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JOHN WESLEY. 1215
these things, before they usher into the world any more of this
madman’s dreams."
This harangue of Mr. Wesley-for a statement consisting for the
most part of unproved assertions and allegations assailing the per
sonal character of a man, and abounding with untruthful represen
tations of his writings, deserves no other name-this harangue, I
say, toned down in some parts, and in others stated more fully,
constitutes Mr. Wesley’s article against Swedenborg which was
published in the "Arminian Magazine" for 1783. That portion of
this article which contains the charge of insanity against Sweden
borg, has been reproduced in Document 270 (pp. 584 et seq.), and
fully answered. As to the statements which Mr. Wesley makes in
the above extract against Swedenborg’s teachings, they consist for
the most part of unproved assertions, which belong to the same
category as the barking of a vicious dog, of which a rational man
cannot be expected to take any notice. Of that nature, also, is
Mr. Wesley’s assertion that "Swedenborg roundly affirms God to be
only one Person, who was crucified." Swedenborg affirms no such
thing; he teaches in agreement with Scripture that "the Word
which in the beginning was with God, and which was God" and
which "became flesh," i. e. which put on a human form, was crucified ;
he teaches, therefore, that the body with which the Word, the Son
from eternity, became clothed, was crucified ; but he does not teach
that the Divine Soul which through the Word was in that body
was crucified. The spirit or the soul cannot be crucified. There
fore, according to Swedenborg, it was not the Father, the Infinite
Divine Soul, who was crucified, but the Son, i. e. the Divine Nature
which was accommodated to the state of men, and which was clothed
with a body. As to the charge of "Anthropomorphism," Mr. Wesley
ought to have brought this charge against the Sacred Scripture in
the first place; for everywhere in the Sacred Scripture God is
spoken of in the human form, wherefore it is also stated there that
man was created into His image. As to his statement that Sweden
borg flatly affirms that "No one can go to heaven who believes three
persons in the Godhead"-Swedenborg shows that the idea of three
Divine persons is identical with the idea of three gods, and he says
that no one who is confirmed in the idea of three gods can enter
heaven. That there is only one God, and not three, is, however,
taught in the Sacred Scripture from beginning to end.
By the charge that Swedenborg’s ideas of heaven "just suit a
Mahomedan paradise," Mr. Wesley seems to insinuate that according
to Swedenborg polygamy prevails in heaven. This is a pure figment
of Mr. Wesley’s brain; and likewise that other statement, that "the
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