Arthur Wilde True Christian Religion A Digest of Emanuel Swedenborg's True Christian Religion Swedenborg Foundation 1968

TRUE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION
A Digest of
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG'S
"TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION"
Prepared originally as a Talking Book
jor the Blind by the Rev. Arthur Wilde.
First printed in '945 for general distribution.
5th printing
19 68
SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION
INCORPORATED
139 EAST 23 STREET NEW YORK, N. Y. 10010

FOREWORD
U NDER the auspices of the Swedenborg Foundation

a descriptive survey of Swedenborg's True Christian
Religion was made into a Talking Book for the Blind. This
was an attempt to put the gist of that monumental work
into simple language for people who had no first hand
acquaintance ,vith the great Swedish author.
It is bclieved that a wider use may be found for this
effort, and it is now published for missionary purposes. The
reader will find herein an introduction ta many of the
doctrines dealt with exhaustively in Swedenborg's own
work.
For book-lists see last two pages.
CONTENTS
PAGE
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
7
GOD THE CREATOR . 12
THE LORD THE REDEEMER 19
THE HOLy SPIRIT . 26
THE DIVINE TRINITY 3 2
THE SACRED SCRIPTURES 38
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

44
FAITH AND CHARITY 5°
FREEDOM OF CHorCE 56
REPENTANCE. 62
REFORMATION AND REGENERATION 68
BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SUPPER . 74
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
THE name of Emanuel Swedenborg, hitherto known

only to comparatively few people, is now becoming
widely known throughout the world. He is steadily becorn-
ing recognized as one of the master mincis of mankind, a
genius who was great as a scientist, philosopher and the-
ologian. The present book, made by the generosity of
The Swedenborg Foundation of America, aims at giving
a résumé of Swedenborg's great book, True Christian
Religion.
In understanding the purport and teachings of that
monumental work the reader will be greatly helped by
sorne knowledge of its author and of the times in which
he lived.
Emanuel Swedenborg, born in Stockholm, Sweden, in
the year 1688, was the son of Jesper Svedberg, bishop of
Scara in that country. Endowed with a remarkable mind
the boy Emanuel grew up to be one of Sweden's most
illustriol1s men of science. A remarkable scholar, a pro-
found philosopher, his ripe knowledge marks him as an
outstanding genius of his day. He made many remarkable
discoveries, anticipated much of our modem science. For
thirty years he was a Royal Assessor of Mines, one of a
select body of men responsible to the government for the
mineraI wealth of Sweden. His active mind ranged over
the knowledge of his day. He wrote sorne thirty-three
scientific works embracing such widely differing subjects
as metaIlurgy, mineraIogy, physiology, geology, mathe-
maties, cosmology, and the structure and functions of the
7
8 TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
human brain. He was a brilliant thinkcr and a voluminous

writer. His book, The Principia, by itself would be no mean
output as the life work of a modem man. But note this
during this long period of brilliant mental activity, during
which Swedenborg produced thirty-three scientific works,
he was working in a govenunent office. His asscssorship
was no sinecure. It carried with it great responsibilities and
called for constant work. Swedenborg must have known
laborious days as weIl as studious nights. That his work
for the Swedish govemment was weIl and thoroughly done
may be sem in the fact that when he retired from office
the govemment setùed bis full sal<uy on him for life.
At the age of fifty Swedenborg relinquished government
work and scientific research. Had he retired from ail activ
ity and spent the remainder of his life in quiet ease there
is no doubt that his name would have been blazoned on
the scroll of Swedish fame. He would have been honored
as Sweden's great man of science. But Swedenborg did
not retire to spend the remainder of his life in idleness.
There lay before him another thirty-eight years of life, a
long period of increascd literary activity, during which he
published sorne thirty works on thcology. He had retired
from public office and scientific activity in the full belief
that the Lord had called him to reveal to the world the
doctrine of His Second Advent. He claimed that bis spir
itual cyes had been opened, and that for more than thirty
years he lived in conscious intercourse with the spiritual
worId.
Let us remember that this took place in the eighteenÙl
century, at a time when the religious life of Europe was at
a very law ebb; when spirituality appeared ta be almast
dead, and just before George Whitefield and John Wesley
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG 9
put new life into religion in this country and Great Britain.
We shall then understand what a stupendous daim Sweden
borg made.
Let us remember, too, that the Christian theology of the
eighteenth century was vastly diflercnt from our present
day belief. God was regarded as a Being of anger and
stcrn justice. Heaven was a vague abode somewhere be
yond the furthest star. Salvation was to be achieved through
a correct faith rather than by an upright righteous life.
The Church taught the resurrection of the physical body,
and the eternal damnation of aIl the heathcn. It even
taught the idea that the unbaptized children of Christian
parents would be forever shut out of hcavcn.
We need not wonder that Swedenborg's daim to be 'the
servant of the Lord commissioned to reveal new truth to
men met with very little acceptance in his own day. We
need not be surprised that he met with violent opposition
from the ecdesiastical authorities in his own land. He
dared to assert that thcre were new truths to be leamed
about religion, that the Lord was making a new revelation
and that He was unfolding the spiritual sense of His own
Divine Word. Men forgot the Saviour's words to His
disciples, "1 have many things to say to you, but ye cannot
hear them now." And they turned a deaf car to Sweden
borg's daim that the hidden mysteries of religion were
now to be revealed.
It is not surprising that with the exception of a few
receptive minds men tumed a deaf ear to the new revela
tion, for Swedenborg's work traversed and contradicted
almost every doctrine held by the churches of his day.
The new revelation taught that God is one in essence
and in person, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is the in
camate revelation of that God. It taught that the Divine
Word, the revelation which we call the Holy Scriptures,
contains an internal sense adapted to the apprehension of
the angels, and comprehensible in sorne smaIl measure to
man on earth. Further, it taught that man is an organized
spiritual being, clad in a body of flesh during the earthly
period of human life. Death ushers man into a spiritual
realm that surrounds and interpenetnües the physical uni
verse. Resurrection is immediate. Leaving this physical
world man enters at once a spiritual life of unending
progress. And, perhaps most important of aIl, the new
revelation taught the truth that salvation is won not by
correctness of creed but by a life of obedience to the Ten
Commandments.
Today many of the truths revealed through Swedenborg
find wide acceptance in the Christian world. There are few
Protestant preachers who do not possess sorne of bis books.
But in the eighteenth century they aroused a great deal
of antagonism in the minds of the church authorities.
Swedenborg was regarded as an impractical visionary
and dreamer. Most of his teachings were regarded as rank
heresy. The idea that any further Divine revelation would
be made to the world was abhorrent to the Church. New
ideas in science, industry and art were freely welcomed,
but new ideas in the realm of religion were neither wanted
nor, except by a few receptive minds, believed.
Swedenborg appears to have been little concerned with
the reception or rejection of bis writings. He had indomit
able faith in the fact that the Lord would give to the
world a new and higher fonn of Christianity and that a
new Church would be implanted in the hearts and minds
of men. He wrote many books. Indeed in this latter part
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG 11
of bis life his literary output fuIly equaled that of bis earlier
period. He published bis books at his own expense, giving
them freely to the world. He was content to publish what
he sincerely believed to be a reve1ation from God, and he
left bis work as a heritage to the human race.
His most important work, the Arcana Coelestia, or
Heavenly Mysteries, was published in eight quarto volumes.
It is an exposition of the spiritual sense of Genesis and
Exodus; but scattered throughout its many pages are germ
ideas of ail its author's re1igious teachings. These ideas, or
truths, Swedenborg elaborated in other works. H eaven
and HeU telIs of the conditions of life in the spiritual world,
and is a fascinating book. Dl·vine Love & Wisdom, Divine
Providence, are books full of profound philosophy. The
Apocalypse Explained and The Apocalypse Revealed give
us the inner meaning of the Book of Revelation. There
are many other books that came from his pen, too
numerous to be mentioned here. But thcre is one book
of outstanding importance. In his later years Sweden
borg wrote and published a large volume, True Chris
tian Religion, containing the whole Theology 0] the New
C/wreil. It was published in Latin in the Dutch city of
Amsterdam in the l'ear 1771. 1t has been translated in to
manl' languages and issued in many editions. It is
known todal' in Latin, English, Danish, French, Ger
man, Italian, Russian and Swedish. It has been in
steadl' demand for nearly two hundred years, a truly
remarkable record for any book devoted to an exposi
tion of Christian doctrines.
GOD THE CREATOR
T HEa belief
fundamental basis of all supematural religion is
in Cod. The first note in any belief in an
ordered universe is the assumption that creation was com
menced and effected by a Great First Cause. With the
exception of a few people who believe matter is eternal and
that the universe is the result of chance all men believe
in a Creator. Even if theydo not believe in Him as a
Divine Person they assume the existence of a Presiding
Intelligence by which the universe has been ordered and
sustained.
Swedenborg commences his grcat work True Chris
tian Religion with the assumption that the Creator is a
personal God. He bases this belief on the revelations of
the Scriptures, which he assures us are Divine. The Word
of God in its inmost meaning is the thought that procceds
from the mind of God.
"The entire scriptures," says Swedenborg, "and aIl the
doctrines therdrom in the entire Christian world, teach
that there is a God and that He is one." He draws freely
from the Scriptures in proof of his statement: "Hear, 0
Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." "Am not 1 Jehovah
and thou shalt acknowledge no god beside me."-are but
two of many scriptural verses that he quotes. Swedenborg
will show us in a little while that bis idea of this One God
differed widely from that of the tripersonal God believed
in by the Christian world of his day. He believed that God
was one in essence and in person.
In tbis first chapter he is concerned with stating that
Il
GOD THE CREATOR 13
God is one and that He is the Creator of the Universe.

Many modem writers have tried to show us how the
idea of the existence of God first entered the human mind.
Many of them have tried to prove that human belief in a
Divine Being is the result of a long evolution. Man, they
say, evolved the idea of God as the result of dreams and
fears and weakness. He imagined the existence of spirits
or gods as dwelling in ail natural phenomena. The sun
with its blazing heat and light was personified and wor
shiped. The noise of thunder was the voice of an angry
being. Almost aIl the forces of nature were personified
and were worshiped by early man. Then as men won thcir
way to civilization they gave up their crude ideas and
adopted a belief in one God.
Swedenborg teaches us that a knowledge of God came
to men by revdatian. He tells us aIso that the god-idea
flows into human thought from heaven. Let me quate his
exact words, "There is a universaI influx from Gad into the
souls of men of the truth that there is a God and that He
is one."
Here is one of the most pregnant statements ever made.
The thought of the Divine existence flows into the human
mind, and is as much our heritage as the air we breathe.
Our belief in God, who is at once Father, Saviour and
Regenerator, is not the result of an accidentaI evolution uf
human thought, but is the direct gift of the Almighty. The
thaught of one God flows into us from heaven.
Influx from God, which reaches us through the heavens
is as constant as the outpouring of heat and light from the
sun. We may by an eviI life and by the self-sufficiency of
our own intelligence thwart the beneficent efIects of this
influx. Sunlight reflected from the facets of a diamond is
the same light that is absorbed by the opaqueness of a piece

of anthracite coaI. ·So also the light from heaven depends
for its effect on the mind that receives it. But the Divine
Light shines on eternally.
Because of the etemal influx from the Lord, says Sweden
!)org, "there is in all the world no nation possessing religion
and sound reason that does not acknowledge a Cod and
that He is one." Further, he says, that as a consequence
of this influx "there is in every man an internal dictate"
that tells him of the existence and unity of the Divine.
For long ages men have marveled at the ordered mech
anism of the starry heavens, and have realized how puny
a creature is man compared with the endless precision of
the movements of planets and cornets. The psalmist of old
exclaimed, "When 1 consider thy heavens, the work of
thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast or
dained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? and
the son of man that thou visitest him."
With our modem conception of an almost limitless uni
verse, and with a grasp of the grandeur of a vaster realm
than the psalmist ever knew, we today are asking the same
question. The universe betrays the evidence of such in
finite wisdom that our mincis are filled with a sense of awe.
We bow in wonder before the existence of unbroken law.
We take refuge from our inability to grasp the Divine
scheme of the universe by defining the Creator as "The
Great Architect" or the "Infinite Mathematician." When
we reallze that a single atom of matter is built on the same
plan as a solar system we begin to realize that there is a
unity of design in all creation, and that the universe testi
fies to the existence of One Presidin.g Intelligence.
So we are quite prepared fol' Swedenborg's statement
GOD THE CREATOR 15
that unless God were One the universe could not have been
created and preserved. Creation, says Swedenborg, is the
work of an undivided Infinite Mind.
Men in their ignorance may conceive of many gods. But
the universe testifies to the truth that Gad is one. Only
by a single Infinite Mind could creation have beeo effected.
Only by such a mind can it be preserved.
Then our author cames us a step further. In His essen
tial being, this one God is love. In Swedeoborg's philosophy
the essential verity is love. Love is the very being of Gad.
And this God whose inmost being" is love, is, says Sweden
borg, the Jehovah of the Scriptures.
This does not mean that the One Eternal God is the
despotic Being of stern justice and anger conceived of by
the Israelites. (There is no such thing as anger in God.)
But it does mean that it was the Eternal God who revealed
Himself to Moses. "Moses said unto God, What is thy
name ? And God said unto Moses, 1 am That 1 am. And
thou shalt say unto the Children of Israel, 1 am hath sent
me unto you." And in the same revelatioo this Divine
Being speaks of Himself as "Jehovah Gad of your fathers."
Few theologians have dared do more than merely state
that God is self-existent. Because this Divine Being is In
finite they believe that He is outside the range of human
comprehension. There is sorne appearance of truth in this
contention. Man's finite rnind cannot grasp the Infinite.
But there are certain things we can know about God which
help us in sorne measure ta realize His majesty and power.
Swedenborg assures us that this self-existent Divine Being
has substance and form. He is not merely a diffused crea
tive essence pervading the universe, but He possesses Divine
Substance and Divine Fonn.
We must note here the fact that the word substance is

not limited in its meaning to the material things of the
natural universe. The "substance" of God is far, far dif
ferent from the "substance" of man. In God it is uncreate,
-self existent. In man _it is something that has been
created.
God exists, says Swedenborg, and therefore He must
have substance and form. Without these two things noth
ing can exist.
And it is because substance and form can be predicated
of God, that we whom He has called into being, and whom
He declares to be made in His image and likeness possess
substance in which we dwell, and form by which we are
shaped.
\Ve here quote Swedenborg's own words. "Both sub
stance and form may be predicated of Gad, but in the
sense that He is the only, the very, and the primaI Sub
stance and Form. And this form is verily the Human
Form, that is, God is veritably Man, infinite in every
respect."
It is because God is Divinely and Infinitely Human, that
we His children, made in His image and likeness are
human.
Between God and man there is a great gulf fixed. He
is infinite, man is finite. What do we mean by "infinite"
as applied to Gad? One answer will be that God is nat
conditioned by the limitations of time and space. Sweden
borg speaks of the Infinity of God in three terms, Omni
potence, Omniscience, Omnipresence. He is all-powerful,
all-knowing, and everywhere present. He is Infinite because
He is eternal. He was, before time began. He always was.
He always is. He always will be.
GOD THE CREATOR 17
He possesses infinite wisdom. From this wisdom proceed

all the laws of the universe. In His wisdom He possesses
also all knowledge. With equal certitude He knows the
path of a wandering cornet and the thoughts of every
human mind.
He is present everywhere at the same time. Dwelling in
the inmost heavens. He is equally present in every blade
of grass and in the heart of a little child. To Him, past,
present are but one.
He is unconditioned by time, yet He fHIs all time. Un
conditioned by space, He filIs all space.
This is God, the self-existent, the eternal, the Infinite.
Of these attributes of God we mortals can have but the
faintest comprehension. And we can only really know
Him in the gracious revelations He has made of Himself.
One other important statement of Swedenborg in this
opening chapter of Tille Christian Religion is that God
is love and wisdom. He points out to us that the essence
of love is to spend itself upon others.
From His essential love cornes lhe Divine Aim in crea
tion. The Lord desires to cali into existence countless
billions of human beings on whom He can pour out His
love, and who in the eternal realms of the spiritual world
can reciprocate His love. It is to this end, says Swedenborg,
that all creation has been effected. It is for this that count
less solar systems are called into being and preserved. 1t is
for this that the immeasurable depths of space are studded
with suns and earths.
Tennyson says, "Yet 1 doubt not, through the ages, one
increasing purpose runs."
Swedenborg was the first man to tell us the nature of
that Divine purpose. Creation is effected and the whole
universe is called into being to the end that God may

create man.
God is not only love and wisdom. He is also life itself.
LiCe flows Crom Him in a never-encling stream. AlI living
Conns exist because this liCe Crom God flows into them and
animates them. If liCe Crom God were withheld the whole
universe would cease to be. Take the Divine liCe away,
and,
"The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itselI,
Yea, ail which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like an insubstantial pageant fade d,
Leave not a wrack behind."
But the stream oC liCe comes ceaselessly Crom the Creator,

and thus "in Him we live, and move and have our being."
This one and only God is the Creator. He is also as we
shaH see in succeeding chapters our Saviour and our Pre
server, One God over aU, blessed Cor ever.
THE LORD THE REDEEMER
1N THE preceding chapter we endeavored to present in

. brief Swedenborg's teaching about God as the Creator.
God, says our inspired author, is a Divine, Self-existent
Being from Whom aIl Creation proceeds. He is aU-powe.rful,
ali-wise and everywhere present, Infinite and Etemal.
The one dominant note of Swedenborg's concept of the
Creator is that this God is a God of Love. His attributes
are infinite; but love is not an attribute of God. It is the
very essence of His Being; and from this love aU creation
proceeds. Having demonstrated this to his satisfaction
Swedenborg next presents us with new ideas conceming
God as the Redeemer.
Until quite recent times the Christian world believed in
a tri-personal God. There was one person of the Father,
one person of the Son, one person of the Holy Spirit. In
sarne rnysteriaus way ail these Persans in the Gadhead
were co-etemal. They had unanimity of thought and pur
pose, and really constituted One God. Even today many
people profess the same idea in their Christian faith and
have a crude idea of Three Persons sitting on golden
thrones and while reigning as one God yet exercise
distinctly different functions in the govemment of man
kind.
Swedenborg presents a quite new idea on this subject.
To him the Creator is also the Redeemer. And he shows
us that this is the plain teaching of the Scriptures. The
Old Testament contains no mention of a trinity. "There
is no Gad else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there
19
is none beside me. Look unto me and be ye saved, aU the

ends of the earth; for 1 am Cod and there is none else."
In this and a score of similar passages in the Old Testa;D.ent
it is Jehovah, the Cod of Israel, who is speaking to His
people. The same idea is contained in the prophecies relat
ing to the coming of the Messiah. "His name shaU be
caIIed Wonderful, CounseIIor, the Mighty Cod, the Ever
lasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
Not a son born from eternity, but the Divine Father
Himself was to be the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind.
Swedenborg tells us that J ehovah Cod descended to earth
and assumed our human nature. Cod has aIways been
divinely human. But now He would be Cod Incarnate.
He would cIothe Himself with a human body and mind
like that of man in which He could effect the work of
redemption.
In His infinite creative majesty Cod cannot reveal Him
self to mortal eyes. In that sense no man can look on Cod
and live. Man cannot with the naked eye look even on the
radiant glory of the natural sun. Still less could he look
upon the awful majesty of Cod. But through a piece of
smoked glass man may look upon the sun. The smoke on
the glass serves as a veil to protect the eye. So aIso man
may look upon Cod when the Almighty in His loving
kindness has veiled Himself in the body and mind that
we know as the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a verse of a
weII-known hymn that expresses very aptly man's inability
to look on the unclouded majesty of the Divine:
"Lord! how can l, whose native sphere
Is dark, whose mind is dim,
Before Thy radiant light appear.
And on my naked spirit bear
Thine UJ:\created beam?"
Man has always wanted to know God. He has wanted a
God whom he could see and know and love. But no man
could ever bear the light of the unc10uded majesty of the
Creator. This human yearning after God is finely expressed
for us in the words of Job, "Oh that 1 knew where 1 might
find him! that 1 might come even to bis presence . . . 1
would know the words which he would answer me, and
understand what he would say unto me."
T'o satisfy tbis human search for God, but more espe
cially to effect human redemption the Almighty clothed
Hirnself with a finite human nature and was born into
this world as the Saviour, Jesus Christ. He came, calling
Hirnself in our poor language the Son of God, the Son of
Man. Yet in the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ was the
full consciousness that He was the self revelation of the
Divine. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
"1 and my father are one." Jesus Christ was not a second
person in the Godhead, but Jehovah Hirnself clothed with
an earthly humanity, which He assumed in order to work
out human redemption.
That we may understand more clearly what is meant by
the Lord as the Redeemer, Swedenborg tells us what is
meant by redemption. Here are bis exact words, "Redemp
tion consisted in subjugating the heIls, restoring the heavens
to order, and after tbis re-establishing the Church; and this
redemption God with His Omnipotence could effect only
by means of the Human."
This is one of the most pregnant statements to be found
in Swedenborg's works. The commonly accepted idea of
redemption is that Christ offered Hirnself as a sacrifice,
whereby He could pay the penalty incurred by sinful men
and thus satisfy the demands of Divine Justice. Men 0:
press this in the words of a well-known hymn we sing:

"There was not any good enough
To pay the priee of sin;
He only could unloek the doors of heaven
And let us in."
Those words are absolutely true, but not in the sense we

usually attach to them.
Mankind had fallen so low that the influences of heaven
no longer reached them. The power of evil was 50 strong
that it shut men from the sunshine of heaven. A new way
of access for men to God was necessary. Freedom of the
soul must he restored. Man must be redeemed, not from
the punishment that would be meted out by an angry
Father, but from the spiritual bondage into which he had
declined. And that redemption could he effected only by
God Himself.
So the ever-loving Divine Father came to earth. He in
carnated Himself, that is, He clothed Himself with a
human mind and a human body in which He could fight
with evil and break its power. He could not come to men
in His unclouded majesty, but He could clothe His Divine
Humanity with a finite veil. He came as the Word, or the
Divine Truth. Yet He did not separate it from the Divine
Good.
In the inmost recesses of the soul of Jesus Christ dwelt
the Father, Jehovah Lord of Hosts. "1 am the Lord, a just
Gad and a Saviour, beside me there is no God." These
words take on a new meaning when we realize that the
Lord Jesus Christ was the self-revelation of our Heavenly
Father.
Another important thought in regard to Swedenborg's
teaching concerning the Redeemer is that the incarnation
was accor<!ing to Divine order. The incarnation was not
an afterthought of the Divine Mind. It was not a hastily
thought out plan made necessary by human disobedience
to Divine Law. God is omniscient, that is, He knows aIl
things. He is outside the realm of time. Past, present and
future are one with God. From eternity the incarnation
was an inevitable event.
Swedenborg assures us that from the earliest days of
mankind it was known that the Divine would manifest
Himself upon earth and take upon Himself the human
mind. Hence from Genesis to Malachi the Bible contains
prophecies of the corning of the Messiah.
In the aIder fonus of Christian theology the acts of
redemption were the Lord's trial, crucifixion and resurrec
tian. Swedenborg presents us with a new idea. The passion
on the Cross, he asserts, was the last great victory over
temptation by which the Lord effected the glorification of
His Humanity.
The acts of redemption were different. He executed a
judgment in the spiritual world. He separated the sheep
from the goats. Out of the worthy He formed a new
heaven. He restored things ta arder on the spiritual plane;
ensured for all mankind spiritual freedom; and as a means
of contact between heaven and earth, He instituted a new
church. These were the great acts by which He brought
redemption to mankind.
Dceply interesting is Swedenborg's treatment of the sub
ject of how the Divine and the Human became one in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a brief quotation.
"That the Father and the Son, that is, the Divine and
the Human, became united in the Lord like soul and body,
is in agreement with the belief of the church at this day
1,1
and also with the Word; yet scarcely five in a hundred

know it."
Swedenborg then goes on to show how by overcoming
evil the Hllman drew nearer to the Divine; and at the
same time the Divine was able to come nearer to the
Human, until at last the two were united or merged in
one. He addllces a long series of passages from the Gospels.
"1 and my Father are One."
"Believe me that 1 am in the Father and the Father in
me." "He that is in the bosom of the Father, he hath
revealed Him," are but two or three passages taken from
more than a dozen statements adduced by Swedenborg
from our Lord's own declarations concerning His union
with the Divine.
What Swedenborg is here trying to demonstrate, and
in which he entirely succeeds, is that God became Man,
and Man became God in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Or, ta put it in the words of the Apostle Paul,
"God was in Christ, reconciling the worId unto Himself."
Further than this, Swedenborg explains for us the diffi
culty that we aIl experience when we say that Christ is
the manifestation of the Father and then read in the gospel
that in times of temptation He prayed to the Father for
heIp.
He describes the two states of Glorification and Exinani
tion. We qllote, "It is acknowledged in the church that
when the Lord was in the worId He was in two states,
called the state of exinanition and the state of glorification.
The state of exinanition is described in the Word in many
places, especially in the Psalms of David; and particularly
in Isaiah (chapter 53) where it is said, 'He poured out
His soul even unto death.'"
This, continues Swedenborg, was His state of humilia
tion in which He prayed to the Father. "Moreover, except
for this state He could not have been crucified." But the
Lord had also His states of glorification, as at His trans
figuration; and when He wrought miracles; as weIl as when
He claimed "1 and my Father are one."
"None but an Incarnate God could have redeemed man
kind." And since there is but one God, Jehovah, Lord of
Hosts, He it was who came to redeem mankind. Not a Son
barn from etemity, but our HeaveIÙY Father Himself came
to earth as our Saviour. This is the gist of Swedenborg's
message concerning the Lord the Redeemer. "Am not 1
Jehovah; and there is no God else beside me? A just God
and a Saviour there is none beside Me."
THE HOLY SPIRIT
ORTHODOX Christianity believes in a Triune God of

Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It believes in the
Father as the Creator; in the Son as the Redeemer; in the
Holy Spirit as the Comforter and Sustainer. Orthodox
Christians regard these three aspects of Divinity as three
separate Persons, Who are in perfect harmony as to thought
and purpose, and Who function as One God.
In this concept of the Divine Being, the Holy Spirit is
regarded as the third Person in the Trinity, Whose special
form of activity is to fill the heart and mind of the devout
with peace and joy.
As a Person the Holy Spirit has always been in the
Christian mind a somewhat shadowy Being. Men pray to
the Father and to the Son. Seldom, if ever, are petitions
directed to the Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament, Jehovah speaks to men; in the
New Testament the Saviour speaks; but nowhere in the
Bible does this supposed third Person, the Holy Spirit,
address mankind. For many centuries men have adored
the Holy Spirit, giving It equai rank with the other Divine
Persons in the Trinity; but they have known Iittle or noth
ing about It. They have prayed to the Father, that He
would fill their hearts with the same Holy Spirit. But to
the Spirit Itself they have made no direct approach.
In True Christian Religion Swedenborg asserts, "AH
those of the clerical order when they enter the spiritual
world (which generally takes place on the third day after
death) receive instruction at first about the Divine trinîty,
!Z6
THE HOLT SPIRIT 27
and particularly about the Holy Spirit, that it is not a
Gad by itself, but that the Divine operation proceeding
from the One and omnipresent Gad is what is meant in
the Ward by the Holy Spirit."
And Swedenborg continues:-"Those who aiter instruc
tion relinquish the idea that the Holy Spirit is a Gad by
itself are then taught that the unity of God is not divided
into three persans, each one of wham is singly God and
Lord, according to the Athanasian creed; but that the
Divine Trinity is in the Lord the Saviour, like the soul,
body and proceeding energy in any man."
Swedenborg then makes a statement that is rather
startling to those who first read True Christian Religion.
This is what he says:-"The Holy.Spirit is the Divine
Truth and also the Divine energy and operation proceed
ing from the One Gad in whom is the Divine Trinity, that
is, from the Lord Gad the Saviour."
We can understand this better if we take an illustration.
From the sun of our solar system heat and light flow in a
constant steady stream. They radiate throughout the wide
expanse of our planetary system, and fill with thernselves
all recipient forms on which they fall. By their activity
the vegetable and animal kingdoms are sustained. The
stream of heat and light is ceaseless in its operation, well
nigh changeless in its power. On it, under Divine Provi
dence, all animated nature depends.
From the One eternal and everpresent Gad goes forth an
emanation of love and truth. From all eternity this stream
of love and truth has been flowing, and because Gad is
eternal and changeless, the stream will ever continue to
flow. In itself it is the stream of life, in which we live and
move and have our being. It is the radiant energy of the
Divine which keeps in existence the universe both on the

spiritual and material planes.
This emanation from the Divine, which is the heat and
light of the spiritual universe has various activities. In its
aspect of love it is the great creative principle from which
proceeds all creation. It is the source of all cosmic activity.
It is the life from which aH things exist and subsist. But
it has another form of activity. It is educative. It gives
form and beauty to aH created things. It also operates
upon the human mind. In its aspect of Divine truth, it is
the source of aH human thought, and the agent of aH
spiritual education. It is the impulse from which every
man derives the power of rational thought. We calI it
the Divine Truth.
Truth is something more than knowledge, something
more than the verity of proven facto Flowing from God
it is really the Divine Word. In its essence it is the thought
that emanates from the mind of the Creator.
One great and important aspect of its activity is its con
stant appeal to the human mind. God is ever revealing
Himself to men. He desires to be known as a God of love.
But this knowledge cornes to man primarily in the form of
truth. Out of the Infinite Truth that ftows from God, each
human being can gain just that knowledge that his mind
can receive and use. The Bible is Divine Truth accom
modated to man's feeble intelligence.
At the Incarnation, and thereafter for all time, Divine
Truth came to men through the Divine Humanity; in other
words, through the Saviour God. This spirit of Truth,
which is concerned with man's response to the Lord, which
moves us to repentance, and brings us into harmony with
the Divine Will, is the Holy Spirit. Not a person, not a
•
THE HOLT SPIRIT 29
separate God, but the Divine Energy, fiowing through
the Saviour, and inspiring aIl those who seek to keep the
commandments. This is the Comforter, this is the spirit
of truth, this is the Holy Spirit. This is what is meant in
the words of the Saviour, "1 will pray the Father, and he
shaH give you another Comforter, that he may abide with
you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him: but ye know him; for he dweHeth with you and shall
be in you."
There is one mention of the Holy Spirit in the Gospels
that needs especiaI notice. It is adduced by all the evangel
ists. "And Jesus, when he was baptised, went up straight
way out of the water; and, 10, the heavens were opened
unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a
dove, and lighting upon him." From this record the Chris
tian world has adopted the dove as a symboi of the Holy
Spirit. And rightly so, because the dove is an extemaI
symboi of the affections and consequent thoughts of the
regenerate life. But any intelligent person can reaIise that
it is no more than a symboI, and that its appearance to the
Saviour cames with it no support of the belief that the
Holy Spirit is a third person in a Divine Trinity.
We quote again from Swedenborg:-"As the Lord is
truth itself, all that goes forth from Him is truth, and this
is what is meant by the Comforter, who is aIso called the
Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit." In support of this
statement Swedenborg quotes many passages of Scripture,
as for instance the one quoted above, and here for em
phasis repeated, "1 will pray the Father to give you another
Comforter, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot re
ceive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but
ye know him, for he abideth with you and shaH be in you.

1 will not leave you comIortless; 1 will come to you; and
ye shaH see me."
Here the Lord c1early identifies Himself with the Com
forter. Just as elsewhere He dec1ares, "1 and the Father
are one," 50 here He speaks of Himselfas the ComIorter.
Swedenborg teaches us therefore that the Holy Spirit is
the Lord Himself, coming as the spirit of truth into the
hearts and mincIs of men. He also calls it the Divine Oper
ation and Energy, exerted upon mankind for a special
purpose. That purpose is the reformation and regenerat
tion of man.
To all who believe in Him the Lord cornes as the Spirit
of Truth, moving them to amendment of life. He woos
them to Himself. He urges them to refonnation in life
and to complete regeneration of sou!. AlI Christians belicve
the Lord's words, "Ye must be born again." And all
sincere Christians are eager to attain this new birth. Swed·
enborg tells us how the new birth is efIected. It is brought
about by the operation of the Holy Spirit. "The operation
of these energies,"he says, "is the Holy Spirit, which the
Lord sencls to those who believe in Him and who prepare
themselves to receive Rim." This is what is meant by
spirit in the Divine assurance, "1 will give you a new heart
and a new spirit; and 1 will put my Spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes."
Towards the close of his chapter on the Holy Spirit,
Swedenborg also defines the spirit of man. He says, "In
the concrete, man's spirit means simply his mind; for this
it is that lives after death, and it is then called a spirit
if good an angelic spirit and aftcrwards an angel, if evil
a satanic spirit, afterward a satan. The mind of every one
THE HOLT SPIRIT 31
is his internaI man, which is actually the man, and resides

within the extemal man which constitutes his body; con-
sequently when the body is cast off, which is effected by
its death, the internal man is in a complete human form."
THE DIVINE TRINITY
DEEP within the human heart and mind is a desire to

know and understand God. Man wants to know his
Creator and Saviour, and for thousands of years the best
types of humanity have been searching after God. That
search today is just as important as in the pasto Men are
seeking new ideas about God.
In striving after a new and fuller conception of God,
one condition must always be recognized: The Power that
created the universe will of necessity be greater than the
created work. The greater our knowledge and conception
of the universe the bigger must be our idea of Him who pro
duced it. Man can never get more than a partial glimpse of
the Creator.
One difficulty that confronts us when we seek for an
idea of God that shall be adequate for modem thought
arises from the different ideals by which we are actuated.
The man of science wants a God in Whose existence can
be resolved all the problems presented by a mighty universe
and an apparently limitless store of cosmic energy. He
wants a God of Law and Power. The average man wants
a God Whose essence is love and Who can be known as a
Divine Persan, a Helper, a Healer, a very present help in
trouble. One man wants to see in God an infinite source
of wisdom and creative force, a God "Who hath measured
the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out
heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the
earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales,
and the hills in a balance." Another man wants God as
!Ill
THE DIVINE TRINITT 33
a personal Saviour, One 'Whose voice can be heard in the

loving invitation, "Come unto Me, aIl ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and 1 will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and leam of me; for 1 am meek and lowly in
heart; and ye shaH find rest unto Y0uf souls."
Any new conception of Cod, must, to be acceptable,
satisfy both of these demands. It must put before us a
picture of the Divine immeasurably greater than the created
universe, and at the same time knowable as a personal
Saviour, Father, Helper and ever-present Friend.
Much of our present-day difficulty in understanding
God centers on the orthodox doctrine of the Divine Trinity.
And on this subject Swedenborg has a most illuminating
chapter.
Swedenborg commences his dissertation on the Divine
Trinity with the foHowing paragraph: "God the Creator,
together with creation, has been treated of; aIso the Lord
the Redeemer, together with redemption; and lastly the
Holy Spirit, together with the Divine operation. Having
thus treated of the Triune God, it is necessary to treat also
of the Divine trinity, which is known and yet unknown in
the Christian world; for only through this can a right idea
of God be acquired; and a right idea of God in the church
is like the sanctuary and altar in a temple, or like the
crown upon the head and the scepter in the hand of a
King on his throne; for on a right idea of God the whole
body of theology hangs, like a chain on its first link; and
if you will believe it, every one is allotted rus place in the
heavens in accordance with his idea of God. For that idea
is like a touchstone by which the gold and silver are tested,
that is, the quality of good and truth in man. For there
can be no saving good in man except from God, nor any
34 TR'UE' CHRISTIAN RELIGION
truth that does not derive its quality fUom the bosom 01
good."
FIl0m tJais inwGlduction Swedenborg goes on to tell us
that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three persons
but three essential characteristics of the One God. They
are not separate individuals, but three aspects of one Divine
Being, tfuree mamifestations of the Divine activity in the
universe.
Here for a moment we may leave Swedenborg and take
an illl>lstration from ecdesiastical history. 'l'he idea of three
persons in the Codhead cornes to us from the Athanasian
Clieed, formulated in the fourth een tury, which asserts
that there is One person of the Father, One person of the
Son, and One of the Holy Chost. But it mal' reasonably be
questioned if the theologians who drew up the Athanasian
Creed had in their minds any idea of three separate in
divi,duals when they spoke of three persons. The word
"person" cornes from the Latin "per"-through, and
"sonare"-To sound. It was applied to the mask worn
by aetors. Literally the actor's "persona" was the mask
through which he spoke, and which marked the character
he represented. It is highly probable that the theologians
used the word "person" as meaning the characters mani
fested by the Divine Being. But the common people, and
also the descenda;nts of the theologians accepted this word
"person" as the equivalent of individual. And when they
spoke of three persons in the Godhead they got the idea
of three Divine individuals, each separate from the others,
and each functioning in a special manner.
No.w let us' turn back to Swedenborg who illustrates his
concept of the trinity by the soul, body, and operating
activity of the human being. In every man there are these
THE DIVINE TRINITT 35
three characteristîcs, soul, body, and operative energy. Take

the Apostle Paul as an example. He had a fiery, indomît
able soul. He possessed a weak and probablyernaciated
body. His missionary zeal anù energy carried Christianity
to the Gentile world. To us, Iooking back on rus missionary
triumphs, the soul, body and operative energy appear un
dou btedly as one. There is a similar trinity in eve.ry h uman
being. It is trus that enables us to oe in the image and
likeness of God.
Now hearken to Swedenborg as he says, "Every one
acknowledges that these three essentials, namely soul, body,
and operation, both were and are in the Lord God the
Saviour ... That His soul was from Jehovah the Father
cannot be denied . . . consequently the Divine of the
Father, like the soul in man, is His first essential From this
it follows that the Son wham Mary brought forth is the
body to that Divine soul; for in the mother's womb
nothing is furnished except the body that has been con
ccived and derived from the soul; this, therefore is His
second essential. Operations constitute the third essential,
since these proceed from soul and body together, and
what proceeds is of the same essence as that which produces
Ît. That the three essentials, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
in the Lord are one, like sou~ body and operation in man,
is clearly evident from the Lord's words, that the Father
and He are one; that the Father is in Him and He in the
Father; and in like manner He and the Holy Spirit, sinœ
the Holy Spirit is the Divine that goes forth out of the
Lord from the Father . . ."
Specially to be noted is Swedenborg's statement that a
belief in three persans in the Godhead is destructive of a
rational conception of Gad. For to speak of one and think
of three brings doubt and confusion into the mind. It puts

fetters upon human reason. The Old Testament speaks
of Gad as One. It contains no mention of a TrinitY of
persans; indeed it is emphatic in proc1aiming Jehovah as
the only possible Saviour of mankind. "There is no Gad
eIse beside me; a just Gad and a Saviour; there is none
beside me. Look unto me and he ye saved, all the ends
of the earth; for l am God, and there is none else." A
number of texts might be quoted from the Old Testament
giving similar statements that Jehovah is the one and only
Gad. During aIl the progressive revelation given ta the
Israelites and their descendants, the Jews, there is not a
single reference ta a trinity of persans in the Godhead.
And the idea that one Gad left His throne in heaven and
came to earth ta be a propitiatory sacrifice whereby the
wrath and justice of another Gad might be appeased and
satisfied is a human invention and a parody of the truth.
Swedenborg likens this idea ta sorne of the ancient fables
of the transmigration of the soul.
To people who have been trained to believe in a Tri
persanal Gad, and who have never questioned the idea
that these three Divine Persans have existed from eternity,
it will come as something of a shock ta hear Swedenborg's
statement that prior ta the incarnation the Trinity did not
exist. Men did not even think about it. They thought of
Gad as One, and worshiped Him as One. That in Gad
there was from eternity, Love, Wisdom and Operative
Energy is true, but the concept of Gad as Father, Son and
Holy Spirit was unknown. Not until Gad had incarnated
Himself did man receive the idea of the Son of Gad. Not
until Jehovah manifested Himself as the Lord Jesus Christ
was it possible for man ta think of the Almighty otherwise
THE DIVINE TRINIT Y 37
than as one. During the first two centuries of the Christian

Church its members worshiped Christ as God. Tothem He
was the manifestation of the Father. They accepted the
teaching of the Apostle Paul who declared of the Saviour,
"In Him dwelleth ail the fulness of the Godhead bodily,"
and who also declares, "God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto Hirnself." And as a direct appeal to the one
and only God, this approach to God in Christ was an
unconquerable missionary force. It transformed a hard
pagan world. It brought about the conversion of whole
nations to the Christian faith. lt exercised a power that
the modern Christian Church has almost entirely lost.
Today the church cames on \-videspread missionary work.
lts achievements in India, China and other lands are note
worthy. But it does not set the world aflame with a new
religion as the Apostolic Church did in the first two cen
turies. Swedenborg's teachings on the Divine Trinity restore
to us the belief of the Apostolic Church and give us a
rational idea of the Tr'iune God.
THE SACRED SCRIPTURES
O NEthought
of Swedenborg's greatest contributions ta reIigiow:
is the new light which his revelations shed
upon the Sacred Scriptures. Chapter IV of True CtI1:is
tian Religion is devoted to this subject..
What is it that makes the Bible the greatest book in the
world? The average reader believes the Bible contains the
Will and Wisdom of Gad. It tells of God's dealings with
His people. Also it reveals to us what men thought about
God in past ages. Most important of ail it contains the
record of the Incarnation and of the redemption of the
human race wrought by the Lord. It sets before the human
race the Christian ideals of the Gospel. That is the average
man's idea of the Bible.
AlI this is, of course, perfectly true. But for the most
part it only expresses the traditional human idea of the
Sacred Book. We believe it because am parents and teach
ers told us it was true. Comparatively few people examine
the matter for themselves. Swedenborg includes this tradi
tional view in his teaching; but he has so much more ta
tell us of the nature of the Divine Ward that the Bible
becomes a new and living book to us. He tells us that the
Sacred Scriptures have a threefold meaning, celestial, spir
itual and natural. Ta understand what this means we need
first ta grasp Swedenborg's idea of the heavens. He tells
us, in his book H eaven and HeU that the spiritual world is
ail around us; that each man when he dies enters that
world, and in accordance with bis character becomes an
ange! of light or a spirit of darkness.
58
The angels are not ail on the same plane. They are
distinguished into those w.ho love good, those who love
truth, and tbose who love simpie obedience. These three
distinctions of character produce three planes in the heavens
-celestial, spiritual and nattrral.
The Word of God is as necessary to the angels as it is
to men. They do not need it, as we do, for conquest over
evil (that they have already accomplished), but one of the
chief delights of angelic liTe is the pursuit of Divine Wis-
dom. And Divine Wisdom is found in the revealed Word
of God. To tms end the angels possess the Word. Each
one receives and understands it on the plane of his own
spiritual development.
Not even an ange! can understand the thoughts of the
Infinite sa Divine Wisdom must beaccommodated to
angelic and human intelligence.
And here is the method of its descent: The thoughts of
Cod-Divine Wisdom in relation to the church and to the
redemption and regeneration of man, enter into the minds
of the Ce1estial angels clothed·in imagery they can under-
stand. The wisdom in itself remains unchanged. It is the
Logos, the Word, that was made flesh.
Clothed with another imagery il descends to the spiritual
plane, and is understood, studied and revered byspi.ritual
angels..
Even in that forrn, however, it is incomprehensible to
the lowest angels and to man. It must be clothed with
more material forrns. This is when the human writer finds
his vocation. Under the guidance of the Lord certain men
have written the Word of God as we have it today. History,
poetry, myth, prophecy and gospel, each writer hascon-
tributed his quota. And in every instance he has believed
hirnself to have written under the direction and inspiration

of the Most High. "Thus saith the Lord," is the confident
note of the prophet. "And God said" is the calm assurance
of the historian. The words, terros, phrases, stories and
histories used by the writer are just those things which
were in his mind. They may be only appearances of truth,
they may not always be scientifically accurate; but they are
ail so used (under the providential care and guidance of
the Lord) as to be symbolic and representative of the Word
of God as it exists in the heavens. They are earthly sym
bols of Divine and heavenly realities.
To understand this more fully we need to bear in mind
the great truth that aH things in this world are symbols
and expressions of spiritual principles. Earth's "outer forros
are correspondences to the inward realities" of spirit. As
Mrs. Browning truly says:
"Not a natural f10wer can grow on earth,

Without a f10wer on the spiritual side,
Substantial, archetypai, ail a-glow
With blossoming cause5-not 50 far away,
That we whose spirit-sense is somewhat cleared
May not catch something of the bloom and breath."
On the harmony and relationship existing between the

cpiritual and natural realrns of life, the whole structure of
the literal sense of Scripture is based. In a word, spiritual
truth is presented to us clothed in natural symbols. In the
use of these there is nothing of the accidental or haphazard.
When the Lord says, "1 am the bread of life" He does so
not merely that we may know our need of His saving help,
but because bread is actually the symbol of the Divine
Good wherewith the soul of every angel in heaven and
man on earth is nourished and sustained. And by means
cf the extemal symbol we may be led to a knowledge and

reception of the divine reality.
The Word of God is thus from end to end a book of
divine parables. In it we have not only what the poet calls
"truth embodied in a tale," but truth expressed for us by
systematic and harmonious correspondence between the
things of heaven and those of earth.
Swedenborg makes a strong point of the fact that Divine
Revelation is necessary for the salvation of man. AIl natural
or scientific knowledge may he acquired by observation,
experiment and search. With the intelligence given him
by God, man may explore the whole realm of nature, may
leam her laws and discover her secrets. From the infinitely
great to the rniraculously small he may leam the things of
the created universe. But no scientific search can discover
the existence of God nor demonstrate the existence of the
human soul. AlI knowledge of Divine and Spiritual things
must come, by revelation received from the Lord. That we
might know God, heaven and human destiny, the progres
sive revelation which we know as the Divine Word or the
Sacred Scriptures was given to mankind. In it the Lord
reveals His pUl-poses and His loving kindness towards the
sons of men.
The Sacred Scriptures, says Swedenborg, are not oruy
a guide to life, they conjoin men to God and to heaven.
When we read the Word in its literal sense we are brought
into association with the angelS of heaven who are reading
its spiritual sense, and we are also brought into conjunction
with the Lord Himself by Whom the Word was given. In
this manner our hearts and minds are kept open for the
influx of heavenly influences. In this way "the whole
round earth is bound by gold chains about the feet of God."
Further than this, Swedenborg tells us "In part the

truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are not naked
truths, but are appearances of truth . . . accommodated
and adapted to the capacity of the simple and also of chil
dren." But these appearances of truth are the clothing of
things that are Divinely true. The Mosaic account of
creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, the story of
the Flood, the tower of Babel, and countless other things
are not literally true. They are the outer garrnents of im
perishable truths. Like the rough shell of the oyster they
enshrine pearls of great priee. It is only an appearance
of truth that "God is angry with the wicked every day."
Gad is a Being of unchangeabie love. It is only an appear
anee of truth that the world will sorne day come to an
end in fiames.
Armed with the science of correspondence we can find
the heavenly truth enshrined in every hard saying of the
Ward of Cod. We find the difficulties and apparent con
tradictions of the Ward aIl disapp'ear and the whole revela
tion becomes luminous with heavenly light.
Time does not allow me ta convey to you a tithe of
what Swedenborg has written concerning the Word of
God. But this one thing every student may learn, viz., the
Word is a living book. It is not merely the history of by
gone days. It is the Divine Wisdom for yesterday, today
and forever. 1 conc1ude with a direct quotation from
Swedenborg: "In the Word of the celestial kingdom goods
of love are expressed and the marks are affections of the
love; while in the Word of the spiritual kingdom tcuths of
wisdom are expressed, and the marks are interior percep
tions of truth. From ail this one may conc1ude what kind
of wisdom lies coneealed in the Word which is in the world;
for in it all angelic wisdom, which is ineffable, is concealed;

and the man, who from the Lord through the Word be
cornes an angeI, enters into that wisdom after death."
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
SWEDENBORG'S chapter on the Ten Commandments

sheds new light on the Divine laws of human life.
First of all he directs our attention to the universal char
acter of these laws. "There is not," he says, "a nation in
the whole world which does not know that it is wicked to
murder, to commit adultery, to steal, and to bear faIse
witness, and that kingdoms, republics, and every form of
organized society, unless these evils were guarded against
by the laws, would be at an end." .
These laws are the fundamental basis of civilized life.
They have always been such. Civilizations existed long
before the days of Moses. At least in part, if not in their
entirety, the Ten Commandments were known and obeyed.
And one may wonder why laws so universally known should
have been given anew to Moses on Mount SinaÏ. Sweden
borg's explanation is as follows: "They were promulgated
in so miraculous a way to make known that these laws
are not only civil and moral laws, but also Divine laws ...
Acting contrary ta them is not Qnly doing evil to the
neighbor, but is also sinning against God." Therefore these
laws uttered by Jehovah on Mt. Sinai were also made the
laws of religion. They were to be recognized not only as
the laws of the land but as the laws of salvation for the
human sou!.
Because obedience to these ten precepts is the means of
conjunction between God and man, and because they con
tain a brief summary of all things of religion, they are holy.
Swedenborg believed and taught that J ehovah Himself,
44
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 45
accompanied by angeIs, manifested Hirnself on Mt. Sinai,
spoke with a living voice, and actually wrote the Ten
Commandments on the two tables of stone. Hence the
holiness ascribed to them. Briefly he describes for us the
history of the tables: how they were deposited in the Ark
of the Covenant and placed in the Holy of Holies in the
tabernacle. He speaks of the miracles wrought by the
presence of the Ark, aIl due to the holiness that resided
in those tables of stone on which were written the Ten
Commandments.
One of the most impressive of Swedenborg's std.tements
is that these Ten Cornmandments have a heavenly as well
as earthly aspect. They have an internaI meaning. They
are applicable not only to men but to aIl those who inhabit
the spiritual realm of life. And we, who for the present
time are tabernacled in the flesh, may get sorne limited
understanding of the inner meaning of the Decalogue.
Let us see if we can follow Swedenborg in his exposition
of the inner meaning of the Commandments.
The natural meaning of the first of these ten Words is
plain for all to see. "Thou shalt have no other Gods before
me." By these words aIl idolatrous worship is forbidden.
There must be no idols, no personifications of nature or
her attributes, no man dead or living that shaH be wor
shiped. "In the natural sense this co.nmandment means
aIso that no one except God, and nothing but what pro
ceeds from God is to be loved above aIl things. For any
person or thing that is loved above all things is God and is
Divine to the one who so loves."
To break this commandment it is not necessary that we
set up an idol, or bow before the sun, moon or stars. As
soon a<; wc elevate anything to the lùghest place in the
mind, and bestow upon it our deepest affection, we have

made for ourselves a new god.
This does not mean that we are to put any limitation
on our natural affections. What it means is that the
Lord must have fust place in the heart, and obedience ta
Him must be preferred before any of our affections. It
shuts out the worship of all things or persons other than
God.
"The spiritual sense of this commandment is, that no
other Cod than the Lord Jesus Christ is to he worshiped,
hecause He is Jehovah, who came into the world and
wrought the redemption without which neither any man
or any ange! could have been saved."
Swedenborg then quotes a long list of passages from the
Divine Word to prove that the Lord God J ehovah is the
only true Cod and the onfy Saviour of mankind: from
which passages, he says, "it is very evident that the Lord
our Saviour is Jehovah Himself, who is at once Creator,
Redeemer, and Regenerator. This is the spiritual sense of
this commandment."
There is still a deeper meaning involved in this command
ment. The celestial sense is . . . "that J ehovah the Lord
is infinite, illimitable, and etemaI; that He is omnipotent,
omniscient, and omnipresent; that He is the First and the
Last, the Beginning and the End, who was, is, and is to be."
The inner meanings which are concealed within the
letter are read and understood by the angels of heaven.
We come now to the second commandment, "Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
Vou will notice that Swedenborg uses the Old Lutheran
way of numbering the Ten Commandments. "Taking the
name of God in vain," says our author, means the name
itself, and its abuse in various kinds of conversation, espe

cially in false speaking or Iying, and in useless oaths, or
oaths. with imprecations, also when empIoyed in juggIerit:S
and incantations. But to swear by God and His holiness,
by the Word or the Gospe~ at coronations, inaugurations
into the priesthood, and inductions into- offices of trust, is
not to take the name of God in vain.
No man has any difficulty in deciding when the use of
the name of God is perrnissible and when it is mere bIas
pheerny. Not only is the Divine name or names used in the
Old Testament hoIy, but aIso that used in the New. So
Swedenborg says, "That the name of Jesus is in like manner
holy is known from the saying of the ApOS1!le that at this
name every knee is bowed OT should be bowed in heaven
and on earth, and furthermore from this, that no devil in
heU can utter that name. There are many names of God
that must not be taken in vain, as Jehovah, Jehovah God,
and Jehovah of Hosts, the Holy One of ISL'ael, Jesus and
Christ, and the Holy Spirit."
It is perhaps fortunate for Swedenborg's peace of rnind
that he di~d in ignorance of the widespread profanity that
would be ind'olged in by the people of the United States
of America.
"In the spiritual sense, the name of God means every
thing which the Church teaches from the Word, and by
which the Lm'd is invoked and worshiped. AlI such things
in the complex are the name of God. 'To take the name
of God in vain' means therefore to introduce any of these
things into frivolous conversation, into false speaking, Iying,
imprecations, juggleries and incantations; for this, too, is
reviling and blaspheming God, thus His name."
In the ce1estial or inmost meaning of this commandment
"II 48 TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
taking the name of God in vain means blasphemy against

the Holy Spirit.
Swedenborg tells us that the name of everyone means
not his name alone, but rus every quality. In the spiritual
world, he says, no man retains the name he received in
baptism or that of his father or ancestry; but every one is
there named according to his character, and angels are
named according to their moral and spiritual life.
Thus the name of God is expressive of aIl Divine quali
ties. The man who fiouts and sneers at the Divine is
breaking the second commandment.
The third commandment. "Remember the Sabbath
Day to keep it holy" takes on a new meaning for us when
explained by Swedenborg. To the Israelites it meant a
cessation of almost all bodily activity. Listen to what
Swedenborg says of it. "With the children of Israel the
Sabbath, because it represented the Lord was the sanctity
of sanctities, the six days representing His labors and con
fiicts with the hells, and the seventh His victory over them,
and consequent rest; and as that day was a representative
of the close of the whole of the Lord's work of redemption,
it was holiness itself."
Swedenborg tells us further that when the Lord came
into the world, that representation ceased, and the Sabbath
became a day of instruction in Divine tlùngs, also a day of
rest from labors, a day of meditation, and also a day of
love towards the neighbor.
Swedenborg is not an advocate of a rigid formalism in
Sabbath Day observance. He sees the Sabbath as a day for
worslùp, for instruction and meditation, and a day for the
exercise of love toward the neighbor. Were he living today
he would have no sympathy with the godless day of pleas
ure and idleness into which many people turn the Sabbatb.
Neither would he be the advocate of a Puritanic custom
that robbed the Sabbath of aIl joy and forbade all neigh
borly intercourse. "The Sabbath was made for man, and
not man for the Sabbath."
In the spiritual sense this commandment represents man's
reformation and regeneration by the Lord. The six days
of labor denote his warfare against inherited tendencies to
evil; the seventh day means victory and conjunction with
the Lord.
In the highest, or celestial sense, the Sabbath means a
state of peace that cornes of perfect harmony with the
Divine Will.
One short chapter will not afford space for following
Swedenborg through aIl ten of the commandments. Many
expositors have written on this subject, but no one has ever
given such a comprehensive and lucid explanation of their
significance and meaning. This is due to the fact that no
one but Swedenborg has been able to grasp the fact that
the Ten Commandments are the rules of life in heaven as
weIl as upon earth. For men on earth these command
ments are prohibitions from evil. For angels in heaven
they are affirmations to good.
But even where they are prohibitions against evil for
men on earth, the commandments have an affirmative
aspect. For when a man "shuns evîls as sins, so far does
he will the goods that pertain to love and charity."
He who honestly and devoutly keeps the Ten Command
ments is treading the pathway to heaven, for, to quote
Swedenborg once again, "The Ten Commandments of the
decalogue contain aIl things that belong to love to God,
and aIl things that belong to love toward the neighbor."
FAITH AND CHARITY
SWEDENBORG devotes two long chapters to a con

sideration of the subject, Faith and Charity. In ail
ages these two things have been regarded as the heart of
religion. Worship, of course, is the central point of piety.
But practical, everyday religion is based on these two
q uali ties, fai th and chari ty .
For many centuries men debated the relative importance
of these two things and the part they played in the salva
tion of mankind. Sorne thinkers asserted that it mattered
little what you believe so long as you practiced charity in
your everyday life. Others asserted that your actions were
of comparatively little importance. The vital point was
that you had the right and proper faith.
In Swedenborg's day the Protestant church was domi
nated by what is known as "Salvation by faith alone." No
man could be saved by good works. He could only be
saved by a belief in the vicarious atonement effected by the
Saviour on the Cross.
Swedenborg had a profound respect for faith. He had
an even more profound respect for charity. He finds a
place for bath of them in the regeneration and salvation
of man. He answers the question "Which is first, faith or
charity?" by the statement that faith is first in point of
time; charity is first in point of importance.
In reading these chapters of True Christian Religion it
is weIl for us to remember Swedenborg's teaching to the
effect that to all men who obey the law which they have
seen in this life, even though that law has not been true,
5°
FAITH AND CHARITY 51
truth will be taught in the future life. The heathen, who

never heard of Christ on earth, will, if they have lived good
lives, welcome a knowledge of Him in the spiritual world.
Every man must have the right and proper faith before
he can enter heaven. If he had no chance of acquiring
such a faith on earth, he will have full opportunity of
learning it when he enters the spiritual world. Only the
good will wish to acquire this faith.
Bearing ail this in mind we are prepared to receive
Swedenborg's statement that "saving faith is faith. in the
Lord God the Saviour, Jesus Christ."
"Saving faith is faith in God the Saviour, because He
is God and Man, and He is in the Father and the Father
in Him; thus they are one; therefore those who go to Him,
at the same time go to the Father also, thus to the one and
only God, and there is no saving faith in any other."
ln proof of that statement Swedenborg quotes the woràs
of Jesus Himself. "This is the will of the Father who sent
me, that everyone who beholdeth the Son and believeth
in Him, should have eternal life; and 1 will raise him up
at the last day." "He that believeth on the Son hath
eternal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
This faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorified Saviour,
was, says Swedenborg, the faith of the apostles and the
early Christian Church. A faith in a tripersonal God is
something that has been read into the apostolic writings.
It had no part in the early Christian Church.
How can a man acquire such a faith? Any man can
form opinions. From his parents and teachers he can
receive certain ideas concerning God, immortality and
duty. But faith is something more than opinions. It is
a heart-felt conviction that God exists, and a heart-felt

conviction that He must be obeyed. No man can campel
himself into belief. But the formation of a true faith is
not, says Swedenborg, a difficult matter. "It is effected
by man's going to the Lord, leaming truths from the Word,
and living according to them."
Our author has no doubt whatever that any man can
acquire faith. To seek the Lord, get truths, and live accord
ing to them wiII ensure the growth of faith in the mind.
But such a faith is much more than mere opinion, much
more than a memory rich in truth. It is an inner conviction
based on truth that has been woven into life. "If ye know
these things, happy are ye if ye do them."
The more of truth a man knows and practices the
stronger and deeper his faith in the Lord.
The possession of faith cornes only as a man practices
the truth he learns. There is no faith without charity.
There may be a fanatical adherence to a creed. There may
be unshakable opinion conceming certain tenets of religion.
But true faith cornes only to the man who practices and
lives the truth. And because faith itself is a heavenly thing
it cannot be the portion of the eviI. Only the good possess
faith. Only those who are principled in truth can know
the essence of faith.
Let us now see what Swedenborg says about charity.
We shaH find bis definition of the word rath~r startling.
To us charity means love expressed in philanthropy. We
think of it aImost solely as being connected with feeding
the hungry, cIothing the naked, ministering to the sick,
and such Iike channels of merciful activity.
But charity is much more than the practice of philan
thropic actions. It is love to the neighbor. And its pursuit
FAITH AND CHARITT 53
includes all good deeds. It is the practice in daily liIe of

aU the truth a man has learned from the Lord. Indeed
charity can exist quite apart from those tlùngs that we
include in the realm of philanthropy. If a man is impelled
by a desire to serve God and the neighbor, every act of his
life becomes a deed of charity. The discharge of daily
duties from an unselfish motive is as much the work of
charity as is the founding of a hospital. Charity is faith
in action. Charity is love to the neighbor. Therefore real
faith and real charity can never be separated. Each one
is incomplete without the other.
Swedenborg draws attention to three universal affections
in the heart of man: the love of heaven, the love of the
world and the love of self. These three affections reside in
every man from birth. Properly controlled and directed
they are all good. They look to use as the great object in
life. It is only when they are regarded selfishly that they
become perverted and injurious to man. In the life of a
good man charity is closely associated with aIl of these
affections, for charity is not only love to the neighbor, it is
the love of use.
Speaking of charity as love to the neighbor Swedenborg
sheds new light on the subject. Our neighbor is not neces
sarily the man who lives next door. Charity is to be exer
cised toward every man according to the good that is in
him. For it is to the good in man that we are to be neigh
bor. And it is the good in man that will be neighbor
to us.
The Lord is our neighbor in the highest sense; the
church, our native land and our fellow man are the neigh
bor in lesser degree. The exercise of charity is shown in
our love to the Lord, the Church, the country and the
individual. To love each and aIl of these is to exercise

charity.
This gives us a wider definition of the virtue of charity
than we can find in the work of any other writer. It is
much more comprehensive than the usual meaning at
tached to that word.
Charity is usually restricted to philanthropy. Of course,
true philanthropy is charity. When a man founds a hos
pital, orphanage or school, and does so unselfishly, he has
performed an act of genuine charity. When we feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sicle, and care for the
sufi'ering, we are acting charitably. But that is only a part
of the subject. Here is Swedenborg's definition of charity:
"Charity itself is acting justly and faithfully in the office,
business and employment in which a man is engaged, be
cause all that such a man does is of use to society, and use
is good." Swedenborg thus makes charity cover the entire
life of an upright man. Acting wisely and unselfishly such
a man is practicing charity throughout his waking hours.
Even the most menial tasks, unselfishly wrought, are deeds
of charity. The worker's daily toil, the mother's care for
her children, the doctor's care for the sick, every use, every
caIling of the Christian life is a deed of charity.
These latter are what Swedenborg calls the obligations
of charity. Acts of philanthropy he calls the henefactions
of charity. We can, he says, practice charity even when
paying our taxes. Those to whom their country is dear pay
their taxes cheerfully. He says that the duties of charity
in our own homes are so numerous that they would fi11 a
volume. Charity is so all embracing that it even covers
the entertainments and diversions of life. Swedenborg
speaks of dinners and suppers of charity, given only among
FAITH AND CHARITT 55
those who are in mutual love from a similarity of faith.

The first thing of charity is to put away all evils; the
second is to do goods that are of use to the neighhor. The
practice of the tnùy religious life. It brings a man into
communion with heaven. It teaches a man ta ascribe aIl
good to the Lord, and to be of service to his neighbor in
every direction. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Charity worketh no iII to his neighbor; charity is the fuI
fiIIing of the law."
FREEDOM OF CHOICE
I Nrelationship
ALL things relating to his body man revea1s a close
to the brute creation. Naturalists class him
in the mammalia, and put him at the head of the primates.
They tell us that he has a more erect posture, and a more
highly evolved brain than the anthropoid apes. His face
is set at a more perpendicular angle in relation to the body;
but physically there is no great gulf between man and the
other primates. He belongs to the same natural order.
The same number of bones compose his skeleton. The
same muscles, the same viscera are in his body, and even
the same natural senses enable him to respond to his
environment.
We can grant these claims of the man of science; but
there are two characteristics in which man differs from
all other earthly creatures. He possesses freedom of the
will and rationality of intellect. He is the only creature
that can submit himself to self-examination. He is the
only creature that can persistently deny his own appetites
and impulses; the only creature that can simultaneously
love one thing, think of another thing, and then act in
opposition to his first love and his initial thought. In a
word, man has free will-freedom of choice in mental and
spiritual things.
Swedenborg devotes a whole ~hapter of True Chris
tian Religion to a discussion of the imperative nece~ity of
freedom of choice and its value to man as a spiritual being.
It is the ability to choose between two courses of action,
and especially the ability to choose between right and
56
FREEDOM OF CHO/CE 57
wrong, between the true and the faIse, that separates man
from the whole brute creation. It is this freedom of choice
that enables him to consciously rcspond to God and that
makes it possible for him to attain to angelhood. In this
respect, between man and the brute creation there is a
great gulf fixed.
This subject of man's free will has been a perennial
subject of debate for many centuries. There is a school of
thought that denies the possession of freedom in the human
mind. It says that man is a creature of heredity and
environment. His motives, say the advocates of deter
minism, are the result of outside pressure acting upon
inherited desire. Man will always follow the strongest
motive, and that motive is decided, not by his own will,
but by the pressure of circumstances acting on hereditary
inclination.
Pushed to its logical conclusion this bellef takes away
from man aU responsibility for his actions. It says that
Christ on the cross, and Nero fiddling while Rome bumed
were each alike predestined to his fate, each alike the
creature of circumstances.
As a subject for academic discussion this theory that ail
man's thoughts, decisions and actions are determined for
him by circumstances over which he has no control, may
be very interesting. But ail civilization, ail social order, aU
law and aU politicaI procedure are built up on the opposite
bellef, viz., that man is a responsible agent, that he can
choose between good and evil, and that he can act, if he
sa desires, in opposition to the pressure of heredity and
environment. There is no law court in the civilized world
that would accept the plea of "determinism" as an excuse
for crime. AlI social order is built on the assumption that

man is morally a free agent.
Swedenborg distinctly teaches that man possesses free
dom of choice. He gives many reasons for this freedom,
and considers the subject from a spiritual point of view.
If man had not this freedom, he says, the Word of God
would be of no use. Why teach man the Ten Command
ments if obedience or disobedience thereto is already de
cided for man by the pressure of circumstances? Why
teach men to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly
with God if their lives and conduct are determined by an
inexorable fate ? If man has no freedom of choice why
ask him to choose? Why reveal to him the will of God?
Why should the Lord invite man to turn to Him if the
tuming is outside the range of the human will?
Again, without freedom there would he nothing in man
whereby he could conjoin himself with the Lord. AlI re
sponse to Divine invitations must be voluntary on man's
part. If man were compelled by circumstances to turn to
the Lord he would be an automaton. There would be no
virtue in his obedience. A sheep is a harmless animal, but
no one praises the virtue of the sheep-fold. The sheep can
no more be praised for its gentleness than atiger can be
blamed for predatory instincts. Obedience to God on the
part of man is only praiseworthy from the fact that man
yields it as the result of freewill.
Swedenborg goes further than this and asserts that if
man had no spiritual freedom God would be the cause of
evil.
Evil is a perversion of good. It came into the world when
man commenced to live from the promptings of his own
selfhood rather than from obedience to Divine Law. Man
FREEDOM OF CHO/CE 59
is therefore the author of evil. Free to choose between

good and evil he chose the latter. He became a slave to
his natural appetites instead of their master. And for the
gratification of those appetites he forsook the path of
obedience. He did this in the exercise of his God-given
freedom.
That he would do so was foreseen by the Creator. That
redemption would be necessary, and that with Divine help
man would eventuaUy win his way back to virtue was also
foreseen. This ultimate victory is the "one divine event to
which the whole creation moves." Humanity must leam
to love goodness and truth in freedom. Mankind must
choase the heavenly path in freedom.
The only alternative to this belief would be to assume
that God created aU the evil of the world. Either God or
man is responsible. If man were not free the responsibility
for every form of evil would rest with the Creator. And
we could no longer believe in God as a being of perfect
love.
In another of his great works, Areana Coelestia, Sweden
borg explains how the evils of mankind produced hell,
and how the influence of hell ultimated itself in evil
forms in tb~ world of nature. But in True Christian
Religion our author contents himself with the simple state
ment that the abuse of human freedom is responsible for
the evil that is in the world. He does, however, give one
illustration of this. Speaking of his intercourse with the
spiritual world he says, "Several times 1 have heard expres
sions respecting the good of charity made to descend from
heaven, which passed through the world of spirits and
penetrated into heU, even to its depths; and in their
progress these expressions were tumed into such as were
directly contrary to the good of charity, and finally into
expressions of hatred of the neighbor; a sign that every
thing that goes forth from the Lord is good, and that it
is turned into evil by the spirits in hell."
The will and the understanding of man are in the exer
cise of freedom. Man is free to do evil or good according
to free choice. He is free to live in charity towards the
neighbor, free to make himself useful in the world, free
to follow the principles of heavenly life. Also he is free to
live according to the dictates of rus natural mind, free to
wage war on his neighbor, to seize the goods of others,
to harbor and practice deceit, revenge and lust.
Nevertheless, says Swedenborg, both in this world and
in the spiritual world the doing of evil is restrained. "It is
self evident," he says, "that the commission of evil, both in
the spiritual and natural worlds, must be restrained by laws,
in order that society may continue to subsist. Without
external restraints not only society but the whole human
race would perish. Man is obsessed by the love of ruling,
and the love of gain. These two loves, unless restrained, would
know no limit; and they are the chief source of man's
hereditary evils. The sin of Adam consisted in his evil
desire, infused into him by the serpent, to become as God.
Hence the curse pronounced against him said that the
earth should bring forth the thorn and thistle (Gen. üi.
5, 18); by these are meant all evil, and its attendant falsi
ties. Men who have surrendered to the love of ruling and
the love of gain regard themselves as alI-important. They
have no pity, no fear of God, no love of the neighbor; they
are unmerciful, ruthless, cruel, covetous, and greedy; and
they will employ any sort of craft and treachery to rob
others."
FREEDOM OF CHOICE 61
If man had no freewill in spiritual things it would be

easy for the Lord to convert the whole of mankind to Him
self in a single day. Then by Divine fiat aU evil in human
life would cease. But man would no longer he able to come
into the image and likeness of God. "Compulsion in spir
itual things affects only the natural man; but it closes up
the spiritual man, and blinds him to the truth." Without
freewill man would not be truly human.
The hurnan race pays a big priee for the spiritual free
dom conferred upon it. It pays in wars, tyranny and
oppression. It pays in crime, perversion and degradation.
AU these things are due to the misuse of freedom by the
individual. But in the proper use and enjoyment of that
freedom the human race enjoys spiritual gifts and triumph
attainable in no other way. Only by freedom of choice
can men rise on stepping stones of their dead selves to
communion with the Lord and to angelhood in heaven.
"He is the free man whom the truth makes free, and all
are slaves beside."
--------------------
REPENTANCE
A FTER explaining the nature and necessity of freewill,

our author proceeds to discuss the subject of Repent
ance. He tells us that true faith and charity are not attain
able without repentance, and none can repent without
freewill. None can hecome regenerate before the removal
of those grievous evils which are detestable in the sight of
God, and such removal can only be effected by repentance.
An unregenerate man is nothing but an impenitent one
a man who cherishes and fondles the evil within bis heart.
Repentance is the first necessity of the church in man.
The Church is a communion consisting of aU its members,
and a man enters this communion when he is regenerated.
Everyone is regenerated by abstaining from the evils of sin.
There are many things which early in life prepare a
man for the church, and introduce him into it; but acts
of repentance cause the church to be in mm. This defini
tion of church membership as given by Swedenborg is
worthy of careful consideration. It is comparatively easy
for any man to be in the church; but for the church to be
in man is an entirely different matter. This can only be
effected by repentance.
Swedenborg then proceeds to tell us what repentance is,
and also what it tS not.
Many people fee! sorry for the sins they commit. Feel
ing sorry is an act or state of contrition. This sorrow ma~'
he due to one or more reasons. A man may regret the sins
he commits because he realizes that bis actions are con
trary to the moral order of the universe and opposed to
6i
REPENTANCE 63
the will of the Lord. He may regret them because of the

consequences, physical and spiritual, which are felt in
body or mind. The drunkard realizes with regret the
physical deterioration which results from self indulgence.
The thid feels a sense of inferiority when in the company
of honest men. Not until a man has become deeply de
praved and vicious does he cease to regret the loss of
vîrtue. But if he makes no real effort towards amendment
of life contrition faIls short of repentance. He makes no
spiritual progress.
Nor does a mere lip-confession that one is a sinner con
stitute repentance. "Every man," says Swedenborg, "even
a wicked one or a devil, may make such confession; and
when he thinks of the threatening and impending torments
of heil, he may do so with a great show of sincerity. But
such a confession is entirely superficial, being a matter of
the lips and not of the heart. For wicked men and devils,
notwithstanding such confession, still burn inwardly with
evil lusts, by which they are driven like windrnills in a
storm. A lip-confession, then, is nothing but a fraudulent
attempt to obtain salvation from God, or to impose upon
the simple."
"Man inherits evils of every kind and, unless repentance
contributes to their removal, he remains in themj and then
he canIlOt be saved."
Swedenborg qualifies this statement. Man does not in
herit the actual evils, but an inclination towards them. No
man is born a thief, liar or adulterer. No man is born
compeIled to practise any evil. He is a free agent. But
he inherits from his parents inclinations towards various
evils. For these inclinations no man suffers condemnation.
"Therefore, after death no one is judged or condernned
on account of any hereditary evil, but only on account of

those sins which he has actual1y committed. This is evi
dent from the fol1owing divine law: The father shaH not
be put to death for the son, neither shaH the son be put
to death for the father; everyone shaH be put to death for
his own sin" (Dt 24:16).
"Repentance begins with the recognition of sin, and the
examination of sorne particular sin in oneself. No one in
the Christian world can fail to recognize sin; for every
Christian child is taught what is wrong and every boy
learns the evil of sin. AH young people learn this from
parents and masters, and also from the Decalogue, which
is, so to speak, their first lesson-book; and in the subse
quent stages of life they leam the same thing from public
preaching and private instruction, and most especiaHy from
the Word. They learn it also from the civil law, which
forbids the same things as the Decalogue and the Word in
general. For sin is evil against the neighbor; and evil
against the neighbor is also evil against God, which again
is sin. But general recognition of sin is of no avail unless
a man examines his actions, and sees whether he has com
mitted any particular sin, secretly or openly. Until this is
done, his knowledge is merely theoretical; and then the
words of a preacher go in at one ear, and out at the other,
and soon lose aH practical value. But it is altogether differ
ent when a man uses his knowledge for self-examination,
and discovers sorne particular evil, and then says to him
self: 'This is sin,' and abstains from it through fear of
eternal punishment. Then for the first time the instruction
heard in church is listened to attentive1y, and is admitted
into the heart; and from a pagan the man becomes a
Christian."
REPENTANCE 65
But this is only the beginning of the matter. To truly

repent needs that a man examine his deeds, recognize their
quality, acknowledge his sins, ask for help from the Lord,
and commence to live a new IÜe. This is the plain teach-
ing of the Gospels. We are to bring forth fruits worthy
of repentance. Jesus told His disciples that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in His name among
ail nations. But such repentance implied at all times that
the penitent man should begin a new life. Repentance is
not merely a new attitude towards the Lord but a constant
effort to live according to the divine will. Here let me
quote again from Swedenborg: "If a man abstains from
one or more sins of which he has become aware at any
time-perhaps during the preparation for the Holy Sup-
per, he has made a definite start upon the road of actual
repentance; and then he is on the road to heaven, for he
then begins from natural to become spiritual, and to be
born anew of the Lord."
In self examination we review the deeds of the day. This
act was good, this other one was evil. This was profitable
and useful to our neighbor, this other was merely selfish
and contributed nothing to the common good. And yet
again, here was an act that was unmistakably evil. To thus
review one's deeds, and honestly to recognize their true
quality is a part of our Christian duty. But self exarnina-
tion must go deeper than that. We should examine and
recognize also the quality of our intentions. An outwardly
good act may proceed from a selfish end. John Smith may
give a hundred thousand dollars to a hospital not from a
desire to help the community but from a desirc for public
praise and a desire to be a candidate for some remunerative
public office. His donation may be a blessing to the poor,
but his act was merely selfish. Men may praise him for his
generosity, but the Lord who looks upon the heart and
knows the secret thoughts of every man knows that John
Smith's action was not generous but selfish.
It is our dutY to examine our secret intentions and mo-
tives, and purge them from the dross of selfishness. "It is
possible," says Swedenborg, "ta repent of the evils com-
mitted by the body, and still to think and desire evil; but
this is like cutting down a noxious tree, and leaving its
raot, from which the tree again grows and spreads. But
it is different when the raot is plucked up; and this is done
when a man examines not onIy his acts but also his inten-
tions, and removes evil by repentance."
For growth in the spiritual life, and for success and sin-
cerity in repentance it is necessary that confession be made
ta the Lord God and Saviour; and then supplication for
help and power to resist evil. We have the essence of this
in the words of the psalmist: "1 will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help; my help cometh
from the Lord."
No man can lift himself up by his own boot-straps. No
man from selfishness can become unselfish. But Divine
help is forthcoming for aIl who sincerely repent and seek
to live a righteous life. Many men seek to live a godly,
sober and righteous life. And because they try to do this
in their own strength they fail to achieve their end. Yet
had they sought strength from the Lord they would have
been successful. The Lord gives strength to aU who calI
upon His name.
"There is no need to enumerate one's sins to the Lord,
or to supplicate for their remission. Such enumeration is
unnecessary, because the penitent has already searched out
REPENTANCE 67
his sins, and seen them in himseIf, and consequently they

are laid bare before the Lord. Moreover, it was the Lord
who led him to undertake the work of examination, and
reveaIed his sins to him, inspired him with sorrow for them,
and at the same time with the endeavour ta desist from
them, and to begin a new life. Supplication to the Lord
for the rernission of sins need not be made for two reasons:
Firstly, because sins are not abolished, but removed.
And they are removed as a man desists from them and
makes progress in the new life; for every evil is composed
of innumerable lusts which cannot be removed in a moment
but only by degrees, as a man suffers himself to be re
formed and regcnerated."
"Actual repentance," says Swedenborg, "is very difficuIt
at first; but it becomes easy with practice." It is not the
work of a day or an hour. It is something in which we
have to persevere day by clay until the victory over eviI is
won. As we seek help from the Lord, as we examine our
deeds and intentions, and as we strive earnestly to live a
life according to the Ten Commandments, the act of re
pentance becomes easy.
If we never practise repentance nor seek to know the real
quality of our thoughts and intentions we gradually become
incapable of recognizing good or evil in our lives. "There
fore," urges Swedenborg, "examine yourseIf, search out
your evils and remove them from a motive of religion: if
you do so from any other motive, you will only succeed
in hidi.'1g them from the worId."
REFORMATION AND REGENERATION
A FTER dealing with the subject of repentance Sweden

borg turns to discuss that of Reformation and
Regeneration. These proccsses follow aU true repentance.
An important part of the teachings of the Lord Jesus
Christ is that which tells us of the imperative need of
rebirth. Unless a man is born again he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. We are all familiar with the Lord's
words to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, 1 say unto thee,
Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom
of God . . . Verily, verily, 1 say unto thee, Except a man
be barn of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God; That which is born of flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of spirit is spirit."
That a man must be born again, says Swedenborg, is
due to the fact that every man is born prone to evils. By
heredity from a long chain of ancestors man inherits ani·
mal tendencies in the natural degree of his mind. On that
natural plane he is, as to his will, hardly removed from the
animais. He has the savagery of the tiger, the cunning of
the fox, the ravening instincts of the wolf.
Of course he differs from the animais in his understand·
ing. His thoughts can be elevated even to the light of
heaven. But in his will lie possibilities of every conceivabk
cvil. If he should abandon himself to his evil desires he
comes down to the level of the beasts.
But man is born for heaven. It is the Divine aim and
intention that every human soul shaU be brought into
heaven. To this end man must be reborn. His natural
68
selfhood is opposed to heaven. He is only restrained by

civil law from rushing into diabolical evils. The removal
of these tendencies to evil, and the implanting and develop
ment of a new will are the work of refonnation and
regeneration.
Because ail men have been redeemed by the Lord aD
men can be regenerated. Because ail men are born into
freedom of the will, ail men can be reformed and saved.
If men do not enter heaven it is because they have refused
to prepare for iL They have denied the opportunities of
rebirth and have deliberately chosen ta follow the prompt
ings of the tendencies ta evil born in them. They have
turned their backs on ail opportunities ta be reborn.
The nature of regeneration is imperfectly understood in
the world today. It is often regarded as merely another
name for conversion. Men who have been suddenly con
verted believe they have been complctely regenerated. But
such is not the case. Conversion is a very real thing. There
is a point in time in which a man who has been opposed
to the Lord and who has turned his back on goodness,
experiences a great change. He submits his will to the Lord
and turns his face to heaven. That is conversion, or re
pentance. But the building of a new manhood, the spir
itual, heavenly, regenerated man is a lengthy process.
Swedenborg tells us that "regeneration is effected in a
manner analogous to that in which man is conceived, car
ried in the womb, barn and educated." \Vhich is to say,
that the new will commences in comparative weakness and
obscurity, grows gradually in strength and power, until at
last it embraces and dominates the whole manhood. The
man has become spiritual.
Here we may ask, What is the special part played by
reformation in relation to this new birth? Reformation

means that we cease to do evil. Regeneration means that
we leam to do well.
But there is a more specifie aspect of reformation worthy
of note. Reformation means also a changed attitude of
the intellect.
While a man is following the impulses of his natural
mind and indulging in evils and ungodly pleasures, heav
enly and spiritual truth is unpalatable to him. He sees no
beauty in the Word of God and scoffs at all things that
relate to heavenly life. But when he repents he adopts a
new attitude. His mind is open to the truth. He welcomes
the teachings of the Divine Word. Reformation has com
menced. It is the first step toward the new birth within
his heart.
Man's intellect is always free, but it never rises perma
nently above the level of the desires of his heart. In refor
mation, however, it seeks the truth, and by means of that
truth shows the new born will the path in which to walk.
After the new birth has commenced there is a great
change in man's outward conduct. He is seeking to walk
in the way of the Lord. And to an interested onlooker it
would appear as if regeneration commenced on the outside
and then penetrated more alld more to the inward recesses
of the soul. No, says Swedenborg, that is not the true
process. AlI rcal change cornes from within. It is the
internaI man that is first reborn. A new birth in the
external life cornes second. From within outward is the
real process of spiritual growth. "Rend Y0uf hearts and
not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God."
AlI this change does not take place without a long and
bitter conflict. Our hereditary tendencies to evil are not
easily quelled. In one of our favorite hymns we sing,

"Fight the good fight with all thy might." It is a reaI
battle. We win a victory today, but the enemy will make
another assauIt tomorrow. The flesh mes against the spirit.
Evil raises its ugly head. Day by day we must watch and
pray. Heart and mind become a battlefield. Even the Lord
Jesus had to fight within Himself for victory. We read that
He was tempted of the devil. Tempted at aIl points, as
we are tempted, He conquered in every conflict and
emerged stainless and triumphant. Not even the redemp
tion He wrought [or us can spare us the battle against our
hereditary foes. We have to fight. But aIways He gives
us the strength and endurance necessary to victory. No
man can escape the battIe, but no man need lose it. We
are never tempted beyond our power of resistance. The
conflict may be long, but victory crowns the life of aIl
who endure to the end.
What distinguishes the regenerated man? It is not
merely that whereas formerly he was evil, now he is good.
There is of course that fundamentaI change in his life.
But this second birth has done something more for him.
It has given him a new will and a new understanding.
Formerly his heart was self-centered, his mind was ego
centric. He thought only of himself, willed only his own
pleasure and good. But now that he is rebom, his will is
directed toward the Lord and toward the neighbor. His
understanding has a new quality and a new outlook. He
no longer looks merely to earthly things. His will desires
and his thought aspires to things of etemallife.
Swedenborg tells us too of a change that takes place in
the man's spiritual environment. The spiritual world and
its countIess inhabitants are aIl around us. Our natural
eyes cannot see its beauty, nor can our natural ears hcar
its music. Nevertheless there is close contact between this
earth and the realm of spirit. Regeneration changes our
spiritual environment. A regenerate man is in communion
with angels of heaven, and an unregenerate man is in
communion with spirits of hell. Neither angel, spirit or
man knows of this conjunction. Otherwise human freedom
would be impaired. But our spiritual environment has
much to do with the quality of our lives and also with the
life that flows into us from the Lord.
One Qf the most interesting aspects of this subject of
regeneration is found in Swedenborg's statement that so
far as man is regenerated sins are removed, and this re
moval is the forgiveness of sins.
There is a widespread belief that our sins are recorded
by an angel in a book and that at sorne far-off judgment
day we shall have to account for every evil thought and
idle word. But the truth is that every man is his own book
of life. His sins are written on his memory, and inter
woven with the spiritual tissues of his spiritual body. In
the future life his quality is manifested in his face. Hi.~
evils have stamped thernselves on his countenance. But as
man is reborn and renewed the sins of his past life are
removed from him. The memory of them may never be
entirely eradicated; but it becomcs quiescent, buried deeply
under a new memory of faithfulness to the Lord, a new
mernory of countless deeds of loving obedience to Divine
Law, a new memory of kindliness towards his fellow men.
In this way are sins removed and forgiven. The regenerated
man enters the higher life cleansed and purified by Divine
Grace. The fonner evil of his life has been buried beyond
possibility of revival. Regeneration spells angelhood.
In conclusion, one other point. Many people believe

that an oral confession of sin and unworthiness is all that
is necessary to merit forgiveness of sins and entrance into
hcaven. Swedenborg lends no countenance to this idea.
He tells us that regeneration must come from human effort
wrought in strength given by the Lord. And it must be
wrought in spiritual freedom. No man can be reclaimed
under compulsion; the quality of his life can only be
changed by obedience to the Lord given in spiritual
freedom.
TIle Lord does all things possible for the regeneration
of man; but man must cooperate in the work. He must
fight the good fight; fight as from himself, but always in
acknowledgment that the power and strength come from
the Lord.
BAPTISM AND THE HOL y SUPPER
A T bondage
THE time of their emancipation from Egyptian
the Children of Israel knew very little about
religion. GraduaIly, though in a very external manner,
they learned to worship Jehovah. But that worship, to
make any impression on their minds, had to be spectacular
and ritualistic. To satisfy themselves that they were a
special and peculiar people they adopted the rite of cir
cumcision. In course of time under the Mosaic and Leviti··
cal laws they evolved a complete system of rites and cere
monies. These rites and ceremonies were of a twofold
character. First came lustrations-washings, purifications.
By the use of water they sought to remove aIl physical
impurity. And there was undoubtedly sorne perception in
the minds of the people that these external purifications
were symbolic of the purification of the heart. This system
of lustration became complex and burdensome, but it was
faithfuIly fol1owed during many generations.
Equally complex and extensive became the system of
sacrifices. The altar reeked with the blood of oxen, sheep
and doves. There were thank offerings, peace offerings, and
many others. Here, again, there must have been sorne
perception in the minds of the people that the animaIs
sacrificed on the altar were symbolic of the consecration of
human affections to the Lord.
Swedenborg teaches us that the Lord had no desire for
these lustrations and sacrifices. They were Divinely per
mitted because only by their use could the Israelites be
taught the principles of religion, and only by their use
74
BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SUPPER 75
could the people be preserved from the idolatrous prac

tices of their pagan neighbors. It took a long time for the
Israelites to leam that "to obey is better than sacrifice, and
to hearken than the fat of rams."
When the Lord Jesus founded the Christian religion He
dispensed with all the elaborate ceremonial of sacrificial
religion. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that
He expressed the whole of the Jewish ceremonial in two
great sacraments-Baptism and the Holy Supper. In sorne
Christian communities other sacraments have been insti
tuted. The Roman Catholic Church has seven sacraments,
but nearly ail Protestant communities observe only the two
that were given to His fol1owers by the Saviour of mankind.
Baptism is symbolic of purification from aIl evils. Water
represents the cleansing power of truth. When a human
being is baptized, there is no magical change of character
as a result. The baptism is a symbol that by obedience to
Divine truth the heart will be cleansed of evil and become
acceptable in the sight of the Lord.
Swedenborg tells us, however, that baptism is a sign
which is perceived in heaven that the person baptized is to
be regenerated, though this regeneration can only be ef
fected by resistance to evil and victory over temptatioR.
The first use of baptism is introduction into the Christian
church, and at the same time insertion among Christians in
the spiritual world. We quote here from Swedenborg, "Not
only are infants baptized but all foreign proselytes who are
converted to the Christian religion, both young and old,
and this before they have been instructed, solely because
they confess a wish to embrace Christianity, into which
they are introduced by baptism, this same having been
done by the apostles, according to the Lord's command
that they should make disciples of ail nations, and baptize

thern."
That this sacrament was divinely ordained admits of
no doubt. The Lord Hirnself was baptized by John, and
when the latter professed his unworthiness to baptize the
Saviour, the Divine command was, "Suffer it to be sa now,
for thus it becometh us to fulfill al! righteousness."
If we needed further proof that baptisrn was divinely
instituted we find it in the fact that the Lord commanded
His disciples to preach the Gospel to ail nations, baptizing
them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost. And this command was literally carried
out, except that the Apostles, realizing the full Divinity of
the Saviour, "in whorn dwelleth all the fulness of the Cod
head bodily," baptizcd ail converts into the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. From that time baptisrn became the
Divinely appointed sacrament of introduction into the
Christian Church.
The Holy Supper, says Swedenborg, is representative of
the conjunction of God with man, and man with God.
Its elements are symbolic. To understand the truc nature
of the elements in the Holy Supper it is necessary for us
to know something of the nature of spiritual correspond
ences. Correspondence is the relationship between spiritual
cause and natural effect. Take an illustration. The flower
we cali a rose exists first as a thought in the Divine mind.
That creative thought descending to the angelic plane pro
duces a rose in the realrns of paradise. Coming clown still
further to the earthly plane it produces a rose in an earthly
garden. Ali created objects are subjected to this law. The
apostle Paul spoke truly when he said, "The invisible things
of him from the creation are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made."
RAPT/SM AND THE HOLY SUPPER 77
AIl natural abjects are symbols of spiritual principles.

The Ward of Gad is written according ta this symbolism.
All the sacrifices of the Israelitish Church conformed ta the
same law. And the Holy Supper in itself, and in the ele·
ments of bread and wine, is symbolic. The bread denotes
the Lord's flesh-not the physical thing we know as the
clothing of the human body, but the divine good. The
Gad we worship is a Being of pure love. From Him pro
ceed two great elements on which human life and human
salvation are built. "0, taste and see, the Lord is good."
This good of the Lord is not only a quality of the Divine;
it is part of the Divine Substance and Being. Divine good
is the Lord's flesh. Its earthly counterpart, or corresponden
tial form, is the bread that sustains our physical body.
What natural bread is ta the body Divine good is ta the
sou!. It is the bread of life. Says the Lord, "1 am the
bread of life: he that cometh unto me shall never hunger,
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
A similar significance pertains to the Lord's blood. "It
represents and symbolizes the Divine Truth." AIl truth
originates in the Divine Mind. l t flows down through the
spiritual realm into the human mind. It ultimates itsclf
in natural truth and scientific knowledge. AlI true knowl
edge is in its origin Divine.
But there is one aspect of truth that has special reference
and application ta human well-being and salvation. It is
the Divine law that seeks ta draw every man into corn·
munion with the Lord and ultimate happiness in heaven.
That form of truth is the blood of Gad. It is the truth
with which the thirsty soul alone is satisfied. It is the never
failing fountain of life.
Possessed of the knowledge of the spiritual sense of the
Divine Word we know the flesh and blood of the Lord

are His Divine Cood and His Divine Truth. And when in
reverence we bow before His altar and partake of the
bread and wine, we do sa in the knowledge that He feeds
and sustains us by the good that flows from Him, and that
He gives us ta drink of His Divine Truth.
And this is not merely an exercise in symbolism. As we
obey His command and take the holy elements in remem
brance of Him the. interiors of the mind are opened, and
we are actually fed by those Divine things which the ele
ments represent. "'vVe receive into ourselves good and truth
from Him. There is an actual building up and purifying
of the spiritual organism within us.
Let us remember that the soul is forro and substance;
that its nourishment is as essential, nay more essential,
than the nourishment of the body; that as the Lord feeels
us so that body grows in quality and beauty.
l am quite convinced that to reverently attend the table
of the Holy Supper does not merely induce a state of mind
receptive to the Lord, but that it is accompanied by an
actual nourishment of the spiritual part of our nature, an
actual change of quality in the spiritual body.
The Holy Supper, worthily approached, reverently taken,
opens mind and heart. 1t conjoins us with the Lord. But
it does more than this. If the Lord feeds us, there must be
sorne organic change in the spiritual body, sorne enrich
ment in quality.
A point of view that if accepted will teach us to realize
that this sacrament is not only the most holy act of wor
ship, but aIso the most imperative, the neglect of which
must mean the forfeiture of the mast important channel
of grace.
8rief Descri ptions of -
Swedenborg's Theological
Works:
APOCAL YPSE EXPLAINED, 3562 pages, 6 volumes.
This work sets forth the spiritual (symbolic) sense of the Book of R~lJdation up to chapter 19.
verse 10. and in conncction with thal, the inner meaning of many other pans of the Scrip
turcs, cspccially the Psalms, the Prophcts and the Gospels. Towards ilS dose, extensive and
practical doctrinal discussions arc introduccd.
APOCALYPSE REVEALED, 1105 pages, 2 volumes.

Concentratcs upon the spirilUal (symbolic) exposition of the visions of John as set forth
in the Book of R(vdation in a way to make the tcachings ofth15 book ofvitaJ present intcrcst
and importance.
ARCANA COElESTIA (Heavenly Secrets), 7103 pages, 12 volumes.

An exposition of [he spiritual sense of the Gmesis and Exodus, showing lhat the slories of
Creation, Eden, rhe Flood, the eaptivity of the chosen people in Egypt, rheir deliverance
and the ritual of the Jcwish religion, its sacrifices and observances arc symbolic rcndcrings
of everlasting truth and religious cxperience.
CONJUGIAL LOVE, 612 pages.

This book treats of the relation of the sexes and of the sex exrending to the spirit, of the
nature and origin of love truly conjugial (marital) and of ils indissoluble nature, of thc mar
riage of the Lord and the Church and its spiritual significancc, of scxual irrcgularitics and
the avoidancc of theIn.
DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, 293 pages.

This book is an Înterpretation of t.he universe as a spiritual~natural or psycho-physical
cosmos. lt (l'CalS of the acüvity ofGod's love and wisdom in the creation of this cosmos and
of the human bcing.
DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 376 pages.

Shows cLearly the Lord's infinite care for man io ail the affairs of his life; ex plains the
existence ofcvil and wh)' il is permittcd. A rational answer to the question, \-Vhy do things
happcn?
FOUR DOCTRINES, 388 pages.

Swedenborg resta tes in this work four leading doctrines of the Christian religion: The
Lord, The Sacred Script ures, Life and Faith. These doctrines are drawn from, and sub·
stanriatcd by numerous passages from the divine Ward, examin<.:d as a unified who1c.
HEAVEN AND HEll, 455 pages.

Givcs a clear and rational explanation of the nature of dcarh, of man's entrance iota the
spiritual worlJ, of the organization of that world and of the life (herc. The book excels aIl
but the Scripturcs for comfon ta the bereaved.
MISCElLANEOUS THEOLOGICAL WORKS, 634 pages.
Bound r.ogcthcr in this volume arc trcatiscs: The }./ew lausa/an aud ifs Heauc!n(y Doctrine;
Doctriru of the New Church; lnlacourst betwun the SO/û and the Bod.y; li/hile HOTu IvfentioTud in
tht Apocalypse; Ear/hs in the Universe; The Lasl ]udgmttlt.
POSTHUMOUS THEOLOGICAL WORKS, 1196 pages, 2 volumes.

Cantains a numbcr of the small works which had oot prcviously becn in a Carro conycnicnt
for use, including a numbcr of c:·;:[racts from Swcdcnborg's corrcspondcncc.
THE SPIRITUAL L1FE, THE WORD Of GOD, 160 pages.
This volume consists of sorne cxtracts from Swcdcnborg'g The Apoca~)'pSt Explainid and
makcs dcvotional rcading on the spiritual or rcgencrating liCe, the significancc of the Tcn
Commandmcnts, our possible profanation of good and tTUlh. and the power of God's ''\lord.
TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 1098 pages, 2 volumes.

This is Swedenborg's crowning work giving a complete and connected exposition of the
doctrines of the New Christian Era. A powcrfu1 and massive presentation dealing with a
broad spcctrum of modern Christian concerns. Il draws upon more than ninc hundrcd
passages from aU parcs of the Bible.
OTHER TITLES;
GIST Of SWEDEN80RG, by Julian K. Smyth & William f. Wunsch, 110 poges.
A compilation of excellenr.ly ehosen and weIl arranged quotations from Swcdenborg's
'Vorks, dcaling with a broad spcctrum of modern Christian concerns su ch as God, 'Man,
Regeneration. 'Marriagc. Charity and Faith, Divine Pro\'idence, Dcath and the Resurrec-
tion, Heaven, Hell, The ChurdL
INTRODUCTION TO SWEDEN80RG·S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT, by John Howard

Spalding, 235 pages.
A c1ear, comprehensive and forccfully rcasoned presentation of Swcdcnborg's tcaehings
by a British layman and sdcntisL
MY RELIGION, by Helen Keller, 208 pages.

The bcautifully written and inspiring account of the help which the tcachings of Sweden-
borg have been to Miss Keller from her carly years onward.
SWEDEN80RG, lIfE AND TEACHINGS, by George Trobridge, 298 pages.

The most widel)' read biography of Emanuel Swedenborg, with summaries not only of
his Theological Works but a1so of his Scientific and Philosophical ''\lorks.
Free Catalogue will be sent upon requcst from:

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NEW YORK, N.Y. 10010
"THERE is among us a disrressing indifference to aU

things of fairh, and an impatience at aoy effort tO
explaio the laws of life in spiritual terms. The only rcally
blind are those who will nOt see the truth - those who
shut rbeir eyes ta the spiritual vision. For them alone
darkness is irrevocable."
"THESwedenborg
oew thoughts about the Unity of God wbich
offered replace the old ace priceless
ta
because they give one iosight to distinguish between the
ceal Deiry and the repelling appearances with which a
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Chr;stùm Religiol~ shows how Swedenborg sought tO ele·
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Arthur Wilde True Christian Religion A Digest of Emanuel Swedenborg's True Christian Religion Swedenborg Foundation 1968

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Arthur Wilde True Christian Religion A Digest of Emanuel Swedenborg's True Christian Religion Swedenborg Foundation 1968

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TRUE CHRISTIAN

Prepared originally as a Talking Book

jor the Blind by the Rev. Arthur Wilde.

First printed in '945 for general distribution.

139 EAST 23 STREET NEW YORK, N. Y. 10010

U NDER the auspices of the Swedenborg Foundation

THE LORD THE REDEEMER 19

THE HOLy SPIRIT . 26

THE DIVINE TRINITY 3 2

THE SACRED SCRIPTURES 38

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

REFORMATION AND REGENERATION 68

BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SUPPER . 74

THE name of Emanuel Swedenborg, hitherto known

human brain. He was a brilliant thinkcr and a voluminous

God is one and that He is the Creator of the Universe.

the same light that is absorbed by the opaqueness of a piece

We must note here the fact that the word substance is

He possesses infinite wisdom. From this wisdom proceed

universe is called into being to the end that God may

But the stream oC liCe comes ceaselessly Crom the Creator,

1N THE preceding chapter we endeavored to present in

is none beside me. Look unto me and be ye saved, aU the

press this in the words of a well-known hymn we sing:

Those words are absolutely true, but not in the sense we

24 TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

and also with the Word; yet scarcely five in a hundred

ORTHODOX Christianity believes in a Triune God of

Divine which keeps in existence the universe both on the

ye know him, for he abideth with you and shaH be in you.

is his internaI man, which is actually the man, and resides

DEEP within the human heart and mind is a desire to

a personal Saviour, One 'Whose voice can be heard in the

three characteristîcs, soul, body, and operative energy. Take

of three brings doubt and confusion into the mind. It puts

than as one. During the first two centuries of the Christian

hirnself to have written under the direction and inspiration

"Not a natural f10wer can grow on earth,

On the harmony and relationship existing between the

cf the extemal symbol we may be led to a knowledge and

Further than this, Swedenborg tells us "In part the

for in it all angelic wisdom, which is ineffable, is concealed;

SWEDENBORG'S chapter on the Ten Commandments

mind, and bestow upon it our deepest affection, we have

itself, and its abuse in various kinds of conversation, espe­

taking the name of God in vain means blasphemy against

SWEDENBORG devotes two long chapters to a con­

truth will be taught in the future life. The heathen, who

a heart-felt conviction that God exists, and a heart-felt

includes all good deeds. It is the practice in daily liIe of

individual. To love each and aIl of these is to exercise

those who are in mutual love from a similarity of faith.

for crime. AlI social order is built on the assumption that

is therefore the author of evil. Free to choose between

If man had no freewill in spiritual things it would be

A FTER explaining the nature and necessity of freewill,

the will of the Lord. He may regret them because of the

on account of any hereditary evil, but only on account of

But this is only the beginning of the matter. To truly

his sins, and seen them in himseIf, and consequently they

A FTER dealing with the subject of repentance Sweden­

selfhood is opposed to heaven. He is only restrained by

reformation in relation to this new birth? Reformation

itself, and its abuse in various kinds of conversation, espe

SWEDENBORG devotes two long chapters to a con

A FTER dealing with the subject of repentance Sweden

could the people be preserved from the idolatrous prac