Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/20

 and hence mankind have believed that the Lord will appear to them in person. But it has remained undiscovered to this day, that the Word in its literal sense is meant by the clouds of heaven; and that the spiritual sense of the Word is meant by the power and glory in which also the Lord is to come. . . . Now since the spiritual sense of the Word has been opened to me by the Lord, and it has been granted me to be with angels and spirits in their world as one of themselves, it has been revealed to me that the clouds of heaven signify the Word in its natural sense; and glory, the Word in its spiritual sense and power, the effectual operation of the Lord by the Word."—Ibid., n. 776.

There can be no doubt, then, about Swedenborg's claim—extraordinary though it be, and incredible as it may seem to those who have not examined his writings. He claims to have been called of the Lord in an extraordinary manner, and to have been specially illumined by his Spirit, to make a new revelation;—a revelation, that is, of new and heavenly truth concerning Himself, his Word, the nature of heaven and hell, and the condition of different classes of men in the great Hereafter. He declares that it is the Lord who opened the eyes of his spirit; that it is the Lord who taught him the true meaning of the Word, and what doctrines to promulgate; that the Lord had actually come (agreeably to his promise), to establish a New Church by means of the doctrines which it was given him to receive, understand