Four Doctrines with the Nine Questions. Standard Edition

470 Pages·2016·1.35 MB·English

by  Swedenborg Emanuel.

Four Doctrines
with the
Nine Questions
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
Translated from the Original Latin by
John Faulkner Potts
STANDARD EDITION
SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION
West Chester, Pennsylvania
© 2009 Swedenborg Foundation
This version was compiled from electronic files of the
Standard Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg as
further edited by William Ross Woofenden. Pagination of
this PDF document does not match that of the
corresponding printed volumes, and any page references
within this text may not be accurate. However, most if not
all of the numerical references herein are not to page
numbers but to Swedenborg’s section numbers, which are
not affected by changes in pagination. If this work appears
both separately and as part of a larger volume file, its
pagination follows that of the larger volume in both cases.
This version has not been proofed against the original, and
occasional errors in conversion may remain. To purchase the
full set of the Redesigned Standard Edition of Emanuel
Swedenborg’s works, or the available volumes of the latest
translation (the New Century Edition of the Works of
Emanuel Swedenborg), contact the Swedenborg Foundation
at 1-800-355-3222, www.swedenborg.com, or 320 North
Church Street, West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380.
Contents
Editor’s Preface
Translator’s Preface
Author’s Preface
Doctrine of the Lord
Nine Questions
Doctrine of the Holy Scripture
Doctrine of Life
Doctrine of Faith
Index
FOUR DOCTRINES 1
Editor’s Preface
Swedenborg was still publishing anonymously when he began
writing this series of four essays, all published in 1763. Despite this,
he inserted an extraordinary preface (q.v.) to the first of these
works, Doctrine of the Lord, in which he first listed the five small
works he had published in 1758, but omitted any mention of his
first and largest work, Arcana Coelestia, which he had published in
1749–1756. He then projected a list of works to come from his
pen that he stated he had been commanded by the Lord to publish.
The first five of these—Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the
Lord, Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Holy Scripture,
Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem from the Ten Commandments,
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith, Continuation
concerning the Last Judgment, and Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine
Providence—were all published in 1763, but not in the order listed.
Some of the others were never published as separate volumes.
Although the works treating the doctrines of the Lord, Scripture,
life, and faith have often been published separately in English, it
became the custom as early as 1826 to publish them together in a
single volume. This new edition of the translation by John
Faulkner Potts of Four Doctrines, which was first included in the
Standard Edition in 1915, adds after Doctrine of the Lord a short
work titled Nine Questions, based on a manuscript in the
handwriting of Thomas Hartley, consisting of portions of letters
exchanged between Hartley and Swedenborg. It was first published
in English by Robert Hindmarsh in 1785. No original manuscript
in Swedenborg’s hand has been found, and the Hartley manuscript
is now lost. For a brief account of the publication history of Four
Doctrines, see the Translator’s Preface.
The serious reader should take careful note of Potts’s decision
regarding his translation of the Latin words instaurare and
FOUR DOCTRINES 2
instauratio, since other translators of Standard Edition volumes
have translated these words differently. It is also critical to note that
Potts, who is also the translator of Arcana Coelestia in this Standard
Edition, coined the word “memory-knowledge” to render various
forms of the Latin words scire, scientia, and scientifica. Having made
this decision, he then felt justified in translating forms of cognoscere
and cognitio as “knowledge.” (See the Translator’s Preface to
volume 1 of Arcana Coelestia for further details.) No other English
translation has followed Potts’s rendering of these terms.
The text for this edition was electronically scanned from the
Foundation’s Standard Edition. This process has allowed the book
to be completely redesigned and set in a new and more readable
typeface. Certain stylistic changes have also been introduced. These
include modernized spelling and punctuation as well as substituting
new words for terms whose meanings have become obscure or have
changed since the nineteenth century. Arabic numerals have
replaced roman numerals in Bible passages, and certain capitalized
words, including pronouns referring to God, have been lowercased
to reflect contemporary usage. All these changes have been carefully
made in order to make the book easier to read and use while
preserving the dignity and power of the original Latin. On the
whole, however, the Potts translation has not been materially
altered.
As with previous printings, the bold numerals in brackets ([2],
[3], etc.) indicate divisions within the author’s numbered sections
that were introduced for the convenience of the reader by Potts in
his six-volume Swedenborg Concordance (London: Swedenborg
Society, 1888–1902). Footnotes in this volume not ascribed to the
translator or editor are those of Swedenborg.
William Ross Woofenden
Sharon, Massachusetts
FOUR DOCTRINES 3
Translator’s Preface
The Four Doctrines were originally published by Emanuel
Swedenborg in the city of Amsterdam in the year 1763. They were
published as four separate and distinct works in large quarto, and
in the Latin language.
The Doctrine concerning the Lord and the Doctrine concerning the
Holy Scripture were first translated into English by Peter Provo, an
apothecary in London, and were published by the London
Theosophical Society in the years 1784 and 1786, respectively, the
printer being Robert Hindmarsh.
The Doctrine of Life was first translated into English by William
Cookworthy of Plymouth, England, and was published in that city
in the year 1779. The second English edition, translated by John
Clowes, rector of St. John’s, Manchester, England, was published
in London at the expense of the Manchester Printing Society in the
year 1786.
The Doctrine concerning Faith was first translated into English by
William Cowherd, also of Manchester, England, and was published
in the year 1790 by the Manchester Publishing Society.
The Four Doctrines have since appeared in many editions, both
separately and collectively, and have been translated into French,
Swedish, Danish, German, Italian, and other languages.
The translator has been assisted in his labors by a circle of critics,
including Samuel M. Warren, Philip Cabell, James Reed, and
FOUR DOCTRINES 4
Marston Niles, who have rendered invaluable assistance, and who
have contributed in a signal manner to the perfection and accuracy
of the work done.
Previous translations have also been largely consulted and many
valuable things have been selected from them. Among those found
especially useful may be mentioned the Rotch edition of the Four
Doctrines and the translation of the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture
of Samuel M. Warren.
The verification of the references to Holy Scripture and to the
New Church writings themselves has been done by Chauncey Giles
Hubbell; and the same careful hand has been employed to compile
and verify the index to passages of Scripture. The general index to
the work has been made by Charles H. Mann.
In the following translation no attempt has been made to furnish
materials for a new translation of the English Bible or of any part of
it. In such a work as this, largely expository of the internal sense of
the Word, and which was originally written in the Latin language,
it is manifestly of the first importance that the English reader
should insofar as possible be put in possession of the very words on
which the exposition is based. What we do here is to translate the
Latin of Swedenborg into English, whether that be the Latin of
passages of Holy Scripture or of anything else. The making of a
new translation of the Word itself, or of any part of it, would be a
perfectly distinct undertaking. Nevertheless, the phraseology of the
English Bible, in either of the authorized versions, has not been
needlessly cast aside, but in all cases where it was found to be
sufficiently close to the Latin to truly present its meaning, the
familiar wording has been retained.
The word “ultimate” used in the work as a noun, yet not
recognized as such in our English dictionaries, calls for some
explanation. Webster defines the adjective “ultimate” as meaning
“the last in a train of progression or consequences, tended toward
by all that precedes.” This excellent definition affords the necessary
clue. “Ultimate,” used as a noun, means the same. Thus the
FOUR DOCTRINES 5
terrestrial globe with its inhabitants is the ultimate of creation, God
himself being regarded as the first in the series or “train of
progression,” and the angelic heavens and the world of spirits as
intermediates. In the same way, speech is the ultimate of thought,
and act is the ultimate of will. Being entirely new to spiritual
science and Christian theology, it is not surprising that this
doctrine of ultimates should demand a somewhat new terminology.
The words instaurare and instauratio we have translated “to set up
anew” and “a setting up anew.” These words were used by
Swedenborg in connection with the renewal and erection of the
church. Their dictionary meaning is “to repair, restore, erect, make,
set foot on again” [Facciolati], “to set again in good condition”
[Scheller], and so on. The translators of Swedenborg have usually
rendered instaurare “establish”; but the Latin word unquestionably
includes the idea of renovation or renewal, of restoration, and of
erection—not of original erection but of the setting up again of
something that has fallen down. It is evident that “establish”
represents it very imperfectly. Moreover, a church that is
established, or an established church, has another meaning. For
“establish” Swedenborg used the word stabilire. That which is
absolutely essential in making the translation in question is that the
idea of renewal, together with that of erection, be expressed.
John Faulkner Potts [1915]
DOCTRINE OF THE LORD 6
Author’s Preface
Some years ago there were published the following five little
works:
1. On Heaven and Hell
2. Doctrine of the New Jerusalem
3. On the Last Judgment
4. On the White Horse
5. On the Planets and other Earths in the Universe
In these works many things were set forth that have hitherto been
unknown. Now, by command of the Lord, who has been revealed
to me, the following are to be published:
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Holy Scripture
Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem from the Ten
Commandments
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith
Continuation concerning the Last Judgment
Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Providence
DOCTRINE OF THE LORD 7
Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Omnipotence, Omnipresence,
1
Omniscience, Infinity, and Eternity
Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Divine Wisdom
2
Angelic Wisdom concerning Life.
It is said “Doctrine of the New Jerusalem,” and this means
doctrine for the new church which is at this day to be set up by the
Lord; for the old church has come to its end, as is evident from
what has been said in the little work on the last judgment (n.
33–39); and also from what is to be further said in the little works
just mentioned, which are to follow. That a new church is meant
by the new Jerusalem foretold in the twenty-first chapter of
Revelation as to come after the judgment may be seen below, in the
last chapter.

1. Although the treatise here named was never published as a separate work, the
subjects of it are specially treated of in the first chapter of True Christian Religion.
See also references to the same subjects in this present work (n. 65), in Doctrine of
the Holy Scripture (n. 32), and in Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and
Wisdom (n. 9). [Translator]
2. This proposed treatise seems to have been included in the one mentioned
immediately before it, which begins with an exposition of the subject of life. The
reason this treatise and the one on Divine Omnipotence, etc., were not published as
separate works is explained in a letter of Swedenborg to Dr. Beyer, dated February,
1767. See Documents concerning Swedenborg, by R. L. Tafel, volume 2, page 261.
[Translator]