THE

INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY

AND

New Jerusalem Magazine.

N° II. — FEBRUARY, 1840.

HOW TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER HEAVEN OR HELL IS WITHIN US.

EVERY man wishes to be happy : "happiness is," as the poet says, our being's end and aim." All are struggling to acquire this most desirable object; however various are the pursuits of human life, and however diverse the ways on which men may go, yet happiness is the object, the only object of all. To secure this desirable object avarice digs into the bowels of the earth, ambition climbs the highest steeps of worldly greatness and grandeur, and sensuality wallows in luxury and voluptuousness. It is natural to man, and to every living creature, to desire to be happy; it is the governing principle, the ruling love of our being. But do all attain to happiness? Experience testifies that multitudes of mankind do not. Why not, seeing that such is the intense desire inherent in every bosom to become happy? The reason is plain. The Creator, in his infinite wisdom, has stamped his own divine order on all the works and operations of his hands. "Order is heaven's first law;" without order, then, heaven and happiness cannot exist. To regard God and his operations as unconnected with order, is one of the greatest phantasies to which the human mind can become a prey; next akin to this delusion is that of supposing that man can be happy without observing the laws of divine order. To suppose that happiness can be found in the inordinate cravings of avarice, or in the haughty flights of ambition, or in the mire of sensuality, is to suppose an impossibility, because the laws of divine order loudly proclaim, that happiness, such as an immortal soul can enjoy throughout the endless duration of eternity, is not to be found in such things.

Admitting, then, the necessity of observing, with all diligence, the laws of divine order, as the only means of becoming truly happy, both in this world and in eternity, we may next inquire what those laws are?

NEW SERIES, NO. II.-VOL. I.

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ness.

Some may probably imagine, that by the terms order and the laws of order, we speak in a philosophical language, which ill becomes those who desire to instruct the multitude in so important a thing as happiWe would reply, that order and genuine religion are most intimately connected, and that if the relation between them be violated and broken, both must inevitably perish. But as the term religion is, in these times, most frequently connected with perverse sentiments and most erroneous views of the subjects which that venerable name should disclose to the mind, we prefer, for the present, to employ the term order, and the laws of order, instead.

Heaven, we are assured by divine authority, if it exist at all for us, and for our enjoyment, must exist within us. "Lo! the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke xvii. 21), says the Lord, pointing out the utter futility of looking elsewhere for happiness and heaven than within us. Happiness, then, in its proper sense, may be defined to be the order of heaven in the soul. This will immediately appear when we consider, that the human soul is so wonderfully created as to be an image and perfect type of heaven itself; for, although it is declared that heaven is within us, yet this declaration does not involve the idea, that heaven is not a glorious world without us; it only implies, that the order of heaven must be developed and formed within us, before we can be admitted into heaven as to our souls, whilst here, and after death be mercifully permitted to enter upon the enjoyment of heavenly felicity in that glorious world which is properly called heaven. Now, the spiritual part of man's mind, being created to correspond and harmonize, in all respects, with heaven, so that it may very properly be called an image of heaven, or a heaven in miniature, cannot admit "any thing that defileth, or that worketh an abomination, or that maketh a lie." So soon as any thing contrary to its nature approaches, it is closed, and man, in that case, gives himself up a prey to the impure and ferocious propensities and dispositions of the merely natural-mind which, when not under the influence of the spiritual mind, is carnal; and "to be carnally minded," says the apostle, "is death;” but to be spiritually minded, that is, under the influence of heaven operating through the spiritual mind, is, as the same apostle says, “life and peace." The spiritual mind is that new, or inner man, which, the apostle says, is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. iv. 24); and the merely natural and carnal mind, he represents as the "old man," which, together with his deeds must be put off (Col. iii. 9), that man may be regenerated and fitted for heaven.

It is of the greatest importance, if we desire to know ourselves, and

the real constitution of our being, that we should have distinct views of our spiritual mind, as well as of our natural mind, for, by virtue of the former we are mercifully intended to have, as the apostle says, our conversations, or, more properly rendered, our citizenship in heaven (Phil. iii. 20), and by virtue of the latter, so long as we are in connexion with a material body, we are inhabitants of the natural world. Thus man's constitution is so wonderfully formed, that, in respect to his spiritual mind, he is an image of the spiritual universe, and especially of that part of it called heaven; and in respect to his natural mind, he is an image of the natural universe, and on this account it was that man was called by the ancients a microcosm, which means a little world; but it required a superior philosophy to that with which they were acquainted, to discover that man, if regenerate, is, at the same time, a little heaven; this beautiful discovery was reserved for the doctrines of the New Dispensation, to present to the devout and reflecting mind. Hence, then, we may see the rationale of the divine assertion, "Lo! the kingdom of God is within you;" but if the kingdom of God is not within us, it follows that the opposite kingdom of darkness and evil must be within, since man must finally be a subject either of heaven or of hell. Now when man's spiritual mind is closed, so that heavenly influences and graces from the Lord cannot descend, “Like the former and the latter rain," to bless his natural mind, and thus to fertilize the earth and make it bring forth its heavenly produce of charity, faith, and good works, his natural mind, which is then carnal, is alone open, and which, as the apostle says, "is set on fire of hell" (James iii. 6), that is, all its principles of activity, all its motives and ends of life, originate in a defiled self-love, which is the fire of hell; instead of being open from above to receive the heavenly influences from the Lord through the inner or spiritual man, it is open from beneath to receive and cherish the infernal influx of what is evil and false, so that, in this dreadful case, man, instead of being an image of heaven, is an image of hell, and is, in reality, a hell in miniature. The only way, by which this dreadful state of things can be changed, is to acknowledge the Lord, who alone hath the keys of hell and of death-who alone can deliver us-and zealously to keep his precepts by shunning all evil as sinful and abominable in his sight. In this way the Lord can bring us out of hell, and in no other, because this is the only way consistent with his own divine order, from which it is as impossible for him to depart, as it is for him to change his own divine nature. If this deliverance and salvation are not accomplished in this life, where all means are

amply provided for the accomplishment, they cannot be effected after death, for reasons also, which the New Church doctrines clearly unfold to the rational mind.

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From what has been already stated, it will be seen, that the spiritual mind of man is the especial residence of heaven, and that the salvation of man exclusively consists in the opening and developing of this spiritual mind, or inner man, for the reception of heavenly influences from the Lord. Now, in what manner this spiritual mind is opened and replenished with the graces and virtues of heaven we will proceed to explain. All the obstructions and hindrances to the accomplishment of this great object; "this one thing needful," are in the natural mind. Here all man's propensities to evil reside: the seeds and germs of all his hereditary corruption rankle in the interiors of this mind, which, when unregenerate, is the inside of the cup and platter, full of iniquity and all uncleanness," and which must first be cleansed, before the spiritual mind can be opened, and before the divine influences of salvation from the Lord, can descend and establish the kingdom of God in the soul. The Lord is ever present in the "inner man,” knocking at the door, the communication between the spiritual and the natural mind, "that he may enter into us, and sup with us, and we with him" (Rev. iii. 20). The Lord, therefore, with all the blessings of his kingdom is, from infinite divine love and mercy, most urgent, to be admitted, but before he can "enter into us" the obstructions and hindrances above mentioned must be removed. No compromise, no agreement must be made with the "enemy in the gate;" he must be dislodged, cast out, and banished as far as possible "from the camp," the holy place, in which the Lord mercifully condescends to dwell with man, and to impart to him the blessings of his kingdom. In co-operating with the Lord to remove these obstructions consists the primary, yea, the whole duty of man. For what is of any real worth to man but that which contributes to his eternal good? “By what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Should not our greatest, our unremitted exertions be directed to the securing of eternal life? What can be placed in competition with this?

We know that there is the "Sun of Righteousness," which is the proximate divine sphere emanating from the glorified person of our Saviour God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This divine sphere of love and wisdom constitutes the sun of the spiritual universe, the immediate origin of all the suns in the natural universe. The heat of this sun is essential divine love or goodness, and the light thereof is essential

divine wisdom or truth. As the Lord by this sun universally reigns in heaven, filling with wisdom and love the beatified minds of the inhabitants, he must consequently reign in the mind of man,-the image of heaven, exactly in the same way in which he universally reigns in heaven itself. As the Lord is the God of heaven, and is universally acknowledged and worshiped in heaven as the one only God, in like manner he must be the only God who universally reigns in the human mind; he must be the highest, the one only supreme principle of all life and activity, "all our springs of life must be in him." "As he hath all power in heaven and on earth,” so in like manner, must he have all power in the internal and external mind of man. It is in this way that the Lord, who is the all in all of his kingdom will become the all in all of the life of man, and man will thus become a perfect image and likeness of his God.

As love is the essential characteristic of God, for "God is love," in like manner love is the essential characteristic of the life of man, -the image of God. In man, however, the love which constitutes his life, may either be good or evil; it is good if he receives the life or love of God in his heart, as a principle of action, without perverting it, and it is evil if he do pervert it. Man perverts the life or love of God by refusing to live according to the laws of divine order, which are the divine ten commandments. To deny the necessity of keeping these divine commandments as the means "of entering into life," is the most dreadful delusion to which the mind of man can become a prey. Yet this delusion awfully prevails in the Christian church; like the most direful serpent, it fascinates and fixes its victims, until it darts its fangs of venom into the vital principles of human life and destroys every vestige of spirituality and of heaven in the soul; and, like the fabled harpies, it pollutes and destroys every truth, and every perception of truth, in the mind.

As love is the life of man, it will be seen, that the love or life of man becomes pure and elevated in proportion as the object which is loved is pure and elevated, or impure and debased. Love must have an object, which is the end for which it is active; it puts forth all its efforts, it undergoes unwearied exertion, it never rests satisfied until it has accomplished its end. The supreme object, the final end, which man is required to love above all things is the LORD, the source, the Centre, the Giver of all life. It is this principle which constitutes the summum bonum, the supreme good to the soul. From this principle alone proceeds all the holiness, virtue, dignity, and excellence that we can behold in the character of man. It is the object, which