Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

"Now 'The Word of God,' taken in an unqualified sense, evidently means an expression of the mind or of the will of God. All thought, speech, and writing,' says Swedenborg, 'derives its essence and life from him who thinks, speaks and writes-the man with all that he is, being therein; but in the Word, the Lord alone is.' The word of God therefore, if it be really what the terms import, an expression of the Divine Mind, must be filled with illimitable treasures of the sacred knowledge. The love and the wisdom of God must pervade every part of it, just as the spirit or life of man pervades every part of his body, even his fingers and finger nails. And in this conclusion we are sustained by these words of the Apostle, All scripture is given by inspiration of God.' 2 Tim. iii: 16. The words given by inspiration of God,' are expressed in Greek by the single term evεvo105 (theopneustos) which literally signifies God-breathed. If therefore all scripture be really God-breathed, there cannot of course appertain to it any thing of the errors, limitations, or infirmities of man's understanding. It must be infinite-perfect-divine -in every part. But how are we to reconcile this conclusion with such passages as have already been quoted from the Word? Impossible—without admitting the existence of a sense within and above that of the letter. This inferrence, we think is clearly deducible from what has been said thus far.

"But there exist other difficulties in relation to the letter of the written Word, which furnish additional proof of the necessity of admitting an internal sense.

66

Every one who is at all familiar with the Sacred Oracles, knows very well that they contain numerous passages, which, to his mind, are perfectly dark; passages which he either does not understand, or which do not contain any meaning whatever. He knows that some of the historical parts of the Word, portions of the Psalms, much of the Prophets, and nearly all the book of Revelation, convey to his mind no intelligible idea, and are moreover of such a character that, agreeable to the principles of interpretation acknowledged in the old church, any meaning or no meaning can be extracted from them, according to the genius

F

or fancy of the interpreter. Let a few examples of this kind be cited by way of illustration.

"In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. There break He the arrows of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the battle. Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The stout hearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep; men of might have found their hands. God of Jacob, both the chariot and the horse are cast into a dead sleep.' (Ps. lxxvi.)

and none of the At thy rebuke, O

"Now will any one, who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word, or the science of correspondences, say that he derives from this passage an intelligible idea? Or would any two of such persons be likely to agree in 1egard to its real meaning?

"Again, in Ezekiel, chapter xxxix:

"And thou Son of Man, thus saith the Lord God, speak to the fowl of every wing, and to every beast of the field, assemble yourselves, and come, and gather yourselves on every side to the sacrifice, that I do sacrifice for you, (even) a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel that ye may eat flesh and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats; of bullocks, of all them fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus shall ye be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men and all men of war, saith the Lord God.'

"It may perhaps be said that this passage does convey an intelligible idea; that it describes a great feast prepared by the Lord God, especially for all the birds and beasts. The prophet is divinely commissioned to extend to them the invitation, and they are to come and eat not only the men and horses, but also the chariots! But although the idea conveyed in the literal sense of this text may be intelligible, we ask if it be rational.

66

Again, in the Revelation, chapter vi:

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the

four beasts saying, Comé and see.

And I saw, and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse (that was) red; and (power) was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see that thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him, and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.'

66

Again, in chapter ix. it is written :

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit: and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth : and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them; but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men,

And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions; and there were stings in their tails and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.'

"Now, who that is unacquainted with the spiritual sense of the Word, can derive from these passages an idea at once intelligible and rational? For, without a knowledge of Correspondences, what can be understood by horses coming out of a book, or by the key of the bottomless pit being given to a star? And how much there is in the Word, which, without a spiritual sense, must for ever remain as it is, wholly unintelligible!

"The truth is, that nothing was enjoined, be it ever so minute, but what was significative of something appertaining to the Lord, to heaven, and to the church. From these few instances then, it may be plainly seen, that there is a spiritual sense in all and every part of the Word.' (Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scriptures, n. 16.)

"But, says one, there is enough of Scripture, plain and simple, that we can understand; why then should we be troubled about such parts as are cloudy and obscure.' Suppose a man could see just well enough to enable him to walk the street tolerably well without stumbling; should we consider him wise in refusing the gift of more light, or better eyesight, so that he would be able not only to walk more securely, but also to read and write? By no means. Then are we not wise in refusing the gift-the precious gift of a revelation, which renders the darkest parts of God's Word luminous and beautiful.

"But I need add no more to prove (what it was my design to do in this lecture) the necessity of either admitting an internal sense to the Word, or of entirely rejecting a large portion of it, at least, as the offspring of uninspired, erratic, or even distempered minds. Nor need it here be intimated which alternative a wise man will choose."

www

CHAPTER VI.

The second coming of the Lord-The spiritual and the literal sense of the Word-Opinions existing among modern biblical commentators concerning a meaning contained in the scriptures, other than that expressed in the strict letter. Paul's testimony to the existence of a spiritual sense in the scriptures.

"THE Scriptures do testify of the Lord at this his second appearing in the truths of the New Jerusalem, as certainly as they do of his first advent. And we would say to those who endeavour to excuse themselves for not receiving or attending to the revelations made to the New Church, upon the ground that the scriptures of themselves are an all-sufficient guide, that if they really believed the scriptures to be the Word of God, and Divinely inspired, they would believe the revelation that has been made for the New Jerusalem; for the Scriptures do speak of this revelation—do foretell this second and glorious appearing of our Lord; and every page of the writings of Swedenborg bears witness that the doctrines of the New Jerusalem are by no means a human device, or the offspring of any man's selfderived intelligence, but are from Him who is the 'Way, the Truth and the Life.' And all who come to a rational understanding of these truths, may know of these doctrines whether they be of God, or whether Swedenborg speaks of himself."

"It is not taught in the writings of the New Church that no part of Scripture is true in its literal sense. On the contrary, these writings admit that much of the Old Testament contains a true history of events which occurred as they are recorded that the history of the Lord's advent, of his teaching, miracles, and death, is literally true-but these writings do also teach that even those parts of the Word which are historical have an internal sense, which is vastly more important than the literal sense, and on account of which the history was written. Consequently, whenever the history parts from facts as they actually oc

F*

« PreviousContinue »