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THE GOOD, THE TRUE, AND THE BEAUTIFUL. 215
versa! harmonic whole by the laws of analogy and correspondence : but espe-
cially in that part of his writings in which he represents marriage as the emblem
of the eternal union in God of Love and Wisdom, and likewise of the conjunc-
tion between himself and his church as grounded in that union established in
the minds of men. In describing this delightful union, which is the ground and
source of all virtue and happiness to the intelligent universe, Swedenborg says
much respecting ihe angels, and the state of harmony and bliss in which they
live. In treating on these subjects, he was led to exhibit loveliness and beauty
in its objective form, in the persons of angels, who were once men upon earth,
but who, becoming regenerate, that is, filled as to their wills with the divine
love, and as to their understandings, with the divine wisdom, are in the enjoy-
ment of that state in which all is harmony, perfection, and bliss, and which is
properly called heaven ; for all the affections and dispositions of the soul, are
imaged and reflected in their personal forms of loveliness and beauty. It is here
where the beautiful in mind, in nature, and in art, has its origin, whence de-
scend ing into the ultimate spheres and regions of creation, called the natural
world, it gives rise to everything beautiful and lovely we behold. Swedenborg
thus traces the origin of science and art to heaven, where they dwell in their
fullest manifestation, as offsprings of Divine Wisdom itself. There is something
truly sublime in thus tracing everything good and true in science and art to the
great first Cause, and to see the relation which they bear to the Divine Wisdom as
the parent of all knowledge, science, and genuine philosophy.
" Swedenborg often describes the dark shades of ignorance and earthly gross-
ness, in which the minds of men,—even of those who enjoy great reputation for
learning and science,—were enveloped. He endeavors to show that the learning
of his age was extremely superficial, and entangled in the fallacies of gross sen-
sual-mindedness, and consequently, in doubt, levity, mutual misunderstanding,
senseless and unmeaning terminologies, and above all, in a disposition to de-
spise depth and solidity in human knowledge, and to cling only to what is
material, superficial, and obvious to the senses, as the only thing certain, and
the only thing worthy of investigation and possession. Swedenborg boldly
placed him self in opposition to this spirit of his age. As he moved extensively
in the thinking world, he saw men in general satisfied with the sea-weed and
rubbish that float on the surface of the ocean of truth ; whereas he dived into
the depths, and brought up pearls and gems of peculiar beauty and lustre.
" As a powerful and extraordinary opposition against this superficial spirit of
his age, Emanuel Swedenborg, about the middle of the last century, placed him-
self in bold array. He was universally known amongst the learned of Europe,
and enjoyed great celebrity as a profound thinker in ever;y branch of science and
learning. At this period he suddenly stood up as a theosopher and seer of
spirits. Nobody could comprehend what had happened to the sagacious, pene-
trating, scientific, philosophical, much-knowing Swedenborg,—a man who had
taken all the sciences uader his protection and culture, and guarded them, by
his profound mathematical knowledge, against the intrusion of vain speculative
theories. He was already declining from the meridi6,n of life, and had been en-
nobled by his country, and still more by his talents and virtues. Some consid-
ered him as a heretic, some as an enthusiast and deluder, and others considered
him as mad : tliis last opinion was thought the most probable and generally be-
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