Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/191

Rh may be sure of an eternal abode in some one of the mansions prepared for the blessed.

Let such teaching as this be generally accepted and promulgated for Gospel truth (as it really is), and exemplified in the teachers' lives, and the mischievous spirit of sect would soon take its departure as owls and bats fly to their coverts at the rising of the sun. And in its place would come a broad and Christian catholicity, rejoicing the hearts of good men on earth and angels in heaven. Then, instead of antagonistic sects warring against and weakening each other, we should soon have one harmonious and united church,—a church all the more beautiful and perfect on account of its diversity, just as the excellence of a band of music is increased by the variety of instruments, or the beauty of a garden by the variety of its trees and flowers.

One might easily fill a volume with extracts from Swedenborg in confirmation of the above statements. But in lieu of quotations, we will simply refer the reader to Vol. III. of the "Swedenborg Library," pp. 73 to 205, where he will find the amplest justification of all that we have here said,—and teaching that forms a striking contrast, in point of catholicity, to that which has hitherto been offered and accepted in the Christian church.