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Doc. 302.] ADDITIONS TO UNIVERSAL THEOLOGY. 761
B.
ADDITION TO No. 338 OF "THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION."*
The subject of the memorable relation to which the follow
ing addition is made in the MS., is respecting " connate ideas,"
which were discussed by a number of spirits, and regarding
which they were enlightened by an angelic spirit, who, according
to Swedenborg’s original draught, made the following additional
statement :
"Afterwards the angelic spirit spoke to them: ’
I will pro
pound to you an additional problem, which you may consider
and solve, viz., Is man an animal, i. e. a living being, like
the beasts, or can he become such an animal ? In many
things the two act alike, but altogether from a different origin.
Man is formed from thought, but a beast from no thought;
whence I conclude that man is not an animal, unless you call
him a rational animal, while a beast is a brute animal, into
which no rationality can ever be infused ; I maintain therefore
that man is not a brute animal, like the beasts.’ The same
difference, he said, exists between these two as between a
precious and a common stone, and a precious and a common
metal, neither of which can be changed into the other. Further,
the same distinction is between them as between the fruits
of a superior and an inferior tree, and between the fungi
or mushrooms growing out of damp ground, some of which are
useful and others useless. Again, he said, the difference is
as between oil and water, which cannot be mixed. After
saying this he went away, and I returned home. I again
watched the atmosphere overhead, where before there had
been so many delusive phenomena, but I saw nothing, except
some stripes and some shining places ; which indicated that
the spirits no longer reasoned on connate ideas as before; but
simply inquired whether or not there were any connate ideas."
* See original MS. in the Royal Library in Stockholm , p. 5.
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