. . . AND A NEW EARTH

     When Swedenborg had completed the draft of the True Christian Religion, which-in inner fact-was "the Universal Theology of the New Heaven" as well as of the New Church, this accomplishment fulfilled the vision of John in which the Holy City descended to be established among men and to make all things new.  The Lords work of revealing the Truth, performing His judgment in the world of spirits, and forming and instructing the New Heaven, had been completed.  And now man's work - man's part in the work of the Church - began.

     This is the significant thing about the sending out of the Twelve Apostles on the nineteenth day of June 1770. (T. C. R. 791.)  They were to go out to their assigned provinces of the spiritual world, go out as ordained messengers, as ministers, to preach the Gospel of the New Advent, and invite the spirits of men to enter into a new covenant with the Lord.  We picture them as visiting societies of spirits who were in the affection of spiritual truths, and - by their teaching - elevating their minds to see spiritually and to think spiritually; visiting societies of receptive Christians, of gentiles - even from other planets - wherever Providence had prepared a way.

     The Lord, by His Divine judgment and His redemption, established the new heavens.  But He ordained angels and men to cooperate in the work of preparing the earth to receive the descending Holy City of Truth.  John writes: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth."  This expression - "a new earth" - means, of course, "a new Church" but this New Church is in both worlds, because it is in the natural minds of regenerate men and spirits.  This composite natural mind upon which the new heaven is to rest is a new earth, - a new foundation.  And it is formed by the Lord only with the cooperation of human labor, human responsibility, uses humanly undertaken.  "The heavens, the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth hath He given to the children of men." (Psalm 115: 16)  It is the beginning of this work of making the earth new, which commenced when the Apostles went forth in 1770, and is continued on earth particularly through the priesthood and the organized New Church.

     Let us forget the sorry Present!  Let us wipe Time out of our thoughts, and view some outlines of that new earth of the Future!  No matter whether this may come tomorrow, or be a thousand Years away, surely we can at least vision some contours of the world of the natural mind such as it might be if it became responsive to the Heavenly Doctrine and molded to its patterns!

     I can see in the Future a society which is no longer carried away by the illusions that heaven-on-earth comes by external legislation or by technological triumphs and inventions that eliminate the discomforts of the body.  I see a society of men who recognize that individual repentance is the necessary prelude to happiness, and that love to the neighbor cannot be divorced from love to the Lord.  I see, not a society without evil, but one wherein evil is frankly faced; a society which is not lost in the clouds of self-conscious spirituality, and despises the ordinary tasks of external necessity and prudence; but one in which uses are performed with zest as a ritual of joyful service; where envy is not the motive, but where there is still present a wholesome rivalry in doing one's best and bravest for the common good, and where each recognizes in others a "perception of use and of what use is" (R. 354), and thus finds it in his will to serve the neighbor in a life of truth from doctrine; or, as the Writings also put it, in "mutual love, which is the love of doing uses to the community or society." (R. 353.)

     In such a society conjugial love will be restored, and will have ameliorated the graver evils of heredity with a natural good, which is not so averse to wisdom. (C. L. 202 ff.)  The family will again have been recognized as the central focus of the life of heaven; the love of offspring will be revered and treasured for its heavenly ends; and education - from its first tender forms in infancy to its advanced forms of specialized research - will be regarded as the most important use of earthly existence, by which each passing generation bestows its best of generous affection, of prudent custom, of intelligence, and of wisdom, for the benefit of the future race.

     The inspiration of such a society will be the spiritual sense of the Word, which is revealed in the Writings unendingly in the measure of men's seeking; stabilizing men's thoughts in clear and pure doctrines rationally seen and balanced.  And the criterion of truth will be, not any tradition (however true), nor reliance placed in people whose regenerate goodness might be specially evident, but the revealed Doctrine itself.  Beyond this, much latitude will be given for interpretations and explanations, for enlightened deductions and free applications; but nothing of this will be insisted upon as more than reasonable conclusions, in which all men are free to surmise and to differ, giving rise to varied uses, offered in good faith and accepted (or declined) in charity.

     Government in such societies might vary greatly - from a patriarchal or aristocratic monarchy to a commune of cooperative guilds and professions.  For it is not the name or the form which makes government good or bad, but the presence or the absence of mutual love.  Order, instituted for the sake of the freedom of uses, and upheld by common perceptions of what is good and true, common acknowledgments of the discrete subordinations of uses according to their vital importance in the sight of heaven and for the final good of mankind, - such an order comes in forms that accord with the genius and the needs of men and of times.

     Yet there will be need of governments and of laws; laws of justice and laws of economic life; but laws such as are derived from the laws of heaven, and do not presume to take their place.

     Learning there will be - with a special restoral of Philosophy to its seat of honor.  The knowledge of spiritual influx and of discrete degrees will have shed the light of new understanding into every realm of experience.  It will not be a Philosophy which merely argues about terms, and which questions everything and offers no reply, but a Philosophy which is enriched by the insight of the Ancients who saw in all nature the reflections of spiritual laws, as if nature was but an approach to the knowledge of God's ways.

     The thought of antiquity - the real story of man - will at last be unraveled out of jumbled myths and hoary rituals; its past glories revalued by historians who again might have gathered together the broken bits of the Ancient Word that was lost, and who would expound the ways of Providence in all the tragic pages that are being written in the smoke and fire of today.

     The mind of man - the secrets of its health being understood, its marvelous connexion with the body known - can be calmed and balanced with wisdom, and refreshed with wit devoid of rancor.  The body will be revered as a temple of God's worship, as a precious instrument of uses.

     Science will look upon the universe and its wonders with a new insight, acknowledging the spiritual causes of things, instead of darkening men's minds with doubts.  Invention will devote its talents to a seeking forever new uses to society, so that the earth may become the more abundantly a seminary for heaven.

     Art will have its place on the new earth, inspired by the symbolism of spiritual values never before apprehended, because the tender heights of internal states were formerly beyond man's experience.  Literature will draw from the familiar knowledge of the spiritual world its romances of the real issues in life, and from an understanding of human states, which we cannot now picture.  Poesy will be granted a new lease of life by a fresh appreciation of innocence, and be enriched by recognizing the natural world as a theatre representative of spiritual things.  And all perception, skill, and knowledge will combine to make the worship of the church the crown of culture and beauty, and make Ritual again-as once it was-the mother and inspirer of all the arts of civilization.