Swedenborg: Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church. Benjamin Worcester

and that of the creation hangs but by a slender thread. . . . It is made a part of politics so to act and speak as to leave no trace of religion, God, and Christ."^[3]

Dr. Dörner says, "The edifice of Lutheran Christology had been for the most part already forsaken by its inhabitants before 1750. . . . A deistical atmosphere seemed to have settled upon this generation, and to have cut it off from vital communion with God."^[4]

Leibnitz in the earlier part of the century had said, "The state to which we are approaching is one of the signs by which will be recognized that final war announced by Jesus Christ: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?"^[5]

Abbey and Overton say, "It was about the middle of the century when irreligion and immorality reached their climax."^[6]

In 1753 Sir John Barnard said, "At present it really seems to be the fashion for a man to ​declare himself of no religion." And Archbishop Lecker declared that immorality and irreligion were grown almost beyond ecclesiastical power.^[7]

In France it was if possible worse, and Carlyle well says, "A century so opulent in accumulated falsities . . . opulent in that bad way as never century before was! Which had no longer the consciousness of being false, so false had it grown; and was so steeped in falsity, and impregnated with it to the very bone, that—in fact the measure of the thing was full, and a French Revolution had to end it."^[8]

"In Germany," says Schlegel, "during the atheistic and revolutionary period of the French philosophy, immediately prior to the French Revolution, as well as at its commencement, Christianity and in fact all religion was regarded as a mere prejudice of the infancy of the human mind, totally destitute of foundation in truth, and no longer adapted to the spirit of the age; monarchy and the whole civilization of modern Europe as abuses no longer to be tolerated. It was only when men had reached this extreme term of their ​boasted enlightenment, that a reaction took place. But prior to this, toward the middle of the eighteenth century, and in the ten years immediately subsequent, the spirit of the age bore all before it in its irresistible progress."^[9]

      This condition of the Christian Church in the eighteenth century was plainly the abomination of desolation foretold by the Lord as to come at the consummation of the age [commonly but erroneously rendered "the end of the world"], when the Sun—the face of the Lord of heaven—should be darkened, and the Moon—faith in Him—should not give her light, and the stars of heaven—all knowledge of Him and His will—should fall from their places. Such it was recognized to be by devout, distressed students of the time, and the judgment foretold by our Lord and foreseen in vision by John was perceived to be at hand. By concurrent testimony it would seem that the time was ripe for this judgment in the middle of the eighteenth century. The judgment was not seen to come. But notably from about that time a change came over the Christian Church, and students of history ever since are ​marvelling, searching for the cause of the revivification of the churches. A downward course does not of itself turn into an upward course. Satan does not let go his hold of man or race of his own will. As in the first century, so in the eighteenth, he could be cast down from his encroachment on heaven by no less power than that of the Son of God, the Word made flesh and dwelling among us.

      It was the sign of the Son of Man to be seen again in the clouds of heaven that was to effect the judgment. It was the Lion of the tribe of Judah who alone could prevail to loose the seals of the Book, at once the Book of the Word and the Book of the judgment. The two prophecies are one. In the written Word after the resurrection, as in the flesh transfigured on the mount, the Lord showed Himself to His disciples in glory, Son of God in Son of Man. But in the succeeding centuries, as we have seen, clouds of misinterpretation, the clouds of tri-personalism, of vicarious atonement, and of salvation by faith alone, had hidden His face from men's minds. The dispersion of these clouds, the re-appearance of the face—the grace and truth—of the Son of Man, even ​in the letter of His written Word, was to effect the judgment on the declining age of the Church and reveal the dawning light of the new age.

      Under this simple interpretation of the judgment we are to look for its effects in the clearing of the spiritual atmosphere, in release of men's minds from the bondage of perverted faith—Peter girded by another and carried whither he would not—and in increasing return to the simple, heart-felt instruction of the Gospel. It was the beloved disciple John who was to remain till his Lord should come again, and to whom in vision the spiritual judgment was portrayed—John, who stands for the love of the Church in good works, as Peter for its faith. And as among the Jews at our Lord's first coming, so in the midst of the desolation of the eighteenth century there were not a few memorable examples of God-fearing, self-denying, Samaritan lives. Into this good heart coupled with trained intellect, preserved as the germ for the new age, was received the first dawn of light, and in the marvellous spread of this light thus far we recognize the certainty of the Lord's renewed presence in His Church. Most strikingly is this shown in the ​new charity now prevailing between one sect of the Church and another and between Christian and pagan. Never before since the angels' song was heard on the hills of Judea—Peace on earth and good-will toward men—has its accomplishment seemed so near. Year by year, day by day is the evidence accumulating that the crisis is past and the new coming of our Lord begun, and this dating from about the middle of the eighteenth century. But where and how was the vision to John fulfilled?

      No one answers but Swedenborg, who in his Apocalypsis Revelata describes the fulfilment, clause by clause, of the whole of this vision—not in this world, but in the vast spirit world, where were gathered an innumerable multitude, good and bad together, awaiting the judgment that the new coming of the Lord in His Word would effect. Were this conception of the judgment mere imagination, instead of the stern reality which Swedenborg affirms, how sublime! Judgment of scores of generations in place of the one or two possible on earth, without limit of space or time; judgment of the inner souls and tenets of men there revealed; overthrow of spirit ​heavens and earth, leaving this earth of ours to bide its time; angels without number bearing the Divine light down to the overthrow of the prince of darkness and all his satellites! In truth the spirit world alone could be fit theatre for the fulfilment of the vision vouchsafed to John. But on earth the seals of the Book were to be loosed at the same time, for spirits in the flesh live always in real though unseen communion with spirits in the spirit world, and their thoughts are held in common. In fact, with spirits as with men, spiritual thought must have its ultimate basis in material thought. The letter of the Word of God is human, even material, in form. The opening of its inner, spiritual, heavenly, and Divine content can be only by the Lord Himself by means of His Holy Spirit in the suitably prepared mind of man.

      Before He left their sight the Lord told His disciples that He had many things to say to them, but they could not bear them then. Howbeit when He should come to them with His Holy Spirit He would call all things to their remembrance whatsoever He had said unto them and would guide them into all truth. A special fulfilment of this promise was given to these immediate disciples, ​for their special vocation, but its larger, all-embracing fulfilment could not come till the new revelation of His face in His Word, which was indeed the same thing, and before which the Gospel must first be preached unto all the nations. It was by the opening of the heart to the Holy Spirit that the revelation of the grace and truth in His Word could be given.

      The Word from Alpha to Omega is one. Only the interpretation varies as gradually given with man's developing capacity to receive. The ages for infantile reception, for childhood instruction and obedience, for blind reliance on priests and their dogmas, had passed. The new light now needed must explain the will of God and His providence for man in a rational, intelligible way, not as a substitute for faith, but as her handmaid, for her ultimate support. It must be addressed to the understanding and must therefore come, not with authority to compel, but with light leading into all truth, in accordance with our Lord's promise. The mind to receive this new light in fulness must be trained in the learning and reason of the world, and the heart must be open to the Spirit. Where was it to be found?

      1 ↑ Philosophy of History, p. 120.

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