EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE

     Vol. X.     PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY 1890=120 No. 1.


     The Lord is Doctrine itself as to good and truth, thus Who alone is regarded in doctrine. -A. C. 2531.



      CONSIDERABLE space is devoted in this number to a report if the late meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania, which is worth the attentive perusal and consideration of all who have the welfare of the New Church at heart. While the report is of more immediate interest to Newchurchmen in America, it contains references to the general principles underlying the existence of the external Church, which we of universal application, and therefore of interest to all who are of the visible Church, it matters not in what country. Moreover, the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America, which is discussed at some length in the report, is the largest body of the New Church in the so-called civilized world, and for that reason has attracted the universal attention of Newchurchmen. Its deplorable condition will therefore enlist the interest of all and lead, them to a more serious consideration of the Doctrines concerning the establishment and existence of the Church.



     Charity is to be affected with truth.-A. C. 3877.



     THE relations in the General Convention are strained. What are the causes of this state of things? What are the requirements of love to the LORD, Who is the Head of the Church, and from Whom it is and exists? What are the requirements of charity to the neighbor, which in the highest degree, next to the LORD, is the Church?
     The members of the General Church of Pennsylvania have expressed themselves freely as to what they believe to be some of the principal causes.



     The Lord is the Word, thus, the Lord, is Doctrine, for all Doctrine is from the Word.-A. C. 2859.



     The most important cause of the trouble seems to be that the majority of those who attend the conventions, and prominently the ministers, do not acknowledge that the Writings of the Church are the Word, and, therefore, the LORD.
     The next most important cause is a serious lack of charity to the Doctrines and to component bodies of the Convention.
     The other causes flow from these, as, that, the Convention affiliates with the vastated Churches that it does not observe the laws of Divine Order in it's organization and in its justice; that it is governed by majority votes instead of the Divine Law; that it breaks its own statutes; that the rulings of its presiding officers are often unjust; that it condemns men unheard; that it lends itself to the ultimation of the hatred of individuals; that it performs few of the uses which of right belong to it as the most general ecclesiastical body of the New Church in America; that it stifles freedom of expression.



     Divine Doctrine is Divine Truth, and Divine Truth is all the Word of the Lord.-A. C. 3712.



     THESE charges are very serious, but the proofs, which, as the report shows, were adduced from the history of the Convention, and from that journal which voices the sentiments of the leaders, fully substantiate them.
     It remains to be seen whether the Convention will heed this arraignment and give evidence of its desire that love to the LORD and charity to the neighbor shall rule, or whether it will continue in its way, and by "applying cloture" and similar means lead to a complete sundering of those ties which have hitherto held the Newchurchmen of America in one common Church organization.



     The heavenly doctrine altogether concords with the internal sense of the Word.-H. H. 516.



     "The Old Church of the present day is not the Old Church of Swedenborg's day; the light and life of the new dispensation are inflowing everywhere, and we see its signs and effects all around us." These claims have been made with such frequency that the very repetitions of them have induced a belief in the minds of some. Yet, as has been frequently pointed out, there is no warrant for them in the Doctrines. Through the efforts of the Philadelphia Inquirer, statements of the Old Church clergy have been elicited which confirm the teachings of the Doctrines and disprove the claims referred to. The Inquirer proposed the question to a number of representative ministers in Philadelphia, "As a student of the Bible, what idea have you formed of Heaven as a place?" The only true answer, of course, came from the New Church. The answers from the sects of the Old Church show no advance over the belief concerning Heaven held in Swedenborg's time. They are, in great part, materialistic, Dr. McCook saying: "I believe that Heaven is a place-a material place." Another says: "None of us has been there, and of the friends that have gone thither, who has ever come back with tidings?" A third says: "It is wherever the glorified humanity of Christ is. This must be a locality somewhere, because the humanity of Christ being finite [!] His presence marks definite space." These are specimens of the most pronounced expressions. There are, indeed, some answers which may lead those who want to see the Old Church clergy appear as if they were of the New Jerusalem-to claim them as reflecting the light of the Holy City. Thus, one minister says that Heaven is "a state more than a place, a happiness more than a position, a character more than a possession;" but that such statements mean nothing like what they may appear to Newchurchmen to mean; is shown by the idea of the LORD which enters into them; The same minister goes on to say: "Heaven is our home, where dwell God our Father, Christ our Elder Brother [!!], our glorified kindred, the whole household of God. To be in Heaven is to be in perfect state of blessedness; it is to be forever at home with the LORD."
     It would be interesting, did space permit, to quota and present a study of all the answers. These may suffice to indicate their general trend. One or two seem to be modified by a study of the Writings of the New Church, but they are, on the whole, similar to the notions concerning Heaven held in Swedenborg's time.
      It is all the more significant that this should appear in a Philadelphia paper, since more has probably been done in Philadelphia to make known the Doctrines of the New Church than elsewhere.
     The city boasts of the handsomest New Church edifice in this country, popular lectures are delivered from its pulpit, hundreds of thousands of tracts are distributed annually prom the same centre, and, more than this, during the past seventeen years no less than 28,496 copies of Heaven and Hell, 23,123 copies of The Apocalypse Revealed, and 30,285 copies of The True Christian Religion have been distributed free to the Old Church clergy, also from the same or an allied source.
same truths with one are more true 1890

same truths with one are more true              1890

     The same truths with one are more true, with another less, and with another, falses because falsified.-H. D. 27.
SIXTY-FOURTH MEETING OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA 1890

SIXTY-FOURTH MEETING OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA              1890

     THE sixty-fourth meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania was held in the city of Philadelphia, Thursday to the LORD'S Day, November 21st to 24th, the deliberative, sessions being held at Glenn's Hall, corner Seventeenth and Brandywine Streets, the present place of worship of the Society of the Advent. On the LORD'S Day worship was conducted in the Hall of the Academy of the New Church, on invitation of that body. The sessions were well attended and a harmonious and pleasant sphere prevailed. The absence of Bishop Benade from his accustomed seat as presiding minister was deeply felt by all, but there was cause for rejoicing that the Divine Providence permitted him to gladden the assembly with his presence on two occasions during the deliberations, and also at the. Divine worship on the LORD'S Day. All the active ministers of the General Church were in attendance with one exception. The Pittsburgh Society was well represented. The Rev. F. E. Waelchli, of the Canada Association, was present as a visitor. Since the Rt. Rev. W. H. Benade, the Bishop of the General Church, could not be present during the entire time, by his request, Bishop Pendleton presided at the meeting. Morning sessions only were held, but an extra evening session was convened on Friday to complete the business of the meeting.
     Every day's session was opened with prayer, the reading of a selection from the Writings and of a chapter from the Sacred Scripture, and the singing of a chant. The custom is pretty well established in the General Church of thus substituting a lesson from the Writings in place of a second one from the Sacred scripture, in recognition of the Divine truth that the Doctrines are the Word as to the internal sense.
Divine Doctrine 1890

Divine Doctrine              1890

     Divine Doctrine is the Word in the internal sense in which the Lord's kingdom in the heavens and in the earths is treated of.-A. C. 3712.
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY 1890

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY              1890

                         Thursday, November 21st.
     AFTER the meeting had been duly opened and organized, the reports were read. Since Bishop Benade had not yet regained his wonted strength, the report of the Council of the Clergy embodied matters which otherwise would have been treated of by him in his annual address.

     REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY.

     This report referred to the Bishop's illness. It gave a brief account of the trial and separation of the former Pastor of the Advent Society, and of the disorders which spread from this Society to those in Brooklyn and Greenford, in which latter they were encouraged by the General Pastor of the Ohio Association. The report spoke of the formation of the new "Pennsylvania Association," and quoted in full a letter sent by the General Church to the new Association, and the reply by the President of the latter body. The movements of various Pastors and Ministers, the ordination of two Candidates, Messrs. Acton and N. D. Pendleton, were next treated of. Then followed sundry other matters. The remaining half of the report read as follows:

     ACCOUNT OF THE LATE MEETING OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION.

     "The meeting of the General Convention this year was held at Washington, D. C., in a Universalist Church. This offense against true order no doubt contributed not a little to the disorderly proceedings of this year's Convention, and helped to ultimate the state of injustice and uncharitableness which seemed to have obtained a hold on the minds of the majority of the Convention. Nearly all the members of this Council and a goodly number of delegates from the General Church were in attendance on the meeting, who all noticed that the spirit of the majority of the Convention was, from the outset, manifestly hostile to the General Church. The rulings of the presiding officer were manifestly unjust toward our members, and there was an apparent determination on the part of the majority to condemn, without investigation, the Bishop for the judgment rendered by him in the late Advent Society disturbances.

     COMMINGLING THE NEW CHURCH WITH THE OLD.

     "The offense against Order, of deliberating for the good of the New Jerusalem in a temple of the False Prophet, culminated in the Sunday worship, when the greater part of those attending Convention joined with the Universalists in worship conducted by the Universalist minister; who was assisted by the President of the Convention. Another Convention minister delivered the sermon. This mixed service had been predetermined and publicly announced. The members of the General Church of Pennsylvania and a few others considered this a distinct violation of a Divine Commandment, and were constrained to ask Bishop Benade to conduct the New Church services for them. He consented and assisted by the Rev. W. F. Pendleton, the Rev. John Whitehead, the Rev. Eugene J. E. Schreck, he conducted Divine worship in one of the parlors of "The Hamilton" hotel. Twenty-two persons were in attendance.
     "In the afternoon the Holy Supper was to be administered. The members of the General Church were again excluded from participation in this most holy sacrament by the use of two fluids for the representative of the LORD'S Divine Truth, namely, wine and must, which use had been formally justified by the Vice-President of the Convention.

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     CONVENTION VIOLATES THE DIVINE LAW AND ITS OWN CONSTITUTION.

     "Thus violating the Divine Law revealed: by the LORD, it is not surprising that the majority in the Convention violated the law which this body has framed for its own government; that is to say, the provisions of its. Constitution: An instance of this occurred when a petition signed for the most part by the members of the Advent Society, who had joined the Pennsylvania Association, was read, in which Convention was asked to reverse the judgment of Bishop Benade. According to the Constitution of Convention, this matter should have been referred to the Council of Ministers; but in violation of this it was referred to the General Council, consisting of laymen and ministers. In the evening of the day when this was done, the ministers and delegates of the General Church, with the exception of Bishop Benade, met, and requested the Rev. Leonard G. Jordan to specially represent them, when the General Council of Convention should take into consideration the reference of the memorial, for the purpose of entering a protest against said Council taking jurisdiction in the matter. The special representative was given an opportunity by the General Council to present a written brief, but otherwise they treated him rather curtly. The General Council did take jurisdiction in the matter, but reported that a thorough investigation of the case presented, in all its details of fact and principle, is hardly practicable, and not likely to lead to the best results. This decision did not suit the majority, who adopted as a substitute for it the following resolution:

     "'WHEREAS, In the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania it is stated that since the last meeting of the Convention the Rev. Louis B. Tafel has been enjoined from exercising the functions of his office within the limits of the General Church of Pennsylvania, and removed from the Pastorate of the Society of the Advent; and, whereas, no reasons are given for this action, wherefore injustice may he unwittingly done to our brother, the Rev. L. H. Tafel, in the minds of those unacquainted with the real causes of difference between him and his Bishop; therefore,
     "'Resolved That this convention, for the purpose of preventing any misconstruction of these circumstances, emphatically declares and places on record the statement that nothing in the differences above referred to affects in the slightest degree the standing of our brother, the Rev. L. H. Tafel as a minister, or diminishes the love and respect in which he is held by his brethren.'

     CONVENTION LED BY FEELING TO DO AN ACT OF GROSS INJUSTICE.

      "It indicates the state and temper of the meeting that in adopting this resolution they broke even ordinary parliamentary rules, notwithstanding that a prominent member, and one who is opposed to the principles of church government held by us, strenuously objected to it. His objection was overruled by the Chair. But more than this. The resolution was proposed by a person who, according to his own public confession, was under strong personal excitement during the meeting. Led by him, the majority, in adopting the resolution, rejected the deliberate conclusion of the General Council-that an investigation of the case was not practicable, nor likely to lead to the best results-and expressed a judgment on a case which they had not investigated, censuring, at least by implication, the General Church of Pennsylvania and its constituted authorities. And what reflects still more upon the justice and charity of the meeting is, that this resolution was introduced and adopted after Bishop Benade had expressed the willingness of himself and of the General Church of Pennsylvania that the whole case should be investigated. He said:

     BISHOP BENADE'S DECLARATION AT CONVENTION.

     "'So far as I am concerned I am quite well satisfied with the report of the General Council. I should be unwilling to appear before it, but I think that the report is about as right and as just as it could he made under the circumstances of the case. We objected to the injunction being considered by the General Council not because we did not desire an investigation, but because the manner of the proposed investigation is unconstitutional. It was our desire that there might be the fullest possible investigation of this subject and we proposed in the Council of Ministers that a tribunal of General Pastors should be formed by which such cases should be tried. I think it is right to the General Church that this should be stated here. Our action was taken under the law of our Church and of the Convention. We wish to be in order and to proceed according to order. The fact was not an act of the Bishop of that Church alone, but of the General Church of Pennsylvania by its constituted authorities, and it is not right to fasten it upon the one official. It must be understood that the action was the action of the law of the Church, to which the General Pastor or Bishop is subject, just as much as any other member. There is no distinction in what is called the prelatical order of the Church between the subjection of the ministers and that of laymen to the law of the Church. They look to that which they believe, to be the LORD'S Revelation, whether they hold this, that, or the other position. I think it is due to the General Church of Pennsylvania to state this. On the other hand, I wish to state that we accept no responsibility whatever, not the least, for anything that has been said, or that may be said or bruited about in the Church concerning the ideas, views, principles, and actions of those who have been engaged in this matter. That responsibility rests with those who have spoken without knowledge, or with knowledge but without consideration for the truth. Nor do we assume responsibility for what may be believed. This rests with those who believe. We hold ourselves responsible to the LORD for what we think, for what we do, and for what we say, not for what others may think or say or do. We believe what the LORD has taught in regard to Divine order in the Church, and to His teaching we are responsible-to His Truth as revealed we hold ourselves accountable. And thus we stand before you, willing to have that which we have done searched out to the heart and core, if it be done in the spirit of reverence for the Divine Law and for that which is true before God.
     "'On the other hand, I wish to say that the law of the Church makes a clear distinction among those to whom charity is to be shown. There is the charity of one degree which is shown to the individual; of another degree, to the community; of another, to the State; of still another, to the Church and to the Heavens; and to the LORD in the highest degree. In this matter, as the General Church of Pennsylvania has taken action as a body, I claim that the law of charity to be applied to it is higher than if applied to an individual.
     "'I present this for the consideration of those who have the idea of charity in their minds and have expressed themselves in respect to it. Let them reflect and remember that the first thing of charity, and also the very last of charity, for many years to come, is that men shun evils as sins against God, and in such matters as the one before us that they shun the evil of not first inquiring of their brethren who are charged with wrong-doing, before they make up their minds as to the truth of the accusation.'

     SUNDERING THE UNITY OF THE CONSTITUTION.

     "For several years the Convention's Constitution was so worded as to permit the various Associations to adopt each its own form church government under the general government of the Convention. Attempts, repeated for several years, to commit the Convention to another principle, met with success this year, and it adopted a section providing that 'an Association may,' with the sanction of the General Convention, temporarily vest the powers of the General Pastor in its Presiding Minister or Superintendent during his continuance in that office.
     "Loosely worded as this section is, it has already given rise to two distinct interpretations, but the effect of its adoption, in sundering the unity which had existed in Convention's Constitution was manifest in the number of further amendments proposed. By the adoption of this section as by other acts of Convention, its unity has been endangered. If there is to be a modus vivendi
the disorder that has been introduced must be rectified. The Bishop has expressed himself elsewhere in regard to this matter in words which, give such a clear analysis of the situation, that we considered useful to reproduce them here:
     "'The Convention's' relation to the associated bodies needs to be considered and regulated.

4


This cannot be brought into order until the Convention has one order for all, or is willing to give to each Association the right of independent action in its own affairs. We are actually divided into three parties, and if we are to be governed by majorities, and not by the Constitution, we can I only go forward toward dissolution. The law must be recognized and have all power. Otherwise we shall have anarchy.'

     "The state of things in Convention and the attitude of the majority toward the General Church of Pennsylvania led a member to propose to this Council to take into consideration whether this Church ought not to separate from Convention. The Council has not entered into a thorough consideration of the proposition, but recommends to the general meeting to consider the subject of the reciprocal relationship between the Convention and the General Church of Pennsylvania, and their respective spheres of usefulness."

     REPORTS OF MINISTERS.

     The report of the Rev. John Whitehead, the Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society, betokened a steady growth in that Society, especially among the children and the young people. Meetings for the promotion of sociability and intellectual and spiritual culture are encouraged. In speaking of these, Pastor Whitehead says in his report:

     "At most of our social meetings we have wine or punch served, and have been in the habit of doing this for the past nine years. We do this on principle, believing the use of wine to be a blessing and promoting a social sphere. Its use in connection with the Church under proper teaching shows to all that it is right and proper to use it, and guards against its abuse. In all my experience as pastor of the Society I have seen no indication of evil effects from its use, but, on the other hand, I think it is the only genuine means of curing excess."

     The Rev. Edward C. Bostock, Pastor of the Immanuel Church (Chicago), spoke in his report of the adoption of a new ceremony embodying the principle concerning the offerings for the support of the priesthood which had been discussed at the last meeting of the General Church. The new ceremony in the Immanuel Church is described in the Life for April, page 58.
     The Rev. Ellis I. Kirk reported concerning his work in the Clearfield district.
     The report of the Rev. Andrew Czerny, Pastor of the Greenford Society, contained an account of the troubles in Greenford, which were accompanied with acts of violence and led to an appeal to the civil court; which has granted an injunction restraining the disturbing elements from interfering with the peaceful worship of the Society. The report also complained of the interference of officials of the Ohio Association.
     The Rev. Eugene J. E. Schreck spoke in his report of the use of the Calendar to Pastors of Societies, as the concerted reading of the Writings and the Sacred Scripture keeps the minds of members in common lines of thought and affection, by which circumstance the Pastor can profit in his selection of a text.
     The report of the Rev. Leonard G. Jordan, Pastor of the Advent Society, gave some evidence of the auspicious beginning of his pastorate. In regard to a church building he says:

     "The Society has seriously considered the providing of a permanent place of worship but is not yet quite ready to do so. The building begun for that use will be placed on the market at once and disposed of as soon as possible. The feeling appears to be unanimous that it should not be completed and made the home of the Society. Meantime service will be held in as good a hall as can be procured."

     Reports were also read from the Rev. Messrs. Enoch Carl Odhner, William Henry Acton, N. Dandridge Pendleton, and W. F. Pendleton.
     During the reading of the reports, the arrival of Bishop Benade was announced. As he entered, the assembly rose, and remained standing while he advanced to the presiding minister, who took him by the hand and said: "The General Church of Pennsylvania greets its Bishop." Bishop Benade thanked him and took the chair, whereupon the assembly again seated themselves. This was the first public appearance of Bishop Benade since his attacks. The sphere during his reception was very strong, warm, and affecting, and expressed more powerfully than words the loving esteem in which their Bishop is held by the members of the General Church of Pennsylvania.
     The reading of the reports was continued. The ministers' reports were followed by those of societies, which were mainly statistical.

     CONVENTION AND THE PENNSYLVANIA CHURCH.

     After a short recess the assembly adopted the recommendation of the Council of the Clergy, to consider the subject of the reciprocal relationship between the General Convention and the General Church of Pennsylvania, and their respective spheres of usefulness.

     Mr. Macbeth introduced his remarks with the statement that this subject had come from the laity, a number of whom were dissatisfied with our remaining in connection with the Convention, an attitude which compromised us. He asked the Church to give reasons why this body should stay in the General Convention. He thought the report of the Council of the Clergy very temperate, and cited several lending incidents in the last three meetings of the Convention which had aroused his indignation.

     CONVENTION IN THE PAST THREE YEARS.

     At Detroit a woman was admitted as a delegate to Convention. When the Doctrine governing the question was about to be quoted by a minister of the General Church, closure was applied, and the Doctrine was ruled out, but leave was given another member to quote the laws and decisions of the civil authorities of the country. The woman was admitted for the reason given at the time that Convention did not wish to hurt the feelings of the Society that sent her. Somebody's feelings were preferred to the Doctrines of the Church.
     At the next meeting of Convention, in Boston, vicious attacks on the priesthood were made. No opportunity was lost of "nagging" at the General Church of Pennsylvania, as if they had been guilty of the crime of assuming dictatorial powers.
     During the following year an emissary of the Ohio Association deliberately encouraged disturbance in a society belonging to the General Church of Pennsylvania, instead of counseling moderation. "It takes no theologian to examine the facts of the case," said the speaker; "the General Church has been treated in a flagrant, outrageous manner."
     The speaker then referred to the Washington meeting of Convention, emphasizing the fact that the General Convention had officially asserted that Unitarianism and Universalism were good and true. He could not see that there was anything good and true in a Church which is just as far from the New Church as hell is from Heaven. We cannot wink at Unitarianism or associate with Unitarians. Yet Convention's Theological School has been removed to Cambridge, where it will be under the influence of Unitarians, and Unitarians have been lauded on the floor of Convention.     

     IS THE GENERAL CONVENTION A CHURCH?

     Bishop Benade suggested that Mr. Macbeth's question be taken into consideration, and asked the question whether the General Church of Pennsylvania, which is a church of the New Church could retain its connection with the General Convention, which is an annual meeting? At this annual meeting things are done, not by the Church, but by majorities.
     By Bishop Benade's request, the chapter on "The Church" in the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine was read, in which occurs the following teaching
     "In order that the Church may be, there must be doctrine from the Word, since without doctrine the Word is not understood; but doctrine alone does not make the Church with man, but a life according to doctrine. Hence it follows that faith alone does not make the Church, but the life of faith, which is charity.

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Genuine doctrine is the doctrine of charity and at the same time of faith, and not the doctrine of faith without charity; for the doctrine of charity and at the same time of faith, is the doctrine of life; but not the doctrine of faith without the doctrine of charity."-n. 243.
     Bishop Benade then applied the doctrine read to the General Convention, and said that if Convention be a Church it ought to be formed and governed by doctrine which is the LORD'S, as given to the human race at the present time for the salvation of man. All the laws of Divine order grounded in Divine truths which are now revealed, are those laws which are to govern the Church, and to make the Church. If the Convention be not a Church in this sense of the word, then the question is a very pertinent one, whether we wish to be with a body which is not a Church. The General Church had been instituted on the basis of the Divine revelation made for the salvation of men, at this time by the LORD, and its laws were all derived from the laws of order. Its Instrument of Organization shows that fully. It shows that this body is a Church. How can it then be a part of another body, which is not a Church? The Bishop thought that the question was a fundamental one. The Convention, as heretofore controlled and managed, was not governed by the laws of order, but by the votes of irresponsible majorities of certain annual meetings of men for the most part poorly instructed, but it was not governed by the teachings of the LORD. When these are read they turn aside, and go to the laws of the land, which are supposed to be superior. What forms Heaven, forms the Church. But there is no teaching in the Doctrines to show that the Heavens are governed as the Convention is, that the Heavens are a mere annual meeting. The Bishop then referred to the many teachings which plainly indicate the trinal order existing in all things that are according to order. There is what is general, singular, and particular. The particulars are parts of the general, and as such are organized as the general is. The organization of the Church, with its parts on earth, the-larger and smaller bodies, of course, rests upon its instrument of organization or its Constitution. It is a fact which is not fully recognized by the members of the Convention, that

     The CONSTITUTION BINDING THE PARTS OF THAT BODY IS A COMPROMISE-

avowedly a compromise. It was gotten up for a compromise. That is, the different parts of the Church yielded certain things which they believed, or accepted as true teachings, in order that there might be a union of many into one. A body constituted in that way, continued the Bishop, could only beheld together providing the guarantees of the Constitution are faithfully maintained. The moment they are not maintained, it is breach of good faith, that is, a disruption of the parts. The part injured is already in a state of separation. If such ruptures take place, as they do continually take place, breaking the compact by the votes of the majority, then there is no ground, or basis of union, which can be permanent. It seemed to the speaker that it was time to express, very distinctly and very decidedly, the views of the General Church on the situation, inasmuch as

     THE CONVENTION HAD DELIBERATELY AND REPEATEDLY BROKEN ITS COMPACT WITH THIS CHURCH.

     The Bishop then gave the history of the article on suspensions. Some years ago a minister was suspended by the General Church. The Convention undertook to investigate that act of suspension, and referred it to the Council of Ministers, which wasted a whole day in discussion of the case. It was then discovered that the article in the Constitution of the Convention on which the suspension rested might be interpreted in two different ways. In order to remedy the disorder a committee was appointed to revise it. It met and consulted. As they were dealing with a compromise Constitution, the representative of the General Church agreed to give the control of the suspension into the hands of the Convention, but insisted that an Association could not be deprived of its rights to keep its ministers in order. The article, as it now stands, was then written out, and proposed as an amendment, by the Vice-President, and adopted by Convention. It granted the right of injunction to the associated bodies. But although this right was thus granted to the Associations by the Constitution of Convention, this guarantee was deliberately broken. It was a matter of bad faith. It was a breach of contract totally inexcusable.
     The debate on the appeal, at the Washington meeting, which was just on this question, was deliberately cut off by the Chair putting the question, quite contrary to the law of right and order. The Bishop stated in conclusion that it was a question for the meeting to consider whether if the guarantees of the Constitution cannot be preserved the General Church does right in remaining in connection with them.
Lord's presence with man is in good 1890

Lord's presence with man is in good              1890

     The Lord's presence with man is in good, and therefore in what is just and equitable, and further in what is honorable and decorous.-A. C. 2915. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE LAITY 1890

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE LAITY              1890

                         Friday, November 22d.

     REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE LAITY.

     AMONG the reports read on the second day of the meeting was that of the Council of the Laity. Seven hundred and fifty copies of the Calendar had been printed, of which about 675 were sold and distributed. The Council had decided to pay certain specified sums to various officials in recognition of their services. A contribution of $100 had again been sent to the Rev. J. F. Potts as compiler of the Concordance. The report gave a list of the ministers and delegates present at the Washington meeting of the Convention, and then stated that
     "The members of the Council of the Laity, who represented the General Church as delegates at the recent session of the General Convention, unanimously wish to express their

     EMPHATIC PROTEST

against the manifest animosity shown toward this General Church of Pennsylvania by the attitude and actions of the General Convention, and to deplore that body's lack of adherence to its own Constitution, its lack of freedom in discussion, and its tendency to place human prudence above the Doctrine of the Church."
     The report also stated that the resolution of thanks to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm had been engrossed and sent to the officials named. Several of those who had labored in the General Church, as Candidates, had been presented with sets of the New York Latin Reprints of the Writings in recognition of their services. The expenses to Convention of the ministers in the pastoral degree had been defrayed by the Council. The General Church had its own stenographer at Convention, whose report was, in large part, published in the Life for June by the Council's consent. The Council furnished robes for the two Candidates who were ordained on June 16th.

     "In the contest between the Greenford Society and certain individuals claiming ownership of the church edifice, as referred to more fully in the report of Pastor A. Czerny, this Council employed legal counsel to defend the rights of the Society. An injunction was obtained from the civil court, restraining the disturbers from further interference. An application was made by the latter to have the injunction dissolved, but was refused by the court. The case is now on the list for trial next spring."

     The Council further reported the resignation of two members of the Council, one being caused by the Bishop's action in enjoining the Rev. L. H. Tafel; the other resignation was referable to the same cause. A third member of the Council had separated himself from the General Church. Seven hundred and fifty copies of the last Journal were printed and about 325 distributed. Fifteen Journals of the General Convention were received, and all the societies and circles of the General Church supplied.
     The treasurer reported a balance in the treasury last year,     $103 15
     Receipts from all sources from Nov. 1st, 1888, to Oct. 31st, 1889,
     1,951 06
     Total                                                  $2,054 21

     Expenditures during the same time, . . . . . . . . . . . .     1,931 71

     Balance in treasury, Nov. 1st, 1889, . . . . . . . . . . .     $122 50

6






     APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS.

     The presiding minister announced that the terms of a office of Chairman Pitcairn, Treasurer G. R. Starkey, and H. L. Burnham, of the Council of the Laity, had expired, and that Messrs. F. E. Boericke, Campbell, and John Czerny had in part resigned and in part separated themselves from the same Council during the past year. Bishop Benade had requested the Consistory to make nominations for the vacancies. They accordingly nominated Messrs. Pitcairn, G. R. Starkey, and H. L. Burnham to succeed themselves, and Messrs. W. C. Childs, R. Walker, and Jacob Schoenberger to succeed the other three gentlemen named. The nominations were unanimously accepted and confirmed. Mr. G. G. Starkey resigned as Secretary of the Council of the Laity. Dr G. R. Starkey likewise resigned the post of Treasurer, the resignations to take effect at the close of the meeting. The resignations were accepted. Dr. Starkey was appointed secretary, and Mr. Walter C. Childs, Treasurer.

     CONVENTION AND THE PENNSYLVANIA CHURCH.

     Consideration of the relation of the General Church to the Convention was resumed, and on motion of the Rev. J. Whitehead the subject was divided into two parts: First, the condition of the General Convention; secondly, the principles of the Church bearing on the case.
     Mr. G. A. Macbeth, the gentleman referred to in the report of the Council of the Clergy, read the letter which he had sent to Bishop Benade not long after the Washington meeting of the Convention. In this letter he states his belief that there was a widespread desire, at least among the laity, to leave the Convention. His reasons, based on his experiences at the meetings of that body, being that no mention is made of the Doctrines as a guide for action, except by members of the General Church of Pennsylvania and a few others; that the President does not seem to be elected as the representative of the highest learning in the Doctrines; that the Vice-President advocates mixing with Unitarians, teaches that fermented wine is the proper wine to be used at the Holy Supper, but that it is right to use the wrong thing; that the most influential layman is so by virtue of bluster; and that there is a very evident animosity against the General Church of Pennsylvania.

     Rev. Rev. Enoch S. Price quoted from the Constitution of the Convention before and after revision, so that the meeting might have clearly before it the definition which the General Convention gives of itself, and said that it appeared that the Convention is something more than a merely deliberative or a merely parliamentary body. In the Constitution as it now stands, there is much that is good, and were the Convention honest with itself it would be governed by the Doctrines of the Church, and the business managed accordingly. There was enough in the Constitution to bind the Convention to act according to the Doctrines of the Church, especially in regard to the Priesthood. The whole doctrine as summarized in the Heavenly Doctrine is quoted in full, in the present form of the Constitution of the Convention.

     The Rev. E. C. Bostock said that the Convention, according to its Constitution, is one thing, it is another as to what it is made by the principles and practice of those who have control of its meetings. According to its Constitution, were the doctrine of the priesthood is recognized, it is organized as a Church. But practically it is made by those who have control of its meetings into a mere meeting in which all subjects are decided according to the whim of the majority, as they may be led by their leaders without regard to the laws of the Church or the laws of their own Constitution.

     HOW THE GENERAL COUNCIL RECEIVED THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE.

     The Rev. L. G. Jordan gave an account of his reception by the General Council of the Convention, as special representative of the ministers and delegates of the General Church of Pennsylvania, in the matter spoken of in the report of the Council of the Clergy, a reception which was insulting to the body whom he represented.     

     He learned when the General Council was to have a session, and went to the place of meeting in advance of the time appointed, and found the Chairman, to whom he presented his letter of authorization. The Chairman took it and read it, spending sufficient time upon it to have read every word without any difficulty whatever. He then said to Mr. Jordan that he should have an opportunity to make the protest. He asked the Chairman if when the Council took the matter up, he would notify him. He said he would do so. Mr. Jordan said, "I will be seated here in close proximity to the ante-room, where the Committee meet, ready to be summoned when you bring the matter up." The Chairman returned the letter to Mr. Jordan and then began to express great sorrow at the course of the members of the General Church of Pennsylvania at several Conventions. Not only at that one, but at others. He made such sorrowful complaints that they affected Mr. Jordan considerably, complaints of members absenting themselves from meetings of the Convention, not joining as brethren in the various exercises, etc. and he seemed to be so much touched by it, that Mr. Jordan said to him, "When I return to Philadelphia I will make it a point to call upon you and talk this matter over with you," and stated that as he was not connected with the General Church of Pennsylvania, he had hopes that he might serve as an intermediary, and help to mend the breach, an d bring those who were apparently separated together. In that way they continued their conversation for a few moments. The Chairman was then called away to the meeting of the Council. The special representative of the General Church sat there for some time, perhaps ten minutes, and got no call. At last he was notified to enter the ante-room. He did so, and respectfully addressed the Chairman, stating that he had a point to which he wished to call the attention of the Council. The Secretary complained that he would be unable to take down what he had to say, and wished to have it in writing. Mr. Jordan asked permission to retire for a few minutes, and write it out. That leave was given, and he scratched down the protest as well as he could in that short time. He returned, and asked permission to read it, which was given. Then he stood for a moment or two, as the Chairman began to talk about the Committee being the servant of the Convention, leaving the special representative in doubt as to whether they wished anything more of him. Finally the Chairman stated that that was all they required. So he left. But he had left something behind in the room, and returned for it. Finding they apparently had the subject in hand, he requested permission, if they were going on with the matter, to present another point. The Chairman then, in rather an abrupt, and not altogether gentlemanly way, said, "Well, we don't need any one to come here to instruct this Council." The special representative replied: "It would indeed be impertinent on the part of any one to attempt to instruct the Council, and it is unfair to assume-" He had got to this point, when the Chairman interrupted him with "That is sufficient! that is sufficient!" in quite a vehement manner, and refused to allow him to proceed. Of course it was no place to make protest against this treatment, and he immediately withdrew. This fact derived point from the circumstance that the sole object for which that Council was called, and the immediate business on which they entered, was the consideration of this matter, and had it not been for a certain circumstance, the Chairman would have entirely broken faith with him, and would not have given him the hearing he had promised. The speaker stated that he thought that the Chairman had deliberately broken faith in this matter of the protest on the part of the General Church of Pennsylvania. He believed that the facts in the case fully warrant such a charge. This was one of those instances which show the attitude of the General Convention to the General Church of Pennsylvania.
     Mr. Whitehead, who is a member of the General Council of the Convention, gave the following account, saying he did it in order that Mr. Giles' own explanation might be had. "The Chairman immediately opened the meeting, and went on to the matter that had been referred to it. I then called attention to the fact that the delegates of the General Church of Pennsylvania had sent a messenger was a protest against the matter being considered in the General Council.

7


The Chairman then made the statement that he did not understand that the representative wanted to be heard before the General Council. I corrected his impression, and it was in consequence of this that the representative was called."
      Mr. Jordan said that it was in view of this defense that he had called attention to the wording of the note which he had handed to the Chairman, and which was addressed to the General Council, and authorized Mr. Jordan to act as special representative when this council should consider the matter referred to them.

     RULINGS IN THE CONVENTION NOT BASED ON DOCTRINE.

     Mr. Macbeth stated, in further explanation of his letter read on the previous day, that during the last three Conventions there had not been a single ruling of the Chair based on the Doctrines. He could find no reason why the present incumbent should be the President, except as a matter of feeling. He believed that any impartial man, in or out of the Church, would come to the same conclusion.
     Mr. Macbeth again referred to the admission of the woman delegate. From a common-sense point of view, the President should have at once ruled according to the Doctrines that a woman could not be admitted as a delegate. It is very simple. But the President did not rule thus, and much time was wasted over the matter. It was their feeling-their kind feeling-that prevented their acting according to the truth. In Washington a member nominated Mr. Tafel in the place of Mr. Whitehead, and talked about injustice, etc., before he stated the object for which he got up. He made this nomination, most apparently, from

     ANIMOSITY TOWARD THE GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA.

     That seems to be the motive in many cases. It is either very had feeling or goody-goody feeling. If he had said that he believed Mr. Tafel was a better man for the position than Mr. Whitehead, his word might have been doubted, but he had a right to do that. And then why was not the nomination made, seconded, and put? Because another member asked that the motion be withdrawn-because Mr. Tafel would be sure not to be elected. The nomination was withdrawn because it would not accomplish the object of the mover. "You cannot uphold such-a body. There is no idea of order there."

     THE "MAGAZINE'S UTTERANCES.

     The Rev. C. T. Odhner called attention to the unfriendly attitude which various journals of the Church, notably the New Jerusalem Magazine, have for several years held toward the General Church of Pennsylvania. While the Magazine does not officially represent the General Convention, it was shown that it represents, in fact, the New England Church, which largely rules in the Convention. Mr. Odhner then read a number of extracts from the Magazine, in which the General Church had been criticised, at first somewhat frankly, but of late years in an underhand, insinuating manner. When the General Church had, in
1883, adopted its present Constitution, notice was made of this movement in an article in the Magazine for May, 1883. The full liberty of the General Church to develop its own forms of Order was then admitted, a liberty which the same journal has lately deprecated. In July, 1885, the Magazine began to show its animus toward the General Church by insinuating that it was "a principle of this body to maintain a certain discipline over those composing it, or who have been joined to it, even when they have gone to another Association, or if they reside in foreign lands."
     Speaking again, in January, 1886, the editor thus criticises the action of the Immanuel Church of Chicago in joining the General Church: "This ceasing to assist the Association in its own State, and joining one which meets hundreds of miles away seems an anomaly, and does not seem to proceed from considerations of use." This extract was read to show that the majority in the Convention does not recognize the doctrine that Association is based on similarity of state, and not upon mere space. In the year 1888, the Magazine's attacks upon the General Church and its officers began to become more virulent as well as less frank, and this year the hostility of this journal has culminated. Thus, in January, 1889, a sally was made evidently against the Bishop of the General Church, insinuating that he thought more of titles and authority than of use. This was repeated in March, 1889, when the editor, speaking of two classes of thinkers in the Church, speaks of the one with which he is not in sympathy in the following remarkable manner: "There have always been some not inclined to practical matters, and these have felt that order, in and by itself, was the great aim. Taking little interest in pastoral duties, they have insisted that, as use could not be without order, so in finding what order required use would be cared for. But, by removing the mind from consideration of use, they have seemed to lose practical wisdom. Rules of order, at great length, have been proposed by those not succeeding well in practical work titles have been introduced with only a shadow of reality, and great schemes have been put upon paper, which had no foundation in uses to be performed."
     Again, in July, 1889, the General Church, though not openly named, is criticised as follows: "The discussion which followed [on the paper on Communion Wine, read to the Council of Ministers in Washington] showed that the unbending spirit, which leads to divided Societies and ministers enjoined from preaching, would refuse the communion to those who might not wish to take fermented wine. This spirit, represented by a few sitting in the rear seats and acting always in concert, did not permit them to be present at all on Sunday and led to some unavoidable personal matters. On these we do not need to dwell, because these brethren, taking no part in the active uses of the Convention for the benefit of mankind, seem to us not to be in the light with respect to these uses, and of these alone we and our readers wish to speak and hear." In curious connection with this alleged non-co-operation, the same article speaks of the "deeply interesting" report of the Rev. W. H. Benade on the publication of Swedenborg's Manuscripts made at the late session of the Convention in Washington. Further in the same article, the action of the majority in the Convention in the case of the memorial from the Rev. L. H. Tafel's people, is interpreted the Magazine as "implying censure of those who removed him" [Mr. Tafel.]
     "Unity of the Spirit" was the heading of the next article read from the September number of the Magazine. The animosity against the General Church is there more bitter than ever. Without naming this body the editor accuses it "of looking at doctrine in itself and of refusing to view it in the light of use," of inclination "to rule imperiously, reproving rather than commending," of having for its chief anxiety "minute correctness of doctrine," while "evils of life are in danger of being overlooked by it," etc., and continues, "so far as this form of faith alone exists in our organization, we are weakened by its opposition to our all important uses of [1] Sunday schools, [2] missions, [3] publication, and [4] the training of ministers. It takes no interest in these uses as carried on. Defects in arrangements it points out as if pleased to find them. As rules of order have a doctrinal quality, it takes an interest in them, but with the working body, or the worshiping body, it has little or no part. It seems to view the wounded man of humanity and to pass by on the other side." The article then goes on to question: "Does the effort to conciliate such in order to hold them in our ranks approve itself as leading to good? Do those who are always anxious not to hurt the feelings of their condemning brethren accomplish anything by their compliance?"
     The article ended with a very distinct reference to a possible future separation of the General Church by the Convention.
     The last attack of the Magazine that was referred to was the editor's assertion in the number for November, 1889, that the General Church was "somewhat if not wholly controlled by a small secret society, and not acting with the Church at large, but inclined to criticise its methods." The speaker ended by referring to Wm. McG.'s, Jr., significant statement in the Messenger for September 18th, which, in connection with other things, seemed to indicate that a plan was being formed among the leaders of the Convention for a more ultimate attack upon the General Church.

     ATTITUDE OF THE OHIO ASSOCIATION.

     Mr. Macbeth said in regard to the Greenford matter, that one of the ministers of the Ohio Association seemed to take particular pleasure in his position as an agitator, or as saying to the disturbing element in Greenford, "You are right! Go ahead!" This minister had styled the Pastor of the Greenford Society as an Academy man. That was mentioned particularly-an Academy man. As if this definition were a terrible record. He did not give any reason why this should make him obnoxious, except that he did not like an Academy man. When the Association interfered in the Greenford matter, not one word was said to the pastor, as the head of the Society, nor to the General Church of Pennsylvania as the Association to which the Society belongs. When Mr. Macbeth mentioned the matter to the General Pastor of the Ohio Association he asked him, "What objection have you to the General Church of Pennsylvania?" He answered, "You are priest ridden."

8


Now, an ordinary mortal might say that, and one might be sorry for him, but when it came to a General Pastor telling a layman that the General Church of Pennsylvania is priest-ridden, it was a little more than talk. The General Pastor could not give any reason, when asked for such. He said he had never been at a session of the General Church of Pennsylvania. He could not tell on what ground he based his opinion. But there was that in his manner that convinced Mr. Macbeth that he was ready to throw in the minds of any one the idea that the General Church of Pennsylvania was priest-ridden.
     Mr. Macbeth stated that since he had written the letter he had had an opportunity of thinking and talking the matter over, and had come to the conclusion that we ought to remain in the General Convention. It seemed to him that the definition in the Writings of what the Church is was so very complete and full that it left us in the position that we must believe that we are the Church without the shadow of a doubt. "If so to whom do all these uses belong, but to us? and if we did leave the Convention it would look to me as if we had left these uses. We must stay in and do our duty fearlessly. We must leave the matter to the disposition of a kind Providence. The truth must prevail."
     Mr. Schoenberger: "The first General Convention which I visited was the one held last spring in Washington. To my great surprise I noticed and felt a sphere of great discord, and came to the conclusion that the proceedings were more Old than New Church. I learned that the Constitution was being changed in some respects altogether to suit the disorderly notions of certain branches of the Convention, so that as the Constitution now stands, it contradicts itself, and is in opposition to itself, for the simple reason that the majority of the Convention do not acknowledge the Heavenly Doctrines as being Divine; they do not acknowledge the Second Coming of the LORD in the Revelation made to us by the Divine Mercy of the LORD-in the Spiritual Sense of the Word given to us, not from any spirit or angel, but from the LORD alone.

          SEPARATE FROM CONVENTION?

     "Divine Truth created the universe, Divine Truth creates the Church within man. Divine Truth only creates a Church in general, and it is and must be the centre of everything that is of the Church; it is the case of true order within the Church. In the Convention, the General Church is in the minority, although it is based upon the solid principles of the Doctrines. Shall the heavenly truths maintained by us mix up with the majority's disorder and falsities? Will they not be deprived of their freedom to perform the high use of saving mankind for Heaven? Shall and must not the General Church of Pennsylvania establish itself independently on these Divine truths and true order (on the foundation on which, to my mind, it is now built up), in order that it may carry out successfully the use which the LORD has committed to it? As matters stand now, I cannot see that our principles can be carried out to further the welfare of the New Church a Convention, in such a Convention, any more than they can enter into the Old vastated Church, and turn it inside out, and make a New Church out of it.
     "As I understand it, the genuine doctrines held by the General Church of Pennsylvania were held years ago by several solid Newchurchmen that would have liked to establish the Church upon them, but the same spirit that animates the General Convention existed then, and the uses could not be performed as desired. Now, after the life-long efforts, hard-work, and temptations of our worthy Bishop, we ought to stand by him to carry out his clear teachings by fronting the General Convention boldly, holding solid ground, moving neither one way nor the other, but proclaiming the 'thus saith the LORD.' With this weapon we can fight them; and if they will not acknowledge His holy Works, it would be best, to my mind, to separate. This, I am afraid, will have to be done sooner or later, in order that we may be in the fullest freedom, and I think that the sooner the separation takes place the better."

     THE LEADERS OF CONVENTION RESPONSIBLE.

     Mr. W. C. Childs spoke of Mr. Odhner's statement that the extracts he quoted showed the animus of the majority in the Convention against the General Church of Pennsylvania. As the speaker understood it, he thought Mr. Odhner meant that they were extracts to show the animus of those controlling the General Convention. He thought it very important to put the blame where it belongs. He did not believe that the general body of the New Church would be opposed to the General Church if they were in freedom. They were misled. The blame ought to be placed where it belongs and nowhere else.
     Mr. Odhner agreed with Mr. Childs.
     Mr. Bostock thought it proper in this arraignment of those who are the leaders in the General Convention, and who control it, to mention the fact that some of these leaders themselves had circulated slanders concerning the private lives of those who are members of the General Church of Pennsylvania.

     CONVENTION'S LAWS VS. ITS PRACTICE.

     Mr. Schreck spoke of the distinction that had been made between the Convention as to its Constitution, and as a practical working body. It had been pointed out in the report of the Council of the Clergy, that in particular cases the General Convention violates its Constitution, and rising above its laws acted as it chooses. Doctrine prescribes that laws should be enacted by those skilled in the law, wise and fearing God, and that these laws should be lived up to. The laws of the General Convention have been formulated by men who were thought to come up to these requirements. They had formulated the Constitution to the best of their ability; but after it was adopted by the Convention, that body, instead of subjecting themselves to it, had systematically placed themselves above it. According to its law the Convention is a Church, but practically, it is an annual meeting. The question in which all here were particularly interested was, "Can we any longer be associated with other persons who do not recognize the common law, but who violate it?" It had been stated that the rulings in the Convention had not been in accordance with the Doctrine. Of course, the general temper of the Convention being to repudiate the authority of its Constitution, it would prevent the bowing to the authority of the LORD, and the going to the LORD for the truths that should govern the body. The Convention was not in the order prescribed in the doctrine which is incorporated into the Constitution. In the preamble of the Constitution, provisions are made for the maintenance of order, but the doctrines stated there are not met with in the rest of the Constitution. It is stated in the preamble that "there must be rulers to keep associations of men in order, who shall be skilled in the laws, wise, and fearing God. There must also be order among the rulers, lest any from caprice or inexperience, should permit evils against order, and so destroy it: which is guarded against when there are higher and lower rulers, among whom there is subordination." Now the General Convention as a body knew of this doctrine, gave it formal acknowledgment by incorporating it in its Constitution, but it did not believe in it and live according to it. There was in the Convention no "order among the rulers." There were no higher or lower rulers. How then could there be order? The idea of subordination is repudiated, and the amendment to the Constitution adopted at the Washington meeting gave form to this rejection of the doctrine of order and subordination. The speaker drew attention to the reason why there must be order among the rulers: "lest any, from caprice or ignorance, should permit evils against order and so destroy it." According to this doctrine, it is inevitable that where no order and subordination obtain, caprice and ignorance rule and, sanction evils which are contrary to order and thereby destroy it. And the history of the Convention amply confirmed this. The caprice and ignorance of men had been suffered to lead the annual majorities to commit evils contrary to and destructive of order.
Where there is doctrine and no life 1890

Where there is doctrine and no life              1890

     Where there is doctrine and no life, there neither the church nor religion can be said to be.-A. R. 923.
CONVENTION AND THE PENNSYLVANIA CHURCH 1890

CONVENTION AND THE PENNSYLVANIA CHURCH              1890

                         Saturday, November 23d.

     AFTER the opening services and preliminary business Mr. Boyesen withdrew as representative for the Allentown Church in favor of Mr. John Waelchli, duly accredited delegate, who had arrived at the meeting.

     CONVENTION AND THE PENNSYLVANIA CHURCH.

     Consideration of the subject of the relation of the General Church of Pennsylvania to the General Convention was resumed, Mr. Zinn reading as germane thereto the passages on page 75 et seq. of the Journal of 1887 in regard to a New Revelation as being the first essential in the establishment of the Church, and spoke of the tendency in Convention of ignoring the New Revelation and preferring men's opinions.

9




     IS CONVENTION A CHURCH?

     Mr. Schreck continued his remarks of yesterday, and referred to a recent observation of Bishop Benade's that it is very important in discussing a matter to find out what the thing is which is being discussed. We know what the General Church is. It is a Church, not a mere annual meeting; it is a body of men organized in the human form before the LORD-a Church which lives throughout the year, and not only two or three days. As to the Convention, what is it? Is it a Church? In the doctrine quoted the day before yesterday from The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, it was stated that, "in order for a Church to be, there must be doctrine from the Word. . . . But doctrine alone does not make the Church, but a life according to it." That is true of the individual man, and it is true of the composite man; of the Church in the individual and of the Church in general. As to whether the Church is with any one man, every one has to judge of that for himself. No one can judge another in regard to that. But in regard to the Church in the aggregate all can judge. The Doctrines teach, in regard to the truths which constitute the Doctrines, that the first thing is to know them, then follows the acknowledgment of them, and, finally, faith in them-a living faith, an absolute confidence and trust in them, that they are the LORD, which leads to a life according to them, for faith without life is not faith. The Convention has known the doctrine bearing particularly on its work as a Church body, and mainly through the instrumentality of the ministers of the General Church of Pennsylvania and its delegates, it has come to an acknowledgment of it, so that, for example, it publishes the doctrine on the subject of the priesthood in its Constitution every year. But does it believe in these doctrines? Does it live according to them? The Church is a Church not by virtue of doctrine alone, but by virtue of a life according to it. With the Church in the aggregate, the life consists in an application of the truths of doctrine to the actions of the Church. Contrast with this the fact that the rulings of the President of Convention seldom if ever, expressed the doctrines of the Church. The rest of the constitution provides little for the truth of doctrines being applied to the practical affairs of the Church. One of the most important things in a Church is the recognition of the priesthood, in persons to whom that office has been adjoined, and who should be, according to the doctrines, "wise, skilled in the law, and fearing God. There must also be order among the priests, lest any, from caprice or ignorance, permit evils which are contrary to order and thereby destroy it, which is guarded against where there are higher and lower priests among whom there is subordination." That doctrine, though published by Convention, is not at all believed in by it as a body. It therefore has not lived according to it. It follows that the Convention cannot be a Church, for doctrine alone without life according to doctrine is not a Church. What then is it? The General Church of Pennsylvania as a General Church acts according to the laws of order. Now, it would be orderly and right for such a General Church to be organized with other similar Church bodies into a more general Church, so that the whole may he constituted of homogeneous parts, and the parts may make and give character to the whole. Is our part of the Church homogeneous with the whole? We are a Church, the Convention is not. The Convention has been stated to be an annual meeting. It is that. A number of Churches, as represented by their ministers and delegates, meet and consult together to a certain extent concerning certain uses to be performed. But these uses as carried out are not those Church uses to which the Church of the New Jerusalem ought to be devoted.

     CONVENTION DOES NOT WORSHIP THE LORD IN HIS SECOND COMING.

     The most general use for the existence of the Church is the maintenance of the priesthood. We know from The True Christian Religion (n. 55), that in the Church, "the laws concerning God make the head, the laws concerning the neighbor make the body, and ceremonies make the vestments; for unless the latter contain the others in their order it would be as if the body were stripped naked," etc. Now, what is the attitude of the General Convention in regard to those law's which constitute the head of worship the LORD JESUS CHRIST, but they have not come to worship Him in the Divine Human, which He assumed and glorified, and in which He has power come with power and great glory. If this be the state of the head, no wonder that the state of the body is such as has been described. The laws concerning the neighbor make the body, and among the first of them are the laws concerning the priesthood. How these are treated by Convention has been stated. Still less cause for wonder is there that to those laws which concern the dress, and should contain the rest, hardly any attention is paid. If this view of the case be correct, the Convention is not a Church, although the speaker wished it to be well understood that he believed most of those who constitute the Convention are Churches individually. But he was speaking of the General Convention as a Church in the aggregate. It is not a Church, judged by the truth that the LORD has revealed concerning "the order, according to which the Church is established by God." The question then arises: "What is our relation to the Convention?" He supposed that they had stayed in it all this time, because they had recognized that they were all conjoined in the most general acknowledgment of the most general doctrine of the New Church. But was this enough? Must not the bond be both internal and external, it order that it may be complete, that all might work together in the establishment of the New Jerusalem for the greater glory of the LORD? There certainly was a use in various Church bodies coming together to perform certain uses. But could the General Church labor together with the other Associations? Had they been doing so? It has been charged that they did little else but discuss doctrines. Naturally so, because the Doctrines are the first and most interior things of those laws which constitute the body of the Church. If the doctrine concerning the government of the Church and its order be acknowledged, and be lived up to, then the other laws which constitute the body of the Church will flow from it, and will be in order also.

     THE USES PERFORMED BY CONVENTION.

     In the enumeration of the uses performed by the Convention, quoted from one of the Church journals, there was first the Sunday-school, then missions, then publishing, and, finally, the training of ministers. Taking the last use enumerated first, as it is the most important, could the General Church labor together with them in that use? They had not been doing so. They had convictions on the subject, but they had not been able to influence the Convention-to lead them to the acknowledgment and reception of the true principles, without which ministers cannot be trained aright; and since another Theological School had been established, in which the training is done more satisfactorily, there seemed to be no reason why the General Church should co-operate with the various bodies of the Convention in that use. They had no common ground, in regard to that which is the principal use of the general body of the Church. In respect to the use of publishing: The most important things for the New Church to publish were the Word and the Writings. The Convention does not publish the Word, although there is room for the work. Neither does it publish the Writings. The trustees of the Rotch fund have published a few. But even this is practically a private institution which reports to Convention. Convention has nothing to say about it. The body that does publish the Writings is entirely separate from Convention-The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, which, by the way, did the work in a most satisfactory manner, better, probably, than the Convention as now constituted could do it, even if it devoted itself to that use. But it does not devote itself to it. The Convention is an organization which is supposed to dispense the light of the "new dispensation," as they call it (though this term is not used in the Writings), all over the earth by collateral literature. But the body that does this, although nominally under the control of the Convention, is practically independent. Practically the Convention does not publish anything. In regard to the missions, how can the General Church, cooperate with the Convention when they never go to the Writings for the principles that should govern true missionary work, but prefer the opinions of men? In regard to the Sunday-schools, it is most illogical to call this one of the uses of Convention. It is attended to by the Sunday-school Association of the United States of America, which has no connection with the Convention, except that the members of that Association are also members of the General Convention, and make reports to the latter body.
     If such is the state of the uses of the Convention, what is the Convention? Its head is sick, its body, is in disorder, and it has few and ill-fitting garments.

      UTTERANCES OF CONVENTION'S LEADERS.

     The Rev. Enoch S. Price quoted from an address delivered before Convention by the resident professor of Convention Theological School, the following paragraph, which was undoubtedly directed against the representatives of the General Church of Pennsylvania:

     "One said once turning back, discouraged from a Convention, 'I find that I have not enough ambition.' So it looked to him, as if it took ambition, push, willingness to take blows in debate, ability to read the Bible from on one hand and do sword play with the other. Alas for the impression. It was the ineffaceable and soon showed its effect.

10



     This is an obstacle which we must remove, or perish in the attempt. If we have querulous men or argumentative men or quibbling men or aspiration-trampling men of any sort, we must apply cloture, or let them talk and then go calmly on with the next order of business."
     The Vice-President of the Convention, in a speech on the subject of the training of young men for the ministry, uttered these words, which Mr. Price immediately noted: "The Doctrines are not the LORD-they are the means of coming to the LORD-they are the way to the LORD."
     Then the President, following in his annual address, said, "These truths are the means of the LORD making his Second Coming," entirely ignoring that Swedenborg says that "the Advent of the LORD" was written on his works in the Spiritual world, and on two copies in this world.
     Mr. Price then referred to his attendance on Convention at four meetings. He did not speak except to correct an error in an address. There was very little patience in the Convention in listening to the elder men, but none at all in listening to the young men. The sphere had always been made a suffocating one. It took a great deal of nerve to ask a question. At the late meeting the only paper by a minister of the General Church of Pennsylvania, read in the Council of Ministers, was immediately followed by a motion to adjourn, nor was it ever referred to again, although it was just as much the property of that body of the Convention as any of the other papers. Although nearly all the other papers were, by vote, offered to the Church journals, nothing was said about printing this. All this showed the spirit of the Convention. They do not wish young men to speak upon any subject, not even to ask a question, because their questions may be uncomfortable.
     The paper, which is the expression of the opinion of the majority of the Convention, does not wish that young men who have any zeal for the Doctrines should enter the ministry, whatever ability he might have. It would seem that they desire young men who have the faculty of accommodation to popular ideas for the ministry.

     CONVENTION DENIES THE DIVINE HUMAN NOW REVEALED.

     Mr. Czerny considered the statement by Mr. Schreck that the General Convention does not acknowledge the LORD in the Divine Human, as the most serious one if it could be verified. If it could be it would at once show the difference between the General Church and the General Convention. If the General Convention does not acknowledge the LORD in His Divine Human it is not the New Church, for that is founded on this acknowledgment. He should like to hear the proofs.
     Mr. Schreck replied that Mr. Czerny could not have understood his words. The Convention does acknowledge the Divine Human of the LORD in a certain way, but not as it is now revealed. They acknowledge the LORD in His first coming. They acknowledge that the LORD JESUS CHRIST came on earth, and glorified His Human, but they do not recognize that in this Human made Divine Good and Divine Truth He now appears before men. The Writings are the Divine Human of the LORD, but this is not acknowledged by the Convention. The speaker had not considered it necessary to adduce proofs because there were so many of them; he merely referred, for the present, to the statement of the Vice-President of the Convention, who is also the Principal of its Theological School, which Mr. Price had quoted: "The Doctrines are not the LORD-they are the means of coming to the LORD-they are the way to the LORD." Also to the statement of the President: "These truths are the means of the LORD'S making His Second Coming." If the Doctrines are not the LORD what are they? They are something which is not the LORD, and which, therefore, is finite. The same heresy that invaded the first Christian Church has come into the New Church. And as in the First Christian Church so in the New Church, it arises from not clearly understanding the LORD'S teachings. Arianism acknowledges a God, but denies that the Person JESUS CHRIST is that God. In the Convention the LORD JESUS CHRIST is, indeed, acknowledged as God, but it is denied that the Writings are the LORD.
     The discussion then turned on the establishment of the Theological School of the Convention in the headquarters of Arianism, Cambridge, which was thought to be representative of their state.
     They had an avowed sympathy for the Unitarianism in Cambridge; which probably arose from their internal sympathy with it.
     
     THE UNITARIAN IDEA OF DIVINITY.

     Mr. Jordan spoke in this connection of the address of the President of the Theological School, when one of the reasons for going to Cambridge was stated to be that they might derive benefit from association with those people. The speaker then referred to the praise accorded by the representatives of Convention's Theological School to Dr. Peabody for saying that he thought that one could not too much exalt the divinity of the LORD, as if this indicated a reception of the truth of the Divine Humanity. Yet Dr. Peabody had made this reservation: "But there are logical difficulties in the way of preaching it." Theological difficulties. They cannot exalt the Divinity of the Lord too highly! That is the Unitarian idea. Some exalt it only a little, some even say that the LORD was a deliberate impostor. When a man says the Divinity of the LORD cannot be exalted too much, it immediately becomes a question of degree. He makes a logical point at which he must stop. He cannot preach it.
     Mr. Bostock referred to the view which Unitarians have of Divinity. They say they believe in the Divinity of the Word, and then show that there are mistakes in the Word. They ascribe Divinity to the Koran.
     Mr. Pitcairn spoke of the teaching in the Arcana Coelestia, that the LORD is doctrine.

     THE CHURCH'S TEACHINGS.

     After a recess of five minutes the second branch of the subject before the meeting was taken up, namely, the principles of the Church bearing on the case.
     Mr. Whitehead quoted the preamble of Convention's Constitution, which he characterized as "the very esse of the Convention."

     THE LORD REMAINS WITH THE CHURCH.

     He acknowledged that the Convention is in disorder, but asked "because some self-willed men have gotten the Convention into such a state, that they act contrary to its essential principles, shall we desert it? I say by no means. If we do we are recreant to the trust that the LORD has given us." He then called attention to the Doctrine concerning Moses, who represented the Divine Truth immediately proceeding from the Lord, in other words, doctrine. The Israelites represent the remains in the Old Church. When they leave Egypt, they represent the remains beginning to be organized into the New Church. In the first place Moses received the revelation from the LORD before leaving Egypt. The first revelation for the Church was in general form. After coming out of Egypt they received the particulars of the revelation. As the speaker understood this, it is that after coming out of Egypt with the remains, the principles of the Church which were revealed before, were seen in their particular application, such as they were not, and could not have been seen before. Moses represented Doctrines revealed by the LORD. Moses was the head. He was obeyed until something occurred that was not liked by the people, and then they were a stiff-necked and rebellious people. They did not do what Moses wanted them to do, or what the LORD wanted them to do. When the leaders of the rebels became too obstreperous they were destroyed, but the people remained. The Divine Truth does not desert the remains, but abides, and reduces the state into order.

     GOOD FIGHTS BY TRUTH.

     Mr. Whitehead read n. 86 of The True Christian Religion, which gives the reason "why JEHOVAH God descended into the world as Divine Truth. It was that He might do the work of redemption, and redemption was the subjugation of the hells, the arrangement of the heavens into order, and after this the establishment of a Church. To effect these things the Divine Good does not avail, but the Divine Truth from the Divine Good. Nor could the falsities and evils in which all hell was, and continually is, be attacked, conquered, and subjugated otherwise than by the Divine Truth from the Word; nor could the new heaven which also was then made he founded, formed, and arranged in order by any other means; nor could the New Church upon earth be established by any other means. Moreover, all the strength, all the virtue, and all the power of God, is of the Divine Truth from the Divine Good."
     In this passage and in n. 87, the nature of Divine Truth, and that all Spiritual combat from it, is shown, and that without this combat the Church cannot be established.

     PEACE ATTAINED BY COMBAT.

     In n. 301, 302 the six days of labor are said to represent the Spiritual labors and combats of the LORD and man, and it is only by passing through these states of combat that a state of spiritual peace can be attained.

11




     No 596 shows that the internal is first reformed by means of truths, and from these it sees what is evil and false in the external or natural man. Then dissension arises between the reformed internal and the unreformed external, then a combat arises, and whichever conquers obtains the dominion over the other.
     In Arcana Coelestia, n. 8695 to 8617, the conflict of the Israelites with Amalek is described, and Joshua was appointed by Moses to lead the Israelites in battle. In this series of the Word, the conflict of the Divine Truth against interior falsities and evils is described. Joshua represents the Divine Truth combating, and "that it may become combating it inflows into such angels as are in the ardent zeal for truth and good, and from that zeal are excited to combat. Because this truth was represented by Joshua he was made leader over the sons of Israel after Moses, and introduced into the land of Canaan and fought with the nations there," (A. C. 8596.)

     THE COMBAT MUST BE FROM CHARITY.

     Truth Divine is made combating by conjunction with those who are in zeal. These fight, but not from enmity and hostility, but rather from charity. (A. C. 8598.)
     In truth combating there is power from good, for alt the power which is in truth it has from the good which is in it. The reason is because the Divine is in good, and through good in truth, but it is not in truth without good. (A. C. 8599.)
     Also Truth combating conquers when it looks to the LORD, but not when it looks downward to itself and the world. (A. C. 8604-8617.)
     These passages were quoted to show that opposition to the Divine Truth must be expected, but that this only shows the necessity of perseverance in the truth, and of combat against falsity and evil, until they are dislodged and expelled even from the external man.

     EVILS AND FALSES MUST BE COMBATED.

     Mr. Whitehead thought that is was perfectly clear from these passages, and many others, what the duty of the Church was. The truths from the LORD have descended into the world and have been accepted in the Constitution of the body of the New Church represented by the Convention. There are many falsities and evils in the General Convention. It is in a state similar to that of a man whose life is not in agreement with the principles of the Church when he first acknowledges that they are divine. He first makes the formal acknowledgment, and it seems to him, perhaps that it is sufficient to rest at that. But he finds out afterward that there is something wrong with him. One at a time he begins to live the truths. So in the body of the Church one thing comes up after another. Otherwise the Church would be swept to hell. As the LORD does not desert us in our combats and temptations, so those to whom the LORD has given to receive His Divine Truth ought not desert the standard because it is attacked.
     When the attack is made, then should come the resistance. When the assault is made on truth, the indication is that the battle should be fought then and there. Certain things had happened in the Convention, and have been said in the papers, showing that there is not, by any means, a reception but a rejection of the essential principles of the Church. While the state is active was the time to meet it. Now was the time to bring the principles of Heaven to bear against those of hell. The battle is fought on the rational plane. Hell rises up and Heaven descends and they fight the battle there. There must be a rational agitation on these questions, and if the Church do its duty there is only one way in which the tattle can end. The Divine truth will fight with Divine power. All the power is in the Divine truth. It must conquer, it must clear the atmosphere, and send falsities to Hell where they belong.

     WHAT CAUSES THE CHURCH TO BE A UNIT.

     Mr. Jordan referred to the Arcana Coelestia, n. 1799, where it is said that the first Christian Church was divided into sects, by doctrinals, but that this would never have been the case if love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor had been made the principal of faith. Then there would have been one Church. Such was the Ancient Church. He also referred to n. 1834, where the first state of the primitive Christian Church is described, and it is stated that schisms and heresies would not have been so called if charity had prevailed. At the same time there would not have been those things which would have been denominated schisms and heresies. They would have been called doctrinal matters of individual opinion, which they would have left to every one's conscience; provided they did not deny eternal life, the LORD and the Word, and maintained in their lives nothing contrary to order. The speaker also referred to other similar passages.
     At this point Bishop Benade was announced. The assembly rose to receive him. He was welcomed by the Chairman, who at Bishop Benade's request resumed the
chair.

     A DANGEROUS ATTEMPT AT CHURCH UNITY.

     Mr. Jordan continued his remarks and quoted from the Spiritual Diary, n. 5662, where those are describe who consulted to make one Church of all, including Mahommedans, by accommodating doctrinals from the Word. This is false and dangerous. But there is one Church when good is the essential, because then every one has truth according to the quality of his goods. Was the unity sought for in connection with the Convention of the one kind, or of the other? The primary element of union is love to the Lord, from the LORD; and in order to maintain unity in the Church that must be made the fundamental. The General Church could not unite with the Jews. The thing is impossible, because there is not a recognition of the LORD in their body; charity to them will not make us one with them. To make a union of all who profess the LORD requires a liberality like that of Unitarianism, taking in everybody who claims to be a servant of the LORD. The first thing to consider, when a man says he loves the LORD, is "What is his attitude in relation to the truths of the LORD?" If he be in ignorance, and acknowledges the LORD to the extent that he knows Him, the Writings declare that he is a lover of the LORD, but it may not be kind for us to take him into the external organization of the New Church, for there is provision for such in their own religion. To admit Gentiles into the organization of the New Church would be as destructive as it would be to join with Unitarians. Gentiles and Christians do not come into one heaven. It is declared that they form a part of Heaven, but it is also said that there is no communication between the two heavens. This distinction into bodies is recognized throughout the heavens.

     THE CONDITION OF THE NEW CHURCH IN AMERICA.

     The speaker then entered into a consideration of the question whether the body of alleged New Church people in this country really is in the acknowledgment of the LORD to the extent that the General Church could work with them. He could not agree with the statements that had been made here, to the effect that the majority of so-called New Church people are of this character. He hoped it was so. It was correct that a large proportion of them are so, but he knew that there was a strong affiliation in the New Church, a growing and increasing affiliation with the bodies of the Old Church, more than with this body of the New Church which is distinctly a body based upon the laws of the New Church, revealed by the LORD. The charity which exists in the nominal New Church was wider, of greater extent, and more loving, to those who care nothing for the Church, and who are of the Old Church, than to those who are of this General Church of Pennsylvania. He believed that within the so-called New Church there is a very large proportion to whom it would make very little difference to-day whether their preachers were avowedly New Churchmen, or were of the Old Church, and denominated by "Evangelical" titles. He believed, so far as the doctrines which are taught in the Church are concerned, that it really would make very little difference. This he confirmed by a remark which was made to him in New England some time ago, that "You can hear as much of the New Church in the Old Church, as you can in the New Church." In the very stronghold of the New Church, formerly considered the great centre of the New Church, in Boston, in the headquarters of the Massachusetts Union, this remark was made to him by their agent: "Oh! you know that people are giving up their sets of the Writings, because they have no further use for them." This was a most significant statement.
     A man of reputable position there stated that "the New Church is not all the Church there is; if they will not please us there, we can go elsewhere." The statement was made repeatedly, "You can go into the Old Church, you will hear just as much of the New Church there." The speaker had been informed that the Old Church had more of the New Church than any Church we had. He believed that there were more marriages of New Church young men and girls, with Old Church persons, than with New. He behaved, moreover, that in the general body of the New Church there was greater encouragement for a New Church man or woman to marry out of the Church than in it, and all this although there is an effort to have New Church Sunday-schools, and to have New Church children brought up in connection with them. This effort is wherever there is a strong centre. But in the case of isolated Newchurchmen they are encouraged to go Old Church schools.

12


The LORD is acknowledged by Convention, but practically the acknowledgment is one of the lips alone. These are potent

     SIGNS OF THE STATE OF THE GENERAL BODY

of the Church. They show that it is weakening in love to the LORD and loyalty to Him.
     The General Church of Pennsylvania has the name of dealing only in doctrinals. Well, you cannot talk of anything without doctrinals. There is no Church without doctrine, no movement in life without it. Revelation is doctrine, and there is no attainment of good in this world except by a knowledge of doctrine, and a life according to it.
     The speaker referred to the attitude of the angels, who never leave man voluntarily. The rejection is on the other side: "Let us stand by what assumes to be the Church so long as we can find anything of the Church in it, or in any part of it. Let the reaction come from them." He concluded that if they really were in charity it would appear in an. enlarged charity to this body, and freedom to it to carry out its duties in the name of the LORD. The refusal of these principles will show the state of the Convention. It might be that things will very soon culminate, and the Convention would push the General Church out. He believed deliberate steps had been taken and were now being planned which would make it impossible for this body to stay an the Convention. It is the intention of a considerable portion of those who are influential in the Church to push this Church from their sphere. He therefore did not think it necessary for the General Church to consider the advisability of leaving the Convention. "We must maintain our loyalty to the LORD as He has declared Himself in the Writings of the Church, insist upon their ruling on laws of the Church, upon the basis of this revelation." The indication of the Divine Providence should be followed, stay until pushed away. The rejection, if it do not come in the form of a resolution expelling the General Church from the Convention, will come in such a form as to be unmistakable, by a change of the fundamental spirit of the Constitution, or by restrictions that would render at impossible for this Church to give expression to the truths in which it believes.

     THE MEETING RE-AFFIRMS BISHOP BENADE'S STATEMENT IN CONVENTION.

     The following resolution was unanimously adopted by a rising vote:

     "Resolved, That the General Church of Pennsylvania in annual meeting assembled, hereby unanimously confirms the statement made by Bishop Benade at the last meeting of the General Convention in regard to the injunction of the Rev. L. H. Tafel, formerly pastor of the New Jerusalem Society of the Advent, in which statement occur the following words:
     "'Our action was taken under the law of our Church and of the Convention. We wish to be in order and to proceed according to order. The act was not an act of the Bishop of that Church alone, but of the General Church of Pennsylvania by its constituted authorities, and it is not right to fasten it upon the one official. It must be understood that the action was the action of the law of the Church, to which the General Pastor, or Bishop, is subject just as much as any other member. There is no distinction in what is called the prelatical order of the Church between the subjection of the ministers and that of laymen to the law of the Church. They look to that which they believe to be the LORD'S Revelation, whether they hold this, that, or the other position. I think it is due to the General Church of Pennsylvania to state this.'"

     RESULT OF THE DISCUSSIONS.

     Mr. Whitehead moved the adoption of the following statement and resolution:

     STATEMENT

     "The Constitution of the General Convention gives the Association the right to enjoin a minister from the exercise of his functions within its own limits. Acting under this law, the General Church of Pennsylvania enjoined the Rev. L. H. Tafel.
     "The General Convention, at its last meeting held in Washington, passed a resolution which implied censure of the General Church of Pennsylvania for this act, and this in the face of a report of the General Council of the Convention, declaring that 'a thorough investigation of the case in all its details of fact and principle is hardly practicable, and not likely to lead to the best results.' Thus the Convention acted without any attempt at investigation, and without any knowledge of the facts of the case, except from the biased statement of the enjoined minister and his adherents.
     "The Convention and General Council, in the various proceedings, acted contrary to the plain letter of the Constitution, and to the Act of incorporation, which requires that the General Council shall be governed by the Constitution.
     "The Divine Law of the Church teaches that to act according to the law is to act from good, and to act contrary to the law is to act from evil (as may appear from A. C. 4444).
     "The General Church of Pennsylvania, in its proceedings, has acted in conformity with the plain provisions of the Constitution of the Convention, and of the Divine Law of the Church given in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, but the Convention has acted contrary to its own laws and to common justice.

     RESOLUTION.

     "In view of these facts be it
     "Resolved, That the acts of the Convention, enumerated above, merit and receive our condemnation, and that we deplore the lack of charity, of common justice, and equity manifested by the majority in the Convention."

     Pending the motion, the meeting adjourned until the evening.
life of charity 1890

life of charity              1890

     The life of charity to will well and to do well to the neighbor; in every work to act from what is just and equitable and from what is good and true.-A. C. 8253.
Saturday Evening 1890

Saturday Evening              1890

                         Saturday Evening.
     Mr. Whitehead's motion was put to vote and carried unanimously.
     The "Calendar Plan for reading the Word in the Writings and in the Sacred Scripture," published by the General Church of Pennsylvania, was briefly discussed.
     The subject of the support of the priestly office was taken up, and it was remarked that several Societies have begun acting according to the principles presented at the last annual meeting by Bishop Benade. The subject of the support of all ministers not engaged as Pastors of Particular Churches was, on motion, referred to the Council of the Clergy.
     The Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society invited the General Church to hold the next meeting in Pittsburgh, and the invitation was accepted.
     The Editor of New Church Life was kindly tendered the use of the papers and stenographer's notes of this meeting.
     The offering at the next day's services was taken into consideration, and on motion, the meeting took a recess to enable the Council of the Clergy to consult in regard to the matter. As a result they recommended that the offering on the LORD'S Day be for the maintenance of the Bishop's office, and suggested as to the manner and time of offering, that proper receptacles be placed at the entrance, and the offering be made the first act of worship; and that, at a suitable time during the services, two of the officiating priests take the offering and present it to the Bishop. The recommendation was adopted.

13


When the Lord is approached 1890

When the Lord is approached              1890

     When the Lord is approached, the gift must be given by man from freedom.-A. C. 5619.
WORSHIP of the LORD 1890

WORSHIP of the LORD              1890

                         The LORD'S Day, November 24th.
     WORSHIP of the LORD was conducted by Bishop Benade assisted by several other ministers. After the opening of the services, he formally installed the Rev. Leonard G. Jordan as Pastor of the Advent Society. In this ceremony Mr. Benade, acting as the Bishop or General Pastor of the General Church of Pennsylvania, was assisted by Mr. Pendleton, as a Bishop of the New Church, he being of the episcopal degree in the priesthood of the Academy of the New Church, in whose hall, by invitation, these services were conducted. Both Bishops were clad in their episcopal vestments. The Rev. L. G. Jordan was presented by the Pastors of the Pittsburgh and Immanuel Churches, Messrs. Whitehead and Bostock, and by two members of the Council of the Advent Society, Messrs. G. R. Starkey and Henry Schill. The ceremony of installation consisted of the reading of appropriate selections from the Writings and the Sacred Scripture, of the Bishop's impressive charge to the Pastor, and was completed by his being arrayed by Bishop Benade in the new purple (blue) robe of the Pastor of the Advent Society.
     The worship was then continued, all the ministers mentioned taking part in it, excepting Bishop Benade, who retired to an adjoining room to rest. Pastor Jordan delivered the sermon. At its conclusion, Pastors Whitehead and Bostock went to the door of the hall, and brought forward the offering to Bishop Benade.
     The Holy Supper was then administered.
     The entire services were very solemn and impressive, and tended to awaken greater love to the LORD and for the things of his New Church. About one hundred and fifty were in attendance at the services, of whom about ninety partook of the Holy Supper.
Faith is trust and confidence 1890

Faith is trust and confidence              1890

     Faith is trust and confidence, and trust and confidence is from charity.-A. C. 3868.
Evening of the LORD'S Day 1890

Evening of the LORD'S Day              1890

                         The Evening of the LORD'S Day.
     IN the evening a delightful social meeting, attended by over a hundred and ten persons, was held. There seemed to be something similar to what is said of the feasts of charity among the primitive Christians, the reigning sphere "exhilarated the minds of every one, softened the sound of every speech, and brought festivity from the heart into all the senses?" (T. C. R. 433, 434.)
With those who are being reformed and regenerated 1890

With those who are being reformed and regenerated              1890

     With those who are being reformed and regenerated, charity is continually being born and is continually maturing and receiving increase, and this through truths.-A. C. 2189.
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     The doctrine of truth is the same as the understanding of the Word as to its interiors, or the internal sense-A. C. 2762.



     The fourth volume of the Spiritual Diary, translated into English by the Rev. George Bush and the Rev. James F. Buss, has now been published by James Speirs. It contains Nos. 4545 to 5659, together with the whole of Diarium Minus. For the first time the English-speaking New Church public has the opportunity of coming into possession of the priceless treasures stored up in this part of the Diary.



     THE Index of the Apocalypse Explained, prepared by the Rev. Samuel H. Worcester, and just published in two one volumes by the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, is the most excellent work of its kind yet produced. For the present, there is space only to call attention to its special feature: at the close of every entry, if the word be one which occurs in the Scriptures, the original Hebrew and Greek words are reproduced, with the references to the Scripture passages where they occur, and of the passages in the Apocalypse Explained where they are quoted. This makes of the Index a special Analytical Concordance of the greatest value to the student of the internal sense. At the end of the second volume are tables of Hebrew Chaldee, and Greek words of the Sacred Scripture, with their Latin renderings as given in this work; also a table of Latin words in Apocalypse Explicata, with the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek word of the Sacred Scriptures for which they stand, and the English heads under which they may be found in this Index. There is, besides, an Index of Scripture Passages. The whole makes this the most common of the Writings which has yet been published. It can be ordered either direct from the publishers or through the Academy Book Room, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, for two dollars a volume (half leather binding, gilt top).



     THE New Church Tidings announces enlargement and improvements in form, to commence with the January number.



     WITH the coming year the Children's New Church Messenger will be enlarged to twice its present size, or to sixteen pages.



     A SERMON by the Rev. L. G. Allbutt on "The Powerlessness of Modern Preaching" has been published in tract form by the Toronto Society.



     How Can we Obtain the Religion of the New Jerusalem? is the title of a new brochure by the Rev. J. F. Potts, published by the New Church Educational Institute.



     THE Rev. Chauncey Giles's juvenile stories, entitled The Wonderful Pocket, The Magic Spectacles, The Gate of Pearl, and The Magic Shoes, have recently been issued in a new and tasteful edition.



     THE Journal of the Fiftieth Meeting of the Illinois Association, held in Peoria, Ill., October 11th to 18th, 1889, has been published as a supplement to the December number of the New Church Reading Circle.



     A STORY, the events of which all take place in the spiritual world, has lately been published under the title From over the Border; or, Light on the Normal Life of Man, by Benjamin G. Smith. The author, though a professed New- churchman, denies the Doctrine that the hells are eternal.



     THE British New Church Almanac has been published for the year 1890. It contains, as usual, a calendar and reading-lessons from the Writings, together with short articles, essays, and poems by various New Church writers. Statistics, and a directory of the New Church institutions in Great Britain are also supplied.



     THE Journal of the Thirty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Ohio Association, held this year in Indianapolis, has been published. The reports presented have a general tone of disappointment and discouragement. Money seems to be the one thing considered necessary for the success of the Church work, and these "sinews of war" appear to be tardily forthcoming.

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     THE Committee appointed at the last General Conference to prepare an Index to the Intellectual Repository from 1812 to 1881; has decided to extend the area of its work by including in one Index the contents of all New Church periodicals, published in Great Britain prior to 1881, with the exclusion of Morning Light. Such a work will index not less than eighty-nine volumes of the twelve different periodicals that were published by the New Church in England during that time. The Committee declares its readiness to proceed with the work, provided that two hundred subscriptions are received at the price of one guinea each.



     THE Calendar published by the General Church of Pennsylvania and containing a plan for reading the Word of the LORD in the Sacred Scripture and in the Writings of the Church, has been issued for the year 1890. The plan which is here followed includes all the Books of Divine Revelation; beginning with the Arcana Caelestia and the Book of Genesis. This will extend the reading through a number of years. The year 1890 is the third of the course. The Calendar gives a quotation from the Apocalypse Revealed on the use of acquiring truths by reading and meditation, whereby an understanding is formed. Very useful suggestions are also made concerning the reading, which all who wish to make use of the Calendar would do well to heed. They answer all the objections that have been raised against the practicability of the plan, and also offer valuable suggestions to enable the reader to conform with what is said in Heaven and Hell, n. 320, about man's coming into interior wisdom, and being still more conjoined with Heaven, when he thinks from some knowledge of the internal sense while reading the Word, since he then enters into ideas similar to those of the angels.
     The Calendar is distributed to members of the General Church of Pennsylvania; others who wish to make use of it are referred to the Secretary, Dr. G. R. Starkey, No. 1688 Green Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Communicated 1890

Communicated              1890

     [Inasmuch as in this Department Correspondents have an opportunity to express their individual opinions, be they in favor of the principles on which New Church Life is conducted or adverse to them, the Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views that are published therein.]
Divine Doctrine itself 1890

Divine Doctrine itself              1890

     The Divine Doctrine itself is the Word in the supreme sense in which the Lord is solely treated of.-A. C. 3771.
LATIN REPRINTS OF THE WRITINGS 1890

LATIN REPRINTS OF THE WRITINGS       SAM'L. H. WORCESTER       1890

     To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:-In your article, December, 1889, you seem to state or to imply-that I was the Translator of the portion of Apocalypsis Explicata that has just been published. I have had no part in this work of translation.
     Several years ago I announced to the Church that I had made considerable progress in translating Apocalypsis Explicata. Later, I applied to the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society to employ me to make a translation. Still later I translated the entire work for the Rotch edition.
     The edition now in progress in New York may perhaps satisfy the present wants of the Church, and my work may not be needed.
     Respectfully,
          SAM'L. H. WORCESTER.
BRIDGEWATER, MASS., December 5th, 1889.
true doctrine of the Church 1890

true doctrine of the Church              1890

     The true doctrine of the Church is the Internal Sense of the Word, for in the internal sense are truths such as they are with the angels.-A. C. 9025.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified       EDWIN A. GIBBENS       1890

     TO THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:-In the appreciative notice of the Latin-English edition of the Apocalypse Explained, which appeared in your December number, you speak as if the new translation had been made by Dr. S. H. Worcester. This is not the case. Dr. Worcester has been and is revising and correcting the Latin Reprints of Swedenborg's Theological Works for this Society, and in the new English Index to Apocalypse Explained we have what he regards as the most important work of his life. The new translation of Apocalypse Explained is the joint works of the Rev. John C. Ager and the Latin and English Committee of the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society. Mr. Ager has also had entire charge of preparing the translation for the press, corrects proof, etc. The idea of having the Latin and English texts upon the same page has for years been a favorite one with Mr. Ager, and the result is now happily before the Church for its use. May we not all hope for new and stronger interest in the heavenly doctrines, when the opportunities for their study are so increased and improved? Yours very cordially,
     EDWIN A. GIBBENS,
          Chairman of Latin and English Committee of the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society.
FORDHAM, NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 14th, 1889.
Divine Doctrine is also the Word in the literal sense 1890

Divine Doctrine is also the Word in the literal sense              1890

     Divine Doctrine is also the Word in the literal sense, in which the things that are in the world and upon the lands are treated of; but because the literal sense contains within it the internal sense, and this the supreme, and it altogether corresponds by representatives and significatives, therefore doctrine is thence Divine.- A. C. 3712.
NEW CHURCH EVIDENCE SOCIETY 1890

NEW CHURCH EVIDENCE SOCIETY       LEWIS A. SLIGHT       1890

To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     Dear Sir:-Will you kindly allow me, as a reader of your paper, and one acquainted with and interested in Evidence Society work, to present to your readers the other side of the question of the usefulness of a New Church Evidence Society from that presented in the October letter of your Liverpool correspondent?
     To offer the Writings to any who profess a willingness to give them attentive reading, is merely pursuing the course chosen by Divine Providence for the spread of the New Dispensation. Correcting erroneous statements in the public press and current literature concerning facts relative the New Church and its doctrines is nothing beyond the duty of any member of the Church. "The feverish anxiety to stand well in the eyes of the world" is an entirely gratuitous assumption on your correspondent's part; an Evidence Society can exist and work well without any such feeling.
     The uses spoken of above are not, however, the sole uses of an Evidence Society. They may be the uses most attractive to outsiders, but are not on that account to be reckoned the most valuable. Among the many uses that an Evidence Society can silently perform are the following: Communication with Newchurchmen living at a distance from any Society, who are in this way strengthened in their own attachment to the faith and may be encouraged to become centres of missionary effort; communication with members of New Church Societies going to reside abroad, a much needed use and one much appreciated by the friends who are served by it; supply of the Writings to public libraries and of periodically to reading rooms; supplying isolated Newchurchmen with the standard and best current literature of the Church by means of a Postal Circulating Library.

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These are but some of the uses which lie open to an Evidence Society; it is not confined to these, but whenever it sees an opening for useful work for the Church as yet undone, or only done partially, it may step forward and supply the need. An Evidence Society affords congenial activity to a great variety of dispositions; its capabilities of usefulness are limited only by the number of earnest and efficient workers that can be found to join it. In the United States there is room for many Evidence Societies; each General Church would feel the benefit of having such an auxiliary working alongside it in its sphere of action, and it is to be hoped that before long the example of the London and Scottish Societies will he followed on the other side the Atlantic.
     Sincerely yours,
          LEWIS A. SLIGHT.
9 ORR SQUARE, PAISLEY, SCOTLAND,
     5th November, 1889.
If falses be in place of truths with man 1890

If falses be in place of truths with man              1890

     If falses be in place of truths with man, then he does the good of the false, which is not good, for the good is either pharisaic, or meritorious, or connate natural.- A. R. 97.
LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN 1890

LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN       JAMES CALDWELL       1890

     My reference to the work of the Evidence Society in a previous letter has called forth some kindly criticism from Mr. Charles Higham, one of its vice-presidents, at the annual meeting of the Society, held in London on the 12th of November last. I would briefly answer, him. He gave away his whole case when he admitted that the "Church as a spiritual entity" could not be affected by the opinions of men. The Church as a spiritual entity must find its basis in men, and men in whom the Church as a spiritual entity abides constitute the external Church. If men's opinions do not affect the one it follows that neither can they affect the other. An external Church based and upheld on men's opinions is a make-believe Church and useless as a medium for accomplishing the conjunction of man with the Loan, which is the proper work of the Church. Men in whom the Church as a spiritual entity abides, will seek for the means of salvation till they find them, viz., the saving doctrines of the LORD'S New Church. To the extent that the Evidence Society is helpful to any genuine seeker after the truth it does good and praiseworthy work; but the opinions of men who regard the Writings as mere literature are not worth the paper they are written on. Well, but may not their expressed opinions have an effect on readers? Not if it be true that the "Church as a spiritual entity" is unaffected by men's opinions. I would recommend to Mr. Higham the study of Arcana Coelestia, n. 2636. He will gather from that one number how small a part the Evidence Society plays or can possibly play in the work of guiding men to the narrow way that leads to life.
     I do not quite see the point of Mr. Higham's half-loaf and no bread argument, but if he means that half-hearted Newchurch men are an acquisition to the Church, I do not agree with him. Better no members of the outward Church at all than members of the stamp of the farmer who, after reading a borrowed volume of Plato, returned it with the remark that Plato was a fine man, "I see he's got some o' my ideas." Such half-loaves are a hindrance to a Church's spiritual progress.
     JAMES CALDWELL.
59 COUNTY ROAD, LIVERPOOL.
From the Lord's Divine are all the doctrinals of faith 1890

From the Lord's Divine are all the doctrinals of faith              1890

     From the Lord's Divine are all the doctrinals of faith; for there is not any doctrinal, nor indeed its least, which is not from the Lord, for the Lord is Doctrine itself; hence it is that the Lord is called the Word, because the Word is Doctrine.- A. C. 3364.
WHICH "OUGHT TO BE SHUNNED AND HELD IN AVERSION," OLD OR NEW? 1890

WHICH "OUGHT TO BE SHUNNED AND HELD IN AVERSION," OLD OR NEW?       G. N. SMITH       1890

     THE doctrines say that "the evils and falsities of the Old Church are to be shunned and held in aversion; but that the goods and truths of the New are to be observed and done" (A. R. 932). But it would seem as if in the eyes of some Newchurchmen it was the New Church doctrines that were to be shunned and held in aversion, and that those were especially deserving of praise that boldly do it.
     Here is an example: A New Church organization which we are requested to especially note as the first undenominational and unsectarian one ever given to the world,* the framers parade among other especially unsectarian things this: That ministers shall have no other power save the gift of teaching. For this especial feature a New Church paper gives them unstinted praise as having done a most brave, right thing. Now what have they done? Gone square in the face of the plain doctrine-that ministers have, besides the gift of teaching, that of leading by truth to the good of life: also of governing (see chapter on Ecclesiastical and Civil Government, H. D. 311-318). Note especially that those who only teach-and do not lead-are evil shepherds.
     * How about the Convention with simply the three essentials of the Church (D. P. 259) as its articles of faith: also associations everywhere.     
     Among many points that are well put concerning the LORD and the Word, I find lacking a vital truth concerning the means of opening the regenerate degrees: that it must be done by looking to the LORD and shunning evils as sins. Such an omission as this in an unbelieving and unrepentant world is fatal, and cannot too soon be corrected, if the New Church is to save men.
     Also this: that fitness only and not sex, must in any case of choice be considered. But the doctrines say that sex is the basis of fitness for each one's duties that "cannot be entered into by the other and performed aright." And these are particularly enumerated (see the whole subject treated, Conjugial Love, n. 163-176), leaving us no choice of ignoring sex in considering fitness for any one single duty of life. Here too is a contradiction of the doctrine that must be corrected, theoretically and practically, or there can be no New Church.
     When men take praise to themselves, or are awarded it by others that claim to represent the New Church before the world, for thus shunning and holding in aversion the plain teachings of the New Church that are vital to the existence of the New Church, it is time to call a halt, to find whether we are not marching directly into the enemy's camp to get ourselves captured.
     G. N. SMITH.

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NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     A MONTHLY JOURNAL.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.
Six months on trial for twenty-five cents.

     All business communications must be addressed to Publisher, New Church Life, No. 189 Corinthian Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa.; the Editor's address is 722 Bellevue St. Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Cambarwell, London, S. E.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
     MISS FLORENCE G. GIBBS, 147 Camden Road, London, N.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 61 Cathedral Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY, 1890=120.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 1.
     Sixty-fourth Meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania, p. 2.
     Notes and Reviews, p. 13.-Latin Reprints of the Writings, p. 14.-The New Church Evidence Society, p. 14.-Letter from Great Britain, p. 15.-Which "Ought to be Shunned and Held in Aversion," Old or New? 15.
     News Gleanings, p. 16.-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 16.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.-THE Academy Schools closed the first term on Tuesday evening, December 24th, with a celebration of the LORD'S Incarnation. It was similar to that of the previous year, described in the Life for January. The schools will re-open on Monday, the 6th day of January.
     THE Society of the Advent continues to worship in the rather cramped quarters at Glenn's Hall. A number of new members have been formally received into the Church. As a special feature of the worship upon Christmas Day, a new order with respect to the offertory was inaugurated, like that practiced in the Immanuel Church of Chicago. The sermon was upon the subject of child bearing, and was followed by a ceremony in which some of those members took part who had been blessed with children during the past year.
     A BAZAAR was held by the Ladies' Aid of the Philadelphia Union at the house of one of the members, and about two hundred and fifty dollars raised.
     Massachusetts.-THE Lynn Society moved their quarters on account of a disastrous fire in that city, which also reduced some of the members to serious straits. An appeal for aid appears in the Messenger.
     THE Waltham New Church School has added this year a small kindergarten class.
     Minnesota.-THE Rev. J. S. David is doing missionary work in Minnesota, in addition to his pastoral duties at Minneapolis.
     California.-THE Rev. John Doughty of California, has suffered from a partial stroke of paralysis, but is reported to be recovering.     
     Georgia.-THE Savannah Society dedicated its New Church building on Sunday, the 1st day of December, the Rev. Chauncey Giles and the Rev. J. E. Smith officiating.
Texas.- AT a meeting of members and friends of the New Church, held at Galveston, on November 24th, "The General Society of the New Church in Texas" was organized, requesting membership in the General Convention. Mr. Henry Maney, of Pearsall, is President, Dr. W. M. Mercer is Vice-President, Mr. W. S. Andrews Secretary, and M. A Barnefeld Treasurer. This movement is distinct from the one reported in the December Life, which took place at Dallas. A meeting had been called in the latter city by Newchurchmen who wished to form a Society working in harmony with the General Convention, but that object was defeated by unexpected invaders, and so this second attempt at Galveston was made. The Rev. Stephen Wood, the missionary in Texas, acts with "the General Society."
     THE good work in Texas is progressing favorably. The New Church Society in Galveston, and the Sunday-school are each increasing in numbers and usefulness. The work is also making good progress at Milano, with a largely increased number of readers at Pearsall, Seguin, Village Mills, and Itaska.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- A "NEW Church Home Rending Union" has been instituted by the Conference Committee on Isolated Receivers. The works selected for reading during the year 1890 are, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, Heaven and Hell, and Divine Love and Wisdom.
     THE twenty second anniversary of the dedication of the temple of the Camberwell Society was commemorated on October 31st by a very enjoyable "feast of Charity," the whole Society joining in a common supper.
     OLD Church ministers seem to be a la mode with New Church Societies in England, and meetings appear to be accounted successful in the degree that the leaders of the dead Church benignantly take part in them. In Annerley, on October 22d, a meeting for the welcoming of Mr. Heald, a Congregational minister, who informed his hearers that "there is more New Church doctrine preached from Congregational pulpits than from the pulpits of the New Church. There may be some preached from my own." At Brightlingsea union meetings are regularly held between the New Church and the other dissenter meetings, and great enthusiasm prevails over the "kindly and brotherly sphere" produced by this mixing of the new and the old.
     THE new Society at Ynysmendwy, in Wales, has collected L130 from New Church people in England and America for the erection of a temple. The Society receives the administrations of a Congregational minister.
     A GUILD has been instituted for the mutual improvement of the members of the Wretham Road Birmingham, Society. The first meeting of the Guild was distinguished by a lecture on Charles Kingsley by an Old Church minister.
     AT a Bazar, held lately by the Society at Besses, L600 were realized. Several Old Church ministers took part in the program of the occasion.
     The Society at Newcastle has recently enjoyed the services of Rev. F. Hibbert, an Old Church minister, who delivered a lecture on Thomas Carlisle.
     Sweden.- A NEW feature in the program of Pastor Manby's Society in Stockholm is a series of "News and Conversation meetings," held on Tuesday evenings. Selections from foreign New Church periodicals are then translated and read, and important topics of the Church are discussed. The meetings, which are somewhat of a social nature, are reported s very useful and interesting.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890



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New Church Life
Vol. X. Philadelphia, February, 1890=120. No. 2
     That the Word of the Old Testament contains arcana of Heaven . . . no mortal can ever know except from the Lord.- A. C. 5.



     NINE years ago, a small eight-page paper made its appearance in the New Church, published by several young men on their own responsibility in the interests of the young people of the Church. In the course of time, as the publishers began to take more interest in the affairs of the Church, the character of the paper changed, and from their association with the Academy of the New Church and the General Church of Pennsylvania, the paper was conducted in sympathy with the ends and objects of these bodies, but it never was controlled by either of them, the editors alone having at all times been responsible for its utterances. This paper, which will be recognized as none other than that in which these lines appear, was finally offered to the Academy. The offer has been accepted, and with this number the Academy of the New Church assumes control of New Church Life.
     While the majority of the readers of the Life are doubtless acquainted with the Academy, so much misconception, not ignorance, respecting it exists, that it seems desirable in this, the first number issued by it, to publish anew its character and aims.



     Such an immediate Revelation exists at the present day, because this is what is meant by the Coming of the Lord.- H. H. 1.



     THE Academy of the New Church is a Church,-called into existence for the performance of specific uses of charity, according to the Doctrines revealed by the LORD out of Heaven for the New Church. It differs in this from most, if not all, existing New Church societies, whose principal object is the maintenance of the uses of piety and devotion. Another difference arises from its greater universality, its membership not being restricted to any one country or continent. The uses of charity, for the performance of which the Academy exists, relate primarily to the evangelization of the Gospel that the LORD GOD the SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST has made His Second Coming, by revealing the Internal Sense of His Word in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, which Writings are therefore to be considered as the "Appearance of the Son of Man;" and the Academy's uses thus relate in equal degree to the leading of men to repentance to the shunning of evils as sins against God, in the manner particularly taught in the Writings, and thus to the doing of goods which are of God and from God. The Academy's uses are, therefore, in an eminent sense, educational, and require daily and systematic study and application of the wonderful arcana concerning the assumption and glorification of the LORD'S Human, and concerning the birth, growth, development, reformation, and regeneration of man, which have been revealed for such purposes by the LORD at His Second Coming.



     The Doctrine itself, which is for the New Church, because it has been revealed to me out of Heaven, is called the Heavenly Doctrine.- H. D. 7.



     IN order the better to perform its uses, the Academy of the New Church secured a charter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which confers to it, on the civil plane, the corporate right to promote education in all its various forms, especially to prepare young men for the ministry, to publish books, pamphlets, and other printed matter, and to establish a library.
     The actual uses of the Academy were begun soon after the formation of this body in the year 1876, with the establishment of a School of Theology. Subordinate departments have been formed, and have gradually developed. The Philadelphia Schools are now completely furnished for the education of both sexes from infancy through childhood and youth to adult life. Beside the Philadelphia schools, auxiliary schools for boys and girls have been established in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Chicago, Ill.
     In the library, which is steadily increasing, particular attention is paid to the preservation of the original edition of the Writings and of the photo-lithographic reproductions of Swedenborg's manuscripts, to the literature of the New Church, both past and present, and to such works as prove helpful in the studies pursued in the schools.
     The Academy has also entered to some extent upon the use of publication. Its more important publications are thirteen parts of a serial, entitled, Words for the New Church, one volume of Bishop Benade's Conversations on Education, and the Rev. Dr. Burnham's work on Discrete Degrees. It formerly published the Liturgy, and, beginning with the year 1879, the Calendar containing daily lessons in the Word and in the Writings. The Liturgy and the Calendar have of late years been transferred to the General Church of Pennsylvania. And now the Academy has assumed the publication of New Church Life, which will, in general, be conducted as heretofore, except that it will be devoted more especially to the interests of the Academy.     



     Because such ignorance reigns . . . in the Christian world . . . the angels rejoiced at heart that it has pleased the Lord now to reveal many things concerning Heaven, and also concerning Hell.-L. J. 14.



     IN connection with its publishing uses, the Academy has established a book-room, which, beginning with the first of this month, will be conducted by an efficient business man. All subscriptions and other business matters relating to the Life, will, therefore, in the future be addressed to the book-room, 1821 Wallace Street; Philadelphia, Pa., where also all orders for any of the publications of the New Church, second-hand or new, and for all other literature of peculiar interest to New-churchmen, will receive prompt attention.

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A speciality will be made of the purchase and sale of Swedenborg s quarto, or original Latin, edition of the Writings, and of his scientific-works.
Last Judgment 1890

Last Judgment              1890

     From the understanding it may be concluded for certain that the Last Judgment, when it comes to pass, must be revealed, for the sake of faith in the Word.-C. L. J. 6.
ORDINATION OF THE HEAVENS 1890

ORDINATION OF THE HEAVENS       Rev. E. C. BOSTOCK       1890

     "After these things I saw, and behold a door open in heaven: and the first voice that I heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up hither and I will show thee things which ought to come hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne placed in heaven, and upon the throne One sitting. And the One sitting upon the throne was in aspect like unto jasper and a sardine stone, and a rainbow round about the throne like in aspect to an emerald. And round about the throne, twenty and four thrones, and upon the thrones I saw twenty and four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and having upon their head, golden crowns. And from the throne went forth lightnings, and thunderings, and voices; and seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne a sea of glass like unto crystal."- Rev. iv, 1-8.

     THE vision seen by John, which is described in this chapter, presents in a representative form the ordination of the heavens preparatory for the Last Judgment. That it was a representative in the ultimate heaven appears from the words, "Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold a Throne placed in heaven."
     That the subject of the vision was judgment, appears from the signification of a "Throne," and of "One sitting thereon, whose appearance was like a jasper and a sardine stone." And that it is preparation for the judgment appears from the signification of the "four and twenty thrones with the four and twenty elders sitting thereon, clothed in white raiment and having on their heads golden crowns."
     Judgment consists `of the separation of the good from the evil, and the elevation of the good into heaven, and the rejection of the evil to hell. There are universal judgments, when the whole world of spirits is judged, there are more particular judgments when particular societies in the world of spirits are judged, and there are individual judgments when the individual man is judged. In all these judgments the essential of judgment is the same, namely, the separation of good from evil, and the elevation of good and the casting out of evil. The judgment treated of in our text is one of the universal judgments in the spiritual world, and indeed the last one. This judgment took place at the time of the Second Coming of the LORD, and preceded the establishment, or rather the beginning, of the New Church.
     Before judgment can take place there must be preparation; The evil must be brought to a state of fullness, and there must also be preparation of the internal. When judgment is about to be executed in the individual man, the Lord prepares his internal mind by ordinating the goods and truths there, preparatory for the temptation, for temptation is a judgment, in which good in separated from evil. So in the base of a universal judgment in the spiritual world, the heavens which constitute the internal, had to be ordinated in preparation for the great change whereby the world of spirits was to be relieved of the presence of so many evil spirits, and whereby also the heaven were to be increased by the establishment of a New Christian heaven, and at the same time the hells also were to be immensely increased. There must be equilibrium between the heavens and the hells, and this can only be when both are ordinated by the LORD, the one in opposition to the other.
     By ordination is meant putting in order.
     Ordination and judgment are by the LORD alone, for He alone is Order Itself, and He alone knows the interiors and exteriors of man from their inmosts to their outmosts, and He says to each one of the Seven Churches; by which are represented those who are to be ordinated and judged, "I know Thy Works." The LORD therefore is the "One sitting upon the Throne."
     When judgment is to take place there is an appearance of the Divine Love and Wisdom in ultimates, and the sphere of the LORD is round about Him in the heavens, "And the One sitting upon the Throne was in aspect like a jasper and a sardine stone. And a rainbow round about the Throne like unto an emerald."
     By this Divine Love and Wisdom in ultimates, the heavens are then put in order preparatory to judgment, and then all things good and true in the heavens are arranged in order by the Divine Truths of the Word, which are of Wisdom from Love. This ordination is represented by the "four and twenty thrones round about the throne, upon which sat four and twenty elders, clothed in white raiment, and having on their heads golden crowns."
     To understand the ordination or putting in order of the heavens it is necessary to have an idea of what order is, and of how order is brought about. In The True Christian Religion we have a general definition of order, which is as follows:
     "Order is the quality of the disposition, determination, and activities of the parts, substances or entities, which make the form, whence is the state, whose perfection wisdom from its love produces, or whose imperfection insane reasoning from cupidities, hatches" (T. C. R. 52). This is a universal definition of order, aid applies to order in interior things and in exterior things. From this definition it will be seen that order is produced by wisdom from love, and that disorder is produced by insane reasonings from cupidities; or, in general that the order or disorder is from the understanding which springs from the love of the will, of the one ordering or arranging.
     By the disposition is meant the arrangement of the parts, substances, or entities, in relation to one another; by the determination is meant their direction preparatory to action in connection with one another, which of course depends somewhat upon their disposition; and from these two, according to the influx which gives to them activity, is the activity of the parts, substances, or entities. These parts, substances, or entities, according to their disposition, determination, and activities, make the form, and according to the form is the state of the body. The perfection of this state is according to the wisdom from love. This definition of order may be illustrated by many things in nature. We may take for example an army. The order of that army is according to the disposition, determination, and activities of its parts, which parts are soldiers. The soldiers are arranged into regiments, and companies, etc., under commanders greater and lesser, and they have an order of encampment and march. This may be called their disposition. Then each regiment, each company, each officer, and man, has, in a well-ordered army, some definite things to do when they camp, when they get ready to march, and when they are in battle.

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This is the determination of the parts. According to the two is the activity of the parts, modified by the order and quality of the parts or soldiers. According to these, viz.: the disposition, determination, and activities of the regiments; companies, and soldiers is the state of the army. This order is in general more or less perfect according to the intelligence of the commander who orders them, which intelligence springs from his love of his use. This definition of order is illustrated most perfectly by the order of the human body; again, by the order of the heavens, and in the opposite by the order of hell.
     The ordination or putting in order of the heavens preparatory to the Last Judgment by the LORD, consisted in the disposition or arrangements of the parts, substances, or entities of the heavens, that is, in general of the heavens, the societies, greater or lesser, and the angels in the societies; in the determination of these parts to uses, which should act all together to produce one great use, namely, that of judgment, and finally, in the animation of all those parts to activities according to the disposition and determination of the parts. By this ordination the heavens received a new form, and hence a new and more perfect state. This ordination was made, according to the law taught in the definition, from the Wisdom of Love, and in this case from the Divine Wisdom of the Divine Love.
     The LORD alone orders the heavens. The LORD alone orders all things, which are in order. Angels and men sometimes appear to order things, but this is only an appearance, for the LORD orders all things even to the most singular, or the most minute. This the Lord does because He is Order Itself, from Whom springs all order The LORD is substance itself, and form itself, from Whom spring all substances and all form, and hence from Him is all order. He is the One sitting upon the Throne, and the four and twenty thrones are all arranged about Him. We have the following teaching concerning the universal of order which proceeds from' the LORD:
      "'Gather yourselves together,' that it signifies that they should themselves ordinate themselves, appears from the signification of 'gather together' that it is to ordinate, for to 'gather together,' in the spiritual sense, is nothing else, for truths and goods cannot be gathered together unless also they are ordinated. For the universal which proceeds from the LORD does this, since that universal contains in itself all singulars even to the most singular; these taken together are the universal, which reduces into order all things in the heavens. When this universal acts, it appears as if goods and truths themselves ordinated themselves, and as if they flowed spontaneously into order. Thus it is with the universal heaven; this is in order an is continually held in order by the universal influx from the LORD; thus also it is with the societies in general in heaven, and also with the societies in particular there; for when angels or spirits are first gathered together, they are immediately disposed in order as if from themselves, and thus they constitute a heavenly society which is an image of heaven which never could take place unless the universal, which proceeds from the LORD, contained the most singular things of all in itself, and unless all these things were in most perfect order. If somewhat universal without singulars, inflowed from God, as many think, and man or spirit or angel ruled themselves in singulars, then in place of order there would be confusion of all things, and there would be neither heaven, hell, nor human race, yea, nor nature. This may be illustrated by many things with man, as; unless his thoughts were ordinated, universally and also in singulars, by affections which are of love, they could never flow rationally and analytically; likewise neither actions; then unless the soul inflowed universally, and singularly into the viscera of the body, nothing ordinate and regular could exist in the body, and when singularly and thus universally, then all things are ordinated as if from self. These things are said that it may be known what is meant by that truths and goods themselves ordinate themselves."- (A. C. 6338.)

     Thus it will appear that the LORD alone orders all things although it appears as if they reduced themselves to order. He does this by a universal influx, in which are the most single things of order, which flow in such a way that all things coming in its stream are, as it were, spontaneously led into order, or if they will not come into order and harmony with this inflowing order, they are cast out, and hang down. The heavens are in order, but that order is finite and is being continually perfected. Because the angels are in a state so much elevated above our own, we are apt to think that they need no further ordering. But they are far from Order Itself, and indeed can never approach to it though they are being continually ordered.
     Ordination of the heavens with the consequent re-arrangement or disposition of the societies is continually taking place. But at the times of General Judgment there is an increased necessity for ordination, preparatory to protecting the good from the fate of the evil, and also preparatory to receiving many new angels whereby the state of heaven is perfected, and consequently, the order of heaven. The ordination of the heavens takes place successively from the highest heaven to the lowest. Concerning this continual ordination we have the following instruction:

     "But how it is with the things which are contained in this verse can never be known, unless it is known how it is with societies in heaven; for the consociations of the sons of Israel according to tribes, families, and houses, represents those. With societies in heaven it is thus; the universal heaven is one society which is ruled by the LORD as One Man; general societies there are as many as there are members, viscera, and organs in man; but special societies there are as many as are the little viscera, contained within each viscus, member, and organ; and particular societies are as many as in these are the lesser parts constituent of the greater. That it is so is manifest from the correspondence of man and his members, organs and viscera with the Gorand Man, that is, heaven, which have been treated of from experience at the end of many chapters. From this it may appear how it is with the distinction of societies in heaven. But with every society in particular it is thus it consists of many angels who concord as to goods, goods are various, for to every one is a peculiar good but those various concordant goods are arranged into such a form by the LORD, that together they present one good. . . .

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Further in heaven it is thus, if a society is not complete as it ought to be, then there is taken from some neighboring society as many as will infill the form of that good, according to necessity, in every state and its changes; for the form of good is changed as the state changes. But still it is to be known, that in the third or intimate heaven, which is next above the heaven where are the spiritual, for these constitute the middle or second heaven, Innocence rules, for the LORD who is Innocence Himself, inflows immediately into that, heaven; but into the second heaven where are the spiritual, the Lord inflows with innocence mediately, namely, through the third heaven; this influx it is by which the societies in the second heaven are disposed or ordinated according to their goods; wherefore according to the influx of innocence, the state of good is changed; and consequently the conjunctions of societies there are varied." (A. C. 7836.)

     From this teaching we can form to ourselves some idea of the ordination of the heavens for judgment, and at the same time of its necessity. If we think how great are the changes about to take place in the Spiritual World, and remember that now for the first time the LORD was about to execute such a judgment in the Spiritual World, that hereafter such gatherings together of spirits in the world of spirits, as then darkened the spiritual atmosphere, could no more take place, and at the same time, that He was about to establish a New Heaven, and a New Church on the earth, which is to be the crown of all churches, we will perhaps form to ourselves some idea of the extensive ordinations which must take place in the heavens. They would be much greater than ordinary, and the state of good and the consequent order of societies would need to be greatly changed. Judgment takes place when the LORD draws near, or what is the same thing when the influx from the LORD inflows more strongly. At this time then the LORD draws more near to the Celestial or third heaven and there is a stronger influx of innocence into that heaven, and from it into the lower heavens. Thence the Divine Love and Wisdom appear in ultimates, "And the One sitting on the Throne was in aspect like unto a jasper and a sardine stone;" and then the state as to good changes, and so the heavens come into more perfect order.
     By this drawing near of the Lord they are thus prepared for the coming judgment. Their order becomes more truly heavenly, and therefore they are more surely protected from the influx of the sphere of evil from the hells, they are illustrated, and gifted with perception from the LORD, and so are instructed; "And from the throne went forth lightnings, and thunderings, and voices."
     Such then is in general the teaching of the Vision seen by John when he was in the spirit, namely, that the LORD previous to the Last Judgment ordinates all things in the heavens from the Truths of the WORD, which are of the Divine Love, and so prepares the heavens that they maybe protected, when the Judgment takes place.
Of the Divine Mercy of the LORD my interiors have been opened 1890

Of the Divine Mercy of the LORD my interiors have been opened              1890

     Of the Divine Mercy of the LORD my interiors have been opened, which are of my spirit, and by this it has been given me to speak with spirits and angels . . now for twelve years daily.-E. U. 1.
MYTHOLOGY IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH 1890

MYTHOLOGY IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH              1890

     V.

     MYTHOLOGY OF ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA.

     General characteristics.

     AFTER a study of the Mythology of the Canaanitish nations, it affords a genuine relief to turn from the mire of their sensualism, cruelty, and abominable ugliness of conceptions and forms to the more elevated and beautiful religious ideas of the Assyrian and Chaldean Mythologies. Of the more ancient and pure forms of Canaanitish worship no remains are known, while recent excavations in the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates have brought to light an immense mass of information on the subject of the religions of Assyria and Babylonia at a time when the Ancient Church must yet have existed in these countries in comparative purity. While the Mythology of Canaan is indefinite in form and was easily influenced by surrounding nations, the Mythology of Assyria presents a well defined and fully developed system, which appears in an unchanged form for some two thousand years. The worship of Canaan, which originally was the highest and most internal form of worship in the Ancient Church, when perverted became the lowest and grossest, while Assyria, the rational, being in itself of a more external character, retained the forms characterizing it, long after its internal nature had become changed and perverted.
     The religious system of the Assyrians and Babylonians, when viewed in the light of the New Church, may, therefore, more easily be restored to its original form, and the pure doctrines of the Ancient Church, from which this system was developed, may more readily be recognized. The purpose of this article is, therefore, not to study this Mythology in its latest forms of profane idolatry, but to interpret its original meaning by means of the science of correspondences.
     Comparing Assyrian Mythology with that of other ancient nations, its elevated character may readily be seen. It possesses a quiet grandeur and majesty, a freedom and force, peculiar to the Rational mind, by which it is raised above the conventionalism and cramped servility of Egyptian forms of worship. It has a spirituality, purity, and simplicity which similarly lifts it above the sensualism of the Greek, and the materialism of Roman Mythologies, adorned though these be by all the beauties of a more perfect art. The
Assyrian was a conqueror, and his religion made him so. Out of the excavated mounds of Assyria and Babylonia he still stands forth in strong relief, powerful, calm, proud, majestic.
     Of all the ancients, the Assyrian was, perhaps, the most religious, carrying his faith with him in all phases of life, even as to the most particular. All his wars were for the spreading of his worship; every victim of his hunt, every spoil of his victory was dedicated to the holy gods.
     The tablets of Chaldea have preserved to us some beautiful, evidences of this deep-seated religious feeling. Listen to this glorification of some deity: "In heaven, who is great? Thou alone art great I On earth, who is great? Thou alone art great! Where thy voice resounds in heaven, the gods fall prostrate! Where thy voice resounds on earth, the spirits kiss the dust." Or this Ode to the Fire-god: "O Fire, great Lord, who art the most exalted in the world Noble Son of heaven, who art the most exalted in the world; O Fire, with thy bright flame in the dark house thou dost cause light.

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Of all things named Thou dost form the fabric! Of silver and gold Thou art the refiner! Of the wicked man in the night time Thou dost repel the assault! But the man who serves his god, Thou wilt give him light for his actions!" Or this short prayer: "The God my Creator, may he stand by my side! Keep Thou the door of my lips! guard Thou my hands, O Lord of Light!" Or, finally, this penitential Psalm: "O my Lord, my sins are many, my trespasses are great; and the wrath of the gods has plagued me with disease, and with sickness and sorrow. I fainted, but no one stretched forth his hand! I groaned, but no one drew nigh! I cried aloud, but no one heard! O Lord! Do not abandon thy servant! In the waters of the great storm, seize thou his hand! The sins, which he has committed, turn Thou to righteousness!" (Records of the Past, Vol. Ill, p. 136).
     Who may not here recognize the style of the Psalms or of the Book of Job, derived, undoubtedly, from the Ancient Word!
     Unlike the Canaanites and the Jews, the Assyrians and Babylonians had most distinct and beautiful ideas of and belief in the actuality of a life after this, of a spiritual world, a heaven and a hell. The world of spirits is called "the great city" over which Nergal presides. Merodach raises the dead into life, and presides over the judgment which is performed on "each according to his acts." Thus the spirit prepares himself for the Judgment: "Wash thy hands, purify thy hands. Let the gods, thine elders, wash their hands, purify their hands. Eat sacred food from sacred plates. Drink sacred water from sacred vessels. Prepare thyself for the judgment of the King, the son of His God." The delights of the blessed, received into heaven; are thus described: "The goddess Anuta, the great spouse of Anu, will cover thee with her sacred hands. The god IAU will transport thee into a place of delights. He will place thee into the midst of honey and butter. He will pour into thy mouth the water of life; thy mouth will be open for thanksgiving" (Records of the Past, Vol. XI, p. 162).
     A prayer for the prosperity of the King ends thus: "May he attain to gray hairs and old age! And after the life of these days, in the feasts of the silver mountains, the heavenly courts, the abode of blessedness, and in the light of the happy fields, may he dwell a life, eternal, holy, in the presence of the gods, who inhabit Assyria." A prayer for the soul of a dying man thus supplicates: "The man who is departing in glory, may his soul shine radiant as brass. To that man may the Sun give life! And Marduk, eldest Son of heaven grant him an abode of happiness" (Records of the Past, III, p. 134). Hell, on the other hand, is "the house of darkness, the dwelling of Irkalla, the house out of which there is no exit, the road from which there is no return, the house from whose entrance the light is taken, the place where dust is their nourishment, and their food mud. Light is never seen; in darkness they dwell; its chiefs are like birds, covered with feathers; over the door and bolts is scattered dust" (Records of the Past, I, p. 143). Fearful is the description of the "seven evil spirits," by whom, perhaps, are meant the Antediluvians: "Seven are they, seven are they; in the abyss of the deep, seven are they. Male they are not, female they are not. The deep is their binder; wife they have not; son is not born to them; reverence and kindness they know not. Prayer and supplication they hear not. Among the thorns on the mountains was their growth. To Ea they are foes. Wicked are they; wicked are they; seven are they, seven are they, seven twice again are they" (G. Smith, Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 105).
     From the Ancient Word with them, the Assyrians derived most of their forms or worship, which thus in many respects resemble the Jewish. Thus the Sabbath (umu Sabuttuv) was a religious institution, of which we read in the inscriptions: "The seventh day, a feast of Merodach and Zirbanit, a day of rest," on which the king must not eat certain foods nor change his garments, ride in his chariot, take medicine, or legislate, but in the night make a sacrifice, "raising his hands, the high place of the God he worships" (Records of the Past VII, p. 160).
     The worship of the Assyrians, as of the Egyptians, was strongly, magnificently representative. Their priesthood was a distinct and honored class subordinated in numerous degrees; their temples were grand and elaborate, treasure houses, in fact, in which the kings deposited the spoils of their conquests. Their idols were numerous, and generally made of alabaster or baked clay, though images of silver and gold are also found. The sacrifices and offerings were of various kinds like those of the Jews: burnt offering, meal offering, and libations. Altars of fire, the symbol of the Divine Love, are found in all sacrificial scenes: Another frequent form of altar was of a triangular shape with a circular top, the conjunction of the spiritual and the celestial forms. The general symbol of the divinities was the horned cap, representing the Power of Divine Wisdom. Other emblems were the sacred basket, which the worshiper always holds in one hand, and a fruit of a conical shape, which with the other hand he holds forth to the god. As to the Basket we learn in Arcana Celestia, n. 5144, "that at that time [of the Judges] things which were for worship were carried in baskets, because these represented the containents, and the things in them the things contained." Thus the basket signified "the new voluntary," and the fruit, of course, the good works with which it is meet to approach the Divine.
     Another very frequent symbol is the "Asherak," the sacred tree, which in various elaborate forms, is to be met with in all scenes of worship. This, undoubtedly, was a remains from ancient times, when men knew that the "Tree of Life" represented the LORD Himself-it is, perchance, also a representative of the cedar tree, which in the Word is so often mentioned in connection with Assyria, both signifying the rational mind.
     The sun, the moon, and the stars were early identified with the Divine and spiritual things which they represented, and the Assyrian religion was hence a thoroughly astral worship. Every temple was an astronomical observatory, from which the will of the gods was anxiously observed and reported. Hence, beside pure astrology, arose the foundation of the science of astronomy for which the Chaldeans were so famous.

     The Assyro-Babylonian Pantheon.

     IN few Mythologies can an original Monotheism be so distinctly traced as in the Assyro-Babylonian. A supreme, all-ruling, personal God, father and king of all other divinities, was certainly recognized up to a comparatively fate age, and it was only in the decline of the empire that the system became complex and confused. While in Egypt there are earlier and later dynasties of deities, in Assyria and Babylonia the Pantheon remained virtually unchanged during some two or three thousand years. Hence it is comparatively simple, and can readily be brought into a perfect system when regarded from a New-Church point of view. In the learned works of the world, however, Assyrian Mythology is found unconnected, unexplained, and confusedly contradictory.

22


All the divinities are supposed to be mere powers of nature, with interchangeable names, origins, and qualities Blind, indeed, must the learned have been not to be able to see the clear light behind the external forms.
     Dean Rawlinson and other authorities have attempted to systematize this Mythology in the following manner: At the head of the Pantheon stood, in Babylonia, Ilu or Ra, and in Assyria Asshur. Then followed two triads, Anu, Bel and Ea and Sin, Shamash and Vul, after which come five minor (?) deities, Nin Merodach, Nergal, Ishtar, and Nebo.
     This arrangement is, however, simply a system of convenience, and contains no internal evidence of truth. Whatever forms may have been developed during the later ages of Assyro-Chaldean worship, it is evident from the Doctrines that all these deities were originally nothing but different names of the various attributes of the one God JEHOVAH, who was worshiped in the Ancient Church. Studying this subject in the Light of the Doctrines, it appears that the Theology of the Ancient Church in these lands must have existed somewhat in the form of the following system, which here is given simply as a suggestion that may be substantiated and confirmed in details:
     1. The supreme God, representing the Divine Itself, as the Esse or Divine Love, seems to have been called Ea.
     2. The Divine Existere, or the Divine Wisdom, appears in three forms:
     As the creating and ruling Divine Truth in Bel.
     As the prophesied Redeemer or the Divine Human in Merodach.
     As the Divine Providence in Nergal.
     3. The Proceeding Divine, or the Holy Spirit, seems to have been represented by Rammanu.
     4. The Divine Word, the teaching Revealer, by Nebo.
     5. Heaven, in its two Kingdoms, by Anu and his wife Anuta.
     6. Faith and spiritual love by Sin, and
     7. Charity and celestial love by Shamash.
     8. Rational Good and Truth appears in Asshur.
     9. Conjugial Love in Ishtar, and
     10. Natural good and truth in Nin or Ninip.
     With each one of them was coupled a corresponding goddess, representing the all-pervading Divine marriage of good and truth, whence arise the following couples: Ea and Dav-Kina, Bel and Beltis, Merodach and Zirbanit, Nergal and Laz, Rammanu and Shala, Nebo and Warmits, Anu and Anuta, Sin and "the great lady," Shamash and Gula, Asshur and Ishtar, Nm and "The Queen of the land." All these names of the various Divine attributes were in later ages worshiped as separate gods, and after them followed a great number of semi- divinities, heroes, and spirits of heaven or of hell too numerous or unimportant for classification.
Internal Sense of the Word 1890

Internal Sense of the Word              1890

     Lest man be in doubt, but that the Word is such, the Internal Sense of the Word has been revealed to me by the Lord.-S. S. 4.
USE AND ABUSE OF WINE 1890

USE AND ABUSE OF WINE              1890

     THE Writings of the New Church teach that love, wisdom, and use form and make heaven. From the principles therein taught we may see that all things were created for use, thus that they might serve as a basis and foundation for heaven. On the other hand the abuse or perversion of the good things created by the LORD is a basis and foundation for hell.
     Thus we may see that food and drink are given for the nourishment of man's body, but that the abuse of these produces disorders and evils. Moderate eating is a good, gluttony is an evil. Moderate drinking is a good, excessive drinking or drunkenness is an evil. The evil is not in the substance, but in the misuse or abuse of the substance. Total abstainers, however, erroneously assume as a fundamental position that wine itself is an evil, and is a poison, and that any use of it is evil.
     Having assumed the position that wine is a poison, it is easy to demolish any arguments in favor of the use of wine; and were this position true, its use in the Sacrament would be the worst possible use of it. Wine, however, is not a deadly drink; but its abuse is an evil. Just as marriage is a good thing, but its violation an evil, so the use of wine is a good and its' abuse is an evil.
     In regard to the relative heinousness of the evil of drunkenness with other evils, we are taught that the Word is written in an orderly series; and so the decalogue, as being a summary of the teaching of the whole Word, is written in such order, the most essential commandments being first, and the others following in order. Thus the laws concerning God precede those concerning the neighbor; and the' violation of these interior laws concerning God are worse evils than the violation of the laws against the neighbor. In fact the origin of the naturalism that reigns at this day arises from the Old Church doctrine of the Trinity (T. C. R. 4); and all external evils arise from the prevalence of the loves of self and the world, and these primarily arise from a false theology. Thus the Old Church doctrine or theology is the most injurious plague, and is the cause of the evil of drunkenness as of other evils, and that dead Church can never cure the evil by attempting to destroy any external material substance.
     That wine, fermented wine, is a good thing when properly used, is manifest to many people from a careful study of the Word and the Doctrines of the Church. It is the almost unanimous conclusion of the New Church ministers of America that fermented wine is the only proper wine to use in the Sacrament of the Holy Supper. See proof in the Rev. John Worcester's paper and its discussion in the last meeting of the Council of Ministers. This wine was used from time immemorial in the sacred feasts and libations of worship. It was used at other feasts and social occasions, and was acknowledged as a good gift of God to man. The LORD used it, being called by the Pharisees "an eater and wine-drinker," and He created it at the marriage feast, as the Greek text clearly shows that such was its quality. Swedenborg also used it. In heaven wine is used at their dinners and feasts, and these things are sufficient proof that there is a blessing and power for good in the proper use of it.
     In the Adversaria, speaking of fermented wine and of the Nazarite, Swedenborg says: "Wine could not then intoxicate him because he is regenerated. . . . Wine is gladness or celestial joy, for it then exhilarates, and only excites those things which are of charity." (Adv. 6879-80.) Again he says that in London, in the Spiritual world, they have wines, strong drink, etc. "I also asked concerning the liquor called punch (an English decoction), they said that they also had it, but it is only given to those who are sincere, and at the same time industrious." (D. S. IV, p: 88.) In this city it is said those who are inclined to evil are cast out of the city, so that these drinks were used only by good spirits.

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     As to Swedenborg's use of wine, Cuno says that at a dinner "They could not prevail on him to take more than three glasses of wine, which were besides half filled with sugar, of which he was more than ordinarily fond." (Doc. II, p. 449.) This wine certainly was not unfermented.
     In the Word, in many places, fermented wine is plainly meant, and yet it is spoken of in a good sense. Joseph gave intoxicating beverages to his brethren when the came to him in Egypt, for when he made them eat with him, "They drank, and were merry with him." The word translated "were merry" is the same word as is translated "to be drunk," except that in this case it is in the active sense, whilst ordinarily it is used in the passive sense; and in the Writings it is translated, "And they drank, and they drank largely, with him." Another form of the same word means "strong drink,"-and another "drunkenness," showing conclusively that what they drank was of an intoxicating quality if they drank it to excess. And that this act of drinking largely of intoxicating drinks has in this case a good signification is plainly evident from the explanation, which is, the application of truths under good abundantly." In the Adversaria, in explanation of the same passage, he translates it "They drank to satiety," and explains, "To drink to satiety is to enjoy the delight of a banquet, for drink (potus used generally of intoxicating beverages) exhilarates, and recreates, thus that they were delighted to satiety, but every one is delighted according to his mind, thus to satiety." (Adv. II, 1007.)
     In the early New Church, fermented wine was fully acknowledged as a good and useful thing, and has, until a very recent period, been universally acknowledged as the only wine to be used in the Sacrament. The opposition to it is not derived from an unbiased study of the Word and the Writings, but is an infestation from the Old Church, which has perverted the Word to favor a previously assumed principle; and to carry it out, its Old Church adherents have been known to go so far as to declare that they would have no respect for JESUS CHRIST if they thought He created fermented wine, thereby showing that they set up their own pharisaical good, and their self-derived intelligence above the Word. And if the Word were not so written that they could pervert and twist its meaning, they would utterly reject it.
Apocalypse 1890

Apocalypse              1890

     The Apocalypse could by no means have been explained, except by the Lord alone, wherefore it has pleased the Lord to open for me the sight of my spirit, and to teach.- A. R. Preface.
WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH 1890

WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH              1890

     Being the Works written by Emanuel Swedenborg, before whom the LORD manifested Himself in Person, and whom He filled with His Spirit, to teach the Doctrines of the New Church through the Word from Him. This Revelation constitutes the Second Coming of the LORD. The New Church is that signified by the New Jerusalem in Revelation. The Books are here given in the chronological order in which they were originally published by Swedenborg from the year 1749 to the year 1771.

     Arcana Coelestia. The Heavenly Secrets which are in the Sacred Scriptures or Word of the LORD disclosed; together with the wonders which were seen in the World of Spirits and in the Heaven of Angels.
     In this Work, the Books of Genesis and Exodus are explained verse for verse, and word for word, according to their Internal Sense. The narratives of the wonders seen and heard in the spiritual world are interspersed between the chapters. The principal doctrines of the New Church, and accounts of the earths in the universe, also form part of this Work.

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     Concerning Heaven and its Wonders, and concerning Hell; from things heard and seen.

     Contains also an account of the World of Spirits, and of the state of man after Death. Numerous references to the Arcana Coelestia.

     Large octavo. Price, 50 cents; including postage, 65 cents.
     Pocket edition, without the references to the Arcana. In paper-covers, 15 cents. Bound in cloth, 40 cents.

     Concerning the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine: from things heard from Heaven. To which is premised something concerning the New Heaven and the New Earth.

     Explains what is meant by the "New Jerusalem" is Revelation xxi; and, in twenty-three short chapters, treats of as many different doctrines of the New Church. Copious references to the Arcana Coelestia.

     160 pages, large octavo. Price, 15 cents, including postage.
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     Concerning the Last Judgment, and concerning Babylon destroyed. Thus, that all things foretold in Revelation have been fulfilled at this day. From things Heard and Seen.*

     Continuation concerning the Last Judgment, and concerning the Spiritual World.
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     Concerning the White Horse, of which in Revelation, chapter xix. Then, also, concerning the Word and its Spiritual or Internal Sense, from the Arcana Coelestia.*
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     The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord.

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     The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith.

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     Each of these four Works are published separately in the pocket edition, limp cloth covers, 10 cents each.
     Another pocket edition, includes all four doctrines.
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     Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love, and concerning the Divine Wisdom.
     This Work is in five parts. The first treats of God, that He is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and that He is Life, then that He is Substance and Form, which is the very and only Esse. The Second Part, treats of the spiritual sun and its world, and of the natural sun and its world; and that by both suns the universe with all things in it were created by God. The Third Part treats of the degrees in which are all things that have been created. The Fourth Part treats of the creation of the Universe by God. The Fifth Part treats of the receptacles and habitations of the Divine Love and Wisdom in man.

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     Every chapter explains a chapter from the Book of Revelation (the Greek title of which is "Apocalypse"), verse by verse and word for word. At the end of every chapter follows a memorable relation of things heard and seen by Swedenborg in the Spiritual World.

     In 2 vols., large 8vo. Price, $1.20; including postage, $1.50.
     In one vol., price, 90 cents; including postage, $1.18.
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     Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love. After which follow the Pleasures of Insanity concerning Scortatory Love.

     Between the chapter are numerous memorable relations of things seen and' heard in the Spiritual World, especially in regard to conjugial love.

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     Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation.
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chapter xxi, 1, 2.

     Contains fourteen chapters on as many of the principal Doctrines of the New Church, and seventy-seven memorable relations; also a supplement on the Spiritual World and the fate of Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, and the place of various nations in the other world.

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     Rotch edition, 3 vols., l2mo. Price, $3.76; including postage, $4.11.

     THE FOLLOWING WORKS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED FROM SWEDENBORG'S MANUSCRIPTS AFTER HIS DEATH:

     The Apocalypse Explained according to the Spiritual Sense, where are revealed secrets which have been foretold therein and have hitherto been concealed.

     Similar in plan to the Apocalypse Revealed, but more Scripture passages are adduced, and very many of them are fully explained. In the last volume a number of doctrinal subjects are introduced `and explained seriatim. These are also published in separate form under the title of The Divine Trinity and Divine Providence, With related subjects.

     The Apocalypse Explained is published only in England in six volumes, 8vo, for $10.00 and express charges. Not sold singly.
     The New or Publishing Society has issued a valuable Index to the Apocalypse Explained, including Index to Scripture passages. 2 vols., large 8vo, for $4.00; leather backs.

     The Divine Trinity and Divine Providence, with Related Subjects. (See just above.)
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     Swedenborg's Index to the Arcana Coelestia.

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     Nine Questions concerning the Trinity, etc., proposed by the Rev. Thomas Hartley to Emanuel Swedenborg; together with his Answers.
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     Coronis or Appendix to the True Christian Religion, which treats of the Four Churches in this Earth, from the Creation of the World, and of its Periods and Consummation; of the New Church which will succeed those four, which will be truly Christian, and the Crown of the preceding ones: and of the LORD'S Coming to it, and of His Divine auspices over it to eternity. And, furthermore, of the Mystery of Redemption. Not complete.

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     The Consummation of the Age, the Lord's second Coming, and the New Church.

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     The Swedenborg Concordance. A complete Work of Reference to the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Compiled, edited, and translated by the Rev. John Faulkner Potts, B. A.
     Published in parts of forty-eight quarto pages each. Price, 15 cents for each part; postage, 2 cents; by mail, 12 parts for $2.00. 84 Parts have been published thus far from A to "Fall." The remaining parts will be issued bimonthly.

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Book of Festival Services; 4. Book of Doctrines; 5. Book of Prayers; 6. Book of Sacraments and Rites; 7. The Psalter; 8. Book of Sacred Song.
     541 pages, duodecimo, $1.25; including postage, $1.37. Liberal discounts to societies.

     General Index of Passages from the Divine Word, quoted in the Works of Emmanuel Swedenborg. By J. F. E. Le Boys des Guays.
     Invaluable to the devout reader of the Scriptures who desires to find the explanation of the Internal Sense of any given pas sage.
     This work is an Index to all the Inspired Writings, and also to a previous work, the Adversaria, which has not yet been translated.

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     A Dictionary of Correspondences, Representatives, and Significatives, derived from the Word of the LORD, extracted from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
     This work is misnamed a "dictionary," for there is no such thing as a "language of correspondences." But the book is a valuable Index to the Writings.

     Duodecimo. Cloth, $1.26.

     Words for the New Church. A serial controlled by the Academy of the New Church.

     Each part contains a valuable monograph on a leading subject and Notes and Reviews. Thirteen Parts have been published thus far. The monographs in the first three treat respectively of "The Advent of the LORD" "State of the Christian World," and "The New Church."

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     Authority in the New Church. By the Rev. R. L. Tafel, A. M., Ph. D.
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     Consists of Two Parts. The First Part treats of the growth and development of the degrees in man, from birth to adult life, and during regeneration.
     The Second Part treats of the degrees in the LORD, their assumption and glorification.
     The whole illustrated by forty colored plates. The plates for the first copies were colored by hand. Those of the remaining edition are lithographed.

     A Brief Answer to the Question: "What is the New Church?"
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     This plan includes all the Books of Divine Revelation, beginning with the Arcana Coelestia, and the Book of Genesis. This will extend the course of reading through a number of years. The year 1890 is the third year of the course.

     Published annually by the. General Church of Pennsylvania. Four pages. Price, 5 cents.

     ALL of the above publications can be obtained from the Academy Book Room, Carl H. Asplundh, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Unless the Lord should again come into the world 1890

Unless the Lord should again come into the world              1890

     . . . At the present day, unless the Lord should again come into the world in the Divine Truth, which is the Word, not any one could be saved.-B. E. 117; T. C. R. 3.

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Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     A SERIES of lectures by the Rev. Thomas Child has just been published by James Speirs, London, under the title, The Unseen World.



     THE Western New Church Union has recently published a new work, by the Rev. L. P. Mercer, entitled, Notes on the Gospel of Mark.



     ANOTHER attempt to conform the Doctrines of the New Church with Oriental occultism, esoteric Buddhism, and magical Theosophy has been made in a book recently published by Mr. J. C. Street, under the mystic title, The Hidden Way Across the Threshold.



     THE Ninth Annual Report of the New-Church Temperance Society of England has been published in pamphlet form. The cover is graced by a quotation from 1 Corinthians x, 31, "whether therefore ye eat, or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Nothing is here said about glorifying God by total abstinence.



     Light is the name off a new journal published by the "Equity Publishing Company" of New York City. It is devoted to metaphysical philosophy and psychology, and seems also to take an interest in certain phases of New Church teachings. Its Christmas number contains, among other things extracts from Heaven and Hell and from a lecture on "The Coming of the New Age," by the Rev. Chauncey Giles.



     SUBSCRIBERS to the Concordance will learn with regret that, in consequence of the increasing pressure of the ministerial duties of the Compiler, the Rev. J. F. Potts, the numbers will, during the year 1890, be issued only every alternate month, or six times during the year. It would seem that the entire Church ought to unite in relieving the Compiler of all such duties as stand in the way of his uninterrupted performance of the universal use of publishing the Concordance.



     THE Monatblatter for December, 1889, calls attention to the sympathy expressed by leading members of the "German Synod" in America with the heretical doctrines proclaimed by Mr. Albert Artope in Berlin. The vice-president of the Synod has publicly stigmatized the Doctrine of the Divine- Human as "absurd." The Secretary of the Synod is the sole agent in America for Mr. Artophe's paper, Die Neue Kirche, and publications of the Synod are advertising the same paper, the leading feature of which is a complete denial of the entire Doctrine of the LORD.



     Food, Home, and Garden is the title of a monthly journal published by the Vegetarian Society of America, and edited by the Rev. Henry S. Clubb of the "Bible-Christians" of Philadelphia. This society is a remnant of the curious sect formed by the Rev. W. Cowherd, of Manchester, who in the early part of this century developed a new religion by mixing up New Church doctrine with
vegetarian total-abstinence, and unitarian notions. Food, Home, and Garden bears internal evidence of the editor's knowledge of the New Church, and repeatedly mentions the name of the Rev. Samuel F. Dike, pastor of the New Church at Bath, Me., as a distinguished and active advocate of the vegetarian doctrines.



     THE-answers to inquiries in the "Question Drawer" of New Church Tidings for January, contain some excellent teachings drawn directly from the Writings, and, presented in a compact, interesting form; especially forcible is a reply to an inquiry respecting the true Communion wine: "In Arcana Coelestia, n. 353 Swedenborg speaks of the 'blood of the grape as merum (Dent. xxxii, 14). But in the True Christian Religion, n. 706, referring to this very passage, and in allusion to the wine of the Holy Supper, he says: 'The LORD gave them wine (vinum), saying, This is my blood; and wine (vinum) signifies Divine Truth. Wherefore it (i.e. vinum) is also called the blood of grapes (Deut. xxxii, 14).' Vinum in the Holy Supper is thus identified with merum, of which we read (in A. E. 887); 'Merum means wine which intoxicates'-that is, of course, when its true uses are disregarded."



     IN the Homeopathic World for October 1st, 1889 there appeared an interesting article by Dr. Bojanus of Tamara Russia, entitled "Thoughts on the Future of Medical Science." The writer in venturing to suggest the use of Swedenborg's Medical Works, says that he is afraid he will be regarded as a madman, but contents himself with the thought that he will be in the company of such men, as Swedenborg, Newton, Hausmann, and others. Passing this by he immediately comes to the subject of his paper by stating that in the Scientific Writings of Swedenborg there is a harvest of knowledge for the whole future of Science. And in order to confirm the truth of those Writings, he gives a list of the most renowned men who have by their researches corroborated the scientific doctrine of Swedenborg. And while drawing a comparison of some extracts from the respective works of Swedenborg and Hausmann, the writer states that Hausmann arrived at the same conclusions as Swedenborg, without having any knowledge of his works.
It has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me 1890

It has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me              1890

     It has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which shall be of the New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation. -T. C. R. Concluding number.
FOURTH VOLUME OF THE DIARY 1890

FOURTH VOLUME OF THE DIARY              1890

     THE SPIRITUAL DIARY of Emanuel Swedenborg, being a record during twenty years of his supernatural experience. Translated by Professor George Bush M. A., and the Rev. James F. Buss, and revised and edited by the latter. In five volumes. Volume IV, numbers 4546 to 5659, including the portion usually known as the "Smaller Diary." James Speirs, London, 1889, pp. 494.

     AFTER a delay of seven years, the publication of this translation of the Spiritual Diary has at length been resumed. The delay is explained by the Editor of the present volume as owing to the peculiar difficulties under which he has labored. It will be remembered that the first three volumes were simply an unrevised publication of the old MS. translation made by Professor Bush and the Rev. John H. Smithson. The defects of this translation were great and numerous, and have been pointed out in former volumes of the Life. The necessity of having the work revised by a competent Editor seems to have been finally realized, and the MS. of the fourth volume was turned over to the Rev. J. F. Buss to revise and edit. In going over the MS. for the press Mr. Buss was at once struck with astonishment at the number of glaring and essential errors in the translation, in consequence of which he began to subject the MS. to a thorough revision. This plan was pursued up to n. 5401, when the Editor concluded to abandon the rendering of Professor Bush, and began, to make an in dependent translation.
     This arrangement has undoubtedly resulted in a great improvement of this volume upon the preceding ones, as far as the translation itself is concerned. A greater faithfulness to the original has effected better sense in the translation, while greater carefulness has given to the rendering more simplicity, purity, and elegance of style. Among the more evident improvements it may be noted that the meaningless, word "principle," which so constantly occurs in other translations of the Writings as a "noun to lean some of Swedenborg's adjectives against" has been abolished.

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The Swedish words, with which the Diary abounds, have been correctly rendered in this volume, obviating the absurd errors into which the former translator so often fell, as was pointed out in the Life for December, 1883, and April, 1887. The many useless brackets which disfigure the former volumes, and which are used to indicate words that do not occur in the Latin original, but that are necessary to the sense, have here been abolished, giving the pages a much cleaner appearance.
     Other improvements consist in the addition of a table of contents. giving the headings of the various articles in the Diary, and also an "Analytical Table of Swedenborg's use of astronomical signs in connection with dates," by means of which the reader is enabled to ascertain under what day of the week- the various dated entries were made in the Diary.
     Another new and interesting feature of this volume are the illustrations with which it is furnished. These consist of fac-similes of the drawings made by Swedenborg himself to illustrate or explain scenes and events in the Spiritual World, especially in connection with the changes effected by the Last Judgment. Thus, in describing the destruction of the "Great Babylon" in the Spiritual World, Swedenborg drew several outline maps, indicating by letters the situations of the various parts of the city, and the changes which they underwent, etc. These have all been reproduced, and moreover furnished with "interpretative drawings," in which Swedenborg's outlines have been filled with more or less realistic pictures of cities, mountains etc. Of these pictures, which are drawn by Mr. A. H. Searle, there are nineteen in all, and they will undoubtedly prove of use in assisting the reader to a clearer understanding of the meaning of the text, and to a more ultimate perception of the reality of the Spiritual World. The accuracy of the "interpretative drawings" may be questioned in some instances, but the attempt is, in itself, praiseworthy.
     The volume itself contains two somewhat separate works: the "Smaller Diary" after which follows the "Greater Diary," from n. 4545 to 5659, continued from Vol. III. The reason for the insertion of the "Smaller Diary" in this place is found in the fact that this part historically belongs here, the whole of it having been written during the interval of more than two years, which took place between the entries of n. 4544 and 4545 of the "Greater Diary," for the last entry prior to 4544 was made on "September 15th, 1749" (see n. 4389), and the first date after 4545 was made on "January 11th, 1752." Between these two dates in the "Greater Diary" comes the only date occurring in the "Smaller Diary," "November 19th, 1751." That the latter work belongs to the place here assigned to it is further confirmed from the fact that it also begins with 4545. To avoid confusion resulting from this repetition of numbering, the editor has added the letter "m" (minus) to all the numbers composing the "Smaller Diary." He has also completed the numbering of that part which had been left unnumbered by Swedenborg.
     The usefulness of the preceding volumes of this work has been seriously marred by the bias which is constantly given to the reader's mind by the often erroneous teachings contained in the ever-recurring foot-notes by the original translator. Explanations are offered, which tend to obscure rather than to elucidate, doubts are introduced as to the correctness of some doctrinal statements, and everywhere the translator pushes his own personality between the reader and the Author. It is simply impossible to escape him, for almost every page is marked by his personal opinions.
     The editor of the present volume states in his preface, that he found `the MS. "entirely destitute of those footnotes in which Professor Bush's work in the preceding volumes is so rich." What a pity, then, that the MS. was not left in this clean condition. While the footnotes in this volume are not at all as numerous nor, as a rule, as personal as in the preceding ones, they could all very well have been collected into an appendix, or printed separately, so as to avoid any mixture of human things with the Divine. Especially uncalled for, and injurious is that part of the editor's preface which treats of the nature and authority of the Diary.
     No objection could have been raised to his publishing his views of the character of this work in some other place. As it is, he has put his own personal views as a face to the whole work, and a great many readers will study the work with these opinions constantly before them. This is an unwarranted liberty to take with the works of any great author. When it is taken with Divine Works it becomes simply presumption. Even this might be excused when a preface is written with the well meant though mistaken intention of adding weight and authority to the work, but, unfortunately, the preface to this volume throws upon the work obscurity, doubt, and even inclines to denial of its authority and trustworthiness.
     The editor labors to show that the Diary was never intended by Swedenborg to be published in its present form, and that it was simply a private record of spiritual experiences intended "for his own use only." Then, contradicting his first position, he labors to prove that the Diary is "as a whole, entirely reliable and fully authoritative," yea, that the work, is "as a rule," "Divine Doctrine," and confirms this by quoting from n. 1647 of this very work, where it is said that "the things which I learned from representations, visions, and conversations with Spirits and Angels were from the LORD alone." He then proceeds to contradict this his 8ecOfld position by stating that from this

"It does not follow that EVERY expression of opinion here set down is Divine Doctrine. As a rule this is the case; but candour compels the admission that one or two exceptions-remarkable for their very rarity-are to be found."

     This is just what every opponent to the Divine authority of the Writings brings forth. "As a rule" they are Divine Doctrine, but "exceptions" are to be found here, there, and everywhere. The editor has, from his light, found two false teachings in the Diary; others may, from their light find hundreds. Where will the exceptions end? And all this in the face of the plain statement that the things in this very Diary, as the editor himself observes, "are from the LORD alone." If they are not from the LORD alone, then they must have been from spirits or angels, for man has nothing from himself. And yet the teaching here is what is repeated in so many other places in the Writings, that there is nothing in them which is from any spirit or angel.
     But what are these remarkable "exceptions" to the truthfulness of the Diary, which the editor has discovered?
     The first mentioned was found in n. 5203, of the Diary, where it is stated "those who were upon the mountains and rocks were those who were mentioned in the Apocalypse, who are of the second resurrection, for the second resurrection is the resurrection of those who are in the latter times in the Church, and who are evil; of the first resurrection are those who were in prior times, as also those in the times following; and who were good."
     To this the editor objects, in a foot-note, that-

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     "It is worthy of mention that no 'second resurrection' is mentioned in the Apocalypse. Swedenborg at this time evidently considered that the express mention of a 'first resurrection' (Rev. xx, 6, 6) necessarily implied a second. Later in his career, however; he learned better, as may be seen by consulting the work Apocalypse Revealed, n. 861, where, also, the true spiritual signification of the matter here referred to, is given."

     In his preface the editor dwells on this

     "Open conflict, which exists between Swedenborg's belief in 1756 [when this number in the Diary was written] and the Doctrine of the Church on the subject as authoritatively laid down, ten years later, in The Apocalypse Revealed, n. 861."

     This "open conflict" he explains by saying that Swedenborg's preparation for his office was not finished in 1756, that he did not then know the true internal sense of this passage, but "wrote down this erroneous belief in the most obvious good faith and confidence in the Diary he was keeping at the time."
     On this same ground the editor would also be driven to deny the authority of The Apocalypse Explained, completed in the year 1759, where this teaching occurs in n. 899 [e]; "That the natural death, which is the rejection of the unclean things of the body, and the spiritual death, which is the rejection of the unclean things of the spirit, signify resurrection, is also evident from the following things in the Apocalypse, where it is treated of the first death and the second death, which also is called the first resurrection and the second resurrection (Chap. ii, 11; xxi, 8)."
     Turning to The Apocalypse Revealed, n. 851, we find that by resurrection is meant "salvation and eternal life," and that "there is only one resurrection to life; a second is not given; for which reason neither is a second resurrection anywhere mentioned. For they who are once conjoined to the LORD are conjoined to Him forever, and are in heaven."
     From these passages it becomes plain that a "second resurrection" is mentioned in The Apocalypse Explained, and implied in the sense of the Letter. It becomes plain that by "the first death or resurrection" mentioned in The Apocalypse Explained, n. 899 [a], is simply meant the natural death and consequent awakening in the spiritual world, and by the "second death or resurrection" is meant the "salvation and eternal life," spoken of in The Apocalypse Revealed, n. 851.
     As "the second death" and "the second resurrection" in a good sense signify the same thing, or "the rejection of the unclean things of the spirit," so in the opposite sense do both signify "damnation" (compare A. R. 853). It is in this sense that the "second resurrection" is spoken of in the passage of the Diary quoted above. For those "who were upon the mountains," and who were of the second resurrection, were those who were of the latter times of the Church and were evil. These were of the imaginary heavens, whose downthrow and "damnation" is described in n. 5202, the passage just preceding.
     This "exception" to the authority of the Diary may thus be seen to be what all other "exceptions" to the Writings have ever been found to be: mere faults of the understanding of the objector.
     This is the case also with the second "exception" mentioned in the preface of this volume. After showing at great length that the passages in the Diary which have been supposed by some to teach the non-eternity of the hells, do not teach any such falsity, the Editor stumbles over one simple passage, n. 2826, which he thinks, proves that-

     "When he wrote this, Swedenborg did believe that the ultimate outcome of the punishments in hell would be the salvation of those who undergo them," owing to Swedenborg's "comparatively immature state of spiritual knowledge."

     The passage in question teaches that "there can never be any punishment in the other life except for an end; still less can it be thought that any punishment is given without an end-namely, that by means of punishment and torment the spirit may be tempted, so that he can be in some good society." It is to this last clause that the editor objects, inasmuch as the evil spirits "can never be reduced to do good from the love of good" (T. C. R. 531). But it is not said in the passage alluded to that the punished spirit can come into any interiorly good society, or a heavenly society. Order is good, whether internal or external, and the sole end of the infernal punishments is to reduce the devils to some sort of external order, or to introduce them into some good society. Even if the editor was not able to understand the passage, he cannot be justified in having denied its authority, and especially in the preface or face which he has put before the whole work. As translator and editor he did excellent work, but as commentator he has done more harm than good.
     May the day come when the Writings which the LORD gave to His New Church shall be allowed to stand on their own merits, unobscured by human explanations and apologies, untouched by human alterations and corrections, and unpolluted by such indignities as this translation of the Spiritual Diary has suffered.
     May their light shine!
Apocalypse as well as the propheticals of the Old Testament can in no wise be understood 1890

Apocalypse as well as the propheticals of the Old Testament can in no wise be understood              1890

     The Apocalypse as well as the propheticals of the Old Testament can in no wise be understood, nor anything in them, unless the spiritual sense be known, and especially unless there be revelation from Heaven.- A. E. 2.
Communicated 1890

Communicated              1890

      [Inasmuch as in this Department Correspondents have an opportunity to express their individual opinions, be they in favor of the principles on which New Church Life is conducted or adverse to them, the Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views that are published therein.]
New Church on the earths 1890

New Church on the earths              1890

     The Lord Jehovih . . . derives and produces a New Church on the earths, which is done by revelation from His mouth or from the Word, and by inspiration.-Cor. III.
CORRECTION NOTES 1890

CORRECTION NOTES       G. N. SMITH       1890

     I HAVE just read the most astonishing argument in all this astonishing wine controversy.
     A writer in a late "New Church Journal" takes the ground that we ought to use unfermented wine in the Sacrament because thus we may hasten our attainment of the celestial state. What is the writer thinking about? Not New Church doctrine, surely. That doctrine teaches just the opposite process for reaching any regenerate state from that contemplated in that writer's thoughts-that is, through fermentation; never without it. The doctrine is clear and positive that the will of man is lost ("deperdita"-damned) and that a new will must be built up in the intellectual principle by the truth learned and heard. (See A. C. 2256 et at.) Also that life in its process of regeneration passes through these three periods: 1. In truth, but not in good; 2. In good from truth; 3. In good from good (A. C. 6396).

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These periods cannot be passed except by temptation-combats, in which the truth is purified from falsity and good from evil (T. C. R. 596). "The purification of truth from the false with man cannot possibly [italics mine] exist without leavening (fermentatio) so-called-that is, without the combat of the false with truth and of truth with the false; but after the combat has taken place and the truth has conquered, then the false falls down like dregs and the truth exists purified, like wine which grows clear after fermentation, the dregs falling down to the bottom. This fermentation or combat exists principally when the state with man is turned, namely, when he begins to act from the good which is of charity" (A. C. 7906). This is the state that is represented by the Holy Supper. Hence, the elements represent its goods "of love" and "of faith" (H. D. 212). And the good of faith is charity (A. C. 654, 3969). Again, "The Holy Supper is a sacrament of Repentance" (T. C. R. 567). And repentance involves combat (D. C. 118). To talk about unfermented wine representing the states set forth in these teachings and the Sacrament that corresponds to them looks about as doctrinal and true as to say that black is white. And, still more, to claim that we should use it that we may hasten a state that "cannot possibly exist" without that element to which an unfermented one bears a relation not unlike that which black bears to white is about as astonishing a piece of reasoning as I ever heard. If this is reason, what is unreason?
     One thought about this ambition to become celestial: see Arcana Coelestia, n. 8945.     G. N. SMITH.
By command of the Lord 1890

By command of the Lord              1890

     By command of the Lord, who has been revealed to me the following are to be published.-L. Preface.
THAT THE LORD IS DOCTRINE 1890

THAT THE LORD IS DOCTRINE       HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1890

     THE Divine is indivisible; therefore that which is from the Divine, is Divine.
     The LORD is the WORD, because His-Good and Truth are within it, as the soul from which it is, and because it treats of Him alone. The WORD is the all of revelation-that is, it is all which the LORD speaks to man. Man is but a recipient of the truth which the LORD gives. In general, truth which is given by one and is received by another is called teaching, or doctrine. Whatever the LORD speaks is Divine Doctrine, and thus, because from Him, is the Lord Himself. Divine doctrine is to be believed, whether fully comprehended or not. For the Divine Truth in its origin is infinitely above the comprehension of men, and even of the highest angels. It is true in a sense that the doctrine of faith is above the grasp of man, but not, as the Old Church teaches, such that it will not in any form fall into the human understanding. For it is accommodated by the LORD to angels and men on all planes. In the letter of the WORD this Divine Doctrine is so crude and ultimate in its accommodation that it is easily understood by the simplest man, and even by children. So far is it, in appearance, from its Source, that it scarce appears to be Divine at all. Yet it is the LORD'S own teaching, and just as Divine as the same doctrine above the angelic heavens, yea, with the LORD Himself, its Source. For what is Divine cannot be more or less Divine. Divine means infinite, perfect, all-and to limit it in any way, or take away from it; would be to destroy the essential meaning of the word. If a doctrine, for instance, be in any part imperfect, by the taking on of any form or otherwise, no matter how slight the imperfection may be, it is not Divine.
     On the other hand, any doctrine which comes from the LORD, we cannot admit to be imperfect in the slightest degree. All appearance to the contrary must be merely accommodations to our imperfect capacity of reception. We are told that the LORD teaches us, His children, just as we would teach our children. Not in terms too profound for our comprehension, but in forms so simple as to be most clear to each one of us. For His teaching, unlike other teaching, is Divine in itself, and thus infinite in its accommodation and application.
     Now let us consider the forms which the Divine teaching or the WORD takes on in various planes, in accommodation to angels and men. Are these less Divine than the doctrines themselves? Strange to say, it is admitted in the Church nominal, that the letter of the WORD, the most ultimate form of all Divine Revelation, is Divine as to every jot and tittle, because it was dictated from the LORD, by means of inspired angels, to men who wrote it in the forms of language existing in their memory from this world. But it is at the same time denied that the rational form given to the same doctrines by the instrumentality of a man who was himself inspired directly from the LORD, is Divine. It seems clear enough, however, from the statements premised, that the difference lies not in the Divinity of the forms, for each is provided by the LORD Himself, whose Providence is of infinite particulars, so that no error could creep in, "unconsciously" or otherwise.
     The difference is that of the planes themselves. Ultimate truths require ultimate forms of expression, but rational and philosophical truths must have a rational form of expression, arranged in logical form, according to the series of ideas, and not as in the other case, in a sort of distorted perspective, which must be viewed through the medium of the science of correspondences in order that its true symmetry may appear. Truly, there is a difference, as great as between the sunlight and a cloud. For the literal sense is compared to a cloud in the Word. But the internal sense, as revealed by the LORD in the WRITINGS of the Church, is the naked truth itself, finally laid bare to the sight of men, after many ages of enveloping.
     It is like the bright, warm sunlight, which plays upon the clouds and makes them luminous and radiant with beautiful colors, that give delight to the eye, and peace to the spirit. Indeed, we are taught that the LORD in His Divine Human, as He has revealed Himself to His New Church, is a Sun, "whose light is as the light of seven days" (Is. xxx, 26) compared with other Revelations. What is this light but Truth, and where is this Truth, but in the Writings?
     HOMER SYNNESTVEDT.
This Church is to be begun and established 1890

This Church is to be begun and established              1890

     This Church is to be begun and established, not by miracles, but by the revelation of the Spiritual Sense, and by the introduction of my spirit and my body into the spiritual-world.-Inv. vii.
LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN 1890

LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN       JAMES CALDWELL       1890

     "THE whole subject of the Ministry in the light of the teachings of the Church" is the important commission placed in the hands of a special committee of ministers by minute 82 of the last Conference. This is a trust transmitted by a committee of the 1888 Conference, which committee so lightly regarded its duties that it met only once, I believe, and that on the eve of the last Conference, on which occasion a few members were absent.

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The new committee is the old committee, with the addition of the venerable ex-President, the Rev. R. Storry. The Church is waiting for and will welcome a weighty pronouncement of Conference on the vexed subject of the ministry or priesthood in the light of the Doctrines, and it is to be sincerely hoped that this committee will rise to a realization of the importance of the question submitted to it for solution.
     A particularly hopeful circumstance is the limitation placed upon the committee to confine itself to the "teachings of the Church" on the subject. The obvious meaning is that the Divine teaching of the heavenly doctrines should only be regarded. If the committee's report be strictly based on these it will be respected and regarded, but not otherwise. Any attempt on the part of members of the committee to extend the inquiry to the utterances of former or contemporary ministers or writers connected with the Church on the subject, as being properly "the teachings of the Church" on the subject, should be sternly resisted. Any such reference will go far to weaken the document; and some "Lucius Lud" will again have to remark on the disrespect shown to Conference.
     The Rev. Arthur Faraday, assistant minister of the Glasgow First Society, enjoys the distinction, I think, of being the only minister who was not first a "licentiate" recognized by Conference. The usual order is for a "leader" to conduct a Society for a certain probationary period without recognition by Conference. He does not, during this period, administer the Sacraments. At the end of the probationary term the Society applies to Conference for a "license to administer the sacraments." This being conceded, the "licentiate," if he remains with the same Society for another definite period of, I think, two years, and the Society then apply for his ordination, an authority to ordain him into the full charge-is given to the ordaining ministers of the Conference. Mr. Faraday did not pass through any of the probationary periods, neither the unrecognized or recognized. Yet his ordination was authorized at last Conference, and has since been effected. It should be explained that although Mr. Faraday was not "recognized" in the official lists of Conference, he was duly initiated into the first degree of the priesthood by an ordaining minister of Conference in accordance with the laws of order in the priesthood, and therefore in a more orderly way than that obtaining under Conference sanction. The Rev. J. F. Potts, the ordaining minister referred to, in the exercise of his office as guardian of the high character of the priestly function, took care that Mr. Faraday should receive inauguration through the divinely appointed medium of the laying on of hands before he assumed the responsibility of preaching to the Glasgow Society, of which he (Mr. Potts) had the principal charge. Although the Conference had not the grace to openly acknowledge this conscientious discharge of a clear duty by its official, yet by its sanction to the full ordination of Mr. Faraday it tacitly admitted the orderly nature of the previous ceremony.
     Exit the Greenock Society. Alas poor Greenock! I knew it well. I lived there less than seven years ago, and had something to do with the now defunct Society. That "effort" promised well at one time. Ten years ago the Rev. J. F. Potts, from Glasgow, would find a large audience waiting to hear him. And so with all the Scottish ministers, The Rev. W. A. Presland was popular. Mr. Presland has since been to Accrington, and now he is back in Scotland. In answer to a question of the President of the last Conference, Mr. Presland said he was in favor of "sustaining a capable minister in a likely town for a considerable period." Greenock was a likely town, and the Rev. W. Bates, now of Brisbane, who, as far as I know, has shown himself to be a fairly capable minister, was stationed at Greenock for some months. But Greenock has gone the way of many more "efforts." Greenock is a prosperous town materially; and no better illustration could be found of the non-affinity of genuine spiritual light with the light in men's minds which produces steam engines and telephones.
     JAMES CALDWELL
59 COUNTY ROAD, LIVERPOOL.
From the Lord alone 1890

From the Lord alone              1890

     I have never received anything relating to the doctrines of that Church from any angel, but from the Lord alone, while I was reading the Word-T. C. R. 779.
"A FEW UNCONTROVERSIAL WORDS." 1890

"A FEW UNCONTROVERSIAL WORDS."       WM. DENOVAN       1890

     EDITOR NEW CHURCH LIFE:- As my main object in writing on the "Wine Question" was the advancement of freedom and toleration at the LORD'S Table without danger of disunion in the Church; and feeling that aught that I can do or say in the matter is useless, permit me a few uncontroversial words to rectify wherein I consider myself misunderstood.
     As I consider that there has been a full enough analysis to form a correct synthesis, I desired to draw attention to the fact that the Writings speak of "wine and must," sometimes "old wine and new wine," but not of "new wine" and "must" as if they were distinct. Hence my inference that "wine" is a term both specific and generic-specific when differentiated by fermentation from juice-from freshly pressed grapes and generic in that it is used to include all conditions. The case is similar with the term Man, which is used to include the whole human race, or limited by differentiation from Woman or Child. And so in other cases. That my inference is correct, appears by Swedenborg using the term "vinum" to express the liquid trodden out of the wine-press; and as a learned friend-a clergyman-whose preference is for fermented wine upon the ground of argument (4) of Life, has noted that "the treading out of the wine and removing the pulps is of itself a judgment, and separation of the worst incongruous parts, and more essentially prefigures the combats of temptations." Hence we see that this process is correspondentially to "must" what fermentation is to "old wine," when the latter is treated of. This will render clear and fairly to the readers of Life the difference in our positions. The writer takes "the product of the vine" to be "wine" in its general sense; whilst Life takes "the product of the vine" to be specifically wine after fermentation.
     What I consider "too dogmatic" is strong assertions with insufficient demonstration.
     I do not "make a distinction between the truth of the Old Testament and that of the New Testament, as if they were not the same," but I hold that the truth of the New Testament is in its manifest form or expression more interior or higher. Divine Truth is One.
     WM. DENOVAN.

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BROWNING MEMORIAL MEETING 1890

BROWNING MEMORIAL MEETING              1890

To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Sir.- A few days after the death of Robert Browning, which occurred on the 12th of this month, I attended a memorial meeting held by the Browning
Society of Philadelphia-a society composed largely of the University professors and the prominent literary and scientific men of the city. The addresses made and poems read on this occasion were of no little interest to the student of intellectual phenomena, as showing the state of mind of those taking part in the curious Browning cult; but they were chiefly interesting to me for their conspicuous lack of any reference to Browning's future state.
     We have been told full often by certain New Church teachers that the New Church is permeating the old. Supposing this to be true, one would naturally look in an assembly of this kind, called together by the death of a famous poet, for some reference to the immortality of the soul and heaven, if not indeed such reference as would be made by a man of the Church, at the least such as could grow out of the old orthodoxy, especially if vivified by the "permeating" influence, referred to above. I listened watchfully and heard neither. Not one word, even indirectly, about a spiritual world. And I doubt not such a reference would have been regarded as in bad taste by this typical assembly of the learned world-that world which is looked up to as the highest product of civilization!
     But there was no lack of reference to the "immortality of achievement"-the impersonal immortality of the illustrious dead who sit enthroned in the minds of devoted survivors while they themselves are "silent in the tomb." Fame. This is the only heaven-a heaven existing in earthly self-seeking-which the great modern world seems to recognize. The old idea is out of joint with the times, and has been relegated to a position among the lifeless legends of the past-a tale that is told. This was the heaven George Eliot believed in and wished for when she wrote:

     "O may I join the choir invisible,
     Of those immortal dead who live again
     In minds made better by their presence;
     . . . . . . . . . .
               "So to live is heaven."

     Further on it is expressly declared,

     "This is life to come,"

     What has the descending New Jerusalem done for these people, these Browning-lovers and the rest, other than to vastate them-to set them free from old traditions that they may bow down in the new and all-absorbing worship of humanity, which must surely be the very opposite of charity since it recognizes no God?
                                        L.P.
           PHILADELPHIA, December 22d.

     P. S.-Since writing the above I have seen in the print of Poet Lore a poem read at the Browning memorial meeting referred to, and I find that it does contain an obscure-a very obscure-reference to personal immortality, which escaped my notice when it was read. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the general spirit of the meeting was wholly such as I have described.
Lord alone has taught me 1890

Lord alone has taught me              1890

     The Lord alone has taught me, Who has revealed to me.-D. P. 135.
CHRISTMAS IN THE IMMANUEL CHURCH 1890

CHRISTMAS IN THE IMMANUEL CHURCH              1890

     Our church was decorated to represent a tent. A line of green runs along the centre of the ceiling, and from this festoons of green hang in graceful curves to the side walls and then fall to the floor. The same method is pursued at the chancel, so that it appears to be a recess at the end of the tent. A line of green also runs along the wall where the festoons are attached. This tent-effect gave a very pleasant and peaceful feeling to the whole church.
     The scene in the school-rooms was a representation of the Wise Men bringing gifts. A stable was constructed of stone, and in one end of it a manger. Outside was a horse standing. Over the manger was a star. A little way off on a path leading to the stable were the three Wise Men. These were three dolls. Their faces were umbered, and they had long beards. The first was dressed in red, the second in blue, and the third in white. Each had a staff and a bag. The first one had in his bag, gold; the second, frankincense; and the third, myrrh.
     I will not attempt to describe the whole of the service, but will give it in brief. Among other things, we had the Ten Commandments repeated in Hebrew; we sang a Hebrew anthem; we read from the Doctrines of the Church with responses from the letter of the WORD; and the children and others presented Free-Will offerings for the use of the Church.
     We received several very handsome bookmarks made by the children. One had on it Nunc Licet, and was for The True Christian Religion. This was of a golden color. Another had on it [Hebrew] (haddabhar-The Word), and was for one of the copies of the Word. A third had on one end a silver cross and on the other a silver Alpha and Omega. This also was intended for one of the copies of the Word. A number of plants and other things were also presented. We received quite a number of copies of the Writings, which nearly completes our set. A Liturgy was among the books offered. Then there was a handsome silk-velvet cloth for one of the reading-desks; a set of fine napkins and a table-cloth for use in the Holy Supper; and a brass table, or rather pedestal with onyx top for the Baptismal font.
     It was a very pleasant scene when the children came forward and made their offerings. Some thought it would perhaps be unpleasant for the adults to come forward, but we sang during the bringing forward of the offerings and there was not the slightest thing disagreeable.
     A closing hymn was then sung and the benediction ended the first part of the celebration. The offertory for the use of the priesthood was, upon this occasion, devoted to the use of the Bishop of the General Church of Pennsylvania in recognition of the LORD'S office of the priesthood in its highest degree.
     At the close of the regular service the Holy Supper was administered. The sphere was very strong, and every one was delighted with the service. We feel grateful to the LORD for all that He has given us, and we feel as if He had enabled us to make a distinct step forward in our worship.
     I might say a word in regard to our home celebration. We have had the children, so far as possible, make with their own hands presents for their parents and for each other. We came home from service and had dinner, and then the children went out for a walk. They exhibited commendable patience, and I think it was very good for them to have the church celebration first and then not rush for the presents.
     The day was the pleasantest and most useful Christmas that I have ever spent. I hope We may have more like it.

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NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 722 Bellevue Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
     MISS FLORENCE G. GIBBS, 147 Camden Road, London, N.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 61 Cathedral Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY, 1890=120.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 17.
     Ordination of the Heavens (a Sermon), p. 18.-Mythology of Assyria and Babylonia, p. 20.-Use and Abuse or Wine, p. 22.-Descriptive list of the Writings of the New Church and or other useful works, p. 23.
     Notes and Reviews, p. 26.-The Fourth volume of the Diary, p. 26.
     Correction Notes, p. 28.-That the LORD is Doctrine, p. 29.-Letter from Great Britain, p. 29.-"A Few Uncontroversial Words," p. 30,- A Browning Memorial Meeting, p. 31.-Christmas in the Immanuel Church, p. 31.
     News Gleanings, p. 32.-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 32.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.-THE Pittsburgh Society has printed a card giving the various appointed meetings for the coming season. They embrace a doctrinal class and a singing meeting every week, monthly tea meetings, dancing, socials, literary socials, and men's meetings. A feature of the latter is that light upon all the various subjects discussed is sought in the Writings alone.
     General.-THE reports of the various Societies, as published in the Messenger, show that the old pagan traditions of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree, with its anomalous fruit, still prevail. The programme of the majority of celebrations might be stereotyped thus: Music, Lecture, Christmas tree, Santa Clans, and Candy.
     New York.-THE twenty-fifth anniversary of the Rev. J. C. Ager's pastorate over the Brooklyn Society was celebrated on the evening of January 8th.
     THE Rev. J. B. Parmelee, the missionary of the New York Association, has taken up his residence at Hempstead, L. I. Since October, 1889, he has visited and preached in various places in New York and New Jersey.
     THE New York Association has issued the first number of a quarterly eight-page Manual in which is also incorporated a Calendar for Daily Reading in the Word and the Writings. The True Christian Religion has been selected for the Doctrinal Reading.
     SINCE January 10th, Mr. Parmelee has been working in Syracuse, N. Y. A number of well-attended lectures have been held and a beginning has been made toward an organization of the New Church people in that city.
     Illinois.- At the celebration of Christmas of the Sunday School in connection with the Van Buren St. Society, in Chicago, the Hoffman pictures of the Holy Land were shown to the children instead of the usual Christmas tree.
     THE annual meeting of the Immanuel Church held on the evenings of December 6th and 13th, was one of the most useful and interesting meetings that this Society has ever held. After the usual reports and pastor's address, the Society listened to a report of the delegates to the late meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania. The principal theme being "The Convention, and the Relation of the General Church to it." The report was often interrupted by questions and answers, and passages from the Writings, giving light of the subject in hand, were read.
     After the reading of the report a general discussion followed, and all the speakers showed by their remarks that they approved of the attitude taken by the General Church.
     Massachusetts.-The Fraternity, published by the Young People's Society of the Boston Highland Church, has been discontinued.
     Michigan.-THE Rev. G. N. Smith reports active missionary work in the northern district of the State, with increasing results.
     A SERIES of missionary lectures, delivered by the Rev. L. P. Mercer, is in progress in Detroit. This will be followed by a series by the Rev. H. B Cabell.
     Iowa.-"THE General Society of the New Church in Iowa," the organization of which was noted in the October Life, has now one hundred and seventeen members enrolled, with the expectation of a large increase at the next annual meeting. The Rev. Jacob Kimm is Secretary, and has on record of full received, with their P. O. addresses, nearly three hundred adults and about two hundred children who received New Church baptism. These people are scattered all over the State. Mr. Kimm preached five times in English and German since August 25th for the Lenox Society to good congregations, and baptized four children ranging from five to eighteen years. He also preached on January 7th a funeral discourse, where many heard the Doctrines of the Resurrection for the first time.

     ABROAD.

     Australia.-THE Sydney Society seems to be straining every nerve to attract the attention of the world about them.
     THE Melburne Society also devotes itself to missionary efforts. The Pastor, the Rev. J. J. Thornton, advocates the reading of the literal sense of Scripture "pure and simple."
     The Adelaide Society sends tracts to those families where deaths have been announced in the newspapers.
     France.-DR. Hibbard held Christmas services in Paris.
     Scotland.-The Rev. Jabez Fox has been preaching to the two Societies in Glasgow and at Paisley.
     England.-The Accrington Sunday-School has a band of music with twenty- three performers.
     The "New Church Temperance Society" (total abstinence) estimates its membership at about three thousand.
     A MOVEMENT is on foot among the New Church people of England to provide Professor Scocia with the means necessary for opening a New Church Book-room and public Reading room in Florence, and for hiring a hall in which to conduct worship and Sunday-School
     Sweden.- A NATIONAL Circulating Library of New Church Works has lately been instituted by the New Reading Circle in Sweden. At a yearly fee of one crown the members will receive as a loan a little box containing several of the Writings. When these have been read the box is returned to headquarters and another box is received containing other works, and so on until all the Writings have been read.
     Denmark.-The Rev. William Winslow reports that some progress has lately been made in the Danish New Church Society, several new members having been received from various parts of the country. A young man from Copenhagen has recently come to this country to prepare himself for the Priesthood of the New Church in Cambridge, Mass.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.





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Vol. X.     PHILADELPHIA, MARCH 1890=120. No. 3.
     The spiritual sense of the Word has been revealed by the Lord, and thereby an interior understanding of the Word has been discovered, which is the Lord's Advent.- A. R. 820.



     NEWCHURCHMEN should hail with joy every indication that men of the Old Church are coming to the Light. But it is incumbent on them to examine carefully everything that has this appearance, or else they may be greatly deceived, and lapse into errors, which will operate rather for the retarding than the developing of the New Church. No matter how many truths may be adduced from the Word, and each shown in and by itself to be true, yet they are not truths, but truths falsified, if the one who heralds them does not approach the LORD JESUS CHRIST immediately as the one personal God, Who is the Word. This statement may have a strange sound to many, but it is strictly in accord with the teachings of the LORD in the Internal Sense of His holy Word, and a powerful illustration of it will be found in the relation recorded in n. 162 of The True Christian Religion.



     It has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which shall be of the New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation.-C. L. 1.



     "MARRIAGE without love," says Colonel Ingersoll, "is immoral. The woman who marries a man because be is rich, for a title; or for office, place or power, is not a virtuous woman, and the man who marries a woman for any such reason is not a virtuous man, but a contemptible wretch."
     This is taking high moral ground-ground unknown by the great majority of people who are considered eminently respectable. So unusual is this sentiment that it has attracted especial attention, and ministers are recommended, in the public prints, to take it to heart, and let it influence their teachings and counsels.
     The sentiment is quite in accord with the spiritual teachings of the New Church. Yet every one of sound sense can see that it would be wrong and most illogical to attribute it to the influence of the New Heaven and the New Church upon the pronounced atheist who uttered it.

     "They who reject the Word, also reject the LORD, for these cohere as one: They who reject the one or the other, also reject the Church, because the Church is from the LORD through the Word; and, moreover, they who reject the Church are outside of Heaven, for the Church introduces into Heaven, and they who are outside of Heaven are condemned; and these have no faith. They who reject the LORD and the Word have no faith, although they live morally and speak, teach, and write rationally even of faith, and the reason of this is that they have no spiritual moral life but a natural one, nor have they a spiritual rational mind, but a natural one, and merely natural morality and rationality, are in themselves dead, wherefore they, as dead men, have no faith" (T. C. R. 384).



     These things cannot be treated of by any one, excepting he to whom there has been given of the Lord consociation with angels in the Spiritual world, and at the same time with men in the natural world, and. . . this has been given to me-Inf. 2.



     THE LORD flows in with every man with all His Divine Love, and with all His Divine Wisdom, thus with all His Divine Life. This influx had been seriously obstructed before the Last Judgment, by the constantly increasing numbers of evil men that came into the other world from the Christian Church, and settled in the lower regions of the heavens, as black clouds that overhang a landscape restrain the heat and light from the sun from flowing down upon the country below. Had the LORD not made His Second Coming, and thereby effected a judgment in the spiritual world, clearing the heavens and the world of spirits, and reducing them and the hells to order, the human race would, eventually, have perished, and the earth been destroyed. Since the Last Judgment, the LORD flows in freely in the case of every man, and, indeed, with all His Divine Love, with all us Divine Wisdom, thus with all His Divine Life. It does not follow that every one receives Him. The sun of the world, with all its essence, which is heat and light, flows into every tree, into every shrub and flower, and in to every stone, mean as well as precious; but every object takes its portion from the common influx according to its form. So the Sun of Heaven, from which the Divine Love proceeds as heat, and the Divine Wisdom as light. These two flow into human minds as the heat and light of the world's sun flow into the body, but they vivify them according to the quality of the form.
     The inflowing Divine Life does not, therefore; endow a man with truth, or render him good, unless his form be in agreement with either. The form is created by the Word of God, and in order that the Divine Love and Wisdom, now flowing forth from the LORD, may be appropriately received, it is necessary that the form be created by the Word of the LORD as it now exists in the Revelation which constitutes His Second Advent.



     Upon all my books in the spiritual world was written the Lord's Advent. The same also I inscribed, by command, on two copies in Holland.-Ecc. Hist.

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      This been the evident aim of the New Church Messenger to be non-committal on those subjects on which there is a decided difference of opinion in the Church. It has successfully kept this aim in view, and only occasionally has it been carried away by some irresistible affection into taking one side on some mooted point of doctrine.
      One of these occasions arose from the action of the Mission Board of the Canada Association in instructing their colporteur "to avoid giving instruction but to answer people by reading passages to them [from the Writings], or by giving them such of the Writings as will answer their questions;" and also "when people ask questions about what they have read, he should refer them to the Pastor, or the services and doctrinal classes of the Church." This action, it appears, was based upon the teaching in Arcana Coelestia, n. 6822: "Good may be insinuated into another by every one in the country, but not truth, except those who are teaching ministers; if others do, heresies arise, and the Church is disturbed and rent asunder."
      There are several things in the Messenger's utterance on this occasion which call for criticism. Though supposed to represent the views of the, entire Church, it has committed itself to those of one section. It brushes aside present interest in the point of order raised, by speaking of it as a point "over which our fathers wrestled forty years ago." It implies that our Canadian brethren ignore the right of every man "to enter into the mysteries of faith," when they direct inquirers to the Books in which these mysteries have been published, etc. But especial attention needs to be drawn to the fact that the Messenger first undermines the authority of the Doctrine by speaking of it as a "rather exceptional passage," and then explains it entirely away in the words: "This passage refers only, as we think, to an official proclamation, of Church doctrine, and is not opposed to any person's teaching whatever he knows."



     By ministries are meant priesthoods and their functions.-Char. vi, 2.



      THERE is one method of church extension which, when rightly pursued, yields the most happy results. It does not offer such incentives as other methods do and yet its results are more enduring. It does not appear to reach so many people, and yet it is of much greater influence for good upon their lives. Its results are not so showy, but they are more interior, more helpful, more delightful. It does not appeal so powerfully to the imagination, and yet it unfolds the beauties of heaven to the one who engages in it. It requires no action of Church bodies, no appeal to the generous members of the Church for monetary support, no sacrifice of time from one's ordinary pursuits; it admits of no dispute even by those who hold the most extreme of views on the subject of evangelization. It affects not one alone, but society at large; not the earth only, but heaven as well; not the present merely, but future generations. It carries with it the power of heaven itself.
     It is based upon the simple truth that every true Christian is a Church in particular, and, as such, an integral part of the Church in general, which without such particulars would not exist at all, and that, therefore, he contributes to the establishment and extension of the Church in the proportion in which the Church is established and extended to him.
     Perform the duties of your profession, art, or trade sincerely, faithfully, honestly, and well, shunning the evils which arise in your dealings with and for men, as sins against God-then He will enter, establish His good and truth, and multiply and fructify them in constantly increasing proportion.
Internal Sense 1890

Internal Sense              1890

     The Internal Sense is the very doctrinal.- A. C. 9380.
DIVINE LAW OF THE PRIESTHOOD 1890

DIVINE LAW OF THE PRIESTHOOD       Rev. E. S. HYATT       1890

      (Preached before the Canada Association on the occasion of his ordination into the second or pastoral degree of the Priesthood.)

     "And it [a golden bell] shall be upon Aaron to minister: and its voice shall be heard in his entering to the holy place before Jehovah, and in his coming out; lest he die."-Exodus xxviii, 35.

     IN the spiritual sense of these words we have teaching from the LORD concerning Evangelization and Worship (A. C. 9924), teaching which is of universal application to the New Church. The teaching is this: That all the work of the priesthood, whether as regards Preaching or Worship, is to be so performed that it may be heard and perceived by the people that it is from the LORD, and not from the man to whom the office of ministering is adjoined. Thus the Preaching is to be altogether from those Doctrines which the LORD has revealed to be the light of the New Church, and not at all from mere human intelligence; all things of Worship should also be regulated by teaching from the same source, and not by ideas of mere human expediency. Nor is it enough that the Priest go to the LORD for all his teaching; it must also be prominently evident to the people at all times that he does so-they must be able to perceive, by the sound of the bell of gold, his entering to the holy place before the LORD and is coming out-that is; the teaching he delivers is not only to be all derived from the LORD'S Revelation, but the Divine Source of the teaching is also to be always manifestly declared: the things of Worship are not only to be regulated by the LORD'S Doctrines, but they are also to be thus regulated for the simple reason that the LORD so teaches. The faithful priest must take care at all times to make it manifest that he has no message of his own to deliver, no notions of his own to set forth, no schemes of reform of his own, or of any mere human invention to promulgate; but that in his office of preaching he appears simply as a professional student and teacher of those revealed Doctrines, by means of which the LORD is establishing His New Church upon the earth. As a private individual he is, of course, as free to entertain his own ideas as is any one else; but these are to be kept altogether separate and distinct from the things of his office, altogether out of sight in the exercise of his office. For that office represents the LORD in His work of Evangelization, and any man to whom that office is adjoined is to appear in it simply as the LORD'S servant in carrying on that work by the LORD'S own method.

     "Evangelization is annunciation concerning the LORD, concerning His Advent, and concerning those things which are from Him, which are of salvation and life eternal, and because all things of the Word in its inmost sense treat concerning the LORD alone, and because all things of worship represent Him, therefore the whole Word is an Evangel (or Gospel), likewise all worship which is done according to those things which are commanded in the Word: and because priests led in worship, and also taught, therefore by their ministry worship and evangelization is signified" (A. C. 9925).

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     From this we see that nothing but the annunciation of the LORD'S own teachings, and the regulation of worship according to those things which are taught by Him has any rightful place in the office of the Priesthood of the New Church-no room is left in this definition for the intermingling of the self-intelligence of the man in the work. For the LORD'S command to the Priest is, that his entering to the holy place before the LORD and his coming out shall always be manifestedly perceived in the performance of his office. Thus are the hells of gold on the fringe of his robe to be heard by the people in his entering to the holy place and in his coming out. The people are always to be able to hear and perceive that he goes to the LORD, as He now reveals Himself to His Church, for all that he offers to them from the pulpit, and for every regulation of worship which he asks them to accept. In its application to the people the command comes with equal force-that they should not heed any priest, and that they should not suffer themselves to be led by any priest who does not enable them to perceive that he goes to the LORD in the Writings for all instruction in the duties of his office.
     This command is accompanied by the warning, lest he die, "which signifies lest the representative, and thus conjunction with the heavens, should perish" (A. C. 9928). The whole life of the office of t he priesthood lies in this, that it is representative of the LORD in His work of saving men. If this representative be not in it, then it is altogether dead, and can be spiritually of no good effect whatever. We are taught that this representative does perish where the command in the text is not observed, and thereby the office ceases to have spiritual life. This is why there is now no living priesthood in the Old Church: because the only Revelation which is at all acknowledged there has been made of none effect by human tradition; so that, even when they appear to go to the letter of the Word for instruction it is to the human tradition which they associate therewith, and not to the LORD that they really go. "All who do not acknowledge the LORD as the God of heaven and earth read the Word under the auspices of their own intelligence" (T. C. R. 165). There is but one way to dissociate human tradition from the letter of the Word in our minds, and that is by practical acknowledgment of the LORD in His Second Advent. In this Advent the LORD has revealed Himself anew by opening the Spiritual Sense of the Word, which is Himself, whereby He has not merely restored such knowledge of Himself as the Letter of the Word gave to the primitive Christian Church, but He has given a fuller and clearer knowledge of Himself, of His Will as it is done in heaven, than was ever within the reach of man before. By means of that Revelation of Himself He is present in the New Church; and there we can go to Him for guidance to all truth. It is the duty of the Priest in the New Church to teach from that source alone, and constantly to point to that Revelation as the only source of genuine spiritual teaching. If he do not do this his office has no life, for it ceases to be representative of the LORD'S work in saving men, being then but a merely human endeavour to save men, which can avail nothing. It is only in proportion as he openly makes that Revelation the sole standard of truth, thus in proportion as he points to the LORD in that Revelation as the only Teacher, that his office has life, that his office is really anything. So far as a priest of the New Church teaches or explains the Word from his own intelligence, or from any other merely human intelligence, the office adjoined to him is dead. Yea, even if he teach from the true source, but does not make that source constantly evident, so far also his office is devoid of spiritual life-for so far he does not keep the LORD'S command to "let the voice of the bells upon his robe be heard in his entering to the holy place before the Lord, and in his coming out, lest he die." True, he is not commanded now to literally wear such hells; but he is most emphatically required to do that which was represented by the sounding of those bells, and this under the penalty of the death of the office adjoined to him. If he disobey this command, he may still appear to have the office with him in as active life as with any others; even as the merely natural man in this world appears to live equally with the spiritual; but in reality the office is dead, because devoid of spiritual life, and because, thus, it is not exercised from the LORD but from himself. The people must be able to perceive his entering to the holy place before the LORD for all teaching and his coming out thence to them with it. "Its voice shall be heard in his entering to the holy place before the LORD and in his coming out, LEST HE DIE."
     Much fear of priestcraft has been expressed in the New Church. This has resulted from ages of experience with a priesthood devoid of spiritual life, a priesthood based upon human arrogance, and exercised, not from the LORD, but from an infernal love of dominion. To such a state, too, must all exercise of priesthood tend that is not exercised in strict obedience to the command of the text. Let priest and people, therefore, see to it that that command is fully obeyed. But a New Church priesthood, exercised, as all genuine priesthood must be, in entire obedience to this command, is as different from the former kind as life is from death. Let us pray, I therefore, that such priesthood may flourish in the New Church, as it undoubtedly will do, in proportion as that Church comes to be fully established; let us pray to the LORD to send many such laborers to His vineyard, for the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; how few may be evident to any one who judges the existing state of the Church by the standard laid down in the text-that is, by noticing how far the voice of the bells is heard, and how far it is absent in the preaching of the New Church.
     The Word, as now opened to us by the LORD, gives full and particular knowledge of the order which rules in the heavens. But we are not taught this to the end that we may merely know about heavenly things. The LORD'S Word is revealed to us altogether for use. Thus all that is taught us in the Writings about Heaven is for the sake of giving to the New Church examples to guide in the application of the various Doctrines to the life of the Church; which, indeed, is actually and truly the New Church only so far as it is a realization of Heavenly orders upon earth, as it is a fulfillment of the prayer that the LORD'S will may be done, as in Heaven, so upon the earth. But neither in Heaven nor in the Church is the application of the text, or of the Word in any portion of the latter, limited to one class of angels or of men. The regenerating man is a Church in its least form; and whatever applies to the Church in its greater forms must also have an application to the Church in its least form; and vice versa, whatever applies to the Church in its least form must also have an application to its greater forms.
     Let us, therefore, be always on our guard against limiting the application one way or the other.

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Such one-sided application is but too common. Some dwell so exclusively, on the application of the Word to the Church at large as to neglect its application to their own individual selves. Others, noticing this error, go off into the opposite one, and insist that all applies to the individual only; that, indeed, there ought not to be any Church in a larger form; asserting that all of what they call ecclesiasticism is one great mistake. Thus, in regard to the whole teaching about the priesthood, including that of the text we are considering, they make the quotation from the letter of the Word, that the LORD has "made us unto our God kings and priests" (Rev. v, 10). Now, true as this is, it is not true to the exclusion of the other application. Although every angel has that within him which is as king and priest of the Church in its least form, yet we know that in heaven there are also those who distinctively bear the office of Princes, and also those who distinctively bear the office of Priests. So ought it to be in the Church upon earth-the LORD'S will is to be done, as in Heaven, so upon the earth. Let us be careful, then, that in our study of the Word we do not neglect its application either, on the one hand, to the Church in its greater forms, or, on the other hand, to the Church in its least form-that is, either to the individual in whom the Church is or to the Church, which is a community of such individuals.
     In the first part of this discourse the text has been considered in its application to the Church as a community of regenerating men, both to those who are called to exercise the distinctive office of the Priesthood, and to those who have the freedom of choosing who shall exercise that office for them. This has been taken, first, because the Church in her larger forms is more the neighbor than the Church in its least form-that is, than the individual in whom is the Church in its least form. In thus seeking the good of the Church we are seeking the good of many sue individuals. But, nevertheless, we must none the less observe the application of all truth, to the individual; for only in proportion as this is done, does any individual become a component part of the Church. Therefore, let us now see how the text applies to us individually-that is, how it applies to that Priesthood which exists in the Church in its least form.
     The salvability of each individual depends upon those Remains which the LORD provides to have stored up in the mind of every one. These Remains are signified in the letter of the Word by "few," as when the LORD declares that "the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are FEW" (Matt. ix, 37). Remains, within the minds of each of us, are the "few" whom the LORD calls to be laborers in His vineyard, to be the Priesthood of the Church, which is in the individual. Those remains become priests in the Church within us after we permit them to receive the Divine Truth, and to be educated thereby, and when we surrender to them all the spiritual direction and guidance of the rest of the mind, that so they may, by degrees, lead the rest of the mind by truth to good-that is, into order, for order is of good and good is of order. The harvest within us is, indeed, plenteous; the field for missionary work there is a vast one, in which genuine laborers for the LORD'S Kingdom are few indeed. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you-within every individual-but it lies within those spiritual degrees of the mind which are not opened except by regeneration. Therefore, though the Kingdom of Heaven is within the natural man, it is shut off from him until he be in some measure born again. Now, of course, until this be done he is, also, as to his mind, without any spiritual priesthood, for that necessarily can only be in the spiritual mind; and can only be realized by the opening of the spiritual degrees thereof. With us those Remains are always associated with some reverence for the letter of the Word, some perception of those parts of it through which the spiritual sense shines. To follow in the life the teaching of these Remains prepares for and leads to the reception of the spiritual sense, and the inauguration thereby of a spiritual priesthood in the mind. This is represented in the Word by the fact that Aaron, before his inauguration into the priesthood, represented "the Word such as it is in its literal sense, thus such as it is in the earths" (A. C. 7089), and he acted as the mouth-piece of Moses, who then represented the Internal Sense such as it is in the Heavens. But after his inauguration into the priesthood Aaron "represented the LORD as to Divine Good in the heavens" (A. C. 9959); thus Our Father in the Heavens, which is the Divine Truth there, in which the Divine Good proceeds, which Divine Truth is one with the Internal Sense of the Word. "By Aaron himself was represented the LORD as to the Divine celestial there, and by his garments the LORD as to the Divine Spiritual there" (A. C. 9959). Therefore, we see that in regeneration the place occupied by the Literal sense of the Word, represented by Aaron before his inauguration, is taken by the sense of the Word such as it is in the Heavens, thus the Spiritual Sense, which is represented by Aaron's priestly garments, within which Sense is the Divine Good Itself. This Spiritual Sense forms then a spiritual priesthood in our own minds, having the regulation of all things of the Church there. To this all things of the natural mind ought to be subjected.
     It is the priestly garments of Aaron which represent the Divine Spiritual of the LORD, or, what is the same, the Divine Spiritual of the Word, for the LORD is the Word; and it is to the middle one of these garments, the robe, which still more specifically represents the Spiritual Sense of the Word, to the fringes of which are to be attached the bells of gold that are to be heard in entering to the holy place before the LORD and in coming out; in the fringes and also in the midst of the pomegranates there. This signifies that everywhere, with the ultimate knowledge of Truth in the mind, derived from the Spiritual Sense of the Word, there is to be the perception and acknowledgment that by means of that sense we enter into the Holy place before the LORD and come out thence with ever new knowledge of Him. The constant presence of that perception and acknowledgment is the voice of the bells which is to be heard in our entering to the Holy place before the LORD laud our coming out-lest we die. For if there be not that perception and acknowledgment when we consult the LORD'S opened Word, it is not from the spiritual degrees of our mind that we hear or read; there is not that priesthood in our minds which alone can have spiritual perception or make spiritual application of the truths of that Revelation. It is only in proportion as we receive the particulars of doctrine that we have them in practical form. A mere general, like the general acknowledgment of sin, is of no practical avail, and is useless unless it be made a means of advancing to some particular form thereof. Now we are taught that the clergy are especially in the particulars of Doctrine (A. R. 404). "The reasons why illustration and instruction are for the clergy especially, are because they belong to their office, and inauguration into the ministry brings them: with it" (T. C. R. 146). Hence we can see why teaching from the clergy, if it be at all what it should be, is calculated to lead to practical particulars, while other teaching would remain in mere general doctrines which by their very nature can have little or not practical application.

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Thus it leads to the preparation of states receptive of the influx of genuine truth. For, as we read concerning the words, "And its voice shall be heard":-

     "That it signifies influx of truth with those who are in the heavens and those who are in the earths, appear from the signification of "to be heard," that it is reception and perception, hence also influx, for the things which are received and perceived inflow; and from the signification of "voice," when concerning Aaron, by whom is represented the LORD, that it is Divine Truth; for "voice" is its annunciation, and because it is annunciation it is with those who are in the heavens and in the earths; for Divine Truth infills al things of heaven, and makes all things of the Church: such annunciation is represented by the voice from the bells of gold when Aaron entered into the Holy place before the Lord, and when he came out" (A. C. 9926).

     This worship consists, we should always remember, primarily of a life of Charity, and secondarily of a life of Piety. And since "the bells of gold signify all things of doctrine and worship from good passing over to those who are of the Church" (A. C. 9921), we see why the robe with the bells of gold attached to it was to be upon Aaron for ministering; for, "by ministering when concerning Aaron, by whom the LORD is represented, is signified worship and evangelization" (A. C. 9925). From this we learn that every state of worship in the mind, and every state of evangelization there, which is every endeavor to increase our knowledge of the LORD, His Advent, and His Kingdom, is to be promoted by our entering to the Holy place before the LORD; the Holy place representing the Spiritual of Heaven, thus the Spiritual Sense of the Word. But our entering to that Holy place will not promote that end if we do not perceive and acknowledge it to be holy; if we do not thus perceive and acknowledge that when there we are before the LORD, in His Presence, hearing His teaching. This perception and acknowledgement must accompany all knowledges to derived in the mind, the sound of the bells in the midst of the pomegranates is o e heard both in entering and in coming out. The practical use of this would be that those knowledges derived from the Spiritual Sense of the Word would be given their rightful place in our minds; would be set above all knowledges derived from merely human sources; that by them alone we would regulate all things of Evangelization and of Worship; that to them we would subordinate all things of our life.
     In conclusion, let us remember that while the Celestial Sense of the Word treats of the LORD alone, the Spiritual Sense treats both of the ordering of Heaven and the Church, and also of the ordering of the individual minds of angles and men; that the LORD rules Heaven and the Church, both in their greater forms and in their least forms, by the same laws; thus, that, in the case immediately before us, the Priesthood of any given body of the Church is to be regulated and ordered by the same laws as is that Priesthood which exists in the mind of every regenerating man; and, lastly, that the law we have been considering holds universally with regard to the order of the Priesthood as it exists in Heaven, and as it exists in the minds of every individual angel; and that it will likewise rule in the LORD'S New Church upon earth in proportion as that Church approximates to Heavenly order, and in the man of the New Church in proportion as by regeneration his mind approximates to Angelic order. Let us give heed, therefore, both collectively as Societies and general bodies of the Church, and individually as men of the Church, both as to the external ordering of the Church in communities, and as to the internal ordering of it in the minds of each of us, that this command of the LORD, as explained to us by Himself in His Second Coming, may receive the obedience due to all His commands. For obedience to it in some measure is necessary to save both the Church and its members from spiritual death; while a fuller obedience to it than is now `given will open both the Church and its members to more and more abundant reception of the LORD'S blessing. This is why the LORD commands that "the voice" of the bells of gold upon the fringes of Aaron's robe "shall be heard in his entering to the Holy place before JEHOVAH and in his coming out, lest he die." Amen.
Those will see the internals 1890

Those will see the internals              1890

     Those will see the internals of . . . the Revelation and of the Propheticals of the Word . . . who believe the Word of the Lord in Matthew xxiv concerning the state of the Church at the present time, and concerning His Coming.-T. C. R. 116.
WRITINGS GIVE THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD 1890

WRITINGS GIVE THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD              1890

     TEN years ago, The New Jerusalem Magazine broached the heresy that "Swedenborg's Writings are not in themselves the internal sense of the Word." It was effectually laid by an article, entitled, "The New Heresy," appearing in No. IV of Words for the New Church. Latterly the same heresy has again shown its head in an English periodical, and it may therefore be opportune to recall some of the salient points of the essay in the Words.
     The opening sentence in the Arcana Coelestia says:
     "The arcana coelestia which are disclosed in the Sacred Scripture, or the Word of the LORD, are contained in the explication which is the Internal Sense of the Word."
     Over the explication of every chapter of Genesis and Exodus Swedenborg wrote the words "The Internal Sense." The headings occur ninety times, showing that Swedenborg called the explications of Genesis and Exodus, "The Internal Sense."
     At the close of the first chapter of Genesis, he says
     "This, now, is the Internal Sense of the Word, its verymost life."
     At the close of the exposition of Genesis, he says:
     "That the Internal Sense is such as has been expounded, is evident from each of the things which have been explained, and especially from this, that it was dictated to me from heaven."
     The chapters of The Apocalypse Revealed are likewise entitled, "The Spiritual Sense" and the preface, the opening number, and the concluding number of this work all testify that it contains the Spiritual Sense of the Apocalypse "hitherto, unknown but now revealed."

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     In the Invitation to the New Church, Swedenborg says:
     "The Spiritual Sense has been disclosed by the LORD through me; which has never been done since the Word was revealed in the Israelitish Scriptures; and the Spiritual Sense is the vary sanctuary of the Word; the LORD Himself is in that sense with His Divine, and in the natural sense wish His Human; and not an iota of this could be opened but by the LORD alone. This exceeds all the revelations which have hitherto been made since the foundation of the world."
Without truths there is no theology 1890

Without truths there is no theology              1890

     Without truths there is no theology, and where this is not there is no Church. Such is the company of people at this day, who call themselves Christians.-T. C. R. 619.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS 1890

SOMETHING ABOUT THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS              1890

     ON account of the belief that children ought to be educated to become men of the Church and angels of Heaven, therefore, in the schools of the Academy religions instruction takes the foremost place, and it is the endeavor to give every pupil and student each day at least one hour of instruction in the doctrines of the Church, so far as practicable, letting that hour be the first one in the morning. With the youngest this instruction consists in impressing upon the memory passages from the letter of the Word, and learning the general historicals from the literal sense; with those somewhat older there is added, instruction in the most general doctrines pertaining to the internal sense of the Word; with those again somewhat older, certain of the introductory Works of Swedenborg are read by course, and commented upon paragraph by paragraph, line by, line, and sometimes word by word. Thus the process of religious instruction gradually broadens according to the advancement of the student or pupil, even to the close and systematic study of theology and exposition of the internal sense of the Word, and the writing of extended essays thereupon, by those students who are preparing to enter the priesthood of the Church.
     The Hebrew language is taught to all, from the youngest to the oldest, male and female. This is on the ground that the Hebrew is the most ultimate form in which the Word of the LORD exists with men, and that while the Word in the Hebrew is devoutly read by men, and especially while it is read by little children, the angels, who are in its internal sense, are delighted, and inflow and implant in the reader the remains of good and truth from the LORD. The Hebrew, like the religious instruction, is given to the little ones orally, and they are required to learn by heart the Ten Commandments in the language in which they were written by the finger of God on the tables of stone on Mount Sinai. They learn also the story of creation in Genesis, and a few psalms. Those somewhat older learn to read, for the most part at sight, without knowing much about the phonetic elements contained in the words. But the learning of Hebrew also gradually broadens, so that by the time the student has finished his course, he has, if he have applied himself, acquired a thorough grammatical and critical knowledge of the language. Let it be remarked, however, that not too much dependence is put upon the learned world, for the definitions of Hebrew words; for such definitions are, in large part, merely traditional, while the Doctrines of the New Church give us definitions, derived not from the traditions of men, but from a translation of the Hebrew Word given to Swedenborg by the LORD.
     A thorough course in both New Testament and Classical Greek is also given to all those who become students in the college. Something of it is also given to all in the school, for all learn the LORD'S Prayer in the original, and probably also the Ten Blessings.
     Latin is not taken up as soon as Greek or Hebrew, but when once commenced it is used much more than both the others; for as soon as the student can translate the Latin of the Writings with any facility, he ceases to read them in any other language than the original, while in class. There is much need of this use of the original in the study of the Writings, for no existing translation is adequate to give full and correct ideas of the doctrines contained in them. The English translations of the Writings thus far put before the public are, for the most part, interspersed with the ideas of those who would amplify and clarify Swedenborg's expressions or who would correct his mistakes."
     Among the natural sciences, the one held most important is human anatomy. This is so held for two reasons' one internal and the other external. The internal reason is that we are taught in the Doctrines of the Church that there is a plenary correspondence between all things of heaven and all things of man; that the Divine Truth can never be fully understood without a knowledge of anatomy; that the whole universe has stamped upon it a conatus toward the human form, and that therefore to know the human form is in a certain sense to know the whole universe, and by knowing, to possess vessels for the reception of all possible spiritual truths. The external reason is that we are better equipped for the study of anatomy than for any other natural science, as more has been said in particular about it in the Writings than about any other natural science, and it is from the Writings that the fundamental principles of all true science is to be derived. Moreover, anatomy is very fully treated in Swedenborg's scientific works.
     Mathematics is taught to all, old and young, beginning in the infant class with counting and the genera ideas of number, proceeding through arithmetic to the higher mathematics, and ending with calculus. Mathematics is held to be important, not so much because it is of practical use in life in the business world, as because it is the science of number and form, and number and form are the very ultimates of order; mathematics therefore forms a basis for the formation of the natural rational with man.
     In the girls' department mathematics is not taught, except so much arithmetic as is likely to be necessary in domestic economy. The reason for this difference is found in the doctrine concerning the difference between the male and female minds, or rather the difference between the essential male and female principles; for the female is essentially affectional, but the male intellectual.
     The difference between the male and the female is constantly kept in view in all the school work, and coeducation is not for a moment thought of after the pupils have left the infant class. With the boys and youth in the school severe tasks of the intellect are appointed; much is required that involves independent thought and examination; with the girls, on the other hand, not much of what might be called study is required, but the instruction is given to them while, by means of the living voice, affections of interest are made active.
     To speak in general concerning the physical science taught in the Academy schools, it may be said that the attempt is made to give basic instruction in matters relating to the whole field of nature; but this is not done to the end that the student may rank well when compared with the students of the schools of the world, but to the end that the knowledges acquired may form vessels for the reception of Divine Truth from the LORD.

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In this Church which is called Christian 1890

In this Church which is called Christian              1890

     In this Church which is called Christian, there is scarcely anything of charity and thence of faith remaining.- A. C. 4535.
PRESERVATION OF NEW CHURCH DOCUMENTS 1890

PRESERVATION OF NEW CHURCH DOCUMENTS              1890

     AT the late meeting of the General Conference of Great Britain, a committee was appointed to collect copies of the minutes of Conference and other reports, for the purpose of presenting them to the British Museum, and to other great public libraries. The committee has set to work in good earnest, and calls attention to the fact that the business set before it, "if well done, will provide the future historians of the Church with material of the greatest importance for this work."
     New Church Tidings, in commenting on the work of the committee, says:

     "We would advise concentration as regards the undertaking. Let there be one centre to which all documents are transferred and a competent committee of New Church people be appointed to exercise superintendence over the in. Only duplicates should be sent elsewhere. In this way the scattering of the different records would be prevented, and the ease of reference by future historians be vastly increased. Would it not be better, also, that the centre should be a distinctly New Church organization such as, say, the Swedenborg Society in London? We understand that on this continent the Academy of the New Church, at Philadelphia has long been engaged in a similar enterprise."

     The occasion seems to call for some explanation of this feature of the Academy's uses.
     In the library, which is open to the New Church public on application to the proper officials, especial attention is paid to all publications of historical value. As far as concerns the periodical literature of the New Church, and the printed journals of her public bodies, the collection is almost complete. The collateral literature of the New Church is also very well represented. Besides this, the Academy has, for some years past, received a number of written documents and letters, which are preserved for future use. The Academy will, therefore, receive books and documents of every kind, printed and written, which may be sent to it for preservation in its library; and in a few months it will be in a position to supply the Conference Committee with duplicates. Attention is therefore called to the following directions in the circular of the Conference Committee, which will apply to all who will help to complete the reference library of the Academy:

     "May we hope, then, that you will kindly look over your library, and forward to us what you feel you can spare for this good and useful work? Be sure yon do not regard any odd numbers as of little or no value. They may prove of great value, and help to complete important sets.
     "The sons and grandsons of New Church worthies are especially requested to look through what may appear to be old and musty records, hidden away in remote shelves or parcels of forgotten books in out-of-the-way corners, as among such may often be found reports and documents of very great value."

     To this we wish to add, that if you have any letters that contain items of historical interest, and wisdom trust them for safe-keeping to the Academy for the use of some future historian, you will please address them to Mr. Walter C. Childs, Custodian of the Archives, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia. If for private reasons it is not desirable that such letters be used for some specified time to come, the package may be sealed up, and indorsed with the time and conditions when it is to be opened.
Those who come into the other life from the Christian world 1890

Those who come into the other life from the Christian world              1890

     Those who come into the other life from the Christian world are the worst of all: hating the neighbor, hating the faith, and denying the Lord.- A. C. 1885 (a).
MYTHOLOGY 1890

MYTHOLOGY              1890

     IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     VI.

     MYTHOLOGY OF ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA.

     The Principal Deities.

     Ea. (Hea or Hoa).

     THE supreme place in the Babylonian Pantheon seems to belong to none else than to that primeval divinity whose name has been deciphered as Ea, or, by others, Hea or Hoa. Rawlinson and others, led by the place of Ea in Assyrian invocations, ascribe to him a subordinate position, but later discoveries, and a careful study of the Chaldean cosmogony seems to establish that he is the very first divinity that was worshiped in the earliest ages of Sumero- Akkadian history. Knowing as we do that the LORD, in the days of the Ancient Church, was worshiped under the name JEHOVAH also in Babylonia, the name of this ancient Ea or Hea naturally connects itself with the name JEHOVAH and not the name alone, but all other things that are known of Ea point to this identity with JEOHOVAH.
     By such eminent authorities as Delitzsch and Rawlinson the name is admitted to contain the root of the Assyrian [Hebrew] (ha.u), "to breathe," and the Arabic "Haiah," live. Hence its root-meaning is the same as that of JEHOVAH-to Be, to live, to breathe, to love. Ea is also, in the inscriptions, frequently called "the God of Life."
     As the name JEHOVAH signifies the Divine Life or Esse itself, thus the Divine Good, so, probably, does Ea in the Mythology of the Chaldeans. In their ancient incantations the name of Ea is that almighty name, the mere utterance of which has power to drive out evil spirits from man. To swear by Ea was the most binding oath that could be made in heaven or on earth. He is also said to have "a secret name, which no one knows, save his Son, Merodach, alone."
     The most ancient surname of Ea was the Akkadian word dugga, good, the Good one, and in his relation with mankind Ea is, par excellence, the "Good God," the type of all that is good, benevolent, and merciful, "the great giver of good gifts to man." In the Chaldean account of the Flood, Ea, like JEHOVAH in the Biblical narrative, is the god whose mercy warned Shamas-napistim, or Noach, of the coming flood and the destruction of mankind. It is he who gives instruction as to the building of the ark and who afterward guards it in its wanderings, apparently much to the, displeasure of the other gods.
     Ea was also "the god who knoweth all," the one with whom all the other gods took council, "the lord of unfathomable wisdom," whose dwelling was in "the great deep."

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As such he seems to signify the Infinite Itself, fitly represented by the immeasurable Ocean. Hence, in later times, he was particularly considered the god of the sea, the patron of fishermen and sailors, the protector of the rivers and canals, out of which these countries received all their sustenance.
      An ancient legend tells, how in earliest times, when the country was new and the inhabitants savage and ignorant, Ea arose out of the ocean in the form of a fish, and instructed mankind in all matters of civilization, in the arts of writing, of building, and of cultivating the land. A tradition of this descended to the Greeks in the legend of Oannes, which name, possibly, is a perversion of Ea khan, "Ea the fish." Knowing that fishes correspond to natural truths or scientifics, it becomes apparent that the legend is a narrative of how the gentile nations, of whom the Ancient Church was formed, were first instructed in natural truths, or doctrinal scientifics, by the LORD JEHOVAH, their God. Hence Ea is called "the intelligent fish," "the teacher of mankind," "the God of knowledge," and "the Lord of understanding." Representing the Infinite Itself, Ea had no images, and his only emblem is the single cuneus or arrow-head, which sometimes is found placed upon an altar, to represent, proximately, the means of writing, and, internally, instruction, revelation, or the Word Itself with these nations.
      As the female counterpart of Ea, we find the goddess Davkina (the [Greek] of the Greeks), whose name is supposed to signify "The Chief Lady." But little is known of her save that she was the mother of the two sons of Ea, Merodach and Nebo, though these originally were, perhaps, one and the same divinity.
      FOLLOWING the order of our mythological system, next after Ea, the Divine Itself, comes his eldest son, Merodach, the apparent representative of the second Divine Essential, the Divine Existere, Wisdom or Truth. But as this Essential, as to its various attributes, was represented by the names of three deities, who in reality were one and the same, we will begin the description of them by the most general name:

     BEL (El, Ilu, Elum, Ra, [Hebrew] Isa. xlvi, 1; Jer. 1, 2).

     THE name Bel, like the Canannitish Baal (Hebrew) means simply a master or a ruler. As Ea originally signified the Divine Esse or Good, so Bel seems to signify the Divine Existere or Truth, corresponding to the Hebrew [Hebrew] or [Hebrew], as Ea to [Hebrew]. To Bel is ascribed the Divine work of creation, while Ea is mentioned only later on in the Chaldean account of the Creation, similarly as in the Word it is " God" (Elohim) who performs this work, while "JEHOVAH" is mentioned first in the second chapter of Genesis. This is because creation is performed by the LORD by means of Divine Truth, signified by Elohim or Bel. Hence Bel is called "the king of the gods," "the lord of the surface of the earth and the affairs of men." This symbol was especially the horned cap, representative of the omnipotence of Divine Truth.
     His consort Belat or Beltis, "the great Goddess," is the same as Mylitta, whose henious worship in Babylon in so graphically described by Herodotus. She is, in general the goddess of Fecundity, "the great mother," corresponding to the Greek Demeter, the wife of Saturn.
     If in the Ancient Church Bel signified the Divine Truth which became flesh in the Divine Human of the LORD, he may here be identified with Medorach, who seems to represent this latter.

     MERODACH. (Marduk [Hebrew] Jer. 1, 2.)

     THE name of Merodach is a Hebrew form for the Assyrian Marduk, which is said to have arisen from Amaru, "I have seen," and Dugga, "the good one," Amarudugga or Marduk means, therefore, literally, "I have seen the good one"-i. e., Ea. Marduk was the eldest and, perhaps, the only son of Ea, the only one who knew his mysterious name or had seen his face. With this may be compared the LORD'S words in Matthew xi, 27: "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son." It may hence be seen on what ground it has been suggested that Merodach is but another form of the all-prevailing, ancient doctrine concerning the prophesied "Son of Man" who was to come, the LORD in His Human. In general, Merodach is the agent of his father Ea, who sends him into the world to collect information, and gives him commission to set right all things that have gone wrong. In the Cuneiform inscriptions he is called "the Hero," "the Lord of Hosts," "the Helper," or Savior, and "the Preserver," and corresponds as such to the LORD in His Human, performing the work of Redemption. The ancients knew that the LORD Himself was to come, to conquer all the hells, and redeem the universal mankind, for they had received this prophecy, that the seed of woman should bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. iii, 15). Hence the earliest Babylonian tablets are full of descriptions of the wars of Merodach against the powers of evil. We find him engaged in deadly, single-handed combat with all manner of monstrous, composite animals, conquering I them, choking them to death with his mighty arms. Especially strong is the description of his war with the Dragon, "that old serpent, called the devil and satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (Rev. xii, 7-9).
     Dressed "in glistening armor of unsoiled clothes and broad garments," he overthrows the seven powers of darkness, and then, on command of his father Ea, he goes to deliver the moon-god, Sin, from the attacks of the great female dragon Tiamtu. "Then Bel made sharp his scimetar, he smote her. The evil wind that seizes behind, from before him fled. And Tiamtu opened her mouth to swallow him. The evil wind he made to descend so that she could not close her lips; the force of the wind her stomach filled, and she was sickened in heart, and her mouth it distorted. She bit the shaft of the sword; her stomach failed, her inside, it cut asunder; it conquered the heart; it consumed her, and her life ended. Then he conquered, trampled upon, and utterly subdued all other evil spirits, and the Moon was left to shine in safety in heaven" (Smith's Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 111).
     Thus were prophetically described the LORD'S combats against the hells, and His victories over them. The other deeds of Merodach while on earth are further told in the so-called "Izdubar-legends," where Izdubar, the Babylonian Hercules, appears to be no one else than the LORD in His Human. At the end of these legends is told how the hero is slain by a deadly disease, how he descends into the lower regions, but finally is restored to Divine life, and becomes "the brilliance of the sun." As such Merodach is called "the old man of the gods," "the restorer to life," "the raiser from the dead," "the Judge of the gods" and of the other world. As such, also, he was the supreme god of justice and judgment, and the gates of cities were under his special protection, since judgments, in ancient times, were performed at the gates-representative of the final judgment which takes place in the world of spirits, where are the gates to heaven and hell.

41


Thus the whole history of Merodach seems to beautifully represent the History of the Glorification of the LORD'S Human, how He was sent by the Father, the Divine Love, how He conquered the hells, laid down His earthly life, became the Lord of Glory, and the eternal Judge of all life.

     NERGAL. ([Hebrew]; II Kings xvii, 30.)

     ANOTHER deity, who is really but a representative of Merodach, is Nergal, whose name is from the Akkadian nir, "a man," and gula, "great," this being the Assyrian appellation of the lion, which is Nergal's only symbol. Nergal is the human-headed winged lion, which is so conspicuous at all entrances of the royal palaces, by its majestic aspect to deter all evil-doers from entering in. In general his titles are "the king of battles," "the champion of the gods," "the lord of the sword," "the storm ruler," and he may be compared to Ares of the Greeks, or Mars of the Romans. The name "Ares" itself is from the Hebrew [Hebrew] (Arich), a young lion.
      By a lion, in the Word, in a good sense, is signified in general "the good of celestial love and truth therefrom in its power" (A. C. 6367), and hence "the principal and guarding truths of the Church" (A. E. 539). In the supreme sense, as "the Lion of Judah," it signifies "the LORD, who from His own power subjugated the hells, and brought back all things into order" (A. E. 309), and as this redemption is an eternal work, a lion signifies "the Custody and Providence of the LORD" (A. E. 278). From this it may be concluded that Nergal signifies the Divine Providence of the LORD in His Divine Human, who, forever checks and keeps in order the hells which He subjugated, and thereby preserves for mankind the freedom and salvation which He wrought for it. Nergal seems, therefore, to represent the Divine Providence, defending, guarding, and directing man, for which reason he was called "the Decider of Fate," and was placed as a guard before the royal palaces.
It does not appear to those in the Church 1890

It does not appear to those in the Church              1890

     It does not appear to those in the Church that the [Christian] Church is such, that they condemn all goods and truths.- A. C. 3489.
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     THE first number of a tasteful monthly manual has been issued by the Washington Society now under the pastoral care of the Rev. Frank Sewall, a pleasing feature of which is the Calendar of daily lessons in the Writings.



     Man Proposes is the title of a novel by Mrs. A. Phillips, recently published by W. H. Allen, in London. The New Church Magazine recommends this work as "par excellence a New Church novel." The authoress evidently is a New Church woman.



     VOLUMES VI and VII (No. 4229-5727) of the Arcana Coelestia have just been republished by The Swedenborg Society of London. They constitute part of a new revision of the edition of 1863, volume VI having been revised by Mr. A. H. Searle, of London. Mr. Potts a subdivisions of the numbers noted in the margin in both volumes.



     THE "Twenty-Sixth Annual Report (for the year 1889) of the Camberwell Society of the New Jerusalem Church, meeting for worship at Flodden Road, Camberwell, London, S. E.," has come to hand, and is very interesting reading to those of us Americans who have enjoyed the hospitality of this flourishing Society. Names mean much more when they recall faces actually seen.



     THE Seventeenth Annual Report of the Swedenborg Publishing Association has been issued. Though professedly performance of evangelistic uses, the recent publications of this Association are to a very great extent of a controversial character, which, it would seem, cannot be either of interest or of profit to that outside world which the Association would principally reach.



     Was Swedenborg a Theosophist? A pamphlet with this title has been published by Mr. J. L. Williams, of England, in answer to the claims made in the "Buddhistic-Swedenborgian" brochure Swedenborg Bifrons, which some time ago appeared in London as a sequel to Swedenborg the Buddhist. Mr. Williams's work, which first appeared as a series of articles in the Morning Light, deals with the question expressed in the title in a more serious manner than the subject would seem to deserve.



     A WORK on the Points of Difference in Doctrine [Unterscheidungs-Lehren] of the Principal Sects of North America has lately been published by the Rev. T. J. Grosse, of Addison, Ill. This book, which sets forth the doctrine of faith alone with all its consequent heresies in their moat rigid forms, also assails the Doctrines of the New Church in rather an ill-natured manner. Among other curious things, the book contains the information that "the Swedenborgian sect was founded by a Swedish Baron, Immanuel von Swedenborg, on the 19th of June, 1770." Here is some work for the proposed "American New-Church Evidence Society."



     IN a letter to the New Church Messenger of February 12th, the Rev. Jabez Fox calls attention to the difficulties under which the Rev. J. F. Potts is laboring in the publication of the Concordance. The progress of the publication of this sorely-needed work is now being delayed principally from lack of funds necessary to procure an assistant to Mr. Potts. The Rev. A. Faraday, who hitherto has assisted Mr. Potts, will no longer be able to do so. If L200 a year would be raised by the Church, the Concordance could, it is thought, be published in one-third of the time it now bids fair to take, when only six numbers are issued in a year. Considering the amount of money that is annually spent by the Church in the publication of tracts and collateral works of, at the most, ephemeral value, the fate of the Concordance is a sad comment on the state of the New Church in the Christian world.



     THE same may, in a still greater degree, be said of the delay in the photo-lithographing of Swedenborg's manuscripts, which are now-from age, not from the lack of care-mouldering on the shelves of the Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. According to the latest report from Librarian Ahlstrand, the preservation of these priceless manuscripts is becoming more and more difficult, he paper is becoming brittle and the ink is spreading. Soon the Church shall have lost the opportunity of preserving for all future ages the exact form of that Divine Revelation which constitutes the Second Coming of the LORD, Of Swedenborg's scientific works there are still a number which have not yet been either published or photo-lithographed. Are these to be lost to the Church? The responsibility of the present generation of the New Church is, in this respect, great indeed.



     SOCIETIES or groups of receivers of the Doctrines of the New Church are to be found in all parts of the world-Europe, America Australia, Africa and Asia; and in every continent, except Africa, the New Church truths are heralded by at least one New Church periodical- Asia's periodical being the Indian New Church Messenger, a four-page monthly, the first number of which has been published this year by Mr. John McGowan, of Allahabad. Our Asiatic contemporary is interesting as to contents and tasteful In form, a peculiar feature being passages from the Letter of the Word, arranged so as to form a frame to the pages.

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A distinct declaration is made in this, the first number, that "the LORD Himself dictated to Swedenborg what to write," and that "the Doctrines of the New Church are from the LORD alone." Established on this, the only true basis for New Church Evangelization, there is ground to hope that the new undertaking will perform an important use in its large and interesting field.



     Notes on the Gospel of Mark-Suggestions of Spiritual Doctrine, is the title of a neat, fifty-three page brochure by the Rev. L. P. Mercer, published by the Western New Church Union, 17 East Van Buren Street, Chicago, 1890. It is, as its title indicates, a brief statement of the Internal Sense of the striking passages throughout the Gospel of Mark rather than a full treatise of the Internal Sense of that portion of the Divine Word. The statements of Doctrine are clear and concise, taken, in large part, bodily from the Writings of the New Church. This little work may well be recommended to those who do not have such works as Clowes's or Le Boys des Guays's compilations of the Internal Sense of the Gospels, for use in connection with the Calendar readings arranged by the General Church of Pennsylvania. There might, however, be one danger connected with the reading of this pamphlet, namely, the reader might, from the manner of treatment come to consider certain passages in the Gospel of Mark as salient or more important than others, `while the fact is that every passage in the LORD'S Word is equally important with every other one, and every passage, yea, every word, contains the whole Divine; for the Word throughout in its Inmost Sense treats of the LORD alone.



      AMONG the "open letters" in the Century Magazine for February maybe found one signed by the Rev. T. F. Wright, and entitled "Was Swedenborg Insane?"-intended as a refutation of the arguments of the Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley in a previous number of the same journal. Dr. Buckley charges that Swedenborg was insane, and brings forward in evidence the assertion that he once had a fever and rushed into the street, proclaiming himself the Messiah, that he later claimed to have spoken with St. John, Luther, Moses and others long deceased, and that he asserted that he had enjoyed continual intercourse with angels, "as well as deceased human beings," during a period covering many years, giving "detailed accounts of the habits, form, and dress of the angels." Mr. Wright's answer is, in brief, that there were two accounts by the same person of the alleged fever and its consequences, differing so widely as to be impossible of reconciliation; that this matter and the others-viz., Swedenborg's repeated assertions regarding his intromission into the spiritual world and intercourse with angels-"being personal, have do more to do with the theology of the New Church than the cut of Mr. Wesley's coat with Arminianism"! After showing that Dr. Buckley is inaccurate in dates, the writer mildly adds that Swedenborg gave no other details as to the angelic life than are necessary to illustrate spiritual laws, and that his reference to conversation with Paul and others was written in a private letter, and not in his published Writings. This remarkable refutation sounds more like an apology for Swedenborg's claims as a Seer, and it would seem impossible for a New-churchman to read it without a feeling of humiliating disappointment. Contrast Swedenborg's own solemn asseveration:
     "It has pleased the LORD to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which will be of His New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation, for which end He has opened the interiors of my mind or spirit, by which it has been given me to be in the spiritual world with angels, and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now for twenty-seven years."-T. C. R. 851.
Christians at this day 1890

Christians at this day              1890

     The Christians at this day are worse than the Jews were.- S. D. 5978.
DR. BURNHAM'S WORK 1890

DR. BURNHAM'S WORK              1890

DISCRETE DEGREES in Successive and Simultaneous Order.
      Illustrated by Diagrams. By the Rev. N. C. Burnham.
     Philadelphia: The Academy of the New Church, 1821
     Wallace Street. 1887=418.

     NEARLY four years ago the Academy published a circular inviting subscriptions for the publication of the work on Discrete Degrees, by the Rev. N. C. Burnham. Filled with a sense of the holiness of the subjects of the work, the author desired that it be published in the best possible manner, and was particularly solicitous about the colors in the diagrams illustrating the work. In order to conform with his wishes, the publishers decided to have the diagrams colored by hand, as no press-work could produce the desired depth of color. The services of a New Church artist were engaged to draw up a scale of colors and to prepare a set of plates. Operators were found who contracted to color the plates of the entire edition. When the artist completed his part of the work he commented on the immense labor involved, stating that he would not undertake it at any price. It soon became evident that he had not underrated the amount of endurance required, for the plates were delivered very slowly, so that two years elapsed before the first hundred copies of the book could be delivered to subscribers. Still, the contractors kept on with their work, but as it appeared that they were beginning to be worn out and could not be relied on, the task was committed to another who offered to undertake it. After he had been at work for several months, his health also gave way, and it was finally decided to give the matter into the hands of a lithographer. This involved the virtual throwing away of the money paid to the last operator, and incurring a new expense equal to what it would have cost to lithograph the entire edition originally. Again difficulties presented themselves. The lithographer consumed a much longer time than he had calculated upon, and, owing to the peculiar nature of the work, mechanical difficulties arose which he had not foreseen, and which were very trying. But he persevered, and now at last the Academy has the pleasure of announcing that it is prepared to supply all original subscribers, and to fill all new orders promptly. The binder still had some sets of the hand-colored plates, and buyers will therefore indicate their preference for one or the other style of book. What the lithographed plates lack-in color, they make up in other respects. They are more uniform in outline, and many of the shades are more pleasing.
     From a pecuniary point of view, the book is a loss, but the publishers believe that the money invested will yield the kind of return which they look to above all else: a more intelligent insight into one of the most important doctrines. "The science of degrees," says Swedenborg, in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, "is as the key to open the causes of things and to enter into them. Without this science, hardly anything of cause can be known."
     As a number of the present readers of New Church Life may not have heard of this work, it may be desirable to repeat the description of it given in the circular inviting subscriptions.
     The work is in two parts.
     The First Part presents an outline of the Doctrine of the New Church concerning Discrete Degrees in their successive, and in their simultaneous order, in both worlds-the spiritual and the natural-and of their development in the growth, reformation, and regeneration of man. Seventeen chapters are devoted to the nature and relations of Discrete Degrees. The next seven treat of the opening and development of these Degrees from birth, through infancy, childhood, youth, and the regenerate life of adult age.

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The closing chapter gives a view of the condition of these Degrees in the wicked.
     The Second Part, in ten chapters, treats of the Incarnation and Glorification of the LORD; and first, of the Human of the LORD, before the Incarnation; secondly, of the Degrees of the Human and whence they were taken; thirdly, of the state of the Human at birth; and then, in orderly sequence, of the Glorification during infancy, childhood, youth, and the four periods of adult life.
     All the thirty-five chapters are fully illustrated, each by a carefully' prepared Diagram, in which every Degree is colored according to correspondence. These Diagrams are of themselves of as great value as the text.
     Indexes of the references to the Word and to the Writings are appended to the volume, and make it a convenient hand-book for the student.
     The price of the book is $4.00, postage, 16 cents extra, and can be obtained of Mr. Carl H. Asplundh, Agent, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia.
idea of God as a Man 1890

idea of God as a Man              1890

     The idea of God as a Man is engrafted from heaven in every nation on the globe; but what I lament, it is destroyed in Christendom.- A. E. 1097.
"FROM OVER THE BORDER." 1890

"FROM OVER THE BORDER."              1890

FROM OVER THE BORDER, OR LIGHT ON THE NORMAL LIFE OF MAN. By Benjamin G. Smith. Chicago: Chas. H. Kerr & Co., 1890.

      THIS is a story of 238 pages describing the experience of a novitiate spirit, who, immediately on his entrance into the other life, comes into and remains in association with a number of his relatives (some of whom had passed out of the natural world fully thirty years earlier), dwelling in a paradisiacal territory, which is at one time spoken of as "an outlying region of the natural heaven," and at another as " celestial country." This beautiful place, which closely resembles the scenes of heaven itself as pictured in the Writings, but which the author wishes us to understand is only on the confines, is well and abundantly described, considering the difficulties in the case, and to a certain degree an agreeable sense of reality is conveyed; but the human figures moving on this background are little more than bloodless shadows, which seem to live only in order to utter long doctrinal essays-essays, which, however admirable in themselves, are certainly out of place here. This is not fiction; this is tract-writing, and successfully reduces the impression of reality-already too faint from lack of skill-to a minimum. The picture presented fades from the mind almost at once, leaving the reader with the sure conviction that his time would have been far better spent in reading the inspired accounts of him who saw and heard.
      The book is the earnest attempt of one who evidently has been deeply impressed by the Writings, and it is a pity that on account of this serious fault it should be robbed of much of the usefulness it might otherwise have; for it is not without certain good points, one of them being a pleasing picture of conjugial love in the other life. It is also a pity that its usefulness as a means of instruction should be made more than doubtful by the absence of any but the most obscure reference to Swedenborg or the New Church, and by the errors of doctrine into which the author has fallen.
     On page 88 appears the strange statement that those the other life who perform the external use of serving in the households are regarded "as the most honored members of any society." The literal sense of the LORD'S teaching, "whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant," is quoted to sustain this, the author losing sight of the fact that all performance of use is serving, and that the highest uses to be found in a heavenly society, the priestly and kingly, are necessarily worthy of the most honor. Nor can unreserved assent be given to all the statements made in the "head master's adversaria;" the peculiar "amanuensis" relationship savors strongly of spiritism. This relationship is that of a spirit with an earthly amanuensis, through whom the present volume is supposed to be written. At the outset the spirit-author disclaims anything like conscious co-operation on the part of his mundane associate, but later on speaks of the latter as "agreeing" to write certain things. These are matters of small moment, however, compared with the author's false and dangerous teaching concerning hell, which he regards as only a reformatory institution, rejecting all idea of its eternity as totally incompatible with the Divine mercy.
     In brief, From Over the Border is a warning of the necessity of exercising extreme care in work of this kind, and a suggestion of what may be accomplished in the future when the. Church will have a novelist who will be well-rounded in the Doctrines and at the same time skilled in his craft, who will be endowed with powers of the imagination and at the same time filled with a tender reverence for every particular of revealed truth, and who will enjoy that illustration from use which approximates to the wisdom of the regenerate.
idea of the Divine Human of the Lord 1890

idea of the Divine Human of the Lord              1890

     The idea of the Divine Human of the Lord is altogether destroyed in the Christian countries.- A. E. 808.
ANNOUNCEMENT 1890

ANNOUNCEMENT              1890

     General Church of Pennsylvania.

     THIS department is the result of an offer made to the authorities of the General Church of Pennsylvania, by the Editor of New Church Life, and will be inserted in this journal as occasion may require. Communications designed for it will please be directed to the Rev. Leonard G. Jordan, Secretary, No. 2536 Continental Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa.
remainder of the worship of the Jewish nation 1890

remainder of the worship of the Jewish nation              1890

     The remainder of the worship of the Jewish nation will come to an end with the end of the Church at this day in Europe.- A. C. 10,497.
CALENDAR READINGS 1890

CALENDAR READINGS              1890

     IT may be necessary to call attention of the members of the General Church of Pennsylvania who follow the suggestions to use Clowes's translations, etc., of the Gospels in connection with the daily reading of the Word, to the fact that the explanation of the Internal Sense given in parallel columns, are not entirely from the Writings. They are by Mr. Clowes's pen, and while, as far as possible, they are taken from the Writings, they are in other cases Mr. Clowes's deductions, and while excellent, as a rule, still liable to mistake, which, of course, the compilations from the Writings at the end of each chapter are not.

44



     A similar caution needs to be thrown out in regard to Mr. Mercer's Motes on Mark.
     Copies of Clowes's Gospel according to Mark, and of Mr. Mercer's book can be had from the Academy Book Room, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia.
Divine Trinity divided into persons 1890

Divine Trinity divided into persons              1890

     A Divine Trinity divided into persons has brought into the Church not only night but also death.-T. C. R. 23.
WRITINGS IN NEW ENGLAND 1890

WRITINGS IN NEW ENGLAND       EDW. A. WHISTON       1890

EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Dear Sir.-In your January number, on page 11, it is stated that the Rev. Mr. Jordan said at the meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania that the agent of the Massachusetts New-Church Union made the remark to him that "people are giving up their sets of the Writings because they have no further use for them."
     Mr. Jordan informs me that the statement in the Life is inaccurate as to his having said that the remark was made to him. It was, he says, reported to him, and was referred to by him "among other signs of the increasing lack of interest in New England in the Doctrines of the New Church distinctively as such, even among New-churchmen."
     I do not know to what interview in these rooms Mr. Jordan refers, but I am quite sure that no remark has been made here by any one officially connected with the Union which was intended to convey any such impression as Mr. Jordon's informant apparently received.
     The older editions of the Writings are sometimes-but very rarely-sent here, and for these reasons: Some because the owners have died, and thus "have no further use for them" in earthly language, and leave no immediate family. Some because the original owners have died and their descendants prefer a modern edition. And some, very possibly-though I do not recall a case at this moment-because the original owners have died and their descendants do not care for them. It is undoubtedly the case in New England, as in all other parts of the world where there have been Newchurchmen, that some children have not the interest in the Doctrines that their parents had.
     So far, however, from there being an increasing lack of interest in New England in the Doctrines of the New Church, you will be glad to know that during 1889 we have sold probably twice as many sets of the Writings as have been sold before by the Union in any year since its establishment. Very truly yours,
     EDW. A. WHISTON,
     Agent of the Massachusetts New-Church Union. BOSTON, February 8th, 1890.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified       L. G. JORDAN       1890

EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Dear Sir.-The incident referred to by me, and mentioned in the letter of Mr. Whiston, dated February 8th, 1890, was substantially this: A lady and a gentleman stated to me in conversation that they had made inquiries at the rooms of the Massachusetts New Church Union, in Boson, for certain volumes of the "Boston" edition of the Writings, some of which were out of print years ago. A lady in charge of the rooms explained that they sometimes have such volumes to sell, they being "brought in by their owners to be disposed of, because they had no further use for them, and the young folks do not, care for them." (The portion quoted is as nearly as can be recalled in the language of the original speaker.) My informants expressly stated that the remark was noticed by them because of its apparent implication of a decreasing interest in the Writings in New England. The impression made was distinctly that it was not death, the breaking up of families, poverty, or any external circumstances that led to such disposal of the Writings, but only decay of interest. Upon both the hearers the impression was the same. Moreover, it appeared to them to be treated as a thing well understood that there is less interest in the Doctrines of the New Church as such, than formerly in New England.
     In my remarks at the General Church Meeting, I did not refer to "the" Agent of the Massachusetts New Church Union, but to "an" agent of the same. Such the lady in charge at the rooms of the Union undoubtedly is.
     It would seem that the agent, Mr. Whiston, should know whether copies of the Writings are often "brought into the rooms by their owners to be disposed of, the young folks not caring for them." If he does not know of it, the presumption is that it is not done. That would seem to prove that there was some misunderstanding of the expression of the lady in charge.
     I do not care to enter into a discussion of the whole question of the lack or increase of interest in the Church in New England, but would call attention to one or two points of Mr. Whiston's letter.
     He speaks of "some" children of New England having less interest than their parents, implying that these are only occasional cases. That is, to say the least, a mild expression. Twenty years ago it was pointed out to me that the Boston Society ought to be much larger than it then was, from births into it alone, and it is not so very much larger now. At all events the evil is much wore strongly stated by Mr. Reed in his paper on the "New Church in its Relation to other Organizations."
     Then again, Mr. Whiston refers to the act that probably twice as many sets of the Writings have been sold by the Union in 1889 as in any previous year of its history, as proof that there is no increasing lack of interest in New England in the Doctrines of the New Church. But other causes may contribute to such sales than real interest among the New Church people. The mass of a Society might object to hearing "Doctrine" preached, and be moving rapidly toward the Old Church; and yet there might arise a few new readers of zeal somewhat like what was formerly beheld in New England. Or the sales at one agency might, for a time, be increased by the falling off at another. At all events, whilst the disposal of sets of the Writings because their owners were done with them, and the young folks did not care for them would conclusively show lack of interest, increase of sales does not conclusively show increase of interest, especially among those for a long time supposed to be of the Church. My own belief in the decay of the Church in New England rests on other and far more important ground than the incident above referred to, significant as that would be if true as at first understood, but correction of which is for myself admitted.
     Yours in the Church,
          L. G. JORDAN.
     PHILADELPHIA, February 22d, 1890=120.
faith in three gods 1890

faith in three gods              1890

     A faith in three gods has perverted everything in the Church.- T. C. R. 277.

45


"ORDER AMONG THE PRIESTS." 1890

"ORDER AMONG THE PRIESTS."       EUGENE J. E. SCHRECK       1890

     IN the report of the late meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania, occur the following words:

     "One of the most important things in a Church is the recognition of the priesthood in persons to whom that office has been adjoined, and who should be, according to the Doctrines, wise, skilled in the law, and fearing God. There must also be order among the governors, lest any from caprice or ignorance permit evils which are contrary to order, and thereby destroy it, which is guarded against where there are higher and lower priests, among whom there is subordination.' That doctrine, though published by Convention is not at all believed in by it as a body." (See New Church Life for January, page 9.)

     Two ministers of the Convention have privately called my attention to the fact that the doctrine referred to treats of "rulers," not of "priests."
     The quotation marks in the report are an error. I did not intend to make a direct quotation in this place, as the doctrine had been quoted previously. (See page 8.) The omission of the quotation marks will present the remarks correctly.
     But as my kind monitors challenge this construction of the doctrine published by the Convention, it may be useful to examine it more closely.
     Article V of the "Constitution of the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America" is entitled "The Priesthood or Ministry," and, the preamble, which is taken bodily from n. 311 to 319 of The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, contains these words:

     "There are things of two kinds which must be in order among men; namely, those that are of heaven and those that are of the world. Those that are of heaven are called ecclesiastical, and those that are of the world are called civil.
     "Order can not be maintained in the world without rulers, who shall observe all things that are done according to order, and those done contrary to order.
     "There must, therefore, be rulers to keep associations of men in order, who should be skilled in the laws, wise, and fearing God. There must also be order among the rulers, lest any from caprice or inexperience should permit evils against order, and so destroy it, which is guarded against when there are higher and lower rulers, among whom there is subordination.
     "Rulers over those things among men which relate to heaven, or over ecclesiastical affairs, are called priests, and their office the priesthood." (See Journal of the sixty-ninth Convention, page 127.)

     If ecclesiastical affairs among men must be in order;
     If order cannot be maintained in the world without rulers;
     If rulers over ecclesiastical affairs are called priests;
     If there must be order among the rulers, and higher and lower rulers, among whom there is subordination;
     If all this is published yearly in the Constitution of the General Convention, under the title "The Priesthood or Ministry," then can any one escape the conclusion that the Convention publishes the doctrine that among the persons to whom the office of the priesthood is adjoined (i. e., the priests or ministers) there must be order, lest any from caprice or ignorance permit evils which are contrary to order, and thereby destroy it, which is guarded against where there are higher and lower priests among whom there is subordination?
     EUGENE J. E. SCHRECK.
Christians know the interiors of worship 1890

Christians know the interiors of worship              1890

     Christians know the interiors of worship, but they do not believe them.- A. C. 3480.
GREENFORD CASE 1890

GREENFORD CASE              1890

     The reports of some of the Societies of the General Church of Pennsylvania for the last two years have shown that the trouble, which originated in the "Advent Society," has also affected other Societies connected with the General Church, and given occasion for disturbances. The most violent outbreak occurred in Greenford. About a year ago some of the members of the Society formed a separate organization, and took forcible possession of the house of worship, preventing the Society from holding its regular worship. The Society after fruitless endeavors to convince the disturbers of the disorderliness of their course, applied to the civil courts for an injunction, which was granted. The case came up for a hearing, January 15th, and the Court rendered decision in favor of the Greenford Society, declaring that since it was an integral part of the General Church of Pennsylvania, no other doctrines than those held by that Church should be preached in their house of worship. This latter qualification in the decision would seem strange, were it not for the fact that the defense declared that the General Church teaches doctrines different from those held by the General Convention. Among other absurd assertions made by the defense with reference to the Society and its relations to the General Church were the following: That the Society belongs to the Ohio Association; that those claiming to be the Greenford Society are intruders from Pennsylvania; that the General Church in an independent body, not recognized by the General Convention; that the chief disturber (formerly, in the year 1874, President of the Society) has regularly reported to the Ohio Association, and is recognized by that body as the official of the Society.
     All these assertions were easily proved to be false from the journals of the Convention, the General Church, and the Ohio Association.
     The strangest of all things in this strange case was that every one of the disaffected members, who appeared in Court, declared that the pastor's teaching was "strictly according to the Doctrines of the New Church." If, in view of their violent opposition to the General Church, this statement means anything at all, it must mean that they do not desire that the Doctrines of the Church should be taught in a temple dedicated to that holy use. Then, one might ask, what does the assertion that the General Church teaches doctrines different from those held by the General Convention mean?
     The saddest thing of all connected with this disturbance is that the General Pastor of the Ohio Association, and the Missionary of that body have encouraged these men in their disorderly course. The Missionary was twice in Greenford during the trouble. Is it just and fair for professed receivers of the Heavenly Doctrines to interfere, to the injury of others, in matters which do not concern them? Does it give them any right to do so, because that Society happened to be in the State in which they are located?
No Christianity 1890

No Christianity              1890

     Hitherto there was no Christianity except only in name.- T. C. R. 700.

46


Communicated 1890

Communicated              1890

     [Inasmuch as is this Department Correspondents have an opportunity to express their individual opinions, be they in favor of the principles on which New Church Life is conducted or adverse to them, the Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views that are published therein.]
They who come from the Christian world 1890

They who come from the Christian world              1890

     They who come from the Christian world think of and strive for hardly anything else, than that they may be the greatest, and that they may possess all things- A. C. 2122.
NEW: CHURCH EVIDENCE SOCIETY 1890

NEW: CHURCH EVIDENCE SOCIETY              1890

TO THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Dear Sir.-My remarks at the annual meeting of the above-named Society, in attempted reply to the criticisms of your Great British correspondent, were reported, in an abbreviated form, in Morning Light for November 23d, 1889. I cannot ask you to reproduce that report in your columns, and I regret this circumstance the less since I have read Mr. Slight's arguments-far abler than mine in favor of New Church Evidence Societies, in your issue for January, 1890.
     I may, however, by your kind permission state (a) I do not share Mr. Caldwell's opinion as to my having in the course of my remarks given away my "whole case." (b) I have never claimed for the Evidence Society any other than a small part "in the work of guiding men to the narrow way that leads to life." (c) I have, probably, as decided a dislike for halfhearted Newchurchmen as Mr. Caldwell himself has-my poor little "half-a-loaf" simile did not refer to them.

     Yours faithfully,
          CHARLES HIGHAM.
169 GROVE LANE, LONDON, S. B., ENGLAND, 27th January, 1890.
Spirits appeared from the Christian world 1890

Spirits appeared from the Christian world              1890

     Spirits appeared from the Christian world, and were forced to hear the interiors of the Word; they were seized with such nausea, that they said they felt as it were an inclination to vomit, in themselves; and it was said that such is the Christian world at this day nearly everywhere.- A. C. 6702.
LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN 1890

LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN              1890

     THE following extract is hereby suggested to the Rev. R. J. Tilson for the next issue of his tractate on "The Writings;" I am indebted to the Concordance, part 33, for it: "I observed that evil Spirits are kept speaking the things which are to be taken note of by me. . . From which it is evident, that even the things which I have learned through evil Spirits I have learned from the LORD alone" (D. 4034).
     The duty of reading the Writings is frequently urged from New Church pulpit and pres. I speak not my own opinion when I say, however, that the duty is neglected. The President of Conference is just a little dubious that the Newchurchman who stays at home from worship to read his True Christian Religion may be found taking a peep at the newspaper. At a recent meeting in London the Rev. J. F. Potts, of Glasgow,-speaking with the earnestness of a man who knew that his advice was needed, urged the duty of reading the Writings, giving that duty a superior place in his thoughts and words to that of publishing the Writings. However, neither by jocularity nor by dead earnestness of appeal will the man of the Church be induced to adopt and to faithfully follow even the best advice if it goes against his confirmed loves. The teaching needs to be placed on higher ground. Nothing short of "Thus saith the LORD" will effect reform in the direction indicated.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     Is there divine authority for the injunction to read and study the Writings? I will not take it upon me to say that the extract I am about to quote is equivalent to saying that this duty must be done but I quote it and would like to have your editorial comment upon it. Of course I am aware that the necessity of diligently reading the Writings is taught by implication all through the Writings; but there may be some readers of Life who would be more diligent in the exercise of this important duty if they learned in so many words that it was an essential. Here is the extract:

     "This appears also from the signification of 'laboring' as denoting the earnest application of the mind, and study that those things maybe known and acknowledged; for this is signified by 'laboring' when it is said of those who study the knowledges of truth and good. From these considerations it follows that by 'and for My Name's sake hast labored' is signified acknowledgment of the LORD and of knowledges which respect Him. The knowledges which respect The LORD are all things which belong to love and faith" (A. E. 102).

     This, re laboring, is said approvingly of one class of those "from whom a New Church is to be formed and of whom it can exist" (A. E., Summary of Contents, chaps. ii and iii). Anticipating your kind comment I leave the extract thus.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     SHAKESPEARE makes Juliet ask "What's in a name?" In connection with the Church there is, at any rate, convenience in all the houses of worship of one Church being known by a common name. Just now the fashion seems to run to variety. In Glasgow there are a "New Jerusalem Temple" and a "Church of the New Jerusalem." The house of worship at Argyle Square, London, is called the "New Christian Church," if I remember aright, and that at Liverpool "The New Church" simply. Some are called "The New Jerusalem Church" and some, I dare say, "Swedenborgian." The Snodland house was called after "Saint" John, and there may be other varieties. Iowa to a preference for the simple designation, "The New Church;" and in towns where there are two or more that they should take a particular name from the localities of the town in which they are situated. Locally church buildings are thus spoken of: "Have you been to Bedford Street?" in' Liverpool, and the equivalent of that in other towns is the most familiar and affectionate form of reference to the spiritual home of the members of the Church.     
     The term "New Church" has been objected to as not being distinctive enough; apt to be confounded with newly-erected buildings of the Old Church which are generally so designated at the first. But we need not be so much concerned about the distinctiveness of the mere name. Name signifies quality and the main thing is to keep the quality of the Church distinctive; its public teachings clear and lucid as the streets and foundations of the New Jerusalem of which it is the embodiment in the earth.

47


If there be the right "ring" about the teaching given forth from the pulpits people will soon begin to attach significance to the name. A return of the designations of the different places of worship throughout the country would be an instructive document and probably lead to a "recommendation" by Conference that the concise name whereby we love to speak of our Church when we regard her as a unit-the name sanctioned by the Doctrines-should be the official registered name of the particular Societies too.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     ATTENTION is drawn indirectly in Morning Light to the need for a revision of the children's Catechism. It is time. The doctrine of the Trinity is surely capable of further simplification than the following, which is one of the answers the children learn: "The Father is the essential Divinity; the Son is the Divine Humanity; and the Holy Spirit is the Divine Proceeding or Operative Energy; answering to the soul, the body, and the operation of both together in man." By answer 39 the children learn that the LORD'S Second Coming is a "coming, not in person but in spirit, by revealing the spiritual sense of His Holy Word." The child is left to conjecture the manner of this revelation. Answer 41 put into his mouth and also, unhappily, into his memory, the notion that he will get "further instruction" (?) respecting the Second Coming of the LORD in the Writings of the LORD'S servant, Emanuel Swedenborg. In truth it needs revision.
     JAMES CALDWELL.
59 COUNTY ROAD, LIVERPOOL.
COMMENTS 1890

COMMENTS              1890

     THE statement in The Apocalypse Explained, n. 102, speaks approvingly of the study of and application to the know ledges of good and truth on the part of those who are signified by the Ephesians, and the Ephesian principle must necessarily obtain in every one who is a Church. A more explicit injunction to acquire the Doctrines of the Church is contained in n. 803 of the same work, where the statement occurs:

     "It is known that faith from love is the essential means of salvation, and that hence it is the principal of the doctrine of the Church; but because it is of interest to know how man can be in illustration, that he may learn the truths which shall be of his faith, and in affection, that he may do the goods which shall be of his love, thus whether faith be the faith of truth, and love be the love of good, it shall be told in its order, which is this: 1. That he read the Word every day, one chapter or two, and learn from a master and from preachings the dogmas of his religion, and especially let him learn that God is one, that the LORD is the. God of heaven and earth," etc.

     The LORD says: "Search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of Me" (John v, 39). "The Sacred Scripture or the Word is the Divine Truth proceeding from the LORD, and the Divine proceeding is the LORD Himself in heaven and in the Church; wherefore, when it is said that 'the Scriptures testify of Him,' it is meant that the LORD Himself testifies of Himself" (A. E. 635).

     "The Word is the Word itself in its sense of the letter, for in this interiorly is the spirit or the life, the spiritual sense is its spirit, and the celestial sense is its life. This is what the LORD says: 'The words which I speak unto you are spirit and life' (John vi, 63). The LORD spoke His words before the world, and in the natural sense. The spiritual and the celestial senses are not the Word without the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, for they are as the spirit and the life without the body" (S. S. 39).

     In order to obey the LORD'S injunction to "search the Scriptures," it is therefore incumbent on the Newchurchmen to study the Writings, since in them the LORD'S Word as to the celestial, spiritual, and natural senses is now revealed. They contain the life, spirit, and body of the Word; they are Son of Man appearing in the clouds of heaven with power and glory.
THERE is no harm in a variety of names 1890

THERE is no harm in a variety of names       Editor       1890

     THERE is no harm in a variety of names. It would be better if the name, instead of being derived from locality, expressed some spiritual quality.-EDITOR.)
They who constitute the common involuntary sense 1890

They who constitute the common involuntary sense              1890

     They who constitute the common involuntary sense, who anciently were the most celestial of all, are at this day the most criminal of all, and this mostly from the Christian world.- A. C. 4327.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     THE bringing of gifts to the LORD by the wise men represented that everything we have, both spiritual and natural, comes from the Lord alone, and what the wise men did representatively we should do actually, viz., attribute all good to the LORD, and it is useful to signify this acknowledgment by bringing gifts to Him for His Church. The worth of gifts is not determined by their intrinsic value, but by the quality of the acknowledgment contained in them. Of all that the LORD has given us, the most important thing is the ability to love Him.
In the other life it appears 1890

In the other life it appears              1890

     In the other life it appears, that, however those who are of the Christian world may have seemed `peaceful in the world, still they held one another in hatred, and hated all things of faith, especially the Lord.- A. C. 3489.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     THE plates of De Amore Conjugiali, and of Vol. II of the English-Latin edition of the Apocalypse Explained, are completed, and the books are on the press.
ACADEMY BOOK ROOM 1890

ACADEMY BOOK ROOM       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     IS ESTABLISHED FOR THE SALE OF

The Writings of the New Church in the original Latin and in translations.
The Word of the Old and New Testaments, in the original tongues and in translations.
The Scientific Works of Swedenborg.
The publications of the Academy and other New Church publications.
Books useful for New Church students made a specialty.
When about to dispose of New Church books, please communicate with us.
Catalogue in preparation.

CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH, Agent,
     Academy Book Room,
     1821 Wallace Street, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

48


NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 722 Bellevue Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MISS FLORENCE G. GIBBS, 147 Camden Road, London, N.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on- Tyne.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 61 Cathedral Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, MARCH, 1890=120.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 33.
     A Divine Law for the Priesthood (a Sermon), p. 34.- The Writings give the Spiritual Sense of the Word, p. 37.- Something About the Academy Schools, p. 38.-Preservation of New Church Documents, p. 39.-Mythology of Assyria and Babylonia, p. 39.
     Notes and Reviews, p. 41.-Dr. Burnham work, p. 42.-"From Over the Border," p. 43.
     General Church of Pennsylvania- Announcement. p. 43.-Calendar Readings p. 43,- The Writings in New England. p. 44 -Reply, p. 44.-"Order Among the Priests," p. 45.- The Greenford Case, p. 45.
     Communicated.- The New Church Evidence Society, p. 46.-Letter from Great Britain, p. 46.- Comments, p. 47.
     The Academy Book Room, p. 47.
     News Gleanings, p. 48,-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 48.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.- THE Philadelphia First Society reports a net increase of thirty members during the past year. The average attendance of the Sunday-school for the year was one hundred and eighty-five. A new class has been formed for the study of the Arcana Coelestia, under the charge of the Rev. W. H. Alden.
     ON January 7th the temporary organization, called the "Philadelphia Union," consisting of the former members of the Society of the Advent, who left that body with the Rev. L. H. Tafel, held its annual meeting, and organized permanently under the name of "North Philadelphia Society of the New Jerusalem."
     IT has been reported that the Rev. L. H. Tafel will serve the "First Society of Allentown" twice a month.
     ON Saturday, February 22d, Bishop Benade left Philadelphia for Old Point Comfort, Virginia, en route for Asheville, North Carolina; accompanied by Mr. Jesse A. Burt, Curator of the Academy Museum.
     New York.- The Missionary of the New York Association, the Rev. J. B. Parmelee, has Been endeavoring to arouse interest in the Church at Syracuse, by lectures and other means. A movement toward organization is on foot. During his stay Mr. Parmelee preached once for the Unitarians.
     THE Mission and Industrial Schools, on Tenth Avenue, New York City, report that they have all the scholars that can be accommodated.
     A SUNDAY- SCHOOL Conference of the New York Association was held in Brooklyn February 1st.
     THE annual meeting of the German Missionary Union will be held in the Church of the Rev. William Diehl, Lynch Street, Brooklyn, E. D., on March 12th.
     Illinois.- AMONG the few exceptions to the old routine Christmas celebration is to be noted that of the Chicago (Van Buren Street) Society's Sunday-school. There was no tree, and the children, instead of receiving presents, brought girls for the poor. The Young Ladies' Association report several successful entertainments. In a report of one of their committees, it appears that the ratio of success among Young People's Leagues in this country is greatest where Doctrine is the basis, and uses are performed and least where pleasure is the principal object.
     THE Pastor of Immanuel Church has instituted a gymnasium as an auxiliary to the Society, in order that its members may be initiated into science, intelligence, and wisdom, and may progress therein by the ventilation and discussion of questions of moral and civil life.
     MR. Louis G. Landenberger was ordained into the ministry at Olney, on the 10th of January, by the Rev. John Goddard, General Pastor of the Ohio Association.
     Tennessee.- THE Society at Ridgedale holds weekly prayer meetings, "not for instruction in doctrine," but apparently to indulge in Old Church platitudes.
     Texas.- THE Rev. Stephen Wood recently baptized twenty-four persons at Milano.
     Michigan.- THE Detroit Society has arranged to have sermons from time to time, and lectures, in Philharmonic Hall, by the Rev. Messrs. L. P. Mercer, P. B. Cabell, John Goddard, and G. H. Dole, beside the regular ministrations of the pastor, the Rev. A. P. Frost.
     THE Gorand Rapids Society reports a considerable increase in membership and activity since the Rev. G. H. Dole assumed the past orate.
     Minnesota.- THE Rev. J. S. David preached to a congregation of Universalists at Minneapolis on February 2d. He also reports missionary work at other points in the Northwest.
     California.- THE Rev. D. V. Bowen preaches regularly in Ontario and Los Angeles. He recently baptized a Congregational minister, the Rev. G. W. Savory, into the New Church. Mr. Savory goes to San Diego to minister to the New Church Society there. It does not appear whether Mr. Savory was ordained into the New Church ministry or not.
     THE Rev. D. V. Bowen has become an associate editor, of the Dawn, a Christian socialist paper, published in Boston, Mass.
     Canada.- THE Toronto and Berlin Societies now use the same kind of Sacramental bread, prepared according to the directions given in the Arcana Coelestia, n. 4581, 10,136, 10,137, consisting of unleavened cakes, made of fine flour mingled with oil, and salted.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- A FEAST of Charity was held at Colchester on December 29th, at which the principles of the Academy of the New Church were discussed, a paper upon that subject being presented by Mr. Tilson.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.





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Vol. X. PHILADELPHIA, APRIL 1890=120. No. 4
     The spiritual sense of the Word has been uncovered by the Lord through me. . . . This excells all revelations which have been hitherto from the creation of the world.-Invitation to the New Church, 44.



     IN an editorial on the recent misstatements by Dr. Buckley in the century Magazine concerning Swedenborg's manuscripts (which Dr. Buckley asserts he has seen, written in English (!), in the University of Upsala), the New Church Messenger, of February 26th casually remarks, that indeed, nearly everything [of the MSS.] has been photo-lithographed."
     This statement calls for correction. Only about seven thousand pages of the original manuscripts in Stockholm have as yet been photo-lithographed. There are not less than seventy-three codices of Swedenborg's MSS., containing more than seventeen thousand pages, which have not yet been thus reproduced. Of these, fifty-two codices have been published by the press, but there are seven codices of theological writings, and fourteen codices of scientific writings, which have neither been photo-lithographed nor, as yet, published in any other form.



     THIS lack of information on the part of the most widely-read of New Church papers, and one which has a nominal connection with the General Convention, seems the more remarkable, as the subject has been kept prominent before the Church for many years. The Committee appointed by the General Convention in the year 1867, to secure the preservation of the MSS., reported in the year 1875 that eleven volumes had then been photo-lithographed. Ten years later Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson called attention to the necessity of preserving the remaining MSS., and this afforded an occasion for the General Church of Pennsylvania, at its annual meeting in the year 1886, to pass a resolution inviting the various Associations of the Church in this country to unite with it in a request to the General Convention to consider the subject of completing the work already begun. The General Convention, in the following year, resolved to invite the co-operation of the General Conference in this work, and a committee was appointed, consisting of members from each Association, for the purpose of collecting subscriptions in aid of the work. The Committee on the Publication of the Manuscripts was also authorized to proceed with the photo-lithographing as soon as, in their judgment, sufficient funds had been collected.
     The English Conference referred the invitation extended to it to the Swedenborg Society, which has done nothing in the matter. The Committee appointed to collect funds reported, in the year 1889, that $6,294.89 had been subscribed. The Chairman of the Committee on the MSS., Bishop Benade, reported at the same time that he had made a journey to Sweden expressly for the purpose of investigating the condition of the Manuscripts and the cost of photo-lithographing them. The result of his investigations were laid before the Convention, and were printed in the Journal.



     ALTHOUGH so great an amount of work has been done in the way of preparation for completing the preservation of the Manuscripts by means of photo-lithography, the interest in the subject it; indeed there was any, outside of certain quartets, seems to have died out, to judge from the universal silence maintained in the matter, and from the erroneous statement of the Messenger, referred to above. Thousands of dollars are annually collected for uses which are of secondary importance as compared with the use of preserving the Manuscripts of the Divine Writings upon which the Church is founded.



     IT may be objected, that the Church has other uses to perform, which are of more immediate importance than the reproduction of Swedenborg's Manuscripts; that most of these have been published, and that the originals are in safe-keeping in Stockholm.
     The present state of the Manuscripts shows, however, that there is no work of equally immediate importance. While the Royal Academy of Sweden is devoting the utmost care to the preservation of the Manuscripts, the unpreventable influence of time is gradually destroying them. The paper is becoming mote and more brittle and difficult to be handled, in some instances already falling to pieces. The ink is continually spreading, tending to render the Manuscripts illegible and eating through the paper. Recent reports from the Librarian of the Royal Academy, Mr. Ahlstrand, bring alarming confirmations of this sad tale of the disintegration of the priceless Manuscripts. If the New Church of the present age, therefore, is willing to make use of its opportunity to preserve for all future the exact form of her Divine Revelation she must do it without delay, or her opportunity will be lost forever.



     WHEN it is known that the LORD preserved the Jewish nation for so many centuries for the single purpose of preserving intact the exact form of the Letter of His Divine Word, how great is the duty of the New Church to preserve intact the exact form of the revelation of the Spiritual Sense of the Word, contained in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, "the most excellent of all revelations hitherto given." When it is known how great is the doubt in the world as to the integrity of the literal sense of the Word, and that the true readings can often be restored only by applying to the direct revelations in the Writings, how great is the responsibility of the Newchurchman of the present generation to preserve entire the Revelation of the LORD'S Second Coming, making impossible for all future the doubts of its integrity, or strife concerning the variant readings, which may result from printers' errors and from mistakes or caprices of editors.
     Verily, the preservation of the Manuscripts is most important, most pressing, and one, the blessings of which will extend to all mankind.

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     In view of the universality of this use, could not all Newchurchmen unite in it, whatever their differences in other respects?



     THE Writings are the ultimate form and voice of the LORD in His Second Coming. The Manuscripts of, Swedenborg are these Writings in their original and most exact form. Occasions for missionary work and, other works of charity will always be given to the Church. But it is to the LORD and to His Divine Revelation that the greatest charity is due. "For the poor ye wilt always have with you, and whensoever ye will, ye can do well to them. But Me ye have not always" (Mark xiv, 7).



     The spiritual sense of the Word has been uncovered by the LORD through me, . . and this is the very Sanctuary of the Word; the Lord Himself is in it with His Divine, and in its natural with His Human.-Inv. 44.



     If "A Friend of the Academy," writing from "Scotland," will send his name and address to the Editor, as an assurance of good faith, his question will receive due consideration.
Church is not except 1890

Church is not except              1890

     The Church is not except of those who in heart acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, and who learn truths from the Lord through the Word, and do them.- A. E. 388 [a.].
STANDARD FOR THE PEOPLES 1890

STANDARD FOR THE PEOPLES       Rev. L. G. JORDAN       1890

     (Delivered on the occasion of his instalment into the Pastorate of the New Jerusalem Society of the Advent in Philadelphia.)

     "Go through, Go through the gates; Prepare ye the way of the people; Pave ye, Pave ye the highway; clear it of atones; Lift on high a standard for the peoples; Behold the LORD hath caused it to be heard to the end of the earth. Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh. Behold His reward is with Him, and His, work before His faces."-Isa. lxii, 10, 11.

     THE gates of a city are means both of entrance and exclusion, because they correspond to truths that introduce men to the Church, and exclude evils therefrom. To "go through the gates," doubly enjoined, is to offer the introductory truths of the Church for reception by the people so that their minds may be made ready in knowledge and affection for what the LORD will reveal. In the New Church, these introductory truths are the plain directions of the LORD to acknowledge Him and His Word, to believe in Him and to live according to His Will. To regard revelation from the LORD as, necessary to salvation opens the wind and heart to influx from Him.
     The way that is to be paved is the path of truth that leads to good, for such is the origin and tendency of all revealed truth-a path made plain by acceptance of the leading laws of the LORD'S Kingdom, and the laying of principles of truth in order. To "clear it of stones" is to remove falsities that obstruct the clear understanding of truths, especially the falsities that lead to evils of life, and to false and idolatrous worship, and those which originate in conceit and self-will.
     To "lift on high a standard for the people" signifies convocation, proclamation of the truth, and divine protection by it.
     "Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy' salvation cometh," means the salvation of the Church through the coming to it of the LORD and His reception by the people, consequent upon due preparation of mind and heart. It is the building up of the New Church founded upon the truths of the LORD'S revelation accepted in love, in loyalty, in life.
     The gates of the New Jerusalem are not shut by day, by which is signified that those are continually admitted who desire to enter, because they will be in the truths derived from the good of love from the LORD. "If aliens enter they will leave because they cannot bear the light, or they will be cast out."
     In order that a man may plainly walk in one of the paths that lead to good, nothing more is required of him than to sweep, or prepare, the way, by the rejection of the lusts of evil and false persuasions thence originating.
     When Moses had ended his work for the sons of Israel at that great battle with Amalek, he built an altar to the LORD and called it "The LORD my Standard," by which is signified calling together for war, and protection by the LORD therein, since it is the LORD who fights for man and who alone achieves the victory.
     In an especial manner is this proclamation and appeal of the text addressed to the seen of the New Church. Especially to those who would be a general Church of the LORD, goes forth the cry, "Lift up a standard to the peoples," that they may be convened and bound together as one people ready to receive and revere the LORD, and to be protected and saved by Him in all the elements of a true man formed into an image and likeness of the LORD.
     As a natural ensign would have been placed on the top of a high hill that it might be seen all around to draw them together to support the cause represented by it; so, in the heart of each one of us, upon the high mountain of our warmest affection, is to be raised aloft the ensign of the Church. In the name of the principles peculiar to the Church, and by which it is established in the' world among men, we are to pledge our truest loyalty and faith-to pledge everything else that we hold dear, by making those principles the dearest, most precious' things to us in all the world. By so doing, the LORD Himself will come to each of us individually, and there gather together every human affection and thought into such order of arrangement that He can fully control and protect them; thus to secure to each and every element of our characters the fullest measure possible of His own Love, and Wisdom, and Power for Efficient Use. In a word, saving, us as men, by saving in us that which is from Him.
     In this work, all that we have to do is to open the gates, by the acceptance of the primary truths of the Church, shun evils and falses as sins against the LORD, and devote our hearts and minds to this end, to the study and practice of the truth He has revealed,
     In our larger scope as members of a general church, the duty, the privilege, the happy result will be the same. In unswerving loyalty to His revelation without which we cannot know ourselves because we cannot know the LORD-in increased zeal and ardor for the knowledge and application of those principles-in a heightened reverence for that revelation as the LORD Himself; present with us in His Divine Humanity, and the only means by which we can find Him in His Word, we "lift on high the Standard for the peoples."

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It will indeed involve War against all that opposes those principles, but it means Peace and true Charity and Love for those who in any degree accept and live them. By it all the latter will be attracted together and the foreigner and opposer and enemy will be repelled. The Church will certainly grow in numbers, but, what is of greater consequence, in purity of doctrine and strength of life according to doctrine. It will be strong and safe, protected by the LORD Himself, Who can never desert His own.
     And now, what are the principles of that revelation we are to cherish, support, exalt in our hearts and keep faithfully before the people, as the rules of their every act?
      The primary, most universal, and introductory have already been mentioned. To enumerate all the more general doctrines under these universals would be impossible, to say nothing of the infinite particulars, as numerous and varied as the elements of the LORD'S own Love and Wisdom whence they are revealed. There is, however, one statement of them, twice repeated in almost identical terms in the Writings for the Church, so comprehensive and so particular, and at the same time so brief, that it may properly form the basis of our further consideration of the text. It is in the form of a relation in Conjugial Love and the True Christian Religion, and is prefaced as follows:
      "Once as to my spirit I was raised into the angelic heaven, and into one of its societies, and there came to me some of the wise ones and said, 'What is there new from the earth?' I said to them, 'This is new, the LORD has revealed arcana, which in excellence exceed the arcana hitherto revealed from the Beginning of the Church.' They asked, 'What are they?' I said, 'These.'" Then follows an enumeration of them under the following heads:
      I. That there is a spiritual sense in the Word, by means of which sense there is conjunction of the men of the Church with the LORD and consociation with angels, and that the holiness of the Word resides therein.
     II. That the Correspondences are disclosed to effect the previously mentioned goods, at which the angels rejoiced, and asked whether the true significance of Baptism and the Holy Supper were made known, and were answered affirmatively
     III. The Life of Men after Death.
     IV. The Quality of Heaven and Hell, and that angels and spirits are in conjunction with man.
     V. That the Sun of the Spiritual World is Pure Love and that of the Natural World Pure Fire.
     VI. The Three Degrees of Life, of the Heavens and of the Human Mind, thus correspondent to the heavens.
     VII. In one series, the Last Judgment; that the LORD is the God of heaven and earth; that God is one in Person and Essence, in Whom is the Divine Trinity, that He is the LORD; also the New Church to be established by Him, and the Doctrines of that Church; the Holiness of the Sacred Scriptures; the Revelation of the Apocalypse; the Inhabitants of the Planets and Earths in the Universe; "besides many memorable and wonderful things from the spiritual world, by means of which very many things which are of wisdom are disclosed from heaven."
     After relating some conversation with the angels on the state of the world in respect to these principles, or truths, we are told that another matter had been revealed of the highest excellence and importance, viz.: Conjugial Love, and then followed certain comments, to be noted by us further on.
     Let us briefly review these points, with especial thought in mind, that these are the matters of new revelation for the LORD'S New Church and from the LORD alone, enumerated by the Servant of the LORD through whom they were revealed, to angels, and that the latter rejoiced in them and were especially interested to note their reception by men. In the name of these we are "to lift up the Standard" of the Church in our own hearts and in the world.
     First. The Spiritual Sense of the Word: Does the letter no longer enchain and restrain our thought? Is the Word an open book? Is it most glorious, holy, inspiring to us by reason of the spiritual life, which, from the LORD and by its Internal Sense, flows into our hearts? Is it clear to us that without this Sense the Word Itself could not now be saved to us a Word, nor we by It saved from the falses and evils of Hell? "The Church is according to its doctrine, and, that doctrine is from the Word is known; but still doctrine does not make the Church, but soundness and purity of doctrine, consequently the understanding of the Word" (T. C. R. 240). Then let us so treat the Word that every child and every stranger among us as well as ourselves will be impressed with the holy reverence we feel for it on account of this internal, spiritual, heavenly, Divine meaning now opened up to our view. Banishing every irreverent thought, and speech, and act toward It, lest we profane that internal life of It so graciously revealed by the LORD. Lifting up the Standard of the New Church high in our hearts, to call all men who will, to receive of this Life of life.
     In this connection, let us be loyal to the principle of Correspondence, whereby that spiritual, internal sense of the Word is made known, and without which the very existence of an internal to the Word would be impossible. Whereby we are enabled to comprehend the significance of Baptism and the Holy Supper, and to observe them in no perfunctory spirit, not merely from the simple, immature good of natural obedience alone, but as men in understanding and affection, able to appreciate that in the Sacraments which angels share with us, and which saves these Sacraments to us, and may save us by them.
     We need to lift up the standard in the matter of the Life after Death. To raise our thoughts and feelings to a nobler height in this regard, till we realize the actuality of life to come as perfectly as we realize that of life in this world. To this end we have to banish every gloomy and sepulchral thought, feeling, and action at the death of those we love, and approach our own end of life on earth with confidence, cheerful trust in the LORD, and sure conviction that He will lead us hereafter even more perfectly than here. Especially to give emphatic utterance to our acceptance of the reality of the life after death, in the case of all associated with us in the Church.
      In connection with this effort, proving loyal and true to the laws of heavenly life as revealed in the teachings for the Church, and learning wisdom in natural affairs by the knowledge of the disorders and repressions of Hell.
     In the fifth subject referred to in the relation before us, we find abundant cause for reflection upon the necessity for an exalted view and warm acceptance of the philosophy of the Church. It is distinctly declared that "the LORD has revealed" that the sun of the spiritual world is pure love, and that of this world pure fire. Apart from the plain significance of this statement, that we are to think of ourselves as essentially spirits, forms, and organs of human love, invested with bodies that have no part or share in eternal life, but which return to a condition controlled by "pure fire" when the spirit leaves them; we have the clear intimation that the science of the Writings is as much revealed by the' LORD is anything of spiritual affection and thought.

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Here, indeed, is cause for a lifting up the standard, I that in no uncertain way the Church may be convened in accordance with the will of the LORD, to be protected, to be saved, to be blessed by Him in things spiritual and natural. There is to be no culling of what happens to suit our whim, but loyalty to the whole.
     Then the doctrine of Degrees. To this, too, we-need to be true, that in accordance with it every human structure we seek to elect maybe organized in Divine and heavenly order. Shall not the Church, and especially that which enables the Church to be established in the world-its Priesthood-take on true order and perfect form? Are we not, in an especial manner, called upon to lift on high the standard of the Priesthood of the LORD'S New Church in an organization of it after the pattern of the "three degree's of life, of the heavens, of the human mind itself"? How can the Church be less perfect than the civil government with its national, State, and municipal executives, or the Judiciary, with its Municipal, Superior and Supreme Courts, its Magistrate, Judge and Justice? What can be more evident than that by going in this direction we shall follow the LORDS own law, convene the people in true order, protect them and the Church, and thus secure for all the protection of the LORD Himself?
     In the enumeration of subjects after these, several of the greatest consequence are grouped together. They are made sufficiently prominent in the other parts of the Writings, but for some reason not evident to us, are but little more than enumerated here. They are the Last Judgment, that the LORD is the God of heaven and earth, one in essence and person, in whom is a Divine Trinity; the establishment of a New Church and its Doctrine; the holiness of the Sacred Scriptures; the opening of the Apocalypse; the inhabitants of the planets and earths in the universe, and many memorable and wonderful things of the spiritual world revealed in the Writings. This was in answer to a special inquiry on the part of the angels, whether more than what had already been mentioned had been revealed. But because they are thus less prominently treated than elsewhere, we are not to assume that they less require our faith, our love, our loyal devotion, and the lifting on high of a standard in their name. They are of the essence of the Church, and without loyalty to them there can be no Church. Nor shall we or others be likely to be wanting in true fealty to these principles of life and faith if there be a lifting up of the standard on high in respect to the others named.
     The angels rejoiced greatly at these revelations, but observed in Swedenborg a certain sadness, and they asked the cause.

     He replied, "that those arcana at this day revealed by the LORD, although in excellence and worth they exceed the knowledges hitherto made known, still on earth are reputed of no value. At this the angels wondered, and entreated of the LORD that they might look down into the world; and they looked down and beheld mere darkness there, and it was said to them that those arcana should be written on paper, and the paper be let down upon earth, and they should see a prodigy; and it was done so, and, behold, the paper on which those arcana was written was let down from heaven, and in its progress, while it was still in the spiritual world; it shone as a star, but when it descended into the natural world the light disappeared, and in the same degree' as it fell, it was covered with darkness, and when it was let down by the angels into companies where were the learned and erudite, from the clergy and the laity there was heard a murmur from many, in which were these expressions: 'What is this? Is it anything? What does it concern us whether we know them or do not know them? Are they not the productions of the brain?' And it appeared as if some took the paper, and folded it, rolled and' unrolled it with their fingers, in order that they might obliterate the writing; and it appears as if some tore it to pieces, and some, as if they wanted to trample upon it with their feet; but they were withheld by the LORD from that enormity, and it was commanded the angels to draw it back, and guard it; and because the angels became sad, and thought how long it would be thus, it was said: 'Until a time and times and half a time.'-Rev. xii, 14.
     "After this, speaking with the angels, I said that something further is revealed in the world by the LORD; they asked what this was; I said, 'Concerning love truly I conjugial and concerning its heavenly delights.' The angels said, 'Who does not know that the delights of conjugial love exceed the delights of all loves? and who cannot see that into some love are brought together all the blessedness, satisfactions, and delights which can ever be conferred by the LORD, and that the receptable of them is love truly conjugial, which is able to receive and perceive them to a full sense?' I answered, that they do not know this because they have not come to the LORD and lived according to His precepts, by shunning evils as sins, and by doing goods; and love truly conjugial with its delights is solely from the LORD, and is given to those who live according to His precepts; thus that it is given to those who are received into the New Church of the LORD, which in the Apocalypse is meant by the New Jerusalem. To this I added, that I was in doubt whether in the world at this day they are willing to believe that that love in itself is spiritual love, and thence from religion, because they cherish concerning it only a corporeal idea; then they said to me, 'Write about it, and follow revelation, and afterward the book written concerning it shall be let down by us from heaven, and we will see whether the things which are therein are received; and at the same time whether they are willing to acknowledge that that love is according to religion with man, spiritual with the spiritual, natural with the natural, and merely carnal with adulterers'" (C. L. 583, 534).
     Thus it is made evident that the work on Conjugial Love was put forth directly as a test of the states of man. As such a test the Church may continue to apply it to all who profess to be of the Church. In an especial, emphatic, most important sense are we to lift up a standard in the name of Conjugial Love.

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Assailed as it is, on all sides, especially in Christendom, by the sphere of adultery, abortion, and general prevention of the legitimate end, use, and function of marriage as a means of procreating the human race and the Church on earth, and as the seminary of heaven, it is enumerated last of all in this series of things newly revealed by the LORD, the more definitely to establish in the thought that in it meet and are ultimated all the excellencies of love and faith of the principles that precede. By every rational and affectional means let us, then, give in our firm adherence to the law of Conjugial Love. From their early youth train our children to desire a chaste and lovely union with one of the other sex, and especially within the Church; making plain to all that the end of marriage is the procreation of offspring that the race may be perpetuated, the Church extended, and heaven itself built up. Cementing the bonds of marriage already contracted and seeking in each case to make of the husband more and more a husband, of the wife more and more a wife. In short, opening the gates of the New Jerusalem in this matter by earnest presentation of the preliminary truths for the Church in relation to it; urging to the shunning of all that is unchaste and adulterous, that the way may be cleared of obstructions from lust and falsity; laying in order all the particular truths made known; lifting on high a standard of Love truly Conjugial to be seen of all, and protecting it in us and the Church, that, in turn, by it we may be protected, defended, and saved by the LORD Himself, Husband of the Church His loyal Bride and Wife. Amen!
New Church grows on earth 1890

New Church grows on earth              1890

     The New Church grows on earth according to its increase in the world of spirits.- A. E. 732.
ARE THE WORDS, "THE COMING OF THE LORD," INSCRIBED ON ALL OF SWEDENBORG'S BOOKS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD? 1890

ARE THE WORDS, "THE COMING OF THE LORD," INSCRIBED ON ALL OF SWEDENBORG'S BOOKS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD?              1890

     THE Rev. Samuel H. Worcester writes:
     "In your No. 3, at the bottom of page 33, you give a quotation from Swedenborg's Sketch of Ecclesiastical History. Do you think that the Latin warrants the statements found in this extract? Please compare with Mr. Potts's Concordance, s. v. 'Advent.'"
     We thank our friend for calling attention to the quotation, which was not quite literal. Swedenborg wrote:
     Quod inscriptum libris? Adventus Domini, omnibus in mundo spirituali, item ex mandato duobus exemplaribus in Hollandia idem inscripsi."
     A more literal translation than that given in the last Life would be:
     "That there was inscribed on the books: 'THE COMING OF THE LORD,' on all in the spiritual world. By command I likewise inscribed the same on two copies in Holland."
     In the Concordance, Mr. Potts repeats the error committed in Tafel's Documents, of inserting the demonstrative pronoun "these" before the word "books," and he refers, in Parenthesis, to the Brief Exposition, which is mentioned in the paragraph immediately preceding. It seems probable that he and Dr. Worcester, who supports Mr. Potts's entry are confirmed in this understanding of the passage, by the fact that a copy of the Brief Exposition was found about the year 1876, bearing on the fly-leaf the inscription, in "Swedenborg's handwriting: "Hic Liber est Adventus Domini, scriptum ex mandato," with references to the Arcana Coelestia, n. 2513, 4535, 6895, 8427, p. 19, and the Apocalypsis Revelata, n. 626: "This Book is the Coming of the LORD, written by command."
     But if the Sketch of an Ecclesiastical History be read in its entirety (a translation is published in the Documents concerning Swedenborg, vol. 2, pp. 756 and 757, and the Latin text and a translation, in Words for the New Church, Part I, pp. 57 to 59), it will be seen that the Divine character of all the Writings is emphasized, particularly in the words: "The Books [libri] are to be enumerated, which were written by the LORD through me, from the beginning to the present day."
     We believe that these are the "Books" to which Swedenborg refers in the concluding number, when he says: "There was inscribed on the Books, 'THE ADVENT OF THE LORD,' on all in the spiritual world." The Brief Exposition is not "Books," it is a "Book." If he had meant to say, as our friends seem to believe, that the inscription was on all the copies of the Brief Exposition, It seems more than probable that he would have made use of the term "copy" ["exemplar"], which he does so use in the following sentence.
     But, even supposing that the interpretations of our friends were correct, and that we were here told simply that on all the copies of the Brief Exposition in the spiritual world there appears the inscriptim, "THE COMING OF THE LORD"-the practical force of the statement would remain the same.
     The Brief Exposition is said to be only a sketch [sciagraphia] of The True Christian Religion, giving the generals" of which the later work gave "all and single things in their breadth." Indeed, Swedenborg says of the Brief Exposition: "But this epitome [breviarium] is not submitted for the judgment of judges, but is only communicated to notice, because its contents will be shown fully in the Work itself [The True Christian Religion]" (B. E. 1).

     If the Brief Exposition is the Coming of the LORD, it follows that The True Christian Religion is so likewise. And if The True Christian Religion is the Coming of the LORD, it follows that all of the Writings of the New Church "written by the LORD through Emanuel Swedenborg, from the beginning to the present day," are that Coming, for it "contains the universal theology of the New Church."

     "THAT THIS COMING OF THE LORD, WHICH IS THE SECOND, IS IN ORDER THAT THE EVIL MAY BE SEPARATED FROM THE GOOD, AND THAT THOSE MAY BE SAVED WHO HAVE BELIEVED AND DO BELIEVE IN HIM; AND THAT A NEW ANGELIC HEAVEN MAY BE FORMED FROM THEM, AND A NEW CHURCH ON EARTH.
     "THAT THIS SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS NOT IN PERSON, BUT THAT IT IS IN THE WORD, WHICH IS FROM HIM AND IS HIMSELF.
     "THAT THIS SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS EFFECTED BY MEANS OF A MAN, BEFORE WHOM HE HAS MANIFESTED HIMSELF IN PERSON, AND WHOM HE HAS FILLED WITH His SPIRIT, TO TEACH THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH THROUGH THE WORD FROM HIM.
     "Since the LORD cannot manifest Himself in person, as has been shown just above, 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 understanding, but also to publish them by the press.

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That the LORD has manifested Himself before me, his servant, and sent me on this office, and that, after this, He opened the sight of my spirit, and thus let me into the spiritual world, and gave me to see the' heavens and the hells, and also to speak with angels and spirits, and this now continually for many years, I testify in truth; and also that, from the first day of that call, I have not received anything which pertains to the doctrines of that Church from any angel, but from the LORD alone, while I rend the Word.
     "To the end that the LORD might be constantly present, He has disclosed to me the spiritual sense of His Word, in which Divine Truth is in its light, and in this He is continually present; for His presence in the Word is only by means of the spiritual sense; through the light of this He passes into the shade in which the sense of the letter is; comparatively as it happens with the light of the sun in the day-time, by the interposition of a cloud. That the sense of the letter of the Word is as a cloud, and the spiritual sense glory, and the LORD Himself the sun from which the light proceeds, and that thus the LORD is the Word, has been demonstrated above. That the glory in which He is to come, Matt. xxiv, 30, signifies divine truth in its light, in which the spiritual sense of the Word is, appears clearly from these passages: The voice of one crying in the desert, prepare a way for Jehovah; the GLORY OF JEHOVAH shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see (Isaiah xl, 3, 5). Be thou enlightened, because THY LIGHT hath come, and the GLORY OF JEHOVAH hath risen upon thee (ix, 1) to the end. I will give Thee for a covenant to the people, for the LIGHT OF THE NATIONS; and MY GLORY I will not give to another (xlii, 6, 8; xlviii, 11). THY LIGHT shall break forth as the morning; the GLORY OF JEHOVAH shall gather thee up (lviii, 8). All the earth shall be filled with the GLORY OF JEHOVAH (Num. xiv, 8; Isaiah vi, 1, 2, 3; lxvi, 18). In the beginning was the Word; in Him was life, and the life was the LIGHT OF MEN. He was the TRUE LIGHT. And the Word became flesh, and we saw HIS- GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER (John i, 1, 4, 9, 14). The heavens shall tell the GLORY OF GOD (Psalm xix, 1). The GLORY OF GOD shall enlighten the New Jerusalem, and the Lamb shall be its light, and the nations which are saved shall walk in HIS LIGHT (Rev. xxi, 23, 24, 25); besides in many other places. That glory signifies divine truth in its fullness, is because everything magnificent in heaven is from the light which proceeds from the LORD, and the light proceeding from Him, as a sun there, in its essence is Divine Truth.
     "THAT THIS IS MEANT, BY THE REVELATION, BY THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH, AND THE NEW JERUSALEM DESCENDING THENCE.
     "THAT THIS NEW CHURCH IS THE CROWN OF ALL THE CHURCHES THAT HAVE HITHERTO BEEN IN THE WORLD." (T. C. R. 772-790.)
two Essentials of the New Church 1890

two Essentials of the New Church              1890

     The two Essentials of the New Church: 1. acknowledgment of the Lord, that He is the God of Heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine. 2. A life according to the precepts of the Decalogue.- A. R. 490, 903.
INSTRUCTION BY LAYMEN 1890

INSTRUCTION BY LAYMEN              1890

     Is it wrong, according to the Doctrines of the New Church, for a layman to write letters of a missionary character to friends, to meet their objections by argument, and to answer questions propounded by them? Would this come under the head of teaching truths, or that which the Canadian colporteur was cautioned not to do? (See March Life)"
     Both these questions, asked by a correspondent, must be answered in the negative. The instruction which, in his private capacity, every man should give to his neighbor is quite a different thing from the instruction given by an official of a Church, like a colporteur. The colporteur is chosen for the use he performs, because he has a great love for the LORD'S Revelation, and for bringing it to the knowledge of others, and because he is fitted for doing this work by distributing books. But he has not been prepared, either by training or otherwise, to assume the functions of teaching minister.
     By corresponding and conversing with friends about the New Church and her Heavenly Doctrine, and especially about his own experience in relation to them, a man "insinuates good," for good comes through truth I known, understood, acknowledged, and lived. From his own joy at having found the pearl of great price, he cannot but communicate his joy to his kinsmen and friends, so that they may rejoice with him. His table has been laden with the choicest of viands, how can he do otherwise than invite guests to share them with him? Yet he does not inter into the business of selling jewels in the one case, nor of selling bread and wine in the other. He leaves the trading in such things to the respective merchants.
two Essentials of the New Church are contrary 1890

two Essentials of the New Church are contrary              1890

     The two Essentials of the New Church are contrary to the two essentials of the Old Church.- A. R. 509.
FEMALE EDUCATION 1890

FEMALE EDUCATION       F       1890

To THE EDITOR OF THE "NEW CHURCH LIFE:"
     IN the Life for March I read the article on the methods of teaching in the Academy schools, and was much interested in what was said about the religious instruction. I would like to ask some questions about our education for this world. We are put here by the LORD to prepare for heaven, to love Him, and perform our use to the neighbor. Many New-Church girls have to earn their own living. In many cases they have to help parents-or younger brothers and sisters. How is the. New Church going to prepare them for this work? What is it going to say is the work for them? There are many things they can do, such as working in families as servants, nursing, etc., which will come under the heads of women's work, as some Newchurchmen understand it.
     Many New-Church girls are working in offices and teaching the higher studies in schools of the Old and New Church; they are compelled to do it to perform their use to the neighbor in taking care of those dependant upon them. They cannot earn enough any other way to support them.

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     Are they leading lives contrary to the teachings of the New Church?
     A Newchurchman was once asked why a woman should not receive a good education more than was needed for her daily domestic duties, so that if she should be left with small children, she could teach them herself, as it was thought much better for her to do it than to put them in public schools. Or, suppose she were left with no means to support them, she could keep her home and children much better if she had an education to earn the money to do it. His reply was: "Those are accidental cases, and the LORD does not mean should be provided for."
     Is it right to leave out of our New-Church schools common English studies, saying they are no use to the pupil? I have known that to be done, and when a boy began his work in the world the things he needed most to know were the simple rules of English grammar, the study of which was thought to be of no use, because it had been taught, as one might say, "to death" in Old Church schools.     F.

     ANSWER.

     A MAN cannot resist evils to which he is not tempted, neither can he provide against accidents that are not imminent. It would seem in either case that it would be well for man to know beforehand, in order that he might keep his impulses always under ward, and that he might ever go out of the way of danger. But when the man of the Church looks into the teaching of the LORD Concerning the dispensations of His Providence, it may easily be seen that foreknowledge on the part of man would be contrary to order, for "it is a law of the Divine Providence that a man should act from liberty according to reason," and

"Since a foreknowledge of the future would take away the human itself, which is to act from liberty according to reason; therefore it is given to no one to know the future. . . The desire of foreknowing the future is connate with most people, but this desire derives its origin from the love of evil, wherefore it is taken away from those who believe in the Divine Providence, and there is given to them a confidence that the LORD will dispose their lot, and thereafter they do not desire to know it, lest they should in any way oppose themselves to the Divine Providence" (D. P. 71 and 179).

     With the above, ideas in view, it must be seen that a school of the New Church cannot, if faithful to the teachings of the Church, undertake to prepare, in matters of education, for possible emergencies in the lives of either men or women, and therefore cannot undertake to prepare girls for any sphere of life outside of the one that evidently belongs to them, namely, that of domestic uses, and the uses of teaching children and girls in New-Church schools and families, which uses belong to their sphere, as clearly laid down in the Writings for the Church. (See C. L. 174 and 175.)
     In the case of the "many New-Church girls who are working in offices," etc., it must be said that the work described is not of the class said in the Writings to be duties proper to women. It cannot, however, be said in any given case, that the girl is doing wrong. The thing in itself may be disorderly, but with the girl in question it may, in the Divine Providence, be allowed as the best than she can do under the circumstances. It does not follow that a New-Church school should make a special provision for such a case in its work of education.
     The answer of the Newchurchman to the question, "Why a woman should not receive a good education more than is needed for her daily domestic duties, so that if she should be left with small children she could teach them herself," if it contains what it appears to, can hardly be considered a wise one, for it appears to acquiesce to the idea implied in the question, that domestic duties are limited to housekeeping and the physical care of children. One of the principal of woman's domestic duties is that of educating children (C. L. 176)-small children of both sexes, and girls up to the marriageable age. An education for woman's "domestic duties" includes all that is refined, chaste, and beautiful that it would be possible for a woman to acquire. To have an education that will make a woman a good cook or housekeeper is not what is meant by an education suited to domestic uses, though that is, indeed, an important feature, and no woman, of high or low station, ought to be without it.
     Let New-Church schools prepare girls, and let the girls prepare themselves for the end for which the LORD designed them, namely, to be wives and mothers, and to lead a life of domestic uses; and let the schools and the girls have "confidence that the LORD will dispose their lot," and then, no matter whether the way be beset by thorns or strewn with roses, it will be for the best, and for the eternal happiness of each. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Justice, and all these things shalt be added unto you" (Matt. vi, 33).
     In answer to this question, "Is it right to leave out of New-Church schools common English studies," it must be said: Most certainly not; for communication to man is in his own tongue, and he should know it as fully as possible, in order that he may understand clearly what is communicated to him. On the part of those whose profession is communication-that is, teaching-this duty is double, for they should know their own language well in order that they may first understand, and afterward communicate clearly.
     A true New-Church education regards heaven and the world, and aims to fit the child for both. To omit those sciences which are necessary for life in the world would be as foolish as to endeavor to live on spiritual nourishment to the exclusion of material food. But the spiritual must rule, and instruction in worldly knowledges must conform to it.
New Heaven should be formed 1890

New Heaven should be formed              1890

     It is according to Divine Order that a New Heaven should be formed, before a New Church on earth.- T. C. R. 784.
CAMBRIDGE, A CENTRE OF ARIANISM 1890

CAMBRIDGE, A CENTRE OF ARIANISM              1890

     THE New Jerusalem Magazine, commenting upon sundry criticisms on the removal of the Convention Theological School to the Arian influences in the city of Cambridge, sarcastically remarks that "it would be much easier for a stranger than for one somewhat acquainted with the city of Cambridge, and with Harvard University, to tell what is the religious complexion of either." How strangely difficult it is to "see ourselves as others see us," or to be able to judge correctly of the general character of a community while under the influence of its sphere! Of this the Magazine furnishes an example, when, denying the charges that the preponderating influence in Cambridge is Arian, it produces as argument the fact that while there are twenty-eight Evangelical and Roman churches in the city, there are but four Unitarian and three Universalist churches.

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This is a large proportion of Arian churches for a city of the size of Cambridge. As to Harvard University, the Magazine reports that the President is a Unitarian, that the Dean of the Divinity School is a' Unitarian, and that there are six preachers connected with the University, two of whom are Unitarians. This, again, is a very large proportion of Arians for one University, and proves that the preponderating influences there are Arian.
All things of the New Church 1890

All things of the New Church              1890

     All things of the New Church will be from the good of love.- A. R. 907.
"WHAT COMMUNITY BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW." 1890

"WHAT COMMUNITY BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW."       G. N. SMITH       1890

     The New Church in the world seems to be losing sight of the LORD'S warning that it is not of the world, but, that "He has chosen it out of the world." It is coming to feel that it is exercising true charity to lose sight of this truth; and to make itself one with the world, one in sympathies, principles, measures, and ends. But can it possibly do this without self loss, and loss of its mission in the world? This is a serious question, and needs a serious, true, and faithful answer. The New Church ought to hold dear that which the LORD and heaven hold dear, the salvation of men from the evils and falsities into which the "Consummation of the Age" has plunged them. But it must remember that this means precisely what it says-saving from them, not in them; and that by a power that is not in them, but from the LORD'S truth; that the world's own evils and falsities will not save it from themselves. Its falsities will not save it from its evils, for they are from them and favor them. Its evils will not save it from its falsities; they have begotten them and love them too well to give them up.
     "Experience teaches this: for evils are delights because they are loves, and no one wishes to recede from delights, unless he looks to the life after death, and first to hell, to see what it is, and afterward to heaven, what that is, and thinks of them aside from any evil act. If he looks to the LORD also, and thinks what is the temporal in comparison with the eternal, is it not as nothing? he can then reflect upon his evils, and wish to know them, and to recede from them. But if he had confirmed himself in faith alone he will say in his heart 'Our theological faith-that God the Father has mercy for the sake of the Son who suffered for our sins, if I supplicate this with some confidence-effects all things, he does not reflect upon any evil in himself; he also says with himself from that faith, that evil does not condemn, and that salvation is pure mercy, besides other similar things; he thus remains fixed in his evils, and delights himself in them, even to the end of life" (A. R. 710).
     Here we find the reason that it "ought to be well known that man desiring to repent ought to look to the LORD alone; if to God the Father alone he cannot be purified; nor if to the Father for the sake of the Son, neither if to the Son as a man only" (D. P. 122). "Hence, then it is evident that the spiritual sense of the Word was to be revealed for a New Church which will acknowledge and worship the LORD alone, hold His Word sacred, love divine truths, and reject faith separate from charity" (n. 264). "Wherefore, unless the LORD comes again into the world in Divine truth which is the Word, no one can be saved" (T. C. R. 3).
     Now, how can we, how dare we, forget these plain, startling statements, which show us that there is no power in the old world to save it from itself, but that the LORD alone can save it by the truths which He has revealed to the New Church concerning Himself and the life which saves? Hence, that we cannot rightly think for a moment of doing anything for the world's salvation by leaving behind these Truths, and going down to make common cause with the world's false and non-saving principles and measures; that it is dangerous to do so.
     In this very vital sense, our "community" is with heaven, and not at all with the world; it is with the truths of heaven, and the good that these when seen and obeyed will bring; it is to work with these in the world and for the world, and not with it; to save it with these from itself, and not in and by anything that it has in itself. In this very essential sense it is a most vital truth "that the faith of the New Church can in no wise be at one with the former faith-that is, of the Church of to-flay; the reason is, because, not in one-third, and indeed not in one-tenth part do they agree. These two are not able to be [non possunt esse] in one city, still less in one house, thus not in one mind together [simul]" (B. E. 103). The sense is clear and vitally important. However externally or bodily we may perforce dwell in the same city, etc., doctrinally it ii impossible for things to be "together" that are so diverse. However, we may, nay must, hold dear that which heaven holds dear-the salvation of men-doctrinally we must not hold any community with the "evils and falsities of the Church which are to be shunned and held in aversion" (A. R. 932).
     Do these teachings, which are thus far clear, indisputable, and very essential, go further in making clearer the questions now raised concerning the "community" of the New Church with the practical work of the Old? Do they show clearly our duty to co-operate practically with its work? Do they show clearly that we ought to expect, as so many seem to do, that, not the principles of the New Church, but those of the Old are to give the practical solution of the problems of life? If the New Church principles are `the only true and saving ones for the world, is it reasonable or unreasonable to suppose that they will be able to carry their saving power into ultimates, and give the world the true solution of its problems of life. If the old are false and deadly, is it reasonable or unreasonable to look to them for true and saving, working, practical results, and true solutions of life's problems? To ask these questions is to answer them. It would seem a very strange non sequitur to assume beforehand that because a thing originated with the Old Church world it must therefore be sure to be practically right and true. And yet such must be the assumption, that not from the New Church, but the Old are we to look for the practical solution of life's questions. It is too suggestive of "Gathering grapes of thorns and figs of thistles" to be by any possibility true.
     Sometimes, when the proposition is put in this light, the auditor, unable to deny its truth, will shift his ground to the assumption that these must be New Church ones in disguise, because the Old are dead. Are they? At least they are pretty lively things for dead ones. They are dead as saving truths, but quite alive as deadly falsities. In many Churches there is a book professing to represent the modern Gospel, and hence called "Gospel Hymns." No. 57, "consolidated edition," reads-

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     "Jehovah bade His sword awake,
          It woke, O Christ! 'gainst Thee,
     Thy blood its flowing blade must stake,
          Thy heart its sheath must be,
     All for my sake, my peace to make
          Now sleeps that sword for me."

     And so on, not only a whole hymn in this strain, but many. They are its whole burden and theme. All modern gospel; and as such religiously sung.
      Take up a late text-book of the largest denomination in the land, and read, "Works are to be utterly excluded from the matter of salvation." Faith alone is all. Here we have a "practical solution." It needs more imagination, however, than most of us have, to see any disguised New Church in it.
     Or take this expression of the orthodox deacon in New England, lately: "Christ has my heart, I cannot get it away from Him do what I will." They do not seem to differ much from Luther's "practical" one which put the finishing touch to the "consummation:" "Murder and fornication a million times a day will not separate from Christ him that has faith." How much disguised New Church truth can there be in practical solutions originating in Church organizations whose leaders are committed to such utterances as these? That there are in these organizations men, thousands of them, who do not believe them does not affect the present question. Among them are those whom the doctrines call "the few who are not known" (A. C. 3479); and of course are not allowed a controlling voice among the powers that be, and that have invented and committed the Church to these so-called "practical solutions." And therefore must we co-operate with them, and commit the New Church to them? Look a little more interiorly than the surface-show! unmask them! They are offered for ills that are directly the result of those very falsities that consummated the Church, by putting faith instead of life, and that led men to trust in faith to save them, "do what they would," and only for the ills; not the evils. They are an attempt to carry out the old faith alone scheme, contrived to escape the punishment rather than the sin.
     You do not believe it. Let us see. Take the proposed solution of the capital and labor question. First look at the evil that calls for them. It is a greed that has grown and become intensified through the ages that believed it no sin, if sanctified by faith, until now its consequences have become too ill to be endured, its "punishment greater than we can bear." And now it is proposed to do-what-abolish the faith alone that sanctified it and made it no sin? to bring in the New Church faith that embraces charity by which it-maybe shunned as a sin, overcome and cured? No, but to seek to escape the grievous punishment of its grinding oppression by class laws against capitalists-anti-monopoly laws-laws that seek to tax out of existence those that join field to field that they may be alone in the midst of the earth. And we are to take all these up and advocate them as New Church principles of order!! But they are all; evils, ills and remedy, Old Church in principle, in aim, and in effect. The New Church may be compelled to tolerate them as a mitigation of a punishment of unforsaken evils. That is all. What the New Church will bring, when its power can he made effectual for the salvation of men, will be the cure of the evils themselves-the self-love and love of the world that the old doctrine has fostered, and has not even tried to check the cure of these by its practical teaching and enforcement of the laws of love to the LORD and charity to the neighbor. Then it will abolish not only the evils, but the arbitrary class laws that they have called forth, because, among men who love the LORD and their neighbor such laws will he neither needed nor just.
     Take the proposed solutions of the woman question. Look at the evils that call for them. Say, man's tyranny over woman's weakness. Why are men tyrants over woman's weakness? From the same self-love that we saw operating under our first example; and that leads any stronger devil to tyrannize over his slave;, and intensified as that was by ages of the same falsification of the truth. And what is proposed as the remedy? The correction of the tyrannous self-love by the inculcation of the principles of "love truly [truthly] conjugial," that would render the evil as impossible as for the left hand to enslave and abuse the right? No, but only an attempt at an escape from the grievous punishment of the contemning of that love by creating certain arbitrary and unnatural separate rights of women from men, which only make so much more impossible than ever the "conjugial unition " (C. L. 52), for which He created them who "in the beginning made them male and female, and said . . . What God hath joined together let no man put asunder." All these things-evils, ills, and remedies-are so completely Old Church things-so far from New Church things, that the New Church cannot come in where there is left a vestige of them, or a trace of that separation of man's and woman's interest, or of the foisting of one into a single separate existence in the other's sphere and use. Their life interests, functions, uses, and duties must become "distinctly one"-distinct but conjunctive (C. L. 176), or there can be no New Church. To talk about raising woman to her true nobility and dignity under any other order is to utter a libel on His work who said, "Let no man put them asunder." The New Church may be compelled to tolerate the proposed mitigation of the punishment that is inevitable while men remain brutes, but accept and co-operate with it,-never: only sweep the whole unhuman (see C. L. 52) thing out of existence as soon as possible before the gentle, lovely, humanizing reign of her "love truly conjugial," her purest, sweetest gilt as the bride of her LORD in this His New Advent.
     Take the proposed solutions of the drink plague. Look at the evils that call for them. "Insanities from adulteration of truth" (A. C. 1072), or from "truths of the Church falsified" (n. 9960, comp. n. 8349 and 7318). Of all of these, faith alone is the principal (n. 8087). It is the one pet idol of the Christian world. It is not a heathen evil whose errors are "Truths adjoined to fallacies" (n. 6971). It is peculiarly an Old Church evil to delight in drunken insanity. And it is carried by that Church to all the heathen world as an inseparable accompaniment of its presence there.
     They themselves confess this (see National Temperance Advocate), but do not see the reason. The New Church reveals it. What is the proposed relief? an abandonment of the spiritual insanity of faith alone? Not a whit of it. But only to attempt to escape its grievous punishment by making it impossible to carry that insanity into ultimates. This, like the rest; evil, ill, and remedy, is an Old Church thing. The New Church can only tolerate it till it can bring in the better cure in the universal reign of truth and soberness. But, meanwhile, what obligation has a Newchurchman to imitate the life of one who, "if he were not detained from the love of women, and also from intoxicating drink so as to have drunk simply water, would have so fallen" (S. D. 3177) as to have become a thing most vile? I have yet to see any good reason for consorting one who believes in the LORD (see T. C. R. 2), with such as these. How dare we do it?     

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     "But in charity we cannot plume ourselves on being so much better than our Old Church neighbors and hold ourselves exclusive and aloof from them." This is most true. We are hereditarily all Old Church together and of ourselves not one whit better. But neither we nor our children would ever be anything else, but for these precious saving truths that the LORD has given us in His Second Coding. It is the more reason that we should "love these divine truths," and "shun and hold in aversion" the evils and falsities from which these alone can save us. It is because we have not been enough in the love of our Divine truths, that we have not suffered them to lift us more out of the world, and that our children have, so many hundreds of them, following the law of "Atavism," gone back to the state of their forefathers.
     G. N. SMITH.
internal must be formed before the external 1890

internal must be formed before the external              1890

     The internal must be formed before the external, and afterward the external from the internal.- T. C. R. 784.
EXPERIENCE WITH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 1890

EXPERIENCE WITH CHRISTIAN SCIENCE              1890

     THE following letter, being the confidential narrative of one friend to another, is such an instructive commentary on Christian Science, that, with the permission of the writer, it is herewith presented to the readers of the Life.

My Very Dear Friend
     I owe you many thanks for your letter of the 27th ult., and acknowledged it's receipt in a hasty note a few days since. . . I would now supplement what you have said, by a leaf out of the book of my own personal experiences. I hope you may never have any like them. I am much interested in the article on "Christian Science" in the Life of July, 1888, to which you referred me. I suppose you know the author, so ask him to excuse the liberty I take in thanking him for the straightforward way in which he puts the subject before one. I wish I had remembered about this article as it might, under the LORD, have saved me no small trouble But in July, 1888, I had not the slightest idea of how personal this subject might become; in fact, I knew nothing about it, so was ignorant how damnable it was. Now have you time or patience to listen to my own experiences in this? I know how busy you are, and how illy you can take the time to listen to what looks so conceitedly autobiographical, but, vain though it may seem, I think what I have to say may interest you, to say I nothing of the confirmation of New Church truth.
     I believe I told you of a lecturer and "healer" who has been in for some time. She is a Mrs. ---, and at the outset I must say I think her a sincere and true woman. She may be called illiterate, and mixes up matters which have no connection, that I can trace, with each other, still I feel sure she really believes all she says, and has nothing of the charlatan about her. And certainly she has wrought some wonderful; cures verging on the miraculous (you understand I use the pronoun "she" without at all believing that she in her own inherent and sole personality has effected these wonderful cases of healing, but as implying that the visible agency is of herself alone). Then she disclaims all connection with Mrs. Eddy, or "Christian Scientists" of that style; and is devout and reverential in all she says and does. I say all this not as espousing her cause, but as an act of justice to her character. And now for my connection with the matter.
     Of late years I have been troubled with two bodily disagreeabilities. One is a dullness of hearing, that can hardly be called deafness which runs in my father's side of the house, while from say mother inherit a rheumatic tendency that sometimes almost cripples me. I have taken medical advice of high authority as to my case in both of these particulars, and the concurrent opinion of all those I have consulted is that nothing can be done, and all the aid they can offer me will not cure me, but be only palliatives. Some of my friends who are great believers in the mind-cure have been for some time insisting on my trying this wonderful occult remedy, and telling me that I would not have all this pain in my left ankle, and could avoid my constant repetition of "what did you say?" if I would only consult Mrs. ---, and believe that these troubles of mine would disappear would I only think I did not have them. Was there ever as absurd a proposition? There is no evil, there is no pain, and you only think you are hurt when really there is nothing the matter with you. What stuff and nonsense all this, and how unchristian is this Christian Science which has to borrow the "maya" doctrine which says all is delusion, and that nothing is but nothing. It was no use to talk with my friends; oh l no. I was faithless, I did not believe in the LORD'S omnipotence, it was sinful in me to say "I cannot," and so on, and then winding up with "well, it would not hurt you anyhow, so you might as well try it, and see for yourself?" "But," said I, "I have not a particle of faith in it; I believe that nothing can heal sickness, spiritual, mental, or bodily, but an influx from the LORD, and that must of necessity, so far as the body is concerned, come through a natural medium or vehicle." It was all of no use, and I agreed to take "the treatment," as its believers call it.
     Now, my dear friend, I trust you know enough of me to believe without my telling it, that I would not venture on such an experiment without seeking counsel from the LORD. Nay more, I never had such a consciousness of the sole ability of the LORD, of my own utter weakness, of my entire dependence on Him for everything. I told Him all I thought about it, and asked Him to lead me in away which He would approve, and it was in a thorough reliance on Him, and this too in the clearest confidence in His wisdom and love that I tested this new method in my own person. Let me say it as in His sight; I never felt so conscious of His ability, and of my own inherent inability as then; and if I erred, I pray you to recognize my sincerity, and think that I did it ignorantly.
     It was a very simple matter. I went to the house where Mrs. --- was to deliver a lecture to her class in the new mode of healing, last Tuesday afternoon, and before her audience had assembled she took me into an adjoining room, and, requesting me to close my eyes and collect my thoughts. She sat near me, but without touching me, shading her own eyes, and keeping perfectly still. I understand that all she does is to fix her thoughts on the disease or infirmity, and imagine, or perhaps order, its non-existence. I also should say that she had previously asked me if my troubles were hereditary or acquired, and that I told her that as far as I knew I had the one from my father, and the other from my mother. I think she was meditative for some two minutes and then rising went into her, lecture, which she opened by reading the second and third chapters of Genesis. I ought to have said that she had asked me to tell her the meanings of the four rivers of the garden of Eden, which I did in writing, being very careful to add to the meanings given in the lexicons their spiritual sense as detailed in the Arcana.

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By the way, was there ever a more beautiful and philosophical explanation of the nature of the celestial man than the spiritual sense of this Eden and the river thereof dividing into its four heads. And yet how painfully the lecturer misunderstood it all, and how this wonderful sequence of the Wisdom coming from the Divine Love down into the ultimates of science was made mere nonsense. But what else was to be expected, and do not all these Christian Science writers write balderdash of the most sickening kind when they try to Swedenborgianize their new Materia Medica? One would think they would see the glaring absurdity of this admixture of the gold of the land of Havilah, that gold which is very good, with the clay of Babel and the slime pits of Sodom. Swedenborg the Boodhist! Swedenborg the mind-curer! light and darkness! heaven and hell! GOD FORBID!
     And now for the outcome of all this. As I said, I submitted to it without any expectation of a favorable result, but with a sincere trust in the LORD that He would overrule all for good. I do not know that I ever I so earnestly kept my thoughts fixed on the LORD, or so sincerely sought His blessing and His pardon if in this matter I was doing wrong. I need not say that I experienced no benefit whatever, but this I can say-and pray believe me here-I never in my life suffered such an aggregation of discomfort in body mind, AND SPIRIT as I have done ever since. Just now I am not tracing any relation of cause and effect, but only this, that after I had undergone the "treatment," I have been tormented in every way. The experiment was made last Tuesday, just six days since, and I do not want to spend such another week. My ears have seemed duller than ever, and my rheumatism, or gout, or neuralgia more painful than ever, and attended with great aching in the back, so that I have been lying down as much as I could. Then my mind has corresponded to my body; I seemed to have lost all the little acumen I had. . . All this was bad enough, but the worst was to come. It was distressing to find I could not write a letter without a painful mental concentration which was wearisome in the extreme, but how infinitely worse to find hell all around me, and in me. I don't think I could ever represent my condition. I could not pray nor think of spiritual things; heaven and the LORD seemed far away from me; I was cross, without faith, and all was dark, and hopelessly so. Then the imps ran riot in my soul; floods of awful hellish lusts would empty themselves into my consciousness till I seemed to grow wild from sheer disgust with myself. Oh! it was horrible, even the recollection of it frightens me.
     How much more I have to say, but I must forbear. Enough of the science which is not Christian, and of a Christianity (?) which is not scientific. My head begins to trouble me, and I must go off on one of my tramps if I can, to get the cobwebs out of my brain. To paraphrase the old song:

     "You may break, you may shatter, the lie as you will
     But the trail of the serpent will hang round it still."
     *     *     *     *     *     *
What the Christian world at this day is like 1890

What the Christian world at this day is like              1890

     What the Christian world at this day is like, appeared from . . . spirits from it, who at the mere thought concerning spiritual good and truth were not only affected with sadness but also from aversion were seized with loathing.- A. C. 5007.
MYTHOLOGY 1890

MYTHOLOGY              1890

     IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     VII.

     MYTHOLOGY OF ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA.

     The Principal Deities. (Continued.)

     RAMMANU. (Vul, Iva, Rimmon, [Hebrew], 2 Kings v, 18.)

     As the Divine Good, or the Father, was evidently represented by Ea, and the Divine Truth, or the Son, by Bel, Merodach, and Nergal, so the Third Divine Essential, the Holy Spirit or the Proceeding Divine, seems to have been represented originally by a deity, called Rammanu, the Hebrew "Rimmon," who is spoken of in 2 Kings, v, 18, as the false god to whom Naaman's master, the King of Syria, bowed himself. This divinity, whose cuneiform signs have also been rendered Vul or Iva, was the god of the atmosphere, of air, wind, the sky, rain, thunder, and lightning. If Vul and Iva also be real names of his, we may, perhaps, find in them the origin of the name of Vulcan, the Roman maker of the thunderbolt, or of Jupiter (Iva-pater), who wielded it. The titles of Rammauu are "The prince of the powers of the air," "The lord of the whirlwind and the tempest," "The wielder of the thunderbolt," "The god in whose hand is a flaming sword," "the giver of rain and abundance." He is always represented in a strongly positive character, as the active or operating principle in nature.
     Atmospheres, in the spiritual world, represent the Divine proceeding from the LORD is the spiritual sun (D. L. W. 296, 299; A. E. 694). "Wind," also represented the Holy Spirit, the Divine Good, united with the Divine Truth, proceeding from the LORD (A. E. 419).
     Rammanu, therefore, the god of the atmosphere and the wind, represents the Proceeding Divine, carrying with it rain and abundance, influx and blessings from Heaven to the good, but thunder and lightning, terror and judgment to the evil. He is represented as a figure standing on a calf, and holding in his hand a thunderbolt. With this may be compared the Scandinavian Thor, drawn in his chariot by bucks and striking with his hammer at the giants.

     NEBO. [Hebrew] Isa. xlvi, 1.

     THE name of Nebo is from the Hebrew root [Hebrew] (nabha'), to rise or bubble forth, hence to speak from inspiration, to reveal or prophesy, whence, in Hebrew, the word "prophet" is [Hebrew] (nabhi'). In the Assyrian, also, nabu is "to speak" and Nebo is called "the God of the writing stylus," "the writer of all." It may not, therefore, be far from wrong to suppose that Nebo represented the Word or Revelation from the Divine. He is said to be a son of Ea, signifying the Word proceeding from JEHOVAH. He is the Divine Messenger who is sent forth from Ea with messages to gods and men. Like Hermes of the Greeks, he was the scribe of the gods, the "Lord of constellations," "the god of learning," "the divine teacher," "the protector of sciences, arts, and literature." His symbol is, like that of Ea, the single Cuneus, and he is found represented in most instances as a man with his hands crossed, standing in a quiet, dignified attitude, as if listening to inspiration from within. Under the later kings of Babylonia, Nebo was a very popular divinity, and his name is frequently found in composition with royal names, such as Nabonid, Nabopolassar and Nebukadnezzar or "Nabukudduriusur," "Nebo, protect the Crown!"

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     ANU

     ANU is a deity, who in most of the Assyrian lists of gods is put before all the other divinities, but, on account of the signification of his name and his other attributes, it would seem that he is simply a representation of heaven as a Gorand Man, which idea afterward, as with the Egyptians, resulted in the worship of heaven as an individual deity.
     Anu, in the original Akkadian, simply means "heaven," from the old root "anum," to be high. His sign is the simple star, which, again, as in the Egyptian, stands for heaven. His titles are, "the old arm," "the original chief," "the king of the nether (or other) world," "the ruler of the far-off city," by which terms are meant the spiritual world. He is called also "the Prince of the Igigi and the Anunaki," or the spirits of the upper and lower regions of the spiritual world. His chief seat was in Erech, or Warka, which hence became the favorite Babylonian burying-place, the nekropolis, or city of the dead. `His female consort was called Anuta, and, possibly, the two represented the two kingdoms of heaven, the Celestial and the Spiritual.

     SIN.

     THE representative of Faith and the good of faith seems to have been called by the name Sin. His name probably comes from the same root as our "to shine," and he stands, generally, for the moon-god. In Assyrian mythology Sin is always placed before Shamash, the sun-god, according to the nature of the merely rational mind, which always places the spiritual before the celestial, or truth before good. He is said to be the eldest son of Bel-i. e., faith formed from Divine Truth. His titles were "the bright," "the shining," "the lord of months." He presided over astrology and astronomy, and also over bricks and buildings, which signify the doctrinals of faith.
     Faith, with the ancients, did not, however, originally mean faith alone, but also the love of the spiritual man, charity or love to the neighbor. Hence, also, Sin is called "the god of brotherly love," and is represented as a man with an open palm, standing in the crescent moon, and having on his head a cap of three degrees, with a moon on top. This would seem to represent Truth, descending through the heavens to man, where it becomes Faith, and manifests itself in good works. The name of Sin is often found in Assyrian royal names, as in Sennacherib, which means "Sin multiplies brethren." Faith and mutual love always do this.

     SHAMASH. (Skemesh. Hebrew [Hebrew]=the Sun.)

     SHAMASH, the sun-god, is said to be the son of Sin. By the sun is signified the LORD as to the celestial, even as the moon signifies the LORD as to the spiritual (A. C. 1053, 10,130-10,809). Hence Shamash represents the love of the celestial, which is Love to the LORD (A. C. 4060). Though considered by the Assyrians as inferior to Sin he is still a universal object of worship. His emblem is the four-rayed orb, and his titles are, "lord of fire," "the light of the gods," "the ruler of the day," etc. As the god of the south or midday-sun he was worshiped under the name Adar, the name of whom is found in (Adramelech), whose worship was introduced into Samaria by the Sepharoites.

     ASSUR.

     ASSUUR is the especial deity of the Assyrians, "the great god," from whom the whole country and the ancient capital received their names. He is always placed at the head of all Assyrian invocations, and is the especial tutelary deity of the kings. He it is that places them on their throne; he preserves their lives and gives them victory in the expeditions, which all are begun "ina tukulti Assur u Ishtar," "by the assistance of Assur and Ishtar." The whole Assyrian religion is simply "the worship of Asshur." The Assyrians are merely "the servants of Asshur" and their enemies "the enemies of Asshur." His name means simply "the good one," from the Assyrian verb "asaru, or the Hebrew [Hebrew] (Iasher), to be good," and he signifies, spiritually, the general principle of the Assyrians, the Rational, thus, in the supreme sense, the Divine Rational of the LORD. His only emblem is the winged circle, within which is seen a man in a horned cap, sometimes holding a bow. The circle represents the Divine Truth, or the sphere of the Divine God, proceeding from the LORD (A. C. 9407, 10188); Wings signify the powers of spiritual truths from good; an archer signifies the man of the spiritual Church (A. C. 2686); a bow, doctrine of truth; arrows the doctrinals of truth (A. C. 2709), and horns, power.

     ISHTAR.

     INTIMATELY connected with Asshur stands the goddess Ishtar, in Babylonia called Nanaa. She is the goddess of Conjugial Love and the daughter of Ann or heaven. Her name is also from Asaru, to be good, and her titles are "mistress of heaven and earth," "the queen of all the gods," "the great mother of mankind," "she who makes mankind rejoice." In later times she became also "the queen of victory," "the lady of the sword." Though originally representing Conjugial Love, pure and heaven-born, her worship in later times became identified with the deepest perversions of Conjugial Love, similarly as the worship of Ashtoreth of Canaan.
     She is sometimes depicted as standing on a lion and at other times as holding in her arms a babe, representing the virgin, or the Church to which the LORD would come in the Human.

     NIN. (Ninip.)

     Thu, the human-beaded, winged hull, is found everywhere at the gates of the royal palaces, together with Nergal. He is, in general, the god of ultimate, physical-strength, "the great warrior," "the Lord of the brave," "the protector of the hunt." A bull, or a bullock, signifies natural good, and in the supreme sense, the LORD'S Divine Natural, the Ultimate, in which resides or is contained all the Divine Power. Nin is also represented as a man, whose head and back is covered by the head and body of a fish. As a fish represents natural truths and scientifics, it appears that Nin, therefore, represents natural good and natural truth in the complex.
New Church 1890

New Church              1890

     The New Church will make its beginning with few.- A. E. 732.     
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     A FOURTEEN-PAGE tract on the Certainty of the Future Life has been published by the Rev. Chas. H. Mann.

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     THE Rev. C. J. N. Manby's excellent Swedish missionary tracts, "Who was Emanuel Swedenborg?" and "What does the New Church Teach?" have recently been published in the Danish language.



     THE New-Church International Leaflet Association, of Bolton, England, has published leaflets in the Welsh, Danish, and Swedish tongues It is also intended to have doctrinal leaflets translated into the languages of the East Indies, China, and Japan. The Association has also a branch in Australia.



     THE Boston Highlands Society, of which the Rev. Julian K. Smyth is the Pastor, has issued a very stylish Manual. The large cross which adorns the back of it does not impress one as a distinctive symbol of the LORD'S New Church. Would not a crown seem a more suitable symbol of "the crown of all Churches?"



     THE thirty-fifth number of the Concordance has been published, and brings, as usual, additional light upon many important subjects. The entries under" Fallacy," "Falsity," "Father," "Fear," and "Female" are of great doctrinal interest. A study of the entries under "Feasts" will prove of value in the cultivation of New-Church social life. The excerpta under "Fermentation" are, in themselves, enough to convince all open-minded readers that fermented wine is the only liquid permissible at the LORD'S table.



     WHEN reading the Scriptures, have you ever exclaimed: "I wish I knew what explanation the Writings give of this passage?" If so, you probably were not aware that you could have your wish gratified. There is an index of the passages from the Word quoted in the Writings, by means of which you can at once refer to any Scripture passage quoted and explained in the Writings. So numerous are the quotations that the Index, a book merely of letters and numbers, occupies about 400 pages. Speak or write for it to the Academy Book Room, 1821 Wallace Street.



     Woman and Health is "A Mother's Hygenic Hand-Book" recently published by M. Augusta Fairchild, M. D., a New Church lady of Quincy, Ill. This is a work of 302 pages, written in conversational form and giving the authoress's somewhat radical views on Hygiene, Matrimony, Motherhood, and kindred subjects. Vegetarianism and Total Abstinence are among the principles professed. A few extracts from New-Church writers and an occasional mentioning of Swedenborg are the only evidences in the book of acquaintance with the Doctrines of the New Church, unless a perverted presentation of the doctrine of heredity be taken as such. The belief is expressed that children of regenerating parents are born regenerating.



     ANOTHER volume of Sonnet, and Short Poems has been published by Mr. John Bragg, of Birmingham, England. Some of these have been culled from various journals of the Church. There is great lack of distinctively New Church Poetry in the present generation in the Church. In the early days of the Church it was not so. Such old periodicals as the New Jerusalem Magazine of 1890, the Aurora, and the early volumes of the Intellectual Repository contain a great number of poems, which for clear New Church thought, glowing affection or the Doctrines, and poetical beauty withal, greatly surpass what is generally seen in recent New Church periodicals. Is this because "Newchurchmen have left their first love?"



     The Power of Thought in the Production and Cure of Disease, is a paper originally read by Dr. Wm. H. Holcombe, before the American Institute of Homeopathy, and lately published by the Purdy Publishing Company, of Chicago. There are many valuable thoughts and true teachings in this little, work, put forth with the usual vigor and elegance of the author, and numerous illustrations are presented, which will confirm the doctrine that all physical disorders proceed from spiritual causes. While asserting that truth is the great remedy for all such disorders, the author seems to undervalue the uses of the natural means provided by the LORD for the cure of disease. Though carefully worded, the work unmistakably belongs to the "mind-cure" literature.



     LOVERS of sound teachings and true progress will hail with delight the appearance of the thirty-second number of the New Church Monthly, of Colchester, England. First a small manual of one page, then enlarged to two pages, now a handsome, four-pane journal, the Monthly takes its position as a regular periodical of the Church. Judging from the present number, the Monthly promises to perform a great and highly needed use in the Church in great Britain by proclaiming in a fearless manner the Divine Authority of the Doctrines of the LORD in His Second Coming. Of especial note in this number is an article on "The Word in its letter and in its spirit," called forth by a very remarkable expression of the President of the Conference. The price of the Monthly is 15 cents up to June; and thereafter, 50 cents per annum. The editorial address has been changed to 107 Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, W. London. Subscriptions in America are received by the Academy Book Room, 1821 Wallace Street.



     Tubs with Bottoms and Tubs without is the catching title of a recent anonymous work of 345 pages, published in New York as "a rambling letter from a Cooper's apprentice to a Swedenborgian clergyman." The author is dissatisfied with the idealistic manner of thought, generally prevalent in the New Church, and would substitute the habit of "thinking by things," for the "thinking by words." The work treats in a truly "rambling" way of various subjects, such as "Degrees," "Order," "Origin of Matter," "The presence of God in all made substances," etc., besides many chapters on theological, philological, and scientific subjects. The author confesses that he "knows next to nothing at all" about these subjects, and the book rather sustains him in this admission. He has, however, a great deal to say about all topics, and there is a sphere of conceit and striving for originality about the book which render it rather unpleasant reading. One of the conceits of the book is a would-be new presentation of the Doctrine of the Divine Trinity, according to which there are three persons in the Godhead "just as there are three persons in each individual"-i. e., if the soul, body, and operation be each considered a distinct person. This is sheer metaphysical nonsense, contradicted by the oft-repeated statements of the Writings and unworthy of refutation.



     Why I am a New Churchman is the title of the latest work from the pen of the Rev. Chauncey Giles, published in an attractive form by the American New-Church Tract and Publication Society in Philadelphia. The book is written in a lively and interesting style, and is well adapted to draw the attention of inquirers in the Old Church to the general doctrines of the New Church, some of which are here presented very lucidly and convincingly. Especially valuable are the many illustrations and confirmations of the Doctrines; which Mr. Giles so well understands to draw from science and from the experience of human life. Well qualified as this author in many respects is for the great and important use of evangelization, it is a great pity that he does not, in this work, proceed upon the only proper basis on which lasting success can be gained. There are two leading characteristics of the book which are apt to lead the inquiring reader to a very wrong conception of the New Church and the Doctrines given to her. The first is the fallacious old theory, of which this book is an exponent, that the whole world is eagerly seeking the truth and is gradually and unconsciously being permeated with the Doctrines of the New Church by means of an immediate influx from the New Heavens. If this be true, of what use are then the Writings of the New Church? Of what use i& any New Church work of evangelization? It is this pernicious fallacy which has led so great a number of new receivers to remain in connection with the old churches, there to wait for the descent of the supposed immediate influx. The proclamation of such fallacies is nothing less than suicidal to the work of evangelization. The other great fault in the book under notice is the total lack of recognition of the true character of Swedenborg's mission and the real nature of the Writings of the New Church. The description of the nature of Swedenborg's illumination is obscure.

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Not a word is said in the book concerning the Second Coming of the LORD. A great deal is said concerning Swedenborg's personal excellence, learning, and genius, and the reader is left to understand that the Doctrines of the New Church are rational deductions, drawn, "by Divine assistance," by Swedenborg himself. Their Divine character is not shown. The answers which the author gives to the question, "why lain a Newchurchman," cannot, therefore, be satisfactory to those who believe in the Doctrines, simply "because they are true and from the LORD alone." It would have been more expressive of the tenor of the book, had the title been "Why I am a Swedenborgian."
As the New Heaven. . . increases 1890

As the New Heaven. . . increases              1890

     As the New Heaven. . . increases, so the New Jerusalem-that is, the New Church comes down from that Heaven.- T. C. R. 784.
CORRECTION NOTES 1890

CORRECTION NOTES       G. N. SMITH       1890

     Communicated.

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the writers.]

     I NOTICED in a recent New Church journal a very intensely written article taking ground in toto against the death penalty. The arguments were vigorously put, and calculated to be convincing; but whence were they drawn? From the Doctrines of the New Church? Not one of them. You would hardly know from the article that there was such a thing. They were drawn from the writer's own intelligence; professedly so. But what do the Doctrines say on that question? This is what concerns us. Not what this, that, and the other man thinks about it. We can all of us have no end of opinions, but unless they are drawn from the teachings of the LORD they are worthless; all of them alike. Now turn to the Arcana Coelestia, n. 9349, where we are told that things of the literal sense of the Word are of three classes, some of which "are abrogated as to use at this day where the Church is," some of them "may serve for use if people are so disposed," and some of them "ought altogether to be observed and done." Look in the list of passages under the last class. You will find Exodus xxi, 12-14, 15, which teach plainly that the deliberate murderer must die. All our most plausible ratiocination must go for naught before this.
     And he has no right to assume to be a public teacher who misleads those whom he assumes to teach as the way this writer has. I am perhaps more sensitive in this matter because in my early acceptance of the New Church I was misled on this very point. In my unsuspecting confidence I supposed that when a New- churchman affirmed anything as true it was because he had been taught it in the LORD'S Revelations to His Church. It was only after many sad misleadings and mistakes that I was disillusioned on this point. After these years of comparison of our teachers with their teachings, I find three classes: Those who infer a good deal without their doctrines; those who infer a good deal from their doctrines; and those who do neither; but go where they go and stop where they stop-denying or ignoring nothing that is taught, and offering nothing that is not taught.
     To the above instance of the first class I will add another that has just come to my notice. A writer says that "some readers of the Writings have been so unwise as to set up the claim for them that they are the inner sense of the Word and consequently that they are above the Word, yea they have even gone so far as to teach and think that the Writings are the actual coming of the LORD." Readers, indeed I it is the Writings themselves that do this. They say: "The spiritual sense of the Word has been revealed by the LORD, and thereby an interior understanding of the Word has been discovered which is the LORD'S Advent." "That the spiritual sense of the Word has been revealed this day may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, where the two books of Moses Genesis and Exodus, have been explained according to that sense; also in the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, n. 5-26, in the little work on The White Horse, from beginning to end, and in the passages there collected from the Sacred Scriptures; moreover, in the present explanation of the Apocalypse, where not a single verse can be understood without the spiritual sense" (A. R. 820). "Upon all my books in the spiritual world was written, 'The Advent of the LORD.' The same I also inscribed by command on two copies in Holland" (Ecl. Hist. Comp. T. C. R. 779, 781; A. C. 6597; H. D. 7; A. E. 759, 948). If "readers have been so unwise" as to believe these statements, I see no help for them unless they can become self-wise enough to deny them, which seems not very desirable help.
     G. N. SMITH.
What is new cannot enter where falses have been ingenerated 1890

What is new cannot enter where falses have been ingenerated              1890

     What is new cannot enter where falses have been ingenerated, unless these are eradicated, which will be done among the clergy, and thus among the laity.- T. C. R. 784.
DR. BUCKLEY AND SWEDENBORG'S MANUSCRIPTS 1890

DR. BUCKLEY AND SWEDENBORG'S MANUSCRIPTS       ENOCH S. PRICE       1890

EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Dear Sir.-In the Life for March mention was made of the inaccuracy in the Rev. T. F. Wright's letter in the Century Magazine for February, 1890, in which he attempts to rebut Dr. Buckley's charge that Swedenborg was insane, which answer of Mr. Wright was `answered in turn by Dr. Buckley in the same number of the Century, but I see you have taken no notice of what Dr. Buckley said. It may therefore not be improper for me to say something in that line. Dr. Buckley says in the course of his answer, "I have examined some of his [Swedenborg's] original manuscripts in the University of Upsala, which are written in English, and in which he severely criticizes all existing forms of religion." In an article in the New-Church Messenger for February 26th, 1890, the Rev. T. F. Wright quotes from a letter received by him from the Century as follows:

     "Dr. Buckley writes to us: `I visited the University of Upsala in 1884. I was shown the books and manuscripts of Swedenborg by one of the professors of the institution, a man of the highest character. They were written in English, and the professor positively stated to me that they were in Swedenborg's

     This iterated statement by Dr. Buckley that he saw Swedenborg manuscripts written in English is certainly incorrect; for he says he saw them in the University of Upsala in 1884, and the fact is that there have been no Swedenborg manuscripts' of any kind in the University of Upsala later than the year 1870, as at that time the last one was removed, through the efforts of the Rev. Dr. R. L. Tafel, to the Library of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, where all the manuscripts are now kept with the exception of one, which is in the Royal Library. Dr. Buckley therefore could not have seen Swedenborg manuscripts in Upsala in 1884. Again, not one of Swedenborg's manuscripts now known to be in existence is in the English language, nor has mention ever been made by any of the men who are, or have been, familiar with the manuscripts that any such ever existed.

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All Swedenborg's works are in either Swedish or Latin, and it is hard to understand why Dr. Buckley should make a point of stating that those he claims to have seen were in English.
     Not even in Swedenborg's correspondence are there, any well-authenticated letters in English, although he probably wrote letters of a business character in English to his London publishers.*
     * See the Rev. Samuel H. Worcester's preface to Latin reprint of De Nova Hiersolyma.-Editor.
     The following are two notes copied by me, verbatim' at literatim, from the manuscripts in the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm:
     "This paper cout out here is on account to give room for more paper in the box, because it was not wrote upon it a single word."
     "This original book is to Mr. Spences disposition in order to find out the faults in the amanuensis copy, which I intreat Mr. Spence for the sake of truth not to forget before it is printed, in order that truth may be so exactly done as it is possible in this wicked world."
     The first of the above quotations is from Diarium Spirituale, pars sexta, which is Codex 110 in the Royal, Academy of Sciences, and is found at a place where; several leaves have been cut out of the Codex; the second is found on the first page of Codex 111, which is Diarium Spirituale, pars quarta. These notes were probably not written by Swedenborg as he did not publish the Spiritual Diary. These are the only English words I saw in any of the Swedenborg manuscripts, although I went through about one-half of all the Codices preserved in the Royal Academy of Sciences leaf by leaf. Those that were not examined by me were examined by the Rt. Rev. Wm. H., Benade, whom I was assisting to make an estimate of the amount of cost and labor required to photo-lithograph all the manuscripts. No English was found by Bishop Benade. We know, however, that there are one or two quotations from the English Book of common Prayer. Swedenborg's published works, but no works, published, or unpublished, written in English. Admitting that the above specimens were written by Swedenborg, they would prove that he did not have sufficient knowledge of the English language to have written a work therein. Dr. Buckley has made a statement and repeated it; which is believed by all those who are best acquainted with what he talks of to be untrue. It is his duty as a man of honor to come forward with proofs that what he says is true, or retract what he has said, and apologize to the public upon which he has infringed.
     This letter is not written to evade the issue that, as Dr. Buckley charges, Swedenborg "expressly states that 'Arians have no place in Heaven,'" for he has said as much in many places in his published works. Can those who confirm themselves in a damnable heresy find a place in heaven? "And what else was the damnable heresy of Arius than that he denied the Divinity of the Human of the LORD" (T. C. R. 173).
     ENOCH S. PRICE.
CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH OF THE ADVENT 1890

CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH OF THE ADVENT       L. G. JORDAN       1890

     General Church of Pennsylvania.

     CERTAIN changes have lately been made in the above-named Constitution, a knowledge of which may be of interest to the General Church of Pennsylvania.
     First, as to the name. This formerly was "The New Jerusalem Society of the Advent." It has been changed to "Church of the Advent." The designation "Church" was chosen in place of "Society" for doctrinal and other reasons.
     Another change is the dropping out of secular education from the purposes of the Church, on the ground that this use would be performed either by the Academy of the New Church, or in close conjunction with it and not independently.
     Another is the abolition of a distinction between "members of the Society" and "members of the Church in the Society." All are now made full members of the Church and must have been baptized in the New Church.
     A new feature of the Constitution is a requirement that no amendments shall be operative until they shall have been declared by the Bishop of the General Church of Pennsylvania to be not in conflict with the Constitution or principles of the General Church.
     L. G. JORDAN.

     PHILADELPHIA, March 29th, 1890=120.
Word in Hebrew and Greek 1890

Word in Hebrew and Greek              1890

     AFTER repeated efforts, the Academy has succeeded in securing a copy of the Word in Hebrew and Greek, bound according to the New Church canon. To do this it was necessary to have some of the pages of the Hebrew reprinted, and, what was more difficult to obtain, an octavo edition of the Greek Testament according to the Textus Receptus, this being authenticated by the quotations in the Writings.
     A fine edition has been secured, giving critical marginal readings. The Testaments are so bound as to bring the beginning of both face to face. The "first" being thus the "inmost" of the volume. They are superbly bound in one volume, in scarlet morocco, tooled back and edges, and are to be had at the book room for $9.00. Title on back in Hebrew ("Word of JEHOVAH") and in Greek ("The Word of God").
     In view of the teaching concerning the power of the Word in its own ultimates, the use of such a copy of the Word for the repository and the altar of every Society will surely commend itself to their attention.
     The books of the Bible excluded from the Word thus bound, such as Job, Ruth, Proverbs, the Epistles, etc., will, if desired, be furnished gratis to every purchaser of the Hebrew-Greek Word, in cloth binding, with the title, "Libri Antiquorum, Irsraeliticorum et Christianorum," forty cents extra.
ACADEMY BOOK ROOM IS ESTABLISHED FOR THE SALE OF 1890

ACADEMY BOOK ROOM IS ESTABLISHED FOR THE SALE OF       Carl Hj. Asplundh       1890

The Writings of the New Church in the original Latin, and in translations.
The Word of the Old and New Testaments, in the original tongues and in translations.
The Scientific Works of Swedenborg.
The publications of the Academy and other New Church publications.
Books useful for New Church students made a specialty.
When about to dispose of New Church books, please communicate with us.
Catalogue in preparation.
     Carl Hj. Asplundh, Agent,
          ACADEMY BOOK ROOM,
               1821 Wallace Street;
                    PHILADELPHIA, PA.

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NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MISS FLORENCE G. GIBBS, 147 Camden Road, London, N.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on- Tyne.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, APRIL, 1890=120.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes (Preservation of Swedenborg's Manuscripts), p. 49.
     A Standard for the Peoples (Sermon), p. 50.- Are the Words, "The Coming of the LORD," included on all of Swedenborg's books in the Spiritual World? p. 53.-lustruction by Laymen. p. 54.-Female Education, p. 54.-Cambridge, a Centre of Arianism, p. 55,-What Community between the Old and the New?" p. 56.- An Experience with Christian Science, p. 58.-Mythology of Assyria and Babylonia, p. 59.
      Notes and Reviews, p. 60.
      Correction Notes. p. 62.-Dr. Buckley and Swedenborg's Manuscripts, p. 62
      General Church of Pennsylvania- The Constitution of the Church of the Advent, p. 63.
      News Gleanings, p. 64.-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 64.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.- THE removal to the other world of a former pupil or the Academy, and of the child of one of the theological students, led the acting superintendent of the schools, Bishop Pendleton, who conducts the daily opening exercises to speak of these events, and, by emphasizing the doctrine concerning death, to instil true thoughts concerning it, in the minds of the young.
     ON the occasion of the recovery from serious illness or one of the students of the Academy, he voluntarily presented an offering, in acknowledgment of the LORD'S mercy in restoring him to health, and of the kindness of the "neighbor," who had come to his relief in his distress. This gave rise to an impressive ceremony administered by Bishop Pendleton.
     THE name of the "New Jerusalem Society of the Advent" has been changed to "Church of the Advent." The Constitution of this body has been changed in several respects.
     THE second annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Association will be held April 4th, in the Church of the First New Jerusalem Society. Twenty-second and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia.
     THE address of the editor of New Church Life has been changed from 722 Bellevue Street to 868' North 19th Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     New York.- THE New York Association held its annual meeting, in Brooklyn, on February 22d. Six ministers and fifty-one delegates were present. A resolution was passed requesting the General Convention its sanction to the Association to confer the power to officiate at ordinations upon its present presiding minister during his continuance in office. The New York Society has, during the year, received an addition of ten members. The Ladies' Aid Society has abandoned the usual fair as means of raising money.
     Massachusetts.- THE Massachusetts Association will hold its next meeting in time Bowdoin Street Church, Boston, on April 3d.
     THE Massachusetts New Church Union will hold its meeting the same day in the afternoon.
     PROFESSOR T. W. Harris, of Cambridge, the compiler of the New Church Almanac of 1889, has been appointed statistician of the New Church in the United States for the Eleventh census.
     Maryland.- THE annual meeting of the Maryland Association was held in Baltimore on February 22d. The Rev. Frank Sewall delivered an address on uses and missions of the Association, calling attention to mite work to be done in the Southern States. Ten of the ministers were present. The Rev. Thomas A. King has held a course of lectures.
     Ohio.- THE Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of Urbana University have set apart a legacy amounting to $9,000 as a beginning of an endowment fund for the classical department of the University.
     Illinois.- THE Rev. L. P. Mercer has opened a confirmation class at Englewood, and the average attendance has been above thirty persons.
     California.- THE Rev. D. V. Bowen has accepted a call to the pastorate of the New Church Society in Los Angeles.
     Florida.- THE Rev. J. E. Smith was occupied in missionary work at Jacksonville during February, and baptized one person.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- THE Rev. C. Griffiths, of Brightlingsea, has received and accepted a call to become the pastor of Ramsbottom Society.
     THE annual meeting of the Camden Road Society, in London, of which the Rev. R. L. Tafel is pastor, was held on February 10th. The Society has gained eighteen members and lost two, making the present membership 142.
     THE Temple of the South Manchester New Church Society was dedicated on January 10th. Addresses were delivered by various ministers, among whom were time Rev. Joseph Deans, taking for his subject, "The Word-Our Lamp and Light." Mr. Deans expressed the hope "that in this place of worship, the Glory of the Truths of the internal sense would never be permitted to darken the literal sense"!
     Sweden.-MISSIONARY lectures have been held during September by the Rev. C. J. Manby, in the southern part of Stockholm, in the neighborhood of Swedenborg's former home, and drew large congregations. He also delivered lectures in Arcbro.
     Hungary.- AT a Christmas festival of the New Church in Buda-Pesth, twenty-two persons were present.
     Africa.- AT the Christmas meeting of the New Church Society, on the Island of Mauritius, more than one hundred were present, and more than sixty partook of the Communion. A pleasing feature of this Society is the number of young people connected with it,
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.





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     Vol. X.     PHILADELPHIA, MAY, 1890=120. No. 5.
     That the Christian Church is so consummated and vastated, cannot be seen by those on earth, who have confirmed themselves in falses.- T. C. R. 758.



     CHARITY begins at borne. The Writings give an interpretation of this trite saying, which lifts it high above the common acceptance of its meaning. And this interpretation is, that every one should, in his own individual life shun evils as sins against God. Thus he exercises charity toward himself and toward all others. Nor are kind acts of any description truly charitable, unless this first form of charity be in them. In his public and in his private life this must be man's first rule. Then will his life be truly dedicated to the LORD.
     As man shuns the evils which arise in his mind in his dealings with his business associates, his friends, and the members of his family, his mind is cleansed of evils and falses; and in the measure in which this is done it is infilled with goods and truths from the LORD. His mind, with all that is in it, is the "home" where, with him, charity dwells, where it begins, and *hence it extends itself to the neighbor.



     WHEN man thus dedicates his spiritual house to the LORD, and to the uses, the performance of which have been entrusted to him by the LORD, it is fitting that there be a corresponding dedication on the external plane. This is recognized, in the case of a society of men, by the solemn dedication of the common house of worship in which they meet together for the exercise of the uses of piety. But the usefulness of having a formal dedication of the individual homes does not seem to be generally recognized.
     There is, in certain quarters in the New Church, a growing recognition of the utmost importance that the home and the home-life should be dedicated to the LORD. The most important feature of such a home is a repository in which the Word of the LORD and His Doctrines are carefully preserved, from which they are reverently taken for the daily family worship, and whither they areas reverently returned. An appropriate dedicatory ceremony, whether the house be the property of the tenant or not, proves a powerful ultimate for the initiation of a happy heavenly sphere into the house, a sphere which, of course, will remain and be strengthened when the inmates steadfastly and faithfully obey the commandments of Him in whose Name the dedication took place.



     Boys were seen who were combed by their mothers so cruelly that the blood flowed forth, by which was represented, that such, at this day, is the education of infants.- A. C. 2123.



     How modern civilization is gradually immersing man in a state worse than that of the brute creation, was recently confirmed by the New York World, which published, on March 9th, the results of an inquiry into the increase of births during one year. In three hundred families residing on Fifth Avenue, the wealthiest street in York, only six children were born within the past twelve months, and there are only ninety-one children under ten years of age, in these three hundred families! Even admitting the claim that, for the most part, the residents in this part of the city are people who settle here after having advanced somewhat in life, this cannot apply to all the three hundred families, and the figures are admitted by all parties to be startling. What is the cause of this condition of things? Some assign it to the want of physical vigor on the part of wealthy and educated women, and point to the other part of the
World's census, which shows that in another, poor quarter of the same city, three hundred families have three hundred children under ten years of age, of which one hundred and eleven were born within the past twelve months, the mothers of whom, being poor and hard-working, have robust constitutions. Accepting this explanation, then wealth, civilization, and pseudo-education are the factors that bring about this state of things!



     Bur there is another more grievous cause for this barrenness among the so-called "upper classes," one which is likewise, to be referred to the influence of our scientific civilization. It is feticide and its cognate crimes. They are more prevalent in this "evil and adulterous generation" than many will admit. They are openly advocated by certain political economists, and mothers have even been known to instruct their daughters in this fiendish interference with the laws of their Creator, an interference countenanced and confirmed by people- eminently "respectable" people-simply because they at heart deny the Divine Providence, and thus the LORD. So that a respectable and leading paper of one of our large cities does not hesitate to say, while commenting on the World's census:

     "The paucity of children in fashionable circles is a feature of European life outside of royalty, and it is beginning to be such in this country. It is a pity the poor would not partially copy the upper circles, and at least limit the months they have to feed," etc.

     In view of the teachings concerning the state of the Christian world, these facts need perhaps not be surprising, but they show that the love of country is also dying out, especially where it calls for some self-denial. For a good citizen will love to increase the number of his country's faithful sons and daughters.
     Still, the worst feature of this whole tendency has not been touched upon, and that is that this poison of self-love, bared upon the worst-forms of self-reliance and self-intelligence, is operative even in the New Church. It is mainly for the purpose of arresting the attention of those who, without fully realizing its infernal quality; are affected by it, that these lines have been written.



     The New Church cannot come down from the New Heaven in a moment, but as the falses of the former Church are removed.- T. C. R. 784.

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     THERE is no conflict between the true, religion and true science; but there is a conflict where either religion or science, or both, are false. In the Writings, a true science of natural things is unfolded, the basis of the true science of things spiritual, because derived from the spiritual. Modern science, the result of mere empiricism, mixed with much of merely natural reason, is unreliable, false, and seductive. And Newchurchmen there are, who have not yet been able to throw off its iron yoke, who are bound to it; and fail in allegiance to the true science of the LORD'S Second Coming.
     Occasionally the experiments of scientists offer results which confirm the New Church scientist in the utter untrustworthiness of modern science, and strengthen his confidence in the science of the Writings. A notable instance is record in the April issue of New Church Monthly, in an article entitled "Modern Science on the Contents of the Natural Sun."
     Relying implicitly on the natural truth revealed in. the Doctrines, that the natural sun is pure fire, New Church scientists have been in a negative attitude toward the conclusion arrived at by modern scientists in their analysis of the solar spectrum, and some have urged the consideration that the earth's atmosphere may be the cause of those modifications which scientists have ascribed to the sun, and it is this view which has been vindicated. After quoting Huxley, Draper, Lubbock, and others, as to the presence in the sun of hydrogen, sodium, iron, nickel, cobalt, copper, oxygen, nitrogen, and numerous other elements, the Monthly states:

     "To all appearance, therefore, the spectroscope seemed to have established, beyond dispute, that as the 'sun contains a large number of elements' including oxygen, it is not, in itself, as affirmed in the Doctrines, an ocean of 'pure' or mere fire. And yet, strong as the evidence was during many years, as to the sun containing such elements, hardly sir months ago the spectro-scope was made to tell, in the hands of a distinguished French physicist, a different, if not opposite story. In a very able resume of the progress of 'Modern Science in 1889,' and published in the Times for January 8th, 1890, the following words occur; and as they bear power fully upon the question before us we commend them to the reader's notice:-'The Eiffel Tower,' says the writer, 'was pressed into the service of astronomy by the eminent solar physicist, Monsieur Jaussen, who, by observing an electric light on the summit of the tower, came to the conclusion that the oxygen, which some astronomers declare existed in the sun, is really doe, so far as spectroscopic evidence goes, to the terrestrial atmosphere.' Here, then, is a statement which, while it rests upon 'spectroscopic evidence,' is the exact opposite of what the spectroscope had previously been the means of establishing! If, therefore, the spectroscope is to be our final 'court of appeal,' which series of experiments, or observations, are we to trust and base our theories upon-the former or the latter? But when confronted with such conflicting statements who could fail to be reminded of the Divine admonition-'to see from effects is to see from fallacies, whence come errors one after another; which maybe so multiplied by inductions that at length enormous falsities are called truths?' (D. L. W. 187). The consistent Newchurchman, accordingly, will ever first consult the Writings on any and every subject as to those general, and hence immutable Laws of Creation, and after he has obtained the Truth they will divinely communicate to him, then-and not before-will he be inclined to accept or reject whatever maybe dogmatically proclaimed in the name of 'Modern Science' and in the present instance, on the 'Constitution' or contents of the Natural Sun."
This New Church 1890

This New Church              1890

     This New Church is the crown of all the Churches that have hitherto been in the world. - T. C.R. 786.
SELF- ABASEMENT 1890

SELF- ABASEMENT       Rev. R. J. TILSON       1890

     "And He put forth a parable to those who were bidden, when He marked how they chose out the chief places; saying unto them, When thou art invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not recline in the chief place; lest one more honorable than thou be bidden of him; and he who bade thee and him come and say to thee, give this man place; and thou with shame begin to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go and recline in the lowest place; that when he who invited thee cometh, he may say unto thee, 'Friend, go up higher': then shalt thou have honor in the presence of those reclining with thee. For everyone who exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."-Luke xiv, 7-11.

     THE regenerated life assumes a very serious aspect to those who realize that it means a total reversal of all the inherited dispositions and inclinations of one's own nature, or, in other words, a complete denial of self; and a possession of true and earnest humility. But such is the character of that life which, being more or less developed here, is to fit one for an eternal abiding place in Heaven hereafter. That we may be blest eternally, by being permitted, of the mercy of the LORD, to spend the life after death in the uses and happiness of Heaven, it is necessary that we forsake all the nature into which we come at birth, and completely humble ourselves before the LORD, as He manifests Himself in the Truth He has revealed. But as this statement is made, let it be carefully borne in mind that the LORD does not desire from His creatures any humbling of themselves for His sake, or as an acknowledgment of His Almighty Power and Wisdom. No adoration which man can pay unto his Maker, no praise which men can give to the LORD, can possibly add anything to His glory, or be grateful to Him by awaking in Him a sense of His superior state or position. No, unlike fallen man, the LORD never seeks His own glory, never thinks of Himself as Be deals with His creatures. His thought is ever about them, as to what He can do for their eternal interests, and He does all He can, ever respecting their freedom; for only that which he accepts, or receives, in freedom, is ever retained in the character, and thus in the life, of man. Hence the LORD desires worship and adoration from man for man's own sake, because in giving of it man opens his heart and mind to receive the gifts which the LORD is ever willing to bestow upon him.
     For the good of all, then, it is necessary that the regenerate life be such as it is, and for the same end it is that the struggle to become regenerate is as difficult as it is. Thus, then, for true manhood, for realizing the great end of creation, and for fitness for Heaven, a total inversion of state, a thorough humbling of mind and heart, and a complete abnegation of self are necessary.
     This is the great lesson of the portion of the Holy Word which forms the text. From the letter of the parable here given there breathes forth the ever necessary lesson of humility. The LORD, in the parable, referred to the custom observed at the feasts of the Jews. At these feasts couches were used upon which the guests reclined. Each couch held three persons, and it was considered the greatest mark of respect when the master of the house asked any guest to take the first seat on the couch.
     The LORD marked how the people around Him chose out the chief places, and then uttered this Divine Parable. But the full meaning of this parable comes not out in its literal presentation; there the general lesson is given, but the particulars of that divine teaching come out as we view the parable in its interior meaning, which is given in the Spiritual Sense of the Word: Those who are bidden include every person who enters into the many worlds of the great Father's Universe. For all are invited to enter into the Marriage Feast of Heaven when their earthly course is run.

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That all do not enter, does not alter the fact that all are invited, for even the LORD will not compel any to accept eternal blessedness, for those who are compelled to accept any joy, find that the pleasure in the joy to which they are compelled has departed from it, from the very fact that. they have been compelled. But the LORD bids all, and He waits that He may be able to extend to all the gracious invitation, Friend, go up higher, for He is ever seeking to raise us from a lower into a higher state of life and being, and thus into ever increasing states of happiness and true peace.
     In a Historical sense this parable refers to the closing of the dispensation of the Jewish Church, and to the establishing of the First Christian Church among the Gentiles. The chief characteristic of the Jewish nature was pride of will and understanding. The Gentiles were dogs; the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. They were the chosen of the LORD, they were the Children of Abraham, and in all domains they had, according to their own opinions, the sole and undisputed right to the first and chief places. True, they were bidden of the LORD to be the representative of His Church, but they were bidden, not for their goodness, but for their superficiality, because when there were none who could take the true position of the Church upon earth, they could take its representation, for they were so thoroughly external that they could perform most punctiliously the outward and representative acts of worship, which acts formed the basis of influx from the other world into this. Thus was preserved that connection between Heaven and the earth without which the human race could not have continued in existence. But in the course of time the Jewish nation took the chief place from deeper feelings of pride than ever, and with deeper and deeper hypocrisy. And then it was, in the closing of its dispensation, when the LORD came upon earth, that the Divine Host required them to give place to the Gentiles who were more worthy, because they were willing to bring forth the fruits of the Word they were called upon to preserve, and from which they were to teach. To, the Gentiles, who, though they were ignorant, were yet living up to the little light they had, to them the Divine Host could say, "Friend, go up higher." They were humble, they did what they knew, little though it was which they did know, and, because of this they were exalted into the position of being the instruments in the hands of the LORD in forming the Christian Church, though it was Christian in name only, and the precursor of the true Christian Church, which is the Church of the New Jerusalem. Hence the Jews were debased, and the Gentiles were exalted, according to the Divine, and thus never failing, law, "every one who exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
     Such is the historical teaching of the text; but it has also an individual teaching for all men at all times.
     The disposition of the mind and heart of man prior to regeneration to always to take the higher place in every domain of thought and feeling. It does not always appear so, for one of the favorite devices of the natural mind is to ape humility, that it may develop, under its convenient shadow, the pride so dear unto itself. But it is so, however the appearance may be or seem. For prior to regeneration, man's whole being is corrupt and evil. From the head to the foot there is no soundness in it, and therefore it inclines to evil and that continually. It wants its own way, will do much of it has it, will be generous and kind if its selfishness is appeased. For so much given, it must have so much back, in homage, in power, in influence. But if its selfishness be not appeased, no matter however right it may be that the selfishness should not be appeased, it withdraws from its former generosity, its usefulness, and its help. Such is the unregenerate mind of man. It must be first or it will not work at all. It must have the chief place, or it will not mingle at the feast.
     In many ways is this disposition of the unregenerated character shown. It affects the will and the understanding alike. For "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." (Isaiah i, 5). In the will it shows itself in the impurity of the first good of man which is unregenerate good, even good from mere natural disposition. Such good, while it is very showy and demonstrative, is selfishness itself, under a smooth garb. It is unreliable, it has no principle upon which it leans for strength, as a devoted wife rests upon her faithful spouse. It makes a man what the world calls good-hearted, but often makes him truly foolish, aye; and, when viewed in the light of Heavenly principles, it makes him very selfish. In seeking to be kind he really neglects to be kind. He takes the chief place of assumed kindness, takes it often with much parade and show, and with great expectancy of reward, but when, in the course of regeneration, the LORD comes to such a soul having developed natural good of mere rood disposition, He has to say, by the voice of revealed Truth, "give this man place"-that is, the man of Truth-and then the soul sees that his so-called good nature was foolishness, that it was selfishness veiled, and with the shame of humiliated pride it has to take the lowest place of being relegated to the hell from which all of man's own nature comes. For we are taught in the Divine Doctrines of the Church that "Those who are good from merely natural disposition cannot be associated with the angels." In such good there is the idea of merit, and, wherever this idea comes in it destroys all real spiritual life, for within the idea of merit-i. e., within the thought that because man has been and has done so much good, therefore he deserves Heaven-in this thought there is a "denial of GOD'S influx, and operation with man," there is "trust in one's own power in matters of salvation," there is "faith in one's self, and not in GOD," there is "justification of one's self," and there is a "making of Divine Mercy and Grace to be nought" (T. C. R. 439).
     All this is included in the idea of merit, in that infatuation of the natural mind, which thinks of its own importance, and believes that it deserves and merits a Heaven from its own goodness. This is a state which every man has to encounter during the earlier stages of his regeneration, for "In the beginning all who are reformed suppose that good is from themselves, and thence, that by the good which they do, they merit salvation" (A. C. 4174).
     This is the great temptation of the will, to rely upon one's, own sense of goodness, which is merely good disposition. By the process of regeneration, when man becomes born again, the Truth which he learns from the Word of the LORD, teaches him that he must regulate that natural good disposition by the truths he knows, that he must act from principle and not from impulse, that he must progress not by what he feels but by what he knows to be right and just. And when by the teaching of Divine Truth, one is able to so school himself that he makes, his impulses toward good subservient to the principles he gets in Truth, then it is that the natural good inherited is elevated into a spiritual good for it is now united to truth, and in being so united has been raised into a higher degree of the mind and heart, for the man has heard and obeyed the Divine Command, "Friend, go up higher."

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In such a state of regeneration; he who attains unto it, finds honor or glory in the presence of those reclining with him, for he has for companions in the union with Heaven into which he has entered, the Angels, who delight to wait upon those who conquer in temptation, and who by so doing raise their love and their faith nearer to Him from Whom alone come all Truth and Love.
     But as it is with the will of man prior to regeneration, so is it indeed with the understanding. The unregenerate understanding is full of the pride of self-derived intelligence. It needs no teacher, for it is well persuaded that it knows better than any teacher. Its opinions are all in all to it. Its puny brain is its full and final authority. Of outside authority it will have none. Cannot it think for itself; and is not one opinion as good as another? It will not be fettered by the authority of mere revelation. It cannot breathe in such an atmosphere, but requires something broader, something freer, than anything outside itself. Such is the condition of the unregenerate understanding. But when that understanding is, by the mercy of the LORD, caused to submit itself to the teaching of the LORD'S Word, in its spirit, and in its letter, by the one possessing it being led to see the necessity of looking to a Source above one's self for information which will be true and right, then the conceited understanding is removed from its usurped position of the higher place, and it has to take the lowest places, being relegated to the limbo of man's early and stupid imaginings. It has to give place to the man of true principle, of thought, which relies not upon its own cleverness, but which looks to the LORD, and knows that, in loyal acceptance of that which the LORD has revealed it is safe, for it is then in the care of the Divine Providence. And when man's understanding is thus purified of his own foolish thoughts and ideas, of his own notions which are false and deceitful, then it is that he is gifted with a new understanding and in the real freedom of revelation, in the true breath of the LORD'S own Truth, the man receives the gracious words "Friend, go up higher."
     And as it is with the will and the understanding of the man so is it with the whole man himself; for the will and the understanding make the man. Ever is it found in human experience to be true, if not in this world, at least, and most assuredly, in the next, that "Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shalt be exalted." And, be it ever
remembered, that man always exalts himself when he puts forth his own power, when he thinks, desires, or does anything of himself; forgetting and neglecting to look to the LORD and acknowledge that of himself he can do nothing. Self always exalts in such a way that it insures the fate of an unpleasant, if not a destructive, humbling. The abnegation of self always insures an exaltation which increases to all eternity. This is ever so, individually and collectively. Let but the professing Christian endeavor, as, alas too many do, to mix both the world and the kingdom of God in their lives, taking all the religion which agrees with their own desires and thoughts, and then completing the rest of the furniture of the mind with the principles and opinions of the world, and the result will inevitably be that he will reach an elevation in his own opinion and mind from which he will be cast down, if not here, yet most assuredly hereafter, and be made to give place to those who are consistent in life, and in thought, and desire, to the profession they make of following the LORD.
     Wherever the world and the Kingdom of the LORD are mixed, by choice, in the human mind, the sure result is that the world will obtain the final victory, and though the position of religion will be taken for a time, yet from that position the one taking it will be cast down into the worldly sphere and state. So, also, if one seeks to mix the old and the New dispensations of the Church in his life, thought, and character. The position for a time will be that the New has been embraced, and reached, but where that mixture of the old and the new-is made, from choice, and from one's own desires, and thoughts, or opinions, the result will assuredly be, in the end, that the one taking that position will be cast, of his own accord, into the old, that the place of the New may be filled, and its distinctive work performed, by those who, in all humility, realize the Divine promise, and believe in its fulfillment, "Behold I make all things new."
     All these courses, which are the result of the thrusting forward of man's own powers of thought and desire-all these courses, while they undoubtedly lead to an exaltation for a time, are sure to produce the result, in the end, that those following them will have to give place to those who look to the LORD, and trust in His strength, and to whom He says in tones and words of love, "Friend, go up higher." For this is the outcome of the Divine Law, "Every one who exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
     This is what the text teaches when it is viewed from the standpoint of man in his unregenerated condition and state. And it is most essential that this view should be taken, and even that it should be first dwelt upon. For all are sinners. The first nature of all is evil and nothing but evil. That this is the first view to be taken is seen in the Divine order in which the concluding statement of the parable is given. It first deals with those who exalt themselves, and declares that they shall be humbled. Even as the Divine Word also has it, in like order, when it urges the Christian to "Cease to do evil," and then adds, "learn to do well." Or, again, when the Divine exhortation is given, "Depart from evil," and then follows, "and do good." This Divine order is thus given because it is necessary that man should shun evil before he can do that which is good. All good done before evil is shunned, is spurious with those who do it. But because this is so, the natural mind of man does not like this order. It says to its teachers, Tell us that which will comfort us, that which will send us away happy with ourselves and all others. Tell us not the hard things of doctrine, tell us not that we are evil, but show us how good we may be. Point not out our errors, but exalt our virtues. Take a charitable view of the world, and give it the credit for being good, though the LORD has revealed that it is bad. Apply that teaching to past years which affect us not, so that we may say, Ah! if we had been in those days we would not have preferred error to truth, but we would have been loyal and true. Such is the voice of the natural mind in its unregenerate condition, which prevails amongst mankind at the present time. It finds expression in the words of Holy Scripture, attributed to those who are "rebellious people," and who say, to the seers, "See not, and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things." (Isaiah xxx, 10.)
     But while this is the way in which the text has first to be viewed, after this has been done, it is then permitted to take a view of these words as they reveal the nature of the LORD, as in Infinite Mercy and constant Love He is ever seeking to be able to say to all His creatures, "Friend, go up higher." But notice the term by which in this parable He addresses the one whom he commands.
He speaks to him as "friend." But what entitles a man to be addressed by the LORD as friend? The LORD Himself replies to the question, as in John xv, 14, He says," Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."

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Hence the Divine invitation; "Friend, go up higher," is addressed to those who, in the strength of the LORD, are striving to do whatsoever the LORD commands them. Now all the LORD'S Truths, alike in the Spiritual, as well as those in the Literal Sense of the Word, are His commands. We are the LORD'S friends, then, in proportion as we obey His Truths. And as we endeavor to be His friends by doing that which He has revealed, we are invited by Him to go up to a higher state of the regenerative life, to enter more fully into the blessedness of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to rise continually into more elevated and purer states of Love, and into clearer perceptions of Truth. "Friend, go up higher," the LORD is ever desirous of saying to all; and that we may be able to comply with His loving invitation, He asks us ever to keep before our mental vision the never-failing law of spiritual life, "Every one who exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
     May our daily living be such that we may seek to deny and debase self; in all its many manifestations so that living the Truths made known to us by the LORD, when we are, in the course of Divine Providence, called away above the voices of earth, we may find, when our vastation in the world of Spirits is complete, that, in one of the many Mansions of Heaven, we may, to all eternity, enjoy the realization of the Divine message "Friend, go up higher." Amen.
All the Churches hitherto 1890

All the Churches hitherto              1890

     All the Churches hitherto have not been in the knowledge and acknowledgment of one God with whom the man of the Church can be conjoined- T. C. R. 786.
MANUSCRIPTS OF SWEDENBOUG NOT YET PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHED 1890

MANUSCRIPTS OF SWEDENBOUG NOT YET PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHED              1890

     IN consideration of the ignorance which seems to reign in the Church regarding the condition of Swedenborg's manuscripts in Stockholm, it may be useful to call to mind the particular codices which have not yet been reproduced by photo-lithography, and which, therefore, are liable to be lost to the Church. The following list is compiled from a comparison of the "Analysis of the Swedenborg MSS. in the Academy of Sciences in Stockholm," published by Dr. H. L. Tafel in his Documents, vol. II, pp. 235-275, with the results of the investigations made by Bishop Benade and the Rev. E. S. Price, during their visit to Sweden in the year 1888.
     Of these manuscripts there are two classes, viz.: (1) such as have been published by the press, but have not yet been photo-lithographed; and (2) such as have neither been photo-lithographed nor have in any manner been published to the world.

     I.

     To the first class belong the following:
     Codex L Summary Exposition of the Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms, contains 38 pages. This work was published by Robert Hindmarsh in 1784, and again by Dr. Im. Tafel in 1860.
     Codices 2, 3, 42-45, 63, and 95 contain the various parts of the Spiritual Diary; which were published by Dr. Im. Tafel in Tübingen, 1843-47. Together these Codices cover 2,344 pages. A photo-lithographic copy of this work is greatly needed, in order to correct the edition of Dr. Tafel, who, in many cases, was not able to decipher the MSS.
     Codex 4 is one of the five Biblical Indexes which Dr. Im. Tafel compiled into one general index and published in three volumes, under the title Index Biblicus, proceeding as far as the letter D, when the work was interrupted by the death of Dr. Tafel, in 1863. By request of the Swedenborg Society Dr. Kahl in 1868 saw through the press the remaining part of Codex 4, which constitutes the fourth volume of the printed work. This Codex contains 636 pages.
     Codex 7 has been photo-lithographed, with the exception of the original draft of the Index to the Apocalypse Revealed, which was printed in London, 1813, by Mr. J. A. Tulk. This part contains 38 pages.
     Codices 8-10, 15, 26, and 80 contain the original draft of the Arcana Coelestia, of which the beginning (nos. 1-1748 and 1751-1885) is lacking. Together these codices comprise about 6,000 pages.
     Codex 14 contains the small treatise on Marriage, which was published by Dr. Im. Tafel, as Appendix IV to the seventh part of the Spiritual Diary. The work covers 19 pages.
     Codex 48 contains various short treatises on Calvin, on Justification, etc., making, altogether, 15 pages. The contents of this volume were published in 1860 by Dr. Im. Tafel, as Section 5 of the Spiritual Diary
     Codex 49 contains 36 pages, and was published by Dr. Im. Tafel, as the Dicta Probantia.
     Codex 52 is a volume of letters from Swedenborg to Dr. Beyer. These comprise 57 pages, and have been published, in English, in the Documents of Dr. R. L.
     Codex 53 has been photo-lithographed with the exception of the treatises on the periosteum, the mammary glands, and the organs of generation, which were published in Latin by Dr. Im. Tafel, as Regnum Animals, Part VI, Sections 1 and 2. These treatises contain, together, 200 pages.
     Codex 54 contains the work on the Soul, which was published in 1849, as Regnum Animale, Part VII, and contains 234 pages.
     Codex 56 is a volume of political papers for the Swedish Diet, and contains 75 pages. These papers have all been published in English in Dr. R. L. Tafel's Documents.
     Codex 58 contains the work on the Senses, which was published in 1848, as Regnum Animale, Part IV. It comprises 127 pages.
     Codices 59-62 constitute Swedenborg's Adversaria to the books of the Old Testament, which was published in four volumes by Dr. Im. Tafel, in 1843-1848. Together these codices contain 2,103 pages.
     Codex 65, which constitutes the large work on the Brain, also contains two small works on "The way to a knowledge of the soul" (6 pages), and "Faith and good works" (10 pages). These two treatises were published by Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson in 1846.
     Codex 74 contains a work of 535 pages on the Fibres, which was published by Dr. Wilkinson, in 1847, as OEconomia Regni Animalis, Transactio III, and also six small treatises on the Blood, the Animal Spirits, Sensation, etc., making in all 44 pages. These were all published by Dr. Wilkinson, in 1846, as "Posthumous Tracts."
     Codex 79 constitutes the Hieroglyphic Key, and contains 48 pages.
     Codex 88 contains 142 pages of Swedenborg's Journal of Travels, which have been published in English in Dr. R. L. Tafel's Documents.
     Codices 112 and 118 constitute the first and second drafts of the Index to the Arcana Coelestia, which was published by Mr. J. A. Tulk in 1815.

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These codices contain respectively 514 and 260 pages.
     To this class of Manuscripts belongs also Swedenborg's Drommar (Book of dreams), which contains 104 pages, and is preserved in the Royal Library of Stockholm. This work was published, in 1859, by the Royal Librarian Klemming.
     It will thus be seen that the manuscripts of this class contain a total of 13,077 pages.

     II.

     The following are those manuscripts of which no copy has been made and which have neither been published nor photo-lithographed:
     Codex 5 is an Index to passages from the New Testament. The spiritual sense is not affixed, but the work contains Swedenborg's translations, made in the years 1747 and 1748, thus subsequent to his call. This volume contains 436 pages.
     Codex 39 is an Index of the Proper Nouns which occur in the whole Word. Part of this Codex was published by Dr. R. L Tafel as "Supplement to the Biblical Index." This work contains 275 pages, and was written in 1746-1748.
     Codices 40 and 41 constitute a Concordance of historical books of the Old Testament from Joshua to II Kings. These codices were written, in 1746, and contain Swedenborg's translations of the Word, and are, as such, of the greatest importance to the Church. In common with Codices 5 and 39, these volumes were embodied by Dr. Im. Tafel in his general Index only up to the letter D. These parts contain 581 pages.
     Codex 6 contains 20 pages of a Biblical Index to Genesis, which was written in 1746 or 1747. This codex also contains various personal notes of Swedenborg's private life.
     Codex 36 contains a work of 279 pages, consisting of extracts from various ancient and modern philosophers on the nature of the soul, collected by Swedenborg under appropriate bends.
     Codex 37 contains definitions of Metallurgy, Mining, Chemistry, Botany, Anatomy, and Ontology, together with extracts from Cicero, Plautus, Florus, and Wolf. With the exception of the chapter on Ontology, nothing of this volume, which contains 263 pages, has been published or photo-lithographed.
     Codex 47 contains one page of quotations from the early Christian creeds, by which Swedenborg proves that the primitive Christian Church did not believe in a Son from eternity. In this Codex is also found the "Ecclesiastical History of the New Church," which has, been photo-lithographed.
     Codex 57 is Swedenborg's "Commonplace Book" for 1740, in which are contained two articles, filling 22 pages on the Brain, which have not yet been published.
     Codex 58 contains, among other things, 11 pages of a tract on the "Human Ear."
     Codex 65 contains a short treatise, of 22 pages, on "Muscles in General," consisting mostly of extracts from various anatomists.
     Codex 81 is a volume of 330 pages, treating of the magnet and its qualities. To the greatest part the work consists of extracts on the subject from various authors, but many interesting inductions of Swedenborg himself are also found.
     Codex 82 is a metallurgical work on Sulphur and Pyrites, which fills 329, pages.
     Codex 83 treats of the methods of obtaining common salt, and contains 343 pages.
     Codex 84 contains 363 pages, and treats of the methods of separating and refining-gold and silver from lead and other metals.
     Codex 85 consists of 446 pages, and treats of the methods of extracting and manufacturing vitriol.
     Codex 86 is a treatise on various subjects connected with geometry and algebra. Among the parts that have not been photo-lithographed are a work on the history of Sweden, a treatise on the Deluge and the Paradise, extracts concerning astronomy, philosophy, anatomy, etc., altogether filling about 200 pages.
     Codex 88 contains 470 pages of classified extracts from various anatomists, together with a description of several of Swedenborg's dreams during the year 1736-1740.
     Codices 89 and 90 contains Swedenborg's annotated copy of Schmidius' Latin Bible, which has been photo-lithographed, with the exception of the two books of Samuel, which were omitted by mistake. These two books fill 52 pages.
     Codex 99 is a work in Swedish, concerning the iron furnaces in Sweden, and fills 139 pages.
     It may thus be seen that the manuscripts of this class fill a total of 4,581 pages, and all the unphoto-lithographed manuscripts a grand total of 17,652 pages.
     Beside the documents here enumerated, there are, in Stockholm, various letters of Swedenborg which have lately been discovered, but not yet published in the English tongue.
This Church is the crown of all the Churches 1890

This Church is the crown of all the Churches              1890

     This Church is the crown of all the Churches because it will worship one visible God, in whom is the invisible God, as the soul is in the body.- T. C. R. 787.
INFLUENCE OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH ON THE MEXICANS 1890

INFLUENCE OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH ON THE MEXICANS              1890

     IN the noble sentiment embodied in the religion and ethics of Gentile nations, the agnostic and atheist find proof that Christianity is but advanced heathenism, and that both the one and the other are of human origin. The man of the New Church, on the other hand, is thereby confirmed in his acknowledgment of the revealed truth that there was once an ancient Word, and an Ancient Church, the influence of which spread widely over the earth, to the contemporaneous Gentile nations, and thence to their posterity.
     In this connection, what is recorded of the ancient Mexicans is seen to be deeply interesting. Many and various have been the theories to account for the existence of these highly-civilized people on an "unknown" continent, some writers attempting to trace their descent from the mistakenly supposed historical peoples dispersed after the fall of the tower of Babel, others, to identify them with the posterity of the lost tribes of Israel; later writers connect them with the Tartars, and conjecture that they shipped across Behring Sea to the American continent at some remote period. However this may be, it is clear that their ancestors were influenced by the men of the Ancient Church.
     They were without the Church, and necessarily in great darkness; they offered up their condemned criminals and prisoners of war as human sacrifices, and though the' initiated worshiped a single supreme and invisible God, the maker of the sun, the masses are believed to have worshiped the visible sun and stars; but as a people, they, nevertheless, appear to have been gentle and humane, with a high sense of duty in all the concerns of religious, moral, and civil life.

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"This civilization," says Schultze, in his work on Fetishism, "would have produced the fairest fruit had it not been ruthlessly interrupted by the fanatic zeal of a Cortez and a Pizarro, and, later, purposely, persistently, and violently stamped out by the barbarities of Christian tyrants." The same writer tells us that monogamy was the rule among the Mexicans, "and in this respect they came up to that moral standard of marriage with which we are familiar." In the Mexican proverbs, given by Prescott, maybe found this significant admonition:

     "Regard not curiously the walk and demeanor of the great, nor women, especially of married women, the old proverb says-Whoso regards a woman with curiosity, commits adultery with his eyes."

     The Mexican state was organized with remarkable intelligence, even down to its least subdivisions, having a disciplined army, settled revenues, colleges, courts of justice, etc. The king, viceroy of God on earth, was possessed of powers subject only to Divine authority in the truths of religion, and in his recorded prayers for strength and light for the discharge of the duties of his exalted office addresses his God in terms which more than suggest the literal of the Psalms. One of the most illustrious kings, Nezahualcoyotl, famous as a patron of art and literature, and himself a poet, dedicated to the "Unseen God, the Cause of Causes," a tower of pine stories, with roof painted blue and studded with golden stars. A recorded prayer now before us begins thus:

     "O our Lord, protector most strong and compassionate, invisible and impalpable, thou art the giver of life, the lord of all."

     The following impressive language addressed to a Mexican king, may be found in Waitz, who quotes from the Spanish missionary Sahagun, said to have been a perfect master of the language and a careful student of Mexican manners:

     "Graciously and meekly receive all who come to you in anguish and distress; neither speak nor act from passion. Calmly and patiently listen to the complaints and reports that are brought to you. Silence not the speaker, for you are God's image, and His representative: He dwells in you, using you as the organ (flute) through which He speaks; and He hears through your ears. Punish no man without cause, for the right of inflicting punishment, which you hold, is of God: it is as it were the talons and teeth of God to execute justice. Be just, and let who will be offended; for such is God's decree. Be it your care that in the tribunals all things be done according to order, and without precipitation, and nothing in passion. . . . Suffer not your power and dignity to be to you the occasion of pride and arrogance. . . . be not given to indolence and sensuality, nor to reveling; squander not the sweat and toil of your subjects. The favor which     shown you, abuse not. . . Our lord and king, God has His eye upon the rulers of States, and when they commit a fault, He laughs in scorn, but is silent; for He is God, and does what He will."

     "Nothing," says Padre Acosta, "astonished me more or appeared to me more praiseworthy and notable than the system followed by the Mexicans in the education of their children." The following address of a father to his son, given in illustration, which may he found in Sthultze's work on Fetichism, translated from the Spanish of Clavigero, is admitted to be genuine by all the critics:

     "My son, you came forth out of your mother's womb, as the chick from the egg, and as you grow you are like the chick preparing for your flight over the earth, nor is it given us to know how long Heaven will insure to us the jewel which we possess in you. However that may he, be it your care to lead a correct life, praying unceasingly to God for His support. It was He that crested you, and He is your owner. He is your Father, and loves you more than I. Turn your thoughts God-ward, and let your aspirations rise to Him by day and by night. . . . Honor and greet those older than yourself, and never give them tokens of contempt. . . . Pay respect so all men, especially your parents, to whom you owe obedience, reverence, and dutiful service. Have a care never to follow the example of those wayward boys, who are like wild beasts void of reason, and who do not respect those who have given them their being, nor heed their admonitions, nor submit to correction. . . . Go not whither you are not invited, nor meddle in affairs which are none of yours. In all that you say and do, be it your study to show your good breeding. When you converse with any one, do not annoy him with your hands (mit den Handen belastigen) nor be too voluble; do not interrupt or disturb others with your remarks. If, perchance, you hear a man speaking foolishly, and it be not your business to correct him, hold your peace: but if it be your business, then consider first what you will say, and speak not arrogantly, that your corrections may avail the more. When any man addresses you, listen to him attentively and with proper demeanor, neither shuffling your feet nor munching your mantle, nor spitting out, nor jumping up and down every moment if you are seated; for such conduct shows levity and bad breeding. When you are seated at table, eat not ravenously, nor betray signs of displeasure if the dish fail to please you. . . . Never walk in advance of year superiors, except when necessity requires, or they command it. . . . Live by the fruits of your labor, and then your bread will taste sweet. Hitherto, my son, I have supported you with the sweat of my brow and have discharged all the duties of a father; I have given you the necessaries of life without wronging any man. Do you the same. Never tell a lie, for lying is a grievous sin. Whenever you recount to another what you yourself have heard, then tell the simple truth without adding anything. Speak not evil of any man. Conceal the misconduct of others unless it be your duty to mend it. Avoid gossiping, sow not the seeds of discord. . . . Tarry not in the marketplace longer than is needful, for such places afford frequent temptations to debauchery . . . Repress your sensual desires, my son, for you are still young, and patiently await the time when the maid, whom the gods have chosen for your wife, shall have reached the required age. Leave such concerns to the care of the gods; they will do what is best for you. When the time comes for you to marry, take no step without your parent's consent. . . Steal not, rob not, if you would not disgrace your parents. . . That is all, my son. . . . It was my purpose to confirm you in good disposition by this instruction. Do not despise my words; for your happiness through life depends upon your fidelity."

     The subjoined address of a mother to her daughter, which Prescott translates from Sahagun's Historia de Nueva Espana, is equally quaint and charming as the foregoing, and breathes the same commendable spirit of charity:

     "My beloved daughter, my very dear little dove, you have already heard and attended to the words which your father has told you. They are precious words . . . words which belong to the noble and wise-valuable as rich jewels. See, then, that you take them and lay them up in your heart." [Then follows much excellent advice on the subject of general good behavior and maidenly propriety, too long to quote entire.] . . . "See, likewise, my daughter, that you never paint your face in order to appear well; since this is a mark of vile and unchaste women. . . . But that your husband may not dislike you, adorn yourself wash yourself, and cleanse your clothes; and let this be done with moderation, since if every day you wash yourself and your clothes, it will be said of you that you are over nice-too delicate; they will call you tapetetzon tinemaxoch. . . Hear this allegory which I shall now tell you, and take from it a warning and example for living aright: Here, in this world, we travel by a very narrow, a steep, and dangerous road, which is as a lofty mountain ridge, on whose top passes a narrow path; on either side is a great gulf without bottom, and if you deviate from the path, you will fall into it. There is need, therefore, of much discretion in pursuing the road. My tenderly loved daughter, my little dove, keep this illustration in your heart-it will be to you as a lamp and a beacon so long as you live in this world.
     "Only one thing remains to be said, and I have done. . . See that you guard yourself carefully that no stein come upon you; should you forfeit your chastity and afterward marry, you will never be fortunate nor have true love. Observe what I now shall tell you as a strict command.

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When it shall please God that you receive a husband, and you are placed under his authority, be free from arrogance; see that you do not neglect him. . . See that you give no favor to another, since this, my dear and much loved daughter, is to fall into a pit without bottom, from which there will be no escape. . . . And remember, my daughter, that though no man may see you, God, who is in every place, sees you and will be angry with you. . . . Our Lord is compassionate, but if you commit treason against your husband, God, who is in ever place, will take vengeance on you rain, will permit you to have neither contentment nor a peaceful life, and will excite your husband to be always unkind toward you. My daughter, whom I tenderly love, see that you live in the world in peace, . . . see that you disgrace not yourself, . . . see that you honor me and your father, and reflect glory on us by your good life, May God prosper you, my first-born, and may you come to God who is in every place."

     Reading these extracts, which we have every reason to believe to be genuine, in connection with the subjoined quotation from the Arcana, and in view of the many similar statements made elsewhere in the Writings, can we even for a moment question whether the men and women of this mild and affectionate Gentile race were not more truly in the life of charity than their Christian conquerors?

     "Behold Milcah, she also hath borne sons to thy brother Nahor. . . . By Milcah is here signified the truth of those Gentiles, and by Nahor the good. That the Gentiles are' in possession of truths, may appear from many considerations; for it is well known that the Gentiles of old were in wisdom and intelligence, in that they acknowledged One God; and wrote concerning Him with much sanctity. They acknowledged also the immortality of the soul and a life after death, and likewise the happy state of the good and the unhappy state of the wicked. Their laws, moreover, were grounded in the commandments of the decalogue, viz., that God is to be worshiped, that parents are to be honored, and theft, murder, and adultery are crimes which ought not to be committed. . . . Nor were they content to practice these things in externals only, but insisted on their observance in internals. The case is the same at this day, the well-principled Gentiles, in all parts of the earth, discourse better on the above subjects that Christians, nor do they discourse only, but live accordingly. . . Hence, then it is evident who are signified by the sons whom Milcah bare to Nahor the brother of Abraham, viz., those out of the Church who are in brotherhood by virtue of good" (A. C. 2863).
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     This Church is to succeed the Churches which have existed since the beginning of the world.- T. C. R. 788.



     The New Church Monthly for April is full of valuable, and interesting instruction concerning science from the New Church point of view.



     A NEW work by Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson has recently been published by James Speirs, of London, under the title, "The Soul is Form and doth the Body make. The Heart and the Lungs, the Will and the Understanding. Chapters in Psychology."



     THE Neukirchenblatt, the Organ of the German New Church Missionary Union, which hitherto has been published in Berlin, Canada, under the editorship of the Rev. W. F. Tuerk, is now published in Berlin and Philadelphia, with the Rev. Messrs. Tuerk, Tafel, Faber, and Diehl as an editorial board.



     THE second volume of the Latin-English edition of the Apocalypse Explained has just come to hand, as the Life goes to press. It contains chapters three and four of the Apocalypse. It is the intention of the New York Society to issue a new English edition of this work, in six volumes, at the very low price of sixty cents a volume, the translation being the same as that of the Latin-English edition. It will probably take several years to complete the Work.



     AT the second annual meeting of the "Pennsylvania Association" on April 4th, a paper was read by the Rev. W. L. Worcester on the "Duty of the Church to its Children," in which, it is reported, he advocated that the children of the Church should be educated exclusively in New Church Schools and kept strictly under New Church influences. A debate arose on this subject, in which only one of the speakers is said to have agreed with Mr. Worcester's self-evident proposition.



     A LATIN-ENGLISH edition of The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom is expected from the press in a week or two. It will be some time before it will be published in Latin and in English separately. It is a matter of regret that the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society has not issued the much needed De Caelo et Inferno, before De Amore Conjugiali, and Sapientia Angelica, etc. Reprints of these two works can still be had, but De Caelo et Inferno is very scarce.



     AN article in Swedish, on "The beginning of wisdom," by Mr. Ansgarius Boron, a student of the Academy, who departed to the spiritual world on June 2d, 1889, has been published in the Skandinavisk Nykyrk Tidning for March, 1890. The article presents the teachings on the Divine Authority of the Writings in a very clear manner, and has already caused a useful discussion of the subject in some circles of the Church in Sweden. A short biography of Mr. Boren accompanies the article.



     THE Library of the Academy of the New Church has recently come into possession of a copy of the extremely rare original edition of Swedenborg's "Prodromus Principiorum Rerum Naturalium, sive Novorum Tentaminum Chymiam et Physicam Experimentalem Geometrice Explicando. Amsterdam Apud Joannem Vosterwyk, 1721." This little work, which contains 199 pages, was translated into English by Mr. Charles Strutt, and was published by the "Swedenborg Association" in London, 1847, under the title, "Some Specimens of the Work on the Principles of Chemistry."



     ANOTHER interesting work in the Library is an original copy of Michael Servetus's "De Trinitatis Erroribus, Libri Septem, 1531," bound in the parchment of an illuminated letter liturgy of the fourteenth century. This is the work in which Servetus first proclaimed his views concerning the Trinity, which so remarkably approach the Doctrine of the New Church, and on account of which he was burned by Calvin in Geneva, 1553. The work itself was burned by order of Calvin and only three or four copies are known to have been preserved, one of which is the copy now in the Library of the Academy.



     ONE of the most interesting and instructive of biographies is the Autobiography of the late Rev. David Powell published in the year 1856 under the editorial care of the Rev. Wm. H. Benade. One of the leading features of Mr. Powell's life is the wonderful leading of his mind to an implicit trust in the Divine Providence, and the marked confirmation of this trust by subsequent experiences. The Autobiography is embellished with a portrait of Mr. Powell, and a number of selected sermons from his pea are added, making a volume of 168 pages, octavo. For sale at the Academy Book Room, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Price, in cloth, 5 cents.



     THE latest of the pocket editions of the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society's publications; which embrace the Four Doctrines, Heaven and Hell and The Divine Providence, is The Divine Love and Wisdom (in paper covers, 15 ets.; cloth, 25 ets.), a very complete little book, well printed, containing table of contents, and an index as well as a descriptive catalogue of the Society's.

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The sentence in the latter "about the year 1743, when fifty-five years of age, he [Swedenborg] claimed that he was called by the LORD to make known the true interpretation of the Divine Word" etc., is, to say the least, not at all felicitous. Can the Swedenborg Society say nothing more definite about Swedenborg's call than that he claimed to receive it?



     IN a letter to the New Church Messenger, the Rev. J. E. Smith, the New Church Missionary in the South, reports the case of a German saloon-keeper-a large wholesale and retail dealer in beer-who, on being converted to the Doctrines of the New Church was "shown that he must forsake this business, and consequently, will do so." This was quoted as an "example of what truth can do, when other expedients have failed."
     It is difficult to imagine from what Doctrine of the New Church the person in question could have been shown "that he must forsake" a perfectly legitimate and useful business. This is an example of what false sentiment can do when taught as a dogma of the Church.



     MR. JAMES SPEIRS, the London New Church publisher, has issued a second edition of "A Brief Sketch of the Life, Character, and Religious Opinions of Chartes Augustus Tulk," by Mary Catherine Hume, with Introduction, by Charles Pooley, the editor of Tulk's "Science of Correspondency." The question suggests itself, what may be the object of the agent of the Swedenborg Society in placing in the hands of the Church this insidious form of Gnosticism and denial of the LORD'S Human, which is known as Tulkism? He evidently cannot share the accepted belief concerning it. Coming, as these works do, from a well-known New Church publishing house, without a word of comment or dissent, the danger of the dissemination of their erroneous teachings is great. The negligence of the periodicals of the Church in warning against them betrays an indifference to the preservation pure Doctrine.



     SIGNOR Loreto Scocia, who recently visited the Societies of the New Church in England, with the view of studying the best methods of establishing an ecclesiastical organization of the New Church in Italy, gives so me of his recent experiences while in England in a letter to New Church Messenger of April 9th. At a public meeting in Manchester Signor Scocia took occasion to explain his intentions, using also, the term "ecclesiastical organization." This dangerous expression aroused some doubts, and two gentlemen expressed the fear that in the future society of the New Church in Italy some clerical hierarchy would be established aspiring naturally to dominion. On this subject Signor Scocia observes "The fear of sacerdotal dominion is a thing of the imagination, because such domination is impossible in the New Church. The religious system made known to us by Divine Providence through Swedenborg is perfect and complete; to it nothing can be added or taken away. The memorable principle which pervades all his doctrine is this, that in the spiritual things, which have regard to religion and the worship of the LORD, man should act freely according to his reason-'ex libero secundum rationem'-and that the LORD Himself in every proceeding of His divine providence keeps untouched and holy these two faculties in man, the reason and the liberty. As long, therefore, as the Writings of Swedenborg remain unaltered, and the clergy and the laity do not omit to read them, all spiritual domination of one over another will be impossible. I explained privately each one of these considerations to the friends in Manchester, but I do not know that they were convinced."
This Church is to endure for ages of ages 1890

This Church is to endure for ages of ages              1890

     This Church is to endure for ages of ages, and thus it is to be the crown of all the Churches that have been before.- T. C.R. 788.
REPRINT OF THE WORK CONJUGIAL LOVE 1890

REPRINT OF THE WORK CONJUGIAL LOVE              1890

DELICIAE SAPIENTIAE DE AMORE CONJUGIALI; post quas sequunter Voluptates Insaniae de Amore Scortatorio. Ab Emanuele Swedenborg, Sueco. Editia hujus operis princeps exiit Amstelodami, mdcclxviii. New York: American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, 20 Cooper Union, MDCCCLXXXIX.

     IT is highly gratifying to note the unabated activity of the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society in the matter of the Latin Reprints. De Amore Conjugiali is the eleventh volume published by this Society in the form which has so frequently called forth admiration in these columns and elsewhere. While the general style of this volume is uniform with that of its predecessors, there are a few particulars in which the most does not seem to have been made of previous experience. For instance, the large initials which ornament the beginnings of the chapters in De Nova Hierosolyma, and which constitute an attractive feature of that Work, have not been made use of in this volume. The memorabilia, also, might well have been separated from the chapters by a wider space, at least as wide as in Apocalypsis Revelata. They have, indeed, this advantage over the memorabilia in the latter Work, that they have not been thrown into double columns, but there appears no reason why they should be-printed in smaller type than the chapters. They constitute a most important part of the Work, as evidenced by the fact that the Work begins and ends with them, and still more by what is said of them in the beginning and close of the volume. By the use of smaller type, the effect which would otherwise be produced by the happy arrangement of the conversations, which distinguishes these reprints from other editions and translations, is largely counteracted.
     Apropos to the memorabilia, the introduction of parentheses in the relation n. 415, page 319, instead of being of assistance to an understanding of the text, will mislead the reader. As it stands in the reprint, it appears as if the satans told Swedenborg the "mystery" there recorded, while it evidently was told by the angels, that is to say, by the last speakers referred to, those by whom "it was told" Swedenborg that changes of situation `arose from changes of state.
     We fail to see the reason for inserting the trans-literated Hebrew words for "man" and "woman" into the Scripture passage in n. 156 [second], where they occur already. If a special reference to the- Hebrew words is needed, why not insert the Hebrew characters? Besides being much more satisfactory to those who read this language, it would subserve the use of making Newchurchmen at large, familiar with the Divine forms of the letter of the Word in which its verimost holiness resides.
     As usual, the Editor's Critical Notes present art interesting study. Perhaps the one that will attract most attention is that to n. 98, in which the Editor refers to the use of the word "conjugate." He intimates that this is a misprint for "conjugiale," and refers to the True Christian Religion, in the original edition of which the term "conjugalis" occurs twice (n. 847, 805). In one of these cases, at least the manuscript would undoubtedly show "conjugialis" as may be concluded from a reference to the Index of the relation recorded in n. 847, and from the same relation as published in the work on Conjugial Love. Dr Worcester also refers to n. 203 (C. L.). The occurrence of the word "conjugale" led to some discussion in the past history of the Church, and M. Le Boys des Guays in his French translation of Conjugial Love departed entirely from the line of our English translators, who, following Swedenborg, introduced the word "conjugial" into their vernacular.

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He entitled his translation "Les Delices de la Sagesse sur l'Amour Conjugal," etc., and at the end of the volume, made the following observations:

     "Some persons have desired that, in our translations of Swedenborg's works, we had adopted the expression 'conjugial love,' instead of 'conjugal love,' when the text has 'amor conjugialis.' They are persuaded that the author has made use of the two words, 'conjugiotis' and 'conjugalis,' designating by the first the marriage of good and truth, and by the second, the marriage of the evil and the false.
     "If this had appeared to us to be Swedenborg's intention, we should have complied with the desire, for we have never hesitated to use new words, whenever it was necessary, in order to render the thought exactly. But everything proves to us that the author never had this intention, for, if the word 'conjugalis' is met with a few times in his writings, this can have been only by a typographical error, as will be now shown.
     "Whatever may be the etymology which one may assign to the two Latin adjectives, 'conjugialis' and 'conjugalis,' they certainly both express the same thing. Swedenborg, then, had to choose between the two, and he adopted 'conjugialis,' be it because this word has a softer pronunciation, or because it is used by the authors of good Latin; and at the same time it may be remarked that he had used it, by preference, in his philosophic works.
     "If Swedenborg had made a difference between these two Latin adjectives, he would have had occasion to make use of the word 'conjugalis' especially in this Work. Now, this word occurs here only twice, while 'conjugialis' occurs thousands of times. In fact 'conjugalis' is not found except in n. 98 and 203, where one can easily recognize that it is a typographical error; and one reads, on the contrary, 'conjugialis' in places where, on the hypothesis of a distinction, 'conjugalis' ought necessarily to have been used. For example, n. 69, 224, 247, 257.
     "In order to convince every reader who is familiar with the Latin tongue, we will place these passages before his eyes:
     "N. 93. 'Agitur hic de amore vere conjugiali, et non de amore vulari qui ETIAM conjugalis dicitur,' the word 'ETIAM' shows sufficiently that the type-setter put 'conjugalis' in place of 'conjugialis,' by omitting the vowel 'i;' the rest of the article also indicated this.
     "N. 203. 'Hoc conjugiale transit. . . . quandogue in oppositum, quod vocatur conjugate SEU connubium mali et falsi.' Here also the vowel 'i' had been omitted by the type-setter; for, three lines farther down, it is said 'Hoc et illud conjugiale.' It is therefore evident that the author, in adding, 'SEU connubium.' Wished thereby to distinguish the 'conjugiale mali et falsi' from the 'conjugiale boni et vere.'
     "N. 69. 'Gaudia et omnes delitiae. . . in alio amore conjugiali quam genuino non sunt.' According to the theory of a distinction, 'conjugali' ought to stand here.
     "N. 224. 'Dignoscitur amor vere conjugialis ab amore CONJUGIALI SPURIO, FALSO et FRIGIDO.'
     "N. 247. 'IPSUM FRIGUS CONJUGIALE.'
     "N. 257. 'Amor EXTRACONJUGIALIS.'
     "Moreover, the expression, 'amor vere conjugialis,' which is met with thousands of times in the author's writings, would alone suffice to show that 'amor conjugialis' is also used by him to express the common conjugal love."

     Whatever may be the conclusion of scholars on this mooted question, the occurrence of this form of the word in the original edition, even if the possible discovery of the manuscript may show it to be a misprint, calls attention to a distinction that may be made between two kinds of loves, a distinction that has commended itself to thoughtful minds, and one which Newchurchmen may observe with impunity-namely, the distinction between the spiritual conjugial love which the LORD gives to those of His New Church, who acknowledge Him and shun the lust of adultery as sin against Him-and the limited love of the sex, which as to outward form also appears like conjugial love, but which is merely conjugal. "Conjugial" is more immediately derived from "conjugium"-marriage, and is softer than "conjugal," which carries the mind more directly to the yoke which couples, not men, but animals. It would indeed be very interesting to ascertain what Swedenborg wrote, but the manuscript of this Work is not known to be in existence.
     A comparison of Le Boys des Guays's "table of typographical errors of the Latin text" with Dr. Worcester's "critical notes," shows that the former considers "in amorem" on page 126, line 24, a misprint for "in animam," and on page 144, line 33 "dejectum" a misprint for "defectum," while the latter retains the original reading in both instances. So on page 124, line 4, where the French translator has changed "perficiantur" into "perficiatur," the Latin editor wisely retains the original word.
     The question raised concerning "conjugialis" emphasizes the usefulness of photo-lithographing whatever manuscripts are still preserved, and to this, indeed, the Editor of De Amore Conjugiali refers in his preface, where he says:
     "The Revelations for the New Church, given by the LORD through His servant have been guarded by the Divine Providence. Not a few copies of the original edition of Swedenborg's Works are still preserved, and now, by means of a new art, with the help of the sun's rays, each particular letter and each particular punctuation-mark can be described and delineated throughout the ages. To such copies, not to ours, though they be most diligently prepared, one ought to refer in doubtful cases."
Word of both Testaments a New Church is predicted 1890

Word of both Testaments a New Church is predicted              1890




     General Church of Pennsylvania.
     In the Word of both Testaments a New Church is predicted; which shall solely acknowledge the Lord. That prediction was not fulfilled before the present day.- A. R. 478.
VISIT TO ALLENTOWN 1890

VISIT TO ALLENTOWN       L. G. JORDAN       1890

     The undersigned spent Sunday, April 13th, at Allentown, in this State, in accordance with a request from the Society there for a pastoral visitation.
     In the morning the Sunday- School was held for the benefit of about twenty young scholars of various ages. The bright faces and earnest interest of Superintendent Wunderhich and the teachers indicated that good work is being done to the extent permitted by the shortness of the hour allotted to it. A marked feature of the place of meeting were somewhat lengthy Hebrew and Greek inscriptions on the walls, showing that the study of the Word in its purest ultimates is encouraged.
     Then followed the service for the adults, consisting of the usual liturgical exercises and sermon, and closing with the celebration of the LORD'S Supper. There were about twenty-four persons present, and seventeen partook of the Sacrament. The sphere was strong and pleasant, and caused expressions of gladness that after a long interval' ministerial services were again provided.
     In the evening there was a meeting at the house of Mr. Jacob Ebert, where an infant son of the host and hostess and another of Mrs. Anna May were baptized. The little ones were nearly of an age, about five months, both fine, healthy-looking little novitiates in the Church and the world. After the baptisms a happy, social evening was enjoyed by the assembled company, which, by special request of Mr. and Mrs. Ebert, included the children as well as their elders.
     There is a warm and loyal sphere of the Church in this little circle, and it is well-deserving of the fostering care of the General body. It is hoped that a minister may be sent there at least once a month for the future.

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     L. G. JORDAN.
PHILADELPHIA, April 22d, 1890=120.
"Bride" and "Wife" 1890

"Bride" and "Wife"              1890

     The New Church is called the "Bride" and "Wife" of the Lord, because she solely acknowledges the Lord.- A. R. 633.
OFFICIAL DECISION IN THE GREENFORD CASE 1890

OFFICIAL DECISION IN THE GREENFORD CASE       Z. P. CURRY, Clerk       1890

     Trustees of the Society of the New Jerusalem
     vs.                    15686
     John V. Stahl, Emanuel Stahl, Jacob Groetzinger, Reichstadt and John Coy.

     JOURNAL ENTRY.

     This cause came on for trial upon the pleadings and evidence and was tried to and submitted to the Court.
     On consideration whereof the Court find that the plaintiffs are entitled to the relief prayed for in their petition, and that at the commencement of this action, they, said plaintiffs and the said congregation of the Society of the New Jerusalem at Greenford, Ohio, on whose behalf the plaintiffs sue-were unlawfully prevented and hindered from entering the church building and conducting worship or other church business therein, by the said defendants, and the plaintiffs were unlawfully prevented by the defendants from the management of the temporal affairs of the church society.
     Wherefore it is ordered adjudged and decreed that the injunction granted at the commencement of this action be and it hereby is made perpetual, and the defendants are hereby enjoined from in any manner interfering with the said plaintiffs and the remaining members of said congregation on whose behalf they sue, in their free access to and use of the said church property. And they are further enjoined from hindering or resisting the said plaintiffs in their management and control of the said society's temporal affairs and of the said church building and premises. And it is further considered that the plaintiffs recover of the defendants their costs herein taxed amounting to $ . . .

     Defendant gives notice of Appeal and Bond fixed at one hundred dollars.

THE STATE OF OHIO,
Mahoning County.

     I, Z. P. Curry, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of said County, do hereby certify that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of the Journal Entry in the case of Trustees of Society of New Jerusalem vs. Stahl et al., now on file in my office.
     Witness my hand and the seal of the said Court, this 29th day of March, A. D. 1890.
     [SEAL.]     Z. P. CURRY, Clerk.
Bishop Benade 1890

Bishop Benade              1890

     THE members and friends of the General Church of Pennsylvania will be pleased to learn that Bishop Benade was strong enough to preside at a joint meeting of the Councils of the Clergy and the Laity, on the LORD'S Day, April 19th. The length of the meeting fatigued him somewhat, but a good night's rest refreshed him again.
Communicated 1890

Communicated              1890

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the writers.]
They who are in truths from good 1890

They who are in truths from good              1890

     They who are in truths from good, are received into the New Church, because they love its light.- A. R. 922.
PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHING THE MANUSCRIPTS 1890

PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHING THE MANUSCRIPTS              1890

     THE following letter, received by the Treasurer of the General Church of Pennsylvania, has been sent by him to the Life with the hope that it may arouse others to like action:
     "I am most heartily at one with the Life and all sound Newchurchmen as to the duty of obtaining photo-lithographs of all the Writings without delay, and accordingly hand to the proper custodian through you the accompanying mite. I would make it larger, were I not a little short just now, but think I could enlarge it some, if necessary. I know of no better work for those who love the Church than just this, and want to know how much will be needed, how soon, and in what way the work can best be done, and any other information you could give me. I am heart and soul in preserving the exact form in which this revelation of the Internal Sense, in other words, 'Adventus Domini,' has come to us. Let me know all about it."
New Church is successively formed and grows 1890

New Church is successively formed and grows              1890

     The New Church is successively formed and grows, the reason is, that the falses of the former Church must first be cast out.- A. R. 547.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE VOICE OF GOD 1890

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE VOICE OF GOD       J. S       1890

     THE motto, that "The voice of the people is the voice of God" is generally considered to contain a grand incontestable truth, and in the present age perhaps more than in any previous one it is constantly heard as the rallying cry of democracy and anarchy. In past ages the voice of the people dethroned monarchs, exterminated nations, and swept away all laws of order by the edge of the sword. In the present age, relinquishing the sword as a clumsy and ineffective weapon, it has chosen the deadly poison of man's own conceit and self-intelligence, which destroys not the body but the soul.
     According to the philosophy of the people as propounded by their demagogues, the human race can only progress in civilization, and become one huge social circle by obeying the instincts of the masses. This evidently presupposes that the inclinations of the masses are naturally good, and that the expression of them must be true, yea, divinely true. So assiduously, has this doctrine been propagated and inculcated that at the present moment the voice of the people is not only supreme in the kingdom and the State, but also in the Church, where it decides what is Truth and what is not, and ridiculing the Laws of Divine Order, it has removed the Word from the Altar and placed in its stead Self and the World.
     The "people" in a good sense signify those who are truths, and as the "voice" is predicated of truth, therefore the "voice of the people" is the expression of their internal state. In the Word the "voice of weeping," "rioting," and various other voices are mentioned, all of which when predicated of people signify the state of their interiors.

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     In order to arrive at a just conclusion concerning the people, it is necessary to take into consideration their internal state, and from that as the cause, judge of the effect, We are taught in the Writings of the Church that man from his birth is constantly inclined to do evil, rather than shun it, and to love himself and the world before the LORD and the neighbor. Also, that Divine Truth is of Revelation, and can never be evolved out of the dark depths of man's own intelligence, for that is of Hell, and moreover, we are taught that the Old Church, this Democratic Church or Church of the People is altogether false and evil, a body dead and putrid. Although it is not wise to judge of the interior state of any individual, yet it is the necessary, nay, the imperative duty of every member of the Church to declare from the Writings without any hesitation that the Old Church is dead and cannot be resuscitated.
     As the people in a good sense signify those who are in truths, in the opposite sense they signify those who are in falsities, and as the voice bears in it something of the quality of the speaker, the voice of those who are in falses can be interiorly nothing but what is false, although, viewed by the external senses only, it may appear to be true. The voice of the people at the present day is the voice of self and the world, and is ever raised in favor of false theories and false practices. Trusting in the power of their own self-derived intelligence, they lift themselves above their Creator, and in the pride of their worldly prudence they criticize the Divine Providence. The voice of the people cries that obedience is but another name for slavery, and that to be free every one must be a ruler, and yet over all their selfish ends they cast the mantle of hypocritical charity, and in the midst of the deadly strife for worldly place and honor, they cast each other down with hypocritical protestations of regret. The voice of the people, arising as it does from a state in which God is not acknowledged, cannot be aught but evil, and to those who are in the evils and falsities of life, Self is not only their God and their
Heaven, but it is also the very breath of their nostrils. The voice of God, which is the Divine Truth proceeding from the Word and the Writings is condemned and despised by the Old Church, nor will they ever listen to it, because the Voice of God commands obedience and that they cannot yield, for they will not. The LORD Himself has said that the state of the Christian world is altogether false and evil, and if, after accepting this great truth, History and Experience be consulted, we shall find the Divine Truth confirmed in every line.
     Taking only, for example, a brief view of European history during the Christian era, and passing by Rome, which is a fearful example of the voice of the people, we see the people wresting the sceptre from the hands of their rulers, and persecuting and butchering all who stand in their way, or dare to protest in the name of order. Page after page is filled with horrible deeds done in the name of Liberty, until at length we see the disorderly States of Europe ultimated in the French nation, and the mind shrinks in horror from the spectacle of an insane nation committing suicide while proclaiming with blasphemous tongue the dawning age of reason. Nor is the present state of Europe better, but worse, and notwithstanding the careful glozing of authors and Writers, the facts stand out clearly when viewed in the light of Divine Truth.
     But the voice of the people is not only heard in the Old Church but also in the New, where it is raised in opposition to the voice of God.
     The New Church is asked, nay, commanded, to give up the very doctrines upon which it is founded and for what? The voice of the people says, for liberty of thought and freedom of speech and action. Is there not something ridiculous in this request when every member of the Church knows that their liberty is the rule of all, which is the vilest slavery and their freedom nothing but license. Constantly is the New Church asked to admit that the doctrines of the Old Church are the same as those of the New, and as this is the case the New Church should dwell with the Old in the bonds of brotherly love and Christian charity. This in plain language means that the New Church is to deliver itself up to the powers of hell. The attacks of the Old Church are directed with malignant cunning against the doctrine of obedience- to the voice of God.
     In this democratic age the only safety for the men of the Church is in the declaration that the Writings of the Church in the whole and every part are Divine Truth Itself. Doubt may lead to denial, and spiritual death lies in the direction of the denial that the Doctrines of the Church are the Word of the LORD, and it is in this His Second Coming that the LORD speaks to all; and those who hear his voice are His people. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me."
     "He that hath an ear let him hear."-Rev. iii, 20-22.
     J. S.
New Church 1890

New Church              1890

     The New Church consists of those who approach the Lord alone, and repent of their evil works.- A. R. 69-72.
PARKDALE SOCIETY 1890

PARKDALE SOCIETY       X       1890

     (A five-minute paper read at one of its meetings for the purpose of recreations of charity.)

     WE read in the Writings "that the social intercourse which does not conjoin minds in a friendship which has something akin to charity is but the feigned substance of friendship, consisting in deceptive attestations of mutual love" (T. C. R. 434). This feigned semblance of friendship we wish to avoid in this Society, which we will do by giving careful attention to what is taught us here from Sabbath to Sabbath; for true New Church friendship can only be between those who acknowledge and live New Church faith. Our Pastor has from time to time shown us that, in order to come into this state of New Church friendship, we must have in our minds a true idea of general doctrines, and that an important general doctrine which is greatly misunderstood, is the doctrine concerning the state of the Christian world. We have been told, that if our minds be not carefully stored with truths with regard to this, we must fall into a state of confusion as regards many other things, and thus fail to become consociated on the spiritual plane.
     When we note the clear teachings in our Heavenly Writings upon this general doctrine, one is at a loss to know why so much uncertain thought concerning it exists in the so-called New Church. For instance, it should not be difficult for any Society of New Church people to unite upon an interpretation of the following from the Writings, concerning the men of the Christian world:     "They form to themselves a spurious conscience, which allows them to live like devils, beating and persecuting their neighbor, and spending their whole lives in adulteries, and yet expecting to be saved.

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What can be more for men to hear and be persuaded of, than that they may live like wild beasts, and still be saved agreeable but the Gentiles perceive the falsity of such a notion, and many of them, in consequence of observing the misconduct of Christians, hold their doctrines in abhorrence. The nature of this faith is evident from the fact that nowhere do people conduct themselves more abominably than amongst Christians (A. C. 9161).
     And this:
     "There are Gentiles who when they lived in the world had known, from intercourse and report, that Christians live the worst life, in adulteries, hatred, quarrels, drunkenness, and the like" (A. C. 2597).
     And this:
     "At this day these are they who for the most part constitute the general involuntary sense, who anciently were the most celestial of all, and now are the most wicked of all, and this chiefly from the Christian world. They are in great numbers. . . They think deceitfully, and devise evils against the neighbor, putting on a friendly countenance, . . and speaking pleasantly as if pre-eminently endowed with charity, and yet are the most bitter enemies" (A. C. 4327).
     These quotations from the Doctrines of the Church could be multiplied, and found always couched in language so clear and forcible as to make it impossible to mistake their meaning and intent, yet the so-called New Church to-day is not at all united upon this very important doctrine, but is forming into two parties, which are not only not united upon the doctrine, but are becoming antagonistic, and, too, these pictures of the state of the Christian world are, not mere fancy sketches, as some would infer, nor are they exceptional passages. Such, it should be known by all, have no place in the Revelation given to the Church, which is the crown of all the Churches. A Revelation of this kind, we should know, can have nothing about it done in a hurry, not a word put there- from idle fancy, caprice, or indifference. Such may be found in human works, but not in a Divine work.
     In view of these things, it is very gratifying to note the advance step made in this Society, and I think we should co-operate with our Pastor in his efforts not only to confirm the members of this Society in this distinctive New Church social position, but in all other efforts put forth by him to bring the Society into distinctively New Church order.
     When reflecting upon these plain truths from the Writings which show up the wicked state of the Christian world, New Church men are likely to make the mistake that it is their business to set about at once to correct these states in their fellow-men-in other words, we are likely to consider ourselves missionaries to this great cause.
     I think, however, that if we will give good heed to the Writings as they are presented in this place of worship from time to time, we will have this erroneous nation removed. The Christian world is certainly placed before us in our Heavenly Writings in all its hideous deformity. A blacker picture of wickedness, filth, and crime could hardly be conceived, but we must be careful to' draw from this the lesson which is intended to be conveyed, and the lesson our Pastor places before us in his sermons. It is not that we are to get the Old Church out of others, but that we are to get this black, ugly, deformed thing out of ourselves, thus out of our Society, thus out of the world. It is to this-end that we must have correct ideas of the state of, the Christian world; we may conclude this to be so from the fact that our Writings contain so many graphic pictures of the states of the men of this world. We read that an angel upon having been told of the wickedness and ignorance of the men of the Christian world, was silent for a long time, being paralyzed with amazement. When he broke silence, he thus spoke: "Is it possible that the Christian world is so insane?" (T.C.R. 134).
     We read also that the angels who are sometimes sent out by the LORD to visit the Christian Societies which are in the World of Spirits greatly lament, saying that there is such dullness and thence thick darkness in the things of salvation, almost like that of a talking parrot (T. C. R. 391).
     The aim we have in this Society is to come into heavenly order and be consociated, that happiness may be communicated. We are taught that in a heavenly Society each angel is the centre of the good will and affection of every other angel in that Society. This reciprocal communication of heavenly life can only be amongst those who are in similar faith governed in a like- understanding of the Word, and a. life in accord with that understanding. As was shown (in A. C. 4827, just read), there are those who "put on a friendly countenance and speak pleasantly as if pre-eminently endowed with charity, and yet they are the most bitter enemies." That it is possible that such vile states may exist amongst us is sad to contemplate, but their existence is solely due to the fact that the truths of the Word as given in the Sacred Scriptures and Writings of the Church have not been attended to and faithfully made the precepts of life. In this Society may we prevent this horrible state from coming amongst us by hearing attentively and obeying instantly the doctrines of true order as given us from time to time.
     X.
Those who will to destroy 1890

Those who will to destroy              1890

     Those who will to destroy the two essentials of the New Church will perish.- A. R. 494.
LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN 1890

LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN              1890

     A SYMPATHETIC friend-a reader of Life, and in the affirmative attitude toward the Academy-would like to embrace the opportunity of asking two questions through me. 1. Does the Academy make any distinction between the "Writings" and the "Doctrines"? If so, what distinction? 2. On what ground does it sanction the use of ecclesiastical titles borrowed from the dead Church, with special reference to the use of "The Right Reverend Bishop"? I have no doubt that answers to these queries will be appreciated by many readers besides my friend who makes the inquiry.

     IT is just possible that a news item like the following is published by way of a lark to see the effect it will have on a certain impressionable section of the Church. At the risk of furnishing sport for our friends, however, such items should be marked and a protest entered:

     "The infant son of the Rev. G. H. Lock was baptized on Sunday, Feb. 2nd, by Mr. T. R Osgerby, one of the deacons of the Hull Society."-Morning Light, March 8th, 1890.

     It may be asked where is the harm? I cannot say, from experience, precisely wherein the harm of departing from order lies. I could not give an atheist a satisfactory reason for believing in God-satisfactory to him. All that I know of the advantage of believing in God I learned from Revelation. From the same source I learn, in effect, that Order is Heaven's first law, and I am sure (so to speak) that so gross a departure from the order of the sanctuary as is here indicated must be spiritually injurious to both minister and members of the Hull Society.

78


I HAVE seen the report of the London (Camberwell) Society 1890

I HAVE seen the report of the London (Camberwell) Society              1890

     I HAVE seen the report of the London (Camberwell) Society. It tells of internal progress. I note a few points. There have been good attendances at meetings for the study of Writings-20, 21, 24. There has been a "Feast of Charity" at which "Sentiments" were proposed and responded to. The minister or "pastor" as he is designated, is also Superintendent or the Sunday-school. Conjugial Love has been a subject of study. The book we have been accustomed to call "The Four Leading Doctrines" or "The Four Primary Doctrines" is here, no doubt correctly, called The Four Doctrines. The plenary authority of the Doctrines is acknowledged, the language used by the pastor being of this character: "In the Divine Love and Wisdom does He not further teach us. . . " The capital H in "He" plainly shows that it is not Swedenborg who is referred to but the LORD. Bishop Benade is designated by his title. The envelope scheme for contributions to Church uses has been so far successful that it is to be tried for another year. There are nine "non-resident" members. The pastor of this Society, I need scarcely remind American readers of Life, is the Rev. R. J. Tilson.
     Another report before me is that of the Cathedral Street Church, Glasgow, the "pastor" of which is the Rev. J. F. Potts, B. A. The record here, also, is of quiet, steady progress and harmony. The names of six members have been removed on the ground that they had "ceased to attend." There are thirty-eight "adherents." The report is able to state that "seventy-nine members have attended." Reference is made to the assistance received from the American Convention and from the Swedenborg Society toward the support of the assistant pastor, the Rev. Arthur Faraday. This aid is given, of course, as an acknowledgment on the part of the Church as a whole of the universal use performed by Mr. Potts in editing the Concordance.
     The custom of issuing annual reports in printed form is most useful. Members who love their Church love to mark its progress. The report need not be elaborate and the cost need not be great. I admire the Glasgow report, which is a single sheet of note paper printed on three sides. The salient facts are briefly re-corded; and the item for printing-including cost of advertising, etc., for the year is only L1 7s. 6d.
LETTER 1890

LETTER              1890

     A LETTER, about which more will, no doubt, be heard, appears in Morning Light of March 29th. It is by the Rev. Charles Griffiths, and relates to his severance from the Colchester Society because three-fourths, or, possibly, five-sixths, of the committee of that Society indorse certain doctrines "peculiar" to the Academy and, in his opinion, "not in accord with the Writings of the Church."
     The doctrines referred to are, also, in his opinion, "calculated to prevent further progress in Colchester and, by preventing growth, in time to extinguish the Society."
     Leaving those whom it may more immediately concern, to answer Mr. Griffiths's "charges and allegations," let us see how far Mr. Griffiths's fears for the progress of the Colchester Society are justified by the facts. In the Conference returns for 1888 the membership of that Society is put at 41; increase during the year, 7, or 16 per cent. In 1889 the number of members was 46; increase, 10, or 21 per cent. These figures do not take account of decrease from uncontrollable causes.
     We see, therefore, that, although the Colchester Society is comparatively as a sheep without a shepherd, yet it holds its own as regards numerical progression, and gives no grounds of justification for Mr. Griffiths' solicitude. Contrast the progress of Colchester Society with that of Brightlingsea Society, which enjoys in an especial degree the benefits of Mr. Griffiths' ministrations.
     Brightlingsea Society had in 1888 a membership of 170. It has added 4 during the year. The increase was therefore 2.4 per cent. in the same year that Colchester advanced 16 percent. In 1889, again, Brightlingsea's advance was barely 2 per cent. against Colchester's 21. In view of such a remarkable difference in the rate of progress numerically of the two Societies to which Mr. Griffiths' ministers, the wonder is that he did not resolve to throw in his lot with the Academy rather than give it such dramatic repudiation.
     Extinguished Societies are, unhappily, no new thing in the history of the New Church; but I think I am right in saying that there is no example of a Society fostered on doctrines "peculiar to the Academy" becoming extinct. Colchester is no exception. It is surely something to say on behalf of the doctrines "peculiar to the Academy" that the members of this Society, who are visited only on rare occasions by priests and teachers in sympathy with their faith, dwell together in unity, and extend their borders notwithstanding the unsympathetic teaching of their appointed Pastor. The pity is that doctrines with such inherent vitality should be "peculiar" to the Academy.
THEY are having novel experience at Bristol 1890

THEY are having novel experience at Bristol              1890

     THEY are having novel experience at Bristol. At a recent Sunday evening lecture given by the Pastor, the Rev. Chas. H. Wilkins, the house of worship was overcrowded and numbers were turned away. This is a refreshing repetition of history. One need not be written down ungracious if he express the hope that it was New Church truth which attracted such large numbers. If so, the historical parallel will not extend further. These seekers after truth will have come to stay.
ANOTHER old-time custom of a different kind 1890

ANOTHER old-time custom of a different kind              1890

     ANOTHER old-time custom of a different kind, but maybe quite as hopeful as a sign of the times, is being revived in Scotland where the active Scottish Association is breading new ground. At Musselburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, bills announcing the Association lectures were destroyed and a "strong antagonism" is aroused.
Sacrament of the Holy Supper 1890

Sacrament of the Holy Supper       JAMES CALDWELL       1890

     "THE Sacrament of the Holy Supper will be administered at the close of the present service." Such, or in similar terms, is the announcement usually made during the service preceding a celebration of the holiest act of worship in English houses of worship. The celebration being made at the "close of the service," is, of course, no part of that service. They manage these things better in Scotland, I think. In each country the custom-prevalent in the "established" Church is followed. Parenthetically, I would remark that probably American readers will smile at the idea of Scotland being called a country and having an established Church all to itself. Such is the fact, however. A member of the Established Church of Scotland is a dissenter in England and vice versa. When the Queen goes to Balmoral she worships at the Crathie Parish Church and loyal church-men in England can't understand it at all. Well, the Scottish societies of the New Church, adopting the custom of the country, make the Sacrament of the Holy Supper a part of the usual service of worship.

79


They say, in defense of the English custom, that the worshiper's freedom is preserved. But it is preserved equally under the Scottish method; for those who are intending to participate assemble in a specified portion of the church before the commencement of worship. I am persuaded that many neglect the celebration in England because of the chilling, external auspices under which it is held.
     JAMES CALDWELL.
59 COUNTY ROAD, LIVERPOOL.

     ANSWER.

     "DOES the Academy make any distinction between the Writings and the 'Doctrines'?' If so, what distinction?"
     Doctrine is teaching, and, the "Doctrines of the New Church," therefore, embrace all the teachings which have been given by the LORD for the uses of the New Church.
     In a more technical sense, "doctrine" is the teaching drawn from the Word, and this whether it be given in the serial exposition of the Internal Sense, as in the Arcana Coelestia, the Apocalypse Revealed, the Apocalypse Explained, or the Summary Exposition of the Prophets and Psalms; or whether it be presented in the form of a system of theology, as in the Four Doctrines, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, The True Christian Religion, etc. In a still more restricted sense the term "doctrine" is applied to such Works as the three enumerated last, as appears from their titles. There is, therefore, a similar variety in the application of this term, as in the application of the term "the law:"
     "In a strict sense, by 'the law' is meant the Decalogue; in a wider sense are meant the statutes given by Moses to the sons of Israel; and in the widest, is meant the whole Word" (T. C. R. 288).
     In adaptation to those who think of "the Doctrines" only as those Works and parts of Works in which the teachings are given in the form of a system of theological tenets, or who have some other purely restricted idea of the term, and, in order to avoid misunderstanding on the part of such, the term "the Writings" is frequently used to designate all the Works written by Swedenborg in his office of Revelator, or as the Servant whom the LORD used through whom to reveal those things which were to be of His New Church.



     "On what ground does the Academy sanction the use of ecclesiastical titles borrowed from the dead Church?"
     On the ground of convenience, until better titles are found. The title "reverend" has almost lost its original meaning (to be revered or respected), and has come to be used by English-speaking peoples merely as a designation for a minister. In the absence of some other title it has the advantages of convenience and of being understood by all. "Right Reverend," a title borrowed from the Anglican Church, has been, adopted as indicating a higher degree in the ministry. It might be better to discontinue its use, and confine one's self to the term "Bishop"-one that did not come into vogue when the First Christian Church began to decline, as our querist seems to think, but which was used by the Apostles. Or the term "High-Priest" might be used, that being the appellation of such a priest in heaven (T. C. R. 661; C. L. 266), or the term "Primate" or "First One (Coro 51).
     If the inquirer desires to trace the origin of the term "Bishop" in the Primitive Christian Church, he is referred to Acts i, 20 xx 28; Phil. i, 1; I Tim. iii, 1, 2; I Pet. ii, 25. This word means an "overseer," and is quite applicable to a priest of the third degree, whose function is that, of governing and "overseeing" subordinate priests, and the churches over which they are set. The word "bishoprick" (Greek) in Acts i, 20, is there used as translation of the Hebrew word [Hebrew] (Psalms cviii, 9), the root meanings of which are to "examine, estimate, give heed to, visit, command, preside over, order, dispose" (A. C. 10,217), all of which words express qualities of the office, to which, in the New Church the name "Bishop" has been given.
     Since a name signifies quality (A. C. 2009), the appropriateness of this title is evident.-EDITOR.
Those who acknowledge faith alone 1890

Those who acknowledge faith alone              1890

     Those who acknowledge faith alone will reject the two essentials of the New Church.- A. R. 500.
ACADEMY BOOK ROOM 1890

ACADEMY BOOK ROOM       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     has for sale the following recent publications:

     DR AMORE CONJUGALI. New Latin edition. Half leather and cloth. 410 pages (5 3/4 x9 inches). Price, $2.50.
     QUARTUOR DOCTRINAE DR ULTIMIO JUDICTO. New Latin edition. Binding and size as the above. Price, $2.50.
     APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED. Vols. I and II. Latin-English edition. Alternate Latin and English pages (5 3/4 x9 inches). Half leather and cloth. Price, $1.50 a volume. The second volume just out.
     INDEX TO APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED. By the Rev. Samuel H.. Worcester. With tables of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek words with their Latin renderings and Index
to Scripture passages. 2 vols., 1,261 pages (5 34 x 9 inches). Half leather and cloth. Price per set, $4.00.
     SPIRITUAL DIARY. Vols. I-IV. The fourth volume only shortly out. Price per volume, $2.50.
     DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM. Cheap pocket edition, just published. Paper covers. Price, postage included, 15 cents; 8 copies for $1.00.
     Also a complete stock of all the Writings of the New Church in English and in Latin so far as obtainable.
     We can supply second-hand copies of the Writings (in English) at a low price, which may be of service to persons of small means.
     Address,
          ACADEMY BOOK ROOM,
               CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH, AGENT,
                    1821 Wallace Street,
                         PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Sample numbers of New Church Monthly 1890

Sample numbers of New Church Monthly              1890

a four-page journal published at Colchester, England, will be sent, on application to Carl Hj. Asplundh, Agent, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
WANTED 1890

WANTED       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     NEW CHURCH LIFE, Volume I, or loose numbers of that volume.
          ACADEMY BOOK ROOM,
               CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH AGENT,
                    1821 Wallace Street,
                         PHILADELPHIA, PA.

80


NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MISS FLORENCE G. GIBBS, 147 Camden Road, London, N.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on- Tyne.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, MAY, 1890=120.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes p. 65.
Self- Abasement (a Sermon), p. 66.-Manuscripts of Swedenborg not yet Photo-Lithographed, p. 69.-Influence of the Ancient Church on the Mexicans, p. 70.
     Notes and Reviews, p. 72.-Reprint of the Work on Conjugial Love, p. 75.
     General Church of Pennsylvania.- A Visit to Allentown, p. 74.-Official Decision in the Greenford Case, p. 75.
     Communicated.-Photo-Lithographing the Manuscripts, p. 73.- The Voice of the People versus the Voice of God, p. 75.-Parkdale Society, p. 76.-Letter from Great Britain, p. 77.- Answer, p. 79.- The Academy book-Boom. p. 79.
     News Gleanings, p. 80.-Births, Marriage., and Deaths p. 80.
     AT HOME

     Pennsylvania.- THE Church of the Advent celebrated Easter conjointly with the Academy, in the Hall of the latter body, which was decorated with appropriate pictures and with potted plants and flowers. The services were conducted by the Pastor of the Church of the Advent, and the dean of the Faculty of the Academy. A special feature was the singing of Hebrew Psalms by the schools. The services were attended by about one hundred persons, the larger number of whom partook of the Holy Supper.
     BISHOP Benade returned to Philadelphia on April 17th from his Southern tour, much invigorated by his trip.
     THE Rev. L. G. Jordan visited Allentown on April 17th and administered the Holy Supper. The Rev. Enoch S. Price visited the church in that city on April 21st, and the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck on April 27th, the latter being requested to assist in the celebration of the anniversary of the organization of the local church.
     THE Pennsylvania Association held their second annual meeting on April 4th in the House of Worship of the First New Jerusalem Society of Philadelphia. About one hundred and fifty persons were present. The opening service was conducted by the Rev. P. B. Cabell, of Wilmington, and the Rev. L. H. Tafel, of Philadelphia.- The various Societies reported a membership in Allentown of 32;-Philadelphia, 1st Society-367; the North Philadelphia Society 59; Vineland 55.- Several addresses were read, among which was one by the Rev. L. H. Tafel on "Family Reading."- An invitation was extended by the Frankford Society to the Association to hold its next annual meeting in Frankford, which was accepted.
Rev. P. B. Cabell has resigned his pastorate of the Cleveland and East Rockport Societies, Ohio, and accepted a call to Wilmington, Del. In the secular press the cause for his resignation is attributed to the differences in the Cleveland Society on the subjects of the proper wine for the Holy Supper, and of Christian Science.
     Massachusetts.- THE Massachusetts Association met in Boston on April 3d.- The opening religious services were conducted by the Rev. James Reed. The Rev. Joseph Pettee administered the rite of confirmation and delivered an address.-Reports were read from nine-teen Societies, also other reports.- The circulating library has been used by four hundred and six persons, one hundred and nineteen of whom were new-comers; seven hundred and eleven books were loaned, one hundred and nineteen being works of Swedenborg.
     Illinois.- THE General Convention will meet in Chicago, June 2lst, at 10 A. M., in the Temple on Van Buren Street.
     THE members of the New Church in Joliet organized themselves into the Joliet Society of the New Jerusalem on Tuesday, April 1st.
     Kansas.- THE Rev. F. L. Higgins, who has heretofore preached in Topeka, has moved to St. Louis and the Rev. Gustave Reiche has been engaged to serve here in connection with his labors as State Missionary.
     Canada.- THE Rev. J. E. Bowers went to Randolph, Ont., and spent ten days in missionary work at Craigluth, Thornberry, Meaford and Banks. At Banks Post Office he had nearly one hundred very attentive hearers.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- AT the annual meeting of the friends of the Bromley Mission, on March 4th, resolutions were passed for the formation of a Society, and for steps to be taken in order to be admitted into connection with the Conference of the New Church.
     THE Rev. Jabez Fox preached at Leeds and Bradford during the month of March. In London he held a lecture in the room under the Argyl Square Church explaining how the people of the United States govern themselves.
     THE Rev. C. Griffiths, of Brighthingsea, has withdrawn from the Society at Colchester, to which he ministered from time to time, the reason assigned being that his attitude toward the Doctrinal portion of the Colchester Society is one of absolute opposition.
     THE Rev. W. T. Stonestreet, of Preston, has accepted a call from the North Manchester New Church Society, Higher Broughton.
     AT the fortnightly meetings of the New Castle-on- Tyne Society lectures have been delivered by a Presbyterian and by a Baptist Minister.
     A MEMORIAL stone was laid at Southport in connection with the Sunday-school building which is in course of erection. The day selected for laying the stone was March 29th, being the 118th anniversary of Swedenborg's departure to the Spiritual world.
     Australia.- THE Rev. J. J. Thornton, of Melbourne, is on his way to England. He intends being present at the Convention in Chicago. Mr. Thornton will be absent from his Society for one year.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.





81




Vol. X. PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 1890=120-121. No. 6.
     The Church is internal and external, and the internal Church makes one with the Church in heaven, thus with heaven.- T. C. R. 784.



     HOWEVER much Newchurchmen may differ as to matters of faith, and as to the methods of their internal and their external worship, they should aim to be of one doctrine, and animated by one common love: the doctrine concerning the LORD in His Second Coming, and the love of that LORD, in a life of charity according to His precepts.



     THE New Church Messenger, under date of May 14th, says: "The remarkable statement is made that the Academy claims to be the internal Church of which the General Church of Pennsylvania is the external." The Messenger will be glad to learn that the Academy of the New Church has never made, and does not make, so absurd a claim.



     THE Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is the Divine Truth itself. In all and single things of it is a spiritual sense, from which the Word is Divinely inspired, and holy in every expression. The sense of the letter is the basis, continent and firmament of its spiritual and celestial senses, and in the sense of the letter the Divine Truth is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power. The internal and the external belong together, and are of equal importance, though they differ as to degree. To disregard the internal sense, which is doctrine, is to involve one's self in the shade of the letter. To be in the internal sense, and to disregard the letter, is to deprive one's self of the power, holiness, and fullness of the Word. To be in the letter only, is to make the foundation of a house one's abode: to be in the internal sense only, is to dwell in a house without a foundation. The Heavenly Doctrines are the spirit, the light, the glory of the Word. The Sacred Scripture is the body, the cloud of heaven. The LORD makes His Second Coming as the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven with power and glory.



     THE vast importance of a knowledge about the spiritual world, and especially of a belief in it, is taught in the work on Heaven and Hell, as follows:
     "They who have not believed in the world that there is any life or the soul after the death of the body, when they notice that they live, are greatly ashamed. But they who have confirmed themselves in this are consociated to their like, and are separated from those who had been in the faith; They are for the most part bound to some infernal society, because such have denied the Divine, and have held the truths of the Church in contempt. For to the extent in which any one confirms himself against the eternal life of his soul, he also confirms himself against those things which are of Heaven and the Church". (H. H. 453).



     The immediate Revelation concerning Heaven and Hell, for which it had been given to Swedenborg to be so many years in open intercourse with the other world, is what is meant by the Coming of the LORD (H. H. 1).
     The memorabilia, annexed to the chapters in a number of the works are a most important part of this Revelation, designed as especial instruction for "the LORD'S New Church" (T. C. R. 851) being related by Swedenborg "according to command." (T. C. R. 188).



     A PROPHECY concerning further revelations in the future, is the theme of a leading article in the May issue of The New Jerusalem Magazine.
     As the members of the New Church enter intellectually into the mysteries of the Word, now laid open in the theology of the New Church, their progressive illumination will undoubtedly bring with it successive revelations of more and more interior truths-truths which exist in the present Revelation, but only to those whose eyes may be open to see them. The Magazine, however, does not confine itself to this view of the subject, but claims, and advances its claims with some fervor, that there does not now exist a full, complete, perfect, and anal revelation of Divine Truth, and it deprecates the position of these who, as it is pleased to express it, "have pinned their faith blindly and exclusively upon Swedenborg, and have refused to recognize as truth anything which they have not found in his writings."
     It does not seem necessary to enter at present into an elaborate proof of the fallacy of the claim put forth by the Magazine. But attention is simply called to this one fact: An important link in the claim of the Magazine's argument is made of the state of previous Churches in looking forward to a different appearance of the LORD'S Coming than that which actually took place, and of the assumption that this state must necessarily exist with the New Church. But the consideration is overlooked that the previous Churches had the Divine Promise of a future Advent of the LORD, and that their error lay in their false interpretation of this promise. No such promise is or has been made to the New Church, but, on the contrary, the Revelation through Swedenborg is declared to be final:
     "I was seeing in the visions of the night, and behold! with the clouds of heaven, as the Son of Man; and to Him was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall worship Him. His dominion is the dominion of an age which shall not pass away, and His kingdom which shalt not perish" (Daniel vii, 13, 14). "The seventh angel sounded; and there came great voices from Heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of the world are become our LORD'S and His CHRIST'S, and He shall reign for ages of ages'" (Rev. xi, 15; T. C. R. 788).
New Church 1890

New Church              1890

     The New Church, in the beginning, will be external.- A. E. 403 [c].

82


SENDING OUT THE TWELVE DISCIPLES 1890

SENDING OUT THE TWELVE DISCIPLES       Rev. JOHN WHITEHEAD       1890

     A 19TH OF JUNE SERMON

     "And having called together His twelve disciples, He gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. And He said to them, take nothing for your journey, neither staff nor purse, nor bread, nor silver, nor two coats apiece."-Luke ix, 1-3.

     THE LORD'S "disciples "represent all the goods and truths of the Church, and thence all those who are in these goods and truths, and also all worship of the LORD from them. When spoken of as "disciples" they represent the state when the goods and truths of the Church are being acquired and learned; when the love of knowing, of understanding, and of growing wise in the truths, and goods of the Word is active; but when spoken of as "apostles" they represent the state when goods and truths of the Word are taught, and the affection of imparting the truth to others is active. The truth in the mind first of all takes the discipleship, and afterward the apostleship form. The word "disciple" literally means a learner, and "apostle" means one sent out, and thence it also means a teacher. The Divine Truth must first of all be acquired, and it is only after it is thoroughly comprehended and understood that one is fitted to become a teacher of that truth.
     In our text it treats of the Divine truths and goods of the Church, when from "disciples" they become "apostles," which is when they have passed from the understanding into the will and life, and thus when the truths are conjoined with goods, and thence have gained power, and have become more closely conjoined with the LORD.
     When the LORD called together His disciples in the spiritual world, and then sent them out throughout the whole spiritual world on the 19th day of June, in the year 1770, they were first of all- prepared by previous instruction, so that they might know and understand the nature of the LORD'S Second Coming, and that they might learn the truths which should found and form the New Church which was then to be established. After thus learning these principles they could go forth to execute the LORD'S Command with all zeal, and propagate these truths to all who would receive them. It us similar with the corresponding work which goes on in the world. The disciples represent all the goods and truths of the Church from the Word. These have been revealed by the LORD in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church, and when these enter the mind of man they first take on the disciple form. They must first of all enter the understanding. They must be thoroughly learned and understood, and their relation to each other comprehended. In this state man is a disciple of the LORD. The Heavenly Doctrines are the LORD in His Second Coming. By our learning and being affected by these doctrines, the LORD becomes spiritually present with us in His Divine Human, and we are thus enabled to approach and worship Him, and receive from Him something of His Divine Life and blessings.
     But after the truths of the Church have been acquired, and have taken a rational form in the mind, a desire to see them prevail in the minds and lives of men, and also in our own lives is formed, and from this desire a love of propagating or teaching them is formed, and this is the state represented by the "apostles."
     It is said:          
     "He called together His twelve, disciples and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick."
     The Divine truths and goods of the Church when first received in the mind, enter the understanding, and are there set apart from the other things therein, as the disciples were set apart from the rest of the people. These truths and goods gradually gain strength and power, until at length they are prepared to go forth and reduce all things of the mind into obedience and harmony with themselves. This state is represented by the apostles being sent out to heal the sick and to cast out demons. The "demons" which the LORD and the disciples cast out represent direful falsities, which have invaded the Church, and these can be cast out of the mind only by Divine Truths from the LORD. Hence we may see that the falsities which prevail in the world at the present time can be rejected and cast out of the minds of men only by the teaching and preaching of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church, for this teaching is the LORD going forth through His disciples to cast out demons and to cure diseases.
     The LORD when in the world cast out demons and cured natural disease, that thereby He might represent the casting out of spiritual demons, and the cure of spiritual diseases.
     This interior or spiritual work the LORD also does at His Second Coming, but He does not do the natural work in a miraculous way. "Demons" are falsities from hell. Hell dwells in such falsities. The falsities of doctrine in the Church make a basis or plane for the influx of evil-spirits from hell. Hence when these falsities are removed from the mind, the plane into which evil spirits flow is removed, and thereby the evil spirits themselves are cast out of the mind.
     When, therefore, we find ideas, notions, and doctrines which are opposed to the teaching of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church, we find spiritual demons obsessing men, and the problem is how to cast them out and restore the men to true spiritual freedom; for those who receive such falsities are deprived of spiritual freedom, they are spiritually obsessed by demons, and only the Divine Truth can cast them out and restore the men to their right mind. The disciples, in casting out demons and healing the sick, did it in the name of the LORD, and this shows to us the vast importance of teaching the truth as Divine and from the LORD, and not as of human origin. When men receive the truth as the opinions of some man, they hold it under subjection to their own rational. The LORD is their servant and not their Master. Hence when the teachings of the LORD differ from their own notions and opinions, they reject or pervert it from the spiritual demons, which obsess them, the Truth is not strong enough to cast out the demons, it is shorn of its Divine Power, and, hence, the Truth does not prevail. The open or practical denial of the Divine Authority of the Writings is really a denial of the LORD'S Second Coming, and when this is done, there is no power in the truth to remove falsities from the mind. But when the truth is acknowledged as Divine and from the LORD, a willingness is formed to receive its teachings and to cast out those things which are opposed, and then the LORD spiritually sends out His Disciples to cast out demons, and to heal or cure diseases.
     Spiritual diseases are all disorderly states of the mind and life. Spiritual health is where the true laws of life are known, and the affections and actions are governed by these laws. In this case the whole spiritual man receives life from the LORD.

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All the functions of the mind work harmoniously together, and life from the LORD is received, giving happiness and blessedness of life. If the laws of life from the LORD are not known, but ideas and notions opposed to them are accepted, then a plane is opened for disorderly states to invade, and instead of spiritual health we have spiritual disease. Hence, we see that those things which are represented by "demons;" when received and carried out in the life produce spiritual diseases, and the only cure for them is the reception of Divine Truth from the LORD. No matter how we attempt to remove disorderly states, we shall never succeed unless we follow the lines of the Divine Truth. Any other course is only a palliative remedy which opens a plane for other disorders. In the Divine Truth there is Divine Power; without that Truth we cannot exercise that power, and, hence, we see the necessity of continually teaching and following the way of life which it points out.
     The LORD also said to the disciples:
     "Take nothing for your way, neither staff, nor purse, nor bread, nor silver, nor two coats."
     And in another Gospel it is written thus:
     "Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass for your girdles, nor a bag for the way, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff, for the workman is worthy of his meat."
     This is only another form of presenting the doctrine of looking to the LORD in His Divine Truth for all things, and not to self and the world. The gold, silver, brass, etc., represent truths and goods, and that they should not provide these, for the way represents that they should have nothing of good and truth from themselves, but from the LORD alone, and that everything is given by the LORD freely. Goods and truths from the LORD are received by man when he acknowledges the LORD, and receives His Divine Teaching as Divine, and because it is Divine obeys it. But goods and truths from self exist when man from his own prudence and self-intelligence, so molds his ideas and controls his actions as to provide that he may get along comfortably and pleasantly with every one, even at the sacrifice of essential principles. What he calls goods and truths are not really goods and truths, but are evils and falsities, but being cunningly covered up by persuasions and appearances they seem to be goods and truths. In the work of establishing the New Church in the individual and in general, we must not follow persuasive appearances and prudential ways, to avoid misrepresentation and opposition, but we must follow the direct teaching of the Heavenly Doctrines, for only by so doing shall we be able to cast out spiritual demons and cure all diseases.
     The work of preaching the Gospel, or evangelizing, in the New Church, is of paramount importance, and it covers a very wide field. The disciples went out into all the quarters of the spiritual world, and the quarters there represent all the various states of thought and of life existing in the human race. The principles of Divine Truth taught in the Heavenly Doctrines are the "Gospel" which is to be taught or " evangelized," and they "go forth" to all states and are adapted to all states. And to represent the final and glorious result of this teaching, the Holy City, New Jerusalem, had twelve gates, on the east, three gates, on the south three gates, on the west three gates, and on the north three gates. In the New Church we shall have men interested in all these directions of the work of evangelization, and this work covers the ground of the education of our children in heavenly principles, it covers the ground of the teaching of adults in the interior principles of the Church, and it includes the work of teaching those who have not yet received a knowledge and belief in the Heavenly Doctrines. But in whatsoever direction we bend our energies, we must remember that it is the LORD'S work, and we are only instruments in His hands to learn and to do His Will. Therefore, we must do His work according to the principles and truths which He has revealed, neither swerving to the right hand nor to the left; and then shall we in our work be obeying the LORD'S voice to "go forth "to "preach the Gospel," and to "heal the sick." His truth will then possess "power and authority over all demons," and it will "cure all diseases" in those who suffer from the spiritual evils and falsities from hell, and who desire to be freed from their injurious influences. But, on the other hand, if we do not thus follow the LORD, no matter how successful we may appear before the eyes of men, we shall not be so in the eyes of the LORD, for in order to establish His Kingdom we must learn of the LORD and follow Him, and thus become His Disciples and Apostles, for to them: "He gave power and authority ever all demons, and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And He said to them, take nothing for the way, neither staff, nor purse, nor bread, nor silver, nor two coats." Amen.
Lord, as King 1890

Lord, as King              1890

     The Lord, as King, governs all and single the things in the universe from Divine Truth, and as Priest, from Divine Good.- A. C. 1728.
OPENING EXERCISES IN THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS OF THE ACADEMY 1890

OPENING EXERCISES IN THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS OF THE ACADEMY              1890

     THE Academy endeavors to let the daily hour of instruction in the Doctrines of the Church be the first one in the morning.
     But preceding this first hour's religious instruction, the school is opened with solemn worship of the LORD, in order that the first state may be general with all, and that all may begin the day's work with the acknowledgment of the mercy of the LORD, as the first impression.
     The schools assemble in the hall on the third floor of the Boys' School, where are chairs arranged in curved rows facing the east. The teacher of the infant department with her class, together with the lowest class of the Boys' School, occupy the first or front row of chairs; the teachers of the Girls' School with their classes occupy the second row; the boys of the highest class in the Boys' School, the third row; and the students of the College and Theological School, the fourth row; back of these are placed chairs, where chance visitors may be seated. It is deemed best that visitors should sit apart from the school so that there may be no mixing of spheres. The members of the Faculty not actively engaged in the opening exercises sit in front to the right, facing the altar and repository.
     While the members of the school are coming up the stairs and taking their seats in the hall, they endeavor to do so with as little disorder and noise as possible; for it is recognized that were one entering the personal presence of the LORD, he would approach in all humility of manner and attitude, it is therefore eminently proper, when entering a place of worship where the LORD IS representatively present in His Word and Priesthood, that all levity and conversation cease.
     When all is in readiness, a voluntary is begun on the piano; the school arises and stands facing the altar and the repository for the Word and the Writings. The Acting Superintendent, who is a minister in the third degree, enters, arrayed in the robes of his office, proceeds to the repository, loops aside its curtains; takes from it and places one after the other; upon the reading-desk, a book of the Writings in Latin and the Word in English, and upon the altar the Word in Hebrew and Greek; the last he opens; he then turns, together with the school, facing the southeast, where, raised upon a standard, is a banner on which in letters of gold on a background of royal blue is the Hebrew inscription

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     [Hebrew]

     "Hear, O Israel, JEHOVAH our God is one JEHOVAH, and thou shalt love JEHOVAH thy God from thy whole heart, and from thy whole soul, and from all thy powers," and all together sing this holy acknowledgment of the LORD; after which all kneel and unite in offering the LORD'S Prayer. The school then being seated, the officiating priest reads from the desk, first, a portion of the LORD'S Word in His Revelation to the New Church, and afterward a portion from the Word in the Letter, always giving a brief summary of the Internal Sense of the portion read from the Letter. When the leader has finished reading, the school, standing, sing a selection from the Liturgy, or a Hebrew chant or anthem, of which the Academy has now seven or eight selections. When a chant from the Liturgy is taken, the Internal Sense, from the work on the Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms, is read by the priest, and the schools respond by chanting the corresponding verses from the Letter of the Word.
     After the singing, the priest returns the sacred volumes to the repository, in the opposite order to the one in which they were brought out-namely, the Word in the original first, the Word in English next, and the book of the Writings last. While the books are being returned to the repository, the school stands, with bowed heads, facing the altar and repository, and at the same time a voluntary is again played. While the voluntary continues, the officiating priest closes the repository, leaves the rostrum, and returns to the vestry. The school now being seated, the roll is called, after which any announcements or appointments that are intended for the whole school are made.
     The teachers and their classes disperse to the various recitation-rooms.
     The wearing of a robe by the one officiating in the daily opening exercises of the schools was commenced on the 4th of April this year, on the occasion of the removal of the separate copies of the Old and New Testament, in the original languages, from the repository, and the replacing of them by copies of the same, bound into one volume.
     The pupils and teachers leave the hall with the impressions necessarily made by the exercises above described, as a face, internal, and beginning of the general work of the day. But as the first state is the internal of all succeeding states in the same series, so each sue- ceding state is also the internal of the following states in its own series. Recognizing this principle also, the endeavor with the Academy is to let the acknowledgement of the LORD form the beginning of the particular states or the state of each class, therefore, in each room in the school buildings is placed a repository holding the Word. The first thing each teacher does on entering his class-room in the morning, is to uncover the Word, while the members of his class stand with bowed heads. This is done whether the class be one for religious instruction or not; for whether the instruction be religious or scientific, it cannot be true unless it have in it the acknowledgment of the LORD, "for good and truth are from the LORD alone . . . . and whatever does not come from the LORD is evil and false" (A. C. 2946).
All priests represent 1890

All priests represent              1890

     All priests represent the Lord as to the priestly.- A. C. 3670.
HOME DEDICATION 1890

HOME DEDICATION              1890

     IN the last issue of the Life two of the "Editorial Notes" called attention to home dedications. The following account of a ceremony of this kind may be of interest, and possibly of practical use, to the readers of the Life.
     After the friends had all arrived, and had been greeted by the host and hostess, they were asked to proceed to a room in the second-story, where the Priest was awaiting them, wearing his official robes.
     The repository for the holy Books was in its place; and the Books themselves on a table near by. As the repository was not large enough to contain the Sacred Scriptures and a complete set of the Heavenly Doctrines, some representative volumes of the latter had been selected, they being The Summary Exposition of the Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms in Latin, a copy of the original edition of the Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church, with a fac-simile of Swedenborg's words: "Hic Liber est Adventus Domini," stamped in gilt, on the cover, a copy of a fine English edition of The Doctrine concerning the LORD, a copy in English of Conjugial Love, and the volume of the Arcana which is used in the current morning lessons. The letter of the Word was represented by the Hebrew-Greek edition of the Sacred Scriptures described on page 63 of the Life, and by the English edition advertised by the Academy.
     All rose and stood reverently while the Priest opened the Word, and then all knelt in prayer.
     After a few introductory remarks, the Priest read n. 395 of The True Christian Religion, in which the three universal loves, the love of Heaven, the love of the world, and the love of self, are described, and the teaching is given how they must be rightly subordinated so as to perfect man. He then read n. 184-186 of Heaven and Hell, in which the habitations of the angels, their palaces and surroundings, and the correspondence of the things within and without their houses are described.
     He next read from Conjugial Love, a. 60, where the teaching is given that only those consorts are together in one house, in one bed-chamber, and in one bed in Heaven, who are interiorly united into one, and are likenesses and mutual inclinations.
     This was followed by the explanation in the Arcana Coelestia, n. 3538, that a "house" signifies the Rational as to the voluntary which is of good, and the intellectual which is of truth, and that when the Rational acts from the voluntary or good, by the intellectual, or truth; then the rational mind is called "one house." Hence, also, Heaven itself is called the "house of God," because there there is nothing but good and truth, and good acts through the truth united or conjoined to it. This is also represented in marriages between husband and wife, who constitute one house, because conjugial love exists from the marriage of Divine Good and Truth, and both have the will from good, but with a difference, as good is to its truth, wherefore, also, by the husband is signified good, and by the wife truth; for when there is one house, then good is all there, and because truth is of good, it also is good.

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     From the same Work, n. 9213, the teaching was read, how those in the other life who enter into the house of another, and speak together in one chamber, so communicate their thoughts with all who are there that they know no otherwise than that they themselves think these things of themselves. Wherefore those who are of one opinion, or of one decision, appear together in one house, and still more if in one chamber of the house; but when they differ, then they disappear from their eyes.
     See, also, n. 7363, 1488 on the correspondence of a house with the mind, the interiors of the mind being the inner chambers of the house, the exteriors its courts.
     The officiating Priest then made a brief address, in substance as follows: Conjugial love is the fundamental love of Heaven and the Church, from this is the love of offspring, and from these is the love of society. The latter as applied to the home is hospitality. These loves reign in the home, and man is regenerated in the degree that they are regenerated. In reflection at home man learns to know what he is, for he then thinks from his interior. In this, husband and wife advance together. Man acts abroad according to the will and purpose formed at home.
     The Priest then spoke of the use of a sacred repository for the Word in the home.
     He then read the cxxvii Psalm: "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
     On the conclusion of the reading of this psalm, he placed the copy of the Scriptures from which he had read, in the Repository.
     He then read from Conjugial Love, n. 66, the explanation of the proposition that conjugial love is the fundamental love of all celestial, spiritual, and thence natural loves; and, speaking of the importance of this Work in the home, placed it in the Repository.
     Then reading from the Brief Exposition, n. 99, 102, that the New Church about to be established by the LORD is the New Jerusalem treated of in the Apocalypse, xxi and xxii, which is there called "the Bride and Wife of the Lamb," and that the Faith of the New Church cannot by any means be together with the Faith of the former Church, and that in case they be together such a collision and conflict will ensure as to destroy everything of the Church with man, the Priest placed it in the Repository, and after it the other Works mentioned above.
     He then stated that a man is priest in his own house, and it is useful that this be recognized in the ceremony of a home dedication; he, therefore, invited the master of the house to complete the ceremony by taking from the Repository whatever works he desired to place in other parts of the house.
     The host spoke a few words in acknowledgment of the office which the Priest had performed, and then, in accordance with the last remark, he explained that his wife and he wished to place two of the volumes, one of them, Conjugial Love, in a place prepared for them in the bed-chamber, in acknowledgment that they desired to become one house from the influent conjugial love from the LORD.
     He then took the two volumes, and, accompanied by his wife, placed them in the bed-chamber, while the rest remained quiet in the room where the main ceremony had taken place.
     The two consorts then proceeded in a similar manner to the dining-room, with a copy of the Liturgy, to represent, as they explained, that they wished that their social life, which is especially fostered by eating and drinking together, should also be governed by the LORD'S Will, the Liturgy containing passages from the Word, and prayers for meals.
     After they had returned, the officiating Priest pronounced the blessing and left the room.
     The guests were invited to the dining-room, and while passing out offered their congratulations to the couple. The remainder of the evening was spent in eating bread and drinking wine, and in social intercourse, in a most gladsome and enjoyable sphere of charity.
To the extent in which priests attribute the holy to themselves 1890

To the extent in which priests attribute the holy to themselves              1890

     To the extent in which priests attribute the holy to themselves, they are spiritual thieves.- A. C. 3670.
LAWS OF MARRIAGE AND OF PELLICACY 1890

LAWS OF MARRIAGE AND OF PELLICACY              1890

To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Dear Sir:- Some time ago there appeared articles in your journal treating of concubinage and kindred topics.
     I ask your kind assistance to understand one particular point connected with that subject, viz., is it allowable for a Newchurchman to take as a mistress or concubine (as the case may be) what is called a member of the Old Church.?
     It is not allowable in marriage to do so, and in the Arcana Coelestia, 8998, where this is stated, are these words: "This also was the reason . . . why it was altogether heinous to commit whoredom with them" (the gentiles).
     If the two extremes, marriage and whoredom, were heinous for the sons of Israel with the gentiles, does this not imply an injunction to the men of the New Church that intermediate relationships also, as concubinage and keeping a mistress, were forbidden them with the Old Church. I am,
     A FRIEND OF THE ACADEMY.
SCOTLAND, February 24th, 1890.

     ANSWER.

     THE laws of the Israelites, such as those to which our friend refers, and which have led him to propound his question, are not immediately, but mediately representative of the rules which should govern the actions of Newchurchmen. They involve the marriage of good and truth on the one hand and their adulteration and profanation on the other. Newchurchmen must, therefore, deduce their rules of life from the spiritual and celestial things represented by the Israelitish laws, and not from these laws themselves.
     The Israelitish Church was not, strictly speaking, a Representative Church, but the representative of a Church. (See New Church Life, Vol. VIII, pp. 188, 189.) The law that they should not enter into marriages with the nations (Deut. vii, 3, 4), respected "idolatrous nations, lest by marriages they should turn aside from the worship truly representative, for when they became idolatrous they could no longer represent the celestial and spiritual things of the LORD'S Kingdom, but the opposite, such as are things infernal. Indeed; they, then called forth some devil, whom, they worshiped, and to whom they applied Divine representatives; therefore, it is said, 'lest they go a-whoring after their gods'-then, also for the cause that by the nations were signified evils and falses, with which the goods and truths which they represented should not be commingled, hence that diabolic and infernal things should not be commingled with things celestial and spiritual" (A. C. 4444).
     This, as to their marriages with the nations.

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In regard to whoredom with the women of another nation (Num. xxv, 1-3, 9), they "involved heinous things against heaven and the Church, which do not stand forth in the literal sense of the Word, but only in its spiritual sense. Those heinous things which were involved were that they would at the same time profane the goods and truths of the Church, which is the appropriation of evil and the false" (A. E. 141).
     The marriages of the Israelites, being, moreover, impure (A. C. 8809), did not correspond to and represent the marriages of those who are or will be of the Church which they prefigured, but they represented the heavenly marriage of good and truth, from which is the conjugial that makes a New Church marriage a true one. "Because marriages on earth by love truly conjugial correspond with the heavenly marriage, which is of good and truth, therefore laws enacted in the Word, concerning betrothals and marriages, altogether correspond to the spiritual laws of the heavenly manage, as, that they should marry only one wife (Mark x, 2-8; Luke xvi, 18). Laws also which were enacted concerning marriages in the Old Testament likewise have a correspondence with the laws of the heavenly marriage, as those in Exodus xxi, 7-11; xxii, 15, 16; xxxiv, 16; Numbers xxxvi, 6; Deuteronomy vii, 3, 4; xxii, 28, 29, and also the laws concerning the prohibited degrees, Leviticus xviii, 6-30" (A. C. 4434). See also n. 8809 et al.
     Now, "conjugial love derives its origin from the Divine marriage of Good and Truth, thus from the LORD. Heaven from the union of Good and Truth, which inflows from the LORD, is compared to a marriage and is called a marriage. When good united with truth flows down into a lower sphere, it presents a union of minds, and when into a still lower one, it presents a marriage. Wherefore a union of minds from good united with truth is conjugial love itself" (A. C. 2728).
     The male and the female, were, therefore, created so that they may be the very form of the marriage of good and truth, the male being created to be the understanding of truth, thus truth in form, and the female being created to be the will of good, thus good in form. Two consorts are, thus, the form of the marriage of good and truth in their inmosts, and hence in the things that follow from these, as the interiors of their minds are opened, and thus conjointly make conjugial love (C. L. 102). But if the two are of different religions, good with them cannot be conjoined with its correspondent truth, hence from two souls there cannot become one soul (C. L. 342); or, as it is stated elsewhere, "the truth of the one does not agree with the good of the other, and two dissimilar and discordant things cannot make one mind out of two. . . . It is from this cause that marriages in the heavens are contracted with those who are within the society, because they are in similar good and truth, but not with those who are out of the society, which was represented in the Israelitish nation by their entering into marriages within the tribes, and particularly within the families, and not outside of them" (H. H. 378; A. C. 3665).
     These, then, are The principles that enter into the teaching of the number to which our friend refers, and, with them in mind, this number will be more clearly understood, for the light which enables the understanding to see, comes from the presence of truths, and an abundance of truths cohering' in order throw a more powerful light upon the subject one desires to see. "In Thy Light we shall see light." The number referred to reads:
     "They who have been born within the Church, and from infancy have been imbued with the principles of truth of the Church, ought not to associate in marriage with those who are out of the Church, and thus have been imbued with such things as are not of the Church. The reason is that there is no conjunction between them in the spiritual world, for every one in that world is consociated according to good and the truth thence; and because there is no conjunction between such in the spiritual world, there ought not to be any conjunction on the earth; for marriages, considered in themselves, are conjunctions of minds [animorum et mentium], the spiritual life of which is from the truths and goods of faith and of charity. Therefore also marriages on earth between those who are are of diverse religion are held in heaven to be heinous; and still more so between those who are of the Church with those who are outside the Church. This was also the reason why the Jewish and Israelitish nation was forbidden to contract matrimonies with the nations (Deut. vii, 3, 4), and that it was altogether heinous to commit whoredom with them (Num. xxv, 1-9). This appears more evidently from the origin of conjugial love, which is from the marriage of good and truth; when conjugial love descends thence, it is heaven in man, this is destroyed where two consorts are of dissimilar heart from dissimilar faith" (A. C. 8998).
     In order that the sublime end of marriage: union of souls and conjunction of minds-making the two "one flesh" before the LORD-may be attained, the understandings and wills of both consorts must be devoted to it. They must together love to learn the truth from the LORD, and together shun the evils which it points out to be overcome. Each must will what the other thinks, and think what the other wills.
     This is the attitude in marriage. But how is it in pellicacy and concubinage?
     "The love of pellicacy is to be kept separate from conjugial love, because those loves are distinct, and therefore are not to be commingled; for the love of pellicacy is unchaste, natural, and external, but the love of marriage is chaste, spiritual, and internal; the love of pellicacy makes a distinction between the souls of the two, and conjoins only the sensuals of the body; but the love of marriage unites the souls, and from the union of the souls also the sensuals of the body, until from two they become as one-that is, one flesh. The love of pellicacy only enters into the understanding, and into those things which depend on -the understanding; but the love of marriage enters into the will, and into those things which depend upon the will, hence, into all and single the things of man. . . . It is to be known that the love of pellicacy is kept separate from conjugial love, by not promising marriage to the mistress, nor leading her into any hope of marriage. Nevertheless it is better that the torch of the love of the sex be first kindled with the wife"(C. L. 460).
     From all that has been brought forward there results this conclusion: that, as marriage is a union of souls and a conjunction of minds, and from these a conjunction of bodies, and as the prohibition concerning marriage with one out of the Church is based upon this law, there is no reason why pellicacy, which "makes a distinction between the souls of two, and conjoins only the sensuals of the body," should not be carried on with one outside the Church.
To the extent in which priests do evil 1890

To the extent in which priests do evil              1890

     To the extent in which priests do evil, they put off the representative of the holy of the priesthood, and represent the opposite.- A. C. 3670.

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priesthood is the Divine Good 1890

priesthood is the Divine Good              1890

     The priesthood is the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love.- A. C. 9809.
WORK IN THE WORLD 1890

WORK IN THE WORLD              1890

     A NEW CHURCH youth once asked his preceptor whether a Newchurchman could, in the present condition of politics, prepare himself for a political career, with the intention, of course, of steadily conforming with the requirements of the Heavenly Doctrines.
     The answer was in the affirmative. The question was an expression of that doubt which not unfrequently arises in the minds of the young, who with generous hearts eager for a New Church life, and thoughts actively engaged with its principles, come into contact with the cunning, grasping, and selfish business world. Seeing and learning that, unless they "keep both eyes open," they are exposed to imposition at any moment, and, on the other hand, that many forms of deceit have become so frequent that they are accepted as necessary elements of business methods, they are apt to despair of keeping their own lips pure, and their hands clean, imagining that a man cannot succeed in business unless he too adopts the devices of those around him. The dishonorable dealing of politicians is, perhaps, most notorious, but they stand not alone in this respect. In the present state of the world self-interest prevails in all occupations, and love of the neighbor is, as a rule, only feigned and made a means for the advancement of self-interest.
     It does, indeed, cost a struggle for a Newchurchman to enter into the life of the world and live strictly according to the Doctrines of the New Church. But it can be done. He has to swim against the current. But this can be done. He has to contend with evils in himself and out of himself, his actions will be misinterpreted, his motives impugned-but he will be carried safely through it all, if he honestly trusts in the Doctrines and in the LORD from Whom they are.
     A Newchurchman's life-the life of shunning evils as sins-is to be lived in the world, not out of it. Although the LORD declares of those whom the Father had given to Him, that they are not of the world, yet He prayed, "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them away from the world; but that Thou mayest preserve them from evil" (John xvii, 15).
     If man were not to act "sincerely, faithfully, and justly" in the calling to which his affections incline him the most strongly in the world, there would be little need of the injunction for him to "shun evils as sins," for it is by contact with the evils of others that one's own are made active, just as the ferment that is sometimes put into wine serves to render active the impurities of the liquor, whence results the fermentation by which the pure wine is separated from the dregs.
     A young man should be influenced in his selection of a calling by his inclination, his ability and training, and by the indications of the Divine Providence. Then he should go forward with an implicit trust in the guidance of the LORD, knowing, and firmly believing, that if he will honestly, sincerely, and faithfully perform the duties of his calling, shunning the evils that arise in its performance, as sins against God, the LORD will bring that measure of prosperity which is best for him. Then he will be of an even mind, whether he receive what he desires, or not; at the loss of it he does not grieve; he is content with his lot. If he become rich, he does not set his heart on riches; if he is raised to honors, he does no himself more worthy than others. If he become poor, he is not saddened; if of low condition, he is not cast down. He knows that for him who trust the Divine, all things succeed for a happy state to eternity; and that the things which happen to him in time still lead to the same.
     A politician, to revert to the question which suggested these lines, will seek by honorable means to obtain the office in which he believes he can be of the greatest use for his city, state, or country. If the machinations of others keep him from it, he still trusts in the LORD and is content, doing whatever he can in that which is given him to do, knowing that the LORD'S Omnipotence could secure him the desired place if in the Divine Wisdom, this were seen to be best for him and his country. In the same state of mind does he pursue the study of statecraft, and does he endeavor to lead his countrymen to adopt such laws as he sees to be in harmony with the laws of Divine Order as revealed to him by the LORD in the Doctrines. This attitude, while keeping him from a state of depression when he does not seem to succeed in worldly matters, will, on the other hand, keep him truly humble if he is successful, for, he will ascribe his success simply to the Divine Ruler of all, who out of mere Mercy places him where he may carry out the LORD'S Will.
     A young man entering upon a career of public usefulness is under a grave responsibility. It is his duty, nothing less, to let his public words and actions be an embodiment of the Divine Will, as he has learned to know of it through the Revelations made from Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom.
priesthood 1890

priesthood              1890

     The priesthood, in the supreme sense, is every office which the Lord performs as Saviour. - A. C. 9809.
MARIE BASHKIRTSEFF 1890

MARIE BASHKIRTSEFF              1890

     SINCE Robert Elsmere, probably no book has stirred the reading world of the Old Church so profoundly as Marie Bashkirtseff: The Journal of a Young Artist. A Russian girl of noble family, of great beauty, of unusual mental powers, who learned to read Greek and Latin, besides five modern languages, whose capacity for musical expression was of the highest, and whose paintings stirred the leading artists of Paris with enthusiasm, at the age of twelve years set before herself the task of writing a diary in which she would give voice to all her thoughts and feelings, picture her whole life, concealing nothing-all with a view to becoming immortal thereby; for she intended the record to be published after her death. This was in 1872. Twelve years later this extraordinary young girl died at the age of twenty-four, leaving behind her what Mr. Gladstone has well described as "a book without a parallel."
     To the thoughtful student of human nature and of the signs of the times, this diary is of no small interest and significance as an unguarded disclosure, an unveiling, as it were, of the unregenerate mind and heart-as a revelation of the true condition of the man or woman who fails to resist infestation from hell, however exemplary he or she may appear outwardly. Mlle. Bashkirtseff has not written everything, as she proposed to do, but she has written enough to reveal her whole character. Though beautiful, attractive, accustomed to inspire love in all those about her, she is seen to be supremely selfish, to be consumed with envy, vanity, and conceit, to lust unceasingly for pre-eminence, to rage with rebellion against the Divine Providence, refusing any longer to believe in a God because her ambitious wishes are not realized.

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And who can doubt but that the same portrait would be revealed in the vast majority of truthfully written diaries in this age?
     Passages from the book like the following call to mind the teaching in the Writings that the love of self, unchecked, stops only with the desire to rule over the universe and its Creator:

     "I should like to be Caesar, Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, Nero, Caracalla, Satan, the Pope . . and I am nothing!
     "I am only truly a royalist when I put myself in the place of
a king.
     "I esteem myself so great a treasure that I think there is no one worthy of me. . . . I think myself a divinity."

     Vanity, envy, and contempt are more than remotely suggested in the following quotations:

     "I looked so beautiful this morning that I spent fully twenty minutes admiring myself in the glass. . . . What is odious to think of is that all this must one day fade, shrivel up and perish . . . I am boiling over with rage. Wolf has devoted a dozen lines-as flattering as they could possibly be to Breslau [a rival artist].. . . I despise insignificant people."

     She gives perfunctory utterance to many words of prayer, but unreservedly declares her real attitude toward the future life and Him who has provided it:

     "God has not done what I asked Him to do. I am resigned-no; not at all, I am only waiting. . . . As He does not seem to listen to me at all, I scarcely believe in Him any longer.
     "I go [to church] occasionally so that I may not bethought a Nihilist.
     "At the studio to-night they dressed up the skeleton to represent Louise Michel, with a red scarf. . . In me, too, is concealed a skeleton; to that must we all come at last. Annihilation!-horrible thought!"

     And yet she appears to think that she is a good woman:

     "It would be a noble thing to remain good, embittered and unhappy as I am," she writes, "It would be amusing, however, to be wicked-to injure others, to speak evil of them-since it is all the same to God, and He takes cognizance of nothing. Besides, it is very evident that God is not what we imagine Him to be. God is perhaps nature, and all the events of life am directed by chance. . . . As to our prayers to God, I have learned to my cost that there is nothing in them."

     Marie Bashkirtseff is a child of the age-an out-birth of the vastate Church. For in no other age could we find a creature so magnificently developed on the natural plane and at the same time so ill-formed, so shrunken, so lifeless, on the spiritual; she is a child of the age, and therefore it is that the great world sighs with her, being stirred to profound sympathy by her words.
priesthood of Aaaron 1890

priesthood of Aaaron              1890

     The priesthood of Aaaron, of his sons, and of the Levites, is representative of the Lord's work of salvation in successive order, as in the three heavens.- A. C. 10,017.
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     THE Doctrine Concerning Charity is being translated by Mr. Arky, a Hungarian Newchurchman.



     DURING the visit of the Rev. J. J. Thornton, of Melbourne, to the New Church Societies in America and England, the editorship of the Australian New Church Monthly, The New Age, rests with the Rev. W. A. Bates, of Brisbane.



     WHEN a review of a book presents both its merits and its demerits, is it honest for the publishers of the book to quote, in their advertisements, only the favorable expressions, and thus to lead the public to conclude that the journal from which the quotation is made has not criticised adversely?



     A VERY useful department in Morning Light is entitled "The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine," and is filled with questions received from the readers connected with the New Church Home Reading Union conducted by the Conference Committee on Isolated Receivers, with the replies furnished.



     MR. OTTLEY'S booklet on, Is Marriage Lawful and Conjugial Love Possible between People of Different Faiths? has received a good advertisement. Along with an assortment of works on Theosophy, Socialism, Agnosticism, Anarchy, also tale-books and school-books, it has been prohibited from circulation in Russia.



     IT is stated that 45,000 copies of the German translation of Dr. Ellis's book, Skepticism and Divine Revelation, have been sent to the Protestant and Catholic clergy throughout the world, and that a French translation, made by Mr. Charles A. Nussbaum, is about to be sent out. A Hungarian translation is being prepared.



     THE pocket edition of the Divine Love and Wisdom, which was noticed in the last issue of New Church Life is to be had bound with exquisite taste, in cloth or half-vellum, for 40 cents. The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society is certainly doing everything in its power to make this book attractive. It is safe to predict a large sale of this little volume.



     THE Manual of the New Church Society of Washington, D. C., for May and June, contains, beside the usual matter, an abstract of the annual reports, which give a good though brief history of the Society. The Society worships at the National Law School Hall, 1006 E Street, N. W. The weekly meetings of the Beading Circle have been attended by an average of twenty-five members who read the First Chapter of The True Christian Religion. There is an average attendance of thirty-two scholars at the Sunday-school.



     THE April number of New Church Tidings contains an able article by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, on "The Government of the Canada Association." The general doctrine of order and ecclesiastical government is first presented in summaries and then contrasted with the present form of government in the Canada Association. The conclusion of the paper is worthy of note:
     "A merely external form of order, without an internal love for it, and an understanding of it, is not a desirable thing for the New Church. Changes and alterations in the order of a Church should always be preceded by instruction concerning the same, and due consideration thereupon; if changes or alteration should then be desired by that Church as a whole, it may be made. With these principles in mind has this article been written."



     PART 36 of the Concordance to the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, by the Rev. John Faulkner Potts, B. A., begins with the word "Ferocious" and ends with the unfinished word "Flesh-." Among the leading articles are Few, Fibre, Fig, Flax and Fine Linen, Fire, First, First Heaven, First-Born, First-Fruits, Fish, Fifth, Flame, and Flee or Shun. The last is of especial importance, and the entry "They who will be of the New Jerusalem will shun especially these three things," will probably cause a number of readers unacquainted with Latin to look wistfully at their set of the Spiritual Diary and wish that Volume V were out. To satisfy their desire it will be stated here that the three things referred to, are adulteries, the love of commanding and deceit.
     To judge by the number of pages, one or two more parts will close the second volume of the Concordance.



     ON the ground that "each writer has his own particular way of putting what many know," the Rev. Robert R. Rodgers publishes to the world New Views of Heaven, a little book of 151 pages, dedicated to the late Isaac A. Best.

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It may freely be said that Mr. Rodger's "particular way of putting" what Newchurchmen know about Heaven, is a pleasant and attractive way, though sometimes the reader is needlessly held in suspense for positive information, and at other times he is told things which will not stand the test of critical examination. The reader is surely misled by the author's statement in the preface that Swedenborg "has spoken only to the student." From Swedenborg's own statements it would seem to be otherwise. Thus he says, "What is meant by the states of life, and their changes I is very well known to the learned and wise, but unknown to the unlearned and simple, wherefore something concerning it is to be premised" (C. L. 184). And then, what is meant by the declaration, "Swedenborg has said all that can be said on the subject, at least for many years to come"? It looks very expressive of a suspicion in the author's mind, that, at some future day, there will be new revelations to supplement the one made through Swedenborg. How illusory this is has been shown in one of the Notes on page 81 of the Life.
Governors 1890

Governors              1890

     Governors over ecclesiastical things are called priests.- A. C. 10,793.
TULKISM REVIVED 1890

TULKISM REVIVED              1890

THE SCIENCE or CORRESPONDENCY, by Charles Augustus Tulk. Edited by Charles Pooley. Speirs, London, 1889.

REVIEW or TULK'S SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCY, by James Spilling, in the Morning Light of August 10th, 1889.

REVIEW OF TULK'S SCIENCE OF CORRESPONDENCY, in the New Church Messenger of September 11th, 1889.

A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF CHARLES AUGUSTUS TULK. By Mary Catherine Hurne. Second edition. With a short introductory chapter or historical outline of the author's life, by Charles Pooley. London, Speirs, 1800.

CHARLES AUGUSTUS TULK. An essay by Richard McCully, in the New Church Magazine of March, 1890.

MR. TULK ON THE DIVINE HUMANITY. An essay. By Richard McCully, in the New Church Magazine of May, 1890.

     IN New Church Life for October, 1889, a review of the republication of Tulk's Science of Correspondency was presented, and attention was called to a statement; in that work, where the entire Doctrine of the LOED, as revealed to the New Church, was unequivocally repudiated. A brief outline of the vital points of Tulk's heresy was also presented. It was not, at the time, thought necessary to enter into a detailed refutation of this heresy, the mere statement of which is its condemnation.
     Late occurrences, however, have brought to light the fact that there exists in the New Church an unexpectedly widespread sympathy with the opinions of Tulk, and that vigorous attempts have been made during the last twelve months again to thrust Tulkism upon the notice of the Church.
     Thus, in August of last year, a highly eulogistic "review" of Tulk's Science of Correspondency, from the pen of the author of The Evening and the Morning, was admitted into the pages of the Morning Light. The heretical kernel of Tulk's teachings is here carefully concealed, and only such passages are quoted as may appear correct, while yet preparing the mind to accept Tulk's peculiar notions. The charge is made that "the ideas some of our friends hold respecting Mr. Tulk's opinion [on the subject of the history of the LORD] are erroneous," in the face of the plain statements to the contrary in the work under review. The writer even states that "it is impossible to describe the beauty and the far-reaching wisdom of these principles as applied by Mr. Tulk to the LORD'S life in the world- His works, His crucifixion, and His resurrection." And yet Mr. Tulk "asserts":

     "That all changes and progressions of state, whatsoever and wheresoever attributed to the LORD-whether, in the works of Swedenborg, we read that JEHOVAH GOD assumed and glorified the Humanity, underwent temptations, etc.; or, in the Letter of the Word, that that Humanity, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, was born in space and time, grew to manhood, hungered and thirsted, moved from place to place, suffered and finally died, an object of the senses in this natural world-are so attributed according to the appearance only, existing and subsisting from, and, therefore, corresponding to, those varying states of the human mind according to which the LORD appears" (Sketch of Tulk, p. 50).

     Another and very similar review of the same book appeared in the "Literary" department of the New Church Messenger for September 11th, 1889. The heresy of the book is again overlooked, and its opponents are charged with misapprehension of the subject. In support of this charge, a column of extracts from the book is given in another part of the paper, from which it would appear that Tulk held a perfectly sound view with respect to the Doctrine of the Incarnation. Curiously enough, the statement on page 104 is not quoted among the rest, where Tulk asserts that "the mysterious tenet," "that JEHOVAH clothed Himself with a humanity, is to the full as unintelligible as it is erroneous," and where he openly denies that the LORD, in the Human, had a consciousness distinct from JEHOVAH, that He could be tempted to sin, could be crucified and die.
     The Messenger, in its plea for Mr. Tulk, calls upon "those who deny the validity of Mr. Tulk's position," "to show that his interpretation of Swedenborg is incorrect, and not meet them with mere denials, or with appeals to the impressions of our senses, which are admitted by all to be unreliable."
     It would seem a thankless task again to refute Tulkism, when the refutations of this heresy by such men as Clowes, Hindmarsh, Noble, Mason, and others meet with such a summary condemnation.
     (See especially the Intellectual Repository for the years 1828 and 1845.)
     The more immediate occasion for the present review is the republication, this year, by Mr. James Speirs, of London, of a pamphlet, originally published by Otis Clapp, Boston, 1850, under the title A Brief Sketch of the Life, Character and Religious Opinions of Charles Augustus Tulk. The present edition is enriched by Charles Pooley (F. R. C. S., F. S. A., F. G. S., etc.), with a short historical outline of the life of the author, who, it will he learned with regret, is the writer of the valued novel, The Wedding-guests, Mrs. Hume-Rothery.
     From this "Historical Outline," which is dedicated to "la Signora Contessa Cottrell," the only surviving daughter of Mr. Tulk, we learn that the authoress, while yet a young girl, became acquainted with the Doctrines of the New Church through Mr. Tulk, and that she became his "earnest and devoted pupil," after "his persuasive eloquence" had overcome her many objections.
     The Sketch itself is intended as a memorial of Mr. Tulk, whose death, in 1849, had for a year remained utterly unnoticed by any New Church periodical. It is divided into three chapters, treating of the Social and Civil Life of Mr. Tulk; Mr. Tulk as a New Church Christian, and Mr. Tulk's views relative to the interpretation of some propositions of Swedenborg.

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     It may be of interest to note here that Charles Augustus Tulk was the eldest son of John Augustus Tulk, Esq., who was an English gentleman of independent fortune, and one of the first Newchurchmen. Charles Augustus was born in 1786, and received a liberal classical education. His unusual mental qualities and attainments, his amiable and benevolent character, and his virtuous private life are depicted with considerable vigor, and leave, altogether, a very pleasant impression as far as his individual character is concerned. It leads the reader to hope, for Mr. Talk's own sake, that he was not himself altogether confirmed in the direful falsities of which he was the exponent.
     Of Mr. Talk as a "New Church Christian," we learn that he very early became acquainted with the Writings; that in the year 1810 he became one of the founders of the Swedenborg Society, and continued as a member of the Committee of the Society up to the year 1843. It appears that he did not favor the separation of the New Church from the Established Church of England, nor was he in the habit of attending New Church worship, preferring the form of private family worship. He was a frequent contributor to New Church periodicals, and published a number of works, chief among which is the Spiritual Christianity, in which his views are most completely set forth.
     Of these peculiar tenets, as expounded in Mrs. Hume-Rothery's sketch, it is not necessary to dwell at present.
     The latest efforts to revive the interest in the heresy of Tulk has appeared in the organ of the General Conference of the New Church in Great Britain, the New Church Magazine, in some articles in the March and May numbers of this year, written by Mr. Richard McCully. In these articles Mr. Tulk's two general teachings on the Ideality of Nature and of the LORD'S Human are presented in a summary, and warmly defended. Unfortunately, again, only parts of Tulk's teachings are presented, and no accurate judgment can be formed from Mr. MeCully's presentation.
     As an example of the method of deduction peculiar to the defenders of Tulkism, the following may be quoted from page 107 of the March number of the New Church Magazine:

     "Physical Influx is consequently an appearance, the creation of all things being through man's internal states of mind and thence into the external or sensuous plane of mind, as declared in the quotation [on p. 103] given from A. C. 3721 (see also 6948, 9440, 9580, 9581, 10,196)."


     The passage quoted reads:
     ". . . The natural [not 'the natural mind' as translated by Mr. McCully] is the ultimate of order. That by this ultimate there is apparently as it were an entrance from nature, is because it is the natural mind with man, by which those things which are of Heaven-that is, which are of the LORD,-inflow and descend into nature, and by the same mind those things [not 'forms'] which are of nature ascend."
     The rest of the passage teaches that there is no real entrance or influx from nature into what is above nature. Not a word is said in the whole passage, or in any of the other passages referred to, about the creation of all things, or anything of this world. It would seem self-evident that nature is not created through man, since man was created in nature!
     How totally subversive of the Divine order, and how directly opposite to the Doctrines of the New Church Tulk's whole system is may clearly be seen from the following teachings:
     "That the Human race is the basis upon which Heaven is founded, is because man was created last, and that which is created last is the basis of all things which precede. Creation began from supreme or inmost things, because from the Divine, and proceeded to ultimate or extreme things, and then first it subsided. The ultimate of creation is the natural world, and in it the terraqueous orb, with all the things which are upon it. When these things had been finished then man was created" (L. J. 9).
     Since the lowest things of nature, which make the earths are dead, and these are not changeable [mutabilia] and various according to the states of affections and thoughts as in the spiritual world, but immutable and fixed, therefore there are spaces there, and distances of spaces, these are such, because creation ceases there, and subsists in its rest; thence it is manifest that spaces are proper to nature; and because spaces there are not appearances of spaces according to the states of life as in the spiritual world, these may also be called dead" (D. L. W. 160, A. E. 1218).
     In presenting Mr. Tulk's ideas of the Divine "Humanity," the writer presents the disputed parts so guardedly that the reader is led to suppose them in harmony with the Doctrines. We are assured that Mr. Tulk teaches that "as representative effects, our LORD'S life and miracles were most real," that "our LORD assumed the whole humanity" and that "the Divine Truth was born as a man is born, of a woman, and he increased in wisdom and stature as a man increases. What is not honestly brought forth is the fact that Mr. Tulk teaches all these things with the reservation (elsewhere expressed) that they took place exclusively within the natural mind of each individual according to his state, and not independently of man in the external nature, "the existence of any external world of matter, extraneous to and independent of the mind of man being absolutely rejected" (Brief Sketch of the Life of Tulk, p. 43).
     The disfavor in which Tulk's views have always stood with the New Church people is attributed, again, by Mr. McCully to misapprehension and prejudices, excited by an "unfortunate" patronage of Tulkism by such writers as Emerson and Henry James, Sr.
     Again and again these charges have been brought forth without a shadow of proof. The worthy men who are thus accused are, indeed, no longer in this world, but their writings are extant, and any one can convince himself from these that the accusation is unfounded.
     The writer endeavors to enlist the "sympathy" and "admiration" of the men of the New Church for the man who first brought forth these views, though he himself admits "that it is difficult to reconcile every statement of Swedenborg with the teachings of Mr. Tulk." Yet he would wish it believed that "there are few writers more loyal to our great Scribe than Mr. Tulk has been."
     Loyalty to the Writings is, indeed, the crucial test of any writer, professing the name of Newchurchman. According to his estimation of the Divine Revelation given to the New Church, and at the same time practical loyalty to it, must Mr. Tulk, as well as all others, be judged. How, then, did Mr. Tulk regard the Writings given by the LORD through Swedenborg?
     The writer in the New Church Magazine quotes Tulk as saying, "Berkeley's is but a rude, unfinished truth, compared with the perfect form which its spiritual organization assumes under the heaven-directed hand of our matchless author [Swedenborg]."
     In another place Tulk says:

     "For twenty years I have made the Writings of Swedenborg my study, holding them to be, what I hold no other writings, except the Word, to be, divinely inspired." . . .

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"From a rational perception my conclusions have been drawn of his divine inspiration."-New Jerusalem Magazine, London, 1828, p. 161.

     A certain class of the modern disciples of Tulk5known is "Cone-ites," have, in fact, gone so far in their profession of "the inspiration of Swedenborg" as to assert that the Writings, similarly with the Letter of the Word, are, written by correspondences, and contain an internal sense, not discoverable on the surface. An instance of this may be found in a peculiar pamphlet by Henry C. Cone, entitled, To the New Church:

     "The Latin Word [the Writings] is the Human rational, and its literal, like the Hebrew and Greek, has its internal system of doctrine."-P. 51.

     What this confessed belief of Mr. Tulk of the Divine Inspiration and consequent infallibility of the Writings really amounts to, will be evident from the following quotations of what he says on the same subject in other places.
     Thus, in a periodical called the Dawn of Light, published in London in the year 1826, he says, among other things:

     "Our illustrious author has written much on the science of correspondences, both in his philosophical and theological works; yet it does not appear that he has anywhere directly revealed the principles of the science. . . . He is content with a different and inferior kind of proof; for, instead of showing clearly and philosophically, how it is so, and why it is so, before he discloses the secret treasures of the Word, he rests his proof upon the accumulation of parallel passages, and so leaves the mind rather subdued by their overwhelming number and the striking way in which they illustrate one another, than thoroughly convinced. . . Such a manner of conveying truth . . . was, perhaps, best suited to the infancy of the Church."-Pp. 52, 53.

     Again, in a correspondence with the Rev. Samuel Noble, on the translation of The True Christian Religion, he uses the following expressions:

     ". . . After all, he [Swedenborg] is but a mortal man, and human composition, most admirable as his undoubtedly is, must participate in the common lot. I no more expect to find his works free from error than that truth is nowhere else to be found. At present, however, they stand pre-eminent."
     ". . . As for material substance, if our author ever uses it [the term] I should set it down as a mistake."
     ". . . It would open the door to strange confusion, indeed, if we were to admit the MS. Apocalypse Explained to be of equal authority with E. S's printed writings." (Yet it was on a statement in this very work that Tulk based his peculiar views.-Intellectual Repository for 1819.)
     ". . . It is not sufficient to study the philosophy of Swedenborg in his works."
     ". . . It [an expression in the Memorable Relation in The True Christian Religion n. 605] is bad enough as it is; but how utterly repulsive would 'abivi ridens' [I went away laughing) be, if translated honestly."
     ". . . I still think 'abivi ridens' disgusting, as savoring too much of that spirit which unhappily excited it. Would you consent to translate it faithfully."-Intellectual Repository 406-409.

     Finally, in the Preface to his last and chief work, the Spiritual Christianity, he illustrates his faith in the Divine Inspiration of the Writings in this remarkable manner:

     "First, then, with respect to those passages in the works of our author which seem to imply a distinction of consciousness between the assumed Humanity and JEHOVAH, I would, once for all, beg to observe, that they are not the purely spiritual sense of the Word of God," because "the purely spiritual sense is wholly abstracted from Person, from times and spaces, and from all things of a like kind, which are the properties of nature."- Page 31.

     This, then, is the "loyalty to our great Scribe" of which it is said that "few writers" had it more than Charles Augustus Tulk!
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     Priests must teach men according to the doctrine of their Church, and must lead that they live according to it.- A. C. 10,794.
STUDY OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE NEW CHURCH 1890

STUDY OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE NEW CHURCH       JOSEPH E. ROSENQVIST       1890

     Communicated.

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the writers.]


     ALL true sciences exist for no other purpose than to be of service to that Science which teaches man concerning the LORD and His Kingdom in heaven and on the earth, and thus they have respect to Theology as their common end. But there is especially one science, which in itself involves all the others; a knowledge of which, better than any of the rest, will enable the man of the Church to acquire a true understanding of Him and His works Who is God and LORD in His glorified Human, and which will help man in the best way to discover what he himself is, as to his will and understanding, and not as to the body only, this knowledge alone being of comparatively small importance.
     This science is Anatomy together with Physiology; the study of the structure of the human body, together with a knowledge of the functions of its different parts.
     But, what is Anatomy, and what is it not?
     Why ought Anatomy to be studied in the New Church?
     And what do the Writings teach on this subject?
     From the Writings of the Church it may be learned that Anatomy is a most universal science, including all other sciences, because it treats of that form, which is composed of all the most mysterious things in the natural world. It is therefore a mistake to consider Anatomy as a study necessary for those only who have the medical profession in view. Anatomy has much higher uses to perform than that of exploring the structure and form of the natural body. It is a science by which the highest truths may be illustrated from the lowest forms of nature, there being an exact correspondence of all things of the body with all things of the Greatest Man. The Anatomy of the human body has well been likened to a mine of unexpected treasures, which could not have been gathered from any other source. Anatomy in the New Church is therefore not a mere science of the human body; it is a foundation for all true natural and spiritual knowledge, the advantages of which for a New Church student are innumerable. However, in order to show why Anatomy ought to be studied in the New Church a few of these benefits shall here be presented.
     The knowledge of Anatomy helps man better to understand the Writings; for, in fact, without this knowledge the Heavenly Doctrines can in many places not be understood at all. It is admitted that some of the general doctrines may possibly be comprehended in a certain degree, even by those who have never made this science a study; but it will not do for the progressive Newchurchman to stop on the very threshold of that beautiful temple, which has written above its gate these significant words: "Now it is allowable." When the LORD prepared His servant Emanuel Swedenborg for his great mission, He did this by means of sciences. And so must also the man of the Church at this day be prepared by sciences whereby the understanding can be elevated into heavenly light, to receive the new revelation in the utmost fullness.

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The man of the Church must prepare himself to enter into the very temple; for not even now can he who is unprepared walk through the gate into the temple. Only then, when man's understanding has been elevated to heavenly light, by the means provided by the LORD, can he interpret the writing over the gate; and only then, is it allowable for him to enter.
     The science of Anatomy was of vast moment in Swedenborg's preparation for his sublime office, in enabling him to become the means in the hand of the LORD, whereby the everlasting gate of the heretofore-closed temple was thrown open-never to be shut again. It is therefore the duty of every New Church minister to utilize this means, for he ought to be interested in the Doctrines of the Church, and anxious to understand them, in order that he may be able to teach and lead others. His duty it is also to instruct those who are willing to be instructed, concerning the means which the LORD in His Divine Mercy has provided for the enlightenment of- man's understanding, and thus to show others the great use of anatomical studies. For not only to the clergy, but also to the laity is the study of Anatomy of immeasurable importance.
     But by way of illustration: Does not the student of the Writings find a multitude of places where it has pleased the LORD to illustrate the Doctrines by referring him to the structure and functions of the different parts of the human body, to the anatomy of the brain, of the heart, and the lungs, and so on in all the different ways in which spiritual truths may be confirmed by means of anatomical comparison? Here the cortical substance of the brain, there again the thymus gland is taken as auxiliary means to convey the true idea of the subject under consideration, to the reader's comprehension. This being the well-known style of the Writings, it is altogether self-evident, of what great service the study of Anatomy must be to every devout student of the Divine Books. For it must be plain to every one that he who has no anatomical knowledge cannot profit by these illustrations. But let the Writings themselves speak. In the work on the Divine Providence, in order to illustrate the truth that externals are so connected with internals that they make one in every operation, these words are read: "Take only some general covering of the body, the pleura for example, which is the common covering of the chest or of the heart and lungs, and examine it with an anatomical eye; or if you have not made anatomy a study, consult an anatomist" (n. 180). Further, in the same number, after the mention of several of the abdominal viscera, these words are found: "Take any one of these abdominal viscera, and either examine it yourself, and you will see; or ask those skilled in anatomical knowledge, and you will be told." So in n. 279 of the same work, in speaking of affections, as being mere changes of the state of the purely organic substances of the mind; and of the thoughts, as being mere changes and variations of the form of those substances: "Examine the brain and you will see innumerable substances and fibres likewise, and that there is nothing there which is not organized, . . . but it is asked: what is affection, and what is thought there? This may be inferred from ALL and each of the things in the human body"-and then follows a beautiful comparison of anatomical nature.
     As a conclusion, and also as a striking illustration his subject, the following from n. 296 of the Divine Providence is quoted:
     "That the withdrawal from evils is accomplished by the LORD in a thousand ways, even the most secret, cannot be better seen, and so concluded upon, than from the secret operations of the soul in the body. Those of man takes cognizance are as follows: That the food, which he is about to eat, he looks at, perceives by its odor, hungers for, tastes, grinds with the teeth, rolls to the esophagus with the tongue, and so into the stomach. But the soul's secret workings of which man knows nothing, because he has no sense of them, are these: That the stomach rolls about the food received, opens, and separates it by means of solvents-that is, digests it-offers fitting portions of it to the little mouths there opening and to the veins which drink them in that it sends some to the blood, some to the lymphatic vessels, some to the lacteal vessels of the mesentery, and some down to the intestines; finally, that the chyle, conveyed through the thoracic duct from its receptacle in the mesentery, is carried into the vena cava, and so into the heart, and from the heart into the lungs, and thence through the heart's left ventricle into the aorta, and from this by its branches to the viscera of the whole body, and also to the kidneys, in every one of which [organs] there is effected a separation of the blood, a purification and a withdrawal of heterogeneous substances; not to speak of how the heart presents its blood, when defecated in the lungs, to the brain, which is done through the arteries called the carotids; and how the brain, returns the blood, vivified, to the vena cava, just above, where the thoracic duct brings in the chyle, and so back again into the heart. These, and innumerable others besides, are the secret workings of the soul in the body. Man is not sensible of these operations, and he who is not versed in the Science of Anatomy knows nothing of them."
     JOSEPH E. ROSENQVIST.
Priests must not 1890

Priests must not              1890

     Priests must not vindicate to themselves authority over the souls of men.- A. C. 10,795.
CELEBRATION OF SWEDENBORG'S BIRTHDAY 1890

CELEBRATION OF SWEDENBORG'S BIRTHDAY       W. A. F       1890

     AN ACCOUNT WRITTEN AS A SCHOOL EXERCISE BY ONE OF THE PUPILS OF THE ACADEMY.

     ON January 29th, 1890, the Schools of the Academy celebrated the 202d anniversary of Swedenborg's birth.
     The scholars assembled in the Hall of the Academy at a quarter to nine o'clock A. M. After the usual opening worship, the Rev. Mr. Pendleton made a few remarks on the use of the celebration. He then read these words from The True Christian Religion, n. 779:
     "That the LORD manifested Himself before me His servant, and sent me to this office, and that He afterward opened the sight of my spirit, and so has intromitted me into the Spiritual world, and has granted me to see the heavens and the hells, also to converse with angels and spirits, and this uninterruptedly for many years, I testify in truth; likewise that from the first day of that call have not received anything which pertains to the Doctrines of [the New] Church from any angel, but I from the LORD alone while I have read the WORD."
     Then followed an address by the Rev. C. T. Odhner. He stated that Jesper Svedberg, the father of Swedenborg, was formerly a chaplain to one of the regiments of Charles XI, but some time subsequent to the birth of Swedenborg (January 29th, 1688), he was elevated to the office of Bishop of Skara by the king, which office he continued to occupy until his death.
     The LORD was preparing and training Swedenborg's mind for the important use he was destined to perform.

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This manifested itself, when he was about four years old, in his expressions, which showed how much he thought about GOD. He would surprise his parents with his wisdom, they believing that an angel spoke through him. He was brought up in his father's house, and in due time was sent to the University of Upsala, where he continued until he was twenty-one years old. Shortly after leaving the University, he went on a tour abroad, as was the custom of young noblemen of his standing, and visited England, France, Holland, and Germany.
     While traveling he took advantage of every opportunity that presented itself to make the acquaintance of the leading scientific men of the day. He therefore became much interested in Mathematics and Astronomy, and wrote a number of works on both these branches of science. He published some Latin Poems in Skara, and was editor of a periodical called the Daedalus Hyperboreus, dedicated to the record of Mechanical and Mathematical inventions and discoveries.
     Among his many inventions was a flying machine, and with the assistance of Polheim, the leading civil and military engineer of Sweden, he made the plans for a canal which was to make a short-cut across Sweden by means of lake Wenner and lake Wetter. This plan was rejected but has since been put into execution.
     Swedenborg was introduced to Charles XII of Sweden, who, being struck with his genius, appointed him Assessor of the College of Mines, to co-operate with Polheim. Charles is reported to have said to Swedenborg that whoever is ignorant in mathematics is a monkey. Swedenborg thought that a saying worthy of a king. In 1718 he assisted Charles XII in his assault against Fredrikshall, a Norwegian fortress, by inventing a mode of carrying eight ships over the mountains a distance of fourteen miles.
     Charles XII, who was of a celestial genius, is spoken of in the Spiritual Diary as being in the deepest hell.
     Swedenborg's first and only love affair occurred in the house of his friend, Polheim. Polheim had a daughter, and as Swedenborg was thrown much into her society, he naturally fell in love with her. They were engaged, but soon Miss Emerentia regretted the decision, and broke the engagement. When Swedenborg was asked afterward why he did not marry her, he answered, "because she would not have me."
     In the study of science, Swedenborg's object was to find the soul. He searched the human body, and went deeply into anatomy, and wrote a number of works with that end in view. At last his wish was fulfilled, his spiritual sight was opened by the LORD, and he could see and speak with the souls of men. When he was in this state he appeared as if in a trance, and at one time his housekeeper thought he was dead. He displayed a wonderful power of endurance, when he wrote for hours at a time, taking only the needful food and sleep.
     He was very fond of children, and was always supplied with cakes and candies to give to them. In his garden at Stockholm he had a summer-house, the interior of which he could convert from a square room into an octagon, simply by touching a button. He delighted in having little children visit him in his garden. Here, on one Occasion, a little girl requested him to show her an angel. He led her to a gate, behind which was a mirror. "Here," he said, "you will see an He dressed in the garb of a nobleman, with knickerbockers and silk stockings. He had no regular time for sleeping or eating, his breakfast consisting of coffee, prepared by himself, and rolls. The expression of his face was kind and benevolent, and he enjoyed the society of ladies.
     After Mr. Odhner had finished speaking, the scholars were dismissed to their classes.
     It is of great importance to celebrate the birth of a man who, besides being the servant of the LORD, to whom were revealed the Divine Truths of the Church, was one of the greatest scientists and philosophers of his time.
     W. A. F.
Priests must have dignity and honor 1890

Priests must have dignity and honor              1890

     Priests must have dignity and honor on account of the holy things which they administer, but they must not attribute them to themselves, but to the Lord.- A. C. 10,796.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890


     GLIMMERINGS OF CORRESPONDENCE IN NEGRO FOLK-LORE.

     WHILE preparing a paper on Negro folk-lore to be read at a meeting of the Philadelphia branch of the American Folk-Lore Society the writer was struck by the seeming correspondence in a number of the myths which came under review. It is of course possible that much of what is usually denominated folk-lore is of comparatively recent origin, much of it could as it were spontaneously spring into being in the lively imaginations of the unlettered; but enlightened reason, with which we are gifted by the truth of the Church, forbids the supposition that such could be the case in general. Genuine folklore has its root in the ancient world equally with those numerous forms of idolatry and mythology which we know to be perversions of anterior pure religions, the external cause of such perversion being the loss of a knowledge of correspondences.
     The origin of the great number of American Negro animal-myths, except in so far as they suggest themselves to the mind as possibly a remote echo of the animal worship of the African forefathers, seems altogether involved in obscurity. But there are myths of another kind which at least appear to refer themselves back to ancient stories written or told according to correspondences.
     Take, for instance, a story found among the Negroes of Southern Georgia to the effect that the Jack-o'-lantern (the ignis fatuus, or inflammable gas of swampy regions) is an evil spirit or demon "hot from hell;" that this demon must be avoided, or the consequences may be terrible in the extreme; that a horseman once attempted to approach it and make investigations, whereupon the terrible Jack-o'-lantern turned upon him in wrath, consuming both him and his horse in its flames. Now, we are told in the Writings (T. C. R. 385) that the phosphorescent swamp-light corresponds to the fatuous light of faith-alone. Here, then, we have the horseman (reasonings), the horse (the understanding of truth), and the destruction of these by means of the ignis fatuus, or the unsubstantial light of faith-alone. Is this a mere remarkable coincidence, or have we here a transmitted version of an ancient story written or told according to correspondence, describing how through vain reasonings all understanding of truth may be swallowed up and destroyed in the fatuous light and flame of faith- alone.
     The Georgia rice-plantation Negroes tell a curious story to the effect that a woman was once persuaded to marry a mysterious person who ultimately proves to be the devil. In unsuspecting innocence she accompanies her spouse to a handsome but remote domain, where she in time discovers that he has murdered several other young women not unlike herself.

94


She is at once a prey to lively anxiety, and,-going out to ride alone, she gives expression to her fears in spoken words, loudly lamenting that she ever left her, father's house. To her great surprise, her horse then speaks-and reveals to her her true situation. Terrified, she implores the animal to assist her to escape, whereupon she is recommended to take four large nails which lie on the mantel-piece in the devil's chamber, and put them into her pocket before she comes forth to ride on the following morning. All this is duly accomplished, and as soon as the woman is on his back and the house is lost to view, the horse bounds away at his best speed. At mid-day the woman is told to drop one of the nails, and hardly has she done so when a great bank of sand rises and so obstructs the road as to render it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the pursuer to drive over it and follow her. At night-fall another nail is dropped, at midnight another, and at sunrise the last one, in each case a great bank of sand rising and obstructing the road. In the early morning the woman reaches her father's house in safety.
     This story, which, in outline, suggests the Greek myth the carrying off of Demeter's daughter, Persephone, by Plouton, seems ash it must be something more than a mere invention of the modern world. If it have no remote origin, no hidden meaning, why should the dropping of the nail be chosen among a thousand other things as the charm which broke the power of the devil? In view of the correspondence of the horse, the woman, and the nail, we may at any rate suggest an interpretation of this mystic story.
     Man immersed in evil (or wedded to the devil) is, through remains stored up in him, enabled to feel an affection for truth (the woman). This affection The truth leads him to the understanding thereof (the horse), which speaks and reveals to him his true condition, pointing out the way whereby evil may be overcome, or the devil circumvented. The nail signifies conjunction; the dropping of it, therefore, at certain intervals along the road or path leading away from the devil and upward through regeneration would seem to imply the gradual severing of the bonds of conjunction with evil, which would explain why the casting away of each nail caused a fresh barrier to rise between the fleeing woman and the devil. This interpretation is further borne out by the fact that the barrier raised was of sand, by which is signified ultimate scientifics. All ultimate scientifics may, in a sense, be regarded as guards or barriers which absorb the attention of the assaulting evil or devil.
     As we all know, a widespread superstition obtained in the Middle Ages relative to the extraordinary power of a silver bullet, a superstition which found expression in the Freischutz of the German folk-lore and other similar myths, as well as in the story that the Catholics attempted to bring about the death of Gustavus Adolphus by the employment of this effective weapon. The American Negro also tells a story with the same leading idea. It is to the effect that there were once some hunters who were put to shame by a bold and apparently invulnerable deer. Do what they would they found it impossible to hit that deer. At last, by the advice of a wise conjuror, they molded a silver bullet and shot that, whereupon the animal vanished from their sight, thus proclaiming itself to be a spirit. The power to effect this wondrous miracle resided solely in the silver, it will be observed. Silver is truth-truth in this case causing vastation, dispersion of the evil.
     The Writings teach us that by the Trojan horse was represented a stratagem of the understanding (H. H. 4). May not the firing of this silver bullet be considered to have some similar representation? The objection arises that bullets and firearms are features of an age in which the knowledge of correspondences had become totally extinct, but is at once disposed of by the reasonable supposition that the story in its earlier form made mention of a silver arrow-head or a silver ball thrown by means of the ancient sling instead of a bullet fired through a gun.
     Grimm gives, as a bit of German folk-lore, the story that whirlwinds are caused by witches, and that if one will throw a knife into the whirl they will be seen at their work; where the correspondence is clear. The knife here, though in general it has not a good correspondence, must mean the sword of truth which cuts away the fair mask behind which evil walks abroad.
     This brings us to the consideration of witchcraft among American Negroes. Here the suggestions of correspondence or its opposite are faint and few, but are worthy of attention. The practice of witchcraft among Americo- Africans is more widespread than is generally supposed. There are communities in the Virginia tobacco belt, for instance, which so far resemble the tribes of the African bush as to have a professional trick-doctor. This trick-doctor, or conjuror, is a person of great importance, and is not infrequently consulted in regard to ordinary forms of disease, but his distinctive avocation is the bringing to bear of counteracting influences against sorcery, or, on the other hand, the casting of Is up fresh victims. In his thoughtful and interesting book, The Plantation Negro as a Freeman, Mr. Philip A. Bruce tells us that a neighborhood is sometimes thrown into a state of general turmoil by the mere arrival of a trick-doctor, and has the appearance of a community of personal enemies whose hands begin to strike at each other through the secret medium now offered. There is a notable increase of quarreling and wrangling, ominous threats and imprecations are heard on every hand, and the whole atmosphere is, as it were, alive with anger and terror, There have been times when so much demoralization of labor has been thus brought about in large communities in Southern Virginia that it was necessary for the owners of the land to compel the trick-doctor to leave. All of which is clear proof of what a hellish influx must accompany the practice of the evil art.
     Not a great deal is known of the modus operandi of the trick-doctor, but frightened Negroes in various parts of the South have occasionally exhibited to the authorities specimens of the mediums through which the evil influence is supposed to act. These "conjure" concoctions which are placed in the path before the door, or beneath the pillow of the intended victims, seem usually to consist mainly of rusty nails, red flannel, briar root, etc., a toad's foot, a snake's tooth or a bundle of sewing needles being sometimes added. A concoction exhibited not long since in the writer's native town in Georgia consisted of a large live toad which had a strip of red flannel about twenty inches long securely fastened to its right hind foot. The other end of the strip was tied to the centre of a lightwood splinter some ten inches long. Knots were tied at intervals along the strip and here and there were attached short pieces of white sewing thread. Beside all this, fastened to the knotted strip was a small red flannel bundle in which were found roots and sewing needles.
     The only feature in all this bewildering and apparently meaningless detail which seems to suggest correspondence or its opposite is the needle. A needle in a good sense would signify conjunction by means of truth, but here would have the opposite signification.

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This point derives additional interest from the fact that needles were a feature of the conjure concoctions of the English witches, clearly indicating a similarity and connection between two forms of witchcraft which, no doubt, have a common origin in the sorcery and magic of ancient times, the latter, as we know from the Writings, being an unlawful perversion of correspondences. The similarity of English and African witchcraft is further evident in that the Louisiana Negroes are said to employ as conjure mediums small rude effigies of the human figure covered with blood or pierced through the heart with a nail, which at once suggests the following statement from King James' Deamonology (Book II, chap. v.):

     "The devil teacheth how to make pictures of wax or clay, that by roasting thereof the persons that they bear the name of may be continually melted or dried away by continual sickness."

     What is beyond question a transmitted perversion of an ancient true idea is the American Negro's belief in the presence about him of spirits. Among his many saws and sayings is this, that one must be careful never to brush against a spirit. The idea in this warning seems to be that the surrounding atmosphere is alive with these unseen beings, and at once suggests the reported belief of the Veddahs of Ceylon (and other savage tribes), who say that the air is peopled with spirits, that they are ever at one's elbow, and there is constant danger of jostling them. And this in -turn suggests the belief of the Arab, which is that the desert is so thickly crowded with spirits that he prays the forgiveness of such as may be struck whenever he casts anything through the air, and warningly tells a story of how a merchant once threw a date-stone, struck an invisible spirit in the eye, and killed him.
     Here we have from three widely different sources a similar idea of the nearness of the other world-a similarity clearly pointing to a common origin. One needs but to be a Newchurch man in order to see at once that this common origin could only have been the belief held in ancient times, as now in the New Church, that the spiritual world is not separated from the natural by a matter of material distance, but is within and above as the soul is within and above the body. Such an idea, at first true and pure and afterward perverted, made gross, materialized, as handed down through the ages, could not do otherwise than give birth to the present widespread belief among savages that spirits dwell all around them in the very material atmosphere.
     LOUIS PENDLETON.
Honor 1890

Honor              1890

     Honor belongs not to the person, but to the thing.- A. C. 10,797.
GENERAL CONVENTION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1890

GENERAL CONVENTION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       E. SUGDEN       1890

     THE Committee on Transportation of Delegates to Chicago Convention begs leave to report as follows:
     They have arranged with the Trunk Line and the Central Traffic Associations for the transportation of delegates and their families to the Convention at following reduced rates:
     Viz., full fare going and one-third of regular fare returning; subject to the following conditions:
     Each person must purchase a first-class ticket to Chicago, for which he pays the full regular fare, and the ticket agent will, on request, issue to him a paper designated "Certificate for Reduced Fare," properly, filled up and signed by said ticket agent.
     This certificate is to be procured at the starting point where Delegate buys his ticket.
     It is absolutely necessary that a certificate be procured, as it will entitle the holder, on his arrival in Chicago, to secure the rebate for returning.
     A rebate is not allowed without certificate.
     Delegates are advised to procure tickets at least half an hour before starting time, in order to give the ticket agent time to fill up certificate.
     The rebate is made in Chicago for the return trip.
     These certificates are to be countersigned in Chicago by the Secretary of the Convention.
     Certificates can be procured from June 15th to June 20th inclusive, from points east of Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Wheeling.
     From June 16th to June 20th inclusive, from Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Wheeling, and points West, including St. Louis and Cincinnati.
     The Committee suggest that the New England Delegates book from New York.
     For further information, apply to Committee on Transportation.
     E. SUGDEN, 70 Worth St., New York.
          J. F. GODDARD, 2808 Indiana Ave., Chicago, Ill.
Priests must force no one 1890

Priests must force no one              1890

     Priests must force no one, but they must separate those who make disturbance.- A. C. 10,798.
ACADEMY BOOK ROOM 1890

ACADEMY BOOK ROOM       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     has for sale the following recent publications:

     DE AMORE CONJUIGALI. New Latin edition. Half leather and cloth. 410 pages (5 3/4 x 9 inches). Price, $2.50.

     QUARTUOR DOCTRINAE DE ULTIMO JUDICIO. New Latin edition. Binding and size as the above. Price, $2.50.

     APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED. Vols. I and II. Latin-English edition. Alternate Latin and English pages (5 3/4 x 9 inches). Half leather and cloth. Price, $1.50 a volume. The second volume just out.

     INDEX TO APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED. By the Rev. Samuel H. Worcester. With tables of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek words with their Latin renderings and Index to Scripture passages. 2 vols., 1,261 pages (5 3/4 x 9 inches). Half leather and cloth. Price per set, $4.00.

     SPIRITUAL DIARY. Vols. 1-IV. The fourth volume only shortly out. Price per volume, $2.50.

     DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM. Cheap pocket edition, just published. Paper covers. Price, postage included, 15 cents; 8 copies for $1.00. Attractively bound in cloth, 40 cents.

     Also a complete stock of all the Writings of the New Church in English and in Latin so far as obtainable.

     We can supply second-hand copies of the Writings (in English) at a low, price, which may be of service to persons of small means.
     Address,
          ACADEMY BOOK ROOM,
               CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH, AGENT,
                    1821 Wallace Street
                         PHILADELPHIA, PA.

96


NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890



     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MISS FLORENCE G. GIBBS, 147 Camden Road, London, N.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on- Tyne.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, JUNE, 1890=120-121.


     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 81.
     Sending out the Twelve Disciples (a Sermon), p. 82.- The Opening Exercises in the Philadelphia Schools of the Academy. p. 83.- A Home Dedication, p. 84.-Laws of Marriage and Pellicacy, p. 85.-Work in the World, p. 87.-Marie Bashkirtself, p. 87.
     Notes and Reviews, p. 88 - Tulkism Revised, p. 89.
     The Study of Anatomy and Physiology in the New Church, p. 91.- A Celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday, p. 92.-Glimmerings of Correspondence in Negro Folk-Lore, p. 93.-General Convention of the New Jerusalem, p. 95.
     The Academy Book-Room, p. 96.
     News Gleanings, p. 96.-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 96.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.-"THE Free New Church Society of Allegheny and Pittsburgh" has been formed in Allegheny. Its members do not wish to hold themselves aloof from extraneous association, but simply as a Society and as individuals they pledge themselves to maintain inviolable freedom of action and belief. A Constitution has been adopted and approved in the presence of twelve adults.
     Maryland.- THE Rev. T. A. King has been doing missionary work in Baltimore, delivering, in a vacant Methodist Church, a course of lectures, which were previously extensively advertised in the newspapers. Large congregations were attracted to the place. Numbers of tracts and circulars, containing, among other things, the faith of the New Church, invitation to the regular worship of Baltimore Society, etc. were distributed. These lectures seem to have had a good effect, as the attendance at the regular Sunday morning services has doubled, there being at present about one hundred and seventy-five persons. A lady has been baptized.
     Massachusetts.-ON Easter Sunday three infants were baptized, and six persons received into the Boston Society. Three hundred and twenty-six persons partook of the Sacrament.
     California.- THE Rev. J. J. Thornton, from Melbourne, has arrived at San Francisco. He traveled via Portland and Seattle, to Chicago, and thence to the Atlantic States.
     THE late Dr. Barnes, of San Diego, after certain bequests to his relatives, has willed the remainder of his estate to the New Church in that city. It is believed to be sufficient to erect a church building.
     Canada.-MR. Joseph E. Rosenqvist, who is at present pursuing his studies in Philadelphia at the Theological School of the Academy, has been engaged by the Berlin Society as Assistant Master of the school. He is expected in Berlin toward the end of June.
     THE Rev. J. E. Bowers, during a recent missionary trip in the southwest of Ontario, visited New Church friends in twenty-five different places.
     THE annual meeting of the Canada Association will be held on July 24th.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- A MEETING of the International Leaflet Association was held April 14th, at Bolton. A report of ten months' effort was presented. Forty-six thousand five hundred leaflets had been printed on twelve important subjects, and of these 25,000 have been distributed.
     A FAREWELL party, attended by eighty persons, was given to the Rev. C. Griffiths, by the Brightlingsea Society, on April 24th. Old Church clergymen took part.
     THE Manchester (South) Society, on April 2d welcomed their first minister, the Rev. J. J. Woodford.
     EIGHT new members were added to the Argyle Square Society, London, on April 4th.
     A LARGE social meeting was held at Glasgow on April 18th, to bid farewell to the Rev. and Mrs. A. Faraday, who are leaving Scotland. Mr. Faraday has been assisting the Rev. J. F. Potts with the Concordance.
     France.- THE Rev. J. R. Hibbard held service, and administered the Holy Supper, on Easter Sunday, in his parlor in Paris, for the benefit of his own family and a few American members of the New Church. Eight communicants were present.
     THE Rev. Alf. J. P, Bellais went to Paris, at Easter. Ten persons, among them two Mauritians, and Mr. Brown, former instructor of drawing at the Philadelphia Schools of the Academy, met on Sunday morning for worship and instruction. The same persons then dined together. Mr. Vaissiere received the congratulations of his friends at having recovered from a serious illness. At the end of the meal Dr. Poirson responded to the toast, "Free Determination." In the event big of the same day, six persons partook of a repast composed of simple but choice food olives, butter, honey, raisins, figs, bread, and wine. After this the Holy Supper was administered; the idea being to follow the manner of the institution of this sacrament. The meal was partaken of in silence, and no one but the partakers was in the room.
     After spending ten days in Paris, Mr. Ballais returned to his family, where the Holy Supper was celebrated in the same manner.
     Switzerland.- THE Rev. F. Gorwitz preached in Berne on Easter Sunday, and administered the Holy Supper. On the same occasion a young lady was baptized, and two children of a New Church family confirmed.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.





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Vol. 10. PHILADELPHIA. JULY, 189O=121.     No 7.
     That temple signified the New Church; the pulpit, the priesthood, and preaching.- T. C. R. 508.



     WHEN a man professes to be a member of the New Church, to what does he lay claim? Does he claim to have attained regeneration? Does he claim to be of the Church as to will and life? No, but as to doctrine and the performance of uses according to doctrine. The state of his own regeneration is known to no man. But one may justly be allowed the name of a Newchurchman, if he is conscious of having rationally received the Faith of the New Church, and of having joined with others of this Faith for the performance of the uses of the New Church. "The Church is one thing, and Religion another; the Church is called the Church from doctrine, and Religion is called Religion from life according to doctrine" (A. R. 923).



     THE New Church must, necessarily, be both internal and external, for "there are those who are in the Internal of the Church; and there are those who are in the External of the Church; the former are few, but the latter very many" (A. C. 6587). The Church may be thus distinguished into an internal and an external Church in a three-fold manner: as to doctrine, as to uses, and as to the degree of the regenerate life of the individual. As to the state of the Church with any one in this last respect, no judgment can be formed by man, but from Revelation it may be known whether the Church with any one is internal or external in respect to his intellectual acceptance of the Doctrines and in respect to the quality of the uses performed by him.



     IN respect to doctrine "the Church is internal with the clergy and external with the laity; or internal with those who have interiorly studied its doctrinals, and have confirmed them from the Word; and external with those who have not done so" (A. R. 398, 400, 403, 404). While a clergyman, or one who has interiorly studied the Doctrines, is in this respect an internal Church, it does not follow that he is so also as to individual regeneration, since even an evil man may study the interior things of Doctrine, and according to them perform the internal functions adjoined to him. Yet a man, or a body of men who have received and acknowledged internal principles, may, on this plane, justly be called an internal Church, since "the Church is according to its doctrine . . . yet doctrine does not establish the Church, but the soundness and purity of doctrine, thus the understanding of the Word" (T. C. R. 245).



     IN respect to uses there is the same distinction. "Works are more or less good according to the excellence of the uses, for works must because the best are those which are done for the sake of the use of the Church" (A. E. 975). But also Church uses are internal and external. The uses of the latter kind are to provide for the maintenance of the external things of the Church, while the uses of the former kind are to provide for the maintenance of the internal things of the Church. Among such internal uses of charity is pre-eminently the use of providing for the instruction and maintenance of the priesthood, since "the Divine called the Holy Spirit in the Church chiefly passes through the clergy to the laity" (Canons, Holy Spirit iv). While a man or a body of men, who have chosen such internal works of charity as their principal uses, in this respect are, and may justly claim the name of, an internal? Church, yet it is evident that the state of individual regeneration cannot be involved in this claim, since good works may also be done by evil men. Judgment cannot be formed as to the internal state of anyone from the ultimate uses performed by him. The ends from which man acts are what judge him, and these ends are known to the LORD alone.



     Evil priests who, in the world, have, by their preaching moved the common people to tears, mostly infest the upright.- A. C. 8383.



     A CORRESPONDENT is perplexed at the different views of the relative status of the spiritual and the literal sense of the Word, and refers to the position of one, that the spiritual or internal sense is the greater, while, on the other hand, another maintains that the letter is the chief and only Word; the one quotes the statement in the Invitation, that the latest Revelation is "more excellent" than any previous one, while the other quotes from the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture, that the Word in the letter "is preeminently the Word."
     Either of the numbers referred to will help the reader out of the difficulty. The Invitation says:
     "The spiritual sense of the Word has been uncovered by the LORD through me, which has never before been revealed, since the Word with the sons of Israel was written; and this is the very Sanctuary of the Word; the LORD Himself is in it with His Divine, and in the natural sense with His Human. Thus, not even an iota can be opened except by the LORD alone. This excels all Revelations which have been hitherto since the creation of the world" (Coro. 44).
     The teaching of the Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture is part of the explanation under the proposition, "That the Divine Truth in the sense of the letter of the Word is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power." This is stated to be the case, because the two (prior or interior senses, which are called spiritual and celestial, are together in the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter. This is briefly explained and then follows the teaching, "From these things it may be manifest that the Word is the Word itself in its sense of the letter, for this is interiorly spirit and life, the spiritual sense is its spirit, and the celestial sense is its life.

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This is what the LORD saith: 'The words which I speak unto you, are spirit and life' (John vi, 63). The LORD spake His words before the world, and in the natural sense. The spiritual sense and the celestial sense are not the Word without the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, for they are like the spirit and the life without the body, and they are like a palace to which a basis is wanting". (S. S. 37-39).
     If these two teachings be compared, they will be seen to be in agreement. There is a difference in degree, between the Word in the spirit, and the Word in the letter, but the two belong together as the soul and the body, or as the Divine and the Human of the LORD.



     THE Faculty of the Schools of the Academy of the New Church recently instructed its Dean to write to the Chief Librarian of the University of Upsala, asking for official information of the facts in the case of Dr. Buckley's late assertion in the Century Magazine, that he had seen Swedenborg's MSS. written in the English tongue, in the Library of the University. The following reply has been received from the Chief Librarian:

     "UPSALA UNIVERSITY BIBLIOTEK,

                         "23 Maj, 1890.
     "DEAR SIR:-In answer to your honoured letter of the 29th April, I haste to state, that for aught I can find, there are no MSS. of Swedenborg preserved in the University Library of Upsala. His original Diary was, as you know, restored to the Academy of Sciences to Stockholm.
     "There may be that amongst our 10,000 MSS. with hundreds of Colligatenband [? The word is obscurely written.-ED.], one can find some copies of Swedenborg's writings. But our catalogues have not a word thereon.
     "I cannot understand from whence that misunderstanding is arisen and who the eminent professor was that asserted the thing.
     "You will excuse that I write illegibly and briefly, but the whole library shall be removed and the new arrangement ready the 1st of June.
     "Very respectfully yours,
          "CLAES ANNERSTEDT,
               "Chief Librarian.
     "I never heard that S. composed anything in English."

priest 1890

priest              1890

     A priest, who teaches truths from the Word, and by them leads to the good of life and thus, to heaven, he, because he consults for the souls of the men of this Church, eminently exercises charity.- T. C. R. 422.
RECIPROCAL UNION OF GOOD WITH TRUTH 1890

RECIPROCAL UNION OF GOOD WITH TRUTH       Rev. EUGENE J. E. SCHRECK       1890

     (Delivered to the Camberwell Society and to the Society at Colchester in July, 1889.)

     THE LORD has most mercifully invited those that would be of His New and True Church to "enter into the mysteries of the Word `that have' hitherto been locked up, for its single verities are so many mirrors of the LORD." Brethren, on this day, that is consecrated to the LORD, it is our inestimable privilege, in accordance with this invitation, to enter into the sacred recesses of the Word in the Gospel according to John xii, 44-46:

     "Jesus cried and said, 'He that believeth in Me, beliveth not in Me, but in Him that sent Me, and he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me. I, Light, am come into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me should not abide in darkness.'"
     In these words of the LORD are contained most profound secrets concerning the glorification of His Human-secrets, indeed, concerning the union of Good with Truth, and of Truth with Good, or, what is the same, concerning the union of the Divine Essence with the Human, and of the Human with the Divine. For He saith: "He that believeth in Me, believeth in Him that sent Me," and soon afterward: "Whosoever that believeth in Me"-while between the two sayings the union is treated of in the words,. " He that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me."
     It has been a secret, hitherto unknown, that a reciprocal unition was effected between the LORD'S Human and His Divine Essence, and it is a secret which can hardly be expounded to the comprehension, for it has not been known what influx is, and without the cognition of influx, no idea can ever be had of what a reciprocal unition is.
     It may be illustrated to some extent by the influx in the case of man, for in man there is also a reciprocal conjunction (A. C. 2004).
     Every man has an Internal Man, a Rational, which is the Middle, and an External Man. The Internal of man is that which is his inmost, from which he is a man, and by which he is distinguished from brute animals, who have not such an inmost, and it is, as it were, the gate or entrance of the LORD, that is, of celestial and spiritual things of the LORD into man. By this internal, man lives a man after death, and to eternity, and by it he can be elevated by the LORD among the angels. It is the very first form from which man becomes and is man. By this Internal the LORD is united to man; the very heaven nearest to the LORD is of such human Internals, but still it is above the inmost Angelic Heaven, wherefore those internals are of the LORD Himself. Thus the whole Human Race is most present under the eyes of the LORD. What is done in his Internal cannot be grasped by man, because it is above his every rational from which he thinks.
     To this Inmost or Internal man is subjected the Rational, which appears as man's own. Into it there inflow, through the Internal man, the celestials of love and of faith from the LORD; and through the Rational they inflow into scientifics, which are of the External man. But what inflows is received according to the state of each one. Unless the Rational submits itself to the LORD'S goods and truths, then what inflows is either suffocated, or rejected, or perverted, by this rational, and still more so, when it inflows into the sensual scientifics of the memory;-the seed falls either on the way, or on stony ground, or among thorns.
     It is important to bear this in mind, for while this teaching is, in general, adduced for the sake of illustration of the central doctrine of our text, it is in illustration for the reason that it flows from this doctrine, and without it the text will not be rightly understood.
     While, then, the rational thus suffocates, rejects, or perverts the LORD'S goods and truths inflowing through the Internal when the Rational does not submit itself to them,-when it does submit itself and believes the LORD, that is, His Word, then the Rational is like the good ground, into which the seed falls, and it brings forth much fruit (A. C. 1940).
     As life thus inflows continually from the LORD, through the Internal, into man's Rational, and through this again into the External with its scientifics and. cognitions, it adapts them to receive life, and also disposes them into order, and thus gives man ability to think, and finally to be rational.

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     This is the conjunction of the LORD with man, without which man could never think, and still less be rational. There are in man's thought innumerable arcana of science and of the analytic art, and indeed they are so innumerable that they cannot be explored to eternity. They do not inflow through the senses or through the external man, but through the internal. But man, on his part, goes to meet this life, which is from the LORD, by scientifics and cognitions, and thus reciprocally conjoins himself (A. C. 2004).
     This truth, again, concerning the reciprocity of the conjunction is a very important truth, and it amplifies the one just considered. The seed drops from the hand of the Sower on to the soil, bearing within it all the forces that have been stored up within it from the sun while it matured in the flower. But this seed, though thus prepared, cannot spring forth into life unless the soil open its bosom to receive it, breathe forth from its particles the life which it has received from the sun, and reciprocally conjoin itself to the seed.
     The LORD, the Sun of Heaven, inflows into the Inmost and through the Inmost into the Rational, and through the Rational into the External; but man does not make this life his own so that it will be his eternally in the heavens, unless, by faithfully and unintermittently studying the LORD'S Revelations, and thus acquiring scientifics and cognitions, he go to meet the inflowing life, and conjoin himself with it.
     If this be understood, we shall find ourselves in the outer courts of that shrine where the resplendent central truth of our text is sacredly guarded. We shall have advanced into the light, and in this light shall catch a glimpse of the light of the more wonderful union of the LORD'S Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of the Human with the Divine.
     We can but catch a glimpse of it, inasmuch as this union infinitely transcends any other. For the LORD'S Internal was JEHOVAH Himself, thus life itself, while man's internal is not the LORD, thus neither is it life, but it is recipient of life. There was a union of the LORD with JEHOVAH, but there is no union of man with the LORD, but conjunction. The LORD from His own power united Himself to JEHOVAH, wherefore He also became Justice, but man does not become conjoined of his own power, but of the LORD'S, so that the LORD conjoins man to Himself.
     It is this reciprocal conjunction between the Divine and the Human that is understood where the LORD attributes what is His own to the Father, and what is the Father's to Himself: "JESUS said, 'He that believeth in Me, believeth not in Me, but in Him that sent Me: I, Light, have come into the world that every one that believeth in Me should not abide in darkness'" (A. C. 2004.)

     It is necessary, for a proper understanding of the text, to be mindful of the teaching, that it treats of "the union of Good with Truth, and of Truth with Good, or, what is the same, of the union of the Divine Essence with the Human, and of the Human with the Divine." The "Father," signifies Good, and the "Son" signifies Truth. He said that "the Father sent Him," which signifies that He proceeds from the Father, and because the "Son" is the Divine Truth proceeding from Divine Good, He saith, "I, Light, came into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me should not abide in darkness," and "Light" is the Divine Truth (A. C. 3704.)
     The Divine of the LORD is nothing but Good, yea, it, is Good Itself; but the Divine Truth is the Divine Good of the LORD thus appearing in heaven, or before the angels. It is like the sun. The sun itself in its essence is nothing but fire, but the light which appears therefrom is not in the sun but from the sun. So, the LORD, as to the Divine Good, is represented by the sun, and in the other life He also is the sun of the universal heaven; while the LORD as to Divine Truth is represented by light, and in the other life He is the light of the universal heaven. The LORD in His Essence is; then, nothing but Divine Good, and this both as to the Divine Itself and as to the Divine Human. But Divine Truth is not in Divine Good, but from Divine Good, for so does Divine Good appear in heaven. And because the Divine Good appears as Divine Truth, therefore, for the sake of man's apprehension, the Divine of the LORD is distinguished into Divine Good and Divine Truth, and the Divine Good in the Word is called the "Father," and Divine Truth is called the "Son" (A. C. 3704.)
     Good cannot be seen, it comes to man's apprehension as truth. No one can ever receive good as good, it comes to him in the form of truth,-but good is within truth. Without good truth does not exist as truth. When the LORD, therefore, makes His Second Coming in the virtue and glory of the Divine Truth of the Heavenly Doctrines, Good is not dissociated from it. The Writings are the Divine Truth of the Divine Human, within which is the Divine Good, of the Divine Itself. Coming to us in this Divine Truth the LORD cries and says, "He that believeth in Me, believeth not in Me, but in Him that sent Me"-that is, in the Divine Love from which this Revelation of Divine Truth proceeds, "and he that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me. I, Light, am come into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me should not abide in darkness." This understanding of the text makes clear the relation of the first to the second coming of the LORD. The LORD came in the Flesh in order that the central truth that God is Man-that He is the Human Form-might be impressed upon the very sensual plane of man's apprehension. Thus God incarnate was the invisible God made visible to man's senses. But as the material body of any man is not the man himself, so the LORD successively put off what was material and put on in place of it what was Divine. And as the real man is his will and understanding manifested by means of his body (and we lose sight of what is material in his body as we learn to see the real man), so the LORD'S Divine Good and Divine Truth manifesting themselves in and by His Human, glorify it even in the minds of men, as they acknowledge and receive them as being the LORD Himself. With the sight of our understanding we behold the LORD'S Divine Human in the Divine Truth of the Writings of the New Church, and as we go to meet it, as we go to the Light that shineth in the darkness, with an open mind and a willing heart, that the darkness of falsity arising from our evil will shall be dissipated by this Divine Light, and that we shall steadfastly follow its guidance, we shall be conjoined to our Father in the Heavens, who is ever waiting for us to turn to Him.
     "JESUS cried and said, He that believeth in Me, believeth not in Me; but in Him that sent Me. And he that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me. I, Light, am come into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me should not abide in darkness. - And if any one hear My words and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath One that judgeth him: the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

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For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father who sent Me, He gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting-whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."- Amen.
He who is content in God 1890

He who is content in God              1890

     He who is content in God regards honors and riches as the means of uses, and when he thinks about them, and at the same time about eternal life he makes the former nothing and the latter the essential.- A. C. 4981.
PROSPERITY 1890

PROSPERITY              1890

     THERE is one great object for which every one strives: "Prosperity." But the attainment of this object will be a blessing or otherwise, according to the quality of the object with each man. It all depends upon what is understood by "Prosperity." Examined in the light of the New Church, it is something altogether different from what the world at large understands by it. The man of the New Church looks to eternal prosperity, whereas the world has regard only to prosperity on earth. True prosperity begins in this world and is continued and increased in the other life; but the merely worldly prosperity ends with man's life in the world, and is thus not real, for we are told that things that do not regard eternity are not real. True prosperity must be sought for according to Divine Order, for true prosperity is from heaven. Many strive for success in their dealings, for influence, riches, honors, etc., and when they obtain such things, no matter by what means, they think that they are prosperous. But if the world alone is regarded, it is not so, although the merely natural man is unable to see it, for the Writings teach:
     "That the Divine Providence does not regard that which is fleeting and transitory, and which terminates with the life of man in this world, but it regards that which remains to eternity, thus which has no end. Of that which has no end, it maybe predicated that it is, but of that which has an end, respectively, that it is not". . . (H. D. 269).
     "Whoever rightly considers the subject, may know that worldly rank and riches are not real Divine blessings, although man, from the pleasure which they yield him, calls them so; . . . But that eternal life and the happiness thence resulting are real blessings bestowed on man by the LORD. He Himself plainly teaches in these words: 'Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also'" (H. D. 270).
     "When man is led by the success of artful schemes to the enjoyment of happiness in the world, that success appears to him as the result of his own prudence, when, at the same time, the Divine Providence incessantly accompanies him, permitting and continually withdrawing him from evil. But when man is led to the enjoyment of felicity in heaven, he knows and perceives that it is not effected by his own prudence, but by the LORD, and is the result of His Divine Providence disposing and continually leading man to good (H. D. 273).
     From these passages it appears that prosperity is nothing else than eternal life, and the happiness thence resulting. That this is so may appear more fully from the following teachings of the Church:
     "What God does is eternal and infinite-eternal because it has no regard to any boundary from which it proceeds or to any boundary to which it proceeds; infinite, because it regards at once what is universal in every singular, and every singular in what is universal; this is called providence" (A. C. 5264).
     "That the Divine arrangement or Providence of the LORD is in all and singular things, yea, in the most singular of all howsoever otherwise it appears before man;. . . this does hardly fall into the idea of any man, and least of all into the idea of those who trust in their own prudence, for they attribute to themselves all prosperities which befall themselves, and the rest they ascribe to fortune and chance and few to the Divine Providence, thus they attribute contingencies to dead causes and not to living causes; they say indeed, when things succeed happily, that this is from God, but few and scarce any in heart believe this. The case is similar with those who place all prosperity in worldly and corporeal things, viz.: in honors and riches, and believe that they alone are Divine Blessings, wherefore when they see several of those who are evil abound in such things, and not so the good, they reject from their heart and deny the Divine Providence in singular things, not considering that the Divine Blessing consists in being happy to eternity, and that the LORD regards such things as are momentary, as the things of this world respectively are, no otherwise than as means to eternal things; wherefore also the LORD provides in time for the good, who receive His Mercy, such things as conduce to the happiness of their eternal life, riches and honors, to whom they are not hurtful, and non-riches and non-honors to whom they are hurtful; nevertheless, to these latter He gives in time, in the place of honors and riches, to derive gladness from a few things, and to be more content than the rich and honored" (A. C. 8717).
     From these teachings it may now be evident that the only true prosperity is that which man acquires or rather is gifted with by the LORD, when he suffers himself to be led in the stream of the Divine Providence, which he does when he looks to the LORD, shuns evils as sins, and from affection performs uses to the neighbor.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     Who loves a primate, a minister of the Church, or a canon, but for learning, integrity of life, and zeal for the salvation of souls?- T. C. R. 418.
USES 1890

USES              1890

     WHEN Jacob descended into Egypt Joseph went to Pharaoh and announced the fact to him, and he also took five of his brethren and presented them to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said unto them:
     "What are your works?"
     To which they replied: "Thy servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers. To sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan, now, therefore, we pray three, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen."
     Pharaoh's question is thus explained in the Writings: "'What are your works?' signifies concerning offices and uses, as is manifest from the signification of 'works,' that they are goods, thus uses and offices, for these are good; all goods, which are called goods of charity, are nothing but uses, and uses are nothing but works toward the neighbor, toward the country, toward the Church, toward the kingdom of the LORD; yea, charity itself regarded in itself does not become charity before it comes into act and becomes a work; for to love any one and not do good to him when he can is not to love; but to do good to him when he can, and this from the heart, is to love him; and then within the deed itself or work is contained all of charity and of faith with man; and they are what are called spiritual goods, and they also become goods by exercise-that is, by uses.

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The angels who are in heaven, because they are in good from the LORD, desire nothing more than to perform uses, these uses are the very delight of their life, and also according to uses they enjoy beatitude and felicity" (A. C. 6073).
     Thus Pharaoh's question penetrates to the very essence and heart of human and angelic life. What are your works? Is equivalent to asking, Of what use are you? What good are you? What are you doing to promote the happiness of mankind? And so this question searches the heart and asks it to lay open its ends and purposes to show whether it be influenced by infernal or angelic ends. It asks whether we are on the side of God or the devil, whether we are serving and worshiping the LORD or hindering the establishment of His Kingdom.
     Man was created for use and for no other end. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of uses. Every inhabitant therein is engaged in the active performance of some use to others, and in this is his eternal life and happiness. Hence may be seen the great error of those who believe the life of heaven to consist in singing, praying, and worshiping the LORD without ceasing, or of being served by others, they themselves doing nothing to promote the general good, or who think heaven consists in feasting, in conversation, or other external recreations. The life of heaven is a life of uses. The life of the man of the Church must be a life of uses. The life of the Church itself must be a life of uses, and only in proportion as uses are loved and performed will man and the Church develop and grow.
     The doctrine just quoted teaches that "charity does not become charity before it comes into act and becomes a work." Spiritual goods are procured by exercise-that is, by uses. It is not sufficient to profess a desire to do some great and noble thing; it is not sufficient to have longings and aspirations for something noble and good. These things alone are mere flights of the imagination, or even fantastic workings of the mind. It is necessary for every one that he may become good, or receive eternal happiness to perform some use. He must actually go to work to do something which shall be of use to others, and in the doing of this use the mind comes into active exercise; the will determines itself in a definite direction, the understanding searches out ways and means of carrying out the desired object; and the body actually does the thing or use itself; and in the ultimate deed all are contained together, and additional strength is gained to go forward in the further exercise of uses. It is a natural law that physical strength is gained by frequent and well-directed exercise, provided the strength is not exerted beyond its powers. So spiritual strength is developed by the exercise of the powers of the mind in the actual performance of uses, and it is only as uses are performed that the mind can grow and develop in spiritual strength. No vain longing for strength will bring physical strength of body without well-regulated bodily exercise; so no moral or spiritual strength can be gained except by well-regulated and frequent spiritual exercise which is the performance of uses. All the longings to be good and useful will be of no benefit unless we put our powers into the active performance of use. We must begin in our weakness and do according to our strength, and in that doing our weakness will become strength, and our power for good will correspondingly develop.
     We are again taught that:
     "True worship consists in the performance of uses, ii thus in exercises of charity. . . . Uses exist when every one in his station performs his function rightly, thus to serve one's country, societies, and the neighbor from the heart, and he should act from the heart, and with his companion, and perform offices prudently according to the quality of every one. These uses are especially exercises of charity, and by these especially the LORD is worshiped. Frequenting temples, hearing preaching and prayers are also necessary, but without those uses nothing avails, for they are not of the life, but teach what the life should be" (A. C. 7038).
     Thus the uses which serve for the building up of our spiritual character and for implanting eternal life and happiness are those uses which engage our daily thoughts and attention. It is the faithful performance of these uses or duties which aids in building up man's spiritual character and implants spiritual qualities, thus by doing these things man receives spiritual good from the LORD. The idea of salvation by any other means, as by faith alone, is a great error, for when any other plan of salvation is offered to mankind it draws the attention away from the necessity of faithful service in the world as the only means of implanting genuine good from the LORD. From false ideas of salvation arise false ideas of heaven and of what genuine good consists, and also the various evils which creep into our daily practices and which destroy the good in our uses and corrupt business and society.
     Without the performance of some use all other things are vain. The worship and instruction in temples are means whereby genuine uses may be performed. Truths are the form of good. They are goods in form, and hence they become goods when they are done, yea they then become genuine uses. But if the truth is heard and is not done the truth in that mind is mere knowledge. To that man it is not a form of good, for he does not acquire the good by doing the truth. Thus the truth teaches that a man should be upright, honest, faithful, and diligent in his calling. It teaches that he should select a good use, one that promotes the good of mankind, serving some use to his body or soul. If one hears these truths but becomes dishonest, unfaithful, or chooses some I evil use, the truth in his mind is not a form of good. He has not done it. He has not performed his use, and therefore he does not row strong and develop his spiritual faculties; but on contrary he develops their opposites. Therefore it is of importance that every man should ask himself this question frequently, What are your works?
     All things are formed in use, from use, and according to use. "All angelic life consists in use and in the good of charity. They perceive nothing more happy than to teach and inform spirits coming from the world, that they may serve men. In use and from use and according to use is angelic felicity" (A. C. 454).
     Thus in all their ends and ideas, in all their deeds and life there rules the idea of use, so that everything in and around them is an image of the love of use or the love of the LORD and the neighbor which reigns within. Such is angelic life, and into these unselfish loves and deeds there inflows from the LORD such intense happiness that no mortal on earth can realize and perceive it.
good of the priesthood 1890

good of the priesthood              1890

     The good of the priesthood is to provide for the salvation of souls, to teach the way to heaven, and to lead those whom he [the priest] teaches.-Life, 39.

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SOULS OF ANIMALS 1890

SOULS OF ANIMALS              1890

     SOME time ago there appeared in the New Church Messenger, in a criticism of an article by the Rev. R. J. Tilson, a statement to the effect that the Writings never speak of the souls of animals nor of the souls of vegetables; but of the animal soul and the vegetative soul.
     Since this statement brings into doubt the existence of a soul in animals, it may be of interest to read a few passages from the Doctrines concerning the souls of animals.
     Beginning at the end of Apocalypse Explained, n. 1196, there is, in the form of continuations, some very interesting instruction entitled, "Concerning the Life of Animals and Concerning the Life of Vegetables."
     After speaking of the existence of the Spiritual Sun and of the Natural Sun, it is said:
     "And because from those two fountains of the universe all things which are in both worlds exist and subsist it follows that there is a spiritual and a natural in every created thing in this world, the spiritual as a soul, and the natural as a body, or the spiritual as the internal and the natural as the external, or the spiritual as the cause and the natural as the effect" (A. E. 1196).
     It would seem that the above teaching is sufficient to settle the question emphatically in the affirmative, viz: that animals do have souls.
     But we suppose from the form of the expression used in the criticism that the answer to this would be: "Yes; there is a spiritual in every created thing which acts as a soul; but in the case of animals there is a general influx which acts as the internal or cause, and which is to be called the animal soul, since it may be said to act as the soul of all animals, or of all animals of the same class; but it is not true that animal has a particular soul composed of spiritual substances."
     To this the answer is that there cannot be an influx of the sphere of affection flowing forth from Societies in the Spiritual world into animal forms, unless there be a soul composed of spiritual substances to receive the influx.
     But in the continuation to the Apocalypse Explained, n. 1199, the following statement is made:
     "No one can know of what quality is the life of the beasts of the earth, the birds of heaven, and the fish of the sea unless he knows what is their soul, and of what quality it is. That every animal has a soul is known, for they live, and life is a soul; wherefore in the Word also they are called 'living souls.'"
     Here we have the direct statement that every animal has a soul.
     Animals which appear in the spiritual world are spoken of and it is said that they do not represent interior spiritual affections, but exterior spiritual affections, which are called natural.
     There is some particular affection which is the soul of this or that, animal
     That the Apocalypse Explained, n. 1201; it is said, "the soul of beasts, in itself regarded, is spiritual; for affection, whatever it is, good or evil, is spiritual."
     Further down it is said:
     "But it is to be known that the souls of beasts are not spiritual in that degree in which are the souls, of men, but they are spiritual in an inferior degree: for there are given degrees of the spiritual; and affections of an inferior degree, although regarded from their origin they are spiritual, are to be called natural; they are so called because they are similar to the affections of the natural man."
     "There are in men three degrees of natural affection, likewise in beasts; in the lowest degree are insects of various kinds, in the superior are the flying things of heaven, and: in the still superior are the beasts of the earth, which were created from the beginning."
     From these passages it appears that it is stated in the Writings that animals have souls.
     To this may be added the statement in The Last Judgment, n. 25.
     It is said that men believe that the "soul of man can equally be dissipated after death as the soul of beasts; not perceiving the difference of life between men and beasts, that man can think above himself; of God, of Heaven, of love, of faith; of spiritual and moral good; of truths, and similar things, and thus that he can be elevated to the Divine Himself and be conjoined to Him through all those; but that beasts cannot be elevated above their natural to thinking such things, consequently that their spiritual cannot be separated from their natural after death and live by itself as the spiritual of man, which also is the reason that the life of a beast is dissipated with the life of his natural."
     Many more interesting facts might be drawn from the Writings concerning the souls and life of animals, but there is not space at present.
     It may be here said that the Writings do speak of the vegetative soul, and the difference between the animal and the vegetable is shown. Those who desire may read concerning these in The Apocalypse Explained, n. 1206-1212.
It is not meant that the priesthood should be loved in a higher degree 1890

It is not meant that the priesthood should be loved in a higher degree              1890

     It is not meant that the priesthood should be loved in a higher degree, and from it the Church, but that the good and truth of the Church should be loved, and for the sake of these, the priesthood; this only serves, and as it serves, it is to be honored.- T. C. R. 415.
FAITH OF THE NEW CHURCH 1890

FAITH OF THE NEW CHURCH              1890

FAITH          Esse                    1. Confidence in the LORD God
                              the Saviour JESUS CHRIST.
                              2. Trust that he who lives well and
                              believes aright is saved by Him.

          Essence.               Truth from the Word.

          Existence.               1. Spiritual Light.
                              2. Accordance of Truths.
                              3. Condition.
                              4. Acknowledgment inscribed on
                              the mind.

          State.               1. Infant Faith.
                              1. Adolescent Faith.
                              1. Adult Faith.
                              2. Faith of genuine Truth.
                              2. Faith of the appearance of Truth.
                              3. Faith of the memory.
                              3. Faith of reason.
                              3. Faith of Light.
                              4. Natural Faith.
                              4. Spiritual Faith.
                              4. Celestial Faith.
                              5. Living Faith.
                              5. Miraculous Faith.
                              6. Free Faith.
                              6. Forced Faith.

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     There is given, in The True Christian Religion, n. 344, a synopsis of the Faith of the New Church, arranged under various heads. The above gives a diagramatic view of the subject. The following is an attempt at a rational expansion or explanation of the same.
     The Esse of anything is what makes it to be what it is. Whatever is or exists must have an Esse, else it would not be, and if it is not, then it does not exist. Hence the "Esse of the Faith of the New Church" is what makes it to be the faith of the New Church. It may be said to be its internal quality, end, or purpose. Esse answers to the question, Why? "The Esse, of the Faith of the New Church is, 1. Confidence in the LORD GOD THE SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. 2. Trust that he who lives well and believes aright will be saved by Him." Confidence in the LORD GOD THE SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST is peculiarly the Faith of the New Church, for no other Church acknowledges the SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST to, be GOD, or the only GOD; but this is the leading and central doctrine in all parts of the New Church Writings. It is also said in The True Christian Religion, n. 2, that the "Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in a Universal form is this: The LORD from Eternity, Who is JEHOVAH, came into the world that He might subjugate the hells, and glorify His Human; and without this no mortal could be saved; and they are saved who believe in Him." Trust that he who lives well and believes aright will be saved by the LORD, enters into the Esse of Faith, because the salvation of man is the primary end of Faith and, indeed, of all Creation; and unless there should be trust that man will be saved if he live well and believe aright, there would be no living well and believing aright; for there would be nothing to induce man so to do. This trust man first has on his own account, and believes well and believes aright because he knows from doctrine that by so doing he will be saved from the unhappiness of evil and hell; but as he becomes regenerated he learns to live well and believe aright because he sees it to be the will of the LORD that he should do so, and that thereby the LORD'S ends are accomplished. He sees that the end of man is not to glorify GOD (for the finite cannot add glory to the infinite), but to love the LORD and be saved by Him. The two propositions above considered are the Esse of the Faith of the New Church, for they teach the great end or purpose of all creation. Hence they answer the question, Why? for, as we are taught in The True Christian Religion, n. 43-45, "The Essence of Love is to love others outside of itself; to will to be one with them, and to make them happy from itself." To have confidence in the LORD GOD the SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, is to believe what He teaches and also to do it-that is, to accept His love. To trust that he who lives well and believes aright will be saved by the LORD is to feel sure that the LORD will keep, His promises and fulfill the end of creation.
     "The Essence of the Faith of the New Church is Truth from the Word."
     The Essence of anything is its formative or forming quality or property. It is the means by which a thing exists, and answers to the question, How? The Essence of the Faith of the New Church is Truth from the Word, for, all true faith is formed from and by the Word, as is abundantly taught in the Writings; parti6ularly in The True Christian Religion, n. 347. It may also be seen to be so when it is known that faith in its essence is knowledges which are true or false according as the faith is true or false. If the faith be true then the knowledges are true, and all truth with man is from the Word.
     We now come to the "Existence of the Faith of the New Church."
     Existence means "standing out," hence a thing exists when it is a form and not before. Existence has in it Esse and Essence as primary and medial; it is therefore the whole in a complex. It answers to the question, What? The Existence of the Faith of the New Church is the What of that faith. It is divided into four parts as follows: "1. Spiritual Sight. 2. Agreement of Truths. 3. Conviction. 4. Acknowledgment inscribed on the Mind." "1. Spiritual Sight" is a formed rationality in which man can see and understand spiritual things clearly, and can discriminate between what is true and what is false. It is the sight of the mind. "2. Agreement of truths" is the state of the mind when all the truths which are knowledges are in agreement with one another, and are all placed in their own series; not being confused and mixed, but each one strengthening and supporting the other. "3. Conviction" is the proof in the mind that a thing is so. It is a feeling of certainty, a positiveness. "4. Acknowledgment inscribed upon the Mind" is the state when the understanding or rationality are so thoroughly imbued with truth or formed by it that when a new truth is presented it will be seen to be true without a conscious process of reasoning.
     "The State of the Faith of the New Church" is next described.
     State, from stare, to stand, is the quality, kind, or condition of a thing, and of state is predicated progression or retrogression. Taking ultimate illustrations, we say "The air was in a moist state." "The state of the man's health is poor," etc. State answers to the question, What kind? (Qualist) The state of the Faith of the New Church is divided into six series: "1. Infant Faith; adolescent Faith, and adult Faith. 2. Faith of genuine truth, and Faith of the appearances of truth. 3. Faith of the memory, Faith of reason, and Faith of Light. 4. Natural Faith, spiritual Faith, and celestial Faith. 5. Living Faith and miraculous Faith. 6. Free Faith and forced Faith." 1. Infant Faith is the remains stored up in infancy and childhood by the LORD, immediately by influx and mediately through instruction given by parents and teachers. Adolescent Faith is the faith of man when he begins to think of the things of religion as of himself; independently of parents and teachers It is a formative state of faith. Adult Faith is faith fully formed, embracing the four qualities under the head of the Existence of faith. 2. The faith of genuine truth is faith formed from the truths of the internal sense of the Word. Faith of the appearances of truth is a faith formed from the appearances of truth in the literal sense of the Word. The former is true faith, and the latter, while not true faith, may yet lead to true faith, if it be confirmed as being only appearance; but it is hurtful if confirmed as being real truth. 3. Faith of the memory is a mass of knowledges simply retained in the memory and not understood, but believed from authority-that is, because taught by those in the office of priest, parent, or teacher. Faith of reason is truth believed to be true because proven so to be, by a process of reasoning or examination. Faith of light sees a thing to be true from agreement with the form of the mind without a conscious process of reasoning. 4. Natural Faith is formed from knowledges of natural things-that is, natural truths. If not perverted and made primary, it is of use as a vessel for receiving spiritual and celestial Faith. Spiritual Faith is formed from spiritual truths. Man is in spiritual Faith when upon examination he finds a thing to be true and then does it.

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Celestial Faith is that state of man or angel when he perceives a thing to be true as soon as presented, and immediately does it. 5. Living Faith is the state of faith with man when he not only believes, but also loves that a thing is so, and therefore does it. Miraculous Faith is a faith induced by supernatural manifestions, which makes man believe because he cannot help himself This interferes with man's freedom, therefore the LORD does not teach by means of miracles. 6. Free Faith man has when he believes because he wishes to believe and is at liberty to do so or not, as he chooses. Every one is in free faith who upon examination finds a doctrine to be true and accepts it because it is so. Forced Faith comes from the fear of hell, the dogmas of the Church, or other compelling cause. An example of forced faith from dogmas may be seen in the Catholic Church. It may also be induced by miracles.
Divine Virtue and Operation 1890

Divine Virtue and Operation              1890

     The Divine Virtue and Operation, which is meant by the sending of the Holy Spirit, with the clergy in particular, is illustration and instruction.- T. C. R. 146.
MYTHOLOGY 1890

MYTHOLOGY              1890

     IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     VIII.

     THE MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT.

     The Land of Egypt.

     SWEDENBORG describes his approach to the heaven of the people that lived in the Silver Age in the following words:
     "We first came to a hill in the confines between the East and the South; and when we were upon its ascent, the guiding angel showed me a great extension of a tract of land; and we saw far away as it were a mountainous eminence, between which and the hill upon which we stood there was a valley, and behind this a plain, and from this an acclivity gently rising. We descended from the hill to pass through the valley, and we saw at the sides here and there pieces of wood and stones, carved into the forms of men, and of various beasts, birds and fishes" (C. L. 76).
     This minute description of a scene in one of the Ancient Heavens is significative, and naturally leads the, thought to the corresponding geographical situation in this world of tracts of country where the Ancient Church once flourished. Standing on one of the hills of Libya, a spectator looking toward the East would have before him a bird's-eye view first of a valley, Egypt, in the, distance, a mountainous eminence, Sinai and Canaan, and behind the valley the plains of Arabia and Babylonia, gradually rising toward the mountains of Persia.
     The countries of the Ancient Church were, even as to their physical formations, representative of their spiritual correspondences. Canaan, representing the spiritual mind, was a land full of hills and mountains, corresponding to the spiritual and celestial loves of the neighbor and of God. Assyria and Chaldea, representing the natural rational mind, were plains, corresponding to the field of the memory and its thoughts. Egypt, finally representing the scientific mind, was a narrow valley, corresponding to the low and limited life of the sensual man.
     Thus HE, who in the beginning made heaven and earth, formed the latter so as to correspond in all respects to the former, and this to the sole end that the Word might be written and that man thereby might have conjunction with Him.
Not only in general did the LORD so form all parts of the earth, but also in every particular, as may be further illustrated in the case of Egypt.
     The natural mind of man is in itself mere death, and is vivified only by the influx of spiritual good and truth. Thus, also, is Egypt placed in the midst of a lifeless desert, and would be mere death and desolation but for the vivifying flow of the river Nile, which gives to the land not only water, but the very soil.
     Low in itself is the plane of the natural mind, narrow its conceptions and forms, limited its life. So also is Egypt a narrow valley, closely confined between its mountain-ranges, the desert and the sea. Extending from the South and looking toward the North, Egypt is further representative of the natural mind, which receives all its life from interior wisdom, but is bordered ultimately by the obscurity of the lumen of nature.
     As the universal Heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms and three heavens, so also Egypt in its natural formation represents this Divine order of degrees: as to the two kingdoms, by its division into the Eastern and Western banks of the Nile; and as to the three heavens, by the distribution of its geological strata, granite being found in Upper Egypt, limestone in Middle, and sandstone in Lower Egypt.
     The Semitic name of Egypt is Mizraim, derived, probably, from a root signifying "to be compressed," "narrow" or "hard." The ancient Egyptian name of the country was Khem, which means what is "black," "dark" or "obscure."

     The People of Egypt.

     IN this representative country lived, in ancient times, a representative people. Whence they came, or of what race they were, scientists do not profess to have determined, though the Biblical accounts in Genesis x describes Cham as the father of Mizraim. This, however, is not real history, but signifies that the worship of the Egyptians, in its later stages, received its quality from the faith which is separate from Charity. By Egypt, in this connection, is meant "those who want to be wise about Divine things from themselves and their own scientifics" (A. C. 273).
     Egypt did not always have this evil signification; in the time of the Ancient Church in its purity, it signified in general "the knowledges which are truths, and which are useful to those who are in the faith of charity"
(A. C. 1164). It then signifies, especially, the Science of Correspondences, the Science of Sciences, which there was cultivated more than in any other country of the Ancient Church (A. C. 7779).
     The principal characteristic of the people of Egypt, before it had fallen, may be said, to have been obedience, which is the chief virtue of the natural mind when in order. Obedience is what constitutes the basis and foundation of Heaven and the Church. The first or ultimate heaven is the heaven of obedience, and Egypt, in the economy of the Ancient Church, performed the same uses to the Churches represented by Assyria and Canaan as the natural heaven performs to the spiritual and celestial heavens. The faith and life of the Church in Egypt was neither as sublime and internal as in Canaan, nor as rational and free as in Assyria, but more systematic, exact, and fixed. The forms of true worship could, therefore, be retained in Egypt thousands of years after the Ancient Church had been devastated both internally and externally in the other countries where it once flourished.

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Egypt stands still as a sublime monument to the Church of the Ancients. Its pyramids, temples, obelisks, and tombs still bear witness of the glories of the Silver Age. Read in the light of Correspondence, Egypt will, to the men of the New Church, be like an open book, and it will once again perform its orderly uses, that of confirming the Truth.
     The Egyptians, like scientific minds of every age, were in the love of formulating and systematizing the doctrinals of faith, and they loved to ultimate these in corresponding external forms, so as to be constantly reminded of the Divine and spiritual things thus represented. Hence Egypt became filled with so many representative buildings and monuments, statues and avenues of sphynxes, which may easily be recognized in the beautiful Relation, above referred to:
     "We descended from the hill to pass through the valley, and we saw at the sides here and there pieces of wood and stones, graven into figures of men, and of various beasts, birds, and fishes. And I asked the Angel: 'What are these? Are they not idols?' And he answered, 'By no means. They are representative configurations of various moral virtues and spiritual verities. The Science of Correspondences was with the peoples of that age; and because every man, beast, bird, and fish corresponds to some quality, therefore every sculpting represents some particular of virtue and verity, and many together represent virtue or verity itself in a common, extended form. These are the things which in Egypt were called hieroglyphics.'"
     The love of the neighbor was the reigning love of the Ancient Church, and of this the earlier monuments of Egypt bear touching and elevating testimony. Purity and benevolence seem to have characterized their social intercourse. Deceit and fraud, oppression of widows and orphans were considered damnable sins. The King was the father of his people, and the subjects gave him unquestioning obedience. The further back we search in the monuments, the less frequent become scenes of war, of bloodshed, tyranny, and cruelty, and in their place are found scenes of the solemn worship or the idyllic life of the patriarchal husbandman, watching the peaceful work of his family and servants in fields ripe for the harvest.
     "Banquets and feasts among the ancients, signified appropriation and conjunction through love and charity" (A. C. 4211).
     "In general, feasts, both dinners and suppers, took place in ancient times within the Church, in order that they might he consociated and conjoined as to love, and that they might instruct each other in the things of love and faith. . . . Both mind and body were thus unanimously and correspondently nourished. From this they had health and long life; also intelligence and wisdom; and also communication with Heaven; with some, open communication with Angels" (A. C. 7996).
     Scenes of such feasts and banquets are frequent on the Egyptian monuments, scenes expressive of friendly endearments, wise discourse, and innocent mirth. "Wife, wine, and song" were present at these symposions, together with an astonishing abundance of flowers, the scent of these resembling "the spheres of charity and faith" (A. C. 1519).
     The family life was highly cultivated among `the Egyptians, and touching pictures are frequently found of husband and wife, or parents and children encircled in each other's arms. The marriage relation was kept pure among the Egyptians until quite a late period.
     Polygamy was never practiced in ancient Egypt, and adultery was at first unknown, and afterward fearfully punished. What conjugial love was with the ancients may be found beautifully described in the Memorable Relation in Conjugial Love, n. 76.
     Thus the ancient Egyptians lived in peace and joyousness, in beauty and friendship, devoted to the cultivation of their spiritual sciences, in the exercises of the love to the neighbor, and the worship of the one only God, whom at first they knew under the sublime name of JEHOVAH.
LORD'S state of exinanition 1890

LORD'S state of exinanition              1890

     The LORD'S state of exinanition is represented by the state of every student who is initiated into the ministry, before he becomes a priest; and of every priest before he becomes a pastor; and of every pastor before he becomes a primate.- T. C. R. 106.
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     THE Journal of the sixty-fourth meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania has been issued. As a theological and historical Document it is worthy of careful preservation.



     A PAMPHLET by the Rev. Lewis A. Slight has been published by James Speirs, under the title, Why are Professor Dods and many thinking men dissatisfied with the "Confession of Faith?".



     PASTOR BOYESEN'S Society in Stockholm is contemplating the erection of a temple. For this purpose cards have been distributed representing a wall divided into one hundred squares or "bricks," each "brick" to be sold for 10 ore, in America for 10 cents.



     SWEDENEORG'S Index to the Arcana Coelestia, originally published in London (1815), has now been re-published in Latin by the Swedenborg Society, under the editorship of the Rev. Dr. R. L. Tafel. The new edition is more complete than the former.



     SKANDINAVISK Nykyrktiding, in its May number, communicates a descriptive list of ten different New Church Societies, Unions, and Associations now existing in Sweden. Sixteen years ago there was only one Society in existence, the "Swedenborg Society," of Kristianstad, instituted in 1858, for the translation and publication of the Writings.



     A CONTROVERSY respecting the Atonement, between the Rev. H. H. Grant, and the Rev. Milton Mahin, D. D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was carried on in the columns of the Richmond Doily Palladium, has been reprinted in pamphlet form. This very readable discussion will be mailed to any address on receipt often, cents, by the Rev. H. H. Grant, Richmond, Ind.



     ANOTHER eulogy over C. A. Tulk and his heresy, from the pen of Mr. James Spilling, appears in the Morning Light for May 17th. What will become of a Church when her own organs praise the doctrines of a man who taught that "there is no absolute Divine Body" (New Jerusalem Magazine 1826, p. 358), and that "the Divine Human is nothing but the Divine Esse received in human minds" (Dawn of Light, pp. 57, 59).



     ACCORDING to information received from the Rev. C. J. N. Manby, of Gottenberg, Chief-Librarian Klemming, of the Royal Library of Stockholm, has not completed a bibliography of Swedish New-Church literature. This work has been a favored specialty of the Chief-Librarian, and it is a matter of congratulation that he has been spared to complete this important, contribution to the history of the New Church.

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It is understood that Mr. Klemming looks to the New Church for a publisher of his MSS.



     THE Library of the Academy has lately come into possession of a copy of a rare work, which appears to be the very first translation of any part of the Conjugial Love into French. The book, which is a small octavo of 206 pages was published in 1784 at "Berlin and Easel;" and is entitled "Traite Curieux des Charms de l'Amour Conjugal, dans ce Monde et dans l'autre. Ouvrage d'Emanuel Sweenborg. Traduit du Latin en Francais par M. de Brumore." The work is dedicated to "Prince Henry, of Prussia, brother of the King." No mention of the translator and his work can be found in the Swedenborg Documents.



     THE report of the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society for the fiscal year just ended shows the largest amount of work ever accomplished in one year by this body. It has brought out six new octavo volumes, namely, Latin reprints of Quatuor Doctrinae, De Ultimo Judicio in one volume, De Amore Conjugiali in another, the index to Apocalypse Explained, compiled by Dr. S. H. Worcester, in two volumes, as also two volumes of Apocalypse Explained in a Latin-English edition. In addition to the octavo volumes, a pocket edition of Divine Love and Wisdom, has been issued.



     AN INSTANCE of very curious logic is found in an editorial in the New Church Messenger for June 18th on "Capital Punishment." The teaching is first presented that the New Church must take the affirmative side as to the right of the government to take the life of a citizen who has committed murder in the first degree, inasmuch as the Doctrines declare that capital punishment belongs to that class of injunctions which are not matters of judgment or expediency but which "ought altogether to be observed and done"(A. C. 9349). The lines below this emphatic declaration, the Messenger comes to the conclusion "that it is also right and proper, if the objects of that punishment can be obtained in some other way, to abolish it altogether."



     IN The Secret of the Bible, the Rev. John Doughty sets forth in lucid and attractive style, "the Divine Law whereby the Scripture was written and which stamps it as the genuine Word of God." It may be a question whether the writer does not make too much of "the parabolic nature of the Bible," an error into which Newchurchmen easily fall, and fails to recognize sufficiently that both parables and their explanations in the Sacred Scripture constitute the natural sense, in both of which is a spiritual sense. But it is unquestionable that, if the simple acknowledgment in the preface that the doctrine of the spiritual sense as been revealed from the LORD and set forth in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, were more fully developed in the successive chapters of the book, it would be more effective in leading the reader to the Source where the heavenly secrets of the Divine Word are unfolded.



     THE first ten leaflets of the "New Church International Leaflet Association" breathe so much of the immediate sphere of the Heavenly Doctrines that their demerits might almost be overlooked, and yet the evident purpose of the Association would seem to invite a few general criticisms which look to the perfection of this work.
     No. 2, which, among other topics, treats of the last judgment, fails to give the important doctrine concerning the General Judgment on the First Christian Church in the year 1757, and also the doctrine concerning the Second Coming. So No. 8 fails to state where the Internal Sense of the Word maybe found. In No. 4 "Hades," which is hell, is erroneously used to designate the intermediate state between heaven and hell. Even admitting that the meaning of the term is disputed, why not use a term about which there is no question and which is always used in the Writings: namely, the World of Spirits? "Self-Essent" in No. 8, is a rather unnecessary, strange phrase. No. 9 would be greatly improved by a mention of Swedenborg, and an explanation of how we have been acquainted with the subjects there set forth.



     IN a speech at the anniversary of the "Missionary and Tract Society of the New Church," held in London June 3d, the Rev. Dr. R. L. Tafel stated that "The children of New Church parents belong spiritually to the Church in Sardis (A. R. 161, ad. fin.), and the Church in Sardis is one of the seven Churches in Christendom from which the New Church as a whole expects her increase; yet it is only one of the seven Churches, and there are six other Churches that require to be looked after as well by our missionaries and ministers" (verbatim report in the Morning Light of June 14th).
     Turning to the passage quoted above, which, indeed treats of the Church in Sardis, not a word can be found to justify Dr. Tafel's teaching. The Church in Sardis, signifies "those who are in dead worship, or in the worship which is without the goods which are of charity and without the truths which are of faith" (A. R. 154). In Apocalypse Explained, n. 189, it is stated that the Church in Sardis signifies those "who live moral lives, but not spiritual, because they place little value on knowledges of spiritual things, and the intelligence and wisdom that are from them." Dr. Tafel's new theology is not flattering to the "children of New Church parents," in general, nor is his conclusion based on the teaching of the LORD in the Writings.



     A WRITER in the Dawn brings out some interesting arguments anent the character of the Adversaria as a work of Divine Inspiration and consequent Authority. Attention is called to the important statement in the True Christian. Religion, n. 779, "from the earliest day of my call I have received nothing whatsoever that relates to the Doctrine of that Church from any angel, but from the LORD alone, while I read the Word." The latest day that can be given for the "call" of Swedenborg to his Divine mission is April, 1745. The works, collectively known as the Adversaria, were all written after this date. Among the many interesting and important passages, which the writer quotes from this very Work, to prove its Divine character, the following occur: "These things, and what precedes from verse 41, were said to me word by word, and mostly spoken audibly" (Adv. I, 459).
     "These things were said to me by those in heaven from Messiah Himself" (Adv. I, 1003).
     "That of these things not even one little word is mine, this I can solemnly asseverate, by JEHOVAH God" (Adv. I, 1645).
     "It has not been permitted me to state anything here that any of these orally dictated. (When this has been done, as has occurred occasionally, it had to be blotted out), but only those things which flowed mediately through them and immediately from Messiah God alone" (Adv. fl, 181).
In heaven one prefers another to himself as he excels in intelligence and wisdom 1890

In heaven one prefers another to himself as he excels in intelligence and wisdom              1890

     In heaven one prefers another to himself as he excels in intelligence and wisdom; the very love of good and of truth makes that each one as it were, of himself, subordinates himself to those who are in the wisdom of good and in the intelligence of truth more than himself.- A. C. 7773.
NEW WORK BY DR. WILKINSON 1890

NEW WORK BY DR. WILKINSON              1890

     THE SOUL IS FORM AND DOTH THE BODY MAKE. 17te Heart and the Lungs. The will and the understanding. Chapters in Psychology. By James John Garth Wilkinson. London, James Speirs, 1890.

     DOCTOR James John Garth Wilkinson has written a new book with the above line from Spenser's "Rymne in honour of Beautie," for title, and having for motive and inspiration the desire of calling popular and scientific attention to Swedenborg's wonderful labors in physiology and psychology.
     The Angelic wisdom concerning the Divine Love and concerning the Divine Wisdom, lately translated by our author from the Latin of Swedenborg, is often referred to, and among the quotations we find the following:

107



     "There is a correspondence of the will with the heart and of the understanding with the lungs. . . . Many arcana concerning the will and the understanding, therefore also concerning love and wisdom, may be discovered through this correspondence" (D. L. W. 871).
     "These things are brought forward about the lungs to confirm the position that the understanding is able to be elevated, and to receive and perceive those things which are of the light of heaven; for the correspondence is plenary. Out of that correspondence it is easy to1 see the lungs from the understanding, and the understanding from the lungs, and thus to have confirmation out of both at once " (D. L. W. 413).
     Doctor Wilkinson has evidently given much thought to the train of ideas thus introduced, and he invites thinkers everywhere to similar meditations, saying in criticism of the "modern" Physiology, that "it belongs to the heart, and not to the heart and lungs conjoined. The strokes of work are incessant, the considerations that should accompany them are fitful and asthmatic. In the infinitesimal field, where much of the work lies, there is no breathing life of induction and deduction."
     Anatomy and Physiology, as he says, are not to be limited to the needs of the sick-room, which really calls only for the more general knowledge of these studies; now the time has come for a Theological Physiology, applied to God-Man, and a Psychological Physiology applied to all men, and founded on an even or equated knowledge of the soul and the body, Swedenborg having been commissioned by the LORD to bring these knowledges and their laws, which all relate to use, into the world.

     "Not Knowledge for its own sake, but Use, service to man usefulness, was his (Swedenborg's) only sublimity, his only poetry, the key-note of the august and immeasurable spirit of his science. Practical good shut up the abyss which had swallowed so many ages. His reason, his rational mind, thus made initiative as one mind at first, was still the limitaneous field of the divine instruction. Rational is its name forever. 'Nunc licet intrare intellectualiter in mysteria fidei.' 'Now may we enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith'"

     In this prose-poetic, rambling style, not always lucid, the book proceeds, through its three parts, "The Lungs," "The Heart," and "Psychological Notes."
     It is addressed to no particular class of readers, either in or out of the Church, and is rather of interest in its suggestiveness than in its intrinsic value. It is marred here and there by strange, unusual words and phrases, for instance "peculium," "exiguous," "atomry," "bolt and body of the blood," and so forth.
     The most fascinating portions treat of the bronchial arteries, and of the coronary arteries of the heart. Swedenborg's doctrine of each is canvassed, and confirmatory observations given. Several problems are suggested but not answered, as how do the bronchial arteries give the power of respiration to the lungs, free from the pulsations of the heart? Perhaps it is by their pulse, coming just enough later than the direct pulse of the pulmonary artery to neutralize the beat of the latter, so freeing the lungs from the rhythm of the heart, and enabling them then to expand with the brain's contraction, and contract with the brain's expansion, so fitting themselves to obey the brain rather than the heart.
     Each organ has its own motion of expansion and contraction, by which it takes in its needed nourishment, and controls its own circulation within itself, but all guided by the brain.
     The heart alone feeds itself, squeezing enough blood for itself at every beat, into its own substance, discharging the surplus by openings into the aorta and pulmonary artery, which openings are, by modern science, looked upon as the origins of these caronary vessels.
     Blind science, -truly, that does not see that so vital an organ cannot depend on such outside rations, the mouths of these little arteries being often behind the valves, which would effectually prevent their filling in the way generally taught!
     Other problems are, How is the separation of the intellect from the will typified?
     What was internal respiration which men had in the Most Ancient Church?
     What spiritual functions do the bronchial and coronary vessels represent or correspond to?
     What in the lungs does truth correspond to, and to what in the heart does love correspond?
The materials for the answers to these queries are all in the hands of the New Church student, but much necessary reflection and studious meditation must be given before they can be worked out practically.
     If Dr. Wilkinson, in his book of three hundred and seventeen pages, has failed to answer them, the reviewer may well be excused from the attempt here.
     A suggestion lies in the study of the blood, which belongs alternately to heart and lungs, and corresponds under different conditions to love and to truth, as can be abundantly seen in the Writings.
     Dr. Wilkinson's former book, published in 1851, The Human Body and its Connection with Man, was much fuller and clearer than this, which has more the style of an essay.
     The present work is published by James Speirs, and may be obtained at the Academy Book Room.
     It should be a good book to hand to an inquiring scientist, and will serve as an excellent introduction to a thorough study of the subject.
clergyman 1890

clergyman              1890

     A clergyman, because from the Word he is to teach the doctrine concerning the Lord, and also concerning redemption and salvation from Him, is to be inaugurated by the covenant of the Holy Spirit, and by the representation of Its translation; but by the clergyman it is received according to the faith of his life.-Canons, Holy Spirit, v, 7.
LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN 1890

LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN       JAMES CALDWELL       1890

     Communicated.

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the writers.]


     MR. W. Herbert Hill, the layman whose socialistic sermon was published in Morning Light, replies, in a letter to that journal, to his critic in the New Church Monthly; and his letter is worthy of notice if for nothing else but the marked contrast it presents to that of his clerical champion in The Dawn. The tone of Mr. Hill's letter is admirable. There would be some pleasure in debating a point with him if there were the least likelihood of an agreement being arrived at. But, alas! the prospect of Mr. Hill and his critic agreeing is remote. And it is all because of a difference in the point of view from which they severally regard the Writings. Mr. Hill may look upon the Writings as being of Divine origin and authority, but this view does not come out in his letter.

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His references to Swedenborg's "meaning" and "views" and "arguments" seem to indicate that he is one of that large body of New Churchmen that bring what the LORD has revealed to the test of their private judgment. His critic, on the contrary, not regarding Swedenborg's personality as in any way to be considered-meaning, by personality, that animus which a man acquires by reason of moving in a particular social sphere-does not presume to discuss probabilities in this connection. Regarding the statements of the Writings as the LORD'S statements, he deals with them as he finds them. Thus these two writers are essentially opposed to each other at the very outset.
     A REPORT from Newcastle-on- Tyne (not "New Castle," please) enters into a defense of a practice which has obtained during a session of the "Lecture and Debating Society" there; the practice, to wit, of having "social intercourse" with friends not of the faith. The report says respecting those friends:
     "They came, avowedly, in a brotherly and social way, into our sphere, to communicate their charity to us and receive our charity from us without compromising either their own or our convictions as to truth, by which our worship is regulated. Loyalty to the LORD, in His Second Advent, forbids that there should be any community of worship between the Old and the New, but not a community of Charity in the amenities of social intercourse. This latter is distinctly countenanced in the Writings of the Church."
     It is good to find community of worship condemned by this writer, for there are those whose "charity" extends even to the countenance and practice of that abomination. But I believe there is as little countenance given in the Writings to social intercourse with those of a different faith as there is to joint worship. Take True Christian Religion, n. 433, for example: "Dinners and suppers of charity are given only by those who are influenced by mutual love from a similar faith." Now the writer of the report referred to does not need to be told that the faith of the Reformed Church is a spurious faith, inasmuch as it is a faith in three gods. To such faith the charity which is adjoined is also spurious (T. C. R. 451). There is, therefore, no similarity existing between the faiths respectively professed and held by our Newcastle friends and their brotherly and sociable friends; and the mingling of their spheres for social intercourse is not only not countenanced by the Doctrines but would seem to be impossible. They may be good fellows enough, and their company under other circumstances enjoyable as "social" enjoyment goes; but it is a hollow farce to talk about "brotherly and social intercourse" between people of dissimilar faiths, when one's faith is the basis and pretense for holding such intercourse.
     JAMES CALDWELL.
59 COUNTRY ROAD, LIVERPOOL.
Good but not truth 1890

Good but not truth              1890

     Good can be insinuated into another by any one in the country, but not truth, except by those who are teaching ministers. If others do so, heresies spring up, and the Church is disturbed and torn to pieces.- A. C. 6899.
CLOSING EXERCISES OF THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS OF THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1890

CLOSING EXERCISES OF THE PHILADELPHIA SCHOOLS OF THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH              1890


     .

     THE closing exercises of these schools were held on Monday and Tuesday, June 16th and 17th. On the first day the schools listened to the essays of the students in the college and in the junior class of the Theological School. The trend of thought among the students is well indicated by the subjects of their essays: "The True Physician," "The Memorabilia," "Life," "The conjunction of Heaven with man," "Regeneration," "The Importance of Faith," "The Reciprocal conjunction of man with the LORD."
     On Tuesday the pupils, teachers, and `visitors assembled in the Academy's Hall, which had been festively decorated with pictures, flowers and bunches of ripening grain. The acting Superintendent, Bishop Pendleton, and the Dean Pastor Schreck, officiated, dressed in their official robes. After the performance of the usual opening exercises of worship, described in the last number of the New Church Life, Mr. Pendleton invited the audience to listen to the essays prepared by the two graduating students. Mr. Joseph E. Rosenqvist then read a paper on the subject of "Use and Abuse," after which the Hebrew Anthem, [Hebrew] (Psalm xxiv, 7-10) was sung by the schools. Mr. O. Homer Synnestvedt next delivered his valedictory address, taking for his theme the subject of "Instruction," after which followed the singing of Psalm cl. ([Hebrew]) in Hebrew.
     The acting Superintendent then conferred the Degrees of Bachelor of Art and Bachelor of Theology upon Mr. Synnestvedt, and the Degree of Bachelor of Theology upon Mr. Rosenqvist and upon the Rev. E. S. Hyatt, a former student of the Academy and now for some time pastor of the Society at Parkdale, Ont.,
Canada.
     The nineteenth of June being so near at hand, the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck now rend concerning the Glorification of the LORD on account of His advent, which is described in the Memorable Relation in Conjugial Love, n. 81. The passages from the Word, quoted herein, whereby the various quarters of heaven were heard to glorify this event, were repeated consecutively by the various classes of the schools, beginning wit the youngest infants and proceeding to the oldest classes, the whole school as one repeating the last passages.
     The acting Superintendent then delivered his closing address, in which he gratefully referred to the peaceful and prosperous year which the schools had now completed. Temporarily deprived of the guiding wisdom of Mr. Benade, the school year had begun under doubtful auspices; yet, under the Divine Providence and through the intelligent co-operation of the teachers and the spirit of loyalty that pervaded the schools, the work had been carried forward with unhoped-for success.
     After the closing remarks of Mr. Pendleton, the two graduates, as an offering of gratitude to the LORD for benefits received through the school, brought to the altar a large, handsome picture of some domestic animals at a well; domestic animals represent affections, and a well, instruction.
     After the Hebrew Anthem [Hebrew] (Psalm cxviii, 21) had been sung, the Benediction was pronounced and the schools were dismissed.
     The earnest spirit of the essays, the recitation of the "Glorification," the Hebrew songs and the impressive words of the acting Superintendent made the occasion a happy and helpful moment in the life of the schools.
Ecclesiastical Order on earth 1890

Ecclesiastical Order on earth              1890

     The Ecclesiastical Order on earth ministers those things which are of the Priesthood with the Lord-that is those things which are of His Love.- C. L. 308

109


"INSTRUCTION." 1890

"INSTRUCTION."       O. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1890

     A GRADUATING ADDRESS.

     "It is good to confess unto the LORD, and to sing psalms unto Thy Name, O Thou Most High."

     The LORD is the giver of all good. From Him we have our life, our uses, our delights, and every real blessing that we are willing to receive. Not least among these is the ability to be consciously affected by the LORD'S love and mercy, and, from the freedom given us, to render thanks for the same from a happy heart. This is gratitude.
     We have been taught that it is a good thing to be affected with gratitude, to cultivate that affection, and also to express it freely from a full heart, inasmuch as there is in it love to the LORD and mutual love. That angels are so affected by what they receive, that they are in the desire and constant endeavor to give all in return to others; whence comes the happiness of heaven. In the Diary we read of a certain spirit who eagerly desired certain knowledges concerning heaven. The angels, perceiving this, gave him the desired information, whereupon he was seized with a desire of doing something in return, out of gratitude to the angels for so great a favor. This was taken by the angels as an indication that he was in charity. From this instance alone we see the usefulness of showing our gratitude in word and deed to those who are the LORD'S instruments in bestowing His blessings upon us. Especially is this a debt of charity to the Church, which nourishes us as our spiritual mother, and to those who serve the LORD'S own office in the Church, and are in the internal of it, namely, the priests.
     Our school, unlike other schools, is a Church, and our teachers are priests. While we are here this is the LORD'S Church to us, and we have it to thank for all our spiritual nourishment and care. Here, as nowhere else, we are trained, instructed, and educated from infancy to manhood for our lives hereafter in this world and in heaven.
     Two of us have now reached the end of this preparatory state, and have been told that the time has come for us: to enter into the field of life and perform its active uses, whatever the LORD gives us, whereby we may do His will and be regenerated and thus saved. This is therefore the proper occasion for us to reflect upon what has been done for us and to express our gratitude to the LORD and His instruments for the same, in order that others, who are receiving the same benefits in ever-increasing measure, may more clearly realize them and thus be better prepared by a reciprocal affection of gratitude to receive of them more fully.
     The use of our school is identical with the LORD'S use of saving souls-it is therefore an internal or priestly use. Hence, we have called it a Church and its teachers, priests. It initiates into the truths of faith and the goods of love (which constitute the Church and Heaven), by the various modes of instruction and education adapted to all ages and states, and, unlike other schools, it does all this avowedly from and according to the Doctrines of the Church, which are the LORD with us. Upon the full and living acknowledgment of Him as He has now revealed Himself to the New Church in His Divine Human in the Opened WORD, rests the whole work of our school and its hope of success in the building up of the Church upon earth. When we realize its full scope and nature, we can have but little doubt that by the hand of this "three hundred," the LORD will deliver Israel from the overwhelming infestations that seem to threaten its total overthrow at present; and not by external means without this.
     Let us, then, examine, as briefly as possible, the means taught us by the LORD of doing this work.
     Man is the subject of education. First of all, it is to be known, man is two-fold as to his body in this world, and as to his spirit in the spiritual world. "Man as to his internal is in the midst of spirits and angels, by whom he is influenced respectively to good and evil. The changes by which he is led in the regenerate life are changes of spirits" (A. C. 4067). "Before regeneration, man as to his natural [the state into which he is born nowadays] is led by evil spirits and genii, and all his delights are really infernal" (A. C. 3928.) How, then, it may be asked, can he ever come out of such a state, for the heavenly state is opposite to this state, and cannot come together with it. Can man act against his own life? True enough, man cannot. But the LORD can, and this He does by insinuating His life in the following manner:
     "The natural does not become new, or receive life corresponding to the rational-that is, is not regenerated except through doctrinals, or cognitions of good and truth. . . . Doctrinals or cognitions of good and of truth cannot be communicated to the natural man, thus neither conjoined and appropriated, except by delights and amenities accommodated to it, . . . or they are insinuated by an external or sensual way. Whatever does not enter through something of delight or amenity does not inhere, thus neither does it remain" (A. C. 3502).
     Though these things do not at once enter the life they have a place allotted to them in the memory according to the affection with which they were received (A. C. 3512).
     Here they are stored up as remains until they are called forth by the opening of a higher degree, to serve as planes or vessels for receiving the real goods and truths of the Church, which make use of them. Thus one may see the work of instruction, or of storing the memory with scientifics and various states and remains derived from these for use in the process of education proper, which is the leading forth or deliverance of man from hell (into which he was born) step by step into higher states of truth and good, even to the highest. Concerning this process in general-that is, the forming of planes by instruction, and the opening of the same by education-we read thus, in Arcana Coelestia, n. 1495:
     "Order is that the celestial should inflow into the spiritual, and adapt this to itself. The spiritual thus should inflow into the rational and adapt this to itself. So the rational should inflow into the scientific and adapt it to itself. But when man is instructed in first boyhood then there is indeed a similar order, but it appears otherwise: namely, that he progresses from scientific to rational things, from these to spiritual things, and at length to celestial things. That it so appears is because, the way is thus to be opened to celestial things, which are inmost.
     "All instruction is only an opening of the way, and as the way is opened, or, what is the same, as vessels are opened, there inflow in order (as was said) rational things, into these the celestial spiritual things and into these celestial things. These continually occur and also prepare for themselves and form the vessels which are opened.
     "This may also appear from this, that the scientific and rational in itself is dead, and that it seems to live. This it has from the interior life which inflows This may he manifest to every one from the thought and faculty of judging. In these lie hidden all the arcana of analytic art and science, which are so many that they cannot be explored as to one ten-thousandth part.

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      Not only in the adult man, but also with boys, all their thought and every speech thence is most full of them, although man, even the most learned, knows this not.
      This could never be unless the celestial and spiritual things which are within should occur, inflow, and produce all those things."
     The mere storing of the memory, then, with sciences and knowledges is not our end and aim. It is only the means of storing up remains of insinuating states of affection for the things of heaven. The LORD says: "truths rooted in the mind by affection for truth, form the plane into which angels operate, and by which they withhold man from evil" (A. C. 5893).
     Scientifics in the memory are like wood upon the altar. The states of affection are the fire-producing uses, after which the mere scientifics are as ashes, which must be put aside; that they may not clog up the mind, we must learn to think from the affection of truth, and then to act from it.
     The states of remains, which it is so important to preserve, are states of reverence for things holy. These are states of innocence, and are so important that the LORD never breaks them, even when adjoined to falsities. It is said that "the LORD can appear to no one, unless he to whom He appears is in a state of innocence. For the LORD enters through innocence, also with the angels of heaven. For this reason no one can enter heaven unless he has something of innocence, according to the words of the LORD in Matthew xviii, 3," and elsewhere.
     Genuine conjugial love is innocence, in fact, is innocence itself; and this brings us directly to what is fundamental in the Church, and thus in our school. Only those who have been connected with the school know how she protects and fosters remains and principles of conjugial love, how jealously she guards against anything that would injure these tender states, even as the most precious jewel which the Church has, at the same time hated and lusted after by every devil in hell.
     Volumes could he written upon this branch of the subject alone, but time forbids.
     But to conclude. It will be seen from these few considerations that the first and last of all instruction and education is the LORD. And it is to Him we are thankful that He has provided this school, where He is taught first and last, and where we have learned of Him, and where, we hope and pray, many more will run the same course, whose goal is heaven.
     O. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT.
Being regenerated 1890

Being regenerated              1890

     There are few at this day, who are being regenerated, and still fewer who reflect.- A. C. 4245.
"QUESTIQNS OF NEW CHURCH DOCTRINE." 1890

"QUESTIQNS OF NEW CHURCH DOCTRINE."              1890

TO THE EDITOR OF NEW CRURCH LIFE.
     Dear Sir:- Seeing that you are kindly disposed to answer questions of New Church doctrine, I should be pleased to ask you the following:
     In the reading of Conjugial Love in its treatment of concubinage, I find nothing said about the possibility of children as the result of such conjunction. 1. Is it orderly to prevent conception under this or any other circumstance?
     2. Can a woman who has served as a concubine afterward enter the marriage relation on a New Church basis, with the man whom she has served, or with any other man?
     Any light you may he able to give me from the Writings on these subjects will be greatly appreciated by
     A LOVER OF TRUTH
     CAMBRIDGE, MASS., June 10th, 1890.

     ANSWER.

     THE correspondent asks whether it would be orderly to prevent the conception of children resulting from concubinage, or to do so under any other- circumstance.
     The Writings answer: "By murders of every kind are meant also every kind of enmity, hatred, and revenge, which breathe destruction, for in these murder lies concealed, as fire in wood beneath the ashes. Infernal fire is nothing else. It is from this that one is said to be on fire with hatred, and to burn with revenge. The foregoing are murders in the natural sense. But in the spiritual sense by murders are meant all modes of killing and destroying men's souls, which are various and manifold. And in the supreme sense, by murder is meant to hate the LORD. These three kinds of murder make one, and cohere: for whoever desires the destruction of a man, body in the world desires also the destruction of his soul after death, and he desires the destruction of the LORD, for he burns with anger against Him, and wishes to blot out His name" (D. L. 67).
     The endeavor to prevent the formation of the body of a man is manifestly of the same quality with the desire to destroy "a man a body in the world." The desire to prevent the creation of a human life in this world is also identical with the desire "to destroy his soul after death," since "every man has been created that he may live forever in a blessed state." To prevent the conception of life is, therefore, essentially murder, and cannot be "orderly" under any circumstance whatever.
     The question is further asked whether a woman who has served as a concubine can afterward enter the marriage relation on a New Church basis, with the man whom she has served, or with any other man.
     The Writings answer: "So far as any one shuns adultery he loves marriage, or, what is the same, so far as any one shuns the lasciviousness of adultery, he loves the chastity of marriage" (D. L. 75).
     This Divine law of life is applicable to all men and women. "Every man can be reformed," and "hence it is from the Divine Providence that every man can be saved; and they are saved who acknowledge God and live well" (D. P. 322-326). It is further to be observed that" those who, from legitimate, just, and really excusatory causes are in this concubinage may at the same time be in conjugial love" (C. L. 475).
There are few who do not want to dominate 1890

There are few who do not want to dominate              1890

     There are few who do not want to dominate, and possess all things of others, for there are few who do what is just and fair from what is just and fair.- A. C. 7364.
TULKISM AMONG THE GERMANS 1890

TULKISM AMONG THE GERMANS              1890

To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     It may be of interest to your readers to know that the denial of the LORD'S Divine Human in that form of it which is known as "Tulkism," and which has lately been championed by Albert Artope, of Berlin, Germany, has its most prominent defender in this country in the person of Mr. J. C. Meuschner, and that its publication office is Bote der Neuen Kirche, of Vineland, N. J.

111


The latest product of author and publisher is a German pamphlet, entitled The Relation of God to His Church and the New Church of the LORD. By J. C. Meuschner, Preacher. Published by the Bote der Neuen Kirche, Vineland, N. J., U. S. A.
     Here are two extracts from this treatise:
     "The LORD'S Human with man is the natural and sensual love from evil, into which he is born and the errors and falsities of his faith which follow therefrom, which are a perversion of the Doctrines and of the truths, of the Word; by which means he separated himself from Heaven" (page 34).
     "The incarnation of the LORD is the descent of Divine-human influences from the Divine Itself into the minds of naturally minded men and at the same time an introduction into the truths of the Word" (page 39).     R. L.
Shun 1890

Shun              1890

     No one can shun that of which he knows nothing.-D. P. 278.
NEW CHURCH IN STOCKHOLM 1890

NEW CHURCH IN STOCKHOLM       Various       1890

     APPEAL ON BEHALF OF ITS BUILDING FUND.

     It has long been a cherished hope among the New Church friends in Stockholm to obtain a Temple of their own, which, by its very construction and services is fitted to awaken and maintain the spiritual life of its congregation.
     The increasing number of those attending the New Church services shows, also more and more the need of such a Temple. We have made many attempts to realize our great aim, but our efforts have hitherto not been crowned by success. The essential cause of this has been that the attempts in this direction have principally been founded on the supposition that the money required would be obtained by a few large contributions from a limited number of interested friends; but the sum had been too large to be obtained in this way, and so our plan has not been realized.
     This difficulty we propose now to surmount in the following practical manner, viz:
     Collecting Cards have been printed bearing the inscription: Bricks for the Temple of the New Church Congregation in Stockholm. One hundred bricks are printed on each side, the price of each brick being 5d. (or in American currency, ten cents). These cards, which represent small parts of the walls of the future New Church Temple to be erected in our city, we desire to distribute to all who, from love to the great cause of the LORD, are willing to contribute and to solicit contributions toward the stones for this first Temple of the New Church in Sweden. Those who receive the cards will please distribute them among their friends and acquaintances; and ask them kindly to interest themselves in trying to sell the bricks. As the bricks are sold they are to be marked with a cross, and every one who has got a card filled, will have the kindness to send it, with the money to the person from whom it was received.
     We hope that in this simple manner we may be able in the not distant future to raise the first New Church Temple in the native land of the great Herald of the New Jerusalem, in that city where he lived and worked to impart to the world the saving truths of the Second Coming of the LORD.
     As every great and noble end is from the LORD-who has created man to be a medium to carry out His loving intentions-we beg to lay this appeal before the friends of the New Church.
Knowing the warm-hearted interest which our friends in England have taken in the progress of the New Church in Sweden, and the generous kindness with which they for many years have supported the great cause of the Church in our country, and for which we thank them, we ask them to kindly give us again a helping hand in order to accomplish this very important work in the LORD'S vineyard.
Praying that the LORD may bestow His Divine blessing great work.
     We are, on behalf of the New Church Congregation in Stockholm,
          Yours sincerely,
               A. T. BOYESEN, Pastor.
               O. W. NORDENSKJOLD,
               C. TORNBLOM,
               A. LINDHE,
               C. CARLSON,
               A. EDBERG,
               G. ANDERSSON,
                    Church Council.
ACADEMY BOOK ROOM 1890

ACADEMY BOOK ROOM       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     has for sale the following recent publications:

     DE AMORE CONJUIGALI. New Latin edition. Half leather and cloth. 410 pages (5 3/4 x 9 inches). Price, $2.50.

     QUARTUOR DOCTRINAE DE ULTIMO JUDICIO. New Latin edition. Binding and size as the above. Price, $2.50.

     APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED. Vols. I and II. Latin-English edition. Alternate Latin and English pages (5 3/4 x 9 inches). Half leather and cloth. Price, $1.50 a volume. The second volume just out.

     INDEX TO APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED. By the Rev. Samuel H. Worcester. With tables of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek words with their Latin renderings and Index to Scripture passages. 2 vols., 1,261 pages (5 3/4 x 9 inches). Half leather and cloth. Price per set, $4.00.

     SPIRITUAL DIARY. Vols. 1-IV. The fourth volume only shortly out. Price per volume, $2.50.

     DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM. Cheap pocket edition, just published. Paper covers. Price, postage included, 15 cents; 8 copies for $1.00. Attractively bound in cloth, 40 cents.

     Also a complete stock of all the Writings of the New Church in English and in Latin so far as obtainable.

     We can supply second-hand copies of the Writings (in English) at a low, price, which may be of service to persons of small means.
     Address,
          ACADEMY BOOK ROOM,
               CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH, AGENT,
                    1821 Wallace Street
                         PHILADELPHIA, PA.

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NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MISS FLORENCE G. GIBBS, 147 Camden Road, London, N.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on- Tyne.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, JULY, 1890=121.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 97.
     The Reciprocal Union of Good with Truth (a Sermon), p. 98.-Prosperity, p. 100.-Uses, p. 100.- The Souls of Animals, p. 102.- The Faith of the New Church, p. 102.-Mythology of Egypt, p. 104.
     Notes and Reviews, p. 106.- A New Work by Dr. Wilkinson. p. 106.
     Letter from Great Britain, p. 107.-Closing Exercises of the Philadelphia School, or the Academy of the New Church, p. 108.-"Instruction" (a Graduating Address), p. 100.-"Questione of New Church Doctrine," p. 110.- Tulkism among the Germans, p. 110.
     The New Church in Stockholm, p. 111.
     News Gleanings, p. 112.-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 112.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.- AT the closing exercises of the Academy Schools in Philadelphia, June 17th, the Degrees of Bachelor of Art and Bachelor of Theology were conferred upon Mr. O. Homer Synnestvedt, and the Degree of Bachelor of Theology upon Mr. Joseph E. Rosenqvist and also upon the Rev. E. S. Hyatt, of Parkdale, Canada.
     THE Rev. Messrs. W. F. Pendleton and Eugene J. E. Schreck sailed for Europe on June 21st.
     THE Rev. W. L. Worcester delivered a lecture on June 1st, in a small chapel at 27th and York Sts., Philadelphia, and some more are expected to be held at the same place.
     THE Rev. J. J. Thornton preached in the temple of the Philadelphia First New Jerusalem Society on June 1st.
     THE Rev. E. S. Price preached in Allentown on June 8th.
     THE Rev. W. H. Alden lately preached in Bethlehem, baptized two adults and one child, and administered the Holy Supper; he also preached in Allentown in the evening.
     New York.- THE Rev. J. B. Parmelee, Missionary of the New York Association concluded a course of lectures on the 3d of June at Seneca Falls.
     THE German New Church Society of this place held a concert on May 16th, the audience numbering about eight hundred. The net proceeds will be used for missionary purposes.
     Massachusetts.- THE closing exercises of the Theological School in Cambridge took place on June 14th. Three of its students Messrs. John A. Hayes, Percy Billings, and J. B. Speirs were ordained into the ministry by the Rev. Joseph Pettee, and Mr. Albert Bjorck received a certificate.
     THE Boston New Church Club held their annual meeting on May 14th.
     THE Rev. William H. Mayhew, Pastor of the Society at Urbana O. has accepted a call from his old Society in Yarmouth.
     Connecticut.- A course of six lectures were recently delivered in a Congregational Church at Middleport by the Rev. Messrs. Reed, Smyth, and Wright.
     Ohio.- THE Rev. J. J. Thornton preached at Cincinnati, on May 25th.
     URBANA University lately received a bequest of $5,000 from Mrs. Mary E. Holroyd. The Cincinnati Society, of which she was a member, received $1,000.
     Illinois.- THE Seventeenth Annual Session of the General Convention was held at Chicago, June 2lst-24th. In connection with the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the sending out of the twelve apostles into the universal Spiritual World on June 19th, 1770 was publicly commemorated on the evening of the 19th of June.
     THE temple on Van Buren Street has been renovated for the purpose of receiving the Convention.
     ON May 18th the Rev. Mr. Thornton preached in Van Buren Street temple.
     Indiana.- AN AFRICAN Methodist Episcopal Church in Richmond lately invited the Rev. H. H. Grant to preach in their temple. Nearly two hundred colored people were present. Mr. Grant has been elected to and now fills the office of Secretary of the Ministers Association (old church).
     Michigan.- THE Rev. J. E. Bowers reached for the Almont Society on June 1st. Two children were baptized and the Holy Supper was administered.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- TWO adults and two infants were baptized by the Rev. Arthur Potter, at Walworth Road, London, on May 4th. Just prior to this, the three sons of the minister were baptized by one of the laymen of the congregation. At the same occasion, the Holy Supper was administered with wine and unfermented grape-juice.
     THE sixty-ninth anniversary of the Argyle Square Society was held June 3d.
     THE Colchester Society was visited by the Rev. R. J. Tilson, on Sunday evening, May 18th. The attendance was about fifty; twenty-four persons partook of the Holy Supper. Two adults, and also their infant child, were baptized.
     THE Rev. C. Griffiths was welcomed as Pastor of Ramsbottom Society, on May
12th. Among the large number present were a Congregational, a Methodist, and a Baptist minister, "whose able and sensible speeches added not a little to the success of the meeting" for which a vote of thanks was tendered. In a response to the welcome accorded to him, Mr. Griffiths stated that at Brightlingsea he had been on terms of personal friendship with ministers of all denominations, as he wished to be here also.
     THE Rev. J. R. Rebdell of Bradford has accepted a call to Accington Society.
     A MEMORIAL stone of a New Church was laid May 20th, in Devonshire Street, Keighley. This Society has been in existence for over a century.
     THE Temple of the North Manchester Society was dedicated on June 6th. Seventeen New Church ministers were present.
     THE Rev. W. T. Stonestreet has accepted a call to become pastor of this Society.
     Africa.- THE Easter meeting of the New Church Society in Port Louis, on the Island of Mauritius was attended by nearly one hundred persons of which forty-four partook of the Sacrament administered by Mr. Lesage, leader of the society.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.





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Vol. X. PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST, 1890=121. No. 8.
     Every smallest moment of the life of man has in it a Continuous series of consequences to eternity.- A. C. 3854.



     THE recent meeting of the General Convention presented a very noticeable change of sphere from that of last year. This was observed and commented upon before any action had been taken. It may be described, perhaps, as a sphere of ignoring all that had been done last year. It was as if there had been an understanding on the part of principal actors in the disorder of that time, that they had then accomplished their purpose, and were now disposed to let the matter drop. But there was very little indication of a desire to set right wrongs then perpetrated.



     UNDOUBTEDLY the "Tafel Protest" had stirred up many minds last year and led them to a prejudiced view of affairs. Much was then said and done hastily, or as one speaker this year confessed, "on the spur of the moment." The disorder of meeting in the Universalist building and joining in service with the congregation that owned it added to the disturbing influences. This year there had been less of public excitement in the Church prior to the meeting, and the latter was held in the beautiful building of the Chicago Society dedicated to New Church worship.



     YET there was still a general looking out to the Old Church and the usual disappointment of hopes for distinctive recognition of the mission of the New. This appeared in a remarkable degree in the papers and discussions of the Conference of Ministers. A striking instance is the case of a paper on effective preaching which received a very doubtful compliment from the resident Professor of Convention's Theological School. The latter gentleman stated that during the winter he had had an opportunity to listen to lectures on the same topic by some half-dozen "eminent preachers," and that the paper read embraced all the valuable suggestions of those gentlemen. These "eminent preachers" were undoubtedly all of the Old Church, and the paper in question contained not a single reference to anything distinctively of the New Church in elucidation of the law of the subject.



     THE annual discourse before the Ministers' Conference brings out with great distinctness the notion that the Old Church is the external of the New. But if one will take the trouble to read the references in the Swedenborg Concordance to the Christian Church, he will be at some loss to reconcile this position with the teachings of the Writings. This is only another indication of the turning of the New Church toward the Old, with probable loss of life to both.
     In the report of the Connecticut Association occurs the statement that the New Church is to be established through the clergy of the Old, and the inference that therefore we ought to put the teachings of the New in a form to be comprehended by that clergy.
     While this is opposed to the direct personal statement of Swedenborg that there was little hope of the old clergy and a looking to new ministers to be raised up (see letter to Dr. Beyer), it betrays a lamentable want of confidence in the form of the Writings themselves as not being properly adapted to reception by men.
     This looking out to the Old Church is qualified by (not to say derived from) the conception of the Writings as those of Swedenborg and not of the LORD; an idea forcibly illustrated in a recent remark of a prominent New Church minister in explanation of the admitted "pessimistic" view of the Old Church in the Writings that Swedenborg himself did not realize the influence his own teaching would have "during the next century.



     IT IS noticeable that most of the speakers against the reception of the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania were absent altogether or in part from the Convention at Washington. Perhaps the action at that meeting would have been different if they had attended? Or it may be that their position this year would then have been different.



     The Lord can be with those who live in the good of charity, and who, as to civil life, are in justice and equity, and as to moral life, in honorableness and decorum.- A. C. 612.



     THE Report of the General Church was condemned on several grounds and particularly, in part, because it ascribed wrong motives, and characterized the proceedings of Convention as disorderly, unkind and uncharitable. Yet, if the full verbatim report of Convention and the Council of Ministers were examined it would be seen that just such things were said of individuals and even of a body, by the objectors to that Report, in more than one instance, and this without rebuke. One speaker charged the General Church with putting its complaint against Convention in the form of a report, for the purpose of getting it printed in the Journal, thus, without a hearing, judging the General Church guilty of an unworthy motive and ignoring, too, the fact that a memorial or "petition" ought just as much to be printed in the Journal as a Report.
     Again, one of the Secretaries of Convention alleges that the paragraph in relation to the use of wine was inserted in the Report as a "rider on a motion," implying that it was known to be out of place there, and simply inserted that it might he carried through with the rest Thus here, too, there is denial of good faith to the General Church.
     Another speaker more than intimated that the troubles in Convention arise from a spirit of "domination" in the General Church; that its members are "oppressors" and therefore "rebels," while another charged that the General Church wanted to "tyrannize over the Convention by inserting the wine paragraph in its report, thus obliging the Convention to publish what it did not believe in.

114


And the inelegant rhetorical figure of another speaker whereby Convention becomes a dog and the General Church only the tail of that dog, if it has any meaning at all, implies that the small minority of the General Church is bound to rule, in a disorderly and tyrannical way, the whole Convention.



     AGAIN, the Secretary and the mover of the reference of the Report to the General Council characterized Mr. Benade's letter as "abusive, unkind, discourteous, and uncharitable," thus implying that it is right enough to say such things of one individual but not right to say them of so many individuals as constitute a majority of the Convention.
     But, further, the same gentleman rose in his zeal in the Council of Ministers and protested against action there in words like these: "I wonder that the Council will be so disorderly," which seems to imply that you may treat a Council of Ministers in that way but not the Convention of Ministers and laymen.



     Honorableness is the complex of all moral virtues; decorum is only its form.- A. C. 2915.



     MUCH was attempted to be made of the fact that there was no rule requiring the reference of such matters as the question of Mr. Pendleton's ordination to the General Pastors. It was not contended by any one that there was any such rule, but only that it was well known to the whole Convention and to the Council of Ministers' in particular, that Mr. Benade desired it in such cases, and the offense consisted in deliberately and of set purpose, going against that view of order taken by the gentlemen most concerned. What gives emphasis to this action of Convention and the Council of Ministers is the fact that another matter which in itself no more required such reference teas referred to the General Pastors and at the same session of Convention-namely, the proposed amendment of the Constitution abolishing the right of Associations to enjoin a minister.



     IN THE case of Chancellor Benade's answer to the letter of the Committee addressed to him, reference was made to the fact that the Committee as constituted was not of his peers. It was made plain that all that was intended was the purely official relation. Yet the Chairman of that Committee, while in effect acknowledging that this was the meaning, went out of his way to make a personal application of the letter to himself, and then to defend himself by the declaration that he was "the peer of Mr. Benade any day," which remark was accorded warm applause by Convention.
     This incident would be of little importance but for the speaker's long experience in public affairs, his acknowledged understanding of the Chancellor's real meaning, and the reception accorded his remarks by the Convention.



     ANOTHER incident assists to show the character of the Convention. The vote to table the resolution regarding Bishop Benade's action was lost by one majority. Yet the question on the passage of the resolution was adopted by a vote of forty-five to nineteen.
     The motion to refer the matter back to the Council of Ministers was also lost, thus emphasizing an unwillingness to deliberate upon the new evidence available in the published documents.
     On the whole this meeting of the Convention has given renewed evidence of the non-deliberative and persuasive nature of its proceedings.



     IT IS pleasant to note that one gentleman, who acknowledged that he had proposed an amendment to the Constitution "on the spur of the moment," attempted to withdraw the proposition. It is a pity that the matter had proceeded so far that it was beyond recall. Were more of the majority in the Convention as ready to retrieve their mistakes, there would be ground for hope of the establishment of real charity, order, and the true Church in that body.
Word in the sacred repositories of the Temples in Heaven 1890

Word in the sacred repositories of the Temples in Heaven              1890

     The Word in the sacred repositories of the Temples in Heaven shines before the eyes of the angels as a great Star, even as a Sun, and from the splendor round about there also appear as it were most beautiful rainbows; this is done as soon as the adytum is opened.- T. C. R. 209.
WORD 1890

WORD       Rev. E. C. BOSTOCK       1890

     (Preached in Chicago, May 25th, 1890=12O, on the occasion of the substitution of the Hebrew and Greek Word for the English Bible in the Repository of the Immanuel Church.)

     "Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth shall pass away, one iota, or one little horn shalt not pass from the law till all be fulfilled."-Matt. v, 18.

     THE words of our text cannot be understood unless we know the teaching of the Doctrines of the Church concerning the WORD of the LORD, as it is given in the original language; and, at the same time, the teaching concerning the WORD in the heavens.
     We have obtained, for the use of the Church, a copy of the WORD in the letter as it was given by the LORD in the Hebrew and Greek languages. This has been placed in the repository and this morning we have used it in our worship for the first time. It contains only the books of the WORD, so that now we have nothing in our repository which is not the WORD of GOD.
     It is known to most of you that the Hebrew is read from right to left, and that the beginning of the WORD is at the part where our books end. The Greek begins as does the English, and is read from left to right in the same way. The two testaments are so placed, therefore, that their beginnings face one another.
     In order that the use of the WORD in the original tongue, in worship, may be understood, and thus the state in worship be more full and complete, I desire, this morning, to present to you the teachings of the Doctrines of the Church concerning the Word, and concerning the Hebrew language,
     In the first place, I will call to your mind the uses of external worship.
     "Man while he is in the world ought not to be otherwise than in external worship also, for by external worship internals are excited, and by external worship externals are held in a state of sanctity that internals may inflow; moreover, that man may thus imbue cognitions and be prepared for receiving celestial things, as also that he may be gifted with states of sanctity, which he himself does not know, which states of sanctity are preserved for him by the LORD for use in life eternal; for all his states of life return in the other life" (A. C. 1618).

115



     The WORD of the LORD is the most important thing in external worship, for it is the presence of the LORD in the Church. When the repository is opened and the WORD is taken from it and placed upon the altar it represents the presence of the LORD in our midst, indeed, it is the presence of the LORD. It would appear then, that in this presence of the LORD there ought not to be mixed anything of the man, but that we ought to have the presence of the LORD Himself only. This we can have only by using the WORD as given by the LORD Himself in the very languages in which He has given it. In the translation of the WORD it is impossible to translate all things of the WORD. This will appear more fully as we learn more about the WORD in its original.
     Let it be understood here that the LORD is present with man only so far as he understands the WORD, and that He is conjoined with man only so far as man receives the WORD in his life. We are now considering external worship as a means of exciting internals and of storing up states of internal sanctity. This worship can be more full and complete the more full and complete are the means. If we feel when the WORD is brought out and placed upon the altar, that it is the very WORD of the LORD, holy in every syllable, the state can be more full and more complete than it can otherwise.
     The very great importance of the WORD and of its preservation in the original tongues is manifest from the teaching that the Jews have been preserved to this day because they read the WORD in the Hebrew, and treat the WORD in the Old Testament with respect. It is said that it was foreseen that the Christians would almost reject the WORD of the Old Testament, otherwise the Jews would have perished from the earth.
     In general it is the doctrine of the Church that the celestial angels can draw from the WORD the things of its celestial sense more fully when it is read by man in the original tongue.
     This they can do because the WORD is inspired as to every least letter and horn of a letter, in the Hebrew. The Hebrew language is more nearly related to the angelic language than any other earthly language, and so it was chosen for the writing of the WORD. It is, therefore, more fully adapted to contain the internal sense than any other language.
     There are very many things mentioned in the Writings which are in the Hebrew language, which tend to make it a suitable vehicle for the internal sense of the WORD. It is not artificial, but natural in its formation; the words are such that they comprehend many ideas from opposite to opposite; there are in it words which pertain to the celestial class, and others that pertain to the spiritual class, and still others that partake of both; as it was first written the vowel sounds were not indicated, and the interior sense can be seen better when it is read without vowels; it is not divided by punctuation points, but is continuous from one state to another, the     distinctions of state being made by the use of [Hebrew] (and it was) and lesser changes by [Hebrew] (and); names are not distinguished by larger initials; moreover, each and every letter is significative.
     Concerning the first point that the celestial sense can be drawn out more fully when the WORD is read in the Hebrew, I will quote from the Spiritual Diary, n. 4671:
     "Then also a little chart was let down Written with Hebrew letters, as they were written in the most ancient times; they differed little from the Hebrew letters of this day, but nevertheless somewhat, and the annuls who were with me said that they comprehended all things which were written there from the letters alone, and that every letter contains some idea, yea, the sense of ideas, and also he taught what [Hebrew], what [Hebrew] and what [Hebrew] signify, but what the others it was not permitted him to say; and also he said that all things of the WORD are thus inspired, and that the third heaven knows thence, when the WORD is read by man in the Hebrew text, all the Divine Celestial which is inspired, and that all and single things therein treat of the LORD; such sense can not be expressed, because it is the celestial itself; of which ideas not one can be expressed. From this it may appear that the WORD, according to the words of the LORD is inspired as to every iota and every little horn. I have spoken with them concerning the origin of that thing, that from the form of the Hebrew letters alone those things are presented, and that it derives the cause from the form of the flow of heaven, which is such; and because they are in that flow, which makes the fundamental of order, that thence to them there is perception."
     From the teaching of this passage alone it appears how important it is to have the WORD in the original language, and not only to have it, but also to read it, for thereby the angels of the third heaven, from the forms of the letters alone can draw out the celestial sense. They are delighted with this sense, and according to the doctrines of the Church, they affect man with their delight when he reads the WORD. How important is this to our children and to ourselves. Let the WORD as it is brought out before us every Sunday keep this perpetually in our mind, and let not the Church rest till every New Church child is taught to read the WORD in the Hebrew and Greek.
     We read further concerning this subject in Heaven and Hell, n. 260:
     "That the WORD is Divine as to its every apex is also known in the Church; but where the Divine lies hid in every apex is not known, wherefore it shall be. said. Writings in the inmost heaven consist of various forms inflected and circumflected, and the inflexions and the circumflexions are according to the form of heaven; the angels by these express the arcana of their wisdom, and also many things which they are not able to enunciate with words; and what is wonderful the angels know that writing without art or master, it is ingiven as speech itself for which reason this writing is heavenly writing that it is ingiven is because all extension of thought and affection, and thence all communication of intelligence and of wisdom of the angels goes according to the form of heaven: thence it is that into that flows their writing. It was said to me, that the most ancients in this earth, before letters were invented, also had such writing; and that it was translated into the letters of the Hebrew language, which letters in ancient times were all inflected, and not so much as at this day terminated as lines; thence it is that in the WORD there are Divine things and the arcana of heaven even in the iotas, apices and little horns of it."
     From this teaching it will be seen that when men first began to write they did not have letters as we have, but that from their association with the angels they derived the ability to express interior thoughts in forms variously inflicted and circumflected, and that when they began to invent letters they transferred these forms into the letters of the Hebrew language, and that after a time these became less and less inflected until they became as we have them. From this origin of the language it is that its letters, and also the general character of the language is such that it serves to contain the internal sense Indeed we are taught that the internal sense is the interior sense of the words, which is also the case with other Oriental Languages.

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     Concerning the quality of this language I will quote again from the Spiritual Diary, n. 2631:
     "That the Hebrew language is such that there is nothing artificial as when a spirit speaks.
     "That the Hebrew language is such that it comprehends ideas, and indeed the words are such that in each one there are many ideas, so that there are ideas more general than the ideas of other languages, may appear from many things; then, also, that there were no vowels there; that the sense of the letter is to be known from the interior sense, but not the interior sense from the sense of the letter, which takes place rather when the vowels are adjoined; wherefore he who perceives the sense of the letter from the interior sense, he understands better what is written in the Hebrew letters without vowels than with them; therefore, also, the names are not distinguished by greater initials; therefore, also, I there is not distinction by commas and like things as in languages in which the sense of the letter is attended to; moreover there is a natural manner of speaking in the WORD, not an artificial, as can appear manifest from many things, that, viz., it speaks everywhere almost as if the person himself is speaking, it is not said that he thus spoke, but as if he was speaking, thus in other things."
     In another passage we are taught that the points which serve to distinguish the vowel sounds were permitted to be added because man is of such a nature that he perverts the WORD, or the sense to suit his own ends and this could be done easier if there were not vowels adjoined.
     In Heaven and Hell, n. 241, we are taught the distinction between the speech of the celestial and the speech of the spiritual flowing from their difference in reception of life from the LORD, and we are informed that the celestial speech partakes more of the vowels U and 0, and that of the Spiritual angels of E and I for the vowels represent sound and thence affection. Then it is said, "Since vowels do not pertain to language but to the elevation of its words by sound to various affections according to the state of every one, therefore in the Hebrew tongue vowels were not expressed, and also were variously enunciated; thence the angels knew the quality of man as to affection and love; the speech of the celestial angels is also without hard consonants, and rarely slides from consonant to consonant except by the interposition of a word that begins with a vowel; thence it is that so many times in the WORD is interposed the little word "and," as may appear to those who read the WORD in the Hebrew tongue, in which that little word is soft and sounds from both sides from a vowel; from the words also in that language it may be known to some extent whether it pertains to the celestial class or to the spiritual class, thus whether it involves good or whether truth. Those which involve good draw much from U and 0, and also somewhat from A, but those which draw from truth derive from E and I; Because affections especially express themselves through sounds; therefore, also in the discourse of man when it treats of high things, as of heaven, and of GOD, words are loved in which are U and 0; also musical sounds bear themselves thither when similar things are expressed; it is otherwise when it treats of things which are not great, thence it is that the musical art has the power to express affection of various kinds."
     There are very many other things said in the Doctrines of the Church concerning the qualities of the Hebrew language, which fit it for the use of containing the internal sense of the WORD. These qualities are not only given in general, but particular examples are given in abundance and they are explained.
     One other important quality is the fact that, in Hebrew, one and the same form of the verb is applicable to various times. This is from the internal sense which is independent of times, and is applicable to all times and all states.
     As to the particular expressions which are noted there is not time to quote them here, but I may say that, in the Index to the Arcana Coelestia, there are four and a half pages of references to places where particular words and expressions are explained. For example they are such as these:
     "Spirit is denoted by the same word as wind, from influx. . . . Soul is from a word denoting the respiration. . . . Power and man is expressed by one word which is predicated of faith," etc. Also many ancient forms of speech used in the WORD are noted and explained as "The ancient forms of speech or proverbial phrases contained in the WORD have a spiritual signification. 'Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh' was a form of acknowledging relationship and it denotes conjunction in one proprium."
     From these few teachings it will be seen that the study and reading of the WORD in the original language is one of the most important things to be taught in a New Church school. It ought to begin at an early age, for since in early ages the celestial angels are present with the children if they repeat the WORD in the Hebrew then the angels can have a more full understanding of the internals of the WORD, and will be enabled to implant remains of an interior celestial character. To understand and read the WORD in the original also performs the important use of opening and cultivating the rational, for as we have learned it is the language that more nearly than any other approaches the angelic, and it is written in a natural manner. It is full of things flowing from the internal sense of the WORD and thus full of the order and form of heaven. It gives the greatest opportunity to impress these forms on the mind and at the same time conjoins man more fully with the angels, and above all with the LORD Himself.
     All these truths are acknowledged by the Immanuel Church, and we have obtained this copy of the WORD in its original tongues, and have placed it in our repository that we might have the WORD in its purity without alloy to use in our external worship, that thereby internals may be excited, and that we may continually be reminded of our duty to receive the Divine Truth of the LORD'S WORD in its purity without alloy from the intelligence of man. And also that we and our children, and our children's children from generation to generation may continually be reminded of the importance of learning the languages in which the WORD is written, and of reading the WORD in that language for the sake of uses to the angels in the celestial heaven and for the sake of the celestial remains which we may thus receive from the LORD through His WORD.
Church 1890

Church              1890

     The Church is a Church from doctrine and according to it; without this the Church is no more a Church than a man is a man without members, viscera, and organs, thus from the cutaneous envelop alone, which only outlines his external appearance.-Cor. 18.
Word in the Hebrew and Greek 1890

Word in the Hebrew and Greek              1890

     The Word in the Hebrew and Greek, beautifully bound in one volume, will in a short time again be available. The first copies bound having all been sold. Academy Book-Room, 1821 Wallace St., Philadelphia.

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SEVENTIETH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION 1890

SEVENTIETH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION       Various       1890

     General Church of Pennsylvania.

     SEVENTIETH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL CONVENTION.

     HELD IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO, ILL., FROM SATURDAY,

     JUNE 21ST, TO TUESDAY, 28TH, 1890.

     THE FIRST DAY.

                         Saturday Afternoon, June 21st.
     THE Convention met at two o'clock, in the temple of the Chicago Society, 17 E. Van Buren Street. Fourteen independent bodies, connected with the Convention, were represented. There were present 46 Convention ministers, 72 delegates and two visiting ministers, one of whom, the Rev. J. Martin, represented the General Conference of Great Britain, and the other, the Rev. J. J. Thornton, represented the Conference of the New Church in Australia.
     The General Church of Pennsylvania was represented by the Rev. John Whitehead, Pittsburgh; the Rev. E. C. Bostock, Chicago; the Rev. L. G. Jordan, Philadelphia; the Rev. E. S. Price, Philadelphia; the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, Chicago, and by Delegates Swain Nelson, Seymour G. Nelson, Felix A. Boericke, and Orlando Blackman, Chicago.
     The meeting was called to order by the President, the Rev. Chauncey Giles, who conducted the usual religious services.

     RECEIVING THE MESSENGERS FROM THE NEW CHURCH IN GREAT BRITAIN AND AUSTRALIA.

     The Rev. J. Martin, of Bath, England, and the Rev. J. J. Thornton, of Melbourne, were introduced and welcomed. Both of these gentlemen responded at some length, Mr. Thornton dwelling upon the state of the New Church in Australia, and giving some very interesting information in connection with the discovery of that continent.

     READING OF REPORTS.

     The Vice-President, the Rev. J. Worcester, took the chair.
     Reports of officers and constituent bodies of Convention were read.
     The report of the Council of Ministers stated that the facts alleged in Mr. Tafel's resolution of last year [Mm. 129] were substantially true-that the Rev. W. H. Benade did on May 9th, 1888, introduce the Rev. W. F. Pendleton into the third degree of the Ministry, and that Mr. Pendleton is recognized as a Bishop of the Academy of the New Church by its members. This investiture of Mr. Pendleton with the office of Bishop, though performed by a General Pastor of the Convention, was not done by the request of an Association, nor with the sanction of the Convention, as required by the Constitution. It was, therefore, done under the rules of a Body which is not a component part of the Convention, and for which the Convention is in no way responsible. Though it appeared to the Council that this act was not loyal to the spirit, at least, of the Constitution under which Mr. Benade holds the office of General Pastor, nor consistent with the unity of the ministry of the Church, yet the Council recommended that no judicial action be taken in regard to the matter, as it seemed sufficient to present it in the light of the facts of the case.
     The Committee on Publication of the Swedenborg Manuscripts was not prepared to report, owing to the illness of its Chairman [Mr. Benade].
     The reports of the Canada, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, and Massachusetts Associations were read.
     The reports of the Michigan, Minnesota, and New York Associations were read. The last-named Association asked for authority to give Mr. Seward the right to officiate at ordinations during his incumbency of his office as presiding minister of the New York Association. The request was referred to the Council of Ministers.
     The reports of the Ohio Association and of the General Church of Pennsylvania were read. The latter is here presented as read.

     REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA.

The General Church of Pennsylvania to the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America.

     FOLLOWING is a list of Churches and Circles connected with the General Church of Pennsylvania:

     CHURCHES.               PASTORS.               NUMBER OF MEMBERS

Church of the Advent R
     (Philadelphia),          Rev. L. G. Jordan               73
Pittsburgh,                    Rev. John Whitehead          89
                         Rev. Andrew Czerny,
                              Assistant,
                         Rev. Wm. H. Acton,
                              Assistant.
Immanuel Church
     (Chicago),               Rev. E. C. Bostock          59
                         Rev. N. D. Pendleton,
                              Assistant.

Allentown,                    Bishop Gen. Church, Penn.      27
Greenford (Ohio),               Rev. A. Czerny               21
Lancaster,                    Dr. S. S. Rathvon, Leader     18
Concordia (Kansas),          Mr. Geo. Burnley, Leader     13
Delaware County,               Mr. Uriah Evans, Leader          15
Bethel,                    Mr. J. R. Kendig, Leader     8
Renovo,                    Dr. Edw. Cranch, Leader          8
Erie                         Mr. A. Klein, Leader          12
Brooklja (N. Y.),               Bishop Gen. Church, Penn.     31
Isolate

Total. . . .                                         374

     Note- The membership reported is to November 1st, 1889.

     2. The Clergy of this General Church are: Bishop, the Rev. W. H. Benade; Pastors, the Rev. W. F. Pendleton, the Rev. L. G. Jordan, the Rev. John Whitehead, the Rev. E. C. Bostock, the Rev. N. C. Burnham, the Rev. Ellis I. Kirk, the Rev. Andrew Czerny, the Rev. Eugene J. E. Schreck; Ministers, the Rev. Enoch S. Price, the Rev. C. T. Odhner, the Rev. Wm. H. Acton, the Rev. N. Dandridge Pendleton. Of these the last two named were ordained into the first grade of the Ministry, June 16th, 1889, by Bishop Benade. The Rev. Ellis I. Kirk is at work in the Clearfield District as a Missionary.
     On June 7th, 1890, Bishop Benade authorized Mr. Homer Synnestvedt and Mr. Joseph E. Rosenqvist as Candidates for the Ministry
     3. The General Church has suffered very greatly during the year, in consequence of the severe illness of our beloved Bishop, the Rev. W. H. Benade, who was prostrated during his visit to Europe last summer, on missions of the Church. Two or three times it has seemed as if he had nearly recovered, but on attempting work he was thrown back in each case, so far that now absolute rest is enforced.

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Although much of his work has been taken up and done by other hands, there remains a great deal which he alone could do, and the loss of his extensive knowledge and wise counsel is seriously felt throughout this body of the Church.
     4. As to Particular Churches, those not specially spoken of below have undergone no material changes, but have maintained their interest and activity in the uses of the Church.
     The Church of the Advent was under the direct care of the Bishop of the General Church from the time of our last report till the middle of last summer, when the Rev. Leonard G. Jordan was called to and accepted the Pastorate. The Church has continued in a prosperous condition since that time. It has adopted a new Constitution more in harmony with that of the General Church of Pennsylvania, and changed its name from "New Jerusalem Society of the Advent" to "Church of the Advent." At present the Church is very harmonious and united.
     The Pittsburgh Society has now the additional assistance of the Rev. Wm. H. Acton. In the report of this society special mention is made of the custom of using wine at the social meetings of the Society. It is stated that this is done up on principle, on the ground that it is especially useful in inducing a sphere of brotherly feeling among the members, and as a true means to avoidance of excesses. It may be stated that this custom is general throughout the General Church of Pennsylvania.
     The Rev. N. Dandridge Pendleton has been called to the assistance of the Rev. E. C. Bostock in his pastorate of the Immanuel Church, Chicago.
     In the Greenford Society there were certain disturbances growing out of the disaffection of some members, associated with others not members, who proceeded in a most disorderly and violent method to carry out their purposes. Resort was had by the General Church to the civil courts for protection, and this resulted in the complete vindication of the Society. In all probability, affairs would not have proceeded to such extremes but for the unwise and uncharitable interference of representatives of the Ohio Association.*
     * This last clause afterward stricken out.
     6. At the annual meeting of the General Church, in November, 1889, the principal subject of discussion was that of the relation of the General Church to the General Convention, taken up in accordance with the recommendation to that effect, of the Council of the Clergy. It would not be practicable or desirable, perhaps, to present even an abstract of the proceedings, but it is proper that the Convention should be informed of certain of the facts and especially of official action taken.
     The discussion was full and free, and, we believe, although in the nature of a family consideration of the situation, characterized by a desire to deal fairly and justly and in true charity with all. To this end there was a distinct intention and effort to keep out mere personalities, to state only what could be substantiated, and, above all, to apply the pure principles of the Revelation for the New Church of the LORD. The result was what appears to us to be a serious arraignment of the Convention for unkind, unbrotherly, and disorderly action toward this General Church.
     Bishop Benade has recalled to our minds that some years ago, acting under the Constitution of the Convention as it then existed, a minister was suspended by the General Church of Pennsylvania. This act was offensive to certain members of the Convention, and an attempt was made to revise the action, evidently with a view to nullify it. Our representatives showed that this attempt was contrary to the law and order of the Convention itself; but it was not until legal counsel of Massachusetts passed upon the question that the attempt was abandoned. Then so strong was the feeling against this action of the General Church taken under the provisions of the Convention's Constitution that the Convention determined to alter its Constitution so as to prevent a repetition of such action. In the course of this operation a committee was appointed and a compromise agreed upon. The right of suspension of a minister was thereby reserved to the Convention, but the right to enjoin a minister from acting as such within the limits of an Association was especially granted to the respective Associations.
     In the course of time, the General Church saw fit to act in accordance with the power thus conferred upon it by a compromise article formally adopted by the Convention. Against the earnest protest of representatives of this General Church, as being in violation of the Constitution, an attempt was made to revise the action of the General Church in this case. This was breaking a compact agreed upon not in ignorance but after experience and as a compromise.
     Also against the Constitution of Convention, and, as before, against the protest of the General Church, the matter was referred to the General Council of the Convention. That Council reported that an investigation into the facts and principles involved was impracticable and not likely to lead to the best results. Then the Convention proceeded to nullify this action of its Council, and, without the least investigation, adopted a resolution implying censure of this General Church.
     It is now proposed to take out from the Constitution the provision granting this right that was secured to Associations as a compromise. This proposition will be before you for action at this meeting.
     On the other hand, another proposition has been made, which will also be presented for your consideration, to establish a court of appeal in all such cases as have been referred to, such court to consist of the General Pastors of the Convention. We believe this to be in accordance with the order of the doctrine on ecclesiastical government quoted in the Constitution of Convention.
     The Council of the Clergy of the General Church, in view of the disorder of the Convention, called attention to the following words of the Bishop of this General Church:

     "The Convention's relation to the associated bodies needs to be considered and regulated. This cannot be brought into order until the Convention has one order for all, or is willing to give to each Association the right of independent action in its own affairs. We are actually divided into three parties, and if we are to be governed by majorities, and not by the Constitution, we can only go forward to dissolution. The law must be recognized and have all power. Otherwise we shall have anarchy."

     The Council of the Laity of the General Church presented the following expression of its views of the Convention:

     "The members of the Council of the Laity, who represented the General Church, as delegates, at the recent session of the General Convention (at Washington), unanimously wish to express their emphatic protest against the manifest animosity shown toward this General Church of Pennsylvania, by the attitude and action of the General Convention, and to deplore that body's lack of adherence to its own Constitution, its lack of freedom in discussion, and its tendency to place human prudence above the doctrine of the Church."

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     The General Church as a body, by a rising vote, adopted the following resolution:

     "The General Church of Pennsylvania, in annual meeting assembled, hereby unanimously confirms the statement made by Bishop Benade, at the last meeting of the General Convention, in regard to the injunction of the Rev. L. H. Tafel, formerly pastor of the New Jerusalem Society of the Advent, in which statement occur the following words:

     "We objected to the injunction being considered by the General Council, not because we did not desire an investigation, but because the manner of the proposed investigation was unconstitutional. It was our desire that there might be the fullest possible investigation of this subject, and we proposed in the Council of Ministers that a tribunal of General Pastors should be formed by which such cases could be tried. I think it is right to the General Church that this should be stated here. Our action was taken under the law of our Church and of the Convention. W& wish to be in order, and to proceed according to order. The act was not an act of the Bishop of the Church alone, but of the General Church of Pennsylvania by its constituted authorities, and it is not right to fasten it upon the one official. It must be understood that the action was the action of the law of the Church, to which the General Pastor, or Bishop, is subject just as much as any other member. There is no distinction in what is called the prelatical order of the Church between the subjection of the ministers and that of laymen to the law of the Church. They look to that which they believe to be the LORD'S revelation, whether they hold this, that, or the other position. I think it is due to the General Church of Pennsylvania to state this."

     In reference to the action of the Convention in this matter, the General Church adopted the following statement and resolution:

     "The Constitution of the General Convention gives the Associations the right to enjoin a minister from the exercise of his functions within its own limits. Acting under this law the General Church of Pennsylvania enjoined the Rev. L. H. Tafel.
     "The General Convention, at its last meeting, held in Washington, passed a resolution which implied censure to the General Church of Pennsylvania for this act, and this in the face of the report of the General Council that a thorough investigation of the case in all its details of fact and principle was hardly practicable, and not likely to lead to the best results.
     "Thus the Convention acted without any attempt at investigation and without any knowledge of the facts of the case except from the biased statements of the enjoined minister and his adherents.
     "The Convention and the General Council in the various proceedings bearing on this matter, acted contrary to the plain letter of the Constitution and to the Act of Incorporation, which requires that the General Council shall be governed by the Constitution.
     "The Divine law of the Church teaches that to act according to the law is to act from good, and to act contrary to the law is to act from evil: as may appear from n. 4444 of the Arcana Coelestia.
     "The General Church of Pennsylvania, in its proceedings, has acted in conformity with the plain provisions of the Constitution and of the Divine law of the Church given in the Heavenly Doctrines: but the Convention has acted contrary to its own laws and to common justice.
     "In view of these facts, be it
     "Resolved, That the acts of the General Convention, enumerated above, merit and receive our condemnation: and that we deplore the lack of charity, of common justice, and of equity manifested by the majority in Convention."

     Many are the principles of doctrine from revelation applicable to these affairs, but how can we enter upon a consideration and application of principles of internal truth and good while the law of the Convention itself; plainly stated in its Constitution, is not regarded or perpetuated if we act thereunder?
     By order of the Joint Council of the Clergy and Laity.
          LEONARD G. JORDAN, Secretary.
     PHILADELPHIA, PENNA., June 13th, 1890=120.

     Mr. Hinkley moved that "The report of the General Church of Pennsylvania be referred to the General Council, with a request to consider whether it should be accepted, and reported to the General Convention and printed in the journal." "I do not regard it as at all respectful. I think-"
     Mr. Jordan here rose to a point of order. "The motion of reference is not debatable. The gentleman is discussing the question."
     The Chairman sustained Mr. Jordan.
     In the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania it was reported that the disturbance in Greenford had been fostered by representatives of the Ohio Association.
     On this ground Mr. Goddard, the General Pastor of that Association, claimed the right to speak as a matter of personal privilege.
     The Chairman stated that this could not be granted at the present time, but "an opportunity will come up some other time.
     Mr. Hinkley's motion was seconded and carried.
     The Convention then adjourned.

                         Saturday Evening.
     At eight o'clock services were held in the church, and the President delivered his annual address. After the address the Chicago Society held a social reception in the church parlors.

     THE SECOND DAY.
                         Sunday, June 22d.
     RELIGIOUS services were held at the temple of the Chicago Society, where the Rev. Thos. A. King preached on "Simon the Leper."
     Services were also held in the temple of the Immanuel Church, conducted by the Rev. John Whitehead, and at Englewood, by the Rev. Philip B. Cabell. The Rev. Chauncey Giles preached at McVicker's Theatre for the Rev. Dr. Thomas.
     The Communion was administered after the services in the temple of the Chicago Society. There were 285 communicants, only one of whom, it is reported, took the unfermented grape juice in lieu of wine.
     Evening services were held in the temple on Van Buren Street and at Englewood.

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     THE THIRD DAY.
                         Monday Morning, June 23d.
     THE Convention was called to order by the President, and the Rev. G. L. Allbutt opened the meeting by reading the 42d Psalm and repeating the LORD'S Prayer.
     MT. Bostock hoped, and requested that the Word in the Repository might be opened.
     In accordance with Mr. Bostock's suggestion, the Word in the Repository was opened.
     The minutes of Saturday's session were read and approved.
     Mr. Seward moved "that a committee be appointed to draw up and present a resolution to be put upon the minutes of this Convention, in regard to our brother, the late J. Y. Scammon."
     The motion was carried, and the President appointed Messrs. Sewall and Mercer as such a committee.

     THE GENERAL CHURCH AND THE OHIO ASSOCIATION.

     Mr. Jordan: "Inasmuch as the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania was the last report considered, I would ask leave to amend that report in one particular. After the report was presented the opportunity was given to the General Church, or its delegates here, to confer with a representative of the Ohio Association, and the result has been a modification in reference to that Association. We ask leave, and we are glad to do so, to amend our report, so far as to strike out the reference to the Ohio Association."
     The request was granted.
     The reading of reports was continued.
     A memorial from certain ministers of the German Missionary Union was read. It stated that on October 30th, 1887, Mr. Bartels had performed an ordination without the authority of the Convention. "Thus there has been established a new ministry which is not acknowledged by the General Convention. We have no desire but that this in the Church may be avoided and the unity of the New Church be preserved." The memorial was signed by the Rev. Messrs. Tuerk, Tafel, Faber, and others. The memorial was referred to the Council of Ministers.
     A communication from the German Synod and reports from the Society of Kansas City, the committee on building a house of worship in Washington, and the committee on the resolutions of Mr. Elite, relating to the subject of New Church education, were read.
     The last-mentioned report recommended, as the most immediate duty, the strengthening of existing New Church schools.

                         Monday Afternoon.

     A NATIONAL NEW CHURCH TEMPLE.

     THE meeting was called to order by the Vice-President, who announced that the consideration of the National Church building was in order.
     Mr. McGeorge, speaking of this subject, said that he did not wish to present any personal matter of his own; he was merely attempting to carry out the resolution of the Convention.
     Mr. Barnard, at the request of Mr. McGeorge, read the printed "Appeal for a National New Church Temple in Washington, D. C."
     Mr. McGeorge appealed to "those who believe in the Writings and those who are supposed not to believe in the Writings, to help in this work. All efforts should proceed from a centre. . . . . Let us accept that Washington is a centre, and from it should radiate the New Church. Now I want to speak about one mean, miserable, carping suggestion that I have heard put forward; and that is that we are simply trying to do something to help the Washington Society-to help that one, poor little Society of the Church-and neglecting the others. Why, my friends, if that was our object, you would not be hung for it! If that was our object, if you had no other thought-in the world than to help the Washington people to erect a beautiful, a proper, a sufficient means of disseminating the Doctrines; it would not he an unwise thing to do! But there is nothing of that in it. I want you to disabuse yourselves of that idea at once; that you may feel free to act with all your hearts and sympathies this moment. The Washington Society, I say it advisedly, is going to do, and is doing its fair share in this work. What we ask you to do is the work which the General Church ought to do. That little body of men and women, the most of them, I am told, winning their income from salaries received in public offices, are not those who are going to maintain a structure of this kind. But, while they are not able to do that, they are willing and able to turn in and help with us in every possible way to build this church, and to sustain it after it is built. Let me say, banish this mean, this horrible-can I say some meaner word?-suggestion that it is merely a Washington enterprise. This enterprise was instituted by this Convention. If there is any wrong in it you are responsible for it. It is our duty to go on with it-to make it a success. Now, I don't believe, Mr. President, that it is necessary for me to add another word, except to say that I want to treat you to a delightful surprise. Now, I know that the majority of the people thought that when I got up here I was going to ask them to contribute something."
     The speaker then described the pleasures of his country home, and continued: "Now I want to draw upon the scenes of that beautiful country home to give you some ideas to relieve you of this desperate feeling that I was going to ask you for money. I was talking with one of your most thoughtful and noble workers; a man who is concerned in, perhaps, the greatest work which to-day you have before you; and he said to me: 'McGeorge, it's no use, it's no use! You're only milking the same old cow again, and I tell you the cow will give out.' Well, now, that thought, that suggestion put it into my mind to give you here a bucolical lecture. And I want to tell you something about cows, and if you will only prove to be good cows I will feel that I have done my duty. Well, I said to to my friend, 'My friend, are you a farmer? did you ever have to do with cows? did you ever make the practical acquaintance of cows? did you ever know how, where, or on what occasion cows produce milk?' 'Well, no!' he said, 'but I know that you are just milking the same old cow, and that she's run down.' 'Well,' I said, 'let me, for your comfort, education, and knowledge, tell you one great fact in natural history, that if you don't milk the cow, she's utterly ruined, and if you only partly milk the cow, she is going to ruin.' [Laughter.] I see there are some farmers here, and they see that this is true. Let a cow give forth a good rich cream and milk every morning and every night, and she will keep on; but let some poor, disheartened, afraid sort of a fellow, fearing that the stream will stop, just stop her now and again, and that cow will run dry. Now, I suppose I ought to speak for only one minute more. Well, there is just one more thing about bucolics that I wish to say, and that is, did you ever see a poor cow at milking time, how anxious she was to give her cream and milk, and with what comfort and relief she went off afterward.

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My friends, I want to give every man and woman in this building comfort; I want to milk you all I can, and I want to give you that feeling of relief; delight, and entire sense of comfort and well doing and well being that comes from a good milking. And I would remark, incidentally, that while I have nothing to say about money, my friend, Mr. Barnard, has a subscription list, so that every man and woman can contribute their quart of milk as they go out."
     Messrs. Sewell, Barnard, and the Vice-President also spoke in favor of the enterprise.

     NEGLECTING USES OF GREATER IMPORTANCE.

     Mr. Brown, of Cleveland, O., was not convinced as to the wisdom of this Convention raising such a sum as $60,000. "We must remember that this is not the only use we have. Now, if we take all the milk and put it into one particular use, some of us will have to suffer. But I think Mr. McGeorge makes a very good illustration: that if we do not use the means we have, the source will dry up; and if we find ourselves able to give anything to the Church, we may do it; and I want to say that we have a number of very useful enterprises on foot that have been before us for years. Our old ministers are wearing out-all are not able to perform their uses. We want new ministers. We want our schools maintained in the best way in which we can maintain them. We need New Church schools. We have a University in Ohio that has been going on for many years. It has gradually grown. But I do not think that the General Convention has begun to understand, or comprehend the use that might be performed by that University, if the Convention would sustain it. It has been supported by individual members. I think Convention ought to take up that; it is more important than this church in Washington. What will the Society do with a church as large as this? It will be three or four times as large as they need. We cannot maintain missionary services there by any man, at the present time. It seems to me it would be unwise to go forward in building a church such as the one which has been talked about."
     Mr. McGeorge then offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

     "Resolved, that this Convention approves the action of the National Committee in procuring a lot in Washington on which to build a National Church; and it most heartily recommends all New Church men and women throughout the land to take this project into serious and affectionate consideration, and to do their utmost endeavor to make this work a success; and to this end to send their subscriptions, whether large or small, that the lot may be paid for at once, and a modest edifice be built to meet the immediate necessities of the Washington Society."

     The General Society of Texas and the Society of Iowa were received into Convention and the right hand of fellowship extended to their representatives, the Rev. Messrs. Wood and Lehnen.

     THE REPORT OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA RETURNED TO THAT BODY.

     Mr. Hinkley: "The General Council desires to present a report in reference to the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania. It has carefully considered the latter report, and recommends the adoption of the following preamble and resolution:

     "WHEREAS the General Church of Pennsylvania, in its annual report to the General Convention, has made statements respecting the relation of that body to the Convention, and the action of the Convention to it, which are wanting in a proper degree of respect for the Convention; therefore

     Resolved, that the said report be referred back to that body, that it may omit from it all that part which had reference to the unkind, unbrotherly, and disorderly action, and of manifest animosity to the General Church of Pennsylvania, and of the lack of charity and of common justice and equity manifested by the majority in the Convention."

     Mr. Bartels: "I wish to express a desire that something else might be omitted. That report says that the members of the Church of Pennsylvania are in the habit I of using wine at their social meetings, as a religious ceremony, and that it is important for the Church work. Now, while we would not dictate to them whether they should or should not drink a glass of wine, I, for my part, should be sorry to see a report from an Association of the New Church to the General Convention stating to Convention and the world at large that they are in the habit of drinking alcoholic wines as a religious duty, or ceremony; and I should be very sorry to have it go before the world. I would therefore amend thus, 'that that report be re-committed to the representatives of the General Church of Pennsylvania, that that part of their I report also be stricken out.'"
     Mr. Ager: "That is a distinct proposition, entirely distinct from the other. It would be necessary to divide the question, in considering it."
     Chairman: "The question would be upon amending the statement that it is proposed for us to adopt, by adding to it this addition of Mr. Bartels' in regard to the statement in regard to the use of wine. It is a proposed amendment."
     Mr. Ager: "The point is that an amendment that embodies a distinct proposition, introduces a distinct question, and we have a right to call for a division of the question."
     Chairman: "How can you avoid that?"
     Mr. Ager: "By simply saying that so much can be withdrawn."
     Chairman: "He just presented it as an amendment [To Mr. Bartels] "Mr. Ager wishes the report to be considered by itself. You are, however, in order. Your amendment can be added to the report of the General Council."
     Mr. Hinkley: "I object. The report of the General Council is here, and cannot be altered now."
     Mr. Warren: "Is the question upon the acceptance of the report, or the passing of the resolution?"
     Chairman: "The report is accepted. The question as on the adoption of the resolution."
     Mr. Bartels: "I will withdraw my amendment and present it afterward."
Chairman:     "Very well. Either way is in order."
     Mr. Jordan: "I propose to be very brief indeed, and to begin with the general proposition that we do not come here to have our report written for us. We stand 1 as a body of the Church and as an independent man. We constitute a body, which is one man. We propose to keep to what we understand to be the laws of order. We reserve to ourselves the right to interpret those laws. We propose to be respectful in addressing this body. We believe we have been so in this report. If there be anything disrespectful in it, it is from the nature of the acts of this body. If it can be substantiated that we have unjustly characterized the acts then it devolves upon you to show rationally how we are mistaken. But until we are shown that what we have stated is not the logical induction, from the acts we have recited, I do not see how we can be called upon to alter the report. Again and again, when reports have been presented to this body, it has been ruled-the ruling is not new-that when a report is received by this body it is not indorsed by this body.

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That has taken place with reference to the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania before." [The speaker turned to the Chairman, who nodded assent.] "Again, I attended the Convention at Washington last year, after an absence of a good many years. More than a decade had passed since I had had the privilege, as I deemed it at that time, of attending Convention. One of the first graduates of the Convention's Theological School, trained under the care of the former President of the Convention, who held that office for so many years, when I returned from California I expected to see something of the spirit and method which had prevailed during his incumbency of the office of President. Such a spirit I did not find. Instead of it there seemed to be everywhere toward the General Church of Pennsylvania a sphere bristling with sharp points. As already intimated, my predilections were entirely in favor of what may be considered the sentiment of the majority of the Convention. For a little while I held the insane delusion that I might be an intermediary between the two bodies. I had the belief that internally the two branches represented a similar love of the Church, and that the misunderstandings which had arisen were largely matters of faith; but I found it impossible so to act, considering the state of things, considering what I cannot help designating as the manifest disorder of the proceedings at Washington. I could not help coming to the judgment which decided me to take my stand with the General Church of Pennsylvania. There is no reason why I should have done that, except for the outcome of the meeting at Washington. I believed I could be equally friendly to both parties.
     But the action there was to me utter disorder. A violation of the constitutional law of the Convention itself. The cases could be pointed out, and there is no legal mind of a proper training that will not see this. Now, we have so characterized those proceedings. If you so decide, we shall take the report back, but I confess that I have no hope whatever that there will be the slightest change in it, since no injustice is done to you. The injustice is in the acts themselves. And nothing we can say will make them worse or better. If you do not receive it and put it in the Journal, it only remains for us to take it along with us. I do not see any other course. But it will be referred to the representatives, and what they decide I shall be able to inform you later. When the proposed amendment comes up, I wish to say something about that."
     Mr. Warren: "All human bodies are fallible. The Convention is not infallible. None of us would claim that it is. And as a body, it does not claim to be infallible; and it is possible that some technical mistake may have been made. But that is one question. Suppose that a technical mistake has been made. I was not present when the action of the Convention was taken last year. I was called away before the subject came up. But supposing it was so. That is a very different thing from imputing motives to the Convention in making such a mistake. That is another thing. There is One only who knows the motives of men. We are apt to infer motives from men's acts, and we cannot help making some inferences from men's acts as to their motives; but we have not a right to assert that these are the motives. No mortal man knows that. Now I do not think it would do the Convention any harm. It would not be that. There is not where the harm would be done, except that I do not think that the Convention as a public body of the Church can properly accept such ascription of motives, with suitable regard to its own dignity. I do not think it could accept and enter in its journal a report couched in such language as some of the language in that report."
     Mr. Sewall: "I shall be unable to act, without a better understanding of the purpose of the resolution; whether by it is understood that the right of appeal in any matter is denied to the General Church of Pennsylvania"?
     Chairman: "Not at all."
     Mr. Sewall: "So I hope. Anybody is entitled to appeal to the sense of justice and fairness of the Convention in this matter. I hold that the Council has framed this resolution with the purpose of reflecting not on the appeal, but on the language. In that I sincerely sympathize with them. I heartily sympathize with them, in a way that I should think every member of the General Church of Pennsylvania would have sympathy for. Whether the charge they refer to be logical or not there is no question but that under the Constitution they have committed an act of disrespect to the larger body. So the Council are right in condemning it as improper, and in declining to receive a report couched in such terms. But I would not have it said, nor would I give the General Church of Pennsylvania any ground to say that a right of appeal is denied to them, or to anybody. I would therefore propose as an amendment the following to be read at the end of the resolution: 'At the same time we do not deny the right of appeal to the Convention, in any matter of justice and right, when couched in proper terms.'"
     Mr. Hinkley: "I agree with Mr. Sewall, and I made almost the same remarks in the General Council as he has made just now. I suppose the members of the Convention would not wish to deny what Mr. Sewall has said. There is no disposition to deny the right of appeal in regard to any matter whatever. If any of the bodies constituting the Convention feel that they are aggrieved by the Convention, it is their right and duty to make an appeal to have their right sustained, and their grievances removed. Every wrong which the Convention may do, Convention ought to be willing to remove, and I believe it is willing to remove it; and if our brethren of Pennsylvania will come with true brotherly feeling, and present a calm, dignified appeal to the Convention, telling what they regard to be disorderly, and that they want justice done to them, I have no right to speak for Convention, but I feel that I am perfectly sure they will grant them everything that is reasonable and proper. I believe that Convention is ready to do the same thing now-right now. I have no doubt that the Convention will grant everything that is right and proper. I don't feel that it is quite necessary to adopt this appendix offered by Mr. Sewall. I think it is already said in the Constitution. If it is not, then this body is not a body. If we are not always ready to hear any grievances, then we are not ready to remove any obstacle to the harmony of the Church. I think it is hardly right to insist that the Convention should declare that it is willing to do something that we are always willing to do. There might be an inference that this Convention is sometimes not willing to do this, when as a fact, it is always ready. And there is nothing at all in this resolution that shows that the Convention is not ready to grant to the members of the General Church of Pennsylvania everything just and right. I should prefer that the resolution stand without the amendment."
     Mr. Sewall: "I think it is safer to err on this side than on the other, to avoid the possibility of misconception and misconstruction in this question."
     Mr. Bostock: "Just one word in answer to what Mr. Warren says.

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The General Church of Pennsylvania does not impute motives. They only present acts as they see the acts."
     Mr. Ager: "How does he understand the word 'malignant'?"
     Mr. Jordan: "No such word is mentioned in the report."
     Chairman: "It is not in the report."
     Mr. Hinkley: "'Animosity'?"
     Mr. Ager: "Yes! 'Animosity.' That is the word."
     Mr. Bostock: "The word 'animosity' means that the general bearing of the mind of the Convention was in opposition to the General Church of Pennsylvania, and that appeared to be the general state of the Convention. That is as far as it goes. That has been the experience. A matter only needed to be presented from the General Church of Pennsylvania, and the opposite view was taken without any investigation. On the motives of the Convention, we do not judge."
     Cries of "question!" "question!".
     Mr. Stearns: "I was also a member of the first class of the Theological School, and have kept along with the meetings of the General Convention since 1848. I have attended their meetings, and, I trust, know something of the spirit of it. I think that this amendment is not required. I never saw the Convention in a disposition to deny the right of appeal in any case whatever. And I think that if we can bring out all those facts that can bear on this case, there are many acts of which we still do not know, we will see that we should not stand apparently in the wrong as we have. For there is some influence which is brought in a suffocating way. And, let me say, that the rebellion always comes from the oppressor, not from the oppressed From those who have been domineering, and not from the others. There has been a great deal of forbearance and patience during these past years, and I am quite sure that every member of the Convention desired to do justice to all. And it will be so yet. Anything that has been done will bear its own fruit. But there is a separation, and there has been a separation. The General Church of Pennsylvania retain their position in the Convention, but they never worship with us, they never partake of the Sacraments with us. There is a real separation, a real schism. We may be as kind and patient and gentle as possible, and do all we can to allay this, but I think genuine charity sometimes requires us to bring out the truth of the matter, and not merely politeness. And it seems to me that the spirit of the letter [Mr. Benade's] that was read [at the Council of Ministers] the other day, and the report which contains the same thing, is something that is entirely foreign to the spirit of all the reports that I ever heard in Convention. I think our course is clear, and I heartily approve of the recommendation of the General Council."
     Mr. N D. Pendleton: "From the report of the General Council it would seem that the mere form of the report was rejected, because it was not respectful. I should like to know whether that is not in the resolution before us?"
     Chairman: "It quotes expressions from the report itself; and objects to the sentiment which such expressions imply."
     Mr. Pendleton: "Then there is nothing in regard to the charges made with respect to the actions of this body. This body does not take the stand of requiring the correction of anything in that respect."
     Chairman asked the Secretary to read the motion.
     The Secretary re-read the motion or recommendation.
     Mr. Pendleton: "Do I understand that the General Church is required to take back the charges made?"
     Chairmen: "So far as they are wanting in a proper degree of respect for the Convention."
     Mr. Pendleton: "Not merely as to the form, that is an external matter, but are the charges true? If they are unjust, it is right to send them back, but if not, they should not be sent back. It is proper that we should discuss the real thing-that is, as to the charges, and not merely the form."
     Chairman: "The question is on the adoption of the amendment."
     Mr. Dole: "I desire to say a few words in reference to the amendment of Mr. Sewall's. The purpose of it is only to make clear what might be regarded as obscure. There may be a misunderstanding, or a lack of unanimous interpretation of the resolution here discussed sometimes, and it is well to have the quite certain explanation of the amendment. It is well to leave all uncertainty out. The amendment is for the purpose of making clear that which might otherwise be misunderstood. It is advisable that that should be added."
     Mr. W. N. Hobart: "I cannot conceive that it is possible that any member of the Convention can believe that any one would vote for anything in which we deny the right of appeal. I feel certain that if the Church of Pennsylvania had brought this matter before us in the proper form it would have been calmly considered. I was not present at the last meeting of the Convention. I was prevented from attending. I cannot say how I should have voted. I think it is a lame thing to put in any addition to this motion that would presuppose that this body would not entertain an appeal when put in a respectful form. But the difficulty is that the Pennsylvania people shut us out from the possibility of considering the appeal. Reports are accepted to be printed in the Journal as they are written. It is a rare thing to alter them; and, taking advantage of this, the Pennsylvania Church sent a report, to be printed as an answer to last year's action, to be placed in the Journal; and which gives this body a condemnation of its action, and ascribes motives to it. There is a clear form in which they should have brought this matter before us; and their action simply says that they do not wish to do it in that way. That is the appearance. If it is not so they would be willing to change their report so that it would not be objectionable, and so as to be read without a blush; not ascribing unworthy motives; not making those here place themselves in a position of having to excuse what they have done. The subject is not before us for action. It is simply a question of whether we should allow the arraignment of the Convention without attempt to excuse, or state the circumstances connected with it. It must be clear to you that there will be no amendment to this report; that it will come back as it is-practically. I think, so long as I have voted with the General Council, I will not favor any amendment to their recommendations. I think the only thing to do is to ask the General Church of Pennsylvania to strike out the whole of the fifth section. It is a mistake for an Association to be a reviewing body of the actions of this Convention. They should bring their complaints in the form of a memorial, and this will be respectfully considered, even if not respectfully worded."
     After the ayes and noes had been called, a division was called for, the results of which were: For the amendment, 40. Against the amendment, 19.
     The amendment was carried.
     Chairman: "The question is now upon the report as amended."

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     Mr. Ager: "I do not think that Mr. Pendleton's question was plainly answered, and I think it is a legitimate question to answer. I understood that the complaint of the General Council, in this recommendation, was purely a matter of form, that we in no way question the right of the Pennsylvania Association [Church] to complain of the action of the Convention, provided it do it in proper terms. I think that the resolution clearly states that; 'Whereas, the Convention has not been addressed in respectful terms in this report, it is recommended that it be referred back to the General Church of Pennsylvania, in order that they may strike out the terms which we regard as disrespectful.' That is the matter before us; Mr. Sewall's amendment making it still more clear that any respectful complaint will be proper. If the General Council means more than that I will vote against the motion; but I do not understand their recommendation to mean anything more. But I do think, if I should he obliged to say what I think, that the General Convention is the body in the wrong in the initiative in this matter, that the General Convention did do a foolish action. And I think I should feel obliged to testify that there was animosity to the General Church of Pennsylvania in the hearts of I those who were pushing-on this matter."
     Chairman: "I question that."
     Mr. Ager: "I was only telling what I should be obliged to tell if I were cross-questioned. I am supposing a lawyer to be questioning me on the subject, and, therefore it seems to me we are trying this matter in an entirely proper way; in a way that the General Church of Pennsylvania cannot find fault with. The General Convention has a right to demand that it be treated in a respectful manner. I do not think that has been done, and therefore I would declare that the report should be worded in a respectful way."
     Mr. Whitehead: "The General Church regarded the action of the Convention as unjust, and it characterized it as the act of the majority of that Convention. We regard it as unjust, unkind, and uncharitable, and we believe that we have the right, and that it is our duty to express our views on the subject."
     Mr. Warren: "Why not say so? That it appears to us unjust."
     Mr. Whitehead: "That is taken for granted. We are not sitting in judgment on the Convention as a judge. But it is clearly manifest to us that the action of the majority of the last Convention was unjust. Convention decided not to investigate a matter, and yet expressed a judgment of it. That was a point that was not considered just, because it could not be Just, unless the evidence on both sides was examined; and therefore to us it was manifestly unjust, and if so, it is uncharitable."
     Mr. McGeorge: "I had hoped that this little question might be settled without appealing to me, but I am going to prove that there is not a particle of crossness about me. It appears to me that the whole question is summed up in the saying, 'Shall the tail wag the dog, or shall the dog wag the tail?' There is nothing more in it."
     Mr. Whitehead: "The illustration is not respectful to the Convention." [Laughter.]
     Mr. Jordan: "If the gentleman is allowed to speak any more he will make a complete menagerie of us."
     Chairman: "Mr. McGeorge has only spoken once before."
     Mr. Jordan: "He made a cow of us before, and now he makes us a dog." [Laughter.]
     Chairman: "Mr. McGeorge has the floor."
     Mr. McGeorge: "I can stand all that without being cross. We all admit that the General Church of Pennsylvania has a right to its own opinions, and to the way in which it should express them. Yes; that is so. They have that right. But, possibly, it might be admitted that the Convention has some trifling rights. That Convention has a right to interpret for itself the doctrines and truths given to it; and if there is anything which is binding upon every individual and upon every gentleman, it is that they preserve their self-respect, without reflecting upon anybody. It seems to me that this body merely does this. It is of opinion that this communication is not respectful. It is not addressed as it should be; and therefore the Convention will not be its own executioner, and preserve forever in its archives, like a fly in amber, this charge, whether true or false. Without intending to be disrespectful,' I will go back and say the whole matter is contained in this: 'Shall the tail wag the dog, or shall the dog wag the tail?'"
     Mr. Giles [?]: "I would like to hear the article mentioned in the report read to the Convention. Does this Committee understand that the charge of unkind action and so forth is implied, or does it get the words from the report?"
     Chairman: "The Chair would explain that these expressions occur in a certain section of the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania."
     Section 5 of that report was then read.
     Mr. Hinkley: "I wish to reply to Mr. Pendleton's question, that this objection is not merely to the form, but also to the substance of the report. I had introduced the resolution proposed-it is improper to tell what takes place in the Committee-but as I introduced it, the resolution was made to contain words which I believe to be just to the Convention, which ought not to have been stricken out. They were not allowed, so that it becomes very weak. It is a very easy thing to cover up a substance by a form, especially in ecclesiastical affaire; but if it is not manifest to the members of the Convention that there is a charge made in this report which is not only unjust, but very evil according to the doctrine in the Arcana Coelestia, n. 4444, quoted in the report, then I am sorry for the intelligence of the members of this Convention. The use made here of this passage plainly shows an intention to charge the Convention with being in evil."
     Mr. Jordan: "That is the intention of the report."
     Mr. Hinkley: "Of course it is; therefore, it is a very sad report."
     The question of the adoption of the Report of the Council as amended was then put and carried.

     THE REFERENCE TO THE USE OF WINE IN THE REPORT

     OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OP PENNSYLVANIA.

     Mr. Bartels: "I move that the representatives of the General Church of Pennsylvania be requested to omit from their report to this body all the statement in regard to taking alcoholic wine at their social meetings."
     Mr. Seward: "I am glad to have this question come up as it does. I have requested one of the delegation from Pennsylvania to strike out that portion, saying that it ought not to be printed in the Journal, and that unless was specially requested to do otherwise, I should take advantage of the authority granted to me as Secretary, to strike it out. But I am better pleased to have it come before the Convention, so as to take the responsibility from my shoulders. I object to that section, and I think this motion should be carried by the Convention, because it does not seem to me that it is a proper thing to come from an Association to the Convention. I will read it."

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     "The Pittsburgh Society has now the additional assistance of the Rev. Wm. H. Acton. In the report of this Society special mention is made of the custom of using wine at the social meetings of the Society. It is stated that this is done upon principle, on the ground that it is especially useful in inducing a sphere of brotherly feeling among the members, and as a true means to avoidance of excesses. It may be stated that this custom is general throughout the General Church of Pennsylvania."
     "It seems to me that a matter of that kind which has nothing to do with the general order of the Church ought not to appear in a report to the Convention; and especially ought it not to appear, inasmuch as It is opposed to the earnest opinion of a large number of the members of the Convention. It ought not to be upon its Journal. I have no disposition to interfere with the internal economy of the General Church of Pennsylvania, but if this report appears on the Journal, without protest on the part of the Convention, it will be considered by all the world as being an approver of it. Now I do not think that the majority of the people do approve of it. I do not think it ought to appear that way. It seems to me it comes before us as riders go upon a motion, in order that the rider may be carried through on the strength of the other parts. Acknowledging that they are sincere, it seems to me that they ought to be willing to strike this portion out. But I think there is something in it of false doctrine. It seems to me that if it is necessary for them that they should use wine at their social meetings, in order that they may induce a brotherly feeling, it is different from what I have learned, for I am taught all brotherly feeling and charitable spirit comes from Heaven. That kind of spirit comes from above and within, and none comes from below, or from wine, or from any material thing of that kind. It seems to me that if the General Church, or the Societies of the General Church, cannot get up any brotherly feeling without resorting to any such means as that, they had better read their Bible more and make use of a little prayer. It does not seem to me that it is necessary for us to use wine in small quantities to avoid drunkenness. I know that is the general opinion of the Church. But I do not believe it is a true position. On the same principle, it seems to me, I ought to steal a little in order that I may not steal too much."
     The speaker was here called to order, on the ground that his remarks had no connection with the subject before the Convention.
     Chairman: "The question before us is upon requesting the General Church of Pennsylvania to omit certain words from their report. Mr. Seward is speaking to the point that these words contain a false expression of doctrine. He has perhaps gone a little too far."
     Mr. Swain Nelson: "I heartily protest. The gentleman is out of order."
     Mr. Seward: "I do not wish to go too far, or to be too earnest, if you are willing that it should go without Convention's disapproval. I think the resolution is moderate. It is only a request that the General Church of Pennsylvania should strike out a certain portion of their report. I cannot see any use in it. I should be sorry to go home and be obliged to strike that out, and say that it is contrary to the teaching which I feel in duty bound to teach in my own family."
     Mr. Whitehead: "The trend of the discussion is to stop any one from saying or reporting anything that the majority of this Convention does not believe in. There is a difference of opinion in Convention in regard to this wine question. Convention at the Holy Sacrament administers wine and must, and because we do not enter into the sphere of that mixing of two things, which [mixing] we believe to be wrong, we are censured. The principle, mentioned in the report, is one of the protections we have adopted against this abominable sphere of unfermented wine in the Sacrament. One of the most powerful means of protection we have is to use wine properly. Not that the use of wine is a cause of brotherly feeling, but it is an ultimate into which this charitable sphere flows. That is the part of the report I wish to read." [The speaker here read from the report of the Pittsburgh Society to the General Church.] "Now that is an act of the General Church. It is universal throughout the Societies of the General Church. It is something that that body has reported that it does. There may be some present in the Convention who do not believe it is the right thing to do. They have a right to their opinion. But shall the Convention say that anything which this body does which Convention does not like shall not be reported? I hold that that is tyranny, abominable tyranny! Show that it is a wrong according to the Doctrines of the Church under which we live, and do not rule us out under some such abominable, tyrannical proceedings! The tendency is to rule out anything that you do not like. We try to establish our customs from the Doctrines of the Church, and we hold that you have no right to say that we have no right to report them. Turn us out, if you like, but do not refuse us the right to report!"
     Mr. Bartels: "The General Church of Pennsylvania wants to compel the Convention to say in its Journal that it believes in wine; they want to tyrannize."
     Mr. Martin, of Bath, England: "It would be an excellent opportunity for putting to the test one of the statements made by Mr. Whitehead, if we had the elements served round, it might tend to promote the feeling of brotherly charity."
     Mr. Jordan: "If you will furnish the wine, we shall be delighted to drink a glass with you."
     Mr. Bartels: "I would introduce another resolution if this is not adopted: 'Resolved, by the General Convention of the New Church, that it learns with regret, from the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania, that in the social meetings of the Societies belonging to that body, they are in the habit of using alcoholic wine, and recommend the use of the same. Resolved, that we want the world to understand that this is not the case with the New Church in general, and, as we think, ought not to be."'
     Mr. Jordan: "I wish to speak in amplification of Mr. Whitehead's remarks. Now it has been agreed by the majority in this Convention upon the basis of a division of minds in relation to the use of wine, and most especially in the Sacrament of the LORD'S Supper, that, while it is clear and in accordance with the Doctrines of the Church that wine is the element intended to be used; those who do not believe so should have the right to use the other element. So, on the broad ground of Charity, the must is also supplied, and they thus make a concession to the views of a considerable minority of this Convention."
     Mr. Seward: "It is on the other side. It is believed in by a large majority."
     Mr. Jordan: "Then I am mistaken only as to number."
     Mr. Hinkley: "I think this is out of order"
     Mr. Jordan: "No, it is a question of Charity."
     Chairman: "You will Please speak on the point as to whether these words should remain in the Journal, or we should recommend that they be stricken out."

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     Mr. Jordan: "That is the question, and thus far I have I not swerved one hair from the treatment of that point, I as will presently appear. I use these examples for the purpose of illustrating the question." [Resuming.] "The broad charity of the Church requires a concession to the minority who believe in the use of wine. We will say, with Mr. Seward, that the majority wish the unfermented wine. Now, here is another minority consisting of a Church of three hundred and seventy members who have a social custom. Here is a chance to test your Charity. Are you as charitable to this minority, who believe that the social use of wine is a valuable means for promoting the uses of the Church, as to those who wish to use that element in the holiest act of worship? There is a simple question laid before you. Can you apply the law to one branch of the Church, and fail to apply it to the other? That is the question in a nutshell. This report is the expression of the deliberate convictions of our mind. We are experiencing the benefits of using wine day by day. I suppose there is not a family in all this broad land that has not suffered from the evils of intemperance. And I can say that I have had about as large an experience of this as anyone can have. In a country where wine is freely used as it is in California, and not only in California, but in other great States where wine is produced (and, in fact, in every large city, for even where the law prohibits the sale of it, your young men will get it, and you must not delude yourselves into thinking they will not), it is my profound conviction that nothing tends to surround young men with protecting influences, there is no safeguard that can equal the use of wine in the Church, and in the family, accompanied by instruction that there it is orderly to use it in its social form, and in the worship of the LORD; but that it is disorderly in the common saloon to drink with Tom, Dick, and Harry there. That is what we avoid. We cannot conscientiously say to our young men that there is any law of the Church by which they can be prohibited from using wine. It is our conviction that the Doctrines of the Church teach that it is a divine blessing. It is upon that basis that we use it in the General Church of Pennsylvania. It is to bring before your minds this principle of the Church, as we hold it, that we have inserted this in our report."
     A question of order having been raised, the Chairman explained that Mr. Jordan had gone about as far out of order as Mr. Seward had.
     Mr. Lehnen: "I cannot agree with all the views of the General Church of Pennsylvania, but I feel that I must support them when such an injustice is done to them. It has never been proved that wine is against the Doctrines of the Church. Regeneration has to be performed. We cannot do it by not using a certain thing which God has given to us. And I say that wine, fermented, is approved by the majority of the people in the Convention. Only one took unfermented wine at the Holy Supper yesterday. I cannot see why Mr. Seward has made such remarks [in objecting to this section of the report]."
     Mr. Mann: "It seems to me that it is not strengthening a cause to suppress an expression of an opposition to it. The proposed amendment is on radically different grounds than the first amendment. That amendment was on the ground of treating the Convention respectfully. It is right to demand that all the documents in the Journal should do that. But here is a reference back of a report because it is not the sentiment which the majority of the Convention approve of. I am not afraid, Mr. President, of hearing all sides of the question. It is not exhibiting a confidence in your position to be over-timid about an expression of the opposition; and, therefore, I think it is a great mistake for us to inaugurate the method of criticising the documents that come before us because we do not approve of them."
     Mr. Sewall: "It seems to me that we are laying the precedent here of discussing the merits of an Association's report before it is properly before us. In so far it seems disorderly. I have nothing to say on the merits of the question, but I want to know, if this motion is accepted, how we can consistently act in accepting a report, unless I we can go thoroughly over it and see that everything in it has received our indorsement. Otherwise, having passed this motion, we say we indorse everything that comes in. Now, an Association may say they believe in raffling. I think it is a bad principle and practice. Am I going to refer it back to the Association because the members have raffling, not to say gambling? I think not. Let it be reported. Then if in the general sense of Convention it would help the cause of the growth of the Church to bring in a memorial, let it be done, and the question can be discussed fully. Supposing an Association should report that they had established the prohibition of stimulating drinks, or anything else, good or bad, would we think that because they do report the practice, that we must therefore refer their report back, and not allow it to come into our minutes? They assert that they practice the prohibition of alcoholic drinks in their Association simply. It is a point of order. It seems to me that this motion will form a mischievous precedent. It seems to me proper that an Association may report a custom which they have for certain reasons introduced and we may receive it without at all implying that our acceptance is an indorsement. By your reference back you establish that implication of our indorsing whatever is reported as a practice."
     Mr. Goddard: "What Mr. Sewall said was in my mind to-day, but I should hardly agree with Mr. Sewall, that if an Association should present a report here, indorsing raffling in Church fairs, it would not be in order to send it back, for we have the Doctrines on that. But we have no right to pass any such resolution as the one Mr. Bartels proposes."
     On motion of Mr. Hinkley, the motion was laid on the table.
     Mr. Bartels then presented his reserve resolutions, which were also, on motion, laid on the table.

                         Monday Evening.
     A CONFERENCE on "The Relation of the New Church to Social Reforms" was held in the Van Buren Street temple at 8 P. M. The Rev. Messrs. G. N. Smith and S. S. Seward read papers on this subject, which were afterward discussed by a number of speakers.

     THE FOURTH DAY.

                         Tuesday Morning, June 24th.
     THE President called the meeting to order at 10 o'clock.
     The Rev. F. Sewall read Ps. 127-28, and led in prayer.
     The roll was called and the minutes read.
     The hour for elections having arrived, the Rev. Messrs. Chauncey Giles and John Worcester were nominated for President and Vice-President respectively, and Mr. Dewson for Treasurer.
     Chairman: "Mr. Hinkley desires to be relieved of his office of Secretary, as he has so much work to do on the Board of Home and Foreign Missions."

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     Mr. McGeorge nominated for Secretary Mr. S. S. Seward in place of Mr. Hinkley, and in the place of Mr. Seward-i. e. as reporting Secretary, Mr. C. A. E. Spamer, of Baltimore.
     Mr. Whitehead called attention to the fact that the officers of Convention were ex-officio members of the General Council, which ought to consist of eight ministers and seven laymen. The election of a layman as Secretary would change this apportionment.

     THE STATE OF 5WEDENI3ORG S MANUSCRIPTS.

     The report of the Committee on the Publication of Swedenborg's Manuscripts was read.
     Mr. Ager read Minute 72 of the Journal of 1886: "That work, so far as the reprints have been concerned, has been pretty well covered. Now we desire the privilege of extending the distribution to the clergy and public libraries. I move, therefore, that the Resolution in Minute 72 be so amended and enlarged."
     Mr. Jordan: "There is hardly a subject which would interest us [of the General Church of Pennsylvania] more than this subject now before us. I will state that last year Mr. Benade started for Europe with the express purpose of hunting up some of the manuscripts of Swedenborg, which have been lost. It was in the prosecution of that work that he was stricken down. A man well qualified for the work-provided with all necessary credentials from the Government-is making a search of the private libraries in Holland. The public libraries have already been examined. The work is still going on in a very active manner. It is quite possible that there will be a trip to Sweden, to see the manuscripts, and to see how they are being preserved, and whether anything can be done to secure them from destruction. It ought to be said that time is passing rapidly, and age is showing its effects to a somewhat alarming extent, and unless the photo-lithographing be done soon, the possibility of doing it at all will be beyond us."
     Mr. Ager's motion was adopted.
     The nominations of the Rev. Messrs. Seward, Dike, and Hayden and Mr. Hobart, as members of the Board of Theological School, was confirmed.
     A motion to publish the late Editorials in the New Church Messenger in book form, was referred to the Board of Publication.

     THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

     NOT ADOPTED.

     The Vice-President, on behalf of the General Council, recommended that the proposed addition to Section 3 of the By-Laws, contained in Minute 115 of last year's Journal, be not adopted. It reads, "It shall also be their duty to assign seats to the various delegations at their first report, which seats the delegates shall be expected to occupy throughout the session." "It is a good suggestion, but it is not advisable to make it a by-law." He also recommended for the same body that the amendments proposed by Mr. Scammon to Article V of the Constitution be not adopted, viz.: "No authority is conferred upon or recognized in any minister to assume any other title or designation as an officer of this Convention than those which are named in this article." "The freedom and rationality of no minister or other officer of this Convention shall be impaired by the arbitrary action of any other officer, or any body of the Church connected with this Convention; and the suspension of any minister from the performance of official action may be revised upon appeal to this Convention," and also that the motion of which notice was given by the same gentleman, "to abolish the whole Constitution, and to proceed to the preparation of a new one," be not adopted.
     The recommendations of the General Council were adopted.
     On motion of Mr. Hinkley, the Rev. Messrs. Hibbard and Fox, at present residing in Europe, were appointed as representatives to the General Conference of the New Church in Great Britain.
     The tellers reported that for President Mr. Giles had received fifty-five votes, and Mr. Ager one; and for Vice-President Mr. John Worcester had received fifty-six votes, and Mr. Seward one. Messrs. Giles and Worcester were declared elected.

     THE POWERS OF THE SECRETARY.

     Mr. Jordan: "In the course of the debate yesterday afternoon it will be remembered that one of our Secretaries, Mr. Seward, made the statement that under the provisions of the Constitution, if a certain report had come into his hands, unless he had received specific directions to print it in the Journal, he would have stricken out so much of it as he did not approve of. That is the first time in the history of the Convention that I have seen occasion to criticise our Secretary's work. It was with regret that I listened to Mr. Hinkley's resignation. With equal regret I should have heard of Mr. Seward's resignation, but for this statement made by him. It seems to me that we ought to understand what the Secretary should do. Here is a thing which the Convention hesitated about doing, and yet the Secretary was going to do it."
     Mr. Seward read Section 16 of the By-Laws: "The two Secretaries of the Convention shall constitute a committee on the Journal, whose duty it shall be to procure the publication of the Journal entire as recorded.
     They shall condense and tabulate all reports and documents which are entitled to a place in the Journal so far as is consistent with giving the substance of the proceedings."
     "The statement that I made yesterday seemed to have been misunderstood. I stated to one of the delegates of the General Church of Pennsylvania that I should feel at liberty to strike it out, not because it was opposed to my private views, but because it is irrelevant to the business of the Convention. My duty as Secretary required me to do so, and I have hitherto exercised the duty without question. But I am glad that this motion has been made, because I desired to have this subject brought before the Convention, and should have called attention to it myself, if this or some other motion had not been made."
     Mr. Jordan: "The reading of that article demonstrates that the power with which the Secretary is invested is no one intended to allow him to alter the substance of a report. There is no such intention. I am satisfied that we shall not be troubled with any liability of having our report substantially altered, because in the Secretary's mind it is not relevant."
     Mr. Cabell, speaking on Minute 111 of last year's Journal [proposed amendment abolishing right of Associations to enjoin a minister], said: "I was not aware that that article was the result of a compromise. I proposed the amendment on the spur of the moment, and now wish to withdraw-"
     Mr. Jordan: "It is now in the hands of the Council of Ministers."
     Chairman: "That article was referred to the General Pastors from the Council of Ministers. It so happens that there are only two General Pastors at this meeting, and thus it is not possible to make any report to the Council."

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     BOARD OF MISSIONS.

     The hour for the consideration of the report of the Board of Home and Foreign Missions having arrived, Mr. Hinkley spoke at some length in behalf of the Board, describing its work and methods. He was followed by a number of speakers.
     The tellers here reported that Mr. Seward and Mr. Spamer had been elected for Secretaries, and Mr. Dewson for Treasurer.
     The General Council was declared to consist of the Rev. Messrs. Dike, Whitehead, Mercer, Ager, and Messrs. Mason (Mass.), Barnard (Washington), Hobart (Ohio), Keyes (Ill.), Carswell (Canada), Thayer (Mich.), who had been duly nominated by a special committee and elected by the Convention.
     Mr. Dewson, in speaking of the evangelistic nature of the New Church, thought that "We are not stewards of the New Church if we think we must devote our lives to bringing up our children in luxury. One of the greatest disappointments of my life has been the failure to see the growth of the Church from within outward, that the children whom we have educated, carefully nurtured, and brought up with every relation to their eternal lives, should have failed to come into the active work of the Church. I bring it home to myself every day of my life. It is the duty off every father and mother in the Church to ask themselves the question, 'Why is it that our children slip off in this or that direction, indifferent to the Church, if not more than indifferent, at least devoted more to the aggrandizement of themselves, to the collecting around them pleasant homes and luxurious surroundings, than to the growth of the Church?' It is impossible for me to go to a Society that is super-eminent in internal growth, and not feel the sin that the New Church people are guilty of when they do not make all their worldly prosperity of the Church. If the children I have known had grown in the Church, what a Church it would be! Why this church would not hold the delegates to the Convention. Instead of numbering five or six thousand members, we should number a hundred thousand, and especially if we had devoted our lives to the service of the Church. To pursue Mr. McGeorge's illustration, I cannot help thinking that the milking of the cow is not likely to be carried on every day, if at the same time we do not pay considerable attention to the feeding of the cow. I do not think that there is danger of the cow being over-milked if we feed it properly. And there is more than, the cow in the illustration. The cow, I think, represents our natural affections. It is right that they should come here from it. I will not occupy your time any longer, but I want to offer this resolution. It is something like what I proposed before: `Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Convention that the Church can afford, and that it is its duty to raise during the coming year the sum of not less than ten thousand dollars for the uses of the Board of Missions."
     The motion was passed.

                         Tuesday Afternoon.
     THE address of the. English Conference was read by Mr. Martin.
     The address of the Convention to the English Conference was read by Mr. Cabell.
     The address from the Church in Australia to the General Convention was read by Mr. Thornton.
     The address of the Convention to the New Church in Australia was read by Mr. Giles.
     The Secretary read a communication from Swiss Union and the report of the German Missionary Union of the New Church in America.
     On motion of Mr. Wright, the Rev. F. Sewall was authorized, with the approval of the General Council, to reply to the address of the Swiss Union.
     A memorial to the memory of the late J. Y. Scammon was presented by Mr. Sewall and adopted by the Convention.

     RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS.

     Mr. Wright presented the following reports and recommendations from the Council of Ministers:
     It was recommended that the Rev. Messrs. Sewall, Warren, J. Worcester, and J. Goddard be appointed a Committee to make a final revision of the hymns and tunes as collected by the Council, and to prepare the same for publication; and that the Board of Publication be requested to undertake the publication of the enlarged hymnal, as soon as it shall be completed by the above Committee.
     The recommendation was adopted.
     The report of the Council of Ministers concerning the induction of the Rev. W. F. Pendleton into the third degree of the ministry was presented. The Council declared the facts were as represented. That Mr. Benade in this act was not acting under the authority of Convention, and that while this action was hostile to the unity of the ministry, and, in spirit at least, was disloyal to the Convention, it was recommended that no judicial action be taken. [See above.]
     Mr. Wright moved the adoption of the recommendation.
     Mr. Jordan: "This report does not recommend any judicial action. I might say it does not recommend any judicious action. It stamps as disloyal in spirit, an act, the evidence of which it does not lay before us, and certainly it gives us no proof whatever that reasons why this thing has been done, stated by the chief actor in it, Mr. Benade, have been considered or even presented. This report does not recommend action, and yet it is patent on its face that it is action. The adoption of this report is in itself an action declaring Mr. Benade, in this matter, to be disloyal to the spirit of our Constitution. It seems to me it is very much like the case in the story, doubtless familiar to all of us, of that good Quaker who could not conscientiously kill the dog that stole his meat, but, in order to effect his purpose, simply gave him a bad name. He cried 'mad dog,' and very soon there were drawn into the service enough volunteers to despatch him. No judicial action is recommended, and yet it is declared that the action of Mr. Benade is disloyal. Where is the evidence of disloyalty? It is admitted that the body in question is no part of the Convention. The case has not been gone into to see why it is no part of the Convention. If any evidence is in the hands of the Committee tending to show the principles that entered into that act, I say that it seems to me that that evidence must have been presented in dishonor, and I do not see how it could have been received consistently with the honor of the parties to whom it was presented. They may have had some evidence of which I do not know. They had the evidence of the reply of Mr. Benade in the case. I will not call for their reading of that reply, but if we had plenty of time I would ask you to consider many points in connection with it. Neither will I ask you to allow me to read Mr. Benade's answer, because I am authorized to say that that answer may be had and read by any one who wishes.

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I have in my hands printed documents relating to that case, and others which have been the cause of disturbance. They have been printed and will be published. Any one may have grounds upon which to base a fair and reasonable judgment of the case. If you are willing to receive the statements already made and do not care to know anything more, you are at liberty to do so. I would not urge any one of you to procure this book, any further than is implied in the suggestion that the only way in which you can get a fair and complete view of the matter is to peruse this work. It is not put forth as an answer to anything that has been said by others. It is merely the documents relating to the case. It is in good part stenographic matter. We are in the habit of reporting our proceedings, and we have had. I present here a stenographer, who has been employed by us to make as complete a transcript of the sayings of this body as possible. And this we will do so long as we remain here, and are permitted to do so. With that statement I will end this part of what I want to say. Now, as to the question of disloyalty itself. I remember that some years ago there was organized in one part of our country a very large and influential Society, ostensibly of the New Church, though it had no fellowship with the Convention. In fact, it was organized in hostility to the Convention. At all events, it maintained a spirit like that for many years.
     "There came a time when I suppose that feeling may have softened; yet the Society had not become a member of this General Body, when the President of our Convention was invited to be its pastor, and he became such. I recollect that on the part of some of us there was a feeling that the President of our Convention had not acted wisely, or in a spirit of true loyalty to the Convention, in accepting the Pastorate of so large a body, not connected with this body. But still some of us came to the conclusion that we could rely on the good sense and loyalty of the President, and that there might lie reasons which justified him in the course he had taken, and we satisfied ourselves -with the proposition that it was none of our business. The inference for you to take from this is too plain to need any statement by me.
     "Away off on the Pacific coast, twelve or fifteen years ago, or more, a Society, ostensibly of the New Church, was organized, advocating principles opposed to those of the General Convention. One of the doctrines upon which that Society was organized was ultimated in one of its acts. It was their feeling that a Society had a right to ordain its own minister, and that it was good to do so.
     "After a call had been given to Mr. Barrett and declined by him, another, man was chosen, a man who at the time was practicing law in the State of California. He was, the son of a New Church clergyman, and had himself been intended for the study and preparation for the ministry, but he had departed from it, and had never entered upon it. But he became a lawyer in a California town, and when they wanted him ordained the Society itself ordained him, and subsequently it was declared that it was done because they were not able to reach the officials of the Convention. But that was not the real difficulty in the case. The real cause was that it was considered orderly and right to ordain in that way and the ordination sermon preached on the occasion will substantiate it. If not, it can be proved from other utterances The Society ordained this minister and he became its pastor, and he is there now officiating. Now, within that body there was a band who were extremely loyal to the Convention upon the question of ordination and of Baptism into the Church and several other matters, all of which were represented by the Convention. These members could not join in the act of this Society, and therefore they withdrew. They went on for about two years without organization. The other Society drifted along, and in the course of time came to see that it would be better to be connected with this body. Their application was favorably received. The Pastor of that Society was enrolled as a minister of this Convention, although no steps had been taken, nor up to this time have there been any steps taken to secure his re-ordination in the Church. That ordination by the Society was indorsed. I want to indicate how loyal Convention is to itself, and with what great favor it regards and passes upon the case of those who sometimes sacrifice their interests in their loyalty to the Convention. The Society first spoken of as admitted almost without dissent. I do not remember the exact form, but there was a considerable majority in favor of it. But when the other little body of men, who in the meantime had determined to remain separate from the first, and organize and form a Society of their own, perfected an organization, and in their turn made application for membership in the Convention, their application was not favorably considered, and it took a long time to get this Convention ready to receive that body as a member. Now, before we are entirely ready to stamp as disloyal a man whom you know always has a reason to give for his actions, if you ask him for it in a proper manner, let us consider whether we have been loyal to ourselves. Whether as a Convention we have been sufficiently loyal to ourselves-to our own law-to our Constitution-to those who have been defenders of it, to justify this proceeding in regard to an act, the evidence of which neither we nor the Committee have had before us? Should we under these circumstances, mark with disloyalty a man who has ever had the true interests of the Church at heart? With this I am ready to leave the matter in your hands."
     Mr. Whitehead: "It has been stated that the evidence on the other side is printed and to be published."
     Mr. Jordan: "It is now published. I have the authority to say that it is now published."
     Mr. Whitehead: "In view of this act of Mr. Benade's, it is our duty to examine the documents in the case. I would therefore move to refer this part of the report of the Council of Ministers back to that Council."
     Mr. Hinkley: "As to the matter of evidence, all the evidence that the Committee wanted was the evidence of the facts. There is no dispute about those."
     Mr. Jordan: "Not at all."
     Mr. Hinkley: "We had no right to demand from Mr. Benade the reasons of his action, but we had a right to decide for ourselves here-for the Convention-whether this act of itself did not indicate some kind of disloyalty or violation of the law, or spirit of the law of the Convention. At least so it seemed to us. I think I am privileged, as Chairman of the special committee, to say that before we made up our report, we addressed a very respectful and courteous and charitable letter to Mr. Benade, opening the door for him to give some reasons, and to state what effect he thought this act of his would have on the General Church, and how far the Church would recognize Mr. Pendleton as an ordaining minister hereafter or those whom he would ordain. In reply Mr. Benade wrote us a very abusive letter, unkind, discourteous, and uncharitable. It is not necessary for me to read it, but the letter is open for every one. I don't think it would be very generous diet, or wholesome food."

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     Mr. Jordan: "Mr. Hinkley has introduced a matter which I left out purposely, thinking that we had not time to consider it. Mr. Hinkley has referred to the answer of Mr. Benade to the Committee's letter, stating that it is abusive, discourteous, and uncharitable. There is a history and there is a reason why things should be put in such a form there. The Doctrine of Charity, as given to us in the True Christian Religion [n. 407, end] teaches that if a man insults you on the street, you have a right in charity-it is according to the principles of charity-you will find it distinctly stated-if not to knock him down, to whip him. It is declared that that is a doctrine of charity."
     Mr. Warren: "Where is that?"
     Mr. Jordan: "In the True Christian Religion. If you will bring me a copy of the work I will find you the place."
     Mr. Hinkley: "We won't dispute it."
     Mr. Jordan: "The answer of Mr. Benade was couched in respectful terms. It stated that the matter should have been referred to a Committee which would be perfectly acceptable to him-a Committee of his own peers. Mr. Benade is one of those who represent what is called the prelatical order. He is a General Pastor or Bishop. He claimed that simple fairness and justice required that he should be furnished with a court and jury of his peers. That is all he asked, and that is what was represented in the Council where this Committee was appointed. We have a reference, which we know-I can recall it with certainty-was made in the face of that representation, and a Committee was appointed which did not consist of Mr. Benade's peers. But one who is entitled to serve in such a capacity was appointed on that Committee. Had the committee been constituted as was suggested, you would have had a different answer, and would have understood this thing differently. The letter of the Committee was in substance a slap in the face to Mr. Benade, and he exercised the law of Charity as contained in the True Christian Religion, and struck back; he is willing to carry that doctrine out further. I can speak for him, he is willing to apply the further doctrine of Charity which is stated in that paragraph in the True Christian Religion, which is, that as soon as a man shows signs that he repents you forgive him and stand in a different relation to him. Now, the moment you put yourselves in the attitude of repairing the injury you have done to Mr. Benade, you will be met more than half way. That is the stand which the General Church of Pennsylvania proposes to take in all its affairs. It is a principle of Charity not understood in the world. I admit that it is not Old Church Charity. But I do declare that it is in accord with New-Church Charity, in accord with the Charity of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who made a whip and scourged the offenders out of the temple."
     Mr. Hinkley: "Really, the discussion has assumed quite a humorous phase. I do not agree with the statement made by Mr. Jordan; I do not mean as to whether Mr. Benade had a right to try to knock down Convention's Committee, who were not his peers, but I do object to the statement. I don't want to make it more ridiculous than it appears now. But I deny that the statement is strictly correct. At the time this matter was referred there was no law in the Convention requiring that such matters should be referred to the General Pastors only or to the-"
     Mr. Jordan: "I did not assert that. It was only Mr. Benade's expressed wish."
     Mr. Hinkley: "I don't care. It was not the wish of the Convention. We did not do anything to insult Mr. Benade. We simply referred the matter to the Council of Ministers, because we had no rule requiring that the matter be referred to the General Pastors. So far as I am concerned, we would have been very willing to have it so referred. I am very sure that there was no wish to insult Mr. Benade. There was no insult. I cannot imagine where he was hit. There was one of the General Pastors on the Committee. I am surprised that Mr. Benade would hit the three members of the Committee, one of whom was his own peer. He should only have hit two. There was no ground for the statement. There was no insult and the Convention had no other course to pursue. They might have appointed only General Pastors. Mr. Goddard, Mr. Worcester, and myself were appointed. I consider myself the peer of Mr. Benade any day. I am not a General Pastor of the Church, and never aspire to be one, although I respect the office very much, and have always respected every one who held that office." [Great applause.].
     Mr. Ager: "The discussion is wandering from the point. I hope we shall come to vote."
     Mr. Hinkley: "I think I have been justified in saying what I have. I insist that there was no ground for Mr. Benade's thinking that he was insulted."
     Chairman: "We have a good many things to do. We could discuss this question for a week. It seems to me that we understand it clearly enough."
     Mr. McGeorge: "I want to make a short motion which, I think, will settle the matter."
     Chairman: "There is a question before us."
     Mr. McGeorge: "My motion is an orderly one."
     Chairman: "Is it an amendment?"
     Mr. McGeorge: "No, it is not an amendment, Mr. President. It seems to me that my position in this whole matter ought to be well understood. What has been said here in the last five minutes is warrant to me for making the motion which I now propose to make. We have no right to do anything affecting the interests of a man who is suffering with a mortal disease, who will now, perhaps all too soon, be called to a higher tribunal, where actions will be known and motives seen [interruptions and cries]. I move in deference to this physical condition of Mr. Benade, and in view of the fact that this and all, other actions will be known and clear to the Great Judge, that this matter at the present time be laid on the table."
     Mr. Whitehead: "I am in favor of the motion to lay on the table, but from a different reason. If it is a question of right, we ought to try it. This is not the right way to do, to defer the question because a man is sick. We ought to act calmly on the question, and not on the physical condition of the person involved. I would therefore also move to lay the matter on the table."
     Mr. Jordan: "I second that."
     It was put to the vote and the Chairman announced that he thought it was lost. The decision of the Chairman was doubted, so the "ayes" and "noes" were taken.
     The motion was lost by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-six.
     Mr. Whitehead moved to refer the matter to the Council of Ministers.
     The motion was lost.
     The original report was adopted by a considerable majority.
     The list of ministers was revised by adding the names of the Rev. Messrs. W. H. Acton, N. D. Pendleton, G. H. Dole, L. G. Landenberger, A. J. Cleare, J. A. Hayes, J. I. Spiers, and Percy Billings.

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The list of candidates was revised by adding the names of T. M. Martin, H. Synnestvedt, J. E. Rosenqvist, and G. W. I. Wiley. At their own request the names of J. Edson, W. D. Hastings, and D. H. Rains were dropped from the list. The name of E. P. Walton was dropped on account of not reporting after three years' notification.
     The request of the New York Association for the investiture of its presiding minister with power to officiate at ordinations during his incumbency in office, was granted.
     The Bonney resolutions, and the German Union Memorial, which had been presented at this Convention and referred to the Council of Ministers, and Section V, Article 5, of the Constitution in regard to suspensions were continued in the hands of this Council another year.
     On motion, it was resolved that the invitation of the Pennsylvania Association, to hold the next meeting of the Convention in Philadelphia, be accepted, and that, the time of holding said meeting be left to the President and Secretaries, with full power.
     On motion, it was resolved that the General Council be requested to take into consideration the expediency of extending the Session of the General Convention so as to cover at least one more day.
     On motion of Mr. Warren, the Committee appointed to collect money to assist Mr. Potts in his work on the Concordance was continued. Mr. Bostock, a member of this Committee, resigned his position on account of intended absence from the country, and the Committee was authorized to fill vacancies.

     REPORT OF GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN OFFERED AND REJECTED.

     Mr. Jordan: "The report of the General Church of Pennsylvania was returned to its representatives and delegates for amendment. I would now re-offer it with this statement, which I wish to present as an addition to it: 'The representatives of the General Church of Pennsylvania have carefully considered their report to Convention, and they think that there is nothing in the report that is disrespectful to the Convention. They do not think it is disrespectful to say that some acts are disorderly and unjust. The General Church did not intend disrespect. But they still think that the action was unjust, and therefore they cannot withdraw the part referred to. We only intended to state the case as it appears to the Church.' I would say that there are two points that have been made. One is that the charges presented, so far as they are charges against the Convention are not proper to a report, but should be made in the form of a memorial. There are two answers to this. First, it has been the custom of the Convention for many years to ask that the Associations make suggestions for the consideration and action of Convention. That has been done over and over in my experience, and I think if we look to the present meeting and examine the reports presented, we shall find there are such things done, although they may not be in the form objected to in our report. It is a universal custom also of all the Associations in the Church to seek from Societies and in their reports such suggestions. The report has been considered the normal and proper channel by which to bring to the attention of the Convention matters of interest to the Church-matters that should be deliberated upon by the body. It was in view of that that we, as a joint Council in our Church, made up our report in the form in which we did.
     We did not believe that a memorial was the proper channel. We thought the report was a proper channel.     The report was the proper way.
     "But what has been the treatment by Convention of memorials? With a single instance fresh in our minds, how could we make a memorial? Read in cold type the action of the Convention last year with reference to the memorial of sixty-three persons who were favorable to the Convention. Did Convention receive it and take deliberate action?"
     Chairman: "Do not arraign the Convention, but speak to the point."
     Mr. Jordan: "I am quoting from the Journal of the Convention. Did the Convention answer it, by its action? Read for yourself and see! The protest was made, not by a member of the General Church of Pennsylvania, but by one who is generally in favor of the other side, that the action of Convention was not an answer to the petition. With that instance fresh in our minds, how could we resort to a petition? We can report the same things, you can read them as well in a report as a memorial. What, then, is the use of putting our charges in the form of a memorial? You can do your will equally upon the one as upon the other.
     "Now, as to the other point, although I do not believe the form to be the obstacle in the case, we charge certain things in our report. I will not attempt to tell the whole condition of the Convention last year, but let me recall a single-it is a marked one, because it is a case of one whose action has usually been fair-"
     Chairman: "It is out of order. You are entirely out of order; you are going on to arraign the Convention."
     Mr. Jordan: "I will not appeal from the decision of the Chair. It is not the form, it is the substance that yield if the Chair objects to. I will yield if you say I am not to continue."
     Chairman: "We object to both substance and form."
     Mr. Jordan: "That is the very point; that at least is honest."
     Mr. Wright: "I move that the Convention do now adjourn.".
     Mr. Worcester: "I think we ought to take some action in regard to this matter."
     Mr. Ager: "We have received the reply of the delegates of the General Church of Pennsylvania in regard to this report. We must take some action. If no action be taken, the report will go upon the Journal."
     Mr. Hinkley: "It cannot."
     Mr. Ager: "Yes, unless we decline to accept it. I move that the General Convention sees no reason for reversing its previous action in respect to the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania, and therefore declines to receive the report now returned to it."
     The motion was resolved upon.
     The roll was called.
     Mr. Tafel: "I rise to a personal explanation. At the time it escaped my notice, that Mr. Jordan, in his speech stated that the testimony before the Committee in this matter, was given in dishonor, or some such expression-"
     Chairman: "Mr. Tafel, that question is not before us."
     Mr. Tafel: "I rise to an explanation because it reflects not only on myself but on others. Well, I will say that such is not the truth and the facts can be known if necessary."
     The minutes were read and approved; the 71st selection was sung, and the Convention adjourned.
Man has eternal life 1890

Man has eternal life              1890

     Man has eternal life according to his affection of uses.-Divine Love 17.

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NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
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     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST, 1890=121.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 113.
     The Word (a sermon), p. 114.
     General Church of Pennsylvania- Seventh Annual Session of the General Convention. p. 117.
     News Gleanings, p. 132-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 132.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.- THE services of the Church of the Advent, in Philadelphia, will be resumed on the 21st of September, at 565 North Seventeenth Street.
     SERVICES are being held at Knight's Hill, Bethayres, Pa., in the neighborhood of which place a number of the members of the Church of the Advent are spending the summer.
     BISHOP Benade, who is also at Bethayres, is now greatly restored in health.
     California.- THE proposed "Pacific Coast New Church Association" has now been organized. A Constitution has been unanimously adopted by correspondence with the twelve New Church Societies in existence on the Coast. The first meeting of the new Association will be held in San Francisco on August 18th.
     Illinois.- THE house of worship of the Olney Society was dedicated on June 29th by the Rev. Chauncey Giles.
     THE Rev. L. G. Landenburger, formerly pastor of the Olney Society, has begun his pastorate in Juliet.
     THE Council of Ministers of the General Convention met in Chicago, June 17th to 19th. Papers were read by the Rev. John Whitehead on "Preaching from Obscure Texts," by Mr. Giles on "Effective Preaching," by Mr. John Worcester on "The Church and the World," by Mr. John Goddard on "The Necessity of External
New Church Organization," by Mr. Mercer on "Revivals, or Missions, in City Churches," by Mr. David on "The Use of Itineracy in the Ministry," and by Mr. Sewall on "Order in Worship."
     The New Church Reading Circle, the organ of the Western New Church Union, has been suspended, owing to the increase of labor and expense necessary to carry on its publication.
     Maine.- THE Rev. S. F. Dike, on July 6th, delivered his farewell sermon to the New Church Society of Bath, which Mr. Dike has served as Pastor, uninterruptedly, for fifty years. Mr. Dike starts on his journey around the world on July 23d.
     Massachusetts.- THE Rev. George S. Wheeler has resigned from the pastorate of the Fall River Society, to accept the invitation to become the pastor of the Society at Bridgewater.
     Ohio.- THE closing exercises of the Urbana University were held on June 17th. The College classes are now complete as far as to include the junior year. Mr. C. B. Chase, of Glendale, will be a member of the faculty during the coming year.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- THE Nineteenth of June was celebrated by the Camberwell Society with a Feast of Charity, at which 71 persons were present, among them also some visitors from other Societies. Addresses were given by the Rev. R. J. Tilson, the pastor; the Rev. J. F. Potts, of Glasgow; Messrs. Ottley, Whittington, J. Gunton, and D. Denney. The proceedings were concluded most enthusiastically by forming a hand-to-hand cordon round the room and uniting in concerted expressions of desire for the spread of the interior truths and principles of the New Church.
     "THE Missionary and Tract Society of the New Church" held its sixty-ninth anniversary in London on June 3d. A resolution that the New Church should be regarded "Essentially a Missionary Church" was introduced by the Rev. Dr. R. L. Tafel, who, "in an attitude almost of defiance," delivered himself of a speech, containing a number of unfounded accusations against certain members of the New Church, who were supposed to disbelieve in Evangelization work. The Rev. Thomas Child, in seconding the motion, spoke in the same vein, seizing upon certain well-known teachings of the Academy and inventing new ones, which he intimated were held by that body. Proceeding through a series of reasonings, he came to the conclusion that the teachings thus invented by himself, but charged to the Academy, were an insult to himself and worse than the Doctrine of Predestination. The two speakers were heartily applauded.
     THE Swedenborg Society held its eightieth anniversary on June 17th. A letter from Mr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson was read, again calling attention to the necessity of preserving Swedenborg's MSS. by photo-lithography. The speeches were also on the subject of agnosticism. The Chairman, the Rev. Thos. Child, in his address on agnosticism, came to the conclusion that "the essential principle of Socialism is essentially the principle avowed and acted on by a certain institution known among us as the Academy"-i. e., government from the centre to the circumference. The Rev. Joseph Deans, the President of the Conference, thought that agnosticism, when dogmatic, was even "worse than Socialism and the Academy being united together." Speeches, not referring to the Academy, were made by the Rev. R. L. Tafel, Dr. Stocker, Mr. J. C. Bayley, Rev. T. K. Payton, Rev. J. R. Hibbard, and Rev. J. F. Potts, who said that atheism is a monkey and agnosticism the monkey's tail.
     THE Rev. Arthur Faraday, formerly assistant to the Rev. J. F. Potts, has accepted an invitation to become the Pastor of the Snodland Society.
     AT the seventh annual meeting of the "New Church Education Institute," notice was received of the resignation from that body of the Rev. J. F. Potts, Vice-President; Mr. Whittington, Secretary, the Rev. J. R. Tilson and Mr. G. C. Ottley, Members of the Board of Management.
DOCUMENTS CONCERNING THE DISTURBANCES 1890

DOCUMENTS CONCERNING THE DISTURBANCES              1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.




     DOCUMENTS CONCERNING THE DISTURBANCES caused by the Rev. L. H. Tafel, in the Academy of the New Church and General Church of Pennsylvania. 334 pages. [5 5/8 x 9 inches] Cloth. Price, $1.00. Postage, 15 cents. For sale at The ACADEMY BOOK-ROOM, 1821 Wallace St., Philadelphia.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890



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Vol. X. PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER, 1890=121. No. 9.
     The sense of the letter is as the clouds, and the spiritual sense is glory, and the Lord Himself is the Sun, from which Light is, and thus the Lord is the Word.- T. C. R. 780.


     SURELY the woman in the wilderness, "being with child, travailing in birth," is suffering great pains in bringing forth. Difficult, indeed, is the reception of the Doctrines of the New Church, and desperate is the resistance of those, who are meant by the dragon.
     In this age, when the more external attacks of the Old Church have apparently subsided, the dragon still assaults, and with greater power, because in a more interior way, from within the pale of the Church, and under the garb of apparent New Church truths.



     IT is against the new-born "Man-child," against the LORD in His Second Coming, that this war is waged, and it seems, indeed, that the dragonic assaults are principally directed against the Doctrine concerning the Second Coming of the LORD in His Divine Human. This Doctrine is the Rock upon which the New Church is founded, and the acknowledgment of this Doctrine gives quality to the reception of the entire Theology revealed to the Church. Such acknowledgment, however, can be living and genuine only When it is rationally understood in Church in what manner the LORD has come again, and where He has revealed Himself in His Coming. Without this rational understanding, faith in the Divine Human is as impossible as faith in an invisible God.



     When the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the very light of heaven, passes through the angels, it appears as clouds, purer and denser according to their intelligence. A. E. 36.



     OF THEMSELVES men cannot know that the LORD has come again; of themselves they cannot understand how and where the Second Coming has been effected. This knowledge and this understanding are gifts of the LORD alone, which can be received from the Writings of the New Church and from no other source. Only by the simple, obedient acknowledgment of the Divine Authority of these Writings can the Church retain an unobscured sight of her LORD in His Divine Human. When this acknowledgment is lacking; when human understanding is placed above the Divine understanding, the LORD in His Second Coming is lost out of sight, and the fundamental Doctrines of the Church are made subjects of ratiocinations, "different interpretations," doubts, and denial.



     THE terrible danger to the Church that lurks in this denial of the Divine Authority of the Writings was exemplified in an unmistakable manner at the late annual meeting of the English Missionary and Tract Society of the New Church. An ordaining minister, the president of a New Church educational institution, on this occasion delivered a speech afterward published in New Church journals on both sides of the Atlantic, in which such teachings as the following were given to the Church: "'The Son of Man,' we learn, 'comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.' The 'Son of Man' does not come in the spiritual sense, which is represented by the 'glory,' but the 'Son of Man' comes 'in the clouds of heaven.' He comes in the literal sense of the Word irradiated by the 'glory' of the spiritual sense. The Word in the spiritual sense is in heaven; it is in the second or spiritual heaven. In the world is the Word in the letter-the Word in its literal sense. We cannot receive the Word in any other form; and, therefore, the LORD at His Second Coming came 'in the clouds' of the literal sense. If He had come in the pure spiritual sense, no one in this world could have received Him."



     The Internal Sense of the Word is especially for angels, and it is also for men.-White Horse 10.



     WHAT does this new and man-made doctrine mean, but that the spiritual sense of the Word has not been revealed by the LORD in His Second Coming? "We cannot receive the Word in any other form" than "in its literal sense"! Then the spiritual sense is not the Word, or else it has not been revealed, or, finally, what has been revealed cannot be received and understood by men in this world. The Writings teach on this subject: "The Internal Sense is the Word itself" (A. C. 1640). "The Spiritual Sense of the Word has been revealed by the LORD, and thereby an interior understanding of the Word has been discovered, which is the LORD'S Advent" (A. R. 820).



     IT is claimed by very many in the Church that the "Son of Man" "does not come in the spiritual sense," but in the literal sense of the Word "irradiated by the 'glory' of the spiritual sense." Where, in the Writings of the New Church, is that negative teaching found that the LORD in His Second Coming does not come in the spiritual sense of the Word? Is the LORD, then, to be found in the "letter which killeth" out of or without the "spirit which maketh alive"? The Doctrines teach: "And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and much glory." This signifies that then the Word will be revealed as to internal sense, in which the LORD is. The 'Son of Man" is the Divine Truth, which is in it" (A. C. 4060).
     The LORD came in that sense of the Word in which He Himself is, and by that sense He came in the literal sense of the Word. To deny this is to deny the presence of an internal sense within the literal sense.

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     The internal sense is the genuine Doctrine itself of the Church. White Horse 11.



     THE promulgator of the new doctrines referred to above, in the same speech teaches that, "the LORD came in the letter of the Word also to the Jewish people. . . . The LORD at His first coming came again in the letter of the Word. . . . When the LORD did effect His second coming, He came again in the letter of the Word."
     This teaching places the final revelation of the LORD on the same plane with all previous revelations, and again obscures the clear sight with the Church of the LORD in His Divine Human.
     The LORD never before came as the spiritual sense in the literal sense of the Word. His former revelations were to give the literal sense of the Word to men. His final revelation was to give the spiritual sense within the Letter; As the literal sense He came at the end of the Most Ancient Church. As such He came also to the Jewish Church, and, finally, to the Christian Church,-when He came as "the Word made Flesh." This was the ultimate Human which He took upon Himself, in order to reveal His Divine Human in this ultimate, when He was to come again in His final and crowning revelation. The former revelations were revelations of the LORD, as the Letter of the Word. The final Coming alone is a revelation of Himself as the spiritual sense in the literal sense, and is as discretely distinct and different from all previous revelations, as it "excells all revelations that have been hitherto from the creation of the world" (Invit. 44). To deny this universal distinction is, again, to deny that the LORD has revealed the Spiritual sense of His Word, or that He has come again to His Church.



     All appearances of truth, in which is the Divine, are of the rational.- A. C. 3368.



     THE "clouds" in which the "Son of Man" cometh are not only the ultimate appearances of Divine Truth, such as exist in the letter of the Word, but they include all ultimate appearances of Truth on any plane of receptivity (A. C. 1043). There are, in general, three degrees of such appearances: a superior degree of "appearances of Truth that are in the internal sense of the Word, in which the Angels are;" further "appearances of Truth, of an inferior degree, which are in the interior sense of the Word, in which men who are of the Internal Church can be," and, finally, "appearances of truth of a still inferior degree, which are of the literal sense of the Word, in which men who are of the External Church can be" (A. C. 3358-3360).
     To the men of the External Church on earth the LORD has come in the "clouds of heaven," in the literal dense of the Word. To men of the Internal Church on earth, the LORD has come in the "clouds of heaven" in the rational things of" Doctrine out of heaven, collected and confirmed from the sense of the letter." To the angels themselves He has come in the "clouds of heaven," in the appearances of Truth in the internal sense of the Word, "which is the same with the Doctrine which is in heaven" (H. D. 7).
It is the same thing 1890

It is the same thing              1890

     "It is the same thing whether thou sayest rational things illustrated by the Divine, or appearances of truth, or celestial and spiritual truths.- A. C. 3368.
DIVINE END IN CREATION 1890

DIVINE END IN CREATION       Rev. N. D. PENDLETON       1890

     In the beginning God created the heaven and earth." Genesis i, 1.

     THIS first statement of the Divine Word is a presentation of the infinite Divine Truth in a most general or comprehensive form, containing within its scope all those truths that are referable to the creation and regeneration of man, for the Creator is here represented as the Divine Cause, and creation as the corresponding effect to that cause; thus including all of which the human mind can conceive.
     The Creator and the creation is the original proposition of the doctrine of cause and effect, which doctrine, when seen in this connection, is plainly most universal, but at the same time, or, we might say for that very reason, it is most simple, and falls most easily into human thought, for if we examine closely into thought it will be seen that its very anatomy is that of cause and effect; for thought is derived as an effect from affection as a cause, and proceeds as a cause to word or deed as an effect. Cause and effect, therefore, being the very form and construction of thought, the idea of the Creator and creation, as cause and effect, must take form most readily in thought; yea, it takes form and is received just as readily as a vessel will receive that which it was created to receive, for thought is, or should be, a vessel of the mind that has inmostly within it this idea of God the Creator. But this will be seen more clearly when it is known what an idea of thought is.
     An idea, literally understood, is an image; if true, it is an image of God; if false, an image of hell. A true idea, therefore, being an image of God, is a reflection of God, and forms a part of that grand effect which has God as its cause. A true idea, therefore, of the Creator and creation as cause and effect, not only takes form most easily in thought, but is also a true image or reflection of the Creator as its Cause, and it is also that from which all other true thoughts are derived, for all true ideas of thoughts are images or reflections of Divine Truths, proceeding from God to man. This is the "image and likeness" into which God created man-that is, the image and likeness of Himself.
     A true conception of the Creator and creation as cause and effect is most necessary for the purpose of a true faith, for the faith of man or his religion is according to his idea of God, and the first and essential idea that man is to have of God is the idea of God the Creator, for, as we shall see, all other ideas are contained within this one. Therefore it is that in the very first beginning of the Word we are taught this, that God created the heaven and the earth.
     On reading the text before us, the mind first conceives of God creating the visible heaven and habitable earth; this is the idea that children have, and for wise men it is the ultimate upon which the internal idea rests, nay, more, it is the ultimate idea into which all men' fall when in doubts and temptations, and upon which they stand as upon a rock, and exclaim, in defiance of all the hells: These things that we see, the heaven and the earth, these in the beginning God created. Thus from this sensual appearance, a bulwark of defense, as it were, they can again rise up to the internal truths of creation.
     The internal historical sense of our text treats of the beginning of the formation of the most ancient Church; and in an analogous sense it treats of that state in man which has a similar correspondence with the most ancient Church, namely, the state of infancy. The especial sense, however, for us is the one which treats, not of creation but of re-creation or regeneration, and is contained in the doctrine of being born or created anew.

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     In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
     "In the beginning" signifies the first state of the regenerating man. "Creation" signifies regeneration, and "the heaven and the earth" signify respectively the internal and external man. Thus "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" signifies that man is to be regenerated as to his internal and external man.
     In what way creation signifies regeneration may be seen if we go back to the original proposition of the Creator and creation as cause and effect, and inquire into the purpose or end of creation. For the sake of illustration, it will be well to first consider the general principle of cause and effect, as it exists in the human mind in affection and thought.
     Affection is of love, and thought is that love in form, or the truth of that love. That which is produced from affection by means of thought is the ultimate effect, and this effect has thought as its cause, and affection as its end. Thus in the human mind we have the series of end, cause, and effect; the affection as the end, thought as the cause, and the ultimate production as the effect. Now, if we examine closely into the result that takes place when an affection by means of thought produces an effect, it will be seen that the purpose or end in the producing of an effect is that of conjunction that is, that the affection may he conjoined with its ultimate effect as a soul with its body.
     This is the law of cause and effect as it exists in the human mind, and since the human mind is a finite image or resemblance of the Divine mind, it follows that it must exist in the human mind from the Divine mind. This law of cause and effect is, therefore, true in the first place of the Divine mind, for the LORD, from His Divine Love as the end, by means of His Divine Truth as the cause, created the universe as the effect. And, since man is the centre or purpose of creation, it may be said that man is the ultimate effect of the LORD'S Divine Love as the end, and His Divine Truth as the cause. Thus, it follows from the general law of cause and effect that the purpose or end in the creation of man is that he may be conjoined with the LORD.
     Now, in order that man may he conjoined with the LORD, he must be re-created or regenerated, for regeneration is nothing but the process of putting off those things that prevent conjunction with the LORD, and when this is done conjunction is effected. Since, therefore, the very end or purpose in the creation of man is that he might be conjoined with the LORD, or be regenerated, it follows that creation signifies or corresponds to regeneration. Nay, more, creation implies, regeneration, if the end in creation he carried out. The failure of man to carry out the end of his creation is called damnation, for thereby he loses his own soul or is separated from his own end.
     Let us now look at the correspondence between creation and regeneration from another view.
     Creation, we are told, is effected by the Divine proceeding from the LORD from firsts to lasts, or from the Divine immediately to ultimate effects, and that the intermediates are built up afterward. The world, for instance, was created in time before the heavens, man was created a man on earth before he was recreated an angel of heaven.
     Natural birth or creation is, therefore, first in time, but not first in end, for, as has been seen, the purpose or end, which is really the first, is re-creation or regeneration.
     Now, since the ultimate creation is effected by Divine Truths proceeding from the LORD, it follows from the law of cause and effect that the ultimate creation becomes a vessel for the reception of the ultimate form of those Divine Truths.
     In the case of an infant born into the world creation is, in a pre-eminent sense, an ultimate form of the Divine truth proceeding.
     The end in the creation of an infant, which bears the be vine impress upon its form, is not only that it should be an ultimate form of its creating Divine Truths, but that the end of its creation, which is conjunction, may be effected, it must also be a recipient of those Divine Truths; and the infant becomes a recipient when it is created anew, or when it becomes a man and consciously receives the Divine Truths of the LORD and thereby becomes regenerated. Thus the creating Divine Truths are the same as the regenerating Divine Truths, the only difference being that they are applied differently they are applied first in time to the creation of an ultimate vessel and then to the infilling of that vessel with life. Thus it again appears in what way creation signifies regeneration.
     "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
     It may now be seen that the end in creation is regeneration, and that creation is not complete until this end is effected, but in what way it is effected may be seen from this general principle, that the end is only fulfilled in the effect by means of its intermediate cause. The end, in this case, being salvation, the effect creation, the cause is revelation. The LORD only effects His end in creation by means of revelation, and He has, therefore, in all times past revealed Himself-that is, uncovered Himself to men in order that they might see Him, first as God the Creator and then as God the Saviour. Upon this Bight of the LORD depends man's salvation, for unless the LORD be seen, man could by no means be induced to put off those things which prevent his conjunction with the LORD, for he would not believe or even know that there is a God, much less would he see the necessity of resisting his evils from God. It is plain, therefore, that revelation must he given in order that man may see the LORD and from Him shun evils, and thereby prepare himself for conjunction with the LORD, which is the end-the sole end in his creation. To this end therefore, let each man know his God as He has revealed Himself, for on this knowledge and a life according to it depends his all. Since, then, the end in creation is regeneration and regeneration is effected only by means of revelation, it follows that not only regeneration but also revelation is involved in creation, as the end and the cause or means are involved in their effect.
     This statement from the Word, that "in the beginning God created," contains, therefore, all Divine Truth that has relation to creation, revelation, and salvation; thus all Divine Truth that man can receive, and infinitely more. Thus it may he seen to the mind as a rational proposition that creation involves revelation and salvation. This will appear still more clearly if the Doctrine of the assumption and glorification of the Human of the LORD be considered, for this assumption and glorification was the central and culminating act in Creation, and involved, as is evident, revelation and salvation, for by means of it the LORD, appeared to men and saved them. The LORD, in order that He might effect- His end in creation, descended and took upon Himself a form of creation, the form of a little babe-born of a virgin, and then by degrees, as the babe grew to manhood, He revealed Himself to this form of creation which He had assumed, And by means of this revelation He effected, not conjunction and salvation with Himself, for that is applied to men, but union with Himself and glorification.

136



     Thus the LORD, as a man amongst men, effected in a form of creation the end in creation, and therefore it is that creation involves revelation and salvation.
     All of this was done by the LORD, with this end in view, that a corresponding process might be effected in man, but in order that this may be done, man must, even as the Human of the LORD, receive into himself as a form of creation, first, revelation, and thereby salvation, for salvation comes by no means except by revelation, and this from the LORD alone.
veil between the Holy and the Holy of holies 1890

veil between the Holy and the Holy of holies              1890

     The veil between the Holy and the Holy of holies represented the proximate and inmost appearances of rational good and truth, in which the angels of the Third Heaven are.- A. C. 2676.
SEASONS-LEAVES 1890

SEASONS-LEAVES              1890

     THE growth of the vegetable kingdom and the multiplication and fructification of both the animal and vegetable kingdoms, as also the very substances of the mineral kingdom are used in the Word as representative images of the state of the Church and of its growth and development. As we are taught:
     "That universal nature is a theatre representative of the kingdom of the LORD, thus that the LORD is in the single things, even so that there is also a representation of what is eternal and infinite; of what is eternal from propagation even to eternity; of what is infinite from the multiplication of seeds to infinity. Such an endeavor could never exist in the single things in the vegetable kingdom unless the Divine should continually inflow; from influx is endeavor, from endeavor is force, and from force is effect. . . . Influx is from the Divine of the LORD through the spiritual world. The reason that natural men do not consider such things is that they do not wish to acknowledge for they are in terrestrial and corporeal things, and thence in the life of the loves of; self and of the world, thence they are altogether in inverted order respectively to those things which are of the spiritual world or heaven, and to see such things from an inverted state is impossible; for those things which are below they see as superior, and those things which are above they see as inferior, wherefore, also, such in the other life, when they appear in the light of heaven, appear with the head downward and the feet upward. Who is there of them, when he sees flowers on a tree and on other plants, considers that it is, as it were, their rejoicing that now they produce fruits or seeds? They may see that flowers precede, and are continued even till they have in their bosom the beginnings of fruit or seed, and thus they give their juice into them. If they knew anything of the birth or regeneration of man, or, rather, if they willed to know, from the similitude also they might sec a representative of the state of man before regeneration in those flowers; that, namely, man then from the good of intelligence and wisdom similarly produces flowers that is, he is in interior joy and in beauty because then he is in the endeavor of implanting those things of life, viz.: the goods of intelligence and wisdom that is, of making fruit. That that state is such cannot be known, because what interior joy and what interior beauty are, which are represented, is not at all known by those who are in the joys of the love of the world and in the delights of the love of self. Those joys and delights cause that the former appear unjoyful and undelightful, even so that they are averse to them, and when they are averse to them they also reject them as something trifling or as nothing; consequently they deny them and at the same time they deny that there is anything spiritual and celestial. Thence now is the insanity of the age which is believed to be wisdom" (A. C. 5116).
     All nature being a theatre representative of the LORD'S kingdom, we may see that through a knowledge of these representative images we may procure many knowledges of the operations of the human mind, and of the principles of Divine truth which govern it. The Most Ancient Church viewed nature in this manner, and this so that when they saw or perceived anything of nature and its quality, they did not dwell on the natural thing, but instantly their thoughts and affections were turned to consider the spiritual and celestial things which were imaged in the external natural form. Thus by or through nature they ascended to spiritual, celestial, and Divine things. The same was the case in the Ancient Church, but not so fully as in the Most Ancient; but in the Jewish Church this knowledge of correspondences and representatives was altogether lost and thus the power also of elevating the mind by means of natural things to spiritual and celestial things. The knowledges of correspondences which with the Ancients was the science of sciences, has now been restored to the New Church, so that the ability to see beyond or above nature, and learn spiritual and celestial things by it is also restored, and as the Church advances, the men of the Church will take more and more delight in seeing these spiritual and celestial images in natural things. The Word Itself is full of these images, and we cannot perceive the internal meaning of the Word without a knowledge of the correspondences embodied in nature.
     Natural things have both a natural and a spiritual use, the natural use being for the support, nourishment, protection, and delight of the material man, but the spiritual use is for the support, nourishment, and recreation of the mind or spirit of man, and this cannot be done in fullness without seeing the spiritual things to which the natural correspond.
     All natural powers are derived originally from the natural sun, and all spiritual and natural powers come primarily from the LORD, who is the sun of the spiritual world. As natural things flourish and grow, or languish and die, according as the earth turns toward the sun of nature or away from it, so spiritual things in man, in the Church, and in heaven flourish and languish as they turn themselves toward the LORD, or away from Him. When man, as to his understanding, turns toward the LORD, he comes unto spiritual light; if he turns away he comes unto the shade of evening and night. As man as to the will conjoined with the understanding turns toward the LORD he comes into the heat of heaven conjoined with its light, thus into the vernal light and warmth of spring and summer, in which all things flourish and grow and give delight and pleasure. But if the will is divorced from the understanding, although he may be in light, it is the light of faith alone, which is as the light of winter, which stops all growth of heavenly affections and thoughts, and prevents their formation and development. Thus the various seasons of the year image forth the various positions of man and of the Church in his relation to the LORD and His Divine Truth. An interest in and affection for, and a love of doing what the LORD teaches-is the spiritual spring-time and summer. The opposite state, in which there is no interest in the LORD'S teaching, and thence no affection for learning and doing it, is a time of winter, and then the natural man turns away from the spiritual and all the spiritual activities of the mind grow torpid or die.

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Man's indifference to spiritual truth and good and the like state of the Church is represented by winter. And as man, in the course of regeneration, and the Church in general, pass through various states of light and shade, of heat' and cold, it is said in the Word that "luminaries were placed in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and they were for signs and for seasons, and for days and years" (Gen. i,14). And again it is said: "While the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Gen. viii, 22). Thus we see that man must pass through various spiritual changes of state in regeneration. But it is well and necessary to know spring and summer from winter, that we may love and desire the former and shun the latter, and when our winter comes, that we may look forward to the return of summer with its fructifying rays. To encourage man in his winter state and to lead him out of it, and cause him to turn again to the LORD, the prophesies of a better and happier state are so often given in the Word. Thus it is said:
     "Fear not, O ground I exult and be glad, for JEHOVAH will magnify to do. Fear not, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness shall produce tender grass, for the tree shall bear its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine shall give their strength. And the sons of Zion shall exult and be glad in JEHOVAH your God, for He will give to you the early rain for justice; and He will cause to descend for you the shower, the early rain, and the latter rain in the beginning. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the presses shall abound with must and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the beetle, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the LORD your God, and none else; and my people shall never be ashamed" (Joel ii, 21-27).
     The Prophet Joel treats of the state of the Church when evils, fallacies, and falsities in the extremes or in the sensual man have destroyed all the truths and goods of the Church; these destroying things are described by the locust, the beetle, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar eating up or destroying all the green things of the, field, garden, vineyard, and olive-yard. But the restoration of the Church to its pristine condition is represented by the prophecy that the wilderness shall produce tender grass, the tree shall bear fruit, the rain shall be given and the people shall have an abundance of corn, must, and oil, and rejoice before the LORD.
     The wilderness, or desert state of the Church, exists when the Divine Truth is not received and brought forth into the life, and for the desert to produce the tender grass or herb, represents the state in which the lack of the knowledges of truth is supplied, and a new interest is felt in learning and knowing the truth. Grass and leaves, herbs, etc., in the Word are mentioned to represent knowledges of the truths and goods of the Church. When man takes a living interest in learning knowing them, the spring has come to his mind, the desert produces the tender grass, the leaves of the trees sprout forth and grow.
     Leaves serve many important and essential uses in nature, without which no life could exist, for all animals live either directly or indirectly on vegetation, the first of which is the blade or leaf. The truths of faith or knowledge of truth serve to the mind of man similar and corresponding uses, and no growth and development of the mind can take place, no affections can grow and be produced therein, except by knowledges first implanted in the memory and understanding. Hence we can see what a state of spiritual distress is produced when the knowledges of truth are destroyed by various states of evil and falsity Which become active.
     Leaves serve many and important uses. They are the lungs of the tree, and give out oxygen to the atmosphere; they purify the juices and render them capable of serving for the formation of flowers and fruits; they serve to beautify and adorn the earth, and to give food for man and beast. So truths or knowledges are means of exercising the mind and developing it. They are means of producing thought, implanting ideas for reflection and contemplation; they brighten and form the intellect, and they feed and govern the affections; thus the whole man depends on them for spiritual support and pleasure. When deprived of them the spiritual man mourns and languishes, and all his affections droop or die. But when they are restored, all things brighten and recover. As there are numberless varieties and species of plants with distinct kinds of leaves, possessing qualities of their own, so there are numberless varieties and species of truths, with their knowledges, each species and variety, under the LORD'S Divine Providence, being designed for some noble and useful end in the formation of the mind of man. There are plant formations in the sea and on land, some, food for fishes, others, for the nourishment of animals, birds, insects, etc. So the knowledges of the mind, in- their infinite variety, are designed to feed and support a multitude of affections, and all these, more or less remotely, are designed to serve of use to support the love to the LORD and love to the neighbor, which are the true manly qualities which are represented by man, and the animals and plants represent subordinate affections, thoughts, and knowledges. As the earth was created and all things therein for the sake of man and for use to him, and man was created for heaven to receive of the LORD'S Divine Blessings, so the knowledges and ideas, the thoughts and affections, from highest to lowest, were designed to pro- mote the development of love to the LORD and love toward the neighbor, and each and every affection and thought, however lowly, when under proper direction and guidance, serves to promote this great end. As the LORD created nothing in nature except for use, from use, and in use, and as even all evil things under His of thought and affection, all knowledges that enter the Providence are made to serve for some use, so all things mind are represented by corresponding things in nature, and serve for spiritual uses, which are represented in the corresponding natural uses.
Appearances 1890

Appearances              1890

     It is to be known that not any truths with men, or even with the angels, are ever pure, that is, without appearances.- A. C. 3207.
HARMONY AND THE SENSES 1890

HARMONY AND THE SENSES              1890

     HARMONY may be defined as the full and complete connection, arising from a certain natural and mutual relation, by which the parts are held together so as to make a one and complete whole. In this sense Swedenborg constantly uses the word in his work on the Soul (see The Soul, 175, 535). This principle of harmony is what enables societies and governments to hold together and more perfectly so in proportion as the harmony is more perfect.

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It is the unanimity and concord of many which produces perfection; and as the parts which enter into any form and compose it are distinctly different, and yet united, so will the whole be a perfect one (A. E. 687; H. H. 18, 17; D. P. 4). This principle of harmony is everywhere illustrated in the human form, particularly in the organs of the senses, for they are formed by and for the reception of various harmonies, and hence are forms of harmonies, and communicate to the soul the perception of external things harmonious or discordant.
     Each sense has its own delight arising from this apperception of things concordant with itself. This is what may be called the perception or rather apperception of harmony (A. C. 6200), and it constitutes the essential of what is known as taste, not only of food, but of all matters relating to the senses and their delight. The quality of taste whether it be good or bad, orderly or disorderly, depends upon the ruling love, upon the unperverted or perverted state of the organs themselves, and also upon education. Appetite or desire for any external things of the body is excited by spirits called appetites, who flow into man's sensual delights, and seek in his external something corresponding and harmonious to themselves (S. D. 1563).
     This delight excited by the harmony, apperceived in objects of sense, is various according to the nature and use of the body. Harmony of touch in the external skin tickles and excites to laughter. Things soft smooth or round are also harmonious, but what are sharp, angular or rough are discordant. This is from the love of cognizing objects from the love of circumspection and self-protection. The sense of taste gives relish and flavor to foods and excites the appetite of eating and drinking. This is from the love of nourishing one's self, from the love of imbuing one's self with goods and truths. Things sweet are harmonious, but acid, sour, or bitter things are not so. Closely allied with this sense is that of smell. Harmony of the sense of smell gives delight to fragrant odors and perfumes. This is from the love of cognizing the volatile and minute substance floating in the air, from the love of perceiving the quality of goods and truths suitable to the nourishment of the ruling love. Harmony of hearing is the orderly arrangement of sounds simultaneously and successively, producing the delights of music and sinning. This arises from the love of hearing and obeying. Harmony of the sense of sight gives delight from the correct proportion of parts, agreeable colors, pretty landscapes, and gardens, symmetrical forms and motions, producing beauty, grace, elegance. This flows from the love of seeing, and from the love of understanding. Thus it is affection and love flowing into things corresponding and harmonious which produce the delights of the senses (C. L. 210, 68; The Soul, 22).
     It appears, indeed, as if the sensation were in the organ, and that thence it flows into the mind. But that this is only an appearance we are taught in the following passage:
     "The eye, when it sees objects, apperceives pleasantness and delight therefrom, according to the forms, colors, and hence beauties in the common and in the parts; in a word, according to the order and disposition in series. This pleasantness and delight are not of the eye, but of the animus and its affections; and as far as the man is affected by them, so far he sees them, and retains in the memory. But the things which the eye sees from no affection are passed by and are not inserted in the memory, thus neither are they conjoined to him" (A. C. 4302).
     The teaching here given may also be applied to the other senses:
     The cause of the appearance is this, that all sensation is the activity of life. The LORD alone lives, but He made man into His own image and likeness, and hence has given him to live as if from his own life. For what the LORD gives is without measure or limit except the man's capacity to receive; were it possible the LORD would give His life to be the man's own. But as this cannot be, He gives it to the man as if it were his own. And this appearance of self-life and activity ultimates itself in the sensual appearance that the body acts and sensates. It is, however, the soul in each organ of the body which sensates in the natural world by means of the body, from thought and affection. It is not the eye which sees, but man's understanding; nor is it even this which sees, but the truths which form his mind. And as all truth is from the LORD, who is the very Truth, it is the LORD alone who sees in man. The case is the same with the other senses. "Man can take nothing except it be given him from heaven" (A. C. 1954).
     It is by the influx from the LORD, flowing through the heavens and man's soul, that the organs of sense are formed and actuated. Thence also come the activities of spiritual affections which sensate things agreeable or disagreeable, and thus the apperception of things harmonious or discordant. From this it is that the perception by the senses of true harmony is from the soul. And this arises with its innumerable and varied delights from the harmony of an indefinite number of affections which compose one common affection. And this, again, from the order of Heaven, and, finally, as was already stated, from the LORD Himself (A. C. 5147, 324l, 645, compare 3189).
     "Perfect order constitutes harmony; this brings forth beauty, principles which restore and conserve nature. But imperfect order produces disharmony; this brings forth deformity, principles which pervert and destroy nature.
     "The affection for truths brings forth delight, and this, joy, principles which recreate and vivify the animus and mind. But disharmony brings forth undelight and this, sadness, principles which badly affect and extinguish the animus and mind.
     "The love of the highest good bring forth felicity, and this, heaven, principles which render blessed the soul and exalt its spiritual life. But the love of evil brings forth infelicity and this, hell, principles which condemn the soul and spiritually kill" (Hieroglyphic Key IX.)
Son of Man 1890

Son of Man              1890

     "The Son of Man" signifies the doctrine of truth, and in the supreme sense the Lord as to the Word.- A. E. 906.
MYTHOLOGY 1890

MYTHOLOGY              1890

     IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     IX.

     THE MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT.

     Original Monotheism.

     THE statement that the Egyptians in primeval ages worshiped the one true God under His Holy name, JEHOVAH, may seem to contradict the Letter of the Word in Exodus v, 2, where Pharaoh says to Moses and Aaron "who is JEHOVAH, whose name I must hear, to send away Israel; I know not JEHOVAH:"

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     The Pharaoh who here spoke was Menephtah, the son of Rameses II, in whose reign the Exodus of the people of Israel took place, about 1400 B. C. This also was the time of the final consummation of the Ancient Church in Egypt, and the historical teaching in Exodus v, 2, simply involves that at that time the knowledge of JEHOVAH was lost in Egypt. In the Internal Sense of the above passage it is taught that, "from Ancient times the Egyptians knew JEHOVAH, because the Ancient Church had been in Egypt, as is manifestly evident from the fact that they had among them the representatives and significatives of that Church" (A. C. 7097).
     Under the name of JEHOVAH the LORD was universally worshiped by the Ancient Church in its purity. To the men of that Church this name was the name of the LORD, and it involved to them the whole of their Theology (A. C. 1343, 6846, 4692).
     So holy is this name, so replete in each component sound and letter with correspondences containing the most sublime of Divine arcana, that "when Divine worship had been perverted in Egypt it was no longer allowed them to worship JEHOVAH, and at last not even to know that JEHOVAH was the God of the Ancient Church lest they should profane the name of JEHOVAH" (A. C. 7097, 6702).
     The holier, the more internal a truth is the more direful is its profanation. The "wise men" of Egypt who more than others in the Ancient Church had cultivated the Science of Correspondences in the decline of that Church began to apply this science to their own evil loves. By means of the correspondences with which they were acquainted they associated themselves with evil spirits, for the sake of thus exercising a magical dominion over the souls of men. Through the practice of such magical arts the Egyptians gradually lost all the spiritual truths of the Church. Thus, also, the knowledge of JEHOVAH was in the Divine Mercy taken away from them, lest they should profane the Holiest Itself and suffer the direful consequences of such profanation.
     The loss of this knowledge must have taken place at quite an early period of the decline of the Church in Egypt, for the most ancient records that have as yet been deciphered been no trace of the name. There were, indeed, certain minor deities, the names of which faintly resemble the sacred name of JEHOVAH, but these also have been so variously interpreted by the Egyptologists that the connection must he considered doubtful. Among such may be found the name Aah or Ioh, which is sometimes connected with the deity Thoth, and accompanied by the crescent moon. A bull-headed divinity is called Ao, the female counterpart of which is Ehe, with whom may be compared the unfortunate Io of the Greeks. The inscriptions also mention a "land of Jah," the latter name bearing the generic sign for "god." This, however, is supposed to have been the appellation for the Jewish quarter of Memphis.
     While the true knowledge of JEHOVAH was thus early lost in Egypt, there must long have remained certain knowledges of the oneness of God with the more instructed of the Priesthood. In the esoteric religions of antiquity this knowledge was long guarded with jealous care by those introduced into the sacred mysteries, while the common people, more and more tending to sensualism and superstition, were suffered to remain in gross polytheism lest ignorance and vice should profane the last waning remains of spiritual truth.
          As to the Eternal and Infinite One, of whom no image was made, to whom no name was given, the Doctrine of the priests, so far as can he learned from the Hieroglyphics, is as follows: "God is the Creator of all things; all that lives was made by Him, and He formed all things, but He Himself was not formed. He created heaven and earth. He is the Author of that which was not. God is eternal. He is forever. He is the master of infinity and eternity without limit. This God is indiscernible. He cannot be touched with the hand, nor held with the arms. This is the miracle of sacred forms, that no one can comprehend them. God is infinite. His extension is without limit. He is Omnipresent. He commands at the same time in Thebes, in On, and in Memphis. He is invisible. No one sees the Great One who is in Mendes. He is Merciful, hearing all who implore Him. He is Omnipotent. That which is, and that which is not, depend upon Him. God turns His face toward me in recompense for what I have I done; The supreme God hides Himself from gods and I men. He hides Himself altogether, His form is not I known. Men do not know His name. He hateth to have His Name pronounced. He is the Divine Soul which engenders the gods and which clothes itself in forms, but which remains unknown. The substance of the gods is the very body of God Himself. The substance of the gods is an aliment, an immense loaf of bread, in the midst of which resides the Holy One. He speaks, and the gods are produced. His word is substance."
     Of particular significance, in this connection, is the famous inscription on the Saitic temple of Isis, quoted by Plutarch, "I am everything which has become, and is, and will be; and my veil no mortal will remove." Compare with this the words, "He who is, and who was, and who will be," in Revelation i, 4, 8.

     The Egyptian Pantheon.

     How was this originally pure and exalted idea of the Oneness of God replaced by the polytheism of later Egypt, the most developed and complicated system of idolatry known to History? A knowledge of the interior character of the scientific mind can alone answer this question. This mind delights in forms, in well-defined, fixed systems, which, when once adopted, are adhered to with the greatest tenacity. The Theology of the Ancient Church appears to have been thus formulated and systematized in Egypt the land of science more than in any other country. The essentials, the qualities, attributes, and various operations of the Divine, of which the Egyptians had known from the Ancient Word with them, were, with great precision, enumerated, formulated, and arranged in systems; each received a different name and a different embodiment in some representative image, and these names and images remained objects of worship after the internal ideas, thus represented, had long been perverted, rejected, or forgotten. Egyptian Theology thus became like modern science, a system of mere terms-an external without an internal.
     Another source of the multiplicity of Egyptian deities was the intercourse with the spiritual world, which had remained open with many of the Ancient Church, but which the Egyptian magicians had turned into communication with evil spirits. Hence arose a highly developed spirit-worship.
     Again, the number of the deities were greatly increased by the habit of adding to their appellations the names of the localities where they were especially worshiped. Each localization of the same deity in time thus gave rise to a new and separate object of worship. New divinities were also invented by the composition of the names and qualities of several older ones.

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The ancient knowledge that every created thing in the universe had a spiritual correspondence was, finally, replaced by a most complete, naturalism, which deified everything created, the astral bodies, rivers, mountains, deserts, and all species of animals such as crocodiles, snakes, apes, cats and dogs, birds, bulls, beetles. Had protoplasm been known at that time, it would surely not have escaped deification by those ancient scientists, the Egyptians.
     The Mythology of Egypt in these its latest stages is too voluminous and too confused to be treated of in the presents article, which can deal only with what is known of this religion in its earlier states. Even here the subject presents difficulties which make a thorough interpretation of the system, such as the Egyptian priests themselves no doubt understood it, almost impossible. The chief of these difficulties lies in the present state of modern Egyptology. Persuaded by the idea that the Hieroglyphics possess merely a grammatical value, but no spiritual signification, the modern savants have wrongly interpreted the more ancient inscriptions and papyri, which undoubtedly were written according to correspondences. The Hieroglyphics, moreover, were pictures, not mere signs, of natural objects representing spiritual things, but these pictures were often abbreviated in form, which makes it extremely difficult to decide what natural objects they represent. Modern Egyptologists have neglected to investigate this branch of the subject. While a knowledge of the natural meaning of the pictures is thus lacking, it is almost impossible for the New Church student to determine their correspondence, at least in very many cases. The greatest obstacle to the interpretation of Egyptian Mythology is, however, the indifference of Egyptologists in ascertaining the philological root-meaning of the names of the deities. The efforts of the learned are exclusively directed to the grammatical deciphering of the Hieroglyphics, and as a result their "translations" of the papyri often consist only of long lists of mere unintelligible names. How different would our knowledge of Egyptology be at this day had Swedenborg's offer to decipher the Hieroglyphics been accepted by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden!
     The Egyptian Pantheon numbers from five to eight hundred divinities, divided into three classes, but it is not known according to what principle they were thus classified. There also appear to have been different dynasties of gods, the various members of which are sometimes brought together into new series. This makes it difficult to determine which may be considered the greater and which the lesser deities. No new arrangement can here be suggested, but the system generally adopted is presented. At the head of this classic and modern writers place "the eight great gods."
Word in the letter 1890

Word in the letter              1890

     There are many who care nothing for the doctrine of the Church; but only for the Word in the letter.- S. D. 5067.
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     THIS Doctrine of Life, translated into Italian by Signor Loreto Scocia, has recently been published at Florence in a very attractive form. The Italian title of the work is La Dottrina di vita per La Nuova Gerusalemme secondo i Precetti del Decalogo.



     SIGNOR Scocia has also issued a complete analytical catalogue of Italian New Church literature. The Writings are somewhat artificially classified under the various heads of opere Filosofiche, Theologiche, Morali and Rivelazioni.



     NUMBER 6 of the Indian New Church Messenger publishes three pages of extracts from the articles on "Mythology in the Light of the New Church," that have appeared in the New Church Life.



     Two short scientific essays by Swedenborg, translated into English during Swedenborg's life, have lately been found in a copy of a very scarce work entitled Literary Memoirs of Germany and the North, printed in 1759. The essays are translations from the Acta Literaria Sueciae, published in Upsala, 1721 and 1722. The existence of this volume has hitherto been unknown to the Church.



     THE Journal of the Seventieth Annual Meeting of the General Convention has been published. It contains the usual short abstracts of the proceedings and the reports of the component bodies of the General Convention, with the exception of the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania, which was rejected at the meeting.



     MR. "Eizak Pitman," of Bath, England, who has long endeavored to introduce the "Reformd Speling" into the world, has lately published a pamphlet on The Holy Supper: a feast of Charity, by Samuel J. Leresche. The friends of reformed spelling should take care lest ridicule be thrown over the holy things of the Church, by publishing them in a form which certainly appears laughable to the uninitiated.



     THE Morning Light, in its report of the late meeting of the General Convention, states that "the General Church of Pennsylvania gave rise to a long discussion by including in its report a statement that at the social meetings of the Societies connected with it wine was used 'on principle,' and a resolution was passed 'That this Convention desires the world to understand that this is not the practice of the Church in general and believes that it ought, not to be.'"
     It is to be observed that this is the resolution which was not passed.



     IN COMMON with almost every new "wave of thought" that moves for a time on the surface of this "new age," the enthusiastic movement, originated by Edward Bellamy's book, Looking Backward, has found followers also among the members of the New Church. In England the President of a New Church Society in London is also the President of a newly-founded "Nationalization of Labor Society," which is making a lively propaganda in The Dawn. In America a number of Newchurchmen have recently founded a "Looking Backward colony" at Kaweah, in Tulare County, California.



     THERE are strange theological developments among some of the ordained ministers of the New Church in England. One of these, writing in The Dawn, thinks that "there has never been any Divine Revelation which has justified men in taking up each and every detail, and saying this thing is asserted, and it is, therefore, true beyond doubt."



     THE same ordained minister thus sums up "the imperfections" of the Writings given through Swedenborg: "His translation of the Word is not always perfect. He sometimes ascribes to one sacred writer the words of another. His statement of Bible history is not always accurate. He does not consistently record the facts of his own life. His geography of Palestine is incorrect. His Biblical criticism is open to question."



     ANOTHER ordained minister has discovered that "all man's faculties are divine," and that "we have the Word of God in another and very precious form in the writings of St. Augustine, Benard, Luther, Milton, Law, Wesley, and ten thousand others."



     THE Swedenborg Society, British and Foreign, have during the year republished nine volumes of the Arcana Coelestia.

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The ninth volume has been newly translated by Dr. R. L. Tafel. The Four Leading Doctrines, the Divine Love and Wisdom, and the Latin Index to Arcana Coelestia have also been republished. Conjugial Love, Brief Exposition, and the Canons are in the hands of the Revision Committee. Copies of the Writings have been presented to persons in Italy, Japan, and the city of Bankok in Siam. A letter of acknowledgment from the last-named place was received from H. R. H. Prince Krom Mun Damrong Rajanubhab.



     IN THE address of the General Conference of the New Church in Great Britain to the General Convention, the writer, the Rev. Joseph Deans, teaches that "The Doctrines of the New Church are the LORD'S. The methods of expounding and proclaiming those Doctrines are ours." The LORD teaches differently in His Word. "If the LORD build not the house, vainly do those labor who build it" (Ps. cxxvii, 1). To build the walls of Jerusalem is to "restore the Church by leading into the good of love, and teaching in the truths of doctrine" (A. E. 891). This is the work of the priests of the New Church, but vainly do they labor if they use not the LORD'S methods.



     THE New Church Messenger of August 20th contains an editorial on "Majority Rule," in which the inherent right of majorities to govern "in this majority-ruled country and in our majority-ruled Church" is seriously questioned. The Doctrine of the Church on the subject is clearly stated and strikingly illustrated: "In controlling a ship at sea what insanity it would be for the majority to claim the right to determine how to manage it, usurping the place of the captain!" Yet the Messenger thinks that "the majority will in the present age of the world be less likely to be moved by personal and selfish feelings than a smaller number; and for this reason also to the majority shall belong the right to rule." Where is now the right of the captain to determine the course of the ship? Being a minority he will "in the present are of the world" be more likely to be wrong than the unselfish and enlightened majority of passengers or sailors.



     WILLIAM White, the author of the two conflicting biographies of Swedenborg, lately died in England at the age of fifty-eight-years. Mr. White has taken an unenviable part in the history of the New Church. While yet a young man he became the agent of the Swedenborg Society and became well known in the Church as the editor of a periodical entitled The Newchurchman (London, 1855-1867), and as the author of an excellent biography of Swedenborg, with which most receivers of the Doctrines are acquainted. A few years later he became interested in the spiritistic movement originated by Thomas Lake Harris, endeavored to utilize the Swedenborg Society for spiritistic ends, and, when frustrated, instigated a scandalous disturbance in that Society. To revenge his failure he published, in 1867, a larger biography of Swedenborg, directly contradicting his former work. In later years he passed completely out of sight in the New Church and in literature.



     THE Two Christianities, Old and New (London, 1890, pp. 107), by the Rev. James T. Buss, is an excellent evangelistic work, worthy of extensive circulation both in the old and in the New Church. It presents with great clearness the summary doctrines of the old orthodox, compared with the principal features of the so-called "New Theology." Both are strongly contrasted with the leading Doctrines of, the New Church. The writer does not take the sanguine view of the "New Theology" which is so common among modern Now Church writers, but holds, and rationally proves, that "the old Christianity of the present day and this as regards both orthodoxy and the New Theology is, to all spiritual intents and purposes, DEAD." The "signs of the times," the new theological "movements" in the old church, which are so blindly taken for evidences of the descent of the New Jerusalem, are in this work shown to be simply the evidences "of death entering into possession of a Christianity (so-called) which has long been tottering to its grave, and is now simply accelerating its pace."
MANUSCRIPTS OF SWEDENBORG 1890

MANUSCRIPTS OF SWEDENBORG       WILLIAM H. BENADE       1890

     Communicated.

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the Writers.]

     THE following letter from the Chairman of the General Convention's Committee on the Publication of Swedenborg's Manuscripts is copied from the recent journal of the Convention. As the letter was not received in time to be read at the general meeting, it has not yet appeared in any of the periodicals of the Church. It is here reprinted for the information of the Church:

     "To the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United Stales of America:-
     "The Committee on the Manuscripts of Swedenborg reports that no steps have been taken during the past year toward completing the work of photo-lithographing the manuscripts of Swedenborg, the Committee appointed to collect funds for this purpose not having reported the collection of an amount sufficient to warrant the commencement of the work. According to information received from Stockholm prolonged delay in proceeding with the work may result in an entire frustration of the plan of procuring fac-simile copies of the remaining originals of the Writings of the Church. The Librarian of the Academy of Sciences, who is the custodian of the manuscripts, sends word that a recent examination into their condition has brought to light the fact that the paper of some of the codices is beginning to show the effect of the corrosions of time, and that the ink has commenced to run, in consequence of which the writing has become too indistinct for reproduction by photography.
     "The Committee on the Manuscripts, after having accomplished a part of the duty assigned to it in 1878, was continued in existence in the hope that the Convention would enable it to finish what had been begun. This hope has proved delusive either from lack of interest in the use proposed or from lack of appreciation of its paramount importance on the part of the Convention. Defect of pecuniary ability can hardly be urged in extenuation of this state of things, in view of the fact that enterprises of inferior importance have recently received ample support. The sum of money invested in either of two recent undertakings would have sufficed to set on foot and carry to completion a photo-lithographing of the remaining manuscripts of Swedenborg and to secure for the Church for the present and for all coming time exact copies of the priceless original documents of the LORD'S Revelation for the use of His New Church. And now, since it appears that the Convention is not willing to perform this most important use, the Chairman of the Committee is unwilling to aid any longer in maintaining an evident delusion, and-begs to have his name withdrawn from the membership of the Committee.     WILLIAM H. BENADE, Chairman."
ultimate of doctrine 1890

ultimate of doctrine              1890

     The ultimate of doctrine is the sense of the letter of the Word.- A. E. 811.
USE AND ABUSE 1890

USE AND ABUSE       JOSEPH E. ROSENQVIST       1890

     A GRADUATING ADDRESS.

     "ALL things created from the LORD are uses, they are uses in the order, degree, and respect in which they refer themselves to man and through man to the LORD, from whom they are" (D. L. W. 327).

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     Everything created by the LORD is, from the beginning, a perfect thing, fully adapted to perform the uses for which it was made; for it is written, that "God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good." Man is the being for whom all these very good things were created, that they should serve him as means to happiness on earth and eternal blessedness with the LORD in heaven. The only thing that the LORD requires from man is that he should use these things in the orderly manner He prescribes, as the only way in which man can, by means of them, obtain the end for which they were intended. "The end of the creation of the universe clearly shows what use is. The end of the creation of the universe is the existence of the angelic heaven- and as the angelic heaven is the end, man also, or the human race, is the end, since heaven is from that. From which it follows that all created things are mediate ends, and that these are uses in that order, degree, and respect in which they refer themselves to man and through man to the LORD" (D. L. W. 329). These mediate ends are the things which man ought diligently and thankfully to use. But he is not compelled to do so. He can choose between two things: use and abuse.
     It is necessary that man should be in liberty to do the one thing, or the other, for otherwise he would not be in the freedom of choice, from which man is man. No one is altogether passive; one must either use the things which the LORD provides or abuse them. There is no choice between these two, for he who does not use, abuses. In doing the former man acts in accordance with order; in doing the latter, he nets contrary to order. In the Arcana the following definition of abuse is given:
     "The abuse of order and of correspondences is when those things which are of order are not applied to good ends, but to evil ends, as to the ends of ruling over others, and to the end of destroying; for the end of order is salvation, thus to do good to all" (A. C. 7293). From this it is evident that abuse is to apply the things of order to any other than good ends. A notion, as dangerous as absurd, reigns throughout the Christian world and is also winning ground within the nominal New Church, that such things which experience has shown to be very destructive when abused should be done away with altogether, should he condemned as evils, and people prohibited from having anything to do with them at all. The inconsistency and error of such opinion is obvious when examined in the light of the Writings of the New Church; in fact, their teaching is the very contrary to this, for we read, that, "abuse does not take away use, as the falsification of truth does not take away truth, except only with those who do it" (D. L. W. 331).
     How, therefore, Newchurchmen can support and entertain such a false idea is simply incomprehensible. It was said that the notion, is dangerous; it is overwhelmingly so, because those very things, which are of the greatest importance and which are intended to perform the very highest of uses can be abused in the lowest degree. This absurd doctrine means, therefore, nothing less than to do away with the very highest of gifts granted to man. Take, for instance, the two Divine gifts, the faculties of Rationalty and of Liberty. These are, indeed, gifts of the highest order, the taking away of which makes man to be man no more, for we are instructed that, "by Rationality is meant the faculty of understanding truths and hence falsities, and goods and hence evils; by Liberty is meant the faculty of thinking, of willing, and of doing them freely. From what precedes it is evident, and it will become more, evident from what follows, that every man from creation, thus from birth, has these two faculties, and that they are from the LORD, and that they are not taken away, and that from them is the appearance that man thinks, speaks, wills, and acts as from himself, and that the LORD dwells with every man in those faculties, and that man from that conjunction lives into eternity, and that man through them and not without them can be reformed and regenerated; also that by them man is distinguished from beasts" (D. L. W. 264). And yet the abuse of these faculties, more frequent, more dangerous, more damnable than any other abuse, has led to, yea, is the origin of the most horrible of all things of evil. This is the plain teaching of the Writings, where it is said:
     The origin of evil is from the abuse of the faculties, which are proper to man, and are called Rationality and Liberty" (D. L. W. 264).
     In agreement with the false proposition under consideration, Rationalty and Liberty must be done away with, because they have been abused and are abuse and their abuse has led to the greatest of calamities to evil.
     And does any one, who is in any illustration from the Writings, doubt that the man of the consummated Church has successfully rid himself of every particle of true Rationality and Liberty? Does the world even know what is meant by Rationality and Liberty? These precious faculties are so much abused, that had not the New Church been established among men a general and complete destruction of the whole human race would have been unavoidable. But this abuse of Rationality and Liberty does not appear to the natural man, for it is carried on so subtly that in the external it appears similar to use. That this is the very nature of abuse may be seen from the following from the Arcana Coelestia, where we read:
     "It is called an abuse when what is similar exists in ultimates, but from a contrary origin" (A. C. 8480). "Resemblances of those things which are from the Divine are made by men when they speak Divine things with their mouth, and also in work do such things as are commanded by the Divine, and thereby induce a belief that they are in good and truth, when yet in heart they entertain altogether other thoughts and will only what is evil; such are dissemblers, hypocrites, and the deceitful; these are those who make resemblances of those things which are from the Divine by presenting a likeness and appearance in externals, in which there is nothing within of what is Divine. Dissemblers, hypocrites, and the deceitful learn this in the other life, and in general all who from frequent use have contracted a habit of speaking otherwise than they think, and of doing otherwise than they will. Some by such practices are desirous to acquire reputation, that they may seem good and thereby deceive; some that they may acquire authority. Such things in that life are also abuses of correspondences" (A. C. 8870). The abuse -of the faculties of Rationality and Liberty may be said to be universal, for it exists with all men more or less; but, to turn away from the world outside the New Church, there exists an abuse of something in this Church, which is incomparable with anything in heaven and on earth the Writings of the New Church. There exists an abuse of these Writings within the Church! These Writings were written by the LORD through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg for the use of all those who were to be of the LORD'S New Church. The end to which the use of these heavenly Books is sure to lead is nothing less than conjunction with the LORD, salvation, eternal life! But to use them means to apply their teachings to a good end, and in strict accordance with the Divine Order, which the LORD has revealed to man in them.

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The Writings of the Church are so used by but a few. The many "misapprehensions" of the Doctrines are often abuses of the Writings. Take, for instance, the all-important Doctrine concerning the Divinity of the Writings. On the acknowledgment or denial of this Doctrine depends the use or abuse of these Books. If this Doctrine be not acknowledged, their teachings throughout cannot but be abused. If this is true, to what extent are not then the Writings of the Church abused by her own members! This abuse of the Writings, viz., the non-acknowledgment of their Divinity, is the source from which springs all the other heresies in the Church. No true and lasting progress can ever be made in establishing the Church with men, if the Divine Authority of the Writings be not acknowledged from heart and mind. This act experience also has fully confirmed at every place, where the New Church has begun to be established.
     Heresy after heresy will otherwise come into existence, and how can can it be otherwise, when the Writings of the Church are set at naught, and human self-intelligence and conceit are suffered to rule over them? Take any one of the Doctrines of the Church and see by how few they are used and by how many they are abused, and thus made into heresies. We have, for instance, the teachings of the LORD concerning the Priesthood in the New Church. Does the Church at large accept these teachings and act accordingly? On the contrary, for many want to do away with the priesthood altogether, because the priesthood in the Old Church has become an evil thing and its priests are known to have abused their power. "Do away with the Priestly office, for it may be so abused also in the New Church," some then cry. Others do not go this far as yet, but wish to have a priesthood formed according to their own ideas, and not in accordance with the Divine Order of the Writings. Another widespread heresy is known as the "Wine Question" whether fermented wine should be used in the Sacrament of the Holy Supper, or grape-juice! The teachings of the Writings on this point are plain enough: the true wine is that which has undergone fermentation. But because experience shows that wine may be much abused and thence become the means of; great evils, therefore the teachings of the Church are immediately put away, and everything is done to pervert and abuse them. Then, there is the subject of Education, whether it is necessary that New Church children should be educated in strictly New Church schools or not; the question of the non-association with the Old Church: whether it is necessary for New Churchmen to separate, as far as possible, from the old, dead Church, or whether it be not their duty to seek its companionship, improve its state (when it is dead!) and thus to strive to make the LORD'S judgment upon it of non-effect. Again, there is the Marriage question whether
     New Church men and women ought to marry exclusively within the Church; as if the Doctrines of the Church were not clear enough on this subject! But why prolong the list of the dangerous heresies which have sprung forth from that fundamental one the non-acknowledgment of the Writings as being the Word of the LORD, God with us.
     It is the abuse of the Writings which has led to all these dangerous "misconceptions" of their teachings. But they who diligently and thankfully use them in accordance with the Divine Order which they teach, they acknowledge in heart and confess with their month, the Divinity, the authority, the heavenly origin and infallibility of these Writings. This acknowledgment is a sure and safe guard against the greatest of all evils: the abuse of the LORD in His Second Coming!
     JOSEPH E. ROSENQVIST.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     The Lord, as He is the Word, is also the Doctrine of the Church, for all doctrine is from the Word.- A. E. 19.
IMPORTANCE OF THE BRONCHIAL ARTERIES AND VEINS 1890

IMPORTANCE OF THE BRONCHIAL ARTERIES AND VEINS       J. STEPHENSON       1890

     "AROUND the bronchial tubes and their ramifications there are arteries and veins called the bronchial, arising from the vena azygos or vena cava, and from the aorta. These arteries and veins are distinct from the pulmonary arteries and veins. From this it is evident that the blood can flow into the lungs by two ways and flow out from them by two ways; thence it is that the lungs can respire non-synchronously with the heart" (D. L. W. 405).
     It is well known in the New Church that unless it were possible for the understanding to be elevated above the will, and, as it were, separated from it, man could not be regenerated, for the will of every man from birth is utterly vile and corrupt, and can only be created anew by means of the understanding being elevated into the light of heaven, and, while in that light, seeing truths and desiring to obtain them, at first from the affection of knowing, but eventually for their own sake. And this elevation of the understanding into the light of heaven could never take place unless the lungs were enabled to breathe, as it were, independently of the heart; for the cardiac blood, being riotous and disorderly, would, if unrestrained, rush into the lungs and carry them away in the lust of its own desires. But the LORD has mercifully provided a means by which man can, if he will, separate, as it were, his thought from his worldly lusts, and respire in the air of heaven. These means are, ultimately, the bronchial arteries and veins, for by them the lungs can breathe non-synchronously with the heart.
     The use of the bronchial arteries and veins is altogether unknown to old church scientists and, notwithstanding their careful and exhaustive examinations, the only conclusion they have arrived at regarding them is that the bronchial arteries supply the lungs themselves with blood. But this is not sufficient for the New Church student, for many questions arise in his mind, such as, Why cannot the pulmonary artery supply the necessary blood for the use of the lungs themselves? Only New Church science can unfold the use of the bronchial arteries and veins, and show clearly how the lungs, with the heart, are enabled to respire non-synchronously, by means of the bronchial arteries and veins, and, consequently, how the understanding can be elevated into the light of heaven and be, as it were, separated from the will, for the heart corresponds to the will and the lungs to the understanding. In order that the position and form of the bronchial arteries and veins may be clearly understood, it is necessary to describe them.
     "The bronchial arteries come, sometimes, from the anterior part of the superior descending aorta, sometimes from the first intercostal artery, and sometimes from one of the oesophageal arteries. They go out toward each lung, sometimes separately, sometimes by a small common trunk, which afterward divides to the right and left near the bifurcation of the trachea, and they follow the ramifications of the bronchia."

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"The bronchial veins are sometimes branches of the (vena) azygos, coming from the upper part of the curvature or arch. The left (bronchial) vein is sometimes a branch of the common trunk of the intercostals of the same side" (Winslow. Exp. Anat.). "The bronchial artery enters the lungs obliquely and, lying under the venous artery (pulmonary artery), accompanies the bronchia to the end, until it is lost to sight in fine capillaries (Ruysch, Dilucid. Valvul.). From this description, it can be seen that the bronchial arteries and veins present some marked peculiarities, one of which is that the bronchial artery accompanies the pulmonary artery throughout its whole course, and either returns with it to the left auricle of the heart or goes out in the form of veins either to the intercostal veins or the vena azygos. In order to find out the reason why the bronchial artery accompanies the pulmonary artery throughout its whole course, the pre-natal state of man must be taken into consideration. It is well known in the medical world that, during fetal life, the lungs are quiescent, consequently the pulmonary artery has not yet been inaugurated into its office by the cardiac blood. But, during the time the pulmonary artery is quiescent, the bronchial artery is active; for, in conjunction with the parvagurn and intercostal nerves, it is weaving the lungs and constructing all those passages through which the atmospheric air and the cardiac blood are to pass after birth. Thus the bronchial artery prepares the way for the pulmonary artery, and when the cardiac blood begins to flow into the lungs, it accompanies the pulmonary artery throughout its whole course; for the coats of all those vessels, through which the pulmonic blood passes, were woven from the little branches of the bronchial artery. It may be remarked here that the bronchial artery is really the only artery which enters the lungs, for the pulmonary artery is improperly called an artery, because it does not carry into the lungs arterial blood, but crude, venous blood. On the other hand, the bronchial artery draws pure arterial blood from the aorta and pours it unceasingly into the lungs.
     But what is the use of the bronchial arteries and veins? The bronchial artery maintains the equilibrium between the arterial and venous blood, which it is eminently fitted to do from its position, as it were, outside of the heart, for whenever there is too much or too little blood poured into the right cavity of the heart, and, consequently, too much or too little sent back into the left cavity, the deficiency is made up by the bronchial artery drawing the requisite amount from the great stream of the aorta or the superabundance is thrown out through the bronchial veins into the venous stream of the intercostals or vena azygos. Thus the bronchial arteries and veins repel the attacks of the heart which threaten the animal kingdom with death. It may appear, at first sight, that the deficiency or superabundance of arterial or venous blood is an accident of rare occurrence, nevertheless, such a state occurs almost every moment for in states of anger or when any great physical effort is required, a great quantity of blood is collected in the arteries to maintain the strength, and but little is sent into the veins. On the other hand, in states of fear or fright, a great quantity of blood runs from the arteries into the veins. In the first case, but little blood flows into the right ventricle of the heart, and, consequently, little into the lungs; in the second case, a superabundance of venous blood is poured into the right ventricle and, consequently, into the lungs. Under both conditions the lungs labor, as it were, in the throes of death, but at this moment of peril the bronchial arteries and veins fly to the rescue and either supply the deficiency or send away the superabundance, and thus restore the equilibrium and harmony of the animal kingdom.
     The bronchial arteries not only equate the arterial I and venous blood, but they also cause the natural and voluntary respirations to act as one. That the bronchial arteries and veins are most intimately involved with the lungs, and, consequently, rule inmostly in them, has been already demonstrated; but the point that requires proof is that the bronchial arteries and veins are connected with the intercostals, for the intercostal arteries excite the external respiratory muscles. From Winslow's description of the bronchial artery it may be seen that this artery is connected with some one of the intercostals, for he says: "The bronchial artery comes sometimes from the first intercostal artery, sometimes from one of the oesophageal arteries." (The oesophageal artery communicates closely with one of the intercostals.) Concerning the bronchial veins our author says: "They are sometimes branches of the (vena) azygos the left (bronchial) vein sometimes a branch of the common trunk of the intercostals of the same side." Ruysch, Keister, and several other anatomists give similar descriptions. From the above description, however, it may be seen that the bronchial arteries and veins, which are the proper vessels of the lungs, are connected with the intercostals, which are the vessels of the external respiratory muscles. Thus, the external respiratory mechanism is connected with the internal, and by means of this connection brought into harmony. Moreover, by means of the bronchial arteries and veins, the lungs can act as it were independently of the heart, and govern their own respiration, for the bronchial arteries and veins, which are the proper vessels of the lungs, are connected with the aorta, vena azygos, or intercostals, which are, as it were, outside of the heart. As the lungs can govern their own respiration, it follows that the thought can be, as it were, separated from the affection of the will, for thought corresponds to the respiration of the lungs (D. L. W. 383).
     That the understanding has for its ultimate and basis the respiration of the lungs, appears very clearly from The Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 407. "That man has neither sensitive life nor active life without the co-operation of the heart and the lungs is evident also in swoons, when the heart alone acts and not the lungs, for respiration then ceases; in this case there is no sensation and no action, as is well known.

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It is the same with persons suffocated either by water or by anything filling up the larynx and closing the respiratory passage; the man then appears to be dead, he feels nothing and does nothing, and yet he is alive in the heart, as is well known, for he returns to both his sensitive and his active life as soon as the obstruction to the lungs is removed. The blood, it is true, circulates in the meantime through the lungs, but through the pulmonary arteries and veins, not through the bronchial arteries and veins, and these last are what give man the power of breathing."
     From all that has been brought forward it may be seen that by means of those little arteries and veins, which the anatomists of the present day scarcely notice, the lungs can be lifted up high above the heart, and as the lungs correspond to the, understanding and the heart to the will, it follows that the understanding can be elevated into the light of heaven, while the will remains in the heat of the world. But, although the understanding can be elevated above the will, yet it is not entirely separated from it, because the understanding derives from the will its potency, which is the affection of knowing, just as the lungs, while being independent of the pulmonary artery, nevertheless derive their potency-i. e., their blood-from the aorta through the bronchial artery.     
     Love and Wisdom can be conjoined or disjoined, for the heart can be conjoined to the vesicles of the bronchia by blood sent out from itself; and also by blood not sent out from itself, but from the vena cava and the aorta.
Thereby the respiration of the body can be separated from the respiration of the spirit (D. L. W. 413, 414, 415).
     The conclusion in general, then, is that the understanding can be elevated above the will, because the respiration of the body can be separated from the respiration of the spirit, even as the lungs, by means of the bronchial arteries and veins, can either act with the voluntary respiration or independently of it, because the lungs, by means of the bronchial arteries and veins, can respire non-synchronously with the heart.
     The more New Church science is studied the more clear this and countless other subjects will become to the man of the New Church, for, as the Writings themselves say: "To see from correspondence is to see the lungs from the understanding, and the understanding from the lungs, and thus from both together to see confirmation" (D. L. W. 413).
     J. STEPHENSON.
doctrine of the Church 1890

doctrine of the Church              1890

     The doctrine of the Church is truth in every complex.- A. E. 724.
NECESSITY OF THE TRUTHS OF FAITH 1890

NECESSITY OF THE TRUTHS OF FAITH       JOSEPH E. BOYESEN       1890

     ALL things of the Church have relation to Faith and Charity, and man must acquire these in order to be of the Church. Man cam acquire Faith and Charity, for he is so formed that he can receive these from the LORD if only he be willing. Faith and thence the LORD'S presence is given through the knowledges of truth from the Word, and Charity and thence Conjunction is given through a life according to this Faith. Both Faith and Charity have, therefore, conjoint existence in man when ultimated in good works. To separate these is like separating the forth from its essence. Charity is the essence of Faith and Faith is the form of Charity. Thus they must not by any means be separated, for then neither can be formed with man and be anything. For truths are not acquired and do not actually live in man until they are in deeds.
     Man can, therefore, acquire Faith for himself, and this he must do in order to be saved. From the nature of Faith it is evident that it is acquired and formed with man first by going to the LORD, secondly, by learning truths from the Word, and thirdly, by living according to them (T. C. R. 348). But what is meant by going to the LORD, and how do those in the LORD'S New Church approach Him? Going to the Writings of the New Church and to the Word is going to the LORD, for thus the Word is approached both in its literal and internal senses' by means of which the LORD is immediately present. It cannot be doubted that by learning truths from the Writings man learns truths from the Word, for no one can understand the letter of the Word without the Writings. But no one can have saving Faith if he has learnt truths from the Word and does not live according to them, and no one can go to the LORD and live according to the truth; which is the only saving life, without first learning truths from the Word. The importance of truths in Faith is indeed such that they give quality to Faith, for such as are the truths acquired such is the Faith. Faith is from the LORD, and is not received except by truths from the Word, for the Word is the LORD as to the Divine Truth accommodated to angels and men, and the LORD leads man by no other means, except by truth, and truth is from Him Alone, who is Truth Itself. It is according to the Divine Laws that man is led by the LORD, and thus saved mediately through Truths from the Word, and not by immediate influx of Truth (D. P. 259).
     Where these three things which form Faith with man are separated, Faith is said to be "like an egg which contains nothing prolific, but where they are conjoined, Faith is like an egg which produces a beautiful bird. Faith separated is like a picture drawn in dark colors on a black stone, but Faith conjoined is like a picture drawn in beautiful colors on a transparent crystal. Faith in the LORD when destitute of truths may be compared to a new star appearing in the expanse of Heaven, which in time grows dim, but Faith in the LORD, together with truths, may be compared to a fixed star, which remains constant" (T. C. R. 348).
     Now as the acquisition of truths is so essential in the formation of Faith, this is exalted and perfected by multiplication of truths, and indeed in proportion to their abundance and coherence. One truth strengthens and confirms another and many together make a form, which, when acting, acts as a one. According to the abundance and coherence of truths, Faith becomes more and more perfectly spiritual, therefore less and less natural and sensual, for it is elevated higher into the mind and is thereby enabled to see in nature numerous confirmations of itself. It becomes more capable of being alienated from evils and consequently of being conjoined with the good of Charity. Thus also it becomes more powerful against evils and falsities, and more and more living and saving (T. C. R. 352).
     And where is the limit to this increase and power, this life and wisdom, when truths can be multiplied in eternity and to infinity?
     But let a few words be said with respect to the form and arrangement of the truths of Faith. Faith in general consists of innumerable truths, formed into one body, the form of the human body. Some truths make the breast, others the arms and hands, others the loins and the feet, but Interior truths make the head. Yet all look to the LORD, for truth is one. Truth cannot be broken up into halves, one part looking to the left and another to the right and yet remain its own truth (T. C. R. 379). How, for instance, can this supposed truth, that man since the Second Coming of the LORD receives immediate influx of truth, exist in a mind which has received this truth that there is not any immediate influx of truth from Heaven by which man is saved, but only mediate influx through the Word and through doctrine or preaching from it. The fallacious notion is a again and again expressed in the New Church that the Old Church is getting better. Can this be one of the truths of Faith with a Newchurchman, when the Writings teach that the LORD has receded from the Old Church and come to the New, and that the Old Church has shut up Heaven against itself? Can it be one of the truths of New Church faith that there is yet to be a more excellent Revelation than that given to the New Church, when that Church is said to be the Crown of all Churches? Can things of a like fallacious character he in the Faith of a Newchurchman? No, for it is taught that the truths in the human mind must all agree, thus cohere and be arranged in a series and as it were in fascicles.

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All the things in the human body are disposed in a like manner, and there is not anything in universal nature that is not fasciculated into such series (T. C. R. 351).
     The obligation of the men of the New Church to acquire an abundant store of the truths of Faith is continually pointed out in the Writings.
     "This store," it is taught, "is in the highest degree necessary, since Faith cannot he found without it; for the cognitions of what is true and good enter into Faith and make it. If these be wanting, Faith has no existence: there is no faith that is wholly empty and void of cognitions of truths and good. If these be few, faith is scanty and meagre. If these be many, Faith is made full and rich in proportion to their abundance" (Doctr. of Faith 28).
     These things which have just been said about Faith must also be applied to Charity, for in Charity without truths there is nothing spiritual. Charity itself; which is spiritual affection, is formed through truths from the Word, and in proportion as it is formed through them it is spiritual; but Charity alone, which is natural affection, is not formed through any truths from the Word, but it comes forth with man from the hearing of preaching without his attending to truths and learning them" A. E. 232). In The True Christian Religion, n. 377, we learn that the truths of Faith both illuminate, qualify and nourish Charity. Without truths of Faith, Charity is said to be like fruit without juice, like a dried-up fig, and like a grape after the wine has been pressed out. It is then said to contain no more genuine nourishment than a man has from eating burnt bread and at the same time drinking from some stagnant pool. Thus it may be seen how worthless both Faith and Charity are without truths. "The good of Faith," we learn, "is, indeed, like a soul, and truths make its body. To say, therefore, that a man hits Faith, while he does not, know its truths, is like dragging the soul out of the body and talking to it when thus invisible" (T. C. R. 618).
     It is self-evident that indifference to truth is not charity. It is self-evident, also, that any man who attacks the truth does not act charitably.
     A man's attitude toward the truths of the LORD'S Revelation will tell both how far he is in genuine Charity and how far he is in genuine Faith.
     JOSEPH E. BOYESEN.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     It is a constant truth that no one can understand the Word without Doctrine.- A. E. 356.
LETTER FROM CANADA 1890

LETTER FROM CANADA       X       1890

     THE impossible feat of transferring from the common body one of its number and placing him at the head was again attempted at the last meeting of the Canada Association. You will remember that last year, by a vote lacking one to defeat it, a layman was licensed to preach in the New Church in Canada. This year, by a vote lacking three to defeat it, he was unlicensed. Next year-barring my inability to foretell future events-as a geographical change will be made in the meeting of the Association, we may look for another of those wonderful things-majority votes, and presto, change the layman will be a priest again, until, by change geographical he is brought to the judgment seat of Mr. Majority, and, lo! he is a layman again. Thus will Mr. Majority's see-saw wag to the end of time, or until death ends all. Aside from this utterly absurd attempt to make a priest of the crown of all Churches-by a vote of mixed laymen and priests, we had a large number of other interesting and instructive things brought out at the meeting. For instance, the true inwardness of the advocacy of lay preaching was unintentionally unfolded by one erratic speaker, who said that he did not want any priestly rule, and that the only preaching that could keep him awake was good, sound, soul-stirring sermons, such as laymen he could mention had preached to him. He believed in lay preaching; in fact, he believed in it altogether, and the Church would be better off if we were all lay preachers. The kind of rule wanted was, evidently, that each one should be a ruler. What kind of order a Church thus ruled would he in, it is not difficult to see. It would not be order, but chaos. The Doctrines of the New Church teach us that the priests of this Church are rulers, and that dignity and honor ought to be paid to them on account of the sanctity of their office. Is it not plain from this doctrine that if dignity and honor are to be paid to these rulers, a more dignified and exalted' method of raising individuals to this high and holy office than by the majority vote, must come into use? The present method, however, is "constitutional," though it be not rational, and we must abide our time, when we hope to have a Constitution based upon the Doctrines. A move has been made in this direction.
     Some of the speeches made upon the various questions fully evinced the very crude and chaotic state of the common New Church mind. Each one may be able to see this for himself by comparing some of the sentiments expressed at this meeting with the quiet dignity that pervades every utterance of the Heavenly Writings, for the promulgation of which this meeting was supposed to have been held. I have no doubt that much of the speaking at this meeting did not fully represent the interior character of the speakers, and that many regrets are now felt by those who spoke hastily and ill-advisedly. We may, therefore, look for an improvement in the Association of 1891. X.
There is a Church in both worlds 1890

There is a Church in both worlds              1890

     There is a Church in both worlds, and a revelation takes place in both and by this separation, as also the establishment of a new Church.- A. E. 641.
INTERNATIONAL LEAFLET ASSOCIATION 1890

INTERNATIONAL LEAFLET ASSOCIATION       WILLIAM GRAHAM       1890

To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     DEAR SIR: Will you kindly allow me, as Secretary of the above Association, to thank you for your friendly criticism in your issue of July last. As this Association has no other end in view than the spread amongst mankind of genuine New Church truths, you rightly judge that we shall always welcome criticisms which in any measure may help toward "perfection" in this work.
     Several of your suggestions are noted for adoption-in future issues.
     You observe that "No. 9 would be greatly improved by a mention of Swedenborg, and an explanation of how we have become acquainted with the subjects there set forth." To No. 9 there is a foot-note stating that the subjects therein set forth are "compiled from the Writings of the New Church." In a future issue this may be stated more explicitly.
     The term "Self-Essent" you observe "is a rather unnecessary strange phrase." It is admitted that the term is strange.

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In the hope that the strangeness of the term might be striking, and thus arrest attention and cause reflection, the term was used. New truths often require new terms in their explication, hence, many new terms have been added to the language during the last fifty years. The term "Self-Essent" to the reflecting mind is a very expressive one. Of course, it is well known to all well-read Newchurchmen that the erroneous doctrines extant concerning the unity of the Godhead have originated in ignorance concerning the Divine Essence. It is not generally known, because not reflected on, that only that which is self-subsisting is self-existing, and of consequence self-essent. Everything exists from an essence, either intrinsic or extrinsic to itself. As there is only One Being who exists from His own Intrinsic Essence, or who is Being Itself, He only is Self-Essent. Because all other things and beings in the created universe exist from a Primal Essence extrinsic to themselves, self-essence cannot be predicated of them, hence, "absolutely unconnected and independent existence cannot be truthfully affirmed of any created thing" (A. C. 2556). A clear perception of this fact throws a flood of light upon the process of creation. "Divine truth is the only substantiality, all other things being simply the successive forms thence resulting" (A. C. 7004). Substance, therefore, is eternal, but matter, being only a successive form thence resulting, is not eternal. Matter as matter is no more from eternity than are snow and ice. Successive forms could not be continued is being apart from momentary sustentation, because they are non-self-essent, and because self-essence is incommunicable. Non-self-essent forms, although from the Divine are not Divine; hence, Pantheism is not true. A created thing would be self-essent if absolutely dissevered from the Divine. Because not one iota of the created universe exists, or could by any possibility exist if absolutely dissevered from the Divine, it follows that the creation of the finite universe neither implies nor involves aught of divisibility in respect to the Divine Essence. If a thing could not possibly exist absolutely dissevered from the Divine Essence, does it not follow that the Divine Essence is not divided, and if in a successive form thence produced, say a piece of granite rock or a human being, there is nothing of Being In Itself, or of Self-Essence, does it not follow that Pantheism cannot possibly be true?
     If mankind can be brought to see and acknowledge that all non-self-subsisting things are non-self-essent, and that they could by no possibility subsist and exist but from a Primal Essence, extrinsic to themselves, would they not then be on the highway to the acknowledgment of One Only God, the Creator and Redeemer of mankind, and also to an acknowledgment of the universality of His Divine Providence? Should such knowledge and deep reflection accrue to any student from the use of the brief and expressive term "Self-Essent," however strange, it will not have been used in vain.
               I am, dear sir, most respectfully yours,
                              WILLIAM GRAHAM.
          NEW CHURCH INTERNATIONAL LEAFLET ASSOCIATION,
           76 DEANSGATE, BOLTON, ENGLAND.
cause of revelation 1890

cause of revelation              1890

     The cause of revelation at the end of the Church is that by it separation of the good from the evil may take place, also the establishment of a new Church, and this not only in the natural world, but also in the spiritual world.- A. E. 641.
ACADEMY BOOK ROOM 1890

ACADEMY BOOK ROOM       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     HAS FOR SALE

     THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, OR WORD 0F THE LORD. Oxford Bible rebound according to the New Church Canon, that is, containing the Divinely inspired Books only, and in their proper order. Bound in scarlet morocco and with gilt edges, $5.00; postage, 25 cents.

     GENESIS IN HEBREW. Reprinted especially for the Academy. Cloth, 50 cents, including postage.

     A LITURGY FOR THE NEW CHURCH. Published by the General Church of Pennsylvania. Contains: 1. Book of Worship; 2. Book of Responsive Services; 3. Book of Festival Services; 4. Book of Doctrines; 5. Book of Prayers; 6. Book of Sacraments and Rites; 7. The Psalter; 8. Book of Snored Songs. 541 pages (4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches). Cloth, $1.25; flexible morocco, gilt edges, $2.00.

     THE SWEDENBORG CONCORDANCE. A complete Work of Reference to the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Compiled, edited, and translated by the Rev. John Faulkner Potts, B. A.

     Of invaluable use to every Newchurchman, enabling him to find what the Writings teach about the innumerable subjects of which they treat, with reference to the passages where the various statements are found. Published in parts of forty-eight quarto pages each. Thirty-seven parts have been published thus far from A to Form. The remaining parts will be issued every other month.

     Price, 15 cents for each part, postage; 2 cents, or 6 parts for $1.00, including postage. We mail the parts to subscribers as issued, flat, so to be in good condition for future binding. Vol. I (Part 119), 893 pages. Half morocco, $4.50.

     DISCRETE DEGREES IN SUCCESSIVE AND SIMULTANENOUS ORDER. By the Rev. N. C. Burnham. Consists of Two Parts. The First Part treats of the growth and development of the degrees in man from birth to adult life, and during regeneration. The Second Part treats of the degrees in the LORD, their assumption and glorification. The whole illustrated by forty colored diagrams, and contains 175 pages (6 l/2 x 9 1/2 inches). Price, $4.00; postage, 16 cents.

     CONVERSATIONS ON EDUCATION. By the Rev. W. H. Benade. 222 pages (4 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches). Cloth, $1.00.

     AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE REV. DAVID POWELL, together with eight of his sermons and a portrait of Mr. Powell. Edited by the Rev. Win. H. Benade. 168 pages. Octavo. Cloth, 25 cents:

     DOCUMENTS CONCERNING THE DISTURBANCES caused by the Rev. L. H. Tafel, in the Academy of the New Church and the General Church of Pennsylvania. 334 pages (5 5/8 x 9 inches). Cloth. Price, $1.00 postage, 15 cents.

     Also a complete stock of all the Writings of the New Church in English and in Latin as far as obtainable.
     Swedenborg's Scientific Works, English and Latin, and Collateral Works by New Church authors.

     Address,

          CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH, AGENT,
               1821 Wallace Street,
                    PHILADELPHIA, PA.

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NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on- Tyne.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER. 1890=121.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 133.
     The Divine End in Creation (a Sermon), p. 134. The Seasons-Leaves, p. 136.- Harmony and the Senses, p. 137.-Mythology of Egypt, p. 138.
     Notes and Reviews, p. 140.
     Communicated.- The Manuscripts of Swedenborg, p. 141.-Use and Abuse (a Graduating Address). p. 141.- The importance of the Bronchial Arteries and Veins,
p. 143.- The Necessity of the Truths of Faith, p. 145.-Letter from Canada, p. 146.- Ths International Leaflet Association, p. 146.
     The Academy Book-room. p. 147.
     News Gleanings, p. 148.-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 148.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.- THE Rev. W. F. Pendleton returned from his visit to England on August 2d. His home during the summer is at Huntingdon Valley, Pa.
     Maine.- THE fifty-fifth session of the Maine Association has been postponed until next year. The Rev. Frank Sewall has held services at Bath during the summer.
     Massachusetts.- THE Rev. J. Martin, of Bath, England, preached in Boston on June 27th.
     New Brunswick.- THE Rev. T. F. Wright made a five days' missionary visit to St. John during the month of August. Three public lectures were delivered.
     Iowa.- AMERICAN, German, and Swedish Newchurchmen in the city of Burlington have united in the formation of a circulating library, well-stocked with New Church literature in various languages.
     Indiana.- AMONG the visitors this summer at the New Church Assembly, near La Porte, are the Rev. Measrs. L. P. Mercer, A. J. Bartels, John Goddard, T. F. Houts, and G. L. Allbutt.
     Missouri.- THE Rev. J. W. McSlarrow, of Arkansas, recently made a missionary visit to this State, preaching and lecturing a number of times at Thayer and its vicinity.
     Tennessee.-MR. A. Jno. Cleare has recently been engaged in evangelization work in Union City, where there is the nucleus of a New Church Society.
     Washington.- THE Rev. J. S. David, pastor of the Society in Minneapolis, Minn., is spending the vacation on the Pacific Coast. He has lately preached in Tacoma and Seattle, where a few receivers of the Heavenly Doctrines reside.
     California.- THE First New Church Society of Oakland, formerly under the pastoral care of the Rev. L. G. Jordan, is taking steps to incorporate, with the view of building a temple.
     Canada.- THE Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of the Canada Association of the New Jerusalem was held in Berlin, Ontario, from July 24th to 27th. The discussions at the meeting were of unusual interest. On recommendation of the Ecclesiastical Committee, the renewal of the license for Mr. T. M. Martin to officiate as a preacher was not granted.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- THE Rev. W. F. Pendleton, of Philadelphia, preached to the Colchester Society on July 6th, and baptized the infant son of the Secretary of the Society. On July 13th he preached, morning and evening, to the Society at Camberwell, London.
     An evening reception was given to Mr. Pendleton at the house of Mr. James Caldwell of Liverpool.
     THE General Conference of the New Church in Great Britain met in London on August 11th.
     THE Rev. W. C. Barlow, formerly minister to the Camberwell Society, is reported to have severed his connection with the New Church, and to have returned to the Congregational sect.
     THE Rev. Isaiah Tansley, pastor of the Liverpool Society, has accepted an invitation to become the minister of the Preston Society.
     THE Annual Meeting of the New Church College in Islington, was held on July 29th. There are two resident students at the College.
     Wales.- THE Memorial stone of the New Church temple under erection in the village of Ynysmedwy in the Swansea Valley, was laid on July 5th. This temple will be the first New Church temple in Wales, and will seat about one hundred and thirty persons.
     Germany.- THE Rev. F. Goerwitz, on July 10th, made a visit to Esslingen, in Wirtemberg, where he preached and administered the Sacraments to a gathering of members and friends from Esslingen, Stuttgart, and Marbach.
     THU New Church Society of Vienna is also expecting a pastoral visit from Mr. Georwitz this summer.
     A BERLIN correspondent to the Chicago Daily News, of July 31st, reports a suit for divorce filed by Frau Artope, wife of the alleged New Church minister in that city. The report says that "the sect called 'New Church,' over which Mr. Artope presides recognizes three kinds of marriages-the heavenly, the spiritual, and the natural. A married man, like the respondent, may indulge in all three." Mr. Artope is at present living with his "spiritual wife." A notice in Mr. Artope's paper, Die Neue Kirche, confirms this report.
     Poland.- THE Society at Monethen, of which the late Mr. Schiewek was the pastor, has now renounced the Doctrines of the New Church and joined the movement of Albert Artope.
     Sweden.- THE Rev. C. J. N. Manby has spent this summer in evangelistic work in different places in Sweden and Norway. Among other places he has also visited Kristiania, the capital of Norway, where two lectures were delivered and well received. This, it appears, is the first time the Doctrines of the New Church have been publicly announced in Norway.
     Australia.- THE Rev. W. A. Bates has resigned from his pastorate of the Brisbane Society, and has entered upon secular employment. The reason for this step is the diminishing of the Brisbane Society in membership and resources.
     DURING the absence of the Rev. J. J. Thornton, the services of the Melbourne Society are regularly conducted by laymen of the Society, who also administer the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.





149




Vol. X. PHILADELPHIA, OCTOBER, 1890=121. No. 10.
     Before man is regenerated he makes one confused obscure thing out of distinct things.- A. C. 24.



     THE following communication has been received from England:

"To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     "SIR:- At the last meeting of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Ministers' Association, I was instructed to send you the following resolution-the unanimous expression of opinion of seventeen New Church Ministers:
     "Resolved, That this Association records its emphatic condemnation of the correspondence which appeared in New Church Life for June, 1890, on the subject of 'pellicacy,' as this Association considers this correspondence to be entirely in the direction of one of the very worst forms of immorality, and, therefore, to be opposed to the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
     "I am, sir, yours truly,
          J. J. WOODFORD."



     A CONDEMATION adopted by the unanimous vote of seventeen ministers of the New Church deserves careful consideration; it may be observed, first that it is directed against the correspondence in the June Life on the subject of pellicacy, and, second, that it is adopted by this Association on the ground that the correspondence tends toward one of the very worst forms of immorality, and, therefore, is opposed to the teachings of Swedenborg.



     1. THE reader of the resolution is left in doubt whether it is intended as a condemnation of pellicacy in toto, or simply of the view that such a relation may be entered into with a member of the Old Church.
      True, the resolution specifies that the condemnation is directed against the correspondence in June "on the subject of pellicacy." But this correspondence refers to a series of articles on the same subject, extending over a period of two years; and, if the subject is intended to be condemned generally, then it is not reasonable to suppose that the exposition of a particular question would be singled out for condemnation by a body of intelligent men.
      Or is it within the range of possibility that the seventeen ministers, in solemn council assembled, passed a condemnatory judgment upon a subject; without examining the whole of it, but only one particular point, not withstanding that the introduction of this particular especially refers to the preceding expositions? If that should be the case, what is to be thought of the judgment, and of the council that passes it?
      If, on the other hand, the council has carefully examined all that has been written on the subject in the Life, and agrees with it, but condemns the particular point only, which is the subject of the June correspondence, then, surely, it were not becoming either the dignity or the rationality of an Association of New Church ministers to pronounce a sweeping condemnation of what might might be an error of judgment on the part of the Life, and, in addition, fail to show in what manner that judgment went astray.



     LEAVING, then, the unsatisfactory presentation, in the resolution, of the object of its condemnation, we come to the consideration of
     2. The reason for the condemnation:
     "This Association considers this correspondence to be entirely in the direction of one of the very worst forms of immorality, and, therefore, to be opposed to the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg."
     Our italics may make the character of this reasoning sufficiently clear, and make more evident the similarity of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Council to such as are described in The True Christian Religion (n. 684, 174-176, 487), where Swedenborg exclaims: "What confidence is to be placed in Councils. . But, my Reader! believe not in Councils, but in the holy Word, and approach the LORD, and thou wilt be enlightened; for He is the Word, that is, the Divine Truth there." For this Lancashire and Yorkshire council first decides that the correspondence is entirely in the direction of one of the very worst forms of immorality, and then adds, "and, therefore, opposed to the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg." First comes the opinion of the Council, then its conclusion that the Divine Truth must, perforce, agree with this opinion!



     Now, it is a certain truth, and one which ought not be beneath the notice of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Ministers' Association, that men, in their individual and in their associated capacity, do not know anything but what they have been taught. And it is another truth, from which to acquire knowledges equally certain, that the LORD'S Revelation is the only certain genuine morality, as well as concerning genuine Christianity. The two are inseparable. The ideas concerning morality, current in Christendom, are, mostly, tinctured with the hypocritical theology of the vastated Church, and Newchurchmen need to acquire not only a new system of theology from the Writings, which are the LOOR'S Second Coming, but also, and arising therefrom, a new code of honor and decorum.



     THE attitude which judges the Writings by the lumen in the minds of men is opposite to the right one, and arises from the negative spirit. Such is the attitude which decides the merits of a question according to the opinions of men, and then concludes that "therefore" the Writings must decide in the same way. The affirmative mind, on the contrary, sets aside all its preconceived opinions-opinions largely derived from habits of thought in the world-and, after learning the Truth from the LORD'S Revelation, concludes that THEREFORE all that does not agree with this Truth, though promulgated by any number of councils and associations of ministers or laymen, or both, is false and must be rejected.

150






     IT IS greatly to be feared that this condemnation, like many others, arises from the false, hypocritical prudery which infests a great part of the New Church, through a blind love for and communion with the adulterous, devastated Church, and which forbids a consideration of the rules mercifully revealed by the LORD for the preservation of the conjugial in this corrupt age, steeped as it is in the very worst forms of adultery. Is there any man of common sense, who has had some experience with the world, who does not know that the conditions which are described in the Writings do exist with many, and, that, unless they are treated prudently, they may involve young men in ruin both physical and spiritual? And does not such a man likewise know that by ignorant or fanatical advice on the one hand, and by the secret leading to unnatural practices on the other, many have been led to ruin, physical, mental or spiritual, or all three?
     Newchurchmen who know this state of the world, but are unwilling that the subject should be ventilated and the Divinely given remedies pointed out, FEAR THE WORLD MORE THAN THEY FEAR GOD, in this particular, or they would cast all considerations of what the old Church or the world may say, to the winds, and humbly submit to the LORD'S guidance.



     THE following are propositions under the general subject of "Fornication," from that very work concerning Conjugial Love; of which the angels said to Swedenborg:
     "Write concerning it and follow revelation, and afterward the Book written concerning it will be let down by us from Heaven, and we will see whether the things that are in it will be received" (C. L. 534).
     "Fornication is of the love of the sex.
     "This love commences when a youth begins to think and act from his own understanding, and when the voice of his speech begins to become masculine.
     "Fornication is of the natural man.
     "Fornication is lust, but not the lust of adultery.
     "The love of the sex, with some, cannot without damage be totally restrained from going forth into fornication.
     "Therefore, in populous cities, brothels are tolerated.
     "The lust of fornicating is LIGHT, so far as it looks to conjugial love, and prefers this.
     "The lust of fornicating is GRIEVOUS, in so far as it looks to adultery.
     "It is MORE GRIEVOUS, as it verges to the desire of varieties, and the desire of defloration.
     "The sphere of the lust of fornicating, such as it is in the beginning, is mediate between the lust of scortatory love and the sphere of conjugial love, and makes the equilibrium.
     "Care is to be taken, lest conjugial love, by inordinate and immoderate fornications, should be destroyed; inasmuch as the conjugial of one man with one wife is the Jewel of human life, and the Repository of the Christian religion.
     "This conjugial, with those who or various causes cannot as yet enter into marriage, and on account of salacity cannot restrain their lusts, can be preserved, if the roaming love of the sex become restricted to one mistress.
     "Pellicacy is preferable to roaming lust, provided there be not dealings with many, nor with a virgin, nor with a married woman, and it be kept separate from conjugial love."



     SUCH is the importance of this subject that an entire chapter (n. 444b to 461) is devoted to it.
     This chapter furnished quotations for the correspondence in the June issue of the Life, and upon these quotations and others the conclusion was based. The condemnation by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Ministers' Association becomes directed, therefore, not so much against the correspondence in June, as against the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, which treat of the subject of pellicacy with such fullness, and which show under what conditions this relation is allowable. To form a correct judgment of these conditions requires serious and careful study of the Second Part of the Work referred to, but this Part cannot be understood before one has acquired intelligence from a thorough study of the First tart, which treats of The Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love. For, unless it be known what the conjugial is-and no one knows this except from a study of the Truth revealed on the subject-there will be intelligence as to the need and the manner of preserving it. If the June article be again read, it will be seen to follow this principle.
     In the meanwhile, to prevent any misconception of the general teachings quoted above, the reader's attention is called particularly to the closing words of the exposition of the chapter on fornication:
     "It ought to be known that the love of pellicacy is held separate from conjugial love, in that the man does not promise marriage to the mistress, nor lead her into any hope of marriage. Yet it is BETTER that the torch of the love of the sex should be first kindled with a wife."
No one can fight against evils and falses 1890

No one can fight against evils and falses              1890

     No one can fight against evils and falses, and dissipate these, without doctrine from the Word.- A. E. 356.
LORD, AS HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF IN HIS SECOND ADVENT, IS THE EXAMPLE FOR THE NEW CHURCH 1890

LORD, AS HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF IN HIS SECOND ADVENT, IS THE EXAMPLE FOR THE NEW CHURCH       Rev. E. S. HYATT, B. TH       1890

     (Preached before the Canada Association on the 24th of July, 1890.)

     "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so 1 have sent them into the world."-John xvii, 18.

     As the result to be attained by regeneration is so analogous with the result attained by the glorification of the LORD'S Human, therefore, when the LORD sent His disciples into the world to evangelize, to spread His gospel, He declared that He sent them just as He was sent by the Father; and He taught that in going into the world they should in all things be guided by His example. "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world."
     This, of course, has application to every man of the Church; it is something which every man of the Church ought to %take home to himself and apply, first, to the regeneration of his internal man, and then to the regeneration of his external man. For we are taught that "the internal man is first regenerated by the LORD and afterward the external" (H. D. 181). "Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter that the outside may be made clean also" (Matt xxiii, 26). Further: "The internal man is regenerated by thinking those of things which are of faith and charity, but the external by life according to them" (H. D. 181).

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     Applying the text, therefore; first, to the internal man which is regenerated by thinking the things which are of faith, the world there spoken of is the natural mind, which is an image of the world; the disciples who are sent into that world are the remains stored up which enable a man to listen to the LORD'S teaching; these thus become the LORD'S disciples, disciples being those who learn from Him. These remains, these disciples of the LORD within us, are to go into the world of our natural mind and to carry there the Gospel of the LORD'S New Advent, with the object of making new disciples there, of thus extending the Church in the individual mind, Therefore let the few affections in each of our minds which have listened to the LORD'S teaching and have thus become His disciples, hear the command of the LORD to carry forward the work of evangelization to all that unregenerated world which, it is safe to say makes the great bulk of the mind of each one of us. It is to the few remains there, to the few disciples there, that the LORD'S command comes: "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and behold I am with you in all the days, even to the consummation of the age. Amen" (Matt. xxviii, 19, 20). If we looked only to the literal sense of this command, it would not be possible nor advisable for each and every one of us to go forth to all the world, to all the nations or gentiles; but the opening of its spiritual sense makes it a command obligatory upon every individual without exception who desires to be of the Church. It is also a work that none of us can have done more than to have made a mere beginning of it, for the work commanded is so comprehensive: "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." How comparatively few, at most, have yet been taught and observed in any mind out of all the things which the LORD has commanded! Yet not only are there so many things to be taught in each mind, not only is there such a vast unregenerated world within each mind, but also it is shown that the whole work is to be done according to the LORD'S OWU methods. He sends these disciples into the world as He was sent by the Father. "I have given to you an example that as I have done to you, so also ye may do" (John xiii, 15). How great and how engrossing a work, therefore, is every individual called upon to perform within his own self, in the work of regenerating his internal man, in learning to think the things which are of faith! He has to learn and to teach and to observe all things whatsoever the LORD has commanded; and, moreover, to learn to go about that work in the same way and by similar methods as the LORD Himself did in the glorification of His assumed Human. How little we realize, the extent of the work which we are called upon to do in ourselves if we are ever to become fit to perform eternal uses in heaven! How little we realize the greatness of the privilege which, as Newchurchmen, is within our reach, the privilege of being able to daily carry on the work of evangelization within ourselves, and of daily realizing some increase of the resulting benefit and blessing!
     In proportion as the internal mania thus regenerated by learning to think the things which are of faith, the external man must be regenerated by life according to those things. We cannot possibly do this first, for we cannot give before we receive, and we can receive any new life only in proportion as the recipient forms of our minds are changed and made new by the regeneration of the internal. For all influx is according to the quality of the recipient forms. Naturally we have no form that can receive spiritual life without perverting it-we have no such forms stall until we begin to think the things which are of faith. Mark the difference, however, between thinking about the truths of faith and thinking the truths of faith. We think about the things which are in the external memory: we think the things which have actually entered the understanding with affection. Only when we have thus learned to think the truths of faith do those truths becomes forms recipient of spiritual life with us; and only when we are thus prepared to receive spiritual life is it possible of us to live that life. But having learned to think the truths of faith, then the external man must be regenerated by life according to them, by ultimating externally the new life thus received into the understanding. As man thus endeavors to regenerate his external, the LORD implants in him a new Will. The work begins in the understanding. The understanding is the internal from which regeneration is begun, because the natural will is forever incapable of regeneration; but an altogether new Will is implanted by the LORD in the reformed understanding, as man passes form the work of regenerating his internal by learning to think the things which are of faith to the work of regenerating his external by conforming his life according to those things.
     The same teaching is involved in the two laws of Charity, which are, first, that man should shun evils as sins; and secondly, that man should do the work which is of his own office or calling sincerely, justly, and faithfully from the love of use, and not from the love of gain. Man learns to think the things which are of faith by shunning evils as sins, for to shun an evil as sin is to shun it because it is opposed to the teaching of Divine truth, which is a work necessarily done in the understanding. Thus when evils are shunned as sins they are shunned before they are ultimated in results; land as evil thoughts are thus shunned as sins-that is, all thoughts that are opposed to the teaching of Divine Truth-in that proportion we come to think the Truths of faith. That the second law of Charity regards the regeneration of the external is evident. Thus the first, the regeneration of the internal by thinking the truths of faith by shunning evils as sins, effects the preparation within the individual, himself by bringing him into a true relation with the LORD, and thus making him receptive of new life from Him. The second, the regeneration of the external, brings man into his true relation with others, through the performance of uses, to the neighbor, which uses are the uses of each individual's own office or calling. Thus we see that the laws of regeneration and the laws of Charity require that regeneration should be effected in the internal first, and, secondly, in the external. Thus the LORD glorified His Human when sent by the Father into the world. Thus must all true disciples of the LORD, whom He has sent into the world, proceed. "As Thou host sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world."
     Having thus briefly looked at the application of the text to the individual, where all genuine work must begin, let us proceed to consider its application to such an aggregate body of the Church as has met here. Is this body, the organization, the members of which have here met together, a Church? In the present connection we may safely assume that, like the members who compose it, it is more world than Church; that, like each individual member of it, it is a world in which we may presume, in which we may at least hope, that there is little of the Church. The work of extending that little over the whole is before us. It is a work of which, like the similar work in the individual, we have but little realized the extent, nor yet the greatness of the privilege of being able to engage in it.

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As with the individual, this is the world within, which must be attended to before we can properly serve the world without; to each of these worlds those principles which are the LORD'S disciples are to go, according so the example given by the LORD. "As Thou has sent Me into the world," He declares, "even so I have sent them into the world."
     For the law of regeneration in the spiritual Church is the same in regard to its larger forms as in regard to its smaller forms. The internal must be regenerated first and the external afterward; the internal by thinking the things which are of faith, and the external by life according to them. The recipient forms which determine the quality of its reception of life must be attended to before it can convey the good of life to others.
     First, then, as to the regeneration of its internal, that world within it which needs to be evangelized. As we have seen, this is effected in the individual by thinking the things which are of faith-that is, by regulating, controlling, and determining the internal activities of the understanding according to the truth of faith. Thus in an aggregate body of the Church it is by regulating and controlling all the forms which determine its internal activities, its constitution, its methods of procedure, in short, all its organic forms, all that constitutes its organization, by the truths of faith. So that as the regenerating understanding gradually becomes an expression and an ultimation within the man of the truths of faith, so also, in the aggregate body, should the very organic forms or organization thereof become more and more an actual expression and ultimation of the dame truths of faith. The Church of the New Jerusalem is the Church of the New Jerusalem from Doctrine, from the new Doctrine she has received; not, however; from that Doctrine alone, but from life according to that Doctrine-which new Doctrine has to be applied, first, to the internal life, to the reception of life, and then to the external life, the performance of uses. The world within ought to receive attention first, and be reduced into somewhat of heavenly order before it is possible to the world without, in anything like the manner in which the Father sent the Son into the world. THE CHURCH MUST TRULY LOVE THE LORD BEFORE SHE CAN TRULY LOVE THE WORLD. SHE MUST LOVE THE LORD, NOT AS A MERE SENTIMENT, BUT BY LOVING TO HAVE HER OWN LIFE ORDERED, REGULATED, AND DETERMINED BY HER REVEALED TRUTH. Only in proportion as she does this, can she love the neighbor in a heavenly manner, can she go to the world about her with any faithfulness to the LORD'S example as to the method of going. The LORD cannot do anything for His Church while she thinks only of passing on to others the truths she has received; she cannot indeed rightly perform her uses to others until she regulates her machinery and methods for performing those uses according to the LORD'S example, until she has evangelized the world within her own organization; and that, too, after the example which was set when the Father sent His Son into the world.
     In proportion as the Church thus applies the Doctrines to her own internal life, she will be prepared rightly to perform the uses for which she was established, in the way which will be really effective, because then it will be the LORD'S way; because in that proportion she will show love as the LORD shows love, who loves, not as the world loves, but with infinite Wisdom. "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. As I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John xiii, 34). Some say that all we want in the Church is more love; but love of a kind is plentiful enough. We have as much love as we have life. The LORD'S new commandment is to love one another in a similar manner, in a similar, way, with that in which He has loved us. Such love is indeed rare, and is sorely needed in the Church. In order to show love like that, she must be guided and directed in every particular by the same Wisdom, as manifested to us in revealed truth. We cannot go to the world with that love except in proportion as every work we seek to perform for it is guided by the Divine Truth, which the New Church has opened to her in most particular and practical detail. To those who have freely received, the LORD commands that they should freely give. "Freely ye have received, freely give" (Matt. x, 8). But too often, in our conceit, we let the mere pleasure of going to others almost altogether overshadow the necessity and duty of receiving the LORD'S gifts. We have not received that which is only in the memory, that which we merely know. As a result we are apt to give what is not the LORD'S; or, if it be the LORD'S, yet we give it largely diluted and defiled with what is our own; or, at least, we seek to give in ways that are netlike the ways in which the LORD gives to us.
     We have all learned the elementary doctrine that indiscriminate giving of alms is injurious in its effect. But, perhaps, we do not realize as we should that the spiritual good which anything can convey will depend, first, upon whether what is given be the LORD'S, and, secondly, upon whether what is given be given in the way, method, or order in which the LORD gives, and according to which His Doctrines would teach us to give. Only in proportion as the Church complies with these two conditions does she go to the world as her LORD and Master went; only so does she love as He loves; only in proportion as she observes these two conditions does she promote and preserve spiritual freedom among men. So far as the. Church gives things that are only of self- intelligence or gives in ways and by methods not sanctioned by the LORD'S Doctrines, what she does is detrimental to the cause of spiritual freedom, just as certainly as every kind of freedom is injured by indiscriminate alms-giving. For there is a wide and essential difference between natural freedom and spiritual freedom. Of spiritual freedom we know nothing except from Divine Revelation; and it is utterly impossible for us to be able to promote or to protect it except by the means and methods which can be learned only from that same source. Natural good-nature, for instance, has no respect whatever for spiritual freedom, however it may plead the cause of natural freedom. It is spiritual freedom which it is the supreme duty of the Church to teach, promote, and guard as heavenly treasure; but the Church is only able to do this duty at all in proportion as she is guided in everything of her work by the
Doctrines specially revealed for her-both as regards the substance of her teaching and also as regards all the methods and modes of procedure which she adopts in the endeavor to perform uses. No devices of man can have this effect, no order or method which mere human intelligence has invented as calculated to promote and protect what the natural man regards as freedom, can confer spiritual freedom. Only as the Church learns to do the LORD'S Will as it is done in heaven, even so upon the earth, will the men of the Church enjoy heavenly or spiritual freedom; but when she does do the LORD'S Will in that way, the will have discarded the methods of organization and the laws of order which she has borrowed from the world, and will have adopted these methods of organization and procedure, those laws of order and of government which can be learned only when they are sought out in the study of those Doctrines which the Divine Husband of the Church has revealed for her guidance.

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Thus will she learn to manifest a love which shall emulate the LORD'S love; thus will that new commandment to love as the LORD loves come to have daily a new significance; for every new truth learned, every step in the clearer understanding of each truth, will cause that command to mean something more than it did before, and thus to continue eternally new. Thus to receive more and more the quality which life according to Divine Truth gives, and so that all the methods of work may express it, is to go forth in the LORD'S Name, and to build up a Church composed of disciples to whom the LORD'S word may be truly applied: "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world."
     We are, indeed, also commanded to do this work as of ourselves; but there is a wide difference between doing it as of ourselves and trying to do it of ourselves or from ourselves. It is only from ourselves when we take our own methods, or the mere methods of the world. It is as of ourselves, but really from the LORD, only in proportion as we ask to have the work guided by Him in every respect, and in every particular. The Church is the LORD'S; the truths which form and guide it are the LORD'S; the methods by which it should perform uses are the LORD'S; the work of the Church in every respect is the LORD'S work; everything that is in any respect properly of the Church is the LORD'S. For the Church is designed to be the LORD'S Wife; and "the LORD is not conjoined with the proprium of man, but with His own in man" (A. E. 254). Thus the Church can only be conjoined to the LORD and be His Wife by virtue of what is the LORD'S own in the Church, in no wise by virtue of anything that is man's. All that is man's in the Church is an obstruction to her conjunction with her LORD; and only in proportion as it is removed can the LORD dwell in the Church. Let the Church therefore, shun the evil of being content to go to the world from herself, or according to merely human methods as a sin against God; and seek to perform her use in the world as purely as possible as of herself only and not of herself.
     But the natural man, forgetting the eternal and particular character of the Divine Providence which always over-rules all things for the eternal welfare of each and every individual; the natural man, seeing so much to be done, and forgetting or ignoring this, as the natural man is apt to do, thinks that the work is too urgent for the Church to be able to afford time to first study how the LORD proceeded in the glorification of His Human-thus how He was sent into the world in order that she may go into the world in a similar manner. He cries out continually that the work is so pressing that the Church must do the work first, must do it with what methods we have, or borrow the methods with which the world is trying to reform itself.
     The case may be compared to that of a small army of raw recruits, without discipline or order, or with only some such crude attempt at order as they have been able to devise among themselves, without attention to their commander-in-chief, thus who are altogether without the true order and subordination which makes the strength of a well-disciplined army. The enemy is numerous and cunning, apt to lurk in unsuspected ambush, and even having friends and sympathizers in disguise among the recruits themselves. Suppose these poor recruits, aghast at the danger threatened by the enemy, wish to attack it without waiting to be first reduced to order, discipline, and subordination, what, think you, would be their fate? especially as the enemy, besides possessing so largely the advantage of numbers, has not been equally neglectful of discipline; the children of this world being in their generation, wiser than the children of light (Luke xvi, 8). The fate we might expect for them is the only fate we can rationally expect for any Church that is satisfied to go about its work in its own way-that is content to regard order as a secondary thing-and which seeks to give benefits of which is has never taken time to seek the reception.
     The battles of regeneration, wherever they take place, whether in the Church, in the individual, or in the Church in its larger forms, are battles of the few against the many. The remains of good and truth are few. The Divine principles adopted are always few in comparison to the overwhelming number of principles derived from self-intelligence and worldly wisdom: The few can prevail against the many only by availing itself. Of that power which is in Divine Order. The Church can only do what is effective in the work of regeneration in proportion as she adopts Divine Order Divine methods of work, in proportion as she submits herself to the discipline and subordination which full loyalty and obedience to the truths of the LORD'S New Advent require. Only in the manifestation of Himself which the LORD has made in His New Advent can we see the real significance of His First Advent, only so can we see how the whole of His life upon earth is an example for the New Church, an example showing that the whole life of regeneration, from first to last, should be spent in putting off what is merely human in order that what is Divine and Spiritual may take its place. This example the New Church will not, cannot, follow unless the promptings of the natural rational, with all its plausible advice, be the first things that are, made to feel the effect of the subordination which is required. Its advice is always in favor of going to the world in quite another than the LORD'S way. Having reduced the natural rational to its rightful subjection, the Church must then hearken to the LORD'S command: "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luke xxiv, 49). She must diligently seek that instruction in Doctrine which will enable her to realize something of the truth of the LORD'S words: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways" (Isa lv, 8). Only in the LORD'S ways is heavenly power to be found; only in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem are those ways clearly set forth, the ways in which the Church must go if the LORD'S words are to be true of her as they are of all who are really His disciples: "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world."
TWENTY- SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CANADA ASSOCIATION OF THE NEW CHURCH 1890

TWENTY- SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CANADA ASSOCIATION OF THE NEW CHURCH              1890

     Communicated.

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the writers.]

     HELD IN BERLIN, ONT., FROM THURSDAY, JULY 24TH, TO SUNDAY, JULY 27TH, 1890=121.

     THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 24TH.

     THE Association met in the Temple of the New Church Society in Berlin, in the Province of Ontario.

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     The meeting was called to order by the President, the Rev. F. W. Tuerk, who read the 15th Chapter of John, after which the LORD'S Prayer was repeated and the 89th hymn of the [General Church of Pennsylvania] Liturgy was sung.
     The Rev. F. W. Tuerk, General Pastor of the Association, announced that he would deliver his annual address oh Sunday evening.
     The Report of the Ecclesiastical Committee was read by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, Secretary.
     The Reports of the Executive Committee, of the Rev. Messrs. F. W. Tuerk, G. L. Allbutt, E. Gould, and E. S. Hyatt, Pastors, and of the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, a minister of the Association, were read.
     After the reading of Mr. Waelchli's report, Mr. Martin, as Secretary, asked how this report was to be entered on the minutes. It had been the custom to address reports to the Association, but Mr. Waelchli and Mr. Hyatt had addressed the General Pastor or President, leaving the Association out.
     Mr. Waelchli: "In my work I act under the direction of the General Pastor. He is, or should be the head of the Ecclesiastical work of the Association; I save therefore reported to the one who is at the head of that work."
     Mr. Carswell, in the discussion that arose on this subject, stated that if it were orderly to address the reports in this manner we should do so. "There seems to be a regular invasion of the Academy in the Association. They seem to be introducing new principles everywhere. We need to look out all along the line and must be careful. When this Association started, twenty-seven years ago, the adopted order was necessarily somewhat crude, and there is no reason why we should never improve upon that order, as we learn to understand the Doctrines better. We believe in government in the LORD'S Church, and we want to be loyal to the Church, and if we are not in order, we want to get into order. The question is not what we want, but what the Writings say." This whole matter ought to be inquired into by the Committee.
     Mr. Hyatt suggested that the matter be referred to the Ecclesiastical Committee to report on the Doctrines on the subject.
     Mr. Carswell: "That is the right way. Now, there is the term Right Reverend, I notice in the report. This is an innovation. If it is wrong, then it should be struck out; if it is right it should be continued. It is not a question of what we want, but of what is right and orderly."
     Mr. Martin contended that the Ecclesiastical Committee was only a subordinate body appointed by the Association.
     Mr. Bowers differed from the last speaker on that point. He did not know of any Ecclesiastical Committee appointed by the General Body.
     It was ruled by the President that since the report was most evidently meant for the Association, it should be put on the record, strictly adhering to the words of the report.
     On the suggestion of Mr. Allbutt, a set of the Writings of the New Church were placed for reference in the front pew of the Church.
     Mr. Hyatt read from the True Christian Religion, n. 406 to 415.
     The meeting adjourned.



     THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

     THE meeting resumed at two p. m., and the reading of reports was continued.
     Mr. T. M. Martin, "licensed preacher" of the Association, supplemented his report by statement of work done in Vancouver, where he had found some persons interested in the Doctrines. He also explained his mode of reaching the people, viz.: by first introducing the Doctrines concerning discrete degrees.
     The application of Mr. Martin for a renewal of his license to preach during the ensuing year was read.
     Mr. Hyatt stated that the whole subject of missionary work for the Church had been treated in a most careless manner. The Church had not been particular about the matter at all. The work had always been begun as if hurry were necessary, as if the urgency of the case were such that any one wishing to work in any way for the Church should be encouraged, and that time could not be taken to consider whether the work was spiritually useful to the Church. The speaker wished to bring the importance of this matter before the Association. Again and again men had been brought out of the ministry of the Old Church, and put directly into the ministry of the New Church without any preparation for the work and without the proper qualifications. Too much judgment could not be exercised in this most important matter relating to the work of the Church. He therefore moved "That this matter [of Mr. Martin's license] be referred to the Ecclesiastical Committee for them to report to the Association at a later stage of the present meeting." He thought that before discussing the subject they should have before them the report of those who should be best qualified to judge as to the fitness of the applicant for this work. "I move this resolution, and that there be no discussion of the subject until we have the report before us. It is not a personal matter. The thing to be considered is what is spiritually most useful to the Church."
     Mr. Carswell seconded the motion.
     Mr. Allbutt thought that the question was one which the Committee could not undertake to discuss in so short a time. The General Pastor was the head of the Association, and after the close of the Association meeting last year the General Pastor had expressed his convictions that Mr. Martin was well qualified for the work.
     The President: "I said that he should prepare himself for the ministry and enter it in the orderly manner."
     Mr. Allbutt: "It was stated that there was no necessity for Mr. Martin to undergo an examination."
     Mr. Martin: "That is correct."
     The President: "I did not state that."
     Mr. Allbutt thought there was no necessity to bring the matter before the Ecclesiastical Committee; it was a matter for the General Pastor to act upon; he being the head of the Association and having expressed his conviction of the fitness of Mr. Martin, it would be best not to refer the matter.
     The President: "I would prefer that it be brought before the Committee."
     Mr. Waelchli said that the statement that this was a matter upon which the Ecclesiastical Committee required time for thought and consideration, should not be a reason why the matter should not be referred. "Would it be more advisable to bring it before this body? Surely if the Committee required time for consideration, this body would."
     Mr. Carswell thought that if any reason why the license should not be renewed could be brought forward it should be done. Let it go to the Ecclesiastical Committee, and let them report according to authority.

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The General Pastor has requested it, and let the reasons be brought forward, if there be any, why Mr. Martin should not be authorized."
     Mr. Martin: "I do not think this should be made a personal matter. It is a question of use. The question is whether this is a use which we can perform, and whether the instrument can be a form of use. My own position is this: I have been a great may years trying to teach the doctrines of the New Church, and I have always taken all the orderly steps that I could. For many rears I conducted the services at Toronto when the Society had no minister. The wish of the Society was sufficient for me. I made a formal application last year for a license and have been trying to perform the work. I might have made a longer report, but I thought I would take only the most salient points, if you conclude that I am not fit to do the work then you can refuse the license. There are two things necessary: the capacity to do the work, and the fitness of the individual as to character. If a man be not of good character, he is not a fit person to send out as a representative of the Body, whatever work he may do, and if he be incompetent to teach the doctrines he is not fit to go out as a missionary of the New Church. If any one has anything to say with respect to these two points, I shall be glad to have it brought forward and have the thing decided. The Ecclesiastical Committee is necessarily a subordinate Body appointed by this larger Body. I think the best method is or this Association, the higher Body, to deal with this question; if it wants more information it ought to take means to get it. As far as the work is concerned, I might say, that whatever is resolved upon, I have come to the conclusion that I can be of use. It seems to me to be fair to state the whole case. I am, going to try to perform this use; if you can help me I shall be glad; if not, I shall be sorry. I want you to act according to your conscience as New Churchmen."
     The President put the motion, which was adopted, viz.: "That the application of Mr. Martin for the renewal of his license be referred to the Ecclesiastical Committee, for it to report at a later period of this meeting and not later than Saturday morning."

     THE GENERAL CONVENTION.

     Mr. Bowers gave a short account of the work of the Board of Home and Foreign Missions of the General Convention.
     Mr. Hyatt: "Besides Missionary work, and a few minor matters, the Convention was taken up with matters relating to the General Church of Pennsylvania and the Academy. The General Church of Pennsylvania sent in their report, in which certain charges were made against the Convention; or, rather, the report did not make the charges, but it stated that at the last annual meeting of the General Church the charges had been made. The report only conveyed the fact to the Convention, namely: That a spirit of animosity and of injustice against the General Church of Pennsylvania had been shown by the General Convention at its meeting in Washington, and this, so much as to make it a serious question as to whether it would not be more useful for them to separate from Convention. There was one statement in the message of the English Conference read during the meeting of Convention, which appeared to me to indicate a point of departure between the Convention and the General Church, the statement, namely: 'That the Doctrines are the LORD'S, but the methods are ours. The Convention does not try to look to the Writings for guidance in their method of work.
     "The General Church, on the other hand, tries to regulate all its methods of work according to the Doctrines. That is what I understand to be the case. As the Convention ignores or denies that principle, the Convention and the General Church are necessarily becoming wider apart all the time, the more fully each develops its principle of action. The Convention manifests an unwillingness to give the men of the General Church liberty to carry out their views. This unwillingness was strongly manifested at Washington; their object was plainly to suppress the General Church. The General Church cannot obtain free discussion at the Convention. The report of the General Church, presented at Chicago, was rejected ostensibly on account of the language used not being respectful to the Convention; but the delegates of the General Church, having deliberately considered the subject, came to the conclusion that they could not modify a single word without failing to express what they believed. It was again rejected. The Chairman stated that it was the substance as well as the form to which objection was taken. They were especially offended by a quotation from the Arcana Coelestia, n. 4444: To act according to the law is to act from good, and to 'act contrary to the law is to act from evil.' When Convention acts contrary to the law of its own Constitution, such acts are evil, according to the Doctrine just quoted. They gave no heed to the explanation, that it is the quality of the ad that is so judged, and not the individual members of the Convention as persons. They say no one has a right to charge them with evil.
     "The matter concerning the Academy was in regard to the ordination of the Rev. W. F. Pendleton into the third degree of the Priesthood. The matter had been brought forward at the Washington meeting, and was referred to a Committee. I may add that Mr. Benade had asked that the whole matter, having respect to his action, should be thoroughly investigated by a Committee of the General Pastors, claiming in effect the right to be judged by his peers, by men officially his peers; but this the Convention would not grant, and Mr. Benade took the position that he would not submit to be judged in any other way. The matter was referred to a Committee not consisting of General Pastors, and, therefore, when the Chairman of that Committee wrote to Mr. Benade, asking him to communicate freely with them on the subject, he declined to do so, and gave his reasons for such refusal. They found fault with the language of his letter, which was certainly strong; but not stronger than the subject required. That letter was denounced. The matter was something with which the Convention had really nothing to do; it was an act which took place in another body-a body, with which the Convention has no organic connection, and over which it has no control.
     "There is one more point to which I would like to offer. The report of the General Church stated that wine was used in their social meetings. A motion was made to have that stricken out of their report. Several took the position that to admit the principle that anything should be stricken out of a report, merely because it stated something with which all did not agree, would be very dangerous. If an Association does something which may be regarded as questionable, such things are the very ones above all others that ought to be reported, so that they may come under the consideration of the whole body. The motion was laid upon the table after a very short discussion.
     "The Church is bound to go forward; it is to last forever. But this portion or that of its organization may fall back and die out. As a matter of fact, many Societies have died out altogether.

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The Church will advance where the methods of promulgating her doctrine are taken from Divine Revelation. But wherever man's own methods are relied upon, however promising, however plausible they may appear to be to man's own intelligence, they will fail."
     Mr. Moran: "What is meant by 'The Doctrines are the LORD'S, the methods are ours'?"
     Mr. Hyatt: "Methods include all matters regarding the organization or constitution of the bodies of the Church and their modes of procedure. Just to take one very general illustration: The Doctrines teach that the Internal man must be regenerated first, and afterward the External; that the Internal is regenerated by thinking and willing the things which are of faith, and the External by life according to them. That is the LORD'S method. Man is apt to try the opposite method. As a matter of fact, the opposite method is openly advocated by New Church organizations. They say that we must reform the external life first in order to make a plane for the internal. With them as with the Old Church and the world, matters of mere Political and Social reform are placed in the position of first importance, and the study of the LORD'S methods is neglected."
      Mr. Allbutt stated that, so far as he could understand, the General Convention tried to act according to the doctrines of the Church. "The General Church of Pennsylvania stated that the General Convention was not guided by the doctrines. 'The Doctrines are the LORD'S, but the methods are ours.' That was true; but it meant that each man was to use his own rationality in determining his methods." He continued: "The General Church of Pennsylvania has done a noble work. This introduction of the Academy has been a means of educating men more thoroughly in the Church; but their ideas are not in accordance with what we read so much of in the Writings-i. e., with the spirit of charity and of accommodation which is so necessary. They are judges of the motive's of those who do not agree with them. Let them be charitable, and not merely regard objects of the rationality, and let them regard human freedom. This was what the report of the General Church did not do; there was a disposition to take the rational only and leave out the spirit of charity and accommodation."
      He then referred to the action with regard to the proposed National Church at Washington as an object which ought to be supported by the Church at large.
     Mr. Waelchli: "I wish to call attention to this fact, that the Convention is one thing in its Constitution, and another in its actions and utterances. Now place those actions and utterances side by side with the things which we read from the Constitution of the General Convention. Such statements are made as 'the Doctrines are not the LORD, but are the means of coming to the LORD.' That is the direct statement of the leaders of Convention. The Convention does not follow the teachings of the doctrines of the New Church. Those doctrines tell us that, in order to build up a good life, we must live according to the truth. The General Convention inscribes the truth in the beginning of its Constitution, and then goes and acts in direct contradiction to the words of that truth. This shows what the General Convention is in the face of the Doctrines of the Church. So far as the Academy of the New Church and the different methods of presenting the truth, are concerned, there is room for a great deal of difference, of opinion. One opinion, I think, may be founded upon the passages read this morning on the subject of charity (T. C. R. 406-415), which I think, if everyone will carefully read, he will see what is the duty of charity to be exercised toward those who are in falsities or fallacies."

     THE ACADEMY AND THE GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA.

     Mr. Moran had heard a great deal about the Academy, but would like to know what it was and what was really its position.
     Mr. A. K. Roy: "I have been told a great many strange things about the Academy, the truth of which I determined to learn for myself from the fountain-head. Three years' investigation have resulted in leading me to feel myself very much more in sympathy with the Academy than with those in the Church who are not in sympathy with it, and I do not usually form my opinions and come to conclusions hastily or without due consideration. It took me about five years to become fully satisfied of the truth of the Doctrines of the New Church. We have heard here a good deal about rationality and freedom, and the way in which the General Convention consults the rationality and freedom of its members. I would like to ask whether the attitude of the General Convention in respect to this important matter of the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania regarded the rationality and freedom of that Church? The Convention has refused to receive its report unless amended and worded to suit them, and has thus sought to dictate to that Church the language to be used in its report. Is this consulting rationality and freedom? I do not regard compulsion as such, and this action virtually amounts to compulsion.
     "In speaking of the New Church and its Doctrines, I think the Academy is in order in regard to supporting its statements by abundant quotations, from the Writings, and I have found the same thing in the General Church of Pennsylvania. In so far as the actions of the General Convention or any other Body of the Church. I don't care what Body it is-are not in accordance with the truths contained in the Writings of the Church, so far they are disorderly. Now as far as I can judge, the Academy and the General Church of Pennsylvania are in the endeavor to act in accordance with the truth. I cannot see that if their report do use the language that there is animosity in the Convention toward the General Church of Pennsylvania, and accuse Convention of an unjust attitude to it, that that language is at all too strong. Why does the Convention object to receive and publish that report? Why, to use a parliamentary term, apply cloture, and attempt to suppress? Why not let it come out, and let us know all that is contained in the report? For instance, to bring it home, are we of the Canada Association to go to the General Convention beforehand and ask them what we shall be allowed to put into our report? This, it appears to me, is what the action of the Convention in this instance will result in. If the members of the New Church are in the sincere endeavor to live these Doctrines-to order their methods in accordance with them, no matter what those methods may be let them come out, into the light of day. Do not be afraid of anything. Now I was at the General Convention as a representative at Detroit, and from my observation there I do not think that the General Church of Pennsylvania has any fairness shown to it, so much so that this year, although I was not at Chicago, from what I have read I am exceedingly glad that I was not there. My mind has begun to ask whether such a disorderly meeting was not the natural result and outcome of the meeting held last year at Washington in a Universalist Church, using a Universalist book of worship, and with a Universalist minister taking part in the worship and services of the New Church.

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Now there are some in this section of the Church who do not see any harm in this. I suppose my friend here, who is smiling, thinks so, and considers me extremely narrow-minded."
     Mr. Ahrens, Sr.: "Yes, I do."
     Mr. Roy: "I knew it, and I am quite willing to be considered narrow-minded, if that be narrow-mindedness. I am not an Academician, but I hope I am loyal to the Doctrines. At least, I am trying to be so. If New Churchmen are not in the endeavor to stand by the Doctrines, then there is no Church with them.
     "I have come to the conclusion that in the New Church majority voting is disorderly. A majority vote cannot make a wrong course of action right, nor can it make a falsity true.
     "There is no Church, in my opinion, but the New Church. It is utterly different from anything given to the world in the past, and is differentiated from and cannot be mixed with anything else in existence.
     "Now, to return to the Academy, I have failed to find any very important matter brought forward, either by the Academy or the General Church of Pennsylvania that is not borne out by passages from the Writings of the Church, but I have not always found this the case with the General Convention. On the contrary, I have found things brought forward in its official organ, which are not only not supported by the Writings of the Church, but are utterly contrary to them. On one occasion the editor of The Messenger-Convention's own organ-made some strictures on the act of this Association or its Mission Board in respect to the work of its Colporteur, about which I wrote him a letter, in which I cited a passage from the Arcana Coelestia, n. 6822, asking him how in the face of that passage he had made such strictures. In a foot-note to that letter he characterized this passage as an 'exceptional passage.' To me there are no exceptional passages in the Writings. They are all divinely authoritative. If the editor of The Messenger be correct, we shall have as many 'exceptional passages' in the Writings as there men who may find statements in the Writings which are in opposition to their own ideas. So far as the Academy is concerned, my experience has been that those who know least about it are the most bitter in their opposition to it."
     Mr. Allbutt found fault with the General Church of Pennsylvania for judging the motives of its opponents, and quoted from its journal where it is said, "Some of the leaders of General Convention-those who control it-have, circulated slanders concerning the private life of those who are members of the General Church of Pennsylvania. We do not want to have anything to do with slanders." He also found fault with their practice of reporting all that is said at the general meetings, much being said which we ought to not to wish to preserve, but forget.
     Mr. Hyatt: "In regard to these, charges of slander, they are not charges of motives, but charges of actual, known facts. Neither are they merely facts of the past, for they are slanders which are in actual circulation at this day. Members of the General Church and the Academy are often accused of judging people's motives. In the True Christian Religion, n. 410, where it treats of love to the neighbor, we are taught that it is the internal man who is to be loved, but because the internal man is known to the LORD alone, it is sufficient we are told, that the neighbor beloved according to the degrees that we know, thus according as the quality of the internal man manifests itself, according to the evidence which a man gives by his attitude toward divine truths, that he loves the LORD and the Church. Knowing and acknowledging so fully that the real quality of the internal man is known to the LORD alone, we feel all the more free to express our judgment of it in the way indicated in the Doctrines, and for the purpose of usefully regulating our consociation with others for the performance of spiritual uses to the Church. This is the only respect in which we presume to judge the spiritual state of any man, but in so judging, we are only doing what the Doctrines teach us we ought to do."
     By request, Mr. Hyatt also gave a literal rendering from the Latin copy of the True Christian Religion, of the passage referred to in Convention, by Mr. Jordan (n. 407), concerning charity to Ward an insulting enemy.
     Mr. Martin: "A little while ago I had come to certain conclusions, but from what I have heard, the matter is now entirely plain to me. It seems to me that there is apparently in Convention a feeling, of acting from natural good. If a man bring in a report they say, 'we have no time to consider it, but we think he is a pretty good sort of man.' This is simply natural good-not the good of the natural. With regard to Mr. Pendleton, Convention should have taken the trouble to investigate, before they entered on the consideration of his ordination. They should not have referred the question for action before knowing more with regard to it. On the other hand, the Academy acts, or seems to act, from the external rational, which is described in the Arcana Coelestia as the wild ass man. As Mr. Allbutt says, the introduction of a little good would be a very nice thing. After all, we want a little patience with one another. We should look upon every man in the New Church as having a good end in view, otherwise, I do not think he would be there. We must not think of him as being in evil, but he may be considered as possibly being in a lower state than he ought to be in, and out of which he ought to be helped, but not compelled, because compulsion is no part of regeneration. Thus we may consider that all parts of the Church are actuated by good intentions, but have not yet attained to a high idea of essentials, and are mistaking the, means for the ends. There is a little passage in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 5948) which comes in here: 'Things instrumental should not be objects of regard. . . . Interior things, inasmuch as they act by exterior things, are respectively essentials. By things instrumental not being objects of regard is meant that they should not be regarded as ends, but that essentials should be so regarded, so far as instrumentals are regarded as ends, in the same degree essentials withdraw themselves and vanish.' If we look upon doctrine as the end, instead of the life according to doctrine, we regard instrumentals as ends. We see at once that this is a state through which people must go. The same applies with regard to the Church. If we look upon that as the end, we look upon instrumentals, as ends, because the Church is the only means to the religion, which is the mean's to life which is of the LORD and from the LORD. It is simply a question of degrees. As I said before, the tendency is in that direction. The speaker then dwelt briefly on the uselessness of doctrine without life. "All of us ought to be considered as going through the same order of things. It is only as we are in order-in the form of Heaven-that we can be internally in the Kingdom of the LORD or of the Gorand Man. The first thing is to be extracted from hell; the next to be inserted into Heaven. I think a little more patience and good-will would be better for all. With regard to accommodation, I would say that it is of no use for us to throw pearls to dogs.

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Divine truth is not received by any one, unless it be accommodated to the apprehension-unless it appears in natural form, for the human mind regards only worldly things, and not spiritual and celestial things."
     Mr. Waelchli: "As to the question of compulsion, there seem to be two ideas in the Church-the idea of what has been here described as compulsion, and the idea of what was spoken of in the last Convention as 'sweet compulsion.' The one results where the truth is presented, as described in the numbers read this morning-(T. C. R. 406-415) on charity, with a zeal which comes from an internal love of the truth. It may be that, to one in falsity, there is an appearance of an endeavor to compel. Now the other form of compulsion seems to exist in the Church at this day. It is exercised by appealing to the affection of the people, and governing them by their affections, leaving their rationality out of question. That is a form of compulsion which is very dangerous."
     Mr. Carswell: "This Academy seems to be stirring us up. I find there are two parties in the Association, one the Academy, and the other our old party."
     Mr. Roy: "There is a third party-those who are neither-on the fence."
     Mr. Carswell: "Our Chairman rather inclines to the Academy side."
     Mr. Martin (?):" He is a member of the Academy."
     Mr. Carswell: "He is on our side."
     A Voice: "Which side is that?"
     Mr. Carswell: "Our side. There is no doubt that there are two parties in the Association- The Academy comes with positive ideas on certain lines. My experience with one, whose ideas are in sympathy with the Academy, has been more pleasant than I expected. I think it would be well for all of us to carefully consider what they offer us, because they appear to be in the endeavor to bring all their ideas directly from the Writings, and I suppose that is what we all believe in The Convention, as I understand, has its own principles of right. They think that they do things according to the right order. We ought to stand up for our rights; and they ought to be based on the Doctrines. We ought to have none that are not, since we claim to be of the New Jerusalem. The thing is, how to understand the Doctrines of the Church. We ought to be loyal to the Doctrines, to shut out everything that is contrary to order, whether it is called Academy or by any other name. We must not be liberal as to the Doctrines, but don't say we must not be liberal!"
     The meeting then adjourned.
     On Thursday evening the Rev. E. S. Hyatt preached in the Temple to one hundred and fifty persons on "the LORD as the Example for the Church," from John xvii, 18.



     FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 25TH.

     THE meeting was opened by the Rev. G. L. Allbutt conducting the religious services.
     The minutes of Thursday's meeting were read and approved.

     MISSIONARY WORK.

     Mr. Bowers read his report as the Evangelist of the Association. It contained a resume of his missionary work in the province. The results, though not perceptible, must be there. In the LORD'S hands men were providentially made acquainted with the Writings. By those Writings the LORD led to the knowledge of truth. Thus missionary work was a co-operation with the LORD. People at this day did not hunger and thirst for the Church. There was a wide indifference. In the Christian world scarcely one in a thousand knows that evils are to be shunned. That is as true now as it was before. But the fountain of life had been opened to those who wished it. For them was to be provided the use of evangelization. It was our duty to preach the Doctrines, until all who are in falses of doctrine and in evils of life should have an opportunity to hear the two essentials of the New Church: The acknowledgment of the LORD and life according to the Decalogue (A. R. 505). He wanted more earnestness and co-operation. We should remember the precept, "give, and it shall be given unto you," for all influx is according to efflux, to which it adapts itself.
     Mr. Waelchli asked whether the Missionary could give a list of the isolated New Church people in the Association, and a statement of their increase or decrease during the past five years, together with the sources of the increase, if any.

     MIXING THE FAITH OF THE NEW CHURCH WITH THE FAITH 0F THE OLD.

     Mr. Carswell: "In reading of the early days of the New Church in Great Britain, I find the following sentiment in the minutes of the Conference: Those who did not separate from the Old Christian Church were not allowed to sit on the same floor with those who claimed to be of the New Church. I think Mr. Waelchli means by isolated receivers who are in the Church, those who are so devoted to the New Church that they do not attend the services of the Old Church; who are so convinced of the New Church that they cannot attend the Old Church."
     Mr. Moran (of Barrie, Ont.): "Such a definition cannot be allowed. The Writings do not say so. When there is no church near reach, I believe it to be my duty to attend Divine worship. I make a selection of the churches, and go to the best, in order to keep up at least the form of Divine worship. If that definition is laid down, I will be ruled out, and I have been in the New Church for twenty years, and have always been acknowledged and considered as a New Church man by this Association."
     Mr. Waelchli: "We are told in the Doctrines that Baptism is the gate of entrance to the New Church. How many baptized isolated members of the New Church are there in the Association over the age of twenty-one years? That is my question."
     Mr. Bowers doubted whether he could give a list of really genuine New Church people; he could give a list of believers in the Doctrines, who read the Writings and take the periodicals, and endeavor to live according to the truth. They are New Church people as far as appearances go. He would give the list in the afternoon.
     Mr. Carswell: "My statement was in reference to the principle of action of the early New Church. I was much interested in it, because it showed a loyalty to the Doctrines from which we have departed. There is too much assimilation with other Churches. I am sure none of our Doctrines teach we should worship in the Old Christian Church."
     The President: "We can read the paragraph from the Brief Exposition, n. 102, if you wish it."
     Mr. Carswell: "It would be well to read it. I may say that last year, in attending the Conference in England, I heard the same statement as we have just heard.

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A gentleman complained that New Churchmen were not sufficiently pious, and did not attend public worship enough. He said he would attend any other Church in a place where there was no New Church. It was contrary to any idea I have of the Church to have the worship of One and that of three gods together. When e enter a Church, we enter the sphere of that Church."
     The President: "I think the Doctrines will decide it."
     Brief Exposition, n. 102, was then read: "That the Faith of the New Church cannot by any means be together with the Faith of the former Church, and that if they are together, such a collision and conflict will I take place that everything of the Church with man will perish."
     Mr. Moran: "I have read that passage twenty times. We are told that the Church should be built up of unhewn stones, and no man shall-polish that stone for me. It should stay as it is, without interference; and I declare it to all that I have conscientiously tried to live to the Doctrines. There is not a particle of the Old Church mixed with the New Church as taught by you, and there is not a particle of the New Church faith which has been mixed with the Old Church faith with me. I have endeavored to keep them a part. I find that they will not coalesce. Nevertheless, I do go to a Church where the Word of the LORD is read in good, smooth-flowing English, and I sit and listen to it, and until I feel that I am doing wrong I will do so until I see reason to the contrary.
     Mr. Hyatt: "We have just heard a statement, which no one could make in the light of the Doctrines. The claim has been made by the last speaker that there is no mixing of the New and Old in his mind, and now-"
     Mr. Moran: "That is incorrect and uncharitable. They take up words, which may be a jest, and examine them by a microscope, and what they do themselves they examine through a telescope [laughter]. I hope the members of the New Church, with whom I have associated for the last twenty-five years, will treat me with charity, and not impute anything to me that I did not mean. What I said was that the Faith of the Old Church is not mixed with the Faith of the New Church, with me. I did not say I am not a great sinner."
      Mr. Hyatt: "Well, he said that the Faith of the New Church is not in him mixed up with the Faith of the Old Church. The reception of Faith by the Church is necessarily mixed with the Old at first, and so it is in our minds, and it is the work of regeneration to get rid of this, to go through a process of purifying our first imperfect reception of the truth. And if we go and outwardly mix the two, as well as inwardly, it will be a hindrance to doing that work of regeneration. We ought to take any assistance we can get to help us in becoming receptive of the New Church. We cannot afford to do anything which will hinder us in doing that work."
     Mr. Carswell: "This is not a question of feeling. As I understand the Doctrines, I am full of evil, and whether I can be saved or not will depend on whether I shun evils as sins and look to the LORD.
     "I think all who attend the Old Christian Church, from which the LORD has departed; can be saved. He has departed from the Heathen. They can be saved; but the New Churchman cannot be saved in Heathendom, and so he cannot be saved in the Old Christian Church, and the New Churchman cannot worship in the Old Christian Church, because if that be so the Faith of the New Church is so obscured that he cannot see the difference. In the midst of evil we do not see that it is evil. It is only when in the Divine Truth that we see it is evil.
We want it put plainly to us. These is no doubt in regard to that passage which has been read. If that is true, let us try to put away the faith of the Old Church, from which we cannot be delivered, except by these severe, plain truths being followed. We want to follow these truths."
     Mr. Martin: "I do not attend any Church except the New Church. But we must draw men by gentleness and moderation. Every one should come into the New Church as a full receiver of the Doctrines. In the Arcana Coelestia it is said that the LORD is never willing to destroy suddenly, much less instantaneously, the worship inseminated in any one from infancy. The essential is that we should know and hear the Word and it is the Word whether it is read in an old building or a new building, or no building at all. I think it is good to read and hear the Word, anywhere, if a man can dissociate himself from the surrounding sphere, which I cannot do. The holy principle of worship rooted in early nature is of such a nature that it cannot endure violence, but must be bent-with moderation and gentleness. That is the doctrine, which bears on the subject. With regard to the state of the Old Church, I find that there are people in that Church who are simple in good and truth, and because they are in the Old Church it does not follow that they are mixed up in the sphere of that Church, because I read in the Writings (Arcana Coelestia, n. 9410) about the simple in the other life. 'But let the simple remain in their own doctrine that they are saved by the blood of the LORD, only let them live according to His Divine truth, for they who live according to it are illustrated in the other life.' This should be borne in mind. These people are not to be condemned and treated harshly as some people do. Those who have confirmed themselves against the good and truth of faith are evidently those who may be said to be of the Old Church. . . . Now there can be no doubt that there are people in all stages, of progress from the Old Church to the New Church, and it is not good to make any hard and fast law about their state, or to think that we are able to say whether they are in good and truth. . . . No one can say that the faith of the New Church cannot go with the faith of the Old Church in any life; for only as the falses of the Old Church are removed one by one, during several years, can progress be made during man's lifetime. I think we should endeavor to come into a more orderly form."
     Mr. Waelchli: "As concerns the state of the simple in the Old Church it does not follow that because the simple are protected when in the sphere of the Old Church, that one who has the Doctrines of the New Church in a mixture with the faith of the Old Church, will also be protected when in the sphere of the worship of the Old Church."
     Mr. Moran: "Does it follow that he is not protected?"
     Mr. Waelchli: "It does most necessarily follow that he is not protected. He will not be protected, for the faith of the New Church and the faith of the Old Church cannot be together. Worship derives its character from the faith, and one who does not have the faith of the New Church, but who is in a simple faith and is under the protection of the LORD, does not have this mixture of what is of the New Church and what is of the Old Church; but one who has the faith of the New Church entering into the worship of the Old Church will being the two faiths into conflict in the worship which is the ultimation of faith. Now one of the speakers has said that we will not condemn those who are the simple in the Old Church.

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That is a sentiment, indorsed by every New Churchman. I have never yet heard of the simple in the Old Church being condemned. In fact, we have no right to pass a judgment on the individuals of that Church. We only judge in regard to the general character of the Church. In the Doctrines we are taught what is the character of the Old Church as a whole, not only as to truth, but also as to good, namely: That the internal of the Old Church is most evil. That is the judgment concerning the Old Church, but at the same time we have no right to say that this individual or that individual of the Old Church is of such and such a character. We have the statement as to the state of that Church as a whole. We are taught that there is a remnant which is preserved for the sake of building up the New Church, and that this remnant consists of the simple, who are being protected by the LORD for the sake of the formation of the New Church and of the New Heaven.
     "It has been said that there are several degrees between the New Church and the Old Church, and that it takes several years to go from the Old Church to the New Church. There is no doubt about that. With some it takes a longer time, with others a shorter. But we are not speaking of the Church universal, or the internal Church, but of the Church which accepts the teachings of the New Jerusalem as coming down from God out of Heaven. By the New Jerusalem is meant the Doctrine of the New Church. What the state of people is whether they belong to the Church universal or not, we cannot judge. No one can. It may take several years for a person to come from the acknowledgment of the faith of the Old Church, and turn to the acknowledgment of the, faith of the New Church, and come into the organization of the New Church. It is orderly that a man should progress rationally in this state. It is the same in the World of Spirits. There man is neither in Heaven nor Hell. He is in a state preparing for either the one or the other. One who is in this state of vacillating from the old to the new is between truths and falsities. He is undergoing a state of judgment, and will eventually turn, either to the truth or to falsity. It is a work of several years; but we cannot say that the man who is in that state belongs to the New Church. It is a transition state. But this we can say, and must remember, that there is but one gate of entrance to the New Church, which is baptism, and that we cannot change that law."
     Mr. Carswell: "When we see any doctrine to be true and in accordance with the truths of the New Church, which we have read or have understood, however severe it may be, it ought to be told. I hope Mr. Waelchli and Mr. Hyatt will bring their microscopes to bear. Let us have them. Let every microscope be used, and be brought straight home, not with the intention of criticising, but of showing where we are out of order. It is kindness to be told one's faults, even by an enemy."
     Mr. Allbutt: "What Mr. Waelchli said about the simple was very agreeable to me. I thought that he denied that there were simple good in the Old Church. It would be scarcely fair for me to have nothing to say in this matter. Some of his remarks I would wish to extend the Writings teach that there are states through which persons must go before they can assent to the specific teaching of the truth. There are quite a number now of members of the Old Church who are preparing for receiving-in-full the teachings which they LORD has given us. We are told in the Apocalypse Revealed that the several Churches in Asia denote all those who are to receive the Doctrines of the New Church as they are given to them. This is the missionary work of the New Church, and we must adopt our methods in endeavoring to do that work in accordance with what the Doctrines teach, to the ultimate end of presenting the truths of the New Church to the simple in heart and faith."
     Mr. Hyatt: "It seems to me we are going from the point raised at the beginning of this discussion, which was whether it is good for a man in the New Church to attend the services of the Old Church. On this point I think that it is not sufficiently recognized that the object of the worship of the Old Church, and that of the New Church are two distinct things. The worship of the New Church is directed to the LORD in His Divine Human, but in the Old Church the object of worship is a being of their own creation whom they call God the Father. It is wrong for us to take part in that worship. It would not only be injurious to us, but to those simple who have been so much talked about. The passage read 'Let the simple remain in their own doctrine.' This shows that we ought to be careful about interfering with the remnant of those in simple good or disturbing them. This, I think, is a reason why the LORD keeps us from them; because we would be more likely to do them harm than good. We must be in a better position to deal with them from a New Church point of view. They are protected by the LORD, and will be protected. We have been told that the Word is the Word wherever it be read. That is not true. We are taught that it is not the Word, but the understanding of the Word that makes the Church, and a false understanding destroys the Church. If the Old Church teaches the worship of three persons, then the Word with them is a false thing, and the Church is necessarily a destroyed Church. Another point I wish to speak on is that when a man has made a beginning of the work of regeneration, there is a beginning of a new will. While man is being regenerated, he has a new will and an old will. They are two distinct wills. There is no change in the old will effected by regeneration. We are all liable to return to the old will, and we have to be on our guard against it. We must keep the two things as distinct as possible. If we, knowing and understanding the Doctrines of the Church, yet join in the worship of a false god, or countenance it in any way, it makes us unable to keep the old will distinct from the new will. It acts against this work of regeneration, and there is a danger of this work being destroyed. We ought, thus, Ito keep away from the Old Church. The last speaker said that he had been glad to learn that we believe there are those who are in simple good in the Old Church. We do believe, notwithstanding that we ought not to mix with the Old Church, because we believe it to be injurious to the simple there, as well as injurious to the uses which we try to perform for the Body of the New Church."
     The meeting adjourned.



     FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

     Tim report of the Editor of the New Church Tidings was read.
     The report of the Treasurer of the Mission Board was read.
     Mr. Carswell, Treasurer of the Mission Board, supplemented his report by stating that the idea in establishing the Board was to help scattered brethren. It was thought that, if the Writings could be distributed in cheap form, it would strengthen the isolated receivers and unite them together. In this work they had been aided by the free use of all the tracts which the members required, given by the American New Church Tract and Publication Society.

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They had also been presented with the ten-cent editions of the Writings. Mr. John Worcester had given them one thousand copies of the work on the Divine Providence, and one thousand copies of Heaven and Hell had been bought. They had sold over $5,000 worth of literature. Even if the books were to cost nothing, contributions would be necessary in order to support a man to sell, a book room, and agents. It might be expected that the isolated receivers, who did not support New Church services, would largely support the missionary, but only $202.45 had been received, contributed by thirty-three persons. The rest had given nothing. From the Societies little had been received, since they had their own work to do. The idea the speaker wished to put forward was that there was no enthusiasm, except in talky in supporting the Mission work. That seemed to be the fact. This talk was the principal thing which supported it. Enough books had been obtained, and many had been sold. He asked whether a wish for the work existed with the isolated receivers; whether the Association had not something before it which would cause it to think whether its work was in the right line. "Mr. Bowers goes through the country, but do they want him? It does not look like it. They would give as much to a beggar as they do to support him. I think a beggar-a pauper on the road-would gather more money than is paid for the missionary work in Canada!" If the isolated receivers would not sustain the work, what was the use of carrying it on? All liked to have their work produce results. The Missionary had said in his report, "It may be well and devoutly wished that a greater zeal might be raised with regard to the uses of evangelization. Would it not promote the spiritual growth of all throughout the length of our missionary field, who profess the faith of the New Jerusalem, if we could have more earnestness, a stronger bond of sympathy, a greater unanimity, and a more general co-operation in the blessed privileges and duties which are so plainly communicated in our Heavenly teachings." How are we to get this earnestness? It cannot be bought. If the sale of books would give it, enough had been sold. Was there not something in the idea of having a more scholarly class of teachers? Ought not the priest to bring the matter home to us? Should we not beg in with the children, and bring the New Church teachings right home to them, that there may be an earnestness and love of the Doctrines from within? Was it possible to arrive at anything more than talk, if they went on as they had been doing? Earnestness was wanted, the question was how to get it.
     The report of the Mission Board was read.
     The report of the Colporteur was read.
     A vote of thanks was given to the Board of Home and Foreign Missions of the General Convention, to the New Church Board of Publication, and to the American New Church Tract and Publication Society for donations received from them.
     A vote of thanks was given to Miss Carswell for keeping the books of the Mission Board.
     The question of the incorporation of the Mission Board was referred to that Board for action during the present year.
     The Committee appointed to collect money for the Mission Board reported that they had done nothing in this direction.

     APPOINTING DELEGATES TO THE CONVENTION.

     The question of appointing representatives to the General Convention was taken up.
     Mr. Waelchli pointed out that the delegates represented the whole Association, and not the Societies from which they came. He thought the appointing of delegates, instead of being left to each Society to elect a certain number, as is the present custom, should be left in the hands of the Executive Committee.
     Mr. Roy stated that those who were elected, under the present system, did not generally go, and those went who were not delegates.
     Mr. Waelchli moved "that the Executive Committee be empowered to appoint delegates to represent this Association at the next meeting of the General Convention, and that the General Pastor be empowered to fill vacancies which may occur."
     Mr. Carswell moved, as an amendment, that the present system of each Society appointing a certain number of delegates be retained, and that the General Pastor have authority to substitute names in case of necessity.
     Mr. Roy thought that these two motions may be widely different in their results. After reviewing them the speaker continued: "You can see that under Mr. Waelchli's motion the majority of the delegates will be those who favor the Academy views. That is presumptive. We might find a very similar state of affairs at the Convention next year, as was found at Chicago this year. At the Chicago meeting one point that struck me forcibly at the time was that when the programme was announced there was not a single Academy man put down for a single address nor anything else."
     A point of order was here raised, but no one objecting to the remarks, the speaker proceeded.
     "You can see that matters have come to a crisis, because, so far as my opinion goes, the General Convention by their action with respect to the report of the General Church of Pennsylvania have ostracized that Church, and the Convention may repeat the same action next year unless the General Church's report happens to meet with its approval. If I were individually concerned, my action would be not to send in another report, but to leave the Convention alone, and have nothing more, officially, to do with it. The only choice is that the General Church must be expelled, or go to the General Convention and ask them what they are to put in their report."
     Mr. Allbutt rose to a point of order, which, however, the President did not support.
     Mr. Roy: "You can understand that if the General Church of Pennsylvania do read a report to the General Convention next year, when that report comes up for consideration it might happen that a single vote from Canada might turn the action of the Convention one way or the other. Of course, majority vote is not the way to settle the matter, but we must go under the Constitution and procedure of the Convention. I find that the majority vote may go one way and the right the other. The New Church to-day is all wrong if majority votes are the right thing, because the majority of the world is against it. My object in making these remarks is to let the Association vote intelligently. I have no vote. If I had, I would know how to vote, but I am not in a position to be appointed as a delegate to the Association or to the Convention. I am not a member of any Society. I speak as a disinterested, impartial spectator."
     Mr. Waelchli stated that the objection had been made to the original resolution, that the members of the Executive Committee could not meet together. If they could not meet the speaker thought the Executive Committee had better be wiped out. The Constitution gave all the business of the Association into its hands during the year with the exception of three days; it, therefore, ought to consist of those who are able to meet together.

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As matters are now it only meets at the annual meeting.
     Mr. Martin moved the retaining of the present system of appointing delegates. He thought that since that system had worked so well it ought to be retained.
     Mr. Martin's substitute was lost on a tie (11-11).
     The first amendment was lost.
     The original motion was carried.

     THE NEW CHURCH TIDINGS.

     Mr. Waelchli "I have in my hands a copy of the last number of the New Church Tidings, which contains in the 'Question Drawer' a reply to this question. 'In John i, 1, we read: "the Word was God." Is it admissible to speak in like manner of the Writings? What say the Writings themselves of themselves on this score?' As this is the time for the consideration of the Tidings, I wish to make a few remarks as to the reply which was given. The Tidings perform the use of teaching the Doctrines of the New Church in Canada, and it is the most general means of teaching them which we have. It is recognized in our Association that the editor should be a minister of the Church, because the editorship of such a paper is undoubtedly a priestly work-the work of teaching men the truths of the New Church. The relation which should exist between the editor of such a paper and the readers of the paper should be the same as exists between a pastor and his Society. The priest is the LORD'S representative, and as such, as the LORD'S servant, he teaches those who choose him to minister to them. And having chosen him as their priest, it is not right that they should dictate to him what he should teach or how he should teach, since the Priest learns from the LORD, through Divine Revelation. But still, while this is not their privilege, it is always right for a Society to call into question whether the Doctrines taught by the priest is in accordance with Revelation, and if they be in doubt about the point it is right that they should be allowed to apply for an investigation into the matter, and this investigation should be made, not by the laity of the Church nor by the Church assembled in a large body, but by the Priesthood of the Church, by one who is in a higher office than the one who fills the office of Pastor, and he consults his Council.
     "Now a number of the members of this Association have been disturbed in mind by the teaching which is here given in reply to this question. Whether they have cause to be so disturbed is not what I propose to discuss. I only wish to state that they have been disturbed in mind. The teaching which is brought forward in this article is, as far as I and many others who have read it can understand it, is to the effect that the Word in the Letter is to be understood as being the Word here upon earth, and that the Writings, although in a very eminent position, are not to be confounded with the Word. [The article in question was read.] I do not wish to discuss this article now. I do not consider this is the place to do that in order to arrive at a conclusion as to whether it is true or not. But there are a number in the Association who do not hold the position which this article seems to teach. I understand that the teaching there given is that the Writings are not the Word, but that they are a Divine Revelation."
     Mr. Allbutt: "Yes!"
     Mr. Waelchli: "While others in the Association hold the position that the Writings are the internal sense of the Word, or what is the same thing, are the Word in the internal, sense; or, again, acknowledging, also, that the Writings of the Church are the second coming of the LORD, they are the LORD coming the second time. Now, which view is correct, I do not now wish to discuss; but I wish to lay it before you so that you can see that it is an important matter, and should be understood by the Church in general. What are the Writings of the Church? This question should receive our careful consideration. Let us remember that this paper is the most general means for the instruction of this Church in Canada, and the instruction given in its columns reaches further, and effects more, than the instruction given in any other way in this Association, and it should, therefore, be in accordance with the Doctrines of the Church. In order that the truth of this matter may be made clear, I wish to offer the following preamble and resolution:

     "'Whereas, it appears to a number of the members of the Canada Association that the teaching contained in the June and July numbers of the New Church Tidings, in answer to the question as to whether it is admissible to speak of the Writings as the Word, is not in accordance with the Doctrines,
     "'Resolved, that the Ecclesiastical Committee be requested to consider the teaching contained in the said number, to the end that this matter may be made clear.'

     "This resolution does not contain any one's views. It does not say that the teaching is not true. It is simply a statement that a number of the members of the Association, and quite a large number, do not agree with this teaching, and consider that it is a question of such vital importance that it should be considered. If the objections are just, we will learn the truth; if not, we shall be glad to be informed of our mistake. The resolution simply asks for an investigation, that the Church may be in enlightenment. It is not particularly important when the Committee reports on this matter. If it cannot agree this year, let it take another year."
     Mr. Allbutt: "I may be allowed a word on this matter, since I am interested in it. I have no objection to the matter being brought before the Committee. I am I very willing that it shall come before the Committee. Here is a point of Doctrine. I think it would be a very useful point to bring forward. I hope it will be considered. But I do object to the way in which the subject has been opened. It does not seem to me to be orderly. This is an article written as a reply to the question asked in the Tidings for June and July. It has been before the public for six weeks, and this is the first time I have heard any objection made to it. It would have been quite proper for Mr. Waelchli to have written to me on the subject, and have brought the matter before the Ecclesiastical Committee without the Church knowing about it. There are many things to do in the editorship of the Tidings. The editor should be entrusted with the confidence of the Church in his onerous duties. And they are very onerous duties. And it is bad to have brought the matter forward in this form. It would have been better if Mr. Waelchli had written to me and suggested that the matter be brought forward before the Ecclesiastical Committee." The speaker dwelt on the great use of the paper. It should be brought out as favoring no particular views, but as a general New Church representative paper. "There are many things which might have been in the Tidings which would have caused discussion. Supposing something should be mentioned about the friends in Berlin. I understand that card-playing on Sunday evening is indulged in."
     Mr. Waelchli pointed out that this was an individual matter, and not a Society matter, and did not receive the sanction of the Pastor.

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     Mr. Allbutt: "I know that Mr. Waelchli plays on Sunday. Now, I have been careful not to give any offense by making a very powerful tirade, because card- playing is opposed to the teaching of the New Church with relation to the Sabbath-day. We are taught that the Sabbath-day is a day of instruction in spiritual things, and for the exercise of charity to the neighbor, and this is defined in the article where we are taught that things of benevolence ought to be done on the Sabbath-day. Also I have said nothing about excluding the children of the Church from mixing with other children. That does not seem to me to be in accordance with the Doctrines of the Church. I want to make the Tidings a paper for the whole Church, and not for a section of it. I object to the resolution on the ground that it has not been brought forward in an orderly manner, but ought to have been communicated to me in a private letter."
     Mr. Waelchli suggested that the matter be discussed in the Ecclesiastical Committee. "As far as concerns the various charges which have been made by the last speaker, I shall not answer them now, because I do not see that they have any bearing on the subject before us. As to the idea that the editor is charged with teaching false doctrines in the Tidings, there is nothing of the kind implied in the resolution."
     Mr. Allbutt: "I object to the matter being brought before the Church in this way. It might have been brought before me quietly, instead of disturbing the Church."
     Mr. Waelchli: "I think the Church is not disturbed by this resolution. I think the Church was disturbed by the publication of the article. I am surprised that Mr. Allbutt's feelings in this matter are such as he has described. I did not expect that the resolution would arouse such feelings. It seems to me I would not have been so affected. If Mr. Allbutt regards the matter in this light, I shall withdraw the resolution. The reason why I introduced it was on account of those who were disturbed in mind by the article in question. It was from no other cause that I wished the Ecclesiastical Council to investigate the matter. Therefore I brought it up in this way that it might be referred. But since it has brought about this state, which I did not expect, and since I do not consider it well that this state should exist, I withdraw the resolution. I expected that this matter would have been considered in a calm, cool way, as a means of getting at the truth on a certain point. But there has now been aroused a personal feeling. It will not go before the Council in the spirit I had expected, and which would be necessary for its rightful consideration."
     Mr. Moran: "Yes, after you have done the mischief you intended; but can this be withdrawn without the consent of the editor? Some one writes a letter. He answers it in the words of the Writings, and somebody complains. I did not complain. I would like to be relieved from being suspected as one of those persons who object to the matter. Who broached it? And now this is to be withdrawn before we can discuss anything about the matter. I have no desire to discuss the motive of the question, but have a strong desire to discuss the motive which actuated the member who brought it before us. I cannot see that his act can be charitable or honorable. Even if this resolution is right, it would be well to have thoroughly weighed the matter before coming before the public. And now it is impossible for the mischief to be undone, because the resolution is withdrawn. It would be just as well if we came to the bottom of this at once, and find out where we are."

     THE WRITINGS ARE THE WORD OF GOD.

     Mr. Carswell: "I heard the article of which Mr. Waelchli speaks called into question. The answer to the question in the Tidings was not a proper answer. I have heard it spoken of by two or three members in Toronto, but the persons are not here now. There is no doubt about there being some reasons for calling in question the teaching in that article. I want to support Mr. Waelchli's statement that there are some who believe that the Writings are the Word of God. I believe that myself. I believe that when we say 'Heavenly Writings,' we say the same thing as 'Sacred Scriptures.' They mean the same thing. I believe they are the Word of God; not, however, in the same sense that the Bible is the Word of God. I have not spoken to any one about my objection to the article. I have not said that it was right or wrong. Mr. Allbutt is my Pastor, and I have not mentioned the matter before, but mention it now to show that there is a sentiment in the Association to give rise to Mr. Waelchli's action. I think that as this article has gone forth, it has had its effect, whereas this motion gives the opposite side, showing that the teaching of this article is not sustained by all the members of the Association. I don't think it is uncharitable. It may be a question of policy. But that is a subordinate matter. It is an endeavor to get at the truth. I think that the true stand for the New Church to take will come to this-that these Writings are the Word. We are taught that every revelation is the Word, the LORD being the Word. The article itself states that the Writings are a revelation. It states that everything from the LORD is the Word. If they are from the LORD, they are the LORD. In the article quoted it is said that Doctrine from the LORD is the LORD. Swedenborg does not claim that the Writings are the Word of God, but he does claim that they are from the LORD. The Bible does not say it is the Word of God."
     Mr. Allbutt: "It says, 'Thus saith the LORD.'"
     Mr. Carswell: "Swedenborg says, 'I received all from the LORD.' The Writings have not the same way as the Bible has. I am interested in the matter, because I believe it is the true stand to take."
     Mr. Allbutt: "I object to the form in which the matter has been brought up."
     Mr. Hyatt: "I think it is not in order to discuss the charge of motives against any one, because we do not know any one's motives. Motives have been imputed to Mr. Waelchli; but we will pass that over. It shows from which side of the house comes the imputing of motives. There is one thing which has been said by Mr. Allbutt which is just in principle: that this paper ought to represent the Church as a whole. He says that he has restrained from putting forth views held only by a part of the Association. He knew that his view was held by only a part of the Association. On the same principle he should not have published it."
     Mr. Allbutt: "It commended itself to the whole Church."
     Mr. Hyatt: "I am not going to enter into the merits of the case now. With regard to The motion, I ask what other possible result could it have had but to shed more light on the subject either on one side or the other. It would have thrown light on the subject, and we would have had the benefit of the light which would have enabled us to come to a clearer understanding of the subject."

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     Mr. Roy: "I think it is a very great pity that it is withdrawn. I am like Mr. Carswell. I cannot say that I hold his views, but my views have undergone a very great change on the question of the status of the Writings. This is not the place to say what I should like to say. I am sorry that the matter is withdrawn. And I am surprised at Mr. Moran saying what he has said about motives. I am also surprised that Mr. Allbutt should take the resolution as he does. I would be only too happy, were I in his place, to have the truth and nothing but the truth come out, even if it were to send me from the editorial chair."
     Mr. Allbutt: "I only object to the form."
     The meeting was adjourned.

     In the evening Divine worship was conducted by the Rev. J. E. Bowers, who preached from Revelation xiv, 6, on "The Everlasting Gospel."



     SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 26th.

     The meeting was opened by Rev. J. E. Bowers conducting the religious services.
     The minutes of Friday's session were read and approved.
     The Ecclesiastical Committee reported that a meeting had been held on Friday morning, but, in order to give the matter as full consideration as possible, another meeting had been appointed for half-past eight this morning. The Committee had met accordingly, when the President reported that a message had been received from Mr. Allbutt saying that he was too ill to attend until ten o'clock. As the Committee desired to discuss the matter only in full meeting, they were obliged to postpone giving a report on the application of Mr. Martin.
     Mr. Waelchli moved that the matter be laid on the table until this afternoon.
     Mr. Allbutt is in favor of the resolution. He thought it important that the matter should be brought up at the present Association meeting, as otherwise an important use would be laid aside for a year.
     Mr. Hyatt thought that the discussion would be hurried. The Ecclesiastical Committee would only have the dinner hour, and the Association would only have a portion of a short afternoon. The matter was a most important one, which ought not to be hurried. It was a matter of the highest importance.
     Mr. Martin: "The matter was referred with the understanding that it should be brought up in order that action might be taken at this meeting of the Association, and now, if this suggestion of Mr. Hyatt's be accepted, there will be a change in the undertaking which they take upon themselves. It would be better to do these things in a straight forward manner."
     Mr. Hyatt stated that the reason that no report was ready was on account of a case of sickness-a cause beyond our control.
     Mr. Martin: "This matter is a simple thing, and it seems to have more dons with it than one would expect. Having failed to present a report of the whole Committee, at the date appointed, it seems to me it requires a fresh motion and direction. Otherwise the subject comes back to where it was before. It comes before the Association as a whole. That is where I wish to see it. I think this Association is quite competent to deal with this matter. The matter is before it. It was referred to the Committee only for advice. This advice not having come, owing to disagreement and the illness of Mr. Allbutt, it seems to me that the matter has now come back before the Association. And if I may be allowed to express any wish, I would desire that the Association should get it out of the way. I do not see that it is so very important. The rules governing such matters may require change. That can be done as an independent matter. This question is simply the renewal of a license I for one year, for the purpose of performing a use which I intend to do in any case. The reason I would have the Association consider this matter is that I may properly explain my position; because I can understand it may be a false position to many who think it disorderly for me to teach doctrine without authorization. I should prefer that the matter be laid before the whole body, when I would have an opportunity of explaining it."
     The motion of Mr. Waelchli was adopted.
     Mr. Carswell, speaking of the financial needs of the Association, showed how badly they were supplied. He recited the various uses of the Association, and showed what money would be required to support them. People did not seem to contribute. "There is something lacking about making connection between the teaching, and sustaining the teaching. I am confident that there is something lacking in the way our priests instruct the people. The work ought to be carried on so as to return enough to support it. There is no such a thing as carrying on business without that. There ought to be some reciprocation. Now, take our missionary. He goes out, but somehow or other his teaching is not such as to lead the people to give. If he asked he would not be welcomed, and would not get much. There is something lacking in the teaching that fails to make it a living thing. What that is ought to be discovered. I want the matter to come face to face with all who are here. I therefore move that the question of the missionary work be referred to the Ecclesiastical Committee to discover what is lacking. Let them talk with Mr. Bowers, and let them get light. Put the responsibility on them. There should be such a connection between the teaching and the people, that when the people are taught they will provide all that is necessary. How that is to be done, I don't know. I only judge from appearances, and from what I can see. He who judges only from appearances, is sure to judge falsely. He who tries to inquire into spiritual truth from his rationality, will rush into falsity. Therefore, if the Doctrines show me otherwise, all right. I want to be led by them. As the truth which is from the LORD is always good, I am sure it is the best thing for us to have it."
     Mr. Bowers seconded the motion.
     The motion was adopted as follows: "That the raising of money for the mission work of this Association not having been such as to indicate a permanence of the use, it is resolved that the subject of how the mission work can be best sustained be referred to the Ecclesiastical Committee, to report fully according to doctrine, to the Mission Board, and thence to this Association."
     A vote of thanks was tendered to the young people of the Toronto Society, for their work infolding, wrapping, and addressing the Tidings each month.
     Mr. Allbutt: "The Tidings being a representative paper representative of the whole Church-the editor should be entrusted with its management in such away as to enable him to conduct it to the very best of his judgment, and without being called to account; that he be entrusted with the entire management of the paper. I would like that to be understood."
     Mr. Hyatt thought that any one having charge of a paper ought to have power, and be wholly responsible for what is in it. The editor of the Tidings was not responsible, but the Mission Board.

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"I move that the editorial management of the New Church Tidings be placed entirely in the hands of the editor, and he be wholly responsible for the work of the editorship.'"
     Mr. Roy had never heard of an editor not being responsible.
     Mr. Allbutt thought that since the Association had asked him to do a work which necessitated great trouble, anxiety, and some personal expense on his part, he ought to be left free to exercise his own judgment, and not be called to account, unless he transgress the Doctrines accepted by the New Church at large, and not only by any particular part of the Church.
     Mr. Martin pointed out that the editor would be responsible to the public, the Church, and the Association. That was proper.
     Mr. Carswell asked who was to be responsible, should the editor resign in the middle of the year.
     The President answered that it would be the next editor, who would be appointed by the Mission Board.
     Mr. Carswell did not see where the motion made any difference in the relation of the editor to the Association. The Mission Board had never interfered.
     Mr. Hyatt stated that the Mission Board had no right to interfere, but, at present, the Board could say that such and such a thing should be put in the paper. "Let the editor be responsible for what is in the paper."
     Mr. Carswell acknowledged that there may be a theoretical difference, but there was no practical difference.
     Mr. Hyatt: "Then there could be no harm for the motion to make the matter more clear."
     Mr. Waelchli, in supporting the motion, stated that it was in a line with his remarks the preceding day. It was right for the readers who did not see that what was taught was in accordance with the Doctrines, to call it in question, and have the truth brought out. It was said that the resolution is unnecessary. That was not really so. The internal acknowledgment of a principle should have its proper external acknowledgment. The Mission Board seemed to recognize the principle that this matter should be in the hands of the editor, and be on his responsibility. And yet the external order of things was to the effect that he was not responsible.
     The motion was passed.
     Mr. Waelchli stated to the meeting what he had already stated to Mr. Allbutt, that he acknowledged that a mistake had been made by him, in not informing Mr. Allbutt of his intention to move the resolution which he had yesterday proposed. He assured the Association that it was merely an oversight, for which he was sorry. Nevertheless, he did not think that this fault of his had been serious enough to have been the cause of bringing about such a state in the meeting as to make the calm consideration of the question, for which he had hoped, impossible. This statement did not, in any way, modify the statements which he had made yesterday.
     Mr. Allbutt was gratified by the kind way in which Mr. Waelchli had spoken. He thought a discussion on the subject of the difference between the Sacred Scriptures and the Writings could have been arranged quite well, but, at the present time that matter had gone past. He was anxious to withdraw any remarks of is which may not have been correct. If he had said anything that tended to hurt the feelings of any one he assured them that he had no intention of so doing
     Mr. Waelchli stated that he had taken nothing offensive from Mr. Allbutt's remarks. He had been disappointed because the object he had had in view, when presenting the resolution, had not been accomplished.
     Mr. Carswell: "I hope Mr. Allbutt will bring the matter before the Ecclesiastical Committee, so as to carry out the sentiment of the resolution presented yesterday. He might take his own time, but I hope he will do it, that the priests may speak as one man on the subject."
     Mr. Moran expressed regret at his remarks the preceding day.
     The President: "That is the right way to do. I am very glad to hear you say it."
     Mr. Carswell: "What harm is there in a man striking as hard as he can, if only he strike according to the Doctrines. [Laughter.] It I am wrong, it is better to fall on the stone than to have the stone fall on me. If the Writings are the Word of God, it is far better for us to know it in this world than to have to learn it in the other. The truth is always good."
     Mr. Waelchli stated that none of the regrets that had been expressed by him were regrets at having spoken the truth. They were of a personal nature. He doubted whether either of the gentlemen, or himself, would be ready to retract any statement they had made in accordance with the truth. "In regard to the request that the editor of the Tidings bring this matter up before the Ecclesiastical Committee, there is a doubt in my mind as to whether the Ecclesiastical Committee has the authority to take up the consideration of any question which has not been referred to it; according to the order which exists in our Association, I know it should have the right. I hope that later in the day, we will be able to enter into the consideration of this point."

     CHURCH GOVERNMENT.

     Mr. Carswell: "There was an article in the Tidings, during the past year, on 'Church Government,' the government of the Canada Association. I would like to move that the question of the priesthood, its order, and so forth as given in our Constitution, be referred to the Ecclesiastical Committee to report on such amendments as they may deem desirable in that portion of the Constitution. They would have to give notice of motion next year. So it would take two years to alter the Constitution. I only wish it considered as far as the priesthood is considered. Let us take one thing at a time. If there is any improvement to be made, let us make it."
     On the motion of Mr. Martin, a vote of thanks was offered to the editor of the Tidings, for his work on the paper.
     Mr. Moran: "That motion (Mr. Carswell's) does not go far enough. Why does not Mr. Carswell ask the Ecclesiastical Committee to point out where the Constitution is not in accordance with the Doctrines. I have heard that it is not and cannot be acted on by New Churchmen. It was the intention of the New Churchmen who have worked under it to have it in accordance with The Doctrines. If there are errors found, it is only right that the mistakes found by those who know better than others should be rectified. The whole subject of the Constitution should be referred to see whether it is in accordance with the Doctrines."
     Mr. Carswell: "I think we had better take it slowly. You know that the Academy, when you give them just an entrance, may enter altogether, and you know that they are a pretty active part of the Committee. [Laughter] Let us go slowly. What we have heard concerns the priesthood, and it is proper to refer it to the priests; but the other part of the Constitution concerning other matter, I think had better stand until we see how this goes on. If the priests make improvements then we can give them the rest. I think it is better to take it by degrees.

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It is desirable to become acquainted with these men. I was perfectly shocked at Mr. Waelchli's first report on the school in Berlin. It looked to me as if he wanted to take charge of the whole Society, and run the whole matter, and that the children were merely the tools to this end. It looked to me as if his position infringed on the rights of home. I think an evil priest might make it such if he choose to do so. All truths when perverted make a power for evil. But we must be careful not to have evil priests in the Church. It is our business to watch that they teach the Doctrines, and then there will be no doubt about other things coming right. That was my feeling about the report. I was not prepared to receive Mr. Hyatt. I was afraid we might have more of the Academy than was good for us. [Laughter.] I still want to be cautious. I want to be sure how far it is going. As I said before, I accept the Writings as the Word of God. The Word is in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Jesus is proclaimed in all those languages to be the King of the Jews. The Old Testament is not superseded by the New Testament. They teach the same thing, but only in the last Testament is it made manifest that He is truly King of the Jews. Therefore, as far as the Doctrines are adhered to, I am with the Academy. I like him [Mr. Hyatt?] because he teaches that the Doctrines are the Word of God. So far as our friends come and teach us what the Doctrines are they ought to have our support. They have a big work before them;, and giving them the priesthood, first to discuss, it will take a couple of years to have the Constitution changed as to that part-I think we can digest it better. We do not want to believe in the Academy, but in the LORD."
     Mr. McLachlin: "I did not think I was coming to the Church of the Academy. I have just come from Chicago, and all the time I was there, I heard of nothing
But The General Church of Pennsylvania and the Academy, and so I was surprised on coming here to find this gnashing and wailing over the Academy. Are we a meeting of the Church of the Academy or of the Canada Association? I think this is a meeting of the Canada Association. I am not prepared, like my friend, Mr. Carswell, to say that I am in accord with the Academy or Mr. Hyatt or any member of the Academy, with no one who will put upon us Romanism. I am not prepared to accept any position that lays the Bible down in the cellar, and puts the Writings of Swedenborg in the upper rooms. The whole question of the New Church teachings-"
     A point of order was here raised.
     The President: "Do you know of any person in the Canada Association who places the Bible in the basement, and the Writings in the upper story?"
     Mr. McLachlin: "I was going to remark that. The general drift of the New Church people is to the position that the Writings are put forward, and the Bible put in the rear."
     The President: "That is your opinion. Yes? Of course."
     Mr. Hyatt: "I think the remarks of the last speaker were not quite in a line with the subject before us-I therefore pass them over for the present. It would be better to let the Ecclesiastical Committee consider a part of the subject first as suggested. It is a large subject, it will give us enough to do for the present to deal with that one portion. That portion is what forms the head of the whole; when that is right it will be comparatively easy to deal with the rest."
     Mr. Moran stated that Mr. Carswell's explanation was quite satisfactory to him.
     The motion to refer was adopted.
     The meeting adjourned.



     SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

     THE following officers were elected: President, the Rev. F. W. Tuerk; Secretary, W. H. Law (Toronto); Corresponding Secretary, the Rev. J. E. Bowers; Treasurer, Mr. Richard Roschmann; Executive Council, the four above officers and Messrs. Ronald, Caldwell, McLachlin, Martin, Carswell, and J. Stroh.
     The President read a communication from the National Temperance Alliance requesting that the Association appoint four members to represent it at the forth coming meeting of the Alliance to be held in Montreal: The Alliance was formed for the total suppression of the liquor traffic. It was sensible of the good which the New Church had already done for the Temperance Cause.
     It was unanimously

     "Resolved, that the Corresponding Secretary be requested to communicate with the Alliance, stating that this Association cannot join in securing the prohibition of the sale of intoxicants; and to present a synopsis of the New Church Doctrines on the subject."

     The business relating to the "Street will" was placed in the hands of the Mission Board.
     Mr. Lowers, after reading a communication from an isolated receiver, took the opportunity of expressing his pleasure at the motion which referred the Mission work to the Ecclesiastical Committee.

     REPORT OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMITTEE.

     Before reading the report of the Ecclesiastical Committee, Mr. Waelchli stated that it had not been unanimous, one member not agreeing. A minority report had been requested of this member by the Committee.
     The report of the Ecclesiastical Committee was read, as follows:

     "Whereas, a great part of what is deplorable in the present state of the New Church can be clearly traced to the utter lack of care and discrimination with which men have been admitted into the performance of the work of the Priesthood, the very safety of the Church appears to demand the adoption, on principle, of some rule, requiring that all candidates should have previously undergone special training for the work, and a definite standard be adopted requiring at least some knowledge of the original languages of the Word, some definite comprehension of the principles of government which the Doctrines attach to the priestly office, and such knowledge of the relation of the truths of doctrine to each other as will enable him to view the Doctrines as one whole, thus in the human form.
     "In each of these requirements the present applicant falls short. He has not undergone special training for the work; he is not acquainted with the three languages in which the Word was written; he is so far from having a comprehension of the principles of government which belong to the priestly office, that, as we understand, he denies that the function of governing belongs to that office. Lastly, his utterances, though manifesting commendable diligence in gathering together particulars of doctrine, appear to us to so lack clear conception of their true order and arrangement as one whole as to make it very difficult to gather what his views on many important matters actually are.
     "Each of these objections we regard as sufficient reason for declining to giant the application, and we are convinced that to accept a lower standard of requirements in any one of the four respects here stated would not serve the best interests of the Church.

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     "(Signed)
     "F. E. WAELCHLI,     "F. W. TUERK,
     "Secretary."     "General Pastor."

     The report of the minority was read by Mr. Allbutt, as follows:

     "The minority, recognizing the paramount needs of performing Missionary work as a part of the operations of the New Church, and this in view of the clear statements of the Writings that the Doctrines of the New Church are to be proclaimed to all in the Christian world, and an invitation given to them to enter the New Church of the LORD; recognizing, also, the very important use that the present applicant has performed in the Missionary field during the past year, his desire to continue in the performance of this use, and the qualifications he possesses for its furtherance, both in respect to his acquaintance with the Doctrines of the Church and his ability to impart them, desires to report that he is in favor of this application being granted on recommendation of the Association.
     "(Signed)     LAWRENCE ALLBUTT"

     Mr. Law bore testimony to the benefits which he had derived from Mr. Martin's teachings during the year in which he had been in the Church. He thought many other members of the Toronto Society would bear like testimony. If the laity had any voice in the matter, he thought they would be glad to have Mr. Martin licensed.
      Mr. Allbutt stated that, since he was not feeling well, would not be able to do what he would have liked on behalf of the application. The consideration of the question in the Ecclesiastical Committee had been very full indeed. It was discussed in a generous and kindly way. He desired to bear testimony to that he believed every member had been animated by a desire to promote the use of the Church. He had been asked to bring in a minority report, which seemed to him an unusual proceeding, but which respected the opinion of the minority. "I do not think there is any disagreement as to the preamble, with reference to the requirements which should be expected from candidates who should devote themselves to the work of the Ministry. I know that I have not obtained that training which I would have liked. The way was not open. I never went to a theological school in connection with the New Church. I was educated in the University of Cambridge for four years. I have felt the need of further study, and I have endeavored to obtain it during my experience as a minister. The field offers exceptional opportunities for the study of the Doctrines. We should always feel that the attainments which we have reached are very imperfect, and after forty or fifty years we will still feel as children. There was no disagreement, therefore, as to the preamble; but the disagreement seemed to turn on the attainments of the candidate. The majority stated four reasons why they did not think the present candidate fitted for the performance of Missionary work; I need not repeat those reasons. But I would say that we have not now before us the case of one who has not had any training at all. He has practiced for a year, and we have seen his work. It would have been quite different had the applicant been one who was not known to us, who had not labored in the Church for some time, and performed a useful work. But the present applicant is a man of great attainments in many respects. He is a man who has studied the Doctrines of the New Church for many years, and who, to me at least, appears to have well digested them into a compact form, so that he does not take one particular doctrine to the exclusion of others; but regards each one in the light of the rest as far as he has had opportunities."
     Mr. Allbutt then dwelt at some length on the merits of the case of the applicant and the usefulness of his work. Members of the Board of Missions of the General Convention had expressed the hope that the license would be continued, and had intimated that the Association, in this case, would receive augmented assistance from the Board. The matter was of the very greatest importance. "The opinion of the Ecclesiastical Committee is the opinion of a few; but the opinion of those who have had opportunities of hearing Mr. Martin, and have seen his knowledge of the Doctrines, is the opinion of many, and, therefore, ought to have great weight I with us."
     The speaker then dwelt on the use of advertising New Church lectures, and related an instance of several persons in Toronto having become interested in the Doctrines through a printer's bill.
     If a printer's bill can do that, in making known the truths of the New Church doctrine, what cannot the living voice effect. And we are told that the Gospel of the LORD is to be proclaimed to all in the Christian world; that we must preach to them that the LORD JESUS CHRIST is the only God of Heaven and earth, and that, to be saved, man must live in accordance with the Divine Commandments. Our friend, Mr. Martin, has been doing this work with the authority of the Association for a whole year. Now, why deprive him or the opportunity of continuing it? What ground is there for doing this? I should feel a great responsibility opposing this application. I should feel that I should be opposing the LORD. Mr. Martin has Written to me, requesting me to state to the Board of Home and Foreign Missions that he was willing to give up his present occupation and to devote himself entirely to the work of the Ministry. Were I to oppose this application, I would feel I am opposing the direct effort of a fellow-laborer, in engaging in the work of evangelization. I should feel that I am opposing the LORD. I move that the General Pastor be recommended to authorize Mr. Martin to preach for another year. There seems to be only two grounds upon which we ought to interfere with the performance of this use. It says, in Article 6 of the rules for licensing and ordaining ministers, 'Whenever any authorized or ordained person shall call in question any of the Doctrines of the New Church contained in the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, or when his conduct or practices shall be such as are manifestly injurious to the Church, or when his life shall evidently not be conformable to the Divine Commandments, he shall be suspended from the exercise of his function as such minister by the President, but he shall have the right of appeal to the next meeting of the Association, or later, to the General Convention.'
     "Although this case may not come under this head, yet it seems to me that the only grounds upon which we can refuse the application would be that Mr. Martin has gone against the Doctrines of the New Church; or that his conduct is manifestly injurious to the New Church. There are no charges of this kind against, him. The charges are merely technical, and as Mr. Martin continues in this work, he will devote himself to a further study of the Doctrines and of the original languages of the Word.
     Mr. Rudolf Roschmann: "Mr. Allbutt's remarks about the printer's bill struck me very forcibly.

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I always held that when a man came into the Church, he came not through hand-bills or through any one, but was led into the Church by the LORD, through what means we do not know. Every one knows that there is an endless Variety of means in the hands of the LORD by which we are led to the knowledge and perception of the Divine Truths. I do not think we can make a point out of a hand-bill in order to grant an application if there are other reasons from which the application may be refused."
     Mr. Martin wanted the matter voted on intelligently and according to the conscience of each. He reviewed the history of his case. He had been advised some years ago to spend a year at the Academy Schools, but had not been able or desirous of taking the advice. He had learned as much in seven years as he could have learned in one year at the Academy School. Those who opposed him last year had no acquaintance with him. He thought he knew as much Doctrine as either of the two gentlemen who had decided against him. He would go on with the work. He had no other criterion than the Word in its internal sense. These charges against him were adding insult to injury. "Do not, in the name of what is just and honest and decorous, pass are solution indorsing that report, because it is not true."

     THE STANDARD FOR THE PRIESTHOOD.

     Mr. Hyatt regarded the applicant as better qualified than a large number of ministers at present in the New Church. "I say it sincerely and frankly. The only principle which entered in making the report is that there is no doubt that a great deal of what is disorderly has come into the Church through the admission of men into this office carelessly and without discrimination, and that it requires the adoption of stringent principles in order to bring about a better state of things. I put persons out of the question. If I think that certain principles will best serve the Church, my love of the Church must be greater that my love of any man in it. If it did fall as a hardship on certain individuals I would certainly still maintain that principle. We came to the conclusion that these requirements should be the lowest standard that should be required of those who enter the work of the New Church ministry. In connection with the English College the standard is higher than that. They have to pass examinations in a number of things which are not mentioned here. We ought to adopt some standard, and this standard is the lowest possible. It ought to be raised continually. One idea which is a very common one in England, but which ought not to be considered, is that our ministers should be well educated, that they may be able to compare well with ministers of other denominations. That is not the reason that ought to govern us. The reason for us is the use to the Church. If we adopt this principle with out referring to any person it will be of great benefit to the New Church. It was on that ground that we made this report. We know that under the Constitution we have no power to decide in this matter. We have reported what we consider to be the principle which ought to guide you in making this decision. We have no wish to force our views upon any single person. All we ask is freedom to set forth the principles in which we believe, and we claim to do this from a genuine love of the Church and nothing else."
     Mr. Bowers: "I have known Mr. Martin for thirteen years, personally we have gotten along very well. We have been good friends all these years, but as regards doctrinal matters we have never been able to harmonize our minds on certain important doctrinal points. I would like to have one thing understood, that my decision in regard to this matter was formed in my mind before I came to Berlin. It was because I decided to act upon principle; and one principle is this, that lay preaching is not orderly. If the circumstances are favorable and the way open for Mr. Martin to enter entirely into the ministry it would be another thing. But I do not feel like authorizing a man to be a lay preacher, because I think one ought to devote himself entirely to the work, and especially is this the case in regard to the ministry, since that is, such an important and difficult work. It is quite sufficient for a man to fill that office alone. A man cannot divide his time between two or three various callings. In opposing, or rather in not favoring this application, I acted according to my conscience, and I am bound to do so, no matter what the consequences may be. I am bound to do that in the presence of the LORD and my fellow men. I certainly can agree to the sentiment, that if we act according to order all will be well. I believe that the statements made in the report are correct. That is, as I see it from my rationality. The candidate has, on the floor of this Association, made several statements that show that he does not subscribe to the order which is laid down in the Writings of the New Church, and I am I sorry to see it."
     Mr. Martin: "Will you give the statement?"
     Mr. Bowers: "I refer to the order of the ministry. The statement was made that the Ecclesiastical Committee is appointed by the Association."
     Mr. Martin: "That is a statement of fact. Surely, you do not call that falsity? If a man is allowed to get up and make such charges as that I do not know what the thing will come to."
     Mr. Bowers: "I have not reference to the Constitution, but to the standard laid down in the Writings of the New Church, and, according to the Divine Order laid down by the LORD Himself in those Writings, I cannot see that a general body of laymen can appoint an Ecclesiastical Council for an Association of the Church. To me it would be putting the head on the ground and the feet in the air. It would be an inversion of order. I wish to be understood. I would be willing to go to the stake and burn there if necessary for my convictions, and every man ought to have a conviction and stand up to it. The candidate for authorization has said, no less than three times in my hearing, that this decision would not affect his case-the work would go on. If that be so, it is not necessary to grant the application. He will proceed and perform these uses anyway. That is one of my points."
     Mr. Martin: "I never said that. What I said was that the work, would go on, but not all the same. As I said before, the reason I made the application was that I might be in order, and be authorized under the Association. Of course it would be the same if the application be not granted."
     Mr. Bowers: "I admit that Mr. Martin said that he would be sorry if the application were not granted, but he said it would make no difference. It is with me a matter of principle. I do not think I have any cause to regret my action. I feel a great personal friendship to Mr. Martin. My feeling to him as a brother in the Church cannot be stronger than they are."

     LAY PREACHING.

     Mr. Grebenstein: "I would like to call attention to Mr. Bowers' statement that lay preaching is not useful.

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I wish to inform the Association that the Toronto Society was organized by a layman, Mr. Parker, who came from England about 1862. He commenced preaching in the public park in Toronto, and gathered a few receivers together, and afterward formed a small Society, of which Mr. Ahrens, Mr. Martin, and I, myself, were members. This was about twenty-four years ago. We came together in a small room in the Mechanics' Institute, where we worshiped for some years. Mr. Parker was afterward licensed, and two or three years subsequently ordained and entered the ministry. Thus at least one Society was formed by a lay preacher. So we must not say that lay preaching is not useful."
     Mr. C. Ahrens, Sr.: "I fully agree with that. I can corroborate Mr. Grebenstein's remarks, because I lived in Toronto at the time."
     The President: "Do you think it was orderly?"
     Mr. Grebenstein: "I merely spoke in reference to lay preaching to show that a lay minister can do some good."
     Mr. Ahrens: "So far as order is concerned, at that time it was orderly. You [the President] assisted Mr. Parker in the work. You licensed and then ordained him. Mr. Parker was not a more able man than Mr. Martin. Why is it disorderly now?"
     The President: "It was not orderly then."
     Mr. Ahrens: "Mr. Martin does not want to be a full-fledged priest, but merely a missionary. We are trying to set all wheels going for the missionary work. Here is a man able to do the work, and willing to do it for nothing, and you are trying to stop him in the work."
     Mr. Carswell: "Mr. Martin does not do the work for nothing."
     Mr. Ahrens: "I did not know he was paid. If you want to do missionary work, do not stop him from performing his use. He is an able, a willing, and an honest man, respected wherever he goes. Is he not as intelligent a man as this man [pointing to Mr. Bowers], who has just denounced him, and as lots of others?"
     Mr. Carswell: "I am very thankful to the Ecclesiastical Committee for bringing in their report. It is an expression of the opinion of the Committee. I don't think it is necessary that it should be printed in the minutes, and in that way preserved as a report. Mr. Martin does not think it well that such a report should be published."
     Mr. Martin: "I said it was not true. I asked to have the simple question laid before the Association."
     Mr. Carswell: "If that is so, it should be examined into. Mr. Martin says he has undergone some training and also has some knowledge of the original languages of the Word."
     Mr. Martin: "Some Greek and a little Hebrew. Only a little Hebrew, scarcely worth speaking of. However, it is more than many New Church ministers know."
     Mr. Carswell: "This is a new standard for us. There is a truth in the position taken in the report of the Ecclesiastical Committee. When any one brings a passage forward, Mr. Martin would bring up another in opposition, without connecting the two. That is, I think, what is intended. It should be shown that each is sustained by the other to be understood clearly. I told Mr. Hyatt that Mr. Martin was well qualified. He did not object to that statement, but said he wanted a higher standard. It is good to have a high standard and that the ministers should be brought up to it. But, it seems to me we are going beyond the requirements of the Constitution in doing that. I do not know where such a standard is required I believe the Academy has such a standard."
     Mr. Hyatt: "The English Conference requires a higher standard from its students."
     Mr. Carswell: "I do not think that is true. I do not think Mr. Martin would fail in England. My impression is that Mr. Martin stands well as compared with the ministers of the British Conference. Although Mr. Hyatt made a statement with regard to the ministers of the British Conference which theoretically may be true, as a matter of fact, it is not borne out. Is it not possible for us to act under our Constitution? We are not acquainted with the truth of this report. It may be all right, but let the Canada Association understand it. Let us authorize Mr. Martin to preach this year and let the matter come up another year with this report before us. Let Mr. Martin have another year to see how he can fill these requirements. If this can be done without violence to any one, it would be just as well to do so. I move that Mr. Martin be licensed to preach another year, but let it be understood that he will next year be in the same position as he is in now. Let this be the standard for the Association next year."
     Mr. Carswell afterward moved that the report be accepted except as to that part which treats of the licensing of Mr. Martin.
     Mr. Hendry pointed out that a standard was given in the rules for licensing. They must act under that, and not under a new one.
     Mr. Waelchli: "Since Mr. Martin has informed us that his application was made under article 4, I will read the article: 'Authorization or ordination may be granted to other persons who have been baptized by some authorized Minister of the New Church, and are of such known age, acquirements, and reputation as to induce the Association to grant the same by a two-thirds vote of the members present.' Here are laid down three things. The person should have 'age' and a 'certain reputation.' Now there are a large number of people in this Association who have 'age' and a 'certain reputation.' On these two points alone we would not ordain a person. That is not a standard. The third point is that the Association grant it by a two-thirds vote of the persons present. Each one is thus allowed to have his own standard as to what his qualities should be." The speaker reviewed the proceeding of the Association in this matter. "What was the object of referring it to the Committee? Was it not that something might be brought before this meeting so as to enable the members to vote intelligently upon the matter? The reason of referring it must have been to know whether the candidate came up to a proper standard. Our Constitution leaves every member free to form his own standard. But the Ecclesiastical Committee, taking the matter into consideration, thought it best that a standard should at least include a certain number of necessary things, and reported this to the Association. They stated that the candidate did not have the necessary requirements; that he did not come up to the standard which would make him a proper person for the work. I can see no disagreement between the report and the Constitution. They are in agreement with one another. We wish to come to a conclusion in the matter. Mr. Carswell has made a proposition which has some justice in it. But it has been said: 'You granted it last year. Why not grant it this year?' And now in granting it this year, next year we may hear: 'Now you have granted it two years. You granted it last year in the face of a report of this kind. What are you going to do now with this application which you have granted two years?' If these arguments would not be made next year, there might he a possibility', of considering the matter from Mr. Carswell's standpoint; but it ought to be clearly understood that if anything of that kind is one, it shall carry with it no argument in favor of granting it another year."

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     Mr. Carswell: "I think it would be reasonable to do that."
     Mr. McLachlin "I have made up my mind that the building up of the Toronto Society was by the lay element. I have listened to some of the best discourses, and the most lively discourses that I have ever listened to-"
     The President here called to order.
     Mr. McLachlin: "I am speaking on the motion. They were delivered by laymen. And for my part, I think that this binding the license down for a year is rather too much. As long as Mr. Martin does not do anything to bring discredit upon the Church and the Doctrines, I do not see that his license should be bound down to a year. That is the statement. That it would not be granted next year"
     Mr. Robert Caldwell (of Parkdale): "No! Next year we will act from principle."
     Mr. McLachin: "I do not bind myself to any position. We want more life in our church services. If we cannot get it from the ministers, we must get it from the laymen." [Laughter.] When I go to New Church services to listen to sermons, I don't want to feel as if I am standing in the presence of a corpse, but of a live man, and a man who is going to make me alive. I have come across very few New Church ministers who have not that particular way of talking which lulls the people to sleep. We want more life. I have always said that. When talking about this matter, and upon the candidate wishing to be licensed, let certain gentlemen raise their own standard, and leave the rest to the Association."     
     Mr. Martin said that he had learned more in one year of teaching than he could have done in two years at the Academy School. His work has operated to a greater extent than he could have conceived of.
     Mr. Carswell: "If Mr. Martin desires to be a priest, I have no doubt but that he would wish to qualify himself for the office. He would like to learn the languages. Then there ought to be some means of instruction in the Doctrines, as a whole for candidates-some standard-so that next year a man will be admitted only according to the judgment of those competent to decide. I want Mr. Martin licensed for another year, but I also wish to accept the report of the Ecclesiastical Committee, and, get at the spirit of it. I think the Committee is in the endeavor to raise the standard. They want to act from principle, however hard it may appear to persons."
     Mr. Roy: "Last year, when Mr. Martin's application came before the Association, it was carried by a two-thirds vote. There is a previous action which the Association should know, and that is why I have risen. I wish to state a fact, with the consequences of which I have nothing to do. At a general quarterly meeting of the Toronto Society, certain delegates were appointed to this Association. At a special meeting, held shortly before the meeting of the Association, another set of delegates were appointed. I think I am correct, if not, I shall be glad to be corrected. Now, then, that was done without saying a word to the first delegates. I was one of them. I did not care anything about being a delegate. I was not going to set myself personally against Mr. Martin, because, when I have taken action, on what I considered principle, I have been taxed with making it a personal matter, no matter how strongly I may have disclaimed doing so. Consequently I kept quiet. Now, then, I had a right, as a matter of courtesy. I claim nothing more, to be notified of the second appointment, and some reason given why I was not on that delegation. I had no such notice. I came into the meeting of the Association. I found a different set of delegates, with credentials accredited to the Association. I said nothing then. I kept quiet. Mr. Martin's application came up. I did act then bring up this matter, which I think would have created a little astonishment in the minds of some, as, perhaps, it may do now. I will tell you that my vote would have been against the application, and then there were two other delegates, to my knowledge, who left the meeting just about two minutes before the vote was taken, whose votes would have gone against it. That being the case, it seems to me that the application was disorderly from its inception. Now, then, you come here this year, and you are asked, partly on the ground of Mr. Martin having been authorized last year and a certain amount of use performed, that this use should not be interrupted. One gentleman is in favor of licensing Mr. Martin, and also of the report of the Ecclesiastical Committee. His position is like that of the Vice-President of the Convention, when he reported that the right way was to use fermented wine, but that he was in favor of using both. [Laughter.] When we have a principle, and feel confident that this principle is right and sound to the very core, let us bend the action to the principle, and not the principle to the action. Now, this is a vital question for the New Church. I have watched the state of affairs, both in the United States and in Great Britain. In Great Britain, I do not think matters could be worse than they are. That is my individual opinion. I ask any business man here whether, if he wants a bookkeeper, he will take a half-qualified bookkeeper? Not if he be a sane man. If he has an important law case, which he intends carrying to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England, is he going to employ poor, half-qualified talent? I trow not. He is going to get the best or none. If he want a physician to prescribe for the ailment of himself or of those dependent on him, will he not take the very best so far as his judgment will guide him? Most assuredly, if he be sane! I might go through the whole sphere of human occupations. The principle is sound, and will hold good in every way. Now, we come to the plane of the New Church, and we are told that we must compromise that principles away. On the higher plane this principle is yet more important, especially in relation to the Ministry of the New Church, and should be acted upon. That is my opinion.
     "Mr. Martin made the charge that the report was not true. Now it seems to me that is a very serious charge, and I think this meeting should know precisely in what particulars it is untrue. He also makes the charge that it was an insult. I took down the word instanter at the time. I fail to see where there is any insult in it. He says also that he has learned more in one year in the performance of that use than he could in two years at the Academy School. Now that is a statement that may or may not be true. I am not in a position to judge of it. But why single out the Academy School? There are other schools in the Church, in Cambridge for instance. Another very serious charge was that two men on the Ecclesiastical Committee, last year, opposed him without knowing him. If I know these gentlemen at all, from my intercourse with them, had the case been mine, and I have tried to put myself in Mr. Martin's place, I think I would have given them credit, occupying the important place they do as ministers of the New Church, of acting from principle, and not opposing me on personal grounds.

171


These things are too serious to be put on such a low plane as that. I have said before, I am not an Academy man. I do not know that I can swallow all they want me to swallow, or rather want those who join them to swallow, but I have never found them acting in a disorderly manner, but in a consistent and coherent manner throughout. There is not one principle in one act, and another in another. I find from my rationality, whatever its quality may be, that the principles of action that underlies their doings are consistent. They may be erroneous. I am not here defending them as correct. I merely say this, that they are consistent and coherent, and in so far as they are that, they are worthy of my investigation as to whether or no they are correct. After I have investigated them to the fullest extent, as I think my rejection or acceptation of them requires, then I will be prepared to say whether in my opinion they are correct or not. I am not now able to say."
     Mr. Martin: "If there is any impression that I intended anything, in not notifying Mr. Roy, I have simply to say that I had nothing whatever to do with calling the meeting referred to. But I am astonished that Mr. Roy did not speak about the matter to me, instead of waiting a year or more, and bringing it up I here, where I have no means of getting at evidence. Anyone can see that."

     ADOPTION OF THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMITTEE.

     Mr. Carswell moved as an amendment that the license of Mr. Martin be renewed for one year. "This is not intended to form a reason for a renewal next year. I believe in the report excepting as concerns the application. The application does not come under that report, but the future applicant will know that this is required. I want to adopt the report and still renew the license."
     Mr. Martin: "Mr. Carswell's idea is that if I request to be authorized as a minister I should undergo an examination. I offered to undergo any examination. It appears that there is an idea that I tried to shirk an examination. The President told me that he had no desire to examine me; that he was convinced of my qualifications. He told me then that he was convinced that I would make a very good minister, and that, as to my having another calling, he had had another calling while in the ministry."
     The President: "That is not exactly correct. I said that I believed a formal examination was not necessary in granting this license for a year, and advised Mr. Martin to enter fully into the ministry in the regular and orderly way. I wished him to do so."
     Mr. Martin: "You do not deny that you said that I was quite young enough, and would make a very good minister."
     The President: "Yes; of course. If you would enter it in a proper way."
     Mr. Hyatt: "I am willing that this matter should be put in the simple way in which Mr. Martin wishes it to be put, as a question whether the application be granted or not. That is the most simple form to express it. And the Report of the Committee can he accepted."
     Mr. Carswell: "I understand that the report will not affect Mr. Martin personally"
     Mr. Hyatt: "The report is the expression of the Ecclesiastical Committee. I shall not vote either one way or the other. I think we have done our duty in having our opinions on record. I am quite satisfied to have the meeting to act in freedom.
     Mr. Waelchi stated that as the report was one of the Ecclesiastical Committee, it ought to go upon the minutes of the meeting. The report was, of course, received; whether it is acted upon or not rests with the Association. The Committee had simply done as requested. All must now act according to the dictate of their conscience. He held the same position as Mr. Hyatt, and would vote neither "yes" nor "nay."
     Mr. Carswell moved: "'That the license of Mr. Martin be renewed for another year.' While I make this motion, I want it to be understood that the action of this year does not bind us for another year. Nor does it shut out a license for another year. It leaves the Association free to act according to the report of the Ecclesiastical Committee. If we come to see that the Committee have recommended what is right and desirable we can act on it next year. If, on the other hand, Mr. Martin sees that the report is all right, and is ready to answer the requirements, the Ecclesiastical Committee will most likely recommend him."
     Mr. Henry Doering, Sr., printed out that the ministers had been asked for advice, and had given it. That advice should be considered. He did not see, under the circumstances, how Mr. Martin could be licensed. The ministers had decidedly not recommended him.
     Mr. Carswell: "Mr. Martin may not like it personally. I would not like it personally, but I think it would be of use that this report be printed, because it professes to be the conscientious belief of the priests of this Association. I think Mr. Allbutt's report should also be printed, that we may have a full statement of the case.
     The motion to license Mr. Martin, requiring a two-third vote, was lost. There were twenty-six in the meeting; thirteen voted yea. The President pointed out that those who refrained from voting, really voted against the motion. The only thing was to leave the meeting if they did not wish to vote.
     Mr. Martin: "I rise to say that I protest. There is a stenographer here to publish the particulars of that report. By whose permission he is here, or whom he represents, I do not know. The facts of the case I do not mind, but these are not the facts of the case. I do not wish to have any disturbance. I do not think it is just to me to print that report. It is just the views of the Ecclesiastical Committee. There is no reason why it should be printed. I protest against it. If it is to be printed, I request that it be private. I shall protest and shall publish my protest to the world, and shall work against the report as much as I can-"
     Mr. McLachlin: "Would it not be better for us not to come to the Association meetings any more, but leave the matters in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Committee?"
     The President: "That is for you to decide." The meeting of the Canada Association then adjourned, to meet next year in Toronto.



     A very pleasant social meeting was held in the evening. About two hundred persons were served with supper.     
     On Sunday morning the Rev. G. L. Allbutt preached from John xv, 7, to an audience of two hundred. In the afternoon the Holy Supper was administered by the Rev. F. W. Tuerk; assisted by the Rev. Messrs. Bowers and Hyatt. There were ninety communicants.
     On Sunday evening the General Pastor, the Rev. F. W. Tuerk, delivered his annual address on the subject of "Loyalty to the Church or to the Kingdom of God."

172


NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, 12 St. John's Street, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on- Tyne.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, OCTOBER, 1890=121.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 149.
     "The LORD, as He has revealed Himself in His Second Advent, Is the Example for the New Church" (a Sermon), p. 150.
     Communicated.- Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of the Canada Association of the New Church, p. 153.
     News Gleanings, p. 172.-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 172.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.- THE schools of the Academy of the New Church will open on Wednesday October 1st. In the absence of the Dean of the Faculty, the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, who is expected to return from Europe on October 6th, communications relating to admission into the Schools may be addressed to the acting Superintendent, the Rev. W. F. Pendleton.
     THE Sunday services of the Church of the Advent were resumed on September 20th.
     Maryland.- THE New Church Society of Washington, D. C., have, during the erection of the "National" New Church Temple, temporarily secured an old church building formerly known as the "Church of the Holy Cross." Sixteen thousand six hundred and fifty dollars have been paid in subscription for the "National" New Church Temple.
     New York.- THE Brooklyn Society this summer engaged Mr. George W. Savory, of California, to act as a visiting missionary, calling from house to house and engaging in conversation about the Doctrines of the New Church. As the result of nine hundred and twenty-four visits, "many tracts were given and a few little books were sold." "Indifference and opposition was found almost wholly in a few members of the New Church." (Messenger, September 10th.)
     Illinois.- THE Rev. E. C. Bostock and family sailed for Southampton, England, September 17th. Mr. Bostock goes to establish the first New Church Schools in England, under the auspices of the Academy. His resignation gives a source of deep regret to the members of the Immanuel Society, to whom he had become endeared by his faithful teaching and loyalty to the Heavenly Doctrines. Nothing but the increased sphere of usefulness reconciles them to the separation.
     The pastoral office being thus vacated, the Society, according to the Constitution of the General Church of Pennsylvania, comes under the immediate care of its Bishop.
     The Rev. N. D. Pendleton will act as his assistant and teacher of the Society. The Rev. W. Acton has been appointed by the Academy as assistant to Bishop Pendleton in the work of the Academy School there. Two Doctrinal classes will take the place of the Sunday-school, which will henceforth be discontinued.
     Canada.- THREE "closed" meetings of the Toronto Society were held on August 7th, 13th and 20th, in order to hear the reports of the delegates of this Society to the recent meeting of the Canada Association. The meetings held were of such a character that the President of the Society, Mr. Robert Carswell, felt constrained to resign his office. Resolutions were offered by the Pastor, the Rev. G. L. Allbutt, and passed by the Society, criticising the action of the Association in refusing a renewal of the license for Mr. T. M. Martin, and advising him to continue his activity as a missionary. A committee was also appointed to consider, in all its bearings, the subject of Academy influence in the Association, and to ascertain the wishes and views "of all the members of the Association on this subject."
     MR. T. M. Martin has consulted legal authorities on the subject of the refusal by the Association to grant him further license to preach under its authority. He will also appeal to the General Convention in this matter.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- THE Rev. George Meek, B. A, has accepted an invitation to become the minister of the Nottingham Society.
     THE new school building, just erected by the Blackpool Society, was dedicated and opened on August 31st. It is a commodious structure, built on the back part of the lot, on which it is proposed to erect a temple when means are at hand.
     "THE Rev. Edward Jones, of Embsay, has accepted a call to the pastorate of the Society in Besses-o'-th'-Barn.
     THE forty-ninth annual meeting of the Argyle Square, London, Society was held on July 26th. This church, of which the Rev. John Presland is the pastor, has a membership of 194 persons.
     Switzerland.- The annual meeting of the Swiss New Church Union was held on September 6th.
     A MEMBER of the New Church Society in Zurich recently sent a beautifully bound copy of The True Christian Religion as a present to Prince Bismarck, who expressed his acknowledgments in a personal letter.
     Austria.- THE Rev. F. Goerwitz preached to the Vienna New Church Society on July 30th. This Society numbers 30 members.
     Germany.-CONSIDERABLE, and not flattering public attention has lately been drawn to Mr. Artope's Society in Berlin on account of the scandalous practices of its minister. Another sensation has now been caused by a member of that Society having refused to serve in the army, as this is forbidden by Mr. Artope's "New Church" religiosity.
     Sweden.-MR. ALBERT BJOERCK, a recent graduate of the Convention Theological School, has been sent as a missionary to Sweden by the Board of Missions of the General Convention in the United States. Mr. Bjoerck will chiefly minister to the Society in Stockholm, which Mr. Manby formerly served.
     ONE of the pioneers and chief supporters of the New Church in Sweden, Mr. Johan Hjelmqvist, recently died at his home, near Gottenburg. He has, for many years, been known as an unusually thorough, loyal New Churchman.
     France.-MRS. Sarah DeCharms Hibbard will open a school for the instruction of young ladies at No. 8 Villejust, in Paris. Sunday services will be regularly conducted by the Rev. Dr. J. H. Hibbard.
     Australia.- SEVERAL hundred copies of The Doctrine of Life have recently been distributed among members of the Parliament, judges, banisters, etc., by The Book Committee of the Sidney Society.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890




     BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.





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NEW CHURCH LIFE
EXTRA ISSUE

Vol. X. PHILADELPHIA, OCTOBER 15, 1890=121. No. 10.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890

     THE present "Extra" of New Church Life is issued for the purpose of presenting in full the report of the General Conference in England and of the meeting of Ministers and Leaders which preceded it, so that the reader may be enabled to form a judgment of the state of the New Church in Great Britain, as represented in the assemblies of its most prominent ministers and laymen.



     To form a judgment that shall be just, the reader needs to remove himself from the sphere of worldly and natural considerations. He must let his eyes be enlightened by the Light of the LORD'S Revelation as to the use, qualifications, and jurisdiction of such meetings, and, thus prepared, he will be better able to view the deliberations and actions of the assembly with a single eye. "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light, but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt. vi, 22, 23).
      SINCE the Kingdom of the LORD is to come, and His Will is to be done, as in heaven so upon the earth, He has revealed to us how Councils are held in heaven, so that we may even in this matter co-operate with Him on earth. In three different places in the Writings a great Council is described, which was afterward "conducted in glory into the New Christian Heaven, with which the LORD'S Church on the earths, which is the New Jerusalem, is to be conjoined.". The members of this Council were seated in due order, according to their three-fold rank. In their midst was a table upon which was the Word, and an angel standing by the table first read from the Word concerning the topics to be discussed, and then the Council drew its conclusions from the Truth thus presented, and confirmed their conclusions from the Word (T. C. R. 188; B. E. 120; A. R. 962).



     DOES not the relation of the proceedings of this heavenly Council plainly indicate the course to be pursued in the assemblies of "the LORD'S Church on the earths, which is the New Jerusalem"? Such a course would lead to just and true conclusions and truly charitable actions, for it would look to the LORD, and be in accordance with the words of the Psalms, "In Thy Light shall we see light" (Ps. xxxvi, 9).



     WAS this course of procedure followed in the meeting of Conference? Not to speak of the outward treatment of the Scriptures, the Word in the internal sense was rarely referred to by the majority, and where the literal sense of the Word was quoted by them, it was mostly, if not always, without reference to the internal sense, its spirit and life; so that the exclamation concerning certain Councils on earth may be Properly applied to the Conference: "What confidence is to be placed in Councils, when they do not immediately approach the God of the Church Is not the Church the Body of the LORD, and He its Head? What is the body without the Head?" "But, my Reader! do not believe Councils, but the holy Word, and approach the LORD and thou wilt be enlightened; for He is the Word-that is, the Divine Truth there" (T. C. R. 166, 634).



     THE discussion and action on the acceptance of the teaching concerning pellicacy and concubinage formed the most important feature of Conference, because, as the reader will see from the report, the great majority rejected the LORD by repudiating the Divine authority of one of the Works which constitute His Second Coming. New Church Life, and its London representative, were used simply as objects on which to vent the displeasure of the Conference, the real cause of which evidently is that the work on Conjugial Love contains teachings on pellicacy and concubinage which are so foreign to the hypocritical veneer of the world, after which the Conference, to use a Scripture phrase, has "gone a-whoring." (See A. C. 10,648.)



     HONOR and principle were sacrificed to this displeasure. The Conference took a sentence out of its connection, left out its very essence derived from the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and thus perverted the language of a New Church journal which maintained the published teachings of the Work on Conjugial Love. Moreover, the Conference, unwilling to listen to reason, or to heed the dictates of the Holy Word, held up the sentence thus perverted as the object of a premeditated and persistent attack.



     IT is not necessary to enter into a full analysis of this attack. Its nature was exposed by the Minority in Conference, and their words are recorded in this issue of the Life; but the resolutions finally adopted by the Majority, merit a little further attention

     "That this Conference hereby declares that the teaching set forth in the editorial remarks at the close of an article in New CHURCH Life for June, 189O, entitled 'Laws of Marriage and Pellicacy,' is utterly opposed to the Doctrines of the New Church, and that the circulation of such teaching brings scandal upon the Church, and encourages wickedness."

     When the Conference adopted the condemnation embodied in this resolution, had it considered, fully and fairly, "the teaching set forth in the editorial remarks at the close of an article in New Church Life for June, 1890, entitled 'Laws of Marriage and [of] Pellicacy'"?
     No it had not!



     IF Conference had considered these teachings fully, it would have seen that the charges of scandalizing and encouraging wickedness lie with equal force against the circulation of the work an Conjugial Love as against the teachings in the Life.

174


The spirit that was operative in Conference is the same as that which has led Newchurchmen to fear the book, to condemn and expurgate certain portions of it, and, in the case of New Church ministers, to interdict the reading of such portions!
     The malignity of this as well as of the other Conference resolutions becomes apparent when it is thus seen, that the charges of scandal and wickedness are in reality directed against the LORD'S own Revelation.
     If this be not the true interpretation of the spirit that animated Conference, then that body will be ready, publicly and without reserve, to acknowledge that the whole work on Conjugial Love and Sortatory Love is Divine in each and every particular, and it will recommend its use as a household book to guide the members of the New Church out of the evil of the love of adultery, out of unchaste and unclean states, into conjugial love, into the chaste and pure sphere of heaven.
     Conference will not do this. The fear of the world will not suffer it to do so.



      IN accordance with the principle observed in the Writings, that Heaven and the things of Heaven are first described, so that, in their light, the things of hell, and those that are intermediate between Heaven and Hell may be more clearly seen and discriminated, the article in the Life purposely considered the laws of marriage first, as they are revealed in the Heavenly Doctrines, and then the laws of pellicacy and concubinage, as revealed in the same Doctrines. Following upon this, came the conclusion:

     "From all that has been brought forward, there results this conclusion: that, as marriage is a union of souls and a conjunction of minds, and from these a conjunction of bodies, and as the prohibition concerning marriage with one out of the Church is based upon this law, there is no reason why pellicacy, which 'makes a distinction between the souls of two, and conjoins only the sensuals of the body,' should not be carried on With one outside the Church."

     It will be evident to every one who has an eye to see, that this is by no means saying, as the instigators of the Conference resolution said, that "there is no reason why pellicacy . . . should not be carried on with one of the Old Church," meaning by this, indiscriminate whoredom.
     The article was written in answer to an inquirer who had read the previous correspondence on the subject, and was intended for similar readers, not for an assembly of blind and prejudiced men, who were willing to follow blind and willful leaders. "If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matt. xv, 14. See A. E. 537c).



      IT is freely admitted that the wording at the end of the article in the June issue of New Church Life was not so clear as might be desired.. In the following words the paragraph more clearly and fully expresses the conclusion formed by the Life from the Doctrines on the subject. The italics mark the changes from the original paragraph:
     "From all that has been brought forward there results this conclusion: that, as marriage is a union of souls and a conjunction of minds, and from these a conjunction of bodies, and as the prohibition concerning marriage with one out of the Church is based upon this law, there is no reason why pellicacy of the kind provided for in the Doctrines of the New Church, and which, according to them, makes a distinction between the souls of two; and conjoins only the sensuals of the body' (C. L. 460), may not be carried on with one outside the Church, where the conditions answer to those described in the Doctrines."
     But a candid reader would know that the words in italics were involved in the original sentence.



     FANATICALLY devoted to the hypocritical morality of the age; blindly prejudiced against a rational consideration of a most important subject-one that lies at the foundation of all moral and spiritual relations-led on by utter perversions of statements made on the subject of the resolution, members of Conference, even such as were well disposed, fell into the trap that had been prepared for them; and thus, in spite of the earnest and even heroic defense made by the minority, the Conference as a body agreed to the resolutions adopted, thus permitting itself to be used as a means for the Draconic influences in the spiritual world that aim to destroy the doctrine of the New Church. "And the Dragon stood before the Woman that was to bring forth, in order that after she had brought forth he might devour her child" (Rev. xii, 4).



     REJECTING the LORD in His own Revelation of His Divine Love and Wisdom, the Conference naturally attempted to trample under foot freedom and reason, the two essentials of the human, the faculties of which the LORD keeps unimpaired and sacred. The majority made the high-handed attempt to force a fellow-New- churchman and minister to repudiate his rationally formed convictions because they were obnoxious to the majority!
     Not the faintest word of remonstrance was heard from the Messengers of the General Convention, sent to convey messages of peace and good-will, and only one minister of the Conference had the sense and the courage to denounce the tyranny of the proceeding. That the whole force of the attempt was shattered to pieces when it met the earnest and unalterable determination of the member to maintain his freedom to believe and act according to his convictions of right and duty, was well for the New Church in England, but not to the credit of the Conference.
The postponement of further action, while it may, possibly, permit the matter to sink into oblivion, and thus free the Conference from its present predicament, will not remove the disgrace which attaches to the attempt deliberately made by this year's session.



     IN the meanwhile, those who may be disturbed and made anxious by such an attack an the very principles on which the Church is established and built up, will have the assurance, that the LORD JESUS CHRIST sits enthroned as the supreme Ruler of the New Church, its Head, High-Priest, and King. He governs all the affections and inclinations of man. Teachings drawn direct from the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, no matter by whom presented, are His teachings, His truths. And, in spite of all the resolutions, declarations, and machinations of the leaders in Conference, these truths will find their way where He provides that they shall be received, for the establishment of higher, purer, and more interior states. Their non-reception will be equally of the LORD'S Providence, to guard against their abuse, perversion, or even profanation.

175


MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS AND LEADERS OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE 1890

MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS AND LEADERS OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE              1890

     Communicated.

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the writers.]

     FOR the first time in the history of the New Church in Great Britain, the ministers in the Kingdom have met together, for a prolonged session, for the purpose of discussing questions of interest. The meeting lasted two days, Thursday and Friday, August 7th and 8th. Nearly thirty ministers and leaders were present.
FIRST DAY 1890

FIRST DAY              1890

                    Thursday Morning, August 7th.
     THE out-going President of Conference, the Rev. Joserph Deans, of Leeds, was elected President, and he accordingly opened the meeting with prayer.
     The Rev. J. J. Woodford, of Besses-o'-th'-Barn, was elected Secretary.
     New Church friends were invited to be present at the deliberations. The Rev. J. R. Hibbard and the Rev. Jabez Fox, from America, were invited to take part in the discussions. As the name of the Rev. J. J. Thornton, from Australia, is on the list of Conference ministers, a welcome was extended to him.

     The subject of the morning was introduced by the Rev. J. F. Buss, of Newcastle-on- Tyne, who spoke of the defect in Church arrangements in regard to

     KEEPING YOUNG PERSONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE CHURCH.

     He thought that there was too great a gap between the Sunday-school and adult membership, and suggested, as a remedy, a Junior Branch, over which the minister should preside, and the members of which would fill positions in Church work.
      He moved
      "That it is a duty of every New Church Society to make special provision for the needs of those young people who are beginning to feel themselves too old for the Sunday-school, but are not yet old enough for Adult Membership for the Church; and that this provision should take the form of a Junior Branch, or Junior Section, which should meet regularly, under the Presidency of the Minister, for instruction in the Doctrines of the Church and other preparation for Church Membership; such meetings to form as fixed and regular a part of a Society s work as the Sunday-school and Sunday services."

     A number of ministers took part in the discussion of the subject. One of them, the Rev. Joseph Deans, (who called the Rev. J. F. Potts, of Glasgow, to the chair during his remarks), saw the hopes for unity threatened by Mr. Buss's use of the term "Junior Branch" for "Junior Members," the latter being used in the minutes of the last Conference. He considered it inadvisable to dictate to Societies who should preside over them, which is done when it is said that the minister should occupy that position. He believed that the minister should be there, but they (the ministers and leaders) had no right to dictate. He was of the opinion that there is such a thing as young people becoming so attached to the minister as to drive the old ones away, and there ought, therefore, be no interior friendship between, young people and their minister. So, also, was at a great mistake to take young people out of the Sunday-school building into the Pastor's house for instruction.
     The Rev. R. L. Tafel, of London (Camden Road), proposed not to trouble himself with the name, but to consider the subject. In his Society, they threw the whole responsibility for the carrying on of the Junior Branch on the young people themselves. They have the freedom to elect whom they please to be their president. They elect their minister to this office. They have various subjects, and different gentlemen address them on these subjects. They read poets, of which Tennyson and Shakespeare have thus far been read. They consult their minister frequently.
     The Rev. John Presland, of London (Argyle Square), sympathized with Mr. Buss's desire, but considered the resolution unnecessary. He referred to his Society, in the Sunday-school of which he taught the first class, consisting of persons of both sexes, from the age of fourteen up to that of thirty. In his Society, they had met with practical difficulties in having Junior Member Societies. But, while they do not form a separate institution, the young people are enrolled as Junior Members. The world was far too much with us; many had to leave business at such a late hour that they could not attend the meetings.
     The Rev. I. Tansley, of Liverpool, expressed his conviction that, in the North of England, the forming of a distinct section between the Sunday-school and the Church would at once be looked upon as a class distinction. So far as he was concerned, he would be glad to give way to a layman, in the presidency, if he should prove useful in the chair; though most probably the minister would be in the chair. He considered it a great mistake to seek to make little theologians of children aged fourteen or fifteen years; to do this betrayed ignorance of human nature or of the Doctrines themselves. One should, by all means, avoid making little bigots instead of good young people. "Let us keep the young people in the Church, but the best way is certainly not to make them theologians."
     The Rev. C. Griffiths, of Ramsbottom, referred all the matter of education to the parents. He was astounded at the very little genuine piety to be found in the parents.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts, of Glasgow (Cathedral Street), believed that Mr. Buss began at the wrong end. It was not his experience that the young people drifted away from the Church, although there were exceptions. He was opposed to Junior Member Societies, as they created an imperium in imperio. As the minister is the Pastor of the Society, he should be the Pastor of this branch. In his Society they had a so-called Minister's Class, many members of which are children of parents who are in the Old Church, or infidels. These could not be left to parental influence. Neither could those of the New Church be left entirely to the parental influence, since the minister is the teacher of all- old and young, and he cannot shuffle off his responsibility. "The priestly work can be performed only by priests. We have authority for this in the Doctrines, and we have authority for nothing else." Mr. Buss seeks the error in the Societies; that is the wrong end; he should go to the ministers.
     The Rev. R. L. Tafel maintained that the Writings taught that parents ought to teach. Every one should teach children and servants, and "servants," he doubted not, meant all who, cannot help themselves. Ministers should not supersede the work of others, nor should they be looked upon as the sole instrument of instruction.

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     The Rev. J. J. Thornton, of Australia, stated that their Mutual Improvement Society was such a one as Dr. Tafel had described. It was not his experience that the young people drift away from the Church. He heartily agreed with the Argyle Square methods in not having a Junior Members' Society. A change had come over his mind of late years, and he believed that good ought to be put in the first place, not truth; so also he thought that children should not be made little theologians.
     The Rev. W. H. Buss, of Jersey, said that as the child develops, its tastes develop, and while it may not become a theologian, it may be just as good as one that is. The young people ought to be allowed to use their independence, and to elect their own officers.
     The Rev. Isaiah Tansley moved, as an amendment to the resolution, that Conference be recommended to readopt minute 36 of the session, calling attention to the importance of instituting Junior Members' Societies.
     Mr. Richard Gunton, of London, seconded the resolution, saying that they must be patient and not too hasty.
     The Rev. J. T. Freeth, of Bolton, thought that while children may not be made little theologians, they ought to know much about the Doctrines of the New Church. He also believed that those men were the most successful who use the most personal influence, as, for example, the Rev. J. F. Potts, whose very presence assured a hearing for him in Conference.
     The Rev. O. H. Lock, of Hull, said that it seemed assumed that the greatest evil lay in young men and women leaving the organization of the New Church, and asked whether it was supposed that when children leave the Church, they left the LORD?
      The Rev. R. J. Tilson, of London (Camberwell), concluded from the Doctrines that priests should teach. He thought it best to make children "theologians;" they may be rightly critical. In their age truth is first in time and good second, in preparation for later states when the truth becomes the form of good.
     The Rev. J. F. Buss replied on the debate.
     The amendment, namely, that Conference be recommended to readopt minute 36 of last year's meeting, was put to vote, and carried by nine votes in favor to two votes against.
     The meeting adjourned for luncheon, and re-assembled, at 2.40 P. M.
Thursday Afternoon 1890

Thursday Afternoon              1890

     THE Rev. J. F. Potts opened the session with the LORD'S Prayer.


     The Rev. J. F. Buss proposed a resolution providing against the drifting away of children born within the Church, which was referred to a sub-committee, consisting of Messrs. Buss and Tansley.

     The Rev. Joseph Deans read a paper on

     "THE PRACTICAL TRAINING OF MINISTERS"

     In this paper he spoke of the need of more care in the selection of the men who are to be trained. No one should attempt to be a teacher until he has been a student, for a teacher must thoroughly understand what he teaches. The minister who simply quotes from the
     Writings might be easily replaced by an automatic machine, and will be found quite useless when the Concordance is fully published. All instruction should bear on regeneration and salvation; we have nothing to do with "Agnosticism," "Robert Elsemere," "Looking Backward," or other current isms. "If we ministers, for one year, should make no mention of the Old Church and its doctrines, in our pulpits, we should grow in grace and true religion." A man needs to be trained to lead men. The minister who seeks to force his people, and who will always have his own way is a bungler. It is needful to have an iron hand, but always beneath a silken glove. It is the duty of a minister to interest his people, and to please them by language, gestures, speech, and argument. When he ceases to please, his usefulness is at an end. A minister who continues in his position when he has ceased to please his people is a pitiful case. He needs to be trained how to oppose without enmity. Every student, upon leaving college, ought to be curate for a year to some minister, without salary.
The essayist expressed pity for untrained ministers, being led thereto by experience. As a rule longer training is needed than that which is given. Mr. Deans moved

     "That all students should be especially trained in ministerial duties, and that the last year of their work be spent under an older minister."

     The Rev. Arthur Faraday, of Snodland, seconded the resolution, and said that he had experienced the benefit of serving under another minister. He believed that the sending out of an untrained man was very cruel.
     Mr. Richard Gunton held in admiration what Mr. Deans had said. It was quite possible to be a good minister, without going to College, in evidence of which the speaker referred to the cases of the Rev. Messrs. Freeth, Wilkins, Rendell, Woodman, and Bayley. There never was a minister in the New Church like Mr. Bayley. Too much must not be thought of formularies.
     Mr. Deans's resolution was carried unanimously.
     It was resolved to publish the paper in the New-Church Magazine.
     The Rev. R. L. Tafel, resuming the discussion of the paper, said that it dealt more with the requirements of ministers than with their training. He maintained that the ministers instanced by Mr. Gunton had all received some sort of training. The training of ministers required great self-devotion in self-study. A minister needs to be instructed or else he cannot teach; he needs a stock of knowledge with which to begin. The main object in the training should be the construction of the sermon, and he advises that students should preach the sermons of their professor or teacher during the first year. The student should be taught the languages in which the Word and the Writings are written.
     The Rev. J. J. Woodford, of Manchester (South Side), suggested that it mattered much what material the candidates and the professors were made of.
     The Rev. Peter Ramage, of Radcliffe, was of the opinion that a man cannot be taught to construct a sermon; if his spiritual state is looked after, he will have his own method of sermonizing.
     The Rev. I. Tansley said that the desire to save souls ought to be fostered. Men like Mr. Wilkins need not be sent to College, but immediately to their work. Idleness should be sought out and put down. In the New Church one is very apt to go to extremes, and this applies to the teaching. "We do not want passages from the Writings strung together and called sermons. This would mean that soon we shall have no need of ministers, but shall, instead, have decent renders of the Writings." He believed that the dramatic faculty is in every one, and so also the teaching faculty. "I cannot understand how a man can lead to good except by his life."

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     The Rev. J. T. Freeth said that he had received a training, if not a collegiate one; but, had he been trained as others are, his preparation would have been much easier.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts spoke of a kind of training which does harm. The principal thing needed is a steady use of the Writings. Simply to "string a number of passages together" is the work of a fool. The desire for saving souls will give tact. A minister may displease the people and at the same time do them good. If quality were looked to more, a better condition would exist. He believed that Conference ought to make the Ordaining Ministers the judges of those who should enter the ministry.
     The Rev. W. Westall, of Middleton, said that Dr. Bayley had often assured him that a more efficient training would have assisted him materially.
     The Rev. R. J. Tilson was opposed to students preaching the sermons of their professors. He referred to the idea, frequently put forth, of leading by example, as objectionable and injurious. Arcana Coelestia, n. 10,798, says that "Priests ought to teach the people, and to lead by truths to the good of life."
     The Rev. J. R. Rendell, of Accrington, thought that the young ministers ought to be better instructed in science.
     The Rev. J. Deans, replying on the whole debate, said that he did not believe that the chief knowledge for a New Church minister is a knowledge of the Writings. He thought that the first was a knowledge of the LORD, and that this was not the same as a knowledge of the Writings; certainly not! He replied to Mr. Tilson's remarks about leading by example, that the letter of the Word of God taught men to lead others by their life, when it said, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." In answer to other points in the debate, he believed in training, for the kindly criticism to which it subjected the students. Were the young men placed under elderly ministers, three years at College, and one with the minister would be better than six at College.
SECOND DAY 1890

SECOND DAY              1890

                    Friday Morning, August 8th.
     The Rev. John Presland conducted services.
     The sub-committee to whom Mr. Buss's resolution had been referred, reported it in the following form:

     "That with anew to the reduction to a minimum of the drifting away of children born within the Church, a Register of every such child's 'Church-history' should be kept in a book to be called the 'Children's Church Register;' and that it should be the duty either of the Deacons or of a special Registrar, to record the date at which every child eaters upon each stage of its connection with the Church, and, in the event of such entrance not being affected at the suitable age, to take such steps as may seem expedient for drawing the attention of parents to the omission, and getting it remedied; such Register to record the following particulars:
     "a. Child's name. b. Parent's name. c. Date of child's birth. d. Date of baptism. e. Date of admission to Sunday-school. f. Date of admission as Junior Member. g. Date of admission to the particular Society. And, in case of the child's death, or removal from the town (or neighborhood), before attaining the age of twenty years, h. date of death. i. Date of removal, and whither gone: also, k. any remarks the case may call for."


     The Rev. P. Ramage read a paper on

     "ORDER IN THE NEW CHURCH, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE ORDAINING MINISTRY,"

in which he held that in all works and pamphlets on the ministry, the Word of the LORD is ignored, and the Writings are placed above it. He quoted Arcana Coelestia, n. 1241, to prove that the priesthood came into existence with sacrifices. It was established in an idolatrous age, and belongs to and is connected with sacrifices, but when the LORD came, the Jewish sacrifices, and the priesthood with them, passed away. The LORD had had no graded ministry in His time, but on the contrary, He taught that "the princes of this world exercise authority over them," and warned His disciples: "Be not yet called Rabbi." With the Word and the Writings before him, the essayist held that the graded ministry is out of place in the New Church. Alike from the Writings and all historians it is discovered that in the morning of every Church the ecclesiastical polity was most simple, but that when a Church declined, then the priesthood appeared. If in the Most Ancient Church and in the First Christian Church there was no priesthood, then why should there be a priesthood in the Second Christian Church? He expected to be told that Swedenborg teaches a graded ministry. Swedenborg received the Doctrines: they are Divine, but all the Writings are not Doctrines. Swedenborg was commanded to publish the Writings by the press, and nothing but what he published is of authority. In the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, Swedenborg has a chapter on Ecclesiastical and Civil Government. Here definite statements on the subject ought to be found, but what was the teaching? There was not the slightest hint of a graded ministry. Swedenborg simply stated facts a they were in his day. He was not formulating a new scheme of government. There was no external organization of the New Church in Swedenborg's lifetime, neither did Swedenborg in this chapter look to a separate organization. The mode of government in the New Church must be according to its environment. This view the essayist confirmed by quotations from the Rev. C. Giles and Dr. Theophilus Parsons. By the unfortunate introduction of a foreign body into England, this matter had come to the front again. "Let us have no veneer. Is the Conference to have the congregational polity, which brings freedom, or a prelatical one, which brings slavery?" Unfortunately Conference has an order of "Ordaining Ministers," and favor with the powers that be was the only opening into this grade. The essayist repeated his assertion that no graded ministry is taught in the New Testament or in the Writings, and proposed that the President of Conference should ordain. Tyranny and lust of power followed the establishment of a Priesthood. Success came nearest to the simple ministry of the first Apostles. He took his stand on the principle that "Doctrine must be drawn from the letter of the Word," and judged all things thereby. He moved the following resolution:

     "Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting it is undesirable to appoint any additional Ordaining Ministers, or in any way to continue this distinctive order in the ministry of the New Church; and hat it be the practice, in future, for all ordinations to be performed by the President of Conference, or by one of the Ex-Presidents, delegated by the President to act for him."

     The resolution was seconded by the Rev. J. T. Freeth.
     Mr. McLagan, leader of the Deptford (London) Society, said that he had expected such a paper from Mr. Ramage, but he held that Swedenborg does not deal in the Heavenly Doctrine with the former Church, but with the New Church. What Swedenborg stated, he stated as doctrine. Order cannot be maintained without governors. It I said that there should be no graded ministry, because it leads to lust of dominion, but the Writings distinctly state that there must be a graded ministry to prevent disorder.

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     Mr. Arthur E. Beilby, of Nottingham, characterized as rash, the assertion in the paper that the priesthood is inseparable from sacrifices. There were no sacrifices in Egypt, yet there was a great priesthood there. And the fact that John was Bishop in Ephesus, showed that there was a graded ministry in the morning of the First Christian Church. He thought that the Romish Church was a blessing to the world, and did an amount of good.
     The Rev. G. H. Lock, on the contrary, maintained that Mr. Ramage had proved, from Swedenborg, that, sacrifices necessitated a priesthood.
     The Rev. C. Griffiths referred to The Apocalypse Explained (n. 229) and to three places in The True Christian Religion to show that Mr. Ramage was mistaken when he said that nothing in the Writings showed that a separation from the Old Church should take place, and also to show that the New Church must necessarily be a distinct Church. He also maintained that Mr. Ramage was in error in saying that a distinct ministry was not taught in the letter of the Word.
     The Rev. Thomas Child, of London (Kensington), I would be sorry to take Mr. Ramage as a guide, if his paper was to be considered authoritative. Mr. Ramage said that the priesthood had been abolished. Not so; the Jewish Priesthood was gone, but not the priesthood generally. The speaker did not accept the assertion in the paper that all Doctrine is derived from the letter of the Word; general doctrine is, but not the particulars of doctrine; these come from the spiritual sense. Order must be in all things, and for this a trine is necessary. Mr. Ramage had drawn all his arguments from the Old Church, and this is perverted and rotten. At the same time the speaker thought it folly to set to work at once to put into practice what is thought right.
     The Rev. I. Tansley read Coronis, n. 17, and called attention to the whole of this paragraph. If Swedenborg intended to give definite teachings on the subject under discussion, why was he not more definite? There was no mention of tradespeople in Coronis, n. 17, yet, they are necessary. Swedenborg had no notion of General Pastors or Ordained Ministers in his mind for the New Church. In The True Christian Religion "dukes" were spoken of, but surely dukes were not needed. He thought Mr. Child's remark equivalent to closing the Word. The "foreign body" had not only a grade in the ministry, but also in the body itself. "Are we to have the 'foreign body' in our Conference?" The pronoun "I" occurs continually in the Heavenly Doctrine, showing that it is Swedenborg's, not the LORD'S, Book. If this were the doctrine for the New Church, it was also that for the Christian Church. The speaker presumed that the passages on the sheet were all that could be produced in favor of the Priesthood. (He referred to a small paper which had been distributed to the meeting, and which bore quotations concerning the Priesthood from H. D. 313, Coro. 17, T. C. R. 106, Canons, H. S. iv, 7, T. C. R. 146.) Swedenborg, concluded the speaker, had not left the New Church in doubt as to the Trinity, but he had done so in regard to the ministry.
      The Rev. R. J. Tilson maintained that the Writings teach the ministry as plainly as the Trinity. The New Church is the only true Christian Church, the former being "only Christian in name" (T. C. R. 700). The way in which Mr. Child's remark, in regard to the Word, had been perverted was but an instance of the general trend of the opposition. The Heavenly Doctrine was for the New Church, and not for the Church of Swedenborg's time. Mr. Tansley was mistaken in his conclusion that the sheet before them contained all that the Writings teach on the subject of the trine in the ministry. This teaching in regard to this subject was to be found all through the Writings. He (Mr. Tilson) held in his hand the Journal of the General Convention for the year 1875, fifty closely-printed pages of which were devoted to an excellent report made up of quotations from the Writings on the subject, and logical deductions therefrom.
     The graded ministry in the First Christian Church was constituted of (1) the LORD, the High Priest, (2) the Twelve Apostles, and (3) the Seventy Disciples.
     Doctrine must indeed be drawn from the letter of the Word, not by us, but by the LORD.
     The Rev. J. R. Rendell did not like the term "The Writings." There was no use in going to the Writings unless a rational explanation of them were given. In the Coronis, n. 17, Swedenborg gave illustrations, but not facts. There was a general concurrence in the Church as to the desirability of having ordinations.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts spoke of his former antipathy to the use of the term "Priest," an antipathy which had to give way before his reverence for the Writings in which it is used. He referred to the trine at the time of the LORD'S life on earth, as described by Mr. Tilson, and said that there is also a trine in the ministry in Heaven, and that on earth they should never "love one another as brethren" until they had order in the ministry. The true Priesthood is that of government by truth from good. Were Mr. Ramage's argument carried out, it would abolish the ministry. It did not follow that where the forms of papacy might exist, its spirit existed also. If authority is attached to The Apocalypse Explained, the same is consistently due to the Coronis. The speaker emphatically maintained that the doctrine of the priesthood and the principle of the Trine were contained in The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrines. The question was not whether the Conference was to favor the congregational or prelatical form of government, but how, as there were favorers of both forms in the Conference, they could get on? The freedom of all must be preserved. The object of his fighting was that there might be no domineering in Conference. They had lay tyranny, and it was better to be governed by a Bishop than by a clique of rich laymen. Indeed, there was no freedom possible without a governing priesthood; this was the bulwark of liberty where the priesthood is under the tyranny of a clique of rich laymen, there is general slavery in the Church.
     The Rev. J. J. Woodford thought that the trine of the LORD, the Twelve Apostles, and the Seventy Disciples, reduced the ministry to a two-fold order. He was pained by the light estimate in which the letter of the Word was held. "If the New Church be the only true Christian Church, then has the LORD left all out until we worthy people came into the world?"
     The Rev. R. L. Tafel said that if you take away the power of ordination from five or six and give it to one, the danger is increased. Mr. Potts had spoken of freedom, and Dr. Tafel found that the only safeguard for freedom was in the Truth. Is it doubted that Swedenborg wrote n. Coronis, n. 17? To throw doubt on the unpublished Writings is a most narrow spirit. It had been said that because the references to the trine in the ministry were illustrations, they had no force, but they are used as illustrations because they are facts. Swedenborg did not advocate an Archbishop, no one man. "We cannot have a High Pontiff."

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     The Rev. R. J. Rendell: "What about 'Primus Infulatus.'"
     The Rev. R. L. Tafel, ignoring the question, said that Swedenborg especially avoids the use of the title "Bishop," though he knew it well, as his father had borne it. Swedenborg does not teach that the trine in the New Church is identical with the trine in the Jewish Church. It was unfortunate that the Jewish Priesthood had been mixed up with the ministry in the New Church. There was a fatal flaw in the report to which Mr. Tilson had referred, and that was, that not all the representatives of the Jewish Priesthood had been done away with by the LORD. The Priesthood of the Jews ought not to be dragged into the New Church Priesthood.
     Rev. J. Deans feared that he must come to the conclusion that a trine in the ministry is taught in the Writings. But he knew of no passage in the Writings which said that a man once made an Ordaining Minister must be such always. He threw no doubt on any doctrine taught by Swedenborg. There was no more democratic institution in the world than the Conference; and he saw no danger in Mr. Ramage's proposal.
     The Rev. P. Ramage replied to the debate at this stage of the discussion, as he had to leave the session. He said that the arguments for the Trine are based on illustrations. The moment a man brings in any artificial system, he brings trouble. The minister's supreme need is to keep the peace. The business ought to be left in the hands of the laity, who ought to be allowed to do all they can. If tact be observed, they could all get along together. But if the system of Heaven were brought down on earth, it might not fit.
     The Rev. W. Westall thought that, if Mr. Ramage's arguments were carried out logically, they would do without ordained ministers, and also without an outward organization.
     The Rev. E. Jones, of Embsay, thought that very rightly the Writings were reticent on the subject of organization. He saw no reason why a layman should not occupy the position of President of Conference, and, if so, then, according to the resolution, he would have to ordain ministers.
     The Rev. Arthur Faraday believed that the laws of order were given in the Writings, not because they had not been known before, but because they were intended for the New Church, and should come with Divine sanction.
     The Rev. J. J. Thornton was convinced that there ought to be a trine in the ministry, but was still strongly inclined toward Congregationalism. He should feel sorry to see any advance toward Episcopalianism.
     The resolution was lost by a vote of five to thirteen.

     The Rev. J. T. Freeth read a paper on

     "THE NEED FOR A REVISION OF THE CONFERENCE CATECHISM."

     He believed that the time had come for a revision of the Catechism; indeed, it would be far better if they could do without any Catechism at all. After proposing amendments to some of the answers in the Catechism, he expressed his disbelief in the doctrine that the evil are miserable forever, and his conviction that the less children know about hell the better. He criticised the terms "Essential Divinity" and "Operative Energy" in a Catechism for children. He desired to have a Fourth Part added to the Catechism, which should deal with the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper, and briefly of Marriage and Correspondence, giving extracts from the Writings on these subjects.
     The Rev. G. H. Lock also objected to the statement in the Catechism concerning the hells, as he believed in the final restitution of all things, not only of the hells, but of everything on earth that was bad, until heaven above and heaven on earth were the only things in existence.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts feared that in the present state of the New Church, only deterioration would follow a revision of the Catechism. Some knowledge of hell by children is most useful. They should have a horror of going to hell. Nothing could be more immoral than to teach that, no matter how one lives, he will eventually go to heaven.
     The Rev. Thomas Child intimated that Mr. Potts did not stand on principles; that as the child did not go hell, it was false to teach it that if it did wrong it will go to hell.
     After a little more discussion it was

     "Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to revise the Catechism and report to Conference of next year."


     "SIGNIFIED BY THE NEW JERUSALEM IN THE REVELATION."

     The Rev. G. H. Lock moved that the words "Signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation" be omitted from the title of all Conference documents. He referred to a gentleman who had spoken of the outward organization as the "so-called New Church," and if it be only a "so-called New Church," it is not that which is signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation. He saw nothing whatever in the Writings about an outward organization for the New Church. The New Church was to be found among all people.
     Several gentlemen spoke to the motion, their remarks being to the effect that the New Church existed now, though it was not perfect; that Conference and the New Church were not identical; that the Conference was a branch of the New Jerusalem; that the phrase criticised referred to the Doctrines, and should be kept; that the name should be retained as indicating the excellence for which they were striving, etc.
     No action was taken on the motion.

     The Rev. Joseph Deans in his paper on

     "INDEPENDENT ISOLATION: OR, CO-OPERATIVE COMBINATION,"

began with the statement that the independence which be helped and that which will not be helped except in its own way are twins. The status of the ministers seemed uncertain: were they ministers of the whole Church, or of an individual Society? The Conference had no power in the appointment or dismissal of the ministers, nor authority over Societies. He instanced Bristol, which had refused to receive a visit from the President. Some Societies refused to pay the sixpence per member. Some Societies would have no Junior Members. Some Societies would have no regular administration of the sacrament of the Holy Supper. Members should recognize their duty of loyalty to Conference, and they would do this by doing what the Church generally likes. Yet there were ministers who altered the prayers in the Conference Liturgy, some made a different division of the Commandments, and others would make other alterations in the services.
The ministers ought to do their best to persuade their Societies to do what Conference desires. They ought not to set up institutions which were hostile to the institutions of Conference, as, for example, "The Foreign Body," and the "New Church Educational Institute."

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It was contrary to ministerial etiquette for one minister to interfere with the work of another, nor was it right for one to speak disrespectfully of another.
     The Rev. T. Child was much obliged for the fatherly address they had heard. The title was a marvel and so was the paper.
     The Rev. C. Griffiths hoped that all would take the advice to heart. He had always found that the ministers and the Societies were too independent, and thought that it would be better if Conference had greater power over the Societies. He thanked Mr. Deans for his paper.
     Rev. I. Tansley thought that Mr. Deans ought to be thanked by resolution. It was the paper, not of Mr. Deans, but of the President of Conference. All fatherly advice was good. The speaker should like to have, brought up matters relating to the Academy in regard to the observance of ministerial etiquette, which ought to be recognized as well as medical etiquette. A certain minister-a Bishop-had called at a house in Liverpool and saw a few friends without his (Mr. Tansley's) permission. This he characterized as a "hole-and-corner, business." He told the deputation from the Liverpool Society, who asked him to reconsider his acceptance of the call to Preston, that he would not have his peace disturbed by the Academy, which was allowed to have a foothold in Liverpool.
     The Rev. R. J. Tilson explained that the over-sensitive nature of the Pastor of the Liverpool Society had led him astray as to the facts. Bishop Pendleton had spent two days in Liverpool prior to sailing for the United States. He (Mr. Tilson) told some friends; who, he thought, would be interested to meet the Bishop, and they waited upon him at his hotel. Mr. Caldwell, one of these friends, invited a number of friends to his home the following evening to meet the Bishop, and from accounts received, a most happy and profitable time had been spent. Knowing of the constant misrepresentation that was going on in Liverpool, as to the teachings of the Academy, it was not to be wondered, that Mr. Caldwell did not invite his minister. It would be priest-craft, indeed, if no member were to be allowed to invite a friend, even though he were a minister, without having to ask his Pastor's permission.

     CLOSE OF THE MEETING.

     The Secretary read the resolutions to be submitted to Conference, and the meeting of the Committee of Ministers and Leaders was brought to a close with the benediction pronounced by the President.
NEW CHURCH MONTHLY 1890

NEW CHURCH MONTHLY              1890

     ANOTHER very full report of the meeting of the General Conference, an account of which now follows, is being published in New Church Monthly, and the readers of the Life are recommended to procure it, as the two reports together will probably give them an exhaustive account of this year's memorable proceedings.
     Address, in Great Britain, the Publisher, 12 St. John Street, Colchester, and in America, Mr. Carl Hj. Asplundh, Agent, 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
BACK numbers of New Church Life 1890

BACK numbers of New Church Life       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     BACK numbers of New Church Life can be had on application to the agent. Bound volumes, $1.25.
     CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH, AGENT,
     1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
EIGHTY- THIRD MEETING OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE 1890

EIGHTY- THIRD MEETING OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE              1890

     INTRODUCTORY.

     THE General Conference of the New Church in Great Britain is the most general body of the New Church in England, Scotland, and Wales.
     It is an annual meeting of ministers and representatives from nearly all the New Church Societies in those countries. When at least twelve persons professing the Doctrines of the New Church, form themselves into a Society, they can make application to Conference for recognition by, and connection with that body, and are always received.
     A Society consisting of from twelve to fifty members is entitled to send one representative to the annual meeting; if the Society has fifty members but less than one hundred, it can send two representatives, while if its membership reaches or exceeds one hundred it can send three representatives, which is the maximum number.
     All ministers recognized by the Conference have seats at its annual gathering by virtue of their ordination. The General Conference meets once a year to deliberate on all matters affecting the Church, but principally the external organization. It has really no control over any Society, though it accepts endowments, and holds money in trust for them.
     It is a remarkable fact that little attention, as a rule, is paid to the circulars it addresses to the various Societies. This is a common lament of nearly every President as he gives his report at the end of his year of office.
     The presiding officer of Conference is called its President, and the office is always filled by an ordained minister. A change is made every year in the Presidency, though several ministers have been several times in the chair.
     A disposition of late has been manifested to increase the circle of those who are called upon to fill the President's chair.
     During the interval between the meeting of Conference all its powers are vested in a council of twelve members elected at each Conference, the chairman of which Council, strangely enough, is a layman (who has been re-elected to this office for a number of years past), although the President of Conference is a minister, and may or may not be a member of this Council.
     Every Society in connection with Conference is expected to subscribe to the funds of Conference at the rate of sixpence per member.
     The Eighty-third Conference was held in Addison Hall, about half an hour's walk from the Kensington house of worship, and was attended by thirty-four ministers and eighty-six representatives.
FIRST DAY 1890

FIRST DAY              1890

                              Monday Evening, August 11th.
     THE retiring President, the Rev. Joseph Deans, called the meeting to order at seven o'clock, and opened it by conducting a short service, consisting of a hymn, the reading of a Psalm, and the LORD'S Prayer.
     The Secretary, the Rev. Eli Whitehead, of Huddersfield, read the Declaration of Faith, which was then signed, according to rule, by members present, the representatives from the two new Societies in Manchester (Higher Broughton, or North, and Moss Side or South), being formally requested to sign, these Societies being regarded as the continuation of the former one of Peter Street.

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     After some other preliminary business, the session was closed with services conducted by the Rev. W. Westall, of Middleton.
SECOND DAY 1890

SECOND DAY              1890

                         Tuesday Morning, August 12th.
     THE session was opened by the Rev. Henry Cameron, of Salford.
     The signing of the roll was resumed.
     The Rev. John Presland, of London (Argyle Square), nominated at the last year's Conference, was elected President.
     According to custom, the retiring President was elected Vice-President.
     The Rev. Eli Whitehead was re-elected Secretary at a salary of L80, a post which he has filled for many years.
     The President delivered an address in which, after speaking of the conduct to be observed during the deliberations, he referred to the fact that the Conference had first assembled one hundred and one years ago and noted the numerical increase. He (Mr. Presland) had been elected President four times, the first time being in the year 1876. In that year, Conference had in connection 63 Societies, comprising 4,664 members, and 29 ordained ministers. The present year-fourteen years later-gives an increase of 9 Societies, over 500 members, and 10 ministers. He spoke of the tendency to bring the members of Conference more closely together, and characterized the New Church as essentially a mission fan apostolic Church.
     The ordination of Mr. H. W. Freeman, of Willesden (London), Mr. George Meek, of Heywood, and Mr. A. Faraday, of Snodland, was reported, and the President handed to them the certificates of ordination.
     The Rev. J. R. Hibbard and the Rev. Jabez Fox, the representatives of the General Convention at Conference, were formally welcomed.
     Dr. Hibbard thanked the Conference for the welcome, and referred to the Church in America as the offspring of the Church in England. He referred to his introduction into the New Church, the first New Church, books that he ever saw being by Englishmen, Messrs. Hindmarsh and Noble.
     Mr. Fox then read the address from the Convention, written by the Rev P. B. Cabell.
     The Rev. J. J. Thornton, of Australia, was next welcomed. He spoke of the civil liberty enjoyed in Australia, and referred to several pioneers of the New Church in Australia. The Societies in that continent are now organized into a general body incorporated under the name and title of "The New Church in Australia."
     The Rev. Wm. Rees, of Lechryd, Cardiganshire, Wales, was also welcomed, and in an interesting reply, spoke of his relation to the New Church. He was no longer connected with the Congregational Union, where he had been minister, his advocacy of the Doctrines of the New Church having caused a separation. He originated the Ynysmeudwy Society, of which he was the Pastor, claiming to be a real New Church minister in spirit and in life, with the addition of some real Welsh fire. Five or six years ago he had received the pamphlet on Wesley and Swedenborg, which led him to send for and quickly read The True Christian Religion and others of the Writings, and began preaching the Doctrines with then expectation, of leading all who heard him to receive them likewise. In this he was disappointed. After three years of opposition, those who received were locked out of their house of worship. They built a new one, which, when opened, had been fully paid for without a bazaar. Alone, and in conjunction with a self-taught Newchurchman, a collier, he has written and translated into Welsh a number of New Church works.
     The Conference formally expressed regret at the absence of the Rev. R. Storry, of Heywood, who was kept from the meeting by illness.
     Mr. Charles Higham, of London (Camberwell), being Secretary of three Committees, was permitted to take a seat and to take part in the deliberations of Conference.
     The Rev. J. R. Rendell, of Accrington, was nominated, by ballot, as the President of next year's Conference.


     THE PRESIDENT'S REPORT.

     AFTER some routine business, the retiring President read his report for the past year, which, among other things, contained the following items: The West of England Missionary Association has been formed under the presidency of Mr. Isaac Pitman, in December last. The President received a communication signed by 84 New Church friends in India, applying to the Conference to confer upon Mr. John McGowan, of Allahabad, the office and powers of an Ordaining Minister for India. The President replied that Conference claimed no jurisdiction over India, and advised the following course of procedure:

     "It appears to me that the best course for you to adopt is to for you to form New Church Societies in all those places in India where there are groups of receivers; let the members of these Societies sign the Declaration of Faith; then appoint such officers and adopt such rules as you may see are best adapted to your circumstances. If you have suitable members ordain them, either by the authority of individual Societies or by the authority of the representatives of the Societies assembled in Conference. Infant churches need to be dealt with very carefully and to be taught to walk steadily before they attempt to run, and you will find it wisest to let your ecclesiastical government be conformable both to your wants and circumstances."

     In accordance with the request of the last Conference to visit the small Societies of the Church, the President had visited twenty-eight such Societies. Seven Societies have ceased to exist within the past twenty years, and he instanced a number of those which he had visited, which appear to be going the same way, in spite of endowments and church buildings. They needed men to preach to them and counsel them. Other Societies were doing fairly well. The President also had preached or addressed meetings at fourteen other places, attended the opening services at the two new churches in Manchester (North and South), and the annual meetings of five New Church institutions. The President referred to "the unprecedented activity in building operations during the year." Beside the two new churches in Manchester the Societies in Haslingden, Salford, Blackpool, and Stockport (all in Lancashire); Keighley (in Yorkshire) Norwich (in Norfolk), Ynysmeudwy (in Wales), and Northampton, are either building or preparing for
it. After observing that the Conference was not prepared to make large and sweeping changes in its methods of Church working and finance the President entered into particulars concerning punctuality in attendance, no whispering in church, no reaching for hats during close of service, keeping things clean and tidy, etc., etc., and closed with a number of formal suggestions to Conference .

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     AN INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE OF SEVEN APPOINTED.

     The report so far, was in print, and had been distributed to members. The ex-President having concluded the reading, said that he wished to add a paragraph to his report. He had received a complaint against one of the ministers of Conference, whose name appears on a paper, teaching immoral doctrine. There were reasons, why a Committee should be appointed to investigate this case, before which committee the minister, whose conduct, character, and position was thus impugned, should appear. He counseled that no discussion should, take place now, but that when the Committee reported, the matter could be discussed to the fullest extent
     Mr. John Calderwood, of Liverpool, maintained that this was not a question for a committee, but one of decency. Though called to order by the President and asked to resume his seat, Mr. Calderwood, in great excitement, continued to address Conference, in a very high pitch of voice.
     The Rev. Joseph Deans moved that a committee of seven appointed consisting of three laymen and four ministers. The following are the gentlemen appointed The Rev. Messrs. Joseph Deans, R. L. Tafel, W. Westall and C. H. Wilkins, and Messrs. J. C. Bayley, A. Eadie, and F. Smith.
     The Rev. R. J. Tilson, of London (Camberwell), protested against the idea of a committee composed, though only partly, of laymen, being appointed to try a minister of the Church. If he were the minister in question he would certainly refuse to attend before any such committee. The last chapter in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine provided that there should be subordination among the ministers lest disorder should arise, but no authority for laymen judging ministers could be found in the Doctrines. Loyalty to the Writings and devotion to the doctrine of the Priesthood made him thus address the Conference.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts, of Glasgow (Cathedral Street), proposed as an amendment that only ministers be on the committee, as it was disorderly for laymen to judge ministers. Any minister who felt as strongly on this point of order as did the speaker, would refuse to appear before a mixed committee.
     Mr. G. C. Ottley, of London (Camberwell), seconded the amendment, quoting in support of it, "the laity are in the externals of the doctrine of the Church, and the clergy are in its internals" (A. R. 567); hence the laymen could not judge the clergy. He stated, on behalf of his minister, that they desired the strictest inquiry, provided this were instituted in an orderly manner. The truth feared nothing.
     The Rev. P. Ramage, of Radcliffe, stated that the quotation from the Apocalypse Revealed was erroneous, as he contended that all who studied interiorally were in the interiors of doctrine, whether they were priests or laymen.
     Mr. Edward John Broadftield, of Manchester (Higher Broughton), stated that he must vote for the original motion; if laymen might not judge, then the matter could not come before Conference. Mr. Tilson had once sought the advice of a layman in reference to Conference matters.
     Further discussion of this important point of order was cut short by the application of closure at the instigation of the Rev. J. R. Randell.
     The Rev. Joseph Deans, in accordance with the custom of Conference replied to the debate, saying that no question of doctrine, but a more external question was before them.
     The amendment was supported only by seven votes, and the resolution appointing the mixed committee was thus passed by a large majority.

     OTHER REPORTS.

     REPORTS from other officers and boards were read, from which it appears that the summary of investments in the charge of Conference amount to L66,431 (over $320,000). Services for Ordination, Inauguration of Ordaining. Ministers, and the Dedication of Churches have been printed, in the Liturgy for the first time. The Students' Aid Committee recommended the re-adoption of Messrs. Dufty and Newboult, and the adoption of Messrs. Stephen J. C. Goldsack, and Charles C. Tarelli. The education of the Conference students had been entrusted to the Rev. Messrs. John Presland and W. C. Barlow. The College also has other classes in various cities under the direction of various ministers, attended by nineteen students, but these are not enrolled as preparing for the ministry.

     THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE HOLY SUPPER.

     THE unvarying custom of the Conference in the past has been to leave the ordering of the service of the Holy Supper entirely in the hands of the Society entertaining Conference. This fact explains the various ways in which the Holy Supper had been prepared and carried out at different Conferences. Some Societies had rigidly observed the plain teaching of the Writings by providing only wine with the uncut bread, while other Societies had provided bread cut into pieces having the form of dice, and unfermented must, as well as wine. At the Conference held at Accrington in the year 1888 a discussion of fourteen hours' duration had taken place on the question of wine and must for the Holy Supper. The decision arrived at was that in future there should be two separate services at the Conference Sacrament, the first service to have bread and wine, and the second to have bread and unfermented grape juice.
     At the following Conference, held at Heywood in the year 1889, the resolution of the previous Conference was ignored and at the Conference Sacrament only one service was provided, at which, in addition to the bread, both wine and grape juice were used.
     The Kensington Church Committee decided that for the present Conference they would abide by the decision of the Conference itself, and thus two distinct services were provided for. This arrangement not pleasing several teetotal members of Conference they were successful in obtaining a thorough alteration of the arrangements by the entertaining Society, and a second ignoring of the decision of Conference in 1888, as will be seen from the following discussion:
     The Rev. J. R. Rendell thought that the service tonight should be under the complete control of the Conference. He believed that the present arrangements were not likely to please many of the present Conference, and moved that a committee be appointed to arrange the service tonight.
     The Rev. J. Deans said that this was the sacrament of the Conference, and the Conference should have entire control.
     The Rev. Thomas Child, minister of the inviting Society (Kensington, London), explained that the Conference had committed this action to the Kensington Society, who were seeking to provide for all parties, and based this their action on the Conference resolution passed at Accrington. He explained that there were to be two celebrations without the repetition of all other parts of the service.

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     The Rev. J. F. Buss, of Newcastle, considered it very unadvisable to undo the resolution of the Accrington Conference, arrived at after long debate.
     Mr. A. Backhouse, of Leeds, declared that it was perfectly indifferent to him whether he took the sacrament in fermented or unfermented wine.
     The motion appointing a committee to arrange the service was carried, and three ministers, Messrs. Deans, Rodgers, and Child, and five laymen, Messrs. Bayley, Bragg, Broadfield, Robinson, and Gunton, were appointed on the committee.
     The Rev. A. Faraday closed the session.
Tuesday Evening 1890

Tuesday Evening              1890

     THE evening was devoted to worship.
     The mixed committee appointed to arrange the services for the administration of the Holy Supper provided the following ceremony:
     There was one service. All partook of the bread together, and then the wine was first given to those who desired it, and after this, unfermented grape-juice to those who preferred that liquid. The external arrangements for this unprincipled ceremony were poor, and, led to considerable confusion, and at least outward, profanation. Some of those who had sanctioned the action as a theory, found in practice that it created a sphere which was most unpleasant and made worship impossible.
     It is worthy of note that of the four London ministers who published the famous so-called "Quartet" pamphlet on the Wine question, two were absent from the evening meeting, and of the other two, Mr. Child walked out of the church before the administration of the supper, but Mr. John Presland entered fully into the service.
THIRD DAY 1890

THIRD DAY              1890

                         Wednesday Morning, August 13th.
     THE session was opened by the Rev. J. T. Freeth.
     Mr. John Bragg, of Birmingham, reported on behalf of the Committee on the Conference Sacrament, that they had arranged that there should be one service and that both wines should be used.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts moved that the Conference regrets that the special Committee altered the arrangements made for the sacrament by the Kensington Society.
     Mr. David Denney, of London (Camberwell), seconded the motion.
     The Rev. Joseph Deans argued that Mr. Pott's resolution would be a censure on the whole Conference.
     The closure was applied on motion of Mr. J. R. Rendell, cutting off further debate. The motion expressing regret was put to vote and lost by a large majority.
     The President's report was taken up for consideration.

     THE PRESIDENT'S ADVICE TO FRIENDS IN INDIA.

     The Rev. R. J. Tilson expressed sincere regret that the President had given the advice he had, to the friends in India (see above, page 182). There were but two sources to which any one could go for direction in action-to the LORD in His Revelations, or to man's self-intelligence, which was based upon the loves of self and of the world. In telling the Indian friends to let their ecclesiastical government "be conformable both to their wants and circumstances," the President was virtually bidding them to consult themselves and thus their self-intelligence, for the "wants and circumstances" of the unregenerate man grew out of his loves of self and the world. He earnestly wished that the retiring President had pointed the friends in India to the LORD in the Writings, especially to the closing chapter of The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, for only in the LORD can we find the Rock on which the Church can securely rest.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts did not believe that the President intended the friends in India to consult their self-intelligence or to act from the love of self and of the world. It was right in external things, in the beginning of the Church, to consult the requirements of the people. At the same time he regretted that the President had not directed these people to go to the LORD, as He made known His voice in the Writings. There would have been great power in such advice, for the LORD and Heaven would have been in it.
     Mr. E. J. Broadfield was glad to hear Mr. Potts administer the well-deserved rebuke to Mr. Tilson as to the statement that the friends in India had been directed to their self-intelligence. But he would be sorry if the Conference were led by the speech of Mr. Potts to think that the retiring President had forgotten the duties of a common Christian. Mr. Potts contends that advice to go to the LORD should have been given, which meant that the people should have been told to say their prayers.
     Mr. G. C. Ottley desired the Conference to remember that going to the LORD was by no means confined to saying one's prayers. What Mr. Potts intended by advising these people to go to the LORD was that they should go to the Writings in which the LORD declared Himself. The President's advice undoubtedly amounted to telling them to consult themselves, and this was practically going to their self-intelligence. The Writings provided all that these people needed and they should have been sent to them, and because they had not been so directed he protested against the advice given.
     Mr. Jonathan Robinson, of Manchester (North), thought the advice given by the President was broad, liberal, and catholic. He took this occasion to point out that the closing chapter of The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine was by no means so complete in regard to giving advice as to the Ministry as some would have us think. No mention occurred in it as to who should ordain or that any one should. The term "Conference" did not occur in it, and there were no directions in it for a Council of Ministers. Swedenborg never intended to give directions for an external organization. The forming of an external Church was wisely left to the people themselves. The Church of the Writings was a dispensation of goodness and truth, and was universal. It would be well if Conference would leave these merely external matters and occupy itself with considerations of a practical character.
     The Rev. J. Deans replied by saying that Messrs. Tilson and Potts had cruelly misrepresented what he had conveyed in this part of his report. He did not tell the friends in India to consult their self-intelligence, not to look elsewhere than to the LORD. He regarded the whole matter in a business-like manner and gave expression to the dictates of common sense.

     RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED.

     A number of the recommendations contained in the President's report were adopted:

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The appointment of a committee to whom Societies should-submit their plans and proposals for church edifices, for advice, approval, and monetary assistance; the missionary institutions are to concentrate their efforts upon existing Societies; the President is to visit small Societies; Societies are to hold annual missionary meetings; Societies are to place the services of their ministers at the disposal of the National Missionary Institution for a few Sundays in the year; more money is asked for the missionary work; small Societies to be grouped under charge of neighboring large Societies; all new Societies to be regarded as mission stations, etc.
      A censure of nine ministers for not answering his circular was withdrawn by the President from his report.

     COLCHESTER.

     The President had stated in his report:

     "COLCHESTER I visited on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of November, and was sorry to find a disposition on the part of many of the members to abandon the missionary spirit which brought the Society into existence, and to talk and act in a spirit condemnatory of the members of the Church generally. Colchester needs to be tended carefully and to be dealt with tenderly, that she may learn the things which belong to her peace."

     Mr. McQueen, of Colchester, moved that this reference to Colchester be withdrawn, as the President had made a great mistake. At Colchester they liked and desired true missionary work, but not so-called missionary work which had sent men to preach Unitarian sermons. The troubles at Colchester had arisen from the mistakes of the Rev. Joseph Deans.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts seconded the motion. Colchester would not learn her peace by busybodies going down to interfere in her business. Colchester might be a Society leading the forlorn hope of the New Church. It is a united Society.
     The Rev. Joseph Deans asserted that no man living had such an affection for the Colchester Society as he himself. He had used the words in the report to save the Society from being taken off the Missionary and Tract Society's plan.
     The Rev. C. Griffiths (formerly minister to Colchester) was surprised at what Mr. McQueen had said. Taking out of his pocket a manuscript which had been privately lent to him for another specified purpose, he made isolated quotations, the purport of which, he contended, was that missionary work was a failure, and that we were not to look to the Old Church for supplies to the New teachings which he said were received by three-fourths of the Colchester Society, but of which he disapproved.
     The reference to Colchester was withdrawn from the report by the author, Mr. Deans.
     L10 were voted Mr. Deans for his services as President during the past year.
Wednesday Afternoon 1890

Wednesday Afternoon              1890

     The Rev. Joseph Deans presented his resignation of the office of Vice-President because the Conference had not supported his action in the matter of Colchester, but the Conference refused to accept the resignation.
     Mr. James Speirs, of London, was re-appointed Agent.
     Mr. James Gilby, of London (Kensington), was appointed a Trustee in the place of Mr. C. J. Whittington, resigned.
     Reports were received and officers and boards appointed. Mr. Richard Gunton (a layman), was reappointed as Superintendent of Missions at a salary of
L50, a position he has held for twenty or more years past.


     ON THE MINISTRY.

     A Committee appointed two years ago to consider the subject of the Ministry in the light of the Writings, made its report. The Rev. Joseph Deans, Secretary of the Committee, read the following resolutions adopted by the Committee:

     "1. That this Committee recognizes the necessity for a New Church ministry.
     "2. That the uses of the ministry consist, (i.) in caring for the salvation of souls, in teaching the way to Heaven, and leading those who are taught (Life, 39); (ii.) in the administration of the sacraments (A. C. 3670); (iii.) benedictions and the consecration of marriages.
     "3. That the doctrines of the New Church teach admission into the ministry by ordination.
     "4. That it is not desirable that candidates should be ordained before they have had experience of ministerial work for at least two years, and have given proof of their ability to do ministerial work.
     "5. That while the Writings of the New Church give no specific directions as to the mode of embodying the principle of grades in the ministry, they clearly recognize the existence of three such grades.
     "6. That it is advisable to change the title 'Licentiate' to that of 'Recognized Leader,' and that no Leader should be recognized without the vote of Conference.
     "7. That Recognized Leaders should be inaugurated into their office by a public religious service.
     "8. That a Recognized Leader shall perform the ordinary uses of the ministry in the Society of which he is recognized as Leader.
     "9. That order in the ministry is such order as may be from time to time adapted to the needs of the Church, looking to the standards set before us in the Word and the Writings.
     "10. That the Conference should annually appoint a Confidential Committee, with which Societies should consult before engaging a Minister or Leader not already recognized by the Conference."

     The Secretary explained that resolutions 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 were agreed to unanimously, that four members dissented from No. 5, and one from the word "inauguration" in No. 7.
     The strangest part of the report was that the Committee had agreed not to present to the Conference any resolutions as arising from the paragraphs numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, which the Secretary explained were of an abstract kind.
     The other resolutions (6, 7, and 10) were adopted by Conference.
FOURTH DAY 1890

FOURTH DAY              1890

                         Thursday Morning, August 14th.
     THE session was opened by the Rev. J. F. Potts with Divine worship.
     In accordance with the recommendation of the Committee on Business, the subject which had occupied the attention of the special committee of seven, was taken up at once, and the reading of the minutes of, the preceding day was postponed until after the debate.

     NEW CHURCH LIFE AND ITS LONDON REPRESENTATIVE.

     It was resolved that no reports of this morning's proceedings be published without, first being submitted to the President.*
     * As the seal of privacy has been removed from the proceedings by the action of the President in sanctioning the publication of a report of them elsewhere, this account, more complete than any yet published, submitted to the President, but not sanctioned by him, is sent to New Church Life, to the readers of which Journal it is evidently due that they should have the opportunity of judging the discussion according to its merits.
     The Rev. J. Deans, the Secretary of the Committee, reported that they were thoroughly unanimous in their findings and resolutions.

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He first read a letter from Mr. John, Orme, of the Walworth Road (London) Society, in which a complaint was laid against the Rev. R. J. Tilson, in being an agent for the New Church Life, which, he stated, teaches shameful doctrine.
     He next read his letter to Mr. Tilson, written in the capacity of President, and after this Mr. Tilson's reply.
     The text of these two documents is as follows:

          "78 BELLE VUE ROAD, LEEDS, August 2d, 1890.
"DEAR MR. Tilson:
     "I feel it my duty to ask you for an explanation of the appearance of your name in the organ of the 'Academy' in view of the fact that that organ (New Church Life) in its issue for June (page 86) advocates the immoral doctrine that there is no reason why pellicacy. . . . should not be carried on with one of the Old Church."
     "I also wish to know if after such advocacy you retain your membership with the 'Academy.'
     "Truly yours,
          (Signed) "JOSEPH DEANS.
               "President Genl. Conference."
"To the Rev. B. J. Tilson, London.

     "2 INGLIS STREET, CAMBERWELL, S. E., August 4th, 1890.
     "To the Rev. Joseph Deans, President of the General Conference.
"REVD. AND DEAR SIR.
     "I received your letter of the 2d inst. this morning, and have to state in reply that the explanation of my name in New Church Life lies in the fact that I am an agent for that journal. I am not aware that any 'immoral doctrine' has at any time been taught in that paper. As to the matter to which you direct my attention in the 'issue for June (page 86),' while I regret that the permissive character, and altogether disorderly condition of pellicacy, which is so plainly shown in the Second Part of the work on Conjugial Love, were not more distinctly stated in the article in question, yet in the reply to the letter I see nothing whatever opposed to what the LORD teaches in the Writings.
     "The letter contained on page 85, part of the answer to which you quote, though incorrectly, refers to the long correspondence in former issues of New Church Life on the same general subject, and in that prior correspondence the permissive character and evil condition of pellicacy were most fully shown. You will, I doubt not, at once see that it is manifestly unjust to take the reply in the June issue altogether apart from the other teaching in the same journal, which is expressly referred to in the letter on page 85 of the 'issue for June.'
     "To your inquiry if I still retain my 'membership with the Academy' it is my privilege to give an affirmative reply.
     "I am, Revd. and Dear Sir,
"Yours very respectfully,
     (Signed)     "ROBT. JAS. TILSON."

     Mr. Deans stated that Mr. Tilson had been invited to attend the meeting of the Committee, but had respectfully refused to do so, as laymen were on it. The Committee found that Mr. Tilson had acted as an agent for New Church Life, and that he approves the teachings of that paper. The matter referred to as objectionable was the last clause of a reply to a letter which appeared in the June issue for this year.
     Mr. Deans continued, that the matter before them was a sad and solemn one. The first resolution of the Committee was as follows:

     "That this Conference hereby declares that the teachings set forth in the editorial remarks at the close of an article in New Church Life for June, 1890, entitled 'Laws of Marriage and Pellicacy,' is utterly opposed to the Doctrines of the New Church, and that the circulation of such teaching brings scandal upon the Church, and encourages wickedness."

     In moving this resolution on behalf of the Committee, Mr. Deans said that in his opinion concubinage, fornication, and pellicacy were evils. New Church Life, says Newchurchmen may do these evils. The dissemination of this literature is injurious. This paper is sent world-wide, sent where it is not ordered, and even placed in the pews of our Church. It is a scandal to circulate such a journal. There are portions of the letter of the Divine Word which if strung together would lead to wickedness. He appealed to the Conference to express its condemnation of the teachings of New Church Life.
     The resolution was seconded by Mr. John Orme.
     The Rev. T. Child asked that Mr. Deans should read all the resolutions at which the Committee had arrived, and which were to be submitted to the Conference.
     Mr. Deans declined to do so.
     Mr. Child then continued and said that the Conference was being asked to judge opinions and it had no right to take such a course. It could deal with actions, but if it began to constitute itself a judge of opinions no one could tell where such a course would lead. He failed to see what right the former President had to ask Mr. Tilson the questions he did. He himself would have refused to answer them. If the members of Conference had not gone thoroughly into the subject before them, then the Conference had no right to deal with it.
     Mr. Francis Smith, of Manchester (South Side), said that action and not merely opinion was in question, for Mr. Tilson is an agent for the paper, the teachings of which are so injurious.
     Mr. Jonathan Robinson, of Manchester, said that the keeping of a mistress is totally opposed to any teaching in Conjugial Love. If it were not so, then must the Writings be contrary to the New Testament, which teaches, that "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. v, 28). Whatever concerns the life and conduct of any one is clearly stated in the Divine Word.
     The Rev. R. J. Tilson thought it might be useful if he addressed Conference at this point. He had refused to appear before the Committee appointed from no want of respect, but because he, being a priest, could not be judged in matters of doctrine by laymen.
     The Committee had dealt with this matter in a most unjust and unwarrantable manner. Its members had selected the closing clause of a reply to a letter, and, ignoring all else that had been said in a long correspondence extending over two years, they held this closing clause of a reply up to condemnation, because taken by itself it could be made an erroneous and deplorable statement.
     This method of procedure he denounced as dishonest. He then read several extracts from the reply referred to and from other portions of the correspondence in New Church Life which showed in the plainest manner that concubinage and fornication were permitted on account of evil conditions, and were by no means to be indulged in if, without injury, they could be avoided.
     "But," said Mr. Tilson, "while I am thankful for such a true New Church journal as New Church Life undoubtedly is, I take my stand as a teaching minister on no journal, but on the Divine Writings of the Church." At the same time he desired it to be distinctly understood that he deeply regretted the manner in which the summing up of the answer in the June issue of Life was made. It was too bad, and he should have something to say on this matter when he met the editor of Life, which he hoped to do on the Swiss mountains in a few days.
     The work on Conjugial Love is the text-book on morals given by the LORD to His New Church, and in paragraph 534 of that work was the following teaching, giving the Book's own statement of the Divine authority, and it was desirable to note that this paragraph was in the second part of the Book.

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     In this paragraph Swedenborg tells us that angels asked him concerning conjugial love and its reception in the world, and he continues, in addition to a former answer:

     "To this I added, that I was in doubt whether in the world at this day they are willing to believe that that love in itself is spiritual love, and thence from religion, because they cherish concerning it only a corporeal idea. Then they said to me, 'Write about it, and follow Revelation, and afterward the book written concerning it shall be let down by us from heaven, and we will see whether the things which are therein are received; and at the same time whether they are willing to acknowledge that that love is according to religion with man, spiritual with the spiritual, natural with the natural, and merely carnal with adulterers.'"

     With regret, said Mr. Tilson, he had heard more than one minister say that Conjugial Love was a "bad book;" to such members of the Conference he had nothing to say, he appealed to those who accepted the Writings as from the Lord. He had no respect for any other standard of judgment. Conjugial Love tells us that some cannot restrain their love of the sex without injury; this is taught in paragraph 450. Then a chapter of that work was devoted to "Fornication" and another to "Concubinage," and the distinct teaching is given that under certain conditions both were permissible. Such is the teaching he accepted and he was glad to accept and adopt it because the present generation was especially an adulterous generation. The whole atmosphere of these days was steeped in an adulterous sphere.
     In the teaching he accepted and gave, he was glad to find himself supported by other ministers whose names were well known in the Conference. He referred to the Rev. W. Woodman in his book, Marriage and its Opposite, and to Dr. Tafel in his Documents Concerning Swedenborg in his review of White's Life of Swedenborg. Mr. Tilson read several extracts from the review in the Documents, instancing especially the reasons given by Dr. Tafel why provisions are made for the man and not for the woman:

     "As Mr. White is unwilling to see a distinction between the two kinds of fornication, one of which destroys conjugial love, and the other preserves it; so also he is unwilling to see a like distinction which Swedenborg makes in concubinage, and he again joins the 'sickly virtuous and the hypocritically pure' in subjecting Swedenborg to 'gross calumny' for making such a distinction. For, says he (Vol. II, p. 415), 'His (i. e., Swedenborg's) treatment of concubinage defined as "the intercourse of a married man with a harlot" (C. L. 462), is even more repulsive.
     "To this must be objected, in the first place, that Swedenborg, in the passage referred to, does not define concubinage as the 'intercourse of a married man with a harlot,' but he defines it there as the conjunction of a married man entered into (pacta) with a woman.'
     "Swedenborg's own words on this subject are as follows, 'That there are two kinds of concubinage, which differ exceedingly from each other, and that one kind consists in adjoining a substituted partner to the bed, and living conjointly and at the same time with her and with a wife; and that the other kind consists in engaging, after a legitimate and just separation from a wife, a woman in her stead as a bed-associate; and that these two kinds, of concubinage differ as much from each other as dirty linen differs from clean may be seen by those who take a considerate and distinct view of things, but not by those whose view of things is confused and indistinct; it may be seen also by those who are in conjugial love, but not by those who are in the love of adultery'(C. L. 463).
     "Swedenborg, besides, makes a distinction between the essence of marriage, which is a connection of souls, and hence of the body; and the form of marriage, which is the external ratification of marriage by the laws of the State and of the Church (n. 156, and 306-310). He declares, besides, that 'the external bonds of wedlock must continue in the world till the decease of one of the parties' (n. 276).
     "According to Swedenborg there are therefore internal and external marriage bonds; and when the internal marriage bonds are dissolved, he declares it to be a cause of separation from the bed, and also from the house; but when not only the internal but also the external bonds of marriage are broken, then he defines this as a cause of divorce" (Documents, Vol. II, p. 1301).
     "This permission is given to men, and not to women, because men and women in respect to the love of the sex are differently constituted. We read in Conjugial Love, n. 296, 'With men is the love of the sex in general, but with women the love of one of the sex. In order to be confirmed on this subject inquire of the men you meet what are their sentiments respecting monogamical and polygamical marriages; and you will seldom meet with one who will not reply in favor of polygamical marriages; this also is a love of the sex; but ask the women what their sentiments are respecting such marriages, and almost all, except common women of the street, will reject polygamical marriages; from which it follows, that with the women there prevails the love of one of the sex, and thus conjugial love'" (Documents, Vol. II, p. 1803).
     "Concubinage is an extra-conjugial connection entered into on the basis of the love of the sex in general, into which he comes again, when he is separated from the conjugial love of his wife.
     "The reason, however, why it is not allowed to woman, under similar circumstances, to attach herself to another man before the legal ties with her first husband are broken off by divorce, is because in the case of the wife, just as in the case of the husband, this would be an extra-conjugial relation formed on the basis of the love of the sex; for as long as the marriage compact is not annulled, all sexual relations are formed on the basis of the love of the sex, and not on that of conjugial love, which is genuine marriage love. If a man, for a just cause, enters into such a relation, he is not introduced thereby into a lower, baser love, but woman is; for out of conjugial love into which she is born, and which is a spiritual love, she descends into the lower, natural love of the male sex in general; and, from having been a wife, the custodian of the sacred fire of conjugial love, she becomes the servant of the merely natural love of the sex; and in future, instead of filling the place of a wife, she can at best aspire to fill only that of a mistress or a concubine.
     "Another reason why there is a different law for men and women in this respect is this, that 'the male sex,' as is well known, 'has stimulations which actually kindle and inflame but which is not the case with the female sex'" (Documents, Vol. II, pp. 1303, 1804).

     Mr. Tilson heartily agreed with the closing quotation in that review, which he read, as follows:

     "In conclusion, in characterizing the different mode in which the subject of marriage is treated by Swedenborg and the world in general, we cannot do so in more appropriate language than that in which this was done by Mr. White in 1856: 'This portion of Swedenborg's treatise on Conjugial Love has subjected him to some gross calumny, which, if sincere, could only have arisen from a very superficial acquaintance with the principles of its author; and yet it is hardly possible for a man to write on such subjects, without provoking the censure of the sickly virtuous and the hypocritically pure. . . . When the spirit of JESUS more fully actuates the Church, and the love of the neighbor prompts to heal the world's evils by all efficient means, then, we have no doubt, Swedenborg on Scortatory Love will be taken into counsel'" (Documents, Vol. II, p. 1304).

     Mr. Tilson again said that he heartily agreed with this summing up by the Editor of the Documents [the Rev. R. L. Tafel, A. M., Ph. D.], and expressed his fear that the race of "the sickly virtuous and hypocritically pure" was not yet extinct. In the light of the teachings of this Review, Mr. Tilson expressed his great surprise that, considering the composition of the Committee, their conclusions were unanimous. Evidently other men beside Mr. White had changed very materially in their beliefs. But not in men, but in the LORD'S. Revelation he trusted. The position he occupied, though physically a trying to a body weakened by a prolonged struggle for the supremacy of the Lord Truth, in his own Society, was nevertheless a proud one. He was thankful to the LORD that he was permitted to be the assailed in this matter. He had no favor to ask of the Conference, and no apology to make, for he appealed to the Law, which is above all and is in the Revelation which the LORD has given in the Writings of the Church.

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     Mr. Broadfield next addressed the Conference, and said that Mr. Tilson had stated that Newchurchmen may do what Mr. Broadfield felt assured Mr. Tilson himself would never do. In the name of womanhood he protested against a woman being degraded in the way indicated. He accepted Conjugial Love as a clear statement of doctrine, but he did not accept the deductions given. He protested against the way in which Mr. Tilson had used the Rev. Woodville Woodman's name. True, the Conference had no right to interfere with a private body, but when a minister of this Conference is an agent for such a paper as New Church Life the Conference was bound to take action.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts declared that he could not believe that such a scandalous statement as that the Conjugial Love was a "bad book" could have been made. He proposed as an amendment to the resolution of the Committee:

     "That in so far as the views expressed in the 'June issue of New Church Life go beyond the teachings of the New Church,' they are wrong and lead to wickedness."

     He quoted several teachings from the work on Conjugial Love, as,

      "That the love of the sex is at first corporeal for it commences from the flesh; next it becomes sensual, for from its general, the five senses receive delight; afterward it becomes natural, similar to the same love in animals, because it is a roaming love of the sex; but because man was born that he may become spiritual,-it afterward becomes natural-rational, and from natural-rational, spiritual, and at length spiritual-natural; and then that love, having become spiritual, flows into and acts upon rational love, and through this into and upon sensual love, and through this at last into and upon that love in the body and the flesh; and because the latter is its ultimate plane, it acts upon it spiritually, and at the same time rationally and sensually; and it flows in and acts thus successively while man is in the meditation of it, but simultaneously, while he is in the ultimate. That fornication is of the natural man is because it proximately proceeds from the natural love of the sex; and it may be given natural-rational, but not spiritual, because the love of the sex cannot become spiritual before it becomes conjugial; and the love of the sex from natural becomes spiritual when man recedes from roaming lust, and devotes himself to one to whose soul he unites his own soul" (C. L. 447).

     In n. 449, where the distinction between limited fornication and the lust of adultery is taught, it is stated that "conjugial love may be inwardly stored up in fornication, as the spiritual may be in the natural," and that therefore "fornication is not, opposite to conjugial love" (n. 449, 445).
     Righteous enthusiasm for goodness may lead men too far if they are not prudent with the young entrusted to their cure when they enter a critical age. N. 453 teaches "that fornication is light so far as it looks to conjugial love and prefers it;" that is to say, that in proportion as marriage love is kept in view-that is, as a man while he engages in fornication looks to marriage love as a higher and better state than he is in, and gives it the preference-fornication, according to the Doctrines of the Church, is light. Many of those in Conference had, no doubt, thought only of one kind of fornication, but, according to n. 455, "the sphere of the love of fornicating, such as it is in its beginning, is mediate between the sphere of scortatory love and the sphere of conjugial love and makes the equilibrium." Equilibrium goes neither to the one side nor to the other. Thus the sphere of fornicating in its beginning goes neither to good nor to evil, and we ought not to treat it as being altogether of hell, when the Writings speak of it as being in the midst between Heaven and Hell. Let us keep our mental equilibrium. In n. 459 it in stated "that this conjugial with those who for various causes cannot as yet enter into marriage, and on account of salacity cannot govern their lusts, can be preserved, if the love of the sex become restricted to one mistress."
     It has been said that these statements were not made for the New Church. The speaker would believe this if he found the words: "The Doctrines contained in this Book are not for the New Church." They are for the human race, and no one has the right to limit their application.
     But coming to the statement of New Church Life that there are no reasons why pellicacy should not be carried on with one outside the Church, he denied this. There are many reasons why it should not. If a man can marry, he has no right to take advantage of these permissions. He could not believe that but few can check the tide of youth. All could do so with proper teaching. He had the greatest respect for New Church Life, for its gallantry and fearlessness, but in this matter it had gone beyond the mark. If the amendment be passed, the Editor of Life should state in his journal that he has gone too far.
     Mr. W. H. Penn, of London (Camberwell), seconded the amendment, as he was one of the representatives of the Society most concerned. He protested against the persecution of Mr. Tilson.
     The Rev. R. L. Tafel then spoke and said he should not follow Mr. Potts by quoting from Conjugial Love. Every Newchurchman knows and agrees with the quotations Mr. Potts has given. He would confine his attention to New Church Life. Mr. Potts had admitted that Life had gone beyond the Writings, and that meant that it had falsified the Writings in this matter. The chief objection is that the teachings of Life are not protected by the limitations which Conjugial Love lays so plainly down. This is a grave offense against the Conjugial Love and the Doctrines. It may be said that the Editor had these things in his mind, and that he had written them before, but this cannot excuse the bald and injurious summing up which has most justly been brought before us. He, too, would draw attention to the whole correspondence, and especially to that portion which says that the mistress or concubine might be fittingly introduced into New Church families by the man who kept her. Let it be remembered that none but a prostitute can be thus used; she is a fallen woman; marriage must not be promised her; she knows she is the servant of the lust of a man, and yet despite all this she is to mingle in our families. He denounced such teachings because they have no support in the Doctrines.
     After Dr. Tafel had concluded, the closure was voted and applied. According to the rule of Conference which provides for the closure, the mover of the resolution has the opportunity of replying before the votes are taken. Taking advantage of this, Mr. Deans said that he congratulated, the Conference on the mild temper manifested in the debate. Mr. Potts's speech had undoubtedly shown that the resolution of the Committee should be passed. The statement in New Church Life is that therein no reason why a Newchurchman may not keep a concubine or mistress. The Writings give no privilege to a man which they do not give to a woman. There is a means of checking the tide of lust. There is not a bit of evidence in Conjugial Love justifying the statement made in the June issue from what ever standpoint you view it.

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     The votes were then taken. For Mr. Potts's amendment only three votes were given.
     For the resolution of the Committee in condemnation of the Life, ninety-seven votes were given, and five votes were recorded against it. It was thus passed by a majority of ninety-two.

     MR. TILSON REQUESTED TO GIVE UP HIS CONVICTIONS.

     The Rev. J. Deans then proposed the second resolution of the Committee, which was as follows:

     "Resolved, That the Rev. Robert James Tilson be affectionately, but urgently requested to repudiate the teaching contained in the issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE for June, 1890, upon the subject of Pellicacy, and to cease to act as an Agent for that periodical, and also to withdraw the Institution which publishes that periodical as its official organ."

     Mr. Deans contended that, as the Conference had passed the first resolution, it could not consistently hesitate to pass the one now proposed. They could not sanction a minister retaining any connection with the subject they had just condemned. They did not desire to press Mr. Tilson unduly, and he might have time to consider, but they must be firm and not wavering.
     Mr. Fairbrother, of Heywood, seconded the resolution.
     The Rev. T. Child, with much warmth, said, from his whole soul, he called the proposition an abominable piece of tyranny. He felt what was coming when the abstract resolution was put, and, therefore, he had asked for all the resolutions to be read at first, which Mr. Deans had refused to do.
     The President called Mr. Child to order for using the term "abominable tyranny," but Mr. Child did not withdraw it.
     The Rev. R. J. Tilson stated that he did not deem it necessary to make any detailed speech on the resolution now proposed. He thought Mr. Child had very justly described it. His love of liberty and his manhood made it not necessary for him to take one day, nor one hour, nor one minute to decide what he should do if the resolution was passed.
     If such a request should be made to him, then with great indignation for the insult offered him, and with his whole heart and determination, he would reply, "I will not, and again and forever, I will not."
     The Rev. I. Tansley declared his opinion that the time had fully come for Mr. Tilson to be compelled to take his choice between the New Church in England and the Academy-a secret conclave-in America.
     The Rev. J. F. Buss said that he himself was in sympathy with feelings expressed by Mr. Child.
     Mr. John Orme commenced a brief speech by asking the question, why should not Mr. Tilson, for all that was known, be practicing the evils which New Church Life taught as right to be done, and taught with Mr. Tilson's approval; but the President called Mr. Orme to order, and stated he had no right to assume anything against Mr. Tilson's private character.
     Mr. Broadfield said he would not vote for the resolution. They had no right to coerce Mr. Tilson. He proposed the following amendment to the second resolution of the Committee:

     "That the Rev. R. J. Tilson be affectionately requested to withdraw from the agency of New Church Life, to the teachings of which the Conference so much dissents."

     The Conference had a right to expect this of Mr. Tilson, and he did not think Mr. Tilson would be disloyal to the Conference.
     The Rev. J. F. Buss seconded the amendment, and urged that the Conference should do nothing without great caution.
     Mr. G. A. McQueen desired to know by what authority under the sun the Conference could demand that a minister should change his opinions. A majority, of course, can do any ridiculous thing if it be so minded.
     Dr. E. M. Sheldon, of Liverpool, supported the resolution and hoped Mr. Tilson would listen to the advice of friends. Re had to thank Mr. Tilson for much he had taught him, which had enabled him to see the iniquity of the Academy.
     Mr. G. C. Ottley opposed both the resolution and the amendment. The question before us is not one of loyalty to Conference. Conference is composed of men, and we are not to be loyal to unregenerate men. Our loyalty is not to institutions, but to Divine principles and thus to the LORD. An agent cannot be held responsible for everything which appears in the journal. That which is now asked of Conference is a violation of liberty. The history of the past reflects a bad light on the present proceedings. The Conference, through its Council, permitted a former minister to resign, and took no public action, although that minister was convicted of gross immorality; but now because a minister whose character is above reproach holds opinions the Conference does not approve, that minister is to be subject to the gross insult of a shameful violation of his liberty.
     The Rev. J. F. Potts said he did not believe that this Conference would be guilty of an act of abominable tyranny. It was an affectionate request which was made to Mr. Tilson. But what followed? Why, that which if accepted would destroy the man's freedom. He could not advise Mr. Tilson to accept the amendment.
     At the instance of the Rev. J. B. Rendell, the closure was applied. The votes were then taken. For Mr. Broadfield's amendment forty-six votes were given while fifty-six votes were recorded against it.
     The resolution of the Committee asking Mr. Tilson to repudiate the Life's teachings, to discontinue its agency, and to withdraw from the Academy was then put to the vote and was carried by a majority of thirty-six, the number being sixty-seven for and twenty-nine against. It was then resolved that the President send the request to Mr. Tilson, and announce Mr. Tilson's reply on the following morning.
Thursday Afternoon 1890

Thursday Afternoon              1890

     AT the afternoon session the names of those elected on the Conference Council were announced as follows, the Rev. Messrs. J. Deans, R. R. Rodgers, J. R. Rendell, R. L. Tafel, and Messrs. J. C. Bayley, J. Bragg, E. J. Broadfield, H. T. W. Elliott, and R. Gunton.
     The following gentlemen were reported as being elected on the College Council: The Rev. Messrs. J. Deans, J. R. Rendell, and Messrs. J. C. Bayley, E. J. Broadfield, Lowe, and R. Gunton. The Rev. E. Whitehead was elected Secretary of the Conference Council.
     The following resolution, proposed by Mr. H. T. W. Elliott, was carried:

     "That the Council be requested to inquire into the mode in which provision is made amongst other religions communities for aged and infirm ministers, to ascertain whether the means now at the disposal of the Conference for this purpose are in need of reinforcement, and whether any amendments in the rules regulating the Pension Fund are desirable; to report to the next session."

     The report of a Committee on Isolated Receivers was read, received and ordered to be printed in the Magazine.

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     After some little discussion, it was resolved that a Committee be appointed to consider the question of the preservation of the Documents of New Church Societies which cease to exist.
     The day's session was dosed at 6 P. M. by the Rev. T. Child.
FIFTH DAY 1890

FIFTH DAY              1890

                         Friday Morning, August 15th.

     THE session was opened by the Rev. P. Ramage with Divine services.

     MR. TILSON REFUSES TO GIVE UP HIS CONVICTIONS.

     After the minutes or the business of the preceding day had been read, the President announced that he had conveyed to Mr. Tilson the resolution passed by the Conference yesterday, and that Mr. Tilson returned with great respect a refusal to that resolution or any part of it.
     A motion was then made that all strangers withdraw from Conference, but the motion was defeated by a majority of one, the numbers being 42 and 43.
     The Rev J. Deans then moved, on behalf of the Committee of which he was the Secretary, the following resolution as the unanimous decision of the Committee:

     "Resolved, That this Conference postpones further action upon this question for twelve months, to give Mr. Tilson an opportunity of fully considering his position."
     (In the official Minutes of Conference this resolution has been changed as follows:
     "Resolved, That this Conference postpones further action upon the question referred to in the preceding resolution, to give Mr. Tilson an opportunity of fully considering his position." (Min. 154.)-EDITOR.)

     The Rev. R. J. Tilson simply desired to again remind the Conference that he needed no more time whatever to decide, as he had made a careful and thoughtful decision, a decision based upon principles, and he could not dream that any time would cause him to alter the decision. With great respect he intended to be firm, and as he knew that he stood upon the Rock of Truth, he was prepared for any decision that Conference might make. He had done his part and was content to wait.
     Mr. Jonathan Robinson moved, as an amendment,

     "That until the Academy repudiates the doctrine of pellicacy and concubinage, no member of that body be allowed to be a member of the Conference."

     This amendment, however, was withdrawn in view, of a resolution which had been sent by the Liverpool Society, and which would come on subsequently.
     The Rev. J. R. Rendell proposed the following amendment to the Committee's resolution:

     "That for the present year the name of the Rev. R. J. Tilson be left off the roll of Conference Ministers."

     It was a painful duty he had thus to perform, but he felt there was no other course open to him as a consistent man. The work of the Academy was prejudicial to the best interests of the Church, and New Church Life taught immorality.
     The Committee's proposition would bring the matter up again for discussion twelve months from new. Every effort had been made to press Mr. Tilson. He had been asked to reconsider his position, and replied courteously but definitely that he would not. It was necessary therefore to take action.
     Mr. Backhouse seconded the amendment, and in doing so contended that Mr. Tilson's action in this matter left no choice to the Conference but to take drastic action itself. If the Conference hesitated to take the action now proposed he should feel that he ought to leave the Church.
     Mr. Ottley urged the Conference to be consistent. "You ask Mr. Tilson to resign his membership of the Academy, which is an institution with which you have nothing to do, and here you assail the liberty of the man. But go on, carry out your ends to their logical conclusion. We fear nothing. Mr. Tilson is loved by his people, and has his Society with him. You have passed a resolution of condemnation about New Church Life, and now you actually say that Mr. Tilson shall resign his connection with the Academy and that he shall dissociate his name from New Church Life and this on the ground of misconduct, as Article 10 of Association provides, but would a court of law uphold such a construction of the term of 'misconduct'? Mr. Tilson needs no more time. His mind is made up, do what you will, and we are ready to stand by him, loyally and true." Conference has already practically condemned Mr. Tilson by omitting his name from the various committees on which he has served so faithfully.
     The Rev. I. Tansley said that every opportunity had been given to Mr. Tilson to alter his decision and he refuses. Mr. Tilson preferred the Academy to the Conference, let him take his choice and abide by it; he may find to his cost that the Academy may treat him as it has treated others, by casting him off when it suits its purpose. The New Church Life had been circulated in Liverpool without his (Mr. Tansley's) permission and had done much harm.
     Mr. E. J. Broadfield said that he rose with deep regret to take part in the discussion. The proposal of Mr. Rendell's was ill-advised and he doubted its legality. The Conference should look at the matter in the light of Christian charity. Mr. Tilson's attitude toward the Academy has not always been the same, and he might yet change. They could not afford to lose such a minister. He (Mr. Broadfield) liked a man of such sterling character, and nothing could be said against his life. He urged Conference, and especially his fellow-trustees, to remember that Mr. Tilson had moneyed men at his back, and he might take legal proceedings, which would prove very costly, if his name be struck off the roll. He earnestly appealed to the moderate men of Conference to hesitate in this matter.
     The Rev. Henry Cameron hoped that Conference would pass the original resolution. If the question like the one before them were to be taken to law, Conference would be involved. Hence it was not desirable to adopt the amendment.
     Mr. Charles Higham commenced to read a paper which had been sent to the President and signed by a disaffected member of the Camberwell Society, but was declared by the President to be out of order, and so did not finish the reading.
     The Rev. T. Child reminded the Conference that he had expressed freely yesterday his opinion of the course Conference was taking in this matter, and that opinion was the same still. What Conference was doing would tend to stultify itself, and would make liberty impossible within its walls. He asked if the persecution ever went so far in the way of injustice and in grievous error of judgment. He would vote for the resolution which postpones action for a year, not because he thought Mr. Tilson needed the year, but because he thought Conference needed it to return into ways of justice and paths of liberty.

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     Alderman Isherwood, of Heywood, was sorry to see so young a man as Mr. Tilson defying the whole Conference. He Would have the Conference understand that there was a very strong feeling on this question in Lancashire. Mr. Tilson positively declined to comply with the wishes of Conference, and therefore Conference should strike his name off its roll of ministers. He had not seen New Church Life, but it was a vile paper, fit only to be crushed up and destroyed.
     The Rev. R. J. Tilson: "I should like to put Conference in a right position. It seems to be imagined that I am defying Conference. I am simply taking the action of a man who has taken up certain principles, and mean to stand by them. Mr. Isherwood says 'Mr. Tilson puts his name to a vile paper,' and then in glorious inconsistency he says 'I have not seen the paper.' My misconduct, it seems, consists in having my name as agent on the back of a journal printed thousands of miles away before I see it. You are many of you voting blindly. There has been a terrible amount of false witness in the matter. I am now to be the victim for the New Church Monthly, the Academy, and New Church Life. If so, then I will be the victim, and though my natural man may suffer, my spiritual man will only be drawn nearer to the LORD and Heaven by suffering such persecution."
     The Rev. A. Faraday pleaded with the Conference to be merciful toward a young minister, and quoted Shakespeare on the subject of mercy.
     Mr. John Orme thought Mr. Tilson's name should be struck off the roll at once.
     The Rev. J. Deans then replied on the whole debate. He reminded the Conference that not one member of the special Committee appointed by the Conference to investigate this case agreed with the things Mr. Tilson holds. [This Committee consisted of Messrs. Tafel, Deans, W. Westall, Wilkins, Bayley, Eadie, and Smith.] Knowing the strain that must now be on the mind and body of Mr. Tilson, let the Conference be merciful by postponing action for a year. The resolution is not one for shelving the question but simply for postponement. Mr. Tilson must be again asked next year, and if he does not then comply with the request of Conference, very drastic action would be taken. He trusted Mr. Rendell's amendment would be withdrawn. The amendment, however, was not withdrawn, and the votes were then taken.
     Twenty-nine votes were given for Mr. Rendell's amendment, which proposed to strike Mr. Tilson's name off the roll. But as fifty-six votes were given against it, this amendment was lost. The resolution of the Committee, postponing action for a year, was then put to Conference and it was passed by a majority of twenty-seven votes, fifty-four votes being given for it, and twenty-seven against it.
     At the close of the discussion, Mr. Calderwood proposed the following, on behalf of the Liverpool Society:

     "Inasmuch as a Secret Society in America, known as the 'Academy,' issues and circulates a publication approving of and justifying conduct that strikes at the root of social order, and is destructive of the sanctity of domestic life, it is hereby Resolved, That no member of that 'Academy' shall be recognized by this Conference, or permitted to take part in its deliberations."

     The Rev. J. J. Woodford, seconded this, but as an alteration of rule and due notice would he required, if the resolution were passed, the President ruled that the further consideration of the matter would be out of order.
     The Rev. J. R. Rendell had also given notice of motion in the following terms:

     "Attention having been directed to an article on the Laws of Marriage and kindred subjects in New Church Life, the accredited organ of a foreign body calling itself the Academy of the New Church, Resolved, That this Conference expresses its abhorrence of the views therein set forth, and its profound regret and indignation that after the publication of such opinions, any New Church Minister should retain connection with such an institution."

     In view of the previous discussion, Mr. Rendell withdrew this resolution.
Friday- Afternoon 1890

Friday- Afternoon              1890

     AFTER the adjournment for luncheon, Conference proceeded to deal with business which had been before the Applications Committee. The two Societies at Manchester and the Society at Bromley (Kent) were received into connection with the Conference.
     Ordination into the ministry was ordered in the cases of Mr. Slight, of Paisley (Scotland), of Mr. H. McLagan, of Deptford (London), and of Mr. A. E. Beilley, of Melbourne (Derbyshire).
     Messrs. Newboult and Dufty were readopted as students and Mr. S. J. C. Goldsack was adopted as a student.
     The usual pensions were granted to aged and infirm ministers or leaders, to the widows of ministers, and the name of Mr. J. D. Beilley, of Nottingham, was added to the list.
     The Rev. J. Presland was reappointed Editor of the Conference Magazine.
     The name of the Rev. W. C. Barlow was by his own request removed from the list of Conference ministers, he having joined the Congregational body.
     Resolutions were adopted looking to the resuscitation of small or decaying Societies; providing that the arrangements for the celebration of the sacrament be made in the future by the Conference Council; appointing a committee to confer with the Committee of the Swedenborg Society for the purpose of supervising the translation and publication of the works of the New Church; and providing for expediting Conference business.
     On motion of Mr. Deans, it was resolved, by a large majority, "that in the opinion of this Conference it is desirable that the sale of intoxicating drinks on Sundays should not be permitted, and that the Legislature should be encouraged to pass suitable laws to effect a general closing of public-houses on Sundays."
     The session was closed by the Rev. E. M. Pulsford, of Greenock, Scotland.
SIXTH DAY 1890

SIXTH DAY              1890

                         Saturday Morning, August 16th.
     THE session was opened by the President, and was occupied with the formal verification of the minutes of the preceding days. The Conference adjourned at three o'clock, after services conducted by the Rev. E. Whitehead.
DE AMORE CONJUGIALI 1890

DE AMORE CONJUGIALI       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     DE AMORE CONJUGIALI. Tübingen, 1841. 508 pages. Paper, $1.00.
     DE AMORE CONJUGIALI. New Latin edition. Half leather and cloth. 410 pages (5 3/4 x 9 inches). Price, $2.50.
     THE DELIGHTS OF WISDOM CONCERNING CONJUGIAL LOVE; AFTER WHICH FOLLOW THE PLEASURES OF INSANITY CONCERNING SCORTATORY LOVE. Price, 60 cents. Postage, 12 cents.
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191


General Church of Pennsylvania 1890

General Church of Pennsylvania              1890

      [Address all contributions for this department to the Rev. L. G. Jordan, Secretary, 2536 Continental Ave. Philadelphia, Pa.]
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF 1890

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF       N. D. P       1890

To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     Dear Sir:-Much has been said of late, both in this country and in Canada, concerning the late meeting of Convention held in Chicago June last, and indeed much occurred at that meeting which is of importance to the Church. But what was of especial importance was the manner in which the Council of Ministers and the General Convention treated the issue between Convention and the General Church of Pennsylvania. The manner assumed was one of offended dignity, and this because of the so-called disrespectful wording of the report of the General Church. By assuming this manner Convention was relieved of the disagreeable necessity of meeting the issue fairly and openly, and coming to an honest judgment, as to whether the charges in themselves were just or unjust.
     With the Council of Ministers, or at least a committee appointed by that body, for investigating the ordination of the Rev. W. F. Pendleton into the third degree of the ministry, the manner assumed was that of a much injured and abused committee. In fact, the Chairman of that committee spoke in this way whenever the letter written by Chancellor Benade was referred to either in the Council of Ministers or in the General Convention.
     Thus, instead of rationally discussing the charges made, and meeting the issue fairly and squarely, expressions of indignation, not to say wrathfulness, were indulged in, because of the so-called abusive letter of the Chancellor and the "disrespectfulness" of the report of the General Church.
     Now the situation was an interesting one and not unlike another that occurred during the life of Swedenborg. I refer to the trial of Beyer and Rosen by the Gottenburg Consistory. A member of this Consistory, one Dr. Ekebom, made a number of charges against the Writings of Swedenborg and presented them before this Consistory, prefacing his charges with the remarkable statement that "I am not acquainted with the religious system of Assessor Swedenborg, nor shall I take any trouble to become acquainted with it." Then follow the charges, among which is the one that Swedenborg's Writings are in most part Socinian. Swedenborg, in answer to these charges, sends a letter to the Consistory in which he says "With respect to the second point where the Doctrine is called Socinian, it is a cursed blasphemy and lie." The letter from which the above is quoted stirred up an intense feeling, not only in the Consistory, but among the whole clergy of Sweden, inasmuch as it was printed and distributed at Swedenborg's suggestion, thus coming before the whole Church.
     Concerning this letter of Swedenborg's we quote from a letter sent by Bishop Lamberg to the Consistory: -

     "The scandal made by the letter, which I mentioned in my last, and which was printed in Gottenburg, is indescribable. If any one has not read his Writings, he may judge from this letter alone what the intention of this man is in respect to our precious Doctrine of Salvation. Socininanism manifests itself there so clearly that no one except the merest idiot in polemics can dare to deny it. What scandal this infamous letter must have caused amongst the honorable clergy of the diocese, etc."

     Assessor Aurell, a member of the Consistory, wrote a letter to Bishop Filenius in which he says, "I entreat you to take the most energetic measures to stifle, punish, and utterly eradicate the Swedenborgian innovation," etc.
     In answer to this letter Filenius speaks of having received "an infamous letter of the above named assessor" Swedenborg). He also speaks of it as "the above mentioned rude letter."
     Now, as to the manner in which the trial was carried on, Swedenborg says in a letter to Dr. Beyer, "In the printed minutes I cannot find that they have taken a single step in regard to the question itself, but that they have simply busied themselves in making attacks in abusive and unseemly language."
     Is it necessary to point out the striking likeness between these two cases in the light of the above quotations? The subject-matter of each is of course different and the circumstances are different. But the animus of the two proceedings was, or seems to be very much alike. In the one case charges were made and the author of the charges boasted to know nothing about the thing concerning which he was making charges, nor did he wish to know. In the other case a judgment of condemnation was passed, and at the same time the judges claimed to have no jurisdiction over that which they judged, and they desired to be' considered in no way responsible for the action which they judged and condemned.
     In both cases the men who were involved wrote each a letter to his respective judges-the Consistory of Gottenburg and the Council of Ministers. Both of these letters stated plain truths in strong language in regard to the respective subjects, and they were both received in the same way, viz., as that "rude or abusive letter." And one may well exclaim in the words of Swedenborg:
"In the-printed minutes I cannot find that they have taken a single step in regard to the question itself."
     "History repeats itself."
          N. D. P.
     CHICAGO, ILL., October 10th, 1890.
annual meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania 1890

annual meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania              1890

     THE annual meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania will be held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and the LORD'S Day, November 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th, in the house of worship of the Pittsburgh Society, Isabella and Sandusky Streets, Allegheny, Pa. Visitors from a distance are requested to notify the Pastor, the Rev. John Whitehead, 5508 Walnut Street, Pittsburgh, E. E., Pa.
Journal of the General Church of Pennsylvania 1890

Journal of the General Church of Pennsylvania       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     THE Journal of the General Church of Pennsylvania, from the year 1883 (the year of the re-organization) to the year 1889, can be had, bound in half leather, for $2.00, making a volume of over four hundred pages.
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LITURGY FOR THE NEW CHURCH 1890

LITURGY FOR THE NEW CHURCH       CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH       1890

     A LITURGY FOR THE NEW CHURCH. Published by the General Church of Pennsylvania. Contains: 1. Book of Worship; 2. Book of Responsive Services; 3. Book of Festival Services; 4. Book of Doctrines; 5. Book of Prayers; 6. Book of Sacraments and Rites; 7. The Psalter; 8. Book of Sacred Songs. 541 pages 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches). Cloth, $1.25; flexible morocco, gilt edges; $2.00.
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192


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ACADEMY BOOR ROOM              1890

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     THE SWEDENBORG CONCORDANCE. A complete Work of Reference to the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Compiled, edited, and translated by the Rev. John Faulkner Potts, B. A.
     Of invaluable use to every Newchurchman, enabling him to find what the Writings teach about the innumerable subjects of which they treat, with reference to the passages where the various statements are found. Published in parts of forty-eight quarto pages each. Thirty-seven parts have been published thus far from A to Form. The remaining parts will be issued every other month.
     Price, 15 cents for each part, postage, 2 cents, or 6 parts for $1.00, including postage. We mail the parts to subscribers as issued, flat, so to be in good condition for future binding. Vol. 1 (Part 1-19), 893 pages. Half morocco, $4.50.
     DISCRETE DEGREES IN SUCCESSIVE AND SIMULTANEOUS ORDER. By the Rev. N. C. Burnham. Consists of Two Parts. The First Part treats of the growth and development of the degrees in man from birth to adult life, and during regeneration. The Second Part treats of the degrees in the LORD, their assumption and glorification. The whole illustrated by forty colored diagrams, and contains 175 pages (6 1/2 x9 1/2 inches). Price, $4.00; postage, 16 cents.
     CONVERSATIONS ON EDUCATION. By the Rev. W. H. Benade. 222 pages (4 3/4 x 7 1/4 inches). Cloth, $1.00.
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EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.

     A SIXTEEN-PAGE JOURNAL, PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY

     THE ACADEMY OF THIS NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:- One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     THE EDITOR'S address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     Address all business communications to MR. CARL HJ. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
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     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.


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Vol. X. PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER, 1890=121. No. 11.
     Intellectual truth does not appear. . . until he believes with a simple heart, that it is true, because it has been said so by the Lord.- A. C.
1911.



     IN the Extra Issue of New Church Life, published on the fifteenth day of October, the reader was enabled to see how the General Conference of England repudiated the LORD'S Revelation and denied the LORD concerning the manner of preserving-"in this adulterous and sinful generation," and in the case of those who are in certain specified conditions,-the conjugial, which is the jewel of human life, and the repository of the Christian religion.
     he reader could also see, especially from the treatment of the Rev. R. J. Tilson, that the Conference attempted to ignore and destroy the liberty and rationality of men: the only two means by which the Church can progress in true life.



     THE destruction of freedom and reason was repeatedly attempted by Conference, in the application of the closure rule, adopted in the meeting of the previous year, the full text of which will be found on page 162 of the Life for 1889.
     Again and again was the closure applied, not on the ground that the discussion was out of place, or that it was conducted in an improper manner, or any other point of order, but, evidently for no other purpose than to prevent full ventilation, and this without a single reason being assigned why the subject that was under consideration at the time should not be fully discussed. Indeed, the new rule provides that the proposition to apply closure shall always "without discussion, be immediately put to vote."
     This muzzling of the mouths of members ought to be earnestly considered by all Newchurchmen, as a phenomenon illustrative of the state of the New Church in this period of its development.
     For freedom of speech was suppressed by Englishmen and Newchurchmen.



     THE fact that Englishmen are suppressing freedom of speech and of thought is memorable, for the reason that the British nation has ever been famous for its love of liberty in this very direction, and in this its characteristic undoubtedly is to be found one of the principal reasons why the New Church has spread to so much greater an extent among English-speaking peoples than among those of other tongues. So important in the development of all that is truly human is this trait that we are particularly taught concerning it in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem:
     "With respect to the English nation, the best of them are in the centre of all Christians, because they have interior intellectual light; this does not appear to any one in the natural world, but it appears conspicuously in the spiritual world: this light they derive from the liberty of speaking and writing, and thereby of thinking: with others, who are not in such liberty, that light, not having any outlet, is obstructed."
     "Since the Germans are under a despotic government, in each particular dukedom, therefore they are not in the liberty of speaking and writing, as the Dutch and Britons are; and when the liberty of speaking and writing is restrained, the liberty of thinking,-that is, of viewing things in their amplitude-is also at the same time held under restraint. For it is as the cistern of a fountain encompassed around, from which the water therein is elevated even to the orifice of the stream, whence the stream itself no longer jets; thought is like the stream, and speech thence is like the cistern. In a word, influx adapts itself to efflux; and so does the understanding from above to the degree of the liberty of speaking and acting out the thoughts. Wherefore, that noble nation attends little to the things of judgment, but to the things of memory," etc. (T. C. R. 807, 814. See also C. L. J. 40, S. D. 5629).
     In view of these teachings, and the fact that closure is at present applied at every opportunity, is it to be wondered at that so much obscurity on points of the utmost importance reigns in the New Church in England? Are English Newchurchmen actually endeavoring to extinguish the "interior intellectual light" which is their birthright as Englishmen?



     BUT, serious as is the attitude of our friends across the water, as Englishmen, it is still more so as Newchurchmen. If, on the civil plane, a man's freedom to express his convictions, and to give his reasons therefor, is to be guarded zealously, how much more so, in matters regarding the moral and spiritual things of the Church!



     EVEN where men defend a wrong position, the cause of Truth gains nothing by the mere suppression of the falsity. On the contrary, it loses. Neither falsity nor evil can be eradicated by suppression. They remain. Weeds, though continually out down, if not rooted out, prevent the insemination and growth of good and useful plants. The doctrine of the New Church concerning charity, is one continuous exposition of this truth. Falsity should be permitted to manifest itself, then it can be seen clearly in the light of Truth, and thus can be combatted, and overcome. The LORD, in effecting His Second coming to men, far from suppressing the falses of the consummated Church, led His servant to quote these falses in order the more completely to refute them.     



     CONFERENCE, however, attacked not error, but Truth, even the Divine Truth, and the LORD Himself and this explains the intense solicitude of Conference to close its doors, to curtail the discussions, and to prevent the publication of the entire proceedings.

194


The opponents of the Truth generally seek the cover of ignorance, secrecy, and of darkness, for they cannot bear the public light of day.
     FROM the time of their first publication, the teachings of the New Church on the subject of conjugial love, its opposite and its intermediates, have been refused admittance into the minds of men; and the Draconic influences that operate to this purpose have used partisanship and human weaknesses as means to a more intense mental darkness, and its inevitable consequence: confirmation in the evils of the love of adultery, into which every man is born.
     So, when the work on Conjugial Love, published in Amsterdam in the year 1768, was sent to Sweden, it was confiscated at Norrkoping by Bishop Filenius, a proceeding which Swedenborg characterized as "paving the way for a dark age in Sweden." "This ill-will of Bishop Filenius," further remarks Swedenborg, "is due to domestic affairs and to party-spirit and is representative of the persecution by the Dragon and the stinging of the locusts, in the Revelation: such causes at least have suggested themselves to me, but I leave their determination to another time and opportunity."
Divine truths 1890

Divine truths              1890

     Divine truths themselves must be trusted, howsoever incredible they may appear before the Rational.- A. C. 1936.
DOING GOOD 1890

DOING GOOD       Rev. L. G. JORDAN       1890

     Trust in the LORD and do good: thou shall dwell in the land, thou shalt feed in security.-Psalm xxxvii, 3.

     GENUINE trust in the LORD is a positive, active operation of the heart and mind, a free and intelligent cooperation with Him by regarding only eternal ends in what we do in the world. It is the recognition, thorough, and practical, that at all times, in all states and under all circumstances, the LORD is securing for us both in general and in the minutest particulars, what shall conduce to our eternal happiness. Only in the most deliberate, free, and rational states of mind can we cultivate such a trust in Him; therefore, we are to regard with suspicion those humiliated states induced by afflictions, calamities, and the approach of death, which are so apt to be mistaken for newly awakened trust in the LORD. It is from Divine Order Itself that the injunction to do good follows the urging to trust in the LORD. A trust which has for its essence the confidence that He is considering our eternal good in all that He permits, to happen to us, of necessity implies a willingness and effort to work with Him to the furtherance of His purposes by doing the good that is before us in each and every situation into which He permits us to come.
     The natural mind, and the whole former Christian Church in particular, have made a mistake as to the nature of trust in the LORD. But far more mistaken has been and is the Church in Christendom, and must the natural thought ever be about doing good. In nothing does the revelation for the LORD'S New Church exhibit more of newness of truth than in this.
     The natural mind calls good whatever tends to increase comfort and luxury in the world. To this the man of the Church has added the finer elements of relief of distress and care of the sick, the feeble, the defective of body and mind, and especially the extension of a knowledge of the Gospel and the conversion of men to a formal profession of faith in the Saviour as One who has died for them. If attached to this work is an exhortation to shun evils it is not, on the ground that that is essential to salvation: but in one branch of the Church it is mainly that thus obedience to the Church may be exhibited and the Church magnified; and in the other for civil and moral considerations, or because it will follow as a mere matter of course that one who is saved will not bring scandal on the Church and the name of religion.
     For the LORD'S New Church, however, the first proposition in regard to religion is that it is of the life and that the life of religion is to do good, thus making the doing of good essential to salvation-a law expressed again in the declaration that whoever lives wickedly is condemned, and that whoever lives well is saved. But in teaching the man of the Church how to do good, instead of laying out a specific course of generous, kind, pious, godly acts to be done, the whole effort is to show the nature of man's evils, their hold upon him, and the absolute necessity from first to last to search them out in the heart and mind and life and to shun them as sins against God with all the strength with which the LORD has gifted him. Not that we are left merely to conjecture what is good. On the contrary, we are taught most thoroughly the degrees of the good to be loved and done. We are shown that none is good but the one God and that He is to bee loved in the first place; that fellow-men are to be loved for that in them which is of Him, and that all objects and all circumstances and all events are to be considered entirely from their relation to Him. Thus that there is something to be sought out and cherished as good, from the LORD Himself, Greatest and First, down to our own bodies and their needs and delights, last and least of all. In all this display of the heavenly, the spiritual, the ideal human life, there is much to delight, there is everything to elevate us, in states of intellectual contemplation alone. When we descend to the plane of actual life every one fails and falls so far short of the ideal that it seems as if it could never be practical. This is because, as the Writings for the New Church repeat again and again, man is not born into order but with an hereditary wholly evil. The lofty spiritual goods are revealed that they may be made ends or goals of true ambition, but it is not expected, intended, or possible that man shall move forward straight to the desired end of good. He does not love it, he cannot be made at first to have any practical and living faith in it. Even in the commonest and lowest concerns, namely, those of his own body, he begins by following evil delights there and insists against all intellectual ability to know the contrary that what yields delight is good. And so it is with each and everything which the LORD teaches him is good and ought to be loved and done. He may admit the proposition merely intellectually but in his heart and life finds ever remonstrance and opposition and denial.
     Hence we read that the first thing of charity, is to shun evils, and that this is the only way to doing good. Thus:
     "It is believed at this day that charity is only to do good, and that then one does not do evil; consequently that the first thing of charity is to do good, and the second of it not to do evil. But it is altogether the reverse; the first thing of charity is to put away evil, and the second of it is to do good; for it is a universal law of the spiritual world, and, thence, also in the natural world, that as far as any one does not will, evil, so far he wills good; thus as far as he turns himself away from hell, whence all evil ascends, so far he turns himself toward heaven, whence all good descends; hence also that as far as any one rejects the devil, so far he is accepted by the LORD" (T. C. R. 437, 535; Charity 1; A. E. 939, etc.).

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     So in the Doctrine of Life (n. 95): "So far as any one fights against evil, and thereby removes it, so far good succeeds in its place, and, by virtue of good, so far he views evil in the face, and then sees it to be infernal and horrible; and having made this discovery, he not only shuns it, but also holds it in aversion, and at length abominates it." (See also Char. 137, 140.)
     In Conjugial Love (n. 147) is written that it is a universal law that as far as any one removes evil, so far opportunity is given to good to take its place; and further, as far as evil is held in hatred, so far good is loved.
     There the doctrine is applied to conjugial love, in which a man is said to be only so far as he shuns the evils of adultery in all its forms. In The True Christian Religion and The Apocalypse Explained the same law is illustrated by the other goods of the Decalogue, none of which can be realized, as it is stated, except by shunning the opposite evils. That is the reason why the Commandments are put in the form of prohibitions.
     In the Doctrine concerning Faith (n. 12) we read: "'If any one thinks with himself, or says to another, who can have that internal acknowledgment of truth which is called faith? I cannot.' I will tell him how he may: Shun evils as sins, and apply to the LORD, then you will have as much as you desire.
     One of the very first of good things which it is supposed the man of the Church must and will do is to believe in the LORD. Yet concerning this we are taught: "He who supposes that he acknowledges and believes that there is a God, before he abstains from the evils which are mentioned in the Decalogue, especially from the love of ruling, from the delight of rule, and from the love of possessing the goods of the world from the delight of possession, and not from the delight of uses, is much deceived. Man may confirm himself as much as possible that there is a God, from the Word, from preachings, from books, from the light of reason, and thence persuade himself that he believes, nevertheless he does not believe, if the evils arising from the love of self and of the world are not removed" (A. E. 1167).
     All are initiated into the Church by knowing evil and not doing it (Ch. 21). It may be, therefore, taken as a rule that to shun evil as a sin is to do good (Ibid.).
     The teaching is made, if possible, stronger in the following words: "No one can do good from himself, but the LORD with man does good, and no one comes to the LORD except he who removes evils from himself, by combat against them. Thence, as far as anyone so removes [evils], so far he does good from the LORD" (L. J. post 325).
     By sacrifices, meat offerings, incense, new moons, and feasts, and likewise by prayer (in the Word) are meant all the things of worship. That they are all evil, yea abominable, unless the interior is purified from evils, is understood by "Wash you, make you clean; remove the wickedness of your doings, cease to do evil." That afterward they all become good is understood by the words which follow (A. E. 939).
     The sole purpose for the revelation of truth in the form in which it has been given us, as was said before of the Ten Commandments, is, that man may have a means of finding out in himself what are the evils that oppose the good of the LORD, that he may shun them and thus receive of the love of the LORD and be enabled from Him to do good that is really such. So we read in many places that it is impossible for any evil to be removed until it is seen (H. H. 533).
     Among the delightful consequences said to flow from this knowledge of specific evils and the persistent shunning of them by the man of the Church one most pleasant to consider is thus set forth in the treatise upon the Divine Love and Wisdom (n. 245): "The forms which are receptacles of spiritual heat and light, or of love and wisdom in man are of three degrees . . . but these are not opened till spiritual heat joins itself to spiritual light, or love to wisdom. . . . The light of winter does not open anything in a seed or tree, but when the vernal heat joins itself to the light then it opens them. . . . This spiritual heat is no otherwise obtained than by shunning evils as sins, and then looking to the LORD. . . . Then the love of evil and its heat are removed and the love of good and its heat are introduced in their stead, by which a superior degree [of the mind] is opened. The LORD enters by influx from above and opens it and joins spiritual love or heat to spiritual light or wisdom, and by this conjunction the man begins to flourish spiritually, like a tree in time of spring.
     "Evils are derived successively from parents, and increase by accumulation till man from birth is nothing but evil. . . . So the malignity of evil increases. . . and this is not restored [to good] in posterity except by shunning evils as sins, from the LORD. By this means alone the spiritual mind is opened, and the natural mind thus reduced to a corresponding form" (Ibid. 269).
     Still men may do a great deal of what seems like good and that is of use and benefit to others whether or not they shun evils. The question is not at present so much of the effect on the world, for the LORD can bring good to others even out of the direst evil intended and practiced upon them, but the real question is, how the man himself is to do good in obedience to the LORD. Good which the LORD will accept as the fulfillment of His command.
     "There are civil good, moral good, and spiritual good. The good done before a man shuns evils as sins is civil and moral; but in proportion as he shuns evils as sins the good becomes spiritual also as well as civil and moral, and not before" (Charity 19).
     "He who shuns evils as sins does Christian good, but those who do good and do not shun evils as sins do no Christian good" (Ibid. 16).
     The good of life is much talked of and it is said that all who are in it are saved by the LORD. It is especially common in the New Church nowadays to speak of the general body of so-called Christians as in this good and thus not affected by their false doctrines. It is to be admitted that even falsity of doctrine does not condemn, provided men are really in this good of life. But what is this good of life? "The good of life, or to live well, is to shun evils because they are contrary to religion and therefore contrary to God. This is fully shown in the Doctrine of Life. To which I will only add that if you do good in all abundance; if, for example, you build churches, adorn and fill them with donations, lay out money in hospitals and charities, give alms daily, help widows and orphans, regularly perform the ceremonies of divine worship, if even you think, speak, and preach things holy as from the heart, and yet do not shun evils as sins against God, all these goods are not goods, but are either hypocritical or meritorious, for there is inwardly evil in them notwithstanding, since the life of every one is in all and everything that he does.

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Goods are no otherwise made goods than by the removal of evil from them" (D. P. 326; see also L. J. post 230).
     "Those who do good from natural goodness alone and not at the same time from religion, are not accepted after death, because there is only natural good in their charity and not at the same time spiritual. Natural goodness is of the flesh alone born of parents, but spiritual good is of the spirit born anew of the LORD. Those who do no goods of charity from religion, and thence not evils, before they have received the doctrine of the New Church concerning the LORD, may be likened to trees that bear good fruits but few. In heaven also they are clothed with red garments and after they have been initiated into the goods of the New Church, they are clothed with garments of a purple color which, as they receive truths also, become beautifully tinged with yellow" (T. C. R. 637).
     But as there are many forms of good not really comprehended in the idea of good of life given to the LORD'S New Church, so there may be a shunning of evil that is not genuine.
     "There are moral men who keep the commandments of the second table of the Decalogue, being guilty neither of theft nor of revenge nor of adultery, and such of them as persuade themselves that such things are evil because they are hurtful to the common good of the State, and thereby contrary to the laws of humanity, also live in the exercise of charity, sincerity, justice, and chastity, but if they practice these goods and shun those evils only because they are evils, and not at the same time because they are sins, they are still merely natural men, and with merely natural men the root of evil remains ingrafted, and is not removed. Wherefore the good actions which they perform [and even their shunning of evil] are not good because they proceed from themselves" (Life 108.)
     "A man can repent of the evils which he has done with the body and still will and think evil, but this is like cutting off the trunk of a bad tree and leaving its root in the ground, from which the same bad tree grows up and spreads itself around. But it is otherwise when the root also is pulled up. This is done in man when he at the same time explores the intentions of the will and removes evils by repentance. He explores the will when he explores his thoughts, for the intentions manifest themselves in them. . . . If he considers whether he would do those things if the fear of the law and of fame did not oppose and then after such scrutiny thinks that he will not do them because they are sins, he performs true and interior repentance, and still more when he is in the delights of those evils, and at the same time in the liberty of doing them and then resists and abstains" (T. C. R. 532).
     As to man's ability really to repent and shun evils we are taught that "it is a truth that no man can do good which is really good from himself, but so to apply this truth as to destroy the good of charity performed by the man who shuns evils as sins is a monstrous perversion, for it is diametrically contrary to the Word. . . . Man's nature is such that he can shun evils as of himself by virtue of a power communicated to him by the LORD, if so be he implores it, and when this is the case, the good which he does is from the LORD" (Char. 31).
     This combat against evils is declared to be not so grievous except to such as have quite surrendered themselves to their lusts and appetites, or who have confirmed themselves in the rejection of the holy things of the Church. Of others it is said, "let them but resist evils in intention only once a week or twice a month and they will perceive a change" (Life 97).
     So, too, "if those who are in good from the LORD abstain from one evil because it is a sin, they abstain from all, and still more, if they abstain from more than one of distinct purpose and intention. For as soon as any one, from purpose or what is confirmed, abstains from any evil because it is a sin, he is held by the LORD in the purpose of abstaining from the rest. Wherefore, if he unwittingly or from any prevailing lust of the body does evil still this evil is not imputed to him, because he does not purpose it in himself nor does he confirm it with himself. Man comes into this purpose if, once or twice in the year, he explores himself and repents of the evil which he detects in' himself. It is otherwise with him who never explores himself" (C. L. 529).
     "Christian charity with every individual consists in his performing faithfully the duties of his calling, for thus if he shuns evils as sins he daily does what is good, and is himself his own particular use in the common body. Thus, also, the common good is provided for and that of each individual in particular. The other works are not properly works of charity, but are either its signs or benefits or debts" (Life 114).
     "Cease, therefore, to inquire in thyself what are the good works which I shall do that I may receive life eternal, only abstain from evils as sin and look to the LORD and the LORD will teach and lead thee" (A. R. 979).
     In conclusion, it need only be said that trust in the LORD of necessity implies co-operation with Him in doing good, but that there can be no such trust unless as a means to doing good, one examine himself, and discover and repent of his evils. There is a mutual and reciprocal relation between man and the LORD in this work. Man on his part must fully trust in the LORD in order that he may shun evils, and thus prepare to do what is good from the LORD. Only thus can be avoid working in his own strength and for his own credit and glory. And in this way, too, the LORD is enabled to do His part by flowing in with the good of love and of life whereby man is reformed, regenerated, and saved by the LORD.
     The promise of the text is that they who thus secure the presence of the LORD in their lives shall dwell in the land, which is heaven, and feed in security, by which is meant that they shall enjoy all the blessedness, delights, and felicities of heaven itself. These are said to be such that they cannot be described in words. They begin from the LORD, therefore, from the inmosts, thence diffusing themselves to the exteriors even to ultimates, and so filling the angel and causing him to be, as it were, all delight. But this happiness rarely manifests itself in the world, but when man puts off the natural and enters into the spiritual state then that felicity successively manifests itself (D. P. 39, 41).
     These are the mighty and ever-blessed consequences of self-examination but a few times in the year, the application of revealed truth to the discovery of our prevailing evils, the rejection of those evils as sins against the LORD by a true and sincere and practical repentance, all as if in our own strength and by the free exercise of the power given us by the LORD, but at the same time in His Name alone in Whom we trust.- AMEN.
things which are of faith 1890

things which are of faith              1890

     The things which are of faith . . . are not to be doubted, still less rejected, because we do not grasp the causes, when nevertheless they are verities, because the Lord, Verity Itself, hath said [them].- S. D. 2546.

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SCHOOLS OF THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1890

SCHOOLS OF THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH              1890

     PHILADELPHIA.

     ONCE more, on the first day of October, the returning teachers, students, and pupils of the Academy Schools in Philadelphia assembled in the hall of the Academy, to begin the work of the year with the solemn worship of the LORD, and to hear the annual address of welcome, encouragement, and explanation delivered by the Acting Superintendent, Bishop Pendleton.
     The usual order of worship for the daily opening of school, namely, the opening of the Word in the Letter and in the Spiritual Sense; the singing of Shemah Yisrael; the offering of the LORD'S Prayer; the reading of passages from the Word, in the Letter and in the Spirit; and the singing of a selection from the Liturgy, in the form of responses to the Spiritual Sense, taken from The Summary Exposition of the Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms; was conducted by Bishop Pendleton.
     At the end of the worship, and as a part of it, two children were baptized. These children are the first entering the Academy Schools under the rule making New Church baptism a requirement for entry.
     BISHOP Pendleton, in his opening address, spoke words to the following effect: "There is a universal end in all things of order, and this end reigns throughout all the generals and particulars that follow; this end is the very end of creation, namely, the formation of an angelic heaven from the human race.
     "The end of the creation makes one with the end of revelation, and thus one with salvation. This end reigns in all things of the Church. Without this end all things are dead, nature is dead, science is dead, the Church is dead. It is for this reason that the Old Church with all its science is dead. There is in it no love of saving souls; and so a New Church is established where this love may reign in all things. It is to be the love of every member of the Church, it is the love which essentially constitutes its priesthood, and so laymen and priests all co-operate in the work. It is the love that reigns in its work of educating the young, and makes the great difference between New Church schools, and those of the world; the one has heaven as an end, the other the world. The salvation of souls being the end in New Church education, the work of education is a priestly work and is performed by priests especially set apart for that work, extending the work of the Church down to man in his earliest years and on through life; for it is to be remembered that the priesthood is the LORD'S office in the Church for the salvation of souls.
     "This is not only the end in the schools, but in the family life; parents have this end in the training of their children, and the father is the priest in his own house. It is thus a work in which we are all engaged, and there is need of the fullest co-operation."
     After the dismissal there was the usual interchange of greetings and of the summer's experiences among the returning students and pupils, and on the faces of all there was pictured a gladness to be again in the institute they love, and a willingness to enter again into the work of preparation for lives of usefulness.
     Mr. O. Homer Synnestvedt, A. B., Th. B., who graduated last spring has been added to the force of permanent teachers.
     The roll of the schools now shows an attendance of fifty-seven students and pupils, and among these are thirteen new entries. There are at present nine who are studying with the end of entering the ministry.
     The Dean, the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, was absent from the opening, not yet having returned from Europe, whither he had gone at the end of school last June to institute in Holland a search for the missing Swedenborg manuscripts.
     A shade of sadness was present at the bright opening owing to the absence of our beloved Chancellor, Bishop Benade, who is unable to attend to the uses in which his affections are so deeply centred. But this sadness was tempered by the acknowledgment by all present that the Divine Providence doeth all things well.

     PITTSBURGH.

     THE opening of the Pittsburgh School was a very simple one. In fact, it was like the Opening Exercises every morning at the school. The Rev. John Whitehead opened the Word, after which the whole school repeated the LORD'S Prayer. Then followed singing from the Liturgy, reading from the Doctrines and from the Word. The children were then arranged into classes.
     The School has undergone some changes that were quite unexpected at the time of its closing in June. The Rev. W. H. Acton has since left Pittsburgh and has taken charge of the School of the Academy in Chicago. The Rev. John Whitehead who has been the Head-master of the Pittsburgh School ever since its establishment, has resigned that position, and the Rev. Andrew Czerny, A. B., Th. B., has been appointed to that office. Mr. Czerny took charge of the school on the 20th day of October. Mr. Whitehead will, however, continue to give religious instruction in the school.
     The loss of these two teachers has only to some extent been compensated by the addition of one lady-teacher. Miss McQuigg, the new teacher, has taken charge of the infant class. Miss Robert has come back again, much improved in health, and has enough to do to tax all her strength. Dr. Cowley also continues to teach. In addition to his classes in Anatomy and Physiology, he has kindly volunteered to teach a class in Nature. In this way the school will get along tolerably well. Then the school is somewhat smaller than it was last year. There are now thirty-three children on the roll.

     CHICAGO.

     THE former Head-master of the Chicago School of the Academy of the New Church, the Rev. Edward C. Bostock has been transferred to London, to open a school there. The Rev. William Henry Acton, Th. B., of Allegheny City, has been appointed to take charge of the Chicago School, under the direction of the Chancellor. The Rev. N. D. Pendleton, Th. B., assists in the instruction. Miss Susie Junge continues as a regular teacher. Professor Blackman gives instruction in music, and Mr. Paul Synnestvedt in drawing. The School was opened on October 6th, with an attendance of ten children.

     LONDON.

     THE Rev. Edward C. Bostock, A. B., Th. B., has arrived in London, to open a School of the Academy, in the Masonic Hall, on Camberwell New Road. He and Mrs. Bostock were tendered a reception by friends of the school, in the Sunday-school room of the Camberwell Society.
doctrine of faith 1890

doctrine of faith              1890

     The doctrine of faith . . . must be from the Divine Itself and the Divine Human of the Lord, hence is its origin.- A. C. 2616.

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ARTOPEISM AND THE NEW CHURCH IN CENTRAL EUROPE 1890

ARTOPEISM AND THE NEW CHURCH IN CENTRAL EUROPE              1890

     THE readers of the Life have, from time to time, been made acquainted with the beginning and progress of Artopeism, but as the accounts are scattered over a space of several years, a brief resume of this movement is presented herewith.
     Mr. Albert Artope was a telegraph operator in Grunberg, Silesia, when, according to his account, he was instructed by angels in the Doctrines of the New Church. He then applied for a pension, and went to Berlin, where he entered the city mission with the intention of attaining influence in ecclesiastical circles. "City missionaries" are laymen, who labor in the large cities under the supervision of ministers of the established Church for the promotion of the religious life, especially among the poorer classes, by means of visitations, religious meetings, missionary talks, etc. In Berlin the city mission is under the leadership of court preacher Stocker.
     Mr. Artope did not remain in this position longer than' perhaps a year. In the spring of the year 1885 he left the city mission and began his operations for what he styles the New Church.
     At this time the general organization of Newchurchmen in Germany, the "German New Church Society," had entered upon a period of disintegration. The Rev. Fedor Gorwitz, who had been its' minister, dissolved his connection with it, and shortly after, in the latter part of the year 1885, Dr. Otto Hahn, who exercised considerable influence in the Society, began the publication of a paper entitled Reformationsblatter, as an exposition of his views, which were decidedly Arian. He received a subsidy of five hundred marks from the Society. The paper appeared at irregular intervals and was discontinued at the close of the first year. The editor went to Berlin to visit Mr. Artope, and brought him into connection with the German New Church Society, which, through Dr. Hahn's influence, assisted Mr. Artope financially.
     Mr. Artope began a new paper, entitled Die Neue Kirche. His activity, his brilliancy, affability, and plausibility soon caused his influence to spread, and a number of Newchurchman in Berlin and other parts of Germany, in Switzerland (notably in Herisau), and in Vienna became his declared adherents, and are visited by him at stated times. The latest accession is from the Society at Monethen, in East Prussia, of which the late Mr. Schiweck was the leader. This rapid spread was also largely due to the advocacy of the teachings by the Bote der Neuen Kirche (published by the Rev. Adolph Roeder, of Vineland, New Jersey), as this paper, which had been established many years ago by the late Rev. A. O. Brickman, had considerable influence among the Germans in Europe. Owing to this advocacy, Artopeism has also received a foot-hold in America. Here it has been vigorously combatted by the German Missionary Union through its organ, Neukirchenblatt, which, however, after using able arguments, addressed to the reason, allowed itself to be led to the ill-advised means of seeking to stifle the heresy by a show of names of men who are opposed to it. A year ago the German New Church Society (the organization in Germany) discontinued its connection with Mr. Artope. Dr. Hahn also suddenly gave him up, and has emigrated to Canada.
     It is a notable fact, and one illustrating the necessity of a priesthood that has been duly prepared and inaugurated according to order, that of the nominal Newchurchmen in the German-speaking parts of Europe, and the Germans in America, those mostly embraced Artopeism who were opposed to the formal establishment of the Church in externals according to the Order prescribed in the Writings.
     Artope's distinctive teachings are the denial of the historical sense of the Gospels, involving the rejection of the LORD'S Incarnation; a belief in an immediate illumination without the necessity of a knowledge of the Revelation made through Swedenborg; and the teaching of the government of love, to the practical exclusion of its reception in forms of truth and order, notably in the forms of the Divine sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper. His heresy thus partakes of the elements of Tulkism, Holcombism, and some other isms.
     One of the worst features of this heresy is the perversion of the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem to justify adultery. From the Doctrine concerning the spiritual origin of marriage, Artope concludes that a marriage between two who are not interiorly united is in no sense to be considered a marriage, and can therefore be dissolved at will. On this ground he dismissed his wife, and entered into a "marriage" with another woman, who had been assisting him in his labors. This matter came to the attention of the civil authorities and was published in the daily press.
     In the issue of his paper, Die Neue Kirche, for October 1st, 1890, Artope publishes the official announcement, that, knowing of his approaching death, he takes leave from all his friends and discontinues his public career. He says: "The forces of my body are consumed by my restless labor, and I am preparing for my decease in quiet retirement." His successor is a man by the name of Ferdinand Schulze. A detailed account of his last (?) farewell to his Berlin Society, on which occasion Artropeists from Vienna and other places were also present, is published in the same issue. He exhorted his people to remain closely united and faithful to their convictions, and after they had made a solemn promise to do so, he concluded: "You have vowed faithfulness to the Truth. Upon your entrance into the spiritual world, I shall compare your vow with your deed, and thus prove whether your vow has been fulfilled." His "wife," Maria, then came forward and addressed the assembly, telling them that she would soon follow her Albert into their spiritual home.
     The LORD mercifully provides the means for the cure of the infestations to which the man of the Church is subject. Among the means in this instance was a priesthood, which, long denied admission among the Germans, has been established at last. The Rev. Fedor Gorwitz, formerly of America, was led to look to Europe as his field of labor, and after being ordained in New York, by Bishop Tuerk, he went to Germany, and, subsequently, to Switzerland, where he has resided at Zurich for the past seven years. He publishes monthly a sixteen-page paper in octavo, entitled Monatblatter, by means of which he has been systematically teaching doctrines which are essential for the internal and external establishment of the Church. Four hundred copies of this journal go monthly all over of the Christian world. Not only by the press, but by word of mouth also; he steadily teaches the Doctrines to those who have been given into his charge. One evidence of his faithful and effective teaching lies in the fact that where there was formerly an almost universal ignorance of or opposition to the holy sacrament of baptism, sixty adults have been led by him to enter the New Church through this Divine gate. Besides this he has baptized about thirty children during the eleven years of his labors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
     His regular appointments, besides Zurich, are Berne, Herisau, and Nesslan.

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He also pays annual visits to Vienna, the capital of Austria, and Esslingen, in the Kingdom of Wurtenberg.
     Besides these circles, there are Swiss and Germans scattered throughout other parts of Europe, and even in Africa, with whom Mr. Gorwitz maintains a pastoral correspondence.
     Most, if not all, to whom he ministers have limited means, and his income from these sources is limited in proportion, and is not sufficient for his subsistence. The German Missionary Union of America receives subscriptions to aid this important work. His many and laborious duties are, moreover, telling on his health, which is rather precarious.
     Two circumstances add to the depression caused by the deadening effect of the teachings of Artope. One is this, that they would never have gained the influence they have, had it not been for their advocacy by the Bote der Neuen Kirche. The other is that, although Mr. Artope does not receive the Doctrines of the New Church in their entirety, yet he has been posing as its head and representative, and the secular press chronicles his teachings and actions as expository of the New Church and its theology, so that the New Church is entirely misrepresented; and its establishment in Central Europe, at all times difficult, appears to be rendered still more so by this state of affairs.
     But, although this appearance causes discouragement, evidences of the care and leading of the Divine Providence, are not wanting.
     A notable one illustrating the operation of the Divine Providence, in using the evil which He permits to establish good, occurred over a year ago, when the President of the Herisau Society, who had been a prominent opponent of every ecclesiastical form and order, was led, by the spread of Artopeism in his Society, to throw off his former state, and to enter fully into the work which Mr. Gorwitz is doing.
     This, as well as other incidents, confirm the truth that, in spite of all the errors and evils which arise, the LORD is, in His own way, guiding the feeble infant Church and preparing it for further growth and development.
Lord is Doctrine Itself 1890

Lord is Doctrine Itself              1890

     The Lord is Doctrine Itself, wherefore also He is named The Word, The Truth, The Light, The Way, The Gate.- A. C. 2616.
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     A FIFTEEN-PAGE pamphlet bearing the title, "Report of T. Mower Martin, Licentiate of the Canada Association of the New Church to the Toronto Society. Exemplifying the Methods of the Academy in Canada," has been sent to the Life, by Messrs. Adams & Sons, 23 Church Street, Toronto, Ont.



     THE Rev. L. P. Mercer's useful and interesting little work on The New Birth, or the Law of Man's Spiritual Creation, which was published in the year 1887, by C. H. Kerr & Co. of Chicago, has been issued in a second edition by the Western New Church Union. The book is improved by the omission of the "Chapter on Mind Cure," the weakest part of the former issue.



     A SECOND series of sermons by the Rev. Chauncey Giles has bean published in Swedish by the "New Church Congregation" of Stockholm. It would seem that the Swedish Church could more usefully devote their limited means to the publication of the Writings of the New Church, of which there is a crying need. None of the Writings have been published in Sweden for very many years, except at the expense of foreign Newchurchmen.



     THE Minutes of the Eighty-third Conference of the New Church in Great Britain, the Journal of the Twenty-third Annual Meeting of the American New Church Sabbath-School Association, and the Fourth Annual Report of the Young People's Societies of the New Church in America have been published. They are all equally deficient in giving the reader a living idea of the proceedings of the meetings and state of the bodies which they represent.



     THE New Church throughout the world will learn with regret of the ill-health of the Rev. Dr. S. H. Worcester, the diligent and able Editor of the Latin editions of the Writings, published by the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society. Mr. Worcester's condition is so serious that he has been compelled to give up all literary labors. This interruption in the work of republishing the Writings in the original language is a matter for profound regret, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the work may soon be resumed.



     THE following, published editorially in Morning Light for October 4th serves to illustrate the general state of the New Church in England: "Swedenborg would have disclaimed nothing more earnestly than his own inspiration." . . . "However well suited he was to his work, it was, after all, his own work; and his books are only human books, infinitely far from that word of God which was written by Inspiration." This blasphemous statement is further supplemented, in another editorial article of the same issue, by the assertion that it "is simply criminal" to put "Conjugial Love, or even the Arcana" in the hands of a novitiate, "because it is to destroy and not to foster budding intelligence and spiritual life."



     A CIRCULAR addressed to the members of the Canada Association of the New Church, has been printed by a committee appointed by the Toronto Society, to ascertain the views of the members of the Association on the subject of "Academy influence" in the Dominion, and has received extended notice in the periodicals of the Church. The circular suggests the advisability of revolutionary action against the Association, but at the same time professes great loyalty to the General Convention, of which the Association is a component part. Truthfulness or rational thought are not marked characteristics of the circular. Among the principles of the Academy which are held up for the especial execration of the Church in Canada is the teaching "in the New Church Life, that we must look to our own children to constitute the future New Church." Do the friends in Toronto desire that our children should not constitute the future New Church?



     THERE are five periodicals in the New Church, published contemporaneously in the German language, not counting Albert Artope's Die Neue Kirche. These are Monatblatter fur die Neue Kirche, edited by the Rev. F. Gorwitz, of Zurich, Switzerland, Neukirchenblatt, the chief editor of which is the Rev. F. W. Tuerk, of Berlin, Ontario, Canada, Bote der Neuen Kirche, now in its thirty-sixth volume, and edited by the Rev. A. Roeder, of Vineland, N. J., Kinderbote, edited by the Rev. W. Diehl, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Der Regenbogen (the Rainbow), Published in New York City, by the Rev. W. H. Schliffer. The last-named of which the first number was issued in October, 1890, is devoted to the interests of the German New Church Society of New York City, and is intended also for evangelistic use. It is of interest to note-that the first issue is dated "October 1890=121." Der Regenbogen is issued quarterly in four pages, 4to, and can be procured at the price of twenty-five cents per annum, from the Rev. W. H. Schliffer, 81 South Second Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.

200






     MR. WILLIAM GRAHAM, Secretary of the New Church International Leaflet Association, has published three neatly-printed tracts, entitled The way to Heaven: Reciprocity between God and Man; The Word not dissipated but glorified, and A Plea on behalf of Essential Spiritual Truth, addressed in the eternal interests of the Human Race, to their Lordships the Bishops of the National Church of England.
     Mr. Graham's tracts make a departure from the ordinary watery methods of tract-writing so common of late years in the New Church, a return to the apostolic methods of the early Newchurchmen, who were not afraid of addressing themselves in doctrinal language to the philosophically thinking of the world. The present tracts are certainly in a "doctrinal" form, and may, on that account, have a larger circulation in the Old Church than in the New, a not usual fate of modern New Church tracts. They treat of interior doctrines in a new and useful way, with new and striking illustrations. The Plea to the Bishops reminds one of the early appeals of Hindmarsh and Clowes to the great in the world, and consists of a series of pertinent questions, introduced by the point-blank query: "Is the religious life of our nation satisfactory?"



      MR. SAMUEL J. LERESCHE's pamphlet on "The Holy Supper," which was briefly noticed in the September Life contains, in the peculiar orthography of the "Reformd Speling," some plain talk on the state of the New Church.
     Here are some extracts, which, deciphered and translated into common English, may be of general use to the Church:
     "We have, I think, shown a most mistaken apathy in regard to the education of the young in respect to religion, and, in some cases, we have actively sided with the enemy. In the education of our more advanced youth, we have taken no pains to have them grounded in true science, although we know it to be essential to have the understanding of correspondences; nay, worse, when we have had them taught science, it has been by sending them to popular science classes, where they have learned the fashionable ideas and drifted into Darwinianism. We let them grind up and pass their examinations, and then they flout Swedenborg's science, and tell us that 'if Swedenborg had lived in our day he would have known science better, and that his correspondences would necessarily have been different; that, in act it will be needful, as (shifty) science changes, to modify the correspondences,' thus practically impugning God's wisdom in not having better arranged the time for the revelation of New Church truth." . . . We profess to believe that ministers are illustrated by influx from the LORD, and yet we seek to shape them by hints or direct criticism to what we want, and so interpose our petty individualities between them and the LORD." . . .
     "And lastly, we believe in two absolutely correspondential, sacraments, and yet are, for the most part, utterly indifferent as to the exact representations, without which we may know that there cannot be a correspondence."



     A LITTLE work in the German language, with the sensational title, Schwedenborgsche Abenteuer auf Reisen bei Nacht ("Schwedenborgian" Adventures, on Travels by Night), by J. F. Gluck, Leipzig, 1831, is a striking illustration of the deceptiveness of appearances. The title-page leads the curiosity-seekers to suppose he has made a highly interesting discovery. His expectations are, however, disappointed as he finds that the book is only a description of the visions of a German "Schwarmer." The title-page is the only part of the book of any interest to a "Schwedenborgian" reader.



     ANOTHER curiosity of Swedenborgiana, and one of more genuine interest, is a Danish Drama of 116 pages, composed by Herr M. Goldsmidt, and published in Copenhagen, 1863, under the title, Swedenborys Ungdom (Swedenborg's Youth).
     No notice of this work has been found in the contemporary New Church-periodicals in the English language, and we have no knowledge of the author except that he was a former student of the University of Copenhagen, from which institution he received a medal in recognition of his drama.
     The "motif" of the composition is Swedenborg's early engagement to Emerentia Polheim, the daughter of his friend and patron, Christoffer Polheim, the famous Swedish engineer. Swedenborg's services under Charles XII and the death of the latter are also introduced to give an historical character to the production. The drama presents Swedenborg as a young man of the greatest genius and of the loftiest moral character, and draws a picture of the hero altogether satisfactory to a New Church reader, herein different from some other attempts in the same direction. The dramatic interest is kept up throughout, and the composition as a whole stems to be of great merit from a literary and historical point of view. Especially strong is the description of the combat in Swedenborg's mind between his own love for Emerentia Polheim and his unselfish desire to see her happy with the object of her affections. The author here and there introduces delicate descriptions of the unusual mental experiences of Swedenborg, which may be supposed to have come to him even in his youth. In a postscript the writer suggests the possible influence of Swedenborg's disappointment in love upon his after-life, as a chastening of his self-love and a preparation for his future mission. An English translation of this pleasant and innocent drama would be of use to the youth to the New Church.
RELIGION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1890

RELIGION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM              1890

     HOW CAN WE OBTAIN THE RELIGION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM? by the Rev. J. F. Potts, B., A. New Church Educational Institute, London, 1889, pp. 7.

     THIS may be considered a sequel to Mr. Potts' tract on Newchurchmen leaving their First Love, a notice of which appeared in the Life for September, 1889.
     In the writer's own clear, emphatic language, which discards all circumlocutions and goes "straight to the point" as a surgeon's knife, the meaningless objections of those who deny that the Writings are the Word of God are vigorously discussed, in the original sense of this word-i. e., shaken to pieces.
     The general proposition is that "the religion of the New Jerusalem consists in the carrying out into life of the doctrine which is contained in the Writings of the New Church," and that this religion cannot be obtained without the acknowledgment that these Writings are the Divine Word equally with the Letter of the Word.

     "These two things are the same thing. The revelation of Divine Truth, which is contained in the Writings of the New Church is the revelation of Divine Truth which is contained in the Word of God. To deny this would be to deny everything. It would be to admit at once that the New Church is a false pretender; and that her Writings are false in their claims and false in their Doctrines?" . . . "People who are ignorant of the whole subject will tell you that you are setting the Writings on an equality with the Word of God itself, or even above it; but at all such nonsense you can well afford to smile, well knowing that the only possible way in which the Word of God can be really honored is the way that is learned by those who revere and study the Writings of the New Church; well knowing that the more you honor the Writings, the more you honor the Word; and well knowing also from your experience and observation that the people who try to lower the Writings in favor of the Word are the very people who, more than any others in the New Church, neglect and destroy the Word."
     "What mere superstition it is to try to draw a distinction between the words of Scripture as printed in the Bible and the same words as printed in Arcana Coelestia! The only difference is that in the latter book the internal sense is given in addition. Surely, that does not make the words of Scripture any worse in any respect!"

     The treatise arrives at the practical conclusion that a daily and reverent study of the Writings of the New Church is the only, the indispensable means of obtaining the religion of the New Jerusalem. "If you do not get your doctrine, you cannot get your religion; and every day in which you fail of the first will be a day in which you will fail of the second, and will be a lost day in your life as a member of the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem."

201


Every doctrinal 1890

Every doctrinal              1890

     Every doctrinal is from Divine Good and Divine Truth, and has in itself the heavenly marriage- A. C. 2616.
SOME RARE EDITIONS 1890

SOME RARE EDITIONS              1890

     AMONG the books that have been added to the Library of the Academy this summer, there are some scarce editions of the Writings in the French language, a description of which may be of interest to lovers of the history and book-lore of the New Church.

     IN the Documents concerning Swedenborg, vol. ii, pp. 1011, 1177, a French surgeon, resident in London, M. Benedict Chastanier, is mentioned as the editor of the first French translator of the work on The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body.[*] The edition published by him in London, in the year 1785, bears the title, Du Commerce etabli entre l'Ame et le Corps, and on the title-page the information is given that the translation is the work of the French translator of The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (London, 1782), who is generally supposed to have been M. Chastainer. This summer, however, an edition of The Intercourse, etc.; was found in Holland, bearing the title, "Du Commerce de l'Ame et du Corps. Traduit du Latin par M. P**," and printed in Paris 1785, thus in the same year as the London edition spoken of above. In the latter a note is found concerning a Paris edition of this work, the translator of which is stated to be Monsieur Peraut, of Paris, proving this to have been the earlier of the two editions. As the translations of both editions are in every way identical, the statement of the Documents, that Benedict Chastanier was the translator, needs to be corrected.
     [* Corrected as requested on page 221.]
     The London edition is augmented by a translation of the Rev. Thomas Hartley's Preface to his English translation of the same work (London, 1770). It contains also an interesting analytical table of Swedenborg's Scientific and Theological works, and a prospectus for printing a number of Swedenborg's posthumous works, the MSS. of which were in M. Chastanier's possession.
     Among these it is of interest to note the "Index to a particular Treatise concerning marriages, never edited by the author." As the MS. of the work itself, of which this is the Index, is not mentioned in the list, the whereabout of the "missing " work on marriages was evidently not even then known to the New Church in England. The list does not mention any MS. not now recovered or known to the Church.
ANOTHER extremely rare edition 1890

ANOTHER extremely rare edition              1890

     ANOTHER extremely rare edition, which was found this summer, is the French translation of The Doctrine concerning the LORD, which was published by Benedict Chastanier in London 1787, as the second number of his journal Novi-Jerusalemite.
OTHER early editions of the Writings in French 1890

OTHER early editions of the Writings in French              1890

     OTHER early editions of the Writings in French, now in the Library of the Academy of the New Church, are:
     1. De la Nouvelle Jeusalem et de sa Doctrine Celeste. London, 1782. This translation is supposed to have been the work of M. Chastanier, though a note in the Preface states that the translator was a M. Nicholas de Pierre. It is possible, however, that this is a pseudonym.
     2. Lee Merveilles du Ciel et de l'Enfer (Heaven and Hell). Berlin, 1782.
     3. Des Terres dans l'Universe (The Earths in the Universe). Berlin, 1782.
     The translation of both of these works is from the hand of Abbe Pernety, Chief Librarian of the `Royal Library of Berlin. These translations are extremely liberal and generally untrustworthy.
     4. Du Dernier Jugement et de Babylonie detruite (Concerning the Last Judgment), and:
     5. Continuation du Dernier Jugement et du Monde Spirituel, both of London, 1787, and from the hand of M. Chastanier. These translations constitute Nos. 3 and 4 of the Journal Novi-Jerusalemite.
     6. Traite Curieux des Charmes de l'Amour Conjugal (Conjugial Love), translated by M. de Brumore, and published in Bale, 1784.
     Some of these editions are not mentioned in the Documents concerning Swedenborg, and their existence seems to have been unknown or forgotten in the Church.
doctrinal 1890

doctrinal              1890

     The doctrinal which has not the heavenly marriage in itself, is not a genuine doctrinal of faith.- A. C. 2516.
"PETIT ARCANA COELESTIA." 1890

"PETIT ARCANA COELESTIA."              1890

PETIT ARCANA COELESTIA. (The Little Arcana Coelestia. Abridged translation of the great Arcana Coelestia. Adapted to the use of youth.) Bale, 1875 and 1878. 2 vols. 894 pp.

     IT seems strange, indeed, that a distinctively New Church work of the size and importance of the above, and published so short a time ago, has never yet been brought to the notice of the Church in England or America. Stranger still it is that the anonymous author has made no efforts to introduce his valuable work to the Church at large.
     The only explanation of the appearance of this work is found in the Preface, where an interview is described between a Monsieur Van Aller, a rich landed proprietor in France and a M. Hagedorn, an Alsacian receiver of the Doctrines of the New Church. M. Hagedorn is engaged as the theological instructor of a School established by M. Van Aller, and the rest of the two volumes is written in the form of oral instruction by the teacher.
     The Book itself is a running commentary on the Internal Sense of the Book of Genesis, rather than a translation of the Arcana Coelestia, though the language of this work is quite faithfully adhered to, yet so adapted as to be on the level of the comprehension of young scholars. The natural illustrations adduced and the easy, conversational language adopted by the author show that he did not intend to take any liberties with the text of the Writings. On the contrary, "M. Hagdorn" throughout the work refers to the Writings themselves in terms of the highest veneration. He takes great pains to impress upon his scholars the truth that the Writings are a Divine and infallible Revelation of the LORD, and repeatedly speaks of Swedenborg as the "Divinely inspired prophet of the LORD." The Spiritual Diary seems to be an especial object of M. Hagedorn's affections, and he regrets that this work "pour des considerations miserables et humaines" had not (as yet) been translated from the Latin.
     The last pages describe M. Hagedorn's return to America, where he has made his permanent home after introducing his scholars to an independent study of the Writings, and exhorting them to remain faithful to the Loan's New Church.

202



     A comparison of this work with the Kleine Arcana Celestia, which was published in Vienna, 1878, by the Rev. H. Peisker, seems to show that the latter is an entirely distinct work from the French publication, though compiled on the same general plan.
In the single things of the Word 1890

In the single things of the Word              1890

     In the single things of the Word, whence is doctrine, there is an image of marriage.- A. C. 2516.
"THE GROWTH OF THE NEW CHURCH." 1890

"THE GROWTH OF THE NEW CHURCH."              1890

     THE GROWTH OF THE NEW CHURCH, by the Rev. C. Griffiths. London, 1890, pp. 88.

     THIS little work, which is addressed to the members of the New Church, sounds like an echo of the strange utterances lately put forth at the annual meeting of the British "Missionary and Tract Society of the New Church," and, in common with these, it cannot be commended either for integrity of Doctrine or for fairness to those whose principles are here combated.
     The present work, professing great loyalty to the Writings of the New Church, and quoting abundantly from them, is put forth to "counteract the dogmatic teaching" of those who "insist (or seem to insist) that we must believe not only what is written [in the Writings], but their interpretation of what is written."
     Among the dogmatic interpretations which this work would counteract is found the terrible one that all the "remnants" of the simple good in the Old Church were drawn out of it at the time of the Last Judgment and that, in consequence, "we ourselves should not be members of the New Church" (p. 22). Surely this cannot be an "interpretation" of the Writings, but of something else. A student of New Church History would be thankful if the author had specified where such a notion has been put forth. In want of such a statement, the charge here made falls back upon its originator.
     Another "interpretation" which this work would fain combat is a doctrine which is said to have "divorced the spiritual and literal senses" of the Word, and which "has practically abolished the literal sense" (page 79).
     The tenet here referred to is one that has been upheld by the followers of Charles Augustus Tulk, but it is evident that these are not the ones whom the author is combating in the present work. It. is the upholders of the teaching that the Writings are the Internal Sense of the Word who are charged with this terrible heresy, but not a single statement of theirs is produced by the author in proof of his accusation. This mode of controversy is unfortunately, at present, common in the New Church, and is little better than the one to which the Conference committed itself, namely, that of presenting half-statements and garbled presentations of the opponent's utterances.
     In the plain words of the Rev. J. F. Potts:

     "The fact is that these objections are mere rubbish, the pure inventions of the devil, put forth to keep us back from the Writings of the New Church, and insinuated into us by the spirits of the dragon, who are now cast down from their former Heaven into the World of Spirits, and are, therefore, in the closest possible connection with our minds."

     The book treats of "the Church Universal," "the New Church in Christendom," "Separation versus Association," "Mission of the New Church," "the Fields already white to Harvest," and "Religious Toleration," and has almost the appearance of a Concordance to the Writings on these subjects. The passages quoted are, however, to a great extent, taken out of their connection, and their use is qualified by the general estimate of the Writings which the author professes. The fallacy is again put forth that the LORD has effected His Second
Coming through, but not in, the "Divinely Authoritative Writings" of the "Swedish Seer." (As if the LORD effected His Coming by means of something in which He Himself was not present!) These Writings are, consequently, denied to be the Internal Sense of the Word, without regard to the direct teachings of the Writings in regard to their own character.
     Another instance will suffice to show the character and tendency of this work, which, it is to be feared, represents opinions and practices quite general in the New Church in Great Britain, and, to a somewhat less extent, also in America. The author very clearly presents the doctrine concerning the necessity of an External New Church, separate from the old, and quotes some striking passages from the Writings concerning the separation which takes place in both worlds, as an effect of the Last Judgment." These clear teachings are, however, immediately stultified by the reservation of the author that if we may form an external friendship with any one for the sake of a natural use, much more may we form an external friendship with spiritually-minded [Old Church] men, for the sake of a spiritual use. Such association, however, must be for the sake of use, the end, of course, being to impart, as far as possible, a knowledge of New Church truths " (p. 33).
     The meaning of this would be obscure, without a knowledge of the practice of many New Church ministers to form "external friendships" with Old Church ministers, become members of their ministerial associations, and bring New Church children into "Union Sunday-schools" of the Old Church. Would these New Church ministers be so lovingly received by the Old Church if they honestly stated to them their purpose "of imparting to them New Church truths;" truths as opposite to the tenets of their respective denominations as Heaven is to hell? A work, in which such practices are defended will certainly not be of service for the true growth of the New Church.
Heavenly love 1890

Heavenly love              1890

     Heavenly love which continually inflows from the Lord . . . cannot be received except in truths.- A. C. 2046.
SWEDENBORG'S INDEX TO THE ARCANA 1890

SWEDENBORG'S INDEX TO THE ARCANA              1890

"Index Verborum, Nominum, et Rerum in Arcanis Coelestibus. Opus Posthumum Emanuelis Swedenborgii." London, Swedenborg Society, 1890. Cloth, 8vo. viii and 373 pp. Price, 6s.

     THE appearance of this work was noticed in July.
     In the Latin preface to this edition of Swedenborg's Index, the editor, the Rev. R. L. Tafel, A. M., Ph. D., gives the following interesting information.
     The first edition of this index, published by John Augustus Tulk, London, 1815, is very imperfect, owing to the state of the manuscripts on which it was based. One of the manuscripts is very incomplete, and in the other copy, which was well elaborated, the numbers are all crossed out with ink, so that the first editors were unable, for the most part, to read them.

203



     Dr. Tafel says, however:

     "In examining the handwriting I soon found that the eyesight with the aid of a microscope or glass could penetrate the ink with which the characters were obscured, so that the words of the author could be read without difficulty.
     "Armed with this aid, and being long accustomed to treat and know Swedenborg's hand, I entered upon the work of comparing the printed index with the author's manuscript."

     In view of this, one naturally expects a perfect edition.
     Editing an index is exceeding difficult and painstaking work, and errors will creep in even with the greatest care.
     But in the present edition, attention to the work of other editors would have saved it from numerous errors.
     For example:
     M. Le Boys des Guays, in his French edition of the same index, published at Paris and London, 1858, upon the basis of the faulty edition of 1815, succeeded by diligent editorial labor in making some five hundred corrections, which are noted in a table at the end of his work.
     In comparing this list with the edition before us, it will be found that about one-fifth of these mistakes are uncorrected, a condition of things which could easily have been obviated by a simple reference to the above-mentioned table.
     This tends to create a suspicion as to the thoroughness of other editorial work in the present volume, and does not compare favorably with the work of the American editor of the Latin reprints, the Rev. Samuel H. Worcester, or of the faithful editor of the French translation of the Writings.
     The following table gives the result of a partial comparison with Le Boys des Guays's corrections:
     PAGE.     LINE.
     7     19     For     2430     Read     2429
     7     20     "     2487     "     2480
     9     16     "     9996     "     9946
     10     29     "     4120     "     4210
     17     46     "     2321     "     2319
     18     23     "     4007     "     4067
     20     33     "     6578     "     6598
     23     12     "     2772     "     2722
     24     35     "     8931     "     8937
     27     20     "     5568     "     5658
     28     32     "     2902     "     2702
     29     88     "     3141     "     3140
     31     23     "     4012     "     4017
     32     4     "     2503     "     2508
     33     46     "     3464     "     3469
     36     14     "     3983     "     3993
     35     29     "     4069     "     4067
     37     39     "     8478     "     8480
     44     36     "     5701     "     5101
     46     11     "     4517     "     4617
     84     49     "     2338     "     2238
     102     47     "     9267     "     10267
     102     49     "     10270     "     10269
     121     51     "     7896     "     7996
     121     51     "     7897     "     7997
     143     61     "     3614     "      3654
     183     16     "     3759     "     3757
     202     10     "     7295     "     7296
     222     39     "     6398     "     5598
     242     29     "     1398     "     1385
     285     10     "     9228     "     9229
     315     19     "     9049     "     9048
     324     39     "     8323     "     8322
     364     10     "     453     "     454
By the cognitions of truths man is reformed and regenerated 1890

By the cognitions of truths man is reformed and regenerated              1890

     By the cognitions of truths man is reformed and regenerated, and this not before he is imbued with them.- A. C. 2046.
General Church of Pennsylvania 1890

General Church of Pennsylvania              1890

     [Address all contributions for this department to the Rev. L. G. Jordan, Secretary, 2536 Continental Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.]
FAREWELL RECEPTION 1890

FAREWELL RECEPTION              1890

     ON Friday evening, September 12th, the members and friends of the Immanuel Church, in Chicago, were invited to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Swain Nelson, to be present at a farewell social with Pastor and Mrs. Bostock, prior to their departure for London, England, whither Mr. Bostock has gone on a mission for the Church.
     Nearly all of the members and friends responded to the invitation. After wine had been served, the Pastor announced the first toast: "The Church." This toast, according to custom, we drank in silence, and after it sang a selection from the Liturgy.
     The toast-master then proposed a toast in honor of the guests of the evening, the Rev. and Mrs. Bostock.
     Mr. O. Blackman responded on behalf of the Pastor's council, Mr. Hugh L. Burnham for the Board of Finance, the Rev. N. D. Pendleton for the School, and Messrs. Alvin Nelson and Paul Synnestvedt as representatives of the young folks.
     Each speaker referred in warm terms to what Mr. Bostock had done for the members of the Immanuel Church, of their affectionate regard, and of the confidence they feel in him.
     An amusing diversion was afforded by one of the speakers reading a notice from the New Church Messenger of September 11th, which stated that "the congregation of the Immanuel Church have signified their desire for Mr. Bostock to go to London," which might imply to an uninformed person that we were anxious to get rid of him.
     After the gentlemen, mentioned above, had spoken, it was suggested that, as at the Society meeting of last evening we had listened to the report of the joint councils on Mr. Bostock's resignation and as a body had accepted it, it would now be pleasant and useful to have the members present briefly express their views and feelings on the subject.
     The gratitude for the past and the good wishes for the future which were expressed in all the speeches which followed could hardly have failed to give Mr. Bostock new courage in the work he is about to undertake. Each of the members spoke in turn until they reached Mr. Forrest, the oldest councilor and member of the Immanuel Church, who, facing Mr. Bostock, addressed him as follows:
     "Mr. Bostock, the members of the Immanuel Church cannot allow you to leave for your new field of labor without giving some expression of their affection for you, and their appreciation of the faithful manner in which you have performed your duties since you became our pastor. We believe there is a peculiar degree of unanimity in this expression of feeling, which must be gratifying to you. It goes without saying that we all deeply regret the occasion which makes it necessary for you to leave Chicago, but, like good soldiers, we obey without question the orders of our superior officers.
     "We have been trained to this, discipline, and we accept the situation as being not only in the end, as we hope, the best for us as a church and Society, but also as being for the best interests of the New Church in general, of which we form a part.

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     "The best wishes of all the members of the Immanuel Church, be assured, will go with you and your family into your new field of labor. Knowing the peculiar character of the work you will have to perform, and the difficulties and trials which, it is feared, will attend the work, the warmest sympathy of all of your old flock will go out constantly for your. We shall look forward hopefully to hear of your success in your undertakings in the distant land to which you are going.
     "We are assembled now in a social way, the last time perhaps, for many years when you can be with us, and it is rather saddening to think that some of us may never see you again in this life, but, as we are taught and believe that the minutest events are under the LORD'S auspices, we humbly submit to the rulings of His Divine Providence, and quietly and peacefully rest therein.
     "It only remains for me to say that it gives me very great pleasure to be made the medium, in behalf of all the members of the Immanuel Church, of asking you to accept, as a small expression of their united affection and good-will, this Loving Cup, which they have provided for you. We have now talked a good deal, but here is the substance, the solid thing itself. It is something substantial and enduring; it will remain when the donors and the recipient shall have passed away, and it will always, as we trust, be a perpetual reminder of the givers, and of the warm affection in which they will always hold their beloved Pastor.
     "We trust, sir, that those who may come after you, into whose hands this cup may come, to the third and fourth generation, aye, even to the tenth generation, as they shall read the inscription on it, will learn something of the appreciation in which their ancestor was held by those amongst whom he so faithfully labored.
     "The inscription reads: 'Presented to the Rev. Edward C. Bostock by the members of the Immanuel Church of the New Jerusalem, in Chicago, September 12th, 121. In testification of their sincere affection, and of their grateful appreciation of his unswerving faithfulness as their Pastor.'"
     The cup was then filled with champagne, and Mr. Bostock, rising to accept it, thanked the Church for the beautiful gift, saying that he would prize it above almost anything else he possessed. Mr. Bostock then went on to say that he could understand that the love which the Church bore him was but a consequence of a love for the Divine Truth which he had been instrumental in teaching. The Church had loved a Pastor before him, who also had taught this Divine Truth, and he had no doubt that those coming after him would also receive that love, ever increasing, if they but taught the Divine Truth in its purity. He said that he had every confidence in the young men who would be left in charge of the Church work here. They had both been taught and trained in the same school that he had been, only at a time when that school was far better equipped than at first.
     The toastmaster insisting that the original toast was still in force, Mr. and Mrs. Bostock drank to the prosperity of the Immanuel Church, but the members drank to the health and prosperity of Mr. and Mrs. Bostock.
     The Loving Cup is of solid silver and contains about two quarts, it has three handles, and, as it is passed around from hand to hand, it described not only a circle but also a spiral.     A. N.
Conscience 1890

Conscience              1890

     Conscience itself is formed by the truths of faith.- A. C. 2046.
NEATLY printed card has beep issued by "The First New Jerusalem Church," of Allegheny (the Pittsburgh Society) 1890

NEATLY printed card has beep issued by "The First New Jerusalem Church," of Allegheny (the Pittsburgh Society)              1890

     A NEATLY printed card has beep issued by "The First New Jerusalem Church," of Allegheny (the Pittsburgh Society), bearing on one side the faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in the universal form, the name of the Church, time of services, and the names of the Pastor and the Assistant Pastor. On the other side is the calendar of appointments up to the end of April. These appointments include a series of lectures by the Pastor, the Rev. John Whitehead, on the Most Ancient, Ancient Israelitish, and Christian Churches. Seven lectures are assigned to the Christian Church.
BERLIN SCHOOL 1890

BERLIN SCHOOL       F. E. WAELCHLI       1890

     Communicated.

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the writers.]

     To THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE.-Dear Sir:-Permit me to send you an account of the opening of our school, that it maybe inserted at the same time as those of the Academy Schools, for the end in view in your schools is also ours-namely, leading the children to that state of life and thought which should characterize the true Newchurchman. It is lamentable that at this day there scarcely can be found any true effort toward this state, save in the Church of the Academy. Having in view the same end as the schools of the Academy, we also look to them, especially to those in Philadelphia, as the source whence we can best learn the teachings of the Doctrines as to the methods for attaining this end. In this course we have prospered, and we are confident that in it there will be still greater prosperity for us in the future. The opening exercises for the third year of our school were held on the 1st day of September. When the hour for opening arrived, all present rose, while the Head-master opened the Word, and then knelt and repeated the LORD'S Prayer. The Head-master then read from the Word in its Internal Sense (Arcana Coelestia 2289-2292), and from the Word in the Sense of the Letter (Matthew xiii).
     The Pastor of the Society, Bishop Tuerk, then addressed the parents and children in German, as follows:
     "By the Divine Providence of the LORD we have been enabled to assemble for the third time for the opening of our school. Three years ago we began with one teacher, the following year with two, and to-day we begin with three. All this is of the mercy of the LORD. If we do our duty according to a conscience formed from His Word, then will He bless our work. We have had many obstacles thrown in our way which were calculated to hinder first the establishment and then the continuance of this school. But with the LORD'S help we have overcome them, and our being obliged to do so has been for our good, and has aided our growth. So will it ever be. Inch by inch must we contest the ground over which we are to progress.
     "I feel confident that our teachers have their hearts in the work of this school and that they will do all they can for the good of the children of this Society. But in order that they may succeed it is necessary that the parents co-operate with them. Let the parents see to it that the children are studious and obedient. I also wish to impress upon the parents that they cultivate punctuality in their children. It is a great loss to, the child if it is not present at the worship in the morning, while at-the same time it interferes with the harmonious workings of the entire school.

205



     "The school hours this year will be from 8.45 to 11.45 in the morning, and from 1.30 to 4.15 in the afternoon. This time is divided into eight recitation periods. There will be seven classes, including all grades of instruction, from the little ones of five and six years, who are in the primary department, to the oldest ones of fifteen and sixteen years, who will receive instruction in the more advanced branches. Let all now see that they do their duty, and the LORD will bless them."
     The Head-master then introduced the new assistant teacher, Mr. Joseph Rosenqvist, Th. B. a recent graduate of the Academy, who briefly addressed the children; so also did several friends of the school who were present. Then followed the singing of a hymn, after which the Pastor pronounced the blessing, and the WORD was closed. With these exercises, as a first state to enter into all that follow, our School began its third year.
     Nearly two months have now passed, during which time the School has been making steady progress. There are at present forty-seven scholars in attendance. We are considerably crowded in our present quarters in the basement of the house of worship, but hope in a year or two to have a school-house on a three-acre lot which has been secured for the purpose.
     Our Pastor's words at the opening exercises, on the co-operation of school and home, involve a most important principle of true education. The home must supplement the work of the school. But in order that this may be well done, it is necessary that parents be taught the Doctrines of the Church relative to the instruction and education of children. This teaching can best be given by a priest whose use is this instruction and education. If parents meet to receive such teaching innumerable good results will be sure to follow. Among them we may mention:
     A greater and truer love of offspring.
     Greater attention to the order of the home, so that its influences will be favorable to the implantation of remains.
     A knowledge of those things which the child should know before it enters the school; also greater ability to impart the same to the child.
     Ability to cultivate the moral virtues in the child.
     Knowledge of what the school is trying to do, and an understanding of the reasons that determine its work.
     These and many many other good results will follow such instruction of the parents, all of which will lead to fuller co-operation. This we can testify from the results of the class which has for more than a year been meeting here each week, studying Chancellor Benade's Conversations on Education. It has been remarked that most, if not all, the growth of our school can be traced to its cause in this class. But delightful as it is to see the results of such instruction, yet far greater is the delight of looking forward to the day when there will be parents in the Church who have received their education in New Church schools. How much more will we then have to hope for in the work of education!
     Respectfully yours,
          F. E. WAELCHLI.
     BERLIN, ONT., Oct. 23d, 1890=121.
Rational truths 1890

Rational truths              1890

     Rational truths and appearances of truth are the same thing.- A. C. 3368.
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SWISS UNION 1890

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SWISS UNION       S       1890

     THE fifteenth annual meeting of the Swiss Union of the New Church was held in the city of Zurich on the 7th day of September. Twenty-eight members and twelve visitors were in attendance, among them the Rev. F. Gorwitz, President; Mr. Adolph Blau, of Berne, Secretary; Mr. Honegger-Denzler, Treasurer; Mr.
Jacob Eggmann, of Herisau, Miss Phillipine von Strune and Mr. O. Erb, of Zurich; the Rev. R. J. Tilson, and Miss Kate Gibbs, of London; Mrs. Amalie Meyer, from the Transvaal; Mrs. and Miss Berger, of Bremen; Mr. Carl Hofmeister, from Hanover; Mr. John Pitcairn, and the Rev. and Mrs. Schreck, from Philadelphia, and Miss Andrews, correspondent of the New Church Messenger, from Boston.
     The Rev. Mr. Gorwitz delivered a very able sermon, expository of the words in the Revelation, "Him that overcometh. I shall make a pillar of the temple of my God," etc.
     The meeting was then opened for business. The visitors were given a hearty greeting, the President remarking that this was the first meeting in their history that friends from England were present, with the possible exception of the meeting when the Union was established. Letters were read from the venerable Professor Pfirsch, and Mr. F. Stamminger.
     The minutes of the preceding meeting were read, upon which followed the report of the Council, of the Treasurer, and of the Minister. The address to the General Convention was embodied in the Council's report. Mr. Gorwitz called attention to the misleading translation which appears in the Journal of Convention. The sentence reading: "We are at present engaged in a revision of our Constitution, which will show to the ministerial office a greater respect than has been shown hitherto," should have been translated so as to convey the idea that more attention is paid to the ministerial office. He explained that hitherto the Constitution contained no reference whatever to the priestly office. Mr. Gorwitz remarked that according to the printed minutes of the Convention a reply to the Swiss address would be sent, but that he had not yet received it.
     The Union has one hundred and eight members. During the past year one hundred and ten partook of the Holy Supper. Its capital amounts to Fr. 22,693.57 (about $4,500.00).
     After the reading of the reports, the greater part of the time was devoted to a discussion of proposed amendments to the Constitution.
     While this subject was yet before the meeting, dinner was announced, and thirty-four of those present took their seats around the table, which was set in an adjoining room. A very pleasant sphere prevailed, to which the wine, of which a small decanterful stood beside each plate, contributed not a little. Toward the end of the meal, toasts were proposed. The first one, by one of the visitors, was to the welfare and prosperity of the Swiss Union. The Rev. F. Gowitz responded in a few words, and proposed the Church in America and England, to which, as he said, they looked in many respects as to their spiritual mother. On behalf of the visitors present from the two countries named, Mr. Schreck responded to the toast, saying that the Divine Truth which essentially is the Church, is our common mother, and that only to the extent in which the churches in the various countries receive the Truth, are they sister churches. Mr. Blau poetically compared the visitors to the swallows in the spring-time, it was a time when the heart opens, a time of exalted feelings and noble sentiments. "We enjoy the presence of such guests at our annual meetings, and greet them most heartily from the midst of our Society."
     During the discussion of the afternoon, on the subject of amendments to the Constitution, sentiments were expressed to the effect that the Writings should be in every household, like the Word.

206


Some of the articles proposed for adoption were the result of the late war, as the members called the difficulties which arose several years ago, as described in the Life for the year 1887, page 144.
     The members desire to have the priesthood in due order, but considering that they are too feeble to constitute a Church, they have been looking to the General Convention for support in this direction. The President stated that "a Church which cannot be sovereign, must lean against another." He referred to the evangelical Church in Japan, which, in order to be in connection with a body of the Church in a Christian country, connected itself with the Church in the Gorand Duchy of Weimar, since the leading missionary was from this little German State. Mr. Schreck suggested that two ways lay open before them, either to receive the full powers of the Priesthood, per traducem from the Church in England or America, or, as they represented the New Church as existing in a separate nationality, to establish their own Priesthood. They were not too feeble; when the New Church and its Priesthood were established in England there were fewer members than there are in Switzerland now. Certain it is that a national Church should have a Priesthood that can exercise all the functions belonging to that office. Mr. Blau recognized in the proposed amendment, a step in advance in the ecclesiastical development of the Union.
     Although there was a general agreement in regard to the proposed amendments, they were not adopted, as there existed technical difficulties, which forbade their immediate adoption.
     The Monatblatter was offered by Mr. Gorwitz, and accepted, as the organ of the Union.
     After some further desultory discussion, the meeting adjourned.
     One of the members remained, and, grouped with the visitors, entered into conversation on various subjects in the light of the New Church. They were especially interested in the history of Artopeism, some of them having had personal conversation and long discussions with followers of Artope. The history of the guidance of those present toward the New Church, as usual, formed one of the most attractive features of the conversation. A number of them then walked together past historical spots to the celebrated promenade of Zurich, and thence to the residence of the Pastor, a house interesting on account of its New Church historical associations. A number of years ago, Mr. Mittnacht, who has done so much for the New Church, by his generous publication of the Writings in the German language, bought this house for his residence. It bore the name "Zum Streit" (the conflict), which he changed to "Zum Frieden" (peace), which name it bears to this day. In the course of time, Mr. Mittnacht moved away from Zurich, and the house passed into the hands of Mrs. Baumann, the widow of the late Solomon Baumann. She and her children occupy apartments in the house, as do Mr. Gorwitz and his family, the venerable Miss Von Struve, and Mr. O. Erb, a very intelligent young Newchurchman, editor of several Swiss papers.
     And here we may well leave them serenely to enjoy the happiness of a common home, whose name is significative of the tranquil state that follows every conflict entered into with the armor and weapons of Truth.
     S.
Divine Truth flowing down from the superior heavens 1890

Divine Truth flowing down from the superior heavens              1890

     The Divine Truth flowing down from the superior heavens into the inferior appears in the spiritual world as clouds.- A. E. 906.
LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN 1890

LETTER FROM GREAT BRITAIN              1890

     A PERUSAL of the report of the Swedenborg Society reveals the strange fact that the addresses delivered on the occasion of the Annual Meeting were peculiarly in appropriate to the character of the audience. Their theme was Agnosticism, Materialism, and such like prevalent forms of thought, and the unique power of the Writings to cope with them. Surely no greater truism is known to the Church. What use, then, to devote the time of this important meeting to the laborious proving of so self-evident a proposition? Many good and useful things were said, it is true, but to my mind the most useful was the closing remark of the Rev. T. K. Payton, which, however, strange to say, was gratuitous and irrelevant.

     "We must not rest contented with merely publishing the Writings; we must also endeavor to understand them more perfectly. . . . As a body I fear we have been sadly negligent in this matter; that whilst we have strongly advised others to study the Writings we have not studied them ourselves so carefully as we ought to have done."

     Of course this was not the question before the meeting, and so no vote was taken upon it: but the subject of the value of reading the Writings which the Society is so diligent in publishing would be a very good one for next meeting.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     IT must be very gratifying to you to observe that, at the instance of Dr. Wilkinson, the work of photo-lithographing the original manuscripts of the Writings is to engage the attention of the Committee during the current year. On the other hand, the fact that the receipts from the sale of the Concordance just about pays for the cost of the paper and printing is to be regretted. However, a goodly number of copies put into stock for future sale are included in this cost; and the account will balance `better when the cost of production is nil and sales continue.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     THE Rev. Thomas Child is a very subtle reasoner. One has to read and weigh his every word to get at his real meaning. But I take it that in his presidential address he referred to a certain institution as being the embodiment of the heavenly ideal of government. He was fain to approve of such embodiment in the abstract, but this particular embodiment was not to his liking. From the tone of his remarks I gather that he thinks the time for such, embodiment premature; ergo the particular institution he alluded to is in advance of its time, a forced growth, doomed to failure. Such criticism by an outsider is surely the idlest talk. Is it not also somewhat impertinent? I say it with all respect. By what right do those not of that institution presume to judge those who elect to belong to it? How do we know that all those elementary considerations which Mr. Child says are so necessary, as being precedent conditions to the embodiment of the heavenly ideal, were not present in the case under consideration? The allusion to will government is not worthy of Mr. Child's reputation for logical argument. The government of the institution referred to is such as the members approve of or the institution wouldn't be there. There is no violation of freedom where the governed give their adhesion to the laws of government.
     These remarks are made for myself alone. Those directly concerned can very well defend their institution, but from the point of view of an "isolated receiver" of the principles of that institution, the criticisms of Mr. Child and others seem very unfortunate and uncharitable.

207


We are all evil and all seeking deliverance from our, easily besetting sins. Some think they will be best fortified against the foe by each entering into the mysteries of faith according to his own light and living accordingly, trusting to it all coming right in the end.
      This method may be best for many. For those who think so let them follow it. But others are afraid to trust themselves to such a relatively haphazard means of salvation. "We need Thy Presence every passing hour," says the beautiful hymn, and so these believe in constant reference to Heavenly Doctrine for guidance in daily life. They believe in this and manifest their `belief by establishing and maintaining an institution so that their belief may be orderly, ultimated both in their private life and in their organized life as bodies of the New Church. If this systematic study and endeavor to apply the Doctrines of the Church be needful to those who adopt the plan, who should complain? Surely, true charity would dictate non-interference. By non-interference is meant, of course, no unjust interference, of course no objection to fair criticism can be raised. But an institution should not be rashly judged by appearances for "if a man were really disposed to believe he would judge that such appearances could be otherwise explained," (Rev. T. Child, at the Swedenborg Society's Annual Meeting.)
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     HERE are two apparently conflicting utterances, both made at the annual meeting of the Swedenborg Society:
     (1) "Belief cannot be accounted for by the inherent strength of its arguments" (Rev. T. Child). (2) "It will not be by mere assertion or noisy declamation the battle of Agnosticism will be won, but only by the power of truth" (Rev.' T. K. Payton). Doubtless the appearance can be "otherwise explained."
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     A RECENT number of a New Church journal gave the following cutting without comment:

     Pasteur declares "There is not one circumstance known at the present day which justifies the assertion that microscopic organisms come into the world without germs or without parents like themselves. Those who maintain the contrary have been dupes of illusions and of ill-conducted experiments tainted with errors which they know not how to perceive or to avoid. Spontaneous generation is a chimera."

     In juxtaposition to this, place the teaching of The Divine Love and Wisdom, n. 386-347, the conclusion of which is as follows:

     "From which it may appear that though the more imperfect and the noxious animals and vegetables originate by immediate influx out of hell, yet, afterward, they are propogated mediately by seeds, eggs, or grafts. Wherefore the one position does not cancel the other?"

     "If the LORD be God, follow Him, but if Baal, follow him." It may be said we do not understand spontaneous generation; how then can we believe in it? To which I reply, Do you understand the propagation of the species by seeds, eggs; etc.? We can confirm ourselves in favor of the Divine, if so disposed and in deed, it is dangerous to do otherwise. Doubt when conceived, brings forth death.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     VOLUME II of the Concordance is evidently nearing completion. Already the number of pages exceeds that of Volume I. Let me advise intending binders to examine the parts to see that the sheets have been properly folded. My copy of part 37 is wrongly paged. It ought to be 817 to 864, but the latter portion, beginning with 849, has got to the front.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     A SERMON in Morning Light begins thus: "The consideration of subjects of doctrine is advisable from time to time." Let us be thankful for small mercies. All our teachers do not think so. One prolific New Church journalist rejoices that the general style of preaching is less doctrinal and more practical, and quotes Canon Farrar approvingly, on this topic. But he has mistaken the Canon. It is externalism, mere ritualism, which the latter is denouncing. He deprecates the making of merely outward Christians; "repeaters of a shibboleth." Let us away with mere repetitions of shibboleths, even of this shibboleth: that sermons should be less doctrinal and more practical; for a more impracticable and nonsensical shibboleth never was uttered in soberness. The Canon is desirous of making men better. He says so; and that is doctrine. When men become better that will be practice. But how the Canon or any other man is going to make men better by means of a sermon otherwise than by expressing a desire to that effect, and showing how it can be done-thus by means of doctrine-passes the wit of man to conceive.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     A few months ago I inserted a statistical note of the comparative numerical standing and progress of Brightlingsea and Colchester Societies. My statistics were challenged in the English journals, ulterior motives being attributed to me. My reply to the challenge was, for your own reasons, not published. I will briefly repeat the material part. The reason I did not go further back than 1888 was because the figures anterior to that year were confusing. I need not occupy space by saying more. I am glad to see that Colchester still reports progress.
     JAMES CALDWELL.
59 COUNTY ROAD, LIVERPOOL.
GENERAL TEACHERS' MEETING 1890

GENERAL TEACHERS' MEETING       EUGENE J. E. SCHRECK       1890

     THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     THE annual general meeting of the Professors, Masters, and Teachers of the Academy of the New Church will be held in the school building in Allegheny City, corner of Isabella and Sandusky Streets, beginning on Monday, November 17th, at ten o'clock A. M. Questions and topics for discussion are to be sent to the undersigned, before the 13th of the month.
     Those from a distance; desiring to attend, will please notify the Head-master of the Pittsburgh School, the Rev. Andrew Czerny. Address, as above.

     EUGENE J. E. SCHRECK, Dean of the Faculty,

     1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Nov. 1, 1890=121.
GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA 1890

GENERAL CHURCH OF PENNSYLVANIA              1890

     THE annual meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania will be held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and the LORD'S Day, November 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th, in the house of worship of the Pittsburgh Society, Isabella and Sandusky Streets, Allegheny, Pa. Visitors from a distance are requested to notify the Pastor, the Rev. John Whitehead, 5508 Walnut Street, Pittsburgh, E. E. Pa.

208


NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
     MR. G. A. MCQUEEN, Roman Road, Colchester.
     MR. JAS. CALDWELL, 59 County Road, N., Liverpool.
     MR. C. E. SCHROEDER, 13 Ashfield Terrace, Newcastle-on- Tyne.
     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER, 1990=121.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 193.-Doing Good (a Sermon), p. 194.- The Schools of the Academy of the New Church, p. 197.- Artopeism and the New Church in Central Europe, p. 198.
     Notes and Reviews, p. 199.- The Religion of the New Jerusalem, p. 200.- Some Rare Editions, p. 201.-"Petit Arcana Coelestia," p. 201.-"The Growth of the New Church," p. 202- Swedenborg's Index to the Arcana, p. 202.
     General Church of Pennsylvania.- A Farewell Reception, p. 208.
     Communicated.- The Berlin School, n. 204.- Annual Meeting of the Swiss Union, p. 205.-Letter from Great Britain, p. 206.
     General Teachers' Meeting of the Academy of the New Church, p. 207.-Meeting of the General Church of Pennsylvania, p. 207.
     News Gleanings, p. 208.-Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 208.
     AT HOME.

     Ohio.- THE Ohio Association meet on September 26th, at East Rockport, under the presidency of the Rev. John Goddard, General Pastor. After the various reports had been read, resolutions were passed, first to raise $2,500 for the Board of Missions of the Ohio Association; secondly, to accept isolated receivers as individual members of the Association.
     THE Rev. H. H. Grant, of Richmond, Ind., will preach at Glendale, Ohio, the first and third Sundays of each month, and will also be in the service of the Board of Missions of the Ohio Association.
     Illinois.- THE widow of Mr. J. Y. Scammon has presented a number of books to the Cambridge Theological School.
     THE German Synod of the New Church had their annual session at Quincy, on October 10th-12th. Sympathy and pecuniary support were extended to the believers of the doctrines in Buda-Pesth, in Hungary, to assist them in procuring and maintaining a hall for public services with a view to securing recognition on the part of the Government. Mr. Benjamin P. Unruh was introduced into the ministry by the laying on of hands by the President, the Rev. G. Busman, and the Rev. A. J. Bartel to represent the clergy, and Mr. Klages to represent the laity. The Synod requested those members who were in sympathy with the views of Mr. Artope to withdraw, which was done by four of the members.
     Iowa.- THE second annual meeting of the "General Society of the New Church in the State of Iowa" was held September 6th and 7th. Four ministers, including the President of the General Society, the Rev. S. Wood, and two Candidates were present, each rendering a report of missionary work done. The Secretary reported one hundred and twenty-eight members, being an increase of one hundred and four since last year.
     Missouri.- THE Rev. J. B. Parmelee has accepted a call as pastor of St. Louis Society. He had to cease his work as missionary of the New York Association on account of throat trouble contracted in his work.
     Tennessee.- THE Rev. J. P. Smith, Missionary of the General Convention, has spent about two months at Crossville. The New Church members at that place have opened a subscription for the purpose of supporting a pastor, hoping that the Board of Missions will aid his support.
     California.- THE Pacific Coast New Church Association held its first annual meeting at the O'Farrell Street Church. The Association consists of ten Societies in California and two in Oregon. Five ministers and thirty-eight delegates were present, representing eleven of the Societies. The constitution agreed upon beforehand was adopted. The Rev. John Doughty of San Francisco was elected President. Reports from all the societies showed a membership of three hundred and eighty-nine. Mr. D. A. Dryden was ordained by the laying on of hands by the Rev. Messrs. Doughty, Edmiston, and Bowen, on behalf of the clergy, and by three laymen on behalf of the laymen.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- THE New Church Temple in Bolton Street, Salford, the foundation-stone of which was laid on March 15th, 1813, by the Rev. Robt. Hindmarsh who also was minister in the same Temple for ten years, has now been sold, and the Society will erect a new house of worship at the corner of Wallner's Road and Lower Broughton, where a site has been purchased. The present minister is the Rev. H. Cameron.
     Mr. H. McLagan, leader of the Deptford Society, in London, was ordained into the Ministry on October 1st by the Rev. John Presland.
     THE leader of the Paisley Society, Mr. Lewis A. Slight, was ordained by the Rev. R. L. Tafel on September 30th.
     THE Rev. J. J. Thornton, of Australia, visited the Bath Society about September 1st, and was tendered a very hearty welcome.
     ON October 4th, the Rev. J. J. Thornton ministered at the opening of the New School connected with the Southport Society, where he had formerly been minister. The Rev. J. Ashby is the present minister.
     THE Wigan Society recently bought a lot on which they intend to erect a church. This Society, although consisting of over sixty members, has not yet any minister.
     THE Scottish New Church Association held their 16th annual meeting at Edinburgh on October 2d. Besides doing missionary work, the Association has assisted the Societies at Alloa and Edinburgh in having a minister visit every quarterly for the administration of the Holy Supper.
     France.- The notice about Mrs. Hibbard, inserted in the October issue of Life, should have been quoted verbatim from the Messenger:
     "I am glad to learn, and to use the Messenger to notify others that Mrs. Hibbard, wife of the Rev. J. R. Hibbard, D. D., will take charge of the instruction of young-ladies with home care, at No. 8 Villejust, Paris. It is understood that Dr. Hibbard will conduct services on Sunday. There could be no more favorable opportunity for young American ladies, as Mr. Hibbard's skill in teaching is well known, and as both are most intelligent in our doctrines.
     "T. F. WRIGHT."
     Denmark.- THE Rev. C. J. N. Manby, of Sweden, visited Copenhagen in the beginning of September, and preached at 22 Wesselgade. Mr. S. C. Bronnicke has left Denmark to study for the ministry at Cambridge, Mass.
     Japan.- THE Rev. S. F. Dike has arrived in Japan, where Sir Edwin Arnold gave hire letters of introduction to a native prince. He was invited to preach in Kioto, by Dr. Gordon, of the Theological School there.
ERRATA 1890

ERRATA              1890

P. 112, col. 3. l. 4 & 5. for McOwen, read McQueen.
P. 172, col. 3, line 20, for Rev. W. Faraday, read Mr. W. Faraday.
EDITORIAL NOTES 1890

EDITORIAL NOTES       Editor       1890



209




Vol. X. PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER, 1890=121. No. 12.
     Conjunctions with those who are similar and homogenous . . . provided on earth for those who from their youth have loved, have wished, and have asked of the Lord, a legitimate and lovely companionship with one, and scorn and loathe wandering lusts.-C. L. 49.



     A HAPPY marriage-that is, a conjunction with one who is similar and homogeneous-is provided on earth, so runs the Divine Promise, "for those who, from their youth, have loved, have wished, and have asked of the LORD a legitimate and lovely companionship with one, and scorn and loathe wandering lusts."
     Every youth of the New Church ought to keep this Divine promise of our Father, Who is in the Heavens, constantly before him. The prospect which it holds out is the most delightful and blessed that man can possibly have, for it means Heaven on earth in the form that can most fully receive the Divine of the LORD, and the delights and happinesses that make one with it.
     Such a promise should fill every right-minded youth with the most earnest intention to fulfill the conditions on which it is based.



     THE conditions are not hard. It simply requires a constant reminder and a daily quickening of one's resolves to fulfill them. When one arrives at the age when the love of the sex begins to manifest itself, he must begin to think of these conditions. They are:
     1. To love a legitimate and lovely companionship with one.
     2. To wish for a legitimate and lovely companionship with one.
     3. To ask of the LORD a legitimate and lovely companionship with one.
     4. To scorn and loathe wandering lusts.
     The last condition involves the first three, which give particulars that must enter into it.
     In order to be able, intelligently, to fulfill these conditions, one must learn to understand them from the LORD.



     WHAT constitutes a legitimate and lovely companionship with one? Every one probably has a general idea of such a relation, but it will be vague and will not help one much in the endeavor to "love and wish for it and ask it of the LORD," unless the vague and indefinite idea be infilled with the particular teachings concerning this love, which the LORD has revealed for the instruction of the youth of the New Church, in the Writings which constitute His Second Coming.



     BEAR in mind that marriage is from the LORD, and that love truly conjugial which must enter into marriage to make it a true one, is only from Him.
     Love truly conjugial originates in the marriage of good and truth. If, therefore, you would have love truly conjugial you must so live, that in your mind. To attain this object, you must know the truth. Study diligently the Word of the LORD, as He has revealed it to the New Church, for this is the only source of Truth. Love it. Let your thoughts be conformed to it, and your affections be governed by it. Let word and deed be regulated by the LORD'S Truth, then He will "create a new heart in you, and renew a firm spirit within you"-that is, He will conjoin in you good with truth, from which will flow conjugial love.
     As, then, love truly conjugial can only be formed in the New Church, bear in mind that the one that you look forward to, must likewise be in the New Church, not only in name, but also in spirit and in life.
     You will then see that what really makes you one is your oneness in the LORD and in Hs New Church.



     THE legitimacy of this companionship consists in this, that you are both of the same Church, and neither of you is conjoined in internal or external bonds of marriage with any one else.
     The loveliness of the companionship consists in this, that whatsoever the one desires, being in conformity with the laws of Heaven, is loved by the other, and gives him delight; and whatever the one thinks the other wills, and likewise gives him pleasure. So that there is perfect agreement of minds. The consorts are in innocence, peace, tranquillity. They are friends, who love to share all their thoughts, all their pleasures; who repose the utmost confidence in each other, and desire to do all they can for each other. Thus, conjugial love with them is of the spirit, and from the spirit of the flesh. Their outward acts are the effects of their perfect harmony of ideas and similarity of desires.
     Surely there is no youth of the Church that would not love and wish for such a legitimate and lovely companionship!



     BUT, beside loving and wishing for it, he must ask it of the LORD. He does ask it of Him, in his prayers, and in his application to the study of the truths that describe it.
     Because conjugial love is the fundamental of all celestial, spiritual, and natural loves, and because it is incumbent upon the members of His Church to ask for it continually, even from their youth, since the Church is the LORD'S Church only to the extent in which it asks for and receives this love, therefore, the petition for it is included in the LORD'S Prayer, that Prayer of Prayers by which the ideas of one's thought are opened toward Heaven for the reception of the innumerable things of Heaven, yea, in which Prayer there are more things than the universal Heaven can contain.

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There is, indeed, in every part of this Prayer the marriage of the Divine Good and Truth, but this is more evident in the petition: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, as in Heaven, so also upon the earth." There the word "Kingdom" refers to Truth, and the word "Will" to Good, and, as these are united in Heaven, so ought they also to be united on earth; and this, not only in the LORD'S kingdom, in general, but also in particular. That is to say, good and truth are to be united in the internal of every individual man, and also in his external. Not only must affections and thoughts be right, one must also strive that one's speech and action should gradually become right also. They are the "earth."



     PRAYING thus to the LORD for the conjugial, which is the jewel of human life and the repository of the Christian religion, one will receive strength from the LORD to scorn, hold in aversion, and loathe wandering lusts.
     Lusts will arise in the mind of youth, but he must learn to know, recognize, and loathe them. He must begin by loathing especially wandering lusts, for these lead to the very worst evils, to defloration, to varieties, to the seduction of innocences; and to adultery.
     With some, the natural love of the sex, as it puts itself forth at first, is very strong, and they must be exceedingly careful lest it break forth into evils which will destroy the pure and chaste love for which they are striving. The LORD does not leave them to their own resources. He has given them a safe and sure guide in the teaching which are contained in the Work on Conjugial vs. on Scortatory Love. Let them follow this guide implicitly, and not suffer themselves to be led astray by any other, no matter how specious the arguments.
     With none is the love of the sex pure in its beginning. But this need not lead to despair. This, as all other natural affections, must be recognized, and must be controlled. And this control can be rightly exercised only by systematic and habitual self-compulsion according to the laws of order laid down by the LORD, our Redeemer and Saviour, in His Revelation for the use of His children. It will take time, and requires patience, and continual confidence that the LORD will save. At first, the youth simply sees his evils, and thinks that they are not to be done. If he perseveres he learns not to will them, and finally he becomes averse to them.
     If, therefore, the youth of the New Church wishes to fulfill the conditions of the Divine Promise, that he may enter into a conjunction with one who is similar and homogeneous, let him zealously study the Doctrines of the New Church on the subject, which all refer themselves to the commandment:
     "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
     "Thou shalt not desire the wife of thy neighbor."
     "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' but I say unto you, that if any one look at the woman of another so that he lust after her, he hath already committed adultery with her in his heart."
     (A. C. 8903, 8904, 8909-8912; Life 74-79; T. C. R. 313-316, 326-331; A. E. 981-1010; the Work on Conjugial Love, from beginning to end, etc., etc.)
Conjugial love 1890

Conjugial love              1890

     Conjugial love, as it was with the ancients, will be raised up again by the Lord after His Coming, because this love is from the Lord alone, and is with those who from Himself, by the Word, become spiritual.-C. L. 81.
OFFERINGS OF GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH 1890

OFFERINGS OF GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH       Rev. E. C. BOSTOCK       1890

     A SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE LORD'S INCARNATION.

     "But they, having heard the king, went On; and behold the star, which they saw in the East, went before them, until, having come, it stood above where the little Child was; but having seen the star they rejoiced with a very great joy, and having come into the house they saw the little Child with Mary His mother; and having fallen, they worshiped Him, and having opened their treasures, they brought to Him gifts, Gold, and Frankincense and Myrrh."-Matt. ii, 9-11.

     WHAT the wise men from the East offered to the LORD, when He was born into the world, we ought also to offer this day and for all eternity. The wise men fell upon their faces and worshiped the LORD, and then they opened their treasures and offered to the LORD gold an ran incense and myrrh. By these gifts to the LORD they represented and signified, in general, that all good and all truth proceed from the LORD, and are the LORD'S with man.
     Love or Good, in the LORD, is one, and as it proceeds it is ever the same, but it is received differently by different men. In general it is received in three different ways, and is named according to its reception by men, or, what is the same, by angels. Good from the LORD as received by the angels of the celestial heavens is called celestial good. To represent that this is from the LORD in His Divine Human, and from Him alone, the wise men presented to the LORD gifts of gold; for gold signifies Celestial good.
     Good, as received, by the angels of the spiritual heavens, is called spiritual good. This also proceeds from the LORD'S Divine Human alone, and the wise men to represent and acknowledge this, presented to the LORD gifts of frankincense. Frankincense is used for burning to present a grateful odor to the LORD in worship, and signifies spiritual good.
     Good as received by the angels of the natural heavens is called celestial natural and spiritual natural, and this the wise men represented by myrrh.
     Thus they acknowledged, in a representative form, that all good, whether it be of the celestial, spiritual, or natural degree, is from the LORD'S Divine Human, and nothing at all of it from man himself.
     This we ought to do actually. We ought to give to the LORD on this day and for all eternity all the good which we receive of whatever degree. To give it to the LORD is to acknowledge that it is the LORD'S alone, that it proceeds from Him, and that it is of His infinite Mercy that it is appropriated to us as our own. This is the acceptable offering in the sight of the LORD, and this is the only offering which He regards.
     There are no goods but those which are signified by gold and frankincense and myrrh. All other things which man calls good, are but appearances of good. They are not real goods.
     Man calls that good which he loves, and which therefore gives to him delight. When his love is gratified, and he experiences the delight of that gratification, then he calls himself happy. But unless his love and will are from the LORD, so that he is delighted: with love to Him and love to the neighbor, and calls these goods, his delight is illusory, and his happiness but imaginary. They will soon turn into what is undelightful and unhappy.

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     Genuine happiness, felicity, and delight, which in themselves are eternal, flow in from the LORD alone.
     Man is able to receive the goods which flow from the LORD only so fares man wills to be led of the LORD alone; only so far as he loves to be led by the LORD alone; so far, therefore, as he is delighted that all is done by the LORD alone, and nothing by himself.
     But man cannot be in this love and this delight until the love of self, with its infernal delights, be removed. This love and its delights cannot be removed until man sees its infernal quality in himself; that is, until man sees the quality of his own proprium. Man must see that every least thing in his proprium, and all that proceeds from it is evil; that there is in it no genuine good, that it produces only confusion and disorder.
     But this proprium of man, with its loves of self and of the world, with its infernal pleasures and delights, cannot be removed by man. For man is in this proprium, and cannot even see its quality from himself, much less remove it. Evil cannot be removed by evil, nor can evil see what is good. Moreover,, all the hells inflow into the proprium of man and excite his evils with their filthy delights and with all their might hold man in those delights so that he can see nothing else. He who would withdraw man from the evils of his proprium, must be able, therefore, to conquer and subdue the whole hells. This the LORD alone can do; this also He has done. It was for this that He came into the world; to subdue the hells is the first act of the work of redemption.
     But the LORD can remove evil spirits from man and so withdraw man from the evils of his proprium only so far as man is in the acknowledgment that of himself he is in evil, that of himself he cannot remove evil and do good; but that the LORD alone does it, while man shuns evils as of himself. The LORD gives to man the power to make this acknowledgment, and enables him to see his evils.
     In the beginning of regeneration, when man first shuns evils and does goods, he believes that he does them from himself. He believes this interiorly, even though he knows the doctrine that all good is from the LORD alone, and nothing at all from self, and, at the same time, acknowledges, with the understanding, that he ought not to take credit to himself. He at first actually takes merit to himself for the good that he does, and even for the truth that he knows. He attributes to himself the good that belongs to the LORD alone.
     In this state it is manifest that he does not offer to the LORD gold, frankincense, and myrrh, no matter what may be the character of his external acts.
     But as man advances in regeneration the LORD opens to his view the quality of his proprium; He enables him more and more to see that of himself he is altogether evil, and that "There is none good but the One God."
     Thus man is reduced more and more into a state of humiliation before the LORD, and so the evils of his love of self; and of the love of the world being removed, his will and understanding are opened to the reception of genuine good and truth from the LORD. From this good of the LORD in him, man is enabled to acknowledge that all good and all truth are from the LORD alone, and are the LORD'S in man.
     In this state man gives to the LORD gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Such gifts are acceptable in the sight of the LORD. Their quality depends upon the quality of the state of man's humiliation before the LORD, and of his reception of good and truth from the LORD.
     That such gifts are acceptable in the sight of the LORD He teaches in the letter of the Word in the following:
     "And now Israel what doth the LORD require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy GOD to walk in all His ways and to love Him and to serve the LORD thy GOD with all thy heart, and with all thy soul."
     Man cannot give to the LORD from man's own, for man of himself has nothing; but he must give to the LORD of what is of the LORD with him. And man must give all that he has from the LORD to the LORD. That is, he must attribute it all to the LORD for it is His.
     As it is with spiritual goods and, truths, so it is with natural or worldly goods. Man appears to acquire these by himself, and when he is successful in obtaining wealth he attributes his success to his own skill, and he claims the wealth which he possesses as his own, to do with as he pleases. But this is a fallacy and an appearance. Man has no worldly goods but what the LORD gives to him. The LORD rules all things the most minute, and provides all things of worldly wealth according to the needs of man's eternal welfare. And what the LORD gives does not belong to the man, but it is the LORD'S. Man is but the steward of the LORD, and he is bound to use what the LORD gives into his care as his LORD wills, and not according to his own pleasure. Thus man must give all that he has to the LORD.
     Offerings made to the LORD for the use of His priesthood and for the uses of His Church, are, therefore, acknowledgments that all the good man has, spiritual and worldly, is the LORD'S and not his own, in acknowledgment that all belongs to him.
     Man cannot make such offerings according to the quantity of his worldly wealth, but according to his reception of spiritual goods and truths from the LORD. The quality of man's gifts are not, then, from their intrinsic value, but according to the state of man's regeneration, and thus according to the quality of the acknowledgment that all that man has of spiritual good and truth and of worldly possessions is from the LORD and is the LORD'S.
     This interior acknowledgment from true humiliation of heart, from genuine love to the LORD is the offering which the Lord requires, and this is manifested by and contained in the simplest or in the richest offering that man may give to the LORD. This is taught in the following passage from the Doctrines:
     "'And My Faces shall not be seen empty,' that this signifies reception of good from Mercy, and thanksgiving, appears from the signification of the 'Faces of JEHOVAH,' that they are good mercy, peace. . . and from the signification of 'not to see empty,' or without a present, that it is testification on account of the reception of good, and thanksgiving; for presents which are offered to JEHOVAH signify such things, as from the heart, are offered by man to the LORD, and are accepted by the LORD. It is with presents as with every deed of man. The deeds of man are only gestures, and abstracted from the affections, are only motions variously formed and articulated, not dissimilar to the motions of a machine, thus inanimate. But deeds regarded together with the will are not such motions, but are forms of the will presented before the eyes, for deeds are nothing else than testifications of such things as are of the will, and also from the will they have their soul or life wherefore concerning deeds the same maybe said as concerning motions, viz.: that nothing lives in the deeds except the will, as nothing in motion except conatus; that it is so, man also knows; for he who is intelligent does not attend to the deeds of man, but only to the will from which, by which, and on account of which the deeds exist; yea, he who is wise scarcely sees the deeds, but in the deeds the quantity and quality of the will.

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It is similar with presents, that in them the will is regarded by the LORD, thence it is that by presents to JEHOVAH, that is by offerings to the LORD, are signified much things are of the will or heart; the will of man is what is called 'heart' in the WORD. From this also it is manifest how it is to be understood that every one is to receive judgment in the other life according to his deeds or works (Matt. xvi, 27), that, namely, it is according to those things which are of the heart and thence of the life" (A. C. 9293.)
      May the LORD enable us this day, and ever, to give unto Him the true offerings of the heart, and may our offerings be acceptable in His sight.
Love truly conjugial 1890

Love truly conjugial              1890

     Love truly conjugial, with its delights, is solely from the Lord, and is given to those who live according to His precepts, thus it is given to those who are received into the New Church of the Lord, which, in the Apocalypse, is meant by the New Jerusalem.-C. L. 534.
ILLUSTRATION OF THE NEED OF A NEW CHURCH TRANSLATION OF THE WORD 1890

ILLUSTRATION OF THE NEED OF A NEW CHURCH TRANSLATION OF THE WORD              1890

     THE danger of translating the Sacred Scripture according to what appears to be the sense of the letter, avoiding so-called "Hebraisms," and attempting to make "smooth English" of the literal sense, receives peculiar illustration from the explanation of a phrase in the Arcana Coelestia.
     In Genesis xxv, 31, Jacob says to Esau, "Sell as to-day thy primogeniture to me," and in verse 33 Jacob asks Esau to confirm the sale, saying "Swear to me as to-day." The phrase "as to-day" sounds so foreign to our ears that in the translations into the various modern tongues, the "as" is omitted, and the sentences read "Sell me this day thy birthright," and "Swear to me this day."
     The change appears trifling, but it involves one of the most important doctrines of the Church. It is, indeed, an expression of the faith-alone state of Christendom-a state which has not improved in the interval of over two centuries that has elapsed between the writing of the Authorized Version and the publication of the Revised Version.
     The story of the sale of Esau's primogeniture to his younger brother Jacob treats in the Internal Sense of the priority of good and truth in the Church, Esau representing good, and Jacob truth. Good is essentially prior to truth, but "before truth is conjoined to good, it, or they who are in it, before they are regenerated, believe that truth is prior and superior to good, and it also appears so at that time; but when truth is conjoined to good with them-that is, when they are regenerated-then they see and perceive, that truth is posterior and inferior, and then good with them has the dominion over truth."
     The temporary appearance of the priority and superiority of truth before regeneration, is, in the literal sense, expressed by the little word "as" in the sentences' quoted. For, when Jacob said to Esau, "Sell as to-day thy primogeniture to me," this signifies that, "as to time the doctrine of truth was apparently prior." "To sell," signifies to vindicate to one's self. "To-day," in the Internal Sense of the Word, signifies what is perpetual and eternal; "but lest this be so"-that is, lest the doctrine of truth be prior, perpetually and eternally-"it is said 'as to-day,' and thus also by the 'as' it becomes that it is apparently." The "primogeniture" signifies to be prior, and is here predicated of the doctrine of truth which is represented by Jacob (A. C. 3325 and 3329).
     "Because there are more within the Church who are not being regenerated than those who are being regenerated; and they who are not being regenerated conclude from appearance, therefore there has been a contention, and this from ancient times, concerning the priority, whether it be of truth or of good. With those who were not regenerated, and also with those who were not fully regenerated, the opinion prevailed that truth is prior, for they had not yet the perception of good, and so long as one has not the perception of good, he is in shade or in ignorance concerning these things."
     The shade and ignorance here spoken of prevail in the Old Church, and have caused translations of this very passage that rule out the temporal appearance of the superiority and priority of truth over good, and establish its dominion as a perpetual and eternal fact. As translated in the authorized versions of the Old Christian Church, this passage becomes an expression that fitly represents the state of that consummated Church where faith-alone rules and genuine charity is banished.
Title Unspecified 1890

Title Unspecified              1890

     . . . None will appropriate. . . conjugial love to themselves, but those who are received by the Lord into the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.-C. L. 43.
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING MANUSCRIPTS 1890

SEARCH FOR THE MISSING MANUSCRIPTS              1890

     IT is known to the members of the New Church, that Bishop Benade, the Chancellor of the Academy of the New Church, was on his way to Holland, last year, to institute a search in the private libraries of that country, for the missing manuscripts of Swedenborg, when he was overtaken by the disease, from the effects of which he has been suffering ever since. In order to carry out his plan, another official of the same body, the Rev. Mr. Schreck, visited Holland during the past summer. At the request of the Rev. Leonard G. Jordan, who is a former pupil of the Hon. Thomas B. Reed, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the intervention of the latter, a letter was secured from the Secretary of State, the Hon. James G. Blame, introducing Mr. Schreck to the Minister of the United States to the Netherlands, the Hon. Samuel R. Thayer, whose courteous interest was of assistance in the search.
     As might be expected, the most valuable aid came from a Dutch Newchurchman, Mr. Gerrit Barger, of the Hague, who took a very great interest in the work, and devoted much time, attention, and labor to make it as complete as possible. Mr. Schreck first visited Holland in July, when he drew up the following circular, which was translated into Dutch by Mr. Barger:

                         "Sunda Straat 20
                         "The Hague, July, 1890.
     "DEAE SIR:
     "I take the liberty of addressing you on a subject which my friends and myself believe to be of great importance, in the hope of enlisting your valued co-operation.

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     "It is known from the posthumous papers of Swedenborg, still preserved in the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, and published by the art of photo-lithography, that he wrote a large work containing over 2,000 numbers, on the subject of marriage. This work did not come into the hands of his heirs and its whereabouts is not known. It may perhaps have come into the possession of some lover of books and manuscripts in the latter part of last century or during the present century.
     "Swedenborg published a number or his works in the Netherlands, and this manuscript may possibly now be in your library.
     "It is also known that Swedenborg wrote upon two books in Holland the words 'Hic Liber est Adventus Domini.' One of these, entitled Summaria Expositio Doctrinae Novae Ecclesiae, etc., has been found, and we are desirous to know where the other book is.
      "If you feel sufficient interest in the subject, will you kindly inform me, at above address, whether these or any manuscripts by Swedenborg are in your library. If you have not the time to examine, yourself, I should consider it a great privilege to refer you to a duly accredited person.
     "In the hope of a favorable answer, I am very respectfully yours,
                         "GERRIT BARGER."

     Nearly two thousand copies of this circular were subsequently sent out, addressed to all the ministers, Archives, and Libraries in Holland. Mr. Barger made use of the opportunity thus presented, of calling the attention of his countrymen more, particularly to the Doctrines of the New Church, and sent out a number of copies of the Doctrine of Life and of the list of publications of the Swedenborg Society of London, which had been sent to him by that body. Later on he received a package of the Dutch translation of The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, from the Publishers, the American Sweden or Printing and Publishing Society.
     In order to insure attention to the circular, the Academy requested Mr. Barger to send every copy in a sealed envelope inclosing a stamped envelope addressed to himself.
     In the meanwhile, Bishop Benade, although debarred from taking part in the search in person, was keenly alive to everything that might promise a means for finding the manuscripts, and, reading in the papers, of the proposed celebration, at Antwerp, of the 400th anniversary of the death of the celebrated printer Plantin, which celebration took the form of an international "Conference du Livre," to which those, in all countries were invited, who were known to be interested in Books, whether as authors, editors, printers, publishers, binders, sellers, collectors, or conservers-he brought it to the attention of the Academy's representatives then sojourning in Switzerland. Mr. Schreck received an invitation from the Curator of the Plantin-Moretus Museum, went to Antwerp, and there made his search known to the members of Conference by means of a circular similar in form to the one printed above, but in the French language. It had the effect of interesting several gentlemen in the work.
     On his return to Holland, in September, in the company of the Rev. R. J. Tilson, of London, they made a stay in Amsterdam, the city where a number of the Writings were published. But their efforts here produced no results. They next visited Leyden, and at the Thysius Library in that famous University town, discovered the copy of The True Christian Religion, the manuscript contents of which are described elsewhere in this issue under the title, "History of Swedenborg's Reply to Ernesti." From that article it will be seen that the search did bring to light a "Swedenborg Manuscript," even though it is a very small one. From Leyden they went to the Hague, where Mr. Barger communicated to them the results of his efforts. He stated that the Royal Librarian, Dr. J. Tideman, had found home manuscripts relating to Swedenborg, in the safekeeping of the Library, and was awaiting the visit of the representatives of the Academy. The three gentlemen at once proceeded to the Royal Libray, where Dr. Tideman showed them every courtesy. The results of the visit are recorded in this issue, under the headings: "Manuscripts in the Royal Library at the Hague," "A New Version of the Story of the Lost Receipt," and "The Causes that Led to Shearamith's Deposition."
     Following an invitation from the "Remonstrantsche Kerk," of Rotterdam, an excursion was made to that city, but with no result. This church has a valuable library, including a very large number of manuscripts, but they are carefully catalogued, and the printed is sufficed to show that the desired manuscripts were not here.
     Among the numerous answers received, there are a few, expressive of interest in the search and in the Doctrines to which attention has thus been called for the first time, and although the primary object of the search has not been attained, it has brought to light books and documents which have been concealed from the New Church of the present day, in libraries and second-hand book-stores, and which are of great interest in the history of the Church. And, no doubt some seed has been sown, that will bear fruit hereafter, in the further extension, among men, of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem..
Spiritual rational and moral wisdom of husbands 1890

Spiritual rational and moral wisdom of husbands              1890

     Spiritual rational and moral wisdom of husbands especially as to marriage, has for its end and scope, to love the wife alone, and to put off every concupiscence toward others.-C. L. 293.
HISTORY OF SWEDENBORG'S REPLY TO ERNESTI 1890

HISTORY OF SWEDENBORG'S REPLY TO ERNESTI              1890

     THE Thysius Library in Leyden, contains a very valuable collection of the works of Swedenborg, and early New Church collateral works, made by Mr. B. F. Tydeman, upon whose death, his brother, Professor H. W. Tydeman, acquired the collection for the library. Here are to be found two copies of the Vera Christiana Religio, one of which is of peculiar interest in the early history of the New Church, as it belonged to Johann Christian Cuno (David Paulus ab Indagine), the "Amsterdam citizen" whose Aufzeichnungen have furnished so much and such interesting material for the Documents concerning Swedenborg, edited by the Rev. R. L. Tafel, A. M., Ph. D. This copy of the Vera Christiana Religio contains a number of marginal comments, mostly adverse, on the teachings contained in the Work, and are necessary to complete Cuno's record contained in the Documents. Cuno's criticisms in this volume are mostly answered in another hand, evidently that of Mr. Tydeman, whose intelligent reception of the Doctrines of the New Church is clearly evidenced in his defense of what they say about the Mahommedan religion in his letter to Rector Fullink, of Dordrecht, published elsewhere in this issue of New Church Life.

214


Mr. Tydeman's books bear the marks of careful reading. Many of the Writings in this collection have, on the cover, interesting historical references to other New Church publications.
     On the cover of the Vera Christiana Religio Mr. Tydeman wrote, in Latin (nearly all his notes are in Latin, very few are in Dutch), "This copy formerly belonged to David Paulus ab Indagine, see the papers and note at page 104." In the specified place two small leaves are affixed to the volume. One is in Swedenborg's handwriting. The other is the printed hand-bill concerning Dr. Ernesti, an English translation of which is published at the end of the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society's edition of The True Christian Religion, and also in the Documents, Vol. I, page 58.
     On page 105, opposite the words in n. 137, "Before the latter and the former, there stood a man, a judge and critic of the writings of this age," etc., Cuno wrote in Latin:
     "From his zeal the author grew angry against the Leipsie Professor of Theology.
     "When he had read my letter of 1769, now printed and published at Hamburg, where also some particulars are added, on pages 9 and 10, he sent me the autograph leaf affixed above, with the request, that I communicate it to my friends. I wrote back that I did not consider it advisable to make personalities and irritating hatred known, being more inclined to the endeavor of making up quarrels than fomenting them. He received the admonition with displeasure, and skilled in anger, he published by the press the same paper that he h ad sent to me. Have heavenly minds such anger?"
     The letter and added particulars, to which Cuno refers as having been printed and published in Hamburg, is a quarto pamphlet of 24 pages, entitled "Sammlung einiger Nachrichten, Herrn Emanuel Swedenborg, und desselben vorgegebenen Umgang mit dem Geisterreich betreffend; nebst einem Schreiben an denselben, worinn seine vornehmsten Meynungen gepruft werden."
     ("Collection of some news respecting Mr. Emanuel Swedenborg . . . and his alleged intercourse with the spirit-world. Together with a letter to the same, in which his principal opinions are examined.") Hamburg, 1771.
     Cuno's note invests this early "collection" of "Documents concerning Swedenborg" with additional interest, as it shows that the collection had been read by Swedenborg himself. Moreover, it proves that the publication' of this quarto pamphlet, containing, as it does, a reprint of Ernesti's criticism, was the occasion of Swedenborg's printing the hand-bill against the Leipsic critic.
     A copy of the first edition of this quarts pamphlet is bound in the end of Cuno's copy of Vera Christiana Religio, and a copy of the second edition is also preserved in the Thysian Library. The Academy of the New Church likewise possesses a copy.
     This little work is referred to in the Documents concerning Swedenborg, Vol. II, pages vi, 482, and 637. From the letter of Professor Liden to the Almanna Tidningar, it is evident that Professor Liden was the editor of the Sammlung einiger Nachrichten, as the last paragraph in his letter is almost identical with a paragraph in the Sammlungen. (Compare Documents Concerning Swedenborg, II, p. 703.)
     Cuno's note in the Vera Christiana Religio has been altered by another hand, evidently that of Mr. Tydeman. The reference to the "zeal" and "anger" of Swedenborg are crossed out, and the conclusion changed so as to read: "Deservedly he received with displeasure such an unjust admonition and refusal to defend him, wherefore he published," etc. The final exclamation of Cuno's is also crossed out.
     On page 85, n. 112, of The True Christian Religion where the "German," a "native of Saxony," is described, Cuno wrote in the margin, "This is against Dr. Ernesti. But here the author does not grow angry, he grows angry in his zeal on page 105." The entire second sentence is crossed out, probably by Mr. Tydeman.
     On page 108, near the end of n. 138, Cuno wrote: "I asked the author who it is, and he answered, A bishop of Gottenburg, whose name, however had escaped the author." In Tydeman's handwriting follow the words: "It was Ekebom. See Tableau Analytique de la Doctrine Celste, Gref, pp. 23, 24."
     But, to return to the hand-hill which Swedenborg printed in spite of Cuno's refusal to make its contents known to his friends. In a letter to Dr. Beyer (Doc. II, p. 384) he calls it a "pro Memoria," saying: "I inclose two copies of a printed pro Memoria against Dr. Ernesti. If you choose you may communicate one of them to the members of the Consistory; since it will be circulated in Germany. What is said therein is applicable also to your Dean" [Ekebom.] As this pro Memoria has never been reprinted in Latin, the text of it is presented here:

     "Legi quae a Domino Doctore Ernesti in sua Theologica Bibliotheca de me pag: 784 scripta sunt, et vidi quod sint merae blasphemias contra meam personam, et ibi non animadverti granum rationis contra aliquam rem in meis Scriptis, et tamen tam venenatis hastilibus aggredi aliquem, contra honestatis leges est, quare ut indignum censco per similia cum incluto illo Viro pugnare, hoc est, blasphemias rejicere et refellere per blasphemias: quoniam hoc foret simile duobus canibus, qui inter se latratibus et rictibus pugnant; ac simile faeminis infimae sortis, quac altercantes coenum plateae in facies alterius et vicissim conjiciunt. Lege, si placet, quae in novissimo Opere, Vera Christiana Religio, nuncupato, de Arcanis a Domino per me servum Ipsius detectis, n: 846 ad 851, seu pag. 498 ad 502, scripta sunt, et postea conclude, sed ex ratione, de mea Revelatione.
     "Praeterea contra Eundem Doctorem Ernesti scriptum est Memorabile, ac insertum supradicto Operi, Vera Religio Christiana, n: 137, pag: 105 ad 108; quod, si placet, legatur."

     The original note, sent by Swedenborg to Cuno, as preserved in his copy of the Vera Christiana Religio, in the Thysian Library, begins: "Legi quae p. 9 et 10 ex doct: Ernesti Theologica Bibliotheca n. 784 desumpta sunt, et vidi quod," etc. For "pugnare," he first had "contendere," and then crossed it out, substituting for it the word which was afterward printed. Instead of "quoniam hoc," the autograph note has "haec enim." For "Lege," "Porno, lege, Domine." Before "scripta sunt," "a me." The concluding paragraph, beginning with the words "Praeterea contra Eundem Doctorem Ernesti" is not in the autograph note.
     The following is a translation of Swedenborg's autograph note:
     "I have read the quotation on pages 9 and 10 [of Sammlungen, etc.] from Dr. Ernesti's 'Theological Library,' n. 784, and I have seen that they are mere blasphemies against my person, and I have not observed there a grain of reason against anything in my Writings, and yet, to attack any one with such poisoned weapons, is against the laws of honorableness, wherefore nudge it unworthy to fight with that celebrated man by similar means-that is, to reject and refute slanders by slanders; for this would be like two dogs who fight with each other, banking, and with extended jaws; and like women of the lowest kind, who, quarreling, throw the filth of the street into each other's faces.

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Moreover, read, sir, if you please, what has been written by me in n. 846 to 851, or pages 498 to 502 of my most recent Work, called The True Christian Religion, concerning the Arcana that have been uncovered by the LORD through me, His servant, and afterward conclude, but from reason, concerning my Revelation."
     Ernesti's criticism, to which Swedenborg thus replies, as quoted in the Sammlungen, etc., is as follows:
     "From Swedenborg's Writings and the quotations from them which we have adduced, it is clear, that he is a naturalist, like the gross fanatics, and hides his naturalism under biblical expressions, or perverts biblical theology into a naturalism, as the Socinians do in another manner. And this is the key to the whole matter. Beside the three suppositions of the Dr. (Clemm), that his relations are either mere phantasies, or the delusions of an evil spirit, or truth, there is a fourth, which, without doubt is the true one. They may be inventions, with which he wants to deceive the world; and he probably, at heart, laughs heartily (as they deserve it) at those who believe him, and do not understand his art. Are there in Church history not enough examples of such inventions, by means of which to deceive simple, credulous, or enthusiastically disposed people, and to give character to one's erroneous opinions in religion, which effects have also been produced thereby? And our times are constantly becoming easier for such fraud, inasmuch as persons, otherwise learned, are found to be, and show themselves, so disposed to such dreams and phantasies. Swedenborg probably knows this well."

     IN publishing the interesting manuscript notes from the hands of Swedenborg, Cuno, and Tydeman, which have largely furnished the material for this article, due acknowledgment is herewith made to the Curators of the Bibliotheca Thysiana, Professors Kuenen and Fruin, who have very kindly granted the permission to publish these manuscript notes found by an official of the Academy of the New Church. Professor Kuenen has, besides, furnished the information concerning the identity of Mr. Tydeman, and the circumstances which led to his collection of Swedenborgiana being preserved in the Thysian Library. The curators, have, besides, presented the Academy with a copy of their catalogue, which contains a logically arranged descriptive list of the Writings and collateral New Church works in the library. They have also sent a number of duplicate pamphlets, which are of historical value in the New Church.
delight of adultery 1890

delight of adultery              1890

     The delight of adultery is hell with man, and the delight of marriage is heaven with him.- A. E. 981.
MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT THE HAGUE 1890

MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT THE HAGUE              1890

     THE search for the missing manuscripts of Swedenborg attracted the attention of the Royal Librarian at the Hague, Dr. J. Tideman, who went to some trouble in bringing to the attention of the Academy of the New Church, a number of manuscripts in his safe-keeping, which, though not written by Swedenborg, treat of him and his life and works.
     One of these is a biographical sketch of our Apostle, written in the year 1854 by G. C. Norling, of Stockholm, and dedicated to the King of the Netherlands, William III, who died on the 23d of last month, The work in question was presented by the King to the Library, in the year 1856. It consists of twenty-nine pages in folio, beautifully written in blue ink, and sumptuously bound in red morocco. The title is "Emanuel Swedenborg d'apres plusieurs auteurs.' Par G. C. Norling." ("Emanuel Swedenborg. After several Authors.")
     The next page gives the dedication to King William III in elegant form. The coat of arms of the Netherlands are painted in colors and gold.
     After a blank page or two is a steel engraving of Swedenborg, evidently cut out of a book, and neatly pasted in the page.
     Again an empty page, and two drawings, in black lead, of Swedenborg's houses, apparently copied from the engravings published in the year 1854, by Otis Clapp, in the brochure entitled, A Portrait of Emanuel Swedenborg. Accurate Views of His Residence and Summer House, etc., etc.
     Under these drawings, which are very well executed, are the inscriptions, in French, "The House where Swedenborg pretended to have his visions, and where he labored" and, "The house in which Swedenborg lived in the southern faubourg of Stockholm." The next page contains Swedenborg's coat of arms, also drawn in black lead. Then follows a blank page, and then a page containing the following three quotations:
     "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."- Shakespeare.
     "Nescio an terrarum orbis parem habeat."-Petrarch.
     "Perque omnia aesecula fama vivam."-Ovid.
     After another blank page follows the biography of Swedenborg.
     At the conclusion of the life is the title of an appendix, also in French, from which it appears that this unique sketch of Swedenborg and his works was presented to the king on the occasion of the inauguration of the equestrian statue of his royal majesty, Charles XIV John, November 14th, 1854.
     The work was apparently written by an admirer of Swedenborg but one who did not fully believe in His Divine mission, and contains nothing new or striking.
     Dr. Tideman also produced a portfolio of papers, which, though not as handsome to outward appearance as the one just described, contain more attractions for the Newchurchman. They were papers found among the manuscripts that had been left by an interesting personality of Holland, a Mr. R. M. Van Goens, late Professor in Utrecht.
     One of these papers is printed elsewhere, under the title "A New Version of the Story of the Lost Receipt."
     Concerning another set of documents, see "The Causes that Led to Shearsmith's Deposition.
     There are, besides, a catalogue, published by Hindmarsh, in the year 1785.
     Letter from Joran Fred'son Silfwerhjelm Baron Senechal de la Gottlande, member of the Exegetical and Philanthropical Society, an intimate friend of Mr. Sturtzenheimer, dated Stockholm, July 22d, 1788, to Lavater of Zurich.
     1st. The possibility of revelations at this day.
     2d. The veracity of the man in question.
     3d. The character of these revelations, etc.
     Concerning Baron Emanuel Swedenborg's works and System, March, 1785.
     Some remarks in answer to the observations on the treatise concerning the LORD and other works.

216




     An index to the Mirabilia in the Arcana Coelestia:

     List of books concerning Mr. Swedenborg.

     Lyst van Boeken, etc. (in which Emanuel Swedenborg is mentioned or not, but which should or ought to, be read together with his works).

     Beyer's memorial translated into English.

     Copy of a letter from Peter Hammarberg (Beyer's brother-in-law), dated May 10th, 1786, at Gothenburg.

     The King's rescript about Beyer and Rosen.

     Auszug aus der Jen. All., Lit., Zeitung, February 1806, 476, 374, signed "Cunninghame."
love of adultery 1890

love of adultery              1890

     The love of adultery is the fundamental love of all infernal and diabolical loves.- A. E. 981.
NEW VERSION OF THE STORY OF THE LOST RECEIPT 1890

NEW VERSION OF THE STORY OF THE LOST RECEIPT              1890

     AMONG the papers of the late Professor Van Goens, whose nom de plume was "Cunninghame," is the following document which gives another version of the story of the lost receipt, nine different accounts of which have thus far been published. See R. L. Tafel's Documents concerning Swedenborg, Vol. II, pages 633 to 646.
     This document has been brought to light by Dr. J. Tideman, of the Royal Library at the Hague, where the papers in question are preserved, and he has kindly offered it for publication to the Academy of the New Church. Mr. Gerrit Barger was instrumental in having it copied for the purpose.
     The account itself is in the handwriting of Madame von Horn. The introduction and the foot-note, are in the handwriting of Professor Van Goens. The entire document is in the German language. "Wernigerode am Harz" is a place where Van Goens had a residence.

     AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF ONE OF THE CELEBRATED SWEDENBORGIAN STORIES.

     THE authoress of this autographic memoir is the widow of Chancellor von Horn, nee von Bonin, the artist in Wernigerode. She was a lady quite distinguished for her rare memory and the peculiar, almost unexampled faithfulness in her unvarying literal recounting of the manifold experiences of her life. She told me the contents of this memoir several times orally, and at my request kindly put it into writing as follows.

                         (W. G.) CUNNINGHAME
     WERNIGERODE AM HARZ, January 27th, 1805.
(The celebrated D. L---, who knew the authoress of memoir personally, has opportunely paid a fitting little tribute to her in her contributions to the Biography of Memorable Persons. Halle, 1786, part IV, p. 63.)

     IN the fiftieth and sixtieth years of the last century, who very much was being said, written, and printed about the well-known Professor Schwedenborg, a story came into circulation, among others, according to which he, by virtue of his connection with the spiritual world, restored a lost bond to a lady in Stockholm."
     She was the widow of the (then deceased) Dutch Ambassador to the Swedish court, von Malleville. (Mrs. Von Horn said she was not altogether sure about the correctness of this name. She thought it might be Marteville. (Note by Cunninghame.))Her maiden name was Von Amon. She afterward married the Danish General von Eynden, and when he had received his dismissal, went with him to Gluckstadt, where I then lived, and had the opportunity of learning to know her.
     During a friendly visit I expressed a wish to hear from her own mouth that curious story which had been related with so many alterations. She declared herself very willing to do so. But I was much astonished when she said to me that little or nothing of what had become public about it was true.
     But what really had passed between herself and Schwedenborg she promised to relate to me in detail,- and strictly according to the truth. This she did in the following words:
     Some four weeks after the death of her husband, when etiquette again allowed her to go out, as widow, while making a promenade with her sister who was staying with her, they came to an open garden, and going in, they learned from a man who met them that he served Professor Schwedenborg, which pleased Mrs. von Martevile very much
     She had long wished to become personally acquainted with this man who was the subject of so many a conversation and hoped that now, perhaps, she might see him. And so it happened, for after a few moments he came himself and addressed them politely and in a friendly manner, turned the conversation upon her departed consort, and regretted that he had not had the pleasure of becoming more closely acquainted with him, because he had esteemed him very highly on account of his many celebrated good qualities.
     During this discourse he led them around lathe garden. Finally they came to a round little garden-house which had an open cupola upon it. Here they seated themselves, and Mrs. v. Marteville asked why the roof of this little house was open. He replied that he had purposely had it built so, as this was the place where he often received visits from spirits, with whom he had intercourse, and for that reason the open roof suited him.
     She was glad to see him touch upon this matter in the hope that he would continue, but herein she was disappointed, for he broke off and spoke again about unimportant things.
     She had to leave him now, and asked him at parting to visit her at her house, which he promised with much friendliness to do.
     In the meantime several weeks passed by-or perhaps only several days, I do not now remember-before he fulfilled his promise.
     During this time, however, Mrs. v. Marteville had had some private trouble, which she had revealed to no one. She missed among the papers of her departed husband a bond (eine Obligation) for over twenty thousand (if I mistake not), which she knew of a certainty that her husband had had. A thousand suppositions where it might be, passed through her head, but none of them were probable. In short, the matter disquieted her very much. Finally, one night, or rather toward morning, she dreamed that her departed husband came before her bed with these words:
     "My child, you are anxious about the bond. Just pull the drawer (which he indicated to her) in my bureau clear out, it has' probably been pushed out back when the drawer was opened, and lies behind it."
     Here she awakens suddenly, and as the day has already dawned, she arises hastily, goes to the bureau; pulls the drawer out and finds (with what astonishment one can well imagine) the bond in the place indicated.
     Full of this occurrence, she could think of nothing else during the first hours of the day but her dream and its result.

217



     About ten o'clock the same morning Professor Schwedenborg, who was already down-stairs, was announced. She received his visit with much pleasure, and very probably would have communicated this accident very soon to the man so well acquainted with the spirit realm if he had not anticipated her with the following declaration.
     Immediately upon his entrance into her room he said that he had intended to wait upon her before, but that he had come to her on this very day, because he had an especial occasion for it. In the pest night he had had the good fortune of becoming acquainted with a man whose acquaintance he had often desired, but never been able to have during his life in the body. This was none other than her departed husband. He had had a very interesting conversation with him, which presumably would have been continued longer if he had not been in such a hurry, as he expressly said, to go to his wife to whom he had to bring some very important intelligence.
     One can readily judge how astonished Mrs. Marteville was.
     But this is all of the matter that I appear to be able to relate, since I do not remember to have heard anything more about it.
      January 26th, 1805. V. H.

     WHILE this account does not appear as authentic as some others, it is more so than some that have been published heretofore. So far as is known, Madame de Marteville did not leave an account herself, but there is a version written by her second husband. On comparing his version with that of Madame von Horn, the only other one which claims to be derived from Madame de Marteville herself, they will be found to agree substantially, and to differ only in particulars. It is interesting to note that both accounts contain the reference to the opening in the roof for the alleged intercourse with spirits. There appears to be little doubt that Madame do Marteville in telling the story did include this part of it, but that she cannot have reproduced the words of Swedenborg on this point is beyond question.
     Mrs. von Horn's account supplies the name of the second husband of Madame de Marteville, whose initial only was signed to his version of the affair. The Editor of the Documents suggested "von Eiben" (Vol. II, p. 642). It appears that the name was "von Eynden."
chaste love of marriage 1890

chaste love of marriage              1890

     The chaste love of marriage is the fundamental love of all heavenly and Divine loves.- A. E. 981.
CAUSES THAT LED TO SHEARSMITH'S DEPOSITION 1890

CAUSES THAT LED TO SHEARSMITH'S DEPOSITION              1890

     IN the year 1785, William Gomm, Esq., an ardent believer in the Doctrines of the New Church, and Secretary to the British Ambassador at the Hague, wrote to Mr. Robert Hindmarsh, of London, that he had heard from "a Mr. Vosman (Keeper of the Prince of Orange's Museum)" of the charge that Swedenborg a few hours before his death had retracted all that he had written. Mr. Hindmarsh and Mr. Thomas Wright immediately proceeded to the house of Mr. Richard Shearsmith, where Swedenborg had lodged and where he died, and obtained a sworn statement from Mr. Shearsmith and his wife, absolutely denying the charge. Mr. Gamin's letter, Mr. Hindmarsh's reply, the Shearemith deposition, and other particulars, are published in Hindmarsh's History of the Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church, and have been reproduced in the Documents concerning Swedenborg.
     During the past summer, some documents were discovered in the Royal Library at the Hague that make this history more complete. These documents are largely from the hand of the Keeper of the Museum himself, whose name, as now appears, was not Vosman, but Vosmaer. It also appears, that the name of the
Nobleman who affirmed the report about the alleged retraction, was Baron de Lingen, not Count Rosenberg, as Mr. Gomm supposed. (Compare Documents, Vol. II, p. 573, and the Editor's foot-note.) Through the courtesy of Dr. Tideman, these documents, are herewith made public for the first time. The translation was made by Mr. Gerrit Barger. Copies of the originals are preserved in the archives of the Academy of the New Church.
"INFORMATION CONCERNING ZWEDENBURG TO MR. VAN GOENS 1890

"INFORMATION CONCERNING ZWEDENBURG TO MR. VAN GOENS              1890

     "THE report or information concerning the death of Mr. Em. Zwedenburg reported to Mr. van Goens is properly of this nature.
     "As I have had the pleasure to know that singular person (Mensch), having more than once taken meals and conversed with him, he even dined with me alone 1769 (?) and I was honored by him with some of his printed works, so having heard of his decease I was naturally desirous to hear the end of that man,
     "His lordship, Baron de Lingen, who has resided here sometime, I believe, as Secretary of the Embassy to the Swedish Ambassador, Mr. de Geer, in the year 1768 or thereabout, was my particular good friend. Baron de Lingen went to London 177-, and I requested him to inquire about the end of Mr. van Zwedenburg at his death.
     "When the said Baron von Lingen returned here he gave me the following report concerning my questions: He had inquired in London, and was informed that a few hours before his death, Mr. van Zwedenburg had returned from his errors (concerning his spiritual intercourse with spirits), and had confessed that all his pretensions concerning this had been chimerical.
     "Now a few days ago (14 to 16), when the former Professor of Anatomy, P. Camper, returned to me from his voyage to London, I asked that gentleman whether he had not heard anything about Mr. Zwedenburg having died there. Thereupon this gentleman told me that he had heard that the said Mr. Zwedenburg had died there in the most wretched poverty somewhere in a house in an attic.
     "Certified this at the request of Mr. van Goons, with my signature.
          " (w. s.) A. VOSMAER.
     "THE HAGUE, Jan. 12th, 1786."


     "MR. VOSMARR, Director of the Cabinet of His Illustrious Highness, etc., has told how he took the opportunity of the departure to London of Baron do Lingen, Secretary of the Swedish legation, to request him to inquire in that city where Mr. Eman. Zwedenburg had died a few years before, and also the truth of the report that the said Mr. Zwedenburg, a few hours before his death had recalled all he had pretended (during so many years,) about his intercourse with spirits, etc., thereupon he received from the same Baron do Lingen the intelligence that the report was true and really founded and consequently it was undoubtedly true that Zwedenburg, shortly before his death, solemnly had recalled everything he had pretended concerning his intercourse with spirits, and all he had taught in consequence of this, and that until his death he had persisted in this recall.

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     "One has, therefore, thought to further discover the truth of this subject by addressing oneself to certain people in London who seemed most suited to make inquiries about it, with the result that immediately thereon, the two following documents arrived:"
     Then follows a Dutch translation of the letter from Robert Hindmarsh, dated London, November 28th, 1785, and also a copy of this original letter in English.
     This letter is nearly the same as the one dated November 28th 1786,* in Hindmarsh's Rise and Progress and in Dr. Tafel's' Documents.
     * Evidently a mistake for 1785.-EDITOR.
     Then follows (in the Dutch original) a "translation from the original affidavit by Shearsmith, as it is now deposited in the Hague by Mr. Gomm, Secretary of the Legation of his Great Britannic Majesty, in the States of Holland."

     Opposite the introductory portion of the document beginning "Mr. Vosmaer, Director," etc., is the following note in Mr. Vosmaer's handwriting:

     "N. B.-I have thought to give you a more exact report about this matter, and on this occasion I find that Mr. Zwedenburg dined with me here on the 29th of August, 1771, and honored my album on this date with his inscription. Shortly after, that gentleman went to London. I also find that I have noted from The Monthly Review, vol. lix, of the year 1778, that Zwedenburg died there in 1772. See page 365, etc."

     Opposite the statement in Sheammith's deposition that Swedenborg came to lodge at his house, No. 26 Coldbath Fields, "in the month of July or August," 1771, is a note in the handwriting of van Goons: "This must be September, 1771, for on the 29th of August, 1771, Mr. S. was still at the Hague."
To the extent in which man is in the love of adultery 1890

To the extent in which man is in the love of adultery              1890

     To the extent in which man is in the love of adultery, to that extent he is in every evil love, if not in act, yet in the endeavor.- A. E. 981.
LORD ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE SON OF GOD BY THE MOHAMMEDANS 1890

LORD ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE SON OF GOD BY THE MOHAMMEDANS       B. F. TYDEMAN       1890

     THE following interesting letter was found this summer in the Thysian Library, at Leyden, in a copy of the Vera Christiana Religio, formerly belonging to the late Mr. B. F. Tydeman. It is a valuable contribution, not only to the exegetical literature. of the New Church, but also to the- history, as yet unwritten, of the New Church in Holland, the country in which a number of the Writings were originally published, and which, according to them, is in the centre of the countries of Christendom:

     Answer to the renowned Rector T. C. Fullink.
     VERY DEAR FRIEND:- Among the difficulties which you have presented to me, I will not say against the veracity, but against the verity of Swedenborg, or the certainty of some of his statements, is one to which I now seem able to respond to you with certainty. Therefore I write you this letter so that if what I shall attempt will succeed, you will in vain continue to draw such things from the Koran, by which the False Prophet may darken and obfuscate any longer the light of Swedenborg.
     You have asked: How could it have come to pass that Swedenborg wrote in The True Christian Religion, n. 833, that the Mohammedan religion teaches "that the LORD came into the world, and that He was the greatest Prophet, Wisest of all, and the Son of God. This is believed by Mohammed, from whom that religion is called,"-for he constantly calls Jesus the Son of Mary, but in nowise the Son of God.
     He openly says (Surah v, 84), "He is not Christ, the Son of Mary, but a Prophet. Now the prophets have gone before Him."
     He resolutely denies that God ever begot a Son to Himself-e. g., Surah x, 67: "They say (the Jews and Christians) that God begat a Son. Be this far from Him." Sur. xxiii, 93: "God has not begotten any Son, neither was there ever another God with Him." Sur. vi, 101: "The Creator of the Heavens and Earth, how had He a Son when He did not have a wife." And Sur. lxxii, 3: "He did not take to Himself a wife, nor had He a Son." Surah iv, 169: "God is one God. Far be it from Him that He have a Son."
     Lastly, he seems openly to teach that JESUS was born from dust, equally with Adam, for in Surah iii, 58, we read: "Surety the similitude of Jesus with God is as the likeness to Adam. He created Him from dust. Thus says Maraccius at this word. But M. Savary speaks in this manner: "That Jesus is in the eyes of the Highest a man, like Adam; Adam was created from dust."
     These are your objections, and to them I answer as follows:
     1. It is to be observed that Mohammed is not always similar to himself. For how often does he say that "God is true," and nevertheless lie openly declares that God had deceived the Jews. For when these men wished to nail Jesus to the cross, God suddenly bore Him up to Heaven and substituted the form and similitude Jesus in His place, which they crucified (Sur. iv, 156, 157, and Maracc. on Sur. 3, T. ii, p. 113, 114).
     2. Although it is true, that Mohammed denied that God had a Son, and that Jesus is never, so far as I know, called in the Koran, the Son of God, but constantly the Son of Mary, nevertheless it is to be observed,
     a. JESUS also is never called the Son of Joseph, yea, not even does the name of Joseph, the husband of Mary, occur in the whole Koran.
     b. Mohammed so speaks of the supernatural origin of JESUS that His Divine origin appears most clearly from it, and hence you may conclude with the greatest assurance, and Swedenborg seems to have so concluded, that Mohammed and his followers held and acknowledged JESUS to be the Son of God since He is not the Son of any earthly father. The places are these:
     Surah iii, 45: "The angels said: Oh, Mary, verily God announces to thee His Word from Himself. His name shall be Christ Jesus' the Son of Mary, honorable in this world and in the future age, and of those approaching God (which Savary renders "and the Confidant of the Highest"). V. 47 "(Mary) answered, Oh, my Lord! how shall I have offspring, when no man has touched me? (The angel) said, Thus God creates what He wills, when He has decreed this thing. He indeed says to it, Be! and it will be."
     In Surah iii, 45, Maraccius gives this (T. ii, p. 112, vol. 2), "Son of Mary] Gelal gives the reason in these words why the Alcoran and the Mohammedans call Jesus the Son of Mary. (The angel) speaks to her (Mary) by referring His birth to her, that He might the more honor her; because since whe was about to bring forth without a father, since the birth or stock of men is customarily referred to their fathers (but not to the mothers)."

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     Surah iv, 169: "Verily, Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, is the Apostle of God and His Word, which He has sent to Mary, and His spirit from Him."
     Surah xxi, 91: "And (Mary) who preserved her virginity; and we breathed into her of Our Spirit; ordaining her and her Son as a miracle to all ages."
     Hence, then, it appears from the Koran and the Arabic writers that Jesus was called the Son of Mary, because He had no father from men. But indeed, if He had been a man He ought also to have had a Father. Hence can it not be rightly concluded, "therefore He was the Son of God. God was His Father"?
     It does indeed seem to contradict what is said in Surah iii, 58, that "Surely the similitude of Jesus is with God as the similitude with Adam; whom He created from the dust." But Gelalus explains these words again in Maraccius T. ii, page 115, col. 1, in this manner: "Surely similitude, etc.] Doubtless Jesus in His creation, and in His wonderful birth from a mother, without a Father, is asserted to have been similar to Adam, who was created by God out of dust alone." "Thus says Maraccius, "Gelal, and other expositors."
     So, if I may repute the whole thing rightly, I even concede to you, my very dear friend, that Swedenborg could have asserted, according to the words of the Koran, that Mohammed and the Mohammedan religion deny that God had a Son, and thus also that they deny that Jesus was the Son of God; but I think also on the contrary that Swedenborg, according to the words of the Koran and its internal sense, and at the same time I according to the Arabian ecclesiastical writers, was able to write with the greatest justice that that religion acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God. Yea, a man, altogether divine, snatched from death and saved. And all the more if we think that Swedenborg uses the appelation Son of God, in this sense, that he understands a Divine Man, a man in whom is the Divine Nature or Divinity, for he says concerning God (Div. Provid. n. 255), that "very many Mohammedans also acknowledge that JESUS is the Son of God." Maraccius proved this by many examples drawn from writers and by other arguments, in this sense, that he showed even by the testimony of the Mohammedans, that the Divinity of Christ was proved (see Maracc. T. i, Prodr. iii at the Refut. Alc., c. 18, page 59-63 and T. ii, page 219 and following).
     As to the rest, I have not touched the other sayings of Swedenborg that JESUS was the Greatest Prophet, the Wisest of all. For this appears to every one from the Koran, provided that these words are accepted thus:
"According to the Koran, He was the greatest Prophet, and the Wisest of all those who were before Mohammed, the last and the Greatest of Prophets forsooth."
     B. F. TYDEMAN.
DORDRECHT, 8th Feb., 1828.
He who is in the love of adultery 1890

He who is in the love of adultery              1890

     He who is in the love of adultery believes not anything of the Word, thus not anything of the Church, yea, in his heart he denies God.- A. E. 981.
ENGLISH WELCOME TO NEW CHURCH EDUCATION 1890

ENGLISH WELCOME TO NEW CHURCH EDUCATION              1890

     ON Monday, October 6th, a special meeting of the Camberwell Society was held to welcome the Rev. Edward C. Bostock and Mrs. Bostock, of Chicago, on their arrival in England, for the purpose of establishing, in this neighborhood, a School of a strictly New Church character, under the auspices of The Academy of the New Church.
     The want of such a School has been felt by the heads of several families in the metropolis for a considerable time, and it is to meet this want that Mr. and Mrs. Bostock have come upon what has been called their "mission" to this country. The visitors evidently created a very favorable impression, and the reception accorded to them cordially and heartily recognized the sacrifices they had made and the troubles undertaken in leaving so much and coming so far on behalf of the cause of education in London.
     The Rev. R. J. Tilson, in the name of the parents and friends present, welcomed Mr. Bostock and his wife as representatives of the New Church in America and as members of The Academy of the New Church. He referred to the several occasions during the past two years when this Society had been privileged to receive visits from American Newchurchmen from whom they had heard so much of what was being done for education amongst them; and he congratulated the meeting that they were now to have the same advantages brought to their own doors.
     The Rev. E. C. Bostock in responding, expressed thanks for the welcome accorded to Mrs. Bostock and himself. He received it also as a welcome to New Church education. The proposed School would be established on the Doctrines of the New Church. Thus the LORD'S guidance would be in the work, not the self-intelligence of man, except so far as human weakness made it inevitable. The first principle in education is to recognize that the child is to be prepared for heaven. The object of the LORD in creating the universe was the formation of a heaven, out of the human race. We are therefore to co-operate with the LORD. We must prepare the children for heaven. Doctrine teaches that church life should be placed first and the things of this world after. We are in the stream of the Divine Providence when we so act.
     Moreover, the man who is prepared for heaven is prepared for the world, for the Divine Truth which fits for heaven makes man rational and leads him to love the LORD and the neighbor, and to perform Uses. No man can be a Newchurchman unless he is taught to be in some use and to perform his duties well and faithfully, to act obediently, and to think rationally. One who is so taught and who so acts will be in the stream of both eternal and temporal prosperity. He will be fit both for this world and for the other.
     Some look first to this world. But men do not acquire wealth by their natural qualities or abilities, but by the Divine Providence. If riches will be a blessing, the LORD gives them; if poverty will be more conducive to eternal welfare, poverty will be our lot, or if moderate means will better suit us, they will be provided: Still it is man's duty to perform uses as from himself.
     In a School conducted on the principle of preparing the children for heaven, religious instruction necessarily occupies an important place. Upon a man's idea of God depends the whole quality of his mind. The School begins, therefore, with Divine Worship, then religious instruction. Amongst other things, portions of the Word in Hebrew are taught. Celestial angels can enter more into the reading of the Word in the Hebrew, and can thus infuse more of Heaven into the minds of the children, in addition to which the structure of the Hebrew tongue is of special use in developing the rational. Even the youngest are taught the Hebrew; of course, not the grammar; but they sing some of the psalms and are instructed in their meaning.

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Later on they learn the Latin, and, when more advanced, the Greek to some extent.
     Considerable attention is paid to anatomy and physiology, the study of which is emphasized in the Writings of the Church, and the knowledge of which is of great importance to the adequate apprehension of Heaven and of the spiritual sense of the Word.
     Reading, writing, and arithmetic are, of course, not neglected, nor any of the subjects generally taught in other Schools. An immense sphere for work lies before us in developing these studies from the standpoint of the New Church. The Academy professes on y to have made a beginning.
     Mr. Bostock, in conclusion, gave some answers on points of management, and stated that the School would open in two or three weeks.
     The primary condition for entrance into the School is Baptism into the New Church.
     An expression of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Bostock for their kindness in attending having been proposed by Mr. Denney and seconded by Mr. Ottley, the Rev. R. J. Tilson, in putting the vote to the Meeting, took occasion to explain that the School will have nothing to do with the Camberwell Society as a Society.
     It is wholly the work of The Academy of the New Church, and is under its government.
     The vote of thanks was then put, and the meeting shortly after concluded.
He who is in the chaste love of marriage 1890

He who is in the chaste love of marriage              1890

     He who is in the chaste love of marriage, is in charity and in faith, and in love to God.- A. E. 981.
OPENING OF THE ACADEMY SCHOOL IN CAMBERWELL, LONDON 1890

OPENING OF THE ACADEMY SCHOOL IN CAMBERWELL, LONDON              1890

     MANY of the friends of the Academy, in England, were privileged, on Monday morning, November 3d, to see the realization of some of their fondest hopes in the opening of the first distinctively New Church School in their country. Such a blessing has long been desired, but only comparatively recently has it seemed possible. Since the extension of the Academy in England, now nearly fourteen years ago, never has that institution been assailed with such bitterness of persecution and gross misrepresentation as it is now experiencing, but it is also true that at no previous time in its history has this Institution been more vigorous and healthy than at the present time.
     It was with thankful hearts and gladsome minds that the friends came together on the date just mentioned to inaugurate the School.
     The opening took place in a well-lighted and commodious room in the Surrey Masonic Hall, in which room the School is to meet. Thirty-four adults and twenty-six children were present.
     The opening services were conducted by the Head-Master of the School, the Rev. E. C. Bostock, Th. B. As the WORD was opened all present rose, and then all knelt in prayer, the LORD'S Prayer being repeated. The Head-Master then read from the - Arcana Coelestia, n. 1906. This was followed by the reading of the Decalogue in Hebrew, and the Letter of the WORD, Luke chap. ii.
     The copy of the WORD used at this service was in the brew and Greek, bound according to the New Church Canon, in a beautiful binding of scarlet morocco, and in as completely a correspondential style as possible. It is undoubtedly the first such copy of the WORD bound in Europe, and is the property of the Rev. R. J. Tilson, the Pastor of the Camberwell Society.
     After the reading of the WORD and the Writings, Mr. Bostock gave a deeply impressive address to the children and parents. He said that they were there to open a School which would be vastly different from any other School in the country. It was to be a School in which everything was to be taught according to what the LORD JESUS CHRIST teaches. He wished the children to realize that it was a great privilege to be able to attend such a School The building would not be so handsome and large as some of the Schools in the land, and the apparatus might not be so complete, especially at first, but it was indeed a privilege for them to come to such a School, and when they grew up they would realize it to be such. A true New-Church School was needed, because in the Schools around they did not know and acknowledge the LORD, hence they could not teach the children many things which would be taught in this School.
     The one great thing he wished them to remember was that they lived in this world simply that they might be prepared to live in Heaven hereafter. Men never really die, they leave their bodies at death, and go to the world where they will live forever. In the reading they had that morning heard from the Arcana Coelestia they had been taught about Remains. It was most important that they should have Remains in them, and that these be preserved in them. They could preserve some remains in themselves by loving their parents. They might think that they always loved their parents, but whenever they were naughty they' did not at that time love their parents. Then, during the time they were in the School the teachers were in the place of their parents, and they should love their teachers. And beside this they must learn to love one another, to be kind and respectful toward each other, for only as they were such now would they be able to exercise charity toward the neighbor when they became men or women. Angels all live in charity to one another for in Heaven all love one another.
     It was important for them to remember that all infants who die go to School in the other world, and the schools are very nice there. There are Societies of Angels who teach infants who go into the other world, mother Angels for the very young and for the girls, and Angel masters for the boys. The LORD has also provided, in His Mercy, a Society on earth, a Church, which makes its use to consist in the work of Education. As far as that Church does its duty, it may be said to be a Heavenly Society on Earth. The Society to which he referred was The em of the New Church, founded in Philadelphia, in America. That Academy had established this School, and had sent him to do the work of this School.
He wished them to remember one or two most important things. The first was that the LORD JESUS CHRIST is the only GOD of Heaven and earth. Every good thing came from the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
     Secondly, the LORD comes to us in His WORD, in the Hebrew and Greek, as the Letter of the WORD, and in the Writings, as the Spiritual Sense of His WORD. The LORD is in all these, and they must revere all these as and from the LORD, and must love what they teach, and grow up to live it.
     Thirdly, they had to learn to be useful. The LORD expects all to be useful, but no one can be useful unless he knows how, and he cannot know how to be useful if he cannot read and write and cipher.

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     Hence they had to learn all these things, besides many more. Religion was the first most important thing, but all the other things were to be learnt because they would help them to be useful. Then, too, they must be prompt in cowing to School. He who is not prompt is robbing his neighbor of time. The LORD teaches in the Doctrine of Charity that man must keep his engagements and appointments.
     Turning to the parents and friends, Mr. Bostock said that they had now taken a new step. The ultimate of their desires was there, the use in which they desired to co-operate was now a definite matter.
     Directly man ultimated any good desire or plan, a plane was formed for the reception of added influx and power from the LORD. It is for man to do what he can with that which the LORD has provided, and as he proceeds in the work, the LORD will increase the good. Influx is according to efflux. He congratulated them upon the beginning now made. Let them always look to the LORD for guidance, and never to their self-intelligence. Every time they rejected a truth which they knew to be taught by the LORD, they rejected the LORD, and every time they received a truth they received the LORD. Every time they neglected to do a truth which they knew, they slighted the LORD. The LORD is with man in the Books which He has caused to be written, and nowhere else could they find Him.
     In His mercy the LORD was establishing a true New Church- School, and He bade them go forward with hope and trust, knowing that the LORD would accomplish the work He had thus begun.
     The service was then concluded with the benediction. After a short time allowed to the adult friends to express to one another the feelings of gratitude to the LORD for the work thus begun, Mr. Bostock, with Miss Florrie Warland, the lady who has been engaged to assist in the work of the School, examined the children, in order that they might be arranged into proper classes.
chastity of marriage 1890

chastity of marriage              1890

     The chastity of marriage makes one with religion, and. the lasciviousness of adultery makes one with naturalism.- A. E. 981.
CORRECTION 1890

CORRECTION              1890

     IN a note in the November number of New Church Life, concerning some old editions of the Writings in French, this statement occurs: "In the Documents concerning Swedenborg, vol. II, pp. 1011, 1177, a French surgeon, resident in London, M. Benedict Chastanier, is mentioned as the first French translator of the work on The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body." This statement must be corrected, as it was based on a wrong impression of the exact words in the Documents, viz.: that the work referred to was "published under the Editorship of Chastanier."
When the Church is at its end 1890

When the Church is at its end              1890

     When the Church is at its end . . . (as at the present day) the man of the Church from influx out, of hell comes into the persuasion that adulteries are not detestable and abominations.- A. E. 981.
title-page and index of the tenth volume 1890

title-page and index of the tenth volume              1890

     THE title-page and index of the tenth volume of New Church Life will be issued shortly. - At the same time a synthetical table of contents for the past ten years will be published.
Notes and Reviews 1890

Notes and Reviews              1890

     THE American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society has just finished mailing eighty-three thousand two hundred and fifty copies of The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, sent to all the clergy of America. It is proposed to distribute likewise The Doctrine Concerning the Lord.



     THE sixteenth annual meeting of the New Church Evidence Society was held October 8th in London. The Society has caused articles to appear in several religious papers about the Doctrines of the New Church. A Bibliography of New Church Hymns and Hymn writers has been written for a General Hymn Reference Book, shortly to be published. A list of the principal works of Swedenborg and his exponents, also the more important collateral works, have been arranged to be inserted in a new edition of Best Books, published by Messrs. Sonnensohein. Lectures have been delivered in various Mutual Improvement Societies, Literary Institutions, Evenings for People, etc. The Society has severed its connection with the Tract and Mission Society.
When the Church is at its end 1890

When the Church is at its end              1890

     When the Church is at its end . . . (as at the present day) the man of the Church from influx out of hell . . . comes into the belief that marriages and adulteries in their essence do not differ, but only as to order.- A. E. 981.
GENERAL MEETING AT PITTSBURGH 1890

GENERAL MEETING AT PITTSBURGH              1890

     General Church of Pennsylvania.

     [Address all contributions for this department to the Rev. L. G. Jordan, Secretary, 2536 Continental Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.]


     THE annual meeting of the General Church was held in Pittsburgh from Thursday, November 13th, to, and including, Sunday, November 16th. The attendance was the largest and the most fully representative in the history of the re-organized Church. To the surprise and delight of all, Bishop Benade was able to preside at all the meetings. A full report of the proceedings will appear in a subsequent issue of the Life. The most important business transacted was the adoption of the preamble and resolutions given below, and which carry into effect the separation heretofore existing between the General Convention and the General Church. The action was agreed to by thirty-six members and delegates and opposed by two.
     "Whereas, It has become evident that the 'General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America' is not in internal accord with the General Church of Pennsylvania, and that the external bond existing under and by virtue of a compromise compact has been rent asunder by the General Convention, both by the acts of its duly constituted officers and also by the acts of a majority of its members in solemn convention assembled. Therefore be it
     "Resolved, That the clause reading 'constituting a part of the Most General Body of the New Church in America, styled "The General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America"' be hereby expunged from Paragraph I, Part II, on Organization in the Instrument of Organization of the General Church of Pennsylvania; and

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     "Resolved that the Councils of the General Church of Pennsylvania be requested, to draft and transmit to the General Convention a Declaration setting forth in appropriate terms the position of the General Church of Pennsylvania and the circumstances of the severance of the external bond heretofore existing between it and the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America."
difference between marriages and adulteries 1890

difference between marriages and adulteries              1890

     The difference between marriages and adulteries, is such as between heaven and hell.- A. E. 981.
FROM THE EDITOR OF THE LATIN REPRINTS 1890

FROM THE EDITOR OF THE LATIN REPRINTS       SAM'L H. WORCESTER       1890

     Communicated.

[Responsibility for the views expressed in this Department rests with the writers.]

     IN the last number of New Church Life, as ever before, kind words were said of my work.
     It now looks as though my work on earth were at its end; I cannot, see any possibility of recovery from my present sickness, or of any real improvement.
     I have for two or three years seen the end of earthly life certainly drawing near; and in view of what seemed to me inevitable, I made an earnest appeal to the Am. Sw. P. and P. Society, that has so nobly done what has been done in the Latin work, to permit me to go on, far in advance of the type-setter, in preparing for work that can well be done when I am gone. The Society most kindly listened to my representations, helped me to do the work; and it will perhaps be a source of surprise that so much has been done.
     Beside the volumes that have been issued from the press, De Caelo et Inferno is ready for the pressman. Sapientia Angelica de Div. Amore et Div. Sapientia, has been printed, but is held to be issued in a volume with another work, probably with Dc Divines Providentia, its companion; the latter has been made ready for the typesetter.
     Some work has already been done by the compositor on Vera Christiana Religio; this has been made ready for the press with the greatest care, with the use of the notes and corrections found in the copy of the work that belonged in Swedenborg's own library.
     Of Arcana Coelestia, all of Genesis has been made ready for the typesetter; also five chapters of Exodus.
     There is therefore much made ready to be given to the Church in due time.
     For all this I am thankful to our Father, and to my brethren.
          Affectionately and truly,
               SAM'L H. WORCESTER.
BRIDGEWATER, MASS., Nov. 5th, 1890.
Heaven and the Church 1890

Heaven and the Church              1890

     Heaven and the Church, in the Word, in the spiritual sense, are meant by weddings and marriages.- A. E. 981.
LONDON, CAMBERWELL 1890

LONDON, CAMBERWELL              1890

     ON Thursday, October 2d the Winter Session of the Camberwell Society was commenced a Reading Meeting being held on that day at the house of the Rev. R. J. Tilson. The attendance was excellent being within one of the highest number that have been present at any time since the meetings were instituted.
     On Sunday, October 12th; the Harvest Thanksgiving services were held, and were attended by unusually good congregations, both morning and evening.
     Profiting by the experience of previous years, the offerings were reduced in bulk, and the altar was fully, but not too profusely, laden with fruits of the harvest season, and with corn tastefully and effectively arranged. The Rev. R. J. Tilson announced that he should preach at Colchester on Sunday, 19th, and the Rev. E. C. Bostock would occupy the pulpit in his absence.
Hell and the rejection of all the things of the Church 1890

Hell and the rejection of all the things of the Church              1890

     Hell and the rejection of all the things of the Church, in the Word in the spiritual sense, are meant by adulteries and whoredoms.- A. E. 981.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND 1890

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND              1890

     NEWS comes from Liverpool, which shows that the spirit operative in the late meeting of the General Conference has also ultimated itself in the Society of that James Caldwell, the local agent of New Church Life, after being asked to give up the agency of the Life, and to repudiate its teachings, first, by the Pastor of the Society alone, and then by the same in conjunction with two members of the Church Committee, received a resolution from the Church Committee, emphatically condemning and repudiating New Church Life, expressing regret at Mr. Caldwell's maintenance of his position, and calling upon him to resign his membership in the Liverpool Society. Mr. Caldwell refused to accede to the request, and at a subsequent meeting of the Committee he was expelled. A meeting of the Society was then called to ratify this act. Mr. Caldwell sent out a circular, in which, among other things, he stated that "the Church will set a dangerous precedent, if it allow a member to be expelled, because he cannot see his way to accept his doctrinal views from the majority of Conference."
     The meeting of the Society, attended, as such excitedly called meetings generally are, by a number who at other times manifest little interest in the Church, confirmed the Committee's action by a majority vote. The result was that several members shortly afterward resigned, and a new Society is in prospect, in which the LORD alone is to be worshiped.
     The inquisitorial spirit of the Society manifested itself in various ways before this historic meeting. At a meeting of the Sunday-school Committee, a few church members intruded their presence who had no constitutional right to be there. This was recognized, but they were permitted to remain and fulfill their mission, which proved to be to put each teacher through an examination as to his or her attitude toward the Academy, and whether they would teach "Academy doctrines"!
     Again, prominent members of the Society planted themselves in the classes of suspected teachers to catch them in their words!
     Mr. Caldwell has reason to be thankful that he has been separated from a sphere in which there is no desire to follow the teachings which the LORD gives in the Doctrines of his New Church.
To the extent in which a man loves adultery 1890

To the extent in which a man loves adultery              1890

     To the extent in which a man loves adultery, to that extent he removes himself from heaven.- A. E. 982.

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NEW CHURCH MEDICAL STUDENT 1890

NEW CHURCH MEDICAL STUDENT       GEORGE M. COOPER       1890

     BY a physician is meant one who preserves from evils, because in the Spiritual world diseases are evils and fakes, which take away the health of the internal man. Natural diseases also correspond to such, for every malady of the human race is from that source, because from sin.
     The word Physician may be applied in a two-fold manner: one, as it were, in a natural sense, relating to a physician in this world, who, by kind and skillful treatment, cures the ills and aches of our earthly bodies, and the other, in a spiritual sense, referring to the LORD, who alone preserves from all evils, by means of goods in truths. The LORD also calls Himself a Physician, or Healer, when He says, "They that be whole need not a Physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the just but sinners to repentance."
     Now, knowing what is meant by a Physician, let us follow the New Church student of medicine, and note what obstacles he will meet and must surmount, through what difficulties he must pass, and what he must do if he is striving to become a true Physician.
     Before entering the medical college the student should have had a thorough knowledge of Swedenborg's scientific works, examined in the light of the Doctrines of the Church, and upon these, as a firm foundation, he may safely build all other sciences agreeing with them.
     During his college life he should be very careful to see that what he learns and reads agrees with the Doctrines. He must come to the LORD with humility and submission, discarding all that is deceptive and false, and clinging to all that coincides with revealed truth.
     The student will probably become disgusted with the study of anatomy and physiology, as it is now taught throughout all medical colleges, and he will soon see that where Swedenborg views life in an unbroken chain from the LORD, the scientists of the present day make Nature the origin of all things. This one difference alone is enough to give the New Church student more faith in the philosophical reasonings of the former than in the self-confident assertion of the latter. The living science of Swedenborg, outlined in the Writings of the New Church and embodied in Swedenborg's scientific works, may be compared to the soul, while the facts of the science of the present day, void of life without the former, may be compared to mere body.
     It must be the constant endeavor of the New Church student in all his studies to unite, for himself, the soul and the body of science into a complete human form.
     Scientists furnish us with an endless number of facts, but these are in such a state of disorder as to be of but little value in their present condition. Let it, therefore, be the steady aim of the New Church student to set these knowledges in order, so that when they are infllled with true spiritual philosophy, a science will be produced which, after the lapse of ages, posterity will acknowledge as resting upon true foundations.
     There are many. things taught throughout the whole of the medical course with which the New Church student must entirely disagree, and which he must cast from him as utterly false. He will be taught that the warmth of love is nothing more than the effects of certain chemical changes in the body; that the only blood is the red blood, and that matter can be reduced to indestructible atoms. When the student is taught any such pernicious errors, he should immediately correct them for himself by referring to the Doctrines of the Church.
      During the first and second years of his course the student will have many opportunities to fall into naturalism. Especially is this the case when he is instructed in dissection. The depraved science of the present time accepts only what the eye grasps, or what the microscope reveals. When the student becomes seduced by the ocular qualities of a thing, he is as much as before in the night, and he soon becomes oblivious of the fact that there is a bright and grassy meadow beyond the dark and swampy jungle through which he is plodding.
     In many places the Writings describe the state of the Naturalist in the other life. We quote the following from the Athanasian Creed, n. 107:
     "Every man who has become a naturalist by means of thought derived from nature, remains such also after death, calling all those objects natural, which he sees in the Spiritual world, because they are similar to those in the natural world. Men of this kind are, however, enlightened and taught by the angels that these objects are not natural, but that they are the appearances of natural things, and they are convinced so far as to confirm that this is so. Still they relapse and worship nature, as they had done in the world, until, at length, separating themselves from the angels, they fall into hell and cannot be rescued from it to eternity. The reason of this is that their soul is not spiritual but natural, like that of the beasts, with the faculty, still, of thinking and speaking, because they were born men. The hells, at this day, more than at- any former period, are filled with men of this class. At the present day naturalism has almost deluged the Church, and can only be dispersed by means of rational arguments, which will enable man to see that this is so."
     Hence it may be seen how carefully a New Church medical student must guard against falling into such a state, when pursuing his studies under men, who for the most part are of the very character described above.
     GEORGE M. COOPER.
BINDERS FOR NEW CHURCH LIFE 1890

BINDERS FOR NEW CHURCH LIFE              1890

     A NEW handy binder has been procured to file the numbers of the Life as they appear. It can be obtained from the Academy Book Room, either in cloth, at sixty cents, or in half leather, at seventy-five cents, postpaid. These binders are large enough to hold two years of the Life, and are recommended as the best means to keep the journal in good condition.
CONCORDANCE TO THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG 1890

CONCORDANCE TO THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG              1890

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224


NEWS GLEANINGS 1890

NEWS GLEANINGS       Various       1890


     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

TERMS:-One Dollar per annum, payable in advance.

     Address all business communications to MR. CARL H. ASPLUNDH, Agent, No. 1821 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     The Editor's address is No. 868 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
     In Great Britain subscriptions may be sent to
     REV. R. J. TILSON, 2 Inglis Street Camberwell, London, S. E.
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     MR. S. WARREN POTTS, Book Steward, 3 Minerva Street, Glasgow, Scotland.

     PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER, 1890=121.

     CONTENTS.

     Editorial Notes, p. 209.-Offerings of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh (a Sermon), p. 210.- An illustration of the Need of a New Church Translation of the word, p. 212.- Search for the Missing Manuscripts, p. 212.- History of Swedenborg's Reply to Ernesti, p. 213.-Manuscripts In the Royal Library at the Hague, p. 215.- A New Version of the Story of the Lost Receipt, p. 215.- The Causes that Led to Shearamith's Deposition, p. 217.- The LORD Acknowledged as the Son of God by the Mohammedans, p. 218.- An English welcome to New Church Education p. 219-Opening of the Academy School In Camberwell, London, p. 220.- A Correction. p. 221.
     Notes and Reviews. p.-221.
     General Church of Pennsylvania.- The General Meeting at Pittsburgh, p. 221.
     Communicated.-From the Editor of the Latin Reprints, p. 222.-London, Camberwell, p. 222.-Liverpool, p. 222.- A New Church Medical Student, p. 223.
     News Gleanings, p. 224.-Births, Marriage, and Deaths, p. 224.
     AT HOME.

     Pennsylvania.- THE Rev. and Mrs. B. F. Barrett celebrated their golden wedding at their home in Germantown, on October 14th. An address was delivered by the Rev. William L. Worcester whose grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Worcester, wedded the couple fifty years ago.
     THE Philadelphia First Society will give musical recitals in the house of worship at Twenty-second and Chestnut Streets, from November to April.
     THE Rev. A. Roeder, of the Pennsylvania Association, made a missionary trip through the State during October, and visited Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Bethlehem, and other places.
     New York.- THE Rev. Jabez Fox has returned from his tour to Europe, and after a short visit to Washington has been engaged by the New York Association to deliver lectures for a few weeks in the neighborhood of New York city, conjointly with the pastors of New York, Brooklyn, and Orange Society.
     New Jersey.- THE New-Church house of worship in Paterson has been thoroughly renovated and a Sunday-school room add at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars, raised by the Society and by outsiders not belonging to the School, and was re-opened on November 9th, when the Rev. Messrs. Palmer and Seward officiated.
     Maryland.- THE Rev. Messrs. Thomas A. King and John E. Smith are holding alternately a course of lectures in a Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore.
     Rhode Island.- THE one hundred and twenty-first semi-annual meeting of the Massachusetts Association was held in Providence, October 9th. Fifteen ministers and forty-three delegates were present. The Rev. John Worcester presided in place of the General Pastor, the Rev. Joseph Pettee, who was absent on account of illness. The Rev. Messrs. G. F. Stearns and C. F. Hayes have been engaged as missionaries, the former in Mansfield and the latter at Fitchburg.
     Massachusetts.- THE Rev. G. W. Savory, who withdrew from the Congregational Church not long ago and ministered a few months to the San Diego Society, is at present attending a course of lectures in the Theological School at Cambridge.
     Connecticut.-MRS. HOTCHKISS, of Middletown, has subscribed a sum toward the erection of a Young Men's Christian Association building, on condition that six New-Church lectures should annually be held in the same.
     Minnesota.- THE Minnesota Association held their annual meeting October 24th at Minneapolis. Forty members were in attendance, of whom eleven were from St. Paul.
     Missouri.- THE house of worship of the Second German Society, of St. Louis, has undergone thorough repair and been painted in and outside. The expenses were defrayed by the Ladies' Association.
     Michigan.- THE Michigan Association held their fourteenth annual meeting at Detroit, on October 25th and 26th. The Rev. Messrs. A. F. Frost, G. N. Smith, and G. H. Dole and thirteen delegates were present. For the first time in its existence the Association has been able to keep a missionary (the Rev. G. N. Smith) at work for the whole year. The missionary felt greatly encouraged by the year's work, and stated that in every place visited some interest had been shown.
     Illinois.- THE fifty-first annual meeting of the Illinois Association was held October 10th to 12th at Olney.
     Georgia.- THE Rev. J. B. Spiers, a former student of Cambridge, has been in Savannah since the beginning of October. He holds regular services every Sunday, the attendance numbering about twenty-five persons
     California.- THE First New Jerusalem Society of San Francisco have sold their old church property and purchased a lot large enough to hold church, Sunday-school, and parsonage. The transaction has given the Society a more suitable and very pleasant locality, and the increase in the value of their old property, owing to the growth of the city, has enabled them to extend their Church uses
     THE Society of the Rev. Joseph Worcester has invited the First New Jerusalem Society to worship with them in their Hall at 413 Sutter Street, until their new church is built
     THE Rev. John Doughty has been granted a six months' vacation, during which time he will act as missionary for the Pacific Coast New Church Association as far as his health will permit.
     Canada.-"AT the quarterly meeting of the Toronto Society, held October 7th Mr. T. M. Martin was unanimously appointed to act as President until the annual meeting, in the place of Mr. Carswell, who, owing to differences of opinion, and to the regret of the Society, had resigned this office."-Church Tidings.

     ABROAD.

     Great Britain.- A SOCIAL meeting was held by the Nottingham Society October 9th to welcome the Rev. Mr. Meek, and to express gratitude to the former leader, Mr. J. B. Beilby, to whom also a purse of gold was presented as a small recognition of his services to the Society.
     A SOCIAL was held at Longton to receive the Rev. R. Goldsack, who, through the aid of the National Missionary Institution, will become the resident minister of this place. During the forty years of its existence the Society has not yet had a pastor.
     THE ninth annual meeting of the New Church Orphanage was held in London October 27th. The report showed that thirty-two children are now taken care of compared with twenty-four last year.
     MR. FAIRBROTHER, the president of the Sunday-school Union, appointed by the Conference to visit all the New Church Sunday-schools, visited that at Stockport October 26th.
     Germany.- SERVICES are held at Reinthal in the morning of the third Sunday of each month by the Rev. Fedor Gorwitz in a hall rented for the purpose. The members have formed into a Society in order to defray the expenses Mr. Gorwitz preached at Herisau in the afternoon of the same days.
     Hungary.- THE New Church people of Buda-Pesth have chosen Dr. J. B. Nahrhaft as their leader, and according to a letter from him to the Rev. F. Gorwitz, Dr. Nahrhaft is preaching against Atropeism.
     Sweden.- THE Society under the care of the Rev. C. J. N. Manby, received from an unknown giver one thousand crowns, half of which is for the support of the Pastor. The Society has also been presented with the manuscript of a Swedish translation of the Spiritual Diary.
     Australia.- THE Rev. W. A. Bates has withdrawn his resignation from the Pastorate of Brisbane Society.