CHAPTER I.

It is more than probable that, on reading the title-page of the following work, some may ask, what is meant by Hermetic philosophy ? I think proper, therefore, to premise a few words on that subject, not to explain it in detail, but to indicate some of its principal features.
I published last year a small volume of Eemarhs upon Alchemy^ the object of which was to show that the so-called Philosopher's Stone, so much sought after by the Alchemists of the Middle Ages, was a mere symbol, the genuine Alchemists being in fact Hermetic philosophers — a class of men who have never
* Remarks on Alchemy and the Alchemists^ &c. : Crosby, Nichols & Co. Boston, 1857.
8 8WEDENB0R0, [On. L
been clearly (lelin('(l to tlio fi^oncral reader, owinp^, in p^rcat part, no (loul)t, to the nature of their studies and convictions. Many attempts, indeed, have been made to nnveil them, and to descril)e their philoBophy, but without results, BO far as I have seen ; the subject being so remote from tlie ordinary avocations of life, and because also of the common prepossessions of man in respect to what constitutes the true knowledge of God, and the beatitude of man.
In my liemarTcs^ I *did not attempt to point out precisely the nature of this philosophy, as such an attempt would have been the height of presumption. Tliat which I chiefly intended, was simply to show from Alchemic books, some of the conditions set forth by the Alchemists themselves, though very mystically and obscure- ly, as indispensably requisite in him who would possess the philosopher's stone.
A mere accident — a very casual circumstance — some three or four years ago, threw into my hands a small volume on Alchemy, the preface to which alone satisfied me that there must have been two classes of Alchemists : and the perusal of the book assured me that, while some ^'money- loving sots " employed themselves in experiments upon all sorts of metals and other materials in
Ch. I.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 9
search of gold, there was another class of men in pursuit of the philosopher's stone by very different means : — by devout contemplation upon the nature of God and of man — upon the human soul and its capacity for knowledge, for happi- ness, and for immortality ; — and the object was a discovery of the means for attaining the true end of man ; not an ephemeral pleasure, but a permanent beatitude — not a good for a day, but for all time. The impression derived from read- ing this one work on alchemy induced me to look further, and without much effort I obtained a considerable number of volumes, over three hundred, of a strange character, on the philoso- pher's stone and hermetic philosophy ; some of which are of course worthless, but all of which show, beyond the possibility of doubt, that the philosopher's stone was a mere symbol for human perfection, or for something supposed to be essential to that perfection. There is not a single volume in my possession that could have been written by any one in pursuit of actual gold, though many of the works show that their authors had but very crude opinions as to the real object of the philosophers.
It is not my purpose now to comment at length upon this subject. Kef erring the reader
10 BWEDKNBOIWi, [(^ji. I.
U) my Remarks, 1 ^vill niniply say, tliat after iinu'li study, I came to tlio ()]>iiiirni that, while Man was the suhject of alchemy, and his per- fection was the object of the art, that object required for its attainment certain nneans^ which were, however, as carefully wrai)ped up in sym- bolism as the end itself. At length, I became convinced that those means were as clearly stated in Scrij^ture as the use of human language will allow. In short, all of my studies drew my at- tention to the declaration of the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount ; — " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God : " — for it appeared very clear that the philosophers had in some way connected the perfection of man with a knowl- edge of God, the former leading to the latter, yet the latter being as a sign of the former. But this knowledge of God was not a mere outward belief in the existence of a great but undefined power over nature, which even the most ignorant savages acknowledge, but an inward experience or spiritual sight, by which the subject of the experience was brought into some sort of com- munion with the Spirit of God, so as to realize tlie knowledge as a possession.
When the object was thus far recognized, as I considered, my attention was gradually carried
Ch. I.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 11
U23on the means of attaining it, as obscurely in- dicated by these writers, and I could not fail to see them chiefly in the text just recited.
I found in alchemic and hermetic books one pervading doctrine, common to all of them, though expressed very obscurely; and it was this — that, while every writer made use of a word of his own choosing to designate the nn- described Qnatter of- which the philosoplier's stone was to be made, they all prescribed as a first step in the work of making the stone, a pro- cess of purification. Whatever other directions are given, they all tell us to wash the matter^ to purify the matter^ &c., and they have much to say of what^they call tlie philosopher's soap^ the soap of the wise, or the vinegar of the wise, &c.
After comparing many books together, and weighing carefully the circumstances obscurely hinted at, I became convinced that the matter of the philosophers was man, and that the soap referred to, the vinegar, the oil, &c., was no other than the conscience; but the conscience, acting freely and not under external and violent influences. While the conscience is one thing itself, it takes a great variety of names according to the condition of the subject npon which or in which it acts. To one it is a messenger of peace
12 8WEDENB0RG, [Cll. I.
and of joy inexpressible, while to another it whispei-s woe unutterable, and pours out vials of wrath upon the terrified and doomed soul ; and this it does, independently of the power of man, who has no control whatever over this all- pervadint^ and ubiquitous spirit. Tliis is the spirit that is "in the midst" when two or three are «;athered together in the name of God, and which can neither l)e kej^t out nor in, by " shut doors " ever so strongly bolted.
At first, indeed, it seemed a very simple thing, altogether insufficient, as a basis, for so many books and for such results as appeared to be claimed for it ; but I observed that the philoso- phers, as they call each other, speak of their art as both simple and difficult : — like all other arts perhaps, easy to those who are skilled in their practice, but difficult to the uninstructed ; or like the yoke of Christ, easy in one sense, to the will- ing and obedient, — ^but a fearful labor to the selfish and the obdurate.
Be this as it may, I kept my attention upon it, and, continuing to read Hermetic books, I found that the unenforced and natural office of the conscience served as a key for the explana- tion of many otherwise inexplicable passages in Ilermetic writings ; and I finally rested in the
Ch. I.] A HEEISIETIC PHILOSOPHER. 13
conviction, that whatever the truth might be in itself, the Hermetic writers intended to indicate that a pure heart, or what the Psalmist calls a " right spirit," is the way to the philosopher's stone, if it is not the stone itself, — the pearl of great price ; for this pearl is not a mere hope, no, not even the hope of heaven, but it is heaven itself.
I had long seen, as I thought, that the knowl- edge of God is essential to the peace of man, and that this knowledge must be something different, as 1 liave said, from the mere recognition of an unknown powerful being over nature, which "the strong seeks to conquer, and the weak to avoid ; " and seeing, as I thought I did, that the object of the Hermetic philosophers was the perfection of man, and that this perfection was to be found in some knowledge of God in a peculiar sense, and that the way to this knowledge lay through the purification of the heart, I was carried, I say, to the text of Scripture just recited, yet in such a manner as to see the operation in something like a circle / for it appeared that while the pure in heart are said to see God, this condition itself is not attained but by the agency or power of the Spirit of God. This " circular " operation is es- pecially referred to by the alchemist, or Hermetic
14 BWEDENBORG, [Cn. I.
philosopher, Artephias^ as stated, page 90 of my licmarks. It is, as 1 consider, the very same point in philosophy which is so much insisted upon in religion, where we are told that, while faith is essential to salvation, it is not attainable by the " natural man," unassisted by the grace of God. There is much injudicious preaching on this subject, however well intended, by which many honest minds are greatly perplexed and severely tried without benefit; and, still worse, many hasty and bold wdts are driven to take refuge in a sort of logical infidelity, out of which it is extremely diflicult to extricate themselves.
I will not now dwell upon this point further than to say, that the difterence between the desire of happiness and the desire of being worthy of happiness, or the difi'erence between the love of God's blessings and the love of God, &c., may show the diflerence between the conditions of different men, so as to indicate who may and who may not feel that they are tending to that state to which the Lord referred in the text I have re- cited.
If now I should say that the blessing and the condition necessary for its attainment, were be- lieved to be the gifts of God, not attainable by the unassisted eflbrts of man, w^ithout urging
Ch. L] a hermetic philosopher. 15
metaphysical reasons for it, I should undoubtedly state one of the reasons why a certain class of men, appearing in all ages, have drawn a veil over what they have to say on this subject. They have felt that all the instruction man is able to give to man, on the subject of God and of God's blessings, must terminate in referring man to God, as the author and finisher of a faith which is said to partake of his very nature.
In popular estimation religion and philosophy seem to stand opposed to each other ; but this results chiefly from regarding the forms and cere- monies of religion as its substance, on the one side, and considering mere learning, or memory knowledge, as philoso23hy on the other. But if philosophy be defined as wisdom, and philoso- phers be regarded as lovers of wisdom, we may see a channel through which the philosopher may come into harmony with one in whom religion is not a ceremony but a sentiment. But this is not the place for an essay on this subject.
In my volume of HeTnarlcs upon alchemy I undertook to show, by citations from the writings of alchemists and Hermetic philosophers, as I have already said, that the subject of the Hermetic art is Man, and that the object of the art is the perfection of man. I demonstrated that the Her-
16 SWEDENBOIIO, [Cn. I.
metic writers coinmuiiicated witli each other by means of a conventional hmf^uage, writing of salt, sulpliur, and mercury ; of Mercury, Sol, and Luna, c^'C, etc., through an endless variety of expressions, instead of man, or of body, soul, and spirit ; and that by the transmutation of metals, the genuine alchemists meant the transformation of man from a state of nature to a state of grace. I made it appear, by abundant extracts with easy interpretations, that the Hermetic writers had, in fact, but one subject ; and that it was, or shall I say it is, Man, — including his relation to nature on the one side, and to God on the other, an in- separable trinity : — that, though their science or art is obscure in itself, and is disclosed, or rather hidden, in exceedingly dark, metaphorical, and figurative language, they nevertheless all treat of Man ; — of his mind as a spirit, and of his body as an earth ; — that they nsed a multitude of expres- sions, seemingly pointing to other things, espe- cially to chemistry, but in reality explicable by a due knowledge of man, as the image of God, and the central and most important being of God's creation.
I endeavored to point out some of the reasons why those writers concealed themselves from general observation by their enigmatic modes of
Ch. I.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 17
writing, of which there were many, and expressed the opinion that no reason now exists for not making them known in their true character, — that of religious philosophers ; somewhat, it may perhaps be justly thought, too much given to mysticism, especially if measured by what are called the practical tendencies of our age.
I admitted that there were pretenders to the Hermetic art, who brought disrepute upon the art itself, by practising their impostures upon the simple, easily deceived, and upon the avaricious, whose cupidity drew them to a stud}^, the first principle of which excludes every thing selfish, base, and mean.
I also admitted that many, with no evil de- sign, assumed the garb or outward dress of the Hermetic writers, who were not masters of the art, and that these also contributed to bring the proper subject or object of the writers into disre- pute, by attempting to carry a purely moral de- sign into the field of physical science, vainly striv- ing to make the Hermetic key supply the absence of patience and study in the pursuit of the natural sciences, into which no short road of entrance is likely ever to be discovered, so as to dispense with the necessity of industry and continuous ap- plication.
18 8WEDENB0RG, [Ch. I.
I pointed to the coiiBcience as tlie tnio natural instrument, provided hy God, for a liealthy reno- vation of man, to the exclusion of the passions, especially the degrading passion of fear, ^vhich ought only to be used when gentle means fail, — as we read that stones were resorted to when tufts of grass failed to bring the " rude boy " from the forbidden fruit.
In admitting, as I did, that mistakes were made by some who imagined themselves in pos- session of the Hermetic secret, my mind did not fully and clearly rest, at the moment, upon Emanuel Swedenborg, a man of immense learn- ing and unexceptionable personal character, who has risen in this age to be the head of a consider- able body of Christians who believe that the New Jerusalem has recently descended upon earth, or is about to come down from heaven to bless the world.
As I desire to guard against being misunder- stood on a subject which I am sure is important, and wish above all things not to mislead any one, I must explain that, by referring to the conscience as the natural instrument of the purification of man, I do not mean to be understood as saying that this is the peculiar secret of hermetic phi- losophy ; but that it is the way to it. The secret
Ch. I.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 19
itself, we are told, has never been discovered, and never will be discovered by any one nntil, by a suitable moral and spiritual discipline, the seeker shall feel in a condition to stand un- abashed in the presence of God under the simple but momentous text of Scripture, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God ; " — ^not that the wicked do not see God also, but they see him as another personage.
I suppose I must attribute the opinion I have recently adopted with respect to Swedenborg, in part, at least, to a habit of looking beyond the letter, in the interpretation of obscure and mysti- cal writings, acquired oy practised in the prepara- tion of my Remarks on Alchemy and the Alche- mists. Whatever the cause may have been, I was surprised, a few weeks since, on looking into Swedenborg's Heavenly Arcana^ at being re- minded of the use made by many of the hermetic philosophers (the alchemists of the middle ages) of the first verses of Genesis, and I was there- upon induced to look a little further into the resemblances to be found between the writings of Swedenborg and those of the hermetic philoso- phers. The result has been — without denying the genius and knowledge of Swedenborg — a decided opinion that he was a follower of tlio
20 6WEDENBOKO, [Cii. I.
licnnctic cIjips of writci*s, and tliat liis writings arc to be judged and interpreted ironi tlie sland- point of hermetic pliilosojdiy, however difficult it may be to acquire the riglit position for that purjxjse ; for it is no easy matter.
A mere isolated coincidence of expression or thought on a particular point, between the writ- ings of Swedenborg and those of the alchemists, would be of little or no importance ; but if it shall appear that, besides many remarkable points of identity between Swedenborg and the mystic class of writers to which I refer, i\\Q principle of interpretation employed by Swedenborg upon the first books of Moses, and especially upon the first verses of Genesis, can be substantially point- ed out in the writings of the alchemists, though not applied precisely as Swedenborg applied it, it cannot fail to surprise many, and must be of importance in estimating the claims of Sweden- borg to special illumination, — whether those claims be made by himself, or by his admirers or followers in his behalf.
If there was a hermetic secret, or something passing under that name, as the philosopher's stone, for example, and no one doubts this, it is exceedingly improbable, that the secret should not, in some form or other, come to the surface.
Ch. I.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 21
That it did exhibit itself in many forms during the middle ages, and even very lately, can be easily shown ; so that there is no natural pre- sumption against the position I take, that Sweden- borg's mystical writings are modelled after those of the hermetic writers, and may be interpreted from the standpoint of hermetic philosophy ; and this, too, without assuming that Swedenborg was what was called an ade^± in the fullest sense. According to my understanding of hermetic books, the true secret of the hermetic art cannot be written — it can only be written about ; and the attempt to write about it directly^ is a very sure method of losing one's self in a cloud of words conveying to the judicious no genuine in- struction. It amoimts to this, and I say it with all possible reverence, that when God speaks in man, the man (in man) must be silent ; and not only this, the man must be silent that God may speak, — which we may suppose the true ground of the much talked of Pythagorean silence.
We have an immense field of natural inquiry open before us, in which all of our natural facul- ties may be employed usefully, both in learning and in teaching ; but it is said that there is one subject which God reserves to himself, and teaches only to a " select few of the simple and
22 8WKDENB0KO, [Cn. I.
true," who may not at all be acquainted with tho ecicnccs commonly so called ; not that ignorance of any kind can be an advantage to us, but that no kind of natural science or knowledge can supersede tho conditions necessary for the at- tainment of what is called the knowledge of God. It may be said that there is no mystery or secret in this ; that every one admits it ; yet the more considerate may see in it the very mystery of godliness, tho profoundcst secret of life, — the secret about which the hermetic writers employed themselves, and in view of which, as I intend to show, Swedenborg wrote his mystical books, dropping the terms of salt^ sulj)hur, and mercury^ in favor of ens^ cause^ and effect^ yet substantially writing in the vein of the hermetic art, treating of man as a spirit ; or, as man on the one side a spirit^ and on the other an earth ; of man as, by nature, an "inchoate" production, tending to perfection, but needing the help of a divine art to advance him thereto.
We have now a large class of Christians, generally, as I believe, of more than ordinary in- telligence, and, as I also think, usually distin- guished for gentleness and amiability', who are known as Swedenborgians, though I believe they prefer to be called members of the New Church,
Ch. L]
A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER.
or members of the ]^ew- Jerusalem Churcli. They have grown in numbers and importance very gradually; unlike many sects, in this respect, that have sprung into being from the local preaching of some enthusiastic fanatic, whose appeals to the passions have overborne the rea- son, and through the imagination and the feel- ings, have effected organizations of great extent, and even considerable duration. Swedenborg was not a preacher, nor do we know historically that he was an oral teacher to any great extent. He was a writer, and a very voluminous one. In his early years he was employed in practical life, and in the acquisition of knowledge, espe- cially scientific knowledge, and was, without doubt, one of the most learned men of his age.
Swedenborg was born at Upsal, or, as some accounts say, at Stockholm, in 1688, and died at London, at the age of 84, or 85 — for there is a question as to the precise year of his birth. Somewhere near the middle period of his life his thoughts and labors took a decidedly reli- gious turn. In referring to the occasion of it, he speaks of tlie opening of Ms internal sights as if something like a supernatural influence had been exerted upon him, which he attributed to the
24 8WEDENB0K0, [Qu. I.
Lord, a name of vast importance in Swcden- borg's writings.
After the opening of liis internal sight, as Swedcnborg called it, he wrote almost exclusive- ly npon the subject of religion, and left behind liim a library of volumes of his own works, con- taining his opinions upon religion, and his inter- pretations of Scripture — not according to the letter, but according to the spirit, that is, accord- ing to his own spirit, as many may say ; or, as some believe, according to the teaching of the Lord, by means of the opening of his internal sight.
The sect of Swedenborgians, as I will call them, has grown up, as I have said, gradually ; and the members are generally well-informed and sincere ; for the most part, reading and thinking people ; as, indeed, they are measur- ably obliged to be, because the doctrines of the sect, next to the Scriptures, are to be found in books written with a vast deal of thought, and without the slightest appeal to the passions.
Among the many works left us by Swedcn- borg, throughout which his principles are scatter- ed without much order, and re])eated in every variety of form, it is difficult to name any one in particular in which his doctrines are comprised as a whole ; but I should refer to the work en-
Ch. L] a hermetic philosophe:r. 25
titled Angelic Wisdom coyiceming Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, as likely to give a student an insight into his most abstruse principles.
His work concerning Heaven and Hell, •■' from things heard and seen," is perhaps the most characteristic aj)plication of the doctrines.
As a systematic last thought, perhaps his work entitled the True Christian Religion might be first read with advantage, by one desiring a general understanding of Swedenborg's opinions. It was the last, or one of the last works he j)ub- lished.
2Ct SWKDKMJOKO, Ch. II.]
CIIAPTEE II.
I OUGHT in candor to express my opinion that there is an underlying principle throughout Swe- denborg's writings, which a mere readmg of his works will hardly give.
I would indicate the direction in which it is to be sought, in some degree, l)y desiring his reader to consider that Swedenborg, in his inter- pretation of Scri])ture, professes to have looked beyond the letter to the Spirit by which the letter was dictated. He, of all men, appropriated and applied the declaration of St. Paul, or at least the first part of it, that the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life ; and the reader of Swedenborg's interpretations must not suppose that he is ex- empt from that necessity which lay upon Swe- denborg liimself, of finding the Spirit of Truth, as essential in the com2)reliension of mystical and symbolical writings.
We too must use the Spirit ; and surely it is an undeniable right to mete out to Swedenboro
Ch. II.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 27
the measure he applied to others. He would liave us do so, if I understand his writings ; and his friends must not deny us a license in reading his works, whicli he dared to take with the Holy Scriptures. But by Avhat spirit shall he be judged? Here lies the only difficulty in the case.
This difficulty will be measurably overcome, when the student receives into his mind the idea which, in Swedenborg's mind, bore the name of the Lord; for words are the names of ideas and images in the mind, and can only be intelligibly used when apprehended w^ith jn-ecision for the ideas and images they express. To what purpose can any one speak of the Lord^ and yet have in his mind no idea represented by that word ? or how can any one read of the Lord, and under- stand what he reads, without having in his mind the idea expressed by that word ? We see the importance of this principle in mathematics and in other subjects, and why not in theology ? The mathematician affirms the principles of a triangle with the idea of a triangle in his mind, and not the idea of a circle ; and the student of mathe- matics apprehends the projDcrties of a triangle with the idea of a triangle in his mind, and not the idea of a circle.
28 SWEDKNBORG, [Cn. II.
Witli Swedcnbor^, the rece])tioii of the idea of tlie Lord was tlie opening of liis internal sight. Tliat idea working in the mind of Swedenborg produced or educed that spirit, or was tlie seal to it, which represented the s])irit of truth, and whicli became for him the measure by whicli he judged of all things. It gave liiin what was to him a knowledge of the suhsiancc of all things, or in other words the knowledge of God.
It might be expected from any one proposing to give any account of Swedenborg, that some effort would be made to explain the sense in whicli he understood the expression, the Lord, bo freely used in his writings ; but it is extremely difficult to do so.
I advertise the reader that this w^ord, the Lord, or Swedenborg's understanding of it, is the key-note to his whole philosophy, — so far as one word can express it.
It is not enough to say, popularly, that by this word he meant Jesus Christ ; for although lie so used the word as to be applicable to tlic Son of God, he understood it in a sense not often met with in the ordinary preaching of the day; — nor is it sufficient to refer to the Word, as used by St. Jolm, for the same reason ; — nor do we
Ch. II.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 29
reach a complete idea of it by a mere verbal declaration that he meant the second person of the Trinity ; — neither do we learn his meaning by saying that by the Lord Swedenborg meant the Divine-human, the God-man.
"We might as well at once, yea better adopt his own expressions, and study the meaning through the synonyms he uses and the application he makes of them.
We should bear in mind, however, that the truth precedes the expression of it, and must underlie and interpret it, while the expression, at the same time, should carry us to the truth ex- pressed.
He says, then, that the Lord is [a] man ; also, that the Lord is God, and that the Lord is Life, the Life of all things.
The student will hardly see this as Sweden- borg seems to have done, until he sees in the idea of the Lord, that is, of Life, the death of death ; for death, in Swedenborg's sense, is not the end of life, but an event in life : man being, in the Lord, not in himself, ever-living.
It will be difficult to find in Swedenborg's writings any elucidation of the opening words of John : — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
so 8WEDENBOK0, [Cli. II.
The same was in the beginning ^vitll God. All things were made by Iliin, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.
And the Word was made Hesh.
How did Swedenborg understand this im- portant doctrine? Are we to suppose that he looked first to God and then to the AVord as the Lord ? or did he look to the Lord and then to God? Did he look to tlie Lord and then to man ; and then by a reflex idea, return from man to the Lord, and thence to God, with the amazing inference that God is a man, or dropping the article — that, God is man ?
Can we consider that njan is the nearest being to man, and thence the starting-point of study ? Can we say that man is a natural being, and then invert the terms, and say that he is a heing of nature ; and finally, under the notion that eveiy particular expresses the universal^ can we pro- ceed furtlier and say that inan^ not as an individ- ual, but as a universal, is the being of nature ; and then, can we say, that life is the being of nature, and that life is the Lord, and the Lord is God, and, thence, that God is man f
Can we say that man is an intellectual being, and thence, by a similar process, affirm that man, not individually but universally, is the being of
Ch. II.] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 31
intellect or of intelligence; and thus posit intelli- gence in the Lord as a spiritual world of which the Lord is God, and so again affirm that God is man?
Or yet further, can we say that man is a spiritual being, or individually a being of spirit ; and, universally, the being of spirit ; and then say that the spirit is life, that life is the Lord, and the Lord is God, and thus again reiterate that God is man ?
Or, can we say that man is a living being, a heing of Life, living not in himself but in the Lord and thence in God, and that, as the image declares the pattern, therefore God is [a] man ?
Can we say that man is a being in existence, individually^ and that universally he is the Being of existence ; or, in other words, that he is the substance of all things ; and, when regarded in God, the self-existent substance ; and that God is the Lord, and the Lord is Life, the Life of man, who is nothing of himself ; and thus, do we touch the essence of the doctrine, that man must deny himself individually to live universally, that is, before he can realize in himself the life of God : and can this doctrine be so presented to man as that he may attain to it through his rational nature, or must he receive it, if he receives it at
82 8WEDENBORO, [Cn. II.
all, as the gift of (Jod, tlie gift of tlic Lord, the gift of Life, the Life of God in tlio soul ; and does this reception constitute what is called regenera- tion,— and does it carry with it the idea or sense of a secret inaccessible to the natural man ?
Can it assist us in seeing into this important subject, to consider a few texts of Scripture where the truth lies hid in the letter ?
The Word which was with God and was God, was made flesh, and was seen of men. The Word spake and said, I and my Father are one.
And the Word prayed : " Sanctify them, through thy truth : Thy Word is truth."
And the Word prayed : " That they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
"And the glory which thou gavest me have I given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one : "
"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one ; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast Ipved them, as thou hast loved me."
"And the Word said: "It is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away, the
Ch. II.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 33
Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I de- part, I will send liim unto you."
" But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, eve7i the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."
" Howbeit, when the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth."
And St. Paul says : " I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ livetli in me."
From these few texts I will, with the leave of the reader, make a transition to an alchemic work by an Arabian, Alipili. *'I admonish thee, whosoever thou art, that desirest to dive into the inmost parts of nature, if that thou seek- est thou findest not within thee, i/iou wilt never find it without thee. If thou knowest not the excellency of thine own house, why dost thou seek and search after the excellency of other things ? The universal orb of the world contains not so great mysteries and excellencies as a little man^ formed hy God to his own image. And he who desires the primacy amongst the students of nature, will nowhere find a greater or better field of study than himself. Therefore will I follow the example of the Egyptians^ and from my 2*
34 8WEDEND0R0, [Oil. II.
wIjoU' licart. and certain true experience proved ])}• nu', h}>cak to my neighljnr in tlie words of the J^l/l/ptians^ and with a loud voice do now pro- claim: O Man, know thyself; m thee is hid the trea^'
What is this treasure? Perhaps it is the knowledge of the "Word ; the knowledge of the Lord ; the knowledge of God ; and its possessor may possibly be able to say with St. Paul, — " Henceforth know we no man after the flesh : }■ ea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more."
It may possibly assist the reader to form some idea of Swedenborg's understanding of the ex- pression the Lord^ as life, and as one thing, to read an extract from the alchemic tract, De Manna Benedicto, to wit :
" My intent is, for certain reasons, not to prate too much of the matter, w^hich yet is but one only tiling^ already too plainly described ; nor of the preparation, which is the second and greatest secret : But I have constituted these lines^ for the good of him that shall make the 8tone [shall find the AVord that was made flesh ?] if it shall fall into the hands of such a one; for to him it shall show and set down in plain terms, as plain as possibly my pen can write to the very
Ch. II.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 35
letter, such magical and natural uses of it, as many that have had it never knew nor heard of; and such as when I beheld them, made tny knees to tremhle^ mid my heart to shalce^ and I to stand amazed at the sight of themP
I have many reasons for believing that Swe- denborg's knees had also trembled, that his heart had quaked, and that he had stood amazed, when he discovered, or thought he discovered, in him- self the '• secret of the Lord," which then became for him an open secret, called by him the opening of his internal sight.
This gave to him, as I suppose, what was for him a miniature representation of all things un- der one idea, which he called the Lord.
Many efforts have been made to describe or express this idea, but without conveying the idea itself.
It has been said by one writer to contain the ideas of all things, almost like so many seeds.
Another has compared the mind, in possession of this idea, to the most exquisitely polished cor- ner of a diamond, placed in light, giving an image of all things against it. Others have compared the mind to a mirror, — though few can " hold it up to nature," because the images returned are af-
36 8WEDENB0RG, [Cli. II.
fected by the condition of the mirror, as Plotinus h.is said, and Lord J^acon after Lini.
AV^hatcver view be taken of this, there is no reason to doubt that Swedenborg liad what seemed to him a clear opinion upon this subject, as an underlying principle, from which his thoughts all flowed, as a river from a fountain, and unless this idea can be mastered, it will not be an easy matter to judge of Swedenborg's writ-
The reader cannot be too careful in keeping distinct from each other things or questions that differ from each other. It is one thing to deter- mine or ascertain the principle of a man's thought, — his love, as Swedenborg would say ; — it is an- other and a very different question, to determine the value of that principle. Swedenborg called his principle, — the principle from which he wrote, — the ojpenhxg of his internal sight ; and I must urge upon his student that in this he presents us a problem, calling for solution before his writings can be read with intelligence ; for it seems very plain, that if we accept his simple declaration on this point, and fall short of a comprehension of it, we must necessarily subordinate our principle of life to that of another man ; and then we must
Ch. II.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 37
determine upon some other gromid why we ac- cept Swedenborg's declarations or revelations of truth, and reject those of other men, — those of Jacob Behmen for example, — who have claimed an authority as high as Swedenborg could have pretended to ; for there are many competitors in this field, vast numbers of men having lived, written and died in tlie belief of their being the subjects of special illumination.
I will now proceed to show wherein Sweden- borg appears to have drawn some of his doctrines, seemingly by inference from the alchemic and Hermetic writings, occupying most of my space with extracts, for I wish the reader to judge for himself.
88 8WEDKNB0RG, Cii. lllj
CIIAPTEE III.
The first point of similitude to wliicli I shall refer, between Swedenhorg and the Hermetic writers, may assist the. reader in forming some idea of what the Swedish Philosopher understood by the expression the Lord, already, though im- perfectly, examined. I refer to it with some timidity, being fully aware of the delicacy of the questions connected with it. It touches upon what may be regarded as the Secret of the Her- metic writers, and while I am of the opinion that Swedenborg drew his doctrine of the Lord, in part at least, from those writers, I feel disposed to protest against its being supposed that what the alchemists, or Hermetic philosophers, consid- ered their Secret, has been openly declared in any part of Swedenborg's writings. I desire to express the opinion that Swedenborg did not precisely apprehend the Secret of Alchemy, while yet, as I must believe, he thought he had entered upon its possession, and a large part of
Cil. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 39
his philosophy rests upon that supposed posses- sion. That he appropriated the idea in part from the Hermetic writers I cannot douht, but I feel very sure that he misaj^prehended a point in con- nection with it which has led him astray in some important particulars. I do not say this in a presumptuous spirit, as if I knew the Secret of Hermetic philosophy, and had it in my power to improve the representations of so great a man as Swedenborg. It is possible I presume for a very humble man to perceive some mistakes even of a very great man.
I do not w^ish to appear as assuming to know the Hermetic Secret, nor do I intend it to be un- derstood, by a pretence of modesty, that I could reveal the secret if I would. I plainly declare, without pretence, that I have some idea of what lies at the root of the Hermetic Art, but I do not feel at liberty to attempt to state it. If I am right in my supposition about it, the art will take care of itself without the help of man; and, moreover, it will remain in the world though all the books about it should be destroyed.
In referring now, as I intend to do, to what Swedenborg, as I believe, thought was the Her- metic Secret, I wish it to be understood that I do not endorse his representation of it, while I re-
40 SWEDENBOKG, [Cn. III.
])cat nevertheless that lie was a tbllower of the Hermetic class. No Hermetic writer lias written the huiulrcclth ])art of wliat Swedenborg wrote, and this alone might lead any one to suspect that he did not precisely touch upon the veritable se- cret, whicli seems everywhere to have closed the lips of the adepts. His friends may suppose that this is surrende]-ing the point I am endeavoring to establish, and thus affirm that his position is an independent one, in no manner connected with the Hermetic philosophers ; but it should be remembered that Calvin and Arminius both took their doctrines from the Scriptures, and yet differed from each other on a vital point.
But to come now to the parallel.
Paragraph 3J:83. Heavenly Arcana. " What- soever anywhere appears in the universe, is representative of the Lord's Kingdom, insomuch that there is not any thing contained in the uni- versal atmospheric region of the stars, or in the earth, and its three kingdoms, but what in its manner and measure is representative ; for all and singular the things in nature are ultimate images, inasmuch as from the Divine proceed the celestial things appertaining to good, and from these celestial things the spiritual things apper- taining to truth, and from both the former and
Ch. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 41
tlie latter proceed natural things. Hence it may- appear how gross, yea, how terrestrial, and also inverted, human intelligence is, which ascribes all and singular things to nature separate or ex- empt from influx prior to itself, or from the effi- cient cause. They also who so think and speak, seem to themselves to be wiser than others, when yet angelic wisdom consists in ascribing nothing to nature, but all and singular things to the Lord, thus to a principle of Life, and not to any thing dead. The learned know that subsistence is per- petual existence, but still it is contrary to the affection of what is false, and thereby contrary to the reputation of learning, to say that nature continually subsists, as it originally had existence, from the Lord. Inasmuch now as all and singu- lar things subsist from the Divine, that is, con- tinually exist, and all and singular things thence derived must needs be representative of those things whereby they had existence, it follows, that the visible universe is nothing else but a theatre rej^resentative of the Lord's Kingdom, and that this latter is a theatre representative of the Lord himself."
" 3484. From very much experience I am in- structed, that there is but one single source of life, which is that of the Lord, and that this Life
42 8WEDENB0RO, [Ch. III.
ilows ill and causes man to live, yea, causes both the good and tlie wicked to live ; to this life cor- respond forms wliicli arc substances, and Avliich by continual divine inllux are so vivilied, tliat they a])j)ear to themselves to live by or from themselves. This correspondence is that of the recipient organs witli the life received ; but such as the recipient organs are^ sxich is the life which they live. Those men who are principled in love and cliarity are in correspondence, for the life itself is received by them adequately ; but they who are princij^led in things contrary to love and charity are not in correspondence, because the life itself is not received adequately ; hence they have a life existing with them according to their quality. This may be illustrated by the case of natural forms into which the light of the sun is influent ; such as the recij^ient forms are, such are the modifications of that light ; in the spirit- ual world the modifications are spiritual ; there- fore in that world such as the recipient forms are, such is the intelligence and such the wisdom of the inhabitants."
In this last paragraph Swedenborg sets forth life, the life of the Lord, as the one thing in all ; and, as 1 must believe, he thought that life to be
Cn. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 43
the one thing to which the alchemists have re- ferred ill so many ways, as the one only thing required in their work, — the work of making the philosopher's stone ; — the one thing, as Sweden- borg evidently thought, essentially to be known in the acquisition of wisdom or the celestial life. The allusions to the one thing ^ without de- scribing it, may be found in any Hermetic work whatever, for I think there is not one Hermetic writer who does not refer to the '' one thing need- ful ;" but I would not recommend any student to be hasty in concluding that he knows precisely what this is, nor need he be forward in determin- ing the wonders it works in the world.
I will cite now a few passages from alchemic or Hermetic books, in which reference is made to the one thing^ and I must leave the reader to form his own opinion as to whether Swedenborg thought he had " laid hold of it," in his notion of the one life in all, the life of the Lord, as he calls it. But I must ask the reader to excuse me for suggesting his taking the matter into his own thought, under an appeal to God for protection against error ; for the opinion of no man living or that ever has lived can stand him in stead on such vital questions, in the day of trial.
44 8WEDENB0RO, [On. III.
"There is no road ])ut one to find tlic quiclc Buli)hur," — quoted in Zoroa^ter^s Cave,
I must he guage was not invented and used hy thoughtless people, much less by triflers who were careless of the honor of God. It must be attributed to reverence for what were regarded as sacred mys- teries, especially the mystery of godliness. By quick sulphur was symbolized the spirit of God, or the life of God, to find which is salvation to man.
In the following passage the same thing is called water :
" Thou needest but one thing, namely water, and one operation, to Avit, decoction, to white and red, in one vessel, — understand, of one nature." — Zo7'oadteT'^s Cave.
Again : " Although the wise men (meaning Hennetic writers) have varied their names, and perplexed their sayings, yet they would always have us think of but one thing, one disposition, one way. The wise men know this one thing ; and that it is one they have often proved." — Ibid.
Again : " In the multiplicity of things our art is not perfected. For it is one stone^ one medi- cine, in which consists the whole magistcry ; to which we add nothing extraneous, nor take away
Ch. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 45
any thing, but only, in our preparation, that which is superfluous." — Ihid,
Again : " White and red proceed from the same root, without any other nature intervenient. For it dissolves and conjoins itself, makes itself black and citrine, white and red ; espouses itself, conceives, brings forth, and does all to the per- fect end." — Rhasis.
Again : '' Our water^ gilded with solar sul- phur^ is the secret of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Arabians, Persians, and Greeks." — Anonymous.
In the above passage, by our water^ may be understood our sj)irit ; and by solar sulphur^ that which in a preceding extract is called quick- sulphur / indicating that man is perfected by the spirit of God ; the 07ie tiling^ which Swedenborg called the life of the Lord.
Again: "Mercury alone perfects the work. In it we find all that we need : to it we add nothing extraneous." — Tlios, Aqidnas,
Again : " The stone is one : yet this one is not one in number, but in nature." — Zoroaster'' s Cave,
Again: "This mystery is wont to be made of one only thing : therefore put this in thy mind, for thou needest not many things, but one only thing. ' ' — Morien.
Wlien Morien is represented to liave said
40 8WEDENB0K0, [Cn. III.
this, lie at the same tiiii(3 told his pupil, ^vho was an eastern king, that the one thhuj was in him- self.
The Hermetic writers call it by an endless variety of names, constantly w^arning ns, how- ever, that it is but one only thing.
If the reader has seen the volume of " Re- marks upon Alchemy," he may the more easily perhaps understand these extracts, to which I will add several more without further explana- tion, my purpose being simply to show that Swedenborg thought the one thing (in all) is the life of the Lord ; and to show also, that he adopt- ed his form of writing most likely from Hermetic books.
Again : " And know for certain, that the phi- losophers cared not for the names, but one name, and one action ; to wit, to seethe the stone, and bring forth his soul ; because their stone is alw^ays one." — Avicen.
Again : " The matter of this w^ork, according to all authentic philosophers, is one only thing, containing in itself all necessaries for the accom- plisliment of its own perfection." — Bi-pley.
Again : " And know that the philosophers declare, that the permanent water is taken out of light ; but the light maketh fire, and tlie light
Ch. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 47
shining and transparent, becometli like one stray- ing seeking lodging : but when light is conjoined unto light, it rejoiceth ; because it came out of it, and is converted into it." — Mireris.
The author of the Revelation of the Secret SpiHt has a succession of extracts, with remarks on this point, of which the following is an ex- ample :
" One saith, ' our stone is no other but salt ; who worketh in this art without salt, is like unto him who would shoot a bow without a string. If the omnipotent God had created no salt, the art of alchemy had not been. Salt is coprose, and coprose is salt ; all lesser and greater miner- als truly are nothing else but salt: nothing is more iluxible than salt : nothing more piercing than salt, and his nature : nothing cleaner, purer, more sj)iritual, and more subtle, than salt and his nature. JS^othing stronger than salt and his na- ture ; nothing more incombustible than salt and his nature ; nothing more volatile than salt and his nature ; nothing sweeter than salt and his nature ; nothing more sour than salt and his nature!'
"These passages, (says the author,) seem to be repugnant to each other — sweet and sour ; — but they are to be understood, sour before prepa- ration, and sweet after." [Said of man.]
48 SWKDENBORO, [Cn. III.
" And following it is said, * nothing is nearer to the tire than salt and his nature; nothing more lasting and tit to preserve tilings from putrefac- tion than salt and his nature.'
" Then, seeing that salt, even as he is, without other preparation, is of such virtue that it pre- serveth things from putrefaction, as we see hy experience, what will it do, wdien the elements are separated from it, and it shall be reduced into a fifth essence ? I think with myself that it shall be that, which our philosopher understandeth to be the secret sjpirit.
" But the philosopher saith, ' Salt is the life of all things : ' and Morien saith, ' But this stone is not a vulgar stone, because it is more precious — without wdiich nature worketli nothing at any time, and its name is One.'
" Therefore, whoso knoweth salt and his dis- solution, know^eth the secret of the ancient wise men. Therefore set thy mind upon Salt. Think not upon other things. For in it only is hid the science, and the chief mystery, and the greatest secret of all the ancient philosophers."
Thomas Norton (1477) in his Ordinal of Al- chemy^ speaks of the one thing under the name of magnesia^ and describes it by what he calls its colors^ which, he tells us, may assist in enabling
Ch. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 49
US to discover the "principal agent" (in the work of making the stone). He concludes what he says ot colors by comparing magnesia to a crys- tal^ which appears to have the color of any and every object over which it is placed ; — meaning to indicate that it is one thing seen seemingly under the varieties of all things. This is an il- lustration taken from the sense of sight. ISTorton goes through all of the senses in the same way, smelling, hearing, &c., as if they gave us notice of some one thing in fact, under infinite forms.
This one thing Swedenborg calls life, the life of the Lord.
Sandivogius describes the One thing under the name of nature, but takes care to tell us that the nature to wliich he refers is invisible^ though she works, he says, visibly. He describes it as one thing, taking the form or character of the " place " where it is, and he illustrates it by say- ing : " Let there be set a vessel of water upon a smooth, even table, and be placed in the middle thereof ; and round about it let there be laid di- vers things, and divers colors, also salt, and every one apart : then let the water be poured forth into the middle, and you shall see tliat water to run abroad here and there ; and when one stream is come to the red color, it is made red by it ; if
50 SWEDENBORG, [Ch. III.
to the salt, it takes from it tlie taste of the salt, and 60 of the rest. For the water doth not chanu^e tlie place, but the diversity of the place changeth the water."
He says that " Nature is one, true, plain, per- fect, and entire in its own being, which God made from the beginning, placing his spirit in it: but know (he continues) that tlie boimds of nature is God himself, who is also the original of nature. For it is certain, that every thing that is begun ends nowhere but in that in which it begins. I say it is that only alone, by which God works all things : not that God cannot work without it (for truly he himself made nature, and is omnipotent), but so it pleaseth him to do. All things proceed from this very nature alone ; neither is there any thing in the world without nature."
cc * * * Moreover, nature is not visible, although she acts visibly : for it is a volatile spirit, which executes its office iu bodies, and is placed and seated in the will and mind of God. Nature in this i^lace serves us for no other pur- pose but to understand hcr^ylcices, that is, to un- derstand how to join one thing to another, ac- cording to nature. * * The place of nature is no other than, as I said before, what is in the will of God," &c.
Ch. hi.] a hermetic philosopher. 51
That which Sandivogkts calls nature, ex- pressly taking the word from under its common signification, saying, among other things, that it is invisible, is what Swedenborg intends by the word Life ; but what I desire to say is that, either he did not precisely apprehend the sense of the alchemists, or his readers are in precisely that predicament with respect to himself; for who knows, from reading Swedenborg, what life is ? K he had himself an idea of it, he has not been able to communicate it to others.
To show still further a probable source of Swedenborg's idea of life^ and of its submitting, as it were, to the character of the sicbject in which it acts, or what he calls its recipient^ I will recite an additional passage from the alchemist Norton^ where he treats of what he calls the concords^ which, as he says, are necessary in the work (of making the stone.) But I will go so far as to say that the j?Z sorts of men, some of whom are adapted to the work, and others not, — no great mystery surely, when openly stated ; for who does not know that men differ from each other in their capacity for goodness, truth, piety, &c. ?
" The Fourth Concord is full notable Between this Arte and places convenahle^^"*
52 8WEDENBORO, [Ch. III.
[For places convenablc, let the reader under- stand tiun 8uitaUe for the work.]
" Some places must needs be cvennorc dry, Close from air, no ways windy; "
[i. e. free from passions.]
" Some must be dark and dim of sight, In which sun-beams none may light ; "
[i. e. by sun-beams we may understand Rea- son, wliicli scarcely finds entrance at all in some men whose " affections are dark as Erebus, — the motions of whose spirit are dull as night."]
" But for some Places^ the truth so is, They cannot have too much brightness : Some Places must needs be moist and cold For some works, as authors told ; But in our "Works in every place, Wind [passion] will hurt in every case : Therefore for every work in season. Ye must ordain Places by Reason. Philosophers said by their engine, [ingenuity, genius,] How it [the Stone] should be wrought within locks
[This nine refers to an old notion of the five senses and four virtues in man, (see Philo,) in whom the ])hlloso])her's work is perfected.]
Ch. III.] A IIEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 53
" Astrologers said it was a grace, To find a chosen working Place j "
[i. e. a grace^ to find a man so perfect in body and mind, as to be a suitable subject to be car- ried forward into what the philosophers called a jplitsqiiam perfection.]
" For many things will wonders do In some Places and elsewhere not so, But contrary wonders be of one thing In contrary countries wrought without leasing ;
Whereof no other causie may appear,
But only contrary Places of the sphere :
* * * *
Wherefore wise men which for this Art sought, Found some Places [some men] concordant, some
Places nought ; Truly such Places where Lechery is used Must for this Art be utterly refused."
In Ashmole^s Theatrum Chemicum Britanni- cum there are many j^assages which seem just enough to point to life as the one thing — to de- lude a hasty reader. The language is very anti- quated, and would not be quoted for its beauty ; but a lover of truth does not rest upon mere words.
64: SWKDENBOKG, [Oil. III.
" Our Stone is made of one simple thing, That in II im hath both Soul and Life ; He is Two and One in kinde [in nature,^ Married together as man and wife : Our Sulphur is our Masculine, Our Mercury is our Feminine, Our Earth is our AVater clear ; Our Sulphur also is our Fire, And as Earth is in our Water clear, So is Air in our Fire. Now have ye elements four of might. And yet there appeareth but two of sight j Water and Earth ye well may see, Fire and Air be in them as quality : This Science may not be taught to every one. He were accurst that should so done." Page 352.
At page 381, in a conversation between Father and Son, the Father tells the Son, who asks where the "one thing doth grow" —
" In every place (Son) you shall him well find ; By Taste and by Color thou shalt him well know ; Fowls in the air with it do fly. And Fishes do swim therewith in the sea : With Reason of Angels you may it discern," &c.
In this passage I consider that the allusion to angels — the Iteason of Angels — is precisely in Swedenborg's sense, to be explained hereafter.
Ch. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 55
The reader shall also see that the Hermetic writers had a secret language called Lingua An- gelorum.
The following passage seems to set out with verbal accuracy Swedenborg's doctrine of the Lord, yet let the reader beware of supposing that mere words can teach this " selcouth thing."
" My beloved Son I command thee.
As thou wilt have my love and blessing,
That thou to God kneel on thy knee,
And to Him give laud and thanking.
For these gifts of grace given unto thee,
To have true knowledge of this worthy science,
That many men seek by land and sea.
Yet cannot find it for any expense :
I shall shew thee my Son here a hid secret,
Because thou art virtuous in thy living,
Of me else shouldst thou never it weet \Tcnow}j
And for thou art wise in thy council keeping.
And therefore I charge thee on my blessing,
Not to shew it to any man living.
For it is the first principle of our blessed stone^
Through which our noble work is relieved ;
Note well that I shew to thee my Son^
li sulphur be absent our work is deprived [dead];
Our Sulphur, my Son, is Water and Fire,
Constraineth the Body tUl it be dead ;
Of them thou hast never thy desire,
Till Tie be blue as any Lead ;
0(j 8WEDENB0E0, [Ch. III.
After all this he doth revive,
That in his Tcssel before was dead ;
I can no better in my reason contrive,
Than to fip^ure him to the great God-head,
For as there died no more than one,
Ilowbcit that there be Persons Three,
The Father, the Son by might is One :
The Holy Ghost make our full Trinity:
A similitude like unto our Stone,
In Ilim are things Three which are concluded all in One ;
Our Suljyhur is likened to the Holy Ghost,
For He is Quick [living] called the Spirit of Life,
In Ilis working of might he is most.
He raiseth our Body from death to Life,
Many, my Son, with Him do rise.
The Holy gospel therein is expert,
The number my reason cannot contrive." Page 383.
Ill Salmon's commentary on Hermes the one tliini^ is affirmed in many ways, of wliicli the fol- lowing is an example : —
The matter of our Stone is but one; and therefore nothing can be more alien from the Art than to seek for it in many things ; JN'ature is not mended or made better, but by a nature of its own kind. As vinegar makes vinegar, — so our Art begins with mercury, and with the same mercury it is linished. [Swedenborg's " Life."] It is a kind of Proteus^ which, creeping upon the
Ch. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 57
earth, assumes the nature of a serj^ent ; but being immersed in water, it represents a fish ; presently taking to itself wings, it ascends aloft, and flies like a bird ; yet notwithstanding it is but one and the same Mercury. ^ ^ ^ Till you have pu- trified the matter [i. e. brought about a true hu- mility], you have not made one step in the true way ; but that being done, you have accom- plished the first sign of the Art, as Hermes testifies.
The following additional passage from Swe- denborg will show the similarity of idea to which I refer — yet with a difference, for I am unwilling to allow that Swedenborg attained the veritable idea : —
" In regard to the Life of every one, whether man, or spirit, or angel, it flows in solely from the Lord, who is essential Life, and difi'uses him- self through the universal heaven, and even through hell, consequently into every individual therein, and this in an incomprehensible order and series ; but the Life which flows in is re- ceived by every one according to his prevailing principle ; good and truth is received as good and truth by the good ; whereas good and trutli is received as evil and the false by the wicked, 3*
58 8WE1)KNB(>RG, [On. III.
and is even chani;cd into evil and the false in them. This is comparatively as the light of the 8un, which diffnses itself into all objects on the face of the earth, but is received according to the quality of each object, and becomes a beauti- ful color in beautiful forms, and of an ugly color in ugly forms." Par. 2888, Heavenly Arcana.
Any number of passages like the above might be recited from Swedcnborg, unifying the whole of life, so to say, and in that, as I believe, Swe- denborg thought he saw the truth as the Her- metic writers saw it ; but it is certain that he but partially saw it ; and making his partial vision a ground of reasoning and philosophy, it was una- voidable that he should expand himself, as it were, into inconsistencies, as he certainly has done, notwithstanding his vast knowledge and genius. He is at fault as to the nature of what he calls the recipient^ \\\q proprium^ and the will^ and conveys no clear knowledge of them, or of what he calls Life either.
Swedenborg is not perfectly consistent with himself, — not ahsolittely consequential. He says at times that the soul makes its own organ ; and then in other places, he speaks of the organ as the recipient of life, as if it was something of itself;
Ch. III.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 50
then, again, he will refer all things to God, in- cluding the recipient : but, a page or so after- wards we come again perhaps upon the notion that the recipient in man is something itself, and while theoretically denying all independent real- it}^ to it, he calls it the proprium^ the root of self] and, so far, he calls it altogether evil. In short, Swedenborg does not appear to have clearly con- ceived the precise unity ^ so as to merge the dual- ity ; and in this, as I suppose, he did not reach the Hermetic point of view of the /Stone, the one thing. He often speaks of the Lord as the One, the one life in all, and says he is in Heaven and in Hell also. Then he says something similar of the Orand-Man^ as a comprehensive word in- cluding all men, good and bad, that is. Human- ity ; then he tells us, in other places, that those only are in the Gi^and-Man who are in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbor, these being in Heaven ; while those who are in the love of self and the love of the world, &c., are out of the Grand-Man, and are in Hell. He tells us that Hell is from man, as is also Heaven ; that evil men are in Hell, and constitute it, and yet that evil comes from hell ; and he so buries this circle of reasoning in words, that a hasty reader does not perceive that he is learning
CO SWEDENBORO, [Cil. III.
notliiiii^ oil the subject, lie is even more wide of all rational representation on the subject of the will. Swedcnbori^ sets fortli the doctrine of the omnipotence of tlic Lord as extending to all tilings, including the human will, and yet con- tends strongly for the freedom of will in man. On this subject the Swedish philosopher gives us no light whatever, but is on a footing with the most ordinary pretenders to philosophy among us. God is all in all, and yet man has a free- will ; but how this is to be understood, Sweden- borg does not explain. He tells us that man must act " as if" he was free, but must hiow that he can do nothing without God. In plain words, he must endeavor to put something like a decep- tion upon himself, and cheat himself into the be- lief of his freedom, knowing all the time that he is nothing of himself, and must refer all power to God.
The reader will find nowhere, as I believe, so close an examination of the question of Being and non-being — God and man — as in Plato's Sophist, a model of a Hermetic work, where Plato indicates the Suprejne as the one true and genuine /Sophist, all others being imitations, some nearer and others more remote, the nearest being what he calls the " scientific iraitator ; " — ^imita-
Ch. in.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 61
tor of what ? — of the true invisible Sophist, who sometimes, as Plato says, " exhibits himself as the instrument of the thing " exhibited.
This opinion may strike most readers of Plato with surprise ; but that I cannot help.
Plato, in the Sophist, beyond all question, has intimated his opinion that God may appear in man ; and he was perhaps better i3repared by his studies and contemplations, to acknowledge God in Christ, than any other man that ever lived, except the Apostles themselves.
C}2 8WKDENBORG, Ch. IV.]
CIIATTEE IV.
SwEDENBORG WRS not mad, nor was he under any peculiar hallucination. His doctrines are everywhere disclosed with the calmness of sci- ence, and there is no sign of enthusiasm in any part of them except in the form of earnestness in behalf of truth, or of what he considered as such. There is very little that can he regarded as con- troversial in his writings, and nothing of asperity, unless occasionally a word may show something of it, when referring to the Roman Catholic High- Priest, or to the particular tenet of the Athana- sian creed which asserts a trinity of persons in the divine nature, Swedenborg contending for the unity of God, of one person, but of three essences, or three somethings which I will not undertake to define.
Among the many volumes written by Swe- denborg, we have one work in English, entitled
Ch. IV.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 63
Heavenly Arcana^ extending to twelve volumes octavo, one object of which is to give the spiritual or internal sense of the books of Moses, — or of Genesis and Exodus, for the interpretation ex- tends no farther. He has written five large vol- umes upon the Apocalypse, and many other works in exposition of his doctrines and opinions.
The jprinciiyle upon w^hich the Heavenly Ar- cana, and many of Swedenb org's other works were written, is usually called that of correspond- ence. It is stated, repeated, and enforced in many places throughout his writings ; — most briefly perhaps, yet most formally, in the True Christian Religion^ page 267, thus : There is not any thing in the mind to which something in the hody does not correspond : and this which corresjponds may he called the emlodying of that.
It might require a volume to expound this principle, — to do it justice, — to show its founda- tion and explain its application : and then it might call for another volume to refute the doctrine, or show that, if true even, it is beyond the power of man to apply it to any use : and, when thus re- futed, it would not stay refuted, but would again come to the surface in some form or other, and remain, as it will, a subject of controversy in the world to all time ; — the reason of which lies in the
64 SWEDENnORG, [Ch. IV.
nature of man, as a conipouiKl being of thought and hody.
I do not understand, myself, tliat a knowledge of this principle of correspondence was claimed by Swedenborg as a revelation in any special sense, but that the application of it, that is, the power to use it, grew up out of or under the in- fluence of some special light from the "Lord," Swedenborg calling this influence the opening of his internal sight
The pi'inciple of correspondence itself is sup- posed by many to be in Plato. The spii'itual worlds in Swedenborg's sense, seems very similar to wdiat is understood by Plato's intelligible worlds or world of ideas^ as being the types or patterns of all material things in the universe, common articles of furniture included, " beds," &c.
This doctrine has had its advocates and its opposers ever since the days of Plato, and was no doubt the ground of the controversy which pre- ceded Plato, and was characterized by him as a giants^ xoar. In the middle ages the war was carried on under the names of realism and nomi- nalism. It w'ill be definitively settled when the nature of man shall be known, and it shall be un- derstood in what sense he is a spiritual being, and in what sense he is a material being, and not before.
Ch. IV.] -A. HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 65
Professor Butler, late of the Dublin Univer- sity, has left some lectures expounding the Pla- tonic doctrine very fully, and with as much clear- ness perhaps as the subject admits.
The professor's namesake, the immortal author of Hudibras, has ridiculed the doctrine in the person of one of his types of man, of whom he says : —
" Th' intelligible world he knew, And all men dream on't to be true, That in this world there's not a wart That has not there a counterpart ; Nor can there, on the face of ground, An individual beard be found That has not, in that foreign nation, A fellow of the self-same fashion ; So cut, so color'd, and so curl'd, As those are in the inferior world."
Ridicule is a powerful weapon, well calculated to drive away shallow pretenders to an art not miderstood, 'tis said, by one in a million ; whose truth nevertheless is affirmed and evidenced by all the tokens of sincerity that man can give, in- cluding the renunciation of fame and of wealth, and even by the sacrifice of life itself ; — though all this, it is admitted, can prove nothing but sin- cerity. But to return to Swedenborg.
66 SWEDENBORO, [Ch. IV
lie refers to tlie doctrine of correspondence, distinctly, in his work on the Animal lungdom (vol. i., p. 451), written before he came into the spiritual liglit ; and if I mistake not, his Hiero- glyphic Key, exhibiting many examples of the doctrine, was also among his earlier works.
In the application of the doctrine, I under- stand that Swedcnborg's friends claim for him something like a special illumination, using this word as a sort of compromise expression, imply- ing something very extraordinary and uncom- mon, but not precisely supernatural in the sense of the miraculous.
He tells us himself in the first pages of the Heavenly Arcana, that he will disclose something never before published.
But I expect to show that ihQ principle of this doctrine of correspondence was known, and, to some extent applied, at least by implication, to the intei-pretation of the first part of Genesis, by the Alchemists or Hermetic Philosophers, before Swedenborg was born.
Without going into minute details with re- gard to the interpretations themselves, I will simply say that his principle declares, that the letter of the Mosaic record encloses a spiritual sense, which can by no means be gathered by a
Oh. IV.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 67
literal reading of those records ; and, particularly, that the opening verses of Genesis are not to be understood as referring to the creation of the natural world, but to the re-creation, that is, to the regeneration of man.
The process of the regeneration of man, Swe- denborg affirms, is signified in the first verses of the book of Genesis.
Those who wish to satisfy themselves, as to details or particulars, may consult the first pages of the Heavenly Arcana, where the doctrine of correspondence is stated and applied.
It is my purpose to show that the alchemists, the mystic seekers after the philosopher's stone, who were in fact spiritual philosophers chiefly busy about the new birth or the regeneration of man, virtually put the identical interpretation upon the opening verses of Genesis that Sweden- borg did, though not with the direct purpose of interpreting the book of Genesis.
I desire to say, however, before proceeding any farther, that I do not undertake to decide upon the validity or the value of the interpreta- tion. It is my vocation to bring to light a curi- ous question, which I am sure is worthy tlie ex- amination of considerate men, but every one must make a decision upon the question for himself.
68 SWEDENBORO, [Cil. IV.
Tliomas Vauglmn^^' under the name of Eugc- nius Philalethe, about the middle of the seven- teenth century, publislicd a number of works on Alchemy or Hermetic Philosophy, in nearly every one of which the autlior lias something to say of the interpretation of Genesis, referring the reader to the spirit and not to the letter ; that is, calling his attention away from the letter to the spirit. I find it difficult to select among many passages, those which may indicate in the least compass the principle to which I have referred as the basis of the doctrine of correspondence, but I will commence with a work entitled Magia Adamica, published in 1650. In this work there is a long discussion, the object of which is to prove that Moses was a natural Magician, by
* Dean Sicift pronounced one work by Vaughan — Anthropo- sophia Tlieomagica — to be 'most intolerable fustian;' but this judgment is of little value, coming from a professed wit, whose disappointments in life, working on a selfish nature, drove him to ridicule, not the follies of men, but the very race itself; inso- much that, in most cases, whoever laughs at the Dean's wit is unconsciously laughing at himself. Swift had no idea of the class of writers to which Vaughan belonged, and from the very nature of his life, if we can rely upon the history we have of Lim, Avas necessarily shut out, "by a wonderful providence," from all knowledge of the Ilcrmetic Art. Yaughan, however, is not classed among the adepts^ and was set down as not having reached "the greater pyrotechny."
Ch. IV.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 69
which was meant that he was by nature a wise man ; — a proper derivation from the ancient use of the word inagi ; and, fm-ther, to prove that he wrote of magic [wisdom] under a veil ; and by- magic Yaughan understood Alchemy or Hermet- ic Philosophy ; that is, the Philosopher's Stone ; the Stone being man, the object of the art being the perfection of man, as I have set forth in my Remarks on Alchemy and the Alchemists.
Philalethe affirms that in Genesis Moses "hath discovered many particulars [beyond what appears in the letter] and especially those secrets that have most relation to this [Hermetic or Alchemic] art. For instance, he hath discov- ered [that is, made known] the Minera of man, or that substance out of which man^ and all his fellow creatures were made. This is the First Matter of the PJiilosojpher'' s Stone. Moses some- times calls it water ^ sometimes earth ; for, in a certain place I read thus : And God said. Let the waters hring forth abundantly the moving crea- ture that hath life^ and fowl that mayfly above the earth in the ojyen firmatnent. But elsewhere we read otherwise, thus : And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the fields and every fowl of the air. In this latter text we read that God made every fowl of the air out of the
70 8WEDENBORO, [Cn. IV.
ground ; but in the Ibnner it is written, that he made them out of the water. Certainly Aristotle and his syllogism can never reconcile these two I)laces ; l)ut a little skill in magic [wisdom] will make them kiss, and be friends without a charm. Tliis substance then (continues Philalethe) is both earth and water^ yet neither of them in their common characteristics, but it is a thich water and a siibtle earth. ^' ^' * The Philosophers call it water and 710 water, earth and no earth : and why may not Moses speak as they do ? or why may they not write as Moses did ? Tliis is the true Damascen earth, out of which God made man." ^ -s^ -Jt -^ * "But this is not all that Moses hath written to this purpose ; I could cite many more magical and mystical places; hut in so doing I should he too open ^ wherefore I must forbear."
The author then undertakes to show some- thing of what he calls the practice (of Moses) cor- responding to the art of the philosophers in mak- ing what the Hermetic writers called aurura potabile ; and then makes this important dec- laration : —
" If I should insist in this place on the Mosa- ical Ceremonial Law, with its several reverend shadows, and their significations, I might lose
Ch. IV.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 71
myself in a wilderness of mysteries, both divine and natural ; for, verily, that whole system is hut 0716 vast SKREEN, or a certain majestic umbrage drawn over two worlds visible and invisible. But these are things of a higher speculation than the scope of our present discourse will admit of. I only inform the reader that the Law hath both a shell and a Icernel ; it is the letter that speaks, but the sjpirit interprets."
It must be recollected that the author was a Hermetic philosopher, and will tell us nothing openly. He, too, speaks through the letter, and leaves the reader to gather his meaning as he best can by the exercise of patience, judgment, candor, and ingenuity ; or, it may be, with those who are blessed with it, by the help of the Spirit.
He proceeds next to show that the "manifest" part, that is, the letter^ was intended for the gen- eral mass of men, "whose thoughts (says he) were fixed here below, [in the senses and upon sensuous blessings,] but the hidden^ for the few only, whose minds aspired upwards to heavenly things."
It might fatigue the reader, or I could cite a dozen pages or more to show that the alchemists regarded the books of Moses as a screen., needing the sjpirit for an understanding of the " internal
72 8WKDKNB0RG, [Cii. IV.
sense," as Swedcnbori^ ealls it; and that the opening vei'ses do not refer to tlie natural or material world, but to the regeneration of man.
The reader has seen that Vaughan distinctly speaks of the writings of Moses as a screen. Let us now see if we can discover what the Hermetic Philosophers thought was behind it. But we must remember that we are dealing with Her- metic writers, who write " before and behind," " within and without." They suggest^ but rarely tell us any thing openly. Their writings are full of obscurity, because it was thought that the common people could not endure the truth, or would misuse and abuse it. But the common people of this age would have been uncommon people when Ilermetic books were written. The subject, I warn the reader, is of more real im- portance than any other one thing that can enter the mind of man. But to proceed.
Sandivogms was an alchemist of perhaps as high repute as any of the seekers of the mystic stone^ with a new name written upon it, " which no man knowetli saving he that receiveth it." I cannot give the date of his w^orks in Latin ; but, a part of them appeared in English in 1650, and a second edition in 1674, w^th the title : — " A New Light on Alchemy, taken out of the Foun-
Ch. IV.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 73
tain of E'ature and Manuel Experience : To wliicli is added a Treatise on Sulphur."
In the " Address to the Eeader," the trans- lator takes the ground that Philosophy and Di- vinity are one and the same ; in proof of which he says : —
" Can any deny that Hermes^ Plato, and Aristotle, though pure naturalists, were not most deep divines ? Do not all grant, that the two first chapters of Genesis are true divinity ? I dare afiirm that they are the most deep and the truest philosophy. Yes, they are the ground and sum of all divinity and philosophy : and if right- ly understood^ will teach thee more knowledge of God, and of thyself, than all the books in the world besides."
This particular writer says no more on this point ; but we shall soon see to what that under- standing rightly of Genesis refers, and that it is the regeneration of man, which is consummated when the fiat of the Eternal sends " light " into the soul of man. The reader will please observe and remember the vast importance attached by the alchemist to the two first chapters of Genesis, when rightly understood.
The next work on alchemy to which I will refer, has so remarkable a title that I will copy 4
74 SWEDENBOliG, [Ch. IV.
it entire, desiring tlie reader to notice tlie claim to hispiration therein set ii]), by the ])ul)lisher, not by tlie writer, by which it may be seen that Swedenborg had a I'orerunner on this point. The Swedish mystic (?) had predecessors in his own peculiar walk. The title runs : —
" Secrets Revealed : Or^ an Oj>en Entrance to the Shut Palace of the King. Co7itaining the greatest Treasure in Chymistry [Alchemy] never yet so plainly discovered [made known]. Com- posed hy a most famous Englishman^ styling himself Anonymus, or EyrcBneus Philaletha Cos- mopolita : who, ly Inspiration and Heading, at- tained to the Philosopher's Stone at the age of twenty-three years, Anno Domini, 1645."
This work was published in 1G59 ; and the 5th chapter opens as follows : —
" Let the Son of the Philosophers hearken to the Sophi nnanimously concluding, that this Work [that is, the work of making the Philoso- pher's Stone] is to be likened to the creation of the universe. Therefore, Li the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth, and the Earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep ; and the Spirit of the Lord was carried upon the face of tlie waters, and God said. Let there he IJght, and there loas Light.
Ch. IV.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 75
" These words (says this author) are sufficient for a Son of Art, for the Heaven ought to be con- joined with the Earth upon a bed of friendship and love," &c. In the conclusion of the chapter the author exclaims, in the language of Holy writ, '^ Good God ! How wonderful are thy works ! 'Tis thy doing, and it seems miraculous in our eyes. Father, I thank thee, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise, and revealed them to babes."
What can the reader understand by this lan- guage, but that the writer had been the subject of some extraordinary experience ; and to what can it be referred with so much probability as to that known in Scripture usually under the name of the new birth ; that is, the regeneration of man ? And yet the wo7'k is illustrated by a di- rect reference to the first verses of Genesis, which another alchemist tells us will teach us, if rigJitly understood^ more than all the books in the world besides. Let the language of Eyrseneus be con- sidered also in connection with the declaration of Yaughan, that the books of Moses have both a shell and a kernel, and that the letter of the Pen- tateuch is one vast screen drawn over two worlds, visible and invisible : — what must then be in-
TO SWEDENBORO, [Cii. IV.
ferred? To answer tliis truly, one may perliaps need to find, first, tlie Pliilosoplier's Stone.
Here is anotlier pas8U«:^o, and I take it from Espagnet's ''' Arca7iiun^ oi\ tJie grand Secret of Hermetic Philosophy^ wherein the Secrets of Nor ture and Art, concerning the matter and manner of making the Philosopher'' s composition, are m^ derly and methodically manifested^ (1650.)
" The generation of our Stone (says this writer) is made after the pattern of the creation of the world ; [let the reader consider that it is man, passing through the process of regeneration : — from a chaotic state of darkness, ignorance, and passion, to a state of light, knowledge, and free- dom, under the teaching and guidance of nature and God,] for it is necessary (says Espagnei) that it have its chaos and first matter, wherein the confused elements do fluctuate, until they he separated by the fiery spirit : they being sepa- rated, the light elements are carried upwards, and the heavy downwards. The Light [knowl- edge] arising, the Darkness [ignorance] recedes. The waters are gathered into one, and the dry land appears. At length the two great lumina- ries arise, and mineral virtues, vegetable and ani- mal, are produced in the Philosopher's Eaetii." That is, in the Man, who is the subject of this
Ch. IV.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 77
regeneration, for this is the " earth which is no earth, and water which is no water," — the most wonderful product of the universe.
The above 2:)assage, it is true, simply compares the work to that of Genesis; but this mode of writing is very common with the Hermetic phi- losophers. They often compare the Stone to man^ saying that, like man, their Stone has a body, a soul, and a spirit ; meaning thereby that the at- tentive reader shall understand that the subject of the worh is man. Occasionally some of the writ- ers express themselves quite openly, but in such a manner that they appear to be indulging in a digression, leaving the subject of the Stone aside.
They attribute a trinity to man, and in this also Swedenborg is in harmony with them, for he describes man as having a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial nature, — sometimes called outward, inward, and inmost, — which, he says, are suc- cessively " opened " in man, under certain condi- tions. To have the inmost " opened " is to be in the celestial state, where principles and eternal truths are contemplated, and facts are seen in their principles, out of relation to either time or place. This places a man in what Swedenborg calls the third heaven, and constitutes him an angel. Here he disputes with no one [see para-
78 8WEDENBORO, [Cn. IV.
grnj^li 270, llofiven and Hell]: all is light and truth, and the individual in this state constitutes " a heaven in its least form." A society of such men is heaven in a larger form, while the Avhole race, or mankind, if it co\dd come into this state, would constitute the universal heaven, where all would '^ appear as one man before the Lord," who is the Divine Humanity of God, the Word, the Eternal Truth, the Life.
I am speaking only of what I understand to be the theory of Swedenborg, and in the most general manner. His principal works may be easily had by those who desire to become ac- quainted with his system more in detail.
I find still another reference to the books of Moses in Espagnet, on this point, which I will copy. The writer brings into requisition for Her- metic illustration, in addition to Genesis, a few verses from Deuteronomy, and I will not curtail the passage, though a part of it is a repetition of what has been already recited.
" Some have sought (says Espagnet) for the latent philosophical earth by calcination, others by sublimation ; many among glazed vessels, and some few in vitriol and salt, even as among their natural vessels : others enjoin that it be sublimed out of lime and glass.
Ch. IV.] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 79
" But we have learned of the Prophet that : — ^ In the hcginning God created the heaven and the earth / and the earth was icithoiit form and void, and darlcness was %i])on the face of the deep : and the Sj)irit of God moved upon the waters / and God said, Let there he light, and there was light ; and God saw the light, that it was good, and he divided the light from the darhness,^ &c.
" And Joseph's blessing, spoken of by the same prophet, will be sufficient for a wise man (Deut. 33):—
" ' Blessed of the Lord he his Land, for the APPLES of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that lieth heneath ; for the ajyples of fruit hoth of SUN and moon ; for the top of the ancient moun- tains ; for the apfTuY.s of the everlasting hills, ^ " &c.
Upon which Esj)agnet says : " Pray the Lord from the bottom of thy soul, my son, that he would bestow upon thee a portion of this blessed Land.'^''
By land, here spoken of, Espagnet evidently supposes was meant what in the sixth chapter of Secrets Revealed is called — " the waters enclosed within, which do shun our sight, and yet really and truly are. These are those waters (says Es- pagnet) that the author of the Wew Light speaks of, to wit, which are, and do not appear until the
80 8WEDENB0R0, [Cn. IV.
Artist plcasctli." This Artist (of man) is again referred to in the same chapter, in which the work of regeneration is still spoken of ligurativcl3\ Thus : — " Let Diana be propitious unto thee, who knows how to tame tlie wild beasts [the wild pas- sions] ; whose two doves [the so-called two lumi- naries] shall temperate the malignity of the air with their feathers ; then the youth [the philo- sophical child] enters easily in through the pores, presently shaking the waters above, and stirs up a ruddy and rubisli cloud : — Do thou bring in the water over him even to the brightness of the moon, and so the darkness which was upon the face of the abyss [the unregenerate man] will be discussed by the spirit which moves itself in the waters [the same man] : thus by the command of God [the sole artist in this spiritual work] light shall appear: separate the light from the darkness the seventh time, and then this sophic [wise] creating of thy Mercury [thyself] shall be complete, and the seventh day shall be to thee a Sabbath of rest."
This may all appear very mystical, and, taken literally, no doubt it is so : but to the considerate reader it may indicate the point I am endeavor- ing to establish ; — that the Hermetic philosophers interpreted the writings of Moses, I mean, the
Ch. IV.] A HERMETIC PIIILOSOPHEll. 81
opening verses of Genesis, as symbolical of the regeneration of man, which Swedenborg, in vio- lation of the Hermetic law of secrecy, has openly asserted as his own understanding of those writ- ings.
82 8WEDENBORO, Cll. V.]
CIIAPTEE y.
To show that I do not speak at random in
comparing Swedcnborg's doctrines to those of the Alchemists, with respect to the three natures in man, I will refer here to a work by Philalethe, entitled Anthroposophia Theomagica (published in 1650), X->age 38, where the author says : —
" As the great world consists of three parts, the elemental^ the conlestial, and the spiritual, above all which God himself is seated in that in- finite inaccessible light, which streams from his own nature ; even so Man hath in him his earthly elemental parts, together with the coelestial and angelical 7iatures, in the centre of which moves and shines the Divine Spint.^^
'No one need look far into Swedcnborg's writ- ings without finding the above doctrine, only slightly varied perhaps in the phraseology used in stating it. For example : —
"There are three principles in man, which
Cn. v.] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 83
concur and unite together, — the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial. The natural princi- ple never receives any life except from the spirit- ual, nor the spiritual but from the celestial, nor the celestial unless from the Lord alone, who is Life itself." — Heavenly Arcana^ pa7\ 880.
This is sufficiently clear for my purpose, and perhaps I ought not to oppress the reader with long extracts in further illustration of this doc- trine and its application. Swedenborg changes, indeed, the terms employed and the order of them, but the meaning is changed with them, maintaining the same sense, or nonsense, if the reader chooses, though there appears to be some sense in this view of a very abstruse and myste- rious subject. I would have the reader notice the use of the word angelical by the alchemist, corresponding to Swedenborg's use of the word celestial, as the third state or nature of man ; be- cause Swedenborg himself, as I have already stated, speaks of man as an angel when in this third state, or when his "interior sense" is " opened to the third degree." This can hardly be called an accidental coincidence.
Hermetic writers constantly refer to the doc- trine of the Trinity in unity, while treating of
84 8WEDENBORO, [Ch. V.
tlicir Stone, but they wrote so obscurely that they overshot themselves; for -svliilc intending by this obscurity only to withdraw their books from the merely ignorant and from the profane, they have for the most part closed them from the learned and from the well disposed also. They never speak of tlie /Sto7ie as Man, directly ; but they often compare it to man, meaning that the attentive reader shall understand that man is the real subject. The following passage from ^' Hip- ley Revived " (1678) will show what I here refer to:—
" Our Stone is likened to Man, who although he have a wife different from him in sex, yet she is one with him in nature ; and in this sense man is called the inicrocosm^ or less- world : for indeed, next to man, who is the image of God, the Stone is the true little system of the great world. "^ *
" This Stone is also called Trine^ or Trinity in unity, from the homogeneity of the matter : — as Trevison saith : Our Stone is made of one root, that is, of two Mercurial Substances, *fec. This Trinity is discerned in the components ; for first there is the Body, which is iSol ; and tlie water oi Mercury ; in Avhich, besides its mercuriality, there is a spiritual seed of Sulphur, which is the Secret Fire. This is the Trinity, and these
Ch. v.] a her^ietic philosopher. 85
are called the Body^ the Soul^ and the Spirit : the Body is the dead Earth, which increaseth not without the celestial virtue ; the Spirit is the Soul of our Air or Chamelion, which is also of a two-fold composure, yet made one inseparably ; the Soul is the Bond of Mercury^ without which our Fire never appears, nor can appear, for it is naked." * « * * "Thus is the Trinity proportionable, to wit, three natures in tlie first mixture. The Work is carried to perfection ac- cording to the virtue of a Body, Soul, and Spirit : for the Body would never be penetrable, were it not for the Spirit^ nor would the Spirit be per- manent in its super-perfect Tincture^ were it not for the Body ; nor could these two act one upon another without the Soul, for the Spirit is an in- visible thing ^ nor doth it ever appear without another garment, which garment is the Soul."
I might insist here, and illustrate at length, that this GARMENT (in alchemy) is what is under- stood in Swedenborg to be the Spiritual Body of Man, the true Man. In the natural man, so called, this soul is supposed to be chaotic, and it needs to be touched by the Spirit ; which never- theless it bears within itself, as yet unknown to itself, and it remains unknown until the " Artist,"
86 8WEDENB0RG, [Ch. V.
God, plcaseth. And lierc the text is often re- peated, the wind bloweth as it listeth, etc.
With respect to this (jarment, I will adduce another passage in which it is still more plainly indicated — from the same writer, — remarking, by the way, that it was the notion of the Spiritual Body as represented by Swedenborg, that first attracted the attention of a learned professor in New York, who published a volume on the sub- ject announcing himself a Swedenborgian.
"Thus (says Cosmopolitd)^ thy Work is brought to the true Touch-stone, and that is Trinity in Unity; for in this pondus of your Mercury [yourself, reader, — for the subject is man] you have a potential Body [Swedenborg's Spiritual Body], which is one part of three of the Mercury [of the man] which may by Art be made to appear. [This Art they call divine.] This potential Body is to be reckoned to your actual Body, and that makes with it two ; and so, inpotentia^ you have two of the Body to one of the Spirit, which is three to three, and one to one. And this potential Body is at first spiritual and volatile, in manifesto^ for the unity sake ; for without it there could be no unity. Thus then a potential Body but an actual Spirit, is joined with an actual Body, by which means the
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosophek. 87
actual Body, when it is actually dissolved and made no Body, but a Spirit or Spiritual Body, this potential Spiritual Body, wliicli was in the water before, receives this potentialized Body, and both unite and congeal together, and is en- dowed with a double nature and virtue, that is. Spiritual and Corporeal, Heavenly and Earthly. And thus is made an union of which the propor- tion of the water in its first preparation, and its due mixing with its Body, was the moving cause, really though hiddenly enforcing the compound by the necessity of its end, which it could not have done had it not been so proportioned."
The reader may decry this subject as much as he pleases, and may ridicule the idea that the al- chemists were religious philosophers ; but who- ever will take the pains to look into their mysti- cal writings may easily see their true subject, and with some patient study may learn something of their arcane opinions ; and then he cannot fail to see, if acquainted with Swedenborg's wu-itings, that the Swedish Philosopher trod in the foot- steps of Philaletha Cosmojpolita^ and others of the mystic Stone seekers.
Swedenborg says that the end (object, aim, or
88 8WEDKNBORG, [Oil. V.
pui*])Ose) of the Lord, is a universal heaven throiujh man ; that the angels of heaven were all once men ; that Heaven is constituted or com- posed of men in the angelic or celestial state.
This doctrine is abundantly found in Hermet- ic books, though, as tlie writers express them- selves obscurely, it requires some acquaintance with their manner of writing to perceive their puq^ose ; but I may possibly make it appear to the attentive reader.
There is scarcely any one principle or dogma more frequently referred to in Hermetic works than one to be found in what is called the Smor ragdine Table., attributed to Hermes, — a work comprised in about a page of ordinary printing, written by nobody knows who, and nobody knows when, to wit :
" That wJiich is aljove is as that which is he- neath., and that which is heneath is as that which is dbove^ to work the miracles of one thing P
This principle is, in truth, the very root of Swedenborg's doctrine of corres2)ondence^ and shows also its connection witli his doctrine of the LoKu ; for the " above '' and the " beneath," are the spiritual and natural worlds of Swedenborg ; and the " one thing " is the Lord, the Life of the two worlds. In Swedenborg's language the
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosopher. 89
Lm^d is the End^ the spiritual world the Cause^ and the natural world is the Effect ; yet the Ef- fect contains the Cause^ and both express the Life. Call these Salt^ Sidphur^ and Mercury^ and we shall express the same thing in alchemic language. The natural world, so called, meaning the visible, is a world of effects, and symbolizes or "corresponds" to the spiritual world, and would be nothing without it, as the spiritual, in its turn, would be nothing without the Life, the " one thing " in all.
It is common in the world, as I know very well, that a doctrine obscurely stated is for that very reason imagined to enclose extraordinary arcana of undefined and inexpressible impor- tance,— a remark I think proper to make that the reader, if necessary, may be put on his guard against trusting his imagination in the interpreta- tion of mysteries.
I would have no one accept any interpreta- tion that shall not appear rational. It is much better to forbear making an interpretation alto- gether than to devise a merely fanciful and ficti- tious one, under a vague notion that we are obliged to understand every thing, for there are many things that we cannot understand at all. Ko temporary convenience or imaginary satisfac-
90 8WEDENB0RG, [Cn. V.
tion can compensate for adopting an error as the substantial trutli.
This doctrine or doj^ma of Ilermes appears in many forms in the Hermetic writings. In one form it reads, translated from the Coptic, as al- leged :
" Heaven above, Heaven beneath ; Stars above, Stars beneath ; All that is above is also beneath :
Understand this and be happy."
In commenting upon these dark hints, Phila- lethe says : —
" To speak plainly, Heaven itself was origi- nally extracted from Inferiors [out of man, says Swedenborg], yet not so entirely, but that some portion of the Heavenly natures remained still below and are the very same in essence and sub- stance with the separated stars and skies. Heav- en here below differs not from that above but in her captivity, and that above differs not from this below but in her liberty. The one is imprisoned in matter, the other is freed from the grossness and impurities of it ; but they are both of one and the same nature, so that they easily unite ; and hence it is that the Superior descends to tlie Inferior to visit and comfort her in this sickly in- fectious habitation."
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosopher. 91
This descent of the superior to the inferior, the reader can hardly fail to perceive, does not refer to the physical stars, visible in the heavens. He will come nearer to the true design of the writer by considering Swedenborg's point of view, by which man is placed, as it were, in the tniddle^ between two extremes of nature and spirit, communicating with both : — with the natu- ral world by or through his sensuous nature (the " outward "), and with the celestial world by his " inmost " nature. By starts is simply figured the principles of the superior, that is, the spiritual world. The Hermetic writers often refer to the lovers of their art, as seekers after stellar secrets, — meaning heavenly secrets ; — simply the more unseen and divine portions of the nature of man.
The correspondence of superiors with inferiors is referred to, precisely in Swedenborg's sense, by Philalethe in Lumen de Luniine in these words : " There is not an herb here below, but he hath a star [that is, a spiritual principle] in Heaven above." But, by above^ is meant inward.
In the so called spiritual world, inward and outioard answers to w^hat is called, in the natural world, above and below. And as the inward world has its central principle, it is called a sun, by ' similitude ' to the visible sun as the princi-
92 8WEDENB0R0, [Cn. V.
pal object of control in tlie natural world. Yet the student would make a great mistake in im- agining that this is any thing but a similitude ; for these writers, I mean Hermetic writers, Swe- denborg included, are any thing but materialists.
In Swedenborg's view, man, as he is sensu- ous, or according to his sensitive nature, is the natural man in St. Paul's sense, and is in the lower or outer world : as he is intellectual, he is in the second heaven ; as he is celestial {angeli- cal^ as the alchemist would say), he is in the third heaven, that is, the superior or inmost world, — even here in the body ; — ^for this is the doctrine ; but in every case, according to the Divine Laws of " order," Avhich under no circum- stances are ever violated, as they have their ex- istence in the unchangeable nature of God.
I state this as my understanding of Sweden- borg's theory, and so far as words can express any thing upon so difficult a subject, the theory may be substantially found in the Hermetic writ- ings : the diiference being that Swedenborg un- dertook to develop the doctrine more fully and to write more openly than any genuine Hermetic pliilosopher has ever felt at liberty to do, thougli Swedenborg himself has exhibited his opinions under a veil.
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosopher. 93
E'ctwithstanding the obscurity of these mystic writers, they contrive to suggest indirectly their subject. They discuss at large the properties of the m.agnet^ and then show what they intend by comparing the magnet to man. Thus says one :
" I may well presume to compare the load- stone in disposition with Man, considering the admirable virtues and dignity of the one in the animal kingdom ; and the miraculous operations and mystical properties of the other in the min- eral region. As for Man, there is such a super- eminent and wonderful treasure hidden in him, that wise men have esteemed that the perfect wisdom of this world consisteth in the knowledge of a man's self, namely, to find out that secret mystery which doth lurk within him." [Let this treasure and this mystery be supposed to be the " one thing " referred to by Hermes in the Sma- ragdine Tahle^ or the life of the Lord, as ex- pressed by Swedenborg, as something really in, but yet to be discovered by the so-called natural man, and the importance of the subject will be sufficiently appreciated. But to resume.] "For man (says my author) is said to be the centre of every creature, and for that cause he is called microcosmus^ or the little world ; centrum et mi- raculum mttndi, the centre or miracle of the
1)4 SWEDENBORG, [Cii. V.
world, containing in liiinsclf tlic ]>ropcrtics of jill creatures, as well celestial as terrestrial, and con- sequently of the load-stone.-'' [This is the author's mode of telling his readers that what he says of the load-stone is to be applied to man.] '' Man is (continues this writer) Temjylum Dei, the Temple of God; Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ ; Ilabitaculum Sjnritus Saiicti, the Habitation of the Holy Ghost, as the apostle hath taught us. Neither verily may it be imagined, that God would make choice of an unworthy dwelling- place. And therefore, in the consideration there- of, and our inquiry after so great a mystery, we have need to j^roceed with our exactest discretion and judgment, from the visible things of man to the invisible, that is, to penetrate with the sharp- est edge of our wit by demonstration, a posteriori; or from the external man, into the bowels of his secret, mystical and internal being; wherefore we proceed thus : Seeing that Man is rightly re- ported by Hermes to be the son of the world, as the world is the Son of God, being that it is framed after the image of the Archetype, for which cause he is termed the Little World, it will be requisite to understand that he is in like man- ner divided into a heaven and earth, as the great world was, and consequently containeth in itself
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosophee. 95
no otherwise his heavens, circles, poles, and stars, than the great world doth. And also, as we find that the spiritual image of the heavens, with their circles and poles, are delineated also in the earth, and every particular thereof, as it appeareth in the loadstone and iron^ so the character of the inward man is deciphered and portrayed out in the outward man, no otherwise than we may judge of the fashion of the kernel by the shell."
This writer then proceeds to place the true ^ole of man in the east^ where Swedenborg also placed the true north in what he called the spirit- ual world. This^6>Z^ of man is the " one thing," the Lord, the life^ — the discovery of which in himself Swedenborg called the ojpening of his m- ternal sight, and thence, in Hermetic language, he wrote of heaven and of earth in the sense of the above writer, without going out of himself, and his writings will never be properly under- stood except from this point of view.
This same writer expresses the very principle of Swedenborg, as follows : " There is nothing in the lower world, but hath his like in the starry world [meaning the spiritual world], whose beams and influences it receiveth."
I must now be so candid as to say that this writer is no other than the much-abused Robert
96 SWEDENBORO, [Cn. V.
Fhidd, tlic too open Hermetic author of a work, tlie express aim of which was to prove that the Mosaical History was " grounded upon the Essen- tial Truth or Eternal Sapience,^^ published in 1659. The people of his day were not satisfied that he should believe in Moses, but required him to believe in Moses as they did, and upon their grounds, and would not allow him to point out what he deemed much higher and surer grounds, such as might allow a man, '' while giving honor, to retain his own honor." Swedenborg is still more open^ but he addressed what he considered more enlightened times ; but he too is a Hermetic philosopher nevertheless.
ISTo genuine Hermetic writer has ever hoped to make that clear to the ordinary and unassisted understanding of man, which is, as they assert, the express work of the Spirit of God upon the heart of man, by which (as the phrase is) he be- comes a " new creature." They have the au- thority of St. Paul for this ; but I may as well state at once that conversion^ in the sense of the Hermetic philosophers, is a rare spectacle in the world, and is not usually a product of camp-meet- ing excitements ; but I should be too bold if I undertook to define it. The nature of the opera- tion carries with it what the Hermetic writers
Ch. v.] a heemetic philosophek. 97
call the Secretum Artis, the incommunicable se- cret : on which point I will cite one or two passa- ges from Hermetic books.
These writers say that there are three princi- pal stages or steps in the progress of man towards the perfection of his nature. In the two first, man works or may work co-ordinately with na- ture ; that is, in the development of his sensuous and of his intellectual nature : but " in the third God works alone," and man can only be a recipi- ent observer. The third and last step man is not supposed to take by any known natural power proper to him as an individual ; but he is a pas- sive recipient from a power above him, when in a proper state for " reception." This state or condition, suitable for reception, does not exist so long as man is devoted to things of time, and in love, not with God, but with the created things of God. " The world does not know me," says the personified principle in one of the Hermetic books, " because it loves not me, but mine^
It is a common doctrine : it is preached every sabbath throughout Christendom, to numberless inattentive and heedless hearers, who are said to be heedless because they are of the world, and love the things of time before the things of eter- nity. One main difference between the ordinary 5
98 SAVKDENBORG, [Ch. V.
teaching and that of the Hermetic philosophers is, that the latter make no direct attempt to ex- ercise the prerogative of God. They say that the "third state" cannot be taught, as ordinary knowledge is taught ; and, acting consistently with this doctrine, they do not aim directly to teach it ; neither do they allow that that state it- self is subject to the ordinary reason of man, who, without the Light they speak of, is wanting in the very grounds of an argument on the subject. " Certainly (says Pliilalethe) I cannot yet con- ceive how reason may judge those principles, quorum Veritas pendet a sola revelantis autliori- tate^ whose certainty wholly depend on God, and by consequence is indemonstrable without the Spirit of God. But if I should grant that, which I will ever deny, verily, I shall still say, that a true faith consists not in reason, but in love ; for I receive my principles, and believe them being received, sola erga Revelantem amore^ only out of my affection to Him that reveals them. Thus, our Saviour would have the Jews to believe him first /b;' his own sake, and, when that failed, for his works' sake ; but some divines believe, only for Aristotle's sake : if logic renders the tenet probable, then it is creed ; if not, 'tis Alcoran." *
* For celestial angels do not know what faith is except it bo
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosopher. 99
By reason, in this passage, I understand, the process of reasoning, which, simply, cannot cre- ate its own data. Reasoning may be ever so ac- curate, considered as a process, yet if its basis or foundation be not firm, — and this the process of reasoning cannot give — the reasoning itself is but a castle in the air. The point is, that there is something in man, truly, the divine in man — which nevertheless needs development — w^hich is not reaso7iing, but the principle of Eeason itself; most commonly called y different from belief.
Kow \hh faith, which is so necessary to man, which translates him into the so-called celestial (or angelical state), which transmutes his soul and transports him out of the lower world into a higher region, as the doctrine alleges, and which cannot be attained by the unassisted will of the natural man, is the incommunicalile secret to which Philalethe refers in the following passage, to wit ; — after indicating darkly and obscurely the external and internal means deemed to be necessary for placing a man in the right ]30sition for receiving a blessing from above, he pro- ceeds :
of love ; and the universal heaven is of love, no other life being existent in heaven but the hfe of love. — Heavenly Arcana, § 32.
100 SWEDENBORO, [Ch. V.
" There is nothing now behind but that wliich the Philosophers call Seeretum Artis : a thing that was Jiovor jnillishcd, and without which you will 7ieve?' 2)e)f 071)1, though you know both I^ire and Mattery
Speaking of the failures of Flammel and oth- ers, for the want of this secret, the author brings in an adept as saying of his own labors and stu- dies, that, " after the sixth year, I was entrusted with the Key of Power by secret Revelation from the Almighty God. This Key of Power was never put to paper by any Philosopher what- ever."
The object of the Hermetic writers in these obscure allusions and insinuations is to throw the reader off from a dependence upon mere outward teaching for a knowledge which is only acquired through, as they say, the alone Spirit of God, touching, as by a divine fire, the heart of man. Hence the designation of some of these writers as "Philosophers by Fire," as others are said to have been " baptized by Fire."
The same thing is referred to in the following passage :
" But that we may come at last to the scope proposed : God the Father is the metaphysical, Bupercelestial Sun: The Second Person is the
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosopher. 101
Light ; and the Third is Amor Igneus^ or a Di- vine Heat proceeding from both. JSTow, without the presence of this Heat^ there is no reception of the Lights and by consequence no influx from the Father of Lighf'
This sounds so much like Swedenborg, who has so much to say of a Sun of the spiritual world, and of light, heat, influx and reception, that I think it necessary to say that I am reciting this passage from the Alchemist Philalethe, and not from the Swedish Philosopher : and will pro- ceed with the extract :
" For this Ainor (says Philalethe) is the medi- um which unites the Lover to that which is he- loved^ and probably 'tis the Platonic's Daemon Magnus^ qui conjungit nos sjyiritum prmfecturis. I could speak much more of the ofiices of this Loving Spirit [Does not John say that God is Love f\ but these are Magnalia Dei, et NaturcB, and require not our discussion, so much as our reverence. Here also I might speak of that Su- pernatural generation, whereof Trismegistus : Monas gignit Monaden, et in se suwin reflectit Ardorem. But I leave this to the Almighty God as his own essential mystery."
Surely these mystic Philosophical Stone seek- ers have been strangely ignored or misunderstood
102 8WEDENB0RG, [Cu. V.
in tlio world ; but sure I am also that, in their day, they were despised and condemned only by the " yomiger sort," or by the worldly minded who needed a caution, to be found in the 10th Book of Plato's Laws.
That which the Hermetic Philosophers call the Secretuin A7'tis, or the incommunicable se- cret,— the essential mystery of God, Swedenborg called the ojpening of his internal sight, but with- out the smallest attempt at explanation.
If -what is thus far adduced fails to indicate the class to whicli the Swede belonged, I should be much disposed to say, that none are so blind as those who will not see. Yet I by no means intend to say that Swedenborg drew his doctrines entirely from the Hermetic Philosophers. Every student, to some extent, depends necessarily upon the labors and studies of his predecessors, and is in some degree bound to consult them and profit by them ; but the labors of fallible men do not carry their own key with them. That must be found elsewhere, or we read blindfolded.
There is a coincidence between Swedenborg and the Alchemists, which many may think merely accidental and unimportant ; but I w^ill point it out, since I am upon the subject.
Swedenborg wrote a work entitled, " Outlines
Cii. v.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 103
of a Philosophical Argument on the Infinite," in which he speaks of the infinite and the finite as so opposed to each other in their nature, that they can by no possibility unite, but by means of a third something, which he calls a '•'N'exusy By this theory he thus prepares himself to receive the doctrine of the Divine-human, the God-man, that is, Jesus Christ, as that nexics, or means, in short, of uniting God and man.
It is unnecessary to state this more in detail, as the w^ork of Swedenborg may easily be had and consulted by those who choose.
In a Hermetic volume by Oa7nbacMus, enti- tled Salj Lumen et Sjpiritus Miindi Philosophici : or, the Dawning of the Day, &c., published in English in 1657, the author commences the sec- ond chapter thus :
" The body of the world lies open to our sen- ses, but its spirit lies hid ; and in the spirit its soul, which cannot be united to its body, but by the mediation of its spirit : for the body is gross, but the soul is subtle, far removed from all cor- poreal qualities. For the union of these two, we must find some third, participating in botli na- tures, which must be, as it were, a corporeal spirit, because the extremes cannot be conjoined without an intervenient ligament, that hath afiin-
104 SWEDENBORG, [Ch. V.
ity with both. The licavcii, we see, is high, the earth low ; the one pure, the other corrupt : how then shall we exalt this impure corruption, and conjoin it with that active purity witliout a mean? God, we know, is infinitely pure and clean ; man extremely impure, and defiled with sins. Now these could never have been conjoined and rec- onciled, but by the mediation of Christ Jesus God-man, that true attractive glue of both na- tures," &c.
In the statement of the doctrine, the alche- mist may seem to have the advantage, by avoid- ing the express use of the ^xovdi finite in reference to man ; and Swedenborg might be asked how, upon his theory, his Nexus ^ if either infinite or finite, can instrumentally unite the two extremes, absolutely opposed to each other in their natures, by supposition. For if the Nexus be finite, it cannot unite with the infinite, and if infinite, it cannot unite with the finite, and would thus fail to answer the demand of the theory.
With the terms Spirit and Body, the difliculty does not appear to be so great, while we have, in fact, a palpable instance of their union as we suppose in Man^ bespeaking therefore the theo- retic possibility of a god-man, — called the Lord thi'oughout Swedenborg's writings.
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosopher. 105
I will here add one or two minor points, to establistL a connection between Swedenborg and the alchemists, drawn, I admit, from bare allu- sions, which however are to my mind very de- cided, to wit :
In Swedenborg's Angelic "Wisdom concern- ing Divine Providence, I find the following paragraph :
" 36. The wisdom which comes to perception, is the perception of truth from the love of it, esj)ecially the love of spiritual truth ; for there is civil truth, moral truth, and spiritual truth : those who are in the perception of spiritual truth from the love of it, are also in the perception of moral and civil truth ; for the love of spiritual truth is the soul of the latter. I have sometimes spoken with the angels concerning wisdom, who said that wisdom is conjunction with the Lord, be- cause the Lord is wisdom itself; and that he comes into that conjunction who rejects hell from himself, and so far into it as he rejects: they said that they represent wisdom to them- selves as a magnificent and most highly furnished Palace^ into which one ascends by Twelve Stejps ; and that no one comes to the first step, except from the Lord by conjunction with Him ; and that every one ascends according to conjunction ; 5*
106 8WEDENB0KG, [Cn. V.
and that as lie ascends he perceives that no one is wise from himself, b\it from tlie Lord ; also that the things upon which he is wise, compared with the things upon which he is not wise, are as a few drops to a great lake. By the twelve stcjys to the Palace of Wisdom are signified goods conjoined to truths, and truths conjoined to goods."
Before pointing out to w^hat the allusions in the above paragraph refer, I think it necessary to say, that Swedenborg considered man, as to his internal nature or spirit, as in the spiritual world, his outward nature or form being in the natural world, and hence man is said to be in the spiritual world, not figuratively but literally. In keeping with this, I read in Philalethe :
" I look upon this life as the progress of an Essence Eoyal : The soul but quits her court to see the country. Heaven hath in it a scene of Earth ; and had she been contented with ideas, she had not travelled beyond the map. But ^a?- cellent patterns commend their mimes. Nature that was so fair in the type^ could not be a slut in the anaglyph. This makes her ramhle hither to examine the medal by the^as^, but while she scans their symmetry^ ^\\q forms it. [The reader is requested to remember here, that Swedenborg
Cu. v.] A HEIt:METIC PHILOSOPHEK. 107
speaks of the body as an organ of and formed by the soul.] Thus (continues Philalethe) her de- scent speaks her original : God in love with His own beanty frames a glass to view it by reflec- tion ; but the frailty of the matter excluding eternity^ the composure was subject to dissolu- tion. Ignorance gave this release the name of deaths but properly it is the soiiVs hirth^ and a charter that makes for her liberty : She hath several ways to break up house, but her best is without a disease. This is her mystical walh^ an exit only to return."
Upon this view it is, that man is said to be, by Swedenborg, or according to his doctrine, in Heaven or in Hell, or between these as two ex- tremes, as to his sjpirit^ and according to the state of his spirit. HeaA^en and Hell, in Swedenborg's sense, are not places but states ; that is, states of the spirit of the man who is the subject^ of whom Heaven and Hell are predicated; Heaven and Hell, in fact, having no existence but in relation to man.
l^ow, all the ideas a man may have are said to be in the spiritual world ; or, it may be said, that lie who understands the truth of his own nature, knows that 5y, or tlirongli^ or in his ideas he is in communication with, or rather is
108 SWEDENBORG, [Ch. V.
in, tlic spiritual world, and so far as lie has ideas he sees into- the spiritual world.
"When these ideas bring into his presence the members of a certain " society," referred to by Swedenborg in many places, — meaning perfected men, or, in other words, regenerate men, — the man, if a (mystical) member of that society him- self, is said to be in commimication with angels ; and whatever is thought in the view of such men is called a conversation in the spiritual world.
This is the precise ground of Swedenborg's memorable relations^ which are nothing in the world but his individual opinions of men and things under a slight veil, and this is entirely in accordance with the spirit (?) of Swedenborg's own statements, made apparently to guide his reader in imderstanding him.
To return now to the paragraph cited from Swedenborg : — he tells us that he has spoken with angels concerning Wisdom^ — of their speak- ing of it as a Palace^ — and, finally, of twelve steps leading to it.
If Swedenborg had explained his own mean- ing, we should have been bound to accept, so far as he is concerned, his own explanations, but he has merely told us that the first step is taken by man '' from the Lord," and that all of the other
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosopher. 109
steps are taken by " conjunction with the Lord." The mysticism would have been removed, by the way, if he had said, that the steps are taken by a strict adherence to the truth, which he does indeed, substantially say in the same para- graph.
But to what did he refer in this allusion to angels^ to a Palace^ and to twelve stejps leading to it?
I answer, without the slightest suspicion of error, that the angel who spoke to him of a Pal- ace was no other than the alchemist Cos7nopolita, who left a work behind him entitled, " An open entrance to the shut Palace of the King ; " or, in other words, to a knowledge of the wisdom of God. He spohe to Swedenborg through his book.
And the twelve steps is an allusion to one or both of two of the most noted Alchemic or Her- metic books extant; one by the Monk George Kipley, and the other by a monk also, Basil Val- entine. Bipley's work is entitled, " The com- pound of Alchemy^ or the ancient hidden Art of Alchemy : containing the right and most perfect means to make the Philosopher's Stone^ and Aic- rum Potabile, with other excellent experiments. Divided into Twelve Gates." This work was
110 6WEDENB0R0, [Cn. V.
written in tlic reign of King Edward the Fourth, and was dedicated to him.
Basil Valentine's work was published in Eng- lish in 1C70. I know not when it was written. It is entitled, " A Pract/ical Treatise^ together with the Twelve Keys and Ajypendix^ of the Great Stone of the Ancient Philosoj^hersP
These Twelve Gates^ and Twelve Keys^ are the Tavelve Steps to the Palace; that is, to a knowledge of the wisdom of God ; — to that wis- dom, be it remembered, which is whispered by the Spirit of God to the loving soul that ap- proaches his infinite presence in humility.
The sharpest eye will detect nothing in the writings of Swedenborg, voluminous as they are, in contradiction to any thing here advanced, in explanation of his mystical mode of writing.
One of the properties — one of the boasted or pretended properties, it may be, — of the Philoso- pher's Stone, is to confer 3^outh upon the aged : it not only gives inexhaustible w^ealth, but insures perpetual youth. Here I find another and a de- cided point of connection between Swedenborg and the Alchemists ; and, as the Hermetic writ- ers say that " one book openeth another," the readers of Swedcnborg's writings may possibly be in the best position, if they understand his
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosopher. Ill
writings, for interpreting the paradoxes of the still more obscure writers.
In paragraph 414 of the work on Heaven and Hell, Swedenborg says, that "to grow old in Heaven is to grow young." The angels of Swe- denborg, then, must be considered as in posses- sion of the Philosopher's Stone.
Throwing aside all studied obscurity, what is the meaning of this ? Swedenborg says that the love of man is his very life ; and, as is the love^ so is the life. I^ow^ man is in the midst between, as it were, God and the world, the one eternal, the other perishable. If we consider this theo- retically, we may suppose that the love which is directed to the eternal may share its perennial nature, that is, a man in this love enjoys perpet- ual youth, — not in his body indeed, for this is of the world and must perish, but in his spiritual nature. But to love the perishable, or in other words the world, is to live in a succession of dis- appointments, since the objects of love are per- petually perishing, and to live in this state is to grow old indeed, not merely in years, but in cares.
Are we then to abandon the world, in order to attain this state ? Not so : this is a long-since exploded doctrine, and we know now that God is
112 8WEDENB0RG, [Cn. V,
not to be loved and served by withdrawing from the world and living as licrmits, but by living in the world and attaining that middle point, so dif- ficult to see and understand, — of "loving the world as not loving it," or of using the world as not abusing it, 1 Cor. vii. 30, 31. The difficulty of tlie discovery may be great ; but, when made, it may be the finding of the Philosopher's Stone, and prove that Swedenborg thought himself in possession of it, under the sense of the opening of his internal sight, which was to him the secretum artis of the Alchemists.
I do not regard the opinion of Hermetic writ- ers on the subject of creation as belonging to their peculiar doctrines, but on this point also Swedenborg and the Hermetic philosophers oc- cupy the same ground. Swedenborg says that God created the world " out of [a] substance which is substance in itself ; " but as he says that substance in itself is God, his doctrine is plain from this alone, and there is no question that his opinion was that God created or made the world, not from nothing, but from Himself. His fol- lowers contend strongly for this opinion, and earnestly defend it against the charge of Pan- theism.
On this point the younger Van Helmont
Ch. v.] a hermetic philosophek. 113
expresses himself as follows, in the form of a Query :
''Seeing then that Man, the Little World, being created by God, must come to such a state, wherein continually without ceasing he may be melioriated, and raised from one degree of glory to another, and so become still more and more God-like, (if I may so speak,) or be incessantly advanced ; — because, by this continual revolu- tion and glorification, he still comes nearer to God, and yet can never come to an end of his approaches, (forasmuch as in God there is neither beginning nor end,) but this melioration and glorification must continue without end :
" "Will it not follow from hence, that Man, as being a compendium of all the creatures of God, hath had no absolute, though a respective be- ginning ; — because, if otherwise, they must also have an end : and because also, that, if they have a beginning, before the same, they were not, and consequently that they sprang and came of nothing? ITow, seeing this cannot be, because by this means, a Nothing must be conceived to be in God ; whereas indeed He is the Eternal Being of all beings, blessed for ever !
" They indeed, (continues Yan Helmont, speaking openly on this point,) who imagine to
114 8WEDENB0RG, [Ch. V.
themselves a creaturely God, and according to their gross conceptions, or tlieir outward senses, shut up God in a determinate place or circum- ference, consistently with this their imagination, must suppose that a Nothing (which neither is, nor can be conceived of, or comprehended hy tliemselves or others) before the creation of tlic world, did exist together with God. For what- soever is beyond the bound which they have set themselves, that they call a Nothing. Or else they must assert that God made a Nothing out of which he afterwards created all things ; which is a contradiction, because a Nothing cannol; be made, for whatsoever is made or is, must be some- thing. Moreover, according to this assertion God must have made himself to a Nothing (be- cause there was nothing then but God) which is very absurd."
I wull just remark, in passing, that Plato en- deavors to show, in the Sophist, that we can- not conceive of Nothing, the idea of w^hich is formed (he says) by first necessarily conceiving something, and then mentally negating or deny- ing it ; so that in the idea of Nothing there is always the idea of something.
I cannot suppose that the opinions I have
Ph. v.] a hermetic philosophek. 115
thus far expressed of Swedenborg will be favora- bly received by those who, upon full considera- tion, as they believe, have adopted an opinion of him and his writings implying a special illumina- tion in his case, inaccessible to other men ; but these views will not offend the class of men re- ferred to by Swedenborg himself, in a letter of the 15th of July, 1771, to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, to whom he sent a copy of his True Christian Religion., requesting that those only might be selected to judge of it, " who love the trutli, and who love it only because it is truth." " K you take others (says he) they will see in this work no light but only darkness."
Everywhere in Swedenborg's writings appeal is made to a love of the truth, for the sake of the truth alone, as the proper pre-requisite in him who would sit in judgment upon the truth. He makes no appeal to the passions and denies that there were any miraculous interpositions in his day.
For my own part I find no insuperable diffi- culty in understanding Swedenborg's writings, at least to as great an extent as can be to any use or benefit in life. For this purpose I need but one liberty, a liberty to which he could take no ex- ception were he living, and to which his follow-
116 8WEDENB0R0, [Cii. V.
era have no right to take any exception. One simjlc liberty alone is required^ and Swcdcnborg's writings will be brought within the held uf natu- ral comprehension, and they will be found lull of truth and wisdom, — of love to God and charity to all mankind ; — so full of wisdom as to place their author among the foremost lights of the world, though shining in darkness. And what is that liberty ? It is simply the privilege of em- ploying the rule of interpretation upon his writ- ings which he employed upon the sacred Scrip- ture ; — the privilege of measurably disregarding the letter and looking to the spirit for the sense of what he wrote.
I say that Swedenborg was a Hermetic Phi- losopher, and purposely wrote obscurely ; and that he was not in a dream, but in a state of per- fect " wakefulness," — to use his own language.
Cft. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 117
CHAPTEE YI.
The zealous friends of tlie Swedish philoso- pher, without imich judgment as it appears to me, have collected a considerable body of tradi- tions, called " documents concerning Sweden- borg," — published in ^N'ew York in 1847, — calcu- lated, if to be relied upon, to take him out of the pale of humanity ; but among all those stories I see nothing to impress me through my marvel faculty, while some of his acknowledged letters and declarations explicitly deny all miraculous intervention in his case, the opening of his inter- nal sight not being a special miracle in his favor, but an experience possible for other men, — no doubt of an extraordinary character.
In a letter to Dr. Oetinger (Nov. 11, 1766), he gives reasons why no miracles need be expect- ed in his day, to wit, that miracles only " con- vince an outward belief," which, according to Swedenborg's theory, is not efficacious in salva-
118 8WEDENB0R0, [Cn. VI.
tion. He might have urged that there is no necessary connection between the exercise of power and the truth of a doctrine.
He further tells Dr. Oetinger, in the same letter, that he liad been chosen from 2i philosojpher to the office of a teacher^ " to the end, that the spiritual knowledge," revealed in his day, "might be reasonably learned and rationally understood," — a plain declaration, surely, that he appealed only to our natural faculties, and laid no tax upon our mere credulity.
Yet he uses some strange language in this same letter : He says, for example, in answer to a question projDosed by Dr. Oetinger, as to whether he had "spoken with the Apostles," that he had " spoken one w^hole year with Paul, and also of what is mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans, 3. 28. I have spoken (he continues) three times with John, once wuth Moses, and I suppose a hundi-ed times with Luther, who owned to me that, contrary to the warning of an angel, he had received the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, merely with the intent that he might make an entire separation from Popery. But with an- gels (he goes on to say) I have conversed these twenty-two years, and daily continue to do so."
How are we to understand these declarations ?
Ch. VL] a hermetic philosopher. 119
Certainly, for this purpose, we cannot ado]3t a more ready or secure j)lan than to follow the ex- ample of Swedenborg himself, and seek him in the spiritual world, and obtain satisfaction from himself.
That this may be done without much diffi- culty, I have it fortunately in my power to show, in the clearest manner, having conversed with Swedenborg myself in the spiritual world, and it is only necessary for me to " relate " the particu- lars of what passed between us. I have in fact had not merely one conversation with him, but have met him many times, and have questioned him very closely ; and although there are some few points on which he has shown very little dis- position to be communicative, yet, on the whole, I have much reason to be thankful for full expla- nations on other points.
I was chiefly induced to make the acquaint- ance of Swedenborg by certain encomiums upon him by his friend Mr. Wilkinson^ whom I met in the spiritual world also, some twelve or thir- teen years ago, and who, in fact, introduced Swe- denborg to me. The philosopher had a veil over his face, and it was some time before I could ob- tain a clear view of his features. At length, however, I could see that this veil became less
120 SWEDENBORO, [Cn. VI.
and less opaque, until finally it was almost trans- parent, which he explained to me by saying that he was not in the habit of allowing every one to see his face, but only those who sought his ac- quaintance from a pure regard for the truth, and not from idle curiosity. He tells me that he never makes himself known to those who seek his acquaintance with any sinister purpose, and not even to those whose chief desire is to get to heaven ; for he assures me that the way to truth is not through heaven, but contrarily the way to heaven is through the love of truth. He says this is the only thing valued in heaven, and that no one is admitted there who is without it. I have spoken with him several times with regard to his letter to Dr. Oetinger, and he has " owned" to me that, in what he says in that letter of hav- ing spoken with Paul, he merely meant that he had studied Paul's epistles for a whole year: that, in what he says of Luther, he only intended to express an ojpinion^ derived from the study of Luther's works, and from a consideration of the relations he held to the church of Rome, and to the time in which he lived.
As to what he says in that letter of talking with angels, he assures me that, when in the world, he belonged to a " Society wherein things
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 121
relating to heaven and to the soul loere the only subjects of discourse and entertainment^^ [see Swedenborg's own account of himself, 1769] ; that he referred to the members of that society as an- gels, because of the innocency, simplicity, and truthfulness of their lives. He further assures me, that in all of his writings he has endeavored to set forth the love of tvuth^for the sa'ke of the tricih, as the true test of knowledge ; and he seemed very confident that those who have that love of truth will understand his writings with- out serious difficulty. — [^Concluding paragraph of Heaven and Hell.l
He referred me to many declarations in the course of his work on Heaven and Hell, and else- where, to prove that by Angels he merely meant regenerate men, who have forsaken, not their du- ties in the world, which are never to be neglected, but the love of the world, and who have vowed a life of perfect innocency before God and man. He has told me — and this may surprise some of his followers — that he had some difficulty with himself in selecting the title for his work on Heaven and Hell ; that he thought of calling it a work on the Happiness and Misery of Man ; but as he reflected that such ordinary expressions
6
122 KWEDENBORO, [Ch. VI.
would not be likely to arrest attention, he adopted the other, ^vhicll means the same thing.
lie has cxphiincd to me, that his ineraorMe relations^ to be found in two or three of his woi'ks, were only introduced because he thought that such " remarkable particulars " might " probably excite the reader to their first perusal." [Letter to the Swedish Ambassador, without date, page 166 of the DoGumeiits.']
I told him that a great many stories had been put in circulation about him, supposed to show that he had miraculous powers ; but he assured me that nearly all of them are " fictions " in- / vented by " foolish novelists," [Letter to the ^ Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, July 15*r7], and, as to those that are true, they should " not be re- garded as miracles." [Same Letter, and also Let- ter to M. Venator, July 13, 1771.]
I asked him in ono of our conversations, how he came to use so strange a mode of writing, — by which, said I, many people have been de- ceived ; — he answered by saying, — that they are not deceived as to doctrine, which every man must receive upon his own conscience, and not upon the conscience of another : and that such a mode of writing has been in use among wise men from the earliest period of time, of which fact he
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 123
said he had taken especial care to warn his read- ers again and again in his writings, on purpose to guard against being understood literally.
I told him I thought it doubtful whether he would be held excusable for adopting the form of writing he had used : — upon which he looked very grave, and said that he hoped no one would be injured by any thing he left behind him in the world ; that his purpose was always to serve and benefit mankind ; that, as he himself had not de- pended upon a literal reading, even of the Scrip- tures, he could not imagine that any one would lean upon the literal sense of his writings, and forego the practice of charity, which he had taken so much pains to inculcate. He referred me to the concluding paragraph of his Letter to M. Yenator, where I find he says that — " Every trutli in the word shines in Heaven ; and comes down from thence into this world, to those who love truth hecause it is truth; " and he said that by the use of the word those he intended to include all men who love truth for the sake of truth, and not from the hope of reward ; — adding that truth is its own evidence in the same sense as that vir- tue is its own reward ; and that neither the one nor the other can be possessed but by a life of truth and charity.
124 SWEDKNBORO, [Cn. VI.
He tlien came close to me, and whispered something into my car; — upon which I told liim that I thouglit he was right, or, at all events, that as he thought himself so, it was sufficient for me.
In one of our last conversations, I asked him how he came to write that little work which lie called Earths in the Universe. He asked me if what he said there of different kinds of men, call- ing them Earths^ having certain predominant characteristics, w^as not true ; and w^hether it was not as easy to locate a representation of human character in Mars or Jupiter — in Yenus or Mer- cury, as in London or Paris, in Amsterdam or Stockholm ? He reminded me that man, as to life, is a spirit, but, as to body, an earth. I then remembered that the Alchemists designated dif- ferent sorts of men sometimes by metals, as gold, silver, lead, &c., and sometimes by planets, as by the Sun, Moon, Mercuiy, Yenus, Saturn, &c., and I desisted from asking any further questions at that time.*
* The compiler of a Compendium of the Theological and Spir- itual Writings of Emaniiel Swedenborg, published by Crosby & Nichols and Otis Clap & Co., 1854, calls attention in a note, page 68, to what appeared a remarkable fact ; that, as a scientific writer, Swedenborg knew there were more than seven planets ; but when, afterwards, his spiritual sight was opened, he speaks of only seven. The explanation of this is the fact, that the Al-
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 125
It may be observed that Plato speaks of two sorts of men,.liard to be discerned by the gene- rality of mankind, because tliey occupy extremes, one living in darkness and tlie other in light ; meaning simply that the generality of men are of a mixed nature, not very good and not very
chemists used the planets as symbols only ; they did not use them astronomically. They placed the sun in the midst, with an equal number of planets on each side, to exhibit, for their pur- pose, a certain equilibrium ; which Swedenborg also speaks of, especially at the close of his Treatise on Heaven and Hell. If the reader has a perfect copy of Sir George Ripley's Compound of Alchemy, he may observe at the end z. plate or diagram oi \\iQ Alchemic scheme, such as was without doubt in the mind of Swe- denborg. He was not writing of science. Most of the Alchemic writers refer to these seven planets, the author of the New Light of Alcliemy (9th Treatise), somewhat minutely, arranging them first in the following order, to wit ; Saturn, Jupiter, liars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. The author then proceeds to arrange them in triplets, by bringing the extremes together, with the Sun between each couple ; thus, Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon ; then Jupiter, the Sun, and Mercury ; and finally Mars, the Sun, and Venus ; — each exterior couple representing condi- tions of what these writers call the Two Luminaries (active and passive), with the Sun in the middle, their real sun in this scheme, however, being invisible.
Whatever may have been their real purpose, they have used but seven, and Swedenborg, in his theological or Alchemic writ- ings, limited himself to the same number, though, as a man of science, he knew there were more. They were merely used as symbols.
126 8WEDENB0RO, [Cii. VI.
bad, and from tlie lack of experience, or observa- tion, or both, they do not readily conceive of na- tures much above or much below themselves. Hence the worst of men are below ordinary con- ception, while the best of men are above it.
The best of men Swedenborg describes as an- gels, and speaks of them as of another earth than ours ; but he is speaking of men nevertheless, in our midst, yet men who live to the spirit and not to the flesh ; — men who love the truth, and whose chief delight is in it ; — who love to think of God and of eternal things ; who are in the habit of realizing in themselves God's eternal presence, and thence acquire or enter into a sense of their own eternity, in the very centre of which they find themselves as if waking from a dream, in such a manner that what had seemed most real becomes shadowy and imaginary, while that which had been regarded as mystical and vision- ary becomes the only real. Yet all this in the body and in a state of perfect " wakefulness ; " and such men know that they are no longer in a dream, though they feel that to talk of such ex- periences must seem like dreaming to those who are in the sleep of nature.
It is very plain that no one while in the body
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 127
can ever, in any strict sense, be said to be out of the body, though it is easily conceivable that a man may be in such a state, through the energy and action of his inner life, as scarcely, if at all, to feel the pressure of his body, and may hardly know he has a body : — and this is as possible in the purely intellectual life as through the aifec- tional or passional nature, where it often occurs. It has been well said, that we may and do jper- ceive those ideas and inner actions of life which we conceive by the intellect, and know them to be far more real, though unseen outwardly, than the so-called outward realities, which are often known to be shadows while we observe them.
In every point of view, it seems certain that no man, while in the body, will ever see beyond his nature considered in its double existence as inward and outward, and hence no man will ever travel, we may be sure, to another world, while in the body, and bring back thence any thing but what he carries with him, or may find here be- fore he sets out upon his journey.
That God, nevertheless, should enlighten the minds of some men according to their capacity for reception, ought not to surprise any one in whom the doctrine of God's omnipresence and omnipotence is a living truth, and not merely a
128 8WEDENB0RG, [On. VI.
verbal creed practically alien to the life, and ca- pable of beina^ roused only by " storms and earth- quakes" of the inner or outer world. "To see God only in what seems to disturb the peace of nature is to see him only in his terrors, and is scarcely to see him at all."
Swedenborg's memorable relations, as he calls them, for he does not call them revelations, are nothing but intellectual exercises, conducted un- der the idea of God's eternal presence, and thinly veiled with a phraseology selected and adopted for no other purpose in the world but to remove them or show their removal from the sensuous world. The natural man knoweth not the things of the Spirit ; they are foolishness to him ; and therefore he will not listen to them as in this world, spiritually observed, or, in Swedenborg's own language, as seen in a " celestial idea ; " but he will listen to one who tells him that he has seen such things, in the spirit, in another earthy or in some star beyond the sun ! But this is a fiction, and whoever thinks otherwise is greatly deceived, and misses the purest benefit of Swe- denborg's writings.
It is but fair and just to interpret Swedenborg according to the sinrit of these remarks, and the more bo as, by paragraph 50 of Angelic Wisdom
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEE. 129
concerning Divine Providence^ — and in number- less other places, — he seems to tell us in open plain language how to understand what he says of angels.
"^N"© one (says he) thinks from space and time when he thinks concerning those who are in the spiritual world." He says that, " angels and spirits are affections which are of love^ and thoughts thence," and that, " when any one \any one^ not himself only] thinks about another from affection, with the intention that he wishes to see him, or to speak with him, he is set forthwith present."
u « * * -jf Space and time make nothing towards presence, for the reason that affection, and thought thence, are not in space and time ; and spirits and angels are affections and thence thoughts."
I find a remarkable coincidence with the idea or principle here expressed, in a very singular Hermetic volume, published in English (trans- lated from the French) in 1650, with the title Unheard of Curiosities concerning the Talis- laanical Sculpture of the Persians^ the Horoscope of the Patriarches / and the Beading of the Stars.
This is purely a Hermetic book, and though
absolute nonsense to the general reader, it is in- 6*
130 8WEDENBORG, [Cu. VI.
t^rlarded with the main doctrines of Swedenborg enigmatically expressed, especially the doctrine that God is Man!^ Tlie hook had passed through two editions in French heforc it appeared in English, Avhich may assure us that it had readers^
* The reader may find a great deal of Swedenborgianisra an- ticipated in the writings of the elder Van Hehnont. Van H. in his Vision of the Soul expressly says that, inasmuch as God " hath vouchsafed to adopt only the soul of man to the image of Himself, it appears also a genuine consequence, that the im- mense and ineffable God is also of human figure ; and that, by an argument drawn d posteriori, if arguments be of any validity in this incomprehensible subject."
It will be recollected that Swedenborg says again and again, that God always appears before the angels as a man.
The doctrine of the grand-man pervades a volume by the younger Van Hehnont, — the father and son were both Hermetic philosophers, — entitled, Paradoxal Discourses of F. M. Van Hehnont, concerning the Macrocosm and Microcosm, or the Great- er and the Lesser World, and their Union, published in English in 1685. In this work, Hermetic throughout, ch. iii., sec. 1., treats oi Matter and Spirit under the symbolic expressions. Water and Quick-sand. "When the author says that diggers for metah everywhere, even under the highest mountains, are sure to come to Quick-sand, he means that searchers for truth, in pursuing their inquiries through nature, always reach a Spiritual limit, "beyond which there is no farther digging."
At page 65, of the Mia'ocostn, the thoughts of man are called Spirits, and are classified into good and bad Angels of man.
Swedenborg calls the affections and thoughts thence, Spirits and Angels.
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEB. 131
whether fools or not. The book is full of learning, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and may demon- strate to the curious reader that there was a class of men altogether out of, if not above the common order, who cultivated a science or art entirely unknown to the " common sort." This art was Hermetic philosophy, which has been cultivated in all ages though under various names, including astrology.
But, for the coincidence^ which it is my object to bring out :
" Those then (says this author) that are well skilled in the Secrets [Hermetic Secrets] of the Theology of the ancients, assure us, that those that first set up images in their temples, resem- bling the shapes of angels that have appeared upon earth, had no other design in so doing, save only the more easily to invite down those blessed spirits, by the force of the resemblance. And I know not w^hether or no, by the very same virtue of resemblance, which is found betwixt God and men ; {Faciamus hominem ad imaginem, et simi- litudinem nostrum:) it hath not rightly been affirmed by some Divines, that the Son of God would nevertheless have become man (yet with- out suffering death), though Adam had never fallen. But speaking of thingSj as they are now
132 8WEDENB0RQ, [Ch. VI.
at present, we know, tliat Jesua Christ is found in the midst of those, that speak, with Faith^ of liis name : because that when loe s]}eak with afec- tioii of any one, we represent hiin to ourselves iii our imagination. When, therefore, speaking of Jesus Chist we fancy him as lie is, he is instantly present with us, appearing to our liearts at the very instant that we there frame his image hy our imagination. So true it is, that resemblance hath the power to work wonders, even upon him that hath dependence upon no other, and is not under any power or law. But such conceptions as these are to be entertained w4th all piety and humility ; and proposed with such sanctity, as becomes those that speak of so adorable a subject."
I will note, in passing, that the identical doc- trine of Swedenborg, as expressed in paragrajDh 50, Divine Providence, is in the 10th book of the Pymander of Hermes, whose very name has been given to the philosophy cultivated by Sweden- borg. See, especially, paragraphs 117 to 124 in- clusive. But, upon reflection, as the Pymander is out of print and scarcely known, I will copy these few paragraphs, which the reader may at his leisure compare with the doctrine of Sweden- borg.
117. ^' All things are in God, not as lying in a
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 133
place ; for place is with a body, and immoveable, and these things that are there placed, have no motion.
118. "But they lie otherwise in that which is unbodily, than in the fantasy, or to appear- ance.
119. " Consider Him that contains all things, and understand that nothing is more capacious than that which is incorporeal, nothing more swift, nothing more j)owerful : but it is most ca- pacious, most swift, and most sti'ong,
120. "And judge of this by thyself; com- mand thy soul to go to India, and sooner than thou canst bid it, it will be there.
121. " Bid it likewise pass over the oeean^ and suddenly it will be there ; not as passing from place to place, but suddenly it will be there.
122. "' Command it to fly into Heaven, and it will need no wings, neither shall any thing hin- der it ; not the fire of the Sun, not the ether, nor the turning of the spheres ; not the bodies of any of the other stars ; — but, cutting through all, it will fly up to the last and furtherest body.
123. " And if thou wilt even break the whole, and see those things that are without the world (if there be any thing without), thou may est.
124. "Behold how great power, how great
134 8WEDENBORO, [Cn. VI.
swiftness, thou hast ! Canst thou do all these things, and cannot God ? "
Let these passages be compared with Sweden- borg's doctrine of space and jpresence^ and wath the power of resemblance, &c., and they will be seen to be the same.
If we w411 take Swedenborg's own description or designation of what he understood by angels and spirits, and not imagine full-faced little cherubs with wings, there need be no difficulty.
According to Swedenborg, man is inwardly, or as to his spiritual nature, in the spiritual world ; but externally, or as to his sensuous na- ture, he is in the natural world.
Here is a passage from Divine Love and Wis- do7n, which assuredly ought to tell us how the author would be understood, when speaking of angels.
" All that is here said of the angels, and of their turning to the Lord as a sun, is also to be understood of man, as to his spiHt ; for man, as to his mind, is a spirit, and if he be in love and wisdom, he is an angel ; wherefore also after death, when he puts off his externals, which he has derived from the natural world, he becomes a spirit or an angel : and since the angels con-
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 135
stantly turn their faces eastward to the sun, con- sequently to the Lord, it is also said of the man who is in love and wisdom from the Lord, that he sees God, that he looks to God, and that he has God before his eyes ; hy which is ivieant [I italicise this] that he leads the life of an angel. Such things are said in the world, as well because they actually exist in Heaven, as because they actually exist in man's spirit. In prayer, who does not look before him up to God, to whatever quarter his face is turned.
" The angels constantly turn their faces to the Lord as a Sun, because they are in the Lord and the Lord in them^ and the Lord interiorly leads their affections and thoughts, and constantly turns them to Himself; consequently, they can- not look any otherwise than to the East, where the Lord appears as a Sun : [I beg the reader, for his own sake, not to take this in a physical sense ; but rather think it symbolic of the star w^hich appeared in the east.] Hence it is evident (the passage proceeds), that the angels do not turn themselves to the Lord, but that the Lord turns them to himself. For when the angels [I repeat, that Swedenborg is speaking of man, but under certain conditions rarely met with ; and therefore the sense is, that when men] think in-
13G 8WEDENBORO, [Cn. VI.
teriorly of the Lord, they do not tliink of him otherwise than in themselves. Interior thought itself, does not cause distance ; but exterior thought, which acts as one with the liglit of the eyes, does make distance ; the reason is, because exterior thought is in space, but not interior thouglit, and when it is not in space as in the spiritual world, still it is in the appearance of space.
"The turning of the angels to the Lord is such, tliat at every turn of their bodies, they look to the Lord, as a Sun before them : an angel [a man, when in the right state for it, — for it is not true of the sensuous man] can turn himself round and round, and thereby see various things which are about him, but still the Lord constantly ap- pears before his face as a Sun. This may seem wonderful, but nevertheless it is the truth."
What is this but a mode of speaking of a man w^ho lives in the idea of God's omnipresence? Such a man is said to see from a celestial idea^ and though he looks upon the very same things externally that are visible to the natural man, they are, by virtue of the " celestial idea," so to speak, transformed into the spirit ; while yet, they remain the same externally. Hence Swe- denborg often reiterates that things in the spirit-
Ch. VI.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 137
ual world, as to external appearance, are the same as in the natural world.
The distinction lies in the nature of man, or in the different conditions of different men.
But I may be told that in a letter to Dr. Get inger, of the 8th of ]^ov., 1768, Swedenborg "sa- credly and solemnly declares that the Lord him- self had been seen of him," and that he sent him to do what he did, and that for that purpose he had " opened and enlightened the interior part of his soul," so that he could " see what is in the spiritual world and those that are therein," and that, " that privilege had been continued to him for twenty-two years."
The question arises with many, — how can Swedenborg's veracity be maintained, and any other than a literal interpretation be put upon such explicit declarations ?
I would answer, that as large a latitude of in- terpretation of Swedenborg's declarations must be allowed as he himself took with the equally explicit statements in the Scriptures. AVhatever others might say of this license, neither he, if living, nor his friends have any right to com- plain. How then does the case stand ?
"We read expressly that God spake to Moses
138 SWEDENBORO, [Cn. VI.
out of the burning biisli, and that tlie bush though burning was not consumed. Millions and millions of the human race, putting faith in the Scriptures, receive these statements as literal- ly true ; but Swedenborg does not hesitate to in- terpret this burning bush as a symbol of the Law^ in the letter of which was contained the Spirit of God, like the fire which burned in the bush but did not consume it, and he apparently placed no value upon the literal reading of the text.
But how is Swedenborg to be understood, iu the letter to Dr. Oetinger ?
I would gather an answer by an easy infer- ence from part of a discourse by a celebrated divine of the last century on Micah, 6. 8. lie hath shewed thee^ 0 man^ what is good ; and what doth the Lord reqicire of thee, hut to do just- ly, and to love mercy, and to walk hiiinbly with thy God.
The author, the Eev. John Heylyn, 1770, prefers the marginal translation, which reads — " To humble thyself to walk with God ; " — upon which he proceeds to show that pride sej^arates us from God; that, by pride, men are always thinking of themselves, so as " to leave no room for God in their souls ; " that " self usurps his altar there;" but that Humility dethrones the
Ch. VI.] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 139
idol, self, which profaned God's temYjle, and leaves "Him his proper i^lace in our affections;" that God cannot be known to the soul until humility has cast down all imaginations and every high thought that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God ; that, God can only be known as the sovereign good of the soul ; that, not to know him as infinitely desirable, is to be ignorant of him ; for that, he is our supreme good, and the soul cannot be said to know him, who does not apprehend him as such : — but that, the soul can- not apprehend him as her supreme good while any created good has the preference in her es- teem. The author then proceeds to show, that, when humility has prepared the heart for the knowledge of God, " He graciously vouchsafes to MANIFEST himself to our souls, causing there a lively SENSE of his presence ;" — the author citing God's promises, Is. 57. 15, and John 14. 21, 23, to encourage us in humility and the practice of virtue, affirming that, upon these conditions, " God will MANIFEST liimsclf unto us ; " that Je- sus Christ and his Father " will come unto us, and make their abode with us," &c.
I see no need of supposing that Swedenborg meant any thing more, in affirming that the " Lord " had been " seen of him," than that, with
IttO 6WEDENB0R0, [Cii. VI.
respect to himself, the promises of Scripture to the truly liiiin])le had been fulHlled. The secre- tuin ar^tls had, as he thought, been given to liim, and his sense of the magnitude of this " gift of God " may, in some degree, be estimated by its consequences, as shown in his life and labors.
That the " Lord " had commanded him " to do what he did," merely signifies, that under the consciousness of possessing a great truth, he felt an impulse to work for the good of mankind ; and, acknowledging this impulse to have pro- ceeded from the author of all good, he did not hesitate to speak of it as the command of the '' Lord," and feeling it as such he religiously obeyed it.
The assumption, if it was one, that the Lord had commanded him to " do wdiat he did," was common with Hermetic writers during the mid- dle ages. They refer to their knowledge as su- pernaturally acquired, — as acquired by inspira- tion^— and although they often declare that they are not permitted by God to reveal or make known the truth beyond a certain limit, yet up to that limit they claim to speak by express au- thority, or by the " command " of the Lord. One or two examples of this will suffice. Basil Val-
Cfl. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 141
entine^ after treating of what he calls natural ^and sifpernatural things^ sajs :
" What I have done, has not been done from a desire of vain and transitory glory ; but I have been induced thereunto by the command of Christ the Lord, that his glory and goodness in eternal and temporal matters, should not be con- cealed from any man, but to the praise, honor, and glory of his holy everlasting name, — that it might be exalted, acknowledged, and revealed in his Majesty by reason of his Highness and Al- mightiness, through the confirmation of his won- derful deeds. And secondly, I have been led thereunto by Love and Charity towards my neighbor, — ^for his good as for my own • ^ * * and likewise that the Supremest mystery may not quite be suffocated in darkness nor be drowned in overflowing waters, [i. e. suffocated by ignor- ance^ or drowned by animal jpassions,'] but be de- livered out of the deep and filthy mire of the Idiotish Crew by the right appearance of the true Light — " &c.
Here is enough to show that others besides Swedenborg claimed to publish their sense of truth by the command of the Lord.
In the above passage Basil Yalentine, an al- chemist be it remembered, refers to the " com-
142 8WEDENB0RG, [Cn. VI.
mand" of tlie Lord as Lis autliority for wliat lie taught.
The anonymous Cosmopolitan another alche- mist, and one of the most ingenious among them, in B'lplei/ Revived (1678), refers to both a coin- mission and a permission^ the latter word being very frequently used by Swedenborg, as his readers will remember ; for example, — as (Some- thing) has heen iinhnoivn to this day^ it is permit- ted to relate^ i&c. : — this language is frequently met in the writings of Swedenborg.
Cosmopolita writes ; — " It is to be understood that the most wise God hath a ruling hand here- in, and all the Sons of Art have their commis- sion as it were given them ; they write and teach according to that permission which the Creator of all things hath given them." But, neverthe- less, as they taught in figures, parables and alle- gories, he continues, as follows :
" And truly it is not our intent to make the Art common to all kinds of men ; we write to the deserving only ; intending our books to be but as way-marks to those who may travel in these paths of nature, and we do what we can to shut out the unworthy : yet we write so plainly [so openly] that as many as God hath appointed to this Mastery shall certainly understand us, and
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 143
have cause to be thankful for our faithfulness herein. This gratitude we shall receive from the Sons of this Science, whatever we have from others: Our books, therefore, are intended for the former ; but we do not write a word to the latter. Moreover, we write not our books for the information of the illiterate, as though every vul- gar mechanical distiller, alchemist, or sophister, should readily carry away the Golden Fleece ; nor do we intend that any covetous man, who makes gain his utmost ends, shall readily gather the Apples of the Hespericles ; nor yet, that any, though learned^ should by once or twice careless and slight reading of our books be straightway made a philosopher: Nay verily, the Majesty of this Science [call it the true knowledge of God] forbids so great impiety ; it is the gift of God, and not of men : our books are for those who have been or intend to be employed in the search of nature ; we hint the way ; prayer to God and patient persistence in the use of means, must open these doors. Let, therefore, profound meditation, accompanied with the blessing of God, Furnaces, Coals, Glasses, and indefatigable pains, be thy interpreters, and let them serve for commentaries upon our writings. So I did ; so I advise thee :
14:4: 8WEDENB0RG, [Ch. VI.
and may the blcssiiif^ of God attend all studious, virtuous searchers in tliis art."
Swedenborg, about a century later than Cos- mopolita, wrote much more openly than his pre- decessors in the Art / — and why ? Because he thought that the world had so advanced in knowl- edge as to receive without injury the strong " meat," — that God is [a] man, and has actually been " seen " in the world in his humanity ; — that God is the Lord ; that the Lord is Heaven ; that Heaven is in man ; that men are the stars of Heaven, differing indeed in " glory " (St. Paul), but that in every 77ietal (as the alchemists express it) there is a little " gold ; " — and that this gold, " this stone, this wealth, this treasure, though it be but like to a grain of mustard seed, yet it grows to be the greatest of all trees, in whose branches the birds of the air make their nests, and under whose shadow the beasts of the field dwell." Salmo'ii's Commentary upon Hermes.
The absence of quotations^ or references to authorities, in Swedenborg's theological writings, has been observed, and the reason assigned for it by his admirers is, that as he derived his knowl- edge directly from the teaching of the Lord (through the opening of his internal sight) he had
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 145
no occasion to fortify his communications by any such references.
This also was a pretence of the alchemists.
Thus, in " Secrets Revealed (1669), the author says, — " I could cite all of the philosophers that write of this thing, but I need no witnesses ; be- cause, being myself an Adept, I do write more plainly than any heretofore."
In another place he says : — " As I write these things for the good of my neighbor, let if be enough, that I profess there is none that ever ^rit in this art so clearly ; and that many a time in writing I laid aside my pen, because I was rather willing to have concealed the truth under a mask ; but God compelled me to write, whom I could not resist, who alone knows the heart, to whom only be glory forever."
In another place, still, he saj^s : — " He that hath this [the Stone] needs no information from another ; himself now standing in the centre, he may easily view the circumference, and then ex- perience will be, next to the Spirit of God, his best guide."
Sandivogius, in A New Light of Alchemy ^ writes in a similar manner. Indeed, — if the reader has access to the writings of Basil, Valentine, Sandivogiics, Cosmopolita, and — I had almost said
14r> SWEDKNBOEG, [Cn. VI.
or — Espagnct, all of them Alchemists, he may de- rive great assistance from them in understanding Swedenborg ; and, on the otlier hand, the study of the Swedish philosopher will throw great light upon their obscure writings.
Whether Swedenborg was or was not mis- taken, either in regard to his doctrines, or in his opinion of the intelligence of the age in which he wrote, in comparison with that of an earlier pe- riod— see on this subject one of his letters to Dr. Oetinger — is not for me to determine. It is cer- tain that he was a Hermetic philosopher, writing, not so ve7'7j obscurely, under the idea that the Alpha and Omega are one, and intimating that these two are God and man, and yet but one na- ture.
I have often suggested the importance of sep- arating in our minds the idea of the truth from the representations of it by those who profess to teach it ; and on this subject, more than on all others, it is necessary to have regard to this prin- ciple. Those who are curious in their inquiries into the nature of Hermetic Philosophy, under its various names in the world, for it is a very Proteus^ should first seek to learn what its adepts taught, and then propose to themselves an alto- gether different question, as to the verity of their
Ch. VI.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 147
teaching ; and they cannot be too careful as to what they receive as the truth of God.
As to Swedenborg, he was a man, and no more ; human, and therefore fallible ; and the light he speaks of, though always clear in itself, is never so in what Swedenborg himself calls its ultimate, especially when this ultimate is a con- catenation of ink-marks called human writing or printing. Here the light must always shine darkly. And this induces me to say that possi- bly,— though I have no wish to judge him, — pos- sibly, I say, he made a mistake in so far overstep- ping the law of Hermetic silence, as to expose himself and his writings to be misunderstood as they have been.
Yet there is no need of misunderstanding him, if due attention be paid to his own declarations, adjusted, according to the Hermetic rule, to " the possibility of nature." It is not contrary to this possibility, that the " Lord " should manifest himself to man, though this be the work of the " Artist " of man, and not of man, an artist. It is is only an exaltation of nature in or through man, by which the man is, as it were, taken out of himself, as an isolated and selfish being, and elevated into the universal, where he works for
148 8WEDENB0KO, [Cn. VI
the good of the whole, finding liis own happiness in his labor.
I have already cited a few passages from Swe- denborg to assist in determining how his language in reference to angels and spirits is to be under- stood. By angels he meant innen^ but men per- fected in their nature, — perfected in the spirit, if the reader pleases, — and men too, living or dead^ if he had any idea of them, as I will show pres- ently. They must be or must have been without guile, — turned inside outwards, as John Isaac Hollanders expresses it in his Alchemic w^ork Of Saturn^ — to be classed with Angels.
As to the extent or reach of the so-called in- ternal sight or view of the spiritual world, we have some remarkable testimony from General Tuxen. Let it be considered.
If the account may be relied upon, it appears that on one occasion Swedenborg w^as presented to the Queen of Sweden, who, says General Tuxcn^ expressed her satisfaction at seeing him, and asked him, " "Whether it was true that he could converse with the deceased ? He answer- ed. Yes. She inquired further, Whether it was a science that could be communicated to and by others ? IS'o. What is it, then ? A gift of the Lord. Can you, then, speak with every one de- ceased, or only with certain persons ? He an-
Ch. VI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 149
swered [and the reader should attend to this an- swer], I can not converse with all, but with such as I have known in this world ; with all royal and princely persons, with all renowned heroes, or great and learned men, whom I have hnown either personally or from their actions or writ- ings; consequently, with all, of whom I could form an idea ; for it may be supposed that a per- son whom I never knew, nor of whom I could form any idea, I neither could, nor would wish to speak with."
It would appear, then, that Swedenborg's knowledge oi facts was not increased by his sight of or into the spiritual world. His original ideas remained the same, while his sight into the spirit- ual world continued. What then took place ? Plainly nothing more than that his ideas under- went an examination from a spiritual point of view, and inferences and results were derived from them, which were themselves considered spiritual ; — but only in the sense that the original ideas were, and Swedenborg's theory places all of the ideas of man in the spiritual world ; for man, as to his " interior " spirit (or nature), says he, *' is in the spiritual world."
It was the pretence to greater infusions of lights the mistakes of excited imaginations, or the daring impostures of corrupt and wicked men,
150 8WEDENB0RG, [Cu. VI
that brought out the following eulogy upon Kalpho :
" His knowledge was not far behind The kniglit's, but of another kind, And he another way came by 't ; Some call it Gifts, and some New Light. A lib'ral art that cost no pains Of study, industry, or brains.
* * * •
But as he got it freely, so
He spent it frankly and freely too.
For saints themselves will sometimes be,
Of gifts that cost them nothing, free.
* * * *
He could deep mysteries unriddle,
As easily as thread a needle
For as of vagabonds we say.
That they are ne'er beside their way :
Whate'er men speak by this new light,
Still they are sure to be i' the right.
'Tis a dark-lanthorn of the spirit,
AYhich none see by but those that bear it ;
A light that falls down from on high.
For spiritual trades to cozen by :
An ignis fatuus, that bewitches.
And leads men mto pools and ditches
To make them dip themselves, and sound
For Christendom, in dirty pond :
To dive like wild-fowl, for salvation,
And fish to catch regeneration.
* * * *
Ch. VI.] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 151
But what bigot durst ever draw,
By inward light, a deed in law 1
Or could hold forth by revelation
An answer to a declaration ?
For those that meddle with their tools.
Will cut their fingers, if they're fools."
There is nothing in any of Swedenborg's writings, justly interpreted by rules to be found in the writings themselves, to give occasion for such severity.
In what respect, then, was Swedenborg's knowledge advanced, by his sight into the spirit- ual world ?
His friends might say that it was purified ^ from image or sensuous elements, and clarified ; and in proportion as this was done, his knowledge, from being special, became universalized, living upon princii)les, and not merely upon image facts ; so that, as he says himself, he was not solicitous about his memory of things^ but depended more upon an intellectual life, where one principle holds, as it were, a multitude of facts, and is the test of the truth of all facts having relation to the principle.
With Swedenborg the ordinary tenet, assert- ing God's omnipresence — which with most men is merelv a form of words, a mere verbal confes-
152 BWEDENBORG, [Cii. VI.
sion of faitli without infiuciicmg the heart and life — ^became a living truth. As the Divine is in all things, as all men say by habit, Sweden- borg, by contemplation, came practically into such a state as to see all things in the Divine ; but — and it is important to observe this — ^he saw- nothing in the Divine but what he saw, inwardly or outwardly, in the world, the two worlds, natu- ral and spiritual, being, in fact, but one world united, as he called it, by correspondence ; which correspondence is so exact, that all things in the spiritual world appear as in the natural world ; " so similar (says he), that as to external aspect there is no difference." — {Heaven and Hell^ par. 582.)
Those who fall into, or reach this state of vi- sion, are usually called mystics, though upon what just ground this is considered a reproach, I con- fess, I do not understand, seeing that such men do but practically live in the doctrine of God's omnipresence, which others assert, but practically deny ; but those who assert the principle, and yet deride the mystic, do but confess their igno- rance or their hypocrisy, or, if they prefer the term, their infidelity. He is the infidel, whose life and practice denies his confession of faith, not he in whom the faith and practice are united.
Ch. VII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 153
CHAPTEK YII.
I HAVE incidentally shown in what manner many passages in Swedenborg's writings are to be interpreted, and have indicated some principles by which most of his writings may be understood. I will now interpret a few more passages, but the reader mnst bear in mind that the Swede was a Hermetic philosopher writing under a veil^ often writing of man as man in a natural sense, and then of man as a spirit^ and again as a regenerate man (calling him an angel) ; and, besides these different modes of speaking of him, he is some- times called a house, a world, an earth, a temple, a tabernacle, 2i palace, the palace of a king, not made with hands, for nothing is more certain than that Swedenborg might have cautioned his readers in the language of Cambachius, the Al- chemist :
" Let me entreat you (addressing the reader) to take notice, by the way, that when you find any mention made of heaven, earth, soul, spirits ; 7*
154 8WEDENB0RG, [Cn. VII.
or our heaven^ (fcc, these are not meant the celes- tial Heaven^ or naixival earth / but terms nsed by tlie philosophers to hide their sayings from the wicked : spoken with all due reverence to the Divine Majesty 'j of whose glorious attributes the true philosopliers and astrologers are as ten- der as Classical Johni yet this I thought good to mention^ being cautious lest any spark of my flint should touch the wild-fire of his heacons ; but that my salt may rather preserve the hopes of the intelligent reader, to dive through his studies to his crowned havenP — {Sal^ Lunien^ Spiritus Mundi Philosophici^ 1657.)
I will just remark, in passing, that the As- trologers^ the trme astrologers here referred to, were not ignorant and pretentious predicting im- postors, but were students of ''astral" secrets, meaning the heavenly principles, or the spiritual nature of man, wherein the philosopher sought his coelum^ a place of heavenly peace, to be en- joyed in silence, and not in the noise of the world, where there is always danger of bringing its possession into jeopardy.
The reader is now invited to consider a few passages from Swedenborg's writings.
Paragraph 174, Heaven and Hell : " When
Ch. VII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 155
it lias been given me to be in comj)any with an- gels^ the things which were there have been seen by me altogether as those which are in the world ; and so perceptibly, that I knew no otherwise than that I was in the world, and there in the palace of a king : I also spoke with them as man with man."
In this paragraph, the World is the universe ; the Palace is man ; the King is the king of kings, and the Angels are men perfected in the spiritual or celestial sense, men who lived, like Swedenborg, in a constant sense of God's pres- ence, expecting a continuance of that state be- yond this " transitory and educational scene." I state this as the theory ; let the worth of it be examined by every man for himself.
Par. 177, same work : " Because angels are men and live with one another as the men of the earth do, therefore they have garments, habita- tions, and other like things, yet with the differ- ence that they have all things more perfect, be- cause in a more perfect state."
Why more perfect ? Simply because they are supposed to live to the spirit, and not to the body, but the angels spoken of are men, never- theless, living in the world, though not of the -wovidi.— John xvii. 16.
156 8WEDENB0RG, [Ch. VIL
Tlic habitation of the soul, and the soul itself the habitation of the spirit, is sometimes spoken of as a garden, a paradisiacal garden, where there are flowers and fruits, such as are " nowhere to be seen in the world," and these fruits are said to be gathered, " according to the good of Love in which the intelligent are."
Tlie angels are said to ''see such things, be- cause a garden and paradise, and also fruit-trees and flowers, correspond to intelligence and wis- domy " That such things (he continues) are in the heavens, is also known in the earth, but only to those who are in good, and who have not ex- tinguished in themselves the light of Heaven by natural light and its fallacies ; for they say, when speaking of Heaven, that such things are there as the ear hath not heard nor the eye seenP
Any one may see, at least when it has been pointed out, that Swedenborg here simply dis- tinguishes two classes of men in the worlds and not out of it — one living to the Spirit, and the other to nature in a subordinate sense ; and that the fruits spoken of are the fruits of the Spirit, as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good- ness, faith, meekness, temperance — against which there is no law. — Gal, v. 22, 23. He says that those who have extinguished in themselves the
Ch. VII.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 157
light of heaven, still testify their belief in heaven by saying that such things are in heaven as " eye hath not seen," &c., and he might have added, as a recent writer* has done, that " the Heaven of God is not only that which eye hath not seen, but that which eye shall never see."
This is the true interpretation, the internal sense of Swedenborg's reference to the flowers and fruits of paradise.
"Why is it that most men are so willing to defer the joys of paradise to another world, as if they were unattainable here ? Is it because, as we commonly hear or read, they prefer the sen- suous to the spiritual fruits, and do not under- stand how they may possess both, by " using the world without abusing it ? " Is it because they prefer the present to the future, while yet it is certain that the future is contained in the present ?
In paragraph 190, Seamn and Hell^ we read —
" The houses in which angels dwell are not built like the houses in the world, but are given them gratis by the Lord, to every one according to their recej)tion of good and truth."
Let this be interpreted by the following pas- * F. W. Robertson, Third Series, Sermons.
] 58 8WEDENB0KG, [Ch. VII.
sage from Piiilo, simply understanding that. Pliilo's theoretic man of virtue is Swedenborg's angel :
" God has thought fit to give as a reward to the virtuous a house thorouglily well built and well put together from the foundations to the roof; and the most natural house for the soul is the body, inasmuch as it does many things neces- sary and useful for life, and especially on account of the mind which has been purified by perfect purifications ; and which, having been initiated in the divine mysteries [has had its internal sight opened, as Swedenborg would say], and having learnt to dwell only among the motions and pe- riodical revolutions of the heavenly bodies, God has honored with tranquillity, wishing it to be completely undisturbed and exemjDt from any contact of those passions which the necessities of the body engender." * ^' * " This is the mind (continues Philo) in which the j^rophet [referring to Moses] says that God walks as in his palace ; for the mind of the wise man [Swe- denborg's angel] is in truth the palace and the house of God." * -Jf * * ap^^t all these statements are uttered in a metaphorical form, and contain an allegorical meaning."
I consider Swedenborg a strict rationalist.
Ch. VII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 159
when rightly understood, and not mystical at all except in the form of his writings.
The concluding passage of the work on Heaven and Hell was no doubt exjDressly designed as a caution to the reader, that the whole subject of the book is to be " reasonably learned and natu- rally understood," as Swedenborg expresses him- self in a letter to Dr. Oetinger.
Par. 603 : '' What has been said in this work concerning heaven, the world of sj)irits, and hell, w^ill be obscure to those who are not in the de- light [affection or love] of knowing spiritual truths, but clear to those who are in that delight, especially to those who are in the love of truth, for the sake of truth, that is, who love truth he- cause it is truth / for, whatever is loved enters with light into the idea of the mind, especially truth, w^hen it is loved, because all truth is in light."
Swedenborg might well have concluded his work in the language of a great man w^ho flourished a century before him, whose works he must necessarily have studied, for " he read every thing," but whom he never alludes to.
" If the way that leads to this [spiritual state] seem arduous, still, it may be trod : and arduous it must be, since it is so rarely found. For, if
160 8WEDENB0EG, [Ch. VII
our supreme good were at hand, and could be easily attained, how should it be neglected by almost all ? But all excellent things are as diffi- cult as rare."
Books of alchemy and Hermetic philosophy are filled with references to two certain things, very uncertainly known, called the sun and moon, which are also called active and passive, agent and patient, and hundreds of other names ; and great care is taken to set forth their mystical unity as an origin, or originating principle, whence proceed innumerable effects. Thus, also, Sweden- borg has much to say of the marriage of the good and true and of its happy fruits. The two things are supposed to be attributes of one thing, in an indissoluble trinity, holding the whole world in a nut-shell, no larger than the alchemist's egg, whatever that is.
I cannot positively say that Swedenborg had reference to the sun and moon of the alchemists in paragraph 1529, Heavenly Arcana; but in that paragraph he says, — " It is perfectly known in Heaven [meaning to men in the angelic state], but not so in the world of spirits, whence so great a Light [as he had just been treating of] comes,
Ch.VII.] a hermetic philosopher. 161
viz., that it is from the Lord ; and what is sur- prising, the Lord appears in the third Heaven, to the celestial angels as a Sun^ and to the spiritual angels as a MoonP In the succeeding para- graph he adds, that " the Sun signifies the celes- tial principle [which he calls good], and the moon, the spiritual principle" [which he calls truth]. He then adds, that, "By virtue of the Lord's Light in Heaven there appear wonderful things, which cannot be expressed, being so innumer- able."
To understand these expressions, the reader must study Swedenborg's view of the three na- tures in man, the natural, spiritual, and celestial, the last being in fact a state of grace, when the soul is, as it were, lifted out of the body, and death disappears, or so far loses its character that if it is not entirely lost sight of it becomes a mere transition event, a " mystical passage," from an apparent to a real life, from a life in time to eternal life, the entrance into which involves the negation of the apparent, or, in other words, self- denial in accordance with the Scriptures. But there is a true and a false self-denial. Renounce and realize, says the true doctrine ; whereas the false says, renounce to realize, this latter being no renunciation at all, but a mere prudential calcu-
162 8WEDENB0R0, [Ch. VII.
latioii of profits. The essence of the distinction lies in the import of the two words, aiid and to^ as above used, tlie diiierence having the power of a ditferential in the calculus.
Let the student see the sun through the fixed assymptote, and the moon through the change- able hyperbola, and seize their dependence, one upon the other, or their connection, one with the other in the cone^ — of course, regarding this as a figure.
If the readers of Swedenborg imagine they have a clearer idea of Swedenborg's sun and inoon^ than the Hermetic writers had, or sup- posed they had, of their sim and moon^ I must think they are mistaken.
Swedenborg should not be taken literally. Those who understand him literally must be ab- solutely stultified. The reader must find the spirit by which he wrote. If he fails in this he will read to no purpose, except, indeed, that Swedenborg's external sense (to use his own lan- guage) is good ; that is, he everywhere recom- mends truth and goodness, charity and love. IN^o one can be injured by reading him literally, but his real sense is as little on the surface as he thought that of Genesis itself. A general reader would suppose that Swedenborg meant by the expression,
Ch. VII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 163
the other lifcy some life other than a life in this world, a life in another world than this in which we live. But he means the higher life in this world and not out of it ; a life of reason and con- science, of truth and virtue, of " good and chari- ty," in contradistinction to a life in the lower af- fections and passions.
At the hazard of repetition I must desire the reader to consider attentively Swedenborg's no- tion of there being three natures in man, and explain what he says by his own theory. The whole may be rejected if the reader sees fit ; but still, Swedenborg ought to be judged by his own rules. Speaking of the three natures, or three degrees of life, as he sometimes calls them, he says, par. 3747, Heavenly Arcana :
''I have been instructed concerning these three degrees of life in man, — that it is the last degree of life which is called the external or natu- ral man, by which degree man is like the animals as to concupiscencies and phantasies. And that the next degree of life is what is called the internal and rational man, by which man is superior to the animals, for by virtue thereof he can think and will what is good and true, and have do- minion over the natural man, by restraining and also rejecting its concupiscencies, and the phan-
161 8>VEDENB0E0, [Ch. VII.
tasics thence derived ; and, moreover, by reflect- ing within himself concerning heaven, yea, con- cei-ning the Divine Being, which the brute animals are altogether incapable of doing. And that the third degree of life is what is most un- known to man^ although it is that through which the Lord flows into the rational mind, thus giving man a faculty of thinking as a man^ and also conscience, and perception of what is good and true, and elevation from the Lord towards him- self."
In The True Christian Religion^ page 37, Swedenborg says, on this same subject :
" The perfection of life consists not in thought, but in the perception of truth from the light of truth. The differences of the life with men may be thence ascertained ; for there are some who, as soon as they hear the truth perceive that it is truth. [These are in the highest life, or what Swedenborg calls the celestial life, and they are his angels, when doctrine and life are united.] There are others (says he) who do not perceive truth, but conclude it from confirmations by ap- pearances. [This is what he calls the middle or ra- tional state, in which men reason about trutli and become skilful in the sciences, where they stand as it were upon the threshold of the celestial state,
Ch. VII.] a hermetic philosopher. 165
but do not, in virtue of mere science, enter into that state, into which the simple and true may enter even without science. In the celestial state men do not reason about the truth they see, be- cause it is a possession. The student may find the idea in Plato's Thesetetns. A sense of this possession constitutes the heavenly or celestial state, that is, the angelic state. The reader may dispute the fact of there being such a state, if he pleases : I am only stating the theory by which Swedenborg ought to be interpreted. The low- est state of man, in this same connection, Swe- denborg says, is with those " who believe a thing to be true because it was asserted by a man of authority."
A writer of vast penetration and power of reasoning had set forth these identical distinc- tions in 1677, a century prior to Swedenborg's day, in the following words :
' We perceive many things, and form univer- sal notions from single things represented to us through the senses^ mutilated, confused, and with- out relation to the intellect ; and also (we form them) from signs ; for example, by reading or hearing certain words, we call things to mind, and form certain ideas of them like those by which we imagine things. These I will in futme
16G SWEDENBORG, [Ch. VII.
call knowledge of tlie first kind. [This, I will remark, is Swedenborg's lowest kind of knowl- edge, accessible to all men, but full of error.] Secondly (says this ingenious author), we form them from our having universal notions and ade- quate ideas of the properties of things, and this I call reason and knowledge of the second kind. [This is Swedenborg' middle state, where men of science are found. The author proceeds :] Be- sides these two kinds of knowledges, there is a thirds which I will call intuitive knowledge. And this kind of knowing proceeds (or descends) from the adequate idea of the formal essence of certain attributes of God, to an adequate knowl- edge of the essence of things."
This last kind of knowledge is what Sweden- borg calls celestial : its possession is realized as heavenly, and it elevates a man from the natural and rational state into the celestial, while yet in the body. Thus he says, speaking of this state, par. 3884, Heavenly Arcana :
"Let it be noted that, although I was in Heaven, still I was not out of myself, l)itt m the hody^ for Heaven is in man, in whatsoever place he be ; and thus, when it pleases the Lord, a man may be in Heaven, and yet not be withdrawn from the body."
Ch. VII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEE. 167
Here is an explicit statement of fact, as found- ed upon an equally explicit statement of doc- trine, addressed to our experience and faculty for discovering or verifying truth.
Swedenborg's readers may fancy, while pe- rusing his pages, that they are reading of another world than this we live in (I do not say on)^ but they are mistaken.
In the same way, when Swedenborg speaks of man in contradistinction to angels, he means man, not in the highest sense, for in this sense the Lord is man ; but in the lowest sense, that is, he means the natural man, as yet unawakened to the infinite depth of his spiritual nature.
In like manner, when Swedenborg speaks of what takes place after death, in by far the major- ity of cases, he refers to the transition from a natural to a spiritual life, when " old things pass away, and all things become new."
Angels in this sense die to the world, that is, they have taken leave of the love of the world, as opposed to the love of God. In this sense the Alchemists speak of the Stone^ as " the cut- throat of covetousness, ambition," &c. To the " natu- ral man " this may be " foolishness." But if we would understand Swedenborg, we must take into view his actual opinions of the nature of man,
168 8WEDENBORO, [Ch. VII.
and especially have regard to its higher or inner developments, and not merely man in his lower and sensuous character, groping uj)on the surface of the earth, looking outwardly for that which can only be found within.
"There appertain (says Swedenborg, par. 1893, Heavenly Arcana) to every man an internal man, a rational man, which is intermediate, and an external man, which is properly called the natural man." Death is regarded as a birth : thus the lower life is supposed to die as the higher life is developed. The expression, spirits from the worlds so often used in Swedenborg's writ- ings, means men who have passed from the natu- ral to the spiritual life.
In what Swedenborg says of infants in the sjpiritual worlds and of their education and growth into " intelligence and wisdom," he is but com- menting upon the doctrine that the kingdom of Heav^en must be entered as a little child. He is not treating of another world, but of a changed state in this world. His reference in such cases to the " former life in the body," is to the natural life as distinguished from the spiritual life.
I would have the students of Swedenborg con- sider, while reading his writings, that he was a man, writing to men of man ; of that man, if the
Ch. VII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 169
reader cliooses, wliom lie called the Lord, or some times the ^rand-man / and if he asks speciiially as to his meaning in the use of this expression, the grand-man, I feel disposed to suggest, in ad - dition to what I have already said, that, in Swe- denborg's view, all the men in the world, all that have been and all that shall be, are modifications of one man, invisible in essence, but visible nev- ertheless in every human being ; for, we have the highest authority for it, the Lord is not far from any one of us, — in Him we live, and move, and have our being. We do not live in our- selves. When we think otherwise, we virtually separate ourselves from the true life, — we virtu- ally deny the Lord, — and to that extent are truly dead while living. This I understand to be Swe- denborg's doctrine. To know the Lord is to be alive indeed. To be ignorant of the true life is a species of death, to which Ave must die in order to live.
The readers of Swedenborg may remember his description of what he calls the punishment of the 've^7, in the spiritual world — paragraphs 963 and 964, Heavenly Arcana;— to understand which we must consider that, according to Swe- denborg, to be in Heaven is to be in the presence of the Lord— that is, of God ; and hence the great- 8
170 8WEDENBOEO, [Ch. VII.
est miseiy is to be shut out from this presence, — and tliis misery is even the greater when man is unconscious of it. Now this ignorance of tlie Lord takes phxce in every man, passing l)y tlie reasons for it, in whom the love of self prevails over the love of God, and especially in every man who lives in sin, it being the property of every delusion of the phantasy, to draw a ^* veil," as it were, over the inner eye of the sinner who, thence, is shut out from the sight of the Lord ; and this is the punishment, as Swedenborg calls it, of the veil. Li this state men are described as being sensible of their being under a veil, and as mak- ing efforts to rid themselves of it by " running hither and thither," and struggling, sometimes with mighty efforts, to retain the veil^ yet see through it, which is impossible. This merely means that men are sometimes in love with some- thing which they know is of the forbidden tree ; but as it is but a little, a very small matter, as they fancy, they hope to reach Heaven with it, when the nature of Heaven excludes all sin, and thus excludes those who adhere to any darling " phantasy " not admitted there.
The doctrine is simple, and well known ; and all that Swedenborg says of it is adapted to tlie (jomprehension of a child, only he has thrown an
Ch. VIL] a hermetic philosopher. 171
air of mystery over it, as if lie saw beyond this world and was treating of another. But this worlds in Swedenborg sense, is the world of na- ture, while the " other " is the world of grace^ yet in this world also. Tlie difference is that be- tween a " man of the world," and a holy man, the former being willing to secure the supposed advantages of external fortune by condescensions compromising his spiritual life, while the latter lives in the fear of God even more than in the hope of Heaven, though Heaven is a fruit of this very fear.
To enter into wisdom is to enter into inno- cence, and innocence is represented by childhood ; but Swedenborg distinguishes very sharply be- tween the children of nature and the children of grace ; — I use this word for convenience, but not in any fantastical or fanatical sense. To be truly in grace is to be a true man.
Swedenborg utters, indeed, some very strange notions about seeing people in the " other life," that is, after death ; saying, that they do not know otherwise than that they are still living in the world. This may refer to the condition of some men after a solemn initiation into some so- ciety. I admit also that he seems to give very positive statements of the condition of the good
172 SWEDENBOKG, [Ch. VII.
and tlie bad in a life beyond the grave literally understood ; but these must be regarded as his mere opinions, on a level witli the opinions of Plato at the close of the Republic, or with the dream of Scipio. It is highly interesting to know the opinions of thoughtful men upon such a topic, but we enter into a voluntary vassalage when we accept any such representations as substantial ir- refragable truth.
In paragraphs 2308 and 2309, Swedenborg, as everywhere else in his writings on such points, merely expresses his own opinions, formed, in- deed, under a sense of the presence of the Lord. " ]N"o one," says he, " ever suffers punishment in another life on account of hereditary evil, be- cause it is not his ; consequently he is not blam- able for it," &c., &c. And then he speaks of " the nature of the education of infants in Heav- en, viz., that by the intelligence of truth, and the wisdom of good, they are introduced into the angelic life, which is Love to the Lord, and mu- tual Love, in which is innocence ; but how con- trary to this the education of infants on earth is, may appear from the following example amongst many others which might be mentioned : On a time I was in the street of a great city, and saw little children fighting together ; a crowd of peo-
Ch. VII.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 173
pie immediately gathered round them, and be- held the sight with much satisfaction, and I was informed that parents themselves sometimes ex- cite their children to such combats ; the good spirits and angels, who saw these things through my eyes [that is, his own feelings and thoughts^ which he nevertheless attributed to the Lord], held them in such aversion that I was made [that is, he felt] sensible of the horror they ex- pressed, especially at this circumstance, that parents should incite their children to such things ; they [the spirits and angels, that is, his feelings and thoughts] declared that, by so doing, parents extinguish in the young bosoms of their children all mutual love, and all innocence."
This I suppose to be the way to read and understand Swedenborg. He called his feelings and thoughts, attributing them to the Lord, angels and spirits, and these told him thus and so ; and by the same rule we must interpret Swedenborg, for he was one of us, and saw nothing in the universe but what we may see if we will lay off the veils which shut the truth from us. It is the simplest thing in the world ; but, simple as it is, let the reader be sure it is sufficiently vast in its consequences.
174: 6WEDKNB0E0, [Cn. VIII.
CHAPTEE YIII.
The followers of Swedenborg of the present day, or many of them, ask how certain portions of his writings, exhibiting deep truths of life be- yond the reach, as they think, of ordinary men, are to be explained, exccj)t on the supposition that he was especially illuminated from heaven ; and they ask also, how we can account for many of the stories connected with his name, which they think well authenticated and out of the ordinary course of events, except on the supposi- tion of supernatural aid.
In the first place, no one is obliged to explain every thing that takes place in the world, or sup- pose a miraculous interposition. There are many things — an infinity of things — of which men can give little or no account to themselves or to others. In the next place, nothing is explained in a philosophical sense by referring it to super- natural power. This is a pious feeling — a re-
Ch. VIII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 175
ligious explanation — but it extends equally to all things, and for this reason to nothing in particu- lar. When we say that all things are providen- tially under the government of God, we include equally the things we know, and the things we do not know ; — the things which we say, philo- sophically, we understand, and those which we do not understand. All philosophical knowledge, strictly speaking, refers to second or intermediate causes, more properly called conditions^ under which phenomena are observed to take place. The knowledge of such conditions, or second causes, does not take our knowledge from under the veil of mystery involved in the idea of the one cause which is all in all, both Alpha and Omega. J^othing is more fallacious, therefore, than the idea that we are attaining philosophical knowledge by rei^errmg particular things to God, since all things must be referred to God, both what we know philosophically, that is, by second causes, and what we do not know. This may be easily understood by considering any one species of knowledge, known to one man and not to another. It is plain that the knowledge of tlie one and the ignorance of the other does not change the relation of the thing in respect to God, but this must remain on the contrary, one
176 S'SVEDENBORO, [Cir. Till.
thing ill relation to Ciod and God's providential government.
Plato refers to this principle in the Dialogne on the nature of tilings {Cratylus, nnder the Hermetic form of an inqniry into language), where he calls the disposition to explain things by the "machinery of the gods," nsed by "writers of tragedies," the " not very clever evasions on the part of him who is not willing (or not able) to give a reason" for the original nature of things.
In the third place, many things that are very mysterious to some men are, philosophically speaking, very plain to others, and may become so to themselves by experience, study, and con- templation ; and we may remember particularly that marvels in relation to uncommon men, re- ported by the ignorant and the credulous, are ex- tremely apt to be without foundation.
There is one recourse in determining such difficulties, entirely open to a man of plain sense, which the Swedenborgians are in danger of clos- ing up in their desire to exalt Swedenborg above humanity ; and that is, a belief that he was not only a fallible man himself, but that he lived among fallible men, from whom we have received such relations as appear out of the order of na-
Ch. VIII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 177
ture. In addition to which we, ourselves, who may feel called upon to judge of these matters, are fallible also ; and it does not become us to assign supernatural powers to any mortal man, as if we could infallibly determine the limits and powers of nature in man.
'No one can, in any proper sense, be said to be exalted except in Ms nature, and according to it. A man may become " more a man " and be honored accordingly; but he cannot become more tha7i a man without severing his connec- tion with the race and losing the sympathies of his brethren.
Swedenborg was a true man, greatly yet alto- gether a man ; a wise man, indeed, but still a man ; and it is certain that he must have desired that his doctrines should be studied and received upon their own ground, and not upon his au- thority.
The members of the " Society " of Angels of which Swedenborg speaks, veiled their doctrines expressly with a view, as one object undoubted ly, of not veiling nature ; that is, they desired that no one should appeal to their writings as authority for eternal truth, which can only be taught by tlie eternal itself, but should be com- pelled to look through and beyond their writings 8*
178 8WEDENBORG, [Cn. VIH.
to the same inexhaustible fountain (the " Foun- tain" of Trevisan, tlie alchemist) whence they themselves had drawn a doctrine of life and love.
There is deep significance in the words re- corded in John 16.7: It is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away, the Comforter loill not come unto you ; hut if I depart I will send him unto you.
This Comforter is called in the 13th verse of the same chapter, the " Spirit of Truth : " [as also in ch. 14. V. IT.] By this Spirit of Truth we may now understand, that so long as the apostles had the bodily presence of Christ with them, and could look to him for a decision upon all ques- tions concerning truth, they would have no grounds of teaching from any light, on questions not specifically settled by him.
To the end, then, that the apostles should have the infinite source of truth opened to them, it was necessary that its representative in the humanity of the Lord should be withdrawn.
It is not otherwise now. We, too, in this age, need some freedom from the letter, in order that the spirit may be liberated ; for so long as any one looks to a record as containing the whole body of truth, he draws a veil over his eyes, and the '' fountain" of truth becomes invisible.
Ch. viil] a hermetic philosopher. 179
Lord Bacon tlionglit it an injury to the pro- gress of knowledge when any science became re- duced into formularies supposed to embrace the whole body of the science. If this is so of a special science, what must be thought of the at- tempt to put limits npoii the science of science, the queen of the sciences ? This science emphat- ically refuses to be confined in old bottles and is forever bursting them.
What then is the true " fixation " of the mat- ter of the Philosopher's Stone, — of which so much is said in Hermetic books ? What is it but the "law of liberty," wherewith the Spirit of Christ doth make us free ; by which we are free even to remember that Christ himself, the great- est teacher the world ever saw, left no writing behind him whatever.
In this spirit, as it appears to me, the Her- metic philosophers, one and all, virtually say to us : Read our writings, indeed ; we have written them for you, but " test them by the possibility of nature " [Sandivogius] ; and " do not attempt to practise upon our bare words" [Eyraeneus Philaletha].
In one word, every man dies alone. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. This ought to warn
ISO SWEDENBORO, [Cn. VIII.
US tliat nothing in this world can have any other than an instrumental value, and among the things of this -world are the books of so-called philoso- phers. AVhen we make them other than instru- ments and depend upon them as the substantial truth, we lean upon broken reeds or upon reeds that shall surely be broken.
But every one must determine for himself the difference between liberty and license, — between genuine freedom and positive slavery.
Here lurks the peculiar danger of semi-en- lightened times, when men attain light enough to distinguish or to suspect error, but want the power of discovering truth. This condition is perfectly described in the 7th book of Plato's Kepublic, under the story of the supposititious child, — nurtured and protected by those who were not his parents, for whom his respect declined when he discovered the cheat ; while yet, unable to find his true parents, he fell a victim to " flat- terers," and was ruined.
A very useful volume might perhaps be writ- ten on interjprctation^ but for the single difticulty, that such a volume might need to be interpreted. Indeed, our libraries are already filled with works of this kind, — critical works, and commentaries without number, with commentaries upon com-
Ch, viil] a hermetic philosopher. 181
mentaries. The readers of Swedenborg's inter- pretations may fancy that those writings are ex- empt from the nniversal law, yet many books have ah'eady appeared on the exposition of Swe- denborg's works.
It was the same with the Mysterium Magmcm of Jacob Behmen, which is an interpretation of the Pentateuch and other parts of the sacred writings.
Jacob Behmen wrote as magisterially, claim- ing an inspired insight, as any one who ever at- tempted an explanatic)n of any part of the Holy Scriptures. He claimed an illumination from at least as high a source as Swedenborg could pos- sibly pretend to, and yet who has ever looked into his interpretations, without feeling at once the need of an intei'preter of the interpreter ? The Pentateuch is light itself compared to the dark- ness of Jacob Behmen 's interpretations.
In what now do Swedenborg and Behmen agree ? Certainly in nothing but a mutual denial of the letter. But in this respect they were both preceded by multitudes of interpreters, equally denying the letter with themselves, and yet who has given us a light to be depended upon ?
With regard to the letter^ who has been more
182 SVVEDKNBORG, [Cil. VIII.
absolute in its denial tlian Oriircn, who tells us, addressing us from the niichlle of the third cen- tury, that " the source of many evils lies in ad- hering to the carnal or external part of Scripture ! Those wlio do so (says he) shall not attain to the kingdom of God. Let us seek therefore after the spirit and substantial fruits of the Word, which are hidden and mysterious ; " and lie says also that " the Scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written."
In this view Origen flooded his time with rolls of books to interpret the Scripture, not according to the letter, but according to the spirit ; — but according to what spirit ? Here lies the original question, which neither Origen nor any other man has ever settled or can settle, except for himself.
In truth, any book whatever, that is read at all, calls for and meets with some sort of inter- pretation, which in the last resort is the judgment of the individual reader. When individual opin- ions are multiplied in favor of any work, it be- comes a standard work : if a work be generally condemned, it disappears, unless in cases where it has a depth of real meaning beyond the pene- tration of ordinary readers. In this case, an ap- proval from half a dozen thinkers in each age
Ch. viiL] a hermetic philosopher. 183
may cany the work down to the latest posterity, and in its progress it may be said to accumulate testimonials in its favor, so as largely to outnum- ber any one generation. That any work should live for many ages is undoubtedly something in its favor ; and yet Lord Bacon has compared time to a river, whicli carries down the scum, but allows the more weighty and valuable substances to sink to the bottom.
The oldest books in the world, — Hindoo, Per- sian, Egyptian, Jewish, — are all obscure, and ad- mit of various interpretations, and this may be one reason for their preservation ; for a dark, mystical book tasks the inventive faculties to dis- cover its meaning, an agreeable exercise in itself, and as vagueness allows a latitude of interpreta- tion, more individuals may \h.\i^ please themselves. perhaps the chief secret of approbation, by as- signing a meaning to it ; and under such circum- stances it is not strange that approving interpret- ers are multiplied.
All of the great poems in the world are more or less allegorical, and are addressed to both the reason and the imagination of man, where inter- pretations are multiplied according to the variety of tastes and states of cultivation brought to the task, or the pleasure, as may be, of interpretation.
184 8WEDENBORO, [Cii. VIII.
No one at all acquainted with Homer imagines that the interest he commands in the world is at all due to the historical element found in him, the reality of which has, indeed, been plausibly denied without diminishing in the least the interest in his great poems, where his classical admirers find pictures of life including both worlds, the seen and the unseen. There has always been a class of his admirers who see in the Iliad and the Odyssey both religion and philosophy, and this class will continue in the world ; and yet if those who see religion in Homer could be brought to- gether, they would not at all agree among them- selves, while each would not the less insist that his own opinions are fully shadowed out by the Grecian bard.
"What vast numbers, in like manner, have been called, or have allowed themselves to be called, Platonists^ or admirers of Plato ; while yet if a party of such admirers could be brought together, scarce any two individuals would propound the same views of the great Grecian intellectual real- ist, w^ho is, by some, considered the most mysti- cal of idealists.
K we take the Sacred Scriptures, what a field is open for this sort of inquiry ! The so called
Ch. VIII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 185
Jewish Cabala was nothing but a sort of tradition- ary secret interpretation of the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, — itself capable of expansion and con- traction according to the genius of the class amidst whom it might fall. Much of the Cabala, it is supposed, was never written. Much that was written is supposed to have been lost, but we have one remarkable work of Jewish interpreta- tion in the writings of Philo. He denies the let- ter as emphatically as Swedenborg, and interprets it according to his spirit. Does his interpretation and that of Swedenborg agree ? Certainly, in but very few particulars, unless we force them into harmony by interpretations of our own. It is true that Philo regards the Israelitish history as symbolical of the progress of the natural man to the spiritual man — from Egypt as the Land of Darkness, to the Holy Land as the Land of Light, — and gives us many very acceptable interpreta- tions of the books of Moses ; — a little too diffuse, indeed (like Swedenborg in this respect), often tedious, and frequently very far-fetched ; but in many instances, as I have said, very acceptable as making sense of what otherwise seems very unimportant. He, too, as well as Swedenborg, uses the sun, by similitude, for the "mz?2(Z," or says that Moses so used it. The wicked idolaters
18G SWEDENBORG, [Cn. VIII.
and inhabitants of Canaan, wlio "sverc to be ex- terminated, are tlie bad passions and affections of the natural man, "which mnst be eradicated, says Philo, before the divine possession, tlie lluly Land, can be entered upon. But where the two writers differ from each other, who shall decide ? "We must not allow Swedenborg to claim pre- cedence upon his own assertion that his internal sight was opened by the Lord. This is merely his own declaration, and possibly Philo had what was to him as complete authority, but was too modest to place it upon extraordinary grounds, — appealing only to reason.
How are we to judge between them? Philo was a learned Hebrew, acquainted with the writings of his fathers, and possibly in possession of time-honored traditions received from the re- puted wise men of his nation. Shall his inter- pretations be thrown aside and those of a modern philosopher accepted on his mystical declaration that the Lord had opened his internal sight and privileged him to look into what he called the spiritual world ?
It is plain that this is a case where every man is thrown upon his own spirit and must interpret the interpreters, and it is not possible in the na- ture of things to supersede this necessity either
Ch. VIIL] a hermetic philosopher. 187
by volumes of interpretations themselves or by works on the principles of interpretation. Those who cannot nnderstand the original may be de- luded by either Philo or by Swedenborg, or by commentators in turn upon either of these.
In short, we cannot think by the intellect of others any more than we can see by tlieir eyes. We may do both under certain conditions and limitations ; but in the last resort, every man must judge for himself.
As to interpretation — every discourse, every sermon upon a text of Scripture, is in some sense an interpretation of Scripture, and what are all organized sects in Christendom but expressions or exponents of interpretations of Scripture ? Luther interpreted the Scripture ; Calvin inter- preted the Scripture ; Arminius, John Knox, Wesley — what are all these, and hundreds of others, but interpreters of Scripture ? And amidst this vast crowd Swedenborg comes for- ward and interprets the Scripture, claiming for this purpose a special Light from the " Loi'd " — denying, however, that there was any tJiing mi- raculous in his age.
This diversity may show that if the Scriptures are taken literally they do not yield an open sense equally accessible to all who may be equally
188 8WEDENBORO, [Cn. VIII.
earnest in their efforts to read aright ; or, if taken metaphorically or symbolically, the spirit of in- terpretation is not nnivcrsally recognized. •
The Catholic Church has acted upon the opinion of Origen and others, Fathers in the Church, and at one time refused to allow the laity access to the letter of the Scripture. Many have attributed this to sinister motives, and have proclaimed it a mere artifice to gain power and accumulate wealth. But it had no such origin. The Fathers of the Cliurch, observing the vast diversity of individual opinions, sought first a remedy through the judgment of a council, by which certain books were set apart as authentic and canonical, and all others had the mark of Cain put upon them, by which they fell into dis- repute, and ceased to furnish materials for heresy. Eut this was found to be only a partial remedy ; for disputes arose upon the sense of the retained books, and these disputes it was thought expe- dient to have determijied by the decisions of councils also, until finally the authority of the Church took precedence over both individual opinions and the literal reading of the canon. But this was not the product of either ambition or avarice. Those who think otherwise know
Oh. VIII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 189
but little of the spirit of such men as Origen and St. Augustine. It was merely the result of that sort of moral necessity, under which many men labor, of looking to others, supposed to know^ for a decision upon questions involving eternal in- terests, under a sense of inability to decide for themselves, l^owhere in the world has a sense of this inability been more deeply felt than in the Church itself, as evidence of w^hich the writ- ings of St. Augustine alone are sufficient.
As the Church on earth is composed of men, it was impossible to exclude from it human ele- ments and human infirmities, which in the course of time manifested themselves from a double cause — a decline of earnestness and wisdom in the Church itself, and an advance of intelligence and spirit among the laity. It was unavoidable that this should in time bring into question the doctrine of the infallibility of the Church, and thence it followed with the same certainty and necessity that the old questions arose, questions that occupied the Grecian sages, and have equally been the subject of study upon the banks of the Kile and those of the Ganges.
The reformation was no doubt a necessary product of the ages, but its effects are not con- fined to the reformers. It has worked back upon
190 SWEDENBORO, [Cii. VIII.
tlie Catholic Cliurcli, and reformod tliat also ; for, in enlightened countries, the Catholic Church is not now Avhat it was prior to tlie days of Lutlier.
Among the reformers we find a vast variety of sects, and tlie number seems constantly in- creasing, while, in our day, a feature formerly unknown has become very prominent. I refer to the Congregational organizations containing an element of independence, by which, while they acknowledge the authority of the sacred Scrip- tures, they separate almost altogether from liie- rarchical domination and creeds, giving freedom to the spirit — carefully preserving at the same time educational influences fall of good fruits.
Amidst all this variety of sects, organizations, and individual opinions, the j)hilosophers being also divided into sects, there being no system of philosophic doctrine generally received, a writer comes forward with a learned work in our age, with this opening passage :
"Wherever a religion, resting upon wHtten records, prolongs and extends the sphere of its dominion, accompanying its votaries through the varied and progressive stages of mental cultiva- tion, a discrepancy between the representations of those ancient records, referred to as sacred, and
Ch. VIII.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 191
the notions of more advanced periods of mental development, will inevitably sooner or later arise. In the first instance, this disagreement is felt in reference only to the unessential, — the external form : the expressions and delineations are seen to be inappropriate ; but by degrees it manifests itself also in regard to that which is essential : the fundamental ideas and opinions in these early writings fail to be commensurate with a more ad- vanced civilization. As long as this discrepancy is either not in itself so considerable, or else is not so universally discerned and acknowledged, as to lead to a complete renunciation of these Scrip- tures as of sacred authority, so long will a system of reconciliation by means of interpretation be adopted and pursued, by those who have a more or less distinct consciousness of the existing in- congruity."
This is an ominous commencement of a crit- ical examination, and would prepare almost any reader for a work of destruction. Many have hailed it with joy, and have been fully prepared to accept conclusions, whose first eflTect might seem to be unalloyed freedom : — ^but some few, very few perhaps, not satisfied with the letter^ still less satisfied with what seem fanciful and fixl- lible interpretations, are yet least of all satisfied
192 8WEDENB0RG, [Cu. VIII.
to sec A'iolently assailed a system upon which the '' human heart has nourished itself for ages." These become silent and reserved. They with- draw from all public demonstration of their opin- ions, become thoughtful, and enter into solemn resolutions with themselves, to take no active part for or against any externally marked system, — to perform punctually all the duties of life without ostentation, — to lead perfectly innocent and blameless lives, and sec whether time and the blessing of God will not bring to them some kind of solution of the great problems that have always occupied the attention of man.
Ch, IX.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 193
CHAPTEE IX.
Can it be tliought strange, amidst the confu- sion of the world on the subject of religion, that a class of self-secluded men should come into ex- istence, the individuals of which, through con- templation, reading, and observation, — the duties of life being all punctually performed, — should reach a satisfactory condition, accompanied with the conviction, that others will not attain to it so long as they remain partisan advocates of a more or less externally formalized creed ?
From this class, some of whom may be found in all enlightened countries, has come a small body of Hermetic philosophers, — a very few of whom have written, though very obscurely, of certain principles attained in secret, and main- tained in secrecy ; for, if published at all, it has always been under a veil. 9
1 04: SWEDENBORGj [Ch. IX.
Many men liavc Rpnini^ up from time to time witli the idea that tliey liad reached the secret of this doctrine, and luive audaciously and presiim])- tiiously written books to publish it to the world, affecting obscurity in imitation of the genuine writers, as if obscurity was the badge of truth, and a virtue in itself. For the most part, these men have known nothing of the secret.
Most of the real adepts have written nothing at all, while those who have published any thing have limited themselves to very small tracts, pub- lished, not so much with the object of making known a doctrine, as to indicate to the initiated their claim to brotherhood, and these works have almost invariably been anonymous.
From the nature of the case, the members, to call them such, of this " society" (referred to so frequently by Swedenborg) are scattered, both as to time and space, there being a few in every age, but not many in any age ; and from the same necessity they do not and cannot form an organized body, for this would be to put limita- tions upon that which in its nature is absolutely free. Yet they truly exist, and know each other by signs more infallible than can be made effect- ual by any organized society whatever ; and why ? — because they live in the fear of the Lord, and
Ch. IX.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 195
have become the depositors of his secret (Ps. 25, 14).
The members of this society have in former times communicated with each other by a secret language, which has had many forms, and will have many more, but which can never utterly perish.
" It is not unknown to you (says the trans- lator of An Easy Introduction to the Fhiloso- jyher's Gold^ addressing the reader) that there is a certain tongue, w^hich is the tongue of mys- teries, called by Ficinus Lingua Magica^ and sometimes Lingua Angelorum ; and, indeed, it is Lingua Ipsius Ternarii Sancti ; for almost all the Hagiography is in it; all the Cabalism of the Hebrews, and, without the ambit of that, there is nothing that is admirable. This tongue is not only absolutely necessary, and wisely fitted to veil nature's secrets from the unworthy and profane, but is also bravely proportioned to the Olympus or the intellectual imaginations of man ;— That Man— who is descended from God, who has in himself a sense of Him, and turns his mind towards him — might, like a generous scholar, be taught by mystic words. — And yet it is not every artist who has attempted this tongue that has a right felicity in the use of it ; nay, in-
190 8WEDENB0R0, [Ch. IX.
deed, not very many out of tlie whole Sacra Coroiia can be sliowji who have offered so nuicli as a Rose to the true Yenus of the language, the sweet and secret Cytheria."
We have all heard of Roger Bacon as a Ma- gician. He was indeed an Alchemist — a Her- metic Philosopher — and wrote many works him- self in the mystic vein of that mysterious class of men, and in one of his works (The Adinirdhle Force of Art and Nature) he has taken such es- pecial pains to prepare his reader for his mystical writing, that it seems wonderful how the subject at least of his treatise should have escaped ob- servation, as it appears to have done. He recites many species of secret writing, and explains, as openly as need be, why they were adopted, ex- pressly telling us that he himself will use some of them. The first part of the Treatise is devoted to purely natural things, designed to show the power of Art, " using nature as an instrument." It is in this work that the monk gives us reason to believe that he was acquainted with the com- position of (gun) powder, and seems to predict the use of steam power, both for propelling ships and railway carriages. He speaks of what we now call the hydraulic press, and of the diving
Ch. IX.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 197
bell ; lie describes the kaleidoscope as if lie had one before him, and foretells the making of " in- struments to fly withal, so that one sitting in the middle of the instrmnent, and turning about an engine by which the wings, being artificially composed, may beat the air after the manner of a flying bird." One object of this Tract appears to have been to defend himself from the accusa- tion of magic, and to give reasons for his own use of secret writing, of which he gives us an ex- ample ; for he says :
" Thus, having produced certain examples, declaring the power of Art and E'ature, to the end that out of those few we might collect many, out of the parts gather the whole, out of particu- lars infer universals, we see how far forth it is altogether needless for us to gape after Magic. whereas l!Tature and Art are sufficient. !N'ow I intend to prosecute every one of the aforesaid things in order, and deliver their causes, and the method of working them particularly. But, first of all, I consider that the secrets of nature con- tained in the skins of goats and sheep [he is speaking of 7nen~\ are not spoken of, lest every man sliould understand them ; as Socrates and Aristotle commandeth. For Aristotle, in his Book of Secrets^ affirmeth, that he is a breaker
108 8WEDENB0RQ, [Cu. IX.
of the celestial seal that maketh tlie secrets of Art and Nature common ; adding, moreover, that many evils betide him that revealeth secrets. And in the book entitled Nodes AtticcB, in the comparing of wise men together, it is reputed a great folly to give an Ass lettuce, when thistles will serve his turn ; and it is written in the book of Stones, that he impaireth the majesty of things who divulgeth mysteries. And they are no longer to be termed secrets, when the multitude is acquainted with them — having regard to the usual division of the multitude, which evermore gainsay the learned. For that which seemeth [appeareth] unto all, is true, as also that which is so judged of by the wise, and men of best ac- count. But that which seemeth only to the many, that is, to the common people, so far forth as it seemeth such, must of necessity be false.
" I speak here of the common sort, in that sense, as they are distinguished from the learned.
" For in the common conceits of the mind, they agree with the learned, but in the proper principles and conclusions of arts and sciences they disagree, employing themselves about mere a/ppearances, and sophistications, and quirks, and quiddities, and such like trash, of which wise men make no account.
Ch. IX.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 199
" In things proper, therefore, and in secrets, the common people do err, and in this respect they are opposite to the learned ; but in common matters they are comprehended under the law of all, and therein do agree with the learned. And as for these common things, they are of small value, and not worthy to be sought after for themselves, but only in respect of their use for things particular and proper.
" ]!!^ow, the cause of this concealment among all wise men, is, the contempt and neglect of the secrets of wisdom by the vulgar sort, who know not how to use those things that are most excel- lent. Or if they do conceive any worthy thing, it is altogether by chance and fortune, and they do exceedingly abuse that their knowledge, to the great damage and hurt of many men, yea, even of whole societies ; so that he is worse than mad that publisheth any secret, unless [by mystical writing, is meant] he conceal it from the multi- tude, and in such wise deliver it that even the studious and learned shall hardly understand it.
" This hath been the course which wise men have observed from the beginning, who by many means have hidden the secrets of wisdom from the common people.
" Some have used characters and verses, and
200 SWEDENBORG, [Ch. IX.
divers other riddles and figurative speeches, as Aristotle witnessed in his book of Seci^ets, where he thus spcaketh : * O Alexander^ I will show thee the greatest Secret in the world : God grant that thou may est keep it close, and bring to pass the intention of the Art of that Stone^ wJdch is no /Stone, and is in every man, and in every place, and at all seasons, and is called the end of all philosophers.^
" And an infinite number of things are found in many books and sciences obscured with such dark speeches, that no man can understand them without a teacher.
" Thirdly, some have hidden their Secrets by their modes of writing; as, namely, by using consonants only : so that no man can read them, unless he knows the signification of the words : — and this is usual among the Jews, Chaldeans, Syrians, and Arabians, yea, and the Grecians too : and, therefore, there is a great concealing with them, but especially with the Jews ; for Aristotle sayeth in the above-named book, that God gave them all manner of wisdom, before there were any philosophers, and all nations bor- rowed the principles of philosophy from them. And thus much wc are plainly taught by Alba- masar in his book named the Larger Introductory,
Ch. IX.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEE. 201
and by other philosophers, and by Josephus in his Eighth Book of Antiquities.
"Fourthly, things are obscured by the ad- mixture of letters of divers kinds ; and thus hath Ethicus the astronomer concealed his wisdom, writing the same with Hebrew, Greek, and Latin letters, all in a row.
"Fifthly, they hide their Secrets, writing them in other letters than are used in their own country, to wit, when they take letters that are in use in foreign nations, and feign them accord- ing to their own pleasures. This is a very great impediment, used by Artephius [an alchemist] in his book of the Secrets of Nature.
"Sixthly, they make certain forms, not of letters, but such as used by diviners and enchant- ers, which according to the diversity of arrange- ment have the power of letters : and these like- wise hath Artephius used in his Science.
"Seventhly, there is a yet more cunning mode of concealment by the help of Art notary : an Art whereby a man may write or note any- thing, as briefly as he will, and as swiftly as he can desire. And in this sort have the Latin au- thors hidden many Secrets.
" I deemed it necessary to touch these tricks of obscurity, because haply myself may be con-
202 8WEDENBORO, [Cn. IX.
strained, through Uio greatness of the secrets whicli I shall handle, to use some of them, so that, at the least, I might lielp thee to my power. I give thee therefore to understand, that njy purpose is orderly to proceed in the exposition of those things, whereof I made mention before ; as, to dissolve the pliiloso'plier^ s cgg^ and search out the jparts of a philosophical man. And this shall serve for a beginning to the rest."
One would think that here is a sufficient warn- ing not to understand literally what follows :
" Take salt (says he, and I will tell the reader that Bacon here, like other Hermetic philoso- phers, is writing of ??iaw, and intends to indicate a method of making him ' the salt of the earth '), — Take salt, and rub it diligently with water — [wash the matter, say all these philosophers] and purify it in other waters ; afterwards by divers contritions^ rub it with salts^ and hum it with sundry assations^ that it may be made a pure EARTH, separated from the other elements — which I esteem worthy of thee for the stature of my length. Understand me if thou art able : for it shall undoubtedly be composed of the elements, and therefore it shall be apart of the stone^ which is no stone^ and is in every man ; which thou shall fmd at all times of the year in his own ^^Zctc^?,"
Ch. IX.] A IIEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 203
&c., &c. But here is enougli. The reader may think more than enough.
I might perhaps have satisfied myself with a simple reference to these writings, but I desired to show decisively the fact, that in former times there existed secret modes of writing, and some- thing of the reasons for them, that the reader may credit me in the assertion of the fact, and be in a better position to understand something of those reasons.
Sandivogius addresses the Courteous Reader as follows :
" Seeing that I may not write more clearly than other philosophers have written, haply thou mayest not be satisfied with my writings ; espe- cially since thou hast so many other books of phi- losophers already in thy hands : but believe me, — I have no need to write books, because I seek neither profit nor vain-glory by them. To con- clude, if you will not be wise and wary by these my writings and admonitions, yet excuse me, who desire to deserve well of thee : I have dealt as faithfully as it was lawful for me, and as becomes a man of a good conscience to do. If you ask who I am, — I am one that can live anywhere. If you know me and desire to show yourselves good and honest men, you shall hold your tongue.
204 8WEDENB0RG, [Ch. IX.
If you know mc not, do not inquire after me. •5f -jv ^ why philosophers, wlien they liave attained to this medicine, have not cared to have their days shortened ; because every philosopher hath the life to come set as clearly before his eyes as thine may be seen in a glass. And if God shall grant thee thy desired end, then thou w41t believe me, and not reveal thyself to the world."
While I feel obliged to declare my opinion, as I have in the foregoing pages, that Sweden- borg was a Hermetic philosopher, I feel equally bound not to place him in the foremost rank among those men. I believe that he had studied the writings of the Hermetic class, and had im- bibed some principles from them ; but I am sure that he did not precisely " lay hold " of the very secret itself. If he had fully possessed the art, he would have written less, and especially he would not have attempted to disclose the hidden sense of the books of Moses, in which attempt he has most assuredly departed from the Hermetic practice, and has placed himself on the footing of Philo and other allegorists.
The Hermetic writers do indeed assert that the letter of the Mosaic books is a veil ; but their
Cn. IX.J A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEE. 205
reference to the first verses of Genesis is rather to illustrate or hintj perhaps I ought to say, the nature of their own doctrine, than to set forth openly a secret sense of those verses. Sweden- borg here mistook their design, and, departing from the genuine Hermetic rule, he undertook a vast work, which would have remained incom- plete, had he lived and labored to this day. I am disposed to say, therefore, that, although Swe- denborg had caught a glimpse of Hermetic doc- trine, and wrote under its influence, he was not, as I must believe, in a condition to breathe the prayer, " Father, I thank thee that thou hast hid- den these things from the wise, and revealed them to babes."
If Swedenborg has justly expounded the True Christian Eeligion, in his work with this title, it is certain that none but the deepest students can penetrate the doctrine, and the general mass of mankind can be but little benefited by the preaching which is to derive its life through or by means of a comprehension of the principles discussed in that work. Swedenborg's doctrine of substance, of discrete and continuous degrees, of time, of space, and even of love itself, will never be generally acknowledged and made
20G 8WEDENB0R0, [Cu. IX.
popular; and therefore, as a fruit of study, can never become generally useful.
Is not this, it may be asked, still less likely to result from the Hermetic writings, which have ah'eady fallen into deserved oblivion ? It may be so ; but there is this to be said of those writ- ings— No one can attain to any doctrine from Hermetic books as a result of direct teaching. The consequence is, that whatever be derived from those w^orks can be said only to manifest the individual character of the student ; hence no one can be said, in any proper sense, to be or to have been injured by that sort of reading. The Hermetic books may be said to have been written purposely as enigmatical as nature itself, and every one who comes to their study brings with him a certain design or intent. Now this, for the time being, expresses the very essence of his life, and will work itself out. If this intent be the truth, the student will not be misled by Hermetic books, for their aim is to throw the student upon the truth itself for a solution of its problems, and they do not aim to furnish a solu- tion which may be carried, folded up, in one's pocket. The result of reading Hermetic writings is not to enable their readers to urge that they say thus and so ; but that (something) ^>, thus
Ch. IX.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 207
and so. But, for the most part, the readers of Swedenborg seem content to know that lie^ the Swedish seer, says thus and so. In other words, a doctrine is received by the Swedenborgians, or at all events by many of them, because " the master has said it." They look to him and not to the author of all truth, and some of them are in danger of forgetting that Christ, while in the body, would not allow even his followers to call him good. " There is none good but one, that is, God."
Still, I desire to bear my testimony in favor of Swedenborg's writings as of immense mstru- mental value. His influences are good, and his followers, so far as I have observed, are amiable, excellent citizens, people to be loved and ad- mired. But they should be on their guard against the error of imagining that Swedenborg understood the doctrine of life better than John, or that there is any positive need of twelve oc- tavo volumes in exposition of only two books of the Pentateuch, Genesis and Exodus.
The doctrine of Christianity cannot need large and learned volumes to expound it. The princi- ple by which it may be understood lies much
208 8WEDENB0RG, [Ch. IX.
nearer home : — " Blessed are the pure in lieart, for they shall see God."
^'Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."
Ch, X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 209
CHAPTEE X.
The multitude of interpretations that different portions of the Sacred Writings have met with might discourage us, if we could not draw from this very variety a reconciling consideration ; for what does it prove but the " many-sidedness " of those Scriptures, and their adaptation to the wants of every condition of life ; while, at the same time, we may be sure that it is not essential for us to rest upon any one interpretation exclu- sively; but, if we will have explanations, or whatever they may be called, we are at full liber- ty to cull them from all quarters upon one single condition, that we domesticate nothing in our hearts except under the law of conscience.
Those who feel the want of an interpretation of Genesis, or of the Pentateuch as a whole, may undoubtedly seek for it wherever it may be found, and accept such portions of different interpreta- tions as may seem just and rational. Thus, many
210 8WEDENBOKO, [Cn. X.
very beautiful interpretations may be found in riiilo, thoui^h his criticisms are evidently a little cramped by a theory in great part manifestly drawn from Plato. Swedenborg also drew from Plato and others, and had a theory to which the Mosaic writings were compelled to submit in passing through his alembic.
It may be that every interpreter, at all ad- vanced beyond the sensuous state, has some theo- ry constantly present in reading mystic writings, or writing's havino^ an indeterminate element in them. The merely didactic mind will perhaps never see in the story of the Garden of Eden any thing but a veritable history ; but the same story, under the examination of a genius a little exer- cised in poetry, appears as a mixture of history and allegory, while many see nothing in the story but the allegory, and consider it idle to imagine that it ever had a historical basis of any sort.
It is the same with nearly every part of the most ancient Scriptures ; with, for example, the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon. AYith perhaps the majority of readers tlie Tem.ple of Solomon, and also the Tabernacle, were mere buildings; very magnificent indeed, but still mere buildings for the worship of God. But some are struck with many portions of the ac-
Ch. X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 211
count of tlieir erection admitting a moral inter- pretation, and while the buildings are allowed to stand (or to have stood, once), visible objects, these interpreters are delighted to meet with in- dications that Moses and Solomon, in building the temples, were wise in the knowledge of God and of man ; from which point it is not difficult to pass on to the moral meaning altogether, and affirm that the building, which was erected with- out " the noise of a hammer, or axe, or any tool of iron " (I Kings 6. 7), was altogether a moral building, a building of God, not made with hands : — in short, many see in the story of Solo- mon's Temple a symbolical representation of Man, as the temple of God, with its Holt of Holies deep seated in the centre of the human heart.
This class of readers or interpreters dismiss all idea of an external building, and study the details of the Temple (or of the Tabernacle) as significant of the nature of Mai^, with its two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, used, perhaps, by every " image " of God in going to and fro in his daily avocations ; and the Hermetic writers might pos- sibly see their sulphur and mercury, as the attri- butes of their sacred Trinity, symbolized in the Tvno CheruUms, from " between " which God, as
212 8WEDENB0R0, [Cn. X.
the Spirit, gave his commands to Moses for tlic Cliildren of Israel ; or, finally, it may come to this, tliat the Temple is Moses liimself, avIioso conscience speaks forth the commands of God, to om- consciences, where they are verified and ac- knowledged. Thou shalt not kill, said the con- science of Moses, seated in the " midst " of the Temple of the Lord, from '' between " the Soul and the Body^ as the two cherubims; — and where is the human heart that does not say, speaking from the same point. Amen ?
To understand the power and authority of this Amen, we need only ask ourselves what au- thority Moses would have in the absence of it ; — or, let us imagine that his commands had vio- lated that oracle of God in the human breast ! It is evident that the authority of Moses does not in the least depend upon the history of the mi- raculous accompaniments at the enunciation of the commandments ; but, contrarily, the reason- ableness of the commandments has supported a belief in the miracles.
From this mode of looking at the subject we may understand why Swedenborg regarded Moses as a Hermetic philosopher ; — writing, as he says, in " correspondences," or, in other words, in Hermetic Symbolism ; for this is the meaning of
Ch, X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 213
tlie Swedisli philosopher, himself a Hermetic writer. Swedenborg tells us again and again that all the ancient wise men wrote in " Corre- s]pondences^\ undoubtedly including Moses, — for the interpretation of whose writings, or two books of them only, he devoted twelve octavo volumes ! Now, this word, "correspondence," can itself have no other meaning than that of Symbolism. It is plain, therefore, that, in the estimation of Swedenborg, Moses was a Hermetic philosopher ; and Swedenborg, having seized as he supposed his point of view, comes forward in modern times as his interpreter, yet without wholly lay- ing off the veil himself. He has, in fact, rather taken up the mantle of Moses, and assumes to speak to us as if " the Lord had been seen of him," — to use his own language.
But does this lessen the authority of Moses ? ]^ot in the least. On the contrary, it may show us the true ground of that authority, when we find it not only in Swedenborg, but in ourselves, and upon this foundation we may be enabled to predict the permanent authority of Moses, whose commandments will live and be respected for- ever ; — and why ? — because they proceeded from the human heart and speak to the human heart.
214 8WEDENU0E0, [On. X.
We believe in Moses, because we believe in our- selves.
To enable the reader to understand these allusions more distinctly, let him study the real import of the following citations from Scripture :
Exodus XXV. 17. — And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold : '^ two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
18. And thou shalt make .jtwo chembims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
19. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end : even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
20. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another ; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
21. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above
* Let us, for a moment, consider this mercy seat to be a hu- man heart, and the gold of which it is to be made is that of which we read in Rev. iil. 18, — " tried in the fire," — said to make us " rich." With all reverence, be it spoken, this is Alchemic gold.
Ch. X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 215
upon the ark ; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
22. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the chil- dren of Israel.
Numbers vii. 89. — And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speak- ing unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims : and he spake unto him.
viii. 1. — And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, &c.
1 Kings vi. 23. — And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cu- bits high.
24. And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub ; from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.
25. And the other cherub was ten cubits:
210 8WEDENB0KQ, [Ch. X.
both the cherubims were of one measure and one size.
26. The height of the one cherub was ten cu- bits, and so was it of the other cherub.
27. And lie set the cherubims within the inner house ; and they stretclied forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of one touch- ed the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall ; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.
2 Kings xix. 15. And Ilezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest hetween the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth ; thou hast made heaven and earth.
Psalm Ixxx. 1. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock : thou that dwellest hetween the cherubims, shine forth.
Psalm xcix. 1. The Lord reigneth ; let the people tremble : he sitteth hetween the cheru- bims ; let the earth be moved.
Isaiah xxxvii. 10. O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest hetween the cherubims, thou
Ch. X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 217
art the God, even thou alone, of all the king- doms of the earth ; thou hast made heaven and earth.
Ezekiel x. 1. Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a Sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
2. And he spake, &c. ^ « *
15. And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. * * *
19. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight * *,
20. This is the living creature that I saw un- der the God of Israel, by the river Chebar ; and I knew that they were the cherubims.
It cannot be thought strange that with such descriptions and allusions as these a symbolic representation should be sup230sed, to the com- parative disregard of the historical elements, though without denying them, and that some men may even yet be living who believe that the Lord, — the eternal, the unchangeable, — still speaks from " between " the cherubims to those 10
218 8WEDENB0RG, [Ch. X.
who enter the temple, aiul penetrate the seat of mercy, their own liearts, unveiled. Ihit further, and still more to this point: —
Exodus xxxiv. 33. And till Moses had done speaking with them [the children of Israel], he put a veil on his face.
3i. But when Moses went in before the Lord, to sj)eak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone : And Moses put a veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
St. Paul's commentary upon this veil is re- markable, and might very well excuse us for supposing it a purely Hermetic veil, and that St. Paul himself thought no otherwise of it.
2 Cm\ iii. 3. Forasmuch as ye are mani- festly declared to be the Epistle of Christ minis- tered to by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
4. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward.
5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to
Ch. X.] A HEEMETIG PHILOSOPHER. 219
think any thing, as of ourselves; but our suf- ficiency is of God.
6. Who also hath made us able ministers of the j^ew Testament ; not of the letter, but of the Spirit ; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth
life.
* * « « *
12. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech :
13. And not as Moses, wJiich put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.
14r. But their minds were blinded ; for unto this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament ; which veil is done away in Christ.
15. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon tlieir heart.
16. ^Nevertheless when it [the heart] shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
17. ITow the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Philo's interpretation of the cherubims is in- admissible, or it needs a further interpretation ; for he says that, " by one of the cherubim is un- derstood tlie extreme outermost circumference
220 SWEDENBOKO, [Cn. X.
of tlie entire heaven, in wliicli the iixed stars celebrate their trnly divine dance," 6cc. : — " the other (he says) is the inner sphere which is con- tained within that jn-evionsly mentioned, whicli God originally divided into two parts : " — refer- ring no doubt to the Gth verse of the 1st ch. of Genesis, or possibly to the 1st v^erse : " In the be- ginning God created the heaven and the earth." But Philo's description would seem to refer to an outer and inner sphere, as if one was con- tained in the other, in whicli case one w^ould be larger than the other ; Avhereas, we read that the cherubims were of " one measure and size."
Swedenborg's idea of mind and body w^ould come nearer to the requisitions of the text ; for, according to him, these may be regarded as the two extremes of the universe, — of matter on the one side, and spirit on the other ; — yet, so an- swering to each other as to be exactly united, as he says, by correspondence / and he further says, that there is nothing in the one wliich is not in the other ; in the midst or '^ between " wliich we may suppose to be the place referred to in the text, which every man carries with him.
The Hermetic Piiilalethe had two certain impressions upon his mind, which he refers to in the following language :
Ch. X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 221
" "When I consider the system or fabric of this world, I find it to be a certain series, a link or chain, which is extended d non gradu ad non gradicni : — From that which is 'beneath all appre- hension, to that which is above all apprehension. That which is beneath all degrees of sense is a certain horrible, inexpressible darkness ; the ma- gicians call it tenehrce adivce, and the effect of it in nature is cold, &c. For darkness is vidtiisfri- goris^ the complexion, body, and matrix of cold, as light is the face^ principle^ and fountain of heat. That which is above all degree of intelli- gence, is a certain infinite inaccessible five or light, Dionjsius calls it caligo divina^ because it is in- visible and incomprehensible. The Jew stjdes it EI^N", that is nihil or nothing^ but in a relative sense, or as the schoolmen express it, quo ad nos. [This nothing is simply no thing, or not a thing.] In plain terms it is deitas nuda sine indumento. The middle substances, or chain between these two, is that which we commonly call nature. Tliis is the scala of the great Chaldee, which doth reach a tartaro ad primum ignem^ from the sub- ternatuTol darkness to the supernatural fire.^^
This, to be sure, throws no light upon the sub- ject, and I only recite it to show how men's minds have labored upon a certain two things.
222 SWEDENBOKO, [Cn. X.
which Moses lias Bhadowed out bj two chcru- bims, equal to each other, whose outer wings touched the extreme outer walls, while their in- ner wings touched each other within the Iwxiae^ from hetweeii which God communed with Moses, and gave him his commands for the people of Is- rael, to wit, the " congregation," who, according to some interpretations, are all of the passions and affections, and indeed. all the capabilities of our nature, the whole of which are actually ruled by the Spirit of God, whether we know it or not. The wise are said to know it ; but the unwise are ignorant of it, and think they possess and enjoy an independent life.
The Masonic Society is said to make great use of the story of the temple of Solomon, as symboli- cal and typical of a temple not made with hands ; but I am not a Mason, and may be supposed not to know any thing on the subject ; and yet Dk. Oli- ver's LandmarTcs of Masonry^ an authorized Ma- sonic work, very plainly shows how the subject is understood by the truly initiated within a lodge. Dr. Oliver gives a very minute account of a cer- tain rehuilding of the temple, which any one may see has no reference whatever to a building of masonry and carpentry.
The second Temple, it appears, must be built
Ch. X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 223
upon the foundations of the first ; which, inter- preted, means that the man of grace must be created from the natural man.
" The foundations of the Temple (says Dr. Oliver) were opened and cleared from the ac- cumulation of rubbish, that a level site might be procured for the commencement of the building. While engaged in excavations for this purpose, THREE fortunate sojourners [?] are said to have discovered our ancient stone of foundation, which had been deposited in the secret crjpt by Wis- dom, Strength, and Beauty [Dr. O. has already told us that these represent the trinity], to pre- vent the communication of ineffable secrets to profane or unworthy persons. The discovery having been communicated to the prince, priest, and prophet of the Jews, the stone was adopted as the chief corner-stone of the re-edified build- ing ; and thus became, in a new and expressive sense, the type of a more excellent dispensation. An avenue was also accidentally discovered, supported by seven pair of pillars [?], perfect and entire, which, from their situation, had escaped the fury of the flames that had consumed the temple, and the desolation of war which had destroyed the city. The secret vault, which had been built by Solomon as a secure depository for
224: SWEDENBORa, [Ch. X.
certain valuable secrets tliat would inevitably have been lost Avitliout some sncli expedient for their preservation, conimnnicated by a subter- ranean avenue witli tlic King's Palace [?] ; but, at the destruction of Jerusalem [?], the entrance having been closed by the rubbish of falling buildings, it had been now discovered by the appearance of a key-stone [?] amongst the foun- dations of the Sanctum Sanctorum," &c.
In reading this account of the rebuilding of the Temple, it is difficult not to think of the three sojourners in the ^' image " of the trinity ; — of the seven virtues, as prudence, temperance, courage, fortitude, hoi)e, faith, and charity, which in them- selves are indestructible, however much they may be disregarded by man ; — of the passage through these to the wisdom crowning life ; and, finally, one may hope that the Icey is not so abso- lutely lost but that it may be found by the faith- ful, the simple, the true.
"While one class of interpreters surrender the historical character of the first verses of Genesis, and another disregard the historical account of the building and rebuilding of the Temple, an- other class of interpreters think it no impiety to go so far as to deny that there ev^er was such a people as the Israelites, and affirm their belief
Ch. X,] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 225
that the whole history is symbolical and typical of the progress of man in the process of regen- eration.
A peculiarly earnest and pious writer, Mr. Thomas Bromley, evidently a man of great learn- ing, published a very extraordinary volume in 1744, entitled — The Way to the Salhath of Best, or the SouVs Progress in the Wo7'h of the New Birth : together with the Journeys of the Chil- dren of Israel^'' &c., in which the whole account of the Exodus is explained as symbolical and typical, the historical character being, not de- nied, indeed, but entirely disregarded : — and this account is given purely in the interest of piety. The wonders at Sinai, the waters of Horeb, the heavenly quails and manna, &c., &c., are all spiritualized, and may thus be said, in some sense, to be naturalized. The story itself is treated as a divine parable or allegory.
The^r^ in the hush is interpreted to be the Spirit of God in Moses — God, in Scripture, being often called a fire ; the waters flow from the stony heart of man, softened by the Spirit of God ; the quails and the manna become heavenly truth, the divine food of the spiritually-awakened man.
The Alchemists, or some of them, symbolize this truth by dew from heaven ; hence the er- 10*
22H 8WEDENB0RG, [Cli. X.
roneoiis opinion prcvailin thought that dew was the universal solvent ! They thought that the Spirit of God was tlie uni- versal solv^ent, and they tell us, in their jargon, to gather dew upon the tops of mountains by spreading clean linen cloths, &c., &c. Their writings fell into the hands of an unbelieving generation, and this age has inherited their mis- understandings.
The story of Robinson Crusoe has been be- lieved true by those who could in nowise believe that dew is the universal solvent ! Yet this class of readers have no difficulty in believing that quails and manna have been rained from heaven ! But the actuality of the history of the transition from Egypt — as the Land of slavery and dark- ness— to the Holy Land flowing wdth milk and honey, the Land of Light and peace, is manifest- ly subordinate to the spiritual sense, and without a spiritual sense would be on a footing with other histories ; whereas, the spiritual sense might re- main in full beauty and power, without a histori- cal basis, and thus free the story from seeming grounds for captious criticism.
This mode of interpretation has one important advantage, which many have seen, and which, in an inquiring age like this, ought by no means
Ch. X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 227
to be overlooked ; and on this point the Sweden- borgians have just reason to commend their sys- tem. It strikes a fatal blow at one of the strong- holds of the literal reading infidel. This system of interpretation may be applied to many parts of Scripture — to the sacrifice of Isaac, for ex- ample.
The literal reading infidel cries out against this story as a dishonor to God, — as imputing to him a violation of one of the purest instincts of life, implanted by God himself in the breast of a loving father. The infidel dwells with exultation upon the horror of imagining, that the infinite Father of all could command a loving parent to butcher his own son, and then burn his remains upon a funeral pyre, as an ofiering to himself.
To tell him that the event was in the control of God, and was not permitted to be consum- mated,— that a substitute was provided, — does not satisfy him. He insists that this explanation only changes a dishonorable tragedy into an equally disreputable farce, absolutely beneath and derogatory to the divine majesty.
If now this story be classed with other sym- bolic or allegoric illustrations of principle and eternal truth, what is the truth it poetically teaches ? It is plainly this : — that there is but
228 8WEDENBORO, [Ch. X.
one object of supreme love for man, and no man is riglit-minded towards God, whose entire affections are centred upon any subordinate being. What now is stronger than the love of a father for a son, — for an only son, — for an only son in his old age ? These conditions are all seized upon in this stor}', and tlie sacrifice of the son is poetically put for that of the love which, it w^as the object of the allegory to show, should be subordinate to the love of God. The literal reading may cheer- fully be surrendered to the infidel, but the eternal truth it teaches will preserve the story as a divine allegory in the admiration of all wise men.
Philo interprets at great length the story of the flood, of the ark, and of the preservation of the "just," as a jDiece of poetic symbolism. Ac- cording to Philo, man is the arh, his sins are the overwhelming flood, from which is saved the principle of truth and good ; — as true to-day as when the story w^as written.
It is plain that he did not consider the story as historical, or, if he did, it is certain that he at- tached no value to it as history.
All such stories are beautiful as allegories, but when their historic truth is not only insisted upon, but, as often happens, is made the chief in- terest, it is calculated to drive away from their
Ch. X.J A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 229
study the more mature intellects, who often thus lose the benefit of ancient wisdom altogether.
As in the parables of the J^ew Testament, so in the allegories of the Old, the truths taught have no need of historical reality for their support.
That which distinguishes the sacred writings from all other books, profane books so called, is not their historical verity, but it is the spiritual truth enclosed in the divine representations con- tained in the sacred volume. The historical char- acter of the entire record, from Genesis to Eeve- lation, may be surrendered without the loss of one "jot or tittle " of the eternal Word, by which it was produced. When Jesus declared that " Heaven and earth shall pass away^ hut Tny words shall not pass away^^ he did not speak of written words ; for, as respects what he said, his words were not then written ; nor did he in a narrow literal sense refer even to his spoken words, but he referred to that eternal truth in God, by whose authority and teaching he represented himself as speaking ; for he said expressly, " My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me ; " and in a great many forms he is represented as repeating this declaration, as if it was an important part of his mission to guard against being misunderstood on this point.
230 SWEDENBORG, [Cll. X.
Those who are accustomed to dwell upon the literal reading of Scripture, are apt to fear that the truth itself is in danger when the literal sense is brought into question ; but this is to mistake the eflect for the cause, and imagine that the Bi- ble is the cause of religion, instead of a product of it. Some, still further removed from the truth, if possible, are of opinion that the preservation of religion depends upon the building and endow- ment of churches, not seeing that the ancient temples and modern churches and mosques have all been produced by what is called the religious sentiment in man, which can never be destroyed but with the destruction of his nature. The exter- nal forms and ceremonies of religion may be per- petuated by synagogues, churches and mosques, but the sentiment or the idea of religion, or what- ever may be the name of the spiritual essence of religion, can never be lost, nor are churches es- sential to its preservation. Our Lord himself compared the Old Testament, or its forms and cer- emonies, to old bottles, by which we are taught to consider that all external appliances for the preservation of eternal truth are forever growing old, and are but the shell, the husks, the outside of religion. To respect these things is the duty of all good men in every country ; but to insist
Ch. X.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 231
upon them as the essentials of religion, is to rouse opposition in a certain class of middle intelli- gences, many of whom fancy it an evidence of high enlightenment to denounce religion as a dream, when they only mean to repudiate the show of religion ; for even infidelity itself cannot destroy the core of religion in the human heart. To be certain of this, it is only necessary to know what it is.
But religion is not the only field for allegory and symbolism. Truly, all the great poems and romances in the world would be worthless if not interpreted by the spirit of life. Dante, Tasso, Ariosto, Milton, — are all allegoric writers. Go- ethe is the great modern master in this art. His Travels of Meister are nothing but sketches of the deepest soul experiences that man can know.
To perceive this, let the reader of Meister di- vine the meaning of the chapters in which the story of Mary and Joseph passes before him, and of the chapter on the Lily-stalk ; — and then fol- low Meister into the prison with impassable walls, and study the design of the author through those mysterious chapters where the hero is so im- pressed by a sense of stillness and silence ; and gather the meaning of the songs introduced, and of the " stran2;e " noise, which " sounded as from
8WEDENB0RG, [Cn. X.
a distance, and yet seemed to be in the house it- self:"— And then, tliere is the New Melusina episode, bcantifully ilhistrating a not uncom- mon course of experience known to men of genius.
The New Melusina (16th chapter in Carlyle's translation) is a symbolic representation of the rise and career of an artistic genius ; — its start from ordinary life (the "cook and landlady"); its joyous elevating power (careering in a car- riage with seemingly inexhaustible " pouches of gold and silver," imagination and fancy) ; its de- cline under the lowering influences of its employ- ment on inferior subjects ; the doubts raised about the wisdom of obeying its impulses, and the reassurances under a decision to employ it under the guidance of reason (improved " by a certain balsam ") ; the incompatibility of its as- sociation with " moroseness and caprice ;" — and then is shadowed out the successive develop- ments of " dwarfs " (imagination) ; " dragons," (animal passions); ''giants," (intellectual pas- sions, ambition, &c.); — and finally the "knights" (reason), the last acquisition in the perfecting line of life. And tlien we see how the author has contrived to " marry " a knight and a dwarf ivom. time to time in the world, as in Shaksj)eare, in
Ch. X.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 233
whom reason and imagination seem to have been in equilibrium. The whole thing is filled with characteristic touches ; — the improvidence of the poetic temperament, commencing a journey with " extra post, and fronting the end on foot ; " — its aversion to industry (" ants ") ; the loss of its, the imagination's, "twin brother" (truth); its oppo- sition to mere mechanical views of life and of na- ture ('^ music-makers"); and its "never doing any thing in the right-handed way." Finally, the imagination sets its subject down where it was taken up, in common life, " with the cook and landladv."
Goethe's Meister, notwithstanding Jeffrey's criticism, is a more profound study than Faust itself, though either of these works hold materials for many a month's study to any one who looks beyond the surface, and who reads for something besides pastime and amusement; — to any one who has learned that life is full of vast realities, which we must face and examine if we would not be crushed by them.
But the reader of such works, and of all sym- bolic works, should be constantly on his guard against fictitious interpretations, and no less against attaching an undue value even to the
234 8WEDENB0RO, [Ch. X.
true unriddling of mysterious writings, for tliey are not all of equal value, and some are of no value at all. Here, in this walk, I know of no art that can supply the want of genuine good Bense.
Ch. XI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 235
CHAPTEE XI.
It will not be out of place to refer here to Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literatm-e, — (translation by Ross, Bohn's Edition).
I find, in this work a multitude of allusions to Hermetic philosophy, in the extracts from Span- ish writings, apparently not recognized by the author, showing that the principal writei-s of the middle ages in Spain, as elsewhere, were more or less imbued with a secret science or art, no doubt greatly m.odified by the particular genius receiv- ing it, and thus appearing in a great variety of forms. I do not pretend that all are of equal value. Many may be worthless, — mere carica- tures and absurdities, not deserving so much as to be named by the side of the Romaunt of the Rose, one of the most perfect examples of Her- metic writing.
I will adduce but one example from Bouter- wek, and will show how the piece is to be inter- preted.
236 8WEDENB0RO, [CiT. XI.
Tlie historian of Spanish Literature thinks it would be unjust to tlie history of Spanish drama- tic poetry during the first lialf of tlie sixteenth century, not to notice two tragedies by Geronimo Bermudez, a Dominican monk of Galicia, wlio published them under the assumed name of An- tonio de Silva. Bouterwek supposes that these two tragedies were founded upon what he calls " the well-known story of the unfortunate Inez de Castro."
The " titles " of the two tragedies he says, " are whimsical and affected : " — though they will not appear so when properly understood. " Tlie one is denominated Nise Lastimosa (the Lamentable jS'ise, the anagram of Inez) ; and the second, Kise Laureada (the glorified Nise) ; and under these titles (says Bouterwek) they are re- printed in the Parnaso Espagiiol, vol. vi."
The very titles of these dramas might induce us to look a little beyond the surface for their signification. Bouterwek, however, seems to see nothing in them except some excellence in a merely literary point of view. He treats them as belonging to the current dramatic literature of the time, and as if they had been actually rep- resented on the stage, though, in my oj^inion, the author never intended them for actual scenic rep-
Ch. XI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 237
resentation, but addressed tliem to a class of readers more common in the Middle Ages tlian is generally supposed, who would distinguish their spiritual significance without asking for or desiring a visible exhibition.
To assist the reader in seeing what I shall urge as the true meaning of these dramas, I will copy entire all that Bouterwek says of them.
" The first of these tragedies (says he) suffi- ciently proves what may be efi'ected by a drama- tist of even moderate talent, when thoroughly penetrated with a poetic subject, and at the same time possessing the power of eloquent expression. The Nise Lastimosa^ it is true, is far from ap- proaching the ideal of tragic perfection; but some of the scenes fulfil all that the theory of the dramatic art can require ; and energy and dignity of expression are not wanting even in those pas- sages where the action is tedious and the incidents ill-connected. The plot is simple, and towards the conclusion its interest declines. But Bermu- dez has introduced, by turns aptly and inaptly, a chorus composed of Coimbran women, which is sometimes interwoven with the action of the drama, and sometimes quite independent of it. The unities of time and place the author has to- tally disregarded. The first act opens with a so-
8WEDENB0R0, [Cii. XI.
liloquy by the Infante Don Pedro, in which the prince deplores his separation from his beloved wife. This soliloquy is succeeded by a long con- versation between the Infante and his secretary, in wliich the latter, with all due courtesy, hints that the attachment of the prince for a lady, not of royal birth, is incompatible with the welfare of the State. The scene then changes, and the chorus of Coimbran women is very absurdly in- troduced to moralize on love. Thus closes the first act. In the second, the scene changes to the court, and exhibits the king amidst his assembled council ; the advice of the ministers prevails over the good disposition of the monarch, and he con- sents to the death of Inez do Castro. A soliloquy by the king follows, in which he offers up his prayers. The scene again changes, and the fair Coimbrans once more appear to moralize on hap- piness. In the third act, however, a new si^irit is infused into the piece, and the chorus partakes in the action. Inez de Castro appears. The women of the chorus form her attendants, and offer her consolation and advice. Inez is inform- ed of the reports that are circulated respecting her fate ; but throughout this act, the progress of the story is nearly suspended. The fourth act may however, be regarded as almost a master-
Ch. XI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 239
piece. Inez, attended by her children, and the chorus, appears before the king to receive her sentence. [N'othing can be more expressive than the dignity with which she demands justice, or more affecting than the tenderness for her chil- dren, which continually breaks forth in her dis- course. At length she pictures to herself in vivid colors the sorrow that awaits her husband, till, exhausted by her feelings, she begins for the first time to think of her own situation, and antici- pating the horrors of death, she swoons, exclaim- ing, Jesus Maria ! This scene exhibits a picture so replete with real pathos, that it may be truly said, modern tragic art has seldom attained so hight a point of perfection. The .fifth act is merely a tedious supplement. The prince is made acquainted with the death of his wife, and he vents his sorrow in long lamentations.
" The tragedy of Nise Laureada is far inferior to that just described. The story is below criti- cism ; and towards the end becomes revolting to feelings not blunted by inquisitorial horrors, or simk to the level of brutality. The Infante Don Pedro, who has now ascended the throne, orders the remains of his judicially murdered wife to be taken from the tomb ; he then, with great so- lemnity, invests the corpse with the dignity of
240 8WEDENBOEO, [Cii. XI.
queen, and the ceremony of the coronation is fol- lowed by a marriage. Two of the counsellors, whose perverted and inhuman patriotism had urged them to sacrifice tlie unhappy Ines, re- ceive sentence of death, and are executed. This is the wliole plot, if so it may be called ; and among the acting and speaking characters, the executioners play a prominent part. The first act contains many beautiful passages ; but when the last judicial ceremonies commence, horror and disgust fill the mind of the reader. The hearts of both culprits are extracted from their bodies, the one through the breast, and the other through the back. The most brutal exclama- tions accompany the execution of the royal sen- tence, and the chorus utters shouts of joy, while the executioner discharges his barbarous task. That these horrors might be regarded as pathetic incidents by the Spaniards of that age, accus- tomed as they were from early childhood to stifle every sentiment of humanity, and to allow fanati- cal exultation to overcome the natural emotions of the heart, whenever a brutal sentence was pronounced by ecclesiastical or royal authority, is, unfortunately, but too probable. Had it not been for this perversion of feeling, a people, otherwise so noble-minded, could not have at-
Ch. XI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 241
tended the cruel festivals of their church, and witnessed the burning of Jews and heretics w4th as much pleasure as the exhibition of a bull fight."
What now do these tragedies signify ? They never could have been intended for representa- tion upon a stage. They shadow out the au- thor's opinion of the fall of man, and of his res- toration : — his fall is represented under a sym- bolic figure, by turning away from the love of truth, the true wife, to the false ; — to a lady not of royal descent; that is, to an object not ap- proved by truth and reason, w^hich is always " incompatible with the welfare of the state ; " that is, for this is the meaning, with the man-, who is the state in this tragedy. In ordinary ianguage, the fall of man is involved in the love of the world, as opposed to the love of God. The truth itself, in the Tragedy, is personified in the queen, and is represented as being put to death at the instigation of certain evil counsel- lors. This is the substance of the first tragedy.
In the second tragedy, which Bouterwek evi- dently considers a mere drama of outward life, placing it below criticism, the author represents the Prince as ascending the throne ; which means that the fallen man, the subject of the drama, has returned to the possession of Eeason, the Sol 11
242 SWEDENBOKG, [Cn. XI.
of the Hermetic writers ; and the lirst thing that decLarcs or evinces it, is the scene by whicli tlie murdered queen, the Truth (the conscience, for tliis is what is signified), is recovered from her tomb, and fully reinstated as the true wife, the true object of love. She is fully reinvested with the dignity of queen, and is crowned ; and, after the coronation, reason and truth are man-ied ; — and this is the true "conjugial" marriage so largely discussed and eulogized by Swedenborg under the names of truth and good; meaning that, in the perfect man, the understanding and tlie will must act as one : — a mere truism, I ad- mit, and yet we see but few examples of it in life.
The false counsellors are then represented as undergoing the punishment of death, for deluding the prince and seducing him from his true love bodies, one through the breast and the other through the back : — and what can this be sup- posed to signify? — why were tliere just two suf- ferers, and no more ; and why was the heart of one extracted through the l)reast and the other through the back ? What can we suppose the meaning of all this to be but that the spirit, in assuming its proper supremacy over the enticing
Ch. XL] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 243
blandishments of the soul and the body, is repre- sented as executing these latter attributes of the one man, distinguishing one of the two by the honor of having its heart extracted through the breast, while the heart of the personified body is drawn forth through the back, as the most igno ble of the two.
This is the interpretation of these two trage- dies, whether it be worth any thing or not. It supposes a theory with regard to man which makes him a triple person of Body, Soul, and Spirit (Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury ; — Sweden- borg's Ens, Cause, and Effect, or "proceeding") ; and while either of the two first have the as- cendency, the true queen of life is deposed and dishonored ; and, in order to a restoration, she must be reinstated with all her dignities. This was the Hermetic opinion of Bermudez, the Dominican Monk, and this was what he intended to teach in these anonymously published trag- edies.
K the reader asks why the poet resorted to a fictitious re]3resentation in teaching so simple a truth, several reasons might be given. Some of the most important truths in the ^vorld are neces- sarily truisms, and ought to be so, as being not denied to the most humble in life ; but they are
244 8WEDENB0RO, [Cn. XI.
not the less neglected on this account, and need to be presented in a great variety of forms to arrest attention and thus secure an important ele- ment in their success. In the case of Bermudez, also, we may easily see that he was endeavoring to teach j^erhaps the most important of all truths, the necessity of a union in the perfect man, of reason and truth, the understanding and will, without appealing to the Church, which, in his age and country, assumed the exclusive control of the consciences of all men, and professed to hold the only authentic chart by which its fol- lowers were to be guided to bliss. But there were many, even in the Church, who did not in- deed teach a different doctrine from that of the Church, but taught it differently, and thought it no prejudice to the truth to put it upon grounds which the Church, in its external and formal character, endeavored to suppress whenever such exhibitions were recognized. The literature of the Middle Ages will never be understood by any one who fails to see that, whenever the truth in those ages attempted to walk abroad, she was compelled to go veiled^ or encounter the most horrid persecution. All genuine literature, dramas, novels, romances, essays, &c., have a higher purpose than amusement; and to read
Ch. XI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 245
books for mere pastime and amusement may be a little, but a very little, better than other dissi- pations. The Preacher no doubt understood how to read even books of amusement, when, in the midst of all of his trials and experiments upon life, he kept his "wisdom" by him, and we should do the same in our reading.
It may be thought that I am extending the field of Hermetic philosophy beyond its proper limits, and using it as a one-idea hobby.
I should be sorry to incur just censure upon this ground, but as I am persuaded that the learned men of the Middle Ages were extensively imbued with that philosophy, and wrote chiefly under its veil^ I cannot but so express myself. I by no means say that the philosophy was equally well understood by all who used the mil. Yery far from it ; and still less would I urge that the mere shadowing out one's opinions in a fiction — a novel, a romance, or a poem, though all of these forms were used by Hermetic writers — would bring an author under this class of writers.
To distinguish the members of this class readi- ly, some study of Hermetic philosophy may be supposed necessary, — and in the books by Her- metic writers themselves ; because it is very dif-
246 8WEDENB0R0, [Cn. XL
ficult to give any intelligible external account of it. It may be emphatically said, that tliere is no *' royal road " to this sort of learning. A mere verbal statement of a theory expressing some- thing of it, would be very unsatisfactory, particu- larly if the writers on the subject are correct when they tell us, that it must first be seen out of books, and then it may be discovered in them. A plain, direct, right-minded man, feeling sure that the truth has nothing to fear, and can have no foe but falsehood, may ask, why make a mys- tery of this thing ; why not speak out plainly ? The only answer I can imagine to this is the one given by the Hermetic writers themselves, that the secret is the mystery of God, and is reserved in the power of God, to be given to whomsoever he will ; and yet they tell us that this will is not arbitrarily exercised, and that the science is a true science ; by which they mean that the will of God is exerted under fixed laws, themselves expressing the very nature of God.
I will take this opportunity to enforce the opinion I have already intimated, that Plato was a Hermetic philosopher, and that he appears in this character in his Republic.
A difference of opinion exists among critics,
Ck. XI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 24:7
as to whether Plato's writings have any other than a surface meaning. Those who perceive no underlying sense must of course be expected to deny its existence ; yet Plato, in his seventh Let- ter, universally admitted to be genuine, has ex- pressly withdrawn one subject from the field of oj)en writing, and gives some reasons for it, say- ing that " a matter of that kind cannot be ex- pressed by words, like other things to be learnt ; " —and further, "But if it had appeared to me that such matters could be written or spoken of Bufiiciently before the masses [meaning the masses of his day], what could have been done by us more beautiful in life than to impart so great a benefit to mankind, and to hring nature to light lefore all f "
Here he tells us openly the subject upon which he has not openly written. He goes on to say that the attempt to promulgate such matters would benefit only a few, who " are able (he says), with a little showing to make discoveries them- selves."
By this passage we may understand that Pla- to's writings are to be regarded as attempts to show us a " little " of sometJiing^ which we are to study out for ourselves ; and this is entirely in accordance with his opinion of the defect of writ-
248 SWEDENBORO, [Ch. XI.
ing, as a channel or instrument of teaching, given towards the end of I^/tadrus^ where he tells us that " writing has this inconvenience, and truly re- sembles painting ; for paintings stand out as if they were alive ; but, if you ask them any ques- tion, they observe a solemn silence : — and so it is with discourses ; you would think that they spoke as though they possessed some wisdom ; but if you ask them about any thing they say, from a desire to understand it, they give only one and the self-same answer. And when it is once writ- ten, every discourse is tossed about everywhere, equally among those w^ho understand it, and among those whom it in no wise concerns, and it knows not to whom it ought to speak, and to whom not. And when it is ill-treated and un- justly reviled, it always needs its father to help it ; for, of itself, it can neither defend nor help it- self."
He then contrasts that teaching of God, writ- ten, as St. Paul said after him, not upon tables of stone, but upon the fleshy tables of the heart : — thus showing us plainly where he sought knowl- edge.
There is a remarkable passage in the Protago- ras, referring to the use of " veils " by the ancient wise men, which, though attributed to Protagoras
Ch. XI.] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 249
himself, we may presume was introduced by Plato, expressly as a caution to his own readers to look beyond the letter, the more especially as we know why the master of Plato was put to death.
The passage in Protagoras is sufficiently strik- ing to justify its citation in proof of the point I aim to establish. Socrates is represented as seek- ing Protagoras for instruction, and, on meeting him, he asks first whether their conversation shall be conducted publicly or in private, to which Protagoras answers :
" You very properly take precautions on my behalf. For a stranger who visits powerful cities, and persuades the most distinguished of the youth to quit the society of others, both kin- dred and not kindred, both old and young, and associate with him, in the expectation of being improved by his society, ought in doing this to be very cautious, for things of this kind are at- tended with no slight jealousies and enmities, and even plots. For my part, I say that the art of a Sophist is ancient, but the men who pro- fessed it in ancient times, fearing the odium at- tached to it, sought to conceal it, and veiled it over, some under the garb of poetry, as Homer, Hesiod, and Simonides ; and others under that of 11*
250 SWEDENBORG, [Cu. XI.
the Mysteries and Prophecies, such as Orpheus and Musseiis, and their followers ; and some I perceive have veiled it under the gymnastic art, as Iccus of Tarentum, and one of the present day "who is a Sophist, inferior to none, Ilerodicus of Selyiiibria, who was originally of Megara. But your own Agathocles, who was a great Sophist, concealed it under the garb of music, as did Pythoclides of Ceos, and many others. All these, as I say, through fear of jealousies em- ployed these arts as veils J^
The readers of Plato, therefore, may be ex- cused for supposing that there is something underneath the surface of his wu-itings, to be dis- covered by study under a suitable preparation, possibly justifying Ajmleius in referring to what he calls " those sublime and divine Platonic doc- trines, understood by very few of the pious, and absolutely unknown to every one of the profane."
Olymjnoclorus also says that "Plato, above all men, is difficult to be understood ; for, like Homer, he may be taken which way you will, eitlier Physically, Ethically, or Theologically." Diogenes Laertius also tells us that " Plato made use of various names to preserve his writings from being thumbed by rude and illiterate readers."
These testimonies, it is true, are not required
Ch. XI.l A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHEK. 251
by tliose wlio see the Hermetic character of Plato's writings. Ou the other hand, they should not be urged as a pretence or excuse for seeking in the mere imagination for a sense to Plato's Dialogues never dreamed of by himself. Let his reader, I would say, keep strictly to the real^ but with the consideration that things unseen may be quite as real as those that are visible, and when truly known may come to be under- stood as the only truly real, all visible things being manifestly shadows ; but they are shadows of something unseen, and the unseen is the prin- cipal subject of Plato's writings. Even the Ti- m?eus is not an exception, and should be read as the conclusion to the Republic, and ought not to be separated from it.
Yery severe criticisms have been made upon Plato on account of many things in the supposed model of a government called the Republic, par- ticularly in regard to the seeming recommenda- tion of a community of women, so highly com- mended in that work. Excuses or apologies have been made by Plato's admirers for admitting into his idea of a Republic a tenet so destructive to civilized life ; but no adequate explanation of a notion so extraordinary is current among reading
252 8WEDENB0RG, [Cii. XL
men, so far as I know. Plato's age has been condemned for both ignorance and corruption of manners by way of apology for this blot upon his writings, but I find nowhere any attempt at an explanation, which nevertheless seems at hand, and may at least change the ground of censure, if nothing more.
This repulsive feature in one of Plato's great- est works calls loudly upon us to remember the caution of St. Augustine, of Origen, of Philo, and others, not to understand literally what ap- pears an abomination in ancient writings. I will venture a suggestion with regard to the object of Plato in the Republic, for the consideration of the more learned and curious on the subject, drawn from Hermetic philosophy, which all the writers say is older than Plato.
The Hermetic philosophers claim to see (me- taphorically, I mean), first, One (thing, which is not a thing) ; then Two, then One again ; then three and one, or one and three : and in these, as principles, they affect to see the infinite di- versities of nature in the particular subject of their philosophy, without going beyond their principles.
The reader may wonder what this has to do with the Republic of Plato ; but I will endeavor
Ch. XI.] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 253
to show something of its application, as hints to be pursued at leisure; for the subject is not studied out in a day.
Call the One esse^ heing, sitbstance^ or by any other name ; but be in no haste to imagine what this One is. Conceive yourself in the cenh-e of it ; imagine no origin to it, and be sure it has no end : — assign no limits to it, and suppose it her- metically sealed so that nothing can pass into it but what belongs to it, and nothing pass out of it unless known to be " superfluous." Then sup- pose two attributes coexistent with and in the One, and call these, under the same reservation as to knowledge, active and passive, to which, however, other names may be given ; yet " they are not two, but one," as the Hermetic writers say : and thus, or by some other more efficacious means, endeavor to comply with the requisition of Plato in the Sophist, and be able to " perceive one idea every way extended through many things, the individuals of which are placed apart from each other; and many ideas, different from each other, externally comprehended under one ; and one idea through many wholes conjoined in one ; and, lastly, many ideas, every way divided apart from each other."
To be able to do this perfectly, Plato consid-
254 8WEDENB0RG, [Cfi. XL
crs the science of a free man. In fewer words, it is to be able to see tlie one in all, and all in one; and this is the claim of Swedenbor^, when lie says that in turning entirely around and looking in every direction he saw the Lord^ the one thing, or one in all ; or, w^hether he calls it the Lord, or God, or Grand-man, or Substance, he says it is all the same.
Now, apart from this mere statement for the present, consider man as, physically and to the natural eye, a double organism in one, having a right side and a left side, each of the same "measure and size," and observe that this double nature extends to every part of his system ; his tongue, as all physiologists know, being double, yet united into one, — as a hint, say some, that we ought to speak the truth.
A fanciful theorist might possibly see in these two " like " things, the cherubims we read of in Exodus, from the midst of which God spake to Moses.
Swedenborg tells us that, to the angels, the Lord is seen through the rigJit eye as a sun^ and through the left eye as a moon. But he only means to suggest the double attributes of the One, whom he calls the Lord.
Let this notion be now carried within man.
Ch. XL] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 255
and let us see there two things, metaphorically called the head and the Jieart / that is, thought and will, or the intellect and the affections ; or, what Swedenborg calls truth and good. And now let us see in these two things the Sol and Luna (the " fixed and unfixed ") of the Hermetic writers, — which they also call masculine and feminine, brother and sister, &c., and think it no sin to marry them together. Call the intellect masculine^ I say, and the affections feminine^ neither of them alone securing the perfection of man ; — for a man may be intellectually able, and yet be an accomplished villain ; and the poet tells us that " mere good nature is a fool." Con- ceive, then, the two to be united and to act as one, that is, in unison ; and call this one both a MAN and a state. This state is under a les^iti- mate monarchy w^hen "reason rules;" but it is subject to an oligarchy, and to other forms of government, and finally, in the descending scale, to an anarchy, when inferior principles usurp the ascendency.
If we suppose a perfect development of all the powers and faculties of man, under the influ- ence of true thoughts and right feelings, working in unison^ we shall have, I think, Plato's perfect republic, in which the feminine principle and its
256 8WEDENB0KG, [Ch. XI.
brood or family of afiections in man are equally free with the so-called masculine principle, and they all share equally in the government and in the burdens of the state, — as represented in the Republic, — there being an entire comity and "community" of all things in the perfect man. But this community is only good in the perfect man ; — in the imperfect man it is evil.
Plato's Republic is not a theory or ideal of a government among men, but the ideal of man in the abstract, whose condition is determined inter- nally by the action and reaction of internal ele- ments under a certain freedom which no external law can reach. In this State all the thoughts and feelings exist in common, or as a " communi- ty," under no restraints or compulsions not de- rived from their internal nature. Under these circumstances, the family of thoughts and feel- ings generated, will represent the character of the State, whether noble or base, elevated or de- praved. If ti'ue thoughts and good affections are united, that is, are married, in the jargon of these writers, and act as one, the man lives on the as- cending side of life and tends towards heaven, that is, towards a knowledge of and a union with the principle of life itself, which is in God only.
Ch. XI.] A HERMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 257
A mere common-place reading of the Eepub- lic will show many passages, no doubt, seemingly incompatible with this view, but a more careful study will bring this explanation within proba- bility. Such books should be read with an al- lowance for a considerable external latitude, but under an internal law of truth that cannot be too strictly applied. The form of all Hermetic writ- ings is always full of variety, and is purposely made so by the writers themselves, but, for rea- sons which have less weight in this age than formerly.
The inhabitants of Plato's Republic are the thoughts and feelings, that is, the internal or spiritual principles of man personified^ the exter- nal form being a Hermetic veil. When wealthy citizens are spoken of in comparison with the 2)oor^ no more is intended than to indicate some disproportion of natural power among the ele- ments within man. Wisdom is often called wealth in Plato ; as in Cratylus, where Hermoge- isTES is represented as being covetous of wealthy but without acquiring it. In this dialogue Her- MOGENEs personates the natural man, incapable of appreciating the knowledge of Cratylus and of Socrates on the nature of things, — which is the subject of that dialogue, under the Hermetic
258 8WEDENB0RO, [Cn. XI.
form of an inqniry into the origin of language. All of tlie critics appear to regard this beautiful dialogue as devoted by Plato to an inquiry into the origin of the Greek language, and no one seems to perceive that this is a mere veil, the ex- ternal form of an inquiry of a totally diflerent character ; and they are all puzzled with the dia- logue, and express astonishment at what they regard as Plato's puerilities and absurdities in regard to the language, whose origin is the pro- fessed object of inquiry. One of the recent translators of Plato, Purges, has even ventured in some places to deny Plato's knowledge of his own language, instead of feeling himself invited, by the absurdities he saw, to look beyond the letter.
Thomas Taylor had good reason for declaring that philology is not philosophy.
But to return to the Kepublic.
Before taking leave of this subject, I desire to suggest, as a study for those who interest them- selves in such questions, that Plato's idea of the perfect man, as indicated in the Pepublic, is sub- stantially tlie same as Swedenborg's idea of the graiid-man^ whom he places in Ileaven, where the Greek philosopher also places his perfect man, — as may be seen towards the close of the 9th
Ch. XL] A HEKMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 259
book of his Treatise ; or, to be mimitely exact, the " pattern," described by Plato as in Heaven, is the pattern of Swedenborg's grand-man ; and the perfect man formed after that pattern is Swe- denborg's angel, or what he calls " heaven in its least form."
Hermetic writers recommend the reading of many, but good books, upon their subject ; be- cause, as they say, "one bookopeneth another ; " in view of which sound advice, I have no hesita- tion in saying that both Plato and Spinoza will very greatly assist in ojpening Swedenborg ; for they are something like fountains to his stream, the color of which will show, however, the Her- metic soil through which it has passed, to those who make themselves acquainted with that soil. This may startle those who are not accustomed to consider ideas under words^ and are unable to find what some of the writers call the centre of this subject. If truth is one, as everybody says, it is theoretically certain that the best philosophers must approach each other in their main principles, and must ultimately occupy the same ground. Hence, students of this subject have placed the great masters, Plato, Zeno, and even Epicurus, nearer to each other than their respective follow- ers, who appeal to their authority, and lose sight
20U 8WEDENBORO, [Ch. XI.
of that essential tiutli wliicli the best philosophers all know is most real, and yet most purely ideal ; for these, in tlie last analysis, are two phases of one thing. Plato points at this one in tlie 6tli book of the Ilcpublic, as something beyond the visible sun (Swedenborg's sun of the natural world, and the Lord, as seen through the " left eye ") ; and beyond the intellectual sun (Sweden- borg's sun of the spiritual world, and the Lord, as seen through the " right eye "). Plato calls it the GOOD, and says "it is not essence, but beyond essence, and is superior to both (suns) in dignity and power ; " and this is the One, called by Swe- denborg the Lord, who is seen " everywhere " in power, but nowhere in essence.
If now any one cries out against this view, and declares that nothing of these similitudes can be found in Plato, either to Swedenborg, or to those who wrote of salt, sulphur, and mercury, in the middle ages, I feel much disposed to say that such a critic would be in danger of seeing no men in a foreign country, because dressed perhaps in a different fashion from what he is familiar with.
That all men have something in common, is only saying that all men are men ; but that wliich ought to be common among philosophers, and should mark them as a class, is necessarily their
Ch. XI.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 261
idea of man, and this must necessarily tend to unity : but, in proportion as it does so, it must more and more be removed from external mani- festations, and must finally be found in Heaven, with Plato's pattern and Swedenborg's grand- man ; where also is to be found the " City of God " of St. Augustine, and no less the " City " of Antoninus, who saw it only in his meditations ; for on earth it is not seen, except by " art," as they say : and yet it is said to be the most real of all things, and may become visible even on earth to the clarified eye.
All good men strive to see this city, and it is the struggle of life to be worthy of it ; for to live in that city is to live in Heaven, and this, inde- pendently of all considerations of time, — if what they tell us of it is true.
For a description of life in this city of the blessed, I would refer to the little poem placed in the preface to my Remarks on Alchemy, — which " may be held a fable ; " but the poet tells us that,
" Who first Made and recited it, hath in that fable Shadow'd a Truth."
Those who doubt the possibility of such a
262 SWKDENBORG, [Cii. XI.
state or condition^ and feci disposed to ridicule the idea of it as fantastical and iinsuited to a world of practical labor and trial, might do well to consider whether such a doubt does not ex- hibit one who lives in the calamitous condition of being ignorant of the true wortb and possibili- ties of his own nature. Here is a theme for earnest eloquence, but I am not a practised w^riter, and strive only to express myself with clearness. I therefore waive a topic that might possibly suffer from my inexperienced and di- dactic pen.
I will merely remark, in concluding this chapter, that Plato's opinions upon government must not be sought in the Rej^ublic, but in the longest, though perhaps not the most studied of all his works, the Laws.
Ch. XII.] A HEEMETIC PHILOSOPHER. 263