Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 19
instrument whicli some man must be 1 A man who makes such an assertion either be-
lieves it himself, or he does not. He who can make such an assertion without believing
it himself, must be a supremely wicked impostor. But it is impossible to entertain such
a suspicion in regard to Swedenborg : not only is there the most abundant external
testimony to the innocence and sincerity of his character, but these are obvious from the
whole of his writings themselves ; which not only exhibit throughout the purest senti-
ments, but breathe in every line the writer’s own entire conviction of the truth of what he
says. In the assertion, tlien, which we are noticing, he only advanced what he most en-
tirely believed. He who thus makes such an assertion, must either be completely de-
luded, or the assertion must be true. But it will be impossible for any one who reads
with attention either of the works, for example, which we have mentioned, to imagine
that its writer was the victim of delusion. Not only are the views of truth which they
exhibit so elevated and clear in themselves, as to recommend their own excellence to
every lover of truth for its own sake, independently of all reasoning; but, as intimated
before, the method in which they are arranged, the Scripture proofs by which they are
supported, and the rational arguments by which they are illustrated, are all of so
superior an order, as to evince in the writer the highest perfection of the rational facul-
ties, and to render ridiculous in regard to him the imputation of self-delusion. There
remains no other alternative, but that his assertion is true—that the doctrines delivered
in them as those of the New Jerusalem, are really the doctrines of the New Jerusalem
of prophecy—rays of that glorious light, which, as is generally believed, was eventually
to shine in the renewed Christian Church.
All the other works of this illustrious author will be found equally rational, when con-
sidered apart from prejudice, and as the compositions of a man who had been specially
enlightened to communicate the discoveries of Divine Truth necessary to be made at
the commencement of the New Jerusalem.
His theological writings may be divided into four general classes : we will here add
a slight notice of the character of them all.
We will consider his doctrinal works, as constituting the first class of his writings. To
this class, then, appertain, (1.) The small volume " On the New Jerusalem and its Heav-
enly Doctrine." This is a purely doctrinal work, embracing a great variety of subjects,
but treating them with brevity, yet in the most luminous manner. (2.) The next of the
author’s publications of the same character, is the other work mentioned above, in
which the four leading doctrines of all genuine religion—those relating to the Lord, the
Scriptures, Faith, and Life, are copiously treated, and with a weight of evidence which
most of those who have read them have found irresistible. (3.) In the " Brief Exposition
of the Doctrine of the New Church," intended as an introduction to the work next men-
tioned, the doctrines generally admitted both among the Romanists and Protestants are
contrasted with those of the New Church, and their fallacies pointed out, in a very
powerful and striking manner, (4.) His last work, the " True Christian Religion, or
Universal Theology of the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation,"
is, as its title implies, a complete body of divinity : it therefore embraces all the subjects
which are treated of in No. 2 above, with many others, all which are elucidated at con-
siderable length. That work, however, does not supersede the use of No. 2 : for the
doctrines dehvered in No. 2, with the exception of that on the Sacred Scripture, are
treated there in quite a different manner from that in which they are presented in the
’ True Christian Religion," though with the utmost harmony in the results. As intro-
ductions, then, the three first-named works are all of great value : but whoever wishes
to see all the subjects which properly belong to a body of Christian doctrine, treated at
a length suited to their importance, established on copious Scripture testimony, and
brought down to the apprehension by the clearest illustrations from reason and science.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
