Page:Heaven Revealed.djvu/353

 from the known laws of our mental and moral constitution. And since these laws are all God's own, and as eternal and unchangeable as Himself, therefore any system of pneumatology founded upon them, is founded upon the Rock of Ages, and will endure forever. On the other hand, any system which is not so based, or is not the normal outgrowth from our human nature, however beautiful it may be as a fancy sketch, rests on a sandy foundation, and sooner or later is sure to be rejected.

We have seen all along how intimately the whole economy of the spiritual world as revealed through Swedenborg, links itself with all that is known of man's spiritual and immortal part. We have seen that his disclosures concerning the essential nature of heaven, its form or order, its social arrangements, its employments, the personal appearance of its denizens, etc., are in strict accord both with the revealed laws of the heavenly life and the implanted instincts and potencies of our human nature. We have seen that, through the operation of the heavenly life within, the reported order, beauty and perfection of the heaven without, unfold themselves as naturally and necessarily as the plant unfolds itself from the seed or the flower from the bud under the influence of a vernal sun. And this becomes more apparent and striking the farther we push our inquiries into the abodes of the blessed as unveiled by the Swedish sage.

We come now to consider that trinal distinction of the angelic heavens of which Swedenborg so often speaks, to inquire into the grounds and origin of that distinction, and endeavor to ascertain if it has any solid or