Benjamin Fiske Barrett

“ Do they not, on the contrary, act with sole reference to their own private interests, regardless of the welfare or the rights of their neighbor? Do not the past history and present condition of mankind prove that an absorbing and predominant selfishness is the withering curse of our race? Has it not eaten like a canker into the souls of men, and left its sad and sickening blight on every feature of human society?
And if we look into our own hearts, do we not there learn the same melancholy fact? Do we not find that self-love is naturally our ruling love? ”

“ Who are those that love the bonds of marriage most intensely? Who contemplate wedded life with the highest delight, and find in it the purest and most abundant joy? Not the carnal-minded and vicious, but the most spiritual and richteous—those whose walk with God is closest and humblest, and who discharge with the greatest fidelity all their daily duties. Consorts whose character is nearest like that of the angels—provided there be some internal fitness of each to each—experience a pure and heavenly delight in marriage which the vicious can never know. ”

“ What perfect concert of action!—all the more perfect because of their diversity. With what beautiful brotherly love do they all work together, and what tender regard has each for the welfare of all the rest! If one is out of order, all the others are more or less uncomfortable. If one suffers, all the rest sympathize and suffer with it. It is a law—and herein we have a beautiful illustration of the great law of brotherhood—that each shall discharge its appropriate function, not apart from the others and for the sake of itself alone, but in harmony with and for the welfare of all the rest. ”

“ Nature no longer mourns or frowns, but greets us everywhere with benignant smiles. The very air seems balmy, as if laden with the perfume of flowers. The faces of friends beam with unwonted lustre. There is music in the rain's dull drizzle, and in the wind's low sigh. The aspect of the whole outward world is changed, and that which seemed so sombre and frowning but a little while ago, is now radiant with beauty and with smiles.
Such is the controling, power which our inner or subjective exerts over our outer or objective world, even here on earth. ”

“ There beauty never fades, but ever grows more fresh and fair. There none grow old, but all rejuvenate;—all who have passed on earth their manhood's prime, are forever advancing towards younger, yet still riper life. Old age puts off its wrinkles there, and returns to the vigor and bloom of early manhood. There joys never decay, and the warm current of bounding life gushes forth with perennial freshness. And the simple yet all-sufficient reason is, that the angels are forever becoming more and more receptive of the Divine Life—forever drawing nearer and nearer, or becoming more and more like. ”

“ And mark the signs of this Second Coming—the consequences of this newly risen Sun. Mark how its piercing beams are dispelling the old darkness!—how they have already pervaded with their light and life nearly every department of human thought! Under their quickening influence the human intellect has everywhere burst its old swathing-bands, and leaped forth with unprecedented vigor. And on the natural plane what a magnificent harvest already begins to wave! Science, literature, philosophy, art, industry, politics, morals and religion have all begun to feel the influence of the Second Coming. ”

“ In view of such sublime revealings, what a precious boon is heaven!—yet a boon which all are made capable of attaining, and which it is the Lord's ceaseless desire and effort to help us to attain. There flows forever the stream of the water of life, and forever increases in crystal clearness. There the fountains of wisdom are ever fresh, and the flame of love burns with ever-increasing fervor. ”

“ Beauty derived only from the truth of faith, is like the beauty of a painted or sculptured face; but the beauty derived from the affection of truth which is from good, is like the beauty of a living face animated by celestial love; for such as is the quality of the love, or of the affection beaming from the form of the face, such is the beauty. Hence it is that the angels appear of ineffable beauty. From their faces beams forth the good of love by the truth of faith, which not only appears before the sight, but is also perceived by the spheres thence derived. ”

“ Labor is rest to the active and energetic spirit. To not a few minds, congenial activity, eager, absorbing, all but incessant, is the element in which they find repose. And the ardent and enthusiastic soul, conscious of power, and delighting in work that calls it forth, will sometimes seem to enjoy perfect serenity only in the whirl of occupation, as the bird on the wing, in the flow of joyous strength, while it cleaves the air at fullest speed, yet seems as if at rest, poised on its outspread pinions. ”

“ The head needs the foot, and the heart the hand, no less than the foot needs the head or the hand the heart. Even the hair and nails and the coarse cuticle on the soles of the feet have their use, and add to the beauty, completeness and perfection of the whole.
Behold, here, then, in the human body, a representative image of heaven!—the most perfect image of order, harmony, unity, freedom, mutual dependence and brotherly love! ”

“ In them is fulfilled the great law of love delivered in these divine words: "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.—Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." ”

“ The outer is ever taking on the complexion of the inner world, even here. There are times when a dismal pall seems spread over all creation; when all around us seems like a desert; when the sweetest flowers are undelightful, and the laughter of children has no music to our ears, and the faces of dearest friends no beauty to our eyes;—times when the loveliest scenes in nature—the brightest sunshine and the verdant earth—have for us no cheerful smile, but rather an indignant frown. ”

“ There is the most perfect freedom coupled with unspeakable bliss; for every one acts as his ruling love prompts, but he loves nothing which is not good and true. Be his office high or low, he does precisely that which he is qualified to do best, and in the doing of which he finds a pure delight. Conscious that he could not be so useful or happy in any other sphere, he has no desire to be anywhere or anything else than he is. Whatever there is, therefore, of exaltation or subordination, of authority or obedience there, neither is felt or thought of as such, any more than in the human body. ”

“ Go ask that mother as she bends over the body of her departed child, and presses upon its marble brow the last fond tribute of a mother's love:—Ask her if she could find no solace in the assured conviction that her little one is now in the tender embrace of loving angels—yes, and brighter, healthier, happier, too, and fuller of exuberant life and bounding joy than ever before. ”

“ And see, too, what triumphs she sometimes achieves!—the salvation of a wrecked and sinking soul!
Can this deep, mighty love which God has placed in woman's heart, which can work such miracles of healing here below, which has such power on earth to soften, subdue and bless; and which, from its very nature, so yearns for an intellect to cling to and guide it—can such love perish when the body dies? ”

“ The affection between brothers and sisters, how cordial and sincere! The love of children for their parents, how sweet and confiding! The love of parents for their children, how deep and tender! The affection between husband and wife, how beautiful and holy!
These natural relationships image more faithfully than anything else can, the higher and enduring spiritual relationships which exist in heaven. The relation of the children to each other, affords the truest type of the fraternal relation existing between the members of an angelic society. ”

“ But work there is never fatiguing, as it often is on earth. It is the free, spontaneous and healthy exercise of the faculties;—is all joyous and delightful like the dearly-loved plays of children.
"There are," says Swedenborg, "so many offices and administrations in heaven, and so many employments also, that it is impossible to enumerate them on account of their great number. Those in the world are comparatively few. All, how many soever there be, are in the delight of their occupation, and labor from the love of use, and no one from the love of self or gain. ”

“ They obey the divine laws of charity because they love to obey them because—it is their supreme delight to do the will of the Lord.
And the unspeakable bliss of heaven all flows from the love which the angels receive and exercise. And as we can form but a faint conception of the purity and intensity of their love, therefore we can have but a faint conception of their exalted happiness. Swedenborg says the delights and blessedness which they enjoy are beyond the power of language to describe, and such as the natural man cannot conceive of. ”

“ A house everywhere stands as the representative image of home. It is the symbol of those home-born, home-bred, and home-felt joys which constitute "that best portion of a good man's life." Suppose there were no inclement skies, no chilling frosts, nor scorching heat, nor drenching rains, nor pitiless blasts, nor anything, indeed, to make houses necessary to bodily comfort, does it follow that human beings would then need and have no houses? ”

“ And from the bosoms in which they dwell, they drive away all genuine peace, and induce a restless fever-heat which burns and burns to the core of life—a tormenting fire of hell.
Very different is the case with those who obey the laws of neighborly love; whose supreme desire is to render themselves useful—to do all the good they can in the world; who love, and seek to do good to, even their enemies; who have no desire to rule over but only to serve others; who care little for mere earthly rewards—the honors or praises of men ”

“ Now, as He from whom creation sprang is forever present in his own works, filling, sustaining and directing, therefore something of his own activity is stamped on all things which have been touched by his living breath, from the great orb that warms and enlightens us, down to the smallest atom that quivers in his beams. All things have an appointed use, a specific end and a determinate mode of action, because something of the Divine Love and Wisdom is in them all as their guiding and controling power. ”

“ But when the sunshine returns to the soul, when the heart glows with affection, and hope is bright and buoyant, and the world within us becomes lighted up with a sweet and serene joy, how changed is the aspect of the world without! ”

“ And what is thought to constitute the most exalted human beauty here on earth? What sort of a face do people of high culture and a truly Christian spirit commonly regard as most beautiful? Is it not that combination of features and that expression which reveals the most and the highest order of mind?—that which expresses the noblest qualities of heart in union the most exalted powers of intellect?—that which seems in the highest degree instinct with the divine attributes of wisdom and love? To a cultivated mind that face, and that only, is beautiful, which reveals a beautiful soul ”

“ Let this New doctrine concerning life in heaven be generally accepted, and become thoroughly imbedded in the popular mind and heart, and what a stupendous change in human society would speedily be wrought! Heaven brought down to earth! The Father's will done here below, as it is done in the realms above! What activity, contentment, abundance, harmony, peace and joy would be here! Millions of human beings all praising God by the diligent and loving performance of uses, in the blessings of which all alike are sharers! ”

“ The truth of all this must appear sufficiently obvious to one who contemplates the effects of the love mutually felt by a young man and maiden in the warmth and glow of its first summer; for in their innocent young love there is something which allies it to the loves of the angels. And when their love is reciprocated, what a new world seems suddenly opened before them! What fountains of new feeling are straightway unlocked! What new and strange delights are kindled in their bosoms! ”

“ So wisely are they led and governed, that their hereditary evils lie dormant—never become actual sins. They witness in those around them no exhibition of evil feelings, they hear no profane or angry words, they look upon no wicked deeds. Love prompts and wisdom directs whatever is done to them and for them. Love breathes in every tone they hear; love beams in every face they see; love moulds the forms and prompts the words and shapes the deeds of all around them. ”

“ It is the point towards which his soul perpetually gravitates, as surely as a ball suspended in the air forever gravitates towards the centre of the earth, or as the heart of a mother who loves her children and her household duties, perpetually gravitates towards her home whenever she is absent from it. Every one's thoughts and purposes are shaped and directed by his ruling love. If this be the love of wealth, of reputation, of preferment, of power, he will be continually meditating plans by which to obtain what his heart longs for. ”

“ Some say they are too beautiful to be true. Too beautiful to be true! Is anything too beautiful or too good for the Lord to do? Is not He the very perfection of all beauty and all goodness? Did He not create man for heaven, and is it not his constant effort to bring all into the heavenly state? What is there, then, in the nature of the case, in the revealed character of God, in the laws of Divine Providence, or in the state of little children themselves, to prevent their lot in the other world from being precisely as Swedenborg has revealed it? ”