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.
1056 [Doc. 314.
APPENDIX.
1765. (3.) "I am not at all surprised that Swedenborg is not
to your taste for what he says must be compared with many
places in the Sacred Scripture. According to the laws of
order, a transitory state must precede the definite state in the
other life. All spirits, according to Swedenborg, are first in
a transitory, volatile state, before they reach a firm and definite
state (Heb. xii, 27). All spirits must await what the Lord
who fills the heavens will do (Acts iii, 21). No one is made
perfect without the last (Heb. xi, 40). All must come to the
great gathering (2 Thess. ii, 1). It is therefore not at all
wonderful that the blessed should first have to pass through the
state of the spirits, as Echslin has related to Schill, the school
master ; as Rosenroth has related to his cousin, &c. The
Lord Himself will not appear to the faithful, until in the
societies of love they are first purged of the fantasies which
cleave to them from the world ; and before they can see Christ
personally, they must be with Christ in the order of Christ,
i. e. they must be influenced by Christ, yet without seeing
Him. It is grace enough for them to know that He is prepar
ing a place for them until that day, when He will appear to
them. Why! every day of our life we must strive to lose
something of our childish imaginations. Who imagines that
he is able to ascend, and bring Christ down? This, however,
is the most difficult lesson for us to learn. Yet the ascent
on high is awaiting us. In short, I am very sure, that I shall
enjoy Christ, in whom I have hoped, in a manner accommodated
to the state of spirits " (no. 552, p. 677) .
1766. (4.) "In Swedenborg we must look for nothing else
but his special gift, viz. that the Lord at His own good
pleasure has opened his eyes. He is no theologian skilled in
exegesis, but a miner and a philosopher. All conclusions are
liable to be wrong. Still your assertion that he upsets the
foundations of religion, and talks mere fantasies, requires a
better limitation. You do not judge there in a spiritual manner,
but simply en général. Such assertions I am prepared to meet
logicissime (i. e. with all the appliances of logic), and on that
ground I am ready to challenge all the universities. I know
that I shall refute them all by the Word of God : and especi
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
