Page:Heaven Revealed.djvu/169

 This, we are aware, has an odd sound to the ears of most people when they hear it for the first time. Perhaps there are few things in the seer's writings which appear more arbitrary or fanciful—or, to some minds, more ridiculous. It is usually one of the first things which an opponent of his teachings seizes upon and flouts. It is often referred to as sufficient evidence in itself of the wild and fantastic character of his teachings. Thus the Rev. Dr. Pond, in his "Swedenborgianism Reviewed," after devoting two or three pages to a statement of the doctrine, adds,—

"To my own apprehension, the whole account is supremely ridiculous; being destitute alike of sense and decency, and worthy only of contempt."—p. 196.

Let us see, then, if the doctrine be either ridiculous or unreasonable. But first let us endeavor to learn what the author meant that we should understand by the expression. Maximus Homo.

When Swedenborg says that heaven is in the human form, he uses the word form in the sense in which we use it when speaking of civil, social, or ecclesiastical affairs. We speak of a form of government; but when such expression is used, no one thinks of any visible shape, but of the nature and adjustment of the various parts composing the government. A person who reads and understands the organic law of the state, sees therein its form of government. We speak, also, of the form of society in a particular age or nation; and by this is meant the nature and relation of its several parts—the nature and arrangement of its social, industrial, commercial, edu-