TOWER OF BABEL

(Genesis 11)

THE LOST AND THE FOUND
By Rev. Abiel Silver

(The Science of Correspondences lost in the building of the Tower of Babel,
and restored in the loosing of the Seven Seals by the Lord, through Emanuel Swedenborg.)

In order to understand the subject before us, we must bear in mind that all the Holy Word contains a spiritual sense, and then, as we read the narrative in the first paragraph of the eleventh chapter of Genesis, and see men building a city and a tower, in order to make themselves a name, lest they should be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, we must look into human souls for the real city and tower. And, when we find them, we shall see that this city and tower-building are precisely what all unregenerate, selfish, ambitious persons are now doing, some on a larger and some on a smaller scale. For as a city denotes doctrines, or rules and principles of action, whether good or bad, and tower denotes worship and defense of those doctrines, therefore, every man who, in his self-wisdom and worldly ambition, sets out upon some new project or speculation, whether civil or religious, in order to obtain wealth, or power, or distinction, to make himself a name, that he need not be scattered abroad over the face of the earth; or, in other words, be mixed up and lost sight of in the common mass; every such man, in his new schemes, is striving to build a city and a tower, that he may reach the imaginary heaven of his ambition, and thereby satisfy his selfish aspirations to gain a notoriety above his fellows.

And a glance at the history of mankind, sacred and profane, presents a vast variety of these cities and towers, of every character and magnitude, from the molehill to the mountain. For every division and discord, political or moral, civil or religious; every crime, of every hue; all persecutions and abuses of the race, originate in the building of such cities and towers: And God has mercifully recorded the one in Scripture, as a common mirror, into which we may all look and behold the little cities of self-wisdom, and towers of pride and presumption, which we have been more or less building, in various ways, in our own hearts, and which we can now see to be wrong, and may abandon.

Now, in looking at the city and Tower of Babel, in this, their true light, how much darkness is removed from the clouds of the literal sense, which seem to teach that heaven, instead of being a happy state of the mind, is really a natural place, up somewhere in the sky; and that men believed they could actually go there by building a tower to reach it; and that God, in order to prevent it, came down and confounded their language, so that they could not understand one another, and thus He put a stop to the work. Besides, if they were really intending to build a natural tower up into the sky, to a place supposed to be heaven, they surely would not have commenced the work in a valley or plain, when they could have saved the expense of building through much space, by commencing on a mountain.

But now, inasmuch as the light of the Gospel is fast removing the darkness of all such clouds of the letter from the atmosphere of Christendom, and men of all sects are beginning to see and believe that heaven is anywhere where angels are, and that angels are everywhere where men are; and that, to find these angels and this heaven, we must become angelic and heavenly ourselves: I say, inasmuch as this clear Gospel light is abroad in the land, we need give ourselves no anxiety about the literal sense of Scripture, which looks unintelligible. For we may rest assured that every apparently dark and strange passage is a divine casket, containing within it precious jewels of truth, to adorn the souls of those who shall look into this casket, and find and wear these jewels.

Then let us bless the Lord for the literal sense, and humbly look up through it, to the clear, divine instruction offered for our salvation. The grand idea, then, to be constantly and vividly kept before our thoughts, when we come to this Holy Word is, that it is a history of the human mind, and a rule for its guidance and development. That, as a history, it is perfect, glancing upward for the origin of man to the Infinite form and quality of humanity in the Divine Being; and then downward to its finite form and quality in man: and then, tracing the formation of that mind, most minutely, from its first beginnings in the finite form, onward to the age in which we now live, and still onward in eternal progression, toward the divine perfection. Thus it is a history of man, for time and for eternity; a history of the whole man, and a whole history. It is not only a general history of humanity as a whole, but a particular history of each individual; so that any person, of whatever character, may read himself in it. For it paints minutely all the lights and shades, the elevations and depressions of our mental being, through all its various changes and developments, from its beginning, onward. It is a perfect history, because recorded by Infinite Wisdom.

The reason why it is a history of every individual is, that every possible state of human nature is described in it. Therefore, no life can be lived that is not entirely within its descriptions. But nobody can read there the peculiar life of an individual in all its particulars but the All-wise God, and the individual himself. As a person becomes regenerated, and the Word becomes opened to his mind, and his mind to the Word, his various states and shades of character are brought to his view in the Divine Records; and as he progresses he finds every sin, every shade and quality of his life depicted, and the sure remedy for every evil pointed out.

But all this history, we must remember, is a history of the soul; a history of the feelings, thoughts, and intentions; that the soul and its wants and world are the things here looked after. And the glorious epoch, in the history of our race, has now come when finite humanity has reached that stage in its mental development which calls for a reasonable knowledge of the soul, and of the peculiar relation between mind and matter. Yes, the time has arrived when, without this higher knowledge, humanity would soon perish in the darkness of materialism and the evils of self-love; for the light of Divine Revelation would be lost to mankind amid the ruins.

But our Heavenly Father, whose Divine Mercy is ever ready to meet the wants of every emergency, has, in this inquiring age, graciously offered us that needed knowledge in His Holy Word, through the clear symbols of nature in the sure Law of Analogy. But when men had this law of the Divine Language by intuition, they saw clearly the light of the Law by Divine Influx. But they saw it without the full, independent exercise of their own reason and judgment, and therefore they lost it. They are now to receive it through the free and open exercise of their rational faculty, so that they can thereby make it a part of their own mental being; and then they will never lose it again.

Man is, therefore, now on his intellectual way back from the dark world of effects to the bright world of causes. He left that luminous world in the undeveloped childhood of the race, by looking downward and outward in his own way's-children always do, to things of time and sense-till the clouds of his own self-wisdom shut out the higher light from his mind. But now he is to return to that world of causes, in the manhood of the race, through the exercise of his reason; looking upward through the fogs of the mind, to the inner world of his being, where the Lord is the Light thereof.

Now, it was the loss of the symbolic Light of the Word, the loss of the true character of the Divine Language, and thence of the character of God, which produced the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. When they commenced the building of this tower, there was but one language on the earth. For the Lord said, "Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; let us go down and confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." Now, the Lord is said to do what He only permits to be done. He did not confound their language Himself: but He permitted them to do it. It was their sins that did it. And it was done by their building, in their own minds, a false city of base principles, and a proud tower of arrogance and selfishness. This vile work created all their diversities of views and feelings. For now, they spoke no longer one another's sentiments and wants. Thus their real life-language was confounded. For all true human language is the language of the heart. It is what the heart wants, that the soul really speaks. And it speaks in looks and tones as well as in words and actions. And when the heart really speaks, no one, who knows the soul's speech, can mistake its eloquence or its wants; for it speaks to every sympathizing heart. But when hearts are divided by selfishness, and diversified in taste, they speak different emotions or languages, according to their various feelings and wants; and therefore they cannot work together upon the same mental tower. They do not understand one another's speech. Each one wants his own will and word to be law. Each wants the last word. They will not receive the words of one another as truth or justice. There is nothing confuses the language of the mind, in a community, like individual self-will in its various members. Look at a dozen men in hot dispute, and mark the confusion of tongues. They do not understand each other's speech. They will not, because their hearts are not prepared for it.

The narrative commences by saying, "And the whole earth was of one language, and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there." Now, going from the east is, in true symbolic language, going away from the Lord, from light, from life, from love, from heaven. And dwelling in a plain, away from the Lord, would denote a low, selfish state of mind. And here, in this low mental condition, they built that famous city and tower, which, have filled the world with opposing sects and parties, anger and ill will, sin and suffering. Here was lost the one universal language-the language of pure symbols-the language of the Holy Word-the language of the heart. Before this, the whole earth was of one speech. The mental earth spoke from the heart. The minds of the community were one. Love was the golden bond which harmonized the thoughts and feelings, and made their words one. Their words were a perfect index to the feelings which gave them forth. And they saw, in the sure light of analogy, the indisputable meaning of every utterance of the soul. For the divine language of the heart wears no disguise. It knows no deception. It is pure symbol. Throughout all nature it never lies. Fallen man only, of all the creatures of God, says one thing and feels another. Only man's language is confounded, and that, by the Tower of Babel in his soul. All other creatures perfectly understand one another's speech. There is neither falsity nor equivocation there. Wicked man is the arch-deceiver.

Now, it would seem from the general history, that this city and tower were not commenced until after the time of the flood, and by the descendants of Noah; but the spiritual history is above time, reaching the states of men in all ages. Preparations for the building of this tower commenced with the commencement of the fall, and the first false, selfish principle, received into the human heart, was the first brick laid. And, therefore, our subject embraces the great theme of the fall of man and its consequences. As we stand aloof in silent contemplation, surveying the awful magnitude and consequences of this subject, it points us back to the calm and genial sphere of Paradisiacal days, where the imagination beholds the mental world, in its primeval beauty and innocence; where all was harmony within, and brightness without, and the whole earth was of one language and of one speech; when pure affection was sweetly manifest in every look, and tone, and act; when men's hearts were one and their speech one.

In passing the eyes along the brighter portion of this mingled picture, we next behold this happy people leaving their halcyon Paradise, their heavenly groves and sunny climes, to take a journey away from the glorious East, from whence had come all their joys. Yes: we behold them turning their backs to the light, the life, the joy, the heaven, the God and Father of all their blessings. For their own selfhood is now beginning to feel its importance, and to become active. New things are exciting their curiosity, and new experiments must be tried. And as they journeyed on in their selfish way, we follow them along their devious paths, down from the sunny hillsides of truth and love, where the fruits of righteousness and peace grow spontaneously on all the trees of the garden, except that of their own self-knowledge; and now we come to the gloomy plain of error and unkindness, where they feed upon the bitter fruits of their own depraved devices. And here, in this low, dark, selfish valley, they built that city of falsities and tower of arrogance which have spread consternation, distress, and woe over the whole face of the earth.

From the brief account, given in the Word, of this journey and tower-building, one would suppose it was all accomplished in a short time; at least, within the common age of man.  And yet, it must have taken thousands of years-many generations. For slow must be the progress, whereby a pure and spotless people could become evil and false, so as entirely to lose sight of the true law of the heart and light of the mind; and thus become blind to the symbolic language of the universe, in which they were educated-that beautiful analogical relation of cause and effect, which ever exists between the world of mind and the world of matter-their own and only native language. But such is the wonderful character of the Holy Word, that one divine idea grasps the whole; for even the parts are infinite.

Let us then come to the Holy Word, for a true knowledge of humanity in the present age of the world, the age which most of all concerns us. And let us study it from the heart. For this is, indeed, an age of Babylonian cities and towers. Every sinful heart has its Babel, and every wicked people, their base city and tower. There is now no civil or religious government on the earth, that is entirely free from that diabolical city and tower, built in the land of Shinar. But although we behold these false cities and gigantic towers all over the world, and see poor humanity writhing under the pain and anguish of dominant cruelty; yet, let us take courage, for the remedy is also at hand, and the promise of a glorious age to come is bright. Pure symbolic light, from the Holy Word, is now freely offered us, whereby we can rationally test the character of all cities and towers; and, in the divine power of this light, we can abandon the cities of the plains and flee to the mountains. We can come back to the Paradise of God, and feast our souls upon the Tree of Life. All the gates of the heavenly garden are thrown open for our reception. The various flowers give forth their odors, and the breath of the morning comes laden with love. Angelic arms are open to receive us, and heavenly choirs will chant praises to God. Let us then build no cities nor towers ourselves, nor accept any of man's building. But let us freely enter the Divine City which cometh down from God out of heaven; whose builder and maker is God: where grows the Tree of Life, whose leaves never fade, and whose fruits never decay. Then shall we be able truly to "praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."

Now, since the loss of this science, the church and the world have passed through many changes; until the time has come for the absolute necessity for a knowledge of this science, for the continuance and salvation of the human family on earth. And the peculiar manner in which it has been revealed is this the time had come, in the age of the world, when human nature had grown up to natural manhood; when the natural faculties and powers of reasoning were greatly developed; and when the religion of the world was of every caste and character, and involved in great mystery. Nothing in theology reached the wants of the free, reasoning, thinking, truth-desiring minds. They were asking for light in matters of religion, as well as in science. They were hungering and thirsting for something to satisfy the wants of the longing soul. These minds could begin to receive the spiritual sense of the Word, if it could only be brought scientifically before them. This sense was the only thing that could lead their thoughts to the true God, give them right views of His nature, and faith in His Holy Word. The lost science of correspondences was the only key to that spiritual sense that would fit their minds. If that science could be brought rationally before the minds of men, so as to enable them, from their low, natural position, to look understandingly up through the world of effects to the world of causes through natural things to spiritual, material to mental-as to see and receive spiritual light from the Holy Word, then the human race on earth could be gradually elevated to heavenly order and happiness; otherwise man must perish. "Except these days should be shortened, no flesh should be saved."

By the use, then, of the key of correspondences, the seals of the Word could be broken and the Book opened. But who was able to do it? None but the "Lion of the tribe of Judah could prevail to open the Book, and loose the seals thereof." The seals were all in the human mind. It was sealed with seven seals; that is, every state of the human mind was closed against spiritual light. Man was altogether natural. But there were some minds in a religious state of natural good, and in such a state of natural rational freedom as to have their minds opened by instruction from the Lord, so as to see spiritual light through natural symbols, could they be so instructed.

But how was this mighty work to be done? How was the human mind to be opened and instructed, so as to behold the wonderful things written in God's law; to see the glory of the world of causes, and to look down upon effects, and see them as they really are? Emanuel Swedenborg in the work entitled The True Christian Religion containing the universal theology of the New Church foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7:13-14 and Revelations 21:1-2 states in number 779:

This Second Coming of the LORD by means of a man to whom the LORD has manifested Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit, that he may teach the doctrines of the New Church from the LORD by means of the Word.

Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as shown just above, and nevertheless has foretold that He was to come and establish a New church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who is able not only to receive these doctrines in his understanding but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord manifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me to this office, that He afterward opened the eyes of my spirit and thus introduced me into the spiritual world and granted me to see the heavens and the hells, and to talk with angels and spirits, and this now continuously for several years, I affirm in truth; as also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word.

Thus Swedenborg was the chosen servant of the Lord.  He had revered the Lord and the Word from his youth; was a most profound philosopher; had mastered all the human literature of the age; deeply investigated the laws of matter in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; had traced the economy of the human body up to the soul, and nature up to God; and had rationally seen something of the relation between mind and matter, and of the laws of creation. In this way, his natural mind had become a sincere and open vessel, adapted to the reception of spiritual truth; and his active soul was thirsting for something higher, and looking up to receive it. And thus, at the mature age of fifty-five years ripe in natural goodness and truth, and in scientific and literary wisdom he was prepared to enter upon the divine study of the Holy Word in its spiritual sense.

This study rationally opened his mind to the laws of the spiritual world; so that he gradually came, while in the flesh, into a state of free, open, and sensible consciousness of spiritual society and scenery, and this by a process of such perfect mental growth and development, according to divine order, that, when his spiritual senses had become clearly opened to the spiritual world, they were permanently so; because his views of that world were not surface and uncertain views, presented from a disordered or inflated imagination, but they were scientific views. He saw and understood the law by which spiritual forms are manifested, and this law he found in the Holy Word. It is the Science Of Correspondences, in which the Word is written, and which he labored to make known to the world; and, in the ardent exercise of this benevolent desire to give it freely to his fellow man, his soul was rationally opened to receive it from the Lord.

Twenty-nine years of intense application were devoted to this work, in which he presented to mankind twenty massive volumes, opening and expounding the Sacred Scriptures, and specifically recording his illustrations, and the science of correspondences by which they are explained. This he did in the most modest and quiet manner, without any startling miracles, or outward displays of power, but in a deep, calm, and contemplative state of mind; looking prayerfully and confidingly to the Lord while reading the Word.

In this way, the science of correspondences, and the spiritual sense of the Word, and its doctrines, have been presented to the world. But who has done it? Certainly not Swedenborg, but the Lord Himself. Swedenborg never, in all these volumes, gives us so much as a single opinion of his own upon the meaning of the Word or its doctrines, or of the science of correspondences; but the illustrations are so given as to make the Word itself its own interpreter. It is the Lord, therefore, and not Swedenborg, that speaks to the heart and the head of the reader of these volumes. Yet Swedenborg was not inspired. He acted not as an amanuensis, as did the prophets. He freely saw and understood what he wrote. He knew it was true; but he knew, also, that it was not one particle of it his own wisdom; and he was far from claiming it.

These twenty volumes, therefore, in their explanations of the Word and its doctrines, become to the understanding reader, positive and conclusive evidence of their own truth and the truth of the Holy Word. They call in an array of testimony, which carries everything before it. They call our own internal selves on to the stand, with all our evils, and all we know of human nature and make them cry out, Amen! They call in to their support all the truths of science and art. Indeed, they call in everything; the vast universe of mind and matter, and the law of analogy between them. Everything in nature, from the smallest dust of the earth to the sun in the heavens, hears testimony in these volumes to the truth of the Word, and the divinity of its Author; proving beyond a doubt, that the Creator of the universe is the Author of the Holy Word; that the spiritual truths of the Word are the Divine Wisdom by which God created and sustains the universe; and that the universe now stands in relation to that wisdom, as effects to causes. All this is satisfactorily proved by the law of analogy which pervades the whole Word.

Thus the Lion of the tribe of Judah, according to prophecy, has prevailed to open the Book, and loose the seven seals of God's Holy Word; and has mercifully given to the world the divine science of correspondences; the grand key which opens the door to that fountain of wisdom which is to bring the world into order.