Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/198

 thirty years of his life—that of causing the face of the Son of Man to be seen in the clouds of the letter of His Word. To this task he brought certain important qualifications:—

First, inherited reverence for the Scriptures, as the Word of God. Second, intimacy therewith by daily reading and meditation. Third, conviction through philosophic study that all material things are the representatives or correspondents of spiritual things, and that this correspondence is the key to the understanding of Holy Scripture. Fourth, knowledge by experience that truth must be sought for its own sake, with no thought of merit or personal advantage. Fifth, certainty that he was Divinely called to this service and would be Divinely protected and guided in it. Sixth, experience of the enlightenment given to the self-denying seeker of truth for the truth's sake. Seventh, living consciousness of the presence of the Lord in the inner sense of His Word—as described in his last published work:—"To the end that the Lord might be continually present, He has disclosed to me the spiritual sense of His Word, in which Divine truth is in its light, and in this light He is constantly present."