第22章

"Nevertheless," said Monsieur Becker, slowly, "though I have drunk deep in this torrent of divine light, God has not opened the eyes of my inner being, and I judge these writings by the reason of an unregenerated man.I have often felt that the INSPIRED Swedenborg must have misunderstood the Angels.I have laughed over certain visions which, according to his disciples, I ought to have believed with veneration.I have failed to imagine the spiral writing of the Angels or their golden belts, on which the gold is of great or lesser thickness.If, for example, this statement, 'Some angels are solitary,' affected me powerfully for a time, I was, on reflection, unable to reconcile this solitude with their marriages.I have not understood why the Virgin Mary should continue to wear blue satin garments in heaven.I have even dared to ask myself why those gigantic demons, Enakim and Hephilim, came so frequently to fight the cherubim on the apocalyptic plains of Armageddon; and I cannot explain to my own mind how Satans can argue with Angels.Monsieur le Baron Seraphitus assured me that those details concerned only the angels who live on earth in human form.The visions of the prophet are often blurred with grotesque figures.One of his spiritual tales, or 'Memorable relations,' as he called them, begins thus: 'I see the spirits assembling, they have hats upon their heads.' In another of these Memorabilia he receives from heaven a bit of paper, on which he saw, he says, the hieroglyphics of the primitive peoples, which were composed of curved lines traced from the finger-rings that are worn in heaven.However, perhaps I am wrong; possibly the material absurdities with which his works are strewn have spiritual significations.

Otherwise, how shall we account for the growing influence of his religion? His church numbers to-day more than seven hundred thousand believers,--as many in the United States of America as in England, where there are seven thousand Swedenborgians in the city of Manchester alone.Many men of high rank in knowledge and in social position in Germany, in Prussia, and in the Northern kingdoms have publicly adopted the beliefs of Swedenborg; which, I may remark, are more comforting than those of all other Christian communions.I wish Ihad the power to explain to you clearly in succinct language the leading points of the doctrine on which Swedenborg founded his church;but I fear such a summary, made from recollection, would be necessarily defective.I shall, therefore, allow myself to speak only of those 'Arcana' which concern the birth of Seraphita."Here Monsieur Becker paused, as though composing his mind to gather up his ideas.Presently he continued, as follows:--"After establishing mathematically that man lives eternally in spheres of either a lower or a higher grade, Swedenborg applies the term 'Spiritual Angels' to beings who in this world are prepared for heaven, where they become angels.According to him, God has not created angels; none exist who have not been men upon the earth.The earth is the nursery-ground of heaven.The Angels are therefore not Angels as such ('Angelic Wisdom,' 57), they are transformed through their close conjunction with God; which conjunction God never refuses, because the essence of God is not negative, but essentially active.

The spiritual angels pass through three natures of love, because man is only regenerated through successive stages ('True Religion').

First, the LOVE OF SELF: the supreme expression of this love is human genius, whose works are worshipped.Next, LOVE OF LIFE: this love produces prophets,--great men whom the world accepts as guides and proclaims to be divine.Lastly, LOVE OF HEAVEN, and this creates the Spiritual Angel.These angels are, so to speak, the flowers of humanity, which culminates in them and works for that culmination.

They must possess either the love of heaven or the wisdom of heaven, but always Love before Wisdom.

"Thus the transformation of the natural man is into Love.To reach this first degree, his previous existences must have passed through Hope and Charity, which prepare him for Faith and Prayer.The ideas acquired by the exercise of these virtues are transmitted to each of the human envelopes within which are hidden the metamorphoses of the INNER BEING; for nothing is separate, each existence is necessary to the other existences.Hope cannot advance without Charity, nor Faith without Prayer; they are the four fronts of a solid square.'One virtue missing,' he said, 'and the Spiritual Angel is like a broken pearl.' Each of these existences is therefore a circle in which revolves the celestial riches of the inner being.The perfection of the Spiritual Angels comes from this mysterious progression in which nothing is lost of the high qualities that are successfully acquired to attain each glorious incarnation; for at each transformation they cast away unconsciously the flesh and its errors.When the man lives in Love he has shed all evil passions: Hope, Charity, Faith, and Prayer have, in the words of Isaiah, purged the dross of his inner being, which can never more be polluted by earthly affections.Hence the grand saying of Christ quoted by Saint Matthew, 'Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,' and those still grander words: 'If ye were of this world the world would love you, but I have chosen you out of the world; be ye therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.'