rian, but this seems not to be a necessary
characteristic of those possessing illumination, although, when cosmic
consciousness shall have become almost general, vegetarianism must
inevitably come with it, as animal life will disappear from the earth.

Swedenborg, like many others who have perceived the cosmic light, evidently
believed that he had been specially selected and consecrated for the work
of the new church. That is, he took his illumination, not as an initiation
into the higher degrees of cosmic truth, but as a special and personal
revelation. This view characterizes those who founded a new, or a reformed
religious system, while as a matter of truth, the light that comes is a
part of the cosmic plan, and not, as Swedenborg and others imagine, as a
personal revelation.

However, Swedenborg considered himself a direct instrument in the hands of
God, and God is alluded to as a personality. He believed that his great
mission was to disclose the true nature of the Bible, and to prove that it
was actually the inspired word of God, having an esoteric meaning, which
has wrongly been interpreted to apply to the creation of a material world,
and to its history and its people, but that when understood, it explains
clearly, the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their relation to
each other. It should be remembered that at the time Swedenborg wrote his
theological works, the church had fallen into rank materialism and
superstition. That Swedenborg should have received his illumination, or
revelation, direct from the Lord, only serves to prove that the mortal
consciousness clothes the revelation with whatever personality appeals to
it, as having authority.

Thus, the angel Gabriel was the dictator in the case of Mohammed, and the
"Blessed Mother" of the Hindu reveals to them the vision of _mukti_.
Swedenborg says of his vision: "God appeared to me and said, 'I am the Lord
God, the Creator and Redeemer of the world. I have chosen thee to unfold
the spiritual sense of the Holy Scriptures. I will myself dictate to thee
what thou shalt write.'"

In "The True Christian Religion," published shortly before his death he
says: "Since the Lord can not manifest Himself in person as has been shown,
and yet He has foretold that He would come and establish a new church,
which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He is to do it, by means of a
man, who is able not only to receive the doctrines of this church with his
understan