
In this state she thought more with her soul; her thoughts were clearer, and
her spirit had more power over her than in her waking state. In the perfect
sleep-waking state, the spirit had the supremacy; and when she was perfectly
clairvoyant, she said her thoughts proceeded wholly from her spirit, and the
epigastric region. " In our natural state of wakefulness,” said she, "
we feel little or nothing of the spirit. But man, as he is situated in this
world, must be governed by the soul. If the spirit had free play, what would
this world be? It can penetrate into things above; and in his present life man
must not know the future.”
It is
undoubtedly true that we do not find in Swedenborg this distinction set forth
in the peculiar nomenclature employed by the Seeress. Yet the substance of it
he clearly recognises under other terms, particularly those of sensual
and spiritual. The sensual principle with him is evidently the
same with the psychical or that of which the psyche, is the
proper seat and subject. This term in the Scriptures is usually translated soul,
and the epithet psukikoi, Jude 19, though rendered in our version sensual,
is literally soulish. This is virtually the same as the sensual man
of Swedenborg, of whom he thus speaks :
“ It may
easily be apperceived by man, if he attends, whether sensuals be in the first
place or in the last; if he affirms everything which the sensual persuades or
appetites, and endeavors to invalidate everything which the intellectual
dictates, then sensuals are in the first place, and then man is carried away by
appetites, and is altogether sensual; but such a man is little removed from the
lot of the irrational animals, for these are carried away in the same manner;
yea, he is in a worse condition, if he abuses the intellectual faculty or the
rational to confirm the evils and falses, which sen- suals persuade and
appetite ; but if he does not affirm, but from the interior sees the deviations
of those sensuals into falses, and their excitations to evils, and strives to
chasten them and so to reduce them to compliance, that is, to subject them to
the intellectual and voluntary part which are of the interior man, then
sensuals are reduced into order, that they may be in the last place. When
sensuals are in the last place, then there flows in a happy and blessed
principle from the interior man into the delights of the sensuals, and causes the
delights thereof a thousand times to exceed the former delights: that this is
the case, the sensual man does not believe, because he does not comprehend,
and inasmuch as he is sensible of no other delight than the sensual, and thinks
that no higher delight is given, he regards as of no account the happy and
blessed principle which is within in the delights of sensuals, for what is
unknown to any one, this is believed not to be.”—A. C. 5125.
“ They
who think in the sensual are called sensual, and like spirits are adjoined to
them; these spirits scarcely apprehend more things appertaining to man, than
what also come to man’s sensation; for they are more gross than other spirits.
It has been observed, that when man is in the sensual, and not elevated thence,
he thinks of nothing else than what is of the body and the world; and in this
case he is not willing to know anything concerning those things which are of
eternal life, yea he is averse from hearing anything of that life. To the
intent that I might know that this is the case, I have occasionally been let
down into the sensual, and instantly such things presented themselves, and then
the spirits also, who were in that grosser sphere, infused base and scandalous
things; but as soon as I was withdrawn from the sensual, such things were
dissipated. In the sensual life there are several who indulge in pleasures of
the body, also who have altogether rejected all thought beyond what they see
and hear; and especially who have rejected thought concerning eternal life.
Wherefore all such make light of both the latter and the former things, and
when they hear, they loathe them. Such spirits abound in the other life at this
day, for troops of them come from the world : and the influx from them prompts
man to indulge his favorite inclination, and to live to himself and the world,
but not to others, only so far as they favor him and his own pleasures. That
man may be elevated from these spirits, he must think about eternal life.”—A.
C.
6201.
“ The
interiors of man are distinct according to degrees by derivations; lights also
are according to those degrees. The internal sensual, which is nearest to the
sensuals of the body, has a most gross lumen; this lumen ithas been given me to
discern by much experience ; and it was observed, that as often as I sunk down
into this lumen, so often falses' and evils of several kinds presented
themselves, yea also scandals against celestial and Divine things, and
moreover what was filthy and defiled: the reason is, because this lumen
prevails in the hells, and the hells thereby principally flow in with man. When
man is in this lumen, his thought is almost in a like lumen with his external
sight, and is then almost in the body. Men, who are in this lumen, are to be
called sensual, for they do not
think beyond the sensual things of the body; the things beyond those, they
neither perceive nor believe, they only believe what they see and touch. In
this lumen are they, who have not at all cultivated things interior, living in
the neglect and contempt of all things which are rational and spiritual; and in
that lumen are especially the covetous, and adulterers, also they who have lived
in mere pleasures and in dishonorable ease. Hence these latter think what is
filthy and often what is scandalous concerning the holy things of the
church.”—A, C. 6310.
The
spirits here described answer with great exactness to the idea conveyed by the
term xbv'xtKoi, or soulish, indicating the predominance of that
principle which the Seeress calls the soul in contra-distinction from
the spirit. Spirits of this character were those which Mad. H. most
frequently encountered—spirits weighed down by the grossness of the psychical
nature which still adhered to them, and though liberated by death from the
corporeal tenement, yet still gravitating towards a corporeal sphere, and
separated, as it were, only by a filmy partition from the inhabitants of earth.
By reason of this cleaving carnality of nature they appeared to her as absolutely
heavy when compared with the light and aerial beings who were more
fully defecated and purified from the corruption of sin, and with whom, in
consequence, she was less able to hold intercourse.[***] “ The spirits who
come to me are mostly on the inferior steps of the mid-region, which is in our
atmosphere; but mid-region is a misnomer, and I call it so unwillingly. They
are chiefly spirits of those who, from the attraction of, and attachment to,
the external world, have remained below—or of those who have not believed in
their redemption through Christ—or who, in the moment of dying, have been
troubled with an earthly thought which has clung to them, and impeded their
upward flight. Many, who are neither condemned nor placed amongst the blessed
immediately after death, are on different stages of this mid-region; some,
whose spirits have been purified, are very high. On the lowest degree, these
spirits are still exposed to the temptations of the wicked ; but not in the
higher, where they already enjoy heavenly happiness, and the purity of the
blessed.’’—Seeress, p .159.
The
remarks of Eschenmayer upon these relations are well deserving attention:—“ How
the soul is to exist after death, is assuredly a question worth asking. A soul
given wholly to the world retains this direction after death; for it would be
strange if such an one could be suddenly purified from his vices and sins. The
existence of the soul after death is a universal belief; but the conditions of
this existence few trouble themselves to inquire. This indifference is painfully
disturbed by the Seherin, who exhibits to the worldly-minded the picture of
their own future state, and shows us, miserable, God-forsaken souls, who once
enjoyed all the pleasures of This life, bearing about the burthen of their sins
upon them.”—Seeress, p. 167.
“ Mrs.
JH. says that ‘ A sinful, wordly-minded man may shine in this life by the force
of his intellect; but his spirit is but the weaker and darker, and incapable of
looking within. When he dies, the soul that sustained him here becomes only the
husk of his spirit—the weak, dark spirit which is now the ruler. Alas ! what
then ? A profound truth this ! The highest intellectual wealth may be the
accompaniment of the most lamentable moral poverty. But it is only our moral
gains that will be carried to our account in the next world; our knowledge will
not be reckoned, for it has there no value unless it has been devoted to
purposes of religion and virtue.”—Seeress, p. 168-169.
How
strikingly all this corresponds with Swedenborg’s disclosures of the “world of
spirits,” or of that intermediate state called by the Seeress “ the
mid-region,” (Hades,) into which the soul enters at death as a sphere of
preparation (not of probation) for heaven or hell, must be obvious to every one
acquainted with his system. He informs us that by far the greater portion of
the spirits of that sphere are yet in their sins, and preparing, by the
development of their interiors, for hell; that they are gross and corporeal in
their nature; that they are dark in their aspect; that instead of the pure
light of truth, they are encompassed by an obscure lumen of infatuation and
phantasy; and that they have a restless prompting to put forth their delusive
influx into the minds of sensual men on earth.
“ There
were spirits seen by me, whom it may be expedient to call corporeal spirits;
they arose from a depth at the side of the sole of the right foot, and appeared
to the sight of my spirit as in a gross body. When I asked who they were that
are of such a quality, it was said, that they are those who in the world have
been distinguished by their talents, and also by their proficiency in the
sciences, and have thereby confirmed themselves entirely against the Divine,
thus against those things which are of the church; and because they have
absolutely persuaded themselves that all thihgs were to be
attributed
to nature, they have closed interior things to themselves, thus the things
which appertain to the spirit, more than others ; hence they appear grossly
corporeal. Among them was one who, during his life in the world, had been known
to me, and who at that time was eminent for his gifts of genius and his
erudition; but these things, which are the means of thinking well concerning
things Divine, were to him the means of thinking against them, and of
persuading himself that they are nothing; for he who excels in genius and
learning, has more things than others by which he may confirm : hence he was
interiorly obsessed, but in the external form he appeared as a man of civility
and good morals.”— A. C. 5991. *
“ There
are also men who are more than sensual, namely, who are corporeal, and* they
are such as have altogether confirmed themselves against the Divine, and have
ascribed all things to nature, and thereby have lived without any regard to
what is just and equitable, except only in the external form. These, because
inwardly they are like brute animals, although they appear outwardly as men,
are more sensual, and appear to themselves and others in the other life as corporeal.”—Id.
6318.
The
parallelisms are very obvious in the reports of the the two seers, and though
we do not conceive that Swedenborg’s statements stand in need of any such
confirmations as we have cited, nor do we by any means put them upon a par with
his, yet, if the Divine providence is pleased to afford an attestation from
any source of the truth of his own message, we do not feel at liberty, to
reject it.
THE LANGUAGE
OF SPIRITS.
One of
the most remarkable of the Seeress’ revelations is that respecting the inner
language, or the language of spirits :— “In her sleep-waking state, Mrs. H.
frequently spoke in a language unknown to us, which seemed to bear some resemblance
to the Eastern tongues. She said that this language was the one which Jacob
spoke, and that it was natural to her and to all men. It was very sonorous;
and, as she was perfectly consistent in her use of it, those who were much
about her gradually grew to understand it. She said, by it only could she fully
express her innermost feelings ; and that, when she had to express these in
German, she was obliged first to translate them from this language. It was not
from her head, but from the epigastric region, that it proceeded. She knew
nothing of it when she was awake. The names of things in this language, she
told us, expressed their properties and quality. Philologists discovered in it
a resemblance to the Coptic, Arabic, and Hebrew: for example, the word Elschaddai,
which she often used for God, signifies, in Hebrew, the self-sufficient,
or all-powerful. The word ddlmachan appears to be Arabic; and bianachli
signifies, in Hebrew, I am sighing, or in sighs.
“ Here
follow a few of the words of this inner-language, and their interpretations ;—Handacadi,
physician; alentana, lady; chlann, glass; schmado, moon; nohin,
no; nochiane, nightingale; bianna fina, many-colored flowers; moy,
how; tol, what; optini poga, thou must sleep; mo li arato,
I rest, &c. &c.
“ The
written character of this language was always connected 'with numbers. She
said that words with numbers had a much deeper and more comprehensive
signification than without. She often said, in her sleep-waking state, that the
ghosts spoke this language; for although spirits could read the thoughts, the
soul, to which this language belonged, took it with it when it went above;
because the soul formed an ethereal body for the spirit.”—Seeress, p.
116, 117.
A
complete alphabet of this language she professed herself unable to give,
remarking that a single letter had often an import equivalent to a whole word.
To what degree this coincides with Swedenborg’s relations on the same subj ect
will appear from what follows :—
“ All in
the universal heaven have one language, and they all understand each other,
from whatever society they are, whether near or distant. Language is not
learned there, but it is implanted in every one; for it flows from their very
affection and thought. The sound of speech corresponds to their affection, and
the articulations of sound, which are words, corresponds to the ideas of thought
^vhich are from affection; and because language corresponds to them, that also
is spiritual, for it is affection sounding and thought speaking.”—H. fy
H. n. 236.
“Angelic
language has nothing in common with human languages, except with some words,
which sound from a certain affection; yet not with the words themselves, but
with their sound, on which subject something will be said in what follows. That
angelic language has not anything in common with human languages, is evident
from this, that it is impossible for the angels to utter one word of human
language;' this has been tried, but they could not: for they cannot utter
anything but what is altogether in agreement with their affection ; that which
is not in agreement is repugnant to their very life, for life is of affection,
and their speech is from it. I have been told that
the first language of men on our earth agreed with the angelic language,
because they had it from heaven; and that the Hebrew language agrees with it in
some things.”—Id. n. 237.
“ The
speech of the angels is also full of wisdom, because it proceeds from their
interior thought, and their interior thought is wisdom, as their interior
affection is love ; love and wisdom thus conjoin themselves in their speech:
thence it is so full of wisdom, that they can express by one word what man
cannot express by a thousand words, and also the ideas of their thought
comprehend such things as man cannot conceive, still less utter. Hence it is
that the things which have been heard and seen in heaven are said to be
ineffable, and such as ear has never heard nor eye seen. That it is so, it has
also been given me to know by experience. I have sometimes been let into the
state in which angels are, and in that state have spoken with them, and then I understood
all; but when I was let back into my former state, and thus into the natural
thought proper to man, and wished to recollect what I had heard, I could not;
for there were thousands of things which were not adequate to the ideas of
natural thought, thus not expressible, except only by variegations of heavenly
light, and thus not at all by human words.”—Id. n. 239.
Speech
similar to that which is in the spiritual world is implanted in every man, but
in his interior intellectual part; but because this with man does not fall into
words analogous to affection, as with the angels, man does not know that he is
in it; yet it is thence that man, when he comes into the other life, is in the
same speech with the spirits and angels there, and thus knows how to speak
without instruction.”— Id. n. 243.
The
Seeress says, moreover, with respect to the inner language, that—“ One word of
it frequently expressed more than whole lines of ordinary language; and that,
after death, in one single symbol or character of it, man would read his whole
life. It is constantly observed, that persons in a sleep - waking state, and
those who are deep in the inner-life, find it impossible to express what they
feel in ordinary language. Another somnambule used often to say to me, when she
could not express herself,c Can no one speak to me in the language
of nature ?’ The Seherin observed by Mayers said, that to man, in the magnetic
state, all nature was disclosed, spiritual and material; but that there were
certain things which could not be well expressed in words, and thus arose
apparent inconsistencies and errors. In the archives of animal magnetism, an
example is given of this peculiar speech ; the resemblance of which to the
eastern languages, doubtless, arises from its being a remnant of the early
language of mankind. Thus, sleep-wakers cannot easily recall the names of
persons and things, and they cast away all conventionalities of speech.
Mayer’s Seherin says, that as the eyes and ears of man are deteriorated by the
fall, so he has lost, in a great degree, the language of his sensations; but it
still exists in us, and would be found, more or less, if sought for. Every
sensation or perception has its proper figure or sign, and this we can no
longer express.”—Seeress, p. 124.
The work
in question contains a tentative specimen of the angelic written character,
which, of course, is to be regarded as a mere approximation to the truth. We
have had transcribed, and present herewith, a portion of it, mainly for the
purpose of comparing it with what Swedenborg says of the style in which the W
ord is written in Heaven. The resemblance to the Arabic is very striking.
“As to
what respects the Word in heaven, it is written in a spiritual style, which
differs entirely from a natural style. The spiritual style consists of mere
letters, each of which involves some particular sense ; and there are little
lines, curvatures and dots above and between the letters and in them, which
exalt the sense. The letters with the angels of the spiritual kingdom are like
the letters used in printing, in our world, and the letters with the angels of
the celestial kingdom, are, with some, like Arabic letters, and with some like
the old Hebrew letters, but inflected above and below, with marks above,
between and within: each of these also involves an entire sense.” “ It is
wonderful, that the Word in the heavens is so written that the simple
understand it in simplicity, and the wise in wisdom; for there are many curvatures
and marks above the letters, which, as was said, exalt the sense; the simple do
not attend to them, nor do they know them; but the wise attend, each one
according to his wisdom, even the highest.”—T. C. R. n. 241.
I
present this to the reader without, of course, the implication that he is
expected to receive it as expressing my belief, or demanding his as to the
absolute truth of the alleged fact. I give it simply as exhibiting a remarkable
coincidence in the professed revelations of two independent witnesses to the
phenomena of the spiritual world. The reader will pronounce upon it such a
verdict as his judgment may dictate.
ON
SPIRIT-SEEING.
On the
general subject of spirit-seeing, she was asked by Eschenmayer whether all men
see spirits, or only those in whom a spiritual eye shines through the fleshly
one. She answered:—“The power of ghost-seeing resides in all men, but is seldom
active, and only momentary, since it must be excited by something that calls
forth the inner-man; and this is generally dispersed and suppressed by reason.”
Of her
own experience, in this respect, she observes as follows:—“ Persons whose life
is in the brain—but especially those in whom it is more in the epigastric
region—are occasionally capable of ghost-seeing; but the apparition is always
seen by the spiritual eye through the fleshly. Through the soul may come
presentiments, and the sensibility to spiritual things; but clear-seeing never.
When, however, the spirit is excited by the soul, presentiment and ghost-seeing
may occur; but, with those whose life is chiefly intellectual, this can only be
momentary. The brain can contend and resist; but it is only those whose life is
in the epigastric region, who see them as I do; and, in such cases, there is no
power of resistance. Certainly, these forms are not the offspring of my
imagination, for I have no pleasure in them; on the contrary, they give me
pain, and I never think of them but when I see them, or am questioned about
them. Unfortunately, my life is now so constituted that my soul, as well as my
spirit, sees into the spiritual world—which is, however, indeed upon the earth;
and I see them not only singly, but frequently in multitudes, and of different
kinds ; and many departed souls.
“ I see
many with whom I come into no approximation, and others who come to me, with
whom I converse, and who remain near me for months; I see them at various times
by day and night, whether I am alone or in company. I am perfectly awake at the
time, and am not sensible of any circumstance or sensation that calls them up.
I see them alike whether I am strong or weak, plethoric or in a state of inanition,
glad or sorrowful, amused or otherwise ; and I cannot dismiss them. Not that
they are always with me, but they come at their own pleasure, like mortal
visiters, and equally whether I am in a spiritual or corporeal state at the
time. When I am in my calmest and most healthy sleep, they awaken me; I know
not how, but I feel that I am awakened by them, and that I should have slept on
had they not come to my bedside. I observe frequently that, when a ghost visits
me by night, those who sleep in the same room with me are, by their dreams,
made aware of its presence; they speak afterwards of the apparition they saw in
their dream, although I have not breathed a syllable on the subject to them.
Whilst the ghosts are with me, I see and hear everything around me as usual,
and can think of other subjects; and though I can avert my eyes from them, it
is difficult for me to do it; I feel in a sort of magnetic rapport
with them. They appear to me like a thin cloud, that one could see through,
which, however, I cannot do. I never observed that they threw any shadow. I see
them more clearly by sun or moonlight than in the dark; but whether I could
see them in absolute darkness, I do not know. If any object comes between me
and them, they are hidden from me. I cannot see them with closed eyes, nor when
I turn my face from them; but I am so sensible of their presence, that I could
designate the exact spot they are standing upon; and I can hear them speak
although I stop my ears. I cannot endure that they should approach me very
near; they give me a feeling of debility. Other persons who do not see them are
frequently sensible of the effects of their proximity when they are with me;
they have a disposition to faintness, and feel a constriction and oppression
of the nerves; even animals are not exempt from this effect. The appearance of
the ghosts is the same as when they were alive, but colorless—rather greyish;
so is their attire—like a cloud. The brighter and happier spirits are
differently clothed; they have a long loose shining robe, with a girdle round
the waist. The features of spectres are as when alive, but mostly sad and
gloomy. Their eyes are bright—often like a flame. I have never seen any with
hair. All the female ghosts have the same head-covering— even when over it, as
is sometimes the case, they have that they wore when alive. This consists in a
sort of veil, which comes over the forehead and covers the hair. The forms of
the good spirits appear bright; those of the evil dusky.
“
Whether it is only under this form that my senses can perceive them, and
whether, to a more spiritualized being, they would not appear as spirits, I
cannot say; but I suspect it. Their gait is like the gait of the living, only
that the better spirits seem to float, and the evil ones tread heavier; so that
their footsteps may sometimes be heard, not by me alone, but by those who are
with me. They have various ways of attracting attention by other sounds
besides speech; and this faculty they exercise frequently on those who can
neither see them nor hear their voices. These sounds consist in sighing,
knocking, noises as of the throwing of sand or gravel, rustling of paper,
rolling of a ball, shuffling as in slippers, &c. &c. They are also able
to move heavy articles, and to open and shut doors, although they can pass
through them unopened, or through the walls. I observe that the darker a
spectre is, the stronger is his voice, and the more ghostly powers of making noises,
and so forth, he seems to have. The sounds they produce are by means of the
air, and the nerve-spirit, which is still with them. I never saw a ghost when
he was in the act of producing any sound except speech, so that I conclude they
cannot do it visibly; neither have I ever seen them in the act of opening or
shutting a door, only directly afterwards. They move their mouths in speaking,
and their voices are various, as those of the living. They cannot answer me
all that I desire ; wicked spirits are more willing or able to do this, but I
avoid conversing with them. These I can dismiss by a written word, used as an
amulet, and free others from them as well as myself.
66 When I talk to them
piously, I have seen the spirits, especially the darker ones, draw inmy words,
as it were, whereby they become brighter; but I feel much weaker. The spirits
of the happy invigorate me, and give me a very different feeling to the others
I observe that the happy spirits have the same difficulty in answering questions
regarding earthly matters, as the evil ones have in doing it with respect to
heavenly ones ; the first belong not to earth, nor the last to heaven. With the
high and blessed spirits I am not in a condition to converse ; I can only
venture on a short interrogation. I am told that, when asleep, I often spoke
with my protecting spirit, who is amongst the blessed. I know not if this be so
; if it were, it must have been in moments when my spirit was disjoined from
the soul. When soul and spirit are united, I cannot converse with the
blessed.”—Seeress, p. 155-159.
Let this
be compared with the ensuing relations of Swedenborg.
“ I am
aware that many will say, that no one can ever speak with spirits and angels
while he lives in the body ; and many, that it is a phantasy; others that I
relate such things, that I may gain credit; others otherwise ; but I do not
regard these things, for I have seen, have heard, have felt. Man was so created
by the Lord, that during his life in the body, he might have a capacity of conversing
with spirits and angels, as also was done in the most ancient times; for he is
one with them, being a spirit clothed with a body; but because in process of
time mankind so immersed themselves in bodily and worldly things that they paid
little regard to anything else, therefore the way was closed; yet as soon as
the bodily things^ in which he is immersed, recede, the way is opened, and he
is among spirits, and associates his life with them.”—A. C. 68,
69.
“
I have
conversed with many after their decease, with whom I was acquainted during
their life in the body; and such conversation has been of long continuance,
sometimes for months, sometimes for a whole year; and with as clear and
distinct a voice, but internal, as with friends in the world. The subject of
our discourse has sometimes turned on the state of man after death; and they
have greatly wondered that no one in the life of the body, knows, or believes,
that he is to live in such a manner after the life of the body ; when
nevertheless it is a continuation of life, and that of such a nature, that the
deceased passes from an obscure life into a clear and distinct one; and they
who are in faith towards the Lord, into a life more and more clear and
distinct. They have desired me to acquaint their friends on earth that they
were alive, and to write to them an account of their states as I have often
told them many things respecting their friends : but my reply was, that if I
should speak to them or write to them, they would not believe, but would call
my information mere fancy, and would ridicule it, asking for signs or miracles
before they should believe; and thus I should be exposed to their derision :
and that the things here declared are true, few perhaps will believe, for men
deny in their hearts the existence of spirits; and they who do not deny such existence,
are yet very unwilling to hear that any one can converse with spirits. Such a
faith respecting spirits did not at all prevail in ancient times, but (does) at
this day, when men wish by reasonings of the brain to explore what spirits are,
whom, by definitions and suppositions, they deprive of every sense ; and the
more learned they wish to be, the more they do this.”—A. C. 448.
GROWTH OF INFANTS IN THE OTHER LIFE.
Another
interesting item of her disclosures is that relative to the state of infants in
the future world. <c On the subject of the growth of children in
the other world, Mrs. H. said —‘ I once asked a spectre whether human beings
grew after death, because I had seen some who had died in early youth that
seemed to have become much larger ? and he answered —Yes; when they are taken
from earth before they are full grown. The soul constructs itself a larger
shell till it is as large as required. With children this is as bright as with
the blessed.’
“On
being asked whether the undeveloped faculties of children were developed after
death? she answered, that they were developed through the nerve-spirit, which
remained with the soul; but that we were unable to conceive the power and purity
of children, who have all that their heavenly Father gave them, not having
deteriorated their soul and nerve-spirit by words or works. But men must not,
therefore, desire to die in their childhood, for a life spent after God’s will
ensures a still more blessed state. But what purity and elevation might we
attain even on earth, if we did not so weaken the powers of our soul by our
words, works, and thoughts. Our flesh would be purified, and all our faculties
exalted.”—Seeress, p. 162.
Swedenborg’s
informations on this head may be gathered from what follows:
"
Many may suppose that infants remain infants in heaven, and that they are as
infants among the angels. Those who do not know what an angel is, may have been
confirmed in that opinion, from the images‘here and there in temples, where
angels are exhibited as infants. But the case is altogether otherwise:
intelligence and wisdom make an angel,. and so long as infants have not
intelligence and wisdom, they are indeed with angels, yet they are not angels;
but when they are intelligent and wise, then first they become angels ; yea,
what I have wondered at, then they do not appear as infants, but as adults,
for then they are no longer of an infantile genius, but of a more adult angelic
genius ; intelligence and wisdom produce this effect. The reason that infants,
as they are perfected in intelligence and wisdom, appear more adult, thus as
youths and young men, is, because intelligence and wisdom are essential
spiritual nourishment ; therefore the things which nourish their minds also
nourish their bodies, and this from correspondence ; for the form of the body
is but the external form of the interiors. It is to be known that infants in
heaven do not advance in age beyond early youth, but stop there to eternity.
That I might know for certain that it is so, it has been given me to speak with
some who were educated as infants in heaven, and who had grown up there;.with
some also when they were infants, and afterwards with the same when they become
youths; and from them I have heard the course of their life from one age to
another.”—H. fy H. 340.
“
Inasmuch as food and nourishment correspond to spiritual food and nourishment,
thence the taste corresponds to the perception and the affection thereof.
Spiritual food is science, intelligence, and wisdom, for from these spirits and
angels live and from these are also nourished, and they desire and have
appetite for them, as men who are hungry desire and have appetite for food;
hence the appetite corresponds to that desire. And what is surprising, from
that food they also grow up to maturity: for infants who decease, in the other
life appear not otherwise than as infants, and also are infahts as to
understanding; but in proportion as they grow in intelligence and wisdom, they
appear not as infants, but as advanced in age, and at length as adults: I have
conversed with some who died infants, and they appeared to me as youths,
because they were then intelligent. Hence it is manifest what spiritual food
and nourishment is.”—A. C. 4792.
STATE OF THE
HEATHEN IN THE OTHER LIFE.
On the
state of the heathen in the other life she thus remarks : “ With respect to
the condition of the heathen after death, the Seherin said, ‘ Some days since I
asked a ghost, who had some degree of brightness, where he was, and with what
he, and the spirits that were with him, engaged themselves.’ He answered, ‘ I
am not in the mid-region; I am in a certain degree of happiness ; in that
wherein are placed the heathens, and all those who, by no fault of their own,
remained ignorant of their Lord and Saviour. We are there instructed by
^angels until we are ripe for greater bliss.’
“ We
thus learn by these revelations of the Seherin, that virtuous heathens, and all
upright men, are destined to happiness hereafter; but that a belief in the
Christian religion being absolutely necessary to perfect salvation, they must
be instructed in it by angels, even after death, before they can enter into the
kingdom of God; and when Christ says that he will draw all to him, and that
there shall be but one flock and one shepherd, he includes heathens, and
alludes not only to the earth, but to the kingdom of heaven also ; and when he
has sent the Gospel to the heathens, and has drawn them into his fold, we may
be certain that a state of bliss will be prepared for them very different to
that they aspire to.”— Seeress s p. 163, 164.
Not
unlike this is the account which Swedenborg gives in speaking of the same
subject.
“ It is
a common opinion, that they who are born out of the Church, and who are called
Pagans and Gentiles, cannot be saved, by reason that they have not the Word,
and thus are ignorant of the Lord, without whom there is no salvation. But
still, that these also are saved, may be known from this alone, that the mercy
of the Lord is universal, that is, extends to every individual man; that they
are equally born men, as those who are within the Church, who are comparatively
few, and that it is no fault of theirs that they are ignorant of the Lord. What,
therefore, their state and lot is in the other life, by the Divine mercy of the
Lord, was made known to me.
“ I have
been instructed by many things, that the Gentiles who have led a moral life,
and have been obedient, and have lived in mutual charity, and have received
according to their religious (belief) somewhat like conscience, are accepted in
another life, and are there instructed by the angels with the utmost care in
the goods and truths of faith. When they are instructed, they behave themselves
modestly, intelligently, and wisely, and easily receive and imbibe, for they
have formed to themselves no principles contrary to the truths of faith, which
are to be dispersed, still less scandals against the Lord, as is the case with
many Christians who have led a life of evil; moreover, such Gentiles hold no
hatred towards others, do not revenge injuries, nor weave cunning stratagems
and artifices, yea, they wish well to Christians, although Christians on their
part despise them, and even do them injury to the utmost of their power; but
these are delivered by the Lord from their unmercifulness, and are protected.
For with respect to Christians and Gentiles in another life, the case is this :
Christians who have acknowledged the truths of faith, and at the same time have
led a life of good, are accepted before Gentiles, but such Christians at this
day are few in number; whereas Gentiles, who have lived in obedience and mutual
charity, are accepted before Christians who have not led a good life. For all
persons, throughout the universe are, of the mercy of the Lord, accepted and
saved, who have lived in good, good itself being that which receives truth, and
the good of life being the very ground of the seed, that is, of truth; evil of
life never receives it; although they who are in evil should be instructed a
thousand ways, yea, though the instruction should be most perfect, still the
truths of faith with them would enter no further than into the memory, and
would not penetrate into the affection, which is of the heart; wherefore also
the truths of their memory are dissipated, and become no truths in another
life.
“ But
there are amongst the Gentiles, as amongst Christians, both wise and simple ;
and, that I might be instructed concerning the qualities of each, it has been
given to converse with them, sometimes for hours and days : at this day however
there are scarce any of the Gentiles who are wise, whereas in ancient times
there were great numbers, especially in the ancient Church, which was the
source whence wisdom flowed to many nations.”—A. C. 2589-2591.
“
Upright Gentiles in another life, are generally instructed according to the
states of their lives, and according to their religious principles, so far as
it is possible, consequently in different modes.”—A. C. 2600.
THE FORMS OF
SPIRITS.
On the
appearance of a certain spirit, Mrs. H. asked him if he could take any other
form than that he had as a man. He answered—“ Had I lived as a brute, I should
so appear to you. We cannot take what forms we will: as our dispositions are,
so we appear to you.”—Seeress, p. 269.
The
accordance of this with Swedenborg’s teaching is very obvious.
“ Among
the wonderful things which exist in the other life, this also is one, that when
the angels of heaven inspect evil spirits, these latter appear altogether
otherwise than as they appear among themselves. When evil spirits and genii are
among themselves, and in their infatuated lumen, such as is from a coal fire,
as was said above, they then appear to themselves in a human form, and also
according to their phantasies, not unbeautiful. But when the same are inspected
by the angels of heaven, then that lumen is instantly dissipated, and they
appear with an altogether different face, each according to his genius; some
dusky and black as devils, some with pale ghastly faces like corpses, some
almost without a face, and in its place something hairy, some like grates of
teeth, some like skeletons ; and what is more wonderful, some like monsters;
the deceitful like serpents, and the most deceitful like vipers, and others in
different forms. But as soon as the angels remove from them their sight, they
appear in their previous form, which they have in their own lumen. * * * The
reason why angelic sight has in it such efficacy, is, because there is a
correspondence between intellectual and ocular sight; hence there is in the
sight of the angels a perspicacity, whereby the infernal lumen is dissipated,
and the in- fernals appear in such a form and genius as they really are ”— A.
C, 4533.
“ When
the spirit of man first enters the world of spirits, which takes place shortly
after his resuscitation, spoken of above, he has a similar face and a similar
tone of voice to what he had in the world; the reason is, because he is then in
the state of his exteriors, nor are his interiors as yet uncovered : this
state is the first state of men after their decease. But afterwards the face is
changed, and becomes quite another one; it becomes similar to his ruling
affection or love, in which the interiors of his mind had been in the world,
and in which his spirit was in the body. For the face of man’s spirit differs
very much from the face of his body; the face of the body is from the parents,
but the face of the spirit from its affection, of which it is the image; into
this the spirit comes after the life in the body, when the exteriors are removed
and the interiors are revealed: this is the third state of man. I have seen
some recently from the world, and knew them from their face and speech, but
when they were afterwards seen, I did not know them: those who were in good
affections were seen with beautiful faces, but those who were in evil
affections, had faces deformed; for the spirit of man, viewed in itself, is
nothing but its own affection, the external form of which is the face. The
reason also why the faces are changed, is, because in the other life it is not
lawful for anyone to counterfeit affections which are not properly his own,
thus neither to induce on himself faces contrary to the love in which he is;
all, whoever are there, are reduced into such a state that they speak as they
think, and show by the looks and gestures what they will. Hence now it is that
the faces of all are the forms and effigies of their affections.”— H. H,
457.
“After
having passed through the first and second state, they are so separated that
they no longer see each other nor know each other; for every one becomes his
own love, not only as to the interiors which are of the mind, but also as to
the exteriors which are of the face, the body, and the speech ; for every one
becomes the effigy of his own love, even in externals. Those who are corporeal
loves appear gross, obscure,
black
and deformed; but those who are heavenly loves, appear fresh, bright, fair and
beautiful. They are likewise altogether dissimilar as to their minds and
thoughts ; those who are heavenly loves are also intelligent and wise, but
those who are corporeal loves are stupid, and as it were sottish. When it is
given to inspect the interiors and exteriors of the thought and affection of
those who are in heavenly love, the interiors appear like light, in some like
flaming light, and the exteriors in various beautiful colors like rainbows :
but the interiors of those who are in corporeal love appear as something
black, because they are closed, and of some as dusky fire, who are those who
had been interiorly in malignant deceit; and the exteriors appear of a dirty
color, and disagreeable to the sight.”—Id. n. 481.
“ All
spirits in the hells, when inspected in any light of heaven, appear in the form
of their own evil; for every one is an effigy of his own evil, inasmuch as with
every one the interiors and exteriors act as one, and the interiors present
themselves visible in the exteriors, which are the face, the body, the speech,
and the gestures; thus their quality is recognized as soon as they are seen.
It is impossible to describe in a few words all those forms such as they
appear, for one is not like to another; only between those who are in similar
evil, and thence in a similar infernal society, there is a general similitude,
from which, as from a plane or derivation, the faces of each appear there to
have a kind of likeness. In general, then’ faces are direful, and void of life
like corpses; in some they are black, in some fiery like little torches, in
some disfigured with pimples, warts, and ulcers; in some no face appears, but
in its stead something hairy or bony, and in some teeth only are exhibited.
Their bodies also are monstrous; and their speech is as the speech of anger, or
of hatred, or of revenge; for every one speaks from his own falsity, and the
tone of his voice is from his own evil: in a word, they are all images of their
own hell. In what form the specific hells are, or the infernal societies, it
has often been given me to see; for at their appertures, which are called the
gates of hell, for the most part appears a monster, which in general represents
the form of those who are within; the fierce passions of those who dwell there
are then at the same time represented by things direful and' atrocious, the
particular mention of which I omit.”—H fy H. n. 553.
SPIRITS SEEN
BY A SPIRITUAL EYE.
On one occasion the Seeress remarked that “spirits
are seen by the spiritual
eye through the fleshly one.”* In like manner Swedenborg observes, that “ it is
to be known that they who are in the other life, cannot see anything that is in
the world through the eyes of any man; the reason why they could see through my
eyes was, because I am in the spirit with them, and at the same time in the
body with those who are in the world. And it is further to be known, that I did
not see those with whom I discoursed in the other life, wTith the
eyes of my body, but with the eyes of my spirit—but still as clearly, and
sometimes more clearly, than with the eyes of my body, for, by the divine mercy
of the Lord, the things which are of my spirit have been opened.”—A.C.
4622.
THE
ILLUMINATED EYE.
We have
adverted on a previous page to the singular appearance induced upon
Swedenborg’s eye in consequence of the development of his faculty of spiritual
vision. That a similar phenomenon was witnessed in the case of the Seeress,
appears from what follows :—
“From
her eyes there shone a really spiritual light, of which every one who saw her
became immediately sensible p. 57.
“ Her
natural disposition was gentle, kind and serious; ever disposed to
contemplation and prayer; her eyes had something spiritual in their expression,
and always remained clear and bright in spite of her great suffering; they were
penetrating, and .in conversation very varying; they were sometimes suddenly
fixed, and seemed to emit sparks : a certain sign that she beheld some strange
apparitions.”—p. 60.
“ No
person who had ever seen the peculiar piercing look (Stechblick) that Mrs. H.’s
eyes assumed, and which each time was accompanied by a sort of nervous shock,
which pervaded the whole body, when she perceived the image of the inner man in
any one’s eye, could for a moment doubt
♦ “
A sister of Mrs. H.’s,
a very simple, unsophisticated girl, had so acute a sensibility to the
proximity of these immaterial beings, that, without actually seeing them with
her eyes, she could give a description of their appearance according with the
polity described by Mrs. H. She said, * I do not see them with my ordinary eyes
—I see them from within.’ Yet this girl was never somnambulic, and was in
perfect health.”
that she
had a faculty of seeing different to that of ordinary human beings,”—p. 166.
So she
says of spectres, that “ their features are mostly as when alive, and their
eyes bright, often like aflame.”—p. 77.
It would
doubtless be an easy matter to extend much farther this list of parallelisms,
but it would require such copious citations from Swedenborg to present the
items in their true light, that I forbear. The fact of the coincidences must be
very obvious, and the grand conclusion equally so, that the human race is in
the closest conjunction with the spiritual world, and that Swedenborg has
developed the laws by which that relation is governed. With the present accumulation
of facts before us, and with such a power of internal evidence as attaches to
his revelations, we cannot but regard it as idle to dispute the soundness of
his claim to a supernatural insight into the verities of the world unseen.
This claim is to be decided upon by the truth or falsity of the fundamental
principles on which his disclosures rest. A thousand objections may be
urged against the details of the system; but the main question is that
which regards the principles. If these are sound and incontrovertible,
and what are called the details flow by legitimate sequence from them,
they obviously cannot be wrought into a plea which shall go to nullify the
force of the evidence that sustains the principles. These principles
are psychological. They involve the true nature of the human soul. If that is
what Swedenborg affirms—if the soul is the real man, and the body a mere mass
of machinery by which to execute its promptings—then we see not but all that he
has stated respecting its future conditions will inevitably follow. But the
truth in regard to the nature of the soul is a truth that is to be apprehended
independent of the literal averments of the Scriptures, as much so as the
truth of Astronomy or Geology, and this truth, when once reached, is imperative
on our belief, and must necessarily control our interpretations of the sacred
text. No intelligent man feels himself bound to forego the conclusions of his
reason in regard to the structure of the solar system, and the age of the
earth, because he finds the inspired writers adopting the language of appearances
and accommodating themselves to popular apprehensions. So we hold that the
intuitions of the human mind, when they have free scope, must recognize
the intrinsic truth of Swedenborg’s doctrine of the soul. But his doctrine on
that head cannot be viewed apart from the whole body of his disclosures of the
spiritual world, to which the soul, even while sojourning in the body, properly
belongs. It is part and parcel of the same great system of spiritual existences.
The true issue then in regard to Swedenborg is not primarily that which
concerns an asserted mass of visions, but the truth of certain grand
psychological laws of our being, which is to be determined by its own internal
evidence. This issue, however, has thus far been uniformly avoided by the
opponents of the system. As if by one consent, they invariably urge their
warfare against what they are pleased to denominate the incredible and absurd
features of the revelations. Heedless of all protest against the crying
injustice of such a procedure, they still persist in hurling their arugmen-
tative missiles against the outworks and projections of the citadel without any
attempt to sap or undermine its foundations. The shout is—the visions !—the
visions / as if a more senseless rhodomontade could never have entered the
imagination of man. To all this our calm reply is, weigh thefundamental
psychological principles, and see if the truth of the visions can be
resisted. So also in regard to the great fact of an internal sense pervading
the Word, the order of assault is always to hold up to odium and contempt the
specific interpretations, with a total disregard of the philosophical basis on
which they rest. We ask if man has not a spiritual nature which absolutely
compels the inference, that just in proportion as that nature is developed, he
will necessarily affix spiritual ideas to what we may term material expressions
? But a spiritual idea is one that excludes space and time, and as death
introduces a_spirit into a sphere in which space and time are unknown, such a
spirit comes of course into a spiritual perception of the universal contents
of the Word. They are rendered at once universal truth. But the
exaltation of the inner nature in the present life brings the soul, in its measure,
into angelic perception, and thus into a community of views with them on all
spiritual themes. Is this ridiculous or absurd ? Is there not here the
assertion of a principle which claims consideration ? Is a man who holds
this view a fair butt at which to aim the shafts of scorn as having renounced
his reason and given in to the wildest dreams and fancies ? Show him the
fallacy of his positions, and he will then consent that you shall make game ex
abundanti of the crudities of his faith.
It is
then the internal evidence of the truth of the underlying philosophy of
Swedenborg’s system which commands the credence of its receivers, and enforces
its claims upon the world. But we know too well the innate aversion of the mass
of men to that cool, deep, and dispassionate reflection which the subject
demands in order to a just judgment to warrant the expectation of its being
generally entertained, unless in consequence of something which may be termed a
violent motive to inquiry. In the case of Christianity such a motive was
supplied by miracles, which were a merely external testimony compelling
attention to that which was internal; for miracles do not of themselves beget
faith in the truth of moral doctrines, but merely put the mind into an attitude
favorable to the perception of that internal evidence on which alone their
truth can be effectually received. At the present day we are not taught to
anticipate the working of miracles such as distinguished the introduction of
Christianity, for there is no new religion to be commended to acceptance, but
simply the development of the interior genius of that which is already
established. This development consists mainly in disclosing the hidden grounds
of the accordance between the teachings of that religion and the interior laws
and constitution of our nature. It may, therefore, be reasonably anticipated
that the confirmations by which this shall be authenticated will be of an
analogous nature—that they will grow out of some new phasis of the laws of our
being—that they will be something which, while it will strike the senses, will
at the same time address the reason in a voice too loud to be resisted—and
which shall thus absolutely force the mind to a comparison of the phenomena in
the two spheres of development. Mesmerism, we think, answers to these
conditions. The facts of Mesmerism we regard as the miracles of this age. Not
that they are intrinsically miraculous, for we have seen that they are the
product of the fixed laws of physiology and pneumatology, but they subserve the
ends of miracles in compelling attention to the spiritual disclosures
with which they inseparably connect themselves, and which must in the end as
assuredly confirm the claims of Swedenborg as the truth of the facts is established.
This is the issue which we confidently anticipate, and the Christian world can
therefore readily explain to itself how it is, that the receivers of his
doctrines are not in the slightest degree moved by any form or degree of
opposition to a system which they have embraced as the result of the most
profound inquiry and the most careful induction. They have reached and settled
calmly down in the conviction, not only that Swedenborg’s revelations are true,
but that their truth is of such a character, that it is impossible to
conceive that the facts should be otherwise, except by a total subversion
of the known laws of our nature. They will unanimously affirm, that the
principles which would prove their conclusion erroneous would sweep away the
grounds of every human judgment.
SWEDISH
DOCUMENT RESPECTING THE RELATION OF SWEDENBORG’S
DOCTRINES TO ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
The
ensuing document derives peculiar interest from the date of its publication,
which was as early as 1787, fifteen years after the death of Swedenborg. It is
a letter addressed by the “ Exegetical and Philanthopical Society” of Stockholm
to the Magnetic Association of Strasburgh, called “ La Societe des Amis
reunis,” which was formed for the purpose of prosecuting careful inquiries
into the nature and effects of Animal Magnetism, the results of which
continued for many years to be published in a journal devoted to the subject.
Of the society at Stockholm, from which the letter emanated, we know little
more than that it was instituted for the purpose of extending the doctrines of
the New Jerusalem, by publishing Swedenborg’s writings in the various languages
of Europe, together with a new and amended edition of Sebastian Schmidt’s Latin
version of the Bible, which was the one that Swedenborg habitually used. From a
notice of the society in the “ N. J. Magazine,” Lond. 1790 (vol. I. p. 25), it
appears that it was “first founded in the year 1786, by a few friends to truth,
and successively increased till their number amounted to more than two hundred
persons, the greatest part of whom were men holding respectable offices in the
State, and of distinguished learning, and the majority of them clergymen, not
to mention two of the first princes in Europe, who took upon themselves the
patronage of the Society.”
In
another notice in the same work, contained in a letter •from Stockholm, dated
1789, it is said that “ ever since the institution of the Exegetic and
Philanthropic Society, but especially in the course of the two last years,
a considerable number of the clergy have been introduced into the new
doctrine. In one single bishoprick we can now reckon no less than forty-six
respectable and profoundly learned clergymen, of whom I send you herewith a
list.”
This
letter, which is accompanied by an address to the king that we also insert, is
remarkable for the vein of simple-hearted and devout piety which it breathes,
and for the evidence it affords that the writers were early struck with the
obvious relation, which we have endeavored to establish, in the preceding
pages, between the facts of Animal Magnetism, then recently become known, and
the doctrines of Swedenborg. The fact is worthy to be commended to the
attention of New Churchmen at the present day, who we believe have been, for
the most part, opposed to the mixing up in any way, of the doctrines of the New
Jerusalem with the alleged developments of Mesmerism, though they have, at the
same time, been disposed to admit their abstract truth. From the view here
presented it does not appear, that these early receivers apprehended any danger
as likely to ensue from the recognition of the bearing which the Magnetic
phenomena were seen to have upon the disclosures admitted to have been made by
Swedenborg. That an impression to this effect should have been generally
entertained in this country, is not perhaps surprising when we reflect, that
the first announcement of these marvels was received with a universal
incredulity, and the whole subject treated as deserving only of contempt and
ridicule. In this state of things it was natural that the disciples of the New
Church should look with a jealous eye upon any kind of alliance between such a
mass of reputed delusions, and the sublime verities to which they had given
their cordial assent, and for which they had in many cases incurred odium and
obloquy. They wished, therefore, that the skirts of their religious faith might
be kept clear from the contaminating contact of anything that bore with the
public so bad a name as Mesmerism. It was not a slight reproach that attached
to the profession qf what they did fully and cordially believe. They
would not, therefore, willingly countenance pretensions which would be apt to
load their belief with gratuitous prejudice. But the course of time has
witnessed to the progress of truth. Mesmerism has gradually, in a great
measure, triumphed over the obloquy that assailed its outset. It is now very
generally conceded to involve a substantial truth, what ever abatement on
particular points may accompany the admission. Under these circumstances the
time seems to have come for taking stronger grounds in regard to its remarkable
phenomena, and this, we think, can only be done by presenting them in the light
of the New Church revelations. This we have attempted hi the present work. It
will be strange if those who are really most interested in such an expose
should be the ones who stand most decidedly aloof from it. But to the document
itself, for the translation of which, from the Swedish, I am indebted to the
kindness of Mr. F. A. Strahle. The reader will not feel himself bound to accept
all the pro-
posed
solutions of facts, especially those which imply the complete possession
of diseased patients by spirits. For ourselves we do not by any means bring
out this conclusion in interpreting the Mesmeric facts in connection with
Swedenborg’s doctrines. We give the article mainly as a historical document. ■
To his
Majesty the King (Gustavus III).
Most
Mighty and Gracious Sovereign.
Among
the blessings, which, through the ordering of an all-wise Providence, present
themselves to elevate your Majesty’s reign to that legitimate and ever
enduring glory, which statesmanship, from its natively vacillating counsels, is
so inadequate to reach, the foremost place undeniably belongs to that new
Heavenly Revelation, which the Lord in His infinite mercy, has vouchsafed to
communicate to .mankind through one of your Majesty’s subjects, the ^departed Emanuel Swedenborg.
However
common it has been in all ages, that “ a Prophet hath no honor in his country,”
yet now, since the above mentioned divine revelation and system of doctrine
for the Lord's New Church upon earth, has been for several years, in the
more enlightened countries of Europe, acknowledged and eulogized by lovers of
truth, with all that reverence, love, and admiration which its invaluable
worth and benefit to all ages, for time and eternity, deserves ; the turn has
at last come to our, otherwise in its temperament so frigid and dilatory
nation, to be aroused by the blaze of this heavenly light. Its first rays have
touched some among your Majesty’s loyal subjects, of all classes, and they
have, for their mutual encouragement and instruction in the knowledge and
practice of what is the Divine Goodness and Truth, united themselves into an “ Exegetical
and Philanthropic Society," instituted in this City the past year, on
the birthday of His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, on the 1st of November,
and strengthened since that time by the addition of a worthy and considerable
number of members, both national and foreign.
Praised
be the name of the Lord for ever, who has permitted us all, the present
members of this Society, to live until this day in peace and quietness, under a
Christian government, and your Majesty’s mild and righteous sway; for which
blessing we daily, from grateful hearts, offer up to the Highest, prayers and
thanksgiving for the King, so that we may for time to come “lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and honesty; for this is good and acceptable in
the sight of God our Saviour.”
Such are
our united and invariable sentiments, to which, through the Lord’s grace, we
hope that our manner of living shall ever correspond; our doctrines also not
tolerating anything differing from this; for their fundamental principle is “
that no one can attain eternal happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven, except in as
far as he in this life has been a good subject and citizen in his earthly
father-land.” (Vide Doctrina Novce Hierosolyma Cadestis, No. 93.)
This
solemn declaration before God, of our irrevocable sentiments, in which it is
our purpose to live as Christians and happily to die, we lay at the foot of the
throne of our most indulgent Sovereign, with the deepest feelings of respect
and attachment; praying submissively, and supplicating for ourselves, the
present as well as the future, both national and foreign Brethren under the
dominion of your Majesty, as being one and all Professors of the pure
Christianity of the Bible and of that Divine doctrine which the Lord has been
pleased to reveal to his New Church, and which is founded thereupon; to be
continued undisturbed for the future, in the gracious favor and protection of
your Royal Majesty.
Most
gracious King! The cure of diseases by means of Magnetism, and its adjunct,
Somniloquism, are subjects which at the present time attract the public
attention in most European countries.
Several
worthy and distinguished members and friends of the “ Exegetical and
Philanthropic Society” have also taken cognizance of these two important
discoveries.
Among
the former, or the actual members of the Society, many estimable gentlemen have
not only informed themselves about the many curious phenomena connected with
these discoveries, from foreign journals, but have also instituted experiments
themselves, or else have become attentive, impartial and critical witnesses of
the answers put forth by sleep-talkers to questions proposed, on which
occasions also many of the latter, or the friends of the Society, have been
present.
These
gentlemen have, by these means, become convinced that these phenomena, when
looked upon from a proper stand-point, that is, with reference, not to vain
curiosity, but to the real benefit of mankind, never can, in their origin
and. characteristics, as also in their already known or yet to be
developed effects and consequences, be satisfactorily explained, unless
regarded in harmony with a true and genuine knowledge of the Creator, Man, and
Nature.
As this
knowledge, in its highest and most perfect purity, is found in that Divine
Revelation which the Lord has been pleased to give mankind in the Bible, as
well as in those doctrinal writings which his infinite Goodness, and Wisdom
have dictated, inspired and recorded for His New Church upon earth, the before
mentioned members and friends of the Society, have deemed it profitable, that
such truths as may be serviceable to the object contemplated, should be
collected from these Divine and heavenly sources.
Most
gracious King ’ Such is the motive for putting forth the present treatise,
which the Society felt it a duty to present in print, as a subject for farther
reflection. The sketch of the practical use and application of this science
in every-day life, which the Society has found occasion to exhibit in this
little work, and which object ought always to be the aim of pure Christianity,
will, it is hoped, with the blessing of God, not be without fruit among readers
who love virtue and properly value the truth.
The
Society has also considered the opportunity of sending this Treatise to other
countries, as appropriate for obtaining information respecting the increase of
solicitude to become thoroughly acquainted in its whole extent with the New
Divine Communication vouchsafed to the Lord’s New Church, which may have
spread in the more important European countries ; in order that the Society
may hereafter more definitely fix upon the best time to execute certain of its
adopted designs in regard to publishing, 1st. Sebastian Schmidt’s faithful
and excellent Latin version of the Bible, and which is to contain Emanuel
Swedenborg’s amendments, in accordance with the original Hebrew and Greek texts.
2d. The Lord’s Divine Revelation to His New Church in the original Latin. 3d.
Complete and exact translations of the foregoing works in French, no less than
in the vernacular tongue of our own country.
And in
order to secure the execution of the above-mentioned projects in this our
country, so that the expense of the several editions, as well as the profits
from foreign sales of the same, may remain in the land, the Society do most humbly
beseech your Majesty to grant them his gracious copyright and privilege for
these and other works yet to appear, with exemption from the shackles of
censorship ; a great and royal favor which the Society, in view of the immense
importance of this their undertaking, viz. the benefit of sound instruction to
mankind on subjects which most intimately concern their happiness and
well-being for time and for eternity, in the greatest humility venture to
assure themselves, can never be refused to the Society by a great, enlightened,
mild and righteous Sovereign; it being, on the contrary, their most ardent
desire and lively hope, that Heaven in infinite mercy has chosen as a blessing
and a protector to her New Church, for the new heaven-descended city, a King,
whom a kind and all-wise Providence has set over this northern land, out of
which the Lord has called that Messenger whom he has been graciously pleased to
make use of to record and publish his Divine Revelation to his New Church: in
order that in both these important particulars might be fulfilled what the Lord
has foretold : “ Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted
(or, caused to rest,) my spirit in the north country” (Zech. vi. 8).
In an
age such as the present, when religious persecution is regarded by every wise
government with that detestation which it deserves, no Swedish citizen, and
least of all the members of this Society, can so far misapprehend the principles
according to which our beloved country is governed by your Majesty, as to
suppose that the Society can be actuated in taking the step which we now in all
humility undertake, from fear of any exhibition of that intolerance which leads
the way only to darkness and barbarism. No; reasons and motives quite different
and more momentous have confirmed our conviction, that the time is now arrived
when that Divine light which the LORD so mercifully has caused to spring up in
our beloved country, must no longer be “covered with a bushel, or be put under
a bed; but it is to be set on a candlestick, so that they which enter in may
see the light: for nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest, neither
anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad.” According as every
one, ruler as well as subject, shall examine, receive and follow this divine
light of truth, so shall be their destiny in this world and in that which is to
come; “ for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not,
from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.” Providence will no
longer permit, as the time of the Lord's Second Advent draws near, that truth
shall be paired with vice, virtue with falsehood, or Christ with Belial; for
the time is now again at hand, of which it is said: “ One mightier than I
cometh; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire ; whose fan is
in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the
w’heat into his garner; but the chaff he will bum with fire unquenchable.” Yes,
“ the time is at hand; he that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which
is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be
righteous still; and he that is holy, letliim be holy still. And behold ! I
come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to everyman according as his
work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and
the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Most
gracious King' the Society have considered themselves bound to submit this
short account of their general proceedings, and the object of the present
treatise in particular, in the present form, with all humility, to your
Majesty.
’ The
Society commend themselves to the high favor and protection of your Majesty for
ever, with the most fervent prayers and ardent wishes for your Majesty’s
happiness.
Most mighty and gracious King,
Your Royal Majesty’s
Most humble and
loyal subjects, The Exegetical and
Philanthropic Society.
LETTER TO THE “ SOCIETIE DES
AMIS REUNIS,” AT
STRASBURG.
Gentlemen,—The genuine benefits which accrue to mankind
through your useful researches and unremitting labor to alleviate its
sufferings, have awakened in us that respect and veneration which always are
the concomitants of philanthropic virtue and active wisdom; and we hereby
assure you, worthy sirs, of the pleasure which we have experienced in reading
those learned and important works, which some of your members have published on
the subject of Animal Magnetism.
Several
of the members of our Society have practised magnetizing diligently and with
success; and these experiments have contributed much to direct our attention to
the true principles of Magnetism and Somnambulism, and consequently to a
solution of the phenomena which they exhibit. Permit us, then, to lay before
you the results of our investigations of these subjects.
We
believe that those systems which have their foundation in mere physical causes,
as “ La Psycologie Sacree de Lyon,” are quite inadequate to explain how those
singular effects take place and are produced, which Magnetism and Somnambulism
present. It seems to be impossible fully and rationally to explain them,
unless we once for all, and without shrinking from the shafts of ridicule, take
it for granted that spiritual beings exert an influence upon the organs of the
invalid during the time that the power of Magnetism has produced a partial
cessation of the functions of the soul, and that these spiritual agents, in
virtue of the higher degrees of knowledge which they possess, originate these
wonderful and 12*
otherwise
inexplicable phenomena. To maintain that the human soul, or the primitive Ego
(as it is called in the language of the “ Psycologie Sacree,”) can effect
anything of this kind, or know anything about it, after the paroxysm, would be
to assume facts which militate against reason, and are controverted by the
ideas which we entertain respecting the human soul; namely, that its essence
consists in the will and the understanding; properties which can never exist,
except man possesses self-consciousness (conscientia sui), which somnambulists
generally do not.
Being
at the present time engaged in the examination of those manuscripts which were
left to us by our enlightened countryman Emanuel Swedenborg, we have
transcribed a few passages from them which serve to throw light upon these
subjects, and herewith subjoin these extracts, together with some others from
his printed works ; all of which may be useful in explaining the causes of
disease, the operations of Magnetism, and the real state of the sleep-talker;
all of which is drawn from that true theory of the soul and its influence upon
the body, which we briefly insert at the close of the extracts.[†††]
We propose, should you so desire, further to pursue the analysis and proofs of the
truths therein contained, and should "consider ourselves very fortunate
if we should succeed in imparting to them that importance and weight which, in
the estimation of every virtuous lover of knowledge and friend of humanity,
they so richly deserve.
We
defer, for the present, letting our memoranda of the experiments so often by us
repeated, be seen in print. Experiments have irresistibly strengthened us in
the belief of those principles which we here disclose, as being the only
satisfactory clue to all the phenomena appertaining to Magnetism and
Somnambulism. We will, however, remark in this place, by way of introduction,
that every true friend of his species and sincere worshiper of virtue and
truth, who with sincere and humble prayer to “ the Lord that healeth,” begins
in full reliance on Him to magnetize the sick, after # preparing
them for a similar frame of mind, may convince himself by personal experience
of the effective power of this remedy : a remedy known in ancient times, and
now, through Divine Providence, restored to mankind for purposes worthy of His
goodness and wisdom, and which will undoubtedly more and more develope
themselves to those who desire to know them with a view of doing good. Every
Magnetiser,
after
having brought his patient into a state of sleep-talking, may at pleasure not
only convince himself that the sleep - talker is a different being from the
patient, but also come to the knowledge of who t^at being is, and of a thousand
other wonderful things respecting another life, religious truths, and the
inward state of man. A Magnetizer speaking only to the spirit as to another
person, and not to the sleeper, can, by rational, directed, and well-digested
questions, render it practicable for the spirit to make itself known as a
being differing from him whose tongue it makes use of. This communica- « tion
seems not to fall within the sphere of those beings who speak through the
organs of the sleeper, before, by the Lord’s permission, those present by their
questions, thus arranged, have opened the way. But every one who will institute
these experiments, must be careful not to abuse them by an improper curiosity;
for such an abuse would not fail to provoke the infliction of well-deserved
chastisement.
We
make this remark after mature deliberation, and for reasons which have great
influence upon our hearts; and are prepared to meet every objection or
contradiction, and even, if necessary, that ridicule and mockery which may be
heaped upon us by the unthinking and spiteful rabble—who in everything of this
description see nothing but an object of scorn and sarcasm; for these persons
push their talents high, in never investigating a subject, or to see it in any
other, but that distorted and obscure light which best suits them. Those ignorant
and self-worshiping people, who take upon themselves to express the mind of the
public, whose scourge they are, and who mislead the weak-minded, so as to
destroy them with greater ease—these, we say, are particularly eager and active
to assail everything with ridicule, which bears any reference to a future life,
the solemn thought of which they hoot at with impious temerity, with insane
levity endeavoring to exclude all hopes of a hereafter, and to banish them
from the hearts of others. No doubt you recognize the picture of those persons
to whom we allude in this sketch: your country is full of them, as well as the
rest of Europe, over which these apostates from humanity have spread themselves,
like the locust and the palmer-worm, and where they impudently assume the name
of philosophers, to which they have no right whatever; they base their false
conclusions upon an imaginary foundation which they call Nature, pretending
that nature is entirely independent of its Creator; they rely upon their own understandings,
which in every respect are at variance with eternal wisdom; and against this
wisdom these modern giants, in their vain imagination, throw up mountains of
sophisms, one more frightful than the other; but the fate of such, has, and
ever will be to sink back into that nothing, into which they strive to plunge
the soul and everything which connects it with the Supreme Being, Heaven and
the World of Spirits.
As
we have the pleasure of speaking to true philosophers, such as you, worthy
sirs, whose benevolent disposition we venerate, there is no need of offering
any apology for the digression from our subject, into which our just
indignation towards these wrong-headed sophists, has led us. We afb persuaded
that you lament with us, the evils which they inflict upon the human race,
while they furnish the edge of their self-supposed keenness of intellect,'only
for the purpose of overthrowing +he foundations of true religion,
the blotting out of Divine Revelation, and the destruction of all real virtue,
which is the bond of society, by which alone it can be kept together.
The extracts annexed to this letter, translated
from the Latin, and the conclusions and remarks which we draw from them, will
serve to elucidate what we have already briefly advanced ; and as in both of
these parts of our letter, we go back to those first principles, to which the
phenomena known in Magnetism and Somnambulism have led us, subjects which at
the present time seem to rivet the attention of every reflecting person in
Europe, we wish to say that the opportunity was too favorable to let pass, to
direct such persons to the excellent maxims which alone can afford guidance, in
the investigation of the causes of any visible effects whatever. As there is an
indissoluble connection between all existing things, as there is between all
truths, it is and remains at all times impossible to find the truth perfectly
pure and unadulterated, without mixture of error, except we take it from
Divine Revelation, which is the only living and inexhaustible fountain of
truth; and which is now unknown or misunderstood, as its waters so long have
been troubled and soiled, but which offers, when purified and restored to its
primitive clearness, to every one who drinks of it, a well of living water springing
up into everlasting life. ■
The
high esteem in which we hold you, in consequence of your laudable and generous
efforts in behalf of the welfare of your fellow-beings, forbids us to doubt,
that, as Christian philosophers, you will concede, that the introduction which
we have given to those subjects which are treated of in this little brochure,
may be advantageously read by many, inasmuch as it may awaken a desire further
to investigate several topics of importance, which we have here merely touched
upon. We have, moreover, convincing proofs, that Magnetism and Somnambulism,
by their extensive and beneficial influence, if rightly understood and applied,
are intimately connected with the advancement of divine truth; that they
strengthen and corroborate it by means of a speaking illustration
(illustratio loquens), a name by which they seem to be sufficiently
identified by the author mentioned above. It must also be admitted, that if
man, as is asserted by that writer, who was illumined by Divine truth, is
originally created to be at the same time an inhabitant of earth and a citizen
of heaven, Phil. iii. 20, (“ For our conversation is in heaven,” &c.) so as
to have his outward senses of sight and hearing opened, and through them to
hold communion with his fellow-men, and also to have his inward sight and hearing
in exercise, in order to see and converse with angels and spirits; if this be
so, which we do not at all doubt, then Somnambulism may become to the
Magnetizer and those present, who will rightly improve it, an adumbration, though
feeble, of the first immediate correspondence with the invisible world; a state
to which mankind may again aspire, when, the Lord’s New Kingdom shall have
found sufficient access to the hearts of mortals, that his Holy City may come
down from heaven, and the tabernacle of God shall again “ be with men, and he
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be
with them, and be their God.”
We
even venture to hope, that every attentive reader who, after divesting himself
of all prejudice, so as to look steadily at nothing but the pure truth,
established by experience, follows the chain of ideas and argument here
presented, and puts himself in a position to make the experiments therewith
connected, shall be ^prepared to become convinced of the following truths and
effects of Magnetism, viz :
1.
That all that is physical in
Animal Magnetism, is only instrumentally appertaining to it, and that its main
element is of a moral or spiritual nature.
2.
That there are two modes of
magnetising, one of which our sleep-talkers call the wonder-working, and
the other the supernatural * The moral cause which constitutes the
efficacy of the former, is the strong desire possessed by the magnetizer to
make an impression upon the patient, and the reliance which he places in his
own powers ; the moral or spiritual cause of supernatural magnetism, is also
the desire which the Magnetizer possesses of working upon the patient, and
especially upon his inner man, which corresponds with the disease; a desire
which does not spring from the Magnet- izer’s vanity or self-conceit, nor from
any ultimate views of gaining fame or money; nor does it proceed from any confidence
in himself; but on the contrary, from a sincere and humble wish to be useful,
subjected entirely to the will of God. For this end he invokes the Divine
blessing, if so be that the healing of the sick, whom he desires to benefit,
shall be conformable to the Divine purpose, in which alone he places all his
confidence; the aim and desires of the one extend no farther than to what
appertains to the natural and physical good ; that of the other not to the
natural and physical alone, but •especially to the spiritual good of the soul
which alone can be truly and really beneficial to man. Such a magnetizer,
convinced that all diseases, as well as all physical pain and ills to which
mankind are exposed, are results of moral evil, endeavors by his conversation,
and yet more by his life and conduct, in a friendly manner to impress the
patient with that important admonition which our Lord gave the man who had been
diseased for a period of eight and thirty years, whom he restored, and to whom
the Lord said: cc Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a
worse thing come unto thee.”*
3.
That the true theory of man
teaches: that the human soul is a spiritual organ, endowed with free will,
reason and power of action, which in proportion as it makes a good or perverse
use of these capacities, renders itself apt and fitted to receive the
influences of goodness and wisdom from the Lord, through the medium of angels
and good spirits ; or the influences of evil and folly from hell, through the
medium of devils and malignant spirits. All diseases, even those caused by
accident, as well as the accident which have given occasion to the disease,
are consequent upon the influences from hell, to which man by his unbridled
passions and desireslays himself open. It is vainly objected against this, that
there are sick persons, who to the eye of the world appear almost like saints,
and seem to have kept themselves aloof from fleshly lusts which war against the
soul (1 Pet. ii. 11). We may be fully persuaded, that these persons, if they
sincerely examine themselves before God, will find abundant cause to complain
in the words of Paul: “ The law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin;
so that when I would do good, evil is present with me; for I delight in the law
of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind” (Rom. vii. 14, 21, 22, 23).f But as sickness and
diseases are not the sole evils which afflict mankind, we may easily find,
that a person in perfect health may be more under the dominion of evil desires,
than many a sick person. It would be a gross mistake to make unpalatable and
improper application of this general principle to each one individually, alike
repugnant to the rules of good breeding and decorum, as to that Christian love
and charity, which, far from being puffed up or vaunting itself at the misfortune
of a fellow-being, hopeth all things for the best concerning him, and in the
meantime, endureth all things, 1 Cor. xiii. 7, and seeks by every possible
means to promote his welfare.
4.
That the act of magnetizing is
chiefly a moral act, and that its physical part, is such merely as a handle or
instrument. The operative cause is the magnetizer’s strong desire
to benefit his neighbor; and the effect is that of removing or expelling
the influence of the disease, as our sleep-wakers express it. In consequence
of what they have told us, Magnetism, as to its moral cause, has some
resemblance, though faint, with the laying on of hands, which divine gift the
Lord imparted to the members of his church on earth in the days of the
Apostles, and the promise of which seems to be given not to the primitive
Christians alone, but may belong to subsequent times also, should Providence
consider it conducive to the furtherance of his holy designs ; this is the
evident import contained in the divine promise, where the Lord says : “ And
these signs shall follow them that believe : in my name shall they cast out
devils, &c.—they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark
xvi. 17, 18). Here mention is made generally of those that believe, without
any limitation as to the time it is to continue. Comp. James v. 14, 15. That
this gift has ceased ever since the councils began, is alas ! but too true;
for from that time onward the Christian world has perverted that pure religion
which the Lord bequeathed to his church, by the spurious glosses and additions
which they have appended to his doctrine of the Holy Trinity, of the salvation
of man, and other fundamental articles of belief;—to these errors have been of
course superadded the declension of morals; and it is nothing but these errors
and vices which have so remarkably adulterated Christianity, and caused it to
swerve from that purity of heart and understanding, which ought to characterize
the genuine worshipers of the Lord* (2 Tim. iv. 3). But we do not find it in
any wise militating against the Lord’s goodness and wisdom, that when, of his
great mercy, he shall again visit and edify his new church, he may, with purity
of life and doctrine, also restore those his precious gifts which He bestowed
upon his first disciples.f It’ is certain, that ever since the memorable period
of 1757, not a year has passed, that attentive enlightened observers have not
been aware of the progress which the revolution in habits of thought and
action, which is now going on in our planet, is constantly making. Just as the
rising sun dispels the mist and vapors of the earth
before
him, so the approach of the Lord’s new kingdom seems, in like manner, to have
stimulated the powers of hell, to oppose its spread with all their might, as
says the Prophet: “ Wo to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea ! for the
devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he hath but a short
time” (Rev. xii. 12.) But if that madness, which wickedness and error entail
upon their votaries, has been more general and apparent, even so have Goodness
and Truth also, in their turn, made greater and more rapid advancement since
that period, through the influence from on high which they have been permitted
to exercise upon those who with sincere hearts dedicate themselves to virtue
and wisdom. The transition which we find that the natural world is undergoing,
and which is palpably increased by the influence of the spiritual world upon
this, renders it probable, as our sleep -walkers have declared; that
supernatural gifts and powers will be bestowed upon such, who abstain from all
known and deliberate sinning, and in their hearts sincerely and humbly desire
and pray, that the Lord's will may be done in everything, and theirs only in as
far as it shall be perfetcly conformable to His. In the expectation,
thereof, of seeing these hopes, so fraught with blessings to the human race,
confirmed, there certainly can be nothing wrong, to consider some results of
Magnetism and Somnambulism, which have already manifested themselves, as being
the harbingers of those blessings which the Lord in his great mercy may have in
store for his obedient and humble children, who are practically virtuous and
zealous for the truth.
5.
That the state of the
Somnambulist, during the magnetic sleep, may be called ecstatic, in order by
that epithet to indicate a suspension of the functions of the will and of the
understanding, in the exercise of which, man’s ordinary being, or esse,
consists. Such a state plainly demonstrates, that what is said or done through
the sleeper’s organs, is not the act of his soul, but of some other being, who
has taken possession of his organs, and operates through them. So long as the
magnetized person exhibits painful paroxysms, such as convulsions, &c., it
is a sign that the spirit of disease, which certainly cannot be a benevolent
being, is still present; but this spirit has no power to- speak through the
organs of the patient, unless he is fully possessed; a dreadful condition, of
which we have seen some appalling examples, of which statements have been
prepared, to the truthfulness of which there are many credible witnesses; this
condition is to a certain degree the same with 'that of those who are deprived
of their reason. So soon as the magnetized person begins to talk in his sleep,
it is a sure sign, that a spiritual being and friendly to the person (as being
his guardian-angel
or good genius, and possessing the same measure of
goodness and. wisdom with the patient) has succeeded if not entirely to remove
the disease or rather the spirit of disease, has at least in so far rebuked its
influence, that he, who is a benevolent being, is able to speak and act
through means of the patient’s organs, and to give suitable advice to those
present to promote his recovery; as also to impart information on all subjects
which do not transcend his own knowledge. But there must be no other questions
proposed, than such as may be practically useful and have a good object in
view; and not such as have their origin in a vain curiosity, and still less
such as are designed to ridicule and debase so serious a matter. There are
unfortunately persons of so malicious a disposition, who carry the depravity
of their hearts even thus far; pretending with all possible boldness and
assurance to assert, that Magnetism and Somnambulism, are nothing but humbug
and imposition, devised by the patients themselves, who assume this guise of
sleep-talkers only for the purpose of deceiving the spectators. Such an
imputation proves, that these self-styled philosophers possess as little of
sound understanding as of benevolent virtue; that they are incapable of
discerning truth from falsehood, or to investigate a matter justly and without
prejudice, while they always bring forward the possibilities of their
own perverted imagination, instead of actual realities, of which every
reasonable and candid person may be convinced through his natural senses,
which furnish him with incontrovertible testimony, through the genuine deductions
of his reasoning faculties, and finally through a constant and infallible
experience. As the spirit of disease and its influences gradually relinquish
their hold upon the patient, it often happens, that from day to day, good
spirits of a higher nature and more extensive knowledge, attach
themselves to the patient, which may be ascertained by inquiring every time for
the name which the spirit has borne while on earth and in the flesh. By the
extension or degree of knowledge just spoken of, we mean a higher and more
perfect intimacy with the spiritual and sublime sciences, but not with those of
a natural and earthly nature, for with them spirits of a lower grade are more
conversant, as those subjects are more homogeneal to the natural disposition,
which the higher spirits have laid aside, but those of lower grades have not. *
From
this short sketch of the phenomena as connected with our principles, which have
moved us to address you with this letter, and to subject its contents to the
judgment of yourselves and the reflecting public, you will not fail to see,
worthy sirs, that the development and proofs of the whole are connected with
the many distinct topics which we have been obliged to touch upon in the
preceding compendious synopsis and subsequent extracts. We venture, however,
to hope that neither you, worthy sirs, nor any other intelligent reader, will
find anything superfluous, when that . compend is considered from the
stand-point of general utility, but rather a stimulus and encouragement to seek
for farther information, and to push experiments to a greater extent, which
is what we especially aim at.
How
desirable it is that those who, from inclination and with earnestness, apply
themselves to the study of Magnetism and Somnambulism, would suffer themselves
to be encouraged from this, more and more to lift up their hearts and their
understandings to Him“ who alone doeth great wonders, for his mercy endure th
for ever”(Ps. cxxxvi. 4). What an infinity of sublime knowledge, what depths of
useful and enlightening truths are held out to those in that new Divine revelation
which the Lord of his boundless mercy has been pleased in these our days to add
to that proclamation which he has already given us from his goodness and
wisdom, as contained in the Holy Bible! But the beneficial and saving power of
both these fountains of Divine truth, is misunderstood by those who thence
seek for truth, without being animated by the heavenly desire to put in
practice that which they learn, and to carry out in the life all that is good
and profitable. Yes, for without this all endeavors to discover the secrets of
wisdom are nugatory, and on the contrary injurious, and will draw down misery
and condemnation upon those who abuse them. It is all of no avail“to
speak with the tongues of man and angels, or have the gift of prophecy, and to
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have all faith, so as to remove
mountains,” (1 Cor. xiii. 1,) except a man’s life exhibits a constant practice
of brotherly love. As the Greenlander during six months of the year does not
see the sun above his horizon, but is surrounded by his eternal ice, illumined
only by the feeble light dispensed by the moon and the northern lights, just so
unhappy is his condition when compared with the happy and active inhabitants
under a more temperate and agreeable zone, as the state of him who is covetous
of knowledge but devoid of virtue, deceived by the vain distinction of being
seen and gazed at, and the object of his own misguided self-love, when compared
with the intelligent and moral man who exerts himself for the welfare of his
race, wisely and virtuously, carrying within the light of eternal wisdom, and
the vivifying heat of the sun of heavenly love, and by these guided and cheered
on. his way. He cannot be deceived as to the correctness of his steps, which
all tend to the same goal, which is, to glorify his Maker and to benefit
society. As he progresses on this laudable path, all difficulties disappear,
even those which to him seemed insurmountable ; he discovers new opportunities
for doing good, and finds fresh means of accomplishing it. The steadily
increasing desire of enlarging his sphere of usefulness, and the heavenly
satisfaction which accompanies the practice of virtue and benevolence, are the
true and substantial rewards which are earned by an honest man, a good
citizen, and a genuine Christian. It is this ever-active love and solicitude
for the well-being of the human family—this only true virtue, which the divine
and beneficent doctrines of Christianity so eminently uphold and inculcate,
when they teach that love to God and man never faileth, but that all other
qualities and gifts shall come to nought (1 Cor. xiii. 8). For it is the
appropriate province and element of the soul of man to practise this. Happy,
therefore, is that man who, during his pilgrimage through this life, in which
he is tried and trained up for a better state of existence hereafter, endeavors
to improve every moment which Divine Providence allots him, to the active
exercise of this virtue, of which it is said, “ He that dwelleth in love,
dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John iv. 16); and thus he enjoys a real
blessedness, and his heaven begins already on earth.
That
divine revelation which the Lord of his infinite mercy has vouchsafed to His
new church, aims principally to kindle this virtue in the breast of every
mortal. It is a revelation ’ which, by the most persuasive arguments, calls
back the Christian to that paramount commandment of love (John xv. 12,
17; 1 Cor. xiii. 13), the obedience and practice of which are his true and
distinguishing mark (John xv. 12, 13). The application of this beneficent
doctrine to the social duties, which is the main point in the new revelation
from heaven, demonstrates how useful it would be in every state and every government
; it urges, as its cardinal principle, that no one can be happy in the eternal
state, only in as far as he has been a good citizen and a faithful subject in
this life. (See The New Heaven, No. 93.) A principle which is rendered so clear
and conspicuous by this doctrine, that in the view of every attentive and
unbiassed reader, it completely throws to the ground those pernicious errors,
those superstitious schemes, which the passions, ignorance and unbelief of men
have sought to introduce in preference to the social virtues; the only path
which conducts to happiness in this life and in that which is to come.
We
beg to express our desire, worthy sirs, that you, as well as the Societies or
individuals to whose knowledge this letter may come, and who take an interest
therein, or are engaged in those subjects of w’hich it treats, would do us the
kindness to send us such of their published works, which are herewith
connected, and at the same time have the goodness to inform us at which
bookseller’s or commercial house we are to forward the payment therefor. We
would also, with great pleasure, accept written comments on this letter, and
the topics which are therein presented.
Before
concluding this letter, may we be permitted to annex an announcement intended,
not for yourselves alone, but for every one under whose eye this short epistle
may fall, and which it was intended from the beginning to make generally
known, viz. that we have undertaken to publish A new and corrected edition
of all the books of the new heavenly revelation to the Lord’s new Church,
embracing, 1. A reprint of the- original Latin works, those already printed
in England and Holland as well as the not yet printed manuscripts, 2. French
and Swedish translations of these works; and 3. A reprint of Sebastian
Schmidt’s Latin version of the canonical books of the Sacred Scriptures, with
Emanuel Swedenborg's corrections and amendments, according to the Hebrew and
Greek original ground text. This edition will be issued with all that care
and attention which the great importance of the subject demands, and in a convenient
quarto or octavo form, printed with clear type and on good paper. The price
will be as low as the outlay attending so great an undertaking will admit, and
will be regulated according to the larger or smaller number of copies which
shall be printed; and in order that it may be known by what to be guided in
this matter, we beg that all friends of the truth, who wish such an undertaking
to be carried into effect, would please to notify us how many copies of these
several works may be sold by them.
We remain, with friendship and
esteem,
Worthy sirs,
’ Your humble servants, The Exegetical and Philanthropic Society.
Stockholm, June 19, 1787.
Notes to the above Letter.
A. That men, whose
lives and principles otherwise are highly vicious and culpable, may perform
miracles, is attested by the Lord himself (Matt. vii. 22, 23). Those who have
studied so deeply in the arts of Magic and Thaumaturgy, should seriously
reflect upon this declaration of the Lord: their eternal happiness depends
upon it; and no one can with impunity enter these devious paths, leading away
from the only true one which leadeth unto life (John xiv. 6).
It is
evident that by supernatural is meant whatever is beyond the natural,
sensual and corporeal, and signifies, therefore the spiritual and heavenly.
In this sense it is said in the Sacred Scriptures, “ that which is bom of the
flesh, is flesh, and that which is bom of the spirit, i$ spirit,” (John iii.
6); and “the natural man receive th not the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned ” (1 Cor. ii. 14). “ It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing; the words which the Lord speaketh unto us, they
are spirit and life ” (John vi. 63). It is characteristic of all the gifts of
the Spirit, that they tend to general benefit and improvement (1 Cor. xii. 7
and sequ.); but such is by no means the case with love of self and the love
of the world. Those who possess only the wonder-working power, are impelled
by these affections (Matt. vii. 22, 23); and consequently possess the
wonder-working power of Magnetism only, unaccompanied by the supernatural,
that is, the spiritual and heavenly power and influence.
We may
remark here, in passing, that the frequent relapses to which all who have been
considered as cured by means of the wonder-working magnetism, are exposed,
spring from lack of virtue and wisdom in those egoistic Mag- netisers, who in
their efforts aim only at effect, that is, at the diseases themselves, but
overlook the most important effect, which aims at the causes, or the patient’s
moral disposition and character; which causes, as long as they exist, cannot
but produce the same effects, or repeated relapses. On the other hand, we have
cases of cure in the most inveterate diseases, such as gout, rheumatism,
lameness, deafness, &c. by means of the other species of magnetism which,
as it were, introduces between the magnetiser and the magnetised a sphere of
communication, of action and reaction, and of confidence and reliance upon the
Lord who healeth (Exod. xv. 27); and of genuine zeal to obey all His holy
commandments, which is the only legitimate evidence that man can offer in proof
of his love for this his greatest benefactor, whose assistance he invokes and
trusts to (John xiv. 21). In this manner is brought to pass what the Sacred
Scriptures declare, namely, that“ the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and
the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he have committed sins, they shall be
forgiven him” (James v. 15). When the cause of the disease, or the dominion of
sin in the patient’s heart, has ceased to exist, then the effect, which was the
disease itself, also ceases, never to return.
B* That diseases
generally are caused by evil spirits, corresponds with the declaration of the
Sacred Scriptures, as in Acts xix. 11,12:—“ And God wrought special miracles by
the hand of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick
handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil
spirits went out of them.53 It is here spoken of diseases, but not
of the being possessed by unclean spirits, which has been added by some later
translators of the Bible, but is not found in the original Greek. Between
common diseases and possessions there is, however, a fundamental distinction;
in the former, the person is only influenced to a certain degree by the evil
spirits, but in the latter, the same as in madness and insanity, which always
is a more or less complete possession, he is altogether under the dominion of
Satan and devils. These spirits of disease are also spoken of in the Sacred
Scriptures (vvtvpa ’acfavcias, spiritus in- firmitatis). We are
told in Luke xiii. 11, that“there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity
eighteen years, and wTas bowed together, and could in no wise lift
up herself.” In the Greek there is nothing in this passage which hidicates that
this woman was possessed, but only afflicted with a kind of paralytic disease;
such was also the case with Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, who was not at all
possessed (Luke iv. 38, 39); but is spoken of as suffering from a great fever,
and it is said the Lord rebuked the fever, and it left her; which expression
sufficiently illustrates that the disease had its origin from a spirit which
the Lord rebuked and cast out.
C. Every man who lives
in this world receives more or less good and bad influences ; this life is only
a preparatory state, in which man has full liberty to choose to which kind of
influence he will surrender himself, either to that of heaven or to that from
hell; which always conforms to the man’s habits, the passions which govern him,
that desire which he possesses to find the truth, and to carry it into
practice, the use which he makes of his physical and mental powers, and the
moral and natural advantages of birth, fortune, &c. with which Providence
has endowed him.
JD. The natural world is
the world of effects or of phenomena, in their lowest sphere, or lowest
degree of consolidation in a natural form; these effects have their cause or
origin in the spiritual world, even as their final object is derived from the
celestial world, the soul of which is the Lord Eternal, Godman (Deus Homo),
who thus orders and ordains all ultimate results, causes and effects by his
Divine Providence, as the Lord himself testifies, saying, “ Who hath wrought
and done it, calling the generations from the beginning ? I, the Lord, the
first, and with the last; I am he” (Isaiah xli. 4).
As the
three properties of man, viz. 1. The will, which refers to the end or
object in view; 2. The understanding, which corresponds to the causes,
or means employed; and, 3. Action, which relates to the effects,
and constitute the being, whose instrument is the body. So also the
Lord is man, spiritual in his essence, and the highest and fullest
prototype of our weak and finite humanity, which is created in his image and
likeness (Gen. ii. 7). The will of God is his goodness; his understanding
is his wisdom; and his action is his omnipotence, or that
emanation from His divine nature which is called the Spirit of the
Lord, or the Holy Ghost. In this manner the Lord is God and man, the
first; but he did, moreover, in the fulness of time, become a natural,
real man ; and is thus made the last, in order that by his natural
humanity, after having been sanctified and made divine, through temptations
allowed to assail it from the powers of darkness, which he uniformly resisted,
overcome, and took captive, he might for ever keep hell under his feet without
destroying it, which would have taken place if he approached it in his Divine
nature, and without shrouding or moderating his consuming fire (Deut.
iv. 24; Heb. xii. 29), by veiling it in natural humanity. It is by means of
these victories over hell, and all its temptations and onsets—of which the sufferings
on the cross were the last—that the Lord, God and man, in the fulness of
time, has become the Saviour and Redeemer, not only upon earth
to mankind, but also in the angelic Heaven, and in the world
of spirits, which are inseparably connected with humanity, which is their
origin and foundation, and through whom are exhibited all effects of ends and
causes, which there concentrate and settle. Without this salvation, mankind
would have been swallowed up and conquered by hell, which, at the time of our
Lord’s taking human nature to himself, already had appeared upon earth— had
overspread it and prevailed over it; which is proved by secular as well as
Church history, in the accounts they have bequeathed us of the worship of
devils among the heathen; of oracles, of possessions by evil
spirits, and of the various magical arts which then were quite common;
facts which more modern Savans have classed among nursery-tales ; but to which
there is always found a substratum of truth, notwithstanding all the additions
with which they may be interlarded.
It is
remarkable that the Lord, in the prophecy from Isaiah quoted above, says, “ I
am with, qt among, the last;”
that is to say, that by His divine influence he is here below with the children
of men, who are the last link of that chain composed of those who are created
in God’s image, and to be His dwelling-place : for when this prophecy was
made, the Lord had not yet assumed natural humanity, or the likeness of human
flesh; but after <c the mystery of godliness,” had become perfected,
and God made manifest in the flesh, he says, <e I am
the first and the last” (Rev. i. 11); that is to say, that He is Godman as
to His spiritual nature, from all eternity, and made K manifest in
time in His natural humanity, which has been glorified and rendered
divine, and with which His divinity had enveloped itself.
E. The Lord’s
kingdom is properly a kingdom of ends or utility. For this
object the world was created, that utility (or beneficent results) which the
Lord sends from heaven, through the world of spirits, to the natural world, is
first pro mulgated and assumes shape in the angelic heaven, then passes into
the world of spirits, and lastly into the natural world, with such materials by
which it can render itself active in all its various degrees, and
produce various consecutive effects,' which finally become fixed here
below, which is the last limit of creation. Every use, or useful thing,
therefore, after having emanated from the Creator, and before it reaches our
planet, has passed first through heaven or the angelic world, there to produce
effects in accordance with the condition of the angels; in like manner it
passes through the world of spirits to operate there in a similar way; and
finally, it has descended into our natural world, where it establishes and
carries out its infinite effects, adapted to the state of man, and of all other
created beings. Hence it is evident that utility, which is the Creator’s end
and object, constitutes a necessary and indestructible concatenation of
correspondences, influence, and graduated analogy or affinity, between the
angelic heaven, the spiritual and the natural worlds, as it successively
passes through these three different stages. In the natural world, all objects
in the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, which have come
into existence in their proper order, have their forms of utility, all
of which utilities or uses have reference principally to man, whose
frame is the first and most eminent of all, as being created in God’s own” image
; this he retains, and it becomes perfected by his abiding in God’s order
or arrangement, which he fulfils when he consecrates himself to God and
his neighbor in love, which he does by discharging every duty which he owes to
society and to his calling; and when his aims, thoughts, and actions have
reference to utility, as well in its form as in its correspondence with the
two upper worlds. When man follows this, he enters into communion with the
Lord; and as to his inward nature, becomes the point of union where all the
utilities meet, and through which he fulfils the object of his existence here
on earth.
In order
that this communion may take place, all the can-
onical
books of God’s holy word have been composed by correspondences, as well in
their connection as in every separate part. In proportion as man receives the doctrine
of correspondences, he will understand not only the literal sense of God’s
word, which is the outward body, and the last outward garment, but what
is infinitely more, he understands the hidden or spiritual sense
of the Holy Word, which is, as it were, the soul, in which is the life,
which proceeds from the Lord, and which, in its inmost meaning, is Himself. For
thus it is written: ee In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God ” (John i. 1). It is the true and living
Word of God which endurethfor ever, through the power and indwelling
of which, and the life conforming thereunto, that man is regenerated
1 Pet. i. 23, and not through the letter, which, alone and separated
from the spirit, is as the body without the soul, which only killeth,
while the spirit giv- eth life, as is said in 2 Cor. iii. 6. The literal
sense and meaning of the word is penned in accordance with everything that is
found to exist in the natural world, and its corresponding spiritual meaning is
composed of what exists in heaven. It is the unfolding of this spiritual
sense and meaning, presented with a degree of clearness and force of excellence
hitherto unknown, which the Lord has been pleased in our day to cause to
descend unto the earth through His gracious revelation to His new church.
A development which is foretold in Holy Writ, by the name of the Lord’s second
coming,ee When he shall come to be glorified in His saints, and
to be admired in all them that believe ” (2 Thess. i. 1G).
That
this second advent of the Lord shall be attended with supernatural gifts,
bestowed upon those who worship Him in spirit and in truth, is an
expectation on which they have good grounds to depend, according to the Divine
promises which the Lord has been pleased to give unto them : ee If
ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you ” (John xv. 7). “Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater
works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father” (John xiv. 12).
The spiritual
gifts which the Lord of His grace bestows upon his true worshipers, are
distinguished, 1. By calling on the Lord our Saviour. 2. By an implicit trust and
confidence in His holy Providence, and 3. By employing these gifts for the
general good (1 Cor. xii. 3, 7), characteristics differing very materially
from, 1. The overweening confidence which the egoistical Thaumaturg, addicted
to magical arts, reposes in himself. 2. His ambitious and covetous designs, and
3. His invocation of other beings than the Lord himself, be they Angels,
Spirits, or Saints, which is expressly forbidden as an abominable
idolatry (Dent. vi. 13, et sequ). “ Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and
serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods,” See.
that is to say after neither An gels, Spirits, or Saints. When
man directs his adoration and his prayers to the Lord himself, he often sends
to him angels and good spirits, but let him never in any manner offer worship
to them. “ See, that thou do it not,” said the angel to John, “for I
am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, and of them which keep
the sayings of this Book: worship God.” The worship of the Virgin Mary and
of the Saints, introduced by the ecclesiastical councils, is one of the most
scandalous perversions of Christianity, which has contributed in no small
measure to the withdrawal of those spiritual gifts, which the Lord has given to
his church and congregation; in the place of which magical arts and
incantations are used, which in all ages have been connected with such
idolatrous worship, addressed to angels, deceased men and women, spirits and
devils. We cannot sufficiently urge and entreat the friends of man and of
religion, in civil as well as ecclesiastical governments, to direct their
earnest and prompt attention to this all-important subject, the consequences of
which will be the condemnation of so many human beings in this and in the
future life (2. Thess. ii. 4, 8-12.) May the learned, read and ponder upon the
chapter on Magic, in “ the Gbttliche und wahre methaphysica (divine and true
metaphysics),” written by Pordage, an Englishman.
“
Learn how to exercise your will powerfully,” says Mesmer. “Believe and
will,” says the author of “ Les Memoires de Busan- cy” (Marquis
dePuysegur). These words express everything. Vide, “ Essai sur la theorie du
Somnambulisme Magnetique, par Mons. Montravel,” p. 45.
“
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which
is in thee; for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind”
(2 Tim. i. 6, 7[‡‡‡]).
The
spirit of love,
is the divine influence from the Lord on the will of man. The spirit of
a sound mind, is the divine influence on man’s understanding,
and the spirit of power is the divine influence applied to man’s actions-,
that is to say: The influence of the Triune God, the Lord Jesus Christ, of his Goodness,
Wisdom, and almighty Power upon the three cardinal properties of
the soul of man. A real Christian can do all things through Christ,
whostrengthenethhim (Phil. iv. 13).
“ My
brethren, count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations. Knowing this,
that the trying of your faith worketh patience; but let patience have her
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind
and tossed. For let not that man think, that he shall receive anything of the
Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways ” (James i. 2-8), That is
to say,“ No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and
love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon” (Matt. vi. 24; Luke xvi. 13), or as is the same, those
gifts and capacities, which man ascribes to himself, and for which he does not
give God the glory, from whom cometh down every good and every perfect gift
(James i. 17). “The Pharisees” (or those self-conceited and ignorant
sophists, who recognized no other motive to all human action, but self-love),
“ who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him. And he said
unto them : Ye are they who justify themselves before men; but God know- eth
your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the
sight of God” (Luke xvi. 14, 15).
We do
not doubt that Christian philosophers, such as we have reason to believe the
Marquis de Puysegur, Monsieur Montravel, and all benevolent, disinterested and
enlightened magnetizers who resemble them, to be—acknowledge, venerate, and
follow with humble zeal, the only infallible and permanent principles,
contained in the inspired passages just quoted. To teach and instruct mankind
that self-love is and ought to be the only motive of action, from which follows
that they should believe that the Creator had intended men to be incarnate
devils, would entail the most appalling and destructive consequences, not only
upon Christianity, but upon the whole social system. Compare what is said at
the end in the extracts translated from the Latin.
“
Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, [and on account of other
similar supernatural gifts,] but rather rejoice because your names are written
in heaven ” (Luke x. 20). 1 Peter i. 2, &c.:—“ Elect, according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father” (i. e. destined to enjoy in this life, and in
that which is to come, that happiness which virtue confers, according to the
providence of Divine goodness), “ through the sanctification of the Spirit ”
(through the emanation from the Divine Nature), “ unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ ” (to yield obedience to the Lord’s divine
humanity, and to receive the life-giving and actual incorporation with his
truth, operating through deeds). “ Grace unto you and peace, be multiplied ”
(may the Divine influence, which works righteousness in your hearts, and, as
its consequence, gives you a good and quiet conscience, be multiplied unto
you).
Here we
have a comp end of the Christian religion in a few lines. How simple, how
intelligible, benevolent and conducive to the happiness of society ’ Let us
listen to the rest of Peter’s exhortation, ver. 17, “And if ye call on the Father,
who, without respect to persons, judgeth according to every man’s work, [but not
according to every man’s faith alone,} pass the time of your sojourning
here in fear. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another
with a pure heart fervently.” (Chap. ii. 19). “ For this is thank-worthy [or a grace,
as in the Swedish], if a man for conscience sake toward God, endure suffering
wrongfully,”—“ for even hereunto were ye called ” (as it is through much
tribulation that we must enter the kingdom of God. Acts xiv. 22), “ because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was
reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed
himself to Him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bore our sins in his
own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness
” (vers. 19, 21-24). This is the invariable aim and object of all the
injunctions of our holy religion; its mysteries, doctrines and commandments
all centre into this, that we should love and practise righteousness—to live
nothing but righteousness, which consists in loving our neighbor as ourselves,
and thus, of course, comprises brotherly love toward each other. (Chap. iii. 12
et sequ.) “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are
open unto their prayers : but the face of the Lord is against them that do
evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is
good ? But, and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye ! For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
(offer) us to God.” In commemoration of which divine and beneficent act the holy
sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was instituted by the Lord our Saviour, for his
true worshipers, for the worthily partaking of which man does properly prepare
himself, when with real deep-felt abhorrence he looks upon all unrighteousness,
and as truly loves only righteousness. (Chap. iy. 2 et sequ.) “ That he no
longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but
to the will of Godand
“ As
every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as
good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as
the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which
God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified, through Jesus Christ; to
whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever.” Amen.
TRANCE OF THE
REV. WILLIAM TENNENT.
The
following case of trance, which is extremely well authenticated, occurred at
New Brunswick, N.J. about the middle of the last century. The memory of it is
even now traditionally well preserved in the region of country where it took
place, and it is but a few years since the writer of the letter introduced in
the narrative went to join the spirit of his revered predecessor, the subject
of this remarkable experience. The temporary translation of the inner-man into
the spiritual world, and the vouchsafement of an extatic vision of the heavenly
hosts, is far from being without precedent; but the subsequent loss of memory
constitutes the grand peculiarity of Mr. Tennent’s case. This, we think, is
amply explained on the principle laid down by Swedenborg of the distinction of
memory into external and internal, and which we have brought to
the solution of the present case on a preceding page (p. 97). The external
memory is the repository of everything which, in Swedenborg’s phraseology,
comes under the head of scienti- fics, in which are included languages,
arts, sciences, all of which become naturally dormant in the other life, while
in the internal memory survive those things which, from inmost affection, have
become inwrought into the central life of the spirit. For a full
development of the nature and laws of memory, as respects their operation in
the spiritual world, see A. C. 2469-2494.
“ After
a regular course of study in theology, Mr. Tennent was preparing for his
examination by the presbytery, as a candidate for the Gospel ministry.
His intense application affected his health, and brought on a pain in his
breast and a slight hectic. He soon became emaciated, and at length was
like a living skeleton. His life was now threatened. He was attended by a
physician, a young man who was attached to him by the strictest and warmest
friendship. He grew worse and worse, till little hope of life was left. In this
situation, his spirits failed him, and he began to entertain doubts of his
final happiness. He was conversing one morning with his brother, in Latin, on
the state of his $oul, when he fainted and died away. After the usual time, he
was laid out on a board, according to the common practice of the country, and
the neighborhood were invited to attend his funeral on the next day. In the
evening his physician and friend returned from a ride into the country, and was
afflicted beyond measure at the news of his death. He could not be persuaded
that it was certain; and on being told that one of the persons who had assisted
in laying out the body, thought he had observed a little tremor of the flesh
under the arm, although the body was cold and stiff, he endeavored to ascertain
the fact. He first put his own hand into warm water, to make it as sensible as
possible, and then felt under the arm, and at the heart, and affirmed that he
felt an unusual warmth, though no one else could. He had the body restored to a
warm bed, and insisted that the people who had been invited to the funeral
should be requested not to attend. To this the brother objected as absurd, the
eyes being sunk, the lips discolored, and the whole body cold and stiff.
However, the doctor finally prevailed, and all probable means were used to
discover symptoms of returning life. But the third day arrived, and no hopes
were entertained of success but by the doctor, who never left him night nor
day. The people were again invited, and assembled to attend the funeral. The
doctor still objected, antj at last confined his request for delay to one hour,
then to half an hour, and finally, to a quarter of an hour. He had discovered
that the tongue was much swollen, and threatened to crack. He was endeavoring
to soften it by some emollient ointment, put upon it with a feather, when the
brother came in, about the expiration of the last period, and, mistaking what
the doctor was doing for an attempt to feed him, manifested some resentment,
and in a spirited tone said, c It is shameful to be feeding a
lifeless corpseand insisted, with earnestness, that the funeral should
immediately proceed.
“ At
this critical and important moment, the body, to the great alarm and
astonishment of all present, opened its eyes, and gave a dreadful groan, and
sunk again into apparent death. This put an end to all thoughts of burying him,
and every effort was again employed, in hopes of bringing about a speedy
resuscitation. In about an hour, the eyes again opened, a heavy groan proceeded
from the body, and again all appearance of animation vanished. In an another
hour, life seemed to return with more power, and a complete revival took
place, to the great joy of the family and friends, and to the no small
astonishment and conviction of very many who had been ridiculing the idea of
restoring to life a dead body.
“ Mr.
Tennent confined in so weak and low a state, for six weeks, that great doubts
were entertained of his final recovery. However, after that period, he
recovered much faster, but it was about twelve months before he was
completelyre- stored. After he was able to walk the room, and to take notice
of what passed around him, on a Sunday afternoon, his sister, who had staid
from church to attend him, was reading in the Bible, when he took notice of it,
and asked her what she had in her hand. She answered that she was reading * the
Bible. He replied, cWhat is the Bible? I know not what you mean.’
This affected the sister so much that she burst into tears, and informed him
that he was once well acquainted with it. On her reporting this to the
brother, when he returned, Mr. Tennent was fouqd, upon examination, to be
totally ignorant of every transaction of his life previous to his sickness. He
could not read a single word, neither did he seem to have any idea of what it
meant. As soon as he became capable of attention, he was taught to read and
write, as children are usually taught, and afterwards began to learn the Latin
language, under the tuition of his brother. One day, as he was reciting a
lesson in Cornelius Nepos, he suddenly started, clapped his hand to his head,
as if something had hurt him, and made a pause. His brother asking him what
was the matter, he said, that he felt a sudden shock in his head, and it now
seemed to him as if he had read that book before. By degrees his recollection
was restored, and he could speak the Latin as fluently as before his sickness.
His memory so completely revived, that he gained a perfect knowledge of the
past transactions of his life, as if no difficulty had previously occurred.
This event, at the time, made a considerable noise, and afforded not only
matter of serious contemplation to the devout Christian, especially when connected
with what follows in this narration, but furnished a subject of deep
investigation and learned inquiry to the real philosopher and curious
anatomist.
“ The
writer of these memoirs was greatly interested by these uncommon events; and,
on a favorable occasion, earnestly pressed Mr. Tennent for a minute account of
what his views and apprehensions were while he lay in this extraordinary state
of suspended animation. He discovered great reluctance to enter into any
explanation of his perceptions and feelings at this time; but, being
importunately urged to do it, he at length consented, and proceeded with a
solemnity not to be described.
“ ‘While
I was conversing with my brother,’ said he, ‘ on the state of my soul, and the
fears I had entertained for my future welfare, I found myself, in an instant,
in another state of existence, under the direction of a superior being, who ordered
me to follow him. I was accordingly wafted along, I know not how, till I beheld
at a distance in ineffable glory, the impression of which on my mind it is
impossible to communicate to mortal man. I immediately reflected on my happy
change, and thought—Well, blessed be God ! I am safe at last, notwithstanding
all my fears. I saw an innumerable host of happy beings, surrounding the
inexpressible glory, in acts of adoration and joyous worship; but I did not see
any bodily shape or representation in the glorious appearance. I heard things
unutterable. I heard their songs and hallelujahs of thanksgiving and praise,
with unspeakable rapture. I felt joy unutterable and full of glory. I then
applied to my conductor, and requested leave to join the happy throng; on which
he tapped me on the shoulder, and said,“ You must return to the earth.” This
seemed like a sword through my heart. In an instant I recollect to have seen my
brother standing before me, disputing with the Doctor. The three days during
which I had appeared lifeless, seemed to me not more than ten or twenty
minutes. The idea of returning to this world of sorrow and trouble gave me such
a shock that I fainted repeatedly.’ He added, c Such was the effect
on my mind of what I had seen and heard, that if it be possible for a human
being to live entirely above the world, and the things of it, for some time
afterwards, I was that person. The ravishing sounds of the songs and
hallelujahs that I heard, and the very words that were uttered, were not out of
my ears, when awake, for at least three years. All the kingdoms of the earth
were, in my sight, as nothing and vanity; and so great were my ideas of
heavenly glory, that nothing which did not in some measure relate to it, could
command my serious attention.’
“It is
not surprising, that after so affecting an account, strong solicitude should
have been felt for further information as to the words, or, at least, the
subjects of praise and adoration, which Mr. Tennent had heard. But when he was
requested to communicate these, he gave a decided negative, adding, e
You will know them, with many other particulars, hereafter, as you will find
the whole among my papers;’ alluding to his intention of leaving the writer
hereof his executor, which precluded any farther solicitation.
“The
author has been particularly solicitous to obtain every confirmation of this
extraordinary event in the life of Mr. Tennent. He accordingly wrote to every
person he could think of, likely to have conversed with Mr. T. on the subject.
He received several answers; but the following letter from the worthy successor
of l\Ir. Tennent, in the pastoral charge of his church, will answer for the
author’s purpose.
“
Monmouth,
N. J. December 10, 1805.
“ Dear Sir—Agreeably to your request, I now send you, in
writing, the remarkable account which I some time since gave you verbally,
respecting your good friend, my worthy predecessor, the late Rev. William
Tennent, of this place. In a very free and feeling conversation on religion,
and on the future rest and blessedness of the people of God (while travelling
together from Monmouth to Princeton), I mentioned to IMr. Tennent that I should
be highly gratified in hearing from his own mouth, an account of the trance
which he was said to have been in, unless the relation would be disagreeable
to himself. After a short silence he proceeded, saying, that he had been sick
with a fever; that the fever increased, and he by degrees sunk under it.
After.some time (as his friends informed him), he died, or appeared to die, in
the same manner as persons usually do; that in laying him out one happened to
draw his hand under the left arm, and perceived a small tremor in the flesh ;
that he was laid out, and was cold and stiff. The time for his funeral was
appointed, and the people collected; but a young doctor, his particular friend,
pleaded with great earnestness that he might not then be buried, as the tremor
under the arm continued; that his brother, Gilbert, became impatient with the young
gentleman, and said to him, c What! a man not dead who is cold
and, stiff as a stake? The importunate young friend, however, prevailed;
another day was appointed for the burial, and the people separated. During this
interval, many means were made use of to discover, if possible, some symptoms
of life; but none appeared, excepting the tremor. The doctor never left him for
three nights and three days. The people again met to bury him, but could not,
even then, obtain the consent of his friend, who pleaded for one hour more; and
when that was gone, he pleaded for half an hour, and then for a quarter of an
hour; when, just at the close of this period, on which hung his last hope, Mr.
Tennent opened his eyes. They then pried into his mouth, which was stiff, so
as to get a quill into it, through which some liquid was conveyed into the
stomach, and he, by degrees, recovered.
££ This account, as
intimated before, Mr. Tennent said he had received from his friends. I said to
him,£ Sir, you seem to be one, indeed, raised from-the dead, and may
tell us what it is to die, and what you were sensible of while in that state.’
He replied in the following words :—£ As to dying, I found my
fever increase, and I became weaker and weaker, until, all at once, 1
found myself in heaven, as I thought. I saw no shape as to the Deity, but
glory all unutterable ? Here he paused, as though unable to find words to
express his views, let his bridle fall, and lifting up his hands, proceeded, (I
can say, as St. Paul did, I heard and saw things all unutterable ’ I saw a
great multitude before this glory, apparently in the height of bliss, singing
most melodiously. I was transported with my own situation, viewing all my
troubles ended, and my rest and glory begun, and was about to join the great
and happy multitude, when one came to me, looked me full in the face, laid his
hand upon my shoulder, and said, 4 “ You must go back.” These words went
through me; nothing could have shocked me more; I cried out,“ Lord must I go
back!” With this shock, I opened my eyes in this world. When I saw I was in the
world, I fainted, then came to, and fainted for several times, as one probably
would naturally have done in so weak a situation.’
££ Mr. Tennent farther
informed me, that he had so entirely lost the recollection of his past life,
and the benefit of his former studies, that he could neither understand what
was spoken to him, nor write, nor read his own name; that he had to begin all
anew, and did not recollect that he had ever read before, until he had again
learned his letters, and was able to pronounce the monosyllables, such as thee
and thou ; but that, as his strength returned, which was very slowly,
his memory also returned. Yet, notwithstanding the extreme
feebleness
of his situation, his recollection of what he saw and heard while in heaven, as
he supposed, and the sense of divine things which he there obtained, continued
all the time in their full strength, so that he was continually in something
like an ecstasy of mind. 4 And,’ said he,e for three
years the sense of divine things continued so great, and everything else
appeared so completely vain when compared to heaven, that could I have had the
world for stooping down for it, I believe I should not have thought of doing
it.’
“
The pious and candid reader is left to his own reflections on this very
extraordinary occurrence. The facts have been stated, and they are
unquestionable. The writer will only ask, whether it be contrary to revealed
truth, or to reason, to believe, that in every age of the world instances like
that which is here recorded have occurred, to furnish living testimony
of the reality of the invisible world, and of the infinite importance of
eternal concerns ?”—Christian Library, p. 299.
THE END.
OR,
• OF THE
DEVELOPMENTS
OF MESMERISM
TO THE
OF
SWEDENBORG,
“ It certainly is
agreeable to reason, that there are some light effluxions from spirit to
spirit, when men are in presence one with another, as well as from body to
body." —Bacon.
BY
GEORGE BUSH.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN ALLEN, 139 NASSAU STREET.
SCIENTIFIC AND THEOLOGICAL.
JOHN
ALLEN has constantly on sale the voluminous writings of this remarkable man,
which cover nearly the whole ground of human knowledge, both secular and
sacred. His Theological works amount to upwards of thirty vols. 8vo.; the
Scientific and Philosophical works, published and publishing, promise soon to
rival, or rather to exceed, that number. Among these have recently been
translated into English and are now for sale by Mr. A.—The Animal Kingdom,
2 vols. 8vo.— The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, 2 vols. 8vo.—The
Principia, 2 voZa 8vo.
In
addition to these the “ Swedenborg Association” of London has just announced
as in the press or in preparation the following Treatises, the titles of which
will serve to indicate the amazing extent of the author’s researches and the
corresponding versatility of his powers. 1. Miscellaneous Observations
connected with the Physical Sciences,especially on Minerals, Fire, the Strata
of Mountains, fyc.—2. Critical and General Introduction to the
Philosophy of the Infinite: treating on the Final Cause of Creation, and of the
Intercourse between the Soul and the Body.—3. Two Treatises on the
Brain, forming together 1900 pages 4to.—4. A Treatise on
Generation.—5. Two Treatises on the Ear and the sense of Hearing.—6.
Treatise on Common Salt, 4to. pp. 343.-7. New Method of finding the
Longitude.-—8. New Mechanical Process for constructing Docks and Dykess
with a mode of testing the Powers of Vessels.—-9. New Observations
respecting Iron and Fire, with a new Construction of Stoves, &c.
&c.
Orders
received as above.
Subscriptions
received for Prof. Bush’s Swedenborg Library —cts. per No., or $2 per
volume.
New-York, Nov. 20,1846.
* “ The operator next asked if we had any
substance, of a decided or pungent taste, that we could put into his mouth ? I
had a few strong ginger lozenges in my pocket; I placed one of them in his
mouth, while he was holding the patient’s hands in his. He then asked her, in a
low voice, what she had in her mouth I Her lips moved, as if in the act of
tasting, and she replied, without hesitation, ‘ It is ginger.’ I then took the
operator’s seat, silently putting into my own mouth a quantity of common salt,
from a salt-dish on the table. I took firm hold of the patient’s hands, and she
was again asked what she had in her mouth. Her lips moved again, as in the act
of tasting, and she hesitated. 1 had, up till this time, kept the salt on my
tongue, without any action or suction, so that it was not dissolved, or, at all
events, had never touched the palate. The operator told me to swallow the
substance which I had in my mouth. This I accordingly did, and she immediately
said, ‘ It is salt.’ Several of the other visiters tried other substances,—sugar,
water, ginger again,—and she never failed to state, with perfect correctness,
what the substance was. One of the gentlemen who accompanied me was sitting
opposite the patient, holding her hands in his, and when we pulled his hair, or
pinched his arm, or pricked his hand with a needle, she shrunk at every one of
these operations,—told distinctly, and without a moment’s hesitation, whether
her hair was pulled, her arm pinched, or her hand ‘jagged with pins,’ as she
called it. The singular part of this experiment is, that while she feels most
acutely anything that may be done to a person holding her hands at the time,
she is totally unconscious and insensible in her own person. Her own hands
were pricked with a needle, and a few hairs were pulledt by the roots from her
head, without the slightest shrinking or symptom of sensation.”—Lang on
Mesmerism, p. 102.
“ Did any one strike
or hurt me in any part of the body when Anna M
was in sleep waking, she immediately carried her
hand to a corresponding part of her own
person. Thus she would rub her own shoulde^when mine was smarting with a blow,
manifesting that the actual nerves of that part were, pro tempore.
* On another occasion I was present when a
clairvoyant young lady was put in communication with a distinguished actress,
with whose mind she came in such close contact, that she detailed in its main
features, and with the utmost correctness, the entire plot of a play of which
the other lady was in the habit of acting the
* * 4 We read in the Demonomanie de
Loudun,—i M. Launay de Barille, who had resided in America, bore
testimony that, in a voyage he made to Loudon, he had spoken to the religious
persons the language of certain savages of this country, and that they answered
him very readily.
6
The Bishop of Nimes, having put questions in Greek and German, was answered in
both languages.
4
The Bishop of Nimes commanded Sister Claire, in Greek, to ’ raise her veil and
kiss the grating in a place which he mentioned; she obeyed him, and did several
other things which he desired her,—a circumstance which made the bishop
declare, publicly, that he must be an Atheist or a fool who did not believe in
possession.
4
Some physicians interrogated them also in Greek on some terms of their science,
which were very difficult, and known only by the learned amongst them,—they
gave a clear explanation of them.
4
Some gentlemen of Normandy certified in writing that they had questioned Sister
Claire de Sarelly in Turkish* Spanish, and Italian, and that she answered them
very readily.’
* <c Good cannot be approached by
evils, for evils cannot sustain in any measure the sphere of good. When evils,
that is, they who are in evils, or they who are from hell, come into that
sphere, which sphere is the sphere of heaven, they aredirefully tormented, and
so far as they enter into that sphere, so far they are made sensible of
infernal tortures in themselves, and become thence like those who lie in the
agony of death, wherefore they cast themselves down instantly into hell, and
dare not any longer lift up their heads.”—A. C. 10,187.
t “Was the discernment of spirits mentioned in the
apostolic age, anything more than the Influence of Spheres ? This was
called a miraculous gift, but the vulgar definition of miracles, that c
they are events contrary to the common course of nature,’ is inconsistent with
reason, and a disgrace to religion. God cannot contradict himself either in his
word or in his works. He is the one eternal, all perfect. Several things appear
miraculous because we are ignorant; we know not the powers of nature; we see
not the immediate connection between cause and effect. When the spiritual
degree is opened in the mind; when the outward man is reduced into some degree
of order, then he is susceptible of new feelings, and capable of higher degrees
of knowledge. This may rationally
* The case of the Rev. Wm. Tennant strikingly
illustrates what is here said of the obliteration of the memory of languages.
He was several clays in a trance and supposed to be dead. Upon recovering he
was found to have lost all recollection of what he had previously learned, and
was compelled to begin the acquisition of
*
The following passage is so pertinent to this point that I anticipate a little
in giving it in this connection. A certain spirit
* The following is mentioned as an exception to a
general rule: <c That men after death, that is, spirits, lose not
the smallest portion of the things pertaining to their exterior or corporeal
memory, but have all the contents of it, or all the memory with them, although
it is not allowable to bring forth thence the particulars of their life,
* We would here remark that, as a general fact,
the spiritual sense, as given by Swedenborg, does not interfere with the
literal. In the purely prophetic portions of the Word, as for instance,
in that quoted above from the Evangelist, Mat. xxiv. 29, 30, he does indeed
maintain that the spiritual is the primary and exclusive sense, but in the historical
writings he expressly asserts, that the facts recorded were actual facts,
although an interior purport adapted to the faculties and exigencies of the
spiritual man is all along to be recognised in them. But no conceit is more
groundless than that Swedenborg spiritualises aivay the literal truth
of the sacred narrative. It was a historical fact, for instance, that the angel
found Hager by a fountain in the wilderness, but Swedenborg, after giving the
spiritual sense of the narrative, remarks, “ That these things are signified by
the angel of Jehovah finding Hagar at the fountain of waters in the wilderness,
at the fountain in the way to Shur, cannot at all appear from the literal
sense, and still less as being an historical fact; for the literal sense seems
very remote from conveying such signification. Nevertheless, this is the sense
which enters into the ideas of angels, when this relation
* 44 To comprehend the distinction
between soul and spirit, which the Sacred Writers have insinuated, the soul must
be considered as connected both with the body and the spirit. By its connection
with the body, the soul receives impressions from the senses ; and by its
connection with the spirit, it conveys these impressions, by means of the
imagination and memory, to the spirit, as materials for its operations. The
powers last mentioned, through their connection with the body, are liable
indeed to be so disturbed by
* “ A belief in the proximity of spirits, and of
the souls of the de
has been given me to know by much experience; as
may appear evident from the following relations. Two spirits, whom I had known
during their life in the body, and who were at enmity with each other, met
together, when I heard one describing the genius and character of the other
with many circumstances, also what opinion he had had concerning him, reciting
an entire epistle which he had written to him, and many more things in a series
which were particular, and were of the exterior memory, and which the other
acknowledged, but without making any reply*”— A- C. 2481.
[†] “ That nothing exists in nature but from a spiritual principle is,
because there cannot anything be given, unless it has a soul; all that is
called soul which is essence, for what has not in itself an essence, this does
not exist, for it is a nonenity, because there is no esse from which it is;
thus it is with nature; its essence from which it exists is the spiritual
principle, because this has in itself the divine esse, and also the divine
power of acting, creating, and forming, as will be seen from what follows :
this essence may also be called soul: because all that is spiritual lives, and
what is alive, when it acts into what is not alive, as into what is natural,
causes it either to have as it were life, or to derive somewhat of the appearance
thereof from the living principle: the latter [is the case] in vegetables, the
former in animals. That nothing in nature exists but from what is spiritual,
is because no effect is given without a cause, whatever exists in effect is
from a cause; what is not from a cause, is separated ; thus it is with nature ;
the singular and most’singular things thereof are an effect from a cause which
is prior to it, and which is interior to it, and which is superior to it, and
also is immediately from God; for a spiritual world is given, that world is
prior, interior, and superior to the natural world, wherefore everything of the
spiritual world is a cause and everything of the natural world is an effect.
Indeed one thing exists from another progressively even in the natural world,
but this by causes from the spiritual world, for where the cause of the effect
is, there also is the cause of the effect sufficient; for every effect becomes
an efficient cause in order even to the ultimate, where the effective power
subsists; but this is effected continually from a spiritual principle,- in
which alone that force is; and so it is, that nothing in nature exists except
from something spiritual and it.”—A th. Creed. 94.
is read by man ;
for the angels have no idea of Hagar, nor of a fountain of waters, nor of a
vvilderness, nor of a way, nor of Shur: none of these things reach to them, but
they perish at the first threshold of heaven: they understand, however, what is
signified by Hagar, by a fountain, by a wilderness, by a way, and by Shur, and
this from heavenly ideas; and thus they apprehend the Word of the Lord; for the
internal senseis to them the Word.”
A. C. 1929.
[§] The communication, as written, is evidently addressed to what he
regarded as the spirit of Swedenborg.
[**] This is the only erroneous reference in the whole. The number
containing the proof in question is 7439 ; but the error, which is doubtless a
typographical one, occurs in the Latin, and runs through all the translations.
[††] Mr. D. still retains the original, which I have seen, and which is
beautifully written, though in pencil. It is in a style of calligraphy far
superior to that which marks his ordinary manuscript. This is remarkable as it
was written in the woods, where he had no convenience of table or seat. How he
was enabled to execute it in such a style he does not know; all he knows is,
that when he came to himself he found it on his lap. As to its not having been
wet, this he afterwards explained when in the Mesmeric state, by saying it was
written in a kind of cave, which however did not afford sufficient shelter to
protect his person from the rain.
injuries befalling
the body as to convey false perceptions to the spirit. But the powers of the
spirit are not affected by bodily injuries ; and it judges of the impressions
conveyed to it as accurately as if they were true representations.”—Macknight.
[§§] From Swedenborg, we learn that the cerebrum, in the normal state,
is the more appropriate seat and province of thought, and the cerebellum of
feeling. <e Since all things of the mind have relation to will
and understanding, therefore in the head there are two brains, and these
distinct from each other, as are the will and understanding from each other:
the cerebellumAs particularly for the will and the cerebrum is
particularly for the understanding.”—D. L. fy W. 384. By the will he
always means the love or affection-principle. He intimates, however, that the
respective functions of the cerebrum and cerebellum become sometimes confused
with each other.
parted, is common
to all people; it is innate in the human breast, and only suppressed by
education and culture. The sages of old speak confidently of a spiritual
region, of the middle state after death, and of a moral weight or heaviness
which, after death, drags the impure soul back to the earth. Plato tells us,
that when a pure soul leaves the body, it goes at once to God and immortality;
but that the impure, who loved only their body, and studied only to satisfy its
desires, and indulge its passions—who loved not wisdom, and whose eyes were
blinded—cannot shake off the flesh. It accompanies them, and drags them down to
the earth; and the spectres that hover round their own graves and appear to mortals,
are of those who could not separate themselves from their bodies, and who have
preserved some means of rendering themselves visible. (According to the
Seherin, this is the nerve-spirit.) ‘ It is not,’ says Plato, ‘the pious souls,
but those of the ungodly, who revisit the earth.’ ”—Seeress, p. 183.
[†††] We omit the insertion of these extracts, as they are, for the most
part, the same with those which we have given in the body of the work.
[‡‡‡] In the Swedish version it is called the spirit of prudence, of
caution.