The economy of the animal kingdom, considered anatomically, physically, and philosophically

발행: 1846년

분량: 540페이지

출처: archive.org

분류: 미분류

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medium. He himself avers, that he Was chosen for this purposeon real ground 8 corresponding to those representative ground Son Whicli fishormen bucam e the sirst discipies of Christianity. I Was Once asked ' says he, in an interesting passage, ho I, a philosopher, became a theologian. Μy reply Uas: In the fame Way that fishermen bocame the discipies and apostles

been a spiritual Hherman. On this, my onquirer asked What I meant by a spiritual fisherman. To Whicli I ansWered, that asisherman, in the spiritual sense of the WOrd, Signifies oneWho rationalty investigates and teaches natural truth S, and terwariis Spiritual trullis. . . . My interrogator then Suid : NONI can understand Why the Lord chose fishermen for discipies; and therofore I do not wonder that he has also chOSen y0u; Sinee, RS FOU ObSerVed, yOu Were DOm early youth a sshermanin a Spiritual sense, or an investigator of natural truths; and the reason that yOu are noW an investigator of spiritual trullis, is, because the lalter are founded upon the former.' 'We have said that SKedent,org demonstraten a conneXionbetWeeii ethius and physios, but it is important to observe that we here allude to Christian morais, and not to the tentative ethies of heathonisin. For SWedent,org's poculiarity in this respect modifies the character of his philosophical Wotas Considered as Osferings to natural theology. What goes at present by that name en deavors to fhoW from nature, that there is a Creator equat to Our imaginings of What a deity Ahould be, and that therelare nature is a creation; the object here being, to convert the atheist into a theist. SKede borg's endeavor is different, or embraces the conversion of the thoisi and deist asvoli as of the atheisi, Whicli Ialter separalely is an inferior though necessary branch of natural theology.) For his is tho God os experieiice; a personal Deity; the Divine Humanity of

apprehensibio qualities of that Divine Maii, the central object of the Christiati faith. In this, as the n Oblest inStanee, We perceive again hoW SWedenborg abjures idealism and olings to experi- ence, and hoW iis inmost and selectest portions are What he

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1irst considers. By consequenco, his natural theology is reni, a Study capable os ad vanoemens, an addition to actuat science. Asthe knowledge of man, Christianity, and nature increnses, this theology, too, may incrense, both in extent of ground and positi veness Os character. Lilie so much that S Wedent, Org has done, it involves the spirat of progress, niWays enlarging and ad Vane- in g, and never termina ted by that circular movement WhichaWaiis ali subjecis draWn even partintly Dom the minit alone. For the knowledge of God and religion, and sor the ultimate validity of the morat laW, SWedenbOrg, RS We haVO SheWn, appealed to revelation; for hoW should ho talio the mid diu ground of nature or heathenism, When both the highest und thelowest eviden ce Was proflared in Christiani ty Τ He Was nos an old philosopher,' nor a modern sceptic. Neither Was he ignorant On the most important os subjecis, for his education hadbeen carefulty religious. Revelation to him Was as nature is,3 et holior than nature. He destred to understand it, even as hedestred to understand the universe, Only that it Was a Worthierand fuller object than the universo. The Word vas the end of Whicli creation is the mentis; the divino human form by, and sor, Whicli, the World Was made. Accordiugly he nccepted it ashe accepted nature; asking 11O OutWard credentials of iis authority, as in his physical investigations he asked no proose of the existenco Of the material creation. He apprehendedilium both as givon facis. Whatevor,'' says he, is proved

by Η0Iy Scripture, is in no need of proof DOm rea Son, homrational philosophy, or Dom geometry : for being proved by the Infinite, it is prouod in ali these Ways qui te sufficiently Vt And

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os nature Were experimental; as also ultimately Was the knowlodgo of the spiritual World, Whicli is the intermediate or intellectual term belWeen God and nature. In nono Of these spheres h ad he undermined his senses. Heuce it Was not incumbentupon him, hoWever the case may be With us, ei ther to restore the externat Worid to iis place by a Weary argument; Orto support the record of Christianity by circumstantiat evidenuo; Or to procure the admission of a hypothetical God by scientificrensoning. For he began With reality, and entered into it deus aud far, While others, tess fortunate, Were tost in Sceptieism,or Wandering in their oWn imaginary creationS. The love os reality in his objects Was the effect of a realityin the euds Whicli ho proposed to himself, and lience those endsWere Concrete aud progressive . In the PrincipiaV ho desipodio attain by rational science to the trullis that in earlier ages Were known intuitively, by reason of the harmony betWeen manand creation; and lo Win bach his Way to the perfection thalman has tost; so that his veneration of the Deity might be co-

etice of nil supereminent things, sublimer than themSelves, as

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more openly Christian, tili ut longili ho abandoned the endeavorto investigato the foui through nature; the spiritual Woridbeing experimentalty revealed to him. His philosophy, likeother philosophies, so far as it Was set Drelying, had falled of

the purpose that iis author intended. The alteration of sphereis the cous de grace to ali that is merely intellectual in his scientific Writings; viewed as a system they crumble before it; although as a record of the trullis Os nature, Whateuer is real in them lives again in an immortal form in the theology of the neWdispensation, Whicli has thus become a revealed science and philosophy not less than a revealed religion.

And thus tho natural and proper philosophy of SWederiburgis in a manner refunded into the theology of the church. Yet though incomplete in iiself, boing so litiked With something

are extended by entering into the body of theology; iis bulli is curtailed and iis earthly mattor diminishod; iis humanity is

paramount Over ali Other elemenis; iis affirmations are tuti id

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more apodictical than besore; iis life and use are immensurablyheightened. It is confirmed by n ΠeW Sphere of existenee, and that, the truest: it is translated into end8, Whicli are no longerabstractions, but humanity in a real Worid Superior to nature;

and so it is intelligibiu to minds for Whom other philosophy

thel ess the disciplino he underwent, and the middie principies Which he gained, enabled him at tength to prosit, res no One et Seli ad done, by spiritual experieuce, and to receive the final trullis implied therein. Τhroughoui, he Workest in a good enit, and besore he could accomplisit it, tot it liud become a better. Hence his philosophy is not only good in iiself, but is noWclearly prophetic of greater things. Αnd as it Was the soro- Tunner of a ne theology, so it contains a littit of the issues that may follos Dom tho influence of that theology upon the

Worid. Therelare it has a relation to the advancement of societyat this hour, and distinctly to Whatever aris and inventions areoutWard Witnesses of the descent of the New Dispensation.

Therelare also, in treating of the body and iis laWs, S Wedenborgspealis in underione of the botter destiuies of humanity. Iustiori, his physius have undent ly sociat bearings, peculiartyrelevant to the human progress Of the nineleenth century.

irrespective of time, and by virtve of the principi e of analogy, is transferable Dom one subject to every Other: and SKedeu-bOrg Was alone Solicitous for iis attalument, knowing that iis applications must be leariit Dom faci, because it is not the bust-

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With a benignity unembittered by censure and undiminished by neglect. His practical labors mere received With applause byliis countrymen, and even procured him someWhat Of n Eurosean reputation. But his assections Were not committed to

none; aud judging Dom the past, it suoms that but sor his theology, his philosophical Wortis might have perished on theshelf Where his immediate contemporaries placen them. But is hu fallen to impress the worid, iis apathy did not assect him. He know the state in Whicli it Was sutili,' and only Worked the

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fame, and his poWer of Watting to be heard, though centurius should elapse bo re the public ear Was disengaged. Not that he Was Supported by complacent vanity, the insane Ling of animaginary kingdom, or With deep pride despi sed the opinion s

dation ; such things are not objects of regard to one Whose miridis boni on truth and truo philosophy; should I, therefore, gain the assent or approbation Os Othors, I shali receive it only asn confirmation Of my having pursved the truth. I have noWish to persuade any one to lay asi de the principies of those illustrious and talented authors Who have adorned the worid, and in place of their principies to adopi mine : for this reasonit is that I have not made mention so much as of One of them,or ovoti hi uted at his Damo, test I should injure his seelings, orsoem to impugn his sentimenis, or to derogate Dorn the pratSewhicli othors bestoW upon him. Is the principies I have ad-vanced have more os truth in them than those Whicli are advo-

millia, multa populorum supervenient: ad illa respice, etiamsi omnibus tecum viventibus Silentium . . . aliqua causaJ indixerit: venient, qui sine Offensa, Sine gratia

judicent. V Ιt is observabie here that he took out the expression livor, wbichmight have been offensive, and supplied iis place with the mild words, aliqua

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cated by others; is they are truly philosophical and accordant

to any one, or place myself in opposition to any one 3' 'And again he observes in the Economy :V Os What consequenco is it to me that I should persuade any one to embraee my opinions ' Let his oWn reason persuade him. I do notundorlahe this Work for the salie of honor or emolument; bothos Whicli I shun rather than seeli, because they disquiet themiud, and because I am content With my lot: but for the salie of the truth, Whicli alone is immortal, and has iis portion in the most perfeci ordor of nature; horice in the series of the onds of the universe Dom the first to the last, or to theglory os God; Whicli eniis He promotes: thus I furely knoWWho it is that must reWard me.' ' Os his sinceri ty in thesedeclarationS, RS We be re remarhed, the repose Whicli pervades his books, and the hearly pursuit of his subject at ali times, boar incontestable Witness. His life,V says Sandet, Was oneof the happiest that ever fuit to the tot of man ;Vt and a prolonged observation of his Writings enabies us thoroughly to bellove it. Because he esteemed opinion and fame at Only their

proper value, und truth as an object far more reat, so When the

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him; and he alWays joylalty exchanged his light for a greater aud purer, even though cherished thoughis had to die daily, asthe condition os passing into the higher illumination.

he to his oWn age or nation, noluithStanding he depended greatly upon the physical knoWledge of his contemporaries, Was Widely read in philosophy also, and made Dee use of Whatever lie found in other Writers that Was true and to the purpose. But his genius

Was more than his materiais; materiem superabat opus.V He

neW motions and rati in systematic orbiis. The naked roclisos science received a quickening climature, and greenuess andiise came upon them. The SeaSOn Was ripe, and the personalconditions fulsilled, and the willing earth yielded her increaseas to the JeWs of old. The acquired goodness of the individualbecame the spring of his genius; and herice he stood relatedio the worid as the creation Os God, and to man as His universalcreature, and Went out Dom the soli that bore him, so that Scandinavia Was his mollier no longer. He became the ex-

ample of a nobier energy thau that Whicli carried the Swodisti Lings over hostile Europe; an energy Whicli sustained him tobear the lamp of humaniging science into the darkest places of the earth, Where the phantoms of superstition terrisy, and obscene atheism fliis a round on subilest pinions. He sheweda fuith in the real God, and in the spiritual existence and interesis of mankiud, to Whicli the pro undest homage of tho North to her mythologic Odin, and her chiela' and warriors fastest belles in the promised Valhalla, are but Weah, shadOWy

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tengili linitting up even the silmy gleams of the intellectual

Aurora into a suu-like lacus Os glorious Splendor.

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