Breathing in the thinker's creed, Pulsing in the hero's blood, Life of Ages, richly poured, Love of God, unspent and free, XIII. THE CITY OF GOD. City of God, how broad and far One holy Church, one army strong, One steadfast high intent, One working band, one harvest-song, One King Omnipotent! How purely hath thy speech come down How grandly hath thine empire grown Of Freedom, Love, and Truth! How gleam the watch-fires through the night, How rise thy towers, serene and bright, To meet the dawning day! In vain the surge's angry shock, XIV. TOLERATION. Toleration is not the opposite of intolerance, but is the counterfeit of it. Both are despotisms. The one assumes to itself the right of withholding liberty of conscience, and the other of granting it. The one is the Pope armed with fire and faggot, and the other is the Pope selling or granting indulgences. The former is Church and State and the latter is Church and traffic. But Toleration may be viewed in a much stronger light. Man worships not himself, but his Maker; and the liberty of conscience which he claims is not for the service of himself, but of his God. In this case therefore, we must necessarily have the associated idea of two things; the mortal who renders the worship, and the IMMORTAL BEING who is worshipped. Toleration, therefore, places itself, not between man and man, not between Church and Church, nor between one denomination of religion and another, but between God and man; between the being who worships and the BEING who is worshipped; and by the same act of assumed authority which it tolerates man to pay his worship, it presumptuously and blasphemously sets itself up to tolerate the Almighty to receive it. Were a bill brought into any Parliament, entitled, "An act to tolerate or grant liberty to the Almighty to receive the worship of a Jew or a Turk", or "to prohibit the Almighty from receiving" it, all men would startle and call it blasphemy. Then would be an uproar. The presumption of toleration in religious matters would then present itself unmasked; but the presumption is not the less because the name of "Man" only appears to those laws, for the associated idea of the worshipper and the worshipped cannot be separated. Who then art thou, vain Dust and Ashes! by whatever name thou art called, whether a King, a Bishop, a Church, or a State, a Parliament, or anything else, that obtrudest thine insignificance between the soul of man and its Maker? Mind thine own concerns. If he believes not as thou believest, it is a proof that thou believest not as he believes, and there is no earthly power can determine between you. With respect to what are called denominations of religion, if every one is left to judge of its own religion, there is no such thing as a religion that is wrong; but if they are to judge of each other's religion, there is no such thing as a religion that is right; and therefore all the world is right, or all the world is wrong. But with respect to religion itself, without regard to names, and as directing itself from the universal family of mankind to the Divine Object of all adoration, it is man bringing to his Maker the fruits of his heart; and though those fruits may differ from each other, like the fruits of the earth, the grateful tribute of every one is accepted. NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH. THE ESSENCE OF SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE. Having now treated at some length of faith and works, I propose, under the following observations, to collect what has been said into a brief summary. I. That every man after death becomes his own love, and that the spirit of man is nothing but the affection which is of his love. Wherefore when a man becomes a spirit he thinks and thence speaks from his own affection, and he then also desires and imbibes the things which are of his affection or love, and those which are not of the affection or love, he turns away from and rejects. Yea, his face becomes successively the face of his affection or love, whence he is afterwards known, as likewise he is known from his speech, the tone of which is the tone of his affection. In a word, a man after death becomes his own love, or his own affection in a form. Wherefore when any one speaks against the affection which is of his love, or assaults it, his face is changed, and he himself also departs or vanishes suddenly away. Inasmuch as all men after death are the substances or forms of their own love, therefore the universal heaven, which consists of angels who have been men, is distinguished into societies according to the genera and species of affections, thus according to all the differences and varieties thereof. In like manner hell, which also consists of spirits who have been men, is distinguished into societies. according to the affections opposite to those that are heavenly, and according to all the differences and varieties thereof in general and in particular. That man after death is his own love or his own affection, which is of the love, has been hitherto unknown in the world; for it has been generally supposed that affection is of no account, but that thought is; and this because man has not the power of reflecting upon the affections, and the variations of them in himself, but only upon the thoughts and their varieties; for the latter he sees as it were inwardly in himself, but not his affections. And what does not reach the sight of his thought, and thereby become manifest, is not observed by him. He, however, who is wise can from his thoughts know his affections; for the latter manifest themselves in the former, when a man is in the freedom of his spirit and alone with himself. For he then thinks from the affection which is of his love. Nor is thought anything else but affection made visible in various forms by the influx of light. Wherefore if you take away affection, the thought immediately perishes; just as light does if you take away flame. From these considerations, it may be manifest how important it is to acquire for oneself heavenly love or affection. In what manner this is acquired, shall be shewn in what follows. Let it be observed that by affection is understood love in its continuity. II. That the whole life of man is the life of his love, and that the love and life with man make one, and are one, may appear from what has been said above, namely, that every one appears in the spiritual world with a countenance according to his love; that he speaks according to it, thinks, wills, desires, lusts, rejoices, and is sad, according to it, and that these are what constitute his life, and proceed from it. That this is the case appears plainly from spirits and angels, who are all men as well in countenance as body. For as soon as the love of any one is assaulted, he vanishes with his whole body, although he were sitting shut up in a chamber, as has been frequently seen by me. Hence it was evident, that an angel and spirit is not only affection in a human form, but also that his whole life from the head to the sole of the foot, or from his hat to his shoe, is nothing but affection which is love. Otherwise he could not have wholly disappeared from the eyes of those sitting with him. Inquiry was made whether his corporeal form with its members is also an affection which is of the love; and this was discovered to be the case with all and everything pertaining to them. The reason is, that the whole heaven, which, as was said above is distinguished and formed into societies, according to all the differences and varieties of affections, resembles one man, and all angels and spirits are thence human forms. Wherefore as heaven is a connecting together of all affections, so also is an angel and a spirit who are the least forms of heaven. Hence this mystery was made plain to me, and was also confirmed from heaven, that all and everything of man, as well of his mind as of his body, are forms of love in a wonderful series, and that the organs of the cerebrum and face, likewise the members and viscera of the body, are perpetual contextures corresponding to the affections of heaven, in which its societies are. Hence also, another mystery besides was laid open to me, namely, that the affections and thoughts of the mind thence, spread and diffuse themselves into everything belonging to the body, as into the field of their excursion and circumgyration; which field and circumgyration is from the affection of the mind and its thought for uses, from which, in which, and to which, the members and viscera of the body are formed. The case herein is similar to what takes place with the affections and thoughts of the angels, which diffuse themselves in every direction into heaven and the societies thereof; and according to their extension is the wisdom of angels. But upon this subject more may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, namely, that all the angels are images of heaven, and thus as it were heavens in the least forms. That the whole heaven resembles one man, and that hence angels and spirits are human forms. That all thought from affection, proceeding from the angels, has extension into the Society of heaven, according to the quality of their love and wisdom. III. Inasmuch as love constitutes the life of man, and man, according to his life acquired in the world, will live to eternity either in heaven or in hell, it is a point of the highest importance to know, how a heavenly love is acquired and made a matter of habit, in order that his life, which is to have no end, may be blessed and happy. IV. There are two primary faculties of the life of man, namely, the will and the understanding. The will is the receptacle of all things of good, and the understanding is the receptacle of all things of truth from the good. Man cannot be reformed except by these two faculties of his life, and by their being filled from good and truths. Reformation is effected in this order. First, man must stock the memory from the knowledges and cognitions of truth and good, by which he must acquire for himself the light (lumen) of reason: and above all he is to learn that God is one, that the LORD is the God of heaven and earth, that there is a heaven and a hell, that there is a life after death, and that the Word is holy. V. He is in the next place to learn what evils are sins; first from the Decalogue, and afterwards from the Word everywhere. And he is to think that they are sins against God, and that therefore they hold back and separate man from heaven, and condemn and sen |