Emanuel Swedenborg: Prophet, Seer, and Revelator

We believe all that God has revealed,

all that He does now reveal,

and we believe that He will yet reveal

many great and important things

pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Joseph Smith

Emanuel Swedenborg was born in Stockholm on 29 January 1688, the third of the nine children of Jesper Svedberg and Sara Behm. Jesper studied at Lund and Uppsala Universities and took a theological degree; and, like his son after him, travelled widely in Europe. He married in 1683 Sara Behm, the daughter of a wealthy mine-owner, and he was successively Court Chaplain, Dean of Uppsala, and, when Emanuel was fourteen, Bishop of Skara. Later the family was ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleonora, and the name changed to Swedenborg. Thus Emanuel grew up in a household deeply concerned with religion. A good illustration of his father’s attitude to life is his statement, “I am convinced that children ought to be called by such names as will awaken in them and remind them of the power of God and of everything that is orderly and righteous. The name of my son Emanuel signifies ‘God with us’ that he may remember God’s presence, and that intimate, holy and mysterious conjunction with our good and gracious God into which we are brought by faith.… God has to this hour been with him, and may He further be with him until he be eternally united with Him in His Kingdom.”

Emanuel continued his education at Uppsala and in 1709, when he was 21, decided that he wanted to travel. His first goal was England in order to improve his knowledge of mathematics and natural history, and where he hoped he might meet Isaac Newton. In London, he acquired books and instruments and settled down to study Newton’s works. His quest for knowledge, and knowledge which could be put to practical use, is illustrated by the fact that throughout his travels he lodged for a time with various craftsmen so that he could learn their trades. Book-binding, watch-making, engraving, making mathematical instruments were among them. He compiled tables showing future eclipses of the sun and moon, and did a study on finding longitude by means of the moon. He also studied astronomy and had a number of discussions with Flamsteed, the astronomer who was Director of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and during a visit to Oxford had sessions with Halley (of ‘comet’ fame). For recreation he read English poets and wrote poems himself.

He started to publish his mathematical inventions and experiments under the title of Daedalus Hyperboreus and included in this was his design for a flying machine. Seemingly as a result of this publication King Charles XII appointed him Extraordinary Assessor of the College of Mines. He won further favour from the King in 1718 when at the siege of Fredrikshall (against the Norwegians who had taken refuge there) he arranged by a system of rollers to transport 2 galleys, 5 large boats and a sloop over mountains and valleys for 17 miles, forcing the fortress to surrender. We thus have a picture of Emanuel Swedenborg at the age of 30, a young man of considerable mental powers, with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to put that knowledge to work for the benefit of his country and mankind. It should be remembered that in the early 18th century it was still possible for a scholar to master the whole of “science” as it was then known.

Swedenborg produced books on chemistry, metallurgy, astronomy, navigation, dock embankments, as well as mastering his actual work of the science of mining. The next twenty years of his life were spent in the study of natural philosophy and the production of the monumental works which represented the development of that philosophy.

His third journey abroad was in pursuit of his studies, in particular physiological and anatomical studies of the human body, and a search for the seat of the soul in the body. These studies led to the publication of Oeconomia Regni Animalis in 1740 and then Regnum Animale, part of a large work much of which was left in manuscript.

All Swedenborg’s works, his scientific, philosophical and his later theological writings, were written in Latin, that being the common language of scholarship in Europe for many centuries. Thus the reading of them was not confined to Sweden but won him great acclaim throughout Europe where he had established his reputation as a scholar and a thinker. In addition he was, when at home in Stockholm, an active member of the House of Nobles, steadfastly supporting what he believed to be right; not merely voting for such measures as might contribute to the welfare of his country, but presenting to the Diet various memoranda. These have been preserved in the Swedish Archives, and illustrate the breadth of his interests and his understanding. There were memoranda on the state of the country’s finances, on encouraging the production of iron, on establishing rolling mills, on the impolicy of declaring war on Russia, on the control of the sale of intoxicating liquors. He also supported a constitution limiting the powers of the monarchy.

At this period, aged 55, and apparently at the height of his fame, honored and held in the greatest esteem throughout the learned world at home and abroad, Swedenborg received a call which meant sacrificing all this, a call to perform an infinitely higher service to the Lord. He described this, in a letter to the Rev. Thomas Hartley, an Anglican priest, in 1769 in the following words: “I have been called to a holy office by the Lord Himself, who most mercifully appeared before me, His servant, in the year 1743; when He opened my sight into the spiritual world, and enabled me to converse with spirits and angels, in which state I have continued up to the present day. From that time I began to print and publish the various secrets that were seen by me or revealed to me about heaven and hell, the state of man after death, the true worship of God, the spiritual sense of the Word, besides many other most important matters conducive to salvation and wisdom. The only reason for my journeys abroad has been the desire of making myself useful, and of making known the secrets that were entrusted to me.…”

From this time, Swedenborg claims, he was prepared by the Lord to receive a revelation through the opening of his spiritual eyes. He recognized that his studies of material science, which must now cease, had been part of his preparation for this new phase of his life. He has left descriptions of the temptations and struggles he had to undergo so that he was left with no self conceit, no glorified opinions of his own knowledge and achievements, and was divested of previously held opinions, so that the Lord could speak through him.

In 1747 he resigned from his position in the Royal College of Mines and the King granted him a pension. The College paid tribute to him, thanking him for the minute care and fidelity with which he had attended to the duties of his office.¹

Thus begins the prophetic career of one of the most remarkable individuals who has ever lived. Swedenborg claimed that the Lord had opened his spiritual eyes into the spirit world on a permanent basis (not as it occurs in a temporary vision for example) so that he could be in constant communion with spirits and angels,² observe at firsthand what take place there, and write about them so that mankind would not remain in ignorance about the nature of the spirit world and the state of life after death. From then on Swedenborg completely abandoned his pursuit of scientific and philosophical subjects, resigned from his job with a pension of half his salary, studied Hebrew, embarked on an intensive study of the Bible, and devoted all his energies to writing on theological subjects.

His first work, Arcana Caelestia (Heavenly Secrets) was published anonymously in London in eight volumes between 1749 and 1756. It is a detailed, verse by verse exposition of the spiritual sense of the first two books of the Bible, Genesis and Exodus. He taught that all scripture contains an inner or spiritual sense which is not obvious from the natural sense of the words, which can only be discerned spiritually. This was followed by numerous other publications and writings, some of which appeared posthumously. They include Worlds in Space,³ in which he teaches that the universe is filled with inhabited planets, which are peopled by perfect human forms just like those on our earth,⁴ and that their spirits in the spirit world can be seen and contacted, and he proceeds to describe some of their inhabitants; Heaven and Hell, in which he describes in detail the heaven and hell of the spirit world, and how people and societies there function and are organized; Divine Love and Wisdom, in which he describes the nature of that divine Spirit which emanates from the Deity, called in the scriptures the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, and which appears in the spirit world as the sun, and gives light and heat to the inhabitants of that world—its light having the effect of wisdom or intelligence, and its heat having the effect of love,⁵ hence the title of the book; The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord, where he discusses the spiritual interpretation of the doctrine of the Godhead; Conjugial Love, where he describes the spiritual nature and origin of true marriage love; Divine Providence, Apocalypse Revealed and True Christian Religion, among many others.

The best introduction to his works is Heaven and Hell. It is also his most popular book, and probably the most entertaining. In this book he describes in detail what happens to man after death, what heaven and hell in the spirit world look like, and how spirits and angels there live, work, and are organized. He teaches that man after death is a spirit in perfect human form, possessing all the faculties and senses that he possessed in the natural world, and lives in a spiritual environment which in every respect resembles the natural environment which he has left behind. The following extract from the table of contents will give the reader some idea of what the book contains:

“There are three heavens; The heavens consist of innumerable societies; Light and heat in heaven; The four quarters in heaven; Time in heaven; The garments with which the angels appear clothed; The dwellings and homes of the angels; Space in heaven; Governments in heaven; Divine worship in heaven; The speech of the angels; Writings in heaven; Little children in heaven; The wise and the simple in heaven; The rich and poor in heaven; Marriages in heaven; The employments of the angels in heaven; The immensity of heaven; Man after death is in a perfect human form; Man in the other world possesses the senses, memory, thought, and affection which he had in the world; Man after death is such as his life has been in the world; No one comes into heaven by an act of unconditional mercy; It is not so difficult to live the life which leads to heaven as is believed.”

Examples of his Writings

The following extracts from Heaven and Hell and others of his writings will give the reader an insight into his teachings:⁶

“There are three heavens, and these perfectly distinct from each other; the inmost or third, the middle or second, and the lowest or first heaven. They follow in order, and are mutually related like the highest part of man, which is called the head, his middle part, or the body, and the lowest, or the feet; and like the upper, middle, and lowest stories of a house. In such order also is the Divine which proceeds and descends from the Lord. Hence, from the necessity of order, heaven is threefold.” (HH 29)

“But to proceed to experience. I have seen a thousand times that angels are human forms, or men. I have spoken with them as man with man, sometimes with one alone, and sometimes with many in company, and I have seen in them nothing different in form from that of man.” (HH 74)

“That the light in the heavens is spiritual, and that this light is Divine Truth, may also be evident from this, that man too has spiritual light, and derives illustration from it so far as he is in intelligence and wisdom from Divine Truth. Man’s spiritual light is the light of his understanding, and the objects of the understanding are truths, which that light arranges analytically into orders, and forms into reasons, and from them draws conclusions in a series. The natural man does not know that it is real light by which the understanding sees such things, because he does not see that light with his eyes, nor perceive it in thought.”⁷ (HH 130)

“Whenever it has been granted me to be in company with angels, I have seen what was around them just as I have seen things in the world, and so plainly that I did not know but that I was in the world, and in a king’s palace. I also spoke with them as man with man.” (HH 174)

“Since angels are men, and live together in society like men on earth, they have garments, houses, and other things of the same kind, but with this difference, that they have all things in greater perfection, because they are in a more perfect state.” (HH 177)

“But it is better to adduce the evidence of experience. Whenever I have spoken with the angels face to face, I have been present with them in their dwellings. Their dwellings are just like the dwellings on earth called houses, but more beautiful. In them are chambers, inner rooms, and bed-chambers, in great numbers; courts also, and around them gardens, shrubberies, and fields. Where they live in societies, their habitations are contiguous one to another, and arranged in the form of a city, with streets, ways, and squares, exactly like the cities on our earth. I have been allowed to walk through them, and to look about on every side, and occasionally to enter the houses. This occurred when I was in a state of full wakefulness, and my interior sight was opened.” (HH 184)

“Divine worship in the heavens is not unlike that on earth as to externals, but it differs as to internals. In the heavens, as on earth, there are doctrines, preachings, and temples. The doctrines agree as to essentials, but are of more interior wisdom in the higher heavens than in the lower. The preachings are according to the doctrines; and as they have houses and palaces, so also they have temples, in which there is preaching.” (HH 221)

“The angels talk together just as men do in the world, and also on various subjects, as on domestic affairs, civil affairs, and those of moral and spiritual life; nor is there any difference, except that they converse more intelligently than men, because more interiorly from thought. It has often been granted me to be in company with them, and to speak with them as friend with friend, and sometimes as stranger with stranger, and since my state then was similar to theirs, I knew no otherwise than that I was speaking with men on earth.” (HH 234)

“They who do not know anything about heaven, and who do not wish to have any other idea of it than as of something purely atmospherical, in which the angels fly about as intellectual minds without the sense of hearing and seeing, cannot think that they have speech and writing, because they place the existence of everything in what is material; when yet the things in heaven are as real as those in the world, and the angels there have all things which are of use for life and for wisdom.” (HH 264)

“The nature of the wisdom of angels may be concluded from this, that they are in the light of heaven; and the light of heaven in its essence is Divine Truth, or Divine Wisdom, and this light enlightens at the same time their internal sight, which is of the mind, and their external sight, which is of the eyes.”⁸ (HH 266)

“Some believe that only children who are born within the Church come into heaven, but not those who are born out of the Church because they say that children within the Church are baptised, and by baptism initiated into the faith of the Church.… Let them know, therefore, that every child, wheresoever he is born, whether within the Church or out of it, whether of pious parents or of wicked parents, is received by the Lord when he dies, and is educated in heaven. He is there taught according to Divine order, and is imbued with affections for good, and by them with knowledges of truth; and afterwards, as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom, he is introduced into heaven, and becomes an angel.” (HH 329)

“As soon as little children are raised from the dead, which takes place immediately after death, they are taken up into heaven, and committed to the care of angels of the female sex, who in the life of the body loved children tenderly, and at the same time loved God.” (HH 332)

“It is proper to observe in advance, that a man may acquire riches and accumulate wealth as far as opportunity is given him, provided that it be not done with craft or fraud; that he may eat and drink delicately, provided that he does not make his life to consist in such things.… In one word, he may live outwardly quite like a man of the world, and these things do not hinder his admission into heaven, provided he thinks interiorly in a becoming manner about God, and deals sincerely and justly with his neighbour.” (HH 358)

“The poor come into heaven, not on account of their poverty, but on account of their life. The life of every one follows him, whether he be rich or poor. There is no peculiar mercy for the one more than for the other; he who has lived well is received, and he who has lived ill is rejected. Besides, poverty seduces and draws men away from heaven as much as wealth.” (HH 364)

“Since heaven is from the human race, the angels of heaven are therefore of both sexes; and since it was ordained from creation that the woman should be for the man, and the man for the woman, and thus that each should be the other’s; and since this love is innate in both, it follows that there are marriages in heaven as well as on earth.…” (HH 366)

“That the spirit of a man, after its separation from the body, is itself a man, and in a similar form, has been proved to me by the daily experience of many years; for I have seen and heard them a thousand times, and have even talked with them on this.…” (HH 456)

“The first state of man after death is like his state in the world, because he is still in like manner in externals. He has therefore a similar face, similar speech, and a similar disposition, thus a similar moral and civil life; so that he knows no other than that he is still in the world, unless he pays attention to the things that he meets with, and to what was said to him by the angels when he was raised up, that he is now a spirit.” (HH 493)

“There are two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. And the spiritual world does not derive anything from the natural world, nor the natural world from the spiritual world. They are quite distinct, communicating only by correspondences, the nature of which has been shown elsewhere in many places.” (DLW 83)

“It has been shown in preceding pages and in the work Heaven and Hell, that the spiritual world and the natural world are alike, with the difference only that each and all things of the spiritual world are spiritual, whereas each and all things of the natural world are natural. Since those two worlds are alike, therefore in both there are atmospheres, waters and earths, which are the general things through and from which each and all things exist with infinite variety.” (DLW 173)

“It should be known that the spiritual world is, in external appearance, wholly like the natural world. Lands, mountains, hills, valleys, plains, fields, lakes, rivers, fountains are to be seen there just as in the natural world, thus all things belonging to the mineral kingdom. There are also to be seen paradises, gardens, groves, woods, and in them trees and shrubs of all kinds along with fruits and seeds. There are also plants, flowers, herbs and grasses, thus all things belonging to the vegetable kingdom. Beasts, birds and fishes of all kinds are to be seen, thus all things belonging to the animal kingdom. Man there is an angel or a spirit. This is premised that it may be known that the universe of the spiritual world is wholly like that of the natural world with this difference only that the things in the spiritual world are not fixed and static like those of the natural world, because there nothing is natural but everything is spiritual.” (DLW 321)

“Anyone ignorant of the mysteries of heaven finds it impossible to believe that anyone can see worlds so remote, and report anything about them learned by experience of the senses. But he should know that the spaces and distances, and therefore movements, to be found in the natural world are in their origin and first cause changes of state in interiors, and it is these which determine the appearance of space and distance for angels and spirits. Passing from one state to another gives them the appearance of passing from one place to another, and from one world to another, even to worlds on the edge of the universe. The same thing can happen to a person’s spirit, while his body still remains fixed in its position. This is what happened to me, since by the Lord’s Divine mercy I was allowed to associate with spirits as a spirit and at the same time with men as a man. Anyone who relies on his senses cannot understand how a person can travel in space, since he is restricted to time and space and measures his movements in those terms.” (WS 125)

“When once a religion is established in a nation the Lord leads that nation according to the precepts and dogmas of its own religion; and He has provided that in every religion there should be precepts similar to those in the Decalogue; as, that God is to be worshipped, His name is not to be profaned, a holy day is to be observed, parents are to be honoured, murder, adultery, and theft are not to be committed, and false witness is not to be spoken. The nation which regards these precepts as Divine and lives according to them as a matter of religion is saved.…”⁹ (DP 254.2)

“I have heard Luther, with whom I have sometimes spoken in the spirit world, execrating faith alone and saying that when he established it he was warned by an angel of the Lord not to do it; but that he thought to himself that if he did not reject good works, separation from the Catholic form of religion would not be effected. Therefore, contrary to the warning, he established that faith.” (DP 258.6)

“From all this no other conclusion can follow than that everything a man thinks and wills flows into him; and since all speech flows from thought, as an effect from its cause, and since all action flows in like manner from the will, it follows that everything a man says and does also flows in, although derivatively, that is, mediately. It cannot be denied that everything a man sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels flows in; why not then what he thinks and wills? Can there be any other difference than that such things as are in the natural world flow into the organs of the external senses or those of the body, while such things as are in the spiritual world flow into the organic substances of the internal senses or those of the mind? Therefore, as the organs of the external senses or those of the body are receptacles of natural objects so the organic substances of the internal senses or those of the mind are receptacles of spiritual objects.” (DP 308.2)

“Hence it is clear that eternal life is also eternal happiness. This state of man is the end of creation; and it is not the Lord’s fault but man’s that only those who enter heaven are in that state.” (DP 324.6)

“To acknowledge God and to refrain from doing evil because it is against God are the two things which make religion to be religion. If one of them is wanting it cannot be called religion, since to acknowledge God and to do evil is a contradiction; so also to do good and yet not acknowledge God, for one is not possible without the other. It has been provided by the Lord that almost everywhere there should be some form of religion, and that in every religion there should be those two principles; and it has also been provided by the Lord that everyone who acknowledges God and refrains from doing evil because it is against God should have a place in heaven.” (DP 326.9)

“It is moreover provided by the Lord that all are saved who die in infancy, no matter where they have been born.” (DP 328.8)

“It needs to be known that after death a person ceases to be a natural man and becomes a spiritual man, but he looks to himself exactly the same, and is so much the same that he is unaware that he is no longer in the natural world. He has the same kind of body, face, speech and senses, because in affection and thought, or in will and intellect, he remains the same. He is in fact not really the same, because he is then spiritual, and so his inner man. But he cannot see the difference, because he is unable to compare his present state with his earlier, natural one, since he has put that off and has put on his other state. I have therefore often heard people say that they are quite unaware of not being in their former world, but for the fact that they can no longer see those whom they left in that world, and they do see those who have departed from it, that is, who have died.” (CL 31)

“Everyone retains his sexual love after death, exactly as it was inwardly; that is, as it was inwardly in his thought and will while in the world. The same is true of conjugial love. Married couples generally meet after death, recognise each other, renew their association and for some time live together. This happens in their first state, while they are concerned with outward matters as in the world. But by stages, as they put off their outward state and enter instead into their inward one, they perceive what their mutual loves and feelings towards each other were like, and whether or not they can live together. If they are able to live together, they remain a married couple. But if not they part, sometimes the husband leaving the wife, sometimes the wife leaving the husband, and sometimes each leaving by mutual agreement. In this case a man is given a suitable wife, and the woman likewise a husband. Married couples enjoy living together in the same way as in the world, but this is more pleasant and blessed. It does not, however, lead to the procreation of children, but their place is taken by spiritual offspring, [i.e.] love and wisdom. This is what happens to those who go to heaven, but not to those who go to hell.” (CL 45)

“I was once wandering through the streets of a large city to look for somewhere to live, and I went into a house, where there lived a couple who were of different religions. Then, though I knew nothing of this, angels spoke to me and said, ‘We cannot stay with you in that house, because the couple there are not in agreement on religion.’ They could tell this from the lack of inward unity between their souls.” (CL 242)

“The Lord says ‘Judge not, so that you will not be condemned’ (Matt. 7:1). This cannot possibly mean a judgement about anyone’s moral or civil life in the world, but a judgement about his spiritual and celestial life. Anyone can see that, if it were forbidden to make judgements about the moral life of those who live with us in the world, society would collapse. How could we have a society without public judgements, or if everyone did not make his own judgement of others? But judgements about the nature of the inner mind or soul, and so the spiritual state, and thus their fate after death, are not permitted, since these are known only to the Lord. Nor does the Lord reveal these to anyone except after his death, so that everyone may be free to act as he does, and thus be the source and seat of good or evil, so making his own life for himself for ever.” (CL 523)

“The works in accordance with which each is to be rewarded are his life, because it is his life which produces them and they are in keeping with it. Since I have been allowed for many years to enjoy the company of angels and to talk with new arrivals from the world, I can vouch for the fact that each person is there tested to see what sort of life he led in the world, and that the life he adopted in the world awaits him to eternity. I have talked with people who lived centuries ago and whose life was known to me from histories, and I recognised that their life was similar to the descriptions I had read. I have been told by angels that a person’s life after death is immutable, because it has been organised in accordance with his love and thus with his works. If any change were made, this would upset the organisation, something that can never happen. Also, a change in the organisation is only possible in the material body, and it cannot be effected in the spiritual body after the rejection of the previous one.”¹⁰ (CL 524.3)

“Everyone’s deeds come forth from the place where his heart dwells. To make this intelligible I shall report a secret. Heaven is divided into countless communities, and so by contraries is hell; and each person’s mind [i.e. spirit] actually lives in a community determined by his will and thus his intellect, and shares the intentions and thoughts of those in it. If his mind is in some community in heaven, then his intentions and thoughts are like those of its members; and if it is in some community of hell, like those of its members. But so long as a person lives in the world, he moves from one community to another, as the affections of his will and so the thoughts of his mind change. But after death his movements are grouped together and this grouping indicates the place for him, in hell if he is wicked, in heaven if good.” (CL 530.1–2)

“Everyone is in his spirit associated with people like himself in the spiritual world, and is so to speak one with them. I have often been allowed to see the spirits of people still alive, some of them in communities of angels there, and others in communities of hell. I have been allowed to talk with them for days, and I was astonished to find that the person, who was still alive in the body, knew nothing at all of it. This experience made it clear that those who deny God are already among the damned, and after death are gathered to their own kind.” (TCR 14.4)

“The man who acknowledges in his belief one God and worships Him in his heart is in the communion of saints on earth, and of angels in the heavens. These are called communions, and they really are, because they are in the one God, and the one God is in them. The same people are also linked with the whole of the heaven of angels, and, I dare assert, with each and every one there.” (TCR 15)

“The human mind, organised as it is according to those three degrees, is a means of receiving Divine influence, but the Divine influence does not penetrate further than the extent to which a person clears the way or opens the door. If he does so up to the highest or celestial degree, then a person truly becomes an image of God, and after his death an angel of the highest heaven. But if he clears the way or opens the door only to the middle or spiritual degree, then although he becomes an image of God it is not to such a pitch of perfection, and after his death he becomes an angel of the middle heaven. But if he clears the way or opens the door only to the lowest or natural degree, then if he acknowledges God and worships Him with true piety, he becomes an image of God in the lowest degree, and after his death becomes an angel of the lowest heaven.”¹¹ (TCR 34.2)

“The reason God is omniscient, that is, perceives, sees, and knows everything is because He is Wisdom itself and Light itself.… He is Light itself because He is the sun of the heaven of angels, which sheds light on the understanding of every angel and every person. For as the eye sees by the light of the natural sun, so the understanding sees by the light of the spiritual sun. It not only sees by that light, but is also filled with intelligence the more it loves to receive that light, since this light is in its essence wisdom.”¹² (TCR 59)

“It is the heat and light of the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which God is, which makes Him present everywhere from first to last in His order. By means of this sun order came into existence, and from it He sends forth heat and light, which penetrate the universe from first to last, and produce the life possessed by every human being and animal, and also the vegetative soul which every plant on earth has. Its heat and light act upon every single thing, and cause each to live and grow in accordance with the order imposed on them from creation.¹³ (TCR 63)

“The power of truth is very clearly to be seen in the spiritual world. An angel who possesses Divine truths from the Lord, even if physically as weak as a child, can still put to rout a crowd of spirits from hell, though they look like the Anakim and Nephilim, that is, like giants, and pursue them down to hell and force them into its caverns; and when they emerge from these they do not dare to approach the angel. Those who possess Divine truths from the Lord behave in that world like lions, though they have no more strength in their bodies than sheep.” (TCR 87.2)

“… a person should prepare himself to receive God; and as he prepares himself, so God enters into him as into His dwelling and home. That preparation is accomplished by acquiring knowledge about God and the spiritual matters which concern the church, thus by means of intelligence and wisdom. For it is a law of order that in so far as a person approaches and comes near to God, which he should do entirely as if of himself, so far does God approach and come near to him, and link [unite] Himself to the person in his midst. It will be shown in the following pages that the Lord advanced in accordance with this order until He reached union with His Father.”¹⁴ (TCR 89)

“In so far as a person’s faith and charity become spiritual, so far is he withdrawn from the self and does not have in view himself, a reward or recompense, but only the delight of perceiving the truths which make up faith and of performing the good actions which make up love. In so far as that spirituality is increased, so far does that delight become blessedness; this is the source of his salvation, which is what is called everlasting life. The state a person is then in can be compared with the loveliest and most beautiful sights in the world; indeed it is compared with these in the Word.” (TCR 361.2)

“A person is nothing but an organ of life. Life together with all it entails flows in from the God of heaven, who is the Lord. There are two faculties which give men life, called the will and the understanding, the will being a receiver for love, the understanding a receiver for wisdom. The will is also thus a receiver for charity and the understanding a receiver for faith. Everything a person wills and everything he understands flow in from outside; the kinds of good which belong to love and charity, and the truths which belong to wisdom and faith come from the Lord; but on the other hand everything opposed to these comes from hell. It has been arranged by the Lord that what flows in from outside is felt by the person in himself as if it belonged to him, so that he can bring it forth from himself as if it were his own, although nothing of it belongs to him. However, it is reckoned as his on account of the free will enjoyed by his faculties of will and thought, and on account of the knowledge of good and truth granted to him, from which he can freely choose whatever is for the benefit of his temporal or everlasting life.” (TCR 362)

“As for hereditary evil the situation is this: Everyone who by his own actions commits sin consequently acquires a certain disposition, and the evil arising from it is implanted in his children and becomes hereditary. Thus what a person inherits from either parent, from his grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and so on back, accordingly multiplies and increases in his descendants, and remains with each one. And with each one it is increased further still by the sins of his own doing. Nor is hereditary evil dispersed and rendered harmless except with people who are being regenerated by the Lord.”¹⁵ (AC 313)

“As regards, in general, the life of souls, that is, of people who have recently died and become spirits, much experience has made it clear to me that when a person enters the next life he is not aware of being in that life. He imagines that he is still in the world, indeed that he is still within his physical body, insomuch that when he is told he is a spirit he is absolutely dumbfounded. He is dumbfounded because, for one thing, he is still in every way a man as regards sensations, desires, and thoughts, and for another, he did not during his lifetime believe in the existence of the spirit, or as is the case with some, that the spirit could possibly be such as his experience now proves.” (AC 320)

“There are three heavens. The first is where good spirits are, the second where angelic spirits are, and the third where angels are. All three groups – spirits, angelic spirits, and angels – divide into celestial and spiritual. The celestial are those who have by means of love received faith from the Lord, as did members of the Most Ancient Church, dealt with already. The spiritual are those who have by means of cognitions of faith received charity from the Lord, and who act from the charity they have received.” (AC 459)

“The angelic state is such that everyone communicates his own blessedness and happiness to others, for in the next life all affections and thoughts are communicated and perceived faultlessly. Each individual therefore communicates his own joy to all others, and so do all to each individual. Consequently each individual is so to speak the focal point of all. This is the heavenly form. The more there are to constitute the Lord’s kingdom therefore, the greater the happiness, for this grows in proportion to the increase in numbers. This is why heavenly happiness is indescribable. Such communication of all with individuals and of individuals with all exists when one loves another more than himself. But if anyone wishes to better himself rather than others, self-love reigns which communicates nothing of itself to others but the idea of self, which is a most foul idea. And when this is perceived that person is instantly separated and expelled.”¹⁶ (AC 549)

“In heaven those who are moved by mutual love are constantly approaching the spring-time of their youth. And the more thousands of years they live the more joyful and happy the spring-time which they are approaching. This process continues for ever, constantly bringing increases in joy and happiness in proportion to the advance and upward progress in mutual love, charity, and faith. Those of the feminine sex who have died worn out with age but who had lived in faith in the Lord, in charity towards the neighbour, and in happy conjugial love with their husbands, as the years pass by come more and more into the first freshness of youth and early womanhood, and into a beauty that excels every idea of beauty which the eye can possibly behold. In fact it is goodness and charity forming and producing a likeness of itself, and causing the joy and beauty of charity to shine out of every individual feature of the face in such a way that these too are forms of charity. When some people have seen these they have been dumbfounded.” (AC 553)

“Perception is not the same as conscience. Celestial people have perception, spiritual people conscience. The Most Ancient Church was celestial whereas the Ancient was spiritual. The Most Ancient Church possessed immediate revelation through direct contact with spirits and angels, and also through visions and dreams from the Lord. These experiences enabled them to know in a general way what good and truth were, and once they knew them in this general way their general or so to speak primary matters of knowledge were confirmed by means of countless details acquired through perceptions.” (AC 597.2)

“Nobody is in any way forbidden to enjoy bodily and sensory pleasures, namely the pleasures of possessing land and wealth; the pleasures of positions of honour and of service to the state; the pleasures of conjugial love, and of love of infants and children; the pleasures of friendship and of social intercourse; the pleasures of the ear – the sweet sounds of music and song; the pleasures of seeing – things of beauty, which are manifold, such as nice clothes, attractive homes together with their furniture, beautiful gardens, and things of a like nature which as they blend together give delight; pleasures of smell – the pleasant odours; pleasures of taste – all the delicious and nourishing qualities of food and drink; and the pleasures of touch. Indeed, as stated, all of these are most external or bodily affections having their origin in interior affections.”¹⁷ (AC 995.2)

“Not only do angels see and form relationships with one another, experiencing as they do so supreme happiness resulting from mutual love; there are also more things which they see in their world than man can ever believe. The world of spirits and the heavens are full of representative phenomena like those seen by the prophets, and so many in number that if a person’s sight were opened to behold them just for a few hours he would inevitably be dumbfounded.” (AC 1521)

“Before my sight was opened I was scarcely able to entertain any different idea than that entertained by others about the countless things to be seen in the next life. I had thought that light and such things as come from it, as well as the objects of the senses, did not exist at all in the next life. This was the result of the delusion under which the learned labour about the immaterial, which they harp on so much in speaking of spirits and everything in their life. In consequence it was impossible to conceive of anything immaterial except as either something too obscure to be grasped by the mind, or as nothing, for that is what immaterial implies. The reality however is altogether the reverse, for unless spirits had organs and angels were made of organic substance, they could neither speak, nor see, nor think.” (AC 1533)

“When a person’s interior sight – the sight of his spirit – is opened, he then sees things in the next life, things that can never be manifested before his bodily eyes. The visions that the prophets had were nothing else. As has been stated, representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, as well as meaningful signs, are to be seen constantly, so much so that nothing ever comes before the eyes of angels that is not a representative or a meaningful sign. This is the origin of representatives and of meaningful signs in the Word, for the Word derives from the Lord through heaven.” (AC 1619)

“It is well known from the Word of the Lord that many in former times spoke to spirits and angels, and that those people heard and saw many things that exist in the next life; but that after those times heaven was so to speak closed, so completely that at the present day there is scarcely any belief in the existence of spirits and angels, let alone in anyone being able to talk to them. For people today suppose that to talk to those who cannot be seen, and to those whose existence they deny in their hearts, is an impossibility. But since in the Lord’s Divine mercy I have been allowed for some years now almost constantly to hold conversations with them and to enjoy their fellowship as one among them, let me now relate what I have been given to know about their speech with one another.” (AC 1634)

“When spirits have spoken to me I have heard and perceived their speech as clearly as that used by man speaking to man. Indeed when I have talked to spirits while I have been in the company of men, I have observed that just as the men’s speech was audible to me so also was that of the spirits, so audible that sometimes the spirits were amazed that their speaking to me was not heard by others; for as far as hearing was concerned no difference at all existed between the speech of the spirits and that of the men. Yet because influx into the internal organs of hearing is not of the same kind as the influx of spoken words among men, those spirits could not be heard by anybody other than myself whose internal organs in the Lord’s Divine mercy have been opened. Human speech is brought in through the ear by an external route, by means of the air, whereas the speech of spirits does not come in through the ear nor by means of the air but by an internal route, into the same organs of the head or brain. The hearing is consequently the same.” (AC 1635)

“As stated already, the speech of spirits with man is effected by means of words, whereas the speech of spirits among themselves is effected by means of ideas – the first origins of words – such as comprise thought. Those ideas however are not so obscure as man’s ideas while he is living in the body, but are distinct and separate, like those that compose speech. Following the decease of the body human thought becomes more distinct and clear, and the ideas comprising thought become discrete and separate, so that they come to serve as distinct speech-forms; for obscurity has been dispelled together with the body, and thus thought, now freed, so to speak, from the shackles by which it was held, and therefore from the shades that enveloped it, becomes more spontaneous. As a consequence, insight into every specific idea, and the perception and utterance of it, become more immediate.” (AC 1757)

“These quotations [Luke 22:40–45; Matt. 26:36–44; Mark 14:33–41] show the nature of the Lord’s temptations – that they were the most frightful of all; that He suffered agony from the inmost parts of His being, even to the sweating of blood; that He was at the time in a state of despair over the end in view and over the outcome; and that He received comfort repeatedly.” (AC 1787.3)

“Within everybody, as stated already, there is the internal man, the rational man, which is in the middle, and the external man.… The internal man is so to speak the door or entrance for the Lord, that is, for celestial and spiritual things that are the Lord’s, to come into a person. What goes on there the individual cannot comprehend since it is entirely above his rational from which he thinks. To this inmost or internal man the rational which appears as the person’s own is subordinate. Into this rational by way of that internal man flow heavenly things of love and faith from the Lord; and by way of this rational they flow on into the facts that belong to the external man. But how these things flowing in are received depends on the individual person’s state.” (AC 1940.2)

“The whole of this chapter [Genesis 17] has dealt with the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and with the conjunction of the Lord with man by means of His Human Essence now made Divine.… In fact the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence in the Lord took place to enable the Divine to be joined to man. But that conjunction of the Divine with man cannot be achieved unless man is purified from those loves [unrighteous desires]. As soon as he is purified from them however the Lord’s Divine Human flows in and in so doing joins man to Himself.” (AC 2102.2)

Predictions of a New Church

Swedenborg also made important predictions about a “new church” which God should soon organize in the world. He taught that the Christian Church which the Lord had established in ancient times had come to its end (“vastated” is the term he often uses), and that God would soon organize a new church in the world which, as prophesied, would become very glorious, and the greatest of all previous churches. Swedenborg himself did not establish a church of his own, although his followers have established a church on the basis of his teachings called the New Church,¹⁸ which they consider to be the church of which he had prophesied. I see him as a forerunner to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the fulfillment of his prophecy came with the organization of God’s true Church on earth through the instrumentality of that prophet. The following extracts are examples of his prophecies concerning the expected organization of this new Church:¹⁹

“It is of the Lord’s Divine providence that the church should first exist among a few, and successively increase among a larger number, because the falsities of the former church must first be removed. For not before can truths be received … It is certain that a new church will arise, which is the New Jerusalem, for it is foretold in the Apocalypse (chap. xxi. xxii.); and it is also certain that the falsities of the former church must first be removed; for these are the subject of the Apocalypse as far as chapter xx.” (A.R. n. 547.)

“This church is the crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on the globe; because it will worship the one visible God, in whom is the invisible God as the soul is in the body. Thus and no otherwise can there be conjunction of God with man; because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally, and conjunction must be in the thought, and so in the affection of his love; and this is effected when man thinks of God as a Man.…

“That this church is to succeed the churches which have existed since the beginning of the world; that it is to endure for ages of ages; and thus is to be the crown of all the churches that have existed before, was prophesied by Daniel: First, when he told and explained to Nobuchadnezzar his dream concerning the four kingdoms – by which are meant the four churches represented by the image seen by him – saying, ‘In their days the God of heaven shall cause to arise a kingdom, which for ages shall not be destroyed; … and it shall … consume all those kingdoms; and it shall stand for ages’ (Dan. ii. 44); and this was to be done by ‘A stone which became a great rock, filling the whole earth’ (ver. 35). By a rock in the Word the Lord as to Divine truth is meant.…

“Moreover the other prophets have, in many places, predicted of this church what its character will be; from which these few passages shall be adduced. In Zechariah: ‘There shall be one day which shall be known to Jehovah, not day nor night, … for about the time of evening there shall be light. In that day living waters shall go forth out of Jerusalem, … and Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Jehovah, and His name one’ (xiv.7–9). In Joel: ‘It shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, … and Jerusalem shall remain to generation and generation’ (iii. 18, 20). In Jeremiah: ‘At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered together, on account of the name Jehovah, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart’ (iii. 17; Rev. xxi. 24, 26). In Isaiah: ‘Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; its stakes shall never be removed, and its cords shall not be broken’ (xxxiii. 20). In these passages by Jerusalem is meant the holy New Jerusalem described in Rev. xxi., which means the New Church. Again in Isaiah: ‘There shall go forth a Rod out Of the stem Of Jesse, … and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs.…’ In Isaiah: ‘For Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.… And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name. And thou shalt be A CROWN OF GLORY AND A ROYAL DIADEM in the hand of thy God.… Jehovah shall delight in thee, and thy land SHALL BE MARRIED. Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him.… And they shall call them, The people of Holiness, The redeemed of Jehovah; and thou shalt be called, A city sought out and not forsaken’ (ixii. 1–4, 11, 12). (T.C.R. n. 787–789.)

“This new and true Christian Church, it is to be proved from the Word of both Testaments, will endure to eternity, and was foreseen from the foundation of the world. It is to be the crown of the four preceding churches, because of its true faith and true charity.” (Cor. p. 70.)

“The destruction of this [the first Christian] church is foretold by the Lord in the Evangelists, and through John in the Apocalypse; which destruction is what is called the last judgement. Not that then heaven and earth are to perish; but that a new church will be raised up in some part of the earth, this [old] church still remaining in its external worship, – as the Jews in theirs; …” (A.C. n. 1850.)

“When the church is fully devastated a New Church will be established, into which they who are of the former church will be invited.” (A.E. n. 948.)

“‘And his wife hath made herself ready.’ This signifies that they who will be of this New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, are to be gathered together, inaugurated, and instructed.” (A. R. n. 813.)

Contradictions with the Doctrines and Teachings of Latter-day Saints

Swedenborg’s teachings, however, do not entirely agree with the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are some contradictions, some of which might be considered to be serious. But I believe there are explanations for these. There are two things that need to be borne in mind when studying Swedenborg: firstly, no prophet has ever had all truth revealed to him; and it is a natural tendency among all men, when they do not understand something, that they try to reach the best conclusion they can about it on the basis of the information that they already possess; and since the information they possess is never complete, the conclusions they reach on the basis of that information are likely to be imperfect, and sometimes even downright erroneous. Secondly, Swedenborg was granted an insight into the spirit world only, and not into the preexistent world, nor the resurrected world; and these different spheres of existence are distinct and separate; and being made conscious of one sphere does not automatically make one aware of any of the others, unless it is by special permission from the Lord.²⁰ The main points of disagreement, or apparent disagreement, between Swedenborg’s teachings and Church doctrine are as follows:

1. The Doctrine of the Godhead.

Swedenborg gives a full treatment of his understanding of the doctrine of the Godhead in a small and fascinating work titled The Doctrine of New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord,²¹ as well as in other major works such as Arcana Caelestia and The True Christian Religion. The doctrine of the Godhead he teaches is supported by the doctrines taught in the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 3:5–10; 15:1–5), and in the Lectures on Faith by Joseph Smith, but contradicts the notion of the three separate deities taught by Joseph Smith. The following quotes are examples of his teachings:

“It was fully shown in The Apocalypse Revealed that the Lord and His Father are one, just as soul and body are one; that God the Father came down from heaven and took upon Himself human form in order to redeem and save mankind, and His human form is what is called the Son who was sent into the world.” ²² (CL 118)

“The three essentials, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, make one in the Lord, as the soul, body and activity do in man. This is plainly demonstrated by the Lord’s saying that the Father and He are one, and that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father; likewise that He and the Holy Spirit are one, since the Holy Spirit is the Divine which proceeds out of the Lord from the Father.…” (TCR 167)

“Can anyone fail to see how the Trinity is in the Lord, if he considers the trinity in any human being? Every person has a soul, a body and activity; likewise the Lord, ‘for in the Lord all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,’ as Paul said (Col. 2:9). Therefore the Trinity in the Lord is Divine, that in men [is] human.… To make one God out of the soul, another out of the body, and a third out of the activity, is no different from making three separate parts out of those three essentials of a single person; and this is dismembering and killing him.” (TCR 169)

“… and [the angels] asked me to say at their dictation that if anyone does not approach the God of heaven and earth Himself, he cannot enter heaven, because it is that one God who makes heaven to be heaven, and that same God is Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah the Lord, the Creator from eternity, the Redeemer in time, and the Regenerator for eternity to come. Thus He is at once Father, Son and Holy Spirit;²³ this is the Gospel to be preached.” (TCR 26.2)

“It is the leading theme of this book that the Divine Trinity is united in the Lord.” (TCR 108)

“… the Lord as regards the Internal Man was Jehovah Himself; and because the Internal Man or Jehovah guided and instructed the External Man – as the Father did the Son – the External Man considered in relation to Jehovah is therefore called the Son of God, but in relation to the mother the Son of Man.” (AC 1733.2)

“Unless faith is implanted in love, that is, unless a person by means of things that belong to faith receives the life of faith, which is charity, conjunction [i.e. union with the Divine] is not possible. This alone is what ‘to follow Him’ implies, namely to be joined to [i.e. united with] the Lord, even as the Lord as regards His Human Essence was joined to Jehovah.”²⁴ (AC 1737. Emphasis added)

“Union [with the Divine] was not accomplished all at once but step by step, that is to say, from earliest childhood through to the last stage of His life in the world, above all by means of temptations and victories. Each temptation and victory brought about union, and to the extent He united Himself with His Internal or Jehovah, thought became more interior, and intellectual truth more united to Divine Good.”²⁵ (AC 1926)

I believe that the doctrine of the Godhead that was revealed to him is true as far as it goes; but he was not made aware of the greater knowledge that was later revealed to Joseph Smith.

2. The Doctrine of the Resurrection.

Swedenborg denies a physical resurrection of the natural body after death. He fully accepts that Jesus Christ was physically resurrected with his natural body, which he has fully glorified and deified, and eternally united with his Divine spirit, and now he exists as a glorified and resurrected being. But he teaches that Jesus was unique in this respect. It does not occur with respect to the rest of mankind; which contradicts both Latter-day Saint and the traditional Christian doctrine of the resurrection:

“Since the Lord’s Human was glorified, that is, made divine, therefore, after death He rose again on the third day with His whole body. This does not happen to any man, for man rises again only as to his spirit, not as to his body.”²⁶

By the “resurrection” he understands the rising of the spirit or soul into the spirit world after death, where a judgment takes place, and thereafter he continues his existence in the spirit world to eternity as a spirit or an angel without expecting a further physical or bodily resurrection. This teaching would appear at first sight to be in flagrant contradiction to one of the most fundamental tenets of Christian religion. However, it finds an unlikely support from a passage in the Book of Mormon:

“Now there are some that have understood that this state of happiness and this state of misery of the soul [in the spirit world] before the resurrection, was a first resurrection. Yea, I admit, it may be termed a resurrection, the rising of the spirit or the soul [into the spirit world after death], and their consignation to happiness and misery, according to the words which have been spoken.” (Alma 40:15. See v. 6–24. Emphasis added)

Notice that Alma says, “I admit,” which means that the doctrine is theologically correct, otherwise there would be nothing to “admit,” but only to reject out of hand. This means that Swedenborg’s understanding of the resurrection is not incorrect. It is, like his doctrine of the Godhead, incomplete.²⁷ It remains a mystery, however, why a knowledge of this important doctrine had not been fully revealed to him; or why he had been allowed to err in such a basic doctrine, and his error was not corrected. This is a mystery that only the Lord can make known to us by revelation.

3. The Preexistence of Spirits.

Swedenborg seems completely oblivious to the preexistent creation, and hence to a preexistence of spirits. He goes so far as to reject that doctrine as being heretical.²⁸ He teaches that the spirit of man is derived from his natural father at the time of conception, similar to his natural body. For some reason best known to the Lord, a knowledge of the preexistence was not revealed to him. That in itself, however, does not invalidate the knowledge that was revealed to him concerning the nature of the spirit world, and the state of life after death.

4. A Personal Devil.

Swedenborg denies the existence of a personal or chief devil, as an angel of light who fell from heaven. By the word “devil” as used in the scriptures he teaches that, in the spiritual sense, is meant the hells in the spirit world into which the spirits of the wicked depart after death, whence they are able to infest mankind with evils and temptations (which is discussed in detail in his book, Heaven and Hell). This aspect of his teaching I believe is correct as far as it goes. He also teaches that individual evil spirits may be called “devils” and “satans.” His lack of knowledge of a personal or chief devil is understandable given his lack of knowledge of a preexistent creation.

5. The Eternity of Matter.

Swedenborg rejects the doctrine of creation out of nothing. But at the same time he is unaware of the doctrine of the eternity of matter. He teaches that God created all things from himself, or from that Spirit which proceeds from him, which he calls Divine Love and Wisdom, and which appears in the spirit world as the sun, and provides light and heat, intelligence and love, and life to all the inhabitants of the spirit world (and indeed to the spirits of men here on earth, although they are not conscious of it). Before rejecting Swedenborg’s doctrine of creation, however, it should be borne in mind that the information provided in modern scripture on the subject is very scant, and raises important philosophical questions which have not yet been addressed. We would need further revelation to make an accurate assessment of Swedenborg’s teachings on creation.²⁹

6. The Spiritual Sense of the Word.

Swedenborg teaches that all scripture has an inner or spiritual sense which is very different from the natural sense of the letter; and that it is in this sense in which it is understood by spirits and angels in the spirit world when the word of God is read by man on the earth. He teaches that once a person leaves the body and enters into the spirit world, he gradually loses any conception of the literal sense of the scriptures, and retains only an understanding of the internal or spiritual sense; and that this internal sense actually exists as the word of God in the spirit world. That internal sense is vastly different from the literal sense, and is not apparent to man on earth as he reads the word of the Lord, unless his inner sight has been opened to enable him to peer into the spirit world, and to associate with spirits and angels as has been granted to him.

“As to what names, territories, nations, and similar things are, nothing at all is known in heaven [spirit world]. There they have no mental picture of such, only of the things meant [representatively] by them. It is by virtue of the internal sense that the Word of the Lord is living. That sense is like the soul, whose body so to speak is the external sense. And just as when someone’s body dies the soul lives on, and when the soul lives on he is no longer aware of the things that belong to the body, so when he arrives among the angels [in the spirit world]³⁰ he is not aware of what the Word is in the sense of the letter but of what it is in its soul.” (AC 1143)

“But, as clearly shown already, the internal sense is such that every single thing has to be understood apart from the letter, abstractedly – as though the letter did not exist; for within the internal sense reside the soul and life of the Word, which are not open to view unless the sense of the letter so to speak vanishes. This is how angels are led by the Lord to perceive the Word when it is being read by man.” (AC 1405)

“The Word of the Lord is like a body that has a living soul within it. The things that belong to the soul are not apparent as long as the mind is fixed on those of the body, so much so that it scarcely believes it possesses a soul, even less that it will be alive after death. But as soon as the mind departs from bodily things, those belonging to the soul and to life show themselves.… The same applies to the Word of the Lord. Its bodily parts are the things that constitute the sense of the letter, and when the mind is fixed on these the internal things are not seen at all. But once the bodily parts so to speak have died, the internal for the first time are brought to view.” (AC 1408.1–2)

“When the Word of the Lord is being read by someone who loves the Word and leads a charitable life … the Lord also sets the Word before the angels. The Lord does so in such beauty and such loveliness, using representatives as well, with incredible variations, each of which accords with the angels’ entire state at the time, that every detail is perceived as if it had life. This life is that which is present within the Word and from which the Word was given birth when it was sent down from heaven. By reason of this, although in the letter it appears rough and imperfect, the Word of the Lord is such that inwardly there are concealed spiritual and celestial things, which are fully visible to good spirits and to angels while it is being read by man.” (AC 1767)

“The internal sense of the Word is such that no attention is paid to the historical details of the literal sense when the universal features are being considered, which exist quite separate or abstracted from the literal sense, for the two are completely different from each other.”³¹ (AC 1222)

The difficulty with his teachings on this subject is that he sometimes goes so far as to deny the reality of the literal sense, such as in the first part of Genesis for example, or of the Second Coming, or the gathering of Israel, which we know from modern revelation (and from history) to be literally true.

Speaking in general terms, the main mistake that he seems to make is that he is so engrossed in, and infatuated with the spiritual realm into which he has been introduced; and considers it so much more real, perfect, and enduring; that he tends to consider the natural realm something too peripheral, fleeting, and insignificant to be of any real consequence by comparison; and not something that is worth “resurrecting.” The same applies to his interpretation of the scriptures. He appears to be so engrossed in the “spiritual sense” which has been made known to him, that he considers the natural sense to be inconsequential by comparison in the eternal scheme of things. This appears to be the primary source of his doctrinal mistakes. As an example, consider the following quote concerning the Last Judgment:

“Few nowadays know what the Last Judgement is. They imagine that it is going to be accompanied by the destruction of the world; and this leads to conjectures that this earth, together with everything else in the visible world, is going to be destroyed by fire. They also conjecture that then for the first time the dead will rise again and appear for judgement, and the evil are to be cast into hell and the good to rise up to heaven. These conjectures are based on the prophetical parts of the Word where references are made to a new heaven and a new earth, and also to a New Jerusalem. Such people do not realise that the prophetical parts of the Word have a meaning altogether different in the internal sense from what appears in the sense of the letter, and that ‘heaven’ is not used to mean heaven, nor ‘the earth’ to mean the earth, but the Lord’s Church in general, and as it exists with each individual in particular.” (AC 2117. Emphasis added.)

Note that he is careful to point out that the interpretation he gives of these scriptures is of the internal sense. That “internal sense” may indeed be true as far as he tells it; but to conclude from this that there cannot exist a literal and physical meaning to these scriptures, in addition to the “internal sense,” which could be equally valid and true at the same time, is not a reasonable assumption. He appears to be so infatuated with the “internal sense” which is revealed to him, that he is unwilling to countenance the existence of a natural or literal meaning besides, which could be equally valid and true at the same time, and which could receive a literal fulfillment according to the sense of the letter. The Book of Mormon redresses the balance in these words:

“And now it came to pass that after I Nephi had read these things [from Isaiah] which were engraven upon the plates of brass, my brethren came unto me and said unto me, What meaneth these things which ye have read? Behold, are they to be understood according to things which are spiritual, which shall come to pass according to the spirit and not the flesh?

“And I Nephi said unto them, Behold, they were manifest unto the prophet by the voice of the Spirit; for by the Spirit are all things made known unto the prophets which shall come upon the children of men according to the flesh.

“Wherefore, the things of which I have read are things pertaining to things both temporal and spiritual.…

“Behold my brethren, I say unto you that these things must shortly come; yea, even blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke must come; and it must needs be upon the face of this earth; and it cometh unto men according to the flesh, if it so be that they will harden their hearts against the Holy One of Israel.…

“And now behold, I Nephi say unto you that all these things must come according to the flesh.” (1 Nephi 22:1–3, 18, 27; emphasis added. See the whole chapter.)

Another good example is the following, in which Swedenborg discuses the internal sense of Genesis 15:18, where the Lord made a covenant with Abraham that he would remember his seed forever:

“Anyone may see that Jehovah never makes a covenant with man, for such would be contrary with the Divine. What is man but something base and filthy, which of itself thinks and does nothing but evil? All the good that he does comes from Jehovah. From this it becomes clear that this covenant, like every other covenant made with Abraham’s descendants, was nothing else than a representative of the Divine and of the heavenly things of the kingdom of God.” (AC 1864)

The scriptural passage discussed in this quote occurs in that part of Genesis which, by his own admission consists of “true history.” Also Swedenborg himself effectively acknowledges this in the quote. But then he proceeds to rule out any literal significance attached to this covenant. He only accepts a spiritual or “internal” meaning, and discounts the literal meaning, which is not a reasonable assumption. The “internal” meaning does not exclude the possibility of the literal meaning; any more than the truth of the literal sense excludes that of the spiritual. Both could be equally valid and true at the same time, without either signification suffering any loss as a consequence.

Swedenborg is very knowledgeable about the Bible. He shows great command of, and extensive acquaintance with the Bible in all his writings. But at the same time he remains strangely silent about certain key scripture passages which conflict with his basic doctrines. For example, the New Testament writers make it abundantly clear that the physical and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ was not meant to be a one-off event applicable to him only, but was to set the pattern for the resurrection of all mankind. John the Revelator for example declares him to be the “first begotten of the dead” (Rev. 1:5); and St. Paul describes him as the “firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20–24). In Acts 26:22–23, he categorically asserts that Jesus was the “first that should rise from the dead,” and that this was foretold by “Moses and the prophets.” Elsewhere he affirms, “he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom. 8:11). To the Philippians he declares, “Who shall change your vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Phillip. 3:21; see further Rom. 6:5; 1 Thes. 4:16). Matthew goes even further, and states that the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ was followed by the bodily resurrection of many saints who had died before Christ: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matt. 27:52–53).

Swedenborg teaches elsewhere that the doctrine of the church should be derived from the “literal sense of the Word”.³² But how can doctrine be derived from the literal sense of the Word if that literal sense is so undervalued and discounted that it can be denied or rejected at whim?

Swedenborg also makes a number of mistakes which pertain to the level of scientific knowledge that was available at that time. Most of these are not serious mistakes, except for one, because it has important implications for his theology; and that is his understanding of the process of conception, and the development of the embryo in the womb.

The sciences of anatomy and physiology had already made considerable advances in his day, and Swedenborg was very knowledgeable about that, as it is well known. But the sciences of genetics and microbiology had not yet been discovered, and the process by which the fertilization of the egg takes place in the womb, and how the embryo subsequently develops was not understood. Swedenborg assumes, in accordance with the state of scientific knowledge at the time, that the seed from the father contains the germ for the soul or spirit, which is then clothed with flesh from the mother. Thus according to Swedenborg, the spirit or soul as well as the body grow together in the womb—the spirit having originated from the father, and the flesh from the mother.³³ Modern science, however, informs us that that is not correct. The sperm carries the genetic blueprint of the father, and the egg that of the mother. During fertilization these two genetic blueprints are paired to form a single cell, which then divides and develops into an embryo. Thus what develops in the womb is only the flesh, not the spirit; and it carries an equal amount of genetic information from both the father as well as the mother. This raises anew the question of where the spirit comes from? Latter-day Saints teach that the spirit of man was created by God in the preexistence before his body was formed in the womb; and that it has had a long and intimate association with the Deity in the pre-mortal state before he was born into mortality here on the earth.

This mistake has another implication for his theology. He teaches that hereditary evils acquired from the mother, because they are implanted in the flesh, can be removed after death; but those inherited from the father, because they are implanted in the spirit, can never be completely removed. They can be neutralized and rendered harmless through the process of “regeneration;” but they can never be totally eradicated.³⁴ Modern scripture does indeed recognize the existence of hereditary evils;³⁵ but both are implanted in the flesh, not in the spirit; and both can be removed through the Atonement of Christ. The spirit of man was pure when created by God in the preexistence; and again it became pure when it entered into the world through the process of natural birth.³⁶ It can be defiled by the evils committed in the flesh; but both can be removed by virtue of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and by the process of repentance and “regeneration” in this world as well as in the next.

Assuming that Swedenborg was indeed a true seer and prophet, as I am persuaded that he was, we must conclude that it was not the will of the Lord that a greater knowledge concerning these things should have been revealed to him at that time than there has been, for reasons that are best known to the Lord. None of this, however, discounts his claim to be a true prophet and an inspired man of God. His extensive and accurate predictions of the Restoration alone are sufficient to qualify him for that.

Speaking through the prophet Nephi in the Book of Mormon the Lord says, “For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.” (See 2 Nephi 29:6–12.) Alma further states: “For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have.” (Alma 29:8.) I believe that Swedenborg is a case in point. He was a true seer and revelator that God raised up among the Christian nations in order to reveal to them “all that [God saw] fit that they should have” at that time. He was a forerunner to the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, and precursor to the restoration of the gospel in the latter days.

The Publication of his Works

Swedenborg’s writings are mostly published by the Swedenborg Society of London, which was established in 1810 with the purpose of translating, publishing, and disseminating the writings of Swedenborg, and which still continues that task with admirable zeal and efficiency. They have an informative website at: www.swedenborg.org.uk. In the United States the same function is performed by the Swedenborg Foundation, which has a website at: www.swedenborg.com.

The newcomer to Swedenborg needs to be warned, however, that a large proportion of his writings, which appear to be voluminous, are very repetitive, and can become rather tedious to read after a while. Swedenborg is at his best when he describes in plain language what he sees, hears, observes, and comprehends in the spirit world, without attempting to reason things out “theologically”. He is at his worst (in my opinion) when he tries to provide detailed theological “proofs” of the principles he discusses. The theological method of reasoning he employs is a metaphysical style, which was current at that time, and which is not a very enlightening mode of communication.³⁷ Nevertheless, to become a Swedenborg scholar it is necessary to read all of his major works, because in all of them he reveals some important truths, even though at times one may have to sift through quite a lot of repetitive material in order to find them.

Books like Heaven and Hell, The Last Judgment, and Worlds in Space are among his best, from the point of view of describing in plain language what he observes in the spirit world, without being needlessly repetitive, or engaging in arcane metaphysical reasoning. His last major work, The True Christian Religion, considered by many to be his greatest theological work; or Conjugial Love, admired by many as a particularly fine theological piece; I personally found to be among the most repetitive of his writings (perhaps because by then I had read too much of him already).

His greatest work in my opinion is his twelve volume Arcana Caelestia, in which he discusses the “internal sense” of Genesis and Exodus. That “internal sense” will no doubt appear to many to be mysterious and incomprehensible; but as he discusses that “internal sense,” he periodically branches off, and discloses some great truths which are most revealing enlightening. This great work is now available in a first class new translation by John Elliott, published by the Swedenborg Society, which is highly recommended; although I personally would have preferred to see the scriptural passages translated more in the style of the KJV.

His best purely theological work, in which he predominantly reasons things out theologically, is probably his Divine Providence. But it is not for the fainthearted. It is taxing on the mind to try to follow it through.

In the case of some of his writings, such as The True Christian Religion, the older translations of his works may at times be preferable, or at least should be read in conjunction with the new translations. This is partly because the older translations tend to translate the biblical passages more in the style of the KJV, with which Latter-day Saints are more familiar, and which for various other reasons I personally consider to be preferable.

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Notes

¹ The above material has been adapted from FGG, Introducing Swedenborg; a four-page broadsheet summary of the life of Swedenborg published by the Swedenborg Society, London, March 1987. Used by permission.

² There is a parallel for this in modern scripture, see Moses 6:35–36.

³ Formerly translated with the title, Earths in the Universe.

⁴ Cf. Moses 1:27–39.

⁵ Cf. D&C 88:7–13.

⁶ The following abbreviations are used in these quotes: HH = Heaven and Hell; DLW = Divine Love and Wisdom; WS = Worlds in Space; DP = Divine Providence; CL = Conjugial Love; TCR = True Christian Religion; AC = Arcana Caelestia. Quotes from Heaven and Hell are given from the rexine (1933 repr. 1937) edition. The rest are from the latest translations. All publications are by the Swedenborg Society.

⁷ Cf. D&C 88:11, 50.

⁸ Cf. D&C 88:11.

⁹ Cf. Joseph Fielding Smith, Comp., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith [1938, reprint Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976], pp. 218, 221.

¹⁰ Cf. Alma 34:32–33; D&C 137:9.

¹¹ Cf. D&C 88:28–31.

¹² Cf. D&C 50:24; 88:11–12.

¹³ Cf. D&C 88:6–13; Moses 6:61.

¹⁴ Cf. D&C 88:62–65, 67–69; 93:11–20; 131:6; Lectures on Faith 7:18–19.

¹⁵ Cf. Moses 6:55.

¹⁶ Cf. D&C 82:19.

¹⁷ Cf. D&C 59:16–21.

¹⁸ Sometimes also called the Church of the New Jerusalem, or just the Swedenborgian Church.

¹⁹ These extracts are quoted from Rev. Samuel M. Warren, A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg [London: Swedenborg Society Inc., repr. 1939], pp. 408, 411–414. The following abbreviations are used by the author in these quotes: A.R. = Apocalypse Revealed; T.C.R. = True Christian Religion; Cor. = Coronis; A.C. = Arcana Caelestia; A.E. = Apocalypse Explained. n. = Paragraph numbers. All italics and small caps are as in the original.

²⁰ One possible reason why he had not been introduced into the other spheres of existence is that if he had been, his mind could not have been kept in concentration on the spirit world, and the doctrines arising from it, which is what the Lord wanted him to disclose and write about.

²¹ Published by the Swedenborg Society as a small booklet, or as part of a larger compilation with three other small works of similar type titled the Four Doctrines.

²² Cf. Mosiah 3:5, 8; 15:1–5.

²³ Cf. Mosiah 15:1–5; 3 Nephi 1:14; D&C 93:2–4,14; JST Luke 10:23 (c.f. Luke 10:22). See also Mosiah 16:15; Alma 11:44; Mormon 9:12; Ether 3:14.

²⁴ Cf. Lectures on Faith, 5.3.

²⁵ Cf. D&C 93:12–14.

²⁶ The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord, 35.9.

²⁷ This doctrine is also implicitly taught in the Lord’s reply to the Sadducees, as recorded in Matthew 22:31–32; Luke 20:37–38. The implied doctrine here is that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are “resurrected” beings because they are already “alive unto God” (i.e. as spirits in the spirit world, not with physical bodies).

²⁸ WS 149; TCR 171.2.

²⁹ The doctrine of the eternity of matter in the theology of Latter-day Saints is derived from a single expression in modern revelation: “The elements are eternal” (D&C 93:33). This raises more questions than it answers. If by the “elements” is meant the elements in the Periodic Table, we know that these elements are not simple; that is to say, they are themselves made up of constituent parts, and it is possible to convert one elements into another by altering its composition. We can, for example, combine four hydrogen atoms to form one helium atom. This is what happens in a hydrogen bomb. It is also possible to split the nuclei of larger atoms to form lighter elements. This is what happens in an atomic bomb. It is even possible to create new elements which do not naturally occur, by bombarding atoms with heavy particles in a particle accelerator. Therefore if anything is “eternal,” it cannot be the individual “elements” themselves, but the building blocks out of which all elements are constructed, which are electrons, protons, and neutrons. But the puzzle doesn’t end there. We know that these in turn are constructed out of even smaller sub-atomic particles held together by forces the nature of which are not yet fully understood.

Furthermore, modern scripture informs us that the laws of nature, such as gravity which holds the planets in orbit around the sun, and the electromagnetic force which holds the electrons in orbit around atomic nuclei, and the less well-understood forces which hold the sub-atomic particles together, are all determined by that same Spirit which proceeds from the Deity, or the Holy Spirit. It is “the law by which all things are governed” (D&C 88:9, 13). That means that if those laws were cancelled or suspended, the various atomic and sub-atomic particles which constitute the building blocks of all matter would fly apart, and reduce to their lowest forms which, if modern science is to be believed is pure energy. So what exactly is “matter,” and what are the “elements;” and how can pure energy exist without a receptacle in which it could be held? See also D&C 76:24, which, referring to Jesus Christ, states that the worlds were created “by him, and through him, and of him.”

A similar philosophical difficulty arises with regard to the doctrine of the eternity of spirits and intelligences taught by Joseph Smith and in modern scripture.

³⁰ Swedenborg’s definitions of “angel” and “heaven” are a bit different from how Latter-day Saints understand those terms. By “angel” he means angelic spirits in the spirit world, not resurrected beings; and by “heaven” he means the heaven (paradise) of the spirit world, not of the resurrected realm.

³¹ Cf. Quote from Joseph Smith in endnote 5, in the article: “A Reappraisal of the Doctrine of the Godhead Based on the Lectures on Faith”.

³² The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Sacred Scriptures, 50–61.

³³ DP 277.3; TCR 82.3, 92.1, 521.

³⁴ AC 1414, 1444.

³⁵ This has not been correctly understood by Latter-day Saints; see Moses 6:55.

³⁶ See D&C 93:38.

³⁷ This method of theological reasoning is inherently an unreliable technique for arriving at the knowledge of the truth, and it is a good thing that it has now gone out of fashion. We are indebted to the German philosopher Immanuel Kant for finally dismantling, discrediting, and putting an end to this Medieval style of theological reasoning which aims, by human reason alone, to arrive at the knowledge of the spiritual, the supernatural, and the divine; the metaphysical and the transcendent. His contemporaries, however, found his theological reasonings more appealing than his eyewitness accounts of experiences in the spirit world. When they complained that his Arcana Cælestia would have appeared more reasonable if he had left out his descriptive accounts of events in the spirit world, he replied that he had included them by the specific commandment of the Lord.